Page 44 of Enslaved By Magic

Chapter 17

(Amari)

When he made the last wish, she had a moment of complete disbelief. Not only had he finally done it—freed her from the endless curse that had held her hostage for so long—but he’d used his final wish for her. It was more than she ever could have hoped for, and she was absolutely convinced she was dreaming at first. It even felt like one of those hopeful dreams that had kept her going through the long years.

Words of gratitude bubbled up inside of her, but somehow, she couldn’t speak them. She closed her mouth without making a sound and took a deep breath. Distantly, she felt the magic pressing close around her and she reached out, drawing it through her hands like thread to be woven, and when the energy had reached its peak, she brought her hands together in a sharp clap. “Your wish is granted.” The words were almost drowned out by the cacophony of sounds that rolled through the room.

Like a tsunami, the power surged through her body. There was pleasure and pain, but it only lasted a second before she felt something snap into place, and then… she was gone. Not just gone from the room, but entirely absent from the world. She seemed to be frozen in a form of limbo without body or form and a terrified scream tried to wrench itself from her throat, but it stuck there without an outlet. Panic crawled through her mind and she tried desperately to calm down, thinking ‘what if it was all a lie?’. What if the one who’d cursed her so many years ago had never meant for her to be free, and she’d be stuck in nothingness for eternity.

She slowly calmed, stilling her racing thoughts. After all, being stuck in her own head wasn’t much different from being trapped in her bottle so often, at least that’s what she tried to tell herself. There was some consolation that she’d had a body she could see and feel in the bottle, and she no longer had that. The bottle created a world around her when she wished it and it hadn’t felt like the prison it was most of the time, but that gave her an idea.

Pretending that she was inside the bottle, she began to build a world to fill all the empty white space, starting with her own body and to her surprise it helped. It didn’t feel as real and imagination was a lot less powerful than a magical artifact, but it gave her something to focus on. It was impossible to keep track of time there. She kept trying to count but the numbers came out wrong and out of order, and finally she gave up and let herself drift until things changed again.

It began with a dizzying feeling in her middle just where her belly button would be. There was a sensation of being hooked and grabbed there and suddenly she was hurtling through space. She landed hard on the grass of a slight incline, and before she could stop herself, she was rolling down to splat face down on a sidewalk. She lay there dazed and confused, but she was no longer alone in some weird limbo, and she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you okay? Did you fall?” a voice was saying.

She turned on her side to see a concerned-looking young girl with long hair tied into braids crouched next to her, and she fumbled for an explanation that wouldn’t make it obvious how confused she was. “I—I think so. I guess I tripped,” she said slowly.

“Did you get hurt? Let me see!” The girl sounded almost hopeful, and Amari winced at the enthusiasm as she moved carefully to sit up.

“I’m fine, really.” She tried to wave her new friend off.

The girl frowned, shaking her head so vigorously that her braids flew out to the sides. “I’ve had first aid in Scouts. You should let me fix you up.”

She sounded so earnest that Amari couldn’t help smiling. There was something about her that brought up memories of her younger sister. She too was always trying to be helpful even when she had been too small to be very useful. “I don’t think anything is bleeding,” she said as she brushed the dirt off her clothes. “Guess I got lucky.”

It wasn’t easy to convince the child that she didn’t need assistance, and just when she thought she’d finally talked her into going home, the girl went hurrying over to pick up a plain canvas backpack. “Is this yours?” she called, as she hefted it and came back carrying it.

“Oh, no, I don’t—” She stopped. The backpack had been laying right where she’d landed, and the wish had specified she’d have all she needed. “Sorry, yes, that’s mine. Thank you,” she said as she reached out to take it. Looking pleased to have been able to help, the girl skipped off on her way and Amari limped over to a bench and took a seat so she could look inside the bag. When she was done, she sat back with a sigh of relief.

The wish had been thorough, planning for things she wouldn’t even have considered. Inside were all the documents needed to make her an official person in the modern world. ID, birth certificate, social security card—all made out in the name of Amari Osman. That gave her a pause. It was Luke’s last name, but of course she didn’t have one, so the bottle had probably just filled it in with his because he’d made the wish.

She didn’t know how she felt about that, but it was done now, and it worked as well as any name. There were no credit cards in the bag, which was just as well since she’d never used one and wasn’t entirely sure how they worked, but there was plenty of cash to get her started. She was used to granting grand wishes and this seemed so small in scale, but with freedom and money, it was enough.

She did wonder at the bottle, carefully wrapped and tucked into a few changes of clothing for protection. After the first startled feeling of panic when she found it, she soon realized something had changed. There was no longer any connection to the glass and metal. It was just a thing. Empty.

Her fingers stroked over it in a loving caress, but there was no answering tingle and that was when it hit home. She was finally free. Without her bond, the bottle seemed—well, not dead. It had never been alive so it couldn’t be dead, but whatever spark of magic that had kept it going had winked out when their connection had been broken.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about it being here, now. There was an odd sort of comfort in carrying it over into her new life. Maybe because she’d been tied to it for so long that she couldn’t imagine not having it by her side, but it was still a reminder of things she’d rather forget. She hesitated, almost tempted to throw it in the trash, but it was still a valuable antique no matter what else it was, and she might someday need the money.

She wrapped it back up in a shirt and pushed it down to the bottom where she wouldn’t have to see it, and then hoisted the bag on her shoulder and stood up. Which way to go now? The options were endless, and she could begin by simply walking in whatever direction suited her. At the moment, that was toward the sound of children laughing at play in the distance.

After being under the control of others for so long, Amari wanted to get out and see the world, or at least the continent, and she began to travel aimlessly. She was mindful of the money, which would eventually run out, and since she wasn’t in a hurry, she took a lot of bus and train rides. She liked to watch the scenery fly by anyway and the seats were comfortable enough on the long trips.

Sometimes she’d stop for a while, pick up a job, stay in a motel and experience what a regular life was like. Housekeeping and waitressing jobs were easy to find, and she didn’t mind the hard work. It might not have paid much, but for someone who was used to working for free, it was exciting to get that paycheck.

She thought about Luke a lot. She missed him so much there was a nearly continuous ache in her chest, but every time she thought about going back, something inside of her balked. She wasn’t ready, not yet. She had too much baggage to work out and gradually she realized her traveling was just a way of trying to outrun those memories.

She forgave him for putting off making the last wish. How could she not? He’d done what no one else had done for her and used his last wish for her benefit as well, so it wasn’t anger that was holding her back.

He’d been decent to her, kind, and loving too, but the memory of him was tied so tightly to everything that she’d been through. It didn’t matter that he’d never abused her and had gone out of his way to avoid hurting her, because every time she thought about going back to him, that panicky feeling of being trapped returned, so she’d jump on the nearest bus headed in the opposite direction. She knew she couldn’t keep it up forever, but something told her she’d know when it was time to go back.

Like an addict she scrambled to find some way to ease the pain, and she was glad she didn’t know his phone number. It had been programmed into the phone he gave her but that had been left behind when the wish relocated her. It was just as well. If she heard his voice, her resolve would crumble, and she knew she’d end up right back in his arms whether she was ready or not. As she was standing in a cheap souvenir store spinning a rickety carousel of postcards, she had an idea. A postcard would be the perfect outlet and it was a one-way communication, so she didn’t have to worry about him talking her into returning.

She began to mail off a card every time she was tempted to return, and it helped some with the longing. But then she was faced with a problem she could never have expected, and she floundered, lost and confused as she tried to figure out how to deal with it.

She was pregnant.

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