Chapter 10 #2
“Chaos magicians are incredibly talented people,” Beau explained.
“They can see and sense the energies of the world, and they are fueled by the chaotic nature of energy fluctuations. The more disastrous the situation, the stronger they are. They’re also able to do some really neat things.
If there’s, say, a vortex nearby, they can either shut it down or reverse it.
They can open portals for the dead or shut them off.
They can also release energy that has become shut off into an area. ”
Which was precisely what we needed here. Someone to undo this locked-up time capsule so the ghosts could move and interact normally, instead of acting like they were on a different plane of time and space.
Gwyn wrote all this down, but she sounded wistful as she said, “I want to be a chaos magician.”
Beau chuckled. “Me too, me too. Anyway, Sylvia, the only person I know who can help is a chaos magician. I doubt the one I met is available. He was nearing retirement even forty years ago.”
Yeah, man was probably dead by now.
“I can make some phone calls, see if I can find someone, but that’s a very rare skill to have. I wouldn’t bank on getting this person.”
“We’re going to be sloughing through ghosts without them. You’ve got a healthy amount of dead here, at least three hundred people in the town itself. That’s not counting the mines, which are sure to have more dead than here.”
For the simple fact most people would have died in the mines.
“I would say pause on this area until you’ve got an idea of if a chaos magician can even come.
If the ghosts are truly in a time capsule, then they’re not going to leave, so it should be safe to handle Black Rock first. If it wasn’t directly requested we pass on ghosts in the old town, I’d say forget it, but…
do what you can there. Just don’t burn yourselves out. ”
I was all for it, personally. Just the past hour had been frustrating as hell. It shouldn’t take a fucking hour to pass two ghosts!
The other SUV approached, and I could see a very upset Quinn in the front seat. I didn’t think things had gone any better over there.
Brandon leaned over my shoulder to say toward the phone, “Hang on, Sylvia, the mine explorers are back.”
Quinn heeded Brandon’s wave, hopping out when the SUV stopped and then stomping his way to us. He looked fit to be tied.
“Sylvia’s on the line,” I informed him.
“Good, she needs to hear this. Sylvia, this whole area is fucky.”
“I’ve heard,” she said with a groan. “Beau just got through telling me this area’s a time capsule for ghosts.”
“Oh, it gets worse. First off, there’s some kind of portal or vortex or something down in the mines, because you get insane vertigo if you go down more than fifty feet.”
Uh-oh.
“Lachlan’s swearing vortex because he’s experienced one before, apparently, and said the feeling is unmistakable.
On top of that, there’s something very, very dark down there.
It was stalking us. I couldn’t get it visually, even with the goggles, but Eli and Lachlan could both see the trails of its energy. ”
There should be a rule. Only one fuckening per day, no more. I didn’t need three fuckenings!
“Pull out,” Sylvia ordered sharply. “Like hell do I want my sister hit by some dark thing again in a blacked-out underground area. I’ll get a damn chaos magician over there even if I have to drive them myself. Focus on Black Rock until I get someone there. And take precautions leaving.”
“Yup, already done,” I said. “Quinn, where’s the others?”
“Putting a seal on that mine entrance to keep the dark thing trapped.”
Smart of them.
“I’ll call the mayor and explain. Keep me updated.” Click.
“Chaos magician, huh?” Quinn rubbed his chin, eyes on the sky. “I wonder if he still knows his number…”
Brandon poked him in the shoulder. “Who and what, now?”
“I’ve only heard of a chaos magician once,” Quinn said, his tone still almost absentminded.
“Technically, a friend of Booker’s more than mine, but we had drinks one night with Tom, and he told us this story of the first time he met a chaos magician and the insane things that man could do. I wonder if Tom has his number?”
“Please ask,” I begged. “We need one desperately over here.”
“Yeah, after what I saw? And this place is seriously a time capsule. Eli had to get into a ghost’s face to get their attention.
We couldn’t even pass anyone down there, either, as there was no safe place to set up.
” Quinn pulled out his phone, then sighed.
“Right, I don’t have Tom’s number. Hang on.
” Turning, he jogged for the SUV, phone at his ear. “Booker!”
I let him handle that and filled up a spray bottle with water and a crap ton of salt. Then I shook it hard. “All right, who’s first?”
Beau stepped up to be spritzed, which I generously did from head to toe.
While doing that, I explained to Gwyn, “Salt water is a great way to cleanse residual energy. If you do come across a residual haunting, cleaning the area with salt water a few times will cleanse it all out. But we also do this if we suspect something dark might tail us home. It erases our energy signature for a few hours, so it gives us time to vacate the area and leave the stalker behind. Okay, Beau, you’re done. Hannah?”
We all took turns spritzing each other before loading up. As we carefully made our way down the hard-packed dirt road, I started praying to any patron saint of stressed-out Mediums.
Please let the chaos magician have an opening in his schedule. That wasn’t, you know, next decade.
Because I wasn’t sure if we had a plan B without him.