Chapter 18

The following characters appear in this chapter:

Preston Pickering

Former Manager of Maddy’s Trust Fund, 5’-11’’ tall, 200 pounds or so, 76 years old, short gray hair, retired now

Walter Pickering

Preston’s youngest Son and new Manager of the Clans Trust Funds, 5’-10’’ tall, 180 pounds, 45 years old, short brown hair and gray eyes

Chu Hua

Dragon offspring, 5’-0’’ tall, a plain looking, thin young Tibetan woman of 20 years of age with short black hair

Vaidyanaath

A Green Dragon, the youngest of the Green Clan at just over 4,000 years old

Kalu

Vaidyanaath’s name in his Human form, 5’-6’’ tall, appears to be a somewhat late middle aged Asian man

Dallas was waiting for us when we reached home.

“What in the world did you do out there?” she asked as we entered. Jorani only smiled on seeing us, and I gave her a little kiss. Dallas was there with her Son and Doreen’s plus their four Daughters. They had been visiting Jorani and our Daughters plus their youngest Aunt.

“We had a little problem with some Iranians and possibly some other people. They had planned an ambush but not very well. They mostly killed themselves, and we incinerated what was left of them and their equipment,” Mom told her oldest Daughter.

“Yes, the noon news showed the results of that, but it also had video of all four of you flying above the mountain and then landing,” Dallas told us.

“We did visit the mountain, both of the summits that I was interested in, but we didn’t walk any of the trails. We’ll visit Sawnee Mountain in the Dragon Reality in a few days to make sure that it is the correct location for the backup Nest,” Mom told her.

“In the meantime,” she continued, “your Sister needs to check my computer to see if it has been hacked, as that was the only way we could figure that they knew that we would be there today. They had to be planning this for some time and chose to act today.”

“I’ll be back after I get Brian settled in his crib after feeding him,” Doreen told Mom and her Sister before vanishing with her Son. This left just Dallas and her Son along with all four of my Nieces. The young girls were glad to see their Grandmother and laughed and giggled as only little girls can. They had all brought their Familiars with them. The Familiars were visiting Si-Sawat and her kittens. Talk about herding cats again.

Doreen returned an hour or so later. She had brought her computer diagnostic software with her. Mom and Jorani had also finished feeding their Daughters and gotten them to sleep by then. Dallas and the rest of my Nieces and Nephew had left by then and taken their Familiars with them.

Doreen soon had Mom’s computer on and began running her diagnostic software programs through it. After a number of minutes, she turned back to look at Mom.

“You have been hacked,” she told her looking up, “and by one of the best. From the way he configured his program, it appears to have been done by one specific Russian hacker,” she told her.

“Was he working for the Russian government?” Mom asked.

“Not necessarily. He’s a free agent and will work for anyone who will pay him,” Doreen told her.

“Anyone, like the Iranians or the Chinese?” Mom asked.

“Yes, them or anyone else. He has no loyalty to any particular form of government. He is quite expensive, I’ve heard,” Doreen told us.

“I see,” Mom said thoughtfully before asking, “and people trust him?”

“Oh yes, he’s quite good,” Doreen answered. “But he should never have taken a job against Dragons. We will need to find a way to punish him ... an expensive way to punish him,” she added after a few seconds.

“How do we do that? We have no idea where he is or how to reach him,” Mom replied.

“By hacking him back or misleading him,” Doreen said with a smile. “Misleading him might be easier,” she added.

“Such as?” Mom asked.

“By sending him some false or misleading information. Something that will bite him in the ass if he acts on it,” Doreen told her. Mom looked at her for a short time before smiling.

“Can you look up something for me?” she asked.

“He’ll know what you are looking at,” Doreen reminded her skeptically.

“Isn’t that what we want?” Mom asked with a grin.

“What are we looking up then?” Doreen asked.

“Look up this stock,” Mom told her and named the company and the stock. Doreen went on the internet and looked it up.

“According to this report, the stock has been going up slightly for a couple of weeks now,” Doreen told her after a few minutes. “What about it?” she asked.

“A couple of days ago, I had a vision of a newspaper article about this stock, but I didn’t think anything about, as I had no reference for it until now. The article told how the stock had soared in value, and then how the bottom had dropped out of it in nothing flat. It’s the stock for a silver mining company. They had discovered what they thought was a huge deposit of silver ore. The price of their stock shot up dramatically for a short time, but the deposit soon proved to be relatively small, and they lost their shirts, as did those who had purchased their stock when the bottom fell out,” Mom told us with a big grin.

“And you think that looking up this stock will convince him to invest in it?” Doreen asked in a skeptical voice.

“Oh no, dear. Not just this one instance. However, when I put a note in my calendar about purchasing it, and then send an email to my Trust Fund company to purchase the stock, that should convince him that my intentions are real. Hopefully, he will then invest heavily in it or convince others to invest heavily in it. That way when the bottom drops out, he will lose money, and if he convinced others, they will lose money. Perhaps enough money to be really upset with him,” Mom told her with a big smile.

“But if you tell your Trust Fund people to invest in it, you will lose money also,” Doreen pointed out.

“Only if they actually invest the money. That’s why I need to speak to Mr. Walter Pickering who replaced his Father, Mr. Preston Pickering, as our Trust Fund Manager when he retired. I think I’ll just pop over there this afternoon and see him. Do you want to come?” Mom asked.

“Will it take long, and couldn’t you just call them?” Doreen asked.

“No, this must be done in person and behind wards. They hacked my computer, so they could also be monitoring our cell phones. Just leave the computer like it is for now. After I get this set up, you can remove whatever he or they put in it. I’ll need to get better software also,” Mom told her daughter before remembering the first part of the question.

“It may take an hour or more depending on how busy they are,” she told Doreen.

“Brian will be awake before that, so I’ll have to pass, Mom. I’ll install some special software after I remove the hack,” Doreen promised before going home to check on her Son. Meanwhile, Mom was looking around to see who was available. Dad had gone to Dragon Security to check on things and her eyes fell on me, as I was the only one there.

“I would like to take Jorani with me to the Trust Fund, but there’s no one to watch the children. Craig, can you watch them while Jorani goes with me to meet our Trust Fund Manager?” Mom asked.

I had been prepared to go with her, but she wanted ME to watch the children? Well, three of them were my Daughters, and the last one was my Sister, but I wasn’t really sure about this.

“I can try, Mom,” I told her in an unsure voice.

Not more than a half a minute after I had agreed to take care of the babies, the Nesting Ward activated as a male Dragon appeared near our property. We all felt it activate.

“We have visitors,” Mom said and both of us transferred to the driveway near the Nesting Ward. We quickly saw that it was Stewart who had arrived, and he had Eve with him.

“Hello Stewart, Welcome,”Mom said and helped both of them through the Nesting Ward. Stewart hadn’t had any trouble with the Property ward.

“Eve has been studying Magic and wanted to come out here to thank you ... well to thank the Spirit of Ley Line Magic, but I don’t imagine that He is here,” Stewart told us with a smile.

“Yes, thank you very much, Mrs Kavanagh,” Eve said with a smile but downcast eyes.

“You’re more than welcome, dear,” Mom told her while I had an idea.

“Why don’t you come up to the house and have something to eat?” I suggested but had an ulterior motive.

“All right,” they both agreed, and we all walked back to the house.

“Jorani and I will need to leave shortly, Craig,” Mom told me as we approached the house.

“Okay,” I agreed as we passed through the House wards. Stewart had helped Eve through them, as her Magic wasn’t strong enough for that yet. She was still somewhat amazed by all of the wards and Magic that we routinely used.

Once inside, Mom went to alert Jorani, and I went up to check on our Daughters and my Sister. Thankfully, they were all asleep presently. Eve had followed me upstairs when I mentioned checking on the children, and she was looking in on all of them also.

“They are all so cute. I love babies and hope that Stu will get me pregnant soon, so I can have one of my own,” Eve told me in a voice full of yearning. Deirdre awoke just then and was a bit fussy. I picked her up to see what the problem was. She wasn’t wet and didn’t appear to be hungry. She was looking around, however. I was perplexed as to what she wanted. All of the infants had already learned to hold up their arms when they wanted to be picked up. Deirdre was holding up her arms, but not to me as I was already holding her. She was holding them up to Eve, much to my amazement.

“I think Deirdre wants you to hold her,” I told Eve who looked shocked.

“ME! but before she screamed when I held her,” she said in confusion.

“Yes, but you have a Talent now, and she can feel that,” I reminded her. Eve held out her arms, and I transferred my Sister to her. Deirdre seemed very content to be held by Eve and cooed quietly. Mom passed by then and was surprised to see Eve holding her youngest Daughter who appeared to be quite content.

“I guess that’s the difference having a Talent makes, plus there is a Dragon nearby,” Mom said as she and Jorani went downstairs to transfer to her Trust Fund company.

“Can you stay for an hour or so?” I asked Eve following that.

“Yes, if you need me to,” she said agreeably.

“Mom and my Wife need to go out for a short time, and I’m supposed to watch the children. I could use the help if you are willing to stay,” I told her.

“Alright, we can stay. Stewart doesn’t need to be at work until much later,” Eve agreed. That took a load off my mind. At least, I would have some help in looking after our Daughters and my Sister. We followed Mom and Jorani downstairs so Eve could inform Stewart that he would be here for a time.

Maddy has the Narrative for a Time

Jorani needed to change clothes to go out, and I decided to wear something a little more formal also. Eve’s arrival had been a surprise, but she seems like a very nice young woman. Stewart certainly thinks so, and I’m happy for him. I was a bit surprised to see that Deirdre accepted her so readily now, but attributed it to her now having a Talent.

Outside, I transferred Jorani and myself to the park near where my Trust Fund’s building is located. Arriving at their office, there was a new receptionist there.

“Can I help you?” she asked with a smile as we entered their offices.

“I’m Madailein Kavanagh and this is my Daughter-in-Law Jorani Sweeney. I need to see Mr. Walter Pickering, our Fund Manager, for a few minutes,” I told her. The young woman’s jaw dropped on hearing my name.

“Are ... are you THE Madailein Kavanagh, the Queen...!” she asked in shock before recovering. “Please ... please have a seat while I alert Mr. Pickering to your arrival,” she told us as she snatched a phone from the desk. The younger Mr. Pickering arrived in a few minutes.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Kavanagh,” he said with a smile but was looking at Jorani with a questioning expression. “And this is?” he asked.

“This is my Daughter-in-Law Jorani Sweeney. She is the Dragon Queen of the East,” I informed him.

“There are two Queens?” he asked.

“Yes, one for the Eastern part of the planet and one for the Western part,” I told him.

“Alright, come into the conference room, and we can talk without being disturbed,” he told us leading the way to the conference room. The room hadn’t changed much in all of the years since I had first visited here. It did appear that they had changed the chairs around the large table, however. Additionally, I detected the listening devices now installed in the walls of the room. They wouldn’t be the problem for us that they would be for others.

“What can I do for one of our most prestigious clients?” he asked once we were all seated. I had already cast a ward around us and added a silence spell to it also.

“We have two matters to discuss,” I told him. “The first is about an email that I will be sending you at your personal email account. It will direct you to buy a certain number of shares in a particular company at a certain time plus how long to hold them and when to sell them. This email will be a sham. You are NOT to buy any shares in that company,” I continued. Mr. Pickering looked totally confused on hearing this.

“Let me explain,” I began again. “My computer was hacked. I’m doing this to get back at the hacker. He will think that I am buying those shares. Hopefully, he will do the same. I had a premonition that the stock will crash shortly, and he will lose all that he invested. No One must ever know about the email. That is why it must go to your personal account. Delete it as soon as you receive it and see that it is from me,” I told him. He looked astonished on hearing this.

“You’re sure of this?” he asked. “My Father told me that your Grandmother had accurately predicted the future of many stocks. Can you also do that?” he asked in an excited voice, having recovered.

“Not nearly as well as my Grandmother. I do have flashes of things that will happen occasionally,” I told him to a somewhat dejected look from him. From his reaction, I was sure that many of those working here had used my Grandmother’s information to enrich themselves. We still had other things to discuss, however.

“The second thing we need to discuss is my Daughter-in-Law, Jorani. She now has three Daughters, triplets. She will need to set up a Trust Fund for them in a few years. Also, I now have a new Daughter and will need to change the current Trust Fund to include her in a few years,” I told him.

“Alright, we can do that when they are older. How old are they now?” Mr. Pickering asked.

“The four of them are just over four months old presently,” I told him to a shocked look from him.