The Orb of Kandra

by Morgan Rice

Even more disconcerting was the fact he could see absolutely nothing. It took every ounce of Oliver’s bravery not to panic.

  This is a vision, he reminded himself.

  Finally, he felt his feet hit the bottom of the well. He stopped sinking and came to a gentle halt. He glanced about but there was nothing to see. The blackness was impenetrable.

  Then, suddenly, a blindingly bright light flashed on. Oliver turned his face, covering his eyes with his arm. The light was so bright it hurt. Tears sprang into his eyes.

  Once he’d blinked the dots from his eyes, he turned back. And there it was. The Orb of Kandra.

  Oliver immediately felt the tug in his heart that he’d felt the first time he’d laid eyes upon an orb. It was his primal instinct as a seer to protect it at all costs.

  He reached for it, but found his fingers went straight through. The orb was not real. Of course not. But Oliver still felt bitter disappointment that he couldn’t cradle it safely in his hands.

  Forcing away every instinct in his body, Oliver watched the scene unfold.

  The Orb of Kandra floated in the blackness. It looked just like an infant universe, the ones that floated through the sixth dimension.

  Then other lights appeared around the well. Tiny galaxies. Oliver realized he was watching the formation of the Milky Way. This Milky Way. And right at its center was the Orb of Kandra, as important to this dimension as the sun was to the earth.

  Oliver watched on, breathless with awe, as the scene around the Orb transformed.

  It now showed him the Orb of Kandra in her special place in Professor Amethyst’s office, resting on the plinth in the sixth dimension. Seeing her in her rightful position made Oliver’s heart soar with gladness.

  He watched as the school formed around the Orb, a process that he realized now had not been chosen or designed, but had happened spontaneously. The school existed around the Orb. For the Orb. Not the other way around. They could not exist without one another. They were one and the same.

  That’s when it happened. Oliver saw with terrifying clarity the moment the Obsidians stormed the school. They had not come from a breach in the walls, as Lucas’s rogues had, nor from a hole blasted into the dimensional wall like Lucas’s bomb had been intending to create. The Obsidians gained entrance directly into the sixth dimension using an Obsidian knife.

  Oliver gasped. He’d known Ralph’s weapon was dangerous but seeing it in action was quite another thing. His heart called out in pain as he watched the very fabric of reality being slowly sliced open. It was wrong. So very wrong. The weapon was extremely dark and powerful, he realized now, and Ralph had been right to refuse to use it back in the pub. No wonder Professor Amethyst usually kept it under lock and key. The weapon had far too much power. In the wrong hands it could be used for evil means.

  He watched on now as the cleave between the fabric of dimensions was ripped open more and more to allow the Obsidians to seep inside. It was like watching termites crawling out their hill. Oliver tasted bile in his throat.

  The students worked in perfect harmony. It took three of them working with delicate precision to even remove the Orb from its plinth. The second they did, the sixth dimension began to shake.

  Oliver, too, felt the ground shaking beneath him. It was a horrible feeling, one that caused a deep ache in his chest, for he knew that this was what his friends and teachers must be feeling at the School for Seers right now. He wanted nothing more than to stop them right there and then. But it was just a vision. He had no power.

  The students only touched the Orb for one second at a time, passing it along the chain quickly like it could burn their flesh if they held it for too long. Then it was passed through the slice in the dimensional fabric. The students scurried after it, disappearing back through the gap as quickly as they’d come through.

  Oliver watched on, hopelessly, as the gap was closed and the light from the Orb suffocated. It left nothing behind but the shaking ground. It was the loneliest, scariest feeling in the world.

  Suddenly, the scene changed. Oliver was looking down at a dark building, like a Gothic castle. Inside, a group of Obsidians were celebrating. A terrifying-looking woman in a long black cape seemed to be leading the whole procession. And there, in a golden cage, the Orb of Kandra was chained down. As if it were a sentient being, the Orb thrashed in its chains, ricocheting off the sides of its magical prison. Its movements seemed to delight the woman, who watched it while laughing with maniacal glee.

  Then he watched as the woman pulled out her Obsidian knife. Knowing now the truth of its power, Oliver felt himself tremble at the mere sight of it.

  The woman raised her arm, holding the knife high above her head. Then she brought it down in one crashing motion, piercing right into the heart of the Orb.

  A sound like none Oliver had ever heard before filled his ears. It was like an agonizing scream, a thunder clap, a crashing wave, a runaway train, nails on a chalkboard, all the worst noises at once. He knew right away it was the sound of the Orb of Kandra dying. He felt his heart break.

  The shaking began immediately. He forced his eyes open, even though his vision was now swimming with tears, to watch the rest of the horrifying scene.

  The woman was holding the dead Orb in her hands. It was no longer glowing white, but black like a lump of coal. But her expression was no longer gleeful. Oliver realized then that the shaking was happening to her too. It was evident that something she had not envisaged was taking place, that destroying the Orb had had some kind of profound effect on her own reality she’d not been anticipating.

  Then everything began collapsing in on itself. In a swirling vortex, everything began to circle around the lump of dead Orb in her hand. Oliver gasped as he realized what he was looking at. The Orb had turned into a black hole and was sucking everything into it.

  He watched, horrified, as everything collapsed and fell into the vacuum of the black hole. Then the final point of light disappeared and everything was black.

  She had destroyed everything. Not just the School for Seers and the dimension it sat in, but her own school, her own dimension.

  Suddenly it all made sense in Oliver’s mind. The woman hadn’t known it when she killed the Orb that she’d be destroying herself too. It had been mutually assured destruction. The schools could not exist without one another. The Obsidians were the shadows to Amethyst’s light. The evil to their good. They balanced one another. Neither could exist without the other.

  Suddenly, the scene before Oliver flickered like an old movie reel. The school appeared again. There was the woman with the Obsidian knife. The Orb was caged before her.

  Oliver realized this must be a different timeline. The same event from another parallel dimension.

  “Let us hide the Orb,” the woman announced. “Somewhere they’ll never think to look.”

  Clearly, she’d learned her lesson about the schools needing one another to exist. This time, she was going to hide the Orb instead of destroying it.

  He watched as she used the knife to create a slice in the fabric of time. Then she slid the Orb inside, like it was in a small pocket within dimensions.

  Before Oliver had a chance to work out where that may be, he was suddenly surrounded by a rainbow of light. Immediately, he recalled Newton’s laboratory and the spinning prism that split light into its rainbow components. Why was the vision well showing him this?

  As he glanced about him at the rays of light, a sudden strange golden tree began to grow up from the ground.

  Something clicked in Oliver’s mind. He remembered the alchemy experiments Newton had been conducting, the recipe he’d been working on that turned metal into a structure that resembled the branches of a tree.

  Was this the same thing? Newton’s experiments had yielded only very small quantities. This tree was fully grown and growing by the second.

  Oliver staggered back as the tree grew taller and taller. Soon, its branches were thick and strong, bursting through the very bricks arou
nd him. The room started to shudder.

  Oliver tried not to succumb to his fear, reminding himself it was just a vision. But watching the bricks of the well fall and splash into the dark water all around him was scary.

  Suddenly, a bright white light appeared at the top of the well. Oliver felt his heart tug toward it. He knew, right away, that it was the Orb of Kandra.

  Then it began to fall, bouncing from one branch to the next.

  As it softly fell toward him, Oliver stared at it, his heart soaring. But he had to remind himself this wasn’t real. This was just a vision. The real Orb was still hidden somewhere. And he still had to decipher what the vision well was trying to tell him.

  Suddenly, the Orb of Kandra fell from the last branch and bopped Oliver on the head. As it did, the answer came to him in a sudden burst of inspiration.

  Newton’s alchemist tree had the power to break through the Orb of Kandra’s invisible prison walls! Wherever the woman had hidden it, whatever dimension it had been tucked away in, Newton’s tree would grow toward it and free it from it prison!

  No sooner had Oliver thought it, than the well began to bubble. The water beneath him began to surge, pushing him upward. Then, in a huge wave, it pushed him over the edges of the well.

  He flopped at the feet of his friends. He was surprised to discover he was bone dry.

  They all peered down at him: Esther, Ralph, Michael, and Samuel.

  “Oliver!” Esther cried. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded. He was a little shaken from the whole experience, and very wet, but overall he was filled with motivation and a sudden sense of clarity.

  “I know how to find the Orb of Kandra,” he told them.

  “How?” Esther asked.

  “We’ll need Newton’s help.”

  Esther looked exasperated.

  “Newton? You mean the person we left to come here?” She looked frustrated. Exhausted. Oliver couldn’t blame her. It was a frustrating situation to be in.

  “Don’t worry. This won’t fail. The well showed me exactly what to do.”

  “Then let’s waste no time,” Ralph said, standing. “It’s a long way back to Newton’s house from here.”

  “You can tell us what you saw on the way,” Michael added.

  Everyone ran through the corridors, heading for the exit of the school. Then they burst out into the now black evening.

  Oliver shivered as they wove their way through the hidden streets toward the city of London.

  But just as they turned the corner, they bumped right into someone standing at the entrance to the alleyway. And when the figure turned, everyone gasped with shock.

  Standing before them was Isaac Newton.

  CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

  Chris looked up at the fancy-looking manor house. He’d seen pictures of this type of building in history class. The doors were even shorter in real life.

  “Come on then,” he said, bolstering forward. “Let’s see if Oliver’s here.”

  He took hold of the shiny gold door knocker and thunked it down repeatedly. The noise was so loud it echoed through the entire street. Chris grinned to himself as he kept hammering the knocker over and over again.

  Suddenly, the door opened. A butler stood there, dressed in the fanciest clothes for the period. Chris couldn’t even hold in his laughter. The man looked ridiculous. He was wearing tights!

  “Yes?” the man asked, gazing at the group of children with a suspicious expression.

  “We’re looking for someone,” Chris said. “We think he might be here. Tiny kid, about this high.” He indicated with his hand where Oliver came up to his shoulder. “Sappy thing. Mouse-like.”

  The butler barely reacted. “Do you mean the young man who came to visit Master Newton? Accompanied by a girl and taller boy?”

  Chris clicked his fingers. “That’s the one!”

  He went to step into the house but the butler blocked his path.

  “Excuse me,” the butler said gruffly. “You cannot just enter the house like that.”

  He had a very snooty expression, one that rubbed Chris the wrong way.

  Chris narrowed his eyes. “I don’t think you should try and stop me, old man.”

  The butler did not look fazed. Clearly, he’d had his fair share of unsavory guests knocking on this door attempting to enter. A bunch of kids didn’t scare him.

  “Your friends are not here,” the butler said, crossing his arms.

  Chris’s jaw instantly tensed.

  “Where did they go?” he asked, his teeth starting to grind together.

  “I don’t know,” the butler replied. “They were in Master Newton’s company for a matter of minutes earlier today. Then they left.”

  Before Chris had a chance to ask any more questions, the door was slammed in his face.

  He turned to face his gang. He noticed the snicker Malcolm wasn’t even attempting to hide. Fury crackled through his veins.

  “Right, we’re going to capture Newton,” Chris said suddenly.

  Malcolm scoffed. “What? Why?”

  Chris glowered at him. “Now who’s stupid? Because this Newton guy must be important if Oliver was here earlier! If we kidnap him, Oliver will try to save him. Instead of chasing Oliver, it will bring him right to us. That little sap could never leave one of his friends in danger, even if it meant sacrificing himself.” He rolled his eyes.

  Without waiting for any more discussion, Chris turned back and grabbed the door knocker. He tapped into his powers, something he seemed to now be able to do more easily, and the door handle melted and dripped down the wood.

  From behind, he heard the gang grow more excited. At last they were going to unleash some mayhem. And since it would be against humans rather than other seers, there was no way they could lose.

  With his heavy boot, Chris kicked the door in. It went flying off its hinges and splintered against the wall.

  The butler appeared, hurrying into the hall. Chris held out his hand and shot a jet of acid right into the man’s chest. The butler’s clothes began to sizzle as he went shooting backward. He hit the wall and slid to the floor. He was out cold.

  Chris stomped into the house, the Obsidian students bringing up the rear. Then the gang stormed through the corridor. Chris shot sludge at the artwork hanging on the walls, destroying all the fancy European paintings just for the fun of it. One of his gang made the chandelier explode with a bolt of lightning. Another shot flames from his fingertips, singeing the wall paper.

  They marched on, unleashing chaos as they went. Coming from the door at the end they could hear what sounded like a party. Chris marched right up to it and kicked it open.

  It banged against the wall loudly, making everyone inside the parlor jump. Silence fell. The room was filled with lots of distinguished gentlemen holding plates of sliced banana, coffee cups on saucers, and wine glasses. They stared at the sudden intruders.

  “Evening, gents,” Chris said, bringing his hands up to his waist. “Which one of you is Newton?”

  CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

  “Sir Newton?” Oliver stammered. “What are you doing here?”

  The scientist looked out of place in the sinister dark alleyways of London rather than his cozy parlor.

  Isaac Newton looked sheepish. “I followed you. I wanted to see the shrouded school for myself.” He sighed heavily. “You see, the rest of the Alchemists Guild are… well, they’re starting to doubt me. I’ve failed in all my alchemy experiments so far. People are starting to call me a quack. I thought if I found the school they might not kick me out.”

  In Oliver’s mind’s eye he recalled what he’d seen in the vision well. “You’re not a quack at all.”

  Newton’s eyebrows quirked upward. “What do you mean?”

  “Your alchemy work,” Oliver said, deliberating momentarily over whether it was prudent to divulge what he’d just seen. “You’re on the right track. In fact, I think it’s your recipe that will help us find the Orb of Kandra.”<
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  Newton’s eyes widened. “So I’m right? My experiments will bear fruit?” He puffed up his chest with pride. There seemed to be a sudden shift in him. Back at his manor house he’d come across as somewhat scattered, almost on the edge of a nervous breakdown. But now he seemed determined. Focused. “What do you need me to do?”

  Oliver paused for a moment. He needed Newton to create one of his alloys, the one he’d seen in the vision. But Newton’s lab was miles away. It would be a long trek and they were running out of time.

  He looked at Michael. “Do you have a lab at the school?”

  Michael nodded. “Yes. For potion class.”

  “Can we use it?”

  Michael and Samuel nodded.

  Everyone headed back into the school. Newton in particular seemed to be thrilled to be inside the mysterious shrouded school. As they hurried through the corridors, Oliver explained what he’d seen in the vision well. Newton listened with rapt attention, his expression growing more excited with every step.

  The laboratory was in the basement. They descended several stone staircases before they hurried inside. It had a very creepy vibe. Like a torture chamber.

  But Newton did not seem fazed. He strolled right in, pushing up his shirt sleeves. He seemed suddenly very focused in a way he hadn’t appeared before. He was clearly in his element.

  “Right. I will need a source of flame, glass beakers, tubes.”

  Michael and Samuel scurried off to the closets around the side of the laboratories.

  “What metals do you have?” Newton asked Oliver.

  Oliver frowned. “None. I mean, there’s some copper on my compass. And this amulet is made of silver.” He took out the amulet from Professor Amethyst.

  Newton shook his head. “No. No. That won’t do.”

  Ralph spoke up. “What about this?”

  Everyone turned to look at him. He was holding out the Obsidian knife. Seeing it again made Oliver’s spine tingle. After what he’d seen it do in the vision well he never wanted to see one ever again.

  Newton’s eyes widened. “What is that made off?”