by C. M. Lance
He raised a foot and stomped on the amulet. A shriek from it abruptly terminated as he mashed it into the concrete.
Dmitri, shouted, “No.”
Sig glared at him with disgust. “What the hell is that?”
Dmitri jumped to his feet and hurried out the door. Sig watched him go. He looked back to the smear on the floor. It was good Dmitri left. He wanted to feed it to him, if he could bear to touch it again. His eyes widened in surprise as the smear evaporated in less than twenty seconds. A nasty smell laced with the scent of brimstone lingered.
Sig walked to the door and turned, giving a half salute, “Ladies”, before he ducked and twisted through, shutting it behind him.
Chapter 28
Outside, Sig spun around, scanning the area. He felt like someone watched but he couldn’t see anyone. He grabbed the sword hilt over his shoulder. “Koma Aftur.” The world around him grew larger.
The door to the training facility slammed open and three women burst out glancing around. One asked Sig, “Did you see where the big guy went?”
“Dmitri or the other guy?”
“The other guy.”
“He ran that way.” He pointed toward the parking lot behind the building.
“Do you know him?”
“We have a mutual acquaintance who introduced us.”
Giselle sauntered through the open doorway and looked down at Sig, smiling.
Bella walked out next. “Are you alright Sig?”
“No, I have bruises all over my body from your sword.”
“No, I meant from Dmitri.”
“Naw, I think you hurt me worse.”
She smiled at him. “You flatterer.”
He smiled. “Did you see the size of the sword that guy had? How’d you like to go up against that?”
Bella gave him a crooked smile. “It’s not the size of the sword; it’s how you use it.”
Sig nodded. “I’ve heard something like that before, but it wasn’t about swords.”
The girl who asked him the first question interrupted. “You say you know him. Who is he?”
“My friend introduced us because we’re the only two people he knows named Sig.”
“I’d like to meet him.”
Giselle looked down with a wry expression at the girl at bottom of the steps and then shook her head at Sig.
Sig took on a thoughtful look. “OK, I’ll run it by him next time I see him.”
“OK. Thanks.” She returned inside with the other girls except Giselle and Bella.
Bella stayed outside for a moment longer. “You’re sure you’re alright? This isn’t some macho bullshit?”
Sig laughed. “I promise, if I’m injured you’ll be the first to know. Someone has to kiss it and make it better.”
She looked him over for a moment, nodded, and then returned inside, leaving him and Giselle alone.
“Wow, you really made a big impression.”
“I thought I could handle that overgrown bully in this form. I figured wrong. After the number of times he’s pushed me around for no reason except that he gets off on pushing people, I had to do something. When he threw me through the door, he gave me the perfect opportunity without blowing my cover.”
“There are a lot of ladies in there who are very pleased with your performance. He’s rude and obnoxious and thinks he’s God’s gift to women.”
“If no one likes him, why does he hang around?”
“Now you’re asking a question I’m uncomfortable with.”
Sig cocked his head and looked at her quizzically.
She looked at him for a moment before she said, “It’s a nasty Amazon secret. Many of our women are attracted to big guys. It’s almost a compulsion with some. It’s probably genetic. I’m sure you’ve noticed most of us are on the large size.”
“Is that why those girls wanted an introduction to my other body? Why did you shake your head when they asked?”
“I don’t think you need to get signed up in the Amazon breeding program right now.”
“Amazon breeding program?” He looked at her incredulously.
“Calm down big fella. Take it easy and learn the lay of the land, and no, I’m not referring to one of the girls inside.”
Sig chuckled and blushed. “I’d better get inside and change. I have to walk back to the lab for my afternoon appointment with the Professor.” Again, it felt like someone spied on him. He looked back over each shoulder. No one was there.
“Poor college student with no wheels, huh.”
“No, my truck was involved in a small accident. I won’t have wheels until I get the insurance money to buy a new one.”
“Hit another car?”
“No, a tree.”
“You hit a tree?”
“No, the tree hit my car, it fell on it.”
It was her turn to look incredulous. “A tree fell on your car? Really?”
“Ask the Professor, he saw it. Lightning hit the tree and it fell on my car.”
She raised her eyebrows and shrugged. “Okay. Go ahead and change. I’ll give you a ride to the lab. I’m going there to work this evening, so it’s on my way.”
“Thank you. I’ll be right back.” He looked up at the roofs around, hoping to catch a spy. Nothing.
Sig was out in less than five minutes. Giselle waited in a Jeep with very large tires. He threw his bag in back, got in, and said, “Do you go off-roading much?”
She put it into gear and sped away. “I like to use it to go hunting.”
“You hunt?”
She looked amused when she glanced at him. “You don’t know many Amazons do you?”
Sig rolled his eyes to the canvas cover on top of the Jeep and thought for a moment. “No. Before a few days ago, none. In fact, I didn’t know Amazons were more than a myth. Now, suddenly they’re everywhere.”
“You make it sound like a bad thing.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that. Actually, being around tall, athletic, attractive women is nice, if they weren’t always trying to beat the hell out of me.”
“I thought that’s what you were looking for when we were introduced.”
“Rick thought it would be a good icebreaker. I didn’t realize you guys would be so competitive.”
“You didn’t think we’d be competitive because we go to Northwestern, or because we’re women?”
Sig sat with his mouth open for a moment. “Let me savor the flavor of shoe leather, while I think about your question.”
She remained silent for a few beats, and then said archly, “Well… are you still savoring or are you thinking?”
“You’re not going to let it slide are you? OK, point made. I judged based on my experiences, which are limited.”
He pondered while they pulled into the parking lot. “I thought that I haven’t gone up against women who are competitive before, but I have; women in Dressage are very competitive. I just haven’t directly, physically competed against them.”
She pulled into a parking spot. “So you thought you’d come here and take it easy on us little old girls.” She turned off the Jeep.
He nodded. “Yup, you’re right. I came across as a misogynist, didn’t I?”
“A misogynist hates women. I think the words you’re looking for are male chauvinist.” She laughed, punched him in the shoulder, and said, “Isn’t personal revelation healthy and inspiring?”
He got out of the car rubbing his shoulder. As they walked toward the lab, he asked, “What are you, a psych major?”
“I started that way, and then switched to physics. Now I think I’ll double major. I want to understand magic better, but I also want to know how it makes people think and react to it.”
He opened the lab door for her. “How magic makes people think? Magic doesn’t make people think, they already think. Magic is something they do.”
“Thought processes develop as people change. Magic causes change. What if you suddenly give an ordinary person a great deal o
f power; will that make their value systems different? If you begin persecuting someone; what changes will that cause?”
He walked along the corridor with her. “Hmmm. I never thought of it.”
“I did. Like why would a guy open a door for a girl, when he thinks girls are beating the hell out of him?”
Sig stopped and looked back at the door, rolled his eyes at the ceiling, and then took quick steps to catch up to her. “So you’re going to be a physicist who screws with peoples’ heads.”
“Yeah, now that you put it that way, it sounds like fun.” She chuckled. “Well you’re here.” She motioned at the door as she walked past. “I’ve got a different assignment today.”
Sig stopped and watched her walk away. It was a nice walk, maybe even a great walk. “Thanks for the ride.”
“No prob.”
Chapter 29
Fiona sat across the kitchen island and shook her finger at Meredith. “You are a witch.”
Frowning she said, “Don’t call me that.”
“Or what, you’ll set your Battle Wizard son on me? You are what you are.”
She shook her head and shrugged. “Think what you want.”
“I didn’t say bitch. I said witch.”
Meredith waved her hand dismissively. “I can live with bitch. There are times I’ve called myself that.”
“Well I say you’re a witch.”
Through clenched teeth, Meredith asked, “Who are you to call me that?’
Fiona smiled at her. “I’m a practicing, card carrying, full blooded witch from a long line of witches on both sides of the English channel. I’ve trained more witches than you are aware of.” She paused a moment before she said, “And I must admit, I can also be a royal bitch at times, when I don’t get my way, or my chocolate.”
Meredith had to laugh at that, despite the fact that what she had learned about the changed world and herself made her extremely uncomfortable.
Fiona stood, arched her eyebrows, and stretched to her full five-feet-nine-and-a-half inches, tugged the sash of her robe snug, and looked down her nose at Meredith. “Don’t laugh at the power of chocolate! Everyone knows ‘Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog, adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, lizard's leg and howlet's wing.’ - whatever the hell a howlet is - but the real secret to a potion is chocolate.”
“You put chocolate in the potion?”
“Oh hell no! In the witch! Put chocolate in the potion? What a waste of good chocolate.”
Meredith laughed so hard now; she was ready to fall off the breakfast stool.
Fiona continued lecturing. “Without the calming power of the fruit of the cocoa tree, spells can be spoiled. A tense witch becomes a careless witch. I put a little frog toe in the potion and then a little chocolate in myself, then a little adder’s fork in the potion, then more chocolate for me.”
Meredith looked at her questioningly. “You are joking, aren’t you?”
Fiona waggled her finger. “Never joke about chocolate. Of course, I’m joking. I wouldn’t know where to find an adder’s fork. Do adders use forks? They don’t have hands. How can they hold a fork?”
Meredith carefully took a sip of coffee, fearing that Fiona might hurl another witticism while her mouth was full of coffee. She didn’t want to laugh and blow hot coffee out her nose.
Meredith enjoyed having Fiona around, despite her discomfort at what she had learned about herself. It had been like a girl’s slumber party. In her world, men surrounded her, Martin, Sig, Edward, and occasionally Thorval. The feminine company was a welcome change.
Fiona was as comfortable as an old shoe. Meredith found herself sharing things she rarely told anyone. Secrets such as her fear of magic, which had intensified recently.
Fiona led her gently but firmly to discover more about her powers. She assessed that Meredith had strong future viewing capabilities. She taught focus techniques including, tarot cards, mantras, and talismans.
They had been performing relaxation exercises a few days earlier when Meredith looked around with surprise. “Sig, where are you? What are you doing back?” She rose from the floor where she had been lying and went into the kitchen and then returned. “I feel Sig. It’s like he’s here, but I can’t find him.”
Fiona got up from the recliner and walked out on the porch. She stood with her face raised, as if scenting the air. “Sigurd? Arthur?” When Meredith stepped out to join her, she turned to her and said, “They were here but they’re gone now.”
“What do you mean?”
“We were the subjects of a distance viewing. Both Sig and Arthur viewed us. It’s strange, but it felt like Sig cast the vision and Arthur joined. I didn’t feel it until I walked out here on the porch. I’m amazed that you felt it in there.”
“You think Sig did it? Perhaps he’s breaking through.”
“Perhaps. You felt the viewing. That demonstrates a degree of sensitivity I wasn’t aware that you had.”
“Well he is my son.”
“That may have some bearing or it might not. This isn’t an exact science.”
“Do you mean all that you’re teaching me is a big maybe?”
“We’re trying to find the most effective techniques for you. Only you will be able to tell which work best. Of course, it’s good to know all the techniques. Different situations, different techniques, different practitioners, different results. What may not work in one circumstance may be exactly right for another.”
“So you’ve told me.”
“I also told you to consider trading options in addition to stocks. If you can sense the direction and magnitude of an equity movement, options will give you much more leverage.”
“Now that I know that I use magic to pick stocks, it gives me an unfair advantage. Isn’t that the reason governments are making magic practitioners register? Some politicians say that those with magic will swindle normals.”
“It didn’t give you an unfair advantage before you knew you had magic?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I’m not sure I do. Hedge fund managers use experts, sophisticated software, and other technology to which you don’t have access. They use money and expensive technology to take advantage of both normals and the magical. Remember what Artie Clark said. ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’?”
“Artie Clark? Do you mean Sir Arthur C. Clark the novelist and futurist?”
“His disruptive thought processes on religion, society, and evolution were so leading edge - and he was such a darling. I loved scuba diving with him in Sri Lanka.”
“You knew Arthur Clark?”
“As a young man he followed me to Sri Lanka. I introduced him to scuba diving. He stayed there. I don’t stay anywhere too long. I leave before they notice I don’t change enough.”
“What do you mean you don’t change enough?”
“Darling, the best part of being a witch; the more you practice white magic, the slower you age.”
“Only white magic?”
“Black magic slows the aging process too, but every year saved is one hundred years of intense suffering in Hell.”
Chapter 30
Thanks to Giselle, Sig arrived at the measurement lab a few minutes early. The Professor walked in five minute later. “It appears I am belated with my ostentation lecture.”
Sig planted a hip on a lab table and assumed an attentive demeanor.
The Professor gave him a quizzical look. “Did I advise you we would be talking about this?”
“No, but Rick mentioned that it would be coming.”
The Professor smiled and shook his head. “I am getting too predictable. Perhaps Rick knows me too well. That is usually a good quality in a lab assistant, but sometimes less so.”
He looked into Sig’s eyes. “The timing seems appropriate. You assumed your other form in public recently.”
“How do you know? Were you watching? I felt someone watching.”
“Yes, I kept feeling someone watching but when I searched, I couldn’t find anyone.”
“Interesting. Distance viewing recognition is a high level skill.” He looked at Sig speculatively.
“Why were you watching?”
“I enjoy a good fencing match. I was quite a jouster in my day. The outcome of your match with Bella was of interest. I watched it on the big screen.”
“The big screen? I didn’t see any cameras in the facility.”
With a mysterious look, the Professor motioned for Sig to follow through a door he hadn’t noticed. Inside, water roiled in a hot tub. A tall director’s style canvas chair stood next to the hot tub. The Professor gestured toward the tub. “The big screen.”
He flipped a switch on the wall. The noise from the hot tub stopped and the waters stilled. He waved his hands over the hot tub as he had tried unsuccessfully to teach Sig to do over a pan of water.
Fog rose from the surface. It spilled over the sides and then dispersed. Sig found himself looking at the Amazon training facility. “Wow.”
The Professor sat in the director’s chair and motioned for Sig to pull up another chair. He waited until Sig settled and then asked him, “Did you envy people with magic?”
Sig looked contemplative before he responded. “I still do. People with magic that works.”
“When you didn’t know you had magic, did you resent those who did?”
Sig focused on the Professor’s eyes and then looked away, “Yes. Yes, I did.”
“Why?”
Sig looked back. “Because they had something I wanted and couldn’t have.”
“Why did you want it?”
Sig frowned. “They do things I can’t, things that make life easier, more fun.”
“So, you resent them because their life is easier, they have advantages you don’t have, and they received those gifts for nothing.”
“That sums it up.”
“The same can be said of professional athletes.”
“I don’t think so. They may have special physical gifts, but a successful professional athlete has to work very hard to get to and stay at the top. He’s competing with others just like himself, or herself.” He didn’t want to overlook women’s accomplishments again.