Convergence

Escape

Rick pulled a flashlight from his backpack and turned it in my direction. "What's that?"

I looked down under my foot. Somehow, a small piece of paper appeared there. I reached down and lifted it to the light. There was something printed on it.

"Where once was darkness, now find light, with all my powers I call forth the light. Illuminate." The chandelier sparked and bathed the entire room in light. "Whoa." I stared at the overhanging lamp in awe. "Did I just do that?"

Rick looked at me mirroring my astonishment. "Yes. You shouldn't have your powers without the book." He took the page from me. "But a page is part of the book." The wheels in his head started turning. "Since you always had powers, and only a fraction of your magic is trapped in the book, then that must mean you can get back a bit of your powers for every page of the book you read."

"But wait, if I take the magic out of the page then can we still use it to find the entire book?"

"Well sure assuming the stone was programmed to only find the book and not the magic in it. If it was tracking the magic then it would always lead to you. The real question is what gave you that page?" He pulled the page he had from his pocket and handed it to me. "Read it."

I looked at the page. "What lives in a dream now be revealed, the unseen is seen, the unreal now real. I summon you."

A crazy-looking white squirrel-like rodent appeared. It had large, tubular-shaped ears like Ashe and large, charcoal eyes. There was black coloring on the tips of its ears and feet. It looked like it was wearing three black socks and missing the fourth and had a fluffy squirrel tail. Ashe stopped growling when she saw it.

"What in the world is that?" I said.

Rick started laughing. "It's your summon creature."

I punched his arm. "Don't laugh at her, you'll hurt her feelings."

He clutched his arm but continued to smile. "What's her name?"

"Squeak."

"That's a sound, not a name."

"She told me her name is Squeak and so that's what we'll call her."

He reached down and took a small blue stone from Squeak. "She's been with you for a long time waiting for you to notice her." He handed the stone to me. "Must've been hard on her not being able to contact you since you've always had your magic but never believed in it enough to access it. That stone acts like a cell. Just hold it and call her name."

I smiled. "I don't need it. I can feel her all around me now that I know what she feels like." I put my hand out and she jumped all the way up to my arm. She was so light. I rubbed my other hand over her head. "The squirrel reminds us not to take things too seriously." I laughed. "Yes, you're right. I'm way too serious about everything. I'm sorry for being such an idiot." I nodded. "I know. I shouldn't berate myself so much and I don't have to be perfect." She ran to my shoulder and played in my hair.

The room started to shake. Rick placed himself between me and the door.

"We need to get out of here."

"Yes, I feel the magic now. Why couldn't I feel it before?"

"I don't think Ashe can handle flying yet."

"Squeak can."

Rick slowly opened the door and looked out. I stood on my toes and took a glance over his shoulder. The hallways had changed. We stepped out and looked around the corners. We had somehow ended up in a maze. Squeak darted off my shoulder and ran around the maze. Some turns brought her back behind us and she would take another path. She was faster than I had ever seen Ashe and mapped out a route in seconds.

"This way." I grabbed his free arm and followed Squeak until the front door was in sight.

"Wait, dears, wait!" called the woman. "You must have something nice to eat."

Ashe jumped from Rick's arms at the woman's face. She screamed and fell to the ground. I felt bad for the old woman at first, but then I saw her for what she truly was. She looked like some sort of goblin I saw in some movie with her pointed teeth and slimy green skin. Her pointed teeth snarled as she swung at Ashe.

Once outside, Squeak's fur ruffled and she changed into a giant white sting ray floating inches off the ground.

"Time to go," I said jumping on Squeak's back.

Rick called to Ashe as Squeak took off. We were high in the sky before the woman was able to get back up. She screamed her frustrations at the sky.

"Wow! Just wow!" I said. "Can I assume that was another demon or whatever trying to capture us for her master?"

"Seems likely," Rick said dismissively. He looked Ashe over making sure she wasn't hurt. She let out a high-pitched peep and licked his face. "Okay. I know I'm fussing. All done, Ashe."

"Is she okay?"

He let out a low chuckle. "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"You can take back your magic from the pages in the book. You gave yourself the ability to see magic. You can communicate with your summon creature as easily as you're talking with me now. Your summon creature takes on a different form when flying. I wouldn't be surprised if your creature had more than one ability."

I smiled at him. "I don't know. Things seem a little easier all around now. I'm not afraid anymore and I seem to have accepted the fact I have magic... and it's awesome!" I laughed. "Where to next?"

"I'm getting a signal east of here."

"You hear that, Squeak? East."

She let out a squeaky chirp and turned in the direction of the mountains.

"You know," said Rick. "Your summon creature should be able to find the rest of your magic without needing the stone. I mean, she is connected to it. I could probably reprogram this stone to find you if we ever get separated."

"What makes you think we would get separated?"

He was silent for a moment. "Well, we can't be together every second of the day."

We exchanged glances and I nodded in agreement.

"Besides," the corner of his lips turned up slightly. "You have a tendency to get into trouble when you wander."

I glared at him and watched as he turned it around in his hands a few times. He smiled when it started flashing brightly and then shoved it back in his pocket.