by John O'Riley
“That’s not true. The garden’s protection is always active. Maybe the house wards will be the same.”
“Those are too many maybes for me,” Alice argued then sneezed again. “Stupid allergies.”
Josephine watched her two friends bicker over the decision with amusement. She’d already made up her mind what she wanted to do and further discussion wouldn’t change that fact. Her cell phone rang and she frowned at it when she saw the caller was Ben Nutter, the chief of police.
“Hey, Ben. What’s going on?” Josephine said.
“We’ve got a situation. We’re on high alert. A threat has been made to the White House.”
“What threat? Was it the Valituras?”
“Yes, it was. They sent a couple of construo letalis curses to the white house to deliver an ultimatum to the president. All government officials are to sign over their legislative power to the Valituras or they will declare war on the U.S. and assassinate all members of the government. They gave a 24 hour deadline. They also said they have unleashed a devastating biological weapon on most major cities but would share the cure once their demands are met.”
Josephine chilled as terror gripped her. Everyone suspected the Valituras would eventually make a big move but she had never imagined anything like this.
“What about the potion I found? That’s probably the cure,” Josephine said.
“We can’t count on that,” Ben said. “I need you to come over here as soon as possible.”
“All right. I’ll be right over.” Josephine disconnected the call as her thoughts churned wildly. She noticed her two friends gazing at her with frightened expressions on their faces. She filled them in on Ben’s side of the conversation.
“Wow. I wasn’t expecting them to actually do anything. I thought they were a bunch of wimps,” Alice said softly.
Alice and Helen left so Josephine could get ready for work. She was already dressed in black slacks and a maroon silk blouse. She secured her wand satchel to her belt and checked on Mark. Perry stood a dozen feet away with his arms crossed over his chest and a contemplative expression on his face.
“You won’t be able to wake him. His body is taking advantage of the power center. He’ll be completely recovered when he regains consciousness,” Perry said.
“How much longer will that be?” Josephine asked.
“It’s hard to say but I would guess sometime within the next four to six hours.”
“That’s pretty late. He probably has some appointments to keep. I’d hate for him to miss them.”
“Healing is more important.”
“If I wake him up now, will he still burn out or is he recovered enough?” Josephine asked.
“You won’t be able to. He’s in a deep, unconscious healing state. Trust me.”
Josephine unzipped the front of the tent and gently shook Mark’s shoulders. He continued breathing heavily without showing any signs of stirring. Josephine continued then she bent over and kissed him passionately. Perry cleared his throat as he watched her from a distance. Josephine pulled away from Mark and shot Perry a questioning look.
“It’s not going to work. He’s not cursed so true love’s kiss won’t wake him,” he said.
Josephine frowned with mild annoyance. “That’s not what I was thinking.”
“What were you thinking then?” Perry regarded her with a quizzical expression on his face.
“None of your business.”
Josephine noticed that for a split second it looked like his feelings were hurt but he quickly hid it. She felt a pang of regret over the way she’d treated him for the last several days. He wasn’t responsible for his actions when he was a curse. Technically, he hadn’t become Perry until he’d transformed into a white light being so the curse was essentially a different individual that was now destroyed. Josephine left the tent and closed the zippered entrance behind her.
She leveled an earnest look at Perry. “I’m sorry I’ve been so difficult with you. I do realize now that you’re not the curse. You look the same as the curse did and it’s a constant reminder of the thing that tried to kill me and my friends.”
“The curse wore black but I wear only white,” Perry pointed out.
“You look like the same man though.”
“Would it help if I looked like someone else? I can alter my appearance.”
“No, that’s not it. I just need some time I guess.” Josephine flashed an encouraging smile at him. “I appreciate your help and if you’ve really saved Mark from burning out, then you’ve done a wonderful thing.”
“Thank you. I’m relieved to hear you say that.”
“And you’re under no obligation to try and protect me. You’re a light being so you probably don’t do well outside this environment here.” Josephine gestured vaguely at the garden to emphasize her point.
Perry nodded with agreement. “Yes, I do need more time to recharge since I’m an energy construct. I will start working on Mark’s home right away.”
“I would like for you to make my home the power center. When Mark wakes up, tell him to call me, please,” Josephine said.
“I will.”
Anxiety clawed in her gut at the thought of Mark possibly rejecting her offer. She’d been too nervous before to seriously consider living with him as she feared things would fall apart once that happened. She’s suffered so many heartaches with relationships that had gone south. And it always happened shortly after marriage. And to her, living with a boyfriend was only a short step away from marriage. On the other hand, the fact that she had a white magic power center in her back yard, it made perfect sense for him to stay here. Josephine shoved her troubled musings to the back of her mind as she focused on the Valituras problem. Hopefully, the potion she’d uncovered was the cure to the biological weapon that had been unleashed.
Chapter 9
Josephine felt a little safer now that she had five wands containing the niveus imperium. She would have preferred eight or more but the other half had gone to Jennifer who was the other enforcer working at the Sarasota police station. Ben had informed her that it would be months before they received any more of these potent enchantments because they were in short supply and the government officials and combat enforcers were a priority. Josephine’s only hope was that a more effective spell would be discovered to handle the construo letalis curses. Josephine, Jake, and Alex were currently researching anything they could find on this threat. Their other main assignment was to discover any leads pertaining to the Valituras.
A tense quiet dominated the workplace this morning broken only by the occasional sneezes from different detectives and police officers and the sound of tapping as people worked at their computers.
“Achoo!” Alex exclaimed in a loud, penetrating voice that made Josephine flinch.
She glared at him with annoyance. “Do you have to use your vocal cords when you do that?”
“It’s a natural response. Everybody sneezes,” Alex retorted.
“Do you hear a cat or dog crying out ‘achoo’ when they sneeze? No! They just expel air without screaming.”
“Jeez, you’re a witch this morning,” Alex murmured as he continued working.
Josephine took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She supposed there was a little bit of misplaced anger at work here but she wasn’t about to apologize.
“I think I may have found something,” Jake announced.
“What is it?” Josephine’s eyes glinted with interest and renewed hope.
“There’s a report that mentions a construo letalis. They didn’t have any niveus imperiums and when they realized it was impervious to magic, they fled. One of the officers was instinctively drawn to a house overgrown with trees, bushes, and shrubbery. One of the officers was killed but the owner of the house used white magic to disintegrate the construo letalis to save the other officer.”
“Wow! That’s perfect! I want to talk to that guy,” Josephine said.
“It happened nine y
ears ago. The man’s name is Earl Woods. I’m going to check his current whereabouts. He may have moved since then.” Jake eyed the computer screen intently as he navigated through the database. His brown eyes registered disappointment as he looked up to share what he’d discovered. “He was reported missing about two years after that incident.”
Josephine pulled up the reports on the missing persons case and read through the interviews with his friends and family.
“It looks like he burned out within a month of saving the police officer,” Josephine said.
“It’s a shame that they all burn out like that,” Alex remarked. “Achoo!”
“Bless you,” Josephine said gruffly as she felt a mixture of sympathy as well as annoyance towards her colleague.
“Thanks. It must be allergies.”
“A lot of people seem to have the same allergy,” Jake remarked.
“Florida’s the wrong place to live if you have allergies. Everything’s pollinating practically all the time except for one month out of the year,” Josephine said.
Alex leveled a teasing smile at her. “Someone once told me that pollination is nature’s way of having sex.”
“Grow up, Riley.” Josephine threw him a disgruntled look and chose to reference him by his last name instead of her derogatory nickname for him which was Whiney. Sometimes he made it very difficult to be civil to.
“It gives me a different perspective on nature and the great outdoors.” Jake’s eyes danced with amusement.
“I’ll never think of trees and flowers in the same way again,” Josephine remarked.
Anita strode over to them and handed Josephine a manila folder. “Here are your warrants for Lucius Padovani.”
“Thank you.” Josephine leveled a grateful look at her. “I’ve been waiting for that.”
“What took so long?” Alex asked.
“Lucius is innocent of any crimes that his team have committed because he was cursed with immortality without consent and has no choice but to obey their orders,” Anita explained.
“I hope someone can restore his memories and cure him of the curse. I’m sure he would have a lot to tell us,” Josephine remarked.
“Good luck with that one.”
“Thanks again, Anita.”
“You’re welcome.”
Anita strolled away as Josephine looked through the warrants and found the one she was truly waiting for.
“Excellent, we’ve got permission to seize anything he has at his bank,” Josephine said.
“Why are you so excited about the bank?” Alex asked.
“When I picked up that impression about Regatta Bank at Lucius’s house, it had a strange and intentional feel to it. I’m thinking he hid the psychic impression there on purpose but it couldn’t be strong because that would have been an overt betrayal to the Valituras and the servitude bond wouldn’t allow it.”
“I see what you mean. Leaving a subtle clue to help the authorities doesn’t directly betray the Valituras because it doesn’t spell out anything and it would only be discovered if his house was ever read by an extremely talented and competent psychometrist,” Alex said.
Josephine’s eyes danced with merriment. “That’s exactly right. I’m hoping he has a safe deposit box with information about the Valituras that could help us.”
“That seems like a stretch.” Alex regarded her with a doubtful look.
The alarms blared and everyone’s attention was drawn to their surroundings. There were shouts and screams from the lobby followed by a crash. Josephine turned to face the doorway across the room and reached out with her mind to scan the area. She detected three sources of dark energy in the lobby and deepened the scan. Josephine leapt to her feet as a sense of horror washed over her when she identified the problem.
“There are three construo letalis curses in the lobby,” she advised.
“Three?” Alex’s expression was horrified.
Alex and Jake rose to their feet and Josephine handed them three of her niveus imperium wands while she kept the other two so they could use them at the same time on the curses. It didn’t take long before the curses emerged through the doorway in the form of three tall, muscular men with shaved heads donned in black clothing. Their gazes swept over the occupants of the room and locked onto Josephine.
“It looks like you’re their primary target,” Alex remarked as he kept his gaze glued to the assailants.
“Why am I not surprised?” Josephine leveled a grim gaze at the curses. “I’m starting to feel like I should work from home. I’d be a hell of a lot safer there.”
Alex shot her a look of surprise. “Do you really think the wards at your house are strong enough to keep these things out?”
“Probably not,” she admitted.
The three men strode with deadly intent towards Josephine but were still clear across the large room.
“Get ready guys,” Josephine said. Her gaze swept over the officers at the other work stations who watched the scene with a sense of horror. “If anyone has a spare niveus imperium, now would be the time to use it. These are construo letalis curses.”
One of the lieutenants pulled out a wand and moved a bit closer as he aimed it at one of the curses. Ben rushed into the room with one wand in each hand.
Josephine assigned those who had a niveus imperium with a target so all three curses would be struck.
“All right! Let them have it!” Josephine said.
The closest of the three creatures was about a dozen feet away from her now and the shimmering gold energy swirled around them, forcing them all to a halt. Josephine continued to scan the curses and could see that only one was showing any sign of deteriorating.
“I’m the primary target so I’ll lure them away from here,” Josephine announced as she strode towards the three trapped curses.
“I’m coming with you,” Jake said.
“I’m going alone!” Josephine walked faster as she moved around the three creatures. She could sense the energy from the enchantments wearing off. Soon, the curses would be released. She may only have seconds left. When Josephine reached the lobby, it was clear of any civilians and some of the chairs had been tossed across the room. Anita and the other administrative assistant were hiding beneath their desks. Josephine glanced behind her and sighed with exasperation when she realized Jake and Alex had followed her.
“I told you to stay back,” Josephine said.
“You’re not the boss of me,” Alex said.
“Yes, I am.”
“Technically you outrank me but you’re not a supervisor.”
“You’re so obnoxious sometimes.” Josephine hadn’t slowed down her pace. “But thanks for coming.”
“The curses are free,” Jake interjected.
Josephine’s colleagues who remained at the station fired a variety of spells at the curses to slow them down as they pursued her. This gave her the time she needed to reach her assigned car. She handed Jake the keys and he gazed at her with surprise.
“You’re not driving?” He didn’t waste any time in opening the driver’s-side door and sliding behind the wheel.
“I have something I want to try and I’ll need my full concentration,” Josephine said.
She took the seat beside Jake and Alex sat in the back. The three curses emerged from the police station and ran towards the car. Jake gunned the engine and steered the car out into the street. The curses exploded into black smoke as they transformed into large black crows.
“Are we going to your house?” Jake asked.
“Yes.” Josephine hoped that Mark was awake and at his house instead of sleeping in her back yard. The last curse that had followed her to the garden had taken quite some time before the white energy had vanquished it and she hated to see how much longer three curses would last.
The three black crows flew after the police car. Jake had to slow down due to congestion even though he had the sirens on. Josephine pulled out one of her power wands as she turned in her sea
t to face the curses.
“What are you doing?” Alex asked.
“I’m going to tug at a bunch of key points of the energy matrices of the curses,” Josephine said.
“Why didn’t you do that before?”
“I got the idea last night when I was thinking about possible weaknesses. They’re too strong to unravel but if I apply enough energy, I can trip their defensive mechanisms,” Josephine explained.
“What good will that do?” Alex regarded her with confusion.
Josephine returned her attention to the crows which were closing in. She drew the power from the wand and accessed the energy of the closest creature. When she struck, the crow exploded into black, roiling smoke and halted its pursuit. After several seconds, she did the same thing to the other two crows. This depleted all of the energy in her wand but gained them a significant lead. Josephine had to use the rest of her wands to keep the curses from getting too close but they were on her street now and half a block away from her house. She linked with the mini vortex in her house and felt power flood through her body. Jake slammed on the brakes and the car came to a screeching halt. Josephine, Jake, and Alex ran toward the side yard where the garden began. Josephine was relieved to sense Mark’s absence which meant he was out of harm’s way.
The black crows were a short distance away and began their descent as they approached. They transformed into their human forms when they reached the ground and ran toward Josephine who had reached the garden. Josephine, Alex, and Jake continued deeper into her backyard as the curses approached. All of the plants began to radiate a sparkling white luminescence as the creatures stepped across the threshold to the enchanted garden.
“It took a few minutes last time for the white magic to work,” Alex said.
“That’s why I wanted you two to stay at the police station where you’d be safe,” Josephine advised.
She reached her right hand out toward the three creatures that continued to dash towards her. The three curses exploded into black smoke and halted. Josephine’s brows furrowed with concentration as she wondered how long she could do this.
