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  Moshe Levram wondered how he had let his sister talk him into going out to the

  desert. Just because something was happening didn’t mean they had to look at it. And

  he didn’t want to explain to his father how he had let his sister go alone to get into

  trouble.

  He was her protector. Their father would look at it as a failure on his part if he let

  anything happen to her. He didn’t like it, but he was the elder child.

  And his speciality made him more capable of protecting her. Everything he grasped

  was geared to wards and shields. Offensive spells seemed out of his reach at the

  moment.

  “Will you come on?” Sara Levram waved her hand at her brother. “I finally have a

  source we can track.”

  “I think we should call Father, and let him deal with this.” Moshe brushed dust off of

  his white shirt. “We don’t have enough magick to stop a major threat.”

  “Don’t be mild.” Sara shook her head. Her dark curls drifted down from the band she

  used to tie them back. “Someone has to look. We might as well do that. If it’s too

  dangerous, one call to Father is easily done.”

  “I think you overestimate our abilities.” Moshe knew he would have to carry her

  home now. That would be almost impossible. “Go ahead.”

  Sara led the way, using the desert to carry them toward their goal. It was like skating,

  but sand and dirt were the ice. It was the first piece of magick she had mastered

  completely. And it was her favorite.

  The siblings drifted to a spot in the desert surrounded by pillars of rock. Moshe raised

  a shield instinctively against the flow of energy roiling from the sight. He put it in

  front of his sister to keep her back. The last thing they needed was to rush in and set

  off spells designed to kill them.

  He didn’t want to explain to his father how he had let his sister be turned into a

  burning cloud of ash because he was careless.

  A man dressed in a hooded tunic shaped something in his hands. He smiled as he

  worked his hands. The object seemed to be that of a weird looking dog.

  “How cute.” Sara didn’t keep her voice down. “It’s a golem.”

  The magician stood in the circle, putting the last touches on his creation, as he looked

  for the source of the voice. The energy around the pillars faded as he wrote the last

  charm on his dog’s back.

  Moshe felt a piece of magick hit his shield. He knew it was a sensory spell. He hadn’t

  made his shield as a cloak. The other magician saw him and his sister, and knew they

  were gifted thanks to his spell.

  “We have to get out of here.” Moshe grabbed his sister and started pulling as he

  backed up. “This guy doesn’t want witnesses.”

  Energy gathered in the site as Moshe half-carried Sara from the rocks. He didn’t

  know what was going to be unleashed, and he didn’t want to find out. He expanded

  his shield and thickened the parts facing behind him as he ran.

  He didn’t know what the other man specialized in, but he assumed charms. That

  meant he needed physical things to work magick. That might be something they could

  use against him if they had to turn and fight.

  He didn’t plan to turn and fight unless he was trapped in some dead end with no way

  out.

  “We should stay and fight.” Sara punched her brother’s shoulder. “We can take this

  guy. He only has one golem.”

  Something exploded against Moshe’s shield. They flew through the air. Smoke trailed

  behind them until they hit the ground.

  “What was that?” Sara brushed off some of the ash on her brown blouse.

  “That was your golem.” Moshe got to his feet. He looked at the pillars. Glowing dogs

  rushed forward with mouths open and ears back.

  “We’re dead.” Moshe flung up walls at a distance from them. Some of the dogs hit

  the shields and blew up. The spells shattered under the force. Most went around,

  threading the spaces between the walls. Nothing was going to stop them from

  eliminating the snoopers in a fiery glow.

  “Not yet.” Sara raised her hands. She called on her magick to bring the desert alive.

  It was temporary, but the word written on the ground produced columns of fists that

  punched their enemies into exploding oblivion.

  “More of them are coming.” Moshe flung up a wall in front of the pillars. Maybe that

  would keep them from coming long enough for him and Sara to get out of there.

  His wall blew apart almost instantly. More of the dogs drifted from the pillars. They

  growled in unison once they saw the siblings. They started running across the desert.

  “As long as he’s in there, he can create as many of those things as he wants.” Sara

  flung a word at the pillars. The piece of magic ripped apart before it could do

  anything. “And it shields him from us.”

  “I figured that.” Moshe formed a rotating circle of walls to keep the dogs from

  rushing them. “Fighting retreat. This is out of our league.”

  “You’re right.” Sara looked at a piece of high ground in the distance. “Get ready to

  move.”

  “Do what you’re going to do.” Moshe formed a bubble around them as his wall went

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  down one section at a time as the dogs gave up their lives to kill them.

  Sara grabbed his arm and pulled. They slid across the desert toward the rock in the

  distance. Let the beasts climb up after them if they could.

  The hill pulled them up to the top in front of the exploding dogs. The beasts paused

  as they tried to think of a way to get up at the siblings. They finally decided to circle

  the base of the rock like sharks.

  “They can explode all they want down there.” Sara smiled. “I wonder what the charm

  maker will do now.”

  “Don’t tempt fate.” Moshe looked around. “We need another spot to run to when this

  one is broken.”

  “There’s another rock over there.” Sara nodded at the outcrop in the desert. “We can

  bust through their lines and retreat to there.”

  “More trouble.” Moshe pointed to a man crossing the desert. “I told you we should

  have left this to Father. Now we have two magicians to deal with.”

  “Maybe he’s not friends with our charm maker.” Sara squinted at the man walking

  toward them. “He’s strong. I can see his energy wrapping around him.”

  The dogs ran from the hill. They headed right for the man in black. He paused to

  assess the attack. Then he caught the lead dog and manipulated it with his hands. He

  held a staff made from the spellwork. He drove it into the ground. The dogs exploded

  against the shield made from their pointer. The shield just grew stronger the more

  dogs it touched.

  “Did you see that?,” Sara smiled. “He’s not with the charm maker.”

  “He’s not with us either.” Moshe relaxed despite himself. Maybe an adult could settle

  this better than he could.

  The man in the black walked to the base of their rock. He wore a long buttoned coat,

  trousers, wingtips, and gloves. The collar of his coat concealed the lower part of his

  face. Sunglasses covered the rest. A hat topped the assemblage.

  Moshe didn’t like the fact he couldn’t see ears from where he sat on the rock. That

  couldn’t be a good sign.

  “Hello, children.” The man in black gazed at the pillars. Moshe didn’t like that he

  couldn’t see the back of the man’s head. “What’s going on here?”

  “This guy was making a charm and I guess he didn’t like us seeing him do that.” Sara

  pointed at the pillars. “I’m Sara, and this is Moshe. That was a great piece of magic

  you did. I don’t think I have seen anything like it.”

  “Just some word work.” The man in black started toward the pillars. “Stay out of the

  way. This next part could be a little tricky.”

  “The thing only makes exploding dogs from what we’ve seen.” Moshe hoped this

  newcomer knew what he was doing. At least he was making himself a target so the

  charm maker wouldn’t chase the Levrams.

  “I saw.” The man in black strolled along. “I’m sure he has other tricks up his sleeve.”

  “What’s your name?” Sara scrambled to get off the rock to follow him.

  “Memphis.” The man in black held his hat on as he walked toward the eldritch

  display that was almost lighting up the real world. “I always liked that city.”

  “America, or Egypt?,” Moshe whispered to his sister.

  “Maybe both.” Sara smiled at him. “This is a good guy. I can feel it.”

  “He feels like a ghost to me.” Moshe frowned at her. “He could be just as much a

  danger as the other man.”

  “He isn’t.” Sara hit the ground. “Come on. We need to see this. This might be our first

  real duel.”

  “We could be running for help.” Moshe exhaled with the knowledge he was talking

  to himself. He dropped down on a spongy bubble and ran after his sister. The last

  thing they needed was to watch real magicians duel in the desert.

  Moshe caught Sara as Memphis pushed into the aura around the pillars. He took her

  arm and pulled her back behind a shield. The last thing he needed was for her to get

  caught in a backlash from the elder magicians battling.

  “Can we talk?” Memphis gestured with a hand. “I see you’ve tapped into the Spring

  here. What do you plan to do with your creations?”

  “I don’t think that’s any of your business.” The charm maker had a cat in his hands.

  The statue of the dog hung from his belt. “I have been waiting for years to use this

  spot to empower myself. It will be years before it’s active again. No suit of clothes

  is going to get in my way when I finally have the resources to change the world to

  something I want.”

  “That’s an interesting expression of intent.” Memphis seemed to be smiling but it was

  hard to tell since he didn’t have an exposed face. “How are you going to do that

  against the other magicians and organizations that like the world the way it is?”

  “I will wipe them out.” The charm maker glared at his enemy. “I will take control of

  the Spring and there will be nothing they can do about it.”

  “Okay.” Memphis snickered. “You couldn’t stop two kids. You don’t have a chance

  against real magicians.”

  “Shut up.” The charm maker held up his cat. A tiger erupted from the sand. “This is

  what will happen to the other magicians that get in my way.”

  Memphis punched the tiger in the face. His gloved hand came out the other side. The

  tiger collapsed to the ground.

  “I was killing simulacrum before you were born.” Memphis shook his gloved hand.

  “I think you should give up your magic.”

  “Never.” The charm maker touched his dog. Replicas surrounded him as guards.

  “Punch these.”

  Memphis kicked the ground. A wave of dirt rolled over the dogs. They blew up under

  the cascade before they could charge away from their master. The charm maker went

  down with his lower legs blasted apart. He tried not to scream.

  “Hurts, doesn’t it?” Memphis didn’t sound all that concerned by the damage he had

  wrecked on his opponent. “Imagine how bad things would be for you if I weren’t here

  to help you.”

  Gloved hands took the cat and dog and reshaped them into a mask. He fitted the mask

  to his face, shaping it over his head. He nodded when he was done.

  “Now, let’s see what happens when we try to put your legs back together.” Memphis

  fitted the stumps back together. “You might experience some pain.”

  The flesh knitted together in the rags of brown pants. The charm maker screamed as

  everything came together in a series of clicks, rips, and a sewing machine clank.

  “That was awesome.” Sara ran into the circle of pillars. “What word did you use to

  do that?”

  Moshe frowned. They were standing at dagger range with a magician better than they

  were. If he decided to take them out too, no shield was going to stop him for longer

  than a few seconds.

  “I don’t use words.” Memphis’s mask smiled down at her. “I use waves.”

  “Waves?” Sara frowned. “How?”

  “I’ll kill you all,” said the charm maker. He raised a hand.

  “Sleep,” commanded Sara. A rune wrote itself on the man’s forehead. His eyes closed

  and he snored.

  “Every magician has to have a speciality.” Memphis held up his hands. A ribbon

  danced between the palms. “Mine is waves, and streams.”

  “Mine is words.” Sara smiled. “That’s great.”

  He closed his hands together. He pulled them away from each other. Words danced

  between them.

  “All I can do is fields.” Moshe looked down at his own hand. A bubble sat in the

  palm. “Is that all I can do with what I have?”

  “You can expand beyond that.” Memphis closed his hands together and then pulled

  them apart. A bubble sat between the palms. “Bubbles just make it easier for you to

  work your magic. More experience will let you branch out.”

  “Okay.” Moshe popped the bubble in his hand. “What about this guy?”

  “He should be imprisoned in a normal prison but no court would believe he was

  guilty.” Memphis looked up. “It’s better that he goes to sleep for a while. When he

  wakes up, you’ll be able to deal with him if I can’t be here.”

  Memphis summoned the natural power around him. He pushed the charm maker into

  a coffin of glass. The ground opened up and the coffin sank out of sight.

  “He’ll be back in a few years.” The man in black started walking from the ring. “You

  might want to practice harder to get ready for him.”