by Brian Olsen
“With no magic?” Zane takes my hand off the book. “No way to defend yourself in there? Nope. Not happening.”
“Chris,” Tannyl says. It’s the first time Tannyl has used my name, so it gets my attention. “It’s admirable that you wish to give these creatures a voice in their own destiny. And I think you should.”
“Thanks—”
“But not yet. There are many such creatures, who prey on intelligent beings despite being intelligent themselves. They are not evil, necessarily. They simply do what they must to survive. Before the Moment, the peoples of the world knew how to avoid such dangers. Now they do not. Visit these impundulu, yes. But wait until you have found a way to approach them safely. Other, more peaceful peoples we find may help us prepare for creatures such as these.”
My friends all look at me, waiting.
I don’t like it. Prolonging an entire species’ imprisonment and suffering because a book says they’re dangerous feels wrong. Feels like the wrong kind of compromise.
Zane must know what I’m thinking. He rests his chin on my shoulder and says quietly in my ear, “Remember what we said. We can’t make things right if we’re dead.”
I let out a breath. “Okay. We’ll hold off. For now.”
I can feel the relief from all five of them. Zane kisses my temple.
“We should find the right coin, though,” Alisa says. “We don’t want to leave it in the mall.”
Nate squints at the picture. “It’s too small. Not a penny but I can’t tell if it’s a nickel, dime, or a quarter.”
Jasmine holds up a coin. “What about this quarter? It’s got two backs.”
Alisa squints at it. “An eagle on either side. Try it.”
She hands the book to Jasmine, who sets it in her lap. Jaz touches the coin to the page, and its copy in the picture shines silver again.
Alisa claps once and pumps her fist. “Yes! Nice, Jaz.”
Jasmine bounces. “Yay, I helped!”
“Awesome! Mission accomplished.” Nate rubs his hands together. “Food court?”
“I could eat,” Zane says. “Don’t spend the magic quarter.”
“Oh!” Jasmine closes the book and stands, then passes the coin to Alisa. “You’d better hold onto this. I’m always losing things in my bag.”
Tannyl takes a few steps towards the restaurants. “What are nachos?”
“Oh, my dude!” Nate throws his arm over his shoulder. “You are in for a treat. But if we’re going to do your first food court experience right, then we have to start with the free sample circuit.”
“Guy?” Alisa raises her voice. “Problem here.”
She holds up her hand. The coin is shaking.
“What did you do?” Zane asks.
“Nothing! Chris, did you—”
“No!” I say. “Alisa, put it down!”
She drops the coin and it bounces off the lip and into the fountain with a splash. The water bubbles violently, then erupts as something bursts from the water.
The impundulu, the lightning bird, is as tall as a person, and its wingspan is twice as wide. Its body is a shimmering black, its head a dusty white, and its eyes an electric blue. With a loud screech it flies up, past the second level, past the third. A dark storm cloud forms around it, billowing up and out to cover the mall’s ceiling. The bird vanishes for an instant, turning to a burst of lightning which arcs back up into the new cloud with a crack of thunder that shakes all the store windows. Then the bird reforms and flaps its giant wings, holding itself in place as it takes in its strange surroundings.
The people who were shopping and strolling are now mostly screaming and running. A few are crouching and recording, but mostly they’re screaming and running.
“Well, then, logomancer.” Tannyl looks up at the giant bird. “You wanted to speak to them. It looks like you’ll get your chance.”
Fourteen
“Zane, I need a disguise.”
Zane looks away from the human-sized bird flying thirty feet above us. “I’m not a make-up artist, Chris.”
“Can you cover me in shadow without making me cold? And let me see out?”
“Maybe. Why?”
I gesture all around us, at the people in the mall. The panic has mostly died down, and everybody who didn’t run away is recording the lightning bird and the black storm it’s creating.
“I’d rather not wind up on the news.”
Zane whistles. “Right. I haven’t tried this before. Give me a sec to think it through.”
Alisa grabs my arm. “I should do this. I’m the one with the talky powers.”
I point up. “Unless you also have flying powers…”
“You can’t carry me?”
“I can barely carry myself. I’d rather not try something new while also negotiating with a confused electric vampire bird.”
Jasmine runs to us with the open book. “It’s vulnerable to fire! That’s lucky, right?”
“I don’t want to fight it,” I say, “but yeah, could be useful.”
The bird screeches. A lightning bolt strikes something two floors above us, sending sparks flying over the railing and gawkers running. With a rumble of thunder, the impundulu flies down the mall’s south wing.
“It’s moving,” I say. “We need to talk to it before it goes outside.”
Tannyl grabs his stomach. “This is an inopportune time, but I am in need of assistance.” His face blurs a little, his features stretching out like taffy before snapping back into place.
Alisa grabs his arm in one hand and touches the book Jasmine’s holding with the other. “Stay in our world. Don’t get pulled back into the necklace. Truth.”
Tannyl taps the tip of his nose, confirming it’s holding its proper shape. “Thank you. I am in your debt once again.”
A quick nod is the only response he gets. Alisa steps away from him, watching where the bird flew. Tannyl looks after her, touching his arm where she held him.
“Why isn’t that happening to the bird?” Nate asks.
“No idea,” I say. “We don’t even know how it got out of the coin in the first place. Zane, you ready?”
He purses his lips and nods. He looks at me with intense concentration for a second, then says, “Shadow.”
The cold starts at my toes as the shadow spreads up my body. It clings to me like a second skin, coating me in complete blackness. It’s not as cold as when I’ve felt it before, though, and it doesn’t numb me at all. It spreads up my body and covers my head, but I can still see.
“Oh, that’s creepy.” Nate shudders. “You’re solid shadow except for your eyes.”
“If I covered your eyes you wouldn’t be able to see,” Zane explains. “But nobody’ll recognize you now. The shadow swallows up your features.”
“All right.” I look up at the dark clouds above. “Wish me luck.”
The sun rises. I want to float until I’m level with the bird, and then hover in place. Sun.
My feet leave the ground. I’m flying again. Really flying. I’m not afraid of heights but the floor is receding fast. It feels wrong to be up this high with nothing underneath me and it would hurt an awful lot if I lost control of the spell and fell. But that won’t happen. I’m good. I’m totally fine. Sun. Sun. Sun.
I get as high as the third floor. A little potted tree next to a bench is smoldering. That must be where the lightning hit. No bodies, so the impundulu hasn’t hurt anybody. Yet.
I float a little higher, then stop. The black storm cloud is a couple of feet above me. The bird has flown almost the entire length of the mall. It reaches the big department store at the end and makes a tight reverse turn. It spots me and accelerates, beating its powerful wings faster.
It stops right in front of me, floating gracefully without flapping its wings. The bird looks me up and down and gives out a loud screech. I try not to flinch but I don’t think I succeed.
It’s beautiful up close. A little bit taller than me, by body length, but with its
wings outstretched it’s truly imposing. Its feathers are iridescent, and from here I can see some shiny electric blue in them, matching its eyes.
“Hi.” My voice cracks a little so I cough and try again. “Hello. I’m Chris. Do you, uh, do you speak Human, by any chance?”
It tilts its head quizzically, then opens its beak and says, “I do. I am Sifiso. Why do you hide yourself from me?”
“Not from you.” I look down at the people in the mall. There were a lot of phones recording the giant lightning bird before, and it looks like even more now that a flying shadow man has joined in. “From them.”
“You do not wish them to know you are a logomancer?”
“No. The people of this world don’t know magic exists. They’ve never seen anything like you before.”
“I am in yet another world?” The clouds above rumble with thunder. “I have been trapped in a strange half-world with others of my kind. I do not know how I came to be there, or how I was freed. I hoped I had returned home.”
“This is your home, sort of. A group of logomancers cast a spell. They removed magic, and any memory of it, from the world. All magical creatures like yourself were sent into places like the one you came from.”
“Why would anyone do such a thing?”
Oh, boy. I want to be honest but I don’t know how truthful I should be, how quickly. “They were afraid of the Common King.”
The bird screeches and gives a powerful flap of its wings that would blow my hair back if it weren’t pinned flat under Zane’s shadow. “Cowards! Human cowards! I have no fear of their king. I will douse his flames with my storm.”
“Right. Well, the Common King isn’t a problem right now, but this world is. How many impundulu are there?”
It tilts its head. “Why do you ask our numbers?”
“I’m trying to figure out the best and safest way to bring the magical species back to the world. I just want to know how many we’re talking about, that’s all.”
It gives a weird motion with its wings that I think is meant to be a shrug. “I don’t know. We are a solitary people. A dozen? A hundred? A thousand? I could not say. I am not concerned for them. I am free, now, and that is what’s important.”
“Oh. Okay. There might be a problem there. Have you felt any sense of being pulled back—”
The bird changes into a man. His skin is deep, dark brown, he’s wearing a loincloth covered in a feathered skirt the exact same color as his former plumage, and he’s handsome as hell. Beautiful. I wanna say “god-like.” Wow. He’s older than me. Thirties. That’s cool. I like older men.
He smiles and floats closer to me. His eyes are the same electric blue as before. And kind. There’s so much kindness in them. He puts his hands on my waist, then slides them around the small of my back. I can’t feel his skin through the shadow, just the pressure. That’s annoying.
“Hey,” I say. He’s so close to me.
“Hello.” He slides one hand up my spine until he’s cupping the back of my head. “So cold.”
“It’s the shadow disguise. Sorry.”
“It’s all right. Your eyes are beautiful.”
“Heh. Thanks.”
“You don’t mind me holding you like this, do you, Chris?”
“No, not at all. I mean…uh…whatever makes you comfortable.” Ugh. I’m so lame. I have to play it cool. “I mean, yeah, it’s great. I’m into it. If you are.” Oh, god, I’m horrible.
Is somebody calling my name? Whatever. Don’t look. I don’t want Sifiso to think I’m not interested.
“How long was I in that false world?” he asks me.
“About three weeks.”
“It felt like longer. Do you know I could not eat or drink in there?”
“I know. I’m so sorry.”
I take a risk and put my arms around his back. He seems good with it. Score. Damn it, I wish I could feel him better. Stupid shadow. I’ll bet his skin is warm.
We’re so close. Our lower halves press together and…oh, god. There’s no hiding how into him I am now.
“Oh!” He grins. “It seems you like me?” He moves his hands a little lower. “I like you, too.”
I’m glad he can’t see my blushing. “I do, yeah. You’re so hot. You’re like the hottest guy I’ve ever seen.”
“Hot?” He laughs. “I like that. I’m ‘hot.’ You are also ‘hot,’ Chris.” He moves in like he’s going to kiss me but at the last second he veers away. His mouth moves right to my ear but this damn shadow keeps me from feeling his breath. “I wasn’t hungry in that other world, but now I am. I’m very, very hungry.”
“I’m sorry. We could go to the food court?”
He holds me tighter, pulling me firmly against him, digging his hands into my back and my head. I don’t usually like my men rough, but I trust him.
“I need to eat now, Chris,” he says. “You would not deny me your blood, would you? I feel as if I will die if I don’t taste you.”
I can’t control my breathing, I’m so excited. “Yeah, no, it’s fine.” I slide my hands down his back until they’re just above his loincloth. Maybe while he’s eating me I can work up the nerve to touch his butt. “Help yourself.”
And suddenly I am so cold, so damn cold, but it’s not Sifiso, he hasn’t bitten me yet. It’s the shadow! I’m freezing and numb and holy crap it’s so cold!
Sifiso’s teeth touch my neck.
“Get off me!”
I shove him but he’s got me tight in his grip. I wriggle and squirm and kick but can’t get free. His teeth press in, pushing through the shadow to the skin underneath.
“Sun!”
I set my whole body on fire and the shadow burns away. Sifiso screams and lets me go. I drop.
The sun rises! “Sun!”
I halt with a jerk and move up again. My body is still entirely on fire. I intensify the flames around my face to keep it hidden.
I stop and hover at the same level as before. Sifiso is covering his mouth with his hand.
“You burned me!” he yells through his fingers.
“You tried to eat me!” I shout back.
“You said I could!”
He uncovers his mouth. It doesn’t look all that burned to me. God, his lips are gorgeous.
I pinch my arm, hard. “You used magic on me!”
He smiles, curling his lip just a little, and flexes his pecs. “I don’t need magic to make you want me.”
His muscles are amazing. Zero body fat. “I have a boyfriend!”
“I must eat.” Lightning flashes between us, striking the ground below. “If you will not feed me, someone else will.”
“Don’t! Don’t make me—”
He turns back into a bird and dives down to the second level.
“…burn you,” I finish weakly. I follow, but by the time I get there he’s already laying the mack down on a middle-aged white woman. Everybody else in the area has run away, but she’s running a finger down Sifiso’s chest.
“Oh, I don’t know if I should,” she says with a giggle. “I don’t usually let strange men eat me…”
He caresses her cheek. “But I’m not strange, am I, Marjorie?”
She flips her hair back, exposing her neck. “I suppose, just this once…”
I land behind him. “Let her go.”
Marjorie scowls at me. “Mind your own beeswax!”
Sifiso steps away from his victim to face me. “What will you do, Chris? Will you burn me for following my nature?”
“I’m sorry you’re hungry but I can’t let you eat people. We’ll find you something else to eat.”
“What else is there?”
“Animals? We can find you—”
A crack of thunder cuts me off. “Others of my kind may be satisfied feeding off cattle. I am not.”
He turns into lightning and shoots himself at my chest. My muscles spasm from a million painful pinpricks and I’m thrown into the low glass wall overlooking the atrium below, cracking it. My
fire goes out and I slump to the ground.
Sifiso stands over me. “I have no wish to kill anyone, Chris. Do not make me do that again.”
He turns back to Marjorie, who’s been waiting patiently, unfazed by all the magic. “Now, beautiful one. Before we were interrupted—”
I throw a blast of flame at his back. He screams in pain and turns back into a bird. The spell over Marjorie breaks and she bolts for safety.
The storm at the roof of the mall intensifies. Lightning flashes out in all directions and thunder rattles my bones. Sifiso flies over me, over the railing, into the open space, then whirls back, his sharp talons extended.
I grab the bar at the top of the low wall and pull myself up to standing. I set my whole body on fire again and Sifiso veers away just before striking. He pivots and heads towards a cluster of people opposite, but I throw another blast at him, singing his feathers. He shrieks and turns towards me again. Lightning strikes a wooden bench behind me, shattering it into kindling.
“Wait!” It’s Alisa, running up the escalator. The rest of my friends are right behind. “Wait! Don’t hurt him! You can feed off me!”
Sifiso turns human and lands between us. “What beauty is this?”
“Hi.” Alisa stops short. “Um. I’m Alisa. Hello.”
I ready a ball of flame. “Don’t—”
Behind Alisa, Nate makes a cutting gesture across his neck to me.
I put out all the fire around me. They’ve got a plan. Whatever it is, it’s gotta be better than mine, which was to keep burning Sifiso until he either promised not to eat anyone or electrocuted me to death.
Sifiso embraces Alisa, while Nate, Tannyl, Jasmine and Zane run around them to join me. Zane’s got the book.
“Alisa,” I whisper.
“She’s good,” Nate says. “Let her handle this.”
Zane opens the book to the impundulu pages, where the coin was serving as a bookmark. “When she gives the signal, tell the book to send the lightning bird back into the coin.”
“Got it,” I say. “Thanks for the cold shower, by the way.”
He snorts. “You’re lucky I’m not the jealous type.”
Sifiso cups Alisa’s chin in his hand. “Such a strong woman you are, Alisa. You don’t mind if I drink of your strength, do you?”