The Unconventional Macy Gray

~13~ Place Your Bets

Every bone and muscle in my body ached. Celia's laughter, the laugh of a triumphant villain, grated all the way to my nerves. I better do something before she starts spouting a boring soliloquy. I crawled toward the edge of the table, keeping my head down. I tried working up my magic but came up with nothing. No sparks, no balls of energy. I was a dud while Celia had all the power.

"Dammit," I muttered. "The phone. I never should have listened to Mom." I had bypassed the mirror in favor of the ordinary and this was my result. What to do? Since I couldn't use my magic, I had to think of something else. What would work on a powerful magician? Answer, science.

Nobody could avoid the painful results of certain chemicals mixed together. Certainly not a half human/half Alluvian. I began thinking and rejecting types of chemicals that could work. I had no time to postulate a hypothesis. No time for a test run. It was a now or never, do or die kind of situation.

Most of the test tubes had been smashed but two contained a little bit of the noxious chemicals when mixed together just might eat her face off. Or mine. Nah. I wanted her alive so she would face trial and get permanent jail time. I'd visit her just to taunt her. What I really needed to do was distract her long enough to get her to reduce her magic to manageable levels.

I crawled on my hands and knees toward the cabinet where the most volatile of chemicals were kept. I couldn't see Celia but I heard her tramping around. She was looking for me so I had to move fast. Using the tables as cover, I made it to the cabinet. I accessed it via code and brought down two that I thought would work. I crawled back to my hiding spot only to be lifted up once again by invisible hands.

In vain, I tossed the contents of both chemicals at her on my way to the opposite wall. They had no effect. Stupid idea anyway. Celia just laughed at me. "That's why I'm the better scientist than you," she crowed. "And Magician."

I couldn't argue with the magician part but I knew I was the better scientist. I just needed time to think. I wouldn't get that time. I landed right beside Cynthia who was barely conscious. Anger rose up in me in waves I didn't know I possessed. Rage at Celia for hurting my best friend, built to a crescendo in my chest, accelerating my heart rate. My blood boiled with revenge. 

Celia deserved the mother of all ass kickings. Not just for today but for all the times she received accolades for questionable research that she passed off as her own. For the undeserved promotion she received. The one I should have gotten and was passed over. For all the financial grants that funded her lab instead of mine. She'd started the rivalry all the way back at CalTech. A rivalry that I neither consciously participated in nor had the desire to do so. It was all her.

Desperate to hold onto my sanity, I tried to reason with her. "Let's talk about this Celia."

"Talking's overrated. I'd rather squash you." Magic ricocheted around the room, breaking windows and equipment. "You're in for a world of hurt."

Celia couldn't even come up with her own material. Beside me, Cynthia moaned, blood pouring from her head wound. I clasped her hand and she opened her eyes briefly. "Beat her ass."

"With what? I don't have any magic."

"Yes, you do. It's in there. If Celia has it, so do you."

"How would you know?" 

"I've always known Macy."

"That's not possible. I didn't even know until I went to Alluvia."

"You talked in your sleep. Every time you dreamed about Alluvia, I got all the juicy details."

I chuckled. Juicy. Right. Then my face colored. She couldn't mean-- I avoided her gaze for a moment. "Just how much did you hear?"

"Everything." She moaned and closed her eyes, breathing heavily. Her hand slid over to me one painful centimeter at a time. It shook when she clasped my hand.