Page 42 of Enslaved By Magic

He’d thought long and hard about what that last wish should be and there’d never been a clear choice. The first two had given him so much already and anything else just seemed greedy. The rules didn’t allow for intangible things like health, immortality, or love—besides the only woman whose love he wanted was sitting right in front of him, and it would be a betrayal to use the wish to force her to it.

He didn’t need anything–but she did. It finally occurred to him that after all her time as a supernatural being, she was going to be ill-prepared to face the material world where she’d need money and food. He would help, of course he would, as much as she’d allow. Only, what if she didn’t want his help? If she was dependent on him to survive, she’d continue to be tied to him against her will.

He took a minute to figure out the phrasing and then he straightened, ready. Amari unconsciously mimicked him, sitting back in her chair with an expression of eagerness on her face. Her eyes were filled with hunger and anticipation, and he took it all in, memorizing her features in case it was the last time he saw her.

“For my third and final wish: I want Amari to have everything she needs to start her new life free and without dependence on anyone but herself,” he said. There was silence in the room and he desperately hoped he’d said it right. It was broadly worded, but he wasn’t entirely sure what ‘everything’ would consist of, so he figured he’d let the magic decide. Money and legal documents came to mind, but there were so many other things—he could only hope they’d all be gathered in and provided.

She stared at him like a deer in the headlights, mouth slightly open, not even blinking. He forced himself to look away from her because he couldn’t bear to see her leave; it would be too much. He heard her stand.

“Your wish is granted,” she said. She brought her hands together once, and the clap echoed through the room like thunder, but it didn’t stop there. The crashing built until it was nearly deafening. The aftereffects seemed to increase with each wish, and now, with the final one, the whole special effects budget was being put to use.

His ears popped painfully as the magic exerted its will on the world. He felt, more than heard, a rushing of wind and things in the room began to shake and rattle. A glass fell to the floor and shattered, drawing his attention to it, and then he continued to stare at the jagged shards as they bounced across the floor because it gave him something to focus on as he gritted his teeth against the painfully high-pitched humming that threatened to break his eardrums.

It felt like being on a plane in bad turbulence, and he was forced to grip the counter just to continue standing. He could see Amari sitting calmly in the center of the vortex and it didn’t seem to be affecting her. Her hair hung, neatly braided, and unruffled by the wind while his own was tousled and whipped around his face violently. He closed his eyes to protect them from flying debris.

There was a sound he could only describe as something being sucked up with great force, like a ping pong ball through a shop vac, and then, suddenly, it was over. It all stopped just like that and the room returned to silence. His hands were shaking as he released his death grip on the edge of the marble counter. He looked around expecting to see cracks in the walls—or some visible sign of damage to the house from all the shaking, but there was nothing.

“Holy hell—that was some serious…” His words trailed off as he turned to Amari and found her gone. The chair where she’d been sitting was empty and he froze. Heart thudding hard in his chest he began to search the house, looking for her in every room. He even checked the closets as though she might be playing an elaborate game of hide n’ seek with him—but she wasn’t there. She wasn’t anywhere and when he finally thought to look for her bottle, it was gone too.

There was a slight ring of dust outlining where it usually stood on the special shelf he’d made for it, but it was no longer there. He went over, drawing his fingers across the surface for some reason. He didn’t know why, or what he hoped to learn by touching the place where the bottle had always resided, but all he got from it was dusty fingers. He stared at them uncomprehendingly and his breath hitched in his throat.

“She’s gone,” he whispered. He’d made his wish, using it for her, and now she was—somewhere. Somewhere else with everything she needed to start her new life and he was alone. It had been the right thing to do, and he knew that, but his chest hurt, and every muscle of his body was painfully tense as he realized he might never see her again.

His eyes prickled with tears, but they stubbornly refused to fall. Crying would have been healthier than shutting down, but it was too much. Too much loss for him to deal with, and the worst part was that he’d known it was coming. In the back of his head, it had always been a very real possibility that when he made the last wish and freed her, she’d go—but he’d thought there would at least be a chance to say goodbye. That there would be… something.

The days moved slowly without her there. The new house stopped feeling like a home without her welcoming smile and the meals she loved to cook. He hadn’t realized how much she’d brightened his life until she vanished.

He was doubly glad now that he hadn’t used his lottery winnings to splurge on some mega-mansion. At the time it had made sense to go slow while he got used to having so much wealth, after all he didn’t want to end up broke in ten years like so many did. But having that much space all to himself now would have made him even more miserable. The new house wasn’t exactly tiny and the way the silence seemed to surround him was bad enough.

He withdrew from his friends and family preferring to sit alone and think about the good times he’d had with her. His aunt and uncle knew Amari had left and assumed he needed time to get over that, so they didn’t pester him to visit much, though his aunt had left several concerned messages hoping he was eating okay.

Truth was he hadn’t had much appetite, and the way his clothes fit suggested he’d lost some weight. He couldn’t bring himself to care much about that. He cared more about the fact that he couldn’t get a decent night’s sleep anymore. His dreams were haunted by her eyes. He was always running after her while she stayed just out of reach. He’d almost catch up to her but then she’d go through a door or around a corner, and when he got there, she was gone.

He didn’t need a shrink to explain what that meant to him; it was obvious, but it wasn’t going to stop until he got over her. The problem was how to get over a girl who was literally magic. She had opened his eyes to things he’d thought impossible, given him opportunities he’d never have managed on his own and then taken his heart with her when she’d left.

Worst of all was the guilt of knowing that he’d hurt her, and he had to live with that. As a Dominant, even as a lover, he shouldn’t have broken her trust like that. He hoped his final wish would at least make sure she was okay starting out on her own. He owed her that much—but finally putting her ahead of his own needs didn’t absolve him of what he’d done.

It did get better, eventually, as it had to. He couldn’t mope indefinitely if for no other reason than he was tired of everyone worrying about him all the time. He started going out again and seeing people. Since he no longer had to work, he re-enrolled in college.

He enjoyed the academic setting and there was so much more to learn. It was nice to know he’d never have to worry about student loans again, as he packed his course load with every class he could possibly squeeze in. It kept him busy and gave him no time to be depressed over his loss.

He even made friends at school, slowly. He kept the lottery win to himself; it seemed like the best idea, and no one recognized his name or face from the numerous articles that had been written about the large single-winner payout. He was surprised; for a few months it had seemed like he was seeing his face splashed everywhere, but the news moved on quickly. Or maybe it was just that no one expected a multimillionaire to be hanging out taking classes in a small university. Either way, it worked out that he had a few people to spend his little free time with, which meant less time alone in the achingly empty house.

The pain began to ease, not enough that he considered dating again, but enough that he could go an hour without being reminded of her. He put the extra energy back into his studies, and it paid off with high scores

Then one day he came home to find a splash of hope mixed into the daily mail. A flat piece of carboard amongst the bills, jumped out at him. The lurid colors on one side had all the hallmarks of a cheap, tourist postcard, and the iconic ‘Wish you were here!’ that sprawled diagonally across the picture was what caught his attention. He’d thought it was an ad at first, but when he read those words, he knew.

His fists clenched at his sides and he closed his eyes, fighting to keep his breathing steady as the mail slipped to the ground unnoticed. His heart was already beating faster and there was a sickening lurch in his stomach. He had an urge to throw it away without even looking at the back. Either it was completely unrelated to her, in which case he’d be devasted. Or it was from her and he—he didn’t know how he’d feel in that case. He wanted to know she was safe and okay, but he dreaded what she might have written, because it was going to bring back all the pain.

Forcing himself to pick up the mail with shaking hands, he brought it inside without looking and sat down at the kitchen table. He hesitated and then pushed the card off to the side where he could see it as he went through the usual collection of junk, charity requests, and bills. Only when he’d sorted all of it into two neat piles did he pick up the card.

The picture was generic and didn’t indicate any particular city or state, just a pretty scenic location with some trees and a lake. He turned it over, holding his breath as he read it. He couldn’t remember ever seeing anything she’d written before, but there was something elegant and old-fashioned about the penmanship that would have made it obvious it was from her, if he’d had any doubts.

“I love you. I miss you, Amari,” it read. Other than that, there was nothing but his name and address, a plain stamp with a flag on it, and a postmark that was too smudged to read.

He wasn’t sure what he’d expected but the simple words touched him. Seven words, that was all it took to make him smile. She hadn’t promised to return, or told him where she was, so he couldn’t say why exactly, but suddenly he was positive she’d be back someday. He didn’t know when, but he could wait. He’d wait forever if he had to.

The smile on his face, the lightness in his step, it was all so obvious that something had changed for him that people kept asking him what was going on. He didn’t have an answer for them. He just felt more hopeful for the future than he had in a long time.

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