Bishop Ch. 01

Driving a short distance away, I pulled over to the side of the road and set up my mobile divination spell, hoping it would work.

IX:

The divination looked like it was working. And hooking it up to my GPS map, I found myself again on a dirt and gravel road in the middle of nowhere, but this time in the middle of nowhere, West Virginia. After a few hours driving, I found myself approaching a one room shack that was old back during the Depression. I parked the car out of sight, and using the surrounding trees for cover, snuck in close and peeked into a window that was more dust than glass. Same scenario as last time: one shrunken girl in an aquarium (this time Tiffany), guarded by one backwoods hedge warlock who looked as if the concept of dental hygiene was not only foreign to him, it was a completely alien concept. This one kept on tapping on the aquarium and leering at the girl inside, who was cowering on what looked like a shrunken couch in a tiny, partial living room. The local yokel mage kept on trying to reach into the aquarium but had his hand electrified for the effort. Slow learner, though, because he kept on trying.

Same M.O. as before, I thought to myself. Must be a dupe used by whoever is casting these spells. Which means I lucked out again and got here before the real mastermind could. Which meant I need to act now.

Sneaking around to the front door, I kicked it in while yelling, "F.B.I., Freeze!" The mage spun around and tossed a ball of something that looked definitely unappetizing at me. But my reflexes were still a little sped up after my time with Amber, and the adrenaline flowing through my veins didn't hurt either. I cast a flexi shield spell, which sent the ball flying right back at our hedge wizard. When it hit him, it spread over him and he began to melt. With a loud shriek he disappeared quickly, but probably not quickly enough for either of us.

I "looked" at the containment field on top of the aquarium, and it was the same as before. Whoever made it probably didn't go to too much trouble about making any minor alterations because this spell was way past the goons he had working for him.

Young Tiffany was cowering on the couch. She was wearing a pair of silk pajamas, the bottoms being shorts and showing her legs off to excellent advantage. As I had seen in the picture earlier, her and Amber weren't identical, but they could have been sisters. I also noticed by her hurried breathing that Tiffany shared Amber's delectable chest measurements as well.

"Tiffany, you can calm down now. I'm with the FBI and I'm here to help you." I reached down into the tank, putting my hand palm up next to her. "Right now, we both need to get out of here so I can take you somewhere where we can restore you."

I'll say this for both girls. It can't be easy to have the existence of magic proven to you by being shrunk down and teleported to hillbilly hell. But both were able to keep at least some semblance of their wits about them. Tiffany climbed into my hand and I lifted her gently out of the tank to eye level. As she sat in my hand, tucking her legs underneath her, I gently stroked her hair, which visibly calmed her. Then a thought hit me.

"Tiffany, I'll let you make this decision. I can take you back to the labs of the government agency I work for. But my family has a cabin not too far from here that will work just as well, and I think I can get a few more answers as well. Do you mind if I take you back there?"

Tiffany's eyes were closed, her back arched as my finger made its way down her back and gently massaged her. She shook her head no.

"Fine, let me put you in my pocket and we'll head there now."

She seemed a little disappointed that I was stopping the massage, but settled down into my pocket nicely. I could feel a bit of the psychic connection being established between the two of us, the same as had been established between Amber and me. To be honest, Tiffany was just as attractive as Amber, and I wanted to explore the more enjoyable aspects of that connection. I realized that must have been one of the aspects of the spell. But I also wanted to explore the power aspects more. I had a feeling that whoever I was facing, I was going to need all the juice I could get.

Climbing back into my vehicle, I headed for my ancestral cabin.

(To be continued)