The girls made their way to the General store, still clutching each other’s hands tightly. When they entered Izzie looked around, but there was no one in sight. They walked carefully across the old creaking floorboards, moving in and out of the dozen or so aisles packed closely together.
“I don’t see anyone,” Izzie whispered. “Are you sure he was here?”
“Yes, it was the same Kilomea who was here when we came. I recognized his energy.”
Alison took a deep breath and focused on the energy she was searching for. Her mind flew through the vision from before, showing the energy being dragged somewhere by the large Kilomea. It was somewhere close; somewhere in the shop.
“Are there doors anywhere? Or hatches in the floor?”
Izzie looked around, and her eyes fell on a large tapestry hanging on the wall. One corner of it was stuck in a closed door. She led Alison over and pulled back the cloth, revealing a black iron handle on a small wooden door.
“I found it.”
The girls carefully opened the door and started to descend the steep staircase. When they reached the bottom, they stopped. Izzie scanned the room, but she couldn’t see anything in the dark. Alison shifted, feeling the pull of the boy in her chest. She grasped Izzie’s hand tighter and let her senses guide her. This time Alison was guiding Izzie and not the other way around. In front of them was another door, and Alison could see waves of energy pulsating from beneath. They went to take a step forward, but the door flew open and Izzie pushed Alison back against the wall. The Kilomea exited angrily, turning back toward the open room.
“I will be back,” he growled. “And you will learn why you never steal from a Kilomea.”
The boy groaned, pulling on the chains around his wrists and feet. The girls waited for the Kilomea to stomp up the staircase before moving quickly toward the boy. Izzie released Alison’s hand, and the cloaking spell wafted away. The boy tried to talk, but there was a gag in his mouth. Izzie pulled it off but quickly put her hand in its place.
“Be quiet. We will get you out of here.”
The boy nodded, glancing at Alison. She was standing there listening, but obviously not looking in his direction. Izzie waved her hand over the chains on his feet and caught them before they hit the ground. The boy turned and she did the same with his hands, laying all the chains carefully on the cellar floor. He stood up rubbing his wrists, looking at the ceiling as the Kilomea stomped overhead.
“We have to cloak if we want to get out of here,” Izzie whispered. “Can you cloak yourself?”
The boy nodded and stood back, pulling a wand from his pants pocket. Izzie took Alison’s hand and the three did the cloaking spells as fast as they could. As the shimmer began to fade, leaving them invisible once again, the Kilomea stomped back down the stairs. The three of them pushed against the wall and waited as he angrily looked around for the boy. He slammed his fists against the wall and took off back up the stairs.
“Follow us,” Izzie whispered, not sure anymore where the boy was.
“Got it,” he whispered back.
They carefully made their way back upstairs and through the store, moving slowly until they reached the street. Once there they took off at a run, just trying to get back to the school before anyone caught on. Alison clung tightly to Izzie’s hand, letting her lead them through the crowded streets. By the time they reached the top, they were breathing heavily. Izzie let the spell go, and so did the boy. Alison went toward his energy, stepping up and pushing him in the chest.
“That was stupid. You could have gotten killed! You don’t steal from a Kilomea.”
“I kind of found that out the hard way.” He groaned. “Asshole.”
“I’m kind of thinking you are the asshole here,” Izzie replied. “What was so important that you would go to that store and steal from that magical being?”
The kid shrugged and put his hands in his pocket, kicking the dirt below him. “Doesn’t matter. He took it back.”
“Just promise you won’t do that again,” Alison told him. “No one knew you were there. He would have killed you, or sold you to the dark wizards to experiment on.”
“How did you know I was there? You are freshmen, so you’re not allowed to be in the kemana.”
Izzie gritted her teeth. “Don’t you worry about how we knew. Just be glad we did.”
“Are you going to report me?”
“No,” Alison replied before Izzie could answer. “But if you do it again I’ll let the Kilomea have you.”
Three heavily cloaked dark wizards walked carefully through a back alley in Charlottesville. They had told the locals they would be back, and that they would regret it when they returned. Well, here they were, and this time it was for more than just a tracking expedition. Tyrian followed Balthasar and Lingus was behind him. Philoneus had stayed behind to prepare for the next step.
The alley opened into a hidden park, the shrubs overgrown, the stone benches cracked, and the grass growing in ragged patches. The place had been abandoned years before and hidden from the eyes of the light magicals by Balthasar and his cronies. He knew one day he would need it. He knew that the day would come when they would need to be shielded, even if for only a moment.
“Is this smart? Out here? Won’t the light beings track us?” Tyrian asked.
Balthasar took a deep breath and pulled down his hood, letting his long black hair fall over his shoulders. “No. This has been here for a very long time, and very powerful wizards, including myself, made sure it would be secure no matter what magic was conducted within the walls. We have no more time now. Things must begin.”
Lingus walked around the small park, checking every corner to make sure no one else was there. He sat down on one of the benches, feeling a surge of energy coming from the stone. He quickly stood back up and looked at Balthasar.
“They are artifacts?”
“In a way,” Balthasar replied. “There are four of them, all capsules for dark magic. They hold the secret to our next move. Their energy comes from those who sacrificed themselves for the greater good of all dark magic. From Rhazdon to the leaders of the dark families, they have all contributed to this throughout time.”
“I kind of find it humorous that they chased us out of their bar, yet they have a forcefield of dark energy in their backyard, and they can’t even sense it. Fools! Weak fools,” Lingus growled.
“That is not a bad thing,” Tyrian pointed out. “The fewer powerful magical beings we have to fight and destroy, the easier all of this will go in the end. There is enough power at that school. We don’t need it here too.”
“Yes, and to ensure that, after the spell is done the two of you will remain here, to keep the dark magic running true.”
“Where will we sleep?” Tyrian asked, looking around.
Balthasar stared at him for a moment and pulled out his wand. “You will be spelled awake, my friend. You won’t sleep a wink.”
“That’s like the opposite of a vacation.” Lingus snorted “A hellcation.”
Balthasar rolled his eyes as he walked to the first bench, placing the tip of his wand on the inscription burned into the stone in the language of Oriceran. The stone began to tremble and shake as a stream of dark magic pumped over it from the wizard’s wand. When the stone cracked a stream of energy shot up, hovering twenty feet above their heads. Balthasar opened the other three artifacts until all four streams met over the center of the park.
The two wizards slowly backed up, watching as Balthasar took his place in the middle with his wand high. The magic streamed down into the tip and then shot back out, soaring into the sky and racing away in a cloud of black mist. When the magic stopped, the sky crackled and dark clouds moved in.
“The code has been triggered. It will begin tonight.”
The older boy laid in his bed, thrashing from side to side, unable to be still in his sleep. A cloud of dark magic floated in front of the dorm window and was slowly leaking through the cracks and floating a
cross the room to the foot of the boy’s bed. It crept over his covers and surrounded his head, and a whisper blew from the fog into the boy’s mind.
“Exo-Halfactus,” the mist hissed.
The boy’s eyes opened wide, his pupils as dark as night. Slowly he sat up in his bed and dropped his legs over the side, getting up and putting on his slippers, grabbing his wand and slipping it into his pajama pocket. He stared straight ahead, magic controlling him as he moved through the house and out the front doors. Like a zombie he stumbled down the steps, dragging his feet across the grass as he shambled toward a small secluded garden in the right corner of the property. It had been built as thanks to the Fixer but was never used.
He swayed in the center of the garden, the thunder rumbling wildly above him. Rain began to pour over him, and he looked at the sky as lightning shot across it. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his long mahogany wand, looking at it for a moment before holding it down by his side. He could hear the whisper of the dark magic in his head.
“Exo-Halfactus.”
Suddenly his hand shot up, his wand pointing toward the clouds above. Long bolts of electric light flashed, followed by violent thunder that shook the ground. The boy opened his eyes, letting the rain wash over him, and released the magic from his wand.
“EXO-HALFACTUS!” he screamed, his voice echoing across the garden.
A stream of dark magic shot from the tip of his wand and flew into the sky, twisting and swirling around the lightning. He released the powerful spell, having no idea what it meant. As the last of the dark magic left his wand, the power of it split the wand straight all the way to his fingers. He dropped the wand in the grass and shook his hand, his eyes no longer covered in darkness. He looked around him as rain washed over his body. He frowned and picked up the smoking wand. It had been destroyed and there was no fixing it, but he had no idea how he had even gotten there.
Suddenly the school’s alarm sounded, and it startled him. He dropped the remnants of his wand and took off back toward the mansion, running as fast as he could back to his room. He didn’t know what had happened, but he had a dark sour feeling in his stomach—something he had never felt before.
14
The group walked through the halls talking cheerfully and laughing as they started their day. The halls were packed with students moving in and out of classrooms, carrying books and heavy backpacks. Ethan was showing everyone one of the tricks he’d learned from the book, although not one he would be using on April Fools. Luke and Peter sighed as the paper fizzled into smoke, but didn’t reappear as it was supposed to.
“Damn it, that was my homework.” Ethan groaned. “Maybe next time I try it with blank paper.”
“Probably would have been a smart idea,” Luke replied, shaking his head.
Suddenly a scream echoed down the hallway. Everyone stopped and stared at a large group at the other end. They were all crowded around a student who was convulsing on the floor, foam coming from his mouth. Ethan and Peter pushed through, stopping in front of him. They felt a strong cloud of magic over the boy.
“Move! Make room!” Mara Berens called, using magic to amplify her voice.
Horace and Mara kneeled next to him and Mara pulled out her wand, whispering as she waved it over the boy’s body. He went still; unconscious, but no longer convulsing. Horace cradled the boy in his arms and hurried past the scared students to the infirmary, where he laid him on an empty bed. The boy groaned slightly and mumbled something over and over, but Horace and Mara couldn’t understand what he was saying.
The nurse, a Light Elf, put out her hands and closed her eyes, running her energy over the boy’s body. She winced when she felt the same dark magic Alison had discovered and opened her eyes, looking at Mara with dread.
“Horace, stay with the boy,” Mara ordered. “Nurse Crumpkin, let’s talk out here.”
They exited the room and waited for Xander Powell, the dark magic teacher, to enter the room, following closely behind him. He hurried in, robes flapping around him, and closed the door behind him. He had been working on reversal spells in his lab when the call had come and hadn’t bothered to change. It wasn’t very often that they got emergency calls like that anymore, but he remembered that when the school had first opened, they had been all too regular.
“What has happened?”
Mara took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “A boy has gone ill. And not just any illness—something was done to him. He was convulsing, dark blue foam coming from his mouth. I stopped the convulsions, but that was all I was able to do. He is lying unconscious in there, mumbling something we can’t understand.”
“Dark magic?”
“I would think so. I can feel it a mile away, but I have no idea where it came from. The area was clean, and I saw no traces of it coming from a student.”
“Interesting,” Xander replied, rubbing his chin.
“Wait here,” the nurse replied. “I want to check one thing.”
She disappeared into the room, closing the door behind her. Xander sat down in one of the chairs and thought about the storm the night before. It had woken him from his sleep, giving him the same dark feeling that the magic he was so familiar with gave him.
“Were there any streaks on his neck?”
“No.” Mara shook her head. “Nothing. No telltale signs except the foam, and honestly, that could be one of a million things.”
“It surely could be.” Xander sighed. “And we can’t figure out what he is saying?”
“No. I caught the first word, which was ‘Exo,’ but other than that I can’t make it out, and neither can the nurse.”
The nurse walked back into the room and shook her head, taking off her gloves. “I thought maybe it could be pilus plant poisoning since we have some in the Dark Forest, but he has no signs of spots or decaying skin.”
They had hit a wall and hit it fast, none of them having any idea what could have happened to the boy. Whatever it was, it had taken him down hard. Mara walked to the open doorway and looked at the boy, his pale body reminiscent of the souls she had seen when she had been stuck in the World in Between. The thought made her shudder. She hadn’t thought about that time in years.
“Do you think this could spread?” Xander asked, looking at the nurse.
“It’s hard to say at the moment, but something this strong, if contagious, would spread very fast. Under an hour, maybe.”
“So we just have to wait. Great. Meanwhile, hundreds of students could be infected.”
“I don’t know. This doesn’t seem like something that could take over like that. One went down, and I feel like that will be the only case for now.”
“Do you think it’s organic, or a spell?” the nurse asked.
“I have my suspicions.” Mara narrowed her eyes.
Mara had caught wind of the fight that had happened in the town on the first day of school. Several dark wizards had been spotted at the Tavern in Charlottesville and chased into the street. They said they were powerful, and the one who looked to be the leader wore robes from bygone ages. They had been in Charlottesville for a reason, and Mara did not believe it being the first day of school was a coincidence.
After that day she started keeping much closer tabs on Izzie, knowing that if the dark wizards knew she was there, she would be in a lot of trouble. She hadn’t, however, thought that an innocent Light Elf would be the first to be struck down. There was no reason for it. She knew the student, and he had no dark secrets to hide. There had been no reason for him to be attacked.
“This just doesn’t make any sense. That boy is the son of two hardworking Light Elves who aren’t involved in politics, don’t have secret powers, and have been around for generations. There is no reason to attack them.”
“Unless this is random,” Xander replied. “We used to see that kind of attack all the time—someone attacking at random, bringing fear and pulling out the powerful, then starting a war with them. They could be tryin
g to draw someone out.”
“Possibly,” Mara replied. “But this spell isn’t anything I’ve seen before.”
The nurse put her hand on her chin and looked at the boy. “Decades ago there was an attack using a very old spell, something sinister and evil. I wasn’t there, I only heard of it, but it would definitely not be found in any of our books.”
“Then there is no way to understand it,” Mara replied.
The nurse watched Mara pace the floor. “Are you going to ask the Fixer? He knows a lot more about dark spells than we do.”
Mara flinched. “No, not yet. The last thing I want is for him to think we cannot protect our flock. I will need to do some research on this, however. I want you to watch the boy closely. Try to figure out what he is saying, and if anything changes let me know right away.”
“What are you going to do?”
Mara looked at the woman. “I’m not sure yet. Do you think you can reverse this spell and pull this boy out of the state he is in?”
The nurse looked at him and Mara. It was a long shot—something that she had never done before—but she had the training to do it. Most spells were broken rather than reversed, but this one seemed to have latched onto the boy and was traveling through his whole body and swirling through his soul.
“The only way I know of to safely reverse this spell is if you find out who did it. It would be far too risky to use magic on a child without knowing exactly what I was looking for.”
“Right.” Mara nodded.
“Whoever it was, they had to get very close to the student.”
Xander looked up with wide eyes. “You mean a traitor within?”
“Unfortunately, that’s exactly what I mean.”
Mara walked over to the office phone and called Horace. “Cancel classes. I want everyone to stay on the grounds, and as close to the house as possible. We may have someone on the inside doing this, and we need to find them as quickly as possible.”
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