Chapter 7

We appeared in my living room a second or so after I had completed the transfer spell in Sara’s apartment. All of her things were spread out before us.

“Which should we do first: put your things away or have dinner?” I asked.

“Dinner might be best. It will require some time to put all of this up. Also, do you have sufficient furniture and space for all of it?” she asked.

“You haven’t seen the rest of the house. There are several closets and large chests of drawers that should be sufficient for most of it,” I told her, before asking, “what would you like for dinner?”

“What would I like or what do you have?” she asked in return.

“I have a good selection of food but not anything that I would consider exotic,” I told her. She appeared to be in thought for several seconds following that.

“How about something simple like pizza or hamburgers?” she asked.

“What kind of pizza do you like?” I asked.

“Hamburger or four cheese is usually good on thin crust,” she answered.

“One fifteen-inch hamburger pizza coming up in about a half hour,” I told her, as we both moved toward the kitchen. Removing the pizza from the freezer, I set the small electric oven to the correct setting for pizza before opening the box and the wrapping after placing it upside down on the box. The perforated metal pizza plate went on the bottom, and everything was then turned over so we could remove the plastic wrapper. As soon as the oven was ready, the pizza went in. We now had time to decide where she would be sleeping.

“You can have the master bedroom and bath if you like,” I told her.

“I wouldn’t want to put you out of your bedroom. What are the alternatives?” she asked.

“There are three other bedrooms, but one is in use as a computer room, and it has my music system,” I told her, before we went to look at the bedrooms. The first one was a bit of a disappointment.

“It’s a bit small and crowded,” Sara said on entering and seeing all of the furniture stored in there. The second bedroom was more acceptable.

“This is more like it. It’s larger than the bedroom at my apartment, but could I have the chest of drawers and the vanity from the other room?” she asked.

“Certainly. Not a problem. Is the bed okay? You should try the mattress also,” I told her. She did, and it seemed to be alright to her. We moved the chest of drawers in there to the other room, and the furniture she wanted into her room, which was just across from the other full bath in the house.

By the time we had everything moved into place, the pizza was finished, and we took a break for dinner. The fifteen-inch pizza was enough for both of us for dinner. I also made tea for us to drink with it. Following dinner, we moved all of her things into her new room, and she began to put them away. Sara had a question though.

“How come you have all of this extra furniture with only you living here?” she asked as she worked, and I helped some.

“It was all here when I bought the house. The former owners had died in a traffic accident, and the attorney who was executing the Will was anxious to close things out. I bought the whole house as is. Of course, I made a few changes and additions to suit myself,” I told her.

“What about all of their personal things? Did you just throw them out?” she asked.

“Some of their relatives had removed a number of their things, and I donated the rest to Goodwill and several other charitable organizations. Very little got thrown out. It was mainly written records and old bills that were of no use to me,” I told her.

By the time everything was put away to her satisfaction, it was getting late. I showed her the bathroom and where things for it were before bidding her a goodnight.

“I don’t suppose it would do any good to lock the bedroom door, since you could just transfer into the room,” she said in a coy voice.

“I would not disturb you or enter your room without an invitation, Sara,” I told her. She seemed surprised by this.

“You’re serious!” she said in surprise.

“Absolutely. You have no idea what it is like to live as long as I have. To see friends and lovers who you have known for years grow old and sick and die while you remain as you were when you first met them. And not just once but many times over my long life. Too many have passed away, and I have grieved for all of them. For a time, I lived alone without anyone to care about, but that can be just as bad if not worse.

“I have had many lovers. Some died of diseases or old age. A few were murdered because I loved them, and others sought revenge against me. It was never good for those who did that, but it didn’t bring my loved ones back either,” I told her in a sad voice before going to my bedroom for the night. I had made up my mind earlier that I would not pursue her. I would wait until she was ready for me before finally telling her everything and seeing where that led.

In the morning, following a good night’s sleep, I went out for a five-mile run. I had been walking for the past several weeks, but felt that a long run was called for since it was very possible that I would be very active in the near future. It would also give those watching me for the CIA something different to report.

On my way out of the house this morning, I had noticed the elementary ward that Sara had cast around her room overnight. Her Talent was more than strong enough to do that, but it would never stand up to an assault by a very strong Wizard. Still, she was learning.

Following a good shower and a change of clothes, I started breakfast for the two of us. Sara soon joined me. She had questions while we ate.

“Last night, you said that those you cared for always grew old and died. Couldn’t you help them with your Magic?” she asked.

“Once I learned sufficient Medical Magic, yes, I could help many of them and did. There were friends who were wounded in battle that I was able to help. Also, those who I cared for, but there is a limit to how much or how long the human body can be helped before it just wears out. Before disease eats away at it and not even Magic can repair it. Oh, life can be extended for twenty or thirty years easily, but eventually time catches up with everyone. Everyone but me it seems,” I told her in a dark voice.

“So, even I will eventually die,” she said in a gloomy voice.

“Not necessarily,” I started. “With your level of Talent, it is very possible that you could live for several hundred years at least,” I continued. “Those I lived with had no Talent. You would be amazed at just how rare those with strong Talents are,” I added. This seemed to amaze her.

“HOW could I do that?” she asked after a few seconds.

“Because your Talent will help by renewing the parts of your body that wear out, and Wizards can correct many diseases and conditions that would lead to death. Many strong Magic users are able to live for several hundred years or more,” I told her.

“And you know this from experience?” she asked.

“I know it from a number of Magic users whom I have discussed this with. It is becoming harder and harder for them to hide how old they are now with the government keeping track of everyone with computers. There are still ways around the government though,” I told her with a smile but didn’t go any further for now.

“You need to decide what you are going to do about your job,” I told her changing the subject.

“You will not be able to continue to work where you have been without the police and the FBI following you. It’s possible you could work elsewhere, but they are going to report your social security number plus your name, and the government will eventually track you down. I would suggest that you go in and tell Mr. Barker that you can no longer work there with the police and the FBI watching you all of the time,” I told her.

“And how will I get there without them seeing me?” she asked.

“I’ll take you. You will also need to withdraw most of your money from the bank if you want to have any. They could trace you that way. The same goes for credit cards, and payments for insurance and other things. There is a way around some of those things,” I told her also.

“It sounds like you want me to totally disappear,” she said in an upset voice.

“That is what you need to do, if you don’t want the government watching everything that you do. It’s possible that you could move someplace like Atlanta with a lot of Magic users and continue to have a reasonably normal life. The government walks very lightly in Atlanta and a few other places because of the number of strong Magic users there,” I told her.

“I’ve heard that Atlanta is expensive,” she said.

“Strong Magic users can make a lot of money there. You have a strong Talent, but you need to learn a lot of Magic,” I reminded her.

“Do I need to make up my mind today?” she asked.

“That’s up to you. Mr. Barker is going to be wondering what happened to you the longer you wait,” I reminded her.

“Yes, he has always been very supportive of all of his employees. I guess I owe him a quick explanation of why I’m leaving,” she said but didn’t sound very happy.

“When can we leave?” she asked after a few more minutes of thought.

“Any time that you want to. They will have been open for a while by the time we can get dressed. I can transfer us to the restroom’s hallway, and then we can go up to Mr. Barker’s office. I presume that you know where it is,” I said.

“Yes, I know where his office is,” she agreed. We both went to change clothes after taking care of the dishes.

When we appeared in the short hallway that the restrooms were off of, I sensed that something was different, and immediately tightened my grip on Sara’s hand.

“Something is different,” I whispered to her before casting the invisibility spell around us.

“Can you tell what it is?” she whispered back.

“No, let me search with my Magic senses,” I whispered to her and sent out my senses in a broad sweep of the ground floor of the building. After a minute or so, I detected two things that hadn’t been present previously. One was a camera that appeared to cover much of the ground floor but especially the elevators, which were near us. The other item was a cell phone with a headset that the receptionist was wearing. It appeared that the Charleston police and the FBI were determined to learn if Sara came in again. From this, I could surmise that the business’s phone system was also tapped. I pulled Sara into the ladies’ room so we could talk.

“What did you find?” she asked just above a whisper after I had canceled the Invisibility spell.

“There is a camera covering the elevators, and the receptionist has a cell phone with a headset. It is probably set to call in the police or the FBI. It’s possible that the camera also has a heat detecting element to it, and they could track us by our heat signature even though they couldn’t see us,” I told her.

“What can we do?” she asked in a bewildered voice.

“Where are the emergency stairs to the upper floors? All buildings are required to have stairs in case of fire or power outages,” I reminded her.