The Fox and The Wolf: A Tale of Modern Magic

Chapter 5 - Brockville

Paul pulled his blue Honda into the parking lot of St. Lawrence Park, over 300 kilometers from where he began in Toronto. His passenger side door remained closed and nobody got out of his car. Nobody was in his car to begin with so that was obvious. He simply sat in the parking lot in this car for a while.

After nobody got out of his car and was well away, Paul pulled out of the lot and continued driving to the Aquatarium. It was extremely important that he get to the Aquatarium in Brockville. He didn't exactly recall why but he was sure he'd figure it out once he got there.

Once he actually arrived at the Aquatarium Paul realized that it was actually completely boring. He came to the conclusion that he didn't even like fish, but even if he did he would want to see colorful exotic ones. The fish at the Aquatarium were all local and uniformly an ugly brownish green. Apparently that was the point. It was the most disappointing thing he had ever paid money to see.

Within ten minutes of arriving Paul was back in his car, beginning the three hour drive home. He would never understand what suddenly possessed him to do something so strange.

* * *

Cicero walked from the parking lot and down the snowy hill towards St. Lawrence Park proper. The hill was covered in trails from children sledding down it all the way to the frozen river.

Cicero descended the hill, turned a corner past a wooded patch, and followed a path past the old play equipment and towards where the campers were usually parked. Of course, this late in the winter, there was only one camper to be found.

When Cicero knocked on the camper door he broke a thin layer of ice that had covered it. Who knew when it was last opened.

There was a muted rustling noise, followed by the groan of the metal door as it was opened and the muted tinkle of half-frozen door chimes.. The grinning face of Harper Brock appeared in the doorway.

"Well if it isn't the jolly Necromancer," said Harper, opening the door wider and beckoning him inside. "How go things in the land of the dead?"

Cicero stepped inside and Harper immediately closed the door behind him to keep from letting out all of the heat. Most of it got out anyway.

"I told you, Harper, that's not how Soul magic works," said Cicero, as he took off his boots.

"I know," said Harper, "I was referring to Toronto."

Cicero gave Harper a serious look.

"Not good," said Cicero. "That's why I'm here. Simon has his memories back."

Harper was quiet for a moment.

"Yeah that would just about do it, wouldn't it?" Harper said finally.

The interior of the camper was cluttered with cheap plastic duck tchotchkes, amateurish landscapes, and petty acts of taxidermy. There was a couch and two chairs, but one of the chairs and half the couch were occupied by large piles of paperback novels. Large piles of paperback novels, in fact, filled most available space.

Cicero took a seat on the couch. The shift in weight caused some books to fall onto him, and he did his best to rebuild. That only jostled free more books.

"How bad is it?" asked Harper.

"About as bad as it can get. He's already gotten to Gabe," said Cicero. 

"Gotten too?" asked Harper, trying to pretend she hadn't been punched in the emotional gut.

"I'm sorry. He's dead," said Cicero, solemnly.

"What happened?" asked Harper, taking a seat in the only other available place.

"Harper..." started Cicero.

"What. Happened?" asked Harper, glowering.

"Simon killed him. He tortured him to death for information using Mind magic, which means he knows where everyone is. I talked to him not long after he died."

"Gabriel wasn't even a mage," said Harper, tearing up, her voice wavering. "He wouldn't have been involved in any of this if it wasn't for me. He hated magic."

"You can't blame yourself for this, Harper," said Cicero. "None of this is your fault."

"Simon," Harper said his name like it was a swear word. 

"We can't just let him pick us off one by one," said Cicero.

"I assume you've talked to Aubrey about this?" she asked, leaning in close to Cicero.

"I did. She isn't taking him seriously as a threat," said Cicero.

Harper wiped her eyes.

"That leaves you, me, and Jackie," said Cicero. "I don't think it's a coincidence that's three people."

"So what are you proposing, we all head back to Toronto and use our rule of three advantage to engage Simon in some sort of climactic wizard's duel in the middle of downtown?"

"Well not the middle," said Cicero, sheepishly. "The Tower is down near the lake."

"I was hoping you had something cleverer than that, Cicero," said Harper. "This isn't you."

"If Simon gets control of the Tower again there'll be no stopping him. We got lucky the first time."

"If a numbers advantage was all it took to defeat Simon we wouldn't have needed to be lucky the first time. I agree that we have to stop him. He should die for what he did to Gabe but we have to be smart about how we go about things. If you have a crazy Cicero plan I'm in. If you just have a plan that's crazy, I'm out."

"What if I have no plan and I'm just kind of making things up as I go along?" asked Cicero, grinning toothily.

Harper sighed.

"Yeah, I'd probably be up for that," she admitted. "Do you want some tea?"

"No thanks," said Cicero.

Harper got up anyway to put on the kettle.

"So what's your puissance situation?" Cicero continued.

"Well I did manage to turn an entire small town into my personal place of power," said Harper. "I'm not on a level with some of the monsters in the city but I'm as energized as I've ever been."

"Good," said Cicero. "You'll need it."

Harper filled the kettle with water and plugged it in.

"Are you going to be okay?" asked Cicero.

"Lucky for me I can afford to dwell on that right now," said Harper. "We have a dark wizard to overthrow."