Twilit Mage

Chapter 39: The Two Turners

"Where are we going?" Mercury asked as she hurried to keep up with Georgiana's pace, catching her breath and trying not to look around or get lost in the scenery too much.

They were back in the Otherworld, marching across endless, ever-changing wastelands at a rushed pace, Georgiana's long legs scaling the distances at inhuman speed. She wasn't breaking a sweat at all; when she glanced over her shoulder to answer she wasn't even breathing hard. "Paige & Turner," she said. "You remember that place, do you?"

"Y-Yeah," Mercury gasped out even as she recoiled inwardly. The only memories she had of the magical bookstore involved the irritable salesman, and she wasn't sure she wanted to face him again. "Why...do you think we'll find our answers in books? That's a bit..."

"Not normal books." Georgiana whistled briefly, and a shadow rose behind one of the gray hills, slithering up in the air and taking flight towards them. "Paige & Turner does not fall under the laws of Dark Magic. Or Light Magic, for that matter. They are a neutral place created to gather a copy of every document ever written. Do you understand now?"

Mercury's eyes went round. "You mean–"

"They have the answer to almost every question in the world." Georgiana's dragon settled down in front of them, and she rose up on his back, offering a hand to Mercury. "If whoever is behind all this has accomplices, if there was any kind of written correspondence, we will find it there."

Scrambling onto the dragon's back, Mercury frowned, confused and disbelieving. "It's that simple? But what if we don't find anything?"

"It is worth a try. Besides..." A shadow passed over Georgiana's face. "Never mind. Let's go."

~ ~ ~

"They left, you say?"

Sullivan jumped up from his chair. Baffled, he stared at his familiar standing in the door, torn between shouting at him, shaking him or dismissing it as his imagination.

"They did," Nero confirmed, his voice as stoic as ever. "Unless I'm sorely mistaken, they are heading for Paige & Turner to find answers to their questions."

"No joke. And you're still standing here?" Sullivan made a hurried gesture. "Shoo, shoo, after them! You're letting them escape!"

"You know I can't on my own–"

"Then I'm sending you! There, now you can! Hold on." He pictured old Turner in his mind, and Nero transformed into the man from the bookstore. "Go after them, quick! And remember." He narrowed his eyes. "Whatever you do, don't let them find out anything."

Without waiting for further orders, Nero turned and disappeared into the Otherworld.

~ ~ ~

Regina put down her phone and sighed.

This was the third time she tried, and still she couldn't reach Mercury. No matter how much she called, her phone always went straight to voicemail; it was as if Mercury had her phone switched off or the battery had died, and neither was normal. Now that Mercury ignored calls because she simply didn't hear them, that happened all right. But Regina knew that to her daughter her phone was a source of comfort, a way to calm down when she was anxious or panicking and a creative outlet with its writing and drawing apps. Whatever she did, Mercury would never let her phone die or switch it off for no good reason.

Was she stuck somewhere without reception, then? But where? As far as she knew, the school's reception had always been pretty good.

Was something wrong?