He jabbed his pistol at them.
“I said freeze! Next person that so much as sneezes is going to get a face full of lead.
Sami’s arms radiated the familiar light and glow, but by falling backwards, her parents had put themselves out of range of protection if she cast her familiar protection spell. They would be blown back in the magic blast with these two mysterious agents. She didn’t know any other spells, so she was powerless to do anything. She glanced at the two White Cloak visitors seated nearby. They did not appear to be preparing to fight or cast…these guys had the drop on them. For a long moment, no one spoke. The men in overcoats stood there pointing their guns from one person to the next in the small living room. Then the man wearing the broken sunglasses pointed his gun at Sami.
“Where is it, wench?”
“That is no way to talk to a—” Mary Proctor started to protest, but stopped short when he pointed the gun back at her.
“Start talkin’,” he cocked his gun, “or the hippy slut gets a bullet to the head.”
“No, no, no. I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sami put her hands out noticing that the glow had subsided and her arms were white flesh again.
The man’s face twisted in anger and he stepped closer to Mary.
“You’ve got three seconds to give me the violin. One.”
Bekkan looked at Bokaj. By attempting to take the artifact, this man had put himself in their jurisdiction. They would act now…but before they could, RayRay appeared in the doorway to the next room.
“Okay, all, nothing to worry yourselves over,” he laughed wringing his hands, “the lid is in the down position.”
The man with the raised gun swung toward RayRay and squeezed the trigger. Mary Proctor shrieked. Sami’s arms flared with the glowing magic symbols she’d been born with and held them out. And that was when Mikki hopped out of the backpack laying next to Sami and touched her arm. In a whoosh, the world around Sami became a blur of super slow motion. Candles flickered to and fro like tiny orange metronomes, people’s mouths and eyelids were agape and the shocking moment was frozen. Mikki had done it again. Somehow the squirrel monkey…er, creature…had sped Sami up. She remembered she had less than a minute to do something. She pulled Mikki up on her back and maintained skin-to-skin contact by having her hold her neck. She looked at the molasses-like scene around her and saw the bullet emerging from the first overcoat guy’s gun. It was the fastest moving object in the room, but Sami was faster. She reached out and flicked the bullet with her finger. It went flying off at an angle away from everyone else.
Okay, RayRay was out of imminent danger, but there was no guarantee the guy would start firing again as soon as the magic speedup wore off. Neutralize the threat. Sami jumped over to the stove and grabbed a piece of wood. She slammed it into the back of the guy’s head. Nothing happened. Or rather, nothing happened very fast. But she saw that his eyes had started rolling back in his head and he was beginning to slump to the ground. She pried his gun out of his hand as he drifted to the ground.
She turned to the second guy and saw that he had his gun drawn and pointed at his partner. He’d been planning on shooting the broken sunglasses man…but he hadn’t pulled the trigger yet. She took his gun as well and tucked them into her backpack. She held the log up again.
“Sorry,” she said before pummeling him, “you might be a good guy, but I can’t take any chances.”
The second man went down in almost hilarious slow motion too. Sami realized she had been sped up for much longer than back at the vet school lab at U.T. Was this an effect of being at The Farm? She knew it was a magical place…maybe there was something to that. There was another question for her Ask Mom and Dad list.
No time for that now. She grabbed the first man who had been aiming at RayRay. It felt like the guy weighed two hundred pounds. Thankfully, he wasn’t fighting back at this point. She dragged him by the heels out the front door and leaned him over and dumped him into her mother’s wheelbarrow. She repeated the process with the second guy until she had a wheelbarrow full of men in black.
She almost ran back inside to ask for help, but remembered that everyone was frozen.
“What the heck am I gonna do with these two?” she asked the air around her.
That’s when she noticed the raindrops. They dropped toward the ground like a leaf settling in a vacuum. She had trouble remembering that she was sped up; the world hadn’t actually slowed down. She reached out and touched a big drop. It burst open like a flower blooming in the morning sun and the smaller drops drifted out from it in a strange sprinkling slow motion.
“Mikki…sweeeppyy.”
Mikki groaned from behind her neck, startling her. She had almost forgotten that she was hanging on there. And she sounded very sleepy indeed. Hurry, gotta hurry.
She hauled the wheelbarrow up and began to trudge the two mannequin-esque men in overcoats down the bumpy path. In the darkness ahead, behind the welcome center, she saw what she needed. A large green dumpster labeled Middle Tennessee Waste Connection. It was rough going and she was sure she was going to slow down to her normal speed at any second, but she managed to reach the trash bin in time. She unceremoniously dumped the two men through the sliding door on the side and slammed the screeching metal shut. The door had an old school locker lock on it kept open most of the time. She clicked it shut and whizzed the wheel around to scramble the combination. As she did, the world whooshed ahead and she had the distinct sensation of stepping off an escalator from a fast moving tread to the stationary landing. The rain, which had been falling in slow motion, began to pour down on her in sheets. Inside the dumpster, she heard the muffled shouts of the two men.
“What the hell just happened?” she heard the man who’d been pointing the gun at her yell.
“Not sure,” the other man said, “let’s keep calm and see if we can get out of here.”
“The hell I’ll keep calm.”
Sami heard their futile tugging and the sound of something slamming angrily into the inside of the metal container. She started jogging back down the trail when she heard the noises escalate. She wasn’t sure how long the dumpster would hold them and didn’t care to wait to find out.
On her shoulders, she felt Mikki snoring against her neck. Poor thing. She’s worn out from the effort of speeding me up. Sweet thing has earned a few extra Milky Ways and Dr. Peppers.
She burst through the door of her parent’s house and found everyone in complete shock.
“How in the world did you do that?” Mary Proctor’s face was a mask of utter disbelief.
“That was very impressive, sis.” RayRay chimed in.
“Sami, did you learn a disappearance spell?” Wilmot looked flabbergasted too.
“No, she didn’t.” Everyone turned toward Bekkan.
Bokaj said nothing; he nodded in agreement with his associate.
Sami looked from one White Cloak to the other. She swallowed hard wondering if she was in a lot more trouble now. Bekkan stood and reached out a hand toward Sami. She backed away instinctively.
“Don’t worry, child,” his eyes flicked toward Mikki, wrapped around Sami’s neck and purring, “I’m not going to hurt you. I only want to see your TikTuk.”
“My what what?”
Bekkan brushed his hand down the back of Mikki’s head and neck. She smiled in her sleep and leaned into his touch.
“The creature on your neck is a TikTuk,” Bekkan petted Mikki once more then moved to sit back down, “and it appears that she has chosen you.”
“TikTuk? Chosen me? What the heck does that mean?”
Bokaj spoke up, “A TikTuk is very particular about who they will bond with. Sometimes you can earn their trust with a proper gift or some trinket they want.”
Sami thought back to the Milky Ways and Dr. Pepper. A proper gift indeed.
“Once bonded,” he continued, “they will not enhance anyone else. It is very likely that she will never leave your side.”
>
“Enhance?” Sami arched an eyebrow.
“Surely, you noticed an enhancement of your speed when she touched you?” Bekkan asked.
“I did.”
“It is not known how long the enhanced speed will last, nor is it known if the TikTuk controls this or not. Some say it will last as long as the TikTuk can maintain it. Others say it is only when they are in direct contact with the skin. You now have more working knowledge of the actual enhancement than any other living person now.”
“Yes, it only happens when she’s touching me.”
Bokaj made a thoughtful grunting noise, “They are exceedingly rare. I am quite surprised that this one was seen by people. They are experts at being unseen. Typically, they prefer to keep to the center of the Fera Caulla.”
“Fera Caulla?” Sami was completely confused.
The two White Cloaks exchanged a worried glance. Bekkan was the first to speak.
“This creature—”
“Her name is Mikki.”
“Oh, yes, of course. Mikki was most likely a resident of the Fera Caulla. Animals can also be born with powers. And for some reason we do not yet understand, they all prefer one Caulla over any other.”
“The furry Caulla? Interesti—.”
“Fera Caulla,” Bekkan corrected her.
“Sure, whatever,” Sami waved him off, “And I didn’t search for her by any means. I found Mikki at the vet school at U.T. She was in the lab, a surrender.”
Bekkan considered this for a moment.
“Soooo, is anyone going to bother telling us what is happening here?” Mary was gripping Wilmot’s hand and wringing it as she spoke.
“Our first concern is that the artifact is safe.”
Bekkan tapped the well-worn violin case that was now sitting next to him. He shot a glance toward RayRay, but of course, it was lost on him. RayRay was listening and seemed to understand that he’d been called out. He swallowed hard.
“Perhaps it would be best if it didn’t return to the university with me.”
“It most certainly would be best,” Bekkan agreed, “Wilmot, we would like to see your studies on the artifact and the effect of the Caulla here on its power.”
“Of course,” Wilmot nodded.
Sami began to piece together why her family had been entrusted with the artifact. Whatever power it held would be much more intense near the rural Caulla found at The Farm. The magic of Caullas permeated the air and the ground around them and would likely have a profound effect on the violin and its ability to…Hmm, I’m not even sure what it does. Maybe the White Cloaks aren’t either and so they've had dad studying it to figure it out. That would explain why it wasn't whisked away from The Farm.
“Our second concern,” he turned to face Sami, “is the reckless use of magic that your daughter has been displaying in front of every Bland she can find.”
He said Bland—the term the Cloaks used for non-magic users—with obvious disdain.
“Now, you know that’s not fair,” Sami protested.
Bokaj held up a hand, “and we have seen that your decisions to use it have been wise and not altogether unfounded. But it is now very clear that humans are beginning to notice you.”
He reached into the folds of his robe and pulled out a cell phone. It looked very anachronistic with his attire. He clicked a few buttons and turned the screen to face her. In a blurry, shaky video clip on Instagram, Sami watched a few seconds of her spell casting display beneath the Sunsphere.
Mary Proctor put her hand over her mouth and whispered, “Oh dear. I never knew you could do that, Sami.”
“Neither did I. It just sort of happened.”
“The comments indicate that most of the five-thousand and seventy-two people who have seen the video assume it is a fake, much like the YouTube exploits of Dude Perfect.”
“Dude Perfect?” Wilmot interjected.
“An internet superstar who performs incredible feats of athleticism,” Bekkan explained.
“Did you see the one where he dropped the basketball from the blimp and it went through the goal on the ground?” RayRay was grinning from ear to ear.
“Yes, amazing.” Bokaj looked at RayRay. “I must believe they used some magic, or at the very least some camera tricker—”
His voice trailed off as he realized he was talking about the video with someone who could not see.
“But…how did you…see it?”
“Sadly, I did not,” RayRay shrugged. “The captions described the events of the video to me as it played. It must be incredible to watch.”
“It is.”
The odd silence that finds every conversation settled into the room. The only sound was RayRay slurping the last of his tea.
“What about Mikki?” Sami finally asked the question that had been worrying her since the White Cloaks had brought it up. “Will she have to go back to the furry Caulla or whatever it is?”
“The Fera Caulla,” Bekkan sighed, “and I should think we will have to take the matter up with him. But from what little I know of TikTuks, her bond with you is permanent. She will not leave you of her own free will. Ever.”
Sami looked down at the creature curled into a ball in her lap and smiled.
“We will look into returning her—”
Sami felt a sudden fierceness leap into her voice. She thought it must be some kind of mama bear instinct.
“She stays. With me.”
Bokaj started to say something and Bekkan laid his hand on his arm to silence him.
“Of course.”
“Well, I for one am ready for bed,” Mary Proctor broke into the conversation, “Honey, aren’t you getting a little sleepy too?”
Wilmot Proctor didn’t seem tired at all. “Heck no, I’m enjoying all this. I haven’t felt this energized since we came to The Farm back in 1971.”
Apparently, there was a hint that he wasn’t getting. Mary elbowed him in the ribs pretty hard.
“On second thought,” he wheezed, “I could definitely use some shut eye. Friends, you’re welcome to crash here for the evening and we’ll talk about the violin in the morning over some fresh eggs and broccoli.”
“Sounds wonderful.” Bekkan stood up. “Might I use the facilities?”
“Facilities?” Mary looked dumbfounded.
“He means the bathroom, mom.” Sami smiled.
“Oh, by all means.” She pointed toward a door that led out to the outhouse.
As Bekkan walked through it, RayRay, Wilmot, and Bokaj all said in unison, “Be sure to put the lid down.”
Sami laughed as Mary blushed.
10
Matilde Is Missing
Agent Carter Cross brushed the rotten banana peel off his shoulder. He and his colleague, who was still knocked out from the fall into the garbage truck when the dumpster had been emptied, were in the middle of a massive muck-filled lake of trash. It was green, black, and yellow goop and the smell was something that Carter had not expected. In a horrendous turn of luck, the truck had hauled them away from The Farm and brought them to a landfill in the middle of nowhere. He clicked open his cell phone. He glanced at the top line and saw exactly zero bars indicating that he had no service. Figures. Who would need service in a dump?
A groan came from his partner and he turned to look down at him. He thought long and hard about abandoning the man here…but he wasn’t dead and if he found out Carter had left him, he’d do something insane to him.
“You okay?” he asked the man.
“My freakin’ head is killin’ me. I don’t remember gettin’ hit.”
Carter rubbed the back of his neck. He had a similar pain and even a small smudge of blood in his hair, but he didn’t remember the hit either.
“Someone attacked us. I don’t know how and I don’t know who did it, but they got to us somehow. When we weren’t looking, somebody jumped us back at that farm.”
“I’ll kill the whore.”
“I don’t know if it was her or—”<
br />
“I’ll murder the bitch if it’s the last thing I do.” The man stood and shook the garbage off his overcoat. He glanced around the massive mounds of trash. “Where the hell are we?”
“Landfill. Not sure where.”
Carter’s colleague with the broken sunglasses and the messed up eye pulled out his cell phone.
“Tried that. No service.”
“Oh, for the love of God!” The man hurled his phone as far as he could. “Middle of freakin’ nowhere!”
Now, that’s a bit of an extreme reaction, thought Carter but he did his best to ignore it.
He looked up at a ridge behind them. There were several colossal piles of garbage ready to be bulldozed into the crater they were standing in and past that, there was a trailer that likely had an office inside. And where there’s an office, there’s usually a phone.
“Let’s get up this hill,” Carter pointed at the trailer, “I’m sure there’s a phone in there we can use. Get a call in to Elke. See what’s next.”
“What’s next is we go back to that tree-huggin’ hippy farm and grab that whore. You heard Elke, get the violin or don’t bother comin’ back.”
The man started hiking toward the ridge. Carter followed him. This situation was out of hand. He needed to get to the phone first and figure out how to tell Elke his partner had lost it and was headed into madman territory. Carter was going to take control of this op one way or another.
RayRay Proctor ate breakfast like someone who’d been on a deserted island scraping together meals from coconuts, raw fish, and bits of bark. Bekkan and Bokaj ate the eggs readily enough, but both of them pushed the broccoli from one side of their plates to the other.
“You gonna eat that broccoli?” RayRay asked one of them.
“How did you…?” Bekkan started, but Bokaj raised a hand.
“All yours, RayRay,” he shoveled the green sprouts off his plate and onto RayRay’s. Bekkan did the same.
“Don’t you boys like veggies?” Mary put her hands on her hips and gave them a terrific mom glare.
“It’s not that,” Bekkan protested, “it’s not a typical breakfast food that we’ve become accustomed to during our stay here on Earth.”
Spell Song: An Enchanting Urban Fantasy Page 7