Dan and his younger twin brothers, Pat and Simon, live in a fairly ordinary Yorkshire village and enjoy a mostly quiet life. The only unusual thing about them is their strong affinity for water, which has something to do with the special cottage in which they grow up. The cottage just so happens to sit over a natural source of magic that saturates the three brothers and primes them to reach their true potential. All they need is a magical makeover and they'll have a chance to make a difference in the endless conflict between good and evil.

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Trios
by Terry Volkirch

Chapter 16: Calm before the Storm

Dani turned away from the river and started walking towards the street to search for Ash. There wasn't much time before Richard's train left for Paris and she was getting a little anxious. Her inner voice insisted that she take Ash with her. She didn't realize that her companion was a little worried about coming back and running into trouble so he didn't take the most direct route to the pier.

The slightly anxious girl stopped and tried to sense his exact location. She took some deep breaths but stopped when she heard heavy breathing behind her. She turned and there stood the salamander, looking exhausted.

"Ash! There you are. Come on, boy. We need to get moving. Richard's trying to escape and we have to stop him."

The human-looking salamander shook his head and gasped out a few words. "Me… too… tired. Please. Need… rest."

The girl smiled and then on impulse, cast a spell on her companion. It was a strange mix of magical energies that she'd never before tried to cast as a spell and it was exactly what Ash needed.

He looked surprised at first, and then he flashed a big smile. "Wow! Me feel great! Let's go!"

Dani laughed. "That's the spirit. But don't worry. We won't have to run very far. Our villain has too big a head start so we're going to have to…." She looked around to make sure she wouldn't be heard. That wasn't a problem though. The battle scared all of the mundane citizens away long ago. "We'll be using magic to catch up to him. That still doesn't mean we shouldn't be discreet."

She led her companion to a nearby vacant hallway where she cast an invisibility spell on both of them and then teleported together to King's Cross Station. She knew the layout of that train station so she could teleport to it with no problem. From there, it was just a short walk over to Saint Pancras International to catch the train to Paris, the same train that Richard had already boarded. The tall, evil man sat in comfort in a premier class seat with a smug look on his face, sure that he'd find a new trio and resume his reign of terror before the end of the week.

But before leaving King's Cross Station, Dani and Ash had to find a way to stay together. The girl couldn't hold hands with Ash since he'd burn her, but she could sense him well enough that she didn't need to maintain physical contact. She had to keep him informed though, so he wouldn't wander off and get separated.

'Ash?' Dani sent telepathically. 'Can you hear me?'

"Yes," he replied out loud, not realizing what she was doing. "I hear you fine."

Several people who were walking by looked in their direction and hurried their pace.

Dani shushed him. 'Don't use your voice. Remember we're invisible. We'll upset people so just think your answers to me.'

'You hear me now?' Ash tried.

'Yes. I hear you. Good.'

The girl explained the first phase of her plan to the salamander and the two of them walked the short distance over to the Saint Pancras station with Ash in the lead. They had to keep close to the wall to keep from people from colliding with them but they got to the station without mishap.

The pair stood against a wall to stay out of the way and waited for an opening to sneak onto the train. Dani didn't have the money for train fare so they'd have to stow away. She felt a little guilty about that but they had to be on that train. Something told her that she wasn't yet ready to confront Richard. It would take strong and obvious magic to get him off the train, and if she somehow did force him to leave, she had a bad feeling that it wouldn't end well. Her little inner voice told her to wait and confront him in Paris and that's what she'd do.

The train pulled out on time with Dani and Ash on board. They stayed invisible and sat in the area between cars to make it easier to avoid passengers.

The trip would take a little over two hours. That would give them both time to plot and prepare for the coming battle.

'Me no understand,' Ash sent. 'Why there be battle if bad man has no trio?'

'I'm not exactly sure myself but I think it has something to do with what's been happening to me.'

'Yeah! You make magic without Patty and Simone. How you do that?'

'I don't know… exactly. Or I do know… but I can't explain it. Oh!' Frustration almost caused her to lose her focus and with it, her telepathic connection to Ash.

'You okay, Dani?'

She took some deep breaths to center herself. 'Yes, Ash. I'm okay. I can see it more clearly with every passing minute. I think I finally understand the Goddess now and why Jenna couldn't explain Her very well.'

Dani hadn't exactly been getting help from a goddess. She'd been on the path to becoming one with the Goddess. It was a subtle but very important distinction. The Goddess wasn't a separate entity. She was more like the opposite. She consisted of the collective life energy of all life on the planet, including the collective intelligence of every intelligent being on the planet. That included men, and it meant that being one with the Goddess would allow Dani to easily control all aspects of magic. Fire, air, water and earth were all available to her, and she didn't need a font and flow to be powerful.

Being intersexed, however temporary, made it easier for her to become one with the Goddess. Synchronizing with her twin sisters also helped. They helped her find balance for the masculine and feminine forces that normally fought for dominance within a person. Pat represented the masculine and Simone was the opposite, embracing femininity, and yet the twins could still synchronize with each other. They found the perfect inner balance and Dani tapped into it. She became one with the twins and that was the stepping stone she needed.

'It's wonderful, Ash,' she said after reaching a new, higher level of consciousness. 'I wish you could feel what I'm feeling.'

'Me too hot to feel you, Dani. Remember?'

'No, Ash. You're not too hot for me to touch. Not right now anyway.'

The partially enlightened girl reached out for her companion and drew him into a hug. She borrowed magical energies around her to reduce the salamander's heat and control her skin's reaction to it. He actually couldn't burn her.

'Hug,' he whispered in his mind.

He didn't mean for her to hear him but she did, and she shed a few tears of sadness for him, sadness that he couldn't experience the comfort and love of a simple hug until that moment.

She held Ash in her arms for a good thirty minutes. That was as long as she dared, but only because she really needed to get back to planning for the battle. It was going to be a terrible last battle.

Dani kept mental tabs on Richard, but she had to be careful. He started sensing her presence and she could tell. It became a psychological game of cat and mouse, and she wasn't always able to assume the role of the cat. Richard's force of will was formidable.

'Oh, Ash,' she sent. 'I still don't know what all to do.'

'What you mean, Dani? We have good plan.'

'It's a start but it's not going to be easy. I just know it. Richard is like my polar opposite. He'll find some way to counter me. He'll find a magic item or maybe…. I think the same thing that's happening to me could be happening to him.' Her voice got quieter as she spoke. She didn't like idea of Richard becoming god-like.

'He not have magic. You do. You stronger.'

'He had a magic item. That's how he teleported to the train station. He's not without resources. He has a lot of money, money that can buy magic." She paused as her inner voice whispered to her. "Oh, no! Why didn't I think of that?!'

'What? Bad man buy trio on train?'

'No, you silly salamander.' She gave her companion a kindly smile, even though he couldn't see it. 'He could be using his mobile to buy magic items and even interview trio mates. He's certainly been keeping busy during this train ride. I can feel it.'

'Why we not stop him now then?' Ash started to stand up and Dani held him down with surprising strength.

'No, Ash. If we fought him now, I'm afraid we'd push him into becoming too powerful for us. At the very least, we'd very likely disrupt the train and a lot of people could get hurt or even killed. We need to wait until we get to Paris.'

"But Dani!" He blurted aloud, forgetting himself.

The divine girl mentally shushed him. 'I'm sorry, Ash, but I insist. We wait. We've done as much plotting as we can. We'll have to leave the rest up to the Goddess. I'm still not fully integrated into Her and I need to be. It's the only way we'll win.

'Okay. I be good. But Goddess scare me.'

'Yeah,' Dani said. 'Wanda told me the same thing. And I'm scared too, Ash. I'm scared too.'

Dani used the remaining time to meditate with Ash keeping watch over her. She did fear what was happening to her and she had to get over it to continue on her spiritual path. The meditation was necessary to contemplate all the good that could be found in the world. She'd already dwelled too long on the bad and Richard had her quite upset. The Goddess encompassed both the dark and the light and Dani had focused too much on the negative. She needed goodness and light to cancel out the dark.

She focused first on her sisters and the love they shared. Then her parents, school, Jenna and Jenna's trio, her loyal companion, Ash, and even Wanda. Trolls showed that they had a good side. Good could be found in almost everything. One just had to look to see it.

The girl sighed. It took a lot of energy to compress all of her fond memories into the span of fifteen minutes. It was worth the effort though. The energy, thoughts and feelings that washed over and through her became almost unbearable until the love shined through like the sun breaking through the clouds after a storm. Dani smiled. She did it. She was one with the Goddess. She completed Her path on a journey that started when She was first brought home to Water Works cottage as a baby — Her whole life designed to prepare Her to become the Goddess.

'I see it all now, Ash,' She sent. 'We need to leave the train now and wait until the time is right to stop poor Richard.'

'Dani?'

'It's okay, Ash. Everything is okay. The plan has changed. I see it all clearly now. Richard will be dealt with when the time is right, and in the right place. Let's go.'

She reached out and held Ash's hand, teleporting them both very near the location where She'd have Her final battle with Richard. No longer invisible, Ash and the fully divine girl stood on the grass of the Champ de Mars and looked up at a famous landmark. The Eiffel Tower loomed just over a thousand feet above them very near the River Seine on the Left Bank. She saw the tower and knew exactly how everything would play out. It all crystallized in Her mind.

Dear Goddess, please tell me I'm wrong.

She gently shook Her head and answered Herself by shedding a single tear that rolled down Her cheek.

The train had long since left England. It passed through the Channel Tunnel, nicknamed the Chunnel, and surfaced to quickly glide through the French countryside, rapidly approaching Paris.

Richard sat in his plush seat on the train and hummed. He never felt so relaxed and so confident. He couldn't bring himself to believe that he was anywhere close to being at full power but he surprised himself by feeling the familiar tingle of magic all throughout his body, like he was fully charged.

"Impossible!" he whispered. But it was true. Even without a trio, he'd absorbed magic around him and could easily wield it, just as he realized Dani could do the same. Something was happening to both of them. He didn't like to entertain the possibility of being stopped from his dream of world domination but he could appreciate a challenge, especially as he felt sure he'd come out on top.

His mobile played the familiar opening of Beethoven's fifth symphony and he stabbed at the button to accept the call. He tried to keep his enthusiasm from showing and just barely restrained himself.

"Richard here. What've you got for me?"

The voice on the other end of the phone told him everything he wanted to hear. He was all smiles but he didn't let it show in his voice.

"Right. I'll meet you in two hours at the Louvre, just in front of the glass pyramid entrance. You can expect online payment in full on delivery."

Richard selected his words very carefully. The other person wanted to sell an extremely powerful artifact and just because that person could expect payment didn't mean that Richard would actually honor the agreement. He just had to sound sincere to make sure the person showed up at the appointed place and time. If the artifact worked like his research said it would, he wouldn't need a trio and he wouldn't have to worry about paying anyone anything ever again.

The man laughed and as usual, it wasn't a pleasant sound.

The train arrived three minutes late at Gare du Nord, the North Station in the tenth administrative district of Paris. It took a long time for everyone to disembark and Richard was the last passenger to leave. He didn't care. Everything was going his way and he stayed on the train, relaxing in his comfortable seat as long as he could. When he finally got up, he walked off without thanking any of the staff and didn't look back. He hadn't brought any bags so he didn't have anything to slow him down as he walked towards his date with destiny.

He did wonder about some odd feelings that he had on the train. It felt as though he was being watched several times during his trip, and each time, he looked round the passenger car yet saw no one.

Sometimes his sight extended into adjacent cars. That confused him a little. He wasn't used to doing something like that without any magical effort. But still, he trusted his feelings. The girl would be after him. He was as sure of that as he was of his own name. It wouldn't surprise him if she'd been on the same train with him.

Bring it, girl.

He stopped briefly and waited just in case. He was ready for her, fully charged with a fireball spell that had her name on it. But she didn't show up.

The man shrugged and continued walking.

Taxis were scarce near the train station. That annoyed the evil man a little. He shrugged it off though, as soon as his thoughts came back to the magic item that he'd wanted for so long. He'd searched for the Dragon Mask for over two decades of his life, and just when he most needed it, it fell into his lap.

The wearer of the mask was said to be able to breathe fire like a giant dragon, sending thick columns of fire for great distances, kind of like a cross between a flame thrower and a fireball spell except on a huge scale. Even his invention of the fireball cannon couldn't compare to the Dragon Mask. Just the thought of holding the mask in his hand and slowly bringing it towards his face gave him a warm, pleasant feeling.

Since he couldn't find a taxi, he decided to enjoy the nice weather and walk. He'd been to Paris before so he wouldn't get lost, and even if he walked all the way to the Louvre, he thought he still had enough time for a quick meal. A nice cafe caught his eye and he waltzed in like he owned the place, wanting to grab a quick supper consisting of some rich French food that he didn't plan on paying for. The train fare would be the last thing he'd ever purchase.

He was seated very quickly against one wall in a prime location. The staff noticed his expensive suit and appreciated one's attention to their appearance. When the man straightened the lapels on his suit, he immediately got the attention of a waiter.

The waiter, a thin young man with short, greasy black hair appeared in front of him speaking French, asking if he wanted any wine.

Richard didn't understand a word of what the young man said but he nodded yes and pointed to an expensive vintage on the wine list. He didn't need to understand the language to know that a drink would be the first order of business.

The waiter hurried off to get the wine, leaving the evil man to try to decide what to do first once he had the Dragon Mask. With so many options, it was hard to decide.

So much evil to do. So little time.

Dani sat next to Ash on the grass near the Eiffel Tower. Making sure that She wasn't being watched, the divine girl changed Her face back to its true appearance, with Ash left looking human to keep from scaring anyone. She kept track of the time by the position of the sun and patiently waited, enjoying the pleasant late afternoon while She could.

Having Jenna's face had seemed odd but at least it gave Her a nice idea, one that She'd work on after getting back to Water Works cottage. The idea also reminded Her of something, something that She didn't remember experiencing. It was the last word that the Goddess had said to Jenna before the girl's death and it suddenly made sense. She couldn't wait to get home, though She did regret one small thing.

"It's a shame we can't do more sightseeing now, while we're here," She said. "We'll have time after we take care of Richard but I'm afraid by then, we won't be in the mood to enjoy the city, assuming there's anything left of it."

"What?" Ash said, confused. He never understood half of what Dani said and since their sudden trip to France, he understood even less.

"Ah. I'm sorry, my friend. I don't mean to worry you. Perhaps we could go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower and have a good look round the city. Would you like that?"

Ash squinted as he looked up at the observation platform near the top of the tower. "Me not like high places. Me can't fly."

"Oh, dear. That's not true. Not with me around. You'll be safe enough with my magic. Is that okay?"

The human-looking salamander thought about it for a brief moment and shrugged his shoulders. He trusted his beloved human but still couldn't decide.

"I'd really like to see the view from up there, and I'd like to share it with you. Please. Let's go up."

Ash couldn't say no to Her. He nodded. "You go. Me follow."

"It'll be okay. Everything will be okay… just over three hours from now. You'll see."

Richard sipped his overpriced but adequate red wine. He unknowingly ordered a meal with fish, getting a raised eyebrow from the waiter since it clashed with the red wine, but he didn't care. The man felt a bit peckish by that time. He needed something in his stomach after all of his exertion back in London. He'd snacked on the train but that didn't keep his appetite satisfied for very long.

After two loud stomach gurgles, the waiter appeared and carefully set a plate of sole meunière before the hungry man, who started eating it rather quickly.

The evil man spared a glance at his watch and noticed it was getting close to his meeting time. He needed to get some food in him as quickly as possible and make a quick exit. He had such wonderful plans for his exit too.

His waiter wandered over to a neighboring table, muttering, "Crétin," under his breath.

 © 2013 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.