The Sphere (The Magi Series #2) (10 page)

“Am I going in alone?” Elijah asked.

“Absolutely!” Uncle Stan exclaimed.  “Two of us means twice
the distraction.  But I’ll have your back.  I’ll position myself farther away
so I can see everything.  If anything happens, I’ll be right there for you.” 
He looked up, concentrating on something.  “I think I know of a place.  There’s
a small, abandoned field just down the street from where I used to live.  I can
park the jeep and watch from there, which’ll be in sight of the front of the
house.  But you should come up from the back to get in the basement.  There’s a
house right behind that you can maneuver around.  Do you remember your way
around inside?”

“I think so,” Elijah answered.  “Where’s the key?”

“In the desk between the kitchen and the living room,” Uncle
Stan said.  “In the right drawer, there’s a very ordinary-looking mystery
book.  I can’t even remember the title; it’s just one I took from the
basement.  The key is inside the book.”

“What would happen if the house
is
being watched by
Maliphists?” Elijah asked.

“They’d either call for help or go in after you.  I wouldn’t
imagine more than a couple of them would be watchin’ the house at a time,
though.  It would be a pretty stupid way to use man power, keeping a whole lot
of guys spyin’ on a house that’s been deserted for a year.”

“What would I do if they came after me?” Elijah responded.

“Most likely I’d see that before you would, so I’d be there
to help, and then we’d beat the tar out of ‘em like last time,” said Uncle
Stan.  Elijah didn’t want to bring up the fact that he hadn’t really done
anything when he was saved from the Maliphists last year.  He still probably
wouldn’t be able to do much of anything if he were attacked by trained
Maliphist soldiers.

When the sun finally came up and the house began to pulse
with activity from the other marshals, Uncle Stan told Elijah to grab a jacket
and put it in the jeep.

It took eight hours to get back to Uncle Stan’s old
neighborhood.  They drove by lots of places Elijah recognized when he used to
live with his uncle, including the library where he found his first reference
to the Magi and the park in which he waited all night for his uncle, who never
showed.

Uncle Stan picked up some fast food.  Then he and Elijah stopped
at a park a couple of miles from the house and shoveled burgers and shakes in
their faces.  It reminded Elijah of the time he got to spend with his uncle
before he left.  Even though he sat right next to him, Elijah missed him.

After they finished eating, they drove to the abandoned
field above Uncle Stan’s house and waited inside the jeep.  It was still quite warm
outside, even after midnight, so Elijah decided to leave his jacket in the jeep
when it was time to go.

At 4:14 in the morning, Uncle Stan finally told Elijah that
it was time to split up.  Elijah grabbed a flashlight, crept out of the car and
hid next to a large Eucalyptus in the front yard of a two-story Victorian-style
house, which was behind Uncle Stan’s old house, and waited for the sun to begin
to show the faintest glow over the horizon.  Uncle Stan eased the jeep down the
road and out of sight.

Elijah’s eyes grew heavy.  He shook his head a few times to
keep from falling asleep.  Soon, signs of life emerged from nearby houses as
early workers got into their cars and drove off.  Elijah made sure to hide
himself completely by the tree in the front yard.  The sky turned an indigo
color just as the morning doves began their early chorus.  Minutes later, it
began to get pink.  This was the time to move.  He jogged across the lawn and carefully
unlatched the side gate, hoping there were no dogs in the back yard.  He walked
swiftly toward the back gate but was still careful not to make sudden
movements.  He put his hands on the top of the gate, hoisted himself up and
over, and landed on the other side, but the impact made his ankle turn
slightly, and he collapsed in his uncle’s old backyard.

For five minutes, Elijah stayed flat on the ground, hoping
that no one noticed his fall.  His ankle throbbed.  He held his head still, now
buried in the dew-covered weeds and shrubs.  He didn’t dare breath.  After he
felt that he was safe again, he slowly got up, put a little pressure on his
ankle to make sure it would hold him, and limped slowly toward the house.

Elijah searched the area for any vantage point from which
Maliphists might be watching.  There was a hill way off, maybe a couple miles
to the east, that had a house which could be watching him, but even if they did
see him, it was far enough away that he could be in and out before they got
there.  That is, if he found the book with the key in it fast enough.  Other
than that and the two-story house behind him, there didn’t seem to be any other
place around with a good view.

When he reached the back of the house, he first tried to
open the back door, which led into the basement.  It was locked.  He knew of a
key that his uncle used to keep hidden in case of emergency.  Instead of
keeping a spare under the welcome mat like normal people, Uncle Stan kept it
inside a birdhouse right next to the door.  The problem was, the birdhouse was
gone.  Elijah surveyed the yard, which was unkempt and brown from not being
cared for in a year.  He got down on his hands and knees and crawled through
the tall weeds and grass hoping he didn’t accidently stumble upon a snake or a
hornet’s nest.

He found the birdhouse resting in a pile of weeds a few feet
from the back door.  It had probably fallen from being battered by the weather
all year.  He reached inside and his fingers closed around the jagged metal of
a key.  Even though he knew about the hiding place, he was almost surprised
when he found it.  Elijah hoped finding the other key would be as easy.

After a few unsuccessful attempts at turning the rusty key inside
the lock, he finally opened the door and stepped inside his uncle’s basement.

The basement had always creeped him out.  It was worse now
that he was practically a stranger here.  He pulled his flashlight out of his
pocket and shined it around.  Everything looked the same, except it was dustier
and looked even more trashed than before, which was saying something.  The
bookshelf where he had found the photo album a year ago was still there, but
the books were missing.  Elijah shined the light along the ground wondering if
he would spot a family of raccoons or possums living here.

Elijah slowly began walking up the stairs from the basement. 
The stairs seemed to creek even louder than he remembered, but then again, he
didn’t remember trying to be this quiet before.

When he reached the top, he inched open the door and his
heart sank suddenly.

Someone was speaking inside the house!

He peeked through a small crack in the door.  Down the long hall,
two men with binoculars stood looking out the front windows.

“I told you,” one of the men said in a very low voice, not
quite a whisper.  “He’s just sitting there looking at the house.”

“Is there anyone else with him?” the other asked.

“I can’t see,” the first one said.  “If there is, then he’s
inside the jeep.”

“Do you think
she
came?”

“I doubt it.  If she did, I’m sending you out first.”

“Why isn’t he moving?” the second one said looking back
through his binoculars.

“No idea,” said the first.  “He keeps scanning the area.”

“Well, whenever he decides to come on in, we’ll be waiting.”

“It’s a good thing you were up early this morning,” the
second one said.

Suddenly, Elijah heard rustling in a room away from the
window.  He ducked when a tall man walked past his door and joined the two men
looking at Uncle Stan.

“What do we have?” said a very familiar voice.

“Looks like a marshal.  I think it’s the kid’s uncle.”

Detective Scott took the binoculars from the second
Maliphist and smiled as he looked ahead.  “See, I told you they’d be back
here.”

Chapter
5:

W.H.

The only thing Elijah wanted to do was get out of there. 
Finding the key no longer mattered.  There would be no plausible way he could
find time to search through the desk drawer without being noticed.  The
Maliphists were now using the house as a hideout, and all that mattered was
getting himself and his uncle away from here.

Elijah wondered how to alert his uncle.  He crept back down
the stairs and into the basement where he felt just slightly safer.  It was the
farthest place from the Maliphists he could think of, and it was definitely out
of sight.  The sun had fully risen now, so he couldn’t leave the house without
being seen.  His flashlight was also useless.  In the dark, he may have been
able to make a signal, but not now.  He looked around to see if he could spot
anything that might help him, but everything he saw looked like trash or old
furniture.  How could he possibly send a message to his uncle, currently staked
out down the street, without the Maliphists noticing?

Elijah glanced down at an old newspaper with an ad for smoke
detectors.  If he had about a hundred smoke detectors, he could set them off
all at once which would create an annoying enough sound to maybe alert his
uncle.  Then again, it would also alert the Maliphists.  Not to mention he had
no smoke detectors.  Elijah looked some more.  He didn’t think he could throw
anything far enough for his uncle to read, like a note to come save him, but if
he could launch something with a slingshot or some sort of catapult, he might
be able to get a message to him.  He shifted the newspapers around.

Fresh out of catapults.

He thought about fireworks.  He sifted through the cupboards
and frantically looked behind the shelves, only spotting a large rat and a few
babies.  Nothing useful, like a large banner that read “
Help me, I’m trapped
inside the house and the Maliphists are here!
” just happened to be lying
around.

If he waited long enough, Uncle Stan would surely grow
suspicious and come searching to make sure he was okay.  That would be the end
of his uncle for sure.  He had to think fast.

He gave up on finding anything lying around.  Nothing on the
ground jumped out as being useful.  He scanned the walls and the ceiling. 
Maybe if he could somehow get on top of the roof, he could signal to his
uncle.  However, he would still have to get down, which would take time, and
even getting up there would most likely cause all kinds of racket.  He
continued looking.  He saw a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall by the door. 
Elijah thought that spraying extinguisher fluid at the Maliphists long enough
to blind them would probably not be the best idea.

Suddenly, Elijah paused.  He had been thinking so much about
how to alert Uncle Stan that he didn’t even consider alerting the Maliphists. 
Instead of bringing his uncle closer, Elijah wondered if he could push the
Maliphists further away.  He looked at the ceiling, an insane idea dawning on
him.  He didn’t have much time to do it, and if anything went wrong, it would
kill him for sure.  But if he could somehow pull it off, he might be able to
safely escape with his uncle, and if he was lucky, get the key to the storage
facility in the process.

Elijah gathered as much newspaper as he could and began to
crumple and tear it up into smaller pieces.  He made a pile next to one of the
bare walls on the farthest side of the basement, got down on his knees, and
focused his mind on aggression.  A flame appeared between his hands, and he
concentrated enough for it to grow and ignite the newspapers.

He threw as much trash as he could find on the fire until it
grew so enormous, more kindling was pointless.  Elijah tucked himself under the
staircase at the opposite side of the basement.

In seconds, the heat became almost unbearable.  Sweat
streamed out of Elijah’s pores, and even his hair started to feel hot.  He took
off his shirt and covered his face to filter out as much smoke as he could.  He
would only poke his head out to check the progress of the fire, which had
already engulfed half the basement.  Unfortunately, the Maliphists hadn’t
noticed yet, and if they didn’t soon, it would be too late.  Elijah would have
to choose between running up the stairs or suffocating.

Thick clouds of black smoke began billowing their way closer
to Elijah.  He gasped for air, gagging as his lungs filled, burning on the
inside.

What Elijah didn’t expect to be a problem was the deafening
sound.  He listened carefully for any hint of a scramble upstairs, but the roar
of the fire eating away the basement was too loud.  Elijah took another quick peek,
telling himself that it would be his last before he gave up.  His eyes poured
tears like hot poison, and he continued choking.  His throat felt like he had
swallowed a cactus.

It was a wonder that the entire house hadn’t come down
already.  The inferno was a solid wall of fire.  The small hairs on Elijah’s
arm began to wither, and his skin became red and sensitive, every second
feeling more and more raw.  Then, he heard panicked voices shouting above him. 
It was about time!

“I HAVE NO IDEA!” screamed one of the voices.

“HELP ME PUT THIS OUT!” Detective Scott yelled.

Three Maliphists plummeted down the staircase, screaming
accusations at one another.  As soon as they disappeared to fight the flames,
Elijah scrambled up the stairs, doing his best to hold his breath and see
through his blurred vision.  He wiped his eyes and closed the door behind him,
coughing and choking.

The upstairs rooms had already begun to burn.  The living
room, where he remembered once spending time looking at old photographs, had
flames coming out the air vents and parts of the walls.  An oil painting that
once hung on the far wall had fallen and was unrecognizable with the colors
spilling out on the floor.