Chapter 8: Leader of the Gang

I looked at the damaged Nemesis in my hand, feeling where the spell had been struck and was unravelling. I could see how to fix it, but there was a trace element in there – by that I mean it could trace back to where I was and how powerful I was ... but that was easy to fix.

Concentrating on the main program, I was aware of other Nemesis's floating around me, watching as I worked. "Don't worry; he's going to be fine." I said as I muttered a phrase to bring the damaged parts together and to mend it, making it better than new.

The Trace spell started to disengage and fly back to its creator, but another Nemesis spell grabbed hold of it and held it tightly.

The dimness of my damaged Nemesis began to brighten until it was almost incandescent and then it was back to its normal state. It zipped into the air and began to circle the trace spell, giving sparks as it did so.

"Hold on there, we need to know more about the caster, what can you tell me." I said and then realised that this wasn't the place to do so. "No, follow me and then you can tell us all what happened." I said walking up the stairs to the West Wing.

I opened the door allowing the flock of Nemesi to pass before closing it behind me. We walked onto the Observatory where Nichole and Rose Blossom were still talking. "Excuse me ladies, but we have a problem." I said beckoning to the Nemesis that I'd repaired.

It came down and started projecting an image onto the wall. "You see master; this is what I've been tagged with." Perkins voice was saying

"I've got hold of it now; I just need it to tell me how it was created." An unknown voice said.

The picture tried to turn to focus on the other man, but it couldn't move too far. "Ah, I see it's a quasi-manoeuvrable construct. Most probably with limited actions -" there was a buzz of indignation from my surrounding Nemesis's "- I can purge it of its memory and send it back to its creator. But I need to know what his creator knows and how to stop him, one way or another."

There was a bright spark as the Nemesis tried to fight back and I heard Perkins give a cry of alarm. "Don't worry, it can't see you. I've got it focused on the wall so it can't see anything." The voice said.

The light on the wall dimmed and then there was a shiver in the picture. "There, I've just disabled it from recording anything we may say or do, it's hasn't got the power anymore, just enough to return it to that Chris Beaker. I'll teach him to put his nose in my business. We had a good group in the West Country and he broke that up, it's going to take months to rebuild there."

"Why don't you just kill him?" Perkins asked.

The unknown man gave a laugh, "What just as you tried? Oh no my friend I have ... other methods, this construct ... if it gets back to him, will let him know that I'm stronger than he is."

"How will you know if it reaches him?" Perkin's voice was almost ecstatic with the thought of his master beating me.

"My own construct will return to me and tell me. My magic is vastly greater than his in that respect, look at the size of his when mine can spy on anyone with only a fraction of the size." The boasting voice said and the Nemesis' surrounding us gave a crackle of indignation again.

I smiled and looked up, "You are the correct size for what I need you for. That tracker he sent is like a Sinclair ZX80 to your Pentium processors." I told them which made them brighten up with the similarity.

The voice was talking again, "Now I'll just release this wreck and your problems will be over. Now Perkins, it's obvious that you can't approach this Chris Beaker again. I have already sent my own men to watch over him, they are better trained than your pathetic street rats."

I looked over to where Nichole was watching all this and saw the smile on her face at the 'unknown's' voice extoling the virtues of his men.

The scene rotated to show Perkins and then another man's face, I heard Nichole gasp as she saw it. I turned to look at her. "I know that face, it's Marcus Anderson." She said.

It was a bit later in the day, Shifu, Rose Blossom, Martha, Charlotte and Jarvis – Natalie and George were in one of the Libraries learning spells – were seated while Nichole spoke, on the wall behind me pictures of Perkins and Anderson were displayed.

"Marcus Anderson is a well-known security expert with several companies around the country; he also has various other franchises, all under the Anderson umbrella, Perkins' there is in charge of the Southern area detective branch of the Anderson Corporation.

"What is also worrying is that Anderson supplies the security software for all the governments' computers, not to mention several corporations as well. For all intents and purposes, he is off limits unless we have solid evidence that he has broken the law, any evidence we supply will have to be cast-iron and able to be checked." She said

Jarvis raised his hand and then spoke, "The police have a mole within his organisation, but she hasn't reported anything wrong, we've ensured that she's now his personal assistant."

"Maybe she is no longer working for the police?" Shifu said – I had a translation spell permanently working in the room - so that we all understood him.

"She's been working with us for the past seven years, since she left Bramshill [1] and she had an exemplary record. This is the third undercover job she's worked on. She can be trusted." Jarvis said which for him closed the subject.

Shifu shook his head, "I meant no disrespect to either her or the police - it is just that Anderson has shown that he's proficient in The Art, it is possible that she does not know what is happening under her nose." He said

Martha nodded, "I've seen a Black Book on changing the structure of memory." There were some mutterings from Rose and Charlotte that I stepped on.

"We are here to learn what we can from all the books, no matter what colour they are; I've also seen such a spell. We are trying to be a school here, so everyone has to know the limits of all types of spells. So don't stop people from looking at Black books and seeing how to use them carefully." I said taking the role of the teacher.

"To know one's enemy you should be able to think like him." Shifu said.

"But can we say that this Anderson is the main villain of this piece?" Charlotte asked.

"I examined the Tracker that he created, although there are some interesting side issues, the whole effect is Black Book Magology" I said making up the word as I did so. "I wouldn't be surprised if he concentrates purely on Black Books"

"There you are, he's putting himself in the frame. We now know he's a magic user and from the way he was talking, he's also said that Chris here has interfered in his plans. I wouldn't be surprised if he's also at the back of all the problems the Governments' been having." Jarvis said.

"But you've told us that he isn't, not even your mole has found out anything. Can't you call her in?" Shifu asked

"We have several times, every time she maintains that he's just working normally in his office, there is no evidence that she's faking anything." Jarvis said feeling guilty as he was betraying his office.

"This undercover agent knew who was being sent in to spy on Anderson, didn't she? She was the one who set up their cover in the corporation; she would have to, for them to get in." I pointed out to him. "But if she's been controlled by Anderson then he would have the same information ... which is why they failed as well." I said.

Jarvis shook her head, "I know Sally, she's as honest as the day is long, and I know she'd never turn." He protested.

"Under normal conditions probably ... but these aren't normal conditions." Charlotte pointed out.

"Can't you call her in so that we could check her?" Martha asked.

Jarvis shook his head, "No, not without informing the boss about our suspicions and he's not too happy with Chris here." He said.

"I thought I'd explained everything to him?" I said surprised.

"You did, but it opened a whole new can of worms, especially when the Military got involved, now he flinches every time your name is mentioned." Jarvis said seriously.

"Well that wasn't my fault; he's the one who made the report. I got hit by the fallout ... no disrespect intended Nichole." I said looking at Nichole.

"None taken, but this does beg one main question ... just how do I tell Colonel Marlow? This is going to shake everything." She said thoughtfully.

I decided to steer the conversation away from the Military side of the problem. "Let's deal with first things first, we have the backbone for the school, we have pupils in the form of Nichole, Mary, Natalie and George, but we need more. Let's hear if we have anything from the Casper's." I said while mentally giving a call.

There was a spark and then a Casper was in the room, it differed from the Nemesis's as it was a pinker hue than their white light, it was also slightly larger in size. I addressed it, "Have any of you found candidates for the school?" I asked.

The Casper brightened and began to bounce around. I waved my hands to calm it down. "Okay, okay we get the picture; you've found several I take it?" I asked.

The glow intensified and then went back to normal, I muttered a phrase and then the Casper turned to the wall and began displaying information, faces, names and addresses, their age and the level of their ability.

One girl caught my eyes, she was shown with a Seeing Eye dog; and she was about thirteen years old. "Casper what is your opinion of this girl?" I asked reading her name on the file with the photograph, Evelyn Clitheroe.

The picture changed to show the girl walking down a road holding onto the handle attached to her dog. There were some youths, their clothing were ones that marked them as troublemakers with the type of trousers with hanging threads, leaning against a wall that ran down the side of the footpath, as she approached one nudged the other and they both smiled.

Evelyn came closer and one of the youth went to grab her shoulder bag, only he slipped up and fell flat on the ground, his partner in crime went to grab her arm only to find nothing to hold on to as she appeared to twist around, he overbalanced and fell heavily onto his friend. When they tried to get up they were tangled up with each other.

We all started to laugh at their pratfalls as they failed to gain their feet. Somehow the strings on their trousers had become entangled. I noticed a smile on Evelyn's face as she walked on; apparently unaware of the problem she had dodged.

Rose Blossom was still smiling, "She knew what had happened, because she caused it." She said.

I nodded, "Obviously she did, but you notice she didn't show to anyone that she was aware of it, she didn't turn back to see them ... I wonder?" I said out loud and then turned to the Casper. "Show us any active magic around Evelyn." I directed to it.

This time the Casper showed a still frame of Evelyn as she walked on, she appeared normal until you looked at her head, there was a band going around it and four spots showing active magic.

"What are those?" Jarvis asked.

I studied the spots and then smiled, "They are magic eyes, and they allow her to 'see' the world, but she doesn't show off to people, she's learnt that if she was to suddenly show that she's able to see it would cause problems ... I need to meet her." I said

"I think it would be better if Rose approached her first, she might be put off by a man approaching her and saying 'I know your secret'. It would freak her out." Nichole pointed out, I was going to answer that I was supposed to be the recruiter but realised that she was right. I would have to learn how to delegate these meetings to others. I nodded my head.

"You're right Nichole, Rose would you mind going to Evelyn and seeing if she wants to join our school?" I asked her.

Rose smiled, "I would be honoured to." She said. First of all, she touched the Casper and then she looked around before speaking a phrase, then she vanished from the room.

We carried on checking through the other candidates that the Casper's had found and sent Charlotte and Martha to two who looked acceptable.

Rose appeared in an empty road, near Evelyn's house. She found that the Casper's had given her all the information on Evelyn that she would need, including the house that she lived in and the surroundings. It was from these that Rose had been able to transport herself.

Rose thought for a moment and then created a back-pack which contained some books and pens, something to give her an excuse to visit a thirteen-year-old blind girl.

As she walked up the footpath to the house where Evelyn lived, Rose cast a spell to alert her to any magic being used, and immediately, she could feel invisible eyes watching her

The garden was full of flowers and the scent was nearly overpowering, but Rose realised that a blind person would appreciate that, as she wouldn't be able to see the plants themselves. The green door had rails to either side of it and the bell press didn't give a noise that Rose could hear.

"I'll get it." A girl's voice could be heard from inside and soon Evelyn herself opened the door; Rose could feel the magic touching her and examining her. Evelyn smiled. "Hello, please come in." She said.

"But you don't know me. I could be anyone." Rose said.

"Yes, you could be, but I know you are the person I've been waiting for." Evelyn said moving past a door into another room; Rose closed the front door and followed her.

"Who was it Evie?" A woman's voice called from the first room.

"It's alright Mum, it just a friend of mine visiting, we'll be in the dining room." Evelyn said as she entered the room and walked around the table where she had some books lying. "Don't mind Marmaduke, he's just inquisitive." Evelyn said as her dog started to sniff at Rose's hand