3 Dark Energy (15 page)

“Rest assured I’m fine. You can continue making friendship bracelets, singing to your plants, and dancing naked under the full moon or whatever it is you’re doing these days.”

“We used to be close. What happened that made us drift apart so much?” Mark asked, thinking about his discussion with Alice this morning.

“I grew up.”

Mark opened his mouth to speak but realized his sister had already disconnected the call. He shoved the phone in his pocket feeling more out of balance than ever before. It appeared that Alice was right. A sense of unease took hold of him as he thought about his family. His parents had always been so serious about the Freeman Legacy and driven to grow the family business while Mark and Maggie had been kids. Maggie had changed very suddenly and completely when she turned twelve. She’d developed a keen interest in the family business and devoted all of her spare time to learning the many aspects of its operations. Mark had a couple more clients but spent the rest of the day with Perry and Helen to continue laying the foundation for a new power center in the front yard.

Chapter 16

As Josephine approached her desk, Alex was munching on a Long John with maple frosting. He grinned when he saw her and hastily finished chewing his mouthful of food.

“Hey, Josephine. Good to see you this morning,” he greeted her.

“Good morning.” Josephine smiled back and took her seat. “Where’s Jake?”

“He’s in the evidence locker getting the journal we got from Lucius’s safety deposit box from Regatta Bank.”

Josephine was astounded by this news. “You found his journal? Why didn’t you call me?”

“We didn’t want to bother you.”

“I’m surprised it wasn’t confiscated by the Feds,” Josephine remarked.

“They don’t know about it. We haven’t reported our findings yet.”

“That’s kind of risky.”

“We can always use the excuse that the paperwork was misfiled and we thought we’d already reported it.”

“I doubt they would buy it.”

Alex shrugged. “It happens all the time. There’s nothing they can do about it.”

“All right. So what does it say?”

“I have no idea.”

“You waited to read it until I came back to work?” Josephine eyed him with incredulous disbelief.

“Of course not. The book is written entirely in code. We have a couple of people here at the station trying to decipher it but we haven’t had any luck yet. We’re hoping you’ll figure it out with you’re psychometry,” Alex explained.

“I’ll do my best.”

Jake stepped into the room with the journal in his right hand. “Hey, Grandma. I’m glad you’re back. I wish you could have had more time to make niveus imperium spells though.”

“I had enough time to whip up some more,” Josephine said. “Hopefully, four will be enough.”

“You know it’s not.” Jake regarded her with trepidation. “If you’re attacked, you’ll be able to take care of maybe one construo letalis curse but not the other.”

“I’m not worried about it.” Josephine forced a nonchalant expression on her face.

“We don’t have any teleportation enchantments to make a quick escape either,” Jake pointed out.

“We’ll just have to drive to my house like we’ve done before. Alice, Helen, and Mark have some more niveus imperium spells.”

“Couldn’t they have given you some?”

“They did. I made three and Alice gave me one. She has just one with her.”

Jake frowned with puzzlement. “So Helen wasn’t able to make any?”

Josephine explained what had happened when she’d found Perry and Mark.

“Wow! That’s amazing! You linked with Helen and Mark? That’s seriously advanced magic! Do you realize how difficult it is?” Alex asked.

“Yes, I do. And to be honest, I’m not sure how we did it.”

“I think it’s terrific. Congratulations,” Jake said.

“Thanks, sweetie.” Josephine threw him an appreciative smile.

Jake set the journal on her desk and took up a position beside her as he waited for her to take a crack at the book. Alex remained in his seat watching her with anticipation. Josephine opened her senses to the subtle energies and she stiffened with surprise as psychic impressions from all around her bombarded her mind like an avalanche. She instinctively closed herself off and took a deep cleansing breath as her mind raced over the possibilities. She quickly came to the conclusion that her receptors must be stronger along with her ability to produce magic. She hadn’t cast any spells yet but she’d created enchantments and it had been amazing. Josephine opened her herself up again more slowly and tuned out the background noise as she focused on the journal. It was obvious that Lucius had cast an ignotus enchantment on it as there was nothing there to receive.

Josephine met Alex’s gaze. “It’s been wiped clean. There’s nothing left for me to receive.”

“Damn,” Alex said fervently. “I thought if anyone could do it, it would be you.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Josephine opened the journal and looked at the letters sprawled across the surface. It was a shame she couldn’t remove the bond that Lucius had with Frederic and restore his memory. He had never worked with the Valituras willingly and had been a slave to their demands for many years. Josephine wondered how many others this had happened to. The Valituras had attempted to curse her as well but had failed. Now they were trying to kill her. Too bad white magic couldn’t work at the police station or she’d ask Mark to try curing Lucius. Josephine’s eyes lit up with an idea and she dialed Mark’s number in her cell.

“Hey, Josephine. What’s up?” Mark asked.

“I was wondering about my link with light energy. Do I have enough access to it to activate white magic enchantments?” Josephine asked.

“That’s a definite possibility. It would be a strain but I think you might be able to do it,” Mark said.

“Could I have one of your niveus imperium spells? I want to use it to cure Lucius.”

“Sure. I have plenty to spare.”

Mark had eight of them and had reached the point where he could produce them almost as fast as restoration enchantments. Josephine brought Jake and Alex with her to pick up the niveus imperium spell then drove down the maximum security prison in Clearwater. She sat down at the table in the interrogation room across from Lucius dressed in his orange prison garb. His blue-eyed gaze conveyed a mixture of hope and fear. He ran a nervous hand through his short-cropped brown hair.

“Are you ready?” Josephine regarded him with compassion.

“Yes, let’s do this.”

Josephine stood up and pointed Mark’s large, blue wand at Lucius. She tapped into the light energy and attempted to activate the spell. Nothing happened. Josephine sighed with exasperation but Mark had warned her it would be a challenge. She focused on the light energy and flowed as much as possible through her body. Her brows furrowed with concentration as the wand remained lifeless in her hand. After a long moment, the niveus enchantment lit up with a gold light and spilled from the tip of the wand into Lucius’s chest. His eyes widened with surprise and after several seconds his body was suffused with a soft, gold glow. Josephine willed the servitude bond and the amnesia spell to melt away. Unfortunately, it had taken all of her strength just to activate the enchantment so she couldn’t direct its actions at this point. Hopefully, the white magic would do as she wished.

Alex and Jake stepped closer to Josephine and took up positions on either side of her when the niveus imperium wore off. They watched Lucius with bated breaths as they wondered if Josephine’s plan had worked. Lucius took stock of his surroundings with confusion and Josephine heaved a sigh of disappointment as she took this to mean his amnesia was still in full force.

“Where am I?” Lucius asked.

“You’re in the Clearwater Corrections Facility.” Josephine could barely speak as her throat constricted tight with despondency.

“You did your best.” Alex leveled a sympathetic gaze at her.

Jake patted his grandmother on the back in a consoling gesture. “What about the servitude bond? Maybe that’s gone now.”

Josephine focused on Lucius and scanned him.

“Josephine, you did it.” Lucius grinned at her with elation. “I remember!”

“You do?” Josephine asked.

“Yes, my memories are returning.” His expression was awed as he stared off into space.

“Your servitude bond is gone so you no longer have to take orders from the Valituras,” Josephine informed him.

“Good work, Josephine!” Alex exclaimed.

Josephine grinned at him. “Thanks.”

“I knew you could do it,” Jake said.

Josephine patted her grandson on the shoulder then focused her attention on Lucius whose gaze snapped back to hers.

“I remember everything up to the point where the Valituras kidnapped me and cursed me. After that, it’s all a blank,” Lucius said.

Josephine wouldn’t give up hope. Her spell had removed the amnesia enchantment. She could sense its absence quite clearly so it must be damage to his subconscious mind that occurred as a result of the dark energy. Surely that could be fixed.

“He was being kept at the prison on a technicality,” Jake reminded them. “His servitude bond made him an unwilling enemy of the state. Now that it’s gone, he’s going to be released and taken to protective custody. The Valituras will find him and capture him.”

“You’re right.” Josephine was horrified at the idea that this poor man had been a prisoner of the Valituras with his identity stolen for so many years and now the same horrid fate would occur yet again.

“He’s very important to the Feds. Maybe they’ll have enforcers watch over him,” Alex suggested.

“They’ll probably assign two or three to him,” Josephine said. “But that won’t be enough. The Valituras are too powerful. I think he needs to stay with me.”

“Will the feds allow that?” Jake asked.

“Hopefully, they’ve got their hands full with their own leads and protecting the government from the Valituras,” Josephine said. Her gaze swung back to Lucius. “But really, it’s up to you.”

“You’re the one I trust. I will choose to stay with you. But why do you think you’ll be better at protecting me from the Valituras?”

“I have one of the most powerful wards on this planet. They’re much stronger than this correctional facility even.”

Alex shot Josephine a teasing look. “Since you’re letting everyone else stay at your place, do you think I can shack up with you, too?”

“Very funny.” Josephine cocked a bemused brow. “You’ve got a point though. I’m starting to feel like a hotel but I’m the one who’s inviting everyone over.”

She didn’t mind at all having Alice and Helen over but Lucius was a stranger. She hoped she could help him recover his memories sooner rather than later. Josephine planned on asking Alice to perform a claro mentis spell on Lucius and of course, she would freak out. She abhorred that kind of work now that she was retired.

“I know you don’t have your memory back but I want you to see if you recognize the code used on this journal you made while under Valituras control. I think you may have valuable information in here.” Josephine slid the book across the table towards him.

Lucius accepted the journal. “I’ll do what I can.”

Josephine felt a surge of hope as he scrutinized the first few pages. After a moment, he gazed up at her with an apologetic expression on his face.

“I’m sorry but I have no idea what this says,” he said.

“I should have known that would be too easy,” Josephine remarked.

Chapter 17

Maggie wore a sharp and expensive, navy-blue business suit as she sat at her desk clutching an enchanted, ornate hand-mirror programmed with a powerful seer enchantment. Her silky black hair was secured in a pony tail. The beautiful and striking features of her face including the long lashes and brown eyes made it glaringly obvious that she was related to Mark. The reflective surface of the mirror swirled with a kaleidoscope of colors as images of the future played clearly in her mind. She blinked and stopped the spell so she could type a series of notes on her computer. Cyril entered the room with a curious expression on his face.

“One of my employees told me you had a conversation with Mark this afternoon,” Cyril remarked.

“That’s true.” Maggie peered at her father with a bland sense of boredom. “He had a nightmare and wanted to know if I was all right.”

“It’s an important step in the right direction that he’s reaching out to our family instead of ignoring us.”

“He’s wasting his time and his life on Namby Pamby nonsense. We should discourage his practice of white magic,” Maggie said with disdain.

Cyril grinned at her with amusement. “It’s funny to hear you talk like that sometimes.”

“Why is that?” Maggie regarded him with confusion.

“You sound like your grandfather when you use expressions like ‘Namby Pamby.’ It just seems to slip out occasionally and I get a kick out of it.”

“We’re straying from the important issue of your son. You’ve coddled him for too long.”

“He’s your brother, too.”

“That’s irrelevant. He needs to revert to mainstream magic and straighten up. It’s time for him to join the family business,” Maggie said.

“I’m hoping that will happen. I’ve taken steps to guide him to us.”

“Is dangling an offer of employment to Josephine and giving her and her friends teleportation mirrors part of your grand plan?”

“Yes, it is. Your mother has convinced me that we need to stop trying to bully him and start taking a more subtle approach,” Cyril said.

“Mom has always been a master manipulator but it’s not going to work with Mark.”

“Did you see the results in the Seer Mirror?”

“No, I haven’t. It’s common sense.”

“Mark has done some impressive things with the use of white magic. It might be an asset to the company.”

“I seriously doubt it.”

“Our family needs to be more cohesive. Maybe it’s time to patch things up with Mark,” Cyril suggested.

Maggie gazed at her father for several long seconds. “I don’t think so.”

“I’m asking you to do this as a father and as your employer.”

“All right. I’ll try.”

“Thank you.” Cyril turned to leave then threw his daughter a concerned look. “You’re working too many late nights. Why don’t you call it a day and head on home?”

Maggie regarded him for several seconds with a contemplative expression on her face. She picked up her Seer Mirror and locked it in the top drawer of her desk.

“You’ve convinced me. Good night, Dad,” she said.

“Good night, Maggie.”

Maggie turned off her computer and drove down to her mansion in Seattle. She grabbed a large, heavy satchel containing a variety of dark enchantments from her guestroom which she kept protected by separate wards from the rest of her home. She used the teleportation mirror in her living room to venture to her modest vacation home in Saint Petersburg, Florida. She loaded the satchel into her silver sedan parked in the garage then drove down to a quiet, middle-class neighborhood in Sarasota. She parked in front of a brown, one-story house with a modest but well-maintained yard. The humid Florida heat felt almost like a tangible, heavy weight as she emerged from her car. Maggie opened the trunk of her vehicle and pulled out the large satchel containing potent dark magic. She used telekinesis to carry the load to the front door and rang the bell. Frederic answered the door almost immediately.

“Administrator Freeman.” He stepped aside with great haste to allow her entry. “Please, come in.”

Maggie’s lips curved in a chilling smile as she breezed past him. They gathered in the living room and she set the bag in front of him. They were both seated in blue sofas facing each other in a spacious living room.

“I’ve brought you more weapons to use and a change of instructions,” Maggie said.

“What are my orders?” Frederic asked.

“Halt your efforts against Josephine. Avoid contact with her at all cost. Her psychometry is so finely tuned that any interaction you have with her reveals information we don’t want her to know. Mark Freeman is your main target at this point. The Valituras feel he’s a greater threat and must be killed as soon as possible.”

“I don’t understand why they’re so upset about white magic. Everyone burns out from that stuff.”

“He has the potential to be an exception. Light energy is stronger than dark. We can’t allow white magic to gain a foothold,” Maggie explained.

“It’s hard to imagine such a thing.”

“Are you still in contact with the two construo letalis curses?”

“No, they’ve gone rogue. Josephine’s still their target as far as I know but their programming will probably change now that they’re on their own.”

Maggie rose to her feet. “You must kill Mark quickly. The Valituras is counting on you to succeed in your mission.”

“I won’t fail.”

“I certainly hope not.”