by E. G. Foley
Then a little faster. And faster still.
Five minutes later, Jake was pouring sweat, standing up on the high-wheeler pedals, but the whole machine was now cranking. The big test tube still looked securely fastened in as it whipped around and around, as though it were a mad carnival ride of some kind.
Jake wondered if djinnis could get dizzy in their smoke forms. He certainly would if he were in the test tube.
The centrifuge was now spinning like a crazy carousel. The gears were whirring; the leather bands swept around their courses with a vibratory hum.
It got easier a bit to pedal, but Jake did not let up.
Archie was monitoring a pressure gauge, meanwhile, keeping an eye on how much force was being created. The centrifuge was now turning too fast for the inventor to touch the contraption without risking injury to his hands, so he waved Nixie back up onto the observation deck and went over to check in with Jake.
“You’re doing great, coz!” Archie said. He had to speak loudly to be heard over the whirling, creaking, and whirring of his contraption. “You feel all right?”
Panting, Jake nodded and kept riding the bicycle like he was in a race. “Is it working?”
“Looks good. But we won’t know for sure until Nixie zaps it with the lightning. Good thing she’s a weather witch, eh?”
“Lightning?” Jake exclaimed, pedaling for all he was worth.
“Of course. Spark of life, some theorize—literally.”
“Well, she better not hit me!”
“I’m not an amateur, Jake!” Nixie called down.
Archie nodded. “Don’t worry, you’re quite safe.”
Unless my legs fall off. Jake dabbed sweat off his brow with his forearm. “How much longer do I have to do this?”
“Another five minutes at the most. The machine’s own momentum should have it feeling a lot easier by now.”
Jake nodded. That was true. At least it didn’t feel like he was pedaling up the side of a mountain anymore.
“Very well. I’ve got to take my place up on the observation deck, so you just keep going, and don’t stop until I tell you. All right?”
Jake nodded. His shirt was now sticking to him with sweat, his feet burning in his shoes. But he figured he owed his cousin the favor after being such a grump for the past three months.
Archie ascended the ladder and took his place on the observation deck. Jake watched his cousin at work, as he had so many times before.
The boy genius made notations, checked a timer, watched the pressure gauge, called encouragement to Aleeyah, and then ordered Nixie to ready her wand. He held up his hand, cautioning her to wait; Nixie adjusted her goggles over her eyes, then lifted her wand.
“On my signal, Nix. We’re coming up on seven minutes now. Present rate of speed: eighty-seven miles per hour. She’s reached four g’s. Which means we are now ready for the lightning. Remember, one fast strike, and keep it under ten thousand volts. Brace yourself, Aleeyah!”
Egads, thought Jake. Eighty-seven miles per hour? Who could conceive of such a speed? But the two geniuses were throwing everything they had at the problem, and if Archie’s science alone wouldn’t be enough, now Nixie lifted her wand and began her incantations.
Dark clouds gathered up near the ceiling and began to roil. Jake warded off a shudder at the unnerving display of power and minded his own business.
Moments later, a rumble of thunder filled the lab. Nixie kept chanting, ordering the elements to gather and conform to her will.
No wonder Archie does whatever she says.
The magic-made clouds over the centrifuge were swirling in tandem with the motion of the machine. The thunder growled again; the air tingled with building pressure.
“Excellent, my dear! Steady on!” Archie said, nodding eagerly at what he was seeing. “Fire at will, Miss Valentine!”
Nixie flicked her wand with great precision and shouted, “Fulmen percusserit nunc!”
A lightning bolt crackled out of the clouds swirling over the centrifuge. Jake ducked instinctively and squinted against the flash, but he never stopped pedaling. The lightning hit the center pole, traveled down the metal sheeting to the test tube, and vanished.
The centrifuge kept whirling round and round. Nixie’s summoned clouds were already dispersing.
“Did it work?” Jake called. The test tube kept passing too fast for him to see, and trying to watch it from here was making him dizzy.
Neither Archie nor the witch answered.
Up on the observation deck, they both were watching with absorption, leaning forward and gripping the hand rail, while the breeze from the centrifuge’s motion fluttered their lab coats.
“I see her! Look!” Archie suddenly cried, pointing. “She’s beginning to materialize!”
“Should I slow down?” Jake yelled.
“No! Keep going, coz! It’s working!”
This excellent news gave Jake a renewed burst of strength. When Nixie let out a whoop, he glanced over and caught a glimpse of a blurry Aleeyah in the test tube, her hands planted against the glass, a look of shock on her face.
But she was conscious and alive…and with every wild rotation, she was coming more into focus, less smoke, more djinni.
Archie banged his palms on the railing. “By Jove, we’ve got her! Jake, I want you to slow the pedaling down. Give it some resistance. I’ll get the brake. We need to get her out of there before she pukes.”
Aleeyah looked bewildered and slightly green as she flashed by. Jake did his best to slow the pedals down while Archie zipped down the ladder.
Then the young inventor went over to the far side of the centrifuge, where he pulled a large upright lever that slid the wooden block brake against the whirling base of the machine.
Between this resistance and Jake’s determination to slow the whirring pedals of the velocipede, the boys managed to bring the centrifuge down to seventy, sixty, fifty miles an hour, which was still much too fast—faster than steam trains!
But soon, the djinni was rotating at slower speeds, forty, thirty, twenty miles an hour, and within another few minutes, the boys finally managed to bring the centrifuge to a halt.
Jake’s chest heaved and his legs felt like wet noodles. He could barely move to climb down.
Fortunately, Archie and Nixie were already on the task of freeing Aleeyah from the test tub.
Archie pulled out the stopper and cast it aside. Aleeyah lifted her hands out of the test tube. Archie and Nixie each took an arm and pulled the slim djinni spy up out of the glass container.
While Jake climbed down gingerly from the penny-farthing, his legs rubbery and sore, the two geniuses helped the reconstituted djinni down to the ground.
Aleeyah slumped onto the floor between them with a groan, holding her no-doubt still-reeling head in her hands. But they had done it.
She was back with all her parts in their proper places—even her clothes—a wispy purple top and baggy harem pants. Yes, the djinni spy was all there, Jake saw, from the vicious knife strapped to her waist, down to the tinkling silver bells she wore around her ankle.
The geniuses were making a fuss over her, crowding her.
“I say, are you all right?”
“How do you feel?”
“Give her a moment, you two.” Jake also flopped down onto the cool stone floor, stretched his quivery legs out in front of him, and strove to catch his breath.
“Ugh,” Aleeyah finally said. “Thank you all so much. It’s so good to be back.”
“How can we help you? What can we do?” Archie said.
“You must be starving. Thirsty?” Nixie asked.
“Just a little woozy.” Aleeyah was already starting to look better.
“I’m all right, too. Just in case anyone was wondering,” Jake said wryly.
Archie and Nixie ignored him, but Aleeyah looked over and stared at Jake for a moment in distraction—as though she’d just remembered something dire.
He lifted his eyebrow
s. “What is it?”
She didn’t answer.
“Help me up,” she said to the others, her ominous stare still clamped on Jake. “I must speak to the Elders this instant.”
CHAPTER 27
Fair Is Fair
Jake had no idea why Aleeyah was eyeing him with such suspicion, but he shrugged it off and joined Archie and Nixie in taking her to see the Elders. Maybe the djinni was just surprised that a blockhead like him could’ve helped the brilliant pair free her.
The two geniuses were now supporting her between them, each taking an elbow and helping her up the stairs from the basement level. Jake followed. For his part, it was all he could do to pull himself up by the banister. His leg muscles still felt wobbly from all that frantic pedaling, but he was determined to walk it off.
Moments later, they emerged from the dingy basement stairwell and arrived at the lobby, where they beheld a startling sight.
A row of the knee-high palace gnomes stood guard across the opening to the grand hallway, down which lay all of Merlin Hall’s official parliamentary chambers.
Jake’s lips twitched with laughter at the sight of them, however, for these gnomes weren’t wearing their usual little blue coats and pointy red hats.
Instead, they were dressed like tiny Beefeaters, the traditionally uniformed Yeomen Warders who kept watch at the Tower of London. Each one wore little black buckle shoes with red stockings and knee breeches, a resplendent red tunic adorned with gold and black trim, a white ruff around his neck, and a squat black hat.
One wee fellow carried a ceremonial staff and marched back and forth among the others with great pomp. He seemed to be in charge, so Archie and Nixie brought Aleeyah over to him.
Jake followed, biting the inside of his mouth to keep from laughing at the gnome in his official uniform. Dani has to see this. Carrot always said the palace gnomes were creepy, but even she would have to admit they looked kind of adorable right now, like grumpy little dolls.
Of course, she was no doubt having a fascinating first day of Lightrider training, so this was nothing by comparison.
The thought still brought a slight wince, so Jake focused on the matter at hand.
Obviously, the gnomes’ formal garb meant the magical parliament was now officially in session.
There must be a great deal for the adults to discuss, especially now that Ravyn was back to report on what she might’ve discovered during her time hiding inside the Black Fortress.
Which was a shocking feat in itself, Jake thought. He wondered how she could have possibly eluded a castle full of villains for three months. Perhaps some good information might come out of it. After all, what Red could tell the Elders was limited, and Tex probably wasn’t well enough yet to share anything he might’ve learned.
Happily, thanks to Archie’s experiment, Nixie’s brilliance, and Jake’s tired legs, the Order could now add Aleeyah to the list of those who might have useful knowledge about what the Dark Druids were really up to.
Archie explained to the gnome in charge that the djinni needed to go and see the Elders at once.
Unfortunately, the chief gnome held up his gilded staff with a pugnacious look, signaling that the governmental hallway was a no-go. Of course, he didn’t talk. They never did.
“You don’t understand,” Nixie said. “It’s an emergency! This is the djinni who was stuck in her smoke form for so long. Dr. Bradford just brought her back. At least let the Elders see that she is here!”
The gnome considered this, tilting his head back far to get a good look at Aleeyah. Then he moved his staff aside, beckoned to the djinni, and started trudging down the parliamentary hallway, as if to say, Follow me.
But since Aleeyah still needed support to walk, they had to escort her. Jake quickly ousted Nixie as the djinni’s second helper, determined to get a peek at what was going on.
“Hey!” the little witch protested.
“What? I’m just bein’ a gentleman.”
“Pfft,” she replied.
Aleeyah gave Jake another wary glance, but did not shove him away.
Nixie followed right on their heels, ignoring the couple of gnomes who hissed at her to stay back.
“You do know I am Lady Bradford’s only pupil, right?” Nixie said crisply.
At the name of the Elder witch, the gnomes stood down and let her pass. Nixie hurried after Aleeyah and the boys. As the head gnome conducted them down the opulent hallway, gilt-framed portraits of the Order’s founders stared somberly at them.
In short order, they came to the first of three pairs of heavy wooden doors spaced out along the right-hand wall. Thanks to a previous tour of the parliamentary wing that Sir Peter had taken them on one day weeks ago when they’d been bored, Jake already knew that behind those massive doors lay the oldest part of the palace: the ancient, Gothic parliamentary hall.
The gnome stopped at the first pair of doors and used all his strength to haul one open. As the crack in the door slowly widened, it revealed the back half of the hushed formal chamber under its steep, vaulted ceiling.
A small but ornate auditorium with red-carpeted aisles, the parliamentary hall sloped down toward a dais in the front, but, presently, only the back half of the chamber was visible through the crack in the door.
Jake saw tall, narrow windows of stained glass casting colored light over the tiered seats, like wooden pews with desks. About three hundred representatives from all the magical lands sat there, resplendently dressed in their parliamentary robes—like a king’s robe, only less fancy.
From centaurs to dwarves, wizards to wood elves, healers to djinnis, Greenfolk, and even a few ghosts present in their official capacity, they all sat listening intently to the speeches in progress.
At the moment, a female voice reverberated through the hall; Jake couldn’t see the speaker, but the mood in there seemed grim.
Meanwhile, the gnome finally succeeded in opening the massive door wide enough for Aleeyah to enter.
Panting with exertion, the little fellow planted himself against it to prop it ajar, then he nodded at her to go in.
The djinni turned to Archie and Nixie. “Thank you both again so much for everything. You truly are brilliant.”
“Pshaw.” Archie turned so red that his freckles nearly disappeared, and even Nixie the cynic blushed, lowering her head.
Jake smiled at the djinni, open to being thanked as well, but Aleeyah glided past him with nothing but another leery glance from the corner of her kohl-lined eyes.
What the devil? Jake thought. I had no idea she disliked me so much. What did I ever do to her?
He snorted, puzzled and indignant as Aleeyah prowled into the chamber and slid into the nearest pew. The more he thought about it, the more he was offended.
Talk about ungrateful.
Just before the gnome started closing the door, Jake spotted some empty pews in the back and took a step over the threshold.
“Excuse me,” he whispered to the gnome, “can we go in and listen to the speeches?” He assumed that any kid showing interest in learning about current events would be welcome to attend.
Archie nodded eagerly. “Oh yes, please, we’d like to observe the session, if we may.”
But the gnome hissed—vehemently—and drove Jake back the one step he’d taken over the threshold by whacking him in the shin with his staff.
“Ow!” Jake yelped, not expecting the blow.
Some nearby representatives shushed him along with Archie, but Nixie snickered as Jake reached down and clutched his shin. As if his legs hadn’t already suffered enough abuse today!
Closer to the gnome’s eyelevel as he quickly rubbed away the pain, Jake scowled at his attacker; the gnome scowled back.
“That was unnecessary. But fine.” Jake was beginning to see how that one had become the boss of the others. He seemed especially grumpy.
Meanwhile, sensing trouble, more of the tiny Beefeaters came jogging over in formation to help their sergeant shoo away al
l unauthorized persons from the parliamentary chamber.
Just before the big wooden door swung shut, however, Jake spotted Maddox sitting in one of the pews.
“Hold on—no fair!” he whispered, planting his hand stubbornly on the door to stop it from closing. “How come Maddox gets to go in there and not us? He’s not that much older than— Oof!”
The chief gnome jabbed Jake in the stomach this time, pushing him back.
Archie chortled.
“Little menace!” Jake said, amazed, but he reluctantly backed off.
Nixie stepped between the boys, peeking into the chamber. “I don’t think they let Maddox in because of his age,” she whispered. “That’s his birth mother giving the speech.”
Just before the door closed, they heard Ravyn’s final words.
“And so, ladies and gentlemen, I’m sorry to say I can now confirm that our worst suspicions are true. The Dark Druids are indeed building an army.”
All three kids gasped, and so did most of the audience, then the door closed.
At once, Jake’s curiosity was ignited. He had to know what was going on!
Alas, the whole troop of gnomes now surrounded Archie, Nixie, and Jake, hissing at them and herding them back from the door, prodding them up the hallway and out into the lobby once more.
Blast it! Jake thought in frustration.
Considering his own role in starting all this, when he’d stopped Garnock the Sorcerer from bringing himself back to life, surely he had a right to know what Ravyn had learned.
But how could he get in there? It wasn’t as though he could just kick the gnomes aside and do whatever he wanted. Aunt Ramona had made it clear that if he followed his rougher instincts, he’d never be selected for the Lightrider program.
However.
On his way back up the hallway, a few feet from the lobby, on the same wall as the parliamentary chamber, Jake noticed something he had glossed over before.
His gaze homed in on a small side hallway under a pointy stone arch; the opening to it was draped with a pair of red curtains.