Zak Turner - A Twist In Time (34 page)

Tallion, can’t we help him somehow?!

The boys were sitting at the back of the class, so had a few seconds before they needed to get up.

All I can do is try and replicate mine or yours, but it’ll be a bit obvious that it’s a copy!

It’s better than nothing.  Do mine, our handwriting is very similar because we copied from each other at primary school and we deliberately practised writing the same way to fool Mrs Entwistle.

Dirty secrets coming out?
smirked Tallion.

Yes, but get on with it!

Tallion surreptitiously pulled out his wand and waved it over Zak’s sheet of sentences at the same time as he muttered the basic replication charm that Barty had taught them the previous weekend.  By some miracle a second sheet of paper appeared with the same sentences on it!

Can you make the ink black instead of blue?  Then it’ll look even more different.

What?!  I’ve no idea how to do that!

Use a transfiguration spell or something, and just will it to happen!  Come on!

Tallion’s mind was racing, and he soon recalled a colour changing spell that he’d read about in their transfiguration text book.  With no time to stop and think, he cast it over the second piece of paper willing the blue ink to change to black.  His shock when it actually happened was visible!

Blimey!  It worked!

Zak grabbed the piece of paper, folded it in half and crumpled it a bit like Steven’s homework always ended up, and passed it to his friend at the next table who was just getting out of his seat looking rather white.

The line of students exiting the classroom had slowed as the first no-shows had reached Mrs Diggle, and found themselves on the wrong end of her acerbic tongue.
 

“What’s this?” whispered Steven distractedly as he unfolded the paper, still fearing the worst as he prepared to leave the classroom.

“It’s your homework.  You must have left it at The Copse last night!” muttered Zak with a wink.

“What?  Blimey!  Thanks mate!”

Five detentions had already been handed out by the time the group of former Lower Nettleton Primary students got to the classroom door, and Mrs Diggle was confidently expecting it to become six. 

Steven was first in line, and there was a little flicker of surprise in their French teacher’s eyes as he smiled and handed in the rather crumpled bit of paper.  She flicked it open and saw that it was indeed the previous week’s homework and simply said thank you and reached out for Sam’s paper.  Tallion was third and Zak last, leaving as much gap as possible between the original and the replica.

If she noticed, their French teacher decided not to say anything.  After all, she’d been given two pieces of hand written paper with the homework on them.  The thought of replication, magical or otherwise, never entered her head!

* * *

“If we get away with that it’ll be a miracle!  She’s bound to notice they’re identical when she marks them,” moaned Steven as they waited outside the next classroom for their English teacher.

“Well, mine was in blue ink and yours was in black,
and
they were both handwritten, so it’s going to be a tricky call for her to accuse us of anything more than doing our homework together!  We’ll not get into too much trouble for that I wouldn’t think.”

“Right, maybe.  Blimey, I thought I was gonna get it then!  All for the sake of forgetting’ a bit of homework!”

“Is there anything else you’ve missed?  We won’t be able to pull that stunt again in French, but we might get away with it in another class if we need to.”

“No, we don’t need to hand in English until next week, or more like after half term!  Wahay!”

“We’re gonna have to do something about this though lads,” came Tallion's serious voice behind them.  “It’s only a matter of time before one of us misses something else, or we simply run out of time to do it!”

“We need to use magic to ‘elp us then Tal, there must be a way to give us some extra time in t’ day?”

“We could use the wakefulness potions that Barty taught us how to make?” suggested Zak.  “That way we can stay up each evening until we’ve finished everything.”

“And we’ll be completely knackered the following morning!” responded Tallion sharply, recalling what happened after their midnight astronomy lessons in the summer.  “Too risky, we’ll just mess up in class if we don’t get enough sleep.”

Just then Miss Heron, their English teacher, arrived and they started to shuffle into the last class of the day.

“Well ye’ll ‘ave to think o’ summat Tal, you’re t’ best wizard!” muttered Steven quietly to the future nineteenth baronet Middleham.

22.  Half Term Calling

Bjarne Middleham was very happy.  In fact, he was so happy that everyone had noticed the ‘perma-smile’ plastered across his face!  Only his sister Freya asked him about it though. 

“I found a new section of books in the library, and they’re really interesting!” he replied, short and to the point.

Freya also liked reading, it was something that her mother had instilled into all her children, the quest for knowledge, but she wasn't quite as addicted to it as her brother was.  She might have been only eight years old, but she shook her head in mock exasperation just like her mother, and set off back to her room.

Of course, it wasn't just the books that Bjarne had unearthed that were making him happy, it was also the room that he’d found them in.  After a few experiments, he’d worked out for sure that Tai Tuie’s Tomb was nothing short of a time capsule!  The moment you shut the door time outside the room stopped, and no matter how long you stayed inside the room, you always ended up leaving at the same moment that you entered. 

He’d even tested his theory by putting a clock outside on the floor, going in and reading for a couple of hours, and then going back outside and picking it up to find that it had only moved on by a few seconds! 

The ability to read for hours on end without subsequently getting told off by his mother, or being late for dinner or whatever else he was supposed to be doing, was heaven to the bookworm, and he was spending hours at a time hidden away reading.

It was, of course, playing havoc with his body clock.  He was chronically tired when he should have been wide awake, and would end up in his room at bedtime feeling fresh as a daisy.  It took him a few days to realise what was happening, but then less than a minute to work out the solution.

He had to use the room to sleep in as well as to read in, and somehow balance his hidden time with reality.  It didn’t take his sharp mind long to do the maths to make it all work out reasonably well.  He never thought about the ageing effect though, and that living an average thirty six hour day,
every
day, would make him grow older fifty percent faster than he should.  It would maybe dawn on him if he became too tall for his young age, or became an adolescent too soon, but for now, ignorance was bliss. 

The nine-year-old bookworm therefore disappeared through the door once again as soon as he got home from school on Wednesday afternoon, pulled out a couple of books from the shelf, and settled down by the window to read.  He planned an eight hour reading session, followed by four hours sleep.  Then he’d go for dinner and come back again afterwards for another ten hour reading session followed by two hours sleep!  He’d then go and do his primary school homework and settle down normally for bed at nine o’clock on Wednesday evening for a
proper
night’s sleep. 

He scribbled down the real day and time before he started so that he could prepare himself when it was time to re-join reality, and opened his book.  Life was very good!

* * *

Sir Philip was in London at the Wizard Council on Wednesday attending a meeting of the education committee called by Orion Trell to discuss happenings at Mhonarr Castle.  The members of the committee were surprised to find themselves under a magical oath which prevented them sharing any details of the meeting.  It was a very rare precaution, but once the headmaster had outlined the events that had taken place in the Mhonarr Castle Crypt, they all realised why it had been necessary.

“I am, therefore, looking for the committee to authorise the school to put magical restrictions in place on Shaul Malchus so that he doesn’t have the opportunity to repeat his actions with any other students.  At this stage I am not sure what those restrictions will be, because I am sure that his siblings and parents will be alert for any interference with the boy. 

Whatever they are though, they will be covert and will not harm the child in any way.  Although if his comments about sacrificing his soul in the crypt were true, his uncle may well already have harmed him in a much more sinister and permanent manner than I could ever manage!”

There was a lot of murmuring and discussion for a few minutes as the committee members deliberated amongst themselves, but there was only ever going to be one outcome, and the headmaster was duly authorised to take whatever steps he felt necessary to protect the other students at Mhonarr Castle from Shaul Malchus, short of excluding him from school.

“Thank you.  I will of course report back to this committee on what action is taken.  I will also continue to investigate any options for undoing the damage he has caused so far, but that may be beyond our abilities.  However, there are still avenues open to us,” he glanced quickly at Sir Philip, “which may prove workable.  That is all I have to say at this stage.”

There was more muttering, and murmured conversations, and then the secretary brought the meeting to a close and the members slowly dispersed.  Professor Trell and Sir Philip were amongst the first out of the door, and immediately headed for Sir Philip’s private office.

* * *

“I take it that you’re considering unpicking this mess using the power of time?” asked the baronet when they were sitting comfortably in his room, with the doors closed and silencing charms applied by both of them.

“Yes, Philip.  You’re the only person I know of who has access to a Time Talisman, and therefore the only person who can sensibly work out if it’s an option.  Restoring their soul back to someone who has lost it to a demon is nigh on impossible.  I have scoured the library at school, and the classified one here in the council building, and drawn a blank.  There is shamefully little written down about these matters that’s available to help us.  No doubt the little that
has
been written is all jealously guarded by the dark wizards who practise it.”

Sir Philip steepled his hands, his elbows resting on the chair arms, and thought carefully before he spoke.

“The task is not in itself complicated, but so much time has elapsed since the events took place, that the implications of changing events are very large indeed.  I take it that you want to prevent each of the boys falling victim to Shaul and losing their souls?”

“Yes.”

Sir Philip pursed his lips and looked steadily into the headmaster’s eyes, not sure what he was looking for, but looking none-the-less.  All he saw was hope.  He was very tempted to try and read the headmaster’s mind, but refrained, it would be very bad manners to say the least.  As he watched the man in front of him, he allowed his mind to run over the task, and the associated risks.

“Each of the boys will behave totally differently once the event has been avoided Orion.  There will almost certainly be significant changes in the lives of other students at the school as a result, and school activities might well take a different course, with some of the results possibly being very unpleasant.  Changing the course of history like this is no small matter!”

“I know.  However, consider the alternative, the future of the boys that we’ve lost.  We both believe in fate Philip, and are firmly of the opinion that it controls events in such a manner that the desired outcome is always achieved.  Fate has put us here in these chairs today discussing the option of adjusting history at the school.  Maybe fate is expecting us to do it?  Maybe the same fate that’s controlled everything to date will control it again?”

“Maybe fate has already controlled it Orion, and we shouldn’t be trying to change what fate has determined to be the correct course?”

“Do you think we can actually change the course of history?”

“No.”

“So…?”

Sir Philip smiled at his mentor before he continued. 

“We’ve followed this argument through enough times Orion.  If we undo a necessary piece of history, then fate will simply redo it, and nothing will change.”

“Precisely.  If these events
are
necessary, then fate will take care of it.  Either we won’t be able to save Rufus Logan from losing his soul in Mhonarr Castle crypt on the fourth of October, or, we
will
manage to do so only to find that it happens again another day.  Could you live with your conscience though if you didn’t at least try?”

Sir Philip was feeling nervous.  That always happened when he contemplated the twists of fate and how powerless they all were in the grand workings of the universe.  So many people coveted power, magical and non-magical alike, and then exercised what little power they thought they had to their own advantage. 

Very few people realised that it was all just an illusion, that they had little control over any of it at all, and that they were simply acting out the path that fate had set before them.  Fewer still exercised the little power that they
were
given for the benefit of others, never thinking about the cost to themselves, or even knowingly acting for the good of others to their own conscious hurt.

Maybe it was because he had the Time Talisman, and therefore the ability to
really
change things, that he thought about it more carefully.  Or maybe it was
because
he thought about it and understood it, that the ability to travel in time and make these changes had been entrusted to him? 

He’d seen fate undo many of his and the headmaster’s changes in the past, and it was enough to convince him that even with a Time Talisman, no-one could significantly alter the course of history. 

Either way, deliberately trying to change the past wasn’t something to be undertaken lightly.  He was pleased that his father had hidden it from him until he was mature enough to understand the responsibilities that went with the privilege, and he was sorry that he’d had to reveal it to his own sons so early in their lives.

He smiled to himself as he realised that fate itself had forced his hand!  The boys obviously needed to know, but why so young?  In order to face their foe, that was obvious, but already?  That was a disturbing thought!

The headmaster interrupted his reverie by clearing his throat, and the baronet smiled over at his long time mentor.

“Yes?”

“I need to come to the castle this evening Philip, and speak with the boys about half term.  I trust that you still want them to come to Mhonarr next week?”

“Yes, but more importantly
they
want to come to Mhonarr next week, and of course you can come.  Dinner at six?”

“I’m rather used to school eating habits, could we make it five thirty?”

The baronet smiled.  “We can indeed.”

* * *

Zak and Tallion knuckled down to their homework the moment they got in from school.  John Turner had been unable to collect them again, due to problems with the building work on the barn, so Jenny had come and done the honours.  Steven went straight home though, so that he could use the fading daylight to help his dad around the farm before it got dark.

About four thirty the Portal Postbox hooted to announce the arrival of some magical mail, and Jenny Turner went to retrieve it.  Bella Middleham often dropped quick notes through about playdates for Sophie and Freya, or to ask if she could come down for coffee, or to see if Jenny wanted to come up to the castle. 

“Boys, Sir Philip would like you to go up to the castle this evening, in fact we’re all invited for dinner at five thirty.  I’ll ring Dad and see if he’ll  be back in time.”

Zak and Tallion looked at each other, holding a quick thought conversation.

“Okay Mum,” they answered simultaneously and subconsciously, whilst their thought conversation raced through a few different possibilities.

I bet it’s about half term and going to Mhonarr.

Yeah, I’ve been waiting for him to say something about it for days, I expected it last weekend, but he never gave any hint about it.

You still want to go?
asked Zak, feeling a little bit of reluctance in their shared emotions, but not knowing if it was from him or from Tallion.

Yeah, and it was my reluctance we felt.  I like being in the dale, and it’ll feel strange being away.

That sounds more like Zak Turner than Tallion Middleham to me mate!

Well, maybe it was!

The two boys grinned at each other and looked back to their homework.

“There’s just time to get this maths done, then we should go and get changed.  Robes I assume for dinner?”

“Yep.”

* * *

At five fifteen on the nose, Tallion Middleham walked through the portal in the back of his wardrobe, and arrived in the portal room at Lofthouse Castle.  His soul mate was right behind him, followed by the rest of the Turner family with John coming through last, shaking his head with amazement as he arrived in the castle.

Bella Middleham greeted them all, and led them straight through to the dining room where a semi-formal dinner was laid out.  Standing by the window were Sir Philip and Professor Trell who both turned and warmly greeted John and Jenny.  Sir Philip made the introductions.  It was the first time that the Turners had met the headmaster of their son’s second school, and they both appreciated his good humour, and the twinkle in his piercing blue eyes.