Portals (29 page)

“La Fi,” said Aela, “what am I thinking?’

I rolled my eyes at her and started to give her a smart-assed reply, but I stopped because I had a flash of her painting her nails a metallic gold.

“Um, you want to paint your nails metallic gold?” I asked tentatively.

She beamed at me, pointy, needle-like teeth gleaming white. “You got it.”

“But I’ve never even had a glimmer of being telepathic,” I protested.

She shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I thought you were either telepathic or psychic. Although I think maybe both for you.” She nodded slowly. “Sometimes your feelings, your intuitions, are based on what you might have picked up from someone else’s mind, but I think other times, you are tapping into a psychic link, not connected to anyone’s mind.”

“How do you know so much about it?”

“Because I study human psychic phenomena, La Fi. There is more to me than just being a fantastic warrior. I have a brain too, you know.”

I stifled any urge to smile and nodded gravely.

“This does not surprise me, your highness. You are very wise,” I said formally.

She looked at me suspiciously, but I held her gaze and she finally nodded graciously. “Anyway, while others were skeptical of your feelings, I have found they are sometimes uncanny. I have believed in you all along.”

“Why thank you, Aela. That’s very kind of you to say.” I looked around at the others. “But what do you think it means? Is it connected to the whole portal-Earth-traveling-through-space thing, do you think?”

“I think so. Yes. What I am wondering is if all humans are going to be affected or just those who had some sort of ability before? I think this is going to be a fascinating time for your people.” She was quite pleased.

I realized the portal had shut and started to say something. But another was forming in its place. I pointed and the others turned to watch the new portal forming in place of the old one. It took only seconds for the portal to get to full size and Jones to step forth. He was frowning as he looked around the room and Keiron followed after him. Jones waited until the fairy had cleared the portal before closing it.

Jones moved farther into the room, but the rest of us were focused on the area where the portal had been. Jones turned to see what we were looking at and seeing nothing he looked at the rest of us.

“I admit that was slightly odd. Twice I tried to open the portal before it formed. But why are you all so strange?”

We focused on Jones for a moment, before transferring our attention to Thulu by unspoken agreement. Thulu rolled his eyes and explained what had been going on during the time Jones had been gone. He told him how our abilities were quickly becoming enhanced and about the portals randomly forming.

“What is curious is that when another portal opens, it appears to close the one before it,” he finished.

Jones helped himself to a cup of coffee, before sitting in an easy chair. He listened carefully to Thulu’s explanation.

“Fascinating,” he said. “That is quite an interesting development. I suspected your abilities might blossom, but perhaps not quite so fast.”

“Why did you think that?”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” I asked at the same time as Thulu.

“To answer Thulu, it is quite simple to see that your gifts have become stronger just in a few days. And I did not tell you because I was not expecting the changes to be very dramatic. This is intriguing, and we should continue to monitor you.”

I scowled at his choice of words, but Jones ignored me and went on, “I, too have interesting news.” He crossed one leg over the other and set his cup on the table next to him.

“It’s been discovered that Satorah was indeed working with the mutated daemons, as we suspected. Fortunately, it is a relatively new development. Perhaps only as short a time as a few months. They have stayed very low-key, though. Something for which we can all be thankful. Satorah intended to use them to lead a human army against the Light Ones.” He sighed.

“Well, the two mutated daemons left police custody right about the time you left for Phaete, Jones.” I looked at him steadily.

He nodded. “That fits in with what we have discovered.”

We looked at him blankly.

“She had a plan all worked out, but we are certain others were involved as well. My brother has begun an investigation on Phaete to see how many are involved. They will be discovered now that we know what to look for. The two mutated daemons stayed where they were to keep my attention focused on them. They served as a diversion of sorts. Once I left for Phaete, they had no reason to remain in police custody. We shall find them, however. Never fear about that.” He gazed to the area where he usually created portals. He changed the topic, momentarily dismissing other daemons - mutated and not.

“So the portals that opened tonight were in the same locations as the previous ones?”

“As far as we can tell.” I shrugged. “But who knows really? The elves?”

Jones nodded. “Indeed. They are probably meeting with your leaders again and trying to keep things calm.”

“The TV was pretty blasé about it,” Thulu said. “Kinda like it was all routine and no big deal.”

“That is a good thing.”

“They aren’t after you because of what you did thousands of years ago, Jones,” I said. I had everyone’s attention. “They’re after you because you killed Satorah. They’ve lost one of their leaders.”

Jones nodded. “That is entirely possible.”

“Are you sure they haven’t infiltrated Phaete?” asked Lassiter.

“Yes -” he started to answer, before stopping. It was a few moments before he began again and his tone was thoughtful and, for one of the few times I’d ever heard, uncertain. “So easy to assume that, is it not? However, I was equally certain we would be safe on our journey to Neva. The truth is we cannot be sure. The portal is guarded on both sides.” He paused for a brief second. “Could the guard have been subverted or mind-controlled on both sides? The correct answer is that I do not know. I believe they have not appeared on Phaete. I believe my brother’s investigation after Satorah’s attack was thorough. Could a rebel have escaped? A mutated daemon sympathizer? Perhaps, but unlikely. An actual mutated daemon? I do not see how.”

“Your investigation could cover an entire planet that easily?” Lassiter was impressed.

Jones smiled. “Yes, detective, magic has its uses. Of course, there are ways to block that as well, but again the blocking tends to be obvious by the blank spaces. It is a bit more reliable than technology.”

“I thought you said we weren’t magical, Jones?” I asked.

“You may not be magical, such as we are, but you can certainly detect magic. Perhaps even use magic. Besides, I may need to reassess my previous statement and beliefs.” Jones grinned at me, teeth white against his dark skin.

“Oh yeah? What exactly does that mean? Please don’t be cryptic, Jones, I’m not quite in the mood for games tonight.” I frowned at him and he chuckled.

“It appears that many experts in other realms had already come to the conclusion that humans were developing magical skills and have been studying this. I was unaware that so much attention was being devoted to it. However, a race coming into magic for the first time is fascinating for many. It happens very rarely, so obviously attention is focused on Earth just now.”

 “It is possible your abilities are changing fundamentally in addition to being expanded. A popular theory is that some of you appear to be evolving at a very fast rate. This might indicate that the power source may be moving closer to include the laws of magic. Or it may not. There is some controversy off-world about this, and I admit I am not certain. Earth is most assuredly going through some major changes right now and those changes have escalated enormously.

“I have watched this race evolve and grow, and I have never before seen what is happening now. There have always been a few who had powers, but nothing like the numbers that are being affected in the last century or so. I had assumed the greater populations had something to do with more humans having abilities.  It appeared that you were evolving, but I think it is more than that. Natural evolution, perhaps, but even more so, a reaction to the location where this world is moving. The laws of magic are taking their place alongside of the laws of physics. As to how that will affect those with abilities?” He gave an elaborate shrug. “I have no idea, but it should prove interesting to watch.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m so glad we can provide entertainment for you, oh ancient one.”

Jones gave a hearty and genuine laugh. “Oh, you do, La Fi. There is endless entertainment on your world.”

We were saved from any further musing by his royal ancientness with the arrival of Aurelia.

“May I enter, please?” her disembodied voice asked.

“Of course,” said Thulu.

Lassiter had been doing very well with all the off-worlders who paraded in and out of our house, but Aurelia struck him speechless. Her tall, majestic beauty was very stunning when one first saw her. Hell, it was stunning any time you saw her, but the first time had to be amazing for Lassiter. His expression said a goddess had just come among us. I wondered if he would throw himself to his knees and declare undying devotion or something.

I thought his reaction was curious and tried to remember if anyone not used to the supernatural had ever met Aurelia or Belus. I didn’t think they had. And Belus and Aurelia were rather glowy and impressive and such, even more so than the other elves I’d seen. Still, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone actually smitten before, but Lassiter certainly was. It made me smile.

He got control of his face, when Thulu gave him an unobtrusive nudge. He shook off whatever had happened and smiled weakly. Aurelia was gracious as ever and pretended to not notice.

We quickly introduced her to Lassiter and she held out her hand. Lassiter was momentarily confused as to whether he should shake it or kiss it, but ultimately decided on a shake. I offered Aurelia a seat and something to drink. She accepted the former and declined the drink.

We took turns filling her in on the portals that had formed here. Aela told her the portals were definitely magical.

“The thing is that they snapped closed when another portal tried to form. I’m afraid that trying to step through a portal that is closing would kill whoever got caught in it,” I said.

“Yes, we noticed that, as well. The ones that form spontaneously could indeed damage someone who was going through if they closed on them. However, portals that are deliberately created remain stable, as far as we have been able to see. We have had several of those who create portals brought here and are testing that theory, among others. So far, their portals have always taken precedence over the spontaneous ones.”

“You have access to spontaneous ones to test?” asked Thulu.

“Yes, there are some that are out of the public eye and we use those for testing.”

“If these portals are also magical, then how will we know if a portal is safe to use or not?” Thulu and I had been using Jones’s portal with growing frequency, and I was having second thoughts about ever stepping foot in one again.

“Simple. Only go through those that you are certain Jones or someone you know has opened. Since those opened on purpose are overriding the spontaneous ones, you will be fine. If we find any instance that contradicts this, we will immediately notify the magical worlds and our friends here on Earth.” Aurelia added the last with a smile.

“What about the portal going to my dad’s?” Thulu asked.

“Would you please contact him and ask him if the portal is still there?”

Thulu made the call and put him on speaker. We waited until Erik said he was in the other room and that the other portal was gone.

“Please let him know I’m making a new portal.” Jones once again made a portal.

“I have another portal here now,” said Erik.

“That’s good, Dad,” said Thulu. “That should be ours.”

“Hang on a sec,” said Erik. A few moments later the ball I tossed through earlier came rolling through.

“We got the ball, Dad.”

Jones closed the portal with a satisfied smile.

“And now the portal is gone again.” The relief was evident in Erik’s voice, and I felt my own heart release a little. The danger to our family, no matter how small, was putting some pressure on me. Eliminating any potential problems was a step in the right direction.