Spell Robbers by Matthew J. Kirby Read Free Book Online

but couldn’t bring himself to leave Peter and Dr. Hughes.
    “You say this device doesn’t work, Doctor.” The Dread Cloak leader aimed the augmenter gun at Ben. “So you must be perfectly comfortable with me doing this.”
    “Please, don’t.” She held out both hands. “I said it was unreliable.”
    Ben looked straight through the metal ring at the end of the gun.
    “Well, let’s just see what it does,” the leader said. “Unreliably.”
    Ben thought of his mom, not too far away, on the other side of campus. She wouldn’t know what had happened to him.
    “They’re here!” A Dread Cloak ran into the lab. “The League has come!”
    “Bring her!” The leader pointed at Dr. Hughes. “And make a door!” He looked back at Ben, still aiming the gun.
    Ben felt a … disturbance. The beginning of an actuation coming through the ring. He knew something bad was about to happen to him. But in that moment, a troop of uniformed people charged into the lab through the broken doorway.
    “Drop the weapon, Poole!” one of them shouted.
    The Dread Cloak leader held up his hands. “You think you’ve caught me?”
    An explosion at the far end of the lab threw Ben to the floor. The impact struck the core of his chest and blew out his hearing. It was dark now, the room filling with smoke. He rolled onto his back. Wires hung from the gaping ceiling, and the walls bloomed fire. People rushed around him. He saw Peter lying on the ground beside him.
    Then he didn’t see anything at all.

    When Ben woke up, he was lying on a cot in a white room. White walls, white ceiling tiles, white linoleum floor. Was he in a hospital? Peter lay on a cot next to him. He was sleeping, but he didn’t look hurt. Ben sat up, and felt a pain stab his temple. He reached his hand up to it, and found a bandage. It must be a hospital. But when he went to the door, he found it locked.
    He knocked. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
    “Ben?” Peter had woken up. “Where are we?”
    “I don’t know,” Ben said. “You okay?”
    “Yes, I think so.” Peter rubbed his hair. “My head hurts.”
    “Mine, too.” But it was more than that. He felt disoriented, like he was floating, and not in a good way. More like he was getting pulled out to sea.
    Something clicked in the door, and Ben stepped back as it opened. Two people walked in, a man and a woman, both wearing suits. Their faces looked familiar, and then Ben remembered seeing them back in Dr. Hughes’s lab. They were part of the second group that came in after the Dread Cloaks. Who were they? Cops? Military?
    “Ben, Peter.” The man was tall and lanky, and carried a manila file in his hand. “I’m Agent Spear. This is Agent Taggart.” He spoke with a slight southern accent.
    The woman nodded. She had red hair and lots of freckles. “We’re relieved you weren’t seriously injured.”
    Agents? What did that mean? FBI?
    “Where are we?” Ben asked. “Where is Dr. Hughes?”
    “Have a seat.” Agent Spear pointed at the cot with the file he held. “Let’s talk.”
    Ben and Peter both hesitated, but sat down side by side on Peter’s cot. Agent Spear sat down on the low cot across from them, his knees almost bumping his chin, while Agent Taggart stood back by the door, arms folded. Spear opened the file and began to read over whatever was in there, licking his thumb and turning pages. A few moments later, he looked up and smiled.
    “Right. You boys have stepped in it now, haven’t you?”
    “Stepped in what?” Peter asked.
    “The battlefield. The Quantum War.”
    “War?” Ben asked.
    “Well, I don’t mean a war between nations,” Agent Spear said. “It’s a street war. A gang war.”
    “Who are you?” Ben asked. “And where’s Dr. Hughes?”
    “We belong to an agency,” Spear said. “You could think of it like other intelligence agencies you might be more familiar with, but we don’t answer to any government. We’re the Quantum League. Agent Taggart and I are