Chapter 9

One of the things about the mineral or ore I was taking back, was that it took another element to mix with the ore to give it the ability negate magic. While the mineral had a natural negative effect on magic, it needed a second element. It was when they were mixed together, that the strong anti-magical effect we wanted, was produced via a reaction.

The second compound was also available in abundance. The two mixed well together, and could be easily transported. Separately, they both had a weak negative effect on the magical field. But once they were mixed together, they reacted with each other in such a way as the desired effect was achieved.

Now all I had to do, was get them home and make sure they worked in my world.

After getting instructed on how to mix them, I had two twenty pound packages to lug though my gate back to my room.

I now did something slightly different after returning home. I didn't destroy the picture, any more. I had learned a new way to deactivate it, which I always did, as soon as I was through the gate.

I could feel the magic depart from the picture, and once I did that. I took my two bags of mix to my studio, and set them on a table. I was going to have to get a mixing bowl of some sort to finish these two items and make sure they were working properly.

Unless I melted this stuff together, Garretti said I had a grind fine enough for the powder mix. This meant I could use it as paint. While that was handy, it did not cancel a really strong spell. It would, however, actually reduce the effectiveness of the magic in the spell greatly. To totally cancel a magic spell, the mineral had to be mixed and melted, producing solid sheets of material similar to a ceramic, or mixed a a ceramic.

After I had showered and cleaned up, I went to my answering machine and listened to my messages. I had no less than seven messages from my agent, who was desperate for me to contact her. I frowned. I had explained to her that I was going to be taking a break, already, so I was unsure what she wanted.

I dialed her number and was put through as soon as the secretary answered.

"Franklin?" she asked when she came on the line.

Uh oh. She only called me Franklin when she wanted something.

"No! I am not taking a new contract or commission, right now! So the answer is no, whatever it is," I told her firmly.

"John Royce wants you to do the cover and also a drawing for each chapter. He wants a drawing of a scene from that chapter, as a hint," she said excitedly, ignoring me.

I paused. Wow, only probably the best writer of fiction anywhere. Of course he would want something when I had to do something else. I sighed.

"No," I told her.

Silence greeted me and I started to think we had been disconnected.

"Hello? Still there?" I asked.

"Franklin, you can't possibly mean that. It's John Royce! He has won more writing awards in the past ten years than anyone ever had in a lifetime. He gets six figure advances from his publisher, if he even hints at an idea for a book. High six figures," Becky, my agent of two years said in a begging voice.

"Didn't you hear me? I said, 'no'. I'm tied up with a personal project that I am going to be interested in, for the foreseeable future. I'll call you when I am ready to get started again," I told her reasonably.

"Look, you can't turn down someone like John Royce! Let me just send you the outline, and you can look it over. Don't make up your mind without getting all the facts," she said, a bit desperately.

"Hmm, let me see if I can make this clearer to you," I said a bit snappishly. "No, nix, nine, not happening, no way... are you getting the idea, yet?"

"Look, Frank, this guy is waving a lot of money at us. Besides, no one turns down John Royce. Are you nuts?" She asked me in the same edgy voice I had used.

"I don't care if it was the president, and he was doing his memoirs. I... am... busy! And that's that!" I said hanging up.

I flipped the answering machine back on, and went to my studio to start playing with the materials I had brought back from Vorden. I went to the kitchen and got a mixing bowl that my mother had given me for making things to bake, which I never really did. I added the two substances together at the proportions I was instructed to use. I added water and stirred and stirred.

After five minutes of mixing, I ending up with a substance that looked sort of like a clear gel. I took a brush, and it painted onto items easily.

'Hmm... not bad... if I did this right. The instructions said I could add pigments for color if I so desired.'

I tried a nice bright blue color. It blended well.

Well, 'in for a penny, in for a pound', as the old saying goes. I painted the exterior of my replacement watch with the clear version, and took a flashlight, and painted the exterior with the blue, until I came to the lens portion, which I painted with the clear gel.

I would have to test this with a trip to Vorden but that should be all right. Five minutes later I reactivated the gate painting, and went through for a quick visit. An hour later I had my answer. The watch still had the LED and all functions working, and the flashlight worked as well. The flashlight was a hit with Garretti, who wanted me to get him one.

With the two hi tech items working after a whole hour in that other world, I knew my test was a success. I got home, deactivated my gate, and decided to try messing with the ceramic mix. Well, that's what I called it anyway. I spent several hours experimenting with pigments and viscosities, and came up with a satisfactory blend.

For the final test, I took several treated panels of the mixture, now dry and applied, and tried to cast spells at it. It worked like a charm. When the blast from the spell hit the panels, they just sort of disappeared. It was as if they were absorbed or something, and there was no harm done to any panel. Amazing, really.