The Wounded World, a story of Mantra, Chapter 14 - repaired, Nov. 9, 2019

By Aladdin

Edited by Christopher Leeson

The Wounded World

Originally written 2006

Posted October 21, 2019

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"The House of the Coven


Why art thou Terrible
And yet I love thee in thy Terror
Till I am almost Extinct
And soon shall be in a shadow in Oblivion,
Unless some way can be found
That I may look upon thee and live.... " 

 
                                                        William Blake 

 

After Strike signed off, I stood there for at least two minutes, sending out intense mental summonses to the sorceress Shadowmage, but to no avail. I'm able to tell a "dead line" from an unanswered "ringing phone" and, to my frustration, Shadowmage, definitely, seemed to be outside my service area. Flummoxed, I switched my appeal toward another ally whom I knew.

"Yrial! This is Mantra. Are you reading me?"

After about thirty seconds, I heard, "Mantra? Is it you? I didn't know that you possessed such a power!"

"I'm discovering new talents all the time," I explained hastily. "My friend, I'm undergoing a crisis! Can you rally the rest of the Strangers and give me some help? A lot of bad stuff is going down in Canoga Park. There's a possessed boy using powerful magic. Right now, he's holding his little sister hostage. Their mother seems to be -- missing," I added belatedly.

"A child? Can one so young be a match for you, Mantra?"

I was gratified; only a year before, this same Yrial had rated me as “powerful, but amateurish,” though she hadn't stated things quite so bluntly. "Whatever's going on in my home town,” I said, “is very...unnatural. How are things with you?”

“I would say that everything is very unnatural here, too.' People are fleeing a zombie rising. I come from the Caribeaan and know that zombies are very real. But, for some reason, there is a mortuary in Oakland where the dead are walking away to feast on the flesh of the living."

“I was afraid that there was trouble all over, too, but were I am I'm faced with a wizard who has me completely outclassed. I've been trying to put together a battle-hardened ultra squad that can overwhelm him without anyone getting hurt."

"Mantra, terrible forces are sweeping the entire world. None of us here understand it.”

"I don't either, but I need magical backup right away, or else children might be injured. Even if the other Strangers are fully engaged, can't you come down here by yourself? If you do, I'll owe you big time."

After a brief pause, the shamaness replied, “No.” Before my heart had time to sink, she continued: “If children are in danger, you will owe me nothing. I have heard of Canoga Park. It is near Los Angeles, isn't it?"

"It's a suburb on the north side of L.A,” I told her. “I'm going to keep watch on what the boy is doing until you arrive. Send me a thought message when you get close and I'll be able to guide you in."

"I shall make all haste. 

"Just one more thing, Yrial. Have you heard whether or not Shadowmage is still on Earth? I haven't been able to reach her."

"I have heard naught of Shadowmage, not for months, I am sorry to say. Her team peacefully dissolved last winter. But I shall do all that I can to contact our sister in sorcery, even while I am hastening to your aid."

"Fantastic. Strike's also agreed to join us. Maybe he can bring in Hardcase, too. See you soon."

#

Having signed off, I didn't dare let grass grow under my feet. If I didn't act swiftly, the monster Coven would soon appear and add to the chaos. Accordingly, I made haste to Heather Parks' address, fearing that I might already be too late. When I caught sight of the Parks' two-story clapboard home, nothing appeared amiss. The domicile seemed at peace and there was no hole in the wall, such as the one that Lauren had described. Ether I was arriving earlier than Lauren did, or else I was in a slightly different parallel world. I was hoping that the latter was not the case, because I wanted help people whose suffering I had already seen.

Heather's upstairs window was lighted, so I flew closer to investigate. Through the parting of the drapes I saw all four of the Mantra fan-club devotees, each wearing their cosplay gear -- replicated pieces of my action costume. The teens looked at ease and very normal, but I was determined to act quickly to keep them that way.

The girls squealed alarmedly when I came ghosting in through the closed window, but the instant they recognized me their yelling turned to ah's and gasps.

"Mantra!" exclaimed Heather, "Why didn't you knock? You scared us." 

"We don't have a second to waste," I told the quartet. "I'm -- I'm here to rescue you -- I think."

"Heather!" a man called from downstairs. "What's all that screaming about?"

"Nothing, Dad," Heather yelled back. "We're just watching a spooky video on TV!"

I shook my head. Teens seemed always to be quick with credible excuses. Sometimes – as in this occasion – that could be a good thing.

The girls, still excited by my sudden appearance, were quietly waiting for me to explain myself. I glanced at the clock. Not even a half hour had passed since I'd fled from my own home, though it felt much longer. Apparently, the green bolt hadn't struck this house as yet. But it could hit soon and I didn't want either the girls or myself to be on the receiving end of it. We needed to evacuate immediately.

It was only then that I noticed something on Heather's small table, half-covered by a magazine opened to a Mantra-themed article.

"Have you girls been playing with a Ouija board?" I asked sternly, keeping my voice low for obvious reasons.

"We were just about to," Miss Parks replied diffidently, picking up on my censoriousness tone. She was probably remembering my past admonitions against kids getting involved with mysticism. "It's only a game," the schoolgirl protested weakly.

"No, it's not!” I told her. “Ouija boards are tools for necromancy. And necromancy is a dark art and only bad wizards want to have anything to do with it. It's too dangerous to play around with.”

"But we've read the instruction sheet," the girl protested. "Anyway, they sell them in hobby stores. I got mine at Mrs. Fisher's magic shop at the strip mall."

I shook my head. "I like Mrs. Fisher, but she's into all sorts of silly New Age ideas. Some of the things she sells are dangerous and she doesn't even know it. I once had to help a little girl who got a magic charm from that shop. It granted one of her foolish wishes that almost got her mother killed. Worst of all, wild magic is loose tonight. This room is dangerous because you girls once summoned a demon here. That sort of thing turns a room into a birdhouse for bad spirits. You all have to get far away from this place for the rest of the night, and it'ld be best if you separated. Do any of you need help getting home? Who lives the farthest away?"

"Me!" said the one named Trisha. She recited the address.

That was east of Canoga Park, in Winnetka. "How do you usually get home?" I asked.

"My parents'll pick me up at nine."

I shook my head. “That isn't soon enough.”

"I'm closer. It's a short trip by bike," put in Jessica.

"Heather,” I said, “can you make up some excuse to your parents and go with the other girls to Jessica's house? As soon as possible, you should each call your folks to come and get you from there. Except you, Heather. You should stay away until morning. The danger should be over by then. Uh, Jessica. You haven't been casting spells at your home, have you?

The schoolgirl threw up her hands. “Are you kidding? My folks won't even let me bring The Lord of the Rings into our house. I had to argue and pout for weeks before they'd let me join your fan club."

I nodded, satisfied. “Heather, do you think that Jessica's folks would let you overnight with her?”

“I think so; they've let me do it before. But we'll need to think of a good excuse.”

"Mantra," said the one named Samantha, "you're frightening us. What's going to happen?"

"I'm not sure," I fibbed, "but random magic is going through this area like a storm. It's already hurt a little boy who lives not far from here."

"Will my parents be safe?" Heather asked urgently.

“They should be,” I said, “if they stay out of this room and haven't been practicing magic themselves. But when you talk to them, don't say a word about sorcery. They just won't understand.”

"Okay, Mantra," Heather muttered bemusedly. "I'll tell them that Jess forgot to bring along her new CD and we want to go over to her place and listen to it."

"Fine. I'll wait out back until I see you come outside, and then I'll protect you along the way. But remember, once you're at Jessica's, separate quickly. You four have been acting like a coven, and if you stay side by side it could draw in bad magic like a magnet."

Without another word, I phantomed away.

For the next few minutes, I waited high in the boughs of a backyard maple tree. Hopefully, the measures I was taking would prevent the creation of Coven. If that bothersome monster did not spring into life, I could concentrate on helping Gus.

#

It took only minutes for the four girls to emerge. Over our heads, the eerie violet glow still loomed, as did the snakelike green bolts. Despite the atmospheric instability, the air felt very still. Nature seemed to be gripped in a state of suspended animation.

"Mantra?" Heather whispered, looking around.

"I'm up here," I said. "Head for Jessica's house. I'll stay aloft and keep a lookout for trouble. How soon do your folks want you to come back, Heather?"

"I can stay all night with Jess, but Sam and Trish are going to call home for their rides."

"That'll work out," I said. "Just be sure that they get on the phone right away. Have your parents to come right away. Okay, move it!”

The four of them took off. Jessica led the way, riding her bike slowly; the others came after her at a brisk walk, frequently stealing uneasy glances upward.

It bothered me that Jessica and Heather would have to stay in the same house, but I didn't have time to take extraordinary precautions.

Just before Heather went inside Jessica's home, she waved me goodbye. I waved back. Having done all I could think of for the members of my fan club, I made an aerial U-turn and sailed back toward the Blake house.

#

I settled down on the rooftop of the schoolhouse again. The neighborhood still looked deceptively normal, but I knew that Gus, whom I was still sensing inside the house, was a ticking time bomb. I directed a cautious telepathic probe toward my endangered daughter.

 "Shhh. Evie. Can we talk?"

 To my relief, she made reply. "I think so. Oh, Mommy, Gus is scaring me. It's almost like he's stopped being Gus."

"I know, baby. Why did you end our talk so suddenly before? Did your brother hear us?"

"He started to. He said, 'Mom's around here somewhere!'"

"Well then, Buttercup, I can't tell you what I'm planning, since we don't want Gus to know. But if he acts like he's about to hurt you, just think the magic word Hogwarts really hard and I'll come save you, no matter what."

"Is Gus tougher than you, Mommy?"

"I think may be. He's probably the toughest sorcerer in the world right now."

“Like Voldemort?”

“Yeah, a lot like that.”

"How did this happen?"

"I think he was hit by some bad magic from outer space."

"Oh, no! Be careful, Mommy. I don' t want you and Gus to start fighting and hurt each other."

"I don't want that either, Button. I'm going to do all I can to make us a happy family again."

"We weren't too happy before, she said. “Doesn't Gus have any magic to make himself look like he used to, before those fairies got him?"

"I don't know, Evie, but..."

Suddenly, a green jet of light came shooting up through the Blake rooftop, like a miniature comet.

"Mom! I know you're hiding somewhere out here," Gus's thoughts yowled. "You hit me and I'm going to get even. Then I'll go back and fix Evie for talking to you without asking me first."

To prevent him from doing the latter, I leaped into the air and fixed his attention on me by creating my an eye-catching green flare.

"Your mother's not here," I informed him. "I've been tricking Evie, talking to her as if I were her mother. I knew you'd overhear us. I wanted to lure you outside -- so we could speak privately," I said. This explanation didn't make a whole lot of sense, not even to me, but Gus was just a kid. If I said confusing things, he might think that I was simply too smart to be understood. That could make him more wary of me and put him at a psychological disadvantage.

"Mantra! I hate you even more than I hate Mom and Dad!" the boy hollered, verbally this time.

I could feel the power of his aura like spiders crawling over my skin. Dark magic was rippling through every fiber of his being, keeping him in a state of perpetual rage. So far, he hadn't done any fighting, and that meant that the lad would still be near the peak of his vigor. But I couldn't fight him like a super-wizard; if he fumbled his defense, I could hit him too hard. I needed a distraction to help me slip away. Facing him him head-on was out of the question, at least until my ultra allies arrived. But for the time being I had to decoy him away from Evie, make him so mad that he'd give me chase. With that in mind, I created a sudden burst of light, bright enough to dazzle him and cover my escape.

I let a jet of wind carry me away by like an autumn leaf. "Evie!” I called out mentally, “I'm keeping Gus busy trying to catch me. Run and hide with that nice Mrs. Fisher at the magic shop!"

Even though I wasn't sure that Evie had heard my cry, I didn't dare risk Gus overhearing if I tried a second contact. The boy had already collected himself and was coming after me, propelled through the air on a blast of verdant fire, like an Independence Day rocket.

At that juncture, I went phantom to protect myself from the blasts I knew he was capable of. At ghost-density I unfortunately lost the ability to ride the air currents, since the wind would blow right through me. Flight while in phantom-form requires of me a form of magical propulsion that I've found to be quite draining. I needed to make Gus think that I had turned chicken and was only fleeing because I was afraid of him. I skated through the air erratically, making myself a hard target for a novice marksman.

But the barrage of magical shots under, above, on either side, and through my ghostly body was putting me into the role of a target in a shooting gallery. I felt safe for the moment, but Lauren had mentioned how quick Gus was at learning the use of his new powers. Fortunately, over the last two years, I'd learned a few fancy tricks of my own.

Just then, one of my son's mega-bolts hit me a glancing blow. I felt like I'd been bashed by an ogre's club. Gus might not have been any great shakes at doing school lessons, but he was showing a real flare for super-villainy. What shocked me most was the way that he had so quickly intuited that I was out of phase with the material world. He had, accordingly, compensated by adjusting his bolt-density. How could one so young and inexperienced be so clever? If a demon wasn't running the show inside his head, he had to have internalized too much mayhem from those violent anime cartoons he'd been watching!

How could Gus channel so much power through such a youthful body? Were the goblins to blame? Had they made him over into magical fairy being like themselves? Even so, energy on such a scale couldn't all be sourced by his personal energy aura. He had to be getting input from some outside reservoir. I myself draw magic from the biosphere; on a dead world such as the moon, with no living auras to tap into, I found myself running down quickly. I had only survived in such an environment by taking life-energy from my comrade Prime, who had power enough to spare. But what exactly was empowering Gus? Was it that aberrant celestial energy field that had Earth in its clutches? Fortunately, I knew that the anomaly, whatever its origin, was fated to fade away with this awful night. When it finally dissipated, would his sorcery be reduced also?

I turned my protective shielding up to full power and opted for the old killdeer trick, letting myself plummet awkwardly, feigning both weakness and injury. A precipitous drop without the use of evasion tactics would make me an easy target, but I was banking on the wicked nature of small boys. Hopefully, Gus would want to hold off from the kill shot long enough to see me bounce off the solid ground, like a real-life Daffy Duck.

I gave the risky ploy a try. By finagling the angle of my descent by a couple of degrees, I plunged into a dark mass of trees and hedges, putting myself out of his line of sight for just a moment. Being still in ghost-mode, I fell painlessly through the branches and down into the subsoil, which I intended to be my refuge of concealment. I checked my plummet once the turf had swallowed me up, chose a direction, and slipped away using magical propulsion.

The downside of this trick was that Gus might trace me by sensing my use of magic. Wanting to avoid this, I exited the earth only a few streets away, banished my force shield, and abruptly stopped channeling sorcery. Such a move would, I hoped, cause the lad to lose my "scent." This was, in fact, the way that I had kept my presence secret from Boneyard on the Godwheel while I was preparing to confront him. But Gus could also have located me at any time just by homing in on his mother's familiar bio-signature, something that he would surely have the talent to do. I could only hope that the boy still didn't know that Mantra and his mother were one and the same person. Without that knowledge, he would have no incentive to try such a ploy.

Though not actively using magic now, I remained sensitive to Gus's expenditure of it. Interestingly enough, instead of getting closer he seemed to be drawing off. Thank Providence for the short attention span of children! But if the boy was heading away on a tangent, what new mischief might he be concocting? He wasn't steering in the direction of Mrs. Fisher's magic shop, which was a relief.

I thought about trailing after him, but first had to reassure Evie. Events were moving very quickly now; Aladdin agents were due to show up before long. Although having the A-Team on my side could be an asset, I couldn't allow Gus to fall into their hands. If that should happen, he'd be hard to rescue and his fate might be dire.

As I stepped into the light of the street lamps, someone remarked, "Nice Mantra outfit." I looked back to see a couple of teenage boys sauntering up nonchalantly, despite the chaos of the night. Apparently, except for the unusual sky color and the halo around the moon, most people on earth were unaware that anything out of the norm was occurring.

“I'd love to see you dressed that way again this Halloween!” said the other one. “Where's the party going to be?”

“Yeah? Well, maybe I'm the real Mantra!” I said.

“Don't give us that! We know there's a Mantra fan club near here. But nobody ever told us that there were any adults in it.”

Ignoring the hormonal juveniles, I used my wizard sense to renew my bearing on the errant young warlock. To my consternation, I felt two "blips," their "flavors" distinctly different. One magical trace had to be from Gus, and the other, I feared, was Necromantra. Trouble always comes in pairs, it seems, but Gus was presenting the more pressing problem. Lauren had found the witch-bitch hunkered down within her hideout. She might have been lying low because of the magical anomaly that she could sense outside. If Necromantra was left undisturbed, she might remain quiescent all through the night. That would keep a little more trouble off my plate.

Where, exactly, was Gus going? Maybe he'd zeroed in on his dad. That could be tragic. Though August Blake could be a neglectful father, his children loved him very much. His death would devastate his daughter Evie and Gus might never forgive himself, if he should regain his reason. But all I knew for certain was that Evie would be frightened and confused. I needed to go to her. Consequently, I took off for the magic shop, riding on a whirlwind.

With that kind of velocity, the strip mall lay only seconds away. I saw that Mrs. Fisher's magic shop's "closed" sign was already up, but I knew that she was fated to be inside at this hour. Anyway, the main lights were still showing in the rear windows. Such was my state of mind that I almost knocked on the door without pausing to think about what I was wearing. I reflexively flashed back into the same clothing that I'd lately shed -- a black dress suit.

Then, hoping I looked presentable, I knocked. An instant later, a worried face peered through the lace door curtain. Mrs. Fisher seemed relieved to recognize me. She hurriedly fumbled the lock open.

"Mommy!" yelped Evie, now able to see me. She ran my way and sprang into my arms. I picked my little girl up; her excited grip about my neck was almost a choke-hold.

"Oh, honey, I was afraid for you," I gasped. "W-Were you awfully scared?"

"Yeah, I was! Is Gus...is Gus...?"

"Shhh, darling. I'll tell you later. We don't want to alarm Mrs. Fisher."

"I didn't 'larm her, Mommy,” the tyke whispered, “I just said that a bad person came into our house and I ran away!"

 The proprietoress spoke up. "Mrs. Blake, what's been happening? The child tried to tell me, but I didn't understand it all."

"E-Evie got frightened by a burglar," I said with a deep gulp, having loosened the youngster's tight hold. "He must have slipped into our home to rob it. I saw him leaving just as Mantra showed up. Maybe she'd been on his trail; I don't know. I ran through the house looking for Evie. Then, hoping that she'd gotten away, I came down this way trying to find her."

"Is...the bad person still outside?" asked the little girl.

“Maybe," I said. “We have to be careful.”

"You know,” Mrs. Fisher put in. “I had a feeling that this was an evil night. Did you ever see a sky like that?”

"Never,” I said, easing my daughter down to the floor. "Thank you for taking Evie in, Mrs. Fisher. She was lucky to find your shop open."

The proprietress nodded. "I was doing the accounts after closing time. I heard your little girl rapping on the door."

The girl was again nudging me, this time holding out her teddy bear. "See, Mommy, I saved Mr. Paws, too! I was afraid that -- that the bad person -- might torture him, to make him say where I went."

I touched her cute little nose. "That was quick thinking, darling! You rescued your best friend just like a real ultra would." Then I said to Mrs. Fisher, "I'm taking Evie to a motel. I'll call the police and report the break-in from there."

"You're welcome to stay until the sky clears up. I don't want to even walk home until it does. I could use the company. I can't get rid of the feeling that something is terribly wrong."

It sounded like Mrs. Fisher was slightly psychic. That might have been the reason why she had gone into the mystical merchandise trade. I felt for her, but I needed to get clear of witnesses and prepare for the arrival of my ultra team. "Thank you, but I'm so shook up that I need to be where there are a lot of people. Maybe after a good night's sleep I can come out of the shock of having someone intrude into our home," I said.

"I understand," Mrs. Fisher sighed. "May the good Lord watch over you both." Then she added, "Evie has a brother, doesn't she? Will he be all right?"

I didn't want to say too much. "Gus went to a ball game with his father. He was going to spend the whole night at his dad's place."

"That's lucky," the shopkeeper murmured distractedly. She was looking out one of the windows, staring up at the haloed moon that glowed so ominously against that weird, violet sky.


TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 15