Mana Dissociation

by Christopher George

  “Would you like anything to drink? Or to eat?” he asked gently.

  I was about to say no, but then my stomach rumbled and I realized how hungry I was. It took several seconds for me to register what my gut was trying to tell me. Just yesterday, the idea of food had seemed repugnant.

  “Yes, please,” I sighed, “Food would be good.” I didn’t even care what type of food they brought.

  “Very well,” he continued as he shuffled through some files as he made his way to the other side the table, “Food will be delivered, but until then we may as well begin.”

  He sat down and began to reorganise his files again. It seemed like it was taking him ages to get ready. Eventually, he seemed to have gotten himself in order.

  “Can you please repeat your name for the record please?”

  “Jessica Wright,” I declared.

  “Thank you,” the man continued, “My name is Agent Perry, by the way. I’m a police psychologist.”

  Before I could ask why I was talking to a police psychologist, he continued with his questions.

  “You work for a software company called Interlink Dynamics, correct?”

  I nodded in agreement, but, apparently, this wasn’t allowed. “Please answer all questions verbally,” Agent Perry interjected.

  “That’s correct.” I confirmed loudly.

  “And how long were you supposed to be staying the United Kingdom?”

  “The project was only supposed to be for a month.”

  “And who else was sent with you?” Agent Perry continued.

  “Karen West and Aiden Penderghast.”

  I thought he was going to ask me further questions about work, but he seemed to switch topics.

  “You were involved in a car accident on your second night here, correct?”

  “Yes, I ran out onto the street in front of a car.”

  “That doesn’t sound smart,” Agent Perry commented, “Didn’t you look before you crossed?”

  “I looked the wrong way,” I admitted softly, “I’m not used to cars being on the left.”

  “Oh,” he continued, “and you were saved by Mr Penderghast?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know.” I admitted, “Something to do with mana. He lifted the car over me.”

  “Really, Miss Wright?” Agent Perry murmured with disbelief, “He lifted a car?

  “I don’t know how,” I lied. I still wasn’t sure who these people were and I wasn’t prepared to admit to a psychologist that I believed in magic. Agent Perry made a clucking noise with his mouth and made a note on his paperwork. I didn’t even try to see what he’d written.

  “Tell me, Miss Wright,” he began, “Do you partake in recreational drug use?”

  “No!” I exclaimed in surprised. Where the hell had this come from?

  “Then, can you explain why, when we tested your blood, we found several illegal compounds?”

  I was flabbergasted, “No, no, what? Really? I can’t? When? What drugs?”

  My string of questions didn’t seem to faze him any. He simply shuffled through his damned papers again until he found the right page.

  “Hallucinogens, mostly,” he informed me, “You were quite out of it when our forces recovered you.”

  “I don’t know how. I’ve never taken drugs.”

  I wasn’t going to mention that I’d tried a little pot in college. That couldn’t be relevant. Besides, that seemed like a lifetime ago.

  “Well, you won’t be able to say that any longer,” Agent Perry smiled gently.

  I sat back in my chair. What the hell was going on?

  “It’s not surprising that you’re disoriented, Miss Wright. It’s understandable. Given the circumstances, we’re not going to charge you with any crime. In fact, as far as we can tell, you were the victim of the whole situation.”

  I didn’t answer. This was the last thing that I had expected.

  “We have a theory, if you would like to hear it. I think it might help you determine what’s real from the drug addled fiction that you’ve experienced over the past few days.”

  I nodded eagerly. This made sense. This explained perfectly why I was seeing things that I shouldn’t be seeing, and people were doing things that weren’t possible. It also explained why I was seeing strange lights on my skin. I had a fool to even entertain the idea in the first place.

  Magic didn’t exist. Of course, it didn’t exist. How could it? Someone would have learned about it by now and it would be common knowledge.

  I glanced down on my wrist. I saw mana particles casually swirling up my arm. That was strange. The mana seemed much more placid than they had been over the few days. I immediately discounted that. They were nothing more than a hallucination anyway. It had always only been in my head. Once the drugs left my system, the lights would disappear.

  “Our theory is that Mr Penderghast slipped something into your drink.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “Miss Wright, you might want to prepare yourself what I’m about to say next. You were found in a hotel room, hundreds of miles from where you were supposed to be, high on a cocktail of drugs.”

  My blood went cold, “Are you saying….”

  I couldn’t even finish the sentence. I couldn’t believe it. I’d always heard about it happening to people, but you never think that it’s going to happen to you. Aiden had always been an odd sort, but he had seemed nice enough at work, certainly not the creepy type of man who you would expect would drug and kidnap a woman for their own sexual deviance.

  “We think so,” Agent Perry’s eyes were comforting, “but the fact of the matter remains that we don’t know what his plans were. We have facilities here to conduct an examination, if this would bring you some comfort.”

  I didn’t want to think about this. My mind kept focusing on small details of the room or Agent Perry himself. I just didn’t want to be having this conversation. I found myself focusing in on my hands and watching the little particles of light swirling around my palm.

  “I understand this is a difficult time.” Agent Perry interjected, “We do have more questions though, if you would please…”

  He didn’t even wait for a response from me. Most of his questions were about Aiden, but I was barely paying attention. I was staring down at my hands in utter humiliation. The hallucination of the lights on my wrist seemed to be almost taunting me.

  I turned my hand over and watched as the lights slowly slid back up my arm. That wouldn’t do. If I was going to be crazy then I would at least have control over it. I closed my eyes.

  “The officers mentioned that you were asking about someone called May when they recovered you,” Agent Perry asked, “Is she a work colleague?”

  I opened my eyes and it hit me like a hurricane. This man was lying. This was no hallucination. The proof was in my hand. Four mana particles were pooling in my palm and three more were following my wishes and heading down to join their companions. I felt a shiver as the mana obeyed my command. This was truth. I knew it. I could feel it. The knowledge burned away the lies that I was being told. I may have been drugged. I may have been kidnapped, but this – the mana was real.

  I looked up and stared at the office in the eyes. I hadn’t meant to be intimidating, but the look on his face conveyed pure terror. He immediately leaped from his chair and backed away. His reaction was almost as if I were pointing a loaded gun at him.

  “Shit, shit shit!” he stammered, “We didn’t know you were one of them.”

  One of them? I stood up and walked calmly over to him. He knew! This cinched it. He had been lying. If I had any doubt that I was controlling the mana, it would have been washed away by the look on his face. If he had known about this and lied – what else had be lied about?

  “So you were lying to me earlier?”

  “Yes!” he gasped as he stared in terror at the window behind us, “It’s standard protocol for victims.”

&nb
sp; “Victim?”

  “Yes, we thought you were a bystander who got caught up in an event,”

  “An event?” He wasn’t making much sense, but then again, he looked terrified. What did he think I was going to do to him?

  “We just call them events. Where someone interacts with one of your kind. It’s protocol to attempt to convince the subject that what they’re seeing isn’t real.”

  “Why?”

  He looked at me as if I was crazy and began blabbering. I didn’t much care for his answer anyway, which was good because he was talking so fast that I couldn’t understand him.

  “I want to get out. Open the door.” I ordered. I hoped that I sounded more sure of myself than I felt.

  I didn’t want to have to show that I had no idea how to use my powers. I was sure that Aiden could have busted his way through the door with that particle ribbon thing of his, but I had no idea how he had done that or even if it was possible for me to duplicate the effect. Unfortunately, the cop hadn’t moved and didn’t seem to be in a great hurry to. He was simply staring at me in terror.

  “Throw me the keys then,” I snapped, annoyed at his lack of response.

  He was looking at me strangely, but I stared him down and he grudgingly pulled a set of keys from his pocket and tossed them to me. It only took me three tries before I found the right key to release the door. This had been incredibly fortunate, as there were at least a dozen keys on the chain.

  I peeked out into the hall way expecting there to be anything from armed guards through to a machine gun post in the hallway. Fortunately, there was no one on the other side. I turned to look at Agent Perry in confusion.

  “Protocol,” he shrugged as if this explained everything.

  I didn’t bother to wait around for him to explain further. I doubted that he was going to. I simply gave him a cheeky smile and closed the door behind me. I think I heard him shout out as the door closed, but it was cut off suddenly. I don’t think he expected me to lock him in there. Idiot. I certainly wasn’t going to let him follow me down the hall.

  I continued down the corridor until I found the door to the observation room. A brief moment of curiosity got the best of me and I slowly opened the door and glanced inside. It was a stupid thing to do, but I couldn’t help myself. There could have been more armed guard in there. Fortunately, the room was empty. I did however see a cup of cooling coffee on the table that faced the one way window.

  I didn’t bother to inspect the room further. What I needed to find was a mess or something where I could get a change of clothes or at least some shoes. I was very aware that trying to escape with only bare feet wasn’t going to be a good idea.

  I continued down the corridor until I came across a steel barred gate that separated this section of the building. I vaguely recalled passing through this way on my way in, but I couldn’t be sure. The whole building had the same bleak grey paintjob that made each corridor look much the same as the next. I wasn’t sure if I had the key for the gate, but it was worth a shot.

  I made my way up to the gate and tried a few keys. No luck.

  “Miss Wright.” A voice boomed over the speaker system, “Please remain where you are. You are going to be escorted from the building to a safe place. Please don’t cause damage to the facility. You will not be harmed. Please remain where you are.”

  Why was everyone trying to take me to a safe place? It did seem like an odd message though. What were they afraid that I was going to do? Smack down the gate? I placed my fingers around the solid iron poles that made up the gate. They obviously had a higher opinion of my abilities than I had. I wondered what they had meant by I would be escorted? I didn’t have to wait long, I team of soldiers appeared on the other side of the gate. They had rifles pointed at me. It was surreal. I took several steps back in shock and noticed with a degree of alarm that the mana in my arm flared as my breathing increased.

  “Miss Wright, please remain calm. You will not be harmed.” The lead soldier called out.

  Easy for them to say. They weren’t the ones with all the rifles pointed at them.

  “Please, make no sudden movements.” The guard continued, “I’m going to open this gate, and then lead you to the exit. We will not fire unless provoked.”

  If I played this right, I could work this into my favour. I immediately felt bad for that thought. This wasn’t a joke or a situation to be taken advantage of. This guard was terrified of me. It was a new experience for me and it was hard not to let it get to my head. In fact, the whole situation seemed surreal. It didn’t just add up. Maybe I was still drugged and this was nothing more than a bad trip. Well, if that was the case, then I could at least make the most of it.

  “Okay,” I declared, feeling magnanimous. “I won’t attack.”

  It seemed crazy that I had to even say that. I was only one small woman surrounded by a host of soldiers. Any one of them would have been able to lift me over their heads with no problems, but yet they seemed to think that I was the one that they should be afraid of.

  “We would like to pass on our apologies. We had no idea who you were.” The solder murmured as he approached the gate. He unlocked the gate from the other side and pushed it open.

  He backed away several steps as I walked through. I felt like a queen as they soldiers fanned out on either side to guide me down the hall.

  “Do we really need the guns pointed at me?” I asked softly, “I’ve already given my word.”

  “They’re for our protection,” the lead soldier replied sourly, “Though I doubt they’ll make much difference.”

  Well, that didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Surely, one shot and that would be the end of it. The guns were making me very nervous. I had no wish to be taken out by someone who got an itchy trigger finger.

  “They’re making me nervous,” I began. The soldier immediately flicked his hand out in a waving motion and the soldiers lowered their guns.

  “Better?” He inquired.

  “Yes.” I replied meekly. This was strangely easy. What the hell was going on?

  The walk through the corridors seemed to take forever. I was almost certain that this wasn’t the way that we’d arrived when I was led into a foyer that I recognised. Once again, the room was deserted. It was almost like they’d evacuated the place when I had escaped from the interrogation room.

  “Agent Perry is locked in the interrogation room,” I murmured as I remembered, passing the keys that I’d taken over to the lead soldier who seemed to be acting as a spokesperson.

  “We’ll deal with it.” he said gruffly, but I could tell he was starting to relax a little.

  The soldiers fanned out in the room and the lead soldier gestured towards the main doors on the other side of the room. They were being awfully deferential. I made my way across to the doors and remembered that I’d forgotten to ask for decent clothes. This brought up my next point. I had no idea what I was going to do once I got out. I had no money, no ID, no phone. I’d been so unnerved by the guns that I’d be so focused on them that I hadn’t planned ahead. I turned around and took a brief look around the room. Although I hadn’t thought that this act was overly aggressive, the soldiers immediately reacted and raised their guns into a firing position.

  “Okay, wrong move.” I replied as I placed my hands up in submission, “No sudden moves. Got it.”

  “Please,” the lead soldier grunted towards the door.

  I really didn’t have much choice. I pushed my way through the set of double doors and I could hear the collective sigh from the soldiers within. I blinked slightly as the sun poured down upon me and my eyes adjusted to the bright light. I was standing in a loading bay. At the far end of the bay, there was a black car. I’d seen that type of car before, so I wasn’t surprised to see May Chen standing in front of it she was flanked on either side by black suited security. She smiled wryly at me and gestured for me to approach.

  “You certainly do surprise,” She said wryly once I got close enough to
talk.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  May ushered me into the car and drove off in relative silence. No one stopped us. We drove straight past a checkpoint and they just waved us through. May had closed the screen between the driver’s compartment and the cabin once we pulled onto the highway.

  “They weren’t regular cops, were they?” I asked tentatively.

  “No,” she said with a sigh, “They’re Division Seven.”

  “Secret service?” I guessed.

  “Of a sort,” May amended, “MI7. They think that they’re a lot cleverer than they actually are. They work with us to clean up any messes that our kind make. An alliance of sorts, though neither side trusts the other.”

  “Sounds cozy,” I murmured.

  “It’s not, but they have their uses. They are awfully good at making people think that what they’ve seen is normal.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes,” May continued, “Let me guess. They told you that Aiden was giving you drugs and that it was all an hallucination?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ll give them something, at least they’re consistent.” May shrugged, “Had you not been able to see the Mana on your hands, it probably would have worked too.”

  “I almost believed it in spite of that,” I admitted, “It makes more sense than anything you’ve told me.”

  May nodded sympathetically, “I’ve used their services on occasion when one of our kind loses control or has an accident.”

  “Like Aiden?”

  “Yes,” May sighed, “Like Aiden. This whole situation is starting to get out of control. This has the potential to get worse than that idiot in Melbourne who tore up a shopping centre a few months back.”

  May seemed to be talking to herself and I didn’t ask further.

  “Where are we going?” I timidly asked. This information would probably be useful.

  “Paris.” May replied firmly.

  “Paris? Really?” that seemed crazy. Intellectually, I knew that Paris was only a tunnel away, but it seemed like it was so far away.