Magic. 301
Copyright© 2024 by James McDonald
Chapter 20: Life after Ghent
Nobody ever told me that the adjustment from Honeymoon to Full Duty at the office would be so crowded and cramped. And it got worse as we got into July.
Within the week after our meeting with the Mage Council in Europe, we had meetings with many different European, English, and African mage groups and Witches covens. All wanting to buy and sell and discover what was available and when. The list of ingredients we transported which were nondrug related but related to the composition of different tonics, curses and spells grew to over thirty pages.
Our heroes in Silicon Valley were kept up to date with the different formulations and substitutions that were available through research and recipe sharing. We were making a “Betty Crocker’s Cookbook” for the magic capable. We were also including warnings with the adverse effects on any spells that were concocted, and we had attached VERY strong warnings against use of any of these in offensive spells. Some spells we kept in secret of course. And almost every one of them came with a full page of disclaimers, warnings and cautions to measure exactly of the ingredients called for or “Unfortunate things could happen”.
Peter Gill wanted to include an 800 number for calls for assistance. “Having people call first can reduce the work I may have to do after an incident.”
And he was right. Him and Sapphire were always on the go with someone needing “Help” from our Help desk.
Barbara had come up with a “branding’ method. This was included in all orders from the Witches Caldron that identified the component and the order it was delivered and the addressee of the order as well. Components used in offensive magic were thus marked with the user as far as we were concerned. Which silenced a lot of opposition that grew out of European complaints that we were “wholesaling Witchcraft” to the world.
“If you use components we have shipped to you for offensive purposes, our Enforcement information will be cheerfully passed onto the various circles involved. Which will make tracking and punishing you much easier” Natalie said in a release to the various Circles.
No, we were not responsible for enforcement. We just gave them the tools to catch the offenders.
At the same time, we noticed something else in the world around us. Witchcraft was becoming a popular. J.K. Rowling’s writing in England had captured the imagination of almost all of the English language peoples and was translated into almost every European language. And Dan Brown’s book “Angels and Deamons” hinted at the actions that the churches had historically taken against Wiccan and Mages. All of which gave me some discomfort, knowing how my study of history indicated how people would react to the news of “empowered people”.
Both authors began to arouse some level of interest in the “not quite normal” people in the world that had in the last two centuries been ignored. Which caused some concerns to us.
Because despite efforts by some reviewers (who distained the books) the printing presses could not keep up with demand. And the first three were in almost every children’s library. “The Goblet of Fire” was anticipated to be the first on the New York Times children’s book list best seller. (This was created specifically to hold the children’s books separate from the adult section, since the previous three had dominated the best seller lists for over three years.)
This caused headaches for our sales and delivery groups within the Witches Caldron. Separating the real witches from the kids who stumbled on our web site caused real security headaches for our delivery teams who had to verify that the deliveries were to legitimate Magic users.
Fortunately, no one listed our web site on any of the book leaves that were being printed. But it was a challenge keeping a low profile among all the sudden interest. I can imagine the public recoil if they found that there were some six or seven thousand hedge witches, Mages, witches and wizards alive and active in the North American, European, and south American continents.
I wanted to find and educate possible witches, mages and wizards. But I was walking a thin line with this to keep security for the overall magical world hidden. It kept Karen’s meetings with William interesting.
August 2001. Something Dreadful this way comes
It was a typical warm Friday in late August. Skin sheds were finishing up in Arch Park, and breakfast was waiting for me downstairs. And Emily LaFountaine was waiting in the hallway on the way to breakfast. For me.
“Hank, I had another vision. A terrible one. People running in the streets from a massive cloud of dust and falling cement and glass. It’s a terrible thing. Not unlike the visions I have had in the long past in New York with the Elven invasion.” Emily panted as she told me this. I had never seen her in such a state. I was afraid that she was going to feint on me.
“Emily, take it easy. I’m right here. What did you see?”
“Hank, I saw a wall of dust, and falling bodies, and a mass of people running form the scene. Dozens of falling bodies. It was like the end of a world. Or some terrible downfall. It was horrible.”
“Emily, do you have the image in your mind? Can we export it to a crystal?”
“I have it here, Hank. I totally removed it. It was the most disturbing thing I have ever seen. Hundreds of people falling from the sky and among the dust. The screams and sirens in the background. It was like the end of days.”
“Do you have a better image of where? When?”
“No. It’s too painful. I cannot see it clearly. It’s not like the elven invasion in New York. This is horrible. Thank you for the crystal you gave me, or I would be in shock.”
Years ago, when Emily came to me with her vision of the invasion of New York by elves seeking slaves, the experience had drained her so badly that she was ill. I had given her an artifact with four joules of power to help her recover. She had used it frequently and also used it to create the amazing paintings and artworks she had in her gallery. But almost all of her visions since had been manageable. She had never wanted to wash it from her mind. Whatever this was, it was a terrible scene. So disturbing that she wanted to erase it from her mind. And we had no idea of where, or when, or if Mages, wizards or others were involved.
“Emily, we’ll circulate some plans for this event. And perhaps we can help to avoid it. I want you to give a copy of this to Helen Arbus today. I promise we will work on it. And you have no idea of a timeframe for this?”
“No, Hank. It’s so enormous that it blots out date and time. And it seems to continue and on. There is immense emotional turmoil attached to this. Not a lot of Magic people involved, but the human toil is enormous.” Emily said.
“Well, keep your crystal charged, and immediately let Helen and me both know if you have any details. And I’ll talk with the executive committee this weekend to see what kind of contingency plans we can get in place.”
Later, I came to wish I had a better idea for a plan of action. But things were just so normal.
September 10, 2001
Karen and I had our usual debrief on Monday afternoon, talking about her visit with William Webster. It was interesting in what the main course of conversation was about.
“It’s interesting that most of our discussion centered around the publications of Bowling’s Harry Potter books. Three of them had been best sellers. In fact, the New York Times opened up a special section for Children’s books after “Prisoner of Azkaban” to let it be separated from the various Murder and Police titles that were on the lists. Michael Connelly and the other murder mystery authors were being crowded off of the shelves by this new wave of literature.” Karen remarked. “And I said “William, we cannot dictate what the public finds interesting. I’m not surprised that people who are overburdened with the changes in technology want to think about what is next”.
William said “I swear, Karen, it looks like you are going to be unmasked by the English one way or another. This woman writing these Harry Potter books is stirring a lot of things in our government. People are asking what ever happened to that grumpy guy in the FBI?”
So I told William,” All I know is that there is no witch, hedge witch, or mage named Bowling in any of our directories.” But it does make an interesting read”. Karen said with a laugh.
“Then he asked me, “How much of it is accurate?”
“And I asked him, “Do you want us to give you an editorial scan of them to see what’s real and what’s not?””
Karen started laughing then. He actually said “Why not?” The navy did three months of research into how accurate the Hunt for Red October was. And Jim Webb committed all sorts of stink with the FBI to see how Clancy got his information on Soviet subs. The inertial ship navigation and positioning systems were too close to reality. It really put a bee in his bonnet.”
Karen continued after she stopped laughing “So, I told him that I didn’t think that this will be the same thing. But we can have a couple of our librarians do some deep dive to see how close to reality these details come. I can put you on our Mailing list to identify things that are not strictly accurate.”
So now we do editorial service on Mages and witches for an agent formerly of the Federal government. What next? Werewolves and Vampires?
We went to bed that night confident that our world was on safe ground. Small leaks were one thing. But major unmasking was far and away from our worries.
September 11, 2001
At 8:00, while trying to get Karen up, I got an emergency message from Emily. “Hank, Somethings happening right now. I see aircraft controls and two dead pilots being dragged out of their seats.”
“Emily, is there anything else you can tell me? A location or anything else?”
“No. But I have already alerted Natalie and Helen and they’re looking at the news on CNN. There’s nothing on there. But I know something’s happening right now.”
I got dressed and went downstairs to Natalie’s office. Charles the Gnome was waiting with coffee and a muffin. We had three televisions in the office waiting room, and one was tuned to ABC News “good Morning America.”
At 09:03, they broke into the news with a Special Report. And for the next hour, we watched in horror as first one, then the other of the Beacons of New York were stuck, burned and then collapsed to the ground. And Natalie’s phone went wild at the same time.
“Hank, it’s William. What do we say?”
“Nothing about Emily. We are as shocked as anyone else, but we don’t know anything. And we would appreciate it if he would pass to us any relevant information that he can give us.”
“That’s right, William. That’s Hank. He’s as shocked as we all are. I promise we will let you know anything we find out.”
After a few moments, Karen continued. “Thank you, we will. Goodbye.”
Silence reined.
“What do we do now?” Karen asked.
“What can we do” Natalie asked.
“What we do is plan our actions, not react.” I said. And I heard in my mind my father’s voice saying the following:
“First, isolate and insulate our people. Get a census of everyone wherever they are. If they are in an exposed location, move them to a safe house. We can’t mount a defense or a reaction before we know who is exposed. We need to stop any further offenses against our people, attend to the sick and injured, and mount our defenses.”
“Natalie. First step, suspend any actions that are outside of our own properties. Recall any flights in progress and recall anyone on travel to any location. Second, issue a Clan Executive meeting for noon today. We won’t have all the information, but we do have an action plan to enable. Tell Deamonous that we need him here for a meeting. Get Helen as well. We don’t have intelligence, but we do have a disaster plan in place to protect Clan Lambert’s people. Reach out to Reggie and to Arno and Lady Eisenham and tell them that we know only what we see on Television and as we become aware of any more information, we will pass it on.” Hank said quickly.
‘Yes, Lord Hank.” Natalie replied. I don’t think she knew what she said. I do think that I had slipped into command voice (again) and needed to be aware of that. It didn’t happen often, but it did get things done.
“And when we get into the meeting, I want to understand in depth the plans we have for Sanctuary, and it’s size and it’s needs.” I said after I finished.
“What’s Sanctuary?” Karen asked.
“I asked Jeffery, Grace and Paula to explore what was needed and where we could locate a permanent sanctuary for Elves, Creatures, and Mages in the event of another Salem Witch Trials. What we needed in terms of size, supplies, consumables, replacements and energy in the event that we had to take the Wizard World out of sight from all of the alphabet people. Like William and you.”
“You mean hide out of sight, not just hiding in plain sight?” Karen said with a smile.
“Yes. Someplace not likely to be found for a hundred years or so.”
“That’s a pretty tall order.”
“Yes. But if this is the opening salvo of the next war, I don’t want any of our people near it or involved with it. I have read stories of the last conflict and what the Japanese experienced on the west coast and in Hawaii is not something that I want to have our people experience. And it would probably be much worse.”
“Should we get ahold of the English as well?” Natalie asked.
“I’m sure BBC has done some morning news. But reach out to Lady Eisenham and Sir David. And it’s probably a good idea to get ahold of Robert Barron directly.” Hank replied. “Offer our support to any of his people who need to hide as well.”
“DO you really expect him to accept that offer?” Karen asked.
“If he’s as surprised as we are, his answer will tell us a lot.” I replied.
Noon was a stressful meeting. In addition to the Executive committee (Natalie, Me, Jeffery, Paula, and Peter Gill), we had Helen Arbus standing in as Threat Evaluation head. Deamonous had to enter and then sit at the end of the table due to his size. But that was the only issue with the seating.
“Folks, I want to call this meeting to order. We had no direct on location information about the disaster that happened today in New York, other than the same sort of vague warnings that the different intelligence leaks have given us over the last two months. Emily LaFountaine had some small warning of indistinct origin that we were following up over the last few weeks but nothing large enough for her to recognize, is that right Helen?”
“That’s right, Hank. Emily’s visions were so widely unfocused and chaotic that we were not able to get any distinct sort of information. It was so vague as to be unusable. Even the location information was madly diffuse.” Helen answered
“Paula, as head of production and distribution, are there any Mages, or Fae that were involved in any transit events near this disaster? Any deliveries in Manhattan City?”
“Not that the elves doing dispatch and tracking were able to tell me. The closest circle of witches that I know of is in Albany.”
“Deamonous, any cries for assistance from any clan member or member wearing a wristlet?”
“None currently. And we have everyone recalled to either Arch Park I or Albuquerque. A census of all Sprites, Elves, Dwarves and other fae members of Clan Lambert shows no missing people.”
“Natalie, have you and Jeffery managed to get in touch with Reggie?”
“Yes, he’s in as much shock as we are. He knows about a small circle of witches in Brooklyn, but there were none active in Manhattan at this time. So, the Witch and wizard community does not seem to have any losses. Robert Barron has not called me back yet concerning your offer of support to England. I wonder if that should be made later, once we have more intelligence about this.”
“I agree it’s a gamble. But it also could send the message that we are not involved and don’t want any misdirection toward the Magical subset because of this disaster.” I replied. “What about Lady Eisenham?”
“She’s out of pocket with her shields up, and so is Sir David Drummond. I think that they went on a vacation in the Caribbean after the conference in Ghent, so they might not be in touch.”
“Keep trying. Ok. Reactions and planning. Jerry and Deamonous, you are up. How far along are we with planning for Sanctuary?”
“Hank, that’s a lot of big questions. First off, how many and of what kind are we looking to provide security and food for? And how long are we going to provide this? And where do we wish to build this? And do we want to distribute several around the planet to accommodate several different basic living groups. When you want to have living space for Elves, Dwarves, Sprites, Trolls, Ogers, and dragons and others as well as humans, you have to see a different life setting for a wide group of peoples. And how do we feed them? And what kind of economic support do we build them to be self-sufficient like they are now? And how do we provide Leyline energy away from human sources?” Jerry asked.
“Sounds to me like you have a handle on the challenges. Start to put together a working group with yourself and Deamonous and get Paula to help with project planning. Have an hour follow up briefing session next Saturday.”
“I told you he would do that. You just outlined our next few months of work effort, Jerry.” Deamonous thought to his smaller planning buddy
“I didn’t expect him to turn the whole thing around on me that quickly.” Jerry thought back to his dragonic friend.
“Jerry, my first talk with Hank when the Dragon Corp was formed showed me that you never come to him with a question that you don’t have an answer for. Or some sort of plan to get that answer. And that you should know in advance that if you have one, he expects you to find a satisfactory answer.”
“Well, did you notice that you are included?”
“Yes.” Deamonous thought back with a smile.
I smiled when I looked at the combination of smiles on Deamonous and Jerry’s faces. I could almost hear their private conversation.
“Helen, we need to capture as much about the events leading up to this as possible. And we need to find a way of disguising the source of any and all of our discoveries so that we can provide information, sources, and still maintain secrecy and no clear involvement. Karen, we need two things from you. One is a way to see if we can trust giving William information that we uncover, and then a way to measure how long and how far we can trust him to keep us hidden from the alphabet people.”
“Do you think he would expose us to them?”
“I think that we need to be honest and find what lines he cannot cross with his dedication to his own faith and country. We have stretched him a couple of times in the past, and I am sure that this mess will be a an even greater stressor. Remember his belief that Security protects liberty. Our liberty continues so long as it isn’t a threat to security. Either Political, Economic or national. We don’t want to be seen as an easy path to follow to achieve national interests.” I said with some conviction. “We need to not compromise his moral or ethical compass.”
“Hank, how involved do we become with these events?” Natalie asked.
“Let me ask this question. Is there anyone here who thinks that we can benefit by becoming involved with anything to do with these events or their aftershocks?” I asked the group.
Silence.
“Is there anyone who does not agree that this could open the door to another Witch Purge like the seventeen hundreds?” I asked.
The silence and shocked look on the faces outlined everyone’s recognition of the risks.
“Then I think that our needs are pretty neatly outlined. Helen, get with Emily and see if she can foretell any future events, no matter how small. Take a twenty-joule crystal with you to keep her safe. We all know how these sorts of visions impact her, and I don’t want such a valuable resource ever stressed to illness again. Natalie, formulate a formal policy document to our peers and others in Europe and England about what we are doing and what we recommend. Paula, keep working with the Caldron dispatch to get everyone safe into their in-home slots, and Peter, since Jeffery is going to be busy, look at security around everyone’s home with an eye on detection and defense. I have no doubt that there will be all kinds of orders and reactions looking at everyone and everything.”
And that’s how our noon meeting on September 11, 2001, ended. No noise. Just a lot of work.
London, six pm.
“I was wondering when I was going to hear from you, Hank. I know that there is none of your involvement in this mess, but I hope you know that it raises the risk of exposure to all of us.”
“Lord Robert, we have had cross purposes in the past. I hope that you understand that I am as afraid as you are at the potential for disclosure. And while I have not lived through the witch wars myself, our history teacher has done an excellent job in providing an education to us all of the risks and dangers that we are facing with the United States having its reaction to extremists. Our main concern is to remain outside of this conflict and to prevent magically enabled people from being discovered. Our research into genetic capability has uncovered some interesting things which we are not looking to publish any time soon.” I replied.