by John O'Riley
“I used a scientific method to determine which one of you I’d hire first. If it turns out that you’re unsuccessful, then I’ll give the other guy a chance,” Virginia replied.
“What was the method you used?” Mark leveled a curious look at her.
Virginia’s lips twitched in a fleeting smile. “I assigned each of you three numbers between one and six and rolled a die which turned out to be a two.”
The next morning, Mark dressed in black pants and a cobalt-blue polo shirt. He was a bit groggy at first since he usually slept in until seven and the anticipation of his assignment in New Hampshire kept him from sleeping soundly. The caffeine from Mark’s morning coffee kicked in when he arrived at the private airport and renewed enthusiasm surged through him. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was to be discovered by someone with the kind of resources at Virginia’s fingertips. The inside of the jet was spacious and well-maintained without being luxurious. The seats were in rows of two with one at each window. Virginia and Mark positioned themselves near the front of the craft and Dustin perched on a chair nearby. Mark peered out the window as the jet took off. Once they were well on their way, Virginia shot him a questioning look.
“I noticed on your website that you perform all restorations yourself. Why is that?” she asked.
“It’s advanced magic and I use a personalized configuration that is different than the standard. It takes a practiced hand and a certain degree of finesse to get the spell to work to its true potential,” Mark explained.
He used this standard line on any of his clients who were curious about his abilities. Most people were satisfied with this response but there were some who pressed the issue.
“I understand that but I may want to purchase one of your enchantments if you manage to restore the artifact,” Virginia said.
Mark leveled an earnest and regretful gaze at her. “I’m afraid that just isn’t possible. I used to sell to individuals but people don’t get the same results as when I do the magic myself.”
“I understand but maybe you can make an exception for me.”
“I’m sorry. I insist that I personally perform all restorations,” Mark said.
“I would like to examine one of your wands before you use them then.”
Mark had brought four of his wands which were turquoise and considerably larger and thicker than average. The standard wand was more than sufficient for his purposes but he’d noticed through experience that a lot of potential clients were influenced by the size of his tools. Mark currently wore pants equipped with two wand pockets that allowed for three wands in each pocket. He pulled out one of his wands and Virginia blinked with surprise.
“I’m surprised airport security didn’t make you put that with the luggage,” she commented.
“You’re free to examine it, if you’d like.” Mark intentionally avoided answering her question as he didn’t want to reveal he was a white magic practitioner as they weren’t known for being skilled with restorations. He handed her the wand.
“It’s so big.” Virginia held the wand in both hands so she could take a closer look. “This might be even larger than Dustin’s wands.”
“I seriously doubt that.” Dustin scowled as he got up and withdrew one of his own power wands.
He stalked over to Virginia and she held Mark’s wand out so they could compare. Dustin lined them up which revealed his own was about a couple of inches shorter.
Virginia shot him a reassuring smile. “Yours is really big, too.”
Dustin’s expression was annoyed as he pocketed his wand and returned to his seat. Virginia handed Mark’s back to him.
“Thanks,” Mark said.
“You never answered my question. Why didn’t airport security confiscate your wand?” she asked.
Mark hesitated. “Because I used source energy to construct the restoration enchantment.”
“Of course.” Virginia’s face lit up with sudden comprehension. “You’re a white magic practitioner.”
“We might as well turn the plane around now. This is a waste of time,” Dustin interjected.
Anxiety and dread clawed at Mark’s gut as he realized he’d probably just lost a sale.
“Why do you say that?” Virginia asked with puzzlement.
“Everyone knows white magic is limited to only defense and healing.”
“But his business is very successful. I researched him thoroughly and his clients had wonderful things to say about him and he did the very best restoration on my test study.”
“Maybe he only started dabbling with white magic just recently. He looks like he’s fresh out of high school.” Dustin pinned Mark with a critical eye. “How old are you, anyway?”
“That’s beside the point,” Mark said.
“He’s eighteen. I checked,” Virginia said.
“I can’t believe you hired a kid to do something so important.” Dustin regarded her with incredulous disbelief.
“I’m a legal adult.” Mark’s brown eyes flashed with outrage.
Virginia shot him a reassuringly look. “Don’t worry. I’m not changing my mind about this job. I’ve already hired you and we both signed the work contract.”
“Historians are certain that American Stonehenge was a center for dark magic. How is white magic going to restore that?” Dustin argued.
Mark tensed with shock and renewed anxiety. He’d read about American Stonehenge before and knew about this theory but he’d never fully considered the reality of it until now. Dustin was probably right.
“I don’t believe it,” Virginia said. “I think historians have misinterpreted the purposes of the structures. There simply isn’t enough information to support their theories.”
“What in the world do you think it was used for then?” Dustin leveled a puzzled look at her.
“I really can’t say.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s insufficient evidence to make an educated guess,” Virginia replied.
“You’re wrong. All evidence points to dark magic,” Dustin said.
A general sense of uneasiness dominated Mark’s thoughts for the rest of the ride over to New Hampshire. Virginia had a rental car waiting for her at the airport. It was a blue sedan and she drove them to the site which was ensconced in a thick forest and consisted of a myriad of stone walls and crude-looking stone constructions. The walls were constructed with mostly flat and various-sized stones and sometimes formed general box-shaped rooms. Some of the walls marked the openings of underground passageways and caves. Virginia led the trio through the maze of structures. They reached a long flat chiseled rock that resembled a table with grooves lining the edge and held up by four legs comprised of smaller rocks stacked together.
“They call this the ‘sacrificial stone.’ You can see where there’s a gutter to keep the blood from spilling off the table.” Dustin gestured at the ancient structure.
“There’s evidence that primitives found and changed many of the structures here,” Virginia commented.
“Which piece do you want me to restore?” Mark asked.
“Let’s try this one.” Virginia gestured at the sacrificial table.
Mark swallowed as he contemplated the stone structure and how it had been used by primitives. Hopefully, she was right about the earlier advanced civilization creating it for something else. Mark brandished two of his wands as he made a show of confidence. He closed his eyes for a moment as he opened his awareness to the currents of source energy that flowed around him. He tapped into this power and allowed it to stream through his body. Impressions and information whispered at the edges of his mind. Mark opened his eyes and activated the wands. The energy emerged from the tips of his wands in the form of a glowing, gold mist that poured into the stone table. Mark sensed the energy signature and the vast history of it. He reached out with his mind to direct the current structure to reassemble itself into its former condition. The critical element of success was finding the core energy of the obje
ct from the past when it was in prime condition. It was a process that normally took just a moment but this would take longer. Mark’s mind delved deeper into the vast history of the sacrificial stone as he struggled to find the core energy. He normally enjoyed doing the process but this particular job took all of his concentration and willpower. Mark sensed the energy from his wands petering out and realized he only had a few seconds left. He exchanged each wand, one at a time, with the two backups he’d brought and managed to keep the spell active while doing so.
Mark continued his efforts until he reached a series of possible energy cores. Mark studied the various colored patterns that glittered in front of him as he narrowed the possibilities down to about twenty. He was running out of time again and had to make a decision soon. He allowed his intuition to take over. After several seconds, he picked one of the potential cores and directed the energy of the restoration enchantment into it. A gold, shimmering luminescence suffused the table and became ever brighter until all that was visible was a blaze of light. It expanded into a massive sphere that continued to stretch farther out. Mark, Virginia, and Dustin retreated to a safer distance. Mark sensed the energy configuration he’d chosen snap into place and several seconds later, the shimmering gold illumination winked out of existence. The appearance of the stone table was exactly the same except the groove that marked the edge of the top glowed with a subtle, blue light. A circle of six stone columns measuring approximately ten feet in height surrounded it.
An elated smile curved Virginia’s lips. “You did it! The artifact is restored!”
“It looks the same to me,” Dustin said.
Virginia completely ignored his snide remark as she stepped inside the ring of stones. Mark retrieved his wands that he’d dropped on the ground and followed her inside. He saw that runes had been carved into the stone columns and sensed power thrumming beneath their surface as well as from the table.
“It’s incredible. I wonder what it does.” Virginia reached out with her hand towards one of the standing stones and pulsed a little energy at it. Some of the runes lit with green or blue illumination. She turned and threw Mark a questioning look. “Do you have any idea what the purpose of this device is?”
“This place is a recreational facility,” Mark explained. “The devices are programmed to respond to commands that they would broadcast with magic.”
“Fascinating.”
Virginia closed her eyes and issued another pulse of energy at the stone. Mark approached the table and opened his awareness to the psychometric energy swirling around him. He couldn’t sense the same things as Josephine because his range of perception was limited mostly to reflections of light energy such as joy, happiness, and passion. This ability was very new to him but he was curious what he could discover about this place. Information trickled into his mind as he stood in front of the table continuing to flow source energy to it. A moment later, he sensed a broadcasting of source energy directed at him from one of the standing stones to his left. A male voice spoke in his mind in a melodious language that reminded him of Italian.
Mark’s brown eyes registered surprise. “The computer is trying to make contact with me.”
“It’s talking to me as well,” Virginia said.
“Maybe you guys should wait until we get a team over to secure this site. And maybe you should send Mark home,” Dustin suggested.
Virginia dropped her arm to her side and turned to face Mark. “He’s right. I’m supposed to keep this under wraps. MADA has its own research team. I’m going to have to send you on your way. I have a flight scheduled to head back for Sarasota in a few hours.”
“The plane may not be necessary,” Mark advised.
“And why is that?” Virginia cocked a questioning brow at him.
Mark strode to the table and stepped onto it. Virginia made a sound of protest.
“It’s meant to be used this way. I somehow restored the power source to this device,” he said.
“How does it draw power?” she asked.
“I don’t know but this is a teleportation device programmed to send you anywhere in the world that you’ve ever been.”
“So I was right. It wasn’t made for human sacrifices.”
“If you need my services again, feel free to contact me,” Mark said.
“You can count on it.” Virginia’s lips formed a pleasant smile.
Mark vanished in a flash of blue light as the device teleported him to the living room of his house. He stood still for several seconds as he realized it had been a tad risky to use an alien enchantment like that. However, it had worked perfectly and since Mark had demonstrated its use, if the MADA research team encountered difficulties seeking the answers they wanted, they may turn to him for more information which is precisely what he hoped for.
Chapter 5
Alice and Helen had just arrived at Josephine’s house and were helping themselves to some coffee in the kitchen when Helen stopped and took stock of her surroundings with curiosity. She saw the dirty dishes soaking in the sink and shot Josephine a questioning look.
“Have you been baking this morning? It smells wonderful in here.”
Josephine smiled with delight. “I have a surprise for you in the dining room.”
Helen and Alice finished with their coffees so they could join Josephine and Mark in the dining room. A large platter of steaming carrot pancakes and a large dish of scrambled eggs with crumbled sausage rested at the center of the table along with a bottle of real maple syrup and a bowl filled with cream cheese spread.
“Wow! This look great!” Alice exclaimed.
“Those are carrot pancakes with cream cheese frosting, aren’t they? It’s been a long time since you’ve made them.” Helen smiled with delight.
“It’s a cream cheese spread,” Josephine corrected her.
“What’s the difference?” Helen regarded her with curiosity.
Josephine hesitated. “I guess there isn’t much of a difference except it’s runnier and a spread doesn’t sound as bad as frosting. After all, it’s a breakfast dish. If you want something more traditional, I have the syrup out.”
“I’ll take the frosting, for sure.”
“What’s the special occasion?” Alice asked.
“I just felt like having something different for breakfast and I felt like making something,” Josephine said.
They lapsed into a companionable silence for several moments as they savored the sumptuous flavors.
“It’s almost like having carrot cake for breakfast,” Alice commented.
“That’s my favorite dessert. This is the perfect breakfast food,” Mark said.
“I notice you like the cream cheese spread, too.” Josephine leveled a warm smile at him.
“That’s one of the best things about carrot cake.”
Alice regarded Mark with an inquisitive look. “How did your big job go yesterday? Josephine mentioned it was at American Stonehenge. I hadn’t heard of that place before.”
“It was fantastic. I was a little bit worried when Dustin kept saying it was a center for dark magic. Dustin was the enforcer that came along with Virginia,” Mark explained. “Anyway, there was a platform that people mistook for a sacrificial table. It turned out to be a teleportation device that I was able to restore and then use to bring me back to my house.”
“That’s incredible,” Alice said. “Why didn’t they have you stay longer?”
“They called in their own research team.”
“Does she want you to restore anything else over there?”
“No but I suspect once they’re finished studying that teleportation device, they’ll want me to restore something else,” Mark said.
“Probably. It sounds like a treasure trove of ancient magic,” Alice remarked. “It’s amazing what you can do. I’ve never heard of anyone being able to restore anything for more than a couple of centuries.”
“It’s definitely a change from what I normally do.”
“Most of your customers want their cars repaired after an accident, right?” Helen asked.
“Yes, that’s because I can charge a lot less than body shops since I have a knack for those type of enchantments,” Mark explained.
“Are you still able to make your photographic memory enchantments now that you’re using white magic?”
“For some reason, I’m still good at those. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to make them anymore but using source energy hasn’t hindered the process at all.”
“It’s a shame that only white magic practitioners can use enchantments made with source energy. Otherwise, they’d be in very high demand,” Alice said.
Mark’s eyes lit with passion and excitement. “Over the last week or so, I feel like I’m very close to making a huge breakthrough.”
“I realize you can summon a lot more light energy and you’ve developed a limited psychometry but is there something else?” Helen peered at him with curiosity.
“I can’t explain it. I suppose you can chalk it up to intuition.”
Josephine’s attention shifted to Alice’s hand which radiated a flickering white luminescence for several seconds. Alice’s expression was wistful as she stared off into space.
“Alice, what are you doing?” Josephine said sharply.
Alice blinked with surprise. “I was just thinking how I miss my family. I had a very vivid dream last night that we were having a picnic at the park. The weather was just gorgeous.”
“It’s your connection to the other side.” Josephine regarded her friend with a sense of horror. “The more you think about them, the more you’ll miss them and want to pass on.”
“I’m not going to leave you guys. It was just a passing thought because of that dream.”
“You have to be careful,” Josephine warned.
“I will.” Alice took a sip of her coffee.
Helen leveled a curious gaze at Josephine. “I read in the newspaper that the entire team of Valituras in Sarasota was captured except for their leader, Frederic Rangel. Has there been any more progress?”
“I’m afraid not. He’s probably long gone by now. I picked up some helpful information about other Valituras members in St. Petersburg and Miami but unfortunately, they’d fled their homes before the police could apprehend them.”