by T S Paul
"We represent all Magickal peoples on this planet. Once there were hundreds on the Council. Today we have much less than that. I cannot tell you how many or what. But the Unicorns qualify for representation. Historically they qualify too."
"Historically? What do you mean Historically? Are you talking about how the Magnus family got control of them?" Now she was confusing me.
"There isn't much known about the Unicorns as a race of people. It's mostly myth and legend which as you might remember from our studies when you were a child. They are unreliable when it comes to the modern world. I paid a visit to a couple of friends of mine that pretty much know everything about everything. They had several documents and books in their possession that prove what you claim to be true. It's something I can take to the Council and demand action."
"Who are these people? Grandmother, Anastasia dug into this using every outlet of information available to the United States government and couldn't find anything beyond a few ancient pictures and myths that span the globe! Are you sure they are telling you the truth? We dug into every database on Earth when we began this investigation."
I could hear my grandmother sigh quite loudly. "You have met them, child. Calvin and Glock send their regards. If it happened in the worlds and there is a record of it, the Library of Alexandria has a copy of it."
I froze, the phone almost stuck to my head. "How? Grandmother, I didn't tell you about them. How did you know?"
"Silly child. Did you think I wouldn't find out? I am one of the Guardians of the Garden. If someone takes a trip through the door, I damn well know about it whether I am at home or elsewhere. Besides Minerva telling me you disappeared into the Garden and didn't return for three days, I was informed by Emesh. He was a bit worried about you and that new friend of yours, Zhanna. Do you know if she made it back to her people?"
I shook my head and realized she couldn't see me. Glancing around I checked to see who was listening. Cat couldn't help eavesdropping due to her hearing, but I really didn't what to take a chance with information about Zhanna. FBI Agents aren't supposed to have contact with foreign nationals unless it's something official. She didn't work for the government of Russia, but my supervisors wouldn't care. Mumbling to myself I cast the shield and privacy curtain. Now even my lips were obscured.
Cat for sure heard the name 'Zhanna.' But she knows if it came from Grandmother, it's personal not business. I took a deep breath. "Sorry Grandmother. I had to cast the curtain spell. It's sort of illegal for me to even know Zhanna in my capacity as an FBI supervisor.
"Too many questions will be asked, and I'm pretty sure you don't want FBI agents or even the US military stumbling around in the hall of doors or invading the Badger Hole Bar! You know they would love a way to travel without using vehicles or even spaceships. My crew here can keep secrets, but I won't ask them to keep this one.
"I gave Zhanna one of my special protection amulets like I gave my team. It hasn't been triggered which means she still has it and she is still alive. No idea if she made it home. Even if she had a phone, I could not call her. Those fighting men of hers will keep her safe if anyone can that is."
"Smart. Calvin told me what happened to you. Fighting Vrxa at your young age? Dear heart, you should have mentioned it to me. Secrets such as this shouldn't be kept hidden from family. Our family holds a great many more just like it. As you grow in your power, I will tell you of some of them. Others you have to earn. Those two rascals in the library had an entire shelf of information about Unicorns. Glock himself has been to Tir na Nog long before the Magnus family took control of it. He says that Unicorns did indeed fight Dragons. That is a tale all on its own. Maybe one day he will tell it to us. So there is truth to the tales Fergus told us.
"The pocket dimension that his people come from was where Arthur and his knights had their adventures. Merlin wrote some of those documents. His seal and hand are already known to the Council. It was thought all of his works were already documented and stored. The Council is going to freak out a bit.
"When you get your case settled, I will have the Witches Councils inform their respective governments that Unicorns are people and not animals.
"Magnus is in for a surprise if he doesn't come clean with me soon. I'm calling him again in the morning.
"If the Unicorn Elders have survived there, pick one or two, and we will arrange a meeting between them and the ones at Alicorn Ranch.
"This will become Council business soon, Agatha. You and your team need to work just a bit faster."
"Faster? Grandmother I just told you about the Unicorn colors yesterday! Can't you slow your end down?" She was asking the impossible.
"Not so much. What did you expect would happen when you told me? You have maybe seventy-two hours from tonight to wrap up your investigation. Then our representatives will descend and begin wiping memories and relocating the stock."
"Wiping memories? Who are your representatives?" It takes a lot of Magick to wipe the minds of dozens of people all at one time.
"I'm sorry, dear. I thought you understood. It will be the Witches Council that does the wiping. Now, I have a great deal to do. Good luck and keep me informed, please. Goodbye, for now, Agatha." Grandmother disconnected the call with a click.
What have I done? Looking down at my pocket I gave Fergus a nudge. "Next time I have the great idea to tell Grandmother about a case tell me no."
Fergus stuck his head out of my pocket and stared at me. "Were you talking? All I could hear was the radio."
"Radio? What radio? How did you get a radio in there?" I pulled the pocket open and peered inside.
"Hey! I'm naked in here."
"You're always naked. That excuse doesn't work on me anymore. Did you Magick something in there with you?" I started to poke at the inside of my pocket.
"I have no idea what you're saying right now. Stop that tickles!" Fergus started squirming all around inside my pocket.
My head was down, and I was so involved poking at Fergus to see the radio that I completely missed the fact the car was stopped, we were at the Hotel, and Cat was tapping on my shield.
Waving my hand, I dropped the shield. "Uh, sorry."
Cat smiled. "If you're done stroking your Unicorn, we can start the briefing. Did your Grandmother come through for you?"
"Sort of. I'll tell you inside the bus." Ignoring Fergus, I climbed out of the car.
Chuck and Anastasia barely looked up from their consoles as we entered. I doubt Chuck had stopped to even eat. "So what do we know?"
"Too much of some things and not enough of the other." Ana nodded to Bill and Cat as they filed in behind me and sat down at the small meeting area.
"Chuck?" Ana pointed to the main screen. "Please put up the coroner's photos."
"James Magnus. Born in British Columbia thirty years ago. His birthday was just last week. When he was five, he and his mother were hit by a drunk driver and nearly killed. Notice I say nearly. The mother, Eleanor Magnus, was thrown from the car and impacted a tree. Neither she nor the drunk driver was wearing a seatbelt. That man, a rodeo hand named Frank Ivey, was killed upon impact. James Magnus was securely buckled into a car seat at the time of the crash. However, the impact of the truck hitting his mother's car broke the straps and tossed the child and seat twenty feet from the crash into a small creek. When first responders found the child, he was presumed dead and sent to the morgue along with the two adult bodies."
"Didn't they perform CPR and check them before just sending them in?" Bill looked at Ana in horror.
"Of course they did, Bill. They tried numerous times even though young James was almost blue due to cold and asphyxiation. The death of a child is never a laughing matter at a scene like this one was. The drunk was decapitated by the accident. It took several hours to locate his head. The truck he was driving was filled with honeydew melons." Ana waved at Chuck who flashed some very grisly photos on the screen.
Bill turned away. "Take them down, please." I motioned to Ch
uck.
"The county morgue records were finally located and sent to me. According to the attending, the bodies were all showing signs of rigor when they were dropped off by the ambulance crew. All the paperwork was filled out properly and in triplicate. That reason alone is why we even know about it today. If this was digital, one click and it would be gone. Like I said earlier today, the County Commissioner was very old school. Everything on paper records.
"Each body was checked before being added to storage, also the county policy. The child was examined, and information recorded that rigor wasn't set like the other two bodies. Now I researched that bit of data. Children and infants do not show the signs of rigor mortis like adults do. It has to do with their smaller muscle mass. Their bodies just aren't developed yet. In the case of the Magnus family, time was short, the bodies barely had time to stiffen. The accident occurred within a twenty-mile radius of the morgue." Ana paused for any questions.
"So how did they miss James not being dead?" Cat turned and looked at Ana.
"According to the records, it was about an hour later that the body of James Magnus twitched and sat up. Scared the morgue technician so bad he went on medical leave for a week. The attending coroner who was a doctor unzipped the bag and removed the child. He had a heartbeat and vitals that were rising out of nothingness. Immediately, James was moved to a bed and vitals started. It was about this time that Robert Magnus arrived to identify his wife and son.
"All official records concerning James Magnus stop after his father entered the building. Not one scrap of paper remains. The only reason the coroner's report remained is he accidentally left it inside the locker holding Frank Ivey. The next shift filed it after they found it and it was forgotten. There was no body to match it to.
"Agatha, what did Magnus do to that Coroner? Chuck found him in a local retirement home and questioned him. He has no memory of that night. None at all. He doesn't even remember the bodies not related to the Magnus family. It's like he was wiped clean. The morgue tech that ran off filed a report. That is how we found it."
"Magnus and his family are half Fae. Grandmother couldn't get into details, but they are born with some of the powers the Fae have. It isn't consistent as to what powers they can have. Both Walter and Robert Magnus have mind Magick of some kind." I pursed my lips.
"So here is the bad news. We have no more than seventy-two hours to wrap this case up. I spoke to Grandmother about what Fergus told us, and she reported it. The Witches Council is going to move on Alicorn Ranch, and I presume Magnus Ranch too. Based on what he said and other evidence that we aren't allowed to see, Unicorns are being declared people. They intend to take possession of the ranch and mindwipe anyone and everyone involved. Or at least they will try." Anastasia shot me a sharp look when I mentioned the evidence. I gave her a short nod.
Bill protested. "Three days? We haven't narrowed the suspect list down yet!"
"Yes we have, and you know it. Ana, can you pull up the list please?" The main screen went black, and then the list of suspects appeared.
"We know that Benjamin Running Eagle is our primary for the Skinwalker. Right?" I looked around the room.
"The Magnus house is filled with the remains of Magickal Unicorns. Someone is harnessing that power with Blood Magick to drain the land. We know it has to be someone on the physical property itself with access to the house. That leaves out some of these and all of those." I pointed to the lists of ranch hands and slickers.
Chuck stood and walked to the screen. "Of this list, only Charlie and Pete have access to the house as foreman and assistant." All the pictures disappeared except for the two men.
"Ana, can you add Robert and Walter to that list?" Chuck slipped back to his chair.
Four faces looked down at us from the screen. "We have four suspects."
"Five." We all looked at Cat.
She looked up from her notes. "James Magnus. If his father took him home where is he? We know they didn't bury him. What if he's still on the property?"
"We interviewed the entire ranch, didn't we?" Bill looked at me.
"There was zero reason to suspect anyone would hide from us. We just wanted basic information, and we took the list of men from the employment records." I stared up at the five pictures and shook my head. "Now we just have to narrow it down. In less than three days. And don't forget we still have to catch Benjamin in the act. He's a Skinwalker, so he could look like anyone including us. Be careful."
Chapter 15
"Do we have the authority to arrest Robert Magnus and his nephew without probable cause?" Cat looked at Bill.
"We have it. A crime has been committed, and we suspect that the evidence is inside the only Magickal house for miles. Magnus Ranch is smack dab in the middle of the dead zone. Take a look at those satellite pictures Chuck pulled up. The evidence is right there." Bill pointed to the pictures.
Cat glanced at the photos then back at the much older agent. "If we're wrong, the case might be ruined. Do we take that chance?"
"I'm not a lawyer. But I have spent half my life as an agent in the FBI. The Magical Crimes Division is different from the rest of the FBI. This division has more leeway than the rest of us have. In 1959 Congress passed the Magic Security Act. It established this Division as well as set up Crowley Prison. Its secondary purpose was to set up the school you and Agatha went to. One of the items buried in all the legalese is a line that gives Magical Crimes amnesty from prosecution for doing our duty. Read as much into that as you like, but Washington figured we might have these sort of dilemmas and provided for it."
"We should go for it then." Cat looked at me. "What do you think Agatha? You're in charge here."
"Let me start the warrant process with Washington. We have probable cause, so I say we hit them in the morning at first light, warrant or no warrant. It's not like we are staying around to try the case, anyway. Magnus and his workers are cowboys so some will be up and about. I'll get the local office to come in as back-up. They can guard the known exits and function as roadblocks while we take down the Magicians.
Chuck, why don't you dig into the armory and start laying everything out. Bill, can you give the local office a call and request help? I may have scared that Agent Zusteller half to death. If you have to, remind them we outrank them and can order them to do it.
While you two are doing that, Cat and Ana will lay out the attack plan and map the ranch. Use whatever assets you need. If you need me, I will be out by that picnic table behind the hotel. I need to concentrate and get some spells memorized." Everyone scurried to their jobs, and I went outside.
I really hate it when I tell untruths to my team, but they shouldn't concern themselves with whatever the Gods have planned for me. It's bad enough that I know they are interfering.
It was all I could do to not shake my head as I walked down the path. I didn't really need to memorize spells. The six months I spent fighting "ancient gods from beyond time" taught me how to learn large groups of spells at a moment's glance.
Not that I can tell my team that. Cat wouldn't find it very amusing that I went to a fight without her. Maybe one day we can crack a bottle of Minerva's blackberry wine that she hides under the barn and have a discussion about it. For now, I will use the confidence the experience gave me and lead my team to the best of my ability. To do that, I need for everything to be functioning at its peak. That includes Certainty and Proof, my guardians.
Just like last night, the table was deserted. I could see fireflies and other night insects zipping across the neighboring field. This really was pretty country. Carefully I took off my FBI jacket and rolled back my shirt sleeves. Both bracelets gleamed in the moonlight. For some reason, I could see the hieroglyphs better in the moonlight. With my finger, I traced the lines of pictures. Each a letter spelling out things that confuse even those who read them. According to Calvin, every time he looked at them they said something different. They all related to one thing. Guardians.
The ancient Egypti
ans had figures that guarded the doors to the netherworld. They called them Guardians. They were beings of supernatural power that stood between the gods and men. Some of the writings I found in the library called the watcher's Demons. But, having met a Demon, that is not what I thought them to be. Demons are dimensional travelers.
Those that guard the doors guard the way to the halls and other worlds. So technically Grandmother is a demon for guarding a door. That made me laugh. I felt a burble of emotion from Proof. "Are you in there today?"
Very faintly I heard. "Yes."
"Is Certainty around too?" Finally, they were answering me. Could it be the moon?
"Yes." Then I heard a different voice calling as if from far away. "Yes."
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Are you both here now? Can you talk to me?"
"Yes." The word seemed to echo. I assumed both were present now.
Angling the bracelets, so the light of the moon covered them I asked another question. "Does the moon allow you to talk to me?"
