Adelfried

Jim curled his fingers slowly, but not quite into fists. “Why?”

Adelfried nodded. “Remember, you asked me to block the magic, so I did.”

“I’m afraid to ask, but what exactly is below the trapdoor?”

“Here, let me show you.” Adelfried headed off to the closet door which was open with the contents strung out along the hallway. With a wave of his hand the trapdoor opened downward exposing a ladder.

Jim closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. “Is there really a ladder under my closet?”

“Yes, isn’t it wonderful? Follow me.” He descended the ladder as Jim stood openmouthed not saying anything. “I know, it is exciting, isn’t it?”

The ladder descended through the concrete slab of the house and ended in a large room with a concrete floor and walls. He had imbued the room with a natural luminescence to give it a warm feel and plenty of light. After following him down, Jim stood with fisted hands on his hips. For once the man was speechless. Pride welled up in Adelfried. He had done well.

In the far corner was a concrete sphere over six feet in diameter. Adelfried slapped it. “The Root is now fully encapsulated.” He smiled at yet another big word. He was starting to really learn English good. He especially liked adverbs he finally decided.

“That’s good,” Jim said gently, as he looked around the room, then yelled, “But you can’t just build a basement in someone’s house without asking them!”

Adelfried shrunk back startled. “I don’t understand. I did as you asked.”

“Yeah, it’s good you aren’t exposing my family to God knows what kind of deadly magical radiation, but you punched a hole in the slab of my house and built...wait where did you get all the concrete from?”

“Oh, that’s easy once I figured out that—”

“Never mind, it doesn't matter…is this room structurally sound? The whole house and slab are now sitting on what? A foot of unreinforced concrete? I don’t see any support posts.”

“Yes. It is all very secure, very strong. There is no need for concern,” Adelfried said, continuing to beam.

Kae jumped the last few rungs of the ladder. “Isn’t this amazing? Adelfried said he’d build me a walk-in closet down here.” She walked over to a corner furthest away from the orb and stared at the wall. “What about right here? Do you think we could do double doors or—”

“Hold on!” Jim cut her off. “You knew about this secret basement and didn’t tell me? This is why your mom and I can’t trust you. How is this being responsible?”

Kae curled her lips. “I wasn’t keeping it a secret.”

Jim scowled in response before turning to the sound of Ying's feet climbing down the ladder.

Ying looked around with a big smile. “Adelfried, do you think you could change these to stairs? That will make it—”

“Hold on, who said this was staying? I don’t even know if this is secure.” Jim looked at his traitorous wife as she got off the ladder. “And you knew about this too?”

Adelfried turned to Ying. “Yes, I agree stairs would be better. I was in such a hurry that—”

“No stairs! No basement!” Jim was now pacing back and forth. “This isn’t staying, what if the entire house comes crashing down then what?”

“Jim, trust me. This room is magically reinforced,” Adelfried said, in a soothing tone. “Only a very powerful blast could cave it. Trust me, I have done this before.”

“Yeah, in your world. What if things are different here?” Jim fumed.

Ying scoffed. “Okay Mister Safety, relax. The room is already built, and it hasn’t caved in, we’re fine.”

Jim’s head snapped around. “Yet! What if Evan comes down here, won’t he suck the magic out of it and send this whole thing collapsing down?”

Adelfried scratched his beard as he considered the question. Had he sealed all the stones? Sealing ensured the magic would not leach out or be pulled out if Evan touched it. Right?

Jim went into a full panic attack. “You don’t know!”

“No. It is fine.” Adelfried said, calmly. “He only draws magic that is in motion, like in the air. Once an object has been endowed…” Adelfried smiled at his large word choice again. “with magic and sealed, Evan should have no effect on it.”

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Jim grabbed Adelfried’s shoulder. “You said should! You’re not sure?”

“Isn’t this awesome!” Evan said, as he slid down the ladder. Jim spun around towards him terrified as if he were expecting the basement to cave in.

“See, I told you, all is fine. Very strong,” Adelfried said, as he patted him on the shoulder. "No destruction even with Evan here. And now that I am underground, I can work without having to have Evan present to suck the extra magic and when things do not go as expected I am away from everyone…and your tools.”

Ying put an arm around Jim. “Honey, it will be fine. Look, now we don’t have to pay to add on to the house.”

Jim looked at his family as if he were surrounded by the enemy. With defeat his shoulders slumped. “I’ll be in the garage,” he said, clomping up the ladder. “Some of us still fix and build things the old-fashioned way. With our hands.”

Ying turned to Adelfried. “So, I was thinking we should—”

Jim’s voice bellowed from the top of the ladder. “And put in some damn stairs before someone breaks their neck on this ladder.”

Ying started again. “So, as I was saying—”

“And some damn handrails too!”

Nina

It had been weeks with no sign of the mystery wizard, if it even was a wizard. Whatever it was had disappeared from any sensors, which didn’t make sense. They were now forced to follow up on every lead, no matter how unlikely they were to pan out.

Nina wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Why are we here again?” She walked down yet another row of tilled dirt in the middle of a field surrounded by families armed with shovels and folding chairs. The dried soil crunched under her feet as she scanned every inch of it with her specs looking for the slightest hint of ESH radiation. All ESH came from extra-terrestrial diamonds, but when you are in a field littered with microscopic terrestrial diamonds, they played hell on the readings.

Red studied a handheld sensor as he walked down the row next to her. “HQ said with all the diamond dust here, a large ET diamond or a wizard could easily hide here. But I have no idea why a wizard would hide in a hot and sweaty tourist trap.”

“Well, the theory is sound, but the idea is some special kind of stupid.” Nina stopped at a faint orange glow under a rock through her specs. She kicked it out of the way and the glow got brighter. “Let me see that shovel.”

“Did you find something?” Red pulled a small spade out of bag on his shoulder and handed it to her. After a few scoops in the loose dirt, the shovel hit something. She reached in and pulled out an eight-sided metallic object, each facet had a different texture and tint to it. like they consisted of different kinds of metals.

Red’s voice went cold. “Whatever you do, do not let go of that.”

Nina tightened her grip. “Wait what? Why?”

“It’s a herring.” Red took a cautious step closer and held his scanner out to it.

“What do you mean it’s a herring? Like a fish?”

“They’re decoys, designed to give off false signals. What we need to determine is what kind of herring it is. White is harmless, orange just sends out a signal or a stun blast, and red well…let’s just hope it isn’t red.” He tapped the screen of the sensor which let out a loud buzzer sound.

“That doesn’t sound good.” Nina said, turning the object over in her hand, slowly moving it away from her.

Red put the sensor back in his pocket and took a few steps back. “It isn’t. But don’t worry, you can disarm it.”

“Don’t worry? Then why are you stepping backwards?”

Red smiled. “I mean, I have faith in you, but…” he shrugged.

She swallowed. “Yeah, I get it. Okay, so, tell me what to do.”

“Did you feel it click or pop when you picked it up?

“Yeah, I think so.”

Red’s voice was now calm and methodical. “That was the safety pin releasing, which means there is a mechanical spring in there that is being held back by your ESH field. If you break the connection, the spring will fire the igniter. So, we need to find the access panel. Open it and remove the igniter. It’s easy.”

Nina fumbled with the herring, suddenly noticing how heavy it was in her sweaty hands. She twisted and turned it frantically but couldn’t find a seam or screw. “I…I don’t see anything, it’s…it’s…like it’s sealed up tight!”

“Okay…okay…don’t panic.” Red scratched his chin. “You can also try deforming the spring, but that takes a delicate hand.”

“What?” Her chest started to heave as her wet fingers slipped faster and faster along the jaunty angles of the herring. “I…I…I can’t, I can’t do delicate, you know that.”

“Hey! Look at me.” Red now stood inches from her. She met his steady eyes. “You got this. All you have to do is feel inside there and find that spring. Once you do, just crimp it, so it doesn’t fire.”

“You heard Reggie, I can’t do this delicate crap, you want me to flip a car, I’m your girl, but a spring?” She wiped her face to stop the sweat as much as the tears that had started to leak out of her eyes.

“Stop worrying about what you can’t do and find the spring.”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She felt the metal of the herring, and its brass outer shell felt surprisingly cold as she probed it with her mind. After a few seconds, she sensed a series of tin and copper plates, probably placed there to confuse anyone from doing what she was trying to do. A mix of different metals made it hard to sense. Then there was a thick cast iron sphere surrounding a mass of something different, something soft and pliable. C-4. The igniter had to be near that. Then there was a faint twisting sensation. The spring! At the end of it was a firing cap. “I found it, it’s right under my palm.”

Red continued in his calming voice, “Okay. Now the hard part, just tweak that spring, gently, and the first beer is on me.”

Over and over, she tried to get a grip on the faint twist of the metal spring, but it felt like trying pickup dental floss with her foot. “You sure I can’t just put a force field around it?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Can you put a force field between you and something in your hand?”

Her heart thumped in her chest. “No…well, what about—"

“Nina! Bend the damn spring!”

The feeling of the spring was there, taunting her with its daintiness. What if she nudged it the wrong way? Her neck went tight, and she held her breath. In a final act of desperation, she forced the spring assembly backwards away from the C-4 with an angry grunt. The spring shot out of the herring like a bullet. It ripped through her hand and hit a tree across the field. She looked down at the hole in her hand and the broken herring.

Then the pain set in.

“Ow! Fuck, that hurt.”

Red burst out laughing. “Never seen that technique before, but you’re still alive so I guess it worked.” He took the herring, now stained with her blood, and dropped it into the bag before wrapping an arm around her. “Congrats, you’re still alive.”

She squeezed her hand to slow the bleeding. “Why was this here?”

“Probably the Sovs trying to throw us off the scent and trying to take one of us out.” Red headed back to the car. “Come on, I have a field bandage in the car.”