Mana in the Modern World non illustrated version (17 page)

Awkwardly at first; she would get excited,
lose her concentration and run/fly into things or hit the floor.
Amid shouts of, “Move the china!”, laughter and cheers ringing in
her ears she quickly learned. Hiy-u told her to study the Primmer
on holding separate thoughts and that would help her learn better
control. In about two weeks she had learned very well indeed and
Hiy-u once clocked her at 28 mph. In addition she learned to use
the ability to have her legs appear to have walking motions rather
than just hanging down and swinging about. She still used the
wheelchair outside to prevent anyone from becoming aware she did
not always need the chair. The pseudo walking also kept her legs
exercised.

Very late one clear night she just had to try
it outside. So, insuring no one saw her, she went out to fly about
DC. She found out Hiy-u’s estimate of speed and 50 feet altitude
was a bit conservative as she easily flew to the top of the
Washington Monument and appeared to set there looking at the
stars.

Evidently she was seen as several videos soon
appeared on the net of her, hair blowing about, setting on the
Monument, and at one point showed her reclining on the slope as if
she was laying on a lounger. Then flying away from the Monument
doing aileron rolls! Luckily her face was not clearly seen or
recorded. Hiy-u scolded her, but his grin, tears on his cheeks and
the hug he gave her, certainly took all the sting from the
rebuke.

When ‘The Trio’ (Jack, Anna n Carol) heard
about the escapade they provided Hiy-u with other illusions of
different faces to ‘insert’ in the ring to use with the suit as
everyone knew she would eventually do it again!

From birth Kayla had been a sickly child,
prone to allergies and seemed slow to grow. One cool day she was in
her front yard when she noticed a small black kitten laying under a
bush. Rushing over to the kitten she picked it up and saw it had
strange partly white eyes. Also that it was very tiny, even for a
kitten. She could barely hear its’ weak cry and Kayla just knew she
had to save it. Tomorrow she would be 10 and, immediately deciding
to name the kitten Maya. Maya would be her birthday present to
herself.

When she showed the kitten to her parents
they said no, not with her allergies and the kitten is blind.
Looking up directly into her mother’s eyes Kayla said, “But Mama I
am holding Maya and not sneezing. And if I was blind would you have
kept me?” Her mother and father looked at each other knowing they
had been had, then back to Kayla and together said, “Yes, you can
keep him.” Her mother Rachel said, “Let’s bundle him up and take
him to your uncle George’s vet clinic. Maybe he can help Maya.”

After a call to George it only took 10
minutes to arrive at the clinic. Kayla’s parents fully expected
George to say the kitten was too tiny and malnourished to survive.
After a thorough check of Maya they were surprised by George
saying, “The only thing I can find wrong, besides all the fleas and
being malnourished, is that Maya has cataracts forming in both eyes
which is quite unusual at his age.

While he has some vision he will eventually
be completely blind. Kayla, he will need a lot of attention. Tho
you do not seem allergic to him for now you may become allergic to
him in the future. I also noticed you sneezed when you were in the
waiting room with the other animals. Can you handle the possible
problems?” “O yes Uncle George, with Maya I can handle anything!”
Kayla replies excitedly. After a bath, good brushing and food Maya
looked much better.

***

Pic here of Maya’s face with the forming
cataracts

***

A year later Kayla is still small for her age
but Maya has grown very big. He is now about bobcat size and seems
to be still growing. While the cataracts continue to slowly worsen,
he had been able to compensate somehow for the poor vision. He is
Kayla’s constant companion at home and outside playing fetch which
no one has ever seen a cat do.

One morning Kayla and Jason, a neighborhood
friend, are out front playing catch and trying to teach Maya to
jump up and catch the small catnip ball with a tiny bell inside.
Both sets of parents are setting on the porch watching and laughing
at the kids attempts at teaching a cat to learn a new game. Jason
throws the ball a bit too high and everyone laughing at the sight
as Maya misses the catch, spins in the air and races after the ball
……into the street. A screech of tires and a solid thump, thump is
heard as Kayla screams, “NO!”

The driver of the speeding KIA did not
stop.

Everyone rushes to the cat lying in the road,
blood running from his ears and rectum. Kayla’s mother says to her
husband, “John, get the car. Maya is still breathing, maybe George
can do something.”

George meets them at the door to his clinic,
x-rays and examines Maya. “Kayla, I am not sure I can do anything
for him except ease his pain. He looks to be badly busted up inside
and must be in terrible pain even with the shot of pain medication
I gave him,” George quietly says to her.

With even more tears streaming down her face
Kayla leans over the table, places her arms around Maya and gently
kisses his head and says, “I love you so much Maya, please don’t
die. I want you to heal and be well again.”

Kayla’s head suddenly starts to glow in a
soft translucent golden color with sparkles within the glow. Sounds
of astonishment come from everyone as the glow begins to flow down
to split down each of Kayla’s arms and down over to cover Maya. No
one can move as they watch the sparkles sink into Maya. Once the
sparkles have ‘soaked’ into Maya the glow disappears and he takes a
very deep breath and shivers. Another a few moments Maya lifts his
head and butts into Kayla with an ‘urrr?’ and falls asleep. It
seems that everyone had forgot to breath as a collective gasp is
heard. “O sweet Jesus.” whispers Kayla’s mom. Kayla’s father says,
“Amen to that.” George says, “Kayla, I need to check him thoroughly
again, … ok? Kayla?” They then notice Kayla has fallen asleep with
her head resting on her arm.

George and his assistants do more x-rays and
about everything they can think of to do. The x-rays show all the
busted bones are knitted back where they should be normally. One
assistant had been combing her fingers thru Mays’s hair and notices
something strange. “Doctor G, could you step over here please? I
was checking for cuts by running my fingers thru his hair when I
realized something was falling out of his coat. I think the fleas
and a tick that were on him are dead, at least I think those dots
on the table are fleas; they certainly not moving.

One other thing, I am sure he sees me clearly
through the cataracts. I believe he is following my hand movements
when I move my hands in front of him.” More checks by Dr. G show
that, impossible tho it may be, Maya does seem to ‘see’ somehow.
All agree that maybe the stories on TV about some kind of returning
energy may indeed be true. It also looks as if K may be one of the
few that can do ‘magic’.

Word quickly spreads about the cat healing.
John, Kayla’s father, is the Pastor of a large Baptist church and
one Sunday decides to speak to his congregation about what
happened. “The rumors flying about that my daughter healed, or
seemed to heal, her precious cat Maya are true.” Holding up his
hands to ask for quiet from the congregation he continues, “Nothing
is confirmed as yet but something happened and Maya is well. As
more information is known I will share it with you folks. I
personally am starting to think the rumors of a ‘magical energy
returning’ may well be a gift from the Lord above for us to use
properly,” explains John.

Soon pets were brought for Kayla to heal;
some even brought people in hopes of being healed. However it was
quickly found her ability to heal, at least for now, extended only
to cats which she dearly loves. Kayla suddenly collapsed in
exhaustion after healing five cats one after the other. Seeing news
programs about the International Marshals Service and that they
offered free information to those with questions decided to
check.

Kayla’s father contacted IMS who sent an
agent to their home. After using Arcane methods to check Kayla she
said that, at least for now, her healing ability is very immature
and may or may not increase as she ages. Kayla is one of the first
proven to display healing abilities. For example the abilities of
Mages generally manifest at about 16 to 25 years of age. But so
little is currently known about Mana use, let alone healing, so no
one knows when healing might manifest in someone. In all
probability her healing ability came early due to the trauma of her
cat being severally injured. For now it is suggested she limits her
healing to no more than four per week.

***

Agent Gay’s report:

Something the agent placed in her report but
did not share with the family was that the old bracelet Kayla
received for her eighth birthday show faint, but definite energy
readings. She was unable to sort out which of the crystals were
producing which energy as the energy seemed be constantly shifting
and blending into a very soothing ‘feel’.

The bracelet has a very precisely carved one
inch jet black obsidian stone in the shape of a cats head. The eyes
are two small carved and polished green crystals made to look like
cat eyes. There is even a thin black slit for the pupil with
something else set deep within and overall looks amazingly
lifelike. Kayla is never without the bracelet.

Another important item of interest is that
the agent did not see an Aura about Kayla which, at least to her
knowledge, has not happened before. Of further note is that Kayla
was a small sickly child until she was 8 years old when her health
began to slowly improve and that is when she received the bracelet.
Could the bracelet be responsible? Something else to add to the ‘to
be watched for’ lists.

Some months previous another of Jack’s
‘spirit’ images from his blog may have been recognized. The FBI had
called Jack some time ago about one of the ‘spirit’ images to get
the exact location so they could send someone to check out the
area. The picture was of a small old rusty water tank and pump
building photographed in the southern part of central Texas. The
spirit image was of a young female standing inside the building at
the window and she was looking and pointing up toward the rusty
tank.

***

Pic here of tank and child looking and
pointing up

***

The local county Sheriff’s Deputies found
five bodies of children within the tank. Forensics indicated the
oldest died about three years ago while the one most recent, the
one in the ‘spirit’ picture, had died about six months ago and was
missing from Louisiana. All were females from ten to twelve years
of age, Caucasian and with somewhat blondish hair. The latest
victim shows clear signs of torture and rape but no sperm is found.
The others also appear to have been tortured as they showed
evidence of extensive bruising, burns and broken bones though
nothing that would cause much blood to be spilled. Though raped no
sperm or usable DNA was found. All the victims had been strangled
to death.

The hand of the child from the spirit image
also had a car key clutched in her hand. The key, a smart key from
a Cadillac, was traced back to a prominent Ft Worth divorce
attorney who, seven months ago, had purchased a new Cadillac which
the key fit.

The lawyer, Mr. Weller, was briefly brought
in for questioning about the key. He easily proves his reputation
as an arrogant SOB and with a sneer, said that he had no idea the
extra key was missing. When asked for his whereabouts when the
child went missing he calmly said he was with a prostitute he had
picked up but did not get her name but she did have long black hair
and brown eyes. O, and a tiny hammer n sickle high on her inner
thigh. Laughing he says, “Quite good in bed too. I highly recommend
her blowjobs.”

The lawyer does have a reputation of
frequently talking about hiring prostitutes but has never actually
been seen with one. Three months ago; during his divorce; his
ex-wife reported that he had started abusing their ten year old
daughter but was unable to provide actual proof that he did the
abuse as his daughter refused to talk. However, from hospital
visits there were pictures of her bruises.

He claimed to have no knowledge about how his
daughter received the injuries. An investigation by child services
was inconclusive. The wife, taking no chances, was still able to
take him to the cleaners in the divorce. Now any mention of his ex
produces a very cold angry look but no outbursts. Apparently he
prides himself on never losing control.

After weeks with the case getting nowhere and
is about to grow completely cold when the lead FBI agent, Amanda,
decides to contact the new International Marshals’ Service (IMS).
She had heard rumors that they specialized in odd, strange and
bizarre investigations and this certainly seemed to fit the bill.
After discussing the case with Amanda over the phone Anna and Jack
think they may have an idea that might just work with such an
arrogant prick. Jack and Anna then fly in Susie Q to Ft Worth and
prepare to ‘Scrooge’ the suspected serial child killer.

They spend several days going over pictures
and videos of the two most recent victims; even speaking with the
last two victims parents to get insights into the children’s
mannerisms. They then practice making illusions from the children’s
photographs to make the best ones possible. Then they go to the
police station and arrange for the suspect to be brought in for
further questioning. Jack used a smaller, different and weaker,
version of their bug shield spell on the interrogation room’s video
camera to prevent it recording the illusions to come.