Excantation Read online

  “She’s totally in her element and loving every second of it,” I assured him.

  “Good, we’ll need her even more, I think. Word’s spreading about our request, and I feel like the amount of post to us doubles every day. I’ve recorded an activated platform on the most sensitive equipment I can find or make, for all the good it did me. To both lens and the naked eye, a person activates it and a doorway pops up with a lighted tunnel you can only see from the front. Absolutely no sign of this is visible from the back of the platform.”

  I leaned forward in my seat to hear him a little better. I was intrigued by this, as I had used the platforms several times but hadn’t watched someone else use them. Well, I had, but only from the front. I’d never gotten a side or back view. “Like a Stargate?”

  James snorted. “Watched that show, did you? Yes, almost precisely like it.”

  “Weeeeird.”

  “That was always the case,” Ciarán observed. “It’s partially why none of us have even a theory to offer you. To us, it worked much like portal magic. We had no reason to suspect it as anything else.”

  “Well, it’s not portal magic in the traditional sense. The fact you have a tunnel connecting one platform to another makes that obvious. Traditional portal magic would transport you in a hot second.”

  Ciarán nodded confirmation. “True enough.”

  Zoya gave a hum, thinking hard. “Something Reagan said earlier, when we first got on site, has stuck with me. She said Imagineers create objects, hence if the Imagineers created the system, it must be an object. She’s rather correct on this, as there’s very few things Imagineers create that don’t fall in that territory. Barriers and wards are the exception, and even they have a physical manifestation.”

  James shot me a look via the rearview mirror. “You’re absolutely right on that Reagan, but I’m afraid I don’t see where this thought is going. Isn’t that why we’re confused now?”

  Tsking him, Zoya gave him that look I recognized all too well as her student. It was a look that informed him he was being slow and to mentally catch up, please. “James, we now have thousands of Imagineers looking at this problem, and not one of us has even an inkling. Doesn’t that suggest to you this isn’t a purely imagineered construct? I will bet you they collaborated with other magicians in order to form the system. Druids, witches, wizards, maybe even a sorcerer or two helped to build this thing. It’s the only thing that makes sense. We are looking at something part magic, part physical.”

  Shut the front door. I blinked, then blinked again, feeling like my brain had just gone through a blue screen and needed a reboot. What Zoya suggested made total sense. If it wasn’t a purely physical structure, it must not be a purely physical creation. Like, duh? I’d said it myself and yet hadn’t taken the thought any further.

  Brain, come on, we could do better than this.

  James hissed in a breath. “That’s so obvious. Why didn’t I think of that?”

  “We keep hearing that the Imagineers built it,” Zoya pointed out oh-so-logically, smug that she had shocked us. My master’s got an evil sense of humor that way. “The records never mention anyone else, so we assumed it was only Imagineers who’d built it. But our records are faulty, so why we all rolled with that assumption, I do not know. I do know we are stupid for not realizing the obvious. James, I think it’s time we pulled in some of our other magicians. We need fresh eyes on this.”

  I swear to you, James vibrated in his seat. I didn’t think adults could get that excited about something, but he was seconds from coming out of his own skin. “I know just who to ask. I’ll send off emails tonight. Zoya, that might be what we need to figure this out. Heavens knows, I wasn’t any closer to a breakthrough, and I’ve been through everything at least a dozen times.”

  “I certainly hope it is,” my master returned with a tired sigh. “I’d like to get this figured out.”

  I had further questions for them but was distracted by a tall thing off in the distance. “Wait, is that Big Ben?”

  “Indeed, it is,” James replied, amused at my question. “You’re almost in the heart of my clan’s territory now.”

  I stared at the back of his head, nonplussed. “You guys are in central London? Really?”

  “Keep in mind, the clan was here long before the city,” he pointed out reasonably. “We weren’t going to give up territory just because Nixes decided they liked the area too. We’ve managed to hold onto it just fine, although the amount of portals and Doors is no joke.”

  Yeah, I bet. Actually, the thought was alarming. Stabilized magical portals were a favorite of the magical community, as it allowed them to use established doors in plain sight to connect to magically protected places. A lot of magic went into them, and people sometimes got a little too exuberant about putting them in places. Too many Doors in close proximity usually made things go boom. It must take a fine balancing act to keep everything separate, that was for sure.

  “It’s just as well we did,” he continued, slowing at a light. “The only platform in London is here in Waterloo. They built a subway station over it in the mid 1800’s, Necropolis Railway. Bit of a ridiculous reason, too. They had too much overcrowding of the cemeteries, so they built the railway to ferry the burials to a new cemetery in Surrey. We kept the platform under heavy glamour, they built right around it without realizing. It did suffer some damage in World War II, sad to say. Air raid bombed most of the building, which is why it stands empty now.”

  “It’s not in use now?”

  “No indeed, hasn’t been since 1940-something. Fortunately for us, we can waltz right in with no one the wiser. But because it was damaged, we’ll need to fix it. And fix the building around it so it’s stable enough to start using again.”

  That sounded like a lot of work. And a headache.

  Zoya snarked at him as he made a turn, “You want us to fix something when we’re not certain how it was constructed to begin with?”

  “You know, that’s almost exactly what I said to my clan leader when he and I spoke of this. But he said we fixed the ones in Brazil.”

  “The ones in Brazil were still operational. And are different from the ones in Europe,” Zoya growled in aggravation. “None of which means it’s not our job. Fine, we’ll figure it out.”

  I had a feeling one of the occupational hazards of being an Imagineer was never actually knowing what you needed to build and having to figure it out as you went. Yipee?

  James pulled up to a curb in front of a row of connected houses, built of a reddish-brown brick, wrought-iron fences around the front to block out little sunken patios. Each ‘house,’ or section, or whatever you wanted to call them were sort of distinct, each with its own style of trim over the windows and doors. Some had brick, others white stone, and all the doors were painted a different color.

  “Here we are,” James said, already opening the door. “Your bed-and-breakfast is the blue door.”

  Hard to miss such a bright royal blue. And when James had said he was right next door, he hadn’t been kidding, had he?

  The glamour around the building extended to the sidewalk, which was just as well. As I got out of the back, the door opened and stayed that way, leaving the interior of the house in full view and showcasing it in all its magical glory. Our hostess stood in the doorway, short as all kobolds were, her dark hair up in a bun, dressed in little black slacks and an equally black shirt, wiping her hands off on a towel.

  She zeroed in on me, light grey eyes sharp. “Reagan Hunt?”

  “That’s me,” I answered, coming toward her and offering a bow. “Hello.”

  “Hello, my dear. I’m Agna. You’re very welcome.” She clasped my hand, tiny fingers folding over my own, and smiled warmly. “I should tell you that Klaus is my cousin, three times removed on our mother’s grandmother’s side, and he’s been on the phone with me most of the morning, telling me all about you. He’s anxious to make sure you’re comfortable here.”

  “He fuss
es.” And I adored him for it. It was such a Klaus thing to do, to call ahead and make sure I was comfortable while away from him. “I’m sorry if he was a pest.”

  “Not at all, dear. He’s your kobold. Makes perfect sense for him to be antsy with you away from him like this. I’d likely do the same in his shoes. But I say this because if there’s anything lacking, you must tell me. He’ll never let me hear the end of it otherwise.”

  I believed her. “I promise I will, but I think I’ll be fine. Right now, I’m just hungry and so glad to be off a plane, you have no idea.”

  She snorted, amused. “That I can believe. Imagineer Mikahilov, Ciarán, welcome. Come in with your bags, I’ve dinner waiting on all of you.”

  “We’ll be pleased to have it,” Ciarán answered, already lugging his bag in.

  We trooped in, James splitting from us at the door with promises to meet up for breakfast. Agna showed us each to a room, and I didn’t get more than a glance as I threw my suitcase and backpack in before going immediately back downstairs. From what I gathered, every room was different in design. None of them were painted or decorated the same. Some had TVs in them, some didn’t. A few had beds so large they took up most of the room. I’d been given one with a twin, which meant I had a desk to work at and a TV-armoire thing. Which was fine by me.

  As I came back down the narrow stairs, I emailed Klaus and Nana with the news I was safely at the bed-and-breakfast and that Agna had me well in hand. That last part was mostly for Klaus.

  I followed my ears to the dining room, which didn’t have much space due to the massive table taking up most of the area. Ciarán was already tucked into a plate of what looked like excellent pot roast. My mouth started salivating from the smell alone.

  Agna ushered me to a seat with a hand at the small of my back even as she said to Zoya “—I have plenty of room, don’t worry about that. You three are currently my only guests. I have four other bedrooms I can put people into. Why, do you expect others to come?”

  “We spoke some on the way here about how we need to consult with other magicians,” Zoya explained, pouring herself a glass of water from the pitcher on the table. “I don’t think we’re dealing with a purely physical construct. Us Imagineers can’t wrap our heads around this.”

  “Ah, I see. Reagan, do you want something aside from water?”

  “No, thank you.” I felt parched from the trip, having not drunk much on the plane, and happily quaffed half the glass in one long pull. Ahh, better. I refilled the glass before digging in. The meat was perfect, juicy and succulent, the potatoes lovely with their seasoning, and I suspected I might have to be rolled out of here.

  “We’re all behind you figuring this out.” Agna wore a very determined expression as she looked between me and Zoya. “Modern society makes it very difficult to travel. It’s far worse than the old days. We’re almost locked into clan territory, and none of us enjoy that. For some, it’s dangerous to even try and venture out. Whatever we can do to help you, we will.”

  “Thank you, Agna,” Zoya answered ruefully. “We’ll need all the support we can get.”

  Not to mention more brain power. And ideas. And some inspiration, please and thank you. The problem we had been handed would not be so easily solved.

  What with the madness, I’d lost touch with what happened in India after I left. I plugged in my laptop that night and called up Nana. She was about seven hours behind me, so she’d still be up.

  The call connected remarkably quickly, and then I realized Nana wasn’t behind the screen, but Klaus. I gave him a smile and wave. “Hi, Klaus. How are things going?”

  “Well, all things considered.” He smiled back, revealing slightly sharp teeth.

  To the uninitiated, a kobold didn’t look that threatening. Klaus, for instance, had the height of a dwarf, and with his too-big feet and oversized hands, he just looked adorable. Like a shoemaker’s elf. Then you realized his teeth were all canine sharp, his hands and feet had claws, and you revised that opinion. Not much in the world was more dangerous than a kobold with a mad on. “How are you? Agna has you well in hand?”

  “Yeah, I’m great. She’s super prepared to handle us. I haven’t had to ask for a single thing so far. And her house is good too. It’s already moved outlets for me so I could plug things into the wall.”

  “Good, good. Are you checking in?”

  “Yeah, I wanted to see how you guys were doing. And follow up on Dad. I heard he was back at work but got no further details.”

  “That he is. He and his colleagues. A moment, I’ll fetch Julia. Or…” He turned his head with a smile. “Nevermind, House told her. Julia, Reagan is on Skype.”

  “Good, it means she’s settled enough to talk,” I heard Nana say. To my surprise, she didn’t wheel into view, but walked. She held a cane in either hand, and didn’t move super fast, but she walked upright and steady. I hadn’t seen my grandmother walk in years.

  “Nana, you’re walking!” I blurted out in astonishment. I knew the treatments Ivan had for her were supposed to give her mobility and balance back, but this quick? Then again, he’d said within six months, and it had been over three since he’d started on her.

  Nana gave me the most brilliant smile. She wasn’t just walking; her posture was better. Her white hair had been pulled back into a neat braid that ended in a bun, something else I hadn’t seen done in years. “I am! Ivan’s brilliant. I can’t do it for long periods yet. Have to build my stamina back up. But I’m doing as much as I can.”

  “That’s great, it really is.” I waited for her to settle in the easy chair in the library. I studied her as she moved, saw the ease with which she did so. Even her walnut-colored skin looked less lined with wrinkles, and I didn’t think it was just skincare pulling that off. Wow. Talk about a difference! Klaus put the laptop in her lap, then perched on the arm of the chair so he could fit into the frame. “How is Dad?”

  “Back at his dig site. The cover story for them was they’d all caught a bad cold and slept it off in their tents, hence how they lost three days. Your father reports everyone mostly believes it and suspects nothing is wrong. I’ve gotten more emails from him. Demanding information, for the most part.” She shook her head sadly, a frown pulling down her mouth. “He’s just found another rabbit hole to fall down.”

  That’s exactly what it was, sadly. I’d hoped after our conversation in India, we’d connected a little better. But he’d not sent me a single email since I’d seen him last. And I’d been looking for one. Why wouldn’t he want to know how things went for me, when I’d had to leave in such a hurry to race toward a fire? I’d sent him one email from the airport, waiting for our flight here. I still hadn’t received a response.

  I almost said something to Nana about it, but it was just the same old story. I smiled instead and let it go. “Yeah. As long as he’s okay there, though. And the platforms have both been turned off for now?”

  “I’m told they were. No further incidents were reported to us, at least. You haven’t heard anything?”

  “I’ve been so busy handling the insanity of the fires in the Amazon, and then hopping on international fights back and forth, that I have no faith I’m caught up on the news. I am officially roadkill on the information highway at this point.”

  They both snorted, but neither seemed surprised.

  “How is everyone in Brazil?” Nana asked in worry.

  “It’s…bad over there. I don’t even know how to describe it. People are heartbroken, but you know, the clan over there took everyone in without any hesitation. Just bam, took them all in. And every Imagineer on scene, we were running around like mad, making up tents and shelters for people, creating the necessities so they had something. I left knowing people would survive this, and they’d be able to rebuild. James promised me relief efforts are already underway, and he’s been able to keep up with things better than we have. It really lit a fire under us to figure out the mystery, you know? Because if we’d been able to do inte
rnational travel, we’d have gotten people out a lot faster.”

  They both nodded in understanding, sympathy on their faces. Klaus stirred and asked, “What can we do from here? Anything?”

  “Help fill me in. I tried to catch up on the flight over here, but I might have missed something. Right now, we’re calling in magician experts to help us untangle this. Zoya’s called in a sorcerer, some witches, and a few wizard friends, asking them to come and take a gander. The more we look at it, the more we think it wasn’t just Imagineers who built the system.”

  Nana blinked at me owlishly. “I thought this was the Imagineers’ greatest creation?”

  “See, everyone says that. But think about it. Imagineers create objects and barriers. Our magic doesn’t really do anything else. And those objects and barriers are sometimes very cool, granted, but they’re still objects. Every single piece of information we have, every theory, suggests the Hub isn’t anywhere on Earth but on a different plane entirely. How would an Imagineer possibly do that?”

  “It’s always confounded us,” Klaus agreed slowly, his eyes blindly staring at some point past the computer screen. “It’s why the rest of us were so in awe when the system was unveiled. We didn’t think an Imagineer could construct something like that. But they’d also seemed a little shy about explaining how they’d built it, or who was involved. How it worked, they’d tell us. We all got several explanations of how to use it. But not much else. Really, you speak sense. They must have had at least one other magician to help them.”

  “To tether their creation from Earth to this other plane, yeah. Mactep’s with me on this one, which is why we’re calling in other magicians to help us unravel the mystery. Magical think tank is a go.”