by Alex C Vick
“Discovered how to do what?” asked the girl. “Why don’t you want to be found?”
I could hear voices and approaching footsteps. I glanced around the room, but saw no open portal. I hoped they had a plan for how to return. No Terran Signature Symbol of that age would keep a portal open for long.
“We can’t stay here,” I told them. “You’ll have to come with me.”
The boy shook his head.
“No, we need to stay near the portal so we can go back…” His voice trailed off as he looked behind him. The girl turned as well, and they were both shocked into silence.
They are stuck here, then. Great. Just what I need.
“You used a Signature Symbol that was two thousand years old,” I said, trying not to sound like I thought they were idiots. Even though I did. “I’m surprised there was enough magic left to open the portal in the first place.”
“But we don’t belong here!” said the girl, sounding frantic. “How do we get back?”
“You can’t go back,” I said. “At least, not to your time. Look, we need to leave. I can take you somewhere safe.”
They complained, and I held up my hands. I told them it would go very badly for us all if Julia Felix caught us here. She was already angry with me, and finding two more strangers in her private rooms was not going to make her happy.
“If you are thrown into prison, your only way out will be as slaves, or into the arena.”
OK, so I’m exaggerating slightly, but I have to get them to leave . Reluctantly, they followed me. I took them back to where I was staying, the house owned by Octavius Quartio.
We sat in one of the bedrooms off the main atrium. They were not dressed for the Pompeii sunshine and the heat was obviously bothering them.
I should have offered refreshments but I was still too annoyed. Thanks to them, I couldn’t return to Claudia right away.
“Would you like to go first?” I said. “If you came here expecting you could just go back… I suspect that your questions are more pressing than mine.”
I tried to sound polite, but I think it might have come across as sarcasm. Too bad. They had no idea what my life had been like, and the risks I’d taken.
They hesitated, looking at each other.
“We were expecting the portal to stay open,” said the boy. “The spellstations we use now are normally very stable. Is there really no way to reopen it?”
I shook my head. Spellstations? Interesting.
“I think not. I don’t know what a spellstation is, but when I open a portal, I require the specific coordinates of my destination.”
The boy sighed, unable to contradict me.
“We came to try to find out two things,” he went on. “I suppose we might as well ask you about them, since we appear to be stuck here.”
I shrugged.
“I will help you if I can,” I said. “It is not as if you can take me back now. What do you want to know?”
“One: what was the reason for your disappearance? And two: why was Shannon”—he turned to the girl—“able to become a magician?”
“The first question I will answer,” I replied, then frowned. “But the second… She is an underage magician. What is there to know?”
“Jax is asking because I am a Terran,” said the girl in a soft voice. “And there are no magicians on Terra.”
She’s a Terran? I did not think… But he, Jax, he is definitely Androvan. His Sygnus is the same as mine, in fact.
He is right, though . When I looked more closely, I could see Shannon had no Sygnus. Yet they are obviously matched. How can this be? Does Androva allow such things in their time?
Then I told myself not to be stupid. Two thousand years had passed, and anything could have happened.
“I will respond to your first question,” I said, “before I ask any of my own.”
I told them all about Claudia. How we had met, what Nico had done, and why I had no choice but to leave.
They had not understood that I myself had travelled back in time using a Signature Symbol in the same way they had done.
“When I saw your Invisibility Spells earlier, I was terrified,” I admitted. “I thought that somehow the Council had figured it out. Even my skills cannot defeat them all.
“You see, I have only stayed here to make sure the remaining Signature Symbols in the book were not detected. There was only one left to check after today.”
I smiled, as I remembered I didn’t need to stay in Pompeii any longer.
“Now that I have met you, I have no need to wait. I can join Claudia. We will settle somewhere on Terra that Androva has not discovered yet.
“I am glad to be able to leave immediately. The final Signature Symbol was made very close to the time of the city’s downfall.”
I suggested they come with me. I couldn’t leave them here, no matter how inconvenient it would be to have them tagging along. Besides, the sooner we leave, the safer we will all be.
At that moment, as if the mountain agreed with what I was saying, the ground rumbled and shifted with another tremor.
“Villa Julia Felix,” said Shannon slowly, as if she had just realised something. Then she gasped. “This isn’t Rome, it’s Pompeii!”
Jax recoiled.
“What?” he said sharply.
“Yes,” I said to Shannon. “Now you see why I had to do this. If I had not come back for Claudia, she would have perished along with everyone else.
“In fact,” I continued, feeling slightly sick, “she did perish. The first time I opened the portal after it happened, I thought I had lost her forever.”
I told them I’d tried to warn people, to little effect. Most simply trusted the gods to protect the city.
Jax stood up. “Pompeii? That’s impossible! How much worse can this get? Next you’ll be telling us you’re best friends with a Terran magician called Angelus!”
What is he talking about now?
Shannon made him sit down again, but his angry stare didn’t waver.
“How did you know we were there?” he went on. “If you hadn’t arrived shouting, ‘Show yourselves!’ we might have gone back to the portal before it closed.”
I bristled at his accusing tone. He was starting to really annoy me. A bit of gratitude wouldn’t hurt. I didn’t have to help him. I could have left them both to Julia Felix and the mountain.
“The portal probably closed straight away,” I retorted. “It would have stayed open longer if the Signature Symbol was brand new, but it wasn’t. That’s not my fault.
“And of course I knew you were there. Any research magician knows how to recognise magical energy, no matter what shape or form it’s in.”
“How?” asked Shannon curiously.
“I think you should answer some of my questions first. Who is this Angelus? And why are there no magicians on Terra?”
“It’s a long story,” replied Shannon, exhaling. She looked at Jax, who was still indignant.
“Can I have some water, please?” she asked me. “And maybe something to eat? If we were back home”—at this her voice faltered slightly—“it would be the middle of the night by now.”
Jax turned to comfort her, and for a moment, it was just the two of them. They might be young, but they have a strong connection. I felt myself soften.
“I will fetch food and drink,” I offered. “Tell me your story, and then we will decide what to do.”
They took it in turns. As soon as Jax began to speak, I realised I had misjudged them. Their trip to Pompeii had been foolish, but they were not fools.
He spoke of a treaty between Androva and Terra, created in order to defeat a great evil. A Terran magician named Angelus had taken thousands of lives in his quest to rule.
He had invented something called a Death Spell. It turned his force field black and it was as deadly as the name implied. All attempts to overthrow him failed, until his own brother Sandro dared to stand against him.
Sandro found a way to ha
rvest living magic from the trees of Terra. Then he built a great store of magical energy in a secret room under the mountain. There was more magic than hundreds of force fields could create.
Jax and Shannon called it Mount Sandro. I soon realised they must be talking about Mount Landor.
Sandro filled the magic in the secret room with the Immobility Spell, one piece at a time. On the agreed day, he took his brother there, pretending he had a gift for him.
At the last minute, Angelus became suspicious, and Sandro had to push him inside. He paid for it with his life. One final Death Spell. But the evil was at last contained.
The price of that containment was a harvest quota, to be collected by magic-takers from Androva. Underage magicians who had not yet submitted to the Finality Spell and who were able to carry living magic through a portal.
This supply of living magic was needed to keep Angelus frozen. But that was not the only sacrifice made by Terra. It lost all of its magicians to the Spell of Removal. Every single one.
And the Council on Androva turned my world into a place of fear, where rules were more important than anything else. The use of magic was restricted, and the Foundation was closed.
After that, Terra’s knowledge of magic faded away, until it was ignorant of the treaty Androva continued to honour in secret. Its only legacy seemed to be that Shannon spoke my language, and not the language of Roma.
But the treaty was made with magic, whose memory lasts forever. So when Jax broke its terms, and allowed himself to be seen by Shannon, the harvest quota became impossible to collect.
They explained how they had confronted and defeated Angelus. I stared at them with new respect. There was no way for me to deny the honesty of their story. I didn’t need to use a spell. I believed them. They had done this.
Their story continued. They had escaped a Terran kidnapper intent on capturing Shannon’s magic. They described something called the Terran Fear Factor and what it had done to their friends Darius and Penny. Then they explained how they had found the Signature Symbols.
And through it all, they told me things about Androva and Terra. Their worlds, as they were now. I was shocked. Then angry. Then amazed.
Androva’s use of magic had regressed to a level so basic I hardly recognised it. And Terra’s development of something called technology, to compensate for having no magic at all… Well, it almost was magic.
Yes, they had taken a stupid risk in using that Signature Symbol. But I understood why they had done it. It was because of Shannon’s magic.
I doubted Jax had been the first teenage rebel to break the rules of this treaty. But the Council had been unable to correct his violation, because he had achieved the impossible. Somehow Shannon had become a magician.
No. The Spell of Removal cannot be reversed, and she is supposed to have inherited its consequences. There has to be more to this.
Perhaps it had something to do with me after all. It would not be the first time I had persuaded magic to achieve the impossible.
“I will help you,” I said.
Chapter 19 - Once Seen, Impossible To Ignore
Jax gave me a surprised look.
“Yes, you said that already.”
I felt a bit guilty. I had judged him too harshly and too soon.
“There is a world of difference between the help I would have given you before, and the help I will give you now.”
He laughed. “I suppose I should take that as a compliment?”
I smiled back. “There are a lot of similarities between us. And I think there is a reason you are here. Now that I know about Angelus… Perhaps it is in my power to ensure that Terra does not entirely lose its magicians.”
Jax looked down at Shannon, who was asleep against his shoulder.
“I don’t know how Shannon is able to be a magician, but I am now certain it is because of you.”
I hesitated, then made up my mind. The Communication Spell. I might not be able to return them to their own time, but I can give them this.
“I am going to share something with you. I finished the spell I was working on just before I left Androva.”
Jax gave me an interested look.
“I shared it with my research partner, and that is how I learned he was about to betray me to the Council. By a happy coincidence, he suffered an unfortunate lapse of memory soon afterwards.”
I felt the anger return for a moment, and my force field raced outwards. I tried to suppress it when I saw how nervous Jax was getting. I didn’t want to scare him.
“Claudia and I are the only magicians who know the spell, and it has changed everything between us. Before I can show you how to do it, I must first perform it on you. Do I have your agreement?”
“Um…” he said, looking even more nervous. “What exactly is the spell?”
I laughed.
“It would be easier to show you.”
He thought for a moment, and then his green eyes stared into mine without any trace of his former nerves.
“Alright. At this point, I probably have very little to lose.”
I was impressed. He must have been intimidated. Not to mention exhausted. But all I could see was his determination. He would have made a great research partner.
He lifted Shannon off his shoulder and lowered her onto the bed. She turned her head slightly, but didn’t wake up.
I moved my chair next to him and asked him to project his force field. I warned him it would be horrible at first. Then, before he could change his mind, I began.
I tried not to look. I did try. It was just so… interesting. Familiar, yet different. He was a brilliant magician. Despite the limitations of the Androva where he’d grown up, he had the same instinct for magical energy as I did.
That moment, when he had confronted Angelus, was still lurking in his mind like a sinister echo. His terror was so sharp I got goosebumps when I felt it. And Angelus… He looks too old to be alive. He looks… There is something familiar…
Oh. Jax’s mother had died. I was confused at first because there were recent memories of her. Then I understood he’d created something like a Signature Symbol from an old Sygnus so that he could hold his hand over it and see her again. As I had done when I lost Claudia.
My heart sank. It was only a matter of time before he turned it into coordinates in order to go back in time and try to save his mother’s life. And how can I blame him? Haven’t I done exactly the same thing?
Enough. I have to stop myself.
“Concentrate,” I said. “Take back control. You can now use your force field to communicate with me.”
He opened his mouth to answer, then realised my voice was inside his head. He looked astonished.
“Not just words either—emotions, senses, everything,” I added.
I sent him my memory of his and Shannon’s arrival earlier that day. I could have chosen something more impressive, but I wanted him to see the real me. I liked him.
The memory he sent me in return was, in its way, more shocking than any I’d seen before. It was the moment he had faced his punishment for breaking the treaty.
A member of the Council was about to project the Spell of Removal. His hands were lifted, and the jagged edges of the spell were forming.
Jax, utterly exhausted from a night of interrogation, had been so scared. This, right here, was his worst fear come to life. Losing his magic. But he stood straight and looked his enemy in the eye.
I swallowed. However brave I thought I had been up to now, I had not been as brave as this.
Suddenly, the Council member, Marcus he was called, was captured from head to toe by an Immobility Spell. I felt Jax’s amazement when he realised Shannon had projected it.
The expression on the man’s face was seriously funny. I laughed. Jax and I shared a moment of perfect understanding. Then I ended the spell.
“No wonder the Council wanted you back,” said Jax.
I frowned. “They didn’t really know what the spell coul
d do. They only suspected. My fear was it would be used to extract information against the magician’s will. Claudia and I only use it to share information, not steal it.”
Jax nodded.
“I understand. It could be very dangerous. I mean, you learned your partner was lying to you… I suppose he didn’t mean to show you that?”
“No, he did. It was deliberate. He wanted me to give up.”
The anger rose inside me again, and I thought it was lucky for Nico he was safely in another place and time.
Jax was yawning. I suggested he get some rest, saying Octavius had already left Pompeii, and we had the house to ourselves.
I slept fitfully, plagued by dreams of an ancient evil magician in an underground room. His eyes seemed to be looking straight at me, no matter where I was standing.
I was also worried about Jax trying to save his mother. She had died when he was three years old. If he changed something so far in his past, there was a good chance he would not recognise his present when he returned to it.
However, I did manage to come up with an idea for how they might go back to their time. At least that was something positive to come out of the long night.
Jax convinced Shannon to try the Communication Spell over breakfast. She held out her hand. When her force field appeared, I nearly stepped backwards in shock.
Of course, I had seen her carry out the Immobility Spell, which was far beyond what most magicians could do, but even so…
“Do you know how powerful you are?”
Shannon shook her head.
“Not really,” she replied. “I mean, I know my force field is strong, even though I had to work quite hard to immobilise Angelus. But I haven’t really put it to the test since then. Honestly, I’m a bit afraid to.”
I nodded.
“I can understand that.”
No kidding! I tried to stay calm. I’d never seen anything like it. The air next to her hand was practically vibrating.
“You should respect your power,” I went on. “But don’t fear it.”
If you fear it, there is a chance you will never truly master it . I did not say this out loud. I didn’t want to worry her.