1

Jason’s head jerked up startled at a sound his eyes darting around the small dank room. Letting himself take in the concrete walls and the rusted metal door. Not hearing anything further he turned back to the metal chain that was attached to the floor with ridiculously large metal rivets. Hovering in the air above the cuff was a green ball of light made of many symbols ranging from the simplest to one that he could see that made his head hurt every time he concentrated on it.

The sixteen-year-old poked at the light watching as the symbol he poked lit up and the others spun around it into a new configuration. He had never seen anything like this before but it made a strange amount of sense as long as he didn’t concentrate on the symbols themselves he could almost make out what some of them meant.

Of course, none of that was helping him get out of whatever this was. It was almost enough to make him regret running away from his foster home. It hadn’t been the worst home he had ever been in, but that didn’t mean much when the foster siblings liked to beat on you every chance they could get you away from adult eyes and the foster mother liked to lecture you about how lazy you were while you were doing your chores and she was sitting on the couch eating.

No, the last straw was all the times that she had said how grateful he should be for her taking him in when his family didn’t want him. She knew nothing about his family and had no right to say it… no matter how true it may or may not be.

Hearing another noise, the teen froze his hand over the ball of light before frantically pushing it back into the cuff on his ankle as the door made a screeching noise as it was unlocked. He scrambled back into the corner he had woken up in staring fearfully at the door as two figures came slowly into the room almost ignoring him as they continued their conversation.

“How long does the boss expect us to hold him down here?” Thug One asked his partner not even bothering to gesture at the teen in the corner.

“As long as it takes!” Thug Two exclaimed angrily as if the thought of the other questioning ‘The Boss’ was anathema to his entire world view.

The first thug walked into the center of the room rolling his eyes when his partner couldn’t see him, he leaned down setting a plastic-wrapped sandwich and two bottles of water on the ground several feet away from the grubby teen still not really even paying attention to him the kid was obviously cowered by them huddling in the corner there was no need in his mind to pay any closer attention to him other than checking that the cuff was still attached to his ankle.

“Don’t even bother trying to escape that cuff is enchanted six ways from Sunday. Even if you were to cut your foot off it would just attach further up your leg.” Thug Two spat at the teen nastily his greasy brown hair hanging in his eyes as he spat through a gap in the front of his teeth before they both turned back to the door the sounds of their continuing argument following them through the door and cutting off as it slammed and locked back into place.

The teen crawled back out of the corner ignoring the food as he wasn’t quite hungry enough yet to eat possibly spiked food. He reached back down to the cuff around his ankle doing a peculiar roll with his hand that he had learned would bring the ball of light back out when he had almost fallen over trying to walk when he had first woken up.

He poked another of the pictographs this one looking like a heart with a thick line connecting the two curves in an arch. He watched as it lit up and the others spun in a manner that almost made him dizzy enough to lose whatever was left in his stomach.

He wasn’t quite sure why he had been grabbed by these people or how long he had been here. He’d only been awake for a few hours before the thug squad had come in and there was nothing even slightly useful in their argument other than that they weren’t working alone.

Seeing the runes stop spinning he grinned as he noticed that the heart symbol stayed lit which had not happened in any of his other attempts. Poking another symbol, he almost let out a groan his hands coming up to cover his mouth before he could as both symbols dimmed spinning with the rest of the others.

It took him several minutes to find the heart symbol again poking it and waiting for the others to settle down before poking another one and grinning as they both stayed lit and motionless through the crazy spinning of the others. From what he could tell it was some kind of password. There was no guarantee that solving the password was going to get him out of the cuff… it might even do something – detrimental- to his health, but it was the only thing he had going for him. Well, other than just giving up and sitting in the corner and he wasn’t that type of damsel in distress.

Trying another tentative poke, he let out the softest groan he could as he obviously touched the wrong one again… this was going to take a while.

He was right it was several hours later and he was blessing the gods for the fact that the two stooges hadn’t come back to check on him, he had though ended up eating the sandwich and not passing out… so kudos to them for not trying to drug him with anything fast-acting at least.

Poking the last symbol that wasn’t glowing he grinned as the shackle went inert and fell off his ankle. Well, step one- get out of uncomfortable shackle was accomplished. Step two – get out of the concrete box without getting caught… not even close.

He quickly made his way across the room to the only possible point of egress – the door- he first pulled on it trying to see if maybe the stooges had left it unlocked.

No.Such.Luck. Why, oh why couldn’t he have stupid kidnappers…

Studying the lock, he growled as he managed to pull out another ball of light and was just thankful that it didn’t look nearly as complicated as the last one. Four symbols not as many combinations it only took him an hour to get this one unlocked though he was still getting pretty frantic by this point expecting those two goons to pop out of nowhere and jump him as he pushed the heavy door open.

Poking his head out and not seeing anything he took in the dank concrete hallway outside the door and couldn’t see anywhere that they could be hiding nearby so he slipped out of the door and closed it behind him. Making sure it locked, he snuck down the long hallway trying not to touch the moldy wall or breathe too deeply in fear of it getting into his lungs. He slowly approached the corner and stuck just enough of his head around the corner so he could see with one eye taking a quick look before pulling back and trying to remember if he had seen anything important.

‘Who am I kidding? Do I look like Shaun from that TV show?’ He asked himself before taking a longer look around the corner hoping that the dirtiness of his skin and the darkness of both his hair and the environment would keep the thugs from noticing him if they happened to be there.

‘Nope, no ugly thugs.’ He though before quietly turning the corner sneaking further through… whatever this was.  

Reaching another corner, he was seconds from sticking his head around the corner before he heard their voices still arguing and from the sounds of it coming ever closer. He frantically looked around for someplace to hide cursing to himself when he didn’t find anything he froze as one of the symbols he had seen in both of the locks he had managed to get through.

Two fingers quickly wove through the air in front of him a tingle running through them as the symbol hung in the air in front of him. Once complete the symbol made an almost silent snap sound before wrapping around his body. His breathing sped up as he heard the thugs quickly making their way to the corner obviously having heard something he was almost in a full-fledged panic attack by the time the two swept around the corner guns in their hands sweeping the hallway in a far more professional manner than made him at all comfortable.

He stared dumbfounded as the two swept by him without a glance his gaze fixed on their backs as they continued down the hallway expecting them to turn back and snatch him at any moment once they satisfied themselves that there was no one else here as he thought they were doing.

They swept around the next corner without stopping and his breathing eased a little bit before it registered with him that they were about to go into the room that he had been… occupying before and discover that he wasn’t there anymore. Which wasn’t at all to his liking, he decided before he turned and continued down the hallway around the corner praying to any god that would listen that there wasn’t anyone else down here, up here or where ever he was.

Not seeing anyone he picked up the pace hoping that he could find the way out of here before those two came back and saw him or something. It was another five minutes before he found a door in the wall that was in better condition than the one that he had been hidden behind and pushed on it.

He clapped his hands over his mouth to stifle the growl that wanted to come out when the door didn’t move when he pushed or pulled, it was obviously locked and he definitely didn’t have the time to find the combination for it before those two would find him. He tilted his head to the side in thought before making his way to a nearby corner and drawing the same symbol that had, he presumed, kept the thugs from noticing him before and hiding as much as it was possible when there wasn’t actually any place to hide other than a far too exposed corner.

He didn’t have to wait very long before the two men he was waiting for swept back around the corner still leading with their guns. He almost jumped up and down in glee when the two didn’t even glance at him before making their way to two the door one of the two tapping the symbols to open the door before opening it on a three-count for his partner before they both swept through leaving the door to swing shut behind them which gave enough time for him to silently as possible follow behind them.

Thankfully the two in front of him while obviously disturbingly professional for kidnappers were nowhere near silent in their walks and their noise covered any that he made as long as he was careful. At least they knew the way out because that is exactly where they headed not making many stops along the way. Not that there were a whole lot of places to stop a couple of doors that he figured were locked though they didn’t check them probably figuring that he would make a beeline for the door.

The two men tapped out a sequence on the door and stepped through standing in the doorway with their guns partially concealed by their bodies as they scanned the streets lit by dim street lights neither of them stepping far enough out of the doorway for him to escape before they turned back in and put their guns away walking further into the building still without noticing him.

Jason waited chewing on his lower lip as the two went to one of the doors that they hadn’t checked when they had swept by. He watched as they tapped in the code with the symbols before they entered the room neither of the two looking at all happy as he heard one grumble about having to tell the boss.

Once he heard the door slam closed he made his way to the front door quickly pulling up the symbols and tapping the ones that he had seen the thug touch before he pushed the door open and ran down the street without stopping having no idea if they had an alarm that monitored the front door. There was no way he was sticking around and getting caught by those two if he could help it.

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He kept going as far as he could. He wasn’t in terrible shape having always been skinny and lean but he ran what felt like four miles before he stopped having lost all breath. Once he regained his breath he stood up looking around trying to figure out where he could be by the street signs he could see and cursing when he didn’t recognize any of them.

“Hello, young one.” Jason heard from nearby and almost jumped off the building he was leaning against his head snapping towards the voice as his heart raced in fear. “Oh no, no need to feed Pumy. Wouldn’t hurt a fly would Pumy. If you don’t want to be noticed though walking around with that symbol on your breast is not the best idea amongst those that can see it and you.”

Jason blinked in confusion staring at the strangely dressed – man? – in front of him. “W-What?” was his rather unimaginative reply.  

Pumy clapped his hands excitedly, “Come, come, young one drops shadow glamour and follows Pumy. Pumy will show you to help place.”

Jason almost automatically followed the strange man as he whirled in a tinkling of bells and bounced off down an alley with the noise of the bells staining the air at every footstep. For some reason, this man felt like someone that he could trust without reservation, or more like a child who would never dream of doing something nefarious because he didn’t know-how.

He swiped his hand through the symbol glowing over his heart as they walked through one alley after another weaving a pattern through a part of the city that Jason had never seen before. Not that that meant much because he still wasn’t entirely sure he was even in the same city and he wasn’t sure if Pumy would even understand if he asked him, well anything.

It felt like hours later that they approached a grubby looking building in an alley, which made no sense to Jason as who would put a business in an alley where no one would find it.

Pentagrams

Was written in wrought iron wrapped with what looked like icicle Christmas lights just above the door set in a grubby run-down brick building which looked like they hadn’t been read in centuries. Jason gave his guide’s back a dubious glance as the man bounced through the door he honestly wasn’t even sure that the man remembered that he had been following him as he hadn’t looked back to make sure once throughout the whole walk.

Jason looked towards the door hesitantly before looking back the way he had come at a street that he was sure he could find out where he was and get the hell out of this area before whoever had kidnapped him found him again. Biting his lip, he stared back and forth between the door and the far-off street before squaring his shoulders and turning towards the door. He quickly walked up to the glass door and pulled it open stepping inside without looking before the door swung closed and he raised his eyes.

His jaw dropped as he looked around the building was covered in floor to ceiling bookshelves holding what looked like thousands of books, even though he was a severe bibliophile that wasn’t what shocked him. No, what shocked him was the obvious signs of magic that were everywhere from the classic brooms sweeping the floor to things that he couldn’t identify flying through the air.

“Come, come follow Pumy.” Jason heard snapping his mouth closed and looking at the man he hadn’t even noticed standing there. He blinked as the man-made a come-hither gesture and turned down one of the isles Jason quickly followed not wanting to get lost in the store. They wove through the shelves to the other side of the building where they found a counter against the far wall.

A man that looked like he was in his thirties lounged behind the counter with a book propped up on a stack of books in front of him his dark blue eyes roaming back and forth across the page as he read at a quick speed.

“Pumy comes, Pumy comes and brings a new friend!”

The reader looked up from his book studying first Pumy then turning those striking eyes to Jason studying the boy.

“And who is this, Pumy?” The man asked brushing his black hair back from his forehead in a well-practiced maneuver that showed off the fact that he wasn’t just a book worm.

The other man started to look a little sheepish staring at the floor as he answered. “Pumy not sure, Pumy didn’t ask.”

“Well, that was certainly rude of you Pumy. Did you at least introduce yourself before you dragged the boy here?”

“Yup! Hey wait, Pumy didn’t drag, boy follow.” Pumy said indignantly.

He let out a rich laugh as he turned toward Jason. “That’s very good, Pumy, much better than the last stray you dragged here. Good Evening, my name is John, owner-operator of Pentagrams book store. We sell occult books and supplies to those who actually use them correctly. May I have your name?”

“J-Jason.” The teen said suddenly wondering why he had followed a strange man he had never seen before into a really strange bookstore without questioning anything.

“Well J-Jason, it is a pleasure to meet you,” Jason said with a chuckle. “Don’t worry about following Pumy he could get just about anybody to follow him and you are certainly very safe here this is a protected place nobody would be stupid enough to pull anything here.”

“I don’t know about that,” Jason said getting the man to raise his eyebrows in question before he quickly went through everything that had happened to him over the last couple days.

“That is quite the tale,” John said with a whistle as he settled back down in his chair his eyes settling on Pumy as the man bounced on his heels to the sound of tinkling bells. “You don’t need to stay if you don’t want to Pumy.”

The bell-clad man nodded rapidly and darted off without looking back at Jason who blinked at his back, feeling kind of hurt by the apparent brush off.

Sensing the direction of the kid’s thoughts John was quick to reassure him. “Pumy has the attention of a puppy on crack he doesn’t mean anything by it, he just can’t stand to stay in place for more than a few minutes. The fact that he stood still long enough to listen to your story means he was very interested. I’ve never actually seen him stand still that long.”

Jason nodded as he attempted to brush off the hurt feelings not entirely successfully, it had been quite a day and he was feeling way out of whack. John nodded as he studied the boy’s face before he turned behind the counter looking for something.

“Ah-ha!” John said as he found what he was looking for pulling out a sheet of metal which he quickly dropped on the counter to the confusion of the other occupant of the store.

“You said that you escaped using balls of light made of symbols, correct?” Getting a nod John gestured to the plate. “Do what you did there to this, please.”

Jason nodded putting out his hand to do as he was asked before stepping back as the lights came out of the plate.

“Interesting,” John said bending down to examine what Jason had done. “Not many can make the runes show like this.”

“But I thought I saw those two thugs doing this, too,” Jason exclaimed as he watched the man.

John shook his head. “You would have been seeing something different than they were with your sight. They would have seen something that looked a lot like a pin pad on an ATM which they would press in the password. If you do it that way there is a safety built into spells like that so you can’t make more than a certain number of attempts before they lockdown and you can’t reopen them till the person that built the spell comes back to reopen it for you. What you did was different.”

Jason nodded his head it was quite different as he had made many attempts to open both locks.

“This is simply amazing though, this is called Rune Script and what you have is called Rune Sight. It’s very rare though not so rare that someone should have kidnapped you over it.” John said sounding somewhat confused on the last part.  

Jason tilted his head again staring at the man. “If it is rare is it also expensive?”

John nodded still confused before his eyes almost popped out of his head. “I suppose if one had some stuff that he wanted to get done and didn’t want to pay for it, then it would make sense but you would have to either be really desperate or doing something really illegal, and stupid to try a hold someone like you with magic… that has never worked. It’s been tried before by one person or government or the other but it has never worked.”

“Why?”

“All magic is made of runes though most people can’t see them it’s all made of them whether permanent enchantments like you see around my shop or combat magic being thrown from a Sorcerer’s fist or staff. It’s all rune, someone with the Sight can mess with it all and it won’t work against them unless they allow it, or like you have no idea how to use your gift. It’s most likely why they went after you, you wouldn’t have known how to defend yourself.”

“The two thugs were using guns they might not have used magic on me at all until they put me in those shackles. They were talking about calling their boss when they came in to feed me. It seems to me that they might not have even known why they grabbed me.”

“And wouldn’t have known not to use magic against you if they weren’t told of your gifts, makes sense,” John said with a nod. “Now I have one question for you.”

Jason nodded a gestured for the man to continue.

“What do you want to do now?”

“I think I want to learn how to use my gift… once that happens I’m not sure.” Jason said after a minutes thought. John nodded before offering to teach the teen how to use his magic even if he couldn’t teach him more about his gift than what was in the books hopefully together they could figure it out because there wasn’t a whole lot of those with his gift on this coast. They all seem to congregate on the east coast or across the ocean.

He wasn’t kidding when he said that they were rare there were only a few hundred of them in the states and most of them worked in the government and stayed in compounds protected by their own magics. Kind of like free agents they worked for anyone they liked but the governments of the world liked to keep an eye on them, strategic resources or something like that.

And yes the alphabet agencies knew of magic, they had mages of their own as a matter of fact wouldn’t be able to do their jobs if any mage could walk down the street and commit crimes without getting caught.