Death Magic

by Holly Hook

  "I think we should all go," Janine said.

  "I knew you'd say that," I said. My stomach rumbled so loud that I was sure she could hear it. I knew George did because he snapped his gaze to me.

  "You might need me," Janine said. "I'm not wanted by all the police and the ATC people in Cumberland. You two, on the other hand, are."

  Xavier shrugged. "We might need someone with a good sense of humor."

  "But we're going to visit a Dark Mage to see what he wants from us," I said. "It'll probably involve something dangerous that Janine shouldn't be going on."

  "Mack won't hurt Janine," Xavier said. "Besides, we're just going to meet the guy. It's not like he's going to kill us. Elsina wouldn't have sent us to someone who was going to royally screw us over."

  "It was an emergency," I said. "She had to or everyone in the Underground was going to die. Speaking of that, we still have to find that Elder War Mage who was going to betray everyone down there and channel Leon's energy for Thoreau. I'd like to fight with that old man. What was his name again?"

  "He won't give anything away," Xavier said. "Yeah. We have to deal with him, too."

  "Hello?" Janine asked. "I saved the two of you last night. I think I deserve to spend some time with my best friend."

  I faced Janine.

  "Best friend?"

  "Maisha's cool and all, but you're the coolest friend I've ever had," Janine said. "You faced a demon to get me out of my apartment and we've done dangerous things together. What more could I ask for?"

  I wasn't sure if Janine was saying that because she thought Abnormals were cool, but I'd go with it for now. Just as long as she didn't ask me to--

  "You know, if you need a meal, Alyssa, I can help you out with that if you absolutely need me to." She sounded nervous and a bit of adrenaline pulsed through her, metallic.

  "No," I said. "I don't bite people unless they deserve it. You definitely don't deserve it."

  Janine's shoulders sagged with relief. I backed away. This was starting to become like Hannah. Janine had that same obsession with the Abnormal world, a world that she couldn't enter without an invite. People like her felt like they were shut out of an amazing party and only my bite could let her in--possibly.

  People like her didn't realize how lucky they were.

  "We should get going," Xavier said. "We might need Janine to keep track of all the social media stuff. That apparently saved us at the airport. Thanks again, man." He waved to George. "I should hire you if I ever throw a party in the Underground. They'd like you there."

  George backed away. "Maybe," he said in a way that meant no.

  "He's one of those people Trish would call an Imposter," I said once the three of us left George's house. George had lent me an old Halloween costume he had worn back in high school, a long black robe that covered my arms and legs. It was supposed to be something from a fantasy video game and it was shielding me from the sun some, especially if I kept Xavier's leather hat on, but being outside in the middle of the day was still making me sick, so we stood under a pretty thick pine tree in Mack's yard for a moment while I got my bearings. I tucked my hands inside the robe for the extra protection.

  I felt more like a freak than ever. A freak with a headache.

  "It looks like he's single," Xavier said. "Some Abnormals like him don't ever get married. They live alone."

  "Like Mack," I said.

  "Exactly," Xavier said. "There are a lot of very lonely Abnormals out there. It's not like we can start a dating site."

  "That would be an idea," Janine said. "Maybe I could start the dating site?"

  "That would be up your alley," I said.

  "Alyssa, is that protecting you?" Xavier asked. "The material isn't very thick."

  "That's because it's an old, cheap Halloween costume," I said. I longed for Xavier's nice leather jacket. "We might have to say we're doing some cosplay thing if anyone asks. Janine, you still have your purple hair, so it might work." Her highlights were almost as bright as the night we had our hair done together.

  "And your pink pigtails are gone," Janine said. "I knew you'd probably have to get rid of them. I'm sad."

  "So am I."

  "We should go," Xavier said, grimacing. "Let's get this over with."

  Walking with the Halloween robe over me, I'm sure, was drawing stares, especially since there was no hood included in the costume. It must have been some wizard's robes or dark magician's outfit. Fitting, considering that we were going to go and visit one. Xavier's hat did not go at all, making me look weird. Each car that passed us in the suburb was torture. I could hear kids inside some of them, telling each other to look at me. Some adults in others made comments about how kids were so weird now. Ah, the joys of having a great sense of hearing.

  "I think we should find an underground way most of the way there," I told Xavier.

  It was as if he hadn't heard me at first, as if he were trying to ignore me. "Maybe," he said, but he sounded like his was mentally somewhere else.

  "Your moods," I said. "It's happening again."

  "His moods?" Janine asked. "I've never seen Xavier have any moods. I thought that was something only girls did?"

  "It's Xavier's job here," I said.

  "I'm not going into one of my moods!" he yelled, whirling around and glaring at us. "This isn't funny."

  I wanted to shout back. The violent part of me was rising up again. I hadn't had a fight in over twenty-four hours now. I was starting to crave them, but I didn't want it to be with Xavier.

  "I'm sorry," I said, but there was pure torture in Xavier's eyes. "I know something's wrong and it's not normal." Another car passed, where a woman was talking on her cell phone. She said something about us not belonging in this neighborhood and mentioned something about the neighborhood watch before quickly blowing through an intersection and driving off. People were starting to get suspicious. "We're not trying to make fun of you. I was just saying that we need to get out of sight before someone calls the police on us. We Abnormals aren't exactly being put in a good light right now and some of that is my fault."

  "And George's fault," Xavier said. For a second, it sounded like he hated the guy, which was uncalled for since he had saved us and by extension, the world.

  "It's Thoreau's fault," I said, looking around at the shade trees. My headache wasn't getting any better, despite Xavier's brimmed hat keeping most of it off my face. "He's backing us all into a corner."

  Xavier took a breath. His eyes seemed darker now, more shadowy. There was something about them that I didn't like. I exchanged glances with Janine. She shrugged. Of course she wouldn't know anything about it. Heck, I didn't and if Xavier did, he didn't seem to have the ability to tell me. This was the guy who had admitted to still collecting superhero figurines to me, to losing his last battle partner to the Shadow Wraiths, to the messed up relationship he had with his family. We had shared some pretty heavy secrets but it seemed like there was one horrible thing that he couldn't speak up about, for one reason or another.

  I wondered if Mack, being a Dark Mage, would know anything about that.

  It was a long shot, but whatever was bothering him was something he couldn't ask his family for help with. His Aunt Primrose hated him, especially after we had interrupted an Elder War Mage meeting. He definitely would have told Trish, his one and only mother figure, about this if he could.

  "We should go," I said. "I know something's wrong. Maybe Mack can help us out."

  "He can't," Xavier said, turning away. "Come on. I think I see a sewer cover over there and I think I can take us to where we need to go from here. This place isn't familiar to me but I can wing it and make it work."

  I hated the way Xavier said that, but Janine and I had no choice but to follow.

  "I wonder how long it will take for my mom to know I'm gone," Janine whispered to me. "She's going to kill me for this."

  But I wasn't listening to her. Xavier didn't look back at either one of us as he walked, bent dow
n, and tried to pull up the sewer cover. I helped, putting all my strength into it, and the metal cover came up, revealing a ladder that led down into shallow, but mostly clean, rainwater.

  "I love sewers," I muttered, trying to lift the mood. I expected Xavier to smile at me like he always did when his moods ended, but instead, he refused to meet my gaze. This whole thing was getting worse and coming out of nowhere. I felt like I had to walk on eggshells around Xavier. It was beyond awful.

  The walk through the sewer was no better. Xavier remained quiet, making no jokes about anything. The lowered mood was even affecting Janine. Of course, sewers weren't the most uplifting places in the world, especially since the only light in this one were tiny circles of sunlight that poured down through the covers. Water sloshed around our ankles. Even though it was mostly clean except for some leaves and gum wrappers, the sewer itself was tight and we had to duck in places. Eventually, it joined up with a larger one that might be close to the city and we could step out of the water and onto a small, concrete catwalk. There was nothing in Xavier's eyes as he looked around, mouthing the street names of the tunnels to himself.

  "Do you see or smell anything?" Janine asked me.

  "No," I said, peeking down the tunnel as my full gray vision snapped into place, letting me see all the details of the sewer. "Well, I see a couple of Mages walking away from us down that way, but I can't tell what kind they are since their robes are all gray to me right now. I'm sure other Abnormals use the sewers to get around all the time." I pointed with my fake cane.

  "They do," Xavier said, but it sounded like he was struggling to join in on the conversation. He was trying to hold on. He winced again and rubbed his arm, where his crossed swords were. It was almost as if the mark were hurting him. "The sewers are so big that we don't run into each other much. Now, we have to head to the west from here. Mack's junkyard is that way."

  He led the way, walking quickly at first. Xavier still wouldn't meet my gaze. This was the longest one of his moods had ever lasted. The more we walked, the more scared I got. It was as if someone were holding an emotional voodoo doll of Xavier and they were squeezing on his chest over and over, making him hurt. Was that a thing? Mack could have something to do with it. It sounded like something Dark Mages would pull.

  We walked for miles and miles. As we did, Xavier's shoulders slowly rose higher with tension until at last, he growled and punched the concrete wall.

  "Xavier!" I shouted.

  "Leave me alone," he said, turning away and storming off.

  I could smell his blood even more now. I caught a glimpse of bloody knuckles as he walked. Xavier smelled like angry adrenaline. Bacon. Eggs. My stomach roared, but I pushed the urge aside. Sustenance would come later, hopefully at the next fight if I wasn't too weak to fight by then.

  "I don't want to be Captain Obvious, but something's wrong with him," Janine told me.

  "We're almost there!" Xavier shouted back at us, breaking into a run.

  "Wait," I said. "I think Mack might be doing this to you. Maybe once we get there and he sees we're going to--never mind." I grabbed Janine's arm, muttered an apology, and ran to catch up.

  It wasn't that hard, even though Xavier was running with as much anger as he could. Or was it terror? I could feel his torment invading my own mind. We still had our bond. Even with a weak one, I could sense unbelievable panic, anger, rage inside of Xavier. I shook my head to clear it out.

  "Ouch!" Janine shouted, trying to shake her arm out of my grasp. We slowed to run just behind Xavier. "I didn't realize you could run so fast, Alyssa. You should have done that when we were playing Hampton last month. We would have saved ourselves the worst defeat in all of soccer history."

  Her words did nothing to lift the mood. Xavier slowed, gasping for breath, right next to a ladder. "We're here," he said.

  My battle partner sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

  I wanted to hug him, to kiss him, but he kept that defensive posture with his shoulders hiked. After a pause, Xavier climbed the ladder and pushed off the manhole cover. Sunlight poured down, a little less intense than before, and Janine climbed up before I did. Her form helped to keep some of the light off me.

  My headache had vanished in the sewer, but it came back full force as I emerged on the surface and squinted. Xavier's hat protected me some and the thin robe helped, too, but I was back in the noisy world of sickness and pain. My time in the Underground had showed me how hard the life was on the surface and how I had gone through the last fourteen years, pretending to be completely Normal.

  But it had also showed me that the inconvenience was worth it. Now that my secret was out I had to slog through sewers to get around.

  We stood right outside Mack's junkyard. The feeling of dread washed over me and Janine even wrapped her arms around herself. So Normals could sense the darkness here, too. Stacks of cars towered overhead, waiting for the crusher, and other metal trash and appliances gathered around the stacks as if worshipping some ancient metal gods. The gate was open now since the junkyard was running on business hours. I caught a glimpse of two guys wandering through the car stacks like they were trying to find some spare parts. Neither one was Mack. But he was here. This dread felt similar to how the ruins had felt, only not nearly as strong.

  "I guess we go inside," I said, since Xavier had gone quiet.

  Janine said something about not wanting to go in there but then Xavier grabbed the chain link fence and leaned against it. "Alyssa," he begged.

  "Xavier," I said, wrapping my arm around him and propping him up. I exposed my hand to the full sun and my skin began to burn right away, but I did my best to ignore it. Once out of the light, the healing would begin. "Xavier! Are you hurt?" His body felt fine, as strong and muscular as ever. I could feel it through his T-shirt. All of his muscles tensed like he wanted to hit something, but he kept his eyes closed like a very lost, very scared boy, and let his forehead rest on the jagged top of the fence. Adrenaline pulsed and ebbed again.

  "I'm sorry, Alyssa," he said. "I've dragged you into something bad and I'm sorry. I didn't think it would go this way."

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "It's her," he managed with great pain and sorrow.

  "Who? Your sister? Your old battle partner?"

  Janine backed off. Xavier twisted, throwing me back with surprising force. I let go and grabbed onto the fence. He sucked in a breath and held it. His magenta and blue eyes were reddish now, filled with sadness and agony.

  "Your old battle partner," I said. I glanced at his crossed swords that showed everyone that he and I were Bound, but there was also that very faint one right underneath the old mark, off-center like some strange shadow. "Are you still kind of Bound to her?" I knew she'd been turned into a Shadow Wraith and even being around them made you feel like you'd taken an emotional beating.

  Xavier groaned and leaned against the fence like he didn't want to face me.

  "Xavier!" I shouted. "I'm not mad if you are. It's not your fault."

  "It is my fault," he said. "I let her get turned. I didn't get to that Wraith in time. It touched her. She suffered for three days before becoming one of them."

  "Come on," I said, wrapping my arm around Xavier again. I was so worried about him that I didn't care if he had another outburst.

  He leaned on me with his full weight, letting his head rest on my shoulder. I could smell the adrenaline of his fear, the salt of tears he was struggling to hold back. This wasn't my battle partner at all. Xavier was tough. Funny. Rebellious. This boy was a mess that might not be able to walk on his own.

  "What's wrong with him?" Janine asked. "What's wrong with him?"

  "I don't know," I said, even though I had a very scary idea going through my mind. "We can ask Mack. I at least want to get him out of the open." We couldn't risk the ATC or the police finding us now.

  I managed to drag Xavier all the way up to Mack's door. Janine tried to help, but I was doing most of the work. Xavie
r was dead weight as if he had lost the will to live. He breathed heavily against my neck and his wood smoke scent was stronger than ever. My hunger grew, but I could still push it aside. As long as he didn't start bleeding on me, I'd be--

  Mack pushed his old door open to his house before I had the chance to knock. "It's about time the three of you arrived," he said. "I have a task for you that literally can't wait a few more days." His gaze shifted to Xavier, who still leaned on me and breathed heavily. "What's wrong with him?"

  "You tell me," I said, shaking out my fake cane and showing my sword. Xavier continued to lean on me as I pointed it right at the Dark Mage.

  "Whoa," Janine said. "You had better not mess with Alyssa."

  I didn't care if Mack was a Dark Mage, even if he didn't look like one from the plain white tank top and the greasy jeans. Any Normal would think he was just a typical junkyard owner, minus the dog on the chain. I would fight him. I might even kill him, like I had that roper back in the ruins who was ready to help sacrifice innocent people. Mack must have done something to Xavier to make sure we came here.

  Mack leaned closer. He was a middle aged, muscular man but he was still human. "I'm not sure," he said, "but it looks like your friend here might have Shadow Sickness."

  "Shadow Sickness?" I asked. "Explain."

  Xavier muttered about how everything was his fault again. He had told me something once, something like this, but my mind didn't want to wrap around it.

  "Get inside," Mack said, peeking around the junkyard. "I don't want my customers to see this."

  I didn't have a choice. I lowered the sword. Janine and I stepped inside, helping Xavier up the steps. He didn't resist us but he dragged his feet. Maybe Mack didn't have anything to do with this, especially since this seemed to stem from Xavier's horrible moods which had been there as long as I'd known him, but I couldn't let my guard down. I kept my grip tight on my weapon.

  "Over here," Mack said, walking around his crooked kitchen table and to the living room. "Put him on the couch."