Chapter 1

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm, and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” 
-Jawaharlal Nehru

“That's the thing with magic. You've got to know it's still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible for you.”    -Charles de Lint

                                                                One: The Conference

            It was August the thirty-first, which meant that the annual Scouting Conference would take place in the amphitheatre at Headquarters at noon and Ether was already five minutes late.  He, like many others it seemed, waited until the last minute to take his teleporter and experienced a great deal of portal traffic. When he materialized in the Portal room, it was completely deserted; his portal must have been the last one to go through authorization.  Ether wrenched open the cold, iron door of the Portal Room and bolted down the hallway in the direction of the amphitheatre, the soles of his dress shoes reverberating loudly off of the marble floor.

            Panting, he reached the black double doors and paused to fix himself up.  If he was going to show up fashionably late, he may as well look presentable.  He brushed off his black dress pants, straightened his coattails, adjusted his glasses, and finger-brushed his silky, shoulder-length, dark hair.  Maybe if he entered extra quietly he wouldn’t make too much of a disturbance and Mr. Raine would reconsider the pay cut penalty for tardiness.  Ether took a deep breath and inched the door open, sweat staining his palms.

            An unnatural noise issued through the crack in the double doors.  It was loud and choppy and seemed to continue longer than it should, considering the soundproof walls that coated the amphitheatre.  Slowly, cautiously, he continued pushing it open only to find that the Conference had not started yet.  The choppy, continuous noise he had heard was the amalgamation of several side conversations.  The podium in the center of the stage was empty.  Something didn’t seem right.

            “Hey, Ether, need a seat?” called a familiar voice.

            Ether turned to his left to see the hands of Jeff Klavis gesturing to the seat next to him in the very last row.  Jeff’s mailbox at Headquarters was three away from Ether’s so the two would talk occasionally during morning check-in.  There was no better way to put it; Jeff looked very much like a ghoul.  He was thin, pale, and was always hunched over, making him look a few inches shorter than he really was.

            “Ah, good afternoon, Jeff,” said Ether taking the open seat.  “Where is Mr. Raine?”

            “Don’t know.  Late, looks like.  Things ‘a been pretty crazy ‘round here lately.  Coupla’ people been comin’ in with mismatched shoes and such.  Wouldn’t be surprised if ol’ Raine’s havin’ a day himself,” he grunted.

            Ether drummed his fingers on his knees nervously.  He knew all too well why Headquarters was in such a state.  Instinctively, he cleared his mind and changed the subject.

            “So, excited to start the new school year?” asked Ether.  Jeff assumed the role of a high school principal in South Carolina in order to fulfill his duties as a Scout.

            “Nah, not really.  Them kids get rowdier n’ rowdier every year.  I swear I spend more time givin’ out detentions to lower classmen than lookin’ for potential mages.  That ain’t somethin’ Raine would like to hear, so don’t go repeatin’ that anywhere.  Only had one come out last year.  Turned a classroom into a small tornado in a fit of rage over a poor test grade.  You can imagine how difficult that was to pass off as an air conditionin’ malfunction,” said Jeff.

            “Yes, that sounds terrible.  At least it was exciting,” said Ether.

            Jeff clicked his tongue in disapproval.  “Ha! Exciting, good one!  More like total pain in the rear.  All the questionin’ and paperwork… you know how it is.  You’re in a school, too, ain’t ya?”

            “Yes, what a hassle it is,” he lied.  It was half true, as a matter of fact.  Ether was a Scout in a high school as well; however, he never caught as much as a glimpse of a young mage.  He’d been at his school for nearly four years now and the only bit of magic that ever graced it came from Ether’s own hands.  As of now, he was no different than his colleagues.

            “And you know, the stuff that goes through these kids’ heads is just ridiculous.  You ever Mind Read one to figure out if the little brat’s lyin’ to you or not only to find out that they’re thinkin’ about kissin’ the girl that sits next to ‘em?  It’s just wrong to get those kinds of mental images.  Sometimes I wish we could just be like them guys in Department Two and Department Four, they got it easy.  Let them be a fire mage for a day, they’d never last!” said Jeff.

            Ether was at a loss for a response.  He was quite grateful when the stage door opened and two men emerged, carrying a pitcher of water, a glass, and a hand towel, followed by an older gentleman whose white comb-over was sticking up on end.  Sanford Raine hurried over to the podium and began shuffling through a few papers, obviously flustered and disheveled.  The room fell silent immediately.  It was almost a full minute before Mr. Raine finally opened his microphone and spoke.

            “As you may have noticed, I am a bit late.  Now that we have all acknowledged it, let us move forward.”  Mr. Raine paused to take a sip of water and dab his forehead with the hand towel.  When he brought his hand to his head, it was quite evident that he appeared thinner than usual.  His veins protruded from the wrist a bit too clearly and his skin was quite milky.  He looked as though he just battled the flu for a week with little sleep.  He matted down his hair, stood up straight, and spread out his arms.  “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our annual Scouting Conference!”

            This was met with the usual applause and Mr. Raine held his hand up to request silence once more.

            “For many of you, I truly hope that you had an excellent summer, as this year is going to be slightly different than previous years.  Different is good, and also dangerous.  And for that, I implore you all to take extra caution in this coming year.”

            An air of uneasiness suddenly clouded the amphitheatre.  Scouts exchanged looks of nervousness and confusion with their neighbors.  Ether knew that the current events were becoming serious, but not serious enough to prompt a new start of the year speech.  Just how much information had they withheld from him?

            “If I may be a bit clearer, let me begin with the basics.  First, as you all know, technology is ever improving and advancing, which only makes our job more difficult.  Expect the unexpected, my friends… hidden cameras, bugged devices, stories being posted on the internet.  It has become increasingly difficult to keep ourselves unknown to the Normals.  We must be more careful than usual.  If the world should learn of our secrets, chaos will reign, war will ensue, and we may find ourselves facing imprisonment and death.  Imagine a world where Normals ordered mages to light fires for them, heal their every illness… slavery.  We are fewer in number and must not forget it.

            “To counter this, I ask you all to Scout with greater attention.  Do not fall into the routine of your assumed careers and treat every day as if you will encounter a young mage.  Being that most of you are in the school districts, be sure to focus on senior classmen, as there has not been a mage under the age of eighteen in nearly two millennia.”

            Mr. Raine took a large gulp of water and cleared his throat.  He took a deep breath and continued.  “Now, there is something else that I must tell you all before we get to our normal list of expectations.  Something that many of you are entirely unaware of.”

            This was it, Ether thought.  Everyone else was going to know what he and Mr. Raine had talked about in private meetings.  Just how much would he tell them?  Ether slid down in his chair hoping to sink into the ground, being very thankful for having a seat in the last row with nobody behind him.

            “Since you are all Scouts, you have your own specific duties that require constant attention.  For this reason, I have chosen not to disclose certain information about this company to you all so that you would not be burdened with such knowledge and stress…until now.  If you have not already heard from others, I will explain exactly what we do.”

            A small murmur moved about the amphitheatre.  People shifted in their seats and Mr. Raine cleared his throat again.

            “This may be more common knowledge than I am aware of, but I must start at the beginning for those who are new or ill-informed.  This company, CIMPLE, has two meanings.  To the Normals, as well as you Scouts, we are known as the Control of Imports and Monitored Production of Legal Exports.  As the name implies, we control everything that goes in and out of the country and have strong ties with the government.  While this is still true, we told you only this in case you were ever given a polygraph screening as a result of severe magical accidents.  However, to the mages, our name stands for the Containment of International Magical Practice and Law Enforcement.”

            Judging by the noiselessness in the room, this new information did not come as a complete shock.  Mr. Raine emptied his glass in one shot and swallowed hard, then continued.

            “CIMPLE has been around since the birth of magic.  There is something just like it in every country and we interact with one another via the import and export system.  The purpose of this is to maintain order among mages and preserve our secrets from the Normals.  We all have a common goal in mind, and for that, we trust one another…”

            Mr. Raine started to look quite uncomfortable.  He hung his head for a second and placed his hands on the sides of the podium, gripping it tightly and leaning heavily on his arms.  He made an unrecognizable sound and then composed himself.

            “That being said, I am somewhat ashamed to say that I have planted a mole at Headquarters in Britain.  However, it now seems that I have exercised good judgment in doing so as a result of recent events.”

            At this point, Ether, a person who was generally able to keep his composure, began to lose it.  His leg shook uncontrollably and he could not keep his hands still enough to the point that Jeff turned his attention to Ether.  He studied him for a second and raised an eyebrow.

            “Y’alright, pal?  Lookin’ a bit green,” said Jeff.

            “Oh, yes.  Fine.  It’s these chairs.  So uncomfortable,” he lied again.

            This must have been an acceptable answer because Jeff merely shrugged and turned his attention back to the front of the room.  Mr. Raine was now speaking more loudly than ever.

            “You see, our spy has reported that over the last few months a mage by the name of Vincent Clarke has been receiving a bit of attention.  He is a high-ranking executive in Britain’s Headquarters under their CEO, and is getting into business that he should not be involved in.  Clarke has been found roaming around all departments and having lengthy conversations with the most random assortment of people.  We believe that he is trying to gain support for something.

            “What you must know is that Vincent Clarke is a powerful man.  He is an extremely powerful mage, capable of magic that takes a lifetime to master, and is also very persuasive.  Put this together with his recent suspicious activity… well, it means nothing good.  I have already alerted the neighboring countries to be on their guard for anything out of the ordinary and we have all agreed to take some new necessary precautions.

            “Firstly, you will all be required to participate in field tests once per month within your department to make sure that your skills are up to par.  Scouts tend to get lax with their abilities and we want to avoid that.  Secondly, we will be taking volunteers to go overseas to help the neighboring countries if they should so ask for it.  Clarke would be foolish to start an uprising and declare war; however, as I noted earlier, we must be prepared for anything. To sign up, simply fill out a form in my secretary’s office and I will add you to the list.

            War.  They were preparing for war.  Ether knew some of the details but did not know it was getting to that point.  He had no idea what to expect of a mage’s war.  What would it take to go that far?  How many lives would be lost? All because of one man.

            A new thought began to claw at his insides.  Is this all my fault?  Is this all because I-.  But Ether did not have time to finish this thought.  The stage door burst open and a squat young woman scurried over to the podium, nearly tripping over herself in her four inch heels, and handed Mr. Raine a blood red piece of paper.  He snatched the paper away immediately and began reading it as he waved his hand to dismiss her without even looking up.

            “Oh, wow,” he said.  His voice was almost robotic, as if he had uttered the words automatically.  He set the piece of paper down.  “Ladies and gentlemen, Britain’s Headquarters is now in a Level 3 State of Emergency.  Our spy has gone missing, their CEO has been killed in his own office, and Vincent Clarke is sitting at his desk with the corpse at his feet.”

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To be continued next week 4/9/12 at 10pm EST.

Thanks for  reading!  I know it's a bit hard to read on the blog but bear with me, I'll work on making it easier for next time.