The Sphere (The Magi Series #2) (11 page)

Elijah grabbed the front doorknob and ran down the front steps
outside.  Uncle Stan was already in the driveway, getting out of the jeep when
Elijah suddenly stopped.  He slowly looked back at the house.

“Don’t you dare do it, Elijah!” his uncle shouted as if
reading his mind.  “Get over here!”

Elijah looked at his uncle and then back at the house
again.  The key was just a heartbeat away.  He had to get it, and for some
reason, he knew that the Maliphists wouldn’t be a problem.  He felt his body
surge with heat, and it wasn’t from the fire.  He knew what this heat meant. 
It happened when he had a revelation.  It happened when he knew things.  Things
he couldn’t explain.  Elijah ran back inside despite his shouting uncle.

The second he entered the house, he knew his time was
short.  The Maliphists were onto him.  They knew something wasn’t right, and
they were investigating.  He couldn’t waste any time searching.  Elijah ran to
the back of the living room, next to the kitchen, and opened the right drawer. 
The left edge of the table had caught fire, and the things inside were quickly
being devoured by the flames.  He collected everything he could, still hacking
from the smoke coating his lungs, and bundled the contents into his arms.  He
didn’t even check to see what he grabbed.

Halfway between the front door and Uncle Stan’s jeep, Elijah
felt a blast at his back like he had just been hit by a large ocean wave from
behind.  Everything in his arms exploded forward and fell onto the lawn as he
did a face plant into the ground.  When Elijah looked up, Uncle Stan was
standing in attack position.  Elijah looked behind him and saw one of the
Maliphists appear in the doorway.  Uncle Stan attacked immediately.

Elijah had witnessed elemental battles before, but he had
only seen different elements used against each other.  This time, both Uncle
Stan and the Maliphist fought using wind.  It was an odd sensation.  Elijah
couldn’t see the wind, but he could definitely feel and hear the powerful gusts
rush by him.  He could also see the destruction their attacks made to the
surrounding area.  The side of the house was ripped apart from a counter
attack.  The grass between them was no more than a few patches as the violent
gusts tore apart anything in their way. 

Elijah crawled on the ground to keep from being hit.  Soon,
both the Maliphist and Uncle Stan stood forty feet apart, looking like they
were each using all their might to push a massive rock toward the other.  Only,
there was nothing there.  This battle would be won by strength, not technique.

Elijah quickly scanned the ground for the contents he
dropped.  Papers and notepads and other sorts of stationery were scattered all
over the lawn.  He was sure he carried more than what he saw.  He looked back. 
Uncle Stan was beginning to get the best of his adversary.  The Maliphist was
losing his balance, but it wouldn’t be long before the other two in the house
joined him.

Under one of the notepads, Elijah spotted a small book, only
slightly burned.  He picked it up and flipped through the pages until it fell
open to a natural crease in the spine.  On page 47, a small brass key was
pressed against the burnt pages.  At the top corner of the page, Elijah noticed
a penciled-in marking.  The fire had singed half of the marking, but it looked
like the wind symbol used by the Magi.  It had been drawn in a hurry, whatever
it was, but it looked fresher than the pages on the book—at least, the pages
that weren’t burned to a crisp.  Elijah grabbed the key, threw the book on the
ground, and ran for the jeep.

Uncle Stan gave one final lurch when he saw Elijah scramble
toward the vehicle.  The Maliphist fell over.  Before he could get up to retaliate,
Uncle Stan jumped in the jeep, revved the engine, and peeled off down the
street.  Elijah continued to look behind them to see if they were being
followed.

“Are you okay?” Uncle Stan asked as Elijah continued to
wheeze and cough.  He could only muster a nod.  “What were you thinking going
back in there?”

Elijah laid his head back on the seat and closed his eyes,
ignoring Uncle Stan’s question.  He did what he had to do, and he knew his
uncle understood despite his outburst.

Uncle Stan patted Elijah on the back.  “We’d better go
straight to storage,” he said.  “You can bet they’re gonna start combing the
area for us, so we want to get whatever you need fast and then get the heck out
of here!”

Elijah nodded but still couldn’t say anything.  His throat
felt like a cat had been using it for a scratching post.  He closed his eyes
again while Uncle Stan took the corners on two wheels.

Uncle Stan played it as cool as could be when he drove up to
the guard shack in front of the storage garage.  It could have been just a lazy
Sunday afternoon, and they were dropping off a couple things on their way to
the coast.  Uncle Stan talked without a hint of desperation or hurry, even
though Elijah couldn’t help looking over his shoulder every five minutes to
make sure the Maliphists weren’t pulling in behind them.  The guard looked a
little concerned, and when Elijah looked in the mirror, he understood why.  He
was covered in smoke.  His eyes were red and watery, and part of his hair was
singed.

“Boy Scouts mishap,” Uncle Stan said as casual as could be. 
The guard chuckled and let them in.

Elijah half-expected the storage room to be trashed and
items broken or completely missing altogether, but when they entered it,
everything looked the same as he remembered.

“I’m gonna wait out here,” Uncle Stan said.  “How much time
do you need?”

“Hopefully not more than two or three minutes,” Elijah
answered.  “I’m just looking for two things.”

“Okie Dokie.  Holler if you need help.  And hurry!”

Elijah went straight to the nearest pile of boxes.

He looked through the first box without success.  He knew
right away that it wasn’t the right box because it had a bunch of tools.  After
trying the next closest box, again without luck, Elijah took a step back to
gather himself.  He tried to visualize the box in which he put his parents’
most important things.  It took him only a couple of seconds to remember that
he had placed the box far away from the front.  He wanted it safe, and somehow,
the back felt safer to him at the time.  Elijah managed his way around the maze
of obstacles, and on top of an old dresser, behind everything else, he spotted
it.  He pulled the box down, setting it on top of an old mattress.

This was it.  The old book was the first item he saw placed
on top.  Elijah gently picked it up and set it next to the box.  As he dug
around for the cube of dirt, Elijah couldn’t help remembering the feeling he
had the last time he dug through this box.  It hadn’t yet been a week since his
parents were murdered by a man working for Luther Cain.  Elijah had never met
Cain, nor did he know anything of the Magi world when he first discovered these
items.  Little did he know, the contents in this box started everything. 
Elijah’s father, William Hawk, had given Uncle Stan the box to keep safe from
the Maliphists, but even though he was successful in keeping the box safe,
William, Julia, and Kyria Hawk were all killed for its sake.

Elijah teared up a little as he lifted the small cube out of
the box.  He inspected it again and remembered the time he wondered why his
mother hadn’t put any labels on it.  It made sense now.  If the cube was a
puzzle piece to the most dangerous weapon in the world, it would be pretty
stupid to label it.

“How’s it coming?” Uncle Stan called from outside the room.

“I’m done,” said Elijah.  He tucked the cube into his pocket
and gathered up the book.  Uncle Stan locked up and they both scurried back to
the jeep.

Elijah gripped the book tightly and frequently checked the
lump in his pocket made by the cube, even though he hardly moved for the entire
drive back to the marshal hideout.  He felt somehow strange and defensive, even
with his uncle, as they rode back.  Uncle Stan didn’t show the slightest bit of
desire to even inquire about Elijah’s new possessions, but Elijah still felt
uncomfortable.  He slid the book to his right side, as far away from his uncle
as he could get it, and covered it as much as he could without looking like a
mother hen protecting her eggs.

Hours later, they pulled up to the hideout and parked the
jeep.  Elijah walked straight into the room he was staying in and slid the book
under the pillows.  He had to use two pillows to cover it completely, and
though he was sure it was perfectly safe, he triple checked to make sure it
looked concealed.  The cube remained in his pocket.

That night, Elijah sat on his bed staring at the cover of
the large book.  He inspected every inch, gently touching the spine and the
places where it was worn the most.  The longer he looked at the book, the more
he wanted to know what was inside.  It wasn’t that long ago when he had the
freedom to read every page, and he didn’t.  Yet now, after being
told
not to read what was inside, nothing sounded more appealing.  He tried
convincing himself that his temptation to read it was strictly to help find the
sphere.  Maybe there was something written inside that he would be able to
understand.  Maybe Olivia hadn’t given him enough credit.  After all, she
trusted him with the knowledge of the sphere.  What was the harm in reading the
book?  Why keep
this
from him and not anything else?

Elijah had almost convinced himself that it was his right to
read the contents of the ancient book when there was a knock at his door.

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry,” said Uncle Stan from the outside.  “Were you
asleep?”

“No.”  Elijah quickly tucked the book back under his pillow.

“Can I come in?”

“Sure.”

Uncle Stan meandered in, biting his fingernails.  “I
contacted Savenridge, and some of the marshals will meet us by the train
station across the border.  I’ll ride the train with you until you meet up with
them.”

“Will I be in danger?” Elijah asked.

“I doubt it.  If they knew where you were, we’d know by
now.”

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” Elijah said. 
As soon as he heard the words come out of his mouth, he was disgusted with
himself.  It was an impulsive comment.  He loved spending time with his uncle,
but his desire to be alone long enough to read the book, to deliberately
disregard Olivia’s request…no…
command
not to read it, was eating at him. 
Elijah hated himself in that moment, but he still couldn’t bring himself to
retract his comment.

Uncle Stan looked hurt.  “I think it’s best that I come
along.  I’d hate it if something went wrong.”

“It’ll be fine,” Elijah said, ignoring the part of him that
wanted to give his uncle the book now because he couldn’t be trusted with it. 
It was almost as if his body was on autopilot and he couldn’t get the controls
back.

Uncle Stan gave him a funny look and then said, “I know. 
But all the same, my orders were to make sure you were safe.”

As his uncle headed for the door, Elijah sat up.  He
suddenly felt lonely, which went nicely with his guilt.  “Uncle Stan?”

“Yeah?”

“This may sound weird, but can you tell me a story about my
dad?”

Uncle Stan looked like a machine that had just been plugged
in.  He straightened up and the corner of his mouth perked up.  “What do you
mean?”

“I dunno, a story.  Like when you were kids or something.”

Uncle Stan smiled kindly at Elijah and walked back, sitting
down next to him.  “Gosh, where would I even begin?  You ever hear about the
time we were almost eaten by a bear?”

“What?!?”

“Well, probably not eaten, but she sure shook us up.  A long
time ago, when we were still at the academy, we both decided to cut class.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.  Your dad and me weren’t exactly stellar students. 
Not then anyway.  We cut classes pretty often.”

“How often?” Elijah asked, now curious about this new side
of his father he hadn’t known.

“Now, listen.  You keep askin’ questions like this every
sentence I make an’ I’ll never get through this story.”

“Sorry.”

“Anyway, we cut class one spring an’ decided to goof around
in the woods.  Actually, come to think of it, we had some cherry bombs we
wanted to explode.  ‘Course, back then we didn’t know nothin’ about the Magi,
so our stash of pyrotechnics seemed pretty cool to us at the time.  Anyway, me
‘n your dad and this other boy named Phil snuck out the back way toward those
hills right to the east—you know the ones I’m talking about?”

Elijah nodded his head and smiled at his uncle.  Uncle Stan
was standing now, getting more and more excited as he talked.

“So we get about half-way to the hill with that big bald
patch on the side when we realize we lost Phil.  Now, if you knew Phil, that
wasn’t a surprise.  That boy could get lost in his own room, and what made
matters worse, he was more curious than a kitten in a fabric store.  We spent
half the day looking for our hopeless friend until we found him, an’ you know
what he was doin’?  That moron was feeding the lunch we packed to a bear cub,
not much taller than this.”  Uncle Stan lowered his hand to just below his
knees.  “So get this, bears are starving in the spring time…literally.  They
spend all winter asleep and when they wake up, they’re hungry and cranky.  The
little cub was gettin’ more and more aggressive to poor Phil because he just
kept dishing out the food, and it finally scared him.  He threw everything he
had at the cub and just ran, but not before the cub got scared and took off for
the brush.  You can probably guess what happened next.”

“He got his mom?” Elijah asked.

“You got it.  Only she didn’t go after stupid Phil.  She
came after us!  She probably figured he wasn’t much of a threat because he
looks so clueless.  So then, your dad and I ran for our lives back to the
academy.  We left the fireworks.  We left our food.  Heck, we left Phil.  I
never heard your dad scream the way he did then.”  Uncle Stan’s smile faded
slightly and he was in a far off place.