The New World

by Matt Myklusch

“You want to make a difference,” Jack repeated. “I get that.” He chewed on his lower lip, thinking it over. “You sound like a friend of mine. We could help you, but—”

  “We can’t reveal the Imagine Nation to the world,” Allegra cut in. “We can’t. That’s not our call to make. We’d have to talk to people first. Important people. The Inner Circle.”

  “The Inner Who?” Joey asked.

  “The people who run the Imagine Nation, including my king,” Skerren said.

  “You want us to clear our plans with the king?” Janelle asked.

  “The king of Varagog Village,” Jack clarified. “There are other people who would have to weigh in too. Varagog’s just one part of Empire City. That’s where we live. What you’re talking about doing… It’s complicated. This is over our heads.”

  “Way over,” Allegra said.

  “I don’t think it is,” Janelle replied. “If you’re talking about the same people who let the Secreteers keep this place hidden for a millennium, we’re not looking to have that conversation. I’m pretty sure I know what those people would say, and we don’t have time to waste hearing it. The world’s messed up, the future looks bleak, and we’re doing something about it. Period. It’s not up for debate.”

  “You just got here,” Jack said. “You really should talk to more people before you do something drastic like this. The Inner Circle are good people—most of them,” he added quickly. “We can take you to see them. We can talk about it.”

  “Thanks but no thanks,” Joey said. “This is part of the problem. Most people don’t think they have the power to change the world, and the people who do have the power don’t think they have the permission. We’ll talk later. Right now the world needs something drastic. Otherwise, the bad guys stay in charge, living it up with a stranglehold on something that should belong to everyone. I don’t know the last time you left this island, but it’s getting worse out there, not better. Ledger DeMayne and the Invisible Hand have been stealing our future since before we were born. Enough is enough. We’re taking back what’s ours. We’re taking back tomorrow.”

  “When you put it like that, it’s hard to argue,” Jack said.

  “This has been a long time coming,” Joey said. “It’s what we were put here to do.”

  “There’s no way we can talk you out of this?” Allegra asked.

  “I don’t think you understand,” Shazad said. “We’re halfway done. More than halfway. Right now magic is already flowing back into the world. Ancient doors that got slammed shut centuries ago are open again. We did that part before we came here. This place is the final piece of the puzzle. If you’re not with us, that’s fine. It was nice meeting you, but we’ve got a job to do.”

  “I don’t think you understand.” Skerren drew his swords. “So do we.”

  13 Comic Book Connections

  The children in each group sized each other up and paired off, choosing their opponents. Allegra morphed her hands into large, shiny silver hammers. Skerren adopted an intimidating stance, scraping his swords together. Janelle responded by spinning the Staff of Sorcero out to its full length, preparing to strike.

  Leanora held out her hand to Joey. “Can I have my firestone back please?”

  “What are we doing here?” Joey said. “Let’s take it down a notch. Not everything has to be a fight, remember, Lea?”

  “Joey. The firestone,” Leanora insisted.

  Joey sighed. Asking Leanora not to fight was like asking a fish not to swim. He placed the stone in her palm. She gripped it tight and wrapped the string around her hand like a boxer taping up her fists. A second later, her right hand smoldered with fiery red-orange energy. She was ready to throw down.

  Shazad pulled his transfiguration cape off his shoulders and shook it out like a matador ready to face a charging bull. He was less eager to fight than Leanora, but Joey knew if push came to shove, he’d be there to back her up. With that cape, Shazad had the power to turn anyone who came at him into a slug, a snail, or worse.

  Across from them, Jack Blank stood with his hands at his sides. “This doesn’t have to happen. I don’t want to fight you guys.”

  “You really don’t,” Leanora said. “We have you outnumbered. Just walk away.”

  Joey was relieved Leanora didn’t feel the need to add the words “while you still can” to make her point, but he still didn’t like the direction things were going. It was true the Order of the Majestic had Jack and his friends outnumbered four to three, but that slight edge was no guarantee of victory. While fighting outside of Camelot and the Imaginary Vortex, Joey had learned that the battleground itself was sometimes the difference between winning and losing. As Joey watched, Jack Blank turned off the sonic disruptor on his wrist, which would make the Gravens return. It was obvious Jack had learned that lesson too.

  “You only have us outnumbered if we play nice,” Jack said as the moaning, zombielike earth monsters rose up, surrounding Joey and his friends. The Gravens inched forward, reaching out with grubby paws. Jack slid the disruptor’s volume back up as the creatures moved in, causing them to crumble into pieces once more. “I’d still rather settle this with a conversation.”

  “You want to talk? Fine, let’s talk,” Joey said. “But not here. Not with these things creeping all over us.” He pulled the wand out of his sleeve. “Sky high.”

  There was a flash of light, and suddenly everyone was suspended in midair, high above the trees of Gravenmurk Glen. Once again, a view of the massive crystal mountain dominated the horizon, and the diverse metropolis Joey now knew as Empire City was visible far in the distance. It was a spectacular sight, but even better was the look on Jack’s, Skerren’s, and Allegra’s faces. They hovered in the air at a safe distance, shocked at how quickly Joey had turned the tables on them.

  “What is this?” Jack asked. “What did you do?”

  Joey’s friends had the same question. “What are you doing?” Shazad demanded.

  “I’d say he’s doing magic,” Skerren said. He sheathed his swords, no doubt realizing they wouldn’t be much use to him at the moment. “Very powerful magic.”

  “Don’t worry. It’s not that powerful. Look.” Joey pulled up his sleeve to show his friends the power bar on his arm. The green mark lit up with a magical glow as Joey’s energy level fell into the high 80, low 90 percent range.

  “This is a waste,” Shazad said.

  “Let’s hope not,” Joey replied.

  “Put us down,” Jack ordered. “Now.”

  “First things first,” Joey said. “I want to explain something to you. My friends and I all have magical objects—things that got enchanted centuries ago—but this wand here… the thing I used just now? It’s special. This wand channels pure magic energy. I could use it to do anything I want. Anything. It never runs out of power, but eventually I will. If I wanted, I could use it to send you a million miles away. I could use it to bring the Imagine Nation back to the world right now. I could do it with one word, but I wouldn’t live to see it. This wand’s got more power than the human body can handle, and using it too much is a death sentence.”

  Joey tapped his arm, showing off the green mark. “This lets me know how much power I’ve got to work with. I have to be careful not to overdo it, because every time I use the wand, it drains me, and here’s the kicker: I never know how much of a toll it will take before I do it. I have to guess.”

  “So, you’re risking your life right now… just to make a point?” Allegra asked.

  “I had to show you. I could put a stop to this right here, but I don’t want to fight you. Shazad’s right. This is a waste of energy I can’t afford. I want to use the wand to change the world for the better. Before today, I hadn’t used the wand in a year, because I’ve been saving it for whatever we find in this place. If I have to fight you, the Secreteers, the Invisible Hand, and the Inner Circle, or whoever else is in that city out there, I won’t have anything left for the island. I might not even make it to the Secret
Citadel. You want that on your conscience? You want to fight us to keep the messed-up status quo?”

  “Hang on,” Jack said. “What’s the Secret Citadel?”

  “It’s the Secreteers’ base of operations,” Shazad said. “Their headquarters.”

  “You’re going to the Secreteers’ stronghold?”

  “Yes!” Joey replied. “That’s the key to all of this. There’s something in there that keeps this island moving and keeps it hidden at the same time. If we can turn it off or destroy it, I won’t have to use the wand.”

  Jack, Skerren, and Allegra looked at each other, silently debating their options. The mention of the Secreteers’ stronghold had clearly had an effect on them. Shazad noticed too and seized on that. “If you know Hypnova, then you know she used to be a Secreteer. She sent us here! If she can change her mind about your laws, others can too. Maybe together we can convince the other Secreteers.”

  “Not likely,” Skerren said.

  “What about changing your minds?” Shazad asked. “We’ve got a better chance at success if we work together. I don’t think Hypnova would want us fighting each other.”

  “No, probably not,” Allegra agreed. As she spoke, she relaxed her hammer hands back into regular hands.

  “You came here looking for Hypnova,” Joey said, remembering what Jack had told him earlier. “What did you want with her?”

  Jack took a moment before answering. Allegra stretched her liquid metal arm out to take his hand, offering her support. Jack swallowed hard and spoke.

  “I wanted to ask her about my mother.”

  “Your mother?” Joey said, taken by surprise.

  Jack nodded. “She was a Secreteer too. I never knew her—not because she was a Secreteer,” he added quickly. “It’s because she died when I was just a baby. I wanted Hypnova to tell me more about her. I thought there might be something of hers she could give me or help me find. Even just a picture would be something. There are no pictures of my mom, but Hypnova could lend me a memory. She could do that.” Jack’s eyes were welling up. “Hypnova’s a friend, but we haven’t seen her in a while.”

  “She’s been on the run,” Leanora explained. “The other Secreteers want to kill her because she told us the truth about the Imagine Nation.”

  “That sounds about right,” Jack said. “I found Hypnova’s hideout here in Gravenmurk Glen last year and rigged a sensor to let me know if she came back. That’s why I came out here. You triggered the alarm. I was hoping it was her.”

  “Why don’t we stick together until she shows up?” Janelle suggested. “Maybe we can help each other.”

  “Do you know where the Secret Citadel is?” Allegra asked.

  “Hypnova said it was somewhere in the Outlands,” Shazad replied.

  “Where?” Skerren looked skeptical. “I’ve been to the Outlands. There’s nothing there to find.”

  “Looks can be deceiving,” Leanora said. “That’s the first rule of magic. We’ve been all around the world finding places that don’t exist. Places you can only get to if you believe in them. Maybe you weren’t looking the right way.”

  “The Imagine Nation is one of those places,” Jack said. “You can’t just stumble across it. If you want to find the Imagine Nation, you have to go looking for it specifically. You have to believe in it to get here.” He seemed to be talking to himself as much as anyone else. Joey got the sense they were getting through to him.

  “You asked if we were superheroes before,” he said. “Where I come from, superhero movies are more popular than ever. Personally, I think it’s because the special effects are good enough now to make everything look real, so people finally get it. They get that these are great stories with great characters and real meaning. Not just kid stuff.”

  “Joey.” Janelle motioned with her hands, telling Joey to get to the point.

  “Right,” Joey said. “The point is, people are ready for this place. They’re buying in. They want to believe incredible things are real and impossible things are possible. We can show them that they are. You three seem like you’re ‘the good guys.’ Help us out.”

  “We are the good guys,” Jack said.

  “So are we,” Joey replied. “Back home, I still read comic books all the time. In the comics, whenever one set of superheroes meets another, they always have to fight before they become friends. Good guys versus good guys. It’s idiotic. There’s no point except to settle fan arguments about who’s tougher, and you don’t even get that because it’s always a stalemate. Can’t we just skip that part and go straight to the team-up?”

  Jack cracked a smile. “I used to read comic books too. I forgot, that is what always happened. Every crossover had some overly complex misunderstanding and a fight that nobody won, because halfway through it, the heroes all realized they were on the same side.”

  “Exactly,” Joey said. “And when they do finally decide to work together, it’s always for the most ridiculous reasons, like their mothers are both named Martha, or they’re both from New Jersey.”

  Jack grinned and nodded along, but he stopped himself, and a curious expression came over his face. “Hang on, are you from New Jersey?”

  Joey paused. “Yeah,” he said, wondering if he had said too much.

  Even up in the sky, Jack was floored. “Get out of here. I’m from Jersey!”

  “What?” Joey exclaimed. “No way!”

  “It’s true! I grew up in an orphanage near the Meadowlands.”

  “The Meadowlands?” Janelle repeated. “We live in Hoboken! That’s, like, twenty minutes away.”

  “We’re practically neighbors,” Joey said. “How’d you end up here?”

  “It’s complicated.” Jack looked around, taking in the bird’s-eye view of the Imagine Nation. He kicked at the layer of mist that coated the forest canopy below his feet. “Why don’t you put us down? I’ll tell you all about it.”

  14 Magic Powers

  “Let’s start over,” Jack said after Joey had used the wand to lower everyone back down to earth. “Put that wand away. Don’t hurt yourself. We’ll help you.”

  “We will?” Skerren asked.

  “I will,” Jack clarified. “It’s my best shot at finding out about my mom. Maybe my only shot. Are you with me?”

  “I’m always with you,” the young swordsman replied, but his tone indicated he was on the fence.

  “But…?” Jack pressed.

  “What about their plans? Revealing the Imagine Nation to the outside world?”

  “Maybe it’s time.” Jack shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s not such a bad idea after all.”

  Skerren blinked at Jack in disbelief. He was clearly reluctant, but Joey could tell he wasn’t going to leave his friend hanging. “We’re going to have a lot of explaining to do when this is over.”

  “What else is new? Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission,” Jack said. He turned to Allegra. “What do you think, Allegra?”

  She gave him a semi-playful punch on the shoulder. “Like you even have to ask.”

  Jack rubbed his shoulder, a pained smile on his face. “I guess that settles it. We’re in.”

  “Really?” Joey asked. “We’re teaming up? Just like that?” He was shocked by the Jersey connection that he and Janelle shared with Jack, but he was even more surprised by how quickly it had helped them all find common ground. “I guess the comic books aren’t so ridiculous after all.”

  “I’ve never been so happy to be from Hoboken in all my life,” Janelle agreed.

  “It’s not just that,” Jack said. “I’m not a big fan of secrets. In my experience, they’re more trouble than they’re worth. I’ve got a feeling you guys are doing the right thing. If we’re picking sides, that’s the side I want to be on.”

  “Speaking of sides, I’d like to know what we’re up against,” Allegra said. “What can you tell us about your enemies in the Invisible Hand?”

  “Plenty,” Shazad replied. “Think you can tell us how to
get out of this forest?”

  “That’s easy.” Jack tapped at his wrist and cued up a holographic compass. “Just follow me.”

  As they hiked through the forest, carefully watching where they stepped, Joey and the others shared what they knew about the Invisible Hand and its role in the origin of the Imagine Nation. Jack, Skerren, and Allegra were surprised to learn the island had once been part of a continent the size of Texas. They also had no idea that it had been the seat of power from which Ledger DeMayne, the founder and ancient leader of the Invisible Hand, had once ruled the world from the shadows. If not for Merlin, the first Secreteer, and a handful of other brave magicians and heroes, history would have been very different. Had they not cut DeMayne’s rule short ages ago, he might still be in power today.

  “And you’re sure it’s the same guy?” Jack asked. “He’s been hoarding magical objects for a thousand years?”

  “It’s definitely him,” Leanora said. “We saw how old he is inside, the way he should be. I don’t know what he’s using to extend his life and preserve his youth. Most glamours fade over time. His is the best I’ve ever seen. He looks like a movie star.”

  “What’s a glamour?” Allegra asked.

  “It’s a disguise,” Skerren explained. “A magical way of changing your appearance to look better.”

  “Sometimes worse,” Leanora said.

  “I suppose,” Skerren said. “But, unless I’m mistaken, it’s just on the surface. Does he fight like he’s a thousand years old?”

  “No,” Joey, Shazad, and Leanora all said at once.

  “He must use something else to stay young for real,” Joey said. “I don’t know what. There’s a lot we don’t know.”

  “Who else knows about this?” Jack asked. “The Imagine Nation’s history with DeMayne?”

  “No one except the Secreteers,” Joey said. “After Merlin broke the island loose and set it adrift, the first Secreteer rewrote memories on a global scale so that no one would remember any of this—including DeMayne. She erased his memory and let him go. The Secreteers have kept this place hidden ever since. They created a safe place for magic to exist in the world, but they made it such a small part of the world. If you ask me, they’re not much better than the Invisible Hand. No offense to your mom.”