“And you’re mad about that?” I asked.
“Millions of Ignorants are bumping into magical boons every day,” said Lina. “The magic is rubbing off on them, giving them a great day. Giving them a little boost. So why don’t we get to benefit from it? Just because we’re Educated? Because we have knowledge? When one of us touches a magical boon, we get no extra boost. All we get is more responsibility.”
“It’s a responsibility we’re willing to accept,” said Avery. “And we’re not left totally helpless. We get to use the boons for their true magical power.”
“Which I can’t do,” barked Lina. “I’m immune. Whether I know about boons or not, they’re useless to me. It’s not fair. And frankly, I’m tired of it. If we can’t all benefit from the boons”—her voice dropped dangerously low—“then no one should.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“Not me,” she said. “You.” Lina stood up slowly. “Do you know why I asked my uncle to steal all those boons from the Church of the Faith?”
“To get Magix’s attention?” I guessed. “So you could frame me later?”
“That was only a small part of it,” she said. “I selected the church because it had every kind of boon that I needed for the device.”
“What device?” Avery asked.
“The largest manipulated boon in Magix history,” said Lina. “After the church was robbed, Uncle Lionel began smuggling the boons down to me one at a time. I had done years of research, and I knew exactly what it would take. One by one, I began assembling the boons, linking them together in unique ways that would allow their powers to flow together unlike any boon before.”
As she spoke, she crossed the room until she reached the grand piano in the corner. Reaching down, she pulled back the cover to expose the black-and-white keys. “Uncle?” she said.
Lionel Albrecht crossed to the piano, lowering a finger to play a single note.
At once, something magical began to happen. A huge contraption rose out of the piano, individual pieces clicking and unfolding until it loomed almost to the vaulted ceiling.
“My greatest creation,” she said, gesturing grandly to the device. At the center was the black piano bench. Random objects leaned over it, surrounding it on three sides—a filing cabinet, a chandelier, a baby’s high chair, a porcelain plate, a vacuum . . . The things went on and on, all of them interconnected, too many to see clearly. Too many to count. Instead of a piano, the whole thing now looked like a mad scientist’s command center.
“These are the boons from the Church of the Faith,” Lina said, “painstakingly assembled and connected. I had only five left over, and I arranged to have them dumped in your bedroom, Mason. I thought it might help incriminate you.”
“What is that thing supposed to do?” Avery asked, a quaver in her voice.
“When activated, this device will shoot a beam of anti-magic straight to the center of the earth,” Lina said. “In a matter of seconds, it will permanently fry the magic core, leaving the world a much fairer place to live.”
Avery gasped, her eyes darting to the thermometer on the glass table. “You’re trying to destroy magic?”
“Won’t it be nice?” Lina replied with a smile. “No more favoritism for Ignorant people who brush up against a magical boon. When I’m finished, people will have to make their own good days without relying on unfair magic.” She walked slowly around the piano, dragging her fingers along the edge of the device. “The problem is, my device is incomplete. It needs one more component—a pilot, so to speak.” Her dark eyes pierced into me like daggers.
“Me?” I shrieked. “You expect me to operate that thing? No way!”
“I didn’t want it to be you,” she said. “But you’re the only one who can. You see, combining boons to create magic devices can be tricky business. Sometimes you need a boon with a specific power, though it doesn’t really matter what the object is. Other times you need a specific object, regardless of what it actually does.” Lina cast a glance at the piano machine. “In order for the device to work, it must be operated by a human boon. The specific power doesn’t matter. That was why my uncle and I tried to create our own. When it didn’t work to inject boons into people, you became the only choice.”
“Not the only choice,” I pointed out. “If you’re really a human boon, why haven’t you operated the device yourself?”
Lina snarled like an angry animal. “Didn’t you hear anything I just said? I can’t operate boons. I’m immune! It’s up to you, boy.”
“No way!” I cried. “Not happening! I just barely learned about magic. I’m definitely not going to be the one to destroy it!”
“You are a difficult child,” Lina said. “You were supposed to operate the device two days ago. We took advantage of Avery Lawden’s desperate need to prove herself and planted a note in her locker so she would break you out of your room. Uncle Lionel was in position on the ninth floor. He made sure you took the wine cork to operate the elevator. But he had already rigged it to overload, carrying you down to the basement. Everything worked perfectly, except you wouldn’t—”
“I wouldn’t sit down on the piano bench,” I finished, remembering the cactus needles in the seat of my pants.
“Yes, yes. Then you had to be clever and call the agents down here so you could slip into the elevator and escape . . .” Lina frowned. “I had to dispatch Wreckage, and the whole thing became a wild goose chase. We knew you were in my uncle’s apartment. You set off a signal when you moved the bed. Agent Clarkston could have apprehended you there, but we thought it better to lie about finding the music box and lure you back here on your own.”
Avery and I had uncovered a lot of clues, but there were a lot we had missed. Now things were quickly falling apart, and there was nothing we could do about it.
Lina clapped her hands. “All right, then! Why don’t you climb up onto that piano bench and stop wasting my time.”
“You can’t make me,” I said. “Knowledge is power. Power is magic. That device will only work if you explain how each of the boons is connected, what each one does, and how it works. I won’t learn. I won’t listen. I’ll plug my ears and scream and shout until—”
“Your boon,” Avery said, her voice weak but intense enough to capture my attention. “You are a human boon that activates other boons without knowledge.” Her face was crestfallen, and I felt sick when I realized what she was saying.
“The girl is much smarter than you,” said Lina. “I don’t have to give you any knowledge about the device. Your magical leg will automatically activate it. You will burn up the magic core, and you’ll never even know how you did it.”
I tried to run. It was the only thing I could think of doing. But I only made it a few feet before Wreckage yanked on the chain around my middle, tugging me to my knees.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Lina Lutzdorf said. “I just want to end magic forever. But if you don’t cooperate, I’ll be forced to take more severe actions.”
“What can you do?” I shouted, my face red. “You can’t kill me!”
“No,” said the woman. “But there are other people in this room who are more expendable.”
Panicked, I looked at Avery, then at Mr. Lawden. He remained perfectly still on the armchair, but I saw a tear running down his face.
“Don’t do it, Mason,” Avery whispered. “It doesn’t matter what they do to me. You can’t help them destroy magic.”
“Of course, we also have your mother.” Lina’s sentence made my blood freeze.
“That’s a lie,” I said.
Lina shrugged. “My people picked her up in Maine. She was quite the fast traveler with that atlas boon.”
I shook my head. “Don’t threaten me.”
“And then there’s your father,” she said. “Mr. Morrison might seem safe, locked away in prison. But sometimes inmates meet with accidents. . . .”
My dad. I could picture his face, laughing, always cracking jo
kes. I thought about how he’d never actually broken the law. How Lina Lutzdorf had stolen a year of our life together by sending him to prison. I knew he’d be proud of me for getting this far. He trusted me. My mom trusted me, too. And that was all I needed. Suddenly, I had a plan.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll do it.”
“Mason!” Avery shouted, her face crumpling under the betrayal. I couldn’t look at her. I had to focus on what needed to be done.
I had to activate the device.
Chapter 34
FRIDAY, MAY 15
2:03 P.M.
BASEMENT LEVEL, MAGIX HEADQUARTERS
Wreckage untied the chain around me, but I didn’t even think about running. Where would I go? With enemies on all sides, the only thing I could do was get into the device and hope that my friends and family would be safe.
On shaky legs, I approached the grand piano. I had to duck under a microwave that was wired into a lampshade in order to reach the bench. Behind me, Lina Lutzdorf was giving Frank Lawden some sort of classic villain monologue, but I wasn’t listening. I was thinking of my dad. My hand wandered into my pocket. I scooted past a large grandfather clock that was leaning precariously over the seat. Then at last, I was in position.
With no other option, I seated myself on the padded piano bench.
“Behold!” cried Lina. “The end of magic!”
For a moment, nothing happened. Then the device began to hum. A deep resonant vibration filled the room, accompanied by Lina’s victorious cackle. Glowing energy started to swirl around me, churning through the boons as if I were seated at the center of a glowing tornado.
“Magix will always remember you as the boy who destroyed magic!” called Lina.
But I didn’t feel like a traitor and a destroyer. In fact, I felt great!
“What?!” Lina shrieked, darting across the room to check the magic meter on the glass table. “Why isn’t it working? My calculations were perfect. My manipulation of the boons was flawless.” She let go of the thermometer. “What is happening?”
I stood up from the piano bench, but the device didn’t shut down. It was like a train on a downhill track now, and I knew it would keep working until it completed its purpose.
“Sit down!” Lina screamed. “Wreckage, make him sit!”
But I had already stepped away from the seat. My leg was aching, and based on the way Lina was limping, I’d say hers was, too. Wreckage took a step toward me, but he paused, head tilted as though he was in pain.
Behind him, Avery suddenly gasped. “The chains . . .” Her voice was barely a wheeze. “They’re crushing me . . .”
“Let her go, Wreckage!” I threatened.
“It’s not me,” the big man rasped. His voice sounded pained, and he dropped the chains. “I’m not doing anything.” He grunted, his gloved hands coming up to slap his face shield. “I can’t see,” he muttered, finally pushing back the welding mask. “I can’t see!” he howled, scratching at his eyes.
With a grunt, Avery suddenly tore through the chains. They clattered to the floor, and I saw her magic credit card in her hand. Two other agents moved to stop her, but Avery swung the card through the air. From ten feet away, it split a couch down the middle, causing the agents to draw back and cower.
Avery darted across the room, ripping the necktie from around her dad’s neck and hurling it against the wall. Strangely, it stuck there, quivering like a spear.
Wreckage suddenly gasped, falling to his knees as he blindly tried to pull off his reflective vest. His body jerked in pain, and he strained for breath, falling onto his face.
Frank Lawden rose to his feet. “The magic meter,” he said, turning all heads back to the thermometer.
The magic level was rising.
“No!” Lina screamed. “Why?” She took a step toward me, but her leg gave out and she collapsed to the floor. By this point, mine was really hurting, too, but I knew what was happening. I was probably the only person in the room who did.
The existing boons were growing more powerful as the magic level rose. Wreckage’s boons had overcharged, his detector mask blinding him. The chains had tightened on Avery, but her credit card had had a surge of strength, suddenly able to slice from a distance. . . .
“What did you do?” howled Lina Lutzdorf.
I grinned. “I added one more piece to your precious device.” I pointed back to the piano.
There was my throwing star, one of the sharp points stuck into the piano keys.
“The birthday present from my dad,” I explained, “a powerful boon that can reverse the effect of any other boon it touches. Your magic-destroying device just became a magic booster.”
“Stop him!” she ordered.
The six workers moved toward me, hands clenched into white-knuckled fists. Lionel Albrecht stepped into my view, holding a toy truck that was quivering with a sudden surge of energy. I didn’t know what his boon could do, and luckily, I never had to find out.
The elevator doors flew open, and Agent Nguyen burst in. And she wasn’t alone. A dozen Magix agents backed her up, all of them holding regular-looking items that could only be explained as boons.
Lina’s workers fell to the floor in immediate surrender, no match for special agents trained to use boons with precision and skill. Even the Cleaner dropped his toy truck, falling to his knees with his hands in the air.
“Uncle!” yelled Lina. “You coward!”
Hamid appeared in the doorway, dusting his hands together. “Good work, team. That’s a game-over for these baddies.”
I smiled at my video-game-loving friend. “Glad you made it,” I said. “And just in time.”
“Avery’s instructions led me straight to the black site,” said Hamid. “Once I convinced Agent Nguyen that I was one of the good guys, she was happy to rally the others and summon the Doorman.”
I turned to Lina Lutzdorf, who was still lying on the floor, gripping her leg. “It’s over, Mastermind,” I said, choking down my own pain.
“I don’t understand,” she muttered. “The device shouldn’t be able to affect my leg. I’m an immunity boon!”
“This power surge isn’t coming from the device,” Avery said, pointing our attention back to the thermometer. “It’s coming from the magic core. Straight from the source.”
The hum in the room grew to an almost deafening level. There was a bright flash of light as the giant boon device imploded on top of the piano. I saw the thermometer spike upward, the red level of magic rising so fast that it shattered through the top.
Lina Lutzdorf screamed, and I felt my leg break from the inside. I grunted against the intense pain, but it was too much. My vision started to fade, and I slipped into unconsciousness.
Chapter 35
THURSDAY, MAY 21
10:14 A.M.
MIDTOWN GENERAL HOSPITAL, INDIANA
I woke up in the hospital and thought I’d gone three years back in time. My entire leg was in a cast, slightly elevated at the foot of my bed.
“Well, it’s about time you woke up,” said a voice to my side. I turned, blinking my eyes, not daring to believe it.
“Dad?”
He reached out and ruffled my hair. “Your mother and I have been worried sick!” He looked to the hospital room door and called, “Honey!”
Seconds later, Mom came rushing in, smothering me with hugs and kisses.
“How long have I been out?” I asked when she finally gave me some room to breathe.
“Almost a week,” Mom said.
“A week?” I cried. “What happened?”
“Your leg was in bad shape,” Mom said. “They had to do surgery to remove one of the metal rods that had exploded.”
“The boon,” I said. “It’s gone?”
Mom and Dad nodded. “Just a regular kid again,” Dad said. “Although your friends filled me in on all the details, and it sounds like you used to be a pretty awesome magical kid.”
I shrugged. “I didn’t really know I wa
s a human boon until it was almost too late,” I admitted.
“I’m sorry they couldn’t leave it in,” Mom said. “The folks from Magix said that the broken boon was poisoning you. It’s why you were unconscious for so long.”
I sighed heavily. “Actually, I’m glad it’s gone. Magic was hard enough to figure out when it wasn’t inside me.” I turned to my dad. “I’m guessing you’re free?”
“Thanks to a couple of young detectives,” he said, smiling. “Frank Lawden was able to take the evidence that you and Avery found in Lionel Albrecht’s apartment and convince a non-magical jury that I was innocent. The missing cash, the clothes, the fake license plate . . .”
“A complete raid of Lionel Albrecht’s stuff turned up a cell phone with a lot of incriminating messages recorded on it,” said Mom. “He basically confessed to robbing the bank.”
“So, what happened to him?” I asked.
“He took my place in prison,” said Dad. “He’ll be there a loooong time, so we don’t have to worry about him anymore. Oh—” Dad pulled something from his pocket. “It’s about time I officially gave this to you.” He handed me the throwing star. “Happy birthday, Mason. You should probably give it a throw.”
“Here?” I said, gripping one of the points between my fingers. “Now?” I glanced at Mom.
She shrugged. “They’re not my walls.”
With a grin, I hurled the metal star across the room. Instead of sticking, it clattered off the wall, dropping to the floor without leaving a dent.
“I guess I need to practice,” I said sheepishly.
There was a knock at the door.
“There are a couple of other visitors anxious to see you,” Mom said.
“Come in!” I had a pretty good idea of who it would be.
Avery entered timidly, her dad right behind her, carefully closing the door.
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