The name Angelina Nightengale was on it. “Where she’s from, you have to have a little card with your picture on it to drive things. Imagine if we had to give these things to people driving carts here!” Chief Bollinger said.
Riordan saw the words “Florida Driver’s License” written on the card, and it surprised him. Florida was the word that was used to melt the snow off the doors to the Pyraxia Library and the Pyraxia Vault. All Knowledge Sorcerers knew the word to open the doors, but only they knew what it was.
“This is how we figured out the woman’s name,” Chief Bollinger said as he pointed to the name written on the card. He put the card back in the leather pouch. “Then, there’s this thing.” He dug around in the bag and pulled out a small, black, rectangular-shaped object. “What do you suppose this is?” He handed it to Riordan.
“I-I don’t know,” Riordan said.
He pressed a button at the bottom of it, and suddenly the front of it lit up brightly. He panicked and dropped it on the floor. A clear piece of glass suddenly popped off upon hitting the stones and broke into ten different pieces. “Well, there went that,” Riordan mumbled.
“Now we’ll never know what that was! It could have been anything!” Chief Bollinger whimpered, panicking.
Riordan reached in the large bag and pulled out a thick book with a strange title. Its pages were wrinkled up, and it was evident that it had soaked in water.
“Oh, boy, I sure am tired. It’s been a long day,” the chief said, yawning. He sat down in his chair.
Riordan reached in the bag and pulled out a strange garment that had long sleeves and strange metal teeth along both sides of it. What’s this? he wondered as he looked at the metal thing that hung on the bottom of it. “This looks like a kind of garment,” Riordan observed. He shoved it back in the bag.
The chief yawned and said, “Well, I think I’d better take a nap.”
Good, the potion is working. Riordan thought. He just hoped that the guards on Angelina’s cell block had also eaten the sleeping potion. Riordan walked to the cell block where Angelina was. He saw the young woman from the driver’s license picture bound to the bars of a cell with a pair of iron handcuffs. The guards who’re supposed to be watching the inmates on that cellblock were lying on the ground, sleeping soundly. One was snoring so loud that Riordan thought there was no way anyone could sleep through the noise unless they were drugged.
“Excuse me, but are you Angelina Nightengale?” Riordan whispered.
“Who wants to know?” the woman grumbled, obviously irritated by her situation.
“I’m here to help. My name is Riordan Firedorn,” Riordan replied.
“Yeah, you would say that, wouldn’t you? Even though you are wearing the uniform of those who want to kill me?” The woman eyed him with suspicion.
Riordan smiled and said, “Well, I’ll prove it to you.” He pulled the bottle of Blue Morpho powder out of his pants pocket. “Go fly to a restaurant called The Broken Wagon. A young woman wearing a hooded cloak is sitting by herself at one of the outdoor tables. Look for her. Two glasses of sugar water are the sign that she is the one you are to look for. She will keep you safe.”
Angelina’s eyes widened. “Fly?” she asked.
He smiled and said, “Yeah, well, I’ve heard that you can.”
“I could for a few minutes, but ever since I’ve been in here, I’m back to my old magic-less self.”
“They probably drugged you with iron.”
“Iron?” Angelina’s face scrunched up in disbelief.
“I’ll explain later.”
Riordan unscrewed the cap to the bottle of powder and dumped it on Angelina. He watched her turn into a beautiful blue butterfly and fly out the window. I hope she finds Willow.
As he was walking out of the building, he stopped by the chief’s office. Chief Bollinger was sleeping at his desk. Riordan picked up Angelina’s bags and walked back to The Broken Wagon.
Willow sat and waited for a very long time for Riordan to return. She was relieved when she saw a bright blue butterfly flying through the air. The butterfly landed on the edge of one of the glasses and stuck its proboscis into the sugar water.
“You must be Angelina!” Willow said.
The butterfly did not answer. Willow remembered that she could not speak to anyone when she was a butterfly. She wondered if she looked silly, talking to a butterfly. “If you are Angelina, would you sit on my shoulder when you finish eating?” Willow asked. If it really was Angelina, and she could still understand Willow in her butterfly form, perhaps she would do as Willow asked. When the butterfly finished eating, it flew up to Willow’s shoulder and landed on it. “Thank you!”
A few minutes later, she saw Riordan walking down the street, carrying a large brown bag and a paper bag. “I got us sandwiches for supper,” Riordan said, holding up the paper bag. He looked at the butterfly and said, “I see you found Sheila.” He looked at Willow. “We need to get out of the village. She has forty-five minutes before she turns back.”
Willow stood up from her chair. Riordan untied the two horses from the post. Willow saddled Starfire, and Riordan saddled his horse. He led the other horse by the reins.
Angelina rode on Willow’s shoulder as they headed out of the village. When they were out of earshot, Willow pulled her hood off her head. She turned to Riordan and said, “I want to thank you for saving my mom and me.”
Riordan smiled. “You’re welcome.”
“Unfortunately, my mother did not survive. The police found us later that evening, and they killed her.”
Riordan’s face fell. “I’m so sorry!”
“So, will they eventually figure out that you are behind the disappearances of inmates?”
Riordan shrugged. “Maybe at some point.” He took a deep breath and said, “Right now, my priority is watching over you and Angelina and getting the two of you to safety. I’m sorry I took so long. I had to get us something to eat for supper and buy a bag to put her things in so that no one would grow suspicious.”
Willow could feel the small butterfly on her shoulder growing heavier. A shapeless mass fell to the ground and began growing and transforming.
Man, I hope I didn’t look like that when I was changing back into a human! Willow thought.
The shapeless mass eventually formed the shape of a beautiful woman with long, wavy light-brown hair. She was wearing odd clothing, the likes of which Willow had never seen before. Angelina stood up and dusted off her clothes. She grinned, looked up at Riordan, and said, “Thank you for saving me!”
“You’re welcome,” Riordan replied. He pointed at Willow. “Angelina, this is Willow.”
“You said her name was Sheila,” Angelina replied.
“Her name is Willow. She doesn’t want to use her real name when we are in villages because she, too, is wanted by the police for using magic.”
“Hi, Angelina!” Willow said, smiling.
“I have so many questions.”
“I’ll bet you do!” Willow laughed.
“Questions like how did I get here, and what was that black dust that made me so weak?” Angelina asked.
Riordan said, “You probably got here through an inter-dimensional crack. Five hundred years ago, magic was banished from Ethermoor. All of the fairies and sorcerers were sent to other realms. This was done to stop the spread of the influence of the evil warlock Tareth. The fairy queen Zadelia placed a spell on the realm so that Tareth couldn’t return. In the centuries after the banishment, cracks started to form. Some believe a single cataclysmic event happened at some point, and cracks started forming in the spell afterward, allowing fairies and magic to return to Ethermoor to some extent. A friend of mine came from Florida as well.”
“Really?” Angelina gasped. “Wait, how did you know that I’m from Florida?”
“The Hallowdorn Chief of Police went through your bag. He found a little card with your picture on it. Your name was next to your picture, and that’s how we figu
red out what your name was. The words ‘Florida Driver’s License’ were written next to it. My friend told me about having lived in Florida.”
“What’s your friend’s name?” Angelina asked.
“His name is Tristan. He crossed over a long time ago. I can take you to him. He might be able to help you in some way. He is a full fairy, and a very powerful one.”
“Oh, thank you! I want to get back home!” Angelina said, relieved.
This story was identical to the one passed down through Angelina’s father’s family. She didn’t really believe it before, but upon seeing that Ethermoor was a real place, she couldn’t deny that there was truth to it.
Angelina struggled to wrap her mind around what she was hearing. There was a family legend that her ring could enable someone to travel to different worlds, but the ring didn’t work. She held out her left hand and pointed to the ring. “This is a family heirloom of mine. The story that my family has passed down was that my ancestor was Queen Zadelia of the Ethermoorian Fairies. It had belonged to an evil sorcerer named Tareth, and she took it with her during the banishment. It helped him travel to different worlds.”
Riordan’s eyes widened as he stared at the ring. “Wow! That is . . . definitely something! These are the fairy runes that stand for the different realms.” He pointed to each of the odd symbols on the ring.
“I honestly didn’t believe the story until today,” Angelina said. “What was that odd powder they used to weaken me?”
Willow said, “That was iron powder. They use it to weaken fairies and sorcerers. My mom and I were injected with it when they arrested us.”
Angelina raised her eyebrow. “Iron powder? Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“Does Ethermoorian iron hurt magical people? Iron didn’t bother me in America.”
Riordan said, “Magic doesn’t exist in your realm. Therefore, iron didn’t hurt you there. Tristan told me that he could touch iron there. You really should wear gloves if you have any.”
Angelina noticed that Willow and Riordan were both wearing gloves.
Riordan reached into the new bag and pulled out both of Angelina’s bags. “Here are your bags.”
Angelina smiled, took her bags from him, and said, “Thank you!”
“You’re welcome!” Riordan said.
She rummaged through her purse and carry-on bag. Everything she had brought with her was there. Her phone, however, was completely shattered.
“What was that odd little black box that lit up by pressing a button?” Riordan asked.
“Are you talking about my cell phone?” Angelina responded.
“I have no idea what that is.”
“It’s something that we have in my world that we use to communicate with people who are far away.”
Riordan’s eyes widened. “How does it do that?”
“Well, it’s hard to explain. I would show it to you, but something shattered it.”
Riordan sighed and said, “Well, that ‘something’ was me. The police chief wanted me to examine your things. When I pressed a button on the box, a light went on. It scared me so badly that I dropped it.”
Angelina burst out laughing at the thought of a cell phone screen terrifying someone. Her phone must have started working after it had dried out inside.
“That was just it turning on! The screen lights up!” she cackled.
“Well, I’m sorry,” Riordan said, smiling weakly.
She pulled her jacket out of her carry-on bag, unzipped a pocket, took her gloves out, and put them on.
“What is that garment?” Riordan asked.
“It’s called a jacket. You wear it when it’s cold outside. It’s a good thing that I always keep a pair of gloves in the pocket!” Angelina said.
She looked inside her purse and opened the compartment she had placed the copper pennies in to see if they were still there. They were not, and she started to panic, thinking the police had stolen her copper. Then, she heard the sound of metal clinking coming from inside the lining at the bottom of her purse. Angelina looked in the compartment again and saw a hole had torn in the fabric. She took all her things out of her purse and put them in her carry-on bag.
As Angelina emptied her purse, Willow saw an unusual pamphlet with a picture of the same flying object that Victor said had abducted them when she was doing the memory wipes with Desdemona and Ambrosia!
“What is that?” Willow asked as she pointed at the pamphlet.
Angelina eyed her quizzically. “What? The pamphlet from the airplane I was riding?”
“A picture of that thing was in a book about unidentified flying objects that Victor had!” Willow gasped.
“Weird. Perhaps people from my world have already come here?” Angelina asked. She remembered what Riordan had said about Tristan. “When I crossed from my world into Ethermoor, all of the other passengers on the plane just disappeared. I was the only one who came.”
“I don’t know. There are accounts of sorcerers crossing into the realms in such objects, and they usually say the other people inside them disappear,” Riordan said.
Angelina shook her purse, and all ten of her pennies fell out of the hole in the liner and onto the ground. “Thank goodness my money is still here!” she said, picking her pennies up off the ground. Willow’s and Riordan’s eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of their sockets.
“That’s . . . that’s copper!” Riordan stammered as he pointed at the coins.
“Where did you get those?” Willow gasped.
Angelina chuckled. “Funny, this is the lowest form of currency we have in my country. We get these coins at banks!” Angelina said.
“What country are you from?” Willow asked.
“I am from the United States of America.”
“That’s where my great-great-grandmother came from!”
“Yes, I am trying to get back there,” Angelina said.
“That country is in another universe, a universe where magic doesn’t exist,” Riordan said.
“Do you call it the Kalmovar Universe? That is what my family told me the name of my universe was.”
Rordan’s eyes widened. “You know the names of the universes?” he asked, apparently surprised at how much she knew.
“Yes. There are eight known universes. Morvogoth, Mandaria, Danvorian, Halvaroth, Janiria, Zanzomina, Yanrith, and Kalmovar.”
“What else do you know about sorcery and Ethermoor?” Riordan asked.
Angelina thought for a moment. She had told them all of the information about Ethermoor that her family had passed down through the centuries. “That’s all I know.”
She was hungry, and she smelled a sweet aroma coming from a white paper bag. “What’s in there?” she asked.
“Oh, that’s our supper. Are you hungry?” Riordan asked.
“I’m starving,” Angelina said.
The three of them walked over to a fallen log and sat down. “I brought a horse with me for you to ride so that you don’t have to walk. Her name is Sugarplum,” Riordan said.
“I have a confession to make,” Angelina said.“I have never ridden a horse in my life.”
“What? How?” Riordan gasped.
“We have these things called cars that we use to go from one place to another where I am from. They’re made of metal and you ride inside of them.”
Riordan crinkled his nose and said, “Well, that sounds weird.”
“It’s not! You two are just going to have to come see Kalmovar if I find out how to get back there! There are all kinds of things that are different there than they apparently are here! You’ll get to see how cell phones work!” Angelina said, giggling. Willow and Riordan smiled at her comment.
Riordan pulled sandwiches out of the paper bag.
“Those look amazing!” Willow said.
“Venison sandwiches,” Riordan said as he passed the sandwiches to Angelina and Willow.
“You still haven’t told me why you are helping me,”
Angelina said as she bit into her sandwich.
“We’re both sorcerers, same as you. We sorcerers watch out for each other here. I am a Knowledge Sorcerer and a descendant of Wisdom Fairies. My skin feels like it’s on fire when I hear someone telling a lie,” Riordan said.
Willow said, “I am a descendant of a Rain Fairy. Her name was Raven Rosenthorn. I can throw lightning bolts from my fingertips, turn into a cloud, and conjure a rainstorm. I came to help you because the police jailed my parents and me for practicing magic. The police killed my parents when we tried to run from them.Then, I was backstabbed by a sorcerer named Victor, who claimed he wanted to help me kill King Banderon to get revenge for their deaths and restore magic to Ethermoor. When I did that, he had me arrested for killing the king. It turns out that he just wanted to be king and wanted to pin the king’s death on a magical person.” Willow sighed.
She took a bite out of her sandwich and continued. “Riordan’s grandparents happened to be working at the palace and helped me escape after the palace guards drugged me with iron. I found out about you when he sent a letter to his grandmother, and I read it. I don’t want the same things that happened to me to happen to someone else.”
Angelina said, “That sounds awful! We choose our leaders in my country.”
“You . . . pick your leaders?” Riordan said with audible disbelief in his voice.
Willow took another bite of her sandwich. “Tell me, is Abraham Lincoln still president?”
Angelina burst out laughing. “He died 150 years ago!And yes, we vote for our leaders in my world,” Angelina said.
“Can you help us do something like that here?” Riordan asked, enraptured by the idea. He stared at Angelina with his mouth open in disbelief.
Oh, man, I’ve gotten into it now, Angelina thought. Her mother was a state representative for her district in Massachusetts, and Angelina had made every attempt possible to avoid getting involved in politics. Of course, there was no possibility she could ever help a country set up a new government, was there?
The Night Sorceresses Page 14
