by SA Magnusson
It looked like there had to be something more John Adams would be after than just causing trouble at the hospital. And I thought I knew what it was.
“I need to get back home,” I said.
“Are you sure? I don’t know if it’s safe for you to be on your own.”
I patted the pouch Matt had given me. I still had the coins in there, and was thankful I had all of the spells, more so now than I had been before. I would be even more thankful if I knew how to create spells on my own.
Even if there wasn’t any way for me to do a lot with them, I couldn’t help but think there would be value in being able to do so.
“You made sure I had some protection. Besides, I need to be back before Roberts wakes up.”
“Fine,” Matt said.
“If you can sneak into the hospital and see if there’s any way for you to help the others, it would be great.”
It seemed to have the desired effect, and he took a deep breath before nodding. “I’ll see what I do. I make no promises I will be able to help them, but there might be something I can do if he used one of the traditional spells on them.”
“What sort of spell do you think he might have used?”
“To knock someone out and keep them out? There are a few spells like that. Unfortunately, many are harsh, the type of spell someone without any magical healing wouldn’t be able to withstand.”
“Would it stop a mage’s ability to heal?”
“It would delay them, but no more than that. Eventually, with some of them, the power within the spell we use is enough to overpower what the person can resist. Like I said, I’ll do what I can.”
And if he couldn’t, then I would have another reason to reach out to Barden.
We made our way through the hall, and as we did, I felt the effect of his spells washing over me again, the steady triggering I knew would set off each of these strange protections, leading to them forming a painful sense.
“What are you going to do otherwise?” I asked Matt. We had reached the end of the hall, and from here, I was ready for him to transport me.
“I suppose other than trying to help your people, I’m going to see if I can’t find any more of the Shara.”
“Are you sure that’s safe?”
“I’m not without my own defenses.”
“I guess I’m just saying, are you sure it’s safe to go after them? If they are as powerful as it sounds like they are, maybe you should have help before you go after them.”
“Who would you suggest to help me?”
“I don’t know. Who else can you go to? Are there others within your organization you can look to for help?”
He took a deep breath before shaking his head. “We have been working independently, especially since the revelation of what John had been up to. Don’t worry, Dr. Stone, I will be fine.”
With that, he took my hand, and we transported back to the alley outside of the condo. He released me, and I expected Matt to say something, but with a flash, he disappeared again.
I wished there was more I could do, but I needed to sleep and prepare for the next day. And I needed to check on Brad, wanting to return before he awoke.
Still, I couldn’t shake the fact I needed to be doing more than I was. Maybe that was what Matt wanted for me. He might want me to feel compelled to do more than I had been doing.
Heading back into the condo, I fingered the pouch, sorting through it as I checked on the spells; I was hoping I wouldn’t need them again, but struggling with what John Adams was after. As much as anything, I needed to come up with that, if only so I could be ready for what he might try next.
10
Sleep was difficult to find, though some of that might have been the fact I was sitting in the recliner in the living room, watching to see if Roberts would wake up. He had still been dozing when I returned, and I was thankful for that.
After sitting in the chair for the better part of an hour, lying back and trying to find a way to fall asleep, I eventually gave up. There was no point in continuing to struggle when sleep just wouldn’t come for me.
Instead, I went to the kitchen, took a seat at the table, and pulled the coins out of the pouch, setting them on the tabletop. I would try to figure out if there was anything I could uncover about them. It was long past time for me to better understand them. Unfolding the sheet of paper, I stared at it, reading through the description of the spells again. The Sleeper and the Stinger spell had been obvious enough, and having seen the effects upfront and firsthand, I now had a better understanding of how they were used and what they could do. There would be other spells too, and the more I stared at them to read through the descriptions, the less I was able to fully understand what intent they might have. I couldn’t shake the feeling there was the need for me to understand how to make these coins.
Getting to my feet, I went into my bedroom, got a stack of quarters, and returned to the table. I hadn’t used too much power tonight, though more than I had in recent days. There was enough energy that I was tired from continuing to try to use it, the expenditure enough to leave me weakened, but hopefully not so weakened I couldn’t practice.
What was the key to these spells? They stored power. The spell they stored was freely given, trapped within them, and if I could come up with what that might be, then maybe I could figure out a way to re-create it. The only type of magic I could do well—and certainly well enough to place into a spell like this—was triggering.
How would I hold it? That was the question I didn’t understand. As I sorted through the various spells Matt had lent me, I looked for any similarity. None had anything to offer any insight. The shapes were different on each, and it left me questioning whether that was significant.
I stretched out my arms and yawned. As I did, my gaze landed on the bracelet Kate had left for me. The markings on it were different even from those on the coins. Was that significant or not? I no longer knew. And, perhaps it didn’t matter.
There were only a few shapes I knew, and I focused on those. Placing a circle was the easiest, and that was the one I was best equipped to try. Pushing power into the quarter, I focused on creating a circle with it.
I could feel the power flowing out of me, flowing into the quarter, and slowly—steadily—I began to create the pattern, though as I did, I wasn’t sure if it was holding. I had no idea how long it needed to be held in order to become effective. I pushed more and more power into it, holding the circle in place, and as I did, I realized I was drawing upon the power Barden had lent me.
I couldn’t do that. If I did, then I was trapping some of Barden’s magic into what I was doing. What I needed to do was use my own power. I retreated, releasing some of my own magic, and slowly applying pressure into the coin again, this time focusing on what I could summon and not on anything else. If I did this, it wouldn’t have a significant amount of power, but it would all be mine.
Once again, I tried to loop a circle, nothing more complex, just a basic shape, trying to use that to augment and hold the power inside the quarter. It might not be effective, and it might not make a difference, but I thought it was worth trying.
The longer I pushed, the more I felt the circle holding. Could it actually be working? I pushed more and more, continuing to hold onto the power from my spell, and let that loop into the quarter. As it did, I finally released my connection.
The pattern I’d been holding in my mind, the circle, had shifted the contours of the quarter, leaving a large pattern over the surface of the quarter itself. The color of it had changed, going from a silvery color to more of a coppery sheen, as if it had taken on aspects of a penny.
I had no idea if it would even work. Even if it did, the only thing it might do would be to work as a trigger. There wasn’t any use in that, other than if I came across people like Matt and his operatives.
I leaned back, closing my eyes as I drifted. But this wasn’t the most comfortable place, and I sat up, looked around the kitchen, and suddenly
realized someone was there with me.
“Barden?”
He raised a finger to his lips. “I wasn’t trying to wake you—or your friend.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to check on you.” His gaze darted to the stack of coins, and I could see the questions rolling through him. He would want to know more about them, though to be honest, I would also want to know more about them if I were in his shoes. “He gave them to you?”
“He wanted me to be safe.”
“That’s… surprising.”
“That he wanted me to be safe?”
“That he would be willing to provide you with those coins. I imagine the nature of the spells within them is considerable, and with them, there is probably enough that he would be weakened by allowing you to have them.”
“I think he feels a little bit responsible.”
“I doubt that’s the only reason he was willing to give you those.”
I glanced at the stack of coins. The quarter I had changed was among them. “No. I suspect you’re right. I tried to convince him to tell me the secret of how they are made.”
“And were you successful?”
“Not as much as I was hoping. I thought maybe he would reveal something, but he kept it to himself.”
“Why do you have the quarters here?”
I pushed the coin I had changed over to Barden. “I did this. I don’t know if it works or not, but…”
Barden lifted the coin, twisting it as he studied it. He turned it from side to side, the faint kitchen light reflecting off the surface. “You placed a spell into it?”
“Nothing too exciting. I don’t have the spells you do. Mine was more about putting a connection to my triggers into it.”
Barden looked up from the quarter. “This is a trigger?”
I nodded. “Why?”
“Only that your ability to trigger is different from what I do.”
“It seems to be different from what Matt can do, too.”
“Why do you say that?”
I told him about the Shara, and how Matt had brought me with him to trigger the spell, trying to remove any ability of the Shara to track us. As I told him, Barden’s frown continued to deepen.
“I didn’t realize there was another level of operatives,” Barden said.
“I didn’t realize it, either, and I suspect Matt didn’t know how deeply involved they were.”
“How deeply involved were they?”
“Well, to hear him tell of it, it might be complete involvement.”
“Complete?”
“As in, all of the Shara bound to John Adams.”
“That is worrisome.”
“That’s what Matt said.”
Barden held onto the coin. “Do you mind if I keep this?”
I laughed. “I don’t know if you’ll find it all that helpful.”
“Perhaps not, but if it is, and if you were successful in locking a triggering spell into it, then it would have value. As we’ve discovered, you have a knack for that.”
“It’s not particularly useful.”
“On the contrary, if you didn’t have that knack, we might not have been nearly as successful as we were. John Adams might have succeeded in what he was trying to do. Because of your ability to trigger these spells, you have delayed his acquisition of power.”
“You can have it, and I might see if I can make another one.”
“Why the circle with the stars?”
I frowned at him. “Why the what?”
Barden pulled the coin back out, tipping it toward me. “The circle with the three stars. Why that shape?” He brought it closer to his face, staring at it. “From what we’ve been able to determine, there is a purpose to specific patterns, but when it comes to the spells your friend uses, there doesn’t seem to be the same purpose. While I have been able to uncover something about them, I haven’t been able to replicate the way he traps power within the coin.”
I looked back at the coin. I hadn’t realized it was a circle with stars. My attempt had been to place a single circle, nothing more than that. “Maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with the pattern. Maybe it has everything to do with the person who’s placing it.”
Barden looked at the coin. “Why would you say that?”
“I didn’t know what I was doing when I was placing it. I was trying to form a circle, but I didn’t intentionally add any stars. Maybe the stars came from the purpose of the spell. The circle was the pattern I placed, and the stars represented what it did.”
Could that be it? I pulled the other coins out, looking for similarities. As I did, I realized something. Many had large triangles surrounding other symbols inside. And I had thought the complicated nature of the pattern was what was important, but what if that wasn’t it at all? What if the pattern was nothing more than a way of trapping the spell and the intention in the coin?
“Why don’t you try one,” I asked, sliding one of the quarters across the table.
“Dr. Stone, I have attempted this before, but I’ve not found anything to be effective.”
“Just humor me. See what you can do if you put a spell into it.”
“What sort of spell would you like me to try?”
I looked up at him. “Why does that matter?”
“If I am going to place something into the coin—and assuming it’s effective—then it seems to me it should be something you would find beneficial.”
I thought about the various types of spells which might work for me, but none seemed to fit. The Sleeper Matt used had been helpful, and I still had several of those. There were other tormenting kinds of spells, but what if I needed to simply hold somebody but not torment them?
“You have anything that might work to keep somebody from fighting me but not harm them?”
“An interesting request.”
“Unfortunately, most of what Matt provided were torture-based spells.”
“I’m not surprised. It would be easier for them to use to acquire information if they had something that could torment someone.” He stared at the quarter, and cold began to burn up in my wrist. “I might have something effective. I believe your friend Dr. Michaels referred to it as the Paralytic.”
I had heard Kate talking about it before, and I knew how much she hated that spell, the way it had incapacitated her. Yet, the one thing she had told me was it hadn’t been painful.
“That sounds great.”
“Unfortunately, there isn’t anything great about the spell, but I think for what we intend, it will suffice.” Barden flashed a smile, and he pushed power out from him. The quarter began to change. It was subtle, slow at first, and gradually the change became more rapid. The power Barden was able to push into the coin was far more than I had been able to do, and when it was done, he set it on the table, watching it for a long moment.
“Intriguing,” he said.
“What is?”
“The nature of this spell. I did nothing other than push power into it, and I used a shape to try and trap the spell. Surprisingly, it seems as if it has been effective. Look.”
I took the coin, drawing it across the table to me, and studied the surface. On it, there was now an oval with a cross through it, and on either side of the oval were small swirls.
“What shape did you form when you pushed the spell into it?”
“I started with a simple circle, but that didn’t seem to be holding. I had to shift it, adding layers, and that appeared to work.”
“Why was mine able to hold with nothing more than a circle?”
“Perhaps because the spell you used was more attuned to you. Or perhaps the fact that the Paralytic is a more complicated spell, regardless of how easy it is for me to use.”
“Will it work?”
“Try it,” Barden said.
“Barden…”
He smiled, shaking his head. “Don’t worry, Dr. Stone. I’m not terribly concerned about the effects of this spell. I have
practiced enough on myself to know how it feels. Go ahead and try it on me. If it’s effective, it won’t be fatal.”
“If?”
“I can’t say with certainty I was completely effective in diminishing the amount of power I held in it. If you find I stop breathing, use that,” he said, pointing to the necklace, “and place this pattern around me.” He pulled a pen from his pocket, along with the sheet of paper, and scratched a quick shape. It looked like two triangles with the tips of each point touching. “It should disrupt the spell, but it’s possible it won’t be completely effective.”
“You’re not reassuring me.”
“I have faith in you, Dr. Stone.”
I held the coin in my hand. He was right—we did need to test this to see if it was effective, and if it was, then it would be far more useful for me, especially if I were able to have something that would hold somebody without tormenting them. We also needed to know how long it would hold out. These spells had various durations of action, and I didn’t have any idea of how long this one would last, though against Barden, the person who had placed it, I still might not be able to determine that.
Drawing upon magic, I triggered the coin. As I did, I focused on Barden.
He gasped and went completely stiff. As he watched, I first made sure he was breathing, letting my emergency medicine training guide me. Thankfully, it looked like he breathed, but everything else within him was completely rigid.
Kate had called it the Paralytic, which implied the recipient would not be able to move, and while that appeared to be the case, it was more than just a paralysis. It was a rigidity.
I waited, worried Barden was going to stop breathing, but a surge of cold along my wrist told me he was using a spell. As it faded, he took a deep breath and sat upright.
He flashed a weary smile. “I do forget how that feels, so I suppose it is beneficial for me to have a reminder every now and again.”
“How does it feel?”
“There is a certain helplessness. I would offer to demonstrate, but I don’t think you need a reminder of helplessness, Dr. Stone.”