Standing outside with nothing but nature in front of me and the soft wind singing through the trees didn’t kill my desire to silence it all.
At least those inside whispered speculation about why I was no quiet and not the other thing. Magic was common on my island. No one cared about it. They did have a problem with mine. I learned long ago to pretend I was bad at performing spells.
Some people’s power could create a field of unusual flowers in just an hour.
They could clear up a grey sky. Or grow a forest in a day.
Mine wasn’t as beautiful or too dark but it did remind people of something they’d rather forget.
The chatter flowing from the building stopped. Bird’s songs were silenced. Even the winds soothing lullaby died.
I flexed my hand. Checked my power. Did I use it by accident?
No. This wasn’t me.
An object dropped beside me. A person fell from nowhere. No cry of pain. No blood. He didn’t fall too far. People dropping from the sky wasn’t unusual but it also wasn’t common. Mostly, we got magical explosions from someone’s failed experiment.
Groaning, the man rolled on his back. So this silence didn’t affect him.
I was alone in front of a large house, far enough into the green that no one would pay too much attention to me or him
Not that anyone would. When you were quiet, people tended to forget about you. That was fine by me.
He crawled into the wooden seat close to me, pushing his unusually long silver hair out of his face.
I thought about straightening my hair like that but it would take hours. The coils would be back by the end of the day.
“Where am I?” he asked.
“Earth. Welcome.”
He didn’t roll his eyes but it seemed to take him a lot of effort not to. I struggled to keep my face straight. Lines like that did jump out of me everyone now and then. They were usually greeted by hilariously stunned expressions. His annoyed face was just as entertaining.
“Location?” he asked.
“Ryany”
He did roll his eyes this time.
“I know we’re on Rhi-ya-nee. Which part?”
That explained the accent. He didn’t chew up our island name but he did spit it out slowly. We didn’t get many outsiders. Ryany was a long way from anywhere.
“Wako Forest.”
“I’m way off course,” he mumbled. He frowned at me. “How can you hear me?”
“I don’t know the science behind but there are these organ–“
“Okay.”
Interesting. My words never flowed like this in front of a stranger. But, it was odd. I still couldn’t hear chatter from the house or nature. Did his magic cause the silence? I’ve spent over 30 years never meeting another person with powers like mine. Don’t tell me one such person just dropped in on me?
A magical roar shook through the forest. Chatter started and died. Birds squawked in annoyance. I sighed. Another failed magical experiment. The last one knocked out power for a week. Those with electrical abilities lost control of their magic.
The man disappeared. Pity. It had been entertaining talking with him. I wanted to ask him more about his power. A second roar silenced all life. Hopefully, my car still worked. If not, it was going to take a long time to get home.
