Doorways to Infinity (26 page)

After Rollie finished, Mr. Winston asked if he could tell a story while the children were still sitting quietly. “Sure,” Jamie said. “The kids will probably like that.”

Mr. Winston brought out his walking stick, the special one that Uncle Charlie had carved for him, and stepped confidently to the microphone, though Jamie was certain that the old man had never seen one before.

The audience hushed as Mr. Winston gazed silently at them. Then he thrust his staff aloft with one hand and shouted, “Behold, the Minotaur of Crete,” and a three-dimensional image of a huge, grotesquely muscled man with the head of a ferocious bull appeared before him. The crowd gasped at the real-looking illusion, the creature towering menacingly over Mr. Winston’s head, its massive chest heaving as if it were alive and breathing, the eyes red like twin fires.

Wow
, Jamie thought.
That kinda reminds me of the demon we fought
. Only the demon, to Jamie, was far more frightening. He caught Rollie’s attention, sitting nearby with Nova, and Rollie nodded once at Jamie.
He thinks it looks a little bit like the demon, too
.

Then Mr. Winston began the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur, key moments brought to life with realistic images created by his magic. He used the microphone to good effect, smothering it with his mouth for grisly, dark sounds, and moving away to add space and depth to his story.

The scenes with the monster were so realistic that some of the children hid their eyes, and Jamie smiled appreciatively.
He’s getting good with that walking stick. It really amplifies his power
.

When Mr. Winston finished, Frankie, DeSean and some more of Jamie’s teammates began clamoring for him to do some magic, and he shook his head at first, but they were not going to take no for an answer. He scratched the side of his neck with one finger while he tried to decide what kind of magic he should do. He didn’t want to upstage Mr. Winston, but he knew he had to do something. But what? Then, thinking about Mr. Winston’s Minotaur, he got an idea.

He stood in front of the PA and faced the crowd that circled the bonfire, over two hundred people now, he estimated. On his left, just past the row of food tables, sat his teammates, the boys and the girls, with Coach Harrison and his wife in popup chairs and Coach Dave standing in the back with Miss Duffy. Next to that group was the Hendersonville crowd, on blankets and lawn chairs. Then came the farmers’ families in a wide arc, some sitting or standing in their wagons if their view was blocked by the pile of burning wood. As the circle curved to Jamie’s right, he saw the shopkeepers’ families, most of them parents and kids from the school, with a few strangers who had drifted in, probably attracted by the light from the bonfire and the magic suns that floated over the fields.

Completing the circle were the kids, sitting cross-legged on the ground in front, dozens of them, staring at Jamie with wide, shining eyes.

“I’m going to show you something cool. It’s a new spell I just came up with.”

“We can’t hear you,” Frankie said. “Use the microphone.”

Jamie summoned his will and magically boosted his voice. “How about now? Can you hear me in the back?” Coach Dave held up one hand and raised his thumb.

Jamie cleared his throat and said, “I’m going to show you what happened the day Rollie, Fred and I got rid of the demon. Most of you aren’t aware of it, and almost nobody knows what the demon looked like.”

“What demon?” Allison called out over the crowd.

“You may remember that a bunch of hikers got killed on the Appalachian Trail a while back. Everybody thought it was a bear, but it wasn’t. It was a demon. A big, dangerous one that’s immune to my magic and just about everything else. You can’t kill it with any weapon that I know of because it’s practically immortal. We had to figure out a way to get rid of it before a lot more people got killed. This was the best plan we could come up with, though in hindsight, it was a little crazy.”

“No,” Fred said. “It was a
lot
crazy.”

Jamie chuckled and kneeled on the grass so that he wouldn’t block the view of the kids sitting on the ground in front of him, and he turned and faced the school building. He raised his arms. The crowd behind him was quiet. “I’m going to let you see it from my point of view.” He glanced over his shoulder at the spectators and said, “This might be too scary for the younger kids, so you may want to cover their eyes.” Then he turned back and gestured. “This is what I saw.”

A scene appeared in the air above his head, not flat like a movie projection, but with all the depth and color of real life. It showed a path on a forested ridge, leading away from Jamie and disappearing over a rise in the distance.

“Rollie had run off that way to find the demon and get it to chase him,” Jamie said. “Fred was way up in a nearby tree, serving as a lookout, and I was at this spot, where I made a big magic doorway to an uninhabited world. Then I hid behind my invisibility shield.”

Jamie gestured with one hand. “I heard the demon coming before I saw it, and this is what it sounded like.” A steady
whump—whump—whump
could be heard, and Jamie amplified it until he felt it through the ground, ominous and frightening, exactly how it was when the demon had rumbled toward him that day.

Then Rollie’s image appeared over the rise, arms pumping furiously, running straight toward Jamie. Right behind Rollie came the demon, and Jamie heard cries and gasps from the crowd at his back.

It was the first time most of them had seen the terrifying monster, over ten feet tall, with supernaturally massive shoulders that bulged with every stride. The beast loped on all fours like a giant gorilla. Its skin was gray leather, and its hands and feet ended in long, wickedly curved claws. But the most fearsome aspect of the beast was its red, glowing eyes, focused on Rollie like angry lasers.

The scene played out as Jamie had experienced it with his slow-motion vision, allowing the viewers to see every horrifying detail of the chase. Jamie heard a child behind him cry out, then a mother’s soothing voice.

Rollie’s image raced toward Jamie and the open doorway, the demon close, both massive hands hitting the ground at the same time, sending up dirt and gravel as they struck, its huge arms pulling it forward while its hind legs gathered beneath it to push off.

Once again, Jamie was amazed by the determined look on Rollie’s face in the scene, no fear in his eyes, just unshakable resolve, his jaw tight as steel. Rollie glanced over his shoulder and stumbled, slowing for a moment, and the demon closed the gap between them in two strides. Rollie fell to the ground and rolled, and the demon swiped one clawed hand down at him.

Several children in the crowd behind Jamie screamed.

Rollie blurred and the massive hand missed, hitting only bare dirt. Rollie reappeared a few yards away, somersaulted to his feet, and resumed his sprint. The demon roared in rage, revealing sharp, wicked teeth in its wide maw, and lunged after Rollie.

The two of them raced closer, demon and prey, and Rollie blurred again and seemed to accelerate. He reappeared so close that every detail of his face was clearly visible, then he blurred once more and vanished. The demon surged forward and plunged through the open doorway. Fred’s voice could be heard shrieking, “He’s in, he’s in! Close it! Hurry!” and the glowing lines in the image winked out.

Jamie ended the visual spell, and the scene vanished from the air above his head. The audience stared in silence for several seconds, as if they were processing the magnitude of the event they’d just witnessed. Then they burst into applause, most rising to their feet if they weren’t already standing. Jamie looked to find Rollie surrounded by Jamie’s teammates, who cheered the loudest, Nova with her arms around Rollie’s neck and kissing his cheek, Rollie with an embarrassed grin.

Bryce was the first to start the chant, “Rol-lie, Rol-lie, Rol-lie,” and others soon picked it up until it was nearly deafening, and Rollie finally waved to the crowd and shook his head.

Jamie couldn’t hear Rollie over the din, but he could read his lips. “Okay, that’s enough. Okay already.” Jamie glanced over to where the Hendersonville families were standing and saw Rollie’s parents. Adele was wiping tears from her eyes, and Garrett had a profound look of pride in his. Jamie wanted to tell them
Yes, that’s exactly how it happened. That was your son. He risked his life to save the rest of us
.

Jamie joined Rollie, and Alberto said, “Did you guys really do that? I don’t know if that was crazy or brave or what, but…man! That was incredible! Rollie, you raced a demon! A dang
demon!
And you won!”

DeSean slapped Rollie on the back. “Best race I ever saw, man. You deserve a gold medal.”

Coach Harrison shook Rollie’s hand and said, “If you ever change your mind about running for the team, I’m sure we can make room for you on the squad.”

“I can’t, really. I wish I could, but…you know.” Rollie looked around until he found Cody. “Hey, uh, isn’t it time for some more music?”

Cody stared back at him with his mouth open, then he shrugged and said, “Yeah. Sure.” He nudged Ivan with his elbow. “Let’s go play some.”

They returned to the impromptu stage area, and while they tuned the guitar and banjo again, Miss Duffy went inside the school and came back moments later with her violin and a box of percussion instruments. Ivan grinned at her when she neared them. “You gonna jam?”

“No, but I would like to play some music with you, if that is all right.”

“We call that jamming.” Cody waved her to one of the chairs behind the two microphone stands, and she pulled her violin from its case and rosined her bow. Soon three more musicians came up and asked if they could perform with them. Jamie recognized them from the Founders’ Festival, a woman with a flute and a man with an instrument that resembled an accordion. The third had a drum.

There was a long, awkward pause while the musicians talked among themselves, searching for common ground from which to start, until finally Miss Duffy and the three Rivershire locals launched into a tune, and Cody and Ivan gradually fell in, tentatively strumming until they figured out the key.

They were helped by the audience, who clapped along, and several were on their feet, dancing close to the PA speakers. Fred was one of the first. Jamie made it a point to hide. It didn’t seem to bother her, though, because she was soon joined by a few of the girls from the track team and many of the kids, mostly girls, the boys too shy.

As the makeshift band rolled into another song, some of the parents from the school began dancing, too, and the area between the bonfire and the musicians became packed with twirling bodies. At one point, Mrs. Harrison dragged her husband into the fray, and a few of Jamie’s teammates hooted at their coach until he shot them a stern look that shut them up.

Eric appeared beside Jamie during the next song, and they watched the entertainment together. Jamie asked, “Where’s Terry?”

Eric pointed to the dancers, and Jamie saw her with Sammi and her little friends, a carefree smile on Terry’s face as they clasped hands and skipped in a circle.

“I guess she does like kids, huh?” Jamie said.

Eric only mumbled his answer, and when the song ended, he walked away from Jamie and approached the musicians. He had a brief word with Ivan, who offered Eric his guitar.

Jamie scratched his head while he observed the exchange between Ivan and Eric.
Now what?

Eric fingered the fretboard briefly, then spoke with the other musicians and played a few chords while they watched intently. Then Eric turned to the microphone and announced, “Here’s a bluegrass favorite called
Rocky Top
.” He began strumming and singing, and his voice was clear and confident. The other musicians kept up with the fast-paced tune, surprisingly, even though the Rivershire players couldn’t possibly have known it. Then Jamie remembered something that someone had told him once: Bluegrass music had evolved from the early Irish and Scottish immigrants who’d settled in Appalachia, bringing their songs and instruments with them. The people of Rivershire shared that heritage. Now they were sharing that music.

“Wow,” Jamie muttered as he watched Eric, the usually reserved and straight-laced secret agent. Nova, who had been dancing with Fred and Melanie and some other girls, stopped and stared openly at Eric with her mouth hanging open. Then she turned, caught Jamie’s eye and spread her hands.

Jamie shrugged back at her and mouthed,
Who knew?

The song ended to warm applause, and Nova thrust her fists in the air and shouted, “You rock, Agent Eric!” Eric smiled with one corner of his mouth, then turned and spoke to the musicians again, showing them some chords on the guitar. Miss Duffy tried a few tentative riffs on her violin while Eric waited, then he said something to her and she nodded. He counted out a fast tempo and they started playing
Orange Blossom Special
. Eric pounded out a driving rhythm on the guitar while the audience picked up the beat, clapping as one. Eric sang the first two verses and then looked at Miss Duffy, who stepped to the second microphone and improvised a deft solo, full of nimble runs and clever lines at a thrilling, breakneck speed. “Not bad,” Jamie said to no one in particular. “Not bad at all.”

Coach Dave stood to one side near the musicians, completely focused on Miss Duffy. It was then that Jamie understood what he saw in her. She was pleasantly pretty. She was a terrific artist and an accomplished musician, and according to Jamie’s gramma, an excellent teacher. And she seemed to be attracted to the young coach, just as Brinna had been drawn to John Paul. Jamie saw it. He felt it. Maybe it was complicated and a little crazy, but it was unmistakable and clear. As bright as the full moon rising over the trees.

The musicians played for over an hour before taking a break, and the dancers dispersed in search of refreshment. Jamie was standing in the line at the food tables when Uncle Charlie walked past him with Rollie and Bryce in tow.

“What are you doing?” Jamie said.

Rollie looked over his shoulder at him and shrugged. “He said he needed us for something.”