Quest Maker

by Laurie McKay

  “Ms. Primrose won’t like that.”

  “Then she should control her school. Or be replaced with someone who can.”

  Rath Dunn wanted Ms. Primrose replaced? If he caused it without breaking her rules, would she not be able to stop him or punish him?

  Rath Dunn had collected complaints. He’d encouraged the feud between the teachers. He’d set up evidence that there was negligence. And he’d had Derek’s lawyer mother look over his employee contract. These were the things that Caden knew about. No telling what else Rath Dunn had done.

  Students were waiting outside the door now. Hapless souls who didn’t know their instructor intended to torture them with math and, later, sacrifice them for dark magic. Caden had mere seconds left and still had no confession of guilt. He held Rath Dunn’s gaze.

  “That’s why you conspired with the others to sabotage the science room? Just to make her look bad?”

  For a second, Rath Dunn didn’t speak. Then he grinned. “That’s right. Someone needs to bring her house down.” He seemed particularly amused with that. “She won’t be a villain keeper for long. Now, go get me the hair.”

  With a shaky hand, Caden took Brynne’s braid from his pocket and handed it to him.

  “Already?” Rath Dunn said, and thoughtfully turned the hair over in his hand.

  Caden didn’t answer. He turned and dashed from the room. Several people said hello to him in the halls, but he was a flash of speed on the dirty tiles. Rude though it was, he acknowledged no one. In his pocket, he clutched his phone. “That’s right,” Rath Dunn had said. Certainly that would count as a confession. He had the evidence he needed.

  Caden only stopped running when he was safe and hidden behind the auditorium. There was a crack meandering up and around the stacked stones. Lately, there seemed to be cracks in everything. Despite Ms. Primrose’s care, the school seemed to be falling apart. Maybe her hunger distracted her from its upkeep. Maybe some of the complaints had merit.

  Downslope, Sir Horace peeked out from behind a dead tree. Sir Horace sniffed at the ground as if uneasy. Caden motioned for him to stay hidden. If Ms. Primrose didn’t accept Caden’s evidence, he and Jasan might need to try to outrun her. Likely, it would be a futile attempt, but neither Caden nor Jasan would simply stand and be devoured. Better they die while running and fighting.

  In his pocket, Caden felt his phone buzz. It was tangled in the enchanted chain of paper clips again. Five missed calls: all from Rosa. He also had five new messages. She didn’t deserve the worry he was causing her. She’d treated him well. Then again, if she’d believed him, he wouldn’t have had to sneak away.

  If Caden survived this day, he would have to one day repay Rosa’s kindness. First, though, he had to find Ms. Primrose. He had to play her the recording and show her the pictures of the cafeteria to save Jasan, to save himself. Today was a day of unknown fate. Caden hoped to live to see tomorrow.

  He took a deep breath. The air smelled of ash and rotted grass. He prepared the photos and files on his phone the way Tito had taught him. Caden paced back and forth. The class-changing bell rang. He was getting impatient, but Tito had ordered him to wait. Wait he did. Finally, Tito ran around the corner with a blue bathroom pass in his hand. “Hey,” he said, and breathed in and out, in and out.

  “Time is running out,” Caden said.

  “Mrs. Belle wouldn’t give me a pass until the class was seated for the ceremony. Hurry up. I’d like to be back in time for the awards. Let’s go find your Elderdragon before it starts.”

  “She’s not my Elderdragon,” Caden said.

  From within the auditorium, he heard music start to play. It was muffled but loud. With each beat, the stacked stone walls vibrated. Fine dust of plaster puffed from the cracks. The sun’s rays illuminated it and made it look like smoke from a summer chimney.

  Tito flapped his hands to disperse it.

  Caden reached out and touched the wall. It was damp from the humidity. The stones were warm but not from the spring sun. It was a strange warmth. It was like the warmth of the counters in the cafeteria kitchen.

  “Bro,” Tito said, and grabbed Caden’s sleeve to pull him along. “If you want to talk to Ms. Primrose, we’ve got to go find her now.”

  Caden looked at the walls for a moment longer. “Something’s wrong here.”

  “Well, yeah,” Tito said. “The math teacher wants to kill you, and the vice principal wants to eat you.”

  “More than that.” Caden traced his hand along the crack. “Rath Dunn said he’d bring down Ms. Primrose’s house. And he’s already been involved in one not-accident.”

  Tito looked at the crack and frowned. “Yeah? What are you thinking?”

  “Maybe he’s going to cause another.” Caden took out his phone and shone the flash against the stone wall. Behind him, Tito gasped.

  “Whoa.”

  Caden clicked the flash again. Runes were scribbled across the stones. The wall looked like a filled scroll. As soon as the bright light went out, they weren’t visible. A ritual spell had been cast. With the next beat of music, a piece of stone tumbled from the wall. Then another.

  From the sound of the music and noise within, the auditorium was full. Likely, Tonya and Ward were in there. As were Jane and Jasan. And Brynne. Caden felt a cold chill and he knew. He just knew.

  “He’s going to collapse the building.”

  Then he reconsidered. Rath Dunn wouldn’t dirty his hands; he wouldn’t risk blame if his plotting failed. “I take that back,” Caden said. “He’s going to get Ms. Jackson to make it collapse.”

  “Now? He’s in there.”

  Quickly, Caden took pictures of the stone walls. “Where was he seated?”

  “Left front?”

  Caden looked over the pictures he’d snapped on his phone. “Near the exit? He could easily escape if the walls were to collapse.”

  “But why would he want to destroy the building?” Tito said. “For his spell? I didn’t think he had everything. I mean he doesn’t have your brother’s blood or Ms. Primrose’s perfume.”

  “I don’t believe so,” Caden said. “This is a different spell. He needs to do this one in order to begin the next one.”

  Caden pounded and yanked on the door nearest them. It didn’t budge. The exits only had to be open to those on the inside. He yelled for someone from inside to open it, but the music seemed to drown out his warnings.

  Another stone tumbled from the top of the wall. “Crap,” Tito said. “I think you’re right. Warn the girls.”

  Caden called Brynne. She didn’t answer. Tito texted Jane. She didn’t reply either. If the teachers were watching, they wouldn’t answer their phones. “Try Ward and Tonya,” Caden said as they hurried to the main building and the hall’s side entrance.

  No one was in the corridor or the classrooms. It seemed all were at the awards ceremony. Before Caden found the Elderdragon, he and Tito had to warn those inside. The fire alarm was on the wall near the English room. Caden lifted the cover and pulled the lever. He braced for screeching bells and bright flashing lights. Nothing happened.

  Tito frowned. “You did it wrong,” he said.

  “I did not.”

  Tito tried pushing and pulling the lever. “It’s not working.”

  Caden understood how to flip the alarm. “My point exactly.” He pulled out his phone again. This time he called Officer Levine. He answered immediately.

  “Caden.” Truly, he sounded worried. “Where are you, son? Rosa is worried sick.”

  “The auditorium is going to collapse. Get help.”

  “Are you at school?”

  He hung up and turned to Tito. “Call Rosa, too. She’ll be more likely to believe you.” Maybe they’d believe them, maybe not. Tito called Rosa. “She’s at the horse rescue looking for you.”

  “Did she believe you?”

  “Don’t know,” Tito said. Then he dialed nine-one-one on his cell phone.

  Caden doubted anyone would get t
o them in time. He and Tito ran into the auditorium from the back hall entrance. They needed to evacuate it.

  Almost every seat in the auditorium was filled. Parents occupied the back rows. Students sat in front with their morning classes. Two empty rows separated them. The potential victims were many.

  “Evacuate. Now!” Caden yelled from the doorway. “The building is going to fall!”

  No one heard him over the music.

  Tito nudged him and pointed to the stage. There were three chairs set up. One was occupied by an overly tanned man in a wrinkled shirt, another by an older woman with medium brown skin and a green pants suit. Mr. Creedly stood center stage, setting up the microphone.

  If he or Tito could get to the stage, they could warn everyone. Caden looked at Tito. He was thinking the same thing.

  “Go!” Caden said. “I’ll warn our friends.”

  Tito darted toward the stage. Mr. Bellows tried to grab him from a front aisle seat, but Tito dodged and climbed up to the stage. The man in the wrinkled shirt stood up and tried to block him, but Tito was too quick.

  Brynne and Jane were seated in the middle with Mrs. Belle. Already, Brynne seemed to sense something. Her short dark hair hung loose to her neck and tickled the top of her purple high-collared shirt. She was looking up at the ceiling. Tonya and Ward sat on the other side, but Mr. McDonald wasn’t there. Ward’s father was, however. He, too, looked at the ceiling. Those from the Greater Realm knew how to spot magic and danger.

  Near the front middle, Caden saw Jasan. He was flanked by villainous teachers: Mr. Bellows and Rath Dunn on one side, and the sixth- and eighth-grade math teachers—solemn-faced Mr. Faunt and stocky Ms. Grady—on the other. For a split second, Caden didn’t know whether to warn Brynne and Jane, Tonya and Ward, or Jasan first.

  He ran to Brynne and Jane. They were the closest. When he got to their row, he reached across Mrs. Belle. “Brynne! Jane!”

  The loud music came to an abrupt stop. The room went silent. On stage, Tito held the cords to the speakers. Everyone looked toward him.

  Ms. Primrose appeared at the curtain’s edge. Her dress was the color of thick ice. Even from afar, her skin seemed to shimmer with blue scales. She and Tito stared at each other. When she licked her lips, her teeth gleamed. Tito, however, was brave.

  And, apparently, a bit of a liar, for he said, “There’s a bomb threat! Everyone out!”

  In the fleeting quiet that followed, the ceiling groaned. The middle rafter dropped several feet and debris showered down from it. That convinced everyone to get out.

  Students scrambled for the exits. Parents scrambled for their kids. Manglor pulled Ward and Tonya from their seats. The two well-dressed people on the stage hurried to the door. From somewhere outside and farther away, sirens wailed.

  Ms. Primrose looked mortified. She eyed Tito for one long, horrible moment, then scanned the crowd, her icy gaze looking from one of her villains to the next. Then the ground shook. In a flash of blue, Ms. Primrose disappeared.

  Mrs. Belle directed her class toward the back exit. Before they could all get free from the middle section, the drooping rafter crashed down. Twenty would be crushed, a quarter of the seventh grade. Caden braced himself. Brynne reached up. The beam stopped a thumb’s length from her hand and even closer to their classmate Olivia’s head.

  Telekinesis magic.

  Derek pulled Olivia out from under the beam. It hovered eerily in the air. Brynne was strong, but she couldn’t hold it there for much longer. The class surged from the row. Caden fought against the flow of people.

  Soon, only Brynne and Jane remained. “Brynne! Jane!” Caden said. “Get out from under it!”

  Jane tried to pull Brynne away, but Brynne didn’t move. Instead, she flicked her wrist. The rafter flew straight up, burst through the ceiling, and tumbled out of sight. It left a large hole. The sun shone in and onto the dirty seats, the aisle, and the screaming students running out the exits.

  Caden heard someone calling him. “Caden!” It was Tito. He ran across the stage. “Look!” Frantically, he motioned toward the front, toward Jasan. “Your brother!”

  Jasan, of course, hadn’t run away. He was a trained Elite Paladin. He would help others first. But he wasn’t the only teacher who remained. Those around him did as well.

  With the auditorium almost empty and Ms. Primrose gone, they blocked him from all sides. Rath Dunn had his blood dagger drawn. Mr. Bellows had his arm outstretched. The black aura of necromancy emanated from his fingers, and a large bag sat by his feet. Ms. Grady had a spiked bone club. The solemn-faced Mr. Faunt raised his hands and flexed his fingers. His fingernails looked like long, sharp knives.

  Toward the back, a rear beam started to fall. Brynne’s eyes turned so silver they glowed. She reached up. Power emanated from her. The rafter flew up, twirling madly like the blade of a helicopter, and disappeared into the sky. She wobbled from the effort.

  Jane held her up. “We’ve got this,” Jane said. The walls all around them crumbled. “I’ll get Brynne out. Hurry, help your brother.”

  Dainty termites fluttered past them in the dust. What was going on? Caden was certain attacking Jasan with daggers, nails, and clubs was against even Ashevillian rules. Where was Ms. Primrose? Caden dashed to the front.

  Jasan grabbed Mr. Faunt by the wrist and flung him to the stage. The top of the stage, it seemed, had fallen in when the second rafter fell. Mr. Faunt crashed amid the splinters and termites.

  The other three villains pounced on Jasan. Ms. Grady swung the club. It cut through the air with force. Rath Dunn slashed with the dagger. Mr. Bellows waved his hand. Something dead rose up from his bag. Bone by bone, it clicked together. Patchy muscle and flesh knitted together. Within a second, a corpse-like Ashevillian bear roared beside him.

  It didn’t matter if Caden saved Jasan from Ms. Primrose if Jasan died here by Rath Dunn’s hand, Mr. Bellows’s bear, Ms. Grady’s club, or Mr. Faunt’s knifelike nails.

  Ms. Grady rammed the club at Jasan’s middle. Rath Dunn attacked from the other side. Mr. Bellows raised his arm to command the bear to rush Jasan. Just as he did, Caden lunged and grabbed his elbow. Instead of Jasan, Mr. Bellows now pointed at Ms. Grady and the corpse-bear charged. Better that she fight the bear.

  “You!” Mr. Bellows sneered. So close, he smelled like death. He flung Caden off him. Caden skidded to a stop a few feet away.

  Ms. Grady turned her club on the charging reanimated bear. Rath Dunn and Jasan fought. Above them, the front rafters groaned. Mr. Bellows glanced up.

  He stepped back, then ran for the exit. Without its master, the corpse-bear fell into a puddle of bones and sinew. Ms. Grady looked at Jasan and Rath Dunn’s battle, then looked at the groaning ceiling. It seemed she was done with both, for she, too, ran out a front exit.

  Right above Jasan, a piece of heavy plaster fell. Caden was forced to jump back. Jasan was trapped between it and Rath Dunn. He dodged both but was knocked off-balance, and Rath Dunn charged him. They fell backward to the floor.

  “No!” Caden yelled.

  Rath Dunn brought the dagger down to Jasan’s chest. Just as he did so, though, Jasan blocked with his right hand and punched Rath Dunn in the jaw with the left.

  Rath Dunn stumbled back.

  For a moment, the fight stopped. Then Jasan was screaming and grabbing for his right wrist. As he’d blocked the killing blow, the dagger—sharp, magical, and powerful—had severed his hand. Blood pooled on the floor, stark red against the grayish-white tiles. Caden rushed to his brother’s side. The walls around them creaked. Sunlight shone in from above.

  The slash in Caden’s arm was also bleeding. Air seeped in through the rip in the coat, the rip that had been made only months earlier by the same blood dagger that had severed Jasan’s hand. It was the only imperfection on his enchanted coat—one enchanted item countering the effects of another.

  Slowly, Rath Dunn stood. He backed toward the exit and wrapped his dagger in a handkerchief from his po
cket, sealing in the blood, and hiding the dagger.

  “Not my initial intention, but I’m content to let you bleed out, Prince Jasan.”

  Caden glowered at him. “This is against Ms. Primrose’s rules.”

  “Such teacher-to-teacher conflict must be arbitrated by the principal.” He raised his arm as if taking an oath. “I’ll get my day in court, you understand. He’ll be dead then.”

  With sudden sickening clarity, Caden understood. Jasan’s right hand had been severed by Rath Dunn’s blood dagger. A wound made with it would never fully heal. It would reopen in its presence. No Ashevillian medicine could keep Jasan from bleeding to death. Rath Dunn finally had Jasan’s blood—the blood of the seventh son.

  “She’ll still eat you,” Caden said. “You broke the rules.”

  “We shall see, shan’t we?”

  Without the support of the beams, the right wall of the building tilted inward. Jasan stifled his screams with a grimace. There was a red pool under his right arm. He held his right wrist with his left hand. His right hand was on the floor.

  Caden tried to help his brother up. Something in Caden’s pocket tingled. He reached in and his hand touched his magical chain of paper clips. They felt warm and hummed against his fingers. Jane said they held things together. A simple enchantment with a simple purpose.

  Before Jasan could bleed out, Caden reached down and grabbed the severed hand. It was a strange and icky sensation to hold someone’s hand when it wasn’t attached. Jasan’s golden eyes flashed. He didn’t move. He looked ready to pass out dead.

  Quickly, Caden used the chain to join Jasan’s right wrist to his right hand. He wrapped the paper clips around and around again, until the chain was tight against his skin.

  Jasan’s golden eyes looked dim, his matching hair matted and sweaty. He was covered in blood. He stared at his right hand. With the strangest of expressions, he wiggled his fingers.

  His expression wasn’t one of gratitude nor of relief. It was shock. He looked at the chain of paper clips at his wrist. Caden knew what his brother was thinking: Where did you get these things?