The Child Thief

they were doing as though nothing had happened. The band started back up.

“How come they can move like that?” Nick asked. “Doesn’t seem possible.”

“It’s the magic,” she answered.

“Magic?” Nick said. “Give me a break.”

“No, it’s in everything,” Danny said. “You’re eating it right now.”

“What?” Nick stopped eating. “They’re putting stuff in our food?”

“Nope,” Danny said, and pushed at his glasses. “They don’t have to. It’s not a potion or fairy dust. Sekeu told me the magic’s in everything here: the air, the water. When you eat it, though, you’re ingesting it directly. This gunk,” Danny wiped a clump off Nick’s bowl, “is mostly made up of acorns. But like everything around here, there’s magic in them.”

“You’ve noticed their eyes, right?” Cricket asked. “The gold. The magic does that.”

Nick noticed that Cricket’s eyes had the slightest glint.

“My understanding is when you’ve been here long enough, that stuff doesn’t just change the way you look, it gives you superpowers,” she said.

“No, not superpowers,” Danny corrected. “Think more like magical steroids. It’s part of why they can move so fast.”

“What’re the side effects?”

“Side effects,” Danny scoffed. “What are you talking about? This isn’t science, it’s flipping magic. Look at Abraham.” Danny pointed to a black boy over by the fireplace. Nick recognized him as the one-handed boy that had given him the spear this morning. “Abraham’s over a hundred years old. See anything wrong with him? And Sekeu, no one knows how old she is. Some of these other kids have been around since like the sixties and seventies.”

“Yeah.” Cricket laughed. “Go ask Redbone what an iPod is.”

Nick wasn’t sure how he felt about sucking down magical porridge. Were they being poisoned? He could feel the warmth in his stomach, feel it spreading. It was kind of a weird feeling when he thought about it, yet good too, soothing. But he wondered what it was really doing to him.

He eyed a spoonful suspiciously, then studied the Devils. Doesn’t seem to be hurting any of them. He watched a boy leap over his friend, spin around, and do a hook shot all in one bound. No, not a bit. Would this stuff really help him move like that? Did he want to be able to move like that? Nick stuck the spoonful into his mouth.

“I don’t know about you,” Danny said. “But I’d trade this magic mush for a Big Mac any day.”

All three of them laughed and nodded.

Leroy came up and they fell quiet. Leroy eyed them. “You know you guys have to clean up.”

No one answered.

“Did you hear me?”

“We know, Leroy,” Cricket said. “C’mon, lighten up a little.”

Danny nodded. “Yeah, it’s okay. It’s under control.”

“Oh, so that’s the game. You guys are ganging up against me too?”

“No,” Cricket said, letting out an exasperated sigh. “No one’s ganging up on you, Leroy. We’re supposed to be on the same team. Remember? Look, for once why don’t you just sit down with us and talk. Be nice for a change.”

Leroy looked unsure. Finally he sat down next to Nick.

“Y’know, it’s not like I wanna be the one looking after you guys,” Leroy said and stared out at the Devils. “They’re making me. Those assholes are always giving me shit.”

“They give us all shit,” Cricket said. “That’s just part of their scene. I think they feel they’re supposed to. Y’know, to toughen us up or something.”

“Yeah, no sweat,” Danny said. “Besides, you’ll be one of ’em soon. Then they’ll lay off.”

Leroy’s face darkened.

“How exactly do you get to be a Devil anyway?” Danny asked.

“You have to call a challenge and draw first blood,” Leroy muttered. “Or by saving a life, or any act of extraordinary courage. Some bullshit like that.”

“Well, how are you ever going to make it then?” Danny said with a snort.

“You don’t think I’m good enough?” Leroy asked coldly.

The smile fell from Danny’s face. “I didn’t say—”

“Fuck you, Danny.”

“He was just trying to make a joke, Leroy,” Cricket said. “Geez, relax for Pete’s sakes.”

Leroy glared into his bowl. His hand clutched the spoon so tightly his knuckles were white.

“So,” Cricket said, “Nick, you were saying?”

“Huh?”

“You were telling us where you were from.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“Where you from?”

The pixie boy was back. He landed near Nick, cocking his head left then right, looking up at him with those strange, unblinking eyes.

Nick pinched a crumb of gruel. The pixie eyed it expectantly and took another step forward; when it did, Leroy struck out with his spoon. The utensil caught the small creature with a solid crack, knocking it into the wall behind the table.

“What the hell!” Danny said.

“What is wrong with you?” Cricket cried.

Leroy’s eyes narrowed. “Oh yeah. Is that it? That the way you guys wanna play it?”

The pixie’s wings sputtered as it tried to get to its feet.

Leroy jumped up and slammed his foot down on the pixie. A horrible crunching sound came from beneath his boot.

A cry stuck in Nick’s throat. He stared at the broken shape on the ground, then realized with horror that the pixie wasn’t dead. It was trying to crawl out of a patch of blood and gore, its broken wings quivering. To Nick it looked more human than ever as it gasped and writhed in pain.

Leroy stomped down again, and again.

“GOD!” Cricket cried. “What’s wrong with you?”

Leroy’s face knotted up as he scraped the bottom of his boot along the wall stone, leaving behind a smear of flesh and hair. “Little nasty blue fuckers! Always fucking with me! Everyone’s always fucking with me!” He stomped away.

“HE’S CRAZY. I mean like totally batshit crazy,” Cricket said. “See the way his eyes got? Like his mind left the room.”

They were over by the roots now, as far from Leroy and the dead pixie as they could get. Nick sat on the floor, chin on his knees, hugging his legs while Cricket and Danny leaned against the roots.

“Shit,” Cricket said. “It was Leroy who told us we weren’t supposed to hurt the pixies in the first place. Said it was one of the laws. They’re supposed to be part of the magic of this place or something like that.”

“He didn’t hurt it,” Danny said. “He killed it.”

“Hey thanks, Dan-ny. I was there, remember?”

“Probably bipolar or something,” Danny said. “Just needs his meds.”

“Yeah, well all these kids are messed up one way or another. Hell, I mean we’ve all been through some shit, right? Leroy’s different. It’s something deeper.”

They were quiet for a spell.

“Y’know,” Cricket said, “Abraham told me Leroy’s been here awhile. Not just a couple of weeks but a long time. Said Leroy’s afraid to make a challenge, that’s why he’s still just New Blood. Y’know what I think? I think that’s the problem. I think that’s what’s eating at him.”

“You’re like a regular Dr. Phil, aren’t you?” Danny said.

Cricket cut him a sour look.