by Jae Vogel
“Sometimes the waiting is the most important thing,” Dion said to his companions as they headed down the hall. “So long as people like him have something to look forward to, they have a reason to get up in the morning. It’s easy to laugh at them, in spite of what we’ve already seen here, but so many people don’t have a reason to live, I’m glad when I run into someone who does. As for me, I still need to obtain full powers for the fourth element of fire.”
“But anyway,” Dion continued, “the next thing we have to do is find the jewelry store which sells the fire opal. It was supposed to be around here. At least Edward promised us we’d be dropped near the place that sold them.”
They stopped and looked around.
The concourse was full of stores and it was difficult to tell which one was a jeweler’s at a distance. The scanned the line of stores. Meanwhile, the shoppers continued to walk past them.
“I’ve hated shopping ever since I was a kid,” Sean told Dion as he kept one hand on Emily.
“Why is that? “ Sean asked him. He peered down one side of the concourse where it seemed one of the stores might be a jeweler.
“I saw Santa Clause wipe blood off a kid.”
Dion whipped around. “What did you just say?”
“I was six years old at the time but I never forgot what I saw,” Sean told him. “It was Christmas and we were in my dad’s car waiting for my mom to come out of one of the department stores at a plaza. There was a guy inside playing Santa Claus for the holidays. Kids would go in with their parents and get their picture made. Some kid broke away from his parents and hit a glass window, busting his head. Then Santa Claus went over and fixed a bandage to his head while they waited for the ambulance to show up. I hear the kid turned out all right, the head wound looked much worse than it really was, but you can imagine the shock to a kid who had to see that. I’ll be a lot of kids continued to believe in Santa Claus for years longer than they normally did.”
“I don’t think I ever had a Christmas memory that was bad,” Dion said.
“There it is!” Lilly shouted and pointed down the concourse. “I see it!” They turned in the direction she pointed to see a large plastic diamond turn on an axis over a store.
It only took them a few minutes to reach the store, even while they constantly checked for any signs of security guards it the background. There were none, at least no one interfered with them and they reached the jewelry store without trouble.
Once inside they were greeted by a tall man in his twenties who was dressed in a suit and tie.
“Thank you for coming into Plus Diamonds,” he told them. “Is there something special I can help you find?”
“I’m looking for a fire opal,” Dion said. “Do you carry those?”
“I believe we do.” The man slid behind a counter. He extended a hand to Dion. “Ted, I’m the manager at this branch.”
“Glad to meet you, Ted, I’m Dion and these are my friends.”
Ted unlocked the glass case with a key on his ring and pulled out a selection of them mounted on a small rack. He sorted through the gemstones on the rack and pulled a ring off after he’d glanced at them carefully.
“This is one of two rings we have and it is in a sterling silver setting. Note the fine work that has gone into its construction. We can have it sized to specification, but it will take a week because our jeweler comes by every three days. I can size you right now or you can bring it back later to have it done with a sales slip.” He handed the ring to Dion.
Dion held it to the light and looked at the pattern in the opal. It was a brilliant red and just what he needed according to Edward. He gave it to Lilly to try on. It fit her to perfection. The ring matched the glow on her face. Lilly went over to mirror on the counter and examined it on her hand. She turned and smiled at Dion.
“I’ll take it,” Dion told the manager.
“Good, an excellent choice. Let’s take it to the counter and I’ll ring the sale and get you a box for it.”
It only took a few more minutes for them to conclude the transaction and soon Lilly was leaving the store with the ring on her finger.
“You see,” the manager said to one of his clerks who’d come out of the back room after the sale was finished, “this is why I like my job. You saw the look on her face? The glow lit up the entire store.”
“I thought we’d never sell that thing,” the clerk replied to him. “It’s been in the case for the past five months. At least I don’t have to count it tonight for inventory.”
“So this ring will repel the fire elementals,” Lilly said as she held it up to the light while they walked down the concourse. “Thank you for giving it to me, Dion. I know you bought it for protection, but I’m glad you allowed me to wear it just the same.”
“I can’t imagine anyone more deserving,” he said. “You’ve been with me all the way through this quest. I just want to finish getting my parents back.” He stroked her cheek and she looked up at him with big eyes.
“So when do we get to see the ring in use?” Sean asked Dion. “I didn’t get to see you take out the bull on the first day. Will it work something like that?”
“It depends on the elemental,” Dion said. “My guess is that it puts them in a holding pattern, but we’ll know the first time any of the fire elementals makes a run at me.”
‘I think we might just find out real soon,” Emily said. “Look to your right.”
Coming down the side passage was a detachment of five of the new security guards. All wore the same grey uniforms they’d noticed earlier and had a build close enough to each other to be family. The red-haired guards marched down the hall, carefully sliding past the shoppers and doing their best not to be noticeable.
Shoppers turned with curiosity and agitation as the guards marched past them. A group of uniformed men was bound to attract attention. Several young mothers grumbled and pulled their kids out of the way as they guards slid past. A few more shoppers stopped to try to figure out where they were headed. One man jumped out of the way so he wouldn’t collide with them.
“You think we should move?” Sean asked Dion. “I get the funny feeling they’re headed for us.”
Dion started to agree and turned to see three more coming from the north of the main concourse. This group, also with red hair and wearing the grey uniforms, were focused on him. There was no question the elemental security guards wanted to capture them. Lilly’s fire opal ring was about to be put to a trial run.
Dion considered using the censer, but there were too many people in the concourse. He still didn’t know if it would create a wall of fire when activated. He might lure them outside and try to use it where the heat wouldn’t be a problem. Dion turned and looked for an exterior door to the parking lot, but couldn’t find one. He would have to try to use the ring. Edward claimed the fire elementals could be bound by the use of it.
Time to find out.
“Hello, gentlemen,” Dion said to the elementals as they surrounded him. “I don’t see Officer Karanzen anywhere. Is he still employed by the mall?”
“I haven’t been fired yet,” a familiar voice announced through the crowd. They looked up to see Karanzen pushing his way through the group of shoppers that surrounded them. He was wearing the same uniform from yesterday. Whoever had brought the elemental guards in hadn’t insisted he change his uniform to meet the new style.
“Did I tell you guys to do this?” he said to the guards in grey. “In case you haven’t been informed, I am still the post lieutenant and you take your orders from me.”
“You didn’t summon us,” the guard nearest to Karanzen said. “Therefore you do not tell us what to do. We were instructed to isolate these four. They are now isolated. We await further instructions on what to do with them.”
“Are you as stupid as you look?” Karanzen asked him. “You’re causing a major scene here in the mall. Now get out of the way, I’ll deal with them, it’s my job. You are scaring the shoppers with your att
itude.”
The guard bent over to Karanzen and looked directly in his eyes.
Karanzen was back in Korea. He huddled under a snow-covered slope. In the distance, there was rifle fire and he could hear voices in Mandarin all about him.
Dion watched as the security chief went into a catatonia. Whatever the elementals could do, it was tied into whoever summoned them. He betted on his uncle, but did his uncle know about the power of a fire opal?
“Lilly,” Dion whispered to her. “Your ring. Raise it up so they can see it.”
Lilly stepped forward and brought her hand into the air. The gemstone in the ring caught the light from the window and tossed a reflection across the fire elemental salamanders as it struck them. Now Dion and his friends would find out what it could do.
All seven of them froze as the plastic bull had done days earlier. But unlike the plastic bull, they walked forward to Lilly and fixed their gaze on the ring. Like the bull, all of them were mesmerized and fixed their attention on the fire opal. The guard who’d stared at Karanzen turned to it and his eyes glazed over.
“Tell them to safely leave the corridor,” Dion further whispered to Lilly. “Safely. I don’t want any burning pillars.”
“You see this ring?” she asked them to be sure. All of the guards nodded to her.
“Return from where you came in safety,” she commanded. “There are to be no fires.”
There was a pop and the security guards were gone. The shoppers who were gathered around shook their heads, unable to believe people could leave so quickly. They glanced around, saw no circle of guards and went about their business.
“Where did they go?” Karanzen asked them, still coming out of his gaze. He too glanced around and didn’t see a thing.
“Lilly sent them away,” Dion told them. “Guess they listened to some of us.”
Karanzen grumbled about amateurs who tried to upstage him and walked away. The four stood in place and watched him leave.
“Still leaves more of them,” Dion said. “If they were summoned, it had to be in a group of twelve.”
“So there are more salamanders out there?” Sean asked him.
“Yes, and my uncle can get more if he wants to do so. He can get just about all he needs until I have full powers. There isn’t much we can do to stop him, but it will take him some time. If he knows what happened, and we can assume he did, he’ll be ordering up some more fire elementals. I don’t know how effective the ring is against more than seven at a time, but I’m speculating it’s not good for real big groups. We may find out soon enough.”
Chapter 11
Karanzen slammed the door to the antechamber where his office was located and walked inside. He looked at the empty secretary’s desk and wondered when they would hire one for him. Right now, everything clerical went through the clock tower and no one was allowed into Seth Bach’s Holy of Holies. It was written into the rental contracts that no one was allowed into the “Central Administrative Center” unless given written permission from upper management. There was a small office outside it where a staff processed payroll all day and did the legal dance needed to keep the various local governments happy, but no one even considered approaching the clock tower interior.
He opened the door to his office and started to walk inside when he heard a cough from inside. Karanzen reached for the light switch and turned it on to see Matt, Seth Bach’s toadie, sitting behind his desk. Matt had a folder in his hand and Karanzen didn’t have to ask to find out what it meant.
“Hello, Karanzen,” Matt said to him. “I’ve talked this morning to Seth Bach personally and we’re in agreement that you just don’t fit in around here. You have failed repeatedly in an important security task to keep a dangerous group of people from entering this mall. We can no longer afford to keep you as part of this company. You can’t do the most essential part of your job.”
Matt dropped the folder on the desk. “You’ll find all the necessary legal documents in her which will give you a thirty day severance package and allow you time to find another job. I’m sure you will agree this is a most generous offer. All you need to do is sign it and clean out your desk. Take your time cleaning out the desk because I’ve decided to devote the entire day to helping you get your things out of the building.”
Karanzen stood there, unable to believe this smarmy little toad was dismissing him from the mall. There had to be some kind of mistake. He’d talked to Seth Bach recently and no mention was made of instant termination. What was going on here?
He ignored Matt and went over to the desk, grabbing the phone from the other side. Karanzen punched out the emergency number for the clock tower, but the phone continued to give him a dial tone.
“You are wasting your time,” Matt informed him. “The phone now runs direct to the tower. If you can’t dial a number it means they don’t want to talk to you.”
“Who are you to come into my office and give orders to me?” Karanzen yelled at Matt. “I have served in places where they would’ve fried you up on a plate. The only reason you are here is because you do Seth Bach’s dirty work for him.”
“Indeed I do. As a matter of fact, this whole rapid dismissal was my idea. I told Bach it was a better idea to get rid of you and find someone else.”
“What did he say when you came up with it?”
“He gave me full support; notice the signature at the bottom of this letter.” Matt held it up so Karanzen could see it. There it was: the cursive handwriting of the mall owner.
The now former security chief looked down at the corporate tool beneath him and thought about the many things he could do and no one would be the wiser. However, someone had to know he was down here. Which meant the little dung pile would be missed. The sort of thing Karanzen wanted to do only took place in movies and TV shows where rain coated police detectives hummed the conclusion twenty years later. Real life was undergoing the humiliation of leaving the office with a pile of boxes in his hands.
He knew it was about to come to this. The mall management hadn’t listened to him and refused to do what was needed to keep Dion out. The kid managed to get in somehow and was on his way to meet the last elemental grandmaster. There was very little he could do right now other than plant something on Dion and call the cops. He wasn’t above doing that; it had worked for him several times before. He couldn’t unleash his own supernatural abilities on Dion since the kid was an advanced elemental master. Right now, the only one who could oppose him at that level was his uncle.
“I still want to talk to Seth Bach,” Karanzen said. “I want to hear from him personally that I’m sacked.”
Karanzen handed the phone to Matt. “As a matter of fact, I want you to call him on whatever secret number you have at your disposal. I’m sure you have an unlisted line that you can use. Since you are such an important person around here, Matt, you should have no trouble doing it.”
Matt hung the phone back up on the cradle. “I don’t think so, Karanzen. He no longer wants to speak to you. Your term of service is over, don’t you get it? Now just pack your things up and get out of here before I have to call the police.”
“Call the police?” Karanzen returned to him. “I think they are the last people you would want to come here. What a scene in the parking lot it might make! Former security officer led off in cuffs because he failed to keep one young kid out of the mall. People might want to know why this local kid was supposed to be kept away from the mall. They might learn he is related to the man who owns this mall. I could see all kinds of trouble from the police because of me.”
“You have more to lose than anyone here, Karanzen. You forget we have all your service records on file. You want us to make them available to the right people? I think some of the men you abandoned in Korea might still have families around here. They’d like to know the full story of what happened at the Chosin Reservoir.”
“I’m sure they might,” Karanzen countered. “Just as all kinds of federal agencies might w
ant to know about the abyss this mall sits over. I’m sure you’ll have all kinds of people want to come here when they learn the mall is located over a gate to hell.”
Karanzen sat down in a chair next to the desk and looked at Matt. “So why don’t you call the big man and get him on the phone and we can talk like adults. I don’t know why he has to send a boy to do a man’s job.
The door flew open to the antechamber and Karanzen got up to see who it was. He assumed it was one of his dismissed guys on his way back to pick up a missing personal item. All of this would have run smoother if he had his own clerical support, but, like everything else, Seth Bach wanted it all to run through the clock tower. In the beginning, he was told there would be more help as needed, but it never seemed to materialize. Karanzen decided it had to do with budgetary concerns as the early stage, but he noticed items his employer wanted that didn’t generate profit could always find a place in the budget.
“Just wait a minute,” Karanzen said to Matt. “Somebody’s walked into the office and I need to see who it is. Don’t you go running off now.” He turned and walked into the main room.
The door was still open when he walked into the next room, although there was no one in it. The outer office appeared to be in the same state he’d left it earlier in the day. The same faded curtains were against the wall, although it didn’t have a window. Most of the files were kept in his office, so there was none of the bulky cabinets in most places which carried out the same function. He looked down at the floor and realized it needed cleaning, but the condition of the office was not in the front of his mind.
Karanzen walked over to the door and placed his hand on the knob. Who had tossed it open? Was it some kid trying to cause trouble again? Just let them try to maintain order around here without him keeping things under wraps. He could see Matt in a uniform as he attempted to explain to a ten-year-old kid that he couldn’t walk out with whatever he wanted. Or break-up a fight between a clerk and a customer who got in his face. This is what they employed him to do and his team was experts in keeping incidents under control. What would happen when those red-haired zombies were in charge? No one would even consider the mall if they were all over it.
