G.H.O.S.T. Teams: Book 1 - Magic (22 page)

“Okay, neat trick,” I said.

Visine smiled. After a couple of rings Freddy answered the phone and said hello.

“Ey Freddy B, how you doin’?” I asked in a bad Italian accent.

There was a pause before he responded, “Mr. Chang? That is a very interesting voice. I am feeling fine, thank you. I just got word of your encounter. Are you calling in order to make a report?” he asked.

“Nothing to report yet, we’re still working the case. Is Kara awake, we need a little magical info?”

“Yes she is, hold on, I’ll put you on speaker,” he replied.

I heard him fumble with the handset and then the sound took on a more echoey tone.

“I’m here,” Kara said.

Her voice sounded rough and it was clear that she was still in a lot of pain.

“Have either of you ever heard of an orbus? The baddy here thought it was some kind of a summoning focus,” I asked.

I listened to the silence on the other end of the call as they both mulled it over. Because I am never one to miss an opportunity to be a pain, I felt the need to speak up.

“Take your time. It’s only the fate of the world in the balance,” I quipped.

“Thanks. My concussion loves the additional pressure,” Kara mocked.

I couldn’t help but smile. If she was joking then hopefully that meant she was feeling a bit better. Freddy, who clearly doesn’t understand the finer points of team banter, attempted to put Kara at ease.

“There is no pressure Ms. Tremont, we all know that you are doing your best. Contrary to Mr. Chang’s inference, the fate of the world is certainly not hanging in the balance,” he said.

“Hey, I told you, my car sensed the impending apocalypse. That is nothing to sneer at,” I responded.

“Mr. Chang,” Freddy sighed, “there is no evidence to support such a claim. As I have told you repeatedly now, the only known case with global implications is in Chicago and being handled by Team Five. Bringing a murderer to justice, as is our current case, is just as important. There is no need to embellish the facts,” Freddy retorted.

“Whatever you say Freddy. But I’ll take the word of my car over GHOST Intelligence any day,” I said.

“Thanks Boss,”
Vlad said.

I heard Freddy huff in the background and I noticed Visine smiling next to me. I’m such a pain.

“Be that as it may,” Freddy said, “As for the matter at hand, the orbus, I am afraid that I am not familiar with any device by that name,” Freddy said.
 

“Okay. Kara, anything?” I asked.

“I’m guessing that the name is a slang term, not something official. But it’s not uncommon for a summoner to use a focus. I assume by the name that it’s some type of orb. Most orbs are used as focuses and batteries to store power. This is normally the best way to manipulate enough manna for a very large casting. Does that help?” she asked.

It did help and I didn’t like what it was implying. This time I was the one who remained silent as my mind thought about the implications. Kara, in a much more mature fashion than I did, broke the silence.

“Bruce? What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Just putting pieces together. The bad guy just went into the Veil in order to acquire an orbus and bring it back here. Our best guess is that the device is a summoning aid and used for really big stuff. The Lady Servant was powerful enough to convince five sorcerers to work for him. And now he is trying to amplify that power. That sounds to me like the Lady Servant is about to bring something really big and nasty into DC. Am I right?” I asked.

I could hear everyone coming to the same conclusion on the other side of the phone. There was a small sigh from Kara before she responded.

“That does seem likely,” Kara whispered in response.

“Okay then. I guess we better get moving. You all try to figure out what Lady he serves and learn more about this orbus. We are heading into the Veil. Wish us luck,” I said.

“Wait a minute. You cannot go into the Veil without proper backup. I have been told that Mr. Lazarus is injured and you…” the phone cut off.

I looked over at Visine and smiled, “Thanks. Now we need to find a Veil entrance. We’re in Rock Creek Park, there has to be one close.”

Reaching into his pocket Visine pulled out a small medallion. It was attached to a black cord that looked long enough to be used as a necklace. The medallion itself was a brown metal, about the size of a quarter, and covered in weird runes. If I had to guess, I would have said that it was an ancient coin from some lost empire. He wrapped the cord around his hand several times leaving the coin dangling about an inch below his fist. Then he held it up to his mouth and whispered, “
reperio ianua.”

The little medallion started to glow blue before tugging on his hand in a northerly direction. It seemed that our path was heading straight into the woods. I patted Vlad on the dash.

“Sorry pal, looks like you’re gonna have to wait here.”

Vlad was quiet as Visine and I got out and made our way back to the trunk. I popped it open and grabbed my sword. This particular katana was a little shorter and less curved than the more common decorative pieces that you have probably seen. As I often find myself fighting indoors, in cramped spaces, I tend to lean towards shorter blades. This sword wasn’t crafted by some master blade-smith or handed down through the generations. It was just a sword, made with modern steel and a rubber coated handle. Tradition takes a backseat to function. Plus, when you go through as many blades as I do, you tend to avoid expensive sentimental pieces. I also grabbed a few throwing knives and placed them in the many empty sheaths upon my body. Visine glanced over the weapons in my trunk.

“Got anything man sized?” he quipped.

I laughed and looked over at Visine. I nodded towards his right arm and the wound in his leg before I spoke.

“You sure you wanna come with me? I can handle this,” I said as serious as I could.

He never looked over at me or bothered to respond. I didn’t think that he would. He was tough and this was personal. There was no chance that I could get him to sit out. Scrounging around in my trunk, he came up with a big knife and a Chinese broadsword. While I would have considered it a decent sized sword, it looked rather small against his large frame. He smacked the flat of the blade against his good leg a couple of times to test the strength.

“This will do. Let’s go,” he said.

He slid the sword into the right side of his belt, allowing for a left-handed draw. The medic had secured his right arm into a sling earlier, but after fighting for almost a century, I had a feeling that Visine was just as competent with his left hand. Although he was walking with a heavy limp he still managed to move at a decent pace. I closed the trunk and caught up with him, matching his speed. With my katana secured on my back I touched the leather band on my arm.

“Stay out of trouble pal, we’ll be back as soon as we can,” I told Vlad.

“
Will do Boss
,” Vlad responded in my head.

We walked for a few hundred yards before we crossed a small service road that connected Beach Drive to Oregon Avenue. I made a snarky comment to Visine about how we could have driven to this point, but he ignored me and just kept heading deeper into the woods. The medallion was pulling towards the north and a little to the east. Another couple hundred yards and it started tugging on his hand much harder. It almost looked as if it was going to break its cord.

“Is that a good sign,” I asked.

“We’re close,” he said.

Just a bit in front of us was one ugly ass tree. I guess more accurately it was three trees, gnarly looking things that were all growing out of the same spot. The medallion pulsed blue and pointed straight at the trees. Visine extended his hand until the coin touched the bark, which caused the blue glow to cease and the medallion to dangle free once more. He turned towards me.

“Here we go,” he said as he stepped around the right side of the tree. There was a haze in the air, almost like a heat distortion, and then he was gone. I sighed and said, “Here we go,” to myself before stepping around the tree and through the haze.

Stepping into the Veil reminded me a lot of those machines at the doors to grocery stores, the ones that blow air down in order to keep the ac in. There was a quick rush of air, which caused me to blink rapidly as the world in front of me changed.

I was now standing in a very different forest. It was much darker here as thick foliage and a canopy of branches blocked out most of the sunlight. A light breeze was rustling the leaves and making the branches creak. There was a small dirt path in front of me heading off to the left and right. Thanks to the dense forest surrounding us, the trail was our only option. Visine was standing in front of me, his left hand absentmindedly scratching his wounded arm as he looked around. He was glancing back and forth between the two directions as if trying to decide which way to go.

I glanced behind me and noted that every last trace of Rock Creek Park had vanished. Well, except the ugly tree, which seemed to be living in both worlds. Just thinking about that made me smile. I was in another world, how cool is that? From the little bit that I gleaned from training, the rules of nature were slightly different here. For example, there was very little chance that Visine’s guns would fire. I won’t pretend to understand the intricacies of gunpowder, but the process by which it burns and builds up pressure doesn’t work here. The Veil is its own world and it plays by its own rules. Maybe that is why it gets dragons.

Technology I had been told was also very hit or miss here. Apparently this realm was very heavy in manna or magical energy or whatever you want to call it. Manna in heavy concentrations works a lot like solar flare activity, it causes electronics to act up. Since I knew that Visine’s body was full of nano-machines I wondered if this place was affecting him in anyway. He turned towards me and I noted the uncomfortable look upon his face. I wasn’t sure if it was from his nanites being affected by this place or just general pain due to his injuries.

“You all right?” I asked.

He didn’t bother to respond, instead giving me the world famous “what a stupid question” look. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Obviously you’ve been better. I was just wondering if your nanites were all right? I heard that this place and electronics don’t mix?”

He nodded slowly, “They are agitated and working at a reduced capacity,” he huffed.

At least now I knew why he looked so unhappy. This probably did not bode well for his healing time. I hoped that moving at our quick pace wasn’t going to be detrimental to his wounds, especially if his nanites weren’t at the top of their game.

“Are you going to be alright with that leg wound?”

“The muscle is stitching itself back together. There is pain but it will not hinder my movement,” he finished.

I had to trust that he was right. We were in an unknown area, chasing an unknown villain, and surrounded by plenty of mythical creatures that were probably not going to appreciate us nosing around. One more thing that I remembered from my training was the fact that the inhabitants of the Veil do not take kindly to outsiders. Retaliation for years of being hunted in our world I guess.
 

“Okay, so which way?” I asked.

Visine shrugged.

“What do you mean you don’t know? You said you knew the Blue Weasel bar?”

“I do,” he replied.

“Then which way do we go?”

“No idea. Never been this way before,” he stated.

“Awesome,” I mocked, “We’ll just ask the first person that we come across I guess.”

I took the path to our left for no real reason in particular. As we walked, the foliage became sparser and visibility increased. The canopy overhead started to thin out and sunlight streamed into the woods. I wondered if proximity to the gate had an affect on the density of the plant life? After a short while our little path met up with a larger, well-traveled dirt road. There were wagon wheel tracks and hoof prints all over. We paused by the road and spent a few moments looking in each direction with the hope that one of us might spot something useful.

“I think it’s your turn to pick,” I smiled.

“Sure,” Visine replied.

The road was heavily traveled and it was difficult to tell which direction the most recent tracks went. We scanned the nearby trees, looking for signs or markers carved into their bark. Having nothing really to go on I think Visine just defaulted to the same strategy that I had used at the ugly tree, he guessed.

Being in another world meant that it was fairly difficult to get my bearings. The mother nature of the Veil was not the same woman that we all knew growing up. I figured that we were heading south, but even that was a haphazard guess at best. We had been traveling down the dirt road for just about half an hour when we made our first acquaintances.

While you might prefer to call them robbers, muggers, or even bandits, I have always had an affinity for the term highwaymen. There were six of them and only two of us. Not horrible odds. Visine, as I have mentioned before, is an enormous man. Normally his size alone would be enough to scare off any would be criminals. But although his gait had improved considerably, he was still obviously injured and walking with a limp. With his right arm in a sling and the look of discomfort on his face, even I had to admit that his appearance was but a shimmer of his normally imposing self.

But even taking that into account, I would have still assumed that his size and my posture would have been enough to deter any criminals. I am not trying to say that I come across as some imposing figure, but to the trained eye it should be fairly obvious that I can handle myself. Criminals are predators and predators are normally very good at spotting the weak and injured when they hunt. Perhaps in this world a pair of humans, regardless of their apparent skill level, was what the creatures of myth called weak. After all, the highwaymen were mostly other things.