Knight School: A Mystic Brats Novel Vol. 1

How did this happen? The world’s deadliest assassin, Yonus, is about to murder one of my best friends. Why does crap like this happen to me almost every month? ...Oh, yeah... I’m a Mystic Brat. Things always screw up in due time. One moment I’m having a burger and listening to Luke Bryan — then — BOOM — I’m trapped in an Egyptian tomb trying to save Nara and grab some magic stick from the underworld. Did I mention that my life is getting crazier by the second? Focus, Jay, focus, or we all die!

“Let’s get this straight, Gardner,” said Yonus. “You are going to retrieve The Wand of Osiris for me... or I kill the princess. Got it?”

“Yeah, I got it,” I replied through gritted teeth. “How do you suppose I get it? The statue holding it is at least twenty feet tall.”

“I hear that you’re resourceful,” said Yonus. “Figure it out.”

“Jason, don’t!” said Nara with a fierce look of bravery. The way she stared at me reminded me of another time... another person...

“Jay, I’m opening Pulse-Communications,” said Barry’s voice in my earpiece.

Pulse-Communications allow our communicators to tap into our brain’s electric pulses to form a psychic link. Barry’s been developing this technology for months, based off what he had been studying about our connection to the Lunar Necklace. We haven’t even told the girls about it yet. In seconds, the link had activated.

“Jason, do you read me?”

“Loud and clear, Barry,” I replied. It was incredible! I could hear Barry’s every thought!

“One of the few things that Yonus can’t stop are the ice pellets I designed,” thought Barry. “All you have to do is crush the pellets, and they will freeze anything that has been created or enhanced by dark magic.”

“Clock’s ticking, Gardner,” said Yonus.

“Okay, I’ll get the wand now,” I said to Yonus. “Go easy on that trigger. I have a little gadget that can help me reach it. I just have to remove from my belt, alright?”

“Turn around then,” said Yonus. “Just remember that if you try to trick me... the princess dies.”

“Jason...”

Barry’s voice entered my mind again.

“Don’t kill Yonus! He killed my family... he’s mine!”

At that moment I could feel all of Barry’s pain, anger, and his thirst for vengeance.

“Understood.” I turned around and removed the ice pellets. I crushed them in my hand as an explosion of ice erupted from them! I heard another explosion echo throughout the underground chambers. In seconds the two destructive forces met, flashes of fire and ice temporarily blinding me. When I regained my sight, I saw a bright blue sky above us. The top layers of stone and earth that concealed the chambers had been eradicated. The once tall statue had been reduced to rubble. The Wand of Osiris laid in the sand-covered floor. I ran over and grabbed it.

“Nara — I got the wand!” I exclaimed. “Nara?”

“She was laying on the ground rubbing her head, blood was coming from it. “NARA!”

Yonus had been half burned and half-frozen, but the tip of his Basilisk Arrow was right next to where Nara was laying.

“I’m fine, Jason,” said Nara. “It’s just a flesh wound.”

“But the arrow —?”

“It didn’t touch me,” said Nara. “Close call, but it looks like you’re going to be stuck with me for a little longer.”

“Happy to hear it,” I smiled. “Though, I don’t understand why the arrow tip wasn’t frozen.”

“The other explosion must have been magical in origins and negated the ice pellets effects... just not completely, it seems.”

“What about Yonus?” I asked.

Nara walked over to him and felt his pulse.

“He’s dead.”

“Barry is not going to like this,” I replied.

“What Mr. Dickenson wants is unimportant.”

Nara and I saw Mr. Louis emerge from the chamber’s rubble. Almost all of his armor was melted. He had burn marks on his shoulders, cheek, and legs.

“All that matters is that we have secured the wand,” said Mr. Louis.

“Mr. Louis, are you alright?” I asked.

“A little warm,” replied Mr. Louis. “But I remain unfazed. Ah, here comes our flight.”

The Hovercraft landed above us as Julie stepped out and extended a latter. Barry also emerged, his eyes darted from the wand to the dead Yonus. Once we had joined them, Barry spoke. “How did he die?”

“I’m afraid that was my fault, Mr. Dickenson,” said Mr. Louis. “I set off a bomb while Jason activated the ice pellets in hopes of destroying Damien Drake.”

“Did it work?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” said Mr. Louis. Mr. Louis was hiding something, something big. Whenever someone I know keeps secrets... it never ends well. Damien’s accusations still made me feel uneasy.

“What did Damien mean when he said —?”

“ENOUGH!”

Barry had shouted louder than anyone I had ever heard. His eyes were filled with a deranged desperation that I had never seen before. “Do you know just how insufferable each of you imbeciles are? I’ve tried and tried and tried to be your friend! But all any of you dolts think of me as is some deplorable, ignorant, annoying, physical inferior! Well, I have news for you — YOU’RE THE INFERIOR ONES!”

“Barry —?”

“It’s the wand —!”

Barry’s eyes had turned pitch black. Something was going wrong with my best friend and I had no idea what it was. It was almost like Barry had been changed into the darkest version of himself. “...All I wanted was to be accepted... to have some kind of family... but since that’s never going to happen...”

The Wand of Osiris shot out of my hand like a bullet to Barry. As soon as it made contact, Barry levitated into the sky. His skin had turned dark blue, while his vanes had turned as black as his eyes.

“Nara — stop him — he’s enchanted!” I shouted!

Nara looked almost scared as she turned to me and said — “I can’t!”

“What in the hell are you saying?” I yelled as the winds picked and began to howl.

“There’s nothing she can do, Jason,” said Mr. Louis. “The Wand of Osiris must have been calling out to Mr. Dickenson since we arrived. Its magic has unhinged him until... it completely consumed him. Mr. Dickenson has been possessed by Osiris himself!”

“Barry — drop the wand — I know that you can stop this!” I shouted.

When Barry looked down and spoke, it was in a voice not his own. “Barry Dickenson has served his purpose... he is... no more! I have consumed his soul and filled his vessel! Now the dead shall rise... the living will fall... and the underworld shall be reborn. Yours will be the first blood spilled! I am Osiris... fear me!”

Osiris’s wand shot out an eerie mystical beam of energy into the sky and ground. Hands began to emerge from the sand beneath us as dead bodies, wrapped in what smelled like used toilet paper, rose to the surface.

“Mummies, it had to be mummies,” said Nara. “How in the world do we kill mummies?”

“Chop them into little pieces?” suggested Julie.

“Get into the Hovercraft,” said Mr. Louis. “I’ll hold them off!”

“No!” I said. “We’re not leaving you! Barry was wrong, Mr. Louis! We are a family. We are the Mystic Brats. I’m not leaving you or Barry behind. Even if we’re not always being honest or nice to each other, even with everything that’s happened to Barry, we will never abandon our own. I’m staying!”

“Me too!” said Nara.

“You’re not getting rid of us, Mr. Louis!” said Julie.

“You do realize that this may be the end?” said Mr. Louis.

“Frankly, Mr. Louis, we don’t give a damn,” I said.

Mr. Louis grinned despite himself. “Alright, let’s show these things what real hell feels like!”