Part 8
"Professor Crumbs! Professor Crumbs!" Jerry calls, frantically knocking on the headmaster's door. There's a click on the other side, and the door swings open.
"Jerry, I told you-" Crumbs starts to say, but Jerry cuts him off.
"I know, I know, that's why I'm here. The kids figured it out – Evilini and the Longcapes kidnapped all those students, and they have Alex. The boys went after them."
He pulls out the note and hands it to Crumbs.
"How did they track her?" Crumbs asks.
"I don't know, but Justin said he'd leave a trail of some sort. We need to find that trail so we can get the kids out of that void pocket."
"Agreed. I'll summon the emergency wizards to assist us."
"Good idea – the more help, the better," Jerry says, following Crumbs out of his office.
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"Get ready, Max!" Justin warns his brother as he intercepts another round of spells, "I'm going on the offensive!"
"But, that'll just make more sand I have to block," Max whines.
"I know, but they're gaining speed on me," Justin explains, "If they have to block my spells, too, it'll help us out."
Max nods, and Justin throws out several magic bursts in a row. The trio easily intercepts them, sending a volley back, which Justin quickly counters. The pace of the fight picks up even faster, the air resounding with the explosions of the spells canceling each other out and the sky shining brightly with each flash the collisions create. Max moves his hands almost as fast as Justin does, obliterating each black cloud as it comes hurtling towards them. The black lightning grows with each burst Justin sends out, the pause between his spells too short for it to completely dissipate, and soon it encompasses his entire right arm and is slowly spreading across his chest.
"Max, I need some heat," Justin reminds him, his voice shaky.
"Then slow down! I don't have time between sand blasts!" Max argues.
"That's what Alex is for!" Justin yells, his body beginning to shiver noticeably "Max, hurry, or I won't be able to keep up!"
Max frowns, uncertain as he sees his brother trying hard to fight off the cold. He glances back at Alex.
"Go ahead, Max," she tells him, "I got him."
He swallows, then drops his guard on the sand, raising his hands quickly to push the heat magic into his brother. Justin braces himself for the impact as four black clouds slam into him, instantly dissolving into his body. Behind him, Alex finds her spell being pushed back towards her hands, and she braces her feet, forcing it back into Justin's body. He clamps his mouth shut, blinking back a tear, as he sends out another round of magic missiles. Max turns back quickly, catching the next onrush of taint before it can hurt Justin further.
"Justin, are you okay?" Alex asks, worried.
"Fine," he gasps out, unconvincingly. "And good work, Alex – I could feel you fighting against it."
"Yeah, well, let's not do that too much, okay?" she requests. "That stuff isn't easy to push against, and it really wants you out cold."
"I sort of noticed that, thanks," Justin spits out as he continues to concentrate on the magic flying all around them. "Where are you, Dad?" he then mutters to himself.
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Professor Crumbs and Jerry are standing atop one of the towers at WizTech, staring at the sky. Crumbs waves his hand through the air above him, reciting "Revellum Wayllelum – Russo."
A giant green arrow appears high above their heads, pointing away from them.
"Attaboy, Justin," Jerry says proudly.
"Come – to the magic carpets," Crumbs orders, "We must follow that arrow."
Jerry and Crumbs board one carpet, the two emergency wizards (Goblin and Officer Lamp) boarding the other. They fly up towards the arrow and Crumbs guides his carpet right into it. It immediately disappears, and another arrow appears several feet away from them.
"Just as I thought," Crumbs smiles, "Piggy-back signal arrows. They'll know we're coming for them, now."
"I just hope they aren't too far away," Jerry sighs as they fly off towards the next arrow.
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Max knocks another black cloud out of the sky, then jumps a little as if he's been startled.
"What happened?" Alex asks.
"I don't know," he frowns, "It felt a little like I touched one of those prank hand-shake buzzers, only less painful, and all over."
"It's the signal arrows I had you place," Justin informs them, his voice strained against the lightning that has now stretched across his torso and down his left arm, as well. "Dad must have passed through the first one. When you feel that jolt again, let me know."
"Why? What happens when I feel it again?" Max asks.
"Nothing- it just means that Dad will have passed through the last arrow. I need to know when that happens."
"Okay," Max shrugs, and a taint cloud zips past over his head, absorbing into Justin. He and Alex stumble back just a tiny bit at the impact. "Oops, sorry," Max says, cringing.
"Don't worry about it," Justin says, "You're doing great, Maxie."
The dangerous fireworks continue to explode against each other for another few minutes, and Max has to take another break from blocking the taint in order to fight off the effects of the Breezer on Justin. The sudden wave of black sand Justin absorbs almost buckles his knees, but he fights back against it, never slowing down his exchanges of attack and defense bursts. Alex fights just as hard behind him, forcing her magic to work against the sleep that threatens to take her brother out of the battle.
"Err, I hate this!" Alex shouts as she struggles with the tainted magic.
"It's not exactly-" Justin sucks in a pained breath, "-what I'd call fun, either. Max, you feel that jolt yet?"
"No, not yet," Max answers, switching back to his role as taint-shield.
"He has to be getting close," Justin hopes aloud.
Max suddenly jumps a little again. "There! I felt it! Dad's right outside!"
Justin fires out a massive volley of attack bursts, using the time it bought him to reach back into his pocket and pull out his wand.
"Justin!" Alex shouts, "You can't use your wand – it takes too much power!"
He ignores her as he forces magic into the wand until it glows a deep purple. He points it straight up and releases a purple ball into the air; which sails upwards, creating a streamer of magic that resembles a scar across the yellow sky. When the ball hits the ceiling of the void pocket, the entire sky shakes and shimmers until the magic manages to push its way through and escape into the real world. Justin sighs in relief as he drops his wand, going back to his battle exchanges with the trio.
"How much magic did you put into that?" Alex demands.
Justin doesn't answer her, continuing to stay focused on the battle as the black lighting quickly begins to dance around to his back and down the length of his body.
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"Where's the next arrow?" Goblin asks as the one Crumbs' carpet just passed through disappears.
"There doesn't seem to be another one," Crumbs observes, "We must be very near."
"Void pockets are invisible from the outside," Jerry thinks out loud, "How will we know where to make the door to get in?"
Before Crumbs can answer, a section of sky in front of them suddenly begins to shimmer brilliantly. A second later, a deep purple ball shoots straight up from out of nowhere, and explodes into a shower of purple light that rains down over the shimmering section of sky. The men on the carpets watch in awed silence as the half-dome of the void pocket is fully revealed to them in a coating of liquid-purple magic. Crumbs grabs his wand, drawing a door-shape into the side of the dome.
"It's going to take a few minutes to open this door," he tells Jerry, then turns to the agents, "And I'll need you to keep it open once we can get inside, so get ready."
"Yes, sir," both agents reply simultaneously, pulling out their own wands.
Just as they all begin pouring their magic into the door, the purple coating quickly begins to shrink back into itself and darken in color. It balls back up into one massive cloud of pitch-black sand before hurtling itself back through the ceiling of the void pocket.
"Oh no," Jerry utters, "Justin…"
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"Alex, brace yourself," Justin suddenly says as he continues to fire magic bursts.
"For what?" she asks, though braces herself for whatever it is, anyway.
He doesn't get a chance to answer before a thick black cloud slams into his back between his shoulder blades. If not for Max standing in front of him, he would have fallen forward onto the ground.
"Ohhh, no you don't!" Alex grunts as she battles to keep Justin conscious. She begins to sweat a little, but eventually she is able to push back against the taint. Justin rights himself, blinking a few times with a stunned look on his face.
"Um, Justin?" Max says hurriedly, "You better snap out of it, 'cause I think another-"
Before he can finish, Ronald Jr. fires off a crackling orange blast. Instead of countering it, Justin yells, "Max, get down!" and pushes his little brother to the ground. The blast hits Justin square in the left arm, knocking him down beside Max. He grips his arm, squeezing his eyes shut as he hisses in pain. His body begins to shake again as the Breezer takes effect.
"Justin!" Alex screams, dropping down beside him.
Max scrambles up into a sitting position. "Why didn't you just block it?" he asks, lighting up the red glow so he can at least keep his brother warm.
"Because I couldn't see it," Justin grunts out.
"It was bright orange! How could you not see it?" Max argues, "Or…did I somehow accidentally make Monoorangosis a real disease?"
"No, Max, I didn't see it because I can't see anything," Justin replies.
"What?" Alex asks, shocked.
"The taint – it did something to my eyes. I'm…I'm blind."
A/N: Ha ha! Didn't see that one comin', did ya! What else, you may ask, could possibly happen in the remaining time it could take for Crumbs to get the door open? A lot, I say! You'll see in the next part of the story, so keep reading, folks! (And I hope this one was exciting enough for ya!) :)