The Four Kings (19 page)

Amanda chuckled, her hand over her mouth. Justica, still acting as Graciana, held Amanda with two hands. “We’re going to stay for another hour. I’ll introduce you to all our relatives. Continue to speak English. Some of them, especially the younger ones, will understand you. Then we’ll see the fireworks tonight, and then we’ll go back to Headquarters. Is this sufficient for you?”

Amanda radiated happiness. “I’d like that very much, Jus–” She stopped herself in time. “I’d like that, Graciana,” she repeated, smiling.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Amanda propped against the psychedelic-colored large pillows on her bed reading several letters from many of her clients who resided in North America. Giving her weary eyes a break, she thought of the visit with Justica that had occurred just a few days ago.

She sighed contently.

To her, it was such a pleasant experience, glimpsing up close the joviality and camaraderie of small town life in Mexico. All of Justica’s relatives, one after the other, insisted on offering food or drinks to her, stating she was “too thin.” They all asked her about her background, and she’d told white lies, stating her name was Susan. She said that she was still a student at the University of Berkeley, which was technically true in her past. Fortunately, no one had recognized her, and all graciously accepted her timidity behind her wide, multi-color scarf as a sign of respect for Mexican traditions.

They’d all been served supper by Justica’s parents, and it was a lovely feast for all, in recognition of the holidays. In order to be able to eat, she’d strategically placed the scarf away from her neck, to surround her mousy brown hair and to droop by her brow. No one seemed to recognize her. The bantering and gesturing, the laughter and singing, had continued all evening. Finally, Justica whisked Amanda away to witness the fireworks in the sky above the piazza before they returned to San Francisco.

Mindful of the urgency posed by Trevor, Maggie, and Adam, Amanda had attempted to ask Justica more about her wizard past, and how they had acquired their powers, but Justica had gently rebuffed her. Amanda then knew it was better to stop the line of questioning before she aroused suspicion.

She sighed. Sometimes she felt that the harder she tried to find out about the wizards, the less she knew. She’d received much more information – without even asking – when she minded her own business.

Suddenly, Demus appeared across the room from her, sitting atop a chair, for once appearing contrite. He was wearing his regular red shirt, along with khaki pants. This time, his shirt displayed dozens of blurred gold stars, giving his top an overall patterned look without disturbing the dominant red theme.

Amanda shouted out in astonishment and said crossly, “Demus, don’t you ever knock?”

He still appeared uncertain, and Amanda’s heart told her to take pity upon him.
Hey
, she thought.
He’s the brash one who revealed much about the wizards’ world. Maybe I can coax him to tell me more.

“Amanda,” Demus finally said, “I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I just want your forgiveness. I guess I came on too strongly last time.”

“That’s okay, Demus,” Amanda said with a conspiratorial smile. “I accept your apology.”
Keep trying. Get him to blab away.
She asked, “Why are you so interested in me anyway? I have no super powers to offer you.”

The wizard gazed at her as if in a trance. “You’re like a vision,” he said softly. “And the other wizards don’t know love the way you do. That’s one special thing about you Mortals. I guess you don’t know how…” His eyes misted.

Good. Keep reeling him in
. Amanda patted the side of her bed and said soothingly, “Demus, why don’t you sit beside me and talk to me?”
But don’t go too far
, she warned herself.
I still have a job to do as Supreme Liaison. I’ll just get as much out of him as I can, and then humor him
.

Demus brightened perceptibly. In an instant, he vanished, and reappeared, reclining sideways, about one foot away from Amanda on her bed.

She couldn’t contain her curiosity. “You said something about wizards not loving each other. Why not? What do you mean?”

He looked uncertain. Whether he felt he was revealing too much to a Mortal, or was simply uncomfortable talking about his innermost feelings, she couldn’t tell. He started to speak, but held himself back. Then he stammered, “I – I – I don’t know how to explain it. It’s something that only wizards know.”

“Try me,” Amanda said with a smile.

“Well,” Demus said, weighing his next few words carefully, “think about it. Think about the ages of all the wizards in the world.”

“I don’t understand,” Amanda said, yet at the same time feeling Demus had just revealed a vitally important secret to her. It was right at her fingertips. Her mind raced on, trying furiously to figure out what he meant.

“Amanda,” Demus turned to her, “I just wanted to thank you for not telling the council about our visit to Emerana. That means a lot to me.”

“Oh, Demus. You made me promise not to tell. I’d never break my word.” Amanda reflected on the sheer beauty of that fortress. “It was simply amazing.”

“As for reporting on my forcing you to see my past,” he averted his eyes away, “I guess I deserved that. Thanks so much for not telling them about the zombies I created from my imagination.”

Amanda shuddered. “I can’t imagine living through a nightmare like that.” She forced herself to focus. “Okay, you mentioned the ages of the wizards.” She deliberated some more and frowned. “Well, there are no wizard children, that’s for sure, as far as I can see in wizard-dom.”

Demus nodded, urging her to continue.

Amanda said, “There are no wizard families.”

“Go on.”

Straightening out her back suddenly, Amanda had a revelation, exciting her. “There are no older wizards!”

Demus nodded slowly and smugly, indicating that Amanda had hit a bulls-eye.

“Why? Why aren’t there any wizards with gray hair?”

Demus held out his hands, shrugging. “That’s for you to figure out.”

Amanda excitedly thought of a possibility. “Do they leave Earth for another wizard world?”

The wizard reflected upon this, moving his head sideways slowly. Then he stopped and turned. “Yes, you could say that.”

“Because they amass the magic talent they have, and go on to more challenges?”

“Yes.”

Amanda clasped her hands, bouncing on the bed without intending to. “What’s the name of this world?”

Demus held a finger to his lips. “I can’t tell you.”

“How old are they before they leave Earth? Is there a certain age, or does it depend on their experience?”

“I can’t tell you.”

Amanda made fists, which she playfully brought down quickly. “Oh, shoot!” She gazed at him in wonder. “Have you been there?”

Demus grimaced for a few seconds. Finally he said, “Yes.”

“What’s wrong with it? What’s it like?”

Slyly, Demus rolled on his side and brought his face over to close in on Amanda. “You’re out of luck, I’m afraid.” He smiled, taking into Amanda’s lingering scent. “Why don’t we get to know each other better?”

No thanks
, Amanda thought. She recalled how he had scared her a few times with his magic tricks, zapping her into perilous situations, and she wasn’t ready to forgive him just yet. She playfully pushed Demus away. “Demus, guess what I’ve been reading?”

Disappointed, yet still giddy, Demus rested his head on his left arm. “What?”

“It’s your fan club! I’ve been reading fan mail addressed to you!”

Demus opened his eyes wide and smiled. “I’m not surprised. What’s a busy lady like you doing with such trivial stuff?”

Amanda hesitated before answering. “Well, I met with my fellow citizens recently, and you’re right, I’d never thought about it. Like you said, there are pressing economic and environmental issues out there. But they told me you’ve attracted quite a wide following.”

“Nice,” Demus said. He was lapping it up.

“They say –” Amanda pulled out a letter. “This one says you exude
charisma
.”

“Ooh!” Demus laughed, swaying his shoulders.

“This one says you’re a God. This person prays to you and says you’ve descended from Heaven to bless us all.”

Demus playfully brought his hands, outstretched, up toward the ceiling. “I guess I have.”

“You literally have hundreds and hundreds of letters. Many by teenage women and older women. Hundreds of marriage proposals. Hundreds of invitations for you to attend a wedding. Or to share dinner with a family. It’s mind-boggling.”

“What about the others?”

Amanda knew he meant Indie, Justica, and Regi. “They get their share too. But you’re by far the most popular.”

The ecstatic wizard stroked Amanda’s arm. “Why do you think they love me so much?”

“Must be your prowess during Games Days. You’re quite a bull on the field.”

Demus ran his fingers through Amanda’s hair and gazed lovingly toward her. “Don’t fight it. Join them.”

Amanda sat up beside him, teasingly pushing away his arm. “Hold on to your guns, buster.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Amanda impatiently tapped her foot, and then paced the marble floor in the lobby of Liberators’ Headquarters. Regi was late for the tour he was supposed to conduct for her. All of the Liberators were perfect, no? She grinned to herself. This was one tardy fellow who couldn’t blame his lateness on traffic problems. What was he going to say, “
My magic didn’t quite work out this morning – I ended up into the Amazon rain forest!
“ She chuckled to herself.

Before she finished laughing, Regi appeared, with a bemused smile on his face. He looked utterly charming, with nary a guilty or smug look on his face. “What’s so funny?” he grinned.

Amanda waved away his question. “Oh, nothing, really.”

“That’s okay. Are you ready to begin your immersion in the life of yours truly?”

“Yes, I’m ready,” Amanda replied, a little puzzled at the lack of warm-up conversation. He was a man of brief words. Even before she had a chance to set her feet apart to prepare for the new landing – wherever she may go – she promptly vanished, along with the dashing wizard.

In the next split second, Amanda gasped even before she could take in her surroundings. She was suspended in thin air, grasped from behind by Regi. Seeing nothing but a horizon ahead of her, and feeling nothing underneath her feet, she shrieked. She felt the warm reassurance of large arms – Regi’s – firmly in front of her abdomen. The intimate physical contact wasn’t enough to deter her from total fear. She glanced down and found herself hovering about two hundred feet into the air!

They were now above a small town. She saw, directly below her, rooftops of houses, factories, facilities, and trucks and cars zooming about.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Moose Jaw.”

She turned around to Regi and wrinkled her brows. “Where’s that?”

“Saskatchewan, Canada.”

“This is where you grew up?”

“Yes.”

“What an odd name. Where did the name come from?” she asked, intrigued.

“Well,” Regi said thoughtfully, “Some people say it comes from the Cree word ‘Moosoochapiskanissippi,’ meaning ‘the river shaped like the jaw of a moose.’“

Amanda chortled at the impossibly long word. “So it’s not like, someone found a moose jawbone and then settled here?”

Regi’s eyes twinkled. “No, I guess not.”

Amanda peered out further along the vast hinterland beyond the city boundaries. “It’s so beautiful.”

“Want to fly?”

Amanda’s eyes widened in excitement. “You mean, like Peter Pan?”

“Yes.”

“Oh Regi, I’d love to!”

Slowly accelerating as to acclimatize her to the momentum, Regi held on to her tightly and swooped through the sky, never losing close-up sight of the details of the town below them. Amanda whooped with delight, feeling the air rush by her billowing hair. It felt so good – ten times better than the three minutes atop the Screaming Demon wooden track roller coaster in that Six Flags amusement park two summer ago.

Having traversed the countless wheat farms surrounding Moose Jaw, they gazed at the infinite meadows that stretched out as far as the eye could see.

“I feel like Lois Lane,” Amanda said, enthralled.

“And I’m Superman?” Regi asked with a grin.

She ignored the comment and said, “I’m surprised I’m not cold.”

“Oh, that. I surrounded us with a heat field to make your flight more enjoyable. Yes, it could get very chilly up there.”

Amanda gazed at Regi in the eyes. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

She sighed. “This terrain’s so flat and uninhabited. Not one hill in sight.”

“Saskatchewan is famous for its flat landscape. We have a joke here that you can’t put an egg anywhere here where it can roll.”

“Just like the moon,” Amanda said dreamily.

Regi thought it over. “We’re even more flat than the moon. Say, why not?”

Suddenly there was a whoosh, and Amanda’s pupils enlarged. It was pitch dark! The air felt cooler, more still. Amanda blinked. What she saw immediately drew her breath away.

She was staring out into outer space! Billions of stars encircled her, and lo and behold, there was the Earth – a tiny blue and white ball as small as a marble. Panicking, she looked down at her feet, and saw grey packed dust. Fear drove her to glance out into several different directions. Craters everywhere, lifeless landscape, and not a speck of green to be found.

She was on the moon!

Horrified, she gasped three times, overcome with a jolt, as if anti-freeze was poured throughout every crevice in her brain matter. Regi hugged her from behind to soothe her.

Amanda’s logic rose to the forefront. “How can we breathe?” She swivelled to look at Regi in alarm.

“It’s okay,” Regi held up his hand. “I created an air bubble around us. It’ll last as long as you wish.”

“Whew,” Amanda said, placing a hand over her heart to make sure it was still beating. The reality sunk in. “Are we really on the moon?”