Orders of Magnitude (The Genie and the Engineer Series Book 2) (29 page)

Blue Seas Resort motel room

Broome, Western Australia

September

Sunday 6:17 a.m. AWDT

H
e
was still beset by the memory of Daneel’s death the previous day. Grief
continued to batter his soul. Daneel’s death shouldn’t have happened, but Paul
simply didn’t know what he could have—or should have—done to have prevented the
tragedy. No two ways about it, Daneel had saved his bacon, and in the process,
Capie’s life too. And yes, Paul had understood that there might be some risks
in giving Daneel his magical powers this early, but there had seemed no other
choice at the time. Nor even now in hindsight.

They were in a Blue Seas Resort motel room in the town of
Broome on Australia’s far northwestern coast. He had placed Capie’s stasis
field on one of the queen-sized beds in the room so that he could keep a close
eye on her. Daneel’s quantum computer was sitting on a small desk, while the
yokai
mirror was perched on a window ledge leaning up against the room’s single
window, facing outward so that Ariel-Leira could see the beach road and the
ocean beyond. From all that Paul could tell, the mirror woman was still having
the time of her life with all of the new sights available to her.

Sitting on the end of the bed, Paul solemnly studied Capie’s
face. It suddenly occurred to him that the field might have been a temporary
spell and that, as such, it might have collapsed when separated from its
creator. However, as it turned out, that obviously had not been the case.

He shivered in realization that he had not considered that
possibility the previous day, when he had sent Hamadi onward to Cartier Island
and had kept Capie with him, thus separating the two of them by 7,000 miles. If
the presence of Hamadi had been necessary to sustain the field and if Capie had
been injured or even killed by the sudden collapse of said field—

Luck had worked in his favor. This time. But it had been
stupid of him not to have considered it and taken precautions.

On the other hand—a new thought occurred to him. Maybe the other
wizard’s talisman was the answer. Paul had kept it with him, except during that
interval in time in Tibet, during the trip into Rutog, when he had left it with
Capie, Daneel, and the mirror woman. For that quick trip, he had taken
McDougall’s talisman instead. So, yes, Hamadi’s talisman had been near Capie
ever since Paul’s arrival at the castle. The talisman could well be linked to
the stasis field, especially considering what Ariel-Leira had explained to Paul
that it would take to get Capie out of the field.

He sighed heavily, rocking back on the bed. All those things
were secondary right now, even Daneel’s death and the causes thereof. He needed
to focus on what should come next.

Capie looked very unnatural, not moving, not even breathing.
Watching her, Paul’s feelings were very decidedly mixed. He was immensely
relieved to have her back with him, naturally enough. Her…shall it be said,
‘temporary absence’…had been so traumatic for him, painful even now to even
think about. It was like having a piece of him hacked off with a meat cleaver.

To see her like this though, suspended in time in the stasis
field was nearly as traumatic. He wanted so much to reach out and hold her, to
touch her, to reassure her that everything was alright and that everything from
now on would continue to be alright.

Turning back to regard his wife, Paul struggled with his
feeling of unease, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. For some reason,
he found it very difficult to swallow.

“You know, honey,” he said, admiring yet again her beautiful
face. “I finished dealing with Hamadi last night. I’ve got him and his Oni
encased in stasis fields just like yours, stashed away on Cartier Island. Well,
that’s not quite correct. They are no longer
on
the island but are tucked
away in an excavated cavern fifty feet below the coral reef that surrounds the
island. No one is ever going to find them in that location.

“I learned a lot about the casting of stasis spells in the
process,” Paul patiently explained. “And I am pretty confident that I can now
get you out of your stasis field without risking your life. I was very anxious
to do just that last night, right after I tucked Hamadi away. However, both
Merlin and Ariel-Leira stopped me. Both of them convinced me to wait. Indeed,
they both advised me that the removal ceremony should take place in a familiar
location that is dear to you, such as in a house where you have lived.” He
sighed. “And when both of them agree on something, then it’s probably a good
idea for me to listen to what they’re saying.

“You see, they know—and I do as well—that you have been
through a very traumatic experience. I don’t know exactly what you saw when
Hamadi took you captive. You might have seen some of those kids that you went
to save get killed. Or not. But at the very least, you were held prisoner and
interrogated. And, when you come out of stasis, I will have the unpleasant task
of telling you not only that some of those children in Israel were killed but
that Daneel too died and that he died rescuing the two of us.

“I know how hard that is going to hit you, how devastating
the news will be for you. You will need all the help and support that I can
give you. I wish that I could take you to your home in Illinois before I take
you out of stasis. I totally agree that your house there would be the best
possible location for the ceremony. But I’m sorry. That is just not possible.
Even the rental house in San Jose is not an option. And even the York hotel in
Kalgoorlie won’t work. Not enough open floor space available there. The best
that I can do for you will be Warehouse 13. So, right after we leave here, I
will take you there.

“Know this, CB, my sweetheart: I love you more than life
itself. I would spare you any further heartache, if I could. And I will do all
in my power to help you after you are released from this spell. Rest easy for
now. As soon as I can get you to Kalgoorlie, we will tackle this hardship
together and help you through this time of great trial. I will be with you,
always and forever.”

• • • •

The stage for the ceremony was set. Capie and the stasis
field rested in the center of the largest space available in Warehouse 13,
lying on the concrete floor.

Around the perimeter of the stasis field, at each corner,
Paul had placed a single candle and a small portion of incense in a censer. A
snap of his fingers had been enough to ignite both. Since he had far more
incense than needed for this ceremony, he took a moment to stuff some in his
wallet. He never knew when he might need some in a tight spot. Right.

Daneel’s quantum computer was not present. Paul felt it
unwise to let Capie see it until she at least had a little time to deal with
the reality of his death. So he had stored the hardware, Daneel’s ‘physical
body,’ at the Staging Area instead.

The
yokai
mirror was also not present but was instead
in their York Hotel room. Paul did not want the mirror to be a distraction
during the procedure, lest it interfere, or worse, succeed in confusing or
upsetting Capie in some fashion. However, Merlin was standing by, on the
opposite side of the field, observing the situation intently.

With a wave of his hand, Paul lowered the lighting level in
the building.

The warehouse was taking on a very pleasant odor from the
burning of the incense, almost hypnotic in its effects. Together with the low
light, the room was nearly mystical. With a wave of his hand, all of the
censers, candles and the stasis field rose gracefully into the air, upward
until they hovered four feet above the concrete floor.

“It is time,” Paul firmly stated. Yes, he wanted his wife
out of the field. Now. But he was concerned about the emotional impact that she
was going to be put through.

Paul laid Hamadi’s talisman on the stasis field, almost
directly over the center of Capie’s heart.

He glanced over at Merlin. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, of course. Please proceed, Paul. It’s time to get her
out of there,” Merlin responded.

Paul tried to clear the sudden lump in his throat. “In the
names of Roger Zelazny, J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien, may the spell that
cast this stasis field be gently and slowly removed, that the person enclosed
within resume her life as normally as when the spell was first cast, with
health in the marrow of her bones, strength in her muscles and in her sinews,
her intellect restored and her memories fully intact.”

For several moments, nothing seemed to be happening, but
then Paul noticed that the sheen of the stasis field was slowly diminishing,
becoming a tiny bit dimmer with each passing moment.

“It’s working, Paul,” whispered Merlin with a cautious grin.

Paul merely nodded in agreement, his breath caught in his
throat.

The process in removing the spell appeared to be exactly
backwards to creating a stasis field. Paul noted it was just like what had
happened to Hamadi and his Oni when he had emplaced them in stasis fields, only
now the process was occurring in reverse.

It took a full two minutes until the field fully
disappeared. The censers and candles floated free, gradually lowering
themselves to the floor. Now only Capie floated in midair, the talisman lying
on her chest.

Her breath caught and suddenly she was gasping for air. Paul
physically pulled the talisman from her, letting it fall slowly to the floor.
Stretching forth his hand and putting it between her shoulder blades, he
rotated her to a vertical position, setting her down gently on her feet. Then,
stepping up close to her, Paul took both of her hands in his own, squeezing
them tightly.

Her eyelids fluttered and opened, snapping up to look at him
in shock and stunned surprise.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Sleeping Beauty,”
Paul whispered, leaning over to kiss her gently on the lips. “Welcome home.”

At first, Paul saw no recognition in her eyes. Her
expression looked haunted, confused, and empty, all rolled into one. And then,
as if all her memories had come flooding back to her in one fell swoop, Capie’s
expressed transformed itself into one of horror and shock.

“Oh, Paul! Paul!” she moaned in an almost inaudible voice.

And she leapt into his arms, sobbing fiercely and hanging on
to him like a drowning victim.

“Oh, Paul!” she whispered again, this time in his ear.

He hugged her tightly in return and for a minute, neither
one of them spoke.

“Oh, Paul!” she cried through her tears. “Thank God, it’s
you! Oh, Paul! Thank God!”

“How are you doing?” he anxiously asked her, his stomach
churning. “Anything broken? Are you in pain anywhere?”

“Only my soul!” she exclaimed as she pulled back gently,
rubbing her eyes with the back of one hand. “It’s like a very heavy weight has
been set directly on my heart. Even breathing is hard work. Oh, God, Paul! They
were
waiting
for me! They staged the kidnapping of those innocent
children, to set a trap for
me
! And that monster
killed
two
children right in front of me! God, that evil fiend! That—that…”

Paul held her close and gently stroked her hair. “You’re
safe now. And he’s been taken care of. You’re safe, my dear.”

Capie looked down, more tears streaming from her eyes. “Oh,
Paul! Thank you for being here and for saving me! I don’t know how you did it…”
And then she looked around the room, her eyes reflecting her growling
puzzlement.

“Paul? Daneel? Is he back at the hotel room?” She looked at
Paul, then rubbed her arms anxiously. “Where is Daneel?”

Paul glanced away, shuffling his weight from foot to foot.
“Capie? I don’t know how to tell you this, but Daneel didn’t make it.”

“Oh, God, no!” she whispered, her eyes opened wide in horror
and shock again. “No, no, NO! Don’t tell me… Daneel is
DEAD
?!”

Paul gulped and made himself look at her, his voice
quavering. “You’d have been proud of him, dear. He died saving both of our
lives.”

“No, no, it can’t be true!” she wailed. “No, God, no! No,
God, NO!” And at that point, she lost her voice, falling into his arms and
bursting into rivers of bitter tears.

• • • •

She cried most of the afternoon.

Paul took her to the Fitzgerald River Park, west of
Esperance, Australia, to a high cliff above the sea. There they could see the
rugged Australian coast line and the endless ocean waves beating against the
foot of the sheer rugged cliff walls.

As they vacantly stared at the bleak but beautiful landscape,
Capie was able to choke out her story in small segments. She confessed how, on
a previous trip to the Middle East, she had been confronted by Oni (which
explained to Paul how they had known enough to set a trap for her). On her
arrival in Syria at the school house where the Israeli children hostages were,
she had snuck past the Syrian soldiers into the room where the hostages were
being held. One of the children had turned toward her and held out an odd-looking
golden oval medallion, embossed with intricate symbols, lines and scrolls. As
soon as Capie had touched it, she had been instantly paralyzed and unable to
move. She had fought hard against the spell, but had not been able to break its
grip.

That was when Hamadi had shown up, laughing at her, slapping
her hard in the face. Much worse, he had proceeded to torture and murder two of
the children in front of her, to prove how little Normies meant to him and to
punish Capie for interfering in his plans.

Then she had been whisked to some castle somewhere in
Europe, she had been told, and tortured and questioned in multiple sessions.
Some sort of odd looking small mirror had been used during the interrogations.
And, much to her shame, she had told the evil wizard everything that he had
wanted to know.