Tesser: A Dragon Among Us (A Reemergence Novel) (11 page)

Tesser's nose caught something in the air. Something familiar. Something old.

Something magical.

I smell… A wizard.

Tesser's eyes were down at street level immediately, scanning from left to right, up and down the sidewalk. His head unconsciously rocked side to side as a hunting cat's would during a stalk. It gave his eyes a better sense of depth should he see what he smelled. It was a decidedly inhuman gesture.

I would not have caught that scent had magic not been so rare. It's incredibly faint. Almost nonexistent. It smells like the scent of a newborn, fresh from the womb. A baby mage.

Tesser turned around and looked across the street to the edge of the overpass. Leaning against the guardrail was a young man, no more than a quarter-century old. He had short brown hair and a slight build that spoke of too much time sitting and not nearly enough experiencing being active and being tested by all the world could offer. He wore shorts that were one size too large and showed off stick-thin legs that were practically luminescent they were so white. Tesser caught his eye; the young man stood erect, startled by the man’s direct stare.

It's him.

Tesser sat his textbook down on the magazine stand he'd been standing next to and started walking across the street slowly with a hunter's purpose.
 

The young man panicked and started to run.

A chase. I love a chase.

Tesser picked up his pace as the man started sprinting away from him. The young man was fast initially, but kept his pace for only a city block or two.

He's a smart runner. He isn't looking over his shoulder at
me
. You lose speed that way.

The man slowed and looked over his shoulder at his pursuer. He had no idea it was a dragon in human form.

Never mind. I wonder when he'll try and cast a spell. He's clearly frightened by me. Strange though, he was obviously observing me. I wonder what he wants or what he knows. I wonder if he knows why I slept so long.

Tesser's heartbeat was barely picking up its pace in the run, but he could see the young man's chest heaving heavily and could practically hear his tiny heart hammering away as he dodged slow-moving cars plugging up traffic. Like a laughing gazelle, Tesser gracefully leapt over the hood of a yellow taxi as the driver screamed amusing profanities at him.

Then, very suddenly, the young spell caster dipped into an alley and out of view.

Ah, it comes to a head.

Tesser slowed to a jog, then a walk as he rounded the corner into the alley.
 

This alley is a dead end. I don't know if he realizes it. I wonder if he has a teleportation spell? Or could this be a trap?

"I don't know who you are, but keep your distance. I may not have a weapon, but I am still quite dangerous!" The skinny young man yelled.

His voice trembles. He is very much afraid of me. He must know what I am.
"I am not here to harm you, mage. I sensed your presence and I know you were watching me. I deserve an explanation for your intrusion."

"I – wait, what? ‘Mage?’" The fledgling wielder of magic was taken aback by the title.

He is so very new. He looks proud. Maybe he doesn't know what I am. Maybe he's just a pawn. Let's press him and see what he can do.

Tesser dipped his chin and put on a face that seemed sinister. "Tell me why you are watching me or I shall do what comes very natural to me." He took a step forward, deeper into the alley.

The man took a step back to match. "I came to meet you. The world… Something… Since you appeared… Ah, shit. I have no idea what to say to you."

"You are buying time. You are lying to me," Tesser said in a darker tone as he took another step forward.

"Stop! Stop or I'll cast a spell on you. You won't be so happy after I fry you with a spell, Goldilocks!"

My hair is gold. I don't feel intimidated or insulted by his comment. Maybe pointing out the obvious is an insult? I'll continue to press.
 

Tesser took another step forward. "Tell me or cast your spell, mage. My patience thins."

The man panicked. "Commoveo!" The man howled in combination with a sweeping gesture across the alley. Microscopic motes of arcane energy sprouted from his fingertips but nothing more happened.

There we go.
"Try again!" Tesser yelled, taking another step forward.

"Commoveo!" The man repeated as he stepped backward again, only this time a little louder. Similar sparks of lights fell from his fingertips, but the energy of the spell failed to come together.

"Stop saying the damn word and cast the DAMN SPELL!" Tesser grumbled in a near deafening tone, shaking the barrels of trash and sending the debris scattering down the dirty urban pathway.

"Commoveo!" The cornered man said, but this time, his tone and inflection were different, as was the motion of his arms. No sparks of light came from the tips of his fingers this time, but Tesser felt a sudden wave of energy pour out from the young mage like a ripple in the essential fabric of the universe. The mystic power of the spell sent the barrels of garbage flying about like puppets on strings, upending them and dropping rancid trash all over the ground. Several soda and beer cans flew up like shrapnel and pinged off of Tesser's body, irritating him ever so slightly. But more, he was pleased at the show of sorcery.

Tesser smiled at the mage as he congratulated him: "There. Much better."

The sweating, frightened man stared at his hands in exultation, an expression that Tesser had seen many times in his life.
 

He looks like a father standing over his newborn child.

"I've never done anything that powerful before. Holy shit. Fuck me in the ass. Wow." Tiny traces of electrical energy dashed along the length of his fingers, dissipating into the air as the spell's power faded from his body.

"You have the distinction of being the first person to ever ask for anal penetration in my presence after casting a spell, stranger. I do hope you are not serious in your request." Tesser grinned, having dropped his façade of menace.

The young man looked up from his hands and shook his head back and forth rapidly. "Fuck no, no corn-holing please. I… I'm sorry I threw garbage at you. I didn't mean anything by it. I was scared. I did this... all fucking wrong."

Tesser smiled again.
I like this young man. He has genuine innocence to him.
"You meant to defend yourself with what you had available. It is natural, and it is exactly what you intended to do. There is no need to ask for my forgiveness."

"Are you gonna kill me?"

Let's try this:
"Fuck no."

The young man sighed in clear relief. "What's your name?"

"I'm Tesser. Pleasure to meet you, mage. What's your name?"

"Tesser, huh? Weird name. I'm Abraham, but my friends call me Abe. You can call me Abe if you want," Abe said, brushing off the garbage his own spell had strewn across his shirt.

Tesser smiled warmly. "Abe. I like that name. If you would consider me a friend, I would be honored to call you Abe."

"Abe it is, friend." The young man took a deep breath, steeled himself, and walked directly to Tesser, extending his hand bravely.

Tesser took the hand and shook it firmly. "What language were you just speaking? It sounded familiar to me."

"It was Latin. It's old. Many mages use it as a base for their spells. Have you never heard of Latin?"

Tesser shook his head. "Old is very relative, Abe. Can you teach it to me?"

Abe shrugged. "I'm not much of a teacher, but I can give you my college textbooks on it. So I gotta ask: what's the deal with the gold eyes, Tesser?"

"What's the deal with all the magic fading away, Abe?"

"Buy me a slice of pizza?"

"I don't really have any money, Abe," Tesser replied.

"Okay, I'll buy you a slice, but you gotta get me some phone numbers. You are a handsome fella. The girls are smitten with you, huh?" The man and dragon turned and started to leave the alley, side-by-side.

"The phone numbers of women? You are having a hard time finding a woman? You're a mage, women should be very interested in finding someone like yourself."

"Yeah, I wouldn't be like advertising that in public, man. Magic is sort of a not-cool thing. Most folks don't believe in it anymore, especially since it all started to fade a decade ago. Bring that up to a girl in the wrong place and they lock you up in a padded room in the nut hut.
 
I'm just a nerdy accountant that grew up on Pokémon and jerking it to Miley Cyrus. You must be new. Are you new?"

"I'm really quite old, Abe, but I've only been up and about a bit lately. What is this Pokémon you speak of?"

Chapter Fifteen

Sergeant Henry "Spoon" Spooner

Watching the hobo-turned-bouncer had suddenly paid off.

Henry Spooner followed Tesser as Tesser ran after a man who'd been watching him outside the pizza shop. It was fairly easy to keep up with the two as they played their strange form of tag. Tesser had no trouble keeping up with the geek wearing the Bazinga shirt. In fact, he made it look laughably easy.

This is really weird. First, the nerd is stalking Mr. Gold Eyes; now, Gold Eyes is chasing the nerd. I wonder if the kid has something to do with the rapist that got away? Little brother maybe?

Spoon slowed his pace and kept his distance as the kid ran into an alley with Tesser no more than a dozen paces behind.

Tesser isn’t pissed at this kid. At least he doesn't seem pissed. What the hell is going on here?

Spoon trotted across the street and slid up to the end of the alley, thankful for the city noise that was masking his movement. He heard the young man yell something in a foreign language from the end of the alley. Tesser yelled something back. From the tone of the voices, Spoon knew a confrontation was moments away. The compact police detective crept to the edge of the building and crouched low, his gun hand drifting to the grip of his service SIG. Spoon preferred the 1911 clone GSR to the Glocks that his fellow officers liked so much.

"Commoveo!" The cop heard the young man yell.

Tesser replied, but his voice was different. It echoed, resounded, casted out of the narrow alley like the trumpeting of a college band marching, "Stop saying the damn word and cast the DAMN SPELL!"
 

Spoon watched, frozen in time as the young man did exactly what Tesser told him to do.

In that moment, Spoon's entire existence changed.

The alley and everything in it was hit by an unnatural force as the kid swept his arm through the air. Dirty recycling bins tipped over or flew up into the air and disgorged their contents all about. Cans and newspapers flew like missiles through the air. Tesser stood in the center of it, grinning ear-to-ear like a jovial orchestra conductor, all the while being pelted by rotten garbage. After a few seconds, the debris dropped to the ground as if a strong gust of wind had blown through the alleyway, given up, and moved on.
 
But Spoon knew differently.
 

What he had seen threw into doubt his entire Catholic upbringing. It violated everything he knew about the natural order of the universe, and deep in his quivering heart, he was confused. War and death was one thing; this was another.

What. The. Fuck.

"There. Much better," Tesser said calmly, as if the miracle that had just happened was the most normal and likely thing that could've happened.

Spoon rolled away from the corner of the building and stood. Somehow, he'd drawn his sidearm. He started walking away from the alley, but could only manage the slow pace for a few steps.
 

He began to jog.

Then he started to run. He couldn't escape his fears that day, no matter how fast he ran.

Chapter Sixteen

Mr. Doyle

Mr. Doyle sat in a leather armchair that originated in the sitting room of a British king from a different century. Antique collectors would've salivated at the providence of the furniture but to the aged and aging wizard, it was simply a gift from an old friend. He ran his fingers along the decorative brass pins at the edge of the arm and allowed his mind to wander.