by David Meyer
“School?” he asked.
“You guys have schools, right?”
“Actually, no.”
“Really?” Leandra frowned. “Then how’d you learn your spells?”
“Trial and error.”
“You mean like how you’ve been teaching Randy?”
“Not exactly. I learned by doing.” His brow furrowed. “I remember folding laundry when I was a kid. I hated it and so one day I found myself holding my wand, awash in emotions. Next thing I knew, I cast a spell and …”
“And it folded itself?”
“Actually, no.” He grinned at the memory. “It tied one of my shirts into a knot. It was so tight I couldn’t undo it.”
Leandra chuckled.
“I tried again later, when I wasn’t so frustrated. That time, the spell worked.” He shrugged. “Chaotic magic isn’t always what you expect. But it’s always consistent with your emotions.”
“But you used to have schools,” I said. “Heck, Madkey was once a Chaotic school.”
He nodded. “That’s true. From what I understand, this place used to be very different. There were no classes, no bells, no schedules. It was more like a hangout, a place where magicians could work on their spells and help each other.”
“What about homework?” Piper asked, speaking up at last and looking horrified in the process. “And tests?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think those things existed.”
“But how did people learn anything?”
“Well, the school employed a bunch of expert magicians who could offer help and guidance.” He shrugged. “Overall though, I think people learned what they wanted to learn.”
“So, if they didn’t want to study Numerology …”
“Then I guess they didn’t learn about it.”
Her jaw dropped wide open. “But … but …”
“I’m not saying it’s right or wrong. I’m just saying that’s how I think it used to be done.” Putting down his sandwich, he licked his lips. “So, what’s the deal? Are we ready yet?”
I shook my head. “We still need a distraction.”
He nodded slowly. “I know I’ve brought this up before, but I feel like I should do it again …”
“We’re not backing out,” I said firmly.
“Thank you for saying that.” He exhaled. “But keep in mind that we’re going to be casting spells on some of the most renowned witches and wizards of all time. There’s a very good chance this turns out badly for us.”
“Oh, don’t worry.” Piper sniffed. “I’m sure Randy will save us all.”
“Huh?” He looked at her, then at me. “Am I missing something?”
Piper pursed her lips.
I cleared my throat. “I was trying to win the game.”
“A meaningless game.”
“Boltstar didn’t see it that way.”
“Who cares what he thinks?”
“My parents, for one.” I straightened my spine. “He told them I’ve got a bright future, you know.”
For the last few days, I’d fantasized about rematriculating at Madkey. I’d pictured myself sitting at a desk, a confident smile upon my face. I’d imagined Porter’s shocked visage on my first day back. I’d wondered what it would feel like to walk around with my head held up high for a change. To feel proud of myself rather than ashamed.
Eyes flicking back and forth, Tad took another bite of his sandwich. Sitting down, Leandra turned her attention to her simulator mirror.
Piper gave me an icy look. “What do you want?” she asked. “A pat on the back?”
As I stared at her, I suddenly felt silly and kind of stupid. Most of all, I felt like a big jerk. The dreams and fantasies vanished and then it was just the two of us.
“Well?” she asked.
“No. I …” I sighed. “You’re right.”
“And?”
“And I’m sorry.”
Her frown wavered. A slight smile began to take its place. “Yeah, well …” Her smile vanished. Her jaw opened wide and she went rigid.
I spun around. Horror set in as a shadowy figure climbed through the hatch. He stepped onto the carpet, then rose to his full height. No, this couldn’t be happening. It was impossible. It was …
“Boltstar.” Snapping to attention, Tad drew his wand.
“Hello,” the headmaster said, with nods at each of us.
Piper swallowed. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
“Isn’t it?”
She gaped at him.
“There’s no sense in denying it,” he said. “I know what you did. I know everything.”
Carefully, I pulled my wand from its holster. A quick peek at Piper confirmed she’d drawn her wand as well.
“What’d you expect?” Tad said angrily. “A hearty handshake? You destroyed us. You destroyed me.”
“The time for conversation has passed.” With a dangerous glitter in his eyes, he aimed his wand at Piper. “Now, it’s time to die.”
My emotions slid into place and Instinctia took control. “Elertfa Lokwhan,” I called out.
Auburn light zoomed toward Boltstar’s heart. He didn’t duck or try to dodge it. Instead, he whispered a few words and flicked his wand.
A cyan glow, brimming with energy, collided with my light. Both spells vaporized in a puff of smoke.
Boltstar looked my way. More than anything, I wanted to enchant his smile right off of his face. But the sheer magnitude of everything had thrown my brain into a tizzy. Try as I might, I couldn’t recall the Herd Crash or any other Chaotic spell.
He aimed his wand at me. A cyan bolt sizzled through the air. I tried to run, but my feet were glued to the ground.
Air left my lungs as Tad crashed into me. We tumbled to the carpet, narrowly eluding the spell.
Piper sprang into action. Scurrying across the celestarium, she fired spells at the headmaster. He blocked them without breaking a sweat.
Tad and I scrambled to our feet. Wands in hand, we fired spells of our own.
Boltstar blocked our magic with ease. He stared at us for a moment, his eyes glittering with a strange kind of darkness. Then he spun on his heels. With casual flicks, he sent cyan streaks flying in all directions.
I took cover behind the enchanted fireplace. “You take one side,” I whispered to Tad. “I’ll take the other one.”
I waited for his response. When it didn’t come, I glanced over my shoulder. Tad lay face down on the carpet. His skin looked pale and he wasn’t moving. At all.
Throwing caution to the wind, I sprinted to his side. My fingers touched his neck and I discovered his skin was cold and clammy. Breathlessly, I maneuvered my hand into position and waited.
There was no pulse.
I stared at his lifeless body for a few seconds, shocked to the core. Memories flooded my brain and I realized how empty my life would be without him. No more meals, no more late-night spell sessions. I’d never hear his weird laugh again or squirm restlessly as he rambled on about some historical event I didn’t care about.
At that moment, I realized what a fool I’d been. All along, I’d bought into the idea that the underdog always came out on top, that evil always got its comeuppance. That people like Tad and me ultimately won the day.
But that wasn’t the way the world worked. I could see that now. Furthermore, I realized how ill-prepared we were for this situation. All of those HMQ games had been a complete waste of time. Squaring off against a bunch of students, trying to one-up each other, was nothing like this. This was no game where the losers ended up with a couple of bumps and bruises. This was real. This was gritty, to-the-death magic.
Shouts and screams penetrated my ears. I smelled smoke and felt the heat of active spells. Tad was dead and that would haunt me for the rest of my life. There was nothing I could do about that. But Piper was still out there, still fighting.
Turning toward Boltstar, I tried to think. But my head was a jumbled mess of emotions. Gritting my teeth, I
considered my options. Herd Crash was my best bet. Yes, he’d blocked it during our duel. But if I could catch him by surprise …
With tremendous force, he heaved spells at Piper. She was running like mad to get away from him but the cyan streaks were getting closer and closer.
I forced my emotions into the correct arrangement. My wand underwent the necessary sequence. “Herd Crash.”
A series of auburn lights raced toward Boltstar. But at the last second, he saw them coming. Like before, his wand went to work. Whispered words left his mouth and orbs of cyan light materialized. My lights crashed into his orbs and colorful smoke appeared.
This wasn’t working. We needed help. Speaking of which, where was Leandra?
In an instant, he fired another spell. Piper froze, her body contorted. Then she slumped to the carpet.
No. Please, no.
Fury and sorrow consumed me. Tears welled up in my eyes and I could barely see. Clutching my wand, I swiveled toward Boltstar.
Cyan light slammed into my stomach.
And then all was black.
Chapter 43
“Wake up, Randy.”
That voice … it belonged to Leandra. A bit of happiness streaked through me, but it was quickly crushed by overwhelming sadness. Tad was dead. Piper, too, I figured.
“Welcome back to the land of the living,” she said. “Oh, and by the way … congratulations.”
I felt complete befuddlement. What was this? What was going on? With a soft groan, I shifted one arm, then the other one. I kicked my legs a bit.
Slowly, my eyes peeled open. Moonlight poured through the glass windows. I shied away for a moment, giving myself time to adjust. When I looked again, I saw Leandra standing at my feet, hands on hips, a smirk plastered across her face.
Confusion filtered through me. “What happened?”
“Leandra happened,” Tad said sourly. “That’s what we get for trusting a jerk.”
I followed his voice to a nearby table. Tad and Piper sat on either side of it, their hands wrapped around steaming mugs of canfee. To say they looked furious was an understatement.
“You should’ve told us,” Piper complained.
Leandra grinned. “And spoil all of the fun?”
Now, I was really confused.
I pulled my back off the carpet. I felt sore, but it was nothing serious.
“So, what’d you think?” Leandra nodded at the table. A blanket-covered object rested between Tad and Piper. “Pretty amazing, huh?”
“Uh, what?”
Standing up, Piper pushed a warm mug of canfee into my hands. I took a quick whiff. Mhmm … End of Exams, one of my favorites.
“Leandra chose the flavor,” Tad told me. “Probably so we wouldn’t kill her.”
I sipped the canfee. Instantly, I felt a surge of happiness as well as a sense of a job well-done. Even better, I felt relaxed and free, like I didn’t have a care in the world.
But while the canfee gave me an overall good feeling, it certainly didn’t erase my memories. Now that we were no longer fighting to the death, I had questions.
Lots of questions.
“What did you do to us?” I asked.
“Me? Nothing.” Leandra smiled. “All credit goes to the simulator mirror.”
“Your invention?”
She nodded. “Like I told you guys, it’s similar to a memory mirror, only you can actually participate in it.”
I thought back to the battle with Boltstar. “So, it was all a fake.”
“Yes. A simulation, if you will.”
“But it felt so real.”
“That’s the idea.”
“Are there other simulations?” Tad asked.
“A few,” she said. “But the one you just experienced is the most complete. Plus, it has a defined ending.”
Piper’s eyes widened as the truth dawned on her. “We were destined to die?”
“Not just you. Anyone who experiences that particular simulation will die.”
“Is that when we lost consciousness?” Tad wondered. “The moment Boltstar killed us?”
She nodded.
“Do me a favor.” I glared at her. “Next time, leave me out of your pranks, okay?”
“Oh, this was no prank.” She glared at each of us in turn. “I told you we could use my simulator mirror as a distraction. But none of you wanted to give me a chance.”
“You killed us just to prove a point?” Tad asked.
She crossed her arms.
He gawked at her for a moment. “Well, consider your point made.”
“What kind of simulation do you plan to use on Boltstar and the others?” Piper wondered.
“The one you just experienced,” Leandra replied.
“Are you sure they’ll buy it?”
“Oh, without a doubt. Essentially, the simulator mirror inserts a fake Boltstar into one’s present reality. And the fake Boltstar is pretty generic. You’ll notice he didn’t call us by our names. Nor did he actually accuse us of anything.”
“You’re right,” Piper said slowly. “All he said was that he knew what we’d done. I took that to mean he knew about our plan.”
“Exactly,” Leandra replied. “When Galison sees the mirror, he’ll find himself face-to-face with fake Boltstar. Boltstar will level his general accusation and start casting spells. Galison will have no choice but to run or fight back.”
Piper frowned. “Does that mean he’ll do those things in real life?”
She shook her head. “It’s all in the mind. Even though it felt like you were running and throwing spells, you didn’t actually move at all.”
“What about the real Boltstar?” I asked. “Will he fall for the simulation?”
“He should,” she replied. “You see, I developed an alternative to the fake Boltstar. Namely, a fake Galison character. He uses the same body language and the same spells. But his voice and appearance are obviously different. When we go after Boltstar, I’ll make the switch.”
“Amazing.” Tad shook his head. “Simply amazing.”
“Thanks,” she replied proudly. “Creating the fake Boltstar character took a long time. I gave him every spell I could think of. I even gave him a few fake ones to keep people on their toes.”
A small part of me still wanted to throttle her for scaring us. But admiration slowly took hold and I saw her in a whole new light. She’d invented something new in a world that was sorely lacking in freshness.
“Well?” Leandra asked, hands on hips. “What do you think? Can we use it as our distraction?”
I shared glimpses with Tad and Piper. “Yes,” I replied. “I think it’ll do just fine.”
Chapter 44
“Okay.” Crouching down, I peered through the thin crack in the door. Galison’s legs swished past me. “I see him.”
Two days had passed since our ‘deaths’ at the hands of Leandra’s fake Boltstar. Two long days of planning, practice, and rehearsal. Now, at long last, we were ready to make our move.
Piper gave me a little nod. It was all going down just as she’d said it would. Galison worked late nights, often staying in his office until close to midnight. Then he took a short, no-nonsense walk back to his room. He moved quickly and with no detours. He passed numerous alumni, all on nightly guard-duty, along the way. It was the same thing every day, with no exceptions.
That left little room or time for an ambush. After some deliberation, Piper decided to focus our efforts on the hallway just outside his office. It was always empty when he retired for the evening. Even better, it curved in a complete circle, following the contours of Right Leg. So, a sizable portion of it was invisible from the nearest hoist.
“How does he look?” Tad whispered, licking his lips nervously.
Cracking the door open a little farther, I peered into the semi-darkness. To my left, Galison strode through the hallway, wand in one hand and a steaming mug of canfee in the other one. His gait was fast and clipped.
“Alert,” I
replied. “Very alert.”
Our plan was simple. Simulator mirror in hand, Leandra would race around the opposite end of the circular hallway. She’d confront Galison before he could reach the hoist. With the distraction in place, Tad would cast Hibernuction, sending the professor to dreamland. We’d stash him in an isolated part of Shadow Madkey and I’d use Vanista to shield the man from view.
Afterward, we’d move on, taking out the rest of Boltstar’s inner circle one at a time. We’d leave the headmaster for last. Once he was subdued, we’d sneak back into the archive. Then, at long last, we could fix Womigia.
I wasn’t sure what would happen after the collective memory had been restored. Would the students see the light? How about the rest of the faculty? Would the alumni put down their wands? And what would we do once the deed was done? Would we attempt to bring the Chaotics back into Madkey, peacefully this time? Would we send out a mass bubbler, explaining everything that had transpired? What kind of long-term implications would arise from our actions?
All of these unknowns quickly smothered me. Shaking my head, I returned my thoughts to the matter at hand. We’d gone over our plan dozens of times. We’d worked out the kinks and considered every possible contingency. In my head, it seemed rather easy. But I knew this was an illusion. If even one little thing went wrong, we’d be finished. Goodbye Madkey, hello Gutlore.
Leandra slipped past me, simulator mirror held tightly in her hands. Turning away from Galison, she hustled around the opposite end of the circular hallway.
Galison’s footsteps, now faint, filtered into my eardrums. My fingers began to tremble. I curled them into fists, but they still quivered. Leandra should’ve reached him by now. What was taking so long?
Finally, his footsteps halted. My fists slowly relaxed. Tad, Piper, and I shared a knowing look, then hurried into the hallway. Just ahead, I saw Galison. His back faced us. His feet were rooted to the floor, his eyes were fixed on Leandra’s simulator mirror.
Taking care not to look at the glass, Tad snuck up behind the professor. Whispering a few words, he flicked his wand.