WARLOCK?!

Magic & Mayhem

Chapter 12—Magic & Mayhem

"Echo Maddox, what brings you here?"

A man in a navy blue suit stood before us. He had a pointy black beard, but his hair was starting to thin out. He was a few inches over six feet, and he had a lean build. He crossed his arms as he observed Theo and Fallon being magically restrained by Brant.

"Chief Preston, Theo Maddox and Fallon Sage have been stripped of their powers. They put Brant under magical control, and locked me up in a magical hold for their own selfish reasons. In the process, my apprentice, Lennox Grant, was almost severely harmed."

"I see. I will need to conduct a memory analysis from each of you in that room over there. If what you say is true, then the culprits shall be detained," the chief replied.

"Very well then. Thank you, sir," Echo answered.

"Lennox, you will be first," Chief Preston instructed, gesturing to the memory analysis room.

I followed him in there and found a woman in a matching navy blue dress.

"This is my assistant, Presley. She'll be helping me to make sure I don't overlook anything."

"Preston and Presley. You two aren't by any chance..."

"We're just friends," Presley answered quickly.

"Ah, so you say. Okay. So, how does this memory thing work?"

"Take a seat in this chair and relax. Loosen your muscles and take slow deep breaths," Chief Preston told me.

I did as I was told.

Each of them approached me and placed one hand against either side of my head. Then I felt myself go numb. It's like, I knew I was there, but I had no control of my thoughts. I closed my eyes and watched the memories of the recent events swirl around in my head. It was like a fast-forwarded movie.

In a few moments, I felt their hands pull away, and I sucked in a deep breath.

"That felt weird," I commented, rubbing my forehead.

"Sorry about that. The numb feeling should go away fairly soon," Presley said.

"Now, will you tell Echo to come inside?" the Chief requested.

"Sure," I said, getting out of the chair.

I took a moment to steady myself.

"Sorry. Your balance might be out of whack," Presley apologized.

I headed out of the room and walked up to Echo.

"You're next."

"How was it?" he asked, smirking.

"More magical headaches," I answered.

He chuckled. "You'll get used to it."

He walked off and Brant said, "I'm sorry, Lennox."

"For what?"

"For being too weak to fight these two off," he admitted.

"We would've gotten away with it if—"

Brant snapped his fingers, and Fallon's lips were closed shut.

Theo laughed. "Your misery is so entertaining."

I snapped my fingers and surprisingly, it worked. Theo's lips were closed shut as well.

"Wow, you got that pretty quickly," Brant said, impressed.

"I think I'm starting to like this magic stuff," I replied.

"Good. As long as there's no crazy people to ruin our lives, magic can be very fun once you know how to use it," he responded.

"Hey Brant," I said.

"Yeah?"

"Just for the record, when you offered to help me months ago, I wasn't trying to be rude or anything. I was just...trying to protect myself and you. And I owe you for respecting my decision. I'm glad that we got to meet again."

"People's paths cross all the time, but sometimes, you have to make it happen. That's why I told Echo about you."

"I guess if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have met Echo."

"And...if you accepted my number and actually went out with me, then you and I might be a couple right now. But, I guess life works in mysterious ways."

"I'm sorry we never went out," I confessed. "I mean, don't get me wrong, you're nice and attractive, but—"

"I wasn't the right one for you," he said. "And I've come to accept that. You and Echo make a good couple."

"Thank you."

Echo walked out of the room and told Brant to get his memory analyzed. Two men emerged from the hallway and walked up to us.

"Over here," Echo told them, pointing to Theo and Fallon.

The two men nodded to us and took them away.

"So what were you and Brant talking about?" Echo asked me.

"We were discussing what could have been if he was my mentor."

"What? Are you sick of me already?"

I smiled. "No, I don't think I could ever be sick of you. Whether I like it or not, you keep things interesting. Besides, I don't have anywhere else to go. Home isn't an option, and I don't exactly miss the park."

"As long as I'm around, you'll always have somewhere to go home to. I will take care of you, Lennox."

"You're being really sweet right now, you know that?"

"I don't have to be a conniving, bitter warlock all the time."

"You're right. For a moment, you were actually starting to sound like a mere mortal with feelings."

After memory analyses were conducted on Theo and Fallon, the Magic & Mayhem head court decided that there was plausible proof to detain them.

At the end of the very, very, speedy trial, Theo and Fallon were allowed to say one last thing to us.

"Echo, you're my brother. How could you do this to me?" Theo questioned.

"I could say the same to you," Echo replied.

"If you learned how to manipulate sooner, you and I could've been the queens of the magic world," Fallon told me.

"I'm not like you. I don't think being a dictator is part of my personality."

She snarled as she was taken away, along with Theo.

"Back to the house, I guess," Echo said.

"Where's the exit?" I asked.

"What exit? The only way in and the only way out is by magic," Brant responded.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" I mumbled.

"Anyway, I think I'm going to visit my family for a little while," Brant said.

"Do they know you're a warlock?" I asked.

"Um, I have a distant cousin who's a fairly skilled one," he replied and grinned at Echo.

"Wait, you two are related?"

"Distantly," Brant replied and then flashed out of the room.

"So, are you by any chance the weird cousin at family reunions?" I teased, poking Echo's forearm.

He shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You are, aren't you?"

"Shut up."

Then he flashed us back home.