“None taken,” Jack said. “The Secreteers and my family… we have a complicated history. The Clandestine Order didn’t approve of my father. That’s partly how I ended up in New Jersey.”
Jack went on to explain how the Order didn’t like the idea of his parents getting together back in the day. Secreteers weren’t allowed to have relationships outside the Order, and Oblivia, the head Secreteer, wouldn’t let Jack’s mom quit. They were grooming her for leadership and didn’t want to lose her, so they got rid of Jack’s father instead.
“Got rid of him how?” Shazad asked.
“They rewrote his memory and made him forget my mom.”
“They did what?” Leanora said, appalled.
“It gets worse,” Allegra said. “They also made him forget who he really was and sent him off into space.”
“Into space?” Janelle repeated.
“Secreteers don’t mess around,” Jack said. “I only just met my dad last year. I didn’t know any of this until I came here. My mother died during the first Rüstov invasion. The Rüstov are alien parasites that turn people into cyborg zombies and use them like puppets until they die.” He said the last sentence as if he were talking about something mundane like a new brand of toothpaste he had recently purchased.
Joey stared at Jack with his mouth open, trying to wrap his head around what Jack was telling him.
“Whatever you’re picturing in your mind right now, trust me, the reality is worse,” Skerren said. “The Rüstov make the Gravens look downright cuddly.”
“I’m just trying to keep it all straight,” Joey said. “You said the Rüstov invasion was when a future version of Jack came back in time to kill him, right? Like in The Terminator?”
“The what?” Skerren asked.
“It’s a movie,” Jack told Skerren. “And it was sort of like that. Only it wasn’t a future version of me. It was more like an alternate-timeline version. He came back on a suicide mission to prevent a future where I—or we, depending on how you look at it—helped the Rüstov take over the world. Fortunately, we found a more creative solution. One that didn’t involve me dying.”
Jack tapped at the mark around his eye, but he didn’t elaborate further.
“That’s a whole other story. The point is, my mom died saving me when the Rüstov attacked fifteen years ago. My dad was already gone, so the people here hid me away in Jersey until it was safe to come back. For most of my life, I didn’t have any family. That’s as much the Secreteers’ fault as it is the Rüstovs’, but they never had to answer for it. No one ever questions the Secreteers because of what they can do to you. People are afraid of them. Even my mom was afraid of them. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of putting them out of business.”
“And we’re absolutely sure that’s the right thing to do?” Skerren asked again. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of the Secreteers either, but are we sure people out in the Real World can handle all this? You keep talking about magic. There is magic here, but it’s mostly in Varagog Village, where I live. It’s just a small part of this place. Our powers don’t come from magic.”
“Where do they come from?” Leanora asked.
“From us.” Skerren took out his swords and spun them around, putting on a show. “From years of training and practice. I’ve been studying with the sword ever since I was old enough to hold one. These blades are a part of me. I can cut through anything with them as long as my heart’s in it. I could cut a mountain down to size if I wanted to.”
“It’s true,” Allegra said. “I’ve seen him chop through a three-foot wall made of pure Invincium. That’s a super-strong metal alloy my people use to build spaceships.”
“Interesting,” Leanora said. “What happens if your heart’s not in it?”
“Nothing,” Skerren said with a shrug. “If I don’t believe I can cut something, I can’t cut it. It all depends on me and what I think. A stick of warm butter would be too much to slice through if I didn’t believe in myself. Fortunately, I don’t suffer from a lack of confidence. Never have.”
“I’m picking up on that,” Shazad said with a smile. “I hate to burst your bubble, Skerren, but it sounds like your powers are one hundred percent dependent on magic.”
Skerren abruptly stopped flipping his swords around. “What?”
“You just described exactly how magical objects work,” Shazad said. “If you want to harness their power, you’ve got to believe in them. Those swords are magical objects.”
“No,” Skerren said. “I believe in me. The power isn’t in the swords. It’s in me.”
“There’s one way to find out,” Shazad said. “Let me try them. We’ll see if the swords work for anyone else.”
“No, that’s not possible.” Skerren put both swords away. “It’s not safe to cut anything in this forest. You’ll wake the Gravens.”
“Later, then?” Shazad asked. “When we’re out of the forest?”
“I’ll think about it,” Skerren said, sulking a bit.
There was an awkward beat of silence, and it became clear that Skerren was a bit put off by the idea of his powers being tied to some external object rather than himself.
“I think the point Skerren was trying to make is that the Imagine Nation is bigger than magic,” Allegra said finally. “It’s bigger than just this world. Take me, for example. All the women from my planet can change their shape like I can.” She stretched an arm up to shake a tree branch that was twenty feet above their heads. Water that had pooled up on the leaves came down like raindrops, but Allegra flattened out her other hand to form a makeshift umbrella that kept everyone dry. “The farther I stretch, the less solid I become. It also depends on my state of mind,” she admitted. “I have to choose courage over fear and believe in myself to maintain stability, but there’s obviously no magic object involved. It’s just me.”
“True, but who’s to say your people aren’t tapping into some form of magic to do that?” Janelle asked. “There’s no reason to think magic is limited to this world, or that different alien races would use it the same way humans do. By the way, I know I should be more amazed to meet someone from another planet, but we went through another dimension to get here today. We used magic energy to do it. More and more, I’m realizing that’s all magic is. Belief-based energy. It’s just as strong as the person using it.”
“What about Jack?” Allegra asked. “His power isn’t like that. He can talk to machines and make them do what he wants. He deals with computers and technology. Isn’t that the opposite of magic?”
“That depends,” Shazad said. “How does it work? Any machine, anytime? No limitations?”
“We’ve all got limitations,” Jack replied. “My powers are tied to knowledge and science. I ask machines to do what I want. If they won’t cooperate, I can take control of them, but only if I know how they work.”
“There you have it,” Leanora countered. “To know something is to believe it.”
“No, I have to learn it,” Jack argued. “I can’t just believe I know the ins and outs of a complex machine like a warp engine. I have to hit the books, tinker in my lab, and build things. It’s a lot of work. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to have homework for the rest of my life.”
“I know the feeling,” Janelle said. “I have had to unlearn and rethink everything I know about science to get the hang of magic, but learning magic is the same as learning anything else. You just have to believe in yourself and stick with it until you know it backward and forward. Magic and science are flip sides of the same coin. It’s not an either-or choice. If we can reveal this place to the world, everyone will see that.”
“Janelle has a point,” Joey said. “Why is Skerren able to use magic swords like a pro even though he was never trained in magic? Because he grew up in a place where people believe in the impossible. We’re going to give everyone that chance. It’s not a question of whether or not they’re ready. They’ll learn.”
“Who’s goi
ng to teach them?” Allegra asked. “You’ve got to be around if you want to be a part of that. What’s your plan? How are you going to unveil the Imagine Nation without using the wand too much?”
“That’s the tricky part,” Joey said. “I’m still trying to figure that out.”
“You don’t have a plan?” Skerren asked.
“A great magician once told us, ‘We don’t go onstage because we’re ready. We go on because it’s showtime,’ ” Leanora said.
“It’s showtime?” Jack repeated. “That’s it?”
“We have no way of knowing what’s inside the Secret Citadel,” Joey said. “There has to be something there that can help us. This wand chose me for a reason. I don’t think it was to die.”
“You make it sound like it’s your destiny to do this,” Jack said.
“It feels that way sometimes,” Joey admitted.
“I wouldn’t buy into that if I were you,” Jack said. “A great man once told me, ‘Character is destiny.’ ”
“That’s Heraclitus,” Janelle said.
Jack looked confused. “Who?”
“Heraclitus,” Janelle said again. “The ancient Greek philosopher. He’s the one who said that. Character is destiny.”
“Oh, Hera-clitus,” Jack said. “Of course,” he added, pretending to know the name, but in a funny way. “I never actually met him, but the guy who told me that line might have. He’s pretty ancient himself, and he’s always quoting people. The point is, there’s no such thing as destiny. We make our own destiny.”
“I don’t know about destiny,” Joey said, unwilling to dismiss the idea entirely. “But I do know about responsibility. We have to do this because no one else can. We didn’t start it, but we have to finish it. It’s our job.”
“Our sentiments exactly,” a raspy voice hissed, coming out of nowhere.
“Whoa!” Joey spun around with startled urgency. It sounded like someone was speaking right in his ear, but there was no one behind him. They were in an open clearing, surrounded by nothing but trees. “Did you guys hear that?”
Jack had an uncomfortable look on his face. “I heard it.”
Janelle looked even more uncomfortable. She dug a finger into her ear as if a bug had climbed inside and she was trying to get it out. “Who said that?”
Skerren drew out his swords and stood in a fighting stance. “It’s the Secreteers.” He turned slowly, scanning the trees for threats. “They’re here.”
15 Hostile Environment
Joey’s eyes swept the clearing, but still he saw nothing. Thinking fast, he produced the wand and whispered the words “steel trap.” He did it just in time. A second later, he saw two Secreteers standing in the forest, blocking the way forward. They wore hooded cloaks like Hypnova, with masks that covered their faces from the nose down. One of them was clad in deep indigo, and the other was dressed in dark gray. Joey glimpsed them for only a moment before he got dizzy.
“Nnngh.” Joey swayed, trying to keep his balance.
“Are you all right?” Skerren asked him.
“I’m fine. I just…” Joey had to stop talking. He dropped to a knee, unable to stay on his feet. The forest spun around on him. He closed his eyes, but somehow that made it worse. He felt a tingling sensation in his arm and forced himself to look at his magic power gauge tattoo. Joey’s stomach tightened as he watched the green bar shrink, dropping to almost 50 percent.
Before anyone could say anything, the Secreteers flapped their cloaks and transformed into swirling streams of smoke.
Twin trails of blackish-gray and blue-violet rocketed around the clearing. The smoke quickly expanded to fill every inch of the air.
“What’s going on?” Janelle shouted.
“It’s the Secreteers from the ship!” Leanora called back.
Hopefully not all of them, Joey thought. If the thunder and lightning started up again, it was going to get ugly. They didn’t have the Caliburn Shield to protect them anymore, and Joey wasn’t ready to cast another spell. Not by a long shot.
A violent wind picked up, and everything went dark. Joey covered his eyes and peeked through his fingers to try to see what was going on. He called out to his friends and heard them calling back, but they sounded miles away. He couldn’t see them. He couldn’t see anything. The wind roared like a massive turbine engine and whirled around the clearing like a tornado. Joey gritted his teeth as tiny projectiles made of pebbles and dirt pelted his body. The smoke was so thick, Joey could barely open his eyes. He made the mistake of breathing some of it in. The next thing he knew, he was coughing so much, he couldn’t breathe at all. Just when Joey thought he couldn’t take any more, everything stopped. One long last gust of wind blew hard enough to force Joey down to one knee. Then it vanished, along with all the smoke. The air was calm and clear.
Joey was coughing so hard, his eyes were tearing up, which helped wash the dust and dirt out of them. As he worked to get his breathing under control, he saw all of his friends were in the same boat. Shazad, in particular, sounded like a cat hacking up a hair ball. “That was unpleasant,” he eventually managed to say. “Let’s please not do that again.”
“What happened?” Skerren asked. “We’re still here?”
“Why wouldn’t we be?” Leanora replied.
“We’ve been through this before,” Allegra said. “If I had to guess, that smoke was supposed to wipe our memories and get rid of us.”
“You shouldn’t have come back to yourselves until you returned to your homes,” the Secreteer in gray confirmed.
“How is it you’re unaffected?” asked the other Secreteer. They were both dumbfounded.
“I can answer that,” Joey croaked. He held up the wand. “I cast a quick spell. It was the only way,” he added, looking at his friends. “As of thirty seconds ago, we all have memories like steel traps. Their memory powers won’t work on us. Our minds are untouchable.” Joey locked eyes with the Secreteers. “You’re not getting rid of us that easy.”
“Is that why you fell over?” Leanora asked.
Janelle grabbed Joey’s wrist to check the mark on his arm. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed when she saw how much the green bar had gone down. “Joey, no!”
“It’s all right,” Joey said, pulling his arm back. “I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not,” Shazad said. “You can’t even stand up.”
“I can stand.” Joey got back up. “I’m just not very good at it right now.” Shazad was more right than he realized. Joey didn’t feel okay at all. The physical weakness was already passing, but he felt scared. Using the wand had never affected him like this before. Obviously, guarding against the Secreteers’ powers had been a heavier magical lift than he had expected. “It was a onetime thing. I won’t have to do it again.”
“You’d better not,” Shazad warned.
“Look at it this way,” Jack said. “If he didn’t do it, our walk in the woods would be over. It probably wouldn’t even be a memory. This is a nice change of pace.” He looked to the Secreteers. “Maybe now that your biggest weapon against us has been disarmed, you’ll be willing to talk.”
“We have nothing to say to you,” the indigo Secreteer replied. “We know why you’re here. What your goal is. You won’t be allowed to continue.”
“That’s fine,” Jack said. “We don’t want to talk to you. This conversation is above your pay grade. We want to talk to Oblivia.”
“The majestrix is dealing with the traitor Hypnova,” said the Secreteer in gray. “We’re dealing with you. Out of respect for your past heroics, we had hoped to make it quick and painless and send you on your way with a simple memory adjustment. However, if you insist on doing things the hard way, we can do that, too.”
“I’m curious how you intend to stop us,” Jack said. “You mentioned our past heroics. You know what we’re capable of.”
“We’re pretty capable ourselves,” Leanora said, ready for a fight as always. “When Oblivia attacked us on Hypnova’s shi
p, she had a thunderstone to back her up. I don’t see any magical weapons on you.”
“Then you haven’t been paying attention,” the indigo Secreteer replied. “You’re surrounded by magical weapons.”
Machete blades appeared in the hands of both Secreteers, but they didn’t use them against Joey and the others. Instead, they attacked the forest, hacking off branches and chopping away at tree trunks.
“What are they doing?” Leanora asked.
“They’re calling in reinforcements,” Skerren said as the floor of the forest began to rumble and churn.
“This again?” Leanora asked as the Gravens emerged from the earth once more. “What the heck are these things?”
“They’re the reason I’m so muddy,” Joey said, backing away from the rising wave of monsters.
“I don’t understand,” Allegra told the Secreteers. “Aren’t they going to attack the two of you now?”
“They would if we let them,” the Secreteer in gray replied. “The Gravens go after anyone who disturbs or disrespects this forest, but they’re simple creatures with simple minds.” As he spoke, his partner took out a small pouch and cast a cloud of blue-violet dust over the Gravens. It had a disturbing effect on them. Joey watched as the Gravens grew increasingly agitated, growling in anger and climbing out of the earth in greater numbers. “Your memories might be untouchable, but theirs aren’t. Right now they think you’re responsible for this.” The Secreteer motioned to the carved-up trees and broken branches. “In fact, they’re under the impression you’ve done a great deal worse. They’re not happy with you lot at all.”
“That’s a neat trick,” Joey said. “Too bad for you we don’t have to worry about the Gravens. Not as long as we’ve got Jack’s sonic disru—”
Joey broke off midsentence as Jack cleared his throat and held up his wrist. The screen on his smartwatch was shattered. “They took it out during the dust storm.”
The New World Page 15