Every bone and muscle in my body ached. Celia's laughter, the laugh of a triumphant villain, grated all the way to my nerves. I better do something before she starts spouting a boring soliloquy. I crawled toward the edge of the table, keeping my head down. I tried working up my magic but came up with nothing. No sparks, no balls of energy. I was a dud while Celia had all the power.

"Dammit," I muttered. "The phone. I never should have listened to Mom." I had bypassed the mirror in favor of the ordinary and this was my result. What to do? Since I couldn't use my magic, I had to think of something else. What would work on a powerful magician? Answer, science.

Nobody could avoid the painful results of certain chemicals mixed together. Certainly not a half human/half Alluvian. I began thinking and rejecting types of chemicals that could work. I had no time to postulate a hypothesis. No time for a test run. It was a now or never, do or die kind of situation.

Most of the test tubes had been smashed but two contained a little bit of the noxious chemicals when mixed together just might eat her face off. Or mine. Nah. I wanted her alive so she would face trial and get permanent jail time. I'd visit her just to taunt her. What I really needed to do was distract her long enough to get her to reduce her magic to manageable levels.

I crawled on my hands and knees toward the cabinet where the most volatile of chemicals were kept. I couldn't see Celia but I heard her tramping around. She was looking for me so I had to move fast. Using the tables as cover, I made it to the cabinet. I accessed it via code and brought down two that I thought would work. I crawled back to my hiding spot only to be lifted up once again by invisible hands.

In vain, I tossed the contents of both chemicals at her on my way to the opposite wall. They had no effect. Stupid idea anyway. Celia just laughed at me. "That's why I'm the better scientist than you," she crowed. "And Magician."

I couldn't argue with the magician part but I knew I was the better scientist. I just needed time to think. I wouldn't get that time. I landed right beside Cynthia who was barely conscious. Anger rose up in me in waves I didn't know I possessed. Rage at Celia for hurting my best friend, built to a crescendo in my chest, accelerating my heart rate. My blood boiled with revenge. 

Celia deserved the mother of all ass kickings. Not just for today but for all the times she received accolades for questionable research that she passed off as her own. For the undeserved promotion she received. The one I should have gotten and was passed over. For all the financial grants that funded her lab instead of mine. She'd started the rivalry all the way back at CalTech. A rivalry that I neither consciously participated in nor had the desire to do so. It was all her.

Desperate to hold onto my sanity, I tried to reason with her. "Let's talk about this Celia."

"Talking's overrated. I'd rather squash you." Magic ricocheted around the room, breaking windows and equipment. "You're in for a world of hurt."

Celia couldn't even come up with her own material. Beside me, Cynthia moaned, blood pouring from her head wound. I clasped her hand and she opened her eyes briefly. "Beat her ass."

"With what? I don't have any magic."

"Yes, you do. It's in there. If Celia has it, so do you."

"How would you know?" 

"I've always known Macy."

"That's not possible. I didn't even know until I went to Alluvia."

"You talked in your sleep. Every time you dreamed about Alluvia, I got all the juicy details."

I chuckled. Juicy. Right. Then my face colored. She couldn't mean-- I avoided her gaze for a moment. "Just how much did you hear?"

"Everything." She moaned and closed her eyes, breathing heavily. Her hand slid over to me one painful centimeter at a time. It shook when she clasped my hand.

"Don't move too much. I need to get you to a hospital."

Her eyes fluttered open for a briefest of seconds. "Macy, I want to tell you something. I feel the same way about you. Now go kick her ass."

"Boring!" Celia called out. "Go be lovey dovey on your own time. I've got an evil plan to complete."

"She did not just say that."

"She's drunk on power. Go get em tiger." Our hands were ripped apart when Cynthia began levitating high off the floor.

"Leave her alone!" I shouted. "It's me you want."

"Oh, but this is so much fun." She tossed Cynthia as if she were a rag doll. Her body crumpled in a broken heap on the floor.

"No! You bitch!" I rushed to Cynthia and knelt down. "Please don't be dead." I put my hands on her lifeless body, sobbing. Tears ran in rivulets, streaking down my cheeks, off my jaw and down my neck. I haven't even said the words. The three words I'd longed to say since the first day I met her. I covered her body with my own. Power laced out of me, my hands grew hot, my body vibrated with magic. I shook with it, fueled by love for Cynthia, coupled with rage toward Celia. She had ruined my professional life, I'll be damned if I allowed her to ruin my love life too. "Don't go. Please."

"This is all very touching but I've got other things to do."

I jumped up and rushed toward her summoning all my emotions and channeling them into one blast that knocked Celia off her pedestal. Oh, it was on. I relished the anger, and allowed it to build this time. There was no going back from it. Every cell down to its smallest subatomic particle vibrated with magic. My very being became a channel for all the anti-magic I had in me. It exited the molecules, my bones, muscles, nerves and blood stream. 

All of it streamed into my hands. I blasted her more than once. She couldn't retaliate. Seeing her laying motionless, I grinned in triumph. I walked over to her and lifted my hands for the death blow.

"Macy!" I stopped short of hammering down on Celia. When I turned around, Cynthia was standing on her feet, looking as healthy as she did a few hours ago. "This isn't you."

"What?" I stammered. "How are you alive?"

Cynthia blinked in surprise. "I think, you healed me."

I took several slow steps toward her then ran. I crushed her in a hug. "You're alive. I thought you were dead."

"I think I was but you did something to me. Brought me back."

"I didn't know I could do that."

"Now you do. Let's go Macy. Don't forget your wallet."

I took it off the table where I'd left it and we ran for the nearest exit. Nothing and nobody was going to stop us from going on this vacation.

Nothing except-- The all too familiar sardonic chuckle caused us to put on the brakes so to speak. "Mordok. He's here."

"Who?"

"I forgot. You don't know. You go to the car and call the police. We need help."

"Are you sure?"

"This isn't over. I would never forgive myself if I let anything happen to you. Again." I suddenly got it. I finally understood what Mom meant. Love made one want to protect their loved ones at all costs. I prodded Cynthia toward the exit. "Please. Go. I can't do this knowing you're not safe."

"You be careful, you hear me? You better make it out of this alive." She planted her lips on mine in a long, drawn out kiss. Music swelled in my head and was abruptly cut off.

"How positively droll." Celia. She'd survived.

I ignored her. Celia had always been in love with the sound of her own voice. "I love you Cynthia."

"I love you too." Cynthia kissed me one last time. "Now beat her ass."

I waited for Cynthia to leave then turned my head, chucky style. I smirked. "Come and get me."

I ran toward the sublevels, down the stairs three at a time. Full of adrenaline, I  jumped from one landing to another. Too bad I couldn't have done this in gym class. Would have shut up Stacie Minor for good back in middle school.

The sublevels were built to withstand an atomic blast. Our slinging magic at each other while running had little effect on them. I bypassed the hazmat room intent on getting to the portal. Since I had a few seconds head start, I shouted to everyone in the room, "Get out! There's a breach! Go! Go!" For emphasis, I hit the alarm. People scrambled out of the room.

Celia had built the portal long before I went to Alluvia. Which meant she'd taken my research well in advance of my impromptu trip. What she lacked was the ability to transport from either side. When I went through her portal my magic had triggered the necessary materials to affect the transfer. No matter which way I looked at it, I had a part I played in her scheme.

An unwitting pawn yes, but I had been suckered in nevertheless. Feeling used and abused, I channeled the feelings into my magic. I'd deal with she said stuff later. I activated the mechanics of the Portal just as Celia came roaring in.

Her facial features had reached grotesque proportions. She wasn't bad looking on her best day but bitterness and hatred had taken their toll on her, revealing her true colors. She lunged for me and I dodged at the last second. The momentum she put into her body propelled her forward into the portal.

I slammed my hand onto the machine channeling all the rest of my magic into. The vortex turned black. Her howls were otherworldly. The vortex in the midst of the portal swirled angrily, emitting red, black and gray sparks. I increased the magic thinking of Alluvia. I wanted her back there but she wouldn't go. She fought the transition pushing to stay on this side.

Then the portal fell apart. The electrical components surged with power at too high a rate and speed. The portal overloaded and was on the verge of a meltdown when the vortex swirled counterclockwise and spat out Celia.

She had grown to gargantuan proportions. Even uglier if I could believe that. She rushed toward me and I ducked, covering my head. She roared, pitting all her anger and rage at me. With one swipe of her head sized hand, she made a grab for me, lifting me up by the throat. "This is all your fault."

I closed my eyes, drained of magic, unable to fight such pure evil. "You're right, it is." Something my dad said to me about knowing when to let go, entered my mind. I released my magic. "Go ahead. It's what you want right?"

I could see the wheels turning in her brain. Literally. Her eyes spun crazily counterclockwise, like the portal. Behind us, the doors burst open bringing in Security. They open fire on Celia monster like form. The particle weapons didn't faze her a bit. Instead, she slung me over her shoulder and jumped into the Portal just as the last piece collapsed. 

Inside the portal I squared off against Celia in our respective, nonexistent corners. I faced her, taller, broader and infinitely angrier. She roared at me, mouth open expelling a waft of odor that carried a hint of sulfuric acid. As she rushed toward me, one thought ran on a loop. I am in big trouble. Yep.