Emily looked at her with a blank stare. Annie was suddenly reminded of Dr. Arden Blakely, who had similarly been drugged and controlled by the Fraternitatem.
Annie had always been conflicted where her mother was concerned. Because she didn’t remember her, she felt no particular pull toward her. When she thought of a mother, it was always Kathy. When she learned that her mother was still alive, she had become angry, partially at Sturtagaard, partially at the Fraternitatem. But most of all, she was angry with Emily, who Annie felt was naïve and stupid for leaving her young children. But finally, having Emily here with her, she was conflicted, torn between resisting a mother who was brainwashed to kill her and understanding how proficiently the Fraternitatem had worked to make Emily this way.
She held her mother’s hand. It was just like hers. Her lips, her eyes, her nose—they were all Annie’s, all Samantha’s. Annie’s conflicted feelings grew deeper; maybe that was the plan. That anxiety caused the magic to flow faster under her skin. She scratched at her belly, her arms, her legs as the itching deepened.
“Dr. Christine is on the way,” Cham said.
“Emily’s just like Arden,” Annie said.
Cham nodded and read the message that beeped on his phone. “Shiloh’s on his way now.”
Annie released Emily’s hold on her purse and glanced inside. She found four prescription drug bottles inside.
The doorbell rang. Cham held his hand in front of him as he checked through the peep hole. Dr. Christine Andrews stood on the porch and scanned the neighborhood.
“Thanks for coming. Come in.” Cham glanced down the street as Christine crossed the room and read the magic in Cham’s crystal. “They’ve got her hexed. Several of them.”
Christine knelt beside Emily. “Hi, Emily. My name is Dr. Christine Andrews. You can call me Dr. Christine. How are you feeling?”
“I’m worried about my son. I’d like to go home,” she said.
Christine held her hand. “Something’s been done to you. There’s magic attached to you that doesn’t belong.”
Emily nodded. “They give me medicine to help.” Annie handed Christine the bottles of pills.
“They give her orphenadrine to create visions and cause agitation, and then Valium to counteract that. These doses seem off. It explains how they brainwash their marks so easily,” Christine said, pocketing the drugs. “Good call on the drugs. We need to dry her out; she seems a bit high. I can give her something to help her sleep but that leaves her docile and easy to control.”
“Not much better than what they did to her.” Annie turned back to her mother. Samantha was doing her best to keep Emily calm, but to Annie, it appeared that Emily seemed more confused the longer she was with her family.
“Shiloh is on his way here. We can move her upstairs,” Annie said.
Dr. Christine nodded. “I’m going to take you upstairs, Emily. I want to examine you and make sure you’re okay.” She gently led her upstairs.
“Arden got very confused the same way Mom did,” Annie said again once Dr. Christine and Emily were out of the room. “It’s like they’re conditioned to be that way if they’re separated from someone or off their meds or something weird.” She glanced at the stairs.
The kitchen door opened and then slammed shut as footsteps entered the house. Cham approached with his palms up and met Shiff and Brite, who were carrying a sleeping thirteen-year-old boy. He looked at Emily’s youngest child, at his shocking red hair, at the lips and nose the shape of Annie’s and Samantha’s.
“Whoa,” Cham said as they carried him in. “Put him in the smaller room upstairs. Dr. Christine is examining Emily in the front bedroom.”
They carried him past Jason, who looked on in curiosity.
“You okay?” Annie asked her father.
“Are you?”
Annie, Samantha, and Jason sat on the sofa together, his arm around both of them. They both put their heads on his shoulder and leaned against him. “I can only imagine what this is doing do both of you,” Jason said.
“It’s confusing,” Samantha admitted.
“It makes me angry,” Annie said. She closed her eyes and blocked out the light, listening to the work happening upstairs.
“Why do I hear Annie’s thoughts?” Samantha asked.
Annie pulled away from Jason. “What?” she asked.
“I’ve heard some of your thoughts. Nothing explicit. Just that this is harder than you thought. I heard you when I was at the farm before I came here and a few times before that.”
Annie pulled away from Jason. “That’s a little disconcerting that you can hear me think.”
“It’s not that. Just a few simple thoughts. Sorry. You must think I’m nuts.”
Annie smiled at her sister. “Yes, I do, but not because of that. To be honest with you, I thought I heard your voice saying something to Mom.”
It must be the stress.
“It could be the stress,” Samantha agreed, though Annie hadn’t said anything out loud. “But then we’re both a little nutty.”
“You’re telepathic? Since when?” Annie asked incredulously. Jason and Cham glanced curiously at the two of them.
“It just started a few days ago. But it’s only your voice I can hear.”
Jason frowned. “Sami. What am I thinking?”
Samantha looked at him, closed her eyes, and concentrated on Jason. She opened her eyes and shook her head. “I usually hear Annie’s voice when I’m not trying. I didn’t hear anything.”
“You thought ‘I’m sorry,’” Annie said.
Jason nodded. “I don’t think it’s Sami with the power. I think it’s Annie.”
Annie shook her head. “I’ve only heard Sami once and now you.”
“It’s a very rare power and it’s new. You’re probably tossing your thoughts her way because you’re sisters.” Jason looked at his daughter. “The fact that you’re showing signs of telepathy is scary and makes it even more urgent to stop them.”
Cham put his arm around Annie. “Turning ghosts corporeal, astral projection, and telekinesis. That’s a triple threat. The itching’s got to be tormenting.”
“I feel like I’m on fire,” Annie said as Dr. Christine came down the stairs.
“I gave her something to help with the agitation,” Dr. Christine said. “I see her son is here. I’m going to examine him while he’s asleep. Is there anything else you want me to do when I’m done?”
Annie glanced at Cham. “We need to get them out of here before the Fraternitatem can find them. Can you let Tartarus know about their conditions? The prison knows they’re coming in.”
Christine nodded. “I’ll go check out her son and come back down.”
“That’s two.” Cham sat across from Annie.
“Shiff and Brite went back to the townhouse to wait for Levi. He’ll know they’re gone, either now or as soon as he gets home. What do you think about Starla?” Annie asked.
“Bucky’s on it. We just need enough to prove she’s working for them. He’s also trying to determine what Antique Symposium is. I’m not sure that’s enough to prove she’s in on it.” Cham ran his hands through his thick curls. “He also ran a list of all employees who worked in the Wizard Hall lab when Emily was processed in the morgue and is searching for anyone with a history in the Middle East or the black market. He’ll compare that list to any known names we have.”
“And?”
“Nothing yet. We might not know who helped the Fraternitatem in the morgue.”
“Was that too easy?” Annie asked.
A loud rumbling sound roared down the street, they felt its vibrations against the floor.
“What is that?” Cham asked. They ran for the front window and saw a large truck rolling toward the house.
“You jinxed it,” Cham said as Dr. Christine came downstairs again.
“We have a problem,” the doctor said.
The truck picked up speed.
“So do we. We need to go,” Cha
m advised. “Sami, leave. Jason, help me get them to the prison. We’ll discuss your problem later.”
As the truck roared closer, Cham and Jason ran for Emily and Shiloh. The walls began to shake.
Annie grabbed Samantha and Christine, and ran toward the back door. Annie embraced Samantha and teleported her away, quickly followed by Dr. Christine.
Cham threw Shiloh over his shoulder and opened the back-bedroom window. Jason held his former wife and ran to the back room as the house began to move. They both teleported from the house as the semi-truck rammed the front bay window, knocking the house to the ground.
Chapter 19
When Annie landed, she surveyed the landscape surrounding the teleportation clearing. When she heard the air being pushed out by Dr. Christine’s arrival, she turned. “We thought they might be tracked. Our protection spells weren’t enough.”
“How long do you think we have?”
Annie glanced at her phone. “Ten or fifteen minutes.” As she walked along the perimeter of the teleportation area, she scanned for magic and added additional magic to the protection spell. The magic flowed from her palms, leaving a trail behind her. It rose upwards, shimmering in the sunlight. When Annie finished, she returned to Dr. Christine. “Go. Get ready for them.”
“You okay? That’s a lot of magical release.”
“Go. Worry later.” Dr. Christine nodded and ran through the clearing to the path leading the prison.
The air popped as Jason landed with Emily. Cham was seconds later with Shiloh lying in his arms. They spotted Annie and ran toward her.
“Go! I’ll wait for anyone else.” Annie shouted.
Cham nodded and reluctantly left her behind as he and Jason lunged for the path leading to the prison.
As their footsteps became softer, Annie relaxed only slightly as she continued to focus on the sound of air popping and being replaced by humans. She held her palms up as the first body landed. A tall, lean man glanced across the landscape and turned quickly, as if he didn’t know where he was landing. He craned his neck to look around a large evergreen tree.
“Hey, idiot!” Annie shouted as she shot off a jinx, rendering him frozen. He stood like a statue in the center of the clearing, his eyes darting from her to the other side of the clearing and back again.
A second man appeared in the clearing. He was short and stocky with no neck and closely buzzed hair. He gritted his teeth when he saw her standing at the clearing exit. When Annie cast a jinx, he lunged away from the magic so that it flew past him and hit a tree.
A nervous energy flowed from Annie’s palms as she cast another jinx, this time hitting his shoulder. He was a solidly built man and easily resisted her spells. Not knowing who she was, he smiled and ran for her. Annie continued to cast successive spells; the magic poured from her palms, draining her energy. She backed away from him as he jumped her and knocked her backward. She cast another spell; he flew from her and landed in the tall grasses.
Sore from her collision with the ground, Annie rolled over and gingerly pulled herself up. She crept toward the man lying unconscious, felt his pulse, and checked his eyes. Determining he was out cold, she bent to tie his hands together. Before she could, he reached for her and flipped her over. She landed face down.
“Damn it,” she muttered. He pulled her arms behind her. “Ahhh!” Annie cried as he pulled up, lifting her from the ground. She closed her eyes, sure she had more power in her pinky finger than he had in his whole body. Though she couldn’t twist her wrists to cast her spell, she could feel her magic flying from her palms, seeking out her target. Magic wrapped around the man.
“What the hell is that?”
The magic covered his hands and arms, moved up his torso, and encased his head. He dropped Annie to swat the magic away. “Ooof,” she said as she landed on the ground.
He continued to swat at the magic that followed him. His counterpart, still frozen at the center of the clearing, watched him as he ran from the magic that continued to swarm him.
Annie rolled over. Her arms felt heavy and limp. She raised them carefully and aimed the spell, but the magic appeared to act on its own, streaming from her palms until it found the Fraternitatem member.
The magic exploded when it touched him. He flew backwards and smashed to the ground. Cautiously, Annie walked to him, kicking the bottom of his boot. He made no move to reach her. She knelt beside him and felt for a pulse. He was completely unconscious.
Annie sighed as she summoned magical rope and bound his hands together. She watched the magic as it billowed in the light. She tugged at the knot for good measure; the rope was the strongest she had ever created.
She returned to the second man, who was still frozen, his eyes moving on their own. Annie tied his arms. When she finished, Cham appeared in the clearing.
“What the hell happened?” he asked as he saw the two frozen men.
“This guy was easy, but his bud over there lunged at me.”
“At least they only sent two.” Cham bent and pulled up the unconscious man, floating him in the air beside him. He directed the body toward the pathway; Annie followed, floating the other man, who was watching in horror as he was being moved to prison.
“Everyone settled?” Annie asked.
“They’re still asleep, so I expect it will be a shock when they wake. I did see what Dr. Christine found. I’m not sure what to make of it.”
Annie glanced back to make sure they were the only ones on the lane. “What was it?”
“Not sure.” They reached the gates to Tartarus Prison. Waiting for them was one of the many giants that roamed the island and worked at the prison. He nodded when he saw them and let them inside.
Beverly, who was at the front desk again, glanced at the men floating in the air. “I sent Cham when I saw them show up. You okay, Annie?”
Annie nodded sheepishly as the giant pulled each man over a shoulder and walked them to the wizard prison cells. Annie shot a spell through the lock and was admitted inside.
“Dr. Christine is still waiting for you,” Beverly told her.
*
“You look like hell,” Dr. Christine said when Annie entered the small apartment that had been set up for Emily and Shiloh. They both lay sleeping on twin beds against the far wall. Annie sat on the open sofa.
“A minor fight.” Annie leaned against the back. “Cham said you found something.”
Christine held the crystal for Annie.
Annie stared inside the transparent rock and squinted as she read the magic. “What the hell is that?” she whispered. She was unsure of the magical readings and could only make out a jumble of colors surrounding a dark spot.
“Whatever it is, it doesn’t belong to him,” Cham said.
Christine nodded. “I read so much magic on him, you’ll have to sort through it all to determine exactly what was done to him.”
Annie glanced at Shiloh stirring on the bed. Absently, she scratched her abdomen.
Christine lifted Annie’s shirt, and stared in awe at the broken skin. “It obviously still itches. I think I’d like you on antibiotics, so the wounds don’t infect.”
Annie pulled down her shirt. “I’m fine. It only itches when I’m stressed. So guess what…” Annie leaned against the sofa back. “So how do we get that magic out of him?”
“Until we know what it is, there’s not much I can do for him. I suggest the Wizard Guard get on in and figure out what we’re looking at,” Christine said. She turned to Cham. “I’ll document all the medical issues for Emily and Shiloh. We know they kidnapped a wizard guard’s wife, held her against her will, drugged her, and brainwashed her. That will be enough to go after the Fraternitatem.”
“Plus the two guys Annie took down and Levi.” Cham grimaced.
“It’s almost over,” Dr. Christine said.
“The worse hasn’t happened yet, I’m afraid,” Cham warned.
Annie looked at both of them. Her stomach roiled.
*
Jason leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed against his chest. He absently rubbed the stubble on his chin as he watched them. “He’s small for his age.”
Annie wrapped her arms around her father, hugged him at his waist. He had gained weight since she’d brought him back. She knew what that meant for his ghostly status and didn’t care. She lay her head against him, feeling his warmth.
“You okay?” Annie asked.
“I’m not trying to be flippant,” Jason said.
Annie pulled away and stared inside the makeshift apartment. “I never said you were.” Shiloh began to stir in his sleep; a soft moan escaped his lips.
“None of this matters once I’m gone.”
Annie thought she ought to say something to him, to tell her father she knew he was no longer a ghost. She saw it in the gray hair on his temples, the weight he was putting on, the new wrinkles. But she didn’t, concerned it might make him reckless in his attempt to keep her safe.
She watched over her mother and brother with a heavy heart.
Annie? Annie, can you hear me?
Annie was startled by the sound of Samantha’s voice and turned toward the hallway; Samantha wasn’t there.
I hear you, Annie thought. She held her breath and closed her eyes.
“Are you okay?” Jason asked.
Annie nodded quickly.
I can’t bear to see her again. Samantha’s voice was strong in Annie’s head.
Annie opened her eyes and observed her mother sleeping fitfully on the cot.
It’s okay. You can come when you’re ready. You don’t even have to come at all.
“You should go, Dad,” she said aloud. “I can’t imagine your presence will help.”
“You’re probably right.” He kissed Annie on the forehead, touched her shoulder and walked from the apartment down the hall. Annie watched him; he walked with a slight limp, a result of a work injury he received early in his career.
I forgot he limped.
When Jason turned toward the front entrance, Annie entered the apartment, grabbed a metal chair, and sat beside Shiloh. Her curiosity was strong, and yet watching him broke her heart. Had Sturtagaard not given her up to the Fraternitatem, Shiloh wouldn’t have been born. Since he had, there was so much that kept the siblings apart.
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