by Victor Kloss
Ben climbed back to his feet, rubbing his eyes. The light had blinded him.
“Is that it?” Charlie asked.
“I think so,” Ben said. “We’ll find out in a moment.”
He approached the door and turned the handle. It was locked.
“The ward-breaker doesn’t unlock ordinary locks,” Charlie said.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Ben admitted, with a soft curse.
Natalie stepped forwards. “I can handle that. I always have a few unlocking spells in case I forget my house key.”
She fired at the door. The sound of locks clicking could be heard. She turned and gave a curtsey.
“Good job,” Ben said. “Now for the big test. Are we going to get busted when we open the door?”
He turned the door handle slowly and entered the hallway, holding his breath, his senses alert. After a full minute, he relaxed and grinned.
“Seems fine, come on in,” Ben said, waving at them.
The house was just as Ben remembered: tired, in need of an upgrade, but clean and functional.
“Let’s wander round the house. If anyone sees anything interesting, signal,” Ben instructed.
They each went their separate ways. Ben went into the lounge, where they had recently sat with Hunter. There were no photos on the windowsill, nor any sign of family memorabilia. The more he searched, the more he realised just how much of a loner Hunter was. He went through cupboards and shelves, but saw nothing of interest except a few books. Ben searched underneath the couch and through every crevice he could find, before moving to the next room.
Half an hour they searched without seeing even the smallest clue. Ben was starting to despair when Charlie called out from upstairs.
“I’ve got something!” he said.
Ben raced up the stairs, Natalie just behind. Charlie was in a bedroom, by a desk near the window. He was tapping away on a small laptop.
“You won’t believe this,” Charlie said. “But with all the magical security he’d set up, the idiot forgot to put a password on his laptop. I bet he never expected anyone to break the ward.”
“What have you found?” Ben asked.
“Nothing concrete, but something to go on,” Charlie said. He pulled out the crumpled piece of paper from his pocket that contained the eight names they had shortlisted as Guardians. Charlie grabbed a pen and circled three of them.
Angie Gillian
Amy Grant
Abigail Greeves
“That is our new shortlist,” Charlie announced, thrusting the nib of the pen into his mouth. “Based on searching his internet history, his email and any social media I could find, those three names come up more than any others.”
“Great,” Ben said. “Three is a lot easier than eight. We can check each of them out individually.”
Natalie was staring at the list. “Do they have anything in common? I noticed they are all girls.”
“They all have blonde hair, and they were all rather pretty. I remember that,” Ben said, grinning at Charlie, who smiled despite himself.
“That is peculiar,” Natalie said, her finger tapping the paper. “I wonder – do you think Hunter is trying to find the Guardian himself?”
“What do you mean? He says he knows who the Guardian is.”
“I know,” Natalie said. “But have you noticed the pattern? They are all girls, they all have blonde hair, and they all have the initials A.G.”
“My god, you’re right,” Charlie said, staring at the paper. “I can’t believe I missed that.”
Ben ran a hand through his hair. “So, you’re saying that Hunter might not know exactly who the Guardian is?”
“Exactly. He clearly has a good idea, but he hasn’t nailed it down,” Natalie said. “It’s just a thought.”
“It’s a good one,” Charlie said, rubbing his cheeks. “I think you have something.”
“Why would Hunter lie to us?” Ben asked.
Charlie shrugged. “Who knows? But let’s face it, he’s hardly the most honest, straightforward person we’ve met. He’s a weird one.”
There was a brief silence as the three stared at the pencilled names Charlie had circled.
“Well, there’s no point—”
Ben felt his body vibrate suddenly. A flash of light appeared outside the window. They looked up simultaneously to see a shower of colour sprinkling in the distance, like coloured rain.
“Unseen activity,” Ben said grimly. “Not great timing.”
Charlie cursed. “Do we have to investigate? We’ll almost certainly be too late.”
“Yes,” Ben said. “Let’s tidy up and get out of here.”
They were outside in less than five minutes and hurrying up the road, towards the shower of sparks that floated in the sky. Their path took them off the main street, down a series of zigzagging alleys, where the houses were small and the cars were parked on the road, making two-way traffic almost impossible.
Ben heard a cry of alarm, followed by the sound of screaming. They started running.
“Next street!” Ben said. He skipped across the road, danced round a parked car, and took the corner like a two-hundred metre runner.
He came to a violent halt the moment the scene came into view.
Hunter Abney was there, kneeling over a fallen body. Blood was flowing. Ben’s horror was distracted by the sound of quick footsteps.
“Dark elf!” Hunter cried, pointing into the distance.
There, down the road, a cloaked form was running away. Ben gave chase, pounding the pavement, but despite running his heart out, he knew he was too slow. By the time he had reached the end of the road, the dark elf had all but disappeared. Ben allowed himself ten seconds to catch his breath, before sprinting back. Charlie and Natalie, both now armed, had joined Hunter. Natalie was helping Hunter tend to the figure on the floor, while Charlie made sure they went unseen.
Ben bent down to look at the figure, and instantly felt sick. There was a dark stain on his chest, his face was pale and his eyes were open, unblinking. The man was dead.
Hunter gently shut the man’s eyelids and then unhooked a piece of jewellery from his neck and put it round his own.
It was the second locket.
“We were ambushed,” Hunter said softly. “I do not know how the dark elf knew we were meeting. Perhaps my vigilance slipped or perhaps Jason was followed. I thought we had overcome him. He fled, but when I went to give chase, I saw Jason on the floor.”
Hunter’s voice faded away and he closed his eyes.
“You did everything you could,” Natalie said softly.
“Perhaps. Perhaps not,” Hunter said. His expression hardened. “You should leave before we attract attention. I will deal with the body.”
“The Institute should deal with it,” Ben said.
Hunter’s black eyes flashed. “No. They might get suspicious, and they are not to know about Elizabeth’s Armour or the Protectors.”
There were questions Ben wanted to ask, but one look at Hunter’s intense expression and he knew that now was not the time. Ben exchanged glances with Charlie and Natalie, and they reluctantly left Hunter to deal with the body.
— Chapter Twenty —
Charlie’s Plan
“It’s the only solution I can think of, unless you have a better one?” Charlie asked, sipping on a cup of tea.
The three of them were sitting in the common room, enjoying its comfort and protection. For the past twenty minutes, none of them had spoken as they struggled to overcome their shock. Ben still felt a little shaky; pictures of the dead man in a pool of blood kept swirling through his mind. The tea helped, as did the security of the Institute.
“Do you want us to come with?” Natalie said. “I know we weren’t terribly useful last time.”
“No, I think I can search faster by myself,” Charlie said.
Charlie’s plan involved going back to the secret Guardians’ common room and searching for any reference to the three
last names they had shortlisted as potential Guardians of the Helm. It was a long shot, but Ben certainly couldn’t think of anything better, and they were running out of ideas and time. There were now just seven days left until the dark elf attack.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Ben asked.
An uneasy feeling in Ben’s stomach had begun to brew.
Charlie smiled. “Wow, this is rare – I don’t think I’ve ever seen you worry about me before.”
“I know, I don’t know what’s come over me. So you’ll be okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” Charlie assured him. “I’m doing research, not hunting dragons.”
Ben still couldn’t shake off that unpleasant feeling in his stomach, but he convinced himself that Charlie was right. Perhaps it was the thought of not being in control that concerned him. But the truth was, Ben was relieved not to go. Though he had slept well the previous night, he still felt like he needed several more full nights before he caught up.
To Ben’s frustration, Wren had called in many of the Spellswords for a series of briefings, making their locker room far too busy to use. Two days passed before the Spellswords returned back to whatever Unseen Kingdom they were helping, giving Charlie an opportunity to sneak into the Guardians’ common room.
“Don’t wait for me,” Charlie said that afternoon. “I’m going to sleep there and take the Dragonway straight to Tiddlehurst for scouting tomorrow morning.”
“Good luck,” Natalie said. “Remember, the best time to sneak out is between 5am and 6am. If you miss that window, you may be stuck. If we don’t see you at Tiddlehurst, we’ll assume you haven’t made it, and we’ll come and find you.”
Ben spent most of the evening wondering how Charlie was getting on. It had been easy enough to sneak Charlie in, but they had to leave the locker door open a fraction so that he could get out again, as the locker would not respond to Charlie’s command. If somebody noticed, and shut the locker, Charlie would be stuck until they came to rescue him.
Despite his weariness, sleep didn’t come easy that night, but he managed to take his mind off Charlie by thinking of the helm. Hunter had said the Protectors would not gather until it was necessary to retrieve the helm, yet he had clearly been meeting another Protector. Had something happened to change his mind? Ben fell asleep still pondering the question.
When Ben met Natalie at Barrington’s the following morning, they were both thinking about only one thing.
“Any word from Charlie?” Natalie asked.
Ben shook his head. “No. I was hoping he’d got hold of you.”
“Me? If he was going to contact anyone, it would be you.”
Ben wasn’t sure how true that was anymore, but he said nothing. They made their way to Tiddlehurst, and got out next to the church. The grey clouds above reminded Ben what they could expect for the next few months, as England turned cold and wet over autumn and winter. Thankfully the rain had momentarily stopped, and the breeze, though fresh, wasn’t biting. Nevertheless, people walked the streets that bit quicker, jackets, and sometimes scarves, wrapped tight, eager to reach their destinations.
“Where to?” Natalie asked.
“If he’s here, he’ll be at Starbucks.”
Ben couldn’t help feel a little nervous as they approached the coffee shop, and those nerves extended to an unpleasant feeling in his stomach upon arrival. Charlie was not there yet. They ordered drinks and sat by the window.
“I’m sure he’ll turn up,” Natalie said.
Ben took to checking his phone every five minutes. After half an hour, a cold certainty started to grip him, freezing his insides.
“He hasn’t made it,” Ben said.
“You don’t know that for sure,” Natalie replied, still looking hopefully out the window.
“Yes, I do,” Ben said. He hit the tabletop with frustration and cursed. “Why did I let him go by himself? I knew that was a bad idea.”
“It’s not your fault,” Natalie said. “Charlie convinced both of us that we’d just get in the way.”
Ben shook his head. “I shouldn’t have listened.”
Ben slipped off the stool and left Starbucks, Natalie hurrying after.
“You don’t want to give it ten more minutes?” Natalie said. “He could be sleeping still. I’m sure he had a late night.”
One quick call to Charlie’s house established that he had never arrived home last night. Natalie’s remaining optimism vanished.
“We need to head back to the Institute,” Ben said, walking quickly.
“What do you think could have happened?”
“My guess is that he tried to leave but the locker room was busy, and he hasn’t been able to get out.”
They caught the Dragonway back to the Institute. As they journeyed, Ben was surprised how much Charlie’s predicament had affected him. He was already having difficulty coping without his parents; the thought that his best friend might also be in trouble made his blood run cold. He cursed inwardly, and decided, for the tenth time in the last ten minutes, that he wouldn’t let Charlie go alone again.
Ben jogged all the way up the hill to the Institute, with Natalie right beside him. The atrium was busy, but then it was always busy since news of the dark elf attack, with Institute members hurrying to and fro.
“Ben!”
Ben stopped, and saw William, a fellow second-grade apprentice, walking quickly towards him. Despite the age gap – William must have been at least eighteen, with a sizeable six pack and a well-kept beard – Ben had always got on well with him, ever since he took them under his wing during their first fabled animal pooh clearing session.
“Have you heard about your dad’s locker?” William said.
Ben’s heart almost stopped. “No, what happened?”
William ran a hand over his shaven head. “It’s gone crazy up there. Someone is claiming they found the locker door ajar. Now the whole council is up in arms. I’ve even seen the prince on the case.”
Ben was taking the steps three at a time before William had even finished speaking. The Spellsword floor was crowded, and Ben had to wade his way past Institute members to even make it to the locker room, where a couple of Spellswords were standing guard.
“No entrance,” one of them began to say, but the other one caught him short.
“Hold on, that’s Greg’s son. Ben Greenwood, right?”
Ben nodded.
“They’ll want to speak to you inside.” The Spellswords stepped aside, and let Ben through.
Ben had never seen any locker room that busy before. There must have been a couple of dozen Spellswords inspecting every inch of the room, many with their spellshooters out, casting a variety of spells that Ben didn’t recognise, though it made the air smell and gave it a green hue.
“Greenwood, there you are. About time, boy.”
Draven’s rough voice was unmistakable. He was standing by Ben’s dad’s locker, along with the other executive council members. Prince Robert stood in the middle.
“I’m sorry, I came up as soon as I heard,” Ben said, hurrying forwards. His eyes went straight to the locker. It was battered and scarred, but, to Ben’s relief, looked no different than before. It was sealed shut.
“Maybe you can shed some light on this untimely mystery,” Draven said. “Do you know why your father’s locker would be open?”
Ben found it easy to play the dumb surprise card, because that was how he felt right now.
“I have no idea,” Ben said slowly. “How come it’s not open now? Who shut it?”
“It shut itself, apparently,” Prince Robert said. His voice was calm, but Ben could sense an undercurrent of frustration that was creating an unease amongst all the executive council.
“I didn’t know they could do that,” Ben said honestly.
Alex gave a lopsided smile. “Nor did we.”
“The lockers are occupied by a sentient race,” Wren said, “so we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, they open themselves.�
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“On our command,” Prince Robert said. “They’ve never opened under their own volition.”
None of the executive council had an answer to that, not even Wren.
“Has anyone tried opening it again?” Ben asked. His stomach rolled a little, for he was now treading on dangerous water, but he knew it was the right question to ask.
“Not yet,” the prince said. “We have tried in the past, without success. I am reluctant to try again. As Wren pointed out, they are sentient beings, and forcing entry causes them much pain.”
The scuff marks and the missing stone at the base of the locker were testament to that, as well as the gash running across the eye of the locker.
“The point is, either the locker opened and shut itself or else someone was responsible,” said Victoria, the Director of Scholars.
“But I thought only my dad could open his locker,” Ben said.
“Not only your dad,” the prince said, giving Ben a keen look. “Technically, your dad could give any of his blood the authority to open the locker.”
Ben maintained his confused expression. “But if someone closed it from the inside, wouldn’t that mean they are stuck there right now?”
“Yes,” Alex said. “Which, admittedly, is very unlikely, especially given that such a move would be idiotic, and your parents are probably the least idiotic people I know.”
“We’ll know soon enough,” Draven said. “If there is someone in there, they’ll have to come out soon or else they’ll starve.”
“We’ll let you know if we uncover anything,” Prince Robert said, in a clear signal that Ben was no longer needed.
Ben left, with a last look at his dad’s locker, and almost immediately ran into Natalie, standing outside.