by John O'Riley
Charlotte accepted the treats with a delighted smile. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Why do you have a dove on your shoulder?” Charlotte eyed the bird with astonishment.
“That’s just Perry White,” Yvonne advised.
Charlotte turned to peer at her sister. “Excuse me?”
Yvonne explained about Perry and how he was a light being.
“I see.” Charlotte nodded slowly. Light beings were so rare that many people hadn’t heard of them.
“Perry, why don’t you introduce yourself?” Josephine suggested.
The white dove cocked his head to the side as he took in Yvonne and Charlotte for several seconds. He spread both his wings then jumped off Josephine’s shoulder. He exploded in a sparkling white energy mist for several seconds before coalescing into his human form. He now stood half a dozen feet away from Josephine near the center of the room. He was extremely muscular, seven-feet tall, and had brown curly hair and friendly brown eyes. He wore loose-fitting white pants and a shirt with white sneakers and a friendship bracelet made up of green and pink string woven together on each wrist. Charlotte and Yvonne gaped at him, astonished by his massive and intimidating size.
“Wow!” Yvonne exclaimed.
“Pleased to meet you.” Perry’s lips curved in a shy smile.
“Ditto,” Charlotte said.
“Why do you like being a bird?” Yvonne asked.
Perry cocked his head at her, reminiscent of the way he’d done as a dove. “I don’t know.”
Perry exploded into a sparkling white mist then reverted back to a white dove that was perched on the coffee table. He flew across the room to the curtain rod above the living room window. Yvonne and Charlotte stared at him for a moment while he stared right back at them. Josephine read through the seven pages of Yvonne’s family enchantment so she would have an idea of how difficult the process would be. It was one of the more advanced and complicated spells she’d ever come across. She would definitely need Mark’s help to memorize it.
Charlotte leveled a wry look at her. “You can see why it takes years of studying and practice to learn the enchantment.”
“It’s very advanced magic,” Josephine agreed. “I can do it though.”
“You can?” Charlotte and Yvonne regarded her with astonished disbelief.
“I happen to know someone who can give me photographic memory for a short period of time.” Josephine’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.
“You’ve got some seriously talented friends,” Yvonne said.
Chapter 8
Josephine was starting to wonder if Alice was ever going show up that night when she finally arrived a little after nine. Josephine led her friend to the living room where Mark, Charlotte and Yvonne were waiting. Perry was perched on his favorite spot in the room on the curtain rods above the living room window in the form of a white dove.
“You must be Charlotte,” Alice said.
“Yes. It’s nice meeting you,” Charlotte said.
“Likewise.” Alice offered a faint smile then focused on Yvonne. “Hello, Yvonne. How are you feeling?”
“Fine.”
“Once we’re ready to get started, it will be best if you lie down because you will lose consciousness during the claro mentis enchantment,” Alice said. She turned to sweep her gaze over the others in the room. “Everyone but my patient will need to leave.”
“Um, Alice.” Josephine leveled a tentative smile at her friend. “There’s been a minor development.”
Alice narrowed her eyes at Josephine. “What kind of development?”
“It turns out that Charlotte is under the influence of the same mind control spell as her sister,” Josephine explained.
“What?!” Alice exclaimed with outrage. “I’m too old for this kind of nonsense! I’m retired for a reason!”
Yvonne and Charlotte looked worried.
“Maybe we should have a professional do this,” Charlotte said.
Alice whipped her head around to focus on the young woman with outrage. “I’m not some old has-been who can’t conduct a perfectly good claro mentis when I need to.”
“I didn’t realize you were retired. How old are you?” Charlotte leveled an assessing look at Alice.
“I’m a senior citizen. My age is on a need-to-know basis.” Alice’s vibrant green eyes flashed with ire while the smooth, flawless skin of her youthful face was taut with tension. She didn’t like to reveal that she was in her eighties like Josephine.
“How long ago did you retire?”
“About fifteen years ago.”
“No offense but I would rather have someone with more skill who’s currently working in the field do a claro mentis enchantment on me,” Charlotte said. “I’m afraid I’m not comfortable with this.”
Alice’s anger turned to affronted indignation. “I can outperform any of those young pups with one hand tied behind my back! You don’t need some worthless psychiatrist who’s still wet behind the ears. It takes many years of experience and hard work before you can cast a really good claro mentis. I’m the one you need. In fact, I can do the spell on both of you at the same time.”
“I suppose I’d better leave the room then,” Josephine said.
“Now would be a good time.” Alice leveled an irritable scowl at her.
Josephine and Mark retired to their bedroom with the spell Charlotte had given them. Alice didn’t notice Perry had remained perched on the living room curtain rod observing them with fascination. Josephine closed the door before she perched on the end of her king-size bed. Mark pulled out his blue, mini wand that contained the photographic memory enchantment.
He sat down beside Josephine. “Are you all right?”
“No, I’m not.” She heaved a sigh of frustration. “With how much my power has grown, I should be able to remove the mind control enchantment without anyone’s help.”
“Mind control has never been an easy thing to vanquish.” Mark regarded her with a sympathetic gaze. “It almost always takes a specialist in mental healing magic.”
“I know. I just feel like I should be able to do it.”
“One person can’t solve every problem,” Mark said. “But if there was such a wizard, I know it would be you.”
“You’re such a sweetheart.” Josephine scooted closer to give him a warm hug.
She closed her eyes and savored the feeling of love and comfort that flowed between them. She wished there weren’t always problems looming over their heads. She wished she hadn’t married before meeting Mark. She knew she had too much baggage to ever marry again. All she could do was make the most of the limited time she had left with him. After all, white magic was a fleeting gift. A white magic practitioner would always burn out and lose their connection to light energy. It was inevitable that Mark would suffer the same fate as all those before him. And when it happened, he would begin to age again and grow old and eventually die while Josephine lived forever. Even as these dire musings swirled through her mind, Mark’s loving presence grew stronger within her until her body thrummed with joy. Mark pulled back and gasped with surprise.
Josephine opened her eyes and saw the look of puzzlement and wonder on his face. She was about to ask why he was staring at her like that when she realized she was glowing. A sparkling white and gold luminescence radiated from her body. She held her hands up and examined them with astonishment. After several seconds, the light rapidly diminished and vanished.
“What was that?” Josephine asked.
Mark’s full lips curved in a pleasant smile. “I don’t know but I liked it.”
“Me, too.” Josephine sobered as she remembered their current predicament. “I’m ready for that memorization spell.”
“All right.” Mark aimed his wand at her and activated the enchantment.
A shimmering gold stream of energy spilled from the tip of the wand and flowed into Josephine’s forehead for several seconds. Josephine knew that the spell wor
ked because she could feel her mind expanding. She carefully read through the enchantments one page at a time. She was amazed by how clear the details of the spell shaped in her mind. It didn’t take her more than ten minutes to memorize the entire enchantment.
“That spell is amazing. No wonder you’re so smart,” Josephine said.
“Thank you.”
“I can see why it takes years for people to practice it. Memorizing it is only the first step. It takes skill to create the energy construct and focus it properly. I can do this.” Josephine’s expression was elated. “If I’m tapped into a vortex, I can cast the spell on my own.”
“But it says it takes a minimum of two wizards that are at least category five in strength,” Mark said.
“That’s because one person normally can’t control all of the different components of the spell at the same time. Now that I’m connected to you and Helen, my power has reached the point where I can definitely handle it,” Josephine explained. “But I’m still going to error on the side of caution. I’ll wait until Yvonne’s and Charlotte’s parents arrive so we’ll have the best chance of success.”
“You realize that you’ll still have photographic memory for at least another hour and a half, right?” Mark asked.
“I should memorize some of those ancient spells in the vault.” Josephine was referring to the hidden room with the door that had been cloaked with invisibility by the previous owner of the house. It was a treasure trove of white magic and advanced enchantments that Arabella and Duncan had created before dying swift and tragic deaths at the hands of the Valituras. The room was located in the back of Josephine’s upstairs office where she kept most of her enchantments. Josephine kept it secure with potent wards that only she and Mark could access. Arabella had created a light energy ward to protect the room but only a white magic practitioner could control it. When the Valituras had murdered her, Duncan had been cut off from the vault because he was a category six. Josephine was connected to two practitioners of white magic so she could work with small amounts of source energy but it was just enough to activate an enchantment and it was only sometimes successful. She had no intention of being cut off from the vault if something ever happened to Mark so she left the light energy ward dormant.
As Josephine crossed the office floor, Mark issued a stream of light energy to activate the lighting inside the vault. Over a dozen glass witch balls boasting breath-taking, vivid colors hung suspended from the ceiling inside the vault. As Josephine stepped through the doorway to the room, a sense of peace and tranquility washed over her from the light energy radiating off all the enchantments stored on the shelves. Hundreds of white magic and mainstream magic-infused jewelry and wands rested on the many wooden shelves built into the walls and in the center of the room. Josephine crossed over to the spell books that Duncan had kept. She chose one of the massive volumes at random and took it out of the room to the office. She and Mark sat down at the work table on one end of the room so Josephine could start reading through the book. Duncan had performed extremely advanced magic. He’d studied and honed his skills throughout his entire life.
Josephine lost track of time as she was deeply engrossed in the book. Mark startled her when he shot to his feet.
“Something’s wrong,” he announced.
“What is it?” Josephine regarded him with puzzlement.
There was a loud crash from downstairs. Josephine and Mark rushed down the stairs to the living room to find Perry in his human form lying unconscious next to the wall. Josephine took stock of the empty room as dread welled inside her.
“Where’s Alice, Yvonne, and Charlotte?” Josephine asked.
A sparkling white light briefly flickered over Perry and his eyes popped open.
He sat up and gazed at Josephine and Mark with alarm. “Alice, Yvonne, and Charlotte said the world must be purged. They were going to leave and I tried to stop them.”
“That’s what Brenda said before she ended up murdering millions of people with her enchantment.” Josephine’s expression was grim. She, Mark, and Perry rushed down the stairs to the entry way where the front door was wide open. Alice’s car was gone. “Alice must still be connected to them and the mind control somehow took over her.”
“We have to get to Siesta Key beach before they do,” Perry said.
Josephine, Mark, and Perry piled into Josephine’s car and she drove to the beach which was only a couple minutes away. Alice’s car was already parked in the lot. Adrenaline pumped through Josephine’s veins as she saw the vortex become visible and churn with angry crimson energy. They were already too late. When Josephine, Mark, and Perry reached Alice, Yvonne, and Charlotte, the three women didn’t even acknowledge them. They were staring with deadly intent at the vortex as they wove their deadly enchantment. A powerful field of energy surrounded the three possessed wizards and would make any attack against them hopeless. A loud high-pitched whine emitted from the mysterious enchantment that stirred within the depths of the vortex. Josephine knew she had only one chance to stop them and it was a long shot. She reached out with her mind and connected with the vortex. Power cascaded through her body and she gathered it as quickly as possible. Mark and Perry took up positions on either side of her in a gesture of support but white magic wasn’t going to stop the deadly spell from unleashing on the world.
When Josephine had collected a massive dose of power and didn’t dare wait any longer, she manifested the strongest dampening field possible around herself and the three possessed wizards. Josephine clenched her body as she summoned all of her strength in channeling the magic. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. The dampening field began to form but Yvonne and Charlotte countered it with pulses of tuned energy waves that prevented it from taking hold. Dread tore through Josephine as she watched angry bolts of red lightning flicker within the vortex and occasionally strike the ground, sending plumes of sand high into the air.
“Yvonne! Charlotte! You need to fight it! You don’t have to do this!” Josephine shouted. When the young women failed to respond, she focused on Alice. “Alice, you need to stop them! You need to take control of the situation! You’re the claro mentis master.” She clenched her jaw as frustration and despair overwhelmed her. She had to get through to her friend somehow.
“We’ll protect you,” Perry murmured to her in a voice that was barely audible above the high-pitched wailing of the enchantment.
Josephine took a deep breath as an idea formed in her mind. “Alice, I should have known you couldn’t handle such an important spell. I should have let the FBI send a federal enforcer to do the claro mentis. They warned me that you were just an old has-been. They said you belong in a nursing home, confined to your room so you won’t bother anyone.”
Perry jerked his head to the side to gape at her with astonishment. Mark’s body glowed with a soft white light which meant he had gathered a lot of light energy and was prepared to cast a protection spell at a moment’s notice. Alice slowly turned to face them with her arms at her sides and red discharges of energy sparking from the tips of her finger and the palms of her hands. Josephine swallowed reflexively while Perry flinched at the raw hostility in Alice’s gorgeous green eyes. As the wild breeze whipped Alice’s red hair, it gave the illusion that her head was on fire.
“This world must be purged,” Alice shrieked.
She clenched her fists and shoved them forward. Thick red streams of sickly energy lashed out at Josephine who’d activated her protection as soon as she knew her friend would strike. Josephine’s shield deflected the attack but she was running out of time. She could sense that most of the compositional design of the enchantment within the vortex was set which meant it was almost finished.
Josephine turned to Mark with desperation. “You need to try and take over the spell.”
“I can’t do that!” he protested.
“Yes, you can. You’ve used light energy to control enchantments before. This isn’t any different.”
“This is a
complex, chaotic, and deadly spell. I don’t think I can affect it.”
“You’re our only hope,” Josephine said.
Mark pointed the palm of his hand toward the vortex and a stream of light energy flowed from him. Josephine held her breath for several seconds as she watched. Alice paused in her attack to observe the white magic as well. As the stream of white luminescence approached its target, it began to bend away from it. A cold sense of despair settled in the pit of Josephine’s stomach as the stream of light energy split into two and both ends twisted away from the vortex and exploded harmlessly into thousands of bright sparks that showered the ocean. Mark continued directing light energy for several more seconds before giving up. Alice fired another burst of sickly red lightning at them. Josephine didn’t bother returning fire. Instead, she strengthened her protection to give herself more time. Not that it mattered. The enchantment from the vortex would kill everyone on the beach when it activated. She was certain of that. No shield could shelter anyone from its deadly wave of energy.
Josephine fixed her attention back to Alice. “I should have committed you to a nursing home. You couldn’t even control your own claro mentis spell. You let it take over your mind like an old, shriveled, bedridden, spinster.”
Alice’s visage contorted with rage and red lightning sparked from her entire body as she lifted her arms above her head in preparation of another attack. Massive streams of red lightning shot out form the vortex and into Alice’s hands. Josephine braced herself for the next attack because she wasn’t entirely certain her shields would hold this time. As Alice brought her arms down, she whirled to face Yvonne and Charlotte and struck at them instead of Josephine. A faint trickle of hope stirred within Josephine as she saw the massive bolts of lightning arc from Alice’s hands and slam against the protective fields of Yvonne and Charlotte. Soon, it became apparent that Alice wasn’t strong enough break through those barriers. Yvonne and Charlotte ignored the attack completely. The two women finished setting the enchantment. Yvonne raised her hand and issued a pulse of energy to activate the deadly spell. Josephine shot out a wave of energy that deflected it. Charlotte brought up her own hand and prepared to issue an activation pulse at the same time as her sister. Josephine issued a powerful wave of magic as the two young women attempted to ignite the spell with a more potent pulse of energy. Josephine’s wave of energy impacted with theirs. Yvonne’s and Charlotte’s pulse continued to flow towards the deadly construct of the spell but it missed impact by a couple of feet.