Convergence - The Last Science #2.2 - Heroes and Villains

Interlude VII - Call of Destiny - V

  Lani whipped around, his hand diving into his jacket for his holster. Riley popped up too, and a knife appeared in her hand.

  "Who's there?" Lani called out.

  No answer, but they heard another pile of twigs snap and crackle.

  "We can hear you moving around," said Riley, irritated. "Just come out. We won't hurt you."

  Reluctantly, a pair of young guys emerged from behind one of the thicker trees near their campsite. Neither seemed particularly threatening—if anything, they looked worse off than Lani did, muddy and clearly lost. Lani already felt inept at camping, and seeing the pair of them reminded him how lucky he was to find someone experienced and competent.

  And cool and beautiful and fun and funny and—

  "You guys lost?" asked Riley, interrupting his thoughts. She lowered her knife, and he took his hand off his holster.

  "...Kinda."

  His friend slapped him on the arm. "Yes, we really are."

  She nodded. "Where were you headed?"

  "We had some friends we were meeting up with north of the town. Supposedly that's where..." he trailed off as his friend gave him a significant look.

  "Where what?" Lani prompted.

  "That's the best place to find one of them," said the first guy.

  "All right, guys, are we playing twenty questions or what?" said Riley. "Find one of what?"

  They both started talking over each other. "A wand—"

  "Or maybe it's wizard robes—"

  "—or I heard there's spellbooks—"

  "—jewelry—"

  Lani shook his head. "Find what?"

  They glanced at each other. "Magic. Duh."

  The whole little clearing was silent for a minute or so. Lani could hear crickets and frogs in the distance. Night was really starting to set in now, and only the dim yellow glow of Riley's lantern lit up the area.

  "So you guys have no clue what you're looking for," Riley concluded.

  "...Nope," said the second guy. "We just know it's out here somewhere."

  "It's gotta be," agreed the first guy.

  "Why's that?" she asked.

  "Well, where else would it be? This is the place. It's where they came from."

  "Everyone in that book," added the second guy.

  "We're just hoping we got out here fast enough. We drove up from Portland today. We wanna find it before everyone else does."

  "Then we found a group that was already setting up a whole search pattern and thought that sounded pretty smart, so we joined them."

  "Well, we tried to join them..."

  Riley laughed. "The town's that way," she added, pointing out down the ridge where the library could still be seen in the fading sunlight. "Use that as your bearing. North's that way," she added, pointing in the opposite direction, "so you should run right into your friends just by walking that way. Better hurry though, or you won't be able to see the tower anymore. You don't want to get lost out here in the middle of the night."