Wizard Hall Chronicles Box Set

by Sheryl Steines

  “You look like hell,” he said.

  Annie grunted as she grabbed an end of the board. “Not now. Let’s just go,” she said.

  Brite took hold of his end and teleported them to Wizard Hall, landing just outside the front doors of the wizard hospital. Dizziness gripped Annie. As much as she didn’t want to drop Gibbs, the board slipped from her fingers as she slid to her knees.

  “Annie!” Brite screamed. He ran for the front door of the hospital. “Help! We need a doctor! I need a doctor now!”

  Emergency room staff ran outside; they instantly recognized Brite and Annie, who had both been patients on several occasions.

  “Michael! Bloody hell, Annie!” said the night nurse, Maisy Burke. She ran for Annie. “What’s the matter with her?” she asked.

  “We had to bind her powers to get back through the portal. The extra magic is affecting her.” Several orderlies brought out wheelchairs for Brite and Annie and a stretcher for Gibbs. As they attended to Gibbs, Brite said, “No. He’s… he died in the past. Please take him to the morgue and let Milo Rawley of the Wizard Guard know.” He watched, devastated, as Gibbs was gently loaded to the stretcher and pulled away to the morgue.

  “Get them inside. Call Dr. Andrews. Now!” barked Maisy Burke as she settled Annie in the chair. Annie couldn’t watch them leave with Gibbs; she turned her head and cried.

  Brite refused the wheelchair and followed after, his fingers typing on his phone: Come now! We’re at the hospital.

  Chapter 34

  The hospital bed was warm, and hard; she opened her eyes. Jason Pearce sat by the bed and watched her sleep.

  “Hi, Dad,” she said.

  “You need to rest. Those powers are strong inside of you.” He smiled and pulled the blankets up to Annie’s chin.

  “I’m not five anymore,” she said.

  “Give me a break. I haven’t cared for you in eight years.” He touched her forehead. “You’re burning up.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Your body can’t handle the extra magic. Your powers are still bound.”

  “Yeah. They did that to get me through the portal.” She looked at her father. “That could be a problem.”

  “All of those demons and vampires and evil wizards would love to know you’re defenseless. But I’m still here. They’ll have to get through me to get to you,” Jason said.

  Annie pushed herself up and sat against the hospital bed. “I don’t recognize this room.” She saw a woman at a table in the corner. Familiar red hair, creamy skin, petite and pretty. “Why’s Mom here?”

  “It’s your dream, you tell me,” Jason said.

  “I’m worried because I don’t know where she is so I keep her close with me?” Annie asked.

  “Maybe. I worry that she’s on her way to you.”

  “When are you leaving?” She observed her dad. He hadn’t aged in eight years. He still appeared youngish, no gray hair or lines on his forehead. He looked well and relaxed.

  “You’re returning to the present and dealing with the extra powers, plus this part of the world is currently a little nutty with the weather. I’ll be here, at least until you’re safe.”

  Annie looked out the window of her hospital room. It was a deluge of water as lighting flashed and the thunder rattled the windows.

  “And her?” Annie pointed to the representative of her mother. The woman hadn’t looked at them, just continued packing medical supplies in a box.

  “On one hand, she’s still your mother. She once loved you. So much so, she left to protect you. It was misguided, but that’s what she did.” He took Annie’s hands in his own, which were strong and warm and protective. “Don’t trust her. She’s been with them for nearly twenty-one years. We don’t know what they’ve told her about you or what she’s planning to do to you. I suspect they’ve brainwashed her and they know you have these powers. They’ll come after you through her.” Jason Pearce looked at his youngest daughter. “I’m always with you. And you will know how to call when you need me.”

  Reluctantly, he stood from his chair and kissed Annie on the forehead. “I love you.” He backed away, still looking at her.

  Brite hugged the wall as Dr. Christine Andrews ran from the second floor into Annie’s room. Her stethoscope bounced rapidly as she entered, she glanced at Annie quickly and back to Brite. He had resisted medical assistance and insisted on remaining by Annie’s side. In the three minutes it took for Dr. Christine to reach the ER, Annie had slipped into unconsciousness.

  “What the hell happened?” Dr. Christine asked. She opened Annie’s eyelids, but Annie was unresponsive.

  “The immediate issue is that we bound her powers to get her through the portal. Zola should be here with the potion soon,” Brite said, just above a whisper. He glanced down the hallway.

  “Annie! Annie!” Dr. Christine shouted. She checked Annie’s pulse, listened to her heart. “Why are the bound powers rendering her unconscious?” she asked him. She wiped sweat from Annie’s forehead and temples. “She’s heating up! What happened? You were gone for a day!”

  “Zola should be here…” Brite began but was interrupted by a stampede of Annie’s family.

  As expected, they had all arrived, their voices loud as they ran from the waiting room. While Cham, Samantha, Ryan, and Kathy ran down the hallway, Zola, normally graceful and docile, pushed her way ahead of them and handed Dr. Christine a vial. “Here. I would’ve been here sooner but I didn’t feel her arrive,” she said as she looked down on Annie, lying small and battered on the bed.

  “Oh, hell,” Cham said as he entered the room. He began to shake at the sight of Annie lying unconscious.

  Dr. Christine unstoppered the potion, opened Annie’s jaw, and dropped in the liquid, coaxing it down Annie’s throat.

  “What powers did she receive?” Dr. Christine asked as she examined Annie’s eyes again.

  “We don’t know the extent of it. We know it’s powerful though,” Brite said. He leaned against the back of the wheelchair and closed his eyes. “Be prepared when the magic comes back.”

  As the magic unbound, Annie’s body jerked and bounced on the bed. Her eyes flew open; they were wild and frightened as she scanned the room. She seemed confused by the bright lights and the faces watching her.

  “Annie. Annie, look at me.” Dr. Christine said. She forced Annie to focus on her face. “You’re home. You’re safe. Your powers are coming back. Do you understand me?”

  Annie focused on the doctor. Panic over took her and she cried out. Dr. Christine waved Cham inside. He sat beside Annie and took her hand.

  “Oh, man,” he murmured as he looked at her. Four days of rain and dirt covered her hair and face, her ring was dirty, her hands swollen and stiff. “Hi, babe,” he said as he pecked her lips. He touched her hair. He looked at Brite.

  “I’m sorry,” Brite murmured.

  Annie groaned as she began scratching at her arm. “It’s back,” she shrieked. “I can’t make it stop!” She held her hands to her temples. “Make it stop!”

  “What’s happening?” Cham looked at Brite.

  “As soon as the magic came in, she began itching. We need a potion or something on her skin. She’s rubbing it raw.”

  “It stopped itching when you bound the power?” Dr. Christine asked.

  “Yeah. But binding the power was making her sick. That’s why she fell unconscious,” Brite said.

  Dr. Christine touched Annie’s moist forehead. “The fever’s down considerably.” She looked at her patient. “I can give her something for the pain. I don’t know what to do for the magic.”

  Zola waved Cham away and sat beside Annie. “Hello, my brave girl.”

  “Did you figure it out?” Annie asked. She closed her eyes; the light of the ER was the brightest she’s seen in days.

  “There is no way to remove the magic,” Zola said.

  Annie grimaced, disappointed. Magic billowed from her palms. She reached for her chest and scratched.
/>   Zola held her hands. “You did change the future.”

  Annie looked at her through squinted eyes. “How? You can’t remove the magic and Gibbs is…”

  Zola looked at the expectant faces, appearing hesitant to reveal what she knew. But then she looked back at Annie, there and alive. She touched her cheek. “My dear girl. I told you in the past that lifelines are fluid. They change continually. When I learned you would be my charge, your lifeline was long and strong.” Zola stopped and met Annie’s look.

  “When did it change?” Annie asked.

  “After you left for home through the portal in the past, it shortened. Then again, quite severely, around the time the Fraternitatem learned of the prophecy. And even shorter when Emily disappeared. The coven made it so; they believed you needed to die in the past or not get back home. But you changed your future when you were there. Do you remember when?” Zola asked her.

  Annie searched Zola’s face, hoping it would reveal what Zola was trying to explain. She shook her head.

  “You were not supposed to tell me anything unless it pertained to the demons. You didn’t heed to that and gave me enough information to protect you. I sent you back with the protection spell and your way to get home because you told me too much.”

  “Gibbs died instead,” Annie said.

  Shocked, Kathy held her hand to her mouth and Ryan sat down hard in the chair.

  Cham looked at Brite. “How?” he asked.

  Brite shook his head; there would be time later.

  “He did. But he went there to protect you and he did what he set out to do: keep you alive and bring you home.” Zola offered a smile, but it did little to comfort Annie.

  “You told him,” Annie said.

  “Yes. I had eleven hundred years to figure out how to help you. I told him. He would have gone with you even if I hadn’t.”

  Annie didn’t hold back the tears. It was too overwhelming knowing she was responsible for Gibbs’s death.

  “It will get easier. But in the meantime, I can stem the flow of magic, so it won’t affect you as badly.” Zola held her hands to Annie’s head and let her fairy magic envelope her in warmth and light.

  Annie’s breathing slowed and evened out. She closed her eyes as Zola kept a light stream of magic flowing through her.

  When Zola finished she asked, “Your head?”

  “It’s better. I still itch though,” Annie said.

  “It will still itch, just not as strongly.” Zola turned to Dr. Christine. “I suggest you give her a sleeping draught for the night. She and Brite have barely slept in four days.” Zola smiled. Her eyes were green and sparkled in the harsh light of the ER—her charge was home.

  She stood and walked from the bed, letting the medics and doctors continue stabilizing Annie. When they finished, Annie and Brite were admitted to the hospital for their first good sleep in a week.

  *

  The shower Annie had before climbing into bed was the single greatest moment of her life. As mud and dirt flowed down the drain, she felt her muscles relax. She climbed from the shower, put on dry clothing, and climbed into bed. Between the heated blankets and sleeping draught, Annie didn’t open her eyes again until nine the next morning.

  “Hey, sweetie,” Kathy said when Annie woke up.

  Kathy had stayed the night watching over her, no one in the hospital could have dragged her away. Cham hadn’t left Annie’s side either; he still held her hand, now naked of her engagement ring because her hand had swelled up to twice its size. As sleep left her, she made a fist. Her fingers were stiff and swollen.

  “They’ll continue healing you when you’re stronger. Zola said she could only do so much before you came back home. You expended too much magical energy,” Cham told her.

  Annie didn’t want to think of her last hours in Jorvik; it was much too painful to remember. While they offered some healing, she just couldn’t bear the pain of it and was suffering the consequences with painful, stiff hands now. She pulled her hand from Cham and held it in her other.

  “When is Gibbs’s funeral?” Annie asked as she rubbed her fingers.

  “When you and Brite are released,” Kathy said. She touched Annie’s forehead.

  Annie fumbled with the bed controls until she was sitting upright and could examine her darkened hospital room. She pulled the blankets to her chin as she shivered. “Where is everyone?”

  “Brite is in his room with his parents and Shiff. Sami and Ryan went for food,” Cham said.

  “Dad was there with me in Jorvik,” Annie said.

  “He’s always with you,” Kathy said.

  She shook her head. “No. Not like that fake stuff we say. Every time I heard the thunder, I smelled his cologne. He… I hate this bed.” Annie fiddled with the controls again. She was uncomfortable in the hospital gown and the mattress was lumpy. She would have said it was more comfortable than the beds in the past, but all she wanted was her own. Finding a spot, she looked at Kathy. “He was there. I saw his ghost. He was translucent white and I smelled that cologne he always wore.” She smiled at the memory. “He spoke to me. It was his laugh.” She debated for a moment if she should tell them more.

  “Are you sure it wasn’t a dream?” Kathy asked, cautiously.

  “It wasn’t a dream,” Annie said.

  Cham rubbed her palm with his thumb. “What did Jason say?”

  “It’s not so much what he said. It’s what I did.” Kathy and Cham glanced at her anxiously. “It’s like I knew what to do. I don’t know how, but I waved my hand across his back, he disappeared and then he… reappeared in a corporeal form.”

  Kathy and Cham looked at her curiously. “You didn’t sleep well. You were tired. Are you sure it wasn’t a dream?” Cham asked.

  “It wasn’t.” She pulled her legs up and hugged them.

  Now that Annie was fully awake, the itch returned to her body as new powers attempted to take hold of her. She gave in to the urge to scratch, continuing when Ryan and Samantha entered.

  “The power is moving again?” Ryan asked. He placed a bag of food on the hospital table.

  Annie lay against the propped up pillow and closed her eyes. She caught a whiff of Jason’s cologne. “Yeah. I think it will be like this for a while.”

  “Annie saw Jason in the past,” Kathy said.

  “It wasn’t a dream,” Annie said.

  “Okay?” Ryan said.

  “Is Mom alive?” Samantha asked.

  Annie glanced at her sister and chuckled. “Yes. He warned me to be wary of her. He’s here now actually. I can smell his cologne.” Annie sniffed the air and thought she could feel his arm around her shoulder. She touched the spot to be sure and remembered the empty cottage, touching him, resting her head against his chest. It filled her with emotions she hadn’t expected. She wiped the tears away with her sleeve.

  “I smell him too,” Samantha murmured. Annie nodded.

  “Did he say anything else?” Ryan asked.

  It’s too soon to discuss this.

  “She’s coming for the power.” Annie scratched her left arm. “I feel it crawling under my skin.” Her voice rose a few octaves. She rubbed her legs.

  Dr. Christine entered the room. “Good morning, Annie. I think everyone needs to leave so we can do a little more healing. Okay?”

  Annie nodded and watched them reluctantly leave as she let Dr. Christine heal her broken body.

  *

  They stuffed themselves into the waiting room as Annie was being healed. Cham paced along the front wall; his mother, Marina Chamsky, attempted to soothe him with a touch to his shoulder, but he shrugged her off. Dejected, she joined his father, Don Chamsky, sitting beside Ryan, Kathy, and Zola.

  Along the back wall, Samantha sat quietly with her husband John, Cham’s older brother. Their combined hushed tones bugged Cham. He paced and stopped, then paced again, wishing he could be inside Annie’s room with her. He leaned against the wall, stared at his phone, and waited.

  C
ham’s younger brother, Danny, a medical student, exited her room.

  “Hey,” Danny said.

  “How is she?” Cham asked.

  “Restless. She still has a high fever. They think blocking the powers and having them rush back is causing her body to reject them.” Danny turned back and looked at something of interest in the room.

  “What’s wrong?” Cham asked.

  “It’s… the magic is really, really powerful.”

  Dr. Christine had been working between Brite’s room and Annie’s room all night. She was tired and pale as she exited Annie’s room and found Ryan and Kathy.

  “What happened?” Ryan asked.

  “Annie’s not great, but she’ll eventually be fine. It’ll take time for her to acclimate to the magic. The magic.” Dr. Christine laughed. “Oh, the magic. She holds up her hand and magic flies out, busts the cabinets. Electronics go blank, buzz, and flicker.”

  “So, what does that mean?” Cham asked.

  “There’s more.” Dr. Christine glanced at Danny. “She’s feeling a bit of discomfort with the hospital and the bed. She’s exhausted and weak, but she… Oh, hell. I need to show you something.” Dr. Christine returned to the room and brought out a man.

  Kathy, Ryan, and Samantha looked at him. Their eyes grew wide, Samantha cried out. Marina Chamsky said, “Oh my.”

  Jason Pearce, dead eight years, stood before his former colleagues, his friends, and his family, not as a misty ghost but as a corporeal man, pink with health.

  “Dad!” Samantha rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her father. “You’re here. Why? How?”

  Gently, Ryan pulled Samantha from Jason. “Where did you come from?” Ryan asked. Once a wizard guard, always a wizard guard; he summoned his crystal and maneuvered it over his dead best friend.

  The magic surrounding Jason Pearce was a bright, white light; he had been conjured with good magic. Ryan tossed the crystal to Cham who glanced inside, reading the magic. He drew in a breath and sent a text.

  “Dad?”

  “Sami, not yet.” Ryan warned.

  “It’s okay, Sami. I’m not sure how she did it, but Annie summoned me.” He beamed proudly.