Chapter 3
WEDNESDAY, MAY 13
4:53 P.M.
INTERROGATION ROOM 6, MAGIX HEADQUARTERS
I woke up slowly, my vision blurry as I blinked against the bright lights shining in my face. I tried to stand up, but apparently I was strapped into a chair.
“Mason Mortimer Morrison,” spoke a bold, deep voice.
“Who said that?” I mumbled, my tongue feeling as if it were wrapped in toilet paper. And how did they know my middle name? I guarded that secret with my life!
“You are in a high-security holding room in Magix Headquarters,” said the voice. “My name is Director Frank Lawden.”
My eyes had finally adjusted enough to see my surroundings a little better. The windowless room wasn’t very big, with cinder block walls and a low ceiling. There was a wide desk in front of me and a man sitting on the other side.
He was thin, with dark skin and short black hair. His gray suit was even fancier than the ones Clarkston and Nguyen had been wearing in the jungle, but he didn’t have on one of those ridiculous top hats.
“Do you know why you are here?” he asked.
“Because I failed my book report?” I guessed.
Lawden leaned forward. “How old are you, Mason?”
“Twelve,” I responded. “No, thirteen.”
“What, you’re not sure?” he asked.
“Thirteen,” I stated. “I just had a birthday last week.” A boring one, with no friends and only two presents. But it was waaaay better than last year’s. “I’m still not used to saying it. But I’m thirteen.”
He drew in a deep breath and shook his head. “That’s awfully young to find yourself at the top of Magix’s Most Wanted list.”
“Sir,” I began, deciding to be polite and make my mother proud. “I think there’s been a terrible mix-up. I am not a criminal, and I don’t know anything about magic.”
“Knowledge is power. Power is magic, Mr. Morrison,” said Lawden. “Did you, or did you not, use that music-box boon to transport your teacher and classmates to multiple locations across the globe?”
“Well, yes,” I replied. “Apparently, I did. But I had no idea the music box would do anything . . . magical.”
“You and I both know that’s impossible,” Lawden said, repeating almost the exact same words that Clarkston had said.
“Why?” I begged. “Why is it impossible?”
“It’s the most fundamental rule of magic,” he said. “Knowledge is power. Power is magic. You had to know that the music box was a boon in order to activate its magic.”
“But I didn’t know!” I shouted. “I swear!”
He rubbed his forehead as if to push back a headache that was coming on. “That’s not something we have to decide right now. Save it for the trial.”
“Trial?” I squeaked. I had a lot of bad memories from my dad’s.
“I’ll let you know what additional charges you’re facing for today’s little stunt,” he said. “You won’t have a lawyer, but you’ll be able to prepare a defense on your own, if you wish.”
“What?” I cried. “No lawyer? That’s against the law!”
“Forget what you think you know about the law,” he answered. “You’re with Magix now, and we do things our own way.” Mr. Lawden cleared his throat. “Four counts of unauthorized use of a magical boon.”
“For opening a music box?” I yelped.
“Four times,” Lawden answered. “Twenty-nine counts of Ignorant magical exposure.”
“What does that even mean?” I asked.
“One teacher and twenty-eight students witnessed the use of a magical boon today,” he said. “All of them were commoners with no knowledge of magic—Ignorants, as we call them. Which leads me to your next charge—endangering civilians.”
“Where are they?” I asked, suddenly feeling a gut-wrenching nervousness that they’d been left in the jungle to be devoured by pythons.
“Everyone is safe, no thanks to you. They’ve been returned to the school. I believe they’re preparing for a math test about now.”
“What?” I shouted. “You expect them to just dive back into their studies like nothing ever happened?”
“Luckily, what you did today was isolated and contained,” said Lawden. “We were successfully able to wipe all memories of the magical incident.”
“You can do that?” I asked in amazement.
“We’re an organization specializing in magical items,” he replied. “There is very little we can’t do.” He drummed his fingers on the desk. “And finally, the last charge—fleeing the scene of a crime.”
“Huh?”
“When you ran away from my agents,” Lawden clarified. “Which also led to defying arrest and endangering and injuring Magix agents.”
“Who got hurt?” I asked, my stomach sinking in fear again.
“Agent Clarkston stubbed his toe while landing the parachute pillowcase.”
“A stubbed toe? He didn’t seem hurt to me.”
“Clarkston filed the paperwork,” said Lawden with a half shrug. “He was pretty upset that you ditched the music-box boon in the river.”
“Have they found it yet?” I asked.
“Our people are on it.” Lawden remained expressionless.
“What now?”
“We’ll hold you here until the committee has a chance to review your case.”
“How long will that be?”
“We’re planning for seven o’clock this evening,” he said. “If you’re found guilty, we’ll deal with the consequences tomorrow morning.”
“You’re keeping me overnight?” I gasped. “I haven’t spent a night away from my house in, like, three years. My mom is way too paranoid for that. She’s going to call the real police, and you guys are going to be in serious trouble.”
“She thinks you’re at piano lessons,” answered Lawden.
“She what?” I yelled. “Nothing you say makes sense. I don’t take piano lessons. Why would she—”
“My agents located her shortly after you were brought in,” he cut me off.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What did you people do to her?”
“We simply gave her a gift,” he said. “It’s a magical boon bracelet activated by Agent Nguyen. As long as your mother is wearing it, she wholeheartedly believes the last thing Agent Nguyen told her—that you are at piano lessons. The magic also establishes your mother as a reputable source to other Ignorants, who will believe the same thing without question.”
I shook my head. “It won’t work. My mom hardly ever wears jewelry. She’ll take it off.”
“Agent Nguyen also told her that the bracelet was lucky,” said Mr. Lawden.
“My mom doesn’t believe in luck anymore.”
“But you forget that the magic of the bracelet will force her to believe it,” said Mr. Lawden. “Besides, it’s quite true. As an Ignorant, your mother will benefit from the boon on her wrist. She’ll have a great time until you get home.”
“So, you are planning to send me home?” I said hopefully.
Mr. Lawden nodded. “Best-case scenario, you’re looking at ten years of limited Magix correction for today’s little escapade.”
“Wait. You’re going to lock me up and let my mom think that I’m at piano lessons until I’m twenty-three?”
“Oh no. That’s not how the system works.” Lawden shook his head. “We’re not talking about ten years of your future. We’re talking about ten years of your past.”
My eyes bulged. “Hang on. . . . You’re going to turn me into a three-year-old?”
Lawden wrinkled his forehead as if I’d just said something ridiculous. “A limited correction means we enter your memories from the last ten years and erase anything that could have led you to your first magic exposure. It’s not a very precise procedure, but we usually do our best not to interfere with fundamental memories.”
“Umm . . . I don’t like this.”
“Well, you should have thought of that before you began your life of crime,” said Lawden. “Because I’m telling you—it doesn’t look good.”
“I’d say! Ten years of patchy memories?”
“Remember, that was the best case. I expect it to be much worse when the committee considers your previous crime.”
“Previous crime?” I squeaked.
“The committee has evidence linking you to one of the most significant crimes in Magix history.”
“What? No!” I cried. “I didn’t—”
“Save it for the committee,” he answered, rising abruptly from his chair. “Look, Mason. The entire Magix organization exists to uphold goodness in the world. We’ll treat you fairly and kindly, even if you are our enemy.”
“I’m not your—” But Frank Lawden didn’t care what I had to say. In a heartbeat, he had crossed the room and exited through the door, leaving me alone and terrified.