Reggie & Ryssa and the Summer Camp of Faery

  * * *

  Team Phoenix was stunned when Aurelius led them later that afternoon to a beautiful lake at the edge of New Faery City. It served the dual purpose of both recreation and the Water training grounds. After what they had all witnessed that morning, their thoughts weren’t on either one.

  When they had arrived at their quarters immediately following the horrible event, everything had been returned to its usual tidy state. For the first time, Reggie could have sworn he heard a Brownie grumbling about it from the shadows.

  A long time passed before Glinda could stop crying, despite the reassurances of her teammates that her brother Barry had not met the same fate as Woody Landstrider. No was able to eat their breakfast or their lunch. Talk was minimal, as the children tried to assimilate what they had seen.

  They were dumfounded when Aurelius announced they would begin Water training that afternoon. How could he expect them to function after what had just happened? Obviously he did, because the stunned Team soon found themselves staring numbly out across the idyllic lake.

  Aurelius led them through the connection exercises at the water’s edge, trying to get them to focus. Some were able to, but with little enthusiasm. Once they had the basic idea, he grouped them into four teams of three and sent them onto the water in little boats he called skiffs. They reminded Reggie of short, wide canoes, each decorated with a variety of water-themed carvings.

  The object of the lesson, Aurelius explained, was to connect with the Water and the spring-fed currents, and to use those currents to propel them across the lake. He even made it a competition, with the prize being a gold coin and a trip to the sweets shop for the first group to make it to the other side of the lake. It brought a few smiles to the Team, but not the excitement it normally would have. Their hearts just weren’t in it.

  Aurelius gave the starting signal from his position in a skiff with Loo. Since the Seacalm boy was already proficient in this type of Water magic, Aurelius explained that he would add some weight to even out the rest of the Team’s chances. Loo’s skiff was the only one that immediately began moving across the water, but it was at a slow pace.

  First one skiff, and then two more, lurched haltingly forward as the members in each boat figured out not only how to work with the Water magic connection, but also how to work with each other to navigate their vehicles into the currents.

  Reggie, Ryssa, and Meek were together in a skiff. Reggie noted that his twin didn’t have as much difficulty with the Water magic as she did with Fire and Air. Soon their skiff was into a current and moving slowly across the open water. Since the three had been working with each other so much, they instinctively combined their efforts. They were actually gaining on the other boats, and Reggie felt a building excitement.

  They hit a wave, and the boat jumped from the water’s surface as they dropped from crest to trough. Another wave cut across their bow and Reggie’s excitement plummeted. Something was wrong. The water had gone from smooth and crystal clear to choppy and foamy. Small waves rose into increasingly larger ones as they worked to catch up to the other skiffs near the center of the lake.

  Clouds began to roil overhead, coming from the far shore. The winds picked up, keeping the boats from their destination. The other skiffs slowed, almost coming to a standstill, but they couldn’t stop completely because of their struggle against the waves. As water splashed threateningly over the sides of the skiffs, angry glares shot in Ryssa’s direction.

  “:Ryss, stop!:” Reggie cried through the twin-bond. “:Break your link with the magic! You’re going to swamp us all!:”

  Ryssa shook her head, a pleading look on her face.

  “I can’t,” she shouted over the sound of the wind and waves that continued to pick up around them. “I mean, I did—I don’t think this is me!”

  Reggie stared at her, trying to feel the magic connection through the twin-bond. She was right. This wasn’t coming from her. He frantically looked around.

  “Is it magic?”

  She nodded and pointed toward the other side of the lake. “It’s coming from over there. The pattern is really strange.”

  Reggie looked in the direction she pointed. Squinting through the spray of water, he noticed a dark form on the far bank. He closed his eyes and opened them again, wiping the spray of water away so he could focus better.

  “Ryssa, look—is that the Black Knight you saw before?”

  From the corner of his eye, Reggie saw Aurelius turn to stare, a look of alarm on his face. Ryssa clutched Reggie’s arm, drawing his full attention back to the Black Knight.

  A new dark cloud formed directly in front of the distant figure on horseback. A funnel descended from it, the wind picking up speed as it swirled in a circular motion. It touched the surface of the lake, and the water rose to meet it, forming a spinning nightmare that reached from lake to sky.

  Reggie had grown up in Florida, not so far from the water. He knew what it was—a waterspout—and it was coming straight for them.