The Andre Miller Saga

Andre Miller 14 The Field

It was 5 days after the demonic incursion destroyed the summoning circle building. Andre, Caleb, Frankie, Tilly, and Kyle sat at the table while the inspection of their property was conducted.

The city inspector was going through the wreckage, seeing what was salvageable and what would have to be rebuilt. The ceiling beams were scorched so badly that they had smoldered through in several places and the whole roof of the building would have to be replaced. The floor was a rubble field and would have to be removed and repoured. The walls were sturdy enough to remain, so there was some small mercy there.

Next, the magical inspector came through and did his tests. There was deep infernal corruption in the building and surrounding ground about 2 feet from the base of the building and would have to be cleansed with holy water and silver before any new summoning circle, or magical workspaces, would be authorized by the city.

Mr. Brooks, head of the HOA, was very understanding and signed off on the authorization for construction so long as it didn't start before 8 or go past 6. He and the other members of the community held a bake sale and donated the proceeds to the construction fund.

Caleb was working with contracting and construction companies to get estimates and timelines. Andre was doing the same with magical cleansing and reclamation teams. Frankie and Kyle were sorting through work orders for the family's business, Infinity Brand LTD., and making callbacks to those who had hired the company for summoning of one type or another and canceling the contracts, sighting unavoidable magical incident. They were making recommendations to the other summoners in town who dealt with the Celestial Union, and Elemental Courts.

Tilly was making calls to defensive installation jobs and pushing them back by two weeks because of having to completely rebuild their stock of product. Unavoidable product recall she said. In truth, she had expended all of them fighting back the massive demon that tried to push its way into the mortal world.

The mood was somber and generally morose. They had been close to finishing a very difficult part of their quest to prepare for a coming catastrophic event, summoning a celestial Virtue to help cleanse the mar on Frankie's soul. Frankie had a major role to play in the events to come, and though no one knew what they were, they knew that having Frankie purified would help tip the scales to the side of the light.

The inspectors dropped off their results and bills and then left the property. By 5 o'clock Andre and Caleb had burned up most of the local companies for quotes so it came down to picking which companies to work with based on their bids and reputations. Tilly, Kyle, and Frankie were sitting in the living room halfheartedly playing cards for matchsticks after finishing all their phone calls earlier in the day.

"When are you going to restart making the defensive wards and talismans Tilly?" asked Andre.

"We're going down to the Market tomorrow to get the raw materials and spell components. We should have a decent stock rebuilt in about a week and a half with all five of us working on it." She replied.

"From the timetables we got today it looks like summoning is off the table for at least 3 months. Possible as long as 5 if the cleansing crews and construction crews can't work together." Andre said as he sat down in one of the living room chairs.

Caleb leaned against the wall, "We're going to have to sell a couple of the vials of dragon's blood to afford the repairs, but that still leaves us with a good stockpile for trading for the defensive goods. Were any of the wards or talismans on the summoning building salvageable?"

"No," said Tilly, "They all detonated at the same time that the demon breached the circle. On the plus side, we know the triggering wards worked just like they should have, so we can advertise performs as expected from intensive personal testing."