New Beginnings, page 19
part #2 of Barriers Series
My spell faded, disappearing, as I walked her through what’s needed. In less than 10 minutes, she had a spike ready and drove it through the wall of the spell. She giggled like it was the funniest thing when she realized she was through. “Now, how about the rest?”
Five minutes after that, the spell was destroyed. She did it flawlessly.
“Now the issue is that we can get through, which means others can come up with the same thing. We need to think of some way to defend against it.”
She nodded along with me. “We do. Any thoughts?”
“Well, two, actually.”
“So? Don’t keep them a secret.”
Ugh… “Okay, so the idea here is that the line is so thin that the barriers aren’t designed to stop them. Like a wall can’t really stop a microwave. Or something. If that’s the case, then I think what we need is a trigger that’s built in to detect anything magical passing through, regardless of the size. Detect it and either trigger the spells anyway or attack whatever it is that’s piercing it.”
“I’m not sure how we would do that. Do you have one you can try?” She waved at the gazebo.
“This may take a minute.”
I focused on my rings, making sure they were all working as I gathered power. It hurt, just not as badly as before, and I focused on the gazebo, trying to recreate Mom’s spell as closely as possible. Then I created some new features that sort of lived beneath the surface of the spell and buried them in the details of everything else. Once I was sure they were hidden, I cast the spell, enveloping the gazebo.
“Okay, sorry that took so long. Can you try the same thing again?”
“What will it do?”
“I have it set up to do two things. The first is to just see if it will trigger at the piercing. The second is to see if it can counter attack.”
“All right, how about…” she flicked her fingers at the wall, and a lance of power hit the spell. Unlike before, it didn’t go through unnoticed.
Mom hissed as the entire spell blinked purple at us. “Is the light just for testing purposes?”
“Yes. I wasn’t sure how else to do it. It worked though, so…now to see if it’ll fight back.”
I triggered the attack portion, and mom’s lance of power snapped where it crossed the barrier.
She jerked back, “Oh my! Can you set it up so that it reacts automatically?”
“I can try? Let me adjust this.” I wiped out the spell and cast it again, struggling not to build it too quickly to trigger the pain. This sucks, how much power did I use?!?
It went into place with a little pop, and I stood back a bit, watching and feeling as she gathered power. This time, as soon as the spike hit the barrier, the magic flared purple, and then the spike was sliced.
“Ooh!” She pulled back immediately and stared at the space. “Hold on, let me try that again.”
This time she gathered more power, building the cloud of magic behind her to huge heights, then she launched a spike at the barrier. Honestly, it should have torn through. Instead, the light flared…and the spike was torn to pieces. Unlike the first time, which was pulled back pretty much after the first hit, this time she kept on pushing, trying to drive the spike through by force of will backed by a mountain of magic…and it never breached the spell.
She stopped after about two minutes, smiling wide, “All right, explain what you did there? How are you stopping it?”
“Well, the notification thing you got already. What I created, though, is a cutter, basically. The spike is really strong from the front, but not as strong from the sides. It sort of can’t be. It’s not thick enough for the protection. So what the spell does is, every time it triggers, sheering force in the barrier kicks in, basically slicing the spear again and again. It’s sort of like a cheese grater, almost. Theoretically, you could continue to hit it with power and it’ll continue slicing away the front of the spike.”
She laughed and pumped her fist into the air, “Yes! You, daughter-mine, are a genius!”
My blush hit me hard and fast, “Uhh, thank you? Now…who do we tell?”
She raised an eyebrow at me, “Tell? We tell no one, not in my eyes.”
“Not even the FBI? The king?”
“No and no. If we tell anyone, it will be in use by everyone with in the year. I think we incorporate it into our own shielding, hidden behind everything else and disguised if we can, and then let it sit there. I’ve never even thought about piercing a barrier the way you did, so I’m not sure who else may have used that approach. It’s ingenious. As is the protection. We should play around with it more too see if we can improve either.”
After about an hour of casual discussion about it and throwing all sorts of things out there, we called it quits and she allowed the FBI to monitor again.
“Oh!” She stared at my snapping fingers, “The address for the farm that has the cows and chickens? Did you get it like they said?”
She grabbed her phone and played with it. “I did.”
“Can we visit there?”
She nodded slowly, “We can. You’re not planning…”
“Oh yes. Totally. I totally plan on throwing them a Bris.”
She blinked a few times, “I’m sorry?”
The utter confusion on her face tickled me pink and she laughed with me, clearly not getting it.
“I’m sorry, a Bris? How do you know they’re Jewish?”
Chapter 12
The effort of creating another portal for the car was…painful. I didn’t use the rings at first, then kicked them in, saving me even more pain. “Umm…I’m sorry, can you block everyone for a minute? I want to ask you a question, and I’d like to keep it private?”
She cocked her head, “Is it something about what we’re doing here?”
“No. I have a question about…me, I guess?”
“I can do that.” A wave of magic went out and I picked up the listening spells and electronics being shut down. “What is it? Is everything all right?”
Unexpectedly, I felt a wave of confused relaxation and stress pass over me. The initial feeling of relaxation was due to the release of pressure of people listening in, while the additional stress was that they couldn’t listen in. There’s something in me that wants them to monitor me in case things go wrong and they need to step in. I know, weird.
“All right? I think so, but I guess I have a question about magic.” The GPS was set before we left, heading back towards my parents’ house, and began recalculating once we arrived. “Umm…everything inside me sort of burns right now?”
She glanced down, “Do you mean when you pee?”
Her straight face held steady until I began laughing, actually pulling to the side of the road. “Oh my God…no, I don’t have a UTI.”
“Well good. If you think you do, come let me know? I doubt you ever will, given what you are. I had a few when I was very young, before everything happened. Never had one since. I’m pretty sure we’re immune.”
She waited until I pulled back onto the road. Safely, that is. “Now, your question. When you say everything burns? Do you mean from the fire?”
Huh, I hadn’t thought about that. “No, not the fire. I didn’t even notice that. I mean my magic? It hurts to use it right now. I can normally open portals easily, without even noticing it, but it hurt to try to do it. I had to use my rings. More than one, at that.”
She grunted, glancing at my hands, “Well, you’ve been using a lot of magic lately. I won’t say that it’s common for those at our power level, but it does happen. If you use magic enough, you begin to stretch it, if that makes sense. Think of it like a muscle.”
“So…what, am I straining myself and I’m burning out? Or I’m pulling my magic muscle? Or it’s like exercise and I’ll be stronger?”
She nodded along with each option, “Well, it can be any of those, although I doubt it’s the second one. Magic isn’t quite a muscle, but by flexing and using it, especially in the quantities you’ve been using, you strain the pathways magic uses. You strain the storage, so to speak. It hurts and you’ll recover, but it will take some time. When you’re recovered, you’ll be a tiny bit stronger. A tiny bit more able to handle the flow of power. That sounds great on the surface, but the downside is that you’re vulnerable while you’re like this. Most at the highest levels will only stress themselves that much when they know they’re in a safe environment where people won’t attack.”
“So I have to worry about people attacking me?”
“Oh daughter-mine, we always have to worry about people attacking us. Cerwon was at the height of her power when she was killed. I have nearly died countless times in my life. Most recently when you had to save me. Repeatedly, I might add. For me, though, my magic is…different. Just slightly.”
“Different in what way?”
She waved around us as I drove, “You and Cerwon, your domain is death. And life, to some extent. You can sort of commune with it. Talk to the dead. It takes far less power for you to raise the dead than it does me. Far, far less. Even using the main ring you gave me would require more power outlay from me to do it than it does for you without one. It’s your domain. The center of your power. For me? My domain is battle. My spells work best in a battle setting. Seeing the future of decisions. Strengthening fighters. Martial skills. Bestowing blessings to fighters that need more help. I can cast plenty of other spells, but most of the ones that I use are outside of my domain. For me, the average battle that doesn’t require some sort of power play to save it ends up using nearly none of my true magical abilities. Just my command ability. The ability to see the future and make decisions. For you? Your domain is death, yet you aren’t involved in it much. Necessarily. You’ve been using a massive amount of magic for various things. It’s not bad, I’m just sharing. The portals? Impressive beyond belief, but they still require the outlay of magic. More magic than I can easily swing towards it, although I believe I can do it now that I’ve seen you do it any number of times. Just not as easily. Part of that is because of where our focuses lie, the other part is because you have access to more magic because your domain is life itself. It’s all around us. If I were in a constant battle, I’d have the same level of power. It’s just that the world doesn’t work that way.”
“Okay, so I pushed things too much?”
She waggled her hand, “Too much is relative. The power you used to destroy the gates? Impressive beyond belief. The little army you raised? Seriously impressive. Cerwon wasn’t anywhere near as good at raising zombies that old. And never so many at one time. One after another? Possibly. At the same time? Never. Now, beyond that? The fire that you set? That was pure magic. That wasn’t a normal fire. Throw in the bit of flying that you did, and I’m not shocked that you pushed things too far.”
“What happens if I keep using magic? Will I permanently cause issues for myself? Cause damage?”
“Draining yourself utterly? Yes. In this case? No. It just may become harder to cast spells for a bit until you heal.”
“How long would that take?”
She shrugged, “It totally depends. Hours, I’m sure, but it could be three. Four. A dozen. A day. Maybe two. I’ve never had the strain last more than two days. Cerwon? A little longer, I think. It’s hard to remember all of the times it happened.”
“Will there be issues if I cast more magic here tonight?”
“None. If it comes down to it and you cannot open a portal, we can drive back to Virginia. It’s not that incredibly far. Or just wait for you to heal. Get a hotel. We have options. We have plenty of options.”
“I’m vulnerable like this, though?”
She nodded, “You are. And that’s something to watch for.”
“Can I hide in my safe until I heal?”
Mom’s eyes went wide, “I’m…not sure. Food doesn’t rot, so I’ve always been told that time doesn’t pass inside of one. I’ve hidden in mine for two days at the longest and I know I got hungry, but I can’t guarantee that wasn’t just because I knew time was passing. You should try it at some point.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Can I allow the spells to hit again?”
“Yeah, please.”
She unlocked the spells again, and they went online, “Thank you guys. I just wanted to talk to Mom in private.”
She snickered, “You’re funny. The number of times I block the spells in a given week is far more than one.”
“Seriously? What do you have to hide most of the time?”
“Well, I block everything when I’m in the castle. As you can imagine, the king doesn’t like having foreign powers listening in on things.”
Huh, “Wow, foreign powers. That’s too weird. Speaking of, how are they okay with you being basically royalty, or close to it, but also working for the FBI? Do you have dual citizenship or something?”
She shrugged, “Dual citizenship? Not really, but sort of? I’ve been on Earth for a long, long time. I was here in the United States from the third ship to come over from England. I’ve technically been a US citizen since the country was founded.”
“Holy…that’s crazy.”
“I know, right? I’m technically a citizen of nearly a dozen other countries as well, primarily for the same reason.”
“Curse of the long-lived?”
“Somewhat? It’s not a curse, though, just something that happens. You haven’t seen it yet due to how you were raised, but even normal kids your age have the same issue. A band you loved when you were 10 is one you hate now. You outgrew it. What’s popular or possible changes over time. It’s just that, to someone like me, we see so many things change that it becomes normal.”
“So you’ve owned hundreds of homes in your life?”
She nodded and smiled, “I have. I still do, technically. I’ve rarely sold homes, typically only when I get an offer I can’t refuse. There’s something about holding on to my prior homes that appeals to me. Besides, I have the money, so it doesn’t hurt.”
“You own thousands of homes?!?”
“I have an exact count somewhere, but yes. Most have been destroyed over the years and it’s just land now. I own hundreds of thousands of acres across the Earth. Even more in the between lands.”
Is that something to look forward to? Becoming a mini mogul? Maybe. I can’t say that I’d hate it. It’s just weird. Or, well, not how I was brought up.
Our trip to the farm took us most of 25 minutes, and we entertained ourselves by asking various questions that popped into our heads. I learned so much about my new mom, but I knew I wasn’t even really breaking the surface. She has so many skills from the classes and groups she’s joined that I can’t even grasp it. Add in the other things she’s done, and…wow.
As we reached the farm in question, I slowed to look over the overgrown front field. It looks worse for wear.
“How large is this place again?”
She grabbed her phone and looked up information she’d been sent. “140 acres currently.”
“Currently?”
“They sold the other acres as money got tight. The land’s been in the family name for more than 220 years, but…now they don’t have them all. They’ve sold nearly 100 in the past four years.”
“What’d they do with the money?”
“Medical expenses, mostly. The rest went to keeping things moving forward.”
Dang. The field looks like hell, and even the mailbox looks like it’s seen better days. Turning in let me see the long dusty driveway that runs arrow straight between two fields. The one on the left is the one that we saw first. The grass is overgrown, and bushes are coming in. The one on the right already has trees starting in. Small ones, true, but still trees.
Nothing moved in the fields at all beyond normal birds, and I wasn’t shocked to reach the house and find that it’s in horrible shape. Not quite falling down, but it’s in the desperate need of sanding and repainting. A new roof. New windows. Probably a new AC unit from what I see on the side. It looks like a tree fell on it at some point. I can just hear cows in the distance, out towards a barn that also looks to be in bad condition. Not nearly as bad as the house, that’s for sure, but it needs work. A huge pen to the other side and another barn let me know where the chickens were. The thing looks like it’s big enough for a few thousand chickens, and I only see…70, maybe? Since we had nearly 40, I’m thinking they were pretty low originally. Either that, or they have a ton of chickens hiding out in the barn somewhere.
A young girl was on the porch, struggling to use a bent hula-hoop, and a younger boy was on the walkway at the bottom of the steps using shattered bits of chalk to try and draw a design. Honestly, it looks pretty good from what I’m seeing.
A woman and a girl probably a little older than I am came from around the back of the house. The woman has a worn look on her face, with a bandana around her head and partially covering her hair. I’m thinking she’s not as dark as Carl in school, but the sun has burned her darker. The girl is the same.
Mom gets out of the car with me, joining me as I head towards the walkway.
“Can I help you?” The woman sounds curious, but mostly wary. Like they’ve been burned before.
A huge guy comes to the tattered screen door and steps out, nudging the little girl to the side, “You move on over, Neveah.” He’s not as dark as the woman that I assume is his wife. He has a hard limp to one side, and the fingers on one hand are curled in.
The woman stops at the end of the walkway, wiping her hands with another bandana that she pulled from her back pocket. “You lost? We don’t know you.”
The girl with her stands a few feet back and looks between us a few times before focusing on Mom.
“I’m sorry, no, you…”
The guy breaks in “We don’t know you. We don’t want no trouble. You get back in your car and head on out. Don’t make us call the cops.”
The woman grimaced at his words, but I could tell that she agreed with them.
“I’m sorry, we didn’t come here to cause any trouble. We came…”
“Then get in your car and leave. We already agreed to a payment schedule with the collectors! You’re not allowed to come here and harass us!” The woman took a step closer.
