Copyright © 2012 by Michaelbrent Collings
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author. For information send request to [email protected].
website: www.michaelbrentcollings.com
email: [email protected]
Cover and interior art used under license by Shutterstock and Shutterstock.com.
Dedication
To...
My son, who asked me to write a book for him...
and to Laura, FTAAE.
Through fires of fate and storms that save
Through winter’s gate and water’s grave
Shall come the One, once lost, now found
Seen by the Son whose love abounds.
A sword, a spear, and armor strong
A shield to wear, and dagger long
To fell the Dark and bring the Light
To call the spark that ends the night.
And through it all, one twist of fate:
A child whose call will seem too late.
But though the Dark seems once to win
The child will spark the light again.
- The Book of the Earth
Contents
CHAPTER THE FIRST.. 1
CHAPTER THE SECOND.. 15
CHAPTER THE THIRD.. 28
CHAPTER THE FOURTH.. 39
CHAPTER THE FIFTH.. 57
CHAPTER THE SIXTH.. 77
CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.. 95
CHAPTER THE EIGHTH.. 111
CHAPTER THE NINTH.. 123
CHAPTER THE TENTH.. 138
CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH.. 154
CHAPTER THE TWELFTH.. 173
CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH.. 205
CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH.. 220
CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH.. 230
CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH.. 242
EPILOGUE.. 259
CHAPTER THE FIRST
In Which Billy Dies, and Does Not Come Back…
The second time Billy Jones died was much worse than the first.
It wasn’t so much the dying that bothered him, upon later reflection. It wasn’t how it happened. It was when it happened. It wasn’t enough that he had barely returned to “real” life after the Battle for Powers Island. It wasn’t enough that he had just faced hordes of the undead. It wasn’t even sufficient that he had had to make up all the homework that he had missed while on his adventure.
No, he had to get killed. Again.
He was sitting in Mr. Angle’s class when it began. Mr. Angle, as usual, was droning on about the ecstasy of figuring out the area of parallelograms. And Billy, as usual, wasn’t listening.
It wasn’t that Billy was a bad student. He was far from being valedictorian material, but he did try. No, the reason he wasn’t listening was that Blythe Forrest wasn’t in the class.
Blythe was the prettiest girl Billy had ever met. She was nice to him. She was, he thought, his friend.
She was also a Darksider who was, quite possibly, scheming to have him killed.
But hey, he thought, no relationship is perfect.
Blythe was one of the few things that kept Billy from trying to gnaw his own arm off just to have something else to concentrate on during Mr. Angle’s lectures. So when she wasn’t there, the math class quickly went from bad to something only slightly better than being attacked by a giant insterstellar rock scorpion – which was something about which Billy had an unfortunate amount of knowledge.
“… and so, when one determines the sublime spatial relationships that comprise the geometric realities,” Mr. Angle was droning, “one realizes that only in geometry can one find that special mix of…” and here Mr. Angle drifted off, clearly searching for the right words to convey his passion, “… somethingness and… and stuff… that allows one to –”
“Mr. Angle,” said a voice.
The new voice had an instantaneous effect on the students in the class. Where before they had been slowly succumbing to various levels of coma-states under the influence of Mr. Angle’s monotonous lesson, now the students’ heads all snapped up. Eyes locked onto the new speaker, and people who only an instant before had probably registered as clinically brain-dead were now alive and at full attention.
Billy could understand why. The speaker had that effect on everyone. He thought it entirely possible that the voice could command the earth to move, and it would. In fact, it was more than possible. He had seen it happen.
Even Mr. Angle seemed to come closer to reality than normal under the influence of that commanding voice. “Y…. Yes…,” he stammered.
Mrs. Russet stepped into the class. And her presence was even more powerful than her voice. Billy imagined that if you made a great white shark out of super-pointy sticks, then dipped the whole thing in angry bees, you would have something approaching – but only approaching – the level of intensity that Mrs. Russet took with her wherever she went.
“I need to speak to Mr. Jones, if you please,” said Mrs. Russet.
Mr. Angle hitched at his suspenders, then tugged at the hemline of his too-tight pants. He was enormously fat, but for some reason he insisted on wearing pants that looked like they had probably been purchased at Baby Gap or some other children’s store. Which begged the question: why he bothered with suspenders. Billy suspected that the man’s pants wouldn’t come off without the aid of surgical scissors and a fair amount of non-stick baking spray.
But he wasn’t able to spend much more time on figuring out that particular mystery of the universe, because Mr. Angle waved a shaking hand in Billy’s direction, clearly indicating that Billy should go with Mrs. Russet. And fast.
Billy stood up from his desk, then stepped toward the door. The rest of the students watched him go, most of them looking as though he were going to a gas chamber or an electric chair. Mrs. Russet was known – and feared – throughout the school.
And not just the school, Billy reflected. Mrs. Russet was more than just his history teacher. She was also the Brown Councilor, one of the most important people in the world of the Powers. Capable of controlling the Earth Element, he had seen her use her abilities to crush zombies, to raise mountains from the ground, and a host of other jaw-dropping activities. But for all that, he thought she was at her most fearsome when she was walking through the halls of Preston Hills High School, looking for students to sear into tiny grease spots with her laser-like gaze.
Billy had barely managed to step out of Mr. Angle’s classroom and into the hall when Mrs. Russet wheeled on him. “Where is Blythe Forrest?” she demanded.
Billy felt himself blush. Very few people knew how much he liked Blythe. That was partly because he was embarrassed to admit it. She was way out of his league. There was also the “pure evil” part of her nature, which just made having any kind of relationship with her even tougher.
Mrs. Russet was definitely not one of the people who knew his feelings toward Blythe. He thought. It was hard to tell with her – she was probably the smartest person he knew, and much of what she had in her vast brain was a mystery to lesser mortals.
“Uhhhh,” he finally managed. Which wasn’t much in the way of vocalizing his feelings, so he followed it up with a far-wittier, “Ummm,” before falling silent and wishing he were somewhere else – like inside a tank full of laser-shooting piranhas. Mrs. Russet was his teacher, she was his mentor in the world of the Powers, she was even (he suspected) his friend. But she still intimidated him at times. At pretty much
all times, in fact.
Mrs. Russet rolled her eyes. “Mr. Jones, do you have anything you care to add to that riveting soliloquy?” she said.
Billy opened his mouth to try to add something further, then realized he was most likely to just embarrass himself again, and simply shut his mouth instead.
Mrs. Russet closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Billy,” she said.
Billy almost jumped at that. He was rarely “Billy” to Mrs. Russet. She only spoke to him that way when things were very good… or very bad.
Any hopes that things were going well were dashed when Mrs. Russet covered her eyes with her hands as though she were terribly, terribly tired. Billy realized with a shock that Mrs. Russet’s hands were shaking.
“What is it?” he asked. “What’s going on?” He had only been introduced to the secretive world of the Powers – what most people would call wizards and witches – a short time ago, but he had been involved with those people long enough to know that if Mrs. Russet was worried, it was time to look for somewhere to hide… like the inside of a black hole.
“It’s the Greens,” she said.
Billy knew exactly what she was referring to when she said “the Greens.” Just as Mrs. Russet was a Brown, and so shaped the Element of Earth, there were also other Powers who shaped the other five Elements. The Red Powers shaped Fire, the Gray Powers bent the Wind to their will. The Blue Powers controlled Water, and the frightening Black Powers conjured Death with their spells.
The Greens shaped the Power of Life. Blythe Forrest was one of them. Nor was she the only Power enrolled at Preston Hills High. Cameron Black – a bully who had tortured Billy mercilessly for months – was also a student there. Though the young Black Power had not been back since the Battle of Powers Island, where the bully was felled by one of his own spells.
Billy shivered thinking of Cameron. The bigger boy was a Darksider, through and through, and so was committed to enslaving all humanity. But as bad as he was, his mother was far worse – and far more dangerous. Mrs. Black was the leader of the Darksiders, and no one knew where she was right now, or what new mischief the Darksiders were planning after their defeat at Powers Island.
“What about the Greens?” Billy asked, a ripple of fear surging through him like a cold wave. Not only was Blythe Forrest a Green – and Darksider or not, Billy couldn’t deny how much he liked her – but so were some of his best friends in the world of the Powers. Could something have happened to them?
Mrs. Russet’s expression was answer enough. She looked like she was trying to talk, but no words came out. Another first. Billy couldn’t remember ever seeing Mrs. Russet struggle for words.
Mrs. Russet turned on her heel and walked down the hall. Billy followed her, his smaller legs a blur as he struggled to keep up with the no-nonsense gait of his history teacher. Though he suspected he had probably grown a full eighth of an inch since school started, that still put him at only a hair taller than five feet. “Athletic” was not a word he had ever heard used to describe him. “Clutzy,” yes. “Awkward,” at times. Even “that one kid who gets stuffed into lockers and looks like a kewpie doll only smaller” upon occasion. But never “athletic.”
Still, he managed somehow to keep up with Mrs. Russet as she hurtled through the hallways of PHHS, and followed her into her classroom. It was her free period, he knew, so no students were inside the room with them. Even so, Mrs. Russet carefully shut the door behind them. She reached into a pocket and took out a small rock. She held it against the frame of the door for a moment, and Billy was not surprised to see the rock start writhing and moving as though alive. Mrs. Russet could control anything connected to the Earth Element, and he had seen things like this before.
The rock lengthened into a wormlike shape, and then wriggled into the keyhole in the door, disappearing from sight after just a moment.
Mrs. Russet must have noticed Billy looking askance at her. “Privacy,” she said. “Anyone trying to get through that door is going to get a rather nasty surprise.”
Billy didn’t ask what the nasty surprise might be. He had a feeling he didn’t want to know.
“So what’s going on?” he asked. “What’s happened to the Greens? Is Ivy okay?” Ivy was a Green Power, and had been one of the first people to befriend him in the world of the Powers. She was also the daughter of Veric, the Green Councilor, and so was integrally involved in everything of importance that happened in the world of the Powers.
“No,” said Mrs. Russet. “She’s not.”
And then, for the second time in as many minutes, Mrs. Russet seemed to be at a loss for words.
“Are you all right?” Billy asked after a long moment in which neither of them spoke.
Mrs. Russet nodded, then took a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” she finally managed. “I promise I’ll explain it all to you shortly.” She shook herself, as though waking from a bad dream, and then focused her clear gaze on Billy. “For now,” she continued, “we’ve got to –”
Before she could finish saying what they had to do, however, a shudder ran through Billy’s frame. It started at his feet, moved up to his shins, to his hips, to his chest. And then he felt his teeth rattle in their sockets as though they had been put in a blender on puree.
At first Billy thought that he must be feeling the effects of some kind of spell. Then he realized that it wasn’t that: the floor itself was vibrating rapidly, as though from some small but intense earthquake.
Mrs. Russet’s complexion turned a shade whiter. “They’ve found us,” she finally said. “I thought we’d have more time.”
“What’s –” Billy began, but was again interrupted. This time, the interruption came in the form of the door to the room, which suddenly blasted off its hinges. A man was standing in the doorway. He looked vaguely familiar to Billy, as though he should have known who the man was. But at the same time, Billy knew – knew – that he had never before seen the man. The man’s hair was wavy and blonde, much like Billy’s. But while Billy thought his own curly hair made him look silly and weak, this man’s hairstyle was not something that anyone would ever dare laugh at him over. His eyes were searing blue lasers that lit the room up with an evil light. He wore a cape and – was that armor?
“Mordrecai,” snarled Mrs. Russet, pulling Billy away from his thoughts.
“Lumilla,” said the man with a genteel voice and a grin. Then the man’s smile disappeared. He pointed a dagger at Mrs. Russet, and Billy could feel the air between the two Powers – for surely this newcomer was a Power, there could be no other alternative – grow angry and electric.
Billy had a moment to wonder where Mrs. Russet’s “privacy” spell had gone to. Shouldn’t it have worked by now?
Then, as if in answer to his unspoken thought, the strange newcomer – Mordrecai – threw his head back and shrieked in pain. A sheathe of rock encapsulated his feet, and then grew to enclose his legs, his body, and last of all his still-screaming mouth and head. Billy noticed that the thick rock that now held Mordrecai motionless had thousands of tiny spike-like protrusions on its surface, and he wondered if the same things were on the inside of the rock. He suspected so, and shivered to think at the agony that the man must be going through.
Mrs. Russet didn’t seem to share his worry, though. At least, not about that. She grabbed Billy’s hand in hers, and then said, “Run!” and propelled him out past the thick statue in the doorway.
“But, you took care of him, didn’t you?” stammered Billy as he was pushed into the hall.
“Mordrecai?” Mrs. Russet snorted. “That spell bought us a minute. Less.”
And, indeed, when Billy glanced behind himself he could see that the rock that had encased the Power was already cracking. Light shone from the cracks, as though the man within was smashing his way out of the makeshift prison with nuclear bombs.
Billy’s gaze was wrenched forward as another sound ground at his eardrums. This one was like shearing glass, like a thousand nai
ls on chalkboards, and like someone rubbing the world’s biggest balloon between their fingers all combined. It was more than a sound, it was an aural assault, and it nearly pushed him off his feet.
Billy felt Mrs. Russet’s hand on his shoulder, and with it felt strength flowing into him. He suddenly felt like a mountain – immovable, unassailable. He knew that Mrs. Russet must be putting a spell on him to help him overcome the sound attack that they were going through. But he didn’t care. He wasn’t just at one with the Earth, suddenly he was Earth.
Several doors in the hallways opened, and students came rushing out of them. Billy saw the kids he had grown to know – at least a little bit – flow into the hallways with panic etched on their faces. Blue bolts of electricity seemed to sear out of the classroom doors after the kids, and Billy saw one of them – a boy named Christopher – hit in the back by the lightning. Christopher had an instant in which to scream, and then his eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground. Billy couldn’t tell if the other kid was dead or just unconscious, but he knew he didn’t want to stick around to find out.
A woman stepped out of the room behind Christopher. She knelt over the boy, studying him. “You are not the one,” Billy heard her say. Then the woman straightened up, and saw Billy. And even though Billy was under the influence of the Earth, even though he felt like he could have stood up to a tidal wave, still that woman’s gaze made him flinch.
“You!” the woman snarled, and pointed at Billy. Her fingers glowed, and Billy realized that she was casting some sort of spell, and that whatever had happened to Christopher was about to happen to him, too. He tried to step backward, but the sheer mass of screaming students all around him kept him from moving. He couldn’t get away. He was done for.
But no. Mrs. Russet was suddenly in front of him. She waved her arms in a large circle, and the floor beneath the other woman’s feet bucked and writhed like the surface of the ocean. Billy, still apparently connected to the Earthessence through Mrs. Russet’s spell, could sense what was happening. The ground below the school was moving, the foundations of the school cracking, the school itself getting ready to break in two and drop their attacker into a chasm that led all the way to the center of the planet.
Billy: Seeker of Powers (The Billy Saga) Page 1
