Seeking magic the legacy.., p.1
Seeking Magic (The Legacy of Androva Book 3), page 1
Seeking Magic
By
Alex C Vick
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Alex C Vick
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
First eBook Printing, 2016
To Anthony, for everything.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One – From Maths Books to History Books (ten days earlier)
Chapter Two – The Thing with Penny
Chapter Three – Arianna’s Room
Chapter Four – Three Research Spells
Chapter Five – The M Word
Chapter Six – Books and Memories
Chapter Seven – The Terran Fear Factor
Chapter Eight – Dream Remedy
Chapter Nine – The Signature Symbol
Chapter Ten – Remembering Arianna
Chapter Eleven – The Mysterious Author
Chapter Twelve – Galen the Missing Magician
Chapter Thirteen – How Do You Create a Signature Symbol?
Chapter Fourteen – Apps and Fireworks
Chapter Fifteen – Another Late Night
Chapter Sixteen – Co-ordinates
Chapter Seventeen – Time Travel
Chapter Eighteen – Galen
Chapter Nineteen – Galen’s Spell
Chapter Twenty – The Plan
Chapter Twenty One – The First Portal
Chapter Twenty Two – The Second Portal
Chapter Twenty Three – No Way Back
Chapter Twenty Four – A New Life
Chapter Twenty Five – Arianna’s Solution
Chapter Twenty Six – Arianna’s Video
Chapter Twenty Seven – Mr and Mrs Blackwood
Chapter Twenty Eight – An Agreement is Reached
Chapter Twenty Nine – A New Magician?
Extract from Controlling Magic
By the same Author
Prologue
“Well, this isn’t how I thought we’d be spending your fifteenth birthday,” said Shannon. Then she added, with a weak attempt at humour, “You always have to go one better, don’t you? Most people would be happy with a few presents and a takeaway pizza.”
Jax smiled back at her, but couldn’t completely hide the fear that was turning his eyes a darker shade of green than normal.
“I hate being predictable,” he replied, doing his best to continue the joke. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Shannon reached out to touch the air in front of her, hoping against hope that the portal might have opened, even though she couldn’t see the tell-tale shimmer. But it was no use. There was nothing there.
She looked up anxiously at the mountain in the distance, knowing that it would soon be too late. From the mountain’s peak, a single wisp of smoke rose upwards in a slow spiral against the sky.
They were standing behind the pillars at the back of the temple, unnoticed by the people going about their daily business in this western section of the city. No-one seemed to realise that the volcano was about to erupt, and in a matter of hours, everyone in Pompeii would be dead.
And if the portal didn’t open soon, Jax and Shannon would be joining them.
Chapter One – From Maths Books to History Books (Ten Days Earlier)
Jax stared longingly at the clock on the wall, wishing that he could use a Manipulation Spell to move the hands forward. The clock seemed to be moving in slow motion, and the Terran Maths lesson that he was sitting in was getting more boring with every second that passed.
Mr Andrews, the teacher, had an astonishingly large collection of grey cardigans, and today he was wearing a particularly hideous one. It had a jaunty diamond pattern knitted in a rather disgusting mustard yellow shade around the hem.
The stitches on the pockets drooped almost as much as Jax’s shoulders, as he struggled to pay attention to what Mr Andrews was saying about simultaneous equations.
Who needs a Sleep Remedy? thought Jax. A recording of Mr Andrews on a Terran mobile device would work just as well. Maybe even better, he considered, realising that he could hardly keep his eyes open.
His black hair fell over his eyebrows, and he pushed it backwards, hoping that the movement would help to wake him up a bit.
The classroom was hot and stuffy, because it was a cold November afternoon, and the radiators were going full blast. Jax was not the only one whose mind was thinking more about the end of the lesson than the lesson itself.
However, most of the other students were not underage magicians. They did not, therefore, have to worry that a lapse in concentration might allow their magical force field to expand into a faint silver glow that could eventually cover them from head to toe like a shimmering blanket.
Shannon knew that Jax’s mind was wandering. He found Maths the most pointless Terran subject by a long way. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that he was sliding further and further down his chair, until he was only half upright.
Her own magical force field was suppressed very effectively at all times. Terra was Shannon’s world, and she had been accustomed to hiding her abilities as a magician ever since she had first acquired them six months previously.
Jax, on the other hand, was from Androva, where magicians wore their force fields as if they were just another layer of clothing.
Shannon could feel the space between her and Jax start to buzz very slightly, a clear indication that there was magic in the air. As it was not filled with any particular spell, it was not dangerous, but it would still be noticeable if anyone was paying attention.
She inched her foot across the floor space between their shared table, and nudged Jax’s heel to warn him. He turned his head slightly towards her, and for a second his green eyes lit up with mischief. She ignored him, knowing that Jax might actively misbehave if she gave him any encouragement.
Looking down at her textbook, her long brown hair falling forwards, Shannon attempted to concentrate on the equation in front of her. She did try to keep up with her Terran classes, even though it was proving increasingly difficult to do so.
Her time was split fairly evenly between Terran school and the Seminary of Magic on Androva, and it wasn’t exactly a fair competition in terms of which school was more fun to attend.
Simultaneous equations versus figuring out the right combination of spells to create a firework display? Cross country running versus diving off the top of the Seminary building using Solo Transference? No contest really.
Staring at the x and the y on the first line of the equation, Shannon blinked as a droplet of silver mist landed on top of them. It was like a blot of magical ink that immediately dissolved.
Looking sideways for a second, she saw Jax’s hand pull backwards quickly. As she turned back to the book, the page went blank for a second. Then new letters appeared, forming into a sentence that announced: “Mr Andrews is a fashion genius!!!”
It was so unexpected, and so ridiculous, that Shannon gave a snort of laughter. Everyone turned round to look at her, and Mr Andrews stopped talking. He waited a moment while Shannon attempted to control her amusement. She bit her lip.
Now that her mind had created the image of Mr Andrews and his grey and mustard coloured cardigan strutting down a fashion catwalk, it was proving impossible to get rid of.
“You find simultaneous equations amusing?” Mr Andrews asked. Shannon quickly shook her head. “You find me amusing then?” he continued. Shannon shook her head again, unwilling to open her mouth in case the laughter that she was trying to suppress escaped.
She looked across at Jax, and saw that although his face was completely straight, there was a glint in his eyes that gave away his enjoyment at the difficulty he had created for her.
Shannon wished they were at the Seminary, so that she could retaliate with a spell. Instead she had to content herself with glaring at him, her brown eyes narrowed.
“I… it was just a TV programme I was remembering, that’s all,” Shannon improvised. “There was this character who got her revenge on someone in a really funny way,” she added pointedly, looking at Jax to make sure he understood that she intended to pay him back for making her laugh in class.
“I’m very sorry sir, it won’t happen again,” she added.
“I think perhaps you should come to the front with me and demonstrate how to solve the first equation,” Mr Andrews instructed. “Let’s make sure that you keep your mind on Maths instead of television, shall we?”
Shannon scowled and Jax started to feel a little bit guilty. She reluctantly got up and joined Mr Andrews, where she had to spend the rest of the lesson feeling increasingly stupid as he forced her to explain her rather shaky understanding of the methodology to everyone.
Finally the bell rang, releasing everyone from school for the day.
“What were you laughing at?” asked Shannon’s best friend Penny, as she walked back to her desk to pack up her school bag.
“Ask him,” said Shannon crossly,
“I never said a word!” he protested, quite truthfully.
Shannon looked down at her open textbook, which now showed no sign of the earlier Manipulation Spell that Jax had used on it.
“Just you wait,” she huffed. “The next time I’m bored in a lesson, I promise you I’ll find a way to sacrifice your dignity for my entertainment!”
Jax pretended to look hurt, holding his hand to his chest and coughing as if he had been injured. Shannon tried not to smile. His victim impersonation was very convincing, especially given that she knew Jax had never been a victim in his entire life.
“Your problem,” she told him, “is that you don’t take this school seriously. If I don’t pass my Maths GCSE, I won’t be allowed to do the A levels I want.”
Jax opened his mouth to argue that Shannon didn’t need to worry about Terran exams. Her magical ability was such that she was already qualified to do pretty much any profession on Androva.
Then, realising that the classroom was still full of people who could hear him, he changed what he had been about to say.
“I just think Maths is overrated. There are other subjects that I consider more important.”
They exchanged a glance. Shannon knew that Jax was referring to magical disciplines rather than Terran subjects. They hadn’t really discussed what would happen in the future after they reached the end of their training at the Seminary. The coming of age ceremony was still three years away for Jax, and even longer than that for Shannon.
But Shannon knew that Jax had no intention of ever living on Terra, no matter how much he enjoyed his regular trips to her world, and the technology and entertainment it had to offer.
Jax still had an annoying tendency to look down on Terra and its inhabitants because they were not magicians. Shannon escaped this condescension, because she was the exception, and a very powerful one at that.
Once upon a time, hundreds of years ago, there had been magicians on both Androva and Terra. This had ended when an unspeakably evil magician threatened to cover both worlds with darkness.
Terra had sacrificed its use of magic to Androva, which had been the only way to contain the evil Angelus, and stop the killings.
Terra and its modern day inhabitants were not supposed to know anything about this sacrifice and the Treaty that had defined it. Thanks to Jax, this was no longer completely true, but the number of Terrans who knew about Androva was still extremely small.
Events the previous summer had proved that it was dangerous when Terrans discovered that magic did, in fact, exist. Jax and Shannon had only just survived being kidnapped by someone who had envied Shannon’s magical ability enough to threaten Shannon’s life in an attempt to obtain it.
Shannon herself loved being a magician. The absolute, unstoppable power of her silver force field, always ready and waiting to be filled with the spell of her choosing, was intoxicating.
Deep down, she knew that it was unlikely she would ever be able to live a normal life on Terra when she grew up. She would probably end up on Androva eventually. And, after all, she only needed to walk through an open portal to come back to Terra whenever she wanted to. But she wasn’t quite ready to throw away her Terran education just yet.
“What subjects would those be?” she challenged Jax. “Stupidity? Or maybe How to Lose your Girlfriend in One Easy Step?”
Penny sniggered. She was slightly in awe of Jax, and not just because he was better looking than a lot of celebrities. She also found the faint buzz of energy that sometimes emanated from him quite unnerving. Seeing him being cut down to size by Shannon was therefore very entertaining.
“Hmmm, are those my only choices?” asked Jax, pretending to consider.
Shannon tried not to grin.
“I would go for Stupidity,” she advised him, nudging him in the arm with her elbow. “It’s probably your best subject, all things considered.”
Jax nodded. “I’ll take your word for it,” he replied. “I might be too stupid to know what my best subject is!”
Shannon laughed.
“You’re impossible,” she smiled, her good humour restored.
As they left the school grounds, the sky was already turning dark. The November wind was biting, driving the icy air into their faces and underneath their collars as they made their way home. Jax and Shannon walked next to each other, their shoulders almost touching.
Penny looked at Shannon a bit enviously. She didn’t have a boyfriend of her own at the moment, and the connection between Jax and Shannon was so strong that sometimes she felt like a complete outsider.
“Are you going to the Repository of Records again tomorrow?” asked Jax in a low voice. Penny had dropped behind them a little way as she re-tied her shoe laces.
“Yes,” answered Shannon. “I’m starting in the old restricted section. I’m determined to figure it out. It doesn’t make any sense that not a single other Terran magician has been created since the Treaty was written. There must be an explanation for it somewhere.”
“There is something…” Jax began hesitantly.
“What?” asked Shannon, with a quick glance behind her to see how far away Penny was.
“I was going to tell you earlier, but…” Jax trailed off, and Shannon wondered why he looked so uncertain all of a sudden.
“My father has shown me these books,” Jax continued after a pause. “He said that after the whole thing with Penny,” at this Jax lowered his voice even further, “we might be able to find some clues in history books about Terran magic.
“Arianna, I mean my mother, was apparently fascinated with it all, and she had some rare books in her possession when she died. My father has never looked at them. He says he found it too painful.”
Shannon touched Jax’s arm in silent sympathy. His mother had died of a sudden illness when he was only three years old.
Until recently, Jax’s father Revus had refused to talk about her. It was only now his relationship with Jax had started to improve, that he had become a bit more open about it.
“So, what do you think?” asked Jax, as Penny caught up with them. “Shall I wait for you so that we can read them together tomorrow?”
Shannon nodded.
“Read what?” Penny asked curiously.
“Some books about history, that’s all,” said Shannon evenly. “Nothing exciting, I’m afraid.”
Penny shrugged. She knew that tomorrow was one of Shannon’s days at Jax’s school, and she would miss her.
The exchange programme had only been running since September. All Penny knew about it was that it had been set up by the police inspector who had rescued Jax and Shannon when they were kidnapped.
Penny sometimes felt as if her friendship with Shannon was slipping away from her, but she didn’t know why, or how to stop it.
“I guess I’ll see you later then,” said Penny, as they reached the end of her road. Shannon, seeing her downcast expression, gave Penny a brief hug and promised to text her that evening.
She watched her friend walk away with mixed emotions, as she remembered the circumstances that Jax had just referred to as the “thing with Penny.”
Chapter Two – The Thing with Penny
During the summer, Penny had started dating Jax’s best friend Darius, and for several weeks the four teenagers had been inseparable. Although Penny was not an underage magician like himself, Darius did not share Jax’s view that ordinary Terrans were somehow second-rate.
Darius, who had blond hair and dark blue eyes, was much less intense than his best friend. He had an infectious laugh, and was very easy going.
Darius liked Penny for who she was – funny, loyal, and very pretty. They had become quite close, but that had all changed the day that Penny found out about Androva and magic.
It happened at David Marshall’s house, the Detective Inspector who had become an unlikely ally of Androva after Jax and Shannon were kidnapped in the summer.
DI Marshall had successfully put the obsessed Terrans who wanted to capture Shannon’s magic behind bars for a very long time. He had agreed to keep Jax and Shannon’s secret, while he learned more about the world that Jax came from.
The underground portal room that was used to connect Terra with Androva was beneath DI Marshall’s garage. He regularly met up with Jax’s father, who was a senior member of Androva’s Council.
