Image Jason took a deep, centring breath.
“I still needed to breathe, at that stage,” real Jason pointed out.
“I suppose I should start with that complicated question of where I am,” image Jason said. “Right now, as you can see, I’m in an expensive hotel suite. It isn’t actually mine; that’s across the hall. This one belongs to some of those friends I mentioned. They went three-bedroom, which came with this nice, open living area.”
The image panned off Jason, turning towards a pair of open French doors leading onto a balcony. The recording moved forward, giving them a view of a cerulean sea.
“Nice, right?” Jason’s voice came from the recording. “One of my new friends is kind of a big deal, so he got the best room in the house. We’re on an artificial island, which is pretty crazy, given the size. At some point, I’ll do a tour video. The subways here are amazing.”
“Jason,” a woman’s melodic voice came from the recording. “Who are you talking to?”
Erika and Emi both felt Jason flinch when they heard her speak.
34
THE MOMENTS THAT DECIDE WHO YOU ARE
It was a strange closing of the circle as Jason watched his recordings with his family, seeing himself behave without knowing if the moment he now experienced would ever happen.
There were over a hundred and fifty hours of recordings. Most of the early recordings were of Jason exploring Greenstone as he gave an in-depth narration of his experiences to date. His family did one of the few things even less plausible than magic—they took a genuine interest in a family member’s holiday videos.
They watched until the early evening, at which point Jason put a stop to it. There were protests, but Erika and Jason shared a look, his eyes flicking in Emi’s direction. Erika picked up his signal that not all the records were tween-appropriate and helped quell the other’s insistence on continuing.
“There is plenty more where that came from and it’s all here waiting for you,” Jason said. “In the meantime, there is more you need to know. Specifically, about the state of the world here and now. You’ve all just become part of a wider reality, and you need to understand the new world you’re living in.”
Jason proceeded to explain the three hegemonic powers, how he had healed Nanna and the treatment she would need to give her the most effective recovery.
“Why are you telling us all this?” Ian asked. “You said yourself that at least some of these groups have a vested interest in secrecy.”
“Because the secret is going to come out,” Jason said. “Probably sooner than later. After the circumstances of my disappearance, Erika ran into that secret herself, before being crudely warned off. When the world finds out, it will be an incredibly unstable time. I want the family ready when that time comes.”
“What about Kaito and Mum?” Erika asked.
“I’ll bring them in,” Jason said. “I’ll tell them everything, the same as with you. But the people in this room will be responsible for keeping the family safe. Over the next few weeks and months, each of you will obtain magic for yourselves. We’ll select those powers together, from what I can get access to, and I’ll train you to use them. Emi too, but only once she’s old enough.”
“You aren’t going to give Mum and Kaito powers?” Erika asked.
“I don’t know about Kaito and Amy,” Jason said. “They have two young children, which leaves them essentially zero time to train. If I have enough resources to be going on with, then maybe. Mum, definitely not. I don’t have the time or patience for her trying to take charge of everything.”
“Can you show us an essence?” Emi asked. “We saw them in the recordings, but I want to see one in person.”
Jason took a plant essence from his inventory and handed it to her. The cube was a dark, earthy brown riddled with green like roots in soil.
“This is a plant essence,” he explained as the group gathered around the object Emi was holding in her hands. Jason pulled out some others and passed them around, along with some awakening stones.
Finally, Jason sent everyone off, except for Hiro and Taika.
“I’ve thrown a lot of crazy stuff at you today,” he told them. “It’s going to take a while to sink in. Take the night; you’ll think of a lot of things you want to know. I suggest you write them down and you can bring them to me whenever you like. Except Tuesday, when I’ll be negotiating with a secret organisation working with the government to keep magic a secret from the world. I never got to do that at the office supply store, but I was only an assistant manager. That’s probably store manager level stuff.”
Erika and Ian informed Emi that no, she was not allowed to stay on the houseboat with Uncle Jason as she had school in the morning. They took Ken with them to drop off on the way home. One of the advantages of a small town was nothing was really out of the way.
Jason, Hiro and Taika kicked back in the lounge.
“So, you really healed all those kids in the hospital?”
“Yeah. I didn’t know the local players, so I needed to flush them out. If I can heal a bunch of kids while I’m at it, then all the better.”
“Are you going to do it again?” Taika asked. “There’s a lot more sick kids out there.”
“I won’t do it like that,” Jason said. “The media and political storm I kicked up was so big, it impacted hospital operations. I’m told the Network has ways to do the same thing without kicking up a stink.”
“And if that doesn’t pan out?” Hiro asked.
“Then we’ll see,” Jason said. “Taika, now that you know more and you’ve heard what’s coming, you should give some thought to your own family.”
“What happens if all this magic stuff comes out into the open?” Taika asked. “Are they in danger?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Jason said. “It could be anything from a blip on the radar to the end of civilisation. It might be just one more thing the rich people keep to themselves and a month later we’re back to obsessing over celebrity scandals. Or it could be a new world war as everyone grasps for new power. I hate to think about what happens when religion gets involved. If we’re really lucky, it could be a dawn of peace and prosperity as magic helps us overcome disease, poverty and climate change.”
“Where would you put the odds of that?” Hiro asked.
“It seems pretty unrealistic,” Jason said. “And that’s coming from an interdimensional warlock ninja who came back from the dead. Twice.”
“Did you really come back from the dead?” Hiro asked.
“Oh yeah.” Jason tugged at the collar of his shirt. It revealed a scar at the base of his throat. “I got impaled through the throat. Amongst other places.”
“How did you come back?”
“That’s a secret I don’t have all the answers to,” Jason said.
“Can you come back from the dead again?” Hiro asked. “Are you immortal?”