.

Chapter going up tomorrow night instead.  Sorry all!

Chapter 8

                        Chapter 8: The Figure in the Dark

            It was Hazzlok.

            It was Hazzlok all along.

            He made the boxes fall over.  He made the lights go out.  He was responsible for all of the noises and objects being rearranged, not George’s ghost.

            He had been down there many times, it seemed.  But just how many times had he been watching them?  How much did he see?  How much did he even comprehend?  Why didn’t he tell the principal?  Better yet, how did he even know that they were down there practicing?

            There were so many questions that Aiden wanted to ask Hazzlok right now, but couldn’t.  His hatred for him had just reached a whole new level.  His anger was mingling with a great sense of urgency and fear as a new thought occurred to him.

            Hazzlok had discovered Aiden trying to make mortars.  Mortars.  It doesn’t matter that he wasn’t trying to destroy anything.  It doesn’t even matter that he didn’t want them to be any bigger than a cereal bowl.  To anyone on the outside looking in, it certainly appeared as if the boy who set the locker room on fire was looking further into pyromania and methods to terrorize and deface the school.  He would most certainly be taken to the principal’s office where he would promptly be expelled.

            Which meant that his parents would ground him for life.

            Which also meant that his days of practicing magic were about to come to a swift end.

            Aiden never felt worse in his life than he did right now.  He remained silent, waiting for Hazzlok to chew the three of them out and march them down to the office.  Aiden didn’t even dare to look at Myriah or Kirk.  He hung his head and did not let his eyes stray from the ground.

            “First thing’s first, you three,” said Hazzlok.  “Do you have any idea how many school rules you have broken today, alone?  I must tell you, what you have been doing is completely and utterly foolish.”

            Nobody said a word.  Aiden remained focused on the floor.

            “Believe me; I have every reason to expel all three of you.  I have been to nearly every one of your ‘meetings’ and have seen everything.”

            Everything.  Every meeting.  But how?

            “Though maybe your intentions have been good, and although you have tried to be secretive, you have also been quite careless.  Talking about meetings in class, suddenly becoming so friendly with one another, alienating your other classmates and friends… it was quite obvious that you were up to something.  Do you realize that you could have easily been overheard?  Or followed for that matter?

            “And suppose that someone did follow you.  Suppose that they saw you creating flames, water, and cyclones out of thin air.  Your history is against you, Aiden.  It would have seemed like malicious destruction on your part once again.”

            He really had seen everything.

            “I already covered for you once, Aiden.  It took a fair bit of convincing for me to portray that you had absolutely nothing to do with the locker room fire, were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, and that you walked away unscathed because of a certain chemical leak that coated your skin with a layer of protection.  I can get away with such lies because I am a respected Chemist and nobody would dare question me.  This is why you were not called in for questioning by the Board of Education or the police department for that matter.  Had you been discovered down here, I am not sure what kind of lies I could feed the Board again.”

            Aiden was stunned.  “You… covered for me?”  His voice was meek and barely audible.  “But, how did you – er, why?”

            “I certainly could not afford to have you expelled, Aiden.  I knew that I had to keep a close eye on you, and now, the two of you as well,” he said, pointing at Myriah and Kirk.  “But I suppose you are still a bit confused.  Maybe you’d rather like to ask me how I know what I do?  How I knew what happened on that first day, how I knew where you were meeting, how I knew what you have been doing?”

            Aiden tried to respond, but could not find words.  He merely nodded his head once.

            Hazzlok straightened himself and pulled his pen-pointer from his breast pocket and extended it as he had done on the first day of class.  He raised it high into the air.

            A great wall of flame erupted from the dusty floor and immediately surrounded Aiden, Kirk, and Myriah.  They were closed off from Hazzlok, trapped within this circling inferno.  It was bright and the heat was intense.  The flames began to form shapes: people, swords, and the head of a mighty Chinese dragon that bolted around the room and left a blaze in its trail.

            Aiden could see Hazzlok through the fire in front of him.  His pen-pointer was moving gracefully, like an orchestra conductor’s wand, guiding the movements of the fire dragon.  His eyes remained focused and unblinking.  He then gave a swift, upward striking motion and the flames immediately died out.

            “Let us just say, Aiden, that I very well know fire magic when I see it,” said Hazzlok, grinning.

            Absolutely nothing could have prepared him for this.  Aiden’s jaw dropped to his chest.  He was blown away, as were Myriah and Kirk.

            “You have got… to be kidding me,” said Kirk.

            “Wow…” said Myriah in awe.

            “Yes, it is true.  I am a mage, just like you,” said Hazzlok.

            This was simply unbelievable.  Hazzlok, of all people.  The man who Aiden disliked so very much was now an insanely powerful fire mage.  In many respects, he was just like Aiden… or rather that Aiden was much like him.

            Maybe this was why Hazzlok was nicer to Aiden after that first day.  He must have known that Aiden was a mage all along.  He even admitted to covering up the locker room incident.  Yes, he definitely knew.

            “Does this mean you’re not going to expel us?” asked Aiden.

            Hazzlok laughed.  “No, not at all.  In fact, quite the opposite actually.  You see, we have much to discuss now and I rather think that we should be a little friendlier with one another, if you understand what I am getting at,” he said, leering at Aiden.

            Aiden sighed.  “Fair enough.”

            “Excellent,” said Hazzlok.  “As I said, we have much to discuss, so where shall we begin?  I suppose you have some questions for me, so I will humor you with answers.”

            Myriah spoke first.  “Mr. Hazzlok?”

            “Please, Myriah, just ‘Hazzlok’ is fine.  I think we should ditch the formalities, personally.  We are all on the same level and I do not want to be viewed as superior to you three.”

            “Well, alright then, Hazzlok.  How did you know where we were meeting?  We never talked about that in class, and I’ve been very careful to make sure the coast was clear before we came down here… how did you find out?” she asked.

            Hazzlok smiled and sat down on one of the piles of sandbags.  He gestured at the rest of them to do the same.  “It’s simple, really.  I read your minds.”

            “You did what?” said Aiden.

            “I read your minds; saw what you were thinking… that sort of thing.  Really, I would have guessed that you figured that out by now.  How else would I know?  As you may have seen, I make a terrible spy, judging by the copious amount of boxes and objects that I have knocked over down here in my time of watching you.”

            “You can really read minds?  That’s possible?” asked Myriah.

            “Of course! It is an advanced spell belonging to fire mages, and I must say, it comes in handy quite often.  Don’t worry, though… I have only used it when necessary.  Some of the thoughts that go through your heads I’d rather not see.”

            “Well that’s a load of crap,” said Kirk, throwing his hands in the air.  “How come you guys get to read minds and all I get is a little gust of wind?  I want something cool, too.  Is there anything like that for wind mages, Hazzlok?”

            “Yes, indeed, Kirk.  And you shall find out in due time, I must say.”

            Aiden suddenly became very interested in the floor again.  “Umm, Hazzlok?  If you can read minds, I just want to say that I never truly meant any malicious thought that ever crossed my mind that you might have happened to see…”

            Hazzlok laughed.  “It is alright, Aiden.  I must also apologize for the way I treated you on the first day of class.  I was rather… bent out of shape, you could say.  But the past is the past; we have a clean slate now.”

            Aiden smiled and nodded a “thank you.”

            “That spell you cast… that was pretty incredible,” said Kirk.  “How long have you been a mage?”

            “Oh, about seven years I would guess, now.  Yes, that spell is one of my favorites.  It’s flashy, but very dangerous.  It is called the Ring of the Firedrake.”

            “Spells have proper names?” asked Myriah.

            “Indeed.  Many do, as they have been around for centuries and have been passed down through generations.  However, new spells come about and don’t necessarily have names.  Some people like to keep their inventions secret, you know.  That particular spell I performed is relatively new.  I invented it, and named it promptly.”

            “Wow… that’s crazy,” said Aiden.  “So if you’re a fire mage… does that mean that there are spells you can teach me?”

            Hazzlok nodded.  “Yes, there are hundreds of spells to be learned, Aiden.  And judging by how well you three have progressed, I daresay you might be able to invent some of your own one day.”

            Myriah blushed.  Aiden and Kirk turned to each other and grinned widely.

            “I have a question, actually,” said Myriah.  “The three of us have noticed that we glow the color of our element sometimes… why is it that we never noticed you glowing?”

            “Usually, only fresh mages glow.  It is one of those unexplainable phenomena, you see.  For many mages, the glow goes away on its own, and for others, they learn how to suppress it.”

            “Yeah, I think we need to learn how to do that,” said Aiden.  “If my parents saw me glowing red they would take me straight to the emergency room.”

            “Actually, they wouldn’t be able to see it, Aiden.  Nor any magic you do for that matter, sort of.  Magic is only truly visible to other mages, being that the first step to becoming a mage is believing that magic itself is real.  To those who cannot do magic, or ‘Normals,’ as we like to call them, it merely appears as a trick of the light or a hallucination.

            “For example, if Kirk were to make a gust that snapped a tree branch, the four of us would see the purple and gray aura of the spell as it traveled and sliced through the branch.  To a Normal, they would only sense the wind pick up and see the branch crack, passing it off merely as nature taking its course.  This is most helpful as it keeps our secret relatively safe,” said Hazzlok.

            “Oh, that reminds me,” said Kirk.  “Why does magic have to be such a big secret if there are so many people who can do it?  Like, Aiden wouldn’t get made fun of so bad if everyone knew he could do magic.  They’d think he was awesome instead of some freak.  Why don’t we just tell people?”

            Hazzlok laughed again.  “Ah, yes, you still have much to learn.  You see, there are several reasons why we keep magic hidden from the rest of the world.  For one, we are actually few and far between.  The fact that this school has more than one mage in it is highly uncommon.  More than two is just absolutely unheard of.  The mages in the United States comprise of less than one percent of the population.

            “If people were to know of our abilities, there would surely be laws put in place to suppress us.  Our powers would be viewed as a threat.  We would be alienated, oppressed, angry… which would lead to an uprising, which would lead to war and destruction.  The last thing we need is another war.

            “On top of that, many mages are born because they enjoy the novelty and fascination of magic.  They do not use it for personal gain, but more for entertainment.  As you have demonstrated, Kirk, it takes only determination and belief to become a mage, for some.  Yes, some natural ability is required, but not much.  It is quite easy to teach magic, actually. 

“Now imagine a world where anybody could do magic if they wanted it badly enough.  We have enough dangerous and power-hungry people who use guns and weapons to get what they want… imagine if they could read minds, become invisible, heal themselves, and gain an extra layer of protective armor on their skin on top of that?  The world would fall to chaos.”

            Kirk looked as if he’d seen George’s ghost.  “Man… I never thought of that.”

            Aiden stopped to think for a moment.  “I noticed that you said less than one percent of the U.S. population is made up of mages… that’s still a lot of people.  How has the secret stayed, well… secret?” he asked.

            “A good question, Aiden.  Simply put, almost all mages work for or belong to a single company.  This helps us monitor all magic in the U.S.  We are based in New York and are known as CIMPLE.”

            “Wait, like, the Control of Imports and Monitored Production of Legal Exports kind of CIMPLE?  I used to live in New York,” said Myriah.

            “Precisely, Myriah.  Although, that is our code name.  A small portion of the company does the import and export thing, but the real reason we were created was to keep an eye on all magic.  Our real name is actually The Containment of International Magical Practice and Law Enforcement.  We are sort of the like a mage’s government, and there is one in every country.  This is how we keep order across the globe,” said Hazzlok matter-of-factly.

            “But how do you keep track of so many people?” asked Aiden.

            “With people like me, of course!  Tens of thousands of us work as Scouts across the country.  We are assigned to work in certain positions and we monitor any use of magic in our areas.  This is why I intervened at the principal’s office on the first day of school, to cover your tracks.  And then, as part of my job, I kept a close eye on you, to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid, destructive, or illegal.  If you wanted, I could probably get the three of you jobs as Scouts when you graduate.  It pays well and is quite fun.”

            The three exchanged looks of excitement.

            “That does sound pretty cool,” said Kirk.  “Sure beats doing accounting or something like that.  So what do you do when you find a mage… just stalk them and make sure they don’t ruin things?”

            “Well, normally, I would approach them immediately and have this same sort of conversation that we are having now.  Then I would take them to headquarters and we could discuss career options with the proper people.”

            “So you’re going to take us to New York!?” Myriah asked excitedly.

            “Yes, eventually.  I promise.”

            “What do you mean eventually?  What are we waiting for?” asked Aiden.

            “Yeah, why didn’t you just stop us at the second or third meeting and talk to us then?  Weren’t you afraid that we’d blow the school up or something?” asked Kirk.

            Hazzlok scratched the back of his head.  “Ah, er – yes, well, of course, you are still a bit too young to have a career with us since you have yet to graduate so I felt no particular rush in taking you to headquarters,” he stumbled.

            Aiden got the feeling that he wasn’t being entirely truthful.  “Okay, but that doesn’t answer Kirk’s question.  Why did you spy on us for so long?”

            Hazzlok sighed and dropped his hands, slapping his knees.  “Well… I suppose there was no avoiding this.  How should I put this?  You see, you three are… well… a special case.  Sort of like an exception to the rule.”

            They exchanged puzzled looks.

            “To be perfectly honest, if I had taken you to headquarters a few weeks ago, you’d be somewhat of celebrities.  I was not sure if that would be the best thing for you all right now, so I decided to wait.  I wanted to know more of what you could do.  I wanted to see how you handled magic.  I was fascinated by your camaraderie.  Maybe it sounds selfish, but I think I made the right decision,” said Hazzlok.

            “What do you mean?  Why would we be celebrities?” asked Myriah.

            Hazzlok paused and stood up.  He paced in circles for a moment.  “I suppose I will start with the easier of the two.”  He heaved a deep sigh.  “To put it simply, mages do not blossom until they reach adulthood.  And by adulthood, I mean eighteen years of age.  The three of you are sixteen, yes?”

            They nodded.

            “So you are performing magic two years younger than you should be.  Do you see what I mean?  The people at CIMPLE would flock to you like a mindless paparazzi,” he said.

            “So it’s kind of like those teenagers you see on American Idol and stuff, I get it,” said Kirk.

            “Yes, but there is much more to it, I am afraid,” said Hazzlok.  “It is sort of hard to explain.  Perhaps I will let Mr. Raine explain it to you when we get to headquarters.  He is better at this sort of thing.”

            “Alright, but just because we are young shouldn’t make us famous or anything,” said Aiden.  “There’s something else, isn’t there?  You said there was.”

            “Patience, Aiden, please.  Yes, there is something else.  Again, this is slightly hard to explain, so bare with me.  Myriah… do you ever feel different around Aiden?  Something that you don’t normally feel around others?”

            Myriah immediately turned pink.  “I – what?  I don’t know what you mean,” she stammered.

            “Forgive me, I should rephrase that.  Have you ever felt a little weak or light-headed around each other?”

            Aiden looked over at Myriah and nodded.

            “Yeah,” Aiden interjected.  “We’ve actually collapsed around each other a few times.  And you probably saw us during some of the meetings… she said she had trouble focusing when I was close by.”

            “Precisely.  You see, as it stands, mages typically only, er – get along well with those of the same element.  Even at headquarters, we are divided elementally.  For example, a fire mage might be able to cooperate with a wind mage, but eventually they will butt heads and argue.  The fact that you two – (he pointed at Aiden and Kirk) – are best friends is nothing short of marvelous.

            “On the other hand, opposing elements are a more severe case.  At CIMPLE, our fire mages are on the complete opposite end of the building to the water mages.  If we put the two together, they would tear each other apart.  To put it simply, think of it in terms of science… water douses a flame, fire melts ice… the same holds true for earth and wind.  They oppose as well.”

            “So, you’re saying that Myriah and I should have been at each other’s throats by now?” asked Aiden.

            “Yes.”

            “So that explains why it burns when our hands touch…” said Myriah.

            “Exactly.  The fact that you were even able to teach her how to cast some spells is a miracle in and of itself.  Opposing elements generally loathe each other, but for you two, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

            Aiden felt slightly embarrassed.  “So let me get this straight… the three of us shouldn’t get along, but we do… and that makes us special?” he said.

            “Yes.  If I brought you to headquarters now, you three would glow, people would see you walking and talking together… add that on top of the fact that you still look, and are, very young… well, it would draw a lot of attention.  Yes, I think if we are to go to headquarters, it will have to be a sudden and secretive move.”

            Aiden thought about this for a moment in the lull of the conversation.  “Why not just go now then?  As in, right this second?”

            Hazzlok let out a deep, hearty laugh.  “I admire your eagerness, Aiden, but you are forgetting some things.  What would your family think if you told them you were leaving for New York tonight?  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, you haven’t packed or anything… it would be highly suspicious and unorthodox.  Not to mention that I have to clear a meeting with my superior first, anyway.”

            Aiden felt his ears turn red.  It kind of was a dumb thing to say.

            “Don’t worry, I promise I will take you all to headquarters.  But first, there are two things that I would like you to do for me in exchange.”

            Aiden couldn’t figure out why, but he certainly believed everything Hazzlok had told them.  In a way, he kind of reminded him of Cafaran.  He made Aiden realize that there was so much more to magic than he thought.  And despite how much he disliked the guy over the last few months, he could not help but appreciate and respect him now.  He was being so helpful.  So understanding.  So… cool.

            “Sure, what’s up?” said Kirk.

            “One, I want the four of us to continue having these meetings.  I wish to monitor and observe your magical progression.  I will even teach you a few spells, Aiden.  I believe that there will be much to gain from consistently practicing together.”

            “Okay, easy enough,” said Myriah.

            “And secondly, I would like you to do your absolute best to recruit a fourth mage to include into this practice regiment.  He is a fresh mage like you three, so I don’t think he quite understands exactly what he is doing just yet.  Perhaps you could talk to him?”

            “Like Myriah said… easy enough,” said Kirk.

            “I wouldn’t be so confident, Kirk.  You see, there are a few things that I am weary about with this whole operation.  I should mention that he is most definitely an earth mage, so that is obstacle number one.  Just because the three of you work together so well right now doesn’t necessarily mean things will be just as fine with the four of you together.  Magic is like Chemistry… if you add one extra item to the concoction, sometimes it explodes.

            “I should also note that when I said he is a fresh mage, I mean fresh as in he performed his first bit of magic a few days ago.  I am not sure if he even believes what he did.  Some people cast their first spell on accident.  He might be scared, which could also mean that he will be very resilient.  You must be persistent with him, even if he refuses to believe anything you have to say.”

            “We get your point,” said Aiden.  “Just tell us who it is and we can give it a shot when we get back from break on Monday.  It will be a little awkward approaching a total stranger about magic, especially if he’s older than we are, but it’s worth a try.”

            “Actually, he, too, is an underage mage.  You all know him… he’s in our Chemistry class,” said Hazzlok.

            “Well… who is it?” asked Myriah.

            “Garret Spire.”

           

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.”