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by Saless
Chapter 76
"Do you not want me to do this?" Erica asked.
"No, it's not that!" Sarah hastened to reassure her. "I just want you to consider all the implications. I want you to make the choice for yourself, not me. If you still think it's worth it after considering all the factors involved, I'll support you all the way."
"Thanks, I appreciate that." Erica replied and hugged her. "Now, why don't we go to bed so we can be well rested for tomorrow? It's going to be a busy day, after all."
"Oh, yeah." Sarah said, remembering their planned meeting with her parents.
Erica hugged her again, "Don't worry, everything will be fine!" she said reassuringly. Sarah nodded doubtfully and they both got ready for bed. Erica cuddled up with Sarah and stroked her hair to try and help her relax. Before long they were both asleep.
Mike and Jill walked through the portal back into their apartment and decided to go straight to bed. While they were getting ready for bed Vash detected someone trying to contact him. It was faint and elusive, but he finally managed to establish a connection. Unsurprisingly, considering the difficulty in reaching her, it was Tiffany. Tiffany? You're even harder to hear than you were before. What is wrong? he sent.
Some guy approached me earlier today and he knows I've been following you guys around. He also thinks that Sarah had something to do with all the damage where you guys trained, and also with John's death. He's some kind of policeman or something and threatened to arrest me if I didn't spy on Sarah for him! He also said not to contact Sarah or her friends or he'd arrest us all. What can I do? she thought frantically.
Calm down Tiffany! We'll figure something out. I think it would be best if I told the others about you. Is that okay? Vash replied.
I've thought of doing that anyway, so yeah, go ahead. And please tell them I'm sorry! Tiffany thought.
I will, and I'm sure they will understand once I explain everything to them. Vash said.
Thanks! Should I stick around, or should I go? she thought.
It's quite late. It might look odd if you stayed any later. I suggest you go home and come back first thing in the morning. I'll tell Mike and Jill tonight, and we'll tell Sarah and Erica in the morning. Hopefully by the time you arrive we'll have everything settled about you and can start working on dealing with this mysterious man. Vash said.
Okay, I'll come over first thing. Should I come here or Sarah's? she replied.
Sharah's, that's who you're supposed to be watching, anyway. Vash said.
I'll see you there, then. Goodnight, and thanks! Tiffany said.
You're welcome. I'm glad you're finally doing this. Goodnight. Vash replied. She left, then, and Vash found Jill standing over him.
"Okay, what's going on Vash?" she said irritably. "I know you were talking to someone, but I couldn't sense anyone here!"
That was a friend of Sarah's. She's given me permission to tell you about her now. You might want to sit down, this will take a little while. Vash replied.
Jill took a seat on the couch and Vash jumped into her lap. A moment later Mike joined them. "Okay, what's up?" he asked, sitting down next to Jill.
Tiffany, a girl who works with Sarah, became curious after Sarah showed up at work as a girl. She followed Sarah and spied on her to try and figure out how Sarah changed so much, so quickly. Vash began.
"And how long have you known about this?!" Jill growled.
I'm getting to that. When you visited my previous master's tower, you all thought that Sarah had killed him along with his apprentice. That's not the case. Her fireball did kill the apprentice, but my former master teleported to his room just before the blast hit. Tiffany had followed you, as she already had a few times before that, and had ended up in that room. She saw his attack on all of you through a magical mirror and when he suddenly appeared in the room in front of her she reacted and plunged a dagger she got from a guard into his heart. He died instantly. Vash explained.
"Oh." Jill said. "So I guess she helped us out, there."
Yes, he would have cast spells at you through the mirror if she hadn't killed him when she did. She then looked through his room and found some gold coins and gems, and a ring. She slipped into the room you were in and followed you through Sarah's portal. She waited until everyone had left the room before making her way out, but I had sensed her. I decided to confront her myself, to find out what her intentions were. I decided that she was harmless, and urged her to talk to all of you. She was afraid, and said no, but I got her to relinquish my former master's ring, which I gave to you. Vash continued.
"So she helped us again. But why didn't you tell us about her?" Mike said.
I promised not to. That's why I had to have her permission before talking to you now. Like you, she's developed magical abilities as a result of traveling through the portals. She is a Shadowkin, which means that she can manipulate shadows to hide herself. She has developed quite a bit since then, so she is now almost invisible and soundless, leaves few if any traces, and is almost impossible to detect mentally. As a result she was able to follow you all without being detected, even by me after a while. If Jill's abilities had been more advanced when she started following you, she would have detected her. But by the time they were, her own abilities made that impossible. Vash replied.
"So why is she revealing herself now?" Jill asked.
I'm getting there. I want you to know all the facts, first. She has followed on almost every portal trip since then. When you went to Skylark she stole a gun and some explosive ammunition. She also picked up several Shadowkin artifacts in the tomb, where she helped you with the zombies. And she is the one who found the wands and gave them to me so Sarah could make use of them. And she also killed John. Vash said.
"What?!" Mike exclaimed.
She found John when he was about to rape Sarah, and killed him. I don't know all the details about that, but I know she did it to protect Sarah. She has become friends with Sarah and cares a great deal for her. That care is the main reason she hasn't revealed herself before now, she was afraid that Sarah wouldn't want anything to do with her when she found out. Vash said.
"I guess I can understand that, but I don't like the fact she's been following us around all this time." Jill said.
Then you'll like the reason for her revealing herself now even less. Someone approached her and tried to blackmail her into spying on Sarah for him. He appears to be some kind of investigator. For what group or individual I have no idea. She agreed to do so in order to fend him off and then approached me. She is very much afraid of this man, and has asked for help. She will not tell him about your abilities, but she doesn't want to go to jail herself, either. I told her to meet us at Sarah's apartment first thing in the morning. Vash said.
"We'd better get over there and tell Sarah and Erica about this." Mike said and stood up.
That's not necessary. We can tell them in the morning. If we tell them now Sarah will worry so much she won't get any sleep. She already has a full day ahead of her, let her sleep. Vash said.
"Yeah, he's right, Mike. We'll tell her in the morning. You're right Vash, I don't like this. But if this guy is watching Sarah, then it's good to know that. Maybe Tiffany can feed him misinformation for us. She's already helped us, even if we didn't know about it. I don't like all the sneaking around, but I can't hold a grudge against someone who saved Sarah from being raped and who knows what else." Jill said.
Mike nodded, "I agree. It would have killed Sarah if John had succeeded. We owe Tiffany for that at the very least. We'll get up early and get over to Sarah's apartment and explain everything to her. Then when Tiffany gets there we can start making plans to deal with this guy."
The others agreed and Jill and Mike went to bed.
To Be Continued…
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Comments
Enjoying Your Story
I'd simply like to say that I've been enjoying your story. Stories with magic aren't normally among my first choices but I look forward to each new chapter of this and each of the side stories.
Michelle
Michelle B
Thank you Michelle! It's
Thank you Michelle! It's really lovely to hear things like that! ^_^
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
I Wnder One Thing
Could he develop some magical ability as a tracker? He was able to track Tiffany.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
Not so much track, as see
Not so much track, as see something out of place. If he tried to follow her when she was really trying to not be followed... ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
So far . . .
They took that better than I dared hope. Pretty obvious why Vash presented the events the way he did, at least in Mike and Jill's mind they know they owe Tiff a debt or two. Vash is certainly no dummy.
Now, Sarah has yet another situation to deal with the next day, talk about stress! And how will Erica see Tiff? As a friend, or a potential rival? Could be a bit sticky, maybe.
Karen J.
"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” - Turkish Proverb
More than a cute face...
that Vash is! ;) Things are just piling up on Sarah again, aren't they? First there's her parents, more than enough stress for anybody, then there's this whole chrysalis situation with Erica, and now there's Tiffany, too! I'm really not very nice to Sarah, am I?
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
You didn't mention ...
... the secret organization. Did you really have to do this? Usually, a secret organization showing up is the sign to stop reading a story for me. I'm still willing to give yours a chance, however, because of its other qualities ...
--- Martin
Secret organization?
Are you referring to the organization that Marvin works for? It's not really a secret organization, I just haven't named it. It's not a big secret, I just wasn't sure which organization I wanted him to come from yet, FBI or whatever. Anyway, thanks for giving it a try, I hope you aren't disappointed! :)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
The problem with that kind of organizations ...
... is that guys like Sarah and her friends just cannot win against them. Even if their magical power were a match for the virtually unlimited resources FBI or NSA or whoever can throw at them, they are much too nice to fight as dirty as they would have to.
--- Martin
Not that it matters too much.
If push came to shove, a retreat to a nice and comfy Universe is in order. Like POWYHL, for example ^_~
And if they get really dirty, like seizing families and friends... Summon Kittyhawk FTW!
Faraway
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Don't fight.
The best strategy is to be of no interest to such an organization. I'm sure that the dynamic six can come up with a way of making him think that they are harmless. Marvin already doesn't believe in magic, so he won't look there.
Maybe he can 'discover' that they have acquired a stash of old coins and stuff that they salvaged legally from a wreck at sea. That would give them a legitimate reason for secrecy, but they would still be operating legally.
FBI? CIA? NSA? (No Such Agency)
How about the MIB?
Nah... an agent of such an organization would not discount magic/supertech out of hand.
'bout time
Good to see Tiff coming clean so to speak. Curious about the 'dust' just what is it? I could follow this quite easily as with most bits, some slow me up though. I think I'm the only person left on Earth that's never played a computer game. I guess there might be one or two others, but... Hey everyone has their faults... Anyway.. good fun so let's see where we go.
Kristina
Not the only one, Kris
Years ago I bought a text-based game because the protagonist was female, but I never even took it out of the box. As my brother says, whatever floats your boat. ;-)
KJT
"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” - Turkish Proverb
Huh
You... me.. and one or two others in Outer Mongolia or somewhere. Must admit though a few do look like they'd be a blast. Time and money... and well I'd rather scribble when I perhaps could 'play' I guess.
Kris
That's me most of the time,
That's me most of the time, too. I have lots of games, but I hardly ever play them anymore. They're really helpful when you need to blow off some steam, though... ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Text based games can be fun,
Text based games can be fun, though you'd be hard pressed to find any these days! People like their graphics too much, I guess.
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Not even an arcade game?
Not even an arcade game? They're technically computer games, too. You can add one more person to your list, though, my electrologist! She's thinking about getting a computer, but I doubt she'll ever play any games on it even then!
Thanks Kristina, I hope you continue to have fun with this! I know I am! ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Not nuthin', myself
Awhile back they cracked down on people messing around on company computers after an incident where one of my coworkers was caught playing computer games and surfing porn sites. All our computers were checked, and mine got extra attention because they couldn't find any games at all! Rather than accept my simple statement that I had deleted them some time before they spent hours going over it before reluctantly concluding I had indeed deleted all the games. Even Solitare.
They know they can survive
I did that once, can't
I did that once, can't remember when, but I didn't want the distraction. Figures they wouldn't believe you, I know lots of people play games, even if only solitaire, at work.
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
This is unique
I must say that I have never encountered a story which is organized in this way. It seems mandatory to read all three at once. It is rather good in spite of the fact that I am no gamer; don't even understand how it is done; though I would very much like to do role playing as long as I get to be the princess and no one yells at me.
Khadija
That's one of the advantages
That's one of the advantages of role playing video games. You can be whoever you want to be, and nobody cares! You can bet that I played a lot of female characters! About the only time I didn't play a female character was when they weren't available, or the pictures were really ugly! ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
So now
the Famous five become the Super six...Hope they don't get the Watcher on board, Because i can't think of anything that goes with seven!!!!
Kirri
Um, spectacular?
Um, spectacular? Sensational? ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Seven Sisters!
Mike (and Jill) might be against the idea, however.
Marvin probably would vote against it too (if anybody asked for his opinion ...)
--- Martin