Authors: John O'Riley
“The longer they’re active, the more self-aware and intelligent they become,” Josephine said.
“In other words, we don’t have any idea what to expect from them anymore.” Alice leveled a dour frown at her.
Josephine’s concerned gaze swept over both Alice and Helen. “With the Valituras so determined to kill me and everyone I care about, I would like to keep you both safe. The wards at my house are far stronger than the ones at your condos. Would you stay with me until this war is over?”
“It’s going to be a very long war,” Alice said.
“All right. I’ll do it,” Helen said.
“I’ll stay here, too,” Alice agreed.
“Thank you.” Josephine was relieved her friends had went along with her suggestion so easily.
She dialed Ben’s number to let him know what happened. Ben surprised her by ordering her to stay home for a few more days and to create as many niveus imperium enchantments as possible. After the call ended, she let the others know.
“Of course he wants to give you more time. If you went back to work without an arsenal of weapons, you’d be a sitting duck for those curses.” Alice’s expression was grim. “And it’s a good thing Helen and I are staying with you. We’ve survived a lot together and we’re all strong talents now.”
Josephine fixed her attention on Mark. “You’re vulnerable sleeping in the backyard.”
“I need to be in the power center.”
“It won’t do you any good if you’re dead,” Josephine fretted.
“I’ll watch over him. I don’t need much sleep and I take enough naps during the day that I can stay awake just fine all night,” Perry interjected.
“All right. I’ll start working on creating wards for the garden but it will take at least a week before they become active,” Josephine said.
The group started creating niveus imperium enchantments. Mark took turns working with Josephine, Helen, and Alice because they could make more of the spells with the aid of source energy and the magic was stronger. Josephine’s, Helen’s, and Alice’s teleportation mirrors were delivered to their homes as well.
Chapter 12
Mark was pulled from a deep sleep as white magic blossomed around him. He opened his eyes to see a sphere of sparkling white luminescence protecting him. The unmistakable presence of dark energy sent adrenaline coursing through his veins. Mark vacated his tent with haste and found Perry standing just outside facing an intruder. The plants in the garden radiated a soft glow which lit up the face of Frederic, the leader of the Valituras team in Sarasota who had eluded capture from the authorities. Frederic towered over Mark by at least a couple of feet, had piercing blue eyes, short blond hair, wore black clothing and he had a couple of cloth satchels in his left hand. One of the bags was small and the other very large. He had a protective shield active as well. Out of the corner of his eye, Mark noticed several lights had turned on in Josephine’s house so he knew he had some help coming.
Frederic pulled out a wand and pointed it at a nearby palm tree. Flames erupted from the tip of the wand and struck several of the fronds. Mark’s stomach clenched as he watched the display with horror. After several seconds, Frederic stopped the assault and the flames immediately died away on the tree, leaving it completely undamaged and healthy. Mark and Frederic regarded the palm tree with astonishment.
“This garden is protected with white magic,” Perry said. “There’s nothing you can do to harm it.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” Frederic’s lips curled in a malicious smile.
He pointed his wand at a lavender bush and issued a stream of flames at it. Mark tensed with anticipation as he waited to see what would happen and wondered what he could do to stop Frederic. His niveus imperium enchantments wouldn’t do any good because Frederic was an actual person rather than a curse and they were designed to heal. Mark certainly didn’t want to heal the dark wizard. The back door to Josephine’s house burst open. Josephine, Helen, and Alice emerged in the garden with a wand in each hand. Frederic stopped attacking the lavender bush which was completely unharmed.
He turned to face the newcomers. “I’ve brought something special for you.”
Frederic activated something powerful in his large cloth bag before he opened it. Over a dozen enchanted daggers shot out and lunged at Josephine, Helen, and Alice. The three women had wisely activated their protection before venturing outside so the weapons were deflected. The daggers landed on the ground in front of them but Frederic had only unleashed half of his arsenal. The other half of the daggers remaining in his possession burst out of the cloth bag and hurtled at the three women. Mark opened his psychic receptors and scanned Frederic. With the inability to use magic offensively, the only edge he could think of was to gather valuable information from the enemy. Frederic had a privacy field but small wisps of readable energy escaped him. Mark stiffened with surprise as he discovered that he and Perry were somehow a threat to the Valituras and that one of Frederic’s main goals was to kill them.
Without warning, Frederic aimed and issued a stream of fire directly at Perry. Mark picked up on the intention a split second before the attack and managed to extend his shield to include Perry. The flames gushed ineffectually over the white energy protection for several seconds before Frederic stopped the assault.
He leveled a cold smirk at Mark. “You think you’re safe inside your thin little bubble but what you don’t realize is that white magic always comes at a cost.”
“I think you’re getting dark and white magic confused.” Mark regarded the dark wizard with a sardonic expression on his face.
“Everything has its vulnerability, my naïve young man.”
Frederic pulled out two black, polished stones from his small satchel and activated the enchantment in them. Dark energy gushed from them in the form of black smoke. Frederic dropped the stones on the ground and the black smoke continued to billow from them and spread across the ground of the garden. The light from the plants dimmed noticeably as the dark energy spread between the plants. Mark’s body began to ache and his temples pounded with the start of a headache.
“Enchantments powered by white magic need light energy to work properly – including your shield.” Frederic’s piercing blue eyes glinted with triumph.
“You’re wrong. This shield has withstood every single attack without showing any signs of weakening.” Mark forced a look of confidence on his face even as doubt crept into the back of his mind.
“That’s because you always had plenty of light energy from your surroundings to keep it fueled. Now that there’s a bunch of concentrated dark energy around you, you’re cut off from that.” Frederic’s gleeful gaze bore into Mark’s.
“You’re wrong.”
As if to prove the dark wizard’s point, Mark felt his protection weakening. It was the first time this had ever happened. The white energy surrounding him flickered erratically. Mark glanced at Josephine, Helen, and Alice. All three women had their hands full and couldn’t help him at the moment. Enchanted daggers continuously slammed against their shields. Mark could see that the two stones still continued to dump dark energy into the garden. He wondered how much of that loathsome stuff could possibly be left. Surely it had to stop soon. Unfortunately, he was running out of time and options. Mark racked his brain for a solution but nothing came to mind. A gleeful laugh escaped Frederic’s lips as he realized he’d won the confrontation. Mark reached up to grasp his pendant that operated the shield and poured light energy into it.
“You’re delaying the inevitable.” Frederic aimed his wand at Mark and waited for the shield to collapse.
Perry stepped closer to Mark. “Teleport us out of here.”
“I can’t. There isn’t enough light energy,” Mark said.
“Let me try,” Perry said.
Mark pulled one of his teleportation pendants from his pocket and handed it to Perry. Perry grasped Mark’s upper arm and closed his eyes to concentrate. Mark’s shield flickered for several more seconds then winked out of existence. Frederic immediately activated his wand and hungry flames gushed out of it. Mark felt the heat of the blast but was teleported to safety before the fire could reach him. He and Perry stood in the middle of the street about a block from his house.
“We need to go quickly.” Perry’s expression was grim as he pulled at Mark’s arm to force him into a brisk walk. “We don’t have much time.”
“I have to help Josephine!” Mark exclaimed and came to an abrupt halt.
“There’s nothing we can do. Besides, we don’t have the strength to teleport again. We’re both going to burn out very quickly and we need to have a temporary power center active before that happens.”
“I can’t leave Josephine alone to fight that dark wizard!” Mark pulled out of Perry’s grasp and took out another teleportation amulet from inside his pants pocket.
His thoughts were muddled and darkness crept along the edge of his vision. It didn’t help that it was so dark out. The occasional streetlamp did little to pierce the heavy gloom of the night.
“You’re going to pass out soon. If we don’t get you to a power center, you’ll fall into a coma for about a week or so while you transition back to mainstream magic and lose your ability to work with source energy.” Perry regarded him with urgency.
“Surely I can stay awake long enough to rescue Josephine and then I can charge up in her back yard,” Mark said.
“The enchanted garden isn’t safe with dark wizards trying to kill you.”
“You can go without me. I’m returning to Josephine’s house.”
Mark retreated from Perry as he summoned every last drop of light energy he could reach. Hot spears of pain blossomed over his legs and arms. Dizziness assailed his senses and darkness crept along the edges of his vision. He made an attempt to activate the teleportation enchantment but nothing happened. Mark shook his head to clear it.
“Why isn’t this working?” He asked.
“You’re burning out big time. You don’t have enough light energy to use magic right now. You’re going to black out any second.”
Mark shot Perry a questioning look. “What about you?”
“If we don’t make it in time, I’ll die.”
“What?!”
“I’m a light energy being. If I burn out, my body can’t hold itself together,” Perry explained.
“That’s terrible!” A sense of horror washed over Mark. He hadn’t realized until precisely this moment that he’d developed a fondness towards Perry who’d started out sort of like a loyal pet but was now definitely a friend. Mark fervently hoped he could prevent Perry’s demise. Unfortunately, there was no more time left. Mark promptly lost consciousness and his body collapsed onto the street.
Chapter 13
The enchanted daggers consumed all of Josephine’s attention as she went through the painstaking process of disarming them one at a time in her back yard. She was confident that Mark’s shield would protect him but her own protection was another issue. She had recently learned a couple of different techniques to neutralize enchantments as part of her supplemental enforcer training with Jennifer. Of course, Helen and Alice didn’t share this knowledge so they had to rely on destroying the daggers with brute force. Alice used telekinesis to group three of the daggers together and blast them with a freezing enchantment. It took several moments to encapsulate them in a large block of ice. Alice smiled with triumph but then realized the energy expenditure had left her drained. She was still tapped into the vortex but her body ached with fatigue and she wouldn’t be able to do much more with her magic.
Helen used telekinesis to plunge the blades of the daggers into the ground in an attempt to trap them but this didn’t work out. The daggers slid out of the earth with ease and continued to pound against the three women’s shields. Her next idea was to try and twist the blades. She managed to break one of the blades but it took a lot of time. Josephine had just finished disarming her sixth dagger when she noticed Mark’s shield flickering erratically. Adrenaline shot through her body as she focused her attention completely on her boyfriend. A thick, black smoke obscured the ground beneath their feet and Frederick wore a triumph grin on his face. His wand was leveled at Mark as he waited for the shield to buckle. An instant later, Mark’s protection collapsed completely and a stream of fire gushed out from the dark wizard’s wand. Mark and Perry vanished just before the flames reached them. Josephine heaved a huge sigh of relief. Her own shields wavered and she switched to her backup protection. Alice and Helen followed her example. They were running out of time and the daggers continued to pummel their protection.
“Mark is safe now. We can go inside,” Josephine said.
“Can you?” Frederic’s blue eyes gleamed with amusement.
Josephine, Alice and Helen took several steps back and turned to discover that a thick black wall of dark energy blocked the house. Josephine performed a quick scan and realized it had formed a physical barrier to prevent escape. They wouldn’t be able to retreat to the safety of the house wards. The three women turned back to face Frederic who had two more polished black stones in his right hand. He activated the enchantments and dark energy poured from them like the first two he’d unleashed. Frederic threw them onto the ground where they continued to pump toxic dark energy. Terror made Josephine’s blood run cold as she realized the hopelessness of her situation. She forced herself to focus on the matter at hand and continued neutralizing the daggers. Frederic aimed a new wand at her and released a volley of telekinetic blasts. It didn’t take long for her shields to waver and threaten to collapse. Josephine still had seven more daggers to take care of and she was out of time and options. Helen moved over to her and grasped her arm which extended her shield to Josephine’s. Alice joined them and clutched Helen’s arm to offer her own protection.
“Nice try, ladies but that won’t buy you the time you need,” Frederic goaded.
He unleashed more telekinetic blasts at them which pummeled their shields. Josephine disarmed two more daggers before their protection failed them. Two of the four daggers hurtled into the air towards her chest. They halted several inches from her as she caught them with telekinesis.
“I’ve got the other two,” Helen said.
Josephine knew she couldn’t count on her friend to hold them. She wasn’t even sure she could hold these two once they powered up again. She threw them as far away from her body as possible when Frederic unleashed a telekinetic blast at her. She raised her hand and blocked the attack. One of the knives that Helen was restraining with telekinesis slipped out of her control and darted forward. Josephine issued a wave of telekinetic energy to block the knife but didn’t get a good shot. It would have plunged directly into Helen’s heart but was deflected and slashed her shoulder instead. Helen cried out in pain and clutched her wound. Josephine blinked as the plants in her garden which had almost went completely dark now shone with an intense white light. White magic neutralized all of the daggers which now lay harmlessly on the ground. Frederic aimed his wand at Josephine and the tip exploded with sparks of angry red but no telekinetic energy was released.
Josephine realized that the enchanted garden had finally taken action. The black smoke on the ground was quickly thinning out. She turned to glance behind her and saw that the dark energy wall was gone.
“Let’s go back inside,” Josephine said.
The three women ran for the back door. Frederic realized his wand was rendered powerless at the moment via white magic so he aimed the palm of his hand at the fleeing wizards and shot a telekinetic blast. Helen and Alice made it through the door but Josephine was knocked a dozen feet to the right. She gasped in pain as her body hit the ground. Josephine rolled over and saw Frederic pick up a nearby dagger. She rose to her feet and thrust her hand towards him as she channeled a burst of telekinetic energy. The dagger flew from Frederic’s grasp and landed on the ground a short distance away. An instant later, it floated several feet off the ground then hurtled at Josephine’s chest. She blocked it with another telekinetic blast which caused it to lunge towards Frederic. The blade plunged into his right foot and he cursed savagely. Helen and Alice ventured back outside to help their friend who hadn’t managed to escape with them.
“Get back inside.” Josephine kept her eyes glued to her nemesis.
Seeing the injury she’d accidentally caused Frederic made her sick to her stomach even though she told herself he deserved it. She thrust her hand toward him as she released another telekinetic blast which knocked Frederic off his feet like a rag doll and smashed him into one of the palm trees. He grunted with pain and slid down the trunk to land in a sitting position. He narrowed his piercing blue eyes at Josephine with malice then vanished. Josephine performed a scan of the area and sensed his absence along with the telltale signs of teleportation. This confirmed he’d really left and hadn’t just made himself invisible. She reached out with her mind and probed farther out into the neighborhood.
“He’s gone,” Josephine announced.
“Let’s get inside just in case he comes back,” Helen suggested.
The three women retreated into the house for safety. They went to the bathroom and Josephine fetched her first aid kit and a clean shirt for Helen. When Josephine peeled away Helen’s bloody blouse, she was relieved to find the cut was superficial. She began cleaning and disinfecting the wound.
“That was smart thinking stabbing that bastard in the foot. It’s exactly what I would have done in your position,” Alice complimented her.
“I wish I could say it was intentional but that’s just where the dagger happened to go when I blocked it.”
“It was a lucky accident then.”
“It was a good thing the garden used white magic to help us,” Helen remarked.
“I’m not sure it was helping us. It deactivated his wand to keep him from attacking the garden,” Josephine argued.
“It certainly gave us an advantage.”
“I wish it would have acted sooner.” Josephine wondered how exactly the enchantments in the garden worked. No one really understood it so there was no way to predict its effects. And they certainly couldn’t count on it to protect them. That much was abundantly clear.
Alice’s expression was scornful. “White magic is useless as far as I’m concerned.”
Josephine applied the band-aid to Helen’s shoulder then helped her slip into the clean shirt.
“I have to find Mark.” Josephine’s brown eyes conveyed her urgency. “He probably teleported to his house. I need to get him.”
“We’ll go with you,” Helen said.
“You’re hurt. Alice should drive you to the hospital. I may run into Frederic again and I don’t want to put you in harm’s way,” Josephine said.
“That’s exactly why we can’t let you out of this house by yourself.” Helen’s beautiful green eyes glinted with resolve.
Josephine flashed a weary smile at her friends, grateful for their help and at the same time riddled with guilt. She was so lucky to have these two in her life and her heart warmed as she reflected over all the years they’d known each other and all the experiences they’d shared.
Josephine shook her head. “The reason I asked you to stay here is to keep you safe with the house wards. I must find Mark alone.”
“Poppycock! We’re in this together. End of story,” Alice said. “We’ll take my car so you can try and focus on Mark with your link.”
Alice and Helen prodded her out the front door and to Alice’s car. Josephine sat down in the passenger seat beside Alice and Helen took the back. Josephine had her satchel of power wands but it felt inadequate – especially after the last confrontation.
“Well? Do you sense anything?” Alice shot her an impatient look as she drove.
“Not yet,” Josephine responded.
“Concentrate. He’s a part of you now.”
“What makes you such an expert on this?” Josephine regarded her friend with a sardonic look.
“I’m a retired psychiatrist. Any magic that affects the mind is something I’m knowledgeable on. Although I do have to admit that being linked to someone is such a rare occurrence that I have very little practical experience.”
“What kind of experience do you have in this matter?” Josephine hadn’t expected her friend to know anything about links between wizards.
“Okay, I don’t technically have firsthand experience but I read a lot of articles.”
Helen snorted with amusement from the backseat and Alice ignored her.
“You should be able to feel Mark as an extension of yourself in your mind. It may take some time to become accustomed to it but once you do, you’ll be able to access the link easily,” Alice lectured her friend.
Josephine closed her eyes so she could concentrate better. Unfortunately, she met with a complete lack of success. When Alice arrived at Mark’s house, it was empty and the wards were still up so nobody had forced their way inside. Alice parked in the street and waited for Josephine to pick up on any impressions from her boyfriend. Josephine opened her senses to the subtle energy particles and currents. At first she couldn’t find anything which didn’t surprise her as she had never had much luck reading Mark. He didn’t exude much in the way of psychometric energy. Josephine stilled as something in her mind shifted and she became aware of more. She realized she was now detecting light energy which was something that had always eluded her before. Her link with Mark must have increased her perceptions to this new level.
Josephine’s eyes widened with surprise. “Perry took Mark to Seattle to keep him safe. Perry thinks the enchanted garden is too dangerous to stay at with the dark wizards targeting them.”
“He’s right. It won’t protect them. We saw that ourselves,” Alice said.
“That’s true but I need to find them before the Valituras does. When Frederic was fighting us, I could sense that the Valituras consider Mark and Perry as much of a threat to them as I am. There’s a potential for white magic practitioners that’s been lost but the Valituras know what it is,” Josephine said.
“What about the Phoenix Community? Do you think they might be able to tell us?” Helen suggested.
“That’s a good idea. I’ll put an ad in the paper to get Brad’s attention. Hopefully, he’ll respond,” Josephine said. “I won’t hold my breath though. He stays away when things get dangerous and we’re in a state of war right now.”
“Are you sure you about white magic being a threat?” Alice asked. “I just don’t see it.”
“I definitely read that information from Frederic,” Josephine confirmed.
“That’s so peculiar.” Alice regarded her friend with puzzlement.
“What will you do when you find Mark and Perry?” Helen asked.
“I’ll take them back home with me and they can stay inside the house where they belong,” Josephine said.
“But Mark and Perry will both burnout if you do that,” Helen pointed out. “And you don’t want them to stay in the backyard because the dark wizards have targeted them and there’s no protection back there.”
Josephine let out a sharp sigh of despair. “You’re right. I can’t think straight right now. I hate leaving them unprotected.”
“They can’t be tracked because they’re using white magic. It’s undetectable and untraceable to curses.”
“You’re right. At least we know that much about source energy,” Josephine said. She paused as she mulled over the situation in her mind before turning to Alice. “All right. Let’s go back home. There’s no point in making ourselves sitting ducks right now.”
When the three women returned to Josephine’s house, she struggled to make a decision. She finally decided that as long as she knew for sure that Mark was safe, she’d leave him alone for the moment to recover. In the meantime, she would hire a company to create an extra set of wards surrounding her entire yard to include the enchanted garden. This was an option she’d never considered before due to the expense but she now made enough money that it was feasible. Once the extra protection was established, she could strengthen it on her own. Josephine placed a call to one of the agencies that had been recommended to her and set up an appointment for the following morning. Even though she had the money, the cost still made her stomach clench with surprise and anxiety.