Centum Malediction

Chapter 2-4

Tuesday, September 21st. 2010

Chelsea's eyes were closed. Her breathing was reduced to rapid, shallow breaths. Michael panicked, a million thoughts running through his mind. This was his fault, he should have never told her about the spells in the first place. There had to be something for him to do, but his only power was to manipulate energy, which couldn't save her.

The roads around him were empty. The streets were as lifeless as the streetlights were bright. They hadn't made it far from the museum before Chelsea had pulled over to be sick. They were in an area full of office buildings, as well as other industrial areas. Nobody lived in this part of city. This is where they worked, which meant that nobody was close enough to help.

They were lucky enough to be close to the hospital, but not close enough for Michael to get Chelsea there on foot, so he had to get the cell phone working if he was to have any chance to save Chelsea. Michael closed his eyes to concentrate, and he could sense energy in the street lights. It could help if they were attacked again. The closest store of energy came from the car. It was the elephant in the room he hadn't noticed before. Michael ran through a million ideas in his head. He knew what he had to work with, but how could he make it work. The cell phone weighed heavy in his hand, a useless husk.

"That's it!" Michael stated out loud. He looked over to Chelsea, hopeful that his words would cause her to stir, but she remained silent and motionless. He could use his magic to recharge the cell phone, something he had never done before, but it was worth a shot.

"Visceria," he whispered placing his hands onto the hood of the car. He could feel the power in the still running engine. It was more than enough to charge the cell phone. The only obstacle was to get the energy from one object into the other.

The car's alternator generated electricity, a type of energy Michael was familiar with. He drew the energy out, and it was unlike anything he ever felt. The electricity sent a shock into him just as he expected, but it felt different this time, a hot feeling of disgust permeating his body. The sooner he could get it out of his body the better.

He looked at the cellphone, the electricity trickling through his veins. The display was a battery filled with red with a slash through it. Anyone Michael's age recognized what it meant, even Michael who didn't own a phone. The phone was normally plugged in through a mini-USB port on its underside, there's where Michael had to insert the energy. He pressed his finger against the port.

Michael's first instinct was to dump all of the energy in to the phone at once, but he caught himself. He had to charge it fast, but too fast could risk its destruction. Instead he trickled the power slowly into the phone, despite how anxious the unconscious Chelsea made him.

It took a moment before the phone's symbol changed to show it was charging. Once it had ten percent power, Michael decided it was enough, and quickly called 911 for help.

"Please state the nature of your emergency," The operator on the other end said, sounding almost like an automated message.

"It's my friend, we were driving back home and she became ill and just collapsed. Something bit her leg. I think it was poisonous" Michael explained panicked. He knew better than to say it was the result of a magical spell that had attacked them.

"Just calm down, tell me where you are and I will dispatch and ambulance immediately." The operator responded with a surprisingly soothing voice.

"I don't know the street name, one second." Michael left the car, the sound of him shutting the car door echoed through the empty sky. He ran to the closest intersection reading the street names quickly.