Reach Out and Touch (A Hidden Magic Story)

Title: Reach Out and Touch (A Hidden Magic Story)
Author: Angela Benedetti
Publisher: Torquere
Genre: M/M Paranormal, Magic
Length: Short Story (28 pages / 6500 words)
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

A Guest Review by Cole

Review Summary: We visit Cal and Aubrey again in this magical story about more of Cal’s misdeeds, yet less of the couple’s typical banter and some technical information got in the way of it being one of my favorites.

BLURB

Cal’s been working on an elaborate spell to open a portal between universes and, after weeks of work and calculations to draft out the diagram and get all the symbols right and acquire all the right powders and pigments, he’s eager to actually try it. Master Aubrey wants him to wait, but Cal has a day off today, and he doesn’t see why the fact that it’s Halloween should make any difference. He takes advantage of Aubrey’s absence to go ahead on his own. After all, this is only practice, opening a portal to an empty, pocket universe. Even if something goes wrong, how bad could it be?

REVIEW

Though Cal has been Aubrey’s apprentice for over ten years (and also his lover), he is still a “baby mage” compared to Aubrey, who is 220 something years old and has been a practicing mage for two centuries. Aubrey never lets Cal forget this — and to remind him, he is always setting little traps for Cal or finding some way to show his dominance. Yet, Aubrey really is the best master and no matter how much of a rascal he seems at times, he does know what is best for Cal. But whether Cal has a natural propensity for arrogance, or being Aubrey’s lover makes him feel the need to meet his lover as an equal in their craft, he sometimes does very foolish things against Aubrey’s advice.

Case in point: Cal has been working on a new stage in his learning — opening a portal to a different world. But it is Halloween, and Aubrey assumes Cal will follow his advice when he tells him to wait to finish the ritual until the next day. However, Cal has to work tomorrow and has nothing to do today, his day off. So while Aubrey leaves to run an errand, Cal goes to the attic to finish the lesson he has worked so hard on. What can go wrong? He is opening a portal to an empty world. This is just practice. Nothing can hurt him, and when Aubrey gets home, he will have a completed task to show his master, done completely by himself.

I was a bit disappointed by this story. That sounds harsh, but it really is because I love the other stories and the novel these characters are from so much, so I have very high expectations. Cal and Aubrey have a really amazing, nuanced relationship that always shines through their witty banter. Here, though, most of the story is told by Cal when Aubrey is gone. It is only towards the end of the story, when a contrite Cal is seriously in danger does Aubrey come home to find the disastrous situation Cal has created. Also, this story had a couple of passages that I thought weren’t necessary to the story. They were pretty technical about the magic that Cal was doing that I thought went a little too far in trying to explain what was happening. Ultimately, they took away from the story.

The first story about Aubrey and Cal that I reviewed last week (“Unfinished Business” seen here) was pretty self-explanatory. Though set in the world of A Hidden Magic you needn’t have read the novel to understand what was happening. This story is different. You really need to know who these characters are and what they do to appreciate the story. And I did like the story. I loved the ending in particular, which showed one of the rare moments between Aubrey and Cal that I love, when they’re finally on the same level and Aubrey shows his tender side to Cal. They are two of my favorite characters in this genre and I was very happy to revisit them.

I recommend this story to those of you who are fans on this series, but if you aren’t or haven’t read any of the Hidden Magic series, you might not be able to appreciate this story as much as a fan would. I am very much looking forward to reading about these two in the future sequels to come!

Next Wednesday, January 26, I will review “Candy Courage” (which you can get here). It deals with a set of characters we’ve not seen, yet set within the Hidden Magic world. It sounds like a great story, so fans of this series, check back next week for my review. After that, I only have one story left to review before waiting for the next novel, Sentinels #2.