by John O'Riley
Josephine didn’t like the sound of that. Of course, with the serial killer moving to his home in Seattle, it was no longer her problem. Her immediate problem lay with Morgan and his determination to enlist her in the enforcer training camp.
“I have to do something to stop Morgan,” Josephine said. “He’s absolutely relentless.”
“Yes, he is,” Jennifer said tightly.
Josephine sensed a surge of barely controlled power crackling around Jennifer.
“Can you think of a way I can side-track him?” Josephine asked.
“No,” Jennifer said slowly as her brows furrowed with concentration. Anger briefly danced over her face and more power swelled around her but she managed to keep it in check. “I’m afraid he’s going to do what he does. Once the MEA tracks down the killer and stops him, Morgan will be reassigned. If he hasn’t found anything on you at that time, he’ll try to assign himself to audit you but that will take some effort.”
“It doesn’t sound like the MEA has the ability to track the killer much less to stop him,” Josephine pointed out.
“It seems that way.”
“Is there any way I could somehow get Morgan reassigned and have another enforcer assigned to me instead?” Josephine asked.
“That’s not possible,” Jennifer said.
Her face turned unreadable again and the power surge around her ebbed.
“I’m going back to bed. Thank you for the tea.”
“You’re welcome.”
Chapter 21
Morgan received a call from the hospital informing him that Gary’s condition had improved. He was now stable and had regained consciousness. Morgan had decided to pay him a visit immediately. Currently, he, Jennifer, and Josephine traversed the hallway of the ICU area behind the doctor who guided them toward Gary’s room. When they reached Gary’s room, they found him lying down with his head propped up so he could watch television. He was pale and had an IV tube attached to his left arm and an electronic monitor beeped steadily beside him.
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” Josephine said.
“Hey,” Gary said weakly.
“You have fifteen minutes and then he needs some rest,” the doctor said firmly.
“Thank you, doctor,” Morgan said dismissively.
Josephine suspected that if Morgan wanted to speak with Gary for longer than fifteen minutes, he would make sure it happened regardless of any orders from a lowly doctor. The doctor jotted down a note on his clipboard and left the room.
“Can you feel the pertorqueo sententia enchantment in your mind?” Morgan asked.
“It’s weak enough that I can feel it now,” Gary said.
Morgan pulled out a topaz pendant and it began to glow softly with a golden luminescence as he adopted a faraway look. After a moment, the light winked out of existence and his eyes snapped back into focus.
“The pertorqueo sententia enchantment will dissipate within several days,” Morgan said. “You may start to remember disturbing things about whoever has done this to you. Every time the pertorqueo sententia was activated in your mind by the killer, he suppressed your memory of that time frame. You probably have a lot of suppressed memories which will begin to surface soon. Has this process started yet?”
“No, I haven’t remembered anything. I just feel weak and vulnerable as if some sort of boundary is falling away and that it will change everything,” Gary said.
“It’s normal to feel that way when your mind has been manipulated for so many years. Try to remember. It will help you to speed up the process,” Morgan said.
“The doctor said I shouldn’t do that. He said the enchantment will dissipate on its own and that if I forced it, my nervous system could destabilize again and I’d be putting myself at risk.”
“The serial killer is becoming a lot more powerful every time he connects with the vortex in Seattle. If we don’t stop him soon, he may become virtually invincible,” Morgan said passionately. “If you choose not to help, you’re signing the death warrants of thousands of innocent people who will eventually die at the hands of this killer. Can you live with your conscious knowing you didn’t do everything you could to stop him before it was too late?”
Gary flinched at the verbal onslaught and his mouth opened slightly as he seemed at a loss of what to say. Josephine sensed a powerful enchantment rushing towards them. It was coming in so quickly that she didn’t have time to warn anyone. She deftly brought up a dampening field just as a powerful wave of magic burst over them. Jennifer stumbled backward and tried to brace herself against the wall. She slowly slid down until she’d collapsed to the floor unconscious. Gary immediately passed out. Josephine noticed that Morgan had barely managed to raise a dampening field in time to save himself from the knockout spell. The hospital was suddenly eerily quiet as everyone had succumbed to the unconsciousness.
“What just happened?” Josephine said.
“I unleashed a knockout spell from the Siesta Key vortex,” a man said from the hallway.
More power than Josephine had ever sensed before emanated from him. He looked to be in his mid-thirties with thinning brown hair, brown eyes, and a muscular build. For some reason, Josephine found his appearance oddly familiar.
“Do I know you?” Josephine asked.
“We’ve never met but I’m sure you recognize the similarities between me and my brother, Gary,” the man smirked.
He had reached the doorway now and stood there impassively. A powerful dampening field surrounding him with a protection that would take quite some time to overcome.
“Dan Eslinger,” Morgan spat out. “I suspected a family member may be the killer.”
“Maybe you should have worked a lot harder,” Dan said coolly. “Maybe you would have discovered my identity before it was too late.”
“You have two powerful wizards who can take care of you,” Morgan said confidently.
Dan chuckled at him and shook his head. “You’re absolutely pathetic. It’s a shame that I didn’t dispose of Gary sooner. He’s become a liability. Of course, it almost doesn’t matter since I’m so much stronger than any of you.”
“The MEA will bring you down,” Morgan said threateningly. “If you come quietly, I’ll negotiate leniency for you.”
“I don’t need leniency.” Dan motioned at Gary. “Wake up.”
A flash of green lit up behind Gary’s closed eyelids. He abruptly opened his eyes and sat up with a vacant look on his face. Morgan unleashed a powerful volley of telekinetic energy that pounded against Dan’s dampening field but did little to weaken it. Dan pulled out a revolver and smiled chillingly.
“After I kill all of you, I’ll wipe the prints from this gun and have Gary shoot himself. No one will know who the killer is. They’ll think that Gary’s pertorqueo sententia became active and that he killed everyone and then himself under its influence. I’ll return to Washington before I’m missed. After a few weeks, I can return to my home here in Florida with no one suspecting me. The MEA will be determined to believe that I reside near Seattle and keep looking for me there.”
“How did you get here so quickly?” Josephine asked with puzzlement in spite of the fear coursing through her veins. Maybe if she stalled for time, some opportunity to save herself would be presented. “You probably flew a plane here early this morning or late last night but how did you unleash a knockout spell on Siesta Key and get here right after it took effect on the city?”
“I’ve discovered I can teleport quite some distance if I’m tapped into a power vortex. I teleported here from Siesta. It was quite easy after the practice I’ve done over the last several days,” Dan said with undisguised satisfaction. “I did have to take a plane from Washington to Sarasota though.”
Morgan abruptly unleashed another volley of telekinetic energy. Dan fired his revolver twice in rapid succession which made Josephine flinch and scream. He smirked at her as Morgan clutched his chest and stumbled backward.
“You can’t imagi
ne the power I have,” Dan said.
He pointed the revolver at her and quickly fired twice. Josephine reflexively closed her eyes but oddly enough felt no pain. She opened her eyes and found two bullets hovering several inches away from her chest. Dan regarded her with puzzlement and fired the revolver again and again until no bullets remained in the gun. A group of bullets now floated harmlessly in front of Josephine. Harsh, strained breathing drew their attention to Gary who wore a vacant expression on his face but was looking in their general direction. The bullets abruptly dropped and clattered to the floor which made both Dan and Josephine flinch. A cold wind abruptly whipped through the room. Dan tossed aside his gun with a frown of disgust. He pointed his left hand toward Gary and a flash of eerie green light briefly spilled from it. Gary’s eyes briefly sparked with the same green light as he regarded his brother vacantly.
“Stop what you’re doing now,” Dan ordered.
“You betrayed me,” Gary’s voice said from multiple directions in the room.
“You must go to sleep now,” Dan ordered forcefully.
“You betrayed me,” Gary’s harsh voice exploded from all around them.
“Go to sleep now!” Dan shouted.
He launched a potent spell at his younger brother but a powerful dampening field had already snapped into place. Gary was unaffected by the attack. Josephine shivered as the frigid wind continued to swirl frantically through the room. She sensed Dan’s protection weakening as Gary chipped away at it. Dan narrowed his eyes as he silently worked at his younger brother’s dampening field. Josephine concentrated and reached out with her mind to add her own efforts against Dan. Unfortunately, Dan was too powerful. She could see that he was reinforcing his protection at the same time that he whittled away Gary’s. It was only a matter of time before Gary became vulnerable. Josephine tensed as she struggled with indecision. Dampening fields only offered protection against magical attacks – not physical ones. She abruptly dashed forward and tackled Dan.
She’d taken him completely off guard. He reflexively grabbed her to ward her off even as they both hurtled to the floor. He bumped his head and shouted with pain and frustration. He threw her off him with a burst of telekinetic power. Josephine’s back slammed against the wall on the far side of the room. She slid to the floor but managed to remain conscious. Dan’s attention had been distracted long enough from his protection to allow Gary to tear it away almost completely. Dan quickly realized what had happened and worked on reinforcing it. Fortunately, it was weak enough by now that Gary managed to hurl him across the room with psychokinesis. The dampening field dissipated completely as Dan’s body smacked against the wall. He stumbled toward Gary but a knockout spell took care of him. Gary abruptly dropped back to sleep and the frigid wind died away. The temperature slowly warmed and Jennifer stirred from her position on the floor. Josephine abruptly remembered Morgan being shot and rushed over to him. She checked his wrist for a pulse but found that he was dead. Josephine left the room to alert a doctor, found one waking up, and returned with him to the room. Everyone in the hospital was awakening now. Two medics scurried into the room to assist the doctor but Morgan was too far gone to be brought back.
Epilogue
Jennifer crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive posture as she surveyed the room. She had handcuffed Dan’s wrists behind his back and gave him an aequitas enchantment. Two enforcers arrived to take Dan away. Gary awakened a short while later and Josephine explained to him what had occurred. He gasped and his eyes widened with surprise and pain.
“Yes, I can remember everything now,” Gary said quietly. “He used to have me help give him power so he could experiment with the enchantments that he was working on to increase his magical strength. He was having me help him just about every other day.”
“No wonder your mind began to develop defenses,” Josephine said sympathetically. “And that’s why you ultimately felt compelled to move out on your own.”
“Yes,” Gary said. “I was instinctively trying to get away from him. He kept visiting me though and forcing me to help even though he wasn’t speaking to me. His visits stopped once I was put under guard.”
“I’m afraid my patient needs his rest,” the doctor said.
“Okay,” Jennifer acknowledged. She smiled encouragingly at Gary. “Everything is all right now. You’re going to be fine.”
“Yes. I think I will be,” Gary said.
A sense of great relief washed over Josephine as she left the hospital. She was so glad that this dangerous predicament was behind her. It was time for life to get back to normal again.
Author’s Note:
I hope you enjoyed the adventures of Josephine and her two best friends. I’ve certainly grown more and more attached to the characters with every book I write about them. If you liked the story, I would be thrilled if you could leave a review to let other readers know how you felt. Every review helps, no matter how short! To sign up for my mailing list for new book notifications and special offers, you can visit http://johnoriley.webs.com/new-book-notifications. If you continue reading, you will find a sample book excerpt for the next installment of the Grumpy Old Wizard series, Corruption.
Books currently available by John O’Riley:
Grumpy Old Wizards series:
Book 1: Grumpy Old Wizards
Book 2: Corruption
Book 3: Dark Energy
Book 4: Terramezic Energy
Winters Family Psi Chronicles:
Book 1: Transformation
Book 2: Project Onyx
Book 3: Black Moon
Wizards in Seattle series:
Episode 1: Inheritance
Episode 2: Caretaker
The following is a preview of the next installment of the Grumpy Old Wizard series
called Corruption.
Chapter 1
Josephine and her two friends, Helen and Alice, gathered at the dining room table inside her spacious condo with their mugs of coffee. They all owned their homes in this retirement complex and their ages ranged from the mid-seventies to the mid-eighties. Helen wore a bright pink sundress with a pink bow in her fluffy, gray hair. Helen chose not to wear much makeup this morning except for the obligatory glossy pink lipstick. She reached out with her gnarly, wrinkled hands to grab the deck of cards and began shuffling them. Alice and Josephine both wore loose-fitting blouses with jeans. Alice’s wrinkled face formed a scowl of annoyance as Helen continued shuffling the deck after several long moments. Josephine’s body thrummed with energy and her smooth, youthful skin resembled that of someone in their thirties. Josephine was tall and slender with silky, jet black hair and brown eyes. As a category six wizard, she enjoyed the benefits of extremely slow aging and would live a very long life barring any unfortunate accidents. Category six wizards were excellent psychometrists so they were mandated by law to help with any police investigation where lesser wizards were unable to read the crime scene and evidence was lacking.
After the Disaster that had occurred over 50 years ago, virtually everyone in the world had become a wizard of one degree or another. Most individuals measured on the scale of a category two through four. The most prestigious wizard was a five, as they had great control as well as massive power. Category six wizards possessed massive amounts of power but it could be volatile and they sometimes lacked the control needed for complex spells. This is the reason they were required to wear a ring embedded with an aequitas enchantment at all times because they were forbidden from performing anything beyond very simple spells. Any attempt to work with more than a mere trickle of power would cause the aequitas enchantment to knock them unconscious. Theoretically, there was no way to tamper with the magic or to take off the jewelry but Josephine had deactivated the aequitas enchantment in her turquoise ring over a month ago. Alice cast another moody frown at Helen before sipping more coffee and slamming the mug down with much more force than necessary. Helen and Josephine flinched with surprise and gazed at Alice with bemuse
ment.
“You seem a bit grumpy this morning,” Josephine observed.
“Unlike you, I don’t have centuries to wait around while someone shuffles the cards for an eternity,” Alice grumped.
“I’m sorry. I spaced out.” Helen cast an apologetic look at both her friends.
She began passing out cards so they could start playing rummy. They played in companionable silence for a moment until it was Helen’s turn and she was staring at Josephine with intense scrutiny. Alice shot Helen a dirty look and cleared her throat to gain her attention. Josephine looked up from her cards with confusion and her gaze flicked from Alice to Helen.
“Isn’t it your turn, Helen?” Josephine prodded.
“I’ve been noticing something different about you over the last week or so. I finally realized what it is. You’re looking younger.” Helen’s lips curved in a pensive frown.
A pleased laugh burbled from Josephine. “You flatterer. I’ve been jogging along the beach every morning.”
“She’s right. You definitely look like you’re in your mid-twenties now.” Alice’s expression turned dour with concern.
“You don’t look too happy about it.” Josephine leveled a perturbed look at her friend.
“I think it’s because you’ve been tapping into the vortex at the beach,” Helen stated.
There was a power vortex at Siesta Key beach. Normally, category six wizards couldn’t tap into them because of their aequitas enchantments but Josephine took full advantage of her freedom by connecting with the vortex while running at the beach every morning. It always gave her such a rush.
“Helen’s right, you didn’t really start making a habit of it until about two weeks ago. That’s when you changed,” Alice remarked.
“Obviously, it’s done me a world of good! I look and feel great!” Josephine’s face lit up with an ecstatic grin.
“I believe category six wizards that tap into the vortex every day become immortal.” Helen took a sip of her coffee while her friends were shocked into stunned silence. “It’s kind of like being a vampire, I guess.”