The Golden Tower (Magisterium #5)(36)

The sun had come out, and it dried them as they made their way along the path, the noise of the river drowning out any conversation that wasn’t shouting. Alastair stopped at a place where the path jutted out into the water in a small promontory. He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Lucas!” he shouted. “Lucas, can you hear me?”

Tamara suddenly gasped. “Look!” she yelled. “There! A kid is drowning!”

She pointed.

A boy in a yellow poncho had slipped somehow, even with all the precautions and the railing. He’d fallen into the torrent frothing over the rocks and was being carried along, spun around like a leaf. For a moment he disappeared underwater and bobbed to the surface. Call couldn’t tell if he was conscious or not, couldn’t tell how hard he’d hit the rocks.

“We have to do something,” Tamara said, rushing to the water’s edge.

“Try to pick him up. Jasper and I will concentrate on calming the water. Gwenda, you make sure none of the people notice,” said Call.

Jasper nodded. Gwenda scrunched up her face in concentration. She intensified the fog of the spray, creating a mist that hid them. Then she intensified two of the rainbows so that they were beautiful enough to distract onlookers. It might not be enough to keep his family from noticing what was happening, but it might mean no one else was looking.

Call had never been particularly good with water magic, but he reached out with it now, trying to control the flow of the rapids to clear a path for Tamara. He saw Jasper was concentrating on slowing the movement of water close to the boy, who was slowly rising in the air and floating toward them.

The boy opened his eyes and looked at them, but when he did, Call saw that his eyes were full of water. Tamara’s magic brought him closer, but the nearer he got, the less he looked like a boy. His skin rippled and became translucent, as though he wasn’t made of flesh at all. Then he collapsed into a puddle, leaving no child at all, just a yellow jacket.

“What?” Jasper demanded.

A geyser shot out of the water — and out of that came a manlike shape. “You’ve passed my test,” he said in a gurgling voice. “Now what do you want?”

“You recognize me, don’t you, Lucas?” asked Alastair.

“Alastair Hunt.” The man was translucent, but the water formed a clear picture of his features, even the sketchy outlines of curly hair. “It’s been a long time.”

“This is my son and his friends. We need a favor,” Alastair said.

“A favor?”

“We need your help. There’s a Devoured of chaos and he wants to take Constantine Madden’s place, fighting the mage world.”

“He wants to hurt a lot of people,” said Jasper. “Maybe wipe out humanity.”

“And what can I do about that?” asked Lucas.

“If you were to stand with three other Devoureds, you’d be able to strip away his chaos,” said Call. “He will return to being just a mage and we could fight him. Dad told me you fought in the war. Alex is the last of Constantine’s minions with any power. Once he’s defeated, the war can finally be over.”

“That was when I was human,” said the Devoured. “But I am human no longer.”

“You could live anywhere,” said Tamara. “But you choose here.”

“I like Niagara. I like the power of the waterfall, the rush of the water.”

“And the people,” said Tamara. “You could be out at sea, far from anyone. You could be in one of the great rivers. You could even pick a remote waterfall. But no, you pick a place where there will always be humans nearby. And you tested us by showing us a human child in danger. I think that, whatever you are, you still care about people.”

“Perhaps I do.” Lucas spun slowly in the water. Gwenda and Jasper watched in wonder. “I find that I do not like the idea of humanity being wiped out. I will help you.”

Call’s shoulders sagged in relief. “Great,” he said. “Do you know any other Devoureds? Like, of other elements?”

Lucas frowned. “This does not sound like a well thought-out plan.”

“We already have Ravan, Devoured of fire, on our side,” said Tamara quickly. “We just need a Devoured of earth and a Devoured of air.”

Lucas made a thoughtful noise like splashing water. “Maybe Greta,” he said. “Last I heard, she had taken up residence in a sinkhole near Tampa.”

“Greta Kuzminski?” said Alastair. “She became a Devoured of earth? Was that because she likes dirt or hates people?”

“Mostly she hates people,” said Lucas. “She was betrayed by the Assembly. They were willing to say anything to get her on their side in the war against Constantine, but after the truce, they betrayed all the promises they’d made. I’ll tell you exactly where to find her, but you may have difficulty convincing her the way you convinced me.”

“Great,” muttered Gwenda. “I knew this was too easy.”

“You don’t know another Devoured of earth, do you?” said Jasper. “Someone friendlier?”

“I do not,” said Lucas. True to his word, he gave them detailed directions, which Call tried to memorize. “Good luck to you. When you have collected everything you need, touch water and speak my name. I will be summoned to you.”