Midnight Law

by Geanna Culbertson

  “They’re not Dorothy’s,” Eva said, eyes narrowed. “Nor are they Ozma’s or Glinda’s, even though the three of them share the magic heels like sorority sisters. Those shoes belonged to my sister Eugenia before Dorothy accidentally killed her by dropping a house on top of her. You may know her as the Wicked Witch of the East. And before that, the shoes belonged to our other long-dead sister, Braddea, the Wicked Witch of the South.”

  Glinda looked dumbstruck. “Eva, of all the things you could ask for . . . I only gave Dorothy the shoes to tick you off. You just made such a big deal over them when we found Eugenia’s body, and I was angry about how many villages you’d set fire to recently—it was a vindictive act.” She shook her head. “But after all this time, they’re still that big of a deal to you? They can’t even teleport people home anymore.”

  “It’s not about the enchantment, Glinda. While you were off being a goody-goody and turned your back on us because of our Pure Magic Disease, Braddea, Eugenia, and I were a family. We found those shoes and made a pact to share them. When Braddea died in that lion attack, the shoes became Eugenia’s. After she was murdered, the shoes should’ve been mine, but you took them from me. During all that time I was married to Julian, I patiently waited for the right time to get my hands on them, but Ozma and Dorothy were always wearing them on adventures.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to get them back.”

  “I . . . I don’t know what to say. I had no idea that sentiment mattered to you.” Glinda swallowed and nodded once. “If you swear that you’ll give Daniel the flame, you can have the shoes in exchange.”

  “I swear,” Eva said. “Those shoes are all I’ve wanted for years. Why else would I have stalked Dorothy across Oz all those years ago if they weren’t so important to me?”

  Glinda stepped out of the heels, walked over to Eva, and held out the silver slippers. The two sisters eyed each other carefully. Then Glinda put the shoes on the ground.

  Eva raised the hand that held my flame and made a curt motion with her wrist. The bundle of green energy flew at me speedily, and out of reflex I held out my hand. The flame stopped and hovered in front of my palm. Fascinated, I moved my hand and the flame followed. I took out my pocket watch and touched it to the flame. The magical energy got sucked into the watch like steam from a pot going into the ventilation hood of a stovetop.

  When it did, a single word in matching green shone over the face of the clock: “Patience.” It disappeared and a quarter of the clock remained green and glowing.

  Huh. I guess I’d fulfilled the first of four challenges?

  Wait, no. If we’d passed the test associated with this flame another portal would’ve appeared to lead us to the next one. There was still more for us to do here.

  The exchange complete, Glinda returned to our group as Eva slipped out of her black pumps and put her right foot in the silver and ruby slipper.

  I felt something subterranean churn inside of me, like how lightning warns that thunder is coming. I glanced over at SJ. Her expression told me she felt the same way, but neither of us found enough of a reason to voice a protest. They were shoes. Shoes belonging to two dead Pure Magic witches. They couldn’t even teleport the wearer home anymore.

  Eva put her left foot in the second slipper and smiled, hands on her hips as she marveled at the shoes. “Well now there’s only one thing missing.” She pulled a long, sharp silver pin from her half ponytail, which she curtly struck across her palm, cutting it deeply.

  “What are you doing?” Julian asked in shock.

  “Collecting my family inheritance,” Eva replied. She tucked the accessory back in her hair then rubbed her hands together so blood covered both palms. Then she snapped her fingers and her hands lit up with flames as her body lightly glowed with silver energy. Her fire power had never looked creepier. Eva bent down and touched the ruby bows on both slippers. As soon as she did, the ruby bows glowed brightly.

  Eva straightened up and looked straight at Glinda and Julian. “Now then.”

  She stomped her right foot. When the heel hit the ground, an enormous crevice ripped apart the ground between us—creating a giant split. That fissure grew so fast we barely had time to run and dive to the side to avoid falling in.

  “Help!”

  Mauvrey had fallen through the crack and now clung to some rock a couple feet below the edge.

  WHOA!

  I stumbled as Eva’s heel sent another widening fissure at us. Kai knocked into me and we tried to steady each other. The flying monkeys in the area flew away, screeching in panic. Glinda lit up with silver energy and projected a force field over the new split in the ground to create a magic floor. She started to race toward Eva, but the witch stomped her left foot this time and a tornado sprouted from the ground that grew from the size of a flower to the size of a gardening shed as it whirled toward Glinda. It whisked our ally off her feet and threw her to the side.

  A shadow suddenly fell over the area. Julian had magically summoned enough water from the river to create a miniature lake over Eva’s head. He released his magical hold on it. The water came splashing down, but Eva—faster than it fell—spread her arms and an enormous dome of fire formed above her. The result was a massive explosion of steam that blinded all of us. When it cleared, Eva stood dry and smug.

  “Honestly, Julian. All those years studying advanced magic and you forgot the most basic, fundamental rule to our entire dimension—magic can never be destroyed; it can only change forms or change hands.”

  “The shoes are magic,” SJ gasped. She picked herself up from the ground and addressed Eva directly. “Your sisters had powerful Pure Magic. When they died, their power had to go somewhere. It went into the shoes.”

  “Exactly.” Eva nodded. “The shoes have a magic blood lock on them designed to keep our Pure Magic powers dormant unless activated by me or one of my sisters.”

  “But there’s a loophole to the fundamental rule of magic,” Julian protested. “The Pure Waters of Paradise nullify enchantment. That’s how the shoes lost their teleportation abilities. That’s how you lost your Pure Magic.”

  “And yet I still retain normal magic,” Eva responded. “Apparently Pure Magic is too strong for even the biggest magical loophole. It lessened my power, as it lessened the power of these shoes, but both are still there. Now with Eugenia’s tornado magic and Braddea’s earthquake magic, combined with my fire magic, I am going to be the most powerful natural disaster this world has ever seen. Oz and the Emerald City won’t know what hit them.”

  Eva stomped her right foot three times, sending fissures branching toward us. My friends and I were thrown to the ground. A huge fireball shot at Julian. Glinda rushed forward to shield them both with a force field. Eva sent a trio of tornadoes spinning toward them immediately after that. Distracted, they couldn’t help us. More earthquakes kept Kai, SJ, and I from getting back to our feet and helping them.

  Eva strode between the cracks, fire flowing from her fingertips. She lifted a hand aimed at us. Suddenly, her entire body surged with electricity. Only then did I see the two wires wrapped around her leg and Mauvrey, stunned, a few feet behind her. Mauvrey yanked on the wires roughly, causing Eva to face plant, then she summoned the wires back to her glove.

  It was a good shot. Unfortunately, Eva was resilient. Shimmering with silver energy, she leapt up as Kai and I did. We both drew our swords, but neither of us could get close enough to use them before the witch spread her arms and shot fire out of both hands. One burst went for us and the other for Mauvrey. I grabbed Kai by the arm and whirled her out of the way, shielding her with my body just in case. The heat of the fire whooshed past me, but didn’t hit. Mauvrey had thrust herself to the ground to scarcely avoid being incinerated too, but her fireball impacted the close by canyon wall and the explosion violently thrust her sideways, causing her to roll across the dirt.

  BOOM!

  SJ was up and in attack mode. Eva evaded the wrath of the f
irst explosion potion—which left a smoking crater where it impacted—but the second and third hit the ground near enough to blast the witch off her feet. Then SJ launched a portable potion I’d never seen. The tornado it created picked Eva up and swirled her around like a doll caught in a freak storm. A perfect taste of the witch’s own medicine.

  The tornado dispersed and Eva landed on the canyon floor, ten feet from one of the fissures. I panicked when the woman’s body glowed silver again, but then I noticed Kai shining beside me. She was using her powers.

  Kai raised her hand and the witch levitated above the ground. Kai curtly waved her hand sideways and Eva sailed toward the crack. The moment Eva floated over it, the energy extinguished around her and my girlfriend. Kai meant to mercilessly drop Eva to her doom. Eva was about to fall through the fissure when her right shoe glowed and the earth snapped shut.

  Glinda came closer and launched magical force field slices at her sister. However Eva, who clearly had as much grit as evilness, jumped to her feet and formed tornados to redirect those force fields. My friends weren’t deterred. SJ ran forward and launched potion after potion. Julian summoned punches of water that came crashing down. Despite Eva’s best efforts, it looked like she was on her last legs as her counterattacks and dodges came more slowly.

  A distance away, Mauvrey struggled to her feet. I jogged over to help her, Kai on my tail, as Julian roused an assault of water that collided with Eva and sent her tumbling over the dirt. The witch was on her hands and knees panting when I reached Mauvrey. Then both of Eva’s shoes glowed bright red and flames came off her body like she was a sun resurrecting itself.

  Oh no.

  What followed was a violent, head-shattering combo of flaming tornadoes erupting from a dozen new crevices that opened as the whole area shook like a high-level earthquake.

  For a moment I lost track of everything and everyone in the array of swirling wind and fire and shaking ground.

  I turned and saw a flaming tornado headed for Kai. “Look out!” I pushed her aside. The tornado rammed into me instead and flung me across the canyon. I hit the dirt with a grunt several blurry seconds later. Staggering to my feet, I realized my sword had escaped my grip. I’d found the sword in Camelot and it had a weird enchantment that made it return to me sooner or later, but I couldn’t wait for that. A sword wasn’t going to help in this kind of fight anyway.

  I spotted SJ lying on the ground a few feet away. I scrambled over to make sure she was okay. There wasn’t any visible blood, and her pulse felt strong. She was only knocked out. Her slingshot remained clutched in one of her hands, and I found a sparkling, black portable potion in the other.

  Black? Which potion is black?

  Realm Tearer. Now I remembered. SJ used these to tear holes in dimensions and create wormholes to the Portalscape. The catch was that someone with magic had to activate them. Pure Magic specifically. If other magic activated Realm Tearers, the wormholes they produced were supposedly unstable to the point that they could shred anyone who went through them.

  I glanced around at the mayhem. Fire, tornadoes, and steam clogged much of the area, interspersed with glowing silver figures—Eva, Glinda, and Julian battling. Eva was easy to spot among the special effects because of the fire she generated. I took the potion from SJ’s hand.

  “What is the plan?”

  I whirled around in surprise. Mauvrey was crouched next to me, looking only slightly worse for wear. I stood up hastily as did she in response.

  “You’re okay,” I said.

  “You said not to be a damsel in distress. How can I help?”

  “Uh.” I glanced around. “Can you electrocute Eva one more time? I need her distracted when I get close enough.”

  “You got it.”

  “Please don’t get killed.”

  Hesitation crossed Mauvrey’s face. And fear. She swallowed and nodded. “You got it.”

  Mauvrey took a breath then charged into the fray. I wasn’t sure if she was actually starting to build courage and confidence, or if she was doing a “fake it ’til you make it” play, but for someone who’d never controlled her own body in real combat, I appreciated the effort. Especially with SJ out of commission and Kai—Oh, crud where is Kai?

  I looked around but didn’t see her anywhere through the tornadoes and steam. My heart tugged, feeling the desire to put her first, but I couldn’t do that right now. I forced myself to prioritize the greater good. We had to stop Eva and I had to trust Kai was okay.

  Mauvrey had picked a good path and was hopping over crevices before they widened and dodging tornadoes with stealth. I circled around and headed toward Eva as well, but from another angle. I wanted to surprise the witch from behind when Mauvrey electrocuted her. Which was about to happen.

  Julian launched a punch of water. Eva sent a rush of fire to counteract it. Glinda shouted, harnessing her most powerful attack yet to create a huge shimmering force field that she hurled toward Eva. The witch couldn’t block it in time and dove sideways—in Mauvrey’s direction. As Eva got up, the princess fired a set of wires, which wrapped around Eva’s arm and sent surges of electricity through her body that caused her to collapse again. My opening.

  Mauvrey called back the wires and then bolted as Eva rose and sent fire after her. I sped closer, Eva’s back to me until suddenly it wasn’t. She twisted around and thrust a fireball in my direction. I ducked and spun on my heel to sweep her legs out from under her. Regrettably, Eva leapt over my leg and, as I rose, stomped her foot. The earth shook so hard I fell on my back. Eva pulled the long, dagger-like pin from her hair and lunged down toward my face. I reached up to block her strike with my left arm. She blazed with silver magical energy, but before she could act, my right hand shot out and shoved the black portable potion into the witch’s mouth.

  Eva was so surprised that her ordinarily rapid reflexes faltered and I punched her in the jaw. She fell to the side. I hastened to sit up as she choked on the ground next to me. Bright light started to pour out of her mouth. I’d shattered the Realm Tearer potion inside of her.

  Silver energy shot out of Eva’s nostrils, ears, and eyes—growing brighter until a shining wormhole tersely burst open in the middle of her stomach, continuing to spiral out as it grew. I hurriedly scooched back as the magic expanded, consuming Eva’s body until she disappeared completely within it. Just like that the witch was gone. All that was left was a silver wormhole.

  I sat there breathing heavily and eyeing the wormhole. Eva was so powerful I sort of expected her to crawl out, but nothing happened. I wasn’t sure if I’d killed her, or sent her to another realm, or if the magic of SJ’s potion had done something else to her, but she didn’t seem to be coming back. Glinda drifted toward me as I got up; she looked exhausted and battered. We both stood there in stunned silence a moment, staring at the wormhole.

  “I’m so sorry, Daniel.” She shook her head dejectedly. “I should have known better. I was stupid to simply hand the shoes over to Eva without questioning it more.”

  “It’s not your fault,” I said. “Eva was shrewd. She waited for years to get those shoes back. She didn’t rush or act on what she wanted until the right moment presented itself.”

  The silver wormhole snapped closed and I nodded. “The best betrayals and most tactful villains are patient. That way even smart people, even the people who know them the most, don’t see them coming.”

  Suddenly another portal opened beside me. A green one.

  tranded in the middle of the ocean in the middle of the night—Silly, universe: did you really think that was a challenge for me?

  The stars were out, there were no clouds, and the moon shone bright. Jason, Girtha, and I stood on a tiny sandbar surrounded by the sea. When Chance stepped through the green portal after us, the magical tear in space and time vanished. However, I noticed nearby an area of the water was glowing green, even as the waves sloshed.

  Jason checked his Hole Tracker. “We’re still in Book. About eighty miles
off the coast of Adelaide.” He powered off the device. “Some sort of green light trail is supposed to direct us to the flame. I think that glowing in the waves means the trail goes underwater.”

  “Agreed,” Girtha said. “But I’m not sure how we’re supposed to follow it.”

  “Hold on.” I took off my backpack and started rummaging through it. “I’m so good at questing it’s crazy.” I pulled a plastic sandwich container from my backpack and turned to Jason. “You remember our first quest?” I opened the container and showed him the candy inside.

  He smiled in surprise and pivoted toward the others. “On our quest to find the Author, we got this magic saltwater taffy from the Valley of Edible Enchantments.”

  “The awful place where my older siblings almost got cooked alive by a witch in a gingerbread house?” Girtha said.

  “We didn’t stay for dinner,” Jason replied. “But this taffy we got from the witch lets you breathe and talk underwater. It works great.” He looked at me. “I can’t believe you saved our leftovers, Blue. You never said anything about it.”

  “Sometimes I like to keep things to myself.” I shrugged. “Anyway, we can eat this stuff and dive right in.” I glanced at Chance, who seemed way too hesitant for my taste. “That is, if our Midnight Law hero isn’t opposed to water travel . . .”

  It was a good thing I was here. Chance had enacted Midnight Law, but I sure as heck wasn’t going to leave Crisa’s fate up to a prissy prince who’d been on, like, one quest before this. If we only had twenty-four hours of Book time to find my best friend, I was going to push this guy along and make sure he made the right choices at every possible turn. Maybe I didn’t have a magical pocket watch to guide my way, but I had the experience and gumption to drive this quest where it needed to go. Chance did not.

  “What about our things?” Chance asked, gesturing to our backpacks.

  “I don’t have anything in here to protect them,” I said. “Our Mark Two compact mirrors are waterproof. Most other things will dry.”