Centum Malediction

Chapter 4-2

Thursday, September 23rd. 2010

Alexander

Alexander lay in his bed as night fell. Mr. Reynolds and Ms. Aoki had already said their good nights. Everyone in the house was asleep except for him. He battled with weariness careful not to fall asleep as he waited for the perfect opportunity. He didn't want to leave too early in case someone checked on him. Now it had been over an hour. It was time to go.

He jumped out of bed and quickly put on his uniform. He didn't want to run around the city in his pajamas after all and he lacked any casual clothing. He gave one final glance at his closed door before moving to the back wall, pressing his hands against it as if he were pushing it.

"Faerina." He whispered quietly. His body fell forward as he seemingly melted into the wall. Immediately he felt a familiar straining against his body as if he were holding his breath. He couldn't stay like this for too long. Fortunately the wall wasn't thick and he was quickly greeted by the cool air from outside. He allowed the spell to fade and recovered. Using magic would take some getting used to.

The zoo wasn't far from where he lived and Alexander knew exactly where it was. Mr. Reynolds drove passed it every time he took Alexander to the college so all he would have to do is follow the road Mr. Reynolds took.

Normally Alexander would have felt apprehensive walking down the city streets at night. There weren't that many people out, but the ones that were all looked shady. Having Faerina's power made Alexander feel safe regardless of the situation. If someone were to attack him he could simply go incorporeal and escape. Of course, if someone saw him walk through solid objects they would probably run away anyway. He considered that possibility in depth. His greatest power over others was not the magic he had, but its effect on the ignorant public. This was all theoretical, it was impossible to find out exactly how people would react without revealing himself which was something he did not want to do.

He spent the rest of the trip pondering how he didn't fall through the floor when activating Faerina's power. He considered the possibility that he could fly or float. Faerina had shown she was more than capable of that. But even with the magic active he still felt grounded. If it were a computer program in some machine he would assume it was a safety feature, but this was magic, it did not follow the rules of logic he had grown up with. Or did it?

Alexander was so deep in thought he nearly walked right by the zoo. Due to its attachment to the aquarium the opening was quiet large so even he couldn't miss it. There was a large closed gate where cars could drive in. The bars were wide enough he felt he could squeeze through even without using magic. He waited until there was no one in sight then did just that, sliding through the bars with ease.

The parking lot was an asphalt wasteland. It was probably large enough to support over one thousand cars. It reminded Alexander of something he'd see in a zombie movie, not that he had seen many of those. The few cars present were seemingly abandoned. They were probably just the personal vehicles of the security likely patrolling the place. Maybe there was a night crew of workers that fed the nocturnal animals or something. Alexander didn't pretend to know the inner workings of a zoo.

Alexander knew he had to be careful, not necessarily because of security guards, but because of cameras. If a camera recorded him using his magic it could cause trouble. The last thing he needed was a video posted online similar to the one that led him to the zoo. There didn't appear to be any cameras watching the parking lot, but Alexander walked the lot's perimeter just in case, eying the large pillars that labeled different sections.

Across the parking lot was the gate. There would be a guard stationed there without a doubt. The gate was the only entrance into the zoo for most people, but Alexander was not most people. The tall brick wall would be his entrance.