Jake motioned toward the door. “No one’s stopping you. If you need to go, then go.”
Idric shot him a look. “You know I can’t get there on my own.”
“Then tell us what we need to know,” Sally said.
Idric couldn’t believe they were turning on him. He shouldn’t have said anything at all. “I can’t! Don’t you understand? This is something that has been entrusted to me—I thought it was all just something my parents made up, but it’s something I have to do.”
“If you want to get back to the school, you’ll have to decide just how important this is to you,” Yasif said. “You told us everything else. We’ve all been through hell, and it turns out it’s all because of you? You owe us, buddy!”
“I helped you guys, remember? And what thanks did I get? All of you treat me like a kid!”
“If you want us to treat you like one of us,” Sally said, “then you’re going to have to trust us. If you can’t do that, what reason do we have to trust you?”
“I’m not asking you to trust me.”
“Yes, you are, Idric,” Sally continued. “Don’t you see? We have to trust that if you go away we’ll be safe. How do we know that? How do we know these things aren’t trying to manipulate you into leaving since you’re the strongest defense we have right now?”
Idric froze, his eyes turning toward her. Had he heard her right? “Me?”
Jake motioned around. “Do you see any of the rest of us with magic?”
“You don’t understand.” Idric’s eyes began to tear.
Sally approached and put a hand on his shoulder. “Idric. Yasif brought up a good point earlier. What if this was all part of what your parents wanted? What if they sent you here for a reason, and we’re all a part of that reason? What if she knew you couldn’t do this alone?”
She had a point. He’d already considered this a possibility. Why hadn’t his parents just told him what he was supposed to do?
“I don’t know… I don’t know what to do. They didn’t tell me anything. It was all just a bunch of stories.” Great! He was crying. Now they really would think him a kid.
Sally gripped his shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. We can help.”
“There was one tale my mother told. She said Aashr magic is more than just magic. A boy plucked the power from a tree whose roots grew deep into the fabric of the universe itself. They were all like that, stupid fairy tales!”
“Clearly there was more to them,” Jake replied.
Jake was right. The more Idric thought about the stories, the more he realized how many paralleled things similar to what was happening around them. Wasn’t there one about beings that could take the form of animals? It couldn’t be coincidence. Why hadn’t he made the connection sooner?
“I never understood why my parents were so protective of the book,” Idric said. “Now I realize they were the guardians. They were its protectors. And now I know the truth.”
“What truth?” Yasif asked.
A lump formed in Idric’s throat. “They’d never have left the book with me if they meant to return.”
“You mean?”
He nodded, clearing his throat. “They can’t come back. They’ve either done something to protect me or they’ve gone off to fight whatever is going on. But whatever the reason… It’s up to me now.”
“Then we can go get the book and find out what’s so important about it,” Yasif said.
Idric shook his head. “There’s only one problem.”
“What?” they all said at once.
“It won’t do us any good. I can’t read it until I’m sixteen.”
Jake began, “Well, I think they’d understand in this case if you—”
“No. You don’t understand. I physically can’t read it. I’ve tried. Back when I was younger, before my parents hid it. I took it out one night and tried to read it. It didn’t make any sense.”
“And it will when you’re sixteen?” Yasif asked.
Idric nodded. “Supposedly.”
“That’s not for another year, right?” Sally asked.
“Eight months,” Idric said. “I just don’t get it. If I’m supposed to be defending the book and everything, why would they keep things such a secret? Why not teach me what I needed to know.”
“Maybe by knowing it would put you in danger,” Jake offered.
Idric considered this. It’s possible the shape-shifters were drawn to his magic, the small spells he’d been trying out.
“So where is this book, if it’s so important?” Lani asked.
“That’s just it. It’s still at the school. It’s hidden where no one will find it.”
Sally’s eyes grew wide. “That’s why they’re all over the school!”
“What makes you think they won’t find it now?” Yasif asked.
Idric gave a half-smile. “They won’t.”
Sally crossed her arms. “Are you going to tell us where it is or are we just gonna have to guess?”
“It’s kinda… I’ll just have to show you.”
“At least now we know why the shape-shifters are here,” Jake said.
“Are we really ready to take these things on?” Yasif asked.
“No, we’re not,” Sally said. “We need a plan. Find a way to fight these things. We need training with these weapons. None of us knows how to use them.”
“Donald was in the military, remember?” Lani replied. “I’m sure he has some experience.”
“Okay,” Sally said. “So we get some weapons training and try to come up with a plan to face Padilla.”
“Don’t forget the Conley clone,” Yasif added.
Sally nodded toward Yasif. “We need to gather info on what’s going on at the school. Jake, you and Lani find out what you can about Van der Haak and see if you can determine a way to fight these things.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Yasif commented.
Sally turned to Idric. “We’re going to have to move that book. You know that, right?”
Idric’s eyes went wide. “Are you crazy?”
“If they know it’s there, it will only be a matter of time before they find it. Who knows what they’ll do to you to get it.”
“They can’t get to it.”
She held his gaze. “Are you absolutely sure about that. Look, we can bring it here and hide it. No one knows about this place. It will be safe as long as they don’t know we’ve moved it.”
He considered for a moment. It was safe at the school, but for how long. What if they brought in more shape-shifters? Or worse? Images of creatures he’d heard in his mother’s stories began swimming in his head. “I suppose.”
“Good boy.” She patted him on the head.
He glanced up in disgust, but her phone rang and she’d already answered it.
Idric went over to the sofa and plopped into its welcoming embrace. It was old, but still retained the ability to suck in its occupants. He crossed his arms, hugging himself tightly. He’d never felt more conflicted about anything in his life. He wished his parents were there, wished he had someone to tell him what he was supposed to do.
Maybe Sally was right; maybe he was still a stupid kid.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
SALLY HAD GOTTEN A CALL from Stephanie. She was out of recovery and fully awake and had asked for Sally again.
When Sally arrived at the hospital, dread ran through her. She couldn’t imagine why her roommate wanted her to come back. Hadn’t she caused enough trouble in the poor girl’s life?
By the time she’d made it to Stephanie’s room, she’d managed to come up with a million different scenarios for what would happen once she arrived. None, however, remotely resembled what actually transpired.
Stephanie’s mother stood next to the bed, smiling. She didn’t seem upset or angry.
“Sally! It’s so good to see you!” Betty Boucher seemed much happier to see her this time. She hugged Sally tightly.
“Thank you,” Sally said skeptic
ally.
“Stephanie was just so eager to see you. She’s doing remarkably well.”
Sally approached the hospital bed and looked down to see that Stephanie did indeed look much better. Her arm was still wrapped, but her complexion had returned and she was much more alert.
“Sally!” the cheerleader said excitedly.
“Oh, my God, Steph, I’m so sorry.” Sally was on the verge of tears, having finally had the chance for a proper apology.
“Sorry for what?” Stephanie asked with a somewhat confused look.
“What do you mean for what?” Sally motioned to her arm.
“Oh that!” Stephanie laughed. “You have nothing to be sorry about.”
Sally choked on her words.
“I’ll leave you two girls to chat,” Betty said and left the room, closing the door.
As soon as Betty was gone, Sally commented, “You didn’t have to lie to her.”
“Well, I wasn’t about to tell her that it was a huge flying bat that crashed into your mother’s apartment!”
“I meant you didn’t have to lie about me saving you,” Sally said.
“Are you kidding me?” Stephanie came back. “You saved my freakin’ life! If it weren’t for you, I’d be dead as a doornail.”
“Steph, I didn’t… It was Idric…”
“Yes, you did,” Stephanie said. “He helped, but it was your quick thinking that saved me.” She took Sally’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I owe you so much.”
Sally couldn’t help the tears that came to her eyes. Every scenario that she had concocted for this moment had been a version of Stephanie admonishing her for the loss of her arm, lecturing her for how reckless she had been. Sally never once considered that the girl might be grateful.
Stephanie gave a quick look at the door. “I want to help.”
Sally shook her head in confusion. “You want to what?”
“I want to help. Look, I know you well enough to know you’re planning some kind of attack on these things—you could never let them get away with something like this. I want in.”
“But, Steph, don’t you think—”
Stephanie held up her hand. “Don’t you dare say I can’t do something just because of my arm! You of all people should know better than that!”
“No, that’s not what I—”
“I’ve made my mind up about this, Sally. I want to get back at those things for what they did. I also want to help you in any way that I can.”
Sally was in complete shock. What could she say? There was no rational reason for her not to accept the girl’s help. But was Stephanie ready for this? It hadn’t been that long since the surgery, could she really handle a fight?
“Are you sure you can handle this?”
Stephanie smiled, excitedly. “The doctors say I’m healing up fast! They were actually shocked at how well my arm is doing. They started me on a prophetic arm last week.”
“I think you mean prosthetic,” Sally corrected.
“Yeah! That’s it! I can never remember all these big words. All I know is that I want to do what I can.”
“What about your mom?”
Stephanie laughed. “I’ve become quite the expert at feeding my mom BS. Besides, she has to leave for France tomorrow. She was going to hire a nurse to come take care of me for a few days until I can return to the school. I’ll just tell her that you’re willing to do it.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I can come with you. Say that you’re going to help take care of me.” Stephanie looked pleased with her suggestion.
“We’re living in an old telephone switching station right now, Steph. It’s not the most comfortable thing in the world.”
“It’s better than here!” She motioned with her bandaged arm.
Sally conceded that point. Against her better judgment, she went along with Stephanie’s plan. Her mother was hesitant at first, but given how many times Stephanie had told her that Sally saved her life, eventually she agreed. Sally helped her pack all her medications and clothing and then wheeled her out to Jake’s car.
“It’s not much,” Sally said. “But it gets us around.”
Stephanie didn’t complain. In fact, she looked absolutely thrilled to be out of the hospital. The entire trip back consisted of a detailed account of every procedure she had endured. What was strange was that she didn’t talk about it as if it were a traumatic ordeal. It was as if Stephanie was excited by her recovery—as though the entire experience had given her a new perspective on life. She certainly wasn’t the same girl Sally had known.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
IDRIC RETURNED TO THE SCHOOL still conflicted. He understood Sally’s point about protecting the book, but worried about what would happen if they moved it. She just didn’t understand how well it was already protected by Aashr magic. Nothing could get to the book without the key, and even then, they’d need to understand the convergences that made hiding it possible.
He remembered they came to the school, the night his parents hid the book. At the time, the idea seemed crazy. He hadn’t yet understood its significance.
It had been well after midnight and the entire school had been asleep. His parents had come into his room, quietly ushering him into the cold night air. They explained only that they were hiding the book at the school, and that he would need to guard the secret of its location. He wished they would have told him more. They could have at least told him the reason for leaving him in charge of something so important.
Idric rummaged through his things, searching for the key, wishing now he’d never taken it off. He’d worn it religiously, believing it to be a significant part of his heritage, until he became bored and others started to tease him about it.
“Why can’t I put things where they belong?” He opened more drawers and shuffled the contents around inside. He kept hoping it would suddenly appear, even though he’d searched that particular drawer twice already.
He went over to his roommate’s desk. Perhaps Dennis had taken it by accident. It wouldn’t be the first time he found something of his in his roommate’s drawers. He rummaged through the desk, sifting through pens and various other school tools. After the third drawer, the door to his room opened and Dennis walked in.
“Dude! Get your hands out of my drawers!” his roommate snapped.
“I’m not messing with your junk,” Idric argued. “I’m looking for something of mine. Something important.”
“And you think it would be in my drawers?” Dennis replied. “I’m not a thief!”
“I didn’t say you were! I just thought maybe you picked it up on accident or something.”
“What is it you’re looking for?”
Idric went over to Dennis. “It’s a stone. Clear and yellow. About this long.” He held his fingers about an inch apart. “It was attached to a leather strap. I used to wear it around my neck.”
“Oh!” Dennis dropped his gaze to the floor. “Oops!”
“Dennis?” Idric moaned. “What happened?”
“Well…”
“Dennis? What did you do?”
“I kinda let Hayden have it.”
Panic shot through Idric. “You what?”
This wasn’t happening. He should have been more careful! The only way to retrieve the book was with that crystal, and he’d been so careless it was now wandering the school right under the shape-shifter’s noses. How could he be so stupid? “Oh, my god! What did you do that for?”
“Dude! I’m sorry. It was lying on the floor, and you didn’t seem interested in it anymore. Hayden saw it and liked it.”
Idric crossed his arms. “And you just gave it to her? Without asking?”
Dennis didn’t seem to know how to respond.
Idric really couldn’t blame his roommate. It was his own fault, but that didn’t stop him from taking out his anger and embarrassment on the poor boy. “I can’t believe you did this! We’ve got to get it back.”
Dennis stared at the
floor. “I’m sorry, Idric, I thought it was something you were going to get rid of.”
Idric threw him a look, but then eased up. “I shouldn’t have left it lying around, but that’s no excuse for you giving it to your girlfriend without at least asking me first.”
Dennis nodded.
Idric thought for a moment. “I’ll just have to get it back from her in math.”
The next day, Idric was still angry with Dennis, but became more focused on getting the key back. He knew Hayden well enough that he didn’t think he’d have a problem. He arrived in math early so he could try to talk to her. Of course she wasn’t as prompt and showed up just before class started.
He made sure the two were sitting close enough for him to sneak a few notes. As he jotted down his request, Mrs. Conley was scratching some math problems on the board. He folded the note, passed it to Hayden, and started to work. The note came back while he was in the middle of solving the second problem. He glanced up at Mrs. Conley to make sure she wasn’t looking before unfolding the paper.
“Dennis gave it to me,” was all it said.
“It wasn’t Dennis’ to give,” he wrote, then passed the note back.
“Sorry, he said you didn’t want it any more. Can’t you just find another one?”
Idric scratched out a response, angrily. “It’s mine and I want it back!” He didn’t bother folding the paper neatly this time and flicked it back to Hayden. The girl was midway through unfolding it when it was snatched from her grip.
“Passing notes?” Mrs. Conley stood over them. “Do you two know the rules about passing notes in class?” She pulled out her reading glasses and set them on her nose as she read what they had written.
This was bad. Not just bad as in “going to the principal’s office” bad. This was “the shape-shifter has access to information that could end the world” bad. He stood, ready to argue, but Conley was one step ahead of him.
“I would like to see this crystal.”
“Aww, Mrs. Conley! Come on!” Hayden whined.
“Now, Ms. Hart!”
Hayden pulled the leather strap from her neck and handed it to the woman. Idric watched as she examined it with a triumphant grin.
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