The Sphere (The Magi Series #2) (7 page)

Suddenly, feeling very empty and lonely, Elijah wrapped his
arms around Roddick and said, “Be safe, whatever it is you’re doing out there.”

Roddick returned the hug.  “I’ll do my best,” he said.

When they eventually ran out of stones to throw, they decided
to walk back to the house.  “So,” Roddick said, his tone sounding more playful,
“you can’t talk with your friends about feelings, huh?”

“I didn’t say that,” Elijah said.  “I
can.
 I just
don’t
.”

“You’ve never talked to your friends about your passions? 
The depths of your spirit?  Your dreams?” Roddick asked.

Elijah looked at Roddick like he was crazy.

Roddick laughed.  “I’m a literature teacher, remember? 
That’s
all
we talk about.”

“Those things don’t come up with my friends,” Elijah
responded.  “Except one time.”

Roddick perked up.  “Really?  With whom?”

“Oh, just some girl.”

Roddick immediately stopped walking and looked at Elijah
with a mischievous grin.  “Aha!  A
girl
!  What’s her name?”

“It’s not important,” Elijah said sharply, and then
continued walking.

“So you can talk to me about everything else, but you can’t
talk with me about some girl?” Roddick said.  “She must really be something. 
What makes her so special?”

“I dunno.  She’s just…cool,” Elijah said.  He felt foolish
since he didn’t really know how to put it into words, and he didn’t feel that “cool”
was a good enough word to describe Hannah Maybury.  “I can talk to her for one
thing,” he continued, not even realizing he was still talking.  “She’s sweet
and cares for people.  And she’s not phony like a lot of kids.  She doesn’t try
to lie and make it seem like she knows more than she does, but she doesn’t
judge people doing it.”  Suddenly, Elijah couldn’t stop coming up with things
he liked about Hannah.  He finally looked up at Roddick who had stopped
grinning at this point.

“Does she like you?” he asked plainly.

“I doubt it,” Elijah said.  “I don’t know.  We’re friends
and everything, but I don’t think she sees me as anything more.”

“Do
you
want something more?”

Elijah laughed awkwardly.  “Okay, we’re done here.”

“Hey, I’m just trying to help,” Roddick chuckled.  “It’s not
like I’ve never gone through this before myself.”

Elijah sighed.  “I haven’t really thought about it.  Okay,
that’s a lie.  I think about it all the time, but I’m not even sure what to do
about it.”

“Do you want my advice?” Roddick asked.

“Sure.”

“Don’t do anything.  Be her friend.  I don’t know many
fourteen-year-olds who have figured themselves out, let alone someone from the
opposite gender.  If she’s as amazing as you say, she’ll understand that too. 
If you’ve truly been her friend, it’ll be hard for her not to notice you.  And
then, that’s where the real awkward fun begins!” he said with a good-natured
smile.

“I suppose,” Elijah replied skeptically.

Roddick patted Elijah on the shoulder as they walked back
toward the house.

“Oh by the way,” Roddick said in an obvious change of
conversation.  “Miranda doesn’t know about your little plan with Olivia.”  Elijah
stopped walking.  He was shocked to hear Master Roddick bring up his secret
task.  Roddick would have known because he was part of the group of teachers
traveling with him, but it still took him by surprise.  “I just wanted you to
think about that when you leave tomorrow, whenever that is.”

Elijah nodded.  He knew what Roddick meant without him
saying it.  So instead of talking over the details of Elijah’s departure, they
talked mostly nonsense the entire way back to the house, which was good for
Elijah because it distracted him from the knot he held in his throat.

The drizzle that began in the morning picked up by
mid-afternoon and became more like a constant spit with the wind spraying the
water in uneven gusts.  Just as Olivia said, a large crowd gathered at the
Southern Gates to say goodbye to the teachers.  Mrs. Roddick was in the middle
of the crowd trying to watch her two girls who were jockeying for position to
say goodbye to their father.

Elijah took the opportunity during the commotion to slip
away unnoticed.  He ducked through the people and half-jogged through the city
center to the edge of the southern forests.

The stables in the south were much nicer than the hidden
stables he snuck through last year on the north side.  They were bigger too! 
There had to be close to twenty stalls on each side of the long hallway.  The
inside sparkled with polished dark wood, and even though it was light outside,
the torches on the walls illuminated the wood so Elijah could practically see
his reflection.  He looked around.  The stable was completely deserted.

“Uncle Stan?” he whispered, knowing his uncle should be here
as Olivia promised he would.  A few horses pricked their ears and shifted
inside their stalls when Elijah called.  For a moment, he thought he was
alone.  Then, from far back inside, he heard a “Pssssst.”  Elijah walked
briskly toward the noise.

In the final stall, Uncle Stan sat on a stool, grooming a
horse that was saddled and packed.  Elijah grinned widely.

“Are you as excited as I am right now?” Uncle Stan asked in
his usual gruff voice.

Elijah chortled.  To say he was excited about spending time
with his uncle was an understatement.  But leaving the safety of Savenridge and
waltzing back into an area heavy with Maliphists was something only Uncle Stan
would be excited about.  Elijah looked at his uncle and thought that Uncle Stan
should be the one letting the horse groom him instead of the other way around. 
Stan’s usual brownish stubble was practically long enough to be called a beard
at this point.  There were a few more gray hairs than Elijah remembered seeing
during the summer, and his hair was wild and unkempt.  A good brushing would do
wonders, but he knew better than to think Uncle Stan cared at all to take an
extra minute on his own appearance.

“What’s the plan?” Elijah asked.

“Well, I’m actually running a little behind,” said Uncle
Stan.  “I need to finish getting your horse ready and then we need to get out
of here.  It’ll be a while before the teachers have a chance to leave, but
it’ll also take us a while to escape and catch up with them.  I guess “escape” isn’t
exactly the right word, but you know what I mean.  The teachers will wait for
us at the first river crossing south of Savenridge.  It shouldn’t take us more
than a few hours to get there if we hurry.”  He grinned his usual mischievous
grin, which made Elijah chuckle in spite of himself.

Uncle Stan worked quickly.  He secured the saddle to Elijah’s
horse and packed some food and water for the journey.  Then he walked the tall
chestnut out the back way and onto the lawn.  His uncle was tall and quite fit,
so the horse actually looked rather ordinary next to him, not towering over
like so many others.

Elijah put the hood from his overcloak onto his head to
shield himself from the rain.

Uncle Stan handed Elijah the reins.  “This guy’s yours,” he
said.  “He’s pretty docile, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble with him.  You
learned to ride yet?”

“Yes,” Elijah answered.  “Master Roddick gave me a few
lessons this summer.  I should be okay.”

Uncle Stan gave him a short nod and then returned to the
stable, leaving Elijah with the horse.  Elijah mounted and gathered the reins. 
He waited, listening to the rain spraying the leaves of the trees around the
stable.  Uncle Stan soon came out riding another chestnut.  His horse was a
little taller than Elijah’s and had a white star on his forehead.

“Follow me,” said Uncle Stan, and he bolted north into the
plains toward the Northern
Forest.  Elijah didn’t have time to think about the fact that he left Mrs.
Roddick and the two girls at the Southern Gates without saying anything to them.

They rode swiftly until they reached the hidden stables just
east of the Northern Gates.  Not a soul was around the entire ride.  Uncle Stan
led Elijah through the thick trees that were too thick for horses to run, inside
the secret stables, and out the same secret exit that Elijah used to break out
of Savenridge last year.  He wondered if Uncle Stan knew about him using the
exit.  Elijah never told him all the details about his escape from Savenridge and
the rescue from Malpetra.  Uncle Stan never cared about details.

When they reached the first river crossing, the teachers
heading to Saint Phillip’s were all off their horses.  Some were eating.  Some
were resting.  A few were reading.  Master Roddick was alone, standing by his
horse, grooming its coat.

Uncle Stan hopped off his horse, so Elijah did the same. 
They led their horses to the river to give them a drink.  Master Roddick
approached Elijah and patted him on the shoulder.

“Glad to see you two.  Did you have any trouble?”

“Easy as pie!” said Uncle Stan.  “It was quite boring,
actually.  Wish I could say we battled a few rabid Maliphists, but we didn’t
see nothin’.”

“I don’t know if that’s good or bad,” Roddick said with a
smirk.  “Did everything go okay, Elijah?”

“I think so,” Elijah answered.  “I hope Mrs. Roddick doesn’t
worry about me going missing.”

Roddick looked at the rest of the teachers who were preparing
to head off again.  Then he said, “You two keep in the middle of us, especially
you, Elijah.  Keep your cloak and hood on as much as possible and try to look
bored.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard,” said Uncle Stan.

“As long as you don’t draw suspicion,” continued Roddick,
“you should be okay.  You will need to stay with your uncle now, Elijah, so
I’ll see you when I return.”  He mounted his horse and rode off, much earlier
than the other teachers.  Elijah watched him curiously.

After all the horses had had enough to drink and rest, the
group of teachers, along with Elijah and Uncle Stan, continued on at a steady trot. 
This route toward the academy was much easier to travel than the route he took
with Roddick to Savenridge last year, even though it took much more time.  For
one thing, a visible dirt road began shortly after crossing the river.  The
terrain stayed the same—flat the majority of the way, with just enough land
variations to make the ride interesting.  The group continued traveling, as
long as the road was visible.

When it eventually became too dark to see, they set up
camp.  They scattered themselves around the trees and found the flattest spots
to put up their tents.  A few chose to manipulate the earth beneath them to make
a flatter spot.  They would stand up, spread their hands apart, and the ground
would smooth out, just like kneading dough.

Elijah and Uncle Stan found an area near a small stream to
set up for the night.  Uncle Stan told Elijah to get a fire started while he
worked on putting up the tent.  Elijah first gathered some wood from fallen
branches and crunched up as many dried leaves as he could find for kindling,
which was difficult in the rain.  He arranged everything to his liking and then
stood over the pile.  He thought back to his training.  To create fire, he
needed to be angry.  Elijah thought about what he wanted the fire to do—ignite
between his hands, and then stay there.  The fire would want to spread out, so
he focused on containing it between his hands.  He thought of the Maliphists
and the murder of his parents.  At the same time, he remembered to focus on
containing the fire.  It ignited!  He concentrated on moving the flames from
the palms of his hands to the brush beneath him, and soon, he had a modest
campfire.  He tried to keep the flames down just enough for him to stay warm
but not so big that he would draw attention to the camp.  He wasn’t sure if the
Magi teachers were concerned with being seen or not, so he decided to play it
safe.

When the tent was pitched and the fire smoldered, Uncle Stan
prepared a dinner of dried meat and fruit, and he and Elijah sat leaning
against a large rock to eat.  While they ate, Elijah decided to take the first
opportunity they had to talk.

“So what have you been up to since you left Savenridge?” he
asked.

“Nothing,” said Uncle Stan with a mouthful.

Elijah laughed until he realized his uncle was telling the
truth.

“Seriously?” asked Elijah.

“Seriously,” said Uncle Stan, sounding agitated.  “And I
wish I was lying.  I made contact with some of the old crew of marshals who
used to work the region, but there’s been a whole lot of nothin’ goin’ on. 
It’s got us worried too.”

“Why?”

“It just ain’t right, y’know?  It’s like when you don’t hear
a toddler for a while.  You know they’re up to somethin’ and it’s probably
bad.”  Uncle Stan took another bite of meat.  “I’ve been a marshal for a long
time and I’ve never gone this long without even a rumor about the Maliphists. 
It’s got us all on edge.”

Elijah couldn’t help trying to put two and two together.  He
wondered if the Maliphists’ search for the sphere was keeping their deliveries down. 
He desperately wanted to ask his uncle, but no one but he and Olivia knew about
the sphere.  Plus, he still couldn’t make sense of why they weren’t still
trying to target him to find out where the book was located.  He shuddered and
looked around the darkness of the surrounding forest.  He wondered if he was
being watched at that very moment.

He looked up at the stars over the tips of the trees as the
rain clouds moved past.  He did his best not to think about the potential
dangers that he might encounter during his journey to retrieve the cube and the
book; so he thought about Hannah instead.  He thought of her perfectly straight
brown hair and her gentle green eyes.  He thought of her warm smile and the sprinkling
of freckles on her cheeks.  Elijah thought about Roddick’s question the other
day about wanting to be more than just her friend.  He allowed himself to
consider that for a second.  What would that be like?  He fell asleep to the
popping and crackling fire before he could answer his question.