Chace Ogden and the Quest for Raven Read online

  “Be back with food. You leave, I find you and squash you like bug.”

  I swallowed hard and nodded, thoughts of escape evaporating again. Not exactly a poet, but Klugg sure knew how to make a point.

  Once he’d lumbered out of sight, I moved behind the tree, about as far as my chain would allow, and began to practice my magic once again. I’d resolved myself to go back to my teacher and Master, Tiberius, when I got home and have him train me more, but I didn't want to waste any opportunity to get stronger.

  I was shaking with exhaustion by the time Klugg returned, carrying a cow-sized lizard creature over his shoulder. I stopped practicing and greeted him warmly when he came into view as if he was an old friend instead of my captor. He looked at me warily and waved back before unwrapping the chain from the tree and fastening it around his wrist again.

  He dropped the beast onto the ground and began gathering a pile of sticks and logs and setting them just inside the mouth of the cave before gesturing to me. “You make fire.”

  I put my hand out and used the last of my remaining energy to create a small spark, barely lighting up the stick. Better if he thought I was only able to use magic to that extent and have him believe me harmless than have him be afraid of me. He nodded and began to cook the massive beast over the fire. It didn’t look like any kind of wyvern or dragon—no wings—for which I was thankful. It would bode poorly for Chace if the troll were capable of taking something that magical straight out of the sky.

  We sat in silence as darkness began to fall, and the smell of cooked meat filled the air. I must've dozed off because when I awoke, it was to a droplet of hot oil splashing my arm.

  “Eat,” Klugg was saying, bent over me, holding out one massive haunch that must've weighed three times as much as I did. He looked at me quizzically when I didn’t take it right away.

  “Too big,” I said slowly, trying not to sound insulting. “I can’t hold that.”

  He took a piece between his dirt-covered fingers and ripped it off and handed me a chunk of meat the size of a whole turkey. It was gamey and tough, but I ate it in minutes, too hungry to worry about where it came from or what filth I was ingesting along with the meat.

  I burped loudly when I finished. This made Klugg laugh so hard, the ground of the cave beneath us shook.

  “Nice one. Klugg not know girl could make sound like that." He tilted his head back, and I curled up, eyes scrunched tightly in dread, knowing what was coming.

  An earsplitting crack hit me like a Mack Truck, and it suddenly felt like I was in a giant, stinky wind tunnel. I looked up once I managed to open my watering eyes and saw him grinning at me expectantly.

  “Nice,” I managed, forcing a smile onto my face and trying to keep from gagging. It wouldn’t do me any good to make him angry with me, and being friendly might be a way to get him to treat me a little better and trust me a bit more.

  He boomed out a prolonged laugh that could probably have been measured on the Richter scale.

  “We sleep now,” he said, still smiling. He closed his massive hand around the chain still attached to my neck, and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes.

  I glanced around, searching for a way to get past his massive form, mostly out of habit. I couldn’t leave with my amulet still in his pocket, anyway. Not as weak as I was and with all the dangers that lurked here in the Magical Realm. Plus, as long as I didn’t anger him or get squashed on accident somehow, I still had time on my side. I could handle another few days of this if I had to. It seemed more likely that he’d slip up and give me a chance to escape along with the amulet than that he’d kill me in the meantime. And, if Klugg didn’t give me an opportunity to get away, Chace would definitely be coming to save me. I was his Protector. As much as it annoyed me, my primary job right now was to survive and let him do the protecting.

  I cursed myself for my weakness as I closed my eyes, trying to sleep. It was infuriating to always have to rely on skill and finesse with my magic rather than raw power. If Tiberius were here when I first saw the troll, he’d have blasted him halfway across the Magical Realm with a wave of his hand. Even Chace was capable of handling Klugg, though he’d yet to even scratch the surface of his potential.

  I wallowed in my sadness for what felt like an eternity before I realized how useless it was. So I’d managed to get left behind by my Hunter, and get captured by the dumbest creature on the planet, that just meant I still had a long way to go to be at the top of my game. No one had died, and Chace had gotten out of the Magical Realm in one piece. I’d done my job as Chace’s Protector, albeit the bare minimum. Even if I wasn’t as powerful as Klugg, or Tiberius, or Chace, I had one thing going for me.

  I could outwork them.

  I forced my gritty eyes open, knowing Klugg was asleep by his booming yawns and focused my magic as best I could without the amulet before shooting it at the wall behind me where it fizzled after a low crack. It had been a long day, and it would be a long night because I was going to spend at least half of it working on my skills.

  The next time a magical creature tried to catch me and keep me?

  I’d blast him to kingdom come.

  Chapter 5

  Chace

  “Roger that. On my way,” Taz said earnestly, hanging up the phone.

  I could always rely on Taz. It didn't matter what the problem was, he’d run over to help me at a moment’s notice.

  I shook my head, feeling guilty for dragging him into all this again. He’d made it clear he wanted no part of it just before Raven and I had gone to the Magical Realm, and when I’d returned alone, he’d done everything in his power to help me figure out how to get back there, to no avail. Now I was going to ask him for a whole lot more than just some encouragement and Gatorade. It felt like I was taking advantage of him. He’d never say no to helping me even though it’d be putting him in danger, but here I was, putting another friend at risk just like I had with Raven. Only this time, if I screwed up, it'd probably get Taz, who didn't even have magic, killed.

  But I had no one else to turn to, and time was definitely not on my side. Raven could already be dead, for all I knew.

  Panic pushed the guilt aside, and I forced myself to try and stay positive. I clearly couldn't handle getting Raven out of the Magical Realm on my own. And now, the added pressure of having to find her in a land full of dangerous, magical creatures before I could even try to save her, would only make it harder. I couldn't do it alone, but so long as I protected Taz, everything would be fine. I was getting stronger by the hour, and, with him along, I'd have a pair of eyes and ears to keep watch while I recovered from the journey.

  I heard a clatter of glass a few minutes later and knew he’d arrived. He never knocked, but he rarely made it to my room without knocking something over on his way in.

  “Yo. You really should tell your mom to nail those picture frames in better,” he said, tossing a cracked image of Max from first grade that had been hanging on the wall of the hallway onto my bed. “I brought my bow like you told me,” he said, holding it high, a questioning look on his face. “I hope this wraps up quick because my mom will not be happy about me staying out late on a school night. What’s up?”

  "Raven's still in the Magical Realm, and I need your help to get her. I almost died last time I went, and I'll never be able to save Raven if that happens," I said, watching Taz's face go pale, "I need someone to give me cover when I’m at my weakest, when we first get there, in case a...” I trailed off and swallowed hard, knowing the word “cerberus” would test even the strongest of friendships, “any creatures might be lurking around. I know it's a lot to ask, but you're the only person I could think of, and you're the best marksman I know." I opened my mouth to say more, but he cut me off, reaching a hand out to shake mine.

  “I’ll do it,” he said with a stoic nod. “I’ll be your Archer, buddy. Just don’t screw up like you did a few days ago against that Ogre in our game, all right? You gotta bring the confidence if you wa
nt to win. You’re the mage, after all,” he said, clearly trying to put up a brave front and doing a pretty good job of it.

  I pulled him in and gave him a hug, almost weak with relief. Going back to the Magical Realm alone again and being as vulnerable as a snail without a shell wouldn't do anyone any good. If I wanted to be strong enough to save Raven, I needed a little time. Hopefully, Taz would be able to buy me that time.

  "Thanks," I said. Nothing more needed to be said, we both knew how big of a favor he was doing me, but I wasn't about to get all sappy with him. He hugged me back for a brief moment before pushing me off and rolling his eyes.

  "So, what's the plan, boss?"

  “We need to—" I said, cutting off as my phone buzzed. "I messaged Twee Twyla right before I called you, and she just messaged me back." I opened the reply, praying under my breath for good news. I put the phone between us so we could look together.

  “Who’s Twee Twyla?”

  “She’s a Fae who trades information about stuff in the Magical Realm,” I said, more focused on the message than what I was saying. She’d sent us an image of a map of the Magical Realm and below it a text that read,

  Today’s map.

  “This is all super weird to me still. So there are fae too? What else don’t I know about?”

  I ignored Taz and texted her back.

  What do you mean today’s map?

  When I’d asked her if she could get her hands on the layout of the Magical Realms for me so I would at least have some idea of what was where, and the things I should look out for, she’d said she could. But this, like everything else that had been happening lately, was confusing at heck.

  She shot back a long text almost instantly.

  You don’t even know that much? Places in the Magical Realm move around, sometimes slow and other times fast. If you used today's map tomorrow, it'd be pretty similar, but a week from now a location could've moved miles from where it is today. Get it?

  I got it, but I sure didn’t like it. Why couldn’t anything be simple anymore?

  "Sweet," Taz said with apparent awe in his voice.

  "That's going to make things a lot more difficult. I couldn't find my way out of a paper bag, and you're not much better.” In fact, I had personally witnessed Taz hold up his hand like an L to determine which was left. “How the heck are we gonna follow a map that isn’t even up to date? I won’t be able to contact Twee Twyla for a new one once we’ve left the Human Realm, so we would have to return every day...unless she’ll come with us.”

  The very thought sent a shot of pure hope into my heart, and I shot off another text and then waited with bated breath. If Twee came with us, it would be so much better. She was so strong. So powerful. So tough, and even mean sometimes. Surely-

  My thoughts came to a crashing halt as my phone beeped again, and a new message rolled across the screen.

  No can do. I'm banned from the Magical realm for seven thousand more years for reasons I prefer not to get into at this time. I wouldn't be of any use anyway since I couldn't bring my computer with me.

  I bit back my disappointment, not wanting Taz to see. “That’s okay. We just need to figure out another way. It would be really hard on my body to bring us back and forth every day. I also can't control where we end up yet, so we'd just be back to square one every time I brought us in. But what else can we do?" I said, throwing my phone onto my bed. Taz looked down at the floor wordlessly, and we didn't speak for almost a minute.

  I was still wracking my brain for a solution when Taz’s eyes lit up.

  “Maps!”

  I stared back at him, like duh. “Right. That’s the problem. There’s more than one...”

  “No, dude. Maps.”

  And then it hit me.

  “That’s perfect!” I shot back, nodded furiously. “Maps” was the screen name of a virtual buddy of ours who was a regular on this online role-playing game called Pirate Warfare we spent most of the summer learning how to play. "If anyone can find Raven in the Magical Realm, it's that dude."

  “But how are we gonna get someone we haven’t even talked to or met in real life to come with us? Plus, we don't even know where he lives," Taz said.

  “I bet we can reel him in by being honest. Maps couldn’t pass up this kind of challenge,” I said. I was struck by a pang of guilt at putting yet another person in danger, but I was going to have to get used to the idea that it would take a team to get Raven back. And if that’s what it took? So be it. “And I bet I can teleport us to him. Raven said it’s a lot easier to do than moving from one Realm to another.”

  “Sick,” Taz said, eyes widening.

  I rolled my chair over to the computer in the corner and opened up Pirate Warfare online. Maps was online as expected and in the midst of a game. I sent him a quick and simple message.

  Can we chat?

  Sure, he typed back; after this match, I'll get on voice.

  Maps was the top-ranked Orienteering specialist on the game, and it was a wonder he played with the rest of us in the first place. I was a mediocre captain, and the others were similarly bad at their positions.

  I hopped onto our voice channel and only had to wait a few minutes before I heard a ding.

  “Yo,” Maps said.

  “Hey, there’s something important Taz and I need to ask you. I have a friend that needs help, and we need someone who is good at orienteering to help us get to her. There's some crazy stuff I need to show you as well, but it’s kind of one of those things you have to see to believe...”

  Not the best pitch in the world, but I could hardly lead with, “Do you want to go to the Magical Realm and rescue my friend from a Troll?”

  “What does she need help with?” Maps asked slowly, clearly confused. “And what are you going to show me?”

  “She’s,” I said, pausing as I tried to figure out how to explain it all the better without scaring him off or making him think we were lying, “lost. Missing. Look, what state do you live in?”

  “Uhh, Maryland, why?”

  “Is there any way you’d feel comfortable meeting up with us? We’re in Pennsylvania.”

  “I guess...like, what day?" he said. We'd talked a lot online, so I figured he wouldn't think we were some creepy old people or anything. Still, this next part might be a tough sell...

  “How about right now?” I asked, trying to sound as casual as possible. “If you tell me where you live, we can be right over.”

  The silence was long and thick.

  “Chace...This is getting a little weird,” he said, pausing, “how do I know you’re not messing with me?”

  “It’s serious, Maps,” Taz said, leaning over to talk into my headset, “I promise.”

  Taz's earnestness must've pushed him over the edge because a second later, he sighed. "Okay, I guess. How about I tell you where the closest gas station is and meet you there in a few hours?”

  "Sounds good, but you can leave now. We won't be long," I said. It was reasonable for him not to want to give his address out to two people he'd never met before, and this would be just as simple, so long as I knew where I was going.

  “Uhh, okay. But if I stop playing and go all the way there, and you guys are messing with me, I'm not going to carry you in PWO anymore," he warned.

  “Deal,” Taz said, shooting me a wide grin and a thumbs up.

  Maps left voice and shot us a message with the address of the gas station a minute later. I looked at the area on Google maps and found a small park nearby with clusters of trees and decided on that as my destination, opening up the street view and looking at the grove of trees. Even though I was bringing a few non-magic people in, I didn’t want to break the rule about not being seen using magic too much.

  “Ready?” I said, smiling at Taz and reaching for his hand.

  “I guess,” he said, shaking his head slowly, grabbing my hand.

  I stared at the picture on the screen and trained my gaze on my dragon ring, using it to focus my magic. If
it was anything like getting to the Magical Realm, it was all about intention. I imagined us walking through the screen and ending up at the location in my mind. Forcing myself not to tense up, I tugged Taz forward, visualizing the area, imagining us stepping into this new space with ease.

  The noise around me changed. Instead of the hum of a computer fan and the TV pouring in from downstairs, I heard crickets chirping and the sound of traffic in the distance.

  When I opened my eyes, we were in Maryland, standing beside the very trees I had seen on Google.

  “Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!” Taz said, slapping me hard on the shoulder. “That was so friggin awesome. I can’t believe this! I mean, I believed it, but I can’t believe it!”

  I let out a shaky sigh as I realized I barely felt any change in my powers from the journey. Now, this would be useful, I thought, making a mental note to get some pictures of places I’d want to have quick access to once I got Raven back.

  I glanced around and nodded in satisfaction. There were no bystanders, and we were sitting in the middle of a copse of pine trees.

  “I can hardly believe it myself, to be honest. I thought it’d at least take a few tries.” Maybe I was actually getting better at this whole thing.

  Raven's face floated into my mind and I suddenly realized we still had a long way to go. There would be no back-patting until we were back together again, and Raven was safe. Until then, it was just tricks and kids' games.

  I pulled up my phone and entered the gas station into the GPS.

  "Only a three-minute walk to the gas station."

  We started walking toward the agreed-upon meeting place, and Taz tripped over a root almost immediately and nearly fell. He fixed the bow's position on his shoulder and nonchalantly kept walking like I hadn't seen him.