“Thanks,” Leila said sarcastically. She and Rusty followed Tristan through the broken doorway and into the bright room beyond. He sighed; he hadn’t expected anything different. But when he turned and got his first good look at the secret room, he forgot Leila and Rusty entirely.
The room shone as though baking in the lazy afternoon sun. Shielding his eyes with one hand, Tristan squinted to the far wall. The chamber was large, far larger than anything he had imagined. Even though they were deep underground, this room had to be fully half the size of the ballroom, with hundreds of lanterns glowing across its high rounded ceiling. The center of the room was dominated by an enormous sphere, twice as tall as Tristan, its lower half sunk into the ground.
For a moment Tristan stared at the sphere, uncomprehending. Then he recognized it with a start. It was an enormous three-dimensional copy of the globe on the door, the continents shaped from polished stone.
Once Tristan’s eyes had adjusted to the light, he was able to look past the shimmering globe to the wreckage strewn about the walls. It looked as though there had once been a series of stone tables circling the room; nothing remained now but dust and rough boulders.
In a far corner, surrounded by gray rubble, Alldusk was embracing Merridy with something like desperation. For some reason Merridy was not returning Alldusk’s embrace; she stood with her arms stiffly at her sides, looking over Alldusk’s shoulder.
“Where’s the vandal?” Tristan asked quietly, looking around. He could see no one in the room apart from his friends and the two teachers.
Then he realized the truth.
When the greenhouse had been attacked last semester, and Tristan had spied on the teachers’ discussion afterwards, Merridy had been the first to suggest that they should blame a student.
Merridy had gone into Alldusk’s office on the night of the second attack.
And Merridy had been helping Evvie take care of the children, so she had warned Evvie to get them to safety before she blew up the school.
Merridy was the vandal.
“Professor Alldusk,” Tristan said, his voice rising. “There’s no one else in here. Merridy—”
“Have you seen Evangeline?” Merridy asked sharply.
Alldusk took Merridy by the shoulders and held her away from him. “What’s wrong?”
“Have you seen Evangeline?” Merridy repeated urgently.
“Yes, she was supposed to be in class,” Alldusk said, “but I saw her up in the ballroom. There were two children with her.”
Merridy nodded and took a step away from Alldusk, clasping a hand on the front of her jacket. “Then it is time. I apologize for this, Brinley.” Her voice wavered, though her eyes remained hard. “I have always—” she hiccupped “—always loved you.”
Tristan thrust one hand into a pocket and closed his fingers around the cold orbs he’d stashed there. Merridy’s expression was dangerous. Clenching his teeth against the ache in his shoulder, Tristan began sidling around the globe, edging away from the door. Within moments he could no longer see Alldusk or Merridy. He took three more cautious steps sideways, until Rusty and Leila were out of sight as well, and then began backing up.
A dull thud echoed from the opposite side of the room. Tristan couldn’t see what was happening, so he took another hurried step back. There was an unpleasant thunk, and Leila shrieked.
“You’re crazy!” she yelled at Merridy.
Tristan guessed that Merridy was throwing shards of rock at Leila and Rusty; at least she hadn’t started hurling spells.
“Darla!” Alldusk shouted, and Tristan heard a series of frantic scrapes and thuds.
He took two more steps backward, trying not to limp, until he felt the stone wall pressing against his back. From here he could see the blackened doorway on his left and Merridy and Alldusk on his right. Merridy’s bun had come loose, and she clawed at Alldusk’s eyes with her bony fingers.
Alldusk looked as though he was afraid to hurt Merridy. Instead of hitting her back, he grabbed her wrists and held her struggling fingers away from his face. Panting, he dragged her to her knees before releasing her.
Merridy was back on her feet in seconds. This time she reached in her pocket for a handful of marbles and turned on Tristan. She was still holding a jagged shard of rock in her left hand like a dagger.
When she saw that Tristan had crossed to the other side of the globe, her eyes widened. She lunged forward, looking deranged. “Tristan Fairholm, get out of my way!”
Something about the way she spoke made Tristan turn. He realized suddenly that he’d been leaning against a stone door, a second entrance set firmly into the wall. That’s where the magic is stored. Tristan was sure of it. And now that Evvie was safely outside, Tristan was the only one standing between Merridy and her goal.
Merridy advanced on him, raising her handful of marbles. With no spell in mind, Tristan drew the fistful of marbles from his pocket and copied Merridy’s gesture.
“Darla!” Alldusk yelled. “Darla, don’t hurt Tristan!”
Merridy ignored Alldusk. Tristan flexed his arm, ready to hurl his magic at her, but she stopped several paces away from him and closed her eyes. Again the dust drifted to the floor, leaving behind a sweeter smell of minerals. Tristan’s hand stiffened.
No one seemed to breathe. Merridy’s hand twitched almost imperceptibly, and Tristan did not realize at first that she had released a marble.
Then the ground in front of Merridy exploded with a sound like fireworks. Chunks of rock split free and hurtled through the air, dust whirling up from the floor. Pebbles and boulders slammed against the globe’s polished surface and bounced off, careening towards Tristan.
Tristan jumped away from the stone door, a sliver of rock missing his forehead by inches. He threw his hands over his head, shielding his face from a rain of pebbles.
Still standing by the door, Leila and Rusty had escaped the blast, though the ceiling of the room was beginning to shift. It looked as though it could not withstand another explosion. A large slab of rock heaved and strained at its fetters, letting loose a stream of pebbles.
“Watch out!” Tristan yelled. The loose stone was close to the door, right above Leila and Rusty. He bounded towards them, but he was not nearly close enough.
Just as the stone began to crack free, a wave of dense air crashed through the room, ringing in Tristan’s ears like a silent thunderclap.
Everything went still.
The entire room might have been plunged underwater. The ceiling stilled and seemed to solidify once again, while the shards of rock still flying through the air slowed and dropped harmlessly to the ground.
The blast had come from the doorway. Hugging the wall, Tristan turned to see who had cast the spell. There stood Drakewell, face dark with fury, hands outstretched. Tristan backed away from the headmaster, fearing another attack, but Drakewell slumped against the wall, his face crumpling. Tristan remembered Delair’s words—it was dangerous, very dangerous, to use magic without marbles, because it drained your body’s energy. Drakewell had nearly crippled himself to keep everyone safe.
As Drakewell staggered forward, hand outstretched towards the enormous globe, Tristan realized that the headmaster had been accompanied by the most unlikely person imaginable. Slowly, nervously, Zeke stepped into the room.
“What have you done to the Map Room?” Drakewell asked faintly, failing at his usual icy tone.
The Map Room. That’s very fitting.
Leila’s eyes widened. “Oh my god, where’s Merridy?”
Tristan whirled. The stone door behind him was now cracked open—in the momentary confusion, Merridy had slipped through.
Drawing a sharp breath, Tristan threw himself at the door and wrenched it open. He was still clutching his handful of marbles as though they would shield him from harm. One step past the door, Tristan tripped, his feet sliding out from beneath him. With a painful jolt, he crashed down two stairs. His hands flew open as he caught himself, and he d
ropped his fistful of marbles. As he jolted to a halt, the marbles continued to clatter down deeper and deeper, echoing eerily.
Heart pounding in his throat, Tristan staggered to his feet. From the light of the Map Room, he could see where he stood: on the third step of a narrow staircase spiraling down into darkness.
The stone door ground shut behind him, smothering the light. Tristan groped for the metal rail and eased his way down the stairs, stagnant air filling his lungs. Every second could be his last. He felt very naked without his handful of marbles.
A small metallic clink echoed from the depths of the room, followed by a blossom of light. Merridy’s pale, determined face was thrown into relief by the lantern she held.
“You will not stop me, you know,” she said steadily.
Tristan took a wary step forward. He had nearly reached the base of the stairs. “I thought you were training us to take your place. Why do you suddenly want to kill us instead?”
Merridy shook her head. “I had no more choice than you when I first came here. But this school is an evil place. Drakewell is a murderer, and the others are his accomplices.”
She lifted her lantern so it cast light on the rest of the room. Behind her, a deep rift in the floor glittered softly. Tristan blinked. The pit was filled with thousands upon thousands of marbles.
“When this place is gone, it will be as though the school never existed. And you will thank me for it.” Merridy’s voice had grown stronger.
“I’ll be dead,” Tristan said flatly. “And so will Leila and Rusty and Amber. Alldusk too.” He took another step down, his anger building. “I thought you loved Alldusk.”
Merridy lowered her eyes. “That is why I must do this.” Her hand shook slightly, sending rippling shadows across the wall, as she turned to the pool of marbles.
Tristan’s head pounded. He wanted to attack Merridy, to throw her to the ground. Leila and Rusty were so close, so vulnerable. Even without the handful of marbles, Tristan could feel a dense, furious cloud of magic building within him, rippling with electricity. He raised an arm. Too dangerous, a small part of him whispered. He ignored the voice.
Recklessly, Tristan wrenched a tangle of raging magic from inside him. Then he brought his arm down and hurled the power at Merridy.
For a moment nothing happened. Merridy was about to fling her marble into the basin of accumulated magic—her shoulders tightened...
With a roar, an enormous ball of fire exploded to life over the pit of marbles.
Merridy screamed.
Crackling and spitting, the fireball hurtled forward. It slammed against the wall, flared white, and spun back at Merridy. As it flew, it shed a trail of flames.
The flames lashed out hungrily at Merridy, who spun out of the way just in time. Her sleeve caught fire; shrieking, she waved her arm in the air and dashed towards the spiral stairs.
Tristan lurched to the stairs and scrambled up just behind Merridy, fleeing his own fireball. Just as he reached the top, the fire snarled and flared blue and then spluttered out. Though the flames were still seared in Tristan’s vision, nothing remained of the fire but the smell of charred fabric.
At the top of the stairs, Tristan threw open the door and doubled over coughing. The smoke raked at his lungs, and he squinted fiercely.
The Map Room was silent. Merridy had come to a halt beside the globe, and the others were frozen in place. Tristan wondered what they had heard.
Suddenly a white-hot pain lanced through Tristan’s head. He swayed, dizzy and sick, and clutched at the wall. Blearily he saw Leila and Rusty rushing to his side, and he nearly toppled forward when Leila grabbed his elbow to support him. Half-blind, he scratched at his face, fighting the pain, trying to rip its claws from his skull. The raw power was consuming him, crushing him, destroying him.
He wasn’t strong enough for this.
Garbled voices drifted from the doorway; Tristan heard them as though listening with his head underwater. It was a moment before he could recognize words.
“—you had planned this from the start?” said Drakewell’s muffled voice. “After working with us and living with us for fifteen years, you set out to destroy us?”
“Of course not,” Merridy said shrilly. “But I began to change my mind when I spoke to you earlier this year. About myself and Alldusk, remember? You said you would kill any children of mine before they lived a day.”
Tristan blinked hazily, trying to regain his footing.
From the other side of the globe, Alldusk groaned. “Darla, why didn’t you talk to me? We could’ve found another way, we could’ve—”
“No,” Merridy said coldly. “I can’t believe I never questioned any of this before. But when Evangeline returned with two children nearly killed in Drakewell’s avalanche—an avalanche that even you agreed had gone too far!—I knew I could no longer support such an evil, twisted cause.”
Tristan rubbed at his sightless eyes until the wavering room came back into view. Something overhead was groaning and growling hungrily—cracks appeared along the length of the ceiling, and the rocks began to sag.
“Run!” Alldusk yelled, bounding towards the door.
Tristan tried to push Leila and Rusty away, hoping they would get out of the room while they still had a chance, but he was so weak they didn’t seem to notice. For some reason Zeke had joined them near the globe.
Now the cracks on the ceiling had threaded over to the place where Tristan stood; the high stone vault snapped and began trickling dust.
Gasping, Tristan gripped Rusty’s arm and staggered towards the door, tripping with each step. Merridy took one last look at Alldusk and fled through the splintered doorway. Drakewell lunged for her, but he was still too weak, and he fell to his knees.
Rusty reached the safety of the doorway and followed Drakewell and Alldusk into the dark tunnel.
“Triss!” Leila shrieked, yanking at his arm. “Hurry!”
Looking up, Tristan saw that a jagged slab of rock directly overhead was straining to break free. “I can’t,” he said, choking. “Go, I—”
Leila gave him a mighty shove forward. Tristan stumbled and collapsed; his shoulder slammed into the ground and was wrenched sideways. He moaned and shifted just in time to see the ceiling directly over Leila give way.
At the last second, Zeke dove on top of Leila, forcing them both to the ground. With a roar like thunder, the ceiling crashed down on top of them.
Chapter 22: The Natural Order
"Triss?” Someone ran a gentle hand down Tristan’s cheek, followed by a warm rag. Tristan stirred and opened his eyes, feeling very stiff and disoriented. To his surprise, the pain he remembered was almost gone.
“Where’s Merridy?” he asked at once. His mouth was cottony and dry. Before he could ask for water, though, a glass was brought to his lips. Gulping gratefully at the cold water, Tristan looked sideways and realized that it was Leila standing beside his bed.
“Merridy got away, didn’t she?” he said. “I couldn’t control that fireball; I should’ve tried something less dramatic, maybe that would’ve—”
Leila pressed the glass back to his lips, cutting him off. “Oh, hush. Alldusk was talking to me while you were unconscious, and he said Merridy would have blown up the school if not for you. Honestly, the first thing you think of is apologizing...” Leila shook her head and wiped Tristan’s forehead with the rag once more.
With a deep sigh, Tristan sat up and looked around. He was in Grindlethorn’s hospital room; on a bed nearby lay Zeke, fast asleep. Tristan wasn’t sure yet how he felt about everything that had transpired in the Map Room.
“Are you all right?” Tristan asked Leila, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. The last time he’d seen her, she had been crushed beneath a mountain of rocks.
Leila nodded. “I only got bruised a bit,” she said quietly. “Zeke saved me—he took the worst of the impact.”
Tristan blinked. He remembered seeing Zeke dive for Leila, but the who
le scene had been a bit fuzzy. “Why’d he do that?” he whispered.
“No idea.”
“What was he doing down there, anyway?”
Leila bit her lip. “I think he followed Alldusk, and Drakewell found him lurking in the hallway outside the Map Room.”
They were silent for a moment. Tristan still felt a bit lightheaded.
“I bet Drakewell’s furious at me,” he remarked.
Leila shrugged. “He really can’t blame you for anything except trespassing in the tunnels, and we would all be dead if you’d followed his orders.” She reached for Tristan’s hand and pulled him to his feet. “Come on; Rusty’s waiting for us in the ballroom.”
Zeke was the only one absent from dinner when Tristan and Leila arrived. A few of the teachers applauded when they noticed Tristan, though Drakewell and Alldusk remained grimly silent.
Tristan kept his eyes down as he crossed to his usual table. The teachers had a right to be furious with him; he had overstepped his boundaries in a dangerous way down in the Map Room.
“You okay?” Rusty asked when Tristan and Leila took their seats.
Tristan nodded, scanning the room for Evvie. Had she left with the twins and Merridy, or was she—Tristan did a double take when he saw Evvie at her table, pale and nervous-looking but definitely still there. It came as an even greater surprise when, noticing his gaze, she gave him a faint smile.
“What’s happened?” Eli demanded, getting to his feet and edging towards Tristan. “People have been vanishing all day, now you three are all bloodied up, and the teachers haven’t said any—”
“Settle down,” Drakewell said coldly. As he addressed the room, his features regained their usual hard cast; he no longer appeared tired or weak. Eli slunk back to his seat, looking disgruntled.
Once the students had muttered themselves into silence, Drakewell cleared his throat and began.
“This afternoon, we discovered who was responsible for the destruction of Professor Alldusk’s office, Professor Gracewright’s greenhouse, and Professor Delair’s mine.”
Metal and Magic: A Fantasy Journey Page 59
