“Still?” Odd cried.
“They’ve been inundated with emergencies,” Mom said. “Griffins were stranded on an island when their home was displaced. A sea monster had to be extracted from a river. There are dragon sightings up and down the borderlands . . . There’s reportedly a lot of disagreement within the Academy over how to handle the situation—politics, you know, and the weight of bureaucracy. The Academy is not as nimble as it once was.”
The unicorns nodded knowingly.
“I’m certain that as soon as the immediate crises are resolved, they’ll have a decision for us on how to proceed.” Mom smiled at all of them, and Even wondered if anyone else could tell how strained that smile was.
She doesn’t know what the Academy is going to say, or when they’re going to say it, Even realized. She’s waiting just like we are.
A terrible thought tiptoed into her mind: What if the grownups didn’t know what to do?
* * *
There was no decision by morning.
Even tried to distract herself from worrying by practicing her magic. She transformed into a rabbit, a hamster, a cat, and a panda in rapid succession, and then she levitated herself so she could pace on the ceiling. As she practiced, she thought about the fact that this magic wasn’t really hers, or wasn’t supposed to be hers. But even knowing that, it still felt like hers. It worked exactly the same as it always had.
Sitting on the floor, Odd and Jeremy were playing Farmcats. Upside down, Even walked above them before transforming into a flamingo. Her wing beats rustled their cards.
“Are you going to stop anytime soon?” Odd asked.
“As soon as this is over,” Even said, changing back to herself.
“You could play with us,” Jeremy offered. “It would pass the time.” He flipped a card over with his teeth and then scooted it forward with his horn. “Rooster wakes your Maine Coon for ten points.”
Odd laid down a card. “Interrupting with a Tractor.”
“No, thanks,” Even said. She resumed pacing the ceiling. After a while, she switched to pacing on the walls.
Mom barely came out of the conference room, and when she did, she looked so distracted and worried that Even didn’t want to ask how it was going.
Eventually, she agreed to play Farmcats, and she spent the afternoon losing every match.
* * *
Mom woke them shortly after dawn the next day, an odd day. “Get dressed,” she told them. “There’s progress. We just received word that the Academy of Magic has approved our quest to remove the power stone from Lady Vell’s possession.”
“That’s great!” Odd said. “What does that mean?”
“It means you only have to be patient a little longer. This will all be over soon. We have formed a team of accredited wizards, myself included, to take the power stone away from her. Once the stone is deactivated, all the magic she’s hoarded should flow back into the border. She won’t be able to hurt the borderlands anymore, and we’ll be able to go home.”
Jumping out of her hammock bed, Even dressed. So did Odd. “Why did it take the Academy so long to say yes?” Even asked.
“It’s run by committee,” Mom said. “And there’s a lot of paperwork. But the important thing is that we got the go-ahead, and now we need your help.”
“Yes!” Even cheered.
“What kind of help?” Odd asked.
“You have seen the inside of Lady Vell’s workshop. We need you two and Jeremy to tell us everything you saw, especially as it relates to the protections around the power stone.” Mom guided them into the room where she’d been meeting with the newcomers. A dozen creatures and people were waiting there: Jeremy’s parents, two centaurs, one three-headed dog, humans, a mouse with a sword strapped to her waist, a turtle with a many-colored shell, a two-foot-tall griffin . . . Several of them were chewing on their breakfasts. Some looked as if they’d just woken up. Others, like Mom, looked as if they’d never slept. Even recognized Joj, the goblin from Lakeview.
“Are your mermaids okay?” Even asked.
“They will be,” Joj said, “once all this is fixed.”
Odd asked, “But if you’re here, who’s feeding them?”
“Hired a local elf with the last of my gold. They’ve enough fish to last a couple of days. After that . . . Gotta fix this mess.”
Jeremy joined them, whispering, “What’s going on?”
Even whispered back, “Mom said we could help.”
Odd hung back behind Even, as adults of various shapes and sizes all turned to stare at them. Mom stepped forward. “These are my children, Even and Odd, and their friend Jeremy. They’ve been within Lady Vell’s tower and have information that could help us in our quest. Tell us what you saw.”
For an instant, Even imagined herself at the head of an army of magical beings, leading the charge on the silver tower, and then she shook herself as she realized everyone was waiting for them to talk. She began. “Well, first there’s the wall of silver fire around the tower.”
“We know about that!” the mouse called.
“Everybody knows about that,” Joj said. “It was on every mirror.”
Even swallowed. “It wasn’t there when we first visited. The centaur let us in, and the door locked behind us.” She felt them all staring at her, and her throat dried up.
“The door has lots of locks, around the sides and top,” Odd volunteered.
Even nodded. Together, she and Odd described the main room, how its ceiling went up to the peak of the tower, how the room was filled with tables that overflowed with Lady Vell’s inventions, how there was a massive vat of blue bubbling liquid in the center of the room—
“That liquid contains the stolen magic,” Effervescent Spring said. “Once we separate the vat from the power stone, all the magic should flow back to its original source, like a dam opening to release a river.”
“It’s connected to the power stone by a tube, which leads from the vat to a pedestal,” Even said. “She keeps the pedestal with the stone inside a giant bubble. She said it’s protected against all magic. I guess the bubble is some kind of shield?” She described what the bubble looked like and its size, with Odd adding comments.
Jeremy stepped up to contribute what he’d observed. He’d paid a lot of attention to her half-finished inventions, and he described where they were in the room, in relation to the vat of blue bubbly magic.
“Are there any other protections?” a cat asked. “Tripwires? Booby traps? Guards? Guard dogs? Guard dragons? Iron portcullis? Forest of thorns? Skeleton army?”
The interrogation continued for another hour, as the adults drew out every little detail that the sisters and Jeremy could remember. By the end, Even felt exhausted.
Mom shooed them back into their room and kissed Even and Odd. “You did wonderfully.”
“We can help more,” Even said. “We can be your guides.” She glanced at Odd and was relieved to see her nodding vigorously. She wanted to help too. Maybe neither of them was ready to be a hero, but there had to be something they could do to help the heroes.
“You’ll stay here.”
More waiting. More worrying.
“But maybe we could—”
Mom gave her a look. “Even.” The name said everything: I’m not discussing this anymore. My decision is final. You’ll stay here because I said so, and I’m your mother. It wasn’t the kind of look or tone that you argued with.
“How are you going to get inside?” Odd asked. “It’s surrounded by that silver fire.”
“We have many high-powered magic users among us,” Mom said. “Don’t you worry about that.” She patted Odd’s head. “Remember, five things to be grateful for: we’re together, we know the cause of the problem, the Academy has approved us to take action, she’s only one person, and we are resourceful.” She smiled reassuringly at both of them. “We’ll be home with your father by the end of the day. You can count on that.”
* * *
Soon
after, while it was still early morning and most of the city still slept, Mom and the dozen magical beings who’d pledged to help her were assembled in the main room with the purple trees. Of them, only Joj was staying behind—along with Even, Odd, and Jeremy, of course, who were left behind because their parents insisted on it, for their safety. Joj remained at the house as backup.
“Give us two hours,” Mom told Joj. “If we aren’t back by then, contact the Academy of Magic and tell them they need to send more wizards.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Joj said.
Odd overheard and yelped. “What do you mean if you’re not back? Of course you’re going to come back! Why wouldn’t you come back?”
“Mom’s definitely coming back,” Even said firmly. “She’s just trying to be extra safe and think of everything. Right, Mom?”
“That’s right, sweetheart,” Mom said reassuringly. “This shouldn’t take long, and we’ll be home with your father before you know it. Maybe even earlier.”
“Can’t they send the police? Or the army?” Odd asked.
“The Academy of Magic is sending us,” Mom said.
“But you run a store!” Odd said. “Why you?”
“Because I care,” Mom said. “And because I didn’t always run a store. I’m an accredited wizard and an expert on exactly the kind of magic that Lady Vell is using. Please don’t worry. I promise I’m going to take care of everything. Stay here, and stay safe. I’ll be back soon.”
She hugged and kissed them both, and Even and Odd squeezed side by side in the doorway to watch the unicorns and magic users head down the still mostly empty street. Jeremy stuck his head out between them to watch too.
Once they were out of sight, the sisters and the unicorn returned inside to begin waiting.
* * *
One hour later, the grownups hadn’t returned.
“I can’t stand this,” Odd said.
“It’s the not knowing,” Even agreed. “They should have let us come.”
“I, for one, am just as happy to not go near a heavily fortified wizard tower,” Jeremy said. “How about another game of Farmcats?”
“I can’t concentrate enough to do anything,” Odd said. “Not even play Farmcats.”
“Afraid of my Tractor card?” he teased.
“You can’t use a Tractor if you don’t draw a Farmer. But no, this isn’t the time.”
Even tried not to imagine all the ways things could go wrong. They might have failed to get inside the tower. They might have met with resistance—a wizard battle with Lady Vell.
“I want to check on them,” Even said.
“You’ll be caught,” Odd said. “It’s not an even day.”
Odd was right. If it were an even day, she could have changed into a skunk and followed them, unseen. “I could just see if they’ve made it inside?” She wasn’t suggesting that she charge in. Just . . . check if everything was okay. And then . . . well, she wasn’t sure what she’d do, but there had to be something.
“You might mess up whatever they have planned,” Odd said.
She was right, again. Without knowing what was going on at Lady Vell’s tower, Even could make it worse by bumbling in. Their only option was to wait.
But she couldn’t help picturing all the things that could have gone wrong. Her optimism couldn’t compete with her imagination, and Even couldn’t think of five things to be grateful for. All she could do was wonder:
What was happening in that tower?
Why weren’t they back?
And what could she do about it?
* * *
At the end of three hours, the grownups still hadn’t returned.
And Even was done with waiting.
17
Even said out loud what they’d all been thinking:
“They aren’t back.”
“I know,” Odd said. “What do we do?”
“Joj has to contact the Academy of Magic, like Mom said. And they’ll send more wizards to disable the power stone and rescue our mom and Jeremy’s parents.” That was the sensible course of action. She strode through the house, with Odd and Jeremy following.
They found Joj beneath the purple trees. He was shoving a wad of socks into a full backpack. What’s he doing? Even wondered. “Joj, it’s been over two hours, and they’re not back. That means something must have gone wrong.”
He waved a hand at a magic mirror. “Yeah, I’d say so.”
All of them turned to look at the mirror. The rabbit reporter was back in front of Lady Vell’s tower on her estate. The silver fire was laced with blue streaks, and it looked thicker than before. It was hard to see the door through the protective shield.
“The rabbit said they went in but didn’t come out,” Joj said.
Even stared at the image of the tower. Mom’s inside!
“You have to tell the Academy of Magic,” Odd said, panic in her voice.
Joj kept packing. “I already sent word. They don’t have any more wizards to send. Everyone is overwhelmed—a flock of harpies showed up away from their territory and have been terrorizing the countryside. And a hydra was spotted in a forest of sprites an hour ago. Not to mention all sorts of innocent creatures have been transported away from home and need help getting back where they belong.”
“But . . . Lady Vell is the source of the problems,” Even said. “If they stop her, they stop all of this!”
“The Academy is great at talking big about heroic quests, but they aren’t fast or efficient. Bureaucracy, you know? It will take them a while to agree on what to do next and even longer to actually do it.”
Even thought of how long it had taken to just get permission for Mom and the others to handle Lady Vell, and they’d already been here, willing and ready. “Mom said to tell them to take emergency measures!”
“I don’t think you understand how large Firoth is and how many different kinds of beings live in careful balance,” Joj said. “The border stretches for hundreds of miles, and there are problems along all of it—they told me they’re facing a series of cascading emergencies.”
Odd pointed to Joj’s backpack. “Why are you packing?”
“Gotta go back to my lake,” Joj said. “If this mess isn’t going to be resolved fast, then I have to evacuate the mermaids. Won’t be easy, but I’ve got a responsibility. Can’t expect anyone else to do it for me.”
“But you can’t just leave us!” Odd said.
“Sorry, kid, but I have to,” Joj said.
“You’re just running away?” Even said. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. They couldn’t just give up! Nothing had been solved!
“I’m running toward, not away,” Joj said. “Wish I could do more here, but it looks like it’s going to get worse before it gets better, and there are innocent people who need help whom I can actually do something for.”
“If Lady Vell is stopped, it will help everyone,” Even said. It seemed so clear to her: Stop Lady Vell and there wouldn’t be any more emergencies. Then go fix the individual problems.
“I know that,” Joj said. “But who’s going to do it? The Academy isn’t going to send anyone soon—they’re just too slow. And there’s no one left here. I’m no hero. I’m not equipped to go up against Lady Vell. If your mother and the others couldn’t do it . . . No, I have to help whom I can, where I can. It’s the best I can do.”
“How long until the Academy of Magic sends help?” Odd asked. “I mean, you said it won’t be soon, but do you mean ‘not soon’ as in ‘not today’ or ‘not soon’ as in ‘not for days’?”
Joj shrugged. “No idea. It’s chaos out there.”
“We can’t just wait and hope!” Even shouted. She’d tried that, again and again, but the only time anything moved forward was when they did something.
Unable to meet her eyes, Joj patted her shoulder awkwardly. “Keep your head down, and don’t get yourselves into trouble. Be grateful you have a place to stay. There are going to be a lot of refugees coming into the
city who won’t have that.” And with that, he left.
Even and Odd watched him go, while Jeremy paced behind them. The house suddenly felt very quiet and empty. Even felt as if her heart were beating louder than any other noise. She clenched and unclenched her fists as she tried to make herself think logically.
The grownups had clearly failed to stop Lady Vell. The Academy of Magic was useless.
So who was going to do it?
Can’t expect anyone else to do it for me, Joj had said. But that was exactly what Even had been doing: expecting the unicorns to fix everything, expecting Lady Vell to help, expecting the Academy to save everyone, expecting Mom . . . She’d been waiting for a hero to come save the day.
Waiting in vain.
Chewing on her fingernails, Odd paced back and forth. “What if the border never reopens and we can never go home? What if Mom doesn’t come back? What if—”
“Deep breath,” Even told her.
“I can’t think of anything I’m grateful for,” Odd said.
“I’m grateful you’re with me.” Even squeezed her sister’s hand. “And I’m grateful we’re here.”
“How can you say that?” Odd said. “The second thing, I mean. The first thing is nice. But I wish we were home. I wish we’d never stepped through the gateway.”
“If we weren’t here, then we wouldn’t know that Mom went in that tower.” Even pointed to the magic mirror, with the image of the tower swirling in blue-and-silver fire. She did not mention that if they hadn’t been there, Mom wouldn’t have known to go in at all . . . “We wouldn’t even know she was in trouble. And we wouldn’t have the chance to save her.” As she said the words, she felt a weird kind of calmness spread through her. No more waiting, she thought.
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