Wandmaker

by Ed Masessa

  Randall was on his own. It was a worst-case scenario. If he was not able to connect with Coralis, the entire journey had been a waste. He twisted his head and selected a wand from his pack with his beak. The valley floor was rich with copper and silver deposits. Randall wasn’t familiar with the effect the minerals would have on his mental energies, but since they were excellent conductors of electricity, he hoped they would do likewise for thought waves.

  Gently but firmly pressing the wand to the rock, he chanted an ancient spell. The wand flared with light as it fused to the rock. He sat, still as stone, in meditation, summoning every ounce of concentration he could muster. Precious minutes passed. He pushed himself harder. His head began to pound from the strain. He had just reached the limits of his mental endurance when, suddenly, he connected.

  But it wasn’t with Coralis.

  As much as Henry wanted to vault over the table and smother his mother with hugs and kisses, a slow-burning spark of anger held him in check.

  “Henry?” Her head tilted quizzically.

  “You left us” was all he could say without choking on words. Water welled in his eyes. He angrily wiped the tears away before they could fall. All the suppressed emotions of being abandoned and forgotten suddenly surfaced, and he lashed out at her. “How could you leave us? Do you have any idea what we’ve been through?”

  He wanted to yell and shout and scream at her. To make her feel bad. To make her feel guilty. To make her beg for forgiveness.

  Slowly she stood. “I had to, Henry. For so many reasons—I had to leave right at that moment.” She circled around the table to approach him. “There were things I had to do that couldn’t wait a second longer. But more important, there were things you had to do, too. You had to be ready for this moment, son. And there was nothing I could have done to better prepare you for it than to leave you on your own.”

  “That’s not true!” he shouted. “You could have told me … something! Anything!”

  She stopped a few feet away. “I am truly sorry. I thought the more you knew, the more danger you would be in. Your father had become erratic … frightening. And he was fixated on you and on the Books of Elements that his family had been charged to protect. I took the books and brought them here, the only place I knew he couldn’t get them. By the time I felt it was safe enough to return to you, you’d already begun your own voyage. And now look at you.” She straightened with pride. “You’ve grown in so many ways in such a short time. Do you think you would be the strong, confident young man who stands before me had I held your hand the entire way? Never! And not a day has passed that I haven’t worried myself sick thinking about you and Brianna … ” Panic creased her face. “Henry! Where is your sister?”

  “Relax, Mom.” Brianna poked her head up from Henry’s jacket. “Still think leaving me alone with Henry was a good idea?”

  Their mother tried several times to speak.

  “Check it out, Henry. She looks like a fish out of water.”

  His anger cracked and a smile tugged as if seeking permission to come out.

  “Ahem.” Coralis stepped forward and extended his hand. “We haven’t met yet. I am Coralis.”

  “THE Coralis?” She shook his hand—reverently at first, then hard and harder. “I never thought … OMG!” She squealed like a delighted child.

  “Did Mom just say OMG?” Brianna asked Henry. “Well, LOL.”

  The dam holding Henry back broke with a vengeance. He laughed long and loud and raced into his mother’s arms. “I missed you so much.” The words gushed out as they squeezed each other in a death grip until Brianna interrupted, “You’re killing me here!”

  “Brianna, is that really you?”

  “Either that, or he’s turned into a world-class ventriloquist.”

  Their mother laughed again in a carefree way that reminded Henry of simpler, happier times gathered around their kitchen table.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt,” Coralis said softly. “But we don’t have much time. I think it’s best if—”

  “Coralis?” The voice came from Brianna, but it wasn’t her. It was a young man’s voice, with a distinctly British accent. Henry was about to congratulate his sister on her new talent when the Wand Master cut in.

  “Randall?”

  “Of course it’s me. Who else would it be?” Brianna—Randall—swiveled to survey the room. His gaze lingered on Serena for a few moments longer than necessary, and Henry was surprised to feel a quick pang of jealousy.

  “Where are you?” Randall and Coralis asked simultaneously.

  Coralis answered first. “We are in a sacred cave in Monument Valley. Are you nearby?”

  Brianna/Randall considered this for a moment. “No. I am in a valley somewhere in Mexico in the Chihuahuan Desert. I was attempting a mind-link with you but ended up with … this.” He looked up at Coralis. “Curiouser and curiouser.”

  “Indeed.” Coralis frowned, rubbing the beard stubble on his chin. He turned toward Joseph, and Henry saw they were communicating wordlessly—two ancient minds trying to piece together a puzzle.

  The longer the silence lingered, the more worried Henry became.

  Finally Randall spoke. “The wand I am using has been out of my possession.”

  Coralis’s frown deepened. He nodded as if Randall’s admission was the key to solving the mystery. And when he spoke, his voice was grave and solemn. “Your wands have been contaminated.” Then he added, “By Malachai.”

  The hedgehog’s head snapped forward. “But that’s impossible! He’s long dead.”

  “As impossible as it may be, it is the truth. He has shown himself to me. He is in possession of the aura of Henry’s father.”

  “No!” Lois cried. Henry gripped his mother’s hand.

  “That would explain a lot, actually,” Randall said. He turned Brianna’s eyes to Henry. “For what it’s worth, I believe your father is fighting him as hard as he can. Otherwise, I’d probably be dead.” Then he asked Coralis, “Is it possession or replacement?”

  “It would appear to be possession. There are severe limitations to both, but there are more risks with replacement. However, for possession to work, a constant mind-link with the one being possessed must remain intact at all times. Only someone with the level of Malachai’s talent could sustain it for any length of time.”

  “So the father is still alive. That’s a good thing, right?” Randall asked.

  Coralis nodded, successfully masking the thought, It depends on how you define alive. He placed Brianna on the table and sat facing her in an ornately carved chair. “Tell us everything.”

  “In a nutshell?” Randall took a deep breath. “Dai She is holed up in a cave deep in the earth with the world’s largest crystals, aided by the elder Leach—who, I guess, is actually Malachai—and when the full moon peaks in about an hour and a half, he will focus all that bad energy into the crystals, and by using the Corsini Mappaemundi, will rip apart the surface of the planet.”

  Coralis sat heavily in a chair as the full gravity of the situation registered. “That’s about as bad as it gets.”

  Randall nodded. “I also don’t know how much longer I can keep this connection.”

  “Why?” Coralis leaned forward, concerned. “What has happened to you?”

  “Let’s just say I haven’t been treated with kid gloves.” He smiled. “But I’ll be fine.”

  “Randall … ” Coralis paused. “When this is over, come back. I’ve been a fool and you were right to task me. But there is much to be done, and I will need your assistance.”

  “Will do.” He turned away, hiding any emotion he might be feeling, but suddenly stopped, as if remembering something important. “Coralis, if my wands have been contaminated, how am I able to connect with … whatever this is?”

  Lois reached into her bag and snapped open a compact mirror, holding it up for Randall to see. “That is my daughter, Brianna.”

  “Huh.” He examined his image from several angles. “
Cute but not very useful. I prefer being a falcon.”

  “To answer your question,” said Coralis, “the energy that caused the girl’s transformation included moonbeams from the bad moon. Malachai has been building his strength from exposure to that same energy—hence the connection. I had not considered what effect this energy was having on her until now, but it bears keeping an eye on.”

  “You don’t think she’ll turn on us, do you?” Randall asked.

  “Hey!” Henry yelled. And in that moment something triggered inside him. Brianna wasn’t an annoying little brat any longer. She was an important ally. No! She was as much a part of him as his own aura. And he knew, there and then, he would protect her at any cost. “She’s as much on our side as anyone else in this room, so back off!”

  Randall smiled coolly. “The kid’s got some backbone.” Then he suddenly grimaced in pain. “Gotta go now. Good luck, everyone.”

  The hedgehog wobbled, struggling to remain upright before falling forward on her nose. “What … who … ” Brianna’s words slurred.

  Lois picked her up and cradled her like a newborn child. “It’s okay, baby. You just helped us in a huge way.”

  Brianna rubbed her face furiously with her paws. “Good … I guess. But why do I feel all yucky?”

  Henry laughed. “Because Randall was using you to talk to Coralis!”

  “Oh, gross! Mega-cooties!” And she rubbed her face viciously against her mother.

  “Thanks to Randall, we know what Dai She is planning to do,” Coralis said gravely. “But I fear that knowledge may have come too late. The instruments he has at his disposal have power far beyond anything we can counteract. I know of these crystals. It was big news when they were discovered. The media referred to the cave as Superman’s Ice Palace—though I’m at a loss to explain the meaning.”

  “It’s a reference to the Fortress of Solitude,” Henry explained. “It’s Superman’s secret home somewhere in the Arctic, and it’s made of enormous ice crystals.”

  Coralis stared blankly at him, and Serena stifled a giggle.

  Brianna rolled her eyes. “Geek.”

  He blushed. “Just trying to help.”

  “He can leap tall buildings in a single bound,” said Joseph. “Did you know that in the original comic, Superman could not fly? Only later did he exhibit powers like flight and X-ray vision.” He smiled widely at the perplexed faces of the group. “What? Did you think an old chief could not enjoy a good comic book?” And into Henry’s mind he said, “Later I will show you my collection.”

  Henry was immediately pumped. He felt like he, too, had superpowers. “Let’s beat this guy! C’mon, Coralis, look at us! We’re the underdogs, but we’re a force to be reckoned with. All we need is a plan.”

  “Henry.” Coralis sighed. “All cultural references aside, we are talking about the ultimate lethal combination.” He ticked off on his fingers. “The greatest natural powers of the Earth, energy from the most evil moon in centuries, the resurrection of the vilest Wand Master in history, and the Corsini Mappaemundi—one of the most powerful instruments ever, created by a Wand Master of the original Council of Aratta.” His voice had risen in volume with each point.

  “Ah,” said Joseph. “But we also have a secret weapon.” And he smiled like a cat that had just swallowed a canary.

  “I told you earlier that the tunnel leading to this room was an old mine shaft, which we had closed,” said Joseph. “The mining activity encroached on the sacred room, and we couldn’t allow that. But another reason we stopped it was that the miners were approaching the richest and most pure layer of uranium known to man.”

  “Not to burst your bubble or anything, but isn’t uranium radioactive?” Henry asked warily.

  “Uranium is radioactive, but at a very low level until it is processed and refined into something much more dangerous. The real danger, as many of our people found out too late, comes when you disturb the rock that contains the uranium. As the ore is mined, a toxic gas called radon is released. Many Navajo died because they were not told. Men in power wanted the ore to create their weapons of war and withheld this information.” He relayed the story as if reciting from a textbook, but there was a bitter edge to his voice.

  “The Diné people have known great misfortune, but in closing this mine and preserving its uranium, they have provided us with a tool that just might help us defeat our enemy.”

  “And save the planet,” added Lois.

  “Indeed.” Coralis rubbed his chin again.

  Henry could see the wheels churning in the Wand Master’s brain. Yet the thought of working with something radioactive scared him. People died horribly from exposure to radioactive fallout from atomic bombs. He had seen pictures and watched documentaries. Saving the planet while dying in the process wasn’t high on his wish list. He looked up to see Coralis and Joseph staring at him. “Are you reading my mind again? I wish you would stop that.”

  They turned away, chastised, as Henry tried to come up with a reasonable rationale to continue this seemingly hopeless quest.

  If only radioactivity would work on him the way it worked in comic books. Spider-Man and Hulk both got their powers from it. And while the thought of spinning a web and clinging effortlessly to skyscrapers had its advantages, the idea of changing into an oversize green monstrosity held much less appeal.

  Hulk smash! He almost smiled. Peter Parker and Bruce Banner couldn’t help what happened to them any more than he could, but they did their best with what they had. If he turned into a boy who glowed in the dark—and he was already halfway there—or grew hardened scales for skin, then maybe he’d become a superhero himself.

  “You already have greatness within you.” Joseph implanted the thought.

  “And with great power comes great responsibility,” he responded, quoting Spider-Man.

  Henry gasped audibly. It was the first time he’d said something back through telepathy, and Joseph and Coralis gave him a congratulatory pat on the back.

  “What’s … going … on?” Brianna drummed a paw impatiently on her mother’s forearm.

  Henry pointed his wrists at her like Spidey would do. “Thwip thwip!” He could tell she didn’t see the effect of those beautiful sticky strands, cocooning her in an unbreakable web. “Let’s do this.”

  Joseph led them deeper into the mine shaft. “Thirty-seven minutes,” Lois stated like a countdown to liftoff.

  “I don’t understand,” said Brianna. “Isn’t the moon already full?”

  “It just looks that way,” Lois answered. “From way down here on Earth, the moon appears full for several nights in a row. But a true full moon lasts less than a minute.”

  “And that’s our window,” Coralis said gravely. “A matter of seconds.”

  “It’s just a little farther,” Joseph said. Henry could sense the tension in the man’s body language. But he also sensed something else—the raw power of the Earth.

  A yellow mineral peppered the walls. He searched through the geology drawer he had created in his mind. “Carnotite,” he said.

  “Very good,” Coralis replied.

  Then the walls began to show traces of something silver-gray. Like veins on a human arm, they ran in streaks before branching off. The farther they walked, the greater the concentration of gray, until the entire tunnel was nothing but a solid silvery sheen.

  He reflexively reached for the wand in his pocket. If his instincts were right, he would need it soon. As he started to take it out, something began to vibrate in his other pocket. Panic and dread hit him like a bulldozer, and he stopped dead in his tracks.

  Coralis pulled up short behind him. “What’s wrong, Henry?”

  “It’s the gold nugget,” he said fearfully. “Something’s happening to it!” When he brought it into plain view, it flashed a brilliant green. A tongue of flame erupted from it and struck at Coralis. No, not at Coralis—but at the quartz ring on his finger.

  Coralis shouted and whipped his hand away a mi
crosecond before the flame could reach it. The ring responded, the angry tendrils of energy twisting and surging to be released. Coralis screamed as it began to burn his finger.

  “Joseph! The uranium!” He gripped his wrist with his free hand, willing the power in the ring into submission. The smell of burning flesh permeated the tunnel. “Joseph!” he yelled again.

  With speed belying his age, the Navajo chief withdrew a wand and blasted chunks of rock from the tunnel wall. He grabbed one of the larger rocks and pounded at a smaller one, reducing them both to gravel. “Place your hands over the rocks!” he said with such urgency that it frightened Henry.

  Coralis’s face was drained of color and etched with pain as he struggled to the tunnel floor.

  ”Henry, on the count of three, toss the gold piece into the uranium!” Joseph shouted.

  Henry stared at the gold nugget, suddenly mesmerized by the wisps of energy that continued to flare, searching longingly for Coralis’s ring.

  “One!”

  He felt warmth penetrate his hand and creep up his arm. The flares subsided and the globe pulsed with a singular inner light as if the evil energy within it no longer needed the ring.

  As if it had found a home in Henry.

  “Two!”

  He stared deeply into the energy and felt himself giving in. Here was the power he’d imagined. The power to teach Billy Bodanski and everyone like him a lesson. The power to save his parents—and to make them respect him.

  All he had to do was accept it, to drop his defenses and absorb it. He was looking into the face of evil—and he was liking it!

  Joseph was focused on the uranium and apparently oblivious to Henry’s distraction. It was only when he shouted “Three!” that he looked up to see Henry losing control. “Brianna!” he shouted. “Bite him … hard!”