by L. S. Emory
Well, that didn't really seem like the thing to do, at least not to me. I mean, you just can't walk up into somebody's house and say, ‘Hey, here's someone to be your apprentice!’ I mean, it just seems a little rude, as well as a little risky. What if this guy didn’t want an apprentice? What if he liked being alone in his little run-down shack, behind his illusionary wall, out here in the middle of nowhere? What if this guy was some kind of crazy rogue wizard that's been banished from the city?
We walked up the steps to the porch that was on the outside of the shack. I could hear the boards creaking every step we took. The thing that I noticed, more than anything else, was how quiet it was. Not the ‘this so nice and quiet out here, and such a peaceful day’ kind of quiet. I mean eerily quiet. As in, there was no noise at all.
Aunt Linda walked up and pushed open the door to the shack, and walked in. I kind of looked to each side of me, and looked behind me, just to make sure nobody was going to sneak up on us, and followed her inside. There wasn't much inside, just a table and a couple of chairs in the middle of the room in the front. There were some bookshelves that looked like they hadn't been dusted in a century, with a few books and other knick-knacks on the shelves. There were a couple of doors on the inside wall that looked like they might go into couple of smaller rooms. Maybe a bedroom or something like that.
“So, it looks like nobody's really here. What do we do now?” I asked.
“Oh, he'll be along shortly, I'm sure,” Aunt Linda said and she looked around the room disapprovingly. “This place is filthy,” she muttered under her breath.
“Maybe we should just go back, you know, and make an appointment or something like that. There doesn't seem to be anyone anywhere around here. I mean it's the only thing out here is the middle of nowhere.”
“Hush, child,” Aunt Linda barked at me.
“Okay,” I said. I really didn't know what to make out of all of this. I walked over to one of the bookshelves and started carefully picking up the books and looking to see what they were about. They didn’t really seem to have a common theme or anything. There were a couple of about mythology, one about gardening that looked like it was written back in the 19th century, and a copy of Moby Dick.
“Ahem,” I heard behind me. “What did we say about touching things? Or rather, what did I tell you about not touching things?”
I quickly jerked my hand away from the books. Aunt Linda was using that voice again.
“How long are we supposed to wait around for whoever this is to show up?” I asked.
“Annabeth, you need to learn the virtue of patience.”
It seemed like I was irritating Aunt Linda more and more each minute that we were together since we left the school. But now I was just as irritated at her as she was at me. I understood that I was in trouble for what I did, but now she had dragged me out into the middle of nowhere, waiting on who knows what, or who knows who.
“No visitors allowed,” I heard a gravelly voice bark. “Off limits. Beware of dog. What exactly about those things do you not understand, lady? If I wanted any visitors out here, I would have joined a book club. Now get out of here!”
Chapter 4
I jumped when I heard the voice. As I turned around. I saw where it was coming from. A tall man stood in the doorway. He looked like a leftover cowboy from an old western. He wore faded blue jeans and a jet-black T-shirt, which was covered by a scuffed up black leather vest. He looked like he was probably in his 60s, from the scraggly long gray hair on his head and the gray five o’clock shadow on his face. Around his waist was a belt with a holster, holding a silver revolver. He looked like a leftover from an old Clint Eastwood western.
“It's about time you showed up,” Aunt Linda said with her stern voice.
The man gave her a hard look. “Like I said, no visitors. You know the rules. I don't have a need for for company.” Then he seemed to notice that I was in the room. “And who's the kid?” he asked, nodding in my direction. “Doesn't matter. Both of you need to get out of here.”
“‘The kid’ is why we are here,” Aunt Linda said calmly. I couldn't help but notice how her voice changed. “Annabeth, would you please wait outside while the grown-ups have a conversation.”
“Hey, I'm 18 years old. I'm an adult,” I protested.
“Annabeth, do you remember what we said about you not speaking?” Aunt Linda chided me. There was that voice again. I knew it wasn't gone for long.
“Hey kid, when you go outside, take this woman with you. And both of you can get off of my property,” the man said.
“Annabeth, I said go outside,” Aunt Linda said, looking at the man straight in the face.
All of a sudden, I felt very uncomfortable. Stuck between my aunt, who was visibly irritated at me, and a man who obviously didn't want me or my aunt in his house.
“You're a stubborn old bat, you know that?” the man said to Aunt Linda. “All right, kid, get outside. And you,” he said pointing to Aunt Linda, “have 30 seconds to tell me whatever it is you want to tell me, since I know you're not going to give up. Then the two of you get off my land and leave me to my privacy.”
Aunt Linda looked at me, then nodded towards the door. I took the hint and quietly walked outside. The door shut behind me. Obviously they did not want me to hear about whatever they were going to talk about, which presumably was about me. Since it was about me, there was no way I was not going to not try to find out what it was they were talking about. I mean, if this was going to be my future, although that future was questionable now, I wanted to know what was going on. I loudly walked down the steps of the porch. Then I ducked down, and stealthily made my way around to the side of the porch and climbed back up. Then I eased my way over towards the door and put my ear up to it.
“You know you shouldn't be here,” I heard the man say. “Especially bring a kid up here. What were you thinking?”
“I need you to do something,” I heard Aunt Linda say. “And let me remind you that you are in my debt.”
I didn't know what she meant, and I knew Aunt Linda wasn't about to tell me anytime soon.
“That was a long time ago. I don't owe you, or the rest of them, anything.”
I had a hard time hearing what they're saying after that. They must have moved to the other side of the room, because all I heard was a bunch of garbled words. I pressed my ear to the door even more. I was afraid I was going to get splinter in my ear. But, I needed to know what was going on.
All I heard was mumbling. I strained more, but I could only hear a few broken sentences and words.
“...school...chance...different…” I heard Aunt Linda say.
“...no...wizard...care…wand...” I could hear the man replying.
“...George and Samantha...owe...truth…” Aunt Linda said.
George and Samantha? Those were my parents’ names. Did this guy know my parents? What were they talking about my parents for? I had to hear more about what they were saying. I leaned in more, moving my ear along the door, and then the wall, trying to pick up more of the conversation. But I wasn’t paying attention enough to realize how far I was leaning over.
Thud!
That was the sound I made when my knee slipped and I hit the floor of the porch. Then I heard loud footsteps, and the creaking of the door. I slowly looked up, over my shoulder, to see the man staring down at me. He didn’t look very happy. His eyebrows pointed downward, matching the rest of his face.
“You’re not much of a spy. Get up, kid. You might as well come back in.”
I know I must have had a guilty look on my face as I looked up at him. I quickly got to my feet and did the best I could to dust myself off. The floor of the porch wasn’t the cleanest thing to begin with, and there was an outline of my body left in the dust and dirt.
I sheepishly walked in the door, trying not to make eye contact. It felt like I was in the Headmaster’s office again, about to get in trouble for what I had done. But that was over, and this was a totally
different thing. I looked up. Both Aunt Linda and the man looked at me with stern faces.
I wasn’t sure what I expected them to say, but whatever I did expect, wasn’t what I heard.
“You think that you are ready for this?”
“I don’t know.” And I didn’t. This was all happening too fast. “I don’t know what this is, and I don’t know who you are.”
The man looked over at Aunt Linda with an irritated look on his face. “What exactly did you tell her, Linda-Loo?”
Aunt Linda held her head high, with a rather indignant look on her face. “Do not call me that!”
“Well?” the man asked, waiting for an answer.
“I told her what was appropriate,” Aunt Linda said.
“She didn’t tell me anything, except that you were a wizard, and that I would be your apprentice,” I said. “I don’t even know who you are.” Since I didn’t know what the crap was going on, I figured that being honest was the way to go. Of course, Aunt Linda said that I had the habit of being too honest. Not enough tact, she said. “Are you some kind of rogue wizard, hiding up here in your cabin, away from everyone else?”
He looked at me for a minute, then turned to Aunt Linda. “Not even my name, Linda-Loo? Now, that just ain’t right.”
“Well, I suppose now is as good a time as any to introduce you,” Aunt Linda said, turning to me. “Annabeth Johnson, meet Codillus James.”
“It’s Cody,” the man said turning to me.
“Can I call you Codillus? It sounds like a more interesting name.”
“Sure, if you want me to go ahead and turn you over to the Wizarding Authority,” he replied as he turned and spat on the floor.
“Ok. Cody. Got it.”
“Ahem,” Aunt Linda said as she cleared her throat. “Cody, this is Annabeth.”
“All right,” Cody replied.
Then we were all quiet. The silence was uncomfortable for me, so I did what I always did in situations like this. “So, are you a rogue wizard? Or an extra from a Clint Eastwood movie? I mean, with the clothes and all…”
“Annabeth,” Aunt Linda grunted through her clenched teeth. That was my cue that I was stepping over that line of politeness again.
“Heh, she get that attitude from you, Linda-Loo?”
“No! And stop calling me that!” Aunt Linda was getting to that point where smoke was about to come out of her ears. I had to diffuse the situation.
“My apologies, Cody,” I said with the most remorse I could muster. “I sometimes talk too much.”
“Kid, you’ve got spunk.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“I hate spunk,” he replied.
“Oh. Sorry.”
Cody leaned up against the wall and crossed his arms. “Here’s the deal. You’re in some deep trouble. The only way to keep out of getting into deeper trouble is for you to become my apprentice.”
“Right,” I said.
“I don’t like apprentices. They don't listen. They think they know it all. They do things that are stupid. Are you going to be like that?”
“Um, no, I won’t be like that.”
“But you are like that. That’s why you’re here.”
Well, that was kind of true. “Let me explain…” I started to say.
“Don’t even try. We’ll overlook your past indiscretions. For now,” he said, glaring at me. “So tell me why I should take you on as an apprentice.”
This was not going at all like I had planned. And something inside me was getting a little irked at the whole conversation. “I’m a good student, for the most part. I work hard. My parents raised me well,” I said. “Why should I want you as my mentor?”
Cody squinted and looked me right in the eye. “Sounds like you have a problem with authority.”
“I don’t have a problem with authority. Authority usually has a problem with me.” That was the truth. I didn’t know if that sounded smart-alecky or not.
Cody just stared at me.
“I am sure that Annabeth would fit into your...style of teaching...very well,” Aunt Linda said. “Despite recent incidents,” she said while turning to look at me, “Annabeth is bright, inquisitive, and will generally obey. Given what she has experienced, I think she has handled things quite well.”
My mouth almost dropped open when I heard that. It was rare for Aunt Linda to give a compliment like that. In fact, I’m not sure she had ever given me a compliment like that.
“Let me answer your question for you,” Cody said. “You want me as you mentor because I can teach you what those in that fancy school can’t. Real wizardry, not those fancy parlor tricks. And you really don’t have a choice. With me, you’ll be protected from whatever it is you are running from.”
“I’m not running from anything,” I said.
“Annabeth, don’t be rude. We all know what would happen if you have to appear before the Wizarding Authority,” Aunt Linda said.
She was right. I guess they both were. I was kind of right too, though. I wasn’t really running. Technically, I had been driven out there. And I didn’t really think what I had done was all that bad. But, I started getting the feeling that the situation was way worse than I thought it was.
“So, what happens now?” I asked.
Cody looked over at Aunt Linda, and then turned back to me. “I don’t know if you have any talent. And I don’t know if you…” Cody began.
“Cody, she does have the talent. You have my word,” Aunt Linda said, interrupting.
“I do have talent. At least some. And I can learn. Like I said, I’m a good student,” I chimed in.
“Prove it,” Cody said.
“I’m not sure how I can, unless you start teaching me.”
“I know how,” he said.
“Ok. How?”
“You're going to take a test. Prove that you’re worth my time.”
Chapter 5
“Now really, Cody, this is not necessary…” Aunt Linda objected.
“Yes, it is. Besides, we did it. Or don’t you remember?”
We? Now I really started to wonder about Aunt Linda and Cody’s relationship. “When did the two of you take a test together?” I asked.
“Never you mind, young lady,” Aunt Linda said to me. She was using that voice again. “Will you not just take her on my word?”
Cody cocked his head to the side. “Nope,” he said.
“Very well,” Aunt Linda said. She mumbled something under her breath that sounded like ‘obstinate mule,’ but I wasn’t certain.
“What kind of test is it? Do I need to get a pencil and paper out of my backpack? Or my magic books from school?” I asked.
“First off, you can throw those books that the school gave you away. You won’t be needing them. They’re nothing but watered-down propaganda anyway. And, no, you do not need a pencil or paper. This is a different kind of test,” Cody said.
“So what kind of test is it?” I asked.
“Over there,” Cody said, pointing at the bookshelf behind me. “Second shelf from the top, there's a scroll. Go ahead, get it.”
I turned around and walked over to the bookshelf. I saw the scroll, and picked it up. It looked like some of the spell scrolls that my parents had. Also like the ones in the archives in the school library. I wasn’t sure what to do.
“So, do I unroll it and cast the spell? Or what?” I asked. “If I can cast it, do I pass the test?”
“Go on and unroll it,” Cody said. “But that’s no spell on it.”
Not a spell? What was it then, his naughty and nice list? I unrolled it, and spread it out on the table. I was the size of a book, but a couple of feet long. And it was mostly blank. The only marking on it was a small ‘X’ at the bottom.
“So, what is this? What am I supposed to do with it?” I asked.
“It’s a map. They did teach you what a map is at that fancy school of yours, didn’t they?” Cody asked, with a smirk on his face.
Very funny. “Yes, I know
what a map is. But a map usually has, you know, directions, lines showing roads and highways, places of interest. There is nothing here but a small ‘X’ on the bottom.”
“Well, it’s good that you know what a map is. This is a special map. It has a special enchantment on it. The ‘X’ is where we are now. You are going to start from here, and find the ‘X’ on the other side of the scroll. That marks a spot of the item that I’ve hidden out there. Once you find it, you bring it back here to me. I want to know how well you follow directions and how good you are at adapting to new challenges. It’s important that you keep the map with you at all times, to guide you. As you walk along, more lines will appear, showing you the way. The closer you get to your destination, the more clear the lines will become.”
“What do you mean, like through the forest?”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Cody said.
A blank map that I was supposed to use to go through the forest to some unknown destination. That sounded pretty stupid to me.
“Well, are there animals out there? Like, ones that might eat me for dinner? I’m no girl scout. I don’t know anything about traipsing through the woods,” I replied.
“Well, now’s the perfect opportunity to gauge your skills.”
I didn’t like this. Not at all.
“Can I use magic?” I asked.
“You can use whatever you have to find your destination. In fact, I’m going to help you out with that,” Cody said.
“How?” I asked.
“Come over here,” he said, motioning to me.
I walked over to where he was at. He looked back at me, then pointed to a door at the back of the room.
“In there,” he said.
“What’s in there?” I asked. I wasn’t sure that i wanted to just walk into a room around here, not knowing what was in it.
“You have a hard time taking directions, don’t you?”
“I do when I don’t know you. Or trust you,” I replied.
“”Hmm,” Cody, said as he scratched his beard. “Fair enough.”
He then walked up to the door and opened it. Walking through the door, he looked back at me. “What are you waiting for, kid?”
