Mana Pool Snippets - The Days After

One

Katie adjusted her stance and the charge increased along her spine and arms. She then closed her eyes and said, "Luchtaigh."

The violent transformation experienced by the humans who had become terrans had gratefully caused no trauma. The transformation redesigned their nervous systems, allowing for a new heart, a mana heart, to be directly connected to the spinal column. It was the mana heart that gave them the reservoir they needed to practice magic, an ability that humans would be leery of for years to come.

The heart squeezed as liquefied mana raced through Katie's nerves, running through her arms, and seeped out from glowing Celtic tribal tattoos on her fingertips and wrists. The mana flowed out as blue and white wisps of viscous liquid, collecting into a molten ball between Katie's hands, defying the laws of gravity. Drops of the liquefied energy fell onto the carpet and evaporated without a scorch mark.

Her sight did not leave the ball. The display was the simplest spell she could show her family without frightening them.

"Now imagine her, saving my life. And me nearly killing a demon alien at Area 51," Scott said.

Brenda Walsh gulped.

"Yeah, that'll help the coping, dummy," Keeji said.

"Look who's talking."

The demonstration lasted only seconds before Katie broke a sweat and her hands shook, she assumed that she would need more practice before she could hold the mana longer. She exhaled and let her concentration slip. Without her direction or motivation, the mana ceased. Katie's tattoos disappeared, the nerve tingles subsided, and the energy she had summoned evaporated into harmless smoke.

Katie took a few breaths, keeping her composure with a smile. "So," Katie said, "What do you think?"

Jacob was first to respond, he stood from the couch and walked up the stairs. "I'll be in my room," he said in monotone.

Robert was next. "Um...What do I think? It's a start but...damn. That tail still creeps me out."

"Magic is real and you're still freaked out about my tail?" Katie asked. "You will get one eventually."

"That will cramp my style. Any chance I'll offend people with a fifth limb? I can't handle that."

Katie turned her finger in a circle. "And the magic?"

Robert paused, and then said, "Cool but cautionary. I'll give a full report soon."

His words translated as never to Katie.

"But what about the shit load of possibilities?" Katie said fervently, the possibilities were her only reason for even showing her magic.

"Like a mushroom cloud?" Robert turned his head to address Scott. "You have been skeptical of Katie's hobby since high school and you pulled that off?"

"I was unconscious, so..." Scott twitched, placing a hand over his still healing chest scar. "So stop fighting about it and take this seriously."

Katie nodded. "Yeah, Robert," she said sticking her tongue out. "Mom, Dad, your thoughts?"

There had been tension between Katie and her parents before the Wave. Magic and New Age paraphernalia had been a hobby for her and her parents failed to understand her fascination with them. The same could have been said for Scott, but he had looked past her hobbies. After Katie's mana demonstration neither Brenda nor Jonathan could bring themselves to doubt the very real magic that they had witnessed in their living room. Although Brenda was usually the most vocal family member, she sat silent, covering her mouth and shaking with the realization that her daughter would never be human again.