“Becka teaches English lit at Trinity. I’ve sat in on a few of her lectures. The students seem really laid back. I bet you’ll like it there.” After his years of attending prep schools, Seph had been surprised at the way the students dressed at Trinity: flannel shirts and sweatshirts and jeans in cool weather, T-shirts and shorts in the summer.
He was so engaged in the conversation with Madison that he didn’t realize they were heading south instead of north, until they reached the highway interchange. As they accelerated onto the highway, Seph sat up straighter, looking out the window, fighting off a sense of foreboding. “I didn’t realize we were going out of town,” he said.
Madison nodded. “Uh-huh. There’s this really cool nature preserve on the Vermilion River. In Huron County. It’s not far.” She was looking at him a little strangely.
“Oh.” It’s all right, he told himself. No need to make a scene. He hadn’t seen a strange wizard all summer. There was no way the alumni could be waiting at the city limits to intercept him, watching all the routes out of town. Besides, he was unlikely to be spotted riding in an unfamiliar car.
They passed the city limits without incident. The park was about a half hour away. It was remote, thickly wooded, embraced by a great loop of the river gorge, and embroidered by rocky streams that flowed into the river. The parking lot was empty.
“How’d you find this place?” Seph asked, hoisting the cooler onto his shoulder.
“I’ve been here fishing a couple of times.” She grinned. “Fishing’s an excuse to sit by the water and do nothing. Perfect.” They hiked upstream a short distance to a little meadow, shaded by tall trees and bordered by little umbrella plants that Madison called May apples. They spread a quilt and Seph laid out the food.
It was a hot day, but it was cool under the trees along the water. This is fine, Seph told himself when he’d finally eaten enough. He looked over at Madison and smiled. More than fine.
Madison took off her hat and set it aside, groped in her tote and pulled out her sketchbook and charcoals. “You ruined my other drawings, so you have to sit again.”
Seph scooted closer to her. “I already cooked for you. You mean I have to sit for you, too?” He cupped her chin in his hands, pulled her toward him, and kissed her. She tasted of brown sugar and butter, and her hair smelled of citrus and lavender. Sunlight rippled over the quilt while the trees moved overhead, as if they were underwater.
“Madison,” he whispered.
“My friends call me Maddie.” She extricated herself from his embrace. Pulling her sketchbook onto her lap, she pointed with her chin to the riverbank.
“You. Sit over there.”
Grumbling under his breath, Seph rose and took his place among the rocks at the river’s edge while Madison issued orders. “Half turn. Tilt your head to the left. Right leg straight. Stop scowling.”
Seph thought she’d done fine in the past, sketching him without his cooperation. He posed for an hour in the dappled shade, with the Vermilion River sluicing about his feet, before she relented and suggested they go wading in the river.
They loaded the picnic gear back in the truck, then walked about a mile and a half downstream to the gorge. Seph stripped off his shirt and Madison her sundress, and they left them high on the riverbank. The water was cold, but refreshing in the afternoon heat. It was very clear, unlike the cove at the Havens. Seph turned over rocks, disturbing salamanders and crayfish, catching them in his cupped hands. He hadn’t realized there were tiny lobsters in Ohio. Then the two of them sat in the shallows, letting the river roll over them.
“Do you have brothers and sisters?” Seph asked.
“I have a little brother, John Robert. And a younger sister, Grace.” She spoke about them with a fierce affection, as if they needed defending.
“Your parents were okay with you coming up here on your own?”
“There’s just Carlene. My mom. She wasn’t too thrilled about it, mainly since I’m the babysitter. But I can make more money working for Rachel than anywhere in Coalton County. And Rachel watches me closer than Carlene ever has.”
“So,” Seph said, trying to understand. “At home. Do you live on a ...a farm?”
“I live on Booker Mountain. My family’s been there since before Ohio was a state. It’s a beautiful place, but I’m afraid it’s not much of a farm unless you want to grow rocks.” She skipped a stone across the river so it landed on the opposite bank. “I guess you’ve lived all over.”
“I guess.”
“What’s Europe like?” She rolled her eyes. “I suppose that’s like asking what’s the ocean like.”
“Yeah.” He thought a moment. “There’s less room in Europe. It seems like everything’s packed together compared to Canada or the U.S. But you have to pay closer attention. It’s layered. Like a tapestry woven with lots of colors and very small stitches. Or . . . or an Impressionist painting,” he added, pleased to have come up with examples from art.
“Have you been to the Musée d’Orsay? In Paris?” She studied him like he was an exotic species.
He nodded. “It’s a feast, if you like the Impressionists.”
“I’m going there some day,” she said with conviction. “I’m going to visit every gallery in Paris and every church in Florence. And eat gelato every day.”
When they were numb and shivering, they climbed out onto the rocks and sunned themselves like turtles. Madison ran her fingers over the dyrne sefa that hung around Seph’s neck. “What’s this?”
“A friend at school gave it to me,” Seph replied. “I guess you could say it enhances magic. It lets the gifted do things they couldn’t otherwise.” The memory of Jason brought pain, as it always did, but just then the Havens seemed far away. “You mentioned that you’d met . . . witches at home.”
“Well, there’s a strong tradition of magic around there. The folks that settled that area came from Ireland, England, and Wales. My grandmother was a reader and adviser. People used to come to her to have their fortunes read.” She fell silent for a moment, as if lost in a memory.
A seer, Seph thought. “Were there also wizards in Coalton County?”
She considered this a moment. “There are people with auras. Like you. People with power. Trinity’s full of them. What kind of power, I couldn’t tell you. And I’d guess most of them don’t know they have it.”
“Were there others like you?”
She laughed. “It’d be pretty hard to tell. I don’t have an aura and I don’t have magic. I just kind of swallow it up.”
When they were sunbaked and drowsy, they pulled their dry clothes on.
The shadows were deeper than before when they headed back. They followed a path upstream along the riverbank until they reached a place where the sides of the ravine swept steeply up on either side, forcing them back into the river. Seph had just taken Maddie’s hand to help her across some slippery stones, when he looked up and saw someone standing in the riverbed ahead, between them and the sun. The contrast between light and shadow made it difficult to see, but there was something familiar about the silhouette. When Seph shaded his eyes against the light he saw that it was Warren Barber. And behind him, Kenyon King, from the Havens.
Madison stepped up even with Seph, and looked curiously at Barber, who was standing, smiling, right in their path.
“Hello, Joseph,” Barber said. His voice was marbled with sorcery, meant to sedate and cloud the mind.
Seph looked around. On either side, the banks were too steep to climb. Behind them, two more wizards were picking their way down the riverbed. Bruce Hays, and Aaron Hanlon, who taught social studies.
“Who’s that?” Madison began, but when she saw Seph’s face, the words died away. She looked over her shoulder, at Hays and Hanlon, and back at Seph.
“We thought you’d never leave your little nest,” Barber said. There must have been an unspoken question on Seph’s face, because he added, “I used a different kind of web this time. Something to let yo
u out, but tie a line to you. Something that made you easy to track.”
Seph brushed at himself as if trying to dislodge the invisible tether.
Barber flexed his fingers, readying them for use. “We’ve come to take you back, Joseph,” he said. “It hasn’t been the same since you left.”
Seph spoke to Maddie without taking his eyes off Barber, acutely aware of the wizards behind him. “It’s okay. I went to school with these people. Go on back to the truck.”
“What’s going on?” Madison looked over her shoulder. Hays and Hanlon had stopped a short distance away, as if waiting for a signal.
“Just go. If I’m not there in half an hour, go on without me.” When she didn’t move, he pushed her hard, and she stumbled a few steps forward. She looked back at him, her face still full of questions. Then she turned and walked away from him, up the riverbed, her fists clenched at her sides. But as she tried to slip past Barber and King, King reached out a long arm and caught her by the hair, pulling her to him and wrapping one arm around her. She struggled for a moment, all knees and elbows, then stood still, eyes wide with surprise and fright.
“Let her go,” Seph said, trying to keep his voice calm and even. “She’s not involved in this.”
Barber smiled. “But you’re involved with her, right? You wouldn’t run off and leave her with the likes of us, would you? Just cooperate and maybe we’ll let her go.”
Seph knew that his primary advantage was surprise and the overconfidence of the alumni. If not for that, he would have been immobilized already. If he didn’t do something soon, he wouldn’t get the chance.
But Madison took that issue out of his hands. She twisted like an eel and kneed King in the groin. He screeched and doubled over. He must have released power into her, because after a few seconds he went down like he’d been clubbed in the head.
Seph pointed at Barber and cast an immobilization charm. He spun around and launched charms at the other two wizards, but they were already throwing up shields and muttering counters. Barber stood frozen, an incredulous look on his face.
“Go! Now!” Seph shouted to Madison, who had extricated herself from King’s grip. “Get out of here!”
“But I can help you!”
“I don’t want your help!” Seph said, keeping his eyes on the three wizards. He didn’t want anything from the Havens to contaminate Maddie Moss. Didn’t want Warren bloody Barber asking questions about her.
Didn’t want her to get hurt.
She turned and splashed up the riverbed, in the direction of the parking lot, leaping over obstacles like a deer. She’d lost her hat, and it floated down the river toward them, spinning in the current.
Then Hays disabled the immobilization charm Seph had used on Warren Barber. That was the problem. Unless Seph could take down all three at once, they would help each other.
“What’s this?” Barber said, looking more amused than worried. “I believe the boy’s been studying out of school.” He looked after Madison, as if debating whether to go after her, then shrugged. “Pity,” he said. “I was taking a liking to her.” He nudged King with his foot, frowning. “What’s up, Ken? You going to be singing soprano from now on?” King lay on his back, still stunned.
Barber signaled to the others, and the remaining wizards separated, advancing toward Seph from three different directions.
Seph climbed partway up the side of the rocky gorge and turned to face them. The way to the parking lot was blocked, and he had no hope of climbing the rest of the way without being overtaken or disabled.
It was eerily silent in the gorge. The birds were quiet, and he couldn’t even hear the sound of water cascading over the rocks. All he could hear was the harsh breathing of the three wizards as they advanced on him.
“You may think you’re a wizard now, Joseph,” Warren said. “But we think you have a lot to learn. And we can teach you, back at school.” His voice turned sooth-ing. “Tell you what. You won’t have to mingle with the other students anymore. We’ll let you stay in the Alumni House. We’ll be best friends.”
Seph extended his hands. “Back off. I don’t want to hurt you, but I won’t let you take me.”
“Please don’t hurt us, Joseph,” Barber mocked. As he spoke, he gestured and a lattice of shadows slid over Seph. He looked up to see the net descending on him and threw up his hands, speaking the countercharm. He had been spending considerable time on Weirweb counters. The net dissolved into gleaming shards of silver that fell harmlessly about his shoulders. Then he swept his arm out in a broad arc, sending a wall of blue fame roaring downhill. The alumni threw themselves on their faces in the river as the flames raked over them.
Seph teased earth out of the side of the hill, releasing a landslide of boulders, then drove a flash flood of water down the gorge. He was desperately flinging charms he’d never tried before. Some worked and some didn’t. He had to keep the alumni busy. If he took even one hit, he was done.
His only advantage was that Leicester wanted him alive. He was under no such restriction, although he really had no desire to harm them. They were victims as much as he was.
Except for Warren Barber. Seph was beginning to think Barber was bad to the bone. Should’ve killed you when I had the chance, he thought.
Seph inched up the riverbed toward the parking lot, fighting the alumni for every foot of ground. He sensed rather than heard the subduen charm Barber cast, and threw back the countercharm. Warren spun out more spider cords from his hands—looping, iridescent cords that threatened to ensnare Seph—but they dissolved under the same counter he’d used on the web.
They pressed against the barricades he put up, seeking weaknesses, and toppled small trees on the slope above, sending branches crashing down around him. They sent clouds of vapors toward him, and birds tumbled out of the sky, stupefied. He was already getting tired. He wondered how long it would take them to devise something he’d never heard of, or to simply overwhelm him.
The wizards were soaked, plastered with mud, and bleeding. They’d obviously expected an easy catch.
“Does Dr. Leicester mind if he’s damaged or broken?” Hanlon gasped.
“I think we might have to damage him. I think it might be unavoidable.” As if to reinforce his words, Barber swung his fist, sweeping stones from the river bed into a deadly cloud that flew at Seph. Seph fashioned a shield and managed to deflect most of them, but a fist-size stone struck him above the right eyebrow, stunning him momentarily, almost knocking him from his feet. He staggered backward but managed to stay upright.
Barber said something to the other two, and the three came forward, pointing at him and firing charms, one after another. Seph struggled to keep up, knowing that if he lost focus for a moment, it would be over. He fingered the dyrne sefa and thought about disappearing, but it would do no good if he couldn’t keep up with the spell-casting. He might end up immobile and unnoticeable, lost in the Vermilion River Gorge forever.
Suddenly he saw movement just beyond the alumni in the ravine, a flash of light off metal, and a familiar figure, moving fast. The three wizards were so focused on their intended victim that they didn’t realize their peril until it was too late.
Ellen Stephenson swung her blazing sword in a powerful two-handed sweep that sliced through Aaron Hanlon’s ribcage all the way to the spine, nearly cutting him in half. Hanlon screamed and toppled facedown in the river. He lay still, his blood clouding the water. She swung again, metal singing, slicing through Warren Barber’s shoulder. A little different angle, and she’d have taken his arm off. He spun away, cursing, clutching at the wound with one hand.
Seph scrambled down the slope to join her, feet sliding in the loose shale. Ellen was breathing hard, but she was grinning, triumphant. Now it was suddenly two against two, and one wounded on the other side.
“You okay, Seph?” She kept her sword up, her eyes on the two wizards.
“Ellen, I am so glad to see you,” Seph said. He was appreciating the benefits of h
aving a warrior on his side.
Seph sent a volley of immobilization charms raining down on the two remaining wizards. Ellen spiraled flames toward them, spinning off the tip of her sword and advancing on them with grim determination. Warren Barber staggered backward, feeling the effects of his wound. Now the alumni were the ones on the defensive.
Seph knew they’d better make the most of their temporary advantage. There might be more alumni waiting in the wings.
“Ellen!” He moved in close so he could speak quietly. “I’m going to make you invisible.” He lifted the dyrne sefa from around his neck and hung it around hers. Then he gripped her arm and spoke the unnoticeable charm. “Don’t let me lose hold of you. Now let’s move!” he hissed, pulling her down off the slope and across the water to the other side.
The two remaining wizards swiveled about, splattering flames at random, muttering curses, scanning the sides of the canyon and the underbrush at the river edge. Frustrated, they closed in on the spot where Seph was last seen, raking it with wizard fire. Smoke filled the gorge as grass and brush began to smolder. Barber sent another hail of stones swirling down the gorge and Ellen hissed in pain as several hit home.
“McCauley!” Barber shouted, his face purple with rage. “We know where you live! We’ve been on fricking Jefferson Street. We’ll find Linda Downey and her sister, Rebecca. We’ll find your girl. We’ll find your warrior friend. And in the end, we’ll find you.”
The alumni charged down the river at a dead run, convinced their quarry was getting away. Seph and Ellen splashed up the river in the opposite direction, toward the parking lot. They scrambled desperately through the gorge, slashed by briars and branches, water and mud sucking at Seph’s flip-flops, Ellen’s sword catching in the underbrush. He could hear no sounds of pursuit behind them, only their labored breathing and the racket they made as they forced their way through the trees.