After we made it through the early morning traffic, we were able to relax and enjoy the scenery. Well, sort of. Most of the scenery was still dead because it was winter, but I could imagine the flowers and the wildlife everywhere. After bitter cold and snow had ruled for a few weeks, it was going to take more than a single week of warm weather to bring nature back to life.
Even though Nate, Rick and I could communicate while we rode without any outside assistance, we had the bikes equipped with CB radios and headsets. If we weren’t wearing our full face helmets, interference from the wind sometimes happened, but the radios came in handy when someone needed a potty break. I’d tried to teach everyone a set of hand signals, so we wouldn’t have to worry about the headsets, but it didn’t go over very well with the guys.
They thought making up their own was a good idea. I couldn’t think of a logical reason to need a signal that indicated a cloud looked like an elephant. I tried to give the new guys to our group a little leeway before I ruled them as nutty as Rick, but they were well on their way.
With my Cliffs Notes version of the meeting with Eva, I forgot to tell the guys I was planning a trip for when we were done in New Bedford. Evil me took a second to decide whether to tell them while we were driving down the road or wait and spring it on them. I was feeling generous, and I needed to figure out if we’d have any accommodations.
I wasn’t sure how long we’d need to stay for whatever training Nadine could give me. I liked having a plan when it came to travel, and with the well-travelled group of men I was with, I assumed one of them would know someone in Salem.
“Who has friends in Salem?” I asked over the radio.
“Salem what, Oregon?” Kyle answered back.
“No, Salem, Massachusetts,” I replied, confused why in world would he’d think Oregon when we were travelling the opposite direction?
“Oh well, Oregon would have been a yes, Massachusetts is a no,” he replied, as did the rest of the group.
“Are you guys joking? I thought you’d covered every speck of dirt on this planet.”
“That’s true, and you’ve been there too, but it wasn’t called Salem when we’ve visited in the past. I highly doubt anyone we interacted with is still living there. We can make some calls if you want to talk to someone about the area.” I didn’t doubt Nate could find someone, but I was sure he’d figured out where my original question was going.
“I guess we’ll all be tourists then. We’re going take a trip up there once we’re done in New Bedford,” I told them.
“Did you want to see if they’d try you as a witch? We don’t have to go all the way there for a test. Since we’re close to the ocean, we can just tie you up and throw you in to see if you float.” Rick suggested.
I heard the rest of the guys chuckle at his joke, and thought about driving along next to them and trying to kick each of them. Telling Rick he told horrible jokes didn’t have the proper effect when everyone else egged him on.
“Sometimes I can’t believe we’re related, unless the oxygen got cut off to your brain for a little while in the womb. Eva was nice enough to give me a name of a sorceress who could help me learn to control my power better. She claimed Nadine was the closest one, and it sounded like she wouldn’t be against teaching me the ropes,” I explained. “Of course she hasn’t met me yet. So there’s still a chance she might not help.”
“As long as she doesn’t have evil plans for world domination, I think we’ll be fine,” Vinnie said. “I know how frustrated you’re getting about not being able to tap into that part of your power source, so any help will make our lives better. Did she mention anything else about your magic?”
I didn’t think my frustration had been that apparent. If Vinnie was subtly complaining about it, I was doing a poor job of covering it up. I’d barely started using my sorceress powers and they were sidelined. I was more frustrated about not understanding things than missing an ability I’d lived my whole life without.
“The only other thing she said, which I’d already figured out, was that doing magic comes with a price, hence my headaches and the memory loss. She seemed to think I had great potential and that the memory loss was worth the power boost. So far, I’m not in agreement.”
“Well, we need to get it all figured out so you can use the rhyming book I’m getting you as a wedding present. No sorceress can live without one,” Rick said.
“What did you eat this morning, Dumb Flakes? With Vinnie around I don’t think I need a book to rhyme? I’m pretty sure he could figure out something that rhymed with orange, even if it’s in a foreign language,” I replied.
“When you get your memories back, that won’t be an issue, since you know every language there is to know,” Nate supplied. “If you get the sorceress stuff figured out and have unlimited words to use for spells, we’re all in trouble.”
“So, back to that prophecy we’ve all been skating around and trying to digest,” Joseph steered us towards another topic. “It’s twenty-twelve and the Internet is full of lunatics talking about the Mayan calendar and such ending this year, so I’m guessing this big swing of power is fixing to happen soon. What I don’t understand is the whole part about peace amongst us and humans. Humans don’t even know about us, so why would Avery have to do anything to make it better?”
I’d been curious about that myself. I wasn’t sure how humans didn’t have proof we existed. There were movies that hinted, but most of them included things like vampires, which of course weren’t real.
“I agree, that part doesn’t make any sense,” Nate said.
“With the warlock army out doing silly stuff in towns like the one we’re headed to, isn’t it just a matter of time before the humans get suspicious?” I asked. “Maybe that’s the warlock’s goal, to reveal us and force us to fight on two fronts. It makes a little bit of sense. He didn’t do too well trying to thin the herd in Alaska, so he has to regroup and find another way to weaken us.”
“But how would humans really know who to be scared of? It’s not like they’ve noticed us living amongst them all these years,” Liam stated.
“True, unless he has some kind of spell that makes us glow,” I said while I thought of other explanations. “Maybe it won’t really be outing us per se, but it might make the humans suspicious of everyone. Imagine even within families, a husband wondering if his wife can really change into another shape or cast a spell on him. Everyone will start believing the stuff they read in books. It would be chaos, and that seems to be exactly what this guy wants.”
“What do you think we can do to stop it? We can’t travel to every city and magically fight the bad guys and wipe everyone’s mind,” Joseph stated.
“No, even when we get our teams set up, that will be impossible. Although the wiping of people’s mind idea makes me think Vinnie and I need to spend some time thinking about biological type weapons that could potentially make a room of people forget what just happened. How awesome would that be?
“Back on track, I really think our first step is going to have to be a reveal of some sort under our own circumstances. What do you think the other uniques would say about going public?” I asked.
“As you saw in Eek, a lot of us hate having to hide who we are and changing our names every twenty years or so. That being said, I don’t think many would like to have to go into some government database,” Joseph said.
“No, that will have to be avoided at all costs. I want us to be able to reveal ourselves in a way that’s nonaggressive, but at the same time strong, so we don’t end up as lab rats,” I responded.
“Any ideas on how to do that? I doubt changing into a phoenix in the middle of the Times Square is the best way to go about this,” Kyle said. “Us berserkers don’t really have a big reveal like you, unless someone ticks us off, so no matter what you decide, we can only provide moral support on this venture.”
“Changing in public isn’t exactly what I’m thinking. What we need to do is get access to a high ranking of
ficial. Someone we think may be sympathetic to the cause. We need to pick people amongst our groups who would be good representatives. I know we have people on police forces and I imagine in the military. Those would be good people to show a sense of patriotism. That goes a long way in this country,” I said, just spouting off ideas that came to mind.
“I think any leader of their group should be involved in some way. We’ll need everyone’s support on this matter,” Nate said. “And, Avery, the prophecy says you lead this, so you better be prepared to sprout your own wings.”
“I am,” I said, even though the thought made me a little nervous. A year ago, I would’ve laughed in his face, but I’d have to put my big girl pants on and get prepared to finish what the stupid warlock started. “How soon do you think we could get the leaders together when we return home?”
“For something this important, I’m thinking it would take only a week. There are at least thirty people we’ll need to call in just to cover the shifters this would mostly affect,” Rick said. “I don’t know what to do about just run of the mill magical beings like Pegasus. They can’t exactly fly in for a visit.”
“No, and I think for now we make a phone call and let them know what we’re doing, but let’s not hint to anyone that they exist. I think sticking to just a shifter reveal at first will be more acceptable,” Nate said.
“Being the voice of reason here, are you really sure this is a road we want to go down? What if the prophecy is just a bunch of crap?” Joseph asked. “We could be exposing ourselves for no reason.”
“Maybe you’re right,” I said. “I personally know nothing about these things, but you have to admit, if enough reports get out about people being able to carry cars around, humans aren’t going to sit quiet for long. We live in a world of social media and I’d be surprised if there isn’t already a blog out there collecting all these weird phenomena.”
“You’re right, stupid computers. Sometimes I wish they were never invented. No offense to you, Vinnie,” Joseph quickly added.
“None taken. In this case I agree. Social media adds about fifty minutes to my daily downloads, and maybe only a percent of the information is something I’d be able to use. The fact that little Jimmy learned to use the potty today, isn’t something I care about,” Vinnie replied.
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. The thought of Vinnie scanning through everyone’s tweets on a daily basis had to be one of the funniest things that ever crossed my mind. The fact that he could catalog all the new social media posts within a single day spoke to how well he’d tweaked his processors.
“You should write a book about all the stupid things people say on Twitter. I bet you’d make a killing,” I told him. He’d shared a few of the more idiotic things he’d found during his downloads and most of them made me worry about the mental well-being of the human race.
“I could probably make a whole series out of it. I’d call it something like ‘Think Before You Tweet’,” he replied. “So, about this high ranking official you guys want to reveal yourselves to, any ideas on who it should be? I can run some background information, so we can decide if they’re a good match. I’d like to verify we aren’t outing Avery to an idiot. I’ve lived with scientists poking me, and I won’t allow the same thing to happen to her.”
There were times when Vinnie’s protection of me was a little creepy. No matter what everyone else said, I still didn’t think his interests were romantic. He just wanted to keep me safe since I offered him freedom.
“Well, with Avery and me working for the FBI, I imagine getting in to see the director wouldn’t be that difficult. I’ve been with the Bureau for a little while now, and I’m not exactly at the bottom of the ladder. I’ve worked some high profile cases over the years and can use one of them as an excuse to get us in the door,” Nate informed us.
“I actually like that idea,” I said. “I knew we wouldn’t be getting in to see the President, but Director Milton is the type of high-ranking person I was thinking about.”
“Great, so we have the beginnings of a plan. We can start making our calls to the group leaders when we get into town, and when we get back home, we can iron out the details. Right now, though, I’m running low on gas, so we need to stop to refuel and stretch our legs,” Joseph said.
We did as he commanded and stopped at the next exit. After we refueled and regained the feeling in our butts, we got back on the road. New Bedford was only another hour away. We finished the trip in radio silence as we each pondered what the world would be like if we revealed ourselves. Personally, I thought it was probably past time we came out of the shadows.
CHAPTER 7
Every superhero needs a great costume