Release Of Magic: The Revelations of Oriceran (The Leira Chronicles Book 2)

by Martha Carr

  “In case you have to rally the troops?” Leira cocked her head to one side and gave him a crooked smile. “At an old warehouse on Ben White Boulevard. You didn’t think they’d talk about all of this in a public place, did you?”

  “Why are you even considering it? I thought you loved your job.”

  “Did and do, very much. But, my ability to hide what I can do is getting harder every day. Time is going to run out on me. The meeting’s in a couple hours. Apparently, they’re already in town. You’ll have to go to the basketball game with Toni and her friends without me. Go, you’ll have fun. You liked them, you know you did.”

  “I do need to visit home again, and soon.”

  “I figured.”

  The troll had managed to open the refrigerator again and this time, scrambled up to the top shelf where he was peeling American cheese slices as fast as he could, stuffing them into his mouth.

  “Let him. Those have been in there forever. Look how happy he is. Is he even chewing?” Leira winced and looked away as the troll opened his mouth to shove in another piece, exposing the wet glob of cheese already in his craw.

  Correk picked up the troll by the scruff of his neck, grabbing the cheese at the same time, and deposited both in the new round plastic blue toy box Leira had gotten for the tiny beast.

  “You’re in more danger around the ladies than I will be meeting the general today. It’s clear they need me. They won’t want to harm me.”

  “It’s also clear they know a lot about you.”

  “It’s a complicated world. Between human technology and magic, that was inevitable. Besides, magic leaves a trail and I left a couple of good ones lately. Somebody talked.” She shrugged. “It was bound to happen.”

  “You look too unconcerned for my taste.”

  “I’m still bringing my gun and my spidey senses, along with my magic. I’m ready.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Believe so. I’m still a damn good detective, just enhanced. It’ll be okay. Thanks for caring.” She patted his arm, trying to reassure him.

  Correk shook his head. “No, it’s not the job. You think you’ve got a way to help your mother.”

  “That took you long enough. Of course I do, but it’s still true that this could turn into a good move for me… if they’re willing to play things my way. They should be a big enough bully to clear my mother’s name and erase any record of her ever being diagnosed as crazy.”

  The troll belched cheese, giving his belly a satisfied rub.

  “Maybe I’ll bring the troll,” she said.

  “Much better plan.”

  ***

  Correk worked his way through the crowds in the stands at the Erwin Center, up to the rows near the top that held all the people from the Jackalope. The game was already underway and everyone was yelling and cheering for the Longhorns men’s basketball team.

  People were on their feet shouting as Jack and Larry waved to him to sit with them.

  “Sorry about the nosebleed section,” said Jack. “It was the best we could do. The Longhorns have some devoted fans. Glad you could make it! Where’s Leira?”

  “She had a pressing matter come up and sends her regrets,” said Correk, taking a seat. “What are those men down on that court doing? Trying to put that orange ball in the net over there?”

  “Where could you have possibly been all these years that you don’t recognize basketball? Don’t you guys watch our sports from over there?” Larry jumped to his feet, yelling, “Go! Go! Go!”

  Correk stood back up to get a better view and saw a player wearing a Longhorns jersey run down the court, throw the ball to someone else, who threw the ball from the far corner by the basket. It swished in, making a satisfying circle at the top of the net before dropping straight down.

  “Three points!” Jack, yelled, holding up his fist for Correk to bump.

  “This one I’ve seen,” said Correk, smiling as he held up his fist.

  “Hey, Correk.” A row of women sitting in front of them turned, almost as one, smiling at him. Some of them waved.

  “Loved your unicorn!”

  “The mooing was the best part!”

  Correk could feel his face warming up.

  “You were apparently a big hit at the party. The women have been jawing about you ever since.” Jack’s smile quickly turned to frustration and he jumped to his feet again. “That was traveling! I can see it from here!”

  The women frowned at Jack before turning the charm offensive back on, asking Correk if he was enjoying the game.

  “Can I get you anything?” asked an older brunette who had juggled fireballs at the Jackalope while doing the limbo.

  “Watch out for those witches. They’re man eaters.” Larry gave him a friendly elbow.

  Correk settled back into his seat and started twisting his fingers together in his lap, creating a small fireball. He cupped it in the palms of his hands, leaned down and whispered a spell.

  The line of women in front of him abruptly looked around as if they had forgotten something and turned back to the game, chatting with each other about who hooked up with who at the party.

  “Very clever,” Jack gave him a wink. “Very wise, too. You’ll have to teach me that one.”

  “Yeah, you need a spell to get the women to notice you first.” Larry laughed. “Now, can we finally focus on the game?”

  ***

  There was a makeshift meeting room set up on one side of the empty warehouse that consisted of a card table and chairs. The only people present were the general, one aide and Leira. The general’s hat sat in front of him, neatly lined up next to his phone.

  Leira sat up straight, her badge clearly visible on her belt, right next to her gun.

  “I realize this looks fairly unremarkable.” The general looked at the surroundings. “But it’s for the best. The less attention we attract the better. I’m told this building is secure, so nothing we say can be heard. You can speak freely, and so can I. That’s all we really need. There’s not even any phone service. We own this building.”

  “Tell me why I’m here.” Leira sat forward, her face set in a fierce stare. When in a corner of any kind, get out of it as quickly as you can. Leave the fear behind. Hagan taught her that the first week on the job.

  “I was told you’re good at what you do and are not easily intimidated. I can see that’s true. That’s good.” He sat back in his chair. “I’ll keep it short. There’s not really much to say at this point, anyway. The U.S. government has become aware of an event that is going to happen about twenty years in the future. Ah, good, you already know what I’m talking about.” He held up his hand. “It’s alright, I was hoping you’d know. I have to be back in Washington very shortly and the less I have to explain, the better. Now, there’s a lot of anxiety and confusion, as you might imagine, about what it means to have gates opening up between two worlds that neither side can control.”

  “It’s not the first time this has happened,” said Leira.

  “So I’ve been told. But as a people, human beings have short memories and we tend to rewrite what we don’t like, making it even harder to learn from history.” He smiled at Leira. “I have several daughters, you know. Your determination reminds me of them.”

  “What is it you want me to do?”

  “Right, good, keeping me on track. Eye on the prize. Of course. You have a unique combination of being both human and well, alien. Magical, from the other side. Your abilities have been noticed right up the chain of command within a very small, but high-ranking group. You are gifted at pulling pure power from the Earth, straight through you and channeling it. I’ve read about others like you but only from thousands of years ago.”

  That can’t be true, thought Leira. “You still haven’t gotten to what it is you want me to do.” She drew her brows together, studying his face. Friend or foe? she wondered. Still can’t tell.

  “Humor me for one more minute. A little background so you can see we’ve don
e our homework. You are already a peace officer, used to working as part of a chain of command, and doing it very successfully. That gives certain people, myself included, a higher comfort level.”

  “I won’t go off on my own agenda.”

  “Precisely. I like your rigorous honesty. Now is not the time for hidden agendas or polite truths. We’ve known about the magical beings among us for decades.”

  “Not always with the best results for the magical beings.” Leira clenched her fists, thinking of the stories she had already heard from others at the Jackalope. And her mother.

  “Unfortunately true. But we’ve all evolved to a different place. We want the Golden Age, that’s what it’s called I believe, to go as smoothly as possible. If that’s to happen we need someone to bridge the gap between human beings and this other world. Between Earth and Oriceran.”

  “You know the name of the world.”

  “We know a lot, which we will share with you as soon as you accept the position of liaison, working for Earth on our behalf to set ground rules that everyone can live with.”

  “You’re hoping to use my abilities to help you get your way.”

  “We only want to ensure the quality of life here on Earth is not threatened. We are not interested in being an aggressor.”

  “Fair enough. I have a few conditions.”

  “Name them.”

  “I stay here in Austin, I name my own salary, and you take care of a personal problem I’m having with the bureaucracy of a hospital.”

  “You’re referring to your mother, Eireka Berens. I told you, we have done all our homework. What is it you want? For her to be released? Done. We can have her out this afternoon.” He waved for his aide.

  Leira was stunned, the breath knocked out of her. She sat still for a moment. There had to be more to this deal.

  “I want more than that. I want any record of her ever being declared insane, erased. I want any mention, anywhere that she made of Oriceran or elves or magic erased for good. No trace anywhere. I want a new history in place that says she’s been living a quiet life, here in Austin the entire fifteen years.”

  “That scenario would actually be better for all of us. Consider it done. Was that it?”

  “One last thing. I retain the right to say no to any directive I find unethical or that crosses the line, and I decide where the line is.”

  The general looked momentarily angry but just as quickly, let it go. “We may not have the ability to speak a few words into the air and make something appear, but as a race, we rise to the occasion quite brilliantly, more times than not. And, you are still part human, along with your mother. Somewhere inside of you, you know this to be true.”

  Leira waited patiently for him to answer. He who speaks first loses.

  “Fine, agreed. As if we could make you, anyway. As the gates open your power will only increase. Better we learn to trust each other now. Have we reached an agreement?”

  “Free my mother. I’ll come to work for you under the terms and conditions we discussed. I assume I’ll be reporting directly to you.”

  “And only me. There are only a handful of people who will know of our arrangement. For now, that’s best for everyone.”

  “I’ll get you the name of the director at the hospital.”

  “No need, we already have it. I took the initiative to start the paperwork before you came in the door. It was going to be my bargaining chip but you made things easy for both of us. I’ll have your mother out of the psychiatric hospital by the morning at the latest, free and clear. You’ll start on Monday. We can have someone speak to your Captain Napora.”

  “There’s one other matter. It won’t be quite as easy,” Leira added, pulling out her phone. It was an idea so big, she didn’t share it with Correk so he couldn’t talk her out of it. The general was about to find out what determined really looked like. “I’m texting you a file. It’s a carefully curated list of other magical beings that are being held in mental hospitals as well, all over the country. They’ll all need to be freed, given a clean slate. Then,” she nodded solemnly, “we’ll have a deal. You see, in my community, we don’t make the same divisions you make. All of them are my family. All of them need to be freed.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  There was only a three-quarter moon hanging over the hill country of Central Texas. Even that was covered in clouds, making the stars shine brightly above Lavender Rock. McKinley Park had been closed for hours, and the last stragglers had gotten down and driven home after the park ranger herded them all toward the exit.

  He knew to always check the rock last. It was one of the first things he was told when he got the job.

  The small group waited hours before hiking into the park, leaving their cars behind in a subdivision a mile up the road. They used only small penlights to guide their way, to ensure that no one would come and check because they saw a beam of light moving through the woods.

  Even in the darkness, Lavender Rock was easy to see among the trees. The pale lavender color sparkled under the stars and the kemana glowed from deep within the rock. The six people who stopped at the base stared up, taking in the sight before them, single file, they started to climb, using the natural stairs the fragmented rock provided.

  They were a faction of the new followers of Rhazdon, chosen to deliver the necklace to the new priest in Oriceran. The leaders of the movement who had planned and executed the theft were still in hiding from the Order. Their children and younger members were to finish the mission.

  Once the group was on the flat shelf at the top they gathered in a circle and the leader, a half-Light Elf, pulled off his backpack, searching for a plastic container of blue crystals.

  “Show me the crystals you have left. You couldn’t have used them all. Don’t hold back any of them. It’ll take every last one for us to get a message across the veil. Even here.” As he spoke, they could see that his tongue was still a sparkling blue, but the color was fading and with it, the energy they had gathered into themselves from the last ritual.

  “I used some to pass an exam. Just… just a couple,” said a nervous female who was part Wood Elf. She pulled out an HEB plastic grocery bag and went to the center of the circle, pouring out the contents.

  “That’s alright Rachel. I told you we could use some of them. We all have needs. We’ve been waiting so long for this. I just asked you to try and be conservative. You’re fine.”

  “Why can’t we use the necklace to send a message? It has more than enough power,” said a brash, spirited young man, who was part Atlantean, with a little gnome mixed in to temper his personality. It wasn’t helping much.

  The leader stood up and walked to the center, adding his pile of crystals to the girl’s. “You just explained why we can’t do that. It’s far more powerful than anything else we’ve ever seen. We’d be more likely to blow ourselves up and drill a hole right through Lavender Rock than get a message to our redeemer in Oriceran. We’ve been tasked with getting the necklace, not using the necklace.” He turned to the rest of the group. “Now, pony up. We don’t know how long we have up here.”

  One by one they stood up and went to the center of the circle pouring out blue crystals.

  A young man with spiky purple hair and some Arpak blood opened his hand to let out the five crystals he still possessed. “Sorry,” he said, sheepishly. “Had a rager. Things got out of hand.”

  Once the remaining crystals were gathered, everyone joined hands, forming a tight circle around them.

  “Now, focus. Let the energy flow through you. No resistance.”

  “Dude, don’t say that. Now, that’s all I can think about,” said the part-Arpak. The girl next to him slapped the back of his head and took his hand again. “Think about that instead,” she snapped.

  They closed their eyes and gradually, the crystals began to glow.

  “Focus,” commanded the half Light Elf.

  The crystals turned to a blue metallic liquid yet again, droplets ra
cing around until they came together as a pool, turning into a window, rising into the air, and giving a glimpse to the other side. To Oriceran.

  On the other side stood an old gnome in a cloak with the hood up, his face hidden in the shadows.

  “Did you get it?” he demanded. “Show it to me. Prove it!”

  The leader hesitated, not sure if he should break the circle.

  “Prove it! Now! I will hold it open from here. Do it quickly!”

  The half-Light Elf let go and grabbed his backpack, digging quickly through the contents, berating himself for not having it ready. “There it is,” he said, relieved. He held up the heavy gold chain and let the diamond-shaped crystal dangle.

  “Closer,” the gnome demanded.

  The man stepped closer to the small opening, peering into the darkness, wanting a glimpse of a world he had never seen before. It was hard to see anything but a large, stone arch. He held the necklace up closer and was about to shine his penlight on it when the gnome reached through the portal and grabbed the necklace, snatching it from his hand.

  The startled man stepped back, not sure what to do next. “What?”

  “You’ve done well,” said the gnome, smiling as he looked at the artifact in his hands. “You have taken us so much closer, and we will rise again.”

  The half-Light Elf felt a sense of relief flood him. He opened his mouth to ask, what next, but the portal zipped shut without warning. The group was left standing on Lavender Rock in the middle of the night with no idea of a plan.

  “That was harsh.”

  “We should get going.”

  “Yeah, I have an exam tomorrow.”

  “My mom’s expecting me home soon. You do not want to leave her waiting for news.”

  “Fine,” said the young leader. “I suppose we did what we came here to do,” he added sullenly.

  “It’s not our last mission, Jake,” Rachel said, putting on her backpack. “This is just the beginning. It was a success. That’s a good thing. The rise of Rhazdon’s message. We were a part of the beginning!”