Chương 58: 54. Apprentice returns

I was watching a video on my phone, trying to relax after spending the entire morning struggling to open the pouch. But opening it was impossible, at least not before my first ascension. Every attempt to attune to it backfired. The seal had so many decoy frequencies I couldn't pick out the true one. Right now I was completely out of mana and had a dull ache in the back of my skull. I lay in bed with a mana crystal resting on my chest while I mindlessly scrolled through videos. Not just any videos, either.

I prefer the weird stuff. Cryptids, magic, conspiracy theories, anything strange. I always tried to spot a real magical phenomenon, but I've never managed to get one. With so many clearly staged hauntings and massive red circles highlighting shaky cam dust motes, it wasn't likely that I'd find anything. But with the mana veins waking up, I was scrolling through those idiotic short clips with renewed interest.

"And there I saw it, ladies and gentlemen. Men in long coats. I could not see their faces but I tell you I saw them!" screamed a fat, middle-aged guy into a microphone.

"They showed up in my neighborhood. Hung around for three days. And the guy living in the house over there, he used to be cheerful, he used to be cool, he used to be a red-blooded American. But then they came. They talked to him. It was mind waves, I tell you. Brrrrr." The speaker shook his head like he was trying to flick a bug from his hair.

"And he's gone. Not the same man. Sad. Barely talks to me anymore. And that's how it happens. Brrrrr, you are mind-controlled. Brrrrr, your wife is mind-controlled. Brrrrr, some mind control for your children! And you know what you become?" The man was getting progressively redder in the face.

"Do you want to know what you become, ladies and gentlemen?" he paused dramatically.

"Agents of the deep state. Yeah, that's right. That's what you become. One day you're a loving family member, and another day you work for the deep state without even knowing it!" I sighed and scrolled to another video. It was from the "Real Ghost Footage" channel.

"The man left the baby in the crib," said a text-to-speech voice.

"You will not believe what he saw on the cameras that night." Yeah, no. I could see the strings moving the toys.

"He thought he could mock the ghosts. You won't believe what happened next." Next.

"The chemtrails are gettin' stronger, I tell ya. The gover..." Nope.

"The man had writer's block, so he got a job looking after a hotel during the winter. So he took his family there as a..." That was just a movie summary.

"Can you see it? If you look closely–" Another big red circle jumped onto the screen like a jack-in-the-box. I scrolled further. The next one was from some randomly generated name. TheYack2137. It was shaky handheld footage of a man walking through a forest.

"You are not gonna believe me," the man holding the camera said as he filmed what I presumed was his wife walking through the trees in the middle of the night.

"So we went to bed, the ranch secured, the cows all asleep, but then I heard somethin' ain't right, I tell ya. Some singin', some voices in the wind. So I get me my gun ready, but nothin' comes. So I think, not on my grandpappy's ranch, oh no you don't. So I take my shotgun, my wife, an' my dog, and we go check what's all this hootin' an' hollerin'." The camera almost fell to the ground as the man tripped. He got his hand steady again and continued.

"We see this, y'all." He finally stopped. The moment he raised the camera to show what was in front of him, I paused the video. There was a tree decorated with wooden symbols and a pentagram carved into it. The wood was black and rotten. The tree looked like it was standing only because there hadn't been a strong wind. I furrowed my brow. Bringing my face closer to the screen, I used a pencil as a makeshift ruler to check the length of the pentagram's sides.

The two lower lines, the ones that would outline the goat's chin if someone drew that into the star, were longer. By my estimate, roughly one and a half times the length of the other lines, extending past the circle. I sat there, frowning. That is one of the acceptable ritual variants for a pentagram. I resumed the video, waiting for the guy to come closer so I could get a better look. Some of the wooden decorations actually looked like runes.

With growing fascination, I realized this might be a ritual site, though I wasn't sure what kind. I watched, absorbed, as the guy and his wife walked around the place, talking about "cults" and "crazy people." I was about to send it to Q'Shar when my phone rang. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Speak of the devil," I murmured and answered.

"The girl contacted us. She'll take you up on the apprenticeship."

"Oh, that was quick. Do you have a place for her?"

"There's an apartment near you. The prices are cheap, so we should cover it without an issue. Money should start flowing in soon anyway." The greed was almost spilling through the phone.

"Nice. We'll start lessons as soon as possible." I was about to hang up, but the cat spoke again.

"I think you should go pick her up from the station. And you can swing by our place on your way."

"Got it," I said, and hung up. He clearly had more to say, the kind you don't discuss on the phone. I grabbed my things, let the staff snake itself around my wrist, and headed to the cat lady's apartment. After the ceremonial cookies and tea, I sat with Q'Shar and his orange friend.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" I asked.

"We've finalized most of the building material orders. We can't get everything until you have a mansion design, but all the basics are here. All we need now are the house plans." I nodded.

"Not sure when I'll get that. I don't think anyone in this age can pull off a design that's both good and easy to upgrade over time. To tell you the truth, I'm kind of hoping I'll find the old family designs somewhere."

"Just get the basic runework done before the pathway connects."

"I know, I know. That's all you wanted to talk about?" I was a bit surprised. It wasn't exactly top secret.

"Well, no." The cat became serious.

"You remember the kidnapping in Brazil?"

"Wasn't that case closed?"

"Yeah, not really. It was a bit too well-timed, so we looked into patent law in the mortal world, and there's a problem. Patents usually take one to three years to clear. Add research and development, and it would be years before the technology that led to the girl's kidnapping was ready. So we talked with Mark, the CEO, and apparently they mined Thunderium that they thought was a semiconductor, around five years before the kidnapping." I immediately saw the problem.

"If the first vein connected five years ago, then the pathways should be connecting now, and that's the late end of your projection."

"Exactly. The guy even gave us access to the mine, and we checked it. No vein in sight." I clicked my tongue.

"But why give them an alchemical ingredient? That doesn't make any sense..." I thought for a moment, and an idea occurred to me.

"Where was it normally mined?"

"We thought the same. It's a rare ingredient, and the biggest deposits are in Salem, right under land belonging to the witches."

"Fuck. Hopefully they won't be that stupid."

"No, we spoke with Mark, and he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. But we dug through other pending patents, and I think we found at least one more with a magical ingredient. It's a bullet casing made from Thindoril." The cat's expression turned grim.

"Elven material. So the only place would be an elvish valley or forest," I said absently.

"And to make it worse, it's patented by a weapons manufacturer." I winced. I don't follow mortal news that closely, but you don't need to study politics to know the questionable practices of military contractors.

"You think they'll negotiate?"

"At first, maybe. But if the Amazon forest's native tribes are anything to go by, it won't be pretty. Now imagine someone arguing the elves are not technically human."

"Ah, shit. Yeah, no way the elves are going to move or sell their trees in volume." Someone was already trying to stir bad blood between the mortal and arcane worlds the moment people learned of our existence. And they would sooner rather than later.

"Any way to stop it?" I asked, hoping the cats had some political solution.

"No. The patents are in the database. We can't touch them," the cat said, shaking his head.

"We'll deal with the problem when it arrives. Worst case, we make examples of some companies. I doubt the Vatican will be opposed. They might not be fans of outsiders, but the elves are part of our world. The military is not."

"That again. You and your solutions. Not everything can be fixed with fear and violence, Sam."

"It worked well for my family so far." I smiled.

"That will only feed the fire. What do you think happens when people get murdered? Their lawyers will paint it as unprecedented aggression." I shrugged.

"Then negotiate first. When the talks inevitably break, we send a message. I'm not saying there won't be animosity, but rich people value their lives. If they start dying in horrible ways without explanation, some might rethink their decisions." The cat stayed silent. We were both thinking the same thing.

"You think it's them?" I asked.

"Probably. Hard to tell, as always. But I don't see any other purpose than bloodshed, so it looks like them." I groaned. All three of us tried to find a solution, but we finally left the subject. It was technically not our problem, and the Vatican should deal with it when it arrives. Still, it didn't feel good. The us versus them mentality was not the best opening for our reveal to the world. After arriving at no answer, the conversation drifted into simpler topics until it was time for me to pick up Ophelia.

I got in my car and went to the train station. After some waiting on the platform, the train finally arrived. Ophelia stepped out of the carriage and stood on the platform looking around, trying to spot me. She looked better this time. The exhaustion had faded from her eyes. As she approached, I looked at her aura. I saw confusion and some apprehension, but that was normal. She would get used to my presence soon enough. Most of all, I didn't sense much fear.

I took her luggage, which wasn't much, and pointed toward my car.

"Glad you decided so soon. Everything settled?"

"More or less. Where will I be staying?"

"The cats will rent you an apartment. Tonight you will sleep in a hotel, but we have a small task to complete before that." I opened the trunk and slid her luggage inside. We both got in. She looked around the car curiously. I chuckled.

"No runes here, it's just an old car." I turned to face her.

"So, ready to start your magic lessons?"