They stood in awe of the once bustling black market. It looked as though a bomb had already exploded; most of the tents were destroyed, and those that remained were singed and ripped. For other tents, the internal structure was the only thing still standing. Wizards and witches trapped inside the market roamed aimlessly through the dead remains and piles of trash.
Smoke from the incinerators rose high above them, no longer held in by the protection shield. It billowed upward and out of the market, blanketing Busse Woods in thick, black smoke and ash. Through the hole, tall trees waved in the gusty wind off of Lake Michigan.
Animals scurried across the aisles to escape the smoke and flames, finding the most used portals.
“Why haven’t they turned back to human?” Rico Esposito asked. He worked at the Northwest satellite office and had this morning to assist in the market.
“I’m not sure we’ll ever know for sure. Maybe the djinn cast a spell on them to keep them in this form,” Shiff answered.
“Maybe that’s what we need to do with the ring,” Annie said. “Just get as many of them out of here.”
The rest of the team broke away, scattering through the market. Rico, his partner Georgianna, and another from their office, Eddy Woods, desperately tried to convince a group of terrified shapeshifters to use the Patagonian portal. Even more headed toward the group.
“This is bad,” Spencer commented. “We’re losing all access to the evil and illegal. The world’s a big place, and all these former vendors will have so many places to hide and sell their illegal wares.”
As awful as the market could be, at least the Wizard Guard had known where it was and how to get there. Without it, they no longer knew where to find the black magic.
Dogs barked, and soft meows wafted through the mostly silent market. Above them, anxious birds flew. One dive-bombed Annie, entangling its talons in her hair.
“Damn it!” she shouted and swatted at the bird.
As she waved her hands about, Cham impatiently detangled the screeching bird from her curly locks. When freed, it squawked at her before flying away.
“Thanks,” Annie said, her cheeks burning red from embarrassment. She watched the bird as it flew away, scared and wobbling until it was higher than where the protection spell should have been, soaring through a hole in the spell.
“Be careful,” Cham whispered and kissed her. Ignoring that they were in public, Annie wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you.”
“In and out,” he said, his fingers lingered against her cheek. She watched him leave with his assigned team as they made their way to a location where they thought the djinn might be found.
Annie jogged to catch her team, who had started a slow trek to the incinerators. She knew the last time she was here; she had walked in the opposite direction.
It’s all turned around.
Animals poked their heads out from behind stalls, garbage, or the dead. Their eyes followed Annie and her team as they sidestepped piles of junk and garbage and left behind wares. She could have stayed here pleasantly happy as she searched for rare treasures. Instead, she knew that by day’s end, the market would be nothing more than nothing.
Another squawking, dive-bombing bird attacked Annie, crying out as if complaining.
“Shapeshifters are dogs, cats and snakes, yes?” she asked, swatting the bird away.
He seems so humanlike.
“Yeah,” Shiff said. “But this bird seems…”
“Human.” Brite finished his partner’s sentence. “I guess it’s possible.”
The bird flew beside Shiff, squealing loudly. “Draw attention to us, and you’ll never get back to normal. Come with us if you’d like, but shut up,” Shiff ordered. The yellow-and-red bird seemed to understand the command as if there was a human underneath the feathers. It landed on Shiff’s shoulder.
“You have a new friend,” Brite joked.
“Fabulous.” Shiff glanced at the bird, who nestled against his neck and gently pecked his sunburnt skin. “Do you think he’s another shapeshifter?” The bird rested his head against Shiff’s face.
“We’ll worry about it when we get back to the market. We need to move quickly,” Annie said.
Bitherby quaked with fear at being back in the market, though he had wanted to come, wanted to save his friends from the fires. His short, thick fingers grabbed Annie’s hand as they walked farther inside the death and destruction.
Shiff and Brite stopped at a junction between two aisles, the paths still visible under the debris, ash, and smoke burns. Several green bodies slithered through the small crevices, where it was dark and safe.
One last snake with diamonds across its scales curved around Annie’s foot. She jumped and bellowed; Bitherby screamed.
“What the hell?” Shiff asked. The snake glided away, joining the rest of the snakes under a large pile of charred wood from what looked like a storage unit that used to sit in market center.
“Snake,” Annie said through winded panic, “Around my ankle.”
Shiff and Brite chuckled and sent up a flash of light. It hung in the air, marking the spot for the zoology department to find the hiding animals.
“I’ll remember: no rats and no snakes,” Brite remarked. He led the team around a bend in the passageway.
“Sorry. They just give me the creeps.” It was that slithering thing that made her shudder.
A pack of elves huddled in the center of a junction between two aisles and cautiously observed the wizard guards as they neared the group. Recognizing a friend, an elf in a dirty pink dress ran for Bitherby. Her tiny hands gripped his shoulders tightly.
“Go away! The incinerators are burnin’ out of control!” she squealed in fear.
Bitherby, unsure of what to say, glanced at Annie, who kneeled beside the pair.
“We’re here to help,” Annie cooed with a gentle touch the elf’s arm. It did little to ease the creature’s fear; she had been through a lot, and was covered in dust and soot. Her matted hair was singed, and her distrustful eyes darted back and forth across the barren landscape of the market. “Head to the Patagonia portal. There’s help on the other end. Do you understand?” Annie placed her hands firmly on the elf’s shoulder. The elf shook her head again.
“Go, Sirina. I promise. There’s help. I go with Miss Annie to get the others. Go,” Bitherby pleaded. Sirina, wanting to believe Bitherby, nodded slowly before she scampered back to the rest of the elves. Her high, shrill voice explained the situation, and their heads nodded in understanding. Sirina waved to Bitherby, and the group ran toward the last remaining portal in or out of the market.
“They’re coming out of hiding,” Brite said as a single dog hiding under a fallen tent stuck its head out from under the canvas. Brite squatted beside the creature and lifted the tent. “There’s a pack in here. I’m going to lead them to the portal. There are just too many of them,” he volunteered.
“Direct them out. Send word to Milo that we need more help. There’s just not enough wizard guards here.” Annie sighed
“Be careful, and call if you need me,” Brite said. He reached for the bird still on Shiff’s shoulder. “Come with me. You’ll be safer in Patagonia.” The bird obeyed and joined the pack as it crawled out from the limp tent and followed Brite down the aisle.
“We’re almost here. This way.” Bitherby pointed around the final curve, where the incinerator door was off its hinges. The No Admittance sign lay on the ground, burnt around the edges. Thick smoke rolled out the door and billowed up through the protection spell.
“I can’t even imagine what’s going on in Busse Woods,” Shiff said.
The ground rumbled beneath them, shaking them. Bitherby grabbed Annie’s leg as she fell into Shiff.
“What the hell?” Shiff said.
“The incinerators are going to blow!” Annie shouted above the roaring fires.
“We need to go. Get out as many
as we can, and then we leave!” Shiff said. They donned their masks, which were too thin for what they needed to do, and dropped to all fours, just below the smoke. The group trailed Bitherby inside; the smoke already choked them.
Maybe we shouldn’t have come.
Through dung and dirt and rancid smoke, they crawled slowly until the door to the dormitory came into view. Along the back wall, the door was open, and smoke billowed out. The fire roared, drowning out any other sound, except…
Are those cries from inside?
“No!” Bitherby ran from Annie and lunged for the entrance.
“Bitherby, no!” She screamed, but he was already enveloped in the smoke and fire.
“Crap, Annie, we have to get him!”
“Tell me something I don’t know!” Annie shouted and ran after the tiny elf.
Chapter 29
Over the course of six months since he made a permanent move to the Wizard Guard headquarters in Chicago, Lial Peng had proven himself to be the most proficient tracker in the department. Today was his biggest challenge: to find a powerful djinn in an ever-changing market—if the demon was even still there.
Hiding in one of the remaining standing tents, Lial unfurled a magically enhanced map of the black market and waited for it to catch up with the many latest changes. The map shimmered and then dematerialized, leaving the paper blank. After a few moments, the new map shimmered and revealed itself to them.
“How often does this update?” Gibbs asked.
“I’ve had this map linked to the market for years, so it changes as the market changes. It must’ve just changed,” Lial said.
Gibbs grabbed the map and looked outside the tent. When he finished, he tossed the map on the table and shrugged.
“Okay. I’ve placed us on the map, so it should reflect our location regardless of the layout changes. I also permanently marked the location that from what the elves told me would be Gladden’s tent.” He pointed to four red dots at their location.
“We’re here. And…” He bent over the map. “Oh. His tent is here. We’re pretty close.”
They followed the map to location where Gladden Worchester’s tent should have been. It still stood but had been attacked; embers had burned holes in the roof, and scorch marks stained the walls. A large plank of wood sat overturned in the corner, and papers were scattered across the floor.
“What the hell?” Spencer asked.
They took out their crystals, examining the air for magical trace. Cham stopped and turned on his spot.
“Did you hear that?” he asked.
“Hear what?” Lial stopped searching for magic. There was so much in this tent, it was difficult to distinguish the type of spell, the age of the spell and the owner of the magical trace.
“Shhh.”
Cham casually strode to the corner and removed the large plank of wood. Lying in the corner was a beaten and bloodied elf. Cham pushed the wood away. “We need medical attention,” he called out.
The elf glanced at Cham through swollen eyes and whispered something unintelligible through a split lip.
Lial stepped outside the tent and sent up red sparks of light into the air, alerting the medical staff that help was required. Spencer checked the elf’s pulse. The creature looked at him before turning away.
“Hi. I saw the sparks. How can I help?” asked a gangly man with floppy brown hair. Danny Chamsky pushed it from his face and grimaced when he saw his older brother Cham holding the elf.
“Hey, worm,” Cham said with a wary greeting.
“Damn.” Danny summoned a stretcher and unfurled the legs. “Put him on.”
Securing the creature, he placed an IV into the elf’s arm. “I’m good here. You guys finish what you need to. When he’s stable I’ll teleport him out,” Danny said. After so much pain, the pin prick had little effect on the elf.
“You sure? I can stay,” Cham offered.
“Go. I can protect myself and the elf. Just readying him for teleport.” Danny strapped the protective belts across the small creature’s chest, adding one at his feet to ensure he couldn’t move during teleportation.
“Call if you need me,” Cham said. “Didn’t know the medical students were helping.”
“It’s a madhouse at the mobile hospital in Argentina. Everyone’s helping. I’ll be in Patagonia soon. Be careful, or mom will get mad at me,” Danny added. He unlocked the wheels on the stretcher and pulled the elf from the tent.
The ground vibrated, and the canvas tent shook wildly. Danny lay across the elf as the earth rumbled. Footsteps ran through the aisle, voices screamed, and angry grunts growled across the market.
Gibbs called Milo. The Wizard Guard manager currently patrolled outside the black market, searching for stray animals that didn’t belong and overseeing the magical preparations as they took place. “We need more help in here. There’s a stampede because of—”
The incinerators exploded. Several consecutive booms thundered across the remains of the market.
“Annie!” Cham shouted.
“The incinerators are blowing apart!” Gibbs shouted through the phone.
“Get the rest of the team and get out! The clearing is a mess! The nonmagicals have taken over. Just get out of there!” Milo yelled back. Gibbs’s phone clicked off without a sound.
“Milo wants us out, now. Danny, get the elf out of here. Grab whatever human or creature we find on the way out. Since I won’t be able to stop you, Cham, you get Annie and her team out of here!” Gibbs ordered.
While Cham ran in the direction of the billowing smoke, Danny and Spencer teleported the stretcher to the Patagonia portal while Gibbs ran through the market, looking for the last of the stragglers.
*
A thick layer of smoke gusted from Busse Woods, blanketing the entire Chicagoland area. Though the sun was out, the region was dark as if it were night. Because of the strange anomaly, O’Hare Airport was shut down and currently covered in a thick layer of ash.
“We’re lucky we got in,” Amanda said. Their plane had been the last allowed into the airport before it was shut down.
Jack glanced out the window with apprehension before disembarking; he had said little on the plane ride home.
I wish I never knew about Annie and magic. Maybe…
“You okay?” Amanda asked him as they waited at baggage claim.
“Yeah. I will be.” Jack hadn’t told Amanda everything, especially who and what Annie was, just that she was a colleague and the fire had something to do with her case. He dialed her as they waited for their bags, but the call went to voicemail.
“You couldn’t reach her?” Amanda asked. She looked stunning—well rested and tan, compared to Jack’s worry lines, long face, and tight jaw.
Even after a week in the sun, Jack was still pale. He grimaced and grabbed for the first of their bags. “I should go to the crime scene. I can’t reach Annie, and I’m concerned something’s happened.” The second bag came along the conveyor belt. He pulled it off and handed it to Amanda.
“Are you sure? We still have a few hours of vacation left.”
They followed the steady stream of weary travelers to the doors. “I’m sure. You take the taxi, and I’ll call you when I know she’s safe.”
“But Jack, are you sure this is the same case?” asked Amanda, clearly upset. They’d had plans for the night, a little time in bed watching movies before their vacation truly ended.
Jack sighed. “Yeah. I sent her the case. I know it’s related to that body dump.”
They spoke little as they exited the airport, and Jack waited until their pre-ordered taxi found them. “You go. I’ll see you soon.” He kissed her, long and soft. He really didn’t want to leave. The vacation had been too good to let it end like this.
“Don’t stay too late.” Amanda offered a concerned look as she climbed into the taxi, waving as her car sped away.
Sighing, Jack jumped into an available taxi. “Busse Woods please.”
�
��There’s a fire in the woods. They’re not letting anyone in for any reason,” the cab driver said.
Jack volunteered his FBI badge for reinforcement.
“Yes sir!” the driver responded and pulled away from the curb and out of the airport.
Thick smoke hung above them in every direction, blocking out the sun and the blue spring sky. It looked as though a storm was directly over them. “What have you heard about the fire?” Jack asked casually.
“It’s weird, they say. No one can find the fire, and the fire department has no idea what’s causing the smoke. You were lucky you were able to land. Airport’s closed,” the cabbie advised.
“Yeah. Heard that on the way in.”
The driver tapped his fingers against the steering wheel in tune with the music on the radio. “You think this is the same case as that dead body?”
Jack raised his eyebrows. He wasn’t the only nonmagical to make the connection, then. That worried him, for Annie, for her team, for magic. “Too much of a coincidence. Don’t know for sure, though. That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
The traffic moved at a snail’s pace. This was not completely abnormal for Chicago, but today it barely moved, taking twice as long to get onto the expressway than it normally would. Exiting onto Route 53, the on-ramp was merely a parking lot, housing thousands of angry drivers.
“Is there any other route we can take?” Jack asked after thirty minutes of stop-and-go traffic just to reach the freeway.
“Doing my best, bud. I’ll have you there as soon as I can,” the driver defended.
Over an hour and a half later, the driver pulled up to the side of the road, letting Jack out.
“Best I can do,” he said. “They’re not letting anyone into the parking lot.”
“No problem. Thanks for your help.” Jack paid the cab driver with a large wad of cash and watched him pull away into traffic.
The entire park was closed to the public; the only vehicles in the parking lot belonged to emergency personnel. Ten fire trucks, twelve police cars, and six emergency ambulances were parked haphazardly, ignoring the designated lines. One vehicle was parked across the entrance to keep nonessential personnel from entering.
Black Market (The Wizard Hall Chronicles Book 2) Page 28
