Terrible Friend

16

"What? What do you mean the God of Lost Things?" Albert asked.

"Really want to know?" Beverly replied.

"Bullet point it?"

"Sure.  Three demon levels, plain old run of the mill demon, demi-god  demon, and god demon. Jax is the latter and his domain, or area of expertise is lost items."

Beverly added a few more ingredients to the cauldron  as she spoke. She picked up a dropper that Albert had not noticed before sitting next to the bubbling pot. She squeezed the squishy end of the dropper and dipped the tip into the cauldron. She stood up, chanted more words and then squeezed the dropper gently. A single drop of liquid sparked as it fell into the tapered candle to the left. She spoke the chant again as another spark came from the candle on the right.

She took a small step backward and watched, whispering her chant. The necklace lifted up off the table, like an invisible hand had picked it up by the chain. It hung there in the air. The glow around it ebbed and waned, changing colors as it circulated around repeatedly. A current of electricity spread between the two tall candles on stands and then shot to the necklace. The glow settled on a red color that grew brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding. Beverly picked up the pace of her chant but turned her head to look away from the blinding glow.

Albert watched the glow until his eyes could no longer take the burning. He looked away a second, maybe two, too late. When the bright red light filling the small space receded and the necklace dropped back to the stone tablet, he was blind. He rubbed his eyes and started to panic. "I can't see!"

Beverly knelt down and proceeded to close up the compartments on the wooden box. "It's temporary. You should have closed your eyes. Give it a minute. You will be able to see again. I promise." She lifted the drape at the front of the table and placed the box back from where she had taken it. She stood up and picked up the necklace. When she turned around, she laughed out loud.

Albert was standing there, eyes wide open, feeling the air. His arms were stretched out in front of him as far as he could reach. His hands alternated between stretched out and wiggling to straight up, fingers pointing at the ceiling. He really was blind.

Beverly approached him and grabbed one of his arms and led him back to the bright lights of the storage room. He tiptoed behind her, still feeling for the surroundings blindly. When they reached the openness of the storage room again, she let go of him and went back into the makeshift altar room to get their shoes. "Wait here."

She dropped Albert's boots on the floor directly in front of him. He was still standing there rubbing his eyes. "Better yet?"

"Getting there." He rubbed both eyes with his knuckles and then blinked repeatedly."What the hell was that?"

"A release spell, a ward spell, and a luck spell."

"A luck spell, really?"

"It can't hurt."

"I suppose not."

Beverly held the necklace up for Albert to put on again. He reached out and grabbed the charm hard with one hand. He waited a moment and let go. When Jax did not let out a blood curdling scream, he bowed his head and allowed Beverly to slip it on him. "Alright, now what?"

"Now we try to find where they took the statue of Dongorul. If the stars align Friday night, we are running out of time, and ways, to stop them from releasing him."

"How do you propose we do that?"

"Bait."

"Bait? What do you mean bait?"

"They came after you. They want or need something from you. I don't know what it could be, but they failed. My hope is that they will try again."

"What? No. There is absolutely no reason for them to come after me. I don't have or know anything. I don't think he was after me, specifically. He was in my house, sure, but I don't think he was there to attack me."

"What else would he have been there for? And that's exactly what he did now isn't it?"

"Shit!" Albert was not in the mood for this. He just wanted go on with his miserable life just the way it was before. He had a feeling things would never be the same again. He wanted the hope though. "I'm tired of all of this bullshit already. Why can't they pick on somebody else? I'm not bait material, I'm just a crazy guy. Why can't they go after somebody else?"

"It's that or we take it to them."

"What do you mean we take it to them?"

We find them and stop their plan in it's tracks."

<Oh yeah. You are just gonna go striding into their lair and demand they stop their foolishness. All motherly and what not? That absolutely won't work. They already know Albert. He's a big enough guy, but squishy. They might give him a second glance, but he's not going to get very far either.>

"What do you think we should do then?"

Jax had been thinking about this for a while. If he could convince them that him being free was a good, and helpful idea, he could end up being released. That would mean very good things for him.