by W. C. Peever
“How many centimeters would five foot six be?”
“About one hundred and seventy.” Viboo answered with a smile, and the girls in the class let out a united giggle.
“Even though we were measuring the same thing, we used different terms. The words and terms we use are themselves meaningless. I am the height that I am.
Unfortunately, my height is short, no matter what measurement I use.” The class laughed once again. “What it comes down to is this: Time exists whether we measure it or not. Time just is. It began when the universe was created, and it goes on for as long as the universe exists.”
Viboo looked down at his students from the demonstration table and smiled. “How am I doing? Does this make sense now?” The students nodded. “So, let’s add this thing called space into the mix. Space is everyplace in the universe. If you can travel there by car, boat, plane, train or even space ship, it is considered space. Time and space go everywhere together, hand in hand, for as long as the Gods decree it.”
As Viboo continued to lecture, Charlie’s mind began to wander. His thoughts turned back to the list of students who would remain at Thornfield over the break. They needed to be slightly more careful than they had originally planned.
“Hey Mick,” Charlie whispered.
“What?”
“Nine other kids are going to be here over the weekend, including Lance, Ralph, and Samuel.”
“Alright then, so we need to be more careful.”
“You don’t think it’s a bit suspicious that Lance and
Ralph are staying? They’re not only friends but supposedly both their fathers are in the Vanari.”
“They’re twelve. How evil can they be?”
“I’m twelve, Mick, and you’re not much older. Look what we’re up to. If we weren’t working for the Order we still would have found the sword, and could just as well have found a way to deliver it to Vali, if we wanted to.”
“Never thought of it like that.” Mick paused for a moment as he watched the professor stir some powdered ingredients into a flask. “Look! He never measures his ingredients. It’s a wonder he hasn’t blown up the castle yet.” Both boys tightened the straps holding their safety goggles to their heads. “Sill, I’m not all that worried. Lance is just a mean git, no matter how you look at it. However,” his face darkened, “I don’t trust Samuel McKenna. There is more there then what Bailey says, not to mention the fact that Tillie seems way too attached, somehow.”
“You think she’s been mind controlled?”
“It’s possible, but I have my doubts about that. The Influencearian doing it would have to be very powerful, inside of the castle, and constantly aware of what she is thinking and expressing. The person or persons would have to be relentless. That’s a lot of energy to spend on her, when they could be spending it on you.”
“Unless they’re trying to use her to get to me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’ve known Bailey all my life. We did meet you by chance, but I’ve spent enough time around you to get to know you. I think I’d notice if you were being influenced by a well trained Influencearian. But, if a new, especially cute girl like her…”
“We wouldn’t have known her personality. She could be acting strange and we wouldn’t recognize it.”
“Exactly,” both boys looked at each other. “It would explain a lot.” said Charlie with suspicion. “Like how she knew where the fireplace entrance was.”
“You mean like how her boy friend knew about what happened in the tunnels fifty years ago. Remember, Joelle said no one knew the truth except the people involved. I bet someone in the Vanari knows about the tunnel and ordered Samuel to tell Tillie.”
Charlie felt a renewed sense of hope. Perhaps Tillie had tried to warn him the other day. Maybe when the mind control was broken, she would be free to fall in love with him. Just then there was a huge explosion of flames and red fire balls.
“Duck!” Bailey yelled as the giant ball suddenly extended and she jumped on Charlie, knocking him down to the ground. Mick jumped to the ground next to them.
“Bit protective there, Bailey?” said Charlie laughing. “It’s just one of the professor’s explosions.”
“I don’t think so. If you two were not talking you would have seen his face. He was genuinely surprised at the explosion.”
From out of the flames and smoke they could hear screaming, crying, and students calling out to each other. “The door is locked! We can’t get out!” Acrid smoke billowed through the room.
Mick’s brow furrowed. “This is looking less and less like an accident, mate and we need to find a way out of here! Now! Bailey, can you unlock the door?”
“I can try,” she said fitting her glove to her hand. “When I get the door open everyone will run for it. You two grab the professor. We need to get him out of here too.” Charlie and Mick ran through the smoke, towards the blackened professor, trying to keep their heads down as they went. Bailey stood up, hands in the air. She was holding her breath and was visibly straining to pry open the door. Nothing happened. She could not even budge it.
From somewhere within the smoke filled room she could hear Charlie’s voice. “We have him, Bailey, get that door open. Blow it off its hinges if you have to.”
Bailey suddenly recalled what Ms. Welling had looked like when she conjured up the storm. Bailey closed her stinging eyes and concentrated as hard as she could. Then, as if she was actually trying to push the door open, she threw her weight into her hands and pushed them forward. The door blasted off its hinges into a million splinters against the hallway wall. It was chaos as everyone ran out of the room screaming. Bailey quickly located her two friends and helped them through the doorway with the professor.
By the time they got him out of the room he was starting to come back to his senses. “The explosion…I didn’t expect…so sorry. Is everyone okay?”
“It’s okay, Professor,” said Bailey in a soothing voice, as she took off his goggles. “Everyone made it out safely. What happened?” Before he could answer the maintenance staff arrived and began putting out the fire, and a nurse shuffled them away tending to Viboo and several students at the same time.
Bailey and Charlie separated from the professor and looked around for Mick. They found him standing over the lock from the broken door. “What are you looking for?” asked Charlie.
“I don’t think it was an accident. Look at the lock.” There was a piece of metal jammed tightly in the locking mechanism. “This is why no one could get it open.”
“I don’t think so,” came Lance’s voice from behind them. “The man is incompetent. When he was teaching at the University he almost blew up the entire school just like this. A piece of shrapnel from the explosion must have wedged the lock shut. He is an incompetent idiot.”
“Shut up Lance,” said Charlie. “He is trying the best that he can, and the subject is not exactly fun. He makes it interesting, and you know it.”
Lance laughed and walked off with his friends. “Bloody git, that one,” said Marley, who was standing guard with several other Guardians. “But if what he said is right, maybe the professor should be more careful with how he mixes those chemicals. We wouldn’t want him to re-enact the big bang with our molecules, would we?”
“After lunch we should check in on the professor and see if he’s alright,” said Bailey as if she had something else on her mind.
Chapter Thirteen
Ashes to Ashes
All anyone could talk about at lunch was the explosion and subsequent fire in the physics classroom, from speculation on how a professor could be so idiotic, to a conspiracy theory that it was set to kill the Order’s new Jumper. Charlie thought the latter was farfetched, seeing as the Vanari would get more from controlling him than killing him. Bailey, on the other hand, was not sure.
“Charlie, listen to reason!” She went on. “Don’t you remember when Vali first attacked us? He gave you a choice between joining him or death. You didn�
��t join him, so now you have to die.” She folded her arms in determination.
“You’re right Bailey. He gave me a choice and I refused him. But he said I was young. I think he still hopes to turn me. Why would he kill me if he thinks I can still be of some use to him?”
“Because you’re close to getting Merlin’s map.”
“So why not kill me when I have the map in hand?” Bailey gave him a friendly snarl and proceeded to leave the dining room in a huff. Charlie sighed. Bailey meant well and she was worried about him. That thought alone greatly improved his mood. “Well Mick, I guess we should follow suit,” he said, and together they followed Bailey.
When the two caught up to their pouting friend Charlie put his arm around her shoulders and softly said, “Thank you.”
Bailey brightened and stopped. “I just want you to be safe. You’ve got to be cautious. Does it hurt to be a bit more aware of what’s going on around us?”
“No, I guess not,” said Charlie. “So, is it time to go visit the professor in the hospital wing?” Mick and Bailey nodded and the three headed out of the cafeteria.
Walking the halls towards the medical wing was like trying to swim up a rushing river, as students bustled past them with full bags to get the buses that would take them to the airports and train stations. It was a mass exodus of excited voices and dirty laundry
As they got further away from the main corridors and closer to the medical wing, the crowds tapered off, until they were alone again in the ancient halls. “Those lion heads carved in the ceiling panels give me the creeps,” said Bailey as they walked down the ornately carved hallway. “You would think that I would think that after the lion we spoke with in the catacombs that I could have become used to them, but no, they’re still creepy.”
“I have always felt the same way.” The children jumped and turned around. Standing there in full purple robes with golden fringe along the edges was Headmaster Grayson.
“I didn’t hear you walking behind us, sir. When did you get there?” said Charlie.
“These new slippers that Ms. Welling gave me for my birthday are so soft on the bottoms it’s like walking on air. The fact that they make no noise is, however, a problem. Just the other day I was walking behind Mrs. Gannon and gave her such a fright when I said hello, I think she almost lost her knickers, poor woman.” He smiled kindly at the three wanderers, then asked. “Where is Tillie?”
“We kind of had a falling out, Professor,” said Mick.
“Ms. Welling did say that the fight after the last lacrosse game resulted in a few friendship casualties. Am I to understand this was one of them?” Bailey nodded. “Well then, I do hope you can work things out between you. She is an intelligent girl, and quite the asset to your little group. But where are you off to?”
“We’re visiting Professor Viboo to make sure he’s okay,” said Charlie.
“In that case I’ll walk with you, as I am off to do that same thing.” He began to walk, and the children followed behind him. “He is a brilliant man, and an amazing and engaging teacher, though a bit scatterbrained, as demonstrated by the explosion. Not his first one, I might add,” said Grayson.
“You don’t believe that the explosion was an attack?” said Bailey.
The Professor smiled, and shook his head. “Oh no, nothing as dramatic as that. If I really thought it was a serious attack, you would not be walking these halls without a guard. No, there has not been an attack behind these castle walls for as long as I have been teaching here, and as we both know, that is a very, very, long time.”
Charlie’s smile did not go unnoticed by Bailey. “It just seems suspicious,” Bailey interjected.
“I suppose it would look suspicious if you were not intimately acquainted with the Professor Viboo’s past, as I am.” The Headmaster ran his fingers along his closely trimmed white beard. “Alas, with such brilliance as Professor Viboo comes a bit of what I like to call a squirrelly head. Some of the most brilliant scientists in the world have very little common sense, you know, a sad but true fact.”
“You mean what Lance told us about his years at the University and the explosion that destroyed the Science wing was true?” said Mick, in shock.
“Quite true.” Grayson said matter of factly. “What saddens me, however, is how stories are told and retold, rather than the fact that he developed many of the revolutionary theories that changed the way we view physics today. Did you know that he is the only non-Manserian to discover the theory of QILTing? For a person who has no knowledge of our world, to understand and predict the way our abilities act is amazing. I had to hire him for that fact alone, but when I found out what an effective teacher he was I was even surer of my decision.” The four continued into the hospital wing and kept walking.
“He is amazing, and he does keep us on the edge of our seats,” said Bailey. “Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he just didn’t measure carefuly.”
“He didn’t. I was watching him,” said Mick. “He was so excited by the concept of space-time that he didn’t watch what he was doing, and his example of the Big Bang, was well, epic.”
“The good news,” Grayson said. “Is that no one was hurt. Here is his room. I will let you three visit him first. I am sure he would rather talk with the three students who saved him, more than his employer, for whom he will have to satisfy several insurance-related questions. Go on,” the professor said as he opened the door.
Viboo was sitting up in a bed of crisp white linens, with several comfortable looking pillows propping him up. When he saw the children enter, he smiled. “Thank you, thank you, thank you all. You saved everyone from my stupidity. I am so sorry for what I put you through. Cup of tea?”
Beside the bed was a real tea pot instead of his usual Bunsen burner and flask. “This is very special tea; you cannot buy it in stores. The only people allowed to have this tea are the Indian growers themselves.” His visitors nodded and he smiled. “Thank you for honoring me with a cup. It makes me feel better that I am able to share something this special with you. It feels like a start in paying you back for what you did for me.”
He poured everyone a cup and passed them around adding lemon wedges and sugar cubes. “Now, tell me. Why you have come to visit me. It has to be more than just checking on your professor’s health.”
Charlie looked up from his steaming tea cup. “Actually, that is the only reason that we came. Thank you for the tea, it’s really good.” The other two students nodded in agreement.
“Well, well. You are three of the oddest students of your age I have ever met. I owe you my life. You could ask me anything, and I could not say no, but instead you only concern yourselves with my well being.”
“We’re not like Lance,” Charlie agreed. “We saved you because we respect you, not for any gain. If it makes you feel better, we’ll take a rain check on the favor. But while we’re here, could you explain how and why Merlin hid the crystals in other dimensions?”
“Ah. That’s an easy one,” replied the professor happy to acquiesce. “He hid them in other dimensions so that only a Jumper, one of his descendants and a member of the Order could find them. From my research I would predict that he probably hid them in rather ordinary places, seeing how people in those dimensions would not be looking for them. That is not to say that they are all in Midgard. My goodness, they could be in any of the nine kingdoms, or in any dimension.”
Charlie had to agree,that his great, great, great grandfather did seem to know what he was doing. It made him proud to be part of such a family. “Thanks for the tea, and the information Professor, but I think we should go now.” All returned their cups and got up to leave.
“Wait, there is one more thing,” Viboo said sitting straighter. “Your father’s ring, the one that Merlin made. I had the privilege of examining it when I was teaching at Cambridge. It had broken and your father jumped in just long enough for me to look at it. It was an amazing. I had not seen anything like it.”
“Why did Charlie’s
father bring it to you? You weren’t part of the Order back then,” said Bailey, forcefully.
“I was then and still am the foremost expert on space-time. He brought along an Influencearian to make sure I forgot the encounter. The ring needed to be fixed. He told me how it worked –”
“Wait, then how do you remember all of this?”
“The Headmaster restored my memories when I came to work here, thinking that someday, like today, they would come in handy. To make a long story short, I was able to fix the ring. Since then I have seen other jumping rings that the Dwarves crafted – yours, for example, and have noticed one difference between your ring and Merlin’s ring: They all seem to be missing something. There was another device set in Merlin’s ring, which could only be activated by another crystal. It was a projection device. I’m positive. If only I knew then what I know now, I may have been able to fix that piece, but, alas, I was unable to. Anyhow, since you asked, I thought you should be aware of everything that I know.”
All three children were wide-eyed. Charlie was the first to snap out of it and come to his senses. “Thank you so much for all of your help, Professor, but we really need to be going now.” They bolted out of the door, nearly pushing over the Headmaster as he entered. “Sorry sir,” Charlie called over his shoulder. The Headmaster smiled a knowing, kindhearted smile.
“Charlie, stop! We need to talk,” Bailey huffed halfway back from the hospital wing.
“Not here, we need to go somewhere private. Let’s see if anyone is in the dorms.” The children changed direction as one and began running up the long stairwell towards their sleeping chambers. Arriving at the empty boy’s dorm, they all threw themselves on Charlie’s bed, completely out of breath. “Mick, go check to make sure this place is empty,” Charlie said between gasps. After Mick came back, Charlie got up and locked the door. All three sat upright on Charlie’s bed.
“It’s your father’s ring!” said Bailey. “Your father’s ring is Merlin’s ring - the altar! We have been going about this all wrong. The stone in the sword is the crystal that fits into Merlin’s ring, activating the projection. I know I’m right. It all makes sense. Joelle and Grayson said so themselves: There is no altar in the forest.”
