The Chosen - 2. A Touch of Magic

[Chapter 2]

How was I going to kill a werewolf when I didn't know any magic?

Nathaniel's quiet urging from the ground below brought me back to reality. One step at a time. First, I actually had to get outside. I hope I didn't break my leg doing this. That would be a fantastic way to start off my superhero career. I put my foot on the windowsill, took a breath and jumped. My cloak seemed to catch the wind and I fell at an unnaturally slow rate that had me mystified. Landing perfectly beside Nathaniel I stared at his smug face.

I rolled my eyes feeling a sting of annoyance. "You can wipe the look from your face. So I can jump from a second story window and land easily. Funtastic! But I still don't know any magic. This werewolf is going to tear me to shreds. I'll be cut into little bitty pieces. And-"

Nathaniel held up his hand, cutting me off with an irritated stare. "Must you always ramble so much?"

I grinned happily that he was showing a different emotion other than calm. "It's part of the charm."

"I'm sure," he said sarcastically. Nathaniel laid a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. "You do know magic." He took his hand and pointed at my heart. "It's here. You're the champion of magic. In this life and in the last. Never have your powers let you down."

The whole jumping from my window act did sort of prove my powers were a go. I didn't need any special magic spells for that. I suddenly had a feeling of something that I was starting to attribute to my past life memories. Nathaniel was right. The magic was inside me and I could make it do anything I wanted. As long as I had a strong will and focus then I could influence the physical with the metaphysical. Whoa. Where did that come from? I took a breath. Confidence or as much courage as I could muster filled me now. I could do this. I think...

"Where do we start?" My voice was steady with a new strength.

Nathaniel nodded at me in approval. "We'll start in Preston Park. That's where the first and the last victims were found."

"How do we get to the park?" I asked, looking around for the Batmobile or the invisible jet. Silence. I turned toward Nathaniel to see if he had heard me.

Nathaniel had a weird look on his face. "I'll be getting there by what we wizards like to call Flickering. A kind of teleportation."

Oh sweet. A real freaking teleportation. We were going in style I see. A little Nightcrawler-esque maneuver.

Hey, so sue me, I was kind of a geek. Comic books, science fiction books, and television shows with anything preternatural was my life story. Shh, don't tell anybody. No one at school knew about my gayness or my inner geek. Hmm... I wonder does that mean I'll have to come out of the closet in more ways than one. That sucks. Wait. Back the truck up. Did Nathaniel just say 'I'll be getting there' as in singular, one, uno?

"Umm... Nathaniel?" I gave him a hard look. "What do you mean you'll be flickering there?"

He smiled. It was one of those sphinx smiles that meant he had a secret and definitely wasn't sharing. The bastard. "Think of this as an exercise in using your magic. You'll be a step up in taking out the werewolf."

My mouth dropped as his whole body seemed to actually flicker and fade from sight. Oh hell to the no! I inwardly seethed while I picked my jaw up from the ground and crossed my arms. I walked over to the side of the house blending in perfectly with the shadows. It would definitely be an awkward moment if Mom came home to see me standing in front of the house, dressed like it was Halloween and trying to magic my way to the park where a crazed werewolf prowled. Yeah, awkward was the word.

"If nerdy Willow from Buffy can be all uber super witch then I can do it, too," I whispered into the night air.

I closed my eyes. Concentrate, think, I told myself over and over. A part of me was saying go back inside and call it a night, but a bigger part was saying I had to do this. This was my destiny. As soon as I finished that thought something clicked inside of me. I don't know what it was but I felt like a spark had ignited within my mind. I let my instincts guide me. I pointed my palms at the ground right above my shoes, words appeared in my mind and left my lips without pause

"Angels above me,
Clouds circling thee.
Lend me your wings
So I can jump higher
Than the tallest tree."

I clapped my hands and quickly thrust them back toward the ground. "Leap of faith!"

I grabbed at the energy inside of me and focused it out through my hands. My boots glowed at the ankles and in a burst of sparkles appeared a pair of small, white wings. My jaw dropped for the second time in less than twenty minutes. I peered at the wings attached to my ankles. I looked like Hermes, the Greek messenger god or something. I bent over and gasped as I felt them. They were real and not just some figment of my imagination. The feathers were downy and strong beneath my probing fingers.

I smiled. Looks like I was capable of the hocus pocus stuff after all. My smile left though replaced by a determined air. I had to get to Preston Park. Nathaniel was waiting on me. Sucking in a breath I let it out slowly easing away my tension. Here goes nothing. I lowered myself and then sprung up, jumping into the sky. A little scream, very manly I assure you, left my lips as I shot up higher than the top of my house. I flailed my arms about as gravity brought me back down and I landed on the rooftop of a house. Even though I was a klutz in the air, I was surprised at how graceful I landed. Magic had its perks it seemed.

I turned around and once again my jaw dropped, I really had to get over that, as I surveyed my surroundings. Somehow I had covered three blocks with one single leap. I flexed my muscles and did a little victory dance. Beat that Incredible Hulk! I grinned stupidly at the moon feeling like I had proved something within myself. Maybe, just maybe I could do this.

I jumped again and let out a loud, "Whoop!" as I sailed across the starry night. I felt weightless and free when bounding from rooftop to rooftop, my jumps becoming more swift and confident with each giant leap.

I made it to Preston Park in no time at all. I landed in the parking lot and I mentally willed the wings away. I don't know how I did it. I just wanted them gone and they vanished in the same burst of sparkles that they appeared in. Clapping, Nathaniel walked toward me. The light from the moon and the tall lampposts illuminated his smiling form. I wanted to smack him real good in the face. Cheeky bastard.

"I knew you would be able to do it," Nathaniel praised, coming to stand at my side. "That was once your favored bit of magic. Your leap of faith spell was often used in close combat to make you more agile, avoiding devastating blows."

I was not obliged. In fact, I was feeling a little pissed. "You left me."

"For a reason and you performed most excellently," he said, half smiling.

I rolled my eyes. He really was slow on catching the sarcasm. "So, how come you can't take out the werewolf on your own. You seem way more powerful than me."

Nathaniel shook his head. "I am not even at half your power. I'm a wizard. I had to study the craft and I use tools and focuses to use magic. You're unlike any of the magic users on the planet. You're an enchanter of the highest order. You create magic the way artists create paintings. It's a natural ability within you that is honed with practice."

"Oh," I said, suddenly feeling like I had been kicked in the head. That was a lot to take in. I guess being one of the Chosen made me high on the magic food chain. "Will the others be making with the magic?"

"The other Chosen?" Nathaniel asked. At my nod of confirmation, he shook his head. "No. The other Chosen are each talented in different areas. You're the only one who uses magic."

Well whoop the do. No pressure or anything. I sighed. "Let's just go find this werewolf. I'm starting to feel the need to lie down. It's all a little much, you know?"

"I understand," said Nathaniel. "It was not easy for me when my memories started to come back either and I learned it was my destiny to again seek out and become the advisor of the Chosen."

A loud, continuous wolf howl broke the somber air. Startled, I snapped my head up looking around in fear. I looked back at Nathaniel and he nodded at me grimly. I guess this was it. He flicked his wrist and a long staff materialized from nowhere. It was brown, knobbed, and carved with symbols going up and down its surface. I stared. Of course, the wizard would have a staff. How stereotypical was that?

"Let's go." Nathaniel walked past the playground and picnic tables. He gestured at the disturbed and broken branches that led into a cluster of trees.

I followed behind him surprised at the lack of sound in the woods. It was an eerie quiet that made all the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I shuddered a bit but continued on. We walked quietly trying our hardest to not step on any branches or twigs. The howl came again and this time it was louder, closer. I gulped. I was feeling the nerves again. My hands shook and I wiped my sweaty palms against the sides of my legs. Who was scared of the big bad wolf? Me. Definitely me.

We stopped suddenly and I almost bumped into him. Nathaniel stared into the distance and I followed his gaze. A set of gleaming yellow eyes stared at us from the darkness between the trees. I tried to call Nathaniel's name but my throat wouldn't work suddenly. Then faster than human, a large furred body jumped out at us. I couldn't help the girly scream that left my throat. Hey, I wasn't some Power Ranger. I was just a sixteen year old, with a destiny, and more magic than I knew what to do with. I stepped backward and tripped over a log falling hard on my ass.

Nathaniel pointed his staff at the werewolf. "Kalibar!"

The runes etched onto the staff glowed red and a burst of wind, like a miniature cyclone, appeared throwing the werewolf back and into the ground. I scrambled to my feet feeling a little braver now that it had been knocked on its ass. The werewolf got up quickly and gazed at us with cold eyes. The eyes were calculating and frightening to view. It was the gaze of a predator. The werewolf had a dark brown coat of thick fur and it was easily the size of a pony. It opened its mouth and I felt my heart speed up at the sharp teeth that glinted in the moonlight.

The werewolf reared back onto its hind legs and it jumped toward us. Or well me. Shit! Move legs, move! I froze on the spot and I almost fell over as Nathaniel pushed me out of the way. He shouted another word in some language I didn't recognize. The air before us rippled like a disturbed pool of water. Nathaniel had thrown up a shield. I had seen the same effect done in countless science fiction shows.

The werewolf hit the rippling air and fell over. The shield must have been too weak because Nathaniel flew backward with the attack to his barrier. The werewolf recovered faster than Nathaniel who was kneeling on the ground breathing hard. The fall had knocked the wind out of him good, making him dizzy and slow to react. I shouted his name in panic. I was doing a lot of panicking around here. Somebody really needed to slap me.

The werewolf circled us, its gaze hungry. We couldn't die here. Not now. There had to be something that I could do. Nathaniel had expected Superman and instead he had me, who was acting more like Dudley fucking Do-Right than any helpful super-powered warrior.

This was not how I was going to let it end. I needed to let my instincts guide me into demolishing this preternatural beast, they had steered me right earlier. I focused on the part of myself that I listened to when I incanted the leap of faith spell.

"Umm... Ball of fire thing," I said unsurely, trying and failing to hide my stutter.

I held out my hand as I kept stepping backward, courage failing me. Without warning, a spark of fire flickered in my palm. A small spark but it was something. Those hungry eyes tracked me intensely noticing the feat of brief magic. The werewolf could see that I was a threat now and it came at me, fast. I squealed and closed my eyes thinking death was at hand. Then before I could become werewolf dinner something within took control. I snapped my eyes open and squared my shoulders feeling like a man possessed.

"Fireball!" I shouted, determination and courage coming from some unknown source within my body.

I whipped my arm and a basketball sized globe of fire shot through the air. The fireball caught the werewolf in the muzzle making it howl in agony and tumble toward the ground. The smell of smoke and singed fur filled the air. I stared at my hand in wonder. Did I just do that? Nathaniel appeared at my side holding his staff. He looked at me with a half smile.

"I told you that you could do this," he said with something akin to pride in his voice.

I nodded dumbly. "I guess so," I muttered watching the werewolf quickly recover from my attack.

The fireball had actually done some damage. I raked my eyes over the creature as it struggled to stand upright. Its entire right side of its face took the brunt of the blast. The fur was gone, burnt away by the scorching flames. Its entire right face was raw, red, and looked like melted mess. Oh god. This bastard was going to come right at us again and I pissed it off. I was going to get my freaking throat torn out. What could I do? I had to do something to kill this thing and finish this fight. I reached down into myself trying to mentally urge forth some knowledge from my very soul, my apparently reincarnated soul that worked magic like artists created masterpieces. And like magic, it answered my call. I don't know how it happened but I gasped and my vision began to swim.

A memory came from nowhere.

I was in a battle fighting against creatures straight from a nightmare. It was me yet not me. I knew instantly that this was my previous reincarnation. Others were at my side. My friends. The other Chosen. I couldn't see their faces. They were obscured by a mist that hid their features from view. But my soul knew who they were even though the mind didn't, my heart recognized my comrades in arms. We were dressed in all white tunics and gleaming silver chain mail. The me in my memory roundhouse kicked a demon in the throat.

"I think it is time I send you foul creatures back to hell!" I in the memory said, holding up a gloved hand. Words, a spell, tumbled from my lips at a furious pace and power exploded across the field.

Then everything went white.

I shook my head clearing away the memory. That was bizarre. I knew what to do now. The spell still echoed in my mind. These memories and instincts always seemed to come at the right moment to help me out. Maybe my subconscious was trying to tell me something that my conscious mind was unable to accept. I stepped forward away from Nathaniel. The werewolf came at us again and I didn't let it get far.

"Sit boy!" I said on reflex, extending my middle and index finger at the werewolf.

The creature blazed with a golden light and it growled in fury as it collapsed hard into the ground, with a deafening boom, as the gravity in the air around its body increased tenfold. I had to work quickly before the spell faded. I traced a circle in the air with my finger and quickly thrust my palm in the center. White light appeared in the shape of the circle I just drew, and my hand buzzed with energy as I gathered power to incant.

"Uranus, planet of wind and strength, I invoke thee," I screamed into the night air. The circle disappeared and reappeared underneath the werewolf, glowing brightly, making the entire clearing light up. Thunder rumbled in the distance and wind blew the through the woods, making the branches creak and the trees lean with its strength. I narrowed my eyes at the werewolf and completed the spell. "Bring divine justice on my enemy."

"Heaven's Symphony!"

The circle pulsed with a brighter light that had us shielding our eyes. The sounds of agonized howling, mixed with a haunting song of softly singing voices, filled the air and I looked into the light. Gleaming feathers swirled within the circle that trapped the werewolf. They circled around, faster and faster, masking the creature in a tornado of white. Between feathers, I thought I caught a flash of a pair of angels, flapping long white wings and shining silver armor. There was another pulse of light and I closed my eyes again. I looked once more and the light receded leaving behind nothing. A quiet had descended that was so sudden after the cries of pain and melodious music just moments before.

The circle had left a charred width of grass in its wake. That wasn't the only thing. In the burnt circle were chunks of werewolf. The creature had been torn into so many pieces of red bloody mush that no one would have a hope of identifying it. I caught a flash of white. The spinal cord peeked out from a piece of hind, glistening and white amidst the dark blood. An eyeball lay near a mangled paw, partially sliced in half with thick clear mucus coating its surface. Blood pooled around in the circle and slowly leaked outward. The smell hit me at once. It was like meat, raw and rotting, sticking to the back of your mouth making one smell it even when you walked far enough away.

"You did it," Nathaniel said breaking the quiet of the woods.

I nodded more on autopilot than confirmation to his affirmation. I felt numb. I had just taken a life. It wasn't human but life was life and my head was crying out at me for committing such a damning act. Yet my heart and my soul, my reincarnated soul, were telling me that I had done the right thing. For now, the parts telling me I had done the right thing were the sides that I was listening to. There was nothing that could be done. The werewolf had killed almost a dozen people. Mortals hadn't a hope of taking out this creature from the Ever After. I was a Chosen and this is exactly what I was chosen to do.

"I'm going home now," I murmured, feeling weary and more tired than I ever been in my life.

Nathaniel reached into his pocket and slipped a card in my hand. I looked at it, my eyes scanning quickly. It was a white card, blank, except for the words Nathaniel Ruiz with his address and number in bold black ink. I slipped it into my pocket.

"I want you to meet me tomorrow at five," Nathaniel said. "We'll start your training as soon as possible."

Who the hell? Can I get a chance to say yes? "Um... How about no. I have a Student Council meeting tomorrow. Homecoming is coming up and we have to raise money for decorations, food, and the DJ. And we also have-"

"Skip it," Nathaniel said simply, cutting me off.

I narrowed my eyes. "Hell to the no! I worked too hard to just let my academics go to shit. Destiny or not I have stuff to do. If my grades start falling, my GPA drops, and if that drops my chances at getting into a good college go straight down the drain."

Nathaniel wore one of his calm expressions that were quickly starting to get on my nerves. I looked into his eyes and saw the apology and also the unrelenting determination of their cause.

"You can be a great warrior only if you choose to be," said Nathaniel, seriously, his green eyes boring into me with that intense gaze that only he could do. "You were in the past and you can be now. All the grades in the world won't matter if you don't take up the mantle as the champion of magic and complete your destiny. If you don't fight then there will be no future to look forward to." He took a breath and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Here's where you make a choice. Do you want to be just Chad or Warlock? Are you ready to truly be all that you are?"

His words hit me like a ton of bricks. Nathaniel was right. There were no other Chosen awakened now. I was alone in this fight and if I didn't hold the fort till my comrades joined me then who would? School was important but so was making sure that the world stayed free from an apocalypse was more crucial. People were counting on me. Mom, Kevin, Satan... Umm Morgan. I sighed. I knew what I had to do. I know what my choice now was.

I looked at Nathaniel and nodded. "I don't want to be Chad and I don't want to be just Warlock. I want to be both." I watched the flicker of emotions of doubt and then relief swim in his eyes. "I want to be Chosen."

"Then I'll show you the way."