~~~
Krystal floated at a rather leisurely pace up the side of the administration building to the windows at the top of the Grand Hall. She had almost no experience of flying, having tried it only a couple of times, mostly to see whether she could. This was actually the highest she had ever been, but the magic inherent in every dragon seemed to be holding her up without trouble and, while a little nervous, she continued until she caught up with the others.
‘They’re all just standing there,’ Charlotte said, frowning in through the glass. ‘It’s like they’re asleep on their feet.’ Charlotte had, of course, been first to the windows.
Inside, all the students and the staff who were present were standing there in rows, facing the stage. They neither moved nor gave any indication of speaking. There was music; the misfits could hear that through the glass, a vibrant dance track of some sort though no one inside was dancing.
‘Not asleep,’ Krystal replied. ‘Controlled. Look at the stage.’
On the stage, Charity and her friends were arranged in a line and they were moving. The words were inaudible, but Charity was speaking and gesturing with her right hand. Her left hand was held out with the palm upward, fingers cupped, and a green spire of something not quite like flame held in it. As they watched, tendrils of greenish light flickered out across the hall, touching each and every one of the silent watchers. Charity’s cheerleaders had never deserved the name more: they were dancing, in a manner of speaking. It was more like writhing on the spot and it seemed to have something to do with whatever ritual Charity was performing.
‘Charity’s the necromancer?’ Felicia asked, disbelief apparent in her voice.
‘I don’t think so,’ Krystal said. ‘I’m not entirely sure Charity’s down there right now. Look at her eyes.’
There was something odd about Charity. ‘Are her eyes glowing?’ Trudy asked. ‘It could just be the light, but–’
Felicia, however, knew her the best. ‘Whatever that is, it is not Charity. She’s… I’m not sure exactly what I’m seeing that’s wrong, but it’s wrong. She moves… in an un-Charity-like manner. And she would never be seen dead in such a tacky outfit.’
‘I don’t think she’s dead,’ Krystal said. ‘Yet.’
‘You’re having a thought?’ Trudy said. ‘This time, don’t keep it a secret.’
‘No, I… Sorry. Okay, what if what I saw in that vision wasn’t you rising as a zombie? I’ve been so fixed on necromancy and undead, but what if that wasn’t it at all. What if what I saw was a possession? A zombie is, in some ways, a corpse possessed by magic, which is why their eyes glow, but… That’s beside the point. I think Charity is possessed. It makes sense. The sudden talent and now this. She’s been using a demon or spirit to boost her skill and power, and now it’s taken over. She’s a puppet. From the looks of it, her gang are possessed too, and whatever spirit is controlling her means to do the same with all the others.’
‘Why?’ Xanthe asked. ‘What does that get her?’
‘My guess is that the spirit is a necromancer, blocked from Necrodracona. It’ll fill them all with something similar, or bring over demons to take them. We could have near enough eight hundred powerful, malign magi wandering the streets.’
‘So we get the guards now?’
‘I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I don’t think there’s much the guards can do. If they get here before she finishes the spell, they might be able to contain them. Maybe. This has to be stopped here or there will be nothing to do aside from slaughtering the hosts.’
‘But you know how to stop them, don’t you, darling?’ Felicia asked, though it sounded more like a statement than a question.
‘Yes. Probably. Charley, you’re the fastest. How quickly can you get to Cragscales’ shop?’
‘A minute or two if I hustle,’ Charlotte replied. ‘What’s that–’
‘I need you to go there and tell him that I need Marianne Nightsky’s Defensive Magic. It’s a book in his special collection. He won’t want to give it to you. Explain the situation. Tell him to summon the city guardians. You get that book back here and we’ll try to end this before it gets out of hand.’
‘Go to the roof,’ Trudy said. ‘He lives on the top floor and there’s a door on the roof.’
‘Right,’ Charlotte said, and then she bolted up into the sky, arcing off toward Westlook.
‘We’re going to do that exorcism thing you said was in the book?’ Trudy asked.
‘Yes,’ Krystal replied. ‘All of us. It’ll need all of us and we’ll have to go in there to do it.’
‘We’re going in there?’ Xanthe asked, getting a nod from Krystal. ‘Okay, I’ll be right back. I’ve something in my room which might just come in useful.’
~~~
Charlotte overshot Silverlight Street and had to circle back, slowing as she did so. She had always been the kind of girl who preferred to do rather than think heavily about it and now that she was actually getting to do something, she was excited.
Excitement was not going to help persuade Cragscales that she needed that book, however, so she did her best to calm herself as she dropped onto the flat section of roof which had obviously been put there to give a dragon a place to land. The door Trudy had mentioned was right there beside it and Charlotte walked over to it and knocked. When there was no immediate response, she knocked harder. She was about to really put her fist into it when the door opened.
‘Charlotte Cloudborn?’ Cragscales said, frowning. ‘What on Draconia are you doing on my roof at this time of night?’
‘Krys sent me. She needs one of your books. Defensive Magic? By Mary Nightsky, or something like that.’
The old dragon’s frown deepened. ‘Krys sent you for that book? Now?’
Charlotte nodded. ‘She said I’d have to explain why, but she really needs it. There’s something going on at the school.’
Stepping aside, Cragscales waved her in. ‘You will, most certainly, need to explain, young lady. Come in. You can talk while we go down to the cupboard.’
~~~
Krystal was back on the ground, with Trudy, when Xanthe returned from her room. Felicia and Jesse were keeping watch on the hall. Xanthe was walking along, swinging something absently in one hand and, as she got closer, the something resolved into a pair of heavy-looking balls tied together with a leather cord perhaps three feet in length.
‘A bolas?’ Krystal asked, raising an eyebrow.
‘I learned to use them for catching animals relatively unharmed,’ Xanthe said. ‘I’m not exactly an expert, but I figure Charity’s girls aren’t going to just let us mess with their spell. I might be able to bring one down before they get near us.’
‘Anything’s worth a shot. I figure this spell is going to take me… twenty or thirty seconds to shape and cast. I won’t know exactly until I’ve read it through. You’ll all have to keep them off me until I can complete it.’
‘You said it took more than one person to cast,’ Trudy said.
‘Yes. It’s a difficult spell and I’ll need everyone’s help, but we’ll get to that when Charley comes back.’
18th Day of Midwinter.
It was just after midnight when Charlotte dropped onto the grass outside the administration building holding a leather-bound book. ‘I got it,’ she said, ‘and Cragscales is going to the palace to tell them what’s happening.’
‘They won’t get here in time,’ Krystal said. ‘I estimate we’ve got about ten minutes before she completes her spell.’
Charlotte lifted the book but did not hand it over. ‘He says this will stop it, but…’
‘But?’
‘But he said the spell you need is necromantic.’
Krystal nodded. ‘All right, everyone listen because we don’t have much time and you all have to be with me on this. This book has a ritual in it which will free anyone in there that’s possessed and, hopefully, destroy whatever is possessing them. It’s big and it’s difficult, and I’ll ne
ed all of you to lend me your strength if I’m going to cast it. But it’s necromancy. The things in there will only respond to necromancy. We could all get into serious trouble for doing this.’
‘B-but if we don’t,’ Jesse said, ‘we have a school full of dangerous magi coming out of that hall in t-ten minutes.’
‘And about all the guards will be able to do is cut them down,’ Trudy added.
‘And I don’t know how this connects to Glinda,’ Charlotte said, ‘but it does and putting a spanner in this necromancer’s gears is kind of what I live for at the moment.’
Krystal looked around at Xanthe. ‘Oh, Narra’s golden lariat, girl! Of course I’m in.’
‘And so am I,’ Felicia said. ‘Frankly, my reputation can’t get worse for a little necromancy and… and those girls used to be my friends.’ She gave a small shrug. ‘And there’s the matter of getting out of this alive, which I feel shouldn’t be ignored. I’m sure we all have more chance of that if you get to work as soon as possible.’
‘So, get on with it,’ Trudy added.
‘Give me the book,’ Krystal said, and as soon as Charlotte did, she opened it and began reading through the spell she needed. ‘Yeah, ouch, this is going to draw some spectacular power over the planar boundary.’ She looked up. ‘It’s going to hurt. We’ll be lucky if we’re standing after it goes off.’
‘Good,’ Trudy said. ‘That way we won’t be conscious if it fails and we get murdered by schoolgirls.’
‘You are not that much of an optimist.’
‘Actually, I’m assuming it will work, so I’m more of an optimist than that.’
‘Huh, okay, let’s get moving. I don’t think anyone will notice us until we get into the middle and start the spell, but… Well, be ready. Just keep them back until it’s done.’
They moved at a walk, but a fast one, to the main doors of the building and down the short corridor to the doors of the Grand Hall. For a brief second, Krystal worried that the doors might be locked, but they opened when Charlotte pushed on them and there was no reaction from the gathering within as the six girls slipped inside and began to thread their way through the rows of soon-to-be victims. The only sound now was the crackle of magic: the music had stopped, but the streamers of green light lashed out more frequently and with greater energy, hissing through the air and leaving sparks in their wake. None of the streamers touched the newcomers, however; they just danced among the mesmerised girls and the various members of staff trapped with them. Krystal saw Martine Bluedrake, the lab supervisor, standing among the others, as entranced as everyone else, a look of blank incomprehension on her face as though she had seen what was happening to her and simply could not understand it. In truth, whatever magic the thing inside Charity was working, it was not something Krystal understood, despite all she had learned.
Pausing in the centre of the room, Krystal looked across toward the stage. Charity’s arms were raised now and the column of green energy in her left palm stood a good three feet high. The ritual was coming to a climax and Krystal was going to have to work fast. As the others fanned out around her, Krystal opened the book again and began to read, fixing the symbols of the spell into her mind with care and working to cement their meaning into reality as she did so. She was, perhaps, five seconds in when a shudder passed through the mesmerised host and a shockwave of green light blasted out from the stage. Apart from the six misfits and the six on the stage, everyone in the room collapsed onto the floor in an apparent dead faint.
‘Here we go,’ Charlotte muttered, but Krystal ignored her, continuing to read and shape her will.
Still there was no response from the stage as the six reeled in the aftermath of the spell they had worked. Charity was on her knees, breathing hard and, from the looks of it, barely able to keep herself from total collapse, but she raised her head finally and saw the group of six in the middle of the room. ‘Stop them! No one must get in the way of my revenge!’
Her gang of cheerleaders lurched forward, stumbling at first, but gathering themselves enough to charge forward. The first of them was dropped as Xanthe’s bolas flew out and wrapped around her legs. Despite the impact, the girl made not a sound as she tumbled forward, rolling with the fall, but she was out of the fight until she could untangle her legs. The others rushed in, but it was now four against five.
Neither Felicia nor Jesse were accomplished fighters, but they worked together, dragging one of the girls down and holding her while Charlotte and Xanthe demonstrated that they were quite good with their fists. Trudy was not that good, but she had learned what she knew on the street. She dodged a punch to the face, dropped, and rolled into her opponent, knocking the other girl down. Then, while her victim was still trying to figure out what had happened, Trudy leaped onto the girl’s back and sank fangs into flesh. There was a scream of pain and a lot of flailing, and Krystal did her absolute best to ignore all that was happening around her as her mind worked through the complex series of symbols in her book.
‘Ancestors!’ Felicia shrieked. ‘They’re getting up!’
Krystal ignored the warning, but she saw movement in the corners of her eyes and knew that, around her, dragons were beginning to rise, almost certainly possessed by spirits which would not want her to complete her spell.
Charity’s voice screamed out from the stage. ‘Now! Now you will see! Lorenzo Darkmoon will have his revenge. My will is supreme!’
There was movement all around her now. Trudy’s voice intruded into the buzzing space in Krystal’s mind which was now so full of magic. ‘Krys! Hurry! You have to–’
Trudy’s voice cut off suddenly and Krystal felt a hand, heavy and uncoordinated as its owner tried to gain control of its new form, land on her shoulder. But it was too late. Krystal raised her own hand in a fist which blazed with silver light shot through with bolts of red, blue, magenta… ‘My will is supreme!’ she screamed, and the world exploded around her.
~~~
There were voices. Two voices impinged slowly upon Krystal’s consciousness, pulling her up from a sleep so deep it felt almost like drowning.
‘I’m sure he said he was Lorenzo Darkmoon.’
‘It’s not impossible. That one knew much of the darkest arts when he was alive and may have picked up more since.’
‘And possessing his own kin had to be easier than someone else.’
‘Perhaps. I’ve never studied the mechanics of such things. However, I believe someone else is stirring…’
Krystal opened her eyes and found herself looking at Celestina Nightsky, who was sitting on the edge of her bed. ‘What?’ Krystal said, blinking. ‘How did–’
‘Oh, thank the ancestors!’ Trudy said, and Krystal turned her head to see her friend sitting up in her own bed, the sheets pulled up over her chest. ‘I was beginning to worry you’d never come round.’
Shuffling herself into a sitting position while attempting to keep her own breasts covered, Krystal grumbled. ‘I’m not as tough as you. It took more out of me.’
‘I’m sure it did,’ Celestina said, ‘but before you continue, let me tell you what happened last night.’ Krystal frowned, but the woman went on without a pause. ‘Fearing that the guardians would not arrive in time, the six of you rushed in after summoning help. You disrupted the ritual by knocking Charity Darkmoon and her friends unconscious before they could complete it. That is why you are all the heroes of the moment.’
‘But–’
‘But the actual story would bring far too many questions and some inquiries which you do not wish made. I took possession of the grimoire you used before the guards could find it, and I will ensure that it is returned to Silas. He’s aware of what has happened and is not expecting you in work today.’
Krystal nodded. ‘Thank you, Celestina Nightsky.’
‘I believe, young lady, that we’re past that level of formality. You’ve saved my school, you and your friends. I believe that, at least in private, you may call me Celestina.’
&nb
sp; ‘Thank you, Celestina. My friends call me Krys. Uh, what happened to Charity? I think Trudy was right: it was Lorenzo Darkmoon possessing her. I don’t think she can really be held responsible for what she did.’
Celestina’s smile had a slightly malicious edge to it. ‘Of course, she cannot be held responsible for ruining the ball. There will be no punishment handed out for that. Indeed, if the spell you performed worked as intended, those immediately responsible have been punished for their crimes, quite harshly at that. However, she shows all the signs of the distortion of spirit which results from taking the aid of her ancestor’s dark spirit. She will continue at the school and we will help her, but she will be banned from working any magic save for the ritual of cleansing to rebalance herself. It could be months before she enters a lab again and I do fear her work will suffer.’
‘That is such a shame,’ Trudy said. ‘Why, it’s terrible that such a promising girl should fall behind for so trivial a matter as, you know, trying to destroy the city.’
Celestina gave her a look. ‘Try to sound a little more sincere when you say that in the future.’
‘I’ll get Krystal to give me some acting lessons.’
‘Not a bad idea. In the meanwhile, your friends have missed the train up to Appleyard so I’ve laid on a coach which will be taking them north this afternoon. Charlotte Cloudborn is staying here in halls. I take it neither of you needs to be transported anywhere?’
‘I’ll be staying here too,’ Krystal said. ‘I think Trudy–’
‘I’ll be back in Greystone,’ Trudy said. ‘I’m going to see about inviting Krys to visit for Midwinter Night at least. I’d invite Charley too, but we don’t have the biggest of houses.’
‘I’m sure things will sort themselves out. It seems you have things planned quite well anyway.’ Celestina got to her feet. ‘I shall leave you to dress and get yourselves organised. The others are all awake. I should take things easy, both of you, for a day or two. We healed you of some of the damage that spell did to you, but it will be a few days before you’re fully fixed. Be warned.’
‘We’ll rest,’ Krystal said. Her muscles were aching just from sitting upright. ‘I assure you, we’ll rest.’
Misfit Magic (Misfits Book 1) Page 22
