Misfit Mage

by Michael Taggart

  Annabeth fell silent again, lost in her thoughts. I’d been so caught up in my own story of transition I hadn’t thought how it must be for others. No wonder it was considered bad taste to ask about how people became a super.

  “I had imagined all kinds of outcomes to this meeting and I was so nervous. My son, his wife, and their two girls were walking up the street, talking and laughing. Not a care in the world. Just being the amazing family they are. Then my son sees me. I felt this pressure in the air, like it suddenly got very heavy, and then my son screams. He screamed in such pain, like someone was ripping his guts out. Then he collapsed. Without thinking I started to run over. My baby needed me. Then my granddaughters saw me and they screamed too. Except they didn’t stop. They just kept screaming over and over again until they fell on the ground shaking.

  “It was me. I didn’t understand it but I was causing all this. I stopped running toward them and started running away. I went to my house, packed a bag, and just left. They were the world to me, and I couldn’t see them anymore. I had to get out of there. I’d been thinking about a fresh start anyway. Loneliness gives you a lot of time to consider your life. I’ve always lived with someone or for someone. That’s just the way it was when I grew up. I’d never really gone out on my own and lived my own life. As I drove away, I was so upset. I was mad at the world, angry at the loss of my family, and furious at myself for somehow letting all this happen.

  “I drove for a long time. I don’t know how many days. I didn’t know where I was going. I took roads at random, stopped when I was hungry, and slept in my car. I was like Forrest Gump, just running and running and running. Somewhere in all that I left my anger behind. One day I was driving by this field and the sun was shining through the clouds. The light was leaving these rays in the sky and it seemed spiritual and celestial somehow. I pulled over and walked into the field. I could smell the grass, feel the breeze, feel my little small place in this big world.

  “I stopped resisting the changes that were happening to me. Instead I accepted them. The universe was pushing me to start over, to create a new life. That day in the field I gave up my old life and resolved to start over. I had no idea what that would look like, but I was going to accept it as it came.

  “I drove to the nearest city, which happened to be Louisville, and started driving around. These older homes are just beautiful and I thought it would be nice to live in one. About that time, I saw the ‘For Rent’ sign, so I pulled over and went inside. Sandy knew what I was right away and helped me start a new life. Of course, it wasn’t that easy to do. The old world had forgotten me so selling the house and getting my retirement account was rough. She put me in touch with a supernatural lawyer and he got it all worked out. Not his first rodeo I’m sure.”

  “I am so sorry,” I said and gave her a hug. “I can’t imagine how hard it must have been. I’ve been feeling like I had it rough, and you’ve lived through a Lifetime Original Movie.” We started walking again. “Starting over is not easy. I’ve started over from scratch a few times and I never did it with acceptance like that. After hearing your story, I’m wondering how you’re so cheerful all the time?”

  “I heard a saying long ago that what you resist, persists. If you want something to end or you want something to start over, you gotta go through acceptance. I’ve lived by that all my life. The new life is good too. I have a store on Etsy, I have new friends to understand me and accept me for who I am, and I’m learning magic from a kick ass mage! How cool is that?”

  “Very cool!” I said. “Sandy does seem like a nice person.”

  “She’s that and much more. Get her to tell you about some of her battles sometime. The woman kicks ass. She’s always willing to help others too. That’s probably why the House picked her to be the HOH.”

  “HOH?” I asked.

  “Head of Household,” she said. “Sorry. There is lots of lingo with the new life. I’m still learning myself. Normally the HOH is picked by the House council, but sometimes the House picks them itself. In this case the House showed up here, and then Sandy woke up in the head suite. John followed her, of course, and Jennifer came down from Chicago as well.”

  “There is so much I don’t know yet,” I said. “How did the House just appear here?”

  “Well, the House is like this big interdimensional thing. I don’t really understand it myself. I just know that parts of the House exist all over the world and in other realms. Sometimes, for some unknown reason, a new part of the House will open up. This one started here in Louisville about a year ago. The one up in Chicago is apparently much bigger and has been open for more than a hundred years.”

  “How long have you been here?” I asked. I had been thinking of Annabeth as an old timer to this supernatural thing. Now I was realizing she was a newbie like me.

  “I’ve been here about six months, I guess,” she said. “Long enough to get settled in and start learning magic. That is one of the best things about my new life: learning that I’m a mage.”

  When I think of mage, I think of a stiff gray-bearded man with a staff and a blue robe, like in the movies. Annabeth was about as far away from that as possible. She was short, plump, and full of life.

  I didn’t want to get into discussing magic. I’d had it for a long time and it seemed like a bit of curse to me. I really appreciated Annabeth telling me her story and I wanted to leave it at that. I didn’t want to throw my story of fire, death, and exile into the mix. Time to change the subject.

  “So, what do you sell on Etsy?” I asked.

  “I sell little charms that put out good vibrations for those that wear them. John got me turned onto the whole Etsy thing. He takes flawed gem stones and makes these amazing rings and pendants out of them. He sells them in his own shop, but he takes the leftover metal and makes little charms for me. I tried to pay him for them but he says that working with metal makes him happy.”

  “So, you make all the money?” I asked.

  “I feel guilty, but, yes, I make all the profits off the charms. I’m trying to figure out another way to pay him back but nothing has shown up so far. Let me know if you think of anything when you are talking to him.”

  “Sure,” I said. “So what do you do with the charms? Can they do real magic like Sandy’s?”

  She laughed. “Oh, no. My charms aren’t like hers. She makes powerful stuff with runes and everything. She’s given me some of her old ones so I know just how good they are. No, my little charms just put out happy vibes because I sing to them.”

  “You sing to them?” I asked. That seemed like an interesting way to do magic.

  “Actually, I hum to them. Singing just sounds more exciting.” She laughed. “I did a magic assessment with Sandy and she found out I interact with magic through sound. I hear magic rather than see it. Apparently, that is kind of rare, and not a very good way to work with magic. Sandy says I just need to get creative and make my own path but right now it just feels frustrating.”

  I felt like I was missing something. I did my magic with little animated cartoons. I’m sure most people would consider that strange as well.

  “Why is singing so bad? Lots of people sing. And we hear stuff all the time. How is this holding you back?”

  “Because so much of magic is visual,” she said. “Runes determine how the magic takes shape and I can’t see them. Magic is usually directed at something and I can’t see to direct it. I’m like a blind person. I can still interact and get around in the world, but I bump into things and need a lot of help. I really want to make charms like Sandy, but I can’t draw the shapes like her and force them into a vessel. I’m sure I’ll get better, but right now it’s frustrating.”

  I thought about my little cartoon characters. I’d already figured out that the clearer I could make them, and the more detail I gave them, the better they did. I relied a lot on seeing where they went and how they interacted with the world. Not being able to see them would be awful. I’m not sure I could do magic w
ithout that.

  “I see what you mean,” I said. “If you compare yourself to sight-based magic, I’m sure there will be things you can’t do. Different doesn’t always mean worse. Sometimes it’s just different. Maybe you can find other ways to get the same effect.”

  I kicked into problem-solving mode. I have always been good at figuring out new things to try.

  “Let’s talk about the charms you are making now. You made them with sound instead of sight. What does Sandy think about them? Can she make charms like that?”

  “I… don’t know,” Annabeth said thoughtfully. “I’ve told her I was making these but I’ve never shown them to her. I just figured they were too simple for her.”

  “I’m sure Sandy would like to know you are progressing so I’m sure she would like to see them. For that matter, I’d like to see them.”

  “Sure! I have one right here,” Annabeth said. She pulled a small charm out of her pocket and gave it to me. It was in the shape of an elephant and the detail was exquisite. Most small items like this stopped at getting the general shape right. This had so much more. You could see the bulge of muscle under the skin. The skin had texture and even the toenails were there.

  “John made this?” I asked incredulously. Annabeth nodded proudly.

  “He’s mega talented,” I said. I had no idea what types of tools he used or how he did it, but John was an artist! I switched on my magic sight and the little elephant lit up with a soft pink glow. It was more than that, though. It kinda sparkled a bit with touches of dark red and flashes of white.

  It told Annabeth what I was seeing and how pretty it was. She loved it. As we were talking, I realized I could feel something too. The charm was giving off a feeling, like a warm cup of coffee on a cold morning, or a cat napping in the sun. It felt lazy, comfortable, and somehow happy.

  Annabeth was beyond tickled with all the stuff I was telling her. She’d been making these pendants but she wasn’t a hundred percent sure they were really magical. She’d been worried that maybe her mind was playing tricks on her. Maybe she was hoping for it so much she was imagining it happening. She hadn’t wanted to show these to Sandy because she had her on such a high pedestal. You never want to look bad in front of your hero.

  Since I could see magic so well, she wanted to know what I saw when she was making them. I was curious too. What did audio magic look like?

  We stopped by the side of the path and she took back the pendant. No one was around so it was the perfect time to experiment. Putting the little elephant on her hand and after clearing her throat self consciously a few times, she began humming to it. Nothing changed that I could see and I told her so. She just nodded and kept humming.

  I could tell she was having problems getting into her usual mode. She was shifting her feet and kept looking at me. Performance anxiety, it’s not just for boys.

  To put her more at ease I took her other hand in mine and began humming too. Then we started walking again but humming while we did so. Annabeth looked relieved then started to relax. I looked around at the trees and the grass. Even at night they were beautiful. There is something about being in nature that soothes me. I feel serene, happier. More at peace with myself and the world. The shadows from the leaves on the trees danced and a light breeze caressed me. I saw a picnic table off the path ahead of us that was hosting what looked like a million fireflies. In that moment I just felt right with the world.

  I looked over at Annabeth to tell her how happy I was and my jaw dropped. She was lighting up the world with bright pink sparkly energy! It was just beautiful. The little elephant pendant was throwing off sparks like a Fourth of July sparkler. She was humming to more than the pendant too, it seemed like the world was lighting up in her happy glow. I realized that I was glowing a bit too. No wonder the night seemed so special and beautiful. If her charms could make me feel like this, then I wanted one!

  I stopped humming and started to tell her what I was seeing, when I felt a tremor through the ground and I heard a dull booming sound. What the heck was that? I felt it again and then a dark hulking shape came out of the shadows. It wasn’t lit up in a happy glow. It looked vaguely human, but wrong somehow. There were glowing dark purple bands around it with some sort of pattern. At first glance it looked some sort of hieroglyphics or letters. It wasn’t anything I’d seen before. When it moved, I could feel the ground shake a bit. That thing must be heavy! As it came into the light, I realized it was made of stones. There were larger stones making up its main shape with smaller rocks and gravel filling in the space between them. It had two arms and two legs, although it didn’t have enough definition for hands. It had a head, although there wasn’t a sort of face on it. Even though it didn’t have a face, I could feel it was locked in on Annabeth and coming right at us. Annabeth saw it too and her happy glow faded.

  “What the heck is that?” she shouted. I had no idea, but I knew enough to get out of the way as it dashed toward us. We both dove in two different directions as the rock monster barreled between us. It had so much mass that it took it a few moments to stop.

  “What do we do?" I yelled at Annabeth.

  "I don’t know," she yelled back. She looked a lot less panicked than I was. “We have to defend the park. There is a realm gate here.” She didn’t get to say much more than that before the rock golem was back.

  Once again it was focused on Annabeth although it was moving slower this time. It wasn’t going to overshoot its rush again.

  “Fire!” Annabeth flung her hand out toward the golem. I saw she had a fistful of charms in her other hand. The air distorted and dust motes briefly burst into flame as the heat wave rolled toward the golem. When it impacted him, he briefly caught fire but it quickly went out. His momentum stuttered, though, so at least it slowed him down for a moment.

  “Try cold!” I yelled. Rocks don’t burn, at least not without a huge amount of heat. Cold typically slowed things down. Maybe it would freeze in place.

  “That’s Sandy’s charm,” Annabeth yelled. “I don’t know how to do the opposite.”

  “Just try it!” I yelled back.

  “Cold!” Annabeth commanded. Nothing happened. The golem had made it to her and swung a massive arm at her head. She ducked and dodged to the side. It didn’t hesitate at all, as it shifted and followed her.

  “Take the heat!” Annabeth commanded as she made a pulling motion. It worked. This time the heat ripple moved from the rock monster toward her. She yelped and dove out of the way again. For an old lady, she could move! She came up sweating and red like she had been left in the steamer too long, but rocky was covered in frost and not moving.

  I ran over and tried to push it. If I could knock it over then maybe it would stay down. It must have weighed more than a car, I couldn’t budge it. Annabeth ran over to help me but we couldn’t even rock it.

  “I’m not sure what else to try,” Annabeth said as the frost started melting. We both backed up to give us some room. If this thing started swinging, I didn’t want to be close.

  We didn’t have time to discuss it as the golem started moving again. The next few minutes turned into a cat-and-mouse game. The golem wasn’t fast enough to hit Annabeth and she wasn’t powerful enough stop it. The hot/cold charm was out of power according to Annabeth so freezing it again was out. The golem wasn’t slowing down, though. It was only a matter of time until Annabeth slipped up and got hurt. I had to do something but what?

  I felt a strange burning around my finger. It was my little penny that had changed into a ring. It was trying to get my attention. I looked at my hand and the charm had changed. Now it only had a thin band around my finger and the rest was sticking up like a tiny knife. It had at most only about two inches of blade. It only had as much material to work with as a penny, so it looked ridiculous as a tiny cutter. There was no way it could hurt something as huge and dense as the rock golem. The blade was shining with power, though, and I could feel the ring growling so clearly it had something in mind. What
it could do, though, I had no idea.

  Then it happened, one of the golem’s arms clipped Annabeth and she staggered. It swung again and this time she wasn’t ready.

  “STOP” Annabeth commanded. This time there wasn’t a ripple, or anything showing magic at work. The Golem just stopped. The command had been forceful, powerful, and the world had obeyed. This was her voice magic at work!

  As Annabeth sighed in relief, the purple bands around the golem flared and started to turn. I yelled a warning as they spun faster and faster but it was too late. The golem broke through her magic and kicked her.

  It was a powerful kick, catching her right in her center of gravity. It picked her up and hurled her through the air a good ten feet. When she hit the ground, she rolled to a stop and didn’t move.

  The golem started stalking toward her. She wasn’t moving and it was going to crush her. That couldn’t happen.

  I ran forward yelling, trying to get its attention, but that didn’t work. In desperation I slashed at one of the purple bands with my little knife. To my complete surprise, there was a flash of light and the band snapped.

  The whole golem shook, dust flew, and some of the smaller rocks holding it together fell away. It dug into the ground, coming to a complete stop. It didn’t even turn around, it just reformed so it was facing me. It didn’t have a face but it’s body language conveyed rage. I’d pissed this rock monster off! Faster than I thought possible it was after me.

  I’m sure a great hero would have stayed and fought. I turned and ran. I was still recovering from a major beating and I was in no shape to duck and dodge this thing’s attacks. I had to get it away from Annabeth and just hope that she was ok.

  I really wasn’t in any shape to run either, but that’s all I had, so run I did. I wasn’t fast but neither was the golem. I made it to the edge of the park and took the street heading south, away from downtown. I couldn’t take it where there were a lot of people. They might get hurt and the Fog of Jonah would mess with their minds.