The Magic Book

by Fredric Shernoff

  “Nathaniel? You okay?” Goldman called from a world away.

  The world melted into darkness.

  18

  Nathaniel woke to a familiar view: the ceiling of Opellius’s home and one of the hive mind looking down at him with confusion and curiosity.

  His shoulder hurt in rhythmic pulses of pain. His head felt heavy and he felt beads of sweat on his forehead. He tried to sit up, but felt dizzy and flopped back down.

  The hive mind made a disapproving click and vanished from view. Nathaniel closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, Opellius was standing over him.

  “Good, you’re alive,” Opellius said.

  “Of course I am,” Nathaniel snapped. “How did I get here?”

  “Goldman brought you here.”

  “How?”

  Opellius shook his head. “It was an amazing thing to see.” He paused, then smiled. “I’m still getting used to seeing anything.”

  “What happened?” Nathaniel asked. His voice was weak, and he felt awkward holding a conversation from his back, but movement seemed out of the question for the moment.

  “I heard a sound coming from the book, which I had placed on the floor in the main room. Then, quite suddenly, Goldman emerged with you across his back. It was impressive, truly. He retained his footing and had none of the ill effects of his previous arrival.”

  “Goldman. Interesting. He’s more formidable than I’d realized. That’s good to know.”

  “I suppose it is,” Opellius said.

  “Where is he now?” Nathaniel asked.

  “Chatting with the hive mind. He wants to go back to his world. Said there’s something important he needs to do. He simply wanted to wait until you were awake. Can you sit up?”

  “Aye.” Nathaniel forced himself to a seated position. The world spun and Opellius took him by the shoulders and guided him down to his back.

  “You’re not well, Nathaniel,” Opellius said. “You were hurt in Goldman’s world.”

  “It’s the world that hurt me,” Nathaniel insisted. “It had nothing to do with the attack.”

  “Be that as it may, your wound is not healing well at all, despite the hive mind removing the hunk of metal you had lodged in there. You have pushed your body in many different ways in recent days. You’ve experienced tremendous damage and still recovered, despite the failings of your power. You have limits, Nathaniel. As do I.”

  “I refuse to accept that. Not after everything that’s happened. I don’t have the luxury of being weak.”

  Opellius sighed. “You’re going to push yourself too far.”

  “Worry about that if it happens.” Nathaniel braced himself and sat up again. The world spun. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The spinning stopped. He got to his feet. “I am not so easily defeated, Opellius. The Authority will see that soon enough.”

  “Fine. I can see that I can’t reason with you right now. Let’s go let Goldman know that you’re among the living.”

  He led the way into the main room of his small house. Nathaniel was glad he’d pushed himself. Maybe he’d triggered something in his body, because he felt better with each passing second. Even the throbbing in his shoulder seemed a little less painful…didn’t it?

  Goldman was deep in conversation with two of the hive mind. They stood in a circle, squatting down, as Goldman traced his finger along the ground.

  “So yeah, that’s what I’m thinking,” Goldman said.

  One of the hive mind wrinkled up its face in something that almost resembled a smile. “Sulvas congming,” it said.

  “Thanks, Herman,” Goldman said. “You’re pretty congming yourself.”

  Opellius cleared his throat, and Goldman and the hive mind turned in the direction of the sound. Goldman’s eyes widened when he saw Nathaniel.

  “You’re alive!” Goldman exclaimed.

  “Why does everybody keep saying that?” Nathaniel asked. “I’m fine.”

  “Dude. No.” Goldman pointed a finger at him. “Your ass was grass, my man. I don’t know if it was the bullet wound or the portal or what, but you were barely breathing. I’ve seen more death recently than I ever fucking want to see for the rest of my life, and I can tell you that you were close.”

  Nathaniel paused. “Goldman…”

  “Yes?” Goldman smirked. “I’m waiting…”

  Nathaniel looked at the ground. “Thank you.”

  “Oh? Thank me for what?”

  “Thank you for saving me,” Nathaniel grumbled. “Though I would have survived,” he added quickly.

  Goldman held his hand to his heart. “Oh Lordy,” he said in a high-pitched voice, “I am so very moved by your display of gratitude.” He smiled. “You’re welcome, Nathaniel. You’ve saved my ass plenty. We’re nowhere close to even.”

  “Opellius said you have something planned?” Nathaniel asked.

  “Smooth segue,” Goldman laughed. “And yes, I think. But I have to go back alone.”

  “Why?”

  “I won’t be gone long, and I don’t want to risk you taking ill again. I know, I know. You’re fine. But our mission right now is here in this world. I just want to help.”

  “And if you don’t return?” Nathaniel asked. “You’re assuming you can get through the portal without me if you trigger it from this side.”

  Goldman threw up his hands. “I’m assuming all kinds of things. If I don’t return you can come after me. Deal?”

  Nathaniel thought it over. “Aye. Deal.”

  Goldman held up the journal they had rescued from the police station.

  “I want to bring you up to speed on something really quick, Nathaniel. This is my journal. The contents of it are exactly the same as the contents of the book. I have an idea though.”

  “What is it?”

  “I thought maybe I’d write some more in it and see if it changes anything. That’s my plan, anyway, but I’ve got more pressing shit to deal with.”

  “I would be very interested in the results of that experiment,” Nathaniel said.

  “Cool, you can be my lovely assistant,” Goldman said. “Okay. Do me a favor, let’s bring the book outside the house.” Goldman grabbed the book off the table and walked toward the front door. “You guys coming?”

  They stood around the book, which was open to one of the blank pages on the grass. Goldman took a deep breath.

  “Ohhhhkay. I’m going to get down on the ground and let this fucker pull me in. Once I’m gone, give the book a wide berth, okay?”

  Nathaniel watched the young man sit next to the book and hover his hand over it.

  “Goldman…” Nathaniel started.

  “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “…be well.”

  “That is the plan, Stan my man.”

  Nathaniel frowned. Goldman’s phrases were sometimes as opaque as the limited language of the hive mind.

  “Wait,” Opellius said.

  “What?” asked Goldman. “Gotta get this show on the road, boys.”

  “Take one of the hive mind. Just as a precaution.”

  “You do realize they’re gonna draw attention, right?” Goldman asked.

  “The attention is already on you,” Nathaniel said. “Just be quick.”

  “Okay. Okay.” Goldman studied the creatures that crowded around them. All seven stood clicking and muttering in hushed tones.

  “I pick Edwin,” Goldman said, pointing at one of the hive mind. “Sorry Herman, you can come along on the next inter-dimensional vacation.”

  The creature Goldman had selected knelt down next to him.

  “Fascinating,” Opellius whispered.

  “What?” Nathaniel asked.

  “The hive mind seem to understand what he’s asking.”

  “Goldman is a man of surprises,” Nathaniel said.

  Goldman and the being he called Edwin touched the surface of the book. The tendrils wrapped around both of them then pulled quickly downward, shrinking their bodies as they drew
closer and closer to the page. They were gone in seconds.

  The remaining hive mind shrieked and began turning in circles.

  “What are they doing?” Nathaniel asked.

  “Death ritual,” Opellius said. “They’ve never experienced a loss of connection with one of their own when a death wasn’t involved.” He faced the hive mind and spoke loudly. “Oteer. Sulvas. Zenen nishmer.”

  The wailing stopped. Nathaniel opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a blaring sound emanating from the book.

  “Back away!” he yelled.

  Suddenly, Goldman’s car grew from nothingness. It shot into the air as high as Nathaniel’s knees, then came back down and bounced on its wheels in the grass.

  The doors of the car opened. From one side came Goldman, a broad smile on his face. From the other emerged the hive mind called Edwin. The hive mind wore an oversized white shirt and a black hat with a large bird printed in the middle of the front.

  “Did you miss us?” Goldman asked.

  “I don’t understand,” Nathaniel said. “What happened?”

  “Simple, man,” Goldman answered. “I left my car hidden when I schlepped you back to the portal. Edwin and I just had to go get it.”

  “And the clothes?” Opellius indicated Edwin’s strange attire.

  Goldman shrugged. “The guy was hurting not being able to connect with all of his family. He saw this old crap in a window and started banging on the glass. I had to let him have it! Meant we had to run like hell to get back to the car and go through the portal, but you know, dude’s got his hat. Go birds.”

  Back inside the house, they sat on chairs carved out of tree stumps.

  “The car…how does this fit into your plan?” Nathaniel asked.

  “How far is it to your town?” Goldman asked. “The place you came from.”

  “It’s more than a town. It’s multiple towns. It’s a good distance away.”

  “That just supports what I’m getting at. It’s big and it’s far away.”

  “Goldman, we can’t get back in. You haven’t seen the wall.”

  “Nathaniel, just hear me out here. Okay?”

  Nathaniel nodded. “Aye. Go on.”

  Goldman got up and began pacing the room. “Okay. So you found another of these walled-in territories in your wanderings and you said you found a way in through a grate or something, right?”

  “It was a sealed underground entrance. I never saw anything like that in the wall I escaped over.”

  “Have you seen all of your wall?” Goldman asked.

  “Nay. No. In all my years I have only seen small sections. Being near the wall was discouraged, and the Great Ones lived in the central enclave. Not anywhere near it.”

  “Seems by design,” Opellius mused. “Does it not?”

  “It does,” Nathaniel said. “At this point there is little I wouldn’t suspect the Authority of manipulating.”

  “And the hive mind,” Goldman said. “Have they seen something like what Nathaniel described?”

  “They wouldn’t have known what they were looking at,” Opellius said.

  “So there’s my point. We need to explore the entire length of a wall that goes around multiple towns. That’s gotta be tons of miles. We need a car, and mine is charged up and ready to go. We get one shot.”

  “What do you think?” Opellius asked Nathaniel.

  “It’s good,” Nathaniel said. “It’s worth a try, Goldman, but I caution you not to get your hopes up. Those walls were not intended to let anyone in or out. Ever. Whole generations came and went within the walls.”

  “How many generations have you seen?” Goldman asked. “I mean, how old are you guys?”

  “Old,” Nathaniel said. “Date-keeping over the long term is not something that occurs in my world. I have to measure my life by the lives of the humans around me who came and went. My years number in the thousands.”

  “Jesus,” Goldman said. “That’s a long time. And your world was always like this? In your lifetime, I mean.”

  “Always. Always carefully controlled.”

  “There are penalties for those who come too close to answers,” Opellius said. “I have always believed that I was cast over the wall before I was old enough to remember, as punishment to my family. The stories say that the Great Ones could not be easily killed. So how to keep them in line?”

  “Take away their fucking baby,” Goldman said. “Unbelievable.”

  “Believe it,” Nathaniel said. “The Authority is ruthless and now we know why. They have secrets to hide.”

  “Well, let’s figure out what they’re keeping from us,” Goldman said. He raised the gun Nathaniel had fired in their escape from the jail. “You say there’s nobody left there like you and Opellius. So there’s nobody I can’t kill with this, if it comes to it?”

  “That’s correct,” Nathaniel said.

  “Good. I hope it doesn’t come to it, but I’ll be ready.”

  “I believe that,” Nathaniel said. “Thank you for standing with us, Goldman.”

  Goldman smiled. It was a genuine smile, Nathaniel thought, with none of the false enthusiasm the young man wore as a mask.

  “My pleasure, Nathaniel. We’re gonna make this right.”

  “Call me Nate,” Nathaniel said.

  19

  It didn’t take long for Nathaniel to regret the idea of riding in the car. Where it had been smooth and serene even at high speeds in Goldman’s world, the vehicle struggled with the rough terrain of undeveloped land, making for a noisy, jostling experience. He worried about the food and supplies the hive mind had stored in the back of the car.

  Several times, Nathaniel’s injured shoulder hit the side of the car, and it took significant control to not let on to Goldman how much he was hurting. The wound didn’t seem quite as bad as it had when he’d returned to consciousness, but it still made him wonder what was happening inside his body.

  They bounced along the wooded path, Goldman steering this way and that to avoid obstacles. He continued to surprise Nathaniel, who hadn’t expected much from the man once he’d realized Goldman wasn’t a sorcerer with all the answers of the universe. What he lacked in answers, Goldman made up for in resourcefulness and a willingness to accept the reality of his situation when others might have panicked or wasted time with disbelief.

  “Shit,” Goldman said, startling Nathaniel from his thoughts.

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  “The path tightens up ahead. I don’t know if we can fit through.”

  “Can you go off to the side?” Nathaniel asked.

  “I don’t think so. There’s so much tangled crap hanging down from the trees that we’d get totally stuck. I’ve already accepted that the paint job is toast but there’s just no pushing through that.”

  “Stop the car.”

  Goldman did as asked. Nathaniel opened the door, pushing against the overgrowth. He remembered these woods from his exploration after leaving Opellius the first time. They were not nearly as deep as they appeared, but the bulk of the vehicle was slowing down their progress.

  Nathaniel approached the tree that was choking off the path. It was gnarled and bent toward the road, and its long branches hung down to below the car’s roofline.

  He braced himself and pushed against the tree. It was anchored poorly on its odd angle, probably from one storm or another, and he immediately felt it starting to move. He thought he could rip it free and cast it aside, but as he pushed he felt exhaustion setting in. The sweat returned to his forehead, and now it ran down his face in tiny streams.

  “Can you move it?” Goldman called out the window. Nathaniel could hear the awe in the man’s voice, and he cursed himself for his failing powers.

  “I can get it out of the way long enough for you to pass,” Nathaniel said.

  “All right, Nate, let me know when you’re ready.”

  Nathaniel bit his lip against the pain in his shoulder and pushed with all his might. “No
w!” he called.

  The tree bent up and out of the path. Goldman started the car and passed quickly by within inches of Nathaniel’s arm. When the car had passed, Nathaniel stepped around the tree and let it go. It settled back down to almost its initial position.

  Nathaniel walked back over to the car and opened the door.

  “That was incredible,” Goldman said as Nathaniel returned to his seat.

  “It was fine,” Nathaniel said.

  “Nate. Take a fucking compliment.”

  “I…thank you.”

  They drove the next minute without speaking, the only sounds the light brushing and scraping of the branches and leaves against the car on all sides, and the repetitive thud of the wheels bouncing up and down on the uneven terrain.

  Finally, Goldman spoke, looking straight ahead. “I know you’re hurting, Nate.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You can’t bullshit a bullshitter, my man. You can still do things that are fucking unreal, like what you did back there with the tree, but it took a ton out of you. You need to rest and I’m starting to think I was a little premature in pushing us out the door right away.”

  “Rest does no good. I’m healing as we go.”

  “I’m sure you are, but you’re limited right now and there’s no way that kind of effort isn’t slowing down your recovery. And what happens if we run into your Authority while you’re in this shape?”

  “You have your weapon.”

  “Ah, but here’s the kicker…we never stopped to collect any ammo. There’s one shot left in this thing. One. Which means I get one chance to take out one enemy, and then I can’t even put a bullet in my own thick skull. We’re running into this thing half-cocked.”

  Nathaniel sighed. “We have this,” he said, and patted the book, once again returned to its enchanted wrapping.

  “That’s true. Look, I’m not trying to argue with you, Nate. I owe you my life and I’m damned sure gonna try to balance the cosmic scales before I meet my maker. I just want to go about it the right way, and I’m not convinced that a broken Great One is the best thing we can bring to this battle.”