by Blair Drake
Elijah’s Quest
A Finding Magic Novel Book 4
Blair Drake
Copyright ©2018 by Blair Drake
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.
Contents
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Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
The Finding Magic Series
Sneak Peek at Dylan’s Quest…
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Prologue
The dark fog thickened, rolling into a deeper, encroaching blackness, a thin band on the horizon that never disappeared. Forever, it was merely a cloud separating the magical dimensions from those not magical, but this last year it grew darker, more threatening. None of the elders knew what shifted to make this nightmare a current part of their world.
Everything was about balance.
This darkness said something went sideways. But what?
There was an eeriness to the cloud both compelling and disturbing. Headmistress Hettie Lalane stood on the balcony of the regal private school, Gray Cliffs Academy, and stared into the abyss. A cold, numbing wind blew strong, forcing her to lean into the gusts to keep her balance. The early morning chill nipped at her cheeks and poked at her poorly covered feet. She walked up in only her light slip-on shoes and long sweater. Although Vancouver Island had a light version of winter, and cold gales could batter the ancient building, Hettie always managed to keep her own power high enough to keep warm, at least inside.
No longer. Fear could freeze the best of them, and she certainly, although old with centuries of life experience behind her, was not immune. Maybe that was the chill taking her breath away.
Staring across the ocean, it was easy to see the change in her—their—lives. She hated change, and this was the worst kind. It spoke of the unknown. It spoke of darkness…and evil.
She heard the rumors rumbling through the stone walls as the kids whispered about the variance in the atmosphere from last year to this...and of a young man missing.
There was a truth to that. It hurt to talk about it. It hurt more to lie about it. But Hettie had to. Panic would run amok if the kids found out just what happened.
Finals were coming up. The students were focused on that—and should only be focused on that. Except she was old, not stupid, and neither were the kids.
They asked the right questions many times; she just couldn’t give them the right answers. They’d understand eventually. In the meantime, a nervousness threaded through the academy. Whispers were heard at odd times; sideways glances were directed at her and Headmaster Auster.
Speaking of the headmaster, she was due at his office now. She tugged the collar of her long sweater closer to her throat, and with a final glance at the darkness, she turned to the stairs.
As she headed to the door, a pained whisper drifted across the rooftop.
“Don’t forget me.”
Hettie froze and shuddered. Turning ever-so-slowly, she glanced hopefully around her. But, as always, there was nobody, no vision, no light to match the voice. Calling back as she always did, she said, “I won’t.”
Then she dashed the last few steps inside.
As she sped down the worn stone stairs, the noise coming from the main floor below was deafening, and she realized how late she actually was.
“Hettie, do you have them?” the headmaster asked as his voice cut across the din.
She nodded, even while she searched the crowd below. “I do.”
“Good. We’re ready.” Headmaster Auster ushered the ten students toward his office. “All of you, go to my office, take a seat, and wait for us. We’ll join you in a moment.”
Hettie plastered a smile on her face, but her stomach was in knots. As soon as the last teen was out of earshot, she exclaimed, “We can’t do this. Not now. It’s too dangerous.”
“To not do this is too dangerous,” he admonished her as she stepped off the last stair. “You knew this was coming. I was worried you wouldn’t be strong enough to go through with it.”
Insulted, she snapped her back even straighter and answered him in a stiff tone, “I’m strong enough. My concern is they aren’t. We already made one fatal mistake. We can’t afford another one.”
“And that’s why we need to do this as we’ve always done,” he said, gentling his tone.
“You don’t understand,” she hissed, motioning toward the roof. “I was just up there. That thing is growing. It’s almost pitch black. It’s after those kids.”
“Maybe. That’s why they need to be strong enough to handle it—whatever it is,” he warned. “You can’t mess with this. Our system is centuries old.”
“But something happened. Somehow, it’s gained a foothold in our world. We can’t let that continue.”
“We can’t determine why it’s grown or how to stop it. We must put these kids to the test—as every one of us before them was tested.”
“But they have no idea.” She hated this. To know she could lose one of these precious beings like she lost one last year. The guilt still brought her to tears.
“Neither did any of us, remember? And we did just fine.” He walked toward his office, turning to look at her, asking once more, “Do you have the talismans?”
She pulled the special school pins from her coat pocket. As they studied the ten round objects, the talismans glowed.
“We must hurry,” he snapped. “Now. Before it’s too late, and we miss the window.”
She raced up behind him. “We agreed they could request one thing to travel with them, right?”
“No, you asked, but I did not agree.” His stern tone dashed her hopes.
“They need to know something. Our old pins used to talk. These new ones don’t. They have no way to communicate with us or with each other.”
“And that’s the way it’s supposed to be.” He dodged several students who stood talking in the hallway. “We can’t break the rules.”
“They should be able to take something with t
hem. Make it their choice,” she insisted. “We lost one because he couldn’t.”
Auster turned to send her a look. “And most would snag you or I, remember? We can’t make a blanket request like that.”
She frowned. He had a point. “So not us—but something?”
“Only if they don’t know what they are asking for. That would be cheating.”
“How?” she argued. She knew it was futile, but she couldn’t stop herself from trying. They were at the top of the stairs, his hand on the door, ready to push it open.
“I agree they can take something, but there is no grace in the rules. They’ll have to work it out for themselves.” And he shoved the door open.
She let out a gasp. “Oh, no.”
The darkness completely filled his office, swirling in a wild wind around the students, who were huddled together in the center of the room.
“Help us,” Melissa called out, her arms wide to protect the others.
“What is this?” came a question from the center of the group.
Headmaster Auster spun, a look of terror on his face. “We have to get them out of here.” He raced to the side door. “Go to the roof, now!”
Hettie stepped into the black turbulence settling in Auster’s office, opening her arms to help ground herself as the storm raged over her, around her, and finally through her. The air was sucked from her lungs, and her voice was strangled by the need to withstand the forces. But still she cried out, “There’s no time.”
It was too late; the students raced up the stairs to escape the darkness.
Her hopes sank as the door slammed behind her, leaving her to drain the darkness. But instead of it draining, the dark wind uncoiled and zipped back out the window, and she knew—it was racing to the rooftop for the children.
Gathering the last of her energy, she ran to the roof and found the group of students still clutched together. The headmaster tried to talk to them, but his words had no effect. Hettie quickly moved from one student to the other and slipped a talisman into each one’s pocket.
The window wasn’t just closing…
“Ten…nine…” The headmaster started the countdown.
The wind picked up, making the black cloud tighten its circle around the group.
Hettie stepped into place, grasped Auster’s hand, and started the chant from the ageless ones. In front of her, she could see the colors swirl, the lights brighten. Then, as if the wind gained a voice, it howled and screamed in fury, trying to find a crack in the energy shield surrounding the crying students.
“Six…five…”
The headmaster’s voice could barely be heard over the wind, yet it was also intoned at such a level it would soon resonate with the physical bodies of all those on the roof—a process that fascinated Hettie. She’d seen it hundreds of times, but it was so miraculous she never got tired of watching it happen.
She could see three of the students clearly. Melissa, a junior, the loner and independent spirit, was at the front. She was more subdued this year after Luke, her boyfriend, graduated and left last year. He was two years older but lost a year due to a major illness when he was only twelve. Then Annalise, Melissa’s faithful sidekick, her partner in crime, and the youngest member of the group, was a freshman. And Reese stood beside her talking to his buddy—as always. She wasn’t sure he was ready, but he made it just in time.
Hettie’s voice rose as the chant filled her until she was singing, her voice angelic and light, calling to the matching pieces inside each of the students’ pockets. The talismans glowed with fire, filling the air.
The students’ cries calmed as their tones changed to cries of wonder.
“Three…two…”
And then it hit her. Oh, dear God. Her shocked mind caused her voice to falter…Annalise shouldn’t be here. Hettie shuddered and gripped at her control, raising her voice yet again. Annalise showed no sign of the genetic disposition to magic the others had. This process would kill her.
Suddenly, Hettie’s voice rose over the wind, and the chant swirled with the darkness in an eerie way. When the wind changed, turning to the lightness she was striving for, she knew she was winning.
She smiled in joy, knowing it would finally be okay. She was almost there. The kids were almost there. This would work. She could reach out and grab Annalise, hold her back. Hettie took a step forward and held out her hand to Annalise who immediately reached back.
“One…NOW!”
Then lightning spat from the center of the black cloud and blasted Hettie across the roof. From the corner of her eyes, she caught sight of the headmaster as he was picked up and thrown back a dozen feet.
She landed beside him, momentarily stunned, before she scrambled in a panic to stand and looked around. “Annalise?” she yelled. “Are you here?”
“She’s not here. None of them are,” the headmaster said in a heavy voice. “None of them are.”
“No, you have to be wrong,” Hettie cried out, spinning around.
The sky cleared, the dark cloud retreating to the horizon where it lived. The rooftop glistened with the sunshine bright overhead. The atmosphere was as clean and fresh as a new dawning day.
But it was a false positive. There was nothing good about any of this. Auster was right. All the kids were gone.
The question was—where did they end up?
And were they coming back?
Chapter 1
Wind lashed past him as Elijah Davies staggered into the corridor outside the dining hall and slammed the doors shut. He leaned against them and panted for a second. Gray Cliffs Academy wasn't exactly renowned for its sunny days, but the weather lately had been weird. Almost creepy-weird. Thick clouds boiled over the gothic buildings of the school, and if he didn't know any better there was an air of... anticipation in the atmosphere. Like the weather was holding its breath, waiting for something.
Or someone.
"Relax dude," he muttered under his breath, trying to straighten his blazer. "Nothing ever happens at Gray Cliffs."
Well, there was that one time that kid went missing....
He pushed away from the doors, certain they weren't going to blow open. You've been watching too many horror movies with Zoe.
Correction: Had been watching. His movie watching days were over.
"Hey, Davies," a loud voice boomed. "You get your paper back? How'd it go?" Jeremy Stilton fell in beside him in the corridor, slinging an arm around his neck.
Elijah raked a hand through his unruly black curls. Lightning flickered through one of the windows. Now he was late for class. At this rate, he'd be lucky if his grades were the only thing he should be worried about. "Yeah, passed my history paper." Barely. "Not the best result, but it's not a fail."
"It's just... the team really needs you for our next game. You're our lucky symbol, Eli. And where have you been?"
Trying to avoid a certain someone. He scanned the hallway. No sign of Zoe. Good. He slouched along, hands in the pockets of his school blazer.
"I thought you had to get your grades up or coach was looking at benching you for the training camp," Stilts said.
"I'm working on it," he muttered.
Stilts hesitated. "Maybe we can get you a new tutor? I could ask around. I'm sure Steph Larsson would be more than happy for some one-on-one coaching. She already owes me a favor."
"Nah, I'm good, man."
"Think about it. Don't just diss the idea because Zoe was your last tutor. I know you're still trying to wrap your head around being single, but it was amicable, right? You two decided to go your separate ways, so it's not like there's bad blood or anything."
Amicable, yeah. About that.... "I'm a free man. Life's great. And it's not Zoe." Mostly. Okay, fifty-fifty. Elijah scratched at his eyebrow. "I'll get my head back in the game. I've just got a lot going on at the moment at home."
Home. That place no longer existed. Elijah's stomach tensed. He could still remember the day he'd left home, kissing his mom on the cheek a
s he headed for a new life. Gray Cliffs. Not the place he wanted to be, but one step closer to the future. He'd always known he wasn't going to ace through school on grades, but if there was one thing he had going for him, it was his athletic ability. And Gray Cliffs had a first grade hockey rink and training program. Getting a scholarship hadn't mattered before this year, when his mom finally explained that money was getting tighter. He'd wasted the last couple of years in school because it had never mattered before this year, and now his grades weren't the best, and he knew he'd started to fall behind.
If coach benched him....
If he wasn't allowed to play....
No scholarship. No college.
"I'll get my grades up," he promised Stilts, trying to force a smile. Everyone knew Elijah Davies had his shit together. It was why his teammates trusted him. He wasn't about to blow it. "But I don't think the Steph Larsson idea is a great one."
The phone in his pocket gave a small insistent buzz, but Elijah ignored it, grinding his teeth together.
Get the hint, old man. Lose this number.
They turned the corner, and the herd in the corridor thickened, as students started heading up to class.
"If the Grauster hears that thing buzzing, he'll be on you like a flea on a dog," Stilts warned.
Elijah slipped his phone out of his pocket to turn it to silent. There were four missed calls, and then a text message. Same number. Mr. Davies.
His thumb paused. It wasn't as though he wanted to speak to his dad—I mean, surely he'd gotten the point by now—but Elijah's eye caught the first couple of words and then he couldn't help himself.
