Mage Catalyst (34 page)

“Yes, but you know who this man is!” the officer demanded, curtly jabbing his finger at the photo of Vin.
“No,” I repeated. “He was just some maniac on the train – I’d never met him before.”
“I don’t think we’re getting anywhere here,” the first officer cut back in. “Look, Devon, we’re just trying to find this man. He has seriously hurt some people and this is really the only clear shot we have of him.”
“I understand that,” I began, “but to be honest, I’ve been trying to forget that night.”
“Understandable,” the first officer replied. “However, anything you remember may help us track him down before he hurts someone else.”
“Okay,” I replied in a soft voice.
“So, if you remember anything else, anything at all, you’ll call us? I’ll give you my card.”

“Yes, sir,” I promised as the officer passed his card across the table.
“Then I think we’re done for now,” the first officer concluded. “Thank you for your time, Devon.”
I nodded back to them as both Mr Saunders and I got to our feet. The first officer collected the photos from the table and slipped them back into the manila folder.
“Devon, wait here. I’ll see our guests out,” Mr Saunders ordered as he moved to direct the policemen to the door.

After several minutes Mr Saunders arrived back into the room and closed the door.
“Thank you, Devon, I realise that this couldn’t have been easy.”
“No problem, sir,” I replied, mocking a tip of the hat motion to him.
“Stop making light of this, Devon. You were assaulted by what was obviously a drug-addled maniac. This isn’t something you can just shrug off with a laugh.”
“I’m okay,” I protested. “I really am.”
“Well, you seem to be,” Mr Saunders replied. “But if you find you have trouble sleeping or anything, the school can recommend a good counsellor.”
“I think that’s a little extreme, sir,” I replied.
“I think we can drop the sir now, don’t you, Devon?” Mr Saunders commented dryly.
“Sure, okay,” I replied.
“Look, Devon, what you went through can’t have been easy. But it’s important that if you remember anything about this man you inform the police. You’ll do that, won’t you?”
“Yes, sir, of course,” I replied.
A look of wry humour crossed his face at the use of the word
sir
again.

“Sir,” I began tentatively. This was new ground for me.
“Yes?”

“Thank you for being here with me, I really appreciate it.”
“Don’t mention it,” Mr Saunders replied simply. “Now, you’d better get to class.”
Tony was waiting for me when I got out of the assembly room. I noted the look of resigned displeasure on Mr Saunders face as he spotted Tony waiting for us. He didn’t comment but just waved his hand in the direction of the door.
“What was that about?”
“An overdue library book,” I replied flippantly.
“Seems extreme.” He chuckled with a grin.
“The school is taking a hard line on overdue fees.” I chuckled.
“What was it really about?”
“I’ll tell you later. This really isn’t the place to get into it.”
“Sure.” Tony shrugged. “I wanted to talk to you anyway. Are you sure about telling Sarah everything?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “I don’t really have much choice now, but it’s something I probably should have done earlier.”

“Thanks, man, it’s been difficult keeping this from her.”
“Yeah, I can imagine,” I replied.

“What was going on with Saunders? He doesn’t usually joke around like that.”
“I’m not sure,” I replied, “but he was being awfully nice, uncharacteristically nice.”
“Yeah, freaks me out,” Tony replied.
“Anyways, I’m in here.” I finished, gesturing towards a class that had already started. Tony gave a mock salute to me as I joined the class.
The remainder of the school day went relatively quickly and it didn’t feel that long until I was waiting apprehensively at the oval.
I didn’t have to wait too long before Tony and Sarah made their way over to the where I waited at the edge of the oval and the basketball courts. Tony had a basketball casually held under one arm.
“What’s the basketball for?” I asked as they got close enough.

“For a small demonstration.” Tony replied.
“He wouldn’t tell me either,” Sarah replied glumly.
“Devon is going to show you something now. I don’t think you’d believe what we’ve got to say without some form of proof.”
Tony casually threw the basketball at me.
“Okay,” Sarah replied, a little lost, “whatever this thing you two have been scheming has to do with sports?”
“Not even a little bit.” I grinned.
I had an idea of what Tony had in mind and to be honest it was kind of clever. I doubted Sarah would believe us unless some display of the power occurred and this seemed as good a way as any.
We certainly wouldn’t appear out of place on a basketball court throwing basketballs at the hoop. Provided that no-one paid undue attention to what we were actually doing, we should pass unnoticed. We made our way onto the court and moved towards one of the basketball rings.

“Right, Devon here is going to throw that ball through that hoop,” Tony explained, gesturing towards the hoop as if he were some stupid stage magician.
“That’s really not that impressive,” Sarah replied. “People do that all the time.”
“He’s going to do it from the other end of the court,” Tony finished.
“Shit man! I can hardly see the hoop from the other side of the court!” I protested.
“Just shut up and do it,” Tony replied with chuckle.
I ran down to the other end of the court. It was located just behind the ring on the far side. I’d never really realised how long a basketball court actually is. With a flick of my wrist I looped a thread of mana around the ball and very gently lobbed the ball in the direction of the hoop at the other end. I didn’t even really have to aim and it only took some minor correction to cause it drop with ease through the ring on the other side into Tony’s waiting hands. I wandered back up the court to where Tony and Sarah were talking.
“Well, that’s all very impressive,” Sarah replied. “But I don’t see what this has to do with anything, unless you’re telling me you’re trying out for the school basketball team.”
“What are the odds that he could do it again?” Tony pressed.
“I dunno, not good I’d say. That looked pretty difficult,” Sarah reflected.
“What if I were to tell you that the odds are one hundred per cent?” Tony asked. “And that he’ll do it every time?”
“That’s what one hundred per cent means, dumbass,” Sarah replied briskly, “but I’d have to say that then there’s obviously a trick to it then. He’s cheating somehow.”
“But I can’t see how he’d be cheating,” Sarah continued thoughtfully.
“Do it again,” Tony ordered.
“Christ, man, can’t I just do it from here?” I complained.
“Same shot,” Tony replied forcefully, taking a quick glance around the court. It was fortunate that no-one was really paying us much attention.
I returned to the other side of the court and repeated the shot. Sarah’s face took on an expression of incredulity as I sauntered back up the court.
“How did you do that?” Sarah asked as I got close enough.
Tony cut me off before I could answer the question. “Okay, now he’s going to balance the ball on the edge of the ring,” he called, throwing the ball at me.
“From here? Or do I need to walk up and down the court again?” I grumbled with poor grace.
“From here is fine,” Tony nodded.
Without even really setting myself I lobbed the ball up into the air and caused it to take a ninety degree change in direction to rest gently against the rim of the hoop. Sarah gave a startled yelp at the sudden change in direction of the ball and her eyes narrowed with suspicion at the ball. It was just sitting there appearing to be perfectly balanced on the edge of the ring. In reality, however, my mana thread was holding it in place, but of course Sarah couldn’t see that.
“That’s… unbelievable,” she whispered. “How are you doing that? Is there a magnet in the ball or something?”
“Pick a direction,” I ordered.
“What?”
“Clockwise? Counter clockwise?” I prompted.
“Um, clockwise I guess,” Sarah replied, confused.
I gently made a sweeping motion with my fingers and caused the ball to begin to slide around the rim of the basketball ring.
“Err, that’s counter clockwise,” Sarah commented dryly, “but I get your point.”
“Oh, sorry.” I grinned, reversing the direction.
“Okay, so you’ve got a remote control ball or something,” Sarah replied.
“Nope,” I replied simply as I let the ball fall back through the hoop.
I brought it into my outstretched hands again by changing its direction from straight down into a ninety degree loop to lump into my hand with a satisfying thumping noise. Sarah had watched as the ball zipped past her face with an expression on her face that bordered on hysteria.
“How...?” was all Sarah managed to get out before she trailed off.
I simply turned my hand over so that the ball was resting in the palm of my hand and with a slight flex of my hand caused the ball to lift slowly from my palm. Sarah’s expression narrowed and she ran her fingers through the air around the ball. It tingled a little bit as she ran her fingers through the mana thread. I noticed that there was some disruption to the mana thread as it happened, but it soon stabilised.
“This must be a trick ball,” Sarah commented, her face taking on an analytical pose as she examined the ball.
“Okay,” I replied, feeling a little like a sideshow magician revealing a trick. To be honest I was enjoying this more than a little bit.
“You pick the object then.”
“Something small preferably,” Tony cut in, still glancing around the school yard. Fortunately, most people were focused on going home and weren’t really paying us much attention.
Sarah removed a small notebook from her bag and I latched a mana thread onto it before she could offer it to me and gently caused it to rise from her hands. Sarah gave a small yelp and pulled her hands away in fright as the notebook began to float of its own accord.
“How are you doing this?” she asked, her eyes wide and her voice still a little high.
“It started about mid-year,” I began. “Remember that day when you said you saw my eyes go strange?”
“Yeah,” Sarah said, “but I thought I dreamt it.”

“Look at my eyes now,”
Sarah gave a strangled gasp as she looked me in the eyes, “That’s just not natural.”
“I don’t think I need to tell you how serious this is,” I declared. “You can’t tell anyone about this – ever.”
“How did this happen? You didn’t make a Faustian deal or anything did you?” Sarah asked in a high pitched voice.

“Faustian?”

“Oh! I know that one!” Tony quipped, “Faust was some dude who made a deal with the devil. Some eighteenth century poem or something. Sarah went nuts over it for a while.”

Sarah rolled her eyes at her boyfriend’s explanation.
“No.” I chuckled. “It was nothing like that. One day I just woke up and I could see these little blue lines everywhere. I thought I was going crazy at first, but then I met Renee.”
“Renee? What does she have to do with this?” Sarah’s eyes narrowed. It was becoming more and more obvious that she didn’t much care for Renee.
“She’s been teaching me,” I replied.
“So, she’s like you?” Sarah interjected.
“Yeah… only she’s more powerful.”
“Is it possible to teach someone, anyone … this?” Sarah asked with a slight catch in her voice.
“I don’t think so, if you can’t see the mana, then no, probably not.”
“Mana?” Tony interrupted. “What the hell is that?”
“The magic,” I replied simply.
“What does it look like?” Sarah was obviously intrigued.
“Umm, it’s kind of blue and sparkly, I guess,” I explained. “I can see it pulse up and down my arms.”
“You’re blue and sparkly?” Tony quipped in. “So you’re covered in blue sparkly things? What you’re saying is that you look like a flamboyant Smurf?”
“Thanks dude.” I nodded. “You always know just what to say to make me feel better.”
“Yeah, it’s a public service really,” Tony chuckled.
“I appreciate it. I really do.” I snickered.

Sarah had a wild look in her eyes as she looked at me. She refused to look me directly in the eyes. Her eyes darted wildly between the ground and Tony as if seeking reassurance that this was actually happening.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this earlier?” she demanded.
“I didn’t really know what was going on at first,” I explained. “I only told Tony a few months ago as Renee asked me to keep it a secret.”

“Why does Renee want this kept so quiet?” Sarah interjected.
“Would you announce something like this on public television?” I retorted.
“Yeah, okay… fair point,” Sarah conceded.
“But, she did have another reason …” I trailed off.

“Which is?”
“She’s a fugitive.”
“Who from?” Sarah immediately demanded.
“Well, I’m not one hundred per cent sure of the relationship, but I suppose you could say that he’s an old boyfriend of hers,” I said.
“So? We’ve all got baggage,” Sarah replied critically.
“This baggage is dangerous. I’ve met him and he’s completely deranged,” I answered.