Disclaimers: This is a work of fiction. Any similarities between the characters in this story and real people (appearances, names, etc.) are purely coincidental. This story may contain homosexual material, including love and sex, so if material like this is illegal in your region or if it discomforts you, please leave.
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"Mark!" a female voice called in the distance.
Mark looked from his phone and turned to his left. His friend Allison cat walked confidently down the street in a pair of bright red pumps. Mark's other friend Renee was beside Allison, her outfit the complete opposite, for she wore a purple crop top with matching sweatpants. Mark smiled at the two ladies and waved.
"Hi," Mark greeted his friends and gave them both a hug. "About time. Come on."
When the trio entered Letourneaux, they were greeted very graciously by the host who got them seated straight away. Once seated, the trio removed their face masks and sipped their glasses of water.
"It's weird, isn't it," Renee stated more than asked. "Society reopening, I mean."
"Two months into corona..." Mark agreed with a slow shake of his head.
"Still thousands and thousands of new cases every day," Allison said morosely.
"So how are you guys doing?" Mark asked.
"I am so fucking happy to get out of the house," Renee answered. "Everybody at Horvath is working from home for the foreseeable future, so I'm cooped up at home."
Allison laughed and said, "And I'm doing well. Only us senior partners and our associates at Tyssen Wolford work in office, and it is almost a deserted wasteland there. But I'm not complaining, it's peaceful. What about you, Mark? How are you doing, really? You look like you haven't slept in weeks. What's going on?"
"I'm sleeping," Mark assured with an appreciative smile. "I promise. Work has just been so fucking stressful and hard and tiresome. But everything else is good."
Renee placed her hand on Mark's and asked, "What's so stressful?"
"It just feels like me and Evelyn are stretching ourselves thin," Mark answered wearing a tired smile. "And I mean thin. Long hours, tripled work loads, more executive meetings, client hunting, and client appeasing. It's all a little too much. If I didn't get a raise, I wouldn't have survived."
"You got a raise!?" Allison nearly screamed.
Mark nodded with a victorious smile. "I am making an additional ten grand a year."
"Mark!" Renee screamed and stood up to give Mark a hug.
While all three friends were embracing, a female voice asked, "Shall I bring champagne for this celebration?"
As he sat back down, Mark answered, "No thank you, I've got to get back to work in an hour."
The two women continued to praise Mark as they all looked at their menus. Then Renee spoke of her daily life of going for a run, cooking breakfast, getting her son ready for remote schooling, working from home, cooking lunch, home chores, cooking dinner, and getting her son to bed.
After the trio shared a laugh, Allison shook her head and stated, "We are so different. Ten years ago we were in our sophomore year of college, binging every weekend, classes weekday mornings, studying weekday evenings, and drinking wine every night. Now we are responsible adults, working weekdays, not binge drinking on weekends, and the USA's biggest partier is now a mother with another on the way."
Shocked, Mark said, "Another on the-- Renee! You're pregnant again!? Jesus Christ!"
Mark once again stood up and grabbed Renee into a tight embrace. They both laughed in joy and disbelief.
Ulysses' feet hit the pavement in an alley in Venice. He crouched down and ran his hand over a splatter of blood drying on a wall, feeling for every single particle on the wall and in the air around it. He finally found an energized particle zinging about freely and teleported that particle into a tiny mason jar. Happy, Ulysses teleported to the palace infirmary.
"I need your signature," Ulysses announced.
The medical witch halted the cell regeneration spell she was performing, the injured witch sat up and held her hand out. Ulysses pulled a single magical particle that the injured witch had held on her fingertip. Ulysses held that particle on his fingertip and the magical particle from the alley in his other hand.
"No match," Ulysses said with mirth. "This is from the alley that you were attacked in. The spell that slashed your midsection open left a signature. Tell me anything you can about the witch who attacked you."
"Like- like- like what?" Rishma Pinder asked, unsure.
"How did he move?" Ulysses began listing off. "Did he speak or make any noise? Did he immobilize you? Was he quick or did he take his time? Did you see him before you were hit?"
"I- I- I..." Rishma stuttered, flustered. "He... I think he made sure I heard him teleport in. I turned and he just stood there for- for two seconds. I flung a streak at him and nothing happened. It's like he- it's like he diverted the streak without moving. And- and- and then I felt the slicing near my left hip. He didn't move when he did that. He didn't move. He didn't speak. He didn't grunt. Nothing."
Ulysses nodded his head slowly and asked, "So he fired only one spell at you?"
Rishma shrugged her shoulders and responded, "I'm fairly certain of it. The tissue separation was slicing me open almost as quickly as I was regenerating. I- I didn't notice the witch teleport away. I apologize, Ulysses."
"No, no," Ulysses rebutted softly. "All I am trying to do here is piece together anything at all about this mysterious witch. I am happy that you are healed. Thank you for obliging my questions."
Ulysses then teleported to the queen's office. Queen Sofi and Kiri stood over a light projection of a map of Slovakia, had clearly been conversing seriously before Ulysses' arrival.
"Mother," Ulysses said with excitement and desperation, "will you please perform a signature tracker?"
Kiri, stoic, asked, "Why do you refuse to perform it yourself?"
"Because this is important," Ulysses responded with urgency. "You have so much more experience with signature tracking than I do. I have been wrong a couple of times. I cannot get this one wrong."
Kiri nodded her head once. Ulysses tossed her the mason jar with the magical particle. Kiri opened the jar and held the particle in her closed fist. She closed her eyes, inhaled slowly, and exhaled just as slowly. Ulysses felt the tugging at every cell in his body, indicating to him that he was being teleported. He did not fight it. One second his vision was filled with Queen Sofi watching him. The next second, he stood before a desk in front of a window wall.
"Uly?" Mark's voice said. "Baby? What- what are you doing here?"
Kiri quickly sent out particles throughout whole floor in the building. These particles targeted people and multiplied in their brains, freezing any thought in time. These people halted all movement, every muscle tensed.
"What-" Mark began with nerves, "what are you guys doing?"
"Mark," Ulysses said shakily with quickened breathing. "Mark. What are- why would-"
Kiri shot her hand out in front of herself and flung a stream of solidified particles at Mark. In a fraction of a second, Mark's eyes widened in surprise, he swiped his hand diagonally, and he disappeared into thin air.
Furious, Kiri turned to Ulysses and demanded, "Since when is Markus a witch!?"
As a tear slid down his face, Ulysses teleported out of the office. He found himself standing in Mark's bedroom. He stared blankly at the perfectly made bed, loving how Mark always was clean and organized. He took a step forward and ran his hand over the crisp blanket, searching for traces of magical energy.
"There are no particles that indicate magical signatures," Ulysses stated when his mother teleported into the bedroom. "Matter of fact, there seems to be particles forcefully removed. Feel here."
Kiri did hover her hand over a section of the bed. "What do you think he performed here to warrant such a drastic depletion?"
"I haven't a clue," Ulysses answered as he slowly moved his hands in the air above the bed. "I am wondering where I was when he performed these magicks. What was I doing? Why haven't I noticed any of this?"
"The real question we should be asking ourselves is..." Kiri began as she telekinetically removed clothing from the laundry hamper, "has your partner always been a witch?"
"No," Ulysses replied with finality.
"Then how is Markus suddenly performing magic?" Kiri rebutted.
"I do not know," Ulysses responded as he gave up his search for magical traces. "I should talk to his mother."
"Would she know?"
"She would know of any unusual occurrences during Mark's childhood," Ulysses reasoned. "If he displayed any magical abilities before, it would have been then."
"I will search for magical traces back at his office. Be careful, my son."
Ulysses teleported into the hall of Ulysses' childhood home. He saw a family photo taken when Mark was seven years of age. The late Mr. Lillico was clearly laughing so hard that his eyes were closed. Mrs. Lillico, Mark, and Mark's older sister were laughing as well. Ulysses knew the story behind the photo. Another tear pooled in his eye, he felt like his Mark was gone.
Mrs. Lillico was walking from the office to the kitchen with a dirty mug. She screamed in startlement when she noticed Ulysses standing in her hallway and her mug went flying to the floor.
"Ulysses!" Mrs. Lillico admonished. "What the hell!? What are- is Mark here as well? Mark!?"
"No," Ulysses said and went back to studying the family photo. "Jeanette, I have some very important questions to ask you. What I will ask may seem strange, or unsettling, or confusing, but please keep an open mind and reach as far back as your memories will allow."
"Ulysses," Mrs. Lillico breathed, "sweetie, what's going on?"
Ulysses turned and gently grabbed Mrs. Lillico's hands in his. "Please, Jeanette."
"Is- is Mark okay?"
"Jeanette!"
"Okay," Mrs. Lillico assured. "Okay. What- what is it?"
"Yes, Ulysses," Mark's voice suddenly said from behind the witch, "tell us, what's the matter?"
Smiling, Mrs. Lillico asked, "Why didn't you guys tell me you were coming to Portland? Oh baby."
"Hi, momma," Mark said happily and gave Mrs. Lillico a giant hug. "Surprise!"
"Oh, you guys!" Mrs. Lillico cooed. "What are you guys doing here anyway?"
"I just missed my momma," Mark answered untruthfully. "It's so good to see you."
"Boys!" Mrs. Lillico said affectionately. "Let me reheat a chicken stew for lunch! Go sit!"
Mark smirked at Ulysses. Ulysses tried to freeze Mark's neurons in their tracks, but all Mark did was smile at Ulysses with fake giddiness. Ulysses fired a bolt of lightning at Mark, but that bolt disappeared three inches from Mark's chest.
"Shall we?" Mark asked as he led the way to the dining room. "Momma's chicken stew is the most delicious in the world. Believe me."
"What would you boys like to drink!?" Mrs. Lillico called from the kitchen. "There is club soda, iced tea, lemonade, and apple juice!"
"I'm going in for lemonade," Mark stated and went in for a kiss, but Ulysses pulled away. "What can I get you?"
Ulysses stood frozen in the dining room, his breathing laboured, with a tear cascading down his cheek. He stood there, unmoving, as Mark chatted and laughed with his mother in the other room. Ulysses had no idea how much time had passed when Mark walked in with three saucers, right behind him was Mrs. Lillico with three glasses. Ulysses was gently pulled to a chair by Mark, and was urged to sit in a chair. He didn't eat. He didn't speak. He was frozen with shock and fear and confusion.
"Isn't that right, handsome?" Mark's voice suddenly rang with mirth.
Suddenly pulled back to reality, Ulysses responded, "I- what? What did you say, Markus?"
Smiling with a mix of giddiness and malice, Mark said, "We will be travelling to Thailand next month, right? I am so excited about it. It's going to be so beautiful."
"Yeah," Ulysses said unsurely. "Yeah."
"Uly," Mrs. Lillico said with concern, "you don't look so well. What's the matter?"
"I don't-" Ulysses replied but stood from his chair.
Mark shot his arm out to his side and a small cloud of grey smoke ejected from his forefinger and floated into Mrs. Lillico's ear. The woman halted all movement mid blink.
Mark smiled at Ulysses and stated, "I imagine you have a question or two. Well I am afraid that your inquiries will have to wait, Son of Kiri."
Mark teleported before Ulysses could do anything or formulate a response. Ulysses' lip trembled for he wished he could reach out and grab Mark into a tight embrace. But he felt that his Mark was gone, like he no longer existed.
Ulysses teleported to his own bedroom and sat down on his bed. He leaned forward and buried his face in his hands. Tears fell from his eyes and he whimpered in sorrow.
"Ulysses," Kiri's voice beckoned gently. "Oh, my boy. Markus was there?"
After he wiped his eyes, Ulysses replied, "Mark is the witch that initiated the attacks."
"What?" Kiri demanded. "Why would- how do you know?"
"But he is not doing this of his own will," Ulysses stated. "There is somebody working in the shadows. They are using him. That is the only way Mark was able to learn such complex magicks in so little time. Especially considering how busy Mark has been. We need to figure out who is this puppeteer."
I hope that you are enjoying this series so far. I have been working on this series for about two years, it is so new to me. Listed below are my other works of fiction if you are interested.
Car Radio
Connected
Do Not Go Gentle
Near Wild Heaven
The Other Half of Me Unknown
A Quick Fall
Some You Give Away
Somewhere a Clock is Ticking
Strawberry Wine
Tearing Me Apart
You Call It Madness
You Don't Mean to Hurt Me