The New Magic - The Revelation of Jonah McAllister - Landon Wark (bill gates best books TXT) 📗

She blinked, allowed only a moment for confusion before a pounding fist banged on the door. Carmen only had a moment to turn the tap on the sink, water sloshing up through and mime washing her hands before the door was nearly bashed in.

Carmen stood before the sink, staring at the face of a blocky woman in a deputy's uniform. Her writer's brain scrambled for something clever to say.

"You're gonna have to wait your turn."

"What the hell are you doing?" Sandy Jenkins demanded of the woman coming down the stairs from the second floor.

"We have a warrant that allows us to search the premises for illicit substances," the woman replied. "You can get it from Deputy Larson there if you want to have a look at it."

Sandy paused in her pursuit of the woman and looked over to where a lanky man waved a clipboard at her. She put her hand to her head and gave a prolonged blink, feeling anxiety shake the muscles in her neck. Almost immediately the heat of the morning seemed to breach into the heat of the mid afternoon.

Shit, Carmen.

"Why the shit would you think we have illicit substances here?"

"Anonymous tip."

"And th-that's all you need to come barging in here?"

"Yup."

"We got big drug issues in this county," the man holding the clipboard said loudly.

Sandy put her hand to the wall in an attempt to steady herself, looking up as Carmen Carruthers descended the stairs, her face a visage of near horror and regret.

Jonah's heart raced as he crouched behind the tree, hidden from the house by the thin line of forest surrounding the building. He dared not move in case he was seen by the loitering forces that surrounded the house.

The cruisers, all three of them, were lined up along the gravel just outside the front entrance. Two of the uniformed officers were doing what he could only describe as sweeping the grounds. From what he could tell, four more were inside the house and he felt an overwhelming melange of hope and despair about what they would find there.

His heart skipped a beat as one of the roving officers broke off and walked toward the cabin. He placed his back against the tree and flexed his arms and legs, trying to prepare to act in defence of what was his.

The others would be okay, as long as they didn’t do anything stupid, and from what he had seen of them doing stupid things wasn’t part of their character. What worried him the most, what made the sweat run down the side of his face, was what would happen if they took any of the notebooks.

He clenched his fists and readied himself.

The door to the cabin swung open and for a moment he was reminded of what it was like sitting in that hotel room, watching the man going through his drawers, placing his hands on his possessions, on his work.

The back door to the house opened and Sandy walked out, marching resolutely into the cabin. There were sounds of shouting and he grimaced, preparing for the worst. After a terrifying while the officers came out empty handed and he felt his pulse slacken slightly, the feeling of impending doom seemed to lift as the four in the house stepped out and walked resolutely back to the cruisers. They sat there on the radio for an agonizing ten minutes and then one car left. Another ten minutes passed and the second pulled off of the gravel. Only after the third vacated twenty minutes later did Jonah allow himself to rise. He inhaled the hot June air and walked back to the house, cautiously.

In the main room on the bottom floor he found a gathering of rattled people, sitting in shock around the sofa.

“What was that about?” he asked fervently to the first person in sight.

“Drugs,” Sandy muttered. "Fortunately they didn't find any."

Carmen looked downcast, her normally defiant eyes a mixture of confusion and near defeat. Clay stood beside her, kicking the wall lightly with the back of his foot. Jenny looked like she was about to faint. Paul clenched his teeth.

"Well what did you expect?" he asked the assembly.

The others nodded and as he looked around at them Jonah could see the mix of fear and confusion in their eyes.

“Maybe we should just tell them what we’re doing,” Jenny muttered.

Jonah shook his head. “We can’t do that.”

“Jonah—” Sandy tried.

"I can't yet!" he said tersely. "I-I'm not ready."

"Well, that's great," Clay muttered. "Any idea when you will be?"

Jonah clenched his fist. Why couldn't he make them understand?

"I need it to be safe," he said after a moment. "We can't have any lives on our consciences. I... look, we're going to need a lot of trust. What we're trying to do is going to shatter a whole lot of worlds."

From where he stood, a large bulk leaned against the wall, Ezra began to laugh.

“That’s why he wanted all of you,” the large man said between chuckles. “You all came pre-shattered.”

“Uncle,” Sandy warned.

The eyes in the room stared clean into Jonah’s soul and he took it all in. Was now the time to tell them? That was why he had allowed them in, that was why he wanted them, but they were far from being just puppets for him to play around with.

"I wanted all of you because..." he froze in their judgmental eyes, but his mouth kept pressing forward. "Okay, yes. I needed some people to take the first steps..."

"We wanted to help people," Sandy said. "And—"

"And we were the most pathetic sad-sacks you could find?" Clay pressed.

"Can you settle down?" Paul raised a hand to the height of Clay's shoulder.

"Yes, please settle down," Carmen said sheepishly.

“We’re plan B,” Ezra said. “In case you