Scene spat out by the muse.
I watched Mousey haul himself into his van. Justin, Matt, and some kid I didn’t know but who acted entirely like a sycophant all climbed in after him. I raised my arms as he started pulling away, lifting myself up on the aether, commanding Zephyr to my will. The spirit raised me just as the headlights turned in my direction, so he wouldn’t have seen me.
I had perfected daytime flying, it was night time that I wasn’t too keen on. I also had to keep total concentration on the spirit, to force him to keep me aloft and move forward or backward as needed.
Mousey was dropping kids off at their houses. I knew the way to his house would be brightly lit except for when he would go down a side street. He made the turn as I expected, and I had Zephyr drop me down right in front of his van, keeping up with it as it moved. He slammed to a stop, I moved back a couple of feet. Zephyr released me.
I walked over to the door. He rolled down the window as I smiled at him. I quoted, “Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me.”
“What the — you’re that pansy.”
“Do I have a name? Or have you forgotten that?”
“Lay-Bonnie.” He laughed at the pun of my name. I’m sure he didn’t come up with that.
“Uh huh.” I yelled “SHAKTI”, forcing energy through my will and my arm. I yanked the door open, and off its hinges. That would hurt later.
“What–”
I reached in, and yanked at Mousey. He had a seatbelt on, but with a drawing of the rune, it turned into paper. I pulled him out, the tissue paper fluttering on the ground. “Let’s go for a walk, Cris.”
“You stupid ass, I can’t walk.”
I gave him raised eyebrow as I set him on his feet. He flailed a little, but didn’t topple forward. My will kept him standing. “Oh, yes, you can. Where I tell you to go.”
A street light popped off. I was pulling energy from everywhere. Where I needed to go, I couldn’t get there by walking. I motioned and made Mousey walk around the front of the van. I climbed into the driver’s side.
“Man, what’re you doing?”
I pulled out my cutting knife, grabbed his hand when he got in the car and cut deep into his palm. “HEY!”
I smeared the blood on the steering wheel. “Go!” The van jerked forward, the levers on the side working on their own. All I had to do was steer and yell “Stop!”
This was the most blatant and vulgar magic I had performed outside of the Academy. I really had no idea what I was doing – I just knew what needed to be done, the things to say, the actions to perform.
Meanwhile, he was talking. I had no idea what he was saying, concentrating as I was on the driving. For all I knew he was begging for his life or still berating me for being gay. I can multitask only so much.
Finally, we got to the entrance of Hope Park. “Remember this, Cris?” I got out of the van and pulled its energy to me so it immediately died. Cris’ legs thumped against the door, wanting to get out. I went around and pulled on the door. Locked. He was going to make me work for it, wasn’t he?
Again, with a shout, I yanked the door open. The legs moved of their own accord, even though he tried to hold onto the chair. “No, man, don’t kill me, man, this is all a bad dream, don’t do it, man–”
So I guess he was blubbering about his life on the way over. Another well-placed rune turned the chair to paper also, and his legs moved on. His back straightened and he lumbered to the edge of the woods.
“Do you remember this place? A nice little arena for a battle, don’t you think?” I walked a little further into the woods. This, I knew without a doubt, was something I could easily do.
I began a chant. “Call ye all, sorry bones, abandoned and left alone, sullied; not given proper rights, rise up through this soil, assemble yourselves, clothed in what remains of you, together once more. As I command, ye do my will, teeth and hook, claw and arm, your bones I summon to me!”
It sounds a lot better in Byzantine Latin.
Creatures of all sorts shambled forth through the woods. A few dogs, some cats, rabbits, squirrels, flightless birds. And something else.
I swallowed as I saw a brown skeleton of what could have been a young man or woman come out of the woods, its arms swinging side to side leisurely. I couldn’t let my concentration falter as these creatures of bone – some with flesh – gathered at my feet.
Mousey was screaming. I mean really screaming in horror and fear. A man that big could scream like a little girl. I had to keep the bones up, summon the command, keep Cris standing – nah, didn’t have to do that. I dropped that spell. He fell to the ground with a thud which stopped him from screaming for a half a second.
“Tear him apart,” I said, again in Latin. I pointed to the form on the ground.
The dogs moved first. The bones were so fragile that once they hit flesh, many turned to powder. That’s what happened to the human skeleton. But the animals were relatively fresh, so they were able to gain purchase.
When nothing was left but blood, bones, and torn flesh, I stomped my foot on the ground and asked Kali to take the remains in her bosom. She didn’t seem to have a problem with it, as the earth opened up and swallowed the remains.
Then I collapsed.
I fell on the ground and rolled onto my back, looking up at the clear night sky. Then I laughed, I laughed so hard that tears were coming down my face. This was going to be so easy!
—–
I knew my biggest problem was going to be Ritter.