Caster's Spell (A Mage Tale Book 1) Page 26

  "What do you mean 'official'? You aren't with the school?" said Rudy, a feeble attempt to retake a more domineering position.

  "No," answered Cameron. "We represent a much higher authority."

  Taking his lead, Axel continued, "And we're starting to reconsider the sentinel system in place here."

  "Then... why do you look so young?" asked Rudy with a suspicious expression.

  "We're undercover, investigating a crime committed that took place in a school," said Cameron.

  "Magic, you idiot." Axel accidentally dropped the facade for a moment.

  Cameron sighed, and then turned and trapped Rudy's eyes in his own. "Was it not your duty to safeguard the halls for the students of Reviberous?"

  "Forgive me sir, but I didn't sign up to watch a monkey."

  The rock-snake tightened.

  "No," said Cameron, easing his overzealous companion. "He isn't on trial, just yet. We just need him to speak the truth." He again locked his gaze. "Now who were they?"

  The false truth that the two before Rudy were officers of the Secret Police had begun to settle in and his fear became apparent. "Um... there was that Caster girl."

  "We already know about her," said Axel. "Who were her accomplices?"

  "I—I don't really know. I mean, I only knew Winter cuz she's kinda famous. I slightly recognized one of them but I've never met 'em."

  "So the other two were indeed male?" said Cameron.

  "Yeah."

  "The Earth Sorcerer, can you describe his demeanor?"

  "Umm, he seemed calm but hot tempered—I don't know—Angry but in random bursts."

  "Hmmm." Cameron thought, long and hard. "What else?"

  "He's a noble," Rudy rushed out the words, seemingly afraid of their meaning.

  "How do you know?" Axel demanded an answer. "Are you sure?"

  "I heard the master say it."

  "A hot tempered, noble, D-class Earth Sorcerer: ring any bells?" Cameron asked his partner

  Axel nodded.

  "Then we're done here," Cameron said with an almost cheery smile before quickly returning to his imperious tone and gaze. "Speak to no one of this, or we will visit again... and our next meeting won't be pleasant." He turned. "A...lex, the sentinel's scepter."

  Axel jumped his hand, almost like a twitch, and the staff stabbed through the surface of the ground and into his grip.

  "Now, release the kid. He has a job to do. And this time, he'll do it to the best of his ability... even if that means he'll die in the process. Right?"

  "Uhhh." Rudy was speechless.

  The snake crumbled and the two Sorcerers vanished back to the realm of the underclassmen. Luckily, the area in the corner of the courtyard was just as vacant in the underclass realm.

  "A hundred, feet, huh?" Cameron said with a smirk.

  "Give or take ninety-five," the Earth Sorcerer laughed as the two turned to head back to their groups chosen meeting spot. Then after a heavy sigh, he complained, "I know I barely know her, but I think I'm gonna miss Alison."

  Cameron laughed and pushed him. "There's always next time, buddy."

  Scapegoat

  "It's gone," said the boy at the side of Wesley's bed. "Wes, wake up—it's gone!"

  "Huh? What?" Wesley sleepily cracked his eyes, wondering who was in his room. This was the first time he managed to really sleep in. He was aiming for ten AM but it was only around nine.

  "Get out of bed, man!" Cameron shook his shoulder. "It's gone! Someone stole it!"

  Wesley looked up to his roommate, but didn't move. "What's gone?"

  The Sorcerer leaned forward to make sure that he was paying attention. "The Orb of Genesis is missing."

  "What!?" Wesley fell out of his bed. "How?"

  "I'm not sure, but who do you think is the main suspect?"

  Wesley rushed to put on his uniform. "Uh, Liam?"

  "Guess again," said Cameron, throwing his chin Wesley’s way.

  "What!? No! I didn't take it."

  "I know that. But it makes sense. You've been just shy of obsessed with that thing since the beginning of the year. I mean just last week, I caught you staring at it."

  "I know but," Wesley, fully dressed, shoved himself into the bathroom, "it's not like that. I look at that thing for... I don't—it just makes me wanna try harder."

  "I'm sure it does," said Cameron. "But that's not what they think."

  Wesley brushed his teeth in fifteen seconds flat and almost flew to the front door. When he opened it, Sri and Axel were already standing outside.

  "Look at this," said the little Sorceress, holding up the school newspaper.

  The headline read: "Warlock Steals Forbidden Relic."

  "No, no, no, no, nooo!" Wesley whined and scratched at his brow. "This isn't right. How did this happen? Since when do we even have a newspaper?"

  "Did you take it?" Axel asked him.

  "Of course not, stupid!" he shouted uncontrollably.

  "Then it doesn't matter," the Sorcerer went on. "If you don't have it, you can't get in trouble."

  Cameron almost laughed at the assertion. "Oh yes he can. The naysayers out there have been waiting for something like this. They'll cause enough trouble that Wesley might get kicked out of here."

  "Yes," Sri agreed. "Don't forget, all of those ignorant people here learned from their parents. They hate Wesley even more than the students."

  Axel waved his hand for the group to leave. "Which is exactly why we should get this cleared up, before it gets outta—"

  "What do you think you're doing, you stupid monkey!" one out of the growing crowd of students called from down the hall.

  "Yeah, just give it back, knuckle-dragger!" demanded another.

  "This is gonna get bad," Cameron warned. "Ax, Sri, stay with him and get out to the courtyards or something. I'ma go see if I can talk with the dean."

  "Puls!" one of the angry students aimed a scepter.

  Cameron's eyes lit up in disbelief as he prepared to deflect it, but the blast smacked into an invisible wall before he could do anything.

  Wesley smiled. "Thanks."

  "Wasn't me," Cameron admitted.

  "I know, it was one of my sentinels," said Wesley.

  "Okay, thanks whoever you are," Cameron said to the three invisible protectors in a rushed voice. "Now, Ax, make a way out of here. Go!"

  "Got it." Axel punched the floor and three members of Team Outcast fell to the next story down. Cameron slowed their descent with a gust, setting everyone on their feet. Wesley and his escorts dashed to exit the building, while Cameron turned back to the raging mob. "You should go back to your rooms. We wouldn't want this to become a conflict."

  "No, not this time," announced its leader, a Wizard with a gray hawk emblem, as he held his scepter against the Warlock's friend.

  "Then this will be a learning experience," the Sorcerer aimed his open palms and gripped the air tightly, a loud pop ringing through the hall such that Wesley flinched from the floor below, "for the both of us."

  Wesley, Sri, and Axel rushed out of the dormitory hoping that there'd be no one waiting for them on the outside. Luckily, there were only two girls sitting near the girls' building.

  "Wesley, let's hurry." Sri pulled the boy's shirt.

  But he didn't want to turn from these particular girls and froze staring at them.

  "C'mon, we gotta get out of here," Axel agreed.

  One of the sitting girls motioned for the Warlock to come to her.

  "No," said the little Sorceress. "That's Brittney Benson. We have to leave while we still can."

  "But she's there too," Wesley argued before walking for the girls' building. His friends protested and groaned, but ultimately followed him.

  "Care to explain, Warty?" asked Brittney who, along with her companion, stood when the three approached them.

  "Emily, I swear I didn't take it," Wesley said, looking past the E-class Witch, to the other girl. Without answering, she looked away, her beautiful eyes more fil
led with disappointment than anger, as if she knew him, as if she expected more of him.

  Brittney leaned into his field of vision. "Then what happened? You were the last one seen with it."

  "I don't know," said the boy, raising his hands as if begging. "I look at it every day before curfew, on my way to the dorm. But I didn't look yesterday; I was too tired after practicing with Master Conley to think about anything but sleep. The Orb was there the day before, but I have no idea what happened to it. I learned that it was stolen five minutes ago, when Cameron woke me up."

  Emily scoffed.

  But Brittney grunted and stared at him for a moment. Her cold, steel blue eyes made the hair on the back of his neck stand. "If that's true, you had better find a way to the truth soon. Otherwise, you might not make it to the Exams."

  Then the E-class mage gave him her back and returned to her seat. Emily followed, still without so much as looking at Wesley.

  He couldn't tell if her words were of a threatening nature, or just some friendly advice, but she didn't attack him so he allowed himself to relax a bit. It was a very good thing, because after hearing Sri's descriptions, he was sure that Brittney alone could have beaten the three of them.

  Sri tugged at Wesley's shirt again. "Now can we go?"

  They were already striding for the Lockhart building before he could answer. "Yeah. Where to?"

  "Dunno," Axel said, scanning for possible threats. "But we have to find a place that we can fortify and wait this out."

  "The front door," said Wesley.

  "Huh?"

  "The front entrance to the school." If he wasn't so nervous he would have smiled at his quick thinking. "No one should be on the other side of it, so we don't have to worry about our backs."

  "Wait, guys," Sri said with her little voice. "I don't think fighting is a good idea."

  Wesley and Axel couldn't hear her, but assuming her point, the Earth Sorcerer said, "You're right, Mouse; good idea, Wes."

  "Thanks," Wesley said, before stopping as quickly as possible.

  Five magi glared at him from down the hall and as soon as they noticed him looking back, they started for the three.

  "Nope," Axel said and stomped his foot, raising a wall to block the hallway. "This way."

  They rounded a corner and were gone before the other students could get through the obstacle.

  Then the Warlock and his friends came to the open hallway, exposed to the northern courtyard.

  "There he is!" Wesley heard from the right.

  There were four students watching him, with daggers in their eyes, ten feet from the stairway. As if routinely practiced, they moved together, making identical motions with their arms and legs. Water pulled from three close-by fountains and settled before the magi moving in sync, before blasting toward the outcast. Even Axel was shaken by the sight and tried to pick up his speed.

  “Oh,” Sri squeaked and jumped in front of her friends and pushed her hands out to her sides, mid-stride. The water spread out into a rectangle, as if spilling into a sideways pan, then hardened into ice. Without giving the her fellow Water Sorcerers a second glance, she turned and raced away with the boys.

  "Whoa!" Axel looked down at the tiny girl. "Nice move, Mouse."

  "Yeah, that was awesome," Wesley agreed.

  "Don't mention it," said Sri, looking away with a smile.

  They finally reached the door after navigating through several uninhabited corridors. Wesley huffed, looking back and forth between his friends.

  "What now?"

  "We wait," Axel said confidently, sounding much like Cameron.

  "How long?"

  They heard the marching of at least a score of students mixed with angry chatter, coming from around the corners, before them. Wesley could see their shadows stretching into the open path, talons of a lurking monster. The ruckus approached like a rolling thunder until finally they poured into the cavernous foyer, stopping a couple of meters distance from the defending few.

  The Sorcerer answered jokingly, "I'd say, not very long."

  "Hey," Wesley spoke with a trembling, airy voice. "You still have that ring, right?"

  "Yup, got Conley's curse?"

  "Left it in my room." He wanted to kick himself, for rushing out so hastily. In all truthfulness, what was he really going to do? It wasn't as if he had a plan—he was just too upset to be blamed. "I wish Cam was here."

  "You kidding me?" Axel scoffed and he made a small, almost deviously cool laugh as he raised his fists. "Don't forget why we became friends in the first place."

  Wesley looked at the large boy, as if he was speaking an alien language, for a second, before attempting to size up the mob. He felt the urge to scratch his brow, but not wanting to occupy his hands when they were so obviously going to be needed, he stiffened his arms at his sides. Then he looked down to his left.

  "Sri, you're not okay with this," he said, noticing the disquieted wrinkle on her forehead, his voice still lacking confidence. "Get behind us."

  "Um." She meant to protest.

  Axel put an end to her failed argument, by reaching around Wesley and forcibly—because of their enormous size difference—pulling the Sorceress behind them, closer to the large double-doors.

  Almost a dozen scepters sprang from pen-sized to ready weapons. Sorcerers raised their hands, some on fire, and took casting stances. Wesley could feel the collective source beginning to boil. Still, while facing down these incredible odds, he found that the tension in his neck started to ease. He was strangely reassured by the swelling, rock-hard, and heavy source coming from his right.

  It was amazing. The power, only he could sense, coming from Axel was far greater than he had imagined. It was nearly on par with Winter's and still seemed to be rising, which made him ponder for a second if Axel had been making the same wasteful mistake that Conley pointed out in him.

  Wesley raised his hands as he combed his mind for all of the spells in his arsenal.

  Then the scepters began to glow, Sorcerers gripped their mediums and the Warlock made his first hand-sign!

  An indecipherable mix of spells shot out of the mouths of the horde. Wesley knew that he was right in the thick of the action, but felt distant. In his mind he was far away, safely, unwillingly watching reality unfold. His body seemed to move without his wanting it too, as if anything he said or done could have changed the scenario. He wished it all could end, but it seemed that even his own instincts were against him.

  He aimed his open hands, moving with the other students in the skirmish. "Kai!"

  Axel, at his side, curled his arm, yanking at the marble of the hall floor. A light show, like the setting off of dozens of fireworks, sprang into the middle of the room. The shattering of rocks and evaporation of water created a smoke screen that stole the vision from the area.

  Wesley patted his body to be sure that it was still there, before he checked Axel at his side and Sri behind him. Everything was in tact. Even the door behind them hadn't a single scratch.

  Then after coughing out the debris that invaded his throat, Wesley squinted to see five figures standing at the center of the room.

  "Cameron," he heard Master Conley's voice and shivered in fright. Then almost immediately, the thick dust-cloud was blown away.

  Wesley was trapped in Cameron's hypnotizing eyes, which begged for clarification.

  He tried to explain, "We—"

  "Again?" Conley's voice sliced into the Warlock's ears. Wesley could feel the pressure of his demoralizing stare teamed with the tons of source and was afraid to look up.

  "This is unforgivable, simply unforgivable!" He heard the voice of an old woman standing with the other instructors.

  "Master Boscawen," Dean Sinclair spoke but maintained his glare at the surrounding students. "I'm afraid you may be right."

  "This young... mage," the word apparently putting a bad taste in her mouth, "nearly created a riot. He cannot continue to study here."

  Wesley looked to the other mas
ters hoping that they didn't agree with the Witch.

  Master Tesla, no longer bearing her beautiful smile, shook her head. "It's sad... but true."

  What? His face curled with confusion.

  She was his second favorite master, the woman that, from the very first day, always made him feel welcome. If she'd side with Master Boscawen, Wesley didn't have a chance. His eyes traveled down to his feet and his shoulders sank as he tried to convince himself that maybe a life away from the school, away from magic, was a better one.

  Dean Sinclair opened his mouth, but another voice spoke before he could.

  "I don't believe that will be necessary." Wesley's eyes shot open. It was Master Rosen. "According to an eyewitness, Wesley was only trying to hide and find a master to clear his name."

  Dean Sinclair turned on his good leg to face the stout man, standing near the corner. "And who would this eyewitness be?"

  "Benson, an E-class Wiccan, came to my office," said Master Rosen, looking at the three for a moment.

  Brittney Benson? She actually helped him. She was popular and powerful, with nothing to gain by helping him, and yet she did. Both Sri and Axel joined the boy in a slack-jawed expression.

  "According to her," the Wizard went on, "the boy seemed panicked and afraid of his friends getting hurt. He had no aggressive intent."

  She got all of that out of our short conversation?

  "I see," said the dean. Then he turned to face the three near the door. "Master Rosen, are you detecting any residual source from our youngest Ranuka?"

  "No. It would seem that she didn't take part in this."

  "As I thought. You are excused." Then he tapped his scepter on the ground and the Water Sorceress vanished. "Everyone else initiated at least one incantation, correct?"

  "Indeed," Master Rosen said, blinking slowly.

  "Then, as punishment," Dean Sinclair turned back to the aggressors, "you will all lose your remaining scheduled master appointments and will not be able to replace them. Good luck on your studies." He tapped his scepter again and they were gone. Then he turned back to face the last two boys. "Axel."

  The Earth Sorcerer stiffened up, with eyes as wide as Wesley's.