Modern Magic Episode 2: Flying Solo

Modern Magic Episode 2: Flying Solo

by Anne Cordwainer AnneCordwainer@hotmail.com http://www.annecordwainer.com My Facebook Page The entire series, in print

Copyright © 2008 by Anne Cordwainer Permission is hereby granted to redistribute this file, as long as the entire file (including copyright notice and contact information) is preserved.

If this is your first encounter with the series, I suggest starting with “Modern Magic, Episode 1: Graduation Day.” You can probably find it wherever you found this one, or on my web site.

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Winter, 2000 John Even over the phone, Dad’s voice had an overtone that meant he was speaking as head of the Prospero family, instead of just as my father. “John, I have a job for you.”

I knew what he meant. That phrase, that tone, told me that he was taking me on my first renegade hunt. My heart started to beat a little faster. “What is it?”

“It’s your sister. She thinks there may be a renegade sorcerer in Raleigh.”

“What?” Sorcerers had avoided North Carolina ever since the Roanoke incident, although now it was more from tradition than from real concern. Also, Liz was mundane. “How would she even know?”

“She has reason. It might be real. Your job is to find out. I don’t think it's anything serious; this should be simple. Let me know when you’ve found out what’s going on, and I’ll come down if I have to.”

I was going alone? I took a deep breath, quietly, so he wouldn’t hear. “Wouldn’t I normally go with you the first few times? Or someone else with experience?”

“Normally, yes, but these aren’t normal times. Your mother and I are going to Nashua, and I already sent Patrick to Providence. Magical crime has climbed a lot over the past several years, you know. I need you in action.”

I used to think it was funny that Dad only asked his brother Patrick to go on renegade hunts, never his sister. It didn’t seem so funny any more. “What about Aunt Margrethe?”

“You’re the closest, and it’s time to start passing the torch. You’re twenty-one now. All you have to do is investigate.”

I tried to sound confident. “Right.” We ended the conversation, and I blinked at the wall a few times. Then I went upstairs to pack my stuff. Friday was already waning, but delaying would only make the job harder.

This shouldn't be a problem. I was in grad school, not grade school. Most of my fellow students at Amberglen had already been on call for a few years, and some of them had gone on renegade hunts.

I didn’t know any who had gone on their first jobs solo, though.

My housemate Theo snagged me in the upstairs hallway. “Got a sec?” he asked. “This project’s a mess.”

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Schoolwork. Easy. It would give me a chance to collect my thoughts. “Sure. Let’s look at it.” I followed him into his room and studied the model. “I don’t do much mind magic, but I think I agree with the assessment of ‘mess.’ I’d just rip it out and start over.”

“That’s the problem. I can’t rip it out. I’ve got it so tangled up that I can’t dispel it.”

“Tell your prof you’ve invented a new technique to ward off dispelling attempts.” While he rolled his eyes, I studied it in more detail. It was only a model, not a real brain, so I couldn’t hurt anything. If I could find a few central threads and remove them . . . there. After that, dispelling was easy. “All set?”

“Yeah. Thanks.” He studied me. “Is something up?”

“My father just called me. He’s sending me on a job. Solo.”

His eyes widened. “But you only turned twenty-one a couple of weeks ago.”

“Yes, I did notice my own birthday. This shouldn’t be a big deal, though. I know the theory; now I just put it into practice.” And in theory, theory and practice were the same.

I packed, went downstairs, threw my stuff into my car, but hesitated before getting in.

Had Dad told Liz that he was delegating the job to me? Even if he had, I should call her to confirm. I went back inside for the phone. “Hey. It’s me. I’m on my way. What's going on?”

“You’re coming now? Uh, okay. You can sleep over. It’s a one-bedroom apartment, though. I don’t have a guest room.”

“You’re in college. If you have a couch, you have a guest room.”

“All right, then. See you in about three hours.”

Her current apartment was less crummy than her last one. Good; I wasn’t sure I could have handled the cockroaches. After greeting her, I examined my temporary bed. “Where’d you get this futon? A garage sale? It smells like rancid cheese.”

“I poured some milk on it a few months ago, just in case you stopped by.” She handed me a pillow and some blankets.

I started making a bed. “What’s up? Dad says you think there’s a renegade here.”

“Yeah. I heard him. I was eating lunch downtown, and this man in the next booth muttered some stuff when the waitress gave him his bill. Some of it was gibberish, but part of it was ‘I already paid.’ And she didn’t charge him.”

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That did sound like possible magic. If the waitress had been a friend, he would have joked in a normal tone instead of muttering. Some sorcerers did mutter when they worked, for any number of reasons—as mnemonics for seldom-used spells, to step their way through a spell which was beyond their ability to hold in their heads, or even from a sentimental attachment to so-called incantations.

It didn’t sound serious, though. Dad had given me an easy one. “You want me to find out if a guy stole a free lunch?”

“I want you to find out what else he’s doing. If he’s stealing lunch, he might be doing a lot worse. I don’t have any way to find out.”

She had a point. It might very well be worse. I knew, as did Liz, that it would qualify as big news if a sorcerous community developed in Raleigh after all this time. A sorcerer living here was very likely a renegade. One who didn’t mind being lonely. She was right; someone had to investigate.

A renegade sorcerer, and I was alone. No matter. Act normal and confident. I’d learned years ago that, when I seemed nervous, other people panicked. “That should be simple. An investigation? No problem.”

“That’s what I figured. You’re supposed to be such a great scrier; you should know what’s going on in no time.”

Supposed to be, yeah. My first renegade hunt wasn’t schoolwork. I wouldn’t mention that, though. Never let them see you shiver.

Time for a joke. “You’re amazing. Only you could find a renegade sorcerer in the middle of North Carolina.”

“Only you could make such a big deal out of a simple favor. So, how do we start?”

Simple favor. I hoped. “We start where you saw the man. Unless you want to break into a restaurant in the middle of the night, we start tomorrow morning.”

“Fine with me. I only waited up this late to let you in.”

We said goodnight, and I bedded down on her lumpy futon. I couldn’t have slept even in a decent bed, though. I should start before the trail grew even colder, shouldn’t I? Or should I wait until I had access to the site, where the impressions would be clearest? How did I decide?

It was past two when I finally got to sleep, but morning came eventually. I woke when Liz emerged from her bedroom, already dressed. “Should we get going?”

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“Yep. Tell me everything you know.”

“I already did. I heard the guy muttering, the waitress didn’t charge him and she looked confused, so I called Dad. There’s nothing else to tell. So, how do we find him?”

“Like I said. I start where you last saw him. I guess we’re going out for breakfast.” My tool bag seemed to be staring at me.

“Okay. You should maybe get dressed. Flannel pajama bottoms would look weird in a restaurant.”

“Thanks for the fashion tip.” I grabbed my clothes, excused myself to the bathroom for some privacy, and studied myself in the mirror. Academic hotshot, everybody’s Golden Boy, capable of anything, always confident. I would not let Liz see that I was nervous.

With clothes on body and tool bag in hand, I was as ready as I’d ever be. We drove to the diner where she’d seen the man. After thinking a moment, I hid my tool bag under the seat before getting out.

Liz watched. “You’re not bringing your stuff?”

“You want me to set up a scrying screen in a restaurant, with other people around?”

“How else will you scry?”

“I thought I’d ask for a glass of water.”

“You’re going to do it the old-fashioned way?”

“You mean the medieval way? Yeah, that’s the general idea.” I should have done this last night, instead of lying awake. Breaking in? I could have worked behind the restaurant, by the dumpster. I’d have been maybe thirty feet away from the site, but the trail would have been eight hours warmer and I could have used the proper tool without being noticed.

She looked like she wanted to say something else, then changed her mind and closed her mouth. I opened the door. “Ask the hostess for the table he was at.”

“We can seat ourselves.” She led me to a corner booth, near the fire exit. If I’d done this last night, I could have been separated from the site by no more than the thickness of the wall.

The waitress brought us our water glasses. Hers was a beverage; mine was an improvised scrying screen. “Well, here I go. If anyone stares, make something up.”

“Would Dad do this? Scry in public?”

I had no idea. “Absolutely.”

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I started dropping into a trance. Before I was completely under, I heard Liz telling the waitress that I had seizures, they were harmless, I’d be all right soon. My still-half-conscious mind thought what a crappy liar she was. Someone thinking I was weird was the least of my worries, though.

Then I was fully under, and the world went away. I pulled out basic impressions from the time Liz had seen him—there was no chance of pulling out the subtle air vibrations to get sound, not with such primitive methods, but it was definitely magic. A general sense of the man came out. I also pulled out a bit of his mindset, enough to know that this theft had been a casual affair, one of many.

There was a whiff of some other magic, too, as if—yes, he’d used mind control to force a woman to meet him at his car. That spelled magical rape. He was a true renegade, all right, and there was an unpleasant smugness about it all. To this man, abusing his power was fun.

I came back up. Liz had ordered food for both of us, and even remembered that I hated eggs. I tucked into my pancakes, eating fast. “I have a scrying signature for him. Now I need to find him in the present.”

“Glad you’re done. I think the waitress was about ready to call 911.”

“I’m doing my best, all right?” I snapped.

She stared. “I know. I didn’t mean you did anything wrong.”

“Let’s just go.”

As we drove back, the little chill worked its way deeper into my gut. Now that I knew I could find him, I couldn’t kid myself any more. Any renegade could be dangerous. When I found him, I wouldn’t just tell him to go and do wrong no more. The protocol was to notify his family of his unethical magic. They’d take steps. He’d know that as well as I did, so he wasn’t likely to come quietly. I’d soon enter my first magical combat.

He probably couldn’t hurt me. I had strong shields, and I was a good pyromancer. If gentler methods failed, I could burn him enough to put him out of commission and let his family worry about healing him. I’d find him, go confront him while Liz stayed safe in her apartment, and soon it would be over.

He probably couldn't hurt me. But I didn’t know for sure.

“John? Can you hear me? Are you in a trance, or just spaced out?”

I shook myself. “Yeah. Just thinking.”

“We’re back.”

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She'd already unfastened her seat belt and shifted to face me. We must have been parked for several moments. She was staring at me suspiciously. I ignored that, dug my tool bag out from under the seat, and walked back to her apartment as if nothing were wrong. I’d slipped; I shouldn’t have let her see that I was nervous.

Once inside, I got out my scrying screen. “I’ll borrow your bedroom.”

“Wait. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. What makes you think something’s wrong?”

“You’re stalling. Normally nothing can keep you away from a puzzle, but last night you wanted to wait until this morning. Then you used an inefficient scrying method, which is so not like you; you’re all about efficiency.”

Maybe I had been stalling, unconsciously. “I couldn’t set up the screen in the restaurant.”

“You could have used it outside, with a keepaway spell. Just because I can’t do it doesn’t mean I’m totally ignorant. So why were you staring into a glass of water and scaring the waitress?”

“You could have suggested that earlier.”

“I don’t believe you didn’t think of it. You’re not stupid. What’s going on? If you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’m going to have to tell Mom that you’re acting weird. And you know what that means.”

I did know. It meant Mom would haul me off to a sorcerer shrink. Sorcerer families didn’t take any chances with mental health. Mom’s uncle had been hospitalized for over a decade, with no real chance of recovery, in part because he’d lived alone and no one had noticed the problem soon enough. If Liz told Mom I was acting weird, I wouldn’t have a moment’s peace for years.

“Good threat,” I admitted. I looked at my bag, the walls, the floor, anywhere but Liz. Then I took a deep breath. “You want to know what’s going on? I had my twenty-first birthday a month ago.”

“Hey, I sent you a card!”

I waved the card out of the conversation. “You know what that means.”

“You can drink legally?”

“I’m being serious, okay? You know what it means to a sorcerer.”

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She nodded. “It means you’re not a noncombatant any more. You’re supposed to be available if anyone needs help.”

“That’s the idea.”

“And I can’t investigate by myself, so I need help. What’s the problem?”

“The problem is that I don’t know what I’m doing, okay? Normally I’d go with Dad a few times, to train. But he’s busy, so I’m here flying solo.”

Liz cocked her head, apparently still not getting it. “There’s always a first time. Maybe it’s a little soon, but—” “It’s not the first time. There’s stuff you don’t know.”

“So tell me.”

I studied the floor. “I think I was six years old when I first saw a combat. The Hazels’ son was freaking out, and I heard Mrs. Hazel yelling for help. She really wanted adults, but I didn’t know that then. I just heard someone screaming for help, so I ran down. I saw him trying to hurt her, so I smacked him with fire. It was the only thing I could think of to do. I didn’t hurt him, of course—he was a grown man, and I was just a little kid—but I distracted him long enough for Mrs. Hazel to get the upper hand.” Mrs. Hazel had thanked me, but she’d looked at me strangely. Almost as if she were more afraid of me than of her disturbed son.

Liz managed to sound properly sympathetic. “I can see why that was scary. You just stumbled into it, though. Nobody asked you for help.”

“No, that didn’t happen until I was eleven. Mom and Dad went out on a late-night call for help, and I guess they thought we were in danger, because they woke me up in the middle of the night. They said Grandma was on her way over, but they wanted me awake until she got there.” I paused, remembering. They’d told me just to yell if anything happened, but they were leaving, so who was I supposed to yell for? I’d nodded and tried to look grown-up, but I’d had no idea what I’d do if anything actually happened. “I just sat in the hallway and shivered. I’ve never been so glad to see Grandma in my life.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“What good would that have done?”

She looked annoyed, then shelved it. “I could have sat with you. We could have been scared together.”

I met her eyes again. “That’s sweet, but you’re kind of missing the point. I’ve never been a noncombatant, and you always will be. You were born with a ‘Get Out of Magic Free’ card, so the burden’s all on me.” Even though she shared my surname, she really had no idea what it meant to be a Prospero.

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She just didn’t get it. How could she? For her there were no expectations, no demands.

She was free to move in and out of the magical world as it suited her, while I was stuck with it.

She’d never shivered in that hallway.

Enough of that. She tried to speak again, but I interrupted her. “I’m going to get started.

See you in a bit.” I took my screen into her bedroom and shut the door.

Even with the proper tool, scrying all of Raleigh was difficult. I couldn’t search such a large area just by poking around; I had to go into a deep trance and look hard. It was simple geometry to sort the city by diminishing halves, and for a moment I thought I had it. I thought I saw a spark, somewhere northwest of us, but when I narrowed down to that region, it was gone.

Either the sorcerer was hiding with surprising effectiveness, or he was in motion. I deepened my trance and examined a larger area, looking for anything at all.

Yeah, there it was. It wasn’t in motion, at least not any more. It was close. Very close.

Somewhere in our vicinity. In fact . . . oh, crap. He was here.

I yanked myself out of the trance and dashed out into the living area. There he was, sitting at the kitchen table, holding a mentarch. He was older than I was, maybe fortyish. His attention was firmly on me, and his eyes were cold. He’d collected all my tools and put them into his backpack, leaving me with nothing but my useless scrying screen and my own naked brain.

Liz sat next to him, limbs still and eyes glazed.

“There you are,” said the man. “I figured you’d be out soon. In case you haven’t noticed, I have her medulla oblongata along with her higher functions. I control her breathing and her heart.”

“What do you want?”

“This confrontation you planned isn’t going to happen. I’m leaving town, and you won’t follow me or track me because I’m taking her with me. I’ll release her only after I’m sure I’m safe.”

I knew better than to believe that. If I agreed, he might kill Liz rather than bother with mind-wiping and releasing her. I had to break his grip on Liz. That wouldn’t be a problem if I had my tools, since he was noticeably weaker than I was, but he was using a mentarch and I had nothing. If I just tried to break his hold with an on-the-fly spell, I could easily do more harm than good. A real brain wasn’t a model; I couldn’t risk screwing blindly with her breathing and heartbeat.

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Don’t let them see you shiver. He could feel that I had more raw power, so I might be able to intimidate him. I gave him my best superior stare. “Do you know who you’re dealing with?”

He looked smug. “I know exactly who I’m dealing with. I researched you as soon as my alarms told me another sorcerer was in town, and I don’t believe a Prospero showed up in Raleigh by sheer chance. You’re here for me. I also know you’re a kid who doesn’t know what he’s doing, and I have all your tools, which is why I am in control here.”

Well, there went that idea. I’d have to stall him while dissecting his spell. I sent a feeler into her brain, delicately enough that this less sensitive sorcerer wouldn’t notice it. “There’s no need to take her with you. You have my word that I won’t try to track you.”

“Yeah, right.” He stood up, and Liz jerked to her feet as well. “I’m not falling for that, and I’m not sticking around to chat while you do whatever you’re planning to do. We’re leaving now, and if you track me I’ll kill her. I only stayed this long because I guessed you’d feel me and be out of it soon.”

Crap. He was right; I had no idea what I was doing. I couldn’t stall him, and I couldn’t yank the spell out safely without exploring it. I could paralyze him, but I wasn’t sure I could hold a struggling sorcerer while safely poking around in a spell that was controlling my sister’s basic bodily functions. I could burn him, but in that kind of pain he might kill her without even meaning to. I needed a few minutes to find the control spell’s weak points, and I didn’t have them.

He walked toward the door, with Liz following zombie-like behind him. I needed to take him out of action immediately, before he walked out and took Liz with him. I also needed my full magical attention on Liz, to disentangle her safely. What the hell was I going to do?

My first job was going to be a spectacular failure, probably lethal for Liz. Damn, I wished Mom or Dad were here. They’d done this kind of thing before. This man had twenty years on me.

But if you looked at it another way, a way he probably wasn’t expecting, then I had twenty years on him.

So, as he walked past me, I slugged him in the gut with my fist. While he doubled over with surprise and pain, I knocked the mentarch out of his hands and turned my full magical attention to Liz. With no need to keep the work hidden, it took less than a minute to yank the spell apart and get it out of her safely. I threw a shield on her just as he tried to regain control and shut her breathing down. He tried to rush me, but I threw him against the wall—magically, this time—and made sure Liz was okay.

Then my head exploded. I hadn’t shielded myself. The worst imaginable headache blinded and nauseated me. My frantic urge was to cure it, but I had to get that mentarch before he did. He was obviously a mind magic specialist, and whoever had the mentarch would win. I put another shield on myself, threw up, and staggered towards where I’d last seen it.

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The pain still blinded me, but I could sense the renegade and the tool. As we both reached for it, I shoved him magically again. He tried to do the same to me, but couldn’t manage it. Thank God I had more raw power than he did, since I sure wasn’t using it effectively. But I did shove him away a few feet, and got the mentarch. With that in hand, it was easy to cure my headache and do a more thorough checkup on Liz. While she gasped for breath and clutched her chest, I turned my attention back to the man who had attacked her. I pinned him face-first against the wall, lightly enough not to wear myself out too fast, but hard enough that he couldn’t escape physically. Then I removed the backpack.

“You’re magically overmatched and physically trapped. I’m neither, and I’m furious. If you don’t cooperate, the next step is for me to set your clothes on fire.”

He couldn’t slump while I had him pinned, but his expression showed it. “All right.

You’ve got me. Now what?”

That was a good question, actually. I wanted to pound the guy after what he’d done to Liz, but it wouldn’t be ethical to hurt someone who was surrendering.

The usual thing with renegade sorcerers was to turn them over to their families. I used his mentarch to read his mind. He was from the Norton family, in Houston. His parents were still alive, so they were the obvious choice.

I pulled his family’s telephone number out of his mind, and gave it to Liz. She made the call, while I kept my full attention on this murderous bastard. She reported that they were on their way. Fortunately, Houston had a portal.

I didn’t know what else to do with him, so I just sent him into the bedroom and warded its door and window. I kept my attention on him, to make sure he wasn’t trying anything, and tried not to be distracted by feeling guilty about what I’d almost let happen to Liz. She shocked me by thanking me. “For what?” I asked.

“Saving my life?”

“It’s my fault he turned up here in the first place. If I’d investigated as soon as I got here, he wouldn’t have had time to find us and break in here.”

“So it would have happened at his house, instead of mine. Either way, I owe you.”

“No, you don’t. I screwed this up bigtime.” I couldn’t look at her.

“Then I guess I saved the day, by valiantly being taken hostage. Give yourself a break, will you?”

She might be willing to let me off the hook, but I wasn’t. If I’d been properly prepared and had done my duty immediately, she never would have been at risk. I vowed never take a chance like that again.

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While analyzing the entire incident to pinpoint my many mistakes, I realized that something had been strange about Norton’s behavior as well. Presumably he’d been in Raleigh to avoid other sorcerers. So, if he’d set up alarms to tell him when another sorcerer entered the city, why hadn’t he just skipped town? Why had he gone for a confrontation?

I spoke to him directly, mind-to-mind. “Hey. What were you doing in North Carolina in the first place?”

“Why should I talk to you?”

“Because I figured out how you cast that headache spell. So, why Raleigh?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I can do what I want here. None of you virtuous ethical types to interfere, and no bigger fish to compete against.”

“Then why didn’t you just leave, when your alarms told you I was here?”

He paused for a moment. Then I heard a mental snicker. “I almost took out a Prospero.

If my family institutionalizes me, I’ll be sure to tell everyone that.”

I gritted my teeth. “Why’d you take me on, instead of just leaving? And what bigger fish are you talking about? Renegades back in Houston?”

“No way I’m telling you that.” His mental voice sounded frightened.

Renegades who scared other renegades? That could be serious. “I’m here. They’re not.

Who’s scarier right now?”

“I’ll take my chances with you, Dudley Do-Right.”

Jerk. He was right, though. I couldn’t rip the information out of his mind by force, when he’d already surrendered. Now he was his family’s problem. “Then just tell me why you took me on.”

Another pause. Then, “I almost beat you. It was that close. You’re not the man your father is.”

Although I’d just demonstrated that pretty thoroughly, I didn’t want to hear it from this jerk. I ended the conversation, and went into the bathroom to get away from Liz for a few minutes. While making a detailed study of the floor’s tile pattern, I pondered all the things I’d done wrong.

I hadn’t brought a backup sorcerer. I should have asked Theo to come. Norton couldn’t have surprised me if someone else had been standing guard while I was entranced.

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I hadn’t started working right away. I also hadn’t shielded us before beginning. I’d twice gone into a trance and left us wide open to discovery and attack. The scrying would have taken six times as long if I’d used power and concentration to hide myself and the work, but it wouldn’t have been a neon sign saying “The other sorcerer can be found here.”

I’d shielded Liz during the combat, but not myself. If he’d taken me out, there would have been no one left to protect her. If Norton had been a little better, that migraine could have been a stroke. I should have thought it through, and shielded us both at once. I’d had no ovath to help with the shielding, but warding off attacks had to come first.

What an incredible mess I’d made of this simple thing. I washed my face, scowled at myself in the mirror, and went back out to endure my sister’s relentless gratitude.

The Norton family eventually arrived to collect their renegade relative. I verified their identity, and happily released him to their custody. Now I had to call Dad, to report.

I asked Liz to give me some privacy. She grabbed a book and reclaimed her bedroom. I pulled out my comm crystal instead of using her phone, since Dad had said he and Mom were going to Nashua.

He wasn’t busy at the moment. “Have you found anything out?”

“You could say that. I screwed everything up, the guy found us, and he almost killed Liz.” “What? Are you both all right? Tell me everything.”

I summarized the day’s events, and awaited judgment.

There was silence for several moments. Then, “Good work.”

Good work? When? “Didn’t you hear me? Liz almost died.”

“I asked you to investigate. I wasn’t expecting him to attack you.”

“He attacked because I was careless.”

“That’s unusual for a thief. I never would have sent you, if I’d had any idea he was aggressive. Thank God you’re both all right.”

Thank God, indeed, and no thanks to me. “Yeah.”

He knew me too well. “Don’t beat yourself up. You did fine. It’s like piloting; any landing you walk away from is a good one. And, Son?” “Yeah?”

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“I am the head of the family. The buck stops with me, not you. Never hesitate to pass it on. I wish you’d called me as soon as you found out he was a rapist. If I’d known he was aggressive, I never would have sent you alone. If there’s any fault here, it’s mine.”

Heh. I was my father’s son, all right. He could try to take the burden of guilt, but I knew better. “I want to go with you, the next time you go hunting. To learn in the field.”

Silence for a moment. Then, “Yes. That’s a good idea. I’m going to have to send you on more jobs. A lot more than I went on, when I was your age. I don’t like doing this to my own son, but I don’t have a choice. Crime is skyrocketing. Something’s wrong.”

That reminded me of something. “That guy, Norton. He mentioned other renegades, people who scared him out of the Southwest.”

“Organized crime?” Dad sighed. “I’ll ask some people I know out there. Thanks for the tip. That’s good fishing.”

Possibly the only thing I’d done right all day, and I hadn’t even gotten Norton to give me names. When Dad and I disconnected, I heaved another sigh. At least it was over.

Now Liz and I could relax. After a late lunch, we headed out into the city for some fun.

She’d built an interesting life in Raleigh over the past four years, and I enjoyed sampling it. I almost managed to pretend that this was a visit instead of a near-disaster, at least until we headed back to her apartment in the evening.

We ordered a pizza and watched a movie. Liz, congenital tightwad though she was, insisted on paying for dinner as her way of saying thanks. I wished she’d cut it out. If she’d quit acting grateful, maybe I could forget how little I deserved it.

But she was Liz, so she had to be nice. When I told her I wanted to get to bed early to get back to Richmond tomorrow morning, she even managed to be concerned about me. “Are you sure you’re ready to go back? This morning wasn’t exactly relaxing.”

“This morning? That was hours ago.” I’d keep it chipper for Liz, to end the visit on a less depressing note. After almost getting killed, she didn’t need any more crap from me.

She wasn’t falling for it. “You know what, John? It’s not just about family duty. It’s about you. You’re afraid to show any flaws or weakness. And that’s ridiculous, because every time you’ve had a real job to do, you’ve handled it magnificently. Just look at today.”

What was she talking about? “You’re the one who knew there was a problem and wanted to deal with it. All I did was handle the magic.” Well, that and screw everything up dangerously.

“Baloney,” she said. “I just told you a problem existed, and you handled everything. If I hadn’t been around to get in the way, it would have been easy. Even with me there, you took out someone holding a hostage when you didn’t even have your tools. How many sorcerers could do that?”

Modern Magic: Flying Solo p14

I didn’t know, and was pretty sure she didn’t either. It didn’t come up often.

She snorted. “Of course Dad trusted you to handle it. Why wouldn’t he? And because you’re you, you’re always going to do it and do it right.”

Yeah, but no pressure. Thanks, Sis. “You wouldn’t rather have had Dad here, instead of me?”

“But Dad wasn’t here, was he? You were, and you took care of everything. That’s you.

You’re stuck with it. Deal with it, just like I deal with being mundane in a sorcerer family. You can’t stop being who you are, so you might as well learn to live with it.”

I wasn’t sure I agreed. She had that escape clause of being mundane, so family duty was all theory to her. She’d never been asked to pull off magical miracles, because everyone knew that was impossible. She would never be sent hunting.

I would be, though. I had some changes to make. Like it or not, I was on call now.

Sometimes I’d have guidance, but sometimes I’d have the lead role. I’d be experiencing plenty of risk and fear and failure. Things were different now, and I’d have to learn to live with it.

I couldn’t crawl into a hole every time I screwed something up. I’d have to get used to the feeling. How could I safely practice failing?

I mused a moment. “You know what? I should play sports.”

Liz looked baffled. “Say what?”

“I’m terrible at sports. It’s embarrassing. I should find one I like, and play it anyway.”

She shook her head. “You are so weird.”

“I know.”

As I settled down on her couch for the second time, Liz said, “Thanks again for helping me today.”

“It was mutual.” I rolled over and pretended to go to sleep before she could ask what I was talking about. I knew I really should quit messing with her like that, but it was just too much fun.

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