The Lost Mage (46 page)

“Dinner,” she said with venom, making Darakin wonder if he should eat anything after all.

After a moment’s hesitation, he sat down at the table. He waited until Nora had taken a bite herself before cutting a small piece and putting it in his mouth. “Mm. This is good. What is it?”

“Breaded chicken cutlets. And how would you know how it tastes, that bite you took was microscopic.” She looked him in the eye. “What are you afraid of?”

Darakin flushed with embarrassment at being so easily read. “Sorry.” He cut a big piece and put it in his mouth.

Dude, can I have some of that?

“Um, can I give some to Mrowley?”

“What is he? The official taster? You do know that you’re supposed to have him taste it
before
you eat it. It’s too late for you now,” she mocked.

“What?” he choked as he started to stick his fingers down his throat.

She reached over and grabbed his arm before he could. “No, no, there’ll be none of that at my table. I didna poison you,” she laughed.

Darakin sighed in relief.

Mrowley clawed at Darakin’s leg.
Duuuuuuuuude!

The mage cut some small, cat-sized pieces and put them on a napkin on the floor.

They ate the rest of the meal in silence. When they’d finished, Darakin helped Nora clear the table, thinking about how he’d miss doing little chores with her when he went home. He brushed aside the sadness, not wanting it to interfere with the ritual he needed to perform soon.

He went around and gathered up the herbs, making sure he had the incense he’d need, along with magic sticks to start a fire. Then he went to the bedroom and took off the jeans and shirt that Nora had bought him. He dressed in his own clothes, reveling in the unconfined feel of the loose clothing.

Nora stopped short at the sight of him in the clothing from his home realm. She stifled some tears as the reality of him leaving hit her again.

Darakin didn’t want to drag out the unpleasantness, so he strode in and asked, “Ready?”

“Yes,” she sniffed.

“You can stay here, you know. You don’t need to come with me.”

“I have to make sure that disgusting thing is dead so I can stop having nightmares about it. I’m coming with you.”

“Okay.” He bent over, picked up Mrowley and headed to the door.

“What are you doing?”

“Huh?”

“What are you doing with Mrowley?”

“I, uh, he’s coming with me. I promised him I’d take him home with me.”

“Is that what he wants?” The stricken look on Nora’s face nearly broke his heart.

“Mrowley? Have you changed your mind? It’s okay to stay.”

No, dude. I want to hunt mousies. And I promised I’d keep you company, remember?

“I remember. He … I’m sorry, he wants to come with me.”

“Sure, fine, whatever. Let’s go.” She brushed past Darakin and led the way out to the street where she hailed a cab.

“Are we not taking the subway?”

“I’m not going to take the cat on a subway. I don’t think he’d like the noise and I don’t want him to get hurt.” Her voice broke as she said it.

The group piled into the cab and Nora gave instructions to the driver. Mrowley ran back and forth looking out both sides of the cab. Darakin and Nora sat unmoving without speaking.

When they arrived at the park, Nora paid the cab driver and exited. Darakin picked up Mrowley and followed.

Dude, is she mad at me?

“Not you … us.”

She’s mad at us?

“No, not really it’s just that she’s going to miss you, and sometimes it’s just easier to pretend to be mad rather than sad.”

So, she’s pretending?

“Yes, I think so.”
At least I hope so,
Darakin thought to himself.

She’s good. I was totally fooled. My tail always shows exactly how I’m feeling.

Darakin laughed. “Yes, I suppose it does.”

Nora turned. “Move your stupid arse, Darakin, we don’t have all night.”

“On second thought, she might really be mad.”

Yeah.

The sun had almost set by the time they reached the edge of the zoo construction site. Darakin put Mrowley down. “This is good.”

“Here? But the demon is like fifteen minutes away from here. Shouldn’t we be closer?”

“I can’t risk the krekdapop realizing what I’m doing. This will take a bit of time and I don’t think she’d just sit there and let me finish if she found us.”

“Fine.” Nora sat on the grass without another word while Darakin set up his herbs and started a very large fire.

“Don’t you think that fire is a little on the wide side?”

“Nora, I need the space to create my runes and perform the ritual.” He began to dance around the fire.

Nora watched in wry amusement. She’d turned her sadness into a front of rage and derision. “You know, they’re saying we’ll have clear skies this evening. Doesn’t exactly bode well for your rain dance.”

He continued his dance. “Good, then I’ll know if my ritual is working.” He began chanting and drawing runes in the air with the smoke from his incense.

Nora marveled as the smoky runes stayed frozen in the air, instead of dissipating, as she’d expected. She was so intent on his ritual that she didn’t notice the sound of footsteps approaching.

“Whoa! What’s he doing? How’s he making those things in the air?” It was Howard and a group of young men.

“What are you doing here?” Nora demanded, pleased at having found a new target for her anger.

“Hey, you don’t own the park. We’re just, um,” he looked sideways at his companions, “we’re just taking a walk.”

One of the men in his group stepped forward, “What do you mean? I thought we were going to take care of the demon?”

“What do you mean, take care of the demon?” Darakin stopped his dance and came over to the group.

“Don’t get your tights in a bunch, Baryshnikov. It’s none of your beeswax.”

“Tights? What’s a Baryshnikov? What in the hells is he talking about?” Darakin turned to Nora for help.

“A famous male dancer. Ballet dancers wear tights when they dance,” Nora answered.

“Oh,” Darakin laughed. “I’m no dancer. In fact, I’ve no schooling in the performing arts at all. They don’t teach that at mage school. What I’m doing is performing a shamanistic ritual.”

“Well, la-di-da,” Howard’s belligerence seemed bolstered by the presence of his seven companions.

“La-di-da? What’s he talking about now?”

“Well, I’m not going to miss having to explain everything to you, I’ll tell you that,” Nora snapped.

“Look, Kwok, we’re just going to look at the demon, that’s all.”

“Really? Then what’s that you’re hiding behind your back?”

“Just my backpack,” Howard said, bringing the bag around front. “And I wasn’t hiding it. We’re, I mean I’m not afraid of you.”

“What’s in the backpack?”

“Never mind that, Kwok. What are you doing?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but he’s getting ready to kill the demon,” Nora interjected.

“How? By boring it to death with bad dance?” The group laughed at Howard’s joke. “Come on, guys. Let’s go.”

“Don’t come running to us when you get into trouble,” Nora turned her back on Howard.

The young men laughed and left.

Nora sat down again. “Well, go ahead, finish your dance.”

“You know, it’s not really a dance. You all make it sound so … so …”

Lame? Foolish? Girly?
Mrowley spoke up from his spot near Nora.

“Yes, thank you, Mrowley,” he looked at Nora. “You make it sound foolish.”

“Whatever, Darakin. Get cracking. We don’t have all night.”

Darakin returned to his ritual. A few minutes later, a low rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance.

“Holy crap, you did it!” Nora cried in surprise, realizing that she hadn’t believed it would work.

Mrowley leapt up and ran to Nora. He jumped in her lap, his fur on end.
Thunder boomies,
he said in a hushed voice.

Nora stroked his fur and reassured him. “It’s okay, Mrowley. It’s just noise. We’ll protect you.”

Not just noise! The ground moves. The thunder boomie giant is coming.
The cat couldn’t stop the involuntary shaking of his body.

Darakin had stopped his dance and was sprinkling another concoction of herbs on the fire while beginning a new chant.

Nora didn’t want to interrupt so she waited until he was done. When he’d finished chanting, he took a stick and fished out the remainder of the demon slime he’d saved. He threw the stick on the fire. A puff of greenish smoke arose.

“What the hell was that?”

“I did a spell to bring the demon here.”

“Why here? Why don’t we go to her cave?”

“First of all, there’s no way of knowing if she’s there right now. Second, I need her to come here, where I’ve got the runes drawn.” He pointed to the smoky symbols floating in the air.

He looked around as if unsure what to do next.

“Now, what’s wrong?”

“I’m trying to figure out how to do this.”

“Do what?”

“How to kill the krekdapop.”