by Blair Drake
“He’s always busy, but he said he was expecting you.” The boy stepped aside.
Once they were in the hallway, Dylan saw the entry was also filled with books. Strial led them to the library, then once again stepped aside after he opened the door.
The professor stood. Dylan looked away, hoping the man wore underwear, but he was afraid of what he might see. When he got the courage to peek, he saw the shirt was so long it even covered his front when he stood.
“How was the underground?” he asked.
“How did you know?” Dylan said, then put his hand over his mouth.
The professor smiled, and Dylan could see a gold tooth. “I can smell it on you. That and the smell of bacon.” He looked at Woli and smiled.
“Professor Tully, Henry has a new protégé, but I’m afraid Portly might be on to us. You know how Queen Gaanne feels about new magic.” Woli walked over to the bookshelves and pulled out books as she spoke. More quietly, she said, “Or any magic.”
“Your fingers better be clean,” Tully said. He grabbed her hand and looked. “Okay, you can look.”
“And what of Queen Gaanne?” Henry said.
“Queen Gaanne has been ill. She always becomes ill before a new mage enters the realm. As such, she has her minions on the lookout. I saw Portly’s brother walking his cats this morning. I should have known something was afoot.”
“How long has she been ill?” Dylan asked, genuinely concerned.
“You’re the mage?” Tully said.
“I guess so. That’s what they tell me.” Dylan looked at the floor as he replied.
“Look at me, young man. What’s your name?”
Dylan looked to Henry. Should he give his name?
“Dylan Streetman. He’s from Gray Cliffs,” Henry said without preamble.
Tully’s hands were in front of him with his left hand holding his right wrist. He tapped his wrist with his index finger. “Gray Cliffs. I see. So, he’s a weanling mage—doesn’t really know his full powers. I remember his father.”
It bugged Dylan Tully was talking to Henry like he wasn’t standing right there.
“Yes, his dad was a powerful mage. Not sure this one is up to snuff.” Henry looked Dylan up and down with disdain.
“And why are you here?” Tully asked.
“We happened to exit the underground just up the street,” Woli said. She was looking at a picture book. “Your house was close, and we needed to get off the street.”
Tully let go of his wrist and moved his hand to his chin, scratching it. “Where’s the book?”
“What book?” Henry asked.
“I don’t think I look stupid, do you?” Tully’s brows furrowed. “The grimoire.”
Henry looked duly chastised. He reached into the pocket of his pants.
Was it in Henry’s pocket? Dylan wondered how such a supposedly powerful book could fit in the man’s trouser pocket. Then again, they just entered the underground by climbing into the trunk of a car.
“I thought you said we needed to find the grimoire,” Dylan said.
Henry dug further into his pocket. Then he checked the other one. “I usually don’t give new mages their grimoire until they’ve proven themselves, but…”
“But what?” Dylan demanded. “You could have just given it to me, and I could be home right now.”
Tully shook his head. “Sorry, son, it doesn’t work that way. There’s a process, regardless of whether the book is in your hands or not.”
Henry dug deeper. “There’s only one problem. The book is gone.”
Woli dropped the book she was reading to the floor. Tully didn’t even seem to notice. Dylan didn’t know what to do or say.
“What does that mean?” Dylan asked, even though he was terrified to hear the answer.
Woli scrambled to pick the book off the floor before Tully realized what she’d done.
Tully scowled at her but didn’t say anything.
“Strix!” Henry yelled, as if Strix might be nearby and hear him.
Tully covered his ears, in case Henry planned to continue his yelling.
Dylan poked an index finger in each ear and wiggled them around, like someone trying to pop their ears after a flight.
“Strix?” Woli asked.
“When he bumped me, he took the book.” Henry looked stricken.
“No grimoire?” Tully whispered. “This is unprecedented.”
Henry started to pace, but Dylan grabbed him by the arm. “No pacing, only thinking. What do we do now?”
A rumbling sound filled the room.
Tully put his hand on his stomach. “Anyone else as hungry as I am?”
Dylan, Woli, and Henry all nodded.
“Starving, yet I want to barf at the same time,” Henry said.
Tully walked out of the library. “I don’t know about you, but I think better on a full stomach.”
They trailed behind Tully, like good sheep, into a massive dining room, filled with…you guessed it, books. At least all the books were on shelves, and neatly at that. It left plenty of room for the dining room table, which seated twelve people.
Tully sat at the head of the table, and rang a bell. “Sit, sit.”
Three Strials, or at least three little men who looked a lot like Strial, entered the room, carrying grand chafers with silver domes in one hand and stepstools in the other. Each little man put their stool down near the corner of the table and stepped up. They leaned in and placed the chafers on the table, removing the lids.
The room filled with the aroma of turkey. Dylan drooled.
The roundest man carved the bird body effortlessly as the other two scooped heaping servings of what Dylan assumed were vegetables and mashed potatoes onto their plates.
“Were you expecting company?” Dylan asked.
“You’re here, aren’t you?” Tully said.
That wasn’t really an answer, but Dylan didn’t want to point it out and be rude. He wanted to eat.
“Chiglet?” Woli said, as she cut a piece of meat from the slab placed it on her plate.
“Yes,” Tully said. “Farm raised.”
“My favorite,” Henry said.
Chiglet? What the heck? Dylan’s appetite waned. He wasn’t sure he wanted chiglet. The faint feeling of churning acid in his stomach overpowered his reluctance to eat. He sliced off a small piece and put it in his mouth.
The meat nearly melted in his mouth and tasted like an expensive piece of filet mignon. In fact, it tasted like his favorite meat, but it smelled like turkey. This gave him the courage to try the “mashed potatoes.” He put a huge helping in his mouth. Mistake. Huge mistake, but he couldn’t spit it back out. He looked around the table, and everyone was engrossed in the food, wolfing it down. The little men left the room, taking their stepstools with them.
Dylan held his breath, trying not to taste the foul fungus mash in his mouth. He swallowed as quickly as he could and followed it with a huge bite of chiglet, looking around the table for something to drink. Nothing. His mouth felt so gross he didn’t even want another piece of meat.
Thankfully, the little men returned with four carafes of red liquid. Dylan prayed it was drinkable.
As the little man placed the carafe next to him, he said, “Strawberry Kool-Aid.”
“Really?” Dylan asked, encouraged.
The little man snickered. “No, but I heard you people like that crap.”
“Rhuffles, don’t be rude,” Tully said.
Rhuffles bowed his head and left the room.
“It’s cravenberry wine,” Henry said “or at least that’s what it looks like.”
Tully nodded. “It is, in fact, cravenberry wine. The finest cravenberries from River Ruin. I can’t remember the year of the harvest, but I do believe this is the best I’ve tasted so far.”
Dylan chanced a small sip. It couldn’t taste worse than the mashed fungus. Then he swallowed a huge gulp. “Delicious.”
Woli reached over and pushed the carafe
away. “Easy there, mage. We don’t need you drunk. Drink it slow, and you’ll be fine.”
“It’s diluted. He can drink as fast as he wants,” Tully said. “I never drink cravenberry wine undiluted unless it’s right before turning in.”
“It’s still delicious,” Dylan said and pulled the carafe back from Woli.
The rest of the meal passed in silence, and Dylan listened to the sounds of silverware against plates, carafes placed back on the table after drinking, Professor Tully’s burps, Henry’s chewing, and Woli’s wings flittering. And all he could think of was the grimoire was stolen, and he’d be stuck in this ungodly parallel universe forever.
Chapter 6
Tully leaned back in his chair, legs spread like when he was in the library, as if he needed room for the pot belly he didn’t have. He patted his belly. “It’s much easier to think on a full stomach.”
Woli continued to stuff her face as if she hadn’t eaten in days. Henry burped then took a long swig of cravenberry wine.
Dylan couldn’t eat another bite. Even though he had no idea what he’d eaten, it was flavorful and not altogether gross. What he wouldn’t give for the Gray Cliffs mystery stew at that moment. He didn’t know what was in that either, but it had a familiar aroma and flavor. This stuff was strange and seemed to taste different with every bite.
Tully looked at Dylan. “A talisman. Do you have a talisman from your school?”
Dylan stood and reached deep into his pants pockets, searching for the school pin. But it was just a normal school pin, right? Or was it? Hettie gave it to them on the roof. “Ouch.” The end of the pin pricked the inside of his middle finger. He pulled his hand out and put his finger to his mouth, sucking where the pin stabbed him.
“Well?” Woli said, finally putting her fork and knife down for a moment.
Dylan shot her a look. His finger hurt, dammit. He wiped the saliva off his finger with the cloth napkin that fell when he stood up. Then he carefully reached back into this pocket to find the nasty pin. He grabbed it with just the ends of his thumb and index finger, as if he thought it stabbed him on purpose. The way his life was going since being blown off the roof of Gray Cliffs, it might have stabbed him deliberately. He lifted it slowly, pulling it out like a rattlesnake, then placed it on the table.
“This is very good,” Tully said.
Henry grinned, and Dylan could see the food in his teeth. “It’s a start, anyway.”
“A start?” Dylan frowned. “What is this, anyway? And what does it do?”
Woli looked at Henry, who looked at Tully. Tully looked back at Henry.
“Someone please tell me,” Dylan raised his voice. “I want to go home already.”
Tully now frowned at Dylan. “Am I such a terrible host?”
Now Dylan felt bad. He’d been rude and without meaning to. “No, sir, you’ve been so gracious. I just want to return to my side of the universe.”
The outside of Tully’s eye twitched. “What makes you think you’re in a different universe?”
Dylan didn’t have a definitive answer to that, but he knew he wasn’t in his world. “I don’t mean to offend, but in my universe, monkeys don’t sit on the back of elephants, playing chess. And I’ve never seen a pixy or met a chameleman.”
“Just because you have yet to see these things doesn’t mean they don’t exist. It just means you’ve gone this far in your life without opening your mind. And maybe you’re not here for the grimoire after all. Maybe you’re here to believe. Every magician, wizard, mage, or whatever power, needs to open his or her mind in order to utilize the energies of the universe—no matter what universe he or she is in.”
The professor had a point. Dylan studied hard, but he never looked beyond what he believed to be true. Was that why he only thought he was in the other wings of the school, or the ductwork? Was he really there, in another shape, and only thought it was a dream because he refused to open his mind? Well, he wasn’t about to go blindly down that path because a man they called professor, who he only just met, told him so.
“Professor Tully, what do you have your doctoral degree in?” Dylan asked.
He was curious about all the books. Did the man read twenty-four-seven? It couldn’t be, because he just had a meal with them.
“Doctoral?” Tully asked.
Dylan’s brows raised. “Yes. The graduate degree you get after a master’s degree. It’s the degree giving you the title of professor.”
Tully shook his head as if trying to loosen something inside. “Young man, I’ve never been to college. I’m a professor of knowledge. And my knowledge is vast, as you probably noticed when you entered the house.”
“You’ve read all of those books?” Dylan asked.
Woli cleared her throat and Henry kicked him under the table.
“Shall we head to the parlor for a digestif?” Tully tossed his linen napkin on the table and stood. He pointed to the school pin in the table. “Bring that thing with you, and we’ll have a discussion about your future travels.”
Dylan might be slow on the uptake, but he knew better than to ask the book question again. He put the pin in the palm of his hand and wrapped his fingers around it. It felt warm, and he opened his fingers to see the pin glowing a pale aqua. He quickly closed his fingers again. He placed his napkin next to his plate and stood.
Waiting for Woli and Henry, Dylan fell in line behind them as everyone walked to the parlor.
The parlor had three walls, filled floor to ceiling with books. On the fourth wall was a bar. Ruffles stood on a stepstool behind the bar and watched them closely as they entered the room.
“Applebawms for everyone, Rhuffles,” Tully said as he dropped onto a red velvet chaise lounge, leaned back on the pillows, and put up his legs. His hands resting on his belly and his eyes closed, he added, “Don’t be stingy with the bawms.”
Chiglet, applebawms, what else would be subjected to, Dylan wondered.
Without opening his eyes, Tully said, “You doubt my knowledge.”
Dylan shook his head, then realized Tully couldn’t see him. “No sir, I’m just curious. I don’t understand much about this world.”
Tully’s eyes opened, and he stared at the ceiling. Dylan looked up to see what the man was looking at. It was just a plain white ceiling.
“That talisman will save you. It knows where the book is, and it can help you find it.” He bolted into a sitting position, looking at Dylan. “But you must find Strix before he enters the palace.”
Dylan was almost afraid to ask another question. “Why?”
Henry took the tiny goblet Rhuffles handed him. “Because the palace is protected with wards.”
“Wards?” Dylan never felt so stupid in his life.
“Queen Gaanne placed spells around the perimeter of the castle. The wards are in place to prevent magic within the walls of the castle. The wards extend to the moat surrounding the palace.” Woli said all of this with one breath, as if she needed to get it out quickly.
“Strix may be an owly one, but he doesn’t work for Queen Gaanne. Why would he steal Dylan’s grimoire and take it to Queen Gaanne?” Henry said.
Tully snapped his fingers and pointed to the far corner of the room. Rhuffles hustled over to where Tully pointed. “Third shelf from the bottom, fourth book from the left.”
Rhuffles pulled a large, leather bound book with gold lettering on the spine. He handed the book to the professor. “Sir.” He presented the book as if it were a gift.
Tully place the book on his thighs and opened it. “Strix is indebted to Queen Gaanne. He was found with a dozen of her white mice.”
“Stupid owl man,” Henry said.
Woli said, “No way.”
Henry said, “He’s not that stupid. In fact, he’s quite brilliant, even if I hate to admit it.”
Tully held his finger up and wagged it. “Nevertheless, he was caught red-handed. Swore he was set up, but Portly said he had proof.”
“Good old Portly. H
e must be indebted for life.” Woli frowned.
“Is Portly really a good guy, too?” Dylan asked.
Everyone shrugged.
“He used to be, but no one really knows anymore. As long as I’ve been alive, I’ve wondered to whom his allegiance belongs. But I’ve heard stories about how he had three lovely homes on the outskirts of town, and he used to foster children who lost their parents in the last war on magic.” Woli’s voiced sounded far away, as if she was there, even though it was before she was born.
“What’s with this queen, anyway? And doesn’t she have a king to answer to?” Dylan asked.
Again, they all shared astonished glances with one another, but no one looked at him.
“Another faux pas? Sorry. But if you guys don’t tell me what’s going on, how am I supposed to learn? And get home?” Dylan looked at each of them in turn.
He didn’t know or understand everything in his world either, but he needed to know what it would take to get home. He didn’t want to know about the realm’s politics unless it was pertinent to his goals. And it seemed as if he needed to know something of the politics since they spoke of a king and queen. King and queen of what, he wondered. Was this territory in the realm large or small? Craydusk seemed like a town that would have a mayor, not a king and queen. But maybe things worked different here.
“Who wants to tell him?” Henry asked. “Because I don’t have the energy.”
“Queen Gaanne did have a king, but he’s gone now,” Tully began. “King Riata was very powerful indeed, and he married Queen Gaanne because she was so lovely to him. She possessed no magic, but she somehow stumbled into Craydusk by accident. Maybe she had a glamour spell on her because King Riata found her irresistible. In the beginning, she felt the same.”
“Love at first sight,” Dylan said with a smirk.
Tully ignored his disbelief. “Yes, love at first sight. And the king and queen married. King Riata, being the generous man he was, invited the entire realm. He even sent out his worker bees to spread the word. Then the day of the wedding, Queen Gaanne was overwhelmed by the magic in the air and fainted right after she said yes to being King Riata’s wife.”
