The Magic Thieves

“Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky. It was such a marvel, like nothing any of us had ever seen. There were rumors that something lived in those clouds, that it was the source of the diamond dust that came with the storms but none of us ever saw anything like that. I’m not saying it’s not true, seeing isn’t always believing.”

Brigham stared at them now, the echo of his grandfather’s words striking chords within his soul. What had once been a fairytale of his childhood was now a reality, and had been for nearly three years.

Mauve at first but slowly deepening to indigo, the clouds met to pirouette against a crimson sky. A sudden gust whipped his long braid and he quickly tucked it under his long-coat.

“Nancy,” he said distantly, “what happens when we die?”

“Oh my God, here we go again.” She lamented to herself and leaned against the porch bannister, her ice blue eyes affixed to the wonder above.

“Every time you drink you ponder eternity.” she said jokingly with a slight edge of sarcasm, “You ponder and smoke.” She stopped her star gazing to look at him and caught his sly grin as he held a small flame between his thumb and forefinger, a cigar hanging from his mouth.

He sighed, smoke escaping between his lips, “I’m sorry, I’m just tired of this.” he said, making the flame appear once more. “I can’t help but feel there’s so much more out there but none of us do anything about it. It’s like we’re capable of going to a hundred percent but we’re all just stuck at ten.”

He drew on the cigar, his brow furrowing as the bright cherry softly illuminated his strong features. He started to say something, no doubt another drunken rant about the afterlife or intelligent beings on a distant planet when his phone chimed.

Holding the cigar between his teeth like an old movie star, he reached deep in his coat pocket and pulled out his phone.

“What is it?” asked Nancy, noticing his brow furrowing more than usual.

“Storm.” he said staring at the small screen, “Big one. Power’s already out in Ubequa.”

“We should go inside” she stated, the wind tousling her short auburn curls. “before it gets too bad.”

He hesitated and she was taken aback when he shook his head no.

“No, I want to see, to feel.”

“Brigham! It could kill you!”

He drew hard on the cigar, exhaling smoke that billowed and ran away with the strengthening gale.

“That’s what they say but what if it doesn’t? What if while the whole world hides, something magical happens?”

“Magical? While tiny fragments of carbon rain down to choke the life out of anything caught in the storm? I don’t see how anything “magical” could happen under such conditions.”

“That” he said, pointing two fingers with a cigar wedged between them, “is why you are operating at ten percent.”

Nancy could feel the flush creeping up her neck.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” whispered Brigham.

“Then how exactly did you mean it?” she scoffed, unaware that her hands had found their way to her hips as she stood staring at him.

“You look like your mother when you’re angry.”

Her anger boiled over as tears streamed down her face, “That’s not fair! You don’t get to do that!”

“Do what?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“Remind me of her.” she whimpered, desperately wiping the tears that refused to cease their trek to her chin. “You know how much I miss her, you don’t just get to insult me and then play that card.”

She stormed inside, slamming the door behind her so hard that the sun-bleached wreath from Christmas fell off and rolled to lay at Brigham’s feet.

“Hmph. Been meaning to take that down for months anyway.”

As he turned his back to the door he set his eyes skyward once more. “I’d give anything to break away.” he muttered under his breath. Guilt racked him and he knew no matter how strong his desire was to see and know more, he would never leave his wife behind.

Nancy returned with two handkerchiefs and two pairs of ski goggles. She handed one of each to him, “I made a vow to go wherever you go and be with you whatever comes. So even though I think you’re pushing the boundaries of insanity, I will forever be by your side.” She raised her hand gently and a flame appeared. The wind threatened to extinguish it so she began to concentrate, pooling all her focus into the flicker of fire between her fingers. It grew, bounding across her fingertips to dance in her palm.

Brigham leaned forward to relight his cigar with it while never breaking eye contact.

“That’s got to be fifteen percent, at least.” Nancy grinned.

“Twelve at best.” laughed Brigham.

“I’ll take it.”

She smiled brightly from beneath her makeshift mask and protective eyewear, receiving an authentic grin in return.

They stood, hand in hand, and watched as the storm rolled in. Carbon particles stung their faces, leaving tiny red welts on all exposed flesh. Darkness encompassed them as their electricity went out.

“So how did you do it?” Brigham asked.

“Do what? This?” smiled Nancy, making the flame dance once more. “I’m not sure, I can just…feel something. Maybe it’s the storm, maybe it’s being near you. I don’t know.”

Then, much to their horror, something stirred within the clouds, silhouetted by flashes of lightning.

“Is that the thing your grandfather told you lived in the clouds?” breathed Nancy, her voice quivering.

Brigham didn’t answer. He wanted to say something cool and suave but he couldn’t find any words. He just stood and stared as the gargantuan shadow danced within the clouds as his fear slowly degraded, replaced by delight, even more so when he turned to his wife and saw the sparkle in her eyes.

Something inside her had unlocked, had awakened and he was thankful to be there to witness it.

It was no surprise when the electricity stayed out and after what felt like forever, the storm subsided and the two watched the clouds dissipate, leaving no trace they had ever been, save for what covered the ground.

Nancy scooped up a handful of the carbon particles and attempted to ignite her flame. It blazed furiously in her hand, the diamond dust glowing with a fierce intensity. Beams of light began to travel in all directions as a small crystal began to form

“Brigham! Are you seeing this?” she trilled

Suddenly, she felt his grip on her other hand loosen and she turned to watch him go limp and fall to the ground.

“Brigham! Brigham what’s wrong?”

She scrambled to get his handkerchief off only to find his lips had turned blue and his face was pale as all color drained. He had a pulse, but it was so weak she thought he was near death.

With every ounce of strength she could muster, she dragged her husband inside. She propped him up against a cabinet below their kitchen sink and removed his goggles to find him looking at her weakly.

“What happened?” he asked, his voice weak and distant.

“I…I’m not sure.” she stammered, “I made a flame bigger than I ever have.”

“I saw it,” said Brigham, “but the bigger it got the weaker I felt.”

“Did I pull from you to make it?” Nancy asked.

He gave a weak smile, “I think maybe you did.”

She returned his smile, “I thought you were dead my love.”

“It’ll take more than that to kill me.” he chuckled.

Nancy laughed, a mixture of joy and relief, “That had to be twenty five percent though, right?

“More like seventeen.”

“I’ll take it.”

Groaning, Brigham stood, the color that had started to return fleeing once more. “I feel different.”

“What do you mean?”

“I feel…hollow…”

He lifted a hand, thumb and forefinger roughly half an inch apart but nothing happened.

Eyes wide in horror he stared at her, “I can’t…” he trailed off.

Nancy stared down at her hands and with much less effort than before, created a roiling flame that hovered above the palm of her hand. The entire kitchen was illuminated, and Brigham watched as his wife was bathed by the eerie glow of her own abilities.

***

Over a hundred miles away, in the city of Ubequa, three year old Tance fought tooth and nail to go outside and play, despite warnings from his mother and father.

Too smart for his own good, he tip-toed quietly to the front door, under cover to darkness as the power was out and had been for hours.

His mother heard the soft click of the deadbolt and knocked over a kitchen chair in her haste.

“I thought he was asleep!” she screamed as she turned the corner to the small foyer, just in time to see her little one slip outside.

Tance ran toward the yard barefoot, making it just off the stoop and onto the carbon-covered grass when both parents caught him.

At the top of his small lungs he screamed, “No!”, just as they each got a hand on him.

But as they tried to lift their baby boy off the ground and out of the storm, life was pulled from them and they both fell face first into the dust.

Tance stood amidst the chaos and the noise, crying for his parents who would not wake up as an aura of flame surrounded him, turning each pelting piece of carbon into a small diamond.

A small fragment of each of Tance’s parent’s life force now existed within the multitude of diamonds that lay scattered about, just like the one Nancy created, and was admiring as Brigham slept.

She could’ve killed him, but unlike Tance, was able to draw back at the last second.

The two of them, Nancy and Tance, took something else, something more precious than even life itself and something they could never give back.

They were magic thieves, the first in ten thousand years and because of them, the world would change, destined to never go back to the way it once was.