A Touch of Lightning

by Kit Fortier

  For you, son. For you was all Jake could say.

  Taylor asked what was next. Sarah asked how they could prepare. Ben was silent.

  Jake explained the circle of silver and salt around their house. He said he would reinforce their doors and windows with the same treatment. That silver kept altered beasts at bay, that salt was a base element that blocked out the Aether.

  Ben was silent.

  Jake explained the spark and the Aether, who had them, who didn't. That altered beasts and magic users were touched by the Aether. That everything in existence held a spark. He explained that Alchemy couldn't be used by just anyone--that the spark within them had to be significant. He pulled out his silver bracelet--his Alchemist's Locus, which he himself hadn't used for days. He quietly put it on Ben's wrist. Ben didn't resist.

  Jake drew a circle on a sheet of paper. Told Ben to touch the circle. To focus. To say certain things. Silver, and Sulphur, and calcination. Repeat it, he said. Ben did. The center of the paper lit up in flames, curling the rest of the sheet to go with it.

  Ben was wide eyed. As were the Samuels.

  "This is real," Ben said.

  "It is," Jake said.

  "And you spent seven years… preparing," Ben said.

  "Yes, son."

  Ben stared at the bracelet. "You said the circle reacts to blood?"

  Jake nodded. "My blood was used in almost all of the points of transmutation, except the last two. Those were both me and Fox."

  "About a week ago, I dreamed I was drowning. It was… So real. It started off like a little wave at my feet, but it flooded over my head, and I was at the bottom of the ocean, being crushed by the pressure," Ben said.

  Jake gripped Fox's hand hard. Fox bore it with what grace he could muster.

  "Then, when I thought I couldn't take anymore, I saw bursts of light, different colors--"

  "Black, white, yellow, red," Fox offered.

  "Right!" Ben cried.

  "What did you see after that?" Jake asked, releasing Fox's hand and taking Ben's hand with both of his.

  "It was… weird. Like, it was something out of a kid's movie. A black bear and a red fox, playing in the woods."

  Fox almost cried out.

  *** Fox

  Jake turned to Fox. "What's wrong?"

  Fox shook his head, almost like he didn't want to say.

  "Baby, tell me."

  "I had a similar dream-the bear and the fox, not the drowning. I just thought my brain was telling me about us," Fox said, a slight blush on his face.

  "If Ben's seeing it, and he didn't know anything about you and me, it's gotta mean something," Jake said. But there was something more pressing.

  "Ben, did you see anything else? Another dream, maybe--about being alone in the dark?"

  The look on his son's face told him everything he needed to know. His son could perform feats of alchemy at the level he did-he just didn't know how.

  "I was alone, like you said. It was dark, but I was like, like an ant on a giant, golden flower. It was beautiful-something out of that movie with the blue cat people and the neon glowing trees. I think the flower spoke to me. It sounded like thousands of people all at once. It repeated, 'What was lost, you will discover, a part of you, a part of the other'. I didn't know what it meant, and when I finally tried to ask, I woke up."

  Sarah asked what Jake wanted to know. "What does it mean?"

  "I don't know," Jake replied honestly. "But Ben is going to need help soon figuring these things out."

  "Is it something we have to do now? Because we need to get Ben to the school for the pre-graduation stuff," Taylor said.

  Jake stood. "We can start when we get back," he said. Jake turned to his son. "If that's alright with you."

  Ben stood, and Jake looked up at him.

  "Let's do it, Dad."

  Father and son pulled each other in for a crushing embrace.

  "I'm sorry, Dad, I didn't know," the younger said.

  "You weren't to know, buddy. It's not your fault," the elder said. His boy shuddered in his arms.

  Jake pulled back, putting a hand on his son's face. "Hey, Ben."

  Ben sniffled.

  "You are going to do amazing things, you know."

  Ben nodded.

  Fox stood, putting a hand on both men's shoulders. "Let's go, you guys. He's on to the next big thing."

  *** Fox

  Fox couldn't miss Ben, despite him swimming in a sea of orange and black graduation gowns. He was one of the first to receive his diploma. As salutatorian, he cut an imposing figure at the podium. He offered his fellow classmates words of courage and encouragement going out into the world from that point on. Jake squeezed Fox's hand, for which Fox looked over at the happy-yet-emotional bear next to him.

  When the ceremony was done, the mortarboards thrown and the field mostly vacated. Ben's support team gathered near as he shook hands with an instructor who went on her way.

  "Ben!" Jake cried. He tackled his son with a crushing hug against the decorated bleachers. Ben laughed as he held his father. His father laughed.

  The group had nothing but smiles and laughs as the field cleared. An electric charge filled the air. Fox's smile faded as his eyes fell on Jake. Jake's head was tilted upwards--his gaze on the air above them. His face was skewed in a mix of concentration and concern that had Fox worried.

  A loud, mirthless laugh burst out from behind them, which made Jake turn around, then go pale.

  "Sully…" Jake's voice was uncharacteristically small, which unnerved Fox further. He gripped Jake's hand.

  "Sully?" Fox repeated. "This is him?" His man turned to the married couple in the group.

  Sully . The alchemist that made a final stand against a wizard and a cadre of lycanthropes. The man who was supposed to have been ground up in the concrete foundations of a park over a thousand miles to the south.

  The man who was very clearly among the living, standing yards apart from them.

  "Taylor, get Sarah out of here," Jake said. Fox moved quickly to Jake's side. Taylor did as he was told, and the two disappeared. Ben stood on Jake's other side.

  "Ben, go! You can't be here!" Jake hissed.

  "No, Dad. Not again. I can't lose you again," Ben replied.

  "Bravo, Ben, bravo. You're a real chip off the old man's block here," the man known as Sully said. His face was scarred, and he was gaunt, almost frail. His hair was a pale gray, stringy and long in clumps and patches. It was as if Sully's hair had been falling out rapidly, and he was holding on to what he could for as long as he could. For a man who had the power to stave off wolves and wizards, he seemed ready to fall apart. But something radiating off him. Something withering, like the heat from an acetylene torch.

  "How did you do it, Sully?" Jake asked.

  Fox thought about Jake's question. No doubt he was asking about the park where he and Fox first met.

  "Glamours, kid. Lots and lots of glamours. The whole park was an enchantment. There's an enchantment going on over and around us right now," he waved his hand casually, indicating the general area he magicked. "We're alone. And to anyone passing by, there's nothing of interest. Everyone who passed through the membrane will get into their cars and drive away. No one will be coming across the threshold to help you."

  "What did you--" Jake began. Sully interrupted.

  "I couldn't actually do alchemy myself, so I set up the illusion that I could. You bought it the whole time," Sully preened. "Sure, I taught you alchemy-but it's nothing I couldn't get other alchemists to teach me. Khaled was a great teacher," Sully leered. "I lost track of you because of the military, but when you surfaced again as a civilian, I vowed to keep a closer watch. Then Meredith tells me about an alchemist one of her birds followed from Kuwait, and I knew it was you.

  "It was a mistake to send Meredith after you. I see that now, what with your stink all over that boy," Sully said, barely acknowledging Fox if only to point at him. "That woman never appreciated the value of a g
ood man. She moved too fast, couldn't wait to claim her prize. Easy come, easy go."

  "Too… Fast?" Fox asked.

  "She was supposed to approach you after the solar eclipse," Sully said simply.

  "But… why?" Jake said, anger in his voice.

  "Why what, the eclipse? The alchemy?"

  "Why the array?"

  "Easy. I wanted to juice you up, that's why," Sully said. "The power you gained from the circle is Prima Materia, the great unifier, the raw material that can cut any bond, fill any container, make, break, create or destroy anything and anyone at will. It's in your blood. Corection: It is your blood."

  He flicked a wrist, and Jake grabbed something at his neck. It was a tiny dart. Jake stumbled, and Ben lunged at Jake to keep him from falling. Fox knelt over him, ready to protect him.

  "I'm tired of this life, boy. Tired of the Aether. I don't want to die, but without the spark, it's inevitable. Aether isn't sustaining-you need more and more of it to stay alive. And if you die bonded to the Aether, bonded to the deities, it's a living hell until the old ones decide let you go. So, it's either death, becoming a slave to the Aether, or this. I needed an alchemist to achieve the highest echelons of the craft. So, I'm getting my spark back, and you're going to give it to me," Sully said.

  "What--what do you mean?" Jake said. Fox watched him reel. He would have gone to him, but sudden movements might provoke something worse.

  "Blood, Leigh. Your blood. All that alchemic power soaked into your blood? You are the Prima Materia. And soon, I'm going to wring every drop of it out of you."

  "No, not… Can't," Jake stammered.

  "Oh Leigh, Leigh… You know, I figured you wouldn't come willingly. All I wanted was for you to move some sparks around-other humans, I couldn't care who. But… No bother. It'll be easier to drain your blood when you're close to dying. I've got my equipment set up. I'll drain you, draw out the poison, put your blood in my own veins, and then I'll do it myself. Your son and your boyfriend would be a great start for my test subject collection."

  Roars came from one side of Fox to the other. Ursoi, he thought. They must have been the ones coming after them. Fox thought to rip out their sparks--but almost forgot that altered beasts didn't carry it. He moved onto the next plan.

  "Like my pets? They're great at moving bodies. Your dad wasn't easy to put away," Sully said, smirking at Fox.

  His heart hammered. Would he--did he kill Dad?

  "You see, after we found that campsite by the lake, we found the little shit that warned Jake about us. And from your stink there, you and he--we paid Mr. Martin Foster a visit."

  Tingling overcame Fox. A sense of rage coming to a rapid boil. The Ursoi moved in, lumbering dumbly. Fox closed his eyes and imagined the lightning. He felt it under his skin.

  "Ben," Fox said. Ben looked up from his dad.

  "Put your head down."

  Ben didn't hesitate. He ducked his head and shielded Jake with his arms as much as he could. Fox threw out his hands, one pointed at each magicked bear. Great flailing arcs of electricity burst from Fox's arms and into the Ursoi. Tendrils of energy latched onto the magicked bears, wrapping around them, burning through them. Half a heartbeat later, the creatures exploded from the power that pulverized them.

  Eagles screeched, but Fox was ready. As three swooped in, they exploded in midair after being struck by a bolt of lightning, each. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, but Fox was creating them with ease.

  "I never--" Sully stammered.

  "Never what? Never thought he'd share the power? Who the fuck do you think you are?" Fox shouted, extreme frustration and anger coursed through his voice.

  Sully chuckled, his stammering an act. "The person with the antidote," he replied. "You can come along, bring him with you, since you've divested me of my thugs. If he dies on me, then I'll make do with you. I'd handle him gently. Shake him around too much and the poison will definitely move quicker."

  Fox looked down at Jake. A nasty green and black spiderweb crawled away from the point where the needle struck, spreading up to Jake's chin, down beneath the neckline of his shirt. Ben was pleading, his head against his father's.

  "Fox," Jake said, his breath uneven.

  "Hang on baby," Fox said.

  "Take… Take Ben."

  "No! No, Jake, we're going to fix this! I'll get that antido--"

  "Sorry to break--" Jake huffed. "Promise."

  Promise? What promise? Fox let the memories of their recent shared past fly when he realized what Jake was talking about.

  No self-sacrificing.

  Fox shook his head dumbly as he collapsed to his knees next to his man. "No, no no no-Jake, don't you do it! Whatever you're thinking, we can figure it out!"

  "Love you," Jake took Fox's hand in his own trembling one, giving it a kiss. Fox took Jake's trembling hand in both of his own.

  "Jake?" Fox whispered.

  Fox heard Sully scream. Both Ben and Fox looked over at the wizard, who was writhing and twisting. He looked like he was trying to hold something in. Fox screwed his vision to see the spark-and he saw it draining from Jake and into the other man. But Jake's spark wasn't like that of an ordinary man. Jake's was fueled by something greater. Still, it faded from him, and the other man…

  The other man cried out. Fox saw the Aether-a series of sinewy multicolored threads that streamed into him. The threads snapped like long strands of spider silk on the wind. The strands drifted into nothingness. Fox saw the man grow a spark that kept growing and growing until it stretched Sully outward. Like the bears, like the eagles, Sully exploded into brittle pieces. Each fragment hit the ground and crumbled into nothingness.

  Fox looked up. A sizzling sound hissed in the air, followed by a strange popping sensation. The glamour Sully created to cover his attack, his exit, disappeared with him.

  "Fox?" Ben said, his voice far away. "My Dad," he said. It was all he could say. Fox looked over at Ben, then looked down. Jake was gone. Just a silver ring in the dirt remained.

  First was disbelief. Then grief. Then explosive fury. Fox screamed, his thoughts a mess of revenge and blood and tearing people apart. Then next he thought of sparks, and everything that had one. Then everything within a hundred yard radius, grass, the bleachers, the graduation podium, and chunks of fence withered to powder and disappeared, leaving behind trace wisps of light energy that faded on the breeze. Only he and Ben remained in the center of a perfect circle of ash and dust.

  "No," Fox curled into himself. He hugged his midsection, trying to sooth. It wasn't working… "No!"

  Fox pounded the barren dirt with his bare fists. Maybe pain would stop the tears. But comfort wasn't forthcoming. He screamed into the dirt, his neck straining, face red. He collapsed, pressing his forehead to the ground, shuddering with tears. He grabbed the ring and held it to his heart with both hands.

  "Fox," Ben said, "Look up. Do you see that?"

  Fox sat up, looking out at a field of nothing.

  "No, Ben. I don't see anything."

  "You-you have to try. It's, it's just a light, like a ball of light, floating there," the young man said with a voice full of awe.

  Fox looked at Ben and realized he was seeing a spark. He focused on seeing it as well, seeing Ben's light, bright and strong-

  Then the ball of light Ben described. It was a sun on the face of the earth. Jake's spark wasn't gone--the form changed shape, but the energy was still there!

  Fox's mind spun. Looking around, he took in the gaps in the fence. The parking lot beyond the fence was mercifully empty-a happy accident in Sully's planning. He slammed his palm against the ground. Metal sprang out of the ground, weaving together, connecting the gaps in the fence that Fox had inadvertently destroyed. Another thought gave rise to a mud wall that obscured them from view. Fox would pull that back into the ground when they were done. The bleachers would be replaced eventually. He'd make an anonymous donation to the school if he had to.

  "Ben, do… Do you have anythin
g you can cut with?"

  Ben patted himself and frowned. "No, sorry. I couldn't if I wanted to-graduation security--"

  "It's okay, Ben. Take this," Fox reached down and pulled a knife fashioned out of the silica in the earth. Ben picked it up, amazed at its construction. It was a glass knife with a razor sharp edge.

  "We're gonna bring Jake back," Fox said.

  "But--how? You can't create life, right?"

  "It's energy, Ben. All of it. We can't create it because we don't have to-it's already there. Alchemy is about breaking down energy, restructuring it, and strengthening it. I just need a tether-his blood."

  "His… you mean mine, don't you?"

  "You do share the same blood, Ben."

  Ben nodded. He pulled back his sleeve. "Where do you need it?"

  "On the ground. Doesn't matter where."

  Ben took a deep breath, then cut himself on the inner forearm. Blood flowed forth instantly, pooling on the ground. Fox quickly healed up Ben's self-inflicted wound to the young man's wonderment. It was though the gash never even happened.

  Fox blinked forward the spark sight. On the ground was a small golden pool, connected by a thin thread to Ben's form. Fox looked back at the other ball of light. He grabbed on to it with his will, and then pushed it into the pool after Ben stood up and stepped away.

  Fox worked within himself to shape the energy that was the little sun. In his head, he formed tissue, heart, lungs--everything that was carried in the code between father and son. The puddle grew into a form, and the form began to take shape. Within moments, the ball of light had a shell. The light as weak then, desperately flickering to stay alive. It had been drained to reproduce the body. Fox poured a part of himself in. But he couldn't give more without sacrificing himself.

  "Ben, your spark… I'll explain it later. May I use some the light from your spark? Your dad--" was all Fox could say before Ben interrupted.

  "Do it, Fox. Whatever you need, just bring Dad back, please."

  Fox willed light from Jake's bright spark to flow into the form below. He stopped when the three lights, his, Ben's, and the man at his feet, all had a similar radiance. He couldn't quantify the brightness, so he approximated as best he could. Fox fell onto his backside and shook away the spark sight.