The Magic Factory

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Ralph and Oliver headed along the street, which was familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time, with shorter buildings and not a single high-rise blotting the horizon. Strange old cars passed them, the men inside wearing fedora hats. Many of the lots weren’t even developed yet, though in Oliver’s time there were warehouses or apartments buildings there. They passed a school where children in old-fashioned gray clothing played with wooden hoops. It all felt so strange and eerie to Oliver. He could still not quite believe he was in 1944.

They reached an old sign between two warehouses and Ralph stopped, then pointed up. Oliver drew up beside him and looked up. The sign was made of wood and iron, the type you’d see in a historic village outside the drinking tavern. Oliver noticed a symbol embossed into the rusted iron. It looked like a ring, or a hoop. At three evenly spaced intervals around the hoop was the same image of an eye.

“What is that?” Oliver asked.

“That is the symbol for the School for Seers,” Ralph said. “A loop to signify that time isn’t linear, and the eyes to signify seeing in all directions; present, future, and past. Only Seers can see the symbol. For the rest of the world, this is just an ordinary sign. Whenever you see the symbol, it will guide you back to the school. Right this way.”

He bounded off. Oliver thought Ralph seemed far too nonchalant about everything. His laid-back attitude was in stark contrast to how Oliver felt. Oliver felt like the ground was barely solid beneath his feet, like his whole life had been tipped upside down and shaken around. He’d hardly had time to come to grips with his new status as a Seer before Armando’s death, his sudden propulsion back in time, and the meeting with Ralph. His head was still spinning from it all.

Oliver followed Ralph into the shadowy back alley. He shivered. It was much colder in the darkness. He was only wearing his thin workman’s overalls. He felt very underprepared for whatever was about to happen.

There were many other passageways coming off the alley, and Oliver followed Ralph down a very narrow one. It reminded him of the mazelike corridors of Armando’s factory, and the strangely narrow one that led to his secret room. The walls on either side of him were very high; there was only a sliver of sky above his head. At points the alleyway became so narrow his shoulders brushed the walls either side.

At last they stopped and Ralph crouched down beside a shrub growing beneath another three-eyed hoop symbol. He parted the leaves and Oliver saw there was a switch hidden within it. Ralph pressed the switch. The wall suddenly disappeared, revealing instead a door-sized gap within the brickwork.

Oliver gasped. It was just like his invisibility coat but in reverse. Instead of hiding something real, it was creating something not real.

“It’s visual trickery,” Ralph explained, as he studied Oliver’s expression. “The illusion of something solid.”

Oliver thought about the technology needed to make it work. There were no lights to project an image. It wasn’t a holograph. Though his invisibility coat had been a theoretical possibility before he’d made it a reality, there was no theory to explain this.

“Amazing,” Oliver said. “I’d love to study the mechanisms. I’m something of an inventor myself, you see.”

He looked away from the shrub to discover Ralph had already gone. He was halfway up the alleyway ahead of them. “Turn it back on once you’re in, won’t you?” he called back over his shoulder. “Don’t want any non-Seers wandering through by accident!”

Oliver got the distinct impression that they were in something of a hurry. Ralph certainly didn’t seem to be dawdling.

Quickly, he stepped through the gap and pressed the light switch on the other side. The brick illusion reappeared, giving him the unnerving feeling of having been bricked in. He hurried after Ralph.

The alleyway they now followed was not only narrow, but there was no daylight coming from above at all. It occurred to Oliver that they were now inside some kind of building. But inside where was a mystery.

Up ahead, Ralph strode purposefully onward. Oliver noticed he was now stooping. The ceiling had become visible above them, and it sloped closer and closer as they progressed along the corridor, making the space become shorter. Oliver bent his head as the ceiling came ever closer, then his knees, until there wasn’t enough space to even stand. Just as Ralph was doing ahead of him, Oliver had no choice but to crawl on his hands and knees. They weren’t in a corridor anymore at all, but a tunnel. Oliver fought his feelings of claustrophobia.

Suddenly, Oliver slammed into Ralph’s backside. He’d stopped crawling and was positioning himself so he was sitting on his backside.

“This is the fun part,” Ralph told him. “Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?” Oliver asked.

But it was too late. Suddenly, Ralph tumbled forward and disappeared.

With a shocked gasp, Oliver scrambled to the place he’d last been. He saw a square opening, no bigger than the end of an air vent. It was covered in a sort of net, like thick spider web. Inside the vent it was pitch-black.

“Ralph!” Oliver yelled, panicking. “Ralph, where are you? Are you okay? Ralph! Answer me!”

There was a moment of silence before Ralph’s disembodied reply came from somewhere in the darkness. “Come on!” He sounded as if he was calling from somewhere very far away.

Oliver let out a breath of relief. At least Ralph was okay; he hadn’t just plunged into oblivion.

“Where are you?” Oliver called back. “I can’t see anything.”

“It’s a slide,” Ralph’s voice called, weaker from being even farther away.

A slide?

“There’s a net in the way,” Oliver shouted into the abyss.

He heard Ralph’s faint reply. “It’s just another illusion…”

Then there was silence.

Tentatively, Oliver reached his hand forward, expecting to feel the sensation of thread against his skin. But sure enough, he felt nothing. His hand passed straight through the “net” without resistance. It really was another illusion.

Oliver knew there was only one option. He had to follow Ralph. But leaping into the unknown was easier said than done.

He took a deep breath and steadied his nerves. He had done harder things in his life, after all, like walking into classrooms as the new boy, under the prying eyes of kids who judged him. This was nothing in comparison.

Oliver squeezed his eyes shut and, from his seated position, pushed himself over the edge.

His stomach flipped as he plummeted. Then he was soaring along the smooth slide. It was very fast and very twisty, like a waterslide in a theme park. He went so fast he could feel the wind rushing past his ears. If he hadn’t been so shocked by everything, he might even have enjoyed it.

Then all at once, Oliver landed on something soft. He opened his eyes. He was in a brightly lit space, lying on his back, bouncing up and down gently on a trampoline.

Oliver touched his body, almost surprised to find himself still in one piece. He blinked, his eyes adjusting to the light.

Then suddenly, Ralph’s face appeared above him, grinning widely. Oliver was relieved to see him again.

But Ralph left Oliver no time to catch his breath. He dragged him unceremoniously off the trampoline by the arms. Oliver landed, panting, on hard floorboards.

He looked up and discovered they were on a kind of wooden walkway. It ran all around the inside perimeter of the room, with the central area completely open. A glass barrier provided protection from what looked like a very large drop.

“Oliver Blue,” Ralph said, “welcome to the School for Seers.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Standing beside the glass barrier, Oliver peered down into the belly of the School for Seers. The sight was astounding.

It went down at least forty floors and looked like a sprawling, modern university. Spanning the gap of the central atrium were a series of crisscrossing walkways and upon them walked students, with books in their arms and grins on their faces. There were so many of them. So many kids just like Oliver himself.

He watched, wide-eyed, as all the students rushed around, hurrying to their next classes. They seemed to be moving very fast, as if someone had sped them up. Oliver suddenly realized that all the walkways were conveyor belts.

As soon as people disappeared through the doors coming off the walkways, another door would open and a whole new load of students would file out, hurrying off in different directions, speeding along the conveyor belts.

There was something hypnotic about the view. It was like looking down upon a colony of ants; everyone with a place to be, everyone hurrying, and yet everything working in complete synchronicity.

It was almost too much to take in, and everything was far more modern than Oliver had expected. He noticed a huge tropical tree far, far below him, so far that even its tallest branches couldn’t reach them.

“This is amazing,” Oliver gasped.

“Just wait until I show you the rest,” Ralph said with a grin. “I have enough time to give you a quick tour before dinner.”

They headed along the walkway, Oliver glancing all around him, taking in the sights of the unfamiliar place. He felt as if his head was spinning.

“Professor Amethyst is the headmaster,” Ralph said over his shoulder. “His office is up here on the top floor. You’ll get to meet him eventually but he’s often in another dimension.”

They headed for an elevator, which was made of glass, and got inside. Oliver noticed all the floor numbers had a negative sign proceeding them. The entire school was underground, he noted, though it would be impossible to guess since the ceiling looked exactly like a skylight letting in real light, and the whole place was so bright, the air so fresh, that it was almost impossible to believe it was synthetic light or air conditioning.

“Professor Amethyst doesn’t teach any classes,” Ralph continued as the elevator doors closed. “We have tutors instead. Three main ones: Doctor Ziblatt, Mr. Lazzarato, and Coach Finkle.”

Ralph hit the button for the ground floor and the elevator suddenly plummeted, uncomfortably quickly. Oliver grabbed the handrail, his stomach flipping. Through the glass windows he saw all the different floors whizzing by.

“You get used to the speed,” Ralph laughed, raising his voice to be heard over the whooshing wind. “With a place this big, it’s important to get around quickly. Which is ironic now I think about it, since the school exists outside of time.”

Oliver felt too nauseous to even question what Ralph had just said. He decided he was just going to have to accept all the weird goings-on. There’d be time to process everything later. Hopefully.

They reached the final floor, -50, and the doors of the elevator opened. Oliver’s legs wobbled as he exited. He felt like he’d just been on a rollercoaster.

Down in the belly of the building, Oliver could really feel the hubbub, a sort of pulsing sensation as though the place were alive and breathing. Here he could smell the amazing scent of fresh vegetation, and he recognized the central tree was a kapok, one of the most enormous breeds of tree on the planet. Usually they’d be found in rainforests, but this one seemed to be thriving in its very own ecosystem. Its trunk was so thick it would take ten people with linked arms to encircle it, and its buttress roots coiled and snaked across the ground. It had millions of limbs holding up the various walkways of the atrium.

Looking up from below was quite a different experience, because now the ceiling was so far away it looked like nothing more than a slit of light. Yet, still, the whole place was bright with what felt in every sense like real daylight.

“How is it so bright down here?” Oliver asked, curiously.

“Something to do with mirrors,” Ralph explained. “Someone told me on my first day but I didn’t quite understand. Apparently if you angle mirrors you can create light…”

“Like with a periscope,” Oliver added. He, of course, knew all about periscopes from his inventors book, not to mention from his task redesigning the one on the tank in the factory.

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Ralph nodded in affirmation. “You’re pretty smart for a, what, twelve-year-old?”

“Eleven,” Oliver corrected. He wondered again how old Ralph was. He was tall and his confidence certainly made him seem older. “What about you?”

“I’m thirteen,” Ralph said. “But I’m a first-year like you. We don’t train according to our age. Most the students here are somewhere between ten and sixteen. It all depends on when Professor Amethyst finds out about their existence and calls for them. I guess it’s very complicated following the thread of a single person when there are numerous timelines and countless dimensions.” He gave another nonchalant shrug. “Anyway, come this way. I want you to see the fun stuff, not just the place where all the classrooms are.”

He headed for a large door marked S. Oliver followed, frowning, curious.

“What does S stand for?” he asked.

Ralph wiggled his eyebrows. “Sports.”

He pushed open the large doors and Oliver gasped. Inside, the room was the same size of the whole atrium they’d just left, but instead of walkways and students rushing to classrooms, this one was filled with every kind of sports place imaginable, each one contained within a glass box, suspended at various levels. On the floor above, two students were playing tennis, above them two others were jousting. On the opposite side a basketball game was in full swing, and a couple of levels above was an entire baseball field. Crossing across the vast space was a ski slope, weaving in and out of a bobsled tunnel. Oliver could see a glass-bottomed swimming pool filled with swimmers, another just for diving, all kinds of gymnastics and tumbling equipment, a running track, a high jump, ping-pong tables, and a skate park.

“It’s very important for Seers to be physically fit,” Ralph explained. “We all have to partake in physical activity every single day with Coach Finkle.”

Oliver grimaced. He was not sporty at all. None of the schools he’d attended in his normal life cared that he hated physical activity. He’d managed to go through his whole education avoiding it.

“Do we have to?” he asked.

“It’s one of the rules,” Ralph said, nodding. “It doesn’t matter what kind of activity you choose, hence all the options. You’ll find something you like and don’t mind doing. I promise you. You’ll surprise yourself.”

He smiled his breezy smile and they exited the atrium through the door they’d first entered. Back in the main foyer Ralph directed Oliver to a door with a large R on it.

“R stands for reward,” he explained.

He ushered Oliver through the door. Oliver gasped. He was standing in another huge room, this one filled with candy-dispensing machines. They ran all the way around the room, like marble runs for candy. Oliver watched, his mouth open, as kids pushed buttons and watched their candy roll through the network of brightly colored tubes before being dispensed into their palms at the bottom.

“AWESOME!” Oliver cried. He looked over at Ralph. “What do you have to do to get candy?”

“Follow the rules,” Ralph told him. “There are a lot of rules.”

They left the amazing reward store and headed back out to the main atrium. Here, Oliver saw a door with a large L on it.

“What does L stand for?” he asked Ralph, feeling eager to look inside.

“L for library,” Ralph explained. He nodded his head in encouragement and Oliver went ahead to open the door.

Once again the room was just as big as the main atrium, the sports hall, and the candy reward store; fifty floors of books. Vast ladders connected all the shelves on all the floors, and students whizzed around on them, pushing themselves with ease around the place. Some people were even in harnesses, climbing like monkeys up the shelves then leaping off with their books in hand and floating back down to the ground. And right in the middle was a column of seating; a giant vertical, red leather couch unit, with different booths and armchairs at various points.

“Okay, this is definitely my kind of place,” Oliver said, astounded. “I love to read.”

“You’re not allowed to take any books out,” Ralph said. “It’s a rule. I’m not sure why, something to do with paradoxical texts exploding.” He chuckled. “Anyway, don’t stand there drooling, there’s plenty more to see.”

They went back out to the central atrium and headed toward more doors. The next door they reached was marked with an X.

“X?” Oliver said, racking his brains. “X for X-ray? Or xylophone?” He couldn’t really imagine the purpose of a room filled with xylophones but from what he’d seen of the place so far, he wouldn’t be surprised.

“X is for no entry,” Ralph said. “There are places the students aren’t allowed to go. Anywhere with an X on it.”

“Oh, okay,” Oliver said, feeling a little deflated by the answer. He’d been quite excited by the xylophone room. “Why?”

“It’s another one of the rules,” Ralph said. “Think of them like faculty rooms. You know, even teachers have lives.” He chuckled again.

His mention of teachers brought Oliver back to reality. He was here to learn, after all, not eat candy and play badminton. And as much as he was enjoying Ralph’s tour, he still had so many burning questions in his mind, about who he was, why he was here, how any of this existed at all.

“What are the teachers like?” he asked Ralph. “What do we even study?”

“We have three classes in our first year of training. Doctor Ziblatt teaches Sight, which is learning to look into the future and past and cross-dimensionally. Mr. Lazzarato is our Transformation tutor, he’s the one who teaches us how to use our powers to alter the fabric of reality. And then there’s Coach Finkle, who teaches us how to be physically strong and powerful. We see them every single day, for two hours each.”

It seemed like a lot of work, Oliver thought with a mix of excitement and trepidation. He liked hard work, especially when he knew it would all go toward developing his powers, but he was still nervous about it all. Everything was so overwhelming.

“What happens once you’ve completed your first year of study?” Oliver asked Ralph.

“You go into the second year. More classes, different tutors, a whole new schedule to follow. Which is very important, I have to stress.” He gave Oliver a stern, almost bossy expression. “The timetable is meticulously planned in order to stop certain timelines collapsing in on themselves.”

Oliver’s head spun. He’d never felt such immense pressure. He hardly even knew the rules of the school and now he was expected to follow them rigidly so as not to create any time ripples! Everything seemed to possess the potential for causing a timeline to collapse, even the mere act of taking a book out of the library!

“You’ll get the hang of it,” Ralph said. “I’ll be there to show you the ropes. Me and my friends. Everyone’s really nice. Well, not everyone. In my group there’s Walter, Simon, and Hazel. You’ll like them, I promise. And Ichiro, too. He’s in the second year and hangs out with us sometimes. Just steer clear of Edmund and Vinnie.”

Oliver nodded, trying to take it all in. But Ralph was talking so quickly and giving him so much information, Oliver couldn’t even begin to commit any of it to memory.

He pointed at the door with a Z. “What’s this then? Does the School for Seers have its own zoo?”

Ralph laughed. “No. Although that would be great. Z is for zzz, as in sleeping. That’s where the sleep pods are.”

“Sleep pods?” Oliver asked, curious. “Can I look?”

Ralph shook his head. “We all have allotted sleep times and we’re not allowed to sleep outside of them. What with the whole school existing out of time thing, the sleeping area is in perpetual night. It’s a very important…”

“…rule,” Oliver finished.

There were more rules to the School for Seers than he could really get his head around.

“Can I see someone using their powers?” Oliver asked Ralph. “I still don’t really understand what I am, what anyone here is.”

“Your guide didn’t explain?” Ralph asked, frowning.

“My guide?” Oliver asked, widening his eyes. “Isn’t that you?”

Ralph laughed. “No, I mean your human guide in your timeline. You must have had one. A person who appeared when you needed them the most, who had answers to questions you’d never before found.”

“You mean… Armando?” Oliver asked. His heart felt like a jagged rock when he remembered his dear friend dying in his arms.

“We each have one,” Ralph said. “A human who’s assigned to start us on our journey. They’re usually considered wacky by the rest of the world, because how could you not be once you know what we know!”

He laughed. Everything seemed so simple to Ralph, like it wasn’t some huge, crazy, mind-blowing thing. Oliver envied his laid-back nature a little.

“So Armando was supposed to guide me here?” Oliver muttered aloud. “That explains how he knew stuff about me. I guess he was killed before he had a chance to finish explaining it all.”

“He was killed?” Ralph asked sympathetically. “I’m so sorry.”

Oliver felt his tears welling in his eyes. He sniffed, not wanting to cry in front of Ralph.

“Don’t be sad,” Ralph told him. “I can fill in all the blanks. What do you need to know?”

Oliver pushed his sadness away. Finally, someone was really going to give him some answers. He felt embarrassed to admit his ignorance, since he was so used to being the smart one.

“Why don’t you start by telling me what a Seer actually is?”

Ralph pulled a face. “Oh. Okay. You really need me to start with the basics.”

Oliver blushed and shrugged.

“All right then,” Ralph began. “Let’s sit down. Get comfy. I’ll start at the very beginning.”