"A what?" Corinth asked.

"I don't know how!" Lindle cried from above.

"Lindle, you have to!" Anvard didn't have a shred of patience left in him.

"How can I do something I have no idea about?!!!" he shouted with a ferocity neither Anvard nor Corinth had seen in him since they met.

"Tell him a spell," Corinth said softly to a nearby Anvard.

"Lindle, use Doble. It means double in Maledictus!" Anvard was trying to avoid the inevitable truth that he didn't know the rest of the spell either.

"I can't!" Lindle cried out.

"Lindle, shut up! You don't know-if you don't try!" Corinth was taking control. "You have to tell him an exact spell, hurry!"

Anvard's mind went blank. "Well, it always starts with...with .... Doble!" he shouted, trying to pull the information from the depths of his mind, even though he had already given that piece of information. It was the rest that was in question. "Doble, then...."

"Come on!" Corinth encouraged.

"It's Doble then ... Uh!" Stalling, Anvard said, "you know, we used to speak Maledictus in Lirio more. But now it's just..."

"Anvard! Shut your mouth about Lirio-and think. Think hard!" Corinth felt the cart rocking. It seemed like a warning that the atmosphere was about to change, drastically. He could see that neither of them had a clue to any double spells. Though Anvard had witnessed the affects of a boy using one at the Levanta.r.s.e game. But that wasn't the one he needed to break the track anyway.

Corinth decided he had no choice. His hands were already attached to Anvard's. He tried to go easy, but he had to search the deepest parts of his mind to find this hidden word, trapped far down below. Anvard's mind was so clouded by fear, confusion and pain. Corinth could feel his heart racing as if it were in his own chest. He kept digging as far as he could without hurting Andy.

The two of them struggled to hold on, grappling with every b.u.mp the leaning coaster hit. Then suddenly, Anvard startedto shake. His body now convulsing on the side of their cart. Corinth was so entrenched inside of Andy's head that the big boy began seizing up. The trauma of Corinth poking around in his mind sent him off the deep end. Corinth had no idea how to gently navigate people's thoughts yet. His grip on the bar started to wane, but Corinth held on even tighter to him.

"Aniquilar!!!" he shouted into the sky, as he let go of his hold on Anvard's mind. The big boy suddenly felt himself again, and reaffirmed his grip on the bar that his fading spell allowed him to keep touch with.

"Doble Aniquilar! Do it now, Lindle!"

"I can't aim it from my seat!" he yelled back.

"Then get up!" Anvard and Corinth yelled simultaneously.

Lindle took a deep breath and looked down at the waters of the lake. The cart still t.i.tled to its side, he could see straight down. If he unfastened his strap, he'd just fall, unless he held on tight enough to the bars above his head to support his own weight. "Guys, this is a bit much," he voice grew weaker with every word.

"Lindle, I know you want to stay on the side lines and hope for the best, but we can't do this unless you help out. Please, don't let this be the end. You wanted to come for a reason. We ignored the caution signs for a reason. This wasn't supposed... to be ...this dangerous, but we're already in it now. We have to do the best we can to get out of it alive."

Corinth sounded off, not through the airwaves in the atmosphere, using his voice, but he spoke inside of Lindle's mind. Something he hadn't done since he realized he could do any such things to begin with. It was one of his easier tricks. Rather than searching through peoples a.s.sorted thoughts, he just told them what he was thinking.

Lindle reluctantly pressed the two green b.u.t.tons on each side of his brace. With his llave in hand, he pulled against the bars overhead. The wind force was lighter outside of the tunnel through the mountains, but still present. He was wobbly, but he was already out of his straps and there was no going back now. He pulled himself out and up to the opposite end of the cart from where Corinth and Anvard still dangled.

"You can do it!" Anvard shouted in support.

Corinth shushed him. "He needs to focus."

"People love encouragement. It makes them feel stronger. I should think a physic would know that very well," Anvard was a nice fellow, but he didn't always say the right things at the appropriate times.

Lindle fearfully crawled across the top of the tilted cart. He was a skinny guy, but the redistribution of his weight made the cart even shakier.

"Lindle, just do it from there. Now!" Corinth shouted, quickly forgetting his own advice.

"I can't aim, if I can't see. And I've never used a spell like this before," he spoke nervously and carefully. He thought if he even yelled too loud he'd lose balance and be headed toward a death spiral into the lake far below. "Why again are we doing this?" Another cart gave warning that it would be ripped from its magnetic gears to the track soon if they didn't act. Sparks from up ahead flew all over the place, making Lindle take cover. He ducked down and covered his head with both arms.

"Lindle, you have to do it now! Don't aim, just shoot." Corinth instructed him. "It doesn't matter anymore!"

"I can't!" He didn't bother to lift his head from underneath his own comforting arms.

"Do it now, or I'll come up there and kill you myself!" Corinth couldn't help but shout. Lindle's fear had become a huge liability, but he was still their only hope. Both arms were growing weaker. Anvard's -Endurespell was wearing faint. They couldn't keep it up much longer.

Lindle raised his head with squinted eyes. He was afraid of the sparks. He couldn't see a thing his vision was so blurry. He long ago lost his unnecessary wire rim gla.s.ses. He heard voices calling out, but he wasn't listening anymore. He poured all of his energy into repeating the words Corinth had told him to say. He focused as much as he could, and pushed for the moment.

"DOBLE ANIQUILAR!".

The two white orbs of light generated by his llave came thrusting out together. They lit up the sky around them, and further blinded Lindle from seeing ahead, just like the continuous sparks from the other carts did. He lost balance and fell back down through the bars. He hit the bottom side, where Corinth and Anvard were. He straddled the bar, clinging to it for dear life. He noticed his llave was no longer in his hand. By then, it had already started its drop into the lake below.

The lights of the spell flashed only a moment before Lindle got his wits back from the tumble. They shot high above the coaster into the sky. So luminous that they could be seen for miles. They crossed one another, and came back down in a death spiral of their own. The three boys could only hope they wouldn't miss, because the sparks from the cart just in front of their own became more intense, raining down too close to their heads. They'd be fried to death sooner rather than later if the spell missed its mark. Corinth realized that derailing a speeding train wasn't as seamless as he thought it'd be. The lights struck the two metallic edges of the rail in unison.

Immediately after, the track began its descent into the North Lake. It broke just a little beyond the center of the lake, as the rest of the blast created a shockwave of destruction up ahead. The cart ahead of theirs flipped over, as the track beneath it disintegrated. The track crumpled for at least a dozen yards ahead, sending gla.s.s and metal spewing everywhere. The fiery cart before theirs in the row began plunging toward the lake at about the same time their cart did.

The three of them were on the inside falling with half the weight of the cart's metal bottom on their heads. It was better than all the weight, as Corinth tried to explain to them before. They could climb to the top if they had enough time, he thought. But they were physically sapped. They simply didn't have the leverage and definitely not the time. The track was high above the lake, but it wouldn't take more than a solid minute to merge with the murky waters below.

"Brace yourselves!" Corinth called out. He knew that the fall wouldn't kill them from above, but below. Unless, of course, one of the bars caught them on the head. But the crash into the water would create a pressure that may very well crush them. He thought maybe they should have stayed on, but he knew that wouldn't have given them any fighting chance. Their cart had already caught fire, and was the next in line to be flung off the track by the faulty engines and magnetism stripes running along its edges. But he didn't understand why his dream pulled him to do this, because falling through the sky was no clear solution to their problem. He realized he had no clue what he doing at this point, and just let the gravity of the situation takeover.

As they prepared themselves for certain death, time seemed to drastically slow around them all. Almost intentionally, Corinth felt. Then suddenly, Anvard called out, breaking Corinth's transfixed revelation that time wasn't pa.s.sing at its normal rate. "Get closer, Curly!" his tone was completely out of context, even to Corinth. He moved quickly to Anvard's side. "Don't let go of me, or else it won't work!" he said quickly, then immediately initiated his escape plan. He still had his llave clutched tightly in his hand, pressed up against the bar he clung to. They were so close to the water that their clothes started to wet with the mist.

He was a grade-A wielder of magik, Anvard. That's why he knew for sure that he wasn't able to pull off the teleportation spell while hanging from the side of the cart. Or even if he was just sitting on his bed in his dorm, as comfy as could be. Not very far, at least. Disa.s.sembling and rea.s.sembling yourself was no small feat. Better yet, with two additional people along for the ride. He needed them close. He feared that his lacking strength couldn't pick them up unless they were tethered to him. It was the only useful idea that came to mind. He couldn't angle his llave anywhere, nor put it into rotation. Without the extra power generated by rotation, he'd have to use his residual gut strength, just like Sena. Hendrix did to bring down all three of those helicopters with her wand back at the Pavilion.

"Teletransportar De Tres!!!" Andy gave more than he had to try to save them. A blue and gray plume of smoke carried the -three of them from the bottom end of the plummeting coaster. All the way-to the top. They weren't far from the coaster as it crashed into the lake. The surge of water flew up into the air, as they were temporarily frozen by Andy's quick acting spell. Their ascension over the North Lake couldn't last long though. The spell kept them suspended for a time. But what goes up, does come back down.

Corinth noticed that Anvard was incapacitated. Overdosed. And Lindle was flailing like a scared cat being toss into bathwater. Their bodies detached from one another as the spell began to wear. They started to fall again, but Corinth was determined to survive. He reached forward and pried Anvard's llave from his right hand.

Once he got it, he shouted out loud with the fierce nature his mother tried so desperately hard to instill in him when they vigorously trained-"Aer Pellabor!" Though Anvard's golden pixie llave burst into a brilliant display of bright dust . . . the spell worked!

All three boys were rewarded for their diligence with a set of makeshift transparent wings that sprouted from their backs. Their bodies glided through the sky, moving away from danger.

It was the first time Corinth had ever come through with a spell, but still his cursed way with llaves persisted. He was reminded of his imperfect ability to wield magik as the gold pixie dust swirled about in front of his face. Catching up with the winds, twirling around the night sky over the lake.

His mom always thought that a person's true potential shined through when under pressure. She tried to teach him how to air glide off their roof. But he felt like she was just teaching him how to fall, over and over again. Julia was the only one who ever made any headway with teaching Corinth to wield, but they didn't get very far. Despite her most dire efforts, she could never get him to master even one spell. Especially, Aer Pellabor. He broke his first bone tumbling off their roof in Graysonville, Draconia. He was trying to produce these very wings that would slowly guide him down, instead of him just dropping like a stone. He finally did it. He figured his mom was right, as he came in for a soft landing, far away from the wreckage of the coaster. Extreme pressure did help him think a lot more clearly.

Lindle came in gently as well. Anvard's body came in smooth too, but his peace of mind, not so much. He was barely conscious after that teleport spell drained him. When his face touched the cool waters of the North Lake, he instantly sprung back to life. Kicking and fighting that life, like it was trying to kill him. He splashed Corinth and Lindle, but they were already soaked anyway as they too were floating in the middle of the dreary lake. They watched the burning wreckage from about a mile away. Anvard came to his senses, once he realized that his spastic fidgeting was the cause of him feeling like he was drowning. He swam closer to join the two smaller boys. They all bobbed in the water nervously, looking back at the destruction they caused.

"Sena. Hendrix is going to have our heads on platters! Do you know how much this is going to cost the school?" Lindle exclaimed, right into Cory and Andy's ears. They cringed as he panicked loudly.

It's all too funny how quickly a person can mentally adjust. Just minutes ago, he was fighting for his life. Now he's worried about getting detention.

Chapter 24:.

Severe Unions

May 23, 1002 ~ Nightfall "So Nexus, we meet yet again. I know you can hear me from inside the heart, the mind, and most certainly the soul of this wretched little abomination, posing as a savior. Trust, your views will be most different once I possess you. The El Muerte Vivo curse will make sure of it."

Corinth was still unconscious, but coming to. He dreamed of the crashing coaster, and floating beside Anvard and Lindle. He saw the sky blacken above them. Clouds rolled in while lightning poured from this dark sky, hitting the water all around them. They felt little shocks against their skin with every strike. The water started to spin counter clockwise. An intimidating whirlpool opened up. The already eerie North Lake became a lot more mysterious when the spiraling waters sucked them in, resembling the mouth of a roaring dragon swallowing them whole.

Corinth opened his eyes while lying on a stone altar. He could barely see, but he noticed-Walker standing in front of him. He tried to take a swing at him, but brown leather straps on either end restricted his arms and legs. "Walker ... why?"

The man laughed with a distinctive peculiarity to his tone. "He thinks I'm that fool!" The lady beside him chuckled as well.

Corinth's eyes began adjusting to the low light of the creepy place. He heard water dripping and dripping from every direction. The atmosphere was wet and stuffy. He fully opened his eyes, and understood why they laughed at him. A blond-haired man stared down at an electronic tablet in his delicate looking hands. He didn't look that much like Walker at all really. His hair wasn't curly, and it was a few shades lighter blond. His -skin was also a few shades lighter than Walker's. He had on more stylish clothing too. A full black suit, b.u.t.ton up and all. Paired with a white-collared shirt peeking out from underneath it. His gray eyes made Corinth immediately think of the Deaves overseer. Sena. Mira had the same gray eyes as this fellow. She was the only person Corinth had ever met from Imperativo, so she was his only point of reference in the differing shades of gray their eyes took.

Though he didn't recognize the man, he certainly knew who the woman beside him was. His rotations ministrant, Sena. Lilith. She still reminded him of his mother so much. They were nearly identical, though her skin was more olive tone like his own. His mother's skin was more liken to the mysterious man that began walking away. He ventured down into the large opening in the rocks. Corinth saw him step down a few of the stairs, and then the staircase twisted downward away from his line of sight.

"What are you doing, Sena. Lilith?" She didn't even look up from her tablet. "What's going on? Where are my frien-"

"Shut up, child!" she sounded more than just serious as she interrupted him. Her green eyes lit up like glow sticks.

He couldn't believe how she could have hidden an atrocious att.i.tude like that in every single rotations cla.s.s. She presented herself with a certain sense of patience in cla.s.s, just like his mom always had when they trained. But suddenly, with that outburst, she didn't look so much like Julia to him anymore. He had no idea what was going on. He heard footsteps. He turned, and saw the face of Sebastian Wilc.o.x coming up the staircase the other man just left from. Suddenly, he came to the somber realization that he wasn't dreaming a moment ago.

"Welcome, Corinth. How very nice to have finally met you... without being shocked half to death by orbiting aura rays, that is. Trust me, you look much better out of that coc.o.o.n the Nexus seems to think you require. But, I bet you're a big enough boy now to be able to handle yourself, on your own, just fine."

He walked over with a strut befitting of a much younger man. Corinth figured he was at least sixty years old. But his emphatic confidence was powerful, and certainly frightening.

"I saw you produced some angel wings out there, over North Lake. Quite a feat, my little friend. I wasn't able to master many spells in Maledictus until I was a man. Of course, we only had wands back then. Your friend Anvard relies on the rotation of his llave to be able to produce the power he wields in the cursed language. As you witnessed, he could barely teleport without the rotation. But it's a good thing you persuaded them to drop the railcar with you, or else his short-lived teleportation would have sent you three colliding with that fiery cart, and certain death. However, you-you performed a Maledictus spell much better and without being in rotation. You should be proud! That language is so complex, you know. Blended from several others, long before the time of the Great Eight. You are a part of history today young man, in more ways than you realize."

He tilted his head to the side as he rested his arms on the altar, directly in front of Corinth. He crouched down so that they were eye level now. Corinth was too afraid to speak. Sebastian could see it in his eyes. So, he tried to calm the scared child strapped down against his will on the altar before him. Sebastian didn't want to have to use his last resort to keep the boy conscious just yet.

"Don't be afraid, young one. I won't hurt you. Not even a little bit. This is a promise! A promise that I am making to-you." He touched Corinth's chest with his index finger as he said the last word. The turquoise-eyed boy winced insultingly. Sebastian twisted up his lips, and bit down on his tongue. He hated children with a pa.s.sion. He wanted to rip the tired boy up off the altar. Just start the transfer now. But he knew that type of fear would activate a subconscious response in the boy. A force from within Corinth that neither he nor anyone else could break. "So, can we make a deal?" he asked menacingly. Not even realizing how dreadful he sounded.

Corinth looked into his shimmering blue eyes. His velvet burgundy suit looked expensive. He watched as the pale man tugged on it, meticulously attempting to arrange it to perfect. Corinth tried everything not to, but his curiosity called out to him. So he went for it. He tried to silently creep into the mind of the puppeteer behind this entire ordeal. He didn't push hard at all. Yet somehow, his motives were obvious to the old and infamous magik wielder kneeling beside the altar.

"Ad Infinitum," the old dog whispered while brushing off his lapel. He then turned his head up, and looked deep into Corinth's eyes.

Corinth had no idea what just happened. It was like a door slammed in his face. Better yet, in his mind. He heard a snap afterwards that apparently signified that the door was locked from the inside.

While staring into the boy's eyes, Sebastian began moving his lips slowly and purposefully. "There ... are ... very ... average spells one can employ to devalue a psychic's ability." He raised an eyebrow as if to exemplify his dominance over the circ.u.mstances between them. "Unless, of course, that psychic is as powerful as you..." He stopped,and yawned in Corinth's face. "As you... may be one day. But to my favorable knowledge, you have yet to accomplish that level of sophisticated mental gravity. The Nexus is your crutch, but your own psychic abilities, apart from the Nexus, are rather limited ... or so I've heard."

Corinth turned his head away from the vile man. That was about the only part of his body not hindered by straps. He wanted to see a lawyer if there were to be any further questions. But he knew that they had already deemed him guilty despite his certain innocence. Guilty of having something they wanted, which was certainly a crime to them.

Anvard and Lindle couldn't see a thing through their blindfolds. They knelt on a damp cobblestone floor, chained up to the wall. They both heard the clank of the barred cell doors opening. Footsteps dragged closer and closer. Someone removed the black cloths that covered their eyes. First Anvard, then Lindle. Lindle cringed on his knees. He kept his eyes closed. He didn't want to see what force s.n.a.t.c.hed them up from the lake. Anvard, on the other hand, stared into the face of the gray-eyed fellow before him.

"h.e.l.lo, Anvard!" The Imperativan man seemed over excited. Lindle's curiosity forced his eyes open.

"I don't suppose a jerk like you is here to help, are you?" Anvard knew the answer to his question, but he couldn't help but ask anyway.

"It's very nice to see you as well!" the chirper man retorted.

"Why are you Imperativans haunting me? I'm so far away from there, and yet the worst of you are here in Hyperborean."

"Oh, shut up, boy!" he shouted, and his words echoed throughout the hollowness of the structure they were confined in. "That was your worst quality back at the inst.i.tution. You can't take a joke. Your own embarra.s.sment is what got you kicked out of school. If you'd just let it go after your unnatural desires were unveiled, we would have stopped ridiculing you ... eventually."

Lindle stared at the two locked in tense eye contact. The tension radiating from Anvard was ruthless. Lindle saw that glimpse into his temper when he thought that Corinth was at risk, because he'd found out about his psychic abilities, but he had no idea of the history between these two though.

"What's going on?" Lindle asked with an uneasy frown.

"Nothing, really. I suppose Anvard is here because he's in love ... yet again!" He looked down at the two of them with an outright sense of superiority. "You sure do know how to pick them. You went from a troubled kid, to a kid whose mental instabilities have dragged you to death's door." He maniacally laughed with his mouth hanging wide open.

"Shut up!" Anvard shouted. "Just shut it, you animal!"

"Hum, that's an interesting a.s.sertion. Especially when considering the fact that you're the one on your knees, with a leash around your neck and wrists." He gestured to the thick metal chains attached to the clamps that held both boys at bay. He laughed again, but with a little more tact this time. Anvard's former ministrant from Imperativo straightened himself out. "Now look here, boy. I didn't come down here to be argued with."

"Could have fooled me!" Anvard said quickly.

The man straightened out his black tie. "You're making this rather difficult, but luckily for us both, I antic.i.p.ated as much." He then reached into his left pant pocket and pulled out a rusty looking skeleton key from a bygone era. First, he unlocked Lindle's restraints. Then he turned to Andy, twirling the key about like a gloating savior. He smirked as he undid the restraints around his neck and wrists.

They both rubbed their arms and necks, trying to get the blood flowing again. They were both wounded from the coaster ride. Lindle could barely see out of his eye that was caught by a shard of gla.s.s earlier. And Andy just ached all over.

"Why are you doing this?" an uncertain looking Anvard questioned.

"Why does anyone do anything, my boy?"

"Sen. Cade, please!" Anvard pleaded, still as polite as ever for calling Cade by his t.i.tle first. "We have no idea what's going on here," he continued to beg for the man to not speak in riddles, for once.

"And here we are, once again. Your lacking sense of humor has placed you in the dark. If you'd only but wait a mere minute, I would have made my point clear. My aforementioned question still stands." His snarky att.i.tude about this whole scenario made Anvard want to smash his head in. But that wouldn't have helped one bit. So, Andy let him have things his way, for now. "Why does anyone ... do anything?" he asked again.

Lindle answered quickly. "Because they must!"

Cade looked to him with a glint of hope in his eyes. "No, that's not the reason, but that is a logical answer. Thank you for at least attempting to partic.i.p.ate," he told Lindle while looking to Anvard. Andy rolled his eyes in response to that quip. "Well, the pure reasoning for why one does anything is based solely on their own benefit from the toppling of the status quo. If you two are set free, I will be rewarded, greatly!" He exaggerated the point with his eyes and rubbed his hands together with the key still fixed between them.

Neither understood his reasoning, but they were glad to be free. "Is there a catch?" Anvard asked suspiciously.

"Yes, but of course. There always is. Isn't there?" Cade turned and began walking out of the small cell, onto the gray and silver cobblestones. The silver pixie dust shined brighter than ever. The hallway he stood in had very reflective shards of gla.s.s covering the walls as high as the eye could see. Anvard, with Lindle following, stepped out after him. He looked up at the high and narrow divide between the wall and the roof of the cell. The cell was an outcrop that hung over their heads, but just outside of it there was no ceiling to be seen. Just the ever-extending gla.s.s covered wall growing tall up into the immense darkness that posed as a ceiling without definition.

"Where are we?" Lindle was mystified by his surroundings.