“I was upset,” DeMayne replied. “Justifiably so, in my opinion.”
“But now we’re all good?” Joey asked. “Whatever. This is just another trick to get your hands on the wand.”
“I don’t need to trick you to get the wand. I need to kill you, remember? The wand only has one master at a time, but fortunately for you, that’s not my focus at the moment. You’re a smart boy, Joey. Think it through. I had you at my mercy a moment ago. I could have opened up your throat and taken the wand just like that.” DeMayne snapped his fingers. “I didn’t do it. I restrained myself.”
Joey thought about what DeMayne was saying. It was all true enough, but that only meant he had an angle Joey didn’t see. “Why is that?”
“Why indeed?” DeMayne asked. “I’m not going to pretend I didn’t think about it. You certainly deserve it. Had I gotten my hands on you an hour ago, I would have throttled you without hesitation.” He made a choking motion with his hands, seeming to relish the thought of wringing Joey’s neck. “I’ve calmed down since then. I do try not to act rashly. ‘Don’t react. Respond.’ That’s what I say. I would have killed you already if that were what I came here to do. The easiest thing would have been to do nothing. I could have let them kill you.” He gave the nearest Graven a push. It toppled to the ground and broke apart like a tower of blocks. “I chose instead to focus on that which is most important to me.”
Now we’re getting to it, Joey thought. However much Ledger DeMayne would have liked to see him dead, Joey knew DeMayne’s primary objective was not to kill him. It wasn’t Joey’s death he truly cared about, but rather, what Joey’s death bought him. It was about the wand. It was always about the wand with him. But DeMayne had a chance to take it a moment ago. Why didn’t he go for it? Why wasn’t he going for it right now?
“I give up,” Joey said. “What’s more important to you than the wand?”
“After everything I’ve been through?” DeMayne asked. “Revenge. I need your help to get it. And you need mine. We’re after the same thing, you and I.”
“We’re not looking for revenge,” Joey said.
“But you are looking for something. And you’re lost. You don’t have a prayer. Not unless you use that wonderful wand to find what you’re searching for, and we both know that’s something you’re desperately trying to avoid. Tell me, what’s your plan? Do you have any idea where you’re going? Where to look? Where even to begin? Of course you don’t.” DeMayne grinned like a Cheshire cat. “Only I do.”
Joey’s eyebrows went up, suddenly understanding DeMayne’s position. He saw the same look of recognition in the eyes of his friends. The conversation just got interesting.
DeMayne tapped at his temple. “I’m starting to remember things. Lots of things. You jogged my memory, and now all sorts of interesting pieces are falling into place. You want to find the Secret Citadel? You need me to lead the way.”
“And you’d do that for us,” Shazad said with heavy skepticism.
“No, I’d do that for me. Aren’t you paying attention? My own self-interest comes first, obviously. That doesn’t mean we can’t be of use to each other. I know where to go, but I can’t get there. You can get there, but you don’t know where to go. You see what I’m getting at.”
“You need protection,” Leanora said.
“Memory protection,” DeMayne confirmed. “The Secreteers have tampered with my mind more than I’ll ever know, but I can tell you this much—it’s never going to happen again. Not ever. They’ve abused their power for the last time. I’m going to see to that.”
Joey smirked, appreciating the irony of DeMayne’s anger. He couldn’t help himself. DeMayne noticed, and he did not appreciate Joey’s insolence. “Did I say something funny?” he asked in a hard voice.
“Actually, you did,” Joey said defiantly. “You complaining about other people abusing their power is very funny to me.”
DeMayne sighed and cast his eyes upward. “You really are insufferable. Spare me your lectures. Your pointless idealism. I’m not interested in your opinion of me. You certainly don’t care to hear what I think of you. We disagree with and despise each other. We know that. We understand that. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is what we can accomplish together. People have tried to uncover the Secreteers’ secrets for a thousand years. No one has ever had a chance of success until now. Until me. I know where to find them, and you can guarantee us safe passage. It’s an alliance of convenience. I’m offering you a truce.” He extended his hand. “Do we have a deal?”
Joey stared at Ledger DeMayne’s hand. The hand of the man who had threatened to kill his parents a year ago. Who had threatened his life and the lives of his friends earlier that day. He made no move to shake it. “I need to talk it over with my friends first.”
DeMayne stared at Joey. The hate in his eyes was palpable, but he took a breath and kept his temper in check. “Talk fast. I don’t like being made to wait.”
Joey and the others huddled together away from DeMayne and his men.
“What do you think?” Joey asked the group.
“I think that man wants to kill you,” Allegra replied. “And he’s going to try to kill you before this is over.”
“One hundred percent,” Jack agreed. “You can’t trust him. He’s a bad guy.”
“I know we can’t trust him,” Joey said. “The question is, do we need him?”
“Can we find the Secret Citadel on our own?” Shazad asked.
All eyes turned to Jack, Skerren, and Allegra.
“Don’t look at us,” Jack said. “We’re following you.”
“You said you knew where to find it,” Allegra said.
“I never said that,” Leanora replied. “I said we’ve discovered long-lost, hard-to-find places before.”
“What kind of places?” Skerren asked, displaying a clear lack of confidence in the group’s quest. “How hard to find are we talking about here?”
“Ever hear of Camelot?” Shazad asked.
Skerren’s eyes widened. “That was you?” Shazad nodded, and Skerren softened his tone. “All right, that’s impressive.”
“Even here, that was big news,” Jack said.
“We had a map for Camelot,” Joey said. “For this, we’re only going off glimpses we saw inside DeMayne’s head.”
“I know it isn’t much, but it’s something,” Shazad told the group. “We saw a castle in the fog beyond the edge of this forest. Or a castle made of fog. We can’t really be sure. Might have just been foggy because his memory wasn’t clear.”
“Does any of this sound familiar to you?” Janelle asked Jack, Skerren, and Allegra. “If we keep going in this direction, are we going to find a castle once we get outside the forest?”
“There’s nothing outside the forest,” Allegra said. “Nothing but open country.”
“Ninety percent of the island is undeveloped,” Jack added. “It’s like a big national park.”
“It’s got to be there,” Janelle said. “It’s just hidden. We can find it. We don’t need DeMayne and his henchmen. You found Hypnova’s hideout, didn’t you?”
“That was luck,” Jack said. “Maybe not even. For all I know, Hypnova planted the seeds for that in our heads to let us know how to find her if we ever had a need.”
“Or maybe Hypnova wanted us to meet each other,” Joey suggested. “Maybe she wanted you guys here to back us up if she couldn’t be here to guide us herself.”
“It’s possible,” Jack said. “But I don’t know why we’d be the best choice for that. I’ve never gone looking for the Secreteers’ headquarters. I never even thought to try.”
“I have,” Skerren said. “On a dare. It’s something people do in the village. Teenagers mostly. We challenge each other to find the Secreteer’s stronghold, but no one ever makes it. If anyone gets close, the Secreteers turn them around and make them forget what they’re looking for. They come back in a daze, and that’s the end of it. People say if you keep tryin
g, they make you forget who you are. The Gravens must be another one of their deterrents. I’m only just now realizing that. My point is, the Secret Citadel is surely close by, but I couldn’t tell you how to find it. None of us could.”
“Maybe it’s not that hard to find,” Janelle speculated. “It sounds like the Secreteers themselves are the line of defense no one can get past. But we can, thanks to Joey. What if the castle is right there outside the forest?”
“What if it’s not?” Joey asked. “DeMayne’s been there. He knows for sure. I hate to say it, but we have to protect him. He has information we need. If the Secreteers catch him and wipe his memory again, we’ll lose the best lead we’ve got. Maybe forever.”
“All this talk about memories, I think maybe you’re forgetting something,” Shazad said. “Look at your arm. The protection spell took a lot out of you. Maybe too much.”
“I know, but there’s fewer of them,” Joey argued. “Casting a spell on three people instead of six has to use less power.”
“You said it was a onetime thing,” Shazad said.
“I guess I was wrong.”
“I don’t like it,” Shazad said. “If you do this, it’s going to take you down to what? Twenty-five percent? That’s getting into the danger zone.”
“But not over the edge,” Joey argued. “What else can we do? The other option is I use the wand to help us find the Citadel, and there’s no telling what that will take out of me. At least if I do this, we know what to expect.”
“If we don’t work with them, we’re going to have to fight them,” Leanora said. “We’re probably going to fight them either way.”
“You’re probably right, but then what?” Joey asked. “We can’t wander around this forest forever. Unless you guys want to give up, I don’t see another way. We have to do this.”
“You’re sure you haven’t done enough already?” Skerren asked. “What you told us about the dark magic markers… breaking down the barriers that hide magic and hold it back. That’s not enough to change the world?”
“No,” Joey said firmly. “I thought that after Camelot. We have to finish this or they’ll find a way to undo it. We can’t let that happen. Not again.”
Everyone was quiet. Nobody liked it, but everyone seemed to agree there was only one way forward.
“Time’s up,” Ledger DeMayne announced. “Have we reached a decision?”
“I think we’ve been forced into one,” Joey muttered. He looked at his friends, old and new. A silent vote was taken. One by one, everyone nodded their assent. Some nods were more reluctant than others, but there were no objections. Joey turned around to face DeMayne, wand in hand. He was going to use the same “steel trap” spell he had used before, but at the last minute, he had another idea.
“Stuck with each other.”
A blue flash of light ran out from where Joey was standing, illuminating every human being in the area. The ice-covered Gravens were untouched by the wand’s magic.
When it was over, the world tilted on Joey, and he nearly fell over again. The effect was much worse the second time around. Feeling nauseous, Joey staggered over to lean on a frozen Graven. He hunched over, breathing heavily and trying to steady himself.
“Joey, are you all right?” Janelle asked.
“Talk to us,” Shazad said. “What’s going on?”
Joey put up a hand. “I just need a… just need a minute.” He gulped and made a queasy face. “Ugh. I just threw up in my mouth.”
“Is it done?” Mr. Ivory asked. He tapped his chest and studied his hands, checking to see if Joey had done anything unpleasant to him. “I don’t feel any different.”
I do, Joey thought. He forced himself to straighten up and stand without assistance. He took it slow after he let go of the Graven he was using as a crutch. Joey didn’t want to worry anyone, but he still felt dizzy. As he looked around, his field of vision kept darkening around the edges, as if the sun was passing in and out of heavy cloud cover. His eyelids drooped, and he leaned back on the Graven, unable to abandon its support. “I feel like someone just hit me with a tranquilizer dart.”
“Let me see your arm,” Shazad said, taking Joey’s hand by the wrist and turning it over. The power gauge on Joey’s arm lit up to reveal the extent of the damage he had just done to himself. Everyone gasped as they watched the green bar fall below 50 percent, sink down to 25 percent, and keep going. When it finally stopped, it was at the 10 percent mark.
“I don’t understand,” Shazad said. “Why did it take so much?”
Joey took his arm back and pulled down his sleeve. “I threw in a little something extra.”
“Why would you do that?” Janelle asked.
“An extra what?” DeMayne wanted to know.
“Call it an insurance policy,” Joey said, finding his voice. The feeling of weakness lingered, but his head was starting to clear. “I extended the memory shields we have to the three of you, but there’s a catch. Any protection you get depends on us staying alive and unharmed. I may not be a thousand years old, but I wasn’t born yesterday. I know you’re planning some kind of double-cross. It’s who you are. We’ll be watching you, but now you need to watch out for us. You have to protect us from the Secreteers and anything else we run into out here.”
DeMayne frowned. “All of you?”
“Think of it as extra incentive not to betray us,” Joey replied. “Anything bad happens to us, and poof, you’re defenseless again. It doesn’t do you any good to know the way to the Secret Citadel if they can wipe your memory as soon as you reach the front door. Even one Secreteer is too many for you to get past.”
“I’m aware of that,” DeMayne said, clearly annoyed that Joey had been smart enough to put conditions on their deal. “I understand why you want to take precautions with me, but this was a waste of your magic, tying us together like this. I don’t like you, Joey, but I hate the Secreteers. They need to pay for what they did to me a thousand years ago. Making me forget what happened here. What they cost me. I’m going to destroy their order, and you’re going to help me do it. Our fates are already intertwined. Neither one of us can get what he wants without the other. That makes us allies.”
“What about after?” Joey asked. “I suppose we can go back to fighting each other then? I know you have no interest in bringing the Imagine Nation back to the world. I’m not going to let you stop us.”
“You misunderstand me,” DeMayne said. “There’s no hidden agenda here. My motives are plain. I have no intention of stopping you from ‘bringing magic back.’ In fact, had I remembered this place before now, I might have tried it myself a long time ago. But since you’re so eager, I’ll leave it to you to do the grunt work. You want to reverse what Merlin did all those years ago? Be my guest. Hiding the Imagine Nation killed him. Bringing it back will do the same to you.”
“We’re not going to let that happen,” Shazad said.
“I’d like to know how you plan to stop it,” DeMayne replied. “Maybe you could avoid that fate. You strike me as a very levelheaded young man, but not this one.” He jerked a thumb in Joey’s direction. “He’s got his head in the clouds. He wants so badly to be the hero. He always has. When push comes to shove, he’ll tell himself he didn’t have a choice. He’ll finish himself off—for the greater good, of course. And the wand will still be here after he’s gone. If a new age of magic is coming, so be it. As long as I end up with the world’s most powerful magic object, I’ll have no complaints.”
“Is that the plan?” Mr. Ivory asked DeMayne. “Bringing magic back?”
“The plan is you do what I tell you to do,” DeMayne replied without turning around. “That’s the only plan you need to worry about.”
Mr. Ivory buttoned his lip, but he didn’t seem happy about it. Mr. Clear also looked uncomfortable, but for different reasons. He was chilled to the bone. Leanora caught him staring at her firestone pendant and tucked it inside her shirt.
Meanwhile, Joey’s confidence took
a hit as he considered the possibility that he might succeed in changing the world only to serve it up to Ledger DeMayne on a silver platter. He had been proud of himself for thinking two steps ahead of DeMayne, but there was always a chance he was playing right into a pair of invisible hands.
“Maybe you’re right about me,” Joey told DeMayne. “Or maybe I’ll find another way to do this. You never know. I might surprise you. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
Joey was trying to project strength. When you couldn’t be brave, pretending to be was the next best thing. But DeMayne saw through Joey’s bluster. “I suppose we’re both taking a gamble, but I like my chances.” He smiled like a con man who’d just closed a billion-dollar deal. “I always do.”
“We’re wasting time,” Jack cut in, fed up with DeMayne’s posturing. “We need to move. The Secreteers are going to notice something happened to the Gravens. They’re going to come back here and find us.”
“Not if we find them first.” DeMayne turned around and headed into the forest. “Follow me.”
17 The Fellowship of the Wand
The group came upon a gate in the forest. They had been walking for a while, and everyone was eager to get out of the woods, Joey most of all. The nausea and dizziness he had felt from using the wand had passed, but his endurance had taken a hit, and he was struggling to keep up with the group. Joey didn’t want to say anything, but he was going to need a break soon. He kept his eyes peeled for Secreteers and any hint of a path to their castle, but he didn’t give the gate a second look. It was attached to nothing. There were no remnants of a fence or wall of any kind. The gate stood alone, positioned between two ancient trees. Its wrought-iron bars were bent with age and brittle with rust. There was no obvious reason to walk through the gate. It was easy enough to simply go around it, which was what the group was doing when DeMayne called out for everyone to stop. The look on his face told them he either remembered the gate or was trying to place it. The hinges screeched as DeMayne pushed the doors open. The sound echoed through the forest like a shrieking owl, giving away their position.
The New World Page 17
