Run the Day by Matthew C. Davis Read Free Book Online Page A

hands flat in the air over what I'd drawn and began envisioning the work in my mind, watching as the chalk lines began to flicker with little threads of ghostly light as reality started to shift.
    For thousands of years mages, will-workers, wizards, shamans, and the like have all known a fundamental truth that modern science is just beginning to grasp, namely that matter is simply energy in a static, defined form. If a person were able to perceive the flow of that energy all around them, underlying the fabric of creation, and manipulate it, they could alter and control it.
    Magic.
    In my mind's eye I could see atoms spinning in an intricate dance, stars in galactic orbits weaving a universal tapestry, the memory of a strong cup of coffee on a cold winter morning. The flickering lines of chalk on the table began to glow more brightly and a wispy haze coalesced inside the coffee tin as I stoked the spark of power inside myself, drawing in a deep breath.
    I held my breath, my power, and as I did, reality bent. The gentlest wave of distortion spread out into creation when I exhaled. The lines on the table flared a color that was all colors, the haze in the tin shimmering and solidifying. Stars blossomed before my eyes and my head spun, then I dropped back into the normal spectrum to see my work. There on the table sat a full tin of dark brown coffee.
    Behold my power and tremble ye mortals, coffee ex nihilo.
    "There. Happy?" I turned to look at Hack; he was looking at me with his arms folded over his chest and a small smile on his face.
    "Not bad, guess you haven't forgotten everything," Hack said. "I suppose now I owe you some answers."
    "You're damn right. Now have a seat and start talking, old man."
    I picked up the coffee and went over to the derelict electric coffee maker hiding in the shadows of the counter to begin the blissfully mundane ritual of making a fresh pot. I'm pretty sure Hack couldn't have cared less about a hot cup, he just wanted to gauge my abilities since the last time we'd seen each other. Before he left, a working like that, physically recreating a memory, would've taken me substantially longer to pull off, and a lot more energy. I'd gotten better since then, more efficient, at harnessing and manipulating magic.
    "I'd love to Tommy, but not with him here." Hack looked across the table at Swift as he spoke.
    For his part, Swift sat motionless opposite him, his face neutral and eyes unreadable behind his sunglasses. But you could feel the tension building between them, like the pressure in the air right before a lightning strike.
    "All right, we'll start with that." I pulled a mug down from the cabinet and smacked it onto the countertop. Hack and Swift both turned to look at me as I spoke, "I've known you a while now Swift, and out of professional courtesy I've never dug into your business, but that shit earlier, with the light, and the burning, and the whatever the fuck you are...It scared the willies out of me. The willies. I'd appreciate some clarification."
    The two of them sat looking at me like I'd grown a second head, I began tapping my foot impatiently, waiting for one of them to start talking. Swift looked distinctly uncomfortable, turning to stare down at the table top when Hack looked at me smugly, shiny blue eyes flashing.
    "You ain't got much sense, do you? He's Malakhim," Hack said like that explained everything. Swift shifted in his seat.
    "An angel? Swift's a lot of things but he's no damned angel. Besides, the Jehovah Sentience fragmented into splinters centuries ago. He's not...schizophrenic enough to be an angel," I said.
    Hack was about to speak when Swift looked up and took off his glasses, revealing his eyes had become the empty white voids I had seen earlier. Fantastic, I was officially in a room full of guys with freaky inhuman eyes and questionable intent. Hack snapped his mouth shut and half-rose out of his seat, but Swift raised a hand and turned to look at me. What little light