by Jae Vogel
“My list of card tricks is very small. The one you saw yesterday was one of the few I know. What I know tends to be physical rather than the mental tricks you perform. I can’t master the mental ones, too hard for me to remember all that information.”
“So what brings you back to the mall?” Lilly asked the detective. “Buying something else for your wife?’
“I wish. Today I’m actually working for a change. I’m here on a fact-finding mission and I think I’ve just located one very interesting fact.” He looked Dion directly in the face.
“Does this concern me somehow?” Dion asked.
“In a way. I found out this morning your uncle owns the mall. Now isn’t that funny? You transfer here from out of town because your parents disappear and move in with your aunt and uncle. No coincidence at all that your other uncle has fronted this entire building project.”
“Have I broken any laws, detective?”
“Not that I know about. It’s not you I’m interested in today. Your Uncle Seth, on the other hand, interests me very much. Him and his entire business empire. I see he’s done quite well for himself over the years. A lot better than most men could have done in similar situations. He took your grandfather’s company public five years ago and now he drops money all over the place.”
“I never even knew I had another uncle until recently.”
Lilly prayed he didn’t reveal how he knew about his uncle. Say the wrong thing and they’d both be carted off to an insane asylum.
“My father didn’t talk much about his family. I knew some cousins and my Uncle Rich, but just recently learned about the man that you are interested in today. I think you might know more about him than I do.”
“Are you kidding me?” Jones snapped. “All the money this guy has and his own brother don’t even acknowledge him?”
“All I know is that my father and he had a falling out and they never spoke again. By the way, detective, how do you know so much about my family?”
“You can find out a lot when you know other police departments. You can find out more if you have friends down at the FBI headquarters in Washington. You can find out a whole lot if there is an active investigation ongoing, which concerns someone who’s made an appearance in your little burg. A whole lot of people are interested in your uncle and how he accumulated so much money in a short amount of time. There are many questions being asked right now and my FBI friends want me to find out some things for them which won’t involve a search warrant.”
“So this is where Dion fits into the picture?” Lilly asked. “Why would he know anything?”
“I don’t know. I would like to find out how much he knows. Anything I can learn from him will be helpful. And it will save me the trouble of digging it out of public records. You can find a lot in public records, but it takes a long time to sort through them looking for what you want. It’s a real pain if you have to do it on your own time and don’t receive any overtime for the job. But sometimes it pays off if you find a rat and get to take him down. I may not be a cat, but I know a rodent nest when I see one.”
“Maybe we need to sit down and talk,” Dion said to the officer. “I see a table by that store with three chairs. If you spring for ice cream, we can have a conversation.”
“I can spare that much out of my pocket,” Jones said and they all headed to the table.
After Jones had ordered three sundaes, Dion began to talk. He told the detective about his parents’ kidnapping and how he was forced to move in with his aunt and uncle on the other side of the country. He talked about what he knew in regards to his Uncle Seth, which wasn’t much. He mentioned how his father and uncle had been rivals for his mother’s heart. He told the detective after they were married; his father started a business and had as little to do with his family as possible. All of which was true, but Dion neglected to tell him about element manipulation or how he’d used a mystical travel agency to jump around time to gain this information. He neglected to tell him about the meeting with his uncle outside the time circles.
“I know most of what you just told me,” Jones grumbled. “I didn’t know the exact connections, but you confirmed most of them to me. Now I suppose you want to know what I have.”
Dion nodded.
“Your uncle took over his father’s adhesives company before the old man passed on. The first thing he did when he had control of the company was to go around and invest in similar companies. Once he gained some control in them, he’d use his influence to have his company buy up all their stock and merge. How he managed to do this with all the anti-trust laws on the books still fascinates me. I think he either paid some people off or worked it in such a way that all the buy-outs happened under the radar.
It didn’t matter, because soon enough he had enough cash to start buying up more companies and make investments. He went into real estate in a big way and over-extended himself plenty of times. Somehow, he’s managed to keep his funds moving around to different shell companies in different states. I think it will all catch up with him and we think he’s crossed a line of sorts.”
“What do you mean?” Lilly asked him.
“He’s cooked up some deal which involved diamonds stolen out of a vault in Chicago. I don’t know the particulars, but there was a huge heist from a secure vault last year where many expensive rocks were lifted. We keep hearing his name mentioned in connection with the robbery. I don’t think he had anything directly to do with it, but he might have financed the operation.”
“Wouldn’t that be under someone else’s territory?” Dion asked. “I mean, why would the local police be involved in a crime on that scale? I thought the FBI was involved if it crossed state lines.”
Jones leaned back in his chair and gave a look of admiration at two college-aged girls who walked past him. He turned back to Dion and Lilly. “You are a smart kid. How is it that you know so much about criminal activity and law enforcement at your age? Thinking on becoming a cop someday?”
“It has crossed my mind once or twice.”
“Keep this in mind,” Jones told him. “The bad guys shoot back and they have better guns. But to return to what you asked, yes it would normally be a case for the FBI. As I said, they are looking into it at the top level, but sometimes they tap people like me where a local eye is needed. I had some people I know in Washington who needed a favor or two call me. We had a long talk and they told me the mall was attracting all kinds of attention because they suspected he was using it to get rid of money he’s not supposed to have. Happens all the time. You would be surprised how many dud records and lousy movies are the result of people dropping cash because they don’t want their accountant to ask questions.”
All three were silent at the table for a good minute. Each of them had more to tell, but were afraid of revealing too much information before they got what they wanted.
Dion couldn’t tell Detective Jones about the travels outside the time circles to Ancient Egypt and he suspected Jones knew a lot more about his uncle’s activities than he wanted to say. The only person who had little in the way of knowledge to contribute was Lilly. She had seen too much to just get up and walk away.
“So what do you want from me?” Dion asked him. “I barely know my uncle and we’ve only spoken one time.” Dion neglected to mention the one time was a few hours ago.
“Let me know if you find out anything that I can use,” Jones said. “I’ll watch out for you. I know you are still trying to find your parents and I might be able to find out some information you can’t. As I said, I know people in Washington. Kidnapping is a federal crime and it falls under the FBI’s jurisdiction, so they will have an open file on it. I’ll see what I can find out if you see what you can find out.”
“I’ll do what I can,” he told Jones. “You do the same.”
“Deal.” Jones turned to Lilly. “No need to tell your parents I said hello again. They’ll wonder why you’ve ran into me two days in a row down at the mall.”
He got up and walked away.
They saw him leave through the nearest exit doors.
“Does he change anything?” Lilly asked.
“Not in the least bit. All it means is that there is one more person to keep in mind. I don’t know if he’ll be of any use to me at all. Your detective friend doesn’t seem to realize my parents are imprisoned here.” Dion starred at the table in thought for a few seconds. “We need to go fetch Emily and Sean. They should be waking up soon.”
It was a short walk to the furniture store and the manager was on duty. As Dion and Lilly walked into the store, he signaled to them and they followed him to the back room. The store didn’t have very many patrons in that day and they passed into the section marked “Employees Only” without much notice.
“Been sleeping sound all day,” the manager told them while he opened the door. “I’ve checked in on them from time to time and they’re fine.”
Both were still asleep when they looked in. The manager didn’t turn on the light to the second back room where the display waterbed was kept. Emily was curled up to Sean and sleeping in peace. Sean had his arm around her and was in the land of Hypnos too.
“Both of you need to wake,” Dion said to them as he stood by Sean. “Time to go home.”
Sean opened his eyes a bit at a time and looked up. He seemed oblivious to where he was and rose up with a backstretch. Emily did the same and turned to look at Sean with confusion. She kicked her feet over the side of the bed, put her shoes on and checked to make sure her clothes were still in place.
“What am I doing here?” both of them said at the same time.
“Do you recall anything that had to do with the cheerleaders?” Dion asked them.
“The last thing I remember was facing down with them in the mall,” Sean told him. “I thought they had some nerve to try and corner us out there.”
“What about you?” Dion said to Emily who appeared to be a little bit groggy.
“It’s the last thing I remember too. We were standing there and they appeared, acting like they owned the place. What happened?”
“Elemental power,” he said. “They had a lot of it and tried to use what they had to get to me through both of you. Don’t worry, I’ve been granted mastery over the air element, so they will be of no further trouble.”
Dion turned again to Sean. “We need to talk later.”
Sean nodded in return.
“I hate to kick you out,” said the manager, “but I do need this room for customers. I’ve had to tell several people today where’re fixing a leak to get them to come back.”
“We’ll be out of here soon enough,” Dion said.
They walked Sean and Emily out into the parking lot with care. At one point Dion thought, he might have to hold onto Sean, as he still seemed to be in a daze. Emily was fully awake by now and kept her eyes ahead as if she tried to remember something. It was better she didn’t.
Once outside the mall and onto the walkway, which snaked down the parking lot, Dion sat everyone down and rested. The outside temperature had dropped, which worried him a bit as this was never a good sign in the spring. Dion looked up in the sky to see if there were any traces of the air elemental sylphs the miniature helicopter scared from the mall, but he couldn’t see them.
“When did you cut a deal with the elemental?” Dion demanded to know from Sean. “And don’t lie to me; I know she promised you a lot if you stole the map from me.”
Sean looked to the ground. Lilly thought he was about to cry.
Sean wanted to, but not in front of Emily. He’s laid there awake with her curled up to him waiting for them to return in the back room of the furniture company. If only he could repeat that hour over and over for the rest of his life, he’d know true peace. When he woke up he had a brief memory of what happened and how the cheerleader elemental had used him to get the map. He knew retribution was on the way, but he could deal with anything if Emily loved him. Although she was asleep, he didn’t care. Maybe someday she’d realize what he’d done and how it was all for her.
“You’ve got everything, Dion,” he snapped. “Both of these girls are crazy about you. Half of the girls in the school swoon when you walk by. I can’t even have one girlfriend. Do you know how many of them I’ve asked to the prom? Three, and I’m not going to ask another one. So, yes, I was pulled out by the hot cheerleader. I’m sorry that I don’t have your good looks and ability to work miracles, but it seemed the only way I’d ever have a girl show interest in me.”
Dion looked at him and tried his best not to feel pity. He’d just confessed to betrayal and for the most idiotic of reasons. Gifted? This ability was a gift? It was a gift to lose your parents and have to rescue them? He was talented because the very things he could do would have him branded a witch in the Middle Ages? All the poor fool had to do was learn how to dress right and be personable and he could live a normal life. Okay, his family might be a mess, but he wasn’t the only one out there with issues. Dion wanted to give him a lecture, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“I’ll let it go this time,” he told Sean. “No human alive can stand up to the combined power of twelve elementals of their class. We need to talk some more later.”
Dion turned to Emily. “And you can stop using Sean to do your dirty work! He nearly died to impress you. I’m sorry your home life isn’t the best, but you won’t solve it by playing boys against each other.”
“How dare you talk to me like that?” Emily roared back at him. “I’ve been snatched twice by these creatures just from hanging around with you. I’m still terrified what might come next. Just get me out of this place because I never….”
Her speech was cut short by the sound of a freight train. Except it wasn’t a freight train, it was a tornado.
The large funnel had materialized in the vacant field next to the mall. Sean turned around to see it began to move in the direction of the mall. Of course, the temperature drop and the cloudy skies. The humidity. It was the very air sylphs banished by the toy helicopter. They were back now and headed to the mall with vengeance in mind. They were too dull to realize the mall was far more powerful than anything they could create. At most, the tornado would damage part of the mall, which his uncle could have fixed in a few weeks. But the people who stood in horror in the parking lot could be injured or killed.
Dion left his friends who were still in awe of the funnel and walked to the middle of the lot directly in its path.
The tornado began to leave the field and ripped through the grass and dirt as it came. The field was mostly dirt as it was stripped the previous year for the construction on the mall. A few trees still on the ground were tossed in the air and landed behind it in the barren grass.
Dion glared at the sylphs who were dancing in the middle of it and projected his will into the funnel. They stopped spinning around when they felt his presence and turned to face him. The funnel was slower now and not in motion. The sylphs were watching him and realized they were in front of someone who knew who they were. A command was issued to them from Dion and the tornado evaporated. The last Dion saw of the sylphs were vapor trails as the retreated to the upper atmosphere as fast as they could go.
The funnel was gone. Clouds rolled back in the sky and the sun began to shine through. The mall patrons in the lot, and inside, pressed to the windows, looked relived at the disappearance of the tornado. For years, people would claim a twister had come close to the mall, but vanished at the last minute. No one had a camera with them to take a picture and it soon became a legend told across the town.
Dion walked back to his friends. “We need to leave,” he said and walked towards the car. “We have things to do.”
Manipulator Of Elements - Water
Chapter 1
At eight in the morning, the day Dion appeared to seek the power of the third element, Officer Karanzen had an unexpected visitor in his office. He’d arrived at seven to check the roster from the night before.
He prepared for a visit from Matt, the mall’s representative who dropped by on a regular basis to see if there were any security issues they needed to know about. He expected the little toadie to arrive again unannounced today because that punk Dion had managed to get into the mall and obtain what he needed the day before.
The mall owners had played a new game yesterday and told him to stay out of the way. They wanted to handle the local kid who caused them so much grief. He really didn’t care who gave them a hard time, it was all part of the job. Karanzen understood who the kid was and why he needed to be kept at bay, but the mall didn’t make his job easy. Instead of banning Dion from the mall, they wanted him to be allowed to stroll in with his friends and try to reach whatever place he needed to find. Both times, he wasn’t informed from where the kid had to be stopped until it was too late. They didn’t’ want Dion anywhere near the store managers who had the special powers he needed. They seemed to be threatened by this Dion character and Karanzen couldn’t understand why.
If the mall was sitting over the abyss, why didn’t they unleash one of the fiends which lurked inside it against Dion and his friends? There were all kinds of primordial beasts down there that would have him for breakfast if they were allowed to leave. If the mall owners were supposed to stand guard over the Gates of Hell, why couldn’t they let one of these monstrosities out every now and then? There were ways to keep them under control. Even Karanzen knew how to manage his true form until needed. It shouldn’t be much of an issue for the mall owners.
Karanzen had his uniform on and sat behind his desk, the plans of the mall spread out in front of him. If that kid made it back in here today, it left two sections he would try to reach. He betted on the Blue Sector, as he liked to call the part of the mall in front of him. He didn’t know exactly whom Dion needed to reach, but he was almost certain who it might be based on the kid’s activities the last time. Over the years, he’d developed a feel for these things...
“Come on in,” he yelled at the door upon hearing the knock. It had to be one of his guys, who else would be here this early in the morning? Bert for sure; he didn’t have any interests outside his job. He was always the first to clock in when he pulled the morning shift.