The Magician King_ A Novel - Lev Grossman [146]
“He sets up a back door.” It was good to know that even having attained enlightenment Penny was still impervious to humor. “So that if he’s ever locked out, he can get back in.”
“The Order did that?”
“So they say. A back door was built into the system, metaphorically speaking, that would let magic back out into the universe, if the gods ever returned to claim it. It just has to be opened.”
“Oh my God.” Quentin didn’t know whether he should dare to hope or not. It would almost be too painful if it turned out not to be true. “So you can fix this? You’re going to fix this?”
“The ‘back door’ exists.” Penny mimed doing quotey-fingers, which he couldn’t actually do. “But the keys to it were hidden a long time ago. So long ago now that not even we know where they are.”
Quentin and Poppy looked at each other. It couldn’t be that simple, it just couldn’t. No way were they that lucky.
“Penny, there wouldn’t by any chance be seven of these keys?” Quentin said.
“Seven, yes. Seven golden keys.”
“Penny. Jesus Christ, Penny, I think we have them. Or six of them. We have them back in Fillory. It has to be them!”
Quentin had to sit down on a block of stone, even though it was a little outside Penny’s circle of warmth. He put his head in his hands. That was the quest. It wasn’t fake, and it wasn’t a game, it was real. It mattered after all. They’d been fighting for magic all along. They just hadn’t known it.
Of course Penny took this in stride. He would never be so uncool as to give Quentin credit for saving the universe or anything.
“That’s very good. That’s excellent. But you must recover the seventh key.”
“Right. I got that far. We’ll find the seventh key. And then what?”
“Then take them all to the End of the World. The door is there.”
This was it. He knew what to do now. He’d received his cue. It was like how he felt back on the island, in the castle, but calmer this time. This must be what the gods felt like, he thought. Absolute certainty. They had arrived at Penny’s building, back where they’d started.
“Penny, we have to get back to Fillory, back to our ship, to finish the quest. Can you send us back? I mean, even with the fountains frozen over?”
“Of course. The Order has made me privy to all the secrets of inter-dimensional travel. If you think of the Neitherlands as a computer, then the fountains are merely—”
“Awesome. Thanks, man.” He turned to Poppy. “Are you in on this? Or do you still want to go back to the real world?”
“Are you kidding?” She grinned and pressed herself against him. “Fuck reality, baby. Let’s go save the universe.”
“I will prepare the spell to send you back,” Penny said.
It was snowing harder, the flakes blowing slantwise through their little dome of warmth, but Quentin felt invulnerable now. They were going to fight this, and they were going to win. Penny began chanting in that same incomprehensible language he’d used before. It had some vowel sounds that Quentin barely recognized as human.
“It needs a minute to take effect,” he said when he was done. “Of course, from this point forward the journey will be undertaken by members of the Order.”
Wait.
“What do you mean?”
“My colleagues and I will return with you to your ship and carry out the remainder of the quest. You may observe, of course.” Penny gave them a moment to take that in. “You didn’t think we would leave a mission of this importance to a group of amateurs, did you? We appreciate the good work you’ve done to get us this far, we truly do, but it’s out of your hands now. It’s time for the professionals take over.”
“Sorry, but no,” Quentin said. “It isn’t.”
He wasn’t giving this up. And he definitely wasn’t inviting Penny along.
“I suppose you’ll find your own way back to Fillory then,” Penny said. He crossed his handless arms. “I take back the spell.”
“You can’t take it back!” Poppy said. “What are you, nine? Penny!”
He’d finally gotten under even Poppy’s skin.
“You don’t understand,” Quentin said, though he wasn’t totally sure he understood himself. “This is our job. Nobody else can do it for us. That’s not