Swift (Strangetown Magic Book 1) (20 page)

Crack.

A fierce, scorching, blindingly brilliant tornado whirled around us all, then silence for we were in the eye of this terrible storm.

It grew, reaching higher and higher, colors scrambled like paint thrown at the vortex. Visions of a thousand worlds cold and frozen, hot and fiery, beautiful and terrible all flickering and fluctuating as Strange called forth more magic as they glimpsed their home worlds.

The elves, now down in the pit, formed a tight circle, right beneath the Rift, called as one, a different language and one I had never heard. Their secret language, full of magic too potent to use unless the need was dire, but the word rang through the crowd, and they shone bright and called louder and louder, the chorus taken up in one language, the ancient elven mother tongue, the meaning clear as I joined in the summoning.

"Home," we chanted. "Home, home, home," and things changed once again. Bodies elongated, flesh was ephemeral as Strange became not matter but pure magic, part of the Universe, taken by elemental forces that came at such a mighty summoning.

"It's working, it's working," Robin cried above the roar, and she was right.

"Hold on tight, here it comes." I gripped hard to Robin and saw Gravel smiling as the magic became too much to bear and I felt my knees buckle, but Pumi caught me, smiled, and I knew everything would be all right.

He held my other hand and we all cried out as something switched. With an otherworldly spasm that took all sound, and all magic brought by the Rift, the bodies of the displaced Strange became light and spirit and shot up into the air.

They were gone.

We fell to the ground, all of us, the burden lifting, energy dissipating. Dust billowed and humans moaned, and so did other voices.

Had it really worked? Were they free? Us too?

I turned to see if my friends were all still there. They were. Mack too, smiling.

The air was thick with dust, whirling and spiraling, making it impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction.

Before I had time to think, I stood, knowing I had to see, to be certain. I reached up and with all I had left inside of me I gathered the fading magic still strong in the air, more than I'd ever thought possible to handle, and I cracked the clouds far above.

It rained.

Fast and hard rain fell, gathering the dust in the air as it came, cleansing us, soaking us through. As I pushed my hair out of my eyes and blinked hard, I lowered my gaze and waited as the storm stopped as rapidly as it had started.

The sun shone hard and strong. Water sparkled off bodies and earth at the decimated ground zero.

It had worked! Only a few dozen Strange remained. Confused, I turned to Mack, my eyes questioning.

"I decided to stay. It's kind of groovy here and I dig the vibe."

"Good. And I hope part of the reason is because you can't bear to leave me."

"Maybe a little, babe."

"But how? How are you still here?"

"Guess it's the strength of emotion. My bond with you." Mack bowed his head. Was he actually embarrassed? Maybe he was becoming human, sort of.

I have to say, I would have missed him if he'd left. There was no sign of the elves, every one of them was gone. What few creatures remained were standing beside humans, smiling or trying to smile if they had the face for it, hugging carefully to avoid damage from claws and teeth, surrounded by the dead bodies of humans now returned.

This was no perfect success story, but they had been taken where they could not go, and at least some families could give a proper burial and say goodbye one final time.

Our world was ours once more, the balance restored, and for that we were all thankful. What about the others, the ones not close to the Rift, were they still here? No, the Pool felt different now. I could feel their absence in the magic.

It took a while to disperse the crowds. Ghouls moaned about the flesh being too fresh and turned their noses up at it, zombies salivated and lamented the fact the flesh wasn't quite fresh enough, a couple of demons started arguing about whether thermal or metallurgical bituminous coal was best if you had guests over. Gravel got his staff to go around selling cameras so people could record for posterity such a momentous occasion. Some things never change, and I was glad.

Me and my friends, we went home. Levick disappeared pretty quickly, I guess to go report to the Queen, see if he could salvage his position. I didn't doubt for a moment that she had orchestrated a lot of the witches and wizards and many confirmed she had sent them to help, so there was that.

Then it was me, Robin, Pumi, and Mack. Mack walked on ahead, happy he was one of only a few Strange from another realm left in our world. I held on tight to the hands of Pumi and Robin.

I think for the first time ever, I felt like I had a real family. Yes, it was dysfunctional, and yes, it was very early days for me and Pumi, but there was hope, and sometimes that's more than enough, more than we could ever dream of.

Especially in Strangetown.

The End

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