Page 64 of Aleko
Lia blinked and felt tears trickle down her cheeks in a burning rivulet. Pellos had been so kind to her.
“That’s not nothing,” whispered Lia.
“It’s not, but it’s selfish,” said Rami harshly. “Chicken-shit and selfish. An easy out for you. But everyone else has to go on with all ofyourmistakes still out there in the world.”
“I don’t know how to fix them,” said Lia.
“Have some heroin,” said Rami with a cynical laugh. “It fixes everything temporarily.”
Lia shook her head, and Rami lapsed into silence. She thought she slept for a time. When she woke, the sun was beginning to set again, and Rami was getting up, leaning heavily against the wall.
“Come on, Lia,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I’ll take you back toAlma’s.”
“No,” said Lia, shaking her head. “They’ll find me there. I won’t bring that on Alma or you.” She also used the wall to climb to her feet. She felt stiff, sore, and as if there were lead in her joints.
“Where will you go?” asked Rami.
“I’m going to get a magic wand,” said Lia and Rami looked puzzled. “Thanks for all your help, Rami. I appreciate it.”
She walked carefully out of the house, trying to avoid anyone or anything, and slipped through the fence. Sleeping had made her more clear-headed, and she now recognized where she was. It would take an hour to walk to the art museum, and it would be closed by then, but that was what she wanted anyway.
Once at the museum, she crawled up on the dumpsters and climbed over the wall. She walked quickly through the courtyard to the obelisk. The white sandstone pillar with the incised hieroglyphs seemed like a beacon. Taking a deep breath, she pressed her fingers to the carving of Isis. The hatch at the obelisk’s base opened, and Lia retrieved the wand with a shaking hand. If she wanted to fix anything, this had to work. She didn’t have anything else.
“Ah,” said the ghost appearing and looking around. “Good. You’ve come to your senses.”
“You are dead,” said Lia.
“Yes,” she agreed. “But fortunately, I spent a good deal of time working with the wand and I had the capacity to preserve some of my intellect in this format. Which is good, because we cannot allow the wand to fall into warlock hands again. Nasty little humans.”
“They said it didn’t work,” said Lia, running her fingers over the twisted wood and finding the naturally smooth parts where fingers had worn it soft.
“Of course it didn’t work for them. You have to have inbornnatural magic to activate the power within the wand. For humans, it will be useless. It would work for the warlocks eventually once they used it with their stolen magic.” The ghost hesitated and squinted at her. “Not that I can tell what you are. Some form of Shifter I assume. You’ve got that vibration of existing in more than one place at once.”
“I just see dead people,” said Lia. “I’m not really magic.”
“Ah,” said the woman, nodding sagely. “That must be it. Resonating with the spectral plane.” Then she paused again. “But you’re sure it’s not Shifter magic?”
“This is the only shape I have,” said Lia tiredly. “How does the wand work?”
“The way wands usually work,” said the woman with a shrug. Lia stared at her. “You have to wish for something. Well, that’s the verbal protocol. The actual trigger is intention. You must formulate how you want the world to be and then wand provides you with the power to make it so.”
“You sound like the doctors at the hospital,” said Lia. “I must make a directed impulse of consciousness to create a seed of the change I want to be in the world.”
“Well, yes,” said the woman with a shrug. “You can’t just want something to happen. A want is an absence, a void to be filled. Intention is a plan.”
“That actually made sense,” said Lia in surprise. More sense than any of the gibberish the doctors had spewed. Although, she had been on medication at the hospital, which might have had an impact.
“Of course, it made sense,” said the woman. “I am an excellent teacher. I have taught generations of elves, and while you may be human-shaped, you’re obviously not of their mental level. Which is fortunate for you. Now—”
“You said verbal protocol,” said Lia, interrupting.
“I was speaking, young lady,” snapped the elf.
“So I just set my intention, and then I say... I wish?”
“Yes,” said the woman. “Yes, that’s how it works. Well, done.”
“But there must be some sort of limitations,” said Lia. There had to be a catch. There was always a catch.
