2 Chapter 1 (b): A Thomas Kinkade Painting (... Contd)

Rinzen really hoped he awoke to his magic tonight, being the son of a reputed warlock and infamous witch, and having no magic was starting to be embarrassing. The bullying just kept getting worse—not that Rinzen couldn't protect himself, having trained in several forms of martial arts, swordplay and guns and tactical warfare, he was better than most magicks who relied solely on their magic to protect themselves.

Jackson has yet to land a hit; the pompous prick genuinely believed he was the best thing since sliced bread.

Turning back to the clock, he sighed and sat up, ten minutes to The Witching Hour, he decided if he was going to present himself in front of his parents, it would be better if he at least got off his ass and changed into something presentable.

*Please God, at this point as long as I shoot sparkles out of my hands, please give me something!*

Taking a quick shower Rinzen, let the junk food dust he'd consumed wash into the gutter, he idly watched the water turn a different color, before turning his face up to the shower-head, he squeezed a dollop of some shower gel and rinsed himself off and let the water and soap wash away any incriminating evidence of his laziness.

Two minutes after feeling relatively human—as ironic as that entire statement was—he shut off the water and toweled off his impromptu bath.

After the shortest shower he'd ever taken, he walked back into his room, tossing his clothes and the towel into the laundry hamper; he walked into his closet and searched through his clothes. Finally, after a minute in which he'd walked past several identical jeans, he pulled on an equally yet breathable pair of mid-rise, slim-fitted jeans, navy blue jeans, and then pulled on a plain black t-shirt with full-sleeves, just in case someone accidentally turned the weather from a normal balmy night into frigid tundra weather.

He blinked at the row of jackets and exhaled, "Not bloody well likely I'm going to stop being who I am", he muttered to himself, and reached for his favorite slim-fit red leather jacket, pulling on his black fingerless gloves, he turned to the mirror,

"Yeah okay", he hummed and walked to the belts, pulling the simple buckled black belt into place, he slipped it around the loops in his jeans, and then put on his family's signet ring on his right hand's index finger;

"I think this is the best I'm going to look, at this point even if all I can do is shoot sparks, I'll at least look good", he muttered sneering at his reflection mockingly and then smirking.

*I'm still me…*

Turning he went back into his room, he was ready to go to the annex, the center of his house, where the magical circle sat, as he moved to grab his wallet out of habit, he looked down at it, shrugged, and then pocketed it, he walked towards the door, when his eyes arrested upon a glowing envelope, he paused mid-step and moved to look at the mysteriously appearing scrap of paper.

Wary he frowned down at the envelope. All mail should have been placed in the foyer. Why the staff thought it apt to bring the mail up to his room confused him, especially since they'd been all given leave. And the stationery was fancy; Rinzen didn't know anyone who would write him a letter in general, never mind on fancy gold-embossed paper.

Swallowing he licked his lips and picked up his ruler from his desk and poked the bear, so to speak, when nothing happened, not even a diminishing of the light, he crept closer and then rolled his eyes;

"I should not be this afraid of a piece of paper", he grumbled and then paused, "That magically appeared in my room", he hummed, "A room warded and sealed with a key", he added pointing at himself, the exception of being able to open given to his parents alone.

Reaching for his phone, he made a quick call;

"Hey mom?"

'Rinzen!' she answered cheerily, 'Has your magic awakened?' she asked cheerfully.

"Haven't checked yet, um, where are you?" he asked warily, eyeing the still effervescent piece of stationery.

'Oh kiddo, I wish I could be there to witness your awakening, but your father and I cannot get free from Elder Silverberg's enticing speech', she answered drolly.

Translation, Elder Silverberg was on a roll and only a crisis would get that man to shut up.

Rolling his eyes he shook his head; "That's okay mom, but I thought you said the staff was on leave?" he queried.

'They are', she answered distracted, 'No Maya not that, no I meant the other blue no… don't touch that, Oh God! Rinzen, honey I'm afraid I must beg your leave, let us know how your awakening goes. No!!!—'

Rinzen pulled the phone away quickly as a loud crash resounded on the other end, but that answered that he was completely alone.

"So how did this—", he poked the envelope again, "—get here?" he questioned the air.

Biting his lip, he exhaled and then shook his head, "I'm not a coward", he paused and then with an audible swallow reached out, "I am not a coward", he repeated, "No siree", he licked his lip, and with wince picked up the envelope, almost immediately the light diminished and he read his name;

""Rinzen "Ryder" Shwartz-Carter""

Opening the envelope he winced as a paper cut caused his index finger to bleed, idly he watched as the paper ate the droplet as it seemingly absorbed into the paper, "Blood magic", he noted and then read out the contents written on the paper, out loud.

"Dear Mr. Shwartz-Carter,

Congratulations, we are proud to announce you have been selected as a student at

Hale Academy: Sui De Generis", he blinked owlishly, "What? Where?" he wondered, he hadn't even heard of Hale Academy.

Going back to the letter he blinked as he continued reading;

"We are thrilled to have you and are looking forward to working with you in the months ahead!

Yours Sincerely;

Ms. Danielle Harris

Vice-Principal"

". . . !"

"What in the name of Hell?" he asked and then turned the letter around, frowning at the runic scripture on the bottom of the page, he read it out loud, "Return Home", he blinked, "Return home, where? What? Or who?" he asked thin air, only to double over in shock, as he felt a pull in his navel, groaning at the sudden pain, he yelped as his entire mid-section seemed to steer itself to the left, where the forgotten envelope sat, landing hard he felt and both heard the paper crinkle before everything went out of focus.

He then felt a swooping kick, and what felt like his entire sense of being, thrown out the window, or through a very large hole, the sensation of falling was shocking to say the least—the landing on solid ground didn't help at all.

*

TBC...