A Spell of Seven

Chapter 1

"Jax, stop." Falan glared at the curling tendrils of shadow surrounding the coffee cup. "Jax! You're going to get us caught!"

The shadows retreated into Falan's brother's hand. "Come on, Falan," Jax complained. "You'd do it too, if you could. Maybe if you ordered chocolate milk. We have magic at our disposal; we should use it." A car rolled by on the street to his left, and Jax hopped out of the way of the small spray it kicked up, glaring at the water as if to tell it who could freeze it in an instant if he chose.

"If you remember, that magic is what got us into this mess." After everything that had happened over the past month, Falan was certain that cooling coffee was not something that his brother should be doing in public. They had nearly been caught twice, and the streets offered a thankless existence, even for one boy who could heat the cold night air and one who was immune to it.

"It's not as if those dudes have eyes everywhere, Falan," said Jax confidently. He clapped his twin on the shoulder, and Falan flinched involuntarily. Jax's hand was ice-cold.

"They might. They found our home before we even got back." It was Jax's turn to flinch, at the painful reminder of the cost of his abilities.

Only a month earlier, the boys had gone camping in the northern woods. While hiking on their last day, they had come across an incredible sight: two magical creatures, fighting. One had been a black tiger, streaming shadows and black blood. The other was a bird on fire, a phoenix. As the boys had watched, the tiger's shadows strangled the bird's flames, but the phoenix's dying breath blasted the cat to bits of shade.

The following explosion had knocked the brothers off their feet. When Falan had come to consciousness, no sign of the magical creatures had remained, and he was sure that he'd stumbled, hit his head, and it had all been a dream. After all, magic didn't exist, right? But when Jax arose, his yellow hair was streaked with black, his formerly brown eyes were equally dark, and his body radiated cold instead of mild heat. He had announced that Falan's eyes had turned green, and at the shock, Falan's hands had blazed up with flames. They didn't hurt him, but he had nearly set the forest on fire before plunging his hands into a nearby stream and willing the flames to die.

They'd gone home, frightened and confused, vowing never to speak of their experience and brainstorming ways to avoid being discovered. They arrived at a scene of chaos. Their house had been blasted and burned. Their parents were not home, but a man had stood in the rubble. He'd introduced himself as Akhenaten of the Brotherhood of the Kings.

"And you're the magelings," he'd continued. "It appears you're almost completely successfully bonded, both of you. Twins, too, so of course Alexander is all the more interested."

"Who?" Jax had snapped, shadows curling dangerously from both hands. The darkness was intangible but could burn with freezing cold.

"Why haven't we heard of you before?" Falan asked at the same time.

Akhenaten laughed. "You're magelings! You have entered the world of magic. And Alexander, young Jax, is the lord of the Brotherhood, and the one who ordered this... mess." Akhenaten indicated the destroyed house. "He wants to see you. Do not worry, he will help you to control your magic. In return, you–"

Something flashed, and Akhenaten fell dead, a knife in his chest. Falan and Jax had searched for the killer, but had only seen a slight glimpse of a shadow fleeing through the trees.

Since then, the brothers had been on the run. Once, agents of the Brotherhood very nearly caught them. An out-of-control blast of fire from Falan had driven them off. Another time, they'd been approached by the police, looking for them. Falan and Jax had long since decided that it would put their parents in danger to return to them, so they used Jax's shadows to slip away. They'd ditched their phones as well.