Halfway (Wizards and Faeries) Read online

  I shuddered. “Why?”

  “It is what he does. He’s obsessed with Magic. He wasn’t born a wizard, so the Order never took him away. He failed their tests when he was young, but he wanted Magic—he saw it as power. He studies people with unusual Magic or abilities. He wants to copy them into himself or steal them. He—he has an entire lab in the underground levels.”

  I felt myself grow cold. “What… does he do there?”

  “I don’t know for sure. He’s been doing it since I was a child. I stay away from his lab. Honestly, I don’t want to know what he’s doing.” He swallowed. “My father had no intention of helping you find Temet—he was just telling you that so you would stay and be his experiment, his toy. But I do want to help you. I just couldn’t until now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Look around. The snow and ice. It is finally below freezing, so we have a much better chance of escaping.”

  “What does snow have to do with it?” I shivered.

  “Von Chi made his own army. You’d know if you saw them. He copied the Talent from someone: he can shape people from water.”

  I bit my lip, looking around. The streets were empty, covered in snow, the residents of Vel City all inside their homes to take refuge from it.

  “They’re not perfect,” Ormas continued. “They can’t speak and they have no facial features. They’re just gray, watery, blank things shaped like humans. But they do his bidding, and they can form anywhere there is as much as a puddle of liquid water.”

  “And they can’t form from frozen water or snow?”

  “Correct.”

  I was shaking again. “Why are you telling me this? Aren’t you on his side?”

  “I want to help you and save you, Cemagna.”

  “Why? Why would you risk enraging your father by taking away his plaything?”

  “Because I think I’m falling in love with you.”

  My breath froze in my throat. “Oh.”

  “Please, please let me help you. I want to take you to the Wizardly Order and help you find your brother. I want to see you smile.”

  Finding myself able to breathe again, I nodded.

  “Good.” He hefted his canvas bag. “I packed a few things when the snow started.” He handed me a coat from the bag. “Here. You’re shivering. Ready to go?”

  We started walking, my heart in my mouth. What if the temperature rose and the snow melted? I walked faster, my boots plowing through the snow.

  As we passed the square with the cathedral and the fountain, something clicked in my mind. The people who had attacked me from the fountain… I knew who they were. They had been the duke’s men.

  Ormas and I walked in silence for a time as the night wore on. It had begun to snow again. After some time, he reached for my hand.

  “I’m glad you didn’t take me back to the duke,” I said to him.

  “I’m glad you’re letting me continue with you. You know how I feel about you… but do I have a shadow of a chance? Do you feel anything for me?”

  I bit my lip, trying to hide my smile and failing. I stared at him through the falling snow. “I liked you from the moment I saw you lying unconscious and dripping wet in the palace.”

  “You never told me!”

  “My main purpose is to find Temet. Romantic attachments didn’t really figure into that. Besides, according to you, I was drugged most of the time.”

  He reddened. “I’m sorry for my father’s actions.”

  “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “You know, Cemagna, your life doesn’t have to be about nothing but finding Temet. You are allowed to have fun along the way.”

  “Well, I’ll start doing that now. Want to kiss me?” I felt my cheeks grow hot, asking that question. I had read about kisses in books, but had never had a proper one.

  He pulled me close and kissed me so hard I forgot the rest of the world existed for a moment. Then he pulled away and I looked at him through snowflake-covered lashes.

  “I liked that,” I breathed. “Do it again.”

  After several minutes of kissing in the snow, Ormas pulled away.

  “We’ve lingered here too long,” he said. “We have to keep moving. My father may discover we’re gone and come after us himself soon.”

  I nodded. “Where are we going? Are we going to the Order?”

  “Yes.”

  After a time, we reached the end of the tightly-packed city and came to the edge of the forest. The trees reached out to us, almost-bare branches covered with snow. Taking a deep breath, I followed Ormas into the forest.

  In the forest it was decidedly darker, but less snow had fallen. The trees looked all the same to me.

  “How far?” I asked, trudging through the snow.

  “Quite a walk,” he said.

  Chapter 15

  Temet

  As Temet slid the door shut behind him, he exhaled heavily.

  As one of the students in the Wizardly Order’s Wizarding University, he was, of course, required to take tests. Lots of them.

  But the Requisite Midway-Point Sanity Test would be brutal. He had never seen the Ten Ring, who would be giving the test, before. The very thought of going before them made his knees weak.

  The Ten Ring were the power behind the entire Wizardly Order… indeed, behind every wizard alive. They made the rules; they ran the Order.

  The Ten Ring. He knew so little about them, except that they were the ten most powerful wizards alive.

  Two years ago, Temet had outgrown the Orphan House and joined the Wizarding University. He would finally become an official wizard. If the Ten Ring were going to force him to stay under their thumb like every other person with wizard-level Magic, at least he could learn how to use it. And learn he did… far too fast for some of his professors.

  And now was the Midway-Point Sanity Test. After two years in the University, he was at the Midway Point. Everyone else took five years to reach Midway, then graduated after ten years in the University. But if he learned as fast as he was learning now, he would graduate in two more years for a total of four. He exhaled again. Four years while everyone else took ten. He really was abnormal.

  He had hoped until today that he had been only imagining that he had been learning faster, but when the letter came informing him of the test today, his fears had been confirmed.

  That was why he was hiding in a spare robe closet, trying to compose himself.

  Did the other students whisper about him behind his back, calling him a freak? They were right. He was a Halfway freak. And now the Ten Ring had confirmed it with their letter about the Requisite Midway-Point Sanity Test.

  “It’s only a test,” he whispered to himself. “Only a test. I’ve taken lots of tests. I shouldn’t be afraid of one that simply has a terrifying name.”

  “Actually,” he whispered again, huddling deeper into the robes. “Actually, there’s every reason to be terrified. You’ve only been in the University two years. Two years out of the standard ten. And already they want you to take the Midway Test. There’s something wrong with that.”

  “No, it simply means I learn quickly.”

  “It means more than that,” said his devil’s-advocate self. “It means the Ten Ring want to keep an eye on you. You’re progressing too fast. That could mean insanity.”

  “But I’m not insane. I should do excellently. I’ll pass with flying colors,” he whispered firmly, shutting off the doubting voice of his own thoughts.

  He stood straight, inhaling the comforting scent of wizard robes and cedar. Then, with another deep breath, he opened the door and took a step back into the outside world.

  The Order Halls were all the same: crimson-painted with black ribbing on the vaulted ceilings. His home for the past ten years, since the first days in the Orphan House. His blessing and his curse, as he liked to think of it. It was his blessing because he had been given constant opportunities to expand is mind and his Magic since his days in the Orphan House.
It was his curse because, like everyone else, he had no choice. He was, for better or for worse, a slave to the Order and the Ten Ring. Everyone born with wizard-level Talents was the property of the Order. There was no outside family, no other friends except with other wizards. And the outside world viewed all who bore the moon-eye, as he did, with a suspicion bordering on fear.

  Feeling much calmer, Temet made his way across the hall to the laboratory where he knew Aesath Rogenstar, now a professor and researcher at the Wizarding University, would be.

  Sure enough, there he was, bent over a beaker of a luminous green liquid, the glow casting an eerie color on his bronze goggles.

  “Aesath,” said Temet, coming up to his old friend, “I need to speak to you. In private.”

  Aesath looked up at him through a cloud of steam from the potion. “It has to take less than ten minutes, or this invisibility potion may destabilize. Temet, this potion—I’ve got a good feeling about it. Not like the others that failed. I found the flaw in my formula, isolated it, and corrected it. And this one, Temet, has none of the side effects—”

  “All right!” Temet interrupted, smiling. Aesath could go one for hours when talking about a potion he was working on. “It won’t take long, I hope. Come on. Into one of the studios.”

  Peeling off his goggles, Aesath followed Temet into a nearby empty studio and shut the door behind them.

  Temet got straight to the point. “Aesath, I got a message today. From the Ten Ring. They want me to take the Requisite Midway-Point Sanity Test. Today.”

  Surprise registered on Aesath’s features. “But you’ve only been in the University for two years, not five.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But you have been progressing faster than the average student. Much faster.”

  “I know! Do they think I’m a threat?”

  “That… that hadn’t occurred to me.”

  “But it could be, right? They don’t know me personally.” The Ten Ring were the most powerful wizards alive, and if it was possible for Temet to match them… “Nonsense. I’m Halfway, but that doesn’t mean I’m magically superior to anyone.”

  “Actually, it does.”

  “I don’t want to hear it!” cried Temet. “Sorry.” He bit his lip, ashamed at yelling at a friend. “I know I’m different, but what if I don’t want to be? I didn’t ask for this.”

  “None of us did. Now, you should go to your test. Just… tell the truth. And if the truth sounds too crazy…” He furrowed his brow. “I remember my Sanity Test. They can tell if you lie. Best not to do that.”

  The deep toll of a bell marking the hour reached Temet’s ears. “I think it is time,” he said, his mouth dry.

  “Good luck. When you come back, you’ll be able to tell me how you worried for nothing.”

  Temet nodded firmly, squaring his shoulders. Turning, he marched from the room. The highest tower—that was where the Ten Ring would be. That was where he had to go.

  In the hallway, Temet saw three wizards approaching him. He recognized them as faculty of the University: Esilor Emrol, Miran Sparkus, and a third he didn’t remember by name.

  “We’ve come to take you to the Ten Ring,” said Esilor.

  “I know.” He tested the waters. “Do you know why?”

  Esilor and the others shook their heads. The letter with the message about the Sanity Test was still safe in Temet’s pocket. They didn’t know he was taking it today. Hopefully they would never know.

  To get to the highest tower, Temet and the others rode one of the floating platforms that had become so familiar to him in his time at the Order. The familiar crank of the gears, the familiar chill of the air… he felt calmer already. He could almost forget he was on his way to have his sanity tested.

  Esilor adjusted the platform’s sails and muttered a curse. The other stood in silence as the platform began its journey, guided by the network of heavy chains.

  Temet walked to the railing and looked down. He wasn’t afraid of heights, of course; anyone afraid of heights at the Order soon had that fear torn out of them from repeated exposure to the platforms. Eventually, even the most timid wizard got used to it.

  The world below was covered in snow, casting a foggy white blanket over the land. He smiled. Winter. Winter was the best time of year at the Order—nothing like summer, which always reminded him of Nessy and Cemagna, his long-dead family. Winter was calm, beautiful, predictable.

  They had never found Cemagna’s body when they found Nessy’s. Everyone assumed it had been carried elsewhere by the sea.

  Poor little girl, mused Temet. I wonder where her final grave is.

  The Order was his home now, for better or worse. Even if Temet had run away ten years ago, he knew he had no family to return to. So he had stayed, determined one day to become a powerful wizard, too powerful for anyone to stop him. Then he would break free of the Order and their slavery. He would live as a free man, with no one to control him the way the Order did. He would walk among people without the looks of fear and distrust he received for wearing the moon-eye. And most of all, he would force the Order to cease stealing children from their families the way he had been stolen.

  This was his dream, and he had buried it deep in a dark corner of his mind. But each day, with each spell he learned, he worked towards that dream of freedom.

  A burst of cold wind hit his face, and he savored it. Behind him, Esilor adjusted the sails again as they rose upwards. Some of the platforms, especially the ones equipped with air masks and designed to go into the higher altitudes, were equipped with a complex network of sails. Some of the larger sails were even horizontal, to help them along. The platform they rode was one of the lightest, with the most sails, designed to go to the Ten Ring’s tower, the uppermost tower of the Order.

  The Ten Ring’s tower came into view. A large, spiny thing, it was anchored with a myriad of chains to the towers below. Emblazoned upon the tower was the familiar moon-eye emblem of the Wizardly Order.

  Esilor handed Temet an air mask as they grew closer to the tower and the air grew thinner. Absently, Temet put it on as he began to feel the tightness in his chest. The air was so much thinner up this high! The air mask barely seemed to help, but he gulped gratefully at it anyway.

  The ground was so small below them. He could see the distant city and the forest that separated the Order from it, bathed in white.

  His head started to hurt. He shook it, realizing he needed to stop worrying.

  As they approached the Ten Ring tower, Temet heard thuds behind him. He turned, a strange drowsiness coming over him. His head hurt.

  The three wizards were lying prone on the deck. What had happened? His back had only been turned for a few moments! Fighting back a wave of drowsiness, he rushed to the side of the nearest wizard, Miran.

  He dropped to the deck to check Miran’s breathing. To his relief, he found that Miran was unconscious but still breathing, though shallowly. Had his air mask malfunctioned? Had all of the air masks malfunctioned except his? Another wave of drowsiness swept over him. Drowsiness… his was malfunctioning too! He would pass out if he didn’t get proper air soon!

  Gulping more air, Temet crawled to the helm of the platform. They were almost to the tower. In the tower, there would be air… good air.

  Temet gulped another breath and he eased the platform towards the docking bay at the Ten Ring tower. How could the air masks have malfunctioned? They had never malfunctioned in his ten years at the Order… and why all of them at once?

  He needed to use Magic. Why was he so drowsy? He couldn’t focus.

  The platform clicked into place. Grabbing Miran by the arms, Temet gulped another breath. Everything felt foggy and dizzy. He dragged Miran towards the safety of the tower portal, where there would be proper air.

  Dropping Miran just inside the portal, Temet gulped a breath of sweet, full air… and ran outside into the thin air again to grab the next wizard.

  He dragged Esilor inside, deposited him
beside Miran, and breathed again. “Help!” he yelled into the empty tower hallway, hoping there were people somewhere nearby. “These men are dying!”

  He staggered outside to grab the last wizard, hearing a blur of voices behind him as others approached, alerted by his call.

  Gringwell, the first wizard he had ever met, appeared beside him. Or was it Gringwell? Temet couldn’t focus. He needed air. But he had to save the last wizard.

  He felt himself swaying. Raising a hand, he pointed to the floating platform.

  Then all went dark.

  Chapter 16

  Temet

  “Temet.” The voice was so familiar. “Temet.”

  Temet opened his eyes. He was lying on a couch, a blanket covering him, some sort of tube in his mouth, feeding him air.

  Gringwell stood over him, surrounded by a few of the Ten Ring’s servants in their crimson uniforms.

  “Temet, you were lucky I had some business to attend to in this tower, or we might not have found you,” he said. “I was the one who heard you yelling for help.” Another wizard stood by him, looking equally concerned.

  “We were able to heal you, Temet,” Gringwell continued. “How do you feel?”

  Temet removed the tube from his mouth and throat, gagging. “Better,” he rasped. He swallowed; his mouth was so dry! “The air masks were deficient,” he said. “That’s never happened before, Gringwell. Thank you for saving me—for saving us.”

  “The other wizards are resting and the Ten Ring are expecting you. Best not to keep them waiting. Do you feel well enough for the test?”

  So they did know about the Sanity Test.

  Temet nodded. Much better to get the test over with. “Was it difficult when you took it?”

  Gringwell shook his head, helping Temet to his feet. “Just a few questions. My professors submitted reports about me, as I’m sure yours have, that I was perfectly mentally sound. It’s really just a formality, so they can see for themselves if Magic hasn’t made you insane.”