(Blue Fire 05) Heartless [A]

by Scott Prussing

  Rumbling explosions of thunder had pulled Leesa from her bed shortly after eight o’clock. For a brief moment she had been startled and frightened, wondering in her half-awake state if she was under some kind of magical attack, but then she recognized the thunder and lightning for what they were. She quickly slipped into her terrycloth robe and fur-lined slippers and went to the side window, where the view of the storm would be best. When she pulled the curtain open, she was not disappointed in the least.

  Snug and warm in her robe and slippers, she stared in wonder at the fury of the storm. The morning was dim and gray under dark, low hanging clouds, with pelting raindrops that bounced viciously up off the street and sidewalk. She thought some of it might even be hailstones, but in the feeble light she could not be sure. The few leafless trees she could see from her viewpoint bent and swayed before the gale force winds—she was certain there would be plenty of downed limbs and even some uprooted trees before the storm was over. The thunder and lightning had eased up somewhat from the blasts that had awakened her, but every now and then an unusually loud peal of thunder rattled the glass in her old window.

  Leesa loved every minute of it. Thunderstorms like this were exceedingly rare in San Diego, where she had lived for most of her life. As long as no one got hurt, a storm like this was a fun, welcome diversion—especially since she had no classes on Fridays this semester.

  She was glad she wasn’t going to have to trudge around campus in such a god-awful storm. When the rain finally eased up—which she hoped it would do, rather than just ending abruptly—she would go out in her rain gear and enjoy the weather. Until then, she would be perfectly happy to enjoy it from the warm comfort of her dorm. She pitied the kids who had Friday classes, and guessed that many of the students would simply skip class this morning. Those brave enough to venture out were going to get soaked—umbrellas would be worse than useless with the wind so strong. Anyone heading out into this rain had better have plenty of plastic to keep their books and notebooks dry, too.

  Finally, she pulled herself away from the window. She was getting hungry, and the cold, wet weather had her craving some nice warm oatmeal and maybe some hot chocolate. She slipped into her most comfortable jeans and pulled on a red Weston sweatshirt. Twisting her hair into a loose bun behind her head, she headed downstairs for breakfast.

  When Leesa exited the stairwell on the ground floor, she saw Stacie stepping out of the elevator. Stacie was the brainiac of the group and had chosen her classes on the basis of interest and need, rather than for a schedule that avoided Fridays. Clad in waterproof rain garb, she looked to Leesa like a crew member from one of the commercial fishing shows she had seen on the History Channel. A long, bright yellow rain coat hung to just below Stacie’s knees, low enough to cover the top of her black rubber boots. The coat was zippered tight all the way up to her chin. A matching yellow hat with a round three-inch brim that was slanted down to allow water to run off easily covered her head. Surrounded by all the bright yellow, Stacie’s pretty, olive-skinned face looked even darker than usual.

  Stacie smiled when she saw Leesa. “No classes for you today, huh?”

  “No, thank goodness. You look like you’re ready for the rain, though—that, or about to head out into some big storm on the Atlantic!”

  Stacie held her arms out to her sides, displaying her raincoat.

  “I know, right? You should see my books—I’ve got them triple wrapped in plastic bags. At least we’ll stay dry, my books and I.”

  “Ha! That sounds like something out of Dr. Seuss—‘at least we’ll stay dry, my books and I.’”

  Stacie laughed. “It does, doesn’t it?”

  “Seriously, though. Be careful out there. That wind looks pretty dangerous.”

  Stacie nodded. “I will. Luckily, I don’t have too far to go. Just down to Heath,” she said, naming a building that was located only three blocks from the dorm.

  She tugged her zipper up under her chin even tighter than it was.

  “Off I go,” she said, pushing the door open.

  Leesa felt the wind rush in. She swore she felt a couple of raindrops hit her face even though she was at least half a dozen feet from the doorway. Watching Stacie shove the door closed and disappear into the storm, Leesa was more glad than ever she did not have class this morning.

  She turned and headed to the dining room, hoping Cali would be there.

  Twenty-five miles or so away, Smith, Jones and Rome sat in their black, government-issued SUV. Smith was behind the wheel with Jones beside him. Rome sat in the back, leaning against the door with her legs up on the seat. They were idling on the side of the highway, in the area known for the Moodus Noises. The rain was coming down in torrents—the car’s wipers could barely keep the windshield clear, even at their highest speed.

  They had been driving most of the night and had finally finished mapping out the area affected by the magic Rome sensed. The area was roughly circular, slightly more than fifty miles across. They were now parked close to the center of the circle.

  “Just as I suspected, and was afraid of,” Smith said. “We’re right in the middle of the Moodus Noises area.”

  “Which means we’ve reached a dead end,” Rome said. “We’re not allowed to have anything to do with the Noises or the area around them. Do either of you have any idea why?”

  “Not exactly,” Jones replied. “It’s been that way ever since we joined the bureau, and for many years before that. It’s the only spot in the entire country that every recruit is warned to stay away from. I wonder if there’s anyone left in our organization who really knows why. Maybe the Chief—he seems to be as old as these hills.”

  “I heard it’s because whatever magic is behind the underground rumblings is far too powerful for us to deal with,” Smith said. “So we just leave it alone. ‘Let sleeping dogs lie,’ is how it was put to me.”

  “I guess our sleepless night surveying the boundaries of whatever this magic is was pretty much wasted, then,” Rome said.

  Jones yawned. “Yeah, pretty much. We’ll put the area we mapped in our report, and someone will probably file it away and bury it.”

  “Well,” Rome said, “whatever this magic is that we’re not supposed to mess with, I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with reanimating those bodies.”

  “Which means we need to keep digging around back at that school,” Smith said. “After we get some sleep, though.”

  9. A PUFF OF WIND

  The storm had weakened considerably by the time Leesa and Cali headed for the library after dinner. It was still raining, but nowhere near as hard as it had been that morning, and the wind had died down to almost nothing. Still, it was a cold, wet night, and both girls were wearing raincoats and carrying umbrellas. Since it had rained all day, the sidewalks and streets were minefields of giant puddles that reflected pale golden circles of light from the streetlights above. The falling raindrops made the reflections shimmer and dance. Leesa imagined that some of the puddles might be deep enough to dive into, though of course she knew that was foolish.

  “This is kind of fun,” she said, enjoying the unsettled weather as always.

  “Which part?” Cali asked as she swerved left to avoid a puddle that covered most of the sidewalk. “Freezing our asses off, or having to watch every step we take so we don’t fall into one of these monster puddles and drown?”

  Leesa laughed. “I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t drown in a couple of inches of water, Cali.”

  Cali grinned. “Hey, it could happen. I could fall face down and knock myself out.”

  “Don’t worry,” Leesa assured her. “If that happens, I’ll roll you onto your back so you can breathe before I continue on to the library.”

  Cali clapped her hand onto Leesa’s shoulder. Her hand slipped right off the wet raincoat.

  “That’s good to know. You’re a true friend.” She grinned.

  “Seriously,” Leesa said. “If you’d grown up in San Diego, you’d apprecia
te this weather a little more—especially all that thunder and lightning this morning.”

  “Yeah, maybe, but I noticed you were doing your appreciating from inside the dorm.” Cali’s tone was lighthearted and teasing.

  “Hey, I said I liked the rain,” Leesa replied, smiling. “I didn’t say I was crazy. It was freaking pouring out this morning.”

  “Well, it’s good to know you haven’t taken leave of all your senses.” Cali held her hand out beyond the cover of her umbrella to test the rain, which seemed to have slackened off even more in the last few minutes. “Actually, this isn’t too bad. If it was a bit warmer out, it might actually be fun.”

  “That’s the spirit. And I really do appreciate your coming out on a night like this to keep me company.”

  “Hey, no problem,” Cali said as they turned the corner and began crossing the wide grass plaza in front of the library. Much of the lawn looked like a lake. “That’s what best buds are for. Besides, I’m certainly not going to let a little rain keep me from getting to watch you do some more magic.”

  Normally, kids would be coming and going from the library in all directions across the plaza, but with most of the grass and the dirt pathways submerged under water, everyone was keeping to the cement walkways that crisscrossed the field. There were far fewer people out than usual, too, a combination of the rain and it being Friday evening.

  When Leesa and Cali reached the library’s front entrance, they closed their umbrellas and shook off the excess water before entering. Inside, they peeled off their raincoats and headed directly to the stairway leading up to the stacks. Their sodden boots squished wetly as they climbed the concrete steps.

  Upstairs, they wound their way through the narrow aisles between the shelves of books until they reached the same table as the night before. They piled their coats and umbrellas onto two of the old chairs and sat down.

  “Now, let’s see some more magic,” Cali said. “What are you going to start with?”

  Leesa thought for a moment. She needed to start with something easy to warm up, but she wanted to come up with something fun for Cali. She pictured the items she had tucked into her backpack, but none of them were very interesting. Rolling a tennis ball or sliding a book atop the table was just not going to cut it tonight. She glanced around, looking for something small and light enough to move that she would also have a good prior visualization for. Nothing seemed to fit the bill, until her eyes alighted upon Cali.

  Leesa forced herself to control her smile. She thought she had just the thing to grab Cali’s attention. Best of all, it should be pretty easy to do.

  “Well?” Cali said, drumming her fingers on the table and feigning impatience. “I’m waiting, Miss Wizard.”

  “Just a minute,” Leesa said. “I’m thinking.”

  Really though, she was already done thinking and was beginning to picture the image she wanted in her mind.

  Suddenly, the hair on the right side of Cali’s head blew back and upward, as if buffeted by a gust of wind. She whipped her head to the side, seeking the cause of the disturbance. All she saw were shelves of old books.

  “What the heck was that? Did you feel it?”

  Leesa looked at her friend straight-faced. “Feel what?”

  Cali slid her fingers through her hair. “A breeze…from out of nowhere.” She looked around again, a puzzled expression on her face. “Even if someone left a window open up here somewhere, we’re in the middle of the freakin’ room, surrounded by books. No way any wind could reach us here.”

  “I didn’t feel anything.”

  “Maybe there are ghosts up here,” Cali said, still looking around.

  Leesa fixed her eyes on the left side of Cali’s head this time. A moment later, Cali’s hair puffed out on that side. She turned her head to the left, but then looked back at Leesa, a knowing smile on her face.

  “Oh, I get it. That was you…your magic.” Cali’s smile widened. “Good one, Lees. You totally fooled me.”

  Leesa returned Cali’s smile. “I thought you’d get a kick out of that. I’ve seen your hair blow in the wind enough times that the visual was an easy one. And hair is light, so moving it even with my magic weakened was no big deal.”

  “Okay, what’s next? I gotta tell you, though, if any of the buttons on my shirt suddenly start coming undone, I’m outta here.”

  “Ha! Don’t worry. You’re safe there.” Leesa smiled again as a mischievous thought popped into her head. “That wouldn’t be a bad idea to try on Rave sometime, though—except none of his shirts have buttons.”

  Cali grinned. “I like the way you think, girl. That gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘undressing him with your mind.’”

  The two girls shared a joyous laugh.

  “Back to work,” Leesa said when they stopped laughing. “Messing with your hair was fun, but since it was something I’d never done before, it doesn’t tell me whether my magic has returned to full strength.” She held out her hand, palm up. “This will, though. Illuminati verdus,” she chanted.

  The glowing yellow light that appeared above her palm was as weak as ever. Even though she hadn’t expected anything different, she was still disappointed. One of these days, she knew from everything Dominic and Balin had told her, her magic would return to full strength, but she had no idea when that might be. She just hoped it would be sooner rather than later, because practicing the same few tricks over and over, at a lesser intensity than she was used to, was getting old. She was glad she had Cali here to help make practice more fun.

  That last thought gave Leesa an idea. She got up and walked around the table until she was standing next to Cali.

  “Hold out your hand,” she said.

  Cali looked up at Leesa with a questioning look on her face and then held out her hand, palm up, the way Leesa always did. Leesa squatted beside Cali and put her hand directly beneath Cali’s.

  “Illuminati verdus,” she said.

  Once again, the glowing yellow sphere appeared, but this time it looked like it was coming directly out of Cali’s palm.

  “Ha, ha… way cool!” Cali chortled. “I’m a freakin’ wizard!”

  Leesa kept her hand where it was until the light winked out. Cali was beaming.

  “Thank you, Lees. That was great. I wish I could take a picture of it with my cell and post it on Facebook!”

  Leesa smiled. “That’s your idea of keeping things secret? Posting pics on Facebook?”

  “Hey, don’t worry. You know I can keep a secret. But a girl can dream, can’t she?”

  Leesa spent most of the next hour running through all her spells and powers, with predictably disappointing results. Ankle weights, she kept telling herself, reminding herself of the analogy she had come up with to help her stay motivated despite her weakened powers. She hoped that by dutifully practicing her magic even with her power diminished, that when it finally came back to full strength her progress would make an extra leap forward, much like running wearing ankle weights made running easier once the weights came off.

  Cali had no such problem remaining enthusiastic. She was seeing most of Leesa’s magic for only the second time, so it was all still fresh and exciting to her. Her enthusiasm was another thing helping Leesa stay motivated.

  Near the end of the practice session, Leesa gritted her teeth and got ready to practice her air shield spell, the most difficult spell in her meager arsenal so far, and the one she had yet to produce successfully even when her magic was at full strength. Ankle weights, she told herself again, just before she began imagining the air in front of her turning into a thick pane of unbreakable glass.

  “Bonduur,” she said loudly, as if by sheer volume alone she could force the spell to work.

  She watched as Cali pushed a pen toward her, testing whether any bit of invisible shield had materialized. When the tip of the pen easily reached her shoulder, Leesa knew it had not.

  “Sorry,” Cali said. “I didn’t feel any resistance at all.”
<
br />   Leesa shrugged it off. “No biggie,” she replied, reminding herself not to be disappointed by the failure. Much of magic was mental. Confidence played a big role. Early in her training, she had allowed failure experiences to affect her ability to do spells she was already good at. She was determined not to let that happen again—at least as much as she could help it.

  10. DEATH IN THE DARKNESS

  Not too far from campus, another bit of magic was also in play.

  Three figures stood in the darkness of a deserted cemetery. In front of them were three freshly filled in graves, the loose dirt and sod atop them turned muddy by the storm. Two of the figures held umbrellas up against the diminishing rain. The third squatted close in front of them at the edge of one of the graves, protected from the rain by their umbrellas.

  “We know the bodies were dug up here from the police reports,” Rome said to Smith and Jones. “I can sense that magic was used here, but what kind exactly, I cannot tell. It’s been too long and the traces are too faint. But it was not the kind that could reanimate the dead, of that I’m certain.”

  The men thought for a moment.

  “Perhaps the magic was used to unearth the bodies,” Smith suggested.

  “And then the reanimation was performed elsewhere,” Jones said, finishing the thought. “Close to the dorm, most likely.”

  Rome straightened up. “That seems likely. The question is why?”

  “Maybe whoever did this doesn’t possess magic powerful enough to bring the bodies back to life here and then send them on their own to the campus,” Smith mused. “They may have been transported to the dorm in a vehicle of some kind.”

  “Or else the spell wasn’t strong enough to last for more than a short time, and he didn’t want to start the clock until he was closer,” Jones said.

  “He or she,” Rome reminded Jones. “We have no evidence either way.”

  “I know. I didn’t mean to imply that a man did this.”