Rich Boy: Awakening - 25. Chapter 25

Worthington Michael Sinclair, the Fifth, looked out at the twinkling lights of Phoenix and imagined he could feel the sleeping life of the city below him as it prepared to wake. He had gotten far less sleep last night than he could have used, but Jamie had set the alarm, and they’d woken in the early morning hours. While Worthington showered and shaved in his own room, well it was the first time he’d needed to run a razor over his face in a week, and he wanted to look perfect today, Jamie had gone back to his own room to get ready.

The others had begun to arrive long before the sun started to rise. The street was full of cars, and the last to arrive had to walk nearly a half-mile from where they’d found a parking place. Luckily their neighbors rarely bothered looking out their windows. They’d even gotten accustomed to the sound of Worthington’s motorcycle, and the bikes of his friends, and so no longer bothered to look out their windows when one roared past.

“That’s everyone, young man.” Madam Calhoun said in a gravelly tone as two mages exited the house and came out onto the crowded patio. The meeting weeks ago where they’d discussed the discovery of demons in the area had been attended by representatives of all the mage families in the area. All of them except for those standing with Worthington, and the two that had entered, were Light mages. This time though, every single last mage, not just the family representatives was here, right down to the newborn baby that had been delivered six hours ago. He rested in his mother’s arms, with one of the healer/midwives standing over both of them. She’d wheeled the mother and baby boy here twenty minutes ago. The last to arrive was a young couple that had moved to Phoenix two days ago.

They hadn’t known about the demon problems before they arrived, and hadn’t known any of the other mages until they ran into Janice Grassley, the mother of the last family to have been attacked by demons. Janice had told them, and they’d almost fled town right away, but the truth was they couldn’t afford to do that. The husband’s work had transferred him here, and he couldn’t just quit his job. She was pregnant, and they were expecting their first child in another six months.

Lily Parker was from an old, but poor Dark family that had long since lost their fortunes in bad investments. She’d met and fallen in love with Darren Parker, a young man who had not known he was a mage until his wife showed him magic for the first time and told him what he was. Darren was some sort of chemist, who did work at the Motorola plant. He made good money, far more money than Lily’s father. Her father’s disapproval of the man changed to approval after learning how much the young man made, and he’d undertaken training the young man in magic.

Then Darren’s job had transferred him to their Phoenix facility, and they’d arrived in the middle of a grand mess. Lily was twenty-six, and had been trained since her gift manifested early at sixteen. Darren was twenty-four, relatively new out of school, and had only a year’s worth of training as a mage. From what they’d told the Grassley’s, who had passed the information along to Worthington, her father planned to come out during the summer and continue the young man’s training. Darren knew enough though to keep from hurting himself or others by accident, for the most part.

“What are they doing here?” Roger the Hippie, as Worthington thought of the disagreeable man, protested as soon as the young couple was close enough for him to sense them. “They’re Dark!”

“So is Worthington you fool.” Janice Grassley snapped. The young couple had gravitated to the plain-faced brown-haired woman, who was standing with her husband and two daughters. Given the rather pedestrian features of both parents, Worthington had been surprised at the relative beauty of the two girls. Their hair, while not quite blond was a lighter shade of brown than their parents, and they had fine, delicate features. Both of them were also taller, just an inch or two shy of six feet, and they both seemed to be fairly well endowed. Jamie had been eying them both appreciatively earlier.

“Which is exactly the problem with this whole little meeting this morning.” Roger shot back and Janice’s husband frowned. He had been friends with Roger for years, apparently, and was now finding himself caught between a rock and a hard place. The man was thankful to Worthington for ‘saving’ his family, and for providing them the necklace wards that had saved them. Roger had been at their house the same day, helping to strengthen their wards, which had also helped save the family. “The boy is Dark, we’re Light. We should not be depending on him to do the right thing when this Demon Lord comes back. He’ll sell us all down the river as soon as look at us. We should be running, leaving this place.”

“Look at what happened to those you helped do that.” Madam Calhoun snorted derisively. “As I recall, all of them are dead.”

“We can leave together, in one big group.” Roger retorted. “It’ll be safe that way. If a demon comes after us, we’re strong enough together to take them out. Just head up in the mountains, to where it’s safe, I say, and wait for the demons to leave. That is what we should be doing.”

“I am not giving up my home for a demon.” Madam Calhoun snorted again. “You do what you want, Roger, but I will not be driven from my home by a creature of evil!”

“You’ll bend knee to the Dark instead, Emma?” Roger retaliated. “You’ll foreswear the Light and agree to serve the Dark?”

“That’s not what is to be discussed here.” Jamie said as he took a step forward. “All of you, well, except for the newest members of our community, know me. You’ve seen me grow up here. I would not be taking part in anything that would do that to you!”

“We used to know you!” Roger spat. “That was before you gave up the Light and took to consorting with your Dark cousin. We all know about that, and its sick! Sick I tell you! You’ve made no secret about embracing the Dark since you were turned, and now you want us to all follow you! I say no! We moved here, to the Valley of the Sun because it’s a place where the Light is strong! It’s a good place! Now the Dark comes, and takes one of our best young people, and he wants to help the Dark take all of us!”

“The Dark wouldn’t have you if you begged it to take you.” Worthington sneered, deciding that the best course with Roger wasn’t going to be reasoning with him. “Light or Dark, Dark or Light. It’s like a broken record at times. Neither Jamie nor I are totally of the Dark, or of the Light either. We walk our own path.”

“There is no other path but those two!” Roger insisted. “Trying to walk a different path is insane! Why should we tie ourselves to insane people any more than we are right now? We never should have trusted you to take care of the demons.”

“What was done before was an agreement to fight the demons.” Worthington explained carefully, hoping to reach out to the people that were mumbling among themselves. Most of the kids looked scared, but no one looked bored at least. “We are faced with a different situation. The fact is that we are not dealing with a simple case of someone summoning a demon and finding themselves over their head without realizing what they were doing. This isn’t even one or two mages knowing what they are doing. We’ve killed two of them, and we know there are still more. We have no idea how many more. Even more importantly, there’s a Demon Lord involved in this. It is reasonable to assume this is something the demons have been working on for years, and that the Demon Lord is working with one or two strong mages that managed to summon him and that he managed to take control over. It is clear that it is the Demon Lord calling the shots here, not humans. If we are not careful, this will end up with another full-scale Demon War, and we will be the first casualties in that war.”

“We know from the oral histories that before the demon wars, things were different.” Jamie added in a clear voice. “Light and Dark fought, and killed each other, but they also tolerated each other, living together in communities all over Europe and many other countries. Adepts, whether Light or Dark, were given oaths of fealty, and acted as Lords over our people, handling disputes for the most part even-handedly without prejudice to Light or Dark. There were exceptions, there always are, of course, but by and large Light and Dark mages lived side-by-side without too much conflict.”

“Then the Sinclairs happened.” Roger snorted. “I’ve heard that much, and we’ve got another Sinclair standing there in front of us right now.”

“My ancestor did change how things work in the magic community, and gathered powerful Adepts to his service.” Worthington said cautiously. “Those that resisted, he conquered, and he tried to weld the magical world together by force of his power. Then the Demon Wars came and shattered everything until the demons were finally conquered. Yes, we all know that. If you think I’m trying to do what he did, then by all means you are right to tell me no. That is not what I want. I have no desire to rule, or be responsible for your lives, yours least of all, Roger.”

“Then what is it that you are asking for?” Walter Grassley asked with a frown as he fingered something under the collar of his shirt. “Damn, no offense, these necklaces saved our lives the other night, but its gone cold a bit and it’s uncomfortable. I’m a Light mage, and I’ve had this thing on now for weeks. Having something Dark like this made my skin crawl at first, and when I feel it like right now, it still does. They saved us though, and you could have claimed some price for that, but you didn’t. You haven’t even asked for our support in this today, and you could have, even by the standards of the Light. Why not?”

“Because I’m not asking to be even what the Adepts were in the old days.” Worthington said with a shake of his head. “Nor does Jamie want that, and we are both going to be Adepts. We have the power. All we lack is the experience and the full training. In the last few weeks we’ve both done things that only Adepts can do. In the old days, Adepts had a responsibility to the community of mages. The demons know that, and understand it, and expect that humans are still like that. They don’t understand that we’ve moved past the concept of Lords and the like.”

“Then what is it that you’re proposing?” One of the mages who also worked as a lawyer asked from where he stood in the middle of the crowd. Above them the sky was lightening as dawn neared. “I thought you wanted us all to swear to you like they did in the old days so you can do this spell of yours and make the Demon Lord go away.”

“What we are proposing, and it’s the both of us, is similar to that, but it’s different.” Jamie said with firmness in his voice. “This isn’t hundreds of years ago, and what worked back then won’t work now.”

“Then what is it that you’re proposing?” Janice Grassley asked. “I thought that was what you wanted too, and well, I was willing to at least hear you out, but now you’re saying it is something else.”

“I’ve discussed it with the boys, and I think they have a point.” Madam Calhoun said, speaking up now. “Neither of them are truly Dark, like we’re used to thinking of Dark mages, and they’re definitely not Light. What they have suggested, and what I asked everyone here to consider, is something totally new.”

“Then what is it?” Roger demanded. “Enough of this pussy-footing around. Tell us flat out, in your own words, what you want to do!”

“We are proposing a Mage’s council for this area.” Worthington said in a loud voice, drawing all their eyes to him. “It’s not precisely a government as we’re used to thinking of them. It will be a place to handle disputes, if all those involved in the dispute choose to do so. If it’s called on, it’ll regulate any mage duels to settle disputes. Mostly though, its responsibilities will be to provide for the common defense of all mages in this area. In the area of combating any outside force that seeks to harm the mages of this valley, the Council will have supreme authority. Whether the threat is from demons like we face now, an Adept from outside coming in to take over, or some other magical race, the Council will be responsible for seeing to the common defense of our homes.”

“So it won’t be able to tell us who can live here, or what we can do?” A woman Worthington did not know asked. “I mean, it’d be pretty easy for it to start trying to regulate what we do, or who can teach who, or stuff like that.”

“The Council will only handle our common defense from outside threats, and disputes that are brought to it by those involved.” Jamie insisted. “Use your abilities to do what you will, I know I, for one, could care less what you do. Dark mages won’t want Light mages snooping into how they use their gift, and I know the opposite is true. No, the only thing the Council will worry about is protection, and there its authority has to be absolute.”

“What do you mean by that?” The same woman asked.

“It means that if the Council agrees that it is necessary to form a force to fight a threat from demons, that you will agree to use your abilities to help in the way that it sees best.” Worthington answered her and ignored the muttering. “It’s like what we’ve been doing so far. We organized teams to help reinforce each other’s wards on our homes. After the first attack on Madam Calhoun, we organized teams to come in after an incident and wipe the memories of mundanes, and to plant stories in them that pointed away from magic. Those kinds of things the Council will organize, and will handle more formally.”

“If the Council calls on you to assist, you will be expected to comply.” Calhoun added in a stern tone. “Refusal must have a good reason.”

“What’s a good reason?” Janice Grassley asked with a worried frown.

“Accepting the wearing of a Dark ward necklace when you’re Light is a good example.” Elizabeth said as she spoke up for the first time. “The Council might ask you to wear it, but you can refuse.”

“Another example would be to violate the path of Light by forcing compulsion on an innocent.” Stacy added. “No Light mage would do that, and the Council will not be able to force that on anyone. Likewise, it won’t be able to force a Dark mage to violate the precepts of the Dark either. When it comes to every day life though, the Council will have no real voice in the affairs of individuals. This is for our defense, and our defense only. The bits about deciding disputes was only added in because it makes sense to have something like that. We should have something like that already, but again everyone involved has to agree to allow the Council to handle the dispute.”

“Who’s going to be on this Council?” Walter Grassley asked.

“We are proposing that the Council will be led by any Adepts who call this place home.” Worthington answered. “If there are more than one, they will take turns as leaders of the Council, switching places every year. Jamie and I have both agreed to that. As for the rest of the body, we believe it should be comprised of six mages elected by the general population that lives within its boundaries.”

“What are those boundaries?” Roger asked with distrust apparent in his voice.

“From Fountain Hills in the east, to Buckeye in the west, and from the northern edges of Sun City in the north to the southern boundaries of Chandler in the south.” Elizabeth answered.

“Of the other six mages on the Council, one at least must be Dark, if all the others are Light.” Worthington added. “If the population of this valley was to change, and there were more Dark mages than Light, then at least one must be Light. That way we will always have a voice of both paths on the Council.”

“That seems sensible.” The lawyer friend of Elizabeth’s stated. “What about how the Council reaches a decision?”

“The Adept currently leading the Council gets no vote unless there is a tie.” Jamie answered. “Any other Adepts living in the area are automatically granted seats on the Council and will have a vote. The six members will all have votes as well. If it is established, the Council will set the rules by which it operates, but it will have to be unanimous for them to declare that a state of emergency exists in regards to an outside threat. The Adept who holds the seat of what we’re suggesting be called First Councilor will have the ability to veto any Council decision, and they can override his veto by unanimous vote. The Adepts will be bound in matters to the decisions of the Council too. It works both ways for us. If we are to lead, we must also follow the decisions of the Council.”

“How often will councilors be elected?” The same lawyer asked with a shrewd expression on his face.

“Every six years.” Stacy said.

“What about money?” A woman near the back of the crowd asked. “Who will pay for the Council to operate? Are we going to be taxed?”

“The Adepts will be responsible for providing all the funds necessary to the Council.” Worthington answered quickly. They hadn’t even thought of that issue, and as more voices called out questions, he realized there were several things they hadn’t thought of. Most of the time the answer was “that will be for the Council to decide” or more often “that will be of no concern to the Council because it would exceed their authority”. By the time the questions were done, the first rays of the sun could be seen on the horizon. “The time for a decision is upon us. We picked this time, because like twilight, it is one of the few points in the day when Light and Dark mix. With this Council, we will be mixing Light and Dark for the good of all. Now we ask, how say you? Do we form this Council? A blue ball of light for yes, a red for no.”

“How many votes are required?” The lawyer asked.

“We will not form the Council if more than ten say no.” Jamie answered.

Worthington was the first to create his ball of light, creating a blue one that he set to hover above his head. Stacy, Elizabeth, Madam Calhoun, Richie, Jamie, Rob, and Brandon all sent up blue balls right after his, and around the patio others began to answer as well. Many of them looked at their neighbors, and moved apart into small groups to talk before they would send up their balls of light.

Roger was the first to send up a red ball, and he glared at Walter Grassley, silently trying to force him to do the same. The man looked torn, and took his family aside to talk with them privately. At least there was no argument when even those who weren’t quite eighteen cast up balls of light. All of those were blue, Worthington was slightly surprised to see, including from one red-haired young man whose parents had both cast up red lights. When the Grassley’s sent up their lights, they were all blue, and Janice Grassley was fingering her necklace with a frown. As the voting continued, Worthington watched as she walked back towards Roger while fingering her necklace. She stopped a foot away from him, and said something softly before turning around and walking back to her husband. If anything, the frown on her face deepened as she rejoined her family.

“Nine.” Jamie whispered as he counted the red balls floating above the heads of the assembled mages. Roger had been joined by the two parents of the red-haired young man, and a family of six, with a daughter of nineteen who had cast her light, and two sons, both of them in their early teens who had also voted. They had purposely not set a voting age. If a mage was able to make a colored ball of light, they were able to cast their vote. Everyone waited as two families carried out rather vehement discussions with each other. Roger started to head over there, but was glared at when he got close.

“They’re the Kensingtons and the Robertsons.” Calhoun said. “They’re always fighting, and there’s been a couple of non-lethal mage duels between them over the years.”

“So it’s the dispute issue with them.” Worthington said softly. “Maybe we should remind that all sides have to agree.”

“I’d stay out of their arguments if I could.” Calhoun chuckled softly. “It’s one reason I think you were foolish to include that part.”

“I have a question for you before I vote.” The patriarch of the Kensington family was a weasel-like man with balding white hair.

“Yes, sir.” Worthington said, fully aware the sun was now fully raised and night was almost totally day.

“Can we bring a dispute to the council right away or do we have to wait?” The man asked.

“You’ll have to wait until the Council has had time to decide the rules of how it will handle disputes.” Worthington said with a wince. “Remember, all sides must also agree to the dispute being handled by the Council.”

“Fine, you got my vote.” The man spat as he raised a ball of blue light. All eight members of his family did the same, and so did the other family, the Robertsons.

“I’ll be damned.” Calhoun murmured as first Worthington and then everyone else let their balls of light disappear. “They actually agreed on something.”

“What now?” Roger demanded angrily and Worthington was surprised at the glare that Janice shot the man.

“By the acclamation of the overwhelming majority of the mages living in this valley, the Council is formed.” Stacy said with a hint of triumph in her voice. How the Council would work had been a lot of her and Elizabeth working out Worthington’s ideas. For something that had been a very basic idea two days ago, it had worked out fairly well, he thought as she continued speaking to the assembled mages. “Now we must choose the remaining members of the Council. There are six seats, and at least one must be a Dark mage. All those who would be a part of the Council please raise your hands.”

Immediately Stacy and Elizabeth raised their hands, as did Madam Calhoun and her granddaughter Detective Kendrick. Walter Grassley also raised his hands, as did the lawyer, and a few others. Lily Parker raised her hand, as Worthington had hoped she would, albeit a bit tentatively at first. As the two sole Dark mages in the group who were adults, either one would be a better choice than his other options for the seat reserved for a Dark Mage. In total there were nine people with their hands raised.

“What about us?” Roger asked with a glare. “What about those of us who didn’t vote for your damn Council? Do we just have to sit back and trust you?”

“Whether you voted for the Council, or against it, you have a right to participate.” Elizabeth said bluntly. “However, be aware that if you do participate, voting for or running for a Council position, you will be answerable to the Council. Those who do not wish to participate can leave now. The Council will not bother them, but neither will the Council protect them. If the demons come for them, they will be on their own unless other mages choose to assist them. The Council will not consider them in its planning, and any agreements the Council makes for the protection of the mages of this community will not include them.”

“But we can help them, right?” Walter Grassley called out. “I mean, acting on our own of course.”

“Yes, any mage may help another mage, but the Council will not protect them.” Worthington stated.

“Fine, I’m not going to stand out by myself and I’m not going to leave.” Roger said with a grimace on his face as he raised his hand. “Someone needs to be on the Council to make sure you don’t try and turn it into something else!”

“That is your right.” Madam Calhoun stated flatly. There was no doubt she would not be voting for him. “Is there anyone else who wishes to stand for the Council?”

“We want no part of this.” The father of the red-haired young man said in an angry tone. “We are going to leave this place. It is accursed! You have all strayed from the Light by allying yourself with the Dark!”

“No.” The red-haired young man said. Worthington watched the confrontation that was developing with interest, but made no visible reaction as the young man turned to face his parents. At a guess, he put the guy’s age at close to his own. His hair was a pale red, more carrot-colored than the darker red of Worthington’s mundane friend, Josh. It was also a mess, and Worthington noted the boy’s pale, freckled face had a look of determination on it. He was also tall, almost six feet, easily, and thin as a reed.

“Colin, don’t talk back.” His mother said with an angry expression. “Your father has spoken and we are leaving.”

“I don’t want to leave.” The boy said in what was more a pout than anything else. That took him down a notch in Worthington’s estimation, but then the boy was filled with magic and Worthington felt his eyebrows rise. He was strong, very strong. If he kept growing in strength as he got older, he’d be close to Adept. Depending on how long his gift had already been active, he might even be able to achieve that level. No one had mentioned another mage in the valley with this much power, and he distinctly remembered Stacy stating that there wasn’t another Light youngster with this much potential. A quick look showed she was just as surprised at the boy.

“It doesn’t matter what you want, Colin.” The father said. “Now, release the magic and come with us. Do it the right way, mind you. You’re still too new to your gift. I don’t even know what got into me letting you come. You’ve only known about magic for the last two months and you don’t understand what’s happening. Why they let you vote, I will never know, but they’re all fools.”

“No.” The boy said again as Worthington’s heart hammered. The boy’s gift had only been active for two months? If his gift had been active before that, it wouldn’t have made sense for his parents to not tell him about magic earlier. That part didn’t make much sense at all, but then again his parents could have been the first in their families to know they had the gift. Elizabeth had told him once that a family like that often didn’t tell their children about magic unless the gift manifested in them.

“Don’t argue with me, boy.” The father repeated.

“Colin Davenport, how dare you talk to us this way!” The woman said in a shrill voice. “When we get you home you’re going to get it! Now tell your father you’re sorry and let’s get out of this place. He’s right, it’s so corrupted by the Dark I can smell it all around. We will not have you raised in a place like this. We came here to get away from the Dark, not to let it thrive around us! We should have left the moment those demons started in, but I had that premonition we’d die if we did. Well, we can just leave now.”

“I claim sanctuary.” The boy yelled as he spun around to face Worthington. He was still holding his magic at the ready, and he sprinted until he stood in front of Worthington and Jamie. As soon as he heard those words, Worthington felt his stomach drop. He did not need this complication in front of all these mages! “I claim sanctuary! That’s how it’s done right? You’re an Adept, you can give me sanctuary.”

“How do you know about that?” His father demanded and rushed up to grab his son’s shoulder but the boy shook him off and Worthington felt his heart go out to the boy as he looked at them with a pleading look.

“Please, you don’t know what it’s like.” Colin pleaded with Worthington. “They hate me! They pretend they don’t, but they do! I’ve always known it from the way they look at me. I want nothing to do with them. I renounce them! You hear that you stupid old man! I renounce you.”

The last Colin had shouted as he turned to face his father. Worthington had not, could not respond. This was all too much. What he was forging here would be shattered by accepting the boy’s plea, but something about the boy’s words rang true.

“Be silent, boy.” His father growled. “You will obey me, your father!”

“You’re not even my father!” Colin shouted. “You told me the truth when I made that window shatter! I knew it even before! I could hear you thinking about me when you were looking at me like I was worthless! You’re not my parents. You’re my grandparents!”

“What is this?” Madam Calhoun demanded as she strode forward. “Mary Davenport, what is he talking about?”

“He’s lying.” The boy’s… grandfather growled, grabbing him by the arm and pulling a step before Colin jerked his arm out of the boy’s grasp.

“Enough.” Jamie shouted, and a wall of invisible force separated the boy from the older man. Worthington took a surprised step back even as Jamie stepped forward.

“Stay out of this!” The man fumed. “You have no right to get involved. You said your Council would stay out of disputes unless you were asked, and I’m not asking!”

“This has nothing to do with the Council.” Jamie said firmly. “Colin Davenport, I, Jameson Bradwell, Adept, do hear your plea for sanctuary and do grant it without condition.”

“You can’t do that!” The older Davenport yelled. “He’s of the Light! Light cannot claim sanctuary from someone who isn’t a Light Adept!”

“Then I renounce the light!” Colin shouted, and a thunderclap sounded. It wasn’t real sound, but magic, and everyone shook with it. For a moment, Colin shimmered as if the rays of the newly risen sun were bending around him, not touching him. Was this what had happened when Jamie had given himself to save Worthington?

“You take that back!” Mary Davenport shouted, and Worthington almost felt sorry for her. There were tears in her eyes. “Not you too! Not you too Colin! You’ll end up like your father! I did not raise two boys to see them end up like this!”

“He’s not of the Light, anymore, Mary.” The man said with a look of pure anger for Jamie and for Colin, who was trembling. “Leave him.”

“It’s all your fault.” She growled at him angrily, but she did turn and walk out with him as everyone stared at Colin with looks ranging from stunned to disgust.

“Oh god.” The boy said with a sigh and he swayed. Jamie stepped up to him, and took his arm gently.

“Come here, let’s go inside.” Jamie said softly, leading the boy through the hole in the crowd that was formed by his parents, no his grandparents, leaving a moment ago. Colin walked listlessly, a look of disbelief on his face as Jamie took him inside.

Worthington realized at that moment exactly what it was Jamie had done. His brother had essentially saved this meeting. Worthington could not take the boy’s claim for sanctuary, but Jamie did. By doing that, and declaring himself openly to be Adept, which while technically was a bit premature but still accurate, Jamie had kept his actions independent of what Worthington was doing here. It also established Jamie as being independent from Worthington, and not Worthington’s unthinking tool.

“We have prepared some food to break the fast on this morning.” Elizabeth said in the silence that followed Jamie’s taking the young man inside. “Before we vote on who we want for the Council, let us eat together and talk. I am sure there are many questions for those who would be on the Council. The food is upstairs in the house. There are also bathrooms on both levels for those that need those facilities. Please respect closed doors, but feel free to mingle and enjoy yourselves. We will gather here in one hour to vote.”

“Well, you’ve done it, young man.” Calhoun said as she clapped Worthington lightly on the back. He smiled at her. “Now, why don’t you go and be the gentlemen you always pretend to be and get an old lady something to eat? A croissant with jam and butter would be nice, along with a cup of tea. Honey and just a touch of cream. I’ll sit in one of those chairs over there and wait for people to come talk to me. I’m just too old to go up and down those stairs too many times.”

“As you wish, my lady.” Worthington said to her with a playful bow. Stacy and Elizabeth had outdone themselves with the buffet of food that was waiting in the kitchen, and Worthington noted with amusement that people motioned for him to cut in front of them as they lined up for the food. No one offered to get what he wanted, but they didn’t insist on him waiting in line like everyone else. That was a decent compromise. For himself he got a muffin as he fixed a plate for Madam Calhoun. When he realized he didn’t have enough hands to carry everything, he cast a couple of levitation spells, letting the tea and a cup of coffee for himself float in front of him as he headed back outside.

He sat and talked with her for a few minutes before the first Light mage came over to chat with her. The woman’s look made it clear he was not wanted there, and he got up, without taking offense, and strolled around the patio. Jamie appeared from his bedroom after a few more minutes and had a look of murder on his face.

“How is he?” Worthington asked.

“He’ll be okay, now.” Jamie growled. “If I see either of those people who called themselves his parents again, though, I’ll kill them!”

“Why?” Worthington asked as he handed his coffee over to Jamie, who took a sip before explaining.

“They fucking blocked the boy’s ability from the first time it showed up at the age of ten!” Jamie was infuriated. “Not like what your father and the others did to you, they blocked it entirely until it broke free.”

“Why?” Worthington asked with only a raised eyebrow. He could feel Jamie’s fury rolling off of him like a tsunami.

“The family is from Canada.” Jamie explained after taking a larger sip this time. “Their son, Colin’s father, was fifteen when he ran across a female Dark mage who took a liking to him. She seduced him, and he took to following her around like a lost puppy. When his parents found out, they disowned him. The boy moved in with the Dark mage and basically became her lapdog.”

“How did you learn all this?” Worthington asked with surprise.

“Colin picked it up from their minds when he was ten.” Jamie explained. “They blocked the memory, and his gift then. When his block broke a couple of months ago, he remembered that too, but didn’t let them know he remembered. He’s been planning this for weeks, coming to you and asking for your help. I’ll tell you one thing, he was near despair when you didn’t immediately grant him sanctuary.”

“I couldn’t…” Worthington started to say, but Jamie waved him off.

“I know, and that’s why I did it for you.” Jamie said. “It’s better this way, anyway. I’m responsible for him now, and I’m better suited to handling him, I think. He’s got a lot of emotional baggage already and you don’t deal too well with that.”

“That’s true.” Worthington admitted. He had enough problems dealing with his own emotional baggage. “So, what happened to his parents? Are they going to show up and demand their son now?”

“They’re dead.” Jamie said with a frown. “When the grandparents heard about Colin being born, they challenged the woman and their son, and then killed them in the duel. They took the boy and raised him as their son. They moved here because no one knew them here.”

“I see.” Worthington said softly, but was distracted by Janice Grassley approaching them. She was frowning.

“Pardon me for interrupting.” She said softly. “Can I have a word with you for a moment?”

“Naturally, Janet.” Worthington said with a smile as Jamie excused himself, heading inside for some food. “What can I do for you?”

“These necklaces of yours.” She said as she fingered hers. “They can detect not only the presence of demons, but where a demon’s been, right?”

“If there’s enough of a presence of the demon, yes.” Worthington said. “That’s how we found out about the families that left town being killed. It’s much fainter than if the demon is still there, but it still goes cold. Why?”

“The necklace, it’s been bugging me all morning.” She said softly and was frowning. “That night, the night of the attack on our house, Roger came by that afternoon. He helped strengthen our wards.”

“I know.” Worthington said softly.

“Well, when he was over, my necklace kept getting chilly.” She said. “Not like later, when they came, or like when I went back to the house yesterday. It’s like a very, very faint chill, not the sharp cold. But, it only gets like that when I’m around Roger. This morning, I get near him, I feel the chill, and when I move away, it’s gone, back to normal. I had the girls try it, and they told me theirs did the same thing. If, if Roger’s been around demons, would it do that?”

“It might.” Worthington admitted with narrowed eyes. He also remembered something. Roger had ‘helped’ many of the families who had been killed trying to leave Phoenix. The man had ‘assisted’ them all in various ways whether it was just advice, a little magic, or money, but if Worthington remembered correctly, he’d helped every single one of them.

“If he has, then he’s working for them, isn’t he?” Janice asked with a steely anger in her voice.

“It’s possible.” Worthington said. “Let’s grab Detective Kendrick for a moment and have a chat with her.

“Whatever you want.” Janice said firmly, and there was a look in her eyes saying just how much she meant that. He nodded, and left with her to find the police detective.

This day was really getting to be interested, and the sun had barely cleared the mountains in the east.