Strangers In Boston: Tales from a Strange World Book 1 (The Strange World Series)

by T. S. Mann

  “Yes, well done. If time permits, I may want you to explore dimensional magic as well. Or the Cartographer as our ultra-conservative friends call it. Dimensional shields can protect you from long range magical effects of any kind that are focused through your sympathetic connections.

  “Right now, I don’t think Lindsay would use Luke to affect you at a distance; she’s too busy shielding him to keep us from doing the same thing to her. However, that may change, and she may attempt to affect you through your connection to your brother.”

  Matt nodded, but Doc noticed he seemed distracted by something over Doc’s shoulder. He turned. There was a large oak door in the back wall of his kitchen.

  “Something troubling you, Matthew?”

  Matt jerked his attention back to the old man. “Oh, sorry. I just .... Was that door there last night?”

  “Yes, but it has a minor enchantment to keep visitors from noticing it. Which you have apparently just seen through.”

  “It’s very ... orange.”

  Doc sighed. “Okay, then. Apparently, we’ll attune you to the Cartographer earlier than I thought. Go ahead. Check it out.”

  Matt walked past him to the strange door, which radiated with what he now recognized as dimensional energy. He turned back and looked at Ellington, who smiled at him encouragingly, but when he turned back to the door, the smile turned into a frown. Cautiously, Matt put his hand on the door and closed his eyes.

  “Okay, what’s your deal?” he asked to no one in particular. Then, he inhaled deeply in surprise and jerked his hand off the door.

  “Whoa!” He turned to look back at Doc in surprise.

  “Well. What do you think?”

  Matt thought about how to explain his perceptions. “Okay, whatever’s on the other side of this door ... isn’t. On the other side, I mean. The door leads to someplace else that’s ... I wanna say it’s about … five or ten miles from here? Looks like a school or a government building, I think.” He looked up at Doc. “Your office? At MIT?”

  “Quite right. It is the nature of doors to lead from one place to another. With dimensional magic, you can change the locations connected by a door so that you can go through one to a location which by rights shouldn’t be on the other side. With a high enough attunement, one can open a portal to any location, or even teleport there without using a door at all, although doing so is very hard and probably a bit above you right now.

  “But with luck, you might be able to open a portal to some location with which you share an intimate connection, like your home if you happened to be within a few miles of it. This portal, as you guessed, leads to Armitage Hall, the building my order uses as its base of operations. It’s been enchanted to create a permanent link.”

  Matt fidgeted for a second. “So, my mom’s apartment is the only place I can go?”

  “Well, right now, I’d imagine. Later, when you have improved your attunement with the Cartographer, you may be able to open other portals to places with which you share a weaker connection. But such magic is highly unpredictable and dangerous.”

  Doc stepped forward and put his hand on Matt’s shoulder, a subtle mudra meant to augment his words through the power of the spells he’d already placed on the boy.

  “Matthew, promise me that you won’t play around with dimensional magic until we have this situation with Lindsay resolved, okay? I’d never forgive myself if you inadvertently led the nephilim to your mother, or worse, got yourself lost God knows where.”

  “Okay, okay! I promise. I won’t try to make any portals until you say we’re ready.” He glanced back at the door and studied it again. “Can I at least try to open this portal? Like, for practice?”

  “You can try. It’s warded, and you won’t be able to unlock it without knowing the proper passwords.”

  Matt cocked his head as he examined the faint pattern of shifting orange designs now revealed by his dimensional sight.

  “You mean this thing?”

  He put his fingertips against the door at a height equal to his chest and then rotated his hand clockwise, as if he were spinning an invisible dial. There was an audible click, and the door opened slightly. Matt turned back to Doc and smiled cheekily.

  Doc was visibly taken aback. “Well ... okay, then. Since you are so eager to explore the reach of dimensional magic, we’ll take the portal to MIT. Where I will have a friend of mine explain magical combat to you by shooting you with hexes until you’re black and blue. Think of it as rookie hazing.”

  The old man gestured towards the door, which Matt slowly opened wide. On the other side, to Matt’s wonder, was a long corridor extending for over fifty yards which could not possibly have been connected to Doc’s house by the rules of conventional geometry.

  The boy stepped through, and he felt a slight flutter in his stomach as he crossed the threshold connecting two disjointed locations. Doc followed behind, and while he had been joking about the hazing, his smile had turned back into the same mask of concern.

  “Twelve hours,” Doc thought. “Twelve hours since his Insight, and he’s already highly attuned to four different Axioms.”

  Matt’s father had been a prodigy as well. Ruefully, Doc wondered if his missing brother would prove as skilled. He also wondered if Matt and Luke were also going to get as many innocent people killed as their father did the last time he was in town.

  Oblivious to Doc’s misgivings, Matt walked down the hallway. Almost immediately, he was met by a young man looking not many years older than himself who came around a nearby corner. To Matt's surprise, the man was carrying Luke’s coat. He was apparently just as startled by Matt’s presence as he raised up a hand and sparks of electricity began to form around his fingers. Luckily, he quickly noticed Doc behind Matt and aborted his spell.

  “Whoa! Jesus, you startled me, kid! Is this your new project, Doc?”

  Doc stepped in front of Matt and walked towards the other person. “You could say that. Bryce, this is Matthew. Matthew? Meet Bryce Caulfield. He’s one of my best people.”

  Bryce walked up and shook Matt’s hand. “Good to meet you, Matthew. Welcome to the Invisible College.”

  “Just Matt, if that’s okay.”

  Doc looked at him funny. “You never asked me to call you Matt.”

  Matt returned the look. “I was freaking out last night and had other things to worry about. Also, you’re ... old. You have that ‘school teacher’ thing going, so I figured you’d prefer to use my full name.”

  “Well, Matthew, this old man needs to consult with some of his colleagues for a bit. Bryce, are you busy right now?”

  Bryce looked back and forth between the two. “Um, I was about to do a spiritual analysis of the coat. Maybe find out what it does.”

  “Yes, yes. We’ll let you get to that later. Now, if you have the jacket, I assume Electra has been here?”

  “You just missed her. We were trying to use it for a sympathetic link-up, but there was some kind of chaos effect that interfered....”

  Doc quickly interrupted. “I’m sure you did your best. Well, if Electra is gone, I’ll have to put you to work. Would you mind explaining to young Matthew here the basics of hex magic. You’ll find him to be a quick study, I assure you.”

  “Uh, okay.” He turned to Matt. “Follow me. The sparring ring is this way.” Still somewhat befuddled by Matt’s presence, Bryce led the way down the hall, as Doc followed behind.

  “So, what is the Invisible College?” asked Matt.

  Bryce glanced back at Doc, who seemed content to let him provide the welcome orientation.

  “The Invisible College is sort of a loose association of Strangers who want to explore and understand the true nature of magic. There are other sects and conspiracies that either want to worship magic or to use it as a means of control or a way to get power or just do something ... weird with it.”

  “We just want to figure out how all this stuff actually works. To apply reason to magic ... well, to the extent that you
can apply the experimental method to stuff that treats scientific laws as vague suggestions. Some of the Blade members refer to us as mage-nerds. They mean it as an insult, but I'm thinking of putting it on a t-shirt.”

  At the end of the hall, Bryce opened a plain metal door. Inside was a gymnasium with a full-sized basketball court. To one side, beyond the edge of the court, was a small area full of exercise equipment and some free weights. The wall behind the work-out area was covered with several full-length mirrors.

  As Matt crossed into the room, he felt a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach. Intuitively, he connected it to the Paragon and realized that the whole room was charged with a powerful empyreal spell of some kind. He then noticed that, while the wooden floor was painted with a standard basketball court’s lines, the lacquer also contained numerous sigils which radiated with a subtle golden light.

  “What’s all this?” he asked while pointing to the sigils.

  “Well,” said Bryce, “most of the time, it’s where we play pick-up roundball or grab a quick workout. Less often, we use it for magical sparring and training sessions.

  “But about once every few years, it’s also where two Strangers who have gotten into a pissing match settle their disagreement with a wizard’s duel. Once activated, the dueling space is enchanted to soak up any kind of hex or curse before it can inflict any actual harm, so even if a spell gets past somebody’s shields, nobody gets hurt. It also monitors the spells used to make sure neither Stranger cheats and uses spells outside those agreed upon when the circle is activated.”

  Bryce hung Luke’s coat on a rack mounted on the wall next to the door. Then, in response to a subtle glance from Doc, he stepped over to the door.

  “Back in a second, Matt. Just have a look around.”

  As Bryce approached, Doc looked over at Matt. The boy had his back to them and was studying the markings on the floor. Doc waved his hand and whispered, “Ignore us.” Bryce frowned at that.

  “Geez, Doc, have you mind-whammied him already? No wonder Electra’s in such a bad mood!”

  “Not now, Bryce. What happened with the coat?”

  “Some random bit of chaos freakiness took over the ritual and tried to kill Widget, that’s what. She says we can’t find the kid sympathetically without compromising the College’s security.”

  “Alright. I’ll go speak to her. Right now, I’d appreciate it if you would stay with the boy until I get back. Give him some basic instruction in offensive magic. He’s already attuned at the second-level or higher to the Paragon, the Bodhisattva, the Runner and the Cartographer, so ....”

  “Four?!? It took me six months to get a fourth Axiom and another year to get it to level two!”

  “I know. The boy takes after his father, which is why I’m trying to keep him on a leash in case you’ve forgotten what happened the last time. Anyway, focus on telekinesis and other kinetic hexes. Keep him away from psychic and dimensional magic. I don’t want him accidentally teleporting to Zimbabwe or something and I don’t want him breaking his conditioning!”

  Bryce’s face registered his distaste. “Okay. But for the record, I don’t like it.”

  “Noted.”

  Doc left the room, and Bryce reluctantly turned back to Matt, taking a second to paste a fake smile on his face.

  “So, you’re here for a little combat training, huh?”

  “Um, yeah, I guess. I’m still pretty new to this. I know about shields already, and I can shoot magical fire. Sort of.”

  Matt rubbed the back of his neck. To Bryce, the kid’s eyes seemed a little glassy, and he was slightly worried about just how many mind-altering spells might be hanging on the boy. He pushed those concerns aside for the moment.

  “No problem. First things first, though. Tell me about Number Twelve.” He gestured towards the Patriots jersey.

  “Oh, Doc says it’s my talisman, but he doesn’t know what it does.” Bryce circled around Matt, studying the patterns of magic that flowed through his shirt.

  “Well, if you’re going to be wearing it all the time, we’d better find out, I think. Close your eyes.” Matt obeyed. “Now, concentrate on the feel of the jersey against your body, and imagine orgone flowing into it.”

  Matt opened his eyes in confusion. “What?”

  “Orgone. Oh, wait. You’ve been hanging out with Doc.” Bryce chuckled at some private joke. “You probably know it as juice. The scientific term is orgone energy.”

  “There’s a ‘scientific term’ for magic? How does that work?”

  “This is the Invisible College. We have scientific terms for everything.”

  Matt shrugged and closed his eyes again. After a second of thought, he felt the same whoosh of juice that accompanied the casting of a spell, but instead of flowing out towards some external target, it settled into the jersey, which suddenly felt lighter against his body.

  He opened his eyes and looked over into the mirror. He could now make out faint patterns of whirling empyreal energy woven into the fabric of the jersey. Bryce was also studying the patterns and seemed to understand them.

  “Interesting. Also ... neat!”

  “What does all this mean?” Matt asked.

  “Here. Let me show you.”

  Bryce turned his head in the direction of a basketball resting on a bench about thirty feet away. He whistled loudly and made a beckoning gesture, and in response, the ball rolled off the bench and bounced over to him. He caught it easily and tossed it to Matt.

  “Do you play?”

  “A little. I mainly stuck to football.”

  “Well, see if you can make a shot from here.”

  He pointed towards the goal at the far end of the court. Matt did a double-take.

  “From here?!?”

  “Yeah, man. Show me your game.”

  Matt shrugged, pulled back his arm and hurled the basketball towards the goal, expecting to miss by ten feet or more. It fell perfectly through the hoop, barely disturbing the net. Matt stared slack-jawed as the ball bounced a few times and then rolled to a stop.

  “Well look at you, Larry Bird!” Bryce laughed. “Empyreal magic is the magic of perfection. That includes doing everything right the first time. The magic of the jersey is keyed to the platonic ideal of athleticism. So long as you’re wearing that jersey and keep it charged, you’re the perfect athlete. If it can be done by any mundane athlete in any sport, you can execute it just as well on the first try. That includes martial arts, so if I were you, I’d start watching MMA tournaments to internalize those moves.”

  Matt grinned mischievously. “Wait. Are you trying tell me ...”

  “If you say, ‘I know kung fu,’ I will shoot you with a bolt of lightning.”

  Matt sighed. “I guess you’ve heard a lot of Matrix jokes, huh.”

  “All of them. Harry Potter, too. Using ‘Expelliarmus’ as part of an incantation will get you mocked without pity.”

  “Fair enough. Anything else about the jersey?”

  “Eh, a little bit of kinetic magic, but still tied in with general athleticism. You can probably jump really high or far if you think about it.”

  Bryce raised his right hand and started rub his fingers together.

  “What are you doing?” Matt asked.

  “Giving you a reason to jump really high,” Bryce grinned.

  With that, he pointed at Matt’s feet. “Tesla!” he said, and in response, an arc of electricity shot from his finger to the floor. Instinctively, Matt jumped back.

  “Hey!” he exclaimed angrily. Then, he realized that he’d just done a standing broad jump of about five yards. “Wow. Forget basketball. I should go out for track.”

  “Better make that dodgeball,” said Bryce with an evil grin. He held up both hands, each of which was wreathed in arcing electricity.

  “Hey, man! I thought this was a training session!”

  “It is. I’m training you to duck!”

  Bryce hurled another ball of lightning, and with a yelp, Mat
t leapt over it, performing a mid-air cartwheel in the process. As Bryce continued his barrage, he also began to lecture.

  “A hex is an attack spell designed to instantly incapacitate, injure or kill somebody. For instance, if any of these bolts hit you, it would feel like a taser. That’s an example of a basic knockout hex.”

  By this time, Bryce had thrown six or so lightning bolts at Matt, and while the boy had dodged them all, he was starting to get pissed.

  “You mean like this? Shotgun Formation!” The last word was accompanied by an imaginary football which Matt forcefully threw towards the other Stranger. A bundle of telekinetic force hit Bryce squarely in the chest, knocking him to the ground. He quickly scrambled back up with a laugh.

  “Hey, now you’re getting the hang of it! Shockwave!”

  Bryce dropped to one knee and swept both arms in front of him in a broad arc. A wave of electricity running the width of the room barreled towards Matt, who braced himself and then jumped as high as he could. That turned out to be the ceiling, and he grabbed hold of a rafter with one hand. With the other, he gestured towards the basketball still lying on the ground beneath the basket.

  “Ricochet!” The ball flew towards Bryce, who narrowly ducked to the side.

  “Ha! You’ll have to do better than OWWW!”

  Bryce bellowed in surprise as the ball bounced off the wall behind him without losing speed and struck him in the back. Looking around wildly, he suddenly realized that the ball seemingly had a mind of its own, as it bounced off every wall in the room without ever losing momentum and always homing in on his position.

  After a few seconds of futilely dodging the ball, Bryce got tired of playing defense. “Thunderball!”

  As he spoke, he clapped his hands together and then pulled them apart. Arcs of lightning filled the gap between his hands before forming a rod about the size of a baseball bat and made of pure electricity. Slipping into a batter’s stance, Bryce readied himself and then struck the ball full on when it next came in for an attack.

  There was a deafening pop as one might expect when the typical basketball meets a 50,000-volt lightning strike. The sound echoed around the room, startling Matt into letting go of the rafter. He dropped nearly fifty and hit the wooden floor with a crash.