by John O'Riley
His eyes were closed and he was breathing deeply. Josephine cleared her throat but he just lay there. After a moment, he opened his eyes and slowly lifted upright and his feet gently landed onto the wet sand. The ocean waves lapped at the shore energetically and the rain continued to fall.
“How are you doing that?” Josephine asked.
“Doing what?” Gary asked calmly.
“You were floating a minute ago and you still have some sort of shield keeping the rain from hitting you,” Josephine said. “That takes up a lot of power.”
“I’m connected to the vortex.”
“And that gives you more control of your magic? I would think it would become uncontrollable when more and more power is being channeled through your body,” Josephine said.
“Actually, you temporarily gain more control the longer you hold a connection to a vortex until you reach the burnout point,” Gary said.
“I can’t believe you’re risking this when you know how strict the laws are,” Josephine sputtered with outrage.
Gary smiled and suddenly the rain was landing on him as his shield gave away.
“I’m not worried that you’ll say anything. After all, you’ve gotten yourself in the habit of tapping into the vortex and wouldn’t want me to report your illegal activities,” he said.
“That’s true but I wouldn’t report you anyway,” Josephine said. “I’m just surprised that you’re willing to take such a risk.”
“When I’m tapping into the vortex, it’s the only time I feel completely at peace,” Gary said. “As you could probably determine by the type of shield I have, my second sight is always open and I’m not able to shut it off. I’m constantly receiving disjointed images and emotions that make no sense. I’m taking medication that helps calm me and reduces the pain but that doesn’t make it go away completely. I also have a shield that helps screen out trace energies; my older brother makes it for me. I don’t really know how to perform magic except for the basics.”
“You’re a category six and you don’t know how to make enchantments?” Josephine asked with astonishment.
“That’s right. Just the basics.” Gary shrugged. “There’s no point in knowing when I’m never going to be allowed to use my abilities.”
His gray shorts and yellow tee shirt were soaking now just like Josephine’s clothes. She glanced down at his right hand and saw his topaz ring was blue rather than green.
“How can you tap into the vortex without your aequitas enchantment knocking you out?” she asked.
“My brother helped me to deactivate the enchantment. When an enforcer ever audits me to be sure I’m wearing the ring and that it’s working, I can easily activate the enchantment again. It’s just a matter of charging it up with some power.”
“How did you manage to deactivate the enchantment without destroying it?” Josephine leveled an inquisitive gaze at him.
“I’m not sure. My brother helped. He had to make enchantments ahead of time but they basically put an energy barricade around the ring which protected me from the knockout spell. I generated a lot of power to activate the aequitas enchantment and it burned itself out after a period of time,” Gary explained.
“Wow.” Josephine wondered if she could keep control of her ability long enough to burn out her own aequitas enchantment.
“Normally, I don’t come this close to tap into the vortex but I knew no one would be here while it was raining.”
“That’s a pretty good idea. You wouldn’t want to get caught.” Josephine smiled warmly at him. “I’m glad we’re having this talk. You were so skittish at the police station that I didn’t think we would ever get this chance.”
“I don’t like to be around people much.” Gary’s face tensed up a bit and his eyes became guarded. He activated the same skin-tight shield that Josephine had sensed at the police station. She now realized that it protected him from trace energy but apparently it only offered limited screening. “I need to go.”
“We should talk again sometime. Let me give you my phone number,” Josephine said.
“Why?” Gary asked.
“Because there aren’t very many people like us and we should stick together.”
“Okay.” Gary gazed at her cautiously.
“We’ll have to go back to my car. I have some paper and a pen in my purse,” Josephine said.
“All right.”
They walked back to her car and she quickly jotted down the phone number. She asked for his and he hesitated. She wondered if he would to tell her. After a long pause, he finally did.
“It was nice running into you again, Gary,” she said.
“Yes, it was.” He smiled nervously at her.
“Where did you park? I didn’t see any cars.” She took a quick look to see if she’d somehow missed a car.
“I parked across the street over there.” He pointed and she saw a green Honda a short distance away. “I didn’t think it would be a good idea to have my car in the beach parking spot because then people could see that someone is here.”
“That’s very cautious of you,” Josephine said thoughtfully.
“Yes. You should be careful, too. I don’t know if you’ll ever figure out how to deactivate your aequitas enchantment.”
“I think I might.”
“Good luck. Well, I’m going to be heading off. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Yep. I’ll see you later.”
Josephine watched him walk away then slipped into her car. She still felt lousy but she’d had an interesting conversation. Additionally, she was hopeful that she could deactivate the aequitas enchantment in her ring. All she needed to do was keep the energy barricade up when she tapped into the vortex for a long enough period of time. Josephine was certain that she could learn to do this if she exercised enough patience. She opened her awareness to the subtle energies flowing around her so she could feel the power vortex more fully. She’d come here to soak up a little comfort but the negative psychic impressions from the crime scene still clung to her. She drove to a restaurant about seven blocks from the beach and parked her car. No one would notice her here. She concentrated on the vortex and found it even easier than before to connect with it even though she was quite a distance away.
She immediately created an energy barrier around the topaz ring on her right hand as power rushed through her. Josephine didn’t allow her concentration to waver as her body sang with potent magic. The topaz ring had turned green and was now emitting the knockout spell. So far, the energy barricade was protecting her from the aequitas enchantment. Josephine’s mind expanded but she forced herself to concentrate on maintaining the protection that kept her conscious. The emotions and thoughts from the customers in the restaurant became a huge distraction as the myriad of voices spoke loudly in her mind and the psychic impressions pulsed erratically. Josephine chewed on her lower lip and furrowed her brows in concentration. She was determined to make this work. There was no reason she should be restrained from her full potential.
Tension set into her body as this feat became more difficult. It was so hard to focus on one spell like this when her mind continued to expand and every piece of trace energy within a block was stimulating her metaconscious mind. After awhile, she relaxed a little when she realized that it was becoming easier to keep the energy barricade up. Her focus was now improving along with the flow of psychic input. After a moment, she observed that the aequitas enchantment was dormant as it had expended all of its available energy in trying to knock her out. The enchantment was still intact and could become active again if she charged it up just as Gary had described. Josephine couldn’t believe she’d done it on her first try. Of course, she’d practiced creating the energy barrier several times and hadn’t realized it was possible to do this until her discussion with Gary.
An intense sense of freedom made Josephine laugh with delight. She relaxed and reveled in the sensations. She was barely aware of her body now as she allowed her mind to drift in the sen
sations of energy around her. This experience was completely different from using her psychometry in the crime scene as the psychic impressions were a static background noise. She wondered what kind of enchantments she could perform while being tuned into the vortex. A category six had caused the Disaster using the potent power of the vortex in Seattle, Washington but Josephine wasn’t planning on doing anything destructive. She was certain she could control her ability. Josephine realized her thoughts were taking a dangerous turn. There were strict laws against category six wizards tapping into the power from any vortex. She needed to be careful. Josephine allowed herself to enjoy her current state for a while longer then released her connection to the vortex.
She felt rejuvenated as she pulled the car out into the road and hummed quietly to herself. She couldn’t believe she had actually managed to deactivate the aequitas enchantment! She was free and the negative effects from using her psychometry at the crime scene were completely gone now. She returned home and flopped down on the couch. She flinched when someone knocked at the door. She got up and went over to see who was there. Alice smiled at her from the doorway and stepped inside. Her gray hair was frizzy and poofed out like a mad scientist’s. A mischievous gleam dominated her eyes. Josephine closed the door and smiled warmly at her friend as she forcibly brushed aside her doubts and worries.
“How did it go with Alex?” Alice asked. “Was it the serial killer?”
“No, it wasn’t,” Josephine said regretfully.
“You seem different.” Alice examined her shrewdly. “I can’t quite figure out how. You seem more relaxed somehow.”
“I have no idea what you mean,” Josephine said dismissively. “Unfortunately, Alex is still clueless about the serial killer. Too bad he has no talent.”
“It’s a pity,” Alice said.
They sat down in the living room to chat. Alice sighed and leaned back against the couch.
“It’s been a rough day,” Josephine said. “I hate reading murders.”
“I know. It’s terrible.”
“Maybe I won’t be called in as often now that there’s another category six in town,” Josephine said.
“Yes, that should help.” Alice nodded with agreement.
Chapter 7
Josephine carefully set the wand she was about to program on top of the dining room table. Giddy anticipation coursed through her veins. This was the first time she’d ever had the opportunity to use the full extent of her abilities. Josephine flowed power through her body and concentrated on creating the proper energy matrix. Tendrils of white, silver, and red light slowly twisted around the wand as she shaped them into the proper alignment and frequency. More power rushed through her and the matrix began to take shape more quickly. This was going much faster than she’d anticipated. Normally, it took category five wizards a couple of days to finish this particular enchantment but it looked like she’d finish it in moments.
Hot, scorching wind swept over her as even more power flowed through her. Josephine tried to ease down on the amount she was channeling but discovered it wasn’t having any effect. She ignored the wind which was now whipping her hair wildly and focused on the energy matrix she was still in the process of shaping. Unfortunately, a couple streams of magic were leaking out of her uncontrollably and one of them brushed against the wand which twisted the energy matrix out of alignment. Josephine chewed savagely on her lower lip and concentrated on realigning the enchantment. Sweat beaded along her forehead as she finished her work. Finally, she sealed up the enchantment in the wand and backed away from the table. Power was still channeling through her at an alarming rate even though she’d finished.
The hot torrid wind continued to swirl wildly through the room. Josephine focused on closing the flow of power but nothing happened. She closed her eyes and concentrated harder. Josephine was suddenly thrown backward against the wall as fire exploded in front of her in mid air. She cried out and slumped to the floor. Part of the carpet and one of her chairs had caught on fire. The scorching wind continued to whip violently through the room and threatened to spread the hungry flames. Josephine reached her hands out and directed her power into a cold stream of wind. Frosty, wet air flew from them and put out the flames. Josephine let out a sigh of relief when the magic that channeled through her body suddenly petered out.
The door pounded wildly and Josephine reluctantly walked over to answer it. She found her two friends standing outside with wild-eyed looks of panic. Obviously, they’d heard the racket and wondered what was going on.
“Are you all right?” Alice said.
“What happened in here? Did Dale attack you?” Helen asked.
Josephine was tempted to lie and say that Dale had in fact done this to her condo but decided she should stick with the truth.
“No, I was working on the snow storm enchantment and things got out of hand,” Josephine confessed.
“But how could this happen? A massive energy release had to have occurred to create this kind of mess,” Alice said.
“I was using three of my telekinetic wands to augment my power,” Josephine fibbed. “I’m tired of being restricted. I’ve had to pass up countless opportunities to cast some really fantastic spells and I’m tired of it!” Josephine exclaimed.
“I see,” Helen said thoughtfully. “I can understand that.”
Josephine’s thoughts went back to the successful completion of her snowstorm enchantment. She had finished it in a fraction of the time that it would take a category five wizard. She was more powerful than she had imagined. She wondered what she would be capable of if she tapped into the vortex at Siesta Key.
“I think it’s great that you’re expanding your abilities and trying new things.” Alice leveled an approving look at her.
Josephine felt a stab of guilt over her recent conduct. She had illegally turned the aequitas enchantment in her ring dormant and was performing dangerous magic. She thought she could control her abilities but maybe the Council knew what they were doing when they’d banned this type of magical ability in category sixes like herself. Josephine should probably reactivate the aequitas enchantment but couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“What’s wrong?” Alice asked.
Josephine forced a smile on her face and brushed aside her unpleasant musings. “I’m fine. I’m just shaken up by the accident.”
“That’s understandable,” Alice said. “Maybe we should have some chamomile tea to calm down.”
“I’d rather have coffee. It’s always helped to calm me when I’m stressed,” Josephine said briskly.
“I’ll have some coffee too,” Alice said.
“Okay,” Josephine said.
Her mind wandered as she measured out the grounds. Gary had obviously been without his aequitas enchantment for quite some time. She wanted to know if he’d had trouble controlling his abilities. If he could do it, so could she. Josephine would need to talk to him again. She finished with the coffee preparation and turned on the power.
“Oh my God! The enchantment is set already!” Helen exclaimed from the dining room.
Josephine whipped around to face Helen and saw her friend holding the wand she’d finished working on. Helen displayed a mixture of awe and fear as she gazed at the wand with fascination.
“This is extraordinary,” Helen finally said.
“I’d better lock that up.” Josephine reached over and gently removed the wand from her friend’s grasp.
“How did you do that?” Helen asked.
“I told you. I used three telekinetic wands to augment the power and shape the matrix faster,” Josephine said breezily.
“That’s impossible,” Helen said adamantly. “There’s something you’re hiding from me.”
Josephine locked the wand in the antique desk and turned to regard her friends who both wore identical expressions of suspicion. She supposed she couldn’t hide the truth from them anyway.
“I discovered a way to temporarily deactivate the aequitas enchantment
in my ring,” Josephine said slowly.
Helen’s mouth flopped open with shock.
“That’s wonderful!” Alice exclaimed joyously. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I was afraid you wouldn’t like it,” Josephine said.
“I know you can control your abilities. You deserve to have your leash taken off,” Alice said.
“It was the first time I worked magic without restraint. I wonder if I’ll get any good at this,” Josephine said.
“Hell, yeah!” Alice said enthusiastically.
“Do you think you could help me create some enchantments?” Alice asked.
Sometimes, Josephine helped her friends by transferring power to them via hand chakras. Using this technique, Josephine served as a type of battery which helped to boost Alice’s ability temporarily.
“Sure! I’d love to.”
“Great!” Alice smiled cheerfully. “Why don’t I bring the wand over tomorrow morning?”
“Okay. Or better yet, we can do it now,” Josephine suggested.
“Not a good idea,” Alice said. “You’ve overexerted yourself. I can wait just a little bit.”
Josephine nodded in agreement even though she felt ready for another enchantment. She prepared Helen’s mug of tea and set the cup in the microwave. It wasn’t until everyone was sitting down with their coffee or tea that Helen spoke up again to break the companionable silence.
“Did either one of you read the weekly paper?” she asked hesitantly.
“No, why?” Josephine shot her a questioning look.
“Because Margaret just sold her condo.”
“My other next door neighbor, you mean?” Josephine said.
“Yes, that’s her,” Helen confirmed.
“I could care less who my neighbor is,” Josephine said.