Lila showered quickly, donned the new clothing Sebastian had bought last night, a light blue t-shirt and Bermuda shorts, and then went to meet him in the front hall. They climbed into the Mercedes, parked in front of the house and Sebastian started the engine.
Ten minutes later Sebastian slowed the car. He was looking out his window at a two story yellow house with a dirt driveway on the right side. The corner of another small building could be seen behind the main house.
“Does this look familiar?” he asked.
Lila leaned forward to look out his window. Her eyes went wide with recognition.
“Yes! This is it! My place is in back. I’m renting from the Millers; I think they both work in town.”
There were no cars in the driveway, only a collapsible trailer gathering weeds to the right of the drive. Sebastian parked in front of the cottage behind the main house.
“My purse wasn’t found in the woods?” Lila asked.
“As of this morning, no other effects were found.”
They both got out of the car, and while Lila tried the handle of the cottage’s door, Sebastian looked under the welcome mat and pots by the door. No hidden key. They walked around the cottage testing windows and tried again at the back door. It was locked up tight.
“If there is a spare key, I’m pretty sure I’d leave it with the Millers.”
“Smart girl,” Sebastian smiled at her. “We’ll try again tonight.” He pulled out his phone and looked at it as if a text just came through. He read it and looked at her.
“My boss would like to meet you. We’ll go into the office. Maybe he has some more information on you and what happened last night.”
Sebastian drove fast on the two lane road. In 15 minutes they were nearing the township of New Castle, the buildings looking more like freestanding businesses, some with a second story of apartments above. There were no strip malls as one might expect on the outskirts of a town. Within a half mile, the buildings became denser and taller, and then they were driving into a garage near a city center.
The center of town was a strange mix of old and new, as if half the town wanted progress and modernity while the other held fast to the original settler’s city plan. There was a small center square of park surrounded by a mix of old brick 3 story buildings and newer modern but still stone higher rise buildings, the tallest about 8 stories. It frankly looked like an architect’s nightmare; quaint old brick built next to rough hewn granite. The one cohesive element was the street level businesses. The city center square was home to shops, a bank, pharmacy, a diner, a classic Georgian style city hall building, and a taller modern office building that had a police station sign on one of the ground floor doors.
It was this building that Sebastian led Lila to after leaving the parking garage. They entered it through a door adjacent to the Police Dept. and took an old Otis caged elevator to the 8th floor. They stepped directly into a reception area with modern couches, low tables covered in neatly arranged magazines, and a receptionist behind a desk. A middle aged woman with brown hair pinned up and wearing glasses looked up at Sebastian and Lila as they approached her desk.
“Good morning Mr. De la Cruz, Mr. Hammond is expecting you, please go on back.”
“Good morning Eloise, thank you,” Sebastian answered without pausing his stride and continued down a corridor to the left of the reception until he reached the corner office and knocked on the door before opening it and guiding Lila in ahead of him.
A very handsome man of about 35 looked up at Lila as they entered. He had dirty blond hair, just touching his shirt collar. His eyes were the brilliant blue of a summer sky with the beginning of crow's feet to the outside that deepened when he smiled at her. He flashed bright white teeth and stood.
“Hello, I am Alexander Hammond, Commander for the local ISF, and Mage council Head of the eastern territory.”
Lila automatically reached to shake his hand. Both men looked at her hand, and then Alexander reached to shake it. When their hands met, they both felt an electrical shock as if there was too much static in the air. “Ouch!” They both snapped their hands back from the pain. Alexander looked at her suspiciously, but a moment later his face calmed, and he gestured for Lila to sit. She smiled uneasily at the handsome man, only moderately put to ease.
“Uh, hi. I’m Lila Bell.”
He smiled at her again, more kindly this time.
“Bastian,” he greeted the other man with a nod of his head before reseating himself and glancing at the computer on his desk. Sebastian took a seat in the other chair, studying Lila critically.
“I’m afraid I don’t have good news,” Alexander began. “We looked up both names in the Florida Mage Registry, and came up empty. There is no Lila or Lily Bell known to the council there.”
“What does that mean?” Lila asked nervously.
“It means that your are either illegally undocumented, or your parents are criminals and in hiding.”
Lila’s whole body got hot with fear and shame. She felt like a kid who’d gotten caught cheating and was being called out by the principal. She had no idea how to respond. She really had fallen down a rabbit hole, but not into a wonderland, more like a nightmare.
“What else have you remembered?” Alexander asked.
“Um, my name, Lila Bell, and I just moved here from Sarasota, Florida for a job at the college in Newcolm. My Mom is Lily, still in Florida..” She trailed off and then nervously bit her lower lip looking from Mr. Hammond to Sebastian. “Do I need a lawyer or something? Will I be allowed to call my Mom?”
Alexander studied her for a moment before answering,
”You are not in trouble, Miss Bell. DMV records show that you and your mother have lived for the past 28 years in the human world. Without speaking to your mother, I can’t be sure, but she must be a Special.” When Lila gave him a questioning look, he explained,”A Special is the child of a Magique and a human. They usually have little to no magical power, and therefore live as humans. Sometimes the ones with some magical talent join covens or become clairvoyants.”
Lila pictured her Mom wearing her peasant blouse, flowing skirt, many bangles, and shuffling her well worn Tarot cards.
“Um, would you consider a fortune teller in that category?” She asked.
“Yes. Is that what you do?”
“No. My mom does. We lived my whole life with a circus. That’s why I was homeschooled. We traveled eight months a year.”
“What about your father?”
“No father, just a sperm donor. I can’t tell you more than that.”
“You can’t, or you won’t?” Alexander asked with curiosity.
“I can’t, but not because I don’t remember. My Mom always refused to talk about him. I don’t even know if they were together for more than one night.” Lila stopped talking before the shame of her history was revealed.
Alexander and Sebastian watched her carefully and waited. They could sense that she was hiding something very important by the way her magic swirled around her protectively. They could also sense that she had powerful magic. It was simultaneously wondrous, and alarming.
“It’s all right, Child, we will not condemn you for your father’s crimes. Tell us,” Sebastian said soothingly, and reached to pat her hand. When he touched her, he received a massive charge that was accompanied by a loud crack. Sebastian’s arm was flung back like the recoil of a shotgun, and it went numb.
“Oh no!” Lila cried. She had felt the jolt, but had no idea how it had happened. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know I could do that---I swear I didn’t do it on purpose!” She was on the verge of panic.
“It’s all right,” Sebastian said, shaking his arm to try and get the feeling to come back.
Alexander was watching with interest. It seemed to him that the shock intensified when the girl’s emotions were heightened.
“Lila, do you remember anything like this happening before?”
“No,” she all but whimpered and hugged her
self.
“Relax, my dear, you did not inflict lasting damage. We will have to remember to not touch you until you have gained control of your power.”
“What power? Where did it come from? Why is this happening to me?”
Alexander sighed and rubbed his temples.
“I don’t know. I have never heard of a mage who came into their power so late, nor has there ever been one so powerful born from a Special. Are you sure that you were not adopted?”
“I’m sure. There are pictures,” Lila looked down at the floor and revealed her shameful secret.
“Mom was seventeen when I was born. She got pregnant and ran away from home. She met Janey and Roy Finkle. They owned the Finkle Family Circus. They took her in, and she’s been there ever since.”
“And as far as you remember, there is no other reason that your mother sought refuge with the circus?”
“No. She didn’t seek them out. Janey found her sitting in a diner worrying about where she would go. Janey sat next to her, they talked for a long time, and then Janey invited her to stay with her for a while. She never left.”
Both men recognized Janey’s behavior to be that of someone who was familiar with Magiques and probably one herself. If Lily Bell was a Special, or even a weak Magique, she would have attracted the attention of other Magiques. Lucky for her, she’d obviously met a kind and protective one.
“Are Janey and Roy Finkle their real names?” Alexander asked, typing on his computer.
“As far as I know, yes.”
“Good. More names to search our records for.”
Lila began to frown with worry and gripped the armrest of her chair. Was she going to get the whole circus in trouble? Things were happening to her that she had no control over, and she was scared to think how it might affect her mother and her friends in the circus. They were her family. What had she dragged them into?
Seeing her distress, Sebastian reached out to her, but Lila yanked her arm away from him.
“Don’t,” she said, reminding him of her power.
“Of course, sorry, I’d already forgotten, “ Sebastian said sheepishly. “What has you looking so distressed?”
“All of this. How can I remember my whole childhood, but not anything about magic?”
“We also find it strange that you are remembering basic things like your name and where you came from, but not your race,” Alexander thought for a moment and then he added, ”It’s the same as if you’d forgotten that you are a female.”
Lila stared at the council Head for a moment as she processed what he’d just said.
“We need to find out exactly what your life was like before you moved here. Who your mother is, how you were raised.
“If you were raised as a human with no knowledge of the Magique world, then we have our work cut out for us.”
Again, Lila stared at Alexander for a moment before speaking.
“Under what set of circumstances is that even possible?”
“You’ve ruled out adoption for us, but it is possible that your mother was illegally impregnated by a mage without him telling her he was a Magique.”
That statement sent a chill down Lila’s spine.
“Maybe we should call your mother,” Alexander suggested.
Alexander handed Lila his phone and she tapped in the number with shaking hands. She knew her mom would be home, because the circus didn’t travel anymore. Roy and Janey had retired, along with their biggest act, the big cats, a few years ago. Roy had always been into real estate and owned the trailer park that Lila grew up in. All the retired circus folk lived there now. The acts that still performed had found work with other traveling shows.
Lily answered the phone after three rings.
“Big Cat Sanctuary.”
“Hi, Mom,” Lila said hesitantly.
“Lila! How’s my Baby Belle?”
“Um, okay, I guess, under the circumstances.”
“What happened?” Lily’s voice was instantly alarmed.
“I’m okay! I mean, I’m not hurt or in the hospital. But something did happen.”
“Are you in jail?!” Lily cried.
Lila almost laughed, but then she wondered what to say.
“No, Mom. I was...hit on the head. I have amnesia---sort of. I don’t remember a lot.” Lila didn’t know how to continue.
“Tell her you are in the mage council Head’s office.” Alexander said quietly. “If she is Magique, she will understand.”
“Mom, I’m in the mage council Head’s office.”
“The what?”
“Mage council Head.”
“What’s that? You mean at the college?”
Lila didn’t know whether she should cry in relief or frustration. She looked from Alexander to Sebastian, trying to determine if she was about to get into a lot of trouble. Then there was a fumbling on the end of the line and a masculine voice spoke.
“Lila, Honey? Where are you?”
“Jerry?” Lila’s voice cracked. “Do you know what the mage council is?”
“I know what a mage is. Tell me what’s going on.”
It was somehow easier to tell the story to Jerry, Lily’s boyfriend.
“I was attacked and hit my head really hard. I have amnesia and I don’t remember anything about being a mage. The police handed me over to the mage council, and the council Head says there aren’t any records of me in the registry.”
Tears began to pool in Lila’s eyes, and she sniffled.
“Lila, Honey, there’s no reason for you to be registered. You are 100% human.”
“That’s not what they’re telling me up here.”
“Are you with the council Head right now?”
“Yes.”
“Put the phone on speaker.”
“Okay,” Lila did and Alexander spoke.
“Hello, this is Alexander Hammond. I am mage council Head and ISF Commander. With whom am I speaking?”
A whispered “Shiiiit.” came across the line and then a muffling of the phone as if someone had put their hand over it. Even so, they could hear Jerry say,”Lily, go get Roy. This is serious.” There was a pause before Jerry came back on the line.
“This is Jerry Mann. I’m a Special. Half shifter. There are a bunch of us down here, Specials, I mean. All our pure breeds are properly registered. Roy Finkle is on his way, he can vouch for his people.”
Alexander typed on his computer.
“What makes you think that Lila is a mage?” Jerry asked.
“She has enough magic in her to power half the city, and we tested her blood. She is, in fact, 200% mage, Mr. Mann. So what makes you think that she is not?”
Jerry huffed out a breath of consternation.
“Roy will confirm it when he gets here, but he tested Lila every year since she was 11 years old and she never showed a spark of magic. I don’t know if he ever tested her blood. Lily’s a Special, but weak enough to pass as human. She doesn’t know about Magiques. Roy’s stance has always been to not involve humans if possible. Since Lily didn’t know she was a Special, he decided to wait and see if her child showed signs before saying anything.”
In Alexander’s opinion, this was the biggest problem in the Magique community: the divide between pure and half breeds. The older generations of all races were prejudiced against half breeds of any kind. They saw Specials as inferior leeches watering down their blood lines. There was a growing population of Specials as younger generations cared less about pure blood lines and more about finding a partner, even if the partner would grow old and die centuries before them. Maybe this Roy thought he was sparing Lily from some public scrutiny or embarrassment, but Alexander disagreed with it on a philosophical level.
A screen door could be heard in the background slamming, and a new voice said hello, a confident tenor.
“Roy,” Jerry said to him, ”Alexander Hammond has Lila in custody.”
“What?!” a woman cried.
“NO!” Alexander shouted bac
k. “She is under my protection.”
“Why?” the new voice asked.
Alexander sighed with frustration. 10:30 in the morning, and already the day was shit.
“Uncle Roy,” Lila said, “They tested my blood. I’m a mage.”
“Impossible. We tested your blood years ago. You aren’t even a Special. They made a mistake.”
Voices could be heard arguing in the background, Lily was getting shrill and Jerry was trying to calm her. The background talking suddenly quieted and the screen slammed again.
“You’re off speaker now,” Roy’s voice said. “Tell me what happened from the beginning.”
Lila did. When she was finished, Alexander asked, ”Is it possible that your blood test was the mistake?”
Roy sighed on the other end of the phone.
“I have to stick to a firm ‘no.’ Lila has never shown any hint that she might have magic, and I’ve been watching her her whole life.”
“Please don’t take this the wrong way, Mr. Finkle, but what are your credentials?”
“None taken, Mr. Hammond. I am a Teacher. Or I would have been if not for my...handicap.”
A Teacher was the same as a mage tutor. Aside from acquiring a vast knowledge of mage history, they were often gifted at measuring a mage’s power.
“I see,” Alexander said.
The council Head had to assume that the ‘handicap’ was a physical deformity of some kind that had prevented Roy from being hired by a family with the means to have their children tutored. The image of a poster for The Freak Show from about 1890 flashed in his head, and Alexander wondered how old Roy was.
“Mr. Finkle, I don’t know what to say. Miss Bell’s magic is like no other. For that matter, neither is her blood.”
“What do you mean?”
“Our hematologist found more than mage blood in her. Something he’s never seen before. He’s asked to study it, but I’m not inclined to allow it until we understand more about where her magic came from. I need to know who her father is.”
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