The Sphere (The Magi Series #2) (32 page)

“Yes,” said Elijah.  “I think so.”

“You sure as heck better!” said Paul.

“Mr. Button,” Elijah said, “I have a favor to ask of you.”

“It’s already taken care of,” Mr. Button said.

Elijah looked puzzled.  “I’m sorry?”

“You want me to look in on Phinneas while you’re away,” Mr.
Button said.

“Oh.  Yes, actually.  How did you know?” Elijah asked.

“As I said,” Mr. Button explained, “I am quite fond of the
Rose’s.  I know the state Phinneas is in.  Not many do, to be honest.  When you
asked me permission to take extra trips during the week to see Phinneas, it
didn’t take me long to figure out what you were doing.  Don’t worry, Elijah. 
He will be well cared for.  And when you return, I’ll see to it that you get
some help.”

Elijah sighed.  “I’m not sure what to say other than thank
you.”

“That’ll do,” Mr. Button said.  “Now when I turn around and
return to my quarters, I know nothing about you all.  As far as I know, you are
going to your lessons and keeping up with your studies.”  He turned around to
leave and then took a deep breath.  He turned his head around.  “Good luck,” he
said.  And then he disappeared into the passageway.

Paul was still fiddling with the carved number 3 in the
stone.

“You okay?” Becca asked.

Paul shook his head like he was coming out of a daydream.  “Yeah. 
This just doesn’t sit well with me, but I have no idea why.”  The others
gathered around, trying to get a better look.  “I know there’s a perfectly good
explanation for this,” Paul continued, looking very confused, “but I can’t
figure out why this would be here.  Button didn’t make it.  And if he did, he’s
lying, which is a whole lot of weird, even for Button.  And I can’t see any
past supervisors just wanting to take a walk outside of their old passageway
then suddenly getting a hankering to carve the number 3 on the stone.  And if I
was just a common guy passing by and saw this passageway, there’s no way I’m
not
going in to explore it, and I sure as heck wouldn’t carve a 3 by it and then
leave.  I know it’s probably nothing, but it’s just bothering me.”

Elijah considered Paul’s concern.  Any other time he would
have been more than satisfied to examine the carving and talk it out with Paul,
but at that moment, the only thing standing around was doing was wasting time.

“I think we should get going,” Elijah said.  “We have a long
trip ahead of us.”

The others slowly took their eyes off the carving and followed
Elijah into the woods.

The further from Savenridge they traveled, the closer
Elijah’s friends got to him.  They gazed around anxiously into the forests
beyond, frequently being startled by snapping twigs or an odd shadow cast by
the sun shining through the trees.  It wasn’t until then that Elijah realized
that most of his friends had never been this way out of the city.  It was only
last year that they left the city walls, and that was because Becca led them to
Malpetra, the opposite way Elijah now led them.

As soon as the sun set, Elijah found a nearby stick and lit
a torch.  He looked behind him to see the rest of his friends rubbing their
arms and shivering.  They were cold.  Exhausted from the lack of sleep.

“Let’s stop here and get some sleep,” Elijah offered.  “Then
we can press on.”

His friends enthusiastically agreed.

As soon as they had a modest fire going, Elijah said, “I’m
going to take you a way that’s shorter, but may be a bit dangerous.

“Are you talking about Air Walker’s Pass?” Isaac yawned
through his chattering teeth.

“Yes,” Elijah replied.

“I’ve heard of that from Pappy.  He says lots of people have
d-d-died going over the pass.”

“Excellent!” said Paul.   When everyone gave him an
incredulous look, he said, “I mean about it being dangerous, not the people
dying.”

“Which is why I brought these!” Elijah said.  He pulled six
sets of boots he had been carrying in the extra bag.

“Cliff boots!” Isaac said grabbing for a pair.  “I’ve never
used these before.”  The others only looked at the boots curiously.

“I took them from the uniform room while we packed our
things,” Elijah said.  “I hope they fit.  Fling them over your shoulder until
you get to the cliffs and then we’ll put them on.  You can’t walk with them on
flat ground.”  Just as he spoke, they all felt a sudden cold presence blow
through their camp.  Elijah looked up to see a very steady blanket of snow
falling on them from above.

“How long do we want to stay here?” Hannah asked.

“Not long,” Elijah answered.  “We’ve still got a few hours before
we get to the pass and the snow will make things a lot trickier, so let’s get
some rest.”

At his remark, they all collapsed by the warm fire and slept
soundly.  They unintentionally slept through the night, waking up just before
sunrise to find themselves surrounded by a blanket of snow.

Elijah’s friends looked less than thrilled when they
prepared to begin their trek again.  Hannah continued to warm her hands with
her breath.  Isaac was so close to the fire, the snapping wood frequently
showered him with embers that he had to immediately brush off.  Paul just gazed
dead into the middle of the fire, his face expressionless.  Becca seemed to be
the most at ease with their situation, but she kept unusually quiet.

Adam was the first to get to his feet.  Then, the others slowly
followed his lead until they were all moving along again.

When they arrived at the base of Air Walker’s Pass, Elijah
looked up at the mammoth cliffs, quickly whitening with the falling snow.  He
was the undoubted leader of this mission, so he didn’t want to let on that he
was actually terrified of what he was leading his friends into.

Everyone secured their boots and began their climb up the
cliff.  At first, the climb was gentle with a very slight grade.  Then, as they
climbed higher, only the boots, with a pattern designed for the very steepest
mountain climbs, kept them from sliding down the mountain.  Elijah was in the
lead with Becca right at his heels.  Hannah and Adam were next in line a ways
back.  Although Isaac never let out a complaint, he was having a very tough
time with the climb.  He breathed heavily and had to stop frequently.  Paul
stayed back with him the entire way up, urging him along with encouraging words
that were rare to hear from Paul.  Elijah turned around to see Paul giving
Isaac his arm for support.

Finally, they arrived at the pinnacle of the pass.  Elijah
remembered back almost exactly one year ago when he first took the pass with
Master Roddick and Samuel.  His current companions were much more fit than
either he or Samuel had been last year, so this climb didn’t seem nearly as
hard as before.  However, it wasn’t the climb that almost doomed Samuel.  It
was this pass.  The path was so narrow and high that it gave the illusion of
walking on air when taken.  Elijah stopped and waited for his friends to join
him.

“This is the most challenging part of the journey,” Elijah
said over the snow and howling wind.  He had to cover his face with his cloak
as he spoke.  “My advice is to look down at your feet the whole time.  Don’t
look out!  You’ll feel like you’re about to fall, and if you move suddenly, you
might.  Use the mountain face for balance and put one foot out at a time.”

Slowly, Elijah stepped out onto the pass and the memories of
his first crossing immediately came back.  He remembered Samuel almost falling
off the mountainside.  Elijah hoped this trip would not be as eventful.  Soon,
the hike became manageable, and Elijah looked out every once in a while,
disregarding his own warning.  The view was indeed spectacular, and he got just
the tiniest thrill when he looked out, like he was flying.  However, he
remembered the danger and quickly returned to his tedious journey.

“WHOA!!!” a voice bellowed from the back.  Everyone quickly
turned around.  Hannah slipped suddenly when she turned and then quickly caught
her balance.

Paul faced the west side away from the mountain and gazed
out into the wilderness.  “WHAT A VIEW!!!”  He turned back and looked at the
line of teenagers staring angrily back at him.  “What?  Hey, look, no hands!” 
He raised his hands and then balanced on one foot, defying death.

Becca scowled.  “If you want to die, then just jump off now
and let the rest of us get on with it.”

“Fine,” Paul said and made a very convincing motion like he
was about to jump.

“NO!!!” Becca shouted before she realized Paul was just
teasing.

“All right, all right.  I’m sorry.  Move along, Elijah,”
Paul said.

Elijah just shook his head.

Thankfully, there was no more excitement along the pass. 
They descended the other side much more quickly and as soon as they were down
from the mountain, they took off their boots and Elijah packed them away again
for their return trip.

The rest of the trip took much longer than Elijah had
intended.  The dense forests soon began to look the same.  Elijah tried to
remember the landmarks Roddick told him about last year, but it was long enough
ago that he couldn’t visualize it very well.  There were times he had to double
back and blaze a new trail.  He was sure someone was going to question his
sense of direction, but none of his friends said anything.  Elijah wondered if
they were just too cold and tired to speak.

Finally, after hours of hiking, Elijah found the large
meadow with the small cave in the middle.  He knew they were close to the
school, and it had begun to get dark again, so they set up camp inside the
cave, just as Elijah had done with Master Roddick and Samuel last year.

“We can use this as our base,” Elijah said as the others
went to work building a fire.  “We’ll store our things in here.  Hannah and
Isaac, this is your little kingdom, so let us know what we can do to help.”

“Aye Aye, sir!” Isaac said.  Hannah had already begun to
tidy the cave.

“We’ll sleep here tonight,” Elijah said.  “Then we’ll get up
early tomorrow morning and hopefully get what we need from the library.  The
academy’s only a couple miles from here if I remember correctly.”

No one said much of anything all night.  As soon as the fire
heated the cave and they had filled their bellies with food, they all fell fast
asleep.

Elijah woke up the next morning to someone laughing
hysterically.  He rolled over and saw Paul cackling at Adam who had tried on
his Saint Phillip’s uniform.  As Adam had predicted, he had outgrown them.  The
top half looked decent.  Adam’s arms were a little long for the sleeves, but
the tie and sweater fit nicely.  However, Adam’s pants looked about three sizes
too small.  About two inches of his legs were showing through.  Paul was in
stitches.

Hannah looked at Adam.  “Here,” she said as she dug through
her bag.  “I know this won’t fix much, but it’ll help.”  She took out a long
pair of dark socks and inspected them next to the pants.  “They’re not exactly
the same color as the pants, but you can pull them up to cover your skin at
least.”

Adam bent over to put on the socks and a small rip came from
his pants.

“Oh for crying out loud!” Paul howled.  “Do you have some
more of those socks, Hannah?”

“It’s just the pockets,” Hannah said as she looked over the
damage.  “You’ve grown in your thighs a little.  I don’t think anyone will
notice unless they look you over thoroughly.  Do you want me to stitch them
again?  I’m a good seamstress.”

“No one’ll be looking at his pockets once they get a load of
his pants,” Paul said as Adam put on the socks.  “You look like a pirate.”

“Never mind,” Elijah said.  “No one will care anyway. 
They’re all too afraid to speak.”  Elijah put on his own uniform which was also
too snug.

The snow had stopped falling in the night, but it left the
ground painted with a fresh coat of white.  The birds had come back out and sang
their usual chorus while the sun tried to peak through the ever-present gloom
of storm clouds.  The weather couldn’t decide whether to be sunny or stormy.

Isaac and Hannah were left at the cave to keep the camp
while Elijah led the others toward Saint Phillip’s.  They trudged through the
forest and wound around many streams before Elijah spotted the brick bell
tower.  They kept hidden behind a row of trees, but could see the courtyard of
Saint Phillip’s with the tall fountain in the middle.  Only a few students were
roaming around the courtyard.

“Okay,” Elijah said.  “Paul and Becca, you guys keep around
the perimeter.  Adam and I will wait until there are more students in the
courtyard so we’ll blend in, and then we’ll go inside.”  He walked closer to
get a better view but still kept in the trees for cover in case a hall monitor
or a wandering student was close by.

“Wow!” Paul exclaimed.  “Fancy.  Look at those hedges!”

“Once we go in,” said Elijah, ignoring Paul, “only wait an
hour.  If we’re gone for more than that, you guys decide what to do.  Either
come in one at a time or at the same time.”

Elijah and Adam only had to wait a few more minutes and
soon, students dressed in uniforms that actually fit began to trickle into the
courtyard.  Elijah left without warning.  He sensed the appropriate time and
didn’t want to miss his window of opportunity.  Adam followed closely.

Elijah felt as though he was walking in a fog.  He walked
confidently so he didn’t look suspicious, but his heart raced as he neared the back
doors to the main building.  Adam looked as though he wanted to throw up.

Once they entered through the back doors, they stopped to
survey the area.  So far, so good.  A few students were walking from one room
to another, some stopping to chat with one another, but there was no sign of
any adults who might spot them as being out of place.  Elijah looked up at the
tall banners.  He read the one that said DISCIPLINE and thought immediately of
the thorn stick.  He rubbed his hands as he remembered the one and only time he
had gotten hit with it.  He still had the scars.