Colin Well: The Wizard

Chapter 11―The Last Hub

        Colin's silver bubble incasing left him and he walked out of the Way. Above them was a low stone ceiling. Colin was ready to fight anyone or anything that tried to attack him, but everything was still.
        "This is the last Hub that they could be in, Tod?" Colin asked uncertainly. He looked around. The Hub looked much like Marcia's with steps leading out.
        "Yes. I know it is. We only had to go through one Way to get here. It's a little earlier than what is was back at the Keep of Magyk," explained Tod. "I'm not sure where everyone is at, though."
        "Maybe they've left?" suggested Marston. Colin looked at him, surprised. He hadn't thought of that. Maybe Tod had been wrong and they've already left. Maybe they're already on their way to the Castle. Colin shuddered at the thought of returning to the Castle, seeing it already attacked. He pushed the thought out of his mind.
        "We need to look around. Let's go upstairs." Colin gestured to the narrow steps leading up. He went first, followed by Tod, Eliza, Kloud, then Marston.
        Colin emerged into a dark room. The only light came from the tall, thin windows. Moonlight streamed through the blue-colored glass, making the floor look like the ocean. Colin walked over to the window. Outside, he could see blurry shapes through the colored glass. He decided to open a large wooden door set into the stone wall that led outside. The room was already chilly, but when Colin opened the door, letting it swing inward, a powerful gust of cold wind hit him in the face. He opened his eyes, looking out into the freezing early morning air. In front of him were wide steps, going down at a gentle incline until they reached a gravel path. The path led down to a wide expanse of water. On the far side of the water was more land. Colin guessed they were in a bay. The gravel path led straight into a stone boathouse. The only thing Colin didn't see was the huge mountain rearing up behind him, casting a huge shadow that stopped right at the building they were in.
        Tod stood beside him. "It's beautiful." They looked out to the water where the setting moon's reflection was.
        Colin nodded in agreement. He watched as Tod pulled out her map and looked at it. She gasped. "There's―there's a volcano near here."
        Suddenly, with no warning, she rushed outside and down the steps. She stopped on the gravel path and looked back at Colin. But he noticed she was looking just above him. Above the building. He ran out to her, leaving the door open. He gasped at what he saw. Standing tall above them, blocking out a part of the sky was a tall mountain.
        "It's a volcano. An active one. See that?" said Tod, pointing up at the top. An orange glow illuminated the top. Colin knew that the glow was from lava deep inside the volcano. "Listen."
        Colin listened hard to the still night air. He could just make out a faint chant coming from the distant top. "What is it?" he asked worriedly.
        "It's them. The reinforcements. I know it. I can feel it," said Tod.
        "Like―like a Magyk Feel?" asked Colin in awe.
        "No. I just know," said Tod. Colin looked at her.
       "I think it's them, too," he said after a few minutes. "But how do we get up there?"
        "I don't know. We'll have to look around at the base of the volcano. Are you ready to go?" Tod asked Colin.
        "Let me go tell the others―" Colin was cut off by Tod with a big "No."
        "It'll be too dangerous. I'm fine with you going up there, but I don't want to put that many people in danger." Tod shifted uncomfortably, knowing Colin would retort.
        "That is most certainly not a good idea," said Colin. Then, thinking that he hadn't proved his point, he added, "I need them."
        "Colin you don't understand. This is extremely dangerous. They―"
        "No, you don't understand. I thought you would. You have friends don't you?" Colin asked harshly. "What would they say?"
        Tod thought about Oskar and Ferdie. She knew that they would be angry if she left without them. Then, suddenly and guiltily, she thought about the Tribe of Three, the group that her, Oskar, and Ferdie had created. Finally, after pondering this for a few more seconds Tod said, "Okay. They can come. But please hurry. I'll be waiting here."
        Colin said his thanks and rushed back into the building. Tod looked at the stone building that housed the Hub. It had a low roof, pointed at the top. It only had one floor and the Hub. Tod looked down to the boathouse. Two torchposts stood on either side of the entrance, lighting up the doorway. She wondered if any boats were in there. Suddenly, Tod was overcome with a wave of sadness. She thought back to her simple life in her PathFinder village. She missed that. But she missed her dad, Dan Moon, more.
        After a few more minutes of waiting, Colin finally persuaded Kloud to come outside. She had said that it was "freezing out there and the cold can just shove off."
        Finally, Colin got her to come outside with Eliza and Marston.
        "Are you ready?" Tod asked them as they reached her. Colin nodded. "Okay, let's go."
        They set off up to the base of the volcano. A huge cliff stood before them, and that, they thought, was where the entrance probably was. If not, they would have to start climbing, and Eliza didn't think that she was at all prepared for hanging off the side of a mountain in the early morning hours.
        After about ten minutes, they reached the cliff face. Colin instructed them to check all around on the wall of rock. It stretched about two hundred feet and the children were right in the middle of it.
        After several minutes of tedious searching, Eliza called out from the right side of the rock wall. Colin rushed over to her. If Eliza hadn't have grabbed Colin and stopped him, he would have ran right off the steep drop beside her. The ground fell away immediately into the water, a hundred foot drop.
        "Woah, watch out," Eliza said as Colin steadied himself. Tod and Marston ran up beside him. Kloud had been standing by Eliza's side the whole time they were searching. It really annoyed Colin because they needed her help to find the entrance. It would have gone much faster.
        "What is it?" Colin asked. Eliza pointed to a hole in the cliff. A few centimeters in was a plate of a smooth, black substance.
        A shout from Tod scared everyone. "I know what that is! Septimus told me about one in the Castle. It's a moving chamber. Here, watch." Tod extended her hand out to the black plate. Pushing her whole wait into her hand placed flat on the plate, a bright green light glowed bright behind it. To their left an oval door slid silently open. Tod gestured inside. Everyone stepped inside, Tod being last.
        The tiny chamber was lit by a small blue light. It's walls were smooth and shiny. They were black and blank, being featureless. Tod showed them a worn spot beside the door that she placed her palm on. Underneath, a red light glowed. Quietly, the doors slid back shut. On the other side of the chamber, two small orange arrows, one up and one down, glowed. Tod looked at Colin. He nodded confidently. Tod slammed the orange arrow pointing up and closed her eyes.
        The chamber lurched. Colin's stomach felt like it was in his feet as he felt the chamber rising. The orange arrow rose on the wall until it got to the top. Everything was suddenly still and with a light ding the door to the moving chamber slid open.