Chapter 4 of American Magic! YEAH!!!
I finished, I finished, look I finished! ^_________^
Magic didn't travel to the New World with the pilgrims or the vikings or the indians; it was already here, waiting patiently, hungry for power and a legend of its own.
Chapter 4 - Breaking Glass
Lean against the window pane, it will hold you as you look out on the world, untouched by the wind or the sun. Lean all you want, but don’t be surprised when it breaks.
~*~
Riley squinted, blinking water from her eyes as the wind roared past her ears. She hadn’t ever flown in such an open area, before, and hadn’t fully been aware of what “the open highway” entailed to an unprotected flyer. She was currently slapping herself for not wearing goggles or gloves.
The headache the cold wind along the highway was giving her really only helped to fan the flames of her anger.
‘What the Hell does he expect of me?’ she thought, bitterly, as the first glimpse of the downtown skyline came into view. Houston was huge. The entire north sky was lit up by its light, like a strange second sun.
‘What had Erica called it?’ she thought, remembering their first day of astronomy. ‘The Greater Houston Nebula.’ She laughed bitterly at the apt name. Looking up, she could see only a few stars shining dully from the night sky. She didn’t know why, but their absence angered her even more, and her mind bundled that anger up with her previous one, and somehow Robin Goodfellow was to blame for this, too.
She glared at the quickly approaching city. ‘How am I supposed to find her in a place like that?’
She pulled up on her broom, slowing to a stop as she stared contemplatively at the city. “Well, this is kinda pointless if I can’t track her down, ain’t it?”
“Move it!”
“Wha…” Riley didn’t have time to finish before she was knocked aside by a huge gush of wind. She tried to steady herself, but she hadn’t been flying for long, and good as she was for a beginner, she felt herself losing control of the broom. She was spinning wildly, the parallel lights of Highway 288 blurring as they got closer and closer.
She stopped, suddenly and unexpectedly. Her eyes opened slowly, one after the other, and she stared at the road not 100 feet below. Her knuckles clinched her broom so tightly, she was surprised it wasn’t splintering.
“Hey! You ok?”
‘Breath in, breath out.’ She looked up to where the voice had come from, her movements slow and rigid. The first thing that registered was a wand pointing directly at her. She flinched, instinctively, reaching for her own wand in self-defense.
A hand appeared on hers, patting it gently. “Woah, there, Tiger.” She looked up and into bright, golden eyes, lit in a amused smile. “We’re not gonna hurt ya, kid.”
“I… Um…” She couldn’t look away from the boy’s eyes. They seemed to glow, almost, reflecting the light of the city back at her.
He laughed, a small, gentle laugh that made her stomach tighten, for some reason. “What are you doing out here, kid? Don’t you have curfew, or something?”
“Jackson, leave her alone and let’s get going!”
The boy looked back over his shoulder and Riley’s eyes followed, noticing for the first time the two other magics floating behind him. The one who had spoken, a girl with long red hair and neon green goggles, was sitting on her broom with her hands crossed impatiently in front of her chest. Riley was awed; she’d only seen the quidditch team captain do that, no one else she knew could control their broom without using their hands.
“She’s ok, isn’t she?” the third magic asked, voice calm and light and hard to hear over the wind and sound of cars. Riley couldn’t tell if it was a boy or girl, but she guessed a girl by the way she was sitting on the broom with her knees closed tightly together.
“It was her fault for just sitting there,” the red-head huffed, crossing her arms tighter.
“Green,” the boy, Jackson, said, his voice stern and commanding. The red-head stopped talking, instead turning to glare at Riley. Apparently satisfied, he turned back to face Riley, his smile flashing in the dark night. “You’re from Sonora Academy, yes?”
Riley nodded, keeping a wary eye on the other two magics and her hand within reach of her wand just to be sure.
“We’re 6th years from Shadow Creek University,” he said, nodding slightly in greeting. “My name’s Carl Jackson, the bad attitude back there is Heather Green, and the quiet one is Michelle Luna.”
Riley looked cautiously from one to the other. The two girls were still wearing their goggles, so she couldn’t see their eyes, and Luna had a mask covering the bottom half of her face. She looked back to Jackson, her eyes warily noticing the hand he had out waiting for a shake.
“Riley Devon,” she said abruptly, reaching out and shaking his hand.
“Jackson…” Green started, again, but stopped as Luna laid a hand on her shoulder.
“Nice to meet you, Miss Devon,” he said, smiling as his hand lingered around hers. “Would you care to join us, tonight?”
Riley stared up at him in shock. “Join? In what?”
“She’s just a kid, Jackson,” Green snapped, glaring at the hand Luna still had on her shoulder.
‘A kid?’ Riley thought, bitterly. ‘Like she’s much older. I can do anything she can.’ Riley narrowed her eyes at her, dangerously, moving her arms purposefully to cross across her chest. She was very proud of how steady she was able to keep the broom, ignoring the slight trembling in her thigh muscles from the strain.
Jackson laughed lightly. Green turned away as if slapped. “You’re not a kid, are you? I’m betting… 4th year, yes?”
Riley blinked. Had she really fooled him into thinking she was 15? “Yeah,” she croaked out. “4th years have extended curfews…”
He smiled wider. “Then you -have- to come with us.”
Riley stopped breathing for a second, his eyes swimming in her vision. His invitation sounded like a good idea. She didn’t ever get a chance to just go out and play with kids, anymore. She had too many responsibilities at the school to just kick back.
Too many responsibilities…
“Wait!” She pulled back, her hands back on the broom for balance. “I’m looking for someone. I really need to find her, and soon.”
Jackson’s eyes narrowed, slightly, though his smile didn’t fade. “Looking for someone? In Houston? Do you know where?”
Riley shook her head dejectedly. She was back at square one.
Jackson looked over his shoulder, again, and Luna nodded curtly in his direction. He turned back to Riley, smile back in his eyes. “We can find her, for you.”
“What?” Riley balked at his claim. What could he do to find a complete stranger in such a huge city?
He nodded enthusiastically, reaching up and pulling sleek black goggles over his eyes. “Keep up, okay?”
“Keep up…?”
He smiled, again, and they were gone, zooming off towards the gleaming city.
Riley’s face settled in a determined grimace, her hands gripping her broom tightly, her body bent low over the front. So, they were going to play this game, eh? She smiled to herself. Her balance on the broom might not be the best, but speed she could do. She’d show that Green chick who was ‘just a kid.’
~*~
“Holy shi-”
Left swerve, and the phone-lines went zooming by.
“Oh my…”
Right swerve, and the wind as she passed the radio transmitter sent her into a 360.
“Woah…”
Breath in, breath out.
Riley looked up and saw the tail end of a broom as it disappeared behind a sky rise. They were getting away from her, she knew it, but this was absolutely insane. They had been weaving in and out of buildings for the last half-hour. If she didn’t die, first, then she’d be reported to the nomag police or, even worse, the school!
Green was sneering knowingly down at her, in her mind, as Jackson turned and flew away disinterestedly.
“No way in HELL am I letting her be right…”
Her grip tightened, and she flew after them. They weren’t too far ahead, thankfully. The girls were spiraling around each other as Jackson watched from a little distance away. She flew up to where he was hovering and could see a small smile of approval on his lips as he watched the other girls performing their aerobatics. Her heart jumped, a bit, and she realized that she really wanted him to smile at her like that.
He turned, smirking at her. He didn’t bother speaking, the wind was way too loud this high up, but he motioned to Green and Luna, his intention clear to Riley.
She looked between him and the advanced flying of the girls before them in bewilderment. She couldn’t do that. Not yet.
‘But, if I did… Maybe he’d smile like that at me, too…’
He was still smirking at her. That wasn’t what she wanted.
Without a second thought, she accelerated to where the other girls were. She saw Jackson lift up his hand and give a signal as she passed him by, and without missing a beat Green and Luna were diving. She hesitated for a brief second, and Jackson whizzed by, body flat against his broom, knees and elbows tucked in as far as they would go.
She clenched her jaw and went diving down after them, copying the way she had seen Jackson positioned. She had to concentrate really hard on not closing her eyes all the way. The ground, which had been so far away, was getting closer at a much faster pace than it ever had before, and had she had time to think about it, she would have been terrified.
She could see a dark blur in front of her that she sincerely hoped was Jackson. Hell, she’d settle for Green or Luna, just as long as she knew what the hell she was supposed to do when the ground got too close.
Closer and closer. She could see individual cars, now, and could make out shapes that she thought were people.
And, the dark blur kept going, straight towards the ground and the city and the cars and the people.
Riley heard a scream coming from somewhere far away. It took her a few more seconds before she realized it was herself.
And the dark blur continued.
‘What the hell am I doing here?’
‘Following Jackson.’
‘Where is he going?’
‘Straight down.’
‘Why the HELL am I following him?’
‘Because he told you to.’
Something like paper flew past her and she shut her eyes instinctively. She fought against the wind to open them back up, and when she finally did, the first thing she noticed was that the dark blur that was Jackson was gone. The second thing was that the ground was significantly closer.
She really couldn’t think much else before everything turned black.
~*~
“Hey, kid? You okay?”
Riley blinked, her eyes slowly coming into focus on Jackson’s gold ones. If this was how she had to wake up after every near-death experience, she was considering taking up a more dangerous lifestyle. Staring into Jackson’s eyes, snake-charming was starting to look very inviting.
“Did she actually pass out?” a voice sneered from behind Jackson. Riley looked up to glare at Green who was still floating on her broom, her arms crossed tersely across her chest.
“It’s ok,” Jackson said, smiling down at her as he offered a hand to help her up. “It’s difficult the first time through the gate.”
Riley reached up for his hand, reveling in how big it was and how easily it seemed to lift her up. She winced as her body made a few future bruises known to her. “Gate?”
“A fourth year and she doesn’t know about the city…” Green continued mumbling quietly, floating off to the edge of the alleyway they were in.
“The city?” Riley asked, actually looking around for the first time. Was she talking about Houston? Wherever they were, it certainly looked like what she remembered of Houston. The alleyway they were in was dirty and smelled like glass-cleaner, and the street outside was way too bright for this late at night.
“The city,” Jackson said, smirking as he handed her her broom and mounted his own. He flew off after Green, making a motion for her to follow.
“The magic city, created by the first practitioners and maintained by the High Families.” Luna hovered just behind Riley, her mask still up, and her hood casting the rest of her face in shadow. But, her goggles were hanging loosely around her neck, and Riley could see dark skin and black eyes.
“Magic city…” Riley began, even more confused. They were still in Houston, right?
Luna pointed up and Riley’s eyes followed the gesture. They widened as they noticed what she was pointing at. The sky wasn’t a sky. It was magiked to look like the night sky, sure, but you could see earth and cement just beyond the enchantment.
“Are we…”
“Underground.”
“Under Houston, to be exact,” Jackson said, a tone of excitement and pride resonating as his voice echoed off the walls of the moldy and dingy alley. He looked back at the two of them over his shoulder, his smirk glinting in his eyes, as well. “Welcome to Tejas, Miss Devon. The first of the great magic cities in the New World, and the greatest of the magic cities of the Old World. Welcome to Tejas, my city.”
Riley remembered what Luna had initially said about magic cities and being maintained by the High Families. “Wait, so does that make you…”
He was smirking, still. “Carl Jackson, first son and heir to the Jackson home, seat of Tejas, and the current capital of the High Family collective.”
Riley just nodded. Really, what else was there to say?
~*~
Riley dodged yet another non-attentive pedestrian. Jackson and his group were hovering just ahead, looking at what appeared to be a food stall of some sort. From her position, it looked like they were buying tamales, but she never really did like Mexican and would be hard pressed to know automatically what was what.
“Move it, kid!”
“Sorry!” Riley yelped as a young-ish looking man in a suit and robe shoved her out of the way.
She gritted her teeth and resumed her trek to reach Jackson. Flying through a crowd was almost more difficult than flying through skyscrapers, in her opinion.
‘Why the hell am I still flying, anyways?’ she asked herself as she flew around a mime who was floating at the same height as her and juggling fire balls. ‘Because that damn Green said I couldn’t, that’s why.’ She glared at Green, ahead of her and hovering rather closely to -her- Jackson.
She pushed forward, once more, tucking her head in near her chest as she shoved her way through an incredibly thick and stubborn portion of the crowd. They’d learn to move or eat broom.
Tejas was not what Riley would have imagined a magic city to be. Not that she had imagined there to be magic cities, mind you, but that’s beside the point. It was very much a reflection of the city beneath which it resided, and Riley found herself increasingly disappointed in that fact. Wasn’t there anything special or unique about the place?
She breathed a sigh of relief as she broke through the crowd. She started up, again, only to realize that Jackson and the others were no longer at the food-stand. Confused, she began looking around frantically, but she couldn’t see over anybody’s heads.
“Screw this.” She flew up and out of the crowd, pausing about 20 feet up to look around. She looked and looked, but all she saw was a sea of people, witches and wizards, some flying, some walking, some simply floating, like the mime. Most of the people out were adults, but that only helped her realize how lost she really was.
“Damnit,” she muttered, clenching her hands into fists around the broom. “This is all Green’s fault, and that damn twit Goodfellow’s, too… I swear, when I get my hands on either of them…”
Something short and black disappeared into an alley out of the corner of her eye.
“Was that…” Riley paused, not sure exactly what her mind was trying to tell her. There was something important about small and dark.
“Holy shit! Goodfellow!”
Without a second thought, Riley flew after her into the alley. If she found her, than she was finished with this horrible city, and even if that meant no more Jackson, and her heart cringed at the thought, at least she wouldn’t be stuck in this strange, not-quite-reflection of Houston anymore and she could go home and go to sleep.
“Goodfellow!” She called out, hoping the girl would hear her and have the decency to stop and wait. “Goodfellow, get your ass back here!”
She was knocked from her broom so suddenly that she barely had time to register the wall slamming into her back or the lack of oxygen in her lungs. It caught up to her, eventually, as the looming shadow of her assailant blocked the light from the street, but that was not necessarily the highest item on her list of priorities.
“Who the fuck are you, kid?” the shadow growled down at her, light reflecting off his teeth as he sneered into the question.
Still dazed, Riley stared up at him, dumbfounded.
“I saw her come through the gate with Jackson, boss.” Riley shifted her eyes in the direction the second voice had come from, but all she saw was a taller, skinnier shadow.
“Jackson?” the first shadow hissed. “So, you’re part of Jackson’s gang, are you, little bird?”
She blinked up at him, fore no shadow that big belonged to a female. She was confused, a little bit scared, and her stomach was choosing now of all times to start growling and distract her.
“Ease up, Xiao Ying,” a third, feminine voice spoke up from above. Riley looked up to see a shadow of a girl sitting on a fire escape, the light gleaming off her teeth as she smiled down at her.
The first shadow growled, again, not taking his eyes off Riley. “I told you not to fucking call me that, Kai Li.”
The girl, Kai Li, shrugged, leaning back on the air behind her and somehow maintaining her balance on the railing. “Whatever you say, little bird, but if you get caught trying to beat up grade-schoolers, I’m not going to be here to stop the security patrol.”
“Shut up!” He reached down and pulled Riley up abruptly by the shoulders, holding her out like a specimen to the girl behind him. “She said she was with Jackson, and she was trying to attack Goodfellow, which means she’s causing trouble, not us, damnit!”
Kai Li laughed. Riley couldn’t help but shiver at the sound of it. “My dear big brother Ying, the girl hasn’t spoken once since you knocked her off her broom and tried to give her a concussion.”
Riley heard Ying growl from behind her as a distant rumbling like thunder. ‘Storing concussion comment for further analysis.’
“She’s right, boss,” the second shadow spoke up, his voice low and unsure. “She never admitted to being with Jackson or to trying to attack Goodfellow.”
“Damnit, Zuniga, when I want you to speak, I’ll tell you to fucking speak, got that?”
There was a very audible swallowing followed by a muffled “Yes, sir.”
“You,” Ying practically yelled, turning his words back to Riley. “What the fuck are you doing chasing after Goodfellow? Are you or are you not working with the Jackson family?”
“She’s mine.”
The four of them all turned simultaneously towards the entrance of the attic. Jackson stood there, his broom held up at his side, his goggles pushed to the top of his head, his eyes almost glowing, they were so much brighter than everything else that was still hidden in the shadows.
Kai Li started laughing up on her roost, a soft little giggle that made Riley feel very uncomfortable.
“I challenge this claim.”
Jackson spun around so fast Riley could barely see it or catch when his wand came up, but a loud THWACK of two wands colliding echoed through the alley making her ears ring and her head spin.
“Goodfellow…” Jackson growled, utter disgust dripping from his voice. Curious, Riley leaned over, trying to see what was going on on the other side of Jackson. The voice she heard wasn’t incredibly low, but it still didn’t sound like Robin Goodfellow’s.
“Nice to see you again, too, Carl,” the other voice said calmly, collected, the complete opposite of what she saw. A boy, shorter than Jackson and younger looking, wearing all black and holding his wand effortlessly against Jackson’s strength. He seemed the embodiment of serenity, but the light was shining on his face, and Riley could see dark eyes full of something frightening, something dangerous, and it scared her a little, making her back up more towards Ying who was still clutching her shoulders.
Kai Li was still giggling, and Zuniga had come to stand on the other side of Ying, his eyes shooting back and forth between his boss and the two boys at the alley’s entrance.
Jackson let out a roar filled with hatred and lunged at the boy, using his wand more like a small sword than a magical instrument.
“Oh, Carl,” the boy laughed, smiling as he jumped out of the wand’s path and floated in the air just above there heads. “You sound like you missed me. Have I been gone from your side for that long?”
“Shut up, Goodfellow,” Jackson hissed, aiming his wand at him. “I didn’t come here to speak with you, and I certainly don’t mind the absence of your presence. This argument has nothing to do with you.”
“Oh, but it does, Carl, it does.” He smiled and the light glinted off his teeth like daggers. “You see, you tried laying claim to something which is mine, and that is expressly against the rules and punishable to the highest degree.”
Jackson tensed, his wand lowering just the slightest. “What reason allows you to lay claim over mine, then, Goodfellow?”
His eyes turned to Riley. Without thinking, she grabbed onto Ying’s arm, a frightened gasp escaping her lips as she felt the world around her loose all semblance of balance and control. He was smiling at her, and it hurt. Who the hell was this kid and why did Jackson keep calling him Goodfellow?
“The poor child was chasing after me, calling out to me, dear boy. She seemed rather adamant about finding me, too. If you’d listen, her mind is screaming my name.”
Jackson growled, again, turning to look at Riley. Silence filled the alley as he glared at her, broken only by Kai Li’s continuous giggling. Riley’s knees began to shake, and her vision was starting to go pale. Jackson’s eyes were like two very bright stars burning holes into hers.
He turned away, abruptly, and she fell to her knees as if he had torn loose some sort of support. She felt Ying let go of her, but her hands were still clenched around his arm, and he hissed in surprise as he was forced to lean down with her.
“Bullshit,” Jackson hissed, again, his wand reclaiming full aim of the boy. “I saw nothing in her mind, especially to indicate you in any way. And, she has no mark of claim, yours, mine, or otherwise. But, she is still my guest in -MY- city, and I will kindly ask you to return her to me, now, Raven Goodfellow.”
‘Raven?’
The boy laughed lightly, as if they were talking about the weather. Riley didn’t have the strength to lift up her head, anymore, so she stared at the dirty, wet ground of the alley. There was a puddle under her knees. She could see drops of water making small ripples on its surface. Was it raining?
“She has no marking of claim, that is true, but she smells like one in service to a Goodfellow, which makes her mine.”
“A Goodfellow, not you,” Jackson’s voice had lowered to a hiss, and Riley heard it as a buzzing sound. The ripples were getting more crowded in the puddle. Was she getting wet?
“They are all the same. If she belongs to a Goodfellow, she belongs to me.”
“Not if she belongs to someone higher than you.” That was a female voice that Riley recognized. Quiet and calm, but not hiding darkness like the boy’s voice.
“Luna?” Jackson asked, his voice sounding relieved and unsure at the same time.
“I found her, sir, the one whose scent was on her. Green is trailing her as we speak.”
“And?” the boy cut in, his voice loosing the semblance of calm which had surrounded it.
“Robin Goodfellow.”
A curtain of silence covered the alley. Even Kai Li’s incessant giggling stopped, suddenly. Riley could hear the water as it made more and more ripples in the puddle. She found herself focusing on the center of the puddle, her vision blurring into nothing everywhere else.
“Take her, then, and be glad of her,” the boy hissed from even further away. She heard him spit before there was a gush of wind and the alley itself seemed to sigh with relief.
Ying forced her hands off his arm and lifted her back up to her feet more gently than she would have thought possible. Her eyes registered the puddle getting further away from her, and it left her with a heavy feeling of vertigo. She could feel herself swaying under his hands.
He handed her to Jackson without a word, and she felt herself stumble into his arms.
“Luna,” Jackson said softly, as if preserving the fortitude of silence that was surrounding them and protecting them from the horrible boy. “We need to get her to Green and to her master.”
“Follow me, sir.”
She felt herself lifted. Her eyes shifted from the puddle to the fake sky. It was raining, but the sky was still enchanted to look like stars. That was confusing.
“Wait, Jackson.” That was Zuniga. She could tell because his voice sounded so small. “Does she really belong to the young mistress?”
She felt the arms around her tighten, a little and a low rumbling as Jackson spoke. “I don’t know. She smells like her, that’s for sure, but she hasn’t taken an oath to her, and there is no binding mark.”
“Are you…” Zuniga hesitated. Riley could hear Ying walking away, and she thought she heard someone jump down from the fire escape to walk next to him. “Are you really taking her back to the young mistress?”
Jackson sighed. “She’s in pretty poor shape after all that psychic bombardment and she appears to have a concussion on top of that. I can’t heal her because she doesn’t belong to me, and if she does belong to her, no one else can do anything for her, either. So, yes, I am taking her back to Robin Goodfellow. It’s what I promised to do, anyways.”
“I see…” Zuniga was shuffling his feet through a puddle, Riley could hear the water splashing. “Could you… Could you give her a message when you see her?”
“A message?”
“Tell her… Tell her that we miss her.”
“Zuniga.” That was Ying. She had almost forgotten his voice, it seemed so long since she last heard it.
“Coming, boss.” She heard Zuniga running through the puddles, causing more ripples.
Jackson sighed, again. “That family is insane.” He paused, and Riley felt her head tilted to look into his eyes. They weren’t as bright, anymore, just a soft glow, like the fake stars above her head through the rain that was falling from the fake cloudless sky. “Let’s get you out of here, shall we, kid?”
She felt a soft pressure on her top lip and a quiet ‘shh’ and her eyes were closed and the world was black, again.
She wondered, as the last bit of consciousness seeped from her mind, if those golden eyes would still be there when she woke.
Magic didn't travel to the New World with the pilgrims or the vikings or the indians; it was already here, waiting patiently, hungry for power and a legend of its own.
Chapter 4 - Breaking Glass
Lean against the window pane, it will hold you as you look out on the world, untouched by the wind or the sun. Lean all you want, but don’t be surprised when it breaks.
~*~
Riley squinted, blinking water from her eyes as the wind roared past her ears. She hadn’t ever flown in such an open area, before, and hadn’t fully been aware of what “the open highway” entailed to an unprotected flyer. She was currently slapping herself for not wearing goggles or gloves.
The headache the cold wind along the highway was giving her really only helped to fan the flames of her anger.
‘What the Hell does he expect of me?’ she thought, bitterly, as the first glimpse of the downtown skyline came into view. Houston was huge. The entire north sky was lit up by its light, like a strange second sun.
‘What had Erica called it?’ she thought, remembering their first day of astronomy. ‘The Greater Houston Nebula.’ She laughed bitterly at the apt name. Looking up, she could see only a few stars shining dully from the night sky. She didn’t know why, but their absence angered her even more, and her mind bundled that anger up with her previous one, and somehow Robin Goodfellow was to blame for this, too.
She glared at the quickly approaching city. ‘How am I supposed to find her in a place like that?’
She pulled up on her broom, slowing to a stop as she stared contemplatively at the city. “Well, this is kinda pointless if I can’t track her down, ain’t it?”
“Move it!”
“Wha…” Riley didn’t have time to finish before she was knocked aside by a huge gush of wind. She tried to steady herself, but she hadn’t been flying for long, and good as she was for a beginner, she felt herself losing control of the broom. She was spinning wildly, the parallel lights of Highway 288 blurring as they got closer and closer.
She stopped, suddenly and unexpectedly. Her eyes opened slowly, one after the other, and she stared at the road not 100 feet below. Her knuckles clinched her broom so tightly, she was surprised it wasn’t splintering.
“Hey! You ok?”
‘Breath in, breath out.’ She looked up to where the voice had come from, her movements slow and rigid. The first thing that registered was a wand pointing directly at her. She flinched, instinctively, reaching for her own wand in self-defense.
A hand appeared on hers, patting it gently. “Woah, there, Tiger.” She looked up and into bright, golden eyes, lit in a amused smile. “We’re not gonna hurt ya, kid.”
“I… Um…” She couldn’t look away from the boy’s eyes. They seemed to glow, almost, reflecting the light of the city back at her.
He laughed, a small, gentle laugh that made her stomach tighten, for some reason. “What are you doing out here, kid? Don’t you have curfew, or something?”
“Jackson, leave her alone and let’s get going!”
The boy looked back over his shoulder and Riley’s eyes followed, noticing for the first time the two other magics floating behind him. The one who had spoken, a girl with long red hair and neon green goggles, was sitting on her broom with her hands crossed impatiently in front of her chest. Riley was awed; she’d only seen the quidditch team captain do that, no one else she knew could control their broom without using their hands.
“She’s ok, isn’t she?” the third magic asked, voice calm and light and hard to hear over the wind and sound of cars. Riley couldn’t tell if it was a boy or girl, but she guessed a girl by the way she was sitting on the broom with her knees closed tightly together.
“It was her fault for just sitting there,” the red-head huffed, crossing her arms tighter.
“Green,” the boy, Jackson, said, his voice stern and commanding. The red-head stopped talking, instead turning to glare at Riley. Apparently satisfied, he turned back to face Riley, his smile flashing in the dark night. “You’re from Sonora Academy, yes?”
Riley nodded, keeping a wary eye on the other two magics and her hand within reach of her wand just to be sure.
“We’re 6th years from Shadow Creek University,” he said, nodding slightly in greeting. “My name’s Carl Jackson, the bad attitude back there is Heather Green, and the quiet one is Michelle Luna.”
Riley looked cautiously from one to the other. The two girls were still wearing their goggles, so she couldn’t see their eyes, and Luna had a mask covering the bottom half of her face. She looked back to Jackson, her eyes warily noticing the hand he had out waiting for a shake.
“Riley Devon,” she said abruptly, reaching out and shaking his hand.
“Jackson…” Green started, again, but stopped as Luna laid a hand on her shoulder.
“Nice to meet you, Miss Devon,” he said, smiling as his hand lingered around hers. “Would you care to join us, tonight?”
Riley stared up at him in shock. “Join? In what?”
“She’s just a kid, Jackson,” Green snapped, glaring at the hand Luna still had on her shoulder.
‘A kid?’ Riley thought, bitterly. ‘Like she’s much older. I can do anything she can.’ Riley narrowed her eyes at her, dangerously, moving her arms purposefully to cross across her chest. She was very proud of how steady she was able to keep the broom, ignoring the slight trembling in her thigh muscles from the strain.
Jackson laughed lightly. Green turned away as if slapped. “You’re not a kid, are you? I’m betting… 4th year, yes?”
Riley blinked. Had she really fooled him into thinking she was 15? “Yeah,” she croaked out. “4th years have extended curfews…”
He smiled wider. “Then you -have- to come with us.”
Riley stopped breathing for a second, his eyes swimming in her vision. His invitation sounded like a good idea. She didn’t ever get a chance to just go out and play with kids, anymore. She had too many responsibilities at the school to just kick back.
Too many responsibilities…
“Wait!” She pulled back, her hands back on the broom for balance. “I’m looking for someone. I really need to find her, and soon.”
Jackson’s eyes narrowed, slightly, though his smile didn’t fade. “Looking for someone? In Houston? Do you know where?”
Riley shook her head dejectedly. She was back at square one.
Jackson looked over his shoulder, again, and Luna nodded curtly in his direction. He turned back to Riley, smile back in his eyes. “We can find her, for you.”
“What?” Riley balked at his claim. What could he do to find a complete stranger in such a huge city?
He nodded enthusiastically, reaching up and pulling sleek black goggles over his eyes. “Keep up, okay?”
“Keep up…?”
He smiled, again, and they were gone, zooming off towards the gleaming city.
Riley’s face settled in a determined grimace, her hands gripping her broom tightly, her body bent low over the front. So, they were going to play this game, eh? She smiled to herself. Her balance on the broom might not be the best, but speed she could do. She’d show that Green chick who was ‘just a kid.’
~*~
“Holy shi-”
Left swerve, and the phone-lines went zooming by.
“Oh my…”
Right swerve, and the wind as she passed the radio transmitter sent her into a 360.
“Woah…”
Breath in, breath out.
Riley looked up and saw the tail end of a broom as it disappeared behind a sky rise. They were getting away from her, she knew it, but this was absolutely insane. They had been weaving in and out of buildings for the last half-hour. If she didn’t die, first, then she’d be reported to the nomag police or, even worse, the school!
Green was sneering knowingly down at her, in her mind, as Jackson turned and flew away disinterestedly.
“No way in HELL am I letting her be right…”
Her grip tightened, and she flew after them. They weren’t too far ahead, thankfully. The girls were spiraling around each other as Jackson watched from a little distance away. She flew up to where he was hovering and could see a small smile of approval on his lips as he watched the other girls performing their aerobatics. Her heart jumped, a bit, and she realized that she really wanted him to smile at her like that.
He turned, smirking at her. He didn’t bother speaking, the wind was way too loud this high up, but he motioned to Green and Luna, his intention clear to Riley.
She looked between him and the advanced flying of the girls before them in bewilderment. She couldn’t do that. Not yet.
‘But, if I did… Maybe he’d smile like that at me, too…’
He was still smirking at her. That wasn’t what she wanted.
Without a second thought, she accelerated to where the other girls were. She saw Jackson lift up his hand and give a signal as she passed him by, and without missing a beat Green and Luna were diving. She hesitated for a brief second, and Jackson whizzed by, body flat against his broom, knees and elbows tucked in as far as they would go.
She clenched her jaw and went diving down after them, copying the way she had seen Jackson positioned. She had to concentrate really hard on not closing her eyes all the way. The ground, which had been so far away, was getting closer at a much faster pace than it ever had before, and had she had time to think about it, she would have been terrified.
She could see a dark blur in front of her that she sincerely hoped was Jackson. Hell, she’d settle for Green or Luna, just as long as she knew what the hell she was supposed to do when the ground got too close.
Closer and closer. She could see individual cars, now, and could make out shapes that she thought were people.
And, the dark blur kept going, straight towards the ground and the city and the cars and the people.
Riley heard a scream coming from somewhere far away. It took her a few more seconds before she realized it was herself.
And the dark blur continued.
‘What the hell am I doing here?’
‘Following Jackson.’
‘Where is he going?’
‘Straight down.’
‘Why the HELL am I following him?’
‘Because he told you to.’
Something like paper flew past her and she shut her eyes instinctively. She fought against the wind to open them back up, and when she finally did, the first thing she noticed was that the dark blur that was Jackson was gone. The second thing was that the ground was significantly closer.
She really couldn’t think much else before everything turned black.
~*~
“Hey, kid? You okay?”
Riley blinked, her eyes slowly coming into focus on Jackson’s gold ones. If this was how she had to wake up after every near-death experience, she was considering taking up a more dangerous lifestyle. Staring into Jackson’s eyes, snake-charming was starting to look very inviting.
“Did she actually pass out?” a voice sneered from behind Jackson. Riley looked up to glare at Green who was still floating on her broom, her arms crossed tersely across her chest.
“It’s ok,” Jackson said, smiling down at her as he offered a hand to help her up. “It’s difficult the first time through the gate.”
Riley reached up for his hand, reveling in how big it was and how easily it seemed to lift her up. She winced as her body made a few future bruises known to her. “Gate?”
“A fourth year and she doesn’t know about the city…” Green continued mumbling quietly, floating off to the edge of the alleyway they were in.
“The city?” Riley asked, actually looking around for the first time. Was she talking about Houston? Wherever they were, it certainly looked like what she remembered of Houston. The alleyway they were in was dirty and smelled like glass-cleaner, and the street outside was way too bright for this late at night.
“The city,” Jackson said, smirking as he handed her her broom and mounted his own. He flew off after Green, making a motion for her to follow.
“The magic city, created by the first practitioners and maintained by the High Families.” Luna hovered just behind Riley, her mask still up, and her hood casting the rest of her face in shadow. But, her goggles were hanging loosely around her neck, and Riley could see dark skin and black eyes.
“Magic city…” Riley began, even more confused. They were still in Houston, right?
Luna pointed up and Riley’s eyes followed the gesture. They widened as they noticed what she was pointing at. The sky wasn’t a sky. It was magiked to look like the night sky, sure, but you could see earth and cement just beyond the enchantment.
“Are we…”
“Underground.”
“Under Houston, to be exact,” Jackson said, a tone of excitement and pride resonating as his voice echoed off the walls of the moldy and dingy alley. He looked back at the two of them over his shoulder, his smirk glinting in his eyes, as well. “Welcome to Tejas, Miss Devon. The first of the great magic cities in the New World, and the greatest of the magic cities of the Old World. Welcome to Tejas, my city.”
Riley remembered what Luna had initially said about magic cities and being maintained by the High Families. “Wait, so does that make you…”
He was smirking, still. “Carl Jackson, first son and heir to the Jackson home, seat of Tejas, and the current capital of the High Family collective.”
Riley just nodded. Really, what else was there to say?
~*~
Riley dodged yet another non-attentive pedestrian. Jackson and his group were hovering just ahead, looking at what appeared to be a food stall of some sort. From her position, it looked like they were buying tamales, but she never really did like Mexican and would be hard pressed to know automatically what was what.
“Move it, kid!”
“Sorry!” Riley yelped as a young-ish looking man in a suit and robe shoved her out of the way.
She gritted her teeth and resumed her trek to reach Jackson. Flying through a crowd was almost more difficult than flying through skyscrapers, in her opinion.
‘Why the hell am I still flying, anyways?’ she asked herself as she flew around a mime who was floating at the same height as her and juggling fire balls. ‘Because that damn Green said I couldn’t, that’s why.’ She glared at Green, ahead of her and hovering rather closely to -her- Jackson.
She pushed forward, once more, tucking her head in near her chest as she shoved her way through an incredibly thick and stubborn portion of the crowd. They’d learn to move or eat broom.
Tejas was not what Riley would have imagined a magic city to be. Not that she had imagined there to be magic cities, mind you, but that’s beside the point. It was very much a reflection of the city beneath which it resided, and Riley found herself increasingly disappointed in that fact. Wasn’t there anything special or unique about the place?
She breathed a sigh of relief as she broke through the crowd. She started up, again, only to realize that Jackson and the others were no longer at the food-stand. Confused, she began looking around frantically, but she couldn’t see over anybody’s heads.
“Screw this.” She flew up and out of the crowd, pausing about 20 feet up to look around. She looked and looked, but all she saw was a sea of people, witches and wizards, some flying, some walking, some simply floating, like the mime. Most of the people out were adults, but that only helped her realize how lost she really was.
“Damnit,” she muttered, clenching her hands into fists around the broom. “This is all Green’s fault, and that damn twit Goodfellow’s, too… I swear, when I get my hands on either of them…”
Something short and black disappeared into an alley out of the corner of her eye.
“Was that…” Riley paused, not sure exactly what her mind was trying to tell her. There was something important about small and dark.
“Holy shit! Goodfellow!”
Without a second thought, Riley flew after her into the alley. If she found her, than she was finished with this horrible city, and even if that meant no more Jackson, and her heart cringed at the thought, at least she wouldn’t be stuck in this strange, not-quite-reflection of Houston anymore and she could go home and go to sleep.
“Goodfellow!” She called out, hoping the girl would hear her and have the decency to stop and wait. “Goodfellow, get your ass back here!”
She was knocked from her broom so suddenly that she barely had time to register the wall slamming into her back or the lack of oxygen in her lungs. It caught up to her, eventually, as the looming shadow of her assailant blocked the light from the street, but that was not necessarily the highest item on her list of priorities.
“Who the fuck are you, kid?” the shadow growled down at her, light reflecting off his teeth as he sneered into the question.
Still dazed, Riley stared up at him, dumbfounded.
“I saw her come through the gate with Jackson, boss.” Riley shifted her eyes in the direction the second voice had come from, but all she saw was a taller, skinnier shadow.
“Jackson?” the first shadow hissed. “So, you’re part of Jackson’s gang, are you, little bird?”
She blinked up at him, fore no shadow that big belonged to a female. She was confused, a little bit scared, and her stomach was choosing now of all times to start growling and distract her.
“Ease up, Xiao Ying,” a third, feminine voice spoke up from above. Riley looked up to see a shadow of a girl sitting on a fire escape, the light gleaming off her teeth as she smiled down at her.
The first shadow growled, again, not taking his eyes off Riley. “I told you not to fucking call me that, Kai Li.”
The girl, Kai Li, shrugged, leaning back on the air behind her and somehow maintaining her balance on the railing. “Whatever you say, little bird, but if you get caught trying to beat up grade-schoolers, I’m not going to be here to stop the security patrol.”
“Shut up!” He reached down and pulled Riley up abruptly by the shoulders, holding her out like a specimen to the girl behind him. “She said she was with Jackson, and she was trying to attack Goodfellow, which means she’s causing trouble, not us, damnit!”
Kai Li laughed. Riley couldn’t help but shiver at the sound of it. “My dear big brother Ying, the girl hasn’t spoken once since you knocked her off her broom and tried to give her a concussion.”
Riley heard Ying growl from behind her as a distant rumbling like thunder. ‘Storing concussion comment for further analysis.’
“She’s right, boss,” the second shadow spoke up, his voice low and unsure. “She never admitted to being with Jackson or to trying to attack Goodfellow.”
“Damnit, Zuniga, when I want you to speak, I’ll tell you to fucking speak, got that?”
There was a very audible swallowing followed by a muffled “Yes, sir.”
“You,” Ying practically yelled, turning his words back to Riley. “What the fuck are you doing chasing after Goodfellow? Are you or are you not working with the Jackson family?”
“She’s mine.”
The four of them all turned simultaneously towards the entrance of the attic. Jackson stood there, his broom held up at his side, his goggles pushed to the top of his head, his eyes almost glowing, they were so much brighter than everything else that was still hidden in the shadows.
Kai Li started laughing up on her roost, a soft little giggle that made Riley feel very uncomfortable.
“I challenge this claim.”
Jackson spun around so fast Riley could barely see it or catch when his wand came up, but a loud THWACK of two wands colliding echoed through the alley making her ears ring and her head spin.
“Goodfellow…” Jackson growled, utter disgust dripping from his voice. Curious, Riley leaned over, trying to see what was going on on the other side of Jackson. The voice she heard wasn’t incredibly low, but it still didn’t sound like Robin Goodfellow’s.
“Nice to see you again, too, Carl,” the other voice said calmly, collected, the complete opposite of what she saw. A boy, shorter than Jackson and younger looking, wearing all black and holding his wand effortlessly against Jackson’s strength. He seemed the embodiment of serenity, but the light was shining on his face, and Riley could see dark eyes full of something frightening, something dangerous, and it scared her a little, making her back up more towards Ying who was still clutching her shoulders.
Kai Li was still giggling, and Zuniga had come to stand on the other side of Ying, his eyes shooting back and forth between his boss and the two boys at the alley’s entrance.
Jackson let out a roar filled with hatred and lunged at the boy, using his wand more like a small sword than a magical instrument.
“Oh, Carl,” the boy laughed, smiling as he jumped out of the wand’s path and floated in the air just above there heads. “You sound like you missed me. Have I been gone from your side for that long?”
“Shut up, Goodfellow,” Jackson hissed, aiming his wand at him. “I didn’t come here to speak with you, and I certainly don’t mind the absence of your presence. This argument has nothing to do with you.”
“Oh, but it does, Carl, it does.” He smiled and the light glinted off his teeth like daggers. “You see, you tried laying claim to something which is mine, and that is expressly against the rules and punishable to the highest degree.”
Jackson tensed, his wand lowering just the slightest. “What reason allows you to lay claim over mine, then, Goodfellow?”
His eyes turned to Riley. Without thinking, she grabbed onto Ying’s arm, a frightened gasp escaping her lips as she felt the world around her loose all semblance of balance and control. He was smiling at her, and it hurt. Who the hell was this kid and why did Jackson keep calling him Goodfellow?
“The poor child was chasing after me, calling out to me, dear boy. She seemed rather adamant about finding me, too. If you’d listen, her mind is screaming my name.”
Jackson growled, again, turning to look at Riley. Silence filled the alley as he glared at her, broken only by Kai Li’s continuous giggling. Riley’s knees began to shake, and her vision was starting to go pale. Jackson’s eyes were like two very bright stars burning holes into hers.
He turned away, abruptly, and she fell to her knees as if he had torn loose some sort of support. She felt Ying let go of her, but her hands were still clenched around his arm, and he hissed in surprise as he was forced to lean down with her.
“Bullshit,” Jackson hissed, again, his wand reclaiming full aim of the boy. “I saw nothing in her mind, especially to indicate you in any way. And, she has no mark of claim, yours, mine, or otherwise. But, she is still my guest in -MY- city, and I will kindly ask you to return her to me, now, Raven Goodfellow.”
‘Raven?’
The boy laughed lightly, as if they were talking about the weather. Riley didn’t have the strength to lift up her head, anymore, so she stared at the dirty, wet ground of the alley. There was a puddle under her knees. She could see drops of water making small ripples on its surface. Was it raining?
“She has no marking of claim, that is true, but she smells like one in service to a Goodfellow, which makes her mine.”
“A Goodfellow, not you,” Jackson’s voice had lowered to a hiss, and Riley heard it as a buzzing sound. The ripples were getting more crowded in the puddle. Was she getting wet?
“They are all the same. If she belongs to a Goodfellow, she belongs to me.”
“Not if she belongs to someone higher than you.” That was a female voice that Riley recognized. Quiet and calm, but not hiding darkness like the boy’s voice.
“Luna?” Jackson asked, his voice sounding relieved and unsure at the same time.
“I found her, sir, the one whose scent was on her. Green is trailing her as we speak.”
“And?” the boy cut in, his voice loosing the semblance of calm which had surrounded it.
“Robin Goodfellow.”
A curtain of silence covered the alley. Even Kai Li’s incessant giggling stopped, suddenly. Riley could hear the water as it made more and more ripples in the puddle. She found herself focusing on the center of the puddle, her vision blurring into nothing everywhere else.
“Take her, then, and be glad of her,” the boy hissed from even further away. She heard him spit before there was a gush of wind and the alley itself seemed to sigh with relief.
Ying forced her hands off his arm and lifted her back up to her feet more gently than she would have thought possible. Her eyes registered the puddle getting further away from her, and it left her with a heavy feeling of vertigo. She could feel herself swaying under his hands.
He handed her to Jackson without a word, and she felt herself stumble into his arms.
“Luna,” Jackson said softly, as if preserving the fortitude of silence that was surrounding them and protecting them from the horrible boy. “We need to get her to Green and to her master.”
“Follow me, sir.”
She felt herself lifted. Her eyes shifted from the puddle to the fake sky. It was raining, but the sky was still enchanted to look like stars. That was confusing.
“Wait, Jackson.” That was Zuniga. She could tell because his voice sounded so small. “Does she really belong to the young mistress?”
She felt the arms around her tighten, a little and a low rumbling as Jackson spoke. “I don’t know. She smells like her, that’s for sure, but she hasn’t taken an oath to her, and there is no binding mark.”
“Are you…” Zuniga hesitated. Riley could hear Ying walking away, and she thought she heard someone jump down from the fire escape to walk next to him. “Are you really taking her back to the young mistress?”
Jackson sighed. “She’s in pretty poor shape after all that psychic bombardment and she appears to have a concussion on top of that. I can’t heal her because she doesn’t belong to me, and if she does belong to her, no one else can do anything for her, either. So, yes, I am taking her back to Robin Goodfellow. It’s what I promised to do, anyways.”
“I see…” Zuniga was shuffling his feet through a puddle, Riley could hear the water splashing. “Could you… Could you give her a message when you see her?”
“A message?”
“Tell her… Tell her that we miss her.”
“Zuniga.” That was Ying. She had almost forgotten his voice, it seemed so long since she last heard it.
“Coming, boss.” She heard Zuniga running through the puddles, causing more ripples.
Jackson sighed, again. “That family is insane.” He paused, and Riley felt her head tilted to look into his eyes. They weren’t as bright, anymore, just a soft glow, like the fake stars above her head through the rain that was falling from the fake cloudless sky. “Let’s get you out of here, shall we, kid?”
She felt a soft pressure on her top lip and a quiet ‘shh’ and her eyes were closed and the world was black, again.
She wondered, as the last bit of consciousness seeped from her mind, if those golden eyes would still be there when she woke.