I double-checked the lock on the testing mechanism, and looked down the sights again. Right on target. I switched the gun from safety into burst fire, and stepped back with the string. Without bothering to count down I yanked the string. The gun rattled in the testing bench, trying to break free as if it were alive.
I rushed downrange to see the results. Three holes peppered the target around the bulls-eye, all falling within an area the size of a quarter.
I pumped my fist. Wait till the contractors saw this! I wrenched the gun from the clamp, removed the magazine, and switched on the safety. You can never be too careful. I walked back to the shop and placed the gun carefully back on the workbench, marking down the testing results in my notebook. We weren’t going to get it any better than this—not that we needed to, the accuracy meant we had the contract in the bag.
I sat down on the stool, idly twirling around. So… this was it. I looked around the empty workshop. Parts and scraps lay in heaps around giant machines for working metal and wood. Shavings covered the floor, practically begging for the sweet release of the shop vacuum. Prototypes lined wall mounts, each meticulously tagged according to their improvements, courtesy of my father.
My father. The shop had been very empty without him. I derived some level of satisfaction from my craft, but it couldn’t compare to the simple happiness I working alongside him.
I looked back at the prototype I had just tested. I suppose he didn’t have anything more to teach me. I had designed, prototyped, and tested this contract bid all on my own. I had worked two full years in the shop by myself, after he had gone to work at the university of magic down the road. The independence was nice at first—full authority over the design, full pride in my work, full use of the shop without sharing—but now it was just lonely. He was always busy with his new job, so the most I could expect from him on any given night was a short conversation over dinner, before he went to bed early, exhausted from another long day.
I looked outside the shop window. It was a good thing I had tested when I did, the sun was just beginning to set. The evening wind rustled the bright-colored leaves outside, whirling a few stragglers about to new and distant lands. A heavy feeling rose in my chest. I should have appreciated the beauty of the scene, I should have appreciated the good memories it brought back, but it just made me feel more lonely. I remembered sitting on the back porch with Mom and Dad, back before she left us. We sipped coffee and laughed, talking about nothing important, doing nothing important. But it’s those times that are the most important, aren’t they?
I shook my head and blinked away a tear. Gosh, I was embarrassing. Here I was, a twenty year-old grown adult woman, crying over a silly memory. Well, enough of that. Dad was going to be home soon, and today would be a perfect day for some coffee and pie. We had leftovers for dinner anyway, so I wouldn’t need to worry about that.
I turned off the lights in the shop, locked the door, and scurried across our backyard to the house. As I opened our door and switched on the light, I was greeted by an empty living room. Various enchanted trinkets lined the shelves and the countertops. Dad’s experiments. They weren’t anything particularly interesting or important, just the results of Dad’s idle tinkering. They moved and blinked, nothing that couldn’t be achieved with old-fashioned electricity. Besides the floating bits, wires and LEDs and servos could do the same thing.
I opened the freezer and pulled out a frozen apple pie. There wasn’t time or need to bake one from scratch, so this was fine. This wasn’t the main attraction anyway—just an excuse for something else. I checked my watch. Good. He should be home in about thirty minutes. That was enough time.
After setting the oven to preheat for the pie, I pulled out a cast iron pan and rummaged around in the cupboard until I found the green coffee beans. We made our coffee the right way. Freshly roasted, freshly ground, and brewed to perfection in a French press. There was no substitute.
I let the pie bake as I prepared our coffee. Soon, the kitchen filled with the smell of apples, cinnamon, and fresh coffee.
Absolutely perfect. I took the pie and set it on the counter to cool, savoring the smell. Dad would be here any moment, and I could already imagine the smile on his face. I savored the anticipation, excited to surprise him.
I continued sitting for several more minutes. That was okay, work kept him late sometimes. Sometimes an experiment wouldn’t finish up on time, or a colleague needed something from him. The coffee and pie would still be warm when he got back. I sat a little more calmly now, pouring some coffee to sip for myself. There would still be plenty.
I waited another half hour. Now I was angry. Where was he? I called, but he didn’t pick up. I was fine if he went somewhere, but why hadn’t he texted me? Fine. I cut myself a small slice of pie.
I sat another half hour. My anger turned to worry and my stomach churned. Where was he? I called again. He didn’t pick up. I slumped against the table, and tried to breath slowly.
Gosh. Get control of yourself Amber, for gosh’s sake. You’re a grown woman. I sat up. I didn’t need to act so weakly attached to my father. Sometimes, crap happened. He’d have a story for later, I’d reheat some pie for him, and everything would be fine.
I hoped.
Suddenly, my phone started buzzing in my pocket. I whipped it out and flipped it open. “Dad?”
“Honey. I love you. Bring the guns to campus, now. And ammunition. We’re in front of Kerioth hall. I don’t have time to explain. I love you.”
He hung up abruptly. My heart stopped in my chest, then started wringing itself in ways it shouldn’t. I steeled myself and accepted the adrenaline into my body.
I sprinted out to the shop, fumbling with the lock and yanking the door open. I didn’t even bother with the light—I didn’t need it. I scrambled over to the safe and punched in the code, swinging open the door. There was no time to lose.
I strapped a pistol holster to my waist, not bothering to conceal it like it was supposed to be, and shoved in a .50 caliber pistol with a red-dot sight. I eyed the light machine gun that we definitely should not have owned, but I knew it would be too heavy. There wasn’t time. Instead, I grabbed an ammo can full of rifle cartridges and reached for the trusty assault rifles. I slung both over my shoulder, holding on to the strap with one hand and the ammo can with the other. I slammed the vault door closed with my foot and sprinted out of the shop.
I flew over our backyard and booked it to my truck in our front yard, shoving the rifles and ammo can in the passenger seat. I checked my watch as I turned the keys and the engine roared to life. He called five minutes ago. It took another five to get to the university. I lurched out of the driveway and sped down the road, going 60 in a 45 and careening around corners.
There. The university. I could already see Kerioth hall on fire. The crack of gunfire ripped apart the sky, followed by a blood-curling scream. Muzzle flashes gave strange, intermittent lighting in the darkness. I didn’t bother with the parking lot and whipped the truck around into the quad in front of Kerioth hall.
There was Dad. He was holding some weird wooden thing. I ripped the guns and ammo out of the passenger seat and bolted over to him.
“Dad! I have what you asked!”
“That’s my girl! We’ve pushed back the thing back inside the building. We set the hall on fire to try and burn it inside, but it’s likely to run back out.”
“What is it?”
“A demon, honey.”
“Go freaking figure.”
“It’s not us, I promise. We don’t screw with that kinda stuff.”
“Then who?”
A girl in a purple jacket and jeans looked over at us.
“If you see people in black robes, shoot them too.” she said. Her tone was sarcastic, but her face was twisted in fear and drenched in sweat.
“Lovely.” I replied.
Dad took one of the rifles from me and dropped the wooden device.
“You came just in time. We were just running out of juice, and honestly these mages can’t do crap without a power s—“
he was cut short as an earsplitting screech emanated from the smoldering hall. I switched my assault rife to automatic fire and searched the building in front of us. The flickering flames painted the outline of a grotesque shape emanating from a hole busted in the building.
“Now!” shouted Dad, and started opening fire. The sound of automatic fire shredded the night air, making my ears ring.
Without hesitating I unloaded half the mag towards the thing, but it was gone as soon as it came. More screams. Bodies flew in every direction, accompanied by horrible squelching and screaming. A dark shadow darted in between the people gathered to fight it, too fast to train the sight on properly. A police car flew through the air like it was made of styrofoam.
Then it was on us. My dad yelled, the shadow obscuring his form. I unloaded everything I had left into the side of the creature It let out a horrible screech and limped towards me.
All I could see was black fur and horrible white fangs, red blood glinting in the firelight. My body didn’t bother with a fight or flight response. My family only had fight responses.
I dropped to the ground and wrenched open the ammo can, swapping my mag for a pre-loaded one and jamming the new one in with practiced speed. I unloaded again. The thing screamed again, but it kept advancing slowly. I didn’t bother to reload again. I was only phasing it. The caliber wasn’t big enough.
I stood up and whipped the pistol from my side. I trained the red dot in between the glinting eyes. A half-breath, a squeeze. The ricochet shot through my arm, throwing the gun upward. The demon screeched again, this time more hoarse. I steeled my shoulder forced my arm on target. The gun let out piercing crack after crack as I fired until the slide stuck back. Before me lay a mess of gore and black fur. Whatever it might of looked like before, we wouldn’t know now. I stood for a moment in silence, the adrenaline numbing my mind.
“Is it dead?” a voice said behind me.
“What?” I asked, turning. A boy about my age looked at me, shaking. I looked back at the mangled corpse. “Probably,” I said, and walked off, scanning my dim surroundings and skirting around the downed demon.
My heart stopped. Dad was lying on the ground, a big gash across his chest. His shirt was soaked with blood. The girl that had talked to me earlier had taken her jacket off and was using it to bandage my father.
“Just sit tight, Dr. Xander. I’ve called emergency services again, the ones from the next town over are coming,” she said.
He coughed blood and looked at her angrily. “I already told you to just do it.”
I ran to Dad and fell to my knees.
He looked up at me gingerly. “Hey honey.”
I started losing composure and tearing up. “Dad!”
“I need you to do some strange things for me very quickly. Go get the wooden thing I had earlier.”
I got up and wiped away my tears. “Right.” I ran a few paces over to where it lay and brought it back.
“This is what I’ve been working on. It’s a weapon that uses magic to operate using any power source, instead of just gunpowder. I call it Occidae.”
I bit back my lip and forced a smile at him as I tried not to cry. “You always use dumb Latin names…”
He forced a smile back, the let it drop. “Look… you know I don’t beat around the bush, honey. I’m not going to make it until the paramedics arrive.” my forced smile dropped off of my face.
“But—“
“Shhh…” he said, putting a finger to his lips. He smiled, genuine this time. “You grew up too fast. You’re the only one I know strong enough to do this.”
“Whatever this is, I can’t. I can’t do it without you.”
“But you will anyway because…”
“because Xanders do the things they can’t…” I choked.
He nodded.
“Take Occidae. Cross the breach. Stop them from killing anyone else. This is bigger than us now.”
He glared at the girl next to me. She had been silent the entire time.
“Quit procrastinating, Amethyst,” he said. “This isn’t class anymore.”
Amethyst stood silently, her features worming in in distress. Her mouth resolved itself into a thin line.
“Fine.” She looked over her shoulder. “Max! Get out the hand crank”
The boy I saw earlier stepped out from the shadows and pulled out a metal contraption from his backpack. It was nothing more than a metal handle attached to a metal cylinder with a plastic grip around it. The crank wasn’t even attached to anything.
Amethyst fished around in her pocket and pulled out a pocket notebook and a pen. She began writing and drawing, muttering to herself.
“This should work,” she said, showing her handiwork to my dad.
I looked in confusion between them.
“What are you doing?” I cried.
Amethyst gritted her teeth and looked at me. “I’d rather not tell you until we’re done.”
I looked over at Dad in panic. “It’s fine, I promise,” he said. “Hand me Occidae.”
I reluctantly gave him the weapon. He laid it on his chest, hands clasped gently around it. I still couldn’t really see what it was. It just looked like a wood box with a strap on it.
Dad reached out and squeezed my hand. Amethyst motioned to Max, who started working the hand crank. Amethyst motioned over my dad with her hands, muttering strange words and drawing lines in the air with her fingers. This went on for a few moments, then she stopped.
“It’s done.”
My dad evidently tried shifting Occidae, but it wouldn’t budge. He nodded and more blood spurt of his mouth. “Privacy,” he muttered. Amethyst left and walked away, Max tailing close behind.
I cradled his head in my arms, my tears falling onto his face. “Sorry,” I said, wiping tears from my eyes. “You probably don’t want to spend your last moments seeing me bawl like an infant.”
He smiled and turned his head in my hands. “Honey…” he cooed, hacking more blood. “when the sky cries, nobody calls it weak. We call it a storm.”
I laughed or sobbed, I couldn’t tell which. Tears streamed down my face and spattered his. “I love you.”
“I know. You show me every day.”
He gripped my hand tighter, and pulled me closer. “Promise me something,” he said. “Love… others…” he gurgled.
He went limp, his eyes staring forward lifelessly. I curled over him, a sobbing mess now.
“No. No!” I whispered. I threw my head back and let myself scream. I released it all into the night air— the anger, the pain, the terror. I didn’t care who heard, I just needed it out of my chest before it killed me, too.
I cradled his corpse for what felt like hours. I wept silently, my body shaking with violent sobs until I had nothing left to give, nothing left in my body. I felt hollow now.
I lay motionless, just staring. I jumped as I heard rustling near me and looked up. Amethyst looked at me, dark rings around her eyes. Max stood behind her, not looking any better.
“The police from out of town will arrive soon,” she said, her voice showing how exhausted she was. “Do you plan on crossing the breach?”
I stood, then stooped to scoop up Occidae. “Yes.”
“We need to leave, then,” she said, turning and walking towards the still-smoldering building. Max followed after her. I cast my Dad’s corpse one last look. “Goodbye,” I said listlessly. I gritted my teeth and turned away. It was time to go.