Winds of Magic Chapter 2

 

Chapter 2

“Reginus Alnum,” said the reaper, whose only body part I could see was its finger. “You have something my master requires.”

“And what is that?” I said.

Jade pushed me away. “I will handle this,” she said. She held up her hand and a pulsing ball of green energy formed inside of it. “You will leave this place or I will force you to,” she said. Her face held a fury that I had not expected from such a cool beauty.

The finger disappeared. “Very well,” said the reaper. “I will be back for you. My master will not be pleased that I am being kept from my goal from a lowly apprentice onmyouji.”

The reaper’s presence disappeared. Jade relaxed.

“You’re an onmyouji?” I said, tilting my head in curiosity.

“Just an apprentice, like the reaper said,” said Jade. She didn’t appear in the least bit embarrassed. Her eyes were, again, made of ice. She turned away. “I hope to see you during the entrance ceremony.”

I nodded as I watched her leave. Well, she had definitely made an impression on me. I cracked a small smile before turning away.

Rei was standing in front of her house, right next door to mine, sitting in a lawn chair and reading a book. When I turned the corner she stood up and closed it with a snap.

“You’re back,” she said.

“I am,” I said.

“How did you do?”

“As expected.”

“Well, then have you given up on going?”

“No,” I said. “I want to see what happens after they receive my test score. The test is in two days and I plan to ace it.”

“I don’t doubt you will,” said Rei, sitting back down. “In any case, sit here.” She motioned to an adjacent chair and showed me what was on her tablet. “There was a reaper attack juts a few hours ago in the downtown area. The reporters said that the demons were looking for Regius Alnum.”

“Well,” I said, hiding my surprise, “I doubt they’ll find him.”

“He is very secretive, after all,” said Rei. She turned to face me. “But you know something. You’re acting like you know something.”

“Um, no,” I said. “I don’t know anything.”

Rei frowned, her expression telling me that she didn’t believe me. “You’re always so secretive,” she said.

“And for a good reason. If I told you my secrets I’d have to kill you.”

“Hah,” said Rei. “That joke again.”

I shrugged. It was, mostly, a joke. A little bit of it was still true though.

Rei continued to tap at her tablet. “My parents extended their business trips,” she said. “They said they wouldn’t make it in time to say goodbye when I move into the dorms at Rockwell.”

“We don’t know if you’ve made it yet,” I said.

“I have, for sure,” said Rei. “I scored almost perfect on the physical exam.”

“You may not do the same on the knowledge exam,” I said.

Rei’s lips curled up. “We’ll see,” she said. Her expression turned different. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you …” She paused. “Never mind. We’ll see if you get into Rockwell.”

“I’ll be there to listen,” I said. I stood up. “I think it’s my turn to make dinner.”

Rei waved her hand. “Go do that,” she said. “I’ll be out here for a little while longer.”

I returned to my house and put together a quick meal using my considerable cooking skills, at least considering the fact that I’m a guy. Fish was on the menu tonight, as well as a salad of tolerable greens like spinach and celery. Rei loved salad, and I wasn’t particularly fond of it myself, but she made me put it in every meal I made. Maybe she thought it would be good for me.

I set the table and leaned outside to tell Rei that dinner was ready. I blinked several times in surprise. She was gone.

“Rei?” I said, looking around the front yards of her house and my house. “Where did you go?”

Her tablet was sitting on the chair she had been using. I went outside and picked it up. It was unlocked. This meant that she had dropped it very recently. I had no psychometric ability, so I couldn’t divine anything from touching the device. I looked around for footprints.

A shadow materialized in front of me. It was a reaper.

“What do you want?” I asked, holding my spatula like a weapon in front of me.

“I want you to cooperate with me,” said the reaper. “I know you want to get into Rockwell Magic Academy.”

“You know a lot, fiend,” I said.

“I’m less of a fiend and more of a drone,” said the reaper. I still couldn’t make out much more than a shadowy humanoid outline. It lifted its right arm and pointed at me. “My master can help you, as long as you help it.”

“You’re saying you can get me into Rockwell?” I said. “What will it cost me?” I paused. “And where the hell is Rei?”

“She is safe,” said the reaper. “Do not worry. We would not hurt any of the friends or family of the great Regius Alnum.”

“Okay,” I said. “What’s the catch?”

“You will have to help awaken my master,” said the reaper.

“I won’t do that unless I know I won’t be causing a Godzilla or some Lovecraftian god to awaken.”

“You have my word that nothing will happen to you, your friends, or your society. Our goal is more … Spectral than anything you can imagine.”

“Okay,” I said. “Let me think about it.”

“I will give you one fortnight to think,” said the reaper. “Until the night before entrance decisions are made for Rockwell Magic Academy.”

“So you’re saying you can get me in.”

“My master has pull,” said the reaper. Then it shimmered. “Think on it.”

The moment the reaper disappeared, Rei popped into existence sitting on her chair. I knew exactly what had happened: she had been sequestered into a mobile space. It was a harmless transition and a relatively common one at that. I slapped myself internally for not realizing that was the case.

“What?” said Rei, not seeming to notice anything as wrong. “Is dinner ready?”

“With salad, as always,” I said, turning towards the door. “Can you be a bit more careful?”

“About what?” said Rei.

“Never mind,” I said. This specific manifestation of the mobile space spell probably removed all traces of its activation from the mind of the target. Thankfully the reaper hadn’t wanted to hurt her. Which was strange, but I would think about it later. First I needed to figure out how the reaper broke through my defense mechanism. I had weaved hundreds of spells around Rei that were supposed to prevent things like this. Some with her knowledge, some without. After all, she was the childhood friend of Regulus Alnum. A very prime pressure point.

We sat down at the dinner table and started eating.

“What about your parents?” said Rei. “Are they going to come home soon?”

“No,” I said. “They’re still vacationing in the arctic.”

“I’ve said it before, but that’s a strange place to vacation.”

I shrugged. “They’re strange people,” I said. “It’s more of a research mission, but they talk about it like it’s a vacation.”

“Well, I mean, they are famous scientist magicians,” said Rei, thoughtfully putting some salad into her mouth.

“And I don’t fault them for it,” I said. “I just wish they would spend a little bit more time worrying about me.”

“Hah,” said Rei, putting her silverware down. “You don’t want your parents worrying about you all the time like mine do. They expect me to call in with them twice a day.”

“And yet they still leave you alone with your childhood friend for months at a time.”

Rei shrugged. “Who knows?” she said. “The mind of a parent is impermeable.”

I stood up from my chair. “Well, I’m going to go work on some homework.”

“You’re always studying,” said Rei. “Can’t you loosen up a bit and have some fun with me tonight?”

I thought about refusing, but then reconsidered. “What do you have in mind?” I asked.

“We can either do karaoke or go watch a movie,” said Rei.

“Just you and me?” I asked.

“Just you and me,” said Rei.

I rubbed my chin. “Well, okay then,” I said. “I suppose the entrance exams to a top magical college can suffer a day of relaxation.” I was only half joking, but I realized that later on I would want to have memoires like this.

“Your pick,” said Rei.

“How about karaoke,” I said.

“Great,” said Rei. “I know a place downtown that has the best songs.”

“I’m not a good singer,” I said.

“That’s the point of it,” said Rei. Her lips curled up. “You can’t sing too bad at a karaoke place.”

I cleared the table with Rei’s help.

“Thanks for humoring me,” said Rei, as she carried some dishes away. “I know you really want to make it into Rockwell.”

“I do,” I said, “But there are some things that are more important.”

“Thanks.”

There was a silence as we finished cleaning up after dinner. We tied everything up neatly and left the house, locking the door behind us. The evening sky was just coming towards sunset. We walked silently towards the center of town, where the karaoke place was.

I caught a sight out of the corner of my eye that I did not expect. A peculiar white-haired girl was looking at the window of a magic equipment shop. The moment my gaze lingered on her, she twirled around and made eye contact. She approached.

“Who’s that?” said Rei, as Jade stopped in front of us.

“I need your help,” she said, to me, ignoring Rei. Her voice was as monotone as ever. She tugged on my sleeve.

“Where?” I said. “I have something to do.”

Jade’s eyes darted towards Rei for only a moment. “I need your help,” Jade said, again.

“Okay, okay,” I said, “But I made a promise with my friend—”

Rei grabbed my hand. “Who is this girl?” she said.

“It’s just someone I met at the test,” I said, being pulled between the two girls.

“You didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend,” said Jade.

“The topic never came up,” I said.

Rei’s face went bright red. “G-g-girlfriend?” she said, her eyes almost swirling. She stepped away, both hands to her face.

“It’s fine,” I said, being pulled away by Jade. “Don’t worry.”

Rei’s eyes ignited with a real fire. “And who are you to York?” she said, to Jade.

Jade’s eyes showed a slight emotion. “A friend who needs help.” She continued to pull at my arm.

“Does this have to do with the reaper?” I said, a little too loudly.

“Reaper?” said Rei, her eyes growing wide. “You didn’t tell me you met a reaper.”

“It wasn’t anything special, really,” I said.

“You were trapped in a mobile space for a while and missed it,” said Jade.

“What?” said Rei. “I was –what?”

“Sorry I didn’t mention it,” I said. “I didn’t think it was relevant …”

Rei grabbed my arm again. “We’re going to karaoke. You don’t have to help her.”

“He has to,” said Jade, still pulling at me.

“Okay, okay,” I said. “Let’s compromise. Both Rei and I will help you, Jade, with whatever you need help with. Then we can all go to karaoke.”

Both girls appeared to think on it.

“Okay.”

“Sure. Fine. Whatever.”

The pulling stopped. “Thanks.” I turned to Jade. “What did you need help with?”

“I need to find someone,” said Jade. “A friend. She’s been abducted.”

“Then we’re all yours,” I said. I turned to Rei. “You in on this?”

“If you say so,” said Rei. She sighed. “And I’m not his girlfriend.”

Jade made a face that was uninterpretable and then turned around. “Follow me.”