Robin, walking beside her, summoned a small machete. “Like this?”
Annie held her stiff hands up. “Maybe you could?”
He chuckled, stepped in front of her and began hacking at the green foliage.
“Glad you’re back to work?” Robin joked as he cut through a large swatch.
“Honestly?” Annie swatted away a large mosquito. “I needed to get back. This is a little out of the ordinary, but at least it’s 2019.” She ducked under a branch.
Robin stopped and pulled out his phone.
“How far are we?” Annie asked.
Robin swiped and checked the coordinates. “I hate to say it but we’re about a mile away. I didn’t want to teleport too closely to the portal in case we’re spotted.” He showed her the map on his screen.
“I’m with you there. I guess we just look for the telltale signs of a portal: atmospheric changes, humming, buzzing.” Annie switched on her flashlight and swept the path in front and beside her, glad she was searching for the portal with Robin. He was a good friend, the closest she had to a brother. As an adventurer, he searched the globe for magical, antique, and rare items, either at the request of wizard councils or on his own. Annie reminding him of what to look for was nothing more than foolishness.
“Not my first rodeo kiddo,” he said as he took a few steps ahead.
“Blah, blah,” Annie replied as she wiped her forehead with her arm. While it was midnight, it was the middle of summer in the South, and the heat and humidity were heavy. She smacked a mosquito on her face as they followed the overgrown path.
Robin reached for a handful of Spanish moss. “Feel that?”
Annie reached for the magically charged air. Goosebumps traveled up her arm, and the magical itching grew more intense. She grimaced and tried to refrain from scratching. Taking several steps forward, she touched the icy portal. “Got it.” The portal hung in the air, across from a large oak tree. Annie shone her light on the energy that shimmered wildly. She flashed the trees and bushes around them, searching for anyone hiding near the portal. Several footsteps pattered across the ground as animals scurried away. She turned toward the sound of a branch cracking.
“Are you okay?” Robin asked. He glanced in the direction of the footsteps.
“I thought I heard something,” Annie said.
“Probably animals feeding,” Robin said.
Annie scanned her location. Seeing nothing ominous, she pulled out her cursed knife and jammed it into the anomaly. They stepped back; air blew out at them, churning like a violent storm. Lightning struck rapidly. Annie glanced inside the portal, expecting it to burst open.
“You’re not going to break this one,” Robin said. Whether she wanted it or not, most people who worked at Wizard Hall knew about the magic tearing down the portal home.
“Still, it makes me nervous,” she admitted as she waited for the portal to react to her. When it didn’t, she glanced inside and sighed.
“It’s small. Let’s check it out and hit the next location,” Robin said. Annie nodded and stepped through, Robin following closely behind.
Tonight was Annie’s first market investigation. She had been advised that the markets were nothing more than a handful of vendors selling nothing stronger than protection potions or the ingredients to make such potions. This market consisted of three short aisles of booths. Annie and Robin strolled through the market, taking a passageway at a time and noting the stall owners; nearly all were unfamiliar to both of them. She stopped to inspect one booth and checked the wares stored in the many baskets on the table. The baskets contained nothing odd, dangerous, poisonous, or imbued with black magic.
They turned down the second aisle.
“Doesn’t look much different than my last three,” Robin commented. He followed Annie as she turned right and took the outer pathway around the smaller, quieter, and cleaner market. More than anything else, it lacked the low-hanging dust cloud that covered them with the stench of dung and the musty aroma of wild dogs, dragons, and other nefarious creatures.
“This is weird,” Annie whispered to Robin.
He walked to a booth. The owner glared at him over the United States magical newspaper, The American Sphinx. Robin perused the items and joined Annie at the end of the aisle when he finished scanning the table.
“These are real markets, and they’re popping up all over the world. There’s nothing dangerous or evil about them. You’re right, it’s weird,” Robin said.
“You can get these items at any new age shop,” Annie said. “And they’ve all been like this?”
“This is my seventh. I feel like we’re either missing something or they’re intended just for show,” he said.
Annie observed the workings of the market. “Do you think someone is hiding the real market?” she asked.
“I have tracked every market that’s been searched. I’ve saved coordinates, pictures, names of wizard guards who investigated. More leads come in every day. It feels like a wild goose chase. Yes, I’m starting to think it’s being hidden on purpose,” Robin said.
Annie turned down the final aisle, checking the stalls and noting the vendors. While the market was hidden in another plane of existence, it was still surrounded by an unnecessary cinderblock fence covered in colorful graffiti. Annie turned to examine what appeared to be small glyphs.
“Has anyone recorded the graffiti? Do you think it means something, or are there just a bunch of magical vandals roaming about?” Annie took out her phone and did a quick recording of the wall.
“Not specifically. I took pictures of the market in general,” he said. “I’ll take a look at what I have and see if any of the graffiti is odd or similar.”
She turned and took in the small market one last time. “Thanks. I don’t see anything here. Let’s hit the next stop.”
Annie and Robin exited the market through the only portal and landed themselves again on the trail between Georgia and Florida, where they teleported to the next location, an inlet in the south of Florida. Annie was surprised by the highly populated area. “Is this the right location?” she asked. Streetlamps lined the street, which looked out over a small bay.
Robin checked the coordinates again. “Yeah. It looks like we follow around this way out of the residential area.”
It was after midnight when they landed; the street was silent. Annie and Robin followed the road to a dead end and stepped onto a dirt road parallel to the narrow waterway. It led away from the residential area. Annie switched on her flashlight as they walked closer to the water.
“You’re not worried about being seen?” Robin followed.
“I’m more worried about gators,” she said as they headed toward a small bridge where two red eyes stared at them. She moved her flashlight over the drain beneath the bridge and took note of the alligator that lay half submerged in the water. “Like that one,” she said, scanning the area. Annie returned to watching the alligator, who seemed uninterested in their presence. Robin glanced at his own map.
“Head up the hill toward the left. From what it looks like, this is industrial. It should be somewhere in there,” Robin said.
They climbed the hill, leaving the alligator behind, and entered into the industrial park where several buildings sat crumbling. The road was marked with pot holes and shattered glass. Annie paced herself as she surveyed the exterior walls and ground for a shimmering anomaly.
At the crossroad, Annie and Robin took opposite directions. Annie used both her arms to feel for the portal; she stopped at the center of the road and listened for the humming and buzzing of magic.
“I found it!” Robin called out as he plunged his knife inside. Annie ran for the open portal and glanced inside. She shuddered as the whirling mass of air knocked her backwards.
“Did you see inside?” Robin asked as he helped her up.
“Looks like the last. Let’s take a quick sweep and go home,” Annie suggested as she stepped inside.
Even smaller than
the last, this market contained one row of four booths with a corrugated steel fence surrounding them. While all of the booths were jammed packed with items, there was no one tending to any stalls, no customers, no animals—no life inside whatsoever.
“It looks abandoned,” Annie said, checking the perimeter of the market. She scanned the walls and noticed same graffiti painted there. On first glance, the drawings meant nothing to her, but she took pictures and continued around the market. When she and Robin returned to the portal, she said, “I think you’re right. There’re a lot of fake markets to throw us off. Though this one almost looks like a storage unit.”
“When I mark it on my spreadsheet, I’m noting the amount of poison I found in those booths,” Robin stated as they headed to the portal and out to the industrial park.
“Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Annie said. She gave him a hug before teleporting herself home.
*
When Annie landed on her porch, the hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up. She turned cautiously and glanced inside the darkened forest behind her house. The feeling of being watched was so strong in her since she returned from the past. It was too dark in the forest; she couldn’t distinguish between shadows and silhouettes. Sighing, she entered the house where Cham was awake and working at the kitchen table, sorting through a case file. She shuffled over and sat beside him.
“Hey. Find anything?” he asked.
“More of the same. Small nonthreatening markets. The second one was abandoned and the stuff was left in the four stalls,” Annie told him. Sitting for the first time in several hours, she felt the rise of the itching and began scratching. When Cham glanced at her, she stopped momentarily, almost embarrassed by her condition.
Cham played with the folder. “I’m wondering how much longer to keep everyone on this. I’ve talked to France, Amborix, Germany, India, and Spain. Their Wizard Guard units don’t have the resources we have, so none of the European or Asian coordinates are being investigated.” He pushed the folder aside.
Annie rubbed her forearm, unable to discern between the magic and the mosquito bites.
It’s gonna be another long night.
Cham picked up her arm and looked her irritated skin. “Go take a shower, I’ll prepare more potion. It should take care of the mosquito bites, too,” he said.
“Is Zola here?” Annie asked.
“No. I haven’t seen her. I figured she was at Sami and John’s.”
“Maybe.” Annie patted his hand and took his advice, stripping off her clothes and stepping inside a hot shower. The water pelted her like small stones against her sore skin, causing her to cry out. She quickly soaped and washed her hair from outside the stream of water and stuck her head inside to rinse off. It was the fastest shower she had ever taken.
Cham waited beside the shower when she exited, offering her a towel and a sour drink of sleeping draught and itch relief.
“It’s gross,” Annie said before accepting the glass.
“Yeah, well, it seems to help a little,” Cham said.
Annie drank the liquid with a grimace and handed the empty glass to him. She dried herself off, slipped on her pajamas, and ran a toothbrush across her teeth.
Too tired to pull down the blankets, she fell on top of her comforter.
“Robin thinks the main market is being hidden by all these smaller markets.” Annie yawned.
“Is that what you think?”
“I’m not sure what to think. I’ve only seen the two of them. He’s been to seven and has seen pictures from other markets across the country. I trust his impressions.” Annie closed her eyes.
“That could be a problem. And saying that, I can’t stop the searches. Maybe everyone can do two locations a week. Any more than that and we’ll burn out.” Cham pulled the blankets around them.
“Then I can start planning the wedding,” Annie offered as she snuggled into his bare chest.
“Ah yes, the wedding. I want a big-ass cake, a large sub sandwich, and televisions to watch the game,” Cham said.
“You’re hilarious,” Annie murmured. If she had her way, they’d elope. But, as she was “related” to the Grand Marksman, she was pretty sure their wedding would be a large, formal affair like Samantha’s wedding to John had been.
“A big cake?” he asked.
“A big cake with all of your favorite flavors,” Annie said, listening to his heart against his chest.
“I know it’ll be big like Sami and John’s,” Cham said.
“Probably.” Annie rubbed his chest.
“Sub sandwiches for an appetizer?” Cham asked expectantly.
Annie looked at him. “If that’s what you want, that’s what you’ll get,” she said.
He rolled her over. She giggled as he kissed her neck, her chest. She ran her hands through his hair, kissed his cheek, bit his lip. When he entered her, she forgot the itching, the wedding, the market, and the rest of the world that wasn’t in their room.
*
Cham left early; department manager meetings with the Wizard Council were taking up his day today. Annie took her time eating, holding back the desire to call for Zola even though she was anxious to know what Zola had given up to save her life. Annie immersed herself in the most recent American Sphinx, reading the week’s news.
She glanced up when she heard the chair squeak across the floor; her father sat down with his own breakfast.
“Hi, Dad,” Annie said flatly. It had been three weeks since she returned home and conjured her father. While she accepted her responsibility in bringing him back, she was torn between taking advantage of the situation and getting to know her father again, and knowing he couldn’t stay because this was not his time. Realizing that last part, she had begun to avoid him when she could, because she knew his eventual departure would leave her as heartbroken as his death had nine years ago.
“Morning, sweetie.” If Jason felt her anxiety and the tension it brought, he didn’t mention it to Annie and acted as if it were normal to come back from the dead. “If you’re back from work early enough, I thought we could have dinner tonight.”
Annie had spent the last three weeks in the house surrounded by friends and family. She had rarely spent time alone with her father. She observed him carefully.
“Ghosts technically need food. Besides, we still have dinner together every night,” she said.
“Well, as true as that is, I enjoy eating for the sake of the food and it’s never just the two of us.” He returned her glance. “I mean, I know Cham basically lives here, but I have this feeling you’re avoiding me.” He offered her a smile, apparently trying to ease any tension. Annie placed her hand on his and sucked in air, holding it as she searched for words.
It’s not time to be cautious.
“If you were me, would you feel comfortable with your dead father eating in your kitchen?”
Jason responded to the question with a hearty laugh. “Fair enough,” he said.
“You can’t stay. You’ll have to go back to where you were.”
Jason rubbed her hand where it was still swollen. “It’s not my time.” He glanced at her. “That’s why you pulled away.”
“Yes.”
Jason stood and paced along the kitchen island. “There are two choices. We take advantage of the time I’m here, or you can ignore me.”
Annie smiled. “I’m not sure I can give my heart to you again. It nearly broke when you died.”
Jason sat beside Annie and took up her hands again. He stared at them. They were still swollen, her joints bigger than they had been. “I’m here because you need me. I am here to keep you and Sami safe. Let me be that for you. Knowing I have to leave puts you ahead of what’s to come. My memory won’t hurt you this time. It will keep you in the light and happy.”
“You understand why I hesitate, though.”
“You always did think like a wizard guard. I guess that’s why I trained you and not Sami.”
Annie had spent
her childhood as a classic “tomboy,” while Samantha had no interest in sports or the dark magic training. Annie had always enjoyed learning from her dad and spending the time with him, but she often wondered if he would have been interested in training her had she had a brother instead. She frowned at the thought and let it pass.
“I’m glad you trained me,” she said. “All that information you gave Cham and me, it helped a lot. We scored really well on the Wizard Guard test.” Reminiscing about that made Annie realize for the first time since her dad came back how nice it would have been to share her life with him.
“I heard that. He scored one point higher than you, and you scored like thirty points higher than me.” He smiled again. “I’m very proud of you. And just so you remember, I’m here because you summoned me. You did. The Fraternitatem didn’t, your mom didn’t. That means I’m linked to you.”
Annie squeezed his hand. “Sami doesn’t know to be afraid of you. To distrust this. I wanted her to be cautious. I just… It was so hard for me when you died. Do I let you in and watch you go again?”
Jason looked at his daughter with sadness in his eyes. “It’s been hard to see how life moved on without me, how much I missed, how close you are to Kathy and Ryan, as if they’re your parents. I realize I don’t belong here and I know I’ll have to leave again.” He played with his fork. “Sami sees this as a good thing. You’re just like me and you see the reality of the situation.” He chuckled lightly.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” Annie said.
“I give you permission to let me go. I’ll go willingly if you choose to un-summon me.”
Annie played with her eggs, shifting them around her plate.
“The Wizard Council agreed to let me work a few cases.” Annie glanced up at him. She knew her dad had grown anxious sitting around the house without a purpose. He believed he was here to protect his daughters.
“You’re my wild card. I need you hidden.”
Jason nodded. “I know. That was the caveat and it’s taken care of. Are you okay with that?”
“I’m not going to un-summon you, and I’m not going to tell you what to do. I just need you to stay safe. As long as the Fraternitatem doesn’t know you’re here, the better chance I have to stay alive.”
Wizard Hall Chronicles Box Set Page 140