Chapter 29

“We can’t take it to the Attorney General,” Victor said. “Exposing the intercepts would be political suicide and cause us no end of trouble.”

“But we have proof of several senior politicians participating in or benefiting from sex trafficking, sir. We know there are tie-ins to companies that have benefited from favorable contracts vetted by those people’s committees. They funded the perversions the senators and congressmen participated in. We can’t just turn our heads the other way!” Pamela was incensed that her boss, a deputy-director in the NSA, was willing to let political considerations trump the criminal activity they had uncovered.

“We have no case without the intercepts. The ability to get those intercepts is something we will not reveal to the DOJ. Without the intercepts, you only have circumstantial evidence.”

“That reporter has more,” she retorted. “The photographs of the coming and going of senior political people, defense contractors, company big-wigs and then the police bust capturing the minors being transported secretly to another location. Combine that with the financial data we have that did not originate from an intercept, and it’s more than a circumstantial case, sir.”

Victor Sinclair took a deep breath and released it slowly. He did not look her in the eye, she realized. It was the first time she had not been intimidated by his cold stare.

“Pull everything relating to SIGINT and turn it into a case file. Reach out to the reporter to see if you can get copies of the photographic evidence. Make sure that includes who holds the negatives or original files. Once that case file is complete, we can meet with the AG.” He looked up from his desk. “How long to get that?”

Pamela thought for a moment. “Two days, unless the reporter is not cooperative. We might need the FBI to compel her with a warrant.”

“Let me know before you take that step,” Victor replied. “Keep me posted.”

Pamela stood and left his office. She hurried back to the operations room and briefed her team. Then she grabbed a fresh burner phone and headed outside to make some call.

“This is Amy,” a woman’s voice answered after a couple of rings.

“This is special agent Wilson,” Pamela said. “I’d like to discuss the case of the house in Towson, if you are open to helping our investigation.”

“Investigation into what?” The reporter asked.

“You know,” Pamela said. “You have the same police reports we do. You have photos of certain high-level officials going in and out of that place. We have corroborating evidence that your pieces can tie together. I need those details before I can turn a case over to the DOJ. If you want to put some criminal politicians and corporate enablers away, I need some help.”

Silence held the line for a minute.

“Can we meet?” Amy asked.

The bubble of grey reality did not so much pop, as just fade away, depositing Finn on a springy, almost wiry, lichen and moss-covered ground. The area surrounding him was a hauntingly beautiful yet treacherous place of twisted trees, gnarled roots, and ethereal mists. The air was thick with the scent of decay and dampness, the silence broken only by the rustle of unseen creatures lurking in the woods. Green and purple light filled the sky from a spectacular aurora that nearly hid dim stars. There was no sign of the sun or moon overhead.

Finn stood, brushing away debris from his pants, and turned slowly, looking for any danger or sign of habitation. A small hill was behind him, and he thought he heard waves down to his left. Deciding one direction was as good as another, he climbed the low hill, hoping it would give him a better vantage point to survey this strange land.

His efforts were rewarded. The hill was high enough to see over a stretch of grassy, black sand hills between him and a turbulent sea filled with reflected light of the aurora and its own strange bluish glow, appearing like Cherenkov radiation. He looked more closely and decided the glow might be caused by such physical interactions, as the sea teamed with quantum energy. He suspected he had found the negative pole of the magical battery he had searched for.

Lightning cracked high above, hiding the swirling aurora.

No clouds, Finn thought.

The arc light of power must have a different source of energy, maybe the buildup of potential between the air and the sea. He started down the hill, wanting to get closer to the dark beach. He looked at the twisted plants carefully, noticing they tapped the abundant quantum power of the place.

Such a strange world.

If he had not accepted he was in a different world or universe before, he would have been forced to now. This place left no doubt in his mind. He concentrated briefly, finding it trivial to form the small sphere of light and release it. The slow strobe was comforting to him as he made his way closer to the sea.

The pulse of power emanating from the fold tucked into the craggy inlet of the sea sent shivers through Elara. The feel of a heartbeat pulse of power had let her find the rift between worlds, isolated on the narrow beach, but its slow fading filled her with concern. She pushed doubts away from her and scanned the cliff side for an easy path down.

The jailor had told her the fold was by the sea, and the general direction and location, but had neglected to tell her where to approach from. He was beyond her reach or care now, so she would need to figure it out. She moved along the coast to the north, hoping its gradual decline would lead her to the beach access.

An hour later, she was rewarded. The path down was beaten by the passing of men and horses. The sandy trail snaked north and south, winding between the grass covered dunes, and eventually dropped to the sand. Elara smiled at the easier path, moving down to the edge of the surf and the wetly compacted sand there. A breeze filled her nose with the clean scent of the ocean as she turned south to find the inlet.

The distance that had taken an hour to cross in the rolling hill, forest, and cliffside above, was covered in half that time. She saw the inlet and hurried along. Sunset would be soon, and she wanted no further delays. She would face her oppressor. She would free herself of the compulsion to deliver Finn to him. She would protect her friend.

The fold was hidden well, tucked tight against the rock face of ragged sandstone. It was situated on a broad shelf of rock, sloping up from the beach. She could see the faint trail worn in the stone from prior use. A single sigil was cut into the face of the cliff nearby. She looked at it and frowned.

A fold should not need an activation, which the sigil implied. A fold was just that, a linkage between two realms, fixed and enduring. Why would there be a sigil? The jailor had not mentioned it.

Rather than rushing into the fold, Elara stopped and studied the carving. She traced it with her eyes, seeing the subtle flow of power behind the carving. It resembled a ward but was not one. Minutes passed.

Elara let her mind wander. She remembered the strange devices of Finn’s world. A doorbell? Could the sigil be a way to alert someone on the other side of your return or arrival?

If it was, did she dare to activate it? What if it let Malachi know she was coming?

Then she had another thought. What if she needed to activate it to stop some trap from being sprung?

The evil mage would not want trespassers coming into his realm. Surely, he would protect such an easy approach. Elara looked up at the sky. She had less than an hour until dusk would fall.

What to do?

“Goddess, guide me,” she whispered before reaching out and closing the final arc on the sigil, completing the pattern.

She heard a chime, soft and reassuring, and stepped through the fold.

Malachi felt the pulse of chaos and looked up from his work. His delicate crafting on the woman on his altar was nearly complete. The faint silver and pulsing green designs he had painstakingly traced along her limbs and body were a work of macabre art. Each line would guide the flow of chaos over and through her. He knew she would experience ecstasy transcending into agony when he powered the spell. His years of study informed him that the power channeled through her would amplify and echo outward from his keep recharging his wards and eyes across the realm. It was one of the tedious tasks he did regularly to ensure his power in this Realm was unthreatened and that his study was undisturbed.

The pulse he sensed was troubling. He concentrated for a moment but could not form a viewing portal at the site he knew the pulse to be from. It was scant miles from his keep. He had let his wards grow too weak in his search for the priestess and his prize.

He focused on the last lines needed to complete the design. Carefully, he tapped the needle-sharp stylus along the top of her thigh, creating a thin line of punctures filled with the smallest amount of powdered silver and salt. The magic flowing along her leg quickly followed the pathway he created and transformed the elements into a conduit for chaos. The glow of pulsing green light flowed under her skin. His line reached her hip, then moved inward to her center, connecting with the line from the other leg just below her shaking bellybutton.

Malachi stood back, enjoying the sight of his handiwork. Already the flow of chaos from the altar through her body was having its effect. She began to writhe against her tight bonds, awake again after passing out more than an hour ago. He had one last aspect to complete before the chaos flowed fully and reinvigorated the overwatch of his realm. He pulled the two needles from the sleeve of his robe and captured her hair with his hand. He forced her to be steady and began his incantation. At the proper moment, one needle flashed downward, piercing her eye. Her scream, while muffled by the gag he had in place, was a call to his god to give him power. The second needle flashed down as power surged up from the altar and through her body.

Malachi fell back as the beautiful power of chaos arced from her and up to the ceiling, tendrils of green power mixed with flashes of blue static and red hues of fire. The design on the woman pulsed with her heartbeat, guiding the power outward and up. He felt his wards strengthen. He sensed his power over the surrounding land.

He could feel the cold hunger of his jailor deep below him. He knew his meager cook, a woman from the In-Between who was not allowed below the living level of the keep, was beginning her preparations for the evening meal. He felt the few birds and animals who dared eke out a living within miles of his demesne.

More power surged through the woman before him, and he guided it into his outermost wards, surprised how weak they had grown. They must have been drained by the visit of his god, so many days before. He would need to remember that draining effect. He tied off the spell as he felt the woman’s heart seize and beat for a final time. The energy continued to arc through her corpse, but the direction of its flow was now true chaos. She had served her purpose.

Malachi released his spell, letting it flow away from the altar and back into the boundless sea from whence he drew the power. He let himself follow the flow, that siren-song of energy that filled his soul. After more than a day of concentration setting the spell, he needed that energy. Only the residual power that flowed through his own carefully inscribed tattoos and scars kept him on his feet. He refused to succumb to weakness. He stood straighter. A bath in his sea would revive him, and then he could return to his search for the priestess and his prize. He walked from the workroom, descended winding stairs, and soon stood in the grotto at the base of his keep. He stripped off his robe and waded into the swirling blue waters that frothed with chaos, letting the sensation flow over and through him.

As he sat back on a rocky bench worn smooth by ages of surf, he contemplated his ascendency. Soon, he would have a new teacher. Soon, he would gain the power from that realm filled with masters of the chaos. Soon.

And, at the periphery of his fatigued senses, he felt that pulse once more.

In the eerie light of this world, Finn spotted the man striding down the beach, scanning from shore to dark forest. He was a powerfully built man, with broad shoulders and dark hair heavily streaked with grey. His beard and hair were wet, as if he had just emerged from a swim, but his deep green clothes were mostly dry. The opened top of his robes revealed intricate tattoos of silver and black across his body.

As he drew closer, Finn wondered what he should do. He had no supplies with him and was unsure he could forage to survive long enough to escape this realm. He had not expected to fall through a conduit between worlds. The man looked wise, even if he did not know him to be kind. Finn was used to strange looks. He was accepting of others and had learned that usually led them to accept or at least tolerate him. He rose from his crouch in the thin shrubs as the man drew closer.

Finn waved, attracting his attention while still as fair distance away. He hoped he could outrun the older man if needed, but he did not know where he would run to.

The man stopped letting the surf wash around his feet. Finn stepped forward from the sheltering dunes, his curiosity piqued by this mysterious newcomer. As they drew closer, they exchanged hesitant greetings, their eyes sizing each other up in the strange lights in the sky.

“I am Malachi,” the stranger introduced himself, his voice deep and rumbling with a hint of an ancient accent. “What brings you to this place, traveler?”

Finn licked his lips, noticing Malachi continued to scan the surroundings while keeping fully aware of Finn. HIs eyes had a piercing green hue to them, almost glowing. Finn hesitated, then stepped forward.

“I’m Finn. I fell through some sort of passage and found myself here,” he admitted. He would rather not talk of the power he felt and followed. He did not think he could fully describe the strange bubble of reality that had carried him here.

“Where did you fall from?” Malachi asked, still wary, as if weighing each of Finn’s words. “I do not recognize your accent.”

“I was in a place called the Enchanted Forest by its people, but I was not from that world.”

The barest hint of a smile touched Malachi’s features only to be replaced by intense concentration. “Then you have traveled far to reach the shores of the Chaos Sea, young man. It must be a story to tell.”

Finn nodded, feeling himself relax at the stranger’s seeming acceptance. “It has been a very strange trip,” he admitted.

Malachi scanned his eyes up and down Finn’s form. “You are traveling very light, Finn. Perhaps we should adjourn to my home and find some refreshment and nourishment.”

Finn’s stomach rumbled, even if it made no sound. It had been a long day for him, with a lot of exertion traveling with Thorne and Yara. He did not know how much time had passed in that strange bubble that brought him here either. He nodded acceptance and moved closer to the imposing figure.

“You live here?” He asked. “I mean, I’m sure it’s nice and all, but this seems like a strange world to my senses.”

“Your senses?” Malachi asked as he motioned back the way he had come along the beach and then fell in beside Finn.

“I don’t see a sun or moon, but plants are growing under this aurora. In my world, they would not likely survive, let alone thrive, as they appear to here. I’ve not seen any animals but have heard something in the bushes and the call of a bird or two. The sea looks like something out of a fantastic tale.”

Malachi did smile this time. “It is the nature of the realm. You are in the Realm of Shadows, the lands surrounding the Chaos Sea along whose shores we walk. The power here is sufficient to sustain life in the realm, which has adapted. People who have discovered this realm through intent or accident, have not had the chance to adapt.”

“You seem to be doing alright,” Finn said without thinking, regretting how it sounded as soon as the quip left his lips.

“I sought this realm, following the flow of chaos. I seek to understand this strange power, to harness it for the good of the realms.”

The hair on the back of Finn’s neck stood up at his words. Seeking power for ‘the good’ of others was contrary to Finn’s experience. People who looked for power wanted the good for themselves, in his experience.

“How do you harness such power?” Finn asked to hide his concern. “I mean, in my world, we have electricity and other forms of energy we harness to make machines. How do you harness power floating in this sea?”

Malachi gave him a side-ways glance. “Did you see magic in the Enchanted Forest?” He asked.

Finn nodded. “I did, but I did not understand it. It’s so foreign to my experiences.”

“Magic there is given by the gods or learned through long study of the realms. The Gods created the realms and imbibed them each with unique aspects of power. That power flows from the abode of the gods, the Celestial Realm, through the realms, connecting them and providing for the inhabitants. Ultimately, the power flows here and into the Chaos Sea. The sea, as the resting place of power previously used, is vast and unique. It’s what I study.”

Finn thought about the description as they walked. The sea must have an outlet, he thought, or all the power would accumulate here and likely destroy this realm or at least overwhelm the land until it was purely a vast sea of energy.

“Do you sail on this sea?” Finn asked.

Malachi stopped, facing Finn. “Sail?”

“On a boat.”

“I don’t know what that is,” Malachi said. “Some devices from your world?”

“No, it’s a way to safely float on the water and harness the wind to travel. Where are you from that you don’t know what a boat is? I saw several on the rivers of the Enchanted Forest. Don’t all the realms have rivers of water or some sort?”

Malachi shook his head. “Perhaps. I’ve not traveled them all in my search for this place. I first remember the Dream Realm. It is a malleable world, where imagination and reality can be bent to one’s will. I began my journey of learning there. I don’t recall seeing any vast bodies of water on my sojourn to the Crystal Caves, the other realm I visited on my way to this place. Your words evoke imagery in my mind, but I don’t know what a sail is. Perhaps you can teach me.”

Finn shook his head. “I know of sailing but would not know the how of it. My knowledge lies in different fields.”

Malachi nodded. “Let us find comfort, and you can tell me more of your strange world and those different fields.”

Finn agreed, remaining cautious of this strange man, but needing a friend in this world.

“Fascinating,” Malachi said as he listened to Finn’s description of his world. He was convinced Finn was from the world of techno-mages he had sent the priestess to, but he was not certain if he was the most powerful, he had sent that girl to fetch. If he was, why was she not with him?

“So, you don’t have a master and apprentice approach to learning your craft?” He asked to clarify. Finn’s talks of universities and large groups of learning were foreign to him.

“Not really,” Finn replied as he finished the simple stew over fresh bread that Malachi’s servant had prepared. Their repast was not lavish, but seemed to have been appreciated by the younger man.

Finn straightened in his chair. “You may get a professor to guide you, or answer questions, but there is little one-on-one teaching. How is it done here?”

Malachi smiled. Perhaps this would be a way to ensnare the man.

“Here, the master or the student finds the other. A master may be looking for assistance and offer training, room, and board, in trade for the physical assistance they need. On the other hand, a student may seek a specific type of knowledge, in which case they travel seeking the master who can teach them. Either way, a contract is forged between them for a period of reciprocal service and training.”

Finn nodded. “And which path did you take?” He asked without apparent pretense.

“I chased after masters,” Malachi admitted. “I learned the common spells and techniques of my realm in my first apprenticeship, then found new masters to serve and learn from.” The boy did not need to know what had transpired with any of his prior teachers.

Finn took a sip of ale from the mug before him, the first draught he had consumed. Malachi smiled. He wanted this strange man to relax.

“It seems inefficient, but I suppose it works for you all. It’s not so far afield from our first jobs after university. We seek employment at a firm that can further our skills. After a time, we then move on to another place to learn, work, and grow.”

It was Malachi’s turn to nod. The images Finn projected gave him a sense that the systems were not as different as he first feared.

“So, you would be open to an offer of employment from me?” Malachi asked, already thinking of the bonding he would forge to ensure Finn worked for no other, ever again.

“Other than food and shelter, what would you pay me?” Finn asked. “And what would I learn working here?”

Malachi did not want to seem too keen on the idea, even after bringing it up. He hated negotiations, especially when he did not have the strong upper hand. Damn that priestess. She should have delivered his teacher to him, enthralled with her to the point submitting. He knew he would need to examine her closely to see how the geas had failed.

“Well,” Malachi said, drawing the word out into multiple syllables. “Room and board here are not inexpensive. As I mentioned, we are not adapted to thrive in this realm. I have workers who spend much time fetching supplies from the other realms for me here. It is not simple traders that travel past my keep.”

“But that is a cost you incur already,” Finn countered. “Incremental costs for one more mouth to feed is not much.” He smiled, as if taking joy in the bantering negotiation.

Malachi nodded, conceding the point. “There are also supplies for your training. Those are not always easy to come by, and I expect you to waste much of them as you learn.”

It was Finn’s turn to nod. “What sort of supplies, and at what cost?” He asked.

Malachi instinctively shied away from providing details, sensing the rapport he had built would be destroyed if Finn knew exactly how he had learned to tame and channel the chaos.

“Let’s keep details vague, for now. I want you committed as my apprentice before sharing too much. You seem a smart man. I don’t want you going off and experimenting based on a few hints. My methods of channeling chaos will be laid out before you after we come to an agreement. But those expenses will require significant effort on my behalf.”

“Are there others in the realm?” Finn asked suddenly.

Malachi shook his head, then stopped himself. “Not nearby, if any. I can sense travelers, though you appeared unexpectedly. If others arrive in the realm similarly, I may not know of them. I also recently re-energized my wards, so that may have been why I did not sense your arrival.”

“So, there is no one else that could teach me here?” He asked.

“No. I have spent decades learning the ways of the chaos sea and the power it holds. Only I can short-cut the trial and error I had to endure.”

Finn’s eyes seemed distant. Malachi worried he had told him something, but did not know what. Once more he wondered, was this the man he sent another to seek, or a random stranger falling into his sphere?

Before either could ask another question, a soft chime sounded.

Malachi knew someone else had arrived in his world.

Finn looked around the room as Malachi’s servant closed the door behind him. The strange woman had not said a word, only motioned with frequent glances to her master as if checking his mood. Finn had noticed the glow of energy swirling around her neck, indistinct beneath her wrinkled skin. Rather than ask questions and expose his sight, he had simply followed along with her gestures.

He had ignored a lot of Malachi’s strangeness during the meal. While the mage seemed personable, there were little signs making Finn cautious. Elara had told him she was trapped and raped in the Realm of Shadows, by a chaos mage. If there were no others besides Malachi in this realm, he was her rapist.

That also meant he wanted the knowledge Finn had. Finn suspected the negotiations they had begun were about gaining that information.

Finn checked the door, knowing it was locked before testing the handle. He sat on the firm bed beneath the window showing the blue streaked sea far below the tower his room was in. He pulled out his phone, happy to see it still appeared connected to the quantum power tap as well as holding the channel back to his world strongly.

He wished for his laptop as he scanned the folder of intercepts. He thought something had gone wrong with his search, based on the volume of files his scripts had captured and placed in the hierarchical folder structure of his cloud storage site. Finn tapped on one to see if he could discern what was happening.

He read quickly, then did a search on the browser.

Let them try to trace this search request, he thought with a smile. He knew the search terms would be flagged by the NSA. He wondered what IP address they would trace it back to.

He clicked on the top search result and read the news article before typing another search term. Again, he read the first article fully, then searched again. Finally, he typed in the six names he had been chasing, two senators, three congressmen, and a deputy director in the NSA.

This will put the fox among the chickens, Finn thought with a smile.

“What do you mean by no IP?” Victor said tersely into his secure landline.

“Just what I said, sir. The IP address is spoofed somehow. It’s showing an address that can’t exist.”

Victor wanted to curse. “How can an address not exist? It’s just ones and zeros.”

“Yes, sir, but the subnet ID seems randomized, it’s changing between queries and packets, but the acknowledgement signal in the protocol is still being sent when all the data is transmitted. Like I said, it can’t be possible, but it appears to work.”

“Fucking Finn,” Victor muttered. “We’ve got to capture this SOB. This is just another reason why. If we could use his techniques, our field agents could be un-traceable.”

“We’ll keep working on it, but I wanted to let you know he is actively putting your name out there with other persons of interest. It’s almost as if he’s daring us to find him.”

“Yes, I bet he is. He wants us to swoop in and capture it all on television, is my guess. He’s got to be the source of the leak that is freaking out some of our allies. Keep working on tracing him,” Victor commanded.

“How many resources?” The agent on the other end of the call asked. “I can pull people from the prototype assemblies if this is more urgent,” he said.

“No. I want a hundred clean phones as soon as possible. We’re too hampered by the compromised devices. I need one, you need one, and then several of our field assets need them to get back on the physical trail. We don’t know how Finn slipped away before, but we need boots on the ground that can coordinate without compromise to track him down again.”

“Aye, Aye, sir.”

Victor looked around his office, considering options as the call ended. No one else in the agency would know Finn was searching for linkages between him and the politicians who backed his various plays for funding or reduced oversight. Even if someone did, there was no connection remaining. He had closed the covert accounts, moving money offshore and then into new working accounts. His personal wealth was sheltered as well.

Victor eyed the safe in his office. It was large enough to hold multiple suitcases and three attaché cases. He knew one suitcase, carryon sized, would see him clear of any searchers and out of the country if needed.

“I won’t run from some damned piss-ant programmer that I found and enabled,” he said with determination. He stood and closed the heavy door of the safe. Nothing inside was needed right now, and he knew nothing inside would incriminate him if someone else were to open the vault.

A shiver ran through Elara as she turned to see the fold leading back to her world. Reassured that it was still there, she continued her turn to scan her surroundings. While entering the passage on a beach with the ocean nearly lapping at her feet, she emerged under the colorful sky on a hill. The fold was surrounded mostly by twisted trees with silver-grey bark and lavender leaves, glowing with a hint of blue in their bark. Shrubs of similar texture grew up around the trunks of the trees, filling the forest floor. A single path led away from the fold.

She walked softly, taking in the realm she had heard of, visited involuntarily, but never seen with her own eyes. The sky was glorious, once you got past the sheer strangeness of it. The pathway wound down the hill. At a switchback, she paused, spying the chaos sea in the distance. Perched on a bluff jutting out into that sea of power shining with its own eerie blue streamers of color, a dark keep stood guard.