Screams of Magic

Sam tapped his feet against the ground nervously. He was not comfortable with this. This was not his style at all. He liked to stay out of things, and run if necessary. He did not like to be involved.

He looked at the others sitting to his left. There were a few there. Including Sam, there were four sitting, and one man standing. They were sitting at a desk, in a big room. The four of them had their backs to the door, which drove Sam into full paranoia mode. The one man was standing at the other side of the desk. He had close cropped hair. He was wearing a trench coat. He was tall and muscular. Sam defiantly wanted to run from him. His smile was slightly sadistic.

The man right next to Sam was short, with light brown hair and blue eyes. He had a grin that said he thought he was smarter than anyone else. He looked to be in his mid-twenties. He was wearing a jacket and jeans. This man was cocky, confident and, Sam could tell, rude. Sam hated rude people.

The one after him was someone of medium height. He was pale. His red hair made him stand out, but that was really the only thing about him. He looked so ordinary Sam just decided to ignore him and move on to the next person.

This one was different. While short and cocky was mostly acting, and the red haired mundane was making no effort to hide anything about him, the man on the end was mysterious. He had brown hair and brown eyes. He was just taller than the red hair, but Sam wouldn’t call him tall. There were only two things Sam could get to him. One was he looked paranoid. He was doing a good job at hiding it, but he kept looking at the window, the corners of the room, the man standing, and he would stiffen and every sound, like he was preparing to attack. The other thing was every once in a while, his eyes would go glassy like he was looking at something not there.

“It’s been ages,” the blonde complained. “When’s he planning on turning up?”

The man standing grinned but didn’t say anything. A second later the doors behind them opened and everyone turned around in their seats to look at the new arrival. Sam wondered if that was by design.

The man who just entered was different to everyone else. While mysterious was, you know, mysterious, the man who entered was just confusing. Sam couldn’t tell if was hiding something, or an open book. Sam, his father being a psychologist, was very good at reading people. But this man was something else. He looked to be in his mid-thirties. He walked with an air of someone with control. A had short black hair. He was wearing a very fine suit, and oddly enough, sunglasses that didn’t seem to go with the image of this man. He was tall, but not really thin. He had some amount of muscle beneath his suit, but not enough to be counted as strong. He had a smile, but Sam thought he saw something fake about it. Or was it just sadistic?

“Hello gentlemen. Sorry to keep you waiting.” The man sounded very amused.

No one said a word. This man was intimidating without needing a weapon, or muscles. He was just powerful, Sam could feel it.

The man smirked and sat down at the other side of the desk. “So, we all know why we are here?”

The mysterious man at the end nodded curtly, while the rude blue eyed man mumbled something and the red hair looked terrified. Sam did nothing.

The man nodded like everyone had given an answer and took off his sunglasses to wipe them. “Good,” he said. Sam could see why he wore sunglasses now. His eyes, the palest blue, looked so cold that any it was obvious that any smile he had given before was fake. He looked incapable of looking happy. His icy blue eyes showed his malice, his intelligence.  Sam looked at those eyes and felt fear. This man wouldn’t hesitate about anything. He would have no qualms about killing all of them.

“Okay then, so let’s get started with the introductions,” he said, putting his sunglasses back on.

He nodded at the mysterious man. “This fellow is called Phillip Hazard. He’s a controller of animals, a Feramancer, and his control includes all animals on the property, excluding maybe the bugs. He’s worked for me for a few years now.”

Hazard nodded curtly again.

The man looked at the red haired nobody. “This man’s name is Trent Magnanimous. He’s an illusionist, being able to create moving illusions they looked real, sound real and smell real. Unfortunately, he’s still working on the feeling real.”

Magnanimous shifted awkwardly in his seat.

“I’ll introduce you to Darren Sagacity. This is his third time working for me, and after this, he’ll join my empire permanently. He’s a Techomancer, a controller of technology and mechanics. It’s him who came up with this idea, and it’s him who’s the most important to this plan.”

Sagacity sarcastically tapped two fingers against his forehead in a mock salute.

“And lastly, Samuel Bedlam. He’s an Audiomancer, a controller of soundwaves. Young, but a natural, and the only one in all of Ireland.”

Sam didn’t give any reaction. He was wearing scruffy jeans and a shirt. His jacket was stolen from him yesterday. He had black hair. He wasn’t quite thin, but wasn’t anything near fat either. He was sturdily built. He was once getting near fat, but after a few years of little food, it was pretty much impossible to be fat.

“I am Matthew Tenacious. I control the biggest criminal empire in all of Great Brittan, running both magic and mortal. I’m well known for bringing down the German Sanctuary. Of course, after I left there, they rebuilt, but I left a scar on that land that will never be healed. Ireland will be the same.”

He smiled, and for the first time, Sam was sure it was real. It was cruel and it showed what this man really was. Insane.

“The plan is simple. In the building known as the Fort, there is a computer mainframe that contains enough information to bring the Sanctuary to its knees. It’s a collection of all electronic mortal information from Great Britain, and a fair bit of the magical. And, in theory, with this information, we could control nearly all technology.”

The others nodded like it was no big deal, but Sam raised an eyebrow. This one reaction was enough to bring Tenacious’ attention to him. “Yes?” he asked. “Anything wrong?”

Sam didn’t answer for a moment. “I’m not sure I want to do this,” he said slowly, considering every word. “I don’t like the sound of it.”

“Nonsense,” Tenacious said. “I’m paying you enough to make you rich, you don’t have to do any fighting, just a lookout, and nobody will find out about your little secret.” Tenacious looked at him though those sunglasses, and suddenly Sam felt very nervous. He couldn’t hide anything from him. He was a mind reader for crying out loud.

“You’ll be staying in a room here for tonight. Tomorrow we sought out the plans, and tomorrow night, you go and complete the job.”

A few people said some things, but Sam just stood and walked out the door. Everyone ignored him. After a few minutes of walking nowhere in particular, a voice in his head said Go up another floor, and left. Three down from there. Good night.

Sam gave no sign that he heard, but he did as it said. The voice was Tenacious. That scared him, that he could enter a person’s mind at any time. Sam found his room, and lay in a bed for the first time in years. After listening to people talking in the mansion like house for a few minutes, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.