by Daniel Ruth
"What's so great," the werewolf grunted in question. I looked at him in surprise.
"What are you still doing here," I asked slightly disgruntled. "Take balloon man to Joe and tell him I need the voice tapes. He can e-mail me the files."
This triggered another baleful glare from Linus, however, I ignored him. Sitting down on one the few pieces of furniture left in the living room I started to work out a rough schedule while humming to myself. I vaguely heard the door close as my uninvited guests stomped out.
"Can I take the chair up to the attic," Eli said in my ear. "It makes a great bed."
"Have Karen buy some replacements first," I said absently. I had already taken the sofa. If she took the chair, we would have to either sit on the floor or the table.
"Are you going to use these eggs and milk?" the woman in question called out from the next room.
"I am," I said as I meandered back into the kitchen. "French toast, want some?"
"Sure," she said as she made some coffee. A television I hadn't noticed was in the corner showing the news. Patriot was still after my alter ego, which wasted five minutes of air time. Most of the news subjects were regarding the trade conference. There seemed a lot of tension from the anchors for simple trade talks.
Apparently, Balkeez were very aggressive about trade. They even took possible trade deficits extremely seriously. To the degree that there were shouting and threats.
"Aliens," Karen shook her head in wonder as she ate the food I made. "Sidhe or aliens. How did the world get so... bizarre?"
"It always was," I offered. "Most humans prefer not to notice though. It's just as well, most would be too fragile to survive being involved."
"Speaking of which," she asked tentatively. "You mentioned..."
"Right, I did," I nodded and stood up. I turned the television off with a flick of my telekinesis. "I don't have time to teach you any spells and even if I did, I don't have the resources at the moment to help you undergo the only safe body transformation I know." She looked disappointed.
"Fortunately for you, my strength is actually in the psychic arena. I can unlock your psionic potential. Clairvoyance, telekinesis, pyrokinesis are all things I can teach you. I do suggest you limit your practice to three or four initially or you might slow your growth."
"Psionics," she said, eyes wide. "Magic, aliens, and sidhe. How deep is the rabbit hole?"
"The what?" I asked in befuddlement.
"Never mind," she said with a shake of her head. "So, what will you teach me?"
"Basic survival skills," I said as I counted out. "A force field, a clairvoyant danger sense, and telekinesis."
"I feel like you're asking me to take the red pill or the blue pill," she said.
"Oh, I know that one," I snapped my fingers excitedly. "I saw the 3D remake with Jeremy."
"But it’s the same... wait. They have a 3D remake already," she groaned as she rubbed her forehead. "They have 3D? I missed so much!"
"Um, yeah," I said in embarrassment. The remake was fifty years in the future in an alternate timeline. She really didn't miss it. "Anyway, relax. I need to rewire a few things..."
"Wait, what?"
"Just some things affecting energy flow," I reassured her as I reached up my hands to touch her temples. "Creatures... er, people have been doing this for millions of years. It's just basic psychic neurology, nothing fancy."
I allowed my perception to enter her consciousness and started changing how the energies flowed, changed the configuration of a few neurons and laid down a few hypnotic suggestions to act as training wheels for the first few skills.
"The world seems so bright all of a sudden," she whispered. "I feel... things..."
"I've made the changes," I told her as I moved behind her so I didn't interfere with her vision. "The first talent is telekinesis. It’s the building block of many of the abilities that affect the world around us. Feel how I move your energies. Try to do the same. Yes, that's it."
It wasn't anything I hadn't already done with Beth. If anything, the experience was smoother, not because Karen was more talented, but because I had more practice demonstrating the skills while almost 'puppeteering' her brain. Once her defenses firmed up we would never be able to be quite as in sync again. In other words, the more she got out of this experience the better.
The entire process went smoothly and I rapidly demonstrated the first three skills, along with the exercises to master them. In the beginning, you couldn't train too long without exhausting yourself so I wasn't worried too much about her damaging herself too much or failing in her other responsibilities. She was older than Beth even though she was presently physically frail from her ordeal.
She did require a few hours of sleep after the process. It was pretty stressful and she would need a rest before she could continue her day.
Naturally, I went down to my lab and finalized my plan. I would need some chemicals before I could actually do anything. Since I had some extra time, I took out the temporal acceleration tome again and opened it up. Time flew by as I slowly turned the pages.
A few hours later I heard footsteps puttering around upstairs. It was most likely Karen so I ignored it. When evening came I was rewarded by her coming downstairs with some boxes.
"It was harder than I thought," she said as she put it down. I immediately opened the contents and started checking the contents.
"That’s supposed to be incredibly poisonous," she said nervously as she backed up. "Are you sure you want to put that in your mouth. Or even touch that?"
"It’s a bit bitter," I admitted as I made a sour face. I had just stuck my pinky in the contents of the third bottle. It was the most sensitive in regards to purity, also the most toxic before processing. "Poisons are not a problem for me."
"I suppose your sheer constitution must be enough not to have to worry about such things," she nodded thoughtfully. I hummed in vague agreement. I mean she had a point but one of the specialties of my breed is to ignore poison and toxins. Probably because we're all alchemists and millions of years of evolution. At least that was as good an explanation of it as anything.
"Anyway, it was harder to get these than I thought," she continued. "Some can't be shipped and others need some kind of permissions I haven't even known existed. Fortunately, my ex-boyfriend was a chemist. He was so blown away that I was still alive it wasn't too hard to get him to give them to me."
"Oh, that’s nice, no hard feelings," I asked absently as I organized the reagents on the table.
"He was a sweetie," she said as she watched from over by the stairs. She was probably still nervous about all the chemicals being lethal in some way. "It just didn't work out, I had my career and, you know. You mind telling me what that’s for?"
"Oh, a couple things," I said as I calculated the quantities again. "I have been experimenting on my potions that imbue powers and..."
"You can give people powers," she asked in a shocked voice. Then she looked embarrassed as she realized I was looking at her flatly. "Besides with psionics and that magic transformation... never mind."
"There are many paths to power," I said as I turned back to the test tubes. "The potions I am best with are powerful. I could mix a superpower in a bottle to match almost anyone of the hero groups... except maybe Starman. But the side effects are nasty."
"Who is Starman?"
"One of the big alien heroes on Patriot's team," I saw her about to ask who Patriot was. I waved my hand in hopes of stopping the cycle and she closed her mouth. "I have a few potions that work for several minutes that have no side effects but I am still working on getting it better. Longer."
"Permanent?"
"Maybe someday," I said with a nod as I measured a few drops out. A Clean spell allowed me to have the glassware ready a moment later for the next set. "For the immediate future, I need a way to wipe a human's memory for about an hour."
"I'm surprised you can't use your psychic power," she asked in a confused tone.
&n
bsp; "Well, there is hypnosis," I admitted. "But it's not my specialty. My first apprentice is much better than I am in that area. I also have something that can wipe about weeks' worth but I can't control it very well and its overkill for what I need."
One form of my psionic blades would put someone in a coma and erase their memory for a week. Since the ley lines were flooded, magic and my psionic abilities had been magnified by a massive amount. Trying to use it on a mortal now would likely could their head to explode in a most spectacular fashion unless I spent a large amount of time practicing it. If I wanted to explode someone's head I would just smack them upside the head.
"You have an apprentice," she asked in surprise.
"I now have three," I said with a raised eyebrow. She looked at me blankly. "You're number three." A look of realization hit her.
"Okay, but how can your apprentice be better than you?"
"Psionic skills are intensely personal," I said as I swirled the chemicals together. Then I spit in it and formed a tiny flame in the palm of my hand to heat up the mixture. Karen watched in fascination.
"Once you have unlocked your psychic potential you have to explore it yourself. I can tell you some of the phenomena that are possible and if I am familiar with them, I can probably help you bring out your potential significantly faster but I strongly suggest taking your talent in your own direction."
"How would I start?"
"Well first master the three skills," I said as I placed the beaker on the bench. "Then find out what your interest in. Want to control minds? I can start you off with hypnosis but you'll have to travel along that road alone unless my first apprentice shows up. Then she can help you develop that pretty fast. Want to know how to generate, control and throw fireballs?"
"That would be nice..."
"Well then," I dissipated the fireball in my hand and summoned a tiny flame over my thumb. "This is my skill with psychic fire. I can start you off but it wouldn't be hard to go farther on that path than me."
"What about that other thing?"
"A cheap fireball spell," I said with a smile. I conjured ten of them and clumsily juggled them. Then I blew fire from my mouth and it engulfs the fireballs and rapidly faded away. "You can specialize or not but your progress may be slower. Still, once we have the time it wouldn't hurt to try a cantrip or two. Perhaps you have massive magical potential and you'll only waste your time pursuing psionic tricks."
"You sound sad," she probed.
"Ah, well," I paused as I bent down to peer into the glass to see if it was changing color yet. "I originally specialized in 'psionic tricks'. I am very good. Psychic talents can allow you to defend and attack but they don't work very well in bending the laws of physics. If you want to do that you'll have to look to magic."
"Why would you need that?"
"I originally needed it to travel the dimensions," I replied with a chuckle. "Ironically I now have that spell but a demon lord locked down the dimensions."
"But you still do magic?"
"You can't unlearn something," I said as the liquid turned green. I put a drop of the other chemicals in and stirred it. "Besides, magic is in my blood. I love learning. I just feel a little stretched."
"Lucky for me though," she whispered. "I wanted to thank you. You can't imagine how horrible the Unseelie are."
"I can't," I acknowledged. I could imagine what they did fine but I admit my empathy is a bit lacking. "I can keep them in check. At least as long as their queen isn't there."
"She was terrifying," she said with a shudder. "I couldn't breathe when she walked past. The mortals were beneath her though. It was the lesser Unseelie that were involved with us."
"Done!" I exclaimed in excitement.
"What?"
"The memory elixir," I said to clarify. Didn't I just tell her that? "Now I need to test it."
I glanced at her thoughtfully. She seemed to notice and nervously step backwards up the stairs. It didn't seem a good idea to ask for volunteers. She still seemed a bit skittish.
"I'll go catch a mouse or a cat," I said. She sagged in relief as I said this. "Actually, could you go to the store and get some animals?"
"Animals? For testing," she asked in surprise. "I suppose I could get some feeder mice from the pet store. Would that work?"
"Sure, then I can feed it things."
She chuckled for a minute until she realized I didn't understand. She started going up the stairs still giggling. As she went up a small flying form zipped down. It paused at the base of the stairs taking in the sights.
"Are those chemicals," Eli asked with a look of concentration. "Those make cool explosions, right?"
I looked at her with a frown. Regardless of how it turned out with the fae, I may just have to invest the time in a ward against them.
Chapter 30
I stood just inside the door of one of the twin towers, whistling to myself as I put up pamphlets. I wasn't sure exactly what they were about... some add for safe sex, I think. Behind me, the door opened and an older man shuffled in. He wore a coverall with a logo that had a broom and either a blanket or a dust cloth.
As he passed me, I casually fell in line behind him. Just before he reached the elevator I pulled up next to him and reached over to him. With a gentle tug, I pulled him into the stairwell. I saw his mouth move but with nothing came out due to my silence spell.
I muttered a mnemonic and he fell asleep. Naturally, I had chosen a place close to the janitor's closet. Inside was another man, comfortably asleep and leaning back in a chair. I pulled another chair up next to him and gently dropped his new neighbor next to him.
I pulled a small mirror from my bag and examined my face carefully as my features gradually altered to match the new occupant.
"The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain," I said as I listened carefully. It was slightly off. "Shelly sells sea shells down by the seashore."
I cocked my head in thought. That should be close enough. It's not like I was going to meet the man's wife. I stared into his eyes, checked the mirror and aura again. The I grasped his hands. My shapeshifting was definitely magic. Intent and proximity would allow me to spoof his retina and fingerprints. I wouldn't be a match for his blood type but most sensors wouldn't be able to pass my skin anyway.
I took a vial from my pocket and gingerly opened the second man's mouth and tipped the contents in. If he knew the trouble, I had gone through in order to ensure he didn't explode or melt from the inside out I am sure he would be grateful. I must have gone through almost fifty test mice before I worked out the horrible and somewhat dramatic side effects. Another twenty mice before I was sure that there were no long-term effects.
I exited the closet and shuffled down the hall. My whistle had become a low tuneless humming. I entered the elevator and selected the second floor to the top.
Just before the door closed a young man with slicked back hair and a leather jacket entered. I knew him. It was the pizza delivery boy that had given me the warning last time I was here. I looked at him in consternation. He looked back and winked at me. Opening the pizza box, he held it out.
"Want a slice Prof?"
"Who's this 'Prof' you speak of," I replied halfheartedly. Being on this side of a psychic was annoying. "I am Sal, the janitor."
"Not a bad look," seeing I wasn't going to take the pizza he went to close it. I quickly held up my hand to stop him and grabbed two slices. It would be a shame to let it go to waste. "Enjoy the pizza, because you're on the edge of not ever having another piece again."
"Another cryptic message," I asked as I scarfed down the gooey delicacy. "Prophecies you don't understand until it's too late are a waste of time."
"Can't help it," the young man said sadly. "Cassandra curse. You know how it is, you got it too."
"Right. Right," I waved my free hand skeptically. "Tell me."
"It's simple this time. You go back up there today and it’s probably the end of times. A changing of the watch. You get distracted
by petty little garbage and the whole world weeps."
"What kind of vague or wacked out vision prompted this?" I knew how this worked. You get some crazy dream that makes no sense until you already passed the point of no return. What he told me was his interpretation of the vision, not the original.
"You don't need to know that," he said with a weak smile. "I've gotten pretty good at interpreting these things."
"Lay it on me. I got to hear it for myself."
"Fine. It started with the land of Oz being overrun," he reluctantly started, before the elevator came to an abrupt shuddering stop. A voice came over the intercom.
"Dean, you have to get out," a tired male voice said. "Dash revoked your clearance days ago. We told your restaurant that anyone can deliver except you. Sorry."
"You got to go now," Dean told me as he turned to exit the elevator. "Only you can stop it but you can't if you let yourself get sidetracked."
I frowned thoughtfully as the door closed and the elevator resumed it journey upward. I had no faith in prophecy. My dreams were nonsense and from what little I had heard, his was no better. If I turned back now it would be another week before Dash was out and I could try my plan.
The elevator came to a stop again and I saw the hero group's first guard station outside. With a sigh I stepped out of the elevator.
The elderly man I was imitating had a slight limp that I wasn't sure if I was getting exactly right. Apparently, it was close enough since the man at the guard station didn't even look up from his monitor. The sign outside the armored door boldly printed 'Defenders' in a bold stylized script. If you looked carefully you could barely see that another name had been painted over. The colors matched but the new paint lacked the wear of the surrounding color.
The alarms didn't trigger and the defense guns didn't fire on me as I passed the obvious cameras in the corner and the doubtless less apparent sensors I was sure that littered the hallways. I opened this floor's utility closet and wheeled the trash barrel out. It had the cleaning accessories hanging from the lip.