Measureless Magic #1: Chapter 11

I would say "still working on editing Book 5" but that's only true in the broadest sense. I spent most of the past week laid flat with the nastiest cold I've had in a long, long time. But I'm doing better today, so I at least have chapter 11 of Measureless Magic #1 for you.

Oh, also! Apocalypse Parenting #1: Time to Play is available to listen to on Spotify and Audiobooks.com, which is pretty cool. https://podiumentertainment.com/titles/6582/time-to-play

Chapter 11

I have wandered for… I do not know how long I have wandered for. There are other islands out there, yes: most uninhabited, or home only to creatures and plants. I am glad to see the grandelions here. They are a familiar sight anywhere you go in the skies, and have saved me from starvation time and time again. 

• Diary of Temuria the Wanderer

“Oh, thank God,” Raza said.

Ravel barely glanced over.

“Congratulations on making it!” Dee said.

There was a thumping noise as Raza dropped her backpack on the ground. “Same to you. Thought you had died, honestly.”

Dee laughed. “No. I’ve just been sitting here, worried about the rest of you.”

“No red light?”

“No… Ravel told me about it, but there’s been nothing like that here.”

“Rav-? Oh, Threads? What’s gotten into him anyway?”

Dee sighed. “I don’t know. He seemed to have some kind of wild theory that this was all some kind of theater that I was in on. He was trying to get me to ‘admit it’ or something. Eventually, he gave up on that and stopped talking to me. He’s been walking around the room ever since, staring at the walls like they owe him money.”

“Huh. Oh yeah. Fake castle. I guess I could see that. That would be nice. Hmm...” Raza paused. “But if it’s true, you’re not admitting to it anyway, right?”

Dee groaned. “It’s not true.”

“Right, right.” There was another whump. “Well, if the red light isn’t hurting us for resting here, I’m going to get some sleep while I can. Evening bells went off a little bit ago, and it’s been a long day.”

Ravel had been trying to get his fingernails in between two of the textured sections of the wall, but he couldn’t help but look over at Raza’s announcement. She couldn’t be serious could she? But the obnoxious girl was laying down, using her backpack as a pillow, eyes already closed. 

 “You’re kidding.” Ravel couldn’t keep the words from spilling out. “How… how can you do that? You’ve been running through the dark and getting kicked around for hours. You just got here, and you’re just… going to sleep?!”

Raza opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow. “You know what’s going on, Threads? You still think this is fake?”

“No. I… I know. We’re trapped in the castle.” His voice dropped, the final sentence a near-whisper.

“Probably, yeah. And what’s going to happen to us?” she asked.

“How in the infinite skies would I know that?!” 

Raza lifted a hand in a thumbs-up. “Exactly. I have no idea what’s coming next, but I know I’ve got a chance to rest now. That wasn’t possible in the last room, not with that light coming through every few minutes. I can sleep now, but who knows how long that’ll stay true? The light didn’t start immediately in the other room. Even if I can only get an hour sleep, it’s better than nothing. If the light - or something else - starts up again before I wake, we can plan then.”

“And what if the castle kills you in your sleep?” Ravel asked, still aghast.

Raza pursed her lips. “Guess I die, then. Being awake didn’t help anyone in the first room.”

She closed her eyes. 

Unbelievably, she started lightly snoring a few minutes later.

Ravel gave up his inspection of the walls. He hadn’t quite been sure what he was looking for anyway. A hidden door, maybe? But he’d been over every inch of the wall he could reach, and he hadn’t found anything. He walked over to the others.

Dee looked up as he arrived. “What a strange person. Do you think she’s faking?”

“Maybe.” Ravel said. “But she doesn’t seem like the type.”

“Hm. Yeah.”

Ravel sat down against the wall. “I’m sorry. For accusing you of faking things.”

Dee shrugged. “It’s fine. I’d probably have done the same in your place. It’s… been a really bad day, and I don’t think tomorrow is going to be any better. I wish it was fake.”

Ravel nodded. He sat down next to her.

They didn’t say anything else while they waited in silence, but a few minutes later, the slap of footsteps made Ravel look up. He didn’t know the name of the boy who had arrived, but he recognized him as one of the people who’d borrowed chalk to make a map. 

“Thanks for the tips,” the newcomer said. “Helped me figure it out, eventually.”

Ravel nodded, but before he could respond, a girl emerged from the archway, stumbling into the back of the new boy. 

“Not again!” she moaned. “I thought I had it!”

“You did!” Dee called. “This room isn’t the same one.”

Ravel stayed quiet as Dee and the newcomers filled each other in. Apparently, even though he’d let people know he thought he had it figured out, his disappearance hadn’t been taken well. A small group had blocked off the archway, preventing other people from going in at all… until the red light got so bad that the people who’d been staying out started dripping blood.

He cast a glance at Raza, who hadn’t mentioned any of that. She really is a strange person, he thought.

Others kept arriving, sometimes one after another, sometimes with a long wait in between. Ravel didn’t have a clock, but he thought several hours had passed by the time the twentieth person arrived: Anna. 

 He saw her scanning the room and roused himself enough to wave a greeting.

She made her way over, her face pale and tight. “Are we safe here?”

Yes, he wanted to say, but he couldn’t. “Maybe.”

She drew a shaky breath. “The red light?”

“Not yet.”

Anna bit her lip.Then she slid down along the wall, pressing herself up beside him. “Do you… is it okay if I…?”

“Yeah,” Ravel said. “Please!”

He was a little surprised at the desperation in his own voice. He thought Anna was nice, sure, but he’d never been particularly close to her before. But right now, she felt like his best friend.

…

It wasn’t until the familiar peals of morning bells started to sound that Ravel realized that he and Anna had both fallen asleep leaning on each other. He felt his cheeks flush. He didn’t think he felt that way about her? Did he?

Anna looked up at him with wide eyes and quickly glanced away, rolling to the side and running fingers through sleep-matted hair.

“Uh, sorry, I-”

“I didn’t mean to-”

Both of them started talking at once.

Anna laughed ruefully, then shook her head. “This isn’t how I saw my mage training going. But… it’s good not to be alone.”

There were dozens of others in the room, far more than he remembered from the night before, but Ravel knew what she meant. “It is.”

“Oh my God!”

“What the hell is that?!”

The clear fear in the shouts had both Ravel and Anna on their feet in moments, just in time to see a box like the ones that had delivered them into the previous room folding itself away. But this time, the box didn’t hold a person. It held…

Honestly, Ravel wasn’t sure.

“Is it monsters?”

“It’s not moving…”

“Back up! You don’t know what it’ll do if we get close.”

Where the box had been was a multicolored pile of… stuff. Ravel wasn’t sure how to describe it. The shapes were not uniform. Some were oblong, some were almost spheres, and others were lumpy, like poorly-stuffed pillows. None of them looked like they were made of fabric, though. Instead, many of them glistened, reflecting the light like nothing he had ever seen before.

“Are those plastic?” Dee asked. “Those things look kind of familiar to me, and I’m trying to figure out why.”

“What’s plastic?” Ravel asked. “Is it dangerous?”

“It was an ancient material used to make all kinds of things. I’ve never touched any, but I’ve seen it in photos. I don’t think it was dangerous…” Dee frowned. 

“You don’t think so?” asked Anna.

Dee folded her arms awkwardly. “It’s not like I studied for this! I didn’t expect to be here!”

With no reason to do otherwise, the group kept their distance from the strange pile.

Ravel, stood, stretching, and surveyed the room. He could tell at a glance that there were many more people than there’d been when he’d fallen asleep, but he was pretty sure it was far fewer than the first room had held. He counted them and got 38… then quickly corrected himself to “39” as he saw Raza catch herself as she stepped out of the wall beside the new archway.

He glanced up, worried, but the sign over it was still dark.

Reluctantly, he looked at Raza. “Same as the last one?”

She shrugged. “Maybe, but I can’t detect any paths. Either there aren’t any, or they’re way harder to sense. Hey, what are those?”

She pointed at the colorful pile, and it was Ravel’s turn to shrug. “They appeared a minute ago. One of those silvery folding-box things put them here. We’re not sure what they are, and everyone’s been keeping their distance so far.”

He half-expected Raza to run directly into the pile the moment he told her no one else had - she seemed reckless enough - but the girl only frowned thoughtfully and turned to speak to another boy who’d been pushed out of the wall next to the new archway, trying to compare notes.

It’s not hurting them, Ravel realized. I should… probably try to find my way through, too?

Just then a gap opened in the wall behind him, and a boy stumbled out. His face was pale and his eyes were red and baggy. He looked exhausted, and tears were running down his face.

He just made it here from the last room, Ravel realized. He put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

The boy’s head thrashed, a furious negation.

“Did… did the darkness hurt you… or…?

“Not me! Mandy.” The boy started to take a deep breath, but was caught by a sob halfway through. “The castle killed Mandy.”

Dee pulled herself to her feet and came over. “Are you sure? Maybe she’s somewhere else. Everyone thought I died. Maybe there’s more than one place you can end up if you go through the dark maze.”

He shook his head. “No! She wouldn’t go in. She was too scared. She’s always been scared of the dark. I pushed her inside a few times, but she… she wouldn’t go in on her own… and…”

The boy broke off. He slammed a fist into the wall to no effect, then kicked it repeatedly, showing only scuff marks for his trouble. Letting out an inarticulate yell of rage and grief, he moved over to the water faucet and stomped down on it with all his might.

With a metallic tink, the faucet popped straight off the wall and clattered along the floor. The boy stepped toward it, as if to kick it again, when white light enveloped him.

He collapsed to the floor.

Dee started toward him, but was blocked by a crowd of screaming people - some running toward the boy, others away.

Ravel stood up and shouted. “Hey! Get out of her way! She’s from Urchin. Let her check on him.”

A few people moved aside, but most people ignored him, and ignored Dee, who was struggling to keep her balance as she made her way over. 

Ravel caught her hand, steadying her, then stepped in front of her, shouldering his way through the crowd and helping her through.

Eventually, they made it over. Dee knelt next to the boy and dropped Ravel’s hand. She grabbed the boy’s limp wrist with shaking hands and carefully lifted it to hold against her face.

“Well?” Ravel asked, worried.

Dee shook her head. “He’s dead.”

“Are you… are you sure?” 

Dee swallowed, her eyes widening with something like hope. “Well… it can be hard for me to be sure. I… I can’t check it the regular way very well. But I can tell you how to.”

Ravel knelt down and Dee walked him through the process, offering him her wrist and telling him where to rest his fingers - just below her thumb - and making sure he could feel the faint pulse of her blood as it rushed to and from her fingers. 

Hesitantly, he reached down for the fallen boy’s arm.

He set his fingers in the same place.

He felt nothing.

Perfect stillness.