by Tom Larcombe
Anne gasped and slumped backwards into a chair. Michael bowed to the tiny creature.
“All honor to you, but I must direct my attention elsewhere. The man who wishes to hurt Liz is still loose and I fear he may be coming here.”
The voice which replied was in the higher range of soprano.
“Allow me egress and I will provide more guards than yourself and the young man,” she said.
Michael walked into the kitchen and opened the window over the sink.
“You're welcome to return when this is over. We can speak then,” he said. “If you see something just rap on the window and we'll let you in.”
The little Fae nodded and flew out the window. Michael kept watch out the back and in a few minutes he could see glimmers here and there in the air over the back yard.
He heard Liz talking to her mother in the living room.
“I told you a butterfly helped me pick petals. That was Gerry. She was playing with me in the field when the deputy grabbed me and threw me into his car. She followed and stayed with me.”
Anne's reply was unintelligible, her voice soft and shocky.
Michael watched out the back window. Nothing was happening, after a few minutes Jeff called out.
“There's a sheriff's car at the bottom of the hill, but it's just parked there. It isn't doing anything.”
“They're probably there to keep Jacobs from coming up the road,” Michael called back.
The rest of the afternoon passed slowly. When dinner time rolled around Anne had recovered enough to fix some food while Jeff and Michael kept watch. Darkness came and Michael was too tired to keep watching.
“Let me fix up a couple of spare bedrooms for you,” he said.
“A couple? How many do you have?” Anne asked.
“The basement is sectioned off into a bunch of small rooms, those have cots folded up in them, but I don't know what condition they're in. There are two spare bedrooms upstairs also. I think they used to house some of the miners downstairs. You'll be comfortable enough in the upstairs rooms.”
“What about Deputy Jacobs?”
“I'll try to stay awake, but it's pitch black out there. Unless he comes up to the house, we'd never know he was there,” Michael said.
“I'll get a few hours of sleep and then relieve you,” Jeff offered.
Michael smothered his grin. He gestured towards the Garand.
“I think it would be better if I stayed up all night myself.”
Jeff looked disappointed.
“If you want you can try to get up and, if you do, I'll nap on the couch where you can wake me up easily if something happens,” Michael said.
Jeff stood up straighter.
“I'll do that then,” he said.
The night passed slowly for Michael. He couldn't listen to music since he wouldn't be able to hear anything if he did. He paced the ground floor of the house, peering out through the windows. Jeff did wake at about four in the morning and came out to the living room. It was still pitch dark out so he told Jeff to listen for anything out of the ordinary and wake him if he heard something. Then he crawled onto the couch.
It seemed he'd only been asleep for moments when Jeff started shaking him.
“Michael, Michael, wake up!” Jeff said.
Michael blinked the sleep from his eyes and yawned. When his mouth closed he could hear tapping on the kitchen window, and more tapping from somewhere upstairs. He glanced out the window. It was dawn and the sky was just starting to lighten.
“Jeff, go up and open my bedroom window for Calvin,” Michael said.
Then he raced into the kitchen and opened the window for Gerry.
“Wizard, the man who abducted Liz approaches. He carries materials for creating fire.”
Calvin came screeching into the kitchen. He saw Gerry and landed abruptly, going silent.
“Your friend wishes to warn you of the same thing,” Gerry said.
Michael did a double take and looked at Calvin. He shook his head.
No time for that right now, later. I can't let him get near the house if he's going to try to set it on fire. I've got to go out to him.
Michael took a deep breath. He recovered the Garand from the living room and opened the back door. Calvin immediately hopped through the pet door and walked over to the edge of the porch, without hopping on the rail.
“Stay down Calvin, I don't want you getting shot,” Michael said.
Gerry took to the air and disappeared, except for the occasional glimmer.
Michael stepped out onto the porch and scanned the area. He couldn't see anything.
If there's still a sheriff's car out front, then he must be coming up the back. He probably parked near the trailer he broke into, Michael thought.
He moved out across the back yard, thinking as he went.
I can use the mine buildings for cover. If I move along the base of the cliff towards them, I should be out of his sight until he gets to the top of the slope.
Michael moved along the cliff, keeping an eye on the section of the slope he could see. When he reached the mine buildings, he moved away from the cliff, staying alongside the buildings. He spotted Deputy Jacobs, who was having some problems moving up the slope. He kept stumbling and sliding.
Damn straight, that's MY land you're on.
“Don't try it Jacobs, I've got the drop on you,” he called, then ducked around the corner of the building.
Deputy Jacobs' head snapped up as he looked for Michael.
“What, like you did back at the slaughterhouse? I'm gonna kill you then burn your house down with that little bitch in it,” he yelled.
Michael edged around the corner of the house, aimed, and put a round in the dirt right next to the former deputy.
“Next one goes in you, unless you turn around and leave right now,” he yelled.
“Up yours! You haven't got the guts, you wimp.”
Michael aimed directly at Jacobs' torso, and found that he couldn't pull the trigger. Jacobs leveled his pistol and started firing. The first round whizzed by a few inches from Michael's head. He dove to the ground and used his power to construct a berm out of the soil between him and Jacobs.
He heard several bullets smack into the packed earth in front of him. He rolled onto his knees and lifted his head above the berm. Jacobs was fighting with his footing again. He set down the glass bottles he was carrying and took a two-handed grip on his pistol. Then he leveled it at Michael and was aiming when a black thunderbolt struck from the clear sky.
Michael could see the blood streaming from Jacobs' scalp as Calvin gained altitude again. The pistol's point of aim shifted, turning towards the crow.
Oh no you don't, Michael thought.
He stood, snapped the Garand up to his shoulder, aimed, and squeezed the trigger.
The shot was dead on, Jacobs spun to one side and fell to one knee. Michael saw the pistol's point of aim moving back to him as he squeezed the trigger again. The pistol fell to the ground along with Jacobs, but Michael fired two more shots, just to be sure.
A siren rang out in the early morning air, growing closer as the sheriff's car climbed the hill. Michael slung the Garand and walked back to the house, forcing himself to not look at the motionless body on the hillside.
The sheriff came around the house. He saw Michael and walked over to him.
“What happened?” the sheriff asked.
“He tried to come up the back way. Was going to burn the house down. I think he had a pair of Molotov cocktails with him.”
“You took him down?”
Michael nodded.
“Good for you boy. You've let people walk all over you for thirty years. That makes it harder to stop them when they try to do it again, but I guess you had the spine for it after all. Where is he?”
Michael pointed back to the slope and the sheriff walked over to where he could see.
“I'll get someone up here to take care of that soon, probably by the end of the day. I
got other problems to take care of though, so I'll be on my way.”
“Sheriff, what about all that stuff they took?” Michael asked.
“I got a deputy picking it up. One I trust completely. Why, you think you're entitled to some of it?”
“No sir, I was thinking that since there's no way to tell where any of it came from, it should probably go to Father Anderson. He's feeding a lot more people than normal.”
The sheriff glanced at Michael with an appraising eye.
“Son, that's a grand idea. I'd been planning on storing it at the station and handing it out as needed, but if I go with your idea, that means I can keep the men I still have doing their regular jobs.”
The sheriff started to walk away, paused for a moment, and turned back to Michael.
“You might be interested in knowing that I got a phone call from my secondary employer just before the lines went dead. They were interested in knowing if the mine was still open and what conditions were like here in Crystal Beach. They told me they might send a few folks this way to take over control of the mine; didn't mention what they planned on doing with the current manager though.”
The sheriff tipped his hat and walked around the corner of the house. Moments after he disappeared from view, Michael heard a car climbing the hill.
Please tell me that isn't the Board already, he thought.
* * *
Chapter 15
Rynn waited about an hour before she told Andi to pull over. She'd noticed a stand of trees in the distance and it looked like it was right alongside the road. A small dirt track led off the highway into the trees and she told Andi to pull off onto it, slowly and carefully.
Andi set the brake and slumped until her forehead hit the top of the steering wheel.
“I need a break. I need to do nothing for a little while. I keep remembering... all that. Seeing it in my head,” she said.
“We can stay here a couple of hours if we have to Andi,” Rynn said. “In the meantime, we should eat.”
Andi's turned slightly green.
“I can't, not right now. Please.”
“Okay, but you need to eat something before we leave here.”
Rynn turned to the boys.
“Anyone want some lunch?”
Eugene and Randall thought it was a great idea. Sean was still sleeping, his head pillowed on Eugene's lap.
Rynn scraped together something for everyone to eat that wouldn't require cooking. It leaned heavily towards the junk food end of the spectrum. At this point she didn't care in the slightest.
Cindy took her food and got out of the car, Eugene and Randall joined her. Rynn checked on Andi, who had fallen asleep using the steering wheel for a pillow.
I guess she wasn't kidding. I'll make her more comfortable.
Rynn moved Andi so she was lying down with her head on the seat, then got out of the car.
“We're making good time. If we don't run into any more problems, and don't spend too long here, we should make it to Michael's place tonight,” she said.
“Who is this guy anyhow?” Cindy asked.
“He's a wizard I went to school with,” Rynn said.
As she thought about him and what to tell Cindy, memories came flooding back as though a floodgate had opened. She paused for a moment and realized that those memories had been artificially repressed, most likely by magic, and definitely by someone other than her.
“Damn those Bastards on the Board!” she cursed.
Cindy looked shocked.
“I just realized that they tampered with my memories. The ones regarding Michael in specific. When he and I were in school together, he had this crazy notion of trying to make magic public knowledge. He wanted to let everyone know it existed and prove it. The Board heartily disapproved of his idea.”
Rynn took a drink of water as she gathered her thoughts.
“He was about to start his last semester when his mom was in a car accident. From the way he told it to me, she was banged up pretty badly. He asked the Board to send a healer for her and when they refused he used his own magic to heal all her visible wounds, but she was still very disoriented. When he tried to take her to the hospital to have her checked out, the Board stopped him. They claimed that they were afraid the hospital equipment would be damaged by the presence of a wizard. They also said that there would be no way to explain the fact that she was in perfect health, other than her disorientation, if the doctors were told the truth about what happened to her.”
Rynn took a deep breath and tried to control her temper.
“They pretty much told him it was all his fault that she couldn't go to the hospital because he'd healed her. He tried to sneak her out and take her there anyway. The Board caught him in the act and stopped him. They set a guard over his house to keep him from trying again. She died a few days later.”
Rynn squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stem the tears that were forming.
“He and I had been pretty tight for a couple of years before that point. But we'd ended the last semester on a bad note. We were getting serious but... I chickened out and ran when things got too physical. So he was already kind of down in the dumps when all that happened. Michael and his dad were devastated by her death. So much so that the Board went out of their way to have Michael declared their ward. They claimed his father was incapable of raising him on his own and they used magic, I think, to get the authorities in Colorado to agree with that. They dragged him back to the school in the middle of the summer. He threw a fit, but there wasn't much he could do at that point.”
Cindy stared raptly at Rynn as she continued.
“In the middle of the following semester, Michael ran away. He somehow managed to get away clean and keep them from using magic to track him. I still don't know how. They found him two months later. He was headlining magic shows in Vegas and getting people to believe that magic was real, just like he always wanted. I finally told my dad what was happening when I heard about that. He'd met Michael and liked him, a lot. They shared some really weird hobbies and Michael helped my dad solve a problem that had been plaguing him for decades.”
Rynn smiled at the memory of Michael's visit to her home. Then her smile faltered and her face grew hard.
“The Board gave Michael a trial and he was found guilty of some absurd, trumped up charges. They were prepared to execute him as a sentence, but my dad showed up. He told me all about it later. He showed up in court and, with no warning, informed the Board that if Michael was executed they should expect to join him in the grave rather quickly. Then he turned and left the room. Michael was instead sentenced to manage the mine in Crystal Beach. There were some other parts of the sentence as well, but I don't know what those were. Then, those bastards from the Board walled off my memories of everything I just told you. I only remembered Michael when I saw his name on the papers Eugene showed me. Even then I only remembered a little of it. I think I've got it all back now though.”
“So, you're telling me that we're going to see your ex-boyfriend who's still serving time? That's where we're going so we can be safe?” Cindy asked.
“That's the gist of it. But just think, if he had the spine to stand up to the Board, what's he going to do to anyone that wants to hurt us?” Rynn said.
“I wasn't complaining or arguing, just trying to make sure I had everything straight. I think it's a great idea.”
“I can't guarantee he's the same man he used to be. I mean, that all took place back in the eighties. I can't think of anyone I'd rather have backing me up except my dad though, and he was in Texas last I knew, visiting an old friend from WWII and trying to keep my youngest brother out of trouble.”
“This guy sounds cool,” Eugene said, “I already respected him after reading his paper, but knowing the rest of that? It tells me why they didn't distribute his research and that they're still pissed off at him. I don't have the highest opinion of the Board myself.”
“To be honest, neither do I. Even before I found
out they screwed with my memories,” Rynn said. “If you want to attend their school, you need to place yourself under their authority though. More so if you want to teach there. I'm furious to know I was working for them after they screwed around in my head.”
“You and Michael can teach us then, instead of the board,” Randall said. “I don't think the school is going to be open again any time soon.”
“We may well do that,” Rynn replied. “But we need to get there first. Andi is out cold, is anyone else tired? Now's the time to sleep if you are. I'll give her a couple of hours before I wake her.”
Eugene, Cindy, and Randall all claimed they were fine. The three of them asked Rynn if they could walk around in the woods. She told them to go ahead as long as they stayed out of sight of the road. Then she sat down with her back against a tree and carefully ran through her newly regained memories.
* * *
Rynn opened her eyes and realized that she'd been sitting there for longer than she'd intended. She hadn't fallen asleep, but she had gone rummaging through her own mind, trying to place her recovered memories where they belonged and ensuring that there were no other memory blocks affecting her.
She stood up and stretched. Over near the car, Eugene and Andi were sitting close together, talking. Cindy was playing a card game with Sean and Randall, the three of them on the far side of the car from the other two students.
“Hey, she's awake,” Cindy said.
Rynn walked over to her.
“I wasn't actually asleep. It just took longer than I thought to get those memories back where they belonged. While I was doing that, I decided to check for any other little presents the Board might've left in my brain.”
“Well, asleep or not, you looked like you were resting. We knew you didn't get much sleep back at Todd's place, so we just let you be.”
“I'd hoped we'd make it to Crystal Beach today, but I don't think that's going to happen now. It's almost dark,” Rynn said.
Cindy shrugged in reply.
“Andi,” Rynn called, “are you ready to drive again now? Have you eaten anything?”
Andi stood up with a start.