Balance - Book 2

by Marc Dickason

  *****

  Enforcers began to detach from the crowds and move rapidly towards the shore. The burly man, still beside me, stood stunned for a moment. Then shoved me forward.

  “Go, Clarence!”

  I stumbled onto the grass and fell in behind Benny, who was in full sprint heading to intercept Chapman and the mystery figure. Around us civilians were starting to take notice. Heads looked round and excited muttering rose up like the hiss of a waterfall.

  The mystery figure glanced around as Benny closed the gap and I glimpsed a face. Jenny “The Assistant” Buckland. For an instant her eyes locked on his then he was colliding with the ground, like a sports car having a blow out at 200kmph; the result of his legs turning to jelly beneath him in mid-sprint.

  ‘Absurd,’ I thought as he shrieked and writhed on the ground, ‘Benny was supposed to be a specialist at resisting such attacks.’

  I moved in to take his place as from the shore came an enormous POP - a sound that acted as the proverbial straw, tipping civilians from dumb staring to terrified gasps. All at once the park was a mad symphony of screaming faces and fleeing bodies.

  Jenny spotted my approach, still pulling Chapman by the scruff of his neck. She turned to face me, shoulders squared and face flushed with adrenalin. My world began to contract and stomach exploded with vertigo. Black tentacles reached out and probed at my mind. I pushed them back.

  “God bless you, Delaney,” I muttered, arms pumping at my sides.

  I covered the last few meters. Jenny raised a hand.

  ‘No way would she take a shot with civilians so nearby,” I thought. And a second later flinched as a bolt went sailing passed my ear.

  “Let him go!” I yelled at her.

  She glanced at the shore; it sizzled with a barrage of angry SNAPS, and then fired at me again. The bolt smacked into my raised palm and was drawn away to join my reserves.

  “And God bless Elaine Lotz.”

  The gap was closed and I grabbed Chapman by the arm. Jenny grabbed the other, face contorting with desperate panic. The dazed man was turned into an unconventional tug-of-war.

  “Let him go!” I yelled again.

  She did not. I raised a hand and fired directly into her body, returning the gift of Spirit so recently given. There was a POP. My hair tussled and clothes fluttered. Then she was catapulting backwards. Her flight ended in a confused flaying of limbs, body sliding to a halt near the lake.

  “Are you alright?” I asked Chapman.

  He responded with a blank stare.

  “Give him to me,” panted the burly man, arriving on the scene with chest heaving.

  Behind him, the parking area was a chaos of three dozen people, all attempting to leave at once.

  “There!” I said, pointing to Jenny’s motionless body, “Make sure she doesn’t recover.”

  “I’ve got her, Clarence. Help with Stephania! Go!”

  I turned my attention to the shore. The Spirit carnage was dying down as Enforcers crowded in, several holding injured body parts. Selena was on her knees. Around her the ground smouldered with miniature impact craters.

  “She’s down, she’s down,” an Enforcer was shouting, “Move in, keep her surrounded.”

  She made no further attempt to fight back and a pang of emotion shot through me at seeing her so submissive. A part of me even dared insist I should be helping her. I sent that part to sit in the corner with a dunce cap. Had I said God bless Lotz? God damn her for planting such ridiculous seeds in my head.

  Benny stumbled to my side, face twisted in agony. I offered a supporting shoulder.

  “You okay?”

  “Fine. Damn ribs again.”

  I watched as one of the Enforcers moved in to neutralize Selena.

  “Selena Stephania, you are under arrest…”

  From behind a small clumsy bolt came sailing forward and thudded into an Enforcer’s lower back. He yelped and staggered. I spun, expecting Jenny had recovered and overpowered the burly man. But approaching from the parking area was, instead, a group of a half dozen civilians, seemingly, random men and women. More came rushing in to join them.

  “What the hell is this,” Benny muttered.

  “I’m not sure.”

  My eyes scanned the crowd. First instinct told me Selena had manipulated them, creating a backup plan if things got out of control.

  “Leave that girl alone!” one of them shouted.

  The Enforcers turned to face the new threat.

  “You are interfering in official Department of Magic business!” an Enforcer yelled, “Leave the area immediately! Now!”

  The crowd lingered at fifty meters, creating the first Mexican standoff I had ever had the pleasure of participating in. The moment drew on.

  And then, glimpsed through the mounting tension, I felt the presence. It churned in the air clinging to the crowd, swirling and frothing gently, crossing form person to person.

  “Benny, do you feel it?” I whispered. “The Crowd Surfing Spell.”

  “What?”

  “It’s here. In that crowd. The same from the hall.”

  “Impossible, Jet. We’re miles from the Academy.”

  “Leave her alone!” another civilian shouted. “We’ve had enough! The line is being drawn, right here, right now! Judy Carlson is the last person the D.O.M will treat like an animal!”

  The Enforcers exchanged glances, none expecting nor prepared for the protocol of dealing with hostile civilians. An energy existed on this side of the line as well, though this one not magical. It was simply a combined unspoken fear; ‘riot’.

  More civilians were joining the crowd, drifting in from the parking area. Some even wondered in from beyond the park. Like a memo had been sent out calling a gathering.

  “Clear the area immediately!” an Enforcer yelled again.

  There was a pregnant pause. Again came hints of the presence, playing peek-a-boo with my mind. Then the tension shattered as Selena sent three Enforcers somersaulting into the air with an ear splitting BOOM. A shockwave buffeted me to the ground, and as the world spun I caught glimpses of civilians scattering like cockroaches. On all sides Enforcers sprawled like bowling pins.

  This was followed by a sound of rapid footsteps on grass, then a scream and series of frantic electric POPS. I looked up and glimpsed two brave men attempting to block Selena’s path to the boat. But their efforts were silenced. The blast sent rippling waves across the lake’s surface.

  By the time I staggered back to my feet water was showering me. The boat was shooting back across the lake, Selena aboard. Bolts flew after her from confused Enforcers, but were half-hearted. Defeat accepted.

  The boat slowed and she released another burst into the water, propelling the vessel for the remaining distance to the opposite shore.