Chapter Nineteen
All According To Cake

 

They stopped to take a quick breath. Jenna especially was clearly having a rough time running this much. Jacob and Dennis had kept up, and Emily suspected the older boy had actually slowed down a little bit so he could keep an eye on Jenna. Well, ‘older’. He couldn’t have been more than a year older than Emily, he figured. He was just very tall. And still holding the now-defiant-looking Dennis clutched to his chest. On second viewing, Emily noticed that Jacob had actually tucked the boy into his hoodie, zipping it up only halfway, leaving his hands free. The puppy’s nose stuck out of the hoodie like a little sniffy periscope.

“I heard you,” Jacob said. “What are you thinking?” 

“Okay, this is going to sound very stupid,” Emily said, “but hear me out.” As he explained his plan, he saw Jacob and Jenna’s faces go from curiosity and exhaustion to confusion and exasperation, and finally to disbelief and worry. 

“That sounds…” Jenna said softly.

“Dangerous,” Jacob finished. “But it could work. Especially if we take care of his Familiar. He told us to think on our feet, and if Emily’s right, he gave us all the tools we need to actually take a stand, right?”

“Right,” Emily said. He was panting slightly, out of habit more than anything, and was once again grateful he was in cat-form. If he wasn’t, he’d be sweating profusely, and not simply from the sheer exertion of the morning. He wasn’t sure if his plan would even work at all. All he could do was hope against hope that he was right about everything. 

“For now, let’s just keep moving quietly,” Jacob said. “I have no idea how we could even do something more complex without a focus — or training — but I have the distinct feeling that, even if we could turn invisible, he probably has a way to see us through the trees somehow.”

“Yeah!” Dennis said excitedly, and then lowered his head a bit. “Sorry.”

Jacob and Jenna both chuckled at the little boy’s excitement, and Jacob put a hand on the boy’s head. “You’re fine, Dennis,” Jacob said, and he smiled at Jenna for a second, before they all started to move as quietly as they could towards their objective. The rest of the forest was eerily quiet. Even the birds seemed to be holding their breaths. 

Emily tiptoed carefully through the underbrush, making sure not to step on any branches, even though the effort was mostly wasted. Despite her best efforts, Jenna made a lot more noise than Emily ever could. He knew he’d be making even more noise if he was in his big, lumbering, human form, all elbows and knees. 

There was a sound near them, like the dull hum of a fluorescent light turning on. They all looked at each other. There was only one thing it could be. Vigours was about to catch up to them. Jenna and Jacob did exactly as they agreed, bolting to either side. The loud bang that heralded Vigours’ arrival shook the forest as he appeared between them, his Familiar right next to him. He looked to either side and smirked. 

Emily, keeping up with Jenna, saw a root lift itself off the ground just where she was about to put her foot down, and he noticed the strange absence of the flow of magic. Havelock, Vigours’ Familiar, was making her trip up. He reached out, as best he could, imagining giving Jenna a little upward push. Not much. Just enough to give her a little bit of extra lift. She looked around with shock for a moment, until she noticed Emily, and gave a faint thumbs up, while continuing her sprint. 

Emily looked behind him to see if Jacob and Dennis had put their own side of the plan in motion, just when the sound of an explosion rocked the forest. Rather than a fireball, like Terence and Ricky had used, this was much more visceral. It shook the floor. There was no fire here, just raw energy, exploding outward. Well, at least Jacob was strong, even if he couldn’t exactly aim well. 

Trees were starting to topple, and the sound of small wildlife escaping in every direction was disorienting for a second, especially since it was accompanied by the deafening sound of Vigours’ disappearing and reappearing. 

“Now!” Emily shouted at Jenna, trying to raise his tiny voice above the din. She seemed to have heard him, because she turned as best she could while sprinting, running back around. It didn’t take them long to find where Jacob was squaring off against Vigours. It was where all the explosions were happening and the trees were all snapped. 

Vigours was just standing there, hands on his hips, with a golden shield around him, while the air on him seemed to explode, over and over again, blowing twigs and debris in every direction. His Great Dane just sat calmly inside the bubble, observing Jacob patiently. 

“You do know this is pointless, right?” Vigours said. “Without a focus, you can’t hope to defeat me. Trying to win using raw power is a little disappointing, Mackie. I was expecting better from you.”

He held up his hand, and more chains appeared in the air. Rapidly, they snaked through air, faster than Jacob could destroy them. Not that he wasn’t trying, both his hands outstretched. But he didn’t have to. With her eyes squeezed shut, Jenna shouted, and a powerful gust of wind slammed into the chains, blowing them off course. 

Emily saw the way Vigours’ Familiar held on to the chains, a much more complex construct than any he’d ever used, but also that Havelock’s grip was loosening. He reached out and grabbed them himself. 

“Oh?” Vigours said as he turned around. “Teaming up?” Vigours disappeared and the loud bang came from behind them. 

“Jenna!” Jacob yelled, “Get down!” She did as she was asked, throwing herself to the ground just as Vigours’ flaming sword soared over her head. Immediately after, the golden shield went back up, because Emily had chucked the chains right at him. Emily knew he didn’t have the control necessary to wrap them around the teacher, but he didn’t have to. He just had to buy them some time. Jenna scrambled to her feet and ran, as Jacob once again started a barrage of explosions centered on Vigours. 

“You’re stalling,” Vigours said calmly as he started to walk forward, but he stopped when Jenna, too, unleashed her own magic again. It was uncoordinated, wild, little more than a powerful wind, but it really didn’t have to be. Emily, standing next to her, nodded. 

“More if you can, Jenna,” he said, as he looked around. He could see the unused magic in the air, flowing wildly. The two of them were unloading as much as they could, while Vigours didn’t even have to. It clearly didn’t take him too much effort to hold up the shield. But he also couldn’t move fast with it up. And there was something else he’d noticed, when Vigours had appeared between the trees. “He’s going to do it again,” Emily said. “Jacob!” 

Right on cue, Jacob threw himself into a forward roll, to make sure he didn’t hurt Dennis in the process, just as Vigours appeared next to him with the sword. Once again, the swing went wide. “Curious,” he said, and he made eye contact with Emily. “Ah-hah.”

“Uh oh,” Emily said as he looked around. “Jenna, plan B, no—” 

That’s as far as he made it, when he felt his limbs lock up, and he slowly started flowing upwards. The invisible tendrils that had previously held on to the chain had wrapped themselves around him. “Got you,” Havelock said. “Not bad, Rosewood.”

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“Not bad at all,” Vigours said. “Reading magic? That’s pretty advanced for how long you’ve been doing this.”

“I’m glad you think so,” Emily said as Jenna moved away from him. She was getting into position, and being slightly obvious about it, but Vigours and Havelock both had their eyes fixed on Emily. Good, he thought. Just like that. “Now, what’ll really surprise you…”

“Oh?” Vigours said, “is it that your mage is trying to flank us?”

“Ah,” Emily said. “Well, yes and no.” Just a few more seconds. He pushed back against the tendrils as best he could, but he couldn’t budge them. Havelock was just too strong. “All I need…”

“Is a few more seconds for Jacob to circle around behind me?” Vigours offered. 

“Shit,” Emily said. Vigours smiled victoriously and disappeared, reappearing behind Jacob, who threw himself to the side just in time, before opening up another barrage of explosions. Emily was about to warn him again, but Havelock now kept his mouth shut, too. 

Thankfully, with Jenna’s help in the form of a constant powerful gale, he was able to dodge Vigours every time the loud bang moved him instantaneously from place to place. After what felt like hours, but was probably less than a minute, of frantic near-misses, everyone stopped again for a second. Jacob was clearly out of breath, and while his magic wasn’t letting up, he was clearly getting exhausted.

“Uh, Samuel,” Havelock said. 

“Hmm?”

“MMMf,” Emily tried. Vigours raised an eyebrow and then nodded at Havelock, who released his grip. “I think what your Familiar is trying to tell you, professor, is that he thinks we’ve won.”

Vigours frowned and looked at Havelock, who nodded sheepishly. “Um. Sort of.”

“Care to explain, Rosewood?” Vigours said, waving his sword through the air to demonstrate that he wasn’t exactly defeated. “I don’t see how you have the upper hand in this situation.”

“Magic,” Emily chirped happily. “‘Raw power.’” He hoped the quotation marks he was pronouncing as loudly as possible were getting across. “We weren’t trying to overpower you, sir. That would be useless.”

“They outlasted us, Samuel,” Havelock chuckled. He looked around. The forest was leveled. The sheer amount of magic and explosions had turned it into what was practically an empty field. “They used up every little bit of magic in the area.”

“And I noticed, when you appeared on that branch in front of Simon and Benjamin—” Emily started.

“That it takes quite a bit of energy to hop around the way I have been,” Vigours said. “Keen eye, Rosewood. Clever. So you banked on Mackie and your own Witch having more reserves than I do. Not a bad strategy at all. All you had to do was dodge me while you used up all the power in the area.”

“Exactly, sir,” he said. 

“That almost worked, too,” Havelock said. “You know, Sam, I think we’ve got some decent material to work with.”

“I reckon so,” Vigours said, just as what the Familiar had said was starting to dawn on Emily. 

“Hold on,” Emily said, “what do you mean, almost?”

“Well,” Vigours said, “you made one mistake.” Silent as a whisper, he disappeared, and reappeared behind Jacob, the flaming sword an inch from his neck. “That loud bang? That takes up a lot of energy. And it was entirely for your benefit.”

“Hah!” Emily clamped his mouth shut. He really had thought he was pretty clever for trying to create and spring a trap for their teacher, but in the end, he’d been tricked anyway. Well, mostly. “You almost had us, sir,” he said. 

“Okay, hold on,” Vigours said, frowning. “We very clearly have you. You don’t get to tell me you have suddenly developed another ability that I didn’t foresee. This isn’t a children’s cartoon, Rosewood. Are you just stalling for time again?”

“Yes sir,” Emily said, and with a soft pop, they were all standing in the middle of town. Vigours looked around in confusion. The sword in his hand disappeared, and Jacob and Dennis breathed a sigh of relief. 

“What just…” Vigours said, and then he looked to the side. In the end, it had never been about trapping Vigours, of course. Trying to outmatch the teacher in a battle of magic was always going to turn into a loss. All they had to do was keep him distracted. 

A little ways away, just where he’d expected her to be, was Jenna, grinning happily and waving a yellow flag back and forth.