by Alex Siegel
Andrew got out of the SUV and looked around. The church was at the intersection of two country roads. Farms occupied the other three corners, and bare dirt fields stretched to the horizon. Patches of snow contrasted against the dark ground.
A black limousine parked next to the SUV, and Agent Dan got out. He was wearing a heavy blue coat, blue pants, and black leather shoes. He looked at the church and narrowed his eyes.
Andrew couldn't sense the portable seam in the trunk of the limousine. It was gone. He expected the BPI had sent somebody to fetch it and convey it to the famous "vault."
Andrew turned his attention back to the church. He could feel a seam pulsing inside like a throbbing wound. It wasn't near the potency of the Theosophical seam, but the one in the church was still substantial. Something very bad had happened here a long time ago.
Andrew's parents and Charlie joined Andrew. Nobody spoke. The morning was quiet and still.
A man ran out of the church. His wild brown hair needed a trim, and he had a scruffy beard. He was wearing a jean coat with a sheepskin lining.
"What the hell is this?" he yelled. "Go away! I'm warning you..."
He stared straight at Andrew. The black energy of a sorcerer surrounded the man, and he was probably detecting the same in Andrew and Charlie. The situation had the potential of becoming very ugly.
Andrew raised his hands. "Calm down. We come in peace. Can we talk?"
The sorcerer approached the fence with his arms crossed. His eyes were narrow with suspicion.
Andrew waved for his parents to stay back. He, Charley, and Dan met the sorcerer at the fence.
"You look very young," the sorcerer said. "Are you apprentices?"
"Yes," Charley replied. "Tonya is our master."
"Tonya?" His face suddenly showed more respect. "She's teaching both of you at once?"
"Yes," Andrew said. "I'm Andrew Kenworthy. My grandfather died here."
The sorcerer's eyes widened in shock. "You're that boy?" He settled himself. "I'm Will, and you look like a BPI agent." He turned to Dan.
Dan nodded. "That's right."
"I'd like to look inside for just a couple of minutes," Andrew said. "I want to see the place where my ancestor passed away."
"I'll make sure there's no trouble," Dan added.
"How do you expect to do that?" Will stared. "Use your amazing BPI anti-sorcery ray?"
"Well, I, uh...."
"I won't do anything," Andrew said, "I just want to look. I promise."
"Sorry," Will said. "It's my seam. Tonya's pets aren't welcome."
"But my grandfather..."
"If old man Gustav were still here, he might give you a tour. Too bad he blew himself to bits."
Andrew raised his eyebrows. "How did he die?"
"Nobody told you the story?"
"No."
"He was messing with the infernal arts," Will said. "He accidently turned himself and a couple of other sorcerers into meat bombs. The BPI was scrubbing blood off the walls for days."
His callous attitude angered Andrew.
"I still want to see the place, please."
Will furrowed his brow and thought for a moment. "OK, but just you. I'm pretty sure I can take you down if you get feisty. No girlfriend and no fed." He nodded towards Charley and Dan. "Only you. If you want me to trust you, then you have to trust me."
Andrew wasn't sure he trusted Will that much. Andrew would be alone in Will's place of power, and the sorcerer obviously wasn't friendly. Anything could happen.
"Fine," Andrew said after thinking about it. "I'll take that risk."
Dan shook his head. "No. This isn't going to work."
"I'll just be five minutes," Andrew pleaded.
"I can monitor the situation from out here," Charley said. "If either of them fire off any spells, I'll sense it."
Dan frowned, but he eventually nodded. "OK. Five minutes."
Will unlocked the gate with a key. As soon as Andrew was through, Will locked it again. Andrew suddenly felt like an animal trapped in a cage.
They went into the church. The main hall had been converted into a giant studio apartment. There was a bedroom, a living room, a library, a kitchen, and even a gym area, all in a single open space. The stage in front had become a private movie theater. It was everything a solitary bachelor could want.
"Nice," Andrew said with sincerity, "but I want to see the attic."
Will gave him a suspicious look. "Don't forget I'm a stronger sorcerer. You may have freaky talent, but I have a lot more training and experience."
"You can tell I have freaky talent?"
"Yeah. It's obvious why Tonya wanted you and the girl to herself. You're monsters in the making."
Andrew felt special even though the comment wasn't meant as a compliment.
They climbed a steep, narrow staircase at the side of the stage. The wooden boards creaked alarmingly, and he was worried they wouldn't bear his weight.
Will and Andrew reached the top and walked into a loft. It contained the odd items Andrew had come to expect in a sorcerer's workplace. There were raw materials that could be manipulated and puzzles for honing the intellect. A tall, elaborate contraption allowed marbles to roll through a labyrinth of jumps, loops, and tubes. Watching it would help restore order to the mind, and Andrew decided he would build something like it back at the university.
A seam throbbed in the center of the attic. It was a knot of angry energy which could never be untied.
"What's the story behind this seam?" Andrew said.
"A Christian cult predicted the apocalypse," Will said. "They called themselves the Apocalypse Cult. What a dumb name. They performed a ritual mass suicide so they wouldn't have to witness the end of the world. Women and kids, too. Are we done? Your five minutes is about up."
"I guess so."
Andrew had hoped visiting the place would bring some insight into the cause of his grandfather's death, but it wasn't happening. No obvious trace of his ancestor remained.
They went back down to the main hall.
"You live here by yourself?" Andrew said.
"Sure," Will said. "Just me and my seam."
"Must get lonely."
"Women screw with your mind. They make sorcery harder and more dangerous. Sex between talented sorcerers is particularly risky and can have all kinds of unintended side-effects. Remember that when you're banging that girl."
"But I'm not..." Andrew said.
Will walked out the front door, and Andrew followed. Will unlocked the gate so he could leave. As soon as Andrew was clear, Will closed the gate and returned to the church without another word.
Charley and Dan were standing by the gate. Andrew's parents were still near the car.
"Well?" Charley said.
"It was just a seam." Andrew shrugged.
Dan nodded. "I could've told you that. I'm not sure what you expected to find."
Andrew noticed his parents looked annoyed. He walked over with an apologetic expression.
"What does it look like inside?" his mother said.
"The church has been converted into a private home," Andrew said. "It's not very interesting. There was no point in coming here. By the way, what happened to all of my grandfather's stuff?"
"I don't know. That box you saw was all I got. I think the authorities took the rest away."
Charley's phone rang. Andrew looked over curiously, wondering who might be calling. She answered the call and talked for a moment. Then she waved for him to join her, and he hurried over.
"What's going on?" Andrew said.
Dan also joined the conversation. Charley put the phone into speaker mode to create a conference call.
"Everybody is here," she said. "Say it again."
"Serkan has gone missing," a woman replied through the phone. It was Tonya's voice.
"What do you mean?" Andrew said.
"It's pretty obvious what I mean. Keene just called me, and he's very concerned. Serkan last spoke
to him three days ago."
"That's a long time."
"Serkan is a journeyman," Tonya said. "He often takes long trips. This is his last chance to explore the world before he has to settle down. Three days without making contact with his master is suspicious though. Andrew and Charley, I want you to quietly assist Keene with finding his lost apprentice. Let's avoid turning this matter into a crisis. Keene can't travel because he has to guard his seam, so you'll have to do the legwork for him. Hopefully, it will turn out to be nothing. Serkan will show up with a great story to tell, and all will be forgiven."
"This is Agent Dan Easton," Dan said into the phone. "You can't just reassign Andrew and Charley out from under me. I have a long list of places they need to visit. If Serkan is really missing, the BPI will send another team to investigate."
"They're my apprentices, and I set their priorities. They will look for Serkan. Your precious list can wait."
"You don't..."
"Listen!" Tonya said angrily. "I'm a fucking master sorcerer. I've reshaped the fabric of the universe with the power of my imagination. I've stood at the precipice of reality and stared into the chaotic abyss. You're just a punk with a badge. I suggest you show more respect. But if you want to get bureaucratic on me, I'll be happy to call Director Webster. He'll agree searching for a missing sorcerer is more important."
Dan was silent for a moment. "You're probably right," he finally admitted, "but the BPI needs to know about this."
"I'm sure they already know. They tap our phones. Some asshole in Washington is listening to us right now. Andrew and Charley, go straight to Keene in Atlanta. He'll give you further instructions." There was a click, and the call ended.
Andrew and Charley exchanged anxious looks.
He faced his parents. "I have to say goodbye." He ran over to them. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to cut this visit short. Charley and I have to work."
"Now?" Beth said in a distressed tone. "But you just got home yesterday."
"Are you ever going to explain what's going on?" Percival said angrily.
"Maybe," Andrew said. "Someday, I hope, but not now. I have to run."
He gave his mother a warm hug and shook his father's hand.
Andrew jogged back to the limousine and sat inside beside Charley. She gave him a weak smile. Dan sat in the driver's seat, started the engine, and drove off.
"Our luggage is still at my house," Andrew said.
"I'll have another agent fetch it," Dan said. "We can't afford any detours."
Andrew leaned back in his seat. He expected they would only stop for short breaks until they reached their destination. At least Andrew had eaten a nice, big breakfast.
"Hey, Dan," he said. "I have a question."
Dan yelled from the front. "What?"
"I'm sure my grandfather had a lot of stuff in that church when he died. What happened to it? It didn't go to my mother."
"No idea. That was way before my time. Any sensitive material usually gets stored in the vault."
"With the portable seams?" Andrew said.
"Yes."
"And you don't know where that is?"
"No, and stop asking," Dan said. "Now be quiet. I want to listen to the radio. It's a long drive to Atlanta."
Andrew looked over at Charley. She shrugged.
I would love to get a look inside that vault, he thought.
* * *
Andrew rubbed his eyes. He had spent the entire day in the limousine, and the tedium of the long journey had worn him down. He didn't understand how truck drivers could spend so many hours on the road every day without going crazy.
It had been such a long trip, Dan had let Andrew and Charley take turns driving. Andrew's excitement about getting behind the wheel had lasted all of ten seconds. Interstate highways were the definition of boring even in a cushy limousine. The cruise control feature made the trip even more monotonous.
Finally, they were entering Atlanta. Andrew had never seen the city, and he looked out the window with interest, but he was disappointed to discover the same chain stores as everywhere else. It was hard to find unique features in American cities.
Dan drove through Atlanta, guided by the navigation system. He entered the suburbs, and the roads grew narrower. There were a lot of trees. The vegetation was lush even by the standards of Illinois, and the weather was much more pleasant, at least in the winter. People walking along the streets were wearing light jackets instead of heavy winter coats. The homes had much wider spacing than in Chicago, and even though the limousine was passing through a heavily populated area, it had a slightly rural feel.
Dan turned at a private driveway. A small sign read, "Avanessian Institute for Emotional Health," but a passerby could've easily missed it. A tall iron fence protected the property, and Dan had to stop at a gate. He rolled down his window.
An overweight security guard in a tan uniform came out of a booth. "Can I help you?" he said in a pleasant tone.
"Dr. Keene James is expecting us," Dan said. "Tell him Andrew and Charley are here."
The guard talked on a portable radio for a moment. He pressed a button in the booth, and the gate opened.
"What kind of place is this?" Andrew said.
"A psychiatric hospital," Dan said.
"There are crazy people here?"
"Yes."
Andrew gnawed his lip anxiously.
The hospital consisted of several low buildings arranged in a cluster. They had red brick walls and white trim. A dense forest on all sides created a very serene setting. The private driveways were clean and well maintained. Andrew would've assumed the place was a community college or a corporate campus instead of an insane asylum.
A nearby seam in one of the buildings told a different story. He could feel it spewing violent energy like a star ready to explode. The raw power made him shiver. It must've taken a truly horrendous catastrophe to punch such a big hole in the world.
Dan parked the limousine in front of the main building. Keene ran out to meet them. He was wearing a brown jacket over a black shirt and tie. A badge was clipped to his lapel.
Dan, Andrew, and Charley got out. Andrew stretched his arms until he felt his back pop. The air was humid and pleasantly cool. He definitely preferred winters in Atlanta over Chicago.
"You're finally here!" Keene said. "Thanks for coming. I know it was a long trip."
"What's the situation?" Dan said.
"I've tried every way I know to reach Serkan, and he hasn't responded. He isn't home, but that's probably the best place to start looking for him. We might find a clue in his apartment. Follow me. I'll take you there."
Keene got into a blue BMW parked in a spot marked, "Reserved for Dr. James." Everybody else climbed back into the limousine. Keene drove off, and Dan followed close behind.
They went only a couple of blocks before turning onto a driveway. The apartment buildings had two floors, and Andrew guessed they had four or six units each. The bottom floors were made of brick, and white wood covered the upper floors.
Several black sedans were parked in the driveway, and they had government plates.
"Looks like the Bureau got here first," Dan said.
The limousine parked behind the BMW. Andrew, Charley, and Dan met Keene on the driveway. The master sorcerer was staring at the long line of black sedans with an expression of dismay.
"I was hoping to avoid this," he said.
"Why?" Dan said. "It seems like you'd want as much help as possible."
"I'm sure Serkan will reappear with a good explanation. He's a very capable, very intelligent man. He wouldn't take any foolish risks. The BPI will turn this situation into a crisis with a lot of anger and finger-pointing. Somebody will get blamed even if it's nobody's fault."
"You make us sound incompetent."
Keene just looked at Dan silently.
Dan snarled. "Let's go in."
The four of them climbed up an exterior staircase to reach an apartment. The door was open, and
men in blue suits were working inside.
Several agents immediately recognized Keene and gave him plenty of room. Andrew saw fear in the eyes of a few men.
Dan showed his BPI badge. "I'm from the Chicago office. These kids are Tonya's apprentices. They were sent to help with the search for Serkan."
Nobody objected, so Andrew looked around. It was a nice apartment, certainly much nicer than his dorm. The main room had a big television with the latest game system attached. There were bookshelves full of the kind of books he had come to associate with sorcery. The philosophy texts spanned history from Plato to Sartre. Serkan showed an equal interest in hard science, and a book entitled Advanced Electronic Structure Theory made Andrew shudder. He hoped Tonya wouldn't force him to learn that stuff.
He and Charley wandered into the bedroom. Serkan had a king-size bed with a brass frame, and it took up most of the room. The frame was highly polished and seemed brand new. A framed print on the wall showed a famous engraving from M. C. Escher. It depicted flying black fish eating white ducks, but in the background, the fish and the ducks merged together.
Charley walked into the bathroom. "This is interesting," she said. "Two kinds of shampoo."
"Why is that interesting?" Andrew said.
"One kind is the fancy stuff women like. Did Serkan have a girlfriend?"
Andrew looked to Keene who had come into the bedroom.
"He never mentioned one to me," Keene said.
"I don't think he bought that new bed just for himself," Andrew said.
He noticed the room was clean, and everything was put away. A teddy bear was sitting on a chair in the corner. Serkan definitely has a girlfriend, Andrew thought.
Charley came out of the bathroom. "How close were you to him?" she asked Keene.
"Early in his training, we spent a lot of time together," he said, "but he's been much more independent lately. He practices alone. He's ready to move on and be his own sorcerer. If he loves somebody, there is no need for him to tell me, but I'm surprised he didn't."
That kind of independence sounded good to Andrew, but he knew it was years away.
The bedroom didn't contain an obvious clue about where Serkan had gone. Andrew went back to the main room where a BPI agent was working with a computer on a desk. Andrew walked over for a closer look.
