whose power came from the fact that he wasn’t afraid to intimidate and belittle. But he was also the kind of guy who would find that power ebbing as his peers grew up and stopped taking him seriously. Unfortunately that time wouldn’t come for a while yet. For now, Mitchell was in charge.
Mitchell stood inside the lavatory door with Bobby’s journal page in one hand and a burning cigarette in the other.
“There’s two possibilities here, Dimond,” said Mitchell as he gave a quick, juicy snort. Mitchell always seemed to have a cold. It added to his hideous mystique. “Either this is some lame story you’re writing, or you know exactly what happened to Pendragon and you’re not telling anybody.”
Mark slowly stood up. His mind was in overdrive. What would he tell this guy to get him to give up the page and leave him alone? There weren’t a whole lot of options open.
“Y-You g-got me, Mitchell,” Mark said tentatively. “It’s a s-story. For English. Where did you get it?”
“I found it in here after school yesterday,” answered Mitchell. “What’s the deal? You miss your buddy Pendragon so bad you gotta make up stupid stories about him?”
“1–1 know. It’s really s-stupid,” said Mark.
This was going pretty well. Mitchell was making up all the answers. Mark didn’t have to do anything. Now all he had to do was get Mitchell to give him the page.
“Thanks for finding it.”
He held his hand out for the page. This was the moment of truth. Was Mitchell going to give it back?
“What’ll you give me for it?” Mitchell asked.
“What do you want?”
Mitchell gave this some thought. This was tough for him. He usually didn’t think much.
“Forget it,” he answered. “Just take it. It’s no fun messing with you anymore. It’s too easy.”
Mark had to try to stop from smiling. This was amazing. He was going to get the page back, no harm, no foul. He didn’t want Mitchell to think he was too happy about it, so he just shrugged and held his hand out. However…
It was at that exact instant that his ring started to twitch. Mark felt the telltale movement, but it was such a surprise that he could only stand there, frozen. Then the gray stone started to turn clear and glow. Bobby’s next journal was about to show up, and it couldn’t be happening at a worse time.
Mark clamped his other hand over the ring to hide it. He made eye contact with Mitchell, hoping against hope that he hadn’t seen the ring move. But one look into Mitchell’s wide eyes told him the truth. Mitchell had seen it, all right. They stood there for a moment, staring at each other. Finally…
“Gotta go!” Mark put his head down and headed for the door. But he had to go past Mitchell, and there was no way Mitchell was going to let him get past. He caught Mark and shoved him back into the bathroom.
“What’s going on?” shouted Mitchell, with a touch of fear.
“N-Nothing. I–I’m sick is all.”
Mark tried to get by again, but Mitchell wouldn’t let him pass.
“Show me that ring!” Mitchell demanded.
By this point the ring was starting to expand on Mark’s finger. He couldn’t keep his hand on it any longer. Though it killed him to do it, he had to take the ring off and lay it on the ground. As soon as it hit the floor, the dazzling flash from the stone lit up the dark bathroom with a sparkling spray of light.
Mitchell stood over the ring in wonder. He started to bend down to touch it.
“Don’t!” commanded Mark.
His voice was so forceful, Mitchell backed off. It was the only time Mitchell had ever done anything Mark wanted him to. Mark didn’t feel any victory though; his dominance would be short-lived.
The ring was now expanded to its full size and Mark saw the familiar black hole in its center. The two then heard some odd musical notes coming from deep within.
“Dimond?” yelled Mitchell nervously. “What is this?”
Mark didn’t answer. He knew it would be over soon. If he were lucky, Mitchell would run in terror.
But Mark wasn’t lucky.
Mitchell stayed. The light from the stone blasted out so brightly that both guys had to shield their eyes. The musical notes grew louder, and then a second later, it was over. The lights stopped flashing. The ring was back to its normal size. Sitting next to it on the floor was another roll of pages that Mark knew was Bobby’s next journal. It had arrived the exact same way all the others had, only this time it couldn’t have happened at a worse time.
Mark bent down and picked up the roll and the ring. He put the ring back on his finger, and hoping to keep whatever power he had over Mitchell going, he held out his hand.
“Give me the page,” he said as forcefully as possible.
Mitchell was numb. He actually started to do what he was told. He held the lost page out for Mark. Mark reached for it, and just as he was about to grab it, Mitchell snatched it back. He was slowly getting his balance back.
“What just happened here?” he asked shakily.
“You wouldn’t understand,” said Mark, still trying to hold on to whatever leverage the bizarre episode had given him. “J-Just give me the p-page.” Mark was losing it.
“I ain’t giving you nothing!” declared Mitchell.
The power had shifted again. Mitchell was back in charge.
“I’m starting to think you didn’t write this. I’m starting to think Pendragon’s been writing about where he is, and he’s sending letters to you, special delivery.”
Mark didn’t know what to say. Mitchell had hit the nail right on the head. How was he going to explain this? Mitchell looked at the page again, then smiled a sly little smile. Mark’s heart sank.
“I’ll bet there are a lot of people who’d like to know about these,” he said.
“Andy, you can’t,” Mark pleaded. “This isn’t stupid kid stuff at school. There are things going on here you can’t even imagine. If you told anybody about it, you’d be starting something that I guarantee you’d regret.”
This seemed to hit home with Mitchell. Mark realized it might be his one chance to gain some real leverage over the bully.
“There are only three people who know about these pages,” Mark continued. “Me, Courtney Chetwynde… and now you.”
“Chetwynde knows?” shouted Mitchell in disappointment.
This was good for Mark. Mitchell was just as afraid of Courtney as Mark was of Mitchell. Mark was beginning to realize he had more tools to work with than he thought.
“Yes, Courtney knows everything,” continued Mark. “This is a serious thing. If you start telling people about it, then you might get in just as much trouble as we will. There’s a lot at stake here. You want to go public with it? Go ahead. But your life will never be the same.”
Mark felt as if he had laid that on pretty thick. He wasn’t at all sure whether Mitchell would get in trouble if he revealed the journals, but he counted on the fact that Mitchell was dumb enough tothinkhe could get in trouble. Mark knew that was the one weapon guys like Mark had over guys like Mitchell. They were smarter.
“Don’t be an idiot, Mitchell,” said Mark. “Give me the page, forget you saw anything, and I promise never to tell anyone that you know.”
Mitchell stared at the ground, thinking about the offer. Mark knew that Mitchell was over his head. This was way too much for his brain to process.
“I’ll make you a deal, Dimond,” said Mitchell tentatively. “I’ll give you the page, and I’ll shut up about what I saw. But you gotta do something for me too.”
“I asked you before, what?”
“This isn’t before,” said Mitchell. “This is now. Before I didn’t see the hocus-pocus stuff. My offer is this: I’ll keep quiet as long as you let me read what Pendragon sends you.”
“What?”
This was probably the worst thing Mark could imagine. He didn’t want to share Bobby’s journals with anybody, let alone lame-wad Andy Mitchell. What was he going to say to Courtney? He didn’t know what to do.
“That’s my offer, Dimond,” said Mitchell, suddenly sounding more confident. “Either you start showing me those letters, or I start blabbing to everybody about what’s going on. I might get in a little trouble, but nothing like
