Chapter Five

David was sure he was being followed, again. He made a different turning into the next street

from his normal route, the black SUV turned also. He turned several times until he was sure he

had lost the car. Some psycho had been on his trail for more than a week now and it scared him.

His hands shook when he tried to remove his key from his pocket. The key fell. "Shit". He

cursed under his breath. Finally, he unlocked his door. He was shocked to the bones, someone

was in his house. He was sitting on his chair and he was pouring his new wine in a cup. "Who

are you? And how the fuck did you get into my house". David took out his phone "I am calling

the police".

"You don't want to do that, trust me". Sam warned. David's phone flung on the floor. "How the

fuck did you?"

David turned to run out of the house but he stopped at the sight of Birdie. "I don't know you; I've

been out of coke for years. Please don't kill me".

"I promise to spare your life if you do what I want you to do ".

*****************

The final bell had just rung. Everyone had left the class except Max and Liz. She hadn't gotten

the needed solution for her science experiment and she had refused to let Max help her out. "You

can't keep helping me; I have to do this myself". Max sighed. "Everyone else had left, we will

miss the bus".

"We can walk home, it's not that far". Liz smiled. It was close to one hour and she still wouldn't

give up. Max knew he had to do something magical for the solution to turn blue. He dropped two

drops of his sweat into the glass jar, whispered some spells and the solution turned blue at once.

"Look, you got the solution, can we go now?"

Liz frowned. "That's strange; it was red before I left there". She asked. "Did you do something?"

"No, I didn't" Max lied.

Somehow, she agreed to go home without so much pressure. They walked home chattering,

laughing, and talking about the whole class. They both laughed hard when Liz mimicked their

class teacher's high pitched voice. Max wished they didn't have to go their separate ways, he

wished he didn't have to stop seeing her eyes ever. He walked her to her door step; he had to

leave before he gave in to the urge of kissing her. Uncle David had warned to be sure Liz felt the

same way as he did before he made a move.

Max didn't want to get over himself, but he could sense something was not right. He felt a twitch

in his stomach, the door was wide opened. His parents had never left the door opened, not for

once. He ran into the cabin, the chairs were turned upside down. Max felt a hot tear on his cheek.

His beautiful Bunnies were dead; their blood was splattered all over his room. "Mom, Dad?"

Max cried. He stood still when he got into his parents room.

"Run Max, run!" His mother cried before Sam burnt her into ashes with his powers. "Mom!"

Max cried the more. Max's rage was up; the wind was coming at his command. Sam got fire in

his hands already, he extended his fire rage. He took the force towards Max but was blocked by

Mike. Max watched his father's body fall right in front of him. Sam quenched the fire coming

from his hands, he watched his nephew kneel beside his brother's body. Max saw the tattoo on

Sam's hand; his father too has the same tattoo on his hand. He remembered his father's story

about the tattoo. It was his father's family's tattoo. When he looked closer, he saw the

resemblance with the little boy's face in his father's family picture. He was his uncle, Uncle Sam.

Max rose up to his feet, now he knew he had to run for his life. He knew he had the chance to

live, his uncle wouldn't kill him. The family's Magoon group wanted him alive. "Get him here,

alive". Sam said to Birdie. Max used the sand wind powers to hit the man behind him and he saw

him loose consciousness. He sat quietly on a tree in the forest. There, he realized he was

homeless. The image of his parent's dead bodies flashed through his eyes. Rage filled him; he

swore to kill everyone responsible for his parent's demise. One day, he'd have to summon the

courage to spill the blood of the Magoons.

************************

It was the third day after the ravaging; he needed to eat something, anything. Going back to the

cabin was a bad idea but the warms in his stomach wouldn't stop biting. Max took out some

clothes from the clothes' line outside a home few streets down the cabin. He took the feminine

cloth, his size, covered his head with a matching scarf. Max saw the ruins left of his home, the

men had destroyed the cabin with fire, he had watched that man bring out fire from his palm and

he couldn't do anything about it.

Max covered his face well, he needed to be Uncle David and he needed to be sure Sam didn't

touch Liz and her mother. He wanted to get to Liz, tell her she was okay but he couldn't. He

couldn't put her life at risk. The Magoons were still looking for him, if they knew she meant

something to him, they'd hurt her to get to him. Uncle David might have some answers to his

many questions; he was the closest person he could refer to as a family. Even though he was non

magical, he knew about Max and his parent's magical powers and Max's parents had trusted him

enough to tell him more about the magical world.

Max knocked for a while, he was just about to leave when Uncle David opens the door. "Max?

Where have you been?"

Uncle David took him inside the kitchen, the whole house could be bugged or something. He

took out an old book from the top of the shelf. "Your father was worried something like this

might happen to him, he wanted you to have this if something did happen". Uncle David took out

a full back pack from where he kept it. "I knew you'd come back, West Texas is not safe for you,

this should last you till you find this address". Uncle David scribbled a note in his hands. "I'm

sorry Max, I shouldn't have--". He stopped halfway.

"You're sorry for what?" Max asked, bit he didn't wait for Uncle David to tell him what he was

sorry for, he simply read his mind. Uncle David was sorry for leading the killers to his parent.

Max felt a hot rage fill him. He commanded the wind again, the pots, spoons and pans stood still

in the air. "You let them kill my parents" his voice echoed. His parents' burnt bodies flashed back

to his eyes. He threw the knife at Uncle David's throat. When his rage left him, he realized he

had killed his favorite neighbor.

That night, he decided to sleep in the attic of a house left for sale. He went to the nearby call boot

to call the number uncle David scribbled for him. He waited for the person on the other end to

speak; he needed to be sure he wasn't heading into another trap. So far, the only person he could

trust was himself. Max was surprised at the soft voice on the other end of the line, she talked like

his mother. "Hello, this is Max Fallaway; my parents gave me your phone line".

"Max? Is Dorothy and Mike alright?" For a moment Max would have thought it was his mother

speaking to him if the woman didn't mention his mother's name. He simply said "They are dead".

He still couldn't trust anyone but himself. She gave him a restaurant's address. "Find your way to

the kitchen; tell the chefs 'I want to cook'". The line went off.

**************

"You had one job". Danny hit the cup of wine at the fire place. "To bring me the boy".

"He slipped out of our hands; he had started an actual school". Sam defended.

"But you killed your brother and his Wife!" Danny snapped.

Sam shook his head. "It was a mistake". He kept looking down

He grabbed him by the collar "I hate hearing that!" Danny snapped. Danny took out a pocket

knife; he placed it on Sam's throat "You have seven days to bring me the boy". He let him go.

"Or your lives go for it". Sam knew his father, he would do anything to have the powers he

wanted, if it meant killing half if the world, he wouldn't flinch an eye to do it. Mike's death hit

him in a way he couldn't bare, he and Mike used to be close, used to be best friends. He'd thought

Mike how to use some of his powers, showed him some martial arts skills but he couldn't deny

the jealousy that grew in him when everyone told him Max was better than him. Their father

gave Max more recognition, more assignments and he had been the useless son. His jealousy for

his brother got to its peak when the girl he loved had loved Mike instead. Mike had been careful

about Dorothy but he had told Sam he was in love with the daughter of the rival magical group.

Mike and Dorothy had kept their love as a secret until Sam decided to betray Mike's trust. He

had blown his own brother's cover and he had made sure he was banished. After Mike had left

the kingdom, he had replaced him, had become the next in line to the throne. He would do

everything to make sure he took his place back in his father's heart and he did. Sam grabbed

another bottle of wine, he wanted to drown his cruelty and of course, give the last homage to his

dear brother. "For you Mike". He whispered.

*********************

She couldn't believe what she had just seen. It was like she had just witnessed the live

production of a horror magical movie. Liz had covered her mouth hard; she could be heard by

the men in black. Dorothy's body lay on the floor; she had laid there as if she would wake up any

minute. She caught her breath; the younger man looked moved towards where she was hiding.

Then there was Mike telling Max to run away, to run for his life. The older man had had fire

come out of his hands and Mike had shielded Max from getting hurt. She let out a cry when

mike's body dropped to the floor. Then Max had closed the door behind him. The younger man

had run after Max. She had had to watch the older man set Mike and Dorothy's body on fire. She

felt cold grip her from her head to her toes. Liz wept all through the night, she wished she hadn't

seen anything, she wished she had not had to go give Max his workbook. She wished Max will

be okay wherever he ran to.