by Martha Carr
"Here goes nothing."
From deep within the tunnel Leira heard an echo. "Don't be so dramatic. Follow my voice."
Leira stepped over the line into the darkness and felt herself pulled forward, almost lifted off her feet. She ran to keep up with the motion and found herself half running, half sliding along the ground. The light around her gradually grew till she found herself suddenly standing in a lit room with walnut paneling all the way around. Hello 1980. She pressed her hand against her belly, working to regain her equilibrium and not throw up on the Persian rug under her feet.
"Do hold it together," the Witch sniffed.
Come a little closer. Leira put out her hand like she was looking for an assist but the Witch didn't move any closer. Not the first time someone has wanted to throw up on her, I'll bet.
"To answer your question, yes, we're above ground again. Well, close enough. We're in the lower levels of the Silver Griffins headquarters in Chicago."
A door suddenly opened and Lacey Trader breezed in, a smile on her face. "Agent Leira Berens. At last we meet. I don't believe we've ever been in the same room together but I've heard a lot about you from many different sources. I trust you got here safe and sound?"
Leira tried to gauge if Lacey's concern was genuine. "I have the lamp to turn over to you for safekeeping."
"We will get to that but I have something else I want to talk to you about first. Now that I have you away from your government handlers, there's a more pressing matter that may complicate the artifacts race. Please, have a seat. Did you ask Agent Berens if she wanted something to drink? What about hot coffee? This room gets so drafty."
"Hot coffee would be great. I take it black." Here's hoping the Witch doesn't spit in it.
"Same for me."
The Witch left the room barely taking a glance at Leira but smiling as she passed Lacey.
"Don't take it personally. She's friends with Katie, which is saying something. Atlanteans are not easy to get to know. I'm afraid she's only heard Katie's account of things. However, I've dealt with Katie enough to know there's always another side to the story and usually it starts with something Katie did to get everyone's blood going. Am I right?"
"Something like that. She knocked my partner flat and he returned the favor."
"A human caught her off guard?" Lacey laughed easily. "No wonder Katie was so worked up. She comes off much more heroic in her version."
"It didn't really last all that long. Not that part anyway." Leira shuddered at the memory of the Dark Mist using the Wizard. "You wanted to discuss something else?"
"Yes, thank you for keeping me on task. I've heard that about you from Lois, an old, dear friend. She speaks very highly of you." Lacey sat down behind her desk as the Witch came in with the coffee. "Leave both mugs here. I'll hand them out."
The Witch hesitated as if she wasn't sure what to do.
"Want to start over and come back without the stinging spell in one of them? Consider this one a test run and a warning. I won't have guests mistreated. Are we clear? Enough is enough." Lacey's voice had an icy edge to it as cold as it was outside. The Witch scooped up the mugs and quickly backed out of the room, mumbling an apology without making eye contact with anyone this time. Her face was ashen.
"I apologize for that. There will be consequences later. This should be a safe haven for anyone we invite inside." She let out a sigh and sat back in her chair. "Times are changing, growing darker I'm afraid. I've read stories in the old books about the same thing happening in the years before the gates started to open the last time. Everyone becomes afraid of what it all means and power brokers want to make sure they're on a winning team. Leading the way if at all possible, no matter the costs." She looked suddenly tired as the Witch brought back in new mugs of steaming coffee, placing them on the desk.
The witch's cheeks were hot as she looked directly at Leira, her hands clasped in front of her. "I wish to apologize for my earlier rude behavior. I let my personal feelings get in the way of my duties, and I was wrong. It won't happen again. You're a guest here."
"I appreciate the effort Jennifer, but we'll still be chatting later about believing things wholesale and not thinking for yourself. You can go."
The Witch pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as if she was stopping herself from saying more and backed her way out of the room, softly closing the door behind her till it clicked.
"You run a tight ship."
"It's necessary. We don't do brain surgery around here. It's even trickier. The wrong mistake and a powerful artifact gets out into the world or a group of Wizards think it's okay to perform magic or something far worse.”
"You were about to tell me about the far worse."
Lacey reached across her desk with one of the mugs and sat back down in her chair, picking up the other and taking a sip, savoring the warm liquid.
"This must really be bad." Leira took a sip and held the mug just beneath her chin, enjoying the warmth of the steam. "You don't strike me as someone who likes the casual pause just for fun." Or anything fun.
"I don't intend to draw this out but it is that bad and it's more complicated than we're used to dealing with but with broader consequences. Everything goes back to the involvement of human beings. The natives of this planet."
Leira sat forward, her hands wrapped around the mug, listening.
"The stunt the prophets pulled has complicated things before we were entirely ready to deal with it. Exposing magic like that got the attention of a lot of powerful and important people. Ordinary citizens may be placated by the suggestion that it's a stunt, which helps, but there are very hungry, large players in the game now that we don't exactly govern but are becoming entangled in our world."
"The artifacts race."
"That's the start of it but I'm referring to the humans who are experimenting with animals..."
Leira instinctively touched the bracelet on her arm as she took another sip.
Lacey glanced at the bracelet and pressed her lips together for a moment. "And looking into the possibilities of eternal youth. A perpetual quest among their kind. Living a long time is not all it's cracked up to be. This is just the beginning. The natives here are very clever and will throw their best scientists at the artifacts to discover all the ways they can be manipulated. It's very possible they will come up with things we haven't even imagined, yet. Some of it may even prove to be a boon to everyone. But when it goes wrong, and it will..."
Leira set the mug down, finally seeing the bigger picture. "There could be a gradual panic."
"We have a few things on our side. One of them is you. Another is that we're early in this game and can still affect real change and put the brakes on the worst of it. But others may not be as patient, while we sort it out. There are families of Witches and Wizards here on Earth that have been here for thousands of years and have acquired a lot of power. Both the kind that humans enjoy and old, dark magic through books and artifacts that have been passed down for generations and they don't like to share. They've also noticed all the human activity and the theft of magical artifacts. We have a few well-placed Silver Griffins among them and they're reporting back that the families are organizing, which they do every couple of hundred years. I suppose they were due for stirring up some kind of trouble, especially with the start of the gates opening getting closer and closer. It never goes well but no one seems to remember that part of the lesson."
"It's like you have your own anti-Silver Griffins being formed."
"It's funny you should put it that way because they would agree. Old family lines like that love the pomp and circumstance. A crest of some sort, secret handshake. There's probably even a golden wand somewhere out there that only special members get to wave around. They're exhausting."
Leira gave a crooked smile. "You're more fun than you let on, aren't you?”
"When the world's not practicing magic as a group I can be a real hoot!"
"Why did you want me to know about t
his new twist to the whole dark magic thing?"
Lacey leaned forward on her arms, talking in a hushed voice. "Because of the power that you possess and because you stand outside of all the groups."
"I work for the Feds."
Lacey grimaced. "For now. Things change and that's a job. Being an SG is a lifetime commitment. We love a little pageantry too. There's a whole ceremony with candles and you get a new wand. Better than becoming an Eagle Scout." She gave Leira a wink. "I find the humor where I can, even in the middle of turning beautiful animals into misshapen Lego projects. I'd like to stay in contact with you because either way, your help will become invaluable to easing the transition as the gates open and the levels of magic increase on Earth. It will become tempting for so many to start using magic all the time. Most of that will be ours to take care of, and we will. But some..."
"Sounds like a good idea. I'm always open to listening." Leira lifted the backpack. "Now about this lamp."
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Lacey Trader took Leira out the opposite door from where she'd entered and down a long hallway to a short flight of stairs that led her up to the surface of the Chicago Water Tower. It felt good to be above ground again and seeing natural light but it didn't last long. They passed by the small theater that acted as cover for the building and the box office with posters on either side for the new play, The Potted Potter and a friendly owl in glasses and a maroon school jacket. All seven Harry Potter books in 70 hilarious minutes, it read.
Fake news. Magic is real, people. Leira picked up her pace to catch up with Lacey.
Lacey kept walking, leading them down another flight of stairs to the front of a large vault.
A Wizard sat in a wooden chair to the side of the vault, chewing on a pencil as he worked at the crossword puzzle in the day's paper.
"You're not cheating now, are you Foley?" Lacey smiled at him as she pulled out her wand. "Expandoria." The great tumblers visible in the enormous door turned slowly, gears shifting and turning, pushing against other gears as the door opened a wedge but not quite far enough to get inside.
"Not yet but the day is young."
"What's your record this week?"
"I've only had to use my wand a couple of times so far but you know they get harder as the week goes on."
"So you tell me." Lacey held out her fir wand as a stream of gold energy poured out of the top forming into large, barbed hook at the end that hooked itself to the door. "Expandoria Infintinia!" Lacey pulled back on her wand as the door swung open letting out a low, long creak.
Leira watched the three-foot thick door open in awe, her eyes wide. "I have to admit that is cool. Will it do that for me? No... okay."
Lacey looked back at Leira, one eyebrow arched and walked into the cavernous room without answering her. She waved her wand through the air, as the lights came on overhead, row after row after row.
"No shit..." Leira walked next to Lacey onto the landing that led to a flight of stairs and looked out over the Silver Griffins vault that stretched up two stories. "That has to be the length of two football fields!"
"Three is more accurate." Lacey said it like a proud parent. "And there's another floor beneath this one of more dangerous items that stay locked away from everyone but the top level of Silver Griffins."
"What does more dangerous mean?"
"Handling them incorrectly, even by a Witch like myself can turn you into dust or let loose a plague or mess with time."
"Okay, asked and answered. Where is this baby going?" Leira set down her backpack and unzipped it, pulling out the lamp and unfolding the cloth. The brass shone in the light. "You just want to rub it and make a wish."
"Last thing you want to do. A lot of artifacts are set up to respond like that. You'd be surprised. I don't want to find out the hard way that there's something trapped inside that we free inside the vault to wreak havoc."
Leira held the lamp away from her body by the handle. "Where are you storing it?"
"Follow me." Lacey went down the stairs and took a path down the third row, making a left at the L's and stopping in front of a row of plastic bins. "These used to all be metal or wooden, some velvet-lined, but plastic lasts longer and is just as easy to enchant. We haven't transferred everything to them but we will over time."
"All good info to know."
"You think this is just fun background but you have the ability to do some of these things too. You just perform magic differently. You don't need a host like a wand. You are the host." Lacey put out her hands for the lamp as Leira handed it over. "My, this one has quite a buzz to it. Feels like old magic, too. Way before my time. I wonder how far back it goes."
Leira glanced at the bin next to where the lamp was going and read the label, "Golden Lariat."
"That was used by an Elf in the mid 1800s in the wild, wild Western territories to rob banks and stop trains."
"Elves gone wild. You don't think of them as thieves. Why steal when you can create what you want?"
"For some there is never enough and for others it's about power and for others it’s exclusivity. For the old families it's all three mixed with dark magic."
They walked back toward the front of the vault as Leira tried to read as many labels as possible in passing. Gold doubloons, an innocent looking salt and pepper shaker set that looked like a dog and cat, a broken umbrella. "Not broken." Lacey pointed at it as she sped by. "Part of its charm. Looks useless and should be thrown out but those ribs are enchanted and will wrap themselves around their prey. Messy business."
"Not getting why that's useful."
They got to the platform and Lacey turned and looked back over the vast collection. "Not all of these artifacts started out with bad intentions. Something happened to most of them. Something as innocent as a lightning strike or someone mishandled it. I've even seen a case or two where the energy that was poured into an artifact didn't mix well together and things went badly awry. Oh yes, energy has its own personality."
Leira looked at the vast room. "And the Silver Griffins protect all of this."
"Our sworn and solemn duty from one generation to the next. But we've only been doing this a few hundred years and have already amassed all this. We've never had to deal with protecting the vault and the gates opening." Lacey took Leira by the hands and looked her in the eyes. "We are going to need help. I can't tell you what or when but I can feel it in my bones. Come on, let's get you started on your journey home. You'll be in your own bed tonight!"
"Modern transportation..." said Leira as she followed Lacey out of the vault.
"Not really. It's almost as old as the vault!"
CHAPTER TWELVE
"He is blowing up my fucking phone!" Louie slammed it down on the counter. He had only had the phone for a short time since he was convinced of the necessity of throwing in with the PDF. General Anderson wanted him connected to the rest of the team and when he balked there was mention of parting ways.
"Great!" Louie had said, relieved it was so easy to ditch them.
"And I'll let the Silver Griffins know where they can pick you up."
Louie had let out a sigh and taken the phone.
He was staying in a condo on the East side of Austin, provided to him by the U.S. government, but had yet to figure out how to get around besides walking or hitching a ride. They had even given him a debit card that was to be used for living expenses only but Louie had plans to see a little of the night life. For now, though it was enough to get to know the basics of living in Austin, Texas.
The HEB grocery store overwhelmed him on his first two tries but he came up with a strategy and shopped only two aisles at a time. Coming back later to try two more. One night he had gluten free pizza from the frozen aisle set aside for people with allergies and topped it off with a rice bagel and sunflower butter.
The phone buzzed, inching its way across the dark marble countertop.
"Never should have given that creepy bastard my number. Hell, he remembers it bette
r than I do." The phone vibrated again as another text came through.
Charlie wasn't letting things go.
Louie had tried putting a charm on the phone but quickly learned that Lois and Patsy had beaten him to it. The phone had its own kind of magical block that prevented Louie from changing anything more than the ring tones. He was stuck. The GPS around his ankle and the one in the phone made sure his handlers always knew where he was and if the phone was near him.
It stopped buzzing only long enough to start up again, shaking till it fell off the counter and hit the carpet below.
"Okay, dude, you can do this. You can get this maniac off your back. Hell, you've faced down worse things than a pissed off human being with a little money. That octopus monster, whatever it was... that was worse. There's a few Kilomeas that I'd run from every time. That Witch you dated last year for a hot minute was pretty scary. Woooo...." A shiver went down his back. "Let's get to it."
He leaned over and picked up the phone, scrolling through the messages. "Sensing a theme here. Pissed off, angry, on fire, ready to kill... Oh look, a small amount of polite. A respite from the swearing. Nice touch. More swearing. Wow, dude. That one is uncalled for and I'm pretty sure I can't do that to myself even with magic. If I could I wouldn't get anything done during the day."
There was another theme to the messages that Louie quickly picked up on and was relieved to see that Charlie Monaghan had at least one thing he cared about more than getting even. "It's getting that ore."
Louie put the phone down, not sure what to do next. He looked down at the GPS on his ankle and thought better of it but then the phone buzzed again. "Fuck it, I'm going. Over, back... only be gone a little while."
He went and dug in his satchel till he found the small case with different sized metal picks in it and carefully chose one. They were artifacts once owned by a Wizard who had lived in London during the Victorian era and was fond of breaking into empty houses in the more posh sections. He had poured magic into the tools so he wouldn't get caught waving a wand at anyone's door. Better to be called a thief than a heretic in those days. They were one of Louie's prized possessions and had gotten him out of more than one tight place.