Genie and Engineer 1: The Engineer Wizard (37 page)

Paul nodded. “It’s called tantalum and has an isotope of 180m,
an extremely rare material, far more rare than gold.”

The ex-genie stared at it wide-eyed. “And it’s a metal. No
wonder you came to get it. It’s not a talisman but…” Jaret looked up to stare
at Paul in abrupt understanding. “You’re going to use this in a talisman, aren’t
you?”

“Yes.”

“You
have
been busy while I was gone. That will make
a very potent talisman. Very potent.”

 “I’m ready to go get Capie now,” Paul said, changing the
subject. “But I don’t know where they might have taken her.”

“Is this Capie person your intended?” Jaret quietly asked.

“Yes,” Paul answered with a frown. “But maybe they didn’t
take her anywhere. After all, she isn’t a wizard yet. And those four-flushers
might have lied to me. So the smart thing to do is to check her house first.”
And then Paul glanced at the sky, noting the position of the sun. Could it be
true? Was it not even 5 p.m. yet? “No, not her house. Her place of work. It’s
not far from here. Let’s go.”

Capie was in danger and he needed to hurry.

Gritting his teeth in apprehension and tightly gripping his
tantalum, Paul formed a portal and stepped through.

Hillshire Brands Office Building

3500 Lacey Road

Downers Grove, IL

June

Thursday 4:45 p.m. CST

T
hey
hovered in mid-air, ten feet above the roof
of the eight story office building while Paul studied the structure.

“She’s in this building?” Jaret asked, indicating with a
wave of his hand the edifice below them.

“It’s where she works,” Paul answered uncertainly, rubbing
the back of his neck. “Let’s see here.
I need the right words for this
spell. In the names of Superman, Dr. James Xavier and airport screening
machines, let a display appear, revealing an image of the inside of the fourth
floor of this building.”

“That was the strangest incantation I have ever heard,” Jaret
observed in a puzzled tone of voice.

“The first two are fictional characters in science fiction,”
Paul explained with a grim smile, as he twitched his fingers, guiding the newly
created display image around inside the building. “Superman is a superhero from
another planet with a lot of exceptional powers. Dr. Xavier is from the movie
The
Man With the X-Ray Eyes
.”

“What is science fiction? And what is a movie?” Jaret asked,
even more puzzled.

“You have a lot of catching up to do,” Paul said, with a smirk.
“I suggest you find a nice girl to explain it to you. Not Capie, of course. She’s
taken.”

Jaret smiled in return. “This century sounds interesting. I’ve
lived a somewhat sheltered life. Why the fourth floor?”

“She mentioned she worked on that floor once,” Paul replied
in an absent minded fashion, as he examined the displayed image in front of them.
The view of the building interior continued to move down the aisle between
office cubicles, letting Paul see their occupants and the various name plates
on the cubicle partitions.

The view reached the end of the hallway where there was a
set of offices with actual glass walls and wooden doors. There, prominently
displayed, was Capie’s name on one of the doors. When Paul rotated the image,
he could see Capie in her wheelchair at her desk and talking to someone on the
phone. There were two other people in the small room with her.

He breathed a huge sigh of relief. “So those blasted Feds
were lying after all,” he said with shaky laughter, feeling greatly mollified.
“Big surprise, huh, considering that they work for the U.S. federal government.
On the other hand, I am so
glad
that they did lie.”

“Shall we charge in? Or should we use a portal to bring her
to us?” Jaret asked, trying to be helpful.

“Neither one,” Paul responded, with a glance at the wall
clock in Capie’s office. “It’s almost time for her to leave for the day. Let’s
wait until she is alone. Besides, I have a question I want to ask you, while
she is not in earshot.”

The former genie half bowed, the ghost of a smile on his
face. “Ah, I should have guessed. I have one or two questions for you as well.”

“You do?” Paul asked him, eyes widening slightly, a little
taken aback.

“You first,” the other wizard said, still with that ghostly smile.

“Okay,” Paul said, clasping his hands behind his back,
lowering himself to the asphalt rooftop where he started pacing a few steps back
and forth. He was most anxious to ask this question, but he was also wary what
the answer might be. “A while back, I tried to make Capie a wizard too. The
spell failed. Could you make her a wizard, as you did for me?”

Jaret chuckled. “Yes, I thought that might be your question.
It’s strange; I recently learned that all the other wizards on Earth have the
same problem. Did you know that there have not been any new wizards for over
400 years?”

“Yes, I was told that, but I was never told why,” Paul
admitted. He held his breath, waiting for the other man to answer his question.

Jaret chuckled, more than a little amused. “No doubt they
tried hard. In this little war they’ve been fighting, it would have helped one wizard
or the other if they could have taken some more humans and turned them into
wizards as well. If so, there would be scores of wizards instead of the mere
handful that there is now.”

Paul nodded. “That thought did cross my mind. So tell me,
why can’t the rest of the wizards do what you did when you made me a wizard?
What was so special about your spell?”

Jaret glanced at the image of Capie working so diligently at
her desk then turned back to Paul. “When I gave you magical powers, I did so
because you saved me from a fate worse than death. If I give you the secret of
passing on that power to others—your wife-to-be and likely your children too—then
I want something in exchange.”

“And what is that?” Paul asked.

“I want the secret of the special metal you carry. Teach me
about this isotope thing. I want to be able to fabricate an extraordinary
talisman, the same as you are obviously planning to do.” He grinned at Paul.

Paul laughed. “Is that all? Any decent physics teacher could
explain it to you. Wikipedia too. But I agree to your terms.” Paul reached
forward with an outstretched hand. With a grin, Jaret shook it.

“It’s a deal,” Paul agreed, grinning wickedly with a brief
glance over at the image of Capie. “But not tonight.” And then another thought
hit him. “Uh-oh.”

Jaret looked instantly concerned. “Is there something
wrong?”

Paul weakly smiled. “Yeah. It just hit me how stupid I am
sometimes. Like right now, for instance.”

“You do not strike me as stupid,” Jaret argued, now
appearing puzzled. “I repeat. Is there something wrong?”

Paul nodded with a sad frown. “I’ve known since the
beginning that Capie would be in danger, if our relationship got serious.
However, I always thought that her danger would be that of collateral damage,
simply due to her proximity to me, at least until she was a wizard in her own
right. But I didn’t realize that
Errabêlu
would use her as leverage
against me. I’m really sorry about that. I really should have figured that out
earlier. Any organization that would engage in wholesale murder of millions of
people wouldn’t hesitate to use a ‘Normie’ for
any
purpose. But, for
whatever reason, I overlooked that possibility.” He sighed before continuing.
“I really screwed up and we are indeed fortunate that my mistake didn’t get
Capie killed.”

Jaret took a few seconds to consider Paul’s words and then
shook his head. “I agree that it wasn’t very smart. However, it worked out
well. There has been no harm done.”

“Ah, but that’s not all,” Paul said. “Don’t you see? Capie
is not safe here now, because of me. She can’t stay here! She has to come with
me or they’ll kidnap her as fast as they can arrange it, probably later tonight.”
For a few moments, he studied the image of Capie working at her desk. “The
problem is that she doesn’t know any of this yet. Oh, sure, we’ve talked about
how
I
might have to leave Chicago at some time in the future. But this
is much sooner than even I expected. And it’s going to hit her cold. I can’t
just march in and tell her to pack her bags, we’re leaving right this minute.
She’s going to have a problem with that. She might even refuse to go with me!”

“Yes, I see your problem now,” Jaret said as he too studied
Capie in the visual display. “You could just use magic to force her to go with
you.”

With a disbelieving glare at the other wizard, Paul asked
him, “Was that a serious suggestion?”

Jaret grinned. “No, not really. If you give her magical
powers, she will eventually figure it out, if you use magic to force her to go
with you now. That might not work out very well.”

Paul snorted in disbelief. “You think?!” He paused to consider
the problem further before continuing. “No, I guess I don’t have any options
here. I will just have to explain the situation the best I can and let her make
up her own mind.”

“And if she chooses to stay here?”

With a gulp, Paul looked away and didn’t answer the
question.

Jaret pointed at the display. “It looks like she is getting
ready to leave.”

Paul quickly came to the same conclusion. “Come. Let’s see
if we can meet her in the elevator.”

• • • •

Paul used a small spell on a man approaching the elevator to
keep him from getting on, making sure that Capie would be the only occupant
therein. The elevator was just passing the second floor when Paul and Jaret opened
a portal and stepped into the small space, right next to Capie’s wheelchair.

Her reflexes were good. With a cry and a snarl, she jerked
back, prepared to hurl her purse at Jaret.

Until she recognized Paul. Then she froze and stared at him.

“Sorry to scare you like that, honey,” he apologized
profusely. “But time is of the essence.”

“Who’s your friend?” she asked, giving Jaret a funny look.

Paul gave a nod at the other wizard. “I’d like you to meet
Jaret, the ex-genie I told you about. Jaret? This is my fiancée, Capie
Kingsley.”

The wizard bowed deeply, smiling. “Very charming, Capie.
It’s a great pleasure to meet you.”

She returned his smile uncertainly. “Likewise. I want to
thank you for giving Paul his magical powers. I would never have met him
otherwise. Thanks.”

“My pleasure, I assure you,” Jaret responded with a smaller
bow. “It was one of the smarter decisions I’ve ever made.”

Capie glanced back over at Paul. “Why are you here in the
elevator?” The door chose that moment to open on the main floor. A well
appointed lobby could be seen off to the left. Paul grabbed the wheelchair
handgrips and pushed it forward.

“Right now, every minute is important,” Paul hurriedly
explained to her. “I’m sorry we scared you but we have to act fast.”

“‘Nice of you to tell me in advance,’” she said, a touch of
irritation in her voice.

“‘That’s what you get for missing staff meetings, Doctor,’” Paul
quipped, quoting Kirk in
Star Trek III, The Search for Spock
.

Paul quickly turned the wheelchair to the right and down the
hallway.

“Why are you here?” she repeated. “And where are we going?
The lobby and the parking lot are in the other direction. We can take my van to
my house where we can be comfortable,” Capie stated in a manner of fact voice.

“We
are
going to your house,” Paul retorted. “We just
don’t have time to fight city traffic right now.”

A portal opened up in the corridor in front of them and Paul
pushed her through—

 —into the living room of her house.

“There’s been many a day when that would have been handy,”
she truthfully observed. “What’s going on, Paul? Why the hurry?”

“Capie?” Paul murmured, swinging the wheelchair around so
that he could see her face. “Dear, remember when I told you that my time in
Chicago was limited and that one day I would have to leave? Somehow, and I
don’t how, but somehow, they have found me. I must leave Chicago immediately.”

Startled, her eyes took on a guarded look. She brushed a
strand of hair to one side. “They found you?”

“Yes. And they captured me too,” he admitted with a sigh.
“Thanks to Jaret, though, I was able to escape.”

“I didn’t help,” Jaret quickly admonished him. “I wasn’t
there. And I am not here either. Oh, and by the way, Paul performed a brilliant
escape too. You’d have been proud.”

Capie blinked and shook her head in confusion. “I don’t
understand.”

Paul reached out to take her hand. “Dear, they know where I
live. They knew about you, too. I have to leave now.”

“But…” she started to stammer.

“And I want you to come with me,” he added, searching her
face carefully, not knowing how she would react to the sudden change in their
situation.

“The wedding? All the plans? My job? My father?” she
whimpered, near the edge of tears.

Paul stared into those beautiful blue eyes of hers. “You do
understand, don’t you, that if you go with me that you must leave everything
behind? Your job, your house, your van and even your father?”

With one lip quivering, she nodded quietly. “But we would
come back someday, wouldn’t we?”

“Yes, dear. That is The Plan.”

With a quick snuffle, Capie wiped away a sudden tear. “It’s
just that it’s so abrupt. I thought we would have a little more time!”

Paul’s heart felt like it might break. “I’m so sorry, but you
must make a choice now. You can stay here, if you like. I won’t force you to go
with me. If you do decide to go with me, I promise we will get married as soon
as possible and we will finish the healing of your spinal column.”

“Does it have to be now? Can I have a couple of days to
prepare for this?” she practically begged him.

Paul glanced over at Jaret, who sadly shook his head.

“I’m sorry, but I must move quickly,” Paul patiently
explained, squeezing her hand gently and then leaning forward to give her a
tight hug. “They’ll search my house first, then yours. When they find I am not in
either place, they’ll watch you like a hawk after that, hoping to use you as
bait to catch me. I’ll have to keep my distance then.” Almost, he nearly gave
in to the temptation to tell her the
real
danger she faced if she
remained in the Chicago area. But he bit his tongue instead and waited for her
to make her choice; a choice hopefully based on her feelings for him and not
her fear of
Errabêlu.

“Ooh,” she muttered grimly while staring at the ground. “Of
course they will do that. I don’t…I just… Oh, felgercarb!” she barked, using an
expletive from the TV series
Battlestar Galactica
. “I can’t live without
you! Who will watch over you? Of course I am going with you!” she declared
sternly, sitting straighter in her chair, pulling him closer to her. “What do
we have to do first?”

“Pack,” Paul responded, his heart firmly beating again, the
ghost of a smile on his face. For a moment there…. But no, she had just needed
a few moments to come to grips with the changed situation and to make her
decision. He wasn’t sure that he could have done as well if the situation were
reversed.