A Taste of Mercy (A Recipe for Disaster Novel 2)

beckons ever onward.

“Power pocket?” I mused out loud as the next rough heave convinced me to hide under the table I was eating at.

“Much worse!” Aerona replied as she joined me under the table.

In the human world the Power Pockets bubble up unpredictably and rattle all of reality for a few minutes, then go on their merry way. Things get destroyed a little, but generally no one gets hurt by them directly. I did not want to know what it was that could make the psycho Demon Princess under the table with me look concerned. It had to be exponentially worse than my simple Power Pockets. Nearly ten minutes after it started, the jerky throttling of the ground stopped and it felt safe enough to emerge from under the table.

“Follow me.” Aerona gave me no choice as she grabbed my hand in hers and hauled me after her tiny form. Her tiny little fingers maintained a vice like grip over mine as she hunted down her brother. We found Brenin in an actual throne room, with an ostentatious piece of furniture that lacked only a butt in the seat to complete the look. My attention was drawn off of the gilded, polished and bejeweled throne to look at the real centerpiece of the moment, a large….thing. It looked like tar and oil mixed together into some kind of amorphous blob.

Even as my brain struggled to try and figure out what this thing could be, my head started to hurt. ‘Callie! Thank the Goddess you’re alive.’ Cass’ mental voice forced its way into my head finally. I was so relieved to hear from her that I almost overwhelmed her with emotions before I managed to lock it all down, knowing that there were now memories inside me that I did not want her to have to suffer through.

‘Cass, can you tell me what this thing is?’ I wondered, a weird sense of curiosity having me creep toward it despite every instinct screaming at me to get out while I still could.

‘We’re getting them here too Cal, and we haven’t a clue what they are. They touch you and it’s like every sickness known to Mankind has come back with a vengeance. There have been cases of Typhoid, Bubonic plague, Ebola, massive Influenza; it’s a walking plague carrier. It seems to be hitting the Normals harder than us Casters though.’ Cass info dumped on me, trying to help in any way that she could but I still refused to let her absorb all my memories. I didn’t need to horrify her with everything that had been done, but I let through some of the information that wouldn’t hurt her. ‘I think you should get out of there.’ She urged me as another ripple struck, more ooze forcing itself into view as if squeezing into reality. I stumbled backwards as the quaking became stronger and clutched to a wall to avoid going flying as a second creature forced its way into existence.

As my Wild Magic surged up, it thrust Cassie out and overwhelmed me within a fraction of a second. My sensate gift tied into it this time, letting me see the energies that should have made this creature up. The fields of my own reality were woven and painted with colours and lights, energy strands making everything connect. But the creatures were nothing at all, sucking the very vitality out of everything they came into contact with. The colours of even the stone faded into listlessness as all life sucked dry. One of the ooze reached towards me with what I could only call a tentacle and the Wild Magic acted to defend me. A strange medley of my elements; a paste of earth and water, swirled with air and fire, hit the black goop and the combination hissed as if it were acid. The once liquid seeming exterior of the things started to harden and crack, unable to simply absorb the amount of energy pouring into it. As the void thing hardened completely, thousands of cracks started, the entire monstrosity suddenly converted into graphite and ash.

I sat pressed against the wall, panting and drenched in sweat while the Wild Magic coiled itself back up and let me regain control. I could see Brenin and Aerona staring at me intently from the other side of the room blocked away from me by the bulk of the thing I had just presumably killed, so despite my shaky feeling legs, I took off running. The hallways were filled with screaming, crying, yelling, and generally panicked creatures, all of which helped me slip farther away without detection. I needed to try and figure a way out of this place; this was likely my best and only chance to get out of here.