“Is that a threat?” DeMayne said, storming back over to where they stood. “I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but I—”
“That’s right, you don’t,” Hypnova said, cutting him off. “And you won’t. You won’t remember either one of us if I have my way, and I rather think I will.” She twirled her finger, and a winding trail of smoke spun out. It zeroed in on DeMayne’s forehead, hitting him like a dart and stopping him cold. His indignant scowl melted away, along with, Joey suspected, any angry feelings he had toward Joey and Hypnova. DeMayne stood there slack-jawed and stone-still, as if awaiting instructions. Hypnova walked up to him, patted him on the cheek, and told him he was no longer needed. DeMayne nodded with a zombielike stare, and she sent him on his way. Clutching the Sword of Storms to his chest like a knight laid to rest in his tomb, DeMayne marched into the vortex and vanished from sight.
“Holy cow,” Joey said, staggered by DeMayne’s abrupt and seemingly voluntary exit. “He’s just going to leave? You’re gonna let him leave? Just like that?”
“We have bigger concerns than him.”
“Bigger than the guy who secretly runs the world?”
Hypnova looked at Joey as if to say, Seriously?
“The Invisible Hand doesn’t run the world. They’re just a network of superpowered criminals. Gangsters and thieves. Liars and tricksters.”
“Don’t forget killers,” Joey added.
“Yes, that too,” Hypnova admitted. “They’re dangerous people running around doing whatever they want, but the world is full of people like them. The world is also bigger than they are and extends beyond their reach. You’re about to find that out.”
Hypnova walked toward the castle and motioned for Joey to follow. “Yeah, but still,” Joey said, trailing after her. “You didn’t have to let him go with the sword. We could have kept that. We could have taken away his ability to do magic. That would have been a good thing.”
“Forget about DeMayne. He’s not important right now. Don’t look back. Focus on what’s ahead.” They stopped outside the castle doors. Joey looked up at them and then back at the vortex, still thrown by DeMayne’s sudden departure.
“He really isn’t going to remember me?”
“Nothing about you. Or this place. Not even the Majestic Theatre.”
“Wow.” Joey had no reason to doubt Hypnova. He had seen the empty look in DeMayne’s eyes, and he had relished it. If Joey was officially off the Invisible Hand’s radar, that meant his family and friends were too. The relief he felt was indescribable. Now it was not only in his power to summon the wand, but it was safe to do so. This was going to change everything.
With the moment upon him, Joey wasn’t 100 percent sure what to do, so he just went with his gut. He held out his right hand, thinking he might will the wand back into being with some kind of dazzling, magical light show, but it didn’t come. After a few seconds of nothing happening, he lowered his arm and thought about what else he could do. An idea popped into his head as he thought about where Redondo always kept the wand. Joey reached into his sleeve and pulled out the wand like it was nothing. Just like Dorothy with her ruby-red slippers, he had the power with him all along.
A rush of energy surged through Joey’s body as if he had just chugged a gallon of soda. He didn’t know if it was magic energy from the wand, or just the excitement of holding it again that filled him with such warmth. Once again, Joey had the power to bring imagination to life—unlimited possibility in the palm of his hand. He had the power to change the world.
“Well?” Hypnova asked Joey. “Are we going in or not?”
Joey grinned and pointed the wand at the castle doors, but he stopped short of opening them. “Wait,” he said, drawing his arm back. “Not yet.”
Joey thought about how he had used the wand in the past. First he had to focus on something he wanted. Then he had to think of a command. He needed a word or phrase that felt right and lined up with the image in his mind. After that it was easy. All he had to do was believe. Saying the words out loud made it real. A real spell with real magic. All of this Joey had known instinctually from the moment he had first picked up the wand. He sized up the heavy doors of Camelot. Magic had sealed them shut ages ago, but his magic was stronger, or at the very least, equal to the task. He could do this. But he had to do something else first.
“What are we waiting for?” Hypnova asked.
Joey waved the wand and said, “The Three Musketeers.” There was a flash of light, and Leanora and Shazad appeared beside him. “We’re in this together.”
20 The Secret History of the World
“Joey!” Leanora threw her arms around him, hugging him tight. “You’re okay!”
After she let him go, Shazad put a hand on Joey’s shoulder and gave it a hearty shake. “You had us worried. It’s good to see you—back to your old self, too!”
Leanora stepped back to examine Joey’s arms. “Scarlett’s curse?”
“Gone now,” Joey said, holding up his unmarked hands and moving them around freely. “So is she.”
Leanora smiled. “Thank goodness.” She looked past Joey to the castle. “Oh my God. Is this…?”
“It sure is. Camelot. We’re here.”
While Leanora was staring at the castle, Shazad was staring at the wand in Joey’s hand. Leanora noticed it too. “And is that… Houdini’s wand?” she added, even more amazed.
Joey nodded.
“It’s Merlin’s wand,” Shazad said, now looking up at the castle.
“I still think of it as Redondo’s wand,” Joey said.
“It’s your wand,” Hypnova told him. “It answers to you. You couldn’t have called it here otherwise.”
Leanora and Shazad turned toward Hypnova. “Who are you?” Shazad asked her.
“This is Hypnova,” Joey said, introducing her. “She’s the one who sent us on our magical mystery tour.”
“I thought it was Fate,” Leanora said.
“Nope. It turns out the Fates aren’t the Fates. Or even a single Fate. She’s a Secreteer.”
Shazad and Leanora looked at Joey with blank stares. “You’re going to have to explain that,” Shazad said.
“What’s a Secreteer?” Leanora asked Hypnova. “What do you want with us?”
“This isn’t about what I want. It’s what I need,” Hypnova said. “Actually, I needed Joey, but he needed you, which means we all needed each other.”
“For what?” Shazad asked, suspicious.
“For this,” she said, motioning to the castle. “For Camelot.”
“Hypnova can’t open this door,” Joey said. “Only I can.” He held up the wand like a magic key.
Shazad held up a finger. “Can you give us a second?” he asked Hypnova.
She smiled. “Take all the time you need.”
The three children went into a huddle. “Are we okay with this?” Shazad whispered. “Are we sure we want her in there with us? Can we trust her?”
“I don’t think we could keep her out if we tried,” Joey said. “She’s all right, though. She got rid of DeMayne for us.”
“She did?” Leanora asked. “Got rid him of how? Where is DeMayne?”
“In there,” Joey said, pointing to the vortex. “She wiggled her finger and he walked right in.”
“Really?” Shazad’s eyebrows went up. “That’s it, then? He’s done? No more Invisible Hand?”
“Don’t get your hopes up. He’ll be back, I’m sure. But he won’t be back here, and he won’t come back to the theater, either. He won’t even remember us. Hypnova saw to that.”
“Really!” Shazad said again, incredibly pleased. He turned around and looked at Hypnova, suddenly a big fan. “In that case, glad to have you with us!”
“Any friend of Joey’s…,” Leanora said happily, feeding off Shazad’s excitement. “What are we waiting for?” she asked Joey. “Let’s go in.”
“We’re going,” Joey said. “I just need to think of the right wor
ds first.” He decided to go with an oldie but goodie. “Let’s see if you remember this one.” Joey held the wand aloft and shouted, “OPEN SESAME!”
The gates of Camelot swung open, and a rush of wind flew out, startling Joey. “Seriously, enough with the wind!”
“This wind I don’t mind,” Shazad said. “Look at that.” The gust that had blown out of the castle had pushed the vortex back a good ten feet in every direction. “The shield must be stronger than the vortex.”
“It’s not just the shield,” Leanora said, placing a hand on the castle wall to feel its power. “This whole place is magic. Scarlett told us it could open the floodgates.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Hypnova said. “These doors haven’t opened in a thousand years.” She looked at Joey and stepped aside to let him go first. “After you.”
They went inside together. It was empty, just as Joey had expected.
“What are we going to find in here?” Joey asked.
“The past, the future… and hope,” Hypnova said. “At least that’s my hope.”
Joey looked sideways at her. “How about we lose the riddles? Now that we know you’re not Fate, you can just talk normal.”
Hypnova nodded, accepting the criticism. “Sorry. Force of habit. I’ve been keeping secrets so long, my default state is to be cryptic. Don’t worry. I’m going to tell you everything. Would you like to know what happened here? What happened to magic? Why it went away?”
Joey’s eyes lit up. “Yes, please.”
Hypnova led them deeper into the castle. “Follow me.”
They passed under a great stone arch, entering the castle’s map room. Inside, a global atlas had been painted on the floor, covering it completely. They moved across it like armies in a giant game of Risk, and Joey noticed the map displayed parts of the world that had not yet been discovered in King Arthur’s day. It also had things that didn’t exist, like an island the size of Texas between America and Europe.
“This map has an extra continent,” Shazad said, studying the curious landmass.
“Yes, it does,” Hypnova replied. “That’s partly what we need to talk about.” She looked around the room, which was lined with columns and centrally located with passageways leading out on all sides. “This way,” she said, choosing a direction.
Hypnova directed the group up a flight of stairs to a chamber with a large round table. It had enough chairs to seat twenty people.
“Whoa,” Joey said, stopping at the edge of the room. He looked at Leanora and Shazad. “You realize what this is? Where we are?”
Joey’s friends nodded quietly. They were just as wonder-struck as he was. No one said the words out loud. They didn’t need to. Everyone knew they were looking at a legendary piece of history. It was something everybody knew about, whether they believed the story or not. Finding Camelot was special, but actually seeing this and being in this room took it to another level. They were in the place where King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table once met. Joey, Shazad, and Leanora approached the table in reverent awe.
Hypnova pulled out a chair and sat down like it was the kitchen table. “Let’s stop here a moment. I owe you a story.”
“You want to sit here?” Joey looked at the chair in front of him. It was sturdy enough, ancient and new all at once. Hypnova’s chair had barely creaked. Still, sitting at King Arthur’s Round Table felt improper to Joey. As if he would be disregarding some unseen velvet ropes to sit down on an off-limits museum exhibit. “Are you sure?”
“Sit,” Hypnova told Joey. “You’ve earned it. All of you.”
That was all anyone needed to hear. Just the pretense of permission was enough to get them moving. Joey, Shazad, and Leanora each took their place at the table, buzzing with excitement as they sat down. Joey was practically bouncing in his chair. It was just like the picture he had painted with the three of them dressed up as knights and him wielding the wand. Now the wand was back in his hand and they were sitting at King Arthur’s Round Table! All that was missing were the horses and the armor.
“I’m going to tell you a secret,” Hypnova began. “Something very few people know. I’m aware that magicians never reveal their secrets, but I’m not a magician and I’m not a Secreteer anymore, either. That’s why I’m going to share with you the secret history of the world. The map I gave you earlier and your understanding of this place… everything about it, is incomplete.”
As she spoke, Hypnova took out a small golden box, similar to the one DeMayne had used to hold his fairy dust. Hypnova’s box contained a powder as well, but hers was deep purple. She took a pinch and sprinkled it into an open palm. “One thousand years ago, magic was everywhere.”
She blew into her hand, and a lavender cloud flared up. It stretched and spread out, filling the air, eventually settling into a specific shape. Joey recognized it as the world atlas from the map room. The image rotated over the table like some kind of dust hologram.
“The world didn’t always look the way it does today,” she said, somehow manipulating the purple cloud and causing it to zoom in on the landmass between Europe and North America. “Once upon a time, a transatlantic continent existed. The ruler there fancied himself more than a king. He was an emperor, and he controlled magic in his land with fanatical vigilance.” The purple powder swirled into the form of the emperor in question. He was making a fist. “This man saw magic as chaos and danger. More than that, he believed it to be unnatural and wicked—that no one should have such power.”
The dust took the shape of a mighty army.
“He used military might to confiscate magical objects in his country, but he couldn’t outlaw magic completely. That would have made him vulnerable to magic users in other lands. They were many in those days, including elves, dwarves, fairies, and giants. The emperor mistrusted other magical races especially. They were better at magic than men were and would always have an unfair advantage in his mind. What to do?” Hypnova’s voice was bitter. “What to do?”
The dust cloud reformulated into the shape of the emperor and another man standing just behind him, whispering in his ear.
“The Emperor’s Hand, a sorcerer himself, had a plan to control magic beyond the kingdom’s borders. To consolidate power in ‘the right hands.’ He agreed that magic was a necessary evil. He couldn’t eliminate magic for his emperor, but he came close. He was able to cast spells that weakened magic’s influence in this world and blocked it out.
“Over a number years and a long, bloody campaign, these two men essentially conquered the world. Magical creatures were hunted to extinction. Survivors retreated to safety in forgotten realms and closed the doors behind them. Old roads that once led to places beyond your wildest imaginings were lost forever. Some shadows of them still remain,” Hypnova allowed. “You passed through their remnants on your way here, but for the most part, they’re gone.”
“I don’t understand,” Joey said. “This guy… the Hand… how did he block out magic? What did he do?”
The cloud of powder over the table morphed into a spinning globe.
“He left three dark marks around the world.” As Hypnova spoke, tiny explosions of dust erupted at key points on the globe, including Camelot. “Forbidden magic. Unspeakable magic. He poisoned Earth in places where magic was strong. Where magic users naturally gathered. One of them is nailed into the stone outside this castle. Camelot was the last kingdom to fall. King Arthur was slain. Excalibur was broken and corrupted with more dark magic. It became the Sword of Storms. The Tempest Blade. And this place… this powerful touchstone of magical energy was hidden away from the world on the other side of a magic gateway. Unreachable behind the Imaginary Vortex.”
Joey, Shazad, and Leanora were riveted by Hypnova’s tale.
“Why don’t we know any of this?” Joey asked.
“You know some of it,” Hypnova said. “You know of King Arthur. You’ve heard legends of mythical creatures and stories of magic.”
“I never hea
rd this part,” Leanora said.
“Me neither,” Shazad agreed. “An eighth continent in the middle of the Atlantic? Where did it go? Why isn’t it there now?”
“Because ages ago, a small group of heroes, including Merlin, a young apprentice, and the first Secreteer, infiltrated the transatlantic continent and fought back. They meant to cripple the emperor’s power by stealing his kingdom, but he wasn’t there. The Emperor’s Hand had betrayed him. He had banished his master to a realm of nothingness, where he could finally have the peace and order he had always desired. The Emperor’s Hand was the true enemy. The power behind the throne.”
The shape-shifting powder played out the scenes as Hypnova described them, starting with an eclectic band of heroes, moving through the Hand’s traitorous turn, and finishing on the very familiar image of a greedy, grabbing hand—the symbol of the Invisible Hand.
“It was them,” Joey said, realizing it had been the Invisible Hand’s scheming power grab that had cost the world its magic. “I knew it.”
“It wasn’t them yet,” Hypnova told him. “It was just him. The Emperor’s Hand was one man, and he was defeated. Merlin and the others fought bravely and stole the heart of the emperor’s kingdom. It was itself a magical land. They broke off the capital city to create a safe haven for magic. A home for all the world’s unique, extraordinary things.”
Joey didn’t know what it meant to “steal the heart of a kingdom,” but Hypnova’s magic powder painted a picture for him. He watched as an image of the lost continent materialized before him and his friends. A ripple of energy ran through the land, and a section of the kingdom literally broke off and floated away.
“A new country was born,” Hypnova said. “A secret country. The Clandestine Order of Secreteers was born with it. They swore to protect their new home at all costs. To protect magic and imagination. History was rewritten to include none of this. Memories were adjusted and the stories passed into legend. Parts of them anyway. The rest of the emperor’s kingdom sank into the ocean. You’ve heard that story too, I expect.”
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