The Magic Rain

Chapter Seventeen: Tracking the Intruders

We began tracking the intruders about half an hour later, all of us having met at the house.

Jo-Bri and Linda were the best at sensing the changes or "trails" in the rain of numbers, so we followed their lead.

We took two cars and crammed everyone in. And of course I reminded Jo-Bri how much easier it would have been if we’d had one more car – like my Datsun.

We drove past the spot at which Jo-Bri had entered my world and then my life.

"It’s closer to town," Linda said, and we glanced at each other.

We stopped a half-mile from the outskirts of town, pulling over to the shoulder and emerged from the vehicles, just as a police cruiser spotted us, did a U-turn and pulled in behind us.

Deputy David Tarsky was a tall, heavyset, middle-aged man who emerged from his vehicle like he was toothpaste being squeezed from a tube, and he didn’t look at all happy about it.

"Professor Franklin," Deputy Tarsky said to my dad. "Mrs. Franklin," he said to my mom.

I cringed; my mom had two doctorates and was a senior professor of philosophy with a second doctorate in history and, even worse, had kept her maiden name when she’d married my father and had been advising me to do the same since I eleven years old – the age at which I’d begun wearing a training bra.

I wondered if my mom knew enough magic yet to make Deputy Tarsky’s police cruiser disappear, then I immediately turned a warning glance at Jo-Bri, knowing he’d probably heard my thought. He’d already made one car too many disappear.

At that moment Deputy Tarsky’s cruiser exploded behind him. He was thrown forward and to the ground even as we all turned toward the woods and saw three eight-foot tall men running toward us.

Mike and Jo-Bri were the quickest to react, throwing up a shield spell just in time to block several follow-up strikes from the three wizards.

I felt Debbie reach for the burning cruiser and immediately joined her just as my parents sensed what we were going to do and channeled a burst of energy to us.

Damn, that car was heavy, but somehow we – mostly Debbie with my mom and dad’s help, threw it at the wizards.

At that moment the world changed for us – again.

The wizards saw the car flying toward them and turned to either dodge or block it.

Scott took the opportunity to reach out with all his might to the lead wizard’s mind and… twisted.

We all felt it, though only Jo-Bri and Scott recognized it for what it was – death.

We didn’t have time to think about it. The car we had flung was deflected by the two remaining wizards, striking a group of trees to their left.

In that moment the full impact of what he’d done struck Scott and we felt his silent scream of horror. So did the two wizards who together reacted to the primal mental scream and targeted it before either Jo-Bri or Mike could shift their manipulation of the rain of numbers enough to block the attack.

Scott’s scream of terror was suddenly cut short.

Jo-Bri’s scream was anything but silent and neither was his attack.

I sensed the huge tear at the fabric of the rain of numbers around us and was stunned at the power behind it, even as I threw my own energy and spells into that power to increase it.

I felt a second surge to my left and felt Debbie twist the numbers on her own, but more powerfully than I’d ever felt her do and realized that at least one of my parents was channeling energy to her.

The ground around the two wizards exploded upward as if a land mine had gone off, just as a blast of pure energy turned everything white and I felt as if I were blind.

I stood, unable to see or, apparently, hear, not knowing what to do, with no bearings.

Then I heard it: a woman crying. I took a step forward, not knowing where I was going, and my vision and hearing began to return and I realized it wasn’t one woman crying, but several.

Debbie was on her knees to my left, face buried in her hands, sobbing.

To my right, my parents were kneeling by Maria and Linda who were crying violently, until Maria suddenly began retching and vomiting. My mother hugged Maria, holding her hair to one side. My father was tightly hugging Linda who was sobbing into his chest.

Scott lay to my left, behind Debbie, and I clapped my hand to my mouth to keep from projectile vomiting.

Scott looked like he had been imploded, as if crushed by some massive hand, so badly distorted that he wouldn’t have been recognizable except for his clothing.

Jo-Bri and Mike were also on their knees, not sobbing but looking like fighters, battered and exhausted.

I thought for a fleeting moment of going to Jo-Bri but he immediately sensed that thought and directed me to Debbie. I ran to her side, kneeling by her. I hugged her to me, and did my best Maria imitation, sending calming "waves" over Debbie and everyone else who was still alive.

Slowly, slowly, the crying subsided. Debbie gently pushed me away and sat back on her heels, wiping her eyes.

"I’m sorry." I heard the words and turned to see Jo-Bri standing there beside me, looking down at me with an expression of horrified exhaustion on his face. "I should never have gotten any of you involved."

Before I could respond, we heard a loud groan. We both turned to see Deputy Tarsky trying to climb to his feet. His face reflected the fact that he was in shock. I think we all were.

I glanced around. The trees that had been struck by the burning car were now themselves on fire.

A large piece of land near the trees looked like it had been churned by a giant mix-master. Three eight-foot tall men lay buried in there somewhere.

Scott lay dead a few feet from me.

Everyone else was on the ground crying or comforting someone who was. Except for Deputy Tarsky, who was wandering around with a stunned look on his face, and Jo-Bri, who was staring at me and radiating a despair so deep that I had to shut down my connection to him to prevent myself from falling into the same hole.