The Wizard Returns: Book Three of the Wizard Born Series (28 page)

Mrs. Tully took a deep breath and kept her eyes low when she answered. “Because tongues were flapping at the market, and I needed to set them straight. Word got around after you put out the barn fire.”

“Set them straight? Why couldn’t you just ignore them?”

“Gossip about you or anyone in this house I will not abide.”

“Well...I appreciate you standing up for us, but...gee, you put us at risk, Mrs. Tully. We don’t want another wizard finding out we’re here.”

“I know. I am sorry.” Her gaze had fallen to the floor. “I will give you my resignation at the end of the day.”

“No.” Jamie shook his head firmly. “
Please
don’t do that. We need you here.” She glanced up at him, and he raised his eyebrows and said, “Please stay on.”

She took another deep breath before nodding again.

“But you went to the market at dawn,” Fred said. “Who else would be there that early?”

“The cooks for the big houses, mostly.”

“That makes sense. But...I still don’t get how they knew I was here.”

“Mrs. Parsons asked who else was in this house besides a wizard, and I could not lie.”

“But you didn’t have to tell them I was a witch.” Then something occurred to Fred.
Could it be that she was bragging? She has a wizard and a witch to care for now, instead of an empty house?

“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Tully said. “I...I still think you must accept my resignation.”

“I won’t,” Jamie said. “We need someone to look after the house, and I don’t trust anybody else.”

“And I need your help,” Evelyn said, “now that there are five kids here. It’s a lot of work.”

“So you’ll stay?” Jamie looked at her intently. When she said yes, he grinned and said, “Good. What’s for dinner?”

“A beef roast that your parents brought today, with potatoes.”

“And I’m making the vegetables,” Evelyn said. “Asparagus and cauliflower.”

“And bread?” Jamie asked.

“I’ll bake bread, Master Jamie, if you wish.”

“Great, though I sure wish you wouldn’t call me that.” He glanced at his watch. “We need to get back to the books.”

“What you need is a shower, each and every one of you” Evelyn said. “You’ve been so caught up in the books, you’ve neglected to bathe.”

“I took one this morning,” Melanie said.

“That still leaves five of us.” Evelyn nodded.

“Okay,” Jamie said. “But there’s no way I’m letting anyone shower unguarded after what happened today. No way.”

Evelyn started to argue, but Jamie had his jaw thrust out, G.I. Joe style like his father, and she relented.

“Fine,” she said with a wave of her hand. “You may as well bring a book. It’s going to take a while.”

Jamie was relaxing in a lawn chair in the backyard near the door to the kitchen, while Bryce splashed in the shower nearby. The afternoon shadows were lengthening across the yard, and Jamie had already been swallowed up by the shade of the house. The chilling air made him wish he’d worn his fleece jacket.

He closed the book in his lap and looked across the yard at the river, admiring its leisurely flow, the color of the light that sparkled off the water.
It’s beautiful out here. It’s as nice as my yard back home
. Then he eyed the carefully placed flowering trees and azaleas, and the long rows of tulips at the edge of the lawn.
Maybe nicer
. There were no sounds of lawn mowers, leaf blowers, weed eaters, chain saws, cars, or airplanes. It could have been blissfully quiet, almost paradise.

If only Bryce would shut up
. Jamie’s tone deaf friend was attempting to sing from inside the Tardis-shaped portable shower. He finished an off-key rendition of “All Shook Up” and said, “Thank ya’ verruh much,” in what must have been an Elvis impersonation. “Any requests?”

“Yeah,” Jamie said. “Quit singing.”

“Don’t know that one. Is it by Taylor Swift?”

Jamie turned when he heard the back door open behind him. “Jamie?” Fred stuck her head out, her hair still damp from her shower. “There’s someone here to see you.”

“Now what?” He stood and picked up his book. “Who is it?”

“Some man and a boy. Never seen ’em before.”

“Can you stay out here and guard Bryce ’till he’s through? You have your pendant, don’t you?”

Fred took his place in the lawn chair and he went inside, where he found Evelyn and Mrs. Tully preparing dinner. “Mrs. Tully,” he said, “do you have any idea who’s here to see me?”

She looked up from the dough she was kneading, her hands covered with flour. “I don’t know. I didn’t answer the door.”

“Could you come with me, please? Just for a minute.”

“I’ll come, too, Jamie,” Evelyn said, and after Mrs. Tully wiped off her hands, they walked through the main room to the front door.

They went out on the front stoop, and they found a man standing in the yard near the steps, holding the reins of a horse. The man had a short, dark beard, dark hair, and hard, dark eyes. The horse was loaded with a couple of leather packs and the man wore a dusty travelling cloak. Standing with him was a boy, who looked to be about ten years old. Jamie introduced himself and said, “Can I help you?”

The man spoke without giving his name or the boy’s. “Are you the wizard who lives here?”

“Yes, I’m here temporarily. Why?”

He regarded Jamie for a moment before answering. “I heard this was Renn the Sorcerer’s house.”

“Not anymore. It’s mine, now. Are you from around here?”

“No.” His hard eyes narrowed. “What happened to Renn?”

“I killed him.”

He nodded, but didn’t seem shocked. “Are you a master sorcerer?”

Jamie briefly probed the man with his magic senses, but felt no power in him.
I guess he’s harmless enough
. “Um...I have the memories and power of Eddan the Sorcerer. He was a master.”

He stared at Jamie as if he were sorting out what he’d just heard. “Does that make you a master sorcerer?”

“I suppose so. I’ve never really thought about it. How did you find me?”

He nodded at the child, who stood nearby, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and chewing on a fingernail. “The boy did. He felt you.”

Uh oh
. Jamie glanced at Evelyn, standing beside him with Mrs. Tully, before looking back at the boy. “When?”

“Yesterday, sir, twice,” the boy said in a small voice. “And a couple times today when we got closer.”

“You’ve been travelling?”

The man answered, “Since yesterday.”

Jamie turned back to the boy. “You felt my magic?” He nodded and Jamie asked, “From that far away?” He nodded again, and Jamie felt a sinking feeling growing in his stomach.
That’s just what I was afraid of...a wizard feeling it when I made a doorway
. Jamie took a long, slow breath. “So why are you here?”

The man nodded at the child again. “Will you take this boy as an apprentice?”

“What? You’re kidding, right?” But Jamie could tell from the man’s unblinking stare that he wasn’t. “Uh...I can’t.” Jamie turned around and looked at Mrs. Tully, who only shrugged, and Evelyn shook her head as if to say
I can’t help you with this
.

“Why not?” The man demanded.

“Well, I’m not old enough, for one thing. I’m only seventeen. And I don’t know how long I’m going to be here. I could leave any day now.”

“Take him with you.”

“I can’t take your son. Not where I’m going.”

“He’s not my son. He’s my nephew. And why not? You’re a master sorcerer. That’s what masters do. They take apprentices.”

“He’s got power?”

“Some. I don’t know how much, though. I don’t know about these things. I’m just a farmer.”

Jamie ran his hand through his hair and stared off in the distance. “I wish I could help you, but I can’t. I really can’t. I’m not the guy you need.”

The man pressed is mouth tightly, glanced at the boy, and then looked back at Jamie. “All right. Thank you for your time. Do you know of an inn nearby?”

Mrs. Tully pointed toward town. “There be a fine one just down the road.”

“Thank you.” He looked at the boy. “Come on, Aiven. Let’s go.” He mounted his horse and pulled the boy up with him, then turned and rode away without another word.

Jamie stood on the stoop and watched them go until they were hidden by the trees, then he shook his head slowly and said, “Now that’s a first.”

Evelyn crossed her arms. “You were so worried about a wizard attacking you, but instead, one came to ask you to train him.”

“I don’t know how much of a wizard he is, though.”

“He be strong enough to feel you from a day’s ride away,” Mrs. Tully said.

“Yeah, and that’s not a good sign.”

Chapter 21

Jamie and his friends retreated to the first bedroom to continue their scouring of the spell books. They found it to be quieter in there than the main room, because Mrs. Tully and Evelyn were making dinner with the kitchen door open to share the heat from the oven with the rest of the house.

Fred and Melanie were sprawled side by side on the bed with their shoes off, leaning back against fluffy pillows. “Jamie,” Melanie said, “that was pretty weird, that guy showing up with a kid wanting to be your apprentice.”

“That doesn’t happen every day, does it? Too bad I can’t put it on Facebook.”

Rollie sat on a folding chair between Jamie and Bryce. He looked up from the book he was reading. “You know, that was strange, but most of the time it seems so normal here that I forget we’re on another planet. Everything seems the same...the language, the customs, the flowers and trees and stuff, the food Mrs. Tully cooks....”

“The gravity,” Bryce added. “I feel exactly the same weight here. I was worried that this planet would be bigger, and I’d feel heavier and it would be harder to run. That’s hard on the knees. Why is it the same, Jamie?”

Jamie rubbed his chin. “I’m not sure. Come to think of it, the gravity is the same on the other worlds I’ve been to, seems like.”

“The days here are about the same length, too,” Fred said. “It gets dark about the same time as back home.”

“How about the year?” Melanie asked. “Is it the same number of days?”

Jamie nodded thoughtfully. “And the days of the week are the same. Have you noticed? We told Mrs. Tully we’d be here on Friday, and she knew what we meant.”

“How about the calendar?”

“Huh. I think my dad said something to Mrs. Tully about Renn being dead since September, and she seemed to know what we were talking about. Let’s check and see.” He opened the door and called loudly, “Mrs. Tully, what month is it?”

“April,” she replied from the kitchen.

Jamie turned back to his friends and shrugged.

Bryce scratched his ear, his face thoughtful. “Are you sure your doorway didn’t take us back in time? Maybe we’re still on Earth, but a few centuries earlier.”

“Wait ’till tonight and take a look at the moon. Then you’ll really be able to tell, because it looks so much bigger and more colorful than Earth’s. The constellations, too. They’re completely different.”

“It just doesn’t make sense that this place can be so Earth-like,” Bryce said. “There’s got to be an explanation why.”

“Maybe it’s a quantum Earth,” Melanie said. “One of a string of zillions, where every possible outcome of every event exists in its own world. We’re just on a variation of Earth. Maybe all of the planets you make doorways to are quantum Earths, just with different outcomes. Life didn’t evolve on some of them, or...or the Industrial Revolution didn’t happen yet, like here.”

“Dang, Melanie,” Fred said, eyeing her suspiciously. “You sound as geeky as Jamie.”

Rollie looked at Bryce. “Does it bother you having a girlfriend who’s smarter than you?”

“No,” Bryce said, his eyes locked with Melanie’s as she waited for his answer. “I’m proud of her.”

Melanie beamed at him, her dimples flashing and her brown eyes glowing.

“Good answer, Bryce,” Fred said. “Now I think you’re due for a kiss or two from your sweetie.”

“But not now.” Rollie frowned. “Not in front of me. I’ll get jealous, ’cause I’m the only guy here without his girlfriend.”

Bryce said to Jamie, “I’m surprised your grandmother lets us come in here and close the door.”

“She trusts us. She knows there won’t be any hanky-panky going on.”

“That’s because she knows you’re a prude,” Fred said.

“Hey!” Jamie’s eyebrows drew down sharply. “Why don’t you visit me tonight in a dream and see if I’m a prude or not?”

Fred raised her chin defiantly. “I think I will.” She rolled her eyes. “Though I still think you’ll be a Goody Two Shoes.”

Melanie frowned. “No fair. You two shouldn’t be allowed to do that if Bryce and I...well, you know. Since we can’t.”

“Doesn’t count if it’s in a dream.”

“I agree with Melanie,” Rollie said. “Besides, we’re supposed to be on a
religious retreat
.” He made air quotes with his fingers. “Remember?”

“That reminds me,” Bryce said. “I need to e-mail my parents tonight and let them know I made it okay.” He cleared his throat. “To the religious retreat.”

“Why not just use Skype?” Jamie said. “You can call a landline.”

“I know that, but they don’t. I told them I wouldn’t be able to get cell reception here, and that there was no phone, either.”

“Which is true,” Rollie said.

“But we
could
get cell reception,” Jamie said. “If I made another micro portal and brought the router for the modem here, then we could connect with Wi-Fi and —”

“God help me!” Fred shouted at the ceiling, shaking both hands in the air. “I’m surrounded by geeks.”

Melanie glanced at the window and said, “Speaking of calls, I see Brinna walking up the road.”

Jamie stood and dropped his book in his chair. “I need to go set her up to talk with John Paul on the laptop.”

Fred opened the bedroom door a crack and peeked out. “She’s still talking to him. It looks like somebody closed the kitchen door, too.” She put her ear to the opening and Jamie said, “Stop eavesdropping, Fred. Give Brinna some privacy.”

Fred eased the door closed and wrinkled her nose at him. “I’m not eavesdropping, I’m just...checking up on her.”