“How far have you gotten with it?” Chris asked. He could see the possibilities and he was getting excited himself.
“We’ve had one guy go mad and the rest of us have to get out almost as soon as we get in because there’s so much data it overwhelms us. Now we’re focusing on gaining an understanding of the data that we’ll be seeing and working to figure out ways for us to absorb it and understand it without going mad. It’s a lot of grueling work we have ahead of us but there is an end and it should be worth it. Assuming we don’t all end up mad.”
“I’m rooting for you guys. If you do manage to get anywhere please let me know. I can think of all kinds of ways this could be useful. I see where it’s going to take a lot of prep to be able to understand what you are seeing when you make yourselves open to it though. Just putting on my king hat for a second I can tell you this will be very valuable as a weapon in our arsenal.”
“Crown sire.”
“Huh?” Chris asked.
“Crown. You said you’d put on your king hat.”
“Nice.” Chris smiled at her. “I wonder if I have a crown somewhere? Anyway, what was your name again?”
“Athena sire. We’ll let you know once we start getting somewhere and you get your crown at the coronation when it’s presented to you.”
A cough from behind them had Chris turning around. Wessel was standing there watching the exchange. He seemed amused by the whole thing. He bowed as Chris turned to face him. Chris followed Wessel over to the other side of the observatory once Wessel had straightened and motioned for him to follow him.
“Good day sire. We’ll be honing some defensive magic skills outside today.”
This had Chris confused as he’d been wondering why he had come all the way out to the observatory and now it didn’t sound like he needed to be here at all. He followed Wessel outside where they worked on focusing and forming a shield in front of themselves. Wessel threw rocks and poked magic at the shield Chris generated to test it. Chris found this one pretty easy. Creating a magical shield basically required you to focus and squeeze the particles in the air around you together. The tighter you squeezed them the stronger the shield. You could also focus if you wanted it all the way around you or just in front of you. You could also extend it like a ramp out over the edge of a cliff to walk on if you needed to. Wessel had him do just that and then walk on it over the side of the cliff and back. Chris almost lost his focus when he walked out on his shield and it buckled underneath his feet a little as he was staring at the very long fall straight below him.
Chris was still curious why he had been dragged out to the observatory for this lesson. He didn’t think Wessel was a big fan of walking out here either. “Hey Wessel. Is there a reason we came out here to practice this instead of just practicing down by the school like normal?”
“Athena isn’t down by the school. The council has heard of her work and thinks it shows a lot of promise so we thought it would be good for you to meet her.” Wessel smiled as he said it to take the sting out of the apparent manipulation.
Chris considered it for a minute and then decided it was a good thing he had met her and heard about those experiments. However, he didn’t feel like he needed to be manipulated into these types of meetings moving forward. First Nicole and now Athena. Both of them were awesome people that he was happy he had met but the trickery and politics could get weird if he didn’t know what was expected of him. Chris told Wessel to let the council know that from now on they tell should him what was going on when they wanted him to meet someone. Wessel said he’d try but the council just liked being all mysterious and wise and pulling strings so they may have a hard time being forthright like that. It just wasn’t in their nature.
They continued with practice until long after the sun went down and the stars came up. They went in to check out the stars in the observatory and Chris got bowed at again by a group of young adepts who were taking their introductory tour to the observatory. Rather than interrupt them any further Chris and Wessel started to walk back down the hill. On the way out of the observatory Chris saw that Athena and two of the other adepts were still inside. They were staring at computer screens and occasionally moving a mouse or typing a little bit while they stared at a stream of binary. Chris was ready to wave to them but none of them broke their focus to look around and acknowledge him.
He got back to his room late. When he walked into the main chamber his room was off of he saw Omasa sitting by the fire chatting with some of the other students. On seeing him all the students turned and began to bow in his direction. Chris was already waving them up and trying to figure out if he was able to issue an edict that lessened the bowing requirement to just formal occasions. He was beginning to feel like he spent half his day telling people they could rise. He was going to end up with a six pack from all the ab work he did every day bowing back to people. He greeted Omasa and the two of them went to a quiet corner of the chamber.
“Brent and his family are fine. The knight I sent to lead the guard detail discovered some interesting information about your friend. It seems he may have Xandian blood of the strength needed to qualify to not just come here as your guest but as a fellow student. We’ll need to test him but the circumstantial evidence is pretty solid. It’s also not surprising that you and him ended up being such close friends in school. His Xandian blood would have bound you together.”
“When will he be brought here and tested?” Chris asked.
“We have special counselors who come in and try to help people adapt to the fact that they are suddenly part of this whole world. I’m sure you can relate to some of those challenges. We have a senior counselor on the way there right now. It should only be a few days before we can get the entire family transported out here to the island. I was thinking of putting them up in the same wing as your mother?”
Chris nodded absently while struggling to wrap his mind around this new bits of news. Brent was Xandian as well. How awesome was that!
Chapter 17: No Atheists in a Fox Hole
Randall and Steven took turns sleeping on the floor throughout the night. They’d brought some blankets but most of their boxes had been filled with weapons and other gear. They had a full truck full of furniture on the way here from their fictitious address in California. The Xandians had always struggled to try and fly under the radar and remain hidden from the masses. The digital age was forcing them to spend a ton of resources on attempting to maintain their anonymity. Hence the reason why they had agencies that did their google searches for them. The agencies were experts in hiding their digital tracks while the knights had a very different skill set.
Steven was on watch by the front window to the home when there was a light knock on the door. He remained sitting on the ground until he felt someone poking at his brain and letting him know they were there and a little grumpy after having traveled all night. Steven smiled and took a circuitous route to the front door which allowed him to nudge Randall with his foot as he walked by. Randall playfully threatened him with a knife before sighing and rolling off the floor to this feet. They both strode over to the front door and Steven opened it up.
A middle aged woman was standing on the door step. She was wearing a business suit and had a large file folder with her. One of those accordion looking ones. The suit and her demeanor virtually screamed that she was the title agent come to finish wrapping up the sale of the home. She had arrived promptly at nine in the morning to avoid arousing any suspicion. They didn’t think anyone was watching them or watching the target family but paranoia kept you alive in their line of work. Steven and Randall had both reflexively focused on her when they opened the door and the only disguise she had on was a little bit of blush.
She sighed and asked if she was allowed to come in. She barged past Randall and Steven and went to the kitchen island to put down her accordion file. Inside was the same paperwork that Randall and Steven had reviewed the day before.
“Merry meet Sir Randall, it�
��s good to see you again. This puppy dog masquerading as a squire is your nephew if memory serves?”
“That’s correct. He’s so fresh he’s still winded from his trial. Coming along though. He barely even cuts himself when he draws his sword anymore. Steven, you have the honor of meeting Stella of the Half Moon Coven. Have you had a chance to review the files on the family?” Randall shifted his eyes to the accordion file sitting on the island.
“Yes. Interesting reading. I think you’re probably right about him being Xandian. My understanding is we are taking this family whether he is or not though right? They’re in danger from the horde since the boy was our young kings school yard chum?” Stella made light of the matter but they all knew this was a deadly serious business. They needed to get in and get it done before the enemy arrived to make life more complicated.
“No time like the present. I assume the street is quiet and I have a pretty good chance of not walking into an ambush?” Stella looked down her nose at them. It was their job to have secured the area. She knew Randall from one previous assignment and from his sterling reputation but you could never be too careful.
“We’ve watched all night and haven’t seen anything suspicious. We’ve got people sitting out there in a cable company van right now watching the house. They haven’t seen anything either or we’d have heard about it by now. We’re assuming Brent and his family are home for the weekend so we should be able to just walk on over. You work your magic and we all get the hell out of here.” Randall meant the last comment literally. They’d discovered over the years the fastest way to convince someone magic existed was a demonstration. That was one of the reasons a witch needed to have strong empathy and psychic abilities for this job. She needed to be able to calm people down after showing them that magic really existed. Treating heart attacks was something the witches in this line of work were trained for. It could be a real shock having a real, live witch walk in your front door.
They realized that her cover as a title agent was going to be broken if they all just stormed over to Brent’s house. There was a good chance that the horde was onto Brent and could be on the way here even as they spoke so time was of the essence. Secrecy was as well though and a key component of that secrecy was maintaining their cover. Thinking quickly Randall told Stella to go ahead and head out to her car and get in and be ready to stop in front of Brent’s house. He told her goodbye and as he turned to walk back in he made a quick motion with his foot that caused a blade to slide out the end of his boot. He used the blade to put a hole in the tire as Stella started to head down the driveway.
He continued inside and a few minutes later there was a knock on the door and Stella was standing there asking them if they could help her with her tire. Randall and Steven both walked down to where she had pulled the car to the side of the road. They were directly in front of Brent’s house. Randall made a production of looking at the tire and pulling out the jack and trying to find the missing metal rod needed to wind up the jack. He seemed to give up looking and went up to ring Brent’s door. A stout looking man with a receding hairline came to the door and asked if he could help. Randall pointed at Stella’s car and explained they needed something to wind the jack up with. The man disappeared into the house and shut the door behind him.
A few seconds later the garage door started going up and the man stepped out and met up with Randall who shook his hand and introduced himself as the new neighbor. The man introduced himself as Ryan and they both went into the garage to search for a suitable replacement for the piece of metal to be used to wind the jack up. They settled on a long wrench that should work and Ryan and Randall walked out to where the car was parked. Randall handed Steven the wrench and he got to work getting the car off the ground. Once off the ground he removed the tire, put the spare on, put the car back on the ground and then fastened the lug nuts securely. Job complete he looked down at his grease covered hands.
Ryan invited them to all come inside to clean up and meet his wife and son. Even Stella had managed to get grease on her hands. They all walked inside. Randall wondering how much the invite had to do with Stella subtly using her magic to manipulate Ryan into feeling like inviting them in. He felt naked without his armor on but the enemy would see through any illusions they used. The idea was to not tip off any observers that this was a VIP they were trying to bring in. They walked in and took turns in the bathroom washing their hands.
Ryan introduced them to his wife Shelly. She was a middle aged heavy set brunette with a sparkle in her eye. The way she interacted with them hinted at her having powers similar to what Stella had. Having powers and being able to focus and use them were two different things. When you think about it everyone has the physical requirements to do most anything. Play the guitar, snowboard down a double black diamond, write a novel, design a nuclear weapon. The list goes on and on of what a human could physically do if they set their mind to it. The trick is having the genetic disposition to do it well and the motivation to practice and study until you’ve perfected it. Everyone has a throat and a mouth but not everyone can sing like a professional opera singer. Magic is similar in many respects.
Steven positioned himself against a wall where he had a good view out the front door. Stella was asking Shelly how she made the lemon water they were enjoying. Brent had come out of his room to say hi then disappeared back into the room. Randall used a shield spell to pick up the couch. It was abrupt and sudden but it caught the attention of Shelly and Ryan who stared at the couch with their mouths hanging open. Randall moved the shield down and the couch settled back on the ground. It was a demonstration that should open the door to the conversation Stella needed to have with them.
Stella was very upfront about it. “Ryan. Shelly. I’m here to tell you that magic is real and that Shelly and Brent both have it in their genetic makeup.” Stella then used an illusion charm round her neck to make herself appear to be an old man, a lion and a tree in rapid succession. Ryan and Shelly were still just staring with their mouths hanging open. “Your son Brent was friends with a boy named Chris. Him and his mother Glenda are now living on a magical island off the coast. We’re here to take you guys there as well.”
Ryan finally broke out of his trance. “Get out! I want you out of my house right now!” This was a pretty typical response. Especially from a member of the family who was not being told they were special. Sometimes people just turned around and ran as well or laughed like it was all a big joke. Randall and Stella just stood there. Ryan looked like he was rapidly calming down. That was probably due to Stella reaching out to calm him psychically. Where Ryan looked angry and scared Shelly looked contemplative.
“This actually makes an odd kind of sense. I’ve always felt like there was something a little off about how well I could read people and Brent has done some flat out weird stuff when he’s gotten super emotional. When would we need to leave?”
Steven had seen a moving van go by and park on the side of the street further down the hill. He had his eyes on it and as soon as the movers got out he saw through the illusions around them. He walked over and whispered to Randall.
“Now. We need to leave now. Don’t bother packing a bag. Don’t do anything. We hadn’t gotten to this part yet but the bad guys who chased Chris are here now for you. You’re going to need to trust us.” Randall eyed Ryan who was staring at his wife in amazement. They must have a special kind of relationship though because after staring at her and a quick whispered conversation he nodded and went to get Brent. They both came back in the living room a few minutes later and Randall told them to follow him.
They went out the sliding glass doors into the backyard. There was a privacy fence surrounding the yard which Randall walked to the back of and ripped out a section. They all went through the hole in the fence and walked behind all the neighbors yards until Randall judged them to be parallel to the house he and Steven were staying in. It looked difficult to get through the yard there so they went down one more yard and t
hen started cutting towards the house. They walked about hallway to the road and then broke up into two groups to be less conspicuous. Randall led Ryan and Shelly across the street and into the house with their supplies in it. Steven took Brent and Stella around the back of another house before they casually walked up to the new house as well.
Once inside plans were being set in motion. Randall had already keyed in the codes to have a van drive by that would pick them all up and get them to the airport. Randall and Steven helped each other get their armor on while Brent peppered his parents and Stella with questions. Stella was explaining the living arrangements on the island when the doorbell rang. Randall and Steven looked at each other. There should not be anyone at their door yet. Randall peeked through the eye hole in the door and saw two young men in the uniform of Jehovah witnesses at the door. He pulled his knife and motioned to Steven to get ready. Then he flung open the door and grabbed one of the witnesses around the neck and started dragging him inside.
Son of the Keeper: Book 1: Principles of Magic Page 14