Jaci Stone - Act 02

One day, Grace and I were invited to a gymnasium in Rocks Hill. This was a territory managed by a man named Samuel Ortega. In the gym were thirteen young men and women. The color of their hair, my trademark auburn, marked them as my children. My Children.

By...The...Goddess.

Grace plunged into the crowd, introducing herself and making herself the center of attention. The mothers were absent, and that wasn't curious at all. I had been out of their lives for more than twenty years, and I was sure they didn't want to relive old flings.

"How did you find all of them, Sammy?"

"You know that you're the only person that can call me 'Sammy,'" he scowled. I knew his tone was fake.

"Two weeks ago a woman came into our neighborhood. She found the park, studied it for a moment, and traced the tag."

"What did she look like?"

"Tall, one meter eighty, sixty-five kilos. She demanded to see my second. Of course Benita came out for the challenge."

"Shit, Janine."

"Janine, she studied Benita for a moment, went up and handed her a handful of little pebbles...and a knife."

"Double shit, Janine," I muttered. "I'm going to put her ass over my knee."

Samuel chuckled. "I have never seen a knife fight like that. They moved so fast, like the wind. After a few minutes, they both stopped and shook hands. Janine just climbed back into her car and left. Benita told me that Janine needed to speak to all the children of 'The Queen of LA.'"

"So here we are," I indicated Grace chatterboxing with her half-brothers and -sisters. They were listening to her like she was their teacher and they the students. I remembered that some of,, if not most of the wicca in LA were elitist and didn't want anything to do with the 'young ones.' Their magic training had probably been token at best, trying out things to see how they worked. Grace was water and they were thirsty.

The faces belonging to the magic-using women I had been with crossed through my head and settled on Samantha. Samantha, she and I had bonded at the level of the soul. Marci and I also did that, that's why she was my favorite. Thinking about Samantha brought up the memory of her face. Then I suddenly was with her. "Jaci?"

"Sam!"

Samantha got up from the chair she was lounging and rushed me. She pulled me into a ferocious hug and stood back to give me a once-over. "You look good, but how did you get here? This place is warded six ways from Sunday."

I looked around. The walls were stone, covered with tapestries. The room was cozy, almost reminding me of my den. Except my den didn't have bars. "You're in a dungeon? An actual fucking dungeon?"

Samantha put her hands on mine. "I agreed to this, my penance for falling in love with someone young, someone not aligned with any clan we recognize."

"Fuck that," I grumbled. "Natasha didn't mention anything about you being in a dungeon."

"I haven't seen Nat for months," Samantha admitted.

"Did they tell you anything about what's going on out there?"

"She doesn't need to know that," a woman announced her presence on the other side of the bars.

"You mean that someone almost kidnapping one of your most powerful guardians is not something that Samantha should know about?" I asked.

"Nat?" Samantha asked.

"We don't know what to call what happened," the woman admitted. "Kidnapping is the wrong word for it."

"Sam, who is this?" I asked.

"My sister, Diedere," Samantha replied.

"What your sister isn't telling you is that fourteen men came into my property and tried to kidnap Natasha and my daughter."

"You can't create exit portals on your property, even with an invitation," Samantha protested.

"His warding was broken," Diedere said.

His. His. My hand went up of its own volition. I was getting ready to zap Diedere when Samantha put her hand on mine. "Temper."

"What's he going to do?" Diedere taunted. "This entire Schloss is enchanted, no magic can be used here."

"We're in Germany?" I asked Samantha.

She nodded. "Outside Wurzburg."

"Schloss Newbergen," I said. "Nice place from the outside."

"You need to leave," Diedere ordered. "I will show you out."

"Sam is coming with me." I took Samantha's hand. "Close your eyes."

"We have to let you out. We're not letting Samantha go."

"Ready?" I asked Samantha.

"Yes."

I pictured Grace in my head, offsetting so I wouldn't run into any of my children. "Step forward."

Suddenly, we were there, in the gym. "And, as you can see, you also have the ability to travel with a friend. They have to be a natural immortal, because normal bodies won't stretch like that." Grace giggled.

"Jaci, these are all your children?" Samantha asked. She paused, studying them. "Of course they are!"

"Brothers and sisters, this is my mother's very special friend, Samantha Birch," Grace said.

"Birch?" One of the men asked.

"Yes, one of those Birches," Samantha held up her hand. "I'm a rebel against my family, and I am one of the few people who can give you a great gift."

"What gift is that?" One of the women asked.

Grace smiled, I wasn't sure why. "Wherever ten or more are gathered in Gaia's name..."

"...A coven can be formed," Samantha finished. "A coven has power, and they can be recognized as their own state among wiccan affairs."

"That would be very nice, ma'am," one of the men said.

"It also gives you guys access to The Library," Grace giggled. One of the men raised his hand like he was in class. "Yes, Kenny?"

"You're talking about that hole in space downtown?" Kenneth asked.

"That's the one," Grace nodded. "Kenneth is pursuing his Ph.D. in physics. He named our little travel method 'linear folding.'"

Linear folding. I wrapped my tongue around the words and it sounded right. "I like it," I said. "Samantha, do you need anything special for the formation of the Stonebrook Coven?"

Samantha smiled at me. "Nope. I've been waiting a century to bless a new coven. I know that chant by heart."

"Getting a little head of yourself, mother?" Grace asked. "The Stonebrook Coven?"

"It fits," Sarah, the daughter I already knew, said. "We are all Stonebrook children, and 'Stone Coven' sounds kind of medieval, begging your pardon, Madame Birch."

"You're fine," Samantha waved her hand. "Let's do this, wicca. You can let people know later that you are actually wizards."

They all agreed, picking Grace as their leader. My children. These men and women were my children. Wow. My children formed a circle around Grace and Samantha began to chant. At the high point,at the end of the chant, a wall of energy came out of the floor and enveloped their circle, wrapping each of them like a blanket before it disappeared.

There was a collective sigh from the group followed by a giggle from Grace. "That was fucking amazing!"

"So, what just happened here?" Samuel asked. I felt bad that I had forgotten he was even in the gym.

Keep it simple. "My children were blessed by the goddess. They are more powerful together than they were alone."

"Thoroughly cryptic," Samuel countered. "I've never read anything about a blessing coming out of the ground in the Bible."

"He missed the point, Jaci," Samantha said. "Gaia gave her blessing because she is the mother earth."

Samuel opened and closed his mouth like a fish. "I'm not qualified to get into a theological debate."

I turned and gave Samuel a wink. "Good choice. But seriously, Samuel, the things that I've seen? I truly believe that god is a woman."

My use of Samuel's given name rather than my nickname for him told him that I was serious. "All right. Until later?"

"Later," I nodded. He went to the door, took a look around the gym, then left.

"Jaci, I have an itch I need scratched." Samantha tugged on my arm. "Now."

"Grace, Sam and I are going to the condo. See you tomorrow?"

Grace sighed. "I'm going to stay with my coven for now, mother."

Good for her. "See you soon, then."

She rushed me and gave me a hug. "I'm glad you understand. Since I've met you, this feeling of responsibility has been in my head. Maybe it's all those meetings I've sat through, they helped me become a leader."

"Good for you, baby girl."

"Shh."

I was concentrating on a picture hanging on a wall in my condo when I heard the zipping sound of a portal opening. Out of the hole stepped two women I already knew, Diedre and Tatiana.

"Hello, ladies," I said. They turned toward me rather than my children. "How can I help you?"

"You will return my sister to me," Diedre growled. "Or face the consequences."

My loud laugh startled both of them. "You? Her?"

"There are more of us," Diedre blustered.

"There are more of us, too," Grace said from behind them.

"How did you find us?" I asked.

"If you don't know, then I shouldn't have to tell you," Diedre replied.

"That's true," I shrugged. "Let me put it politely. Tell me how you got here, PLEASE."

"Following spell," Tatiana blurted out. "How did you do that?"

"Following spell," I repeated to Grace.

"Shit," Grace muttered. "I didn't even think of that."

I grabbed Diedre's arm and pulled her down to the floor and spun her toward the wall. Samantha, sensing something was wrong, grabbed Tatiana's hair and dragged her in the same direction I had sent Diedre sliding.

Grace started running toward her brothers and sisters and had reached them by the time the portal opened. I was walking toward Samantha when another portal opened.

A drone came out of one of the portals and survived two seconds before Grace let out a fireball and vaporized it. She started to line up another shot into the hole when it occurred to me. "Let them come out, they may have hostages!"

Two pair of men came out of the hole nearest me. I had seen that formation before, when my father had taken me to watch tac-teams train. Two men knelt down facing eleven and one, two remained standing covering ten and two.

I was surprised when they started firing projectile weapons rather than the ray-guns that the other teams had used. It wasn't hard to knock them all down from my angle, and Grace did the same thing to her attackers.

More teams came out with the ray guns and started firing them at both me and Grace. The first team had told them where the targets were, a sacrifice of pawns to get our queens.

A dragon appeared from nowhere and vaporized the second team with fire. I looked over my shoulder and Tatiana was in a fighting position. "It's hers," Samantha confirmed.

There weren't any more people coming out of the portals, but they weren't closing, either. "Tatiana, try not to vaporize them, we need their technology."

Tatiana twisted her body, and I saw the dragon pass behind us. "Yes."

I looked over at Grace and she was busy searching and binding the attackers nearest her. Two of my children were helping her while three of the others were in what looked like covering positions.

"Why aren't they closing?" Samantha asked.

"Maybe one of the unconscious ones has the device," I pointed

As if to illustrate my point, the portal closest to Grace closed. She was waving around an intact portal wand.

There was a banging sound on the exit doors, and four guards stormed the gym. Their weapons were instantly pointed at the blue-edged-black hole in the middle of the gym.

Another door was yanked open, three women led by Yelina coming through. "What the hell, Ma'am?"

"We were a little busy to call for help," I indicated the bodies on the floor.

"Why are you here?" Diedre asked Yelina. Yelina chuckled like there was some inside joke to her non-response.

"Tatiana, you can recall your familiar," Samantha said.

"Begging your pardon, but I am not recalling it until that doorway is closed."

"This wand doesn't work on that portal," Grace said as she came up to us. "It should have closed by itself if the other wand was broken."

"But not if it were vaporized," I said. "Don't fret, Tatiana. Your dragon came at a good time. I may not like you, but it was a good call."

"We still need to close it," Samantha said.

I thought for a moment. "What do you say, Yelina? Are you up for a hunting trip?"

"Jaci, no," Samantha protested.

"I can go," Grace said. "I can fold back if they get stuck."

"Grace, you don't have any tactical training," I pointed out.

"I have quite a bit," Grace countered. "Bea ran me through some tac training. I already told you about my JROTC class."

Grace got a raised eyebrow from me. "I'll have to talk to Bea about those courses," I said. Secretly, I was proud of her. "All right, you'll need a sixth."

Tatiana's hand shot up. "I'll go."

Yelina nodded. "You need to be careful of those rifles. From what I heard, they are specifically designed to disable magic users."

"Four of them killed Natasha," Grace added. Tatiana gasped. "Mother brought her back to life, though."

"Be sensible," Diedre interrupted. "You can't just kill a natural immortal with some little ray gun!"

Yelina retrieved a rifle from the weapons pile my children had made. She looked it over, then shot Diedre with it. A shocked Diedre fell to the floor, in obvious pain. "Point proven. We're wasting time. If the little ones are coming, get them some gear."

"I'm okay," Tatiana said.

Yelina grabbed ahold of Tatiana's arm and pulled her toward the nearest wall. "Do you see these holes?"

"Um, yeah."

"Those people were using frangible ammunition composed of actual lead. You are immortal, not invincible. Enough of that shit gets in your torso or through that thick-ass skull of yours, you'll be in too much pain to counterattack. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"It's amazing that you ever made assassin-rank. Go over there with Grace and get ready. She had sense enough not to waste my time."

Samantha was looking back and forth between a pouting Diedre and a thoroughly chastised Tatiana padding across the floor. "While I don't like the situation that brought this about, I enjoyed watching them get taken down several notches."

"Is that little shot by Yelina going to cause some clan battle or something?" I asked.

"Chances are, Diedre won't even mention it," Samantha shrugged.

"She needs to tell your other bosses or whatever about this threat. If they can track Diedre through Halavana, everybody is at risk."

"Can you take me and Diedre and I back to the castle then? And maybe give me a couple of those rifles as well?"

"Sure. Let me get this plan in motion," I indicated the activity in the gym. The number of guards had doubled, and what scared me most was that Grace had donned tactical gear. What The Fuck? My daughter, the commando? Then I remembered her age. She was way beyond the skill level I had when I was her age.

"We'll take good care of her ma'am," Yelina promised me.

"She'll take good care of you, Yelina," I countered. "Is the gunfire coming from inside the gym going to be a problem? I set about freeing neighborhoods from that sound, not be the one to bring it back."

"We sensed your distress and the entire building was enclosed in an enchantment before the gunfire began," Yelina replied. "Your secret is safe, My Queen."

"Shut up."

Yelina went over to the squad that had ordered formed, Grace and Tatiana the middle pair of the six. I watched as they vanished into the portal, two-by-two.

Be safe, Grace.