The Leira Chronicles- The Complete Austin Series

by Martha Carr

  “Fuck me,” he said, but ran for the men’s room.

  “Messy piece of business. Never know what you’ll find and have to get it all straight in a hurry,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

  Another wizard used a portable vacuum cleaner and sucked up what remained of Bill Somers and Dean Muston.

  “That’s going to confound the police for some time,” the witch observed, pushing up her glasses again. “Nothing to be done about that,” she told Leira. “There are a few of our kind on the Chicago police force. We gravitate to this line of work. That should help.”

  “Okay, that just about does it. We all need to get out of here. They won’t remember the last thirty minutes of their lives and that should erase every memory of the two of you. That way when the police question everyone here about the mens’ disappearance, no one will describe you two.”

  “We think Somers had an accomplice,” said Leira.

  “It won’t matter. All he can do is talk about magic and portals. If he’s not careful, whoever he is, he’ll find himself in a padded room. Don’t worry,” she said, smiling at Leira. “We’ll keep watch. This kind of thing happens more than you realize. Not usually on this grand a scale,” she admitted, “but close.”

  “Time to go,” said one of the wizards, breathing hard. He was posing a large man, making him look like he was laughing at someone’s joke.

  “You can make their faces do that,” asked Leira, pushing the sides of someone’s mouth into a smile to test it out.

  “Sure can,” said the witch. “We find it helps them ignore the momentary disorientation if they think they’re having a good time.

  “This is not your first time,” she said to Correk, watching him deftly pose a woman. She looked like she was whispering something into another woman’s ear.

  Leira looked out over the room and saw that everyone was smiling or laughing. One man was even bent over in laughter.

  “I had a hard time getting him to stand up straight,” said a wizard, sheepishly. “Had to go with this.”

  “Only about ten seconds left. We need to be gone like the wind,” said a witch.

  The witch took one last look around the room and then ushered everyone quickly out the way they came in, piling into the minivan, shoving Leira and Correk into the middle seat.

  “What just happened back there?” Leira asked jerking a thumb over her shoulder.

  “The prince’s death was avenged, granted, in an unexpected and unconventional manner and the necklace is still lost,” responded Correk, concern written on his face. “Someone beat us to it.”

  “That will have to be for another day,” said the witch from the front seat.

  “Agreed,” said Correk. “The necklace has lost most of its power.”

  “Still, even with only half it’s a powerful artifact,” said a wizard.

  “We’ll send out a description through the magical world here on Earth,” said the witch. “If it turns up we’ll hear about it. The Order thanks you for your service. We’ll file a report and for the time being, this matter is closed.”

  “We’ve done all we can for now and there are other matters for us to get to.” said Corrik, looking around.

  “Like my mother.” She nodded her head. “You’re right. She’s waited long enough and so have I.”

  FINIS

  Author Notes - Martha Carr

  Written August 2, 2017

  What do I say about all the readers who made a life-long dream that was over thirty years old come true in less than a few hours?

  I’m not sure, I am struggling with it right now.

  It was even one of you who had to point that rare thing out to me because I never expected to see it.

  It was my first time – I didn’t know to look!

  But there it was. A little orange flag that reads, ‘BEST SELLER’! And if that wasn’t enough, then all of you wrote in, left reviews, sent messages that said how much you love Leira Berens, you love the characters, you love the story – you love the ENTIRE UNIVERSE!

  You were even asking, where’s the next one? How much longer?

  Boy, is this a lot of fun, and well worth the wait. Everything happens in its own time.

  Monday was an all-around amazing day!

  Then the grown offspring, Louie called right after I noticed and I had to take a few breaths so I wouldn’t cry on the phone. He said “great” and then wanted to tell me about his day.

  Ha! This is why offspring are very useful. Back to reality, get back to work. Be a fellow among fellows.

  And he’s right. There are stories to weave and magic spells to create and some adventures to go on…

  Plus, there are FOUR MORE AUTHORS coming along behind me. (SM Boyce, Abby-Lynn Knorr, Flint Maxwell, Sarah Noffke).

  Lots to do to build this universe, as well as get to know all of you better too. So much fun…

  But this result for me was thirty years in the making – just one more look back… back to what I was saying in those first author notes about dreams back in Quest for Magic, Book 0.

  I made a wish as a kid the first time I walked into the Philadelphia library and my dad said, “If you can carry the books, you can check them out.”

  I was stunned.

  We were pretty poor and I was a preacher’s kid - #4 in a line of 5 kids. The idea of unlimited anything really didn’t happen for us.

  And books… wonderful, magical, take-you-anywhere books. I devoured the stories and kept going back for more. I made that wish that someday I could do the same thing and write a magical story that would take someone else on a ride and let them know, the world is a lot bigger place than they ever imagined.

  Tell them, Go for it – I believe in your dreams!

  Well, yesterday, all of you helped me get to that place.

  I will never forget and I will be forever grateful to each and every one of you.

  I’m telling you, it was a magical day all the way around. Dreams do come true – and sometimes they take just a little collaboration and a lot of other wonderful readers – exactly like you. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

  One last thing… If you’ve read this far, you know the troll’s real name – and we read how much you LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the troll too. So… if you want a little somethin, somethin for yourself go to: https://society6.com/product/yt-troll-revelations-of-oriceran-c_mug#s6-7392665p30a27v200. I already got some for myself (coffee mug) and more creatures are coming!

  Make it so… (Yeah, I had to go there. ;) )

 

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  08/02/2017

  I’m sitting on the same couch, just about 50 hours or so after Quest for Magic, Book 0 of The Revelations of Oriceran went live.

  And I’m so damned surprised and happy.

  Each time another one of my collaborations comes out, I fear I have failed my collaborator some how, some way. Did we dream up the right story to explain the Universe? Are the fans going to like this weird set of characters we put together this time?

  How about the fact that we took on a whole new universe?

  One of our reviewers said it best and I’ll do them the fair shake of clipping the first part of the review, before I comment (from Amazon.co.uk)

  A great introduction to a new universe that leaves you wanting more

  By Mr P McLean on 1 Aug. 2017

  Format: Kindle Edition

  I have read all of the Kurtherian Gambit and all of the expanded Universe books so was highly expectant of this new venture into the Oriceran Universe. You must have been really nervous to open up this whole new world to an established voracious fan base. Well done! Totally worth it. I immediately felt myself being drawn into the worlds and characters without wondering about what would BA do in this situation? �
�� (more follows.)

  Mr. P. McLean is absolutely right. I was INCREDIBLY nervous to start a second Universe with a very successful first universe in play. First, the two universes are dissimilar to some degree, but not so far apart that fans of one, won’t like the other.

  However, the bigger fear was born of the comments about how music artists or bands usually have an incredibly tough time with their sophomore album and THAT is where my desire to chew my nails down to the bone came from.

  While we only have the first book (the introduction) out, and this book (Waking Magic) is the next test, it seems we have some amazing fans who have clapped us on the back and said ‘Well done, well done indeed…Now, hurry up with the next book!’ and to you and those who bought and read, I say THANK YOU.

  I have about as much success in Indie Publishing as I should ever hope to wish for, and then some more after that. In my early days in Nov-Dec of 2015, my goal was to be a one percenter. You know, top 1% of Amazon’s 200,000+ authors meant I was hoping to jump into the top 2,000 authors on Amazon.

  Now, through you amazing fans, a lady by the name of Bethany Anne and some amazing collaborations, I’m a top 100 Amazon Author.

  It still feel’s SO damned cool to type that…Just saying ;-)

  I set out in early 2016 to help other Indie Authors just because I could, and I didn’t care about how it was ‘done before me.’

  That effort became 20Booksto50k.

  Then, the people in that group kept saying ‘why don’t we have a conference?’ and Craig Martelle (yes, THAT Craig Martelle of Terry Henry Walton Chronicles fame) said ‘I’ll do it’ and by God, he has! (One Indie authors conference in Vegas in November 2017, one in London in February, 2018.)

  Next, I wanted to see if I could help teach a new way of story telling (basically, was I a special Unicorn (that isn’t a compliment, by the way), or could others learn a new way of writing … could I share my style?) so in late 2017, we started the Age’s in Kurtherian Gambit and I’m super happy to say “HELL YEAH” they are very successful and the fans have (by and large, not everyone) loved the different authors and their stories…

  Then, as I mentioned last book… I wanted to play with another idea and Oriceran was born.

  But, could I do it? Could I create a new Universe and take what I thought I learned from the readers and the fans and deliver another cool experience?

  Or, once again, was I just fortunate with The Kurtherian Gambit.

  It seems, so far, the response has been… “Shut up about your worries already, when is the next book coming out?”

  And that is the BEST response you fans can give us.

  So, thank you!

  Michael

  Release of Magic

  Leira Chronicles Book Two

  Chapter One

  The explosion from the necklace took its toll.

  Leira still heard a mild buzz in her ears days later.

  The drive back to Austin was mostly in silence. But somewhere during the long stretch in Oklahoma, Leira finally said what she had been thinking since Somers had managed to incinerate himself.

  “I’m thinking I failed this mission.” She admitted. “The killer is dead and the necklace is missing. I got there just in time to be a witness and that’s about it.”

  She looked out at the setting sun across the prairies that ran alongside the highway. The remaining light was throwing purple shadows on the winter ground.

  The beauty of the scenery was doing nothing for her mood.

  “We don’t measure failure the same way on Oriceran,” Correk said tersely. “It’s not about the right or wrong, just the consequences. And by that measure we accomplished half of the assignment.”

  “No more killer, I get it. You realize that thanks to erasing the last minutes of that party no one knows exactly what happened to Bill Somers or the dean. It’s going to be a permanent cold case. The dean’s family will never know.”

  “Not much can be done about that,” Correk told her. “Beyond what the Order of the Silver Griffins were willing to do. It was nice of them to hold that little service on Montrose Beach and pour the ashes into Lake Michigan. Someone took the time to remember both of them.”

  “Even if we couldn’t tell where Somers ashes ended and Dean Muston’s began.” Leira shook her head. “There has to be some kind of spell that would let us leave the dean’s family at least with a false memory of what happened to him like a heart attack and a nice funeral, even if it’s a lie. Somers only had that odd little friend, Randolph. He looked like an easy mark for a simple spell.”

  “We’ve learned the hard way that when we meddle with magic, even with good intentions, other problems pop up,” said Correk. “As for the necklace, it will surface. It’s far too powerful to stay hidden forever.”

  “Small comfort. Like knowing someone has an atom bomb somewhere out there and when it goes boom, we’ll know where they were keeping it all along.” Leira watched an old Crown Vic weaving in and out of traffic along the highway, narrowly missing bumpers. “Would love to pull that asshole over,” she mumbled.

  “If you continue to take what happened in Chicago personally, it’ll be harder to focus. Let it go, and put your attention on whatever we’re supposed to be doing next.”

  “There’s no we at this point, Correk. We have no leads of any kind. You go back to your world and I go back to mine.”

  “With a troll.”

  “Okay,” she admitted, “that’s a sizable wrinkle, but I got myself into that one. Besides, your life in Oriceran will call you back at some point.”

  “Hopefully, not quite so abruptly. But yes, if my king and queen asked me to return, I would oblige. So far, that is not the case.”

  Leira gave Correk a sidelong glance, pushing her dark bangs off her face. “They have some other plan already, I guess?”

  “I am assuming the same, but I don’t know. Look, that conversation can wait. Are we not going to talk about your mother?”

  “Again with the we.” Leira pursed her lips, irritated. A groan went up from the troll, sleeping on the backseat.

  “I can be of assistance. There’s still a lot you have to learn. Not only about who you really are, but how to use all of that to your best advantage.”

  Leira bit her bottom lip, pulling out from behind an eighteen-wheeler to follow a long line of different colored pickup trucks cruising down the left lane.

  The silver Dodge truck directly in front of her had a single large star in the back window. It felt good to know they were getting closer to home.

  “I lead this investigation,” she said finally. “I call all the shots, and you keep the magic to a minimum so we don’t both end up on some tranquilizer drip swearing we’re not crazy, right alongside my mother.”

  “Agreed,” he answered. “We’ll find a way to get her out of there.”

  “That’s not what has me tied in a knot.” Leira gripped the steering wheel. “It’s what fifteen years in a psych ward has to have done to her.”

  “There’s no way you could have known your mother was telling the truth. We’ve noticed your species prefers to believe in what it can see and has been known to react badly to alternate theories. An entirely different world of species that can perform magic could be seen as an enormous threat. If your sci-fi movies are to be believed, your government’s first reaction would have included cages and vivisection.”

  “Maybe that’s just the over-caffeinated idea of some writer on a deadline,” said Leira. “I keep holding on to the idea that if she’s half Light Elf…”

  “Everything says she must be.”

  “If she is, her other-worldly DNA helped her out. Maybe she figured out a way to create some kind of life for herself in there. Fifteen years…” Her voice trailed off.

  “We’ll figure out the rest of this another day,” Correk reassured her. “Come on,” he said, holding up his fist and smiling. “Let me do one of those strange handshakes. Don’t leave me hanging.”


  “We call it a fist bump.” She returned his smile, despite everything weighing on her mind. “You picked up a lot of lingo from one visit to the bowling alley.”

  “That’s more like it.” He looked around the car. “Do we have any of the Nacho Doritos left?”

  “That’s why you want to stay, isn’t it?” She sighed, “Our junk food has sedated many a foe apparently. You’re the only one who would know what’s left in the snack bag back there. I gave up on it back in Southern Illinois.” She tapped the brakes. “Thought I’d lose a finger going for a Cheez-It.”

  “Those things are addictive. I suggest when we get back to Austin one of the first things we do is look for some real food.”

  “You mean pizza, don’t you?”

  “The waitress assured me it covered every major food group on this planet.”

  “Pizza for breakfast again, it is. But this time we’re going to try my favorite.”

  “Which is?”

  “You’ll see, the suspense is worth it.”

  Eireka Berens sat at a round wooden table topped with Formica in the dayroom of the Claridge Psychiatric Hospital flipping over cards looking for the ace. Her long brown hair hid her face and she made a point of not making eye contact with anyone.

  The small ward had no more than fifteen psychiatric patients at any given time. Ten of them were long-term, like Eireka, and she had learned how to form alliances with each of those patients, if not friendships. The other five were a constantly rotating cast of characters who had tried something stupid to harm themselves, or had just pissed off their family enough with their bad choices that they wanted them gone for a little while.

  A tall male orderly dressed in a white uniform right down to his soft-soled white shoes strode into the room and clapped his hands sharply.