About Reach Out and Touch, A Hidden Magic Story

by Angela Benedetti
28 pages / 6500 words
Ebook zipped file contains - html, lit, Adobe and Sony optimized pdf, prc, epub

Cal's been working on an elaborate spell to open a portal between universes and, after weeks of work and calculations to draft out the diagram and get all the symbols right and acquire all the right powders and pigments, he's eager to actually try it. Master Aubrey wants him to wait, but Cal has a day off today, and he doesn't see why the fact that it's Halloween should make any difference. He takes advantage of Aubrey's absence to go ahead on his own. After all, this is only practice, opening a portal to an empty, pocket universe. Even if something goes wrong, how bad could it be?

Sample

Nothing had happened. At least, nothing seemed to have happened. It was too much to have hoped for, really, that after the terror of anticipation, all he'd ended up with was a smeared pattern on the floor. And it was damn lucky that nothing had happened because if he'd still needed that foundation to support the portal, or needed the circle to, say, keep something nasty from escaping, his sudden sprawl across it would've left him with a lot worse to deal with than a stinging elbow.

Nothing.

Well. Good. Really, that was good.

Cal still didn't know what'd happened, but he was starting to relax enough to think again and now that he had a few voluntary neurons firing, he'd pretty much decided that this was the best of all possible outcomes.

Well, almost. Actually having the blasted thing work would've been better, but it could've been a lot worse; he could think of whole lists of things that would've been worse than just nothing.

Although he was still wondering exactly where all that energy'd gone. Magic didn't just vanish like that -- it just didn't. It was like any other kind of energy -- it had to come from somewhere and it had to go somewhere.

Later. He'd worry about that later. Chances were, Aubrey could explain it, in excruciating detail and with a side dish of impatient annoyance, and an expression on his face that made it obvious he was wondering just how the hell he'd ended up with such a brainless incompetent for an apprentice.

Cal would even put up with that, all quiet and contrite -- definitely contrite -- as payment to the universe for letting him off so easily.

He practiced a contrite expression, ashamed even, while climbing to his feet and heading across the attic to flick on the lights.

Except the lights didn't work.

No, that wasn't right. The lights never had a chance to work because his hand swiped completely through the light switch. He didn't feel a thing and the switch didn't move.

He reached out, more carefully this time, and tried to pick up the bottle of Gatorade. He definitely needed it, and probably more than one, so that was a good next choice.

Nothing. His hand moved right through the bottle and came out dry.

Oh, man, this is dire, he thought.