“What’s the scoop, Snoop?” Nina said as she slid up beside Alex and Victoria.
“We have a better idea what we’re looking for,” Alex said, lowering his voice.
“You mean for the thing that does that thing so you can’t do your thing,” Nina said, looking out at the festival as though she were talking to herself.
“Yes,” Alex said. “It’s something small enough to carry and it’s here.”
“Well, that narrows it down,” Nina said with a sigh. “Should I start checking people’s pockets?”
“Funny,” Alex said.
“Nina has a point,” Victoria said, flicking a fly away from her hindquarters with her tail. “We’re no closer to finding it simply because we know it’s small.”
“Closer,” Alex said aloud, realizing something. “It must be with someone here in the town center. Now that we’re all close together, maybe I can sense it. Put your arm around me.”
“I’m sorry?” Victoria said, blinking in surprise. “Put my arm around you?”
“So I don’t fall down,” Alex said, feeling his face grow a little warmer under Victoria’s gaze.
“Ah,” Victoria said, sighing a little as she slid her arm around Alex’s shoulder.
“Not again,” Nina said. “No one is going to believe it twice.”
“Believe what?” Alex asked.
“That you’re not doing the astral mambo,” Nina said.
“Was it really that bad a performance?” Alex asked.
“Only for someone who knows you,” Nina said.
“Great,” Alex said. “Well, I won’t be gone that long this time. Only a few seconds.”
“I’ll keep an eye out in case anyone notices,” Nina said, nonchalantly peering around at the crowd.
“Right,” Alex said, leaning against Victoria’s horse shoulder and smiling up at her. “I’ll only be a second or two.”
“I’ll make sure you stay on your feet,” Victoria said, pulling him tight to her side.
Alex closed his eyes and forced his mind to calm. Oddly, it was harder to subdue the thoughts in his mind than it had been when pretending to faint. All he had to contend with then was the sound of his friends’ voices and Leanna setting him down on the ground. Now he needed to avoid thinking about Victoria’s arm around his shoulder and how close she was holding him and how much she smelled like honeysuckle. It took more than a few seconds to will his mind to obey his soul-essence and to leap into his astral form. It took less than a second to realize something was pushing him back into his physical body the way one might shove a hand into a glove.
Alex opened his eyes, looking between Victoria and Nina.
“Nothing,” Alex said. “It not only creates a barrier from the outside, it creates one from the inside, as well. If I could get close to the person with it in astral form, I could probably see or sense it. But this way, I can’t get near them except in the real world. ”
“Maybe one of the four we saw today has it?” Nina suggested.
“Good idea,” Alex said. “We can try and find them and see if they’re carrying anything.”
“I can see Elektra or Medea now,” Victoria said. Alex and Nina followed Victoria’s gaze across the plaza to the center of town and saw one of the Siren Sister twins talking with Mr. Apollo.
“Could Mr. Apollo be one of them?” Alex asked aloud.
“I don’t know,” Victoria said. “I wouldn’t think so. He has such a reputation for fairness and honesty. All of the carnies look up to him and I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about him.”
Alex’s thoughts on the matter and his possible response were drowned out by an amplified voice ringing throughout the town plaza. It was a voice Alex knew well and one that sounded enough like its familial counterpart to make his stomach clinch instinctively.
“Welcome to the annual Founders Festival,” Mayor McClint said, his voice booming and echoing off the walls of the buildings. Alex looked to the stage and saw Mayor McClint adjusting the ever-present wide-brimmed hat covering his enormous, balding head. The mayor leaned into the magically amplified microphone, his ample belly keeping him from standing too close to the black-lacquered lectern sitting at the center of the stage. “We are privileged today to have with us fellow magical citizens of the world to celebrate the founding of our fair town. Townspeople of Runewood, please join me in welcoming the members of the Conundrum Carnival and Magical Mystery Show!”
Alex raised his hands to join the applause, seeing for the first time a face that reminded him of another mission he and the Guild needed to tend to that day. Dillon stood at the side of the stage, watching his father. Beside him stood Anna, Mei, Koji, and Earl. Alex had been so consumed with ferreting out the Shadow Wraith’s followers within the carnival he had completely forgotten about the Mad Mages plan to pull some prank at the town museum. Whatever they were planning, they hadn’t done it yet. At least Alex hoped not.
“When we celebrate the founding of our fair town, we do not memorialize a particular date,” Mayor McClint said as he continued his speech. “The founding of Runewood did not take place on a single day. No, the town was built up brick by brick, stone by stone, over many days and years by the first families who settled here. It is therefore only right that we celebrate not a year of founding, but the founders themselves.”
Alex had heard this speech before. The mayor gave practically the same speech every year and Alex’s attention was no longer for the mayor’s words, but for the mayor’s son.
Dillon was not paying attention to his father’s speech, either. Instead, he was bent down in conversation with Anna. They seemed to be having some kind of argument. Whatever the source of the conflict, Anna seemed to obtain the result she desired. Dillon reluctantly nodded his head and Anna gave him one of her sugary sweet smiles. Then she turned to the other Mad Mages, said something briefly, and led them back through the crowd, away from the town center. Dillon glared at their backs for a moment and then turned back to the stage. The look of anger on his face only deepened as he appeared to listen to his father’s words.
“We need to go,” Alex said to Victoria and Nina.
“Yes, I saw,” Victoria said, turning from the stage and the mayor’s speech.
“Saw what?” Nina said, bouncing up to get a better view. “I hate being short.”
“The Mad Mages are on the move,” Alex said.
“We have to follow them,” Nina said, hopping up again to try to see above the heads around her.
“Let’s get the others first,” Alex said. “We know where the Mad Mages are headed.”
Gathering the rest of the Guild was not as easy as usual. Extracting Ben and Rafael from the pleasant company of Eleada and Kendra proved time consuming.
“We’ll go with you,” Eleada said, after Alex had declared he needed to take Rafael and Ben to help with some Guild business.
“We can be helpful,” Kendra added, nodding toward Eleada.
“That’s a very kind offer, but there are rules,” Alex said.
“Guild rules,” Victoria said. “The Guild is very strict about the rules.”
“What?” Ben said, “We always bend the rules.”
“And Nina certainly bends the rules,” Rafael added.
“I don’t bend the rules,” Nina said, raising her chin. “I’m outside the rules.”
“What are you planning?” Eleada asked, her eyes probing Alex’s with an intensity he found a little disconcerting. “Something dangerous? I haven’t done anything dangerous in ages.”
“You haven’t done anything reckless and life threatening, you mean,” Kendra said with a laugh.
“It’s nothing dangerous,” Alex said. “Just some boring Guild thing we need to deal with.”
“Super boring,” Nina said. “I’m bored by it already.”
“We’ll be back before the speeches are over,” Alex said, grabbing Rafael and Ben by the arms and tugging them away from the two girls.
“Yes,”
Victoria said, stepping between the two carnie girls and the rest of the Guild. “Hold our places. We’ll be right back.”
Alex didn’t wait to see if Eleada and Kendra would follow, but pulled Rafael and Ben toward the side. Victoria stopped near where Clark and Daphne stood, spoke to them briefly, and the three were soon right behind Alex. He caught a glimpse of Leanna and Nathan through the crowd, but they seemed to be engrossed in some conversation and didn’t appear to notice the Guild’s departure.
“Hey?” Ben said, shrugging off Alex’s grip on his arm. “What’s the rush?”
“The Mad Mages,” Alex said, breaking into a run as they left the crowd of townspeople behind.
“Why didn’t you say so?” Rafael asked, dashing to catch up with Alex.
“I like Kendra and Eleada and the others, too,” Alex said, “but we don’t need them following us.”
“Backup,” Ben said. “It might be nice to have some backup for once.”
“Especially since we don’t know what the Mad Mages are planning,” Rafael said.
“Backup schmack-up,” Daphne said. “We can handle this ourselves.”
“Besides,” Victoria said, the tone of her voice suddenly diplomatic, “as much as I admire Eleada, she can be rather…unpredictable in dangerous situations.”
“Hmm, we’re unpredictable enough by ourselves,” Clark said.
“Keep running,” Alex said, turning down Owl Street and seeing the four Doric columns adorning the facade of the Town Museum two blocks away.
They saw no sign of Anna and the Mad Mages when they reached the front of the museum, so they raced around to the back entrance of the large marble building. Alex in the lead, they approached the rear of the building cautiously. They found the back door to the museum ajar, but no one guarding it. Sloppy, Alex thought to himself as he slowly pulled the large metal door open and peered inside.
Alex slipped inside the darkened corridor, sliding to the side to allow the rest of the Guild to follow him and let his eyes adjust to the shadows of the windowless hallway. Alex briefly considered slipping into astral form to scout ahead in the museum proper, but decided against it. It would take too much time. Time the Mad Mages might use to slip away.
Alex brought his finger to his lips to indicate silence from his companions and then gestured toward the end of the hall and the light from the main museum chamber. Alex and the Guild walked silently down the short hallway, pausing at its terminus, clustered in the shadows at the edge of the light. Alex felt a tap on his shoulder and looked back to see Victoria reaching into one of her vest pockets to remove a small, round mirror. She handed it to Alex silently and he smiled back at her.
Alex knelt to the ground and slowly slid the small mirror around the corner of the wall. The reflection of the mirror gave him a good, if restricted, view of the main exhibit hall of the museum. He saw no movement and no sign of the Mad Mages. Maybe they had already come and gone in the time that had been wasted convincing Eleada and Kendra to stay at the Founders Festival.
Then Alex caught a glimpse of something in the glass of the mirror that raised his hopes. Something draped over the heads of the old Founders Statue in the center of the museum hall. The original statue, cracked and worn from weather and age, had been placed on permanent display in the museum when the new statue replaced it some fifty years ago. Alex turned back to the others.
“I can’t see them, but I think they’re still here,” Alex said quietly. “They’ve got something over the old Founders Statue. If we split into two groups, we can circle around the main hall and take them by surprise. Daphne, Raphael, and Ben, you head left, Nina and I will head right. Victoria and Clark, you stay here in case they try to escape.”
Everyone nodded their soundless assent and Alex slipped around the corner of the wall, Nina at his side. He and his sister silently snuck behind an exhibit case on one side of the hall as Daphne, Rafael, and Ben took up position behind a similar case on the opposite side of the entrance to the back hall.
Alex stuck his head around the case and scanned the museum hall, searching for signs of the Mad Mages. He could see a large canvas bag opened over the old Founders Statue as though someone thought to wrap it up and carry it away, but he could see no trace of the Mad Mages. Alex gestured to his sister and they moved in synchronized steps to a place behind an exhibit, closer to the center of the room.
The Town Museum had been built nearly a hundred years ago for the express purpose of housing and displaying the magical artifacts and common antiques of historical importance to the town of Runewood. The main room was round, with a tall, domed ceiling. Red- and blue-veined marble walls contrasted the pure white marble of the floors. Exhibits of various sizes and shapes were stationed around the room in a rough circular pattern. Some were simple, white-painted wooden display cases with glass-enclosed antiquities from the past, labeled and explained by small typewritten notes beside them.
Other exhibits were larger and displayed alone on platforms raised up to eye level. There were chairs and tools and swords and suits of armor, pocket watches, wooden wands, crystal balls, and old, leather-bound books of various sizes and subjects.
Alex and Nina snuck around the curved back wall of the room, slipping from exhibit to exhibit, moving quickly and quietly, all the while searching the room for any sight of the Mad Mages. In less than a minute, Alex and Nina had circumnavigated half of the circumference of the main hall. Daphne, Rafael, and Ben joined them a moment later.
“Where the gorp are they?” Daphne whispered.
Alex shook his head and shrugged. He was wondering that very thing.
“Cowards,” Ben whispered. “Maybe they chickened out.”
“Maybe they heard us coming,” Rafael said.
“The only way out is through the front door,” Nina said.
“Let’s see what they were up to,” Alex said. He stood up and walked toward the center of the room and the old Founders Statue. As he walked, he looked around the room again. He had hoped his sudden movement in the open would startle any of the Mad Mages who might be hiding and force them to reveal themselves. Unfortunately, the only motion in the room was that of his friends and sister following behind him.
Alex stopped in front of the old Founders Statue in the center of the room. It was much like the statue currently residing in the middle of the fountain at the center of town, but considerably smaller. The stone-carved founders were half size, although the statue looked larger from its perch upon the three-foot high dais where it rested. The five founders stood with their backs to each other in a tight circle, the large canvas bag hanging down to cover their heads and shoulders.
Alex looked to the back hall and saw Clark and Victoria standing in the open. They both raised their hands and shoulders in a silent question. Alex understood easily enough. What was going on? He mimicked their motions to indicate he had no idea and turned back to the statue.
“I don’t like this, Lex,” Rafael said, glancing around and sniffing at the air. “Something feels wrong.”
“Where in the name of Uranus’s underwear are they?” Daphne growled. “And what’s with the bag on the heads of the statue?”
“Maybe they were going to steal it?” Nina offered.
“Size,” Ben said, leaning back to stare up at the half covered statue. “How’d they think it would fit in that bag? It’s not nearly big enough, even if they could carry it.”
“That’s not a normal canvas bag,” Alex said looking around and seeing one of the display cases was empty. He jumped up on the dais and examined the bag more closely.
“This is Sylvester’s Sack,” Alex said, holding the edge of the canvas bag between his fingers. Sylvester’s Sack was named after Sylvester Slumphouse, a tinker and trader who had lived and traveled around the valley over two hundred years ago. He had enchanted his bag so he could carry objects of nearly any size and weight within it. It had been passed down through his family for several generations before being bequeathed to
the museum as a relic of Runewood’s past
“That explains how they planned to move it,” Rafael said.
“But not where they ran off to,” Daphne said.
“Why?” Ben said. “Doesn’t explain why either.”
“Or why Dillon stayed behind,” Alex said, tugging at the magical bag and trying to pull it free.
“Maybe we should leave it,” Nina said. “Let Mr. Whipplewhip find it and deal with it.” Mr. Whipplewhip was the curator of the Town Museum.
“Then he’ll start asking questions and the Mad Mages might not try again,” Alex said as he tugged at the magical canvas bag, its coarse fibers rubbing his fingers raw. “Almost got it.” If the Mad Mages were convinced no alarm had been raised over their plan, they might try it again, and Alex and the Guild might have another chance at catching them in the act.
“Caught in the act!”
Startled by the voice suddenly booming and echoing through the marble-walled museum, Alex nearly lost his balance and fell. He clutched at the canvas bag, still caught on the head of the Runewood’s ancient elven founder, as his stomach clutched in fear. He had just heard that voice echoing in the town plaza.
Alex got his footing and spun to see where the voice came from. He swallowed and blinked in confusion at what he saw. Mayor McClint stood inside the front entrance of the museum. Beside him stood his son, Dillon, grinning triumphantly. Beside Dillon stood Anna, smiling as peacefully as if she had eaten a large and delicious cake. Beside her stood the rest of the Mad Mages, Mei, Koji, and Earl, looking as though they could barely contain the laughter trying to burst from their chests. Beside them all stood a person who made Alex’s stomach clench twice as hard in fear — his father.
Chapter 16: Feinted and Foiled
Summer's Cauldron Page 17