Five: Out of the Dark (39 page)

Joe gaped at Seth, who had a smug little grin plastered on his face.

“Seth? How did you do that so quick?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Something just clicked in my brain. I bet I can do it faster next time.”

“Okay, let’s test that theory,” Joe said. “Drop the shield, and when I say ‘go’ we’ll see how fast you can erect it again.”

The shield around us dropped; the pelting began again with a vengeance.

“Go!” Joe yelled.

Less than a second. Wow. That was unbelievable.

“Well, it looks like we’ve found your strength, Seth.” Joe smiled.

“Awesome! I
love
my strength,” Seth pumped his fist in the air.

“It still isn’t fast enough to defend against a magic fireball, or an everyday bullet—but there are ways to make it faster. Probably the greatest thing about your talent is you can share it with your colleagues here,” Joe said.

“Yeah, I know, I already did. See?” Seth gestured to the dome of protection surrounding us.

Joe shook his head. “There’s another way you can share it, Seth. We can make shield bracelets that are infused with your shields and your friends can wear the bracelets and tap into them to construct shields of their own, almost as quickly as you can. It’s an invaluable tool and will invariably save the lives of you and your friends.”

“That’s so cool. When can we make the bracelets?” Seth asked.

“Tonight. The materials should be available in the refuge.”

“Okay, okay,” Alec said. “It’s a cool talent. Let’s figure out mine now.”

“We may not be able to figure it out tonight, Alec. But no worries, we’ll know in time what your special strength is.”

“What’s your strength, Joe?” Halli asked.

“My strength …
was
… wards. My wards were impenetrable by even the most diligent and nasty of enemies. My illusion wards fooled even myself sometimes.” He shook his head. “But, my strength is a strength no more. Let’s get on with this. We still have a couple hours of daylight. We’d best make good use of it.”

“Well, what other strengths are there? I mean, can’t we just try them all until we find mine?” Alec was determined to know his strength right then and there.

Joe laughed. “Alec, Alec, Alec … show some patience, my boy. There are innumerable talents. Let’s just continue on with my lesson plans and we’ll come across it eventually.”

“Ugh,” Alec groaned.

I stole a glance at Johnathan. We stood close together in the confines of Seth’s shield. Johnathan’s muscles were tense, his jaw worked back and forth as he ground his teeth. “Drop it, Seth.” He growled through clenched teeth and turned away from Seth. Joe caught a glimpse of his yellowing eyes and frowned.

“Huh?” Seth scrunched his eyebrows together.

Johnathan’s nostrils flared in and out and he closed his eyes.

“The shield,” I said quietly. “Drop the shield. Johnathan needs some air.”

“Oh, yeah, right.” Seth stole a glance at Joe and dropped the shield.

Once again pelted by wind and dirt, I turned to Joe and said, “He’s just a bit claustrophobic.”

Joe watched with brows furrowed, his mouth turned down in a frown, as Johnathan jogged a short distance away. “Okay, let’s take a break.”

After a short time-out we learned and practiced various spells like levitation, paralyzing spells, reflecting spells, and even an invisibility spell that didn’t really make us invisible. It just made us blend in with our surroundings. We hadn’t come across Alec’s strength by the time Joe announced it was time to head back to the refuge.

Alec’s disappointment showed in his sour mood. We jogged back to our new temporary home—Joe insisted we exercise our bodies as well as our minds and magic, and increase our endurance along the way. Alec took off from the rest of us and sprinted most of the way. I bet he had the world’s biggest side ache before he reached the cave. The quick-paced run had at least one good side effect—it made Alec too tired to be ornery.

Joe woke us early the next morning and we headed off in a different direction than the day before—jogging, of course. Alec was in much better spirits, sure that his special powers would be revealed today. He made it sound like he was a budding superhero.

“What’s our plan for the day, Oh Captain, My Captain?” Alec asked Joe when we’d finished our run.

Joe raised an eyebrow at him. “Today, you’re going to
begin
to learn how to portal. This spell takes time and practice to learn and
no one
is to even
think
about attempting it with themselves or another person until I am completely convinced that they’re ready. Do you all understand?” He looked at Alec.

“What? I know … I won’t try it without your prior authorization, Sensei. I promise.” He crossed his heart just to prove it.

Joe shook his head with a sigh. “Just remember, the consequences of a portal-gone-wrong are both horrifying and permanent.” He looked each of us in the eye to make sure we understood the gravity of his statement.

He proceeded to explain that you could only portal,
safely,
to somewhere where you’d been before. That statement, of course, brought on a round of questions, starting with Alec.

“So … it
is
possible to portal somewhere you
haven’t
been … it’s just not as safe?”

Joe’s exasperated sigh actually echoed across the canyon. “Alec … it is possible. But highly dangerous. It’s just too hard for your mind to form the correct picture for the spell to build upon. And while I’m thinking about it, don’t
ever
try to portal somewhere make-believe—like, say, Willy Wonka’s chocolate river or Alice’s Wonderland. That’s one of those mistakes that’ll land you eternally in
between.
”

“
Between
?” Halli asked.

“Yeah,
between.
As in between here and there—floating endlessly in nothingness, neither
here
nor
there.
Not a fate I would wish on anyone … well, almost anyone.

“We’ll start by portalling small objects and go from there.” Joe began pulling small twigs from a dead bush.

We practiced moving the twigs by picturing them in the place we wanted to open a portal to—which, in this case, was down the hill by a lone pine tree we’d paused at on our way up there. It was a difficult spell to master, that was for sure. I would have the picture planted firmly in my head. But when I would go to open the portal, infusing the spell with my will, the picture would crumble and I’d have to start all over again. There were more than a few twigs, I’m afraid, that ended up in the
between
because of me.

We all struggled with this new skill—all except Alec. It seemed he’d found his strength. While the rest of us continued to work on moving lightweight twigs, Alec was moving rocks the size of Halli. Joe was astonished at the speed of which he caught on to this most difficult spell.

Joe caught a lizard and had Alec portal it to the tree. He did it without a problem. The rest of us were pretty much on our own at this point; Joe was fascinated by Alec’s strength in portalling.

“Now, try moving the rock further, like to the creek we crossed a mile or so away,” Joe instructed Alec.

“No problema, Coach.” Alec concentrated for only a few seconds before the rock disappeared. We all ran the mile back to the creek to see if it had arrived there safely—and there it was.

This went on into the afternoon. The rest of us were able to move our twigs and even some small rocks to the pine tree. Johnathan was able to move larger objects, but didn’t even come close to the accuracy of Alec. Alec didn’t lose an object in the
between
even one time. Even so, I was still shocked when he asked Joe, “Hey, Chief, how about you let me portal myself back to the cave when we’re done?”

Joe studied him in silence for a minute or two. I couldn’t believe he was actually considering it. “Well, it
is
your strength. What do you guys think?”

“No way,” I said. “It’s too big of a risk.”

Halli agreed with me.

“Paige, he hasn’t screwed it up all day, not once. I think he’ll be fine,” Seth said.

I shook my head and looked to Johnathan to be the voice of reason.

I should have known the boys would stick together on this. They lived for danger. Johnathan half smiled at me apologetically before saying, “I think we should let him. Seth’s right, he’s been spot-on all day.”

“Joe, you can’t seriously be considering this!” I argued.

“Actually, Paige, I am. If Alec wants to take the risk, knowing the consequences if he messes up, I say he should. He is amazing at this.”

“Whatever … just don’t come crying to me when you’re stuck in the
between
forever, Alec,” I said with a huff.

Alec took extra time constructing his portal. He closed his eyes and then …
poof
… he was gone.

We all ran back double time. I was sure we’d find Alec, lounging and gloating, waiting for us in the cave.

Johnathan reached the entrance first and we all came huffing and puffing in behind him. I searched the inside of the dim cave for any signs of Alec. He wasn’t there.

“Alec?” Johnathan said.

I glared at Joe.

“Alec, come on, this isn’t funny,” I said.

Still nothing. I started picturing him floating in a sea of nothingness; my heart pounded in my ears and I thought I was going to throw up. I crouched down and put my head between my knees, trying not to hyperventilate.

Laughter came from the unexplored tunnel next to the
bathroom
tunnel—Alec’s annoying laughter. I’d never heard a more wonderful or infuriating sound before in my life.

“Not funny, Alec,” I said when his maddening face peaked out from the darker shadows of the tunnel.

Johnathan’s eyes flashed yellow-gold and he let out a deep growl as he spun around and stomped to the entrance of the cave. He pulled deep gulps of air into his lungs as he worked to calm down.

I glared at Alec. He shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands in a gesture of innocence.

That night, as we ate dinner from the cached supplies, we decided on where we wanted to go. We would start out for Moab, Utah the next morning—a place where vegetation is sparse and hiding places abundant.

e divvied up the freeze-dried packages of food, filled our water bottles, and started out on our long trip early the next morning. I don’t think we could even officially call it morning, as the sun hadn’t yet begun to peek over the eastern horizon.