by Tom Larcombe
“Anything else?” Charles asked.
“They'd talk about family also, how their little girl was waiting for them at home or things like that. I don't know if that was something placed in their minds or if they really did have family waiting for them though. The pay was good enough that I really tried not to be too curious, you know? I've regretted that a lot over the years. Maybe if I had been more curious I wouldn't have ended up where I did.”
“Or maybe you would have ended up dead,” Greg said.
“Maybe, I'm not convinced that would've been worse than what did happen though.”
“You're a wizard, you've got lots of decades ahead of you still. Make the most of it and you'll be better off having lived,” Charles said.
Ted's voice turned bitter.
“That's easy for you to say, you weren't there.”
“I was at the end. And hopefully it will be the end. We're working with the documents we took, trying to find out any information we can. I've contacted a couple of people I trust about the problem since you warned me about the Council. But the documents are in code. Do you know anything about that?”
“I know a little more,” Greg said. “It's a book code. One of those codes designed so you can only decipher it if you have a copy of the correct edition of a certain book. Ted, did you ever see him with a book?”
“Only book I ever saw on him was one of the wizard tutorials. It was an older edition, from back in the sixties. But I was always told there weren't any Spirit Wizard primers, and that's what this one was. A Spirit Magic primer book from 1962. I'm positive of that. It stuck in my mind since the book didn't allegedly exist.”
Greg paled and Amber noticed.
“What is it Greg?” she asked.
“I know the book. All the copies of it were supposed to be destroyed though.”
“So we may have a problem breaking the code?” she asked.
“Ummm,” Greg hemmed and hawed, “Well... Maybe not that much of a problem, if that's actually the book he used.”
“Greg!” Charles said. “You have a copy of a forbidden book?”
Greg shrugged.
“I couldn't burn it, you know? It's a book. I just couldn't bring myself to destroy it. So I just kind of, sort of, hid it away when they outlawed it.”
Amber snickered when she saw the look on Charles' face.
He looks like he isn't sure whether he should be happy about this or if he should give Greg an ass chewing for keeping the book, she thought.
Ted broke the tension.
“Really, you have a copy of that?” Ted said. “Is there any chance I can see it after you're done with it? I had a mentor for my Fire Magic, but I never found anyone to train my Spirit Magic, I've only got a touch of it, but I'm sure it can be helpful.”
“Ah, I bet that explains why you were able to break out of the enthrallment,” Greg said. “I'd been wondering about that. But how about I make you a deal? I can train your Spirit Magic for you myself. No reason to potentially give yourself a problem if you get caught with the book.”
“You would?” Ted asked.
Then his face went guarded.
“What will you want in exchange?” he said.
Greg shrugged.
“I could always use another person to watch the counter in my book store when I have other things to do.”
Ted's face broke out in a smile.
“That's all?”
“Don't really need much more than that. I'm doing fine otherwise, got enough money, got friends, the occasional date, what more do I need?” Greg said.
“It's a deal,” Ted said, sticking out his hand.
Greg took his hand and shook it firmly.
“I can't promise when I'll be able to start training you. I'm kind of stuck in this situation for now, but as soon as we take care of it, I'll see what I can do. In the meanwhile, I suggest you take Charles up on his offer of hospitality until you're completely recovered.”
“I'll do that, and thank you both,” Ted said.
* * *
* * *
Chapter 17
“Charles? We may have a problem,” Greg said.
Ted was downstairs with Amber, both of them searching through the boxes of castoff clothing to find something they could wear. She'd had a growth spurt that left her pants several inches too short and way too tight. Her shirts were straining at the seams and needed replacements as well.
“What is it now?” Charles asked.
I'm so tired, he thought. I haven't been getting enough sleep since I've been trying to call in favors to intercept all the synthetic crystals at the distributors without alerting the Council. I'd forgotten that a lot of the wizards I used to know prefer a nocturnal schedule. Then I've got my regular job, the garden, training Amber... It just goes on and on.
“I've been working on the paperwork we got from the factory.”
That's another thing, Charles thought. Less than forty-eight hours and that place was cleared out. How do you move equipment that size on that short of a notice? It's either that or they've somehow figured out a way to block scrying and I seriously doubt that they managed that.
“And?” Charles prompted.
“Well, there are references to the other factory, it's called the power generation factory in those notes, and also the supporting community.”
“So?”
“There's a yearly census of the supporting community. It looks like there's about a ten percent turn-over rate on that.”
“Greg, you're beating around the bush. Please get to the point.”
“Well, it's the census, it includes everyone's names.”
“So what's so important about that?”
“Molly and Peter are on that list, Charles, as are a bunch of the people that disappeared back in that same time frame.”
What? What are they doing there? Is the supporting community some sort of prison or something? Charles thought. Uh-oh, I know why he didn't bring this up earlier at least. What's Amber going to do if she finds out her parents are alive somewhere?
“Whatever you do, don't tell Amber,” Charles said quickly, “at least not yet. We need to find out whatever we can about this before she learns about it. Otherwise she's liable to run off half-cocked and try to do something that will get her in some serious trouble.”
Greg sighed with relief.
“I was hoping you'd say that. I feel the same way myself, but wasn't sure you would.”
“Well, I don't think it's right to not tell her, but it is the right thing to do to protect her. At least for the moment. When we learn more about whatever's going on, then maybe we'll tell her. Once we have a plan.”
“A plan for what?” Greg asked.
“A plan for how to free all those people. You know that they aren't going to be there willingly, not after they were all abducted. So, we'll figure out how to get them out of there, then we'll tell her.”
“I don't know Charles, whoever this guy is he's got a lot of people on his security payroll. I can't even tell which are just hired muscle and which are wizards either.”
“We've got to do something about it. You're talking about a community, how many people all told?”
“Over the years it's averaged out to about a hundred, give or take ten percent.”
“So a hundred wizards held prisoner and you don't know if we should do something about that?”
“No, I don't know if we can. And by that, I mean just we two. I think we need to bring some more people in on this. I'd love to just tell the Council, but not with what Ted's told me. He thinks there are at least two Council members who are already aware of this.”
“Well, it's three of us if you're counting that way. Once we do tell Amber, I'm not about to try to keep her out of this. That girl can be a force of nature when she wants to be.”
“Probably four if we're counting that way. I've talked enough with Ted to know that he really wants a piece of the guy who had him stashed in that factory for
a decade.”
“Is he going to be a liability? Can he protect himself from being taken over again? For that matter, can Amber? I'm pretty sure we'll be able to manage it though.”
“There's something else also,” Greg said.
“What now?” Charles said, repressing a sigh.
“Maddy wasn't listed in any of the censuses I looked at.”
“Maddy?”
“I forgot that you didn't know her as well as I did. Maddy was Amber's great-grandmother. I knew her fairly well.”
“Not even the first census?”
Greg shook his head.
“None of them,” he said. “I'm afraid that if Amber ever gets the rest of the memories of that night back, she'll find that she saw Maddy get killed or badly wounded.”
“Oh...” Charles said, following Greg's logic. “and Amber's father had just taken Maddy's sword away from her. Are you worried that...”
Charles just couldn't complete the sentence, the idea was too much for him.
“Yes, I'm afraid that he might have used it on her.”
“It couldn't have happened there though,” Charles said, thinking over what he knew. “The accident report said there was minimal blood at the scene.”
“Maybe Amber didn't see it then, but I know that Maddy isn't on those lists anywhere. Not under Maddy nor under Madeline, which was her proper name.”
“Well, we kind of thought it would be like that anyhow, didn't we? What with the Dilectis Caeli and all.”
“That's true, but I'd hoped when I saw Peter and Molly on the list...” Greg trailed off.
“So, how far are you done on decoding all of that?”
“I'm about halfway through. From what I've found out I'm pretty sure those synthetic crystals have been being sold at cost to try to get them widely spread out. Comparing the sale price with the records I've got now, the production cost is pretty close to even with the price they gave the distributors. Even if the distributors marked it up a hundred percent they're still a lot cheaper than the organic crystals.”
Charles shook his head.
“Not like we didn't know there was an ulterior motive there already. You don't put hooks like those into a spell if you don't intend to use them.”
“True, and the conservation spell isn't standard so it's not obvious the hooks are there unless you know what you're looking for.”
“So what you're telling me is not only does this person have a lot of security, but they're smart as well.”
“Cunning at the very least. They've been doing this for how long with no-one catching on?” Greg said.
Charles grimaced.
“Way longer than I like, especially considering that part of it was going on in my city.”
The sound of footsteps thumping up the stairs alerted them that Amber was on her way back. No-one else managed to make as much noise coming up the stairs as she did. There was a knock on the door before it swung open to admit Amber and Ted.
The two of them looked like they'd both just come straight out of the eighties, at least their clothing did. Ted was still a bit gaunt so the blue jeans and Gun-N-Roses t-shirt he was wearing hung loosely on him. He had a belt cinched down tightly to keep the jeans from falling off. The pair of sneakers he had on looked like they were on their last legs.
Amber, on the other hand, filled out her clothes far too well as far as Charles was concerned. She'd found a pair of jeans for herself, rips on the legs showed her skin in far too many places for his taste. The Pink Floyd t-shirt she was wearing was also tight, although not straining like the ones she'd had before. He closed his eyes for a moment when he realized that she didn't have anything on beneath it.
“You like?” she said, spinning in place.
“Um... Isn't there something missing there?” Charles said, gesturing towards her upper torso.
“Oh, yeah, well you wouldn't know about that would you, being a guy and all?”
“What?” he asked, amazed that she could confuse him with a single sentence.
“Trust me, any bra worth wearing isn't something that a woman would let get put away in a box. Let me translate that into guy speak for you though. The only bras down there are torture devices or falling apart, plus there weren't any in my size. I need to go out and buy a couple later on today. I told Ted I'd take him along since he's not fond of either going commando or wearing used underwear.”
Greg started chuckling as Charles blushed.
“That's way too much information Amber,” Charles said. “Do you need money to do that?”
“Nah, I've got some tucked away that I can use.”
“Well, we still need to set up a meeting with the people taking care of your inheritance. After that I imagine you'll have a lot more available to you.”
“Okay, okay, go ahead and do it. You know my schedule better than I do.”
“I don't know why you didn't want to do it before now.”
“Because now I finally think I look like a legal adult. I didn't want them to treat me like a kid and try to put it in trust or something.”
“I told you they were wizards, they'd know better than that.”
“Well now I feel up to it, so go ahead and schedule the meeting, please?”
Charles paused for a moment and actually looked at Amber. He was aware that you formed an opinion of someone the first time you saw them and only rarely changed it after that, so he really looked.
Yeah, I can see it now. She used to look around fourteen, but she looks nineteen or twenty now. I can't even imagine what her self-image is like at the moment, that has to be messing with her head.
“I'll do it. It might take me a day or two to fit it into my schedule though. I'm still trying to contact people I know to get as many of those synthetic crystals out of the system as I can.”
“No rush, I've got a few hundred dollars. That should last me for a bit as long as I don't splurge.”
She turned to Ted, who'd just been watching the conversation, his face twisting back and forth like he was watching a tennis match.
“Ted, you ready to go shopping? Maybe get something so our privates aren't getting rubbed raw?”
He blushed a very dark red, showing that his circulation, at least, had already recovered well.
“Sure,” he mumbled under his breath.
Amber reached out and grabbed his hand, then almost dragged him through the door after her. Before the door shut behind them he looked helplessly at Greg and Charles, a look of bewilderment on his face. They smiled and shrugged at him as he closed the door.
“That poor guy,” Greg said. “I don't know why she adopted him like she did, but he doesn't know how to deal with it.”
“She hasn't seen very much of Alicia lately,” Charles replied. “Kathryn's been taking her a few places to meet prospective foster parents so they've been out of town. I think Amber's just used to having someone around all the time. I'm her teacher so that doesn't work for her. You've got your store to run so you're not here, but poor Ted's been at loose ends while he recovers, so she latched onto him.”
“I guess you're right, at least I hope you are. I mean, she's racing through puberty in weeks instead of years, can you imagine what that's doing to her hormones?” Greg said.
I so did not need to have that idea in my brain, Charles thought. Maybe I should keep an eye on— Stop, she's a lot older than she looks, I need to remember that. But maybe I should have a word with Ted, just in case. No, no I shouldn't. She's in her forties and he's close to that age himself.
He sighed at Greg.
“Thanks a lot, I already have to remind myself to stop acting like she's a teenager, because she isn't. That little thought you put in my head is not going to help in the least.”
But I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter for a little while still. Ted's in no shape to be doing anything like that yet.
Charles shook his head, reminding himself, yet again, that it wasn't his business.
“Catches me all the t
ime,” Greg said. “She still acts like a teenager, and looks like a teenager, so I treat her like one. She doesn't seem to mind.”
“Maybe not from you, but every time I do that I have to deal with her being up in my face for a while,” Charles said.
“Well, she and I were already friends for a couple of years. I just treat her like I used to.”
“And I'm her teacher. She's never gone to a proper school so I think the discipline of learning kind of chafes her and that gets taken out on me.”
“I can see that,” Greg said. “Better you than me though.”
“Where were we?” Charles said.
“I think I was about to tell you that I'm going to go back to the store to work on decoding some more of that paperwork when I don't have any customers.”
Maybe I can get a nap in? Charles thought. At least, after I fix that leak up in 2-D.
He waved as Greg went through the door, then went hunting for his tools.
* * *
Two days later Charles finally managed to get a call in to make the appointment for Amber to meet the wizards in control of her trust. When he went down to her apartment to tell her, she wasn't as excited as he thought she'd be.
“Okay, when are we going?” she asked.
“Next Monday. That was the first opening they had.”
“Remind me on Sunday, would you? Otherwise I'm liable to forget.”
She doesn't really seem to care about it even. If I were in line to inherit a decent sum on money, I think I'd be a little more excited, Charles thought. Although with the way she's lived so far, I don't know if she even realizes what a difference it could make for her.
“I'm surprised you aren't more excited about this,” he said.
“I can't be. My getting it means my grandmother is dead. I'd rather have her back than whatever is in that fund.”
I hadn't even thought about it that way. I should've, but I didn't.
“I'm sorry doesn't even begin to cover it. But from what you've said, your great-grandmother was most worried about you staying alive, and you've managed that quite well.”