The trend continued with a twelve-year-old girl named Bellatrix who was suddenly too afraid to leave her room, a thirteen-year-old boy named Christos who woke up one morning with a strange allergy to water, and one teacher whose lips had been inexplicably fused together. No one said as much, but Cricket was certain that each had had something to do with Abner. What their crime had been to cause them to be punished by the boy, he didn't know.
"It's too much magic for someone so young." Cricket frowned down at his notes. "He shouldn't have that much power."
"But he does." Ignacia's hands were tucked behind her back as they walked.
"But he does," Cricket agreed. His fingers drummed against the strap of his satchel as he thought.
"It has to be some kind of amplifying magic. Doesn't it?"
"It would have to be, but where would he get something like that? I doubt his mistress would leave him with it, that would be irresponsible, no witch in their right mind would leave a thirteen-year-old with amplifying magics." He shook his head, frowning. There was something that wasn't fitting. Something that didn't add up. "And besides, why would he curse the entire town to repeat the day?"
"Maybe we should just wait till his mistress comes back? She'll set everything right, I'm sure." Ignacia shrugged.
Cricket sighed, grabbing the watch from his satchel to check the time. His eyes widened at the hand slowly ticking away towards 6:30. They had a minute, maybe a little less. He grabbed Ignacia's wrist and started running.
"What in the name of Styxx are we doing?!"
"Running!" He didn't stop. The edge of the town was in sight. Just a few more feet and they'd be safe.
"I can see that, but why?"
"It's almost time!"
"It's almost time for—" Ignacia yelped beside him when she understood. "Well run faster then! I don't want to get trapped here again!"
"I'm trying!" He growled, pushing himself faster. His heart hammered in his ears, but the line was right there. He could see it. Just a few more steps and they'd be out in the plane again. They stepped over the boundary out into the surrounding grass, Cricket let out a long slow whine, and flopped down face first into the dirt. He held the stitch in his side, wheezing to try to catch his breath. "I really need to get back into shape."
"We'll have to work on that." Ignacia scoffed. She'd turned to look back at where Tochtli had been and was frowning. "Cricket."
"What? I know. It's gone. Weird, right?" He'd squeezed his eyes shut at some point, but wasn't sure when.
"No. Cricket. Look."
"It's not weird?" Cricket asked, blinking hard against the still too-bright light of the sun kissing the horizon as it fought to stay longer.
"No.... It's... It's not gone." Ignacia's words were soft, almost lost on the wind.
"What?" Cricket sat up abruptly and looked back the way they'd come. He was fully expecting to see fields as far as the eye could see, but no. There was the cobblestone road that led into the center of Tochtli. Someone was whistling as they pushed a cart down the street. A woman on the second floor of one of the homes had come out to take her laundry down off the line. Tochtli was still there. And its people were going about their normal routines as if nothing had changed. "But that's not...that's not right."
"Maybe you got the time wrong."
"No. I wrote it down and everything. It was 6:35 when I was finally able to write it down. So, I wrote that down." He shook his head, scrambling through his satchel to pull out the journal again. Fingers fumbled as he flipped to the page, nearly ripping it in his hurry, but then he pointed. "Look? See? 6:35."
"Maybe you read the watch wrong?" Ignacia frowned, tilting her head to try to read his handwriting, then looking away when she gave up.
"I can read a watch." Cricket shook his head. "The sun had just touched the horizon. I remember. This...this isn't right. It should be gone. It should all be gone! By this time last night this was just an empty field!"
"Well, it's not now."
"I see that, Iggy." Cricket bit out, pulling the watch by the chain to get a better look at it. 6:38. It should be gone. "Something has changed. We did something to change it."
"Do you think..." Ignacia let her words drift off, but there was a smile creeping up her lips. A dangerous, victorious thing that may very well be premature, but Cricket wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"That it was you?" he finished, rising to his feet, the same slow and hopeful smile twitching at the corners of his own lips. "That getting someone out before it disappeared changed everything?"
"Is it possible that we broke whatever spell he put on the place?" There was hope gleaming in her eyes.
Cricket could feel his knees bouncing in excitement. "I mean we had to have right? Look! It's still there! Tochtli is still there! We saved the town! Iggy! We did it! We saved the town!"
"We saved the town!" Ignacia cheered, grabbing his hands and bouncing with him. They both jumped, and spun, and laughed at their success until the sun had well and truly set. By that point Cricket was breathless, the stitch in his side had come back, but he hadn't been happier in such a long time, so he didn't complain.
They built a small fire on the embers of his previous one, and made a quick supper. Cricket couldn't help how his eyes were drawn back to Tochtli. The town was still there, lights flickering in the windows as people went about their evening routines. He did that. He made sure they were safe. And tomorrow they'd go back into town and he'd have a very stern chat with Abner about misusing magic.
"We should give Anstice a call. Let her know we're done here, and figure out where we should go next." Ignacia sat up from where she'd laid back in the grass to look up at the stars.
"And bring up the dragon." Cricket nodded, dragging his satchel closer so he could dig out the mirror. "Ooooh, Anstice."
His reflection rippled, and Ignacia scooted in closer as they waited for Anstice to pick up. When she finally did, Cricket frowned. Her usually neat hair had several strands pulled from the haphazard braid on her shoulder.
"What's wrong?" he asked immediately.
"It's nothing, Cricky." Anstice shook her head. "Nothing I can't handle anyway. Your father has just come down with a little cold."
"The healer?"
"Has already been in to see him. He's been put on bed rest, and that should be the end of it."
"I should come home."
"No. You are doing important work out there, and you should continue to do that. Which...speaking of... Hello Iggy!" Anstice crowed, her face lighting up in a wide smile. "So nice to see you again, dear!"
"I was missed, I see." Ignacia laughed, shaking her head.
"Oh, so much. Our dear prince was in ruins, absolute tatters, when you disappeared last night. I don't think I've ever seen him so distraught." Anstice's face had slipped into something more relaxed. Cricket huffed at the gentle ribbing, but didn't put a stop to it. It was true enough; he had been frazzled. But more than that there was comfort in the familiarity of their teasing. "Speaking of, I presume you have news?"
"Yes! Tochtli!" Cricket brightened, turning the mirror so that Anstice could see it where it still sat next to the river. The lights were slowly blinking out as people turned in for the night, but it was still very much there. "We think we know what caused it, and it seems that pulling someone out was what broke it."
When he pulled the mirror back so he could look at Anstice her face had settled into a thoughtful expression. "And you're sure it's broken?"
"Well, the town is still there. By this time last night, it had been gone for a couple of hours." Cricket wrinkled his nose thoughtfully. "I don't see why it wouldn't have been broken at this point."
"What do you think the cause was?" Anstice was drumming her well-manicured nails on the table, making the mirror jiggle a little.
"An amplifying spell combined with an underage witch," Ignacia supplied. "We met the kid; he doesn't seem malicious."
"Just lonely." Cricket nodded.
"Hmmm," Anstice hummed, chewing on the inside of her cheek for a moment. Then she shrugged.
"Where to next?" Ignacia reached over to grab the map from Cricket's bag and unfurled it.
"We heard there was a dragon in Ilkay." Cricket tried and failed to keep the excitement out of his voice. He'd never seen a dragon in person, and he'd love to get the chance.
"A dragon?" Anstice tilted her head.
"Mhm. We ran into a knight that said he was headed that way to deal with a dragon." Cricket leaned in to look at the map with Ignacia. "Iggy figures it's about a half day's ride. And if its—"
"No. No. Don't worry about the dragon." Anstice waved her hand, brushing off the idea.
"What?" Cricket and Ignacia asked as one, both heads lifting to eye their friend skeptically.
"Let's sort out where you'll go next after you've dealt with this young witch. You don't know how long it'll take you to talk him down, do you?"
"Well no. But I mean... he's just a kid... and this is a dragon." Cricket held the mirror handle more tightly to keep from fidgeting. "Dragons are definitely more dangerous."
"They are. But I've got a contact in Ilkay I'll reach out to and see what's really going on there. If we hadn't heard about it yet, it might not be that serious."
"How is a dragon not serious?" Ignacia asked. "I mean they're huge, and they breathe fire, and they usually like to destroy things. Or are we talking about something else?"
"Look here miss, don't sass me. Who's the advisor here?" Anstice's finger shook in the direction of Ignacia, or tried to, in the little mirror it really just looked like she was wagging her finger at both of them.
Ignacia huffed, but didn't argue.
"Right. I am." Anstice looked much too pleased with herself, and Cricket sent up a silent thanks to Selene that they were not in a room together which would either descend into yelling or them picking on him instead. "It wasn't on the list that Theo brought us before you left."
"It could be more recent. I didn't get an exact date of when the knight had arrived. It could have been after we left." Waiting didn't sit right with Cricket. He'd rather know where they were headed next so he could prepare. He didn't want to go in blind as he had with Tochtli and possibly lose Ignacia again. Once had been enough.
Anstice sighed. "Trust me Cricket, I'll get an answer about the dragon."
"No. I know. I'm just..." He shrugged.
"I'll have plenty of information on your next location before you get there, I promise." Her voice had gone a little softer, like Anstice could see the upset on the edge of Cricket's mind. She probably could. She'd known him all his life, and Cricket had never been one to play it close to the vest.
"I'm not going anywhere." Ignacia slung her arm over his shoulder, giving him a tight hug and then she pressed a messy and loud kiss to his cheek. "You won't get rid of me that easy!"
"Gross! Iggy cooties!" He laughed, scrubbing at his cheek. Ignacia gave him a hard shove, and Cricket almost dropped the mirror. She snatched it from him before he could. Anstice was laughing too, he could hear it. It took a minute for their laughter to die away, and then he sat up, pressing his shoulder hard into Ignacia's to fit himself into the mirror.
"Good to see you two are getting along as well as ever." Anstice shook her head. "You should get some rest. I'm not a seer, but I predict another early start in your future."
"Noooooo," Cricket whined.
Ignacia snickered, and Anstice offered them both a wink before her image blinked out. They settled into the tent after that. Curling up and going to sleep to the sounds of the night around them.
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