Chapter 34

FRIDAY, MAY 15

2:03 P.M.

BASEMENT LEVEL, MAGIX HEADQUARTERS

Wreckage untied the chain around me, but I didn’t even think about running. Where would I go? With enemies on all sides, the only thing I could do was get into the device and hope that my friends and family would be safe.

On shaky legs, I approached the grand piano. I had to duck under a microwave that was wired into a lampshade in order to reach the bench. Behind me, Lina Lutzdorf was giving Frank Lawden some sort of classic villain monologue, but I wasn’t listening. I was thinking of my dad. My hand wandered into my pocket. I scooted past a large grandfather clock that was leaning precariously over the seat. Then at last, I was in position.

With no other option, I seated myself on the padded piano bench.

“Behold!” cried Lina. “The end of magic!”

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the device began to hum. A deep resonant vibration filled the room, accompanied by Lina’s victorious cackle. Glowing energy started to swirl around me, churning through the boons as if I were seated at the center of a glowing tornado.

“Magix will always remember you as the boy who destroyed magic!” called Lina.

But I didn’t feel like a traitor and a destroyer. In fact, I felt great!

“What?!” Lina shrieked, darting across the room to check the magic meter on the glass table. “Why isn’t it working? My calculations were perfect. My manipulation of the boons was flawless.” She let go of the thermometer. “What is happening?”

I stood up from the piano bench, but the device didn’t shut down. It was like a train on a downhill track now, and I knew it would keep working until it completed its purpose.

“Sit down!” Lina screamed. “Wreckage, make him sit!”

But I had already stepped away from the seat. My leg was aching, and based on the way Lina was limping, I’d say hers was, too. Wreckage took a step toward me, but he paused, head tilted as though he was in pain.

Behind him, Avery suddenly gasped. “The chains . . .” Her voice was barely a wheeze. “They’re crushing me . . .”

“Let her go, Wreckage!” I threatened.

“It’s not me,” the big man rasped. His voice sounded pained, and he dropped the chains. “I’m not doing anything.” He grunted, his gloved hands coming up to slap his face shield. “I can’t see,” he muttered, finally pushing back the welding mask. “I can’t see!” he howled, scratching at his eyes.

With a grunt, Avery suddenly tore through the chains. They clattered to the floor, and I saw her magic credit card in her hand. Two other agents moved to stop her, but Avery swung the card through the air. From ten feet away, it split a couch down the middle, causing the agents to draw back and cower.

Avery darted across the room, ripping the necktie from around her dad’s neck and hurling it against the wall. Strangely, it stuck there, quivering like a spear.

Wreckage suddenly gasped, falling to his knees as he blindly tried to pull off his reflective vest. His body jerked in pain, and he strained for breath, falling onto his face.

Frank Lawden rose to his feet. “The magic meter,” he said, turning all heads back to the thermometer.

The magic level was rising.

“No!” Lina screamed. “Why?” She took a step toward me, but her leg gave out and she collapsed to the floor. By this point, mine was really hurting, too, but I knew what was happening. I was probably the only person in the room who did.

The existing boons were growing more powerful as the magic level rose. Wreckage’s boons had overcharged, his detector mask blinding him. The chains had tightened on Avery, but her credit card had had a surge of strength, suddenly able to slice from a distance. . . .

“What did you do?” howled Lina Lutzdorf.

I grinned. “I added one more piece to your precious device.” I pointed back to the piano.

There was my throwing star, one of the sharp points stuck into the piano keys.

“The birthday present from my dad,” I explained, “a powerful boon that can reverse the effect of any other boon it touches. Your magic-destroying device just became a magic booster.”

“Stop him!” she ordered.

The six workers moved toward me, hands clenched into white-knuckled fists. Lionel Albrecht stepped into my view, holding a toy truck that was quivering with a sudden surge of energy. I didn’t know what his boon could do, and luckily, I never had to find out.

The elevator doors flew open, and Agent Nguyen burst in. And she wasn’t alone. A dozen Magix agents backed her up, all of them holding regular-looking items that could only be explained as boons.

Lina’s workers fell to the floor in immediate surrender, no match for special agents trained to use boons with precision and skill. Even the Cleaner dropped his toy truck, falling to his knees with his hands in the air.

“Uncle!” yelled Lina. “You coward!”

Hamid appeared in the doorway, dusting his hands together. “Good work, team. That’s a game-over for these baddies.”

I smiled at my video-game-loving friend. “Glad you made it,” I said. “And just in time.”

“Avery’s instructions led me straight to the black site,” said Hamid. “Once I convinced Agent Nguyen that I was one of the good guys, she was happy to rally the others and summon the Doorman.”

I turned to Lina Lutzdorf, who was still lying on the floor, gripping her leg. “It’s over, Mastermind,” I said, choking down my own pain.

“I don’t understand,” she muttered. “The device shouldn’t be able to affect my leg. I’m an immunity boon!”

“This power surge isn’t coming from the device,” Avery said, pointing our attention back to the thermometer. “It’s coming from the magic core. Straight from the source.”

The hum in the room grew to an almost deafening level. There was a bright flash of light as the giant boon device imploded on top of the piano. I saw the thermometer spike upward, the red level of magic rising so fast that it shattered through the top.

Lina Lutzdorf screamed, and I felt my leg break from the inside. I grunted against the intense pain, but it was too much. My vision started to fade, and I slipped into unconsciousness.