Chapter 23

Annie and I spent a troubled night with thoughts of Weres waking us from time to time, as I was sure others in our family did. We had all heard tales about them, but had always assumed that they were just that - tales, and not anything real. We were about to discover if they were real or not.

Annie and I were up early for breakfast and were joined by Sean and Sara, who were up equally early. After breakfast there wasn’t anything to do at our houses, so we went over to our parents’ house to find our Moms very busy baking hams and cooking vegetables to be served at the Conference. We were informed that our Sisters were engaged in this enterprise also. Annie and Sara jumped right in to help our Moms. Dad snagged Sean and me for something else.

“Let’s go over to the Grove and check on the seating,” he suggested, and we disappeared to immediately reappear there. The flames were already there dancing in the center of the square formed by the four tables.

“Make sure there is a good cushioned armchair at the center of each table,” Dad told us, and then added, “We’ll be sitting at the head table facing West. Your Mothers and Sisters will be at the foot table facing East. The Witches will be seated on the South side and the Boston Council will be on the North side of the square.”

“WE? What we?” Sean and I asked, surprised.

“You four are the most powerful Sorcerers, and will have the most to do in whatever we decide on. You need to be up here to hear what is proposed and pass judgment on it. Also, I want you near me if trouble starts between the factions. If I give you the word, slap a ward on both of the other factions. I don’t want any trouble,” Dad told us. We checked all of the chairs and made sure that there were enough chairs at each table for the number of participants that we were expecting each group to bring.

We returned to our parents’ house at about 8:30, and pulled our Wives away from helping our Mothers. We sent them upstairs to clean up before we headed for New Orleans, and the Black Magic and Voodoo Realm to bring the Witches here.

When we arrived in the Witch Realm, we were met by the three principals and their four assistants.

“We felt the need to bring an additional assistant,” Marie Laveau stated after greeting us.

“All right,” Sean acknowledged. “That won’t be a problem. We have extra chairs.”

“Are you prepared to leave?” I asked next.

“Yes, we’re ready,” Oneida Toups answered, but they all seemed nervous.

“If you would move a little closer together, we’ll transfer you in a minute,” Annie told them. They moved into a closer grouping, and we four joined hands as Sean and I started the transfer spell and traced the glyphs in the air. We winked out of existence in the Black Magic and Voodoo Realm.

We instantly reappeared in the Glen of the Eternal Flame in the O’Connell Realm. All seven Witches just stared around them in wonder for a short time.

“This is the O’Connell Realm!?” Oneida asked in amazement at the beautiful scene that was visible to her and her companions. They had all also immediately noticed the flames that danced at the center of the Glen inside the square formed by the four tables.

“Yes,” Sara answered immediately.

“But that’s impossible!!” one of the assistants said in surprise.

“Why?” Annie asked.

“It’s 520 miles from New Orleans to Statesboro,” the woman said. “I know. I checked. It would take us at least five spells to cover that distance.”

“But you aren’t us!” Sara pointed out to her with a grin.

“Enough!” Marie Laveau told her assistant. “Where are the others?” she demanded.

“They’ll be here shortly. We’re a little early,” Sean told her, as our Mothers, our Sisters and their Husbands materialized out of thin air. They had brought refreshments with them consisting of ice tea, coffee, and hot tea plus there were donuts and some French pastries. Someone had to have gone to town to get the donuts and pastries, I thought.

“Your seats are on the South side of the square,” Mother Katie told the Witches.

“I’ll get an extra chair for you,” I told them. Our Sisters, meanwhile, were arranging the drinks and snacks on the tables.

Dad and the Boston Council along with the representatives of the Kansas organization appeared while I was opening the extra chair for the seventh Witch.

“Well, I see that we’re all here,” Dad said on arriving and looking around. He then turned to the Boston Council.

“You are seated at the North table for this conference,” he told Master O’Hennessy, who nodded, but kept an eye on the Witches at the South table while his people organized themselves and took their seats. Our Moms and our Sisters plus their Husbands had already settled themselves at the table facing East. Dad, Sean, our Wives, and I took our places at the table facing West.

“Welcome, all of you to this conference,” Dad said to open the proceedings. He was standing in the middle of the West facing table in front of his armchair. “I believe this is the first such formal meeting of its kind. I’m Mark Kent O’Connell and will act as chairman for this meeting.

“Opposite me at the West table are my Wives and our Daughters plus their Husbands. Seated on the North side of the Glen are the representatives of the Boston Council, and two representatives from a Kansas group. You’ll pardon me, but I was never informed of your group’s actual name,” Dad finished.

A tall, broad shouldered man rose from the far end of the Boston Council’s table to address us.

“My name is Conrad, and we are called ‘The Plains Magic Council’,” he informed us in a deep baritone voice before resuming his seat.

“Thank you, Conrad,” Dad said and then continued, “At the South side of the glen are the representatives of the Black Magic and Voodoo Realm. You may each introduce yourself when you first rise to address the conference later,” Dad informed them.

“The purpose of the Conference is to discuss the problems posed by the Federal Bureau of Paranormal Investigation, and to determine, if possible, a way to obtain the release of those Magic practitioners unjustly imprisoned by the Bureau,” Dad said concluding his opening presentation.

“We’ll hear from the representatives of the Boston Council first,” he said next. It was apparent that the Witches were unhappy about being second to speak.

There followed three hours with many words spoken, a flock of accusations, and several arguments, but nothing of substance was accomplished. While the sides all agreed that something needed to be done, they couldn’t agree on what, and didn’t have a plan on how to accomplish what they wanted. There was much focus on the local offices of the FBPI, and the trouble they had causes.

“We’ll break for lunch now,” Dad said after regaining their attention by having the flames flare up much higher and brighter after a particularly long and argumentative disagreement.

“Lunch will be served buffet style over by the lake that you can see from here. We’ll move each group of you separately,” Dad finished.

“By the lake?” Sean and I asked together.

“Yes, we neglected to mention that, I guess,” Mother Margie told us, as my Sisters formed up the Boston Council people and moved them to the lakeside area.

Dad and our Moms took the “Plains Magic Council’ representatives, and Sean, our Wives, and I moved the Witches.

An area by the lake, but some distance from our employees homes, that was shaded by large trees had been set up with a serving line and seating. The wives of our employees were behind the serving line and helped the attendees with whatever dishes they were interested in. There was certainly a large selection of food to choose from. I had noticed that the snacks and drinks had all disappeared during the morning’s discussions.

“We aren’t getting anywhere,” Sean said to me, as we sat down with our Wives to eat, apart from the others. He and Sara had been seated on the other side of Dad all morning, and we hadn’t been able to talk together.

“No kidding!” I answered. “They sure like to hear themselves talk though.”

“They’re too focused on their local problems,” Sara said, as we continued to eat.

“Yes, what they need is a national focus, as it’s a national problem. Solve that, and the local problems will take care of themselves and cease to exist,” Annie told us.

“How did you get so smart?” I asked my sweet Wife.

“It’s fairly obvious. Muriel mentioned it to your Moms this morning when she came over to borrow a pan. Apparently your Sisters have discussed the problem in detail,” Annie told us.

“We need to talk to our Sisters then,” I said. We hurried to finish our meal, and then headed for the table where our Sisters and their Husbands were seated.

“How did you come up with this ‘National Solution’ idea?” Sean asked, as soon as we were close enough to talk without being overheard. The other participants were too engaged in eating or drinking O’Connell Ale to really be listening, but Annie and Sara cast a ring of silence around all of us anyway.

“It’s a simple business concept,” Edana told us. “They aren’t ready to listen to it yet though,” she continued.

“We need to make them listen then,” Sean told her.

“How?” Tara asked. “All they want to do is argue.”

“A freeze spell to keep them in their chairs, and then a silence spell to keep them quiet,” I informed her.

“I thought spells weren’t supposed to be used!” Gale said in surprise.

“Something has to be done,” Sara told her. “These assholes will argue until the Eternal Flame runs out of energy if we allow them to. WE need to make them see the light!”

“We’ll cast the spells when the conference resumes, and then you Sisters lay out your plan,” Annie told us.

“It isn’t really a plan - it’s a concept!” Muriel told us. “Start at the top and eliminate them. Take over their headquarters. The local offices won’t have any direction, coordination, or assistance then. They’ll stall by themselves in a short time.”

“Also it will make big news and create a lot of attention from the public, most of whom don’t have a clue what is really going on,” Gale told us.

“Okay!” I told them. “Present it just like that, and they can work out the details and argue about them, but at least we’ll have some direction and not just bickering.” Sean and I went to talk to Dad about our Sisters’ idea, and he agreed to allow us to present it.

The conference resumed after a break of an hour or so. We cast the spells to keep them seated and quiet. When Dad recognized our Sisters to speak, all four of them rose to present their idea. There was initially some consternation by the other participants, but since they couldn’t rise or say anything to object, they had to listen to the whole presentation, although a number of them were quite upset.

When our Sisters finished and we canceled the spells, several participants at the other tables rose to strenuously object to what had been done. However, they were quickly silenced by Master O’Hennessy and Marie Laveau, the leaders of the other two groups. While they had been made to listen like their fellows, instead of overreacting they had actually listened to what was said.

Master O’Hennessy was in favor of the idea and suggested taking over the FBPI Headquarters, and holding the buildings, but not the majority of the personnel, hostage; only keep the top personnel and those in charge of planning and operations while releasing the others. It would create a lot of news value, and we could get our story out to the public while embarrassing the FBPI.

Marie Laveau actually seconded the idea, but wondered how soon it could be put into action.

“Today is the 27th of October,” she said in her big voice. “Can the plan be put into effect by the 31st - Halloween? It would be the perfect day to run them out!” she exclaimed in excitement.

“We can go up there tomorrow to look at the site and see what will be involved,” I told them.

“Yes, we previously checked out their internet site,” Sara added. “When they were created, they took over some building in Virginia from some other Government Department that the Congress had refused to fund again.

“Yes,” Annie added, “They retained many of the previous clerks and bureaucrats from the other Department and brought in a crew of lawyers. It shouldn’t be difficult to scare them out of the buildings, especially on Halloween, and take over the buildings. Our defensive shell and wards will keep them out. Then we can take our time going over what we find there.”

“This could really work!” Conrad from the ‘Plains Magic Council’ said in astonishment. “What all would be needed?”

“We’ll go up and look over the site tomorrow. The pictures on the internet weren’t that explicit,” I told them.

“How long will that take?” one of the representatives from the Boston Council asked.

“Probably most of the morning,” Sean answered. “There are several buildings in the complex. While we are gone, you can plan on how to frighten them out of the building, and determine how many people you can muster to help.”

“What if they start shooting? Some of their enforcers are sure to be there,” another representative asked.

“We’ll be there also, and put up wards wherever there is trouble,” Annie told him.

Real planning started then, as they began discussing who they could count on to participate in the operation and what glamours, or other Magic, they could use to scare the occupants out of the buildings. Annie and Sara left with Ed and Bill to get our internet connection working again so they could check on the FBPI’s website; that way we would have the latest information and know what to look for tomorrow.

Shortly after 5:00, Dad closed the conference for the day. He returned the Boston Council representatives and the Plains Magic Council representatives to Boston. Sean, our Wives, and I returned the Witches to their Realm in New Orleans. We would return for them tomorrow afternoon for the next conference session, after we returned from scouting the FBPI’s complex in Virginia.

After dinner that night, we went over what new information our Wives, with Ed and Bill’s help, had uncovered about the FBPI’s complex. One of the first things that they had discovered was that the politically correct, namby-pamby bureaucrats had insisted that all of the Bureau’s agents must turn in their weapons when visiting the facility. There were no weapons allowed to be carried inside the buildings. Consequently there was a small armory near the main entrance where the agent’s weapons were secured while they visited the facility.

Ed and Bill had also used their knowledge of computer programing to gain unrestricted access to the Government’s computers and had accessed floor plans and office lists for the various buildings in the complex. From these we were able to determine where the offices of the Director, his chief assistants, and those in charge of the Plans and Operations section were located. They had also determined from this where the main armory and weapon storage area were located. This information would allow us to accurately place our wards to keep everyone, including those helping us, out of the weapons areas. It was possible that we wouldn’t even need to access the interiors of the buildings, as they had exterior walls.

Based on this new information, we planned what we would do, and the areas we would check when we went up there to reconnoiter in the morning. Following that, we all went to bed early to get a good night’s sleep.

In the morning after a good breakfast, we transferred to a location that we were familiar with in Northern Virginia. From there it was relatively easy. We were able to board a local bus and ride to the vicinity of the FBPI’s complex. There we got off and walked to a location on a nearby hill where we could observe the facility without being noticed. We used a glamour to hide our presence even more.

The pictures of the complex on the internet didn’t really give a good idea of the size of the facility or the fact that there was a large motor pool where numerous vehicles were kept and serviced. They also didn’t include the large parking lots for the people working there, or the several auxiliary buildings scattered around the complex.

“How large would you say this place is?” I asked Sean.

“At least as large as the area that our properties cover,” Sean answered after some thought.

“Yes, at least forty acres, but it’s not in a square,” Annie agreed.

“We’ll need some people to act as lookouts while we cast the defensive shell ward, so we know when it covers the entire complex,” I told them.

“Your Sisters?” Sara suggested.

“Yes, they could do that,” Sean agreed.

“Let’s move down there, and cast the spells for the wards on the weapons areas, but we won’t activate them until we move in on Halloween,” I told the others. We transferred down to the main building first and using an invisibility spell checked the small arms storage area near the entrance. We quickly warded it before anyone came to check the area. We next moved to the building that we thought was supposed to house the main armory and weapons storage area.

“We need to be sure that this is the right building,” I told the others. “I’ll just peek inside and check.” I transferred through the walls into building, but quickly determined that there wasn’t any armory on the first floor, only offices. The area that I had appeared in was a recreation room, and the rest was mostly offices. I transferred to the basement and checked it, but no armory was located there either. It was mostly empty with some unused furniture in the empty rooms. Something was definitely wrong. I even checked the other end of the building with no luck. I rejoined the others.

“Bad news!” I said when I reappeared. “The armory isn’t in this building.”