by David Meyer
He answered me with a confident nod.
I took a second to recall the process. Then I vacated my emotions. I filled my innards with frustration and annoyance. This sent my wand into motion. My lips opened wide. “Herd Crash,” I said.
Tad grunted as a bolt of auburn light smashed into his belly. Other bolts hit him in the chest and limbs. Combined, they sent him crashing to the floor, winded and red in the face.
I went to check on him. “Are you okay?”
“Herd Crash is right,” he managed as he sat up. “That spell’s like getting run over by a bunch of wild animals.”
“What kind of animals?” Leandra wanted to know.
“Does it matter?”
“Of course,” she replied, a teasing smile upon her lips. “A herd of teakettlers is very different than a herd of glawackuses.”
“Actually, teakettlers don’t have herds,” Piper said. “The word you mean is—”
“Sasquatches,” Tad muttered as he stood up again. “Definitely sasquatches.”
Chapter 38
Boltstar whistled loudly, then removed his derby. Gently, he wiped droplets of sweat from his forehead. “Mr. Wolf is the victor.”
Beaming from ear to ear, I loped across the HMQ. Extending my hand, I offered it to a fallen Kell. “Nice match.”
Ignoring me, he rose to his full height. One hand clenched his belly, which was clearly still aching from the Herd Crash. His other hand stayed firmly at his side.
Just a few minutes ago, we’d been the last two contenders in a Havoc Royal. The clear favorite, he’d been bearing down hard on me. Eager to turn the tables, I’d decided to try out the latest spell in my arsenal. Churning up the right emotions, I’d sent waves of light hurtling his way. At the same time, I’d kept my wand moving, doing my best to make it look like I was firing off multiple Elertfa spells at top speed. He’d dodged a few bolts of light, but the rest had knocked him for a loop.
The staffers roared their approval. Meanwhile, the students were silent.
“How’d you get so fast, Wolf?” he demanded.
I shrugged.
He grunted. “Next chance I get, I’m wiping that smirk right off your face.”
Boltstar left the bleachers. With long strides, he hiked to the HMQ. The staffer applause died off. The students perked up. Something, it appeared, was about to happen.
He stopped just short of the magic rope. Replacing his derby, he looked me over. “Congratulations, Mr. Wolf. What’s your secret?”
“Practice.” I offered him a nervous grin. “Loads and loads of practice.”
“I see.” He checked the clock. Then he turned a bit, angling toward the crowd. “I know it’s quitting time. But how would you feel about one last game?”
A dull murmur rose up from the assembled audience. There was agreement, but not much in the way of enthusiasm. I figured it was because everyone was tired, but too scared to defy the likes of Boltstar.
“I’m not talking about a Havoc Royal,” he continued. “Instead, I thought we’d mix things up a bit with a Havoc Duel. On one side, Mr. Randy Wolf, tonight’s champion. That is, if he’s up for it.”
Truthfully, I was pretty tired, too. Plus, I was eager to get back to the celestarium, to work on my Chaotic magic. But how could I say no to Boltstar?
“I guess so,” I said. “Who’s the opponent?”
His bottom lip curled the tiniest amount. “Me.”
The students erupted into raucous chatter. It grew louder and louder until I could barely hear myself think. But a single look from Boltstar, fierce and unrelenting, quelled the noise.
He pulled his wand out of his vest. Never breaking his gaze, he twirled it in his hand.
“Well?” he asked. “What do you say?”
I could feel the audience staring at me, drilling holes into my head. “No, thank you, Sir.”
“Come on.” His lips shifted and he gave me a full-blown smile. It caught me off-guard. I’d rarely seen him smile, at least not at me. “Let’s give them a good show.”
Truth be told, I was a little curious. I’d been performing quite well in the HMQ as of late. So, how good was I? Was I skilled enough to take on the legendary Boltstar? I knew I’d never beat him, but could I hold my own for a few minutes?
I sighed. “Okay.”
The crowd exploded.
“There’s just one rule,” he said, his eyes never leaving my face. “The first person to be driven off his feet by a direct hit, or knocked unconscious, loses. Nothing is illegal, nothing is frowned upon. We duel until one magician bests the other one.”
I licked my lips as my nerves began to frazzle. Then I nodded.
To enormous cheers, he crossed the magic rope and entered the HMQ. He walked to one end of the quadrant, then turned toward the bleachers.
“Since I’ll be competing, I need someone to act as referee. Someone beyond reproach, someone who wouldn’t possibly favor either one of us.” He scanned the crowd. “Ms. Shaw, would you please do the honors?”
Hesitantly, Piper rose to her feet. “I’ve never refereed a match before, Headmaster,” she said in a wavering tone.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine. You need only deliver two whistles. One to begin the match and the other to end it.”
Shooting me a helpless look, she left the bleachers and walked onto the field. I exhaled. Piper was a good choice and I knew she’d be utterly fair. But I couldn’t help thinking that this was part of Boltstar’s game. Not only would he defeat me, he’d force one of my best friends to make it official.
Feeling increasingly uneasy, I walked to the opposite end of the HMQ. Taking no chances, I ducked behind one of the enchanted barriers.
My breaths came short and fast. I clutched my wand so hard, my fingers started to hurt. The crowd died down and I could hear people shuffling lightly in the stands.
Twisting my neck, I eyed the bleachers. Leandra, Jax, Nico, and Fyla had moved to the front row. They leaned forward, worried looks upon their visages. I caught Leandra’s gaze and cast her a small smile.
She didn’t return it.
Piper’s whistle, soft and musical, rang out. A hint of cyan light caught my eye and something crashed into the barrier. Now, that particular barrier had survived thousands of spells over the last few weeks without so much as a scratch. But Boltstar’s spell caused it to utterly explode. The impact blew me backward and I rolled a couple of times. Bits and pieces of rubble proceeded to rain down on me.
Whoa, I thought.
Scrambling to my feet, I dove behind another enchanted barrier. A bolt of magic arrived at the same time. There was another explosion, another rain of rubble.
Any faint possibility I’d harbored of winning the duel was long gone. All I could think about was survival. Rising up, I retreated to the very back of the quadrant. My feet slammed into the turf. My arms pumped hard and fast.
Bolts of magic struck the ground. The impact drove clumps of dirt into the air and into my lungs. I coughed, then tripped on an old crate. Arms spinning like windmills, I fought a losing battle to keep my balance.
Seconds later, I crashed to the ground. Grabbing a quick breath, I glanced at Boltstar. He hadn’t moved an inch. His wand was steady and he wore a look of pure concentration.
I winced, steeling myself for the finishing blow. But there was no sudden blaze of light, no crashing jolt to my gut.
He’s not even trying, I realized. He’s toying with me!
That just about crushed any confidence I had left. And yet, it also gave me the tiniest window of opportunity. Obviously, he wasn’t going to take me seriously. Maybe I could use that against him.
The soles of my shoes scraped the ground. Then I was up again and running for cover. I charged past a battered boat, stacks of empty Bizzlum crates, and piles of scorched and broken furniture. Then I ducked behind a pile of cylindrical stones. Now, there were a few layers of obstacles between us.
A flurry of cyan light filled the HMQ. Ear-splitting
cracking noises caused me to cringe. Peeking out, I saw one half of the boat skid and twist across the field and smash up against the magic rope. The side closest to me had a big hole in it. Gray smoke poured out of the gap.
I leaned my back against the stones. I could see part of the crowd from my vantage point. They were silent, still. They looked as shell-shocked as I felt.
More crashes rang out. Lockers, dented and scorched, went airborne. A wall of tires exploded into flames. Crates shattered into tiny slivers of wood.
His spells were coming way too fast to block. And any Structuralist spell I cast would surely be turned to smoke. If I wanted to win this thing, I’d have to use Herd Crash. If I could pull it off, I’d send a whole bunch of magic straight at Boltstar. There was no way he could block it all.
Wood cracked and metal groaned as he directed his attention to the piles of broken furniture. Chairs shot in all directions.
I closed my eyes. Digging deep, I got in touch with my inner core. Unfortunately, my emotions were little more than a frazzled bundle of nerves.
My brow furrowed. A frown creased my face. My emotions dulled, then came under my control. I thought about the Herd Crash spell, about what it would take to pull it off.
A thunderous blow deafened me. The stones quivered, then collapsed in a heap. I spilled onto the rubble. How long would Boltstar keep this up? Probably not long, I figured. Sooner or later, he’d tire of the game.
I steered my emotions to the correct mixture. My wand danced. My lips opened, the spell on the tip of my tongue. Suddenly, the warmth and comfort of Instinctia flooded my senses. I fought back and my wand began to shake. My tongue flicked as I kept myself from saying the wrong spell.
The lure of Instinctia faded away. Looking ahead, I saw Boltstar. He had yet to move even an inch. His face was calm and his brow remained unfurrowed. Twirling his wand in one hand, he appraised me for a long moment.
“Herd Crash,” I whispered.
Auburn bolts burst forth, one after the other. I shifted my hand quickly, so as to mimic the casting of multiple Elertfa spells. Meanwhile, the bolts blazed a fiery trail across the HMQ.
A collective gasp rose up from the crowd. Boltstar’s face tightened just a smidgeon. Dropping his casual manner, his wand flew into action. It sliced through the air, this way and that. A string of words tumbled out of his mouth.
Orbs of cyan light appeared. My auburn bolts smashed into the orbs and vanished into a cloud of colorful smoke. I barely had time to register what had happened when a heavy, weird blow struck my left shoulder. My eyes popped wide and I felt my feet leave the ground.
My back slammed into the soil. The impact drove the air out of my lungs. Unable to move, unable to breathe, I lay there, staring at the ceiling through hazy eyes.
Distant cheers, loud and raucous, reached my ears. I managed to choke out a breath. My lungs seized up and I began coughing and hacking. The sudden movements sent fierce aches up and down my torso.
My shoulder felt, well, wrong. Like it didn’t even belong to my body. Blinking through the pain, I saw Piper. She looked at me with concerned eyes, then blew a loud whistle. Twisting my head, I saw Boltstar, still situated on the far end of the HMQ. He stood in the same place, twirling his wand in his hand. He wasn’t bragging or playing to the crowd. He didn’t have to. They’d seen what he could do.
They’d seen him crush me.
Chapter 39
Something jarred my shoulder, driving me out of a deep slumber. Opening my eyes, I saw Professor Tuckerson’s face, jaw jutted outward, mere inches from my own. I recoiled in surprise and fear. That was when I noticed that I felt no pain, no agony. Instead, there was just a light itching sensation around my left shoulder.
“Rise and shine, dropout.” He yanked his jaw back, then appraised me with a cold, stern eye. “I want you gone within the hour.”
“How long have I been out?”
“How should I know?” He heaved out a sigh. “Do you even know what that stupid havoc magic class of yours has done to me? This used to be a nice, quiet job. Now, I’m inundated with all of you little twerps.”
I frowned.
He sighed, as if it took him every ounce of energy he possessed to even talk to me. “Two hours sounds about right,” he said.
“That’s it?”
He clucked his tongue. “If you want to play Rip Van Winkle, you’d best do it on somebody else’s time.”
After the duel, Jax and Nico had helped me to the clinic. Ignoring Tuckerson’s protests, they’d hauled me to an empty room. They’d slathered my shoulder with healing potion, fed me a glass of Canfee—Afternoon Nap-flavored—and put me to bed.
Ignoring the itching, I rose to a sitting position. Then I shifted to the side and prepared to step down.
“And just where do you think you’re going?”
“I thought you wanted me to leave.”
“I do. But not yet.” He smiled, baring his teeth. “You’ve got company.”
“I do?”
“Your folks. They sent a bubbler this way.” He snarled. “I’d prefer to pop it, but the headmaster tends to frown on that kind of thing.”
“I can’t imagine why.”
Grumbling, he opened the door. A whizzing noise started up and the bubbler slid into the room. He gave it a nasty look, then shoved it aside.
The door slammed shut. Slowly, the bubbler approached the bed. The temperature dropped a few degrees. A bit of mist sprayed over me.
Peering at the watery image, I saw my parents sitting at the kitchen table. They were in their usual places, digging into giant platefuls of doughcream. Just the sight of it made my stomach rumble. And that was before the ever-changing aromas reached my nose.
“Oh, Randy.” Mom dropped her fork and it clattered against the wooden table. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I rubbed the back of my head. “I’m fine. Listen, I’m hungry and—”
“And nothing, buster.” Dad’s eyes met mine. “We need to talk.”
I froze in place. This could only be about one thing …
YuckYuck.
Plenty of time had passed since that particular conversation. As such, I’d nearly forgotten about their desire to pull me out of Madkey. But now, the mere thought sent me into a panic. I couldn’t leave, not yet. Not after all I’d learned and all of our plans. Not when we were so close to making our move on Boltstar.
“We got a message from Lanctin,” he continued. “He told us everything.”
That caught me by surprise. What had he told them? Forgetting YuckYuck for a moment, my mind began to reel through possibilities. Had he told them about how he’d crushed me in a duel? Or worse, that he suspected I was using Chaotic magic?
Dad’s serious face suddenly broke and I found myself staring at a huge smile. I blinked, caught off guard. Needless to say, he wasn’t the smiley type. “He says you show a real penchant for havoc magic.” His voice took on a note of distinct pride. “He says if you keep it up, he just might be inclined to give you another shot.”
I blinked again. “Another shot?”
“Yes, at Madkey,” he exclaimed. “He’s thinking about taking you back. You could be a student again!”
I sat up, unsure of whether I’d heard him correctly or not. “Are you serious?”
“Oh, Randy,” Mom gushed. “We’re so proud of you. I always knew you’d be a star.”
That wasn’t exactly true. In fact, she’d said the exact opposite ever since I’d dropped out of school. But I was way too dumbfounded to point that out to her.
“Can you believe it?” Dad looked so proud, I thought he’d burst. “Lanctin Boltstar, the father of modern magic, thinks you’ve got a bright future.”
“But I lost,” I replied. “I fought him and I lost.”
“We know,” Mom said.
“You might’ve lost,” Dad added. “But it was to the greatest magician of all time. Heck, you’re just a freshman.”
“I’m a staffer,
” I reminded him.
He snorted. “Not for long. The way he spoke about you, it’s just a matter of time before you’re out of that lousy assembly-line job.”
“Isn’t this wonderful, Randy?” Mom gushed. “Your dreams are finally coming true.”
My parents were in a rush to go brag to their friends, so the conversation ended quickly. After popping the bubbler, I sat in bed for a long while.
Rematriculation? Until that very moment, it had been little more than a pipedream. A lark, a nice little fantasy. But now, I found myself taking it seriously. On one hand, the idea made my heart thump. I could still earn a Madkey degree and get a good job. I could still have a normal life.
Or could I? After all, I knew the truth about Boltstar now, about Structuralism. And Tad had opened my eyes to a much deeper world of magic. A world of wonder, a world that didn’t depend on the Capsudra.
Still, the thought of going back to school stuck with me. And as I climbed out of the bed, I found myself thinking about how it would feel to earn a Madkey degree. To stand on stage, accepting a diploma. To prove myself as one of the world’s elite magicians. It made for a nice fantasy and I continued to think about it as I got dressed in my soiled, scorched clothing. I thought about it as I quietly exited the clinic. And I thought about it as I made my way back to the staffer dorm. It was still on my mind as I climbed into bed. Ahh, if only there was a way to have it all.
If only.
Chapter 40
“It’s Randy, right?” Hannah asked.
She stood a couple of feet away, waiting to ride a chair into Madkey Station Grille. A couple of girls, all freshmen, were with her. Kell Masters was farther back, his face dark and ugly.
“Uh …” I glanced over both shoulders and saw no one. Yup, she was talking to me alright. I couldn’t remember the last time a student talked to me like I was an actual person. And Hannah, no less!
“Yeah,” I replied. “What’s up?”
Her friends giggled. What was so funny? Feeling self-conscious, I ran a hand through my hair.
“You looked good last night,” she said.
Her smile could’ve lit a thousand cool-lights. Kell’s expression, on the other hand, could’ve darkened them and then some. It occurred to me to tread carefully.
