Exodus of Magic (The Mysterium Chronicles Book 1)

by Simone Pond

  He parked, then turned off the engine so that the silence of the entire forest enveloped us in a cocoon.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  “Over the hill is where ya want to go.”

  “Then what?” I asked.

  He stared at me with those wrinkled up eyes, then smiled slightly. “Ya’ll know.”

  His assumption made me laugh. “I love your confidence in me, but I could really use some help here, Sam. I’m going into this blind.”

  The way he took my hand felt so fatherly—or at least the way I’d imagine a father might take his daughter’s hand—and his eyes were so tender.

  “Would it help if I were to tell ya the truth?” he asked.

  “Which truth?”

  “The only one that matters—yar truth.”

  I stared ahead for a moment, letting the quiet of the night seep into my bones. The surrounding woods held a foreboding that everything was about to change, and I didn’t know if I wanted it to. But my heart—my rebellious heart—wanted to know only the truth.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Surely ya know by now that yar the Chosen One. The one the Oracle prophesied many years ago who would rise up against the right bank and lead we Ancients to freedom.”

  He said the words with such resolute assurance, I was rendered dumbstruck. This was the second stranger claiming I was some divinely anointed hero. My mouth hung open, though no air was able to get into my lungs. The dizziness returned. The surrounding trees opened up and high above a bright star gleamed in the black sky. I’d never seen a star so radiant. I was mesmerized by it.

  “Jordan …” Sam’s voice was muffled and distant.

  From deep down where I’d always hidden my magic, the truth rose to the surface. I could avoid it no more. And nothing would make it go away. I was the Chosen One. It was me that Counselor Magnus and Prime Master Bachar had attempted to eradicate from existence so many years ago. And I had been right under their noses all this time. Fate sure could be an ironic imp.

  “Ya must go now. It’s time.” Sam turned the key to the ignition.

  “That’s it?” I asked.

  “Yep. Ya look above when ya need guidance. The star will show ya where to go …”

  Reluctantly, I opened the car door and stepped outside into the cold night. Sam wheeled the jalopy around and drove down the dirt road, leaving me alone in the dark forest. Somewhere in the distance, the screech of a young girl echoed. It had come from over the hill—where Sam said I needed to go. I sucked in a large breath and charged ahead.

  CHAPTER 12

  A large warehouse facility sat at the bottom of the hill. I carefully inched down the steep slope, using the trees to help slow my momentum. Another scream came from the building. I quickened my pace, but when I got within a few feet of the building my magic forced me to halt. Had I gone another inch forward, I would’ve careened right into a shimmering force field. It looked like it was surrounding the entire building.

  I crept around to the other side of the facility. The entrance was flanked with two large statues of the god Ashtar—the deity the right-bank Oligarchs worshiped. No Ancients would allow for such blasphemy. This had to be a right-bank facility. Judging from the hidden location deep within Zephyr Forest, this was a highly secretive site and it had Magnus written all over it. I needed to get in there and see what heinous things he was doing.

  I stepped closer to the force field and lightly brushed my index finger across the surface. The jolt shot me back twenty feet, slamming me up against a tree. I slumped to the ground, grateful it was my butt that hit the bark first and not my skull. It was now confirmed: I wasn’t getting through that security. My best option would be to cause a distraction and get whoever was inside to leave their post and come outside to investigate. I could wing it from there.

  An older model pickup truck was parked about a hundred feet away from the building—outside the force field. I summoned my powers and opened the door. I got in and concentrated on turning the ignition … Within seconds my magical hot-wire job started the engine. I shifted into reverse and backed up a nearby slope directly facing the building. I was going to roll the truck right into the force field, hoping for a short in the barrier or an explosion.

  With the truck in park, I jumped out and sprinted down the hill and stationed myself as near to the entrance as I could get. I swiped my hand across the air and the truck commenced rolling forward at a snail’s pace—definitely not the velocity to make a strong enough impact. I sent forth more magic and tried pulling the vehicle forward. It gained momentum and began flying down the hill. It barreled into the force field and a huge ripple shimmered across the barrier. Then something I wasn’t expecting happened: the truck ricocheted backwards in a succession of ground-thumping somersaults.

  The protective shell around the facility lit up like a dome of blue and streaks of lightning shot in every direction. A gust of screeching wind blasted through the forest, bending the trees backwards. But the force field remained intact. All that work and I still wasn’t getting inside. It did look pretty spectacular, though.

  Then the warehouse door opened and one of the guards burst out and scanned the area. His eyes did widen at the sight of the truck smashed up against a tree across the lot.

  “Aw, what the hell?”

  He passed through a security scanner and walked straight through the force field, though I’m not sure how. In the parking lot, he hoisted his magic device and beelined toward the truck. His first mistake was leaving the protection of the force field, and his second was neglecting his priorities.

  I sidled up behind him and with a swish of my hand I put him into a state of paralysis. He had no magical abilities, which made this a simple task. I walked around to face him and smiled.

  “Hi,” I said.

  His eyes bugged out.

  “I’m gonna need you to let me into that facility. And if you try to contact anyone, your truck won’t be the only thing messed up. Blink if you understand.”

  He blinked.

  I snatched the device from his hand, and the other ones attached to his waistband. Then I patted him down to search for any hidden ones. He was a young operative, probably a recent inductee into the Jade Division, though I didn’t recognize his boyish face. I looked for a name badge, but he wasn’t wearing one. Odd.

  “Where’s your badge?” I moved my hand over his mouth to allow him to speak.

  “Huh? Oh, we’re top-secret out here. We don’t use names. Just numbers. I’m number 37,” he boasted.

  This “37” seemed a bit feeble minded, so I wondered why he’d be on duty at this secret facility … unless he was expendable.

  Once cleared of all devices, I swiped my hand across the air. “You’re free to move.”

  “Hey, aren’t you Jordan Bachar?”

  “No,” I said, which wasn’t a lie because according to the Ancients my real name was apparently Jordan Temple.

  He studied me. “But—”

  “Let’s go, 37.” I nudged him forward. “You’re gonna give me a tour of the facility. Who’s in charge here, anyway?”

  “Oh, that’s classified.”

  Classified or not, I had a hunch who was running things. “Of course it is. What goes on here?”

  “We bring in the lawbreakers—hook ’em up to Tabitha, no questions asked.”

  “Tabitha?” I grabbed the operative’s arm and forced him to stop.

  “The machine. Her name is Tabitha. Not sure why.”

  “And you hook lawbreakers up to this machine and have no idea what it does?”

  He nodded with a slight shrug. “Yeah. Pays well.”

  This was going in a macabre direction. “Who are these lawbreakers?”

  His face grew pale. “Um, mostly Leftbanker kids being groomed to become black-magic terrorists. Ones with strong abilities. I’m guessing we’re trying to re-educate them, so they won’t become terrorists …”

  Sure, buddy. Keep thinking that to k
eep your conscience from completely gnawing away at you. I nudged him again, and we continued walking. My jaw ached from clenching it. A fury was rising in me—this operation definitely reeked of Magnus. Our pace quickened—I needed to hurry up and get inside the facility to see what in the fiery-pit that monster was doing to these left-bank kids. As we approached the building, the energy of the force field pulsated stronger—as though it sensed trouble.

  “Can you deactivate that force field?” I asked.

  “Nah.”

  Of course he couldn’t. That would be way too easy. “How about getting back inside? I know you can manage that.”

  “That I can do.” He smiled. “But unfortunately I can’t bring you in with me. I’ve got a chip in my body—no clue where—and only one beating heart per scan gets inside.”

  I exhaled slowly. So he had a chip somewhere in his body. I could either find and remove it, or take his life and carry him through the scanner, having my heartbeat count as the only living source. Why couldn’t Magnus have just set up an eye scanner for security measures like normal decision-makers?

  “On your knees,” I ordered him.

  “You’re gonna kill me, aren’t you?” He obeyed, his voice trembling almost as bad as my hands.

  “I don’t see any other way. Unless you can lower that force field or find some magical way to get me inside.” I paced, circling the kid, praying for inspiration—or a miracle. Anything but the choice that was before me. I couldn’t flat out murder someone. Could I?

  My shoes crunched against the pebbles of the parking lot. The trees began to swish and sway, rustling gently. And then out of nowhere a howling wind came up through the forest. The air whipped around the both of us in a spiral of silver light. Shivers rippled down my spine. High above the trees, that bright star lit up the black sky like a white-hot diamond on fire. A beam of light came forth from it and poured into the crown of my head. Warmth sprinkled through my body and with it came the soothing whisper of a young girl’s voice.

  Help me, Jordan.

  “Where are you?” I said aloud.

  The operative—37—kneeled before me, frozen in time, staring as I spoke into the beam of glittering light. His mouth was agape and his eyes were wider than when I had surprised him with the truck stunt. The revealing of this magic was greater than anything I’d ever witnessed. And I assumed—by his reaction—it was the same for him.

  The girl’s voice continued, I’m inside the warehouse. Tabitha is draining me …

  So that’s what Magnus was up to—he was draining the magic out of these left-bank children. He would pay for these atrocious crimes. If I had to choke the life out of him myself, he would pay.

  Focus on the star, the girl said.

  “I want to help you, but the force field is too strong. Can we work together to break it?”

  A long silence followed, and I thought I’d lost her.

  Okay.

  “What’s your name?”

  Judith.

  “Okay, Judith. This is what we’re going to do. I want you to focus all of your energy toward the star. I’ll do the same. Picture the light breaking through the shield around the building. Can you do that?”

  Yes.

  I began to concentrate on the radiant star above. The wind grew stronger and more powerful. Tree branches snapped off and blew across the parking lot. One heavy branch swooped in and knocked me off balance. When I looked around, 37 was gone. The door to the facility was open.

  “Concentrate harder,” I told Judith.

  It hurts. And it’s not working … And the guy is coming back.

  Maybe we were going about this the wrong way … What if, rather than breaking the barrier using our own magic, we could channel all of the magic Tabitha had been harnessing from the children? Surely the machine had enough stored up to blast through the force field.

  That’s a good idea, Judith said.

  We turned our attention toward the machine, Tabitha. And since I didn’t know what it looked like or where it was, I trusted Judith to direct my magic to where it needed to go. The source of my magic churned inside, making the violet light glow stronger and brighter. I stretched my arms forward and aimed them toward the warehouse, allowing the rays of violet light to stream from my fingertips. The beam from the star above continued fueling me so that I never felt drained or used up. In fact, I felt an endless resource of power flowing through me.

  The shimmering barrier protecting the facility began to spark and flicker. Loud snapping sounds echoed from the surface. It was going haywire, which meant the plan was working. We were draining the magic out of Tabitha and redirecting it to use against her own shield. It was a glorious moment.

  When the force field had completely fizzled out, I lowered my arms and ran into the building.

  Inside the warehouse, a maze of glass cubicles filled the vast space. Each cubicle looked like an incubator and contained a child. They looked dead, but I knew Magnus was keeping them just barely alive so he could suck out their magic. The number was too high to count. Cables had been attached to their still, motionless bodies and ran along the aisles, converging at the center of the warehouse where a behemoth silver silo with hundreds of flashing lights loomed. Tabitha. The machine reminded me of an octopus.

  I ran through the narrow aisles. “Where are you?”

  Watch out, Jordan!

  A shock jolted the back of my legs. I dropped to my knees, paralyzed. The glowing blue bars of a crystal mage-cage rose up around me. 37 held a magical device and an astonished grin. Why hadn’t my magic protected me?

  37 approached the cage. “I’m not taking the heat for this one. Caged my first terrorist mage. Promotion time for me.”

  “I’m not a mage. Or a terrorist. Magnus is killing innocent people and has been for decades! And when your assignment is over, he’ll probably kill you. This is a highly illegal operation.”

  The kid just shook his head. “Well, you can take that up with Counselor Magnus, traitor. He’s on his way.”

  The counselor was on his way? That was either a lie or Nils hadn’t followed my instructions … From the looks of things, this whole Chosen One thing wasn’t panning out. Looked like fate had me slated to be the fallen adopted daughter of the Bachar dynasty and permanent resident of the Madlands.

  It’s okay, Jordan. He caught you off guard. That’s how they got me. Judith’s voice filled my head again.

  “Can you help me?” I asked.

  37 thought I was addressing him. “No way. And your black magic won’t work on me.”

  Yes. Occupy him, the girl said.

  Easy enough. The operative had left his post once already, I’m sure distracting him a second time wouldn’t be too difficult.

  “Do you really know who I am?” I asked.

  “What?”

  “I’m Jordan Bachar. And if you don’t let me out of this mage-cage, my grandfather will not only fire you from your position, you’ll be executed.”

  He laughed. “Counselor Magnus told me you’d say something like that.”

  He wasn’t sophisticated enough to bluff. So Magnus actually was en-route.

  “Do you have any clue what’s going on here?” I asked.

  Tabitha started making a loud humming sound, causing the operative to cock his head off to the right.

  “That doesn’t sound good,” I said.

  “Just shut your hole!”

  He peered toward the giant silo. The popping sounds grew louder until the entire place filled with thunder claps. The overhead florescent lights began flickering in and out.

  “What the pit’s going on? What are you doing?” he yelled at me.

  I lifted my palms. “Um, I’m inside a mage-cage. I’m not doing anything—but it sounds pretty bad whatever it is. Magnus won’t be too happy if Tabitha is messed up.”

  The operative’s eyes bugged out again and he sprinted toward the machine.

  The face of a young girl with light brown hair poked around the co
rner. Dark circles hung under her big brown eyes. She smiled, blushing, then approached my cage. She tried to cover her bare chest and other private parts with her skinny arms, taking delicate and cautious steps toward me. She stopped, then stood in front of the mage-cage and focused. Within seconds the electric currents dissolved all around me.

  I quickly removed my blazer and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “But what about my friends?”

  I scanned the warehouse. How could I possibly save all of these children? Magnus was on his way and we needed to get out of there before he arrived. If he killed me, the prophecy would end for sure. But I couldn’t just leave them behind.

  CHAPTER 13

  Tabitha continued to sputter and spurt while the frantic 37 hurled curses at the giant silo.

  Judith chuckled.

  “What are you doing to Tabitha?” I asked.

  “I’m channeling magic back to its rightful owners,” she said in a timid voice.

  “How?”

  “Your help. And the guiding star. The others should be receiving their magic. It worked faster on me because I just got here. But who knows how long the others have been here.”

  I patted her arm. “Well done, Judith. But we need to get out of here. Magnus is on his way and he’s a very evil person.”

  She took my hand and squeezed. “Okay, come with me. I think we can make Tabitha return their magic faster.”

  The sweat-drenched 37 hadn’t yet noticed I was free from my mage-cage—he was too busy messing with heaps of unruly cables. Judith and I slipped right past him to the other side of Tabitha and placed our hands on the hot metal. The heat sizzled my flesh but I kept my contact and so did Judith.

  “Focus on the bright star again, like we did before,” Judith said.

  I closed my eyes and called above to the source of power, asking it to channel it into us. The floor trembled. Energy vibrated and pulsed all around us in warm waves. Glass shattered. The machine groaned from its bowels.