Secrets of Yden (10 page)

****

At dinner that night, Jon showed his family the museum brochure. Sela peered at his photo. "This sorta looks like you — only a whole lot better."

"You say such nice things to me, Squirt."

Jon's mother lingered as he cleared the plates after dinner. While Dr. Hansen and Sela ducked into the den to play a video game, she helped Jon stack dishes in the dishwasher.

"By the way, did you ask anyone to homecoming yet?" she asked.

Jon had a sudden flash of inspiration. "Actually, Mom, I can't go to the dance," he said, feigning regret. "I'm working on a research project for Quixoran."

As he spoke, he silently congratulated himself on inventing a great excuse.
I should have thought of it before now.

His mother, unfortunately, was not fooled. "I'm sorry about Kira. I can't tell you what's in her heart. But you're seventeen years old. You can't just hide out after one setback."

"Sure I can. And I can do it quite well."

"Think seriously about taking January. She's new in town and I'm sure she'd love to get out, meet your friends, and have some fun. Between you and me, it wouldn't hurt for Kira to see you with another girl, especially a gorgeous one."

"Mom!"

"Chaz, Lynn, and January are coming over to dinner Sunday night. That might be your opportunity."

"January probably has a boyfriend."

"I don't think so. Besides which, she told Lynn you'd made a big impact on her."

So January is playing that game, is she?

"I'll think about it."

Okay, I thought about it… and now I can forget it.

****

Jon was paint-spattered and exhausted from finishing his mural when he finally transported to Dragon Isle that night. The bungalows were dark, nobody was lingering at the fire pit, and even the embers looked cool. Arielle gave him a scolding chirp due to the lateness of the hour. After Jon fell into his hammock, however, she curled up next to his head. He tried to scratch her under the chin, but she gave his finger a slight nip.
I just can't catch a break with girls.

After breakfast, Jon cornered Kira to ask for her help with his research. His heart hammered in his chest at her nearness, but he did his best to keep his expression as neutral as possible. "Quixoran has assigned me a research project in the library, and I could use your expertise in runes," he said.

"Ask Finn."

"He's already agreed. We need you, too."

Kira averted her eyes, and Jon suspected she was trying to devise an excuse to avoid working with him.

Max overheard. "What kind of research project? Is there a problem?"

"Um… nothing critical," Jon lied.
Oh, great. How do I avoid creating a panic?

"Then you don't need my help," Kira said.

At that, Jon felt cornered. "I'm afraid you don't have a choice," he said quietly. He shot a pleading glance at his grandfather, who stood and cleared his throat.

"There've been a couple of time anomalies on Earth since Guinn went through the portal," Quixoran said. "We must search for any information in Efysian's library that might help us understand them."

"
Anomalies
, as in plural? Do you mean time stopped again?" Brett exclaimed.

Inwardly, Jon groaned.
So much for avoiding panic.
The apprentices gasped, and a sudden explosion of questions ensued. Quixoran and Jon responded as best they could, considering they didn't know much about what was happening, either.

"Shouldn't we all be helping?" Brett asked. "It would make the process move along faster."

"The scrolls are written in runes," Jon said. "If anyone is up to speed on runes, we can use the help."

Quixoran wrote several lines on a piece of parchment and held it up where everyone could see them. Jon recognized the runes as a spell to conjure lightning bugs.

"If any of you can translate this accurately, you're welcome to join the effort," Quixoran announced.

Most of the apprentices, including Max, fell silent, although a few gave it a shot. Ronny mistranslated the runes as a spell to conjure glowworms. Mo nearly translated the spell accurately, but would have conjured ladybugs if she'd been trying to conjure anything.

Brett made a sound of exasperation. "Lightning bugs."

Jon peered at her. Since Brett had only been studying with Quixoran for a month, how could she have such a good grasp of runes?

"Was that a lucky guess?" he asked.

"No, the spell conjures lightning bugs," Brett replied. "I can read runes perfectly well when I'm wearing my clan ring."

Quixoran nodded. "It was the same with your father. Guinn never had to toil to learn runes like the other apprentices. It was the source of some resentment at the time."

"I cannae imagine why," someone mumbled. Jon recognized the voice as Ian's. Runes was his worst subject.

"This motivates me to have an extra-long class in runes this morning," Quixoran said. The apprentices groaned. "Jon, please meet with Kira, Finn, and Brett in the library. If the rest of you will set up your parchments and writing instruments right here, we'll get started."

****

The library had originally been a storm cellar constructed inside a hollowed-out section of the thick vanyean tree trunk. Accessible through a trapdoor and down a staircase, the round room had been magically enlarged far beyond its original circumference. The walls were outfitted with shelves and cubbyholes holding the entire collection of writings the Wolf Clan wizard Efysian had amassed over his unnaturally prolonged lifetime. Since the collection was extensive, the scrolls had not yet been entirely sorted. Efysian had also gathered together an unparalleled collection of dark magic, although those black-tipped scrolls had been safely locked in an adjacent chamber. Jon had been warned those scrolls were strictly off-limits to apprentices.

"We're looking for any reference to time," he said, when Finn, Kira and Brett were assembled. "It might be a spell or a notation, I don't know. I can't say what we're looking for exactly, but if something on a piece of parchment refers to time in any way, I'd like to see it."

Jon conjured several piles of sticky notes to use as bookmarks, and the four apprentices set to work. After twenty minutes, Brett found something that piqued her interest. "Look, Kira, here's a spell for shiny hair! And the one right below curls, tints, and lengthens eyelashes. Totally cool."

Brett was about to try the eyelash-enhancing spell when Jon stopped her.

"Can you do that later? This is serious."

"Sorry," she murmured, abashed.

She tucked the cosmetics scroll off to one side and got back to work. Out of the corner of his eye, Jon saw Kira and Brett exchange a look.
I don't care, and I'm not feeling especially charitable
.
Although the research went more diligently after that, nothing on point was uncovered. Jon did find an interesting spell that would allow him to literally throw his voice. If performed correctly, he could say something into his cupped hands and
throw
the words as far as twenty paces.
It'd probably be great fun at parties.

At lunchtime, Finn pushed his chair back and darted up the stairs as if an Imp were after him. Brett and Kira weren't far behind. Jon pretended he wasn't quite finished translating the scroll in front of him, so he lingered until the scent of Kira's lilac fragrance had completely faded.

****

Throughout the weekend, Kira and Jon treated one other with polite indifference. Although he wasn't certain how
she
felt about it, it was excruciating for him to work in such close quarters with her. He guessed Brett and Finn had probably noticed his relationship with Kira was strained, but he was grateful they behaved as if nothing was wrong.

Fortunately, Quixoran wouldn't allow the four of them to stay in the library the whole time. When Jon was summoned to a master class in transformational illusion with Ronny and Max, he was glad for the break. Quixoran's transformation magic had played a critical part in defeating Efysian, and Jon couldn't wait to learn the spell. As soon as the three apprentices had the hang of it, Quixoran left them to practice. Jon, Max, and Ronny assumed each other's shapes easily enough, but imitating behavior and speech patterns was more challenging. They left the spells on for a little while after the class ended to see if anyone else would catch on. It was kind of funny, as much as anything could be amusing to Jon in his current frame of mind.

Although the research team read through a sizable fraction of scrolls and parchments, nothing in Efysian's library seemed to address the anomaly. Kira found a useful cleaning spell to remove spots on clothes, carpets, and other surfaces. Jon discovered a spell to keep insects away, which he vowed to use on the bungalow as soon as possible; he was sick of waking up with mosquito bites. Finn got excited when he found a reference to time on one of his parchments, but it was only directions on the best time of night to harvest glowing pigment from a phosfish.

Frustrated, Jon suspected Efysian's regular spells weren't going to reveal what he needed to know. His eyes slid to the locked door in the corner. There was zero chance his grandfather would let him look at the dark magic scrolls. If Jon expressed even a passing interest in them, Quixoran would likely move the scrolls to a secret location. Chaz used to say, "Sometimes it's better to ask forgiveness than permission, Jon."

So, on Sunday, when everyone else left the library for lunch, Jon transported to the other side of the locked door, magically copied a bunch of scrolls, and stuffed them in his knapsack to take home.

What Quixoran doesn't know won't hurt him.