Magic Makes You Strange (The Brontosaurus Pluto Society Book 1)
Page 18
They were going to learn more magic, and they were going to use it again and again.
Septimus understood what was going to happen to the young magicians. The magic would make their bodies strange. It would make their minds strange… And it was going to turn them into villains.
At some point, maybe in a year or two, he would have to escape.
* ** *** ** *
The great and mysterious Nevil Dever had missed Edward in London by only a few minutes. He was glad to see that Edward’s friends had come and rescued him. He was however very sad to find Jennifer dead, although he had never cared much for Henri. He noted which of Jennifer’s books were missing. He took one of Rose’s spears, one of the ones coated with Edward’s blood. He tasted it. Was that the boy he remembered? He was still so young... How could that be?
The servants emptied Jennifer’s room of gold, books, and evidence. Rose was given enough time to pack a bag, and then the building was set on fire.
The two of them got into a limousine which had been prepared outside. Howling had been waiting inside.
“Can you find him?”
“I have to,” Dever replied. “I cannot lose him. Imagine what the devils would do to him?”
“He smells of aliens,” Howling noted.
Dever nodded, “He smells like he has been with them for a very long time. It feels to me as if they have infected his poor soul.”
“Maybe we should stay away. He could be dangerous?”
Rose wanted to speak up, but her instincts protected her. Howling didn’t care to hear about her hunger for revenge.
Dever thought for a long time before he answered, “I daresay he’s going to be very dangerous, and he will come for me.”
“Why’s that?”
Nevil Dever waved his hand through the air, as if casting layers of paint across a canvas as he spoke. “Because either Edward is the hero and I am the villain, or else I am the hero and he is the fallen one. We’re both going to need to know the answer to that question.”
“You’re a strange old man, Nevil Dever!” Howling laughed, in that funny way he had.
“No sir, I am your humble guide to all the wonders of the universe. I would never lie to you. I would never be so cruel and mean as to dream a meager dream for your eyes.”
The great magician leaned back and contemplated Jennifer’s granddaughter. Could he make a lovely assistant out of her? He made up his mind that he would pull her out of a hat before the end of the weekend.
EPILOGUE
Edward spent the next couple of days upstairs writing. As he put down the story of Zeuspater, he felt like he was making sense of everything he had been through. No, he didn’t figure out if the “aliens” and the “devils” were really two races or just one. No, he didn’t solve the riddle of why he had twice been moved forward through time. He didn’t even figure out why the aliens had picked him to haunt and to tell the story to over and over again.
However, when he wrote the story down he felt like he was finally in control. He was taking the madness of his recent past and becoming the master of it.
He set his pen down and read the manuscript over. He stood up and walked to the door, but before reaching for the knob he walked back and sat down again. He read the story one more time.
Then he set it down. He closed his eyes and words weren’t repeating anymore. Zeus, Neptune, Jesus, Golgee… they were gone. In fact, he found himself forgetting some of the details. He would have to read it again soon to try to remember.
He used the bathroom and then walked down into the main section of the house to see how the others were doing. The refrigerator didn’t work, but there were two bags of groceries waiting. Three cans of white paint were sitting in the living room, next to a new large rolled-up rug.
“You look like you’ve been up all night,” the little devil said.
It was only then that Edward realized it was morning.
“Septimus.” The magician smiled. “They’re going to find us here, you know. They may already be outside waiting.”
“Don’t be such a gloomy Gus! Of course they won’t find us. I used a shelter spell to hide the house. No one will be able to find the house for a month, except the four of us who were inside when I cast it.”
Edward nodded, impressed. “That’s good. I wrote a story.”
“A novel?”
“Well, I had a story in my head. The Plutonians put it there. I had to get it out. Do you want to read it?”
“Nooo!” Septimus held his hands up defensively.
Edward laughed. “You don’t think I can write?”
The little red man furrowed his brow. “The aliens put words in your head and you want me to read it? Eddie, that thing has to be loaded with spells and traps and logical black-holes. If you’re smart you’ll lock the thing up in a safe and do your best to forget all about it. That and, I don’t think you can write.”
“If I could,” Edward said seriously, “I’d never cast another spell as long as I live, but it’s the only way we have to defend ourselves.”
“Are you sure? Are you sure you’re making yourself safe?” The devil pointed at Edward’s hand.
“The normal won’t protect me will it?” Edward asked a devil, for the second time.
The magician looked at his hand by the morning’s light and only then noticed, his wrist, his palm, and his fingers were all turning blue.
“Strange indeed,” the magician said.
TO BE CONTINUED
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Noah Mullette-Gillman was born in Montclair, New Jersey. He spent his childhood there, as well as in the town of Manly, Australia, and the woods of Upstate New York. He earned a multidisciplinary degree in Philosophy and Creative Writing at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
He is also the author of Luminous and Ominous and The White Hairs. He is working on sequels to both Luminous and Ominous and The Brontosaurus Pluto Society.
It is the author’s opinion that Pluto is a planet and the Brontosaurus is a dinosaur.
www.brontosauruspluto.com
Twitter: Noahlot