Chapter 2

The following character appears in this chapter:

Preston Pickering

Manager of Maddy’s Trust Fund, 5’-11’’ tall, 200 pounds or so, 55 years old, short hair turning gray

Since Ken still had off that day, we arose late the next morning. Following a good breakfast for us and our Familiars, I started Ken on the First Book. He was surprised that he could now read it and understand it. I continued on Book 6, which appeared to be a lot like Book 3. Just when I thought that I was nearly finished with it, more pages would appear, even though the book never became any thicker. We still had a lot of fried rice and some Sweet and Sour Pork left, so there wasn’t a lot of cooking that day.

Ken was scheduled to return to work on the second day after we were married. He was on the middle shift for the next two weeks. He left to change clothes and pack some of his clothing and other things at noon. He would have some time to pack things to move here before reporting to work at 2:00 that afternoon. He planned to move everything here over the next few days.

After arriving in the apartment that I had been renting for several years, I spent some time packing part of my clothes, before transferring to the area near work where I usually appeared with Alva. We had only just arrived there when Alva alerted me.

“Trouble, Master Ken,” she told me. I could see a group of young Ley Line users standing between me and the building where I worked. There was nothing to do but to confront them, as we weren’t permitted to transfer into the company’s building, and in fact, it was warded against that. Even trying to approach the building from a different direction wouldn’t work, as the young Wizards were sure to sense any transfer and be prepared to counter it.

“Stay close, Alva,” I warned my Familiar before casting one of the wards around me that I had learned from the book that I had purchased. I now knew that it was a Dragon ward.

The Wizards were blocking my way as I approached them on the sidewalk. As I drew closer, one of them stepped forward to address me.

“Are you the Red Dragon who appeared at our meeting a few days ago, Sweeney?” he demanded in an upset voice.

“Yes, I am. What of it?” I demanded adopting a hard core stance. There was no use denying it any longer. My frank admission seemed to take the wind out of their sails to use a maritime expression.

“You ... admit that?” he asked shortly in a surprised voice. The others had backed up a step or two on hearing that.

“Certainly, why shouldn’t I. Being there wasn’t illegal or anything. Of course, I was mainly an observer and was there to back up Maddy. Not that she needed any backing up,” I told him with a smile.

“No, she’s never needed any backing up, and she took out Chris Pennson without a spell. That sword of hers flew from her hand and left nothing to even bury. Chris was a friend of ours. She shouldn’t have treated him like that,” the young Wizard told me in an upset voice.

“Should she have just forgotten that he sent four men with explosives to attack her wards and to murder her if they had succeeded in breaching those wards?” I demanded in a low threatening voice.

“She could have called the police and had him arrested,” came the response.

“And how long would the police have been able to hold him, if they could have arrested him in the first place?” I demanded. None of them had an answer to that.

“I’ll tell you,” I said when no one spoke up. “About thirty seconds, if they could even find him and arrest him. You all know that any of us could escape from anything that we need to,” I reminded them.

“So what’s your real problem?” I demanded next.

“You think you are so high and mighty because you can change into a Dragon. You’ve got a surprise coming,” he threatened before they all vanished with a transfer spell.

“Let’s go, Alva,” I told her, and we walked the rest of the way to the building. On entering, I was met by the president of the company.

“I need to speak to you, Sweeney,” he told me and had a couple of the watch managers there to back him up.

“Are you a Dragon?” he demanded to start with.

“Yes, I can become a Dragon,” I told him, to a surprised look from him.

“You admit it?” he asked still in a surprised voice.

“Certainly. Why not. It’s a fact. I imagine it will be common knowledge shortly. Those young Wizards who were outside the building will certainly tell everyone they meet,” I told him.

“Yes, they were here before you arrived. They told us what happened at one of their meetings. You were an accomplice to a murder. Also De Trocqueville was here and told us what occurred when that Witch went to the Demon-lands to retrieve her Familiar,” he told me.

“You don’t have that quite right,” I said with a smile. “She is actually a Dragon Witch.”

“That’s irrelevant. You can no longer work here. We can’t take the chance that someone or something will seek vengeance for what was done. Clean out your locker, you’re fired. Your final paycheck will be deposited in your account shortly,” he told me and turned to leave. I exhaled and noticed that a bit of smoke drifted from my nostrils when I did. The three of them saw that and quickly backed up. I just smiled at them.

“This wasn’t unexpected. It will be to your detriment,” I told them.

“Are you threatening us?” the president demanded in an angry voice.

“I don’t need to make threats. I have other ways to accomplish things,” I told him still smiling. Alva and I went to my locker and removed the few things in it. One of the managers had followed us at a distance. On finishing, I transferred right out of the building just to piss them off. This set off a number of alarms, as no one was supposed to do that, and they didn’t think that anyone could. They would be a while resetting their wards and alarms. I appeared back in my apartment.

“I may as well transfer all of this to Maddy’s house now,” I told Alva, and began transferring everything that I had already packed. Following that, I packed the remainder of my clothes and transferred them to the house along with Alva’s food and our other possessions. Her things went to the kitchen. Finally, I went to see the company that managed the apartments to inform them that I was moving out. It was early enough in the month that giving my notice wasn’t a problem. Alva and I returned to Maddy’s house in a despondent state despite what I had told my former employer.

Ken’s things started appearing a couple of hours after he left, and I presumed the worst. He arrived shortly after the last of them appeared.

“They let you go, didn’t they?” I asked.

“Yes, a bunch of young Wizards were waiting for me outside the building. They had already talked to the president of the company. He had also talked to De Tocqueville. I moved out of my apartment also,” he told me in a tired voice.

“Well, we were talking about starting our own security company. There isn’t a lot to keep us from doing that now,” I told him.

“What about the other Dragons? We don’t know what they will do yet,” he reminded me.

“There is that,” I admitted with a sigh. “Perhaps, we should wait a couple of weeks and see what happens,” I agreed.

“In the meantime, we can investigate my Trust Fund. I’ll contact them and set up a meeting,” I told him. Ken needed to sort out his things and get settled. I gave him a hand after integrating Alva’s things with Al’s and putting away her food.

The following morning, I called the number that I had for my Trust Fund. Someone picked up quickly, announced the name of their firm and asked how they could help me.

“This is Madailein Kavanagh. I need to speak to someone about my Trust Fund,” I told her.

“Yes, Miss Kavanagh, we have been expecting a call from you. Mr. Pickering, your account manager, will be pleased to see you at 10:00 tomorrow morning. Is there anything else that we can do for you?” the person on the phone asked in a pleasant voice.

“No, there is nothing else at present,” I told her.

“Do you know where we are located?” she asked next.

“Only vaguely,” I told her, and she gave me precise directions to their offices.

“We’ll see you tomorrow at 10:00 then,” she said before we broke the connection.

“Well, that was quick enough,” I told Ken after hanging up. “We see them tomorrow at 10:00 in the morning.”

“That went quickly.”

“Yes, apparently, they were expecting me to call,” I told him, but wondered, “how did they know that I would be calling them?”

“I haven’t the foggiest idea,” he told me, before returning to setting up his things in our bedroom and in the small parlor. The remainder of the day was spent studying. That night, there was only a little hugging and kissing for us. It only attracted a tiny bit of Magic.

In the morning following breakfast, we needed to make a decision on how we were going to travel to the meeting with my Trust Fund Manager.

“Should we drive there?” I asked Ken.

“Just where is this place?” he asked. I gave him the firm’s name and its address.

“I know where that is. It’s hard to find a parking place around there. I also know a destination near there where we can transfer to,” he told me.

“Do we take Al and Alva?” I asked.

“Yes, definitely. They are our Familiars, after all,” he insisted.

By 9:45, we were ready to go. I had checked the wards around the house, the property, and the car to ensure that they were all at full strength. In the front yard, Ken and I joined hands, and he cast the transfer spell. We all vanished to reappear in a small park surrounded by large office buildings.

“It’s the building on the right that we want,” he told me, and we all moved in that direction. The financial firm that handled my Trust Fund was located on the twelfth floor of the building. On exiting the elevator, we were in a small foyer that led directly to the large glass doors of the firm. Inside, we were greeted by a receptionist who smiled at us. She was seated behind a real mahogany desk. There were nine expensive wooden chairs available to seat clients in their reception area, which had a wooden wainscot with light blue wallpaper above it.

“Good morning, what can we do for you?” she asked.

“Good morning, I’m Madailein Kavanagh. I have a 10:00 o’clock appointment with a Mr. Preston Pickering,” I told her.

“Yes, Miss Kavanagh, he will be with you in just a few minutes,” she told us. “Please have a seat,” she suggested, as she picked up the handset of the phone on her desk.

Preston Pickering appeared in a minute or so. He was a tall older man in a suit. He appeared to be about 5’-11’’ tall, and about 200 pounds. His short hair was turning gray, and he appeared to be about 55 years old. He was smiling as he greeted us.

“Good morning, Miss Kavanagh. Please come with me,” he asked. Ken and I rose from where we were seated, and our Familiars joined us. Mr. Pickering didn’t seem surprised that Ken had joined me or that we both had Familiars.

“And this gentleman is?” he asked as we joined him.

“This is my husband, Kennith Sweeney,” I told him.

“Good morning, sir,” he said with a smile before leading the four of us down a corridor to a spacious private conference room which was decorated similarly to the reception area.