Chapter 5
Uncharted
Dr. Grier stood there, right behind the little girl. The fact that she had no mana, or aspects of the world were a dead giveaway that she had at one time had powers and then those same powers had been corrupted.
It was not uncommon for unique Vampirism or cases of Lykanthropy to spring up out of the blue, where the one who was infected was a particularly strong magician. Most of the time the transition period would dissolve any lingering magic potential left in the victim. Though there were some cases where the magic would remain intact, even after the final transformation was complete.
This last chance, that was the condition that Dr. Grier feared the most. If this girl was someone that was destined to be so gifted that they retained their magical abilities even through the transitioning phase, then she would be a nightmare. Werewolves, or those who had completed the process of subverting their genetic code to Lykanthropy, were tough to begin with. They could age, blend into society and even hold down regular nine to five jobs. In fact, of all the supernatural werewolves were likely the toughest to deal with, in terms of rooting them out.
Flash.
There was a reaction. The magic that had been dispersed into the tiny girl’s body had a clear reaction.
Gasp.
Seeing the reaction of her magic within the girl, a hitch formed in Dr. Grier’s throat. While she could mentally say she was ready to end the spread of the Lykanthropy virus wherever she could, saying so and doing so to a seven-year-old girl were two different things. Particularly when the girl was as bright and intelligent as little Misha was.
“She wasn’t bitten by any stray animals recently, a feral dog, a stray cat?” Dr. Grier asked with a cracking voice, as her body betrayed the fear she was now feeling.
“No, she doesn’t even leave the house.” Andrea said.
Hearing that, Dr. Grier nodded. Mentally she was going through a checklist of places where the originator of the Lykanthropy virus could be. If the attack didn’t occur near her house, then the next likely place would mean the attack took place at her school.
These thoughts and more about hunting down wild animals that would dare target little girls at school came to her mind, but were then instantly discarded, as the magic glowed and gave its final conclusion.
Black pulse: once, twice, thrice.
“Clear?” Dr. Grier said, seeing the results and then mentally going through what they could mean. She was clear, not only was she clear of the Lykanthropy virus, but she was completely immune to the virus. In fact, she could eventually donate her blood to help other victims of Lykanthropy and assuming the virus didn’t have too much time to sink in, her platelets and metachondrial could be used to heal those infected.
Yes, metachondrial, the unique organism from space that seems to devour standard mitochondrial strands and replace them with one of the three main variants. Namely, with the Vampirism, Lykanthropy, or Magi variant. Of the three, the Magi variant is often seen as the weakest and most prone towards being eradicated by the other two.
Deep breathing.
In the matter of seconds, Dr. Grier’s mind went on a whirlwind of ideas. A mage had never shown the ability to be immune to Lykanthropy. In fact, Lykanthropy was often seen as a bane for mages, as the magi metachondrial was often devoured upon contact with the Lyanthropy metachondrial strains. Yet, here was this girl, who not only had magical control over two different elements, but according to her magical pulses came back as immune to Lykanthropy.
Seeing the girl, Dr. Grier had a myriad of thoughts cross her mind. Everything from finding ways to permanently make oneself immune to both Lykanthropy and Vampirism, while maintaining control over the elements. To the more subdued fact that this girl who can clearly use magic was able to avoid the standard detection methods used. This meant, she could be trained to be a deep cover spy, one who was unafraid of possibly being infected with the Lykanthropy virus.
Before she could delve too much deeper into the possibilities the girl had. Her thoughts were interrupted.
“Is everything okay?” Andrea finally asked, a note of fear in her voice.
“Okay?” Dr. Grier repeated, then shaking her head she went on. “Things are better than okay. Your daughter is truly unique, I hope you know that.”
Wide-eyed nodding.
A now completely confused Andrea just nodded her head in disbelief, trying to understand where this conversation was going to go next.
“Well, I think it is safe to say that your daughter is, well I don’t know what to say. She can clearly hide her affinity towards magic, she is not infected with vampirism, and best of all, she is completely immune to Lykanthropy.” Dr. Grier said, her words filling with more and more excitement as time went on.
“Which means?” Andrea asked.
Blinking.
Dr. Grier blinked at the woman, was she daft? How did she not know how important such a finding was. Then shaking her head, she realized, the mother before her was a mundane. Someone who somehow did not know about the metachondrial war that was happening on the planet at this very moment. Then while looking at Andrea, another question came to her mind, as she wondered how the mother could have passed on the unique metachondrial strand to her daughter, without herself having that same metachondrial strand? To her knowledge metachondrial was passed on by the mother to offspring, meaning that the mother must have the same metachondrial strain, right?
Then there was the rationalization that the metachondrial strain held by the mother would make it so that she like her daughter would show up as a mundane, while clearly having the ability to access the gift, as displayed by her daughter.
“This could change everything.” Dr. Grier said, as her mind raced with possibilities. A new magical strain that somehow hid in plain sight and was seemingly immune to one of the two main threats to their kind.
“What?” Andrea asked.
“You two are gifted, and if you wouldn’t mind, I would like for you two to come to our facilities for a bit of testing.” Dr. Grier said.
“But you just said we are okay?” Andrea asked a bit confused.
Hearing the tone in her voice, Dr. Grier nodded, “I understand how this might seem. But think about it, your daughter clearly has abilities beyond what normal science can describe.”
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With that Andrea’s face and body shrunk back, a sign of not trusting or believing what she was hearing. Seeing the change in demeanor, Dr. Grier tried to change her tactic.
“Your daughter is a mage, just like me.” Dr. Grier said, then holding up her empty hand, she too created a ball of light that floated over her hand.
Astonishment.
Andrea seeing the glowing ball of light stared on in wide eyed amazement. Then a more skeptical look filled her face as she knew there were many things that could cause similar reactions.
“Now, it has been years since I last practiced this. In fact, my lack of ability was why I went to the public sector, but here.” Dr. Grier said, as she made the tiny ball of light dance and flutter from the palm of her hand.
The whole thing seemed whimsical; the only problem was that for Dr. Grier this was the extent of her capabilities. Her magical potential was never that strong, and her skills over said potential were minimal at best, making this whole process appear to be the equivalent of trying to do a trick you could do easily as a child as an adult and failing. Well, failing to Dr. Grier’s standards, to Andrea’s much lower standards, a person who was clearly getting used to the idea of magic being part of the world, her whole demeanor changed.
Shimmering.
The ball of light danced and fluttered its way over, until Andrea held out her hand. Then with a last-minute surge, Dr. Grier managed to move the ball to the outstretched hand, where it then rested for a second, before dispersing into a burst of tingling energy. Energy that caused bits and parts of Andrea to feel alive at the sudden and unexpected swell of energy.
“My hand, it tickles.” Andrea said, trying to explain the sensation that was washing over her as she looked on at her hand where the glowing ball had just disappeared from.
Nodding, Dr. Grier just nodded her head and breathed out deeply. The whole process had been a lot more taxing on her than she had thought. It had been a long time since she last had a shaping exercise. And now that the process was over, she could tell why it was called an exercise.
Sweating.
Sweat billowed on her forehead, as she realized the activity was a bit more intense than she thought. Having seen the girl do not one but two different elements earlier, without so much as seeming to strain, made Dr. Grier realize even more how special and gifted Misha was.
That was why, despite having been told not to, Dr. Grier decided to use her family’s name and influence to help this process. Just having the mother and daughter who has dual affinities come to the family would be exceptional. It might even be enough for her to prove to her family that her wanting to go out and strike out on her own was a good thing.
“See, magic does exist.” Dr. Grier finally managed to say, while she was still clearly tired, she was able to hide her distress from the others. At least her voice wasn’t breaking like it had when she was trying to cast her spell. Honestly, if her family thought she was a disgrace before, they definitely would now.
“That tingling sensation. That is your body’s natural reaction to foreign mana. Honestly, you have the most unique indicators I have ever seen in a mage. Capable of dual casting.” Dr. Grier said, pointing to Misha. “Then being completely immune to Lykanthropy, the virus that always turns its victims into a hairy were-creature.”
“Creature?” Andrea asked.
“Yes, there are more than one variant of the Lykanthropy strains going around. The most prevalent are the wolve strains, but pretty much any mammalian predator can have a strain of Lykanthropy.” Dr. Grier said.
“So were bobcats?” Andrea asked, a note of derision in her voice.
Seeing the look, Dr. Grier couldn’t blame Andrea, as the entire concept would seem far fetched for most. This was why she doubled down.
“Your daughter held both lightning and fire within her palms. You yourself caught my light sphere. Yet, your apparent showstopper is the idea of a were-lynx running around?” Dr. Grier stated.
“I don’t know.” Andrea said, suddenly feeling flustered from the whole ordeal. In her mind, there was a part of her that wanted this to be real. No, a part that needed this to be real. It was like she had finally been invited to the magical world that she somehow knew existed just behind the curtain of civilization. A world of magic and wizardry, with monsters and beasts. A world that she was devastated about not actually being invited to, until now. Only once her daughter showed up, was she finally seemingly accepted into this world.
Yet, who was Dr. Grier, just a random psychiatrist recommended by the police, after her daughter had helped to uncover a horrific event.
Then thinking about the event once again led her to thoughts on her father, Misha’s grandfather. Thoughts of him and his actions came to mind. Was he one of these creatures, a monster?
There were so many doubts, and again part of Andrea’s rational mind told her that this was not real. That this was a con artist who was trying to lure her in for her daughter. That was the thought that clung to her mind, what was it that people said? When you strip away all the impossible answers, then the only answer that remains, regardless of how improbable was the only solution?
Well in this case, the only solution that Andrea could come up with was that there was a magic trick, something with Misha’s gloves or something. No wait, she wasn’t wearing her gloves today, but why? No, it doesn’t matter. Right now, Andrea needed to leave.
She needed to leave, and to take her daughter with her, and to never come back. That was the plan, the goal even.
“Well, thank you for your time, but I think we should be going now.” Andrea said, shakily standing to her feet.
In her heart, Andrea knew this was a chance. But what that chance was for had yet to be determined. For all she knew this could be some odd hallucination she was having, yes, maybe some form of incense that caused psychosis to happen.
Sniff.
While Andrea couldn’t smell any odd vapors, her mind told her that there were plenty of substances that were odorless that could cause a hallucinatory effect on people. As such, her goal right now was to get out, to think about things rationally and to most importantly, she needed to get away from the odorless aromas of this room, that she was clearly now able to smell now that she was focusing on them.
“Come on Misha, let’s go.” Andrea said, holding out her hand towards her daughter.
Obediently Misha rose up, and with saying a word of protest walked over to Andrea and grasped her outstretched hand.
Relief.
At that, slight reassurance of her daughter, Andrea let out a breath of tension that she didn’t realize she had been holding until that point. Her daughter trusted her implicitly, a fact that she was particularly grateful for.
“Please, you must…” Dr. Grier said, trying to stop the pair from leaving.
“We must go.” Andrea said, all but dragging Misha and her small legs past the therapists. Instinctively Andrea used her body as a shield to protect her daughter from the therapist, who even now was trying to maneuver her way between them.
“Here, take this, please.” Dr. Grier said.
Pausing for a second, Andrea could easily make out the fact that Dr. Grier now held out a card. Though this one was different from the one she received initially. This one was black with gold lettering on it and had an intricate background.
“No.” Andrea said, not wanting to touch something that might be laced with acid, or some other chemical. It was crazy to think, but then again, Andrea would be the first to admit her mind was not in the best space at the moment.
“Please just take this, and this meeting will be free.” Dr. Grier pleaded.
Lip pluck.
Andrea bit down on her lower lip, as she thought about the action.
“Fine, here.” Andrea said, thinking to herself, before holding out her purse and letting the doctor drop the card within.
Dr. Grier paused for a second, before locking eyes with Andrea.
“You don’t trust me, do you?” Dr. Grier asked, a note of pain filling her voice.
“Would you trust yourself?” Andrea retorted.
Pausing for a second, Dr. Grier took a breath and then realized, “no I likely would not.”
At that Andrea just nodded, at least they had that in common, she thought. Then a deeper part of her told her that this might be more of a way to get her to empathize with the doctor, and that caused even more self-deprecating thoughts to form within her mind.
No, in her mind she would not let this happen.
In her mind, she knew what she must do.
Dr. Grier looked like she wanted to argue, but then after a second dropped the card into the open purse. A glance down showed that the purse was everything a mundane might need. Breath mints, a hand purse, keys, a few tissues, a pair of glasses, and mace strong enough to repel a bear.
Honestly it was the last item that caused Dr. Grier to respect the woman before her most. She almost wanted to call out the fact that she was clearly using bear repellant, but then stopped herself.
Plop.
The card landed with an audible clop inside the bag. Dr. Grier wanted to say more, but it was clear that Andrea had made up her mind about the next course of action.
With the card in the bag, Andrea sealed her purse with one hand, a task that she only really learned to do as a mother. Then with everything secured she walked out past reception.
“Ma’am, you need to pay.” The receptionist shouted.
Andrea was about to yell at the woman, feeling that she had just been lied to, but before she could say anything Dr. Grier came from behind her and smoothed it all out.
“This one we need to file under the special category.” Dr. Grier stated.
“Special category?”
“Yes, in fact mark them as that category from here on out.” Dr. Grier stated.
Hearing that, the hairs on the back of Andrea’s neck rose, as it was clear this was some type of code the two had already established. But for the life of her Andrea couldn’t understand what it was, or what it meant.
Andrea locked gazes with the receptionist.
“My mistake, you are good.” The Receptionist said, then hitting a button waved Andrea and her daughter through the magnetically sealed door.
The two got in the Andrea’s car. A car that was well past its lifespan, but somehow always managed to continue to start and drive well. In fact, the only times Andrea could recall her ever having a problem with the car was the one time she was on her way to pick up Misha from school. The motor sounded like it was on its death bed, but then just as Misha got near her, the car started purring and running smoothly.
At that thought, Andrea turned back to look at her daughter.
Her daughter was already in her seat, strapped in, hands placed in her lap and eyes staring forward. Seeing her daughter like that, Andrea was once again surprised at just how intelligent and poised her daughter clearly was.
“You ready?” Andrea asked.
“Yes.” Misha said.
Sigh.
“Okay then.” Andrea said, realizing she was doing the right thing as she started her car.
Hitch, cough, purr.
As always, the car hitched violently to life for a moment, then after a second or two of sitting idly, the engine smoothed out, and then began running smoothly.
Looking back one last time at her daughter, Andrea could almost swear that there was a slight golden glow to her eyes. Was she? The thought hit her that her daughter might be affecting her vehicle as they sat, but then she quickly dismissed the idea for being crazy. No, that can’t be it.
Then putting the car into reverse, she backed out of her spot. Then pulled forward and began heading down the road. Only once they were away from the main street, and on one of the side roads that led to their house did Andrea open up her purse, rummage around to find the card.
Jolt.
There was a certain electrical discharge once she touched the card. For a moment she didn’t know what to do, but then thinking about it, she rolled down her window slightly and flicked the black card with golden lettering out her window.
Breathe.
With that, the tension she had been feeling within her chest slowly dissipated as she let out a sigh of relief.
The relief was short lived however, as in that next second she saw the blue flashing lights of a police vehicle flare to life behind her.
Wailing siren.
And like that, the day that could not get worse, did.