Sandalwood Apartment Complex

Big Bear Lake, California

4:07 PM

Apocalypses can make a person think irrationally right?

It was my first riot, and Katie and I were the center of attention. The locals, making threats at us, made me so angry I could high-kick all of them. My arms were tightly held by the guy behind me, and I swear I felt a sharp object on my back.

“Oh my God, look at them, there freaks, just like the others on the TV,” one man with a slur hollered in the crowd.

“Tom was right all along,” another said, which that depends what he was right about.

“Drive them out of town, down to the bottom of the lake!”

“I don’t want to turn into a demon,” a woman said holding a crowbar.

“Leave them alone they’re still human!” That was from Joyce, but stopped talking as her captors kicked her in the stomach. She didn’t talk anymore.

“Please, Tom, this is madness, let us go!” I yelled. “We did nothing wrong. What you’re doing is absolutely pointless. How the hell do you know where we live?” I jerked my arms and the sharp object dug deeper into my back.

“I have feelings you will. Don’t know when, but it must stop before it continues,” said Tom. He was inches from Katie, still on the driveway, eyeing her like a future door prize. She was ready to bite him if he touched her face. “As for your home, it wasn’t hard. Listening to others is what I do best.” His right hand gripped my father’s gun with white knuckles. It seemed apparent he knows how to operate one.

“Tom, you got this all wrong. We are not bad people or demons or whatever. We’re just victims. Getting off this mountain and back home is all we want. Call off this mob and leave us be.”

An evil grin appeared on Tom’s face and he came closer to me, towering over me. “Exactly. Back to the fiery depths of Hell, back with your entire demon family. That’s the price you pay for killing the innocent couple last night.”

“Kill? We didn’t kill anybody.” Tom was nuts before the asteroid crash, but this topped it, over the top crazy.

“Why, you’re are wearing their skins. Did you forget?” He smirked in an awful way, close to an animal. He was accusing us of stealing our own skins. How ridiculous is that? I felt like spitting at him. As he leaned in saying that, I had reason to believe he was drunk, and his beliefs were clouded. I smelled vodka, or brandy in his breath, and his stance swayed.

I noticed something else. The grey hair obscured Tom’s sight, but passed the dirt, the grime, the oil, and the murderous look on his face, his eyes were bloodshot. Alcohol doesn’t cause that. Staying up late might, but it was consuming his whites.

What else was he on?

Tom turned to the mob; the people seemed to be on the same boat as him. “See people,” he started, “this is what I’ve been warning about since Helen’s discovery. I try, day after day, to get the message across, yet you ignored my words. Today, you are all wrong, and I’m right. Not only did it come, crash, shower us with its demonic crystals, and get infected by some unknown entity, our bodies have become vulnerable to demon influence and possession and we must stop it before it spreads even further into our souls.” The mob cheered to his gaudy garbage. Tom pointed at us, “Ignore what the media is saying. These two did not transform. They were possessed and mutated by demons from the stars. And those animals they stand by. , They they are changelings. Nymphs. Deciders. Tricksters. They die when the demons die. Never trust them no matter how friendly they appear.”

He dragged his feet toward Katie, “And this… bitch right here, tried to influence me not too long ago, trying to turn me into one of them,” he yelled and pointed. Katie gasped, realizing her remote viewing spell backfired. I can see how disappointed and inexperienced she felt. More so, the gun was scaring her to death.

“What have you been sniffing, Tom?” Katie said after grimacing from her arm’s pain, “I was testing my powers. It was an accident. Come on, you’re doing this to get attention. You’re playing with people’s fears and misconception on this silly theory you dumb drunk.”

Keeji whimpered in my head. Oh, Scott, I don’t like where this is going. She has to shut up or else.

Don’t I already know that? Can’t risk telling her without getting stabbed.

Katie kept on talking, “You are wasting our time. We want to go home. You know what you are, Tom? A bigot. You are a selfless, disgusting, closed-minded bigot and…”

“Shut up, bitch!” Tom interrupted, but Katie went on. Where did she get this confidence? Was it the magic? I couldn’t believe what she was doing and if she kept on, something bad would happen, and it did. Tom punched her in the face. Katie got it so hard she dropped into the snow screaming, but the guy behind her never released his grip. I screamed and wanted to take revenge.

“You monster! I will get you for that!” I yelled with a snarl.

“You wish,” he said smirking. I saw Katie being picked up and my rage accelerated. A huge welt on the side of her face was growing black and blue. She was in tears and sniffing, I was devastated. It was too much to bear. I looked over the mob and some faces I saw showed changed opinions. Of course it changed, hitting a girl is not right. More worried faces sprung as Tom approached Joyce and Mike. Then, at the corner of my eye, Katie did something I didn’t expect.

She winked at me. That can’t be good.

“We’re not traitors,” Mike yelled, “you are the traitors, following this yahoo and his ideals. Look around, this is pointless, and we’re starting a war already.” He protected Joyce as best he could after seeing what happened to Katie.

“The Iraq War was pointless,” Tom defended, the barrel of the gun almost pointing at my friends. Then to be devious, he scraped the barrel against Joyce’s cheek, enough to make me imagine driving this guy’s skull into the concrete. “This will be a war with purpose. A holy war, to destroy evil and keep the human race pure and protected.”

Sounds like a true asshole. I tried thinking ways to get back at Tom without getting killed when my girlfriend started laughing.

You have to stop everything and stare at her laughing in the snow. She must be crying by now, but not, either she was about to die, lost her mind, or whatever.

Tom slowly turned to look, I told her to stop it, and she kept going.

“Typical,” she said while laughing, “just typical. You think this will be stopped with a cleansing. The world is changing, Tom, and you’re scared shitless from it.” She still smiled. “Do you even care that everybody, everybody, on earth got hit by those orbs yesterday? Including you?”

I saw in his bloodshot eyes that he knows she’s right, but tries to deny it. His hand with the gun was shaking and his fingers flexed. “You better shut up, demon,” he said as he paced back and forth, thinking about what to do next and as people told him to shoot us. What’s with him stalling?

“Shooting us won’t solve anything,” she continued, “and soon enough, you will be like us, in this position. What will you do then?”

Tom stopped, “None of your business. I can tell that you’re using black magic. Don’t let their sorcery cloud your minds!”

“Fat chance,” I grimaced, “Katie and I are not doing anything. I can barely cast my…” Tom pointed the gun at me, the weapon shaking with his arm.

“No more delays,” Tom spat. “Any last words before you go back to Hell?”

Katie had the last words as she kept cool about my position. “A question. You heard we have talking animals. Where did they run off too, huh?”

Once totally focused to kill us, Tom let out a massive gasp, realizing the truth, and his mission was stopped. “Shit! Did you see any animals in there?” He told the people behind us. They shook their heads, one of them saying they never heard of the totems. Keeji whimpered in my head.

Tom barked at them to look again. He eyed me and yelled, “Where are those changelings?”

“You don’t want to know,” I spat.

“I do,” Katie said, she waited to gain a lot of attention with Tom by performing that awkward silence. “Trust me, they’re here. ARANA NOW!”

Streams of energy bolted out of her back scaring the guy behind him, yet his grip was still on. The energy flowed to her hands, not making the tattoos appear, then there were moves I couldn’t quite place from the panicking commotion, but as the guy let go of Katie, he was screaming, clutching his blood-smeared hand, and missing a finger.

With Katie free and a thrust of her chest, the streams burst forth. Arana formed, shrieking like a true hawk, with open wings, spread out talons, and a face of a fighter. “Nobody punches my host and gets away with it,” Arana yelled. Tom was stunned through the whole thing, then became startled to feel Arana’s talons digging into his wrist, making the gun fall on the driveway. He screamed and flailed his arm to dislodge the bird, but she had a stronger grip. She attacked him more.

Once the crowd started screaming and running, Keeji said, aw, no fair, I want a piece of the action. I felt his energy collect on my lower back and then my captor screamed and let go. I felt Keeji’s weight as he launched out of my back and plowed into him. I grimaced. I turned to see the guy’s wrist oozing with blood as Keeji snarled at him. His nose was inches from the man’s face.

I felt a rush of adrenaline and had to let some of the steam out. One man that caught me in the apartment began running at me with a baseball bat. In a second I readied myself and remembered my prior knowledge of karate. I planted my stance.

He lunged for me and swung the bat down. With my new terran strength, I dodged the blow faster than I calculated. I hunched and laid a punch in the guy’s stomach. The blow was strong, and he fell backwards into the snow after I kicked his legs away. Another guy came bearing his fists, and I took him down with an elbow to the chest, another elbow to the face, and a hand chop on his shoulder. He scuttled away in fright from the pain. From that short moment of fighting, I felt like a new man. I felt unstoppable.

Katie crawled away to Mike and Joyce, then cheered Arana on while covering the bruise on her face. Keeji joined in, barking at the mob and comically insulting Tom. Within the sea of people, they were unable to help Tom from Arana’s constant attacks. The jerk’s face had more bloody cuts than a raw steak and fresh blood splattered over his previously blood-soaked coat.

I grabbed my gun and shoved it in my jacket pocket. I looked up spotting one of Katie’s captors clicking a pocket knife open heading to my girlfriend and friends. My inner hero took over and I ran after him, screaming to get his attention.

Next thing I knew he had spotted me, charged after me, and I punched him in the chest. What came next made me cover my eyes from an intense beam of light, then a full-on rush of electricity through my body. After the light died, I saw the guy taking the blow, flying over Katie and the others, and slamming back first into the sheriff’s SUV. I gasped from sudden loss of energy. Then I saw it. My right arm, from the tips of my fingers to my elbow, was ablaze with blue tattoos. The blue light was bright and brimming with energy, and I felt that energy.

Pure, primal energy.

“Holy shit!” Joyce cursed. “Scott, how are you doing that?”

“Beats me,” I shrugged. I didn’t know how, really.

Unfortunately I had no time to gawk at it so I had to shut it off. Also unfortunately, I didn’t know how. Katie cheered for me, but what now? This isn’t good.

Then I heard Katie scream. She covered her mouth looking over the crowd. The mob’s voices went from panic to excitement, and my mouth dropped from why. I might’ve felt Katie’s heart drop.

Tom, holding a baseball bat, looked down at Arana on the street. Arana was sprawled on her back and barely moving on her own accord. Her head was twisted at an unseen angle, her left wing severely broken with broken bones sticking out of the feathers, and her tattooed chest was smashed. She managed to look at Katie and talk, but the sound was blood entering her lungs—I believed it was Katie’s name—right to the point when Tom drove his heel onto Arana’s head.

Stolen novel; please report.

I’ve heard of animal cruelty, but this is too much.

I stopped Katie from running after him. “No!” She screamed and began to cry. I felt her pain and felt sadness grow inside me. She buried her face in my chest and we both collapsed on the ground

“You… You killed Arana,” Keeji said as he step in front of us with a loose jaw. “You bastard!”

Tom was panting and gritting his teeth as he looked down at the body. Parts of his hair was torn out of his scalp with fresh blood dying his white hair. His left cheek had a deep slash from the corner of his mouth to his ear. Shreds of his green coat laid on the ground. His right wrist was too torn up to loose function in his hand. Give props to Arana, she did well to fuck him up.

Arana’s body was motionless, Tom picked his boot away from something that scared him. Arana’s body began to glow and loose shape. Feathers and flesh transformed to energy and flowed at Katie, entering her chest. She felt it between sobs, then fell silent, feeling the energy. I couldn’t understand what was happening, yet it seemed that it was a good thing, whatever it was. Most of the mob fell silent from the murder. Once all the energy was in, Katie’s skin began glowing blue, Celtic runes appeared all over her skin, including her face and tail. They displayed a subtle effect, like a lava lamp with the marble texture. The bruise on her face disappeared. She opened her eyes and her iris’ were as bright as her tattoos.

“Scott… what happened to me?” She said. Boy does it get better and better.

And it wasn’t enough for Tom to stop, “What the fuck did you do, demon? Tell me!” He yelled at us.

We didn’t have anything to say. “Please, stop this, I beg you,” I told him.

“NO MORE STALLING, TIME TO DIE!” He charged forth, baseball bat ready to crack my skull. A few of his die-hard followers did too, hell bent to start a blood bath with us.

I did not want to die, and not let my friends get caught in the crossfire. Every one of their eyes displayed the same message—vengeance—and I wanted it all to stop. Everybody, including the children, will change soon, and they have no choice. They are scared, scared of change, and the reckless actions just like that one, there will be more just like it.

My arm was still charging mana. The gun was in my pocket and I needed more time to use it. There was one way, and that was my magic. I raised my arm and opened my fist, palm facing the charging killers, and screamed, “GO AWAY!” Without any idea of a spell and can’t recall the words Katie used, I winged it by imagining a wall: an impenetrable force field protecting my soon-to-be-wife, my co-worker, the landlord, and my totem. If I ever get a chance to live to marry Katie and thank Joyce and McDermit and Mike for keeping us safe, no doubt I will thank them with cases of wine and party invitations.

Nevertheless, I was new to spell casting and there was bound to be a mistake, which it did.

What happened was instead of a shield, a sudden increase in air pressure appeared on my palm. The air around me grew thinner as it was all sucked to my hand with wind kicking up the snow. Mixing with drops of mana, it formed into this softball-sized orb. My hand and arm tensed and shook. The dense air made the mana swirl to make the marble glow brighter. Tom and the mob didn’t care to stop. With a jerk of my arm, I released the ball of wind and mana at Tom’s gut, followed by an explosion.

They were kicked back and flown fifty feet backwards. Some slid on the ground, some crashed into other people, but Tom flew the farthest, out towards the street. A rippling shockwave of wind blew the snow, obscuring my vision and shattering all the windows. People screamed and thinking smart, they ran away. Snow kept falling on us, leaving my group unharmed.

“My God,” Katie commented.

My jaw was hanging. My arm started going back to normal and steam emitted from the disappearing tattoos like an exhausted engine. I felt exhausted and gasped for air and the same time, felt overwhelmed.,

“Whoa,”I said.

For us, at that moment, it was the perfect time to leave.

Before long, I got our computers, our suitcases, and us into Mike’s truck. Everything else we left behind. I thanked Joyce for everything and apologized for the damages. She was too stunned to react—I hoped she meant well while we left. Mike made sure McDermit was taken care of as he called 911, without telling about himself or us. Keeji road in front of me wedged between my kegs, while Katie was on my lap covered with my flannel blanket. The tattoos still hadn’t settled.

Mike drove off as I spotted Tom. He looked dazed, beaten, and hung over, but I noticed a piece of victory. The left side of his face branded a glowing tattoo, the symbol unrecognizable. I whispered “welcome to our world” with a smirk. I spotted three men on the side of the road and recognized them as the men in black last morning. The middle one, the leader, waved us goodbye, and I felt intense chills in my spine from his smile.

I gripped hard on my gun in my jacket. Nothing is safe anymore.

----------------------------------------

Fawnskin, California

En route to Mike and Ashley Sander’s house

4:54 PM

I lost Arana. How could I do something so stupid, so immature?

It was a good idea… at first. With everything going on—trying to get away and teach Tom a thing or two—I never thought that I would lose Arana to Tom’s foot. I hated him even more then and I hoped karma would teach him a thing or two. I paid for my mistake, in Mike’s truck, in Scott’s strong arms, with my body lit up like a Christmas tree under Scott’s blanket.

The worst part: the book doesn’t say anything about it. I had it clenched under my arms but there was no point looking when I was grieving for my loss.

“I don’t see anybody following us,” Mike said and made a sharp right turn. “I don’t suppose you know what’s happening to Katie?”

“Just drive, Mike,” Scott said firmly. The gun was rested on my knee, in his hand, ready for anything. Keeji whimpered and asked me if I was alright, or to say something. I just sobbed, nothing else.

The glowing tattoo’s after Arana’s strange death became a curse. Everywhere—on my skin and shining through my clothes—made it more so that I was truly a freak. I felt neither magic or Arana’s presence after she absorbed into me. I looked down and my body was a mess of tribal Celtic patriotism, but when I closed my eyes, it was even worse.

Imagine the layout of a laser tag area with all that black light paint and the dandruff and teeth glowing from the purple bulbs. Now picture that paint replacing all the color of the world, including displaying terran nervous systems. My body, with my eyes closed, showed a dense network of nerves and tattoos in brilliant blue color. I “saw” my fist-sized mana heart pulsing slowly. Scott’s mana heart was inches from my face. I could kiss it for saving us. Mike’s body was a black silhouette with a red heart and Keeji was described as a mass of shiny blue mist. Beyond the truck—and adding x-ray vision—more silhouettes with grey outlines and the crystals in the forest glowing like purple light bulbs raced passed us.

Eyes open and my vision is normal, close them and its “black light world.” I worried that it would be like that forever.

Mike made several turns, passing houses and businesses. He came to a stop far from the city and with my eyes closed I recognized his house. I could never forget the windows running across his living room and kitchen for that wide view of the forest, the bent garage door, and the wood carving of a bear eating a salmon guarding the front door. I had always loved that statue. The Christmas lights along the edge of the roof shined white, but I knew his were multicolor.

The blanket was pulled from my face and Scott looked down at me. He still wasn’t used to my condition, especially my eyes. “We’re here,” he said calmly. “Still with me?”

I missed Arana. I attempted a simple nod and wiped my tears away.

“Ashley is gonna have a storm for this,” Mike sighed and winced, rubbing his thigh from a bruise, and said, “God this hurts. You sure you want to be here? She isn’t herself.”

“We got no choice, we have nowhere else to go. She has to deal with it,” Scott explained.

Mike nodded, “True. Hate to see anything else happen. Let’s go before somebody sees us.” He cut the engine, got out, and waited for us.

Scott looked at me again, “You wanna wait here and let me talk to her, or go inside and face her?” He asked me, “I’ll keep you covered, if it helps.” He gave me a soothing peck on the forehead, just like I do to him. How thoughtful.

It was a horrible idea to see her, Ashley had broken my heart without telling me in person or over the phone, all because of me transforming and scaring her to death. The spell made me see her as a total wreck with a chef’s knife for protection; it’s not what I want her to become. Last morning I had promised myself to see Ashley and change her mind before going home. I couldn’t stay in the truck, people would have seen me. I didn’t know how to use a gun, and so it was either to face Ashley or face a killer in the dark. Regrettably, I decided on the lesser of two evils.

We got out but not until I got a good look at myself in the side view mirror. Seeing my iris’ and the constantly fading and unfading tattoos were my painful reminder of Arana. I carried her essence in me, possibly for life. Covering my face with the blanket from sobbing again, Scott led me inside. I used my new vision for support, but Scott didn’t know about it yet.

Up the steps and through the door, I heard Mike curse up a storm. Then I heard Ashley and her anger-filled voice shake me like an earthquake.

“No, no, no. Hell no! Get them out of there. They are not welcome!” Her outlined face made me want to run away from her; that sight will stick with me forever. She held the knife in stabbing position, keeping herself planted in the living room. The distraught look in her eyes was heart wrenching. , “I mean it, Mike, get them OUT!”

“Cut it out and listen!” Mike yelled. “I’ve had it with you, honey. Ever notice from my bruises that I got the shit kicked out of me?”

“Yeah, by them, I’m sure of it.” She pointed her knife at me and Scott and it made me grind my teeth.

“You honestly believe they are responsible? They are our friends!”

“They’re are not! Our friends are gone!” Ashley bashed, “Look at the news. More are popping all over the place. I want them out of my life or so help me I will leave you!”

I struggled swallowing from all the yelling, my gut told me it had to stop.

Scott intervened, “Ashley, this isn’t like you. We’re not the bad guys. Just calm down and we’ll talk this through like we wanted.” He sounded very tired and not wanting to deal with more violence.

The two of them kept talking reason to her but she still wouldn’t listen, I just stood there silent. At one time, Keeji asked to tie her to the recliner. I mildly agreed with it myself. I had just about had it when Ashley accused us of corrupting Mike to our control. Is everybody on earth assuming we have enough power to control people? Obscured I say.

We had become untrustworthy to her and she was willing to protect herself. Ashley asked about me and I froze. How could I intervene in this? My skin still had the tattoos, they could have made her faint and sleep for the night. But I was tired and exhausted from crying over Arana’s death.

They kept going as I thought of what to do. Scott left me out of the conversation as best he could. If I couldn’t convince Tom, therefore seeing the tattoo on his face, then I could try to convince my best friend.

With black light vision, I couldn’t tell if she had bloodshot eyes, something I noticed very well.

I had had enough and I told myself to screw it. I ripped the blanket off me, opened my eyes, and yelled, “STOP IT!”

Everybody stopped yelling and looked dead on at me, ablaze with blue tattoos and glowing eyes. Ashley went speechless and her jaw dropped. With her black hair the same as before, her grey hoodie and sweats were wrinkled from a day’s worth of wear, what little comfort it gave. My appearance was so shocking she dropped the knife and let it rest on the shag carpet, missing her bare feet.

I stormed past the men and dog, Ashley was backing up into the bar at the kitchen, too scared to use a barstool to fend me off. In seconds I grabbed her hoodie and with my terran strength pinned her to the bar. She protested to be free, but I stared into her eyes, and she knew it was impossible.

I screamed at her, using words I’m not proud of using. Ever. Using them on Ashley made my soul sour, and loosing Arana made my anger come alive. I told her she was alienating everybody around her and using religion like a coward. I told her how heartbroken I was and briefly told her what I’m capable of. I even used my tail to touch her to make her really freak out, to see the roots of what she will be in the future. I thought that moment over and over and I still think I was horrible to her.

She cried and randomly apologized, but it wasn’t enough for my wild self. My dark side wanted her to really see me. Scott and Mike tried to pull me away and I told them to back off. Whatever they said to me my brain picked it up like Charlie Brown lalas. If it went on longer and more heated, Ashley would’ve been on my enemy list for life, until Scott pulled my left hand and changed my attention.

“Katie, look at your hands!” Scott said.

My intentions to start slapping Ashley went out the door after seeing what was happening. The glowing tattoos were fading, starting from my fingers and up my arms. Convinced that this was new, I let go of Ashley and let her slide to the floor, skin pale and hyperventilating from my outbursts. The fading tattoos appeared to be traveling to my head. When finished, I felt a short burst of energy from my spine. I closed my eyes and black light vision was gone. Thoughts of that hideous moment of my body aglow forever were expunged.

“You’re back to normal,” Keeji smiled. “Well, normal-ish.” Thanks Keeji.

Then a familiar voice ringed in my head, it made me yelp and smile.

Oh… my head.

Energy built on my shoulder and Arana streamed out and collected on the floor. Arana appeared in the same position before she died, except without blood or broken bones, it was more like a hangover. “Uh… That. Hurt,” she groaned.

“ARANA!” I said and kneeled before her. I felt joy once again as I touched her, making sure she was real. I picked her up and hugged her; she clenched her talons inward for safety. “I thought I lost you. I can’t believe you came back. It must be some revival spell or something.” Tears, happy tears, flowed down my cheeks.

Arana groaned again and stirred in my arms. She needed a moment to speak. “I believe that plan of ours needed more time to think over,” she said, pausing a few places. Then a longer pause and a low sigh of grief followed. I faced her and she looked annoyed, even glaring at Ashley. “Alright, what happened?”

Ashley was stunned and quiet, but Mike was by her side in case she freaked out again.

We let Arana fly and land on the bar, shaking her head of any remaining fatigue, and listened carefully to our stories after she died. Arana was against coming to Mike’s place, but we convinced her it was for the best, yet being near Ashley’s close-minded attitude was hard for her to deal with. Keeji managed to growl at Ashley for hitting him, making her go to the bedroom with Mike. She still didn’t apologize to us. So much for changing her mind.

Later that night things seemed calm. I was worried how long they were in the bedroom talking and a couple hours later, Mike came out.

“She’s asleep finally,” he said and dropped in the recliner. He even had the decency to hand me and Scott a bottle of beer, my first real drink. I still had my bottle of Port wine in the truck. I took a long swig of lager and leaned back in the couch with Scott.

“Thank you for everything, Mike” Scott said with a smile. “I mean it; you’ve done so much for us. I don’t know how to repay you.”

Mike produced a small smile and offered an idea, “You can sweet talk Mr. Walsh for a life’s supply of wine.”

“Ha ha, fat chance, Mike, Dad won’t approve,” I smirked, “but I’ll think of something. Still, I can’t stand seeing Ashley like this.”

“She’ll get over it, I hope. That move you pulled really scared her,” Scott grimaced. “Can I give you some advice, Katie?”

“Sure.”

He leaned over to me, “Don’t do that again. It’s bad enough that I have to see you go postal with magic. Made me worried sick.”

Arana coughed, and I let her explain, “At least Tom is in his place finally. He won’t be disturbing us anytime soon”

I nodded, agreeing with her. “On the other hand,” Arana continued, “I can’t shake the feeling how Tom acted. Nothing about it seemed normal. He’s not a leader, nobody listened to him before. How he got that big of a mob is another question. Then the bloodshot eyes, the gun shaking in his hand…”

“What are you getting at?” Mike asked and drank his beer.

“The hand holding Scott’s gun was moving on its own, almost… trying to let go of the gun. If I’m right, I’d say he was under something besides alcohol.”

Scott hummed and added, “Come to think of it, no amount of alcohol causes bloodshot eyes. That’s caused by head trauma and burst capillaries, and he was alive and kicking. Good thing my first spell didn’t kill him.”

We agreed Scott’s first spell was a blast, literally, but needed practice. Arana was disappointed in not seeing it.

“But what was the deal with me?” I asked. “What was with you dying and the tattoos showing?”

The hawk shook her head, “I’m afraid I don’t have that answer. That is something we have to be cautious about.”

“Were you alive?” I asked again.

“Not really. First I felt Tom’s boot, and the next I was here.” If it happens again, I will have to find out its purpose.

“Great, more questions,” Scott shook his head. “I need to keep a list of all these surprises.”

It became too much to think about. We went to sleep, like real sleep since last night.

Whatever happens tomorrow, it will all be good. We go home, and nothing else.