Tag Archives: David

Fire

‘Sarah! You need to come to Thomas’s rooms right away.’ The voice in her head was clearly Rebecca’s, but how? The urgency she felt forced her to put the question aside and hurry up the stairs.

Outside of Thomas’s rooms, Sarah found both Rebecca and Marie looking very worried. Marie’s presence explained how Rebecca could communicate directly to her mind, and the intense heat radiating through the door left little doubt as the source of their concern.

Before she could speak, Rebecca anticipated her question. “David is on his way.”

Indeed, at that moment, David came running up the stairs. “Fire?”

“Probably,” Rebecca agreed.

“David . . .” Sarah began, but he was already casting.

“You should back up a bit. I think I can get it under control, but just to be safe.”

Once they moved closer to the stairs, Sarah asked, “Do you know what happened?”

“I came up looking for Matthew . . .” Rebecca began.

“He’s not in the infirmary?”

“No. He’s been taking short walks, and I thought maybe he’d come here again. When I arrived, the door was closed, and it was impossible not to notice the heart. Luckily, Marie was with me and could help send messages.”

By then, David had opened the door. He cast another spell to clear out all the smoke. Much of the room was blackened, and there was ash everywhere. Sarah was relieved to see Thomas, still frozen in place, had been left untouched by the destruction.

“They’re gone.” David’s words drew her attention. The space where the other two mages had stood was now empty. There was no sign of them anywhere.

“How did they get unstuck?” Marie had been silent until now. “Did they start the fire?”

“I don’t know how they got unstuck,” David replied. “But the fire was definitely started by an elementalist.”

“Assuming Thomas is the one who froze them, maybe it wasn’t permanent,” Sarah offered. It was difficult to believe her own suggestion, however. Why would Thomas create a spell that lasted nearly two and a half months? It was such an arbitrary duration.

“More importantly, are they still in the house?” David asked.

“Julia would know. If we could find her,” Rebecca said.

Sarah flinched a little. Rebecca wasn’t criticizing her, she knew, but the feeling of guilt arose anyway. There had been no sign of Julia since she briefly appeared in Thomas’s room over a week ago. Sarah didn’t even know where to begin looking.

“We’ll just have to split up and search ourselves. Rebecca, would you and Marie go through the second floor? David, you can take the first. I’ll go through the Long Hallway. Let’s meet back here.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and left to search.

Using the escape door, Sarah made her way into the lone room of the Long Hallway. Her recording hadn’t been triggered recently, so if they were in the Hallway, they hadn’t made it this far yet.

Opening the door that usually was the entrance to this room, she was surprised to find Matthew standing there.

“Sarah! Thank goodness. I seem to have gotten lost.”

“That’s why I told you not to wander on your own. The House has changed.”

“Obviously.”

“Have you seen anyone else?”

“No. Nothing but an empty hallway. What is this place?”

“It’s part of our security. I’ll tell you about it later, but for now, let’s get you back to the infirmary.”

As she led them out of the Hallway, she said, “I wish we had a room for you to use, so that you wouldn’t be stuck in there.”

“What about my old room?”

“I don’t think it exists anymore. As I said, the House isn’t how you remember it.”

“-e fu-” Like an apparition, Julia appeared before them and then disappeared just as suddenly.

“Has the House become haunted?”

She assumed he was joking, but it didn’t bring her any closer to solving the mystery.

“Not a ghost. We’re still working on it.” They arrived back at the infirmary. “I have to go check on something. Promise not to leave until I get back?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll behave.”

Back at Thomas’s room, everyone else was waiting for her.

“No sign of them anywhere,” David said.

“Well, I found Matthew, but no one else. They must have escaped somehow.”

They all exchanged glances, but no one seemed to know what to do next.

Finally, Sarah broke the silence. “There’s nothing more to be done right now. Be careful. Let others know if something seems amiss.”

Left alone in Thomas’s room once more, Sarah went over everything she had learned in the last hour. There were tough decisions ahead, but she felt more confident than she had in awhile.

Satan Stuff

The bell ringing alerted David that he had a customer. Exiting the back room, he saw a young woman who looked vaguely familiar.

“Welcome. Are you looking for something in particular or just browsing?”

Rather than answer, she continued to look at the shelves in front of her.

“Well, please let me know if I can help.”

Perhaps she was looking for something to steal, David thought. There was nothing on the shelves that was particularly dangerous, and he hadn’t opened the store to make money. If she felt the need to steal, he wasn’t going to worry about it too much.

Wanting to be available but not act like he was suspicious of her, he stayed in the front room, but made a point to keep his nose buried in a book he was reading. In the end, it didn’t matter because she walked right up to the counter.

“Where is your Satanic stuff?” Her voice was hesitant.

Taken aback by the question, David replied, “Excuse me?”

“Satan. You have Satan stuff, don’t you?”

Now he recognized her. “You were with those protestors a few weeks ago, weren’t you?”

The question seemed to embolden her a little. “So what? Now I’m a customer.”

David had to repress a chuckle. “Is your plan to trick me into revealing my secret connections to Satanism in order to confirm your group’s grievances?”

“No. I’m just interested in Satan.” Her defiance from a moment ago had waned, and she seemed unsure of herself again.

David pulled a chair from behind the counter and sat down. One lesson Samuel had impressed upon him was to always be approachable, never intimidating.

“What’s your name?”

“Abby.” Now she seemed nervous, as though she might get caught doing something wrong.

“Abby, your parents, your community… would they approve of you being here?”

“I’m an adult. And anyway, don’t you want to tempt me away from them?”

“I’m not interested in coming between you and anyone, nor am I going to tell you what to do. If you need help getting away from someone, I will do whatever I can. But it’s not my place to tempt you into anything.”

“What kind of Satan-worshipper are you?”

“I’m not any kind of Satan-worshipper. I don’t believe in Satan. I just want to help people. That’s what this place is about.”

“Hmph.” She didn’t seem convinced, but David saw no benefit in arguing with her. If her group had indoctrinated her, there was nothing he could say. And if she had already begun to question things, pushing her too quickly might drive her back.

“You really don’t have anything on Satan?”

“I’m afraid not. If there is something else you are looking for, maybe I can help with that.”

“No.” Her disappointment was palpable. Whether she believed him or not, she appeared to accept that he wasn’t going to give her what she wanted.

As she walked toward the door, she turned back briefly. “You don’t seem evil.”

“Thank you,” he managed before she left.

David sat for awhile, wondering if there was something he should have said or done differently. Whatever happened to her next, he silently wished her well.

Culture Clash

Half a dozen people were standing in front of David’s store and holding signs. One read: “Magic is the Devil’s Work.” The protest had been going on for over an hour, and David was considering just closing for the day. Business had been slow anyway. Still, he wasn’t prepared to give in just yet.

Instead, he opened the door and sat down on the top step leading down to the sidewalk. When the protesters noticed him, they all stared at him until one man walked up the steps towards him.

“You need to shut down this . . . sinful place.”

David kept his voice even and mild. “What is the problem?”

“The occult. It’s Satanic. We don’t want Satan worshippers in our neighborhood.”

“I assure you, there’s no Satan worship going on here.”

“All magic comes from him.”

“It doesn’t. Indeed, most of it is just the harnessing and manipulation of natural energies that surround everything.”

“Lies!”

David ignored the exclamation. “All I’m doing is helping people. No more, no less. I don’t force anyone to come here, and I don’t try to influence anyone’s beliefs. Helping people is good, isn’t it?”

“That’s how Satan gets in. He fools you into thinking that he’s helping you. Before you know it, you’re lost in his clutches. The Book of Acts tells us to burn books about magic. Exodus tells us to kill sorcerers.”

David sighed. “You aren’t listening.” Standing back up, he brushed off the seat of his pants. “Well, good luck with your protest. I’ll be inside if you want to talk.” He walked back into his store.

He had hoped they could genuinely talk and reach some sort of common understanding, but they weren’t interested. They had their beliefs, and nothing he said would change their minds. He knew people like this existed, but he hadn’t encountered them before now. Back home, everyone trusted and respected Samuel. Their traditions went back hundreds of years. But here, magic was either dismissed as fake or condemned as evil.

From the back room, he heard a crash. He rushed to the front of the store to find his window smashed and a burning pool of liquid on the floor. It smelled of gasoline. A simple spell extinguished the fire. Looking outside, most of the protesters were gone. Only one person, a young woman, stood out front.

David stepped outside again. “Did you do this?” He kept anger out of his voice.

She looked scared as she shook her head.

“Did you see who did?”

Nodding, she remained silent.

“Are you okay? I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to know what happened.”

Rather than responding, she ran off like she had been freed from some binding. He thought about running after her, but he didn’t want to leave the store unattended.

What were his options? He could shut down the store. What was the point of staying in business if he wasn’t wanted? But he knew there were people he had helped, and likely there would be more such people in the future. He was loathe to give up.

If he did keep the shop running, how should he deal with the protesters? Especially whoever tried to burn it down? All the truly dangerous stuff was in the vault in the basement, so they were unlikely to cause too much harm. But he wasn’t going to be able to do anyone any good if this sort of thing kept happening.

For now, he could strengthen the fire resistance of the building and its contents. That should buy him time to figure out his next step. Helping people was going to take more work than he realized.

New Tradition

The candles were once more arranged in concentric circles within Julia’s pocket space. This time, however, she had arranged four couches within the candles. Rebecca sat on one of them between David and Marie – the latter was resting her head on Rebecca’s shoulder and seemed to be dozing. Sarah lounged on the couch across from them, her elbow propping up her body. Julia sat on a third, while Aisha rested her head in Julia’s lap. The fourth couch remained empty.

“So you and Jason spent every Winter Solstice like this?” David asked.

Sarah gave him a look of warning, but Julia shrugged it off. “I appreciate the concern, Sarah, but it’s been roughly eighteen years since Jason’s death. I know it’s more recent for all of you, but I have had lots of time to find some measure of peace.

“To answer your question, David, yes. He and I would stay up all night talking. I know a number of magical traditions make use of this night for special rites, but he and I used it as a time to step back from every day life and reconnect as friends.”

“So why did you decide to invite us?” David followed up.

“Jason wanted me to belong somewhere. Maybe that sounds silly, but it was one thing he always was on me about. This night used to be about us, but I figured he would want you all here. And I think over the last several years, I’ve begun to understand the importance each of you has had in my life.” Absently, Julia ran her fingertips up and down Aisha’s arm, and the other woman smiled up at her.

“It’s too bad Thomas can’t be here,” Rebecca said softly so as not to waken Marie.

“Yes, it is. But no business tonight. No worrying about current troubles. Tonight is just about friendship.” Julia was firm but not angry.

“So the fourth couch?” Sarah gestured at it.

“Well, I did want there to be plenty of room to sit and get comfortable, but I have to admit it’s also for Jason. The last time I was here, Jason showed up. I thought there might be a chance . . .”

After a brief lull, David changed the subject. “So you were stuck in the past for fifteen years? What did you do the entire time?”

“Mostly, she got in trouble that I had to bail her out of.” Aisha answered.

“Ignore her.” Julia playfully covered Aisha’s mouth.

“Actually,” she continued after moving Julia’s hand, “she was quite boring. Always inside doing research. I had to find ways to get her to leave the house.”

“Yes, wild goose chases after magical books. Threatening to reveal my existence to my past self. Life with you around was never boring.”

Aisha laughed. “That’s why you kept me around.”

“Hmmm.” Despite her attempt to seem put out, Julia couldn’t keep a smile from her lips.

Sarah looked at Rebecca. “Have you heard from Bailey?”

“No.” Rebecca seemed a bit melancholic at the mention of her friend.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring you down.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t. Not really. I think about them now and again, but they are really good at not being found. I hope they’ll come back eventually, but we can’t control others.”

Marie murmured at shifted a bit without opening her eyes.

“Anyway, even ignoring all the major events of the past year, I’ve been busy helping Marie get set up. So I haven’t had much time to worry about Bailey.”

Another comfortable lull descended.

This time, Julia broke the silence. “How’s business at your store, David?”

“Slow, but I’m starting to develop a few regulars. I’m just happy to be in the community making connections.”

“It’s a good store. I’ve found a few items for my clients there,” Aisha volunteered. “I could probably funnel a few more customers your way.”

“That would be great, but I wouldn’t want to steal any of your business.”

Aisha waved away the concern. “There will always be more esoteric requests to keep me busy.”

Conversation continued to ebb and flow throughout the night. Julia look around at the group and couldn’t help but think that Jason would be pleased.

Meeting with the Enemy

“You aren’t seriously considering going?” Rebecca was nearly shouting.

“She’s right, Sarah. It’d be crazy to show up.” Julia was more subdued in her agreement.

The three of them, along with David, were sitting around the table.

“This is a chance to find out more about who attacked us.” Thomas had always kept his own counsel; Sarah was determined to operate more openly, so she told everyone what had happened while she was investigating the house where Matthew had been imprisoned.

“Do you even know where you’re supposed to meet?” David asked.

“I have an idea.” Sarah answered. “No one has been able to locate a temporal mage, so we have no way to break the spell on Thomas. This person can tell us what happened, maybe give us a clue as to how to help Thomas. And as long as he is out there, we’re all still in danger. He’s not going to stop until Thomas is dead, and that means going through us.”

Everyone stayed silent. Maybe they were trying to find fault with her reasoning. Maybe they just didn’t like it. Sarah didn’t like it herself, but she had to do this.

“Okay. So let’s consider how to approach this.”

* * *

“You’re a day early.”

The place where Thomas had apprenticed was now just an empty lot. Thomas had inherited it, but he wanted nothing to do with it. The remains of the house had been removed, but otherwise, it had remained untouched. Several trees were scattered around the edge of the area, and the rest was just grass. The attacker stood on one end of the lot, with Thomas’s image about fifty feet away.

“I thought I should check to be sure there were no surprises,” Sarah said with Thomas’s voice.

“Suspicion isn’t very becoming.”

“Hmmm. Well, I am here now; what did you want to say to me.”

“Where are my associates?”

“You called me here just to ask that?”

“No, of course not. It just seemed a waste not to ask.”

“So why am I here? Have you decided to call a truce?”

“Ha ha!” The man threw his head back in a genuine laugh. As he did so, the ground beneath Thomas’s feet exploded. Rubble flew in every direction, and smoke filled the air.

When it cleared, Thomas was in the same spot he had been.

“You’re not even really here? How disappointing,” the other man said.

“As I told you, I was expecting surprises.”

“I guess it was obvious.”

“Why are you doing this?” Sarah didn’t really expect an answer.

“You know I’m not going to tell you that.” He took a few steps back. “Well, I don’t intend to get into another battle with you right now. And since you aren’t really here, I suppose we’ll have to do this some other time.” After several more steps, he vanished.

“I still think we should have tried to eliminate him while we had the chance,” Julia said to Sarah. They had concealed themselves down the street from the empty lot.

“I know, but without knowing what he is capable of, that could have gone horribly wrong.”

“So did you learn anything?”

“No. I knew it was a long shot, but I had to make the attempt.”

Aisha stepped out from a nearby shadow.

“Were you able to plant it?” Julia asked.

Aisha smiled and nodded.

“Then we got what we came for,” Sarah said. “Now we can try to fill in some of our blind spots and better prepare for our next move.”

“You’re the boss,” Julia said with a smile.

After the Siege

“Matthew?! What happened?” Sarah’s surprise threatened to overwhelm her.

“If I could sit . . .” His voice was strained, and every movement caused his face to contort with pain.

“Of course.”

Sarah and David slowly led Matthew to one of the big armchairs where he collapsed into the soft cushions. While Matthew tried to find a comfortable position, David spoke.

“I found him tied up in a basement down the street. The men who entered the house earlier came from there. I think they were holding him.”

“Good guess, kid. They thought I could help them, give them information on the house. In the end, though, they just left me there. Did they get Thomas?”

Sarah wasn’t sure how much to tell him. Trust wasn’t an issue between them, but she wasn’t sure he was strong enough at the moment to deal with the whole situation. “He’s still upstairs. Not dead. My current priority, however, is your well-being. How badly are you hurt?”

“I’ve felt better, but I’m going to live.” He forced a smile.

The light-heartedness he was trying to project actually caused her to worry more. “Do you think they’ll come back?”

“Hard to say. If they didn’t get him, they’ll be back. I don’t know how soon.” The pain showing on his face had become constant.

“Rebecca? Can you help?”

“Of course.” Rebecca closed her eyes and stretched out her hand towards Mathew. After only a few seconds, his head dropped towards his chest, and his breathing steadied. “Julia, I need some help getting him to the infirmary.”

Julia opened a portal and helped Rebecca carry him through.

“So what happened in the house?”

Sarah was thinking about Matthew and didn’t hear David’s question.

“Sarah?”

“Sorry.” She shook her head a bit to try to bring her focus back to the moment. “What did you say?”

“I asked what happened.”

“As Matthew said, they were after Thomas.”

“But they failed?”

A wave of exhaustion swept over her once more, so she slumped into a chair. “Sort of. Thomas is in his room, frozen in time. Two of the attackers are up there, too. They didn’t kill or capture him, but he is currently incapacitated.”

“How do we save him?”

“That’s what we were discussing when you came in. We aren’t sure yet.”

“Why didn’t you tell Matthew.”

“He needs rest. Needs to recover. There’s nothing he can do right now in his condition. Was there anything else in the house where you found him? Any clue?”

“No. The place was empty. I doubt they had been there long.”

“Okay. You should get some rest, too. Oh, and would you mind not leaving the house for the next few days. If they do come back, I’d rather have you in here with us.”

“Sure. Whatever I can do.”

“And David? Thank you for finding Matthew.”

“Purely accidental. But you’re welcome.”

David left Sarah alone with her thoughts. Matthew being back in the house, even wounded, managed to give her a little comfort, but there were still a lot of unknowns to deal with. Her first task was studying the features of the men in Thomas’s room. She wanted to be able to reproduce them as exactly as possible.

Siege (part eight)

“So there are three people frozen in time in Thomas’s room, and we have no idea how to release them?” Rebecca’s voice betrayed the toll that stress had taken on her.

“Yes. That is the current situation.” Sarah felt exhausted.

“On a positive note, the barrier seems to be gone.” Julia tried to sound upbeat but failed.

The three women were sitting downstairs. They had tried to move the men without success. For now, at least, they were stuck in their current positions.

“Can you use your blue crystal?” Rebecca asked Julia.

“No. I haven’t figured out how to extend its use. I was lucky that it worked on Bailey. But mind control is a different sort of magic than temporal stasis.”

Rebecca slumped further into her chair, the hope she had harbored briefly fully extinguished.

“We need another temporal mage.” Julia said. “Do you know anyone, Sarah?”

“No. Thomas was . . .” She caught herself. “ . . . is the only one I’ve met. It’s clear they were after him, but we still don’t know why.”

Silence fell over them as each reflected on the matter. For her part, Sarah was not certain how to feel. She knew she couldn’t leave Thomas as he was, but it might mean the house was safe, at least for now. On the other hand, he might also have an idea as to who their attackers were, or even why they had attacked.

“We should restore our own defenses. Whoever it was that got away, he could come back. Can you put up a barrier of our own, Julia?” Sarah refused to sit still and wait for the next thing to happen.

“I can, but there is a reason I didn’t put one up before. With preparation, they can be taken down. It worked in this case because we didn’t have the time to break it. If I set one up, they could figure out how to deal with it before we notice. At best, it would slow them down.”

“That’s better than nothing.”

“Okay. I just wanted you to know the limits of it. I’ll put one up and reactivate the long hallway. Leaving one up for too long might also attract unwanted attention. Once I can figure out a way to remove barriers quickly, I think we should consider taking it down.”

“What about the men upstairs?” Rebecca asked.

“There’s nothing we can do about them, remember?” Sarah answered.

“No. I meant, what if the stasis is temporary. What if they can start moving. They’re still a threat.”

“That’s a good point. I’ll put up a barrier around them. Even if they manage to break out, at least we’ll know.”

“I’m sorry to put so much on you, Julia.” Sarah said.

Julia shrugged. “Defending the house is my job. It’s why you all let me stick around in spite of my anti-social attitude.”

“That’s not true,” Sarah protested.

“Relax. I’m joking. Mostly. Anyway, it’ll give me something to do.”

“Rebecca. Do you think you could contact Thomas’s soul? See if it’s frozen too? Maybe we can contact him through the spirit world?”

Rebecca appeared to think about the idea for a few moments. “I can try. I don’t know if it will work, but I will try.”

“That’s all I ask. I will see if I can track down the identities of our uninvited guests. Maybe that will provide us with some answers.”

They heard the front door open and then David’s voice.

“Barrier’s down. Is anybody here?”

“In here,” Sarah replied.

David came around the corner, but he wasn’t alone. He was supporting another person who seemed to be unconscious.

“David! Who . . .?” Sarah had rushed over to help.

At the sound of her voice, the figure raised its head and gave her a weak smile. “Sarah. It’s good to see you.”

Her surprise caused her to take a step back. “Matthew?!”

Siege (part five)

Turning several street corners to throw off anyone who might be following him, David put a fair bit of distance between himself and the magic shop. No one seemed to be following him. Maybe it was just an unlucky coincidence that he lost contact with Julia when he did, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

Ducking into a narrow alley, he looked around to make sure no one else was nearby. Once he was satisfied, he slipped on Sarah’s invisibility ring. He hadn’t seen any need for it, but Sarah insisted he keep it. Now he was grateful she had. Safe from prying eyes – he hoped – David made his way back to the house.

As soon as it came into view, he knew something was off. The building always had an air of magic about it, if you knew how to look. But this was different, unfamiliar. This magic, whatever it was, might be responsible for severing the connection with Julia. Leaving the ring on, David approached the house carefully.

He went to open the door, but something stopped him from touching the doorknob. A barrier was wrapped around the house, though he had no idea who created it or why. Had Julia set it up to keep someone out? Or had someone else set it up to trap everyone inside?

He considered trying to use brute force to break through, but that had too many downsides. For one thing, it might not work, and all he would have accomplished is announcing his presence. On the other hand, using elemental magic might even damage the house. Without knowing more, he decided to wait and see what would happen next.

Over an hour passed uneventfully. Tired of waiting, David decided to try to get through the barrier. As he approached the house once more, he noticed three people leave a house down the block and walk in his direction. The ring’s magic appeared to still be working, so he hoped they weren’t coming for him. Indeed, they walked right past him and up to the front door. All of them appeared middle-aged and male; none of them looked familiar to him.

Effortlessly, they opened the door and entered the house. David tried to follow them inside, but the barrier remained intact. If they could pass through, they were probably responsible for setting it up in the first place. But knowing that didn’t help him.

Instead, he went to the house where the men had come from. There was a “For Sale” sign in the front yard, and the place seemed unoccupied. The front door was unlocked, so he went in as quietly as he could.

There wasn’t any furniture in the living room. In fact, every room was empty, and there was no indication of who the men were. Had they even really been here? To be thorough, he decided to check the basement, too.

As with the rest of the house, there was nothing in it. It was hard to imagine that anyone had ever lived here. He noticed a door at the far end of the large space. Opening it, he found himself in front of a person blindfolded and tied to a chair.

Following a Lead

The shop was small and dark, with only a few lights at the edges of the room. A short, middle-aged man greeted David from behind a counter.

“Hello, sir. Anything in particular you’re looking for?”

“Just browsing.”

“Okay. Let me know if have any questions.” The man sounded friendly, but David didn’t trust him. Evil didn’t announce itself.

“Are you seeing all this?” David whispered towards the small portal on his shoulder.

“Shh,” was the only response.

The store was full of trinkets that one would expect to find in a place like this: charms, crystals, and potions were the most common bits. It all appeared to be harmless, though David couldn’t tell for certain what, if anything, was real. On a shelf, one peculiar statue caught his eye. Only six inches high, it depicted some sort of sea creature he didn’t recognize.

“What’s this?”

The man looked up. “That? It’s supposed to be some sort of deity. Ancient. From somewhere in the Pacific, I think.”

“You don’t know?”

“I get a lot of stuff. It’s hard to keep track of all of it. I figure someone will recognize it and buy it. If not, it’s still an interesting piece.”

“I suppose.” David was confused. Wasn’t he a mage? How could he not know what he was selling. Had Mark lied to him about getting the box here in spite of his terror? He decided to be more direct and walked up to the counter.

“Actually, I am looking for something, I suppose. Something that will scare someone. Not hurt them, just scare them. Do you have anything like that?”

The man stared at him, weighing some sort of judgment.

“Who are you?” He eventually asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you a cop? Trying to get me to admit to selling dangerous stuff?”

“No, I . . .”

“This is all just for fun. People come in here looking for baubles, something to believe in, to give them a sense of security or to play at being wizards. Whatever. If you’re a cop, either charge me with something or get out. And if you’re not a cop, just get out.”

His anger took David by surprise. He turned and left in stunned silence.

“That was quite a performance.” Having forgotten about her portal, Julia’s voice started David.

“You think he was lying?”

“That’s one possibility. Another is that he’s selling things without knowing what they are. Or your client’s ex lied to you. Which do you think is more likely?”

“I’m not sure. Mark seemed truly scared, so I have trouble believing he would lie. But this guy seemed genuine as well.”

“Do you want me to . . .” Julia’s voice abruptly cut off.

“Julia?” There was no indication that her portal was still open.

David looked around but saw nothing that would explain the portal’s closing. He had already walked about a block from the magic store. Could the owner have done something? But why? That would only have raised David’s suspicions even higher.

Fearing something had gone wrong, David began to hurry back to the house.

Punishment

David knocked on the front door of the house. After a few seconds, a man who looked to be in his 30s answered.

“Hello. Are you Mark?”

“Who are you?”

At that moment, the man’s eyes widened as he noticed the box David was holding, and he tried to close the door. Before it fully shut, David stuck his foot across the threshold to keep it open.

“So you recognize the box. Do you know what happened to your ex-wife?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

The force resisting David’s foot eased, and he shoved it wide open. The man had backed away several feet from the door.

“So you didn’t put this box in Jennifer’s basement?”

“Get out of my house!”

David took a step towards him. “Do you know what happened to her?”

“Leave me alone.” His voice had become almost a whimper.

“You know what’s inside the box? Should I show you?”

Shaking uncontrollably, the man crumpled to the floor.

David crouched down near him. “Where did you get it?”

His sobbing suggested he hadn’t summoned the horror himself. But he must have some idea of what had been in it. David needed to find out who gave it to him.

“Your ex-wife killed herself. Because of this box. Because of you.”

“No, no, no . . .”

“Yes. Where did you get it?”

“I just wanted to scare her . . .”

His terror was making it difficult to get anywhere, so David stood up and walked back to the door. After he put the box out of sight behind an end table, he crouched down next to Mark once more. He opened his hands to show that they were empty.

“The box is gone, for now. Take a moment to compose yourself.”

After taking a few deep breaths, Mark seemed to calm down a little.

“You can’t prove I did anything.”

“I suppose not. But I can leave the box here for you. Or you can tell me where you got it.”

“You wouldn’t do that.”

“Why not? Is there something bad about the box?”

“It’s . . . Well . . . No, I mean . . .”

“Just tell me, and I’ll leave you alone with whatever guilt you feel.”

“There’s a place. Downtown. It sells . . . things.”

David held out a notebook and a pen. “Address.”

Mark quickly wrote down an address.

“If this isn’t right, I will come back.”

“It’s right. I swear.”

“Good.” David walked over and picked up the box. “Here.” He tossed the box to Mark who scrambled backwards away from it. The box hit the floor and opened. Mark screamed and covered his eyes.

“It’s empty. I wouldn’t subject anyone to a horror. Even you. Sadly for Jennifer, she married someone who doesn’t have the same respect for others. I have recorded all of this, however, and I’m sure the police will have questions.”

Unsure of how much longer he could keep his anger in check, David left without waiting for a response. Since Mark didn’t seem to be a mage, he would let others handle him. It was better than he deserved.