A Touch of Lightning

by Kit Fortier

  Fox gasped. He looked at one of Jake's palms. There was something burned into his flesh. The same was true for the other hand. Fox turned his own palms over, and a surprised cry escaped him.

  The alchemic symbols for Mercury and Silver were branded deep into his skin.

  15. San Diego, 2011

  *** Jake

  Jake stared over the park. The park that had mysteriously cleared out last night. The park that was the site of an incredible battle between alchemists and altered beasts. Those beasts were unleashed upon them by a wizard who sought to own and control the alchemists.

  So much silver flew through the air. Powdered silver thrown in the beasts' faces caused them to suffocate on their own blood. A silver spear slashed and pierced wolf and bear and eagle. Jake's own alchemy opened up earth and slammed snarling creatures. They were smashed between slabs of stone. The slabs were crafted from concrete and gravel beneath the tattered public plaza. At last, a knife ended up buried in the wizard's neck.

  The creatures paused. They turned and looked at their master, now gurgling on his own blood. They tore him apart shredding him and flinging organs across the street.

  Then they turned back on the alchemists.

  They fought hard. But even as they whittled them down, they were hurting badly. Silver expendables were expended. weapons lying outside past the creatures now encroaching upon them.

  Sully told Jake to run. He told him to run!

  He did.

  When he thought he was out of the way, he turned back. Jake saw the altered beasts had sunk their teeth into his mentor's back. They began to drag him down for the gruesome end that awaited him.

  But the man had one more card to play. Jake saw it. His mentor drew one last desperate circle and pressed his hand into it.

  Suddenly the disaster area that was the park rapidly began to reassemble itself. Stone slabs broke into concrete, flying into place. They trapped animals inside like victims of the Cask of Amontillado. Others got crushed by concrete slabs. The park's floors, its sidewalks, and its walkways. Jake heard the crunch of bones and tissue getting pulverized. Nothing remained of anyone caught in the transmutation.

  That included Jake's mentor.

  He was gone, and Jake remained.

  Jake stood there in the fading sun, marveling at how quick it filled up with transients.

  He tugged his black pea coat closed and cast his eyes at the floor of the park.

  "I'm sorry, Sully. I'll do it. I'll make the circle."

  Jake looked back up. He turned on his heel and darted across the street as a speeding car came to a skidding halt behind him.

  A slamming car door and squealing tires almost caught Jake's attention, but he shrugged it off. He was almost done crossing the street anyway.

  "Excuse me, sir? Can you tell me where the bus station is?"

  Jake turned to face the person who had the guts to bother him. People don't ask other people for directions here. They've got their phones! Why would they-

  Jake stood there with his mouth open, staring at a tall kid with startling green eyes. He and Jake were almost eye to eye. His face was framed by a dark red mane of wild hair that almost reached his neck. His thick neck. That rang a bell for Jake somewhere, but he mentally kicked himself for going man crazy over a teenager.

  A handsome teenager, but a teenager nonetheless.

  "Don't you have a one of them smartphones?" Jake asked, straining to not be unkind.

  "Dad won't let me have one until this weekend," the boy said, as if that explained everything. "I'll be eighteen then."

  The tone in this kid's voice--the pride in the idea of becoming an adult burst something bright in Jake's chest. He finally smiled.

  "I'd call you a cab, but it's pretty much right around the corner. I'll walk you there."

  "You sure?"

  Jake took one last look at the area. They were across the street from Fault Line Park, which was crawling with bums. The homeless there were blissfully unaware of what happened here last night. Without a doubt, Jake wanted to shield everyone from the ugliness. At the very least, he could spare the kid the possibility of being mugged.

  "Yeah. I'll walk with you."

  The sunset created long streaks of shadows up Island Avenue. Jake set the pace with the boy not too far behind.

  "How'd you end up here, kid?" Jake asked.

  "Um…"

  Jake looked over his shoulder. The kid's hands were shoved into his pockets, his eyes downcast. But when he looked up, Jake saw a blush. Judging from the look on his face, it was from shame.

  "You don't have to tell me."

  The boy's eyes went back down. Jake crossed the street to Fourteenth Street. The two walked down shadowed by the buildings they walked by.

  "I'm visiting here from Wyoming," Jake's shadow said. "It's a school trip. We were at Petco Park, playing the field after this awesome workshop with the coaches for the Padres. That was all done by one this afternoon."

  Jake looked at his watch. It read seven o'clock.

  "What happened in the last six hours?"

  There was some silence.

  "My classmates all headed on to visit the naval station, while I…"

  Jake waited patiently, slowing his pace to give the kid time to speak.

  "I set up a date online before I got here. He picked me up from the park. We were supposed to go to Coronado or something, see the sights. But really, he spent the first three hours driving in and out of San Diego, talking about himself."

  Jake rolled his eyes. He knew the type.

  "We stopped for a bit on this stretch of road that was really close to the water," he said.

  "The Strand."

  "I think so. It was after this weird, swooping bridge that lead to some fancy town--"

  "Coronado."

  "That was Coronado?"

  "You were at the Strand," Jake said, keeping the boy focused.

  "Right. We did some sunbathing. He started talking about sex, the things he did, the guys he'd done, and what he'd do to me if I let him. Really, I was creeped out already, and I wanted to get back to my class at that moment. Dude got pissed when I pulled away from him. He started throwing on his clothes and getting into his car. I just grabbed my shirt and hopped in, because I was scared he'd leave without me.

  "The guy gets back into the city, and he's like, circling buildings, driving up and down the same roads. I think he was trying to throw off my direction. It worked," The boy said, a tremor in his voice. "It really worked."

  Jake stopped and turned around. The kid was sniffling, taking infrequent swipes at his nose and his hidden eyes.

  "He dropped me off back there," he said, thumbing back at the hobo-loaded park. "I saw all those homeless folks, and I didn't want to go near 'em. Then I saw you."

  Jake nodded solemnly.

  "I guess I'm just lucky he didn't…" the kid threw Jake a glance. "…Rape me, or kill me, or something."

  Jake sighed.

  "God, I'd tell you 'I hope you learned your lesson', but what happened to you was not your fault. You know that right?"

  The kid looked up. God, his eyes were impossible. They were also glassy.

  "Hey. You're alright," Jake said. "The only thing bad that happened is that you had to hang out with a total fucking scumbag. A scumbag who lied to you about who he was or what he did or whatever, and he left you high and dry. That's on him, you got it?"

  The young man nodded, and a stuttering smile crept onto his face.

  Jake waited until the guy righted himself before moving on.

  "Where in Wyoming are you from?"

  "You wouldn't know the place. It's a small town, but it's kinda cool, because it's surrounded by water on three sides. It's almost like living on the ocean, like out here."

  "That sounds nice."

  "Yeah. I'm lucky though. There's an awesome national park that's twenty minutes up the street. Devils Tower. You heard of it?"

  Devils Tower, Jake thought.


  "It was in that encounter movie from the 80s, right?"

  "Yep! That's the one. Dah-nah-nah-duh-naaaaa…" he sang. Badly.

  "You live near that?"

  "Uh-huh. Moorcroft, population one-thousand and not growing. Dad said he'd let me climb the Tower when I turn eighteen."

  Jake chuckled. "Just don't die out there, or else you won't be able to enjoy that new smartphone."

  The kid laughed. It was a bright sound that hurt Jake's heart with its joy.

  "I know, right?"

  Jake walked around the corner, stopped, and raised his hand as if to present something. "There's the bus station."

  The kid stepped up beside Jake and fist pumped. "Yes!" he said, his mania infectious.

  "What are you going to do now?" Jake asked.

  "Hail a cab, have 'em take me to the hotel where me and my classmates are staying."

  The question of why he didn't call a cab back where he got dropped off was answered. There weren't any cabs in that area. The nearest phone was in the middle of the tent city that was a park. Jake let the question go, having answered it himself.

  "Alright. Hey," Jake said, causing the kid to turn around.

  "You be… Be safe," Jake said.

  "I will. Thank you for helping me, sir."

  "Don't go kissing any frogs. You need a real man."

  More laughter. "I'll remember that. Really, I think I'd like a guy like you. I know you're older and all, but… You didn't have to do that, what you did for me, but you did." His eyes widened in panic. "Oh shit--you're straight, aren't you? I didn't mean to--"

  Jake held up his hand, a small smile on his face. "I won't lie, kid, you're fucking adorable, pardon my language. If you were a couple years older, I'd pick you up in a heartbeat."

  The guy beamed at the compliment.

  "Go on. Don't waste your time here,"

  "Okay," he said, a little sad look on his face. "Oh, hey!"

  Jake turned to face his former shadow.

  "I know it's silly, but if you ever find yourself in the northeastern Wyoming area, I'd be happy to show you around!" He was striking and beaming. The air rushed out of him.

  Jake chuckled. "Gonna be honest with you, that's probably a longshot."

  "Yeah. But stranger things have happened, right?"

  Jake couldn't argue. He held out his hand.

  "The name's Jake."

  The boy stared at his outstretched hand for a second, before he reached out his hand.

  "I'm Fox."

  Their hands connected.

  The world imploded in white light.

  16. Testing

  *** Jake

  "Jake!" Fox said. Fox straddled him, flesh to flesh, shaking his shoulders roughly. He opened his eyes wearily, everything feeling torn and sore.

  "Oh god," Fox yanked Jake to him, holding Jake's head to his chest, rocking. "Mother fucker," he choked out.

  Jake breathed in the smell of loose dirt, mingled with the familiar scent of the two of them together. He brought his own arms up and wrapped them around the man who stole his heart.

  "Baby," Jake groaned quietly.

  Fox took his face in his hands.

  "What is it?" Fox asked.

  "Petco Park. The bus station."

  A watery laugh bubbled out of Fox. "A guy in a black pea coat with jet black hair."

  "That was me." Jake said. It wasn't a statement.

  "Yep. And that was me," Fox smiled as he tried to commit every detail of the silvery-blue of Jake's eyes.

  Fox held Jake close again, soaking in quiet and warmth. Jake pressed his ear against Fox's chest to listen to his heart beat and breathed. The choir of sounds of the surrounding woods sang hushed and gentle.

  They held each other until they both shivered lightly. Jake turned his head, kissing Fox's skin lightly, then leaned back to look Fox in the eyes.

  "Let's set up camp, okay?"

  Fox nodded. "Okay." He pulled Jake up slowly, gently. The world around them seemed somehow sharper. Jake took notice of the scars in his hands. They didn't affect his grip. In fact, as the agony from the ordeal subsided, Jake noticed he didn't have any pain in closing or flexing his hands.

  Fox picked the rolled blanket up off the ground and made for his pack when Jake watched him stop and stare at it.

  "Something wrong?" Jake asked, brushing himself off.

  "We have no tent," Fox said simply.

  "Oh. right," Jake said. He walked to

  "I'm not gonna stand in it, am I?" Fox asked nervously. Given their recent ordeal, Jake understood his anxiety.

  "Not until after I've set up the shelter."

  Jake crossed over to the clearing, finding his circle easily. But as Jake held out his hand to touch the circle, the earth rumbled. Jake stumbled back.

  "Holy shit," he exclaimed.

  Fox was at Jake's side within a heartbeat, seemingly inhumanly possible.

  "What happened?"

  "I dunno. Do you ever get any earthquakes out here?"

  Fox looked around, his eyes uncertain. "I-No. Those usually happen along the western edge of the state."

  Jake looked at his hands. He tried connecting the dots in his head, wondering where he fit in the equation. He reached out again.

  And again, the earth trembled.

  Jake and Fox looked at each other at the same time, their eyebrows raised in a quizzical manner.

  "I don't know much about alchemy, but you told me you have to apply the pre-game stuff before you get to the work, right?"

  Jake narrowed his eyes slightly. "Right," he said, drawing it out.

  "But when the circle was complete, you said you didn't have to do all that stuff before--the circles, the contact, the focus. You can just create at will, right?"

  Jake's eyes went wide for once. "Let's try again." He closed his eyes, hands at his side. He thought of the standard shelter he normally created. It was a rocky, craggy dome of stone over a pit. It had to be large enough to accommodate his height both in the horizontal and the vertical. An opening in the north facing side of the dome would be high enough to crouch down under the dome. The underside of the dome itself would be a smooth parabolic indent of stone. About five feet of steps led from the inside of the entrance to the floor of the pit.

  That was his typical design for the woods. Here, a dome would stick out like a sore thumb. So he raised a pavilion made of earth, prepped it for temporary habitation, and sunk it back into the ground with him in it--encapsulated by earth.

  Now, he wanted to test this thing.

  Jake walked to the edge of the plateau. With a wave of his hand, a staircase down the face of the monolith.

  *** Fox

  Fox watched Jake work. Jake carved out a cavern in the face of the Tower. It was tall enough for the two of them to move around in freely, and wide and deep enough for the two of them to lay end to end twice over in both directions. Jake's hand moved about, and earth and stone shifted with his will alone.

  Fox ran his fingers along the walls inside. They were rough-hewn, rugged and thickly ridged.

  "Hey baby," Jake said. "Get behind me for a sec."

  Fox did as he was told. Jake focused on the half of the room they did not occupy. A handful of large rocks the size of bowling balls unearthed themselves against the corner, forming a neat stack. Jake put his hand down. Fox saw determination screwed in his face and jumped when the rocks on the other side of the room lit up. They glowed bright orange, like giant embers. Warmth flooded the cavern. Jake turned in time to catch the smile on Fox's face.

  "Come on," Jake said. "The important parts have been transmuted. We'll fill in the blanks when we settle in." Jake took Fox's hand and came out to the plateau. The older man crossed to the center where the silver circle lay. The branches leading out to the twelve smaller circles faded in the dirt, buried well out of sight and mind. As he had done with the other circles, Jake forced the grand one down deep into the heart of the Tower. When it closed up, a plume of dirt expl
oded directly into the air, raining down over Jake's head. He laughed.

  "I probably could have done that better," Jake said, spitting out dirt. Fox snickered, safe from the dirt by distance alone. He walked up to his man and began brushing the loose soil from the man's body, his hair.

  They both began collecting their gear. Jake picked up his own bag and trudged down the stairs to the bunker. Fox immediately loved the simplicity of it--a shelter built into the side of a veritable mountain. Fox gathered up all the clothes and his pack and trundled down to join Jake.

  Fox arrived only to bump right into Jake's chest. He stumbled, and Jake caught him. They shared a small snicker fit, but they came to look each other in the eyes. Jake took Fox's pack from him and set it aside. Fox let his armful of clothes drop where they stood. He rested his hands on Jake's chest, and Jake's hands held Fox near by the waist. They swayed to music only they heard as Fox marveled at his man's strength and radiating warmth.

  "Just so you know," Jake began, "Getting naked was a necessity."

  Fox gave him a coy smile. "Uh-huh," he said, only a tad sarcastic.

  "The circle would have rejected us if there were significant foreign agents on our skin or in our hands."

  Fox raised an eyebrow.

  "What we did before that…" Jake started, and Fox watched Jake's focus go fuzzy in his eyes.

  "That was a happy coincidence." Fox smiled. "Real happy. I'm guessing it worked out in both our favors?"

  "You catch on quick, Foxy baby." Jake said, his eyes focused on Fox's lips. "So quick that it's scary." There was an awe, a reverence in Jake's voice that made Fox blush. "I figured, if I was going to have to get your blood, we might as well have fun doing it. But I didn't think I'd end up mauling you like…"

  "Like a bear," Fox grinned. Jake merely nodded. "You're right. I'd say we had a lot of fun," Fox said.