Fly by Midnight (12 page)

After walking a few hundred yards, Honora saw the station appear through the trees. The lodge was at the top of a clearing, and a series of stone steps were built into the snowy ground, shrouded in bark and moss, which led to the fabled arch. There was a huge slate-covered clearing with a stone pedestal holding the largest crystal Honora had ever seen. A kaleidoscope of energy emanated upward in an arc of light. The hair on her neck rose with a tingling of energy.

Illuma lights hung from the pines, surrounding a huge copper and wood archway off to one side of the pedestal. It was the
archway to the Otherworld
. Honora’s stomach leapt. She had found one of the four corners of the wall. The manual and the stories she had been told as a child were true.

“This way,” the Woodsman said.

Before entering the building, the Woodsman poured a sweet-smelling substance from a gourd over Honora’s suit, where the sap had been, and muttered a spell. The liquid shimmered, and she was instantly rinsed clean. He pointed to the station, and she obeyed him, walking slowly up the steps to the front porch.

She entered the lodge and dropped her pack on the rough floorboards. A crackling fire blazed in a huge stone fireplace. She stumbled forward and collapsed down into a chair.
Maybe a little rest
.

12

T
he Woodsman was not unkind, but he was not willing to tell her anything about Jonathan Rainer or the wizard who’d invented the wall no matter how many times she asked or framed the question. He went about his daily tasks, tending to the station and the arch. Honora didn’t want to look at it, but she gritted her teeth and approached the arch anyway. This was the place her mother had come to disappear and never return. She and her sisters hadn’t seen her off when she left Everland. No teary goodbyes allowed.

The arch was an amazing feat of magic, and she couldn’t help but feel a mix of awe and distain for it. From the looks of it, master carvers and woodworkers took their time creating a masterpiece. At least ten feet high and wide, the arch was a combination of copper and wood, covered in magical symbols and rune markings carved into the surface. It pulsed with an intensity she’d never experienced before, and for the first time she felt the urge to protect it and their world.

It wasn’t long before the guardian, the earth witch the Woodsman called Alexis, returned with the wolf pack. Ren was being pulled along on a wooden sled by the animals. A howling sound filled the air. “See? You’re guide isn’t dead after all,” the Woodsman said.

Honora’s heart raced. “Ren!” she yelled. His face was smeared with dirt, but a weary smiled appeared when he heard her voice. The guardian helped him to his feet.

“Sorry I lost you back there,” Honora said, racing to his side. The least she could do was help him inside, where they could tend to his wounds.

He grimaced. “Well, I had my hands full. I’m just glad you convinced them we weren’t the enemy. The archer is a real killer.” He motioned to Alexis, who carried her formidable bow and arrows into the station.

“You’re lucky the wolf pack didn’t devour you for a winter feast,” Honora said as she and Ren hobbled inside.

The guardian laid Ren out on a table and removed the field dressing he’d applied in the woods. Besides a few bruises, the worst damage was the puncture wound caused by the enchanted arrow. The injury was an ugly, clotted hole in his shoulder, caked with blood-soaked rags and what looked like a thick, furry chunk of brownish-green moss.

“More earth magic?” Honora said as she curiously peered at the healing concoction.

“This silverdale I was able to find and pack the wound with in the woods saved my life,” he said, motioning to the moss. “Stopped the bleeding while I avoided being captured. I’m rather proud of myself.” His spirits were high, but his skin was ashen and damp with sweat.

“You’re a survivor and a good earth healer,” Alexis said, her brow heavy. “I’m glad I didn’t kill you.”

“We all are,” Honora said. Not wanting to get in the earth witch’s way, she grabbed some blankets to keep Ren warm.

Alexis assembled a tray of supplies. She gave Ren a small potion bottle, and he lifted his head and gulped down the contents before relaxing against a folded blanket. Swiftly, the guardian removed the arrowhead with a pair of metal pliers. Ren cried out a few times, but the witch didn’t give him time to complain before the minor surgery was complete. Once the golden arrowhead was removed, she packed the wound with medicinal-smelling herbs.

Honora wrinkled her nose. “Smells stinky and mossy. Glad I’m not a hero,” she said, trying to raise his spirits.

“I’ve never been hit by a magical arrow before. Think of the stories I’ll have to tell when we get back to Rawlands.” His eyes were beginning to glaze over, and his words came out thick and slow.

“How you almost defeated a guardian of the warden of the great and powerful wall.” She shared an amused glance with Alexis. “Everyone will think you went mad and had snow sickness from the cold weather.”

“I would rather be crazy than dead any day,” he said.

Alexis finished tending to his wound. “I’ll get you both something to eat, and then you will rest. You are both lucky. I don’t know what you said to the Woodsman, but no outsider has ever been allowed into the station.”

“We mostly just fought,” Honora said.

Alexis laughed. “You must be good.”

Honora couldn’t help but be amazed. The guardian’s eyes were black, orb-like and strange, with an animalistic glow. “What happened to her eyes?” she asked Ren when Alexis left the room.

He coughed. “She lives in the wild and has grown close to the natural world. So has the Woodsman. The earth magic they practice is becoming a part of them.”

“Seems intense.” She tenderly stroked a piece of damp hair out of his face.

“I’d bet the magic is seeping into her being.”

“Enchanted bow and arrows, magical bears made of bone. What will we find next?” Honora pulled the blanket up over his chest, tucking him in nice and snug.

“Hopefully dinner. I’m starving.” He leaned up, his eyelids heavy. He tried to reach for his pack, but Honora retrieved it for him. Ren pulled out a flask and took a long swig. His gaze went wide and distant. She didn’t know what was in that bottle, but he was feeling no pain.

The two ate a hot meal of a rich stew and bread. After they’d finished eating, they were shown to separate sleeping rooms up in the loft. Ren was sound asleep within a few minutes, but Honora tossed and turned.

The night faded to dawn. She was too restless to get a good night’s sleep, grabbing a few hours’ nap but waking early. She slipped into her flying suit and goggles. She had found the station, the archway, and the wall. She had even found the elusive warden—the Woodsman—and his guardian, but she hadn’t found the one wizard she’d come looking for, and it bugged her. She had to get out of the station and do one final search. Jonathan Rainer wasn’t here, and she still had a job to do. Ren would be down for a few more hours and was in no condition to help her anyway.

Honora dug through her pack, checking her gear and reviewing the map for what felt like the millionth time. At the bottom of her bag, she found the cracked crystal ball that January had given her—the blind eye. She rolled it around in her palm as she quietly left the lodge. Maybe she was missing something right in front of her.

Uncertain of where to start looking, Honora headed over to get another look at the arch. As she jogged up the steps, mind already racing over her search options, the ball slipped out of her gloved hand. As if in slow motion, she watched the crystal sail through the air and hit the stone with a sickening crack. She hissed and cursed her own carelessness. She couldn’t even hold on to a ball. Maybe the little accident was trying to tell her something—opportunity was slipping right through her fingers. But when she bent down to clean up the glass, which she had expected to be in a shattered mess, she was amazed to see the crystal ball had cracked right down the middle, like an orange sliced in half.

Honora hadn’t known what she was going to do with the crystal, but it was even more useless broken.
It sees the present,
Vivi had told her. But what good would that do her? How would seeing the present help her?
Come on, Honora. Think! Get creative.
Then she wondered if she could use the crystal in tandem with a locator spell. Previous locator spells used by the police and Jenny Liu hadn’t worked because Jonathan was hiding his tracks, but could he hide from multiple layered spells used together? An idea flared in her mind.

She turned back to the arch and the stone table covered in magical runes. A locator spell needed something owned by the missing wizard. Honora spread the map out on the table. If her hunch was correct, and Jonathan was the wizard who built the arch, the map would qualify as a personal possession. Maybe she could use the map and the crystal, plus a locator spell, to find him. Her instincts tingled—sounded good to her.

Honora placed the flat side of the cut crystal against the map and whispered a basic locator spell she used to find skips. She focused on Jonathan Rainer and pushed the crystal across the parchment surface with her fingertips. She followed Vivi’s instructions on how to activate the crystal and linked the two spells. “Show me.”

Nothing happened. She repeated the spell again and again. “Come on! Show me!” Honora focused harder and repeated the process one more time.

The interior of the halved orb glowed pale pink, and she shifted it around the map until it glowed red. Excitement flooded her. An image of a tree materialized in the crystal. “He’s there.” She marked the area on the map beneath the crystal. “Found you.” Honora packed up her stuff and followed her lead.

She rose a few feet from the ground and drifted into the lush woods. The location was not far from the station, which didn’t surprise her. She checked the location on the map again. She found the tree. A nervous thrill went up her spine. He’d been there all along. A thin stream of smoke curled out of a knothole in the bark. On closer inspection, Honora saw a small wooden door carved right into the rough trunk. It reminded her of the portal gate near her sister Clover’s house, but there were no portals this far north.

Honora approached the door slowly, each footstep making a loud crunch in the snow. She took a deep breath to calm herself. At first, Honora thought she might be hallucinating as she ran her hand over the door handle embedded in the giant tree. But after all the strange magical encounters she’d had in the past few days, nothing would surprise her. For all she knew, a magical jackrabbit might answer and invite her in for tea.

She knocked. There was no response. She knocked again. It was early; maybe he was still sleeping. There was no time for politeness. She pulled out her portal key and tried it in the lock, but the key wouldn’t budge, confirming it wasn’t a gate. She attempted a simple unlocking spell on the door. It worked. The door swung open to reveal a small living room inside of the hollowed-out tree. Illuma lights glowed. Sitting in an overstuffed chair, smoking a pipe, was Jonathan Rainer. He had a full white beard and a knit cap with long white hair poking out the bottom.

Her heart skipped a beat. She’d done it. She’d found him. “Wizard Rainer?” she asked, barely a whisper. “I’m a friend. My name is Honora Mayhem. It’s an honor to meet you. May I come in?”

A sweet cherrywood scent of tobacco drifted from the room. She resisted the urge to charge in and pepper him with questions. The fact that Jonathan Rainer looked like his older image from the pictures she’d seen comforted her. For such a wise wizard, it seemed more real. His eyes met hers, and he sucked on his pipe, the embers glowing in the bowl.

“I knew someone would find me eventually.” He tilted his head to the side inquisitively, summing her up.

Honora peered inside with amazement. A whisper of power rose in the cramped space. There was a gleam of mischief in the wizard’s eye. She took a step toward him and bumped into an invisible barrier. “Ouch.” Her hand jerked up to her nose.

Jonathan Rainer was no fool. His
persuasion
kept him safe. He traced a rune mark in the air with his finger and Honora went flying backwards across the clearing and into a snowdrift. Flopped on her back, she was starting to despise snow. She crawled to her feet and flew back to the tree.

“I’ve come a long way to find you,” she said. “Your wife hired me. She’s worried. And, to tell you the truth, so am I. What’s going on? Why are you here, in hiding?” Her shoulder rested on the doorframe. “I’m not here to hurt you, and with your power, I seriously doubt I could. I’m here to help. May I please come in?”

He nodded, but there was a deep sadness in his face. Honora could tell something was very wrong. She ducked her head through the doorway and silently joined him next to a small fire that glowed from a potbellied stove.

“My dear, I’m sorry to say that since you’ve found me, circumstances have just gotten a lot worse for you.” His voice cracked and he let out a trembling sigh.

That’s foreboding.

Honora rubbed her icy hands together in front of the warm stove. She slipped off her hood and goggles, and her braided hair fell down her back. The wizard let her rest for a few minutes before bringing her a cup of tea. The warmth penetrated her cold body.

“Can you tell me why you disappeared?” Honora set the cup down and focused on the wizard. “I know about the station, and I suspect that you’re the wizard of the wall. You built the most powerful magical device in Everland. I understand how important that is, but you can’t just disappear and expect no one to notice.”

“I was hoping for the council. They’re the lesser of the two evils.” His brow furrowed. His eyelids were heavy, weary.

Honora could admit that the council had its issues, but she would never call it evil. “What does that mean? Two evils? Who’s the other one?” Who else would he be hiding from? Then it occurred to her. “Do you mean your wife? Why are you hiding from Jane? The Ghost Beach and mistress angle didn’t fool her.”

A strange look stirred behind his eyes, and the wizard suddenly stood, the teacup shattering on the floor. “That thing is not my wife!” he yelled. “She’s an impostor. My wife is gone. I think the real Jane,
my Jane
, is dead.” His face turned red, his breathing ragged. He dropped to his knees, holding his face in his hands. He rocked back and forth, wailing in anguish.

Honora tried her best to console him until he was ready to tell his story.

Jonathan Rainer was not his real name. That name had been buried long ago when he came under the protection of the council. Under their orders, his original identity was all but erased; the impressionable wizard he once was in his youth was gone. His world had changed forever when he’d developed a magical barrier on a whim so he could focus in silence while in a crowded Haven Academy study hall. From there, his magical barrier skills grew in size and scope. He became a star at the academy, and the council kept a watchful eye on him. When the need arose to protect Everland, the inner circle of the council summoned him.