Chapter 1

The following characters return from the previous stories:

Maureen

Magic user, 5’-6’’ tall, 130 pounds, 34D-22-34, 23 years old, long red hair, green eyes, a few freckles, a very powerful Talent and a beautiful woman

Maximilian Hardtrick (Max)

Retired Major, Special Operations Forces, 6’-4’’ tall, 245 pounds, 52 years old, short blond hair going gray, blue eyes, and a powerful Talent.

Jillian Kelley Hardtrick (Jill)

Magic user, Max’s wife, 5’-3’’ tall, 125 pounds, 34D-23-34, 40 years old, long flaming red hair, bright green eyes, still very cute

Patrick (Paddy) O’Farrell

Electrician, Grandfather of Maureen, 5’-9’’ tall, 175 pounds, 84 years old, gray hair, watery blue eyes

Kathleen O’Farrell

Maureen’s Mother and Paddy’s Daughter, 5’-6’’ tall, 135 pounds, 34C-23-34, 44 years old, reddish hair and green eyes.

Angus Bryden

Wizard, Teacher, about 5’-8’’ tall, 150 pounds or so, 94 years of age, but looks younger, his hair, long beard, and eyes are all gray

Calisa

Jill’s friend, Magic user, Angus’s Wife 5’-4’’ tall, still a bit chunky, 58 years old, brown hair going gray, blue eyes

New characters appearing in the first several chapters:

Allen Parks

FBI agent, hidden Magic user, 5’-10’’ tall, 170 pounds, 33 years old, brown hair, blue eyes, handsome

Alaster Hardtrick

Max and Jill’s son, Megan’s twin, 5’-9’’ tall, 135 pounds, 14 years old, reddish blond hair, blue eyes, a very strong Talent that is still developing

Megan Hardtrick

Max and Jill’s Daughter, Alaster’s twin, 5’-1’’ tall, 100 pounds, 32B-21-30, 14 years old, light red hair, Green eyes, a very strong Talent that is still developing, very cute

Grace Hardtrick

Max and Jill’s younger Daughter, 5’-2’’ tall, 95 pounds, 12 years old, red hair, bright green eyes, a very strong Talent that is still developing, will be very cute when she is a little older.

Thursday, March 20, 2036, 1430 hrs:

I first met Maureen O’Farrell when sent with three other agents to arrest her at Logan International Airport in Boston on her return from a trip to Ireland. I was the leader of the agents sent from the Boston office of the FBI to make this arrest. My name is Allen Parks.

Arriving at the airport early, we checked in with Homeland Security, the Airport Police, and Customs and Border Protection officials to ensure there would be no problems. The four of us were waiting outside of Customs and Passport Control at 2:30 PM when she emerged. We all had a color picture of her so there would be no mistakes. She had arrived an hour or so earlier on an Air Lingus flight from Shannon, Ireland where she had been on vacation.

As she walked toward me, I observed that she was about 5’-6’’ tall, weighing maybe 130 pounds with a 34D-22-34 figure, long red hair, and from her picture she had green eyes and a few freckles. She appeared to be 23 years old and was a very beautiful woman.

“Miss O’Farrell ... Maureen O’Farrell?” I asked on stepping in front of her, but a few feet ahead of her.

“Yes,” she answered in a soft musical voice.

“I’m Agent Parks of the FBI. You are under arrest for the illegal use of Magic,” I told her, as the other three agents closed in behind her.

“That’s a rather strange accusation since the government has maintained for many years now that there is no such thing as Magic. How can you arrest me for the illegal use of something that does not exist?” she demanded, her voice turning harder as she spoke.

“We both know that Magic exists, Miss O’Farrell, and you have been using it illegally, as you are not a part of the government, who are the only ones authorized to use it,” I told her with a smile.

“So, you would arrest me for using my God given gifts. I don’t think so,” she said, as she traced something in the air. This was followed by a tremendous flash of light, accompanied by a loud explosion, as the lights in the terminal area went out. When I could see again, the building was mostly dark with the only light coming from some large windows on the far side of the building. The other three agents, who had been closing in on Miss O’Farrell, were on the floor unconscious, and she was nowhere to be seen. I tried to turn to look for her but found that I couldn’t move my feet or legs.

Panic set in for a few seconds before I reached for my radio to alert Homeland Security, only to find that it didn’t work. The same applied to my cell phone / Personal Data Unit (PDU) when I tried to use it. When I looked at my digital watch for the time, it too was blank. It appeared that anything electronic or electrical wasn’t working. Even the security cameras had been knocked out, we later learned.

I was finally able to move after about five minutes or so. Around me people were just recovering from whatever had happened to them, while I just stood there with Egg on my face.

Maureen has the narrative for a time:

I appeared in the foyer of Grandfather’s house in Southie after transferring from the airport. He had retired eight years ago and now lived on the first floor of the house as he didn’t do well on the steps. Max, Angus, and I had used several medical Magic spells to heal him of a number of medical problems shortly after he retired, which included curing him of drinking.

Mother had married the man who had bought his business shortly after that. They now had two children, a boy and another girl, but both of them had only medium talents, certainly not as strong as mine, although they were on a level equal to many of the O’Donnells.

This house brought back so many memories. Memories of when I was a small girl, when I met Max and especially Jill and my first Magic lessons. It seemed like such a long time ago. There were other memories too. I had been able to transfer back here by myself by the time I was ten. In the summers, I would return for a week or more at a time, but while in school, the trips were reduced to weekends and holidays. Before that, Max would return me to see my Family on weekends and holidays.

All of that was in the past now, and I was here to visit my Family on returning from my trip to Ireland. I had spent five weeks touring Ireland and visiting many of the historical sites where the ancients had used Magic. Most of the Magic was gone now, and many of the sites were in poor condition from the passage of time and from too many sightseers who were careless or stupid.

Then on returning home, I was confronted by those from the FBI. I couldn’t believe, that they thought four of them with no Magic were sufficient to arrest me. They wouldn’t try that again, and I had left them a few additional surprises.

Returning from my musings, I knocked at Grandfather’s door. It was a couple of minutes before he answered the door.

“Hello Daideo (Daddo) (Grandfather),” I said in a quiet voice.

“Maureen! you’re back,” Paddy said in a surprised voice. “How was your trip?”

“It went well until I arrived back here. The FBI tried to arrest me at the airport for the illegal use of Magic, would you believe?” I asked him.

“Illegal use?” he asked in confusion.

“Yes, they are finally admitting that Magic exists, but claim that only those working for the government can legally use it,” I told him with a smile.

“That sounds like the government. They always make things illegal that they have trouble controlling, but I hadn’t heard that they were admitting that Magic exists,” he said.

“The FBI agent who tried to arrest me admitted it to me, so probably those in the Paranormal Branch are the ones who know,” I told him.

“What are you going to do now?” he asked next.

“I’m going to see Mother and the Children before calling my baggage to me, and then I’m going to stay with Max and Jill for a time, while I consider what to do next,” I told him.

“You take care of yourself,” he told me, as I gave him a hug.

“And you be careful,” I warned him, before going outside on the street to transfer to Mother’s house.

Mother and her Husband, Sean, had a house outside of Southie in South Boston in an area with good schools. It wasn’t more than a few miles from Southie, but was a totally different world. When I appeared in front of their house, both of their cats instantly hurried over to strop themselves against me from where they had been resting in the shrubbery. They were Lilly’s great grandchildren. Lilly had passed away several years ago, but I still had two of her children at Max’s farm.

My Brother and Sister had already returned from school, and they both soon followed the cats to greet me on the front lawn. My Mother, Kathleen, was a number of seconds behind her children.

“Maureen!” they all shouted before giving me hugs.

“When did you get back?” Mother asked.

“Just a short time ago,” I told them, but debated whether to tell them about the encounter with the FBI.

“Can you stay for a while?” Mother asked.

“I really need to see Max, but I can stay for a short time,” I told her, before remembering my luggage.

“I need to collect my luggage,” I told them and called my suitcase and carry on to me from the luggage area at the airport. It didn’t appear that the FBI or Homeland Security had managed to confiscate them yet. Both pieces appeared at my feet a second later.

“How can you do that?” my younger Sister asked.

“I’ve always been able to call things to me,” I told her with a small shrug of my shoulders. It was a habit that I was trying to break.

“Let’s go inside, and I’ll make some tea,” Mother told us, and we all trooped into the house, even the cats who were following me, wanting to be picked up and held. The youngsters headed for their rooms on entering, as they knew that when Mother talked about having tea, it was so she could have an adult discussion with a visitor.

“What did you leave out?” she asked in the kitchen while the water for the tea heated. I explained again about what had occurred at the airport while the water heated. Mother heard me out before asking questions.

“Will you be all right?” she asked in a worried voice.

“I’ll be fine,” I assured her. “It’s all of you, that I’m worried about,” I continued. I was still working on not using ‘you all’ as the O’Donnells and the Kanes did.

“Us?”

“Yes, the children especially. They need training in using, and in NOT using their Talents and doing Magic,” I told her.

“Oh God, will I lose my children again?” she wailed in an upset voice.

“No, Mother, their Talents are much less powerful than mine. They could probably learn enough in a couple of summers to keep them safe. I’m sure the O’Donnells would be willing to teach them over the summer. I’ll check on that when I see them,” I told her to ease her fears. We had our tea following that, but I needed to be on my way when we finished.

“I’m going to Max’s farm from here to alert him to what the FBI is up to. All of you just continue with your usual routine, and everything should be just fine,” I told her before returning the cats to the floor from my lap, and picking up my luggage. I transferred from the front lawn rather than inside the house.

Agent Parks has the narrative again:

Meanwhile at the airport, things had begun to return to normal. The electricians had managed to return power to the areas affected by the outage. Most of those in the area where the incident had occurred had been released by Homeland Security, and the Crime Scene Investigators had arrived from FBI headquarters in Chelsea, just outside of Boston. They had brought new radios and PDUs for the initial team. The Boston area Agent-In-Charge (AIC) had also come with them.

“What the hell went wrong, Parks?” he demanded when he had the team in a borrowed office, as he didn’t want anyone to learn about the real cause of the problem, or that Magic actually existed.

“We aren’t sure, but I believe that she used Magic, a lot of Magic, to escape,” I told him, before going on to explain what had happened.

“I never heard of anything like that happening,” the AIC said in an upset voice.

“Whatever it was, it knocked out the three of us behind her,” one of the other agents told him.

“Still, the story doesn’t seem creditable. None of the government people, who can use Magic, can do anything like that,” he told them.

“Is there any way to check if it was Magic? Could it have been a major Witch working?” the female agent on our team asked. The rest of us looked at her with doubtful expressions.

“There may be a way. The Crime Scene people have received a new machine that is supposed to be able to detect if Magic has been used at a crime scene,” the AIC told her.

“Did they bring it with them?” she asked.

“I believe so. Let me check,” he said bringing up his radio.

“Harris, did you bring that new machine?” he asked.

“Yes, we did. Do you think we will get a reading on it?” Harris asked.