by Charley Case
“Do I have your attention, dwarf?” Hellena said, ice in her voice.
“Yeah. You do, Hellena. What can I do for you?” Finn said, taking the phone from his ear and putting the call on speakerphone.
“You can fucking die.” She shouted, before continuing in a menacing tone. “How dare you go after my daughter. She is mine. Do you hear me? Mine! You’ve gone too far, dwarf. No one takes what’s mine and lives to talk about it. I am coming for you and your little Valkyrie. I’ll make you watch as I peel the skin from her living body and feed it to my dogs. I’ll find your little elf friend and your fucking goblin pets and make you watch as I have them drawn and quartered. And when that’s all done, I’ll drive a knife into your heart as slow as I can to be sure I see the moment you expire. Your precious city will be the first I wipe off the map, a sacrifice to my grand design. It will be the perfect catalyst to start the war and finally take what is mine.”
The men became a little uncomfortable as their leader shouted through the little speaker, but were too afraid to say anything. Finn gave them all a knowing look, but that just seemed to anger them even more.
A sniff made Finn look over to see Stephanie in a state of shock at hearing her mother’s threats. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she made no attempt to wipe them away.
The silence drew out, and it began to snow large fat flakes. Several times Stephanie opened her mouth to say something, only to close it again when the words didn't come.
Hellena, growing impatient, growled like an animal. “I’ve had enough of your trouble. You were the fly that landed in my soup. It’s time I dealt with you once and—”
“Mom?” Stephanie said, her voice thick with emotion.
The Dark Star quieted at her daughter’s words, understanding that Stephanie had heard her. “You will pay for this, Dwarf King.”
“Mom?” Stephanie sniffed again, wiping her nose with the sleeve of her sweater. “Why are you doing this? Finn and Mila haven't done anything to hurt me. It’s you who keeps me under guard, locked up in that house like some kind of animal. Why are you doing this?”
Finn could hear Hellena breathing through clenched teeth. “You will understand, one day, Steph.”
“I need to understand now,” Stephanie demanded, her voice becoming hard. “The things you said; those aren’t the things a sane person says, Mom. What’s happened to you? How did you get like this?”
“I sought the power to make our lives better. That power comes at a cost. You’ll understand one day—”
“That’s not good enough,” Stephanie shouted. “You talk about peeling the skin from a live person like you’ve done it before. I don't know who you are anymore. I would rather flee with complete strangers than be forced to see you again. Do you know what that’s like? You took the only person I could count on away from me. Somehow I lost you, and I don't know why! Tell me what is happening!”
Hellena’s voice went cold and emotionless. “That’s enough. No one tells me what I can and can't do. You will be returned home, and I will collect you when I am ready. Anders, kill the dwarf and Valkyrie, and be sure you don't miss the little shit of a dragon.”
The line went dead.
Anders raised his gun along with his men. “Fire!”
Finn dropped to his knee, expecting a little more time and began to gather his magic, but he knew it was too late.
Then Stephanie clapped her hands over her head and began to scream.
The sound was piercing. It grew as the seconds drew out. No one fired a shot and, Finn felt the blood in his head throbbing. His vision went white at the edges. Mila dropped to a knee beside him, trying in vain to plug her ears, her eyes screwed shut, and teeth clenched.
Just when Finn thought he was going to lose consciousness, the sound stopped, and something in the air cracked as if a glass shell had shattered into a billion shards. A blast of raw power and the colors of a supernova exploded away from Stephanie.
The soldiers blasted backward as the shockwave reached them, throwing bodies into brick walls, dumpsters, or hurtling them end over end down the alley. Finn heard hundreds of bones snapping as the men were broken against the hard surfaces.
The snow, having been blasted away, began to fall again as Stephanie stumbled and fell backward.
Finn caught her in his arms and surveyed the damage. Bodies littered the alley, and as far as he could tell, none of them would be moving ever again. At least not under their own power. Mila shakily stood, blinking to clear her vision as Penny crawled out of his jacket, her eyes wide as she stared at Stephanie.
“Chi.” Penny pointed at the unconscious girl, wonder in her voice.
Finn did as she suggested and took a look at Stephanie’s aura. “Holy shitcakes. She’s brighter than the sun. Where the hell did that come from?”
“What?” Mila asked, not having learned how to see auras yet.
“You know how I said she didn't have an aura?”
Mila nodded. “Yeah. You said it was locked away.”
“Well, it isn’t anymore. This girl is bright as a beacon.”
The sound of sirens in the distance made them both glance down the alley. “We should probably get out of here,” Mila said. “We need to get her someplace safe.”
Finn nodded and started jogging down the alley towards Stephanie’s house. “I really wish we had driven. Carrying an unconscious girl down the road is pretty suspicious behavior.”
“You want me to go get the car while you wait here with all the dead bodies?” Mila suggested.
“Har har.” Finn frowned at her. “No. I want us to run.”
Mila and Finn ran, Penny on his shoulder and Stephanie in his arms. Mila, keeping pace, asked, “Where to?”
“Home.” Finn puffed. “It’s the safest place I can think with the wards Penny put up.”
“Man, Danica is going to pop her top when I bring another wayward magical home with me.”
“Especially when we tell her who she is. Nothing like stealing a madwoman’s child to get her to come to you.”
“I don't know. Hellena sounded damn cold on the phone. I don't know how much mother is left.”
“It’s the way dark magic works. It eats the soul of the user till there is nothing left but a power-hungry shell. At least until the body gives out. Dark magic is always a death sentence for the user; it just takes time.”
Chapter Twenty
Mila took Route 36, keeping the Hellcat at a reasonable speed for once. The chase earlier must have gotten a lot of pent up aggressive driving out of her system.
Looking into the backseat, he checked on their passenger for the hundredth time. Stephanie hadn't moved a muscle since he had lain her across the bench seat. Penny perched beside her, gently stroking her head and using her powers to soothe the girl's emotions.
“She okay?” Mila asked.
Finn nodded as he turned back to look out the windshield. “Yeah. Still hasn't moved. She used a lot of power back there. Probably did her a real number.”
The snow was coming down, especially between Boulder and Denver. A front of heavy clouds pushed their way south along the Rockies and dumped their contents on the metro area. The visibility was awful.
“About that,” Mila said, slowing since the snowfall was picking up. “What exactly was that spell? It didn’t look like peabrain magic or even elf magic. It was wilder.”
“Shir shee chi,” Penny said from the back.
“A witch?” Mila raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t a witch just a female human magic-user?”
Finn chuckled. “Why would you think that? A human magic-user is called a Peabrain.”
Mila frowned and gave him a quick side glance to see if he was messing with her. “Isn’t a Peabrain what magicals call a nonmagic user?”
Finn nodded. “Yeah. Just because they forgot how to use magic doesn't make them any less a Peabrain.”
“Okay, putting that aside for now, what’s a witch?”
“They’re a race of p
eople, like peabrains or elves or dwarves. They’re a people.”
“And they have a different kind of magic?” Mila had a confused look on her face, having trouble grasping this.
Finn chewed his tongue as he thought how to explain. “Sort of. Magic is energy. It’s everywhere and, pretty much, in everything. Every race has a different way of channeling it. Peabrains, for example, have a tiny spot in the back of their brains that allows them to tap into magical energy, so that little spot, or ‘peabrain’ if you will, is like a bridge from their bodies to the magical power. They only use what they need, letting it flow through them. Does that make sense?”
Mila nodded, her scientific brain digesting the information. “So, how are the other races different?”
“Well, dwarves don't have a peabrian, so we have to channel our power differently. We use earth, drawing the power into us as we walk around touching the ground. We have to store that power inside, so we can use all our power up and be left with nothing, like when I used that large area of effect spell when we were going after the hellhounds.”
“Oh, yeah. Hermin had to bring you some rocks that Penny shoved down your throat.”
“I pulled the magic out of them, but I have to be careful doing it that way, I could have taken in too much and killed myself,” Finn said, holding up a hand to stop the comment he saw coming. “Penny knows what I can take. She wouldn't have given me too much.”
“Chi,” Penny said, making Finn blanch.
“What? You were guessing?” He glared over his shoulder.
Penny shrugged. “Shir?”
“You’re sorry?” Finn was stunned.
“Chi shir shee,” the dragon said, with an indignant toss of her head.
Finn frowned, turning back, and crossing his arms. “Yeah. It worked. I can't believe you were guessing.”
Mila glanced to see if he was done pouting before continuing, “So, how do witches use magic? Actually, how do I use magic?” Her eyebrows rose as she realized just how little she knew.
Finn blew out a long breath. “Well, witches are a bit of a mix between dwarves and peabrains. Like dwarves, they collect magic and store it, but they can get it from everything around them, unlike dwarves who need rock or dirt. Then they have to use a wand to focus the power like peabrains do through that small spot in their brain. As for you? I honestly have no idea. There’s one big difference between you and the rest of us. You don't use the same magical energy we do. You use celestial magic, and I have to be honest; I don't know the first thing about it, except that it’s not the same energy I use.”
Mila frowned.
Finn saw the expression and patted her knee. “Sorry, darlin’. You’re just going to have to accept you’re a special snowflake.”
Her shoulders shook with a silent chuckle. “You’re such a dork.”
“Squee!” Penny shouted, making Finn spin around.
Stephanie was starting to rouse. Her eyes fluttered, and she groaned in pain, her arms and legs drawing her into the fetal position. Penny put a hand on her forehead and began to channel some of her healing power to ease the girl's mind.
Stephanie’s eyes snapped open. She stared at Penny for a second, only inches away from her face, before screaming and scrambling across the backseat, her knees in her chest and hands out towards Penny. There was a deep concussive blast, and Penny was thrown off the bench seat and onto the floor as the rear end of the car slammed into the road, making the shocks bounce the wheels off the pavement then slamming down again.
Mila had to think fast to keep them from spinning out from the jolt.
“Penny! You okay?” Finn shouted, reaching around and scooping her up in one hand.
“Chi,” she groaned, shaking her head.
“Where am I?” Stephanie shouted, her eyes manic, as another spell went off.
This time Finn's seat was slammed forward, and he was pressed into his seatbelt hard enough to leave a bruise.
“Stephanie, you’re safe! Calm down!” Mila shouted, swerving into her lane as the car was rocked by another blast.
“What’s happening? Why are things exploding?” the young woman was frantic, her feet scrambling, trying to get her away from what was happening to her, but she was already pressed against the door.
She flicked her fingers as if trying to get something off of them, and a wave of raw power sliced out from her fingers, leaving a clean cut in the leather upholstery that went all the way to the ceiling. The glass of the back window had a new hair-thin slice through it that whistled as air passed over it.
“We need to get her out of the car. She’s going to rip this thing apart from the inside,” Finn said, keeping his voice low to not alarm the panicking girl.
Mila glanced at the long slice in her precious car, a pained expression crossing her face before she nodded, stepping on the gas.
Luckily they were coming to the end of the long stretch of 36, and the McCaslin Boulevard exit was in less than a quarter-mile.
Finn tried to calm Stephanie, even suggesting Penny try to soothe her again, but the sight of the tiny dragon had Stephanie freaking out and rocking the car with another energy blast. This time, the back window spider-webbed with cracks, and one of the back seat cushions exploded, sending foam and leather scraps all over the interior of the car.
Mila groaned and took the exit at speed. She turned right at the light, barely slowing and making the tires squeal as she drifted slightly. She spotted a Phillips 66 on the right and slammed on the brakes. Spinning the wheel and hopping a bit of curb, she raced between the main building and the car wash, Mila jammed on the brakes and slid the Hellcat into a parking space at the back of the station.
Finn was out of the car in a flash, shoving the front seat forward, and reaching into the back to grab hold of Stephanie’s hand. He pulled her out of the car, trying not to hurt the girl. She stumbled and fell into him, sending a shock through him that threw him onto his ass and stunned him somewhat.
His head swam as the electric shock dissipated, sending sparks between his fingers. He watched, unable to move or say anything, as Mila came racing around the car, and threw her arms around the shellshocked Stephanie.
Both women froze in place.
Finn struggled to get to his feet, his jaw clenched from the shock, and his muscles not working correctly. Penny came bounding out of the car, a healing potion in one hand she had pulled from the glove box; they had learned the hard way to always keep a few extras in the car. She slid to a stop at his side and uncorked the vial, before flapping her wings and lifting the tube of red liquid to his lips. It was all Finn could do to open his mouth even a tiny bit, but he managed, and Penny dumped the contents into his mouth.
Nearly ten seconds later, Finn was able to swallow the potion. His muscles began to knit together, the extreme shock having ripped them as they strained to all flex at once. After another thirty seconds, he was able to move again if a little stiffly.
Finn climbed to his feet and stumbled a little as he stepped close to the two women. At first, he thought they were locked in some kind of continual electric shock and feared the worst, but when he got close, Finn realized they were just standing there, not moving at all. He reached out a tentative hand and touched Mila’s shoulder. Both women rocked on their feet as Finn put some pressure into the touch. As far as he could see, they were fine, just not moving.
“Thanks,” Finn said to Penny as she landed on his shoulder and accepted a fist bump. “I didn't realize how bad that was. I can't believe the power she has.”
“Shir.”
Finn frowned, not knowing what to do. He didn't know if the two women were locked in place because of Stephanie’s power or Mila's. When he tried to view their auras, both of them were blazing like bonfires, their magic swirling together, but not seeming to be doing anything.
“What the fuck is going on?”
Penny shrugged. “Squee shir?”
Finn's eyebrow rose. “Not a bad idea. She might have seen
something like this before. Worth a shot, I guess.”
He pulled out his phone and found Danica’s number, but before he could hit the call button, an employee from the gas station came around the corner, a pack of cigarettes in his hand.
“Oh, hey, man.” The pimpled youth said, shocked to find anyone in his smoking spot.
He glanced over at Mila with her arms wrapped around Stephanie’s ribcage and her face buried in the taller woman's chest. Stephanie had her arms up as if surrendering to the cops. It was a weird tableau.
“Uh, what the fuck?” the young man said, a cigarette halfway out of the pack.
“They’re practicing to be living statues,” Finn said, remembering when Mila had explained the performance art when they saw a man painted chrome standing on the side of the street one night.
The kid nodded, then put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it. “They’re good,” he said, smoke billowing out of his mouth. “Is that a dragon?” he pointed to Penny, who was stock-still on Finn's shoulder.
Finn looked over at the same time as Penny. They stared at one another for a second. “Yup. Sure is.”
“Cool.” The kid said, pulling out his phone, opening some social media app, and slowly scrolling through it.
Finn watched the kid for a full minute, but he seemed disinterested in what was happening beyond his screen.
Finn shrugged and called Danica.
Chapter Twenty-One
Mila opened her eyes, expecting to be in a hospital after seeing what Stephanie had done to Finn, but there was a driving need Mila had felt deep in her core to help this poor girl whose world had been turned inside out.
To Mila's great surprise, she did not find herself in a hospital. In fact, she didn't find herself anywhere. She blinked a few times in the hope that she was just dazed or something, but all she could see was complete and utter darkness. She still felt Stephanie in her arms, but she couldn't see her at all even though her face was pressed against the girl's sweater.
Panic set in. Mila wished there was light. She blinked and, when her eyes opened again, the blackness had been replaced with a sourceless white light that emanated from everywhere. Mila pulled back and saw Stephanie, her eyes still wide with terror and confusion, her arms held above her head, but she was unmoving. Even her long red curls were held aloft in defiance of gravity.