A Magical Reckoning: Magic and Mischief Book 1

by N. R. Hairston

  I hit the ground, my face feeling like it’d been clawed by a bear. Off in the distance, I could see Leon, Kyle, Klenaya, and Yama all engaged in battle.

  I wanted to call out to them, get their attention but knew it would be a lost cause. They had their own lions to slay. They couldn’t help me now. No one could. She kicked me again, and I instinctively curled in on myself, praying for the pain to stop.

  She wasn’t letting me off that easy. She rolled me over and kicked me again. “Look at me when I talk to you!” She raised her foot to kick me again, but I turned at the last minute, and she connected with the watery ground instead.

  I came up on all fours, blood dripping from my face, turning the water beneath me red. My arms, which were holding me up, begin to tremble and the water under me started a slow, bubbling hiss. More of my blood dripped, and something inside of me started to shatter and crack.

  I hadn’t wanted to come here in the first place. Hadn’t wanted any of this. All I’d done was love a man who could never love me back. I didn’t deserve this.

  The ground rumbled, and the water began to make small waves. I hadn’t wanted to fight. I didn’t believe in fighting, but I could feel the rage working its way through my body and knew it wouldn’t be long before I lost complete control.

  She tried to kick me again, but I snatched her by the hair and pulled her head back. “Tiis, Grol, Diti!” I head-butted her, making her knees buckle, but I held her up by the hair. “Nst, grul, mui, grol!”

  She bled from her nose and mouth, and her eyes showed fear like I’d never seen. “Yia, nst klm, grol, guuo!”

  I didn’t give her time to answer instead I bared my teeth and then plunged them into the side of her face, ripping her whole cheek out. She screamed loudly, and I spit the disgusting flesh out of my mouth. “Tiis, Grol, Diti!” I clawed at her eyes, pulling them out of her head and squishing them between my fingers. “Tiis, Grol, Diti!”

  I knocked her to the side, her bones crushing under my feet as I stepped over top of her. “Dpio.”

  I walked into the cave. Wasted tacium decorated the walls, and floated in the water. Chaos surrounded me, but I didn’t join the fight. I just kept walking.

  I found Klenaya and the others up ahead, knew they were trying to talk to me, but I couldn’t hear them right now. I had one mission in mind. Greg. I didn’t doubt for a minute that he’d be here. This was what he’d been working years for. No way he’d miss out.

  I found him and a few other Langunda loading up stacks of tacium on little mobile ships in the next room. “Loveerr booy.” I drawled the words, heavily influenced by my mother’s native language. “Weeree yoou gooing to leeaave befoore giiviing meee a kiiss?” I rose in the air, my hair standing straight on top of my head. “Give meee a kiiss, loveerr booy.” I brought my hand down hard, clawing him across the face.

  Leon, Klenaya, and the others had already started taking out the men he was with.

  I tore at Greg’s face, pulling, tugging, and unleashing my rage. I slammed him to the ground and came down on top of him.

  He tried to grab my hands. “Delia! Stop! Please! I love you! All I ever wanted was to make you happy. We can still be together.”

  He snatched up an overturned package of tacium floating by. “Here, take some, and we can be together forever. We won’t ever have to part.” He rose to his elbows, with me still on top of him. “You said you wanted a kiss, come here and let me help you remember how it used to be.” He reached for me as if to pull me closer.

  I recoiled from his touch and everything I knew him to be. He disgusted me, and there was no way he would ever lay hands on me again. I bent his arm back until I heard it crack. “Never again, lover boy.” It wouldn’t stay broken, but for now, it was enough.

  I rose and left him on the ground cradling his arm, shaking and wet. He looked pitiful, and I cursed at my own self. “And this is the man who would do me harm? This is the man who would pass judgment on everything I am?” He tried to talk, but it came out as nonsense and gibberish.

  I shook my head. “And this is the man who thought me not worthy.” I kicked him to the curb in the corner of the cave. “Goodbye, Greg. Never come near me again.”

  Leon and the others had disabled the remaining Langunda.

  As more Kelm filled the cave, Yama stood up to take charge. He turned to one of the men dressed in the blue and green uniform of Kelm. “See to the arrest of every Langunda you find.”

  5

  Help arrived a few hours after we’d gotten back to the white building. Men and women wearing uniforms the color of their country trampled from room to room getting things in order. Bale was dead smack in the middle, giving orders and directing everything.

  He looked weary and dirty, but besides that, just a few cuts and bruises that were rapidly healing. “The jails are full, so now we have to find space to put all these people.”

  I fell onto a nearby couch. My body ached, and I couldn’t stop taking in deep breaths. I didn’t think I’d ever been so tired in my life.

  Yama sat beside Bale, while Klenaya sat on the arm of their chair. Leon and Kyle sat side by side.

  All around us, things were being cleaned up and put back together again. They worked fast and with purpose, probably eager to get back to their normal lives.

  So was I. In the fight, I expected that the guards staking out my house and Leon’s police station, would have been called back to Langunda to help.

  I stayed laying on the couch, too tired to do anything else. “What now?” I asked, hoping he would say we could go home. I’d had just about enough of Langunda and Kelm that I could take.

  Yama looked from me to Leon, letting us know that he was talking to us both. “Now you do whatever you like. Stay here, join our military, take a seat on our council. The pay is competitive and the benefits many.”

  Klenaya, who was now on the floor, dipped her hair in the water, cleaning out the gunk from battle. “Yeah, and if you stay, maybe you can bring some excitement around this boring humdrum place.”

  Bale exhaled as if all of Kelm rested upon his shoulders. “Who’s going to clean that up, Klenaya?” He pointed his finger at her. “You. You’re going to clean it up and maybe next time you’ll keep your personal grooming to your own chambers.”

  Kyle laughed, and Klenaya gave him a sour look and then turned back to us. “So what do you say, guys? Will you stay?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “Un uh. I want to go home.” A lot had happened, and I hadn’t had time to process any of it.

  There was so much to think about, so many things to put into perspective, and here wasn’t the time or place to do any of that. I needed the comfort of my own four walls and the familiarity of my own bed.

  Leon cleared his throat. “Tempting as that may be, I think I like the hustle and bustle of my life back home. So yeah, I’ll be going back and all.”

  He took in Klenaya’s disappointed face and added. “I reserve the right to come back for visits, though.” She beamed brightly then turned to me.

  I didn’t ever want to come back again, but I found myself agreeing none the less.

  “Yay!” She jumped on the couch with me and hugged me around my neck and then went to Leon and did the same. He tried to look annoyed, but I could tell he was at least a little bit touched. “Sure you got this under control?” He asked her father.

  “Langunda’s rebellion has been squashed,” Bale answered.

  I sat up, running a hand through my frazzled hair. “How can you be so sure?”

  One of the uniformed men whispered something in Yama’s ear and then he and Bale conversed quietly. Yama turned to me. “Greg is asking for you. He would like to see you before you leave.”

  “No.” I didn’t even have to think about it. That chapter of my life was over, and I had no desire to reopen it.

  Bale nodded. “Well, to your other question, Kelm forces, along with three of our neighboring countries have Langunda and its people on complete lock
down.”

  I thought about that. “What are you going to do with them?” I mean he couldn’t kill them, they were immortal, and he couldn’t just lock them away forever. At least I didn’t think he could.

  The look he gave me said I didn’t really want to know the answer. “Will you at least stay the night? Get some dinner, and have breakfast in the morning?”

  I looked at Leon, and we both shook our head. Good. We were in agreement. It was time to go home.

  Bale rubbed a hand over his goatee. “May we call you if we need your help in the future?”

  I really wish you wouldn’t. “Sure. Just as long as you don’t need too much help.” They all laughed as if I was joking, except for Leon who caught my eye and winked because he knew exactly what I meant.

  “Can I come visit you?” Klenaya asked as we walked toward the room they would send us off in.

  “Yeah, me too,” Kyle said. “You guys have skateboards there. I only get to skateboard when we go off world.”

  “We can go shopping.” Klenaya piped in.

  I hoped they didn’t mean tomorrow. “Sure, just give me a couple of weeks to recuperate first, okay?”

  She huffed as if I’d ruined the rest of her day. “Okay, if I must.”

  I laughed and thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if she and her brother came to visit.

  A chain of human-sized containers strolled by, each carrying what I assumed was a Langunda man or woman.

  “The ringleaders.” Bale let us know. “They won’t be seen for a while.”

  Amber was among them, as was Greg. Amber’s eyes were back, but they weren’t healed all the way.

  Her face, where I’d torn out a big chuck, was slowly stitching itself back together. She’d be okay soon enough. For now, she looked like something out of a horror movie.

  Greg beat repeatedly on his container when he saw me. I stared straight ahead until he passed. The thought of even looking at him sickened me, and I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Once they were gone, we all stepped into the room that would take me and Leon home.

  Bale stood with each of his children at his side. “We want to thank you again. Kelm remembers its friends. Keep that in mind if you ever need anything.”

  “Yeah,” Klenaya piped up. “And I’ll be checking on you regularly, so if you do need anything, I’ll be sure to let them know.”

  Yama shook his head looking from me to Leon. “Are you sure you won’t stay? We could use people of your caliber around here.”

  Leon held up a hand. “No. I’m good. Pretty sure the department has already put out an APB. They probably have her,” he cocked his thumb my way, “down as my kidnapper. Best get that straightened out as quickly as I can.”

  I couldn’t agree more, because what the hell? Really? Yeah, we needed to get home quick, because I didn’t need anything else marring my name.

  A few hugs, more promises to keep in touch and finally we were ready. Energy emanated from Yama’s hand, and a portal opened in front of us.

  Thank you. This was all I’d wanted since the moment we’d arrived. We waved goodbye one more time then simultaneously stepped inside.

  Darkness surrounded us again, but this time when we stepped out it was not into a cold watery cell, but to the disarray of my living room.

  Someone had tossed the place. Well, it had to have been either the cops or the Langunda. I looked at the broken lamp on the floor and shook my head. For all I knew, it had probably been both.

  “I’m going to straighten this out.” Leon pulled out his phone and began to punch in numbers, as he took cautious steps down the hall. He was doing what I assumed was a safety check. Which was alright with me.

  “All clear,” he said, coming back to stand beside me. “I put a call in to the station. Told them I’d explain everything when I got there. Look, I’m going to make sure none of this comes back on you.”

  I nodded my thanks, and then led him to the door. “Hey, Detective?” I said before he’d gotten too far away.

  He turned around, brows raised.

  “Don’t stop checking on me. I have a feeling I’m going to need someone to keep me in line.”

  He tilted his head, a slight grin on his face, and then walked on, disappearing after only a few minutes.

  I settled in my bed and thought about the last couple of days. I’d found a new side to myself. A side that I wanted to explore more. I knew my mom and sister wouldn’t approve, but it was my life, and for once, I was taking control.

  Pear Town Ruckus

  1

  I needed a partner. We’d been playing spades all night and my current one, Aaron, was just wiped out.

  He fist bumped with me. “Alright, baby girl. Gotta hit’em in the morning.”

  “Good game!” I called to his retreating back.

  I shuffled the cards, and then scanned the crowd for someone to take his place. The house was packed, but that was nothing new. Three card tables were set up, four pool tables, and every corner held a dice game.

  Angry and excited voices sounded throughout the house as people won and lost at their game of choice. The scent of fish, chicken, and alcohol permeated the air, but it was the smoke from the cigarettes and cigars that had me coughing and gagging every couple of minutes.

  I needed another win here tonight. If not, I wouldn’t be able to pay my rent or utilities. My landlord didn’t play around and a five-day grace period was all he was willing to give before he started court proceedings.

  Day five was tomorrow. So, If I didn’t make the money tonight and hand it over first thing in the morning, I was done for. I’d made enough to pay my electric bill and to eat for the next couple of days, and I would have gladly given all of that to him.

  He didn’t take half payments, though. With him it was all or nothing, so I needed to make the full amount in order to have somewhere to live after tomorrow.

  I’d just about given up hope and was mentally going through a list of shelters when this dude who looked to be in his mid-thirties, just a few years older than myself, with shoulder length black hair, dressed in all black, and about six feet tall, stepped out of the shadows and smiled at me.

  I almost choked on my beer at the ridiculousness of it, but caught myself and swallowed at the last minute.

  He politely ignored my lack of grace and pointed toward the cards. “How much?”

  I took another swig of beer and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “Fifteen hundred to sit.”

  He dropped the cash without even blinking. I sat up a little, a small smile on my face. This was the type of guy I liked to play with. Now we just needed our opponents. Gordon and Rail had called next hand, and those two always had their money straight.

  Rail dropped a plate of food in front of me. Rail was tall and skinny, with a beak-like nose and a no-nonsense attitude. His partner, Gordon, was a little shorter and more on the heavy side. “Jinx sent over your fish, Leah,” Rail said. “Told her I wasn’t your damn servant.” He looked to our new friend. “You playing?”

  Dude nodded. “Xavier.”

  My plate held two little cups, one hot sauce, and the other tartar. I poured the hot sauce on my fish and licked my fingers. I had fried taters and onions, but no ketchup. I looked to Rail. “You got jokes. Now give me my damn ketchup.”

  He held the three packs in his hand. “Call your books out first.”

  I clicked my tongue at him and then used my telekinesis to float them into my open palm. “Now what were you saying?” I was smug and wanted him to know it.

  He gave me a stern look. “No powers at the card table, Leah.”

  I popped a piece of fish into my mouth. “Sure, Rail.” I slid the deck over. “Your deal. We’ll bid first.”

  He winked at me, then cleared his throat. “Well, don’t do me any favors.”

  Rail shuffled the cards a good six times then slid them to Xavier to cut. Around us the sound of gambling and those far into their drinks raged on, at our table it was d
eathly quiet, as we all looked at our new hands, shuffling and putting things in the order that we wanted.

  Xavier looked intently at his cards, he caught my eye, smiled slightly, and nodded. I winked at him to let him know that I got it. At least I thought I’d read him right.

  From that little smile and nod, I figured he had a good hand but wanted to give the opposite team a false sense of security. If not, then my next words would mess us up big time. “I can get you two.”

  “Hmmm.” He rubbed a deliberate hand down his chin. “I got four.”

  I nodded. “Six then.”

  He made a show of looking over his cards again. “Any possibles?”

  “Two, neither strong.”

  He eyed our competitors cautiously, probably trying to see if they were buying our bullshit. “I got a couple of possibles, but I can’t guarantee them. So yeah, six seems safe.”

  Right on cue, Rail and Gordon began their heckling.

  Gordon swallowed down some beer. “Well, Rail, I guess we’re in for one boring ass night. Who the hell sits down at a spades game to play it cool?”

  Rail pulled out a cigarette and lit it with his fingertip. “Guess we’ll have to bid more books just to make it interesting.”

  I playfully smacked him on the arm. “Hey, no powers at the table. And we’re not playing it safe. We’re just not being dumb.”

  Gordon looked at me in disbelief. “And since when is that fun for you?” He took in Xavier’s impassive face. “Or are you just trying to impress the new guy? That’s not really your style either, baby girl.”

  I waved his teasing away, not willing to rise to the bait. “You know what? How about this, if we get set, we’ll go blind, but you let us look at our hands first.” Which would be the dumbest thing any spades opponent could do.

  Going blind meant that we didn’t get to look at our books before bidding, but whatever we bid was doubled.

  Gordon snorted. “That’s the opposite of going blind. Bid your hand.”

  Xavier winked at me, and I smiled, loving this secret game we were playing. “I have somewhere to be later. Give us a ten if it’ll move things along,” he said.