The Magician: An Epic Dark Fantasy Novel: Book One of the Rogue Portal Series (16 page)

              "That's actually brilliant," said Stuart, and Hazel beamed.

              "It just seems logical," she answered, attempting to be humble.

              Connor thought about it for a moment. He never
had
been outside of the room, and it did make sense that the room didn't exist in and of itself. Most rooms are contained within a building, so it seemed perfectly reasonable to him that this room was also inside of a building. Maybe it was the center of the center, quite literally, just as Hazel had imagined.

              "Look at this," said Kit, interrupting his train of thought.

              He looked down and saw that she had found another page, just after the pages regarding the Celestarium, which had a picture of the Sands and some writing beneath it. They had seen this page earlier, but then she turned a page further and he saw a kind of tutorial on the properties and functions of the small hourglasses. What each of their states represented. He took the book and read it for a few moments, going through all of the properties, trying to remember them all just in case he needed them at some point in the future.

             
A full hourglass is reserved only for the Sands. Hourglasses filled bottom to top would indicate a level of immortality, which is seldom granted to mortals or residents of the Void. An hourglass that is empty indicates a suicide; their time has not run out, they have simply chosen to disappear. If a person empties the hourglass of another intentionally, they will cause the suicide of the person in question. The reason for this is the extreme disturbance the emptying of an hourglass will cause to the person whose name it bears. In a sense it literally makes the person crazy as their spiritual self tries to understand what has happened, senses it is dead, and prompts the body to follows suit. Only the body cannot follow suit, because the body itself has not run out of life force. This extreme polarity causes a serious imbalance that the mortal mind will almost certainly resolve via suicide. If a person's hourglass is filled quickly, the situation may be able to be reversed. However, if someone smashes or destroys the hourglass of an individual, that individual's life will end permanently and no restoration will be possible. This, therefore, is the cruelest act anyone can bestow upon another person.

              Connor passed it around the circle. There was no way to paraphrase that. No way to sum it up. It was exactly what it was, and took just as many words as were on the page to say, and for some reason he felt that even if he read the words verbatim it wouldn't have the same effect as reading them on the page would.

              As each of them read the passage, their faces fell, and when the book returned to him everyone had taken a sudden interest in the floor, and then passed nervous glances at each other.

              "Do you think that's what happened....to your dad?" Stuart asked the question timidly.

              "I don't know. I still don't know what happened that led up to that. But it's possible."

              "Didn't you say you saw the...those creatures...in your vision?" Kit still couldn't say the word Demafae, which filled Connor with an aggravation he couldn't explain.

              "The Demafae, yes. So they were obviously sent there for a purpose. But...something about it seems wrong."

              "Like what?"

              "I don't really know. I just know that his suicide seemed...I don't know. Provoked by something else."

              "Maybe you're right. But this is still important information. It has a purpose. We've all lost someone, and it's likely that at least one of us lost that someone because of this property."

              Kit was right, of course.

              "What's on the next page?" Hazel asked.

              They flipped through and found that the next page began a series of lengthy discussions about spells, potions, and their functions. Everything from recipes to chants to tips and tricks had been crammed into the book in small handwriting as though someone only had a certain amount of space and wanted to fit it all in there.

              "This is all about spells. At least that's what it boils down to."

              "Spells about what?" asked Stuart.

              Kit turned a page.

              "Well this one says something about transporting between various regions, whatever that means."

              "And look at this," Stuart responded. "Guardian Transport Spell...wonder what that means?"

              "I don't know." Kit furrowed her brow.

              They sat and stared at the book for awhile, wondering what all the spells could be used for. Connor found it curious that none of the potions within the book reminded him of anything he'd ever heard about spells. He expected some potion to require the eye of a newt and be designed for bringing money. Instead there were pages and pages of spells that seemed to have no practical use whatsoever.

              "These don't even matter," Connor said aloud, but almost to himself.

              "They matter somewhere." Kit shrugged.

              "That's true, I suppose."

              More silence.

              Stuart broke the confusion. "All I know is that if we're going to be looking through this book all day, I'm going to need some food. Anyone up for pizza?"

              Everyone agreed in unison, and they all pitched in. Hazel ordered a salad. Stuart made the call, and even though Connor felt a little silly bringing boxes of pizza into a fancy hotel, he simultaneously didn't care what anyone there thought of him. Or any of them, for that matter.

              When Stuart finally came back with the pizzas, he rolled his eyes as he shut the door.

              "What's wrong?" Hazel asked.

              "People," responded Stuart with a bemused grin. "You shoulda seen the looks I got for bringing in pizza to a place like this."

              They all laughed.

              "You heathen!" Kit chortled.

              At that Stuart's face changed ever so slightly. Connor didn't think anyone else had noticed, but he had. For a moment Stuart looked almost sad, even though the same grin was plastered on his face that had been there when he originally came through the door. There was still something distant. Something not quite right about him. Like the word heathen somehow held meaning to him.

              Kit had been off since she'd arrived, too, but Stuart's departure from his normal state seemed even more dramatic. At least in that moment. Perhaps it had been spurred by the events that led up to their weekend meeting that made it more pronounced, or the fact that Connor was with Stuart a good portion of the time and noticed subtle shifts in his mannerisms more than others.

              Regardless, half of their group was not themselves, and that was reason enough to be concerned. Especially since so much was riding on their communication and honesty with each other. Still, a wedge was beginning to work its way between them, and Connor didn't like it. But he also felt powerless to stop it.

              Stuart put the pizzas on a table, and everyone grabbed plates that Kit had retrieved from a random pantry located in the room. It was a little bit like a mini-bar, only it was more of a mini five star restaurant. Eating pizza off of fine China wasn't something Connor was used to, but it was an interesting experience nonetheless, and something he thought they could all laugh about later.

              Stuart opened the cheese pizza.

              "Whoa! Wait a minute!" Stuart stared down at the open box of pizza as though it held the secret of life. Connor looked over, as did Kit.

              "What is it?" Hazel asked, taking her salad.

              Kit and Connor grabbed their pizza, no longer concerned that the halting message had been directed at them.

              "It's...it's like a pizza," said Stuart.

              "I don't understand," Connor responded.

              Stuart took the box of cheese pizza over to the rug where they had previously been assembled in a circle. Laying it next to the book he looked at the book and thumbed through it until he found the page he was looking for. The map of  the Void.

              "It's like the pizza," he said again, as though that was the clearest piece of information he needed to offer them.

              Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment and then back at Stuart, who patiently sighed and explained his idea further.

              "Look. Every single spell we've come upon has had something to do with transporting around the regions. Right? This map looks just like the pizza. It's all the same pizza, but there are divisions between the pieces. Whereas the pieces of pizza have physical gaps between them, minor but apparent, maybe the regions of this Void thing have temporal or some other kind of gap between them, and you need some kind of spell to get across."

              "That's genius!" Hazel marveled at the book, then at Stuart, who smiled proudly for a brief moment, and then resumed his embarrassed stance.

              "Whoever a Guardian is, maybe they need a spell to get into this land. But they certainly seem to need spells to get around the regions. In fact, in order to get anywhere in this Void you need a spell."

              Pieces like those of a puzzle fell together in Connor's mind and created a terrifying but clear picture.

              "Or a portal," he responded, partly unaware that he had spoken the thought out loud.

              "What?" Kit asked.

              He held up his pocket watch.

              "Or a portal," he repeated. "Wasn't there a page somewhere in there with a drawing of this? And didn't it say something about it being a portal that could traverse all the realms?"

              "You're right!" Kit became suddenly excited.

              "If Stuart is right, and he probably is, that means this pocket watch is a portal. And it's...what did they call it?"

              "The Rogue Portal," Stuart said, nodding, as though he'd suddenly remembered.

              "Right, the Rogue Portal. Maybe it's rogue because it can traverse all the realms. Maybe that's what's so special about it; if you have it you don't need a spell to get to the next realm."

              "Which would explain why Rumsfeld and whoever else is working with him wants it back so badly," Kit said.

              "Exactly."

              Stunned silence settled over them like a dark night. None of them spoke for several moments; most of them didn't even blink. Everyone's eyes were focused on the picture of the Void and the pizza sitting next to it.

              "You know what this means, right?" Hazel asked, breaking the silence.

              "No, what?" Connor asked.

              "It means you're a target. Like in those movies where one person has the secret code to some government computer and the government turns the world upside down trying to find him."

              "That's comforting, thanks."

              "No, it's a good thing." She smiled.

              "Oh I can't wait to hear this explanation. Why is it good?"

              "Because all you have to do to make it stop is give Rumsfeld the portal. Right?"

              Kit looked as though she was about ready to throw Hazel from the roof of the hotel, and Connor put a hand on her shoulder to calm her.

              "I'm not giving this portal to anyone. The Traveler told me not to take it off."

              "The who?" Kit turned to him.

              He realized for the first time that he hadn't told her about the encounter with the goat woman - or the holograph thereof - in the elevator, and a pang of guilt shot through him. This, however, was not the time.

              "You know, the lady who gave me the message."

              "Oh, right." She seemed to accept his explanation readily.

              "Anyway, Hazel might be right. But I'm not giving this pocket watch to anyone."

              "But what if this all stopped?" Hazel asked.

              Kit got up and walked to the other side of the room. It looked like an act of anger to anyone else, but Connor knew it was a sign of personal growth on Kit's part. She was, in fact, showing great self restraint given that nobody had been hit and she hadn't burned their eardrums with a profanity laden rant.

              After a moment of silence, Connor continued.

              "Hazel, do you think, in simplistic terms, that Rumsfeld is a good guy or a bad guy?"

              Hazel blinked. "I don't think anything is that black or white."

              "Which way do you think he leans more toward, then?"

              "He certainly doesn't seem good," she said after a moment of thought.

              Connor nodded.

              "So if I give him the portal, what do you think will happen? Will it bring your sister back? Reverse any of the tragedies that have happened to any of us? Even if this portal could bring everyone back, I doubt Rumsfeld would be in any hurry to use it for that reason. Right?"