Words of Power (Alice Gray Book 3)

14

"You don't have the language for me to answer that properly," the beautiful man said.

His voice continued in that melodious, deep timbre, but his tone had a bitter tinge of sarcasm that spoilt the music. The twist of his perfect mouth soured his God-like appearance, but it was the eye-roll that really made me lose it.

"Try," I ground out, voice hard and low.

His eyes widened, mouth hanging open in shock. Guess Mr Greek Sculpture wasn't used to being answered back.

"Err, my name is Brad," he said, the words coming out slow and careful.

My bark of laughter was out before I'd had time to reflect that laughing at this guy probably wasn't a great idea. Luckily the only result of my outburst was an attitude of discomposure that made him altogether less intimidating and more human seeming.

"Brad?" I asked when I'd caught my breath. "You don't look like you're into surfing." I met his eyes through the tears of laughter that were still streaming down my face.

"Yeah, Brad. Get over it. Don't you want to know why I brought you here?"

"Yeah, but dude. What were your parents thinking?"

"They weren't thinking of your amusement, that's for sure," he said, the glimmer of a smile gracing his face. His multi-coloured life-force sparkled along with his amusement.

Suddenly everything else disappeared in the light of its strange beauty. The colours were too brilliant for my witch eyes. Luminous particles whizzed around him, their radiance cosmic in intensity. The spectacle conveyed a vastness that was beyond my comprehension.

I forced my eyelids to blink. My brain was dull, senses woolly in the light of his magnificence.
Turning my dazed eyeballs to his face, I pushed what my mouth couldn't say out in a look of pure bewilderment.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry," he said, dialling the brightness down again. "I've never been with one such as you before. It's such an usual combination."

"Combination?" I asked, drawing every syllable of the word out as if I'd never encountered it in the English language before.

"Yeah, I mean, Jonathan was strong with the silver magic, but he didn't have the sight. That's why I thought we should visit."

"Okay," I said, still obviously not on the same page as Shiny Sculpture Dude over here.

He sighed, and was on the verge of rolling his eyes again when I speared him with a warning look, which was possibly the hardest expression that I'd ever had to form. My brain was still heavy with over-stimulation, but something about how casually he took my wonder in the face of his magic shot through the bewilderment faster than the dilution of his life-force could ever do.

This guy expected my utter deference and I didn't like it.

"And that. That I have never experienced before," he said, delight at some unknown happening making his magic pulse and dance.

"What?" I only just strangled the whine of frustration before it burst out of my mouth. I was holding onto my temper by a tiny, minuscule thread of restraint born from the fact that I had absolutely no idea who this guy was.

"That," he laughed. "Usually they want to fall at our feet, carry out our every whim. Usually they can't even really see us. But you. You can see me. It almost makes me wish that I'd dressed up for the occasion."

He looked down at his outfit of worn out jeans, work boots and t-shirt. I didn't admit it, but until that very minute, I hadn't even noticed the clothes that covered his tall, muscular body. I don't know if it was my imagination dwelling on the idea of him as a Grecian statue, but that was how my mind had accepted him until the moment he mentioned clothes.
As soon as I'd seen him that way, the magnificence of his life-force dimmed just a fraction, allowing me to focus on his sameness rather than his otherworldly difference.

I looked at him with suspicion. He was doing it on purpose. Trying to put me at ease so that I would...so that I'd what?

The melodious laugh drifted over to me and wrapped around me like a warm blanket. My body sagged in relief before my mind could catch up to remind me to be cautious.

"Chill, Alice. I'm you're friend."

"Prove it. Who are you, and what am I doing here?"

"I've already told you. I'm Brad, and you're here because I need to talk to you."

"Right, well get on with it then."

"They've decided. It's time for the All Seeing Eye to look to Earth once more."

"The All Seeing Eye?"

"Yes, and it will shine on you and those of your bloodline."

"The Grays?"

"No, they don't trust witches."

"But the Devices are witches too."

"Yes they are, and access will be denied to them also. But there's something else in you Alice. And you need to nurture it, strengthen it, and then use it to rise up and purge the Earth's lands."

"Oh," was all I could say, as he reached out his finger and touched me once in the centre of my forehead.

My eyes drifted closed and my body relaxed into a fluffy cloud that carried me away.

What now? Poor Alice, she's always caught in the middle of something that she doesn't understand! Hope you're enjoying the story!