Just a Little Magic Ch. 14

My buddy reached out and put a hand on my shoulder.

- "He's a bit of a goof, Aunt Anna. But he's not a bad guy."

Anna was spared the need to respond, as her doorbell began ringing. Two short rings, followed by a long and a short. Short long short. Short short. Short. Long short. Long short short.[1]

Anna rose from the kitchen table.

- "Stay here." she said.

Sammy just looked at me, his eyes wide.

- "A bit of a goof?" I said.

- "You have been pretty stupid." said Sam, unapologetically.

That was fair.

Aunt Anna came back to the kitchen, with another woman. I recognized her.

- "Eileen?"

Shortly after I'd met her, Aunt Anna had come to see one of our shows in Toronto, with her friend Eileen. The two ladies had stayed around after the show (as I dodged a groupie), and had invited me out for a late meal. If I remembered the occasion correctly, Eileen had done most of the talking, being a self-confessed 'magic nerd'.[2]

Anna introduced her to Sammy. Eileen sat down across from me.

- "May I?" she asked. Instead of waiting for my permission, she began to study me, just as Anna had done. I could almost feel the touch of spectral fingers, brushing back my hair, and touching my forehead.

- "What's she doing?" asked Sammy.

- "Sshh." said Anna. "In fact, Sammy - it's probably best if you don't talk at all for a while." The words weren't unkind; Sam took them in the spirit they were intended.

- "Holy shit." said Eileen.

- "I know." said Anna.

- "Rodney's on his way, but I should probably contact him ..."

- "Yes."

Anna suggested that Sammy lie down on her couch; she sent me to her guest room. She promised to wake me as soon as anything important happened. We were both exhausted. I don't even remember falling asleep.

***

I didn't hear the doorbell ring again. I woke to the pressure of moist lips on my face, and of full breasts against my chest.

- "I'm here, Pete - I'm here." she said.

I wrapped my arms around her, and held her close.

- "Sophie, I'm ... I've been ..."

- "It's alright. I'm here. Everything is going to be alright. I'm here."

- "You don't understand ... what I've done -"

- "It's alright, Pete. I'm here."

***

I awoke to the sound of the doorbell ringing again - another infuriating combination of short and long rings - honestly, do you have to ring 15 times?

Sophie was lying next to me, her arm across my chest. She was wide awake, too.

- "Hey ..." she whispered.

- "I didn't ... I don't want you in danger." I said.

- "It's alright. All under control."

I wished that I could have shared her confidence. My life was a cluster-fuck of legendary proportions, and I was dragging a dozen and more good people down with me.

- "Soph - I've done some things ..."

She put her finger against my lips. "There's time for that. Later."

As if to put the lie to her words, there was a knock on the door.

- "Peter? Sophie? May I come in?" It was Aunt Anna's voice.

- "We're decent." said Sophie. Well ... one of us was.

Anna opened the door. "You two should come downstairs." she said.

We were introduced to Rodney, a distinguished looking, older black man, with silver hair.

- "How do you, Peter?" he said.

It was beyond strange. I was wrapped up in some of supernatural horror story, and these people had time for polite conventions. I would have felt more at home if everyone had been running around screaming their heads off.

"Would you mind ...?" asked Rodney. He wanted to 'examine' me, as Anna and Eileen had.

- "Go ahead." I said.

Rodney's touch was light, and skillful. It felt like a very gentle scalp massage.

- "Thank you." he said. With Anna and Eileen, he retreated to the kitchen for a short time.

When they emerged, it was to give us specific instructions. Sophie, against her protests, was sent upstairs. Aunt Anna had to do some furious whispering before she could get her niece to agree.

Sammy and I were asked to sit on the living room couch.

- "What do you want us to do?" I asked.

- "Nothing." said Anna. "Sit still, and wait for instructions."

Eileen and Anna sat down as well. Rodney went off to the kitchen. Sammy and I sat there, like a couple of idiots. That was my role in this whole affair, at least - the idiot.

I'm really lousy at gauging the passage of time. On the few occasions that I'd actually gone to one of my college classes, I'd been amazed at how damn long they'd been. I was often longing for the final bell a mere 15 minutes into the class.

Half an hour? An hour? We sat there, waiting.

The doorbell rang. A single ring.

Eileen stood up, and put on a pair of sunglasses - actually, they were more like tinted goggles. Anna did the same. Then both of them put plugs in their ears.

- "Sammy, would you mind answering the door?" she asked.

It wasn't a request - it was more like an order. Sammy did it.

When he opened the door, I saw Janine standing on the front step. She was ... absolutely beautiful. Her long black hair had never looked finer. She was, without a doubt, the most spectacular, the most attractive woman I'd ever seen.

She made a swift gesture with her hand, and Sammy went flying backwards, as if he were doing a reverse long jump. He flew halfway down the entry hall, towards the kitchen.

That was when I stood up. Janine immediately saw me.

- "There you are!" she snapped.

At that precise moment, Eileen stepped forwards, and tasered her. Janine's eyes rolled back in her head. Her body convulsed, in a series of spasms. She fell to the ground, twitching.

Then I heard Lillian's voice. She was directly behind Janine, in the doorway.

- "Wait! Wait! We can talk about this -"

That was when a man and a woman came up behind her - and both of them tasered her. Lillian jerked, flailed about, and collapsed.

The woman tasered her again - just to be sure.

***

The strange man and woman put Janine and Lillian's limp bodies on the couch. They tied their feet together, and bound their hands with plastic ties. They even tied the women's fingers together. For a finishing touch, Janine and Lillian were gagged, and then the gags were covered with duct tape.

Sammy was okay - a little freaked out, but unhurt. As for me ... I was in shock. I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. Less than 48 hours earlier, I'd still been their ignorant tool. Now I looked at them - unconscious, bound and gagged - and it made no sense.

They'd been my mentors. Lillian and Janine had directed the course of my career - of my whole life. When I finally realized how thoroughly they'd kept me under their thumbs, I began to see them as ultra-powerful - and ultra-dangerous.

But Aunt Anna and her friends had taken them down in a matter of seconds.

Then I remembered Lillian telling me about my real father, Robert Clifford. He was an Archmage - much too powerful for them to oppose. Maybe they hadn't been lying about that part.

Rodney began to make a phone call. Aunt Anna led Sammy and me upstairs. She showed us into the guest room.

- "You'll have to share." she said.

- "Thank you." I said. "For what you've done."

- "I didn't do it for you." said Anna.

- "You suspected something early on, didn't you?"

- "What makes you say that?"

- "You came to one of our shows - with Eileen. She may be your friend, but she's also some kind of enforcer, isn't she?"

Anna sighed. "I saw Sophie after you two had started ... dating. She was obviously ... infatuated. It seemed to be happening really quickly, and when she told me that you were a magician ..."

"There was a spell on her. An enchantment - to make her love you. I removed it. Then I tried to decide whether to castrate you with a dull knife, or to strangle you with my bare hands. The only thing I had to do first was to make sure that it was you."

- "And Eileen came along to help?"

- "Yeah. Right away, though, we realized that it wasn't you -"

- "By my signature?"

- "Yes. It wasn't Janine, either."

- "Lillian." I said.

- "Yes. We know that now. But at the time, we just wanted to be sure about you. So Eileen and I took you out for a meal, and tried a few probes."

- "You read my mind?" I hadn't thought that was possible - not after Lillian had taught me to defend myself.

- "No." said Anna. "It was more like 'reading your aura', if you understand what that means. You hadn't been using evil spells. In hindsight, we should have invited Janine to dinner with us. Plus we should have asked you a lot more questions."

"But I'd learned something else when I removed the spell on Sophie. She was still in love with you - which meant that she was in love with you before the spell was cast."

That was the single most wonderful thing I'd ever heard. My heart was swelling, if such a thing is even possible.

- "Can I see her?" I asked.

- "No."

Anna turned to Sammy, who had somehow managed to remain silent for several consecutive minutes.

"You aren't in trouble. But I hope that you can see how much we have to do in order to clean up this mess. Damage control - and figuring out who's guilty of what."

"Stay in this room. Please don't let Peter do anything stupid, like trying to leave, or casting spells."

- "Are you going to wipe my memory?" said Sam. "You know - like 'Men in Black'?"

- "We'll talk again in the morning." said Aunt Anna.

The moment she left, Sammy punched me in the shoulder - hard.

- "Ow! What was that for?"

- "For scaring the shit out of me! For being a dumbass - I told you that Janine was using you. But did you listen to me? Noo ..."

- "Sam - they put spells on me. Lillian and Janine."

- "You're still a dumbass."

He was probably right. Exhausted as I was, I barely slept that night.

"If you puke in the bed, I'll kill you." he said - several times.

***

Anna had obviously been over-optimistic when she'd said we would talk in the morning. She let us out of the guest room, and had us use the bathroom and shower. Then she served us breakfast.

Eileen was there, too, plus another man and woman that hadn't been there last night. There was no sign of Rodney - or of Janine and Lillian.

- "What's going to happen to them?" I asked Aunt Anna.

- "I don't know, none of your business, and why do you care?"

She did let Sophie join us for breakfast - and that improved my outlook immeasurably. Sophie's eyes lit up when she saw me, and her entire face transformed into a veritable showcase of dimples.

She came up beside me, and wrapped her arms around me. I felt her soft, warm lips on my cheek.

- "How are you?"

- "Better now." I said, as I kissed her back.

She sat down next to me.

- "Anna told me about ... the spell on me. She says that it wasn't you that put it there."

- "It wasn't. It was probably Lillian."

Sophie nodded. "That's what Anna said. She also told me that it made no difference - that I was in love with you before the spell - and after."

- "You have no idea how happy that makes me."

- "Do you know, though, Pete - is there a spell on you?"

- "Lots of them, I think. Lillian and Janine wanted to make sure that I would do exactly what they told me to do."

Sophie's face clouded over. "Does that include ... falling in love with me?"

- "What?" It had never, ever occurred to me that she would think something like that.

- "Are you only in love with me ... because of a spell? Anna said that I was ... on their list."

- "No - Sophie, no. When we met, I had no idea that you were ... on the list. And I never told Janine or Lillian that I'd met you. No, Sweetheart - that was just us. You and me. Serendipity."

She smiled, but it was a weak attempt.

Sammy chose that moment to put his 2 cents in.

- "For what it's worth, Sophie, he never shut up about you." Considering how much Sammy talked about Trish, that was hardly fair.

"I don't know how this list worked - and I'm pretty sure that dumbass here did some things he should be regretting - but there's one thing you should know: when we were in Paris, Janine threw herself at Pete."

"She pretty much demanded that he f- have sex with her. And Pete said no. She was furious. I asked him how he'd done it - because he'd never be able to say no to her before. About anything. He was Janine's doormat, for years."

"But d'you know what he said to her? He said: 'I can't. I'm not going to cheat on Sophie.'"

Sophie buried her head on my shoulder.

- "I so want to make love to you right now." she whispered.

That was what I wanted, too. But I had just enough common sense remaining - and maybe just a smidgen of honour - to turn her down.

- "You're going to hear some ... things, Sophie. Some things I've done. I don't know how much of that was the spells they put on me - and how much was just ... me. You need to hear all of it ... before you make any decisions."

***

Aunt Anna didn't get around to me until the following day. She did let Sammy call Trish, and then his Mom, but she carefully monitored his call to make sure that he didn't say anything about magic or about me.

- "Peter. Are you ready?"

- "Ready for what?"

- "We're going to try to take the spells off you."

I stood up immediately. For some reason, I suspected that it was going to be like a root canal sans anaesthetic - but it had to be done, and I was eager to have it over with. I was also curious to find out just what Lillian and Janine had done to me.

Aunt Anna led me to her basement - which was just a bit ominous. Eileen and Rodney were waiting there, with an old chair that looked like it had belonged to a kitchen set from the late 1940s.

- "Have a seat." said Eileen. "And don't be alarmed - this is just a safety precaution." She and Rodney proceeded to use duct tape to fasten my ankles to the chair legs, and then to immobilize my hands behind the back of the chair.

- "We're going to try to dispel the magic on you, Peter." said Rodney, in a deep, gravelly voice. "Do you we have your consent?"

- "Do you need it?"

- "It helps a great deal." said Aunt Anna. "It also hurts a lot less."

- "I consent."

I have no idea what I was expecting. I know that Anna, Eileen, and especially Rodney used magic on me. But I wasn't prepared for the ... feeling.

At first, it felt like they were hammering away at a concrete wall with a sledgehammer. Then ... it was more like a chisel. I could sense the blows, feel the vibrations on my skin ...

Cobwebs, and dust. I was like some old attic that hadn't been subjected to a spring cleaning in decades. But then I began to feel like they were pulling strands of wet spaghetti off of me.

- "Good grief," said Eileen, "it's like peeling wet wallpaper."

- "Amateurs." sniffed Rodney.

Eileen suggested a break, which Rodney quickly agreed to. Anna went off to get coffee and tea.

- "Is it bad?" I asked.

Eileen shook her head. "It's not ... horrible." she said. "They seem to have used a dozen spells, though, where one or two would have sufficed."

- "Eileen?" said Rodney.

- "You're seeing the exact same things that I am." she said.

- "What is it?" I asked.

- "You seem to be a nice boy." said Rodney. "A bit of a fool, to tell the truth, but it may not be all your fault. Just be quiet, now, will you?"

- "Sorry."

Anna returned.

"Aunt Anna - is there any way I can help? I mean, is there any way I can make this easier for you?"

- "Do you know how to dispel magic, Peter?'

- "Umm ... no."

- "Then just shut up, and let us work."

They returned to their labours.

- "Eew!" said Eileen.

- "Butchers." said Rodney. "This is unconscionable."

I was bursting to ask. Eileen saw me looking at her.

- "They stunted your growth, kid." she said. "You have potential, but they made sure that you would never learn any real magic. You're riding a bike with the training wheels still on it. They never really taught you to protect yourself - especially against them."

- "Really?"

- "You sound surprised." said Anna.

- "I thought ... I thought that I was fairly powerful." I'd been envisioning myself as some sort of mid-level Spiderman: with some power comes a bit of responsibility.

Aunt Anna chuckled.

- "Hate to break it to you, Pete. In terms of raw power, you're a table lamp - with the dimmer switch set to 'low'."

"On the brighter side, mentalism is fairly rare."

- "Is it?"

- "How many mentalists have you run into?"

- "Well ... Janine, and Lillian."

- "They aren't. Not really. Janine has telekinesis, and she's also a coercer. Lillian is an enchantress. They couldn't really read minds - not the way you can."

"Are you done with the questions? We'd really like to finish this before midnight."

- "Sorry."

The removal of the spells continued, but what I was feeling began to change. At first, it was like a cast coming off. Then, it was like having soaking wet clothing peeled from me. It was weird, to begin with, but it grew progressively more uncomfortable.

Then it began to be a little more painful, like peeling off a bandage and taking a few hairs with it. Then a lot of hair. And then it felt like they were tearing fresh scars away, taking bits of flesh with them.

I grit my teeth.

- "Hang in there, kid." said Rodney. "We're almost done."

I managed to not cry out, even when the pain was like a dentist's drill. But then came one that felt like having my pubic hair torn out by the roots.

- "YAAH!"

- "Easy - easy. That was the last one." said Eileen. "That's it. We got them all."

The pain didn't fade right away. On top of that, I felt ... naked, somehow.

- "It's over." said Anna. "You can relax."

- "What ... what were they? The spells. What did they do to me?"

Eileen glanced at Rodney, who nodded.

- "He has a right to know."

Eileen explained. "Pete, there were spells to make you believe whatever they told you. Those were the first enchantments - and the last ones to come off. They've been there for years - that's why it hurt so much when we dispelled them."

I remembered Lillian hypnotizing me - claiming that it would make it easier for her to find me, and to keep an eye on me. She could watch over me, and protect me, she'd said. Rodney was right; I was an idiot.

"Then there were spells to prohibit you from telling anyone about things they wanted kept secret. Layers and layers of those ... they were really obsessed about keeping you from talking, or asking questions."

"There were specific prohibitions to prevent you from looking up the lunar cycles, and the location of your real father. Then a crazy mixture of spells to make you want to be a hero, and to impress Janine in particular. A major enchantment to make you seek the thrill of sexual conquest, and a spell to make you horny."

- "As if any teenage boy needs a spell for that." said Aunt Anna.

- "The outer layers - the first spells we removed, were really just more of the same. They seem to have believed that they needed to reinforce the earlier spells. More encouragement of promiscuity, more prohibitions against questioning them, or asking questions at all."

- "They did a real number on you." said Rodney.

- "That doesn't mean that you're off the hook, yet." said Aunt Anna.

- "Unfortunately, Pete," said Eileen, "the hardest parts are still to come."

***

Anna suggested that I phone my mother, to let her know that I was okay. Then she led me back to the guest room.

- "Get some rest." she said.

You can only get so much rest. I had nothing to do but sit and think, and wallow in my regrets - of which I had an almost infinite supply.