The Salem Concord Book 1: Interview for a Wizard

by J. A. Areces

  ***

  It was 8:00 a.m. on Jesse’s watch. He glanced at it again just to make sure. Where was Cindy? Jesse sat outside of the Deli on his bike, glancing at his watch every few minutes, as he anxiously waited for Cindy to arrive. Cindy was usually at work by now. He was hoping to spend a few minutes with her before he met the wizard. Clearly, that wasn’t going to happen. Another waitress was tending to the few guests that hurried in and out on their way to work or wherever they needed to be. Jesse finally gave up, strapped his helmet back on, and slowly drove away.

  Jesse drove up to Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store. He parked around the back as usual, and dragged himself down the sidewalk to the café where he found Beifar sitting at an outdoor table. He was sipping from a hot cup of coffee. He wore his grey, pointy hat; long, black cloak; a clean, light-grey shirt; and dark, striped pants -- his staff by his side. As Jesse approached and obtained a better view of the wizard, he stopped. The wizard looked terrible. He looked like he was used as a punching bag. Jesse sat across from the wizard and placed his helmet on the floor. Immediately, the same waitress as the day before came with a glass of milk and a huge delicious breakfast.

  “Thank you, June.” The wizard said with a slight wink that hurt.

  “More coffee?” she asked.

  The wizard cautiously nodded yes.

  “What happened to you?” Jesse finally asked with a mouthful of breakfast after coming up for air from his plate.

  “An old rival,” Beifar answered, “he got the best of me. And I think he knows more than he led on.” The wizard drank more coffee. “This is getting difficult, Jesse. I am certain that Mr. Claw is planning something menacing. If we don’t stop him, I’m afraid that a lot of people are going to get hurt.” He leaned forward toward Jesse and lowered his voice. “Mr. Claw is in possession of an illegal herb called Dragon Breath. It can be used as a weapon of mass destruction. I think he’s going to use it by Halloween night.”

  Jesse listened intently, completely focused on nothing else, as Beifar related the events that transpired. It was as if he was there observing everything. He even found himself laughing at Yolanda Roundbottom skipping around the house in her witch’s outfit and, what he mentally pictured as, her expressions to the wizard’s comments. However, the wizard didn’t find anything humorous. He was clearly distressed. Beifar Mahgo was running out of time, and without a strong lead, the wizard was rightfully worried.

  “I miss my family.” He whispered. “I’ve been away more than I like.”

  “Why don’t you go home and visit them?” asked Jesse.

  “I can’t. My wife doesn’t know that I’m a secret agent. Nope, she thinks that I’m at a business meeting. If she found out that I was still in the Department, she would kill me.”

  Jesse smiled. “So wizards have the same family problems as everyone else?”

  Beifar leaned back in his chair, sighing.

  “Why you, Beifar? Why were you picked for this case?” Jesse asked.

  “Mr. Claw killed, or ordered killed, any agent that dealt with him back in the past - - anyone that was in one way or another involved in his arrest. I wasn’t a part of that case. I’ve never seen him, not even a picture.” Beifar drank more coffee. “Anyone who even glanced at him was killed. Innocent people were lost. All were murdered within the first six months after he escaped.”

  “How?” asked Jesse.

  “They were scared to death.”

  Jesse choked. “I was almost scared to death! Last night I dreamed of Ira Lefkoff.”

  “Who is Ira Lefkoff?”

  Now it was Jesse’s turn to bring the wizard up to date with the strange occurrences of last night. The wizard listened closely, but couldn’t put anything together. The only thing he found in common with Mr. Claw was that the murders occurred every six months. No doubt Mr. Claw was somehow involved.

  When Jesse finished, they both sat back in their chairs. They were quiet for a long time, each lost in thought.

  “How did you become a wizard?” asked Jesse.

  The process continued.

  The wizard drank a mouthful of coffee squinting as he swallowed. He waited for some relief to take place before he spoke. “You don’t become a wizard,” Beifar said, “one just is. One day you suddenly realize that you’re a wizard. You can do things others can’t. Something inside of you comes alive and you can’t stop it. It’s all you want to do. I guess it’s like being an artist. One day you pick up a pencil and begin to draw something, and it ignites the imagination, so you continue drawing, and you get better and better, and then you realize you’re an artist. You practice and study and practice and study, and before you know it you’re an excellent artist. Then you discover that others would love to draw, but they can’t. How they would give anything to draw, they practice for hours, and they’re stuck at stick figures. Others tell you that you have a great gift and are very talented. You wake up one morning knowing that you’re an artist or in my case, a wizard. It is a great gift. It doesn’t make me any better than anyone else, at least I don’t think so, but unfortunately not all Wizardry think like I do.

  “My grandfather was a wizard. I remember as a very young boy playing with his hat and staff, and causing all sorts of trouble around the house. He gave me my first broom, an old, rough, novice flying broom that couldn’t soar higher than ten feet off the ground, and it was extremely slow. I’m the only one in my family who is a wizard. My two older brothers are just plain Folk. Whenever I gave them a ride on that old broom, it barely rose four feet off the ground, and it moved slower than my rusty bike. As for my own kids, they don’t seem to be wizards either, even though they can do the Exercises…”

  ‘What Exercises?” Jesse interrupted.

  “Well, that’s what we call it at home. It’s a basic energy Excerises. You learn how to be in touch with your own inner energy. You see, what the wizard, or witch, learns to do is harness energy. We do that in several different ways -- spells, chants and so forth, but the most important way is to be in constant awareness of our own energy, our aura. To let that awareness down in a duel can mean life or death. The greater the awareness - - the greater the wizard. As a secret agent, I’ve been taught to master my energy. I went through the most grueling and intolerable training. It would drive the average wizard just plain Folksy. Training took place at all hours, in different climates and different environments, even under water. It was not easy. We are considered the best of the best. And yet, even with all of our abilities, Claw has been able to outsmart us.” There was silence again.

  “You know,” Jesse finally broke the silence. “When I played football, we did a whole bunch of physical and mental exercises. Our coach was a real tough guy and he taught us to focus our energy during the game and at just the right moment use it to intimidate the other team. We did this by reaching into our gut and yelling as loud as we could at the command.”

  “The command?”

  “Yeah, it was really cool.” Jesse sat up straight as he proudly explained. “Whenever he felt that we were losing our focus, and we were mentally out of the game, he would shout, DO IT!”

  The shout startled Beifar. “Do it?”

  “That’s it. He would shout DO IT, and we would all yell as loud as we could. It would scare the pants off the other team, and we really got pumped up for the next play. It never failed. It was how we won the game that got us into the regionals. I never yelled so loud. My body was sore the next day. I though I pulled a muscle in my neck. I don’t know if I could yell that way again?”

  Beifar blinked, “That is not what I am talking about. Not even close, but I’ll keep that in mind if I ever feel I have to psych somebody out.”

  “You know what’s funny?” Jesse laughed. “No matter where I am, if I hear someone say DO IT, I find myself wanting to yell. It’s so ingrained in my mind that it’s awful.”

&nb
sp; Beifar didn’t say a word.

  “What’s one of the basic Exercises?” The question just came out without Jesse realizing it. “I mean, if someone like me wanted to see if they were a wizard, not that I would, of course, what would they have to be able to do first to become aware of their energy? Understand, not me, but someone like me who never heard of wizards and stuff, and was somehow now interested, eh…. you know what I mean?”

  “One of the basic Exercises is like this.” The wizard put down his coffee mug, and stretched out his hand. “Do this,” he instructed.

  Jesse stretched out his hand before him.

  “I want you to feel your index finger without touching it.”

  “What?” Jesse concentrated as he looked at his finger. “I can’t do that.”

  “Shhhhhhhh, just concentrate.”

  A minute passed and then another and then another, five, ten, fifteen - - nothing happened. Beifar just sat patiently studying Jesse closely.

  “I don’t get it?”

  “Well, when you do, let me know.” Beifar said. Jesse dropped his hand and started with the other.

  “Tell me about last night again, but slower, give me all the details?”

  Jesse started all over. He explained how he searched the Internet for more info on the previous owner and the results of the murder trial; how all the victims died of a heart attack induced by fright; and how he was almost scared to death in his dream. Oh, and, how he broke another answering machine. He even complained about how much he disliked having to record a new message.

  “Did you go out for dinner? Maybe he came in while you were out?”

  “No,” answered Jesse, he still held his hand out. “I ordered pizza. I was starving, and I ate the whole thing.” He smiled to himself. Jesse loved pizza, especially with a lot of cheese.

  “Maybe what you ate was what caused the nightmare. You ate too much pizza.”

  Jesse shrugged. “It’s never happened before.”

  “More coffee?” asked the waitress. She held the coffee mug ready to serve the wizard another cup. He shook his head slightly and smiled. “I didn’t think so.” Then she placed the bill on the center of the table, “I’ll take that when you’re ready.” She turned and went back to her duties.

  Beifar glanced over the bill. His eyebrows rose, “I can’t believe it. I never realized they charge for refills. I drank five cups of coffee. I won’t be able to fall asleep for a week.”

  Jesse finally dropped his hand. Whatever the Excerises was, it wasn’t working for him. The only thing he felt was pain in his shoulder for having his arm extended much too long. And come to think about it, the wizard did drink too much coffee. What was that all about, Jesse thought? He wasn’t going to ask. Jesse glanced at this wristwatch only to discover that most of the morning was gone. He spent more time than he expected with the wizard. He reached over and grabbed his helmet in one swift move as he rotated his body and quickly stood. Jesse felt his head spin; like when you jump off the spinning wheel at the park and your stomach hasn’t caught up with the brain. The entire coffee shop spun around like a top. Even the wizard whirled around.

  Jesse was back inside Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store standing in front of the door. He reached for the door handle and opened it to find Ira Lefkoff standing before him dressed in prison clothes. The skinny old man opened his mouth. Jesse felt the stale breath brush his face, and then the old man’s mouth began to widen till it was covering Jesse’s head. Jesse gave out a cry that startled everyone at the coffee shop, causing them to jump. Cups and plates toppled over crashing hard into tiny pieces. Beifar leapt to his feet clutching his staff. Jesse collapsed without any warning. The chair broke his fall preventing him from striking his head hard on the pavement. One lady screamed and another cried for help. The waitress franticly ran over wanting to help, a wet rag in her hands, not knowing what to do. The wizard quickly bent over the boy. He slowly whispered a few strange words as he held his staff in one hand and waved the other over Jesse’s head. He repeated the action several times expecting a reaction from Jesse.

  Jesse blinked and woke up. At first he looked confused, but as Beifar helped him up to his feet, he regained himself. Those around him repeatedly asked if he was all right, and Jesse assured them that he was, as he nodded and smiled. Slowly, everyone returned to his or her place, including the waitress, and after a few moments everything was back to normal.

  “It just happened again! I suffered that strange dream again. I thought I was going to die!” He went to reach for his helmet but hesitated. Very slowly and carefully he took it in his hands. “What’s going on Beifar?”

  The wizard reached into his pant pocket, pulled out some money and paid the bill at the table. “Let’s go back to the store.” He instructed.

  Jesse agreed and began to walk towards the store. The wizard stood waiting. Jesse looked back, “Oh, all right, you’re invited to Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store!”

  Jesse opened the front door to Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store with the key, and entered. The small bell that hung from the door handle swung from side to side and announced that someone was coming in. Beifar followed behind.

  “WHOA!” exclaimed Jesse, “Where did this come from?” Jesse placed his helmet behind the desk and quickly made his way to the center of the room.

  Beifar looked very surprised. “It’s a crystal ball!” He cautiously made his way toward it. “This shouldn’t be here.”

  The crystal ball was huge. It was too large for Jesse to wrap his arms around. He attempted twice with no success. A large iron cast pedestal, that wrapped the lower end of the crystal ball with dragon like wings and heads, held it up. Each of the seven heads faced outward in different directions with open mouth and large teeth. Each head was a different and distinct dragon; their seven bodies stretched down to form the pedestal; ending in dragon claws that curled to grip the floor beneath it. The wizard Beifar bent down and read the tag that was tied to one of the claws. Lord Alex Distribution Inc. “What is going on here?” He asked perplexed.

  “This is so awesome!” Jesse kept walking around the extremely large crystal ball, when he suddenly remembered, “Oh, the laptop.” He quickly went to his desk and turned it on. The familiar sounds could be quickly heard as the wizard stood before the crystal ball stroking his grey goatee in wonder.

  POP

  An instant message window came up on the desktop screen. Jesse and the wizard both turned toward the laptop.

 

  CLAW: Good morning, Jesse.

  JESSE: Good morning, Mr. Claw. “This is surprising.”

  CLAW: You have seen the new arrival? I’m sure you have, it’s quite large and intimidating.

  JESSE: It’s beautiful.

  CLAW: Yes, it is. I do not want it sold. It is for my private collection. Keep it safe.

  “Strange," Jesse whispered to the wizard.

  JESSE: I’ll take care of it.

  CLAW: Excellent. Remember to look for your bonus in this week’s paycheck.

  There was something about the Halloween bonus that just didn’t settle well with Jesse this time. He experienced an overwhelming feeling that he was being paid off or distracted. Or, maybe it was just how he was feeling about everything -- especially now that a huge crystal ball was sitting in the middle of the store. Jesse’s mind was racing with questions.

  How did the crystal ball get in the store? There was no way that it was able to fit through any of the doors or windows. What private collection? What about…

  Claw has just signed off.

  During Jesse’s instant message conversation, Beifar carefully examined every angle of the crystal ball without touching it. He tapped it with his staff, listened to it, and even breathed on it, but nothing happened. He did not discover anything unusual at all. It was a crystal ball.

  “It’s
against regulations to let a magical crystal ball fall into the hands of Folk.” He advised Jesse. “The problem is that I just don’t know if this crystal ball has any magical abilities or not? I would have to take it back to the Department or bring an expert over here to examine it.”

  The door to Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store opened abruptly as the bell ran furiously. A dirty man dressed in rags staggered into the store. His hair was a mess, uncombed and tangled. His torn cloths smelled, causing Jesse to cover his nose and protect himself from the man’s stench. He was the homeless man Jesse encountered on his porch last night.

  He immediately smiled as he caught sight of the crystal ball. He clapped as he giddily shuffled around the room. “It’s here, just like I dreamed. It’s here! Now my dreams will stop and I won’t be scared any longer.”

  “What do you mean?” Beifar asked as he gently pushed the man back away from the crystal ball.

  “What kind of dream?” Jesse inquired, intrigued.

  “I have terrible dreams every time I sleep,” cried the homeless man. “They started last night after I spoke to you. Terrible, horrible dreams that scared me almost to death,” the man’s face turned from sadness to smiles as he continued, “and then today while I was napping, I heard a voice that told me that I needed to find the crystal ball for the dreams to leave me. I found it, and now I will be free.”

  The bell rang again as the door to the store opened. Jesse recognized the young man that came in as the delivery boy from last night. He looked terribly tired, with large dark bags under his eyes. “Do I look that bad?” he asked everyone as he drew all their attention and stares. “I can’t believe it!” he exclaimed as he threw his arms up over his head. “I can’t believe this is really happening.”

  Jesse approached him, “What?”

  “I’ve suffered terrible nightmares all night, almost scaring me to death, I couldn’t sleep.” He paused and brushed his tangled hair back away from his face with his fingers. “And then, just a little bit ago I took a little nap to catch up, and heard a voice in my sleep telling me to come here and find this,” he pointed to the crystal ball, “and that my nightmares would go away.”

  Jesse turned to the wizard, “How come I haven’t heard the voice?” he asked Beifar, somewhat disappointed.