by Inelia Benz
She ran up the stairs and burst into the study.
Stellar sent her a wave of energy which would have left most mages breathless, Jennifer absorbed it and sent it back, making one of Stellar’s curls fall over her left eye.
“Jennifer? By all the Gods and Goddesses, it is you. This is such good fortune, please sit,” she said pointing to a chair beside her.
“I’ll stand, I want you to release Owen and Sean, and I want you to leave my baby alone.”
“Well, my dearest girl, you are nice looking too. I didn’t expect you here just yet but no matter, this is even better than expected, really. You have saved us a lot of trouble.”
Jennifer began to build a space bubble around Stellar.
Stellar brushed it away with a small flick of her fingers, looked at the younger woman with arrogance.
Jennifer smiled, now she knew how to destroy other people’s space bubbles, if Owen and Sean were in one all she had to do was to follow their trail and destroy the bubble.
Stellar looked at her, puzzled by the smile.
“So, you like a good battle Jennifer? I would love to oblige but this is a really bad time. We don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I won’t get hurt you old hag, but if you don’t return those men to me now and leave my baby alone I will send you somewhere you won’t return from, ever.”
Stellar looked at herself in the mirror, fixed the curl back into her hair and put on some lipstick.
Jennifer couldn’t make the first move, she couldn’t show how inexperienced she was, but waiting was killing her.
“I have been considered the most beautiful woman on earth by countless of generations, by countless people. I have Holy Virgins and Goddesses named after me all over the globe.”
She turned to face Jennifer.
“You on the other hand are nothing more than an ordinary looking Irish girl, your eyes are too small and you skin covered in those horrible spots, freckles, whatever.”
The feeling of ugliness and helplessness overtook Jennifer, leaving her small and frail. Owen would never love her, not after meeting Stellar.
“At least my youth is real. What do you really look like, how old are you really?”
Stellar laughed.
That one didn’t work, thought Jennifer. She had to think beyond beauty before using the magic she had just learned. Stellar was using psychology, things she knew would make a freckled girl feel bad, to make hers work.
Jennifer walked around the room, not taking her eyes off her opponent, Stellar was very tall, but nowadays that was a plus, the room was decorated in extremely good taste, Stellar was elegant, perfect.
“You are the most perfect woman I have ever seen in my life.”
“Thank you dear, your old self used to think so too.”
“Sorry?”
“I will call for tea and then we can have a civilized discussion on how we can resolve this whole mess.”
Jennifer couldn’t understand the change in the energy, it was bloated, it was confident, and it was familiar, secure.
“What do you mean by my old self?”
“Oh, just an old Greek saying my dear, it means it has always been that way.”
Jennifer sat down, she had to think of a way to rattle Stellar’s cage, she had to think of ways to make her use her magic.
“Are Owen and Sean still alive?”
“Oh yes, we couldn’t kill them even if we wanted to, it would attract the wrong type of attention from certain parties. Don’t worry, you will get them back as soon as we have what we want.”
“Heather?”
Stellar smiled.
“Tea My Lady.”
It was the butler, the type Jennifer could remember from films.
“Thank you James that will be all.”
“James, huh? The perfect butler.”
“I’ll be mother,” said Stellar filling Jennifer’s a cup with tea and handing her some biscuits.
Jennifer felt a pain deep in her heart.
Mother.
She could feel her mother. Her mother was close by, not physically, only her essence. Jennifer got up spilling her tea and biscuits all over the carpet.
“Where’s my mother! “
Stellar hushed her and gestured for her to sit down.
“Now, now, your mother is in a good place, she volunteered to go, we have not forced her to do anything she didn’t want to do.”
“What have you done to my mother Stellar?”
“Come with me, I’ll show you where she is,” she answered offering her hand.
Jennifer hesitated for a few seconds but decided it was a risk worth taking and took her hand.
They were somewhere dark. Stellar was there, other mages too, Jennifer couldn’t count them due to the darkness, they were forming a circle, in the middle of the floor was a large black whirlpool leading down, infinitely down. It oozed evil.
The Shadow, thought Jennifer.
She looked around, there was nothing to defend herself with, nothing to hold on to, the whirl was attracting her, pulling her, she was terrified.
She imagined the Virgin and Child, and held on to it, but it melted in her hands. Stellar laughed.
“Religious icons are useless, have you never read the Bible?” She said.
Jennifer was slipping. The whirl was getting larger, closer.
Concentrate, thought Jennifer, none of this is real, it’s a mental construction, the whirl stopped growing and Jennifer was able to stand up. I can beat this, she thought.
Stellar nodded to one of the other mages, he left the circle, returning a few minutes later leading Esther by the hand.
“Don’t hurt my mother if you know what’s good for you Stellar.”
Stellar smiled and pushed Esther down into the whirlpool.
NO!
The order was final, rage destroyed the circle, destroyed the room. Jennifer could see Stellar trying to pull away from her, trying to take her hand back, back in the real world, she could also see the whirlpool, the blackness pulling, getting bigger by the second, her mother was on the edge, holding on, telling Jennifer to get away.
“NO! Not my mother you bitch, you don’t touch my mother!”
She looked into Stellar’s eyes, their hands locked. Stellar was saying something, calling someone, Joitan. She was calling Joitan to save her, help her get away before it was too late.
She went into Stellar’s mind, chasing her into herself, absorbing everything therein, consuming the older mage, taking her magic.
“Jennifer, get away, baby, run, leave, please listen to me!”
It was her mother. Back into the blackness she reached for her mother, they locked eyes. Her mother was dying, going into hell.
“Don’t leave me mom, please don’t leave me, I love you.”
The whirlpool shrank. Hope and realization entered Jennifer’s heart. She loved her mother more than anyone in the whole universe. The whirlpool shrank to a small black dot. Light engulfed them.
“Mom, don’t die. Don’t leave me please, take me with you.”
The dot disappeared. Esther kissed her on the forehead and hugged her tightly.
“I’m so sorry my love, I thought I was doing the right thing. They said I could take your place.”
“Mommy, please don’t go, don’t leave me all alone. Take me with you.”
“No, you have a young baby to take care of. Stay with her, bring her up to be as wonderful as you are.”
“Stellar was going to kill her. She wanted my baby so she could kill her to release the Thirteenth Mage monster. She wanted to kill my baby.”
The room disappeared.
Esther lay in a hospital bed, tubes all over her.
Jennifer looked around, she had transported to the hospital in mind and body, it was probably one of Stellar’s skills.
She took her mother’s hand and stroked her hair. Her body was still alive but her soul had already left.
“Oh, I didn’t see you come
in, are you a relative?”
“I’m her daughter.”
“Jennifer Stone?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll call the doctor, wait here, he won’t be long,” the nurse said, leaving quickly out of the room.
The doctor arrived a few minutes later, he reminded Jennifer of the young woman Owen had met on the plane. He looked young but seemed ancient.
He reached for her and hugged her.
Jennifer collapsed into his arms and cried like she hadn’t cried since she was a baby.
“My mother’s dead.”
The doctor let her cry, then helped her to a chair.
“Your mother is on life support, we kept her here for you to be able to say goodbye to her, but she has already left us, there is absolutely nothing we can do. Stay as long as you want, you have as long as you want. When you are ready let us know, okay?”
Jennifer nodded.
“I’ll leave you two alone then,” he said and stood up.
Jennifer nodded, the doctor stroked her head and left.
She stayed all day and all night, holding her mother’s empty hand, searching through her new knowledge of a way to bring her back. But there was nothing.
She left the room and signed the forms, then made her way back to Oak Place.
The house was empty. Untouched. It looked as though nothing had happened there at all.
Harry Johnson arrived an hour later, his young assistant right behind him pushing Heather along in her pushchair.
“Oh, Heather,” she said grabbing her baby, kissing her and hugging her until there were no more kisses or hugs left in her to give.
“No, grandma is not there, she’s gone somewhere else,” she said to Heather’s incomprehension of her grandmother’s absence.
“I offer my sincerest condolences Jennifer, it is a terrible shock. Such a young and energetic woman.”
“Thank you. I was wondering if you could take care of all the necessary arrangements.”
“Yes, of course.”
Jennifer looked at her small baby, looked into her soul. There was no evil there, only love and light. Her skills were infinitely small.
Heather was not the Thirteenth Mage. How could they release it by killing her baby?
She closed her eyes and held her baby tight. Esther had died, Sean had done a terrible thing and Owen had gone missing, all for nothing. They had the wrong baby.
“Bastards. They’ll pay for this.”
“Excuse me?”
“I need you to take Heather again Mr. Johnson, only for a couple of days, there are things I have to sort out… In Ireland.”
“Yes of course, you take your time. Mrs. Johnson is delighted with Heather. We didn’t know whether to get a nanny, it all happened so quickly. Paul here has been a life saver.”
“Jennifer?”
It was Owen. It took Jennifer a couple of seconds to absorb everything he knew.
“Owen, I have to go now.”
“What’s happened Jennifer? You are upset.”
“I have to go now.”
Jennifer kissed Heather goodbye and strapped her back into the pushchair.
“I want you to know that Heather is Owen’s daughter,” she said turning to Harry.
“I knew it!”
The old man smiled at the young baby, then looked back at Jennifer concerned.
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“Owen might be arriving here soon, he’ll want to see his baby, it isn’t right for me to deny him his rights.”
It was good to make the old man happy like that, she didn’t know of any other way to repay him.
“Yes, of course. Don’t worry, I will take care of everything.”
She waited until the men drove her baby away then went back into the house.
There was only one way to stop the Thirteen now, she needed to get hold of the Staff. She would undo all the damage they had done, she would bring her mother back, she would put it all right.
But first she had to go to meet the enemy and take their skills. She tapped into her new acquired knowledge and located the main Shadow headquarters. It was in one of the other dimensions, they met in the Astral plane. Clever really.
She went into Owen’s study, lay down and detached her essence from her body, she heard voices, all around her, people chatting, then silence, she imagined she had eyes and could now see. Around her there mages were standing, staring, more were arriving as the seconds ticked by. Some of them looked angry, others frightened, and others simply grinned confidently.
One of them, a man, shouted and launched an attack against her. She absorbed his magic and learned it. This seemed to be a cue to the rest who also began the attack. Jennifer defended herself easily, every step lighter than the rest. She worked through them, touching them, absorbing their knowledge and skills.
Dark swirls covered her hands and started growing into her arms every time she touched one of the dark mages. She tried to rub it off but the swirls moved and grew.
“STOP.”
The mages parted, an old man stared at Jennifer, he was evil. She felt frightened.
“I know you,” she said. She had seen him in her nightmares, it was Joitan, he was coming for her.
“You can’t possess me Joitan, no one can.”
The old man laughed, slowly his features changed, Jennifer found herself looking at her exact copy, a clone. She stared at her mirror image remembering who she really was, how her identity as Jennifer was small and weak, not a real identity at all.
“You are not me!” she shouted looking away from the eyes, which absorbed her, “I won’t let you,” she added and tried to return to her body.
She felt herself falling, fast, uncontrolled, right behind her came Joitan, if he overtook her all would be lost.
She fell into her body and every cell hurt, breathless and dizzy she struggled to pull her bodies back together.
Joitan was there, ready, stronger, pushing her out. She had to do something quickly, something drastic, she had to destroy him. She had to destroy herself. But not now, not while he was powerful, not after he had absorbed the power of all the mages she had touched. No she had to do it before she came into her powers. She had to destroy herself in the past.
The Staff. Would it work?
Looking into the future, the power of prophecy was now hers. She wondered whom she had taken it from.
There was more than one future, there were alternatives, all muddled, confused, there was a world filled with strife, war, destruction, hunger, death, pollution. It was her world. Was it worth saving? She didn’t know. Another was an ordered world, mindless, unified under one leader, the end of free will, the end of hunger, the end of war, the end of evolution. Which was best? Where the Shadow truly evil? All the wanted was a world that worked like a finely tuned clock. But it couldn’t be true, the Shadow fed from suffering, it was its only source of nourishment, all the rest was additional. It would not eliminate suffering it would propagate it, find new ways to make it grow.
No.
She wouldn’t allow them to continue, they had killed her mother, and they would carry on killing.
“She was just a pawn, not our true mother,” it was Joitan. His voice was her voice. She remembered being him, she remembered the world so many thousands of years in the past, she remembered other lives, in other places, as other beings. His essence was her essence, they were one and the same... yet, he was not her, not quite, not in this life. He was getting stronger, gaining territory. It was time to act.
She ran to her room, grabbed a few personal things, Jennifer things, her personal music player, her favorite music, she thought of Skerries and imagined herself there.
The beach was deserted, the Staff was near, she put on her earbuds, and switched on the music drowning Joitan’s voice inside her mind. It wouldn’t be long now.
Chapter 19
There was rubble all around. Owen checked his brother for broken bones, and then carr
ied him out of the crater. The house was in ruins, the magic protection was gone. He got Sean onto the lawn and brought him back round.
Sean sat up confused.
“They are all gone, something big happened here, someone has taken all the magic out of the place, it’s quite amazing,” Owen informed his elder brother.
He felt Jennifer in his mind, in his very being, “Jennifer?”
“Owen,” she replied, hesitated, he felt her hesitation and felt desperate to be with her, “I have to go now,” she added.
“What’s happened Jennifer? You are upset.”
“I have to go now.”
“Jennifer!”
But there was no answer.
He searched for her, it was useless, she was gone.
He sat next to Sean who wasn’t fully conscious yet. The air was thick with dust and smoke. He had to take stock and see what he should do next, what he had to do about Sean, work out a way to find Jennifer.
One thing he was sure about was that he was now out of the battle, Jennifer had felt stronger than he had ever been, her power still resonated in his body.
His brother was mage, but his skills were not active, he had been kept in stasis, not allowed to develop either his skills or his mind. His thoughts were basic, immature, and innocent.
Sean looked around at the devastation in disbelief.
“It’s all my fault Owen, if I hadn’t been tempted to come to earth, if I hadn’t made a deal with them Jennifer would be okay now, none of this would have happened.”
“Don’t worry, you are not to blame. Ignorance is the real culprit and it is something which you can remedy,” Owen said, helping his brother to his feet.
First things first, thought Owen, he had to get them out of there. Traveling via conventional means was not necessary. There was so much energy displacement that a little more wouldn’t make any difference at all.
“Okay, we need to get you started on your abilities, if we don’t then you won’t survive very long in this world. Give me your hand, this is called teletransportation nowadays.”
Sean felt the world being sucked from under his feet, his being disappearing, and then coming back to him again.
The room was dark, the air thick and hot, the curtains were drawn. Sean could see his brother beside him, looking at him, smiling. Sean didn’t like the darkness, he tried to make light come, and then he remembered that in this world his thoughts did not command the environment. He went up to the window and opened the curtains and the window to let some fresh air in. A wave of humid heat hit him, taking his breath away. He tried to adjust the temperature but then remembered how cold he had been those months in Ireland, the fact that he couldn’t make the necessary heat adjustments had taken him by surprise then as well. The heat in this planet was definitely not adjustable. He closed the window.
