by John O'Riley
“How did you get in here?” Josephine asked.
Helen and Alice returned her look with puzzled frowns.
“We just came in, of course,” Alice said.
“But I’m the only one who can remove the wards,” Josephine said. “They’re programmed to respond to me specifically.”
“You must have forgotten to set it up.”
“And there’s some kind of spell in here.” Josephine took stock of her surroundings and opened her second sight.
It took her several long moments to identify the hidden spell. It was complex and weaved into the natural energies already present in the room to make it virtually undetectable. Josephine had never seen anything like it. She explained what she’d found to her friends.
“It must be the stalker,” Helen said. “But I didn’t think that kind of thing was possible.”
“It’s not.” Josephine examined the enchantment more closely and it crumpled away into nothingness. “It’s booby trapped to self-destruct when it’s noticed. It’s gone.”
“Are you going to report this to the police?” Helen inquired.
“No, I’m not yet willing to risk my freedom.”
“But he may kill you,” Alice said.
“My wards are still in place. He didn’t destroy them. I’ll just activate the extra wards in my room to give me more time to react if he manages to break in while I’m sleeping. I have a slew of protection and telekinetic enchantments in my room,” Josephine said.
“You’re taking a terrible risk with your life.” Helen pinned her friend with a dour look.
“Where’s Gary?” Josephine asked.
“I assumed he wasn’t coming over for some reason.” Alice’s expression turned grave. “He may be in terrible danger.”
Josephine tried dialing Gary but the call went straight to voice mail. She tried again with the same result.
“I’m going over there.”
“We’re coming with you,” Alice said.
A handsome, dark-haired man appeared on the couch a couple of feet beside Helen. He was incredibly tall with mesmerizing, hazel eyes and emanated an aura of power and authority. He wore black jeans and a black polo shirt with black running shoes.
“I’m going to need you all to stick around for a bit,” he said.
Helen gasped in alarm and leaned away from him while Josephine shot to her feet and activated her shield. Alice was quick to bring up her own protection but slower to rise from the couch.
“Please sit down, ladies.” The stranger’s tone implied this wasn’t a request.
“You broke into my condo! Who in the hell are you?” Josephine demanded.
Helen’s expression was wary but she remained seated. An unseen force pushed Josephine and Alice back into their seats. Josephine’s eyes widened with horror as her shield remained active and untouched.
“How did you do that?” Josephine regarded the stranger with a sense of dread.
“I used subtle magic. It’s something I can teach you to do as well if you’ll join us.”
Josephine took a deep, cleansing breath. “I’m listening.”
“My name is Brad Lyons and I’m one of the leaders of the Phoenix Community. We’re all sixes and we’re devoted to living a safe life where we don’t have to worry about being persecuted by lesser wizards.”
“Apparently the law doesn’t apply to you since you feel it’s okay to break into people’s homes,” Josephine said in a steely tone.
“I didn’t want to take the risk of talking to you out in the hall where people may eavesdrop on our conversation. I’m here to give you a choice. You can join our community and never have to worry about the restrictions that mainstream society imposes on you such as the aequitas enchantment and the ban from tapping into vortexes.”
“But if your community is isolated, how can it access any vortexes?”
“There are more than just the three major ones that most people know about. Many minor vortexes also exist and can only be detected by category six wizards such as ourselves. We have protected cities spread across the country here and in other developed countries. We’re a democratic society with a government made up of representatives who are elected by our citizens. We’ve existed for over five centuries,” Brad explained.
“What about your law enforcement? How do you enforce rules?” Josephine asked.
Brad outlined the system set in place and Josephine had to admit she was just a bit tempted.
“How can we trust you?” Alice interjected. “We don’t know anything about you. No one can vouch for you.”
“Only sixes can join us.” Brad stood up and set a piece of paper on the coffee table. “Place this ad in the newspaper if you want to meet with me again.”
Alice reached out and examined the paper.
“This is a want ad for an antique grandfather clock made of mahogany in mint condition for $50 or less. No one is going to sell something like that for such a cheap price,” Alice remarked.
“It’s worded to prevent you from being inundated with calls,” Brad explained. “Alice, you are a latent six. If you want to join our community, we have a safe and pain-free enchantment to awaken your gift.”
“What about Helen?” Josephine asked.
“I’m afraid she’s just an ordinary wizard.”
“I’m not leaving without her.”
“I suspected as much.” Brad offered a quick, disappointed smile. “Gary is already a member. Vickie is considering the offer and needs some time to think things over. Part of the reason I came here is to inform you that once you become a member, we fake your death so people won’t look for you.”
Josephine’s eyes lit with understanding. “You faked Gary’s death.”
“Yes, we set up a gas explosion in his apartment and took a corpse from a morgue out of state and used subtle magic to manipulate the body so that it would be deemed a match. Of course, it won’t stand up to close examination. There would be small signs of tampering and genetic anomalies. However, we left false psychic impressions at the scene which will make it a cut and dried accident for the police.”
“It’s really scary that you can do that,” Alice said.
“We protect our own.” Brad leveled a beseeching look at Josephine. “Please consider my offer. There are hidden dangers for sixes such as a powerful and ancient organization that has infiltrated every world government. They’re called the Valituras and they’re obsessed with amassing power and learning the secret to becoming a six.”
“I hope they succeed and make EVERYONE a category six. That would even the playing field,” Josephine said.
“They have no intention of sharing their power. They want to control the world. They manipulate events behind the scenes and have been around just as long as the Phoenix Community. They probably have someone working for the police or the local government in Sarasota county. They’ll eventually decide to enlist your help in their cause,” Brad said. “And they won’t take no for an answer. They’ll threaten you, your friends, and your family.”
“I’ll just have to destroy them then.”
Brad laughed with surprise. “You’re a feisty one, that’s for sure. If you do get into trouble, you can always place the ad in the newspaper.”
“I think I’ve heard enough.” Josephine rose to her feet and leveled a pointed look at her uninvited guest.
“All right. Let me know if you have any questions.” Brad held out a clear quartz crystal and set it down on the table before standing up and towering above them. “It’s a messaging crystal and if you activate it, any of our members who happens to be in the county will hear it.”
“Interesting device,” Alice remarked.
“If we could give them a longer range, we wouldn’t need the ad.” Brad threw them a polite smile. “It was a pleasure meeting you, ladies.”
Brad reached the door and opened it. Just before he left, Josephine came up with one more question.
“What about Jake?”
“Do you ever recruit latent sixes?” Josephine asked.
Brad turned to face her. “Most of our new recruits are latent sixes. We rarely approach those like you until they have reached a certain age and get tired of persecution from those like Dale.”
Josephine stiffened at the mention of her arch nemesis.
“How do you keep your organization a secret from latent sixes who don’t want to join?”
“We use a memory suppression enchantment on them.”
“I see.” Josephine mulled this over. “Are you going to approach Jake?”
“Out of respect for you, we won’t look to any of your friends or relatives unless you join us first.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Once you get to be my age and you’ve gained over five centuries of life experience, you see things with a different perspective. You’re still quite young so I didn’t expect you’d be ready just yet,” Brad said just before he slipped out the door.
“What a condescending man,” Josephine sputtered with outrage.
“Gary is young. Why would he agree to membership?” Alice wondered.
“Gary suffered from mind control spells at the hands of his own brother for most of his life. He’s tired of being a victim,” Helen said.
Josephine and Alice were surprised by this unexpected wisdom.
“You’re absolutely right,” Josephine acknowledged. “And of course we also have Vickie who is losing her business and she considers her talent a burden.”
“She’ll probably become a member of the Phoenix Community,” Helen said.
“That’s okay. We hardly even know her. Maybe it’s for the best,” Alice commented.
Josephine’s eyes glinted with resolve. “I’m going to talk to her about this. I knew she was hiding something from me.”
“You know something, I’m tempted to join them,” Alice said.
“What?!” Josephine blinked at her friend with astonishment.
“Of course I’m not going to do it because we’d have to leave behind Helen but I really want to be an immortal.”
“I see.” Josephine hadn’t considered this possibility and it alarmed her. She had thought rejecting Brad’s offer would be the end of this but her life may have become a lot more complicated.
“We need to prepare ourselves for the valkyrie’s,” Helen said.
“What?” Josephine leveled a puzzled frown at her friend.
“She means the Valituras,” Alice advised. “You know – the big bad guys who want to take over the world.”
“Right.” Josephine had forgotten about them because she was so preoccupied with the losing all her friends and Jake to the Phoenix Community. “I’ve already started some potent enchantments a couple weeks ago in case I was ever caught linking with the vortex.”
“Let me see.” Alice’s eyes glittered with avid interest.
Josephine crossed over to the antique desk which had multiple layers of individual wards. She deactivated the protection and took out a jewelry box which contained her most recent unfinished projects. She was reluctant to show her friends because she wasn’t sure they would approve.
“Just a quick peek. I need to keep these safe,” Josephine said.
Alice and Helen peered inside the box and gasped as the potent energy of the enchantments wafted out to them.
“These are so strong.” Alice held one of the wands which had memory suppression written on the handle. She frowned at the wand and Josephine realized she’d discovered something. “You’ve got the setting on this thing wrong. It’ll have to be scrapped.”
“It’s exactly the way I want it.” Josephine took the wand from Alice and placed it with care back inside the box and took the bracelet that Helen was playing with as well.
“You want to give someone amnesia?” Alice asked with a mixture of disbelief and horror.
“If it comes to that.” Josephine placed the box back into the desk drawer. She took out another box that had finished protection enchantments and handed a couple to her friends before she activated the wards on her desk again.
“These will come in handy. Thank you,” Alice said.
“You’re welcome.”
“I don’t approve of erasing all of a person’s memories though.”
“That’s only for emergencies against someone who’s determined to ruin me like Morgan was,” Josephine said.
“Morgan’s dead,” Helen pointed out.
“Yes but there are many other enforcers and government officials like him.” Josephine clearly remembered how Morgan had hounded her with such ruthlessness until he’d gained the evidence he’d needed to lock her up and force her to participate in OC training for sixes. A powerful form of mind control was used to replace their personality along with training to be an effective OC enforcer. At least, that’s the scuttlebutt that had reached Josephine’s ears and she believed it. She had met one OC enforcer, Jennifer, who’d been assigned to her along with Morgan when a deadly serial killer had targeted Josephine. There was definitely something wrong with Jennifer and a form of mind control would explain it. Josephine hated all the pitfalls that surrounded her. It was like she was immersed in a life of danger where one small misstep could plunge her into eternal doom.
“Why can’t I just enjoy my retirement like everyone else?” Josephine grumbled.
Helen and Alice could only offer helpless shrugs as they didn’t have any answers either.
Chapter 6
Josephine’s awareness expanded as she linked with the Siesta Key vortex and ran along the beach. She pumped her legs to pick up the pace and kicked up white, crystalline sand in her wake. It was still dark but her second sight could see everything in great detail. Josephine intended to teach herself how to perform subtle magic. She had examined the work so she knew the theory behind it. The energy had to be tuned and anchored to the surrounding atmospheric energy that already existed. Josephine would never have thought such a thing was possible if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes. The best place to learn new magic quickly was right here while tuned into a vortex because all of her paranormal senses were heightened.
Josephine realized it was best to start small so she used a trickle of magic to create a telekinetic burst at the sand in front of her. A small portion of sand exploded up from the ground as if hit with an invisible fist but the magic was clearly visible. Josephine lost track of time as she continued practicing. She became aware of a new presence and stopped casting spells. She focused on the newcomer who was standing a short distance away. Josephine discovered a well placed shield protecting his thoughts from her. Practically all wizards except for sixes emanated “junk” energy which were traces of emotions and thoughts. Josephine honed in on these pieces of energy with ease. Small pieces of information flowed to her. She halted a short distance away and raised her shields.
“Hello, Lorcan,” Josephine said.
Lorcan was a category 3 wizard and a member of the Valituras. He was short with brown hair, thin lips, a stubby pig-like nose, with a long jagged scar on his right arm that ran from the elbow to his hand. He was barefoot and wore running shorts and a tee shirt. He had a privacy field up which prevented very much psychometric information from leaking out.
“You’ve heard of our group, I see.” Lorcan focused his cold gaze on her. “But the Phoenix Community makes us out to be monsters. We’re just practical and seek to make this world a better place. It’s true that we want to learn the secrets of creating a category six but we won’t keep it to ourselves. We will allow those worthy to be transformed.”
“How would you decide who deserves it?” Josephine asked.
“It would be determined on an individual case basis. For example, I would be willing to help Helen and Alice. Someday soon, you will outgrow them and you will grieve for the loss of family and friends but if you help us, you could have it all. Alice and Helen could live forever. Just like you.”<
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Josephine was shocked that this man knew so much about her. Obviously, Brad wasn’t the only one spying on her. How disturbing that she’d remained oblivious to these efforts.
“That is a compelling offer,” Josephine said. “What would I have to do in exchange?”
“We merely ask for you to create specific enchantments once in awhile to further our objectives,” Lorcan said.
“I refuse to make deadly weapons.”
“Don’t worry. We would never request such a thing from you. We wish to create a perfect world. A safe place for everyone to live in.”
“Aren’t you hunting down members of the Phoenix Community?” Josephine doubted that his motives were so pure.
“No, we’re not. They are a bunch of fanatics. They can live in their forced isolation for as long as they want,” Lorcan sneered. “You probably spoke with Brad. I know he’s in the area recruiting. He likes to make promises and then fails to keep them. For example, everyone in your family is probably a latent six which means he can awaken their abilities. That includes Jake.”
“We already discussed Jake and he promised he wouldn’t approach him.”
Lorcan issued a bitter laugh. “And you probably believe him. How sad. Don’t be surprised if Jake disappears along with Gary and Vickie. You’ll probably lose other family members as well.”
Lorcan’s words elicited a chill of foreboding as information about him continued to trickle into Josephine’s mind. Lorcan was ruthless like all the Valituras. He would kidnap Jake and fake his death and experiment on him as they perfected their technology for creating sixes. They would do this just to make Josephine think that Brad broke his promise to her and had recruited Jake to his cause. If that wasn’t enough to gain Josephine’s cooperation, Lorcan would systematically kidnap the rest of the family until Josephine hated the Phoenix Community and agreed to help the Valituras out of spite and sheer desperation. Lorcan had used this strategy many times. Josephine could read that he would leave her friends and family alone if she convinced him she was on his side and would comply with all of his requests.