The Sphere (The Magi Series #2) (55 page)

“I’d like to see you this summer,” she said.  “We should
have a cider or tea at the marketplace.”

“Sure,” Elijah said.  “Have fun!”

Hannah scampered off to see her parents.

“Did she just ask you out?” Paul leaned in and asked Elijah.

“I don’t…think so,” Elijah said.  “Did she?”

Paul shook his head.  “You’re such an idiot.”

Paul and Isaac left next, followed by Adam, leaving Becca
and Elijah alone waiting to be picked up.

“So I guess we have some work to do over the summer,” Becca
said.

“I know.  Sorry,” Elijah responded.

“Don’t be.  I admire you.”

Elijah shook his head in disbelief.  “Seriously?”

“You’re too hard on yourself, Elijah,” Becca said.  “I
couldn’t have done what you did this year.  Have some confidence.  We all
believe in you.”

“Thank you, Becca,” Elijah said, encouraged.  “That really
means a lot coming from you.”

Becca smiled.  “I do what I can.  And thank you for a fun
year.  It started out tough for me.  But you included me and helped me get
through it.  I had a blast in the library.  We should do it again next year.”

“Definitely,” Elijah said.  Becca waved at her parents and
then began walking away.

“And if you tell Paul what I just told you, I’ll have to
kill you,” she said.

“I wouldn’t think of it,” Elijah called after her.

Master Roddick finally showed up when most of the other
students had gone.  He brought Tirzah and Lizzy with him.

“I’m sorry, Elijah,” he said.  “Miranda’s been having a hard
time with William and she couldn’t handle three kids at once right now, so I’m
looking after these two.”

“He cries…all…the…time,” Tirzah said.  She looked rather
ill, and Lizzy was as lifeless as Elijah had ever seen her.  She could barely
walk, which was quite different than her usual norm of bouncing off of
everything.

Elijah bent down to look Lizzy in the eyes.  “Are you doing
okay, Liz?”  Lizzy only grabbed Elijah by the neck and rested her head on his
shoulder.  He felt her body go immediately limp.

“Looks like she’s found a bed for the walk home,” Roddick
said.

“Gladly,” said Elijah.

Seeing that Lizzy found a comfy shoulder for the ride home,
Tirzah lifted her arms up to Master Roddick.  He picked her up and she put her
head down and watched Elijah as they walked back home.

“So how was this year?” Roddick asked.

Elijah laughed.  “Apart from being gone three months and
being attacked at the end of the year, great!”

Roddick chuckled also.  “I’m sorry.  I meant studies and
friends.  You know.  Things normal kids would deal with.”

“It was pretty good,” Elijah said.  “I think I’m well on my
way to being an average student, according to Master Constantine.”

“Constantine?”  Roddick looked surprised.  “Is that old
geezer still there?  Man!  He was old when I was there.  Does he still talk in
that dreadful monotone?”

Elijah laughed.  “I don’t know.  I was asleep most of the
class.”

Roddick shook his head.  “I think I’m supposed to reprimand
you for that and say that if you pay attention you can learn a lot from him,
but I wouldn’t know either since I was asleep half the time too.”

“How’s William been?” Elijah asked.

“He’s great!” Roddick said.  “He’s a bit fussy though. 
Sometimes.”

“Always,” Tirzah said in a yawn.  Elijah looked over.  Her
head bounced up and down with each step Roddick took.  “And he poops.  A lot. 
Everywhere.  Some got on me.”  She looked like she was in a state between being
awake and being asleep.

Elijah smiled at her.  She tried to smile back, but she fell
asleep trying.

“So what do you think about Europe?” Roddick said, switching
Tirzah’s position on his arm.  “I was thinking that with the year we’ve all
had, what with me being at the academy and Miranda being pregnant, that a trip
to Europe would be a perfect reward for surviving.  I’ve heard Westhaven is
beautiful in the summer.  How does that sound?”

Elijah looked at the road that took them back home and
thought about everything he had to do.  He looked back at Roddick and let out a
deep breath.

“Thanks all the same,” he sighed.  “But I think I’ve had
enough traveling for one year.”

Roddick laughed heartily.  He put his free hand around
Elijah’s shoulder as they both walked away from the barracks, each with a
sleeping girl in their arms.  And no two people were ever happier to be
together again.

BRIDGE

Cale Smitherman looked out over the midnight mist and
through the trees with growing unease.  He could have sworn he heard something
unnatural just moments ago.  It’s not an unusual occurrence when you’re a
soldier—to hear noises in the dark—especially on the night watch, which is
always a mind game anyway.  The smallest rustle or scurry from an animal or
falling branch immediately brings a sense of alarm. 

This was Cale’s first week as a night watch soldier, and
already he had developed a reputation for being jumpy.  On his first night, he
leveled four different clusters of nearby trees with wind because he had sensed
danger.  Each time he searched the wreckage, he discovered that the source
ended up being something harmless like a squirrel (which he succeeded in
destroying) or a pinecone falling from higher up in the tree.  The other
soldiers laughed at each occurrence. 

So when he heard this new sound, swearing to himself that
this was different, Cale waited before acting impulsively like the other occasions. 
He decided to consult the other soldiers working with him tonight. 

“Hey, Donald!  Did you hear that?”

“No,” said Donald.  “But why don’t you go ahead and take
down the whole forest just for good measure.”

“Seriously,” Cale urged.  “Out there!”  He pointed out and
to the left.  Donald, an older, overweight Magi with rosy cheeks and a red nose
sighed.  “You didn’t hear that?” 

“Go check it out if you’re so sure.  But I’ll be waiting
here by the fire when you find the mouse that made your noise,” Donald said as
he sat back down on the rock and reached his hands toward the fire. 

Cale slowly walked toward the noise he thought he heard and warily
held a torch out in front of him.  His eyes played tricks on him as the mist
made his vision hazy.  The farther out into the trees he went, the more
isolated and vulnerable he felt.  One foot stepped in front of the other,
treading carefully across the brush under him, trying to be as quiet as
possible.  Cale could almost picture Donald howling with laughter at the
thought of him being so uptight.  He was just about to give up when he spotted
a lump about fifty feet from him, lying motionless on top of a fern.  Cale
picked up his pace and by the time he reached the fern, he was at a dead run.

“Donald!  Quick!” Cale shouted.  This was no trick of his
mind.  This was real!  Donald heard the alarm in Cale’s voice, and soon he was
beside his new colleague.  Donald’s eyes widened in shock.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” he said. 

They both cautiously looked down at the body of a young
woman lying face down on the foliage.  She was wearing a dark brown backpack. 
Cale knelt down beside her and reached for her face.

“Careful, Cale.”  He hesitated for a moment and then rolled
her over onto her back. 

Whatever concern the two soldiers had about this young woman
being a danger were erased as soon as they looked at her face.  It was swollen
and dirty.  Her right eye was puffy and her lips were cracked with a two-inch
gash from her bottom lip all the way to her jaw.  Her hair was tangled and
dirty, and her hands were raw, fingers cut and bloody.  In one hand, she
carried a piece of paper that she gripped so tightly, even in her unconscious
state, that it was hard for Cale to pry free.

“What is it?” Donald asked. 

“It looks like a letter,” Cale responded, working the paper
open and smoothing it out.  While he read it to himself, Donald lifted the
young woman so she sat upright.  He took the backpack off and gently laid it
down on the ground.  He held the young woman’s head up against his shoulder and
examined her vital signs. 

“She’s beat up pretty bad,” Donald said, “but I think she’s alive.” 
He looked back at Cale who was continuing to look down at the letter.  “What is
it?”  Cale carefully handed the letter over to Donald as if he was giving him a
stick of dynamite.  Donald read the letter:

Luther
Cain:

You
don’t know me, but you know of me.  In the event of my death, I wrote this to
make sure you knew that you meddled with the wrong person.  You have succeeded
in destroying the life that I knew.  You have succeeded in killing everyone I
love.  You may end up succeeding in killing me.  But you will ultimately fail
with your big plan.  I know your secrets, Mr. Cain.  So while you may have been
hunting me these two long years, the tides have turned.  I am now hunting you! 
And my death will not stop me.

-Kyria
Hawk

####

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