Hush

Chapter Eight

That night, Halloween came to Hush again. After all that had happened, he was tired and just wanted to sleep, but Halloween was important to listen to.

"I saw you go into the house," she said, holding yet another candle. "You broke the glass with magic to get out. I was sure the reds would swarm towards you, but..."

"But what?" Hush asked. He knew it had been risky using magic.

"None came at all. There weren't even any watching," Halloween said, voice quiet. Then, "You shouldn't go into that house again. It lives, you know."

"I know," he murmured. "I just... I just wanted to know what was inside."

"But there's nothing inside," Halloween stated.

"There has to be something fueling it, though. And the fact that the reds seem to be ignoring it altogether-"

"You want to go back in, don't you?" she asked, eyes locked onto his.

"No... Never again," he said. "I just want answers."

"Then look in a book," Halloween muttered, dropping her gaze. "Just don't go back in. You almost died this time. You'll definitely die next time unless you find some way to protect yourself."

"It was feeding off of me, wasn't it?" Hush asked. "It was draining me of my life source." He had looked it up. If he'd been in there any longer, he would've died.

"And your magic, too. Well, it should have been, but didn't seem to, considering you blasted the window to pieces." She sighed. "Hush, you really should be more careful." Hush looked at her, meeting her eyes. "No more going into spooky houses, alright?"

"Alright," Hush agreed. "Does that mean no more spooky forests as well?"

Halloween rolled her eyes. "There's no spooky forests around here that can kill you, as far as I know."

"Good, spooky forests are far more entertaining anyways." Hush wasn't joking. There were more things to find and open spaces.

"Do you care nothing for your life?" Halloween scoffed. "Honestly, Hush."

"If I care too much I'll never have any fun. Stop talking like my mom," he chuckled.

She rolled her eyes and grinned a bit. "Thank Ronad you have Rune or you would have never made it past first grade."

"Don't forget kindergarten." Hush continuously blew things up and hurt himself.

"That was a painful year for me to watch. You tripped over everything." She buried her face in her hands. "Terrible motor skills, child."

"What are you talking about? They were perfectly honed," Hush laughed.

Halloween studied him for a second, then said, "You're so unpredictable. I don't know how Rune keeps up with you."

Hush waved his hand like he was going to summon something. "Magic."

Halloween laughed a bit and Hush grinned. He knew she was worried still. She sighed and Hush instantly knew. She met his eyes and said, "You're going to-"

"Go back in. Yeah." When Halloween started to protest, he covered her mouth. "Halloween, I need to. It could be a safe place for all of the Magi to go. We don't know when the reds will attack, and I get this feeling that..." He paused. It was only an assumption, a very slim possibility. "I get the feeling that this time, we may not be able to fend them off. The group of reds that have Gather may be too strong. Last time, it was small. This time..." Hush shook his head. "I don't think they're going to hold back."

Hush dropped his hand and his eyes. They sat in silence for a long while. Hush just knew somehow. The reds... they wanted revenge. That's why they were Gathering again. How long had it been? Two, three years? Hush wasn't sure he could handle that again. He looked down at his hands, his palms permanently scarred from the spell. Iratus, it was called. Anger-filled magic, the most dangerous magic. Hush had had enough. The reds had used and forced him to-

"Hush, are you alright?" Halloween's words cut through his thoughts. He felt something wet on hit his hand and realized that his eyes had started to water. Crying, the humans called it. Not explainable.

He wiped his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'm okay. Just remembering past accidents."

"Oh, she said, then, "Oh."

"Yeah." Hush sighed. Despite his attempts, none of the spells that were supposed to erase memories had worked. Though he hadn't been completely sure he wanted to, so it could have numbed the affect of his magic. Even the Damnatio Memoriae spell didn't work.

One of the primary rules of magic was that you had to be certain. The strongest kind of magic was labelled Magicae. That would be the magic that came from the Aurora Borealis.

"You should sleep," Halloween said, rising. "If you're going back into that house, you're going to need all the energy you have."