Academy of Magic Collection

by Angelique S Anderson et al.

  She shook her head. “I don’t know the codes to get into the garage. This is the only way.”

  Rase groaned. He danced in place, wringing his hands. “Fine,” he barked. Then he climbed out onto the platform, his whole body shaking. Winnie moved to one side. He scooted to the center of the small platform and pulled his knees to his chest.

  Winnie’s eyes widened. “You really don’t like this, huh?”

  Rase shook his head back and forth in tiny, jerky movements. He didn’t close his eyes, but he wanted to. How he wanted to. His stomach rolled. Every shift made the whole platform shake.

  Winnie studied him a moment and then shoved her device back into her pocket. Moving as evenly as she could, she shifted closer to the access they’d just crawled through. She placed the thin panel against it. Carefully, she lodged it back on the tracks that held it. At the top of the shaft, dim light poured in.

  He gestured. “Where’s that?”

  She sat down on the platform once more. “Attic,” she mouthed.

  Rase nodded.

  Winnie reached for the pully system at the front of the platform. The first cord she pulled moved them upward. She shook her head and reached for the other. Slowly, they made their way down the shaft, moving farther and farther into the dark.

  Fresh air poured in from an opening at the bottom, and Rase took a lungful of the clean air and then jumped out of the dumbwaiter. His feet slipped, and he sprawled, his arms pinwheeling. He grabbed at the wall, barely avoiding a fall.

  “Are the floors ice?” He took a step.

  Winnie climbed out, laughing in her silent way, her device already in her hand. “They wax the floor down here.”

  “It’s slick as icy snot,” Rase said.

  “Not snot. Marble,” she answered. “We have to hurry. Hobson might already know we’re down here.”

  “Hurry? How do we hurry on waxed marble?”

  She shrugged and started picking her way across the floor. Vehicles of all kinds filled the space. It was like a museum of the evolution of automobiles. Old ambulances, wagons, milk trucks had all been restored and shined until they gleamed. Blackfox had quite the collection. What kind of man had that kind of money? Where had it all come from?

  Slipping and tripping, they made their way across. At the Morgan Plus convertible, she stopped, pointed at the driver’s seat, and then gestured to Rase. She jingled the keys.

  Rase groaned. “This one? We’re taking this one?” It was the one Blackfox had driven the night Jess’s house had burned down, and it was the one parked directly in front of the garage door exit.

  Rase grimaced. Why did he get the impression it was Blackfox’s favorite? All for Jess. He took the keys from Winnie and made his way around the vehicle.

  Overhead, neon lights flickered and then came on.

  “Hello?” Hobson’s voice called.

  Rase stomped his foot but tossed himself off balance. He fell into a newer-model car, setting off its alarm.

  “Who’s there?” Hobson bellowed.

  A red light dropped out of the garage ceiling and started to flash. He jumped over the driver’s door and landed in the drivers seat. Righting himself, he shoved the key into the ignition as Winnie climbed into the vehicle. The engine turned over, and he moved the shifter to first gear.

  Winnie fumbled in the glove compartment and retrieved an opener. She pointed it at the garage door. It crept up the tracks.

  Hobson appeared behind them, his eyes glowing red. “Stop, thieves,” he bellowed. The flashing lights turned the mechanical man’s expression grotesque.

  Rase shuddered. He wouldn’t forget that image as long as he lived, but the slick marble worked against Hobson, too, and the butler made slow progress.

  Rase drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, and Winnie was eerily quiet as the exit opened wider. The large door clicked into place behind a portion of ivy that draped down from the top.

  No giant eyeballs. Surely, the creature only had one, and that one was on the front of the house. He couldn’t stop for a giant eye. Not now. But he didn’t want to add hurting the sentient ivy to the list of sins he was racking up.

  We mean no harm. We have to save Jess. We mean no harm. We have to save Jess.

  Rase thought the words over and over, hoping the ivy could hear him and communicate it to Hobson.

  Rase eased off the clutch and moved his foot from the brake to the accelerator. The vehicle hiccupped forward up the slight incline that led out.

  “I thought you could drive stick,” Winnie said through her talkbox.

  “I never said well,” he bit out. Pain shot through his jaw as he gritted his teeth even more.

  “Go. Go. Go,” she said. She raised her hands as they passed through the ivy, brushing the leaves. “He’ll tell Hobson,” she said. “Hit the red button on the dash.”

  Rase scanned the dials. A small red button flashed on the right side. He pressed it. “What’s that for?”

  She smiled. “Disengages the override. Now Hobson can’t bring us home.”

  Rase shifted into second and mashed the accelerator, his heart thrilling as the car bolted forward. Cool wind gusted over them.

  We’re coming, Jess.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Captured

  The sun shone on Jess’s face, the warmth somehow different than New Haven City. She opened one eye. A gate blocked the way. It reminded her of a border crossing.

  A jackal beast stared at her without blinking. Its identical stood beside it. You are a communicator?

  Jess raised her brows. I can hear you. Is that what you mean? Do you speak English?

  The jackal shook his head. No, I am Jaru. My name is Trylon. My brother is Perisphere.

  Jess waved, bewildered by the beasties. Her knees knocked together. “Hello.”

  Perisphere stepped forward. “Please sign in. We’ll issue a visitor’s badge.”

  Jess laughed. “Oh.”

  Trylon frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  Jess shrugged. “It’s just… I didn’t expect… paperwork,” she finished lamely.

  Trylon’s jaws clicked closed, but he wore something that resembled a toothy smile.

  Perisphere gestured to an empty line. “Paperwork is popular in every realm.”

  Jess took a seat in the interview chair and answered a dozen questions. At the end, she jerked her thumb back toward the place she’d stepped through. “Do you know Lep?”

  Trylon stamped a small parchment. “During peak tourist seasons, the mayor posts a guard on the exterior.” He handed her the paper. “Don’t lose that. Shopkeepers will ask to see it before they conduct business with you.”

  She nodded and tucked it into her pocket. “Is this your busy season?”

  Perisphere shook his head. “It’s the slow season.”

  “Then why is Lep out there?”

  “We’ve had threats, portents. A strange magic brews.”

  A cool wind gusted through the border crossing. Perisphere turned toward it and took a deep breath, his nose flexing. A low growl spilled from Trylon’s throat.

  Jess grimaced. “Well, he’s not very good at guarding. He practically pushed me right in.”

  The Jaru shared a glance. “Were any of his tentacles visible?”

  Jess stood. “Yes.”

  “How many?” Trylon asked.

  “Three.”

  “He summons his Octopine side,” Perisphere grumbled.

  As one, they retrieved small sticks from the waistbands of their loincloths. With a flick of their wrists, they held them perpendicular to the ground. Each one extended into a staff as tall as they were.

  Jess tipped up on her toes. “Where are you going?”

  “To defend our home,” they said.

  A line sparkled across the ground. When the duo stepped on it, the air in front of them shimmered, and they disappeared.

  She frowned. Now what?

  Hoofbeats sounded down the street. Six satyrs cantered
up. Each wore a quiver and a bow set slung over their shoulder. In both directions, the street was empty as far as Jess could see. Had she tripped into a trap already?

  She jogged away from the goat men, but they followed. The first one soon trotted beside her. “Please come with us, miss.”

  Jess stopped. “Where are we going?”

  “The Visitor Center isn’t far. Down the block. Your parents wish to see you.”

  “My parents?” Jess breathed. Warnings echoed in her mind. “Are you sure?” Unseen Street could be dangerous. She had to run.

  “They told us you would be here.”

  She stepped away, and the satyr followed, standing too close. She tugged on her collar. “Why do you have weapons?”

  “We are always prepared.”

  She took another step, and the goat man followed. A gleam flashed in his eye, almost as if he wanted her to run. She held her breath, willed her heartbeat to slow, and wiped clammy palms against her thighs.

  “Oh, look. The Jaru are back.” When the satyr turned to look, Jess dashed down the street.

  They shouted to one another. All the doors were closed up tight. Within ten strides, they had overtaken her.

  The talker crashed into her back, knocking her to the street. Her cheek slammed into the ground, and pain exploded across her face. The world spun, faster and faster.

  A glob of grassy spit landed on the pavement in front of her nose. “That’ll teach you to run, you witchy trash.” He pressed a cloven hoof to her back, the two sides slicing her skin.

  “Let me go.”

  “Not a chance,” he said, yanking her arms together behind her back and wrapping a thick cord around her wrists. He pulled her to her feet and pushed her along the street. “We have to deliver you in one piece.”

  A lizard couple appeared at the end of the street. They pushed a stroller.

  Jess opened her mouth, but a sharp pain bit her backside.

  “Don’t yell out,” the satyr whispered. “If you do, we’ll kill Rase.”

  She grimaced. “Rase?” she growled. “Is he here?”

  The satyr didn’t answer, prodding her along instead. They got her to come to Unseen Street. They set up the Jaru. They cleared out the whole street. She should have listened to Blackfox. She should have waited for a plan. Her stomach turned in knots. What had she stumbled into?

  Three blocks later, the group stopped at a door covered in shadow. Darkness boiled across it, like an inky lava. In a nearby window, something glinted, and she thought she caught a glimpse of a mother-of-pearl primate. But, in a flash, it had gone.

  She tried to pull away, mentally calling into the emptiness. But no answer came, and the satyr yanked her back. She tumbled to her knees.

  “What is this place?” she demanded.

  He didn’t respond. Instead, he shoved her through the void where a door should have been. The black seeped in through her eyeballs, and her whole body caught fire.

  Far away, somebody screamed.

  The ground beneath her rocked back and forth like the hammock in the back yard… on a windy day. Gentle waves crashed, and gulls cried above them. She licked salt from her chapped lips.

  Above her, a nasally voice inquired, “Are you certain that’s her?”

  The satyr sniffed. “Of course, sir. It’s her. We’re sure of it.”

  “Did you block her magic?”

  “We cuffed her with dampeners.”

  “Very good.”

  Her eyelids fluttered over swollen eyeballs, but she forced them open. The brightness made her head hurt, and her joints ached. She blinked as her vision adjusted to the light change.

  “She’s awake,” someone whispered close to her ear.

  Jess glanced from one to the other. The satyr conversed with a long, thin, snake-ish man with a sallow pallor. Wrinkles covered every visible part of him. Instead of human eyes, his pupils were narrow slits, his eyeballs oversized for his face. Two women, much curvier but with pupils that matched the pale man, hovered behind him.

  Jess cleared her throat. Danger practically dripped off all three of them. If she could convince the leader… She sat up, swaying. At first, she couldn’t tell if it was her or the decking she rested on. Gradually, the details of the galleon they were on filtered inward. Rolled sails crisscrossed above the three-mast sailing vessel.

  She squinted up at the non-satyr. “There’s been a mistake, sir. I’m not the girl you’re looking for. I’m not her.”

  The snake-eyed man’s gaze narrowed. He hissed at her, a vicious sound. Then he added, “Take her below. Get the glamour off her.”

  “How are you going to do that?” Jess demanded.

  He waved to the two women beside him. “Your mother may be strong in her talents, but I have my own witches to remove her binds.”

  To the lingering women, he said, “We have to be certain. We have to be able to get inside the mansion. We need access to the gate. We must reach the Chaos Beast to herald in a new era.”

  The man stepped from view, moving down into the hold of the ship. Every part of him was longer than it should be. His pupils resembled those of a poisonous snake. The two women, one short and one tall, trailed behind him, wrapped in nearly transparent fabrics.

  The satyr easily lifted her to his shoulders and carried her down a steep stairway. He tossed her onto a table. She felt like the pearl-monkey at the mercy of the basement troll. A chandelier burst into flame, casting flickering light over the ship’s hold.

  The snake-eyed man took a seat in a blackened throne, and the women hovered nearby. The satyrs stretched her arms and legs until she laid, spread eagle, on the wooden table, and the two women approached. Jess begged for freedom. The two ignored her, latching her arms and legs into the wooden contraption, muttering hateful syllables under their breath.

  The man made a gesture that encompassed the hold. “Lovely Fae galleon, isn’t it? Their craftsman are the finest in all the realms,” he said. “Even better than the Raishanan ship builders.” He paused. “The dragon will subject them all.”

  Fury poured through Jess, but she couldn’t summon the inferno her anger could feed. She could sense the magic, beyond her grasp. Her wrists burned each time she tried to claw her way through the wall that blocked the magic. She kicked and screamed, but she couldn’t break free of her captors. They continued until she’d been trussed.

  “What are you doing?” she wailed.

  “What we must do to bring the Chaos Beast to your world.”

  “Why? Why?” Jess panted.

  The snake-man cackled, observing from his seat on the blackened throne. “To consume all that is.”

  The shorter of the two women latched herself into the restraint system connected to the archaic medical bed. Almost immediately, her eyes glowed white.

  The taller woman reached for the shorter. Lightning surged through them both, and the taller directed it into the center of the room near the ceiling. They repeated incantations Jess didn’t understand.

  A dark cloud billowed above her. A thunderstorm built in the middle of the hold. The dark cloud billowed, slowly sinking closer.

  “What are you going to do to me?” Jess whimpered.

  He clapped his hands twice.

  The miniature storm sank lower.

  “Get a look at who you really are and what you’re made of,” the man called in a nasally voice. “They need practice torturing anyway.”

  The cloud spilled over her.

  Blinding pain rolled through her. Spots danced in her vision. Her stomach rolled, and she trembled from head to toe. Her skin peeled away from her bones, the sensation creeping up her body until it moved over her head. They flayed the ears from her skull.

  Already drenched in sweat, she gasped at the air, clutching at nothing. Kicking so hard in the restraints, they ripped away at her flesh. She puked, spilling clear liquid all over herself and the table. Again and again, she retched until she could only dry-heave.

  “Is it finishe
d?” he asked, finally.

  “Nearly,” one of the women answered. “The spell had been bound to her tighter than any other I’ve ever encountered.”

  The pain began anew. “Help me,” Jess cried.

  “No one will help you, you foolish girl,” he said, slapping his hand against the arm of the throne. He danced from side to side. “Gag her.”

  The taller woman waved her hand, and an invisible hand clamped over Jess’s mouth, nearly blocking her nose in the process. She convulsed in rage and terror, sucking at the air.

  Until…

  The snake-man pressed his hands to his chest. “Oh, my, what lovely ear swirls you have.” He turned to his no-longer-glowing women. “I’d recognize those ears anywhere.” An oily smile spread across his face. “She is her mother’s daughter.”

  One of the satyrs that captured her appeared, beaming at the trio. To them, he said, “Now her parents will have to come out of hiding, won’t they? Now to spread the word throughout the paranormal underground.” They scurried away.

  He turned to the two witches. “Ladies, please continue your ministrations.”

  Jess shuddered. Instead of saving her parents, she’d put them in more danger. Why hadn’t she listened and stayed put?

  As another cloud lowered over her, she turned her head and wept.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Monkey Hive Mind

  New Haven City

  Rase took a right at the next light, and the address—a subway station—passed by. None of the parking meters around were empty, and he didn’t want to get the headmaster’s car towed.

  Winnie tapped his arm and held up her talkbox. “What are you doing?”

  “We have to park somewhere. I can’t leave his car in the middle of the street.”

  She grinned.

  He took another right. “I don’t think it’s funny.”

  “You remember the override?”

  He nodded.

  “It can take itself home,” she said. “We put the address in and engage the auto pilot.”

  “I didn’t think self-driving cars worked that well.”