Wizard Hall Chronicles Box Set

by Sheryl Steines

  Annie tried again. “And he gave you no indication as to why?”

  “No, Ms. Pearce. He did not. I would ask him, but he is gone, and I do not know where he is or when he plans on returning. He transferred the store to you. I have the rest of the paperwork in my possession. The building and land belong to you as well.”

  “I accidentally found the note. When was he planning on telling me?”

  “Actually, I was instructed to personally bring the letter to you today. As you found his note now, I will forward this via the magical mail network to you at Wizard Hall. You will have the complete documentation today.”

  “Okay. Thank you, sir. I appreciate your help,” Annie said and hung up. “That was useless. Can you get me back to the store? With the Fraternitatem watching me, I’m not sure I can get there safely.”

  “No. We’ll go back and see what he’s hiding for you. Why he couldn’t have just given you whatever it was six months ago, before the black market crashed, is beyond me,” Lial said in a huff.

  “He’s watching us and laughing,” Annie surmised.

  “I don’t think so. He knows more about the Fraternitatem than he’s ever let on. He’s been dishing information out carefully. He was watched, too,” Spencer suggested. “He’s in trouble, but I have a feeling he’s got a plan.”

  “They took away my access to information,” Annie said. She rolled the rubber ball in her hand.

  “We’ll go. He left you the store for a reason. Your hypothesis that he’s hiding a portal might not be so farfetched,” Spencer said.

  She watched Spencer and Lial leave for the Snake Head Letters.

  *

  Spencer and Lial exited the alley and strolled to the Snake Head Letters. As they walked, they surveyed both sides of the street; if any members of the Fraternitatem were still there, they were well hidden.

  The door to Annie’s new store was unlocked. The glass had been smashed and scattered across the floor.

  “Almost can’t tell the difference,” Lial said as his shoes crunched against the glass. The store on a good day was almost as messy and disorganized.

  Spencer turned on his flashlight and scoured the main floor, searching for the unmistakable signs of a portal or anything out of the ordinary.

  Lial walked the aisles with a crystal, capturing the magic contained in the small bookstore. Colors spun from white to beige to purple and black. Most of the magical signatures he captured were old, barely registering as magic. He walked one aisle, turned, walked back toward the main aisle, and repeated the process again until he had covered the entire floor.

  After scanning the front of the store, they examined the cashier desk, the shelves with the store records, the cash register, and the wall and corner behind the desk. When they finished, Lial and Spencer entered Mortimer’s office and closed the door behind them.

  “What a slob,” Lial said as he sat down at the desk and began rummaging through the files and paperwork.

  Spencer opened the first drawer of the filing cabinet and perused years of folders, stuffed so tightly he could barely stick a finger in to pull one out. He pushed the drawer shut and opened the next, which was not as crowded and easier to search. At the back of the drawer, he discovered several files on all the wizard guards.

  “Huh. He’s got files on all of us.” Spencer continued through the files, finding the largest one, labeled with Annie’s name. He pulled it out and dropped it on the already chaotic desk.

  Lial pulled it open and his jaw fell. “He’s been keeping track of her for years.” He held up a copy of Annie’s birth certificate.

  They split the pile and quickly scanned the pages.

  “The prophecy, the coven,” Spencer said.

  “He was in the business of knowledge,” Lial responded.

  “And he knew she was important.” Spencer held up the Mortimer family tree. “He’s related to Callum Wortham from the original coven. I wonder if Annie, Gibbs, and Brite met him.”

  “We’ll have to ask. Until then, I’m not seeing why he left her the store,” Lial said.

  They continued to scan the horrendous pile of documents. “Actually, here. According to this, this location was chosen because of its magical properties. There’s been a Mortimer business or house on this property for centuries.” Lial pulled out the original deed to the land. He continued reading. “Uh… huh. That can’t be right.”

  “What?” Spencer asked.

  “The magical properties are due to the fact that this is supposedly the location where the portal was closed on the Day of First Sun,” Lial said. “Annie found ‘September 1’ circled in Rathbone’s book.”

  “I thought the portal was in Chicago,” Spencer grumbled as he read through the notes.

  “Chicago’s across the street. But it does mean we assumed it was about fifteen miles down the road,” Lial said as he pulled out additional pages. “This store’s been in his family for years. If this really is the location of that original portal, Annie’s joke about hiding a portal could be true.”

  “Is there a basement here?” Spencer didn’t wait for an answer before he exited the office. He shined his flashlight on the walls, searching behind the heavy bookshelves and behind the cash register. He tapped the wall below the staircase and heard a hollow thud. He glanced at Lial. The two began tapping at the wall in search of a handle.

  “Got it!” Spencer pulled a thin latch and the wallboard gave way. It led to a narrow, short staircase; both guards slipped inside and closed the door behind them.

  They found themselves in a room approximately ten feet by ten feet with dirt walls and a dirt floor. Their flashlights illuminated the walls, the floor, and the air around them as they searched for any odd magical energy. They walked the perimeter and paced back and forth, feeling for cool air, listening for buzzing of magical energy.

  Lial stopped at the direct center of the room. “It’s here. It’s strong and ice cold.”

  Spencer maneuvered a crystal around the chill. In the dim flashlight, they could see the outline of the magical energy. “It’s definitely here.” He showed Lial his crystal.

  “If you believe in the story of the Day of First Sun, the portal opened to another dimension. When it was closed, it kept any other demons and evil things from entering the earth. So if we open it again, what do we risk coming out of it?” Lial asked. He touched the portal and shivered from the cold.

  “Remember, that portal was closed permanently, though. All that would be left would be the energy—energy that’s trapped inside this small room. It might not open to the other world, but maybe the Mortimer family was charged with protecting the energy,” Spencer said. “The longer I stand here, the dizzier I get.” He stepped away. As he did, he pulled some of the magical energy from the portal into his crystal and stared at it. “If this is from the Day of First Sun, it doesn’t appear that old.” He handed Lial the crystal.

  Lial looked inside the crystal. “What if it’s not ‘normal’ magic? Like the magic Annie has inside of her?”

  Spencer glanced at Lial and shined his flashlight on the magic. It hung in the air as a hazy film and shimmered. “I see a portal. They kept it available to be accessed,” Spencer murmured. “Why?”

  “Do we dare?” Lial asked.

  “Just get ready with magic in case something flies out.” Spencer summoned his cursed athame and pierced the portal. It opened with a gust of violent wind. The air spiraled, forming a tornado. Air blew across the room, kicking up dirt and swirling it into a cone. It battered against their legs as they moved to look inside the portal. “What the hell?” Spencer stepped closer. The air battered against him; Lial hung on to him as he, too, stared inside.

  A dragon limped across their field of vision. People walked past; one glanced at them, a quizzical look on their face. Spencer pierced the portal and it fell silent.

  “Was that a market?” Lial asked.

  “Looks like a market,” Spencer said.

  “If that’s a por
tal to the market, that would explain how Mortimer remained hidden and kept tabs on everyone,” Lial said.

  “But what use would that be to Annie though? And why is this the only thing created from the powerful magic that’s supposed to be here?” Spencer asked. “It’s a little anticlimactic.”

  “It still doesn’t make sense that this would be the fourth portal,” Lial said.

  Spencer shook his head vehemently. “Rathbone, Mortimer, and Sturtagaard led her. I can’t believe it’s for a portal to the market. Especially when there are three other portals out there.” He stared at the hazy anomaly in the air and reached for it, jamming his cursed athame back inside. Air whipped across him, blowing back his hair, rustling his clothes. He glanced inside. “Whoa.”

  Lial looked inside, his eyes widened in surprise. “One portal, multiple locations. How the hell does that work? And is this what I think it is?”

  They stared inside the main cavern of the Cave of Ages; the blue shimmer of the walls lit their faces. When they heard voices growing louder, Spencer thrust the knife through the portal again, closing it.

  “Now that’s worth protecting,” he said, amazed.

  “How does it work?” Lial asked as he reviewed the magic of the portal with his crystal.

  Spencer glanced at his athame and pierced the portal again. This time it opened to the courtyard of their own Wizard Hall. They watched several members of the hospital staff smoking outside the front door.

  “Now we just need to determine how to get to the location I want to get to,” Spencer said as he closed the portal.

  “Maybe we need something from that portal. A brick from Wizard Hall, dirt from the black market, something like that?” Lial suggested.

  “I didn’t have anything for the Cave of Ages, Wizard Hall, or the market,” Spencer said. He reached out and touched the portal, which felt icy and filled with dread.

  “Whatever that is, we need to figure out how to use it, because that’s a game changer,” Lial said.

  Chapter 30

  Spencer returned to Wizard Hall nearly giddy and didn’t bother to knock on Annie’s cubicle; rather, he sat across from her and smirked a quirky grin that left her confused.

  “What?” she asked.

  “He left you a magical portal.”

  With raised eyebrows, Annie said, “That’s hilarious. Where does it go to, Neverland?” She didn’t understand his unusual emotion or what he meant by a magical portal, because all portals consisted of magic. Even Lial, who took up a place in the second chair, was laughing in a childlike manner.

  “I’m not sure if it goes to Neverland. We’ll have to check. But that’s not the point. Mortimer left you something amazing.” Spencer handed her his phone, a photo on the screen.

  She squinted as she looked at the dim photo. All she could see was a small, dark basement. “Okay… what is it?”

  Spencer’s grin widened. “That’s a portal. Mortimer is hiding it in a secret basement. And it is a game changer!”

  Annie frowned. “Okay. What does it do?” She pushed aside her case folder, curiosity getting the better of her.

  “The portal opened to the main market. I closed it and reopened to the Cave of Ages. Annie, it opened to Wizard Hall.” Spencer said, excitement pouring from his voice.

  Annie looked at him. “A two-way portal?”

  “We don’t know yet,” Lial answered.

  “But the portal opened to the Cave of Ages?” she asked.

  “Yes, it did,” Spencer said, still smiling.

  “How is that possible?” she asked.

  Spencer explained how the magical energy housed in the building was supposedly the true location of the portal from the Day of First Sun story. She glanced at him doubtfully and picked up the folder Lial tossed to her. Her name was scrawled across the cover.

  “To sum up, the property has been in the Mortimer family for a very long time and they’ve been protecting the magical energy in this basement. By the way, the family dates back to the original coven through a man named Callum Wortham.”

  Annie grimaced at the name. “Callum, to say the least, was rather difficult. Along with the rest of the coven, he made everything more difficult than necessary.” She stared at the family tree, at Mortimer’s connection to the coven. “It shouldn’t be a surprise; everyone knew the Mortimer family was an old one,” Annie said. She read the name of Callum’s wife. It sounded more like an old Norse name than an English one.

  I wonder if he married a Viking?

  “How long has the family had the land?” She pulled up more papers, scanning the data quickly.

  Lial handed her the deed. “Long enough for them to know they owned hallowed land,” he explained.

  Annie held her breath. “That’s not possible, is it?” She reviewed the copy of the prophecy, the deed to the building, the names and contact information in the folder. “Knowing this was coming, why did Mortimer wait so long to tell me?” she asked.

  “Can only figure he was being watched, too. He probably had to dole it out slowly and in secret. But that’s what he left you,” Spencer said.

  “I take back every nasty thing I have ever said or thought about that bastard,” Annie said.

  “In the meantime, we need to get you there without being discovered,” said Spencer.

  Annie nodded. “Keep this our little secret. I think this might help us greatly.”

  *

  The library was busy, with employees and visitors wandering the stacks in search of books, scrolls, or other items. Annie and Lial shared a table in a far corner where she stared at the assortment of maps he had laid across the large table.

  “I wonder if we could create a two-way portal with the magic,” Lial pondered.

  “We should probably learn how to reach the location of our choice first.” Annie stared at the places on the maps where sticky notes highlighted several locations.

  “Just you wait until you see it,” Lial said. He continued to sort through the maps, finally pulling a scroll from the year 1640 and laying it across the others. “We were always taught that the Day of First Sun portal was in Chicago, as marked here. But according to this other map…” He pulled up a second map, this one from 1750, with a sticky note on a very specific location. “Here we see the magical energy in the Snake Head Letters, which is on Howard Street. Not too far off, as Howard Street borders Evanston and Chicago.”

  Annie stared at both maps and nodded. “The maps aren’t an exact match. It could be a variance of about ten to fifteen miles, which would place the portal in the correct location at the store.”

  “It’s really not a lot if you consider the circumference of Earth.”

  Annie drummed her fingers against the table. “The portal magic is different. You’d think it would be strong enough to feel it. I’ve never felt anything but disgust in the store. No humming, buzzing, weird magic,” she said.

  “If he was protecting it, there could be wards surrounding the building or inside the premises. It’s a magic shop, so we might not have noticed. And besides, there’s so much shit in there. Who knows what’s on the walls or on the floor.”

  “Fair enough. So we have the maps to corroborate the portal. Then who created the port—” Annie stopped as a thought occurred to her. She pulled out Bega’s Book of Shadows.

  “What are you thinking?”

  “My family, Mortimer’s family, the Donaldsons, we all trace back to the ninth century. This is from my family member in that early coven. They made sure to pass down everything they could because they knew I got the power to fight a strong evil. They knew we would grow strong and survive. They saw an opportunity to assist, maybe?” She held up the Book of Shadows and opened it. As she had the more modern version at her house, she started with the end and worked her way backwards.

  The portal!

  “Well?” Lial asked expectantly.

  Annie passed him the book. As Lial read the directions, he smiled.

  “Archibald M
ortimer gave me the best possible gift I could receive right now,” Annie said. “I hope he got out. He said he was going to leave through the bathroom window. Has anyone heard anything?”

  Lial shook his head. “We have people looking out for him, but nothing yet.” He rolled up the two maps and handed them to her as he cleared the rest of the papers. “He knew it was coming and had a plan. If he made it, we’ll find him. In the meantime, I’ll meet you upstairs.”

  When Annie left, she took the maps with her and headed to Mrs. Cuttlebrink’s desk.

  “Find what you needed, Annie, dear?” Mrs. Cuttlebrink asked as she helped Annie check out the maps.

  “I think so, Mrs. Cuttlebrink. I’ll have these back to you this week,” Annie answered.

  “I hope that smile is for something really good.”

  “I think I was just handed a solution to a very complicated problem.”

  *

  When Annie returned to her desk, she saw a note. Conference room, it said. She walked over and saw that Cham, Milo, and Spencer were waiting.

  “What’s up?” she asked as she placed the maps in front of them.

  “Find something?” Spencer asked.

  “Yes.” Annie took her seat, just as Lial entered.

  Cham flicked his wrist and closed the door. “Quickly. Eddy and Isaak have been watching Gloriana. So far, nothing. The night team also reported no activity. I’m afraid to take them off duty. Jason, Robin, and Fabien have been working the black market and managed to find the fourth portal that way. It’s in the Pacific Ocean. We’re close to closing three of them down,”

  Annie smirked.

  “Also, Brite and Shiff were pulled to help the Middle Eastern unit in assessing the location outside of the Cave of Ages. They’re at their Wizard Hall now. Spencer just told me what Mortimer left Annie. I’m not ready to share this with anyone yet, at least until we can see it and figure out how it works,” Cham said.

  “I think we found the answer,” Annie said.

  Cham turned on the television behind him and dialed the phone, calling the Middle East Wizard Hall. Shiff, Brite, and the Middle Eastern wizard guards soon appeared on the television screen. In control of the computer, they switched the screen and showed the overhead view of the area.