Over Our Heads

by Jan Stryvant

  "Dae, can you think of a way to feed the silver to me, slowly? But at a constant rate?"

  "Easy peasy!" Daelyn said.

  "Then set it up."

  "How much and how fast?"

  "Umm, say about an tenth of an ounce per ten seconds?" Sean said taking his best guess.

  "Okay, give me a couple of minutes to do a few things."

  "Sure," Sean said.

  "What are you planning to do?" Jolene asked, coming around the shield.

  "Well, I can override the safeties on the device, so I get the power directly, but if it comes too fast," Sean made a face, "I have no idea what happens to a person who gets too much magic, too fast."

  "They cook," Jolene sighed, "just like those stories say about pets in microwaves."

  "Eww," Roxy said, making a face. "Sure you want to do this, Hon?"

  "I only have to do it the once," Sean said.

  "And you only have to screw it up once, as well," Roxy pointed out.

  "We need the tags, you need the tag. If we can make this work, then at least we have a way to make more."

  "I still say you should just build a machine to do this, Sean," Roxy growled.

  "I love you too, dear," Sean said and just then the sound of hammering came from the back of the room.

  "What's she doing?"

  "Thinning and lengthening one of those bars I think," Jolene said.

  Sure enough, a minute later Daelyn came over and took a much thinner and longer bar and attached a string through a hole she'd punched in one end. Using a stand that was in the room, she draped the string over it, and hung the bar over Sean's chair.

  "How's that?" Daelyn said as she practiced raising and lowering it several times.

  Sean noticed she had the string wrapped around a thick rod and was lowering it by slowly turning the rod.

  "That looks good. Just keep an eye on me, if I start smoking, stop lowering."

  "Oh, I got a temperature gauge for that!" Daelyn laughed and pointed some sort of handheld device at him, as a red dot appeared on his chest.

  "Okay, well, let's give this a try," Sean said and going over and sitting in the chair he grabbed all five of the tags. He didn't really need to hold them in his hand, though it did make it easier for him to 'find' them.

  Putting three in one hand, he spread them out so he could easily feel each one, then he put the remaining two in his other hand.

  Checking his monitor program, he closed his eyes and started to concentrate. "Lower it."

  "Lowering!" Daelyn said and when it hit the shield, Sean winced at the sudden influx of energy.

  "Slower!" He called and triggered the first tarball. He could actually feel his insides warming up for a moment, but then the program started and drew off all of the energy he'd gotten.

  As it neared completion, he triggered a second one, then a third as he got hit with the blast of return energy from the first one as it completed and kicked back a third of the energy required to make it!

  He felt he had it handled at that point and didn't realize his mistake until the next two finished and each kicked back both of their energies! Dropping them he started running the programs on the two remaining tags immediately to suck up that energy before it fried him.

  "Stop!" He gasped and watched as the two remaining tags were programmed rapidly. The power to fill them stopped and then he was having to use his own energy to do it, and he didn't have enough!

  "A little more!" He gasped, almost passing out as the last of his energy left him, only to be replaced rather suddenly with another big shot of energy.

  "Trouble," he gasped and could see that the tags were about to complete, he was sure he could get Daelyn to stop before he got too much energy, but he was about to get about nine kilowatts of energy dumped back into him!

  "Stop!" he called out just as the tags finished and the excess energy started to dump back into him! Opening his eyes he looked around frantically, even his most powerful spell didn't drain that much!

  He saw the table then, with the necklaces on it. Slamming his hand down on top of it, he started the necklace tarball on ten of them at once, screaming in pain as he got hit with a huge backlash of energy from the two tags!

  Thankfully it drained out into the necklaces quickly, though he was forced to start it on one more, the power overfilling him even with the drain. Gasping for breath as the pain ebbed he watched the progress of the spells and thought he smelled something burning in the room.

  He checked his power, he was almost full up again! As the first ten started to complete, he started up a twelfth, and then three more as the power from those ten kicked back. Looking at his own power, he was almost drained. Sighing with relief he let the power from the last four flow back into him, and then groaning he let go of everything and passed out, falling to the floor.

  Roxy had started to step forward when Sean gasped and told Daelyn to slow down, but Jolene grabbed onto her arm with both hands and yanked hard!

  Looking at Jolene, Roxy saw her shake her head, with a very blatant look of concern on her face.

  "He's still okay," Jolene whispered.

  Roxy gave a soft growl, but nodded and continued to watch as Daelyn slowed down, then stopped completely when Sean gasped out 'Stop!'

  "Not yet," Jolene whispered, "not yet."

  They all jumped when Sean called out for a little more and started to waver in his seat.

  "He's losing it," Roberta said.

  "No, not yet. Wait," Jolene said. "I can channel power, but not much, he's still handling it."

  Roxy started forward when Sean called out that he was in trouble, only to find Jolene straddling her back and hitting her on the head!

  "Not yet, you idiot!" Jolene told her.

  Roxy was stopped dead by the sheer desperation in Jolene's voice! Jolene never ever hit anyone, much less yelled at them!

  When Sean yelled for Daelyn to stop and his eyes opened as he screamed in pain, looking around frantically, Jolene started forward, pushing Roxy forcefully out of the way, stopping inches from him, with her hands outstretched above his head as he put his hand on the necklaces, dropping the remaining tags from his other hand.

  "Come on, you can do it," Jolene was muttering, her hands inches above Sean's body as his fur literally started to smolder for a moment. Roxy almost took a step forward again, but this time Roberta put a hand on her.

  "That's it, come on baby, you can do it," Jolene continued to whisper as Sean's hands moved over the necklaces a second time, and then with a sudden sigh he started to sag and Jolene put her hands on him and started casting. Just as a several buckets worth of water appeared above them and rained down.

  This time Roxy ran up to them.

  "How is he?"

  "It's not too bad," Jolene said, panting, "He got hit with a huge backlash."

  "Backlash, from what?" Roxy asked.

  "Oh, shit," Daelyn swore. "He forgot about that!"

  "Forgot about what?" Roberta asked.

  "We all forgot about it," Jolene sighed and looked at Roberta. "When he does these fast enchantments, he gets about a third of the energy it takes, back, when it completes. And those tags," Jolene nodded to them on the floor, "Take about nine months worth of energy. He damn near fried himself. If those necklaces hadn't been there, he probably would have fried himself. As it was, he was starting to cook there at the end."

  "Shit," Roxy growled. "He is not doing that again."

  "No, definitely not," Jolene agreed.

  "If he even suggests it, I just might whack him one with Max," Daelyn agreed.

  "Well, let's clean up this mess. You can all come back to my room," Roberta said looking around the scattered magic items and the wet floor.

  "I'll get the tags," Roxy sighed, and picking one up she clicked it onto her collar. "You know, as much as I like having this, it wasn't worth it."

  Sean came to, lying on his back in a soft bed, it took him a few moments to realize where he was, and boy did his h
ead hurt!

  He tried to sit up, but a hand pressed him back down into bed.

  "Just rest, you almost cooked yourself to death there, boy genius," Roxy snarled.

  "Could I get some water," Sean gasped as he realized he was dying of thirst.

  "Just a moment," he heard Roberta say.

  Sean just sighed and closed his eyes, as what happened to him played back through his mind. That backlash of energy was okay, when it was small, and you could do something with it. But with something as massive as the enchantments on those silver tag devices? Oh, that was a serious problem. He'd have to find a way to fix that!

  "Help him up," Roberta said, and he felt Roxy's hand on his back as she easily sat him up.

  He started drinking as soon as he felt the glass touch his lips, and drained it dry rather quickly. Roberta refilled the glass and he drained that one, then another.

  His headache started to recede a little as he started in on the fourth one.

  "How did I lose so much water?" he groaned.

  "It boiled off," Jolene said, "when you almost did the human fireball trick."

  Sean winced at her tone of voice, "Is there anyone in this room who isn't mad at me?"

  "No!" all four of them said together.

  "So I guess suggesting that I'll get it right the next time is right out?" Sean said, giving a wane smile.

  Sean," Roxy growled, and looking up he saw she had a lamp in her hand and was about to smack him with it.

  'Oh, enough of this!' his lion said and growling rather loudly Sean looked at all of them.

  "I'm sorry," he growled loudly, "yes, I made a mistake, yes it hurt like hell, and no you will not take that tone of voice with me."

  "If you are going to try that again, there is gonna be one hell of a fight in this room," Roxy warned him.

  "Dear lord, I may be an idiot sometimes, but I'm no fool!" Sean sighed and collapsed back on to the bed. He was exhausted. Apparently he'd pushed himself right to the edge. He'd have to look himself over later and check for damage.

  "That's better," Roxy purred and climbed up onto the bed with him, the other three following her example.

  "Much better," Sean purred and gave each one a kiss, and then closing his eyes he fell back asleep.

  Waking up, Sean opened his eyes to see that it was dark in the room, and the clock by Roberta's bed said it was two am. Stretching he yawned a little, being careful not to wake the girls. Of which he only saw three, Roxie, Jolene, and Daelyn. He wondered where Roberta was. He'd go look in a bit, but first he called up his stats spell to take a look at where he was. Surprisingly his watch was still on, apparently no one had thought to take it off.

  When the sheet came up he was rather surprised at what he saw. Apparently doing stupid shit and almost killing yourself paid off! His constitution had gone up a point, and his physical stats had a fair bit of points to spend, so he bought himself a bunch more regeneration. Considering how many times he'd been low on, well, damn near everything, getting it back faster could only help.

  On his mental stats, his intelligence hadn't gone up at all, but his wisdom had definitely increased. Again, doing stupid stuff and living through it obviously had its perks. He split the points he'd gained there between reasoning and memory, holding back a few, just in case. More out of habit than anything else.

  When he came to magical, there were a lot of points. He put a level into will, but the rest all went into mana. Again, he'd come up short a couple of times now, and he didn't like that much. He was learning that even with his cheats and his shortcuts, casting spells was expensive! No wonder human mages carried wands and other magic items; they could power them at their ease, and then unload it all when they needed it.

  Coming down to spells, he stopped and looked at them for a minute. He'd been saving up points to use on his father's book. But right now he didn't have it, and wasn't sure he was going to get it back. He could pump some more points into his framework spells, but right now, that wasn't important. He wasn't really a spell caster; he was an enchanter after all.

  And he really needed to get better at enchanting. Especially if he was going to build a device to take his place in creating magic items. Oh, he understood the basics, he had his tarball archive program and he could play thing back, into similar objects of course. But he really didn't understand all of the little details of his father's work, and he wasn't sure he could build what he needed without a lot more study.

  Popping out of that spell, he went into his classroom, and dug out the book on enchanting. Digging through it, he started looking for those elements that he thought he might need, and flagged the spells he thought might help him for further examination.

  Checking his watch, it was after three now, so leaving his classroom he opened his eyes again, still no sign of Roberta.

  Getting out of the bed was going to be a challenge, with the girls sprawled on it, but he cheated and shifted to his human form, then once he got free, he went full lion.

  A quick check of the apartment showed him that Roberta wasn't there, but Sarah was asleep in her bed. So carefully opening the door with his paws, he went out and started looking for her. As he'd seen her at the gate twice before, he decided to go there first.

  "What are you doing here?" Roberta asked.

  "Looking for you of course," Sean rumbled and rubbed his head against her belly.

  "Well, I'll be done here in a few more hours," Roberta said and ran her fingers through his mane. "You know, you look good like that."

  "Yes, but I look better like this," Sean said and shifting into his hybrid form he put his arms around her and kissed her.

  "Sean, you'll get me in trouble," Roberta laughed.

  "Why?" Sean asked and kissed her again.

  "Can't you wait? I get off in a few hours!"

  "No, I can't wait," Sean mock growled and kissed her again, starting to stroke her body with his hands.

  "I'm supposed to be watching the gate!"

  Sean grinned and spinning her around, he pressed up against her back, bending her over the short wall in front of her.

  "There, now you can watch the gate," he purred and started to kiss the back of her neck.

  "Damn lions," Roberta giggled, "Sampson could never take no for an answer either!"

  McConnell's Office

  "So," Roger said to Charles, "do you believe Sam's claim that they were unable to retrieve the book before some sort of explosion went off and destroyed everything?"

  "And David being killed in the attack by Valens himself?" Charles laughed and shook his head, "I'm not that gullible, and neither are you."

  Roger nodded and sighed, "It bothers me that Gerald has apparently thrown in with Sam, by backing his story."

  Charles nodded, "True, I suppose Sam must have found something to use against him. Gerald never struck me as the type to go out on a limb like this."

  "Even the mouse can roar, Charles, if it sees a chance to kill the cat."

  "So, what do we do about it?"

  "If there is anything that Sam is holding over Gerald's head, I would like to know about it. This way when the time is right we can isolate Sam and deal with him."

  "Why not deal with him now?" Charles asked, "I could remove him quietly and effortlessly, I'm sure."

  Roger shook his head, "Don't underestimate Sam. You can be sure he's expecting me to move against him now; I doubt he even believes that he fooled us with his story. However, that's not the issue. The issue is we need to secure the book, or at least know where it is so we can secure it, before we kill him.

  "That book is the key, Charles."

  "Still, I'd rather not give him the opportunity to learn how to use anything in that book against you, Roger," Charles argued. "If we wait too long, he may become too strong."

  Roger sighed, Charles had a point. "Start taking precautions, we can afford to give him a couple of days to make him think he's gotten away with it. Sooner or later he'll slip up, I'm sure."

 
Charles nodded, "I've already got someone in his household watching him. But once I know where that book is, I'm going to move, Roger. The last thing we need is Sam subverting more members of the council over to him. With him, Gerald, and David gone, that's three open spots, a full third of the council gone. Unless you're thinking of keeping Gerald, if we can get something on him?"

  Roger shook his head, "No, Gerald will have to go, once we've dealt with Sam. Preferably something quiet, like a heart attack in his sleep."

  "You know," Charles gave Roger an evil grin, "how about I kill Gerald tonight? It might spook Sam into making a mistake, and any of the others he may have subverted will think he's gotten greedy."

  Roger laughed and smiled, shaking his head, "Charles, as always, you are invaluable my friend. Yes, by all means. Let's play this your way."

  Charles nodded happily, "Thanks, Roger!" and getting up he took his leave. He had been worried that his friend might not see the danger until too late. Roger's problem was that he liked to let people hang themselves, and with politics and political maneuvering, that was fine.

  But Charles, Charles liked to tie the knot and slip the rope over their heads himself. Especially when violence and action were called for. He knew that he could never do Roger's job, politics were just too far beyond him, and Roger was truly an expert when it came to playing those games. That Roger had done all that he could to win Charles' loyalty showed that even though Roger may not have the skills for the more direct approach to certain problems, he understood how necessary they were.

  Charles smiled at that, they knew each other well, and played to each other's strengths. Charles had gone to great lengths to prove to Roger that his loyalty was total many years ago, and since then the rewards for both of them had been great. Charles might be Roger's tool, but Roger was Charles' meal ticket, and he'd protect him to the end.

  Sam swore again, but at least he refrained from throwing the book against the wall. Not that he suspected it would hurt it. The book was enchanted, and enchanted rather cunningly. He could see the words on the paper, and he could almost, almost, read them.