I hate the mall. Well, to be honest, most guys do. We
especially hate it if we’re shopping with a girl. The absolute worst was
shopping with a thirteen year old girl.
My
little sister, Annalise, loved shopping.
Ever since I had earned my license, I had become her personal chauffeur.
Mondawmin mall in Baltimore, Maryland was my least favorite place on the face
of this planet—well, after Melinda’s HQ.
The
week after Christmas, Henry and I sat outside the dressing rooms of some girly
store. Henry had once again joined my family as his parents were still touring
Europe. We were both so bored we could start drooling.
Once
again, Annalise made an appearance. “What about the top with this skirt?”
“That’s
cute. Let’s go.”
Henry
was so much better at this than me. He brightened and looked thoughtful. “That
looks great with that skirt. I vote on that skirt.”
“I
hate you,” I muttered once Annalise had flounced back in the dressing room.
He
shrugged. “You can’t just end your complement with ‘let’s go.’ It let’s girls
know you’re just saying it looks good so you can leave. That makes them think
you hate it, so they keep trying.”
“What
are you? The girl guru?”
“I
would like to point out all the girls I know, as opposed to all the girls you
know. You know, what, two?”
Thankfully,
my sister emerged, cutting off all discussion about my lack of female friends.
Her
shopping completed, we left the mall. Twirling the keys to my mom’s minivan on
my fingers, I lead the way to our parking space in the parking garage. The
garage was oddly quiet, which should have made me pause to think.
As
life would have it, I was contemplating the gaggle of college girls we had
passed on our way out of the mall. They were fine, let me tell you. Anyway, I
was brought back to the real world by my sister’s, “Uh, M.C.?”
A
figure in a trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat stood several yards in front of
us. Figures in trench coats weren’t strictly an oddity in Baltimore, but
standing in the middle of a parking garage was.
I
slowed, stopping my sister and roommate with my out stretched hands. The little
hairs on the back of my neck rose. I licked my lips before speaking. “What do
you want?”
The
figure laughed a deep, guttural laugh. He lifted his head, his blood-red eyes
fixed firmly on me. “What do you think, mage?”
Henry
took a step back, but Annalise took a step forward. “Look, you, I don’t know
what you’re on, but let us pass.”
Whoa.
Clearly this girl had gotten her gutsiness from yours truly. I was a little
taken aback.
However,
shock at my little sister was completely erased when several zombies stepped
out from behind cars. One of them was definitely the guy who had been watching
me in the coffee shop all those weeks ago.
The
demon laughed. “I’ll tell you what, kid. Come with us quietly, and we’ll let
your little family go. If you don’t, well, we’ll capture you anyway and torture
them before your eyes.”
Oh
no. He was not threatening my loser roommate and my little sister. I knew that
no matter what, I couldn’t go with them. If I gave up, they’d probably kill
Annalise and Henry anyway.
“What
do you want me to do, Emy?” Noddah whispered from under my baseball cap. Hats
were very effective for hiding dragons who insisted on joining you.
“Stay
hidden,” I murmured back. Pulling up a shield, I dropped into a fighting stance
and answered the demon. “And what if I say no to both?”
“You’re
outnumbered, little mage. Your little vampire friend isn’t here to save you
this time.”
Henry
and Annalise gave me a weird look. Oh, they hadn’t seen nothing, yet. They were
about to be very freaked out, but it was in their best interests.
I
bathed my hands in a bright blue ball of light. The demon didn’t have wings, so
hopefully I could beat him with a single blast. However, as they all tensed, I
knew they were expecting that.
Slowly,
I closed my eyes. The second they were all the way closed, the three zombies
threw themselves at my shield. It held, but Annalise and Henry shrieked like a
bunch of little girls. Annalise had an excuse for this. Henry, on the other
hand, did not.
I
reached out with my mage-senses and found the heart beat of the three zombies.
As the sound of three bodies hitting the ground reached my ears, I opened my
eyes. They all lay dead—their hearts stopped.
Suddenly,
Annalise screamed, the demon upon her. Without much thought, I launched myself
at him. We collided and hit the ground. White-hot talons raked across my ribs.
I cried out. This had to end or I’d be ripped to shreds. Noddah was growling,
but trapped near my head, he couldn’t do much with fire. I did the only thing I
could think of. I lit myself with light.
The
demon shrieked and fell back. Getting my feet under me, I launched a ball of
pure blue light at him. He jerked a bit, then lay still. Snapping in my
Tyren-like manner, I lit his body on fire.
The
fire died, leaving my sister and roommate staring at me.
My
sister was the first to speak. “What just happened?”
“Get
in the car. I’ll explain on the way home.”
They
both obeyed without question. After several minutes of silence, Annalise spoke
up again. “So, you gonna explain?”
“Uh,
yeah. That was a monster. They are after me for various reasons. Um, anyway, I
killed it with magic.”
Noddah
snickered from under the hat.
I
bit my lip, waiting for the freak out that I knew was on the way.
“Do
you really expect me to believe that?!” My sister shrieked.
“Okay,
um, ow. You sound like a banshee.”
“Or
a hamster,” Noddah added quietly.
To
my surprise, it was Henry who quieted her. “Look, Annalise. He has to be
telling the truth. He can’t just, you know, make that up after what happened.”
She
pondered this for a minute. “What exactly are you learning at college?”
“Physics.”
“Right.
So you just magically know how to use magic.”
I
arched an eyebrow at her in the rearview mirror. “You wanna repeat that one to
yourself again?”
She
scrunched her nose at me. “Whatever. Why are you suddenly displaying magic,
then?”
“Because
I didn’t know I was a mage until early last semester. That’s why.”
“A
what?”
“A
mage. A magician. You know, someone who uses magic.”
“Like
a wizard,” Henry added, helpfully.
“No,
we prefer the term ‘mage.’ Wizard has way too many bad connotations these
days.”
He
shrugged semi-apologetically.
“So,
you expect me to believe that my dorky big brother was born with the ability to
use magic.”
“Can
I set her on fire?”
I
ignored the dragon. “Um, excuse me, your ‘dorky big brother’ just saved your
sorry butt, so I’d shut up if I were you.”
“Whatever.
So what’s so special about you that those monster-men were after you?”
I
sighed. “It’s long and complicated. You probably wouldn’t understand.
Basically, our great-great ancestor closed the king of these monsters in a
tomb. They want to get him out. To open the tomb they need the mage heir, the
vampire heir, the werewolf heir, the fey heir, and these stone-things. They already
have the vampire heir. I’m the mage heir. So, they figured going after me would
be easy, because I’m relatively new at this.”
“Whoa,
whoa, whoa. Vampires? Werewolves? M.C., are you on something?”
I
slammed on the brakes, nearly hitting the car in front of me that was stopped
at a red light. Putting the parking brake on, I spun around in the seat. “Look,
pipsqueak, you asked for an explanation, so I gave you one. You can sit there
and disbelieve me all you want. Whatever little decision you come to in your
world-renowned brain, the fact that I just saved your butt by means you can’t
understand, much less harness, still stands. So shut it and leave me
alone.” I scowled at her in the rearview
mirror. “And if you tell anyone about this, I’ll set your hair on fire. Got
it?”
Disturbed,
she nodded vigorously.
I
turned to Henry. “Do you have anything to add?”
He
shook his head. “No, no, I’m good.”
“Good.
Now everyone leave me alone.”
--------
M.C. sounds like me at malls. Poor guy.
Also, Annaliese sort of reminds me of one of my sisters. Weird.
Have a great week! 
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