This story was shortlisted for the Sugarscape Fanfiction Award as part of the Wicked Young Writers Award, 2015. The fanfiction entries were only released as a PDF ebook (understandably, for legal reasons), but I’ve posted the story here as I’m still proud of it.
A Wizard’s Gift is a fanfiction prequel to the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher.
I was also interviewed by finalist Chaz Josephs on her blog, Under The Slush, along with several other finalists.
Sometimes I think I’m cursed with bad luck.
I trudged along the darkened sidewalk, my black duster coat flapping forlornly behind me. For nearly two weeks I’d been searching, and still I hadn’t found an office I could afford to rent. There aren’t any wizards in the Chicago phonebook and I was hoping to start my own business, but it seemed that fate was against me. To top it off my car had broken down again so now I was walking home in the middle of a downpour, tired, cold and more than a little pissed.
Jack-o-lanterns leered in every window I passed, their lights long since extinguished. The dark, hollow eyes seemed to follow me down the street, carved jagged grins laughing at me.
I ducked into a narrow alleyway, using the light of my staff to navigate. Halloween isn’t a good time for a wizard to be out walking in the dark. It’s the night when the border between our world and the Nevernever – the spirit world – is at its weakest, meaning that all sorts of supernatural nasties would be out looking for a snack. And it just so happened that I was the only magical being in sight.
It would be so easy for something to sneak up on me too; I couldn’t hear a thing over the pounding of the rain. It would be just my luck to be torn to pieces on my birthday– which also happens to be today. Not that I usually bother celebrating it – I don’t exactly have many friends to celebrate with – and having my face ripped off was a present I could do without.
Hopefully any rampaging monster would be more interested in getting out of the rain than chomping on a two-bit wizard like me. As I squelched through the alley I hummed under my breath. Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy–
From the darkness ahead came an inhuman yowl, high-pitched and angry. I froze, staff clutched in my hand. Another yowl, this one a little louder. It came from a garbage can at the end of the alleyway.
Like I said. Bad luck. It follows me.
I wanted to run. A noise like that on Halloween couldn’t be anything good, but if it was dangerous then I had to sort it. Non-magical folk wouldn’t stand a chance against a demon.
So I crept over to the trash can and lifted up the lid, ready to slam it back down at the first glint of teeth. My staff illuminated rotten potato peelings and old cigarette packets and–
Two yellow eyes.
I sprang back in alarm, dropping the lid with a deafening clang, and prepared to blast the thing into oblivion.
The kitten blinked up at me, ears flattened against the rain. It was fluffy and grey, no larger than a loaf of bread. Very wet and very disgruntled, but definitely a kitten. I relaxed.
‘You nearly gave me a heart attack,’ I told him, peeling a soggy teabag off his back.
The kitten planted his paws on the edge of the trash can and let out the tiniest annoyed squeak I’d ever heard.
‘What were you doing in there, mister?’ I scooped him up and was instantly surprised by his weight. He wriggled slimily in my grip as I tucked my staff under one arm. Had someone left him in there?
Half his tail was missing too, but that didn’t stop him fidgeting. Already my arm had started to ache. ‘Sturdy fella, aren’t you?’ I tickled him behind the ears and glanced behind me. I couldn’t leave the little guy to fend for himself, especially not tonight. Not when he was purring in my arms and meowing…
The kitten’s claws dug into my chest as I tucked him inside my coat and set off for home. Okay, so I’m a sucker for small furry animals. So sue me. It gets lonely in my apartment. And it had to be the best birthday present I’d gotten in a while.
‘Come on then mister,’ I murmured, ‘let’s get you home.’
Mister snuggled closer against me, purring like a miniature lawnmower. I smiled.
What the hell. I guess even wizards are lucky sometimes.