by David Meyer
Most spectacular of all was the view. The walls and ceiling were made of glass and I could see for miles. The moon shone brightly and the stars twinkled in the sky. The natural light illuminated snow-capped mountains, crystal blue lakes, and the twin gondolas we used to go back and forth from Madkey.
I examined the stars for a brief moment. They reminded me of that sign I’d seen back in Left Arm. The one that had read, Warning, Foolish Traveler! Cursed Stars Lie Ahead!
A pained grunt caught my attention. Abruptly, Tad fell out of the chimney. With a sickening thud, he landed on the hearth. His soft moans filled my ears.
Chest heaving, he lay still for a few seconds. Then he rose to wobbly knees. Lifting his arms, he thrust them inside the chimney. His muscles quivered as he attempted to lift himself back into the stone cylinder.
Quieting my nerves, I climbed into the room. Holding my wand steady, I tiptoed to the chimney. And all the while, I continued to take in the space. It was well above Torso. And given its circular-like shape, I pegged it for the interior of the statue’s head. It was kind of thrilling to see it. It had all the trappings of a fine apartment and I wondered if it had been built for Roderick J. Madkey himself.
The floor creaked under my shoe, just a few feet short of the fireplace. Tad froze.
“It’s over,” I said. “Come out.”
He dropped back to his knees and crawled out from under the chimney. His back was hunched, his hair was dirty. His clothes were drenched in sweat and grease. Most disturbing of all, his brown skin had lightened a shade or two. Clearly, the Gratlan had already started its horrible work.
“Boltstar isn’t who you think he is,” Tad said.
I didn’t know what to say or do. Truth be told, I hadn’t thought this far ahead. All I knew is that I felt uneasy around Tad, now more than ever.
“And you are?” I retorted.
He stayed quiet.
“You lied to me.”
“No. I just … I didn’t tell you everything. And I’m sorry about that. But be honest, what would you have done if I’d told you I was a Chaotic?”
I would’ve reported him in an instant. My loyalties were to Madkey, to Boltstar. To Structuralism. “How can you be a Chaotic?” I asked, shaking my head.
“How can you be a Structuralist?”
“Easy, I—”
He grabbed my wrist and twisted. My wand fell to the carpet. He plowed into me and we fell over. Next thing I knew, he was climbing on top of me, pressing my wand to my throat.
My words ran dry. All I could do was look at him. Look into those dark, swirling eyes and wonder how he could’ve fooled me all of this time.
He held the wand close to my throat. I could feel it tickling the hairs on my neck. Gritting my teeth, I awaited the inevitable.
His muscles tensed. His lips quivered. He stared down at me, his eyes unreadable.
“I … I can’t.” His body sagged and he dropped my wand. He climbed off of me, then backed away.
Scooping up the wand, I held it in trembling fingertips, wondering just how close I’d come to death. “Why not?” was all I could manage.
“Because we’re friends.”
“Not anymore.” I inhaled softly and sharp pains shot through my ribs. “Not since you attacked us.”
“I had a good reason.”
“Did you have a good reason when you cast that sleeping curse on MacPherson?” I eyed him with disdain. “Don’t deny it. I know it was you.”
“He deserved it. He’s just as guilty as the rest of them.” Seeing my disgust, he hurried to explain. “But I didn’t mean for it to happen. He caught me just as I was uncovering one of their darkest secrets. He attacked, I fought back.”
“You put him to sleep.”
“Not permanently. I always planned to undo it after …” A pained expression crossed his face and I knew he was contemplating the failed invasion. “Well, just after.”
He blinked away a few tears and I could see he was in pain. Shifting my gaze, I noticed the tiny Gratlan throbbing gently upon his shoulder. It looked a bit bigger, too, which was to be expected. The Gratlan wouldn’t stop growing until it covered every inch of his body.
He still made me uneasy. At the same time, just talking to him felt, well, normal. Where did the Chaotic Tad end and the friend Tad begin?
Ultimately, it didn’t really matter. I’d done what I’d come to do. Namely, track Tad to his hiding spot.
Even better, there was nowhere for him to go. The room had just one exit and the connecting tunnel had no other routes. In short, he was trapped. All I had to do was go out the way I’d come in and flag down some help.
And yet, I continued to linger. I didn’t know why. Maybe I needed to understand his motives, to understand how someone could slip into darkness.
Turning in a half-circle, I took in the strange room. “What is this place?”
“A celestarium. There used to be lots of them, all over the world.” He glanced at the glass ceiling. “This one used to house Madkey’s Celestial Magic program.”
“Celest … what?”
“Celestial magic. It’s the study of celestial objects—planets, stars, star clusters, galaxies—and how their motions influence spells.”
I gave him a blank look.
“You saw the sign outside, right? The one that warned about cursed stars?”
I nodded.
“Well, people used to believe that back in the Chaotic period. They thought the motions of the planets and stars impacted one’s ability to do magic.”
A small grin creased my face. The ignorance of Chaotic magicians never ceased to amaze me.
“Yeah, it seems crazy these days.” He shrugged. “After the Structuralists took over, fringe ideas like Celestial Magic were outlawed. Schools began to focus on concrete stuff, the things that could be proven.”
“So, they just abandoned this place?” I looked around. “That’s dumb. Why not use it for something else?”
“Probably because they didn’t need the space. Madkey used to be an open campus. It was built to handle thousands of students. Now, we’ve got, what, maybe a thousand people between faculty, students, and staffers?”
I arched an eyebrow. “We?”
“You know what I mean.” He sighed. “There’s something you need to know. I didn’t come here to make friends. Heck, this whole thing would’ve been easier without friends. But once I got to know you guys—you, Piper, and Leandra—I couldn’t help myself. A lot of stuff about me was fake. But our friendship was always real.”
“Forget it.”
“Forget what?”
“I’m not letting you escape.”
He sighed. “That’s not what I—”
“Besides, the only way we can stop that Gratlan is to get you to the clinic. So, I’m going to get Boltstar and—”
“No, wait.” He paused. “Just let me die.”
I did a double-take. He spoke with ferocity, with absolute certainty. “I would never do that. Do you want to know why? Because I’m not one of you.”
He exhaled. “If Boltstar finds me, he’ll get my anchor. And I’d rather die than let that happen.”
The word ‘anchor’ rang a bell for me. Ivan had mentioned something about it as well. “What anchor?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”
“What do you know about the Floating Abyss?”
I crossed my arms. “Other than the fact that your people used it to attack us?”
He exhaled again, deeper this time. “Think of it as an ocean full of constantly shifting continents. Nothing stays the same for very long. So, once you leave a place, it’s nearly impossible to find it again.”
“Go on.”
“Now, there’s no such thing as a Chaotic spell book. Chaotic spells differ from person to person.”
Impatiently, I clucked my tongue. “I know that.”
“Well, some people are able to cast a spell connecting themselves to a certain location. It’s like an
invisible thread that stays with you at all times. You can use it to send and receive messages, go back and forth, stuff like that. It’s called an anchor and back in the old days, it was the only way to accurately navigate through the Floating Abyss.”
“And you cast one of these spells?”
“Yes, right before I left home.” Wincing, he glanced at his throbbing shoulder. “That spell you saw back in Torso was just me connecting to my anchor. In the process, it opened the station. And then—”
“—your people followed it here?”
He nodded.
“So, what took you so long?”
He frowned. “Huh?”
“You could’ve opened the station months ago. Why’d you choose Victory Day?” I arched an eyebrow. “Or did I just answer my own question?”
“Actually, MacPherson forced my hand.”
“You mean because you cursed him.”
He nodded. “It was only a matter of time before Boltstar started looking for me. I had no choice but to strike fast.”
“So, that explains why you did it today.” I gave him a thoughtful look. “But not why you waited so long.”
His answer took a few moments to arrive. “Remember how I told you that MacPherson caught me uncovering one of their secrets? And that’s why I had to curse him?”
I nodded.
“Well, that secret is at the center of everything. It’s why I came here, it’s why we staged the invasion.”
“So, what is it?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Heck, you couldn’t believe it.”
The conviction of his words caught me by surprise. What else had Tad hoped to accomplish? And why was he so sure I wouldn’t—or couldn’t—believe it?
“Try me.”
“It … doesn’t matter.” His face screwed up in pain as he massaged the deadly Gratlan. “All that matters right now is my anchor. I can’t let Boltstar have it.”
“And he can just take it from you?” I asked skeptically.
“If he skins me, he’ll get my magic. All of it, including my anchor.” He exhaled. “He’ll use it to track down my people, Randy. My friends, my family. He’ll kill them all.”
I bristled with indignation. “Boltstar’s no killer.”
He turned his shoulder to me, showing off the Gratlan. “Are you sure about that?”
“That was an accident.”
“An accident that almost hit you.” He gave me a meaningful look. “If you turn me in, lots of people are going to die.”
“Maybe they deserve it.”
His eyes turned somber.
I frowned, unable to fully meet his gaze. “Can’t you just throw off the anchor?”
“That’s not how they work. They can only be removed from their point of origin.” His gaze dropped to his shoulder. The Gratlan throbbed continuously under his watchful eye. “Or if their owner dies.”
“So, if you die, the anchor’s gone?”
He nodded. “Just pretend you didn’t see me. Nobody will ever know you were here.”
My ribs still ached and my breathing was turning raspy. A small part of me almost felt sorry for him. On the other hand, he’d attacked Madkey. He’d attacked Structuralism. And those things were everything to me.
“I’d know.” I walked to the hatch, wondering if he’d try to attack me from behind. But he remained still, his gaze locked on the carpet. As I lowered myself to the waiting ladder, I gave him one last look. “I’ll ask Boltstar to go easy on you. Okay?”
He didn’t reply.
Chapter 16
Releasing the ladder, I dropped back into the stone tunnel. It was darker than I remembered. Shifting my emotions into place, I maneuvered my wand. Instinctia, warm and pleasant, took over for me, guiding the spell to completion.
“Dayga Fluza,” my lips whispered.
A bit of auburn light appeared at the tip of my wand. Instinctia faded away and I started to feel cold and melancholy. Tad was a Chaotic. And Chaotics were horrible. But did I really want them to die?
I studied my glowing wand as I retraced my steps through the curving, sloping tunnel. The light was quite dim. I supposed it was always that way. It had never bothered me in the past, but now I found it annoying. What was the point of an illumination spell if it couldn’t offer more light?
I slowed my steps. My chest felt raw and hot, like I’d taken a bath in molten lava. A short rest helped, however, and I continued forward.
I kept thinking about Tad. He’d betrayed us, attacked us. He was one of them. And yet, I couldn’t help but feel guilty about turning him over to Boltstar. Why was that?
Because he saved your life, I realized.
He could’ve just let the Gratlan hit me. In fact, it would’ve gotten me out of his way. But instead, he’d jumped in front of me. And quite frankly, I didn’t know a lot of people who’d do that.
I walked back to the grating. A pair of voices caught my ear. Curious, I paused for a quick listen.
“Have we identified the defector yet?” Boltstar asked, hopping off his chair and onto the Upper-Torso bridge. “The one who opened the station?”
“We believe so, Sir,” Galison replied. “It was a staffer by the name of Tad Crucible. Several of his colleagues reported that he’d skipped out on his shift tonight. And three separate people identified his spell color.”
“I don’t believe I know him.”
“He’s a bit of a loner. But I’ve seen him hanging out with another staffer. A boy named Randy Wolf.”
My name, uttered so casually, sent me into a seizure. Clutching my ribs, I took a few, gasping breaths.
“I’d like to talk to Mr. Wolf,” Boltstar said. “As for Mr. Crucible, search every inch of the school. Every room, every hallway. If he’s still here, I want him found.”
“Of course.” Galison bowed slightly at the waist. “Anything else?”
“Actually, yes. I want to create a new class, devoted to the art of havoc magic. Not in the daytime, of course. We don’t want to interrupt the regular schedule. But we could do it at night, say, after dinner.”
My eyes widened into saucers. Havoc magic was a highly specialized field of study, normally open only to qualified seniors.
“Are you sure about this, Headmaster?” Galison’s tone turned doubtful. “Havoc magic is a difficult subject to learn, even for the most-disciplined of students.”
“We’ll stick to the basics. We’ll teach just enough so that our kids can fight back in the event of another attack.” He began to pace back and forth along the bridge. “I’ll handle the instruction myself. We’ll make it a requirement. No grades. Just pass/fail, based solely on my final evaluation. One more thing. Students won’t be the only ones in attendance. I want staffers there, too.”
Oh, great, I thought. Another chance to embarrass myself.
“The staffers, Headmaster?”
“Yes, George,” Boltstar replied. “If the Chaotics launch another attack, we’ll want as many skilled wands as possible on our side. And speaking of skilled wands, we will require some extra security for the foreseeable future. Recruit from the alumni. Give special preference to those who fought with us on Victory Day.”
With respectful nods, they split up. Meanwhile, I resumed hiking through the tunnel.
A Havoc Magic class? Just thinking about it made my stomach queasy. Heck, it almost made me long for YuckYuck. At least then I wouldn’t have to worry about getting bombarded with spells from Porter and his friends.
With each step, I thought about all of the indignities I’d suffered during my time at Madkey. My poor grades and becoming a dropout. The never-ending insults. Being treated like a servant. And now, this new class.
I was sick of losing and just being a loser in general. My brain whirled and I thought about how it’d feel to take the Havoc Magic class by storm. To really dominate it and maybe put Porter in his place, too.
But how? It would probably be a bit more physical than other classes. But i
t’d still be a class. And I’d already proven to be a poor student. So, why should this be any different?
I had this sudden image of waving my wand at Porter and watching his arms stretch out to super-long lengths. Then his arms wrapped around his body, tying himself into a knot, just like that Chaotic spell had done to Professor Gaibie. The thought made me smile.
The aching spread beyond my ribs as I approached the exit. Carefully, I cracked the door open and peered outside. I heard footsteps and voices, but no one was in the immediate area.
Shutting the door behind me, I slipped out into the main hallway. I felt another sharp sting in my ribcage. After I alerted Boltstar to Tad’s presence, I’d need to get some healing potion. Unfortunately, that would mean a trek to the clinic, which was located in Right Arm with the rest of the Cures & Curses department. Even worse, it would mean a face-to-face with Professor Tuckerson.
“Hey, Wolf?” Jax said. “Is that you?”
I whirled around. A couple of staffers, clearly harried, exited Shadow Madkey and strode into Left Arm.
“Yeah,” I mumbled, suddenly feeling light-headed.
“That was crazy, huh?”
“I guess so.”
“I heard Tad did it. He let them in.”
“I saw the color.” Jenny looked shell-shocked and beyond exhausted. Her clothes, meanwhile, were stained with soda. “It was his spell, no doubt about it.”
My head felt woozy. My legs began to wobble and I had to steady myself against the wall. “Can you, uh—?”
“Hey, Randy.” Piper darted out of Shadow Madkey. “We’ve been looking all over for you.”
Leandra was close behind her. “Where’s Tad?” she asked breathlessly. “Everyone’s looking for him.”
“There you are.”
I felt dazed, like I was barely gripping to consciousness. Still, I managed to twist toward this new voice.
