Dangerous Games - Chapter Seventeen

No one spoke for a good minute as they all tried to process what Helen had just told them.

“Mom, your positive it was this man?” Ethan asks, pointing to the drawing of Ashford.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Helen replies.

“Are you telling me that this piece of shit delivered me?!”

“No, but he was supposed to.” Helen takes a breath and looks at Ethan before continuing, “As you know because of the car accident, I was rushed to the nearest hospital, by the time I woke up and was able to give them my information, I had already begun going into labor, so there wasn’t any point in calling him.”

“Oh, thank God.” Ethan breathed a sigh of relief, as his mother continued to look at him in confusion. “Diane, tell us, what exactly did Ashford do to my mother?”

“Before that can somebody, PLEASE tell me what’s going on?!” Helen voice cuts in.

Joe speaks up before anybody else can in a serious voice, “Helen, magic is real, Sera and Diane are witches, your disease is magical, the guy in the sketch is responsible. There, now you’re caught up.”

Helen looks around at everyone and sees the serious expressions on their faces and shrugs, “Ok.”

“Mom, you do know we’re being serious?” Ethan asks.

“Yeah.” Helen answers nonchalantly.

“Oh, ok.” Ethan says, surprised by his mother’s easy acceptance of everything. “Diane?”

“First, I want to confirm my findings with Sera, since she already had an idea about a cure.” Diane turns to Sera. “Ashford infused these people, with an excess of pure magic, didn’t he?”

“Yes.” Sera replies.

“But that doesn’t make any sense, that method has been tried before, and it was found ineffective.” Diane argues.

“Yes, when it was first tried, it was found that the excess magic would just bleed away within the person’s naturally flowing magic.” Sera sees a looks of confusion on Ethan, Joe, and Helen’s faces. “Everyone is born with some magic in them, it accumulates and dissipates naturally in our bodies similar to breathing in oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide.” Sera explains.

“And just like breathing, this process is something all living things need to do.” Diane adds.

“In the past our people tried infusing men and women with extra magic during conception in the hope that it would trigger an increase in not just birth rates but witch birth rates.” Sera states.

“But it didn’t take because the excess magic would just go away.” Joe infers.

“In layman terms, yes, exactly that.” Diane agrees.

Sera continues, “What Ashford has done to account for this is he created a spell to hold, maintain, and cycle the excess magic through the person’s body. The idea is quite simple, but the spell needed to do such a thing is incredibly complex.”

“I thought as much, but how have we not sensed all these people walking around with excess magic coursing through them? Even now standing next to Helen, I can only sense the same amount of magic, any normal person would have, emanating from her.” Diane questions.

“I can only assume that within the spell created to maintain the excess magic, he also weaved in both a magic suppression spell and magic concealment spell as well.” Sera speculates.

“Dear goddess.” Diane says in astonishment, she then looks over to both Ethan and Helen, “You have to understand, creating a spell with so many moving parts is extremely difficult and dangerous, and speaks volumes of his skill. And those last two spells are where I believe lies the heart of this disease.” Diane states.

“How so?” Ethan asks.

“To confirm.” Diane turns back to Sera. “When you said you could cure Helen, did you mean through a magical reharmonization?”

“Yes, exactly.” Sera answers.

Diane looks over to Ethan, Joe and Helen to explain, “Going back to Sera’s analogy of how magic works like breathing, I believe the suppression spell did is doing its job too well, and has not been allowing the magical equivalent of exhaling. Your body has become full of, for lack of a better analogy, magical carbon dioxide, that’s what the illness is. The excess magic has become toxic and is polluting yours and everyone else’s bodies.”

“And this reharmonize thing can fix that, cure her?” Ethan asks in a hopeful voice.

“With a reharmonization, Sera would flush all the magic out of Helen’s body cleaning her out.” Diane states.

Helen notices a worried expression on Diane’s face, “What is it?” Helen asks.

“…The process is dangerous and only someone as powerful as Sera can even attempt to do it.” Diane reveals.

“Dangerous, dangerous how?” Both Ethan and Joe ask.

Sera speaks up, “I would be flushing out all of the magic in your mother’s body, in other words I would be removing not just the carbon dioxide but the oxygen as well.” Sera explains.

“What?!” Ethan exclaims.

“It’s the only way to make sure the spell Ashford created is completely removed from her body, or else the whole thing will just start all over again.” Sera finishes sadly.

Diane looks to Ethan, “Ethan, I’m not stopping here and I’m not going to stop until I figure out a cure that any witch can perform, but it will take time.”

Ethan closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before opening them and looking at his mother, “What do you want to do?”

Helen doesn’t say anything, giving Ethan a sad look.

“Ladies, I think its best we leave these two alone to talk.” Joe says to Sera and Diane.

The three of them leave the room, leaving Ethan alone with his mother.

“Mom?”

“I spent a long time coming to terms with what I assumed was my inevitable death, I even began getting excited at the prosect of seeing your father again. Now I’m being given this chance and…I don’t know.” Helen says solemnly.

“What do you mean? I-I-If that was the case why did you agree to even see Sera for treatment, or all those other doctors for that matter?”

Helen gives Ethan a sad smile, “For you of course, you wanted me to fight so I fought.”

Ethan had no words as his eyes begin to water; his mother had always worn her acceptance of death on her sleeve. He was the one who wouldn’t accept it, he was the one who wanted to keep fighting regardless of her feelings.

“I’m sorry.” Ethan croaks as he holds his mother’s hand. “I’ve been selfish, and unsupportive.” Ethan takes another deep breath to steady himself. “Whatever you decide, even if it’s to not to do the procedure, I’ll support you.”

Helen says nothing for a good while before finally taking in a deep breath, and smiles, “I guess your father can wait, it’s not like he’s going anywhere.”

Ethan chuckles at his mother’s dark humor, wiping the wetness from his eyes.

Helen looks at her son, her eyes now full of determination, “Alright, let’s do this!”

After a bit of convincing and a little magical persuasion, Sera, or rather Doctor Umbra, had Ethan’s mother moved to an operating room, where she can attempt the magical reharmonization procedure. As a precaution Diane created runes around the room similar to the ones Ethan saw before when she trapped Sera in the room next to his mother’s. Except these were meant to keep people out and hide what they were doing. Helen was currently on the operating table with Sera and Diane on one side with Joe and Ethan on the other: Ethan holding his mother’s hand.

“If your ready I can put you under.” Diane said as she took out some sort of powder from her purse.

“No needles? I’m liking this already.” Helen joked.

“Now don’t be afraid and just breath this in.” Diane says as she softly blows the powder in her hand into Helen’s face.

Helen did as she was told and remained calm, breathing in the powder, after a few moments her eyes began to flutter and then close. After waiting a minute to make sure she was completely under Sera began the operation. She began slowly moving her hands above Helen’s body, as if she was tracing her outline in the air, after a few moments a subtle white glow began forming above Helen’s body where Sera’s hands were. The white glow slowly grew until it was the same size as Helen and then with a small flash the white glow burst into an almost identical copy of Helen made of light. Sera was no longer moving her hands, but still had a look of deep concentration on her face.

Joe looked to Diane, “Is that it, did she remove the magic from her body?”

“No, this is just a visual representation of the magic in her body, it will help Sera see what’s happening when she begins the process.” Diane answers.

Ethan looked in awe and wonder, the image in front of him reminded him of the medical holograms he would see in sci-fi shows and movies.

Diane continued, “When using most magic, we witches need to picture in our minds what we want the magic to do so we need good visualization skills. But for a procedure like this, it’s best to see in real-time what is going on and it makes concentrating on the magic that much easier.”

“Knowing that, tell me what you see?” Sera asked.

Ethan looked at the glowing image of his mother, he could see Diane and Sera through it, though slightly distorted by a fog like haze that filled the image from head to toe, he couldn’t see anything aside from the fog.

“I’m not sure it’s too foggy.” Ethan answers.

“Exactly.” Sera states, looking at Ethan with smile.

“This fog inside her body is the excess magic not being aloud to leave.” Diane explains, looking at the image in fascination. “And it’s what’s slowly killing your mother and everyone else afflicted with Ashford’s spell.”

“That’s one thing I don’t get.” Joe chimes in. “If this spell he created is so difficult and complex to make, how was he able to get it into so many people, in so many places, so quickly?”

“Think of spells like a computer program, once its written, it’s easy enough to copy and give to someone else.” Sera answers.

“And Ashford has plenty of supporters to give it too.” Ethan adds, remembering what Sera had told him earlier.

“Enough chitchat, I’m going to begin.” Sera states. “First I’m going to pour some of my own magic into your mother to hopefully see its flow.”

Sera lightly touches Helen’s neck with her index finger, after a moment a faint golden glow begins to appear in the image above. The golden glow begins to move throughout the body, highlighting its path through what seemed to be a circulatory system, but it didn’t seem to match the circulatory system Ethan was familiar with.

Sensing his confusion Diane explains, “Similar to the circulatory system with which our blood flows, what you’re seeing here are the channels that circulate magic within our bodies.”

As Ethan listened to Diane’s explanation, he noticed something peculiar about the golden light as it moved through his mother’s lower abdomen. There was the barest of flickers emanating from the channels there, it was so faint that Ethan wasn’t sure he even really saw it at first. Following a gut feeling, he activates his ability and watches as the flicker turns into a still faint but now perceptible pulse.

“What’s that?” Ethan asks, pointing at the image of his mother’s lower abdomen where the pulsation was occurring.

“What’s what?” Both Sera and Diane reply, looking toward where Ethan was pointing.

“It’s faint but the channels here seem to be pulsing, is that normal?” Ethan asks again.

Diane and Sera continue to look at where Ethan pointed in confusion.

“Do you see what he’s talking about?” Diane asks Sera.

“No, …Ethan are you sure?” Sera asks.

Ethan takes a deep breath and concentrates; he hadn’t activated his full ability since the police station when he noticed the upgrade. Taking in his surroundings he found his ability was still largely the same but shaper, clearer, as if someone had adjusted the focus. He looks again at his mother’s projected image and was now able to see a bit more clearly something swirling around beneath the magic channels in her lower abdomen.

“I’m telling you, there is something there.” Ethan reaffirms, pointing at the swirling mass.

Seeing the firm expression on Ethan face, Sera takes a deep breath and moves her hands over Helen’s lower abdomen. Ethan watches as Sera closes her eyes in deep concentration, while Joe and Diane just watch in confusion. After a while Sera’s brow begins to furrow as she strains to keep her concentration.

After another moment Sera’s eyes shoot open, “I feel something!” The shock in her voice even surprising her. “Diane, I need your help.”

Diane wastes no time asking questions and immediately begins assisting Sera. Ethan watches as small tendrils of golden light begin pulling on the swirling mass, there soon joined by another set of tendrils but these were a pinkish hue, Ethan realized right away that they were Sera’s and Diane's magic. As both Sera and Diane’s and magic begins pulling on the mass, Ethan’s mother begins to groan and wreath in pain, the sound of which feels like a punch in the gut. Part of him wanted to tell them to stop, but he didn’t, knowing that his mother would want them to keep going. Instead, he resolves himself to help.

“Joe, help me hold mom down.” Ethan orders.

Ethan and Joe hold Helen down as her body begins to flail and her groans become cries.

“Please, hurry!” Ethan pleads.

“We…almost…have it!” Diane says in a strained voice.

Ethan looks over at Diane and Sera and sees them straining against the swirling mass, sweat beginning to form on their foreheads.

“One more pull should do it.” Sera states in a slightly strained voice, “Diane on three, one…two…three!”

Ethan watched as the Diane and Sera pulled on invisible strings Ethan couldn’t see, causing his mother to let out a cry of pain deeper than the others. He and Joe strained to keep his mother still as still as possible on the bed as her body tried to flail about. After a long moment that felt like an eternity, something finally gave as the mass finally popped out and floated above his mother abdomen. Diane and Sera both sighed in relief, as they relaxed and let their arms fall to their sides. Once the mass had popped out his mother had stopped moving, like a puppet having its stings cut, the steady rising and falling of her chest the only indication that she was okay. Ethan looked at the mass, it was made up of multiple rings moving around a core, similar to an atom.

“Incredible.” Diane mutter without realizing.

“What is it?” Joe asks.

“It’s the source of the illness, the spell Ashford placed in her.” Sera answers.

“You mean everyone with Helen’s illness has one of these in them?!” Joe exclaims.

Diane nods, her eyes still fixated on the spell, “Ethan, how in the blazes did you see this when we couldn’t?”

“Before we get into that, is my mom okay, now that we got this out of her?” Ethan asks.

Snapping out of her reverie Diane looks to Ethan, “Unfortunately no, even though the spell is out it’s still attached to your mother, we just made it…visible.”

Ethan looks at the projected image of his mother which was now projecting the spell as well, he could see that the magic channels were still clearly attached to the spell.

“Well what good is that!?” Joe shouts.

“Now that we can see the spell, we can see exactly what it’s doing and reverse it” Diane defends.

“That’s if we had time, and we don’t, I won’t risk Ethan’s mother any further.” Sera states, glancing over at Ethan.

Ethan looks at Sera with gratitude, her words and consideration towards his mother meant a great deal to him.

“I understand.” Diane states in understanding, “But at least let me take a quick look at the concealment portion of the spell. That way I can hopefully figure a way around it and make it easier to detect and take out of a different patient to study.”

Sera looks to Ethan; it was his decision to make.

After a quick pause Ethan nods: Diane gives him an appreciative smile and quickly gets to work; she reaches out towards the spell and one of its rings stops moving allowing itself to be studied. Diane’s irises begin to glow as she studies the ring, Ethan notices that the white of her eyes didn’t go black like Sera’s, confirming his suspicion that it was a trait from her vampiric side.

“Incredible.” Diane whispers. “Each ring is a different component or spell in its own right.”

Ethan watched as Diane marveled at the spell, she was like a craftsman admiring another craftsman’s work. After two minutes, Diane eyes seem to sparkle with excitement as a smile spreads across her face.

“I got it!” Diane exclaims excitedly.

“Already?” Joe asks curiously.

“Yes, I think I figured out enough to make the spell easier to detect and manifest.” Diane states proudly.

“As serious as you guys were making it out to be I thought it would be a lot harder.” Joe states, sliding a look at Ethan.

“Don’t look at me, I’m just as surprised as you are.” Ethan says with a shrug.

“It’s not easy, despite her lack of martial prowess, Diane is the number one spell crafter in the world, she’s a genius when it come to building and dismantling spells. It’s why the council appointed her as the head of the research department.” Sera states with begrudging respect.

“Normally I would take the compliment, but after seeing this.” Diane motions towards the spell. “I can’t but disagree, this spell easily surpasses anything I’ve ever seen, done or thought of.”

Ignoring Diane’s words, Sera places her hand on Helen’s forehead and stomach, “I’m going to begin.”

Everyone patiently watches as Sera begins removing the magic from Helen’s body, they watch as the fog within the projected image begins to slowly dissipate. Once all the fog was gone the magical channels within the projection were much easier to see.

“Now comes the tricky part.” Sera says in a low voice.

Ethan watches as Sera continues to remove the remaining magic out of his mother’s body, causing the magic channels slowly to disappear. His mother’s breath begins to quicken and as the last of the magic channels disappear, she stops breathing.

“Oh God! Mom, mom!” Ethan shouts.

Ethan goes to grab his mother, but Diane stops him.

“Not yet, look, Ashford’s spell still hasn’t disappeared.” Diane tells him.

Ethan looks and Diane was right the spell was still there, after a few agonizing moments that brought Ethan to the edge of sanity, the spell begins to disappear. Once it was completely gone Sera immediately injects magic into Helen’s body, her body jumps as if it by a defibrillator, and her magic channels flash bright for a moment. Seeing no change Sera hits again with more magic.

“Careful, too much and you might rupture her channels.” Diane warns.

“Please.” Ethan whispers in silent prayer.

Sera hits Helen one more time and it seems to do the trick, the magic channels appear and begin moving on their own, Helen taking in a deep breath and continuing to breath.

Sera let’s out a sigh of relief and smiles at Ethan who was smiles back at her in relief. Sera then falls back and collapses, Ethan rushes to her side and while Diane checks on his mother.

“Sera, Sera, talk to me what’s wrong?!” Ethan asks in a panic.

“Calm down she’s fine, its just the strain of using so much magic with such precise precision catching up to her.” Diane explains. “Just let her rest for a while and she’ll be good as new, I’m also please to announced that the procedure was a success, and your mother is completely cured.” Diane says with a bright smile.

Ethan smiles but he already knew his mother was fine, he knew the moment he saw the smile on Sera’s face. As he looked down at her, his heart seemed to give way, he would never be able to pay her back for what she did for him, and he knew what he had to do, but how to do it?