The 13th Mage (14 page)

Raul pulled at
Owen’s
sleeve and they went back to the car.

“What was that light?”

“You saw it?
I have never seen it.
They are the Gifted from several tribes, their job is to try and stop the evil from getting out of hand.”

“How did you know where they were?”

“There were signs. Y
ou cannot see them because you don’t know the language of our people.”

There were a lot of things Owen didn’t know, but he wondered if the price these mortals were paying was worth it.
Yet again he hadn’t seen more pain here than he had seen in
London
or
Madrid
, it was simply different.

Back in Mrs. Rosario’s house the young woman sat on the floor next to her grandmother’s chair.
The older woman stroked her hair.

“That was not him avó, he looks just like him, exactly as he appears in my dreams, but when I touched him I knew.
His soul is strange, wrong,” she said to her grandmother.

“Don’t you worry my child, the true one is near, and he will soon come.”

That night Owen became a large long leaved plant, his roots connected with others of his kind, in fact they were not others, they were other parts of himself, he could feel other roots touching his, some were friendly other not. He flew among the treetops, his perception of the world a wide range of sounds coming and going, a meal dead ahead, juicy, fresh.
A noise startled him awake, he moved slightly higher, but the branch was taken, he had to stay put, not a good idea to move when he couldn’t see around him, he wrapped his tail a little tighter around the branch and drifted off to sleep again.
He was a bright light, floating up in the air he saw the moon and the stars, another, bigger light came out of the jungle and sped northwest, he chased the bigger light among the trees, saw the killing of the forest, hurt for it.
He dreamed of Jennifer, she was changing t
he baby’s nappy, singing a song. S
he used to do that a lot, sing while she worked.
Before her thoughts started giving her away he used to know where she was around the house because of her humming or singing.
He watched her pick up her baby, wrap her up in the pink shawl and take her to the garden, it was a sunny day.

The next morning he decided on his next course of action, he told Raul not to disturb him under any circumstances and locked the door.

“Either take the glass with your hands or don’t have any milk at all, I have told you a thousand times not to do those tricks of yours in front of people,” Esther Stone said to her five month old granddaughter as she saw the baby drinking her milk from a bottle floating in front of her mouth.
The baby looked sheepishly up to her grandmother and placed her hands around the bottle.

“Mum, there’s no one here, let her do as she pleases,” Jennifer said as she washed the breakfast dishes. Her daughter’s telekinetic powers had come as a surprise, but it didn’t faze her out.
She’d seen an old movie of a Russian woman doing stuff like that on telly.

“You can’t let her do those things all the time, she might forget one day and do it in front of visitors.
I know what I am talking about girl, if people see what this child is capable of we’ll have the TV people and doctors in white coats knocking at the door.”

Jennifer’s mother was right of course, but Heather always seemed to know when to use her unusual gifts and when not to.

The baby girl looked up at the older women and tried to talk.

“There she goes again, she’s trying to say something, I’m sure of it.”

“Can you let them in Mom? My hands are all wet.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“There is someone coming to the door, that’s all.”

“I still don’t see why you can’t wait until people ring the bell before announcing them, it is so unnerving,” Mrs. Stone said as the bell rang.

Harry Johnson had been a regular visitor since Jennifer and Heather had left
London
, he was convinced Heather was Owen’s daughter and had taken the liberty to legalize a joint custody document wherein he had a say in what happened to Heather until Owens return.
It hadn’t been difficult to have the judge rule on his behalf due to the circumstances surrounding the birth of the child plus his firm’s reputation.
With joint
custody he had visiting rights. H
e kept these to once a fortnight due to the distance he had to travel.

Jennifer had been very annoyed at what she saw as his busybody attitude and his lack of trust in her, but her mother had convinced her that the arrangement was very much in Heather’s benefit.
It would be so until Owen made an appearance and put everything in its place.
Until then Heather would enjoy financial security, a good education and basically everything that money could buy.

And what difference did it make? Esther had pointed out, Owen and Sean were related after all, if the father had abandoned her at least the uncle cared enough to give her what the father had refused.

But Jennifer was afraid that if Mr. Johnson were somehow able to prove Owen’s paternity outright he would take Heather from her.
It was just a feeling, but it was strong.

“wropgasd,” said the baby as her grandmother let the gentleman into the living room, “jewm,” she added grabbing the teddy bear the older man was carrying.

“Heather, don’t be so rude.”

“It’s quite alright Miss Stone, she is right, the toy is for her.
I chose it myself.”

Behind him followed his assistant Paul, a young graduate fresh out of university whom Harry thought would be appropriate company for this task.

Harry always felt uncomfortable in the Stone household, Mrs. Stone was a quarter his age, Jennifer was still in her twenties and Heather just a baby. Someone to balance the age gap seemed to be required and he chose Paul for the job. He was also hoping Jennifer and Paul might find each other interesting. He would be much more comfortable if the girl was paired off with someone he could trust. His overzealous interest in her life was of course related to the fact that Owen junior had not made any contact with him the last few months and sooner or later Jennifer would forget him and find someone else, taking Owen’s baby with her. This would have suited Harry very well, but Owen’s wishes were very clear on the matter, he wanted to be recognized as the child’s father.

Jennifer of course still denied any romantic involvement with her previous employer but as far as Harry was concerned anyone who met baby Heather knew whose blood she carried in her veins.
Besides the fact that the man she alleged to be the father had never existed.
Even Owen Senior had confirmed it; he only had one grandson, Owen Junior.

“Please, sit,” the older woman said.

“This is Paul. H
e is new to the firm and will be assisting me with this matter.”

“Nice to meet you Miss Stone, Mrs. Stone,” Paul stretched out his hand, and took it back as the older woman’s face reflected her namesake.

Jennifer sat on the chair by the window with Heather in her arms carrying the large teddy. She wished the two men would leave as soon as possible.

“Pardon?”

“I haven’t said anything,” Jennifer said, remembering to think quieter.

Baby Heather started pointing at the old man and making little gooey noises.

“What house would that be dear?” Harry asked leaning toward the child.

“Do
n’t take any notice Mr. Johnson. S
he probably wants the pen you are holding,”

“Pen? Oh, this pen, I don’t remember taking my pen out.
It must be my mind p
l
aying tricks, I’ll be retiring soon you know.”

Jennifer made a very quiet mental comment about that.

She didn’t know how Mr. Johnson had understood Heather, no one but herself had been able to before.

Heather started crying and hid her head in her mother’s arms.

“Babies,” Jennifer said, comforting her.

“Well, let’s get to the business at hand,” the old solicitor said facing Jennifer.
“Have you read the school catalogue I brought you last time?
It is the very best girls’ school in
London
, and seeing as you won’t consider boarding school this is the only one I would think fit for a girl of Heather’s intelligence and background within walking distance of the O’Neil residence where you can live as it is now yours. ”

“As I have pointed out in the past Mr. Johnson, Heather is only a baby.
By the time she is of school age she will go to the local school here in Skerries,” said Jennifer.

Her mother sat up on cue, “look, Mr. Johnson, I don’t know how you do things in your country, but Heather lives in and is growing up in
Ireland
, and we, the Irish, don’t like our children to go to that type of school.
And also, we like to keep our children home at least until they are three, we then take them to nursery schools, and not to high
power learning institutions where babies learn to be tomorrow
’
s executives,” Esther said and stood up, calling the visit to an end.

“Mrs. Stone, I know how these things work, and I can assure you that this school is not exclusive to the executive classes, on the contrary, it is mainly subsidized by concerned individuals to give our brightest children, regardless of background, the very best start in life. The baby class only has ten vacancies, and they are decided upon by a thorough intelligence test, which I am sure baby Heather here will pass unaided.”

He waited until the older woman sat down again and continued, “if you
had
bothered to read the catalogue you would see that the school I am talking about is aimed at child prodigies. It is one of the best schools in the world!”

“If I may say something?”

Everyone turned to the young executive sitting in the corner, “it might be a good idea if Miss Stone and Heather were to visit the school, I could take them,” he said looking from Harry to Mrs. Stone.

“That is if Miss Stone doesn’t mind…” he added.

They all stared at Paul who started blushing under the scrutiny. The boy certainly had a lot to learn, thought Harry.
He turned back to the two women and found that Jennifer was also blushing.
This was absolutely great; he smiled to see his plan working out better than expected, and without any previous instructions to the young man.
As he looked at Jennifer’s mother he realized it was time to call the visit to an end.

“Yes, that would be okay, I guess,”
Jennifer answered looking at Paul then her mother.

Mrs. Stone stared at Harry and said, “I’ll come too.”

Paul took out his mobile phone, “I’ll ring them now and see if we can go over this afternoon.”

But Harry pulled his arm down and shook his head in disapproval.

“Phone them from the office, and make an appointment for next week, we are not in
London
now Paul.”

As the two men left, Jennifer watched them through the window.

“Don’t even think it girl,” her mother said.

“Think what?” Jennifer asked looking at her mother, “oh, him, no.
I just got embarrassed for him, everyone looking at him like that.”

She only had eyes for one man and until he said he didn’t want her, or someone showed her his tombstone she would be true to that love until the day she died.

Jennifer had no real intentions
of letting Heather go to school. S
he couldn’t risk Heather pulling one of her tricks in front of strangers.
But there was no harm in having a look at the school, it would keep Harry Johnson happy which would mean less visits from him for a while.

Heather goo eyed.

“We are home, love.”

“What do you mean we are home?” Esther asked, not having understood her granddaughter’s baby talk.

Heather goo eyed some more.

“That’s not our house Heather, it used to be a house where I worked, but it belongs to someone else.”

Esther stared at her daughter. S
he was worried
because
Jennifer was
not the same since her return
.
They said talking to oneself was the
first sign of madness, she hoped Jennifer wouldn’t show any more of those signs.

Jennifer took her baby upstairs, picked the teddies from the floor and threw them on the cot. “Now, naptime darling, and remember, Mommy is going to classes this afternoon, so when you wake up I won’t be here, but granny will be.
Be good and don’t do any of your tricks near her okay?”

“mgorr”

Jennifer put her baby in her cot and gave her a kiss.

She looked at the tiny baby dig her face into the new teddy and drift quickly to sleep.
Heather was such a good baby.
Jennifer had watched other people’s babies and they were nothing like her little princess.
It was nice to be a mom, although she did miss going out to parties and having her friends round.
Her friends had mostly ignored her when she returned.
But it didn’t matter. S
he was beginning a new journey, new people to meet, a new life to carve out.

She kept the appointment the next week.
The
school was an overrated nursery. S
he could tell that Mr. Johnson was simply trying to get her back to
England
because he was too old to keep an eye on Heather from afar.

She was polite and firm in her refusal to accept the school place for her baby.

Mr. Johnson had insisted they stay at
Oak Place
, “it is yours after all,” he had said.
Esther seemed to agree on this point.

On the way back to the house she stopped at the other firm of solicitors, but they had been unable to find any record of Sean O’Neil.
Owen O’Neil could be accounted for, and so were his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents for as long as there were records kept, but nothing for his twin brother Sean.

Jennifer began to wonder if it had all been a dream. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was holding the result of that affair in her arms she would have convinced herself that Sean had never existed. The woman gave her the folder with the information, an address in Brazil and a bill for services rendered.

The old house was clean and aired. Mr. Johnson had contracted a cleaning firm to keep it in living conditions. Her plants were all alive as well. Jennifer put Heather to bed and joined her mother in the kitchen. As she sat at the table she remembered the last time she had seen Owen. Why had she been so horrible to him? Owen was a good person. He had been good to her and she had made him go, pushed him away.

“This is such a nice house Jennifer,” her mother said putting the plates on the table, “pity to just leave it.
Our house would fit in the dining room.”

A ray of sunshine broke through the clouds and into the room, making a crystal ball she had hung in front of the window fill the kitchen with rainbows.

“It is in your name now you know, I don’t see what is wrong with taking a present like this, after all, Owen is Heather’s uncle, it isn’t like this wouldn’t belong to you if Sean had stuck around.
Besides, this is probably peanuts to someone as rich as Owen, he probably has hundreds of houses like this one all over the world.”