Chapter 9
One of the things about the mineral or ore I was taking back, was that it took another element to mix with the ore to give it the ability negate magic. While the mineral had a natural negative effect on magic, it needed a second element. It was when they were mixed together, that the strong anti-magical effect we wanted, was produced via a reaction.
The second compound was also available in abundance. The two mixed well together, and could be easily transported. Separately, they both had a weak negative effect on the magical field. But once they were mixed together, they reacted with each other in such a way as the desired effect was achieved.
Now all I had to do, was get them home and make sure they worked in my world.
After getting instructed on how to mix them, I had two twenty pound packages to lug though my gate back to my room.
I now did something slightly different after returning home. I didn't destroy the picture, any more. I had learned a new way to deactivate it, which I always did, as soon as I was through the gate.
I could feel the magic depart from the picture, and once I did that. I took my two bags of mix to my studio, and set them on a table. I was going to have to get a mixing bowl of some sort to finish these two items and make sure they were working properly.
Unless I melted this stuff together, Garretti said I had a grind fine enough for the powder mix. This meant I could use it as paint. While that was handy, it did not cancel a really strong spell. It would, however, actually reduce the effectiveness of the magic in the spell greatly. To totally cancel a magic spell, the mineral had to be mixed and melted, producing solid sheets of material similar to a ceramic, or mixed a a ceramic.
After I had showered and cleaned up, I went to my answering machine and listened to my messages. I had no less than seven messages from my agent, who was desperate for me to contact her. I frowned. I had explained to her that I was going to be taking a break, already, so I was unsure what she wanted.
I dialed her number and was put through as soon as the secretary answered.
"Franklin?" she asked when she came on the line.
Uh oh. She only called me Franklin when she wanted something.
"No! I am not taking a new contract or commission, right now! So the answer is no, whatever it is," I told her firmly.
"John Royce wants you to do the cover and also a drawing for each chapter. He wants a drawing of a scene from that chapter, as a hint," she said excitedly, ignoring me.
I paused. Wow, only probably the best writer of fiction anywhere. Of course he would want something when I had to do something else. I sighed.
"No," I told her.
Silence greeted me and I started to think we had been disconnected.
"Hello? Still there?" I asked.
"Franklin, you can't possibly mean that. It's John Royce! He has won more writing awards in the past ten years than anyone ever had in a lifetime. He gets six figure advances from his publisher, if he even hints at an idea for a book. High six figures," Becky, my agent of two years said in a begging voice.
"Didn't you hear me? I said, 'no'. I'm tied up with a personal project that I am going to be interested in, for the foreseeable future. I'll call you when I am ready to get started again," I told her reasonably.
"Look, you can't turn down someone like John Royce! Let me just send you the outline, and you can look it over. Don't make up your mind without getting all the facts," she said, a bit desperately.
"Hmm, let me see if I can make this clearer to you," I said a bit snappishly. "No, nix, nine, not happening, no way... are you getting the idea, yet?"
"Look, Frank, this guy is waving a lot of money at us. Besides, no one turns down John Royce. Are you nuts?" She asked me in the same edgy voice I had used.
"I don't care if it was the president, and he was doing his memoirs. I... am... busy! And that's that!" I said hanging up.
I flipped the answering machine back on, and went to my studio to start playing with the materials I had brought back from Vorden. I went to the kitchen and got a mixing bowl that my mother had given me for making things to bake, which I never really did. I added the two substances together at the proportions I was instructed to use. I added water and stirred and stirred.
After five minutes of mixing, I ending up with a substance that looked sort of like a clear gel. I took a brush, and it painted onto items easily.
'Hmm... not bad... if I did this right. The instructions said I could add pigments for color if I so desired.'
I tried a nice bright blue color. It blended well.
Well, 'in for a penny, in for a pound', as the old saying goes. I painted the exterior of my replacement watch with the clear version, and took a flashlight, and painted the exterior with the blue, until I came to the lens portion, which I painted with the clear gel.
I would have to test this with a trip to Vorden but that should be all right. Five minutes later I reactivated the gate painting, and went through for a quick visit. An hour later I had my answer. The watch still had the LED and all functions working, and the flashlight worked as well. The flashlight was a hit with Garretti, who wanted me to get him one.
With the two hi tech items working after a whole hour in that other world, I knew my test was a success. I got home, deactivated my gate, and decided to try messing with the ceramic mix. Well, that's what I called it anyway. I spent several hours experimenting with pigments and viscosities, and came up with a satisfactory blend.
For the final test, I took several treated panels of the mixture, now dry and applied, and tried to cast spells at it. It worked like a charm. When the blast from the spell hit the panels, they just sort of disappeared. It was as if they were absorbed or something, and there was no harm done to any panel. Amazing, really.
I went back home and put my panels away. Ok, they worked here just fine, here. My watch and the flashlight worked fine there. Ergo, coating the machinery in place should be possible. The possibilities were exciting. The only problem would be getting the magic boys here to relax enough and stop worrying about the self correcting seals.
The next day my doorbell rang, and without thinking about it, I went and opened my front door. There stood my agent, and a guy with glasses that made his eyes seem huge and watery.
Oh no! John Royce and my agent, in person, no less. I let them in.
"Hi, Franklin. I knew you wouldn't mind us dropping in and talking about our possible collaboration," Becky said, trying her best to put me on the spot.
I was going to strangle this woman. She might be a good agent (hell, she was one of the best), but now I was really annoyed.
"Mr. Royce, Becky made a mistake. Normally I would love to work with you, but I already explained to her I was tied up with personal problems. There is no way I can give you and this project the proper attention it deserves until my present situation is resolved," I told him sorrowfully.
He looked at me, then to Becky. His small frame almost vibrating with nervous energy, and those eyes just seemed to stare at me. He actually made me uncomfortable, like someone studying a bug or something, and I was the bug.
"Perhaps I can help you out with this problem and get it resolved more to your liking? People seem to listen to me, for some reason," he said and I felt a sudden urge to accept his offer.
Now how had he done that? Was he using some form of hypnosis on me? Magic? The guy just got here, and barely said more than one sentence, and already I was almost willing to give up and accept his help and advice.
I shook my head at them.
"This is something I have to deal with, and it is of a private nature. I'm really sorry you made the trip for nothing, but Becky really should have told you," I finally found my voice to reply.
Royce continued to stare at me, and I became uncomfortable. I reached for my power and raised a little shield. Damn, but the relief was instant! I could see him visibly start as I did that.
I'll be damned, he had been messing with me! Now, was it magic? Or a form of mental control? Either way, when I raised that shield, the connection broke. I started glancing at my watch, and I stood a few minutes later.
"I really have to get ready for an appointment with an attorney. If you will excuse me? Once again, I apologize to you Mr. Royce. If it were any other occasion, I would be jumping at the chance to work with you," I said, looking him in the eyes.
"Well, I certainly understand. I doubt I can wait long, as I want to get started on this project. I really had been hoping to land you, but if you must decline, you must," he stood also, and went to shake my hand.
It was like shaking hands with a slimy... something. I felt absolutely dirty after I let his hand go. It took everything I had, not to wipe my hand distastefully on my pants. I escorted them to the door and looked at John Royce closely as he got into her car.
A slightly smallish to medium sized man, he exuded confidence, authority, along with this ability to cause people to want to do what he wanted. It was downright spooky. I kept my shield up, and under tight control. I swear I could feel a probing, like a tickle on it.
I burned his features into my memory. His height, his brown hair thinning, the huge watery eyes behind the glasses. If he weighed one hundred and fifty pounds I would be surprised. He oozed something that made me uncomfortable from the time he arrived until they pulled out of the driveway.
I had to call Mathew and see if this guy was one of the magic users of old he was talking about. It wouldn't surprise me if he turned out to be one. I had thought none had any magic left though.
"John Royce, you say? No, he was not one of the members that worked with me, and I can't say that I have ever heard of him outside of the writing field," Mathew responded to my question.
"He's got something. Either he is someone who was around back in those days, or someone with some sort of natural ability. What he was trying to do to me was positively disgusting," I said while repressing a shudder.
"Yes. Most distasteful. I know no one remaining in my group would do anything as you describe, I want to assure you of that," Mathew said.
We talked for a bit longer and then I hung up and got busy. I wanted to create a safe place in my home and that meant doing the walls of a room, all of then, including the ceiling and possibly the floor as well with that substance from the world of Vorden.
For the next week I hauled supplies from the other world and dropped off a few items in exchange. Coffee was a popular drink as was soda of all sorts. Orange, Grape, Pepsi, Coke, were the most popular drinks.
For my part, after carrying those cases through, I had to carry mix back with me. I decided to do my studio and that meant a new floor. I bought tile and I was going to use the mix from Vorden as the mud to set the tiles on. That took three days, as I made several mistakes that were no doubt common to laymen in doing floors, but I did it.
Next, I did the walls and the ceiling. It took me a total of five days, from start to finish.
Chicken wire is some damn good stuff, let me tell you. What do I mean? Well, to get the ceramic mix to stick, it had to have something for it to stick onto. First, I roughed the walls, and stapled chicken wire up on them. Then I just plastered the stuff on. It worked, and I may have done it the hard way, I'm just not sure. I used spraying machinery for the ceiling, the type they used for Stucco.
All in all, I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.
Edited by TeNderLoin