First Magic by Raven Steele (classic fiction .TXT) 📕

puffy and so when he called my name, I ran. My father never cried.

I jumped on the swing and pumped my legs as hard and fast as they’d go. I didn’t even slow down when my father came outside, hands stuffed in his pockets.

“I need to talk to you, Llona. Can you stop?”

I pushed harder. My body lifted a few inches off the seat of the swing when it was at its highest point. A little further, and I could touch the sky.

“Llona, please stop. I need to talk to you about your mother.”

“Mom will be here soon. She’s taking me to the park.” I reached my hand to the sky.

“No, Llona.”

I blocked the empty sadness I heard in his voice and raised my other hand to the clouds. With neither hand on the ropes, I lost my balance and fell from the swing. I expected to hit the ground, but my always-quick father caught me in his arms and cradled me to his chest.

“I’m so sorry, Llona,” he cried, tears spilling on top of my hair. “I couldn’t protect her. I lost her. I’m so sorry!”

Over and over he apologized while he rocked me back and forth.

It seemed I’d stared an eternity into the sky while lying in his arms. One single moment in time lasts an eternity when you realize you’ve lost someone you love more than life. I’d had too many of these moments to all of a sudden be experiencing another one.

But this moment was different from the others. This time something inside me had died. I felt whatever it was flow through my blood like a poisonous virus, and I wondered if I was dying.

I used the last of the borrowed light to lighten the auditorium, and then I collapsed to the stage, the dust of the Vyken only inches from my face.

The doors of the auditorium flew open and Christian rushed in.

“Llona!” he called. He was at my side before I could raise my head. “Llona?”

“Get May,” I managed to say.

He moved away from me and untied May. Very carefully he laid her down and examined her. I slowly moved into a sitting position.

“I’m calling an ambulance,” he said and pulled out his phone.

“Is she going to be okay?”

“I think so, but we need to be sure.”

While he called 911 and explained our location to the operator, I swept my long hair to the side of my neck, covering the two puncture wounds from the Vyken. For some reason, they made me feel dirty, and I didn’t want Christian to see them.

As soon as he closed his phone, he returned to my side. “You look like you got the crap kicked out of you.”

“You should see the other guy,” I mumbled.

Christian tensed and glanced around. “Where is the Vyken?

“You mean Mr. Steele?”

Christian was silent, then, “Mr. Steele was the Vyken?”

I nodded.

“I knew something was wrong about him,” he said.

“How?”

Christian ignored me and clenched his jaw. “Where is he?”

“You’re standing on him.”

“What?” He glanced down and stepped to the side of the silver ash.

“You killed him? But how?”

“Long story.”

He shook his head. “That’s impossible.”

“I was well trained, I guess.”

He knelt down, his expression granite. “Do you know how dangerous that was? Why did you leave me back there?”

“This was my problem. I wasn’t about to get anyone else killed.” The thought of Tracey, dead on my bed, filled me with great sorrow. I slumped my shoulders.

“I got her killed,” I whispered.

“It wasn’t your fault. It was the Vyken that did this, no one else. Do you understand?”

I nodded my head because I knew that would make him feel better, but deep down I would always blame myself. Everything that had happened tonight could’ve been prevented if only I would have left. My selfishness had caused her death.

Christian’s arm came around me. “Everything will be all right, trust me, okay?”

I nodded again.

“I hate to do this now, but the police and ambulance will be here any second. You have to know what to say.”

“What do you want me to say?”

Christian glanced around the room. “Tell them the truth except for the part where Mr. Steele is a Vyken and you killed him. Since we can’t produce a body, we need them to think he got away.”

“What about May?”

“She probably doesn’t know much. I’ll try and talk to her as soon as she’s awake.”

“She knows everything.”

Christian’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean everything?”

“I told her what I was.”

“Why would you do that?”

I wished I could get angry, but there was no more fight left. “I needed a friend and so did she. She knows what it’s like to be different.”

“Different as in a social outcast or different as in “special” different?”

I raised my eyes to meet his. “Like me different. She’s a Fury.”

Christian stared at May. “A Fury? This whole time and no one knew?”

“She didn’t know who she was, still doesn’t really.”

A deep voice echoed from the hallway, “Hello?”

“We’re in here,” Christian called.

Two EMTs and one police officer rushed in. Christian bent his head and whispered in my ear. “This will all be over soon.”