by Tao Wong
“It was impressive. So those are where we need to go?” Alexa asked again, and this time, I answered her affirmatively. “Great. Corey here has agreed to your proposal.”
“My… Ah! For the mushrooms,” I said and grinned. I almost ran to the table, proudly showing them my latest invention. However, rather than looking impressed like with the map, the pair instead looked somewhat confused. “What?”
“It’s a bit ugly,” Corey finally said.
“It’s effective!” I growled, shoving the compass-and-block getup at him. “Once the battery runs out, you just need to come back and swap the batteries for new ones that we’ll have here. And hand us the spotted Wynn you’ve collected.”
Corey turned the compass hand over hand, staring at the enchanted piece of equipment before he finally opened his mouth to speak slowly. “And it’ll point the way to the nearest spotted Wynn?”
“Pretty much.” I nodded. “Nearest and biggest. The Link spell looks for the strongest connection, so if there’s a mushroom or a set of mushrooms, it’ll more likely lead you there than toward a single one.”
“Amazing. And it looks like you can do it for any item?” Corey asked, touching the tape.
“Sort of,” I said with a shrug. “It’s a bit more complicated than just choosing what I want, but yes.”
“That’s incredible.” Corey licked his lips, a glint of avarice in his eyes. I frowned, leaning forward and tapping the table to get his attention.
“Two things. This doesn’t go any further. And secondly, remember, the batteries are only chargeable by me. Unless you want to contact a real mage and ask him to play with that.” I gestured at the mashed-together piece of equipment. I watched Corey’s face change as he considered the fact. Most mages were arrogant asses. Asking them to work with a piece of equipment like the one he held would be demeaning for them, and no one wanted to annoy a mage.
“It’s cool, man. It’s cool. I was just thinking,” Corey said with a grin. “I’m going to go then…”
“Go ahead,” I said, waving him off. Once the thin man had gone, I raised an eyebrow at Alexa. “I thought there were others?”
“So did I,” Alexa said grumpily and glanced at the clock. I guess even in the supernatural world, flakes were a thing. Changing the subject, Alexa pointed at the map. “I’m assuming the biggest ink blot is where we’re going next?”
“Yes. Slowly and carefully,” I said. If we were going to act against a distributor or producer, we definitely needed to play this smarter than the last time.
Alexa nodded back at me firmly, obviously thinking the same thing.
Chapter 9
“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Alexa asked softly for the second time as we drove through the tree-lined residential neighborhood. Each detached house adjoined the next in their suburban sameness, though occasional reconstruction broke the monotony of the two-story, cookie-cutter homes with their attached garages and perfectly manicured lawns.
“That’s what the map says,” I muttered. I had my hand on the drug as well while we slowly and carefully drove down the streets. Not too slow, just slow enough to look like a careful, civic-minded driver not wishing to run over careless children.
“This doesn’t look like a drug lab…” Alexa shook her head. “Or a place to store illegal drugs.”
“Well, it’s not exactly illegal,” I said, tapping the cyan chemical compound in its Ziploc baggie in my hand. “It’s not like police are knocking down doors over Leprechaun’s Foot.”
Alexa pursed her lips but nodded after a moment. That was true enough. This was a supernatural drug, with supernatural enhancements. Production and effect on individuals, even at the largest level, most likely would never look like more than a blip to the federal government. As it stood, there were many more dangerous drugs to deal with affecting the mundane population. Heck, modern chemical testing probably wouldn’t even see anything wrong with it.
“So…” Alexa said leadingly.
“Three doors down,” I said quietly after a moment. “I’m sure it’s that one.”
“Are you seeing anything?”
“Noooo,” I said, squinting. “Actually, yes. There’s a distortion in the air around the building, like a heatwave. Reminds me of the way Caleb looks when he’s channeling…” I paused to consider for a moment. “But this is a lot more stable. So less like channeling and more like it’s a fixed point of distortion.”
“What would do that?” Alexa asked softly, her foot barely shifting when we passed the house. Both of us stared at the simple, cream-colored building with light-brown highlights and a simple brick rooftop infested with solar panels. I wondered if the panels were to hide their usage of electricity… if they needed to use electricity. Or perhaps they were environmentalists? Supernatural, gangster environmentalists. A mind-boggling thought. Other than that, with the white curtains drawn, we could see nothing of note. Even the garage was closed, with no vehicles to give further hints.
“Looks normal,” I muttered.
“Other than the magical disturbance?” Alexa said sarcastically, turning her attention back toward the road. “I think if we park up that hill, we could get a view of this house.” Alexa jerked her head, indicating the hill directly in front of us.
“Sounds good,” I said and started looking up directions on my phone. “And yes, normal except the magical disturbance. Pretty sure it’s the Leprechaun’s Foot.”
“I really hate that name.”
***
Thirty minutes and two wrong turns later, we found ourselves at a small, gravel shoulder on the hill. Alexa, of course, had a pair of binoculars in the car, which we took turns using to watch the house. Unfortunately, watching the building from a distance currently provided us very little information.
“How’d the investigation on the developer go?” I asked to break the silence.
“Slow.” Alexa sighed. “But I’m nearly a hundred percent certain he’s a blind.”
“Blind?”
“Ah. You call them mundanes. Norms. Muggles,” Alexa said.
“Isn’t that copyrighted?”
“Who’s going to tell her?” Alexa smirked, and I chuckled softly.
“So he’s just being an ass?”
“Pretty much,” Alexa said with a sigh. “I dug into the fines and notices the orphanage was given. They aren’t exactly wrong. The rules and regulations the orphanage is in breach of are just updates on existing code. Normally, they wouldn’t be applied till the orphanage needed to apply for a new license or did some work, but—”
“But it doesn’t mean they aren’t necessary,” I said slowly. “And because it’s an orphanage, it’d be harder to say: ‘We don’t need to bring these things up to code.’”
“Exactly,” Alexa said. “I don’t really know what we can do there. I’ve contacted a few lawyers, hopefully some of them will help us slow down the fines. That might be the best we can do about the developer. Unless we can find some dirt on him, and beyond a penchant for bribing bureaucrats to do their job, I’ve got nothing.”
“Which leaves the fact that the contractors won’t go back into the storage room because it’s haunted, and you’ve got a series of failing rituals to contend with.”
“Yes.”
“Fine. That’s next on the list then,” I said with some resignation. Now, I really wished this was more like one of my stupid, linear computer RPGs. Most of those games involved running around and beating up the latest beholder or messing with the evil warlock. They didn’t involve figuring out how to thwart the evil merchant from buying the orphanage that was annoying him. Or, well, it did, but I’d just blast him with a fireball in a game and call it a day.
Somehow, premeditated murder did not seem as fun in reality. With that sobering thought, I fell silent as the pair of us watched the house. Perhaps some brilliant idea would occur to us later.
***
“I should have
brought a book,” I muttered a few hours later.
“We’re supposed to be watching the building,” Alexa said softly.
“For what?” I asked. “I mean, they joke about how stakeouts suck, but really…”
“They do?”
“They really do.” I shifted in my seat to settle my back. “I mean, what are we supposed to be doing here? Watching a house to see what? Who comes out and drives away? I swear, I could find a spell for this…”
“Mages and your spells,” Alexa said.
“Come on, you can’t say you’re enjoying this,” I said.
“Enjoy? No. But it is necessary. This is how you gather information.”
“Maybe this is how you gather information, but I’m a mage,” I said firmly. “I’m going to figure out a smarter way of doing this.”
“Go ahead,” Alexa said, getting impatient.
I nodded firmly and then fell silent, going over my character sheet and spell list to start.
Class: Mage
Level 22 (29% Experience)
Known Spells: Light Sphere, Force Spear, Force Shield, Force Fingers, Alter Temperature, Gong, Gust, Heal, Healing Ward, Link, Track, Fix, Ward, Glamour, Illusion, Summon, Iceball, Fireball, Scry
I chuckled when I noted I’d leveled up. I vaguely recalled there had been that notification while I had been working on the map yesterday, but I’d been a touch busy. And obsessed. I would admit to a little obsession. Still, as I eyed the spells, I blinked at the latest. Huh…
And huh.
I half-closed my eyes and concentrated, pulling at the spell in my mind. It came to the forefront of my thoughts with a flash, a piece of knowledge that had always been there just waiting for me to focus on it. I’d considered it a coincidence that the spell I desperately needed was right here, at my fingertips—except for the fact that, of course, I had a GM who was watching over all this. I’d bet Lily had made sure to gift this spell to me because she knew what I’d need.
Scry. A simple enough spell at the lowest levels of mastery. It actually was a compound spell like Fireball or Iceball. It built upon known spells, streamlined via specific formulas that made the spell more powerful but more restrictive. In this case, the Scry spell was built upon Link, Track, and Illusion. The Track portion basically guided the spell to the location you were looking for, Link linked the spell component you were using to an appropriate target within the location, and Illusion displayed the location. It was a triple-compound spell, one that was no more difficult to do than creating my map but more strenuous since I wasn’t just linking to a conceptual city but an actual space. As such, the requirements for refinement and fidelity were higher.
Still, the Scry spell was exactly what I needed. Firstly though, I’d need a linking material—an appropriate medium. The most common items were mirrors, crystal balls, and bowls of water. Each would link to a mirror, glass, or water in the surroundings, which meant none were particularly better than the other in general. Though, from the knowledge forced into me, some were clearer than others.
Thankfully, I was in a car, so finding a mirror was a simple matter. Alexa shot me a glance when I adjusted the rearview mirror, but I decided to ignore her for the moment. Since this was the first time I was casting the spell, I figured I’d better test it out before discussing it. Wouldn’t want it to fizzle out.
My fingers moved, and my mouth chanted as my mind ran through the newly provided spell formula and mana flowed through my body and out my fingertips. My perception lurched as mana flowed out of me, carrying me out of my body as the spell nearly completed. The sudden change—even if I knew subconsciously that it was about to happen—was too much for me and the spell broke, shattering around me and sending shards of free-floating mana running through me. I grunted, shuddering, and closed my eyes.
Damn it. I hadn’t expected to fail at the start.
“Henry?”
“Testing a new spell,” I said once I got my breath back. I leaned back for a few moments, letting my body slowly calm and the pain subside while I went over the details of the spell again. This time, I wouldn’t let myself fail. Even if the out-of-body experience was weird.
Once again, I cast the spell and felt my mana leave me. I exhaled slowly and closed my eyes, feeling the lurch once more as my senses left my body. This time though, I was prepared for the feeling and continued to chant the spell, guiding my temporary self to the location. It really was just my senses, and even then, it wasn’t the entirety of them. It was a vertigo-inducing moment, and by the time I had mostly adjusted, I’d covered the hundreds of yards to the house. I even overshot my location and had to retreat, adjusting the spell formulas of the Scry spell on the fly.
Sensing in this state was at the most crude, rudimentary stage. I could not see, hear, or smell anything, but I could sense where various mirrors and objects close enough to a reflective surface were. I could even sense, to an extent, the level of appropriateness for me to Link my spell. At a higher level, I would even be able to Link multiple items at the same time, but for now, I picked the highest appropriate Link item and sent my body back to the car. A fraction of a second later, I opened my eyes.
Scry Cast
Synchronicity 31%
Link 78%
Blinking away the notification, I turned to look at the rearview mirror, which now showed a new reflection. My smile held for a fraction of a second before I huffed out loud, while Alexa sniggered slightly at the image shown.
Right. Highest appropriateness meant another mirror. And where were most mirrors? In bedrooms and bathrooms. Staring at the blurry, white-tiled interior of an empty bathroom, I huffed in annoyance again. Well, at least the spell worked.
***
“Is this how it’s normally done?” Alexa asked a half hour later after I’d cast and recast Scry, trying to find a good location to spy on those within. Thus far, we’d peeked into empty bedrooms, an empty closet, and an empty kitchen. Right now though, I had to wait for my mana to regenerate.
“No,” I said, shaking my head as I prodded the information in my mind. “There are ways to lock onto multiple surfaces, then complete the spell. Then it’s just a matter of flicking through them till you find the appropriate location.”
“Why aren’t you doing that?”
“Beginner here, remember? I’m having a hard enough time locking down a single location at this distance, never mind multiple. And the amount of mana required increases too, as well as the complexity of the actual spell formula.” I shook my head at the thought. “Give me a bit, and I’ll be able to lock down two, but for now, one and done is where we’re at.”
“Huh,” Alexa said simply and then leaned back in her chair. A moment later, she leaned forward and grabbed her binoculars, staring ahead.
“What?” I frowned, looking at the house. It did not take me long to realize what had attracted Alexa’s attention. A minivan had driven up. Unfortunately, it was one of those multi-door white minivans beloved by housewives, soccer moms, and large families everywhere. In other words, utterly useless at this distance for providing additional information. A short while later, it entered the newly opened garage.
“Can you…?”
“Already on it,” I said, nodding in confirmation as I started casting Scry again. It would drop me below the 10 percent bar I’d set for myself but not too far. All it meant was I’d be eating more painkillers for the next few hours. But… “Got it. One van mirror coming up.”
The mirror flickered and shifted, a new image appearing. I grimaced, making a mental note to find a bigger mirror to cart around next time since this image, drawn from the side mirror, was slightly truncated to fit everything in. With a flicker of my hand, I shifted the mirror around as distorted words came through the newly formed mirror.
“What are you doing here?” A deep, husky male voice came through first, a four-pack-a-day smoker with a cold who somehow still managed to create a feeling of dread over the com
municator.
“I’m here to pick up the next shipment,” a high female voice answered him. For a second, there was a flash of pale skin and an orange blouse before it was gone. I frowned, shifting the image around as I attempted to see more.
“Stop…” Alexa hissed a moment before I stopped the shifting image myself. In it, we caught our first glimpse, a female in an orange, ruffled blouse with a sneer on her lips and brown hair.
“Sold out already?” The male voice spoke again. From what I could tell, he was probably standing directly behind the mirror.
“Can’t keep it on the streets. My man wants at least twice our last order,” the woman said and grinned. She reached into the car, her tight pants pulling firm for a second in the image when she leaned within. I had to pause to admire the sight, a low whistle coming the other man, making me think the enviable, large, and tight posterior was being admired by more than myself.
When the lady stood straight again, this time I noted a slight grin as she exited. A bulky brown envelope was held in hand, one that she tossed over. “Same price, yes?”
The other voice chuckled. “Not going to bargain?”
“Not if you keep the exclusivity.”
“Wait here.” A moment later, the click of a closing door was heard. In the meantime, the young lady leaned against the now-closed van door, offering us an admirable if not particularly informative view. My fingers shifted side to side as I attempted to find a better angle and got nothing.
“Is she supernatural?” Alexa asked me as we watched.
“Can’t tell. It’s a good illusion if she is,” I said tightly while holding the connection open. Well, glamour and illusion combined. Glamours tricked the mind; illusions tricked reality. Combined, they kept supernaturals hidden—though most of their disguises were largely glamour with the smallest amounts of illusion possible to allow supernaturals to pass common recording devices. However, the young lady in our mirror looked perfectly normal, which indicated she was either using a powerful illusion spell or wasn’t using one at all.