by Blair Drake
She dropped her hand and stared at it, as if it moved of its own volition.
“Witchsteria, is that you?” Woli returned from the alley.
Coming out of her stupor, she said, “Who are you?”
“I’m Tantana’s niece. I’ve seen you at her house.”
“Not possible. I never go topside.” She looked at her hand, reaching toward Dylan again.
“Do not touch me,” Dylan said.
Her hand froze in place, then she pulled it back and tucked it into her long black poncho.
“I’ve seen you topside, Witchsteria, and I know you and Tantana have worked together—good and evil. Don’t play me for a fool.” Woli kept her distance.
Witchsteria turned on Woli. “What are you doing down here? This is a dangerous place for pixies.”
“We are on a mission to find a grimoire,” Woli said.
Witchsteria’s ears twitched, and Dylan swore her hair moved.
“I’m looking for my grimoire. It was stolen from me.” Dylan wasn’t afraid of this witch now that he knew he could control her. He only wished he remembered this ability when the damn snotlings were biting him.
“A grimoire,” she said thoughtfully. “This is a dangerous thing to be looking for in the underground.”
“We know where it is, but we have to get there.” Woli seemed to relax a little. “But I don’t think we can get down this alley to get there.”
Witchsteria tapped her fingers on her chin. “Tell me child, where are you going?”
“The eastside station of the Grim Train. We were told the grimoire was pawned.”
She laughed hard, and Dylan could feel a change in the air around them.
“What?” Woli asked.
“When was it pawned?”
Woli shrugged. “A week or so ago?” She said it as a question.
The witch laughed again. “How long do you think that book stayed at the pawn shop? Grimoires are valuable in the underground.”
Dylan’s stomach flopped, and he thought he was going to vomit. He was never going to get home.
“No, that can’t be,” Woli said.
“Who is this friend of yours, Pixy?”
Dylan didn’t like being ignored and talked about in the third person, as if he couldn’t answer for himself.
“I’m a mage from another realm, and I want to go back. We need the grimoire, so I can get back to my side of the universe.” He got in her face, so she’d have to acknowledge him.
“A mage.” She looked him up and down, then sniffed the air. “A weanling. But you’ve been in battle.”
Woli’s wings fluttered. “Yes, we just came from the topside, Craydusk, where they were battling against a terrible darkness.”
Witchsteria crossed one arm in front of her and rested the elbow of her other arm on that one, grasping her chin. “I know of the darkness. I’m a black witch, and it’s darker than me. This is bad. Why are you hiding in the underground when you should be assisting in the battle?”
“We were fighting. That’s why you smell battle on Dylan. But he was injured when his dragon fell from the sky. The battle is over. Just the remnants of the battle are left.”
The witch looked him over again. “You look fine to me.”
“I am fine,” Dylan said.
“Then you should be fighting,” she said.
“They told us to go underground. Dylan can’t be killed in this realm. He needs to get home.”
“Stay right here. I’ll be back.” Witchsteria dissipated into a cloud of black particles, then the particles blew away.
“Let’s get the hell out of here. The grimoire might still be in the pawn shop.” Dylan grabbed Woli’s hand.
She jerked away. “I have to continue to live in this world after you’re gone. When a witch as powerful as Witchsteria tells me to stay put, I stay put. She’ll be back.”
“She can’t be that strong. I was able to use my lippy magic on her.”
“Think what you want. I just wait here.”
Woli walked over to a set of stairs and sat on the bottom step. Dylan sat next to her.
What would he do if the grimoire wasn’t in the pawn shop? Riata saw it there, but that was a week ago, right? Woli said they fought the darkness for a week. Could the book still be there? Dylan was so exhausted he wanted to cry, but he couldn’t cry in front of Woli. She’d think he was a wuss.
Witchsteria’s particles hovered in front of them again, gradually becoming whole right before their eyes. She was just shades of black in a dark alley.
“You stayed,” she said.
“Of course.” Woli stood.
“They were winning. The darkness receded. It’s not gone, but the warriors of Craydusk and River Ruin, along with the dragons, conquered. The victory wasn’t without loss.”
Dylan felt great relief at hearing her words. He started to speak, but she continued.
“The grimoire. It’s close. I can feel the magic.”
Woli said, “But we have to get through Dragon Alley. It’s dangerous.”
“You are with a powerful mage. Work your magic, and I’ll see you on the other side.” She dissipated again.
Dylan knew this was the time he needed to take a chance and try morphing into something not human, not just change his clothes.
“Can you fly high enough to avoid the dragons?” Dylan asked.
“If I get small again, I should be able to get by them. But I’m not that fast. I’d need to fly to the other side without them noticing. They could take me down with fire easily, if they see me.”
Dylan paced a few steps back and forth. “What could fly through that alley fast enough and be relatively unnoticed?”
Woli wrinkled her nose as she thought. “A bat. Black. A creature of the night and fast.”
“A bat. I can do that. Get small. Then when I change, climb on and hold on as tight as you can.”
Woli didn’t hesitate. Dylan blinked and she was gone. He looked around to see she was above his head. “Hurry up. Witchsteria isn’t going to wait forever.”
He was terrified, but he’d done this before. He knew it. He’d been in the ducts in Gray Cliffs, even if he couldn’t remember how he got there, or actually being there. And somehow, he morphed back to his human self. He closed his eyes and pictured a cave full of bats. He expected it to hurt like hell like in movies with a man becoming a werewolf.
He opened his eyes, knowing he’d morphed into something, but he didn’t know what.
“Damn, Dylan, you’re good. Let’s go.” Woli wrapped her arms around his neck.
He didn’t even have time to think about what he’d done, or how he was going to get back to his human state. He flew high above the buildings, then nosedived at full speed through the alley.
They got to the end of the alley when he felt the heat at his belly. The dragons were spitting fire at him. These weren’t the same kind of dragons as those helping defeat the darkness. He picked up speed, and before he knew it, he landed on the railing of a banister leading to a basement. Witchsteria stood here, her arms crossed in front of her, tapping her foot.
“It’s about time,” she said. “Let’s go.”
Dylan closed his eyes and prayed like hell he could get back to his human form with no deformities. When he opened his eyes, Woli stood next to him. She kissed him on the cheek.
“Where are we going?” Dylan asked.
“To find a grimoire,” Witchsteria said as she walked away.
They followed closely until they reached the eastside train station.
“What? Where’s the train?” Dylan’s heart sank again.
“Patience, weanling,” Witchsteria said. “The train is due soon.”
“Witchsteria, you never do anything for nothing. What are we going to owe you?”
“I’m going back with Dylan.” She stated this as if it were fact.
Woli and Dylan looked at each other. Woli shook her head, but just enough for Dylan to notice.
&nbs
p; He wasn’t about to take this witch-demon back to his world, but he wasn’t going to tell her that. This was his chance to get his book and go home. He looked at Woli and wished he could take her with him. But she was happy in her world, and he couldn’t take her away from all of this.
The ground rumbled and rolled, and the roar seemed louder than when the train pulled up to the other platform. There they stood, alone on the platform, as if everyone was hiding from them. Dylan looked around as he grabbed a pillar to keep his balance. Woli and Witchsteria didn’t seem to even notice the ground moving.
This train shot into place like a bullet and screeched to a halt. Unlike the other train, this one had windows. It was painted a shiny silver, but was covered in “underground” graffiti Dylan didn’t understand, and the windows were painted over with it.
“Don’t make eye contact,” the witch said as the doors of the cars opened.
Dylan was so close, he wasn’t going to take any chances. He looked at the ground, not even caring what type of creatures exited the train. He was bumped and banged from all sides, and for a moment, he thought he was separated from Woli and the witch. It was several minutes before he saw their feet again.
No “barkers” called out on this train—only signs posted on the window outside the opened doors of the retail cars. Not all the signs were in English or even a readable language. A few of the signs indicated what was for sale, and Dylan deciphered a few of them as possibly being body parts.
Woli tapped the witch on the shoulder, then looked back at Dylan. She then looked to her right but didn’t make any obvious moves.
Dylan turned to look, and the lighted sign said, Pawn Shop.
The only pawn shop Dylan had ever seen was on TV and filled with lots of jewelry, TVs, musical equipment and instruments, paintings, and what he considered junk. When the three of them stepped from the platform onto the train and into the pawn shop, Dylan felt as if he’d stepped into yet another realm.
A wall of books with no lettering on the spines, shelves of tiny jars with wet specimens: fingertips, beetles, unspecified bugs, fairy wings, fairies, eyeballs, and at least a hundred more things. He looked around to see hanks of what he thought were beads but turned out to be dried eyeballs. Under glass, he saw nail clippings, hair clippings, sheets of dried skin, and dried ears.
This looked more like a strange magic shop than a pawn shop.
“Hello, mage,” the shopkeeper looked him in the eyes and smiled. “I’ve been expecting you.”
“Hello, sir.”
He hoped he didn’t offend because he wasn’t really sure it was a man, other than the deep voice. He wasn’t sure what species he was.
“Orc,” he said. “Well, I’m a half-breed, so I don’t really fit any specific clan.”
Dylan had seen a few orcs since he being in Craydusk and the underground, and he definitely didn’t look like them.
“Orc,” Dylan repeated. He was stunned that the orc read his thoughts.
“You’re here for the book, aren’t you?”
Witchsteria stepped up to the counter. “Show it to me.”
The half-breed shook his head. “What’s your name, mage?”
“Dylan, Dylan Streetman.”
A stiff smile appeared on the half-breed’s face. “Call me Pinn.”
“Hello, Pinn,” Witchsteria said. “The book.”
He looked at the witch and said, “No, it’s not your book.”
“It didn’t belong to the person who brought it to you, either, and yet you took it. Now you’re the guardian, and I want to buy it from you,” she insisted.
“What about the word ‘no’ do you not get, the N, or the O, or the way they fit together to form the word?” He got in her face, not remotely afraid of the witch.
“Watch your tone with me, Pinn.” She leaned closer to him.
“You’re in my shop. My rules. If you don’t behave, you leave.” Pinn seemed quite sure of himself.
Dylan tried to feel the air around him. There was some powerful magic in this car. Or was it the entire train?
“No one speaks to me like that,” Witchsteria said.
She hadn’t even finished her sentence before she found herself standing outside the train, on the platform. She stepped forward and slammed into an invisible wall.
Wards. He was seeing them at work.
“Like I said, this is my shop. I don’t put up with crap from anyone. The book didn’t belong to that witch, and she won’t be putting a finger on it.”
Woli leaned close to Pinn. “She wants to go back to his world with him.”
“Ain’t gonna happen.” Pinn’s lips barely moved when he spoke, as if his skin was stiff.
“What about my grimoire?” Dylan asked politely. He didn’t want to end up outside the car with the witch.
“Everything in this store has a price. I do believe your book has quite a bit of value, but not to anyone but you. I’m the one who has it. From the energy, you need it badly and have been looking for it for a long time.”
Long time. He guessed that was subjective.
“What do you want for it?” Dylan hesitated to ask.
He looked at Woli. “I need a partner.”
Woli’s eyes went wide with fear.
“You want Woli?” Dylan asked.
He nodded.
“She’s not mine to give.”
“Oh, but she is. You’re here, she’s here. All you have to do is agree to leave her here in the car when the train takes off.”
No way. But how did he say that without being tossed out of the car without his book?
“Before he agrees, he’d like to see the book,” Woli said. “He doesn’t even know for sure you have it, or that the one you have is his.”
He knew his book was nearby. The vibration of the school pin in his pocket said as much.
“Yes, I’d like to see it. I’m told that if it’s mine, I should be able to read the pages. If it’s not, the pages will be blank.”
“Fine, but just so you know, neither of you can leave here, same as your witch friend can’t get back in.”
In the time they’d been talking, several other customers came in to browse and left. Yet the witch stood outside, banging on the invisible wall.
“There is no trickery here. I’m a weanling mage. I don’t even know how to use the book. I just want to see it before I make a deal for someone else’s life.”
Woli looked at Dylan and winked. “You’re just going to turn me over, just like that? After all I’ve done for you?”
Pinn said, “Shut up, Pixy.”
He walked over to the shelf of books and pulled down a simple looking, thin volume. He handed it to Dylan, standing beside him, waiting.
“Please, some privacy? This is my first experience. I’d rather not share it.”
Dylan opened the thin leather bound book, and indeed, the pages were blank. He flipped a few pages and eventually letters, symbols, and images floated from the air onto the page. Dylan looked up to see if Woli and Pinn could see the images in the air. They stood, looking at Dylan like they were waiting for something to happen.
The book spoke to him. He couldn’t understand the words, but he knew what he had to do to get home now. He kept flipping pages as if he didn’t see anything.
“Well?” Pinn said.
Dylan stepped closer to Woli, close enough to grab her hand. He slammed the book shut and reached out to hand it back to Pinn at the same time he grabbed Woli’s hand. “Nothing, it’s not mine.”
As Pinn reached out to take it, saying, “Bullshit,” Dylan pulled it back and chanted the words the book told him to say. He cringed, gripped Woli’s hand hard, and squeezed his eyes closed, waiting for Pinn to flog him or send him from the shop.
When he opened his eyes, his breath caught.
He was standing inside the café where he met Woli. Strix sat at a table across the room, reading a newspaper upside down, and Henry sat at the table next to him, holding the pocket wat
ch he was trapped in when Dylan found him. He picked up a tea cup and sipped delicately.
Woli smiled and Dylan let go of her hand. The grimoire in his hand shrunk to the size of a small notebook. He tucked it into the pocket of his pants.
His pants: the ones he was wearing when he originally came through the portal. He was dressed in his school uniform again.
“What the hell?”
“You did it, young man,” Henry said. “You’re a true mage.”
“A true mage indeed,” Strix called from across the room.
The door of the café opened and Portly walked in. No one moved, not even a flinch.
Dylan’s hand immediately went to his pocket where he stashed his grimoire. He stared at Portly waiting for something terrible to happen.
Portly took a seat, and a pixy looking very similar to Woli but with turquoise hair, came out from the kitchen. “Hey Portly, your regular?”
Portly nodded then pulled a small leather bound book from his breast pocket and began reading, completely ignoring everyone else in the room.
Woli leaned in and kissed Dylan on the cheek. “It was nice meeting you.”
Dylan’s heart broke. He was never going to see Woli again. Of all the people he met, he wanted to take her back with him. She acted like they hadn’t just been through a crazy ordeal, and that she hadn’t offered her indentured servitude in order for him to get his grimoire.
Henry stood. “I think it’s time, young man.”
Henry put his hand on Dylan’s shoulder and stepped back against the wall of the café. Dylan remembered this from before and followed Henry’s lead. The air seemed to warp, and unlike the last time, it seemed as if the wall enveloped them.
Chapter 21
He stepped backward, but not against a wall. When the air cleared and the ripple calmed, he stood in front of the doors to Gray Cliffs Academy. He looked back to see if Craydusk was behind him, or if he truly was back on the island.
The fog rolling in toward him when he opened the doors to Craydusk was not gone. Darkness still filled the sky, and Dylan knew this wasn’t the same darkness seeping into the realm of Craydusk. That darkness was defeated with magic. This darkness was going to require something more. What it was, he had no idea.