Authors: Scott V. Duff
“Yeah, I’d say so,” Peter said. “Oh, God, look at the house. Somebody got in.”
Fuller’s office was ransacked, but that looked mostly cleaned up now. There were other rooms, though, that weren’t so lucky. His bedroom was demolished. Holes seared through the walls into an adjoining room and the hallway next to it. Most of the furniture was busted up and broken. Artifacts of a heated battle lay strewn on the floor and embedded in the walls, black burns marred the carpeting and floors, and huge pieces of furniture lay on their sides broken and cracked beyond repair.
Sean was in his room, which appeared undamaged completely and was sufficiently distant from his father’s that no collateral damage occurred. He sat on his bed flipping through CDs and moving to whatever music was playing through his stereo on the other side of the room. Encouraging since he was in a good mood.
Finding Darius took a little longer. He was in a guest house several hundred feet away from the house, directly back from the main house. Like Sean, he was calm and collected, sitting on a couch and talking on the phone, dressed in an expensive suit without the jacket.
“Darius seems unharmed,” Peter said. “Phillips is nearly exhausted, though, and it looks like it’s about time for his team to changeover.”
“Do you see Seward anywhere?” I asked, starting a search for the security teams on my own. They mostly roamed the property in random-seeming loops. Phillips was the only man in charge at the moment. I sighed. “Let’s go talk to Sean and see what happened.”
“Okay,” Peter answered. “I don’t see anybody in the wards but Phillips anyway.”
I wrapped us in portals to the hall outside Sean’s door. He was listening to some noxious, whiny, emo crap that even made Jimmy wince. I knocked on the door and waited, then knocked louder.
“I don’t want to go to the city today, Dad!” Sean shouted through the door. “Go a-way!”
I pushed the door open and stuck my head in. “Um, Sean?” I said over the music, “I’m not your dad and I don’t want to take you to the city.” He was halfway to his stereo with a new CD. I wished he made it there before I stopped him.
“Seth?” he said, staring at me in surprise. Then he came at me running, throwing his arms around my neck. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” He was crying by then and all I could do was offer comfort by hugging back. Part of me was overwhelmed by the emotional outburst that rushed out of him and into me, forcing me to see what upset him so greatly. Peter and Jimmy moved around us quietly. I told Jimmy what happened through our link as he changed the CD and lowered the volume. Peter caught my eye long enough for me to pull him into my cavern and show him, too.
“Oh, poor kid, that must have been awful,” he mumbled. We both knew younger kids who’d been through worse recently, Jimmy for instance, but luckily none of us had lost our compassion yet. He’d seen Seward attacking his father and winning the fight. I couldn’t tell exactly why Seward was winning. Darius must have been hobbled somehow. But he was a good father, at least a paranoid one. He taught Sean to use a gun. When the wards shot off at four twelve in the morning, waking everyone in the house to massive gunfire to the east and south sides, Sean grabbed the revolver from his bottom bureau drawer and ran down the hall to his father.
Darius’ bedroom was seriously trashed when he got there. A flare of violet light tossed his bleeding father out into the front room where Sean stood paralyzed in fear. Steward staggered out after Fuller, bleeding just as bad but in much better shape and better able to handle it. He had a six-inch steel combat knife held down in his right hand. Sean wasn’t confident in his magic enough not to hurt his father with anything he tried. Seward dove at Darius, swinging down with the knife. Darius kicked him in the gut and shoved himself left, barely missing the oncoming steel.
Darius started coughing, spitting black fluids as he rolled. Seward, too, rolled then fought to remove the knife from the floor. Finally overcoming his paralysis, Sean ran to his father’s side. When he heard the ring of the tip of the knife clearing the floor, Sean’s fear centered entirely on Seward and his self-defense instincts kicked into high-gear. He quickly raised the gun to eye level and fired without reserve, twice, once to his chest and once to his forehead. Seward fell to the floor in a gut-wrenching, squishing thud.
“Sean?” Darius whispered.
“I’m here,” Sean gasped, tears streaming down his face as he looked down at his dad’s broken body.
“Oh, Lord, I’m sorry, sir,” Sean said pulling away from me and breaking contact. “I didn’t know you were here and your changes to the wards saved us yesterday. Dad was hurt so badly and all, but you really saved our butts.”
“No, no. That’s quite all right,” I said, keeping my hand on his shoulder. “From what you showed me, though, it looked like you were the hero of the day. Seward was trying to kill your father?”
“Oh. Yeah,” he said sadly. “That was really nasty, but I had to, ya know? He’s my dad.”
“And you, too,” I said. “Don’t make it sound like a bad thing, Sean. I’ve been there and I know it’s hard to accept at first, but look at the alternative. Seward chose to shorten your options to two: you or him. You made the obvious choice and on his terms. You didn’t do anything wrong. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Dad said that, too,” Sean said, suspiciously. “Did he send you up here?”
“No, you’re the first person we’ve talked to,” I said. “Did you meet Peter the other night?”
“Only as you went through the portal in the lounge,” Sean said, perking up a little with the change in topic. “Crap, I embarrassed myself then, too.”
“Nay, Seth didn’t say that,” Peter said, bouncing on his bed as he sat down. “He said you were the only one who treated him like a normal human. And he’s right, ya know. We’ve all been there recently, just give it some time and it’ll get easier.”
“Are you guys connected in some way?” Sean asked, staring at Peter suspiciously again. “It’s like you know what the other guy is thinking about.”
Peter smiled, knowingly. “Seth connects us sometimes, yes. It’s more difficult with my other two brothers but possible.”
“Tight sound system,” Jimmy said, admiring Sean’s stereo equipment. “It’s one of the very few things I miss about living without electricity.”
“Where do you live that doesn’t have electricity?” Sean asked nearly laughing.
“Oh, I’m sorry, my fault,” I said, rushing in for introductions. “Sean, this is First of Gilán. He lives in the Palace with me, a dozen or so other people, and roughly four thousand brownies and sprites. First, this is Sean Fuller, son of Darius Fuller, president of the US Council of Magic.”
“Is that your name or your title?” Sean asked Jimmy.
“Both,” Jimmy said, smiling enigmatically.
“Was anyone else hurt during the attack?” I asked. “It doesn’t look like anybody outside got through, but if Seward had help in the walls…”
“I don’t think so,” Sean said, frustrated. “But Phillips wouldn’t tell me anything until Dad regained consciousness and then Dad didn’t want me involved. He said I was too young and it was too dangerous. He’s been really over-protective since Mom died.”
“He was hurt pretty bad,” I said. “How’s he doing?”
“He says he’s a lot better,” Sean said, falling onto the bed beside Peter. “He’s doing a damn good job of faking it. You didn’t see him.”
“Actually, we did,” Peter said, patting Sean’s thigh. “Don’t forget who you were thanking a moment ago. You blasted him with the memory of that morning. He showed us bits and pieces of it, too.”
Sean looked at Peter, horrified. “What?” he asked meekly, then looked at me. “Oh, crap, Seth, I’m sorry. I don’t want to remember that. I sure as hell didn’t mean to push it off on you, too.” Tears started down his face again.
“No, Sean, don’t,” I said, moving to his side on the bed. I put my arm on his shoulder, pulling him into a hug. “Don’t do this to yourself, man. All you did was look for a little comfort from somebody who gave a damn about you. Pete and Jimmy needed to know, too, so I showed them. If I was normal, it wouldn’t have happened. You couldn’t have helped it. And trust me, we’ve all seen a lot worse.”
“I killed him, Seth,” he whispered. “How am I gonna live with that?”
Opening a portal into Darius’ bedroom, I said to Sean, “By realizing that you and your dad are alive and together because you did. Now, let’s go see how badly he’s hurt and see what we can do about it. Okay?”
“Okay,” Sean mumbled.
“Go wash up first,” Peter said. “You don’t want to show up red-faced and puffy.”
Sean grunted and went to his bathroom. He was back a moment later, drying his face. “You know you scared the hell out of Dad on Tuesday,” he said, tossing the towel on his dresser. “I’ve never seen him scared of someone. It was kind of scary all by itself.”
“Yeah, Seth can get that way, sometimes,” Jimmy said, chuckling. “He was pretty intense then, and it did piss him off.”
“First,” I growled lightly.
“What? I’m not complaining!” Jimmy said, chuckling. “Your intensity saved my life, Lord. Probably saved quite a few.”
“I’ll say,” Peter said, seriously. “Dunstan’s, Grammand, Kieran and Ethan, twice. Shall I go on?”
“No, I officially declare this chapter of the Seth McClure Fan Club disbanded,” I said gruffly. “The moon has been up there a very long time, ya know!” Peter laughed, but he was the only one of the three who was there for Shrank’s joke. “Sean, would you lead the way?”
“Oh, yeah,” Sean said, turning for the door. “It’s a bit of a walk. Dad’s staying out in the guesthouse since his room was demolished. It’s out back behind the garden.” He started out the door but I wrapped the four of us in portals and dropped us onto the walkway directly outside Darius’ door, startling and disorienting Sean. “Whoa! What just happened?”
“Seth’s a little intense with his transportation, too,” Peter said laughing.
Cringing at Peter, I waved at Sean, inviting him to knock. We were still invisible in the wards and no one knew we were there. Suddenly appearing would cause all sorts of problems. Heh. Sean knocked, but Fuller was on the phone and either didn’t hear or ignored it.
I reached around Sean, knocked louder, and called, “Dad, can I talk to you for a few minutes?” Peter and Jimmy snickered, clutching at each other and threatening to fall to the ground. Sean’s jaw dropped as he turned to me seconds before he started snickering, but Darius turned to the door and excused himself from the phone. He stood slowly and walked stiffly to the door, taking a moment before opening the door.
“Of course, Sean, come in,” he said, smiling and turning. He walked smoothly back to the couch and sat. This was seriously alarming. Darius hadn’t noticed three extra people outside his door. Even Sean noticed that.
“Daybreak!” Fuller exclaimed, looking up and finally seeing me standing beside Sean. He stood quickly. Too quickly, staggering back and grabbing his right side, falling back onto the couch. I was already searching through him as he fell.
“Damn, Darius, what did Seward do to you?” I asked as I walked over the coffee table to get to him. “Sean, call Phillips and get him in here. Tell him that Lord Daybreak is tending to Darius. I need him here as quickly as possible. First, I’m going to send you to my quarters to gather some plants for me. Then I need some things from Ellorn. He’ll meet you at my door. Pete, would you help me get him to the bed please?”
“Yeah,” Peter said as he slipped around Sean and helped me gently lift Darius up from the couch. “Sean, we need Phillips,” he gently reminded him as we shuffled through the narrow aisle. Sean moved to the phone, punching a number just as we shouldered the doors open to the other room. The bathroom was on Peter’s side so I angled us in that direction and just walked over the bed, hunched over with him as level as I could manage.
“Darius, where did you get those marks?” I asked as Peter tore his shirt loose. Even through the bandages, the wounds looked nasty and poorly doctored. Still, these weren’t the marks we needed to know about. Peter began with his trousers next. “Not quite how I expected you to be getting into a wealthy man’s pant, Pete.”
He laughed. “It’s not the first time I’ve removed a rich man’s pants, either, Seth. Darius, we need to know what happened. We know you’re hurting, but we can’t help until we know some things. The marks on your lower back, where did you get them?”
“Seward had some sort of scorpion,” Fuller gasped.
“And it hit you twice?” I asked, helping Peter lower Fuller’s pants to just below his hips.
“Yeah,” he grunted, then groaned. “Why are you here?”
“I’m about to save your skinny ass,” I said softly. “I seem to be the only one who can take those curses off of people. It’s going to be painful at first. I’m going to have to take away your magic for a moment, I’m afraid.”
“I’m feeding it, aren’t I?” Fuller asked fearfully.
“Yes, but you’re a long way from causing a flare up,” I said calmly. Sean came to the door and stopped, hanging on the doorjamb. “But if I try to help you in any way, you wouldn’t last a second, so the curses must go first. The good news is that I think the rest of you can be healed fairly easily and quickly. My First will be here in a moment and I will begin.”