Fantasy

This is Magical Mayhem

Hi Readers,

Before we jump back into today’s adventure, I just wanted to give you a quick status update. Our Scribe has been hard at work on a trilogy of anthologies collectively called Magic Underground. They’re published by the only press that’s run by fictional characters–Magical Mayhem Press. If you guessed that I (Ran, Sarn’s son and sidekick) and the cast of Melinda’s books are part of the staff there, then you’re correct.

Magical Mayhem Press publishes exactly what you think it does: books chock full of magic and mayhem because that’s how we roll. It’s the only character-run press of its kind that we know of. Usually Scribes run these things, but…

When Melinda first started publishing her books, she had no idea what she was doing. Her fictional characters (yours truly) realized really fast we needed to step in and take care of everything except the writing bits if we wanted to sell any books at all. 

Since we’re fictional, we only exist when you read us (we star in Melinda’s books melindakucsera.com/the-curse-breaker-saga/). So, getting our books into your hands is a matter of survival. 

That’s why we convinced Melinda to start a publishing house. Well, that and she had this awesome idea for a trilogy of anthologies called Magic Underground. Check out the first anthology we’ve ever published. It contains the first in an action-packed mini-series featuring Nulthir and his mind-talking creature friends.

Young Papa has cameos in parts 2, 3 and 4. Depending on how part 4 goes, there could be a part 5. Melinda is not sure about that. Since she’s not allowed to work on part 4 until after she finishes Curse Breaker: Hidden and Rogue Ranger by order of me, Ran, your hero and publisher, we’ll have to let you know about that.

And now, without further ado, I return you to our current adventure. Last week, we saved my Uncle but lost our Scribe. 😦 Let’s hope we do better this week.

Holiday Troubles, Part 6

Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.

I bit my lip. Where could we go? All around us, the ground was collapsing in on itself. The magnitude of what was happening finally hit me, and I staggered until Auntie Sovvan draped an arm around my shoulders.

“We’ll find a way to save her. Don’t you worry,” she said. She meant our missing Scribe, but we had so much more to put right than that. How could we ever fix this?  

“I hope so.” I wiped my eyes on my sleeve and sniffed to clear my stuffy nose. Needing comfort, I glanced around for Bear. I’d forgotten about him in the kerfuffle. I hoped he hadn’t fallen down a deep hole. There were a distressing number of them, and they were multiplying as I stood there sniffling. “Have you seen Bear?”

Auntie Sovvan shook her head. “Is he missing?”

I nodded and fretted for my fuzzy companion. Where could he be? I was carrying him when we fled the now collapsed apartment building. Where had I put him down?

“Where was the last place you remember seeing him?” Papa asked. He was bandaging a head wound my Uncle had suffered in a fall. It wasn’t serious, but the wound bled a lot.

“Will you quit that? It’s fine. It doesn’t even hurt.” Uncle Miren slapped Papa’s hand away. He tended to get a bit ornery. It was a teenage thing according to Papa.

“I”m right where you dropped me.” Bear waved a paw. Oops. Bear was kind of top heavy in his current form, which was why I’d been carrying him.

I popped to my feet and crashed into a wall of magic. “Let me go, Papa. I have to fetch Bear.”

He ruffled my hair. “No, you have to stay with me. I’ll fetch him.” Papa extended a hand—the one not holding the bandage in place around my Uncle’s head, and Bear shot towards me, carried on a green, sparkly cloud of magic.

“Thank you!” I opened my arms to receive him and hugged Bear tight as Papa’s magic released him.

Uncle Miren took Papa’s momentary inattention to scoot out of reach, but Auntie Sovvan intercepted him and tied off the bandage.

“Up with you, you can complain as we walk.” Auntie Sovvan pulled Uncle Miren to his feet a little too easily. I still wasn’t sure what Auntie Sovvan was other than Papa’s twin sister. She’d died when she was a little older than me only to mysteriously reappear in our lives a few months ago.

We hadn’t had time in our regular adventures to get the full story about how she’d managed to come back from the dead, or why angels kept dragging her off on mysterious errands, but that mystery was at the top of my list to solve as soon as Papa and I had a free minute. Unfortunately, now wasn’t the time.

“Okay, anyone have a plan that doesn’t involve you holding this parking lot together for the rest of eternity or my fav nephew plummeting to his death?” Auntie Sovvan nudged Papa with her elbow. She was uncommonly tall for a woman at six foot something, but she was still a few inches shorter than her twin.

“I’m your only nephew.” I pointed out. Uncle Miren was too young to have kids yet but not too young to like girls, so there could be cousins in my future.

“Can we please stay on task? We need an escape plan, O Magical One.” Auntie Sovvan gave Papa another nudge.

But his eyes had that unfocused look he often wore when he was wielding a lot of magic and couldn’t spare any attention for us. “What?”

“We need an escape plan.” Auntie Sovvan waved her hand in dismissal when Papa just gave her a blank look. “Oh, never mind. I’ll come up with one for us. You keep doing your magical thing so we have a ground to stand on.”

Because it was trying really hard to collapse under us. I could tell by the shaking, which had started up again. Papa could only stabilize the area for so long. He had to be reaching his limits. I grabbed a handful of his pants leg with my free hand to keep from falling. Papa was rock-steady as usual. He didn’t even sway until exhaustion started to erode his control.

I tugged on Uncle Miren’s pant leg. He and my aunt where scanning the destruction spreading out from around us, searching for somewhere safe to regroup.

Before I could say anything, Uncle Miren snagged a hold of my arm. “Come on. I see a way out.”

“Where?” I couldn’t see anything except piles of rubbish that had once been cars, asphalt and a three-story brick building. Uncle Miren pointed to a lone man wearing a white robe. He waved to us from a green space that had somehow escaped destruction. I grabbed Papa’s hand. “Come on, Papa. We’re leaving.”

Papa nodded. He always heard me. “I see him.”

“Is hat who I think it is?” I asked as Papa passed me. His magic pushed against my back in a vain attempt to get me to run faster. But there’s only so many steps my little legs could take per second, so the much longer legs of my companions soon had them outdistancing me.

They would come back for me, wouldn’t they?

***

Find out next week when our adventure continues. We hope you have an awesome week!


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