The Untangled Cassie Black

by Tammie Painter

  "Another temporary portal?" I said. "Are they common?"

  "They are. Often in a time of high alert, we restrict main portals such as we did with the international one in Portland. This requires smaller, temporary portals to take up most of the slack. Temporary portals are also put in place when main portals have to be shut down for repair. The other common use for them is transport for a special occasion such as a festival or sporting event."

  Oh, if you knew how hard I was biting my tongue to keep from spewing, "Like a quidditch tournament?" you would wonder what kind of wondrously strong material my tongue was made of.

  "And because they’re typically built in a hurry without proper precautions being taken, these temporary portals often leave a trace of their source. Which is what these four are hoping to detect," said Olivia, casting a strange look over me as I kept my lips clenched firmly shut. "All looks in order here. Lunch, then?"

  I nodded and we headed back toward where we came in.

  "At least you got that stink out," I said, recalling the cabbage-cigar stench that had lingered in the air earlier.

  "Stink?" Olivia asked.

  "Don’t tell me you didn’t smell it? It was like the sewer had backed up."

  "And you say you smelled it when we found Tobey?"

  "Yeah, why?"

  "It’s something to consider," she said with dismissive finality, as if her very tone would cut off my questions. It didn’t, but her tight expression, plus Mr. Tenpenny nudging me and shaking his head with a warning look in his eyes, kept me from pressing the matter any further.

  Outside, there was only a hint of high clouds in the sky and the temperature was as close to perfect as you can get. And Olivia knew how to make the most of it. Once we reached a grassy spot, she snapped her fingers and a sort of bubble formed around us. It did nothing to block out the perfection of the day, but it did block out the chatter of tourists who, without realizing their feet were taking them instinctively around it, skirted around our enclosure.

  "Patio Charm," she explained. "One of Rafi’s inventions."

  Another snap of her fingers conjured a plate of sandwiches along with a round bistro table to eat at and cushioned chairs to sit on. Included with the variety of sandwiches were cut fruit, cookies, potato chips, and mugs of ale. I wasn’t about to complain about a little midday drinking.

  Olivia took a few bites of an egg salad and watercress on wheat, then brushed the crumbs off her fingers.

  "Busby, I think it would be best for you to explain."

  "I’m not fully sure I grasp the concept, but I’ll do my best." I guzzled half my beer. I figured I’d need it with the heavy way they were speaking. "The watch, I believe I told you Alastair had an idea of how it could be deactivated, but your coming along complicated things."

  "Right," I said warily through my mouthful of ciabatta, basil, tomato, and mozzarella.

  "The idea was that his magic and Devin’s magic were both in the watch. Two strands. Two strands wound together aren’t strong and can be teased apart if you’re careful. Your magic coming in added a third strand, making a braid. Braids are incredibly strong, which is why the watch could no longer be easily put out of commission." I already knew this and didn’t understand where Mr. T was headed. A cookie seemed a good way to cover up my consternation. "But if one of the Magics whose strand is in there dies, you are left with only two strands once more."

  The cookie suddenly tasted of cardboard. Were they going to kill me?

  "What are you saying?"

  "The thing is," said Olivia, "the Mauvais sent back Tobey, but not Alastair. That’s concerning since Alastair is of no more use to Devin Kilbride than Tobey would have been."

  "That’s not true. Alastair has magic. The Mauvais could take his power for his own purposes just like he did with my parents."

  "Exactly," said Olivia, then paused, letting the significance of her statement settle in. When, after a few moments, I didn’t suddenly say I knew precisely what she meant, she continued. "We believe Alastair has been extracted, if not killed. The Mauvais would have taken his power, then discarded him."

  An image of an empty peanut shell being tossed onto the floor of a honky tonk bar popped into my head.

  "You thought the exact same thing about my parents."

  "But Devin has a history with Alastair. In his mind, Alastair betrayed him. The Mauvais never took disloyalty lightly. He will have wanted his revenge for a long time."

  "What does this have to do with the watch?"

  "With Alastair gone, the three-strand problem is solved. We believe the remaining two strands — yours and Devin’s — could now be unwound. If you pull your magic from the watch, we could then destroy the thing and destroy Devin Kilbride. The D.E.A.D. Magic reversal would then take place. It would prevent the destruction he’s promised, as well as return Simon and Chloe to health."

  "And reverse any destructive spells performed on Alastair. That could be the reversal mentioned in the prophecy," Mr. Tenpenny said as if suddenly realizing just how great this whole idea really was.

  "But you don’t know if Alastair’s dead," I said. "If he’s not, messing with the watch, as you only just told me, risks killing him. Plus, if I try to pull my magic from the watch and Alastair is still alive, my magic could still be braided with the others. Not to sound un-heroic, but you’re asking me to sacrifice myself on a pretty big supposition."

  "We don’t think it would work like that. You’re such a strong absorber, we believe you could pull the majority of your magic out. You might be safe."

  "Believe. Think. Might. This is all guesswork."

  "Guesswork that could keep everyone safe. And all signs point to Alastair having been killed. He wasn’t sent back. There’s no mention of him in the note. Surely, the Mauvais would have used Alastair as a bargaining chip in this game he’s playing if he still had that chip in his possession."

  "Maybe Alastair escaped."

  "He would have come straight here."

  I was fuming. I was so angry even the food in front of me wasn’t appealing. And given my appetite, that’s saying something. Although I still carried lingering doubts about Alastair, I had mostly convinced myself he might not have been working with the Mauvais or passing him my power on the sly. Still, there also remained the Everest-sized mountain of questions I had about his role in my going missing as a child.

  However, these questions weren’t stopping Team Heart from taking the lead over Team Brain when it came to the matter of Let’s Risk Alastair’s Life on a Bit of Guesswork. I mean, if anyone was going to kill the man who had possibly been my kidnapper, it was going to be me.

  Kidding.

  Sort of.

  Regardless, the thought of him dead at the Mauvais’s hand was too surreal to process. It was a concept that, even drawn out in a schematic, wouldn’t make sense. Sort of like assembly instructions for IKEA furniture. But Busby and Olivia seemed more than ready to accept that Alastair had already breathed his last and we should just take a magic hammer to the watch to see what happened.

  "When were you planning on running this little experiment?" I asked testily.

  "We haven’t gotten that far with the discussion yet," replied Olivia, "but with your tribunal underway, I think it’s a good idea to try sooner rather than later. This is in your own best interest. Because as it stands, things are not looking good for you."

  "So I’ve already been convicted."

  "Believe me, Cassie," said Mr. T, "this is a far more direct solution than trying to figure out where the portal led and—"

  Just then the walls of our bubble began vibrating, creating a high-pitched whine that had me clamping my hands over my ears.

  "Someone needs us," said Olivia, more annoyed than concerned by the prospect. She gave a flicking twist of her wrist. The food and tables disappeared. As did the chairs. Knowing what was going to happen, Busby and Olivia had
stood. But they hadn’t bothered to warn me. As such, I dropped butt first to the grassy ground.

  I was about to curse at Olivia, but running toward the bubble, was the nurse who’d been trying to feed my dad. Mr. Tenpenny’s face turned a deathly shade of grey. I mean, he was dead, but he rarely revealed his little handicap. Now, he looked every bit the zombie he was.

  "Something’s happened with Tobey," he muttered to himself as the walls of the bubble vanished.

  10 - SEND HIM THROUGH

  DO I NEED to mention again how sick I was of stairs by this point? If I’m crippled with arthritis in my knees when I’m old, I will blame it entirely on my time spent in the White Tower. Olivia, Banna, and I abandoned our unpleasant conversation and followed Jake to rush along the hard-tile hallways and up the stony stairwells. Again.

  "What’s happened, Jake?" Olivia asked.

  "He’s woken up again. More alert this time."

  From ahead of me, I heard Busby suck in a quick breath of air, then release it in a great gust of relief.

  In the ward, I felt a tug as I hurried past the side room where my parents were, but I pushed my desire to see them aside as Runa’s warnings came to mind. Still, how many doses would they have to get before I could spend time with them? Would I have to keep a permanent distance even if they did recover? I set a goal then and there to pay closer attention to my studies, to work more diligently at getting my magic under control.

  I told myself this resolution was for them, but somewhere inside, Team Heart was cheering that if I survived this with my mental faculties intact, controlling my magic would also allow me more time with Alastair. Unless, of course, Olivia and her HQ cronies killed him off first. I could also hope if this tribunal group saw me taking my training more seriously, they might reconsider extracting me. I know, who am I kidding?

  Tobey had been propped up in the bed and did look more lively than before. I mean, he still looked like he’d only just stirred to life after hitting the snooze button several times, but he had more of an appearance that a brush of the hair and a cup of coffee might almost snap him back to rights.

  Mr. Tenpenny stopped himself, then glanced toward Runa. She gave a single nod, and Mr. Tenpenny, Mr. Stiff Upper Lip himself, surged toward Tobey, leaned over the bed, and wrapped his grandson in an awkward hug.

  "I thought we’d lost you," said Mr. T, his voice husky with his fight to tame those pesky emotions humans are prone to.

  "I thought I’d lost me too," Tobey said, chuckling in that way people will do when trying to play it cool while having an internal meltdown.

  "Let’s try not to overwhelm him," Runa insisted as she glanced at Olivia, who had been staring fondly at Dr. D and quickly looked away. I smirked until Runa threw me a warning glower.

  Mr. Tenpenny stood up, straightened his jacket, and squared his shoulders as if shaking off the display we were all never supposed to mention to anyone. Ever.

  "Can you recall what happened?" Olivia asked. "Anything about where you were?"

  "It was dark except for a really bright light at one point," said Tobey hesitantly. "And then there was the other light."

  "It was dark except for all the lights?" I asked. "Are we sure he’s mentally all there?"

  "I see you’re still as charming as ever. I meant there weren’t any windows. It was dark, but there was one room down from where I’d been kept. It had a bright light in it. Maybe a workroom, I’d guess. The place, I don’t know, there were wood beam supports and a hard-packed dirt floor, like an underground storeroom or an unfinished basement. Sorry, he wasn’t exactly handing out floor maps."

  "And he let you go? Did he hurt you?" Mr. T asked.

  "A few punches, nothing much, until— I don’t know, he started going on about getting rid of me, that I was pointless. No comments from you, Cassie. I think if it weren’t for Alastair, I’d be dead. Sorry, Cass, I guess I was wrong about him."

  "Alastair’s alive?" I said, adding as much emphasis as possible to the question as I shot a glance between a very sheepish looking Mr. Tenpenny and Olivia.

  "Yeah, he convinced the Mauvais I wasn’t entirely useless. That you guys might pay more attention to demands attached to a living body than a dead one. The Mauvais kind of scoffed at that, but grudgingly agreed that Alastair had a point."

  "And what’s he doing with Alastair?" Runa asked.

  Tobey shrugged. "Kind of just being a dick to him. Sorry." Tobey darted a look to Olivia, but she waved off his potty mouth. "Chastising him, belittling him, that sort of thing."

  "Keeping his magic down," Mr. T said. "If he breaks Alastair’s confidence, makes him feel like he’s got no hope, Alastair won’t be able to access anything but his weakest magic. He’ll be unable to defend himself or escape."

  "The capsule," I interrupted. "Did Alastair use the capsule yet?"

  The still-doubting part of Team Brain chimed in that Alastair probably gave the absorbing capsule to the Mauvais. I told Team Brain to piss off.

  Tobey shrugged. "I’m not sure what happened to it. There was talk of using it to get me back. I know the Mauvais didn’t want to waste his power sending me. I don’t think he’s all that strong. I mean he is, but in short bursts, then he has to build up."

  "That would coincide with our theory," Busby said. "Without the watch he doesn’t have his own strength. Or not much of it. He must get hits of magic from whoever’s passing it to him."

  "Right now he’s likely parsing out the magic Cassie gave him when she was fighting him," Olivia said, and I recalled how pleased the Mauvais had looked when I’d thrown spell after spell at him, how little he did to defend himself, and how Alastair had begged for me to stop.

  "Could be," Tobey said. "The Mauvais told Alastair if he wanted me sent back to you alive, he’d have to do it himself. I can’t exactly go through portals on my own, you know." Tobey was a Norm, a person without magic, and needed a Magic to get him through portals. "So Alastair’s idea was to give me the capsule to send me through. I don’t remember much about how I got back, but it had to be the capsule. Cassie’s magic brought me through, right? Otherwise how’d I get here?"

  My shoulders slumped at this speculation. The capsule had been everyone’s hope that Alastair would remain stronger than the Mauvais. Now the Mauvais had my magic, but Alastair didn’t.

  "And what about when you did come back?" Olivia asked. "Did you see anything? Anyone?"

  "I don’t know. That’s when there was the bright light. I’m not sure if it was before I left, during the trip, or after. It almost seems like all three. I remember the brightness and a couple dark patches. Then, once it was fully dark, there was this rhythmic thumping coming from the ground, sort of like a bass beat. Sorry, that’s pretty vague."

  "It’s an interesting observation," said Olivia, as if it totally wasn’t. "It’s just good you’re back in one piece."

  "But now Alastair, who seems to be very much alive," I said pointedly as I looked between Busby and Olivia, "is on his own against the Mauvais without the capsule."

  "I think he’s also pulling magic from Alastair," Tobey said. "I mean, you guys always say he’s a strong magic, but Alastair seems weakened around him."

  "He could indeed be doing just that," Runa said, "which means Alastair will only be of use to him for so long."

  "We’ve got to find the portal," I insisted.

  "Or take our chances and destroy the watch," said Olivia. "I know it’s a harsh call, but Alastair may not live much longer anyway."

  "No," said Tobey in a sterner voice than I’d ever heard from him. "Alastair saved me. He deserves the same chance."

  "No watch smashing," I said, arching an eyebrow at Olivia. "Agreed?"

  "Agreed," she replied. "For now."

  "But what about handing Cassie over to him?" asked Runa, who would probably have been the first to tie a bow on me and send me gift-wrapped to anyone who’d take me.
>
  "We’re not doing that either," I said.

  "So you’re willing to let cities be destroyed?" Olivia asked.

  "If he gets his hands on me, the world will be under his power, right?" Olivia gave a half nod. "So, like I said, ignore the watch, find the portal, and let’s get him."

  "Wait," said Mr. T, "did the note say anything about how we’re to hand over Cassie?"

  "Again, that is not a topic up for discussion."

  "No, I mean how would we get you to him if we don’t know where he is? Tobey, did he mention this?"

  Tobey shook his head. "He just said he would know when you decided, that Cassie would be brought to him the moment you were ready to give her up."