Cracks in Reality (Seams in Reality Book 2) (16 page)

"You mean you study sorcerers."

"Exactly." Plank said.

Andrew realized she saw him as a laboratory rat, and the image made him uncomfortable.

"Hey, do you want to participate in an experiment?" Plank said eagerly. "I asked Director Webster for a test subject weeks ago, but he hasn't provided one. You're just what I need."

"Will it hurt?"

"Not at all. We conform to the highest ethical standards here."

Andrew frowned. He glanced at Charley.

"Don't look at me," she said. "You're the one who had the bright idea of coming in here. Go ahead. Do your bit for science."

He looked back at Plank. "Fine. What do you want me to do?"

"First, empty out your pockets," she said. "Make sure you don't have any metal on you. Then sit in there."

She pointed at a gigantic machine with a door in the center. The device consisted of huge, intersecting cylinders made of polished copper.

"What will it do to me?" Andrew said nervously.

"It will just surround you with a harmless magnetic field and take some readings. You'll watch a short movie during the test to stimulate your brain."

He didn't want to look like a coward in front of Charley, so he followed the instructions. The machine contained a small booth with a plastic chair. After he sat in the chair, Plank strapped his head into a padded frame.

"So you don't move around," she said. "Are you comfortable?"

"The straps are a little tight."

"Good." She left the booth and closed the door.

A video screen in front of Andrew's face came to life. The screen showed clips from cartoons and movies, each only a few seconds long, and all the images were disturbing. One clip showed a young girl twisting her head all the way around. Another showed a man inflating until he exploded into a fountain of guts. A cartoon clip portrayed devils playing music on the bones of the dead. A man in a tuxedo vomited up live cockroaches.

In the meantime, the machine was humming and clicking loudly. Andrew felt the powerful vibrations through his chair. He wondered if the magnetic field was strong enough to loosen his fillings.

After about ten minutes, the experiment ended. Plank came back and helped him free himself from the head harness.

"What was the point of that?" Andrew said.

"We're trying to invent a scientific test for detecting whether a person is capable of sorcery."

"What was the movie for?"

"To light up specific areas of your brain," Plank said.

"It was gross."

"Yes. Let's look at the results."

Andrew, Plank, and Charley walked over to a computer. Some other scientists gathered around and watched.

Plank brought up 3-D images of Andrew's head on the computer screen. The bones were translucent white, and a rainbow of colors highlighted portions of his brain. She typed on a keyboard to rotate the model.

"Do I have brain cancer, doc?" he said in a joking tone.

"No," Plank said, "but your brain is a little odd."

The scientists made excited comments to each other. They mentioned terms like "corpus callosum," "Brodmann area 7," and "occipital cortex."

"Odd how?" Andrew said.

"Your neural activity extends into the cerebellum in a way that suggests a mutation..."

Frank Webster walked into the laboratory, and Plank immediately closed her mouth. The Director of the BPI was wearing a sharp, blue suit tailored to fit his beefy physique. His flinty features usually expressed no emotion at all, but today, he was visibly angry. Even his tie wasn't as neatly tied as usual.

"There you are!" Webster said to Andrew. "Come with me. You too, Charley."

Webster left without waiting for a response. Andrew and Charley jogged after him down the tunnel.

"What's going on?" Andrew said.

"It appears two of my agents are victims of mind-control. They're being flown here, and everybody will meet at the Manassas seam. You'll assist Richard in determining what happened to them."

"Where did the crime occur?"

"Aurora, Nebraska," Webster said. "The agents were running a special foster home for orphans with talent for sorcery. Do you remember Phillip? I think you met the kid at the survivalist encampment in Alabama."

"Sure," Andrew said.

"He was at the home, but now, he's missing."

Andrew and Charley looked at each other with alarmed expressions.

Other BPI agents joined the group. Everybody rode the elevator up to the surface level, and they left the headquarters building.

The weather outside was glorious. It was still winter in Washington, DC, but a warm front from the south had created spring-like conditions. Puffy clouds dotted a blue sky. The air was cool and moist, but Andrew didn't feel compelled to wear a coat.

Two black sedans were already waiting in front of the building with the engines running, and drivers were at the wheels. Webster, Andrew, and Charley climbed into the sedan in back. The other BPI agents rode in the one in front. As soon as everybody was seated, the caravan drove off.

"How long has Phillip been missing?" Charley said.

"At least two weeks," Webster said. "The agents were filing false reports claiming he was still at home."

"Then how did you discover the problem?"

"A child psychologist visits the orphans once a week. The agents were evasive about why she couldn't see Phillip. Eventually, she reported the matter to the Bureau."

Andrew sat back and tried to imagine why anybody would kidnap Phillip. The boy had talent but no skill at all. Apprentices didn't usually start their training until they were at least sixteen years-old. The mind had to be mature enough to handle the rigors of sorcery. Phillip was basically a normal kid and would be useless to somebody like Blake.

The car eventually reached a highway and drove west on Interstate 66. The BPI sometimes used helicopters, but Manassas wasn't that far away. A car was probably just as quick in the end.

"Hold on," Andrew said. "Doesn't the BPI use a blood test to detect mind-control?"

"Yes," Webster said. "The agents were sending in somebody else's blood."

"And you didn't notice?"

"The guys in the lab were just checking for the chemicals indicating exposure to sorcery."

"But they didn't also check the type or whatever to make sure it was coming from the right person?" Andrew said. "Seems like a major oversight."

Webster blushed. "We used to do that second test. Apparently, it was quietly dropped during the latest round of budget cuts. I have corrected that mistake. All the recent samples are being rechecked."

"Oh."

The car soon entered the woodlands of Virginia. Trees grew close together in the rich, moist soil, and some trees retained their leaves even in the winter. Bridges crossed a number of small rivers.

"Speaking of labs," Webster said, "what were you doing in the Science Lab?"

"We were bored," Andrew said. "The scientists scanned my brain."

Webster frowned.

"It didn't hurt," Andrew added.

"Experiments on live subjects require my pre-approval."

"How often do those experiments happen?"

"Not often," Webster said. "We usually use prisoners. They volunteer in exchange for shorter prison sentences."

Andrew stared at him. The ethics of that kind of bargain were highly questionable.

"What about dead subjects?" Charley said.

Webster looked at her. "The brains of dead sorcerers are routinely studied, of course. That's just good science. The BPI pays for the burial of the body though. The next of kin gets a free funeral service and everything."

"How nice."

"It is. Funerals aren't cheap."

Andrew turned away and looked out the window. He didn't like the conversation.

After an hour, the car arrived at the Manassas National Battlefield Park. Andrew had heard some of the history of the place. The first major battle of the American Civil War had been fought on the green meadows overlooking Bull Run. Both the Union and the Confederacy had expected a quick and easy victory, but the fight had become a messy bloodbath instead.

The car arrived at the Visitor Center. It was a small, white building with four pillars in front. The frame around the front door was made of stone. Other cars were parked in the lot, and Andrew realized tourists might be a problem.

The two black BPI sedans parked side by side, and everybody got out. The group included four BPI agents in addition to Webster. Charley cuddled against Andrew, and he gave her a warm hug.

The group walked around the Visitor Center and into a huge, open field behind it. There was nothing but grass and a few vintage cannons. The cannons had black barrels and big, wooden wheels.

"Get the tourists out of here," Webster ordered.

His men jogged into the field. An old couple and a family with two young children were wandering around. The BPI agents flashed their badges and ushered the tourists away.

"It would be better to do this at night when the park is closed," Andrew said.

"It can't wait," Webster said.

The Manassas Seam hovered in the middle of the field. It was an ugly, throbbing wound on the flesh of the universe. Raw energy spewed in all directions, flooding the entire area. Even the Theosophical Seam wasn't as big.

"It's hard to believe you can't see the seam," Andrew said.

"It looks like just an empty field to me," Webster said.

"But the seam is huge. It's like a black sun. I can feel its power from here."

"Wonderful," Webster replied without enthusiasm.

They walked towards the seam with Charley.

Richard was standing beneath his seam, and the master sorcerer was dressed like a Civil War Confederate soldier. His gray jacket had large brass buttons down the center. A leather hat with a broad brim shaded his face. He was carrying a musket over his right shoulder, and Andrew wondered if the weapon worked. Richard's gray beard matched his rough appearance.

"Hi," Richard said as Andrew and Charley approached.

The apprentices shook Richard's hand.

"Nice costume," Andrew said, "but why aren't you dressed as a Union soldier? They won."

"I'm a rebel at heart."

"But the South supported slavery."

"Both sides had plenty of reasons to be ashamed." Richard turned to Webster. "Where are our guests?"

"Coming." Webster looked back towards the Visitor Center. "In fact, here they are."

A dozen BPI agents were escorting a man and a woman towards the seam. The prisoners were wearing orange jumpsuits. They had shackles on their wrists and ankles, forcing them to take small steps. The guards had their hands on their weapons.

"You're treating them like dangerous criminals," Andrew said.

"We have to take precautions," Webster said. "We don't know what was done to their minds."

Andrew couldn't argue with that point.

"What do you want us to do?" he asked Richard.

"Just follow my instructions," Richard said, "and tread lightly. We'll be dealing with defenseless, damaged minds. You could easily do more harm than good."

Andrew and Charley nodded.

The enormous power of the seam was making him a little giddy. He wanted to create a huge illusion just for fun, but he restrained himself.

As the prisoners approached, Webster said, "This is Agent Cunningham and Agent O'Bryan." He pointed at the man and the woman in turn. "It's my pleasure to introduce you to Richard Scala, master sorcerer. The young man and woman are apprentices and will assist him."

The agents had anxious expressions.

"This whole procedure isn't necessary, sir," O'Bryan said. "We did nothing wrong. I still don't understand why we're here."

"Then why did you evade the blood tests?" Webster said. "What happened to Phillip?"

O'Bryan just stared at Webster.

"I'll let you take it from here, Richard." Webster hustled to a safe distance from the seam.

The other BPI agents also backed off. It was official policy and common sense to be far away when sorcerers were working.

"Please," Cunningham said, "just tell the director we're fine. Really, this is all a huge mistake."

Richard put a hand on the agent's shoulder. "Let me be the judge of that."

"I just don't want you messing with my head."

"Relax. You won't feel a thing."

Andrew sensed Richard's power swell. The black vortex which always surrounded him grew until he looked small in comparison. Normal eyes couldn't see it, but Andrew found it very intimidating.

Richard stared into Cunningham's eyes for a long moment.

"Well?" Andrew said.

"It's as we feared," Richard said. "Andrew and Charley, join me. You'll find this educational."

Andrew settled into a trance and used telepathy to enter Cunningham's head. With such an enormous seam empowering him, Andrew had no difficulty with the spell. The barriers between minds were as weak as wet tissue paper here. He could almost do it by accident.

Andrew looked around and realized he was riding a rollercoaster. Steel bars locked his arms and legs in place. The car was falling from an impossible height towards a mountain. He guessed he was travelling at a thousand miles an hour. The car shot through a tunnel in the mountain and popped out the other side. The rollercoaster continued onwards with no end in sight.

Cunningham was riding in the front seat of the car, followed by Richard and Andrew. Andrew turned his head and saw Charley right behind him. She had a calm expression despite the terrifying circumstances. Tonya had trained her apprentices to never show any fear.

"What's this?" Andrew said.

"Cunningham is trapped in a delusion," Richard said. "He's terrified of rollercoasters. This is his worst nightmare."

"He seemed normal on the outside."

"That's how mind-control works. Fear blocks good judgment. Desperation leads to bad choices. Cunningham feels his only escape is by following his instructions, or he'll be stuck on the rollercoaster forever. He may act normal, but beneath the surface, this is what he sees."

"That doesn't make sense," Andrew said.

"It doesn't need to. You should know that by now. Fortunately, this condition is easy to fix. We just need to free Cunningham from the delusion with a little truth sorcery."