“Yes, but not at your house.” Lacey tilted her head, bemused. “Was that your idea too?”
“Kind of. When we decided for sure that we didn’t want to participate, we felt it would be better not even to be aware it was happening. If you two were in Dad’s study, and we were right down the hall, how guilty would we feel for not joining in? Better not to know anything about it. Of course, we reserve the right to change our minds at any second!” she insisted, and Lacey laughed. “Until we do, though, just give Matt our love, and tell me everything about it afterward.”
“Will do,” Lacey agreed. Feeling mischievous, she continued playfully, “So… you’re saying that you don’t want to know that Alex and I are meeting at his office toni….”
“No! La-la-la-la-la-la!” Sara stuck her fingers in her ears and sang loudly to drown out the information.
***
At 7:30, Lacey climbed the few steps to the porch and entered Alex’s office building. Since it was evening and summer as well, the halls were dim and deserted. That didn’t help her feeling of nervous anticipation. Lacey saw one person in a first-floor office as she passed, but no one at all on the second floor. Absently, she thought of her dad’s cozy office just upstairs on the third floor. Naturally, she had told him everything, and she would tell him later about everything that happened. His eyes seemed strange when she talked about her birth parents, but he acted excited for her and genuinely interested. Likely, all adoptive parents feel a little awkward when talking about their child’s birth parents.
At the end of the hall, she knocked on Alex’s door and he answered it in just a few seconds, ushering her inside. Alex, too, looked mildly anxious and unsure. He kept absently brushing his palms against the outside seam of his jeans.
“Well!” he exclaimed awkwardly. “You ready for this?”
“I guess so,” she breathed a timid laugh. “Why are we so nervous?”
Alex looked relieved that she had said it out loud. “I don’t know! I’ve been wondering that all day. I get this terrible feeling that we’ll contact them and something tragic and awful will have happened since we left.”
“That’s it!” Lacey agreed. “I keep feeling like we’ll see them running around, fighting for their lives, and we won’t be able to do anything to help them. I think we watch too many movies,” she quipped.
“You’re probably right about that,” Alex breathed a laugh, comforted. “But still, we’re going to do this, right?”
“Yep! We have to do it now, just to prove ourselves wrong!”
“Good. Come over here to the desk.”
On Alex’s desk was an antique basin and ewer, the kind Lacey saw in those old Regency romance movies she liked. The basin was wide and shallow, and as Alex slowly poured the water from the ewer, it formed a large reflective surface. “I hope I can get this back into the ewer without making a mess!” he said, more to break the silence than out of genuine concern.
“Chuck it out the window. Just be sure to check below first!” Lacey chuckled.
“Good point!” When the water in the basin became still, Alex lifted the pendant from the desk by the chain and lowered it gently into the water, leaving the end of the chain dangling over the basin's rim. He pulled a small spiral flip notepad from his back pocket; Lacey frowned, having expected an old roll of parchment. “I wrote the spell down before I left the grimoire with you,” he offered.
“Oh, okay. That makes sense.”
Taking a slow, measured breath, Alex settled his mind. Lacey was compelled to do the same. In the stillness of the almost deserted building, Alex began to speak. Lacey had heard the old wizard read spells numerous times during their adventure in the dark dimension, but somehow this was different. Was it the type of spell? Or was it simply because this time no creatures were chasing them and no sorceresses were lurking nearby? Though she could see nothing, Lacey fancied that the spell seemed to curl from his mouth like calligraphy. His baritone voice thrummed and resonated through his office, which was so filled with books that all acoustics should have been dampened. She could feel it in her sternum. Looking down at the basin, she could see that the emerald in the bowl had begun to glow. Gradually, the gem brightened, the light filtering through the water until the bowl resembled a green traffic light shining in the darkness. The last word of the spell seemed to linger in the air about them before finally fading to silence.
“What happens now?” Lacey whispered, afraid to speak too loudly.
Alex smiled at her reticence, but he too spoke softly. “The gem on the other side will also begin to glow. If they want to answer, they need to find a similar container of water, or a shallow pool outside, any place with still water. Then they have to repeat the answering spell to open the connection.” He grinned disarmingly. “It might take a few minutes.”
“So, it really is like a cell phone,” Lacey mused. “Except that it can’t go to voice mail if the person doesn’t answer.”
Alex tilted his head impishly. “In a way, yes, but also very, very different. You’ll see.”
Lacey was content to stand still and stare dreamily into the comforting green glow. In a little while, the glow changed to bright gold.
“Place your palm flat on the water, like me,” Alex said. He flattened his hand above the surface of the water and waited until Lacey did the same. “Don’t take your hand out, no matter what happens, okay?” Lacey nodded tensely, and he signaled for them to lower their hands into the water.
There was a flash of white, and Lacey blinked. They appeared to be in a room with stone walls, comfortable furniture, and a glowing fire. Standing nearby, with her hand in a similar basin, was Willow.
“Don’t!” Alex warned, feeling Lacey jump beside him. “Keep your hand in the water.”
“Hello!” Willow cried! “Oh, Lacey, how I would love to give you such a big hug, but we can’t. You’re not really here. Did Alex not tell you how the pendants work?”
“Not completely,” Lacey glared at Alex. “Our Wizard here has a flair for the dramatic.”
Willow laughed. “Yes, he does! Here’s how it works. I can see you and the room you are in, and you can see me and my surroundings, but neither of us has really traveled anywhere. If someone else is near me, but not touching the water, you can see them, but they can’t see or hear you. How are you both? You look great!” Alex smiled, but he let Lacey answer.
“Thanks… Mom,” Lacey answered shyly, and Willow blushed. “We are all doing great here. I guess things are back to normal, mostly. It feels a little weird to go about my old, usual routine, now that I know the universe is bigger than I ever imagined! I miss you all, though, and I think about you a lot. How are things there in the not-so-dark dimension?”
Giggling at the epithet, Willow shrugged. “A little gloomy at the moment, actually. I think we’re starting a rainy season. There was a day of rain at first. Since then, it’s been muggy and overcast for about a week now. Still, nothing like the darkness before you came to us and healed the Stone Cup.” She beamed gratefully at her daughter.
“At least rain is a normal kind of darkness, and it’s good for the land,” Lacey offered optimistically. “Whatever happened to the sorceresses? And the poor villagers that were turned into wolf beasts?”
“The villagers are all back to their old selves, thankfully. We traded Bel; she gave us the unmaking spell in exchange for her freedom.”
“You what?” exclaimed Alex, his speech changing pitch in his alarm. “Why did you set her free?”
“Relax, Alexander!” Willow chortled. “Matt is smarter than that. He used a spell to create a collar that renders her magic useless and can’t be removed. Bel wasn’t happy about it, but she fastened it on her own neck herself. Suul did the same thing.”
“I don’t know,” he said dubiously. “That feels like a big risk. If they ever locate that spell, both of them are free, just like that.”
“Aha, but the spell is different for each collar. The Voice assisted him with
creating the spells and she herself is protecting the only copies,” Willow grinned. “Also, since Bel’s magic doesn’t work, even if she had the spell, she can’t remove Suul’s collar and vice-versa. It would take someone else who can use magic to reverse the spell.”
Alex straightened, a slow smile spreading across his face. “That’s a brilliant son I have there,” he preened and the women laughed.
The three talked for some time, but the communication spell was designed to be limited. Having to hold their hands rigidly atop the water became increasingly difficult. They did arrange another meeting, in a few days, so Willow could make sure the others were in attendance.
Willow thought a moment, and then chuckled, my, my… if all of us want to join in at the same time, we’ll need a larger container for the water!” They all laughed. “Moira has a cold or some kind of mild virus, but hopefully, she will be feeling better by then and can join us,” explained Willow.
“I hope so too,” said Lacey. “Sorry she is not feeling well.”
“It must just be the weather, the heavy air pressure, the humidity, something like that. Several other villagers have colds too, sinus headaches, or whatever it is. A day of sunshine will set them right… if we can manage to get through this rainy season!”
“Hope it goes quickly! Love you, Mom,” said Lacey, and with a signal from Alex, she lifted her hand from the water. Another flash of white. Lacey blinked, and once again, she could see Alex’s office.
“So, what did you think?” asked Alex, flexing his hand.
Lacey was stretching and shaking her legs to restore blood flow. “The process was incredible! Much better than a Zoom call. I think Sara might actually like it!”
“It’s still a projection; it just seems more real. Plus, there’s only so long one can sit with their hand in that position. Still, Sara might change her mind at some point. What did you think about how things are going in the dark dimension?”
“It seems okay, from what she said.” Lacey frowned. “Something just seems… off, though, doesn’t it? I mean, you were pretty concerned about the sorceresses being set free.”
“Yes, I was, and I’m still not completely convinced about that,” Alex remarked. ‘At the moment, though, the darkness being back concerns me more.”
“Why? It’s just the rainy season.”
“That’s just it,” Alex said. “Unless the climate changed drastically while I was gone, the kingdom of Alinn doesn’t have a rainy season.”
Chapter Three
In the end, Lacey didn’t encourage Sara to try the “magic cell phone” at the next meeting. She told Sara everything as she always did, including her suspicion about something not being quite right. Even if she wasn’t just an alarmist, her friends on the other side might not want to meet new people at the moment.
Sara readily agreed. “Well, if I didn’t want to have a too-short conversation with a brother I don’t know and can’t even hug, I certainly don’t want to hear that he is having some kind of trouble when I can’t do anything to help. Is that callous of me?”
“No. I don’t think so, anyway,” Lacey assured her. “I already feel a little helpless, and I don’t even know for sure there’s something wrong. I hope I’m just paranoid, but I can’t get over the impression that something huge and awful is about to happen.”
“Ominous Portent,” Sara murmured,
“What?”
“Ominous Portent. It’s the feeling you’re having.” Sara grinned disarmingly. “It’s also my ‘evil villain’ name. What do you think?”
“I think…” Lacey could feel her anxiety lessening. “I think I want an ‘evil villain’ name!”
***
After the next meeting, however, Lacey’s apprehension was much worse. She and Alex met with Willow again, and this time Ravi and Matt were there.
“Moira is not any better yet,” Matt reported after they had all exchanged pleasantries. “Isa and Ric are with her now, but all three of them said to tell you both hello.”
“That’s worrying, Matt,” said Lacey, her brow furrowed. “Have you figured out what she is suffering from yet?”
Matt shook his head. “Honestly, there’s an outside chance that it could still be the weather, like heat exhaustion. Most of us feel a bit listless, what with the light gone again, and it’s quite humid. It did go ahead and rain all day yesterday and that seemed to help a little, but today it’s muggy again.”
“Possible, but…” Alex pressed the issue, “you don’t actually think it’s the weather, do you?”
Mat looked at Ravi and Willow, then back to Alex. “No. No, we don’t. But what else could it be? Ravi and I have been in the library, looking at all the health and anatomical texts, but we haven’t yet found anything that could truly help. We can’t even be sure everyone has the same virus, or whatever it is.”
“Why? What are the symptoms?” Lacey asked. “My friend Oliver is studying to be a doctor; he might be able to help with a diagnosis and maybe a cure too.”
“Any new opinions would be helpful,” Ravi commented. “Our healers don’t know what to think. It’s difficult to tell when the symptoms begin because they are so mild, and people don’t think it’s worth mentioning. Some get headaches or dizziness that won’t go away; others feel nausea, like a stomach virus. Sometimes there’s fever, but not always, and a few of them have heat rashes. It’s a bizarre combination.”
“It sure sounds like heat exhaustion, I agree. Which people are sick?” questioned Alex. “How contagious is it?”
“We’re not even sure that it is,” Willow replied. “There doesn’t seem to be a traceable pattern as to who is affected. Nor can we tell if caring for the sick passes on the sickness. Plus, contagious viruses seem to spread in waves, don’t they? This seemed to appear at the same time, all over the kingdom. People started complaining a few days after the clouds and heat wave started, so that’s why we kept thinking it was just the weather. It’s miserably hot and humid, and no one really wants to be outside.”
“Good. Keep them inside,” Alex interrupted pensively. “Tell everyone to stay inside.”
“Why do you say that?” Willow asked.
“I’m not exactly sure; it’s just a gut feeling. You may be right that it’s not a virus and there’s something in the environment affecting people. Getting them out of the heat for a few days won’t hurt, and it might keep more people from getting sick. Oh… is it just people? Is it affecting the animals that are outside most of the time?”
Ravi startled visibly, removing his hand from their basin of water. He hurried across the room to the exit, speaking over his shoulder. Without the connection to the water, Lacey could no longer hear what he said.
Matt related, “Ravi said we’ve been so focused on this as a human affliction that we haven’t even checked. Dad, do you think that’s really a possibility?”
“I have no idea. I hope not, but if it is, the problem is likely environmental rather than viral. Unless something changes in the environment, it’ll probably get worse. I’ll check with some of my colleagues and see if I can get some ‘hypothetical’ opinions. Let’s talk again in two days. In the meantime, it might be wise for you all to go visit the Voice.”
“Two days? We’ll never get there and back in time. That’s a week’s travel, at least.”
Raising his eyebrow like an amused teacher, Alex said, “Son, you’re a wizard.”
For a full five seconds, Matt puzzled at his father’s words, his mouth hanging slack. Then he smacked himself in the forehead with his free hand. “Wow, that was stupid of me! Sorry, Dad. We’ve been thinking so hard lately that my brain must be a little fried. We can use the Stone Cup and our old favorite travel spell to get there… but how do we get back? We don’t have the riviere anymore.”
“Good point. I’m not certain, but the Voice can probably help with that. Hopefully, healing the Stone Cup has restored a little more of her power since the magic flows through the land again. Wait…” A
lex’s brow furrowed with a disturbing thought. “If the problem is environmental, the land’s magic might eventually fail as well. I wonder if you should separate the gems from the Cup again and re-make the riviere. It would take away some of the Voice’s power, but it would insulate the magic from any infections in the land.”
“That’s certainly an option, but it feels risky. What if the land’s magic is what is keeping this disease somewhat in check? If we remove the magic, things might get worse very quickly.”
Alex shrugged. “Sadly, there’s no way of knowing.”
Sighing, Matt nodded. “I’ll keep it in mind. Also, I need to be a good wizard and read every spell in the grimoire. Surely there’s a spell to help pinpoint the problem, if not fix it completely.”
“The odds are good, I’d say,” replied Alex. “The grimoire is huge.”
Matt smiled. “Thanks, Dad and Lacey, for all your help, and also just being there for us. I would say, ‘I wish you were here,’ but under the circumstances, I’m glad you’re elsewhere and safe.”
Lacey and Alex said their goodbyes and removed their hands from the basin.
“Okay, now I’m really worried,” said Lacey.
Alex nodded his agreement. “I have heard this combination of symptoms before, but I can’t recall where or why. An environmental event could affect people’s health, but that would be a big event, like a volcano, and they’d know it happened. Several cloudy days shouldn’t be enough.” His thoughts trailed off, leaving a distraught silence.
“You know,” Lacey commented with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, “a parent would usually say something trite and reassuring right now. ‘Don’t lose hope; we’ll figure it out and make it all better.’ Stuff like that.”
“I wish I could do that, sweetie, I really do. I’m sure we’ll figure out what is happening, but I doubt that knowing the cause will mean an immediate cure.”
Ravens In The Clouds Page 2