He tossed the coin up into the air with an underhand flip. Instead of going upward a few feet and then coming back down, the coin continued upward, where it was soon lost in the darkness. Leesa waited for it to reappear, but it never did.

  Dominic took out a second coin. This one he tossed down toward their feet, just outside the edge of the invisible ledge on which they stood. The coin kept going in that direction until it, too, disappeared.

  “There’s no way to tell which coin was actually falling and which was being drawn upward by the power we sense when our eyes are closed. Up might be down and down might be up. We can’t be sure.”

  Leesa was growing more discouraged by the moment. They were only going to get one shot at escaping, Dominic had said. How on earth were they supposed to choose which way to go?

  41. SERENDIPITY

  RAVE SAT ON THE THICKEST LIMB of one of the backyard trees, his legs dangling into the empty air, watching Ralin play in the branches above. His son was scampering about the upper reaches of the tree a little less aggressively than usual, and Rave guessed it was because his hand was beginning to bother him to the point where he was now favoring it. Even from here, Rave could see that the discoloration continued to darken.

  As he had done so many times already in the past two hours, he glanced down at the black table below, hoping to see some kind of light or movement in its dull black surface. Once again, his eyes found nothing but the same frustrating empty blackness. He didn’t let his gaze linger upon the tabletop—doing so was pointless, and he didn’t want Ralin noticing how much attention his father was paying to the table. Ralin had no idea his mother was somewhere inside its dark depths, searching for the man Leesa and Rave both hoped could fix their son’s hand.

  Using only his good hand, Ralin swung down beside his father. He stood upon the thick branch, balancing himself easily.

  “Where Mommy?” he asked.

  Leesa had seldom been away from Ralin for this long, and Rave knew their son’s worry would only grow as more time passed.

  “Mommy had to go away for a little while. She’ll be back soon.” He left the words ‘I hope’ unsaid.

  Ralin held out his bad hand. “Hand hurt.”

  Rave studied Ralin’s hand. His skin was pale blue, bordering on turning purple. Fortunately, Rave saw no sign of any spreading infection, but he had no idea how much time he had left before he would need to act.

  Tenderly taking his son’s hand in his own, he could feel that it had grown swollen. He wished he could heal it like Leesa, but that was beyond his abilities.

  “Need Mommy,” Ralin said. “Mommy make feel better.”

  The words tore at Rave’s heart. They would both feel a whole lot better if Leesa returned. WHEN she returned, he reminded himself.

  “I know, Ralin,” he said soothingly. “I want her back, too. We just have to wait.”

  Ralin held his wounded hand in front of his chest and gently squeezed the tips of his fingers with his good hand, like a doctor probing an injury.

  “Hurts,” he repeated. He lifted his healthy hand away and held it six inches above the discolored one.

  Ralin recognized the look on his son’s face. He had seen this once before.

  “No!” he shouted.

  He was too late. A beam of green energy shot from Ralin’s good hand, striking the palm of his other hand and burning right through it. The smell of charred flesh filled the air as Ralin yelped in pain.

  The bright green beam continued slanting downward, not stopping until it struck the top of the Necromancer’s table. The black surface swallowed up the glow.

  Leesa stared out into the darkness, wishing one of the gold coins Dominic had tossed would reappear and fall back toward them, but she knew that wasn’t going to happen. One was falling and one was being drawn away, but there was no way to know which was which. Heck, for all she knew, they both might have been pulled away. Maybe ‘up’ was really off to one side or the other. She hated that new thought—it meant their chances of choosing correctly were way less than fifty-fifty.

  Still, they had to choose. They couldn’t just sit here forever. Up or down from where they were sitting remained their best bets.

  Suddenly, a green flash erupted in the darkness far below their feet. Leesa knew instantly what the light was from—she had seen such a glow many times before. She had to trust what the flash was telling her, even though it meant she had been upside down the whole time she had been in here.

  Grabbing Dominic’s hand, she pointed downward with her free hand.

  “That way!” she exclaimed. “Up is that way!”

  “Are you sure?” Dominic stared into Leesa’s eyes. “We only get one chance at this.”

  “I’m sure. That green flash was Ralin’s magic. Just like I saw in one of my dreams.”

  “Okay, then.” Dominic squeezed Leesa’s hand more firmly. “When I tell you, send as much of your magic into me as you can.”

  While she waited for Dominic’s command, Leesa stared down into the darkness where the green flash had briefly appeared. She wondered what had triggered her son’s power and what the effect magic might have had. She hoped it wasn’t anything dangerous.

  Movement in front of her drew her attention. She looked up to see the lidless eyes drawing closer. When they reached the place where she and Dominic stood, the mass of white orbs parted and began to float by on either side, surrounding them.

  A dark, sinister feeling began to creep over Leesa, causing goose bumps to rise on her arms. She looked over at Dominic for assurance, but the wizard’s eyes were closed and his face was etched with concentration. Remembering what he had said about making use of the black magic, she trusted that this was his doing and tried to shrug off the growing feeling of repugnance crawling over her.

  “Now!” Dominic cried. “Give me your magic now!”

  Leesa closed her eyes and sent as much magic as she could down through her arm and into Dominic’s hand. Her effort lasted only a second or two, but it drained her more than she could have imagined.

  Spent, she opened her eyes to see Dominic’s entire body glowing gold in the darkness, like some sort of astral projection. He shouted a single word in the ancient waziri tongue that Leesa had never heard.

  Blackness immediately enveloped her, a blackness so pure and deep she couldn’t see a thing, not even her own shoulder. The darkness did nothing to mask the sensation of insanely rapid movement she experienced, however. Feeling like she had been shot out of a cannon, she held onto Dominic’s hand for dear life as they hurtled through the blackness.

  A moment later, they burst out into the light. After being shrouded in darkness for so long, the daylight almost blinded her. Even squinting in the brightness, it took Leesa only half a moment to realize where they were—standing atop the Necromancer’s table. Dominic had done it. They had escaped!

  “Mommy!” Ralin’s cry was followed by a loud thump as he jumped from the tree and landed next to Leesa on the tabletop.

  Leesa let go of Dominic’s hand and swept her son into her arms. As she hugged him tightly to her breast, a much softer bump sounded as Rave landed lightly beside her. She let go of Ralin with one arm and pulled Rave into her embrace as well. Rave returned her hug with matching fervor.

  “Ralin hurt,” Ralin complained into her ear.

  Leesa immediately put him down and grabbed his arm, gasping in anguish when she saw another hole burned through his swollen and discolored hand. Now she knew what Ralin’s magic had done when it showed her the way out of the table. She hoped the trade-off was worth it.

  “Fix hand, Mommy,” Ralin implored her. “Hurts!”

  Leesa clasped her hands over the wound, praying she had enough magic left inside her to heal her son. Before she could begin, Dominic grasped her by the wrist.

  “Let me do it,” he said.

  The mother in Leesa wanted to heal her son herself, but she realized Dominic was by far the more skilled healer. This was why she had risked going inside the table in the first place—to bring Dominic out so he could fix Ralin. Reluctantly, she let go of Ralin’s hand.

  Dominic simply laid one hand on top of Ralin’s. He muttered a few words, and a golden glow brighter than anything Leesa could have managed engulfed her son’s hand and lower arm. In mere seconds, Dominic was finished. When he took his hand away, Ralin’s hand had healed completely.

  Ralin looked down at his hand. “All better,” he said, smiling.

  Filled with hope, Leesa examined Ralin’s arm more closely. She sighed in disappointment at what she found. The stubborn white bits of plaster still speckled his skin in a narrow band around his forearm. If the particles on the surface were still there, she knew the ones inside his arm remained in place as well. The underlying problem had not been solved.

  Dominic sensed what Leesa was thinking. “That’s going to take a different spell to fix,” he explained. “But I think I can manage it. Let’s get down off this table first.”

  Rave picked Ralin up and jumped down from the table with his son in his arms. Leesa and Dominic climbed off with a bit more effort. They all walked a few steps across the lawn, where Rave lowered Ralin to the ground.

  “Stand still,” Rave instructed.

  Dominic moved a bit closer. Holding his right hand eight or ten or inches above Ralin’s forearm, the wizard stared hard at the offending spot, his features tight with concentration. For a few seconds nothing happened, but then a ray of pale golden light appeared between Dominic’s palm and Ralin’s arm.

  Leesa watched in fascination as tiny white specks began to rise up into the air from Ralin’s skin, almost like motes of dust floating in a ray of sunshine. Soon, scores of the particles hovered in the shaft of golden light. Finally, the glow vanished, taking the specks with it.

  “That should do it,” Dominic said. “Ralin should be good as new now.”

  Leesa took Ralin’s hand and looked closely at his forearm. Not a single piece of white remained. She trusted that Dominic had removed all the pieces from inside Ralin’s arm as well.

  “Say thank you to Dominic,” she said to her son. “Now your hand really is all better.”

  Ralin studied his hand and arm for a long moment and then looked up at Dominic. “Thank you.”

  “Yes, thank you,” Rave added. “From all of us. It’s good to have you back, Dominic.”

  Dominic smiled. “Trust me, it’s good to be back. I was not relishing the thought of spending eternity inside that table.”

  Ralin turned to his mother. “Ralin play now?”

  Leesa tousled his thick hair. “Not yet, sweetheart. Go to your father.”

  As Rave scooped Ralin up into his arms, Leesa walked over to the Necromancer’s table. Dominic followed her.

  “Now, what are we going to do about this thing?” she asked.

  42. MOVING FORWARD

  DOMINIC RESTED HIS HAND on the table’s edge.

  “We’re going to destroy it, that’s what we’re going to do.”

  Leesa didn’t hide her surprise. “Can we? Do we really have the power to destroy it, especially after what we just went through? With our magic weakened and everything?”

  “We can and we will. With the Necromancer dead, the table’s defenses are weakened. And now that we are outside, our magic should be back to full strength.”

  Leesa hadn’t tried to use any magic since escaping the table. She was glad to hear that her weakened power was only a factor of being inside the table.

  “What about the eyes inside the table? They were your comrades. If we destroy the table, don’t we destroy them as well? Can’t you do anything to help them?”

  Dominic shook his head sadly. “No. They are beyond any power to save. They are long dead—only their magical spirits remain, kept alive by the black magic of the table and the Necromancer. When the table is gone, they will finally find the peace they deserve.”

  Leesa remembered the abject hopelessness she had sensed from the eyes and knew Dominic was right. She was certain they longed for an end to their suffering.

  “I understand. So, what do we do?”

  “When I tell you to, I want you to fire a continuous energy blast at the center of the table, as powerfully as you can manage. Your magic will create a weak spot, through which my power will penetrate.”

  Leesa nodded. “Got it. Just tell me when.”

  Dominic held out both his hands, palms up in a cupped position. A molten sphere the size of a grapefruit appeared in his hands. As Leesa watched, the sphere grew whiter and whiter until it burned so brightly she could no longer look at it. She knew this was no simple illumination spell—she could sense the immense power emanating from it.

  “Now, Leesa,” Dominic commanded. “Fire your blast now.”

  Leesa extended her arm and fired a yellow beam from her palm, aiming it at the center of the tabletop and putting as much of her magic into the blast as she could. The beam seemed to have no effect on the dull black surface, but she kept it concentrated there nonetheless, as Dominic had instructed.

  Dominic waited. Ten or fifteen seconds passed before he moved. When he did, he leaned out over the table and threw the white hot sphere down with two hands, right onto the spot where Leesa’s beam continued to burn.

  The sphere disappeared. For a long moment, nothing happened. Leesa was afraid her magic had somehow ruined Dominic’s sphere, afraid they had failed in their effort to destroy the table.

  Finally, the black surface began to shimmer. A few seconds later, a blast of white magic lit up the yard far beyond the sunlight, momentarily blinding Leesa. When her sight returned, the table was gone. No residue at all remained. She saw no ashes, no marks on the lawn to mark the destruction. It was as if the Necromancer’s table had never existed.

  “That’s it,” Dominic said. “The table is destroyed, gone beyond any chance to ever exist again. My brethren have at last found peace.”

  Leesa laid her hand on his shoulder. “I never knew them, but I know their magic runs in my veins. I’m sorry for their loss, but happy we were able put them at rest.”

  “As am I,” Dominic replied solemnly.

  Rave carried Ralin over to Leesa and Dominic. “I’m very glad to be rid of that thing,” he said.

  Leesa took Ralin from Rave and held him in her arms. She turned to Dominic.

  “Now, can you do anything about this little guy and his magic?”

  Dominic absently stroked his beard. “What would you have me do? He’s a bit too young to begin any real training, I think.”

  Leesa had been so focused on the need to rescue Dominic that she hadn’t given much thought to what he might be able to do once he was here. She’d had some vague idea of Dominic training Ralin the way he had trained her, but she realized the wizard was right. Ralin was probably much too young to comprehend what was happening, let alone try to control it.

  “You once offered me a choice,” she said. “You said you could make my magic dormant. Can you do anything like that for Ralin? At least until he’s older?”

  Dominic shook his head. “If I had turned off your magic, it would have been forever. Even if I could do the same for Ralin, would you want that?”

  Leesa looked at Rave. She knew he was probably thinking the same thing she was. What would be better for their son—a life without magic, or the danger his uncontrolled power presented to him and to those around him? Perhaps with Dominic here to help protect Ralin from his magic they could weather the storm until he was old enough to begin learning how to control it.

  She turned back to Dominic. “Is there no other choice?”

  “I won’t know until I examine him. His waziri magic is mixed with volkaane. I have no idea how that might affect what I can, or cannot do.”

  “Can you check now? We can’t make any decisions until we at least know what our options are.”

  Dominic nodded. “Yes, I can. It shouldn’t take but a few moments.”

  He laid his hands on either side of Ralin’s head and closed his eyes. A very faint golden glow leaked out between Dominic’s fingers, not even as bright as when Leesa used her healing power.

  The whole thing lasted only a minute or so. Finally, Dominic opened his eyes and removed his hands. As soon as he did, Ralin began squirming in Leesa’s arms. Apparently, he’d had enough of being held, first by his father and now by his mother.

  “Play now?” he asked.

  Leesa smiled and set Ralin down. Her son didn’t need to hear what they were about to discuss.

  “Yes, go play on your swing.”

  Ralin trotted over to his swing, hopped onto the seat, and began swinging vigorously.

  “Well?” Leesa asked Dominic.

  The wizard stroked his beard again. “Some good news, I think, though perhaps not as good as we might have hoped. As I guessed, Ralin’s waziri magic is intermingled with his volkaane magic. I don’t think I could turn it off even if I wanted to.”

  Leesa frowned. “So what’s the good news, then?”

  “I believe I can tamp down the waziri part of his magic, making it much less dangerous, at least for a while. When he’s a bit older, we can begin training him, allowing his power to increase as he learns to handle it.” Dominic looked at Rave. “I can’t do anything about his volkaane magic, however. Rave and Balin will have to tell us how to handle that.”

  Rave smiled. “We were expecting we’d have to deal with that. Volkaane children can be a handful. Luckily, uncontrolled outbursts tend to fade away by the time they are around three. He’s halfway there, at least.”

  Dominic turned back to Leesa. “So, we are agreed then? I’ll weaken his magic as much as I can?”

  Leesa felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was far better than what they had been dealing with up to now. She hoped it would be enough to keep Ralin from hurting himself again.

  “Yes, that sounds wonderful. And you’ll stay with us, of course?”