Mariel's Magic Pt. 01

"Where is she?"

With trembling hands, he picked up the phone and dialed the police. "911, what's your emergency?" the dispatcher said calmly.

"It's my wife, Adriana. She's disappeared. She left to go to the store at 9 this morning, and... and she hasn't returned. I've called her cell over twenty times. There's no answer," he said in a voice that betrayed fear and anxiety.

"Sir, can you please provide your name and address and stay on the line? We're going to send a car to your location now. Have you noticed any signs of distress, or anything unusual before she left?" the dispatcher asked in a professional tone.

"No, no, nothing like that. Everything was normal. We haven't been fighting. Listen, she's eight months pregnant. I'm really worried."

"A car is on the way now, sir, just stay on the line," the person said, trying to assure him.

Minutes later, two officers arrived, and he buzzed them up to his apartment.

"Mr. Stone? I'm Officer Packer and this is Officer Daniels. We're here about your wife, Adriana Peters. Can you tell us what happened today?" Officer Packer asked, her notebook ready.

Jonathan told them what he knew, his voice on the edge of panic. He handed them two photos of Adriana, each recent, which he had printed out. Both showed her in a blue maternity dress.

"She was wearing her blue maternity dress and a light grey jacket. It's her favorite," Jonathan added, his gaze lingering on the photos.

The officers took notes, with a trained blend of professionalism and sympathy, aimed at keeping him calm. They assured Jonathan they would do everything they could to find Adriana, asking him to remain available for any further questions or updates.

After the officers stepped out into the night, Jonathan stood at his window, gazing into the darkness, hoping for any sign of Adriana. The apartment was dead quiet, and each tick of the clock tortured him with time being lost.

He had little hope of finding her if she was taken. What he feared, but could not tell the police, was that someone aligned with the dark forces Jennifer spoke of had grabbed her. He and Adriana believed that they were doing what they were supposed to do to keep their baby safe. But was it enough? Then, he recalled Adriana's dreams and how important they were. He wished he could dream. If their child had magic, perhaps she could send him a dream that provided a clue about where she was.

Out of ideas, and not having much faith in the police, he called Jennifer. When she answered, he said, "Jennifer, this is Jonathan Stone. Something's happened. The dark forces you talked about; I think they have taken Adriana. Can I come and see you, now?"

Hearing the concern in his voice, she said, "Yes, come now."

Forty-five minutes later, he was knocking on her door. He told her what had happened, and how the police were looking into it. He also told her that he and Adriana were doing everything they could to create a close bond, and thereby protect the child. She listened, and knew he was sincere.

"I thought," he said, "if the baby could send me a dream, maybe we would know where she is. I just... I'm not near the baby, like Adriana is when she dreams, so I don't know if that would work."

"It doesn't matter how close, physically, you are to the baby; all that's important is how close a bond you have with Adriana. I can try putting you into a sleep-like trance. I sense the baby wants to be found and may reach out to you."

Desperate, Jonathan was willing to put his faith in this mysterious woman. She sat him in an armchair, told him to close his eyes, and then to take long, slow breaths. She slowly tapped different-sized bells, and as she did, she allowed her mind to be blank and allowed the spirit within her to choose which bell to tap and when to tap it. Some sounded a high "tink" while others sounded a low "tooonnggg."

"Empty your mind of all thoughts," she instructed Jonathan, "and listen to the bells. Listen to the bells, only the bells, only the bells, while you take long slow breaths."

At first, Jonathan could not get his worries out of his mind. All he could think of was "Where is Adriana?" Minutes went by and Jennifer kept giving him the instructions, "Breathe in and breathe out, slowly, listen to the bells, listen to the bells."

Jonathan's trust in Jennifer increased as he listened to her voice and the bells. Slowly, very slowly, his worries about Adriana lessened as the world of the bells drew him in, and time became meaningless. "Listen to the bells, listen to the bells."

Then Jonathan was flying over a city at night. He could not see it clearly because it was covered with mists and fog. He flew and flew, ever seeking, and as he flew, he heard a voice calling to him. He knew immediately it was the voice of their unborn child. He said to the voice, "I'm coming, I'm coming," and felt that the voice was glad. Then he was in front of a house and saw its address clearly. He told himself to remember that address. He hovered in front of the house but could not see anything inside. Still, he knew Adriana and the baby were there. Suddenly he felt a great urgency to do something, and he woke up.

He told Jennifer what he had seen in the dream, and he wrote down the address, which was across the bay in Oakland. "As I hovered there, I could feel that the baby was inside, calling to me," he told Jennifer.

She made him describe everything he saw, felt, and heard. As she listened, her eyes closed, she took in every part of the dream as if she had seen it herself.

"Yes, Jonathan, I believe this is a psychic dream of what is really happening. You should call the police right now."

He called the officer who had come to the apartment and explained that he thought he knew where she was. The officer asked how Jonathan got the information. Jonathan said, honestly, that a friend sent him a message.

"Who is the friend?"

"I don't know yet. The person didn't give a name, but I trust this person. I'm sure the information is good. Please go and check it out. I could be wrong, but it's worth checking out, right?"

"Listen, Mr. Stone, we're doing everything we can from here. She'll probably turn up. People go missing all the time, and then it turns out they just went to visit someone, or just needed to get away for a while."

"Officer, I'm sure she was taken and wants me to find her." Then he took a chance and told the officer about Jennifer and his dream.

"Look, I'll make a report and send it to the Oakland police. That's their job. Maybe they'll send someone to check it out. Goodbye, Mr. Stone."

He hung up the phone and looked at Jennifer, frustrated and angry.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I have no idea. I guess I could drive over there and check it out."

"Don't," she said. "I told you there are dark forces that will be interested in this baby, and as I listened to you, I got a clear sense that's what we are dealing with. You aren't ready to face them. I know a man, a private investigator, named Janus Burk, who comes to me at times when he needs help with a case. You have money. You should hire this man to check it out for you."

"Can we call him now?"

"I think so. He has called me in the middle of the night to ask for help, and I've never asked him for anything."

She dialed a number and waited, then said, "It's me, Janus, Jennifer. I have a case for you, and it's important." She told him everything she knew and assured him that the address Jonathan saw came from a real psychic dream. Then she handed the phone over. "He needs to talk to you."

"Mr. Stone?"

"Yes, and call me Jonathan."

"OK, Jonathan, I understand the situation, and if Jennifer says this is a real psychic dream, I believe her. She's helped me in similar cases. So, what I can do is get over there and watch the house, see who comes and goes, and then go from there. I doubt the police will get involved because they get too many calls like this. Their protocol is to wait for what they consider legitimate clues. They have never been much interested in psychic evidence. You have money, I assume, and my fee is $2,000 per day. So, do you want me to have a look?"

"Yes, Mr. Burk."

"No problem and call me Janus."

Janus drove over to the location in a closed van that he used for surveillance, pointed a camera at the house, and waited. During the first day, nobody entered or left the house; however, he did see the lights go on and off, so it was just a matter of time. He waited until all the lights in the house went off for the night and then left. As he was driving back to his home, he talked to Jonathan.

"Nothing the first day. Nobody came out of the house. That's unusual, but not unheard of."

"What about just going up to the house and asking?" Jonathan said.

"Not usually productive unless we have something to go on. Jennifer says people may want this baby your wife is carrying. If that's true, they're not going to hurt her, so don't start worrying yet."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Well, not sure, but based on what we know, it seems likely. If I go up to the house and get aggressive, then whoever is there will have cause to keep me away. Once we have some better clue what we are dealing with, I can probably get the police to come."

Jonathan sat up all night, trying to figure out some way to help Adriana. He did not dream again. He called Jennifer, thinking that he should have had another dream that gave him more information, but she said, "I think the first dream gave you everything you need. Listen to Janus; he knows what he is doing."

"Oh, Jennifer, what if we're wrong and she's someplace else, or what if she needs me right now. I feel I need to get over there and get into that house somehow."

"I know, Jonathan, and if that was what was needed, I think the baby would reach out to you again."

Jonathan sat meditating all the next day, trying to clear his mind and hoping for another psychic dream, but nothing came to him. Then, at 8 in the evening, he got a call from Janus.

"I'm texting you a photo of a man who just left the house. I'll hold on."

A text came in of a man coming out of the door of the house he saw. There was a porch light that illuminated the face. He examined it closely.

"I don't know this man," he told Janus. "But I think I've seen this face before."

"Think, Jonathan, could it be someone that Adriana knows or knew? Have you seen pictures of her friends?"

"I don't... wait..." Jonathan turned on his computer and logged into his cloud drive. He had an album titled "Adriana: Duluth" and scrolled through the photos. It was there he saw the man. It was Michael Townes.

"Janus, the man is Michael Townes. Adriana knew him in Duluth. He raped her a week before she left, and the baby she's carrying could be his."

"Are you sure? Text me the photo." After looking at the photo he received, Janus said, "Yeah, that's the guy. Now we have a solid clue and a motive. I'm calling the Oakland police right now. They wouldn't pay attention to you, but they know me. They'll come."

***

Michael Townes had just come back into the house. He noted the van across the street that had been sitting there since morning and had been sitting there yesterday as well but did not think anything of it.

He walked into the bedroom, carrying some food. Adriana was sitting in the bed with one hand handcuffed to the bedframe. She was crying and feeling hopeless and powerless once again with Michael. What did he want? For the hundredth time, it seemed, she cried, "Michael, why did you bring me here? What are you doing? What do you want with me?"

"With you?" Michael said with a sneer in his voice. "I don't want you. I only want that baby you carry. That's my baby, not yours. You shouldn't have run, Adriana, that was a serious mistake. I was going to take care of you, once I was sure you had the baby I wanted. It's a special baby, did you know that? I went to a lot of trouble to put it in you, waiting for just the right time, and the right conditions, and then you went crazy on me. I could have put it in you nicely, gently, like I wanted to. Now you're going to wait right here, and when the time comes, someone will come to deliver the baby, and that's all."

Did he know of the child's magic? From what he said, she thought so. Were the forces so powerful they could enlist a man like him to get her pregnant, then kidnap her and take her child? And, once he had the child, what would he do with her?

"Now eat, we need to keep that baby healthy."

She looked at the food he brought. A deli sandwich, salad, and water. She ignored it and closed her eyes. After what seemed hours, she started to doze. She wanted to stay awake, fearing what might happen, but eventually sleep took her. In her dream, she sat with a small child, her child, and the child held her hand, telling her all would be well. Her faith in what the child said was complete, and in her dream, she relaxed and read a book to the little one, about a hungry caterpillar, which she knew was the child's favorite. As if from far away, she heard shouting, but that did not concern her. She was happy to read the story to her little one. Then she felt someone shake her shoulder. She opened her eyes and there was a policewoman standing next to the bed.

"Are you Adriana Peters?" the woman asked.

Adriana smiled at her, "Yes, is my husband, Jonathan, with you?"

"No, ma'am. Mr. Stone is still in San Francisco. Here, use my phone and talk to him. He's very worried about you."

Adriana dialed the number, "Hello?" Jonathan answered.

"Jonathan, my love. Oh, Jonathan," and then she heard him weep on the other end. "It's OK, Jonathan, I'm fine, the police are here and I'll be home soon. Once I get in the car, I'll call you. Right now, I think the police want to talk to me."

She hung up and then told the police everything she knew and everything Michael had said to her. While she was talking to them, someone had found the key and unlocked her cuff.

"Is Michael still here?" she asked. "Can I talk to him?"

"I don't think that's a good idea, ma'am. We're taking him in now. You may have an opportunity to see him later. I see there are clothes on the chair over there. Are they yours?"

Adriana looked at the disorderly pile and nodded.

"OK, I'll let you get dressed and then we can get you back to your husband."

When they led her to the waiting police car, Michael was gone. She had everything she left the house with, and when she got into the car, she called Jonathan. He told her about how Jennifer had helped him to find her, while she told him about Michael and his plans.

"Jonathan, we need to be more careful now. We didn't realize what we were facing. We need a plan to protect ourselves."

"Yeah, I know. For now, we just have to be grateful that we know Jennifer and Janus."

Chapter 6. Hello, Mommy

Immediately after the kidnapping and rescue, Jonathan and Adriana hired Janus to advise them and organize things to protect them. He had known Jennifer for several years and had spent hours with her during that time, talking with her about dark and light forces. Understanding these forces better sensitized him to unseen energies which aided him in his work.

On the advice of Janus, they immediately rented a larger, more secure apartment and arranged to have a car and driver on call. Janus engaged a company to install security systems in the apartment and arranged to place tiny subdermal tracking devices under the skins of both Adriana and Jonathan to locate them if either one went missing again.

Shortly after they moved in, Adriana started showing signs of labor, and Jonathan called Jennifer, who arrived an hour later with a midwife in tow. The plan was to have the birth take place in their own apartment but with the nearby hospital on standby for complications. The fear of a hospital birth was that the child's magic would be out of control during the stress of birth and cause havoc in the delivery room. They wanted to keep the child's magic a secret. The midwife, Carla, was very experienced and was herself familiar with psychic phenomena. Jennifer would be there as well, preparing the space and producing sounds with her bells aimed at calming the child.

Carla, who was also a trained obstetrics nurse, checked Adriana as soon as she got there and immediately used a stethoscope to listen to the prenatal heartbeat to determine if the baby was in distress. She would continue monitoring the baby's heart rate and rhythm, looking for anything to be concerned about. She also took Adriana's vital signs and said everything seemed alright. She checked Adriana's dilation and said it would be at least a few more hours, and the best thing would be for Jennifer to continue the soothing sounds of the bells while Jonathan held her hand and talked softly to her.

She was correct in her assessment, and a little over two hours later, labor started in earnest. The baby was still fine, as was Adriana, but despite the calming sounds emanating from Jennifer's bells, the baby was starting to show her power. For a time, Adriana hovered a foot above the bed as Jonathan spoke soothingly to the baby, his face resting on Adriana's belly. Glad there were no doctors to see this, they all smiled at each other as labor continued. Half an hour later, Adriana was panting fast through the pain, and the baby showed its displeasure by rattling everything in the room for several minutes.

Jonathan looked up, "Even if she rattles everything in the building, our neighbors will just think it was an earthquake or a big truck rolling by."

When it was finally time to push, Adriana's entire body emitted a soft red glow.

"This is a healthy sign, I think," said Jennifer, and Carla agreed.

At about this time, although none of them knew it, the sky above San Francisco, which was perfectly clear, was lit up with hundreds of shooting stars. This event surprised everyone in the astronomical community and was a rare treat for the city dwellers.

Finally, the little girl entered the world as noisily as any other. Adriana and Jonathan were overjoyed. By this time, regardless of who sired the child, to Jonathan, the baby was theirs and nobody else's. The only unusual thing was that when the baby was placed on Adriana's breast, the child looked directly at her, with what she could only describe as a very knowing and intelligent gaze. Then, in her mind, she clearly heard the words, "Hello, Mommy."

They named her Mariel Stone-Peters. She was big for a girl, with dark hair and blue eyes.

Carla accompanied Adriana and the baby to the doctor the next day for a checkup. The doctor had an office in the city and was another in the group of people known to Jennifer. The baby was peaceful, and nothing magical happened, but if something had happened, the doctor would not have been terribly concerned. Carla stayed with them for a week, caring for both the baby and Adriana. During this time, the baby remained peaceful, doing only the things that such beings normally do.

Knowing they had a baby that carried magic, perhaps great magic, Jonathan and Adriana began the process of learning how to raise such a child in a world that did not recognize this kind of power. Jennifer assured them that, while their child was a rarity, she was not the only child that carried magic. She did not know anyone with power of the kind possessed by the child, but she was well-read concerning the world of magic and psychic phenomena and sought to share that knowledge with them as best she could.

"The most important thing, as I have said before, is to help the child channel her power to the light. There are many dark forces in this world, some magical and some not, and they can be attractive. Every one of us has the seeds of good and evil in us, and it's important to nurture the good. It's especially important for a being with great power because that power can magnify both the good and the evil. I've heard whispers of normal parents raising a magical child, who came to be a blessing for the world, and I've heard of others who have raised one who became bad, very bad."