Rebels of the Lamp, Book 1 (21 page)

Vesiroth had always been gruff. He had a frightening temper and was quick to lash out. He was also, even after his centuries of solitude and the immense knowledge he had acquired, human. There
was a hurt that lay deep inside him and, horrible as it was, it kept him connected to the people he saw age and die all around him.

She could sense a change in Vesiroth after she brought back the last piece of the Elders’ spell. When she read the spell on her own (not aloud, of course; she wasn’t suicidal), she
realized with a sudden certainty that if her mentor used it, he would be corrupted to his soul. The exposure to the power that was the Nexus would be too great. His mind would snap. The Elders knew
the spell would bring only suffering. That was why it had been so hard to find.

Tarinn tried to bring Vesiroth back from the edge, but it was far too late. The Nexus called to him. The temptation of power was too strong.

She had to get away. Away from her mentor and away from the frightening power of his vengeance.

Away from the pain.

“This can all be over, witch. Release the spell and give me the lamps.”

Xaru was inches away from Professor Ellison’s face. She was in Yogoth’s grip, his four arms holding her like a straitjacket. Her face was bruised, and she was experiencing the most
intense pain of her long life. Xaru and the four members of the Path he had brought with him had not shown her any mercy. They were more than willing to kill her if it meant that they would take
possession of the lamps. They were more than willing to kill her even if it didn’t.

“No,” she said.

They were in her office on the campus of Cahill University. All of her treasures, so carefully cataloged and arranged, were scattered on the floor. Shelves were tipped over. Her clippings were
torn from the walls. They had found the shimmering wall, but none of them could breach the magic field she had placed to protect the only things she owned that could not be replaced.

“Don’t be a fool, Tarinn. Give me the lamps. Spare yourself hours of torture.”

“No.”

The professor knew that it would be useless to scream out. There was no one there to help her. Fon-Rahm was buried under tons of rock. The children were probably dead. She was doomed. After
thousands of years of life, she was finally going to see what came after.

Xaru grabbed her by the hair. “You are seconds away from becoming a limbless torso. Give me the lamps!”

The professor looked the genie right in the eye and spoke with steely conviction.

She told him, “The next time you see a lamp it will be from the inside, and I will be the one that put you there.”

Xaru could take her impertinence no longer. His anger took control. His fist became a flame as he pulled it back to hit her and put a stop to her meddling once and for all. Professor Ellison
closed her eyes, ready for the end.

Before the punch was unleashed, Nadir grabbed Xaru’s arm.

Xaru paused for a brief moment. “Please,” he said, his voice hiding his fury at Nadir. “Please tell me that you did not just grab my arm.”

Nadir let go of Xaru’s arm. He was calm as he bowed to his master. Then he turned to Professor Ellison. She tried to squirm away, but she was held tight by the drooling genie Yogoth. Nadir
placed his hands on her temples and locked his scary blue eyes onto hers. His grip became tighter as his concentration grew more and more intense.

“No,” she said. She was shaking, but not with fear or pain. She was shaking as if something were being pulled from her. “No. Stop.”

Nadir doubled his efforts. He was reaching deep into her mind, probing her for the spell that would bring the lamps into the open. His hands trembled. His teeth clenched. Finally, the professor
screamed and passed out cold in Yogoth’s arms.

Nadir turned to the shimmering wall. Then he chanted a few words and reached in his hands. The wall parted at his touch, revealing four metal canisters floating unprotected in a sea of pure
energy. Nadir smiled. The lamps were theirs.

THE CAMPUS WAS A GHOST TOWN.

That was the first thing Theo noticed when they landed. It was the middle of the day, on a Tuesday, and Cahill University should have been busy and noisy and crowded. There should have been a
rush of students changing classes. There should have been professors drinking coffee and marking papers on benches. There should have been Frisbees. There should have been music. There should have
been life.

There was nothing. All the students and the faculty and the workers were lying on the grass or on the sidewalks, motionless and silent. The only sound was the chirping of birds.

“We’re too late,” said Theo. “They’re all dead.”

Fon-Rahm shook his head. “No. They are not dead. Only sleeping.”

Parker knelt by a collapsed student and put his fingers to his neck, looking for a pulse. “He’s right. They’re all unconscious.”

“What happened here?” Reese asked. “It looks like they all just passed out at the same time.”

“A trick of Xaru, no doubt. He does not like to be slowed down.”

All of a sudden, Parker was frightened. He knew that Xaru was dangerous, but so far the only people that had gotten hurt were a few Path members. This was his first glimpse of what Xaru was
capable of on a larger scale. If he could entrance an entire college full of people without breaking a sweat, what was to stop him from doing much, much worse? All the bodies on the ground could
easily be dead, and instead of hundreds there could be thousands. Or millions.

“Dad!”

Parker looked up to see Theo running through the quad. Reese and Fon-Rahm were chasing after him.

Theo dropped to his knees. Both of his parents were sprawled unconscious on the sidewalk.

“Dad! Mom! Wake up!”

Theo was slapping his father in the face, trying to get him to snap out of his trance. Parker reached Theo and put his hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “Theo. It’s okay.”
Parker’s voice trailed off. Lying next to his aunt Martha and uncle Kelsey was Parker’s mother.

“Mom?” he said. He held her head in his hands and turned to Fon-Rahm and Reese. “She came! She came for Thanksgiving, and they were giving her a tour. She actually got
here.” He paused for a moment, and then screamed at Fon-Rahm. “Make her wake up! I command you to make her wake up!”

Fon-Rahm was stone-faced. “I cannot. The only way to wake these people is to stop Xaru.”

Parker put a hand to his eyes so that no one could see that he was starting to cry. He pulled himself together and stood. Theo was lying on the ground, one arm around his father and one arm
around his mother. Parker gently pulled him away.

“It’s okay, Theo. We’ll save them.”

Theo, stunned, managed to stand.

“We got this,” said Parker.

Fon-Rahm zeroed in on Professor Ellison’s building. “They are in there.”

Reese nodded. “Then let’s go get them.”

They ran through the archaeology building, down deserted hallways and past empty rooms. When they reached Professor Ellison’s office, Fon-Rahm turned to the kids.

“I can take care of Xaru and Yogoth. You must deal with the Path on your own.”

The kids nodded. They were outmanned and outgunned, but they knew they had no choice. They would do whatever it took to stop Xaru and the Path.

Fon-Rahm looked at them with something like respect. Then he turned the handle on Professor Ellison’s office door, and the wall exploded in front of him.

AT FIRST, ALL THAT PARKER
could see were bright white spots that danced in and out of his vision. As soon as he focused on one, it vanished.
Parker couldn’t tell if they were really there or not.

Soon, though, his head cleared enough to see what had happened. He had, along with Theo and Reese, been blown backward by an explosion. It didn’t take long for Parker to realize what
caused it.

“Now really, Fon-Rahm,” said Xaru, hovering three feet off the ground in the ruins of Professor Ellison’s office. “What took you so long?”

Xaru released a ball of flame that Fon-Rahm easily deflected.

“There is no reason for more innocents to be hurt. Surrender, Xaru!”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” said Xaru. He gestured to the back of what was left of the professor’s office, where the Path members were just completing the ritual to open one
of the newly freed lamps.

“No!” Fon-Rahm cried, just as the sacrificial Path member twisted the lamp. Fon-Rahm was too late. The lamp was open.

But nothing happened.

Parker helped Reese and Theo to their feet. They rushed to Fon-Rahm’s side.

“Could it be a dud?” Parker asked.

“I fear not,” said Fon-Rahm.

Nadir walked over to the kneeling Path member and casually slit the man’s throat. The sacrifice slid to the floor without a sound. Nadir peered into the open canister. Then his face turned
gray. He leaped for cover just as the lamp detonated, erupting with the fury of a blazing sun. Everyone in the room was tossed away from the blast.

Again, Parker found himself on his butt. He coughed and waved his hand in front of his face to clear away the smoke and dust. When he saw the sky he realized that the roof of the building was
gone, obliterated in the explosion.

And then he saw Rath.

The newly freed genie was a horror. He was huge, the size of a building, so massive that he couldn’t even fly. He had squirming, squealing rats for hair, attached to his horrifying head by
their hairless tails. Any resemblance he had to Fon-Rahm, Xaru, Yogoth, or even Vesiroth was hard to see. He was simply a roaring monster.

Rath wielded two giant, curved scimitars and howled at the heavens.

“Oh, crap,” Parker said. “You are a big boy, aren’t you?”

The Path members were dumbstruck. They dropped the professor, who collapsed to the floor, and then they fell to their knees in front of the rat genie. Insane with rage that had been building for
three millennia, Rath swiped with his twin swords, instantly killing the kneeling thugs. Only Nadir and one other Path member survived.

Fon-Rahm marshaled the kids behind him. “Take cover.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Parker.

The genie took to the air.

“I’m going to keep them busy,” he said as he flew off to do battle with Xaru, Yogoth, and Rath. The genies sized each other up. There was suddenly a lot of firepower in the
airspace over Cahill University.

Reese was searching around the rubble.

Theo asked her, “What are you looking for?”

She pulled out the professor’s bag. It was dusty, but intact. “This. There has to be something useful in here.”

Parker saw Nadir and the remaining Path member coming for the unconscious professor. “Theo! Can you get to Professor Ellison?”

“Yes.”

Parker took the bag and threw it to Theo. “Then take care of her. She’s the only one who can trap the genies.”

“Got it.”

“Good,” said Parker before he threw an age-old bowl from the professor’s collection that smashed against the remaining Path member’s head, knocking him out cold. Nadir
turned away from Professor Ellison, livid, and drew his curved blade. He was getting pretty tired of this meddling seventh grader.

Parker took Reese’s hand. “We should probably go.”

Reese nodded. “You’re probably right.”

Parker and Reese ran, with Nadir right behind them.

Fon-Rahm withstood the fire from Xaru, and he held his own against the mindless fists of Yogoth, but Rath was harder to ignore. His swords cut huge arcs through the air, and
when one hit Fon-Rahm’s arm, it cut him deeply. The wound would heal, but it would sap precious strength from Fon-Rahm just when he needed it most. They were going to wear him down. They were
going to punish him for standing against them.

And they were going to enjoy every second of it.

Theo held Professor Ellison’s head in his hands. At first he was afraid that the professor was dead. Her face was pale, and she felt almost weightless in his arms. For
the first time, Theo saw Professor Ellison for what she was: a very frail, very elderly woman.

Then, with a start, the professor came to. Theo scooted away from her in fright. He rushed back when she made it clear that she was trying to stand.

“Don’t try to get up, Professor.”

“I have to,” her voice was a hoarse croak. “I have to contain them.”

“You’re too weak!”

“Nonsense! I’m stronger than I have ever been!”

She got to her feet and raised her arms. Before she could cast any kind of a spell, she fell back into Theo’s arms. He lowered her gently to the floor and bowed his head, wondering what
they would do if she was too far gone.

Parker and Reese ran through the wreckage of the building.

“Do you think we lost him?” Parker asked, looking over his shoulder. A thrown dagger stuck angrily in the wall behind them.

“No,” said Reese.

“This way!” Parker pulled Reese with him, but he was too far from Fon-Rahm. He broke down from the searing pain in his head.

“Parker! Get up!” Reese pulled him to his feet, but he could barely move. Nadir kept coming. They were not going to be able to run away.

The battle in the air shifted as Fon-Rahm clutched his head.

“Now! He’s weakened!” said Xaru. Yogoth grabbed Fon-Rahm from behind and held him while Rath used his mammoth scimitars to slice hundreds of rats from his own head. Rath
couldn’t fly, but the rats could. They streamed at Fon-Rahm, their razor-edged teeth dripping venom.

“Now, this should be fun,” said Xaru.

Reese saw that Fon-Rahm was struggling and in real trouble. She braced herself and did the last thing in the world that Nadir expected. She dropped Parker and charged him.
Nadir made a quick stab with his blade, but with the skill of a martial artist, Reese planted one foot on the ruins of a wall and launched herself at him. His knife missed and Reese punched Nadir
as hard as she could in the throat. Nadir went down, gasping for breath, and Reese picked up Parker. She dragged him back to the professor’s office and he revived.

“What happened?” he asked.