The Wizard's War (2 page)

I looked over to see Mom and Dad sitting on the
floor, Dad holding Mom tightly in his lap. They both looked at me like I was a
rabid dog about to attack them. Mom’s look of shock was draining and giving way
to anger. Nothing made sense. My brain was scrambled. “Mom?” my voice came as a
whisper.

Instead of comforting me, she stood up, pulling Dad
up with her, and walked towards the door. I squeaked as she nearly kicked me,
too. Dad pulled his hand from hers and crouched beside me. “Get out here,” Mom
demanded of him. He sent her a look.

“He’s hurt.”

“He tried to kill you!” she yelled, making me wince.
Mom was going to kill me. There was no one she loved more than her mate, not
even her children.

Dad waved her off as if her words were too ridiculous
to even respond to. He took my hands gently as I tried to reach for him before
crossing them over my chest and turning me gently onto my back. I hadn’t
realized I had curled up on my side. He put one hand on my chest and one on my
forehead. Mom moved quickly, but Dad was faster, and we were suddenly
surrounded by a crackling force field.

Dad’s healing energy seeped into me, soft and gentle,
like his soul. I never knew a better person than my dad; he was always kind,
always the first person to offer his help. He treated everyone as his friend
until they proved otherwise, never held a grudge, and never said anything
unkind to anyone. I tried to be like him, but I was picky, loud, and
opinionated.

At the same time I realized I was no longer hurting,
I also realized tears were streaming from my eyes. My dad pulled me into a hug.
I didn’t want him to think I was a wimp, but I couldn’t pull myself away. Even
though Mom was gone, I could feel her rage. Hail was outside, negative emotions
spewing from him so fast I didn’t know whether he was coming or going.

Dad let me go. “Go take care of Hell. I’ll deal with
your mother.” Dad shared Hail’s inclination to rename people. Everyone called
Samhail “Hail,” except for Dad, who called him “honey,” or “Hell.”

“What happened, Dad?”

He sighed. “Ask your brother.” He got up and left me
on the floor, not even coming close to kicking me. The floor was cold, and I
realized with a start that the only light in the room was from the sun rising
before the window; the light fixture had exploded.

This was the only house on Shomodii that had
electricity, which we all ran using magic after Dad had insisted several years
ago that the house needed a “human” touch. I used magic to gather the glass
shards into the bin before going outside. I passed Mom and Dad’s room as
quietly as I could and fought the urge to eavesdrop.

Outside, it was barely dawn, and Hail was pacing
furiously across the front of the house. Blood ran from his nose, his body was
shaking as if with shivers, and his fists clinched and unclenched. He didn’t
look at me, but I could feel his soul recognize my presence and calm just a
little. He walked faster.

“I need to heal you,” I said, stepping off the porch.

“Back off!” he yelled, not changing his course or
looking at me.

“I don’t know what happened. Please don’t yell at me.
I don’t know what happened. I can’t make it better if I don’t know what I did
wrong.”

“It was me that was wrong! I was wrong about
everything! I was wrong about you, wrong about me, wrong about everything!” He
stopped pacing and looked at me. “This isn’t going to work.”

I couldn’t breathe over the pain in my chest, but
this was different than before. “I don’t understand,” I said, choking on my
words.

“I thought I could control the balance in you. I was
wrong. I thought you could never hurt me because I am your brother, but I was
wrong about that too.”

“You can’t leave me,” I said, because that was the
only thing that mattered. If Mom and Dad decided to leave us and go to Earth, I
would live as long as Hail was still with me. Nothing else was important
compared to my brother.

Finally, there was a moment, just a sliver of a glint
of relent in his eyes that glared at me. “No. I won’t leave you. You’re my
brother.”

“Please tell me what happened. Mom hates me and
you’ve never yelled at me before. I need to know what I did.”

For much of our life on Earth, I was getting us into
trouble left and right. I needed the chaos, the excitement. Hail would warn me
every single time, but he would follow in order to protect me and usually tried
to take the blame when we were in trouble. No matter how bad the trouble we
found was, he would never get mad at me. This had to be exceptionally terrible.

He sat on the steps, not looking at me. His body was
still shaking and I went to heal him, but he held up his hand to ward me away.
“You were looking at Dad when your eyes turned nearly white. It was a really
creepy milky-green color, like your soul just vanished behind the darkness. You
didn’t say anything or recognize our words when we tried to snap you out of it.
I did everything I could. We thought our balance would keep it calm, like it
always has before, but the darkness took over so fast.

“You aimed your hand and some kind of white energy
formed. I thought it was the void, at first. Mom got in the way, but you didn’t
even hesitate. You tried to kill Mom and Dad and I couldn’t think of any way to
stop you.”

“But you did.”

“I pushed you down, got in the way, and took the
shot. You could have killed me.”

“But I didn’t. You didn’t even lose consciousness. It
would have killed Mom or Dad, a god and a Noquodi, but you survived it. It has
to be because you’re my brother. Please let me heal you. Please don’t hate me
for this, I couldn’t control it.”

He looked at me and I felt a little wonder in him.
“How do you not hate me? You never would have taken the balance into yourself
if we hadn’t decided that I could stop it.”

I stomped my foot, the brat in me coming back in the
face of my own shock. “This isn’t your fault at all, stupid! You saved Mom and
Dad. It came on too strong for either of us to stop it. Please let me heal
you,” I said. He glared at me as if daring me to come any closer. “I will cry,”
I threatened. He relented by hanging his head and I was by his side in an instant.

I only had to touch him; my magic instantly realized
that my brother was injured and it needed to heal him. It felt very much like a
bad burn, but soon he was as good as new and I could breathe easier.

Dad stepped out of the house and held the door open.
“Go talk to your mother,” he told me. I really didn’t think it was safe, but
Hail pushed me up the steps. I shut the front door behind me and knocked gently
on my mother’s door.

“Come in, Ron,” she said. I opened the door. The
window curtains were open, giving the room full of dark satin and hard wood a
friendlier appearance than normal. Our parents’ room had never been an
uninviting place, but it could be very somber when our parents were angry. “Did
Hail tell you what happened?”

I nodded, gulped, and tried to speak. Only a choking
sound came out. She held out her hand and I walked forward to take it. After a
moment, Mom patted the bed beside her and when I sat, she put her arm around me
and held me close.

“When I first found out you were on the way, I was
terrified,” she whispered against my ear. I tried to look her, but she held my
head against her shoulder. “I had no idea what to think; a god and a Noquodi
having a baby. Your father was so excited that it made me a little bit sick.”

Talks with my mother could be dangerous. Sometimes,
there was something very mortal and motherly about her, but sometimes, she was
so very much a god. She was also occasionally very insensitive. I didn’t like
where this was going.

“I wanted to give him kids so bad. He loved you
deeply before you were even born… but I was scared. I was sure you would never
make it to birth. I knew I couldn’t be a mother; I wasn’t built right, I wasn’t
loving enough, I wasn’t alive enough. Then you were born… So damn beautiful,
you look just like your dad. You were alive, healthy, and perfect. I was proud
of myself for being able to get you to him alive. You never spoke, ever, and
that scared me. Again, I thought I screwed up, though I could see in your mind
that you were normal, for the most part.” She let me go to look at me. “Then
when you started talking, I had to apologize to your father.”

My eyes widened and I started to exclaim something,
but she shushed me.

She smirked. “You looked like your father but you
were my child. I knew from the first moment you spoke to us that you were full
of fire, flair, and life. You could sweet-talk the gods into giving you their
worlds, or you could take it over by force. Your brother would always have your
back, steam-rolling anyone who got in your way or didn’t bend to your will. I
realized at that moment that I had better learn real quick to be a good mother,
because you weren’t going to wait for me to figure it out.” Her smile faded. “I
made a mistake today. I turned away from you when you needed your mother more
than ever. I was scared.”

“I don’t want you to be scared of me,” I said. She
wiped the tear from my eye.

“Your father said the same thing to me once.
Sweetheart, I’m not afraid
of
you. Yes, you could have killed us both,
but that’s beside the point. I should have been able to keep the balance from
you. Unfortunately, your stupid father outsmarted me. He figured it out first,”
she rolled her eyes, “which he usually does.” She put her hands gently on my
cheeks. “I couldn’t protect my mate, and I couldn’t protect my baby boy. Then I
hurt you worse by abandoning you.”

I tried to speak and she squeezed my cheeks lightly
to silence me.

“I know why you can’t stand abandonment.” She opened
her mouth, sighed, and stopped. “A story for another day.” She flipped down the
covers for me to climb in, which I did, then settled down and pulled the covers
over us. It was one of those rare “mom” moments that I loved.

I felt him approach a few minutes later, right before
I was poked harshly in the chest. “If you get to sleep in the big bed, so do
I.”

I opened one eye to glare at Hail. “Your fat butt
can’t fit in this bed. Go hog mine, you big Neanderthal.”

“I’ll show you fat butt you little french-fry.” He
tried to sit on me.

“Mom!” I screamed for help.

“Dylan! Control your children!” she yelled without
opening her eyes. I flicked a warning spark at Hail’s encroaching butt, causing
him to shout.

“Dad! He tried to burn me!”

“He tried to sit on me!” I screamed.

“Alright, I see only one way to settle this.” Dad
dived into the middle of the bed, pushing us apart, and wiggling himself into a
comfy spot. Mom was determined enough not to end up on the floor that I was
safely wedged between them, but Hail landed with a bang and grunt on the floor.
Taking it in stride, he flopped himself back onto the bed, taking up the
remaining inches as well as lying half on top of Dad. After a few minutes, Dad
sighed. “It’s too hot. I need air.”

“Oh, hell. There’re too many boys in this house. We
need more estrogen,” Mom said.

Dad gasped and started trying to push Hail off him.
“Get out, boys! Get out! It’s Mommy and Daddy time now!”

“Ewe. No schtupping on family day. We don’t want a
little sister.”

“You should at least offer me breakfast before trying
to knock me up,” Mom said, to which Hail and I both gagged.

“Ron, get in the kitchen.”

“Hell, no,” I said. “I will never cook again if it
means I never get a little sister. Girls are gross,” I said. When Hail didn’t
immediately back me up, I slapped him.

He grunted. “Um… yeah. Sisters are gross,” he
halfheartedly agreed.

“All girls are gross.”

“Excuse me?” Mom asked.

“Not… all girls. I mean Eddy’s girlfriend isn’t
gross.” I leaned over my dad to gape at Hail. He looked at me. “I mean… she’s
nice and quiet and pretty.”

“Hail and Meri sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.
First comes love, then comes my granddad killing my brother who was so asking
for it.”

Dad and Mom laughed as Hail’s face reddened. Shinobu
couldn’t be left out for long; she pounced onto the bed, carefully keeping her claws
retracted, and curled up on Dad’s chest. Shinobu had nearly attacked Dad right
before we moved to Earth, so Dad thought we were going to have to get rid of
her. Fortunately, when we returned to Duran to find her waiting for us, we
discovered the problem was that naowen were aggressive when they were pregnant.

Her tail slowly flickering back and forth across
Hail’s nose until he sneezed, for which she gave him a dirty look before moving
her tail.

*          *          *

One year later…

My family was pretty amazing. Our vacations were to
other worlds, everyone was supportive of each other, and the magic was
powerful. Sure, Mom and Dad worked a lot, but they brought us back neat things
and took us with them when they could. It helped that Dad felt responsible for
teaching us to be good Noquodi. We only ever had to deal with public school
when we lived on Earth for a few years; Dad and Edward were great teachers.

Over the last ten years, everyday life was an
adventure. We have been all over the universe, fought monsters, solved puzzles,
and surfed at beaches. Our family was a little big, but it was diverse and
great. The inner circle, of course, was Hail, my parents, Mordon, and me.

Still, sometimes it was nice just to hang around home
for a few days without a crisis from the Guardian Council, demon war, Raktusha,
Lore, or Earth. Seriously, if Duran was having polar vortexes and stuff, I
would want to move to another world, too.

Vretial and Avoli thought they needed to race to get
their world ready first, as if Hail and I would decide based on that.