Chapter 20

I felt like I was back in high school, surrounded by bullies, lorded over by a teacher, near a girl who confuses me, and unable to get any support from my mom. Getting away from Newton Grove had been the best thing I had done for myself, but I couldn’t simply leave the vaults. First, I didn’t know the way out without Rho or Sebastian guiding me, and second, Walker sure as Hell wouldn’t let me leave without him, and certainly not without the items he wanted to collect.

Those items. Walker used one against me. He collected something from the room of invisibility and used it to fight me – the wide-brimmed hat. If he was so confident in his abilities, he wouldn’t need the items against me. Would he?

More than that, probably worse too, was his sickening concern for my mom. I mean, does he really care for her, or is he simply playing on my emotions to make sure I don’t forget his threats? And the thumb across his throat – did that mean he would kill my mom or kill the person who tried to help?

Something told me he was no longer threatening my mom. No, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t believe for a second that he wouldn’t use her as a human shield should it prove necessary, but his rage exploded after I captured mom in the camera. Was that the appropriate reaction from a psychopath?

No, I needed to know more about Walker. I needed to know why he wanted these items. I needed to warn someone who could stop him.

On the other hand, there was the spell on my mom and how it made her act. While I didn’t expect her to be all cozy with me, such as Lisa or Jordan, I had hoped that the spell would have worn off by now and she would return to her normal self.

Did I know who that was? Her personality had been altered by my biological mother to provide me with a stable home life and to keep her sexual proclivities from causing a rift between her and Wayne. Now that she was back to her original personality – the one before I knew her – there was no way for me to know just how she would react to Walker. For all I knew, he was her type of guy.

And that thought only made me sick.

I had to find a way to remove his spell over her. If she clung to him due to the spell, then she would quickly change sides and berate him for his use of witchcraft. However, if she wasn’t being influenced by the spell, then nothing would change and I would be stuck worried about her even after he left. No matter the outcome, I had to find a counter-spell.

My brambling and stewing over what happened kept me too distracted to notice the effects of the last few hallways. For that matter, after all of the strangeness we had encountered, I would say it would be strange if nothing strange afflicted us. Then I looked at Maria.

She walked along, putting some distance between the two of us. I thought she was upset over the fact that Walker hadn’t been captured with the camera. Yes, it would have ended this problem fairly easily. Unless he reflected the power of the camera at me, just like he had with Maria. Inwardly, I smiled at that thought. It would have left him stuck in the vaults until he figured out how to free us. And yet, how did he know what to do with the camera to stop us? It was another question I would soon learn an answer to, dammit.

I glanced at Maria again. She didn’t seem to notice the strange effects of the hallway. Currently, the walls were bathed with random colors, such as what one sees when oil is spilled into a water puddle – something I recalled from when I worked for Mr. Chambers.

I looked around and found Jade following Maria while Ruby followed me. Ruby smiled when I looked her way. What was that about?

I moved closer to Maria, who didn’t look up until I bumped her shoulder with my own.

She looked up, almost startled, saw me, and smiled.

A gust of wind tugged at the collar of her jacket. It was a couple of sizes too big for her, but it was all she wore. She pulled it close and then leaned into me. “I need clothes,” she said softly.

I shook my head. “If we had something to add to, I could do that, but I don’t know how to conjure something from nothing.”

Thanks to the wind blowing back toward her, Jade heard us. “Actually, for something simple, it’s not that difficult.”

Then she held out her hand, palm up, and one of her stiletto daggers simply appeared there. She looked at us. “You have to know what you want. Plus, it helps if you’ve conjured it a bunch of times already.”

Maria and I stared at her. Then I broke the silence with a grin and said, “Okay, make a dress for her.”

Jade made the dagger vanish and shook her head. “Nope. She’s your Fonte. You make it.”

“Right,” I said and looked at Maria. “Something simple.”

“And warm,” Maria said with a shiver.

I nodded and thought of a simple dress with long sleeves, a turtle neck, and a skirt down to her knees. The material would be thick wool, but soft and warm. The color would complement her skin – a soft beige. In my head, I could already see her wearing it. With my mind focused on my intent, I looked at Jade. “You’ve practiced this spell a lot?”

She nodded.

“Do you mind?” I asked and held out a hand to her as if to shake.

She thought about it for a second and then grabbed my hand.

I learned the spell, as well as all the things she had made with it, and the list of things the spell could not produce, such as water, air, or anything with a reflective surface. I understood the first two, but I had to look deeper to understand the reflective surface issue. It had to do with the way reflections are almost considered magical. There was also the limitation of a conjured item: it would only last a few hours.

Once all of this was clear, I pulled together the image of Maria wearing the dress I had created for her. I looked at her and said, “Hold still.” Then, with my intent in place, I infused it with my will, and then power.

Maria never flinched. She ended up asking, “Where’s my dress?”

I blinked at her and looked down. Sure enough, the skirt of her new dress was there, encasing her legs. I smiled and reached for her jacket. “Let’s see.”

She glanced sideways at Jade and opened the jacket so only I would see her. Sure enough, the dress looked exactly as I had envisioned. Maria looked down, noticed she was covered and grinned. Then she pulled off the jacket to see more of the dress. It fit her like a glove, conforming to every curve, even without the obvious stitches that thinner materials would show.

Jade and I looked at her. Ruby had been falling behind, but she caught up. “Nice skirt,” she said as she passed by.

All three of us looked down. Sure enough, the skirt hugged Maria’s legs.

Jade nodded. “Yes, very nice.”

Maria tugged at the skirt. “It’s a bit tight.”

Jade shook her head. “No, girl. It shows off your legs perfectly.” Then she glanced at me. “See?”

I shook off my reverie and looked up into Maria’s eyes. “I hope it’s okay.”

She grinned and threw her arms around my neck in a hug.

“Keep in mind,” Jade said as she turned to continue after the others, “conjured items only last a few hours.”

Maria pulled back and blinked up at me. I smiled and said, “Makes sense. After all, if we could conjure anything we wanted permanently, we wouldn’t need to buy anything, ever.”

“There are some things you cannot conjure,” Jade said, getting further away.

Maria pulled the jacket back on and we jogged to catch up to Jade. “Such as?” I asked.

Jade reached the corner for the next hallway. Her ponytail flew back in the wind and she held up her hand as if warding off something.

Maria and I reached the corner, felt the wind, and then felt the rain.

“I didn’t know it could rain down here,” Maria said.

I looked at her and said, “Several different magical effects are seeping out of various rooms, and this surprises you?”

She shrugged and looked at Jade. Jade Shrugged in turn and braced herself for walking against this storm.

Maria shook her head. “While I appreciate that we’re both prisoners of Walker’s, do we have to follow him into this?”

I frowned in thought. It was a good question. Walker had moved ahead of us so far that Maria and I could slip away and hide, possibly even find a different exit and escape, trapping him down here. But, then, I thought of the reason I had followed him this far. “I don’t have a choice,” I said. “He has my mom enchanted and hanging off his arm. If I fail to do what he wants, he will hurt her.”

“What are you going to do when we get to the exit?” she asked. “You can’t be expected to allow him to leave with those items, Seth. You and your family, including me possibly, could be deemed guilty of failing to follow the Council’s orders.”

I looked at her. “Only if they find out, and I know for a fact that he’s not going to tell them.”

Jade stopped and turned to look at us. “Hey, you two! Get moving!”

I sighed, took Maria’s hand, and followed Jade.

Jade waited until we caught up with her. “Don’t tell me you two are plotting to take down Walker,” she said with a grim smile. “He won’t go down without a fight, and he’ll expect me and Ruby to help him. Besides, it seems your last go didn’t turn out so well.”

Maria frowned at her. “Then why offer magical advice to Seth?”

Jade glanced at Maria. “What? Just because Walker hired me to help him, I’m not allowed to teach the kid anything new?”

We turned the next corner, and rather than run into less rain and wind, it got worse. Fog also appeared in the corners of the hallways. I frowned and looked at the women. “Does this make any sense to either of you?”

Jade rolled her eyes and said, “What in this place makes sense?”

Maria nodded as if agreeing with Jade’s question.

I picked up my pace, determined to catch up to Ruby. After another corner, we gained on her. She wasn’t paying us any heed, but kept her arm up, shielding her eyes and she strode forward.

Jade was right about my last go at Walker, and I wouldn’t soon forget that fight. For that matter, I couldn’t even call it a fight, not really. It was more like a tussle or a disagreement with magic.

Maria was correct too. I couldn’t allow Walker to leave with the items. If I couldn’t stop him with my magic, then I would have to use the self-destruct feature of the vaults. From what Glenn shared with me, I would have to be closer to one of the exits. The triggers were only in those locations. I would have to wait until we were closing in on an exit to activate it. And I would have to hope the self-destruct didn’t kill us all.

The wind grew stronger. The rain and fog became more prominent. A bolt of lightning shot through the hallway, forcing all of us to drop to the floor.

“This is insane!” Jade said. “What the hell does Walker want so bad he’s willing to go through this?”

I shook my head. “If he hasn’t told either of you, then none of us know.”

Maria looked at me. “We can’t continue like this. A single lightning bold could kill all of us.”

I looked around at each of them. I had an idea. “I can follow him and keep all of you safe.”

“How?” Ruby asked, with serious doubt in her voice.

I reached under the jacket behind Maria and pulled out the blanket. “All of you can go in here while I chase down Walker. Hopefully, he and I will make it out of the storm before you return.”

Jade and Ruby shared a look. “I don’t know...” Ruby said.

Jade, however, looked around at the storm and said, “There’s always the chance you’ll still be trying to fight your way to the exit by the time we return.”

“Besides,” Ruby added, “We’re supposed to be keeping you from casting spells.” Then she stepped away as if that was the end of the conversation.

I looked at Jade and she nodded and stepped over to stand with Ruby. They were too afraid of Walker to do anything other than what he said.

I turned and looked at Maria.

She looked from them to me.

“It’s a pocket dimension,” I told her. “You’ll spend what seems like three days enjoying yourself, but for us, only an hour will pass when you return.”

“I’m not sure,” she said. “After being stuck in that camera for fifty-some-odd years...”

I shook my head. “No, this will kick you out after the required time, whether you’re ready to leave or not.”

She nodded in surprise and then looked up at me. She glanced at the others and asked, “Are you sure about this?”

I glanced toward the others and nodded. “I have a couple of surprises up my sleeves,” I said and rubbed the jacket sleeves.”

She looked down and smiled. “I wondered why the sleeves were so heavy.” Then she looked up again. “I don’t want to return only for you to be in trouble.”