Alex and Harper both held their breath in anticipation and dread. Both expected some sort of monstrous creature to appear before them any second.
So it was somewhat surprising when they eventually had to stop holding their breath and gasp for air...because nothing of the sort occurred.
"Well, that's anti-climactic," Harper said before turning her gaze to her best friend. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," Alex answered. While she was happy that they weren't facing any demon, she was still upset by her lack of magic. "None of this makes sense."
Both girls were on edge...and Harper was startled when she thought she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. But when she turned she saw nothing but the karate students and their teacher...still frozen by Alex's earlier spell.
Or were they?
"Oh no," Alex said as she joined Harper in looking at the group. "My spell is wearing off."
Indeed, the five martial artists seemed to be unfeezing in starts and stops. An arm would raise, then go still again. A fist would start to clench, freeze, and then complete the clench a few long moments later.
"We have to get out of here before they see us!"
The two made a hasty exit just in time. For just as the front doors of the dojo closed behind them, the time freeze spell ended entirely.
******'******
Jack stopped his kata and looked toward his sensei with confusion.
"Something wrong?" Rudy asked.
"I don't know," he said hesitantly. "Did you feel...it was like something weird just happened."
The rest of the class stopped their practice and chimed in. All of them did have a sense of something being off somehow, but the feeling faded quickly.
"Everyone take a break," Rudy said. He turned and began to walk over to where his water bottle was sitting, when he caught sight of something amiss near the shelves in the corner.
"Hey, who did this?" he called out as he crouched over and began picking up pieces of the shattered amulet.
"Did what?" Kim asked, even as she and the rest of the class began moving closer to see what was going on. Milton was the closest
"It looks like something fell off one of the shelves," the thin teen answered.
"Were any of you messing around over here?" Rudy asked. As he spoke, his eyes (along with most of his students' eyes) all turned to Jerry.
"Hey," the young man said defensively. "I'm innocent."
The rest of the group remained skeptical. Jerry was much loved by them all...but when something went wrong, he was often involved. Though in fairness, each of the rest of them had also caused plenty of mishaps in the past.
"Maybe none of us did it," Milton offered. "It could have been a small tremor."
Everyone found this a reasonable enough explanation. All of them had experienced several earthquakes over the years, though fortunately only a few minor ones...their hometown of Seaford was in one of the more geologically stable parts of California.
"That could have been the weird feeling we had before," Jack offered.
"Yes, a micro-tremor," Milton continued. "One too small for us to really notice...but still enough to shake something off the shelf."
"Well, it was just a cheap trinket anyway," Rudy said. "I shouldn't have thrown any accusations around." He threw the trinket pieces in the garbage as his students went back to their break.
******'******
Outside the dojo, Alex was still upset and unsure what was going on, when her cellphone started ringing. It was her father.
"Alex, are you alright?" he said in a worried tone the instant she answered the call.
"Dad, I can't do magic!" she answered. "Wait...you knew something was wrong. What's going on?"
"I'll explain everything," he replied. But first tell me you're okay. And where's the amulet?"
The young wizard recounted how she'd found the amulet in a karate dojo and was about to send it off to Justin when she'd suddenly felt weak and disoriented...and then her magic was gone.
"The amulet broke," she went one. "And we were scared that some monster was going to appear...but nothing happened."
Back in New York, Jerry Russo was glad that his daughter couldn't see his face. From what she'd just told him, he could tell the timing of what had just happened was disastrous. But at least Alex and Harper weren't hurt.
"Honey," he finally said. "I got a quick message from Justin right before...well, it would have arrived just a moment before you felt something was wrong. He had to initiate a total magic lockdown."
"WHAT?!" Alex's face went white even as she yelled out the question. Which was quite understandable...since her father had just told her that the Wizard World had gone to their equivalent of DEFCON ONE.
In other words, total war was imminent.
Harper was frightened just by seeing the look on her best friend's face. Alex didn't scare easily, so Harper knew something very serious must be happening.
"What's wrong?" the redhead asked.
Alex told her father that she was putting him on speaker so that Harper could hear him as well. Then she asked him to explain everything.
What he told them did not put their minds at ease.
The evil wizards that Justin and his allies had been hunting, it had all been a distraction. The real plot had been for the Wizard Council to gather all these dangerous artifacts in one place...and then the leaders of the bad guys would strike...grabbing all the artifacts at once and attacking the Council right in the center of their seat of power.
Thankfully, their true plans had been discovered in time for Justin and others to make some hasty preparations...which included the magic lockdown.
"The Wizard World has been sealed off," Alex's father said in a heavy tone. "That means none of the fighting can spread to Earth...and none of the bad guys can escape to Earth or any other dimension. The final battle will be contained in Wizard World, but until it's over, no Wizards on Earth can access their magic."
"But is there any way for me to get there?" Alex asked. "If Justin needs help-"
"You know you can't," her father answered. "No magic. No access."
"Is Justin going to be okay?" Harper asked in a tone that made it clear she was as concerned as Alex.
Jerry Russo took a deep breath. "I'm not going to lie to you. This is serious. But remember...the bad guys' plan was designed to be a surprise. Justin and the rest removed that advantage. He's got the rest of the Council on his side...and Juliet. Plus all the Monster Hunters...and don't forget, that includes Felix."
Alex considered this. That was a lot of firepower backing Justin up...the entire Council, plus Juliet, Justin's vampire fiancee. Heck, Felix alone was more than a match for at least a dozen evil wizards...since the wand he wielded was the Wizard World's version of Excalibur. Furthermore, his loyalty to the Russos was unquestioned, seeing as how Justin had tutored the hulking young man in wizardry...and both Justin and Alex had helped Felix claim his legendary wand. That combination of power and loyalty had made Felix the obvious choice rebuild the previously devastated Monster Hunter organization. Thus, Alex had no doubt that Felix and all his hunters would defend Justin fiercely.
Still, she wished she could be there herself.
"I know how you feel, honey," her father said. "Just have faith that the god guys are going to win this one. Our side has the advantage." His tone managed to sound fairly upbeat...as what he was saying was true, Though, that didn't mean there wouldn't be casualties...which was a fact that he, Alex and Harper couldn't keep from their minds.
Nonetheless, there were more immediate matters at hand.
"Alex, all you can do now is find out where Molach is."
"The spirit in the amulet?" she replied. "He never appeared. And the amulet is in pieces."
"Yes...when the lockdown activated it would have weakened, if not outright destroyed any wizard spells active at Earth."
"So that's why my time freeze spell wore off so quickly," Alex said.
"Yes, and I want to talk to you about that," her father replied. "How many people were in the dojo? And do you know which ones were closest to the amulet when it broke?" He paused and an extra note of worry crept into his tone. "Were you or Harper the closest?"
"No, we were more in the waiting area," Harper spoke up to answer. "There were only five other people there. Four students and their teacher."
"Only five...good. That narrows it down."
"Dad, what are you talking about?"
"Molach didn't appear when the amulet broke. Now that's good news...because it means he's been trapped for so many centureis that his power has dwindled to almost nothing."
"Why do I sense a 'but' coming on?" Alex commented.
As an evil spirit, his magic isn't drawn from the Wizard World...he generates it himself. Right now he doesn't have enough power to even manifest a physical form...so he would have jumped into the nearest available body."
"Wait, he's possessed one of those karate kids?" Alex asked. "Or the teacher?"
"Not possessed," her father answered. "Not yet. He wouldn't have the strength. But as time goes on...his power will increase. First he'd start to influence his host body...corrupt that person's nature. That would make it easier for him to eventually take over destroying the host in the process."
"Oh no!" Harper said in alarm. "Can we stop that?"
"Without magic, you can't get Molach out of the host."
"So until the lockdown is over, I'm helpless," Alex said in a rueful tone.
"The only thing to do is slow him down until you get your magic back," her father said. "First try and find out which person he's in...then do whatever you can to counteract his influence."
"How do I do that without magic?"
"As I said," the elder Russo told his daughter. "Molach will be steering his host towards evil You'll need to encourage them to be good."
"You're saying this depends on me being a good role model for someone?" Alex asked with alarm. "We're doomed!"
"Now sweetie, don't give up hope. You can do this because...because..." He paused, trying to think of an argument that would convince his daughter. "Because Harper is with you."
Alex looked at the redhead and smirked as she replied. "Okay...that's a point for our side."
"Sweetie," Jerry Russo went on. "How about I catch the first flight out there and help you?"
Harper and Alex both raised their eyebrows at this. Jerry Russo was a rather..frugal man. So his willingness to spend money on cross country airfare made it obvious how seriously he felt about this situation.
"No," the younger Russo replied. "I'll handle this. You just let me know as soon as you hear from Justin again."
"You let me know if anything changes...or if you have any more questions. And both of you, please...be careful."
"We will" both girls said at once.
With the call ended, Alex looked to Harper and then back to the dojo.
"Well, let's get in there and find out who Molach jumped into."
Harper followed as Alex marched towards the dojo's door. "You have a plan?" the redhead asked.
Alex laughed. "When do I ever have a plan?"
To be continued...