“What do you hope to accomplish by threatening my family?”
“I’m not threatening anyone,” Jason said cheerfully. “Susan’s great, by the way; you did well there. I merely wanted to make it clear that while I don’t have the resources or personnel to protect my family from an organisation like yours, anyone who tries to use them as leverage will start a wave of reprisals that stains Sydney Harbour red with blood.”
Hiro and Taika looked on, wide-eyed, as Jason cheerfully threatened to slaughter people’s families.
“You think it’s that easy?” Anna asked.
“Of course not,” Jason said. “When the time comes for us to meet, I simply want to avoid the tedium of explaining why trying to use my family against me is a Very Bad Idea.”
“Why are you treating us like an enemy, Mr Asano?”
“Because I’ve dealt with forces more powerful than myself before, Mrs Tilden. They have this habit of thinking they can get what they want from me without repercussions. Disabusing you of that notion now will be less costly for us both than doing so later.”
“Your power is only at category two, Mr Asano. That is strong, but we have stronger just here in Sydney, let alone around the country and the world. That’s what you would be pitting yourself against. A global power. We’ve been building up for twice as long as this country has existed, and you think you can stand up to that with what you picked up in a year and a half?”
“Mrs Tilden, Australia has been inhabited for more than sixty thousand years. It doesn’t impress me that your organisation has been around since before white people got here. I’ve faced an enemy that makes your organisation look like a molecule. He’s more powerful than you can comprehend and it’s two-to-one in my favour. Your group isn’t a potential enemy, Mrs Tilden; you’re flavour text. If we can get along, maybe even work together, that’s great. But I don’t need you and I don’t fear you.”
“Are you quite done with the monologuing, Mr Asano?” Anna asked.
“It felt good, I won’t lie,” Jason said. “Maybe I’m wrong and your organisation will spank me like a baby. You don’t want to test me and be wrong, though, Mrs Tilden.”
“You need to come in and talk to us about what happened today.”
“I really don’t, but I’ll let my new friend Craig set something up. In the meantime, I have some affairs to attend to, so I’m going to go. Congratulations on Bella getting the lead role in the play, though. That niece of yours is a real go-getter.”
Jason hung up the phone and handed it back to Vermillion.
“Can they track that?” Jason asked.
“No,” Vermillion said. “I thought you didn’t know anything about the Network.”
“I didn’t,” Jason said. “After I arrived, I did something to draw them out and started having their people followed. That was some good work, Shade. Nice and thorough.”
“Did you just threaten that person’s niece?” Hiro asked.
“I’m just keeping them from threatening my family,” Jason said. “I’m not going to hurt anyone else’s. It’s why I need to get you out of the EOA’s path. If they see you as a part of my family, rather than an independent obstacle, they won’t come after you.”
17
TIME FOR CONTEXT
Shade pulled into an underground parking structure where they wouldn’t be seen, and parked. Jason and Vermillion got out of the car, the others following suit. Hiro and Taika both looked stressed.
“I know things are coming thick and fast,” Jason said. “It’s overwhelming, but I’m afraid that there are miles to go before you sleep.”
He looked at Vermillion.
“Have you ever done this before?” Jason asked.
“Inducted someone? I have, and it’s rarely a smooth process. The gullible ones are the worst, because they’ll believe in the supernatural nice and quick, but convincing them the supernatural stuff they already believe in is wrong can be tricky.”
“Supernatural?” Hiro asked. “Are you going to tell us that you’re a vampire too, Jason?”
“No, I’m more of a ninja warlock. I know how it sounds. Long story short: Magic is real, the soul is real, vampires are real. Lots of stuff is real. Werewolves?”
“Not in this country,” Vermilion said. “There are some werecrocodiles, up north, but they were mostly wiped out during colonial days. You don’t see them much anymore.”
“No kidding,” Jason said. “Anyway, magic is real, is the gist of it.”
“This is some crazy stuff, bro,” Taika said. “If you want us to believe magic is real, then you’re going to have to show us some magic. Like, proper magic.”
“That’s why we’re here. Shade, why don’t you start?”
The car they were standing next to exploded in a mass of darkness that was drawn into Jason’s shadow like he was sucking it in with a vacuum cleaner.
“My car isn’t a car,” Jason said. “It’s my friend Shade. Come out and say hello.”
Shade’s shadowy form rose up from Jason’s shadow, taking on depth and substance while remaining a figure of manifested darkness.
“It is nice to formally meet you,” Shade said.
Hiro and Taika glanced over from where they were waving their hands through the space the car had just occupied.
“I knew…” Hiro started before trailing off. Jason waited patiently for him to continue. “I knew there was something going on that went beyond normal understanding,” Hiro continued. “None of what I came up with seemed believable. Even seeing your car disappear, I mean… magic? Really?”
“It does seem pretty out there, bro,” Taika added.
“I know,” Jason said. “You need to see something truly impossible.”
He waved his hand over the ground, creating a line of crawling darkness like black fire. At an upward gesture from Jason, an obsidian arch arose from the dark line, which itself moved up to fill the arch.
Hiro and Taika walked around it.
“I’d ask how you did that, but you’re going to say magic, right?” Hiro asked.
“Yep,” Jason said.
“What is it?” Taika asked.
“A door,” Jason said.
“It doesn’t go anywhere,” Hiro said, shifting his gaze from one side of the portal arch to the other.
“If you step through, you’ll see the truth,” Jason said. “I’d call it a leap of faith, but faith isn’t really my thing. So, let’s call it a step into a wider world.”
“You want us to walk into that?” Taika asked.
“Yes,” Jason said. “Think of it as your last chance to turn back. If you want, you can ignore everything I’ve just said. Go live a normal life and try not to think about it. Or, you can move forward.”
“When you said you weren’t going to tell me,” Hiro said, “you said that one of the reasons was that I wasn’t ready to face the dangers involved. What’s changed?”
“I said I couldn’t do it in a reasonable time frame,” Jason said. “Once you’re out of the EOA’s path, we’ll have the time.”
“To do what?”
“To give you magic powers,” Jason said.
“You can do that?” Vermillion asked. “Turn them into essence magicians?”
“Yes,” Jason said. “If it’s something they want.”