Chapter 22

While Vivian went into town to do some shopping, I called my lawyer from Hank's phone. I told him that I wanted to buy some property, and told him where. It would require at least one more trip, possibly two, before the sale and title transfer was completed.

After I finished with my lawyer, I went in search of Marla, the friendly neighborhood Combat Wizard. I wanted her thoughts on something. I tracked her down in the old machine shed of the farmhouse. She was fascinated by everything.

"Marla? Could you give me your thoughts on something?" I asked her.

"Sure, what's the problem?" she asked curiously.

I let it all pour out. About my seemingly stupid mistakes, and my not being able to think things through. I told her what my job had been, prior to my newfound jump into 'nobility'. I told her how I'd had to collect facts, and solve crimes.

She listened as I outlined the litany of mistakes and thoughtless things I had done in the last few days. She pursed her lips, and said something that didn't make any sense to me.

"Sounds like a psychic slug," she said.

"What the hell is a psychic slug?" I asked.

"Most magic users in our world know to guard against them. If you have not trained in our magic, and just cast powerful spells without taking precautions, you wind up capturing the attention of a creature that is on the spirit plane. But can eat energy from our plane.

"They are usually harmless, but can be annoying. They interfere with thought processes in peculiar ways. They feed off the excess energy you create, when you're doing spells. Most of us guard against them in such a way, as we don't even realize we are doing it.

"If you ask me; what your having trouble with, and what is causing you trouble, is you're being slowly drained by a psychic slug," she finished calmly.

"Is it dangerous?" I gasped fearfully.

"Not really. It would take it forever to drain you. You regenerate power faster than it can suck it off of you. However, it will interfere with your memory a bit. It knows a good thing when it stumbles across one," she said.

"Can we do anything about it?" I asked.

"Yes. I can drive it out of you, or off you, depending on where it is located. It will take only a short time," she said.

So it was. She did a spell, and the cast it at me. I actually felt something being torn out of my skull. While it didn't hurt; it was... well, disgusting! It also caused me to feel ill for a short time.

"How do I keep it from coming back?" I asked her.

"No problem. See the remnants of the spell I cast?" he asked me.

I nodded to her. It was easy to see and detect, now that it was gone. Well, to see where it had been, anyway.

"Now create a pathway of power to the spell, and let it establish a connection," she told me.

I did that.

"Ok, you should be set. You should keep an eye on it for a day or two, but the connection will automatically renew the spell all the time, now," she said with a smile.

I thanked her profusely. I was getting tired of looking like a fool! A psychic slug, of all things. Not a clever spell from an enemy, just a naturally occurring magical phenomenon.

Vivian returned from her first shopping spree. She had purchased several cases of food items that I had not seen on the other side, including sugar. I had her buy all the baking items: such as baking soda, baking powder, and spices of every imaginable sort.

While the meals had been good at Marald's keep, they had been a bit bland. I was going to 'spice things up', so to speak. I had her go back and buy flour in bulk 50-pound bags. Not just regular flour either.

I wanted finely ground flour, and coarse flour, too. She bought syrup by the case. All in all, we had around two thousand dollars worth of spices and other supplies to transport to the other world. I intended to try to introduce several new types of food over there, and I was not sure they had what I needed to prepare them.

Hank and Darla finally returned when it was getting towards dark. They were followed by a police car. I wondered what this was about.

Darla got out of Hank's 'rattle trap', and walked over to me.

"Paul, someone tried to make trouble for us in town. As soon as we got in, we were arrested and told we were being held for our own good. When I asked why we had to be protected for our own good, they responded that there was a report from a federal agency that we were targets of a terrorist plot.

"If I hadn't had friends on the force, we might still be there. When we checked for the agencies supposed warning, there was none on record. There was an order for a warrant of protection, but no authentication.

"We were almost victims of the Patriot Act. As soon as you say 'terrorist', you lose all your rights as a citizen. It's almost as if the government does not want you to be able to object to anything they do," Darla finished with a scowl.

"Someone is really getting desperate to hold us and harass us. The list is very short. Markus, Melissa. That is all I know about from my end. Could that captain of yours be in on this unknown hold order that almost got you?" I asked Darla.

"While you met him under peculiar circumstances, I don't believe he would be a party to something like this. I vote for your baddies," she said with a grin.

"Ok. My baddies it is. Marla? Do you have us covered?" I asked her.

She nodded, and kept looking at the police car that was still at the end of the driveway.

"What's with the guard?" Marla asked.

"Compliments of the force. As long as we are here, a car will be close by. Even though I quit the force, someone tried to harm me, and most of the guys took it personal," Darla said.

We spent several days getting everything done that we could. I had several pallets of foodstuffs, and a few with other things that I intended to find out if they would work in that land. Money talks, and we managed to get the land into escrow fairly quickly.

I received my money from the town of Clinton. That's what I used to buy Hank's land. I also transferred a large sum to my bank, and had them set up an account from which certain specific services would be drawn. Taxes would be paid, a lawn service was retained to keep my lawn cut, an executor would drive by the property occasionally, to see if repairs needed to be made.

Not that I thought there would be repairs needed, with all the spells I had placed on my home. The executor's visits were to be made, so as to avoid looking as though I was being neglectful of my property.

Finally, we were done. Hank fronted Darla enough money to pay off her debts in full. I was grateful that he had done that. As much as I liked Darla, I didn't think she would have accepted anything from me... yet.

I was going to change that. I now felt that I was in love with Darla. Ever hear of love at first sight? Well thats how I was feeling. We decided to get some sleep, and leave first thing in the morning.

We had just finished the last of the coffee (which I had also bought by the case), when we all felt it. Marla leaped to her feet, instantly transforming from a friend, into a Combat Wizard.

To read this story you need a Registration + Premier Membership
If you have an account, then please Log In or Register (Why register?)

Buy at Bookapy.com

P I and Magic — Book 1

Volentrin

$3.99