Chapter 2

The conflicting sensations he was experiencing kept Michael's confusion too overwhelming for him to be able to think. At the moment, his sense of touch told him he was immersed in water. His sense of sight told him he was falling upwards into darkness. His hearing could make out thousands of whispers, all of them just low enough that he couldn't understand the words. The smells he was experiencing... well, he didn't want to try to think about those right now. His mind was doing its best to sort things out to a level he could comprehend, but it was failing miserably.

Abruptly, he felt a lurch as his whole being STOPPED. He felt an indescribable pressure pulling him, but whatever had stopped him was holding on. He became aware of where he was as his mind finally started catching up. The room was chill, despite the fire roaring in the fireplace. The stone walls gave a foreboding feeling to the room, despite its lavishly ornate furniture. His blurry vision snapped to the center of the room, where a hand slapping down on the table drew the attention of everyone else in the room. Presumably, its purpose. Even with the horrible pressures tearing at him, Michael couldn't help but watch the scene in the center of the room.

"You will listen to me, damn it!" shouted a familiar but strange voice, filled with anger.

"I will start listening when you start seeing reality," responded a much quieter but no less angry voice. "They killed my sister. Forget everything else they did to her, beforehand. They killed her attempting to get to me. That is my personal reason for hating them. Forget the others that have been targeted the same way. The lucky ones are dead. The unlucky ones have been wounded in a way that will never heal. How about all the innocents that don't even have the gift that they destroy on mere whims? How about Elliot's sister? This is a war!"

"Beth was our daughter," yelled the first voice. "Don't you dare bring her into this, to attack my position!"

Michael's vision cleared enough that he could finally recognize the figures, despite not being able to believe the result. The man yelling had familiar features which were ingrained permanently in his memory. David Murphy's face was more weathered than Michael could remember. The sorrow that was etched into it sent a wave of goose bumps through Michael. It was as if more painful things had happened to his father since they were last together, than had happened to the man in all his previous life.

"Your position is a banner that everyone flocks to," said a mirror image of Michael, similarly aged. The long gray-streaked hair swung back and forth as he shook his head. The sorrow that he had seen etched in his father's eyes was likewise written on this Michael's face. However, it was as nothing compared to the anger that was there. There was an unimaginable rage in this Michael's eyes. It left no mystery as to the source of the reckless madness that was also there. A bad scar highlighted the raging emotions written on his face. It was a focal point to the hate.

"It's a banner that everyone flocks to, to hide behind. You legitimize the same cowardice that has doomed us since Avalon. As long as no one stands up to them, they will take us down, one by one!"

Anger accentuated every word that Michael spoke.

Michael's last image of the scene was looking to see the horrified expression on the face of his mother.

The pressure became so intense that it threatened to rip him apart. Suddenly, whatever was holding him gave way. He was thrown clear of the scene. The kaleidoscope of his senses began again, quickly overwhelming his mind with its terrible ferocity. Just as the barrage began to threaten his very sanity, he sat up in his bed, screaming at the top of his lungs.

A pair of arms attached to a beautiful form enveloped him, and his scream faded as he fell into his newest lover's hug. His terror slowly gave way to the tender comfort offered by her embrace, and he felt himself calming down.

As he came back to himself, he realized that the third body in the bed was trembling. Realizing what was happening, he withdrew from Sandy's hug enough wrap one of his arms around his sister. He pulled her close and whispered soothing words into her ear until he felt her relaxing. He lightly kissed Beth on the crown of her head. He eased his two lovers back down, until he was lying on his back with a girl in each arm.

"Another nightmare?" Sandy's concerned voice asked.

"Yes," he said quietly and simply.

"How many this time?" she asked.

"Two that I can remember," he answered. "This last one was bad, though."

The conversation faded at that point, as they each wallowed in the tranquility of each other's arms. In their arms was the only place he had found any sort of peace, in the last few days. Michael was desperate to get any peace that he could. Despite his moral qualms about his decisions in the last few days, he couldn't begrudge Sandy, Beth, or himself the comfort they brought to each other.

He couldn't stop the panic that flowed through him as he felt a mild ache in his shoulder. Jen had declared the thought that the pain might be connected to his birthmark ridiculous, but despite that he couldn't help himself from noticing the pattern that every time his shoulder burned, something happened. His stomach started churning in turmoil as he fought back against the fear. Realizing that any comfort he might have felt moments ago was ruined, he sighed loudly enough to disturb his two lovers. Whatever was coming was coming, and he decided that he might as well get up and face it head on.

"What's wrong?" Sandy asked as he got up.

"I just need to get up and move around a little," he lied.

He felt a twinge of sadness through the bond and realized that lying was pointless when the person you are lying to can feel your very emotions. Nevertheless, he didn't correct himself as he got up and threw on some clothes that he pulled out of the room's dresser. The sensations in his shoulder began to intensify as he headed for the door. Michael quickly decided that now was as good a time as any to practice what he had been learning.

He stood near the door and closed his eyes so he could concentrate on what he was doing. He began summoning energy, feeling the dull pain as his body absorbed the magic from the suddenly open magic fissure. He felt the never-ending struggle within his body, as the magical energy tried to rip apart everything it touched. His body limited the damage done and set about healing what was needed, almost instantly. The pain caused by that internal struggle was necessary, and Michael was doing his best to learn to ignore it.

As he felt the pain flowing through his body, he began to channel the energy to the cantrip for which he had summoned it. He murmured a few words under his breath, hoping he got the pronunciation of the mysterious words close enough to do what he wanted. He felt the spell forming around the energy he was feeding it, and as soon as he thought it had matured, he finished the spell with a gesture. Despite his instinctive desire to get rid of the pain, he didn't push the energy out of his body. He had learned that lesson the excruciatingly painful way.

The shadowy essence of the main room flowed around him. He could make out the shades representing the presences in the room, and he listened with his similarly distorted hearing. As he gained more skills, he would be able to make things clearer, but he wasn't disheartened by what he had managed. This was certainly a distinct improvement over his first try.

"Alexandra," the man greeted.

"Jerol, you know to call me Jen, in private," his aunt rebuked.

"It has been long enough that I didn't want to offend," Jerol explained. "Are you okay?"

There was genuine concern in the man's voice. Michael didn't know the history behind the two of them, but it was obvious that there was one, despite Jen's earlier avoidance of his questions about the wizard.

"I am managing," she answered without much confidence. "I'll take time to worry about myself after I am sure that my nephew and niece will be okay."

"How are they?" Jerol asked. There was a shift in his voice as they began talking about Michael and his sister: more businesslike.

"Not well," Jen answered. "How much have you heard?"

"I have heard too much to believe anything that I have heard about it," Jerol answered lightly. "The most consistent rumor is that Drenick was there. If he was there, then I don't understand how your sister's family is still alive."

"I managed to get there," she said, as if it explained everything.

"Then why are you not among the dead, as well?" he asked bluntly. "There is no way that you could hold your own against Drenick; you aren't in the same league. Try telling me the truth."

Michael heard his aunt sigh. "The simple truth is that I don't know what happened," she answered. "I was there, and nothing has made sense since."

"Explain," Jerol said. It wasn't quite an order.

"When I got there, most of the action had already taken place," she finally said. "David was dead. Very dead. Amy and Beth had been mindbound; Drenick's usual work. Drenick himself was scorched from what was obviously a fire spell. Michael was beating his head in with a club."

"I thought you said Beth was alive?" Jerol asked.

"She is," Jen answered with a shrug.

"If she was mindbound and Drenick died, she would have died, too," Jerol said in a confused voice.

"I know," Jen said. "Believe me, I know. I was determined to do everything I could to save her, but I knew there wasn't a chance of it happening."

"How is she alive, then?" he asked.

"I could see where the fire spell had singed Michael," she said. "So I knew that he had abilities and somehow had figured out how to use them well enough to defeat Drenick. I knew that there wasn't a way that he could save his sister, but I knew that if he didn't try it would destroy his sanity. They have always been close. So I channeled some of my magic to him and told him to attack the bond that Drenick had created. The problem is that he succeeded!"

"What?" Jerol said in disbelief. "How powerful is this child? Drenick wasn't their strongest, but he would have held his own against me. And breaking Drenick's bond?"

"How powerful is he?" Jen repeated. "As far as I can tell, he is just a little stronger than I am. I tested him every way I know how, and his power is average, at best. He didn't even know about his abilities until I explained them to him."

"Either he is lying to you, or you are lying to me," Jerol stated. "Either way, it is not amusing."

"No," she responded. "His magic absorption is minimal, and will be even when he has adapted. And his ability to resist feedback is undeveloped, which proves that he is new to using magic. He wasn't lying, and neither am I."

"I will figure out how he is managing his act," Jerol said.

"I will bring him in here in a few minutes," Jen started, "but there is more to tell you first. I know you aren't going to like this, but when he broke the bonds to Drenick, the bonds that were able to survive attached themselves to him."

"Now I know why he is lying, at least," Jerol said in a deadly voice.

"If the bonds hadn't shifted to him, they would have died," Jen said quickly.

"They?" Jerol asked in a dangerous voice.

"One of Beth's friends was caught up in this," Jen explained. "Drenick was entrancing her, but was distracted when Michael got there."

"I am sorry, Jen," Jerol said. The voice didn't sound apologetic.

"Please, Jerol," Jen begged. "Please wait until you understand what happened, before you make any judgments."

"It is pretty clear what happened," he said. "At least he managed to rid us of Drenick."

"Your past is clouding your view of this, Jerol," she pleaded. "I am begging you to come into this with an open mind. Give him a chance to convince you, before you judge him."

There was a long moment of silence.

"I will give him a chance, for you," he said reluctantly. "When I do judge him, get out of my way." He left the thought open. "Bring him in here," Jerol finally said.

Michael heard the knock on the door, even as his cantrip faded. His hands were shaking from the fear he was feeling. No matter how innocent he was, it was clear that Jerol had already judged him. He took some deep breaths in an effort to calm himself. A look back at his lovers almost collapsed his composed demeanor. They were shaking in fear, probably from the panic they were sensing from him. He almost tried to comfort them, but platitudes stood no chance of calming them when they could feel how terrified he was. He shot back a look of sympathy, before he left the room.

He opened the door and the pain in his shoulder instantly increased exponentially. He was forced to squint as he walked into the room, as the light surrounding the mysterious man was blinding.

"What's wrong, Michael?" Jen asked as she detected Michael's discomfort.

"The light around him is too bright," he complained.

"What light?" she asked in a concerned voice.

"Whatever delusions he has are of no matter," Jerol announced before Michael could respond. "Who taught you enough magic to take on Drenick?"

"No one," Michael said, looking at the man through the peripheral vision of his squinted eyes.

"Don't lie to me, boy!" Jerol yelled.

"I'm not," he protested. "Aunt Jen has been teaching me a little in the last couple of days, but I didn't even believe in magic before then."

Magic surged around the older wizard at this point. A wave of force hit Michael, throwing him several feet through the room. The impact knocked the breath from him.

"Michael!" Jen screamed. "Stop this, Jerol!"

"You are going to tell me what I want to know," Jerol said in a threatening voice, completely ignoring the woman.

"I don't know anything," Michael pleaded, while gasping for breath. The burning in Michael's shoulder was intensifying with every moment that passed.

"I don't believe you," Jerol said.

He made a pointing gesture and released another spell. Michael began to spasm as electricity burned through every inch of him. The pain was incredible, causing him to scream in agony.

"Stay out of this," Jerol shouted at Jen, who had been trying to interrupt the torture with a spell. He released the spell electrocuting Michael to bind Jen in magical energy. She fell to the floor with a thud, completely helpless.

Michael realized that Jen could no longer help him. He knew that if he didn't find a way to save himself, Jerol would kill him. The thought that gave him determination was the knowledge that, if he died, Beth and Sandy would die, too. He reached into himself to dig out every reserve of strength and fortitude he had. He forced himself to utterly ignore the waves of excruciating pain from his tortured body, and stood up unsteadily.

He looked at the bindings holding his aunt, and his mysterious abilities instantly gave him an instruction manual of how the spell worked. Without any conscious thought as to how he was doing it, he imitated the spell, throwing it at his torturer. He watched in dismay as the spell touched the light around Jerol, and evaporated in a puff of black energies.

Jerol gave him a wicked smile and said, "You will have to do better than that."

The older wizard lifted his hand and pointed, completing a spell that slammed into Michael's head and caused him to drop to his knees. Michael felt another presence in his head, and it felt like that presence was rummaging around without care.

"If you won't tell me what I need to know," a slightly distracted Jerol muttered, "then I will find out myself."

Michael tried to push the invader out of his mind, but was unable to find sufficient purchase in his mind from which to defend. The presence continued to ransack its way through his mind, and he suspected things were getting irreparably shuffled. Tears ran down his face as the sanctity of his thoughts was brutally violated.

"Ah, here we are," muttered Jerol.

Michael silently screamed as he was forced to live in the most traumatic moments of his life, again. The memories somehow seemed fresher, and without the protection of the shock he had been in at the time, the experiences were infinitely more emotionally painful. With one last surge, he pushed with his entire being to remove the intruder and regain his mind. His mind suddenly exploded in sharp pain. He felt himself stop breathing, and welcomed the peace that came.

"How are you feeling?" Michael heard his aunt ask even as he regained his senses.

He groaned as he sat up, and took stock of his situation. He was laying on the bed in one of the bedrooms, and Jen was the only one in the room with him. He felt around, and though his clothes were quite the worse for wear, he couldn't find any wounds.

"Surprisingly good," he finally admitted, "considering the last things I remember. What happened?"

"Jerol invaded your mind to find what he was looking for," she said, with more than a hint of disgust. "Fortunately, he found enough to convince him that you were telling the truth, before it was too late. Your mind was shutting down from the trauma. He managed to undo the damage he had caused. He is a much better healer than I am, fortunately."

"What the hell was that all about, anyway?" Michael asked.

"Jerol is... complicated," Jen said. "He is one of the oldest and the strongest of our order of wizards, as well as our leader. Our order has been under attack for a long time, and we are losing ground. He takes those losses very personally. Some of the things that you have managed to do technically violate the principles that we believe in."

"The enslavement?" Michael asked.

"Yes," Jen confirmed, nodding.

"Didn't you explain to him how that happened?" Michael asked.

"I tried to," explained Jen, "but what you did has never been done before. It is considered impossible, and not because no one has tried. Take into account that the bond somehow transferred to you, and you look very guilty at first glance. He should have listened, but I can see why he assumed you were guilty."

"I don't want him anywhere near me or the girls," Michael demanded. "What if he tries something else?"

"Unfortunately, we need his help," Jen said. "There are many that have the same views as Drenick, and they will try to avenge his death. If the White-Robes don't stop them, they will kill all of us, just to make an example. Jerol is the leader of the White-Robes, so his support is necessary for our survival."

"I don't trust him," Michael said.

"I am sorry to put it like this," Jen said carefully, "but your justified mistrust of the man isn't enough of a reason to shut him out when he is the only hope of protection for us.

Michael sighed, knowing that she was right, but still wishing there was another option. Unfortunately, he couldn't see one.

"Just keep him as far away from me as you can," Michael reluctantly insisted.

"I will do my best," she said, flashing him a grateful smile for his understanding. "You probably need some rest, now. Being healed is stressful on the body, and you can't seem to stay uninjured for very long." She gently squeezed the hand she was holding, then stood up and walked out of the room.

As soon as she left, he took the risk and gathered enough magic to cast the cantrip to hear what happened in the other room. The effort nearly exhausted him, which told him a lot about how weak he was. Nevertheless, he brushed aside the pain and nausea, so that he could pay attention to what was happening.

"How is he?" Jerol asked.

"Better than there is any right to expect," Jen answered in a cool voice. "You might be a paranoid bastard with no conscience, but I do have to say your healing abilities are without peer."

"Good," Jerol said, not giving any indication that he heard the criticisms. "I want to talk to him as soon as he is up to it."

"It might be a while," Jen said, her voice transitioning from cool to hostile. "Something about you raping his mind and trying to kill him, his sister, and their friend. For some reason, he doesn't seem to trust you very much, let alone like you." Her voice was dripping with such hostile sarcasm that even Jerol couldn't seem to ignore it.

"Drop it," he said.

"Fuck you," she answered right back. "My loyalty to you stops when you try to kill my family for no reason. You gave me your word you would listen with an open mind. If you hadn't broken that word, he could have proved he was telling the truth without all that happened."

"I am responsible for too many people to take risks," Jerol started. "What he was saying..."

"Was the truth," Jen said. "It is as simple as that, despite how unlikely it seemed at the time. There was no imminent threat or danger. You thought he was lying, and your ignorant assumption nearly cost him his life. How was that a risk? Stop trying to bullshit me." Jen was near to shouting at this point.

"I made a decision," he said in a tightly controlled voice. "It was the wrong one, but nevertheless it is the one I made. Rhea and Lucius will be looking for his head. If any of you want to survive, you need my help. If you are not going to accept it, let me know and I will stay out of the way."

There was a long silence after this.

"The Council is looking for you," Jerol finally said. "I will keep quiet, and none of the other Council Members know of your little hideaway here. Come see me when you are ready, but don't take too long."

The presence of Jerol abruptly disappeared, and Michael let the eavesdropping spell fade after that. He sighed and relaxed back into his pillow. He needed to do some thinking, but the need for his body to recuperate was overwhelming and he quickly dozed off into a dreamless sleep.

Michael moaned in satisfaction to the effects that the two hands gently wandering his body were giving him. His realizing the fact that there were two hands wandering his body caused him to start to consciousness instantly. He quickly relaxed after the second that it took to realize that Sandy was the one in bed with him.

"You startled me!" Michael laughingly admonished. He knew that Sandy was well enough off to recognize it as the teasing it was meant as.

"You probably deserved it," Sandy laughed. Her smile quickly disappeared as she gained a worried look on her face. "We were worried about you. Are you okay?"

"I will be," He said. "More importantly, how are the two of you doing? Speaking of that, where is Beth at, anyway?"

"She is in the other room," she said. "Neither Miss Jen or I knew what shape you would be in when you woke up. We told her to stay in the other room, just in case. But we are fine, really. She did something to put us to sleep before Jerol attacked you. We were asleep nearly the whole time, until she woke us up a few hours ago."

"Miss Jen?" Michael asked with a laugh. "Don't let her catch you saying that, or she will skin you alive. I am glad the two of you are alright, though. I am going to step into the shower and get cleaned up. Why don't you see if 'Miss Jen' needs help with anything?"

"You sure you don't want any company in the shower?" Sandy asked seductively.

The thought immediately woke up parts of Michael that hadn't been paying attention up to this point. But as tempting as the thought was, the pains that wracked his body every time he moved made up his mind against the idea. "Maybe another time," Michael said. "I don't think my body could take any rough usage right now."

"Okay," Sandy said, the debate immediately lost. It was something that Michael had to get used to. Whereas the girls had been stubborn as hell before, his flimsy and reluctantly expressed decisions were now the equivalents of the word of God, as far as they were concerned. He watched with regret as she got up, wriggled into some clothes, and left the room without even a moment's hesitation.

Michael sighed and got up himself, moving into the bathroom. He went through the motions of cleaning himself up, and got dressed. He was even feeling a little less sore after the hot shower.

Feeling a bit closer to human, he went to the main area. There, he found Beth, sitting at the table. He leaned against the doorframe as he watched her for several moments. Despite the turmoil and guilt he had been feeling, Beth was taking her situation in stride. Even Sandy occasionally had a twinge of sorrow or regret that slipped through, though Michael didn't think she realized that he saw those slips. Beth, however, was content and at peace with herself.

Michael had discussed Beth several times with his aunt, as he had been quite confused. He still was, to be honest. Beth's morals were all bound into committing herself completely to her master's desires. She almost didn't figure into the equation, anymore. Somewhere along the line, she had apparently determined that since others had utter and complete control over her, that she was not responsible for anything she did. Her master was responsible for her behavior, her decisions, and any consequences. By the act of being bound utterly to someone else's will, she had gained a certain amount of freedom that none of the others could really comprehend.

One of the manifestations of this had confounded the others for several days. In her downtime, when she wasn't busy, she had taken to doing mental puzzles. Their family had always had a passing interest in games of the mind, which is where the book of crossword puzzles came from: Jen had left it in the main room when she had been working on it earlier. Beth had found it when Jen was teaching Michael and Sandy was taking a nap. She had gone through several puzzles by the next time that Jen picked it up, who was amazed at the puzzles that had been completed. Both Jen and Michael had to admit that they had considered her condition to essentially be, in large part, damage to her mind. Seeing what she had done, they were both dissuaded from that way of thinking. Her mind might have been modified, but it was far from damaged. In fact, the additional mental focus that she could bring to bear now allowed her mind to work more efficiently than before, in certain aspects.

Michael's eyes glazed over as he allowed himself to explore the link to his sister. The bond had been heavily modified the day that he had woken up from his several-day coma. Honestly, though, he couldn't figure out how he had changed it, or what the effects of those changes were. The bond was to a novice wizard like he was what mathematical quantum physics were to an algebra student. He could figure out bits and pieces of it, at least to the extent of recognizing it. The entirety of the puzzle was too complicated for him to understand in any meaningful way, though, by several orders of magnitude. What little he could tell, though, was that somehow he had managed to loop the life-to-magic conversion aspect of the bond, so that it somehow the life that was being stolen from them was fueling a spell that was healing and restoring them, essentially canceling out the life that was being taken. He could sense other changes as well, but they were beyond his ability to understand.

Cutting his mental meanderings short, he stealthily walked up behind his sister and suddenly embraced her in a hug from behind while kissing her on the neck. She squealed in surprise, dropping the new book of puzzles that Jen had obtained for her, before turning and hugging him back.

"Ma... Michael!" she exclaimed. He had insisted that she not call him master, as apparently she had been programmed to do. She still hadn't completely broken herself of the habit. "I'm so glad you are okay! Is there anything I can do for you?" Her eyes made it perfectly clear that there wasn't anything that couldn't be asked. Michael was still not used to the intimate relations though, and so coughed nervously at the insinuations.

"I am fine," Michael said, too quickly. "Are you okay?"

"I am always okay when you are here," Beth answered. Michael could tell that she was being perfectly serious and honest, which gave him another pang of guilt.

"Mis... Jen said she wanted to see you when you came out," Beth said.

"It must be important," he said, taking the easy way out of the conversation until he could regroup. "I will go see what she wants."

He left her to her own devices, and went to the library. He found Jen there, studying a book. She looked up as he entered the room, and her face lit up.

"Are you feeling okay?" Jen asked.

"I am fine," Michael answered. "Still a little sore, but the rest and the hot shower did wonders for me."

"I am so sorry about Jerol," she said, her eyes mirroring the regret that was in her voice. "He..."

"Is his own person, who you are not responsible for," Michael finished. "Don't apologize for him. We will eventually have our reckoning, I am sure. But in the meantime, the important thing is that he is willing to help."

"Speaking of which," Jen began, "we can't keep putting things off for much longer. I have heard from several wizards, now, that the Council is putting out some serious feelers to find us. The longer we wait before we go, the harder it will be to defuse the situation."