Curse of the Midions (16 page)

“I don't know how!” Jarvey wailed. “And—and I'm afraid.”

“I know you are. Our evil kinsman Siyamon will try every spell he knows to find a way to the book. If he succeeds, you are lost. You have to master your art, Jarvey. I don't know how to advise you. Midions have always trained their own in the art, father to son. And they start when the son is much younger than you are. Your magic has awakened, but it lies under the surface. I can only tell you that you must keep the Grimoire safe, and that you must not use it, except to travel to where your parents are imprisoned in it.”

“How do I do that?”

“I don't know,” Zoroaster confessed, looking defeated. “All I can tell you is that you are a Midion, and if you use your art for good and not evil, you may have a chance.”

“All alone?”

“Not alone,” Betsy said. “I'm going to help.”

“You can go back to Lunnon, though,” Jarvey said. “If Zoroaster can get there, he can take you too.”

“I can't,” Zoroaster said. “The Grimoire might allow her passage, but no magic of mine would be safe for her. My spells will allow me to pass between worlds, but I survive only because my art protects me. I don't think that my art is strong enough to keep the passage from killing Elizabeth. The Grimoire could send her back, but I dare not use it.”

Betsy's expression was determined. “I wouldn't go back to Lunnon anyway. There's nothing for me there now that I know I can't help my mother. And it'll be war, won't it? When the people learn that old Tantalus's magic no longer can destroy them, they'll rise against the Toffs. The Free Folk are better organized than the tippers know, and I think in the end there'll be a new Lunnon, one run fairer and freer than the old one. But it's their fight now, not mine. All that held me in Lunnon was trying to find my mother, and that's done with now.”

“I must go back to Earth,” Zoroaster said. “Siyamon Midion is a formidable enemy, worse even than Tantalus. I will have to fight him on that side while you keep the Grimoire safe.” He paused. “I hope you can protect it without having its curse fall on you. You have some power, but you have not perfected it. The Grimoire has little hold on you. It is evil, though, the curse of the Midions. It will try to trick you and trap you, Jarvey. Still, if you hold on to your desire to free your parents, if you fight against the book's temptations, I think you have a chance.”

Jarvey held the Grimoire and stared down at it, hating its unearthly texture, its deadly weight. The book gave him a chance.

It wasn't much, but it was all he had.

All? he wondered. No, not quite, because he had the Grimoire, and the desire to find and rescue his parents, and Betsy.

He had a chance, a hope, and a friend. Against that stood the unknown, the threat of old Siyamon, and the curse of the Midions. He raised his eyes and saw Zoroaster and Betsy looking at him.

“All right,” he said. “We start right now.”

 

THE END OF BOOK ONE