From a Distance

Chapter 25

It was hard to keep track of seasons passing underground. Sometimes, Master Rufus and the other Masters would take them outside for various earth exercises. It was always kind of cool to see what the other students were good at — when Rufus showed them how to blend elemental magic to make plants grow, Kai Hale made a single seedling sprout and grow so huge that the next day, Master Rockmaple had to come out with an axe and chop it down. Celia was able to summon animals from underground (though not, to Call’s disappointment, any n***d mole rats). And Tamara was amazing at using the magnetism of the earth to find paths when everyone got lost.

As the outside world started to catch fire in fall colors, the caves grew colder. Big metal bowls full of hot stones lined the corridors, heating the air, and a blazing fire was always in the Gallery now when they went there to watch movies.

The cold didn’t bother Call. He felt as if he was getting tougher somehow. He was fairly sure he had grown at least an inch. And he could walk farther, despite his leg, probably because Master Rufus was fond of taking them on hikes through the caverns, or bouldering among the big rocks aboveground.

At night sometimes, Call would take out the wristband from the bedside table and read over both letters from his dad. He wished he could tell his father about the things he was doing, but he never did.

They were well into winter when Master Rufus announced that it was time they started exploring the caves on their own, without his assistance. He’d already shown them how to find their way among the deeper caverns by using earth magic to light up individual rocks and create a path back.

“You want us to get lost on purpose?” Call asked.

“Something like that,” said Rufus. “Ideally, you will follow my instruction, find the room you are meant to find, and return without getting lost at all. But that part is up to you.”

Tamara clapped her hands together and smiled a slightly devilish smile. “Sounds like fun.”

“Together,” Master Rufus told her. “No running off and leaving those two stumbling around in the dark.”

Her smile dimmed a little. “Oh, okay.”

“We could make a bet,” Call said, thinking of Warren. If he could use some of the shortcuts the lizard had shown him, he might out-navigate her. “See who finishes first.”

“Did either of you hear me?” Master Rufus asked. “I said —”

“Together,” said Aaron. “I’ll make sure we stick by each other.”

“See that you do,” said Master Rufus. “Now, here is your assignment. At the depths of the second level of the caves is a place called the Butterfly Pool. It’s fed from a spring aboveground. The water there is heavy with minerals that make it excellent for smithing weapons, like that knife on your belt.” He gestured to Miri, making Call touch the hilt self-consciously. “That blade was made here, in the Magisterium, with water from the Butterfly Pool. I want the three of you to find the room, gather some of the water, and return to me here.”

“Do we get a bucket?” Call asked.

“I think you know the answer to that, Callum.” Rufus drew a rolled-up parchment from his uniform and handed it to Aaron. “Here is your map. Follow it closely to reach the Butterfly Pool, but remember to light stones to mark your way. You can’t always rely on a map to bring you back.”

Master Rufus settled down on a large boulder, which gently shaped and reformed itself underneath him until it resembled an armchair. “You will take turns carrying the water. If you drop it, then you’ll just have to return for more.”

The three apprentices exchanged glances. “When do we start?” asked Aaron.

Master Rufus drew a heavy bound book from his pocket and began to read. “Immediately.”

Aaron spread the paper out on a rock in front of him, scowling, then looked over at Master Rufus. “Okay,” he said quickly. “We head down and east.”

Call crowded close, looking at the map over Aaron’s shoulder. “Past the Library looks like the quickest way.”

Tamara turned the map with a smirk. “Now north is actually pointing north. That should help.”

“Library’s still the right way,” Call said. “So it didn’t help that much.”

Aaron rolled his eyes and stood, folding the map. “Let’s go, before you two get out compasses and start measuring distances with string.”

They headed out, at first going through the familiar parts of the cave. They passed into the Library, following its spirals down, like navigating the inside of a nautilus shell. The very bottom led out into the lower levels of the caves.

The air grew heavier and colder and the smell of minerals hung thick in the air. Call felt the change immediately. The passageway they were in was cramped and narrow, the roof low overhead. Aaron, the tallest of the three, almost had to bend down to walk along it.

Finally, the passageway opened out into a larger cavern. Tamara touched one of the walls, lighting up a crystal and illuminating the roots. They hung down in creepy, spidery vines to almost touch the tops of a vivid orange stream that smoked sulfurously, filling the room with a burnt odor. Massive mushrooms grew along the sides of the stream, striped in unnaturally bright greens and turquoises and purples.

“I wonder what would happen if we ate them?” Call mused as they picked their way among the plants.

“I wouldn’t try it to find out,” said Aaron, raising his hand. He had taught himself to make a ball of glowing blue fire the week before and was very excited about it. He was constantly making balls of glowing fire, even when they didn’t need light or anything. He held the fire up in one hand, and the map in the other. “That way,” he said, gesturing to a passage off to the left. “Through the Root Room.”

“The rooms have names?” Tamara said, stepping gingerly around the mushrooms.

“No, I’m just calling it that. I mean, we won’t forget it if it has a name, right?”

Tamara furrowed her brow, considering. “I guess.”

“Better than Butterfly Pool,” Call said. “I mean, what kind of name is that for a lake that helps make weapons? It should be called Killer Lake. Or the Pond of Stabbings. Or Murder Puddle.”

“Yeah,” Tamara said drily. “And we can start calling you Master Obvious.”

The next chamber had thick stalactites, white as giant shark’s teeth, clumped together as though they might really be attached to the jaw of some long-buried monster. Passing beneath this scarily sharp overhang, Call, Aaron, and Tamara next walked through a narrow, circular opening. Here, the rock was pocked with cave formations that looked eaten away, as though they were in some kind of oversize termite nest. Call concentrated and a crystal in the far corner began to glow, so they wouldn’t forget they’d been this way.

“Is this place on the map?” he asked.

Aaron squinted. “Yeah. In fact, we’re almost there. Just one room to the south …” He disappeared through a dark archway, then reappeared a moment later, flushed with victory. “Found it!”

Tamara and Call crowded in after him. For a moment, they were silent. Even after seeing all sorts of spectacular underground rooms, including the Library and the Gallery, Call knew he was seeing something special. From a gap high in one wall, a torrent of water poured out, splashing down into a huge pool that glowed blue, as if lit from the inside. The walls were feathery with bright green lichen, and the contrast of the green and the blue made Call feel as if he were standing inside a huge marble. The air was redolent with the odor of some unfamiliar and tantalizing spice.

“Huh,” Aaron said after a few minutes. “It is kind of weird that it’s called the Butterfly Pool.”

Tamara walked up to the edge. “I think that’s because the water is the color of those blue butterflies — what are they called?”

“Blue monarchs,” Call said. His father had always been a fan of butterflies. He had a whole collection of them, pinned under glass over his desk.

Tamara put her hand out. The pool shuddered, and a sphere of water rose up from it. Even as it shifted and rippled across the surface, it kept its shape.

“There,” Tamara said, a little breathlessly.

“Great,” said Aaron. “How long do you think you can hold it?”

“I don’t know.” She tossed back a thick dark braid, trying not to let any strain show on her face. “I’ll tell you when my concentration starts to give.”

Aaron nodded, smoothing the map out against one of the damp walls. “Now we just need to find our way —”

At that moment, the map in his hands burst into flames.

Aaron yelled and pulled his fingers away from the blackening pages sparking through the air. The pages fell in a shower of embers and hit the floor. Tamara yelped, losing her focus. The water she’d been suspending splashed down over her uniform and turned into a puddle at their feet.

The three of them looked at one another, wide-eyed. Call straightened his shoulders. “I guess that’s what Master Rufus meant,” he said. “We’re supposed to follow our lighted stones or marks or whatever in order to get back. That map was only good for the way here.”

“Should be easy,” Tamara said. “I mean, I only lit one of them, but you guys lit more, right?”

“I lit one, too,” said Call, looking hopefully in Aaron’s direction. Aaron didn’t look back.

Tamara frowned. “Ugh, fine. We’ll figure out the way back. You carry the water.”

With a shrug, Call went over to the lake and concentrated on shaping a ball. Call drew on the air around him to move the water and felt the push-pull of the elements inside him. He wasn’t as good at it as Tamara, but he did okay. His ball dripped only a little as it hovered.

Aaron frowned and pointed. “We came in there. This way. I think …”

Tamara followed Aaron, and Call went after her, the ball of water spinning over his head as if he had his own personal storm cloud. The next room was familiar: the underground stream, the colorful mushrooms. Call navigated among them carefully, afraid that at any moment his water ball would fall directly on his head.

“Look,” Tamara was saying. “There’s lit-up stones over here….”

“I think those are just bioluminescence,” Aaron said in a worried voice. He tapped at them and then turned back to her with a shrug. “I don’t know.”

“Well, I do. We go this way.” She set off with a determined stride. Call followed, left-right-left, through a cavern full of huge stalactites growing in the shapes of leaves, don’t drop the water, around a corner, through a gap between boulders, keep it together, Call. There were sharp rocks all around and Call nearly walked right into a wall because Tamara and Aaron had stopped dead. They were arguing.

“I told you it was just glowing lichen,” Aaron said, clearly frustrated. They were in a large room with a stone cistern in the center, bubbling gently. “Now we’re lost.”

“Well, if you’d remembered to light up stones as we went —”

“I was reading the map,” Aaron said, exasperated. In a way, Call thought, it was kind of nice to know that Aaron could get irritated and unreasonable. Then Aaron and Tamara turned to glare at Call, and Call nearly dropped the spinning globe he’d been balancing. Aaron had to throw out a hand to stabilize the water. It hovered in the air between them, shedding droplets.