The Copper Gauntlet (Magisterium #2)(51)

Then he held his breath.

The map showed a location quickly enough, although there was no address associated with it, just the words Monument Island, Harpswell, Maine. According to the map, there were no roads on it and no houses. He doubted there was a ferry, either.

Even worse, when he typed in the directions, the computer said it would take fifteen hours to drive there. Fifteen hours! And Alastair had a head start. What if he was already there? What if he’d taken a plane?

For a moment, terrible panic overwhelmed Call. The screen in front of him flickered. The lights shuddered. Jasper looked in Call’s direction, sneering.

“Maybe someone went through the Gate of Control too soon,” he said under his breath.

“Easy.” Aaron put a hand on Call’s shoulder. Steadying him.

Call stood up abruptly, fighting for breath. “I’ve got to …”

“You’ve got to what?” Aaron looked at him strangely.

“Print,” Call said. “I’ve got to print. The directions.” He staggered over to the register. “Do you guys have a printer?”

The girl behind the counter nodded. “Three dollars a page, though.”

Call glanced at Tamara. “Can we?”

She sighed. “It’s a necessary expense. Go ahead.”

Call sent the directions to print. Now all three of them were looking at him strangely. “Is something wrong?” Aaron said.

“It’s in Maine,” Call said. “Fifteen hours away by car.”

Aaron looked up from his ham-and-provolone sandwich with a shocked expression. “Seriously?”

“Could have been worse,” Jasper said, surprising Call. “Could have been Alaska.”

Tamara glanced around and then back at Call. Her brown eyes were very serious. “You sure you want to do this?”

“I’m sure I have to,” he said.

She took a bite out of her sandwich. “Well, eat up, everyone,” she said. “I guess we’re going on a road trip to Maine.”



After lunch, they got back to the car, dumping their backpacks in the back. Call walked Havoc and fed him two roast beef sandwiches and then tipped a bottle of water so he could lap at it. The Chaos-ridden wolf ate and drank with surprising daintiness.

Call drove, with Tamara acting as copilot while Jasper and Aaron pillowed their heads on Havoc’s furry back and napped. Jasper must have been pretty exhausted to deign to sleep on a Chaos-ridden animal. Hours passed like this.

“You know you can get arrested for going under the speed limit, too,” said Tamara, her warm ginger ale in the cup holder beside her. She was unbraiding her hair, brushing it out as it blew around with the breeze of her open window. Tamara almost always kept her hair in braids, and Call was surprised by how long it was unbraided, black and shiny and hanging to her waist.

Call pressed his foot harder on the gas and the Morris lurched forward. As the speedometer needle started to edge up, the car began to shudder.

“Uh,” Tamara said. “Maybe we should take a chance on the cops.”

He gave her a quick smile. “Do you really think the Magisterium sent that monster after us?”

“I don’t think Master Rufus would,” Tamara said, hesitating. When she spoke again, the words came out in a rush. “But I’m not sure about anyone else. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Call, if there was something you knew — you’d tell us, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing,” she said, her fingers nimbly working her hair back into a single long braid.

Call focused on the road, on the blur of lines and keeping his distance from other cars.

“What’s the next exit?” he asked her. “We need gas.”

“Call,” Tamara said again. Now she was playing with her wristband. He wished she’d stop fidgeting. “You know if there was something you wanted to tell me that was a secret, I’d keep it. I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“Like you didn’t tell anyone about my dad?” Call said, immediately regretting it. Tamara’s eyes went wide and then angry.

“You know why I did that,” she said. “He tried to steal the Alkahest! He was putting Aaron in danger! And things turned out even worse than we thought. He didn’t have good intentions.”

“Not everything is about Aaron,” Call said, which made him feel even more terrible. It wasn’t Aaron’s fault he was who he was. Call was just glad Aaron was asleep again, his blond head resting on Havoc’s fur.

“Then what is this about, Call?” Tamara said. “Because I have a feeling you know.”

Words felt like they were clawing their way up Call’s throat — he didn’t know if he wanted to yell at Tamara or spill everything just for the relief of not keeping it bottled up anymore — when suddenly the car started shaking hard.

“Call, slow down!” Tamara said.

“I am slowed down!” he protested. “Maybe I should pull over —”

Suddenly and without warning, Master Rufus appeared, popping into existence between Call and Tamara in the front seat of the car.

“Students,” he said, looking very displeased. “Would you like to explain yourselves?”