The Jumper Chronicles - Quest for Merlin's Map

by W. C. Peever

  “This is from Professor Grayson.” The boy’s tone was condescending as he handed him a wax sealed envelope, and promptly left the room. Under his arm he carried other letters with the same red wax seal.

  “Well, open it!” Bailey shouted. “I, for one, would like to know what we’re doing here.”

  Charlie gingerly peeled the wax seal from the back of the envelope, but before he could slip a finger under the flap to open it Bailey tore it out of his hands. “My God, you’re slow. Here, let me.” She quickly removed the letter and read it aloud:

  Dear Charlie and Bailey,

  I do hope you will excuse my presumption that you two are together; I was hoping writing this one letter to both of you would save paper. My request is a simple one. Would you please join me in my study after your breakfast, so that we may continue our discussion from last evening? I am excited that you are joining us here at Thornfield. Ask any one of the students in the hall to escort you to my office. I am sure they will be glad to have an official excuse to be late for class.

  H. G.

  “Well I guess we should get going then, shouldn’t we?” Bailey said, pushing Charlie back towards the door.

  Charlie, however, dug in his heels. “Exactly why do I have to do the embarrassing stuff? Why should I have to find someone to say, ‘Hi I’m a loser. Will you show me where I need to go? Perhaps even hold my hand, if we need to cross the street?’ No way!”

  “Charlie, really!” She crossed her arms across her chest. “We need to find our way to the Headmaster’s office, so will you please find one of the students in the hallway and ask them if they could show us the way?” Charlie sighed and walked over towards the door, Bailey following on his heels, where several boys in lacrosse outfits were milling about.

  “Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to the Headmaster’s office?” Charlie asked of the largest of the boys. He was tall, well over six feet and had broad shoulders, light brown hair to his piercing blue eyes and a square jaw.

  “Wow,” whispered Bailey. “Now that’s a guy,” she elbowed Charlie in the side. He returned the nudge, a bit harder. “Kidding, kidding,” she said playfully.

  “No problem, mate,” the boy said in a thick Australian accent. “Name’s Michael, but everyone calls me Mick. Welcome to the Field. That’s what we call this here place. Well, we leatherheads call it that. Guess it caught on at some point. This is my first year here too. You can get a might turned around in this place. Gosh, when I got here, I could hardly find me pack among all the others in the new kid’s dormitory. Professor Archanus actually came all the way down under to find me you know. Guess I must be special, being as I am the only student from Australia. I was out on a walkabout, you know, to find meself, when Archanus found me.” He chuckled at his own pun.

  “A walkabout? You take a walk to find yourself? I don’t get it,” said Charlie.

  “In Australia, when a boy turns twelve he can go into the outback for a week on his own, bring a knife, a pot to cook in, a spoon, a canteen, compass and a map, but that’s it as far as technology is concerned. Everything else ya need to get from the natural world. Well, my mum and dad snuck in a flare, just in case. They’re always worrying about me. They thought it was a foolish notion in this day and age, but the aborigines swear by it, so off I went, and wouldn’t ya know they were right, I found my direction.” He chuckled to himself. “Or at least my direction found me. Truth is, Archanus scared me out of my skin. I wasn’t expecting company that far in the outback. Nor did I appreciate him sneaking up on me while I was nodding off to sleep. Almost wet meself, and I let him know how mad I was. He didn’t much care though, just asked me if I had any water left in my canteen. Said he was parched. I handed it over, and he drank it all. That’s when he told me I was special and asked if I would like to come with him. But now that I think on it, I doubt I had much of a choice. Anyhow, I didn’t have anywhere else to be, so I said why the hell not. Anyhow to make a long story short, I know the way to the study and I would be happy to take ya both there.”

  “Great,” said Bailey, a little too enthusiastically for Charlie. “Lead the way.” The three of them walked out of the cafeteria and up seven flights of stairs to the study.

  “So Mick, what is your special ability?” Bailey asked.

  “Well that’s the thing, isn’t it? They haven’t told me yet. We have to wait for our trial. Nobody knows anything until then, except that we each probably have some ability,” said Mick.

  “What are the trials going to be like?” asked Charlie.

  “Well no one’s told me much about them either, so I really don’t have much to share. The trials start two weeks into the new term, which would be this Monday. You two are obviously a bit behind. Anyhow, all I really know is that they are different for everyone, and that a couple of years ago someone died doing them. Supposedly you need to prove that you’re worthy of being taught by the masters. Once you pass, you get robes and an object.”

  “What robes? I have to wear robes like a girl?” asked Charlie.

  “Oh, grow up Charlie. What’s this about an object?” asked Bailey.

  “Well the object is to help focus your ability. I guess it’s specific to your class of ability. Seen anyone with anything that looked slightly weird?”

  Now that Charlie and Bailey thought about it, both could recall some eclectic looking staffs, canes, wristbands and necklaces.

  “Most of the secrets behind the trials are tightly guarded, and as students we must respect that. It supposedly has something to do with protecting the Order against the Vanari, but that’s a load of crap if you ask me. Most of the Vanari were once part of the Order.”

  “What Order? Who’s the Vanari? How do you know so much, if you have only been here for a month?” Bailey asked..

  Mick laughed. “Well, maybe because I asked just as many questions as you’re doing when I first got here. Maybe not as furiously, but with equal skepticism.

  “Everyone who has been, or is being trained here, is in the Order. The Order’s job is to ensure the safety of people on the earth, and the Vanari’s job seems to be to go and muck everything the Order does up, as far as I can tell. The Vanari left the Order to enslave the human race.” He paused allowing them to digest. “Yeah, I know. Hard to believe, but it’s true. The Vanari believe that being born with abilities entitles them to a bigger piece of the pie than a normal citizen, and that supporting the Vanir Gods will help them achieve that goal.” Mick lowered his voice to a whisper.”The Order and the Vanari have battled for centuries. Some kid told me that the Vanari almost succeeded once. I guess they had something to do with pyramids in Egypt, but a Guardian from the Order stopped them. They say Moses was an Order Guardian and his staff was his focus object. I don’t know, I am still trying to keep up with the fact that there is more than one God. Here’s the study.”

  Mick stopped abruptly in front of an ornate set of wooden doors. “So, will I see you two at lacrosse try outs?”

  “Umm… I really hadn’t even thought about that. When are they?” asked Charlie.

  “‘Bout three today,” Mick said, looking eagerly to Charlie, then to Bailey and back to Charlie.

  “Okay, count us in!” Charlie agreed

  “Great! See you then.” Mick waved and left them to stare at the heavy wooden doors and their large iron buttons running up and down the planks. Charlie knocked on the door using the lion’s head knocker. The reverberations echoed loudly up and down the corridor, the door groaned forebodingly open, and the children entered.

  “Come in.” Grayson was sitting at a long shiny wooden table, with six high-backed chairs around it. The walls of the room were covered with tall wooden shelves stuffed to the brim with old books. It had the comforting odor of library and newly applied furniture polish. The old man poured himself a cup of tea from an ornate silver teapot and began to add liberal amounts of sugar into his dainty china cup. “This is my favorite tea set. It was my grandmother’s,” Grayson began. “E
very time I take tea from it I think of summers on the porch with her. She served the most delicious little pastries with raspberry filling. I have never had the like since she passed, despite Ms. Welling’s courageous attempts.” He brushed some crumbs from his beard and sighed. “On the other hand it was not the Danish that was as delectable as the company, which can never be replaced.” He smiled once again in his kind, unassuming way.

  Charlie asked, “But sir, surely you could travel back through time, and have tea with your grandmother again?”

  Grayson paused thoughtfully, allowing himself to imagine the possibilities for a moment, and then sighed. “Ah yes, I knew there was a purpose to my story. To answer your question directly, my dear boy, there is at present an uncompromising need for secrecy. Imagine what my grandmother would have thought, me showing up at her doorstep as an old man, when she only knew me as a boy.”

  Grayson shook his head. “No Charlie, my grandmother never knew about the world of our Order, nor should she have. The vast majority of people living on our world have no clue that the myths and legends they were told as children were actually true, that there was a reason children always ask their parents to look under the bed. Thank the Gods for allowing them to live in such bliss, for the moment that a person becomes aware of the dangers they also are in danger of being destroyed by them. So they go along living their lives, unaware that we are diligently protecting them from the evils of the world, the monsters under their bed and the Vanari’s plan.” He took a sip of tea.

  “Not to mention, time travel is a very rare ability, and unfortunately I do not know of anyone that I could call upon to take me there.” Grayson paused once more, looking at Charlie and Bailey over the rim of the teacup, the steam fogging up his glasses. His blue eyes sparkled. He gave them a bright smile. “I can see by the lack of surprise in your eyes that young master Fellsworth has filled you in to the best of his ability. All the better, it saves us time.

  Now, it is very important that the rest of the world never find out about us. I assume that you have been educated in the Elizabethan Witchcraft Act of 1563 and the Salem Witch Hunts. If not, you will learn about them in History class. Driven by carnal fear, the people of the world hunted our kind to the brink of extinction. If only they knew we were actually protecting them! The last of us hid here at the castle, Vanari and Order alike. The Vanari were different than they are now. Then, they directed evil, influenced people to commit atrocious acts. But today they go out and commit evil themselves, murderers and thieves all.”

  Grayson took another sip of tea. Gradually his mood lightened. “Oh, how rude of me. Would you like a cup of tea or perhaps a raspberry biscuit?” Charlie politely shook his head no. Bailey eagerly accepted. It struck Charlie as he watched her down two pastries and then started to lick her fingers, that no matter how much Bailey ate she remained as thin as a rail.

  “To continue, together we took shelter here until 1735, when it became clear that attitudes had changed. You see, the Vanari are Manserian who support the Vanir Gods in their civil war against the Gods of Asgard. Back then they just supported them, a difference in theology rather than action. But it was during these times of close quarters that they began to enslave normal people from towns all over the world to be their servants, and when the Order found out they expelled them from the Castle. It is said that the Vanari hid many of their sacred objects here in this castle. They had no idea that the Order would one day abruptly expel them. This is, aside from their desire to exterminate all who would fight for the Gods of Asgard at the great return, the main reason that the Vanari try so hard to get back in the castle.” Grayson lifted his tea cup to his lips and almost spilled tea all over himself when Bailey jumped out of her seat.

  “They’re going to attack us here, while we’re in school? I thought you brought us here to be protected from these people?”

  Grayson smiled kindly and put down his tea cup. “Oh no, my dear. You are correct that the Vanari have their eyes set on the castle, but you are quite safe here. When the Vanari were expelled from the castle, wards and other hidden devices were put in place so that the Vanari could never again enter the grounds of the school. When they lost control of their sacred objects, they lost considerable power. It is my belief that without those objects they can never defeat the school’s defenses.” Grayson began to pour himself and Bailey another cup of tea.

  “This tea pot is quite spectacular. You see, it stays warm for hours. My great grandfather made it when he was twenty-two. He was a silversmith, and quite a historian. Did you know that he modeled this after a tea pot that was owned by Mary, Queen of Scots? I once saw the real pot on display in the tower of London, and wouldn’t you know I could not tell the difference between the two.”

  Bailey interrupted. “Wait. I don’t understand. They left their objects here? Haven’t you ever found them? Are they dangerous?”

  “No, they are merely objects. They can do good or evil, depending on the user. One was found, oh goodness, going on sixty years ago, by a precocious young student. Do you see that crystal staff in the glass case over there?” He pointed at a case, set about eye level on a far shelf. “That is a focusing staff. It is very, very old. I would imagine that it was made in ancient Egypt, when the Vanari were at their height of power. It is a seeing stick. You use it to see into the past, present, and in other dimensions past and present. But alas, with any dark object of power there is a catch. If you use this object it will drain you of all your life energy. You would, that is to say, die, unless you redirected the energy to drain the life of someone else. Members of the Vanari would likely redirect its power to an ungifted person, killing them unaware.”

  His solemn reflection hung in the air. After a brief interval, he spoke again. “You’ll learn more of our history in class; I’d hate to steal your professors’ thunder. I brought you to Thornfield for two reasons: First, to be safe. Your abilities became detectable when you turned twelve, and we didn’t want the Vanari to find you, and they would most certainly have come after you because of your fathers. That is a conversation for another time. The second reason I brought you here was to begin your education. We’ve detected ability in both of you.”

  Charlie finally broke his silence. “Sir, what are our abilities, and where do our families think we are?”

  “Very good questions, my dear boy. Your mothers believe that you are in a private school in London to keep you safe from the people who were after your fathers. As you now know, that is not that far from the truth. You will be able to return during the holidays, under guard of course. The guard will be part of the Order, but your parents must believe that they are from the British Secret Service. The same secrecy clause applies to our families. They would not understand us, and perhaps would even be fearful of who we really are.

  “As for your abilities, even I don’t even know what they are, although I have my suspicions, which I will keep to myself for now. Monday will tell us all that we need to know. I will send you home this weekend, with a guard from the council. Enjoy the time with your parents. Now, I am afraid that I must end our meeting for I am due in the council chambers. Go down the hall from where you came, and proceed to the end. The last door on your left, just before you reach the cafeteria is registration. Mrs. Parker will register you for classes. Good bye for now.” With that Grayson waved them out the door.

  Chapter Three

  Thornfield Academy

  The two children walked silently down the long corridor, surrounded by dark wooden panels. Ornate carvings of cherubs and lion heads adorned the walls. Each wooden figure seemed to look down at the children and them as they moved.

  “Ever have the feeling that you’re being watched?” joked Charlie. Both of them were still laughing when they finally entered the stagnant smelling office of the registrar. The musty odor pervaded, of yellowed paper files, stale coffee and molding cardboard boxes brimming over with ancient folders of students long since buried.

  An aged woman wit
h steel gray hair looked down at them from a massive desk. Her hair was pulled back tight enough to straighten the wrinkles on her face. “Your names. Last then first.”

  “Burrows, Charles. This is Bailey Relling. I mean Relling, Bailey.”

  “I knew what you meant. I may be old, but I’m not…” She stopped. “Burrows? Not a relative of Daniel Burrows by any chance?”

  “He was my father.” Charlie said softly.

  “Was? Oh, no, my dear, he is not dead. No, no. Did someone tell you he was dead? Who told you such a preposterous thing? If that were so, all would be lost.”

  Bailey cocked her head. “What do you mean, ‘all would be lost’?”

  “He is our Jumper, my dear, the only person in existence that can jump between worlds.”

  “What do you mean ‘jump between worlds’?”

  “Oh dear, there I’ve done it again! Forget I told you anything. Why do I do these things? You were not supposed to hear this until after the trials.” Mrs. Parker turned her attention to rummaging through files, in an obvious attempt to stop all conversation. Several moments later she pulled out two separate sheets of paper. “Here are your schedules for the spring term.” She said pointing to the top paper. “Read them over. Here are maps of the campus, as well as a list of the books you will need for the term and a list of your assignments, to be completed before the start of the term.” She handed each of them a pile of books and papers. Before they could respond, they heard a familiar voice from behind them.

  “Now then, let’s get you two settled into your new home for the next eight years, shall we?” stated Ms. Welling.

  “Don’t you mean seven, Ms. Welling? We’re in sixth grade now. That means that we’ll graduate in seven years, not eight. I don’t mean to be rude, but mathematics is my specialty,” said Bailey.