Strange Magic(Book one of the Magizens series by Wisdom Omoghene)

Chapter One- You're Gonna Be Okay Kid!

Avery

I was there again, that accursed place I've always dreaded. It all starts with my dream, or better to call it a nightmare, that seemed to be the only thing I get these days,that and disappointment.
Its a late afternoon at Virginia Autumn. Its pretty too; brownish red leaves falling in a pile of scattered mess,the sweet fresh smell of tree barks,the setting sun and whatever autumn smells like. I was six, running in the woods with Max my older brother chasing me with something that looked like road kill. A possum, or a raccoon. I couldn't tell, cause it looked horrid. My mum sits under the comfort of an oak tree spreading out our stuff for the picnic we planned to have. I can still recall her beautiful, kind face that always never stops smiling...but that was in the past.
You'll see why.
Our laughter and childish innocent giggle enticed creatures far greater than wild beasts, and a whole lot scarier, as we raced towards the very heart of the woods. We stopped. Looking back our path was gone, replaced by a bunch of tall trees and brushes. What gave us epic goose bumps was the fact the woods stood still, I mean it. The leaves literally froze, trees stopped their gleeful gentle dance under the painted red skies.
Max drops the dead thing, his gaze ahead into the woods, he stood frozen and even I could feel the fear radiate off of him.
He holds my hand and squeezes it gently, he was nine or ten, with black bushy hair and green eyes that quivered like a stormy sea at night.
In front of us, five people seemed to have materialized from basically nothing strolling leisurely towards us, like they had all the time in the world, and they probably did.
They all wore dark clothes and fedora hats like country folks do, and their eyes sort of...glowed.
The man in the middle was particularly handsome in his mid thirties or so I remembered, and he had red glowing eyes like the color of a blossoming red rose.
We wanted to scream, but couldn't, simply because the grown up with red shining eyes had a finger to his lips and we felt urged to keep quiet which was more frustrating.
The man had on his wrist several charm bracelets, though his wasn't friendly.
"Who are you people? What do you want?!" I bellowed, and he raised a brow in awe for a split second, then facing his friends they conversed for a while which was our chance. We got control of our bodies, huddling with all of our might, Max ran faster for a beefy kid, leaving me for the monsters. I'd realised then sibling love had nothing to do with personal survival.
We both wanted to live.
But fate wouldn't let us. Wouldn't let one of us.
We both tripped over a stray vine, I sprained my ankle, feeling my adrenaline starting to kick in real fast, we couldn't pull our legs free. Turning back,our heels were entangled with thick roots that appeared to be doubling,redoubling over and over the more we struggled. The lady with a hat too and a mauve scarf around her neck grinned at us with her hands stretched out at us as her eyes shimmers a Forrest green. She was doing this, but how? We wouldn't know, for all we thought as that time we were little kids having a terrible nightmare.
Why are you running? I hear the handsome one's soothing voice in my head and I know Max heard it too for he started to scream out loud and roll in the autumn leaves, making it easier for the vines to wrap itself tightly around him. Dummy! I was so mad at him for leaving me,when we got out of here I was so telling mom.
The man with red shimmering eyes grinned wickedly as if reading my thoughts. He starts towards us. At me.
"What do you want from us? We're only kids!" Max screamed tears flooding his eyes
"Precisely my boy." replies the handsome man with a smile. "I'm afraid That's all I can tell you, because you are a kid, you have untapped potential, raw and pure energy, and we want that so very much..."he says, they all gazed upon us hungrily I could see the thirst in their eyes,and also a forlorn emptiness. I saw beasts in human skin.
The lady made the vines holding me to raise me up so I was facing her directly, she smelt of wet summer fields. Dead summer fields,they weren't alright. They were dying.
You seem to get it, smart girl. He spoke again in my head, but this time his voice came out as half a hiss.
"Leave us alone!"Max somehow slipped out of his vines and picked the pace, giving me one last look of regret as I called out his name at the top of my lungs, I watched him run for his life, the adults didn't look the least worried. The one with purple eyes,an elderly looking lady with a black walking cane shook her head and snickered. She stretched a hand towards Max,as if trying to reach for a rope I couldn't see,then she gripped the air in front of her firmly,yards away where my brother was racing with all his might he came to an abrupt half, like driving at full speed in a car and suddenly hitting the brakes. When she pulled at the air towards herself, Max was raised off his feet and is sent flying back towards us,in a matter of seconds he was standing beside me again.
"Wow! Young man,saving your own skin, what about your sister?"Says the lady,her green eyes flickering.
"Its a fucking survival for the fittest folks!" says another man whom I had been to afraid to notice.
I watched as they lifted my brother into the air and slammed him repeatedly into the ground,each time I could hear the deafening sound of bones crunching to bits, and his loud cries onto the late afternoon sky. Anybody,wasn't anyone else here? Mom...where are you?
The looks on their faces as they began to cut him open with a black wavy shaped knife, like they were in some kind of horrid feast,and they were having the time of their lives...
"Avery!" I heard a voice call me, faintly.
"Avery!!" It was bone wrecking this time, I felt something like a fishing hook grip me yanking me up and away from the woods, I can still remember the painful yells of regret from the people that tore my brother apart in their dark,depraved merriment.
I woke with a jolt in my bestie's car seat, taking in everything in front of me,I wiped the gunk off my eyes,beside me, glaring widely at me is my favorite person in the world Emma.
Emma, was my roommate from St Anthony valley High. The school my not so darling mom had dumbed me, because they deal with troubled kids like me. Mum had always blamed me for misfits that befall the family since Max died. Was killed. Just when I thought my life couldn't get better I met Emma, she was two years older than I was, which made our relationship perfect, so she was the more experienced one. Now we were trying to get back to school as quickly as possible before the school authorities notice our absence. Not that they gave a damn anyway, I'd be doing them a huge solid by leaving.
Emma had decided we needed a break from that asylum disguised as a school. A time to ourselves to vent and party our frustrations away,and it had worked, till after the party and I had fallen asleep. Biggest mistake. I can't sleep, anytime I do I have these insanely realistic nightmares, so I take pills to keep me awake,and battle them. Speaking of which, I reached for my bag to retrieve them but there weren't there.
"Emma?"I start, giving her a coy look. Emma just batted her lashes like a barbie doll in utter pretence."Yes, Ave baby?" she was the only one who shortens my name to Ave. We were closer like that.
"Where are my pills?"
"Shit, that thing?"she curses,her gaze tearing from the road to me and then back at me momentarily" Emma! Don't mess with me" I told her.
"I don't know why you even bother with that, if you can't sleep well you should see a psychologist or something" she lectures on. "well its helped me so far right?" I ask. Emma hones a sigh before saying" there's a one at our cabinet back in school."
I breathed in relief, switching on the stereo of her Audi convertible,connecting it to my phone, putting my playlist on shuffle. Hey child by X Ambassadors blasted through the speakers. Good, that should keep me awake till we arrive at school.
Bot of us screamed out the lyrics and basically did the best we could to keep me awake
******
Sure sneaking into school is far more deadlier than sneaking out of it. It was 1:30am,way passed our curfew which is 9:30am by the way. We had parked the car at our usual hiding spot, and slipped in through a fairly damaged iron net fence, no one was out,everything and everywhere was as dark as hell, but we made it through the way by my phone's flashlight,we had to support each other since we were both mildly drunk.
When we reached the hallway of the girls dorms we saw Becky,one of Emma's pals sneak into the boiler room with some guy, I didn't see his face much,but judging from his meaty arms and legs he had to be on the basketball team. Becky always fucked with athletes that way, but Emma wasn't having any of that,her eyes steamed with vile anger.
"Was that Thayer?" she sloppily asked with a hiccup occasionally. Oh Jesus! I breathed We didn't have time for that right now,she tried to make it towards the boiler, but I dragged her back "we'll definitely deal with them in the morning when you're less drunk"I said to her, she nods sheepishly and allows me to take her to our bedroom, I silently shut the door when we were in, Emma plops herself on my bed instead of hers and falls asleep instantly,her hair all still in perfect shape and I felt jealous of how she had things better than I did,from a wealthy home, loving parents who weren't separated, living siblings, a boyfriend and a perfect social life. I had none of that, sometimes I wondered how someone as great as Emma could be in my life.
I took of my black dress when I felt a shadow loom over me. A familiar cold swept through my room, creeping into my skin, and giving me a case of the shivers. I swallowed, turning back gingerly to take the full sight of the silhouette of a Young man wearing a fedora hat, with glowing red beady eyes, he just stood there,a million thoughts scrambled through my head, all said the same thing. Run!
But I couldn't leave Emma for this monster to devour, he began to move ever so slowly towards me,relishing in my own fears,and I hated it. Hated how ten years had passed since that horrid day and I'm still traumatized by it every time, and he was enjoying every single second of it. I backed up against our door and cried like a six year old again. I saw it again: the woods, my brother Max, the five of them...the dagger.
"Avery!" He shook me abruptly, when I looked up, expecting to see a pair of glowing red eyes under a hat, but instead I saw Emma's pretty face inches away from mine."its okay, its alright." she assures me,squeezing my hands in hers.
"You're gonna be okay kid." she held my hands and wiped my eyes with the back of her hands.
"Its happening again isn't it Ave?" She says quietly. My heart tries to stable, as I manage a nod
She rushes to the bedside lamb table to fetch my medication. The kind sisters here had prescribed for my advanced dementia and hallucination, she popped four pills and handed them to me,with a glass of water. I downed them automatically with the glass of water,after a while, my head simmers down and everything starts to make sense. I breathed evenly. Looking at Emma's worried face.
"You're sure you don't wanna see a doctor or..." she let the thought hang in the air when I looked away."okay, its your choice my dear. come here." she opened her arms for me to lean into her warm body and rest, I felt at peace in her arms, her fingers caressing my hair fatherly. As long as she's here with me, the nightmares can't hurt me. I'll be okay.
At least that's what I thought.