The Orb of Kandra (Oliver Blue and the School for Seers—Book Two)

CHAPTER ONE Oliver Blue was standing in a cupboard and he didn’t know why. His whole body felt peculiar, like a strange sensation was passing through him. His head was pounding. He glanced about, disoriented, trying to piece together fragments of memory. He’d come here through a swirling vortex. A wormhole. Yes! He remembered now. Professor Amethyst had created a wormhole and sent Oliver through it. But why? He turned, looking for the wormhole he’d traveled through, to see if it might give him a clue as to how he’d ended up here. But it was no longer there. He suddenly felt the cold sensation of metal on his chest and pulled out an amulet. Professor Amethyst had given it to him, he recollected. What was it he had told him? That when the metal became hot it meant there was a chance to get back to the School for Seers? That was it. Right now, it was icy cold. That meant the route back to the School for Seers was gone. A huge swell of sadness overcame Oliver as he remembered the school he’d left behind. But why he’d left it in the first place, Oliver could not recall. Anxiety took hold of him as he tried to piece it all together, to remember where he had landed. And why. Where was he? What year was it? And then, slowly, it came back to him: Armando. He had come back to the present day to save Armando Illstrom. He looked around him with sudden urgency. Armando was about to be killed. Every second counted. Oliver burst out of the cupboard and into the corridors of what he immediately recognized was a factory. Armando’s factory. Sure enough, there was a sign: Illstrom’s Inventions. He ran toward the factory forecourt. He reached the end of the corridor and tipped his head around the corner. Instead of Armando’s fake internal corridors, the factory had an open plan and was bustling with activity, filled with workers wearing the old-style blue overalls that Oliver currently wore. The whole place looked clean and well maintained. Flying robotic creatures whizzed through the air. Sparks flew from the welders of workers as they fixed up the joints of vast, giant machines. Metallic birds flew around in the rafters, where the windows were no longer boarded up. Everything had changed. Oliver had a moment of pride. Clearly, his actions back in 1944 had altered the present day. Thanks to him, Illstrom’s Inventions was up and running. But not for long. Not if he didn’t save Armando in time. Through the skylights, Oliver saw dark storm clouds. Rain began to hammer on the glass. Then a sudden flash of lightning forked across the sky, followed swiftly by a huge boom of thunder. The lights in the factory began to flicker. Then they went out completely. With a whirring sound, all the machines powered down. The backup generators kicked in and emergency lights flickered on around the factory, making the whole place glow ominously red. Oliver now realized when he’d come back to. It was the day of the big storm. The day the mayor had closed all the schools and businesses in town. The day he’d hidden in a trash can to escape Chris and his bullying friends. The day he’d met Armando. Through the gloomy red lights, Oliver caught sight of Armando. His Armando. Not the young man from 1944, but his elderly hero. His heart soared. But a moment later it fell again. Armando would not remember him. They had not even met. All those precious memories of their time together would now be gone from Armando’s mind. “I guess we should call it a day!” Armando called out to his workers. “Looks like the storm is hitting earlier than the mayor said. The bus will take you all home.” As the workers headed for the door, Oliver caught sight of something peculiar. Something blue and shimmery. He instantly recognized the unique shade of blue. It was the color of a rogue seer’s eyes. And that could only mean one thing. Lucas, the evil rogue seer, was here. Oliver searched through the gloom. A sudden bolt of lightning illuminated the whole place. Oliver saw a silhouette streak through the shadows of the factory. He gasped and his blood ran cold. It was Lucas. He was following Armando. Thunder boomed. Oliver leapt into action, heading in the direction of Armando and Lucas. He drew closer and closer to the evil rogue seer until they were running parallel. With another sudden crash of lightning, the old man’s face snapped to the side. Oliver saw Lucas’s wizened face in all its glory. His evil blue gaze locked on Oliver and his eyes flashed disconcertingly. “Oliver Blue,” he snarled. Oliver gulped. His throat felt constricted. Coming face to face with the man who wanted him dead was terrifying. Paralyzing. Just then, Horatio the dog leapt out of the darkness. He wove his body around Lucas’s ankles, making the old man stumble. “That blasted dog!” Lucas yelled as he staggered to stay upright. Oliver had never been so happy to see the old bloodhound. He immediately made use of the moment Horatio had given him, running in the direction that Armando had gone. He reached the corridor just in time to see Armando disappear into his office. The sound of heavy footsteps came from behind. Oliver glanced over his shoulder just as a flash of lightning illuminated Lucas’s deranged features. Scrambling with terror, Oliver reached the door of Armando’s office and burst inside. Armando’s office was in its usual chaotic state. There were several desks dotted about the place covered in stacks of paper. Computers from different eras. Shelves heaving with books. And standing in the midst of it all was Armando himself. He turned and looked at Oliver, perplexed. “Can I help you?” Oliver stared back, wondering if Armando recognized him. He couldn’t tell. And there was no time to dwell on it. He had to find the threat. Oliver looked about frantically. There was nothing amiss. No sign of a trap. Nothing to suggest Armando’s life was in imminent danger at all. He couldn’t help but second-guess himself. Was this whole trip back a mistake? Had he sacrificed his beloved school for no reason? Suddenly, Lucas burst into the office. “The guards are coming, you little pest!” He lunged for Oliver but Oliver jumped out of the way. He looked about frantically, searching for the threat. He didn’t have long to save Armando’s life. What could it be? “Get back here!” Lucas snapped. Armando jumped back as Oliver rushed past him, sliding under his desk and right out the other side. Lucas reached him but the wide desk provided a barrier. He lunged for Oliver, knocking into the desk over and over in his frantic attempts to get hold of him. That’s when Oliver saw it. A coffee cup on the side of the desk was being sloshed all over the place from Lucas’s movements. And Armando was now reaching for it to stop it from spilling. But there was a strange shimmery glistening on its surface. Poison! Oliver jumped up onto the desk and kicked out. The coffee cup went flying from Armando’s hands. It smashed onto the ground, a puddle of brown liquid pooling from it. “What is going on?” Armando exclaimed. Lucas got hold of Oliver’s legs and pulled. Oliver fell, landing heavily against the desk. “It’s POISON!” he tried to cry, but Lucas was covering his mouth with his hands. Oliver thrashed at the old man, kicking out, trying to get free. Just then guards barreled into the room. “Take this boy away,” Lucas said. Oliver bit down on his hand. Lucas reared back and screamed out in pain. Oliver leapt from the desk and darted left and right in his attempts to evade the guards. But it was no use. They got hold of him, twisting his arms roughly behind his back. They started to shove him toward the door. “Armando, please listen to me!” Oliver cried, digging his heels in. “Lucas is trying to kill you!” Lucas was nursing his sore hand. He narrowed his eyes as Oliver was dragged to the door. “Preposterous,” he sneered. Just then, Oliver noticed a small mouse had scurried out from the shadows in the corner. It sniffed the spilled coffee on the floor. “Look!” Oliver cried. Armando turned his gaze to the mouse. It licked the coffee spill. Then in an instant, its whole body went stiff and rigid. It fell to its side, dead. Everyone froze. The guards stopped dragging Oliver. They all turned to Armando. Armando stared at Lucas, and slowly, his expression changed. It became pained. A look of betrayal. “Lucas?” he asked, his voice heartbroken, disbelieving. Lucas’s face flushed with shame. Armando’s face hardened, and slowly, he pointed a finger at Lucas. “Take him away,” he instructed the guards. Immediately, the guards released Oliver and rounded on Lucas. “This is madness!” Lucas screamed as they roughly pinned Lucas’s arms behind his back. “Armando! You’ll believe this scrawny little boy over me?” Armando said nothing as the guards dragged Lucas away. The old man’s face contorted with rage. He screamed, looking as deranged as Hitler had when Oliver had broken his bomb. “This isn’t over, Oliver Blue!” he yelled. “I’ll get you one day!” Then he was dragged through the door and disappeared from sight. Oliver let out a deep breath of relief. He’d done it. He’d really done it. He’d saved Armando’s life. He looked up at the old inventor, standing there in the chaos of his office looking shocked and stunned. For a long moment, they held one another’s gaze. Then, finally, Armando smiled. “I’ve been waiting a long time to see you again.”