The Scepter of Fire

“Oliver!” Hazel cried, her tone seeped in relief.

Oliver was surprised that he was able to hear her so loudly and clearly. He’d expected her voice to be swallowed by the wind, as would usually happen during portal travel. He wondered why that wasn’t happening in this one. Maybe it was a different kind of portal from the ones he’d traveled through before. Professor Amethyst had conjured it under duress, after all.

Using his arms, Oliver swam breaststroke toward his friends. He grabbed them and they held onto one another tightly.

“Where are the others?” Ralph cried, glancing furtively around.

Oliver shook his head, the force of the wind making his dark blond hair fly into his eyes. “I don’t know. I can’t see them.”

He craned his head, searching through the black and purple flashing swirls to see if there was any sign of Walter, Simon, or Esther. There was none. He couldn’t see them at all, and the thought filled him with fear. Had they even jumped into the portal? Could they be stuck inside the crumbling school? He couldn’t bear the thought of having saved Esther’s life with the Elixir for her to then lose it only moments later in the school’s collapse. Why hadn’t he kept hold of her hand when he’d jumped?

“Oliver, can you hear me?” Professor Amethyst’s voice suddenly came from nowhere.

Shock struck Oliver. His eyes widened with surprise. He looked all about him but could not see the headmaster. It was as if Professor Amethyst was talking to him from another dimension.

Worried he was going mad, he turned to the others. “Did you guys hear that?” he asked, as the wind battered them.

“Yes,” Hazel gasped. “It’s Professor Amethyst. But how is he talking to us?”

“I have no idea,” Oliver stammered in reply.

“Listen,” the headmaster’s voice continued, seemingly coming from everywhere at once. “This is very important.” He spoke hurriedly, in an urgent, insistent tone. “The School for Seers is crumbling and there’s only one way to save it. You must find the Scepter of Fire.”

The Scepter of Fire? Oliver thought, racking his mind for any sense of familiarity. But there was none. He’d never heard of the Scepter of Fire.

“What is that?” he called into the vortex. He didn’t know where he should project his voice because he had no idea where the professor actually was. “Where do we find it?”

This time when Professor Amethyst spoke, his voice seemed distorted. It was like speaking on a cell phone with a poor connection. His words cracked in and out. “Lost in time…”

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Oliver cried, desperately.

There was silence.

“Professor?” Oliver tried again. “I can’t hear what you’re saying!”

But suddenly, Oliver’s attention was diverted by Ralph. His friend was tugging on his arm furiously.

“Oliver, look,” Ralph said.

Oliver turned his head over his shoulder. And the sight that awaited him made his whole body flood with relief. It was Esther, Walter, and Simon. At last!

The three were holding tightly to one another, just as Oliver, Ralph, and Hazel were. Oliver was overcome with relief to know they’d gotten out of the school, and that they’d now all be in this new quest together. Whatever this quest was…

Oliver was just about to ask Hazel and Ralph whether they could try to “swim” over to the others, when the headmaster’s voice cut back in.

“Oliver?” Professor Amethyst called. “Can you hear me?”

“Yes!” Oliver cried. “I can! Tell me about the Scepter of Fire!”

“It has been lost,” the headmaster said. “I do not know where. I do not know when.”

Oliver felt his insides tense. If the Professor didn’t know where or when the Scepter of Fire was, then where and when was this portal sending them to! Perhaps that’s why it didn’t seem to be behaving like a normal time portal. Because it didn’t yet have a final destination!

The thought troubled Oliver. But just as he always did when things felt too perilous, he reminded himself of Professor Amethyst’s immense wisdom. Oliver trusted his mentor with his life. He knew the headmaster would never, ever put him in undue danger.

“How are we supposed to find it?” Oliver called out to Professor Amethyst, who he now deduced must still be inside the School for Seers, and was projecting his voice into the vortex that was currently keeping them trapped between time and space, rather than transporting them through it.

“I have narrowed it down to two possibilities,” the Professor shouted. “The first—”

But his voice cut out.

Oliver grew frantic. He needed to know where he was going! He needed to know why! He needed the guidance of his mentor if he stood any chance of finding the Scepter of Fire and saving the School for Seers!

“Professor!” he cried into the twirling void. “Professor? Professor!”

But once again, his voice was met by silence.

He looked up at Hazel and Ralph, who were still gripping him by the upper arms. They both looked just as troubled as Oliver felt.

A sense of hopelessness started to grow in Oliver’s stomach. How would he ever find the Scepter of Fire if he didn’t even know where he was going and where he needed to be?

But then a sudden thought struck him. The bronze compass he’d been given by Professor Nightingale at Harvard University was still in the big pocket of Oliver’s overalls. It was an ancient piece of seer technology, one of the myriad of inventions created by seers to aid in their task of protecting the universe from time traveling rogues. Perhaps it might give him some clues and help guide him on his quest.

Oliver reached into the big central pocket, feeling his fingers brush against the cold metal casing, and pulled the palm-sized instrument out. Though he was shaking tremendously from the force of the wind, Oliver could just make out that the main dial was pointing toward a symbol of a flame.

“Oh no!” Hazel suddenly cried.

Oliver looked up from the compass to see that her gray eyes were wide with anxiety. He glanced ahead and saw the strangest sight he’d ever encountered. The portal was splitting into two separate tunnels!

Oliver gasped. Never before had he seen such a thing. Time travel portals were a mind-bending enough experience, and for him now to see the tunnel dividing into two was utterly confounding. Was it destabilizing? Ripping apart before their very eyes?

But no. Oliver put the pieces together in his mind. Professor Amethyst had said there were two locations the Scepter could be in. Now, he, Ralph, and Hazel were hurtling toward one tunnel, while Esther, Simon, and Walter were hurtling straight for the other.

“Oh!” Oliver cried, his chest clenching from the painful realization. “Professor Amethyst is splitting us up!”

It all happened so fast. Before Oliver had time to fully comprehend the strange happening, the tunnels were upon them and they were tumbling toward the entrances; he, Hazel, and Ralph heading one way, Esther, Simon, and Walter the other. He would end up in one place in time with Hazel and Ralph while the other three would end up somewhere entirely different. A different time. A different place. Maybe even a different dimension.

The thought was too much for Oliver to bear. He’d only just gotten Esther back and now she was being torn away from him again. He felt a sudden sense of anger toward Professor Amethyst for putting him through this unnecessary torment.

Acting on his instinct to protect the girl he loved, Oliver threw the compass toward the right-hand tunnel. He just had time to watch it disappear into the void, followed by the tumbling, turning figures of Esther, Simon, and Walter, before he flew into the left-hand tunnel and out of sight.

Where are they going? Oliver thought anxiously. Come to think of it, where are we going?

There was no way of knowing. There was no way of even knowing whether he’d ever see Esther, Simon, and Walter again. One team was on course to find the Scepter of Fire. The other, Oliver could only guess.

All he could be sure of was that the Scepter of Fire was the key to saving the School for Seers. And that wherever and whenever he ended up, whatever point in history the portal spit him out in, it would be without Simon and Walter.

And it would be without Esther.