Orson

by David Delaney

  "World war one? He wasn't that old." Aunt Tina looked at each of us. "Are you trying to say he was immortal or something?" All I could do was shrug.

  Elyse stepped up to explain. "Society members, people who have magic, they, we live for a long time."

  Aunt Tina was stunned. "You're telling me he was, what, over a hundred years old?"

  "More like four, maybe five hundred years old," Lucy said in her no nonsense tone.

  It was Aunt Tina's turn to sit with her mouth open wide in shock. I understood the feeling, I was still getting used to the idea that there were people walking around that pretty much were going to live forever and that I could now count myself among those ranks.

  "What happened to dear uncle Jacob?" Lucy asked.

  It took Aunt Tina a moment to find her voice, but she managed a weak, "he died in a plane crash."

  "A plane crash? I highly doubt that," Lucy scoffed. "He probably faked his death and is still walking around. Interesting."

  "Okay, so we know there's a Society member in my family tree. Would that result in what's going on with me?" I needed answers. I'd accepted I was a shape-shifter and even the Ollphiest but I needed more specifics. Could something as simple as a make-out session with my girlfriend really be the cause?

  "That's an excellent question," Lucy conceded. "The problem is, we don't know exactly what you are. That idiot, Tommy, keeps shouting about legendary monsters. And your dad, Elyse, is doing some real fast talking about how Orson is just a shape-shifter who had a delayed onset of ability." Lucy looked between Elyse and me, hoping for a reaction, but we kept our poker faces on, so she added, "I think we all know that's complete BS. So, Orson, what are you?"

  This was one of those moments you read about on Facebook, a moment that would, depending on what I said in the next few minutes, be life altering.

  "I'm the Ollphiest."

  "The all-feast?" Wyatt tried to get his mouth around the word.

  "Ollphiest," I corrected.

  "What the hell's an Ollphiest?" Lucy asked.

  And so I explained. Elyse helped me keep the story as fairly linear and concise as possible. Lucy, Wyatt, and Aunt Tina listened without interrupting even once. There were a couple of times when I thought Lucy was going to say something, but instead she would just grip her chair a little tighter. The story didn't take long. It had only been a day, and I finished with the blood mage attack at my house. I took Elyse's hand when I mentioned her mom.

  "Holy crap," said Wyatt.

  "Yes, indeed." Lucy stood abruptly, pacing around the small sitting area. "You're impervious to even death magic? You're absolutely sure?"

  "Yeah, pretty sure."

  "I can see why the shifters want to keep you a secret; well, with the exception of Tommy. You're a game changer."

  "Why? What does that even mean? I'm willing to live by the Society rules or laws or whatever?"

  "Your aunt alluded to it earlier. There's a rift in the Society. A separatist group, a cabal, is trying to take control of the ruling council. There have been random attacks, just like you described, that can only mean the cabal has aligned itself with blood mages. Some fear this will lead to an all-out civil war within the Society."

  "Can't the Society just arrest or, I don't know, take out the cabal members?" I asked.

  "Um, the definition of cabal means secret," Wyatt offered.

  "You're telling me there's a secret society within your secret society?" I threw my hands up in exasperation. "Fantastic."

  "Are you saying that Tommy and Kyle are part of this cabal? Elyse leaned forward. "Do my parents . . . does my dad know about this?"

  "Nobody outside the ruling council knows. They've recruited a few trusted people," Lucy nodded her head toward Wyatt, "but someone is leaking information. It seems the council itself may have been compromised. As far as Tommy and Kyle I don't know."

  "So what now? If the Society isn't safe, what options do we have?"

  Lucy stopped pacing. "We have each other."

  "Each other? Are you saying you believe us and even more importantly, that you trust us?"

  "You could have killed me earlier, easily. Why didn't you?

  "I don't know? Instinct? I had the thought that you're supposed to be one of the good guys."

  Lucy smiled at me. "I am. We are the good guys, and we need your help. Will you help us?" Wow. Lucy sounded almost vulnerable; it seemed under the tough leather exterior there was a real person.

  "If you're right and the Society is compromised, how would this work?"

  "After the events of the past day, the cabal will have to lie low for a while. There are still those we can trust within the Society. I want to take you in; we'll need an excellent story because we can't tell them the entire truth, but I suggest we work from inside the Society. They have resources we'll need. What do you think?"

  "We get a vote?" Lucy just kept surprising me.

  "Of course you do. We're a team now."

  I turned to Elyse, and she nodded. I wasn't sure what we would do with Aunt Tina. She had no super-powers to protect her, and it seemed she would become a target of anyone trying to get to me.

  "My aunt?"

  "I can take care of . . ." Aunt Tina started to wind up into mom mode, but Lucy cut her off.

  "She goes into the Society's version of witness protection."

  "Is that safe, with the whole cabal thing?"

  Aunt Tina jumped up, standing between Lucy and me. "Now wait just one―"

  "Absolutely, it involves a spell that I'll cast myself that will render her invisible to the Society. I'd be the only one who can find her."

  Aunt Tina poked my chest. With all the height I'd gained, she had to stand on her toes. "Orson damn it, stop ignoring me."

  I grabbed her gently by the shoulders, "Aunt Tina, this is beyond our control. I can't stop being who I am, what I am. If we're ever going to be safe, I have to fight, and I can't do that if you're constantly in danger."

  Aunt Tina's eyes welled with tears. "I'm supposed to protect you, not the other way around."

  I pulled her into hug. "I know, and you've been the best mom I could ever have hoped for, but it's time for me to take care of you now."

  I looked at Lucy over the top of Aunt Tina's head. "What do we do first?"

  CHAPTER 21

  Lucy convinced us we needed to report to the Society immediately and that it would look better if we walked in of our own accord. She and Wyatt would give testimony on our behalf, and she was fairly certain she could sway the council to her way of thinking.

  "Fairly certain?" I didn't like the sound of that. Fairly certain left a whole lot of room for uncertainty.

  "You will have to trust me. I know two of the seven council members are completely trustworthy. They will keep control. And we know if any cabal members have infiltrated the council, the last thing they will do is draw attention to themselves."

  Elyse and I talked it over for a minute. Her dad was still at the L.A. Society headquarters, so we'd have another ally on our side as we made our case.

  Aunt Tina would have to stay at the Theater. Lucy was convinced the council would let us plead our case, but their patience had its limits and waltzing into Society headquarters with a mundane, even someone with Aunt Tina's unique history, would push them over the edge.

  It took some convincing. I didn't want to leave Aunt Tina alone and unprotected.

  "I warded this building myself. It is the safest place, not only in Los Angeles but in the entire SoCal region."

  "If I've learned one thing in the past day, it's that wards can be broken, with little effort."

  Lucy's mouth snapped shut and her jaw flexed. Oops, I think I had hit a sore spot.

  "Yeah, Orson, dude, that's not a normal thing," Wyatt said lightly. "Breaking magical wards usually takes multiple mages working together, and even then, they aren't always successful. I think your," he hooked his hands into claws and growled, "Ollphiest thingy has given you a skewed idea on h
ow powerful magic really is."

  "I'd say so," Lucy said, through gritted teeth.

  "Well, I'd feel more comfortable if Wyatt stayed with Aunt Tina." I looked at Wyatt, eyebrows raised in hope.

  "If that will make you feel better, then I'll stay, no problem. Lucy?"

  "Fine. But if the council demands to hear your testimony, you'll have to come immediately," Lucy conceded.

  "Absolutely." Wyatt beamed at Aunt Tina. I think the kid genuinely like my aunt.

  "Aunt Tina, you good with this?"

  "Yes, I'll be fine. Go, please."

  "Okay."

  "Excellent," Wyatt said, giving me an enthusiastic high five.

  That's how Elyse and I found ourselves folded into Lucy's car — a tiny convertible Mini-Cooper. With my new super-sized body, I would only fit in the back lying across the seat, my knees pulled in tight to my chest. Even Elyse found the car uncomfortably tight.

  Los Angeles is infamous for its traffic; it is almost constant and always relentless, except for the middle of the night or the early predawn hours. So, with the roads clear, the trip from North Hollywood was quick, especially since we were only traveling to Downtown, a trip of less than twenty miles.

  "How is it that the headquarters for a secret society is located in one of the largest metro areas in the country?" I asked, as Lucy pulled onto the freeway.

  "Where should it be located?"

  "I don't know? It just seems that Downtown isn't that secret."

  "Magic, Orson. Remember they're protected by magic," said Elyse.

  Even with the knowledge of where we were going, I was still shocked when Lucy pulled into the parking garage of a large, modern, glass and steel building.

  "You're kidding me?" I said. "This is it? This looks like a tech company or something."

  "What did you expect, Hogwarts?" Lucy smirked at me in the rearview mirror.

  I grinned. I was kind of impressed that she could pull off a pop-culture reference, because she was usually so stiff and serious.

  I let my magical senses open up and the magic hit me like a tidal wave. The building was a fortress. I watched as Lucy drove down the ramp into the garage, as intricate warding magic opened like a series of gates, one after the other. I glanced behind us and watched as they all slammed closed in sequence behind us.

  Oh boy.

  There was a welcoming party of a dozen people, who could only be guards, waiting at the bottom of the ramp. I scanned them: no shifters, all mages, and from the energy swirling around them, they were juiced up and ready to rumble.

  "Um, Lucy."

  "Stay calm. It's protocol."

  "Everyone got the memo right? They know we come in peace?"

  "Of course. We wouldn't have made it as far as the front of the building, let alone into the garage. It's cool, really," Lucy assured us. "Just don't get twitchy and we're golden."

  Lucy parked the car, and we pulled ourselves out of the ridiculously sized clown car. I groaned as I stretched and popped my back. Our welcoming party spread to let us through to the underground entrance. There were two elevators waiting for us: six of the guards stepped into an elevator with us and the other six took the second elevator.

  Lucy acknowledged none of the guards, so Elyse and I kept quiet also, but we did clasp pinky fingers in solidarity. The elevator rose, swift and smooth, to the top floor. The doors slid open, and I felt Elyse's finger tighten on mine. Yeah, it was quite a sight.

  The doors opened onto one vast room. It was cavernous. The entire thing was covered in marble — floors, ceiling, walls — and intricately carved columns were spaced evenly around the perimeter. Those were more than decoration; they looked structural. The columns were also covered with inscribed runes that were more than just ornamental; they literally glowed with power. I've never been to Rome or Greece, but I had taken an Art History class and this room would rival anything those ancient civilizations built.

  In the center of the room was the largest table I'd ever seen. It looked like it was carved from one massive piece of wood — a redwood tree, maybe. There were seven people standing around the table — the council, obviously. I was a little bummed out they weren't all dressed in robes like Dumbledore or the Volturi. Nope. Expensive business suits all around — they looked like hedge-fund managers.

  Or, even worse, politicians.

  Now that I thought about it, that's exactly what they were - the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the magic world, all rolled into one ruling body.

  Scary.

  Movement to the right caught our attention. It was Mr. Kelly; he was hurrying toward us. Elyse released my pinky and rushed to meet her dad. They both sobbed as they came together, and my heart hurt for them. They whispered to one another. I would've expected an echo in a chamber this size, but I realized, even with my enhanced hearing, I couldn't hear their words.

  Interesting.

  It must have been some kind of warding spell, so that people could have private conversations if needed. I wondered why it was working on me, with my unique abilities. I reached out around me, searching the rivers of energy, wondering if I could pinpoint that specific ward and disable it. As if it knew I was looking for it, the energy strand representing the sound-dampening ward — what else was I supposed to call it? — became discernible from all the other magic swirling around. I poked at it with my energy and realized I could disable it if I wanted to.

  "What the hell are you doing?" Lucy whispered out of the side of her mouth.

  I stopped poking at the strand and pulled my energy back in. "Sorry, I was just looking."

  "Well, knock it off."

  I had to control myself, to consciously will my body not to react when I saw Tommy walking toward Mr. Kelly and Elyse. He was making like he wanted to console Elyse also, but his eyes kept flicking toward me. I didn't need my magic spidey-sense to see the malice in them.

  Elyse pulled back from her dad, and even though I couldn't make out what she was saying, it was clear she was not happy. The three of them huddled together for another moment, their angry whispers sounded like buzzing insects.

  One of the council members, a tall woman with dark hair, had had enough. "If you please, we would like to get started, now." So, the ward must be of the customizable variety, because her voice carried around the chamber like she was using a megaphone. She was definitely the grand poo-bah, or whatever the Society council called their leader or chairperson, because her tone conveyed that she was in complete control and would be obeyed, immediately. And sure enough, Mr. Kelly, Elyse, and Tommy stopped arguing and turned their attention to the council table.

  Mrs. Grand Pooh-Bah motioned for us all to come forward. As we approached, I noticed that the table rested on a giant inlaid floor-map of the world. It was a highly detailed map, and as I arrived at the tip of South America, I realized that parts of the map were in motion. I had a momentary sensation of vertigo, as lines moved across the map in some kind of pattern that obviously meant something to the council but wasn't immediately discernible to me. The table stood in the space that would be the Atlantic Ocean, giving an unobstructed view of the world's land mass.

  I couldn't help myself; I took a quick peek at the map in the magic spectrum, wow. Lucy bumped my arm, and I focused all my attention on the people in front of me. My first assessment remained: the seven council members looked like politicians. The council was comprised of Mrs. Grand Poo-bah, three other women, and three men. All of them were staring intently at me. I didn't verify with my own senses, but I knew they were inspecting me with all the mojo they had at their disposal. Get a good look and beware, the Ollphiest is among you.

  Mrs. Grand Poo-bah turned to Mr. Kelly and Tommy and asked, "This is the young man you've been telling us about?"

  "Yes, Cynthia. This is Orson," Mr. Kelly answered.

  The suit standing next Mrs. Grand Poo-bah, er, Cynthia, a steel haired man with a square jaw spoke up. "I must be getting old, but I see nothing special abo
ut him. Maybe his aura is a little on the active side, but nothing to worry about, I would think."

  "That's what I've been trying to explain," Tommy said in raised voice. "His ability to cloak himself is absolute."

  "That's ridiculous," Square jaw said. "In this chamber, something like what you suggest would be impossible."

  Interesting, so the room was warded against what I assumed was the use of magic. The problem with that was I wasn't performing a magic spell. I was just me. I don't think the council would react very positively when they discovered their magic romper-room didn't work on me.

  "That's the power of the Ollphiest―" Tommy tried to continue his argument but was cut short by another council member, a blond woman with super creepy eyes. Instead of the normal blue, brown, or green, her eyes where a silvery color and seemed to shine almost cat-like when the light hit them just right.

  "Thomas, we've been through this. The archives have been searched. There is nothing to suggest that the Ollphiest was ever a real being. It is much more likely that it was a construct, to explain certain combined abilities of ancient enemies."

  Enemies?

  Uh-oh.

  There is danger here.

  Now is so not the time.

  We must lay waste to all in this chamber of lies.

  Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. There will be no 'laying waste' of anything.

  You are a fool.

  Hey, I thought we had come to an understanding. We need to be patient and see where this leads. Now, pipe down.

  I waited for a response, but my inner nasty had gone silent again. Even though I didn't want to 'lay waste,' I was very concerned with the term enemies. It may have been against protocol or whatever, but we were here to discuss me, so I was done being quiet.

  I raised my hand in the international gesture of 'I've got something to say'. Grand Poo-bah Cynthia tilted her head at me, as if she just noticed I was there.