Free 4 Terramezic Energy by John O'Riley Page B

vortex and exploded harmlessly into thousands of bright sparks that showered the ocean. Mark continued directing light energy for several more seconds before giving up. Alice fired another burst of sickly red lightning at them. Josephine didn’t bother returning fire. Instead, she strengthened her protection to give herself more time. Not that it mattered. The enchantment from the vortex would kill everyone on the beach when it activated. She was certain of that. No shield could shelter anyone from its deadly wave of energy.
    Josephine fixed her attention back to Alice. “I should have committed you to a nursing home. You couldn’t even control your own claro mentis spell. You let it take over your mind like an old, shriveled, bedridden, spinster.”
    Alice’s visage contorted with rage and red lightning sparked from her entire body as she lifted her arms above her head in preparation of another attack. Massive streams of red lightning shot out form the vortex and into Alice’s hands. Josephine braced herself for the next attack because she wasn’t entirely certain her shields would hold this time. As Alice brought her arms down, she whirled to face Yvonne and Charlotte and struck at them instead of Josephine. A faint trickle of hope stirred within Josephine as she saw the massive bolts of lightning arc from Alice’s hands and slam against the protective fields of Yvonne and Charlotte. Soon, it became apparent that Alice wasn’t strong enough break through those barriers. Yvonne and Charlotte ignored the attack completely. The two women finished setting the enchantment. Yvonne raised her hand and issued a pulse of energy to activate the deadly spell. Josephine shot out a wave of energy that deflected it. Charlotte brought up her own hand and prepared to issue an activation pulse at the same time as her sister. Josephine issued a powerful wave of magic as the two young women attempted to ignite the spell with a more potent pulse of energy. Josephine’s wave of energy impacted with theirs. Yvonne’s and Charlotte’s pulse continued to flow towards the deadly construct of the spell but it missed impact by a couple of feet.
    Yvonne and Charlotte were already preparing for another activation attempt. They gathered such an enormous quantity of power that Josephine knew she had no hope of stopping them this time. Yvonne and Charlotte raised their hands to unleash another volley. They crumpled to the ground in unconscious heaps just before they could release their activation spell. Alice remained standing a short distance away, facing the young women.
    She slowly turned to direct a smirk at Josephine. “I managed to shut off the mind control spell. You were right. The claro mentis enchantment was still active and the three of us were tied together.”
    “I was hoping I could stoke your temper. It looks like my plan worked,” Josephine said.
    “Yes, indeed.” Alice scowled at her with grievous indignation. “I’m too old for this poppycock. You owe me big time.”
    Josephine’s phone chirped to indicate that there was a new voice message stored. She frowned as she pulled her phone out of her pants pocket.
    “It didn’t even ring. I guess the electrical interference from the enchantment interfered with reception.” She brought the phone up to her ear to listen to the message. She was dismayed to hear the automated computer advise her the caller had left the voice mail about twenty minutes ago. The chief-of-police’s booming voice emerged from the phone and made her wince. She pulled it back a few inches so the volume wouldn’t tear at her eardrums. It was almost like having it on speakerphone.
    “Josephine, I regret to inform you that the FBI has decided to take over your case with Yvonne Boggs. Captain Arthur Gallagher has brought a team of enforcers to Sarasota. They’re on their way to your house now.”
    Josephine stabbed the disconnect button on her cell phone and shoved it in her pocket. She could detect