Funny Tragic Crazy Magic (Tragic Magic Book 1) (22 page)

I
woke up, and Giara and my mom’s notebook were gone. I looked around. Helena had
collapsed on the ground, her head in her hands. Kaylie was just waking up, and
she crawled over to Helena to give her a healing.

“What
happened?” Kaylie asked. I shrugged, and then turned toward the hallway Joe had
traveled. I was unarmed. All I had were the runes I had memorized, and a
horrible headache. Giara was on her way to hurt Joe. I couldn’t rest, even for
a second for Kaylie to heal me.

I
ran through the twisting corridors of the Study, but the turns felt natural to
me. Easy, like muscle memory. I knew every turn. I wonder if I had been there
before. Maybe I played there as a child while my mother did her thing.

The
halls were too confusing though, even for my instincts. When I reached a dead
end, I drew the rune for
find
and searched for Giara, but the rune
didn’t seem to work, I could only see the hallway I stood in.

Maybe
she was invisible.

I
turned around, expecting to see that line of runelight that happened when the
working rune ended.

Nothing
happened. No, she probably just knew a way to reflect
finding
that I
hadn’t read yet. I looked instead for Joe, and when the rune travelled through
the rooms of the Study, I saw her, backwards me, waiting behind a door, listening
through the walls with magic.

Joe
stood in a circle with Michael, Ash, and the three Grandfathers. He needed my
help, not just because of those in the room with him, but because of the spy
dressed as me on the other side of the wall, armed with the
killing
runes, and eager to prove her worth.

One
door away from Giara, I drew the rune for
invisibility
, and then drew a
silence
rune on the door as I snuck into the room. The backwards girl in front of me,
with her hand against the wall, didn’t turn. I remember when I used the rune,
how the people in the background seemed to disappear, and I knew she was
vulnerable.

I
stepped toward her. The
invisibility
rune released much sooner than I
expected, and my sudden appearance drew her eyes to me.

I
expected her to attack, but she didn’t.

“Joe’s
in trouble,” she whispered. I leaned in closer to the wall and drew my own
eavesdropping
rune. Then, side by side, two versions of myself, heads
against the wall.

Inside
the room, the first thing I could hear was Leo giggling.

“Oh
no,” I whispered, “That’s never a good sign.”

Giara
shushed me.

Miles
was speaking. “I believe the final vote is yours, Robert.” I reapplied my
find
so I could see inside the room as well as listen, and Giara copied me. It was
strange she didn’t come up with that one on her own. And she called me poorly
trained.

I
would have done better in her place.

Joe
stood in the center of the room, a look of fear cast over his face. Michael sat
in the corner in a lush leather chair, his head in his hands, as he looked to
the floor. Leo was stalking the circle, like a shark circling around a feeding
frenzy, just waiting for his chance to attack. When Leo passed by my side, I
looked at Joe. A rune was drawn on his arm in braided runelight. Three Runes
had drawn the rune for
stay
, and only three Runes were in the room, so I
knew Ash was holding his own son hostage.

Oh,
I hated him. I had never hated Ash before with this much vehemence, not even
when he knocked me unconscious. It was like whatever Giara me did to me while I
was passed out unlocked my ability to get angry.

I
shook my head and focused within the room for something that my hope could hold
on to. The
compulsion
rune had ended, so at least Joe was still in his
right mind as they decided whether they should kill him or not. Silver lining.

“I
regret doing this, but the law is clear, Joseph,” Robert said. “It is well
known that we saved you, and when you do a rune again, it will be decided it
was our fault for saving you. You would move us closer to the war that is
pressuring to break free. More Mages would die, and it is with them in mind
that I vote in favor. It is for our hope for peace that you must die.”

Both
of us on this side of the wall drew a breath in the same instant.

I
spoke first, “We can’t let him die, Giara. Please.”

Giara
looked at me with a look of shock on her face. “I’m not…” She amended her
statement. “You’re right, of course. We have to go in there.”

“Now?”
I asked. We both turned to face the wall. Leo prodded Michael to stand and face
Joe.

Michael
spoke first. “Please don’t make me,” he whispered, his voice sounded hollow.

The
rune was ending. Why was my magic ending so soon? What had Giara done to me?

Leo
smiled, but it was Miles’ voice I heard, “If you don’t… give you back to Leo.” Leo’s
giggle filled the room again. I couldn’t listen to this.

I
wiped my runelight clean, and then drew
open
on the door. I was going
now, whatever Giara wanted. No one would hurt Joe.

I
was the first inside the room, but Giara followed behind me. I felt exposed to
have her so close, but I didn’t care. I didn’t even care if I died, so long as
I could keep Joe safe. I punched Leo across the mouth, and I must have been
stronger than I remembered, because he fell to the ground and stopped moving.
It wasn’t enough though; I wanted to keep hitting him, kick him a few times in
the stomach, but my need to save Joe overwhelmed even my uncontrollable anger.

The
Grandfathers all looked at me, and then back to Giara. They didn’t know which
Witch was which.

Sorry.
I so had to do that.

Even
Joe looked confused.

“Help
me.” Giara yelled. She was trying to wipe the runelight that trapped Joe, but
the braided strand was much too much for her to do alone. I ran to her, and we
tried to wipe the runelight together. Robert and Miles walked toward us as if
they had all the time in the world. They knew we were outmatched and trapped.
They knew I, at least, wouldn’t leave Joe here for them to kill. I looked down
at Joe’s arm again, and I bit my lip. It was still too much. The braided
runelight was too much for us to wipe away even together. I couldn’t get Joe
free. I turned to look at Robert and Miles, and they both smiled.

I
would destroy them. I would beat them until they were forced to release Joe. I
breathed in heavy breaths, and I smiled.

Then
the runelight slackened. Giara faced Ash, her face imploring to his unending
goodness.

He
surprised me. He withdrew his line of runelight, his eyes facing away from the
Grandfathers as if he had just done something he should have been ashamed of,
instead of saving his only son.

Together
Giara and I had enough strength to release Joe from the rune for
stay
.
This, officially, is no longer my favorite rune. Traitor. Joe took three
awkward steps backwards toward the wall. Robert stood right before me, and
Miles stood before Giara. Robert reached forward, his hands on my shoulders
forcing me down. I slammed his hands away from my shoulder with my fists
clenched.

“Don’t.”
Giara shouted at me. I glanced once at her, and then together we drew
stay
on the bodies of our tormentors.

Both
of the Grandfathers were still, frozen in place. Robert looked at me with a
compassion I didn’t believe.

I
pried my arms out of his frozen hand, and then fell onto my stomach. Giara
offered her hand to help me stand up. I took her hand, and both of us leaning
on the weight of the other as we stood together. It was strange. We didn’t feel
like enemies, not then. We felt like we were working for the same side,
fighting together, as if we were almost the same person.

I
half-smiled at her, and Giara grimaced and then walked to Joe. She hugged him,
and I couldn’t look. She was trying to fool him. She could hurt him. “That’s
Giara, Idiot. Don’t trust her.” Joe stepped away, and I smiled as Giara tried
to reassure him of who she was.

Michael
leaned against the wall trying not to look at either of us. His eyes took in
Leo still lying on the ground, and a look of hatred filled his face. He walked
forward and put his arm on Leo’s shoulder. I didn’t say anything, although I
think I was the only one looking in his direction. Leo deserved to die.

Ash
saw Michael’s movement at the wrong second and ran forward.

“No!
Don’t you hurt him,” he screamed, and he pushed Michael off balance.

Michael’s
arms reached out as he fell, and they clung to Ash’s arm. A line of runelight
jutted out across Ash’s arms, like a wave of fire that engulfed his body until
there was only a cloud of runelight that twisted and faded in the stagnate air
in the room.

There
was a thud as Michael fell to the ground, and then I heard his sob as it broke
free. And Ash was dead. His body fell down like a limp rag doll, his skin pale
gray, sucked clean of all its color, of all its life.

Joe
and Giara were still. They both froze, looking at Ash’s body as if they
expected him to start moving or jump up and say, “I fooled you.”

The
idea made me laugh, and Joe looked at me with his pain clear in his eyes.

I
felt horrible for laughing. Ash was Joe’s father, even if I didn’t like him…
no, even if I hated him, I had no right to be insensitive to Joe’s feelings.

“I’m
so sorry,” I said. “It’s been a really long day.”

I
walked closer to Joe and pulled in close to him, breathing in his warm smell,
trying to give him comfort for the loss of his newly found father. I could feel
Giara’s hand around his waist.

Joe
pushed us both away, and then looked at us, Giara and me, trying to decide who
it was he could trust. I tried to look at him to shout out I loved him. That it
was me he should trust. He didn’t seem sure. How could he not know me? How
could he not know it was me?

Robert’s
eyes turned toward Ash. Miles looked at both of us trying to decide which of us
was which. Michael’s quiet crying filled the room.

The
big baby.

Joe
whispered, “Okay…” he started, and then his voice broke, and he started again,
“Okay. Whichever one of you is my Riz… tell me where your mother drew your
protection
rune when you were a baby.”

That
was easy. I spoke first, “Three inches above my belly button,” I lifted the
bottom of my sweater a little bit, to show the bottom edge.

Joe
turned to Giara. She bit her lip. “That’s none of your business.”

Joe
took a deep breath, and then his sunflower eyes smiled. Giara smiled back at
him.

“Wait,
no.” I said quickly. “What kind of test is that? Joe, that’s Giara; that’s not
me.” He lifted Giara up with a quick and tortured glance to Ash’s body, and
then turned to the wall.

“No!
That’s not me.” I ran to them, and my fingers tried to clasp Joe’s shirt and
force him to stay, but my fingers just ran right through it. Giara looked back
at me over Joe’s shoulder, a look of pity quickly flashing through her face,
and then they were gone.

“Joe!”
I screamed my voice raw and ragged as I beat against the wall, solid with me on
the wrong side. I drew the rune for
find
on my forehead and watched, my
heart breaking, as they ran together through walls out of the Grandmothers’
Study.

Robert
started moving first as my
stay
rune ended, but I didn’t pay him much
attention. Giara held Joe’s hand and they walked up the streets away from the
building. She turned, and Joe stopped as well, as she looked back at the Study.
Robert did a quick
healing
rune on Leo’s shoulder and he stirred.
Outside, Giara looked as if she was searching through the Study for me, and
then she wiped her fingers, and with a reluctant and tired sigh turned her back
to me. Miles shook his head and then as one, the Grandfathers turned to face
me.

I
swallowed, and closed my eyes, my
find
eyes the only ones I needed now.
The Grandfathers discussed for a moment what they would do with me. I ignored
them. They hadn’t even bothered to put a
silence
rune on, but they
didn’t need to. My heart hurt so much I couldn’t move. I couldn’t flee, or do
anything proactive. I just… How could he have not known me? Leo and his
beatings weren’t enough to break me, but Joe walking away from me was. I was
broken, my heart, my spirit. Everything about me was broken.

I
reapplied
find
and watched them as they walked together, Giara and my
Joe. Mine.

I
watched them, holding hands and walking away from me, as Leo brought the axe
down, and my life as a Witch ended.

Afterwards,
the Grandfathers ignored me. I wasn’t any kind of threat now. As Leo healed the
bleeding on my arms, that sick honey feeling filled my chest. Miles and Robert
debated whether I was Giara or Larissa. They seemed surprised that I stayed in
my own form when the magic cut off. They couldn’t reach a conclusion that
satisfied either of them, and ended with Miles saying, “I guess we will never
know.”