“You should change before they can see your light,” Alex said.
“Then I’d only have to change back when the running starts,” Rafael said with a cackle. “This way, I can watch from above for anyone who might come down the alley.” Rafael, in raven form, leapt into the air, wide wings taking him up into the night sky. Alex had to admit, whatever Kendra had taught Rafael seemed to work. That raven was the largest bird Alex had ever seen Rafael transform into.
“They’re coming,” Victoria said and ducked her head down behind the fence. Her horse legs were already curled beneath her as she knelt on the thin strip of weeds at the edge of the alley. It was not easy for a centaur to hide, much less behind a common yard fence.
“Mmm, I wonder if they would notice if we magically made this fence taller,” Clark said, hunched down next to Victoria, trying to make himself as small as possible. Victoria winked at Clark in sympathy.
“Get ready,” Daphne said, peeking through a knothole in the fence. “The slime suckers are calling down the ladder now.” One of the reasons the Guild had never been able to break the security of the Mad Mages tree house was because of the enchanted rope ladder that only unfurled with the correct password.
“Careful, Brother,” Nina said from beside where Alex sat cross-legged with his back against the fence.
“I’ll be fine,” Alex said. “They can’t see me.”
“It’s not the Mad Mages I’m worried about,” Nina said.
“Hurry,” Ben said. “We don’t want to miss anything.”
“You know what to do,” Alex said to Nina and closed his eyes.
He breathed deeply, focusing his mind and quieting his thoughts. After a moment of concentration, he could feel himself slipping into his astral body. Opening what would have been his eyes, Alex found himself floating a few inches above his physical body, Nina watching over him, waiting for some sign of distress.
Alex looked around at his friends, taking an extra moment to gaze at Victoria. Her face was tight with what Alex hoped was worry about him and not memories of seeing him climbing out of that magic box with Leanna standing next to him, her lipstick smeared on his face. He watched as her face shifted to something that might have been admiration and decided he couldn’t waste any more time.
His view changed as he willed himself to the edge of the tree house, appearing outside the window. He could see Anna, Dillon, and the other Mad Mages assembled around a well-polished maple table.
With a gentle thought of his mind, Alex eased through the wooden wall of the clubhouse to hover in astral form at the edge of the room. Anna was in the middle of speaking and he caught only the last bit of what she was saying as he took a moment to look around the interior of the tree house. It was lavishly decorated.
Anna and the others sat in sturdy wooden chairs with plush velvet cushions. There were three couches along the walls with well-packed bookshelves standing between them. There was even a sink, a small stove, and a miniature magical cooling box. A doorway led to a small bridge across the branches of the neighboring tree and toward what seemed to Alex like an office. It had a desk and filing cabinets. The Mad Mages clearly have a larger budget for their clubhouse than the Young Sorcerers Guild, he thought with a bit of jealously. Alex ignored all he saw for the moment and concentrated on what he was hearing.
“…We go to the museum,” Anna said, taking a sip of a Royal Crown Soda. “Everyone else will be at the festival.”
“Won’t people notice we’re gone?” Dillon asked, his face twisted in annoyance.
“We’ll be there when you father begins his speech,” Anna said. “Then we’ll slip away while he talks.”
“He’ll talk long enough, that’s for sure,” Koji said with a snort. The mayor was renowned for his longwinded speeches. Dillon frowned and Koji stifled a grin.
“We have plenty of time to get to the museum, accomplish the mission, and then return before anyone has missed us,” Anna said.
“And we get them at the museum,” Karl said, his face more thuggish than usual.
“We get it,” Anna said, casting a sharp look at Karl.
“Right, we get it,” Karl said, his eyes darting around the room quickly before settling on Anna again.
“Then what?” Mai said, taking a dainty sip of her soda.
“Then we get to be the heroes,” Dillon said, sneering as he reached into a yellow tin and withdrew a handful of Red Dot potato chips.
“Then we act surprised like everyone else,” Anna corrected. “We get to be the heroes later. At the appropriate time.”
Alex felt his astral vision of the clubhouse fading, as if something was pulling him back into his body. He struggled to remain present in astral form.
“Timing is the key thing,” Anna said. “Now let’s go over the plan from the start.”
Alex heard no more. The next thing he knew he was back in his body, his eyes blinking open, struggling for breath. He saw the look on Nina’s face as she pulled her hands away from his nose and mouth.
“Dillon’s dad is coming,” Nina whispered as Alex gasped for breath. Nina’s instructions had been to hold his nose and cover his mouth to force him from his astral form if something seemed wrong — either with his breathing, which might indicate he was in danger — or in the event something in the alley was amiss. Dillon’s father showing up was definitely something amiss.
“Where?” Alex asked, quickly crouching on his knees.
“Around that corner,” Daphne said, pointing
“Rafael spotted him,” Victoria said, pointing up to where a large black crow circled in the night sky.
“Dog,” Ben said. “He’s walking the dog.”
“Ah, we should go now,” Clark said, beginning to run in a low crouch down the alley.
“Rafa will be sorry he missed more running,” Victoria said, trotting quickly beside Alex, trying to keep in the weeds to muffle the sound of her hooves.
“This is much better,” Rafael said, his raven wings letting him swoop down beside the others and then soar up into the darkness.
“Could you hear anything?” Nina said as she ran up beside Alex.
“Enough,” Alex said as they dashed around the end of the alleyway and back into the street. They quickly grabbed their bikes from behind the bushes where they had stashed them and rode as fast as they could. Several blocks away, they paused to catch their breaths beneath a chestnut tree outside the home of the local grocers, Mr. and Mrs. DeSoto.
“What did you hear?” Rafael said, still in the form of a crow, sitting on a low hanging branch.
“They’re going to rob the museum,” Alex said.
“Perseus’s pustules,” Daphne said. “What are they going to take?”
“I’m not sure,” Alex said and proceeded to recount all he had heard and what he thought it meant.
“We have to stop them,” Victoria said, the pitch of her voice sharp and firm.
“We will,” Alex said.
“Easy,” Ben said. “We know their plan, so we can catch them.”
“Most of it,” Alex said.
“We should tell Dad,” Nina said.
“He has enough to worry about with followers of the Shadow Wraith in the carnival,” Alex said.
“Don’t we have enough to worry about with followers of the Shadow Wraith in the carnival?” Rafael asked.
“We can handle this,” Alex said, determination in his voice.
“Mmm, we owe them one, too,” Clark said. “Maybe more than one.”
“So, we’ll meet tomorrow at the Guild House,” Alex said. “The festival begins at noon. That gives us the whole morning to search the carnival.”
The others could not think of a better course of action, and Nina was eventually convinced to withhold telling their father of the impending break-in at the museum by the Mad Mages. Once Alex pointed out how satisfying it would be to catch them personally, Nina’s opinion swiftly changed.
The Guild departed in pairs, Daphne of
fering to see Clark home. Clark bashfully, but thankfully, accepted. Rafael flew above Ben before taking wing toward home, while Nina and Alex escorted Victoria to her door. Nina managed to find something interesting in a tree down the block, within eyesight of Alex, but out of earshot.
“Thank you for seeing me home,” Victoria said, her tail flicking behind her, “but it’s not me people are trying to kill.”
“Hang around me long enough and I’m sure they’ll try,” Alex said. He had meant it as a flippant comment. Something humorous to ease the tension. Instead, the frightening truth of the statement left them both in silence. Maybe being around Victoria was dangerous. For her. Maybe he should stay away from her for a while.
“It was an interesting day,” Victoria said in a tone giving no indication what she really meant.
“It was,” Alex said, not really thinking about what he was saying, but looking up into Victoria’s deep blue eyes and forgetting all thoughts of spending less time with her. Now. Now was the time to kiss her. He took two steps up the stairs of the front porch and turned to face her. They stood eye to eye. Now. Now was the perfect time to kiss her and make her forget all about the lipstick and Leanna and anything else. All he had to do was lean in and…
“Victoria?”
Alex and Victoria turned their heads in unison to see her father standing in the doorway of their house, looking out at them from behind his lopsided spectacles. He adjusted the glasses and smiled.
“Oh, it is you,” her father said. “I was wondering if you would be home before dinner. I’ve made a roast. Or I roasted something. There are potatoes, too. There were carrots, but I ate those. I got a little hungry. Oh, Alex. Have you had dinner? Would you like to stay and join us?”
“Thank you,” Alex said, groaning despite all his efforts not to. “I ate. And Nina’s waiting for me. I should go.”
“Oh, Daddy,” Victoria said with sigh as she looked back to Alex. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Alex. I have to help Daddy with his invention booth, but I can join you for the festival speeches and…everything else.”
“It’s a date,” Alex said, fumbling over the words. “Or an engagement...or a…I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Alex waved goodnight to Victoria and her father, grabbed his bike and rode past Nina.
“Her dad has the worst timing,” Nina said, riding up beside Alex.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alex said.
“I hope for your sake that’s a lie,” Nina said. “Otherwise, I suspect you might be irreparably brain damaged.”
“What I am…” Alex began to say and then suddenly stopped. He stopped not because he wanted to, but because he had to. His body was frozen, locked in place, his hands gripping the handlebars, his feet suspended inches above the pedals, his mouth held open, but unable to move.
Alex knew immediately some magic curse was upon him, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. And without being able to speak, he didn’t know how he could break it. Who was responsible? Alex thought as the bicycle began to slow. Maybe the Mad Mages had discovered his spying. As he tried to figure out how not to land on his face when the bike eventually stopped and tipped over, the bicycle shot forward under its own momentum, gaining speed quickly as it tore down the street and around a corner.
Alex heard Nina yell behind him. Alex wanted to yell back. He couldn’t. All he could do was watch from within his rigid body as the magically powered bike careened through the streets, first one turn, then another, until it was clear to Alex where he was headed — the river. Someone was planning to drown him and he couldn’t even scream.
Chapter 13: River Rescue
Alex heard a small whistle wailing nearby. Then he felt a tug in his pocket. The whistles his father had given to him and Nina. She must be blowing hers. Alex could hear the whistle behind him now, echoed through the one in his pocket. It wasn’t close. Not close enough for Nina to save him. There wouldn’t be time for his parents to arrive, either. He needed to think of something. And fast.
The bike whipped around another street corner. He could see Mrs. Grumbleson sitting on her porch stroking her albino cat, but he couldn’t call out. He doubted if he had, whether Mrs. Grumbleson would have come to his aid. Most of the people in town were used to seeing Alex racing dangerously through the streets on his bike. This would seem like nothing new.
Maybe that was the plan, Alex thought as the bike turned onto Lake Street, the wide road running straight down to the river. Maybe the plan was to make it look like Alex had lost control of his bike and run into the river, drowning when he was unable to swim back to shore. In reality, he would drown because he couldn’t move to swim.
He was fast approaching the river and the old docks lining it. It wouldn’t be long now. He had to think of something. He had to get off the bike. But how? He couldn’t speak to say any of the rune-words he might use to save himself. But did he need to speak? Centaurs could work magic without speaking. Powerful mages could form rune-words in their minds and perform magic as easily as if they had spoken aloud. Isn’t that what he did when he practiced with Batami in astral form? Could it really be that different?
The bike raced across the river road, veered away from the bridge, and barreled onto the old main dock, its thin rubber wheels bouncing along the loose, old boards. There was no more time. Alex concentrated, imaging he was in his astral body, forming the rune-word with his mind. The rune-word for metal. Focusing on the word and on the handlebars of the bike. The metal shaft holding the handlebars to the bike frame turned soft and liquid-like. A bump of the bike as it raced toward the dark black waters of the river separated the handlebars from the front shaft.
Alex yelled silently with satisfaction in his mind. There was only a moment or two left. Just a few feet before the bike flew out over the dock and into the river, taking him down with it. He focused his mind on forming the rune-words for air, and wind and gravity, feeling himself float up above the bike as it sailed out from the edge of the dock and crashed into the water, quickly sinking into the swift-moving Azure River.
Alex floated out over the river, propelled by his previous motion. He watched as his bike sank into the water and drifted downstream. Focusing his mind, he mentally formed the rune-word for motion and guided himself back to the edge of the dock. Nina brought her bike to a sliding stop, jumping from it and running to Alex as he dropped to the weatherworn wooden slats of the wharf.
“Alex!” Nina yelled as she grabbed his face. At her touch, he suddenly found he could move and speak again.
“Hey, Sis,” Alex said. He tried to grin, but it came out as a terrified grimace. He lowered the handlebars to the dock and opened his hands, flexing his fingers.
“What happened?” Nina said, tears in her eyes as she gave him a shove. “You shot off so fast and your legs weren’t moving. I kept calling you. Why didn’t you stop?”
“I couldn’t,” Alex said. “I couldn’t move. Someone was trying to kill me.”
“Alex!”
Alex looked back up the dock toward the town and saw his parents running to him, each carrying a long wooden staff, his mother’s face contorted with fear and anger, his father’s face hard and unreadable. Alex knew those looks.
“Alex,” his mother said again as she and his father came to a stop and knelt beside him. His mother ran her hands over him, looking for wounds, and then threw her arms around him. His father scanned the surroundings, looking from the docks to the street to the river to the bridge and back to his family.
“Are you all right?” his mother asked, releasing him from the bone-crushing grip of her embrace.
“I’m fine,” Alex said, staring at his parents, grateful for their presence. “Now.”
“What happened?” his father asked, placing a hand on Alex’s shoulder.
“Someone tried to kill him,” Nina said, her voice quiet, but filled with anger.
“You’d better tell us everything,” his mother said, briefly cupping his face in
her hands.
“At home,” his father said, his eyes still scanning the dock and the street. “We’re in the open here.”
“Right,” his mother said, hauling Alex to his feet.
“Where’s the rest of your bike?” his father asked, picking up the severed handlebars.
“Somewhere down river by now,” Alex said, glancing over his shoulder at the rushing water below the dock. His parents and his sister followed his gaze in silence. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw something on the nearby Ravenstone Bridge spanning the river. A black cloak. When he turned to look, it was gone.
A short while later, Alex and his family sat around the kitchen table eating leftover dessert. Apparently, for his mother, nearly getting killed required apple pie and ice cream. There must be easier ways to get pie and ice cream, Alex thought. He explained what had happened and how he had managed to save himself at the last moment. His parents ate in silence for a full minute after he had finished, occasionally glancing at each other, but never looking in his direction.
“This is going to require…” his mother began after setting down her spoon.
“Some serious discussion,” his father said, wiping his chin with his napkin.
“Your father and I will talk about this.”
“And in the morning, we’ll let you know what we’ve decided.”
“If someone is trying to kill you…”
“It may be best for you to stay home.”
“But your presence makes it easier to find the Shadow Wraith’s followers.”
“So, we have to decide if we put your safety first…”
“Or the safety of the whole town.”
“Knowing if the Shadow Wraith is unleashed on the town…”
“It will be unleashed on you.”
Alex’s parents fell silent again and Alex looked back and forth between their faces. Both were concerned, angry, and confused in equal measure.
“I’m glad you guys don’t do that all the time,” Nina said, shaking her head. “Finishing each other’s sentences. That’s freaky. It’s like watching the Kaldon Twins.”
Summer's Cauldron (The Young Sorcerers Guild - Book 2) Page 13