Cousins (#1)

8:33 PM

Morgan pulled into the parking lot of an abandoned fast-food restaurant.  The sky was dimming rapidly.  She turned the engine off and listened to the sound of thousands upon thousands of crickets chirping their greetings to her.  She opened the car door, got out, and stretched her arms, legs, and wrists.  James exited from the opposite side and inspected his Glock.  Through the fading light Morgan was still able to make out the letters ‘F’ ‘B’ ‘I’ across his back.  James walked across to her while stepping loudly on a plastic soda cup. 

“I have eight rounds, plus another clip.  You think that will be enough?”

Morgan took a large breath of sticky air.  She tied her long hair onto the top of her head.  “Let’s hope so.”

James made a comic gesture of concession and glanced towards a wooded slope just past the parking lot.

“This is where we start?”

“Yes.  Give me your sidearm.”  James handed his cousin his Glock.  Morgan drew forth her wand and touched its tip directly to the butt of the gun.  She closed her eyes and began muttering under her breath.  The wand tip glowed red, and within seconds the pistol did as well.  After a minute, Morgan removed her wand and ceased her incantation.  The light shrank from the Glock.  “Your weapon is primed.”

“Thank you.”  James began to walk toward the woods.  Morgan pulled from her robes a slim glass tube that contained an orange liquid.

“James.”         

James turned around and saw Morgan holding the glass.  She extended it towards him.

“I want you to drink this.  It is a potion that will ward off the sensation of shock.  I know you feel confident in your ability to handle any and all situations, but I have to be able to rely on you completely.”

James took the tube, looked at it for a second, popped the cork out with his thumb, and downed it in one gulp.  Morgan relaxed after she witnessed this.  Without warning, she twirled her wand in the air; a larger glass tube appeared directly above her wand tip.  She grabbed this and examined quickly its scarlet contents.  After taking two hefty swallows of it, she handed it to James.  Morgan gestured at it while recovering her breath, which left her suddenly when the potion hit the bottom of her stomach.

“Please finish that as well.  It is a potion to prevent exhaustion.  There is enough there to last a good four hours.”

James drank the remaining potion and became breathless.

“Nice.”

“Indeed.  Now, I must ask you to stand behind me.”

James trotted briskly behind his cousin’s emerald robes.  Once he was out of the way, Morgan began to trace a wide circle with her wand in front of the wooded slope.  Again, she muttered complex and lengthy incantations, and after two minutes the entire sightline of trees before them emitted a faint, pulsing, red aura.  Morgan frowned and dropped her wand.  The shadows returned to the trees.

“We have a problem.  Wedge has ensnared this patch of woods with anti-intrusion magic.  If we enter beneath the trees, he will be alerted.  He will know also if we make ourselves invisible, excavate an underground tunnel, breach the barrier at a great height, transform ourselves into animals, whittle ourselves down into unseen specks, and naturally his wards will not allow us to simply Apparate inside.  It is safe to assume all entry points into the compound have been equally fortified.”

“You’re kidding.”

“As I stated, Wedge is both shrewd and dangerous.”

James looked over his shoulder at the car.  He saw that Morgan ran over an empty trash bag as she was driving, which was now wrapped around the back left tire.  “So what’s the plan?”

Morgan thought for a second, and then flicked her wand before her open palm; a large, bronze eye plopped down into it.

“Let’s take a peep.”

Morgan gently whispered to the eye, which started to glow faintly.  She pointed her swarthy wand at it, and it became weightless.  Finally, she swung her wand upwards and the eye shot high into the sky and out of sight.  Morgan stood still with her eyes closed, and James waited.  After a brief period, she extended her open palm again, and upon raising her eyelids, the bronze talisman fell into her hand.  She placed the eye within her robes and motioned for James to step closer to her.  When she spoke her voice was quiet.

“There is a wizard directly on the other side of these trees on patrol duty.  I think he heard the car doors slam, because he is not moving away.”

James looked into the forest of blackness to see if he could make anyone out.  Morgan continued to speak softly.

“I couldn’t see anyone else, but we have to guess they are either inside the lab or the office.  I am going to tell you what we will do, so please listen carefully.  We are going to storm the woods.  We will keep a distance of no more than twenty meters from each other.  As we are moving through the trees, you will most likely hear bells, a siren, some form of alarm.  Ignore it.  When we come into the clearing, I will deal with the wizard, but I want you to keep an eye on the compound on top of the hill.  If you see anyone, anyone at all, emerge from the buildings, you are to open fire.  You will know your target is neutralized if there is a red burst in front of his body and he collapses.  Once I am finished with the guard, we will move together towards the ranch.  Any questions?”

James shook his head.  Morgan could tell his heart was beating feverishly.  She held her wand out before her and looked dead ahead into the gloom.

“On three. . one. . .two . .three!”

Morgan dashed forward and saw out of the corner of her eye James do the same.  She imagined she must look like a streaking, green wisp of fire.  She felt unfettered, exhilarated, but also proud; here she was, united with her Muggle cousin, both of them risking their lives for the sake of justice.  She didn’t consider what her death would mean to her loved ones, and yet she was enveloped by a happiness she never previously achieved.

As they blew past the first trees, no alarm sounded.  Morgan immediately became worried.  After five seconds of sprinting, she noticed that the trees were shedding their shadows and becoming clear and gray.  She also realized that she was slowing down, despite her best efforts to move her legs as quickly as possible.  She opened her mouth to yell to her cousin, but she saw he was no longer beside her.  With barely a glimmer of conscious thought, she pointed her wand directly over her heart and screamed.

“Liberacorpus!”

Her wand tip flashed white and she found her legs beneath her again.  The woods were once more clothed in darkness.  She looked behind her and saw James running in slow motion.  She whipped her wand at him; there was another white flash, and James rocketed onward in a burst of speed.  She took off with him.

“Keep going!”

They raced into the clearing, and Morgan looked to her right; a wizard with a purple, pin-striped cloak was pointing his wand at her.  He was yelling.

“Expelliarmus!”

Morgan dove to the ground the instant she saw the wand.  The wizard’s spell soared past her high, red hair.  She rolled, came up, and before she had both feet set on the soil she was flicking her wand at the wizard.  His legs were knocked out from underneath him and his wand shot out of his hand.  Morgan slashed her arm and the wizard’s wand exploded with an enormous bang and a lingering crackle.  She made a final cut with her wand, and iron chains shot forth and encased the wizard as he lay senseless on the earth.  She looked to her left and saw James standing still.  He had a curious look on his face.