Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling (28 page)

In the next second Amanda had sunk to her knees, and Gentle Water did the same, taking her into his arms and holding her close while she tried to get control of herself. She was so relieved that everything was okay, that he was still here and wasn’t going to leave her. All the tension that had built up since she had awoken this morning had found its release in the raw emotion and the tears she now shed, but her friend held her close and comforted her while she did her best to pull herself together. After a few minutes of tears she was able to calm herself somewhat and pulled away from Gentle Water.

She wiped her eyes with her fingers and sleeve, wiping away those tears, sniffing as she did so.

‘Are you okay?’

‘I am, I’m okay now. I’m sorry, it just got on top of me a little bit,’ she answered.

‘It is fine, I understand.’

Amanda smiled.

‘Please, take the day, there is no hurry, we can begin training again tomorrow.’

Amanda just nodded. She wanted to get back to her training, but she wasn’t going to argue with him now. Besides, a day to herself was probably a good thing and just what the doctor ordered.

Gentle Water stood up and smoothed out his clothes. ‘I will be back soon, I am going back to the cottage for a while.’

Amanda nodded once more. ‘Okay.’

She listened to his steps fading into the distance as she continued to kneel there for a while, not really thinking about much, as she still felt like she was in a daze. But she knew she had been lucky, very lucky indeed.

If Gentle Water had left her, while she was still learning of the nature of magic and about this new mysterious would around her, a world which filled her with wonder and horror at the same time, she really didn’t know what she would have done. She would have been an orphan in a world she didn’t understand any more. A world which was much more dangerous than she had ever really realised.

But maybe that was why he hadn’t left, maybe it was that he had taken on a responsibility when he had taken her on as his apprentice, a responsibility which was not easily thrown aside, not for such trivial reasons.

She didn’t really know if this was the case, but it might explain things.

But then again, maybe he was just a good human being, something which in a world so full of disrespect, of hate and violence to your fellow man and woman, was becoming quite rare, or so it seemed.

Gentle Water was a true gentleman, and someone who Amanda had a lot of respect for because he understood her. She felt she had crossed a line yesterday though.

Although Gentle Water had been fine with her and said he wasn’t offended, she still knew she had gone too far, she had said some pretty horrible things and even though Gentle Water had forgiven her, she didn’t feel like forgiving herself.

She had been a bitch yesterday, she had shown herself up and acted like a five year old by spitting her dummy out. She felt embarrassed by her actions, and oddly enough, Gentle Waters moderate reaction made her feel this more keenly then perhaps she would have felt it if he had been upset or shouted at her. Gentle Water had been an adult about it, he had understood that she had been upset and he had acted accordingly.

Meanwhile, she had blamed the person closest too her and had said some pretty horrible things to him. It was unforgivable in her mind and she knew she needed to grow up a bit if she was going to continue on with her training and enter into this world of magic and wonder that Gentle Water was showing to her.

So as she sat there she made a private resolution to herself, a resolution that she was going to act more like an adult, that she wouldn’t act like that again to the people she considered friends. She couldn’t treat those she cared about so badly, otherwise she would end up with no one who would want to care for her, or who would let her care for them.

It might not be New Years, but it didn’t matter, she had made a mistake and she knew it, and she knew she had been granted a second chance by someone who was able to look past the insults and see that she was better than that.

She appreciated that second chance more than anything as right now, she didn’t have many friends in the world and she had no intention to lose another one, least of all to lose him to her own silly actions.

Contented with this new direction in life she stood up and moved to the center of the clearing where she stood still, breathed easy for a moment before bowing to no one at all and entering into a ready stance.

She held that stance for a moment before moving into the start of one of her Martial Arts routines.

Georgina thinks this girl will be okay out there on the streets. But I have seen too many girls who think they can do this and who quickly realise they can’t. It can get messy if they change their minds while they’re with a client as well. But I trust Georgie more than most and if she thinks this Amanda girl can make a go of being a Pro, then I’m willing to see how things go.

Tonight will be in interesting night.

- Stuart

Accident

London, England.

Early May

The suburban streets of High Barnet in north London were warming up. It was early spring time and the past week had been quite pleasant, not particularly warm, but not cold either. There had even been a few really very nice days where the people in the streets were starting to wear distinctly summery clothes.

The air today had a nice pleasant temperature to it, one which wasn’t warm or cool, just very middle of the range making it difficult to dress for, and as Liz walked along the road next to her sister, the people they passed seemed to not really know which way to dress.

Liz had on some jeans, a baggy jumper with a pair of well-worn trainers on her feet, while her sister had dressed with slightly higher hopes for the day’s weather and wore a skirt that Liz felt looked a little too short for May. But that was Fran all over and there was nothing Liz or anyone could say to make her dress any differently.

But then she wouldn’t feel the cold anyway, Fran never did. She would swan about in a pair of skimpy denim shorts that didn’t really cover her bum in weather that wasn’t in any way warm, but it never seemed to bother Fran, she never complained and never seemed to shiver. Liz however did feel the cold, she was rarely seen without a coat.

She’d slung her coat over her handbag today, and she had only just taken it off after having warmed up a little bit from the walk they were making to Stephan’s house.

‘Do you have any idea what we’re heading round to Stephan’s for on such short notice?’ Liz asked.

He had called a little over fifteen minutes ago and had spoken to Fran on the phone only very briefly, Fran had then grabbed Liz and told her they were going round to Steph’s right now.

Their mother was in so they hadn’t been able to talk much about why, Fran not really answering Liz’s questions about it, only shushing her when their mother stood within ear shot, which meant it would probably be something occult.

Their walk had been in silence so far, Fran’s pace had been quick and Liz did her best to keep up, but Liz wanted to know what was going on before they made it to their destination.

‘He said his parents had gone out and that we could go round and see if we could do anything with that Slab he brought back from Egypt.’

‘Oh,’ said Liz, realisation dawning. It had nearly all been about that retched Sand Stone slab since he had returned from his holidays. They had researched it and its markings online on the internet, and also poured through various books at the local library to try and decipher it in any way or learn its origins.

All their research had come to nothing however and they were no closer to figuring it out now than they had been when they had first seen it.

She felt as fascinated by this occult object as the rest of them but it had started to become a little obsessive and they hadn’t just hung out and done something normal for a while now which Liz felt a bit frustrated about.

But then this was also probably due to their lack of progress with it. In their time together they seemed to have achieved most things they had put their minds to and the fact that this had beaten them so far started to really annoy her, as well as the rest of the group.

She and Fran seemed to have a way of making things happen, if they really concentrated on something, together, usually holding hands, they could make things change or happen purely with the power of their mind.

It had started as children, when they had played together alone, and it had all been just a game. A purely innocent game created by two children who saw it as their little secret. They had never been sure what had made them keep it a secret, as they had not known better back then, but both were glad they had done.

They didn’t know what it might be, it was just their secret. They had tried to make guesses or understand it through the years, they really didn’t know with any certainty what they had, what power it could be that they wielded.

Over the past few years they had come to believe it might be Magic of some sort, although before that it had been Psychic Powers, and before that it was Fairy Magic. Back when the Candle had levitated in Stephan’s house both the twins had known it had been them that had made the Candle hover, but they had never told the two boys that it had been them and their gift. The twins only really trusted themselves with the information about their secret, and they saw no reason to tell the other two just yet.

Although they knew if things kept on the way they had been going, the others would either end up finding out about the Twins powers, or Fran and herself would need to tell them for some currently unforeseen reason.

This stone slab worried Liz a little bit as well. She didn’t know what it would do but it had an aura about it which gnawed at the edges of her mind, something which made a cold sweat trickle down her spine sometimes.

Since returning from Egypt, Steph’s parents hadn’t really been away and left Stephan in the house alone for any length of time, until today that is, so they hadn’t had the chance to really do much with the Slab itself. They had all seen it, sneaking into the study once when they knew they were safe, as well as staring at Photos of it for days on end, but that had been all.

Today would be different though by the sounds of things, today would be the time when they would try to work some kind of Magic with it and see what they could do.

‘Is it such a good idea to try and do something with that Artefact do you think? It gives me the creeps.’

‘I know what you mean. It’s as if there’s something about this that seems more dangerous. It’s as if we have been just playing up until now, but this is different, this is real. I don’t know, I could be wrong here, maybe we’re just over reacting because it’s just a creepy looking thing.’

‘Maybe, but I think you might be right about it seeming more dangerous. I’m a little scared by that thing. You know?’ said Liz.

‘I know. But we got our gift don’t we? We can make sure we’re safe, protect ourselves if need be hey!’

‘Hopefully,’ but Liz wasn’t really convincing herself let alone anyone else.

Soon enough they were on Stephan’s street and a short distance later they had turned into the drive of the huge house and were walking up the gravel path.

Stephan lived in the nice area of town, his parents had money, flashy cars and a big house. Liz and Fran weren’t really jealous, but they knew Stephan had things better than they did in their little flat where they lived with their mother. It was all their mum could afford since their father left years ago. She worked all hours god sent to pay the bills and keep the girls in clothes, as well as fed and watered, which meant they hardly saw their mum, and whenever they did, she was exhausted.

They often made the dinners and the other meals, either because their mother was at work or because she’d been too tired to do it. They had learnt to fend for themselves over the years, and make the best of what they had, which wasn’t much.

Ben seemed a little better off than the Twins were, his parents were still together, but they lived in a council terrace house only a few streets away from Stephan’s, but it may as well be in a different country for all the similarity it had to Stephan’s house. Ben lived on the proverbial, ‘wrong side of the tracks’, in a council estate that had big problems with crime and delinquency. There was always a burnt out car somewhere around, the streets were ruled by the tribal gangs that roamed about them at night and the police sirens were never far off from being heard.

Every town had its bad areas, the places where you didn’t go walking at night if you valued the contents of your wallet, and it was surprising just how close they often were to the wealthier areas of town, sometimes just separated by a main road. Those from the nicer part of town sometimes joked that the inbred hillbillies from the council estate didn’t know how to cross the main road yet, otherwise they would have invaded the nice part of town already.

The flat the twins lived in wasn’t in either the good area or the bad area that Steph and Ben lived in respectively, but it lay on the edge of the town centre, where on a Friday and Saturday night they would often go to bed to the sounds of drunken revellers staggering along the streets singing and shouting at the top of their voices or throwing up in your door step, leaving a nice surprise for you when you stepped outside bare foot to put the bin out.

These differences in living accommodation never seemed to come up, they all might be from very different families and different parts of town, but it had never been a problem. In fact they seemed to have plenty in common; the facts of their own personal circumstances seemed to pass by the wayside.

The Twins reached the door and Fran pressed the door bell, seconds later Stephan let them in and told them that Ben had already arrived.

‘So how long are your parents gone for Steph?’ Fran asked after greeting him with a kiss.

‘The rest of the day, they don’t get back until this evening.’

It was late morning, which meant they had at least six hours to themselves to do what they wished.

‘Do you not have any chores to do today?’ Fran replied.

‘No, I did them all already. The rest of the day is all mine.’

‘Cool, so what’s the plan?’

Steph led them through to the main living room and sat down. Liz and Fran said hi to Ben as they went through, Liz sitting close to him.

‘Well, as I see it, we have lots of books with spells and chants we can do over the artefact, any of which might have an effect. I say we set up some kind of altar here,’ he said, pointing to the middle of the floor, ‘and get started. What do you think?’

Fran Liz and Ben all looked at one another and nodded their assent.

‘Okay then, let’s get started. Fran, come up stairs with me and help me with a few things, meanwhile, could you two move the furniture in here to the edges of the room?’ he said to Liz and Ben.

Liz nodded, as did Ben. ‘Sure matey,’ he said.

Fran and Steph left the room and headed upstairs leaving Liz and Ben in the lounge. They stood up and started to move things about a bit, pushing chairs up against the walls, being careful not to mark or break anything as they did so.

‘So, how have you been then? Not seen you for a couple of days,’ Ben said.

Liz often wanted to talk to Ben, but she found it difficult to say anything at first, she always found it easier if Ben started talking before her. Liz liked Ben, ever since that first time they met when Steph and Fran met up for their first ‘date’ and both Ben and Liz had been brought along as a sort of chaperone, she had taken a bit of a fancy to him.

She really hadn’t expected to, and back just before that first date Liz had really resented her sister getting so close to someone else, especially some boy. Fran had been apologetic, and had really wanted her to like Steph, but Liz wasn’t really listening and when she heard about the date, which at first had been planned as just Fran and Steph, Liz had ended up shouting at her sister, saying things she ended up regretting and having to apologise for.

Liz going along with her sister was Fran’s way of trying to smooth things over while still doing what she wanted to do. Fran obviously cared about what Liz thought and wanted Liz to like Steph, but Liz was having none of it and before that date she was convinced she was going to hate Stephan, especially with a name as pretentious as that.

But things didn’t quite go as planned, and when she met Ben, she quickly forgot the anger she had felt towards her sister. Liz had liked Ben for a long time now, and she felt sure Ben liked her too, but Liz was shy, and despite Fran’s help, Liz and Ben had not really made much of a go of things yet. But Ben didn’t seem to mind, he seemed to like taking things slowly, and so they found they got along quite well, even though their conversations were often stymied by Liz’s timidity.

‘I’ve been well,’ Liz replied to Ben’s question, ‘How about you?’

‘Yeah, I’ve been cool. You know.’

Liz nodded as together they pushed a chair up against the wall.

‘What do you think about doing this thing today?’ Ben asked.

Liz looked sheepish for a moment, before answering. ‘I’m a little scared about it to tell you the truth.’

‘Yeah, me too,’ Ben replied. ‘It’s a creepy looking thing ain’t it.’

Liz nodded vigorously.

‘We’ll be okay though, nothing really bad can happen can it. It’s just a few funny sounding words and stuff, its good fun, but it’s not major evil hoodoo.’

Liz smiled, she nodded again, with much less conviction this time, but in her head she really wasn’t so sure. She felt that this thing really would end up getting them into trouble if they weren’t careful.

The chairs were now at the edges of the room which left a large space in the middle.

‘There, we’re all done and ready I reckon,’ Ben said.

‘Good work, give us a hand with these will you?’ Said Steph from the hall carrying some heavy looking books.

Ben and Liz helped with some of the books and other accoutrements, Liz sat to one side while Fran and Steph set about making a small makeshift Alter out of a pile of books and a velvet sheet placed over the top. They then placed a few candles round it and readied a few books which contained the relevant incantations.