Alex awoke as the sun crested the eastern horizon. Rubbing his face as much to dispel the images from his dreams as to wake himself up, he looked toward the window. A gasp of surprise and horror filled his lungs as he leapt from the bed and staggered back. Hundreds of small, strange insects covered the window. Regaining his composure, he slowly crept forward.
He could see the insects more closely now. They were about an inch long with hard black bodies and dark red wings. He had never seen anything like them in the valley before. As he came closer still to the window, he could see past the insects swarming the glass to the town outside. There were insects everywhere. Thousands and thousands of them. Flying through the air, covering the sidewalk and the street, clinging to windows and street lamps and houses and cars and swarming the few people who were on the sidewalk. Plague of Malice indeed, Alex thought to himself as he tapped the windowpane, watching the insects scatter and regroup around the point where his finger met the glass. What danger did this particular plague mean to the town, he wondered?
Then he heard Nina scream.
Chapter 14: The Shadow’s Plague
Nina’s scream brought Alex dashing through the door and down the hall to her room. He crashed through the door to find her sitting up in bed, hands clutched to her chest, staring at the insect-covered window at the edge of her room. Alex went to Nina’s side, placing himself between the window and the bed. Taking her hand in his, he looked her in the eyes.
“It’s okay,” Alex said. “They can’t get in through the glass.”
“Sorry,” Nina said, recovering quickly and putting on a brave face. “I woke up and they were all over the window and I panicked.”
“Same thing happened to me,” Alex said reassuringly.
“What are they?” Nina asked, climbing out of bed in her PJs and grabbing a robe from the back of a nearby chair. As she slipped on the robe and belted it, Alex walked slowly over to the window and examined more closely the hundreds of insects swarming over the glass pane.
“I don’t know,” Alex said as Nina stepped up beside him. “I’ve never seen bugs like this before.”
“Do you think they have something to do with the Shadow Wraith?” Nina asked. Alex was proud of her for asking the question that he was too afraid to voice aloud himself.
“I wish they didn’t, but I’m sure they do,” Alex said, peering through the window past the insects to the street below. “The better question is, why insects? Why these insects? What are they and what do they mean?”
“Look,” Nina said, pointing toward the street below and beyond the window. “It’s Mom and Dad.” Alex followed the direction of her finger, noticing that she kept it well clear of the windowpane where the insects crawled over top of each other, looking for a way through the glass.
Alex watched as his parents walked down the front sidewalk and into the middle of the street. The rest of the street was empty. The two people Alex had seen earlier had obviously fled indoors. His parents each held a six-foot carved wooden staff in their hands. Alex was as surprised to see his mother holding the staff, as he was to see his parents in the street in the middle of a swarm of malignant insects.
While he had often seen his father take his staff from the rack on the wall in the kitchen when he was heading out on difficult magical business as the town warlock, Alex had never seen his mother so much as look at the second staff on the wall. It wasn’t until now that he even realized the staff belong to her. These were no mere well-carved walking sticks — these were deeply enchanted magical staves, capable of magnifying the magical power that a mage could draw from the land and concentrate with their willpower.
As Alex and Nina watched and held their breath, their parents strode to the center of the street. Looking briefly at each other, they turned and stood with their backs together, each facing along one length of the street. In unison, they struck their staffs on the ground and then brought them up in a complex series of synchronized twists and turns, spinning them through their hands like the whirling branches of a deranged tree.
Alex could see that they were each speaking words of rune-tongue while they performed the motions with the staves. As they continued to chant and the staves continued to whir through the air, a light began to pulse around them both. It became a sphere of light, tinged blue on his father’s side and a deep crimson on his mother’s. Alex also noticed that the insects had all stopped moving. Alex’s parents continued to chant, the staves becoming a blur of motion as the sphere of light surrounding them began to expand and rise above their heads. Alex watched as the sphere of light started to rotate and pulse as it rose above the ground. It was now about ten feet in diameter and twenty feet above the rooftops along the street.
As the pulse of the giant sphere of swirling red and blue light began to increase in tempo, the insects on the windowpane began to tremble and shake, vibrating along the glass pane. Suddenly the insects were gone, sucked from the window and pulled toward the ball of light above the street. All of the insects were flying toward the light. Masses of the creatures swarmed as a group, trying to escape the pull of the light, but inevitably dragged into it like leaves drawn into a whirlpool in a swiftly moving stream.
Alex and Nina stared in amazement as hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of insects were siphoned from along the street and all over town, up into the rapidly pulsing sphere of light above their parents’ heads. After what seemed like minutes, the rivers of insects flooding through the air slowed to a trickle and then stopped.
As the final insect crossed the barrier of light into the sphere, Alex’s parents suddenly and simultaneously stopped the motion of their staves, raising them into the air to jab at the giant sphere of light above them. They shouted something as they raised their staves, and Alex knew it to be a word in rune-tongue, but it was one he did not recognize. The tips of their staves touched and the sphere of light collapsed inward upon itself, rapidly decreasing in size until it was no larger than a grapefruit. But as it became smaller, it also became brighter, glowing like a miniature red-blue sun as it became the size of an acorn. Then his parents slammed their staves down to the pavement in unison and the tiny ball of light winked out of existence with a final brilliant burst of illumination.
Alex let his long-held breath out and heard his sister do the same as they observed their parents look around the sky and then turn to each other in the middle of the street. He watched in dumbstruck awe as the serious looks etched into both his parent’s faces slowly dissolved into wide, beaming smiles. Alex’s father placed his arm around his mother’s back and she placed hers around her husband’s neck and they exchanged a brief, but intense kiss. Holding hands like two teenage kids coming home from a mid-summer dance, they walked back toward the house. Their parents looked up at where Alex and Nina clung to the windowsill in astonishment. They both waved their staves and laughed as they stepped up onto the porch, disappearing from view under the awning.
Alex and Nina raced downstairs, not even bothering to grab slippers, and skidded into the kitchen just as Alex’s father and mother replaced their staves in the rack on the wall.
“That was single most amazing thing I’ve even seen!” Alex said, panting more from wonder than the run down the stairs. Alex’s parents were always hinting at having had a wide number of strange and dangerous adventures in their youth, but he had always assumed they were exaggerating for effect. Now he realized they were more likely being circumspect to keep from putting ideas in the heads of their overly adventurous children.
“Seriously, Mom,” Nina said, “Why didn’t you tell us you could do things like that?”
“It’s nothing special,” Alex’s mother said with a grin. “Just something your father and I picked up on a trip to China once.”
“Your mother has always been entirely too modest,” his father said. “She’s a better mage than I’ll ever be.”
“Nonsense,” his mother said. “But sweet of you to say. I’m actually a bit rusty. How abo
ut pancakes for breakfast? An enchanting like that always leaves me starving.” His mother grabbed her apron from the wall and tied it around her waist.
“Good idea,” Alex’s father said. “I’ll make some eggs and sausage, as well.”
“Lucky for the town you both knew what to do,” Alex said.
“Yes,” his father said, his voice suddenly serious as he took a rack of eggs from the magically chilled icebox. “I’ve never seen insects like those before. And never heard of a swarm of any insects striking the town or the valley.”
“Could be a freak occurrence caused by the magical attraction of the valley,” his mother said.
“First the dead birds and now the insects,” Nina said. “I wonder what’s next?”
“What’s next is the two of you get dressed and ready for school,” his mother said. “Breakfast will be on the table by the time you come down.”
As Alex headed upstairs, his father raised his penetrating eyes in his direction. “Quick question before you go,” his father said.
“Sure, Dad,” Alex said, swallowing slightly as he saw the intensity of his father’s stare.
“You two wouldn’t happen to know anything about a missing book from the library, would you?” his father asked.
Alex’s heart seemed to stop and he could hear Nina holding her breath beside him. “A book?” Alex said, straining to keep his voice steady and noncommittal.
“A book on Spirit Magic,” his father continued, his eyes like probing flames seeking truth.
Alex felt an inward sigh of relief flood through him. “I don’t know anything about a book on Spirit Magic being missing from the library,” Alex said. That wasn’t strictly true, he realized. He had known it was missing from the restricted room. Which is why he didn’t know where it was. “I don’t know where it could be if Mrs. Yaaba doesn’t know where it is.” That was completely truthful. “What’s the book about? Beside Spirit Magic?” Maybe his father could tell him more about the missing book than he already knew. The real question was why his father was looking for it in the first place. Alex assumed it was because his father had the same suspicions as he did about the strange events befalling the town.
“Never mind,” his father said, grabbing a bowl from the cupboard. “It’s not important. Run along and get changed.”
“Okay,” Alex said and spun on his heals to head upstairs. He caught the look on Nina’s face that screamed “Dad knows!” but he shook his head to keep her silent until they were upstairs and standing at the door to her room.
“Do you think he suspects?” Nina whispered.
“Maybe,” Alex said. “I think he’s looking for the book for the same reason we are.”
“That can’t be good,” Nina said. “It means he thinks the Shadow Wraith is loose, too.”
“And it means we better hope we find the book before he does,” Alex said. “He’ll never let me read it if he knows I’m a Spirit Mage and the Shadow Wraith is looking for me.”
“No,” Nina agreed. “He’d ship us off to stay with Aunt Maria in Albuquerque.”
They both frowned at the thought. Trapped with Aunt Maria in a strange city in the outside world with no magic whatsoever. A horrible fate. Then the smell of cooking sausage hit them and kicked them into motion. They were changed and downstairs in record time. They ate breakfast in record time as well.
At school, all the talk was about the insects and where they came from. The Mad Mages had once again started a rumor that the infestation was the result of some wild magical experiment of the Young Sorcerers Guild that had gone horribly wrong. Unlike the incident with the dead birds, Principal Gillette did not bother to haul them into his office for questioning. That was not the only rumor swirling through the halls of the school that day. Three more citizens of Runewood were missing earlier that morning: the dressmaker and her husband, Mrs. and Mr. Thakar, and the tobacconist, Mr. Aramander.
There was another rumor and it disturbed Alex far more than the disappearances. By lunchtime, the talk between the tables in the cafeteria was all about the ghosts that had been seen in the cemetery. No one was certain who had seen them — the stories ranged from Pastor Spiritos to Billy Bob Bramble, the owner of the local pub. The only thing that stayed consistent between the stories was the ghosts and where they had been seen.
“We need to check it out,” Alex said around a mouthful of sandwich as he looked around the cafeteria table at the other members of the Guild. They sat at a table in the back of the room, where Victoria had enough room to join them.
“Ghosts.” Ben said. “I hate ghosts.”
“Humf,” Clark said as he swallowed half a slice of apple pie in one bite. “Ghosts are harmless.”
“Don’t tell that to my aunt,” Rafael said. “She’s convinced that the ghost in the barn is the reason the cows don’t give as much milk as they used to.”
“Your aunt’s cows are all old and nearly ghosts themselves,” Nina said.
“Again, don’t tell that to my aunt,” Rafael said with a pained look that said he had tried to do just that himself.
“Do you have many ghosts in Runewood?” Victoria asked. “There were only two in Southampton where we came from and we ever only heard about them secondhand. No one had actually seen one, although Daddy was convinced they must be real. He’s ever so interested in ghosts. I suspect it’s because of my mother, but we’ve never heard a peep from her if she is a ghost.”
There was an awkward silence at the mention of Victoria’s dead mother. Victoria had said her mother had passed away only a year ago, and while Victoria didn’t seem distraught about it now, it wasn’t the sort of thing people in Runewood tended to comment on for fear of offending or upsetting the bereaved. Alex was about to say something to fill the silence when Daphne spoke.
“It’s been years since there were any real ghost sightings in the town,” Daphne said. “Lots of horse-pucky stories, if you ask me.” Daphne glanced at Victoria and blushed as she realized what she had said. “Sorry.”
“No offense taken,” Victoria said.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that there are ghosts being sighted in the cemetery,” Alex said. “It’s part of the pattern of everything that’s been happening, from the dead birds and insects to the people who have disappeared.”
“You think the Shadow Wraith has something to do with the ghosts?” Nina asked.
“I do,” Alex said.
“Great,” Ben said. “Now I really hate ghosts.”
“Hmmm,” Clarke said. “We could sneak out to the cemetery after dinner.”
“Just what I was thinking,” Alex said.
“Wonderful,” Rafael said. “Now Clark is thinking like Alex. It spreads like a plague.”
“What in the name of Hades’ halitosis do you hope to find?” Daphne asked, taking a sip from a milk carton.
“I’m not sure,” Alex said. “Answers, maybe.”
“Well, we’d better figure out what the questions are first,” Nina said. “Like why ghosts would care what happens in the town or why people keep disappearing or where they’re going and what’s happening to them and who’s going to be next?”
“We have to find them first to ask them,” Alex said.
“I have exactly the thing we need,” Victoria said, her wide smile taking over her face. “Or rather, Daddy does. If we’re going to go hunting for ghosts, we’ll need the right tools. Daddy invented just the thing for the job. We can stop by my house and pick it up after school.”
“Then it’s a plan,” Alex said, wondering what the invention might be and how it could help them.
“If that’s what’s passing for a plan these days, we’re in more trouble than usual,” Rafael said with a sigh.
“Well, you think we’re in trouble now,” Clark said, “wait until we find the ghosts.”
“Great,” Ben said. “Just great.”
Chapter 15: Parental Consent
“What’s a spectrotromatron?” Nina asked, r
epeating the word as clearly as she could.
“That’s Daddy’s name for it,” Victoria said. “He’s always coming up with the most unpronounceable names for his inventions. I prefer to call it a ‘spectral detector.’ It tells you when there is spectral activity nearby.”
“So it’s a ghost finder,” Alex said.
“Exactly,” Victoria said. “Watch your step. Pardon the mess. We’re still unpacking.” Victoria led Alex, Nina, and the rest of the Guild through her house toward her father’s workshop in the back. The house had been owned by a family of half giants, so the ceilings were nearly ten feet high and the hallways extra wide. The perfect place for a young centaur and her father. Alex noticed that the stairs to the second floor had been modified in length and step height to accommodate a centaur’s gait. The house was old and had been built near the founding of the town several centuries past. It was crowded with still unpacked boxes of every size and shape. From the number of boxes, it looked as though Victoria and her father would be unpacking for years. The boxes were filled with her father’s inventions or parts for inventions or magical items of indeterminate function.
“What are these?” Alex asked as he walked past an open box with a large glass jar filled with small colorful glass balls.
“Oh, those,” Victoria said, taking the lid off the glass jar and plucking forth a dark blue glass ball about an inch in diameter. “My father calls them ‘Communocrystals,’ but my name for them is ‘Mumbling Marbles.’ You put them in your mouth.” Victoria took a handful of marbles from the jar and handed them to each of the Guild members.
“Hmm,” Clark said sucking on his marble. “Mastes mike mocolate.”
“Yes,” Victoria said. “Daddy thought they’d be easier to sell if they were flavored. Brown is chocolate, blue is blueberry, red is raspberry, and I think the orange ones are apple.”
“Sour apple,” Daphne said, her face scrunching up at the taste of the marble as she spit it into her hand. “What kind of kook makes orange takes like apple?”
The Dark Shadow of Spring Page 13