Astromancy: Charlie's Secret

Thomas hadn't expected to be alive when the town's time capsule was opened. He had been in his third year of schooling when it was buried and sealed in the city park.

One hundred years later and he still remembered his contribution. A drawing in crayon of the solar system rosewith all six planets. Thomas smiled. It was appropriate, considering the direction his life had gone.

He turned and limped back to the waiting carriage, a new purchase by the Astronomical Society of Earth, or ASE. The driver opened the door and Thomas climbed in, placing his cane across his lap. The driver climbed onto the driver's seat and took the reins.

“Where to, Doctor?”

“Back to Kingston University, please.”

“Yes, sir.”

Thomas tolerated the carriage ride with all the dips and bumps throwing him around, not to mention it shuttered terribly whenever the driver pulled up on the reins. If it wasn’t for his leg, he would walk.

All his complaints went out the window when they pulled up in front of the University. Police, both mounted and on foot, swarmed the snow white front steps. The doors were propped open and uniformed officers were marching in and out of the building.

“Is this alright, sir?”

“Yes, yes,” Thomas said, waving his hand impatiently at the man. A bead of sweat dripped from his temple as he untucked himself from the carriage and slid to the street. Steadying himself with his cane, Thomas hobbled to the closest officer.

“What happened? What’s going on?”

“I’m not allowed to say, sir. Please step back.” The officer held out his hands so Thomas couldn’t get by. Several more rushed past, and Thomas pleaded with him.

“I work here, my friends –”

“Sir, if you would, please wait over there for me.” The officer pointed to the fountain out front. A man was already sitting on the edge, his face in his hands. Thomas moved as quickly as his bad leg allowed.

“Levi! What’s going on?”

Levi looked up. “Thomas. I can’t believe it. Elizabeth’s been murdered.”

“Murdered? How?” Thomas nearly dropped his cane in shock. Dear, sweet Elizabeth, they had tea only yesterday afternoon, discussing the intricacies of Astromancy.

“I tried to save her,” Levi’s voice trembled, “but I was still in my office when I heard her scream. I ran to her, but I was too late. Someone stabbed her, Thomas, with a kitchen knife, over and over again.” He shuttered and fell silent.

For the first time, Thomas noticed Levi’s frock sleeves were darkened and there was a red smear on his chin. He flopped onto the fountain, trailing the cane between his legs.

Officers scurried around like ants, taking notes and sketching parts of the crime scene. It felt like a dream until two officers walked out of the University with a body wrapped in a stained sheet.

Levi choked back a sob and moaned into his knees. “Oh, Elizabeth. Why you? So young, so much life...”

Thomas squeezed his shoulder, his own head bowed.

***

Levi staggered away some time before the police cleaned up and left. Thomas hadn’t moved. He sat on the fountain, twisting his top hat and tapping his feet. As the last one trotted off campus, he shoved the hat on his head, snatched his cane and made his way to the university's stairs.

He stopped at the bottom stairs and looked up. They had become such a pain to traverse with his stiff leg and Thomas sighed in relief that he would never have to do it again. Instead, he snapped his fingers and slowly pushed his hand forward. The air wavered and reality bent inwards as if made of rubber until only darkness remained, stretching endlessly forward.

The portal sucked Thomas in, his body stretching its entire length before depositing him on the top step, looking completely normal. He dusted off his waistcoat and hurried inside, where the metallic stench of blood assaulted his nostrils. The entire entrance was still sticky with it. Thomas’s lip curled in disgust, but he pushed on, wincing as he slipped.

The University was eerily quiet. He had never seen it completely deserted before. All the better, he thought to himself, cupping his hands together. His palm tickled as invisible gases swirled faster and faster, creating a ball of soft yellow light and heat. When it was the size of a billiards ball, Thomas tossed it into the air where it slowly orbited his head.

When he reached his office, Thomas sighed in relief. It was still locked. He slipped the key from his pocket, but his hands shook so badly it took three tries to make it work. The click echoed loudly down the empty hallway.

The office was as pristine as he left it. Stacks of astronomical charts lay in orderly piles on his desk, and each book on the bookshelf was dust free and straight. Thomas hurried around his desk and pulled out a drawer, reaching underneath it. Taped to the bottom was a small key he used to unlock a second drawer. It was filled to the brim with quills, protractors, bits of parchment, and paper airplanes, which he tore out and threw to the floor.

Thomas carefully pushed on the back left corner, and the base popped up. He hooked it under a finger and pulled it out. Inside sat a letter, folded into a square with a tie holding it shut. Snatching it from the drawer, Thomas sat back on his heels and held the letter tight.

This was what Elizabeth had been killed for. She had slipped it to him the day they had tea.

He shoved the letter into his pocket and stuffed the litter back into the drawer. A bang stopped him in his tracks. He didn’t move, listening hard. Tap tap. Were those that footprints? Tap tap. Someone was still in the building.

Thomas slammed the drawer shut and extinguished his personal sun. The sound of shoes clicking on polished wood reverberated outside his door. He snapped and pushed, willing the portal to hurry.

The footsteps stopped. They were right outside his door. His hand stretched into the portal. The doorknob jiggled. Thomas’s eyes snapped to it. His shoulder stretched into the portal. The click sounded like a gunshot as someone unlocked his door. The handle turned slowly, and Thomas was gone.

Bones popped and his ears rang as Thomas stretched and twisted across space until he snapped out the other side. He hit the ground and his legs buckled, insides twisting in pain. Cane forgotten on the floor, he threw out his hands to catch himself.

“Who’s there?”

“Just me, Lyds,” he croaked.

Lydia rounded the corner and gasped when she saw Thomas pushing himself up from her apartment floor. She hurried to his side and grabbed an arm.

“What happened? How’d you even get in? I was near the door the whole time and didn’t see you.”

“Glass of water first, then I’ll tell you everything.” Thomas leaned on her for support.

Lydia helped him into the kitchen and poured a glass of water. Thomas gulped it down and the pain in his guts subsided. She stood by the counter, rubbing her arms and staring at him.

“What’s going on, Thomas?”

He lifted the glass to his lips before replying. “I have a few confessions to make, my dear.”

“What are you talking about? You’re scaring me.” She took a step back.

“I’m an astromancer.”

“A...what?” Lydia cocked her head, her face scrunched in confusion. Thick dark hair escaped from the bun piled on top of her head.

“An astromancer. It means I can use space magic,” Thomas said quietly, pleading for her to understand.

“Magic? I don’t believe it. You tell me the truth, mister.” She crossed her arms and stared at him, her brow knit together.

“I am, I promise. Let me prove it!”

She squinted at him and finally nodded. Thomas let out the breath he was holding and cupped his hands together, calling on gases neither of them could see, until they spun so fast a pinprick of light appeared and expanded.

Lydia’s eyes grew wide with wonder, and her jaw dropped open. She reached her finger towards it but Thomas pulled his hands back.

“Be careful. It’s hot, like a tiny version of our sun.” He kept it alive a moment longer before letting it extinguish. “Do you believe me now?”

“Alright, I believe you,” she said, sitting across from him and leaning over the table eagerly. “Now tell me how you got in here without me noticing.”

Thomas smiled in relief and acquiesced. “I can create portals. I made one from my office at the University to here.”

“But, why?”

“Because of this.” He removed the letter from his pocket and set it on the table between them.

“What is it?” Lydia refrained from touching it, keeping her arms tucked across her chest.

“Let me start from the beginning. First of all, I’m not thirty-five years old, I only look thirty-five. I’m actually one hundred and nine. The magic lengthens our lifespan and boosts our immune system.”

“How long does –?”

“Nevermind, dear. That’s not important now. Anyway, I’m part of a secret group called ASE-”

“ASE? Like from the conspiracy theories?”

“Yes, that one,” Thomas said in exasperation. “Now usually we just get together to talk about space and practice our astromancy.”

“And make some pretty big deals if half of those rumors are true.”

“Yes, but someone’s sneaking around behind our back, making deals that don’t adhere to our code.”

“Code?”

“Will you please let me finish? I intercepted this letter from that person. This letter very well may contain the name of the person who murdered Elizabeth this very day.”

“Elizabeth was murdered?!” Lydia stood up fast enough to knock over her chair.

“Yes, and they nearly got me too. If I hadn’t portaled from my office to here, I would have been goner.”

Lydia sank back into her chair and rested her head on her hands. “What are we going–”

Unintelligible yelling came through the open window. Thomas leaped to his feet, ignoring the growing pain in his leg as he dashed to the window.

“Someone just knocked the doorman unconscious and broke through the door.” He peered through the crack in the curtains. “They know I’m here.”

“Who’s they?”

“The person who sent that letter. We have to leave.”

“Well, we can’t go down because they are on their way up. Why don’t you just make one of your portals and get us out by magic?”

Thomas grimaced as he grabbed the letter from the table and tucked it safely back into his pocket. “Two reasons. One, I just traveled a distance that is not recommended. You saw what it did to me. Second, only astromancers can travel through portals. You would be torn apart.”

“Lovely. Any other tricks you can use?”

“None compatible with an enclosed area.”

Lydia groaned. “What’s the use of magic of you can’t use it? Hurry, there is a ledge just outside the window.”

Thomas hobbled back to the window and worked it open. A door slammed down the hall and there was a scream.

“Hurry, Thomas!”

“I’m trying, I’m trying!”

He finally slid the window up and swung his leg out when the door crashed open. Juggling with it had costed them the precious seconds they needed.

“This isn’t—Oh, for God's sake.” Lydia turned towards the immense man blocking the kitchen door.

“Lyds!” Thomas struggled back inside to protect her, but then he noticed a thigh protruding from between her skirts, and strapped to that thigh was a gun. Lydia slipped it from the holster, took aim, pulled back the hammer, and fired.

A spark jumped, igniting the gunpowder and creating an explosion that cannoned a speeding ball of lead at the man. It smashed through his left eye socket and he dropped to the floor with a thud.

“Is he dead?”

“Dead?! There are brains on the wall Lyds, yes he’s dead.” Thomas dragged himself back into the apartment. “Where did you learn to shoot like that?”

“My father,” Lydia said, helping Thomas to steady himself. He leaned heavily on his cane.

“Ah. Does he know his daughter is walking around with a loaded pistol under her skirts?”

“He did. It’s a man’s world out there, Doctor. You’d be surprised how many women secretly arm themselves.”

Thomas glanced at the flintlock in her hand. “Reload it and grab all your ammo. I have a feeling we are going to need it.”

***

“Where do we go next?” Lydia asked quietly. They had slipped from the apartment building and past the doorman who was waking from his nonconsensual nap.

“We need to go back to Kingston University.”

“Go back?”

Thomas nodded. “In this letter is the name of the person behind Elizabeth’s death and the attacks on me. Every member of ASE works at the University in some fashion. If we can search this person's office, maybe we can find out what they’re hiding.”

Lydia waved down a hansom cab, and she helped Thomas inside. Only after they told the driver where they wanted to go, and he closed to trapdoor, did Thomas bring out the letter. He grabbed hold of the string with shaking hands and pulled. The tie fell to the floor, and he slowly unfolded the letter. He glanced across the page and closed his eyes and sat back with a sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Lydia hissed.

“It’s in code.” He handed her the letter.

She studied the piece of paper. “I’m not the astronomer here, but isn’t that a moon?”

Thomas took the paper back, and she pointed at a small figure. He said nothing, but pulled out a pair of spectacles. There were nineteen different symbols, and each one had a different number of dots around them. He realized he knew them quite well. Each one was an astronomical symbol for the planets and their moons, but what did the dots represent?

Thomas began counting them. There seemed to be a pattern, but he couldn’t see it. He squinted at the page.

“What does each symbol mean?” Lydia had an inkwell in one hand, a fountain pen in the other, and a piece of paper balanced on her knee. Thomas shook his head in awe.

“You are full of surprises, my dear.”

“Just tell me.”

“Okay, okay. This first one here, means Sonne. This one is Mars, and Saturn, and...” he trailed off, looking between the names and the dots.

“I got it! The dots correspond to the number of letters in the symbol. Four dots means the fourth letter.”

“Well keep going then! We must crack this before we get there.”

They had barely finished when the cab came to a stop.

“What does it say?”

“‘Dear President Polk, I have a matter worth discussing regarding a proposal from ASE. This tech is miles ahead of its time and I have a compromise that may leave both parties satisfied. If not, there are plenty of other fish in the sea. Please respond with date and time. Kind Regards, Founder of ASE, Charles Harrison.’”

The driver unfolded the door and Thomas shoved the letter and the decoded page down his shirt. They disembarked and hastened across the darkening campus, finding cover in the shadow cast by the fountain preceding the university's main entrance.

Thomas clutched his spinning head. Charles Harrison? How could that be? He was the original astromancer, the one who found and trained the rest of them. He was the one who preached how important it was to keep their magic a secret.

“What does he mean by technology? Is he selling the magic?”

Thomas leaned back. The spray of water hit his face, and he calmed down. “I don’t know. The magic we do isn’t anywhere near worth selling ourselves out for. Yeah, we can cause some damage and do some cool tricks, but even after one hundred years, we haven’t nailed it down yet.”

“So we have to find out what exactly it is he is selling?”

“Exactly. Keep that gun handy, I don’t know who we will run into.”

Lydia ran up the stairs while Thomas portaled himself up, deeming it safe to travel short distances again.

“That was wild,” Lydia said, staring at him as he popped back to normal size.

“It feels worse than it looks. This way, quickly.” He took her hand and lead her into the University.

***

Thomas swore as he knocked over a pile of papers on Charles Harrison’s desk. He shuffled through them, but they were only invoices.

“What exactly are we trying to find?” Lydia asked. She was at the bookshelf, leafing through books systematically.

“Something, anything that is extraordinary.” He pulled open each drawer but didn’t waste time checking them. Something this important wouldn’t be left out where it could be found. He reached under the desk and felt around. He was sure he wasn’t the only one with a secret compartment.

Thomas grunted in frustration. Nothing. He fell back into the chair, stretching his leg. It had seen more action in the last twelve hours than before the accident that left him crippled and it was aching ferociously.

“I’m sure it’s here somewhere,” Lydia said, moving on to check behind the paintings on the wall. “We will probably find it right under our noses.”

Thomas frowned, but what she said struck a cord with him and a memory surfaced. Thomas himself was standing before this very desk, handing Charlie a funding proposal for a secret experiment.

“Thank you, Thomas. I’ll sit on this and let you know.”

What if Charlie was being literal? Thomas slid off the chair and bent down on his hands and knees, feeling around the bottom. It was small, but he felt it, a pinhole in the middle of the wood.

“Lydia, your hair!”

“My...hair?” She frowned at him.

“Yes, yes. Those pins women use in their hair. Do you have one?”

“Oh! Yes, here you go.”

Thomas plucked the pin from her fingers. Lydia watched intently while he probed the bottom of the chair until an audible click released a trapdoor.

“Ah ha!” Thomas leaned back and ripped the cushion off the seat. The bottom protruded from the rest of the chair. Hooking his fingers underneath, he lifted the trapdoor and reached inside. He held his breath as his fingers came into contact with two things. He withdrew them and furrowed his brow. One looked like a handwritten manuscript and the other a small book on physics.

Thomas handed the book to Lydia and flipped through the manuscript. At first, nothing on the page made sense. Was Charlie mad? No, the farther he went, the clearer it became. He gasped as the models and formulas on the page solidified Charlie’s theory.

“What is it?”

“Charlie figured out time travel,” Thomas said faintly. Lydia dropped the book and put her hands to her mouth.

“Elizabeth must have realized what he was doing and tried to stop him,” he said.

“We can’t let him get away with selling it.” Lydia cried, her face white. “Scientists should be the only ones in charge of this kind of thing.”

“I agree, but...” he trailed off, the implications of their situation fully hitting him.

“But what?”

“If Charlie can time travel, he probably already knows we’re here.”

“Damn it, Thomas, why didn’t you say so? Let’s get out of here!” Lydia pulled Thomas to his feet and shoved his cane back into his hand. Suddenly, the pain in his leg didn’t seem so bad anymore. They ran through the halls with only an occasional oil lamp to light their way. Thomas didn’t dare make his own for fear of being detected.

“This way, there is a side door.” He pointed to a hallway and Lydia turned down it. They crashed through, and Thomas heaved a sigh of relief as the night air hit his lungs. It was short-lived, however, as figures stepped out of the shadows and surrounded them. He pushed Lydia behind him as the shadow figures allowed a skinny man through their ranks.

“Charlie,” Thomas growled.

“You should have left it alone, Dr. Jackson. I can make us enough money to live the rest of our long lives in peace, but it seems I am slowly losing people to share it with.”

“You know they will enslave us if they found out, right? Keep us cages and do experiments on us.”

“You don’t think I’d let that happen, do you? Oh, I thought to offer one or two of us, but you were always safe, Thomas. You’ve become my most promising student and I want to pass along the power to you.”

“Liar. You would have said that no matter which one of us was standing here,” Thomas said, “I bet you told Elizabeth the same thing.”

Charlie only smiled, which Thomas took for confirmation. He reached his hand into the air and felt the lightest ripple brush against his fingertips. He snapped his hand shut, grabbing onto the waves and slashed it downwards and forwards. A force slammed into the ground and was redirected towards Charlie and his thugs.

Lydia moved fast. The gun came around Thomas’s shoulder and the bullet sprang from the barrel. Charlie had already disappeared into a portal. The lead ball followed the waves. Thomas and Lydia crossed their fingers, but luck was not with them. The ball careened past the portal half a second before it appeared and dumped Charlie out.

“Damn it,” Lydia muttered while packing another lead ball into the pistol behind Thomas’s back. His ears were ringing from the blast, but when Charlie whipped something at them, his reflexes were still lightning fast.

Thomas gripped his cane with both hands and pulled. Out slid a thin sword concealed within the cane. He brought it upwards, swiping the throwing knife out of the air. It clattered across the ground and everything stilled.

“You can’t win, Thomas. I already know your every move.”

“Now would be a great time to do something,” Lydia murmured in Thomas’s ear. The thugs were helping each other to their feet. One lay unconscious. He ground his teeth in frustration. He had never dueled with his magic before. It was supposed to help advance science and technology, not to kill each other.

“I have an idea, but you need to run first.”

“But–“

“Now or I won’t do it!”

Lydia didn’t argue. She gathered her skirts and the kit she kept for her gun and sprinted back towards the steps of the University.

Thomas didn’t waste anytime. Charlie’s eyes had flickered to Lydia as she ran and he could see his old mentor's intentions in his eyes. Thomas created a portal at the same time Charlie clapped his hands together.

An explosion threw Thomas from his feet, his cane flying away from him, but Lydia was safe. From his vantage point in the air, Thomas saw her outrun the explosion as it was sucked backwards into his portal. The fireball was spit out the other end at Charlie and his fiends.

The ground rose up to meet him, slamming into his shoulder. There was a pop and pain shot through Thomas like he had never felt before. He rolled to his knees, pushing himself up with his good arm. Peeking at it out of the corner of his eye, Thomas could see his shoulder jutting out at an awkward angle. It was dislocated. He grimaced, a cold sweat glistening his face.

There was not time to think about it, however. Charlie had already recovered from having his own explosion turned on him. Thomas stuck out his hand and summoned the gases. They swirled in his hand, creating a yellow plasma ball.

“Is it getting too dark for you? Need to make a little light before we finish this duel?” Charlie mocked. Thomas didn’t reply. If he knew so much about the future, then Charlie should already know his plans.

The plasma ball grew to the size of a basketball, but the thugs were running at him. Thomas ignored them and focused on the ball. It turned red and expanded even farther. Thomas had to squint and lean back. He could already feel the heat from it burning his hand and face. He had to hold out, though, any minute now…

He concentrated harder, putting as much mass into the ball as possible until suddenly it imploded and a tremendous pull worked on Thomas’s body. A tiny speck of nothingness floated above his palm. He could describe it as black, but that wasn’t right. It was an absence of everything.

Resisting the pull ferociously, Thomas yelled as he lobbed the thing at the gaining thugs. The movement shot pain through his shoulder, but the idea worked well, too well. He hadn’t been sure what he was doing, only following an instinct, and now he almost regretted it. The thing he created was sucking in everything not stuck to the ground, garbage, fliers, his cane, the thugs. They screamed, clawing at the ground until their fingers bled as the point of no return pulled them in.

Charlie was affected only as bad as Thomas. Their magically enhanced bodies let them resist the pull. The thugs were stretched so thin; it looked as though they had slowed down infinitely as the thing ate them.

Thomas took the few seconds of confusion and slammed his dislocated shoulder into a streetlight. The pain was too much. His vision tunneled and tears sprang unbidden to his eyes as waves of nausea assaulted him, but he could move his arm again.

It was just as well. A portal popped into existence next to him and Charlie jumped out, tackling Thomas back to the cold, hard ground. Air exploded from his lungs and Charlie scrambled to straddle him. Thomas could only lift his hands above his face to protect himself, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough. He watched Charlie bring his hands together as if in slow motion and closed his eyes, waiting for the explosion that was sure to come. Instead, a shot rang out and warm liquid splashed on Thomas’s face. He opened his eyes and saw Charlie’s face twisted in pain. A jagged hole tore through the middle of his hand. Lydia had hit her mark.

Breath came back to him, and he lifted his hips, throwing Charlie off. Thomas rolled to his hands and knees, coughing and breathing deeply. Why hadn’t Charlie evaded Lydia’s shot? He must have known it was coming. Maybe, just maybe, he had written her off and once she ran away; he didn’t see her as a threat. That gave Thomas an advantage. If he could keep Charlie distracted…

Thomas reached above him for the waves and brought them down at Charlie. He rolled out of the way, his hair rustling in the breeze while creating a portal at the same time. He was sucked through and deposited several meters away, where he staggered and fell to one knee.

“It’s over, Thomas! Stop now and leave while you can.” Charlie’s eyes were wild. He glanced around and moved back and forth, attempting to make himself a harder target.

“I’m sorry, Charlie,” Thomas said to himself and dropped. A shot rang out and a shocked Charlie froze as a shower of blood rained from the tip of his ear. The bullet shot past his face and into the night, clattering somewhere in the distance.

Thomas bounded to his feet and raced at Charlie like he hadn’t in sixty years. Fear etched onto Charlie’s face, but he was ready. Thomas clapped his hands together and a ball of fire burst outwards behind him. He had never been good at directing them.

Thomas was shoved forwards into Charlie and they both rolled across the ground. He peaked through his eyelids at the surroundings. They had been thrown the right direction. He allowed a panting Charlie to grab him by the collar and haul him closer.

“I really did want you by my side, Thomas. You proved it tonight, you could feel the power as I did, could evolve it, but now it’s too late. Good bye, Doctor.”

Thomas had expected this, but what he didn’t expect was the second knife in Charlie’s hand. The blade descended on him in a flash, and he felt the cold steel rake across his flesh. A wash of warm liquid flooded down his chest and suddenly Thomas couldn’t breathe.

As his vision tunneled, Thomas watched Charlie look away in surprise. There was a bright light, and his head exploded. Lydia’s tear-streaked face swam into focus before the world went dark.

***

“No, no, no,” Lydia cried, but she was too late. Thomas’s eyes glazed over and he fell limp, blood still pumping from his ruined neck. She sat back on her heels, sobbing.

When she felt as if there was nothing left, Lydia opened her eyes. Laying on Thomas’s chest was a kid's drawing, yellowed from age. As she grabbed it, a crinkle came from his shirt. A piece of blood-soaked paper stuck out, and she pulled the letter and code sheet from where he had shoved it earlier.

Lydia carefully folded the blood spattered papers and held the drawing up to a street lamp. It was a picture of space, with only six planets. In the corner, it was signed by the artist in large childlike handwriting.

Thomas Jackson Year 3, 1775

She clutched the papers to her chest and ran for the University as the light of the sun peaked over the horizon and the first professors began to arrive.