by John O'Riley
“Goodbye, Toadstool.” Josephine closed the door before he could taunt her further.
Mark walked over to her with a curious expression on his face.
“Who was that?” he asked.
“Toadstool is just a jerk who won’t leave me alone.” Josephine didn’t want to involve Mark in the dangers of the Valituras so she kept her tone light.
“He’s dark. I can feel it.” His brows furrowed with contemplation for several seconds then his eyes widened with shock. “He’s a member of the Valituras!”
“You know about them?” Josephine asked.
“Of course. They’re sworn enemies of the Phoenix Community.”
“For heavens sakes! How many secret organizations are skulking around out there?” Josephine asked with exasperation.
“There’s quite a few actually. There are the Puritans, the Ebullio –”
“Wait a minute! Did you say the Puritans?”
“Yeah, they’re a pretty small group. They used to be members of the Phoenix Community and are extremists that wanted to change the mandate of the organization from that of living in seclusion to transforming the world into a utopia instead,” Mark explained.
“How do all these people keep themselves secret?”
“Mainstream society isn’t aware of them but they’re known to some people and families like mine. If you look online, you might find them mentioned but they’re discounted as conspiracy theories. Except for the Valituras and the Phoenix Community, the other organizations are so small that they’re not significant. Some of them may not be around anymore.”
“I wonder what would happen if the Valituras were exposed,” Josephine said.
“That’s not likely to happen. They’re ruthless and will kill to maintain their anonymity,” Mark advised. “It’s best to steer clear of them.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t.” Josephine took a deep breath then filled Mark in on Lorcan and how he had coerced her into making some kind of magical batteries for him.
“I’ll help you shake loose of them,” Mark vowed. “The Phoenix Community won’t step in but I’m sure there’s something we can do.”
“I hope so because he’s already tried to curse me twice,” Josephine said.
Josephine felt a surge of affection towards Mark and gave him a kiss.
“What was that for?” Mark asked with puzzlement.
“For being you.” Josephine smiled at her lover and reveled at how lucky she’d been to find such a man. She wished she could tell him about her undercover work as an OC enforcer. She and Mark went down to the grocery store and bought some munchies for dinner. As Josephine pulled out of the parking lot, her cell phone rang. She glanced at the screen to see who was calling and normally while driving she wouldn’t answer but it was Jake.
“Hi, sweetie,” Josephine said.
“Grandma, help.” Jake’s voice sounded strained and weak.
An icy dread took hold of Josephine when her grandson failed to respond to her. She said his name with urgency several more times but there was only dead air even though the line was still active.
“I’m heading right over. Just hang on,” Josephine said. She handed the phone to Mark. “Something wrong. I don’t want to hang up on him.”
“I’ll keep listening just in case,” Mark said.
“Thanks.”
Josephine took a deep, steadying breath as dread clawed at her gut. She was afraid this would happen eventually but had assumed it would take years before Lorcan betrayed her. Of course, she was jumping to conclusions. Just because something was happening to her grandson, it didn’t necessarily mean the Valituras had a hand in it. Josephine’s thoughts churned with apprehension as she headed for Jake’s house. When she pulled into his driveway and parked beside his car, she could barely think straight. Josephine could see that Jake’s door was ajar. She rushed over to the threshold and burst into the living room. Jake was lying unconscious next to the couch with the phone resting several feet away from him. His skin was pale and his breathing strained. Josephine opened her psychic senses as Mark called an ambulance. An obvious lack of psychometric energy indicated an ignotus spell had been cast but Josephine could still sense Lorcan’s presence which confirmed her suspicion that he’d attacked her grandson.
Josephine’s gaze swept over the room again which showed no signs of a struggle. She scanned Jake and could detect a curse. Her anxiety mounted as she tried analyzing the energy structure to determine its purpose. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a simple or straightforward process. It involved painstaking analysis that could take days just to discover what it was designed for. To test for weaknesses could take weeks, months, and even years. Josephine suspected Jake didn’t have that long.
“The ambulance will be here soon,” Mark said.
“Can you tell what type of curse this is?” Josephine asked.
“I can’t do scans on the fly like you. I do have a few black magic detection wands at home though.”
“I can’t leave Jake alone like this,” Josephine said.
“Of course.” Mark regarded her with sympathy and wrapped a comforting arm around her.
The two of them lapsed into a long silence until the ambulance arrived. Once Jake was taken away, Josephine and Mark stopped by his house so he could pick up a couple of his detection wands. After that, Josephine made a quick trip to her house so she could don a wand belt which fit underneath the clothing. It was made of elastic with one part that fit snug against her waist and another that hugged her thighs just above the knees which served to keep both ends of the wands pressed firmly against her body so bumps wouldn’t show through the clothing worn on top of it. Josephine had two more of her experimental uber telekinetic wands which she slid into her belt along with six others. She made a mental note to start producing more potent weapons now that she had unrestricted access to a vortex. She slipped on a pair of loose-fitting jeans which obscured the weapons but of course subtle bumps were revealed when walking. Josephine already had six protection amulets on the necklace that dangled around her neck underneath her turquoise shirt and she slipped on the remaining six backups she had in her possession. For good measure, she placed the extra niveus imperium in her purse since it was an antidote for many curses.
When Josephine and Mark arrived at the hospital, Jake’s condition was stabilized and he’d been assigned to ICU. Doctor Levy, a man in his early forties with thinning brown hair and average height, approached them in the waiting area. He wore blue hospital scrubs and his demeanor was businesslike and emotionally detached as was often the case with experienced veterans in the medical field and law enforcement.
“As you know, Jake’s condition is stabilized. We used a general healing enchantment to try to dispel the curse we detected but it didn’t work. It will take time to identify the specific curse used so we can locate or produce a cure,” Dr. Levy advised. “Jake’s trapped in a deep sleep and we’ve determined it would be unwise to take drastic measures to awaken him in his current state.”
“I understand,” Josephine said. “I want to see him.”
“Just for a few minutes and I need you to promise not to try and wake him up.”
“I promise,” Josephine said.
“All right. Follow me.”
The doctor led them to Jake’s room which was on the second floor. Jake had an IV attached to his arm and a heart monitor beeped in a rhythmic pattern beside his bed. Josephine’s eyes glistened with unshed tears as she clutched her grandson’s hand and her throat constricted with grief and rage.
“I’ll give you a moment alone,” Dr. Levy advised.
“Thank you.” Josephine’s voice was hoarse.
When the doctor left, Mark held out one of his detection wands and activated it. Josephine watched her boyfriend and could detect the magical emanations sliding over Jake. After a couple of moments, Mark tucked the wand in his inner belt and turned to face Josephine with an expression of regret.
“It’s a contab
esco letum curse. The victim is trapped in a sleep and wastes away. It usually takes about five days before the condition becomes fatal. There’s no specific cure for it. We could try some general advanced antidotes but I won’t lie to you, it’s not good.”
Josephine squeezed her eyes shut as she was overwhelmed with sorrow, anger, and frustration. She wanted to kill Lorcan and knew he’d show up eventually. She took several deep breaths and opened her eyes.
“Just so I understand this, you’re saying that there’s no known cure for this curse. Not even with ancient magic? We just have to get lucky with a powerful a powerful antidote?”
“That sums it up,” Mark confirmed.
“So if Lorcan dangles a possible cure, he’s lying.”
“Definitely.”
“I brought a niveus imperium with me. Is that strong enough to give it a shot against this spell?” Josephine asked.
Mark regarded her with surprise. “That’s one of the more potent and difficult antidotes to create. You’ve already made one?”
“Yes, I made three. Two of them are for Alice and Helen with one to spare just in case,” Josephine explained.
“Let’s go ahead and try it,” Mark said.
Josephine took the quartz cluster out of her purse and let it rest on the palms of both her hands as she focused on Jake. She activated the enchantment and the crystal flared with a bright, silvery white light. After several seconds, a stream of white silvery energy in the form of a mist emerged from the crystal and flowed into Mark’s chest. Josephine directed the spell for a couple of moments until the energy was depleted. The luminescence from the crystal flickered for several seconds then winked out of existence. Josephine tucked it away in her purse then watched Jake with fervent hope. After several moments, despair washed over her.
“How long does it take to work?” she asked.
“He should be waking up by now if it’s going to work.”
Josephine scanned her grandson as she continued to wait. She could see the curse shifting from the attack but it was still strong and stabilizing by the moment. It was obvious that this attempt had failed.
“We’ll have to try something else,” Josephine said.
“Could you see if it was weakened at all or how close you came to dispelling it?” Mark asked.
“I don’t know. It didn’t seem to be affected very much but I don’t have experience with this kind of thing. I’ve never worked with advanced magic until just the last month or so.”
“I have some books that contain other antidotes we can make. I suspect that it doesn’t take you months to create them when you’re tapped into a vortex.”
“You’re right. I can whip them up in about five days. Do I have that much time for sure or do victims pass away sooner sometimes?” Josephine asked.
“Sometimes it only takes three but usually five.”
“I can make four different enchantments if that’s all I do,” Josephine said.
She became very still as a couple of possibilities popped into her mind. She was horrified that she had even thought of them as it involved black magic but she’d do anything to save Jake.
“What about the immortality curse? Will that save him?”
“I hadn’t thought of that but I think it just might do the trick.” Mark’s expression was concerned and it was obvious he didn’t favor this course of action. “He would become a vampire or an incubus.”
“If that’s the only way to keep him alive, I’ll do it.”
“Would Jake want this?” Mark asked.
“I’m sure he’ll understand.” Josephine scrutinized her boyfriend with an assessing look. “Will you still help me?”
“Of course, I will. I can give you the details of the curse and it takes the same time frame as the advanced antidotes. There’s a drawback though.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“Black magic always requires dark energy produced by negative emotions as a component in every spell. Practitioners create collection vessels to absorb the dark energy from their victims. They’ll either capture and torture someone or they can generate the energy on their own if they’re suffering from hatred, anger, or grief.”
“I think I have enough of that to produce my own dark energy,” Josephine said.
“The only other problem is that when you work with black magic, it will make it virtually impossible to use mainstream magic within several days so you’ll have to choose either one or the other save Jake.”
Josephine turned to gaze at Jake as sorrow, frustration, and indecision threatened to overwhelm her thoughts. She had to make a decision and it chilled her to think that black magic might be her best chance of keeping her grandson alive. She’d always believed that no good could come of practicing the dark arts but now she wasn’t so sure.
“What are the chances that an antidote can save him?” she asked.
“Not very good.”
“But if I try an immortality curse, do you know how effective that would be?”
“I should mention the white magic counterpoint to that which is called the praesentia infinitus enchantment. White magic is the most difficult to create. Jake’s subconscious mind would have to accept it for the spell to take hold which I don’t see as a problem. His body would basically transform into energy which in turn would manifest into a body of prime condition so in other words, he would look the same as he does now. He would never age but he would become aware of his family and friends who’ve already passed on. He won’t be able to see them or communicate except to occasionally hear just a snatch of conversation. He would just sense them and it would be comforting. There’s an allure to the other side and he would eventually choose to cross over. That’s all it takes to pass on. Just the decision to go. At that point his body would just cease to exist.”
“How long does it take for someone to reach that stage in their life?” Josephine asked.
“Everybody is different. It depends on how strongly he feels about his friends and family who are still alive.”
“It sounds like a curse all on its own. If I did that, I would never know when he would decide to just leave. Would I?”
“That’s true. He would just disappear.”
“What are the chances that the praesentia infinitus would save him?” Josephine asked.
“As long as he accepts the spell and you created it successfully, it would be one hundred percent effective.”
Josephine was torn with indecision now. “What about if I used the immortality curse?”
“There haven’t been very many cases but it’s been used to cure victims that were already afflicted with other curses. You have to understand it’s been mentioned in my ancestor’s journals but they never practiced black magic so we don’t really know what the odds are,” Mark advised. “I’ll support whatever decision you make as long as we don’t harm anyone. And just so you know, I strongly prefer using white magic or an antidote.”
“Thank you, Mark. I feel the same way.” Josephine hesitated with indecision. “I need to think about this and talk it over with my friends.”
“I understand. We’ll need to start on the enchantments sometime by the end of the day. I’ll need time to find all the spells for you.”
Josephine dropped him off at his house and thanked him again for his help. If it wasn’t for Mark, she’d be limited to just a niveus imperium.
Chapter 15
It was after eleven in the evening as Josephine, Helen, and Mark were seated at in Josephine’s dining room table. A large, sparkling, crystal chandelier hung over them and provided ample cheery illumination as Josephine and Helen worked over the first enchantment. When Josephine explained the situation with Helen and Alice, they’d both been horrified and helped her come to a decision. As a category six, Helen was in the unique position to help with the spells and offered to work with her on an antidote and would even enter the cursed house as long as Josephine chose white magic. Josephine came up with a plan. She and Helen start
ed with the praesentia infinitus and then worked on as many other enchantments as possible. They succeeded in starting three other possible antidotes before they exhausted their magical reserves. Josephine was still tied to the vortex but her mind ached and no matter how much she wanted to, couldn’t shape any more magical constructs.
The two of them had secured the enchantments to four blue wands which were now resting on the table in front of them with labeled handles. Josephine had marked them with neat, small letters so she could identify them with ease. She threw Helen and Mark grateful smiles.
“I can’t express how much I appreciate your help with this.”
“You’re quite welcome,” Helen said. “I’m sure we’ll be able to save Jake.”
“Hopefully with one of the cures rather than the praesentia infinitus,” Josephine said.
“We made great progress tonight,” Helen advised. “I can tell we’ll finish these in a matter of days.”
“The sooner, the better.”
Josephine gathered the wands and secured them in the desk in her office. She returned to the dining room and offered her friends a drink.
“No, thank you. I’ve got to hit the road and get some shut eye,” Mark said.
“I need some rest, too.” Helen rose to her feet. “I’ll meet you at our usual spot at the beach tomorrow morning.”
“Great.” Josephine flashed a tired smile at her friend. “Thanks again for helping me.”
“You’re welcome, dear.”
After Helen left the house, Josephine and Mark remained at the door gazing at each other with a mixture of fatigue, hope, and desire.
“Would you like to spend the night here?” Josephine asked.
“If I did that, I wouldn’t get any sleep.” Mark flashed a wicked grin at her then leaned over for a quick kiss. He deepened the kiss then pulled away with reluctance. “Good night, Josephine.”
“Don’t let the bed bugs bite,” Josephine teased.
Mark laughed as he turned then went over to his truck. Josephine went back inside and felt wards lift around the house. She stilled and reached out with her mind to probe them. She was still too fatigued to sense much except it was advanced, multi-layered protection and coded to her which meant she could control them. So, this must be one of the curses designed into the house. It was an unexpected bonus. Josephine had figured she would have to construct the wards from scratch. It was nice knowing she didn’t have to worry about the Valituras breaking into her home while she slept.