Chapter 16

[seymoure]

Chapter 16
“Damien Kane”

Earl noticed, only glancingly, the group headed by the fat man. They were obviously together, but he didn’t concern himself with them. He was on his cell phone trying to make a reservation for dinner. He thought he deserved something special.

Claus and his comrades said very little until they gathered in the waiting car.

“What the hell was that?” Sanchez demanded, “I thought we were dealing with a curse.”

“I can only think the founder of the curse, or a descendant is still invested in the contract,” Vaskandia mused.

“The demons were not attacking us?” Muntz queried.

“They would need a conduit to reach this side before they could do anything. That is what a curse is, the portal to enter, though very narrow rules, this reality.” Claus explained.

“Do you know what a Waldo is?” Jeanne asked the writer.

“Like, ‘Where’s Waldo?’” Muntz came back, sheepishly.

“No, no,” Gary answered with more understanding than was deserved, “In atomic research there were rooms built to deal with radioactive elements. Scientist could stand at a safe distance and operate false arms that did the mixing and such for them.”

“Oh, I’ve seen those. Sometimes they are just suits that you put your arms though.” Muntz remembered from some science class in High School.

“All demon activity in this world is like a form of waldo. They cannot actually be here themselves, but they can manipulate things here from their side.” Jeanne finished.

Sanchez added, “And so, what we just saw could not, or should not have been involved with the curse.”

“That,” said Vaskania, “Was why I used the mnemonic call.”

He then turned to Muntz, “It is a mystic chant that can call up the source of magic to at least identify the sort of spell in use. This type of spell is called an epeal, rather than a saber. Like an epee, it could only be sent to a specific spot and would quickly over extend its power. We were so far from its origin point,” he turned to Claus and said, “England!” and then turned back to Muntz to continue, “That it would only be valid along the path we were traveling for a few more moments.”

“But that would have been well enough time to crash us into the ocean,” Screed filled in.

“Which is why I called on someone who owed me a favor, and through him moved the entire flight 200 miles to the south. We were invisible to the originator of the spell, and easily returned to our flight path.”

“Whose aid did you . . .?” Claus asked.

“Damien Kane.” Vaskania said, almost under his breath, “He owed me 7 seven favors, to this point I have asked for 5. Now that number is 6.”

It was if everyone in the car was finding it just a bit hard to breath.

“What’s wrong with Damien Kane?” Ethel whispered to Screed.

“It’s a bit like asking Mussolini to help you ward off Hitler. Never a nice place to go.” The boy answered.

She didn’t know how much she like owing her life to someone held in so low a regard.

She would find out that her life was never what you owed to Damien Kane.

© 2005 by C. Wayne Owens