Edited by Kristine Roland

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This text is (c) 2009 by Melanie. All rights reserved.
 
 
Thirty

“She WHAT?” Said the large man who sat at the head of the long table.

The table was enclosed in a shimmering green sphere, and seemed to float in the void of space; there were no surroundings visible at all.

To the right of the man sat Alyssa, looking decided uncomfortable.

“She gave us the slip.”

“I thought that was what I heard. Would you care to explain to us,” he motioned at the assembled group, all looking at Alyssa, “how that could possibly have happened?"

Alyssa shifted in her chair, where she couldn't seem to get comfortable today, and said, “She knows much more magic than she's let on. How that came to be, I don't know. But she's apparently had some extra training outside of the curriculum.”

Alyssa seemed to melt down into her chair even further, if that was at all possible, to escape the piercing gaze from the large man's cold, gray eyes.

“Her appearance was about the single most fortuitous thing to happen in the past 3 centuries. Finally there is a magical agent that can't be traced back to us. Someone with strong powers and not wise to our ways. And YOU LET HER SLIP AWAY!” He shouted at the cowering woman, who just closed her eyes. There was nothing more to say.

“I task you with finding her. Do not report back unless you do. Your membership in the Council is suspended.”

Alyssa nodded meekly.

“You are dismissed,” he said, in a tone as cold as ice.

Alyssa walked into the green mist, spoke an incantation and stepped out of a mirror in her house. She took one step forward and the mirror shattered. No way back.

Alyssa sat in thought. Her options were few, and summarily unattractive.

When she discovered Veronica, she had immediately reported the find to the Council. That is where her first loyalty lay, the Council that was formed 800 years ago to overthrow the power structures created by the elders in times forgotten.

She had been a member for around 250 years now, stepping up to the place at the leader's right hand 10 years ago. The elders had never done anything for her. Her desire to learn magic had been denied when she was younger, she was told she wasn't ready for the spells she craved to have. She was put down and kept ignorant by a system only designed to let those who had power hold on to it.

That was how she perceived the high elder and her cronies, as elitist and selfish, high-handedly dealing out power and knowledge as they saw fit.

Most in the Council shared that view, they believed magic should be available to more people and power should be given to the able, not the noble. Ability over heritage.

Of course, the Council considered themselves the most able. In that way, they were no better and possibly worse, but Alyssa had deluded herself that the Council was the better choice.

The Council had decided to get this wild card, an undetectable sorceress, trained in certain aspects of magic, protective mostly, so she'd not get killed before her time came. They didn't care how she came to be, and there was no investigation. The council cared about what she could do. Or be made to do.

In the training sessions at Alyssa's house, Veronica had experienced many hours of memory gaps, where suddenly a day was gone without her remembering any details of it. On those days, Veronica had not studied magic. Instead, she had been under Alyssa's spells, a complex spell device was embedded within her. In successive sessions, layer after layer of the spell was woven until it was nearing completion.

Veronica had been made a perfect magical assassin. The spells within her were strong enough to kill the high elder and the entire court. Powered from the tremendous magical energy within Veronica, they would lash out and each would attach to its target, killing them in unique and novel ways, as if to set an example.

The death of the high elder had thrown things into disarray. The first order was given in haste; kill the assassin, her services are no longer required.

Alyssa was a cold woman. 250 years in a position of power had almost completely eradicated compassion from her heart. She had kept her sense of honor, to her own credit, and adhered to a somewhat loose, but still present, set of ethics. That set her apart, from the rest of the Council, who considered all others beneath notice.

When the order came to kill Veronica, Alyssa did the honorable thing and helped her get away. Only minutes after she had left, Alyssa received the countermanding order. The coup had failed. A new high elder was installed, the Council had lost 4 members in the fighting and the assassin was still required.

Alyssa had hidden the fact that the assassin was already gone and set out to recover Veronica. After having warned her, she should really trust her, and it would be quite easy to reel her back in.

She looked everywhere, but Veronica had vanished. Finally, Alyssa had to report back to the Council. It hadn't gone well. Not well at all.

At least she was still alive.

Thirty-one

Elsewhere, Charissa could not keep a smile off her face. They thought her powerless, thought she had been defeated and was no longer a threat. Little did they know. The small opening to the magical world that it had taken a century to create may not have looked like much, but it was all she had, and she had learned to value it immensely.

It had been large enough to project a certain rune into a certain sorceress' mind at the right time. Timing really was everything.

Charissa settled back to watch events unfold. One couldn't do much else in prison.

Thirty-two

My problem was that I had a male mind in a female body. Ironically, that very problem held in itself a way of coping with itself. My mind was that of a highly trained investigative reporter, a mind well suited to problem solving.

I felt pretty good about my ability to deal with something like my period that smoothly, but I was keenly aware that there were a lot of unsolved issues, issues that I needed help with.

I missed Stacy a lot, she'd been a good friend when there was no one else to turn to, she was the one reason I was alive right now.

I thought about my situation and came to the conclusion that I would contact Stacy. She wasn't running from the law, and she didn't think the magical society had a dragnet like the FBI had.

I got into my car and drove up north on La Cienega and turned into the parking lot of the Beverly Center. I parked my car and entered the mall area.

I had been here before, in another life. It seemed like it was centuries ago, but it had only been a year. I remembered seeing the store I was looking for on an upper level and headed to the bank of elevators, punching the 2nd floor button harder than I needed to.

The elevator moved and “dinged," and I stepped out on the upper shopping concourse. I spotted the shop selling phones on the other side of the building and started around the concourse, barely looking at the windows where the latest fashion and jewelry were on display.

Entering the phone shop, I looked around for the most expensive phones in the store. The idea was that, if I spent a lot of money, they would be more amenable to cut corners and let me get away with getting a working prepaid mobile without proper ID.

Things worked out exactly as planned, the thought of selling a brand new E75 at full price made the clerk very susceptible to my wiles. I told him my handbag with all paperwork was stolen, and I needed a phone for my job. It would be 10 days until I get a new license and 10 days without a phone would be impossible to handle.

I walked out of the store the proud owner of a Nokia E75 GPS smartphone with a full set of accessories. In it was a prepaid SIM card, with $50 of credit.

I returned to the lower level of the mall, found a place to sit down and punched Stacy's number.

“Hello?” Stacy answered the phone.

“Stacy, it's me. Ronnie. Can you talk?”

“Ronnie! I was so worried! What happened? Where are you? How are you? Oooh, I'm so glad you're alive and well!”

“Listen, I got pulled into a dirty game. Alyssa is not a friend. Never was. She was playing a game and I don't know who else is involved. They have people everywhere and they might be tracking you to find me. I'm banking on them not being able to wiretap your mobile. I got myself an anonymous prepaid, save the number. It won't be on all the time, just in case they can locate it. I'll only turn it on to call, then off again. I'm alone and totally lost with this girl thing. What should I do? On top of it all, I'm having a period!”

“Calm down, girl! Half of mankind has them. They're not lethal!”

“But I'm not supposed to! I'm a man! Oh my God! I can get pregnant! Damn, I'm supposed to make the babies, not have them.”

“Don't get all worked up, Ronnie. Breathe. Calm down. Listen, I'm going to regret this. Let me say it quickly before I do. I'll take my vacation. Plead an emergency. I have two weeks piled up plus some overtime. I'll help you. Oh my God, did I just offer that? Girl friend, the offer stands!”

“You're the best! I don't deserve you. Really. I'll be in touch; I have to see if I can get you out from under their noses. If they're even looking.”

“Ok, I'll go talk to my boss. Take care and bye for now.”

“Bye.”

I felt so much better now. I was not alone. I was going to have help getting through this. I smiled as I turned off the phone and walked to my car.

I lazed away the rest of the day in front of the TV. I wasn't watching anything, but I was too keyed up to sleep. Dinner was Taco Bell.

I went to bed early.

Thankfully, I didn't have any nightmares.

Thirty-three

I called Stacy in the morning and heard that her boss had thrown a tantrum, but finally agreed to two weeks off. I told Stacy to stay put at her place and I would pick her up. I didn't want to give my location on the telephone.

I got into my car and headed out of LA. I had a few hours' drive ahead of me and I needed to think. I was happy to be back in touch with Stacy, and happy nothing had happened to her. Not getting in touch was hard, but it seemed to have been a good thing, since no one had bothered her.

It would be good to have Stacy here; I really needed someone to talk to. I couldn't think of anyone else, no one from my previous life knew what had happened to me, and I hadn't made new friends. I had spent all my time with Stacy, or training with Alyssa.

I had handled having a period well enough, but there was more to being a woman. Especially if I wanted to find out what had happened to me.

With what I knew, I was certain that there was only one place I could go to look for a survivor; the sex industry.

Women related to the sex industry, even if they were not sex workers, were not like me. They knew about clothing, they knew about makeup, and wore it. They were active in the nightlife.

I was none of these things. I was a tomboyish woman at best. Weird at worst. I could not possibly fit in without help. And there was one source of such help available to me. My friend Stacy.

I could hardly wish for a better friend. A friend in need is a friend indeed. I owed her, big time. I doubted I deserved a friend like that, but I was so happy I had her.

I was worried about my ability to pick up what I needed in time. I needed quite a bit, I imagined, to make a place for myself in that particular scene. I needed to get into a position where I would be connected to the grapevine.

I had no chance to find the one or two girls I expected to have survived by looking for them myself. I had to wait for information to come to me. Look for pieces of the puzzle, then dig deeper.

I was approaching Stacy's place and parked almost directly in front of it. Since no one knew this car, that should be safe enough. Come to think of it, no one would recognize me, forget the car! I went up to Stacy's door and pushed the bell button. Stacy opened the door and pulled me inside, then closed the door.

“Hello, Veronica, it is really nice to see you,” said Alyssa. She waved her hand and Stacy was pushed against the wall, away from me.

“How nice of you to come by,” she said, “I have missed you.”

End of part eight