He Dreams Magic

by Emme C Taylor

Overview

Ren has always wanted to leave, to escape his quiet village life. He wakes up from gold-tinged dreams with his heart pounding and a yearning for something he can’t name, can’t hold. He longs to experience something magical just once in his life.

Nico’s monsters don’t lurk under the bed. They walk in daylight. They haunt him every day of his life. He’s possibly the strongest magician of his time, yet he’s trapped. All he wants is an out.

At a magical carnival in the middle of a forest, Ren and Nico collide. They’ve been on this collision course their entire lives, always hurtling toward each other. For both men, escape is now. They have no choice but to flee together. Monsters and betrayal hunt them across strange lands. They find themselves on a journey to save each other—and possibly the world. All they have is one another, Nico’s magic, and a lifetime of half-remembered dreams. But finding each other, finally having someone to rely on, might be the strongest magic of all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781951057749
Publisher:	Ninestar Press, LLC
Publication date:	10/28/2019
Pages:	338
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.76(d)

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

REN

The lake was on fire. Ren dipped his oars into the water and swept himself closer to the blaze, each stroke an exultation. He'd been waiting months for this, counting down the hot summer weeks to autumn and rain and flames.

He was ready to throw himself into the burn.

The fire came on time, as it did every year. The first rainstorm of autumn brought them down from the sky. Or so the story was told. Ren couldn't quite bring himself to believe they rode through the skies on storm clouds and dropped to the ground between thunderclaps, stealing their impossible power from the lightning.

Then again, they were magicians. Anything was possible.

Ren's village, Klein, lay huddled in the dark at his back. On the opposite shore, half the forest flickered red. The low clouds caught and held the glowing light from below. The spectacle could be seen from every village in the surrounding valley, a beacon: come, step into the heat, play with us, burn with us.

For the first time in his life, he was going to see it up close. From the quiet safety of Klein, the spectacle always gave the impression of a town set aflame. So near to it, it wasn't like that at all. More like the whole world had ignited. His fingers around the wood paddles twitched with anticipation. This was it. Finally. Finally.

By the time Ren reached the middle of the lake, half of it alight, a bright crimson flared across the surface and leaped like waves in wind. Reflections set the rest of the lake ablaze so that it seemed to Ren he was sitting in the very middle of the conflagration. So far, he had avoided the areas of the lake that had caught flame.

Magic. God, yes. He could practically taste it in the air, and he wanted more of it. He'd dreamed of magic for years, a gold thread of it always in his mind's eye. Since childhood, magic remained a ball of yearning lodged in his chest. Ren had to see it for himself. Touch it. Experience it. He wanted to drink it, have it sear his throat.

For years, he'd heard whispers of this from people in nearby villages, those who had gotten close to it over the years.

Those who'd walked through it — and come out on the other side.

Ren paused in the middle of the lake to take it all in. He would be seeing fire in his dreams that night.

His turn had come to walk into this wild world.

He dug his oars into the lake, his reflection rippling away from the boat with each stroke. Ren pushed himself closer to the ruby burn, a moth drawn to the dangerous lure of light.

REN REACHED THE very edge of the inferno. He sat near it for a while, swaying with the water's rhythm against his boat, watching the play of light over the surface. He knew he had to pass through it, but it rose up like a wall in front of him, more intimidating than he'd imagined. He glanced behind, where his home lay tiny across the lake, asleep in the dark.

No, there would be no going back now. He took a breath and hunched low in the boat as he rowed himself into something he'd been waiting for all his life.

He kept his eyes closed, pure instinct, which was why it took him such a long moment to realize he wasn't burning. No heat against his skin, no pain, so he squinted one eye open and then the other.

The fire swirled all around him, engulfing his boat, yet there was no smoke and only enough heat to warm the chilly night. He breathed in embers that flooded his throat with the flavor of smoke. Tendrils brushed against his skin like a warm blanket, ran hot fingers through his hair. None of it hurt, which seemed to be an encouraging sign.

A laugh of pure relief escaped. Of course he wasn't in agony. He'd never heard of anyone dying in it, and surely that would have gotten around. Still, it was one thing to hear about magic and an entirely different thing to face a fiery wall of it. Wisps of orange-red danced around him. He touched his finger to one, and it wrapped its dry warmth around his wrist, up his arm, and then dissipated in black dust. Ren flexed his hand, staring at his unharmed fingers in wonder. He wished he could capture a bit of that magic, take it home with him. He'd put it in a jar on the nightstand next to his bed and keep it as a night-light that would smolder eternally.

Ahead lay a narrow, unnerving tunnel, just large enough for Ren's boat to glide between the flames. He followed the tunnel to shore, a wild swirl of red-gold tingeing the world the whole way. He was light-drunk, giddy, and luminous from its glow.

REN'S BOAT BUMPED against the shore. The downpour intensified, stinging his face and pitter-pattering in the nearby trees as he dragged the boat ashore and found a spot for it on a bank just above the water. The Summer God always passed quickly in the night, leaving the door open for the God of Autumn to sweep in with her windy tumult. Ren adored this time of year. He loved change, and he welcomed the return of each God.

Behind Ren, the lake lit up the night like a giant torch. Ahead, the sway of light beckoned to him. Fire, fire, fire on every side. It stayed always in his sight, a red jewel just beyond reach.

Ren didn't walk far into the woods. One moment, rain dripped down his face. Then he blinked, and having crossed some invisible boundary, another world enveloped him. The soggy forest had transformed into golden light, crowds, laughter, and spices. It flickered around him, a swirl of excited chaos. He had stepped into a warm, sparkling globe.

He stood in the middle of it for a long moment, jostled by eager magic-seekers, impossible to take it all in at once.

Ren's mind latched on to one thing: he'd found the carnival he'd longed to see since childhood.

Being inside of it was nearly more than he could handle. The night spun in rich colors. Ren thought he might throw up, which wasn't exactly the reaction he'd imagined.

All the colors, the lights, the laughter, the shouts, the warm wonder turning the air into a golden mist that hung in the trees, the vividness of this carnival in the middle of a dark forest — all of it caught Ren up in its arms and made him drunk with new sensations, with new sights. Which could be the only explanation for why he stumbled through this spellbinding world, damp leaves and dirt crunching beneath his boots, light-headed as he turned back and forth. He gorged himself on the atmosphere until his stomach tumbled nauseatingly and gold sparks edged his vision. Was he in some wild dream?

There was too much to see, and it would be gone by morning.

Amidst the beautiful mayhem, he recognized many people from neighboring towns, though they were all mesmerized by the ambience too. He didn't say hello to the familiar faces, and they didn't say hello to him. His people took a strict stance against magic, but their neighbors did not share that rule. He'd missed out on this beautiful, unearthly wonder for so many years.

It didn't matter. Tonight was for exploration, of new things. Finally, Ren could share in the spectacle too. This world was his for the night. He just needed to slow down. Breathe.

Rows and rows of little makeshift buildings and stages lined the path, with treats to eat and buy and delight in. Ren didn't know where to begin.

Flames whirled in the trees, some as small as fireflies, little embers glittering throughout the forest. Others were so large they rippled up and down the tree trunks and skimmed across the limbs, leaping from one tree to the next. Men and women in black danced through the branches alongside the flickers, as nimble and flexible as the light. Empty air seemed the same as solid ground to them.

Magic saturated the air. Ren imagined he was breathing it in, letting it coat his lungs.

He could think of nowhere he'd rather be. Certainly not home in bed, locked behind the safety of his door, windows shuttered, like the rest of Klein.

Ren stopped on the pathway to drink it in. The feverish atmosphere swirled around him. He couldn't pick out individual parts of the carnival, only the colors and laughter, the jostle of people and the newness of it all. If asked later to describe any particular aspect, he thought he probably wouldn't be able to do it. Perhaps that was why he'd only been able to get vague bits and pieces from friends in other villages. No one ever seemed to remember details. This ephemeral world was a fever dream.

Intoxicated, he tipped his head back, motionless in the midst of the sweet sensory overload, studying the undulating mist and the dancing sparks tangled together in a jumbled golden weave in the trees above.

"Move! Move!" someone shouted from behind. Dreamy, Ren turned around in time to see one of the aerial acrobats soaring down from the branches straight into his path, flames streaking out behind him. A smear of red and black coming at him. Ren fumbled, wobbling first left and then right. He couldn't figure out which way to move. It was all too sudden and there was too much of everything. It was too late anyway. There were only seconds to spare. They were already on a collision course — the flying man and Ren and the flames. What an entanglement.

The impact of the man's body slammed him to the ground, knocking the air out of Ren's lungs as he hit the dirt and skidded, leaves and twigs doing nothing to cushion the crash. Ren's head snapped back, and his skull bounced off the ground, setting off sparks of his own, none of them magical this time. Everything flashed white, black, and then the night slowly blurred back into existence.

Ren found himself flat on his back, the other man's weight resting almost comfortably on top of him. His whole world narrowed to red, red, red, a bleary blob blocking out all else. The fiery backdrop didn't help. The man grunted out a surprised breath.

It took another few breathless moments for Ren's head to finally clear. He focused on the other man, had to blink hard twice to make sure he hadn't slipped into a dream. He was kind of unbelievable. For a second, there was nothing but his hair. They were pressed together, and his hair was all in Ren's face — hair like flames, wild and bright, and just as untamable, a deep auburn unlike any color Ren had ever known. The man lifted his head from Ren's shoulder, blinked back at Ren, wide eyes catching and mirroring the light of the autumn night in a way that hid their color.

"Oh," Ren breathed out.

"Oh damn," said the other man in a silken-smooth voice that made Ren freeze.

Ren couldn't breathe the sticky-warm air, couldn't move a muscle. Oh. Gorgeous man, you can land on me anytime.

The man jolted, his whole body jerking away from Ren. He put his hands to the ground and pushed himself up and back, almost frantic in his hurry to part them. Flustered, he stumbled to his feet, just as shaky and unstable as Ren.

Ren cleared his throat, preparing. "Look," he said, climbing to his feet as if uphill through mud, "that was my fault. I was too busy staring around to see you coming at me like that. I didn't mean to get in your way. I apologize for —"

"Forget it," the man said over his shoulder. He was already walking away, his hair a bright jewel fading into the fiery night.

Ren stared after him. It seemed rude to crash into someone and then simply walk away.

"Hold on!" Ren said, jogging to catch up to him.

The other picked up his pace, so Ren did the same to match him, an easy feat with his long legs.

He didn't spare Ren a second glance. "Don't worry about it," he said into the night air.

"Just wait a moment, will you, please?" Ren hooked his hand into the bend of the man's arm. For the reaction that small gesture got, Ren might as well have grabbed a totally different body part. He jerked free of Ren, reeled away, and put distance between them.

It was such a clear gesture to Ren: Don't touch the goods, villager.

As though there were only a certain type of person at a certain level who could touch someone like this red-haired gem, and maybe Ren wasn't at that level. He wasn't used to such a clear brush off. It wasn't a good feeling.

Ren brought out his most charming smile. "I feel it's only right to buy you a drink after taking you down like that." He gestured to a passerby giggling into a huge mug. "They must have drinks here, yes? Let me make it up to you."

A perfect bright eyebrow lifted. "You want to drink Quavar? Aren't you a little young to be up this late drinking?"

That caught Ren by surprise. His height paired with his shoulder width usually outweighed his, admittedly, baby face. Maybe it was his shaggy brown mop. Too boyish. He'd been meaning to cut it but kept forgetting.

"Don't worry about that," Ren said, pushing his hair off his forehead as if it would make all the difference. "I'm plenty old enough." Which somehow came out sounding childishly defiant. Damn it. Where was his game tonight? Had it been knocked out of him when they'd hit the ground so hard?

Both brows lifted that time, two elegant arcs. "I've never seen you here before. I just assumed you'd snuck out of bed and crept over from that village across the lake. Shouldn't you get home before your parents wake up?"

It wasn't even said cruelly, which made it worse. This fiery-haired, pretty little jerk of a magician was starting to tickle a nerve.

Ren paused as he drank in the man's face in one quick, furtive sip. He wore a strange, sheer opalescent makeup that shimmered across his cheekbones and made him look kind of absurdly amazing. Dark outlines around his eyes too. Ren had never seen a man in makeup, but the extravagant atmosphere made it perfectly believable it had borne this glimmering creature. And there was no denying he looked great in it. Otherworldly. Maybe Klein was right. Maybe these magicians did drop from the clouds, having spun from other planets. With this brilliant man before him, Ren could almost believe it.

Ren refocused, crossed his arms, and offered a languid smile. "I can't be as young as you're thinking when we both know I could probably snap you over my knee."

The man stared at Ren. The indefinable eyes widened a bit. Firelight flickered in his irises.

A too-wide grin, tight at the corners, strained across the man's mouth. It came too late. It was awkward and overthought, and it stoppered Ren's words in the back of his throat. He didn't know how to respond to a pasted-on smile like that.

"Fair enough," the man said. The smile sharpened into something that could bite.

Yikes. Walk away, said a voice in Ren's head. Just walk away.

Damn the little voice. He didn't walk away. He couldn't. All the Gods help him, Ren didn't walk away. He wasn't quite done. And it was hard to walk away from someone — someone who looked like that.

Ren had never realized he could be such a shallow thing. May the Gods forgive his superficiality just this one night.

"Do you really believe I'm too young, or are you just trying to get rid of me?" Ren asked.

Ren received a long perusal from beneath a sweeping shock of bright hair. "Would you bug off if I said it was both?" "If that's what you truly want, then, yes. But …one drink? A drink and no regrets."

The smile Ren got in return was a curious thing, a flash of teeth, there and gone. There was nothing genuine about it. "What could I possibly have to regret?"

"Waking up in the morning and wondering about the memories I might have given you tonight."

The man's eyes tipped upward, briefly. "That was nauseating. Is that the best you've got?" He released an immensely unimpressed sigh. It was so histrionic Ren got the impression it was affected, as though they were on a stage acting out their parts. Unfortunately, Ren hadn't gotten the script.

Ren resisted the urge to move closer to him. He stood a slight distance from Ren, a remote dream in the flickering light, wavery and indistinct.

Gently, Ren said, "But you're still standing here."

The smile, dangerous and unreal, was gone now. With a sense of unfamiliarity, the man said, "You're so confident."

Ren let his laugh escape. He gave an exaggerated gesture down his body as if to say, Why wouldn't I be?

Before his hand even fell back to his side, he was immediately annoyed with himself. What was he doing, flashing this shiny, over-the-top swagger?

At the moment, he wasn't confident. He was forcing it, overdoing it, thickening every gesture, every vowel with his desire. He didn't want this lucent man to think this was who he was. It was unnatural, unlike him, and he knew it. It was just that, tonight, it leaked from his pores, as irrepressible as sweat.

He thought the man would walk away from him now. Ren deserved it. He would walk away from himself right now if he could.

His companion scanned around them and said, surprisingly, "Fine. Then get me that drink."

Ren remained composed. He was, despite the skepticism, an adult. Turning back to the tantalizing pandemonium around them, he said, "Which drink would you like?"

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "He Dreams Magic"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Emme C. Taylor.
Excerpted by permission of NineStar Press, LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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