by Logan Jacobs
“So you are a school,” Sorcha clarified.
“Among other things,” Evan agreed as he also looked around the room with a speculative gaze. “I’d like to think we offer more than just boring academics though. And most of my graduates, if you will, would probably agree. Many have helped set up similar places around the world and developed an underground railroad of sorts to help children with magic.”
“And what about kids who want to go to the Magesterium school?” I asked as I remembered how excited Preston and Peter had been when they learned they had enough magical skill to be accepted into the local academy.
“Then we wish them good luck,” Evan said with a shrug. “Really, the most important thing is that they receive training on how to control their magic. Now, I know you two can’t imagine a world without the Magesterium, but trust me when I tell you there are few things as terrifying as a mage who has no idea what they’re doing. The Magesterium will never admit it, but the results can be more devastating than anything we got up to in the pre-magic days. And we got up to some pretty bad stuff. I’m not a fan of the Magesterium, but they do some important work.”
“I’ve never had any training,” I pointed out.
“True,” Evan replied as he studied me. “But this all seems to be part of the protection spells that were placed on you. And now you have your lovely friend to help you so you won’t be wandering blindly around the countryside causing all sorts of devastation.”
I still had a ton of questions, and I could tell my lovely friend did as well, but as soon as I opened my mouth to ask a question, the door to the office was flung open hard enough to crash into the wall. It bounced back toward the door jamb and hit the young man who’d thrown the door open in the face.
“Darryl,” Evan sighed as Sorcha and I rose halfway out of our chairs. “How many times have I told you not to slam the door?”
“Sorry,” Darryl replied as he rubbed his nose. He was about my age, though his hair had already turned gray. He had a round face and close-set eyes that squinted at our little group.
“Have we received a message?” Evan asked when Darryl didn’t offer any explanation for the interruption.
“The Magesterium sent out search parties this morning, and one of them is heading this way,” Darryl replied. “Looks like Talia was right again. Are these the people from her vision? They don’t look like much.”
“Time to get the evacuation underway, then,” Evan said as he stood up yet again. “Everyone should be packed, so we can move the children out quickly. Is Bree here?”
“She’s on her way,” Darryl replied. “Rayne is already getting the kids organized.”
“Good, she and Bree will need to be ready to leave as soon as Bree arrives,” the healer replied. “In the meantime, we’ll need to gather the troops and prepare for battle.”
Darryl nodded and then jogged away, though he left the door wide open. The orange cat stretched and then hopped down from the books and sauntered after him.
“Are they looking for us?” Sorcha asked.
“You, me, the children,” Evan replied as he scooped up the rifle and moved toward the door. “This is quite the trifecta for them, finding all of us together.”
“Did we lead them here?” I asked, still not sure I trusted Talia’s vision or her insistence that they would have found this place even if we hadn’t come here.
“They’ve been searching for us since almost day one,” Evan said. “This is not your fault.”
“If we left, maybe they would follow us instead,” Sorcha suggested.
“Only after they’ve destroyed this place,” Evan sighed. “I shall miss it. I’ve become quite comfortable here, but we’ve always known they would find us one day.”
Sorcha and I exchanged uneasy glances, and I knew she had the same mixed feelings I did. We really had no reason to believe that Talia had a vision of me, nearly a week before anyone else had been able to see me. And while Evan’s work sounded good, we were both reluctant to be too trusting after our recent adventures. And yet, the idea of leaving this old man to fend off mages felt wrong at every level.
“We can make sure they follow us and leave the school alone,” Sorcha offered.
Evan considered that and then finally shrugged.
“It’s your decision, of course,” Evan replied. “I won’t keep you here or force you to fight the Magesterium. Believe me, I understand how important it is that you get this young man to safety. We have an army of our own on the way, and the children will be sent to other safe spots. You should leave, and we’ll keep them busy here as long as we can. We’ll buy you some extra time to make it out of the city.”
I think we would have left at that point, but Gemma burst into the room. She stared at us angrily and stamped her foot.
“Gemma,” Evan said in a soft but firm voice.
“You can’t go,” she blurted out. “You have to save Evan.”
“We’ve had this discussion,” Evan sighed. “Talia only sees possibilities. You have to accept that.”
“They can save you and the house,” she insisted.
Evan shook his head and knelt in front of the young woman. Her chin came out and her gaze became defiant. She turned her eyes on me and Sorcha, and I felt my certainty that we should leave start to waver.
“You said you would help,” she accused.
“Gemma,” Evan reprimanded in a sharp voice. “You do not talk to guests that way. These two people have their own journey to make that doesn’t involve us.”
“It does involve us,” Gemma insisted.
Evan sighed and shook his head. He started to reply, but Sorcha placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Tell me about Talia’s dream,” Sorcha said.
“Do you really want to know?” Evan asked as he slowly stood up. “As you know, many of the details are lost when the seer wakes up, and often there are multiple possible interpretations.”
“Talia seemed certain,” Sorcha pointed out. “Is she usually this certain?”
“No,” Gemma declared before Evan could reply. “That’s why we know it has to be this way. There are no other possibilities.”
“That can’t be true,” Evan sighed.
“It is,” Gemma insisted.
“Gemma!” a woman’s voice called out.
“She’s here,” Evan replied. “She’s coming.”
Evan started to hustle the girl to the door, but she planted her feet and stared balefully at both me and Sorcha.
“I’ll leave if they stay,” she declared.
“Gemma,” Evan warned.
“We’ll stay,” Sorcha suddenly replied.
I’m sure I looked as surprised as Evan. As much as I liked the old man and what he had set up in the wilds of Brook Island, I wasn’t crazy about the idea of facing yet another army of mages intent on my destruction. We’d been lucky in our encounters so far, but only because no one knew what to expect. The Magesterium wouldn’t make that mistake again.
But Gemma seemed satisfied, and with a short nod, she turned on her heel and marched from the room. Nobody spoke for several moments though we did all turn to look at each other.
“I can sneak you out the back so Gemma won’t know,” Evan offered.
“We’re staying,” Sorcha replied.
“We are?” I pressed.
“We are,” she insisted. “I believe Gemma and Talia are right. I think we have to stay.”
“Now don’t you start,” Evan huffed.
Both mages looked at me. I stared back, not sure what to say.
“What makes you so sure?” I finally asked the beautiful woman.
“Talia is so certain,” Sorcha replied. “I think she must be right. The only way this school can continue, whether it’s here or somewhere else, is if we stay to help.”
“You’re staking a lot on the words of a young child,” I pointed out.
Sorcha nodded but offered nothing else. Evan looked as if he wanted to say something, but
then he shook his head and looked at the floor. Apparently, it was up to me, the person with the least understanding of seers and visions. I held Sorcha’s gaze for a moment, and I could sense the certainty there. She wasn’t a seer, but she could somehow sense that Talia was right. I had no idea how I knew that, then realized it must have something to do with the meld we had enjoyed.
“Then I guess we’re helping,” I said as I held up my hand.
I pictured the rifle that had just been in my hands and felt the familiar tingle in my fingertips. This time, I felt the corresponding response of the weight of the weapon as a twenty-two rifle appeared in my grip. I looked down at the long black barrel and ran a finger along the stock. Even the name Ruger was there, though it glowed on my version of the rifle. I could feel the energy force in the rifle, different from the handguns, but still there. It was like holding a coiled snake, a creature that could move swiftly and quietly and strike before the victim was even aware that it was there.
Evan leaned in for a closer look, then nodded. I handed the gun to him, though I hated to give up control again so soon after creating it. Evan peered at it closely, but he seemed to sense my distress. He handed me the gun with a solemn air and patted me on the back.
“Nicely done,” he said with a note of admiration. “We should have enough ammunition for all of the rifles.”
“Already taken care of,” I told him. “Though the rifle will disappear after I use the last bullet.”
“Well, then, we’ll just have to make every shot count,” Evan declared as he marched from the office. “Now, let’s go meet the rest of the troops and set a few traps for those busybodies from the Magesterium.”
Chapter 13
Evan’s army turned out to be forty of his former students who ranged in ages from twenty to forty-eight. While most didn’t live at the school, they lived close enough that they were all known to the kids, and as each person arrived, they were greeted by a wave of enthusiastic hellos from the current crop of students. I also noted that most had given up on the bowl haircuts, no doubt a sign of hope to those still being subjected to that treatment.
As the preparations were under way, I was impressed with how well the kids took the news that they were having to leave the school because the bad mages were coming. It was obvious that everyone had been drilling for this day, but I thought there might be something more going on. It was hard not to be suspicious after everything we had been through, and though Sorcha seemed convinced by Talia’s dream, I still had a few doubts.
“They seem strangely accepting of leaving this place,” I whispered to Sorcha. “Is it a spell? Or something in the tea?”
“It’s not magic,” she assured me. “Aside from the fact that they’ve obviously taught the children to expect this day, they all seem to believe what Talia told them about how we would save Evan. That little girl must have some powerful visions.”
“Wish she’d had her dream earlier and that someone had told me about it,” I murmured. “I might not have come on this cattle drive.”
“And miss out on your chance to hold a gun?” Sorcha teased.
“Well, yeah, that was cool,” I admitted. “And meeting you was great. The rest I could have done without.”
Sorcha nodded and took my hand as we watched the kids march past the warehouses and then disappear from view as their guides led them down the street and around a corner. We listened to their voices until those faded away as well.
“It was a pretty powerful dream, apparently,” Sorcha replied when the last of the children’s voices had faded away. “I asked Rayne about it, and she said Talia had been frantic for the last week about finding us.”
“She had the vision a week ago?” I asked in surprise. I could still hear Arthur and Bunda as they discussed the fact that my magic had been hidden from the seers and searchers until I had touched the gun, yet somehow Talia had seen me a week ago.
“As Evan said, she’s very powerful,” Sorcha sighed. “She saw you when no one else could. Well, when almost no one else could.”
“You seem sad about that,” I noted. “I mean, the fact that she saw me before everyone else.”
“Seers that powerful tend to have a short lifespan,” the mage replied. “Those that do live longer usually go insane.”
“Would she be better off with the Magesterium?” I asked.
As kind as Evan seemed, I did wonder if this was one of those times when the Magesterium might be a better fit. Surely, they had experts who could help someone like Talia that a place like this wouldn’t be able to provide? And if they couldn’t, then what was the point of the Magesterium schools?
“No,” Sorcha said sadly. “Even they have no real way of helping them. At least here, she can be happy.”
I nodded and then tried to decide if I wanted to ask the question that was really bothering me. Two mages passed us with a box of medical supplies, and I realized this could very well be my last chance to find out what I needed to know. I glanced at the blonde mage who still held my hand, then pulled her toward the side, into a corner.
“So who else saw me?” I asked. It was the third time she had hinted that my magic wasn’t as unexpected as everyone wanted me to believe, and I wanted to know why that was so.
“What do you mean?” Sorcha asked as she tried to sound nonchalant.
“This wasn’t the first time you hinted that someone had seen me,” I insisted. “At Fat Frenchie’s, and then again at the Kwik Copy King, you mentioned that there was a vision about me, or maybe just my magic. You hinted that someone else had seen my powers before I even triggered it.”
Sorcha bit her lip, which I now recognized as a sign of her indecision. She took a step away from me, but I held onto her hand and stared into her eyes. I had grown really tired of all the secret keeping that seemed to go on around me and my magic. There had been plenty of hints by the other mages we had encountered, even from Evan, but no one wanted to tell me what they knew. Even Sorcha had remained tight lipped, though the more time we spent together, the less comfortable she felt about it. It was time to find out what she knew, I decided.
“I have a right to know,” I whispered as I fought to keep the anger from my voice. “Especially with these mages coming. If I’m going to face them, now and in the future, I have the right to know.”
“Years ago, before you were even born, there was a prophecy,” she finally admitted. “I’ve never heard the whole prophecy, but I know the seer said there would be a gun mage who could either free the world or enslave it. Every mage who knows about the prophecy has been waiting for you ever since. I think everyone was shocked to realize that you were a full-grown adult already, but that makes it easier in some ways. You can make your own decisions about what you want to do with your own life.”
“I would never enslave anyone,” I protested as I tried to digest what she told me. It seemed impossible that I had been the subject of a prophecy for such a long time, or that I somehow held the fate of the world in my hands, and never even knew a thing about it. And, if Sorcha was right, then a lot of people knew about this prophecy except me. I couldn’t decide if I was angry, surprised, or just plain confused.
“You’re a good person, Hector Theriot,” Sorcha said as she stared into my eyes. “I know you’ll be a force for freedom.”
I shook my head, uncertain what to say next. Was that what the seer had told my parents? And who had placed the protection spells around me? I still had so many questions, and I had no idea who I could turn to. Sorcha sensed my swirling emotions and tried to offer me some comfort. All I could do was stare at her while I tried to decide what to do next.
“I’ll help, any way I can,” Sorcha finally said. “I know this is a lot to absorb, and I’m sorry this is the way you found out. But now you know, and you can build on that.”
I started to say something, something my mother probably wouldn’t have approved, but someone cleared their throat behind me and noisily stomped across the floor.
“Want to help set some of the traps?” Darryl asked as he popped up next to us. He shifted from foot to foot as he looked back and forth between us.
“I promised Rayne I’d help set some protection spells upstairs,” the blonde mage replied with a shake of her head. She studied my face for a moment, and a look of concern crossed her face.
“I guess I could help with the traps,” I replied. I wasn’t sure what else I could do to help anyway, since I didn’t have any healing skills or even the most basic knowledge of mage spells.
“Okay,” Darryl agreed as he grabbed me by the elbow to lead me to a group that had gathered in the lobby with Evan. “So what kind of mage are you?”
“An evocation mage,” I replied as I remembered the phrase Evan had used. It was a good description of what I did, I decided, even if I could only create guns. And as much as I liked Evan and his students, it didn’t seem like a good idea to proclaim to everyone exactly what type of evocation magic I did, especially since everyone but me seemed to know about this prophecy.
“Cool,” Darryl stated. “Good thing you had that rifle. Evan has one just like it. Now we’ll have three guns to use against them.”
“That is good,” I replied as I wondered if Darryl always had such a manic energy. The three guns Darryl had mentioned sat on a table near Evan, though the one I had created was easy to pick out. It looked flawless compared to the other two, and my palm itched at the thought of holding it again.
“Now, everyone knows their assignments, but I just want to remind you to be careful when you set the traps,” Evan was saying. “I don’t want anyone to accidentally blow themselves up.”
That was greeted with a round of laughter and Evan huffed angrily.
“Don’t laugh,” he warned. “People used to kill themselves all the time by misusing gunpowder.”
The crowd sobered and waited for Evan to continue.
“Hex, why don’t you work with Darryl?” Evan suggested. “He’s the best at placing the mines, and he’ll show you how to hide them so that the mages won’t be able to detect them. Meanwhile, Justin and Mary, you two should start with the spring traps near the crossroads. If we have enough time, we’ll add the firewalls after that.”