The Inventor's Son

Chapter 6: In Which Intuition is the Best Guide

LIAM GRINNED BACK at the witch in the police uniform. "Marlowe! Just the man! You'll never guess who's behind this one!"

"I'd wager, but we got into a heap of trouble over that sort of thing a few years ago," Marlowe commented. He shook Liam's hand, then tipped his hat to Sophia and Ethan. "I am Inspector Roderick Marlowe. I have an open investigation as of now that may involve the fellow that killed your butler. It's a case where a fellow running a freak show was kidnapping people and grafting an array of terrible contraptions on them," Marlowe explained.

"Much like the fellow your lads are pursuing," Liam said.

"So, you truly believe Colbourne is behind this?" Marlowe demanded.

Liam gave Marlowe a dark look. "It would appear that merely shutting down the freak show did not end Colbourne's crimes against humanity. As a matter of fact, it is quite evident now that Kearney is one of those very freaks!"

"Wait, you mean you think it was Professor Colbourne doing these things for a freak show? He was a professor at Cambridge! He was my father's teacher! My father wasn't instructed by some crackpot maniac!" Ethan argued from his hiding place in the shed door.

"Trust me when I tell you that he was once a mighty titan that had fallen far, young man," Marlowe said sadly. "He was your father's teacher, you say? Then the man would know of just what this scoundrel Colbourne is capable of, wouldn't he?"

Ethan nodded, thinking of the film he'd just seen, as well as what Pollman was rambling about how his father had so very much betrayed Professor Colbourne. Since he could think of nothing else to say at that moment, he wandered back inside and took a seat on the steamer trunk containing the helicopter prototype. The sun was getting too annoying.

"If only Mr. Timmons hadn't come with me to The Old House..." Ethan said sadly after telling Marlowe all he could about the calamity that had befallen them.

"Dreadful business. It's quite the lucky thing that Inspector Huntington was nearby," Inspector Marlowe commented with some sympathy.

"Oh, yes indeed!" Ethan nodded.

Marlowe drew his magic wand out of his top coat pocket again. "I'm sure you don't mind," he said.

Sophia smiled and answered, "Of course not! You are among witches here, you know. My grandson is starting to grow quite adept with his visions." Ethan winced a bit. He wished his grandmother wouldn't brag about his "abilities."

"You understand, Lady Sophia. I still catch a bit of flack," Inspector Marlowe complained. Ethan had to wonder why Marlowe was calling her "Lady Sophia" when no one in the Ballard home was even close to being one of the peerage.

"Inspector, exercising our rights to practice magic openly is the only way to gain the tolerance we so desire," Sophia lectured.

"Still, Grandmother, it would be nice if witches had a way of knowing each other. Sometimes, I reckon it's not a good idea to do any magic in front of someone else!" Ethan ventured.

"You only say that because you are young and wish to fit in. Not taking your wand out just because you are worried someone will think poorly of you is the mark of an immature mind. Which is to be expected of you at this age. Once you are an adult, I daresay you'll change your mind, Ethan."

"Yes, I'm sure I will, Grandmother," Ethan answered with a weary voice. He dreaded having Sophia start her diatribe on the need for advertising the very fact that witches exist and have powers and can do things to help society.

As of yet, he barely knew how to cast a spell anyway. There was no indication, in Ethan's mind, that there was any potential for his further development. Whenever his cousin Virgil bullied him when he visited Uncle Malcolm's house, Ethan was never able to do anything with magic to even defend himself, let alone inflict any damage on his cousin. He couldn't even pull Virgil's hair with magic, and Virgil knew it, which emboldened him to bully Ethan further. Magic had failed him, consistently.