by Gabi Moore
“We’re right under it,” he told her. “At least according to the map. All we have to do is find the passage in the next room to our right and take it up to the next level. We’ll emerge right behind an escalator and no one should notice us this time of day. All we need to do is find the Grandmaster and then we can all go home.”
“Sounds easy enough,” Emily said to him. “All we have to do is follow your plan and it will all go smooth. Why don’t I believe it will happen the way you just outlined?”
“Because it never does,” Sean said. “One of those things you can guarantee about this quest. But I have assurance in Dion getting us through it all.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Dion said as he studied the map. He rolled it up and placed it in the jean jacket he’d worn every day. “At least we know where we are in this place. I’d hate to be forced to find my way around here without this map.”
“One thing I did want to ask you,” Emily brought up. Today she’d dressed casually in a jean skirt with sandals and a tube top under a sweater. Sean had worn his thick boots just in case they were needed.
“What’s that?” Sean said. He took Lilly’s hand and felt how nervous she was today for some reason. Why was she so quiet?
“Where do you find your way around on the map? You don’t have a compass with you, do you?”
“The map knows true north. There is a directional sigil in one corner which always tells me where to point the map so it orients correctly. Maybe someday all maps will come with one, just not from an elemental source.”
He finished his speech when the air in front of them began to swirl. Lilly jumped back and Sean grabbed Emily for protection. Dion faced the swirl and closed his eyes. He didn’t have any control over this elemental, which meant it was one of his uncle’s. It didn’t feel to be an aether elemental, which meant this was a fire spirit. In the enclosed space, this was not good as there was no source of water he could unleash on it if the thing was sent to do them harm. He found enough air slypes in the big room to blow it out if he needed to, but it was best to see what this thing wanted before he did anything else.
The swirl turned into a flame, which fused into the image of a small figure. Because it was burning, the fire creature didn’t have a steady form. This one couldn’t be a salamander; it had to be another, less powerful elemental. Dion stood his ground and decided to see what it would do before sending the sylphs against it.
“Dion Bach?” the creature spoke. “I am addressing Dion Bach?”
“You are,” he confirmed and waited. All it would take would be one command to blow it out, but too much oxygen at once on the fire had the possibility of sending it out of control. “What do you want?”
“Your uncle wanted me to tell you that he’s willing to release your parents if you transfer all your powers to him.”
So this was the reason for the small fire elemental. Dion’s uncle realized he was inside the mall and couldn’t be stopped. He was desperate to make the trade. But Dion knew that if he gave his uncle those powers, no force on Earth could stop him. He would be giving the launch codes of a nuclear missile to a mad man, someone who craved unlimited power.
“No deal,” Dion told the fire spirit. “Tell my uncle he is to release my parents at once before I will consider any further deals with him.” Dion stayed on his guard. He felt the air sylphs gather around him, ready to pounce if given the command.
“I will relay your message,” the fire being told him. The burning image slowly disappeared and was replaced by a pile of ash on the floor.
“So what was that about?” Emily asked Dion. “I was worried for a few minutes that we had a real problem on our hands.”
“It was one of the smaller elementals. They make good messengers if you can keep them from burning things down. My uncle employed that one to make me an offer. He won’t like the answer I sent, but it’s his problem, not mine.”
“He knows we’re here,” Lilly said.
“That is evident,” agreed Dion. “We simply need to figure out a way to get into the rest of the mall without drawing too much attention to ourselves. We’ll be forced to take a direct route.”
“Now that you’ve seen a fire elemental, what do you plan to use against them?” a voice called from across the room.
They turned to face the sound as a figure stepped out from behind a stack of wooden crates. They hadn’t noticed him when they entered the room, as he remained hidden when the four friends crawled up the ladder. The light was faint in that part of the room, but they could see his outline and there was no question whom it was. He was recognizable even in a set of overalls with a baseball cap stuck firmly on his head. The only thing he lacked was a toolbox in one hand.
“Hello, Edward,” Dion greeted him. “I expected to see you sometime today, just not so soon. I like the new outfit.”
“I don’t,” the little man replied. “They told me I needed to fit in better this time. I wanted my cricket uniform, but they wouldn’t let me use that one. So here I am.”
Edward was a mysterious little Englishman who appeared at various times on the quest to give and offer help. He couldn’t give them too much information and he wouldn’t do the work for them, but he was useful. He wouldn’t say where he was from, but it had to be outside their particular time circle. He wouldn’t even say who he worked for or which side he represented.
“Does this mean you’ll be around longer than you usually are?” Sean asked him.
“Regrettably so,” he told them. “They told me this was the last time I was allowed to make an appearance. I have no idea where they plan to send me next, but I hope the place has ice cream. It was the one thing I liked about this assignment. Now, do you have any idea what can neutralize a salamander?”
“One of the fire ones?” Emily asked him.
“Of course.”
“You are going to need a censer to counter them, “Edward explained. “I’m sure you will be able to find one around here someplace.”
“Censor what?” Sean asked.
“Wrong kind,” Edward explained. “I mean the kind you see the priest swing in a church.”
“I’m Baptist,” Sean said.
Edward shook his head and grumbled about Protestants and their lack of tradition. “It’s a small object which hangs from a chain that you put hot coals inside. Incense goes inside it to improve the smell of the church.”
“Oh, like an incense burner,” Sean concluded.
“You do have some idea about what I’m describing. The one you need is from the sixteenth century Island of Malta and has the ability to bind fire elemental salamanders. You need to invoke them into the censer and bind them in place or they’ll all over your house. Fire salamanders can be very dangerous as things catch on fire around them.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“The other things you’re likely to need are fire opals. The fire salamanders are attracted to them and will go out of their way to acquire one. You can’t lure them out as you did the earth elementals on the electric bull. They are a lot more difficult and will incinerate anyone who gets too close to them.”
“So how do we handle them?” Lilly questioned Edward. “If they are so dangerous, how are we supposed to get close enough to bind them?”
“You don’t handle them at all. You keep a good distance and don’t allow them to approach you. If they consume too much fuel, they’ll burn themselves out. You can starve them for oxygen and they’ll go dormant, but hard to set up that kind of condition.”
“Will they have human form?” Emily asked. “Every other elemental we’ve encountered has come to us in human form.”
“I don’t think there is any other way for them to function in the mall,” Edward said. “I’ve seen them released as balls of fire, but they tend to go out of control when that happens. They can hang onto their human form so long as the person who binds them issues the command. You can always tell they are around because the atmosphere around them
rises in temperature.”
They talked for another hour as Edward described the kinds of jewels needed to control fire elementals besides the ones he’d told them about. He told them about the risk involved in combining fire opals inside a censer and how to trap a fire elemental inside it. Only so many fire elementals could be contained inside a censer. If too many were place inside one, they could turn the wielder into a flaming torch when they were released.
Edward pulled out his pocket watch on a chain and looked at it. “Oh dear,” he observed. “Time is up, I need to go. Take care my pretties.” And then he vanished.
“Guess we learned a few things,” Sean said. “Wish he could’ve stayed around longer.”
“I hope to see him again,” Dion said. “I don’t think he has much more time he can allot to me.” Dion returned to his map. It took him a few more minutes to find an entrance into the mall.
Chapter 4
Karanzen had left the parking lot to his team and returned to his office near the clock tower in the mall. He’d been outside all morning checking the perimeter for any sign of Dion or his friends. Each of his men was issued a picture of the van and told to summon him if they even suspected it was on the lot. Officer Karanzen was finished with halfway measures. This time he intended to stop the van the moment it was near the lot and pull Dion out of it. He still had the ability to summon elementals, but Karanzen had a few tricks to keep him under control. He didn’t want to use them this late in the day when shoppers were in the lot and headed to the entrance of the mall.
But the morning was uneventful. No sign anywhere of Dion and company. If he planned to get his final ability, it had to be today, this much Karanzen knew for sure. He’d been on the phone with Seth Back, Dion’s uncle, who was very disappointed his chief of security had failed for the third time in as many days. He couldn’t afford to lose another opportunity. The big man suggested that one more slip up would be his last. Karanzen had no desire to return to living in a van or running cheap roadhouses for sleazy operators. He liked his current position and planned to keep hold of it.
“Just so you know,” Seth Bach informed him that evening. “Dion only needs to be kept away from the mall tomorrow. I have set some plans into motion which will keep him away permanently if you can keep him out tomorrow. Can you do that much?”
“Of course,” Karanzen replied. “I can do more than that. If you would allow me to involve the local cops….”
“Under no circumstances. I want him out of the way, but I don’t need anyone asking questions and snooping around my mall. Is that clear?”
“Very clear, sir. I’ll have the men all over the parking lot tomorrow morning.”
“I said no problems,” his boss cut him off. “Don’t scare the customers away from the shopping. Their money is what keeps this place open.”
“As you say. I’ll have some reason for them to be out there. We’ll tell people they’re checking for stolen property. There’s always ways to make it work.”
He heard the phone line on the other end disconnect and placed the receiver down on the cradle. Karanzen ran his hand through what was left of his hair and tried to think hard. How had that kid managed to bring the water over the parking lot yesterday with such ease? It had to come from the creek. Now this meant he had some connection with whatever lived in the creek. It would be more difficult than he cared to think about to keep him under control. Of course, if he achieved his final power tomorrow, it really wouldn’t matter to anyone.
When he went back into his office, he placed his hat down on his desk and took off his belt radio. No news yet of Dion or any of his friends around the mall. They all knew what he looked like because of the picture, but did all of his men know what to look for if any of the other kids showed up in advance? He doubted it would happen. This wasn’t some Saturday morning cartoon show where he was forced to worry about meddling kids; the stakes were real at the mall. But no sign of them yet. He hoped it would stay that way.
The phone rang and he picked it up.
“Officer Karanzen,” he spoke into the receiver. “Who do I have the pleasure of addressing?”
“This is Matt,” an all-too-familiar voice said on the other end. “Guess what? Dion and his intrepid crew are already inside the mall. Were you aware of this?”
“How could they have gotten into the mall?” he exclaimed on his end. “I’ve had men all morning checking the lot. They all have his picture. I don’t believe it!”
“It’s not a matter of what you believe. Dion is in the mall and headed to the final place he needs to go. I’ve already relieved your crack troops, but don’t worry; we have a team of replacements on their way. They should be arriving in a few minutes, but until then you better pray there’s no trouble it he mall because you’re now all the security we have. Don’t worry about your job, it’s still secure, for now. The new men will report to you as soon as they arrive. We can’t take any more chances. Sorry, but your crack team didn’t work out so well.”
“Who are these guys?” Karanzen demanded. “Are they trained to deal with mall security? Because if they aren’t you will be in worse trouble than you were with my guys. At least my guys knew the mall lay-out.”
“Don’t you worry about them. You’ll quickly see why they’re important. Just allow them to do what they’re supposed to do. They’ll take care of this damn kid and his friends.”
“You better be right. I don’t need any questions about my own status.”
“Oh, shut-up and do your job for a change.” The call ended.
Karanzen placed the receiver back on the phone and tried to concentrate. But all he could see was the Chosin Reservoir again and an endless wall of Chinese soldiers. He ran as hard as he could and heard his men yell in the distance. There was a sound of random rifle fire and all was quiet. He concentrated hard and the scene vanished and he was still back in his office.
The vestibule, which would take them into the mall, loomed before Dion and his friends. It was the final chamber they needed to enter before the door to the mall. It didn’t appear to be much on the inside. In fact, it was little more than a broom closet for the maintenance crew. But they had no clue as to what waited for them on the outside. Dion stood there in his jean jacket, in an attempt to figure out what to do next. The map had failed to show him the exact location of the Fire Grandmaster’s store. There were close to a hundred shops in this part of the mall. For all he understood, there could be a hundred security guards outside the door, each ready to beat them all to a pulp to keep him from finishing his quest. Or there might be nothing at all.
“So are we ready to go out there?” Sean asked Dion. He too had no clue as to what lay behind the door. All he was told was that the final part of the mall was outside.
Sean still had difficulty realizing this mall was like no other in the world. Yes, it was a big shopping mall with multiple anchor stores, but the mall was built over the abyss, which linked this reality with the beyond. Seth Bach, he was told, had built it to channel the tremendous energy he could harvest from the abyss. Energy that could make him more powerful than any man on the planet. Or any man in history for that matter. He’d kidnapped Dion’s parents and held them inside the tower to keep his nephew away, but his plans merely drew Dion closer. And with his multiple elemental abilities, Dion was a foe unlike any other than his uncle had encountered. Or ever would encounter.
“Almost,” Dion told him. “I have to check one final thing. Just give me a minute.”
He walked over to the wall and searched for something attached to the ceiling. Dion reached up and pulled down a small box, which was attached to the upper wall and opened it. He pulled a wire loose and set it on the ground.
“Fire sensor,” he told his friends. “It will trigger an alarm if it detects any unusual amount of heat in the room. I need to light a match to get some information and I don’t need this thing going off. Somebody remind me to reset the alarm before we leave.”
“I w
ill,” Lilly said.
“Thanks,” Dion said as he fished around in his pockets. “I hope I remembered to bring these things because if I didn’t, we may have to go back. Ah, there they are!”
Dion held up a pack of matches. They were a standard pack which could be found anywhere at any store or bar in town. “I need these to get some information.”
Dion took out one match and struck it on the strike board. The matchhead instantly ignited with the blue and yellow flame casting shadows across the dim light of the room. The flame climbed up the thin matchstick and began to crawl to Dion’s fingers.
“That’s enough!” Dion snapped at it and the fire elemental jumped off the matchstick and landed on the floor.
“I need information,” Dion said to the flame on the floor. It stood there and burned without any sign of fuel. The flame soon grew to a foot in height.
Next, the flame shaped itself into the form of a human. Since it still burned, the shape changed while they looked at it. However, it merged into the overall outline of a humanoid shape, complete with eyes and mouth. The fire on the top of it formed into hair.
“What do you need, boss?” the fire said to him. “I’m your man, just tell me what you need and I’ll run it past you.”
“How many guards outside the door?” he inquired of the flame.
“Just let me check,” the flame told him and shot to the door. It shrank in size and slipped under the door before returning to them.
“It’s groovy,” the flame announced. “Dig it man, no cops, no guards, just a hall full of squares flipping their lids.”
“Thank you,” Dion spoke to it. “And by the way, where did you learn to talk like that?”
“I was at a boutique downtown near the college. Plenty of cool cats down there.”
“One final thing I need of you,” Dion told the flame.
“Fire away, heh, heh.”
“Who is the Fire Element Grandmaster? I need to see that person.”