by John O'Riley
Josephine sat up and frowned at her friend. “I hope you aren’t going to listen to my subconscious.”
“I’m afraid I am. I’ve retired and I’m not going to make any progress if your subconscious wants to stay connected with Gary’s. You need professional help.”
“I can’t believe this,” Josephine said dismally. “It’s not what I want.”
“A part of you does want this or it wouldn’t be happening, my dear,” Alice said.
Josephine stood up and brushed herself off even though she wasn’t dirty. She couldn’t believe she was losing control of her life like this.
“What if I talk to Gary,” Josephine said.
“What would be the point?” Alice asked.
“I guess that would be a waste of time.”
“Yes, it would. You need to call and hire a psychiatrist,” Alice said.
“I’ll wait awhile. Once the serial killer is found and locked behind bars, my link with Gary should go away on its own, right?”
“Theoretically. I wouldn’t count on it though.”
“Sometimes, you can be a real pessimist,” Josephine said.
“I’m a realist. I’ve worked with all kinds of patients in my career. I know what I’m talking about,” Alice said.
Josephine abruptly felt dizzy and reached for the back of the couch to prevent herself from falling. She flinched and gasped with surprise when her surroundings were replaced by the Siesta Key beach. The sun was shining down on her and the waves were gently lapping the shore a couple of feet in front of her. Josephine’s knees buckled but she managed to remain on her feet. She noticed Alice standing next to her on the right and shot her a frantic look.
“How did we get here?” Josephine said as icy chills prickled down her spine.
“You slipped into the fugue state and said I needed to drive you to the beach now,” Alice said.
“This is so creepy,” Josephine said fearfully.
“Do you have any idea what’s so urgent that you need to be here? I don’t see anything wrong,” Alice said as she regarded her friend in concern.
“Let me check something.”
Josephine opened her senses to the psychic energies in the atmosphere and immediately noticed the power vortex was plagued with angry, swirling tendrils of red energy just like the other day. She stiffened reflexively and wondered how her subconscious had sensed this from her condo. She knew that the subconscious could sometimes perform incredible feats that wizards normally failed to achieve no matter how much they practiced but this really astounded her.
“What’s wrong?” Alice asked.
“It’s the power vortex. The other day, its energy was turbulent and disruptive. It’s the same way right now. I think someone’s been connecting with it and doing something to cause a temporary imbalance.”
“Why would anyone do that?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never tried to manipulate the energy of a vortex before. Only a category six is capable of doing that. I would be afraid of trying,” Josephine said.
“This is very serious. We need to tell the police,” Alice said.
“I can’t expose myself.”
“You wouldn’t be exposing yourself. Just tell them we were visiting the beach and you sensed something wrong so you used your psychometry to feel it out and discovered that someone’s been tampering with the power vortex,” Alice said.
“You really think the police will believe it? They’ll think that I’m the one who did it. There are no category six wizards in this area except for me and Gary. Gary’s at work and has an alibi. They’ll think I was fooling around for some reason and messed up with what I was doing and am trying to get them to fix it.”
“Vickie’s a category six,” Alice pointed out.
“She’s not the one doing this. She was at home the last time this happened,” Josephine said.
“You can’t know that for sure.”
“There’s no need to tell the police what’s going on. The vortex will heal up on its own. Already, it’s looking better,” Josephine said.
“Oh my God!” Alice exclaimed. “It’s the serial killer! He’s an unregistered category six!”
“I think you’re right.”
“You do?” Alice blinked at her friend with surprise.
“It makes perfect sense. I picked up that he was very disciplined. If he was never registered, he was free to experiment without limitations because he wasn’t restrained by an aequitas enchantment. He could be very skilled.”
“And powerful,” Alice said. “We need to tell the police what happened. We’ll let them know about the link between you and Gary and how it clued you in on the vortex here.”
“It’s too dangerous. I can’t let anyone find out that my aequitas enchantment has been neutralized,” Josephine said. “If we let the police know what’s going on, they won’t be able to use this information to find the killer.”
“If they watch the beach, the killer will probably come here again soon and link with the vortex.”
“They would have to have either me or Gary here because we’re the only ones who could sense the connection and the vortex being manipulated,” Josephine said.
“You see? This is an opportunity to catch the killer,” Alice said triumphantly.
“I guess so.” Josephine couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that clung to her. She really didn’t want to take the chance that the police would figure out her aequitas enchantment was neutralized. On the other hand, if she didn’t do everything possible to catch the serial killer, she could end up being the next victim.
“Wait a minute.” Alice’s eyes reflected a sudden panic. “We can’t go to the police. It’s illegal for me to cast claro mentis spells without a license and my license expired years ago.”
“Can’t we just tell them the connection happened by itself?” Josephine asked.
“No, they’d never believe that. It would be too suspicious.”
“Then what do we do?”
“We could tell them that we had decided to go to the beach and that you sensed something wrong with the vortex while you were here,” Alice said.
“That works for me.”
The two of them went down to the police station and were immediately allowed to walk back to the offices to speak with Alex Riley. Unfortunately, he was located at his desk typing carefully at the computer. Josephine had hoped she would be permitted to file a report with someone else. She hated working with this obnoxious detective. Her grandson was also working on a report at the desk beside Alex and several other officers were in the room as well.
“Detective Riley,” Josephine said as she stepped into the room.
Alex’s head whipped up and his gaze fixed on her with surprise which was quickly replaced with irritation.
“What do you want?” he said.
“I came to inform you of something disturbing,” Josephine said.
Alex noticed Alice standing off to the side and slightly behind her friend.
“Why is your friend here?” Alex said sharply.
Josephine ignored his hostility and launched into her story. When she’d finished, Alex looked shaken.
“Okay.” Alex was clearly at a loss for words and his gaze flitted between Josephine and Alice as though expecting her to jump in with further information. “We need to have this vortex watched.”
“Good idea,” Josephine said.
“Yes, we’ll need to have it under surveillance. Will need a category six posted there at all times,” Alex said. “I’ll have to assign you and Gary.”
“That’s fine. I’ll be happy once we catch this guy,” Josephine said.
Alex nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll assign Howie to go with you for the first shift. Gary can have the overnight shift.”
“He’ll love that,” Alice murmured.
It took great restraint for Josephine to keep from shushing her friend. The last thing she wanted was for Alex to give her the night shift. That would suck.
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“Howie will meet you at the beach. You can go now, I hope?” Alex said.
“Of course.”
“Meet him in the main parking lot,” Alex said.
“Okay.”
Alice drove Josephine back to her condo so she could pick up her car.
“I’m worried about you. Be careful,” Alice said,
“I know what I’m doing,” Josephine said confidently. “And I’m always careful.”
“Goodbye,” Alice said.
“Bye.” Josephine hopped into her car.
Josephine stopped by a Checkers fast food restaurant to pick up a chili burger then headed for the beach. She parked her car there and started on her dinner. She’d only just finished eating the burger when Howie arrived in his civilian car wearing a red, tropical print shirt, shorts, and sandals. Josephine had never seen his muscular legs before and they were something to behold. Howie saw her and grinned as he strode over.
“Why are you out of uniform?” Josephine asked.
“I’m undercover. We don’t want the serial killer to know there’s any police in the area,” Howie said. “I’ll get a couple of chairs we can sit on at the beach.”
“Okay.”
The two of them made their way to the beach with the chairs, picked a spot, and waited. Unfortunately, Josephine doubted the killer would connect with the vortex so soon. A couple hours later, she stiffened reflexively when she saw the familiar angry swirls of red energy appear. Josephine connected with the vortex as well since the killer was likely to use powerful magic against them.
“The killer is tapping into the vortex,” Josephine said.
“Already?” Howie asked with surprise.
“Yes.”
Josephine led the way down the beach as she traced the path of the link. Howie pulled out his cell phone and requested backup. Her heart hammered wildly in her chest as she continued walking. Soon, she began to sense the minds around her and realized that the killer would be able to feel hers. He’d know she was coming. Josephine swallowed nervously and chills danced along the nape of her neck as she realized the killer wasn’t on the beach but farther up the road.
“He may be in the parking lot or a couple of blocks down the street,” Josephine said.
“Really?” Howie said. “I didn’t realize it was possible to link that far.”
“It is,” Josephine said.
Howie eyed her appraisingly. “There’s something different about you.”
“It’s nothing. I’m just worried.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” he said.
“The killer may be able to sense us when we get closer. We’ll need to act quickly,” Josephine advised.
She stumbled as she sensed a surge of power behind her. Josephine turned to look at the vortex which was not only churning with turbulent force but manifesting an energy matrix within its center. The matrix rotated and collected the energy around it as its shape became more intricate.
“The killer is doing something with the vortex,” Josephine said in horror.
“What is it?” Howie asked.
“Some sort of enchantment.”
Josephine tried to disrupt the matrix but couldn’t seem to produce any results. It stopped weaving itself which meant the spell was complete and ready for casting. Chills of apprehension danced along her spine as she wished there was some way to escape. An explosion of red energy burst from the vortex and rushed over the people. Josephine was still connected to the vortex and used the power to create a shield around herself and Howie. Screams of pain sprouted from all around her as the red wave of energy whooshed through the beach and continued down the roads.
“What’s going on?” Howie asked.
Many people were either shouting or covering their heads with both hands. Some were running madly as if trying to escape something only they could see. Josephine’s shield had offered complete protection from whatever spell the killer had unleashed. Soon, people began passing out until Josephine and Howie were the only ones remaining conscious.
“We need to get moving,” Howie said.
“Right.”
“Can you still follow the killer’s link to the vortex?” Howie asked.
“Yes.”
Josephine walked briskly along the path of energy and could sense the only conscious mind besides Howie’s. It was very dark, disciplined, and focused. The killer sensed her and was already strategizing new ways to incapacitate her. She began jogging even though it was difficult to track the link when she was exerting herself like this. Being connected to the vortex helped her though. She felt another energy buildup as the killer prepared a spell. Josephine knew he was too far away for her to reach in time. Suddenly, she felt a release of power as a spell was unleashed. Howie lifted into the air unexpectedly and floated high above her head. Josephine sensed the killer’s intention to drown him in the ocean. She concentrated on creating a dampening field but the killer was blocking her attempts so it would take some time.
Howie’s body slowly floated towards the ocean and he linked with the vortex. Josephine didn’t think he was strong enough to create a dampening field but with his efforts added to her own, they may be able to stop the killer. Josephine yelped when she lifted into the air. She flailed her arms reflexively until she quickly realized it wouldn’t do her any good. Howie was continuing to head for the ocean and she was following behind. Josephine concentrated on creating a dampening field around her own body and immediately began to lose altitude. Soon, she was standing on the shore. Howie was now over the water. Josephine kept her own dampening field up as she focused on creating one around him. He abruptly fell into the ocean but she knew she hadn’t succeeded in releasing him. The killer had intentionally dropped him into the water and was going to hold him under until he drowned.
Josephine dashed into the ocean and continued her efforts on protecting him. A dampening field was beginning to form around him. His body was pressed firmly against the sandy floor as he struggled to push himself up. Josephine stumbled but managed to stay on her feet. Adrenaline coursed through her body when she could tell that he was too weak to push against the sand anymore. He was losing consciousness. Desperation made Josephine forget about keeping the dampening field around her own body so she could spend as much energy on saving Howie as possible. She sensed the psychokinetic enchantment being deflected from him but Howie’s body still rested against the bottom. Josephine raised him to the surface of the water with telekinesis then held his head above the water. She pulled him to the shore and his eyes snapped open. He gasped then rose to his feet.
A strange red mist formed a couple of feet in front of Josephine’s face. She backed away from it and watched as it coalesced into a face.
“Hello, Josephine,” it said in a raspy voice.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Josephine asked.
“I’m practicing,” it said. “You don’t have much time left before I kill you.”
“I’m too strong for you to do that,” she said with false bravado.
“I’m definitely stronger than you but it will be a struggle,” it said with amusement. “You and Gary are running out of time.”
“Why are you even bothering to talk to me?” Josephine asked.
“Because you have been annoying to me and made things complicated. I wanted you to know how little precious time you have left to live,” it said.
The red mist abruptly lost its form and dissipated. Howie and Josephine exchanged horrified looks. She could no longer sense the killer’s connection to the vortex which meant he was probably on his way off the island.
“I need to talk to Detective Riley about this,” Howie said.
Josephine shrugged and followed him to his car. Howie spoke to Riley for several moments then disconnected and turned to face her.
“It’s too risky for you to come here when the killer is connected to the vortex. He’s too powerful for any of us to stop when he’s tuned into so much power,” Howie said
. “You’re going to have two officers assigned to you at all times and will need to stay away from the beach until we catch this guy.”
“All right. I’ll definitely stay away from the beach,” Josephine said. “You realize that Gary is probably in danger as well, right?”
“Yes, Detective Riley has assigned two officers to watch Gary just like you,” Howie said.
Chapter 16
When Josephine opened the front door, there was a tall lanky man in his early thirties who she’d never seen before. He had black hair, piercing blue eyes, a long nose, and a hawk-like face which gave him a severe, dangerous look. His body thrummed like an electric line with intense but controlled power which gave him away as a category five wizard. He wore jeans and a black, long-sleeved collared shirt. Howie stood beside the man with a guarded expression on his face.
“Hi, Josephine. This is Morgan McKinley. He’s an enforcer who has been assigned to protect you. You’ll need to give him your full cooperation as he investigates the clues which means you’ll need to tag along with him when he looks over evidence that’s been collected from the various crime scenes left by the serial killer,” Howie said.
“Okay,” Josephine said in an even tone as anxiety coursed through her body at the thought of an enforcer spending so much time with her.
“I’ll be spending the nights in your condo as protection against the killer who seems to be one of the most powerful wizards on record according to the police reports I’ve reviewed on this case,” Morgan said.
“He’s certainly powerful,” Josephine said. She realized she was standing in front of the door and stepped aside. “Please, come in.”
“Thanks,” Howie said nervously.
No one liked dealing with enforcers who worked for a higher branch than the police department. Enforcers were category five wizards with remarkable power and control of their magical abilities. To become an enforcer, one had to follow a strict training program which lasted a couple of years. Category five wizards weren’t as rare as sixes but not too many existed in comparison to fours and lesser wizards so they made a great deal of money. Many wizards growing up aspired to become one but only a handful of them were gifted and talented enough to attain this goal. Morgan had a different ring on each finger which probably contained an assortment of enchantments. He also wore a pendant around his neck and there were probably six wands stashed in an inner pocket of his pants.