Chapter One
Christmas at the Madher’s house was different than their Thanksgiving, which was celebrated in the traditional American fashion. On a typical Christmas, the regular household staff went on break over a month long holiday, and Bethany and Heather would spend the holiday with Heather’s family, which gathered in St. Augustine, Florida every season. This year, that routine changed. Most of the regular staff went home, except a young latina maid, and Heather and Bethany remained in the mansion. Her parents were in an unusually good mood, but for some inexplicable reason Bethany was uneasy and sullen.
She joined her mom and dad in one of the few cozy rooms in the mansion. The marble and stone were beneath warm wood, and a gas fireplace contributed a cheery glow. Heather asked Bethany, “What’s with you kid? You seem bummed.”
Bethany glanced at both of them and shrugged. “I don’t even know. Just bothered by something. Maybe it’s just the change in the normal x-mas routine.”
Heather leaned on Charlie’s shoulder and he absentmindedly kissed her hair. Heather said, “Your father and I accomplished something amazing.”
Bethany suppressed the desire to roll her eyes. Her mom made this type of announcement all the time, usually the amazing accomplishment was cutting a check while other people did the actual amazing thing. This seemed different. Bethany was curious, “What?”
Charlie patted Heather’s shoulder and said, “Bethany, I know you think we’re boring, that all we do is pile up money, but that’s not true. There’s much more to us and to this place than meets the eye. There’s more to the world than meets the eye.”
Bethany sighed and said, “To be honest, I think the money prevents you from living a real life. It even warps my life.”
He nodded. “I can understand that. I felt the same way when I was your age.”
Bethany was surprised. She couldn’t remember a time in her life when her father actually engaged her. She ventured, “Really? Why didn’t you do something else?”
He sighed and said, “Well, duty, mainly, and habit certainly, but really, the thing that changed my perspective more than anything was knowledge. I came to really understand the world and saw our place in it.” He spoke firmly and with resolve.
Bethany was intrigued. “What knowledge? I mean, what did you learn that changed your mind?”
He laughed and said, “Magic.”
She was so startled at his response that her mouth gaped. Heather laughed at her expression. “Wha… What do you mean, Magic? Like card tricks?”
He smiled knowingly. “No,” he said, “we can control cosmic forces and make them do our bidding. They conform to our wishes and will. That’s what really built all this.” He waved around to the mansion and continued, “It is the mind in control. What you perceive as very dull is in fact quite exciting.”
Bethany was incredulous, “Do you believe this mom?”
Heather nodded and laughed, “That’s how we met. I was in LA and fell in with this group of seekers, people who were experimenting with all kinds of stuff. Rituals, seances, ouija, meditation. I knew there was something real there, but mostly it was poseurs, and people looking for a leg up in their career, but I was really into it, so I kept digging past all the bullshit. Believe me, it’s 99.9% bullshit.”
Charlie took up the story, “My father taught me the real stuff, I taught Heather, then she unexpectedly took us to a new level. Believe it or not, our nation runs on magic, really The Empire runs on magic. Almost everything you thought you knew about how the world works is wrong.”
Bethany was just too stunned to even formulate a question or response.
Heather stretched her hands over to Bethany and said, “We know you’re a smart, incredibly talented girl with an independent mind, but your education is missing this entire world of knowledge.”
Bethany stammered, “So… so… so wwwhat does this really even mean? I just don’t even know what to sa… say.”
Heather poured her a big glass of red wine. Bethany took a gulp. Heather sat next to her and patted her back.
Charlie said, “It’s way too much to take in one evening and frankly, words don’t do it justice. Thankfully we can now just show you.”
“Show me? How?” Bethany asked.
Heather took her hand and they all went down to the garage. Charlie drove them over to the warehouse. Snowflakes drifted in front of the car and Charlie had to stop for a family of deer that carefully crossed the road. He smiled and gently tapped the horn. “C’mon girls!” He urged them. Then continued down the road.
Bethany started to relax. She was extremely happy her father was driving. Even though the things her parents were saying were totally bizarre, seeing them together, holding hands and just going somewhere like a normal family instead of being chauffeured was soothing. He parked the car next to the warehouse. A single bright blue-white light illuminated the red brick wall over the dark gray door.
Charlie typed a code on his phone, and the door of the warehouse buzzed. They went inside and it locked behind them. The interior of the building had been painted white, and was now scrupulously clean and well lit. A small control room overlooked a giant black ball in the room’s center. A lounge with couches and a coffee table and an elegant Persian rug was situated in one of the corners of the room. They sat on the couches.
Bethany asked, “What is this?”
Heather said, “Do you remember Tracy’s parents?”
“Of course, Matt and Telia. They were nice.” She replied.
Heather said, “Matt discovered this design.” She gestured at the ball. “They showed it to me, but then they died in a car accident.”
“What is it? I mean what does it do? Is it like free energy or something?” Bethany got up and walked over to the device.
Heather followed her. She put her hand on the side of the reflector. “It allows us to see things differently. See the whole picture, really.”
“How?” Bethany wondered.
Heather led her to a platform on the side of the ball. It took them up to 10 feet above the floor. A wood walkway led inside. There was a C shaped chair, almost like a dentist chair in the center of the ball. It’s interior walls were paneled with gray plastic and it was lit with dimmable LED strips encircling the chair. She patted the seat and Bethany sat down.
Heather said, “Just sit here and relax and defocus your mind, then you’ll start to feel things and see them. We’ll be outside. Take your time.”
Bethany sat in the chair and the lights dimmed. She felt suddenly tired and she closed her eyes and let her mind wander.
Soon, she was standing in a stone building, she recognized the faces of men who were standing there from the family photos and from the stained glass windows of chapel, but there were others she didn’t recognize. The scene was in gray and dark blue green tones like they were far underwater.
She found she could speak, but her voice echoed strangely. She asked, “Who are you? I recognize you.”
Her ancestor’s face brightened, “I’m also Charles Madher. I guess I’m you’re fourth grandfather.”
She asked, “Who are these others?”
“Some of my associates are very famous men, perhaps you’ve heard of Thomas Hobbes?”
She nodded, and recognized the man from school books, though he was a younger version. She recited, “Social contract… The Leviathan.”
The man smiled indulgently. “Wonderful! All these centuries later. I guess the jump into the dark did not extinguish my light.”
Her grandfather bid her, “Concentrate on your mother and father.”
She fixed her mind on them. She could see the lounge and saw them very clearly. Her mother looked up and waved back that caused her to sit up with a start. She gasped and she heard her mother speaking from a speaker in the chair.
“We could see you! Good work!” Heather cooed.
Bethany ran out onto the platform and shouted, “What was that?!” It lowered her to the ground. She eyed th
e black sphere and walked toward her parents. Her footfalls echoed from the cavernous walls of the building.
She sat down in a comfortable chair and Heather gave her a glass of wine. They all toasted. Bethany was still flabbergasted.
Charles said, “Our world is actually joined with that other world. It’s a world of consciousness.”
Bethany didn’t really understand, but shook her head in acknowledgement anyway. “I saw Charles, I guess Charles II? Great-great something grandfather. It was a little dim, dark in there.”
Heather smiled broadly, “Isn’t it amazing?”
“How did you see me?” Bethany asked.
Heather said, “We can sort of feel it… I could feel you turn your attention on us.”
“What does it mean? Are those ghosts?”
Her father said, “in a sense, yes, but not really like you see on TV. They don’t really exist in our world, well, not yet anyway. Though they’ve been influencing it for hundreds of years. Well, influencing it is a weak word, they’ve been running it.”
Bethany sniffed in irritation. “What about all the wars? Was that them?”
Charles sighed and said, “It is very difficult to maintain control. It is a daily struggle. The wars are really a failing to maintain control. It is very unfortunate.”
Bethany was incredulous, “Are you implying without their guidance things would be worse? Please…”
He said, “It’s very difficult to understand without the full context.”
Heather chimed in, “What you said is actually true. The world as we know it would dissolve in weeks into complete chaos without constant tending and supervision. It would be constant chaos and violence.”
Bethany just shrugged and said, “Maybe. Listen, I appreciate you trying to explain to me instead of just lecturing.”
Charles waved his hand, “Anyway what’s important is that we shape things rather than act as anyone’s pawn.”
Bethany didn’t want to break the cheery mood, but also saw it as an opportunity to ask about what she’d witnessed over the years. She cautiously said, “Dad, I’ve seen you do weird things over the years. Weird sex stuff.”
His face turned red. Heather rolled her eyes and said, “Beth, baby, when you’re pushing these limits, trying to do these amazing things, well, some weird shit happens. We tried quote sex magic a few times.”
Bethany scrunched up her nose, “But those were girls from my school. They were like 15, right?”
He held his head in his hands, “I’m sorry you were ever exposed to that, but like mom’s saying, it was really experimentation. Their parents knew. No harm came to anyone. I wish I hadn’t done that, knowing what we know today, but it was done in good faith.”
Heather said, “Did you ever have a crush on a teacher? I did. When I was in high school, I lost my virginity to my English teacher. Don’t be a square!”
Bethany nodded. “OK. I believe you. That’s haunted me for years, though.”
Charles said, “I’m glad you brought that up. I hope that clears the air. If you have any questions about it, ask me anytime, but you know, don’t go telling anyone else. They probably could never understand.”
Bethany sighed and nodded. “OK.” She made a zipped lips motion.
Heather said, “Good. So we’re going to do another experiment tomorrow with Pilara.”
Bethany looked askance at them, “The maid, you mean?”
Charles nodded, “Yes. You know she doesn’t speak much English, right? We’re going to try to use this as a teaching tool.”
Bethany’s unease about the device dissipated. Her face brightened a little, “That’s really exciting if it works.”
The Chardon Chronicles: Season Two --- The Winter Page 53