The Magic Factory

Suddenly, the magnetism won out. Their brakes could hold them no longer. They zoomed toward each other, gaining speed, until they reached the center and crashed head on into one another. There was an explosion of heat and light. It was so strong the ground shook. Fireballs flew up into the air. The whole thing was ablaze. Walter had created an impenetrable barrier of fire between them and their enemies.

With the flames illuminating the scene, Oliver looked over as his friends hurried toward him. He’d never been more pleased to see anyone in his life.

He had next to no strength in him, but croaked out, “Whoever said magnetism was the worst specialism?”

Walter grinned, then turned back to look at the scene of devastation. Oliver did the same. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. The power of Seers against mortals was undeniable.

“We have to destroy the bomb,” Ralph said.

Oliver shook his head. “It has to be defused first. Any wrong move and it will blow.”

“Can you do it?” Simon asked. “Defuse it?”

“I tried,” Oliver told him. “But my powers have failed. I’ve drained them completely.”

Esther bent down and gazed into his eyes. “Not with your powers. With your knowledge.”

“She’s right,” Hazel said. “If Lucas made the bomb using what he’d learned from Armando, then you’re the only other person in the world who’ll be able to dismantle it.”

Though he’d already spent hours in the plane trying and failing to work out how to do so, Oliver knew his friends were right.

He nodded with determination. Walter and Simon heaved him to his feet. Oliver gritted his teeth against the pain. Together, they helped him across the courtyard to where the bomb still stood, the rest of his friends following. Fire from the burning trucks stung their skin. The smoke was black and acrid.

Oliver grabbed the bomb’s design from his overall pockets.

“Esther, first, can you get through the shield?” he asked. “There’s one built around it that’s making it hard to access the wires.”

She nodded and unfocused her eyes. The shimmering shield around the bomb disappeared.

Oliver studied the diagrams. His whole body trembled with fatigue. But without the shimmering shield, he could see more clearly what he had to do. Through Lucas’s complex network of wires and trick wires, booby traps and dead ends, he saw how the puzzle fit together.

“The red wire,” he stammered. “It’s the red wire.”

“Are you sure?” Ralph asked. His teeth were practically clenched.

“I’m sure,” Oliver said.

He went to lean forward, but felt Hazel’s hand on his wrist. “You’re shaking,” she said. “Let me. I have a smaller, steadier hand.”

Everyone held their breath as Hazel reached forward. Her nimble fingers gently bypassed the complex bundle of multicolored wire, delicately taking hold of the red one Oliver had indicated.

“Okay,” she said, as her fingers squeezed on the wire. “Now or never.”

Simon closed his eyes. Ralph looked away. The tension radiating from Walter was palpable. Esther was starting to shake from the effort of holding the shield back. Oliver squeezed his hands into fists. If he’d calculated wrong they would all die.

Hazel tugged. The wire snapped. The bomb did not blow.

“You did it!” Walter cried.

The boys turned to Oliver, slapping him on the back, cheering. Esther flopped forward, drained from holding back the shield. Hazel seemed paralyzed in her crouched position, holding up the snapped red wire.

“We have to destroy it,” Oliver said. “All of it. Quick.”

They got to work, ripping apart the plates of metal, pulling out the wires, throwing everything onto the bonfire.

Ralph pointed to the sky. “There’s Professor Amethyst’s plane coming back to collect us. Let’s go!”

They all looked up as the headmaster’s strange plane swooped down. It behaved like something between a helicopter and an eagle. It touched down, not with wheels, but with feet shaped like talons.

His friends started hurrying toward it.

But Oliver knew there was one more thing he had to do. In order to fully destroy the bomb and make sure it could never be made again, he had to destroy the plans.

He pulled the dossier from his overall pocket and threw it into the inferno. He watched the plans burn. As it was incinerated, he felt a swell of relief.

Satisfied that it would never be made again, Oliver turned and hurried across the courtyard, in the direction of the headmaster’s plane. Hazel and Simon were already inside and Esther stood by the door, gesturing for them to hurry up and get inside.

Walter leapt into the plane. Ralph shoved Oliver and he flew into the open hatch too. A second after, Ralph leapt in behind him.

The plane’s engines whirred and within a matter of seconds, they took to the sky. Hazel grappled with the door. She heaved it shut, but not before Oliver looked out at the scene of chaos left in their wake.

The place was destroyed, drenched in water and rust-colored puddles. The raging fire at the center concealed twisted metal from all the trucks that had exploded and the pieces of bomb. Soldiers lay dotted around, incapacitated. It was a satisfying sight.

Oliver looked over at his friends, drinking in the sight of each of their faces; Hazel’s sincere gray eyes, Ralph’s friendly dimples, Walter’s cheeky grin, Simon’s pale, wide-set eyes, and finally Esther’s coy blush. His heart soared.

“We did it,” he stammered to them all.

Despite their fatigue, they all cheered.

Suddenly, Oliver realized it was time to tell his friends the truth about his test results. He’d avoided it because he had not wanted his friends to treat him differently because of it. But after what they’d all just gone through together, he knew it was time to tell the truth.

“I need to tell you something,” Oliver said. “About who I am. What I am. My test. I’m atomic. But my type is mixed. I’m bromine and cobalt.”

They all looked at each other, stunned.

“No way,” Esther murmured, sounding both surprised and impressed. “I didn’t even know that was possible.”

“What a turn up for the books,” Simon exclaimed.

“I’m sorry I hid it from you all. I just wanted to fit in. I was scared you wouldn’t accept me.”

Oliver felt a gentle hand press into the top of his arm. He looked over and saw Esther looking kindly at him.

“Of course we accept you,” she said.

Then everyone leaned in, patting and hugging Oliver. He smiled, grateful to be accepted for who he was.

Suddenly, Oliver became aware of the feeling of a leaden weight in his whole body. He felt empty, like a shell of a person. He’d used up so much of his powers, a tiredness like none he’d ever felt before overcame him.