A Sip of Magic

Chapter 1, part ii: Oleander

My eyes stung with churning sediment as I sunk deeper and deeper. The swift current collected me and sent me skipping arse over tea kettle across the mucky river bottom. My feet scraped desperately at passing rocks in hopes that it might slow me down long enough to get my bearings. A red ribbon wafted by before disappearing like a ghost. It was blood from the chains.

I came to a screeching halt as my heel found purchase in a cleft of stone. The current tugged at me something urgent but I didn't budge. A thousand thoughts flooded me at once but they grew dim under the sharp, steady pain in my wrists and the hungry ache of my lungs. I had ways of parsing the air from the water, of breathing again, but the iron bound my gift sure as it did my hands.

Pushing off the rocks, I fought the current long enough for my head to pop above water.

"OLLY!" Artemis wiggled from the heap 'til he was free from the waist up, but that didn't stop the boys from contorting his lower half every which way, his face twisting under each new configuration. "Are—bleeding hell that hurts—are you okay?!"

"Yea, I'm—" I gargled river water as the current pushed me further down stream.

"Hold on, hold on, I gotcha—" My brother's face darkened as he muttered an incantation. With a powerful sweep of his arm, he sent three of the boys sailing through the air as though they were just dollies. He grinned, half-surprised, half-pleased—and full-open to Braun's fist. I cringed at the crack of bone. Blood poured from Artemis' nose. He wheezed out a pained laugh. "Actually, I think you're right, Braun. Grand day for a swim."

With a strength that wasn't his own, Artemis catapulted Braun off of him. Clean off the dock, as a matter of fact; he landed farther upstream with a curse and a splash. Still catching his breath, Artemis got back on his feet, straightened his lapels, and nodded towards me. He disappeared, the words of his spell still hanging in the air.

Then his arm was around my shoulders. Artemis sputtered, whipping the curtain of his soaked bangs back so he could see. "Whoo, water's a bit nippy today, yea?"

"Artemis!" If I hadn't been chained up, I'd have smacked him winding. "You ate the head off me for a bit of legerdemain and you're the one that's been pinching magic! We're not of age yet!"

"It's called homework! Can't practice magic without taking a nip or two!" he shouted over the roar of the river. The water was getting choppy, rocks rising from the murk like craggy islands.

"You don't go back to school for two more weeks!" Ahead, a fresh fallen tree blocked our path and a third of the river besides. "Fine then. Don't suppose you've still got some magic left in you?"

"Do my ears deceive me? Could it be—"

I rolled my eyes. "—Now's not the time—"

"—That Olly the sorcerer doesn't have the magic to get himself out of a jam?" Artemis cut a smarmy smile. "You oughta know there's always time for bragging—"

A surge sent us both under. I returned the grin as a fish swam between us, but suspiciously my brother had ran out of good humor. His grip on my shoulder tightened as we swam for the surface.

"Anything else you care to rub my face in?" I asked as we broke through.

"All right, all right," Artemis puffed. His freckled face was blotched from exertion. "Let's get on, then."

The tree was so close now that it loomed large on the horizon, blocking out the rest of the river. I kicked back something furious to bide my brother time to cast the spell.

Now, folk expect magic to thunder and flash, but not my brother's. To this day, I can still hear the air biscuit that left us in a tangle on that river bank.