Chapter 7

Clarifying a few things first!
Some people have asked me all the same questions, so I guess they're common questions.  Here are some answers.

1) Myriah's name is pronounced - M  ear  ee  uh
2)  Yes, writing is very difficult.  It is especially difficult to write on a week-by-week basis because it doesn't exactly allow me to go back and edit things to have the story make perfect sense (hence my plot hole problem of last week)
3)  Yes, I want you to share this with your friends.  And tell me who you are if you're reading this!
4) Cafaran's name is pronounced -  Calf  uh  ran

Enjoy!

                Chapter Seven: The Abandoned Room

            “You’re kidding me…” said Kirk, leaving History with Aiden.

            “Dead serious,” said Aiden.  “She wants us to meet her at the auditorium after next period.”

            “Oh, wow, she can’t get enough of you, huh?  Already wants more alone time with you after school?”  Kirk grinned and nudged Aiden in the ribs a few times.

            “I said ‘us,’ you ass.” Aiden laughed.

            “Why does she want me there?”

            “Well, I did tell her that you were a mage, too… so she said to bring you along today so we can find a spot to practice.”

            “Yeah, sure.  You probably begged her to let me come along so that I could be the third wheel who makes everything less awkward for the love birds.”

            Aiden laughed.  “Hey, cut it out, man.  I’m telling you, that whole ‘cold as ice’ thing fits her pretty well.  She seems like she’s all business.  She even admitted that she only ever stared at me because of the whole glowing thing.”

            “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask you about that… why do we glow and can everyone see it?  Or just other mages?”

            “No idea.  Probably gonna have to wait for another visit from Cafaran for that one.  For now, let’s just hope that only other mages can see it.  I don’t exactly need any more publicity in this school,” said Aiden with a frown.

            “Good call.  Oh, meet me at the top of the ramp to Building Two after next class so you can fill me in on the details of your conversation.  It would help if I’m not completely in the dark when the three of us meet up, considering I know nothing about her.”

            “Sure thing, Captain Nosy,” said Aiden sardonically.

            Eighth period seemed to drag on forever.  Aiden could have sworn that the clock hands were moving in reverse.  As much as he wanted to enjoy working on editing a music video with his group, he simply could not.  There was just way too much on his mind right now, way too many distractions.

            Myriah was a mage.  They were meeting up after school.  Why, though?  What was the real reason?  And should he really bring Kirk?  What if Myriah was just saying to invite him to be nice and she really did just want alone time with Aiden?  One thing was for sure: Myriah was very hard to read.

            And there was Matt Kaufee, too.  Even if Aiden avoided him for most of the school day, there was no escaping his annoying presence in eighth period Modern Media.  He did not waste a chance to make fun of Aiden or make snide remarks when the class split up to do group work.  Aiden was glad that he didn’t have to work with him, or Garret Spire, for that matter.  Garret was pretty quiet, but just the fact that he would laugh stupidly at Kaufee’s horrible jokes made Aiden dislike him just the same.

            Miraculously, Aiden survived the torturous forty minute period and met up with Kirk at the top of the Building Two ramp.  In the time that it took them to walk all the way down to the auditorium, Aiden managed to explain all of the important parts of his conversation with Myriah. 

            “Do you see her?” asked Kirk.

            “Not yet, maybe she’s just running late.  Let’s just wait in front of the doors for her.”

            And so they waited.  The final bell rang and the hallway was deserted; not that anyone ever really walked down by this end of the school, anyway.  The auditorium was sort of out of place.  Only two classrooms were within a minute’s walk and it was pretty much surrounded by storage rooms.  At least Myriah had one thing right; there was a good chance that nobody would see them after school.

            Dead silence filled the hall.  “Do you think she stood us up?” asked Aiden.

            “I hope not.  That’d be pretty messed up.”

            They stood in front of the door and stared aimlessly waiting for her to show up.

            Just then, a loud clunk rang out from behind them and echoed off of the tile floor, nearly scaring Aiden and Kirk half to death.  The door swung open and barely missed clipping Aiden’s ankles.  “Oh, good.  You did show up.  Come on,” said Myriah ushering them inside.

            “Sheesh, you scared the crap outta me.  Why couldn’t you just wait outside?” asked Kirk.

            “I had to make sure nobody was in here.  And plus, I wanted to be secretive.  Three people standing outside of the auditorium would look kind of suspicious, don’t you think?”

            “Yeah, thank God the door was quiet…” said Kirk sarcastically.

            Aiden coughed.  “So, Myriah, this is Kirk.  Figured I’d properly introduce you two since you haven’t sat down and spoken to one another yet.”

            “Hi, Kirk,” she said.

            “Hey,” he nodded.

            “Right. So, we’re here.  Now what?” asked Aiden.

            “Not there yet.  Small detour, I’ll show you.”

            She led them down the aisle of the auditorium past rows and rows of seats.  They climbed the stairs on the left side of the tall stage and disappeared behind the curtain.  It was very dark backstage and there wasn’t much room to walk.  Using their cell phones as a source of light, they continued on, weaving in and out of set pieces, lighting and stage equipment, and wires until they reached what looked like a closet.

            “In here,” said Myriah.  She opened the door and pulled on the drawstring light.

            And it looked exactly like one on the inside.  Boxes upon boxes were stacked to the ceiling and spare stage parts were strewn about the floor.  A mobile rack of costumes had been wheeled into the corner.  It was very cramped and cluttered.  With the three of them inside, they could hardly move.

            “Shut the door.”

            Kirk shot Aiden a look, but complied.

            “Uh, Myriah…” said Aiden.

            “Relax, Aiden, we’re still not there.  Over here.”

            She moved over to the costume rack and pushed it aside.  Behind it were three boxes of egg crates that she moved, revealing a handle on the black wooden floor.  She pulled on the metal chain link and a trap door squealed in protest as she wrenched it open.

            “Down here, trust me.”  She climbed down the dirty ladder, dust circling in her wake.

            Aiden shrugged and followed her down, Kirk right behind him.

            “Oh, shut the trap door, Kirk.  Don’t worry, it doesn’t lock anymore,” she said.

            It smelled like a tomb.  There was a thick layer of dust on everything and the room was almost colorless in the faint lamplight.  Random assortments of objects were cluttered in piles around the room.  Among them were bags of sand, pillows, and ripped up cardboard boxes.  Aiden felt a little claustrophobic; the room felt like it was compressing his body.  Then he noticed the foam coating the ceiling and walls.  Soundproofing.  Aside from the few piles of junk, the room was pretty big.

            “Welcome to the Grave of George Madsen,” said Myriah, smiling.

            “Grave?” asked Kirk, alarmed.

            “Kind of, I guess.  It’s a nickname.  One of the old stage workers died down here about twenty years ago.  Tripped a wire and hit his head or something.  People say the auditorium is haunted by his ghost and that this particular room is his gravesite, so nobody comes down here.  It’s the perfect spot for us to practice magic,” said Myriah.  “Oh, come on, don’t tell me you seriously believe in ghosts,” she said judging the look on Aiden and Kirk’s faces.

            “No, no, not at all,” said Aiden.  “It’s just… how did you know this was here?”

            “Surprised you again, have I?  Well, Mrs. Connelly, the choreographer, told me about it.  I met up with her a few weeks ago to talk about the dance team and stuff and she said he died under the stage.  So naturally, I did a little exploring after she left and found the trap door.”

            “By yourself?  Didn’t that, you know… creep you out a little?” said Aiden.

            “No, why would it?  I thought you said you didn’t believe in ghosts.”

            “You’re right, I don’t.  Anyway, that’s where we are then, under the stage?”

            “Yup!  Nobody would ever look for us here and it’s totally soundproof.  The stuff coating the walls and ceiling is good quality, I know so from years of dance and theater, so I guarantee that we won’t be heard, barring some sort of explosion.”

            “Well that’s reassuring,” said Kirk.  “But aren’t you afraid we’ll destroy something?  What if the stage collapses on us?”

            “It wouldn’t, they’re built to withstand a lot of abuse, even the older ones like this stage.   Seriously guys, this place is perfect.  Isn’t it?”

            Aiden looked at Kirk and nodded.  “Yeah, good call, Myriah,” he said, smiling.

            “Thanks.”  He could see her blush a little.  “Now, Aiden, care to start us off?”

            Aiden was caught off guard.  “Start what?”

            “The meeting, of course!”

            “What meeting?”

            “I mean, I don’t think she brought us down here just for fun, man,” chimed Kirk.

            “Alright fine, but why am I starting it and what am I doing?”

            Myriah giggled.  “I just figured that you know the most about magic since you taught Kirk and explained a lot about it to me, so you should be the meeting leader.”

            This made Aiden smile.  He liked feeling like a leader and feeling important.

            “Alright, then.  Fair enough.”  He took a deep breath.  “To start us off, I’d like to make a quick pact, if you guys don’t mind.”

Kirk and Myriah shook their heads.

 “Okay, I say that we keep this as secret as humanly possible.  We tell absolutely no one what we are doing.  Like I was telling Kirk earlier, I get enough crap from people as it is and they don’t even know what truly happened on that first day of gym.  And we also have to be extremely careful in coming here.  If anyone sees us sneaking into here, the principal will probably think that I’m trying to torch this place, too… and then I’ll really be questioned or suspended or whatever.  Deal?”

            “You got it, man,” said Kirk.

            “Sounds good to me,” said Myriah.

            “Okay, cool.  Secondly, I think we should use these meeting times to practice what we can do, or maybe even try new things.  It would be cool to become more advanced… then maybe we could find a practical use for it.  If you think about it, right now, magic is kind of useless to us besides that fact that it’s fun.  We can’t really use it outside of this practice room because we definitely don’t have enough control over it.  Someone could easily see us doing it or we could have another accident like I did.

            “So I vote that we continue to practice for a while before we decide on what to do next.  I think taking it one step at a time is definitely the best way to go about it.  Trying to do too much at once really takes a toll on your mind and body, trust me.”

            Kirk and Myriah both nodded.

            “First thing’s first, though,” said Kirk.  “I think we should make some more room and emergency-proof the place.  We should definitely move this junk that’s lying around and get some stuff ready to fix accidents… fire extinguishers, towels to mop up water… that sort of thing.”

            “Good idea,” said Myriah.

            “Let’s get to it, then.”

            And so they did.  They spent a good part of a half an hour moving things around, sneezing from the dust, looking for lamps for more light, and creating the “emergency station,” as Kirk liked to call it.  He was always extra careful with everything.  Only while cleaning did Aiden realize just how big the room was.  It was almost double the size of the stage above.

            When they finished, it certainly looked a bit neater.  The room didn’t look so barren and abandoned anymore.  They managed to find a few more lights and some active outlets to brighten the place up.  Kirk put on one of the color shades to make a green light, just to give it his personal touch.  He loved anything green.

            “Looks good, guys,” said Aiden.  He checked his phone.  “We still have about an hour before we should head out for the five o’ clock bus.  Kirk, I think you should work on your cyclone a bit, considering you probably haven’t done it since last weekend.”

            “Yeah, you’re right.  Good call,” he said, whipping his sweatband out of his pocket and slapping it across his forehead.

            “And Myriah… we should probably work together first.  I’ll do my best to help you, but I can’t guarantee anything.  It’s not like I can read your mind to see what you’re thinking or seeing.”

            “That’s fine.  I’m sure we’ll get it,” she said, smiling.

            Kirk struggled for a few minutes but was easily able to create his cyclone again.  Myriah gave him an encouraging clap every time he made a good one.

            On the other hand, Myriah wasn’t having much luck.  She said she was having trouble focusing and occasionally complained of feeling weak.  It felt similar to the other times when they would get close.  Maybe she was just nervous, although she had no reason to be. Aiden tried to fix her posture and touch the part of her hand where the water should come out from, but that only seemed to make it worse.  It burned, just like last time.

            “We’re just about out of time, guys… let’s figure out when we’re going to meet again.  My schedule is pretty open since I’m not playing hockey this year, what about you two?” asked Aiden.

            “I’m gonna have track stuff so I can’t make too many guarantees, but Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are looking pretty good for right now,” said Kirk.

            “I’m free all the time, too,” said Myriah.  “And if Kirk can’t make it one of the days, you and I could just come, Aiden.  It looks like I need more practice than he does anyway.” She frowned.

            “You’ll catch up, don’t worry.  How about we make it Monday and Wednesday for now?  I don’t want to do all three days because of homework and such.”

            “Sure,” said Kirk and Myriah in unison.

Over the next few weeks, the three met up on their planned days.  Kirk couldn’t make it a few times, which was alright because it allowed Myriah to catch up, just like they had hoped for.  After eight sessions, she was able to recreate her hand-torrent of water, douse fireballs that Aiden threw at her, and she even healed a burn that Kirk received from one of Aiden’s out of control fire spells.  She was progressing smoothly and quickly, and Aiden was proud of her.

            Kirk improved as well.  His cyclones were very well controlled and he could use them to gather small objects or create patterns in the sand from the sandbags.  He also figured out how to push objects with gusts that came out in straight lines.  He knocked Aiden over a few times, so he was getting very good at casting, to say the least.

            Aiden didn’t have much of a chance to improve, however.  While he did get to practice his spells, he didn’t learn anything new yet.  He spent most of his time at the meetings helping Myriah and Kirk or explaining things about magic.  He finally caved in and decided to tell Myriah about his dreams with Cafaran, now that they were closer and she wouldn’t think that he’s completely nuts.  She seemed to believe every word of it and actually asked him a few times to retell some of the dreams.  She even went as far as wishing that Cafaran would visit her and Kirk in their dreams, too.

            Aiden was also starting to think that a ghost really did live in that room.  Sometimes they would hear noises even when no one was casting and objects in the room seemed to move around on their own.  Myriah was usually pretty quick to pass this off as Kirk’s wind magic knocking things around, but when it happened on sessions when he wasn’t there, she didn’t have an answer.  Even the fearless Myriah was a bit unsure of herself.

            Aside from their sessions, Aiden, Kirk, and Myriah were becoming very good friends.  The three were practically inseparable at this point.  They walked the halls together between classes, ate lunch at their own table, and even managed to get Hazzlok to allow them to work as a group of three at two-person lab tables in Chemistry.  Myriah did the persuading on that one, of course.  Aiden still had a sense of loathing toward Hazzlok even if he was a lot nicer to him now.

            As strange as it sounds, this loathing seemed to work in Aiden’s favor, in a way.  He was struggling through Chemistry because he found it hard to pay attention.  His dislike for Hazzlok made him tune him out; he didn’t exactly like the subject, and with Myriah and Kirk writing notes to him about magic in class, Aiden found it very hard to concentrate.  He had told his parents about how tough Hazzlok was, so he passed off his after school magic sessions with Myriah and Kirk as time spent practicing Chemistry equations with Hazzlok.  It was a small, but necessary, lie.  He got to practice magic and his parents didn’t have to question him.  It was a win-win situation, really.

On the last Wednesday before Thanksgiving recess, the three met up for their usual session.  Myriah and Kirk decided that, as a “thank you” for all of the help that Aiden had given them, they were going to dedicate the day to him.  They wanted to push him to learn a new spell and would be there to help him if anything went wrong.

            “Go big or go home, right?” said Kirk.

            “Yeah, but I don’t know what to do.  I haven’t even thought of an idea for a spell,” confessed Aiden.

            “Oh, don’t worry, I got you covered,” said Myriah.  “What about an explosion or combustion?  I was thinking if you could make little mini-mortars that would be cool.”

            “Wow, you have a lot of faith in me, Myriah,” he laughed.  “I don’t know, it sounds cool, but I’m afraid I’ll destroy something.”

            “Hey, man, we said we got you covered.  I’ll be on standby if anything goes seriously wrong.  Just give it a shot.  What have you got to lose?”

            They made a good point.  He wasn’t going to learn anything new if he didn’t even try, either.  His spell casting was a bit more advanced now, too.  He didn’t need to close his eyes anymore, and he was getting very good at creating projectiles.  Little mortars couldn’t be all that much different from a fireball.  He relaxed his mind and focused deeply.

            “Okay, be ready,” breathed Aiden.

            Little mortars.  Ten feet in front of me.  The size of a baseball.  Pop gently, like a balloon.  Little mortar.

            BOOM.

            A loud noise erupted from behind Aiden.  He whipped around expecting to see flames, but there was nothing.  He looked to Myriah and Kirk.  “Did you see anything?”

            “Not me.  I was looking where you were.  Sounded like it happened behind you, though,” said Kirk.

            “I’ll watch behind you this time… just in case,” said Myriah.

            Aiden nodded and tried again.

            Little mortar.  In front of me.  Front of me.  Ten feet.  Small pop.

            There was silence for a minute. 

            BOOM.

            This time the noise came from his left.  A few boxes that they had stacked tumbled over.  They weren’t destroyed or aflame. 

            “This is weird.  Maybe it’s kind of working?  I’ve never had this sort of thing happen before.  Then again, most of my spells start from my hand… I’ve never tried making them spawn somewhere else,” said Aiden.

            “Then don’t expect to get it on your first try,” said Myriah.  “It’s like you’ve told me, it’s a lot of trial and error.  Change something up a little.”

            “Fair enough.  I’ll envision a little more than just a pop.  Maybe some extra fire this time.  Be ready with that extinguisher, just in case.”

            Aiden focused harder than ever.

            Little mortar.  Flame.  Ten feet in-

            BOOM.

            The noise came from in front of him, from a dark section that the light didn’t touch.

            “Okay, something definitely isn’t right here.  I didn’t even finish my focus that time.  Are you guys messing with me?”

            “Not me, man,” said Kirk.

            “Nope.  Maybe it’s George’s ghost,” teased Myriah.

            “Well, whatever, I’ll just try again.”

            Click.

            All of the lights went out.  Silence filled the room.  Aiden pulled out his phone for light and so did Kirk and Myriah.

            “What’s going on?” asked Kirk.

            “I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” said Myriah.

            “Maybe someone knows… come on; let’s get out of here, just in case.”

            They nodded in agreement and the three walked soundlessly toward the trap door.

            BOOM

            Some more boxes fell over behind them, much closer this time.  They began walking faster, nearly running into the ladder.  Myriah went to shove the trap door open, but it didn’t budge.

            “It’s locked!” she hissed.

            “Don’t worry Kirk, it doesn’t lock anymore…” said Kirk sarcastically.

            “Shh!  Never mind that, this means someone’s been here,” whispered Aiden.  “Come on, we should hide until they leave.  They’ll unlock it when they go up, let’s just wait it out.  This way.”

            They stuffed their phones back into their pockets and moved slowly back to their station in the center.  The three ducked behind a mound of sand bags and waited for the clicking noise of the lock again.

            But it didn’t come.  Just silence and complete darkness.  Whoever was down there was not moving either.  Or had they already gone?  What if they locked the three of them in and they couldn’t get out without calling for help?

            Apparently this thought occurred to Myriah, too.  She leaned in and whispered softly into Aiden’s ear, “Should I text someone to come unlock it for us?”

            “No,” he whispered back.  “Remember the pact.  Let’s just keep waiting.

            CRASH.

            The tall pile of stage equipment fell to the floor, disrupting the silence and making Aiden jump.  He could feel sweat forming on his back.  The sound came from directly in front of them.  Whoever it was, they were certainly still down here, and were very, very close to Aiden and his friends.

            Click.  Click.  Click.

            But it wasn’t the lock making the noise.  No, it was unmistakable.  Footsteps.  They were drawing closer and closer.  Any second now, they would walk straight into them.

            Click.  Click.  Click.

            There was no doubt about it.  Only one person wore those kinds of shoes.

            The lights came back on and a tall, well-dressed man with long, dark hair towered over them, holding the drawstring of the lamp overhead.

            “Mortars, Mr. Brande?  Get off of the floor; the four of us need to have a talk.”