by T S Paul
"How did you do it? How did you keep him alive all these years?" I pressed for the answer. Cat began to work her way around the room to come up behind him.
"Power calls to power. James. James was born with it. A great power is what they all said. He would need to be protected. If I couldn't protect her how could I protect him?" Robert looked down at his son and hugged himself.
"Robert look at me. What did you do?"
"The horns were the solution. Don't you see? The Magick of the horns kept him alive and aware. Without them, he'll die. I have to hide him from the Council."
"Step away from James, Robert. It's time to go back upstairs. I promise we will put James in a good hospital. You need to answer some questions for us." The large man looked at me, and I could see some clarity in his eyes.
"Hospital? No hospitals!" It happened so fast I could have blinked and missed it. Robert pulled out a handgun from seemingly nowhere and pointed it at me. He pulled the trigger.
Robert's bullet was aimed straight at my heart. My shields were already fully deployed. With speed I didn't know I even had, I raised my pistol and fired. His round hit the shield and bounced off burying itself in the dirt wall. My shot hit him in his shoulder, knocking the gun from his hand as he fell. Cat raced in and with one knee on his back cuffed him. We actually practiced that move at the Academy perfecting it for Weres in warrior form. Being an Alpha, she was able to do partial shifts. She made her hands human and searched Robert.
I stepped closer to the bier. The man lying there bore a slight resemblance to his father, Robert. EKG monitors and other systems monitored his body. I could hear his heartbeat on the machines. How they were using the Magick troubled me. What was upstairs was death Magick. Living beings were killed to bring it into being. According to everything I knew, it couldn't be used to save this man.
Robert groaned as we rolled him over. "Robert, we are arresting you for the crime of illegally using Magick for profit and the death of a sentient species."
The wounded man began to laugh. "Those things aren't people. They are animals! Prove it. Who you going to ask? Not the Unicorns. They don't speak."
I looked down on him. "The Elders do. We just need to find them."
"Good luck with that. Tell me how it works out for you. Those red-eyed beasts took the place of the blue. Not nearly enough Magick though. More is needed. Not enough Unicorns in the world. Tell your Aunt she got the better of me. Two more weeks and we would have had an endless supply of the beasts. Just two weeks. He was primed and ready to give Charlene everything he had." Robert spit on the floor of the man-made cave.
At the word 'Charlene,' I felt a reaction from Fergus. Who was Charlene?
"Look at you and your high and mighty FBI. You have no idea what's coming, do you? One more blue and we could have been gone. Gone from here, gone forever. Not to be. Stupid child's fault. Did Walter survive?"
"He used Magick on us upstairs." That was all I had to say.
"Good riddance. If he hadn't dropped the vial, we would be gone. Gone. All gone." Robert started to slip away again.
"Robert, what's gone?" I peered at the man.
"Breeding stock. We collect them and sell to Frederick or back to the home office. Helps renew the Herd. Idiot boy dropped the last we had. No more blue." He started singing a song featuring the word blue in it.
That actually made sense to me. Why they wanted Fergus back so badly. Won't they be surprised?
Suddenly the Earth trembled. "Do you have earthquakes out here?"
"Nope. You can kiss you souls goodbye now." Robert started to laugh again.
The EKG monitors and all the computers started to flash and beep. The ground almost shivered as if in excitement. I could feel a huge surge in dark Magick. The very air thickened with it. "What did you do?"
"Not me. Not me." He started laughing again.
A new voice spoke to the three of us. "Whoever you are. Put my father down."
Chapter 18
I turned at the voice to see James Magnus lower himself off the bier and stand up.
"Put. Him. Down." James pointed to his father.
"James! It worked. All the Magick horns worked!" Robert struggled as if just noticing the handcuffs. "My son is alive! It worked! It worked. Let me go!"
Cat looked at me as we dropped Robert. He hit the floor with a thump and a groan. Landing on his wounded side must have hurt. Looking from Robert to James I finally understood. "You harvested the horns. The Magick in the house was to do what to him? Death Magick doesn't give life. It takes it. How did you do that?"
Robert grunted and pushed himself off the floor into a sitting position. "My brother's idea. Use the horns and parts to keep James immobile and alive while his body had a chance to repair itself. The Fae do it all the time with their meditative states. We wondered why couldn't halves use that too? The Magick worked."
It started out as a snicker then a full-blown laugh. "No. No, it didn't."
We turned toward James. I could see the faintest flicker of green in his eyes.
"My entire life you sat here talking to me. You did this to me! You. You used that Magick to imprison me. I was trapped in this hole of a room for years!" James yelled at his father.
Robert struggled against the handcuffs. "No. I saved you. The Magick was there to protect you. It was necessary."
"Not to me. What is it you said to me all those years ago? Halves get cool Magick. You told me my Magick would change the world for the better. Do you see that happening here?" James was shaking with rage. His eyes started to change completely to a glowing green.
"Yes, we do get cool Magick. I don't understand this. I saved you. We saved you. It's alright now." Robert managed to pull himself to his feet, but he was grimacing in pain.
My mind was going a mile a minute. Fae Magick was completely unpredictable. It took many forms, some helpful and some not so much. The one time I was exposed to it was with Jack, and those were Fae that weren't angry at me. This man-child was very angry. If he was trapped in his own body for twenty years, I could see why. Flaming green eyes, however, was a big freaking deal. Where was he getting the power from?
James raised his hand, and a flaming red and green ball formed suddenly. He gazed up at it for just a moment. "Time to see some really cool Magick."
"Cat, get him out of here!" I yelled to my friend just as James tossed his Magick at me.
It was scarily just like my dream from a few days ago. I could see the large ball of flame as it flickered and shimmered. It was heading straight for my head. Unlike the dream, there wasn't any heat. Defender's shield had stopped it before it came within a foot of me. The fireball hit the shield like a water balloon in summer. It splattered fire everywhere. The fire he was producing was like acid on steroids. I watched as it burned everything it touched, even the earthen walls. I could hear Cat's claws scrambling across the floor as I faced James. She had her job to do, and I mine. I could hear Ana shouting orders to the rest of my team and the locals as I turned to face James, Cat must have told her.
"James, it doesn't have to be like this. We're going to prosecute Robert for killing Unicorns and draining the land with Blood Magick. I can get you help."
Laughing James tossed another fireball at me. This one hit my shield dead center throwing, even more, droplets of fire around the room. "The Unicorns. He only cared about the money from those beasts. Twenty years I lay there!" He motioned toward the bier and it flipped over with a loud crash. "Nothing but TV and music to keep me company. Aware but not aware. I know what he is, this man that calls himself my father." James waved his hand, and the health monitoring equipment went flying. Straight at me!
Quickly I dove to the left, sliding across the floor. The shield that enveloped me propelled me faster. James howled in fury at my escape. The door leading to the stair room was in front of me, scrambling to my feet I ran for it. The shields made me impervious, but the heat from the fires was getting too much to bear, and they were burning thro
ugh the available oxygen at a furious pace. "Ana, can you hear me?"
"Yes. Is the threat neutralized?" I paused for just a microsecond as I processed what she said.
"No. He's a Class Five at least. He's got to be drawing power from an outside source or something, and he's a fire element. Get any civilians as far from here as you can." The fire was flickering around the edges of the door and rolling across the ceiling. Electronics were sparking and flashing as the server farm was affected. I could see the steps in front of me.
"You can't escape me. Give him to me." Taking a chance, I threw an ice ball at him. James tried to dodge, but he was in the doorway still. The ball of hardened ice hit his left arm causing him to yell out in pain.
He returned fire with even more green and red balls of flame. My shields caught most of them, but I could feel the heat coming off the last one. If I didn't get out, I might die here. My shields were starting to fail. Tampering with the weather is a big-time no-no for Witches. Too many things can go wrong, and it's uncontrollable regardless of any failsafe you use. But how about a rainstorm inside a house? I needed a diversion to get up the stairs. Mentally I spoke to Defender and Pathfinder. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm going to try something. Use whatever power you need from me to keep the shield up."
All of the house's utilities ran through the walls here. Since this basement wasn't built by anyone officially, the utilities hadn't been moved, just worked around. I could see at least two of them from where I crouched. Pulling my sidearm, I began firing shots at first the water main and then the sewer pipe.
At the first shot, James ducked down behind a bank of computer modules. "You're shooting in the wrong direction!" He began peppering me with more fireballs. As they impacted all around me, I couldn't figure out where he was getting all this juice! He was untrained. There was no way an untrained Magick user could even do this. Unless ... I didn't have time to finish the thought as the equipment I was hiding behind took a solid hit and began to burn as well. Looking toward the pipes, I could see streams of water and sewage spraying into the air. The heat from the fire coupled with the water was producing small clouds of steam and smoke. It might be enough.
Mumbling the spell to myself I projected a blast of cold air straight at where James was, but three feet over his head along the length of the ceiling. The moist warm air being produced by his Magickal fires made contact with the cold air above, creating water vapor. The vapor made contact with the smoke trapped between the two levels of air and created a fog. Knowing it wouldn't last very long I cast a thunderstorm spell.
Lightning flashed inside the room striking the electrical wires strung along the walls in a shower of sparks. The cloud I wanted filled the entire corner James was firing from. Now was my chance. Hitting the stairs at a run, I almost fell at the top. The kitchen cabinetry was where we left it. I shoved it into the hole. It wouldn't hold him for long, but anything would work to keep him trapped. Rather than risk being trapped in the flaming house, I went out the back door.
"Ana, I'm clear of the house."
"Yes. I see you. Is the subject still mobile?"
"He is. The basement won't hold him very long. Ana, I can't figure where he's getting the power to do this. Even I don't have this much raw power! He doesn't have any training." My previous thought drifted up to my brain. Raw power was the answer.
"Be advised that Catherine is interrogating the father. He claims that no one on the ranch was conducting any sort of Black Magick or Blood rituals. All civilians have been cleared from the area. Agents Maxwell and Winthrop are standing by at the barn." The name Winthrop threw me for a loop until I remembered that Chuck actually has a last name. Her use of it told me that someone else was watching or listening in on this operation.
"Do we know if the Fae use Wild Magic?" There was silence on the other end for a moment.
"There isn't any confirmation of that. Much of what they do is unclassifiable. Our records do show that some warriors have almost inexhaustible resources." It was different hearing Ana speaking formally and with a clinical detachment. Her hesitation just confirmed that others were listening.
Ba-ba-boom! The kitchen area and much of the back porch of the house suddenly exploded outward. Wood, glass, metal, and paper fragments were thrown in all directions. The stacks of files and boxes Cat had previously found were scattered everywhere. Much of the home's debris still rained from the sky. Smoke and flame hid the remaining contents of the house, but somewhere in there was James Magnus.
"Ana, he's the Blood Mage we've been searching for. Only it's not Blood Magick but Wild Magick he's using. The Unicorn horns suppressed his control and allowed Robert to experiment upon him. The boy was born with Wild Magick in his veins. Somehow he must have learned to use it. That's what he meant. The Unicorns didn't save him, the land did. He's been draining the land to heal himself for twenty years. James was only five when the accident happened. He's had no formal training. I hit him with an ice ball that any other Magick user could have easily deflected. We have to separate him from the fire because he's using it somehow."
Another explosion ripped through the house. This time it was the front. Dammit! I figured he would follow me out here.
"Agatha, James has broken through the front of the house..."
"I know! On my way." I forgot that he hasn't been inside the main part of the house in decades. All the jumble of furniture coupled with the smoke must have confused him. Fortunately for me, the yard was kept up, and there was little shrubbery or flower gardens to avoid. The armor my team made me wear was slowing me down, but they said it was fireproof and I needed all the help I could get right now.
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Anastasia watched as her friend and the woman she worked for ran around the side of the house. Agatha jumped over a low hedge and had to go around a concrete culvert. "Agent Anastasia, is the Magical Division able to handle this threat?"
Exhaling loudly. Ana looked into the monitor on her right. Her use of the Military and OSS Satellites drew the attention of the supervisory committee of the FBI. These observers were part of the true power in charge of the Bureau. "Yes, Senator. Agent Blackmore is the most powerful member of our team as well as its leader. She can do it. Agent Moore is preparing to assist her at this time. The rest of the team, as well as members of the Fort Benton office, are directing civilians away from the area. They are standing by with medical and emergency services."
"We only ask because of the power flares and damage this individual seems to be creating. Do we know how he's able to do any of it?" A different Senator asked this question. They might try to hide, but Anastasia knew where all the bodies were buried at the FBI. She had been J Edgar Hoover's protégé for a very long time. The much searched for 'secret files' weren't really a secret from her. She carried them in her head all the time.
"Senator Martelle, Agent Blackmore believes that James Magnus is the source of the drain upon the land in this part of Montana. He seems to possess Wild Magick and has been using it to restore his body. He is the one we have been searching for." Ana shifted her attention back to the screens. James was walking out of what had once been the front door of the house.
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James stood upon the front steps of the house for the first time in decades. He could remember playing here while his mother watched. Just thinking of her made him so angry! If his father cared so much for her, why didn't he save her too like he did him? His father was so weak! "Where is he?"
Waving at the furniture scattered on the front lawn, James started looking everywhere for Robert. "I know he's here somewhere! Give him to me."
I jumped over a small bush and rounded the corner just in time to see the tractor-trailer truck tip over as the trailer was ripped apart. I needed to get him away from the fire and into or on another element. Water was out. The water main was still draining into the cellar, and the closest body of water was the Milk River and too far away. That only left air and earth. I had
an idea, but it could go wrong in many ways. If I got it wrong, it wouldn't be just me dying here.
Chapter 19
Being tied to one element was one of the signs of being a Witch. Each Witch would train themselves to be the best earth, air, fire, or water Witch they could be. Many would take that element and add it to their habits like gardening, blacksmithing, fishing, or flight. Those of us with multi elements were very rare. In my family, only Grandmother and I could control more than one. She was both earth and water. I was all four.
"Ana, can you clear local airspace for ten miles in all directions?" I asked.
James began blasting all the furniture on the front lawn and screaming. I ducked behind our SUV which was still parked out in front. The smoldering remains of the moving truck lay behind me to the right.