by Lucia Ashta
“Good. I’m relieved we’ve decided,” Mordecai was saying. “We’ve delayed long enough. Let’s move.”
I sat alert in the chaise lounge and whispered to Nando. “What did they decide to do?”
“I didn’t hear,” he said without making eye contact. His attention was still pinned on Priscilla, Count Vabu’s little sister, who apparently had a taste for dark magic.
I didn’t have to turn to know Priscilla, along with the five rescued firedrakes, who weren’t actual firedrakes but people, were standing behind me, seemingly without reason.
Mordecai, Marcelo, Clara, Gustave, and Arianne moved as a group toward Madame Pimlish’s armchair. Sylvia and Mathieu, Mordecai and Arianne’s firedrakes, followed closely.
Sir Lancelot landed on the back of Madame Pimlish’s armchair. She swiveled to give him no more than a half-hearted glare. She didn’t yell or shriek. That’s when I understood that the woman was mourning Wizard Meedles. She was certain Miranda had killed him already.
“We need you to portal us to the last place you saw Marcus,” Mordecai announced to Madame Pimlish.
When Madame Pimlish only moaned and rounded her shoulders, Mordecai said, “Snap to, woman. This isn’t the time to lament. We need you to do it now.”
She gave the longest sigh I believed I’d ever heard and sat up a little. “There’s no point to it. You didn’t see what I saw. Marcus’ strength was already wearing thin, and this is Miranda we’re talking about.”
“Are you always this defeatist?” Clara said, and it shocked me that she should be the one to say it. “There’s hope so long as we believe there is.” Her amber eyes blazed at the smaller woman, but Madame Pimlish didn’t look up.
“I’m telling you, even with his hounds, she’s too strong. I know the witch.”
“So do I,” Gustave said, stepping next to Arianne. “And she has weaknesses just like the rest of us. There’s still a chance Marcus is alive, and we’ve already wasted enough time.”
“The longer you drag your feet, the less of a chance he has,” Marcelo said, a hand against the small of Clara’s back. “I, for one, would like to help him.”
The implication that maybe Madame Pimlish didn’t want to help him was enough to snap her out of her wallowing. She sat upright in her chair and seethed at Marcelo. “How dare you imply I don’t want to help him?” Her voice for once was low, but no less terrifying than the rage her shouts held.
Marcelo didn’t appear to care. “I’m not implying anything. I’m telling you. We’ve used enough of our precious time to figure out what to do. Not so much time has passed that he and his hounds couldn’t hold Miranda, but his chances are diminishing as we speak.”
Madame Pimlish pursed her lips to consider. From where I sat, I thought she was considering whether to be offended at Marcelo just as much as she was considering whether to do what they asked of her.
“Oh for goodness’ sake, woman,” Mordecai huffed. His light eyes were tight with restraint, and I imagined it took all he had not to reveal what he was really thinking. “Portal us to Marcus now so we can save him. You can figure out your offenses later.”
“I don’t—”
Mordecai cut her off. “Prudence, I invited you to be a part of the Magical Arts Academy because of your legendary skill in transformation. You have much to offer our younger generations, and I’m grateful you’re here.”
Madame Pimlish began to sit taller, to smile subtly.
“But if you don’t get up right now and do what we need you to do, you won’t be a part of our staff any longer.”
Madame Pimlish’s jaw dropped open.
“We’re at war here. We’ve tried to stay out of it, but the SMS insists on bringing their fight to us. In times of war, we need soldiers willing to do what needs to be done.”
The entire room stilled but for the ticking of the standing clock against one wall.
Madame Pimlish’s face was turning all sorts of abnormal shades, and I worried for the old wizard who’d only stated what all of us were more or less thinking.
I turned to Arianne, the diplomat, and when she didn’t look as if she was about to intervene, I turned to Clara, who was kind.
But none of the magicians, not even the loquacious pygmy owl, was going to say a thing.
Mordecai, with his sweeping robe and long, tinkling beard, towered over her. “You’re either with us or against us.” He seemed old, weary, and strong all at once. “What’s it going to be, Prudence? You have to decide right this second.”
The standing clock ticked out the second, and Madame Pimlish didn’t say a thing.
The old wizard nodded. “Fine then. We’ll figure out another way.” Then he spun on his heel and turned to face my direction. He looked between Priscilla and me.
I gulped and gripped Nando’s hand.
That’s when Madame Pimlish stood. “I’ll do it.”
“Good” was all Mordecai said.
“Who’s going?”
“All of us.”
“What?” I squeaked, flushing with embarrassment. But he couldn’t be serious, right? “You’re all going to leave us here, unprotected?”
“No, child, of course we’re not. We’re leaving Sylvia, Mathieu, and Sir Lancelot here to protect you. We have strongly fortified wards, and Brave has enough skill to hold off the average sorcerer. There are a dozen firedrakes outside and a dragon on the roof. We’re not exactly leaving you unprotected, now are we?”
All I could think about was how much had gone wrong since I’d first entered the gates to the Academy.
“Besides, we’ll be right back. We’ll portal out, grab Marcus and his hounds, and portal right back.”
Somehow, that didn’t reassure me in the least. Miranda would still be there and then they’d run into the exact same problem we did before. Someone would have to hold off Miranda while the rest escaped.
“Wait.” All eyes turned to Gustave. “She’s right. We can’t leave them like this, not with Priscilla here.”
Sylvia made some squeaky noises that sounded a bit like a dog whining for food, and Mathieu grunted at Arianne. She moved to nuzzle Mathieu while Mordecai spoke aloud to the two firedrakes. “I know you’re capable of it, but we’re not ready for you to barbecue Priscilla just yet. Vlad would kill us.”
“I’ll stay,” Gustave said. “You go.”
“I’ll help, Lord Gustave,” Sir Lancelot said, and no one argued. The sense of urgency the magicians felt was palpable.
Without further ado, Mordecai, Arianne, Marcelo, and Clara moved within Madame Pimlish’s personal space.
“Take us there, Prudence,” Arianne said.
Madame Pimlish nodded, closed her eyes, and started chanting.
The sounds of popping, like sparks snapping, began right away, and by the time Madame Pimlish had spoken a few sentences, the wheel of vibrating light that was about to finish defining itself into a portal wavered right beside her.
She spit out the words fiercely, and I longed to hear what they were. But like the other experienced witches and wizards, she spoke them only loud enough for them to work, and not for anyone to overhear.
Her features bore down in concentration as she started spinning her short arms this way and that, and the magicians who were going to travel with her stepped back.
The portal shimmered and glimmered, in and out of existence, but never formed properly. The solid-looking circle of light that cut a hole in this reality to transport to another one never coalesced.
She snapped her beady eyes open. Instead of looking at the magicians who waited for her expectantly, she zeroed in on me. “You.”
“Me?” I said barely louder than a whisper.
“Yes, you. I need you. When I portaled before, I didn’t latch on to an actual location, I grabbed onto your energy. I don’t know what the place feels like because I didn’t last time.”
“But you appeared right over the river. Surely you remember what it looks like.”
“I remember a river in the middle of nowhere. I could accidentally take us far away from Marcus. I need you.”
No. Oh please no.
“You can’t seriously be suggesting you take my sister to portal you straight to a battle,” Nando said.
“Do you want us to save Marcus or not?” Madame Pimlish said it as if she hadn’t just been the one needing to be convinced to drop the drama and step it up.
No one had to explain how important saving Wizard Meedles and his hounds was to me. Miranda was the most frightening woman I’d ever met, and the wizard had been alone with her for at least ten minutes.
“I’ll do it,” I said, terrified at the words that were coming out of my mouth.
“Isa!” Nando gasped. “You can’t.”
I shrugged sadly. “I have to.” My body was weary and bone tired, but I forced myself to standing. “Tell me what to do.”
Chapter 2
“Please portal us there now, Isa,” Arianne said.
When I hesitated, she added, “We’ll help you along the way so that you don’t get as drained as you did when you portaled out of Miranda’s dungeon. I realize we haven’t had the chance to delve into your portal magic and help you balance it, and I’m sorry we have to ask, but once we save Marcus, we’ll have all the time in the world to address your magic and what we need to do to keep you safe while you use it.”
No matter that she said all the right things that were supposed to reassure me, past experience contradicted her assurances. It seemed unlikely we’d have all the time in the world to do anything related to magic. Nando and I were here to take classes in beginning magic, and so far we’d barely had the opportunity for that. It was difficult to prepare for the future when the present skirted life and death.
“Can you guarantee that I won’t... lose myself if I take us there?”
“Lose yourself?”
“Well, I wasn’t sure I’d come all the way back after the last time I portaled.” I fidgeted, aware of the dozens of eyes on me. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” I added, unnecessarily. Surely they all must realize that they couldn’t expect to pluck a girl out of an ordinary life, and suddenly expect her to do magic, and do it well.
Gertrude stepped forward. “I understand what that’s like. I almost lost myself to my cat many times until I learned to find a place for her inside me. I’ll come along and help. I’ll make sure she doesn’t get lost.”
Although Gertrude was talking about me, she didn’t look at me, but at the magicians who made the decisions. Still, I was touched. Perhaps saying she cared that I not get lost within myself wasn’t much, but it indicated her concern more than anything she’d done before.
“What a good idea, ma chérie,” Arianne said. Then to me, “Now you can go ahead.” As if that solved the issue....
I felt like a tottering toddler heading into battle, and Nando was shooting pleading looks at me, but I figured I had to do my part. I’d complained my whole life about being utterly plain and ordinary. Now I was discovering that I had something that could help the others. If my portal magic could save a man’s life, and that of his furry, terrifying companions, then I had to do it.
I took a step toward the center of the room.
“You’ll do fabulously well, Lady Isadora,” Sir Lancelot said, and I smiled at the petite owl. Despite how knowledgeable the bird was, he couldn’t possibly tell whether I’d do well or not, but I appreciated the sentiment just the same.
“Well? Begin your spell already, child,” Mordecai said.
That’s when it hit me. No, not the ridiculous fact that the master wizard expected that I’d have a spell all ready to perform portal magic, when I hadn’t even learned basic spell creation or casting. What hit me was that when I’d transported myself to Timout, I didn’t use a spell at all. In fact, it had been entirely by accident that I’d arrived there at all.
“Um, well....”
Mordecai raised his hoary eyebrows at me, and I hurried along before he could tell me to. “I didn’t actually use a spell when I, uh, transported, I guess, to the area where Madame Pimlish found me.”
I winced at the serious attention pinned on me, but when Clara spoke, her voice was soft. “What do you mean you didn’t use a spell?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I didn’t do any of that.”
“Do you mean you connected straight to the elements, as I do?” If I didn’t think it were ridiculous, I might have thought she wanted me to do magic like her—almost as if she believed herself strange and would be relieved to discover someone like her.
But that wouldn’t be me. “I didn’t connect to the elements at all. I didn’t even intend to go anywhere. I wanted to stay right here. I definitely didn’t want to go with Count Vabu back to Miranda’s place.”
“Then how on earth did you do it?” This was Brave, who was peering at me curiously.
Again, I shrugged, hoping to deflect some of the attention on me. Didn’t we have an urgent matter to attend to?
I answered while my eyes studiously examined the pattern on the rug beneath the furniture. “I don’t know.” That was the true answer. I had no idea how I’d done it. “One minute I was remembering like Count Vabu was directing me to, and the next I was just... there.”
“You were just there?” Madame Pimlish said with attitude, as if challenging my explanation.
I pulled my focus upward and met her beady eyes. “That’s exactly right.”
But before she could say anything back, Mordecai said, “That’s fascinating.” And Marcelo said, “It’s almost as if she just visualized it and traveled. Incredible.”
“Tell us more,” Mordecai said, seeming to forget that we were supposed to be on a life-and-death rescue mission, not dissecting the strange things that kept happening to me.
“Not now,” Gustave said. “You have to get to Marcus.”
“Right.” Mordecai sounded as disappointed as a school child being told he couldn’t have his dessert. That’s when I realized the wizard, who’d lived centuries already, was as eager to learn as I was. “When we return though, all right, Isa? I must know.”
Arianne stepped next to me, so that I was now buffeted between her and a very unsettled Nando. To him, she said, “Don’t worry. We’ll be right back. Your sister will be fine.” Then she placed an encouraging hand on my shoulder. “Now, whatever you did before, do it again. You say you just went into your memories?”
“Yes, that’s all I did. I just remembered, nothing more.”
“And were you focusing on how you were feeling while you remembered?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Vladimir perhaps direct you to focus on your senses so he could figure out where Miranda is holed up?”
“He did.”
She smiled triumphantly, as if that explained everything. “Just do that again. Focus on everything about the place where you last saw Marcus. We’ll hold on to you so that when you start leaving, we’ll come along with you.”
“And if that doesn’t work? When I traveled last time, Count Vabu didn’t come with me. I was all alone.”
Arianne looked toward the rest of the magicians waiting on me. I didn’t like the looks they were exchanging.
Mordecai stepped closer, and I suddenly wanted to tell everyone to back away and give me some space. I also wanted to tell them to just leave me alone and go hide my head in one of the bunk beds upstairs.
“Child,” he said. “Vlad didn’t go with you because he wasn’t touching you when you left. You were here one moment, gone the next, and no one was touching you. With us holding on to you, we should go with you when your body leaves this space.”
“Should?”
“Nothing in magic is fully predictable.” He didn’t even sound apologetic about it, not even when he was trying to get me to do something that was obviously dangerous. What if I ended up with Miranda all alone again?
Another moment, during which no one said a word, hung densely in the air.<
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“You can’t ask her to do this,” Nando said. “It’s dangerous and unpredictable, you’ve said it yourself. How can you ask a novice to do this? Especially when she barely recovered after creating a portal and getting us out of Miranda’s reach?”
The magicians were uncomfortable, it was clear.
Clara gripped Marcelo’s hand, then moved to touch her grandmother’s shoulder. “He’s right. We can’t do this.”
Arianne plopped unceremoniously onto an open chair. “Je sais, ma chérie, je sais. We can’t do this.”
I thought Mordecai might argue, or if not him, Madame Pimlish. But no one said a word as they slumped in defeat.
The standing clock ticked out an entire minute before Sir Lancelot asked, “So what do we do to save Wizard Meedles? And Count Vabu and Albacus too?”
No one answered, because they didn’t have to. The reply was written across everyone’s anguished expression. We didn’t know. We were out of ideas, and neither time nor circumstances had bothered much to be on our side lately.
But just as I finished having the thought, circumstances proved me wrong. I swiveled frantically, trying to place the location of the telltale popping sounds before the portal ripped open our reality to deliver who knew what.
Chapter 3
Nando stood in front of me, his legs wide in a defensive stance, his sword drawn.
No one told him to stand down, that he was exaggerating, and that no danger could enter the academy through the portal that was taking shape inside the crowded parlor.
That’s when I became certain that even the experienced magicians who shared the room with us were unnerved by the amount of times and ways the SMS had infiltrated what they’d believed were impenetrable defenses.
None of the magicians was relaxed. Even Madame Pimlish dropped her grieving act to stare intently at the circle of popping light and color. Mordecai and Marcelo’s hands were to their sides, at the ready to fling magic, I assumed. And Gustave stood too close to his twin, presumably to protect her from whatever might venture forth from the portal.
