“And the threat is subdued?”
“For that, you will have to ask Ignatius.”
“Can you give me his address? Ignatius seems to have flown under our radar for most of his time here on Earth. How long’s it been? Twenty years?”
“Just about,” Agnes said. “I believe going on twenty, yes.”
“I can give you his address,” Salem said, his head tilted, waiting for Lois’s explosive reaction, “but he isn’t home.”
“Well, I’ll just go wait for him. Where’s he at, grocery store? Golf? I heard he’s gotten into golf lately. No fun when you can use magic.”
“About that…”
“He’s on Oriceran, isn’t he?”
Agnes smiled and gave a quick glance to the middle of the dining area, where the portal had opened to their homeworld not too long ago.
“Yes,” Salem answered, “he is. No telling when he’ll be getting back.”
“Subduing the threat?”
Salem nodded again.
Lois sighed and mumbled to herself, “I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. I’ll have to tell Earl I won’t be back in time for dinner. Lacey’s really going to have to owe me one.” She reached into her pocket and brought out two photos. “One last thing. Have you seen these agents?”
She held up a picture of Felah Fyre and Tone Doyon, the two missing members of the Order.
Almost instantly, Agnes and Salem lost the color in their faces.
“So you know of them?”
“I was pretty close with Felah. The other, I didn’t know too well. Felah was always complaining about him,” Salem said.
“Where are they?”
“Felah is…gone, I think. The Arachnid got her. As for the other, I’m not sure. I presume, being Felah’s partner, the Arachnid got him, too.”
Lois frowned. “Didn’t think to report it?”
“I-I-,” Salem stammered.
“We were scared. Besides, it only just happened. And we aren’t one hundred percent certain either of them is dead. The Arachnid used a transformation spell to look like Felah Fyre.”
Lois nodded. It made sense. She figured Trevilsom was in the back of all magical folks’ minds. One mess-up, and you could be sentenced there for a long time, only to come out half-insane and fully changed.
“I’m sorry, Lois,” Salem said. “I am. A lot has happened. More than I’d ever expected in this small corner of the world. I moved from Oriceran to get away from bloodshed.”
“And somehow it found us,” Agnes finished.
Lois offered a weak smile and put her hand on Salem’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Salem. You could rob a bank, and I wouldn’t turn you in. Ignatius on the other hand… I’ll have to have a long chat with him.” She couldn’t help it; her old ways were showing. They became a habit after so long in the Order.
“Thank you, Lois,” Agnes said. “We were just trying to survive. We weren’t trying to cause a mess for the Order.”
Lois waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you’re all safe. As for the missing members, may the heart of Oriceran be with them.”
“You can wait here until Ignatius and Maria get back. They shouldn’t be too long. I think they’re tracking down a Gnome,” Salem said.
Lois shook her head. “Secretive things,” she replied, then she pulled out a chair from a nearby table and sat down. “I think I will wait. Mind getting me a chocolate cone?”
“Of course not,” Salem replied, smiling.
Suddenly a kid, obviously in the middle of a monumental sugar rush, his face smeared with chocolate, rushed past Lois’s table, screaming at the top of his lungs.
“That is, if that fellow left any for the rest us…” Lois said.
Chapter Nine
Ves Ielan was a seedy place carved at the bottom of the southeastern side of a mountain, not far from the Land of Terran.
The old wizard looked on it from a couple hundred feet away.
That old wizard was Ignatius Mangood, known as Ignatius Apple on Earth, and he had never been inside of Ves Ielan—but he had heard stories of its wretchedness. Creatures practicing dark magic could be found there, performing all types of unimaginable feats. They would even perform, if you paid the right price, resurrection spells on the long dead— or so the stories said. Frankly, Ignatius had not believed it until he’d come face to face with Malakai in the streets of Akron, Ohio outside of Salem’s Ice Cream Shop; Malakai, whom he’d watched die in the battle for Dominion all those years ago.
The thought of Salem came to him now.
Salem, keep Maria safe, old buddy; you and Agnes and the Muffler twins watch over her for me, at least until I get back… If I get back.
No, bad thoughts, Ignatius.
“I should’ve kept Sherlock with me. May not be able to talk to him, but at least he’d bark if things were going south. A nose like that can smell bad blood. Yes, it can.”
Ignatius sighed.
A couple of hooded figures had just walked into the large building, the door opening and spilling out the raucous sounds of music, talk, and laughter—wicked laughter.
“Time to suck it up, old man,” he said to himself and took a deep breath. He put the hood of his own cloak up, making sure his wand and various other weapons were well-hidden. In a place like this, it was no secret that the patrons kept their weapons on them. Everyone was armed. They had to be.
As he got closer, the smells of strong liquor hit his nostrils. Drinks he had not smelled in many moons—the type of stuff that would make Earth’s toughest alcoholic wet his pants and pass out after one sip.
Ignatius did not like that smell.
Had he been walking to Ves Ielan all those years ago when he was a little less gray and a little more strong, the fear would not be as complete. Alas, the worlds spin and the days pass, and time goes on as it always had.
Was it just a matter of confidence? He thought so. Being on Oriceran, he should’ve been able to draw upon its magical energy, but he just could not get his mind to focus on it.
He walked
