The Heart of the Phoenix

by Brian Knight

  * * *

  “Land of the Midnight Sun,” Katie said, her curiosity piqued. “What is a Midnight Sun?”

  “I’m not certain,” Erasmus said. “No one on my world knows what it is, but I believe it is what your astronomers call a black hole.”

  “Now you’ve done it,” Bowen said. “You’ve stumbled onto one of his pet subjects.”

  Erasmus bypassed his usual grumpiness and smiled widely.

  “My theory is that the first major divergence between your world and mine was the formation of a second sun in our solar system.”

  Katie nodded as if this made perfect sense.

  “Most solar systems are binary,” she said, happy for an excuse to discuss one of her favorite subjects. “Ours is kind of an oddball.”

  “Indeed,” Erasmus said, almost bouncing in place in his enthusiasm. “Some of your astronomers think there’s a massive, undiscovered gas giant even bigger than Jupiter, a Planet X that might have become a second sun, but didn’t.”

  “That’s a pretty fringe theory,” Katie said.

  Erasmus ignored her and plowed on.

  “Whether it didn’t acquire enough mass, or lacked some other essential spark, it’s there, but too far away from the sun to reflect any of its light.”

  Penny yawned.

  Erasmus ignored her as well.

  “In my solar system, there are no Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto, and no sign of the rocky debris in your Kuiper Belt.” He rubbed his hands together and grinned so widely Penny thought the top of his head might fall right off. “I believe my Planet X did become a star, and one massive enough to consume all of the matter that would have become your outer planets. It became so huge in fact, that it collapsed in on itself to become a black hole. The bright ring we see in our night sky is its accretion disk, the light that it’s pulling into itself.”

  “Like Saturn’s rings, but made of light?” Ellen ventured, then seemed surprised when Erasmus responded with a sharp nod.

  “Exactly.”

  Anxious to steer the conversation back into the land of the comprehensible, Penny cleared her throat and addressed Bowen.

  “Is that the book that got you in trouble?”

  “It is,” Bowen said. “It was the legend of the Death of the Phoenix that angered them more than the histories.”

  “It’s a punishable offence in Galatania to openly discuss the Phoenix,” Erasmus said. “The Reds don’t like having their noses rubbed in it.”

  “Punishable?” Katie sounded equal parts curious and skeptical. “Punishable by what?”

  “Fines and imprisonment usually,” Bowen said. “But they took special exception to my crime.”

  “He didn’t just talk about it,” Erasmus clarified. “He used their own press, a one of a kind tool in our world, and printed hundreds of copies of the taboo subject, then distributed them far and wide.”

  “I was lucky to not be executed,” Bowen said.

  “That’s a little harsh,” Ellen said.

  “It was treason,” Erasmus said and shrugged. “Your government still executes people for treason.”

  “Just for writing a book?” Zoe seemed to think they might be having their legs pulled.

  “Ideas can be dangerous things,” Bowen said. “And the right book can be a weapon.”

  “And speaking of books,” Erasmus said, “I’d like a look at the book you keep hidden here. Ronan told me a little about it, but I’d like to see it for myself.”

  Penny had no more than to think about him, and Rocky was at her side. He removed the key from around his neck and dropped it into her open palm, then scrambled up the old ash tree to the split in the trunk. The old tree bore the scars of a long ago lighting strike, including a burned out hollow in the trunk’s split large enough to conceal the small chest that held their book, a sentient text called The Secrets of the Phoenix Girls.

  It had been a while since the girls had taken the time to use the book, which revealed new pages and spells whenever they mastered the previous pages. They had decided to wait until Zoe was back for good before resuming their lessons so she wouldn’t fall behind them, and Ronan had very reluctantly agreed, but now they were all behind.

  Penny had the book out and opened moments later, turning to the final printed page, the spell that had allowed them to make their bicycles airborne. Not too long after learning that spell Ellen had joined, and while they waited for her to catch up all hell had broken loose. Zoe had gone off to live on the road with her trucker parents soon after, and The Secrets of the Phoenix Girls had remained locked up.

  “Hand it over,” Erasmus said. He snapped his fingers when Penny hesitated and shouted, “Now, girl!”

  Penny placed the open book in his hand, and it reacted instantly. The book slammed itself closed, catching his thumb between its covers. Erasmus shouted in surprise and pain, and fell backward off his stool. He was up the next instant, his forest of living dreadlocks attempting to pull the covers apart and release him. One of them pulled a wand from the back of his long coat and pointed it at the cover, but before he could use it, the book shot a small blue fork of lightning and stunned the offending appendage. The wand flew from its grasp and it stood straight up from his head.

  The girls rushed forward to help him, but the book released his thumb and landed quiescent in the dirt.

  “Well that answers that question,” Erasmus said, and stuck his squashed thumb in his mouth.

  Bowen stood red-faced by the door, choking down laughter before he could speak. “Ronan did warn you.”

  “I had no idea it would do that.” Katie retrieved the book and carried it swiftly away from Erasmus. “What did you want it for?”

  “I wanted to see what would happen.” Erasmus patted down the still jittering dreadlock. “I can’t teach from it, but I can still help you practice, and I’ll have lessons of my own for you starting tomorrow night.”

  “Does that mean the history lessons are finished?” Zoe sounded hopeful, and Penny knew how she felt. They would have been more interesting in daylight, with seven or eight hours of sleep to prop her up. If she was expected to stay up until the small hours she needed something a little more exciting.

  “Not entirely,” Bowen said. “But you’re through the bulk of it.”

  “That was stuff you needed to know, and it’s more information than your predecessors had,” Erasmus said, taking up his seat in the stool again. “Now you have some serious catching up to do with your practical work.”

  “Tomorrow night?” Katie said. “I need sleep.”

  Ellen yawned.

  Penny nodded.

  Zoe rose without a word and shambled her way toward the door.

  “Tomorrow night,” Erasmus agreed. “I hope you’re all as good as Ronan told me, because this is not going to be easy and I don’t like wasting my time.”

  * * *

  The next night Zoe was late, and after fifteen minutes of twiddling their thumbs Erasmus started the lesson without her.

  “Do a page from your book, two if it goes easily,” Erasmus said. “Then you’ll spend an hour or so working with me.”

  “Doing what?” Katie already had their book in hand. She tapped it with her wand and it sprang open for her.

  “That depends on what I see before we start.” Erasmus planted himself on his stool and settled back to watch.

  Trying to ignore him as best they could, Penny, Katie, and Ellen stood before the book and watched text flow onto the next blank page.

  “An extra-dimensional what?” Penny thought it sounded like science fiction.

  “Extra-dimensional space,” Katie said.

  “Hiding a space inside another space,” Ellen said.

  “Why would you want to do that?” Penny looked up from the book at the sound of Erasmus chuckling and gave him the kind of look that makes babies cry, but Erasmus pretended not to see it.

  “Just keep reading,” Katie said.

  They practiced the precise wand mo
vements described, whispered the power word over and over until they were sure they had it right, then Ellen gave it the first try.

  “Absconius,” she made the three tight clockwise circles in front of her face and watched a momentary rippling in the air.

  Zoe arrived moments later, slipping through the door with a furtive glance over her shoulder before she closed the door silently behind her.

  “Sorry, they ran late tonight. I don’t think I’m going to be able to come tomorrow night.” Zoe saw Erasmus swiveling toward her and open his mouth, preparatory to a rant, and cut him off before he could begin. “You picked a bad time to start night classes.”

  “She can catch up when she moves back,” Penny said, and Erasmus settled into his grumpy silence.

  They caught Zoe up on the Absconius spell and resumed practicing. Ellen was the first to get it right a half hour later. A small opening to nowhere appeared before her, swirling in the air like a whirlpool.

  “What now?” Ellen sounded shocked to have pulled it off. She took a wary step back from it.

  “Put something in there before it closes,” Erasmus said, and when Ellen pulled at a small silver ring on her left hand pinky, he stopped her. “Something you wouldn’t mind losing.”

  Ellen looked around, then bent and plucked a fist-sized stone from the dirt. After a moment of hesitation, she reached forward, flinching as her hand passed through the little vortex, and deposited the stone inside the extra-dimensional space. The vortex flickered as she withdrew her hand, then spun itself out of existence.

  The girls stood and waited, and finally Zoe said, “What now?”

  “Now nothing,” Erasmus said. “It stays put until you go back for it.”

  Penny and Katie were poring over the page again for instructions to bring it back, but couldn’t find them.

  “Next page,” Zoe said.

  “Do we have time?” Penny asked.

  “We do if you guys hurry up,” Erasmus said.

  Within the hour all four could open extra-dimensional spaces, though none bothered to hide anything in them after Ellen. They wasted no time in activating the next page, which did have the instructions they’d hoped for. It had two spells, the first to locate the hidden extra-dimensional space, the second to open it again.

  Zoe went first this time, pointing her wand in the general direction of Ellen’s hidden rock. She made no movements, only pointed and spoke the power word, “Aperius.”

  A nearly transparent mist flowed from her wand tip, thinning to invisibility as it spread in the air before her. At first nothing else happened, then a spot a few feet in front of her nose began to glow an electric blue. The glow lasted for perhaps ten seconds before it faded.

  Penny, Zoe, and Katie tried to locate the other hidden spaces to no effect.

  “You won’t find them,” Erasmus said. “If you don’t put something material in them, they collapse.”

  The thick plumes of mist from their multiple revealer spells were dispersing, and then their wands began to glow.

  “Woah!” Penny turned to Erasmus and saw the near transparent mist settle around his cane, which also started to glow.

  “Look at the book,” Ellen said.

  Penny, Zoe, and Katie turned to the book in unison and saw it glowing.

  “That’s a handy spell,” Erasmus said. “Reveals a magical field or object.”

  “Handy,” Penny agreed.

  Next they tackled the spell to reopen Ellen’s extra-dimensional space, which they all nailed the first time they tried it; same wand movements, but counter clockwise, and a different power word. Ellen was last this time, waiting for Zoe’s to expire and the special vortex to vanish again before she started. When it reopened, she reached inside and retrieved the hidden rock. A few seconds after she removed it, the vortex collapsed.

  They turned to Erasmus.

  “So, are we up to your high standards,” Katie asked, exercising her usual sarcasm.

  Erasmus smiled.

  “You’ll do.”

  * * *

  He drilled them on attack and defensive stances for the next half hour, and then had them practice shield spells for another half hour. He seemed reasonably happy with their performances, and let them go with a promise that they would be defending themselves against real spells the next night. Penny hoped that whatever he sent at them wasn’t too bad; she wasn’t confident that she’d be able to stop everything he sent at her.

  The next night proved her fears weren’t entirely baseless. She stopped most of the weak shocks and magical bolts he sent at her, but not all. She wasn’t alone either: by the end of the night they all ached from multiple hits from his spells. They improved with every lesson though, and a week later he was using more powerful and more painful spells against them. Blocking stronger spells was harder work, but soon they were able to deflect everything he sent at them.

  His methods were stricter, his lessons harder than when they had taught themselves, but there was no denying his effectiveness. Penny thought that if they ran into the Birdman after a month of working with Erasmus, they would clean his clock easily.

  They also made quicker progress in their book than they had in months, mastering new spells almost every night, and though Zoe missed one in three lessons because of her parents’ driving schedules, she managed to mostly keep up. The days passed, summer moved toward fall, and school became more than just a nebulous future event; it became real and imminent.

  Erasmus became a fixture in Dogwood as the entire town watched him harangue the construction crews and schmooze the displaced shop owners into returning. Susan was still undecided, but Penny thought Erasmus was wearing her down. She had hired Jenny back part time, she said to let Penny enjoy the rest of the summer, but Penny thought it might be a first step to reopening Sullivan’s.

  The former Sheriff Price had left town, and Ernest Price’s wife had finally returned, but the Price family barely stirred from their ranch. When the girls did catch Rooster or his brother James around town, the boys gave her no more than a cursory glare before going their own way.

  Acting Sheriff Michael West was settling into his new job and awaiting a special election, but had no serious contenders. He had quit pestering the girls about their dangerous pastime, and Erasmus had started hinting that he’d like to get Michael into training with the girls.

  The last week of summer vacation came, and on the morning of Zoe’s arrival, Penny awoke in Aurora Hollow, her pajamas wet to the knees from the creek, standing in front of Ronan’s cave and staring down into the unknown darkness.

  * * *

  Penny saw Katie and Ellen waiting near the gazebo in the park as Susan drove them past.

  “Excited?” Susan parked her van in front of the park, across from the rebuilt storefront that used to be Sullivan’s. Penny saw her look, then turn away quickly when Penny saw her looking. “You guys will be waiting all day. They won’t be back until this afternoon.”

  “I wanna be here... just in case they’re early.” Zoe hadn’t shown up for the previous night’s lessons. They hadn’t dared to contact her, too great a chance of her mom or dad overhearing, but Penny thought it was because they were pulling an all-nighter, which would put them hours ahead of their original schedule. “We’ll find something to do until she gets here.”

  Penny was more curious about what Susan was going to do for the rest of the day. There were no deliveries on Sunday, and she wasn’t a churchgoer. Penny thought Susan might finally be ready to talk to Erasmus about renewing her lease and reopening Sullivan’s. Penny hoped she would, she was tired of having to order books online and wait for them to show up in the mail, and she knew she wasn’t the only one who missed having a real bookstore in town.

  “I’ll be around,” Susan said. “Don’t get into any trouble.”

  “I won’t,” Penny said, and ran to meet her friends, but thought, easier said than done.

  Halfway to the gazebo, Katie and Ellen saw her coming and waved, but
their attention was drawn away to the street behind her. She heard the aggressive growl of an engine and turned to see James and Rooster Price rolling slowly past, watching her, Rooster with a sullen resentment, James wearing a smirk.

  Someone behind them honked, and James picked up his speed. Moments later they were gone, leaving Penny standing alone with a creeping sensation of dread cooling her spine.

  * * *

  “What did those,” Katie then called Rooster and James names that made Ellen giggle and blush at the same time, “want?”

  “Same thing they always want,” Penny said, sitting to join them at the gazebo. “For me to fall over and die.”

  “Dad thinks they’re up to something,” Katie said, snarling in the direction James’s flashy car had disappeared.

  “Your dad thinks Rooster is up to something,” Ellen said, trying fruitlessly to keep a neutral voice and serious expression. Her lips twitched as she tried to suppress a grin that stubbornly refused to die. “Rooster doesn’t have the brains to plan anything too awful. I’m surprised he remembers to dress himself before stepping outside in the morning.”

  Katie shifted her snarl to Ellen.

  “Not Rooster, you dope. His dad, his family.”

  “How does he figure that?” Penny was curious to hear this. The occasional covert smirks she’d seen James Price give her and Susan since his family’s trouble with Morgan Duke and the torching of downtown Dogwood were unnerving, but not sinister. She expected anger, it was Susan who had defied him by refusing to sell the piece of property that was the key to his entire plan, and it had been Penny who exposed his connection with the Prices, but James had remained as smug as ever following his father’s catastrophic fall from grace in the community.