March Forth (The Woodford Chronicles Book 1) (16 page)

Deanna

              She opened her eyes and realized she was still sitting on the bench in Woodford.  She had no idea whether her meeting with David Carver had actually occurred, or whether it was just a very vivid daydream.

              Even if it was real, she wasn’t sure if the encounter had done any good.  She still had no concrete evidence to present to the men of the organization that she had seen Carver.  She had no new information to bargain with.  She still wasn’t sure where he physically was.  Strictly speaking, it didn’t really matter whether she had really met with Carver or not.

              That left her with few options.  She fingered the Broom in her pocket, hoping it would be enough to bargain with.  Perhaps the idea of chasing her around the world until the Broom ran out of juice would be daunting enough to cause Larsen to negotiate, at least.

              She figured she may as well stay where she was, and wait.  Steven and General Larsen were probably already on her trail, and she thought it best to stay out on Main Street, in public.  If everything went wrong and they took her away, even if no one else could see them, maybe they would see her vanish.  Maybe someone would ask questions.  So, she sat on the bench and waited.

              As Deanna waited, she thought about what the robed man had said about her being responsible for everything that happened to her.  If that was the case, she had better figure out exactly what she wanted rather than letting her uncertainties control her destiny.  Obviously, she wanted to deal with Larsen and regain her freedom and safety.

              But then what?

              Her life had definitely not been going as planned for quite some time now.  Actually, when she thought about it, she realized she hadn’t had a plan at all; life had just sort of happened to her without any real input from her.  She had simply reacted to circumstances.  If everything the robed man had said was true – and she truly believed it was – then it was time for her to step up and take charge of her situation.

              For one thing, she really had no idea what kind of job she actually wanted.  She had only thought as far as finding a job that was tolerable and allowed her to make enough money to pay her bills.  She had been so full of self-doubt that she hadn’t believed she deserved even that much.  Now, however, if she was truly going to be the queen of her world, she needed to figure out what she actually WANTED to do.  She knew she wanted to learn; it really didn’t matter what the topic was, she simply wanted to learn more about the world and how it worked.  She also wanted to help people, somehow, rather than simply mindlessly serving them.  She wanted to make a difference in people’s lives.

              Deanna was deep in thought when Larsen appeared on the bench next to her, causing her to scream slightly and jump to her feet in surprise.    As she tried to regain her composure, she grabbed the Broom out of her pocket and brandished it like a weapon.  Backing away a few steps, she said, “If you put one hand on me I will push this button and disappear.  You can chase me all over the globe if you want, but I don’t think either of us want to spend the next few months or even years playing hide-and-seek.”

              Larsen nodded, smiled, and said, “Quite right.  So let’s talk.”

              “I don’t know what it is you want from me, but I am not going anywhere with you.  I’m quite happy with my brain being just the way it is,” she stated firmly.

              “I am pleased to hear it, and may I start by saying how sorry I am for my behavior.”

              Deanna blinked in confusion.  She had not been expecting an apology.

              “My team has made me realize that I’ve gone a little off the deep end, as of late,” the General continued.  “I have been searching for David Carver for about eighteen years now, you see.  The idea that you got to see him by sheer accident… well, it drove me a little mad, I’m sorry to say.  I realize that now.”

              “Who is he to you, anyway?  Why are you so desperate to find the poor man?”

              “I haven’t been very forthcoming with information, I suppose,” Larsen said, shaking his head slowly.  “Again, I apologize.  Perhaps you would be more willing to help us if you knew why we were looking for him.  David Carver was the founder of our organization.”

              Deanna’s posture relaxed slightly, though she still held the Broom in front of her.  “Really?  I would not have guessed that.”

              “Oh, yes.  He was a brilliant man.  His work is the only reason our organization exists.  But he got… sick, I guess you could say.  He lost his mind, really,” Larsen continued.  “Eventually, we lost him entirely.”

              She nodded to show she understood, but stayed quiet.

              “For years, I’ve been searching for him.  I rationalized to myself and the others that we had to bring him in by any means necessary, because he could be a threat.”  Larsen sighed.  “The truth of it is, I miss him.  He was my friend, and more than that.  He was my hero.  I just… I just want him back, and safe.  When we found you, and I learned you may have met him, I went a little crazy.  I couldn’t understand why you got to see him and I can’t.  I… I think I took my frustration out on you.”

              “You love him,” Deanna murmured thoughtfully.

              “I’m not really the kind of man who runs around announcing personal feelings.”

              “What is it that you want from me, General?  It’s not as if I have Carver hidden somewhere.”

              “Not as far as you know, anyway,” he said softly.  “It’s an amazing thing, but traces of his energy signature appeared in your molecular scan yesterday.  I realize that means nothing to you, but there’s a possibility he is actually – well, that he’s actually inside of you, somehow.”

              She nodded slowly, not knowing what to say.

              “You do not seem entirely surprised,” Larsen observed. 

              “I’ve had an interesting day,” she said, her lips twisting into a wry smile.  “There’s not a lot that would surprise me right now.”

              “Indeed?  Would you care to tell me about it?”

              “No.”

              “Fair enough.  May I at least ask, was David involved?”

              “Maybe,” she said hesitantly.  “I’m not being deliberately vague, I’m really just not sure.”  She took a deep breath to gather her courage, then asked, “Would it be fair to say that he cut himself off from the people in his life, at some point?”

              Larsen sat up straighter, his surprise apparent on his face.  “Indeed it would.  He became more and more isolated, at the end.  How do you know that?”

              “I… met someone who told me some things,” she said vaguely.  “That was one of the things he told me.  He also told me that you’re not necessarily a ‘bad guy,’ even though you kind of fit into my world as a ‘bad guy.’”

              He studied her face with apparent fascination.  “My, my, you have had an interesting day.  I would like to hear more about this meeting, but I understand you may be unwilling to share at this time.  So, I will get to the point of my visit.  I would like to offer you a job.”

              Her mouth fell open slightly.  “What?”

              “I would like to offer you a job.  Our training program takes two years, but you will be given a salary even during that time.  I don’t really know what to make of your gifts and how they came to be, but I’d like to make use of them.  With proper training, I’m quite certain you can become a useful operative in some capacity.”

              A surprised giggle escaped her lips.  “I’m not… I’m not going back to that place with you,” she said.  “I’m not going to be your prisoner again.”

              “I understand your reservations.  Given the special circumstances, and the fact that you’ve already got a basic working knowledge of the Broom,” he waved a hand vaguely at the device she still clutched, “I see no reason you couldn’t commute.”

              For a second, she just stared at him with her mouth hanging open.  Then, she began laughing uncontrollably.

              “I assure you, I am not joking, Miss Flanagan,” Larsen assured her.

              “I know… I know… it’s just…” she was overtaken by giggles once again, and it took a moment for her to be able to speak.  “It’s just… this was an awful lot to go through to find a job.”

              He smiled.  “A rather complicated vetting process, I’ll admit.  But I think you have something to offer us.  You can see through our shields, for one thing.  And something, somehow, attracted David to you.  That says a lot, in my book.”

              She wiped away tears of mirth and murmured, “It really is as simple as I allow it to be, I suppose.”

              “I suppose it is,” Larsen answered, with a quizzical look.

              “Tell me, General Larsen… how do you feel about meditation?”

              The question clearly caught him off guard, but he recovered quickly.  “I used to meditate.  Dave and I would meditate together, sometimes.  He stopped before he started getting ill.  When he stopped, I stopped.” He paused for a moment, remembering.  “Why do you ask?”

              She ignored his question completely.  “How do you feel about the idea of being connected to something larger than ourselves?  Or that the universe is working with us, somehow?”

              “I…I’m not sure,” he stammered.  “I definitely feel there is a larger force at work, but it’s been a long time since I thought much about it.  Again, why do you ask?”

              She looked away, gazing down the street at nothing in particular.  “Like I said, I’ve had an interesting day.  It’s got me thinking about these things.”

              “I see.”

              She paused for a long moment.  “Why should I trust you? How do I know this ‘job offer’ isn’t just you trying a new tactic to lure me back to that little cell?”

              “I suppose… I suppose it will require something of a leap of faith, on your part.  But, here,” he said, reaching into his pocket and extracting a Wand. “This is for you.  I know you don’t fully know how to use it just yet, but the mere fact that I would freely give you such a powerful device must be worth something.”

              She took the device and looked at it, thoughtfully.  “I suppose it does mean something. I’m not going anywhere with you today, though.  I need to rest, in my own bed, and get my head on straight before I jump back into the rabbit hole, so to speak.”

              Larsen smiled at her terminology.  “Fair enough.  Why don’t we leave it at this, then – I will be at your apartment at 0800 tomorrow.  We will do a brief lesson there on Broom basics, and then head to the compound so you can spend the day with the techs, getting to know our technology.”

              They looked at each other for a long, quiet moment, sizing each other up.  Deanna felt like she was standing at a crossroads, and that her life was about to change a great deal.  It made her a little nervous, but she also felt excited.  She was going to learn about magic.  The possibilities were endless.

              She held out her hand to seal the deal.  “Then I will see you tomorrow.”

              He grinned widely and shook her hand.  “See you then.”

              Then he pushed the button on his Broom and vanished, leaving her alone on the street.  She shuffled back toward her apartment, suddenly exhausted.

Benjamin

              He arrived back at the compound and immediately set to work, getting rid of the cell he had made for Deanna and all traces of it.  He visited the techs and told them to come up with a beginners’ curriculum for Deanna.

              “Word,” John said, nonchalantly.  “It’ll be fun to play teacher for a bit.”

              Eric only nodded in agreement.  Benjamin was pleased by their reaction, nonetheless.

              Drisbane, on the other hand, did not fill him with confidence.  He went to visit the boy in his quarters, and found him sitting on his bed, looking for all the world like a large, sulking child.

              “I don’t like it, sir,” the boy said by way of greeting.  “I don’t like any of this.  We should take time to consider before making such a sudden decision.”

              “My boy,” Benjamin said as gently as he could, “don’t you understand?  We may not know exactly what is happening, but Carver’s energy signature appeared in her.  Don’t you realize what that means?”

              “They’re connected somehow, I know.  But we don’t know how.”

              “It’s not just that.  He could literally be present within her.  Bringing her on, educating her, training her – it’s the first step in bringing him back.” A beatific smile lit up his face.  “It’s not what we thought it would be, but we’ve nearly accomplished our mission.”

              Steven only shrugged, and continued looking sulky.  Benjamin left him to it.

              He went to his office and made the necessary calls to get the ball rolling for Deanna’s training.  He spent a few hours outlining the early curriculum she needed to cover before joining the regular class of recruits.  He found himself smiling often, and once, a tear slipped down his face, though he only felt joy.  He found his internal dialogue, in the quiet moments, said only, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,” again and again.  He wasn’t sure who or what he was thanking.  He just knew he had turned a corner, and was getting Carver back, in some form.  He could barely contain his joy.

              At the end of the day, he walked out of the building and across the compound, to the shed in which he had kept Carver’s motorcycle for so many years.  He figured he’d better take it out for a test drive, just in case.