by Tom Larcombe
Gerry seemed slightly mollified by Michael's request, more so when he admitted Calvin's importance to him.
“Yes, we can do that now. Give me a moment.”
She dipped out of sight beneath the berry plants again for a few seconds. When she rose up again she carried some sort of cord, silver in color, and barely the size of a human hair.
“This will help the two of you find your way to one another's thoughts. You should only need it for first contact. Michael, hold it in your hand. Calvin, take the other end in your beak.”
Michael felt slightly foolish but did as she said.
“Now Michael, press your end to your head. Your temple should do. Then close your eyes and think of Calvin as you know him.”
After a few moments of this, Michael's eyes opened.
“This feels silly. Is it really going to help?”
“Not if you doubt that it will. How much magic can you do if you don't believe it will work?”
Michael flushed, memories of his schooling filling his mind. He brushed them away, closed his eyes, and pictured Calvin as he'd been that morning, circling around him.
He felt a slight presence in his mind. Similar to what he felt when he spoke mind to mind with Rynn, only much fainter. He held that thought for what seemed like a very long time, growing more aware of the presence.
“Good,” Gerry said. “Michael, hold that. Calvin, stretch your awareness out to Michael. He is holding out a thought for you to grasp and once you do it the first time, you will be able to do it again. Think of Michael and what you would like to tell him.”
The presence in Michael's mind grew closer and closer. He strained to reach it, remembering what it was like the first time he and Rynn had attempted mental contact. It grew closer still and then, with a sense like a soap bubble popping in his mind, they connected and a vision popped into his head.
A tree on the cliff stood slightly away from all the rest, its trunk burrowing down through a crack in the rock. The tree glowed here and there with lights that Michael recognized. They were the small sun crystals Calvin had been stealing from the porch. At the very top of the tree there was a stronger glow that was both visible and concealed. The light from it seemed to emanate from the tree itself.
“Your home Calvin? Are you trying to show me your home?” Michael said.
The vision disappeared, shattered into a thousand tiny fragments that disappeared in tiny flashes of light, filling Michael's mind.
“You've contacted one another now,” Gerry said. “It will be easier to do so in the future and you will be able to communicate better the more you do it.”
She held a hand out for the cord and Michael returned it to her.
“If there's anything I can do for you, just let me know.”
“I will require pieces of some of your plants,” she said. “Liz will be moving, I have Seen it, and I shall go with her. I will make myself a new home near where she will be living, growing new plants from the portions I take with me.”
“They're all yours, any of them you want. Help yourself, or just let me know if you need my assistance.”
Gerry cocked her head and looked at him again.
“One last thing. I think that your friend here is agitated. I do not think that he managed to convey whatever it is he wanted to tell you. I suggest you practice more.”
She lowered herself back into the berry patch.
Michael held his arm out to Calvin, who hopped onto it. He looked and decided that Gerry was correct. Calvin did look agitated.
“Was that your home you showed me?” Michael asked.
Calvin's feathers drooped in what looked all the world like an exasperated sigh.
“So, that wasn't your home?”
“Caw.”
“But it's important to you?”
The crow looked stumped by that question and Michael felt a tickling in his mind. He reached again, and when he made contact with that tickle, a picture of himself appeared in his mind.
“It's important to me?”
“Caw!”
“I'd ask how, but I don't know if we could communicate that.”
There was another tickle and Michael reached again, it was easier to make contact. The glow that had shown in different spots of the tree flashed into his mind.
“If it's the crystals you've taken, you're welcome to them,” he said.
Once again the crow deflated, feathers drooping.
“I'm sorry Calvin, but at least we're making progress communicating finally.”
Calvin launched himself from Michael's arms and flew in a circle to gain altitude. He cawed several times at Michael, then flew towards the cliff.
That's going to take some work, but it will be such a relief when we can finally, actually, communicate with each other instead of playing twenty questions.
Michael returned to the house, where he found the kitchen full of people eating breakfast.
How late is it?
A glance at the sun told him that his efforts with Gerry and Calvin had taken far longer than he'd thought. When he entered the kitchen, his father was just standing up from the table.
“Michael, there you are. How about helping me load up my truck? I'll head down to the church to drop off the first load of food you wanted me to deliver.”
“Give me a couple of minutes to eat something first,” Michael replied.
“Sure, I'll go finish up my morning routine, then we can load up.”
Michael nodded as he claimed a bowl of oatmeal and sat down in the chair his father had vacated. Between bites he spoke with Jeff.
“Jeff, can I get you to harvest my carrots today? I was checking on the garden earlier and they're almost at the point where they're too large. When they get too big they get tasteless and the texture goes woody.”
Jeff glanced at his mom for a moment. She smiled and nodded at him.
“Yes, I'll do that,” he said.
Anne broke in.
“Don't worry Jeff. I know I told you we're going back home, but we won't be doing that until Michael makes us a well down there. Anything we can do to help him here will probably make our moving back quicker.”
She turned her gaze to Michael.
“Not that we're in a rush or anything. It's just that we're crowding you out of your own place and feel bad about it.”
“It's not a problem. It is a little tight sometimes, but having a bunch of people around, especially the kids, keeps me on my toes.”
“Well, you'll still have a bunch here even after we leave, but maybe you'll have some room to breathe then,” Anne said.
Michael nodded to her and finished up his oatmeal.
“Although I will regret not having another decent cook in the house any more,” he said.
Anne smiled and blushed at the compliment.
“I'm sure you can teach someone else that's staying here how to cook.”
“True, but that could take a while. My dad can burn water and Rynn? I don't even want to think about it.”
Anne shrugged and turned away.
“Try one of the students then, maybe Cindy would like to learn,” she said.
“I just might ask her at that. Her and Andi both.”
Michael put his bowl in the sink and then headed for the garage.
I guess I overestimated how much food there would be after it was repackaged. It looks like only about a load and a half for dad's truck. Maybe I can get him to take today's produce down along with the second load.
By the time his father joined him, Michael had already loaded half the bed of the truck. Between the two of them they quickly finished the job.
“Dad, would you mind taking some fresh stuff down with the second load? Then I won't have to head down there myself later on.”
“Sure Michael, I can do that. Have it waiting for me though, okay? I want to get to my work with Pete sometime this morning.”
“Jeff and I will start picking right after you leave.”
&nb
sp; Andrew nodded.
“Sounds like that ought to work. I'm going to head out now.”
“I'll find Jeff and we'll start harvesting.”
* * *
Michael was bent over, pulling carrots, when he heard a familiar sound. It took him a moment to place it since he'd heard it nearly every day since he'd moved to the mine. When he did, he stood up, startled.
“Tock, tock, tock...”
The sound of the pickaxe striking stone came from the mouth of the mine. It was soft, apparently diminished by distance, and that told Michael that someone was mining in the deepest sections.
“Jeff, do you hear that?” he asked.
Jeff stood up and cocked his head.
“Sounds like metal on stone?”
“Okay, good, it isn't just me.”
Who would be mining now? All the workers know I can't pay them any more. Unless one of them decided he'd try to get me to pay him in food.
“Calvin!” Michael called.
It took a minute or two before Calvin came spiraling in to land on Michael's arm.
“Did you see who went into the mine?”
As he asked the question, Michael also focused on creating a mental image of a man walking into the mouth of the mine. He felt the touch of Calvin's mind and received his reply. Calvin hadn't seen anyone go into the mine.
I suppose he wasn't watching. That's fine. I wonder if he'd be willing to keep an eye on it to see who comes out if I'm not here when they do.
Michael couldn't think of a way to get the concept across in thought pictures so he just spoke the question. He was pretty sure Calvin understood a lot of human speech.
“Calvin, would you keep an eye on the mine? Let me know who it is that comes out? You can just think the image of their face to me.”
Michael felt the brush of Calvin's thoughts against his own and focused on them. A bright orange color suffused the picture that appeared in his mind. Then it backed out and he identified the orange as a pile of Cheetos in his own hand.
“Yes Calvin, I'll pay you for it with Cheetos.”
“Caw!”
The crow took wing and flew the short distance to the mine office. He landed on the roof, facing the mine entrance, and settled in to wait.
Michael put the noise out of his head, confident that Calvin would let him know who was in there later on. He bent over and went back to the harvest.
* * *
Andrew pulled his pickup truck back into the driveway a few minutes after Michael and Jeff finished harvesting.
“Hey dad, I thought you'd be back a while ago,” Michael called out.
Andrew walked over to where Michael was bagging the last of the vegetables.
“I would've been, but Father Anderson and I got to talking. He's a real pistol, you know?”
Michael suppressed a grin at the idea of his father and Father Anderson meeting for the first time. He knew that neither was quite what you'd expect by just looking at them and hoped that the surprise had been pleasant on both sides.
“Yes, I know. He's also clued in on magic, so you don't have to be too careful when you're talking with him unless there are others around.”
“Is he now?”
Michael nodded.
“He's got a touch of it himself. Maybe more than that, but it was never trained so I'm not sure. As he pointed out to me, someone with a touch of empathy makes for a very good priest.”
“All the more reason to like him then,” Andrew said. “I won't have to guard my tongue while talking to him. When I'm with Pete I have to think everything through twice before I say it.”
“From what Dan's told me, I think that just about everyone in this town knows about magic, or at least about people's Talents. They think of it as normal, so depending on how you talk about it, they might not even blink. Between Dan and Father Anderson I've discovered that Crystal Beach produces a much higher than average number of wizards and people with Talents.”
He glanced over at the mine and gestured towards it.
“If I'm not mistaken, that probably has something to do with it. I've given it some thought and I'm wondering if that might also be the reason the Council is so hot to get physical control of the mine again. If it is responsible, that means it affects people before they're born. I'm guessing if that's the case then it affects them after as well. I just have to figure out how.”
Andrew turned to look at the mine.
“Doesn't look like much, but then again I'm not a full wizard. You'd know better than I would. Is it those ley line things you were talking about?”
“It might be. You know what they are, right?”
“Kind of. Little currents of magical energy, right?”
“Well, sometimes, but these two aren't that little. Where they intersect there's a lot of raw magic spilling off. Part of that forms the crystals we mine here. I don't know what the rest of it does for sure, but I suspect that it has something to do with the increased number of wizards and Talents in the area.”
“You said the cache used that energy, didn't you? So what's going to happen to it now?”
“I don't know if the cache tapped the spillover or the actual ley lines, but I'm guessing that there will be more of the raw magic now. What that's going to do, I have no idea. I do think that either the ley lines or the raw magic is the reason the Council wants to control this area though.”
“I guess that makes sense. I'm sure they have something they want to do with it, but why do they need to get rid of you to do it? I mean, if they'd just told you they were moving someone else in, you wouldn't have batted an eye, would you have?”
Michael shook his head.
“That bothers me too. They do know me pretty well,” he gritted his teeth, “since they've been in my head enough. I think they want to do something here that they know I'd have a problem with and I guess I'm strong enough that I could stop them if I put my mind to it. I think they tried to get rid of me so they could follow through with their plans.”
“Sounds like you've given this some thought son, but I wouldn't focus in on just one possibility unless you have some clues you haven't mentioned yet.”
“No, but that's the most logical explanation I could come up with,” Michael said.
“Logic? The Council?”
Andrew guffawed.
“I've never been able to find a shred of logic to the things they do, unless you look at those things as them trying to gather and maintain their own power. Then they make logical sense, otherwise?”
He shook his head.
“They might be wizards, but they're also still humans: power-hungry, money-grubbing, control freaks. I've always viewed the Council as the politicians of the Wizard world.”
I have to remember that dad's just as angry with the Council as I am. I may have lost my mother because of them, but he lost his wife. He's just better at hiding his feelings about it. I need to get us off this topic before he loses it.
“Well, there's another batch of stuff to run down to Father Anderson,” Michael said. “Let's get it loaded up.”
Andrew looked as though he were going to say something else for a moment, then he stopped and took a deep breath.
“Thank you Michael. You're right, let's get the truck loaded.”
When Michael turned to start loading up the fresh produce, he saw that Jeff had been right behind him throughout the conversation.
“Jeff, you probably don't want to repeat any of the conversation you just heard,” Michael said.
Jeff nodded his head fervently.
“Is it really that dangerous?” Jeff asked.
“To be up here at the mine? Or to be around me? Yes. The Council is already sending someone else after me and the mine. That's why I thought it was a great idea for your family and Bobby to move back down to your place. You'll all be safer there.”
“I can still come up here though, can't I? The idea of being stuck in the trailer with my mom and your uncle kinds of gives me the creep
s.”
Michael kept his chuckle on the mental level.
“Yes, you can. But if I tell you to hightail it out of here, you head home as fast as you can, got it?”
Jeff nodded.
“Yeah, I can do that.”
“I thought you were going to be putting in a garden down there though. Won't that keep you home a lot more?”
“We will be, but my mom and Liz want me to show them everything you taught me. Gerry told Liz that she'll help out with it also. So that will be the family garden, but I'd like to keep this one up here as mine.”
“That won't be a problem. Although I may draft you to help out with mine some as well.”
Jeff's face lit up with a smile.
“I like helping you with your garden. I like it when Calvin helps us too.”
His idea of help doesn't quite match up with mine. Other than chasing animals away Calvin's 'help' normally means more work for me. But he loves it, so...
“I do too Jeff. Was there something you needed before we got sidetracked here?”
“Oh yeah, I was wondering when you were going to do that well thing you were talking about. I don't want to start doing anything with the soil down there before we have water easily available.”
“I'll get to it as soon as I can. It might be a couple of days though, I have to check and see what else I need to do and I'll fit it in as soon as I can.”
“Awesome! Even if it is the family garden, I get to set it up, or at least tell everyone else what we need to do to get it ready.”
Michael grinned.
That's a heck of a change from when I caught him stealing my produce. It's good to see him planning to do something productive on his own.
“I'll get to it as soon as I can, I promise,” Michael said.
“Okay, I'll go back to trying to plan what we're going to put in there.”
Jeff turned around and went back into the house.
“Quite a kid there,” Andrew said.
“Yeah, I was just thinking something along those lines myself.”