“That comparison helped us predict when the Void should next be in transition and, therefore, be at its weakest point,” Lia added.
“Which is when, for pity’s sake?”
“We’ve confirmed it will be during the Greek festival weekend.”
“And the hits just keep on coming,” I groaned.
Lia cocked her head. “What does that mean?”
“Saber talked to a liquor-store guy who said Starrack asked questions about the Greek festival and expressed interest in going.”
“I see. Then perhaps it’s just as well that we’ve estimated the Void will be most vulnerable on Friday the eleventh.”
“When will it be back to speed?” Saber asked.
“It gains full strength the day after the full moon on the fourteenth. That’s when it will transition again.”
“Transition into what?” Triton asked.
“Possibly an unstoppable force, which is why you each must train with renewed diligence. Saber, you made an excellent point about learning what to expect in a fight with Starrack.”
“The problem is,” Lia put in, “that we can only recall a few times Starrack fought head-on against a foe, and that was more than a hundred years ago when the three of us studied together. And since we were the foes, it was not life or death. Starrack may have held back.”
“Understood,” Saber said, “but can you show us what Starrack did then? What he might do?”
“Yes,” Cosmil said, standing tall, “and we will begin now.”
He motioned the guys to follow him, and I would’ve joined them, but Lia took my arm.
“You’re worried for the safety of your friends, yes?”
“Duh, Lia, I’m terrified. I almost told Maggie we needed to change plans, but she’s over forty, getting married for the first and only time. I want every facet of this wedding to be perfect for her and Neil.”
“Cesca, we have warded and spelled homes, neighborhoods, and nearly everyone you regularly see. I truly believe your friends will be safe. Remember, Starrack may not attend the festival.”
“Yeah, but I’m not counting on getting that lucky.”
She looked up at the night sky then at me. “Very well, there is one more level of protection I might invoke.”
“What is it?”
“Would your friends and their guests carry a charmed object to the festival? For instance, a drachma?”
“Greek coinage? Sure, I can invent some reason for them to keep a drachma in their pockets or purses. But I’ll need sixteen of them to cover the bridal party and their spouses and dates. And I’ll need them by Thursday night. The rehearsal is at six, and I need to be with Maggie before that, so I won’t have time to come pick them up.”
“I’ll see to it, but you must stress that the coins must be on their persons. Otherwise, I won’t be able to promise the protection charge will work.”
“Got it.”
“Good. Now, have you attempted to fly since you came into your power on Friday?”
“For heaven’s sake, Lia, flying isn’t exactly a normal neighborhood activity for me.”
“Point taken. Very well, then, call upon your power as you did in the healing and practice. Height and distance. Go.”
“Shouldn’t I be training with the guys?”
“We’ll let Cosmil work with them alone first.”
“But, Lia—”
“Go.”
I scowled and turned my back on her. The cool, whirling sensation of energy had receded after the healing but erupted like a geyser as soon as I touched it with a thought. The three steps, lift, fly method of take-off Jo-Jo the Jester had taught me became three steps, lift, zoom. I nearly cracked my skull on the branch of one of those ancient oaks at the edge of Cosmil’s circle before I veered away.
Then I began to get the hang of flying, and I let my worries fall away. I flew far, all the way to the ocean where I took a left and headed north. I flew high, over my beach house where I was tempted to dip down to check on Lynn, David, and Ken, but restrained the impulse. At one of the tallest condos on the beach and Dondanville Road, a trailer and cell phone–antenna installations stood atop the building. How a trailer got on the roof of the condos baffled me, but I dismissed the thought as I cleared them with room to spare.
En route back to the shanty, I noticed my vertigo wasn’t as severe as it had been. To test myself more, I practiced soaring at different heights, cutting around electrical poles, and weaving through power lines. A couple of miles from the compound, I gradually reduced my speed and altitude, and landed in the circle where everyone was gathered without stumbling a bit.
Saber crossed to catch me in his arms the second I touched down. “God, Cesca, you’ve been gone over thirty minutes. I was worried.”
“Sorry, but if I fly too fast, my face gets splattered with bugs.”
He gave my ponytail a teasing tug as Lia stepped closer.
“Where did you go?” she barked in her drill-sergeant tone.
“I flew to the coast. Wow, that sounds jet-setting, doesn’t it? Then I followed the beach to Dondanville and looped back here.”
“How high were you able to fly?”
“Roughly twelve stories.”
“Good, good. That’ll do for tonight. Now let’s all of us go inside to practice hiding and revealing your thoughts.”
All of us turned out to include Pandora, and we gathered around Cosmil’s coffee table. Lia’s method of teaching the thought-shielding exercise reminded me of the children’s gossip game. The difference was, instead of whispering phrases or sentences to each other, we started with single words.
We took five turns each, and reading the words projected to me was a piece of wedding cake. I was five for five when Saber, Triton, and Pandora had their turns, four for five when Lia and Cosmil projected their thoughts. None of the team had trouble revealing to one person—or feline—at a time while shielding from the rest of us.
Except for me. Revealing my words to only one player at a time proved to be more difficult than wrestling a gator. I used the submerge-my-thoughts-in-water technique Lia had suggested, but every time I let my word of the moment come to the imaginary surface of the water, everyone read it.
“Focus, Cesca,” Lia admonished yet again.
“I am,” I snapped. “I need to tweak my technique.”
And then it hit me.
“Lia, the point of this is to communicate during our confrontation with Starrack, correct?”
“Yes, though shielding has other applications.”
“I’m sure it does, but it’s about our intent to broadcast to each other.”
She tilted her head at me. “Yes. Yes, it is.”
“Okay, let me try this again.”
I pictured my word submerged in murky depths this time, and willed the water to clear only for the person to whom I sent the thought.
“Tube,” Saber said.
I grinned. “That’s it. My turn again.”
I repeated the exercise, clearing the waters for random players to read my random words, sometimes clearing for the same person back-to-back. And, except for leaking word-thoughts to Pandora, the new method worked.
“Let’s go for phrases now,” I suggested, riding the high of success.
“Let’s not,” Triton countered. “I’m beat.”
Cosmil shook his head, but a smile played at his mouth. “You are missing Lynn, are you not? Would you like to peek in on her?”
“Peek in how?” I asked.
“In modern technological terms, I believe it would be called video feed.”
“Via crystal ball,” Lia added.
“This I have to see.”
“I don’t want you to see too much, Saber.” Triton glanced at his watch. “What if we catch her in the shower?”
Cosmil patted Triton’s shoulder. “I will connect the call, so to speak, and you may look at the image alone first. If she is occupied, we will wait.”
The wizard set his crystal ball on the stainless steel island, did his conjuring, and rejoined Lia on the sofa so Triton would have privacy. After a moment, he motioned Saber and me closer to see the real-time image of Lynn playing Charades with Ken and David, fully clothed, of course. At least, we surmised that was the game from the scraps of paper on the beach house coffee table and Lynn’s gestures. David must’ve guessed the right answer first, for he and Lynn high-fived, and she did a victory dance that made both the vamps laugh.
“She’s having a good time,” I said. “Everything is fine.”
“So long as she doesn’t get attached to those two.”
“Trade in a hotshot shifter like you? Never.” I stepped closer and lowered my voice. “Have you asked Lia about the skinny on Lynn?”
“Not yet.”
“What are you waiting for?”
“An opening.”
“Children,” Cosmil called. “If you are finished viewing, come sit. The crystal will turn itself off.”
I pivoted from the counter a step ahead of Triton and Saber. “Lia, did you ever find out about Lynn’s—”
“Cesca,” Triton warned from my side.
“Origins,” I finished and danced away from the punch he aimed at my arm to plop on the sofa.
Saber sat on my left, and Triton squeezed in on my right to annoy me. Cosmil almost rolled his eyes at us but refrained.
“I haven’t heard back about Lynn, but I’ll inform you when I do. Now, what are your schedules for the week? Cesca, do you have tours?”
“I’m off the ghost-tour schedule unless there’s an emergency, but I have things to do for Maggie and Neil.”
“Will you be available to train in the evenings?”
“I will.”
“Same here,” Saber said. “Triton’s helping me investigate missing bottles of ouzo at some local liquor stores, but my appointments with the managers should be during the day.”
Cosmil lifted a bushy brow. “So Starrack
has
stolen ouzo? You did not mention this.”
“I’ve only met with two store managers, but both recognized Starrack. The Palatka store security video was a bust, so I’m hoping another store will have useful footage.”
“Excellent. Lia sketched a good likeness, but seeing an up-to-date photograph of Starrack could be invaluable.”
“Unless he disguises himself,” Triton put in.
“He’s too vain for that,” Lia said stoutly. “As I said before, if he makes changes to his appearance, they would be minor.”
“I’ll get copies of any tapes that show Starrack clearly and bring my computer so we can all view them.”
We all turned to Triton who threw his hands up. “Hey, I’m just minding my shop and making calls for Saber.”
“Very well, it sounds like each of you will be free to train in the evening. I will expect you here by eight. Time is short, so we must make it count.”
We murmured our agreement, and I had crowbarred myself from between Saber and Triton when Lia spoke up.
“Since the chances are higher that Starrack will attend the festival, have you three thought further about how to lure and attack him?”
“All due respect, Lia,” Triton began, “but we’ve been a little busy. And that was before you gave us your news flash tonight.”
“He’s right,” Saber said. “Cesca and I plan to do a walk-through between the field and the parking garage to scout the area.”
“Do it tonight,” Cosmil commanded.
I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”
“Call it a hunch, Francesca. Please don’t question it further.”
“We’ll go by on the way home,” Saber said.
“I’ll come, too,” Triton chimed in. “The more of us with firsthand knowledge of the layout, the better, especially when we get to the down-and-dirty planning stage.”
I cringed, and Triton took my hand. “Sorry, Cesca, but we can’t dance around the subject anymore.”
I sighed and nodded. “Let’s go scout.”
Triton followed us to town in his truck, and since it was well after ten o’clock on Sunday night, we parked in a restaurant lot on West Castillo Drive, right across the street from the four-acre specialevents area. A vision flashed in my mind’s eye, one of Maggie and Neil and the wedding party on the field, but I willed it away. Locked down my emotions. I had to scout with dispassionate eyes.
Situated due west of the parking garage, the rectangular space that stretched four football fields in length was dark now. So was the large children’s playground adjacent to the field on the southeast corner, and tennis courts in the southwest. The playground’s wooden fence connected with the chain-link fencing that surrounded the entire field and tennis courts.
I knew from having attended the Greek festival last year that large, portable lights would be set up around the perimeter, and large tents would house the food and beverage service. More tents would provide shelter for the bandstand, the dance floor, and the diners. The spaces up and down the rest of the area would be packed with rows of individual vendors selling everything from art to novelty items. Greek related or not.
To the east, across the sidewalk and a two-lane street, sat the more-or-less-square parking garage rising four levels high. All but the top level provided shelter from the weather. Triton, Saber, and I crossed to the west entrance, walking right through the traffic lanes. Large, square, regularly spaced lights were bright enough to easily see, even with human eyes. Not many cars were parked in the garage tonight, and I led my troop of two to the right.
“As I recall, there are staircases in each corner,” I said as I opened the southwest stairwell door, “and a fifth set of stairs over by the east elevators.”
“Is this the closest set?” Saber asked as we started to climb.
“If we don’t want to dodge traffic coming in and out of the garage, yes.”
Florescent fixtures lit the stairwells, making them darker than the garage itself, but the light was perfectly adequate.
“I haven’t been to a festival since I got home,” Triton commented as we trotted past the second-level landing. “Is the garage usually full to the top level during big events?”
“I’ve heard it is for the Fourth of July fireworks on the bay, but I don’t know about other times. I suppose we could park up here and block the level off.”