Chapter 7

As we approached the ward around the Villa, I checked it more carefully and discovered that it was a Witch ward that had been cast using ordinary Magic, the kind that Josh and others used, and NOT Witch Magic or Ley Line Magic.

“That’s a very strong ward,” Josh told me, after reading it also, as we approached the ward. I smiled at him before drawing on the nearest Ley Line. There were many to choose from, as so many passed through and crossed in the Atlanta area.

Having drawn sufficient Magic for what I intended to do, I started casting a spell and drawing its glyph on the air. It was a Witch spell, but I powered it with Ley Line Magic. When we were close enough, I stopped.

“Titim do chnp!” I shouted in Gaelic and threw the spell at the ward around the Villa, which immediately collapsed with a bright flash of Magic. Josh just stared at it and then at me in shock for a short time.

“Ho ... how did you do that? No one should have been able to collapse a ward like that so easily,” he told me on recovering.

“I just told it to collapse,” I told him with a shrug. “But we need to replace it with something to keep the rats from escaping,” I told him.

A hedge of thorns spell immediately came to mind. It was one that I had learned in College, but I decided that it needed to be cast with all of the thorns facing the interior. I quickly cast it using Ley Line Magic and expanded it to cover the entire area of the previous spell before adding a version of my property ward to the outside of it. It was amazingly easy to do with all of the Ley Lines running through Atlanta. When I finished, Josh was staring at me again.

“What have you done now, Maddy?” he asked in a whisper, as if not really wanting to know.

“I only cast a little Witch spell but using Ley Line Magic. It’s just a little hedge of thorns, but I added my property ward to the outside of it. No one goes out and no one comes in,” I told him with a smile.

Those in the building had felt their ward collapse, and had also felt me creating the hedge of thorns, and the property ward around their building. Several of them came out the rear entrance of the building and headed toward us. I could tell they were really upset and several of them were carrying guns. I had no idea what they thought they were going to do with the guns, but I checked the wards around Josh and me to be sure that they were still at full strength.

“Who the hell are you, and what the hell do you think you are doing here?” the one, who appeared to be the leader, demanded in a loud voice when they were about six feet from us.

“I’m Maddy Kavanagh, and this is my friend Josh. I’m here to shut you down,” I told him.

“You’re the new Ley Line Witch,” he said in recognition after a few seconds. “You should have brought more help with you,” followed that. “Kill them,” he added to the other two, who opened fire at Josh and me with a brrrrrz from their guns. It did them little good, as the bullets just bounced off of my wards with pings.

This definitely aggravated me. Did they think that I was so lame or had come so unprepared that they could stop me with bullets? It did frighten Josh, who backed up on hearing what he had said.

My answer to this was to point the first finger of both of my hands at those who had fired at us, and shoot a beam of Magic at each of them while saying “Titim,” which is collapse in Gaelic. Both men fell to the ground in boneless heaps. Next, I hit the leader with a freeze spell that froze him in place with a shocked expression on his face. Josh was also staring at me again when I turned to see if he was okay.

“That’s Zaboly, their chief enforcer,” he told me in an amazed voice. “He’s a very bad guy ... at least, he was,” he finished in an unsure voice.

“He won’t be enforcing anything for a while,” I told him with a smile, before we proceeded toward the door that they had come out of.

As we approached the building, a ward appeared around it, but it just covered the building and not the entire area around it. It wasn’t something that I wasn’t expecting, but I was surprised by how small it was and how weak. I was expecting something much larger and stronger from their supposedly strong Magic using bosses.

“I guess they don’t want visitors coming in the back door. Let’s try the front door and see if they are more receptive,” I told Josh. We changed course and went around the end of the building. It didn’t really appear to be U-shaped, but more like a broad shallow V-shape to me.

The front side of the building was much more impressive than the back had been, and we took it in as we crossed the large manicured lawn between the hedge of thorns and the ward on the building. There was a walkway that led up to the front entrance of the building, and we stopped on it at the top of the steps to check out the architecture of the building.

“The guy who designed the building studied in Italy,” Josh told me, as we looked at the front entrance. It really was quite impressive, if you were into old Italian architecture, which I wasn’t. I had gone to Georgia State, which was further downtown. They offered both Witchcraft and regular Magic courses. I didn’t know of any place that taught Ley Line Magic. The buildings at Georgia State were more utilitarian than the Villa.

“Guess we should knock on the front door and see if anyone is home, and if they are receiving visitors,” I told Josh with a smile.

“You know very well that they are home, and that is a very strong ward,” Josh told me in a no nonsense voice.

“Still, it would only be polite to knock and let them know that we were calling,” I told him with a smile. “My mama taught me that a southern lady is always polite,” I added.

“Maddy, you have become more brazen since you have been studying those Ley Line books,” Josh complained.

“I only want to be polite, Josh. It isn’t nice to just barge into someone’s house uninvited,” I told him.

“I don’t think they will invite us in,” he replied in a sarcastic voice.

“Then I may need to knock down their doors and barge in. Politeness only goes so far,” I told him before casting a spell to send a bolt of Magic to knock on their front doors. It passed right through their weak ward and smashed into the front doors, flinging them open, and banging them against the interior wall of the building.

“Oh dear, that knock may have been a bit too strong. Still the doors are open, we should go in,” I told Josh, who was staring at me again.

“What about the ward around the building?” he asked in a weak voice on recovering.

“Oh yes, it’s still up!” I said, as if just noticing it.

“Titgo talamh,” I shouted in Gaelic, while drawing its glyph in the air, and the ward vanished with a pop. Josh was just staring at where the ward had been. He didn’t say anything or move.

It was several minutes before people staggered out of the building. There were seven of them, and I recognized the two in the front. It was Roger Lake, my nemesis in college, and his longtime girlfriend, Elise Stone. The other five were strangers. They all stopped about eight feet from us.

“Who the hell are you?” Roger demanded. He always demanded, never asked. He was a lot heavier than he had been in college, only a few years ago I noticed.

“She’s the new Ley Line Witch. Can’t you feel her Magic, Rog?” Elise asked in a worried voice.

“I’m Maddy Kavanagh. We all went to Georgia State,” I said with a smile.

“WHAT? No ... no ... no, that Maddy Kavanagh didn’t look at all like you, and she didn’t have enough power to do what you have. Why have you attacked us?” Roger asked instead of demanding, as he usually did.

“Oh, I’m the same Maddy, but someone sent a demon to turn me into a crispy critter. He almost succeeded, but Ley Line Magic rebuilt me, ... just a tad different,” I said with a smile to their look of shock.

Again, I had been distracted by talking to them instead of dealing with them as I should have. It occurred to me suddenly that the recruiter had tried the same thing, and I quickly checked what was happening with Magic. My Magic senses revealed that the five behind them had joined hands and were casting a joint spell, while we talked, and they were close to finishing it. Perhaps they had already cast one to distract me.

While we had waited for them to exit the building, I had done two things. First, I had increased the strength and number of wards surrounding Josh and me. Second, I had drawn heavily on the Ley Lines again and was holding the Magic in my left hand. I could feel their Magic increase as they finished the spell and were prepared to unleash it against Josh and me. I quickly sketched a glyph in the air.

“Breagnaigh,” (Refute) I shouted in Gaelic just as they cast the spell at us. The Ley Line Magic flashed from my left hand hitting the spell, which exploded and knocked out all seven of those opposed to us. I cast a freeze spell on all of them following that. Josh was just staring first at the others and then at me.

“What in the world is going on?” he demanded in a confused voice.

“While we were talking, the five behind their leaders cast a distraction spell and were casting another one, an even more dangerous spell. I suddenly realized what they were doing. It was the same thing Mr. Recruiter had been trying,” I told him. “I was better prepared this time,” I added.

By now, the police had arrived outside of the hedge of thorns and my property wards. They weren’t doing much, just standing around and watching since that was basically all they could do where Magic was being used. More importantly, a number of Ley Line users had arrived, and they too were watching what was going on. They had been drawn here by the large amount of Ley Line Magic that I had drawn on. I noticed that David De Tocqueville was among them.

“Let’s finish up here,” I told Josh before transferring those behind the building here, and then transferring those from last night here from the timeless zone. I could see that a number of the Ley Line users were surprised that I could do that. I then turned to face David De Tocqueville and addressed him.

“David, I’m getting better at this. I’ve wrapped up these scoundrels for you. I’d appreciate it if you would give the police a hand securing them. I still have some other things to take care of,” I told him. David seemed shocked by my request.

“We still can’t get through your wards. We’ve all been trying and have gotten nowhere,” he reminded me.

“Oh!, I’ll cancel them when we’re ready to leave. I’m sure you can deal with the hedge of thorns. All of those here are under common freeze spells, which shouldn’t be a problem for any of you either,” I told him. I could see a resigned expression on his face before he answered.

“All right, we’ll help with the cleanup, once you cancel the ward around the property. We’ll need to gather some material to deal with them first. It will take a short time to get enough to deal with all of them,” he agreed. Several of the others had vanished, presumably to get the needed material.

I also noticed that the media had arrived with their cameras and microphones. One of them was speaking to David, and I listened in with a small spell.

“That is Madailein Kavanagh, the new Ley Line Witch,” he answered to the question from one of the media people and several others who had gathered around him.

“Miss Kavanagh, why have you attacked the members of the Wizard’s Guild?” the original reporter shouted at me through the wards and the hedge of thorns.

At first, I was offended by his question and considered not answering it, but on reconsideration, I realized that all of this would be on the television news. I could get some free advertising just by talking to him, I realized.

“Attacked?” I asked in a surprised voice. “I would hardly call this an attack. The building is still standing and intact. The culprits are still alive, if frozen in place. I merely subdued them. Their leaders sent several of them to attack my friend Josh because he didn’t want to join their Guild. They have been using strong-arm tactics to make Magic users join their Guild and pay dues ... rather substantial dues,” I told him in answer to his question. Of course, I didn’t mention how good it had felt to knock Roger and Elise on their asses for all of the trouble they had caused me in college. No one needed to know that, and I refused to answer the mundane questions he asked following that.