The Magician: An Epic Dark Fantasy Novel: Book One of the Rogue Portal Series (8 page)

TWELVE

⌛

The book was laying on the ground, unopened. Connor, Kit, Stuart, and Hazel were sitting around it, as though guarding the four corners of the book. Kit had asked Hazel to join them after explaining that she'd been through something similar. Two sets of roommates. Four people brought together by a force none of them understood. Four lives ripped apart by death and destruction. Too many coincidences.

              Hazel's sister had disappeared, much like Stuart's. They told her family that her sister had probably just run off. Kids do that, they'd said. They never found a body. No evidence to suggest foul play. Stuart had shed more tears, no doubt thinking of his own sister.

              In Hazel's case, the strange man that entered her life had been in the form of a guru of sorts. Some health food guy that had mentored her in a natural healing business she'd wanted to start. But after awhile it had become painfully clear that what he really wanted was the amulet necklace of her sister's. The one thing, like the others, that she'd kept from her loved one.

              In her case there was no story. No wooing. No promise of fixing it or changing it. Just a theft.

              "It was like she'd disappeared all over again," she had said, weeping.

              All of their stories were so similar. All of their questions nearly the same. Why them? Why now? Why had they been brought together? Who was this Magician? What did Rumsfeld want with them? And how could they do anything to stop whatever plans he'd hatched? Not to mention the old woman, who perhaps wasn't such an old woman after all, if Connor's vision was to be believed.

              It all came down to the book and the pocket watch. The book that was lying motionless on the floor. Just paper and leather. Except...it wasn't.

              "Shouldn't we open it?" Hazel said.

              "Might be helpful at some point," said Kit, without offering to initiate.

              "Not it," said Connor. Kit smiled reluctantly.

              Stuart sighed.

              "I'm done waiting for answers."

              Reaching forward, he waited until his hand was above the book, paused momentarily, and then opened it. For a moment, they all drew back, unsure of what would happen when the volume was exposed once more. Connor tried not to look afraid, but given what had happened to him earlier, he was terrified.

              They waited.

              But nothing happened. The book stayed where it was, without possessing anybody or pinning anyone to the floor. Presumably without causing horrific flashbacks of occurrences that had happened in years past, given that nobody had taken to crying or screaming. And so, after a few moments of sustained peace, Kit decided to turn past the initial page, which acted as a sort of title page for the book, and revealed the first full page.

              The ancient book held cracked pages that groaned as Kit turned them. Dust sprayed across the floor when the first page fell against the cover, and more dust volcanoes erupted as each page was touched, handled, and read.

              The first page looked like a table of contents, although it wasn't laid out as such. It listed the main ideas of the book more than anything else, but page numbers were absent. It was a rough indicator of where someone should go if they were looking for a particular subject, but beyond that was of no help whatsoever.

              It listed things like
Spells and Potions
,
Ingredients, Locations, The Void, Regions and Realm Guidelines,
and
Portals.

              "Do you really think that's all the book covers?" asked Connor.

              "It seems a bit weighty to only contain that much information, doesn't it?" Kit responded.

              "I guess it depends on how many spells and ingredients you have," Hazel chimed in.

              "Yeah. But still. The people of this...realm...that we've met seem to be very good at hiding things. I wouldn't be surprised if they conveniently left out a few things in the contents, eh?" Stuart pulled a corner of his mouth to one side, deep in thought.

              "Stuart's right," Connor said, "We've gotta go through this whole thing."

              "So where should we start?" Kit asked.

              "The very beginning, if you listen to Julie Andrews," Hazel offered with a weak smile.

              "Why did I know you'd love
The Sounds of Music?
" asked Kit with a laugh.

              Hazel shrugged.

              They turned a page and revealed a hand-drawn picture, or a map of some kind. The circular map consisted of divisions that looked much like wheel spokes, with notes in each that read
The First Hour, The Second Hour,
and so on, all the way through twelve. Each Hour had its own name printed beneath it, as well.

              "What do you suppose the Void is?" Stuart asked.

              "No idea," Kit responded.

              "Maybe it's some kind of...magical land or alternate dimension or something," said Connor.

              They all nodded. But if Connor was honest even he didn't know that it was possible. Didn't know if any of this was possible. Up until a few days ago, if he'd confronted with this information from someone else he might have, with all the best intentions, called a professional psychologist to assess the person who believed in such things. But here he was, in the thick of something he couldn't deny but simultaneously couldn't wrap his mind around.

              They continued through the pages, each of them taking turns and viewing the contents. The first page with the map of the Void and its twelve demarcated "Hours" had sketches within each realm. Some had peaked areas, others had what looked to be palm trees, some had squiggly lines that Stuart had conjectured were waves.

              "It's terrain," Hazel said. "I see these symbols all the time, only they look a bit different. But if you look on some travel maps they'll mark areas with icons and images that tell you what kind of terrain to expect."

              "So what do they mean?" Kit asked.

              "Well, Stuart's right enough. The wavy signs usually mean water, like an ocean. Palm trees typically mean a jungle type of atmosphere, and the peaks are probably mountains. Especially since they seem to be set up in lines. More or less, anyway. Like mountain regions."

              "So then what are these?" Connor asked, pointing to two or three sections of the map that appeared to have gear shaped icons.

              "I can't be sure," she said, furrowing her brow, her long blond hair falling in front of her as she pulled her knees into her chest and leaned over the book. "But it would seem to me that gears would indicate some kind of city. Like the gears of industry, or politics. Gears make me think of machines, and clocks."

              "Fair point," Kit said.

              "So then what's this?" Stuart pointed to what was marked as the Tenth Hour. The region had asterisks.

              "Oh, those usually mean snowflakes. So a very cold region. Think the arctic, or the North Pole. Even Alaska might have that kind of mark on the map in certain areas." Hazel smiled.

              "Is that..." Kit trailed off, pointing to an Hour that had what looked to be a flag of some kind.

              "Oh, my. The Jolly Roger," Hazel laughed. "Thar be pirates, I suppose?"

              They all laughed a nervous kind of laughter that rippled rather than boomed, and exchanged smiles, welcoming the break in the tension.

              "What the hell is that?" said Kit, pointing to a strange icon toward the upper left of the map in a region marked as the Eleventh Hour.

              "I'm...not sure." The reply came from Stuart.

              They all looked at the icon, trying to decipher its odd shape. It looked much like a person, but the features of the silhouette were distorted.

              "Maybe it's some kind of creature?" said Hazel.

              "I thought you said the icons only indicated terrain," replied Connor.

              "Not necessarily. Sometimes they indicate things to watch out for. Like warnings. And technically if there were some kind of creature there, it
would
be considered part of the terrain. Kind of like bear tracks to indicate there may be bears along a trail."

              "So they're cautionary and informative?" Kit asked.

              "Mostly, yes."

              Stuart sat back and leaned against his bed. He shut his eyes, and for a brief moment Connor was seriously concerned that he'd passed out. But before he could question his friend, Stuart's eyes fluttered back open, looking past them, past the book, past the wall. Past where the physical eye could se.

              "You okay?" Connor asked.

              "I just..." he sighed. "I just need sleep, I guess. This is so much to take in"

              "You know it really is late. Maybe we should go over this tomorrow, hmm?"

              It was Kit who had made the suggestion.

              "I think that would be a great idea," said Hazel.

              "Connor, the book's yours, you want to keep it?"

              "I suppose," he replied.

              "Wait!" Hazel said, with more force than her personality allowed for. She drew back as she became aware that she had almost shouted, and flushed a shade of pink.

              "What?" Kit asked.

              "I'm sorry, it's just. I...I have an idea."

              "It's okay, Hazel. Tell us." Stuart reached over and touched her shoulder, encouraging her to go on. They made eye contact, smiled, and then simultaneously remembered they weren't the only people in the room and drew back to their original positions.

              "Thanks, Stuart," she mumbled. "It's just that...well Rumsfeld gave you the book, right Connor?"              

              "Yeah."

              "And...we can all agree he's not exactly one to be trusted, right?"

              "That's for damn sure."

              "There's a tourist attraction somewhere in California. I don't remember where. But anyway, it's this crazy old mansion that has stairways that lead to nowhere, glass rooms, really random stuff. And the story goes that the woman who built it was convinced that she had to make the house as confusing as possible so the evil spirits couldn't find her. She slept in a different room every single night to throw them off." She paused.

              "Oh, the Winchester Mystery House, I've heard of that," Stuart responded.

              "Nice story, what the hell does it have to do with us?" Kit snapped.

              "Well...Rumsfeld is kind of an evil spirit in this case. And, I don't really want him to find the book. If Connor keeps it all the time, he might come after Connor and get it."

              "So your idea is to send it to California?" Kit responded with a bit too much sarcasm.

              "No," Stuart said smiling. "Her idea is to trade off who keeps the book so he can't find it as easily. He probably doesn't know yet that all four of us are aware of each other's existence insomuch as our unique histories are concerned. So if we tradeoff..."

              Kit immediately looked apologetic.

              "Hazel, that's a really great idea." She hung her head. "Shit, I'm sorry. It's just so..." She held her hands out to either side of her head as though shampooing her hair's aura

              "It's frustrating, Kit, I know. I didn't take it personally." Hazel smiled.

              "Thanks," she sighed. "I think we could all benefit from a good night's sleep. Let's head out."

              She and Hazel rose and headed for the door. Stuart stood up and walked over to let them out.

              "Hey Kit," Connor said, standing up, as well.

              She turned around.

              "Yeah," she smiled.

              "Thanks...for today. For...everything."

              She hugged him. Hugged him for longer than he thought was necessary. Not that he was complaining. When she backed away, she looked him in the eye.

              "You don't have to thank me for a damn thing. I'm just glad you're okay."

              "You're awfully poetic, Kit, have you considered the Creative Writing program?"

              She smiled and gave a faux slap on his face.

              "Jackass."

              "Guilty."

              She exited past Stuart and Hazel, who had taken the moment of pseudo privacy to embrace each other. They looked slightly embarrassed when Kit and Connor noticed, like high-schoolers who had been caught behind the bleachers. But Connor turned his back and pretended to be very busy at his desk, and out of the corner of his eye saw them hug once more.