Johan Birch

Julie whistled. "The lead was in your system before that event. It saved your life."

"And?" Melissa asked.

"How about a bracelet?" I asked. "If you can't go the tattoo route at the moment, a bracelet should work."

"Sounds like a familiar idea," Julie agreed. "It would have to be a pair."

"Bracelets," Melissa scoffed. "Really?"

I smiled at Julie. "Nobody said they had to be visible."

"You're absolutely right. I can put the binding spell on the inside and the invisibility spell on the outside. It'll hold until we can figure out how the lead got into Kyle's system in the first place and how to get it out."

"What about the therapeutic mud baths of Santa Barbara?" I asked. It had worked for Nikki after all.

"It would if it were surface absorption and in the blood," Julie replied. "Any heavy metals get pulled out through the sweat glands. This is in Kyle's tissues, layered in the fat..."

"Am not!" Kyle protested.

"Absorbed into the muscle and even in the brain," Julie finished. It's not going to be easy to get out. And Kyle?"

"Yes?"

"Pulling that lead out of your system will hurt like hell," Julie said. "Gemma would have to do that work, magic can't help."

"Bracelets?" Melissa demanded. "When can we get them?"

Julie held out her hand and snapped her fingers. Two bracelets appeared, shiny stainless, hexes already engraved into them. "Fast enough, Miss Priss? You shouldn't be so demanding of people who are trying to help you, Melissa."

"And a tad bit grateful to the people who actually do help you," Nora added. "And apologetic when you insult a person without cause."

"Rowr," Julie chuckled.

"Pull the claws in, Kitten," I ordered. I couldn't help but chuckle myself. Nora was the smallest person in the room, but as my companion-guardian, she could rip new holes in anybody there.

"Yes, sir," Nora mumbled. Gold Star for her.

Kyle took the bracelets from Julie. They vanished the second he slipped them onto his wrists. "Good enough," he said.

"Good enough," I echoed.

***

I didn't stalk the show too much going forward, mostly because I wanted to find a way to get off Melissa Johnson's shit list.

The following Friday I did go to the soundstage and there was nobody there. My first call was going to Joseph, but he beat me to it. "Johan, it's not what it looks like. We wrapped production early this week and sent the folks on a three-day."

"Isn't that kind of odd?" I asked.

"Believe me, it is. I don't care though, just saved us two hundred eighty grand in production costs."

"Then that should prove to you that it can't be magic, Joe," I said.

"The girls, the consultants, don't agree. If there is any magic in the studio, it's from Kyle."

Neat.Starshine.

"Well, I guess I will have to find some other soul to bother," I mused.

"If you feel you must still bother Kyle and Melissa, she's having a party at her house tonight," Joe offered. "It's way out in the boonies, but the house is to die for."

That glow that Jaci had seen that one night from Rowan's driveway? I wouldn't be able to get within a hundred meters of that house.

"Not a good idea, Joe."

"I'll make her invite you, you did save her show, after all."

"That'll just breed animosity, Joe. Thanks for the thought."

"Have a good weekend, Johan," Joseph said.

I missed being able to fold and hop planes of existence. Petra, Aysun, and Nora had went to the plane called Uliona to have a mini-vacation of their own.

Joe was obviously going to Melissa's party, so no mogul hanging around with him. Maybe I'd go somewhere peaceful, like Laurel, North Carolina.

I called up my hanger and told my flight crew to prep my jet for flight to North Carolina. I'd fly to that little strip outside Asheville and drive the rest of the way into Laurel. I did call Graham to get my invitation, he agreed that it had been too long since I had been there.

The strip outside of Asheville was closed to night traffic. Their lights were down, and they didn't have a working ILS. I made a note to secure that equipment for them. My diversion wasn't too bad, one of my guardian angel assistants had called ahead and had a car ready for me at the hangar. I smoothly parked my plane, did my post flight procedures.

A text came as I was checking the car over. It was Gregory, giving me a '4' score for my solo cross-country flight. I sent him a very rude emoji in return.

The Laurel town line was manned, actually wo-manned, by a pair of officers. They very politely told me to go back the way I had come. I turned my car around and went back down the road about two kilometers and called Graham. He was understandably confused and promised to fix everything by the time I returned to the city limits sign.

Sure enough, one of the officers was out of the car and waved me on through. I actually felt the warding as I passed through it. It wasn't the magic warding anymore, they had switched over to the warding sticks that Artemis and Gemma had created.

Graham was waiting for me at the town parking lot in a battery-powered cart. "Just a spur of the moment trip?" He asked.

"Sure, why not? Everything is going well, the wife and some of the family are on Uliona. I wanted to get away from the city for a while."

"You should have planned a little better, Johan," Graham chuckled. "I don't see any luggage."

Oops.

"I'm not used to taking care of stuff like that," I admitted.

"It's okay, I'm sure we can find something suitable for you, this is a textile town after all. Hop on."

The little cart went pretty fast. We pulled up to a building five minutes later. It looked familiar...It was bigger. The sign was also new: 'Birch Textile, a Division of Birch America.'

"Neat."

"Petra admitted to stealing my White Binder from your pile, she wanted this to be a surprise should you wander out yonder."

"It was a good surprise," I nodded.

"Let's go inside your factory, Johan."

The outside deceived me on the size of the building. It was deep, almost twice as deep as it was wide. At least as far as I could tell.

I heard the gentle hum of 'winders' and 'knitters' running. There were sure to be many of those as well. "How did you do all this in...what, two years?"

"Four, Johan. From the time we unveiled the winder prototype, to three weeks ago. Your shop has been churning out the machines and we have been putting them to use."

"You have been getting your percentage, right?" I asked.

"Fifty-fifty, just like we agreed," Graham nodded.

"So how did you get this place built while keeping Laurel private?"

"Matter of logistics. We have the warding sticks and have added a little twist to them. We took the incoming roads to the town and put them under a dazzle."

"I still saw the road," I said.

"That's because you have an invitation, a permanent one. I think those young ladies guarding the entrance were sensing your bodyguard and that's why they told you to bugger off."

Oh, that.

"They know better now," Graham promised. "Next surprise."

"Goodie."

Our trip was to the part of the building where the carbon fiber for my jets was 'knit.' This particular plane was for Joseph Bruckberg and the dye job was featuring a collage of my favorite points from his movies and TV Shows.

"I haven't heard of the plans for your plane, Graham."

"Johan, I may not be able to do linear folds, but Halavana works just fine for me. Plus, I would prefer not to be trapped in an aircraft while sorcerers take pot shots at me."

"Chicken," I teased.

"I heard about your little accident. Magicians and wizards on a plane, that's begging to be shot down."

"The sorcerers weren't really after the magicians, they were after plants."

"Do tell," Graham said.

"When we were in Australia, my assistant Nora..."

"Kitten?" Graham asked.

"That is a pet name, Graham. Personal."

"Nora is somewhat of a celebrity in Laurel, Johan," Graham stopped the cart. "It seems that some of the women in town picked up your pet name for Nora and tried calling her out. There were four of them, and Nora wasn't having any of it."

Immortals acting their ages.

"I can imagine," I nodded.

"Nora went over to them and very politely asked the woman to repeat herself. In the middle of her reply, Nora froze the other three in place and snagged the big-mouth's ear and pulled her down."

"Nora had 'the conversation' with her. I've seen it up close, it is not pretty."

"By the time Nora let her go, the four of them were bawling their eyes out. They will not tell anyone else what she said." Graham sighed. "Can you tell me why Nora is so... connected to you?"

"I can tell you that we almost died protecting each other, Graham," I replied.

"Can you share?"

"Over a beer and a cigar," I nodded.

"Deal."

Rather than take me to the bar, which was actually open at twenty-three hours, he sped the cart down a street and pulled into a driveway in front of a ranch-style house. He directed me to the patio, and brought out a six-pack of my favorite beer and magic stogie for each.

"You tell me your story and I'll answer your questions," Graham promised.

I started with telling him how Petra had picked Nora. Little Nora was actually having some dirty thoughts about the boss and Petra asked if she wanted to act on them. I left out the part where Petra had picked up on Nora's thoughts while Nora was masturbating in my office bathroom.

"A consort, huh?"

"Companion," I corrected him.

"I understand," Graham nodded. "My wife wanted me to never be lonely, and I wasn't until they both passed at the same time."

"Yes." He had told Jaci that story, had her crying.

Graham's wife and companion had been trapped in a cave-in. Their bodies were pinned and they couldn't get out, even with magic. They had taken their last breaths together, Graham feeling them when their souls eclipsed.

I told him about Nora gathering the plants for me. My directive to get plants together from everywhere on earth that I visited to see how they would live in the simulated Mars area. It was the energy of the plants that had attracted the ire of the sorcerers, not the magicians.

Graham asked me how I knew that for sure, and I told him about the attack on Jaci Stone. That battle with six sorcerers had been one of the steps to her awakening. He was suitably impressed, then I showed him the pictures of the plants Nora had acquired for me. The burned plane wreckage around the planters gave him another thousand words.

Then I told him what happened. We were under attack by sorcerers and Aysun had folded the jet to the desert where my pilot had landed. Since I couldn't fold out of the plane, I had scooped Nora up and made a run for it. I had tried to shield her body with my own, and she had shielded us both with her magic when the sorcerers tried blowing us out of existence.

Nora had briefly lost her immortality, but it had returned when gave birth to our fourth child.

Graham then spilled the details about the house. There had been some newer construction on the other side of town to accommodate the people he had to hire on for the expansion of his textile companies; and mine. The previous owner of this particular house gave it to Graham and he was giving it to me.

"This makes you a permanent resident now, Johan. Any time, any way you come into town, and pretty much any person you come into town with, they won't need to stop at the line."

"I don't want it, Graham," I said.

"Of course you do. Quiet, out-of-the-way place, even farther away from the city life than your place in North Angeles."

This wasn't working. "I promise to think about it, Graham. I need to go."

"Johan, Petra left a note for you on the counter in there. Go ahead and read it, I'll take you back to the parking lot if you decide to go."

A trap.I should have found somewhere else to go.

"Okay," I nodded.

The letter inside was handwritten in Petra's beautiful script:

Johan,

My love.It's time for you to take a little vacation from it all.You haven't been the same since you ordered the death of those people in warehouse eighteen.

Graham had told me about this house a little while ago, and your coming here to Laurel was a semi-hypnotic suggestion.It was one of four places I suggested to you, but I knew you would come to Laurel.

You knew you needed some time away, but wouldn't let yourself take it because there is too much going on.Don't fret any, your company is in good hands for a few weeks.If anything arises that absolutely needs your attention, I will call.

This house is arranged exactly like the house in 'house-ton' right down to the gardening truck.

It's entirely up to you if you want to share your bed with anybody.Nora has pre-approved four for you, they will present themselves if you think you want some company.

Sort out your issues, baby.See you soon.

-Petra Birch-

P.S.Starr and Pete know who you are.Don't be surprised if you get gut-checked if you cross their paths.

"Interesting little trap, Graham," I commented.

"She's right, there is something about ordering the death of people. It changes a person," he said.

I turned to face him. "This isn't the first time she's done this, put me in a virtual doghouse."

"Petra explained it to me. She thought that your little knife fight was foolish, I didn't." Graham shrugged.

Petra probably looked to Graham as a father figure, I could understand that. "You got another cigar?"

Graham chuckled. "I certainly do."

I got to bed about three hours and didn't wake up until twelve. I was almost done cleaning up my dishes when there was a knock at the front door. "Afternoon, Graham."

"One of my guys was in Cypress and I had him bring you back some plants." He pointed to a large flatbed trailer parked in my driveway.

"What if I didn't feel like planting today?" I asked.

"Now you have no choice. You won't let them die."

"All right, Graham. I agree to this part of the therapy, call next time."

"Have a good day." He tipped an imaginary hat at me and ambled down the driveway to his cart.

I got dressed and went out to examine the plants. There was more there than I could fit on my gardening trailer, which meant two trips or two days.

Of course the truck was electric. I found a little-travelled area on the edge of the town circle and started staging my tools. The plot wasn't going to give me much scrub to nitrogenate, but that wouldn't be a problem for me.

I was finished with the planting when a little cart rolled up beside my trailer. The cart was pulling a trailer with two containers strapped to the back. The clear container obviously contained water, meaning that the other probably contained compost.

The blonde vixen driving the cart wrinkled her nose when I popped open the lid on the compost container. It wasn't a pretty smell, but it would get the job done just fine. The water was next, and filled my tank to the exact level which would allow optimum time for my fertilizer to process.

When I closed the lid on my nitrogenator, the blonde got out of her cart. I expected her to try and chat me up, but she only wanted to strap the containers back down to her trailer. I felt bad that I hadn't even introduced myself.

About ten minutes after I finished stowing my tools back on my truck, the vixen returned. She introduced herself as Sindee, spelling it out for me as completely different than what I had thought. She asked me out to dinner, and I heartily accepted.

I learned a lot about her over the luscious steak dinner. It wasn't the only restaurant in town, but it was so much more quiet than comparable restaurants in Los Angeles, and I liked that.

Sindee dropped me off at home, us having taken her cart to dinner. I didn't ask her inside, and she didn't seem disappointed. Sindee and I repeated that ritual for a week, mutually deciding not to sleep with each other.

When I woke up Monday morning, I decided to check on my company. I had been gone for a week, and while I knew it wouldn't fall apart without me, I just wanted a look-see.

My connection went through to Akira, but my perusing was interrupted by Petra calling.

"Hey baby," I said.

"Hey. We're doing just fine, Johan."

Nope, no alarm bells going off there.

"I was thinking about coming back early," I ventured. "It's getting a little boring here."

"Johan, I would hardly think that you would find planting in the day and sex in the night boring," Petra scoffed. "The company will muddle on if you decide to finish out your vacation."

That's a big alarm bell.

"You mean the company will muddle on despite me taking a permanent vacation," I pushed.

A pause. Another pause. "Yes."

"Interesting." I couldn't think of much else to say.

"Johan, I've pretty much been running the company for six weeks now. Have you noticed something different?"

Yeah, that's about the time you stopped making love to me.

"I'm coming back to LA, Petra."

"You don't need to, Johan. I've got it all under control."

She was pushing me out. "We need to meet."

"Laurel City Center, one hour."

"Wow." There wasn't much to say, so I killed the connection.

I got a hold of Akira just long enough for her to tell me that someone was getting ready to disconnect her fiber-optic line. She had sent the destruct order to the etching tables at Jacer Semiconductor and had received confirmation. If for some reason they destroyed her array, she had a backup in a datacenter in Denver.

There wasn't much else I could do but give a good long cry. I'd do the rest later. Petra had fooled me good; I had been signing what seemed to be the normal amount of paperwork and we always had a notary or two present depending on the importance of the agreement. I could have been signing my life away and not even known it because I trusted her. I probably had signed it all away. Maybe not all.

Graham was standing outside the house when I opened the front door. "I had nothing to do with this."

"Do with what?"

"Sindee felt your heart break in Charlotte. It took her a minute to understand why."

"That's actually a very fast grapevine you have there," I offered.

"Were you going somewhere?"

"Petra wants to meet in the City Center," I replied.

"Close enough to walk."

"So, grapevine?" I asked.

"Our community has always been tightly-knit, as it were."

"Ha-ha."

"You and Sindee have a close connection, it comes from the sharing of time, plus that remarkable device that you use to fertilize your plantings. She felt that you missed your wife, and that's why you just wanted to remain friends."

"Gossips," I accused

"No, she only told me about your non-sexual relationship to convey the level of betrayal you felt. Of course I came over right away, to let you know that I have always been a neutral party."

"Thanks Graham." I gave him a clap on the shoulder.

"Of course, as an old man gossip, I could have sworn you two were involved. Sindee has been projecting a sense of contentment since the two of you first had dinner."

"You're definitely a gossip."

Further into the walk, Graham paused and looked around, then did a double-take. "Johan, I don't know if you can feel it as strongly as I can, but something big is going to happen soon."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"Your bodyguards, usually I only sense one around you when you are in town."

"So you sense more?" I asked. "How many?"

"Johan, I can sense more than ten. I ask that they not shed any blood here. Please don't taint my town."

"Did you hear that Joshua?" I asked the emptiness around us.