“Perhaps it’s better this way,” said Vesiroth. “It would break my heart to see you a slave.”
As the life drained from Professor Ellison’s eyes, Theo placed the Elicuum Helm on his head.
36
THEO’S BRAIN WAS ON FIRE.
His neck snapped back. Intensely bright color and light flooded his mind in a burning rush and every thought he had of helping his friends was gone, killed as the Helm took over. He clawed at the metal in desperation. The pain was immense but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get the helmet to come off. It was like the Helm had bonded with Theo’s skull.
His scream made Vesiroth turn his attention away from Professor Ellison. He saw that Theo was wearing the Helm and his face twisted into a mask of anger.
“You…” The wizard dropped Ellison. She fell to the floor in a limp pile.
Theo was thrashing now, prying frantically at the brass with his fingers. The Helm wouldn’t budge.
Vesiroth clutched his silver spike and held out his hand to hit Theo with a blast of energy. Suddenly, Theo’s body became rigid. It was as if a powerful electric current was running through him, curving his spine and pulling his head back in an impossible angle. Before Vesiroth could get his spell off a black tentacle hurtled out of the Helm and straight into Vesiroth’s chest. The scarred wizard flew back as if he had been shot.
More tentacles began to emerge from the helmet. Theo screamed again.
Parker didn’t hear the scream so much as he felt it in the pit of his stomach.
“What was that?” he asked, looking to the battle on the other side of the immense library.
“Theo has donned the Helm,” said Fon-Rahm.
“But the professor said…”
The two exchanged looks before Parker helped the once-powerful genie to his feet and they ran to join the others in the smoldering ruins that used to be the center of Professor Ellison’s library.
Reese ran to her friend. “Theo!”
She didn’t get anywhere near him. A black feeler from the Helm swatted her away. Naomi rushed to her side. “Reese. We have to get out of here. That thing has taken control of him.”
“We can’t leave Theo here,” Reese said, dazed from the blow. “We have to save him.”
Naomi shook her head. “I don’t think we can.”
As they spoke, the color in Theo’s eyes disappeared, leaving blank white orbs. The tentacles from the Helm began to whip madly around the room, and Theo left the ground to float in midair.
Professor Ellison came to, choking but alive. Her protégé was rising into the air wearing the Helm. She saw Vesiroth collapsed facedown in the dust. The wizard wasn’t moving. Ellison reached out to see if he was dead.
He grabbed her wrist.
Naomi and Reese dove for cover as the inky black tentacles from the Helm flailed around, destroying anything that was still standing in the library.
Parker and Fon-Rahm reached Theo too late. The Helm had complete control of his body and his mind.
Parker yelled, “Theo! You have to fight it! Theo!”
He reached for his cousin but Fon-Rahm held him back. “You must not interfere with the Helm. I fear there is nothing we can do for Theo now.”
Parker ignored him. He was mesmerized by the vision of his cousin, levitating in midair, the power of the corrupted Helm shooting havoc in all directions.
“Theo!” he said. “Don’t give in to it! Don’t let it control you!”
“Parker! Get down!” Fon-Rahm tackled Parker to the ground as a tentacle raked the air where he once stood. Parker never took his eyes off of Theo.
Theo stretched out his arms. The Helm was a part of him now. A tentacle found Vesiroth on the ground and knocked him aside, freeing Professor Ellison. When he tried to run a black arm slashed Vesiroth from behind. The wizard staggered to his feet, but another tentacle grabbed him and lifted him off the ground.
Vesiroth grabbed for his silver spike. A tentacle pried his hand away. More black limbs emerged from the Helm to hold the wizard by his arms and legs, helplessly suspended in midair.
The power emanating from the Helm became a storm. Professor Ellison’s papers and books were blown away from Theo. He was in the eye of a hurricane.
Parker had to yell to be heard over the roar. “There must be some way we can help him!”
Professor Ellison grabbed him from behind. “It appears the Helm can’t take the power. It’s only a matter of minutes before it goes critical. We have to get out while we still can!”
“What will happen then?” asked Naomi.
“I have no idea,” said the professor. “But I don’t want to be here to find out.”
“I won’t go,” Parker said. “It’s my fault all this is happening. I won’t let Theo die.”
“And what about Reese?” asked Fon-Rahm. “And me? And your father? Theo made his choice to save us all. If we stay, his sacrifice will mean nothing.”
“But…”
“I am sorry, Parker. Sometimes there is no good outcome. All we can do is survive.”
Naomi screamed as the tentacles began to whip Vesiroth around the ruins of the room, bouncing the wizard off of any solid object they could find. The wind howled.
Reese said, “I love him, too, Parker, but we have to leave! It’s the only way!”
Parker took one last look at his cousin.
“I’m so sorry, Theo,” he whispered. “I’m so, so sorry.”
Then he ran to help his father off the floor.
They made it outside just in time.
Parker and Fon-Rahm dropped J.T. on the grass and turned back to see hundreds of black tentacles tearing the roof off of the house. Theo floated above the ruins, spinning lazily in the air. Lightning flashed in the gathering mist below him. Vesiroth was in the Helm’s grasp and fighting helplessly against the black arms that held him.
Reese pointed. “The Helm! It’s coming apart!”
The cracks in the Helm were glowing. The very air above the house began to vibrate as the corrupted relic started to shake itself to pieces.
“No,” Parker said quietly. “Please. Not Theo.”
Then the helmet cracked and a sphere of pure power pushed out from Theo. It was like a mini nuclear explosion that flattened everything in its way. Parker and his friends were knocked to the ground. All the twisted power of the Helm collapsed in on itself. With the sound of a thousand claps of thunder, the tentacles, Vesiroth, and Theo vanished into a tiny pinprick of black that hung for a moment in the air before finally blinking out of existence.
All was quiet. No birds chirped. No dogs barked.
The only sound came from Reese. She was quietly sobbing.
37
PARKER SAT UP AND BLINKED AT THE ruins that were once Professor Ellison’s house. The massive structure, once hidden from human eyes by Ellison’s spell, had been reduced to a huge pile of rubble. It reminded Parker of a picture in his history textbook that showed a block of London row houses obliterated by German bombs in World War II.
J.T. came groggily back to life, coughing out the dust that was thick in the air. Naomi and Reese gawked at the carnage, unwilling to accept what had just happened. Parker waited for a long minute before he pushed himself to his feet.
“Parker!” Professor Ellison stood unsteadily and brushed off Fon-Rahm’s offer of help. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I have to look for Theo! He might still be alive in there!”
“Parker…” Fon-Rahm shook his head sadly. “No human could have survived that. Not even Theo.”
“You don’t know! He could have cast some sort of protection spell at the last second! He could have transported himself or…or something!”
“I’m sorry, Parker,” Professor Ellison said. “But he’s gone. He gave his life to save all of us.”
“Well, you guys can sit here and do nothing if you want but I’m going in there to look for my friend!”
Before he got a chance an a
rmada of black cars and SUVs surged down Professor Ellison’s driveway, kicking up clouds of dirt as they surrounded the grounds.
“It’s the Path!” shouted Reese. “They sent everybody!”
The lead truck skidded to a stop right in front of them.
“I still have my bag,” said Professor Ellison as she girded herself for the battle to come. “And I for one am not going down without a fight.” She selected two artifacts from her collection and held one in each hand. Whatever stepped out of the SUV would face a three-thousand-year-old wizard who had just lost someone she had become irrationally close to.
The door of the SUV opened and a woman stepped out. She wore a business suit and an earpiece connected to a radio on her belt. Her dark hair was pulled into a tight bun on the back of her head. As she strode closer Parker saw that she had a handgun in a shoulder holster under her coat.
Ellison was seconds away from blasting her before Naomi cried, “Don’t hurt her!”
With Parker, Professor Ellison, Fon-Rahm, and J.T. looking on, Naomi ran to the woman. The woman dropped down to scoop Naomi up into her arms. “Naomi!” she said, holding the girl close. “Oh, thank God you’re all right. Thank God!”
A flood of armed men and women climbed out of the cars and trucks that circled Professor Ellison’s property. Fon-Rahm said, “These people are not from the Path.”
“Then who are they?” Reese asked.
The woman hugging Naomi broke free and wiped tears from her eyes in an effort to regain an air of no-nonsense professionalism. She pulled a leather wallet from her pocket and flipped it open to reveal a badge and an ID card. “I’m Agent Erica Cook.”
“Erica Cook?” Reese asked Naomi. “Does that mean she’s your…”
Naomi nodded. “She’s my mom.”
“I’m an idiot, is who I am,” Agent Cook said, holding on to her daughter’s hand. “I must have been insane to let the D.E.N.T. talk me into sending you into this mess.”
“I give up,” said Parker. “What’s the D.E.N.T.?
“The Department of Extra-Normal Threats.” Professor Ellison put her talismans back into the Louis Vuitton bag for another day. “I should have known they were getting close.”
“Wait a second,” said J.T. “Are you telling me that the United States government has a whole department devoted to genies?”
“Not just genies. Wizards, dragons, necromancers, anything magical that might pose a threat to national security. We’ve been watching your son for quite some time.” Agent Cook turned to Parker. “We needed a field agent to infiltrate your group and my superiors convinced me that only someone your own age could gain your confidence.”
Reese said, “So you made your own daughter do it? That’s crazy!”
“She didn’t make me do it,” said Naomi. “I volunteered. No one knew what you guys were up to. We didn’t know if you were good guys or bad guys. For all anybody in the D.E.N.T. knew, Parker could have been a terrorist.”
“Yeah, I can understand that,” said Reese.
Parker bristled. “I’m right here, you know.”
“I’ve been arguing with my boss about this for weeks. I never should have agreed to send Naomi in the first place.” Agent Cook squeezed Naomi’s hand. “I’ll never make that mistake again.”
The questions went on and on but Parker was barely paying attention. He couldn’t keep his eyes off the small army of D.E.N.T. agents who were combing through the debris field that used to be Professor Ellison’s house.
“Parker, I need you to focus.” Agent Cook snapped her fingers in front of Parker’s face. The D.E.N.T. had bundled Naomi and Reese over to an SUV, where they sat swaddled in blankets, drinking bottled water. Professor Ellison and Fon-Rahm were being interrogated by other agents. J.T. was laid out on a stretcher with an IV, close enough that Parker could hear him complain that he felt just fine and that the only thing that hurt was his pride.
“It’s no use pretending this is all going to go away, Parker. I don’t want to play bad cop with you but you might as well face up to what’s really happening here. You’ve started something big and you’ve freaked out a lot of very powerful people.”
Parker leaned back onto the hood of the black sedan and stared at the sky. “Yeah, I know a few powerful people myself.”
“I’m talking about the kind of people who can throw you in jail, kid. I’m talking about the kind of people who can make your whole family wish you had cooperated with me. They’ll try you as an adult. They’ll ruin any prospects you might have for a successful future. They’ll ruin your life.”
“Okay, that’s it!” J.T. pulled the needle from his arm, pushed the D.E.N.T. medics aside, and went to defend his son. The agents reached for their weapons but Agent Cook waved them off. “That’s enough. Is my son under arrest?”
“Not yet, Mr. Quarry. If he plays ball he won’t be arrested at all.”
“Well, if you want him you’re going to have to go through me.”
Parker jumped off the car’s hood. “Dad, don’t!”
“Parker, I wasn’t there for you before but I’m going to be here for you now.”
“It’s not going to do any good if you get in trouble, too!”
“Mr. Quarry’s already in trouble.”
“What do you mean?” Parker asked.
Agent Cook crossed her arms. “We checked with California. Your father wasn’t supposed to leave the state. He’s going back to prison for violating his parole.”
“Yeah, right!” Parker snorted. “You guys just didn’t do your homework. He got permission to leave. Tell her, Dad.” J.T. stayed silent. “Dad, tell her. Please! Tell her you didn’t run out on your parole!”
“She’s right, Parker. I wasn’t supposed to leave.”
Parked felt himself deflate. He had lost Fon-Rahm, he had lost Theo, and now he was losing his father, too. “Dad, why?”
J.T. looked at the grass. “Your mom told me…” He stopped and started again. “You and your mom were making a new start here in New Hampshire. Without me. I thought that once I was in the rearview mirror you would just forget about me. I just hoped that maybe we could all make a fresh start, together. I love you, Parker, and I love your mother. I screwed up once and I just couldn’t stand the thought of losing you forever.”
“But it’s not fair!” Parker leaned in to his dad and screamed right in his face. “I finally got you back! We were a family again! Besides, you never did anything wrong in the first place!”
“Yes, I did.” J.T. put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “I did everything the police and the lawyers said I did.”
“But that’s not possible! You never would have ripped off those old people. It was just a mistake. It was just bad bookkeeping and all that other stuff. You didn’t mean it. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I lied to you, son. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell you that I was a criminal.”
All the energy drained out of Parker. He sat hard on the car’s front bumper.
“I wanted to be a player. I wanted money and everything that comes with it and I started taking shortcuts and before I knew it I was doing things…things I’m ashamed of. I stole the money. I lied and I lied and I just kept digging a deeper and deeper hole for myself. I deserved to go to jail. I deserved to lose you and Kathleen.” He let out a deep breath. “I can’t change the past, Parker, but I can make sure I don’t make the same mistakes again. I have learned so much from you. The way you stand up for your friends, the way you fight for what you believe in. I know I promised you I would change before but this time…I don’t even have to promise. I’m already changed. Because of you.”
Parker wiped his eyes. He wasn’t crying. He wasn’t.
“Son, I need you to do something for me.”
Parker sniffled. “What?”
“I need you to tell Agent Cook everything you know about Rommy, about Professor Ellison, about all of it.”
“But Dad, this is our thing! They’ll screw it all up
!”
“Maybe, but Naomi was right about trying to keep something this big a secret. It’s going to get out eventually. You might as well spill it.”
Parker stared at Agent Cook in defiance.
“I know you’ve got issues with authority, Parker,” J.T. continued. “Believe me, I know. But I can’t stand the thought of you getting into real trouble. Promise me you’ll cooperate. Promise.”
Parker looked away. “I promise.”
J.T. nodded and looked over to where Fon-Rahm was speaking with other feds. “You know, maybe that math teacher’s not so bad. He’s some kind of magical being that an evil wizard cooked up in a lab, sure, but he seems pretty solid. You could have worse role models in your life.”
“I have the best role model in the world, Dad. I have you.”
Parker hugged his father. J.T. savored the moment. He knew it would have to last him a long time.
A D.E.N.T. agent ran up to Agent Cook. “We’ve searched all through the remains of the house, ma’am. We found a few bodies…”
Parker’s heart sank.
“…but judging from the suits and weapons found nearby, we think they were members of the Path. There’s no sign of Theo Merritt or your mystery wizard.”
“Vesiroth,” Parker said softly. “His name is Vesiroth. I’ll tell you all about him.”
As Parker spilled his guts to Agent Cook, Naomi sat with Reese on the grass.
“What do you think is going to happen now?” Reese asked.
“The D.E.N.T. will take care of everything. They’ll cover all this up”—she gestured toward the destroyed house—“with a story about military tests or something. If there’s one thing the D.E.N.T. is good at, it’s keeping things out of the papers.”
“No, I meant what do you think is going to happen with you?”
“Oh.” Naomi ran her hands through her hair. “I’m going home.”
Reese nodded. “Where’s home?”
“Washington. Well, right outside Washington, in Virginia. My dad’s down there. He writes these really technical manuals for medical equipment.”
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