by P. G. Thomas
Now, the one person, who John considered to be both teacher and student, looked at him in pure astonishment. Gayne stood, said something, but nobody recognized the words he spoke.
Tugging on his ear, John gestured the language issue, and Gayne held up his hands, advising them to wait before he headed out of the door. When it opened, light flooded in, and they all turned to see the stroller, empty of occupants. In the middle of the room, a large tarp covered an object that they all knew to be John’s machine.
Steve looked around the room, “What the hell happened? Where are we?”
Shaking his head, Eric, being unable to believe that he was back in Calicon, looked down at the detective. “Is it Steve?” After the man had nodded, he replied, “Shut up.”
Lauren, looked at the empty stroller, “We’re back? Thank you Mother!” Then she walked over to it with Ryan.
“Did you do this?” asked a confused Eric.
“I don’t know. As I sat handcuffed to that table, I knew that John couldn’t get us back here, so, yes, I prayed to Mother. If I saw some creep put my daughters in the back of a van, I would have chased after them until I caught him. When that portal closed, I knew there was no way to get back here, but I had to.”
“John, did Mother do this?” asked Eric.
Holding up his hands, as if he was trying to grasp answers from the air, he shook his head. “I don’t know.” Seeing an empty crate against a wall, John sat down, “I just don’t know.”
“We need to find Gayne,” began Lauren. “He should have our daughters.”
When Ryan hugged her, she was unable to return the act of affection. He walked over to Steve, “Give me the key!”
“No, she’s a fugitive! I have an arrest warrant waiting for her!”
Kneeling down, Eric rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, “I don’t even know where to begin, but we have bigger problems than you right now, Steve, so just give me the damn key.”
“No!”
“Give it to me, or I’ll just take it!”
“That would be an assault on a police officer!”
Eric shook his head, “John, which has the shorter prison sentence: assault or murder?”
“Assault?”
“If they don’t find a body, they can’t prove anything,” added Ryan.
Steve had grown accustomed to the respect that his job provided him, and he also enjoyed the ability to punish those who were disrespectful. Right now, that feeling was eroding faster than a dirt bank during a spring flood. Reaching into his pocket, he handed Eric the key, who passed it to Ryan.
After removing the restraints, Ryan walked the cuffs back over to Eric, “We may want to use these on him.”
“The guy can’t walk, so he’s no threat.”
“I know, but the prick arrested my wife. Let’s see how he likes wearing these!”
Eric shook his head, “It isn’t going to happen.”
“How did we arrive in Calicon?” asked Logan. “I didn’t see a portal.”
“Don’t worry about that right now,” replied Lauren. “Let’s go find Gayne to get my daughters back.” Then she grabbed Ryan’s hand, “Our daughters.” However, as none were sure of what to do or say, the room went quiet. After a few silent seconds, her frustration released, “What’re we waiting for?”
Looking out into the hall, Eric saw several people staring at the doorway, but all were dressed differently. He pushed the door slightly closed, “I’ve no idea where he is, or even where we are. Let’s just wait a few minutes.”
“No! I want to see my daughters! NOW!”
“We can’t go out there right now! We can’t even ask anybody for directions. Just stay calm until Gayne comes back.” Eric turned his gaze to Ryan, “Sons of bitches, I knew I should’ve dropped you off and headed to the nearest bar.”
As the six scanned the room, Gayne opened the door and entered, carrying six long robes. Before it closed, Mirtza, their first protector, also entered. Having changed little, he looked several years older, a few pounds heavier, but his dark beard was back in its full glory. Standing about five feet seven inches tall, wearing a similar robe to Gayne’s, he had just finished applying the translation ointment, which he handed to John.
As John started to apply the same, Gayne, looking like he had seen a ghost, silently shook his head. “John? John Ironhouse? Is it really you? Why are you back? How did you do it?”
After applying the ointment, John handed the jar to Eric, who did the same, and then he passed it to the rest. “How did I do it? Lauren thinks that Mother brought us here.”
“I doubt that,” replied Gayne. “It is possible, but as I understand, Mother has been quiet for some time.”
“All of that can wait. Where are my daughters?” interrupted Lauren.
“Your daughters?”
She pointed to the stroller, “Yes, they were in that! Where are they?”
“I am sorry, Earth Mother. When I found that contraption, it was as you see it.”
Her face went white, “There weren’t three babies in it?”
“No.”
Lauren’s anger burst forward, “Well, somebody here has to know what happened to them and had to have seen something! Call a meeting. Gather everybody!”
“Please, calm down, Earth Mother,” Gayne pleaded. “Let us go to my office, and I will explain what has happened, and what I know.” I do not know anything. What is happening?
Eric, never thinking he would be back in Calicon, thought as the rest had. Even though their sudden arrival was shocking, the presence of the stroller suggested that the emergency was over, but Gayne’s confused response to Lauren’s questions was unexpected. He pointed to Steve. “What about him?”
Ryan held up the restraints, “Cuff him to the machine, and we’ll come back for him later.”
“That will not be necessary,” Gayne replied. “I have four students bringing a blanket, and we will take him with us. Umm—what is his name?”
“Irrelevant,” replied Ryan.
“His name is Steve,” then Eric turned to Ryan, “Just do us all a favor and calm down.”
There was a knock at the door, which Gayne moved to block, “Wait one minute.” Then he held out the robes, “You will have to put these on since those clothes will start rumors.”
Eric looked down at Steve, “What about him?”
“As well.”
Walking a robe over, Eric held out his hand, “I’ll help you sit up.”
“Is that going to hurt him?” asked Ryan.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be gentle.”
“No,” started Ryan. “Let me do it.”
Steve glared at Ryan. Bastard!
Eric reached down to the detective, “Give me your hand.”
Walking to the far side of the covered object, John raised the tarp, and in the shadows beneath it, saw his machine, but he also smelt a faint whiff of burnt electronics.
As Eric raised the detective, he bit down on his lip, silencing the screams he wanted to vocalize. After his head had poked through the robe, gathering around his waist, Eric lowered him back to the floor, pulling the front of the robe down to his feet. “Now I have to roll you onto your side.”
Steve shook his head, “Why in the name of all things sane am I letting you do this?”
“Because you don’t have a choice.” Pulling the rest of the robe down, Eric then helped him onto his back, but the expression on his face spoke of the excruciating pain.
The rest, having donned their robes, looked at Gayne. He opened the door, asking them to step out into the hall, and before she left, Lauren grabbed her purse from the bottom of the stroller. Once they were outside, the four students entered, and after instructing them to roll the prone man onto the blanket, he told them to follow them to his office. After the room was empty, he placed a gold plate with four spikes against the double doors, waved his hand over it, and the spikes penetrated into the wood of both, securing them.
Walking ove
r to John, Mirtza wrapped his arms around him, “Old friend, welcome back.”
He returned the greeting, and as they followed, Mirtza was talking, but John, confused by the current situation, never registered the words spoken. As they entered the office, Gayne walked from the back carrying a tray with eight glasses with two wine bottles. At one end of the room, a large finely crafted wooden desk sat, and a similar grand table, capable of seating twelve, was at the other end. Bookshelves covered the walls, each row arranged by the size of the contents. When the students lowered Steve beside one, all could see his look of confusion and pain.
Gayne smiled, “Well, first, welcome to my school and to the Bright Coast. I apologize as all I have is elfin-distilled wine.” Then he proceeded to pull the cork and fill the glasses.
Lauren opened her purse, pulling out a picture of her sitting in the park holding the three babies, which she had printed off the week before. Then passed it to Mirtza, the closest, “These are my daughters? You’re sure you haven’t seen them?”
Looking at it, failing to understand the identical images, he saw their clasped hands. “You and Ryan?”
She nodded, “We were married a few years ago. Yes, they’re our daughters.”
“All of them?”
“Yes, they’re triplets. Three, all born at the same time.”
Mirtza’s eyes went wide, “I was unaware that was even possible,” and then passed the picture.
Gayne looked at the photo, “I am truly sorry, Earth Mother—”
“Please don’t call me that. Lauren is fine.”
Gayne continued, “Let me start at the beginning. There was a great deal of excitement in the school this morning, which began with several teachers and researchers banging on my door. It seemed that numerous magical experiments, which functioned yesterday, would not answer the commands today. I asked Mirtza to help me investigate, but it was as they said, and none of the gold amulets in the school would transmute. Having more hosted at our stables, which we brought back immediately, they would alter accordingly. Then we noticed that the lock spells on the doors were no longer functioning, and even though the mysteries seemed to be growing, my concern was that the magic seemed to have disappeared.”
“What’s all of this talk about magic?” demanded Steve.
“Don’t worry about him,” advised Eric, who then turned to the prone detective, “For a few minutes, do me a favor and just be quiet.”
“Heading back to my office, we stopped at the room where the machine is stored. That is where I keep my surplus wine, and we decided to take some fresh inspiration back. I had asked some of the senior teachers and students to start cataloging the dispelled security, which I knew would take some time. When I went to open the door, that lock spell was also not functioning, which I always considered to be my best work. In the room, we noticed that two cases of the best wine were missing, but what we saw first shocked us as no longer was the machine hidden under the tarp, like it should have been. As well, at the back of the room, that strange contraption sat. It is an excellent wine as you can taste, yet it seemed odd. If they could negate the magic protecting it, why would they steal two cases of wine, especially with all of the gold on your machine, but Lauren, that contraption was just as you saw it, and we never touched it.”
“It’s called a stroller,” advised Ryan.
“We sent runners out, asking the security and cleaning staff to come back in, to see if they could tell us anything, but nothing unusual was reported last night or this morning.”
Lauren, starting to cry, sought comfort in the arms of Ryan. As he stroked her hair, a look unseen in four years returned. Even though the magic that fuelled him may have been absent, an injustice to the ones that he loved ignited the fuse to his emotional rage. “John, my daughters didn’t just get up and walk away! Somebody took them! How do we find them?”
Before he could answer, Gayne added, “Wait, there is more. The thought that somebody had broken into the school alarmed me, so Mirtza and I replaced the tarp over the machine, and we sent a runner to the thief guild. Advising them of the intrusion, we showed them where the crime had happened. They tried to insist it was my students, but I stood my ground, advising that I would now need to design better security. As a result, some of their customers may inquire about purchasing the same. Especially when rumors, which I said I would start, declare my school to be the only safe place in the Bright Coast and without guild protection. They asked to question the students, but they have provided no update as of yet. Heading back down to spell a new lock, to secure the door, I wanted to have one more look in the room. When I was there, I heard strange noises from the machine. Before I could pull the tarp off, there was an explosion of thunder or lightning, and I dropped the candle. In the darkness, I heard all sorts of strange noises from the machine, but then a sudden burst of two brilliant flashes caused me to stumble. When I lit the candle, I saw faces that I thought I would never see again.”
“You didn’t activate it?” asked John.
“No, we are still trying to understand some of the books you left us, and I have no comprehension of how it works.”
Mirtza looked down at his wine glass, “It was never supposed to work again. On our travels back to the Bright Coast, I threw that, I forget what you called it John, ‘Coupler’ or whatever it was, away to ensure that it would be unable to connect to the kites again. Sorry, Gayne, I never told you, but they did enough the last time, and I was always afraid that if one of the students ever found it, they might try to figure it out, without telling you.”
Steve, lying at the side of the office, rolled his eyes in frustration. “Will somebody tell me what’s going on?” He pulled out his radio, “Dispatch, dispatch. Officer being abducted. I repeat, officer being abducted.” When nobody answered, he banged it against his hand, “Dispatch, do you read me?”
Setting down his drink, Eric walked over and grabbed the radio, and throwing it across the room, it shattered into numerous pieces.
Immediately, Logan ran over to it, picking up the broken fragments of technology, which he stuffed into a pocket. Sitting down, Ryan gave him an odd look, but he understood the whispered reply. “Since I just bought a new cell phone, I’ve no intentions of leaving it here.” He nodded towards John, “When he comes looking for electronics to break, I’ll give him this thing.”
Eric walked back to the table, grabbed one of the full glasses of wine, taking it to Steve, “Here, suck on this.”
After taking a drink, Logan examined his forearms, which were absent of feather tattoos. “We’re back. Back in the lands that permit under-age drinking and armies to invade. Sons of bitches.”
The words struck a nerve with Eric, who turned to Gayne and Mirtza, “Please, tell me there are no armies this time?”
Mirtza, remembering the stories about the final battle, shook his head. “No, our biggest problem over the last year is the rain that just will not stop.”
Letting out a sigh of relief, Eric remembered that where you found rain, you also found lightning and Father, or at least, his rage.
“As long as I’m your hostage,” began Steve, “can I have some more of that fruit punch? It’s weak, but it helps with the pain.”
Eric headed over, “Anything else that we can do for you?”
“Yeah, call 911 to turn yourselves in!”
After retrieving Steve’s glass, Eric handed him his own cell phone. “Here, you can make the call yourself,” and then he went back to the table.
Examining the phone, Steve could see that it had no reception bars. “You must have one of those jammers on you.”
“No, reception in this neighborhood is poor,” advised Eric, “I think it has something to do with the location of the towers. John, where’s the nearest one?”
Unsure if he was serious or not, he thought about it for a few seconds. “There aren’t any nearby. The closest one is about...I don’t know, maybe, actually, no idea. My best guess, a million miles away. Maybe
a million light years? I could never find a planet on the star charts that had three suns.”
Steve shook his head, “You’re pulling my leg.”
“Are we?” asked Eric.
“No,” then John looked at the disfigured detective. “Before we tuck him into bed tonight, we should. If we don’t do something about his hips and knee, they may heal incorrectly.” He paused, “When we were in the stairwell, did you say you had implants?”
Steve nodded, being uncertain of the motive behind the question.
“Any idea of what materials they used?”
“It was a while ago, and GCPD was cheap. They used cobalt and chromium, but I was scheduled for a titanium upgrade next year. Why the concern for me now?”
“What does it mean?” asked Eric.
“Cobalt is the bulk of the material, which is five positions off on the periodic table. Chromium is the plating, but it’s only two away from titanium. In this world, it’s too close to call.”
Steve stared at them both, “You aren’t serious about resetting them? Look, just take me to a hospital, and I’ll tell them I took a cab.”
Eric headed over with a full glass of wine, “John, where’s the nearest hospital?”
“Probably beside the nearest cell tower?”
Handing Steve the glass, Eric grabbed his cell phone back. “Do me a favor, and remain quiet like this, or I’ll shove it in your mouth. Right now, we have bigger problems than you.” Turning back to the group, he asked, “What do we do?”
“Since you are guests of my school and in the Bright Coast,” Gayne announced, “you will stay with me. I have four free sleeping chambers, plenty of space, food, a full wine cellar, but not for much longer I expect, and servants to help look after your needs. As well, both Mirtza and I will be close by to help.”
