by John Hosh
Tapping his right index finger against his lips, the older boy was holding the fingers of his left hand across Jono’s lips. Jono did not speak. The older boy used his right hand to pull a wand from his cloak. He pointed the wand at Jono. The older boy whispered, “Microsize.”
Chapter 30 : Euphonius
Out of the older boy’s wand came a blue right hand — no bigger than a mouse’s paw — attached to a blue arm that was no thicker than a stalk of wheat. Quickly the blue hand became bigger. It elongated its index finger until its tip was over Jono’s head. The hand elongated its thumb until its tip was beneath Jono’s feet. Then the two tips narrowed the distance between them. When the tips moved, Jono shrank. In an instant he was not much taller than a finger. Flowing backwards, the blue arm and the blue hand slipped into the wand.
An instant later the older boy shrank almost to Jono’s size. “Hi,” the older boy said. “Let’s move under the bed. Warn me if you see a mouse or a rat.”
When Jono was under the bed, he asked, “Who are you?”
“I’m Euphonius, son of Eugene, of Thrace. Who are you?”
“My name is Jono. I’m the son of Echion, of the island of Oura.”
“What are you doing here, Jono?”
“I met this wizard named Mentor. He said I’m a warlock. Then I got lost. Then Magus — he said he was the creator — found me. He brought me here.”
“Nox.”
“What?”
“Nox. His name is Nox.”
“The ghost calls him Magus.”
“Magus is a title. He likes it better than wizard. He’s Nox the wizard or Nox the magus. I could call myself Euphonius the magus, if I wished.”
“He’s not very nice.”
“No, he isn’t. Nox doesn’t like people. He does not want wizards to help people. He thinks people are not worth saving.”
“Why did he bring me here?”
“He wants you to become one of his pupils. He has convinced some warlocks to be like him.”
“How do you know so much?”
“I’m going into Grade Four at Mentor’s school. Mentor asked me to keep an eye on Nox.”
“Euphonius, should I be afraid of Nox?”
“Yes.”
“Can you help me get away?”
“Yes.”
“What about the others?”
“Others?”
“Aegis and Chloë.”
“I know Aegis. Who is Chloë?”
“She’s my age. She’s a witch. She’s in a room down the hall. Magus — I mean, Nox — put Aegis beside the back door. Aegis looks sick.”
“Let’s collect Chloë first. Hmm.” Euphonius was quiet for a moment. He shrugged. “I am going to turn you into a cricket. As a cricket, you will still be a warlock. You will be safe from most harms. I will become a firefly. Stay close to me.”
“What if Sycophant sees us?”
“He’s harmless. If he wakes Nox, hide. I will be nearby. Nox can’t use his wand against me because I have an amulet.” At the word amulet Euphonius pulled up a gold chain that was round his neck. Euphonius showed Jono the gold medallion that was hanging from the chain. The medallion was oval and as big as a pheasant’s egg. At its center the medallion had a brown stone. The stone was as big as a cherry pit. Euphonius let the medallion slide beneath his shirt. Euphonius pointed the wand at Jono. Euphonius asked, “Ready?”
“Ready.”
Euphonius ordered, “Metamorphose into a cricket.” A thin, straight, silvery-blue line grew quickly from the end of the wand to touch Jono. Jono glowed blue. The wand chirped once. The line and Jono’s glow disappeared. Jono was a black cricket about twice the size of an ordinary cricket.
Euphonius put his wand into his cloak. He closed his eyes. In an instant he was a hovering firefly. A flashing, red-orange beacon, he glided near the floor toward the doorway. Jono skittered after Euphonius.
Euphonius flew under the leather door and across the corridor. Not far above the floor, he flew alongside the corridor’s north wall. He flitted under the door of the room that was the first to the east of the toilet-room. One stride into the room, along its west wall, Euphonius halted. He hovered. Jono crawled toward him.
When Jono was one foot from Euphonius, Euphonius went dark. An instant later he commanded softly, “Illumine.” Two wand-lights in the room’s west wall became bright. The wand-lights showed that Euphonius had returned to human form at his usual height.
The wands’ light revealed a room that was the same size as Jono’s room. A bed — like the one in Jono’s room — had its head against the south wall. A wicker trunk — like the one in Jono’s room — sat on the bed’s north side. A clothes tree — like the one in Jono’s room — stood in the northwest corner. Wizards’ garments — a cloak, a shirt and a skirt — were hanging from the tree. Beside it was one pair of wizards’ boots.
On the bed Chloë was sleeping between sheepskins. She was wearing a white nightshirt that had long wide sleeves. She was lying on her back with her feet to the north. She was moaning and struggling weakly.
On Chloë was a night-hag. The miniature harpy was as big as a crow. It had a chubby baby’s face, long blond hair and stubby white wings. The hag was bouncing on Chloë’s forehead and leaning over her chest.
Like sparkling worms, in all the colors of the rainbow, Chloë’s thoughts and feelings were poking out of her torso and out of her limbs. At least two score of thoughts and feelings were visible above her nightshirt and above the sheepskin-cover. Some of the thoughts and the feelings were standing as tall as a finger is long. Some thoughts and feelings were wriggling or coiling upward. Some thoughts and feelings were sinking into Chloë.
The hag ducked its head among the thoughts and feelings. The hag sucked. It pulled back its head. Between its lips, the hag had the top end of a purple feeling. The feeling’s bottom end was holding tight to Chloë.
Asleep, Chloë thrashed feebly. The hag pulled on the purple feeling. The feeling stretched. When it was three fingers long and no thicker than a grass-stem, the purple feeling popped out of Chloë’s chest. Chloë yelped.
Chapter 31 : The laboratory
When Chloë yelped, her thoughts and feelings sank into her. Euphonius turned invisible. The hag slurped the purple feeling. The feeling disappeared down the hag’s gullet.
Above Chloë’s head Sycophant poked his head and his chest through the wall. Sycophant shrieked, “Harpy! Harpy!” He withdrew from the room. From the middle of the house, Sycophant shouted frantically, “Magus! Magus! Wake up! Harpy! Harpy!”
A few moments later, in a white night-shirt under a long purple-and-gold cloak, Nox burst into Chloë’s room. Chloë was moaning. She was opening and closing her fists. She was kicking weakly. The hag was flapping. It was hopping on Chloë’s hair. Gruffly but quietly Nox commanded, “Hag, be gone.”
Stepping back from Chloë’s head, the hag folded its wings. It smiled sweetly at Nox. Chloë’s thoughts and feelings swayed upward. The hag turned its attention to a blue feeling.
Nox furrowed his brow. He whistled. In a blink Chloë’s thoughts and feelings sank into her. Nox made chirps and trills and tweets. The night-hag raised its wings. The hag bounded. It bounced off Chloë’s right shin. As if it were a ghost, the hag passed through the roof.
Nox ceased whistling. He whispered sternly, “Sycophant.” Above Chloë Sycophant poked his head cautiously through the wall. Nox said softly, “That was a night-hag. A hag can’t carry you off. It’s harmless. Go see if the boy is safe.”
Sycophant replied softly, “As you command.” He backed out of the wall.
Chloë did not awake. Nox whispered, “Extinguish.” The room went dark. Nox pushed through the leather door.
Sycophant floated into the corridor through the north wall of Jono’s room. To Nox, Sycophant said in a low voice, “The boy is not in his room.”
“Search the house.”
Sycophant swerved through the wall to pass N
ox. Nox stepped into Jono’s room. Nox looked round. He left Jono’s room and walked down the corridor. Nox was turning into his room when Sycophant appeared through the door where the corridor met the hallway. Sycophant reported, “The boy is not here.”
Nox replied, “He may have gone outside. Stay with the girl.”
“As you command.”
Nox went into his room. Sycophant swept down the corridor. He plunged through the wall. Above Chloë Sycophant swam repeatedly round the room.
Just above the floor Euphonius the firefly flew from Chloë’s room into Jono’s room. Jono the cricket skittered beneath Euphonius’s flashes. In Jono’s room Euphonius settled to the floor when he was beside the bed. When he touched the floor, Euphonius became a miniature of his usual self. He pulled the wand from his cloak. Jono came to a stop one hop from Euphonius. Euphonius pointed the wand at Jono. “Anthropomorphize,” Euphonius ordered. A thin, straight, silvery-blue line grew quickly from the end of the wand to touch Jono. Jono glowed blue. The wand chirped. Jono’s glow vanished. The blue line vanished. A miniature of his usual self, in his nightshirt, Jono stepped toward Euphonius.
Euphonius suggested, “Let’s go under the bed.” The boys hurried under the bed. “Illumine,” Euphonius said to his wand.
Jono exclaimed, “I couldn’t see the night-hag. What does it look like?”
“It’s like an infant harpy. It pulled a purple feeling out of Chloë. That’s why she cried out.”
“I didn’t know a hag could hurt a girl. My father told me night-hags hurt boys who keep asking for more to eat.” Jono paused. “What are you going to do?”
Euphonius was scratching his head. “We need,” he said, “to prevent Sycophant from watching Chloë. We need to stop him from fetching Nox.”
“Will your wand stop Sycophant?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can you make Nox deaf?”
“I can’t use my wand against Nox. He will have an amulet but perhaps a sleeping-potion would do the trick.”
“Why don’t we take his amulet off him? Then you can put a spell on him.”
“We would need the speed of the messenger of the gods to take Nox’s amulet without waking him. I think a sleeping-potion is the better idea. Nox has a laboratory on the east side. He probably has all the ingredients I need. I’ll make the potion and pour it into him. Then you and Chloë and I will look for Aegis.”
“Have you used a sleeping-potion?”
“No, but I know the ingredients.”
“What about Sycophant?”
“I can make myself invisible. If I am quiet, he shouldn’t bother me. I won’t be long. Stay under the bed.”
“It’s cold. Could you give me a cloak or something?”
“I can do that.”
Chapter 32 : The amulet
Not much later, under Jono’s bed, a miniature Euphonius was kneeling beside a miniature Jono. Wrapped in a black cloak and wearing a white shirt, a black skirt and black boots, Jono was sleeping on his right side.
With his illuminated wand in his left hand, Euphonius used his right hand to shake Jono gently. Euphonius urged, “Jono. Awake, Jono.”
Jono moaned into wakefulness. He asked, “What? What’s the matter? What happened?”
Euphonius complained, “It didn’t work.”
Jono yawned. He asked, “What?”
Euphonius stood. He responded, “I couldn’t get the potion into Nox. He’s sleeping on his stomach.”
Jono sat up. He rubbed his eyes. He asked, “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know. Do you have any ideas?”
“When does a wizard take his amulet off?”
“He doesn’t usually . . . unless it gets dirty.”
Jono twirled his hair. Euphonius tapped his left palm with the wand. The wizards looked at their toes. Jono yawned. Euphonius looked upward. “Hmm,” Euphonius said.
Jono asked, “What if I pretend to be sick? I could spit on Nox. That might make him take off the amulet. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. It would be risky. Perhaps a better idea would be to throw some swill on him. Adonidas might have some scraps. We could add some cheese. We could make a smelly slop . . . or . . . wait — the laboratory. I could make a potion. I could make you sick for real.” Euphonius paced in front of Jono. “I think that’s an idea that is worth trying. I haven’t made a vomiting-potion — it’s called an emetic — but I’m sure I could do it.”
****
An illuminated wand lying on a table gave light to Nox’s laboratory, which was as big as Jono’s bedroom. The laboratory had neither windows nor a ceiling. In the middle of its north and south walls were doorways with leather doors. Against the east and the west walls were rough, narrow wood tables. Simple wood shelves were on the tables. On the shelves were orange pots, cups and bowls.
Facing the doorway that opened upon the east-west corridor, Euphonius was standing near the laboratory’s center. Between the doorway and Euphonius, Jono was facing Euphonius. Jono’s left hand was holding a black wide-mouthed pot that was not much bigger than an apple.
Jono stuck the index finger of his right hand into the pot. For several instants his finger stirred the pot’s contents. Jono pulled the finger out of the pot. From the finger, a white substance was dripping. Jono shoved the finger into his mouth. He licked his finger. His face puckered. He shivered. He pulled the finger away from his face.
Euphonius mouthed, “More?”
Jono shook his head vigorously. His left hand put the pot onto the table at his left, where the illuminated wand was. His right hand scraped the index finger against the table’s edge.
Jono stepped backwards abruptly. He grimaced. He bent suddenly forward. He pressed his hands against his abdomen. After a moment he turned toward the corridor. His right hand motioned for Euphonius to follow him.
Euphonius grabbed the wand. “Extinguish,” he whispered.
****
Jono stepped into Nox’s room. Jono moaned loudly, “Illumine.” In the west wall of Nox’s room, two wands gave light.
Nox’s room was a pace wider than Jono’s. Nox’s bed was like the bed in Jono’s room. The bed’s head was against the villa’s south wall and near the wall’s middle. A wicker trunk that was a little bigger than the trunk in Jono’s room was against the bed’s foot. Two clothes trees — like the one in Jono’s room — were in the room’s southeast corner. The clothes trees held several cloaks of different colors.
Nox was sleeping on his back. Jono came to a standstill near the northeast corner of the bed. Jono had his arms clasped round his abdomen.
Through the west wall, ahead of Jono, Sycophant’s head and shoulders poked into Nox’s room. In a loud whisper Sycophant asked, “What are you doing in Magus’s room?”
Jono groaned, “I’m sick. I need help. Wake him.”
Sycophant sneered. He swam forward. He hovered above Nox. Sycophant put his head near Nox’s. Sycophant cooed, “Magus. Wake up, Magus. You have company.” Sycophant flitted eastward. He dove under the bed’s east side. He came up on the bed’s west side. He arced over Nox’s head. When he passed over Nox, Sycophant urged softly, “Wakey, wakey!”
More quickly Sycophant repeated his dive under the bed on its east side. From the bed’s west side, he arced more quickly over Nox’s head again. Sycophant urged urgently, “Wakey, wakey!”
Faster and faster the brown Sycophant circled round Nox. Soon his circuits were making a halo round the bed’s south end. His urgings became nothing more than abrupt whines.
Nox opened his eyes wide. He barked, “Quit that!” From under the bed Sycophant came up north of the wicker trunk. Upright, with his feet almost on the floor, Sycophant pointed at Jono.
Nox sat up. He threw off his sheepskin covers. Dressed in his long white nightshirt, he swung his legs eastward onto the floor. Facing the clothes trees, Nox stood. He took from one clothes tree a long purple-and-gold cloak that had a belt of go
lden cord. Nox put on the cloak and tied the cord in a bow. Turning toward Jono, Nox grunted. He observed, “So we’ve found you, have we!”
Jono groaned, “Please, I’m sick.” He held his arms tight against his abdomen. He stepped close to Nox. Jono whimpered, “It hurts.” Jono bent forward and lifted his chin. He uttered, “It . . . I—” Jono vomited. He splattered Nox from neck to toes.
Sycophant moaned, “Oh, Magus.”
Nox took a step backwards. He growled, “Oh, pee-yu, boy! Look what you’ve done! What a stink! What a stench!”
Jono went onto his knees. He bent forward. His left hand braced his upper body. His right hand clasped his midriff. He spit at the floor. Using the back of his right hand, he wiped his mouth. Jono moaned, “I’m sick.”
“That’s not news, boy. What an effluvium! Go to the toilet-room. Go wash yourself. Use soap! Get along now. Hurry up.”
Sycophant hovered over the bed. Sycophant said to Jono, “Go, boy. Out! Out!”
Jono pushed himself to his feet. He turned away from Nox. Jono used both hands to squeeze his abdomen.
Nox removed his cloak. Nox growled, “Sycophant, make sure the boy cleans himself. Watch him. That reminds me: Where were you, boy, earlier?”
Jono hesitated. Over his left shoulder, he croaked, “Outside.”
Nox grunted. Jono’s left hand pushed aside the door to Nox’s room. Jono plodded toward the west end of the corridor. Sycophant swept over Jono and hovered beside Jono’s room.
Jono was two steps from Sycophant when Euphonius shouted, “Got you!”
Sycophant passed through Jono. Sycophant shouted, “Magus!” Sycophant went through the north wall of the corridor. He wailed, “O Magus!”
Visible, Euphonius backed out of the room that was on the east side of Chloë’s room. Euphonius turned toward Jono when Jono was turning toward Euphonius. Euphonius had a gold chain and a wand in his left hand. In his right hand he was holding a small hare by the scruff. Euphonius held up his prizes for Jono to see. Euphonius cheered, “We did it!”
Sycophant pleaded, “Let him go. Let him go.” He flittered round Euphonius. Sycophant chanted, “You’re going to be sorry. You’re going to be sorry.”
Jono ran to Euphonius. Euphonius declared, “Here’s an amulet for you.” Euphonius held his left hand open toward Jono. In Euphonius’s hand was a gold medallion on a gold chain. The medallion was as big as a plum and circular. At its center the medallion had an oblong black stone as big as a bean.
