Vision Quest (The Demon's Apprentice Book 3) (2 page)

Dr. C squeezed my shoulder briefly before he turned and headed back inside. I stayed for a few moments and took in the peaceful morning. From behind me, I could hear a car door slam and an engine start as someone got ready to go to work. One of the things we had been working on was expanding my awareness, not only of what was visible, but of what ran beneath the surface. It was one of the first steps toward being able to project my consciousness outside my body, though that wasn’t likely to happen for a decade or so. Across the alley, I could see movement in the house behind Dr. C’s, and I felt the chaotic energy of the young couple who lived there. The house to the east had a more placid feel to it as Mrs. Jimenez, the retired teacher who lived there, went about her routine. I took a deep breath and centered myself, drawing my senses back in.

After I filled the water dish for Junkyard, I came back in to barely contained chaos as Lucas and Wanda worked on the dishes at the sink while I heard Mom’s voice as she tried to keep Dee focused on one thing at a time in the master bedroom. From the dining room, I could already see Dr. Corwyn’s battered leather suitcase and shaving kit by the front door. I relieved Wanda at the sink so she could go pack. By the time I dried the last dish, she was dragging her red suitcase out of what had once been Dr. Corwyn’s room with her head bent over her cell phone.

“What if I forgot something?” Dee asked Mom as they emerged from the other bedroom on Wanda’s heels. Dee’s gaudy purple backpack was perched on her shoulders, a stuffed pony’s head sticking out of the top, and she dragged her smaller suitcase along behind Mom, who was carrying her oversized duffel slung over one shoulder.

“Your brother is going to be here for at least another day,” Mom said. “If you forget anything we can call him and have him bring it with him. You have Mr. Hooves, and your backpack, so you should have everything you need.”

“He’s
Doctor
Hooves, Mom,” Dee corrected her before she gave an exasperated sigh at the failings of adults. Lucas and I chuckled at that, since Dee wasn’t more than a casual fan of the show he was from. He was more social camouflage; Dee was more a fan of another Doctor, even if she didn’t get everything about the show. The Doctor was cool, and so were bow ties, evidently.

We made it to the cars before Dee remembered something and dragged Dr. C back toward the gate in the chain-link fence that led into the backyard. Once he had the gate open, she practically sprinted toward the shed in the backyard and hopped up and down until he unlocked it and let her in. Moments later, she emerged carrying an eight-inch tube of brass with various shiny bits attached to it.

“I thought I said no wands,” Mom said to Dr. Corwyn when he caught up.

“It’s a Sonic!” Dee said before he could answer. “Chance’s is a rod, Dr. Corwyn’s is a wand, and mine is a Sonic Screwdriver.” She waved it around, and the end lit up as it buzzed.

“It’s inert,” Dr. C said. “I laced it with an iron core, so it’s grounded out. Just an LED and a chip to make the sound.”

“And I always say they have sonics,” Dee said with a triumphant smile. “Because magick isn’t real,” she recited.

“I’m going to regret this, but okay,” Mom said.

“Not nearly as much as I think I’m going to,” Dr. Corwyn said. “Dee, you aren’t going to be able to take it on the plane with you. You’ll have to pack it in your suitcase.” She nodded, but I could tell by her expression she wasn’t happy about that.

A few minutes later, Mom and Dee were in the Mustang with me, and in my rearview mirror I could see Dr. C looking uncomfortable in the passenger seat of the
Falcon
as Lucas backed out of the driveway
.
The Mustang rumbled to life and I backed out behind him, then followed him as he headed for the airport. The black 1967 Shelby GT model might have been old, but she still looked good, and she was still an eight-cylinder beast under the hood.

“Promise me you’re going to drive the speed limit the whole way,” Mom said as we took the first turn. “I don’t have the money to pay for a ticket. I can barely afford to cover the insurance on this thing as it is.”

“Not a mile an hour over,” I said. “Or two or five or ten,” I added quickly.

“Mom, can we do a scrapbook for our trip?” Dee asked from the back seat, and I thanked her for that, but quietly. As they rehashed the vacation so far, I kept one ear on the conversation, but both eyes on my surroundings. I’d been keeping a pretty low profile since my birthday in March; I hadn’t pissed anyone off for at least a couple of months, and no one knew where we were outside of the Conclave. That hadn’t kept a warlock from stumbling across us a few days ago, though she’d seemed as surprised as we were when she found us. Still, we’d handled her, but I’d been on edge ever since. It wasn’t until we pulled into the parking lot at Mathis Field that I let my grip on the steering wheel relax. The airport itself was a public facility, and it flew an American flag, so it was automatically considered exclusively cowan territory. My shoulders unknotted a little as I shifted the Mustang out of gear and pulled on the parking brake.

Mom let me carry her duffel bag, but Dee was fiercely insistent that she could handle her own suitcase. Lucas and Wanda fell in beside me and we let the adults lead the way. As we headed across the small lot toward the doors, I couldn’t help but notice the grin on Wanda’s face. She’d gained a couple of inches lately, both in height and in curves, something that hadn’t been lost on the local boys. Seeing her standing beside Lucas seemed to make it stand out all the more, especially how her face seemed to have gotten a little leaner.

“This summer vacation thing boring you?” I asked as we walked through the doors and into the lobby.

“I’m a city girl,” she said with a little bit of the local twang.

“None of us are exactly the country type,” Lucas added. “Except Dr. C.”

“I had a good time,” Wanda said. “I’m just looking forward to getting home.” We trooped across the terminal toward the ticket counter on the left. The line wasn’t very long, mostly men and women in uniform, with a few folks in business wear. A few minutes of shuffling forward, and Mom, Dee, Dr. C, and Wanda were checked in, their bags checked, and we had nothing to do but wait.

“Make sure you go through the list twice before you leave,” Mom said. “Stop every couple of hours on the road or if you start to feel drowsy, okay?” Lucas and I nodded in unison. “Do you have enough money for gas?”

“We’re good, Mom,” I said. “We have enough money to drive to St. Louis if we have to.” She smiled and put her hand on my arm.

“I just worry, sweetie. Make sure you give Dr. Corwyn back whatever is left when you get back home.”

“Mara, it’s fine,” Dr. C said. “Chance can deal with anything he might run into, and don’t worry about the money.”

“We’ll call you when we leave, and we’ll check in along the way, Miss Murathy,” Lucas said with a smile. Mom was about to say something else when the PA system crackled to life and announced their flight boarding. Wanda was on her feet, her phone out and finger flying across the screen before Mom could get her purse and Dee’s backpack. I got enveloped in a Mom-hug, then tackled by my sister leaping from her chair into my arms. Even though her feet were still a foot off the floor, I staggered back from the impact.

“What is Mom feeding you?” I asked as I squeezed her hard. “Bricks?”

“Promise you’ll come straight home?” she said as I let her down.

“You know it,” I said. “No side quests along the way.” That seemed to satisfy her, and she accepted her backpack from Mom. I turned to Dr. C.

“You packin’?” I asked. He pulled his vest aside to reveal the butt of his wand sticking up out of the special pocket sewn into the lining.

“That and a couple of touchstones,” he said, which for him was more than enough to handle most armies. “Remember, Lazarus Moon is in Fort Worth, so if you need any help along the way, you can call on him.”

“I’ll be fine, sir,” I said for the umpteenth time. He nodded and put one hand on my shoulder.

“I’m sure you will. I guess I worry a little, too. Your proctor should be here soon, so I recommend staying close by. You don’t want to keep him waiting. We’ll see you tomorrow, then.” He turned and trotted to catch up with everyone else, leaving Lucas and me to watch them file through the security line.

“Is it just me, or is Wanda’s head not in the game right now?” Lucas asked as we watched them shuffle forward.

“Kinda,” I said. “She’s been blowing up someone’s phone all morning.”

“Boyfriend?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Probably. I’m gonna wait for this proctor guy here. If you want to head back to Dr. C’s place and hang out …” I offered.

“Dude, I’m in this with you,” he said. “You wait, I wait.”

“You don’t have to.”

“In a couple of months, I won’t
get
to, Chance,” he said. “So we’re hanging out as much as we can until then.” I couldn’t argue that.

Five hours later, I was beginning to think he wished I had. By then the folks in the airport’s cafeteria had seen more than enough of us, and we knew the arrival and departure times of every flight for the rest of the day. It was almost three in the afternoon when the PA system called my name and asked me to pick up the courtesy phone by the ticket counter.

“Mr. Fortunato, this is the tower,” the voice on the other end said when I picked up the receiver. “We’ve been asked by Mr. Gage to let you know he’s landing in five minutes. You can meet him at Hangar B.” Without waiting for me to answer, the guy on the other end hung up.

“Great,” I said. “Where the hell is Hangar B?” One of the ladies behind the ticket counter looked up and smiled.

“It’s down the runway a little ways. It’s one of the private hangars,” she said. “Ask at the operations office over there, they’ll have someone take you out there.”

Ten minutes later, we were bouncing along in a golf cart toward a curved building. The sound of a jet engine greeted us as the driver pulled through the open hangar doors, and I could feel the heated gust from its exhaust wash over us. Standing beside it was a blonde guy in slacks and a dress shirt and a blazer. A pile of luggage was stacked beside him, and he looked at his watch as we pulled up. I made him at eighteen or nineteen. His blonde hair was styled within an inch of its life, and his narrow face was deeply tanned.

“I’ve been waiting a full two minutes,” the man said as we pulled to a stop in front of him. “I gave you plenty of notice of my arrival, and I do not like having my time wasted, Fortunato.”

Lucas shook his head and winced at the greeting, and I got out of the golf cart.

“I’ve been waiting five
hours
longer than I planned on,” I told him as I crossed the distance between us. “You’re here to observe me in
my
life, not make me jump to make yours more convenient. You’ve already set me back an entire day, so don’t bitch about two minutes.”

He took a half-step back with a wide-eyed look on his face, then he recovered and shook his head.

“Do you even know who I am? I’m Winthrop Gage, of the Boston Gages. You will not take that tone with me, plebe. Not if you want to even set foot in the halls of the Franklin Academy. One word from me and you’ll be lucky to shine the shoes of a real mage.” He tilted his head back a little and actually looked down his nose at me before he gave me a sniff of disapproval.

I crossed my arms and tilted my head. “You can keep me out of the Franklin Academy?” I asked.

“With a single word,” he said.

“Do it,” I said. “You’d make my day.”

Without a word, he pulled a phone from inside his blazer and tapped the screen. “I have Master Draeden’s personal number on speed dial,” he said. Moments later, he put the phone to his ear and turned away from me. “Master Draeden, Winthrop Gage. This Fortunato boy, he simply won’t do. He’s insolent, slovenly, and he has no notion of how to treat his betters. I’m formally … no, sir … no, sir, it isn’t. I understand that, sir, but we have standards … no, sir, I don’t. No, sir, I haven’t. Yes, sir, I do recall that. And I appreciate your … yes, sir, I do. But, Master Draeden, those are not the same. I’m a … no, sir, there is no difference. Yes, sir. One moment.” He turned and handed me the phone, his face set in a stiff expression. “He would like to speak to you.”

“A valiant effort, Mr. Fortunato,” Draeden’s voice came over the line. “But you won’t be getting out of your appointment to the Franklin Academy that easily.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” I said.

“I can, but I won’t. Mr. Gage is not there to approve or disapprove of your attendance at the Academy. He is there to observe your character, evaluate your level of skill, and recommend placement upon arrival. Nothing more. If you pull anything like this again, I will personally recommend that you be placed in preparatory classes for the rest of the summer session. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Put Mr. Gage back on the line then.”

I handed the phone back to Gage.

“We’re gonna need a bigger boat,” Lucas said as he walked up beside me. He nodded toward the pile of luggage. “They’re sending another cart for the luggage. Should be here in a few minutes.”

“Do you think he’s got one of those giant hair dryers in the trunk?” I asked.