Stone and a Hard Place (2 page)

CHAPTER TWO

Stone had a light class load that day, so he used one of his breaks to call the number Walter had given him. He spoke with Ethan’s mother, and even over the phone line he could hear the weariness weighing down her voice. She was pleased to hear from him, though, and invited him over for dinner that evening to meet Ethan. “If you don’t mind pizza,” she said. “I’m afraid I’m not doing much cooking these days.”

He showed up promptly at six o’clock. It was shaping up to be a drizzly, overcast evening, and it took him a while to find the right apartment among the maze of buildings that made up most of the block where Ethan and his mother lived. He glanced around as he walked, pulling up the collar of his black wool overcoat and wishing he hadn’t left his umbrella in the car. Almost unconsciously, he slowed his normal brisk walk to a more sedate pace.

Do I really want to do this?
He couldn’t back out of at least meeting the kid—not after he’d promised Walter he would. But after—he wasn’t sure. Taking on an apprentice wasn’t the sort of thing one did without a lot of thought. Even if it were for only a year (and Stone had no illusions about the fact that Walter was expecting that if he and the boy hit it off, the apprenticeship would last much longer) it still meant giving up a lot of the freedom and mobility he’d become accustomed to. It was the same reason he hadn’t asked Megan to move in; fond as he was of her, he was sure they probably wouldn’t be coming up on six months of mutually pleasurable association if he had. There were certain things Alastair Stone required for proper functioning, and one of them was his own space. Megan was the same way, which is why they’d made it this far.

Ah, well. At least he wouldn’t have to give the kid room and board. That was something.

The Penroses’ door was on the second floor, up a steep stairway. His knock was answered almost instantly.

For a moment the two of them just stood there, taking each other’s measure. Then the slim, blond boy spoke: “You must be Dr. Stone.”

“Well, I’m fresh out of pizza, so I must be,” Stone agreed. He flashed his best engaging grin; the one that put his first-year Occult Studies students at ease when he started discussing ghoulies and ghosties and things that ripped out your innards and wrapped them around your neck in the night.

The boy just nodded, then stepped aside and waved Stone inside. “Hope you didn’t have too much trouble finding the place. It’s kind of a rabbit warren around here. I’m Ethan, by the way, but I guess you already knew that.” He indicated the space down the hall with a vague nod. “C’mon in. The pizza’s here already, and Mom’s in the living room.”

Stone trailed behind him, frowning. He was usually pretty good at reading people, but Ethan Penrose wasn’t sending off the kinds of signals he’d expect to see from a kid who was excited about finally starting on the path to becoming a mage.

“Hi there,” another voice said as they entered the small living room. “Ethan, where are your manners? Take Dr. Stone’s coat.”

Ethan’s mother reclined on a large overstuffed sofa, propped up on two big pillows and covered with a blue blanket. She waved him toward a chair across from the couch. The coffee table in the middle contained a large pizza box and a stack of plates. “Have a seat. I’ll put the boy to work and then you two can pig out and chat.”

Stone handed his overcoat to Ethan and settled into the offered seat. He didn’t need to study Mrs. Penrose to see that her health wasn’t at all good. She was pale under what once had been a good tan, her short blonde hair hung limp around her face, and he could see she’d lost a lot of weight in a short time. Still, her eyes crinkled with good humor; she watched Ethan fondly as he hung up Stone’s coat, then brought out glasses and ice from the kitchen and set his mother up with a slice and some soda. “Dig in,” she said when everyone was seated. “And don’t mind me. I know what’s going on, but this is your show tonight.”

Ethan had perched on the other end of his mother’s couch, watching Stone with wary eagerness. When it became clear he wasn’t going to speak first, Stone broke the silence. “So—why don’t you start out by telling me what you know, and what sort of arrangement you had with Walter.”

Ethan shrugged. “He’s an old friend of my dad’s. I always knew my dad had some sort of—weird abilities. I don’t remember him very well…I was only five when he died. But I do remember him doing things like making my toys fly around in my room, turning himself invisible, that kind of thing. He mostly did it to make me laugh.”

“I see,” Stone said, nodding. “And how long have you known that you also have these so-called ‘weird abilities’—or at least the potential to learn them?”

“A year or so. I kinda hoped it might be true before that, but I didn’t know for sure until then. Mom said I couldn’t start studying until I finished high school. She said they didn’t let you start too young.”

“That’s true,” Stone admitted. “There’s no hard and fast rule as far as age goes, but most of us won’t take on apprentices younger than about seventeen or so. The magical community generally frowns on having children running around using powers before they’re mature enough to control them. It’s not only dangerous to the children and whoever comes into contact with them, but it puts the entire community in danger of discovery.”

Ethan nodded. “Yeah, Mom was saying that there aren’t that many mages around. I guess it could be kind of a pain to try to explain to a cop why you just turned somebody into a frog, huh?” For the first time, he smiled. It lit up his whole face. Stone reassessed his initial opinion about how excited the boy was about his future.

“Well,” he said, chuckling, “most of us don’t turn people into frogs. Transmutation of living matter is a bit beyond the standard skill set. But you’ve got the general idea. It’s really more that we don’t want to end up getting dissected by overeager government agencies who want to find out what makes us tick.”

Ethan rubbed at his chin. “So—what
can
mages do, then? I thought the frog thing was sort of a classic.”

Stone sighed in mock annoyance. “
One
bloody idiot sees an illusion spell and gets the wrong idea hundreds of years ago, and we’re inextricably linked with amphibians for the rest of recorded time.” He paused to take a bite of his pizza slice. “But at any rate—we’re not there yet. I want to know about your arrangement with Walter. What has he told you about his plans for you?”

“Not that much, really. In a month, I was supposed to go to England and stay with him, but that fell through when Mom got sick. I didn’t want to leave her alone for that long, you know?”

“Of course. Quite understandable.”

“He said there’s some kind of teleportation portal thingy that mages use to travel, and there’s one near here and one in England, but it’s still three or four hours away from Mr. Yarborough’s place. That’s just too far to be away right now.” He glanced at his mother, and Stone didn’t miss the concern in his tone.

“And you feel guilty about the fact that you still want to learn magic, don’t you?” Stone asked gently. “Your loyalty to your mother is stronger, naturally, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t disappointed at losing the opportunity?”

Ethan’s head came up quickly, his expression startled. But he nodded and became suddenly interested in his plate again. “Yeah,” he said. “But I won’t leave her,” he added, louder.

“And you won’t have to,” Stone said. “If I agree to take you on, then you can study with me at my place in Palo Alto, and have plenty of time to be home and help your mum.”

“What do I have to do, then?” The wariness was back in his eyes. “What kind of requirements do you have before you’ll accept me?”

“Hell, I don’t know. I’m making this up as I go along. I’ve only had a few days to get used to it myself.” Stone smiled, but then he got more serious. “Tell me, Ethan, why do you want to learn magic?”

“Huh?”

He shrugged. “Just tell me what you want to get out of it. Why do you want to be a mage? It’s not all beer and naked nymphs, you know. Well, actually, it’s not
any
beer and naked nymphs. Mostly it’s a lot of work. Hard work. It’ll take you weeks before you can cast your first feeble little spell, and months before you even begin to get your mind around the basics. The whole apprenticeship process takes several years, and at the end of that you’re essentially where you are now in your other life—a high school graduate. Which—no offense intended—means you don’t really know much of anything useful yet. So, why do you want to do this?”

Ethan seemed to think about that a long time before he answered. Stone could see the mental wheels turning behind his gray eyes as he struggled to come up with the right answer—or the answer Stone wanted to hear. At last, he said, “Because it’s what I was meant to do. My dad was a mage. Mom told me that magic usually goes by sex—fathers to sons and mothers to daughters. And it doesn’t always do it, either. So I—feel like I’ve been given this awesome opportunity to do something that hardly anybody else can do. And I want to.” He cast a nervous glance at Stone to see how his response was being received.

Stone considered it, pausing for another bite of pizza as he leaned back in his chair. “Not bad,” he said at last. “Most guys your age think it’d be brilliant at helping them pick up women. And they’re not too good about hiding it.”

“Well, that wouldn’t
hurt,
” Ethan admitted, chancing a grin. “I mean, I’m not gonna turn it down or anything, if it happened.”

“You won’t have time for women,” Stone said. “If you apprentice with me, you’ll be so busy you’ll think taking a double load at university will be a breeze by comparison. I’ll tailor your training to let you do most of your study at home so you can be near your mum, but that just means you’ll need to have more discipline, because you won’t have me looming over you with a whip all the time.”

“A whip?” Ethan’s eyebrows came up.

Stone shrugged. “A metaphorical whip. But if you slack off, there’ll be times you’ll wish it was a real one.” He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. “Here’s the bottom line, Ethan. You’ll work, and work hard. If you want to be my apprentice, you’ll have to agree to do what I tell you without question or complaint. Anything having to do with your magical education will be mine to control. You won’t seek out supplemental training elsewhere if you think you’re not moving fast enough. You’ll read the books I give you to read, do the exercises I set you, and you’ll put everything you have into the effort. I’m not a tyrant—I know your mum is going to be on your mind and I’ll make allowances for that. But if you want to learn from me, you’ll have to prove to me that you’re worth my time. Do I make myself clear?”

He was pleased to see an
oh shit, what am I getting myself into?
look pass across Ethan’s features. Sure, he’d laid it on a little thick, but he also meant every word of it. He still wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to do this, but Ethan seemed earnest enough, if a little immature and preoccupied. Nothing like most of the kids who’d grown up knowing what they had waiting for them when they were old enough, impatient to get started and wanting to learn everything at once. This one might actually have potential—and more importantly, this one might not annoy him to the point where he’d end up calling the whole damned thing off after a month. He didn’t change his expression; he just kept his gaze fixed on Ethan’s face, waiting.

“Sounds like it’ll be hard work, but worth it—if you really can do what you say you can.” the boy said at last, a hint of a challenge in his voice. “So far, all I have is your word you can do magic. How about you show me some?”

“Ethan!” Mrs. Penrose sounded shocked. “That’s not—”

Stone held up a hand. In truth, he’d been waiting for this. He’d have been disappointed if the kid hadn’t insisted that he back up his claims: you didn’t get far in magic by accepting things without question. “So, you want to see some magic, then?”

“Yeah. Let’s see it.”

Stone rose, trying not to grin. “Tell you what, I’ll make you a wager.” He put a fresh slice of pizza on a plate and picked it up. “See this? You’ve got two minutes to try to take it from me. If you can’t, you’ll agree to follow my instructions about your apprenticeship without question or argument.”

Ethan narrowed his eyes, looking intrigued. “And what if I
can
?”

“I’ll let you set your own magical curriculum,” Stone said with a sly smile. “I’ll teach you anything I know, in whatever order you like, without question. Fair enough?” He glanced at Mrs. Penrose; her eyes glittered with amusement.

The boy appeared to consider for a moment. “Deal!” he said, and lunged across the table toward Stone.

He was fast; Stone was faster. He took a step back, a faintly glowing bubble appearing around him. Ethan hit it and slid off, crashing to the floor.

The boy scrambled up, puffing as he tried to conceal his surprise. “Nice trick,” he said, eyeing Stone. “Got more?”

The shield disappeared. “Of course I’ve got more.” He made a mocking ‘come on’ gesture with his free hand. “Have another go. I won’t even use the shield again. Need to keep this interesting, after all.”

Ethan didn’t attack right away this time. He stood back, still panting a little, watching Stone. Then he feinted to one side and dived low, going for the mage’s legs.

The lights went out, followed by a loud crash as Ethan once again hit the floor empty-handed. “What the hell—?”

“You didn’t think I’d make it easy, did you?” Stone raised a hand and summoned a light spell around it, illuminating the room more thoroughly than the single pole lamp had. “You’re running out of time, Ethan. Best to start thinking outside the box.” He gestured again, switching the lamp back on and dropping the light spell. He was showing off, and he knew it. It wasn’t often that he got the chance nowadays.

He held out the plate, waggling it a little. “Come on. It’s right here. Take it. Think about all the things I could teach you, if you can just—”

Ethan moved before he finished speaking. Snatching a metal horse figurine from the coffee table, he flung it at Stone’s head, then followed it with a roar and another lunge at his midsection.

Stone didn’t flinch. He waved a hand in an almost languid gesture, stopping the figurine in midair a foot from his face. He pointed his other hand at Ethan. The boy yelped and backpedaled as an invisible force shoved him backward and down onto the couch next to his mother. The horse figurine landed neatly and gently in his lap.

“Enough?” Stone asked. The pizza slice on its plate floated with mocking calm next to him.

Ethan struggled to rise, but the unseen force held him in place. His face reddened. “Yeah,” he said through gritted teeth. “Enough.”

Stone grinned, dropping the spell holding the boy down. “Right, then.” Unable to resist a grand finale (it was
so
rare he got to let loose like this—it was considered tacky in magical circles), he switched off the pole lamp again, summoned an invisibility spell, and wreathed his body in crackling blue eldritch lightning. When he turned the light back on, he was sitting in the chair he’d vacated, calmly taking a bite from his slice of pizza.