Zak Turner - A Twist In Time (11 page)

Exactly.  Going to be a bit boring here compared to magic school if you ask me!

* * *

Lunch came and went quickly, although it was a bit nerve wracking queuing up with the rest of the school for the first time.  The four boys just watched how everybody else did it though, and copied them.  It was the sort of thing that once you’d done it, you’d never worry about it again.

Their first lesson after lunch was CDT (craft and design), taken by an amiable and friendly looking Mr Leonard.  He too obviously had a curriculum to follow, which insisted on putting workshop safety first, but he rattled through it quickly enough to leave half an hour for them to get their teeth into their first project.

Zak had never given much thought to where furniture actually
came
from, other than a shop.  Tallion hadn’t even got that far!  Steven and Sam though, being farmer’s sons and having a necessity to be able to fix things, could bring their rudimentary knowledge to the situation. 

Their first project was to make a simple wooden box, with a lid, using proper dovetail joints and glue, but no nails.

Step one, design.  Mr Leonard put a basic design on the white board, and then asked them all to get a sheet of paper each and design their own box to scale using the one on the whiteboard as a template.  They had to decide what it was going to be used for first, and then design an appropriate interior arrangement.

The time flew past, and they were all surprised when the bell went at two thirty and it was time to move on to the last lesson of the day.  By then, Zak had already decided that he was going to enjoy making things; CDT was his kind of subject!

* * *

Their final lesson was history, and it was back in their form room in the first year block with their form teacher Miss Hamilton.  It felt like they’d escaped from the rest of the school and got back to a safe place somehow. 

History was, however, a bit dry.  After a quick introduction, a rather simple text book appeared, and they plunged straight into Medieval Britain of 1066, learning about the Norman Conquest.  Still, half past three came round quickly enough, and Miss Hamilton got them packed up before the end of the lesson so that they could shoot out of the door the moment the bell rang.

They’d survived their first day, and they’d actually enjoyed it and were looking forward to Friday.  It was quite a relief though when Zak found himself back at home, surrounded by all the familiar things in his life after another day in unfamiliar territory.  It was only as he got changed that he remembered he’d had his wand with him all day strapped to his arm.  He wondered if it was really necessary and asked Tallion what he thought.

“I dunno Zak, Father said to take them everywhere with us, so I suppose he thinks we need them.  Would you ever use it though, at school?  I mean, if someone suddenly fired a curse at you, would you even think about it, or would you just duck?”

“Duck, but then I’d think about it!  What’s the chances though?  In the academy?  No-one’s going to come in there to get us!”

“We only survived two days ago because the people trying to kill us decided to kill the bodyguards first.  If they’d aimed straight for us then we’d both be dead.  I think I agree with Father, and I’m going to keep mine with me all the time.”

“Me too, don’t worry.  That raises an interesting question for tomorrow though, what are we going to do during PE?  Do we keep them strapped to our arms or legs?”

“Legs.  On your thigh is what father said for when we’re doing sports.  There’s less chance of it getting damaged, or damaging us!”

“I wonder what we’ll be doing tomorrow, it’s PE for two hours!”

“Well, I’m looking forward to athletics, but I don’t suppose we’ll be doing that until next summer.  I suppose it’ll be football or maybe rugby?”

“Football would be great!  Yikes, I forgot!  I’ve got my first training session on Sunday morning for the under twelves!  We’ll have to meet Steven in the afternoon instead…”

“You’re right, you forgot.  I already changed it so that we’re meeting him on Saturday afternoon!  I remembered about your football, that’s why I did it.”

Zak slapped his forehead and grinned.  “Doh!  Thanks, Soul Mate!”

* * *

The boys diligently did their French and History homework before dinner, meaning that they were free during the evening.  Zak wanted to get a bit warmed up for football on Sunday, now that he’d remembered about it, and so the boys went to the meadow behind the post office to have a kick around with the football.  They managed about an hour before dusk started to fall, and they called it a day to get to bed in reasonable time. 

Zak was a bit worried how unfit he’d become. He’d struggled to run about as much as he needed to, and he was going to have to work hard to get back in shape if he was going to play for the dale again!

As they’d run around with the football, neither boy noticed the cloaked figure walking along the track to Upper Nettleton, neither did they notice therefore when the figure glanced across at them, and then vanished from sight.

* * *

Friday morning started at seven o’clock again, but this time the boys had deliberately slept in the same bed.  There seemed to be no point starting out separately when they always ended up back together again!

“Tallion, how are we going to cope with this at Mhonarr Castle during half term?” asked Zak as they were getting out of bed.  “Alfie and Harry are going to get completely the wrong idea about us!”

Tallion frowned.

“I don’t know.  I really don’t remember coming to join you the other night, it must have happened in my sleep, so there’s no way we’ll stop it in the dorm room.  I think we’ll just need to tell them beforehand?”

“Maybe Barty can come up with a spell to keep us in our own beds?”

“I doubt it Zak!  I don’t think there’s any magic in the whole world that’s powerful enough to stop this happening, and to be fair, I don’t
want
it to stop happening, no matter
what
anyone thinks!  I like being with you, it makes me feel complete and whole somehow.  I’m always so relaxed and calm in the mornings when we’ve slept like this.”

“Well, me too really.  How come it didn’t happen on Tuesday night at Mhonarr then?”

The boys studied each other with puzzled looks, and then Zak suddenly remembered what had happened.

“We had that potion from Nurse Salvae to restore our magical energy!  That knocked us out.  Maybe Mother can give us a potion to take each night to make us sleep so deeply that we stay in our own beds?”

“You didn’t hear me Zak.  I don’t
want
to sleep in my own bed, I
want
to be with you…”

Zak smiled at his soul mate.

“Well, I want to be with you too, I just don’t want to cause any problems for us, that’s all.”

“It won’t be a problem, trust me.  Harry’s from a magical family so he won’t give it a second thought anyway, and Alfie’s smart enough to understand when we explain.”

“I trust you, Soul Mate!”

Tallion threw a rolled up sock at Zak who dodged quickly into the en-suite to get his shower.  Half an hour later they were downstairs having breakfast, trying to finish this time before Steven arrived on his bicycle.

* * *

PE turned out to be half theory and half practical.  The theory bit was done in the gymnasium with a session about muscles and joints, and the importance of doing warm ups and cool downs before and after sporting activity.  Then they went through a short warm up routine to get them ready for some seven-a-side football on the main sports field.

Zak and Tallion were both very aware of their wands as they stretched and jumped in the gymnasium.  A couple of times Zak’s hand brushed the handle of his wand and he saw it start to become visible before it quickly faded away.  He glanced round each time hoping no-one else had noticed, and decided that he’d got away with it.  This was going to need some careful thought, and he decided to mention it to Barty first thing on Saturday morning.

Once they were outside though, and running around playing football, the problem and all thought of his wand vanished from his mind.  He was in his element, finally playing his beloved football again, and realising how much he’d missed it!  He found the running harder than before though, and by the end of his first game, he was definitely ready for a break, which worried him a bit.  That was no good for playing in the under twelves!  He had to be able to do two thirty minute games back to back!  He decided to get up early two or three mornings a week to go for a run before breakfast to get back in shape.

Zak was picked a different team to Tallion for the seven-a-side matches, so he got chance to watch his friend playing, and was pleased to see that the blond-haired wizard was back in goal, and was still up to the job!  He didn’t
think
he was using magic, but the ball nearly always seemed to be just within reach every time there was a shot on goal, so he wasn’t sure!

The football fields were next to open land behind the school, away from the road, and hidden from view except from the school itself and the open fields behind.  As Zak waited for his team’s second game, he glanced round and saw a few local residents walking their dogs on the path round the back of the playing fields.  He smiled, thinking once again how happy he was to be at school here in the dale instead of at Mhonarr Castle.  It was a very strange paradox, wanting to live a wizarding life, but feeling very content being away from it all!

Zak found himself watching a tall man who seemed to be unfamiliar with the path round the fields.  The eleven-year-old noticed that he didn’t have a dog either, and seemed to be walking just for his own benefit.  He also seemed to be very interested in the seven-a-side matches that were in progress on the football pitch.

A frown crossed Zak’s face; something didn’t feel quite right, and then suddenly something felt very definitely wrong!  The man glanced left and right, as though checking that no-one was watching him, and reached inside his coat. 

Zak instinctively reached down for his wand.  He’d guessed right!  The man drew out what only Zak or Tallion would have recognised as a wand, and made a sharp movement pointing it at Tallion’s football match!

Zak reacted instantly.  Before the man had even finished casting his spell, Zak’s own wand was out of its sheath and in his hand making the motion for the Revertur spell!  Zak started to run towards the man as soon as he’d cast his spell, trying to get in-between him and Tallion!

A red jet of light blasted out of the wizard’s wand, and hurtled across the pitch towards Tallion.

“TALLION!” yelled out Zak in desperation, realising that his own spell was never going to intercept the Libra Mortis.  Time slowed to a crawl, and it took a lifetime for Tallion to hear Zak’s shout, but his mind heard the single word over their bond long before his ears heard it through the air, even before Zak’s voice had finished speaking! 

He slowly lifted up his eyes and saw the red curse heading towards him, and started to move to the right to try and dodge it.  Miraculously the spell flew all the way across the pitch within inches of several other oblivious players without hitting any of them, and it was now closing in on Tallion!

The wizard who’d cast it though, hadn’t taken account of Tallion's agility, nor did he know about his target’s innate telekinesis.  As Tallion dived to the right, the goalposts moved to the left, and at just the right moment Tallion’s left arm was shielded by the moving goalpost and the curse exploded against the white painted steel with a crack like lightning, accompanied by an explosion of light to rival any firework display!

Tallion had thrown himself to the ground as well as leaping backwards and sideways, and as life speeded back up to normal, he rolled over onto his hands and knees, drawing his wand at the same time.

Zak saw his friend escape and turned back to look at the wizard who’d cast the spell, and saw that the man was now pointing his wand directly at
him
!  He waved his own wand in the motion for a Firmus spell, and unleashed it at full power, just as another Libra Mortis appeared, heading in his direction this time!

Zak had only moments to react because he was far too close to the wizard to safely defend himself, and he instinctively unleashed another full power Revertur.  The magic seemed to take an
age
to build inside him, all the time the red light of the Libra Mortis was closing in, but eventually it flowed through him, down his arm and into his wand.  Time was once again crawling as the Libra Mortis approached, and Zak tried desperately to use the momentum of his run to dodge the oncoming curse, throwing himself sideways out its path while keeping his wand pointing directly at it. 

The Libra Mortis was less than six feet from him when his blazing white Revertur eventually erupted from his wand, and instantly crashed into the oncoming curse!  The resulting explosion was like a small bomb, and for the first time in recorded magical history, another spell completely overpowered a Libra Mortis!

The veritable wall of magic that Zak had unleashed in desperation simply wrapped itself around the Libra Mortis and shredded it, both spells bursting into a thousand blazing fragments, which visibly showered across the playing field!  The momentum of Zak’s spell carried on though, like an enormous pressure wave, heading straight for the disbelieving wizard who’d just tried to kill him.