Chapter 2

I followed the Sheriff to an older model Buick. He unlocked the driver door with a key, opened it, and unlocked the rest of the doors from inside. “Get in,” he said.

“You said we were going to talk,” I said and glanced at the car. “Where are we going?”

He smiled that indulgent smile. “The questions I’m going to ask, can’t be asked out in public like this.” Then he started to climb in but stopped and looked at me. “You know that, right?”

I stared at him for a second and then said, “Yes.”

“Well, get in,” he said. “The car is secured.” Then he got into the car and closed his door.

“Eww! He’s a shrewd one,” Rho said.

I sighed and nodded. “He hopes to catch me incriminating myself.”

Rho stood next to the back door. “You do know he could have any number of spells imbued in this thing.” Then she ran a finger over the roof as if checking for dust. “It’s so old!”

I had the same thoughts. Depending on how long the Sheriff had owned this car, it would have given him plenty of time to add spells to it. I could easily find myself unable to use Magic at all once I climbed in. It would make it so much easier for him to drag me off to Austin without a fuss. I looked at Rho and said, “Try to not be too much of a nuisance, okay?”

She placed her hand over her chest and looked at me all innocent. “Who me?”

I did my best to ignore her antics. She was right though. I had to be careful. However, I had done nothing wrong. He had no reason to arrest me. So, I climbed into the car and closed the door.

The Sheriff already had the engine running. He looked at me. “Don’t forget your seat belt. It’s the law.”

I sighed and then pulled my seatbelt on. As soon as it clicked into place, I felt a wave of Magic wash through me.

“Told you so,” Rho said from the back seat.

The Sheriff was smiling. “Sorry about the subterfuge, but I need you to cooperate for the Magic to work.”

“Why? What kind of Magic?” I asked, sorely tempted to take the seatbelt off again.

“Oh, nothing dangerous,” he said. Pulling the gear into Drive. “It compels you to tell the truth.” Then he pulled out of the parking spot and eased us over to the street.

“Why do you think I would lie?” I asked, leaving the seatbelt on.

“Well, would you?” he asked in return.

Before I could even think of a way to answer the question, I said, “Yes.”

His smile turned into a knowing grin. “See? Everyone lies, even if by omission.”

I grumbled and then said, “You do understand that we, as human beings, need to lie. It’s a defense mechanism.”

“Ah, bull malarkey!” he said. “There’s nothing about a lie that will keep you safe.”

I frowned and looked at him. “From other people, yes.”

“No, you don’t understand,” he said. “A real defense mechanism is like a chameleon’s ability to change colors to blend in with its background, or a deer’s antlers, but a lie is purely a social mechanism. It doesn’t really keep you safe.”

“No more than the truth setting you free,” I said.

He chuckled. “Which brings us back around to the need for you to tell me the truth.”

“So you can force me to self-incriminate?” I asked, feeling outraged.

“Something like that,” he said.

“Good luck with that.”

“You’re confident,” he said. “Good. That’ll make this so much easier.”

“What exactly?” I asked. “You haven’t asked me any incriminating questions.”

“No, not yet I haven’t,” he said and glanced at me. “Tell me, do you know where Valory Rosenbaum is?”

“No,” I said immediately, which didn’t surprise me.

However, I think it surprised the Sheriff, because he glanced at me a couple of times without a smile.

Rho laughed and clapped like I had made a good move in a chess match or something.

I looked at him too. “What? You wanted the truth.”

He grumbled and then asked, “Do you know how to reach Valory Rosenbaum?”

“No,” I said.

“Has Valory Rosenbaum contacted you since the end of the Lockdown?”

“No,” I said again.

“Do you know where we might locate Valory Rosenbaum?” He asked, sounding a bit stressed.

“Yes,” I said.

He looked at me again. “Where might we locate Valory Rosenbaum?”

“At Florence Manor in Virginia,” I said without hesitation. “A family estate.”

He frowned. “I thought you were from North Carolina?”

“I am,” I said.

“Then how do you know about a family estate in Virginia?”

“Valory is my half-sister. The last time we spoke, she told me that our biological mother had died and my name was in her will. I have to fly to Virginia, to the family estate, to find out about it.”

“Do you believe Valory Rosenbaum is there?”

“I hope she is,” I said and then frowned. “I want to make sure she’s free of the geis she’s under.”

The sheriff blinked and glanced at me. “Geis? What geis?”

“I believe she was forced to do something,” I said. “To accomplish that goal, she created the Lockdown.”

“Do you know what her end goal was?”

“No, though I have my suspicions.”

“What do you suspect?”

“I believe she was compelled to destroy the Council.”

“And just how was the Lockdown supposed to help her do that?”

“I assume that you understand Magic the way I do,” I said. “That with more energy pumped into a spell, the further it can reach and more powerful it becomes?”

He nodded. “Right.”

“And if you have a reservoir to store enough energy to cast a death spell not only from hundreds of miles away, but powerful enough to break through all defensive spells either already in place or erected as an additional barrier?”

“No one has a reservoir that big,” he said with a grin.

“I agree,” I said. “Only because I stopped Valory from acquiring it.”

He frowned at me. “What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said.”

“Please elaborate.”

“The Lockdown didn’t block others Magi from using their abilities, as was the common belief. The Lockdown was a syphoning spell. The moment any spell was cast, the energy would be syphoned away and stored up for Valory to turn into additional reservoir space later.”

He shook his head. “Stored away how?”

“The coincided serial kidnappings,” I said. “The Council believed that was a mundane issue when, in fact, all those women were being used as batteries. The amount of energy Valory needed, however, exceeded what any normal person could hold. So, the spell would occasionally send out one or two of the women to find someone else suitable to help contain more energy, hence the ongoing disappearances.”

“You expect me to believe all of this?”

“Yes,” I said. “I am under the influence of your truth spell, and there is another Magus who can confirm everything I’ve said.”

“Let me guess, Valory Rosenbaum?”

“Yes, but she is not the Magus to whom I was referring.”

“Then whom?”

“Jordan Krumm,” I said. “She was taken as the last kidnap victim.”

“There were no Magi kidnap victims.”

“True, but then Jordan didn’t have her power when she was kidnapped.”

“Why?”

“I took it during my Initiation.”

“She awoke you?”

“Yes.”

“Then why do you refer to her as a Magus now?”

“Because, thanks to the power I acquired from the Lockdown, I was able to restore Jordan to her power again.”

“But that’s not possible.”

“Actually, it is,” I said. “The Lockdown was originally a spell designed to make a new Magus from any normal person. Valory had collected so much energy that with the portion I ended up with, I was able to make four new Magi, including Jordan.”

“And you didn’t stop to think that you might be breaking the Laws of Secrecy by doing that?”

“No,” I said. “But then of all the training I’ve had, no one ever told me that making a new Magus was illegal.”

“Making new Magi? No. Telling them what you’re doing, yes.”

“I didn’t tell them,” I said. “I had the energy and I had three choices: keep the energy by making my Reservoir bigger, make several new Magi from some of the women who had already lost so much by being kidnapped for months on end, or release all that energy and let it go to waste.” Then I looked at him. “What would you do?”

“I’m not the one being interrogated here,” he spat.

“I thought this was supposed to be an interview?” Rho asked.

I smiled and said, “No, but you’re not getting the truth you were hoping for, are you?”

He glared at me. “I’m here to bring Valory Rosenbaum, along with anyone else involved in the Lockdown, to justice.”

“I was involved with the Lockdown,” I said, “but I did not have a hand in casting it.”

“Involved how?”

“I just told you.”

“All you told me was what you did with the energy you were given, which suggests you helped in some way.”

“I did not help Valory,” I said. “I won that energy.”

“How?” he asked.