The Unveiling - Modern Magic: Book 1

Chapter 6

A/N: The plot continues to thicken... I'm wondering if anyone has any predictions, or if I've just left all the readers confused.  Please feel free to comment.  I'm interested in hearing anyone's thoughts and ideas!

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Chapter 6 – April 13, 2019

Saturday conspired to make me question if I suffered from a form of bipolar disorder. I woke up in a great mood. Friday had been perfect. Even after I left Diana at her apartment, I couldn't stop smiling – not that I was trying. I took out a bag of bagels and switched on the TV, feeling nostalgic for some Saturday morning cartoons. Oddly enough that was one of my favorite memories from my mom.

Nostalgia was going to have to wait. The 24-hour news cycle had taken over half the channels with a "Breaking News" report. I wasn't paying too much attention as I grabbed my toaster and put it on the limited table space. "Blah blah, unconfirmed blah, possible terrorist, blah blah, Bank of America north of MIT?" I stopped, my hand over half way to loading a bagel into the toaster. My attention was completely on the TV now.

The picture changed from a news room to a reporter standing next to a building, behind her and across police tape was visible charring. "As you can see, Robert, this is the site of some kind of explosion. Law Enforcement officers are not commenting or speculating at this time, but sources among the city workers confirmed this is not a natural gas explosion or resulted from a gas leak."

I squinted at the TV, trying to get a clearer view of what was behind the reporter. "What type of damage do you see, Mary?" The anchor asked, probably on cue.

The reporter turned and gestured to the scene, the camera following the nonverbal command. The picture zoomed in on the distant parts of the building, shaking a little more from the chance in perspective. "That's the part that seems to have investigators stumped. Whatever caused this clearly damaged and scorched the side of the bank, but there have been no bomb fragments recovered. We have seen several investigators literally scratching their heads over this." Out of pure luck, the camera focused on an overzealous crime scene photographer taking pictures of the building wall from a half dozen different angles.

In any other situation, I probably would have laughed over the likely P.R. nightmare those 10 seconds of video would likely cause. Not today. Unlike the police, I knew exactly what causes that kind of damage, especially since I was at the wrong end of it less than a week ago. My cell buzzed in my pocket, and I had a good guess who it was before I even saw the screen. "I'm watching it right now." I was a little rude to not at least say hello, but this wasn't the time for social grace.

"Thisis a secure line, so don't worry about that... but this is not good. Your attack was in an alley where no one cared if a fire escape was damaged. This? This is completely different, especially with all the talk of terrorism." I nodded unconsciously, even though there was no way she could see me. Aki took a breath like she was going to continue when we both shifted our focus to the TV.

The picture was focused on three fire fighters pulling a body from a small pile of wreckage. As soon as it became visible that it was a woman with her clothes partially destroyed, body charred, the camera snapped over to the reporter who looked shocked before composing herself. "Umm... As you just saw, responders just pulled a body from the wreckage. It appeared to be a woman, but we don't yet know her relationship to the explosion. Was she an innocent bystander, a target, or the Terrorist? More on this as information becomes available."

I winced as the reporter put undue emphasis on the word Terrorist. "Because that's the idea we want bouncing around peoples' minds!" I mutter into the phone, frustrated.