by John O'Riley
“There is still something wrong.” He frowned with concern as he continued the healing spell. “There’s something distressing your body. It’s rejecting the fetus.”
Josephine squeezed her eyes shut in reaction to this horrifying news. A healing spell should have been enough to stabilize her condition.
“I know what’s wrong,” Maggie murmured in a fearful tone.
Josephine opened her eyes and focused on her. “What is it?”
“It’s white magic burnout. The baby needs light energy. When Mark passed away, the light energy from your network was diminished. You need an infusion of white magic,” Maggie explained.
A spark of hope flared in Josephine as she mulled over this idea. If that was the case, it made perfect sense why a healing spell did nothing to improve her condition.
“I’m afraid that’s incorrect. You’re a mainstream wizard and the baby isn’t developed enough to have its own magic,” Hamilton said.
Josephine reached out with her mind to seek out the connection that tethered her to the light energy network. It still held firm but had taken a shock over the loss of Mark. Her intuition kicked in and she felt certain Maggie was right. She’d already spent a lot of valuable time at the Venice hospital.
“I need to leave here now.” Josephine pushed herself off the bed and almost collapsed to the floor with exhaustion.
Her legs wobbled and threatened to buckle. She didn’t know how she could possibly make it.
“You’re not going anywhere except the ICU,” Hamilton said.
“You can’t force me to stay here.” Josephine shot him a forceful look.
“You’re in need of medical attention. You’re in no condition to play around with magic and to self-medicate.” Hamilton pulled out a mini wand containing a sedative spell.
Maggie cast a knockout spell and the doctor crumpled to the floor.
“Thanks.” Josephine threw her a grateful look as she pulled out her cell phone.
“I’m not sure I’m doing you any favors. He may be right.” Maggie’s expression was grim.
Josephine placed a call to Helen. “Helen, it’s me. My baby is dying. I need help right away. Can you teleport directly to me and take me home?”
“I believe so.”
Josephine disconnected the call and waited for her friend to arrive.
“Is she coming?” Maggie asked.
“She said she thinks she can teleport here,” Josephine said.
“She hasn’t practiced using her teleportation enchantments much, has she?”
“Not really. I think she’s used them just once or twice. She wants to make sure she always has two of them charged at all times.”
Maggie regarded her with a dubious frown. “How many does she have altogether?”
“Three.”
“That’s just terrific,” Maggie grumbled. “And she’s still not here! She probably teleported in the middle of main street or something.”
Josephine sat down on the bed again and took a deep breath. She wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered with cold.
“I wish I could call Perry. I never thought to give him a cell phone for emergencies,” Josephine said.
“Can you communicate with him telepathically?”
“I’ve never been good at it and my connection to the network is too weak right now.” Josephine heaved a sigh of anguish. “I can’t lose my baby. It’s the only thing I have left of Mark.”
Helen materialized in the far corner of the room. She blinked with surprise as if she hadn’t expected to find herself here.
Josephine rose to her feet with a weak smile of greeting. “There you are.”
“I wanted to be sure I wasn’t distracted by anything when I cast the spell. If you don’t do it with a focused mind, you can end up anywhere,” Helen advised. She approached the two women and they joined hands. “Give me a second.”
Helen closed her eyes and her brows furrowed with concentration. She wore several glass pendants which were tucked beneath her cobalt-blue blouse. Josephine could sense the light energy gathering around her friend. There was a feeling of fast motion for just a split second just before the three wizards vanished from the room and they ended up standing in the middle of Josephine’s living room. Perry was waiting for them in human form, standing off to the side as if expecting them to arrive exactly as they did.
“You need to sit down.” Maggie regarded Josephine with concern as she guided her over to the couch.
Helen and Perry stood on either side of Josephine and placed their hands on her upper arms. Bright shimmering white light radiated from beneath their hands as light energy flowed from Helen and Perry into Josephine in a powerful healing spell. Maggie watched them work and intermittently paced back and forth in front of the other couch facing them. After several moments, a languid warmth suffused Josephine’s body as well as a sense of peace. Her sense of loss was still sharp in her mind but it felt like something she could manage now. She connected to the power vortex and felt the invigorating flow of energy coursing through her. Helen and Perry continued to direct light energy at her for quite some time. When they finally stepped back and smiled at her, Josephine allowed herself to hope maybe she’d gotten home in time.
“Is he going to be all right?” she asked.
“Yes, we prevented the baby from burning out,” Perry advised.
Josephine relaxed her tensed muscles as relief rushed through her. “How can a baby suffer from burnout?”
“It’s going to be a natural White Knight. It was born of the Light and must have a constant flow of source energy to sustain itself,” Perry explained.
He and Helen sat down beside her while Maggie remained standing with a look of consternation.
“This is part of the reason APU 81 viewed Mark as one of its greatest threats,” Maggie said. “There are some memories that have come back to me. The future is never set in stone so when you glimpse it, you’re only seeing the most probable outcome at the time. There was one future where Mark lived and the baby was born a White Knight. There was another where Mark died and the baby was killed. There are dangers out there besides APU 81 but the details are murky. It’s like trying to remember something that happened hundreds of years ago.”
“I’m certain that APU 81 is our most deadly enemy at the moment,” Josephine said.
“Of course, you’re right,” Maggie agreed.
“What happened to Mark? Is he…” Helen couldn’t bring herself to ask the question.
Josephine nodded and tears welled up in her eyes as she remembered how quickly the portal had yanked Mark away from her.
“I felt it but I was hoping I was wrong,” Helen whispered with horror.
Maggie left the room and returned with a box of tissues for Josephine.
“Thanks,” Josephine murmured.
She flinched when she saw Maggie’s black eyes. Helen and Perry gasped with alarm when they noticed the change as well.
“Now I can see how good people turn to black magic.” Maggie’s face was taut with anguish and fury.
“What are you doing?” Josephine regarded her with terror.
The space around Maggie rippled as though from heat and after several seconds it formed an aura of dark energy.
“I’m going to take care of our problem once and for all. The darkness whispers to you if you let it. I know how to kill APU 81. I can create a construo letalis curse. I have all the elements and knowledge to do it so that it can track APU 81’s crystal skull no matter where it’s hidden. There’s nowhere it can run to where my curse can’t find it,” Maggie said.
“It takes lots of dark energy to create a curse. It will take you weeks and it’s advanced magic. The chances are that you’ll have to keep making construo letalis curses over and over until you get it just right.” Josephine leveled a pleading look at her. “Don’t do this. Don’t let evil corrupt you.”
“I won’t kill or make anyone suffer. I have plenty of dark energy all o
n my own to make this work.”
“That’s not what happens. You’ll be sucked deeper and deeper into black magic until it consumes you,” Josephine said. “This isn’t what Mark would want.”
“And Mark’s not here to tell me that, is he?” Maggie’s black eyes sparked with fury and she clenched her hands into tight fists. “APU 81 imprisoned me for practically my entire life and now he’s murdered my brother! It’s going to destroy everyone I care about unless I kill it first.”
The dark energy of her aura expanded several inches and she began pacing in front of them. Helen and Perry cringed and regarded her with undisguised horror and sympathy.
“I know Mark would never want this for you. We’re almost finished with our long-range scanners. We’ll track APU 81 and bring an army of enforcers with us to vanquish him. We don’t need black magic,” Josephine said.
Maggie stopped pacing and turned to face her with an abruptness that startled her. She stared at Josephine as she waged a silent battle with herself. Josephine tensed as she wondered what would happen. If Maggie chose to work with dark energy, she would lose herself to hatred and rage. Josephine was certain of this. Maggie squeezed her eyes shut and the aura of dark energy thinned. After several seconds it was gone and Maggie shuddered as sobs wracked her body. Josephine crossed the room and embraced her.
“Everything will be okay. I promise,” she murmured as she stroked Maggie’s back in a comforting gesture.
Helen and Perry joined them in a group hug. Josephine sensed them issue a discreet pulse of light energy to help soothe Maggie. Josephine retreated to her room to place a call to Director Hamilton and reported what had just occurred with APU 81 and Mark’s demise.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Virginia said. “I won’t blame you at all if you want to be taken off this case or you need some time to recover.”
“I’ll recover later. For now, I need to do everything in my power to get APU 81.”
“All right. Keep me apprised and I’ll need an official report soon.”
“Of course.”
Josephine disconnected the call and checked in on Maggie who was working on her laptop with Perry and Helen seated beside her on the couch.
“You guys don’t have to watch over me,” Maggie said.
“I spoke with Director Hamilton. She told us we can be reassigned if we want or to take some time off if we need it,” Josephine advised.
Maggie leveled a resolved gaze at her. “We need to track down APU 81 as soon as possible. There’s no telling what other plans it’s working on.”
“That’s what I told Director Hamilton. And in order for us to make the most headway as possible and to combine our firepower in case APU 81 decides to attack us again, I suggest you stay at my house,” Josephine said.
“All right. I might as well since we’re working here anyway,” Maggie agreed.
“Before you start back with your enchantment, I suggest we strengthen our magical network,” Perry suggested. “It’s strained and if we don’t take care of it, we may lose it.”
Josephine nodded in agreement. “Let’s go to the dining room.” She paused at the doorway and turned to Maggie. “You’re welcome to join us.”
“That’s okay. I’m not part of your magical network and I don’t think it’s possible for me to join. I’ve got some work to do.”
Maggie’s gaze dropped to her computer screen and she began tapping at the keys. Josephine, Helen, and Perry gathered in the dining room.
“Do you think we should call Alice?” Josephine asked.
“We can do this again in the morning when she’s over for coffee,” Helen said.
“We should join hands to strengthen the energy flow,” Perry suggested.
Josephine and Helen complied with his request. Light energy currents swirled around them and through them as they worked on their network. After several moments, the energy became visible for brief periods of time as sparkling silvery white and blue streams of luminescence. When they were winding down and preparing to stop, Josephine opened her eyes as she sensed a very faint link that belonged to Mark. She hoped she wasn’t imagining it.
“I can feel Mark. He’s still alive,” Josephine announced as hope and relief surged within her.
Helen regarded her with confusion. “I don’t sense anything at all. He’s gone completely.”
Perry stared off into space without answering right away. Josephine and Helen turned to wait on his verdict with anticipation.
“Yes, Mark is alive,” Perry confirmed. “We couldn’t feel it before because of the strain on the network. He’s very far away. Farther than we can imagine.”
“APU 81 said that facility was an Interplanetary Transit Center and mentioned colony worlds. I never imagined that we were advanced enough to travel to other planets,” Josephine said.
“That would explain why he’s so far away,” Helen remarked.
Josephine leveled a hopeful look at Perry. “Can you communicate with him?”
“No, he’s out of range. It may be possible over time if we strengthen our network. However, it would take a lot of new members in our group,” Perry said.
“How many do you think it would take?” Helen asked.
“I really can’t say. I’m sorry.” Perry cast an apologetic look at her.
“It’s not like there are very many white magic practitioners around.” Helen’s tone was defeated.
“We should strengthen our network a bit longer,” Perry advised. “And I just need to warn you that once we stop, we won’t be able to feel Mark’s connection anymore. We’ll only be able to detect it when we’re strengthening our network like this.”
“All right,” Josephine acknowledged. “Thanks for the warning.”
Chapter 17
It was a little after five in the morning as Maggie took a sip of her coffee at Josephine’s dining room table as she peered intently at her laptop computer. The gorgeous, crystal chandelier blazed with cheery light over Maggie, Josephine, Helen, and Alice. Perry was perched as a white dove on the curtains across the room watching them.
Alice arched a brow at Josephine. “Did you get any sleep at all last night?”
“Not much.” Josephine’s fingers tightened reflexively over her mug resting on the table as she thought about Mark and how he was trapped on some other world facing dangers she could only imagine. “Maggie and I worked with a group of enforcers who are assigned to guard the new ancient facility in Venice. It complicates matters that it’s located in a residential neighborhood. We set up wards to prevent APU 81 from controlling it remotely. Unfortunately, the protection is minimal for now until we’re able to strengthen the wards. We also took scans of the facility and worked on analyzing the schematics and trying to figure out how it works. There’s a team of scientists that are flying in this morning.”
“Do you have any idea how to find Mark?” Alice asked.
“Not yet but I’m confident Maggie will figure it out,” Josephine said. She grimaced when she thought about the call she’d received from Director Hamilton less than an hour ago. “Unfortunately, we’re not the only team assigned to this case.”
Alice regarded her with puzzlement and curiosity. “Why is that a bad thing?”
“Arthur Gallagher’s team is the other one that’s assigned to hunting down APU 81. All of my reports are accessible to him.”
“I’d like to punch him in the face and give him a black eye.” Alice’s expression turned stormy.
“Don’t hold back. Tell us how you really feel.” Maggie threw her a wry look.
“He’s an idiot!” Alice exclaimed. “I hope he’s not in charge of your case.”
“No, he’s just working the case too. We’re two separate teams and we have to share our findings with each other. Beyond that, I don’t have to talk the jerk.”
“Is he still assigned to Yvonne and Charlotte?” Helen inquired.
“Yes.” Josephine sighed with irritation at this reminder. “I st
ill don’t think it’s fair. I hope those two young women are doing okay. I asked Virginia if he’s cured them of the mind control enchantment and she let me know he’s still working on it.”
“In other words, he couldn’t do any better than us,” Alice grumbled. “In fact, I’m certain I could have fixed them by now.”
“Those poor kids,” Helen murmured.
“You don’t think Mark’s trapped in space in one of those white energy bubbles, do you?” Alice asked.
Maggie regarded her with cool certainty. “That’s not what happened. A white magic protection field would only contain the oxygen he had at the time he fell through the portal. By my calculations, he would have been dead within the hour so that scenario is simply not possible. The only logical conclusion is that he teleported to a world that has an atmosphere.”
“Do you think there are people from Earth still living on other planets after the Great Wizard War?” Alice asked.
“If our ancestors colonized them, I would say there are probably inhabited worlds out there right now. When our technology failed, we were cut off from them. Their descendants probably lost their technology like we did and they have no idea about Earth or other worlds either,” Maggie hypothesized.
“If Mark wasn’t missing, you’d probably be excited about this discovery,” Josephine remarked.
“It’s a huge breakthrough. One I never imagined could happen so quickly,” Maggie acknowledged.
Josephine received a call from the Sarasota chief of police.
“Josephine, I’ve got news on the man who is possessed by APU 81. His name is Norman Goff and he’s only a category four wizard. He lives in Venice. He’s awake and still possessed by APU 81. He says he remained in Norman’s body because he wanted to talk to you,” Ben said.
A cold sense of dread gripped Josephine. “I’ll be right there.”
Josephine rose to her feet as she briefly explained the reason for the call to Alice, Helen, and Maggie.
“Make sure you bring plenty of protection. It’s probably a trap,” Helen warned.