Pro magic tip: demons always show up when you least expect them. As I shoveled a barrier of snow in front of my shop, three of them appeared on the roof, roaring against the wintry moon.
I took a few steps back, the cold snow seeping into my boots.
The demons focused on me, their spinning, blue nebula-like eyes glowing, their smooth black horns dull in the moonlight. Four-legged, with the build of a pit bull and the teeth of a shark, they stalked down the side of the building—an old brownstone in the heart of the city—growling at me. Their claws scratched against the brick and left long white marks.
“So it's gonna be like this, huh?” I said.
I let down my hood, and the wind blew my hair about. The chill tore through my face, and I could hardly feel my cheeks. My eyes watered in the bone-chilling cold.
Fourth demon encounter this month. The magic suppressant charms weren’t working.
“Darius,” I said, throwing a snowball against the window. “Get out here and see what you did.”
Darius’s lanky frame was a shadow in the front of the shop, and he was sweeping the floor. I threw another snowball.
He stuck his half-braided, half-afroed head out of the door, shivering in the cold.
“It’s too cold out here to be playing, cuz,” he said.
Then he heard the growling and looked up slowly.
“Damn,” he said, shaking his head. “Why does this always happen around two o’clock in the morning?”
“You only have one job,” I said, gripping my shovel tightly. “Protection spells are not supposed to be that hard.”
“Ain’t my fault,” Darius said, shuddering. “You know I can cast that spell with the best of them.”
He grabbed a puffy coat with a fur collar, threw it on, and joined me in the snow. His hands glowed with warm fire, and the flames bloomed all the way up his arms, suffusing his face in an orange glow. He yawned.
Darius was my cousin. A wizard.
Not the kind you’re probably imagining in your head right now—you know, the wizard with a pointy hat, a star-swept robe, and a gray beard, but a black, eighteen-year-old wizard who loved South Pole jackets and who routinely forgot to do his chores—namely, casting a protection spell around my shop. A wizard whose magic and lack thereof always got his big cousin into trouble. But he could throw fire and cast spells like a boss whenever the Somnients showed up, so I usually forgave him.
“At least these bad boys didn’t show up when the sky was really dumping snow on us,” Darius said.
The beasts landed in the snow and inched toward us, breathing smoke and sulfur.
A shrieking sounded from above. Normally, such a high-pitched sound would have startled me, but it gave me comfort.
A brown falcon soared over the street, flapping its wings as it circled the area.
Destiny.
My other cousin. Seventeen.
Not a falcon, but a shifter. And overall, way more adult and responsible.
I took a practice swing at the demons, keeping them at bay. I swung again, noting where best to slash the beasts on the head with the shovel’s sharp metal tip.
“I had planned on spending the rest of the night playing Monopoly and watching Star Trek,” I said. “Given the determined look on these demons’ faces, maybe I’ll have a little time for Star Trek.”
Darius pushed his hands forward, expelling the flames from his body. The flames formed a rushing wall, but the demons jumped out of the way.
Darius cursed.
“Aim better,” I said. “Keep casting like that and you’ll attract more demons.”
The flames subsided and the beasts advanced again, growling.
Somnients. Hellspawn from the dream world, and the root cause of nightmares. They showed up in people’s dreams, and without magical intervention, they clawed their way into the world of the living. Of course, they ate their dream hosts. I shivered as I thought of some poor family somewhere, lying in bed with their heads split open, fear in their eyes.
A Somnient leaped at me, baring its teeth.
I stepped back, took aim, and swung my shovel, connecting with the beast’s jaw. The impact knocked it into a nearby hatchback, busting out the windows. Its car alarm blared and its headlights flashed.
Great.
Now we were going to wake up the whole block.
The beast landed on its back. I brought my shovel down hard on the side of its face.
Darius sprayed it with fire, filling the street with the searing smell of cooked demon meat. Smelled like my grandmother’s fried chicken…if she cooked it in fermented, rancid oil. Yum. Not.
“Cuz, six o’clock!” Darius cried.
I spun around and rolled out of the way just as another Somnient swiped its claws at me.
I swung again.
With a metal clang and a wobble, I connected with the Somnient’s nose, making it recoil.
And then my shovel cracked in half.
The beast recovered and growled, joining forces with the remaining Somnient. For a moment, I could have sworn I heard whispering voices in their guttural growls. Like someone incanting spells in another language.
Darius ran next to me. He extinguished the flames in his hands, replacing them with a cool blue magic.
“I’m thinking we need to keep this battle classy,” I said, rolling up my sleeves.
“I’m thinking the same thing,” Darius said, crouching.
I needed to end this battle. Fast.
If it went on any longer, the magic usage would attract other Somnients. They swarmed to magic like sharks to blood. And one demon encounter was all I had the patience for tonight.
“You know what to do,” I said.
Darius pushed his fists forward, sending a rushing ball of light at the beasts, illuminating the street with a cool, icy blue. The light shimmered, and I covered my eyes.
When the light faded, one of the Somnients fell asleep in the snow, snoring.
The other looked pissed off and roared.
“I’m off my game tonight,” Darius said.
“One is better than none,” I said. “I’ll handle the sleeping one.”
“Hopefully Destiny will be back soon so I don’t have to carry this battle ALL by myself,” Darius said.
“Still mad at you,” I said.
Already I could feel the Somnient’s dream energy. It pulsated through the air like strange humidity. Its energy revitalized me.
I pulled at the air as if there were invisible strings in it. Wisps of magic appeared out of nowhere, and the space around me looked like a photo on overexposure.
I rolled the magic together, and with a giant leap, I jumped into the beast’s dreams, every particle of my body disappearing into the night before the other Somnient could chomp at me.