Chapter 1: The Hitman

Have you ever seen a bullet as it strikes you? I can tell you it's not nice. You don't hear the thing and all that appears is a growing circular shape as the bullet flattens out into a pancake as it hits my shield. What you certainly won't feel is the rush of power as the kinetic energy is transformed into biological energy, providing me with the energy to duck and hide from the sniper.

I scanned the surroundings using a yellow script – tell you about them later – and I found a human body carrying a warm object, a muttered spell caused him to fall to the ground and then to stick there, unable to move. Nothing upsets a person to be paralysed for no apparent reason.

I maintained my shell as I got up and walked to the nearby building, I could see that there was a car nearby with its engine running, I used an application of the 'Law Spell' (as I called it) and the engine died with the car doors locked. I didn't think anyone trying to kill me should get away with it.

The building I entered was an old dilapidated block of flats, a sign outside warned people to 'keep out' but I didn't let it stop me. I pulled the door open – it wasn't locked - and went to the stairs; even I wasn't stupid enough to use the lift.

Graffiti covered the walls of the hall and as I walked I listened out for the cries of my, would be, assassin as he tried to move, they were faint but I could hear them. I smiled and put my hands into my pockets as I entered the hallway to see my victim.

"Oh Christ, can you help me man?" He cried out before he could see my face.

"Now why would I want to do that? What's in it for me?" I said as I crouched down so that he could see me.

"Oh god, it's you. What did you do to me?"

I shook my head, "Wrong order, why did you try to shoot me? Who sent you?"

"You should be dead, I had you perfectly. Why aren't you dead?" The shooter asked as he tried to squirm away from me.

"I have a way, now you didn't answer me. Who's paying you for my death?" I pressed him and muttered a quick spell.

"I donno, just got an email and a bank transfer, they're paying me the rest when I complete the job." He looked surprised as he said this.

I gave a laugh, "Well that's one payment you won't get, where did the email come from?"

"I can't tell you that! They'd kill me, anyway it was one of those anonymous things, they just open the account for one shot and that's it." The man said without any humour in his voice, just panic.

"How much were you getting for this?" I asked just out of interest.

"Two hundred and fifty grand - fifty up front and two hundred after." He said resignedly.

"That was too cheap. Oh well what to do with you?" I pondered out loud. "I could just let you go, but you'd never learn from that, or I could just shoot you with your own gun ... there's a bit of justice about that." I said seeing the man close his eyes in fear – which is what I wanted. I gathered the power inside the building, leeching off the electricity that remained. I pictured a sphere in which was the assassin, gun and a bit of the floor that he was attached to and then pulled the actual area into my mind, sending him on to the police station in Bath, where he was placed into cell nine.

The power used to do that was almost too much for me and I felt drained and had to sit down. "I'm definitely not going to try that again." I said out loud. I needed power and used a yellow script to draw all the power I could from the surrounding area.

As I got to my feet I could feel the floor start to shudder as parts of the ceiling began to fall, I made it to the stairway and staggered down the stairs to the main entrance, going through the door and away to safety as the building began to fall in on itself as the very fabric of the building failed.

I soon felt better and made my way to my car, I had been planning on shopping in the area but now I wanted to get home and think about this. It was the fourth time someone had tried to kill me and I still didn't know who was behind it.

I fixed something to eat and sat down in front of my computer bringing up the news pages. 'Unexpected collapse of condemned building' – and there was a picture of the flats showing before and after. There was also a warning to keep away from similar areas as well as information that the local council was going through a thorough survey of all blocks of flats in the area.

I don't know what they would find out, except that the bricks lost all cohesion and that was why the building disintegrated.

I felt a bit better with the news that nobody had been hurt in the flats, the last thing I wanted was to be the cause of anyone's death, which reminded me I picked up my new cell phone and dialled a number I had in the directory.

"Bath Custody suite, Sergeant Jones speaking." The man's voice said.

"Good afternoon Sergeant, this is Chris Beaker." I said and held the earpiece away from my head.

"Bloody Hell, how the blazes do you have this number, you're not even supposed to know it!" The Sergeant said in surprise.

"Err, yes, sorry about that Sergeant. I thought you might want to know that you have an occupant in Cell Nine, he's currently attached to the floor that he's on and there is a rifle next to him. He's going to want to tell you everything and then he'll be released from where he's stuck."

I could tell that he was using the CCTV to look inside the cells as he swore again. "How the hell did you manage that? All our doors are locked." He said.

I gave a smile that he couldn't see, "Don't you know Sergeant, I can work magic, and that's how I got out of that cell several months ago. Now this man you have inside that cell tried to kill me and can't tell me who paid for that to be done. I think you'd better check on his identity and you might find some interesting facts about him. He's not the type for this to be a one off."

"And just why would he want to kill you? Have you upset anyone?" Sergeant Jones asked.

"You mean apart from you? Well there is your ex-Inspector O'Neil and the people he was working for? But ... no, not that I know of, and I can't honestly think of anyone else." I said earnestly

"Well, I can't authorise detainment for people just on the hearsay of one man, I have to have creditable information to work on." The Sergeant said falling back onto procedure.

"Then just ask him, he'll be glad to tell you. But you might find it's associated with incident number BW4453" I said and hung up; I didn't mention the truth spell that I had cast on the assassin, as it was the same one that made him say as much as he knew when I spoke to him earlier and the incident number was one I managed to get from the local police (I hadn't been to their gaol and so couldn't send my victim there).

So when had this all happen? I thought back to while Sar'ha was with me, The libraries had joined together to improve the travelling spell - which allowed Sar'ha to picture a place that she knew and transfer over stellar distances without seriously depleting her own body's power – (this was something I now realised I was going to need if I tried that assassin's transportation to the police station trick again. The only down side was that it had to be somewhere I'd already been).

We spent a few wasted days, wasted! They were great days, getting to know each other properly but we knew that Sar'ha would have to return to her own world, which I learnt was called Zorba'n and start work with her sister creating this new school for apprentices. Something I was going to have to start here.

To prepare myself I went into my library, on the bookshelves were multicoloured books, White, Black, Green and Yellow, although the Green books were taking over from the black as Sop'ha's knowledge was transferred to her own world's library. Before I met Sar'ha I didn't even have this library in my mind, but once she introduced herself I began finding White bound books which allowed me to cast spells – I'm a wizard! Well of a sort, I can use magic from the energy in my own body, so I've had to learn how to treat my body properly. After a few days I found a Black Book, these showed me how to use the power from the planet to increase my ability, but it came with a warning – too much use can hurt the planet. Then I found Yellow Books, these were more geared to this world and allowed the transfer of electrical power from machinery and objects. On Sar'ha's world a mage called Sop'ha found out how to transfer the power from other people instead of the world, the more people in the area then the more power can be taken, these showed up in her library as Green Scripts.

I smiled at the sight of the computer sitting on a desk, I had really put it there as a joke, sort of reminding myself of my real work – I'm a programmer for a computer games company, which is something I'm going to have to change soon – just for fun I sat in front of the computer and turned it on.

Now I'm not sure what I expected to happen but it started up! So why was I surprised? Well you see this is an imaginary computer inside a library which is in my mind. Where did the electricity come from to power it? And what did it know?

"Well Aristotle what do you think?" I asked out loud

The Library of the World (my world that is), who has a form – I called him Aristotle – came in from a previously unseen door and looked at the computer, "That is a strange device. It is dependent on your mind for its form and operation. I would think it comes from your subconscious as a way of contacting that which you cannot use normally" Aristotle said while rubbing his chin, He was dressed in the robes of an ancient Greek, but I knew this was purely for my benefit as part of the joke.

"So what you're saying is that this is giving me a prod from my other side, why couldn't it just leave a note?" I said with a slightly sarcastic tone.

There was a flash and from the sky (okay then, the roof) dropped a piece of paper, I picked it up and read it 'because you wouldn't listen to me otherwise!' it said. I showed it to Aristotle who laughed.

"You do know yourself don't you." He said and I nodded.

"Okay then what happens when I start this computer?" I said as I sat down again, I looked at the picture beside the screen, it showed Sar'ha sleeping on a chair it was 'taken' by Ichabod when Sar'ha travelled in my library back to her home. The screen display came up 'Windoze version 25.3.90 handle with care' and a smiley face underneath the slogan.

I shook my head, "Okay very funny, now what do you know?" I said out loud and the screen cleared to show a notepad.

'Only what you are aware of, but from this screen your library is always available to me, I can run research of spells to help you.' The screen displayed.

I scratched my head, "But you're me? How can this happen?" I said again out loud.

'Just think of me as a researcher hiding in the background, I can study the scripts and feed you the results as you sleep, that way we can gain the knowledge that Sar'ha is expecting us to have.' The screen said and then finished with another smiley face.

"And it might be advantageous for you to practice your spell casting and defence spells, I think that this machine could help you with that." Aristotle said while rubbing his bearded chin.

"How can a screen help me with defence spells?" I asked him and then noticed a flash from the screen, without thinking I brought up a shield from which the spell rebounded to earth itself harmlessly in the shelves.

'Go on punk, make my quiche' the screen showed before it morphed into a standing shape which had my face. "So you think you can fight me?" it said as it crouched down.

I pictured a shield spell and this time I placed it around him, spinning him like a top. But when I stopped the spell he was still standing there, unfazed by my attempt to put him off. "Counter spin, I maintained a shield inside yours and made it spin in the other direction, the two cancelled each other out." He said and suddenly I knew what he'd done and how it was cast.

"I see, but if you interface the second shield with the first? What would happen then?" I asked while setting up the spell.

"I wouldn't do that, not in here at least; do you know how much power that is going to take up? He said pointedly.

I had to admit that I didn't but then I looked at him, "It would take a lot of power, and we can't stand to lose too much, why don't you go and have something to eat while I'll look into this." He said and morphed back into the computer screen.

I looked at Aristotle who shook his head, "Ever since you came into my library it's been interesting." He said with a smile.

"You just wait until Natalie's ready to really study, she'll be making such a mess," I said with a straight face

"And you'll have to clean it up; I'm not going to be responsible for your students. Anyway Martha and Charlotte have already visited me and we've had a little chat about how to do things. I've also seen others who have started to use their libraries, which is due to your flying sparks – you call them Casper – who has started finding more potential students. At some stage you are going to have to start teaching them." He admonished me.

I nodded, "Yes, I know. I had hoped for a bit of time off before I got started, but it seems I'm not destined to have that."

Aristotle nodded, "And you wanted me to be in interesting times? Be careful of what you wish for." He said before changing into a djinn and then floating out of the library through the door to his.

I opened my eyes in my lounge and made my way into the kitchen where I started to cook a meal when the door-bell rang. I gave the normal question that everyone asks when a doorbell rings, "I wonder who that can be?" I said to myself.

Receiving no answer I did the obvious thing and went to the door, being cautious I looked through the fish-eye to see who my caller looked like, but I didn't like what I saw. "Who is it?" I called out.

"Post office, gotta parcel you have to sign for." Now even I don't expect a postman to be in tee-shirt and torn jeans so I created a shield and unlocked the door. He pushed against the door forcing it open. "You've upset someone mate and so I'm here to tell you to stop!" he said bringing a snooker cue around to strike me in the side.

It all went to plan for him, until the cue struck the shield and rebounded bouncing the cue out of his, now numb, hands. He spent a second looking at the cue then at me and he was running. It all happened so fast that I hadn't really caught onto what had occurred.

I looked at the cue still vibrating on the floor and the open door then my brain kicked in and I ran after the man, following his course outside to where he had jumped onto the back of a motor bike which sped off, at least faster than I could run.

I muttered a spell to stop the bike, but he turned away and the spell struck a bus which ground to a halt. "Oh, sod it!" I said and with a gesture neutralised the spell, making the bus driver scratch his head as the stalled engine suddenly started again.