Academy of Magic Collection

by Angelique S Anderson et al.

  She frowned. “You remember our basement, don’t you? Our tech is nothing like the rest of the world’s.”

  “True.” He’d already forgotten. The school had an ivy vine as a burglar alarm and an automaton for a butler. Nothing should surprise him.

  Rase pulled to a stop beside the subway station.

  “Once Hobson realizes the autopilot is on, he’ll guide it back home,” she said.

  Did Winnie always have an answer for everything? She could have gone on a rescue mission herself.

  Rase tapped the brake, pulled close to the curb in a no-parking zone, and shifted into park. A car behind him honked and then zoomed around them. “Do I need to do anything?”

  “Push the red button you pressed earlier. It will re-engage the override.” She climbed out and hurried to the subway entrance.

  Rase climbed out then leaned over the driver’s door to depress the small red button. The doors locked. “Please step away from the vehicle,” a voice almost like Hobson’s announced.

  Rase took a step backward and the car eased away. All the way down the block, pedestrians did double-takes. The antique driverless convertible turned more than a few heads. It disappeared around the corner, and Rase jogged after Winnie.

  When he reached her, Winnie pointed to the light ball at the top of the station entrance. Normally green, it had gone red. She shrugged.

  “Station’s closed,” he said. “I wonder why.”

  Winnie tipped her head to the side. “Jess?” she mouthed.

  Rase shrugged, but it had to be something to do with Jess. He wasn’t about to let another red light stop him. He peered down the stairwell. A grate had been pulled across and locked down. None of the gaps were big enough for either of them to squeeze through.

  Rase tapped his chin. “We have to go down?”

  Winnie nodded and held her talkbox out to him. Their location appeared on the screen with a dropped pin directly beside them. They were at the address. The subway entrance was the exact position, too. There wasn’t any doubt about the location.

  Winnie swiped her finger across the surface. Jess’s number displayed at the top of the screen. Four words appeared. Between the two columns. Winnie pointed down into the darkened stairwell. The instruction had come from Jess.

  “How did you get this from her?” Rase asked.

  Winnie typed. “I made her promise to tell me where she went. If she didn’t, I threatened to tell Blackfox,” she said.

  “Where did she get the information?”

  Winnie shrugged.

  It wasn’t safe. None of it. Jess rushed off like the hothead she was. Rase had to go, but Winnie didn’t. She didn’t have to put herself in danger for Jess.

  Winnie continued, “As soon as she forwarded the location and the instruction, I knew I was going after her. That’s when I found you.”

  Rase studied his shoes and then lifted his chin, almost afraid to meet Winnie’s gaze. He didn’t want to say what he had to say.

  He cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t have gotten this far without you, Winnie. Thank you for your help.” He crossed his arms and tried to look stern. Maybe she wouldn’t argue. “Now it’s time for you to go home.”

  Winnie wagged her finger at him and then poked him in the chest. “Uh uh,” she grunted. She typed into her talkbox and then held it up. “I got you this far, mister. I’m not about to leave now. Not until we find Jess.”

  Rase sighed. He knew he couldn’t leave Winnie behind, she was too much like Jess. She’d tag along anyway. He nodded and then started down the darkened stairwell, coming to a stop beside the collapsible metal grate.

  All the lights were out. No footsteps, no voices echoed beneath. He shook the accordion blockade. Then he reached beneath, between, and tried to climb over. Winnie did the same. Neither of them could find a way through.

  Something peered out of the shadow. Two large eyes. Like owl eyes. He bumped Winnie and jabbed his chin toward the luminescent orbs. A creature watched them.

  She tipped her head to the side. “What is it?” she mouthed.

  Rase shrugged. He held his breath. Have you seen a girl?

  The staring eyes blinked.

  Winnie grabbed his arm, jostling him in place. I can hear you. The excitement infused each word she thought.

  I can hear you, too. Rase thought of Jess. Her hair, her eyes, the way she looked last time he saw her. Have you seen her?

  The eyes blinked again. Yes.

  Where?

  The eyes grew larger, closer, its body still hidden in shadow. Inside the place that isn’t.

  Rase frowned. It answered in riddles. Where is she?

  The creature eased into view. A tiny primate climbed along the ceiling, swinging from exposed pipe and wires. Maybe ten inches long, it shimmered in the light as though it was made of mother of pearl. Its fur shifted as though moved by an invisible wind. A tamarin made of moonlight and pearl.

  Rase had never seen anything like it. Where did she go?

  It gestured behind it. Beneath and inside.

  In there?

  It dipped its chin. The elders call for help for the one that freed them.

  Rase’s brows lowered. Jess saved you?

  It dipped its chin again. From a basement troll.

  A big ugly beast flashed in Rase’s mind, almost too much for him to take in. When had she had time to do that? He shook his head.

  Beneath and inside. It gestured to them again and slunk back into the shadows.

  Rase stared at the metal between them. There had to be something he could do. He focused on the locks that fastened the end to the wall.

  He took hold of the metal grate, and Winnie moved closer. She peered at his face, but he ignored her. She put her hand on his shoulder. The physical world receded. He reached toward something beyond.

  Magic surrounded them.

  Everyone had two talents. Two talents.

  Sweat beaded on his upper lip. Adrenaline surged through him. His galloping heartbeat pulsed in his mind. Time and space. Magic all around them. Speaking to animals… and…Two talents. Two skills.

  What if…

  The harder he stared, the more clearly he could see the particles in his mind. Focus. Focus. He could see the atoms that made up the molecules and the space between.

  Magic crashed over them, surfing waves of energy. Winnie’s hands grew warm on his shoulder, and he squeezed the metal grate tighter and tighter. His hands didn’t move, but the friction increased, like rubbing his feet on carpet over and over.

  The air snapped around them. He didn’t dare speak, afraid he’d break concentration. He had to get through.

  Metal dripped from beneath his fingers, dribbling down the diamond shapes. He shifted his hands from point to point. Melting the separation as he went until, finally, he’d opened a gap wide enough for them to slip through.

  Drenched in sweat, he let go. “I did it.” He turned to Winnie. “Why did you hold on to me?”

  Winnie lowered her hands. She squinted at him. Moments passed, then she retrieved her talkbox. She typed a moment. “Do you hear my answer?”

  Rase shook his head.

  She typed a little more. “We must only be able to hear each other when there’s magic.”

  “Maybe only when we’re talking to animals. Like a three-way call.”

  She nodded and typed some more. “In the paperwork, it said it sometimes helps to link like that,” she said and then typed a little more. “If we face something hard, I mean.” She offered a sheepish smile. “Seemed like a hard thing for you.”

  Rase chuckled. “I should really read that paperwork.”

  “It would help.”

  “I will as soon as we make it back.”

  Winnie’s mouth tightened. She didn’t have to say it aloud.

  Rase heard it all the same. If we make it back.

  They slipped through the gap and continued into the subway station. Winnie pointed at the kiosk.

  Rase shoo
k his head. “It’s closed. We don’t need to buy a ticket. We’re already criminals for the day. Vandalism. Stolen car. Breaking and entering.”

  Winnie nodded. “Achievement unlocked,” she said then followed him over the turnstile.

  Rase grinned, glad for her sense of humor. He hadn’t expected it from her, but conducting a rescue mission with Freya would have been a completely different experience. He probably wouldn’t have climbed into the dumbwaiter with Freya.

  When they reached the bottom, Rase eased down onto the platform first. Each footstep echoed in the empty space.

  A single light in the middle flickered.

  Two oversized jackals leaned against two columns in the middle of the platform. Each one. A reddish man sprawled on the platform, his neck contorted at a strange angle, black appendages sprawled out of his mouth and his back. A ukulele laid beside him.

  Winnie pressed a hand over her open mouth.

  “What happened here?” he breathed. He gestured for Winnie to wait behind. This time, she nodded.

  “We are Jaru. We protect the Unseen. My name is Trylon. This is my brother, Perisphere,” one of the beasts said. “We battled a dark army.” It gestured to the man laid out beside them. “We could not save the leprechaun. We will return him to his Raishanan family.”

  Trylon threw his head back, howling as though the world had broken. Perisphere joined his brother. Rase studied his toes. They had to find Jess, but he couldn’t interrupt their mourning. If he did, they might maul him.

  Rase fidgeted from side to side and glanced at Winnie. She gestured for him to go up to them. Or maybe she wanted him to join in the ritual howling. He scrunched his nose. Did they expect him to howl, too? As he opened his mouth to join them, the noise died away.

  Trylon spoke first. “Why have you come and why does your shifter friend hide in the shadows?”

  Rase waved, and Winnie approached. Maybe she could shift into a werewolf or a bear or something helpful in a battle.

  Rase turned back to Trylon. “We are seeking a girl.” He described Jess’s hair and clothes. “Have you seen her?”

  One of the Jaru shifted, stroking the fur on his face. They murmured together in growls and yaps until one barked at the other.

  “He hunts for his other as I would search for you, Perisphere.”

  “As you wish.” Perisphere clamped its snout closed.

  Trylon turned to Rase. “You’re looking for this girl you describe?”

  Rase nodded.

  “She was here.” He pointed to the space between the columns. “In there. Dangerous things lurk in New Haven City these days, we have fewer travelers. It is our slow time, so we processed her ourselves. We gave her a pass to use in Unseen Street.”

  Rase shoved his hand through his hair. “Do you know where she went next?”

  “She went inside Unseen Street. After that, we do not know.”

  He could wander aimlessly in Unseen Street. He couldn’t do that without knowing what was in there. He couldn’t do that to Winnie.

  Rase grimaced. “A dead end,” he grumbled.

  Winnie jostled him, shaking her head. She typed into her talkbox, but instead of making the words audible, she showed them on the screen. “The monkey?”

  Rase brightened, and he turned in a circle. “Have you seen a little monkey guy down here?”

  Perisphere scowled. “The pest crawled across the ceiling.”

  Are you there? Rase thought.

  Come here, little friend, Winnie added.

  Rase shook his head. He might never get used to that. Could he do the same thing with Jess? They had to find her.

  Two orbs appeared in the shadowed corner of the underground train station. As before, eyes appeared in the shadow and moved closer. It stopped above them. With a flat palm, Rase reached for the small primate. It dropped into his hand.

  Rase patted his shoulder, offering a more comfortable spot to the creature. Do you know where my friend has gone?

  What is friend?

  Rase glanced to Winnie, at a loss. How could he explain what a friend was?

  Winnie shrugged, her eyes wide.

  A friend is someone bonded to you by choice and affection, Rase began.

  The primate sifted through Rase’s hair. She is your family then?

  Rase nodded. Not my blood, but she is my family.

  She is our friend, also.

  When it finished sifting through the portion of Rase’s hair, the creature leapt down from Rase’s shoulder and scampered to the space between the columns. Standing upright, it waved its arms until the space between the pillars shimmered. She has gone to the harbor in the place that isn’t. Then it jumped through the gash between realms and disappeared.

  Winnie stiffened.

  Rase glanced at Trylon. It seemed an impossibility. How big was Unseen Street? Bigger than a single street, by the sounds of it. “Do you have a harbor in there?”

  Both Jaru nodded.

  “We need to get to it,” Rase said.

  Trylon climbed to his feet. “Silkies and mermaids and other water creatures visit Unseen Street on their way to vacation in the mortal world.”

  Rase barked a laugh.

  Winnie scowled at him. “What?”

  “It’s strange to know that paranormies vacation in our world, but most of us don’t know anything about theirs.” Maybe the adventure was getting to him. Maybe it was the lack of food or the lack of sleep. He raised his hands. “Sorry.”

  At that, Trylon leaned close to Winnie. “You are a shifter, aren’t you?”

  She frowned. “I can change, but what difference does that make?”

  Trylon whispered in her ear, and Winnie’s mouth fell open. She gave a slow nod.

  The other Jaru tapped her on the shoulder. “We offer a trade.”

  Rase stepped between. “Are they bothering you, Winnie?”

  She shook her head and patted him on the arm.

  Perisphere bowed. “We will escort you both to the harbor if Winnie the girl will shift for us.”

  Rase rubbed his forehead. “Shift? Shift into what?”

  The Jaru nodded solemnly. “We have never seen a mythical guinea pig. In our legends, the Guinea beast is the harbinger of death. The Jaru have lost many battles to our small and hairy enemies.”

  Winnie doubled over, shaking in a soundless laughter. She wiped tears of mirth from her face and then typed into her talkbox. “You sure you want to me to change into a guinea pig? It might frighten you too much.”

  Rase startled, blinking. Surely, he hadn’t heard correctly. “You turn into a guinea pig?”

  Her eyes sparkled. “How do you think I got the car keys from Blackfox’s room?”

  Rase shook his head. Winnie waded merrily into the mess, making it bigger and bigger. She had nothing to lose by going on the adventure.

  He didn’t know she had snuck into her uncle’s room at all. What would he do when he discovered the keys to his favorite car were gone? He probably already knew. How long would it take him to come after them? They couldn’t have much time left.

  But Rase had risked everything, and he would probably lose it all. “Is that okay with you?” he whispered. “Don’t do it unless you want to.”

  She gave him a look. “Getting to the harbor will be safer with these two than it will be on our own. We’re a couple of kids, Rase. I’ve never been into Unseen Street, have you?”

  “No.”

  “This gets us to Jess faster and safer than we could otherwise.” She glanced from one Jaru to the other. “You’re both certain you want to see a guinea pig?”

  The big beasts shuddered. “Yes. Please turn into the hairy beast. They are most frightening.”

  “Take us inside first,” she said. “Then I’ll change.”

  They both nodded like kids bargaining for candy. They hurried to the space between the columns. The space shimmered, reopening the link between New Haven City and Unseen Street. The world beyond stretched farther than R
ase could have expected. A gate blocked the way in, but streets crisscrossed the world beyond. Far away, water shimmered, beckoning.

  Rase’s eyes widened, trying to wrap his brain around what was playing out in front of him. They led Rase and Winnie through the gate and into Unseen Street. They took down their names and gave them each passes.

  Then they huddled around Winnie, and she stroked their dark fur. They gazed at her like overgrown pets might look at their owner. They were eager to be frightened. She winked at Rase and flashed a thumbs-up.

  Strangest thing. How could the giant jackals, the guardians of an invisible world, something straight out of hieroglyphs, be afraid of a tiny furball?

  Winnie handed Rase the talkbox and then moved to the center of the check-in area. The Jaru brothers huddled at the edge of the clearing, clinging to one another like frightened kids.

  Rase strolled to an empty seat in front of a desk and plopped down in the cushioned seat. It didn’t matter. None of it did. It was a means to an end. If the giant Jaru got their thrills out of being pursued by a guinea pig, what did it matter?

  A moment later, Winnie shrank down into a multi-colored guinea pig. She darted toward the feet of the Jaru brothers, squeaking. She chased them from one side of the border crossing to the other. The ground rumbled beneath them. Through it all, he could almost hear Winnie laughing manically.

  A chill wind gusted through, and he shifted in his seat. Dread ticked through his heart. They were taking the time to play.

  He jumped to his feet. He had to move. He had to pace.

  What if they were already too late? What if she’d been captured? What if she had been murdered?

  He shuddered. What could be happening to his best friend?

  We’re coming, Jess.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Leverage

  The galleon rocked in the waves. A flag flapped in the breeze. The two evil witches tried to untie the remainder of the magical blocks her mother had placed on her magic. Their eyes glowed as they worked through her psyche. It felt like being dragged over a road made of glass shards.

  She hadn’t even had a chance to be on her own, but she’d been trapped twice in as many days. What was wrong with her? First the basement troll, now a couple of witches, trying to peel off some kind of spell. She couldn’t adult. She couldn’t do anything. The bit of magic she had hadn’t done her any good.