Zach grinned. “In the meantime, can I make you a coffee?”
Gesturing for him to proceed, Kensington said, “I’ll take you up on that offer.”
As Zach started up the stairs, his ears popped, a sure sign that Drew was accessing his magic. He frowned and hurried up the remaining stairs, only to freeze when he got to the top. Drew was standing in front of the breakfast nook, and he had a backpack over one shoulder, a water bottle in one hand, and his familiar clutched in the other. A swirling vortex was forming in front of him, and he had a determined look in his pale blue eyes.
“Drew?” Zach called. “What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry,” Drew said, and he looked like he meant it. “I left something very important behind.” Then he said, “ad inferos me reduc1,” and he was gone.
“Drew!” Zach screamed, darting forward towards the vortex, but it was too late. It had dissolved into nothingness as soon as it had swallowed Drew. He whirled on Kensington. “Get him back!” he demanded.
Kensington was looking around the room, but Zach felt the hum of magic, which showed he was assessing the situation on a deeper level. “I don’t believe I can,” he said.
“You’re the GrandfuckingMaster of the Nightingale Collective,” Zach snarled. “Bring him back to me!”
“Zach,” Kensington said kindly. “The sort of magic that Drew is wielding is unlike anything I’ve seen. His familiar makes him even stronger. I don’t believe it is within my capabilities to retrieve him. He’s not a demon, so he can’t be summoned since the same rules don’t apply.”
“Please,” Zach begged, his voice cracking. “I can’t bear to think of him there, alone. Drew has no idea of the sorts of things that inhabitthat realm.”
After a long moment, Kensington eventually nodded. “I make no promises.” His gaze turned distant as he sent his concentration inwards, and the air grew heavy. “redi ad nos Drew2,” he intoned.
Zach tried to settle his rising anxiety as they waited for something, anything to happen. Kensington gathered even more power, causing Zach’s ears to pop painfully, and he repeated the spell. Still, nothing happened.
The third time Kensington tried and failed, he cried out in pain, clutching his head. Zach rushed to him and grabbed his arms. “Are you alright?”
Kensington was bleeding from his nose, but he nodded. “Yes. Just overexerted myself.” His normally powerful voice was thready and shaky.
Zach handed him a tissue. “Do you need anything?”
“Maybe just some water.”
Kensington sat down at the table while Zach filled a glass of water for him. When he sat down, the Grand Master looked at him with regret. “I’m sorry I couldn’t bring him back.”
Hesitating for only a second, Zach said, “Obviously not right this minute, but is there any chance you can sendmetohim?” He felt horrible for even asking, given the toll the last attempt had had on Kensington, but he couldn’t let Drew face the dangers of Hell alone.
Kensington was already shaking his head. “I am just not powerful enough to gather sufficient magic to accomplish teleporting a human between realms.”
“Okay, but could it be done bymultiplemagic users?” he asked. “Like if you, me, Simon, and whoever else we can find all tried to pool our magic together. Do you thinkthat could work?”
Frowning, Kensington considered this. “It might,” he said slowly. “Again, I can make no guarantees, but it could be possible.”
A surge of hope rose so quickly within Zach that he felt a little dizzy. “Are there enough people close by?”
“Not on the island,” Kensington said. “I’ll reach out to members of the chapters in Vancouver, Alberta, Washington, and Oregon. It may take a day or so to convince enough of them to even attempt to get us there, but we can only try.”
“Uh, what do you mean byus?” Zach asked.
Kensington looked at him with disdain. “If you think, even for a single moment, that I would leave my protégé to fend for himself in Hell, then you are gravely mistaken. You will not be conducting his rescue alone, Zachariel. I shall accompany you.”
Zach couldn’t help but feel relieved at that. He hated having to wait, and there was always the possibility Drew would return before they could even reach out to the other magic users, but at least now they had a plan. It wasn’t much, but it was something.
1. 'Take me back to Hell'
2. 'Return to us, Drew'
Chapter 12
Return to Oz
