Read Online Mage Catalyst by Christopher George - Free Book Online
Authors: Christopher George
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There was a horrible crash as the piece returned to the ground right through the garage roof, leaving a fist-sized hole.
Damn. That would be hard to cover up, I concluded as I inspected the damage. My God, what if that had hit me on the way down? This was too dangerous to continue. I could seriously hurt someone. Perhaps even kill them. I needed help with this before I continued. I could tell from the way that the cat was nowhere to be seen that he agreed with me.
Fortunately Mum didn’t comment on the damage to the garage or she never noticed. If she did notice she must have assumed something else as it wasn’t the type of damage that she would normally attribute to her eighteen-year-old son. The next week was subtle torture. I now knew that I lacked the necessary control to experiment on my own. I needed to find Renee more than ever. I resolved more firmly to track Renee down and insist that she teach me what she knows.
Friday seemed to take forever to come around. I had called Dad earlier that week and said I would be busy Friday night and that I’d crash at his place at around twelve. He didn’t comment other than a curt acknowledgment, so I figured he must have been busy with work.
That meant I’d have the whole night to hunt for Renee. I figured that I’d start at the Fitzroy pub where I’d first met her. She was there last Friday so it wasn’t totally out of the question that she’d be there again.
* * * *
I arrived very early to the club and it was pretty much empty. Tony had wanted to come but I hadn’t let him – I wanted Renee all to myself without Tony getting in the way.
The band that was playing was simply awful. It sounded like a mixture of screeching and droning. I’d heard Tony comment that the good bands didn’t come on until after nine. He was obviously right. I resolved to sit and wait for Renee to turn up.
I sat through three torturous bands before I finally lost my patience. All the while my eyes scanned the almost empty room for the tell-tale sign of a particle halo. Every new face that entered the room was examined and Renee’s face was definitely not among them. I was so frustrated. By the time I decided to leave the club was starting to get busy and the bands had notably improved but I didn’t care.
On a whim I decided to check the alley where she had thrown me down. Yes, the alley was pretty much as I’d remembered it, but Renee wasn’t there. I nodded sourly and returned to my seat inside. It had been a long shot anyway. Why would she be hanging out in an alley?
The fourth band was just setting up when I resumed my seat.
“Hey, Twitch!”
My stomach lurched in fright. Finally. She was wearing a tight black dress and I wanted to kiss her again straight away, but that probably wouldn’t have been a good idea.
“Where have you been?” I exclaimed.
“About,” she muttered noncommittally. “I wasn’t sure I was going to come.”
“You’re avoiding me?” I asked, hurt.
“No, I came looking for you,” she said. “Come on, I know a place where we can talk quietly – unless you came here for the music?”
She smiled at me, her expression smug. She knew what I had endured waiting for her and obviously found it funny. It was both endearing and infuriating all at once. We left the pub and she took me to the smaller and quieter sports bar on the corner. It had very few patrons and no-one appeared to pay us much attention as we settled into a booth in the far corner.
“I see you haven’t fried yourself yet,” she said grimly once we had sat down. “That makes things more difficult.”
“Fried? Difficult?” I stammered. What was she talking about?
“Yeah, I’d hoped you’d charcoal yourself and then you wouldn’t be my problem,” Renee said. I could tell that she was forcibly trying to keep her tone light.
It was charming the way that she’d put that with the emphasis on the word “my” as if this was something I was doing to her.
“Given the way
Damn. That would be hard to cover up, I concluded as I inspected the damage. My God, what if that had hit me on the way down? This was too dangerous to continue. I could seriously hurt someone. Perhaps even kill them. I needed help with this before I continued. I could tell from the way that the cat was nowhere to be seen that he agreed with me.
Fortunately Mum didn’t comment on the damage to the garage or she never noticed. If she did notice she must have assumed something else as it wasn’t the type of damage that she would normally attribute to her eighteen-year-old son. The next week was subtle torture. I now knew that I lacked the necessary control to experiment on my own. I needed to find Renee more than ever. I resolved more firmly to track Renee down and insist that she teach me what she knows.
Friday seemed to take forever to come around. I had called Dad earlier that week and said I would be busy Friday night and that I’d crash at his place at around twelve. He didn’t comment other than a curt acknowledgment, so I figured he must have been busy with work.
That meant I’d have the whole night to hunt for Renee. I figured that I’d start at the Fitzroy pub where I’d first met her. She was there last Friday so it wasn’t totally out of the question that she’d be there again.
* * * *
I arrived very early to the club and it was pretty much empty. Tony had wanted to come but I hadn’t let him – I wanted Renee all to myself without Tony getting in the way.
The band that was playing was simply awful. It sounded like a mixture of screeching and droning. I’d heard Tony comment that the good bands didn’t come on until after nine. He was obviously right. I resolved to sit and wait for Renee to turn up.
I sat through three torturous bands before I finally lost my patience. All the while my eyes scanned the almost empty room for the tell-tale sign of a particle halo. Every new face that entered the room was examined and Renee’s face was definitely not among them. I was so frustrated. By the time I decided to leave the club was starting to get busy and the bands had notably improved but I didn’t care.
On a whim I decided to check the alley where she had thrown me down. Yes, the alley was pretty much as I’d remembered it, but Renee wasn’t there. I nodded sourly and returned to my seat inside. It had been a long shot anyway. Why would she be hanging out in an alley?
The fourth band was just setting up when I resumed my seat.
“Hey, Twitch!”
My stomach lurched in fright. Finally. She was wearing a tight black dress and I wanted to kiss her again straight away, but that probably wouldn’t have been a good idea.
“Where have you been?” I exclaimed.
“About,” she muttered noncommittally. “I wasn’t sure I was going to come.”
“You’re avoiding me?” I asked, hurt.
“No, I came looking for you,” she said. “Come on, I know a place where we can talk quietly – unless you came here for the music?”
She smiled at me, her expression smug. She knew what I had endured waiting for her and obviously found it funny. It was both endearing and infuriating all at once. We left the pub and she took me to the smaller and quieter sports bar on the corner. It had very few patrons and no-one appeared to pay us much attention as we settled into a booth in the far corner.
“I see you haven’t fried yourself yet,” she said grimly once we had sat down. “That makes things more difficult.”
“Fried? Difficult?” I stammered. What was she talking about?
“Yeah, I’d hoped you’d charcoal yourself and then you wouldn’t be my problem,” Renee said. I could tell that she was forcibly trying to keep her tone light.
It was charming the way that she’d put that with the emphasis on the word “my” as if this was something I was doing to her.
“Given the way
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