The Hidden Paths to Power (11 page)

“These are the same instructions I would give for any normal wand. This being gifted wood, you must be careful not to drive any tool into the heart of the branch or it will lose the essence of the spirit. Just take it slow and don’t worry about how long it takes. Simply concentrate on making the wand match the picture in your head. I know five days seems a long time, to study such a small amount of instructions, but when you have to decode Ancient Greek, you try doing it in less time.”

I smiled, steadied my nerves then, when I felt calm enough, told Doriane I was ready. I could see she was nervous too as the door separated us.

Clearing my mind, which was easier now after a few months of study, I concentrated on the power then tried to envision what my wand would look like.

Once I had the picture, I began to move.

There was a bit of conscious movement but it was almost as if, the power took over my hands. I grabbed the third largest chisel and the hammer then made the softest taps as the bark came off. It took nearly an hour to remove the outer shell then I switched to thinner chisels. It took another two hours to thin it out and pare it down to roughly a foot and a quarter in length. Anytime I felt I might be putting too much strength into the taps, I would stop, calm myself then continue. The tiny whorls and symbols took another hour and a half, using the smallest chisel and the lightest of taps. I was worried I was making mistakes but, as I saw the wand take shape and match my vision, I felt good.

When I was done, I had to sit on the floor for a moment to recharge a little energy.

Dragging myself to my feet, I grabbed the wand; feeling the spirit’s essence inside; and slowly walked to the door.

When I had it open, I was surprised to see an expression of extreme relief on Doriane’s face.

Apparently there was something she didn’t want to tell me before I started or couldn’t tell me, “I take it by the expression on your face that, if I disturbed the essence, it would’ve had a serious downside?”

“You wouldn’t have walked out of the room. I probably should’ve told you but I didn’t want it to distract you. Normal wands, if you make a mistake, you simply have to start over again. The essence of a tree spirit is too much, for the human body to withstand making contact with. It was also part of the reason, it took so long for me to decide, to let you work on it. You’ve become very important to me already and I had to work up the nerve to risk losing you. It would’ve been an insult to the tree spirit not to use it. The first spell I’ll teach you, to put on the wand, is to harden it; to make it more resistant to breaking. It won’t make it invulnerable but it would take something like, a large semi running it over, to break it. You need to try to be very far from it, if the wand is ever in danger of breaking. As long as you protect it, that wand will be with you until the day you die. You can make others for simple tasks but that will be your primary tool when facing Ryan or any other dark mystic.”

“I understand your reasoning. It was hard enough, without the thought of potentially dying, floating in my head. Unless you’re in dire need of comforting tonight, I think I’m ready to pass out and sleep for a week.”

Doriane smiled gloriously then spun the room, so I could go up and fall on my bed. I did take the time to remove my sweaty clothes before my head was on the pillow.

I managed to recharge with only nine hours of sleep but only had the energy the next day to do normal household chores.

It wasn’t until the following day, when Doriane was completely free of the shop, I had the energy to put the strengthening spell on my wand. My mentor gifted me, with my own black lacquer box to keep it in, until I had enough spells stored in it to do me any good.

It was just after noon, when we stepped from the house, to investigate Tiffany’s death. I felt a little bad but what I was doing was important, if I was ever to stand up to Ryan, on even terms or better.

As we were driving to Tiffany’s address, I spotted the park from my vision. It was about two blocks away from her apartment.

Asking Doriane to stop, we got out and walked through the park, until I found the place, where I had seen her die.

It wasn’t until I glanced over to the playground, that wasn’t far away, that I saw what looked like a fresh grave. It was packed down but there were enough signs the ground had been disturbed recently.

Walking near it but not on it, Doriane said openly, as there was no one close enough to hear, “There are no lingering traces of dark magic but the body, of someone killed by dark magic, shouldn’t be left for too long, where kids play, and other people are near it. What do you think would be the best way, to get Harold out here?”

“My turn to come up with the plan, huh?”

“You have to learn to make decisions. You and I will know each other for a long time but there will come a time, when you’ll have your own regions to watch. Also, no matter how unlikely it is, it’s possible I may meet the dark user who’s strong enough to kill me. Don’t get that look. After you’ve been around for two hundred years or more, the odds are reduced greatly but they never go away.”

I was bothered by that but it was a valid point, “Just give me a hundred years or more before ever allowing that to happen, okay?”

I was blessed with her smile then continued, “Let’s go on to Tiffany’s apartment. It would look more legit, if we’re seen to be looking for her, before I give my excuse to Harold. How are you on self-defense?”

“I spent a decade in Japan learning from a master. This was before the current era so they took it more seriously then.”

I shook my head as we made our way back to the car.

Did I ever mention I seem to have amazing timing?

Not two minutes, after I asked about self-defense, we discovered three guys hovering by our car. They seemed intent on stopping the two gorgeous girls from leaving freely.

It was daytime, so this surprised me a little, but some people aren’t known for their brains. We made sure of their intentions by trying to get to the car first but they blocked our path.

The white guy and two Hispanics were definitely eyeing us with unfriendly intentions.

The white boy, who couldn’t have more than seventeen said, “There’s a toll, if you wish to leave. We each get a turn, with both of you, then you can go on your way.”

After having spent the last few years dealing with Ryan Gilpatrick, these boys were nothing to me. I knew Doriane was ready to handle this but she seemed to be waiting for me to decide the best way to deal with it.

I responded, “Before you three get your asses kicked, for being low-life scum, you should know, my uncle is a cop. He and I have plans to have dinner tonight. Do you want to be a part of the discussion at the table?”

“I think you’re lying, bitch.” This was said by one of the Hispanic boys.

“I have his number in my speed dial. Would you like to verify it with him before we dance?”

This caused the three of them to move away from us.

As we got in the car, I pulled out my phone and pretended to dial. This caused them to find the fastest path for home.

Doriane said as she drove for Tiffany’s, “That was nicely handled. You put enough truth in it, to make them unsure, and the thing with the phone was a nice touch. I’m sure they’re finding the quickest routes to hide under their beds, thinking a cop is going to be paying them a visit.”

“As you’ve told me, sometimes the shortest route to solving a problem is, a little subtle playing with the truth. I’ll still inform Harold about them, so he can alert officers to be on the lookout, in case we aren’t the only women to receive such attention from them.”

We pulled into the apartment complex and secured the car then walked up the second floor of apartments.

We knocked a few times on Tiffany’s door then a neighbor of hers came out, “Tiffany hasn’t been home in many days. I’m afraid her last boyfriend may’ve done something to her or she ran afoul of someone else. It’s been a small problem here, because Tiffany’s been making her money, babysitting several of the children in this complex. It’s put a burden on a couple of families to find good care for their kids while they work.”

I answered, “I’m sorry to hear that, uh…”

“Amber Jenkins. You can call me Amber.”

“I’m an old friend of Tiffany’s from high school, Amber. I see your surprise but I knew the real her. When she wasn’t pissed off, because she and her mother didn’t get along, she had a few moments of sweetness. I’d be upset if anything happened to her.”

“I would too. She’d been getting her life together to get her son back. It was the taking of him by the state that finally started to wake her up, and let her grow up. She’s three days passed her due date on her rent. The landlord’s about to file the eviction paperwork.”

“Thank you for your time. I’ll check back in a few days.”

“I’ll let her know you stopped by. Can I get your name?”

“Debbie Holton.”

“It’s nice to meet someone, who doesn’t hold Tiffany to such contempt, for how she was when she was younger.”

When we were in the car and headed back to the park, Doriane asked, “Do you remember what I told you in the shop? About the ripples left by the positive influences I created in the place?”

“Yes.”

“Now you’ve seen the ripples left behind by the negative influences. You experienced them yourself but were too close to the situation, to really see them. How many lives did Ryan impact with the one action of letting his robots loose on the school? Now, we have several lives impacted negatively by his one act in killing Tiffany.”

I did see it and came to a greater understanding of the need to monitor him and keep him contained. Both influences were necessary in the world but I remembered the look in his eyes when he killed Tiffany. He was already addicted to his power use and would likely spin out of control regardless of any restraint placed on him by his mentor.

We parked in nearly the same place as before then I did call Harold.

“Lieutenant Cramer,” said the voice of the man I had come to love as family.

“Are you getting tired of hearing me call so often?”

“Never. Every time I hear you, it makes me feel better. I have a letter on my desk for you, from those that spawned you.”

“How busy are you at the moment?”

“I’m about to go into a short meeting with my boss. We have to keep devising platitudes to the public, about why it’s taking so long to bring Ryan in. People are scared. The news is nationwide and we take heat from the mayor and city council because sales taxes are down. Denver is taking a hit in tourism dollars because of people, not wanting to come here, while a psychopath like Ryan Gilpatrick is running loose.”

“I don’t want to make your life harder but I think Ryan’s struck again. I was giving it some thought, after you told me, who he was targeting now. I was going over in my mind, all the people I remembered giving him the hardest time. I don’t know if you had this name on your list but one of those, who used to lay into him heavily with verbal abuse, was Tiffany Davis.”

“That’s not a name we had. All those we focused on, were those who physically bullied him. What makes you think he may have struck at Tiffany?”

“It took several days but I managed to track her down, without giving away who was looking for her. I just visited her apartment and her neighbor reports, she hasn’t been seen in many days. Kimberly and I decided to walk, in the park near her apartment, as we talked about our next move. There’s a small mound of dirt near the playground that could be a freshly dug grave.”

“I can cancel my meeting for that. If Tiffany is missing and has a connection to Ryan, I have to check it out.”

“Bring my letter with you.”

“Got it and watch yourself.”

I gave him the location then we walked around the park.

We were scoping things out, to see how difficult it was going to be, to check the mound of dirt, without setting off a panic in the area. It was early evening now and several children and their parents were making use of the park and playground.

Doriane said as we were taking seats at a picnic table, “I know you’re hoping, we can do this quietly but unfortunately, Ryan has become a public menace. Hopefully, Harold will have some ideas but, if people in the area see police investigating in the park, curiosity will follow. People will get scared about the activity so close to the playground. Their imaginations will bring them possible images of dead children or any number of scenarios. You gave Harold a small advantage in this case, by alerting him on his personal phone, rather than having the call come to him through dispatch. It might buy him some time, before the media catches wind of it. Harold’s face has been on TV too much, for him not to be recognized eventually. The public knows him, as the detective tied to this case.”

“I know and if I’m caught on camera, I’ll deal with it. You taught me how to mess with my image, so it can’t be caught clearly. That could make things difficult, if a sharp-minded editor looks too closely at the footage. They’ll wonder why, you and I are fuzzy, but Harold is clear as day.”

“That’s why I’m hoping, we can have a look quickly, then be out of here before the media shows up. After this little investigation, and now that I don’t have to go to the shop, we can concentrate on your defensive skills. You’ll eventually get into offensive spells but you need a solid defense first.”