Amber Uncovered (Amber Preserved Book 1) Page 16

  She caught Charles watching her and thought that he'd probably guessed what she was thinking, but he waited silently.

  “Fine, what's next then?” she asked.

  It was almost a week later when he was finally satisfied enough with her progress that he called Greg and asked him to come over that night.

  It only took her three days to reliably be able to use the spell that Greg had developed for her, and one more evening, with Greg and Charles trying to distract her, for her to be able to keep it going reliably.

  “Okay,” Charles said. “This Saturday we'll start checking.”

  “Why so long? That's still two days away.” Amber said.

  “Because I've still got my work to do, and so does Greg. But I won't have any work on Saturday so I can go with you during the day and if you're still willing, Greg can go with you after he closes his shop then.”

  Amber really wanted to be put out, but she'd agreed that she should have one of them with her at all times when she was looking. She was mildly irritated by that, but once again realized that if she'd thought about it she would have realized that the men would only be able to accompany her at limited times.

  “What about Kathryn and Alicia?” she asked.

  “What about them?”

  “Can they go with me and we go out earlier than Saturday?”

  “Think about the things you saw, do you want something like that to happen to Alicia?” Charles asked.

  “We're just looking to see if there's anyone out there whose under someone else's control. How would there even be a risk?”

  “Let's see. Maybe the person under control has some way to tell that you found out and reports back to whoever is controlling them. I imagine there'd be an instantaneous way to communicate, otherwise how could he control them? Or maybe you get lucky, or unlucky, and stumble across the person doing this surrounded by the people he controls. What then?”

  “Okay, okay, I get your point. This sucks! I want to do something now.”

  “Then practice your magic, especially your mental defenses. The better they are when you go out, the less risk there is for you.”

  The two days took forever to pass for her, but Saturday arrived, finally.

  * * *

  Amber was all ready when Charles knocked on the door of her apartment.

  “Let's go,” she said.

  “A couple of things first,” he replied. “If I tell you to run, you run and go tell Greg what was going on. If I tell you to do something, you do it with no questions asked. Okay?”

  “Fine, can we go now?”

  Charles heaved a sigh and led her up to the exit from the apartment complex. The trees he'd planted were already showing signs of life and growing. The rose bushes were still as large as Rose had boosted them to, and now putting out new buds.

  He passed those by with a smile, then continued down the street.

  “We're going to start by walking the outer radius that your parents had marked off. We'll check there first.”

  “Why not go right to the middle, wouldn't there be a better chance of spotting someone there, instead of at the edges?”

  It was an honest question, she really didn't understand why he wanted to do it the way he'd said.

  “Because if he is still there, how many controlled people do you think he'd have with him?” Charles said.

  “As many as he wants after all this time.”

  “Right, so maybe we shouldn't just rush in? Maybe we need to be careful, just in case. All it costs us is a little time and we can afford that.”

  He's not the one whose parents might be under someone's control for the last four decades. But he might be right, if there's too many people under this guy's control, and he's careful about not being caught, we might have a problem if we went right to the center.

  She resigned herself to Charles' patient approach as they walked down the street. As they went, she put up the spell Greg had taught her, scanning other people as they walked. He'd designed it so that anyone affected by Spirit Magic would glow with a hazy glowing aura as opposed to have their face hidden by fog, but the end result should be the same. The less of the haze that was around them, the longer it would have been since they'd last been touched by Spirit Magic, the fainter the glow the weaker the magic used on them.

  “Charles?” she said warily.

  “Yes?”

  “There's some people in these crowds, I mean a lot of people, that show up under this thing. Really faint, mind you, like it's been years since they encountered Spirit Magic, but they definitely did.”

  “That's normal. I imagine your mom isn't the only counselor or psychologist that uses Spirit Magic.”

  “Yeah, but it's like one in four,” Amber said.

  “I guess we've got more Spirit Magic practitioners in the city than I thought. I'd be worried if it were newer magic, but from years back? It's probably nothing to worry about. Even if only a small fraction of the psychologists in the city use Spirit Magic at all, they'd be the more effective ones. The ones people recommended to other people? So they'd have lots of clients. Plus, almost half of modern day American households have someone seeking mental help. It adds up pretty quickly.”

  “Are you sure that would account for this?”

  “Well, that does sound awfully high. How bright is the glow?”

  “It's very faint on all of them.”

  “So no, that's not what we're looking for. If you see someone with a really bright glow or someone with a lot of haze, then let me know, okay?”

  “Will do Charles.”

  Amber wasn't exactly tired, but she hadn't slept well the night before, the excitement waking her several times. As they walked, she kept watching people and wondering what the little touches of magic used on them had been. She didn't actually believe Charles' theory that all these people were seeking mental help and just happened to find someone with Spirit Magic to talk to, but she didn't know what else it might be.

  I need to remember to ask Greg later on. I think he's got a better grasp on society and how it acts than Charles does. Charles views the world through rose-tinted glasses too much.

  They walked around for about an hour before Charles relented and let them move closer to the center circle on the map. They moved in two of the circles on the map, then started walking around again. Amber still wasn't seeing anything out of the ordinary, unless the overall number of people touched by Spirit Magic wasn't ordinary.

  After another hour and several minutes of pestering by her, Charles relented to moving closer to the center. This time as they walked towards the center, she noticed a difference.

  “Charles,” she said.

  “What? Did you see something?”

  “Yes and no. There's lots more haze around people here, and more people with it, but the glow is still faint.”

  “How many more?”

  “Maybe half or a little more now.”

  “That is odd. Let's keep looking.”

  The numbers stayed the same as they moved around this circle, but when they moved closer to the center again, the numbers raised and the haze grew thicker around a lot of them, meaning they'd been touched by it more recently.

  Amber told him about the difference, but Charles just shook his head.

  “Everything looks totally normal to me,” he said.

  “Yes, but it isn't. That's what I'm trying to tell you,” she replied.

  Finally Amber convinced him that they should walk a straight line towards the center of the circle.

  “We can walk slowly, but I'm telling you, the closer we get to the center, the more people have been touched by it and the more recently. The strength is still really low, but...”

  “Fine, we'll try it your way. Like I said, nothing seems wrong to me, so we might as well.”

  They slowly walked down one of the main streets leading towards the center of the circle and Amber's suspicions were confirmed. The closer they got to it, the more people had been affected
. When they reached the center circle it was very nearly a hundred percent.

  “Can we walk around this neighborhood to check?” she asked.

  “Whatever,” Charles said, sharply.

  What the hell is that all about? He's never sounded like that before.

  She turned to look at him and now Charles showed a thick haze around him, as though he'd been affected by Spirit Magic in the last few minutes. The glow was very dim though.

  Do I tell him? No, not yet. He'd want to just leave.

  “There,” she said, pointing at a security guard walking down the street. “He's got a thick haze and a really bright glow. Let's follow him.”

  Charles grunted and let her lead.

  The man walked back to a factory and took up a position outside the front door. Apparently he'd just returned from lunch because he was still finishing up a drink.

  She looked up at the factory and realized just how out of place it was. It was in the middle of a bunch of shops, taking up almost an entire square block by itself.

  “You see anything funny about that place?” she asked, pointing at the factory.

  “Why would I see anything funny about a retail store that went out of business?” he replied.

  Wait a second, she thought.

  “Charles, have you been using that mental defense you taught me?”

  “Why? It's a little draining to keep it up all the time.”

  “Put it up for me, would you? I want to test something.”

  Charles' face took on a long-suffering look for a moment. But apparently he did as she asked, because the look on his face changed drastically.

  “Is that a factory?” he asked.

  “That's what I saw,” she said. “But you were telling me different. Plus, I should probably tell you, you took on the same kind of haze that everyone else has around here, just a few minutes ago.”

  “And you didn't tell me?”

  “I just did, didn't I? I'm sure you would've wanted to leave and we wouldn't have found what they're hiding here if we had.”

  “We are leaving. Right now! Come on, let's go. I'll talk to Greg about some other Spirit Magic defenses we might be able to use before we try to find anything else out about this.”

  She argued, but he reminded her about her promise to do as he'd said and she finally relented.

  At least now we know that something is still going on, and since it uses magic Charles is going to have to investigate it to do his job, she thought.

  * * *

  Once they returned to the apartment Charles felt the need to apologize.

  “You know, I was feeling really out of sorts about heading that way to search since about an hour after we left the apartment. I think I owe you an apology, I think there really is some sort of Spirit Magic down that way that's got a broad area it's affecting. I just didn't want to go down that way, but I'd promised you we would so we did, I just didn't like it. I could see where whatever that is could affect a lot of people who'd never even notice.”

  “But what about all the people down there? They didn't seem to have that sort of problem.”

  “You can base magic on intent, and I'm guessing that whatever that Spirit Magic spell is it's designed so that anyone searching for it, or anything related to it, would be affected. I'm surprised it didn't get through your shield though, you must've learned it better than I thought.”

  She shrugged.

  “I don't know,” she said, “maybe I was just too focused, or maybe too distracted by seeing all those people under its effect, for it to take hold?”

  He shook his head.

  “I don't know, but we'll have to be a lot more careful while we check this out. Who knows what other defenses they might have.”

  “Armed guards for one,” Amber said. “That security guard was packing heat.”

  “I meant magical defenses, but yes, that's something we'll have to watch out for also.”

  Charles went silent, thinking for a moment.

  “Well, first thing I'll do is call Greg. He used to be in on planning things with me all the time before.”

  “I keep meaning to ask, it sounds like you two did a lot of questionable things?”

  “Only questionable in some ways. It was always the right thing to do,” Charles said firmly.

  “What's the difference?”

  “Well, if we trespass in that factory, it would be questionable, yes? Outside of the law? But I'm sure you think it would be the right thing to do, knowing what we do. Do you see the difference?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  I have a hard time thinking of him as a vigilante, but that's pretty much what he just described. Although, if it was in conjunction with his job, then maybe vigilante is wrong if he was policing other wizards. But that's still what most people would accuse him of if he were caught doing something like that.

  Charles picked up the phone and dialed. Amber had seen people just punching the screen on their smart phones, but Charles still had an old rotary style phone. When she'd asked, he'd just said something about them working better for wizards, even if he had needed to put some sort of device on the phone jacks so they'd still work with the current system.

  After a quick conversation, Charles set the phone down.

  “He's going to come over as soon as he closes the shop,” Charles said. “Then we'll see if he has any ideas about better protection from Spirit Magic. In the meanwhile, let's get something to eat, I'm starving.”

  Amber stopped and paid attention to her body for a moment.

  He's got a good idea there, I'm starving too. It didn't feel like any effort to be holding those spells up for that long, but I think that's just because I'm used to ignoring my body when it tells me I'm tired or hungry or something. Maybe I ought to start paying better attention to things like that, but I had to ignore it on the streets so that's going to take some work.

  Having realized her own hunger, she set about helping Charles get food on the table as quickly as possible.

  * * *

  Greg just walked into the apartment. She was used to that by now, Charles had no problem with Greg or Kathryn just walking in whenever they wanted. Greg was carrying a bag but this time it was take-out food, not books.

  “I just grabbed some food for us on my way over,” Greg said. “I knew I wanted to eat and Amber's been growing so much that I thought it would be a good idea for her to eat more also. You're welcome to some of it too Charles, if you want.”

  Amber had thought she was full, but when the scent from the bag wafted over to her, she changed her mind. Evidently Charles was in agreement with her.

  “Chinese? We just ate, but I think there's still some room in here,” Charles said, patting his stomach.

  Greg grinned.

  “I know you Charles, there's never a time when you have no room left in there.”

  He turned to Amber.

  “That man can eat like a horse and never gain any weight. I don't know what he does with it. If I didn't know better I'd swear he found a way to digest it straight into magical energy.”

  Amber was digging a box out of the bag, one whose odor had caught her nose's attention.

  “Well, he can teach me that if he likes, some day. But I think you're right and my body's going to need more food. I was starving earlier, then I thought I was full. Smelling this stuff has me starving again already though. Mmmm, eggrolls,” she said, tearing open the box.

  Greg slid a bowl of sweet and sour sauce between them.

  “Yup, but I get at least one of those,” he said, reaching out and claiming an eggroll.

  A little while later, after everyone's appetite was sated again, Charles started talking. He told Greg everything about their earlier adventure, even admitting that he'd been caught off guard and had the magic affect him also.

  Greg's eyes went unfocused for a moment, then focused in again on Charles.

  “You're still holding that shield, aren't you?” he asked Charles, who nodded.


  “Well, hold onto it for a few more minutes, you've still got some Spirit Magic clinging to you there, but I can remove it.”

  His eyes went unfocused again and when he finally closed them, he slumped into his chair.

  “There, that should do. You can drop the shield now. Amber, for whatever reason, doesn't have any remnants of it on her.”

  “Probably because she was holding her mental shield right through,” Charles said. “I was the idiot that wasn't taking it seriously, even after she warned me about how many people were showing the affects of it. I know better now though.”

  “You should've known better before. A good Spirit Magic practitioner who is using magic in their practice won't leave any traces that last more than a day or two.”

  Charles shrugged.

  “I didn't know that, I don't have any Spirit Magic and you're the only wizard I'm friendly with that does. The subject has never come up in our conversations.”

  “That's because Spirit Wizards tend to be very close-mouthed about what they can actually do. Most of them are already somewhat isolated just from being a wizard. If the rest of the wizards knew what the stronger Spirit Wizards could do?”

  Greg shook his head.

  “A lot of the other wizards would avoid them also. Spirit Wizards are people too, you know? They need company, and not of a compelled variety. So, they just don't talk about it much.”

  “What's he talking about?” Amber asked.

  “Mind Control,” Charles said. “There's a lot of wizards who are wary of those with Spirit Magic because they fear that their mind will be taken over or they'll have their thoughts influenced by the magic.”

  “Come on, couldn't you tell if something like that happened?” she asked.

  “Only if it were done by someone who didn't know what they were doing, or who wasn't strong enough to do it but tried anyhow,” Greg said. “Personally, I'm not strong enough to try anything of the sort. I might be able to slip an errant thought in and make it seem natural, but no more. My mentor, on the other hand, claimed that he could do it. And that given enough time he could make it so the person would never know.”