Sharla Winslowe
by Christy Lake and Misty Dawn
Chapter 14:
Part 37: Winter Woes
Part 38: Reversals
Part 39: Transitions
Part 37: Winter Woes
High winds normally associated with a howling blizzard continued until almost noon Monday. Sheila Carstairs remained at the Knoll with her sister and brother-in-law.
Jenny, Terrie, Andrea, and Naomi had managed to get to Mr. Sharla's before the storm completely shut down all transportation. David, Karen , and Mary Anne, weekend guests, had not been out since the Halloween Gala and had planned to leave early that morning. The arrival of the blizzard had curtailed their departure.
During the night, Mr. Sharla, Naomi, and White Running Bear had "locked horns" but had finally come to an agreement concerning the "Good Magicians" gathered in the Andes Mountains.
"Won't you please reconsider, Sharla? Oh, I know we don't need the help, but White would like to see you, I'm sure."
"No, Naomi. We've been there and done that and you know exactly why I do not want White to see me like this. I will be able to go to him as a woman again soon, I promise."
"Well…" she began, then sagged a bit in her defeat. Mr. Sharla could be a bit bull-headed at times.
"When are you to begin the transfer?" The entire Andes Enclave was to be transferred to The Knoll.
"It's begun… about an hour ago. Some were moving in before breakfast." She chuckled lewdly and slapped her lover on a firm ass cheek. "But, not before I had my breakfast!" The tall Shaman giggled girlishly.
Mr. Sharla grinned at the memory of serving as Naomi's "breakfast in bed" early that morning. "They'll do well in the "Military" wing."
"Bosley's down there sorting them out. That Op is being a great help and Maggie's got the kitchen operational. The members of the enclave will take over as soon as they learn where and how." She laughed and reached for Mr. Sharla's "Lunch Basket." "Damn, I want to…" then suddenly she sighed in exasperation, "Wouldn't you know it." She kissed her lover in a perfunctory manner. "They're ready to begin the main transfer."
The pair parted as lovers always part, reluctantly. Naomi went to the Knoll and Mr. Sharla went to the family room where Andrea was curled into a comfortable chair talking into the pink cell phone in her hand.
"Hey sis, what's happening?"
The teen mouthed "Momma" and went back to the receiver. "Yes, Momma, we're just fine, I promise..." Andrea had called home to report her well-being, as well as to check in on her parents, "just in case" there was something she could do. She loved wielding her wand.
"Well?" Mr. Sharla, as concerned of her parent's welfare as her sister, lifted a brow in question.
"Hey, they be okay. It seems they're blocked in by huge snow drifts. A plow just opened up a path on the street, but it could be a long time before they can get the cars out." The teen returned as she sat down on the love seat facing the patio doors watching the snow fall. That snow coming down was all she could see since the doors were almost completely covered by drifts of the snow. There were no exits from the house that were not blocked by the snow, unless one counted the "door" in the basement. "Huummm, I wonder how much snow there is covering us?"
"Oh, alright. I know how much you like flittering all over the place naked as a jay, so let's go take a look." Unlike translocation of the body, an out of body occurrence also meant out of clothes, not that it mattered as no one was able to see the incorporeal figure, unless they were also out of body, and just as naked.
"Dibs on dat comfy ol' couch!" The teen grunted and raced for the basement stairs, the couch was comfortable and would be warm enough. The incorporeal form was an extension of the physical form and if the physical body was warm, dry, and comfortable, the incorporeal body was warm, dry, and comfortable no matter the conditions of the area one might encounter at the site one was visiting.
Flitting about out of body Mr. Sharla and Andrea soon discovered that the Winters' house was completely buried under gigantic snow drifts. A quick flit across town showed that their parents were a lot better off, but still had almost two feet of snow blocking drive and walks. Maybe we can find something in dad's "gadget box!" Mr. Sharla suggested suddenly. Browsing through the garage, they found a thirty-six-inch model of a Russian Ice Breaker that Andrew had built when he was twelve.
Enjoying another opportunity to "gadgetize" Mr. Sharla imbedded three small gems in the center of the model and connected them to her batteries. Thinking of all it would need to do, she enabled the model to recognize the steps, sidewalk, and driveway. She also enabled the model to be very aware of outside mechanical, electrical, physical, or mystical observation by others. If it was out of sight of dangerous observers, it would start floating along the pavement, collapsing the snow and ice into itself and pulverize it. The powdered snow and ice would then be projected through the four modified smoke stacks to a place clear of the paving.
When Andrew had made the model, he'd named it Daniel. Now Mr. Sharla identified the Snow Blaster operation as "Danielle the Snow Breaker" and charged it with keeping the Winslowe house and the Winters' Estate driveways and walkways clear.
Although or maybe because they were out of body, the two of them spent a half hour browsing through the junk boxes in the attic of the garage. Giggling and laughing together they tried to outdo one another describing potential operations that might be created from the treasure trove that they had discovered.
When Mr. Sharla thought to check on Danielle, the sidewalks and driveway had been completely cleaned. A quick flit across town to the Winters' showed that a two foot wide valley had been excavated through the drifts. The valley started at the street, went down along the house side of the driveway, up to the front door, back to the driveway, along the garage and parking area and then back out to the driveway to the street. They saw that following the inside curve of the driveway was a six inch wide line with a plume of fine white snow shooting up to spread evenly across the whole central part of the lawn at its lead point.
In just the time it took them to realize this plume was the product of Danielle, the operation had reached the other end of the long driveway and was moving back, making this cleared space twelve inches wide. Suddenly the feather-like plume of snow stopped. Searching for the reason, Mr. Sharla detected a plane, high overhead, taking photos. As soon as the plane was out of sight Danielle resumed speeding through the snow.
Although the weather could not really affect them, Mr. Sharla and Andrea went back to their bodies. They told the others about the general effect of the storm and then told them all about Danielle. There was a rush out the front door.
The mammoth drive way was completely clear. The scantily clad girls quickly returned to rejoin Mr. Sharla. His outfit was about the same but was looser. He led the way back through the house to the patio doors opening onto the patio. With a theatrical gesture, he opened the curtains exposing the show of Danielle the Snow Breaker zipping back and forth across the patio, clearing the snow.
Later, Tom Prescott, bringing with him a crew and several snow blowers from the landscape company to clear away the snow, could hardly believe they were not needed to clean the drives, walks, and patio. Cups of coffee or tea, some of Maggie's fresh honey buns, some unexpected cheerful hospitality by the scantily dressed girls, and a generous tip for their consideration helped the crew to forget to ask how the chore had been accomplished when all that were present there in the house was a bunch of squealing, giggling girls.
The snow quit falling late Monday night and early Tuesday morning. On Tuesday, a little while after another visit from Gabriel Christian, about noon, a sudden major change in weather brought in warm southerly winds and above freezing temperatures. The huge mountains of snow quickly evaporated, leaving a dull muddy landscape and a general air of depression to all.
Naomi continued Mr. Sharla's work with her uncle White Running-Bear. She had asked the redhead to create a door in the refugee village that would open into the Military wing, now designated as "Magician's Manor. "Because of the wards, Sharla had been unable to do that, but had managed a door from the Andes to underneath the Winters' Garage and then an additional setting in the cloak room that would link directly to Magicians Manor. In groups of five, one stretcher, two to carry the stretcher, and two to carry luggage, Naomi and White had completely transferred the Good Magician refugees into the military quarter's portion of the Knoll Facility with pomp and flair.
Mr. Sharla, when he'd created the portal to the basement had warned the assembled magicians that once they entered the protected refuge, they would not be able to work magic. Seeing they were needed, Jenny and Teri arranged to take an indefinite leave from Turnbulls and spent hours healing the refugees. Probably the most important factor aiding the healing process was the stopping of the psychic and physical attacks.
The ground had not completely dried when demonstrators attacked Sheila Carstairs. She had just walked out of a grocery store when an unruly group of anti-mystic protestors picketing an occult shop near by recognized her as one of the mystic experts. They confronted her and knocked her bag of groceries out of her arms.
A cashier placed a call to 911 and began graphically describing the mob seizing Sheila's arms and then striking her with their wooden placard staffs. A video crew from one of the TV Stations, shooting a commercial in the upstairs office of the Grocery, caught it all on tape. The producer, noticing the action in the parking lot, reached for the nearest phone to call her director.
The phone she picked up was an extension of the phone the cashier was using. The producer moved a live microphone to the phone and gestured for the cameraman to move to the window. The cameraman quickly changed lenses and connected a suitable audio pickup and completely video taped the attack on Sheila from the time her arms had been seized. The soundman, as quickly as possible, initiated hookup on another phone line and began sending a "live" feed to the station using the cashier's commentary as a cover for the video.
Because of the almost-live news reporting, Mr. Sharla learned of the attack only minutes after police and an ambulance had extricated a severely injured Sheila from the growing crowd. He was able to go out of body and arrived at the Hospital Emergency Room just seconds after the medical staff completed mapping and documenting the injuries. Again, though in incorporeal form, the witch performed the essential part of the major healing on Sheila.
Even before Sheila started on the road to healing, Mr. Sharla checked out Jenny's home. The vicious mob was heading there to "Totally Trash the house of the Unclean, and burn the Witch."
Mr. Sharla created a series of wards around Jenny's dorm, her parent's house, then to her own parents' house, and finally several of the University buildings "associated with" magic. The wards were triggered by emotions of anger and intent of destruction.
A person committed to destruction could get through the first ward. The intensity of emotion adjusted the second ward. Once through, the second ward inverted their immediate emotional drive. Hate became love, destruction became construction, intolerance became consideration, and aggression became passive acceptance.
The mob raced into the driveway of Jenny's house, suddenly slowed down and then simply walked around the outside kindly commenting on the style and color and then back onto the street to quietly, quickly disperse. With all their anger and hostility gone, reporters and police walked through the outer wards and then they too forgot what was so important that they wanted to go to this particular house.
*****OoooO*****
On Tuesday following the "Great Blizzard," the girls managed to gather for an early dinner in the Winters' dining room. "We had a great day shopping," enthused Karen Anne as she sat at the table with Mr. Sharla, Naomi, Jenny, Terrie, Andrea, and Mary Anne. "I was even able to find so Khaki work clothes that will fit properly." She was determined to go back to work for her father, Calvin Caldwell as soon as possible. "Well, with a minimum of alteration at least." The sharp definition between her tiny waist and womanly hips made alteration of most garments a necessity.
"Yeah, but why so many of those khaki skirts and shorts, girlfriend?" Mary Anne asked blithely, as if completely unaware of relationships between male and female.
Karen blushed furiously as the other girls giggled and chuckled. She couldn't help it. She loved her female curves and had no qualms about showing the world she was a woman, all woman, now. "Don't worry about it, Karen," soothed Naomi. "We all know why we wear such clothes when dealing with men." It was backhanded, but complimentary and got the point across that it was okay for women to use all the tools in their feminine arsenal where men were concerned.
The other girls agreeing was a help and she recovered with, "Well, I did get a lot of the trousers for when I have to go "on site," so it shouldn't be too distracting that I am a girl."
"I think she's also ready to score her first kill," chortled Mary Anne. "She nearly cleaned the shelves at Victoria's Closet. Wow, some of the things she bought would make a call girl blush!"
"Oh? Do tell!" came from the others.
Unconsciously, the new girl shivered as she recalled the feel of Gabriel's hands on her hips, and again while the two of them had chattered over lunch at PIP's. Even plugged with a tampon, she'd felt her sex reacting to the handsome reporter's mere presence. In an effort to turn the theme of the chatter, she smiled at Mr. Sharla sitting at the head of the table and said, "Gabriel…err, Mister Christian, wants to do an in-depth interview with me, concerning my reactions to my change, as well as how and why it happened."
The slip of her tongue had given away more than anything else could have just how she felt about the handsome reporter. She blushed deeply again, began finding lots of things on the table surrounding her plate to pluck at and brush from her fingertips into her empty plate. Was it her fault she could hardly sit still thinking of how good it felt to be held in a man's hands. Darn it, I am a girl now! I have a right to feel like a girl, don't I?
"Yes, you do," replied Jenny without thinking,
"Of course." Naomi grinned then. She too had heard the silent comment.
"Not to worry, Karen Anne. We were only teasing. We have all been right where you are, though most of us were a little younger."
"Yeah, your Mr. Christian is a real hunk!" sighed Andrea, wistfully. "If I were only five years older…"
Mr. Sharla looked levelly at the new girl. "Do you want to do the interview?"
"Yes…I think I do. Sharla, maybe it will help some one to understand what is happening all across the country, not just here in The Bluffs."
"Just leave me out of it!" This came from Andrea.
"I think that speaks well of all the rest of our sentiments, Karen Anne. Will you allow the rest of us to read and approve of the final draft?"
"I'm sure I can get Gab, err…ah, Mr. Christian, to agree to that." Once again she blushed furiously, wondering why she should be so embarrassed about having a thing for the handsome reporter.
With a small chuckle at the "new" girl's predicament, Mr. Sharla looked at the others and seeing this would be acceptable, nodded and said, "So go for it, and let's all have fun with this. Things are getting way too heavy with all the anger at "witchcraft" that is being wrought of late."
Suddenly, Naomi, Jenny, and Teri all perked up and reflexively looked in the general direction of Oklahoma.
"Drat! We're needed at the knoll," explained Naomi. "Stragglers coming in, I think."
All three of the girls rose and headed for the cellar stairs.
"My God! You can read my mind!" gasped Karen Anne accusingly suddenly realizing what had happened.
"Not in the classic Sci-Fi manner, but we, some of us, have an ability to pass some sort of "thought" messages. We've no ability to actually control others with our minds." Mr. Sharla, Andrea, Karen Anne, and Mary Anne turned to and helped Shelly clear the dining room while Mr. Sharla explained linking minds.
Karen proved to be a quick study and was soon passing messages silently as easily and directly as any of the others. With a soft sibilant sigh, Mr. Sharla mentally added one more thing to his "List of Things To Do."
Part 38: Reversals
The public and private Halloween parties had been fun but spending two more months as a guy was intolerable. Mr. Sharla hated her male form for several reasons, the most prominent being that it kept her from being with her lover, White Running Bear. Near the end of the summer, she and White had managed a heavenly two days alone together in a rustic mountain cabin. Mr. Sharla despondently poured a cup of coffee and sat down to savor it slowly, thanking the goddess for this momentary respite from her troubles.
Watching the reflection of the overhead light in her coffee cup the alluring redhead trapped temporarily in a male body smiled ruefully as White's words, spoken the night before her fateful decision, resonated again in her head. The psionic chuckled softly as she contemplated the variety of things she had considered doing to seduce her guide. She had been there on his ranch and for once so had he. The man's words rang in her ears again, just as they had that fateful night.
*****OoooO*****
"Everything is stale! There's no spice. Life is dull."
The longer she'd remained there, the more certain of her desire she'd become. He's a good man…there has to be something… Then like a thunderbolt from out of the blue, the answer had come to her. The words had stuck because they were true. For him, life had gone flat. It was stale. The excitement of his youth had dissipated between commitments, squeezed out to make room for "more important things to do." The next instant, she'd called in a couple of her Hair Zappers and while in the bath had them do their best work. A long hot soak like this is what I miss most when I am away, she'd thought as the Zappers made certain she was denuded of her body hair from the chin down again. She'd made up her mind she was not going to sit idly by and watch her mentor wither away without a fight.
Bolstered by renewed self-confidence, armed with plastic, she'd gone to a local mall and walked into a lingerie shop next to the food court. Bypassing the practical cottons, 'boxer' short and top sets, ignoring the areas she normally gravitated towards, the psionic had waved at the clerk and said, "I'm planning a night of romance. I want to blatantly seduce a man. Bring out the naughtiest you have." The clerk showed her one negligee after another, but nothing seemed to be quite what she was looking for. Then on a mannequin in a corner, she'd noticed silk stockings with a garter belt, a deep plunging bra that nearly exposed the nipples and matching lace and ruffle thong panty set, in black. That should do the trick.
Rushing home with her bag barely weighing anything, but filled with the hopes of saving her mentor, she'd ran upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. Filling the tub with warm water and scented bath salts... she'd slowly removed her clothing. Again, the mirror image returned was that of a beautiful young woman. As she eased herself into the tub, she'd let the jets of water massage her body. The tension was melting and she was getting giddy, like she had felt on her first date. She'd aimed one of the jets of water to her female place and let it pulsate until a warm comfortable climax had washed over her body.
With a happy glow on her face, she'd stepped out of the tub, patted herself dry with a thick towel, and proceeded to smooth a light lotion over her body. Rubbing the lotion into her feet, up her legs, over her torso, down her arms... until she was subtly perfumed from head to toe with a delicate scent she knew White liked. Dressing was the easy part, since she'd planned to wear very little.
Hooking the bra in the back she'd molded and pushed on her breasts until they'd nearly spilled over the demi-cups, their nipples erect with excitement. The garter belt had fit her wide hips perfectly. Flexing her toes, she'd began pulling the soft, smooth silk stocking up, over her calf, past her knee, and up her leg, until it reached mid thigh. Normally she wore stockings that covered her from toe to crotch, but for this sexual presentation, she'd wanted plenty of creamy thigh to be visible above the stocking tops. Then the other leg was treated with a little bit of heaven. Attaching the garters to keep the sheer stockings up, Sharla stood and had surveyed herself a moment before nodding her satisfaction. Then she'd pulled the sexy black thong panties, ruffled satin and lace, up into place over the sleek junction at the top of her legs. Now for those new high heels! Her feet had been in sneakers for so long, it felt strange to wear a pair of real woman's shoes again. Thin-straps about her slender ankles held the towering high heels, with open toes, a shoe that displayed her painted toenails, shaped her strong, firm calves, and made her ankles look even more slender, in place on her feet.
Sitting in the chair at the vanity, while modified Water Swatters worked the tired dullness out of her hair, she'd waxed her brows and painted her nails. Sharla had felt more feminine than she had since entering college. Is that beautiful woman looking back from the mirror really me? So this is what I look like when my hair isn't pulled into a quick ponytail, when my nails are not chipped and ragged, when I am properly groomed. It had been a while since shed felt beautiful. Ghad, I just gotta do this more often!
Throwing caution and modesty to the winds, she'd donned a light-weight tan raincoat and with the airs of a sexy, confident woman of the world, she'd jauntily tied the raincoat closed about her trim waist, wriggled out the door, and hopped into the car. Calling from her cell phone, she'd said without preamble when White answered, "Meet me at the fountain in the center of the compound in ten minutes." Then, again without explaining, she'd closed the connection.
Parking the car, she'd watched a moment as he paced by one of the three benches that were facing the ornate fountain forming the center of his retreat. The tall American Indian looking at his watch impatiently was quite a handsome man. A soft chuckle had exploded from her. She'd wanted to sneak up on him, so keeping her head low and face averted, so he couldn't recognize this sultry seductress as his student, she'd moved towards him. Near the bench where he was posting, the wanton witch had lifted her head and quickly glanced around. Seeing that there was no one around them, she'd untied the raincoat and then said, "Hey mister, you looking for a little spice?" as she'd given him a slow flash of erotically displayed goodies.
A startled smile had crossed White's face and he'd lit up. "Sharla? What's this all about?"
With a wicked grin, the psionic had thrown up a "Notice me not" spell and shrugged. The coat had fallen down her arms onto the flagstones behind her. Nearly naked then, she'd put her arms around him and said, "Just pretend I'm a little bit of spice and then add that little bit of spice to your life."
For the next two days neither had allowed the other to think of doing anything more than savoring fully "The Spice of Life." The physical linkage had proved to both of them that they were physical as well as spiritual soul mates. They had made extensive plans, White had known that he would be obligated to people in Mexico and Peru until at least the middle or end of October. Detailed plans had been made and set in motion to free them from their business commitments so they could have a very quiet wedding the first week in November and then a two month honeymoon.
Sharla and White were from then on almost in constant mental contact until the 5th of September. For some reason, at that time White had started shielding large parts of his mind from her. The day after Sharla had participated in the Healing Spell for Kevin, White had shielded himself completely; her only contact a narrow tightly shielded mental link, when initiated by White. After discovering her eventual conversion to a male, the wedding plans were delayed indefinitely. Mr. Sharla had still been able to project her spirit as a woman, especially when she was occasionally able to share time with White.
*****OoooO*****
Four days after Owl had shown her how to go back in time and inspect the casting of the healing spell; Sharla had completely mastered the spell and knew that a simple, well not really simple, but relatively easy, to construct series of spells would change her back as soon as all traces of the Healing spell had worked through. She worked the reversing spell and made it an integral part of a pipe and canvas tunnel that was five feet high, four feet wide, and about six feet long. The only problem was that her body had to work through just so much in a certain amount of time, to allow the magic to work its way out of her body. It was not to be due until the 29th of December. Through White Running-Bear's sources and the sources of the Magic studies at the University and the network of individual manuscripts opened by Sheila Carstairs, Sharla managed to borrow or get copies of many magical reference texts. She have a lot of reading to help reliever the boredom while using the "time bubble" and trying to fool the healing spell so the effects would work through her more quickly.
To aid in the absorption and retention of subjects studied by anyone using the "study nook" which had evolved in the basement, Naomi had added a couple of decorations that looked strangely like Christmas wreaths. Studying under the influence of these charms comprehension of intangible was greatly enhanced. Sharla discovered that she could manage quite well most projects with no more than four hours of sleep each night. When settling in to a reading marathon, Mr. Sharla would have Maggie C prepare a platter of salads, sliced or pared vegetables and soup and place it on the basement study table every morning at two o'clock.
Normally Mr. Sharla would manage to get two to four hours of sleep and then go to the big easy chair in the basement. After laying out the study materiel for the next few hours, she'd establish a time bubble around herself and most of the basement work area. She would snack and study for four hours, then break. A light meal would precede two hours of sleep. On waking from her nap, she'd study for another four hours. At four A.M. real time, the time bubble would "burst" and if everything was quiet, she'd project herself to her bedroom for more sleep. Doing this each day cut one third of a day off the total calendar time it'd take before she could place herself in the canvas and pipe tunnel, the home of her reversal spell. In six week, if she managed six time bubble sessions a week she would cut twelve days off the calendar. Instead of waiting until 29th of December to change back to Sharla, she could do it on the 17th of December and be herself for the solstice and Christmas.
Finishing the coffee, Charles, as Mr. Sharla was sometimes known, shrugged and rose to go to the lounger in the basement. He had a lot of reading to do in order to make this plan work.
*****OoooO*****
Mickey Horcutt was almost completely managing the daily operations of Winslowe Enterprises. He loved this new job; there was a new challenge to face nearly every day. Sharla had convinced him to join her company by explaining the magic that had changed him from an impotent rapidly aging man to a very attractive healthy woman with a very strong male sex drive. She had explained some of the advantages of using Big Daddy, Big Momma, and the LookAtIt Byte-Byters. She had installed and modified a Computer Assisted Drafting program that linked through Big Momma so Mickey could direct the DarnIts, Lynx d'Lynker, and Lion Lyner when needed for installations.
He had followed a suggestion of Mr. Winslowe to conduct classes in an adjacent office building. Naomi had constructed talisman fetishes that looked like natural material decorations for the classroom. Once more she concentrated on harmony, understanding, and retention. The tall Native American began to consider the feasibility of producing and installing the Knowledge Knick-Knacks in the classrooms of the university. Perhaps, in doing this, she could help her alma mater to become one of the truly great learning centers.
Mickey scheduled the first classes for the Systems Managers who were in the local area. A four afternoon, four hours each session block was planned. Three additional sixteen hour blocks of information, planned for future training sessions, were organized.
At the end of the first day, Mickey had covered all the course work he had planned for the first course. A sudden, tough "pop" quiz proved the "students" seemed to be really soaking it up. By the time the end of the week brought the end of the class, the students had covered and again tests had proved the students retained the essentials of two years of university level computer systems analysis and management. Justifiably proud of the achievement, the she-male took Lynn out for a night on the town to celebrate.
For the second and additional classes, Mickey hired Carol Walker, a full Professor of Computer Science at J. C. Griggs University, the elite private research college that provided a series of sought after medical research courses, located there in City Bluffs. Carol reviewed the course materiel and then promptly declared, "Miss Horcutt, it would be virtually impossible to cover one block in four half-day lessons."
Producing the results from the first class for her perusal, Mickey entreated, "Please look these over and then hear me out before you refuse, Miss Walker."
Some ten minutes later the holder of a PHD looked up and stammered, "This is unbelievable! Simply amazing! And you're telling me I can do this?"
"Miss Walker, Carol, if I may. If you will preview the material in all four blocks and teach the next class. If at the end of the normal class period you feel it is impossible to cover all of block one in the allotted time, I will extend the class an additional four sessions," Mickey told her.
Reluctantly, she finally agreed, but wanted Mickey to provide additional course materiel free of charge for two of her Graduate Students.
Surprise would not begin to describe Carol's feeling as at the end of the first day she was finishing block one. She was able to completely convey the contents of all four blocks of materiel in four days, not only to the ten students from the assorted companies, but also her two Graduate Students.
*****OoooO*****
The Andes Enclave living and working in the Magician's Manor, formerly the military section, were, for the most part, healing well. Between them Jenny and Terrie had managed to repair or set to healing almost all the physical, viral, bacteriological, and nutritional deficiencies of the entire group. Andrea added her efforts to their almost daily rounds when they discovered that she had an ability to penetrate a patient's mind and relieve depression, anxiety, or other "distraction," and otherwise assist in the mental healing of the badly battered group.
Andrea found that she was a natural team worker with a non conventional Catholic Priest, Father Maurice Huerta. Father Huerta saw nothing wrong in persons using magic or powers, as long as it was used for good. It was, in his humble opinion, just a gift of God. For the past several years he had been transferred by the church all across the world. He was in bad repute because he did not agree with the hierarchy about magic.
His last posting was a run down quarter in Cleveland Ohio. As always he managed to quickly identify parishioners who were in possession of power. He had helped several find their center and actual gifts. His arrival with the Andes refugees was as a result of him answering an emergency call from a parishioner. The parishioner had hustled him to the airport and they joined six other power users. All boarded the small plane. As the craft taxied out, they listened to the police scanner radio. The priest's presbytery had disappeared in an explosion of a propane tank. Only problem was, there was no gas used in or around the Presbytery. Before the plane had reached cruising altitude they heard police and fire dispatched to each of their homes.
Father Huerta passed on God's blessing while focusing healing energy through his rosary. He knew enough of his bishop that when the presbytery exploded, the priest disappeared.
In the Knoll, the priest continued to minister to the spiritual needs of all who needed help. He was identifying people who needed medical assistance. Andrea would apply her abilities and the people would respond very quickly.
Prudence and Anthony Blais had become a godsend to Mr. Sharla. Due to some prudent manipulations, all of the good magicians except White had managed to very completely drop out of physical sight and were now very content to lie low out of magical sight. However White and Sheila, although they needed to be out of sight of the members of the fanatic Future Christian Leaders Association, had too many business decisions to make and transmit on an almost daily basis in the real world to simply "drop from sight." Others who sought sanctuary were very well able to afford hotel rates for their shelter. The Ouachita Knoll began to fill and function fully. Those who became bored soon began to lease and operate the various businesses located throughout the complex.
Prudence and four other seers independently conducted a divination. The overall result of the prognostications was that anyone targeted by the Black Magicians had to disappear completely until the next equinox. Prue and Tony prepared a spell that would notify their real employers, the Omega Section, that they were okay and in good hands and would be out of communications until further notice.
Meanwhile Charles, as if acting on Sharla's direction, completed several new customer installations in Alaska, Washington, and Oregon. As a whimsy, he returned to Sitka, Alaska just as an artic storm swept across the city, and invoked the notification spell that Tony and Prue had prepared. A number of Black magicians showed up almost instantly. Charles/Sharla had to believe that there either were a lot more Black Magicians than suspected or that they had mastered teleportation.
Completely a woman, Kevin, now known as Karen Anne, had to seek shelter because at least one research group was so interested in the how and why of her transformation that they had initiated several kidnap attempts of her. Andrea and Jenny had managed to foil one of these kidnapping plots. The police fortuitously smashed another plot because the patrolmen on duty had actually been on their beat instead of the doughnut shop. A third time, Mr. Caldwell and Mary Anne, coming out of the main office at lunch time, had discovered Gabriel and Karen Anne fighting for their freedom in the parking lot. The group of thirteen people had turned on the intruders. One of them carried a staff and had struck out at Mr. Caldwell. The blow struck and broke the Palm Pilot that he had purchased through Winslowe Enterprises. The integral LookAtIt had reported the total breakdown of ability to function to Big Daddy. Big Momma had flashed the report of the sudden breakage to Sharla. It was only a matter of seconds after the blow was struck that Mr. Sharla was present in spiritual projection.
The first group trying to abduct Karen had been FCLA anti-transgender fanatics. The police had grilled them and then because of some legal technicality all of the attackers were released. Time and circumstance indicate the FCLA was one of many fronts formed by the Black Coven and the Black Coven had many powerful legal contacts in their pocket. The six of them were collected from the Police Station in a stretch Limo with foreign embassy plates.
In a pique of dark humor, Mr. Sharla had flicked a finger at the closed car. The entire group suddenly discovered they were capable of having babies and singing high soprano in their choir.
The second group though apprehended in the act of kidnapping, had also been released from custody because of diplomatic immunity. This group had been a professional team sent by a medical research consortium in Thailand. Mr. Sharla, determined to see them punished, cast a spell that would activate ten days after they returned back to Thailand. At that time they would be able to begin a new profession, that of working in the cribs of Bangkok. The third group to attempt Karen Anne's abduction was another story completely.
Mr. Sharla later related the event; eight Adept Level Black Magicians had viciously attacked him at the first flicker of the presence of his spiritual projection. It was almost as if they had been expecting him to appear. They were wielding a mixture of red and black energy that smelled bad and caused physical pain. He had reacted instinctively, but had no idea from where or whom he had learned to create the force globe that managed to selectively encompass only the thirteen individuals, absorb their lines of energy, and chop their assorted links. "Seriously guys, how I created that Force Globe was and is unknown to me. I just wish I did know. It could be a useful tool!"
The unknown but welcome force had formed a sphere, knocked Karen Anne, Mary Anne, Gabriel, and Mr. Caldwell to the floor without harm to any of them. Within a fraction of a second, the sphere had shrank to a dot and then slipped through dimensional faults to end up deep inside a blue white star. The sphere then dissipated and the star's internal nuclear reaction totally disrupted whatever was left of the Black Magicians and their corrupted energies.
Before the people on the floor could stand up, Mr. Sharla in the guise of Charles, translocated her corporeal body to Karen's kitchen, the location of the attack. Mr. Caldwell, Mary Anne, and Karen Anne all knew Sharla / Mr. Sharla was also Charles, but that Gabriel did not. Realizing there was no way around the truth any longer, Sharla introduced himself to Gabriel as Charles Winslowe, a cousin of Sharla's. "Since it works very well as an alert system," Charles suggested, "Mr. Caldwell, I've ordered a new Palm Pilot that will be delivered as soon as possible. Now, since there have been no less than three concerted attempts to abduct Karen Anne, Sharla recommends you send Karen to Sharla's "Retreat Hotel" at the Knoll.
The redheaded witch, maintaining the pretence of being her cousin Charles speaking for Sharla, offered to hire Karen Anne Caldwell. "It would be your job to set up and manage a Business Center, and to create and maintain the associated electronic and administrative support systems within the Ouachita Knoll complex."
The new girl had shown a surge of interest, so Sharla, in the guise of Charles, went on.
"This offer is made under the condition, Karen Anne, that once you take the job you will effectively be out of physical contact with the world-at-large, at least until after Easter Sunday.
Then Charles explained, "Equinox will be the earliest possible date that it'll be safe for targets of the "Bad Magicians" to come out of hiding." All the while he spoke, he sensed Gabriel was not completely convinced of this Charles charade.
The psionic witch thought it a bit curious that Karen Anne looked first to Mary Anne with a look of "separation anxiety" before looking to Gabriel, but then remembered Mary Anne and Kevin had been quite close before her transformation. In a moment of relation to Karen Anne, she realized she would prefer being with White than with Naomi, if that were possible.
Then crafty Mr. Caldwell, deciding to act as agent for the two girls of his life, took Karen Anne and Mary Anne into the living room to discuss this offer. In a moment of decision, the witch in disguise took a couple of cold beers out of the refrigerator. Deftly opening both bottles Charles placed them on the kitchen table before spinning a chair around. Straddling the back of the chair facing the table, the girl in a guy's body waved the still standing Gabriel to sit.
Quietly Charles started. "Have a beer and take a seat please, Gabriel Christian, Ace Reporter and gallant gentleman."
A bit startled but not entirely surprised by the so feminine sounding phrases coming from a man, but with his curiosity piqued, the "Ace Reporter" sat. "What's th' deal, Charles?" He slightly emphasized the 'Charles' just to let the person know he did not believe all that was in front of him.
"Gabe, I believe that you know magic has to be accomplishing the healings that you are here to report."
With a quick nod, Gabe sighed, "What I witnessed Halloween night at the coven ceremony convinced me of the facts." He was now certain his suspicions were about to be confirmed.
"I've got some things that are 'off the record' that I'd like to tell you," Charles continued, "because I sense that you were good friends with Kevin and that you are deeply in love with Karen Anne."
"Ah, there you go, spoiling all my fun!"
Both the man and pseudo-man chuckled. "Okay, the recorder is off."
"Right, okay, let's go back a bit in time. You already know that shortly after Kevin was transported to City Bluffs, a number of his friends cast a very complex healing spell."
At the reporter's nod, Charles went on, "The byproduct of that spell is, as you well know now, Kevin was healed, but that healing produced Karen Anne. Even as we speak, small magics are continuing to work in her body and will continue for a time on a daily basis.
The reporter sat forward in his chair, now intense in his interest.
"These small occurrences are due to continue until the 29th of December. After that date, Karen will be completely female and immune to almost every sort of magic."
Sharla nearly laughed aloud when Gabe unconsciously glanced at his watch.
"Now comes the touchy, really tricky part, Gabe. First of all, you do know me, but you know me as Sharla…."
Charles held up a hand when Gabe opened his mouth to speak. "You can ask your questions in a minute. During the casting of that healing spell, I was the focus of the spell. Due to a fluke, a mistake I made, I have changed to a guy. Since the magic was not healing me, I can change back after the magic completes its cycle."
Again the question popping into the reporter's eyes was obvious. "No, there is no way Karen can ever change back. That, my friend, is the crux of these attempts to kidnap your belle. There is a research group wanting to discover how the change came about."
"And due to your close association with her, I am afraid that you have been marked. The last attackers had magic communications links to somewhere and probably reported you, Mr. Caldwell, and Mary Anne as being associated with Karen Anne, their target."
"Charles, er Sharla!" The normally articulate Gabe managed to force out. "Uh, well, I don't suppose I could do a story …"
The tall redhead was shaking her head negatively before he finished speaking. "No, and for a couple of good reasons. One it is imperative I keep a low profile. Two, I do not like what your rag does to stories."
The man had the good grace to blush. "I was on the verge of resignation, but was convinced my quitting would serve no useful purpose. If I remain, I may be able to get some stories posted that tell the basic truths. Also I might be able to influence the way additional tests are put in place."
"Son, that girl has you wrapped tightly about her finger…" Charles laughed as he finished his brew. "Want another?"
"No thanks. I'm good."
"Okay, I guess I need to get back in there and see how badly your future father-in-law is going to gouge me for your girlfriend's services."
"Yeh, he's a cagey old tycoon. But I gotta hand it to'im, he's honest as they come!"
*****OooO*****
Not my cup of tea
The three healers, Jenny, Terrie, and Andrea were working in the City Bluffs hospital, Jenny and Terrie with a woman recently singled out and beaten near to death by a group of FCLA and ensconced in the City Hospital. She had been injured a week ago. She was still in Intensive Care due to severe trauma about the head and face. The woman was delusional and injuring herself fighting off her demons.
"Will someone get Andrea in here," cried Jenny of over the injured woman's keening and babbling,
"Do you know where she is, Jen?" Terrie was on the other side of the gurney trying to help an ER orderly who had been drafted to hold the woman down so the doctor could treat her.
"ER three, I think, said the orderly, a decent looking young man who carried a torch for the blonde Psionic. "Ill go'nd get'er!" The lad was out the door in a heartbeat.
"What's up, Doc?" asked the teen as she entered the room on the heels of her would be paramour a few minutes later.
"She has serious head and facial wounds, possible damage to the brain pan, and severe mineral deficiencies. Every time we relieve the tranquilizers she starts into seizure and jerking about. If you can actually do what I've been told you can do, I've an idea you can help her to calm down, and then we will able to flood her system with IV mineral supplements. If you can enter the mind..."
"I can but try. Some minds in trauma are closed to me. The mind has automatics that cause it to shut down." That said, she took the woman's hand in her left and placed her right on the nape of the woman's neck. "Contact helps." This also put her hand within a centimeter of the central trunk line that leads directly to the Brain's Operation Center and nodded to the Anesthesiologist monitoring the drug flow. .
Within seconds of her first contact the woman started, her eyes popped open and then she settled down. A moment later she started again and twitches ran rampant over her form. The blonde winced and tried again and then and the woman settled down and finally relaxed completely.
The on-duty Psychiatrist was greatly surprised, but encouraged and said, "Atta girl! Now the mineral supplements will have a chance to enter her system, since she is naturally relaxed instead of being doped. If you can just keep her like that, within 15 minutes her system deficiencies should be resolved and she can rest easily."
*****OoooO*****
While taking a break in the hospital cafeteria later that morning, Jenny asked Andrea, "Andi, how do you do that? I mean that mind control thing you do like with that woman who was so restless in the IC Unit earlier."
The Teen shrugged and said, "Do you remember the portal we showed you how to open to link minds?" Andrea knew neither of the two girls wanted the twenty synapses answer and decided to give them a really simplified version.
Both the older girls nodded.
"Well, believe it or not, that is a direct portal to the path that will open to the Operations Center. I call it that for want of a perception you can comprehend. Just think of it as the CPU of the mind. It is from there that you can control anyone. Every person on Earth has this sort of binary control center. If you will, just imagine walls containing arrays of binary switches…" The teen unabashedly used the same image Owl had used to educate her to this portion of the ability.
"Binary switches?"
"Oh, Jen, on and off switches, like the light switch in the bedroom," laughed Terrie. "Sometimes, Jen…"
Jenny blushed furiously.
"Its okay, Jen. Now, just close your eyes and imagine a wall filled with such switches," urged the younger blonde.
As soon as Andrea described the walls, Jenny watched the walls appear on the inside of her eyelids, displaying banks of "on-off" switches. Incredibly the girl knew instantly the function of every switch and every combination of switches to use in order to achieve the desired result.
"From the operations center you can control the person as you want, change that person's health, character, attitude, perceptions, morals, any portion their being that you like."
"Can I do that?" Terrie asked.
"I dunno. Probably not. Not everyone has the same abilities."
"Well, I'm sure glad I can't. I wouldn't want to take a chance of turning someone into a veggie." Jenny shivered and looked around. "That was a good explanation and I think I see how you do it, but now, will you two join me in a cup of tea?"
It was all Andrea could do to keep from laughing aloud, but she nodded, "Not really, but I would have one of my own, Jen."
*****OoooO*****
"Sheila, this is Janet." The voice on the phone bubbled with excitement. All too obviously the older witch had stirring news.
"Last January, I stopped to talk to White Running-Bear, the Shaman for the Cougar Lodge. He has a big ranch just outside of Denver, Colorado. I told him about our mysterious trainee and he agreed to help. Said he'd call Council of Elders, but that the earliest he could get it together was in March. It did not happen. With all this recent attack activity, he arranged an assortment of warlocks, witches, and shamans from the Denver area to conduct an identification circle in his medicine lodge."
"Janet!" snapped Sheila sharply. "I hate to be the one to bust your bubble, but this is no mere 'Trainee" we are dealing with! This wielder is an Adept! At the VERY least! Inner Circle even!! Possessing a powerful form of The Gift." Janet had contested this person, and she should know well their strength and control of The Gift!
"Because I had experienced the echoes of the power," the older woman went on as though not hearing Sheila, the younger witch's words. "I was the focus of the circle. White, as the most experienced, conducted the ritual. The last major manifestation was the creation of Emeralds last September, so White included a time search element in the construction of this spell. We drew on what White had learned from his circle's earlier attempt to bring the trainee under control and called up the spirits of three of history's most powerful Mages.
"We were partially successful. Who or whatever created the power of those emeralds also eliminated any resonance of their creation. However we did pick up resonance of other powerful creations and spells cast from about 1800 back to 1600. The earliest of this time seems to be from France and the last is from your area, Vermont.
"When we tried to get a better grip on the trainee's essence, we were pushed out of "back in time." That's when all Hell broke loose!
"One of the members of the circle collapsed from the force of the push and broke the circle. The temporal vibrations were just too much for his ability," she sighed heavily. "We very nearly lost the poor soul. It took three adepts nearly three hours to recover it."
"What did you learn?" Sheila snapped impatiently. She had an idea of who this mysterious "Trainee" was… and if she was right, she was no trainee. The girl had called her in to conduct a very elaborate and complicated healing ritual.
The call was very inopportune. All of the Attacks and difficulty for the magic users since September. She had managed to perform the Third Level initiation during the celebration of All Hallows Eve and Jenny was now well on her way to becoming a great healer
"Well?" she repeated when the other seemed to hesitate.
"Neither White nor I 'know' what we have," Janet continued, having completely missed the younger witch's impatient tone. "But we think we have a case of reincarnation, probably several, stretching back as far as, and possibly originating with, King Solomon! Goddess! Can you imagine . . .
"The clearest segment we had was the most recent. A name, "Misty Dawn," associated with a lifeline that stretches from about 1595 in France, was retrieved. It gets hazy for a bit and then reappears around 1630 in Quebec, Canada. Until sometime around 1802, she seemed to wander around what is now southern Quebec and the New England states. It appears she only stayed in one place for a few years. The last trace we had was right there in Burlington, circa early 1800's.
"White and I will try again in the spring, when the turning of the seasons is again balanced, if it is safe."
"Janet, Jenny has been initiated!" Sheila was worried for it seemed the dark ones were targeting those of the "Inner Circle" and stronger.
"You said there is no danger to Jenny."
"It seems so, Jan. But . . ."
"Sheila! This mystic trainee has shown no reason to provoke such concern! And Sheila, calm down. I can feel the aura of deep paranoia you are exuding even as we speak."
"But the raw power of this . . ." She had witnessed the power of this girl Sharla and had reason to think she might be leaning to the Dark Side.
"ENOUGH!" Janet cut off the younger witch energetically. "You have enough to worry over just mending your body!" She glanced up as another young woman entered her office/den. She needed someone out there to be her eyes and ears. I have just the girl to send, she thought. As she cradled the phone she hit the intercom.
"Sarauk, pack your bags, you're going to City Bluffs for a while. It seems that City Bluffs is the focus of this increase of The Power and I want to know what is going on out there. Can you be ready to leave in an hour?"
A Banquet plotted.
Charles and Naomi, stealing a few minutes of privacy in the redhead's opulent Knoll suite, were interrupted by Jenny, Terrie, and Andrea returning from doing their "rounds" in the Magician's Manor.
Slipping into a short spider-silk dressing gown given her by Mr. Sharla the day following their fireside reunion, she tossed Charles a terry bathrobe and then went into the main sitting room to say hello. "Ghad, you guys look beat," commented the tall shaman.
The three healers appeared bedraggled and lusterless. Following perfunctory greetings, Jenny and Terrie dragged their weary buns into a just slightly less opulent suite they shared. Their "apartment" was only a bit further along the passageway. Andrea took a comfortable position of relaxation in one of the cozy easy chairs and leaned back with an exhausted sigh.
"Really, sis, you do look rather worn." Charles placed a palm on his sister's forehead in a classic maternal gesture.
"To the bone, sis," she agreed, and then, unable to resist, added a poker-faced, "it's a real grind."
Naomi groaned, "That was bad, Andi," and handed her cribbage partner a cup of herbal tea she knew would give a lift.
"That tough down there, huh?" Quizzed the redhead as she took a cup of the tea from Naomi and then sat lightly on the edge of the sofa across from the psionic psychologist.
When her "brother" carefully adjusted the hem of the robe over his demurely crossed knees, Andrea giggled, not quite used to seeing the truly buff Charles performing all the feminine gestures and mannerisms of Sharla. "Ten penny tough! Most of the problems developing now are related directly to their being bored."
"That would be my assessment also, lover mine," chuckled the raven-haired shaman sitting next to and snuggling close with Mr. Sharla, "There should be something…"
"We could do a Thanksgiving Orgy," suggested the Wizardette with a broad grin.
"Way ahead of you, horny toad. I've discussed Sharla, Tony, Prue, and White sponsoring a Thanksgiving celebration through the Knoll Hotel. The host group is footing," Charles dropped a stern eye on his lovely lover and finished with, "and the magicians down there in the manor do not have to know who the host is."
"Yes dear," the shaman mock-pouted prettily. "My lips are sealed."
The young blonde giggled girlishly and flashed an image of how she perceived Naomi's lips being sealed, with Charles' help, into the Native American's mind.
"Squirt, if you don't stay outa my head…" she tossed a throw pillow at the girl in the chair.
"Okay you two!" Charles snapped, heading off the two's playful banter. The need for serious discussion prompted his shortness. "Seriously Naomi, I want you to develop this Thanksgiving celebration," she turned her eyes toward her sister, "and if it starts a party, so be it. Remember there are something like a hundred-forty-five rooms buried in this mountain not being used at the moment."
Rising to refresh hers and anyone else's tea, Andrea looked at her "brother." "I'm thinkin' it's time you got Prue and Tony in here, since they are going to be the ones bearing the grungy duties."
With a slight nod the shemale closed his eyes and made contact, linking with Tony, who seemed to be the stronger telepath of the two "spies."
A refill later Prue popped into the "Cat's Cradle" and asked, "Whassup?"
The girls rapidly explained and then decided to let Prue plan the banquet and just mentioned some of the dishes possible, "…and you get both Maggie Cee and Kay to help with the cooking…"
"And Andrea gets to set up the spell for serving the food." Naomi interjected, waving her hands in the manner of a bandleader waving a baton. She loved to watch her friend work with her wand; some of the things she did were just short of miraculous.
"…and Shelly and JulieO to sort it out." Mr. Sharla turned his scowl onto his lover.
The teen frowned at her favorite cribbage victim. Naomi just grinned and stuck her tongue out. "Don't start something unless you aim to finish it! Andrea tossed the throw Naomi had thrown at her earlier back and suffered another of the shemale's dark scowls, this one focused on her.
"Damn! Tony should have come to this one. I've never done a banquet before.
That's why I've tossed it in your lap; your hubby's a gourmet!"
"Yeah, I know, and I'm a pork chop and mashed potatoes gal."
"I'm gonna miss Gram's Turkey Day spread," sighed Naomi.
"What type of thanksgiving meal does your gram serve when she hosts?"
"She's gone to Wind," the shaman whispered softly with a note of sadness.
Andrea went over and hugged her friend tightly. "I'm sorry."
"Well, we Winslowes just kind of set around and fry burgers and franks on the grill and call it food of the goddess," said Sharla. Another reason I am leaving it up to you, Prue."
Prue looked at the tall psionic with a strange expression of disbelief.
"It's true, Prue, we don't make a big deal of holidays." Andrea agreed. "Dunno why, just never have done it."
"Okay, start the feasting. We're feeding roughly three hundred, right?"
"Yep. Something like two hundred-sixty or so magicians in the manor now," advised Naomi.
"And figure on forty others," added Prue, mentally running the register of other guests in residence. "Food and that sort of stuff is really secondary to this, isn't it?" asked Prue, the true purpose dawning.
"Yeah. It's a red sailboat thing. I mean like this is to be a big noisy affair to involve the magicians down in the manor, something they can focus on to relieve their boredom," the handsome male returned quietly, his mind obviously drifting to other problems, now that this one had been delegated. "I need to see Karen Anne and get her lined out on the leasing arrangements over on the concourse. I think… maybe--?"
"Well, if you'll pardon the pun, I feel I've had a day in the lion's den," sighed the blonde grinning at Naomi Tallcougar. "I'm for a shower and maybe a nap before supper."
The teen's words broke up the session and everyone drifted away to other things.
*****OoooO*****
Time was passing quickly. The operations of the Knoll supply room and Food Store was being handled by Maggie Kay. Many of the Magicians began to feel very uncomfortable because the wards around the Knoll completely isolated them from the influence of the earth, planets, and stars. The only access out of the complex was the White Box which completely masked all communications and transmission of solids and energy through some sort of block, a very effective insulating block.
December 17 was the day Sharla planned to have squeezed in enough extra hours. She had set up the Reversal Tunnel in the basement of the Winters House. She popped completely into the over world and examined her body. All the magic was gone. She slipped back into her body and told Naomi that it was clear.
A quick kiss and Sharla stepped into the tunnel. She felt static; it was almost a drag, as he quickly walked into one end, wearing only a set of sweats. As he quickly walked the eight-foot length of the tunnel he felt the quick and complete physical changes as he changed back to herself before she stepped out of the other end.
When Mr. Sharla stepped into the tunnel through the entrance arch, a glare of intense white light on the inside of the tunnel hid him from Naomi. The shaman hurried to the other end but could not see anything because the glare inside completely blinded her and blocked the Native American's view. There was no sign of Sharla. When she tried to reach in, she discovered the light formed a flexible but impenetrable wall, a force field. A moment of concentration by Naomi and Andrea and Jenny were on their way. Jenny stopped to call her Aunt Sheila, one of the few magic workers seemingly ignored by the fanatics.
Sharla had stepped into the Reversing Tunnel and disappeared at exactly one o'clock, immediately after lunch. Andrea, Naomi, Jenny, and Sheila tried every technique that they could devise, but there was no sign of Sharla other than the five foot high, eight foot long, and three feet wide intensely glowing plastic canvas covered tunnel. All surfaces were brilliant, even the ends. Nothing could penetrate the aura.
Maggie Cee interrupted them with a hot lunch. That was when they realized that they had been trying for almost twenty-four hours without break. They had just started on a delicious Cream of Asparagus soup when the basement suddenly went dark.
The Reversal Tunnel had generated so much light that they had turned off all the other lighting in the basement. Out of the black at the other end of the basement came a gently glowing blue light and Sharla, an unmistakably female Sharla, was walking toward them. "What happened to the lights?" Sharla demanded in her rich alto, not the deep baritone the others had grown used to hearing from the male body Sharla had been trapped in the past couple of months.
Andrea's chair crashed to the floor as she launched herself across the basement to her sister. Naomi was only nanoseconds behind, having paused long enough to hit the light switch for the basement lights before joining Jenny, Andrea, and Sharla in a group hug.
Part 39: Transitions
After coming out of the Tunnel and relaxing from the group hug, Sharla promised to explain everything in just a few minutes. She encouraged her friends to start eating their soup while she got cleaned up and put on some, albeit a minimum, of real female's softer clothing. A little over two months of wearing boring guy stuff was way too much. She did not even use the stairs; she just translocated herself into the master bathroom. A very quick shower, some real clothes, and some makeup were next.
Quickly she ran down the stairs reveling in the feel of a well-filled bra, correctly fitting thong panties, and the welcome clatter of spike heels. She was starving. The conversion had really made her hungry. From the shower she had requested Maggie Cee to prepare a good meal for her and serve it at the table in the basement with the others.
As she entered the Basement, she successfully tried to establish a mental communication link with Sheila. After that it was just a matter of seconds to draw the others into the mental conversation.
"Where did you come from?" Sharla demanded of Sheila, Jenny, and Andrea. "I stepped into the Tunnel at exactly 01:00 and it took me one minute to traverse the tunnel. I checked the clock and it was 01:01." Sharla addressed Naomi. "In that minute you turned off the lights and got these three here and got a lunch laid. Explain yourself!"
Through the mental link, it only took seconds for the friends to understand that Sharla had stepped into the reverse of her normal time bubble. Inside the Tunnel only an apparent minute had passed. Outside, twenty-four hours and one minute passed. Sharla managed to convince her friends and Sister that she was one hundred percent ok and back to her original self. She even managed to eat the meal that Maggie Cee had placed on the basement table.
Sharla thought she understood the operation of the spell. To test it she translocated one of Andrew's wind-up cars from the attic of the Winslowe Garage. The model was wound and it easily traveled through the tunnel in a bit over one minute. After rewinding the car motor, Sharla picked a flower off the centerpiece of the table. A bit of concentration on the Red Energy and the Flower was magically changed to a lump of coal. The model with its load of coal was started through the tunnel. As soon as it cleared the entry support pipes, the entire tunnel was filled with intense white light.
The model rolled into the tunnel at 1:27. Sharla shooed the four upstairs to get some much-needed rest. Twenty-four hours of intense effort followed by Sharla's safe return had exhausted them. Sharla had another thing on her mind, one Leaping Trout.
Quickly she slipped through the cloakroom and into the lobby of the Knoll Facility. White Running-Bear, as the elected leader of the Magicians in hiding, was very used to going into the lobby of the Knoll Facility to meet with magicians who were free to work in the normal world. The announcement on the intercom speakers asking him to go to the lobby for an extended meeting did not cause any problem. He stepped through the door and paused in the small recess at the side of the Lobby. Yesterday was the day that Sharla was supposed to do the Reversing Spell on herself. He had heard nothing. His attempts to call the Winters' house and the Winslowe business met with no information or no answer.
Even though he knew it was futile trying to contact Sharla through the white box, he tried mental contact anyway. Contact! Complete, glorious, passionate contact! His goddess was completely physically back. Before he could take another step into the lobby, she had translocated both of them to her private suite. He did not even know that part of the facility existed. He did not really care because they were together again, in more than mind.
Over the next several days, they took several breaks from the privacy of Sharla's Suite to resolve small problems that were coming up among the magicians. All told, a number of them were working in developing shops in the hotel, tailor shops, a beauty shop, a barber shop, and a gift shop featuring charms and fetishes. An area directly above the main restaurant was the administrative support center that Karen had established and was still operating. Part of the operation was a very successful small office supply store operated as a branch of Winslowe Enterprises. Another aspect of the support center was a credit accounting operation that for all practical purposes was a bank.
Solstice was quickly approaching. Sharla spent a lot of time prowling the over world tracing the inimical magic supporting the FCLA. Unable to devise any direct attack that would protect the "Good Magicians," Sharla developed a spell that she released across the entire globe at the solstice. If it worked the way she thought it would, the Black Energy traces and reservoirs would be identified and partially shielded until the balancing of the seasons provided a ground, a neutral void to allow those energies to be completely drawn out of the globe. Not being able to discover any other way to help the Magician victims, Sharla realized that she was very much behind in installations. Mickey and Karen Anne had been talking up the benefits of a Winslowe Enterprise Small Computer system. Many of the Magicians who had sought magical shelter were again operating their businesses, but now electronically.
Bright and early on Monday morning, Christmas Eve Morn, Sharla was summoned to the Winters house by Shelly. Sharla had a very insistent business visitor at the house. The Business card stated that this was the Contracting Officer who had hired her for the very well paying government job earlier in the year.
"Miss Winslowe, I have been instructed to give you a contract to do some very classified work. I do not know the specific contents of this package, and I do not want to know!" The young uniformed Major continued.
"The part I am competent in is the government bid and contract forms in this unsealed package. At the recommendation of people I trust, I have filled in certain blocks dealing with performance time and payment, and continuing services. I have been told that the sealed package contains additional details of the job and that when you go to one of the job sites involved, a telephone contact will meet you and provide additional explanation. I have been told that the sooner you contact them the better it will be. I will be staying at the Ramada Inn until the 3rd of January. Please read over the instructions in the sealed package and contact me if you want to sign, negotiate, or refuse the contract. I have been assured that you have very excellent Security Facilities to control the Classified Portions of these documents."
After seeing the Major off the property, Sharla opened the contract folder. Basically it was for two separate contracts. The first was to somehow connect a point A in one building to point B apparently a historical residence in a park area some twenty kilometers away. The second part was a monthly maintenance fee to insure that the 20 kilometers of cables in their underground tunnel were not broken. The second parcel, a leather reinforced canvas document bag was sealed with a twisted wire crimped into a lead seal.
Sharla detected traces of Blue and Red Energy flickering in the fabric of the bag and inside it as well. Using green energy she removed all the stitching of the bag, the leather and the zipper. The spell dissipated, but not before she determined that it was really a ward to protect the materiel from physical damage. All of the contents were enclosed in additional envelopes. Still in the over world, Sharla spread the envelopes across the desk and located every bit of magic and completely made each spell inert. Back in the physical world, Sharla opened the one identified as specifications.
According to these specifications, the starting place was not an office building in Fairfax Virginia, but an office building on the south shore of the Potomac River. The destination was a Historical Site exactly twenty kilometers away, on the north side of the river. The starting place was a small room, eighty feet under the bottom floor of the fourth sub level parking garage of a large office building. The ground level parking had been rented as a cable storage site for several rewiring contracts by the electrical company, the telephone companies, and the cable TV and internet companies. The Special cables could be delivered to this site and additional construction and technical personnel would not be too noticeable. Miss Winslowe was being contacted because the last time her company had done a smaller job they had managed to remove all the boring materials without alerting any of the environmental fanatics who had been watching the area. This time the risks were much higher and there were some additional mystic constraints that would be explained. There was a phone in the starting room and anytime Miss Winslowe would use the phone before 2 January, there would be someone to answer all of her questions.
Sharla cast a no one is present ward around the office area of the living room and then relaxed in the recliner, projecting her spiritual self down to the location identified as the destination of the cable. She was almost back to the Winters house before she realized she had been diverted by a ward. Prepared, this time she identified thirteen different layers of wards around the location. She traced the fascinating composition and extent of these wards. They were something completely new to her experience. On the ground level, a person could come in on the road, use the parking lot, and freely roam both floors of the site, except for the physical barriers and security guards. When a person attempted for some reason to leave the identified pathways, the first level of wards triggered a loss of interest and the second triggered an "I don't need to go there" response. Concentrating on the interplay of the wards, Sharla decided that they probably could deflect the direct hit of a multi-megaton nuclear weapon. Several of the layers seemed fashioned to directly interfere with a Red Energy or Black Energy attack. After carefully working her spiritual way through the wards, Sharla discovered a massive underground complex, maybe four times bigger than her Knoll facility. This was structured to be an administrative and operational center of government. The presence of the Presidential Seal on an office door indicated that this was probably for the President of the United States.
Sharla drifted through the rock and realized that the site had been equipped with communications lines but they had been destroyed or damaged by conventional construction. She traveled under the river to the starting site of the proposed contract. Before she got within a mile of the building, even from very deep underground, she detected another, even more elaborate net of wards.
Being out of body and deep underground, Sharla found it relatively easy to identify and bypass this set of wards. As she moved closer to the "Starting Location" identified in the specifications she encountered another complete set of interlocking wards. Just to be mischievous, Sharla located the starting room and translocated her body into the room, bypassing all thirty-nine layers of wards. She picked up the phone, identified herself as Sharla Winslowe and requested additional information on the proposed contract.
Sharla did not project her awareness to follow the phone line. The amazement reflected in the woman's voice was balm for the sneaky in Sharla. After all it was only four hours after the Major had first arrived at the Winters' house with the contract.
A door that had been invisible opened. A very attractive woman, dressed in a pantsuit, invited Sharla into her office. Sharla was willing to undertake the contract to install the cable, and explained that she could do it and not disturb the wards. The big problem would be that installing a cable bundle twenty-two kilometers long, which would be required to clear two natural unstable areas between the two terminals, would provide a weak spot in each set of wards.
Sharla insinuated a mental finger through the wards surrounding the room and the site and translocated all the contract documentation into her lap. She managed this without alerting the lady mage who was dealing with her.
Kevin and Sharla had used one of the bid packages that his father had put together to lay a sixteen mile line of high voltage and communication cables between two industrial complexes. Sharla had a very good idea of the costs of trench, bury, and restore operations. Using her second sight, Sharla verified that this woman was empowered to negotiate. Sharla also realized that the woman was a very proficient Civil Engineer. Sharla also learned that the woman was in the room only because of the contract. Once decisions had been made, she would close the office until after the cables had been completed.
Sharla obtained the information that the cable suppliers would be able to deliver one thousand meters of the assembled cable bundle each twenty-four hours starting the tenth of January. Sharla quoted a price for the installation and quoted fifty days after the first delivery of cable. She also quoted a price per month to maintain the cables in continuity. The mage agreed and sent a coded message to the contracting officer to sign the contracts on Thursday, two days after Christmas. Sharla invited the mage to accompany her to Christmas Eve dinner party in a magic shielded environment. The Mage agreed and Sharla managed to translocate both of them and the contract documents to the basement of the Winters house. Sharla hurried her guest through the door into the Cloakroom. As soon as they entered the Lobby, Sharla stopped and used the intercom to page Tony and Prue. Sharla had an idea that her "Hotel Managers" knew this lady mage. Sharla also felt that meeting the two special guests would lift a very heavy burden that the Lady Mage was carrying. What Sharla had not expected was to learn that her three guests were the top three members of Omega Branch of Section A. A mystical secret branch of the United States Government dedicated to providing mystic protection to the Government of the United States.
Section Omega:
The well-armed, covertly-funded group known as Section Omega was culled from the best of the Continental Forces. The job of Section Omega was to protect the nation from all threats--internal and external using mystical means.
They were originally created in a document called the Constitutional Supplement, signed by two-fifths of the Constitutional Convention delegates, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, as a measure of protection against foreign invaders, as a storehouse for the true history of the world as best it could be determined from available, facts, et cetera, ad nauseam.
They were independent of the visible government, the military and by administration of any one group of leaders.
They followed the letter of the original charter, and those in leadership positions had to make their decisions based on that charter, the interpretation was up to the Council of Seven.
The original Section Omega had consisted of veterans of the Revolutionary War, between the ages of sixteen and twenty-six, and had then been trained by Ninja Master brought to America by the leadership.
Omega was happy to discover two of their finest agents were alive and well, if detached for a time.
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