Invasion of the Soul-Eater in Mim: Charlie Kadabra Last of the Magicians, #3

By Nan McAdam

A ghost ship drifts on the multicolored waves of the Glowing Sea. The enthralled children of the fairies, mermaids, and all the magic creatures of Mim are pulled toward it to their certain destruction. The Soul-Eater, an ancient evil, invades the world of magic called Mim bent on devouring all of her magical souls. Every soul taken cripples Mim, and she teeters on the brink of extinction. Charlie Kadabra is the last of a breed of Magicians who are the guardians of Mim. He is the only one to stand against this maleficent being. The clock counts down as Charlie’s father, Justin’s, life force ebbs away with every soul taken from Mim. Can the ultimate dragon’s gift save his father? Climb aboard Charlie’s dragon, Galzra, and ride into another thrilling adventure with Charlie and Fen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nan McAdam
• Release date: Jan 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9780998067100

Nan McAdam

Nan McAdam has had a prestigious career in the agricultural and financial sales arena.  She trained, coached, and mentored individual salespeople, as well as sales teams, for over 20 years. As an author of a blog, Nan has been a fan of self-improvement for many years and has passed her knowledge of leadership, parenting, and how to live a more enriched life to the readers of her blog:  http://www.selfimprovementinformation.com.com. She’s published seventy-eight times in different publications. Nan has spent over 15 years caring for elderly loved ones.  In 2013, Surviving the STRESS of Your Parents’ Old Age was published.  It is a non-fiction book born from Nan’s experience as a caregiver. Nan’s first young adult book was published in 2015.  It is a fantasy adventure for fifth-grade readers and up.  Charlie Kadabra, Last of the Magicians, began a series with the first book, Saving Mim., The Secret Key of Mim, book two of the Charlie Kadabra series, was released in January 2016. Book three of the series, Invasion of the Soul-Eater in Mim, was published in January of 2017. Nan is entering a new stage of her career with the 2018 release of her first horror/fantasy novel, Alcohol, Bibles, and Demons. This book is geared for the mature market. When Nan isn't caregiving or writing, she is spending time with her family.  She is married, has three adult children, and two grandchildren.  She makes her home in the Midwest where she lives with her husband and 2 furry four legged family members.

Book preview

1.

Ghost Ship

I was wrong. I thought it would be the best day of my life. The sun shone and the temperature couldn’t be more perfect. A bunch of us were celebrating our long break from school. We’d been planning this day for weeks. We descended upon the shores of the Glowing Sea for a picnic, swimming, and relaxation. We wanted to flee our mundane school existence for some fun in the sun.

I laid on the warm sand half asleep on a blanket with my girlfriend, Emily, by my side. The sunshine blazed so bright I had to close my eyes and the sand felt hot through our blanket. My staff that helped me focus the magic inside of me lay next to me, snugged up against me, never too far away. I could hear the gulls hovering overhead, shrieking their high-pitched call, looking for bits of discarded sandwiches. The light breeze wafted the salty smell of the sea vegetation with a slight odor of fish over me and ruffled my dark black curls sending them dancing around on my forehead. The sun beat through my eyelids casting a pink hue on the inside of my closed eyes. Life couldn’t be more perfect. I loved living in Mim. I’d drifted into a light slumber when a shadow blocked the sun and the temperature dropped a few degrees in the shade.

Charlie, wake up! Fen said as he jabbed me with his foot. You have to take a look at this.

Annoyed, I opened one eye and glared at him without ruining the mood with a two-eyed glare. Leave me be Fen. Can’t it wait?

Charlie Kadabra, get off your backside and come look at this, Fen said with one final prod of his fur-covered foot.

I sat up and held my hand up to shade my eyes when it happened. A pain hit my brain like a sharp ice pick stuck through my skull. Lights danced in front of my eyes. One more pain hit, followed by a wave of nausea, and then total black out.

When I woke up I had no idea how long I had been out. I could hear people talking but I couldn’t quite get enough energy to open my eyes. I heard Emily crying and a cool cloth with the odd smell of sea water and sandwiches greeted my nose.

He’s starting to wake up. Charlie, there’s no time for this, you must wake up! Fen said.

I finally opened my eyes and sat up slowly, the world swimming around me. My stomach did a little flip and I stopped moving trying to stop the unwanted food show.

What happened? I asked as soon as I succeeded in righting myself.

You passed out, Charlie! You scared me. Emily sat next to me her mauve colored wings beating fast. She still held the salt encrusted sandwich wrapper to my head. I thought you were dying.

Charlie, if you’re done with the theatrics, we’re in real trouble, Fen said still standing in front of me. His baggy pants rolled up to his knees and his furry hands on his hips, he blocked some of the sunlight that now felt hot enough to make me sense the food-show bubbling in my gut again, ready to launch. I wanted to show you the weird ship on the horizon, but then you did your swan dive, your girlfriend became unhinged and completely bonkers, and the ship disappeared. Way to go Magician! Fen stomped off to stand by the shore and look out to sea again.

I rose to my feet, swaying a bit. I wiped the sandwich cloth wrapper off my forehead and stood next to him. The rainbow glittery water of the Glowing Sea washed over my feet as I stood in the white powdered sand of the beach. I licked my parched lips and the taste of salty sea brine made my mouth start to water. Nausea started to subside a little.

Hey Fen, I’m okay, in case you were wondering, I said. I looked out to the horizon and I couldn’t see anything but the multicolored sparkling waves as they headed to shore to crest and wash over our feet. The tide receded leaving a line of sea foam lingering in an uneven ridge to mark the passage of high tide. This sea foam washed up on the beach looked different from the sea foam in the world where I grew up until the age of twelve when I came to Mim. There, the sea foam always appeared dirty yellow-white as it lay on the beach after a wave. In Mim, the multicolored foam sparkled like tiny diamond bubbles.

Where’s the ship? I asked not getting any response from Fen other than his faraway look and rapid nose twitching. One of his long Haroon ears sat cocked to the side. I knew Fen’s deep in thought look.

I looked back out to sea and felt a tickling sensation at the back of my neck. It made me shiver. I wiped at my neck hoping to knock off any bugs or other creepy crawlies. That’s when I felt something stick me in the back of my neck.

Ow! I said as I slapped the back of my neck with my palm. Is this give Charlie pain day? I heard a tiny whirring noise like a mammoth moth flying around the porch light at night and I looked up to see a tiny Sylph hanging from the curl in the front of my forehead. My eyes crossed as I tried to make out who hung there.

Charlie, you tried to smash me! said a tiny angry sing-song voice. She backed up about a foot from my face and my eyes uncrossed. I came to warn you and you repay me by trying to squash me like a bug!

Sylphs remain one of my favorite creatures of Mim, but they can be so melodramatic. The sylphs are magical creatures from my Grandfather Ariel’s Kingdom of Air. They’re tiny like the size of the hummingbirds of Gaia and their wings beat as fast. The female Sylphs are magnificent, beautiful tiny creatures. I can see why some guys get mushy about them, but that’s a ridiculous obsession, they’re so little. My friend, Hava, flew in front of me with an ity bity sword in her hands. Her full lips snarled at me. Her snarl reminded me of a nineteen eighties pop star I watched in old music videos on Throwback Thursdays on television when I lived in Gaia. That’s different. I didn’t even know Sylphs had swords or snarled. They’re a good-natured peaceful tribe of fairies who loved bouncing around from flower to flower singing as they collected their nectar. They can be a bit snarky at times, but I’ve never know them to be warriors. Hava acted surly and downright grumpy.

I’m sorry Hava. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I said. I put my hand out and she landed on my palm. What’s the matter? You look angry, and I’ve never seen a Sylph carry a sword.

What she’s trying to tell you, oh dense one, is something evil has come to Mim. That’s why you passed out. Something is stealing the magic of Mim. Since you are Mim’s Knight and the Last of the Magicians you’re hit the hardest, Fen said, the annoyance now gone from his voice.

Yes, what he said, Hava said in her tiny voice as her wings moved in fast start-stop, staccato bursts with her agitation.

What about Dad? I said.

About three feet away, a curtain opened up and Dad stepped through. Charlie, are you alright? Dad said as he rushed over to me and pulled me into an embrace.

I’m okay, Dad, I said as I stepped back to look into his eyes. Dad, are you alright? You look sick. What can I do to help?

His eyes were a different blue today, they no longer glowed. They resembled an ancient old man’s eyes. They were still as blue but subdued as if a milky layer of clouds covered his irises. He looked haggard like he hadn’t gotten enough sleep. His eyes were red-rimmed and dark circles were pronounced under his eyes. His skin appeared whiter against the dark forest green of his tunic, which is hard to do since we both have pale alabaster skin. I could see the dark blue veins through his translucent skin on his forehead. My heart sped up and pounded a rhythm of concern as I looked at Dad. He looked different than even when I had first seen him after so many years of separation at the Citadel. The day we added the Diamond to my staff and disposed of Dr. Pi. Today, he wasn’t skinny and skeletal like when his life force kept Mim alive and the Citadel cloaked from Dr. Pi. He looked like someone who suffered from a devastating life-threatening illness. Dread filled my stomach with a lead weight. I can’t lose my Dad!

He caught me in another embrace squeezing me against him. It surprised me that I stood tall enough to rest my chin on the top of his shoulder when he embraced me. Have I grown or is Dad shrinking? I could smell warm campfires and homemade bread with a hint of an herb similar to sage in his hair. It made me homesick for Mom’s homemade food, her beautiful smile and her strong hugs.

I’m the luckiest guy because I have two sets of parents who love me. My birth parents, Justin and Aine Kadabra, hid me in another world as a baby to keep me safe, and I knew it broke their hearts to do it. They hid me in a world called Gaia that possessed only a small amount of magic. They did it to save me from Dr. Pi who hunted me. I grew up living with Sid and Arlene who were my foster parents until the age of twelve. They raised me like their own son. When Fen and Emily came to Gaia and brought me back to Mim, I found out that Sid and Arlene were fairies from the same clan as Emily. I enjoy visiting them after school every day. They live so close to the school that I can walk over and have lunch with them. Sid travels to Gaia frequently for business trips, but Arlene is always waiting for me with warm chocolate cake and a glass of ice-cold milk. I never get tired of chocolate cake and the milk tastes different here, better because of the magic Mim sprinkles in every glass.

Dad brought me back from my pondering with a little shake. Charlie, we have to go back to the cottage and check on Mom and your little sister.

That snapped me right out of my mental ramblings. Mom and my baby sister Cassia are at the cottage. Could they be in trouble?

Fen stepped forward tugging on my arm. Charlie, we better get a move on. I have a bad feeling about this. With that said, he called up a curtain and it shimmered into place.

I stooped to pick up my staff and slung it over my shoulder by its leather strap. Standing up ready to go, I turned my head and said to Emily, Will you be okay to clean up the picnic?

Oh no, you aren’t leaving me again. I’m coming with you. The others can clean up. She grabbed my arm and we followed Fen and Dad through the curtain. Hava buzzed past my ear to beat me through the curtain with her sword raised and her snarl in place.

2.

Wail of the Banshee

Emily and I stepped through the curtain and it popped shut behind us with a little snapping noise. We were in Mom and Dad’s clearing in the forest. Their little cottage stood not too far away. It had been rebuilt after the fire Angus, with the help of Atticus’ dark elves that destroyed it. A humble but cozy cottage with whitewashed mud walls and a grass thatched roof. Too humble for a powerful Magician to live in, according to my Grandfather, Ariel, the Elemental and King of Air. He wanted to build them a palace befitting a Princess like my Mother in his Kingdom in the clouds. Justin and Aine Kadabra only wanted their own little home in the forest.

I thought about moving in with them so I could be near my little sister, but I had work to do learning my magic and the best place for my education of magic could only happen at the Citadel. Fen and I lived there and I studied my magic as much as I could. Being the last of the breed of Magicians who are the guardians of the world of Magic is a huge responsibility. It’s too much for a fifteen-year-old, going on sixteen-year-old guy like me, but everyone tells me I’m a powerful Magician. No one has ever been this powerful, yada, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah. I don’t feel powerful, more like a scared kid. Always afraid I can’t do what I should do to protect my Mim and her magical beings. I’m scared that I’ll blow it and Mim will suffer. I know I need to do it. I love my Mim. She is my world now. I would die to protect her. I sighed and my shoulders slumped. Fen shot me the stink eye. He always knows when I become Self-doubting Charlie.

The cottage door banged open and Kanina raced out the door, over the porch, and down the steps. She launched herself at me and landed in my arms. The peace of Kanina’s magic wrapped around me like a warm blanket in front of a cozy fire. The tension in my forehead and brows relaxed. My worries melted away and a goofy grin replaced them. Kanina is Fen’s