The Psionic Thief Read online

  “Give me a few minutes. I’m going to call the sheriff and give him the details. Things were rather rushed last night, so I only filled him in on the broad strokes.”

  I left them at it and went to my computer. Today I was going to try and fill in references to their gods and common objects. I figured if I could fill in most of the everyday stuff, then the harder symbols should make more sense.

  As I progressed through the day I got several key words figured out, but mostly by accident, since I just couldn’t concentrate properly on my task. My mind kept going back to those fiery blue runes glowing in the moonlight and I knew in my heart that the solution to our problem lay in those hidden words of ancient wisdom.

  With a tremendous effort I refocused my mind on the job I needed to do, and began to work on the symbols I thought represented their gods. There was Ah Peku, the god of thunder; he was particularly appropriate considering how this whole thing started.

  The next one had to be the storm god Chac, shown fighting with his enemy Camazotz the bat god. The feathered snake god Kukulkan was fairly obvious, as was Itzamna who was credited with founding the Maya culture by teaching them farming, medicine, writing, and the calendar.

  As I filled in the names for the rest of their pantheon I started to see a pattern in the surrounding text. The gods weren’t just depicted for the sake of including them in their holy writings; each one of them had a part in the instructional story.

  When the twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque are battling the war god Ah Chuy Kak in the realm of Ah Uuc Ticab, the time of ‘???’ is upon us. A victorious battle in realm of the earth god will be dependent on the benediction of the howler monkey gods and upon giving placating homage to the tonsured maize god.

  Hmm… it sounds cool but doesn’t really impart a lot of knowledge. The thing with lore stories, though, was that they all were a primitive way of explaining the unexplainable. A battle in the sky between gods was a common interpretation of a thunder storm.

  The missing glyph bore a faint resemblance to death or famine but with several disturbing variations. I decided to tentatively fill it in as ‘bad things’ for the moment. It wasn’t a hundred percent accurate, but it would do for now since it let me move on to the next panel.

  Three hmen led by a bo’oy waay will be needed to counter Ah Chuy Kak if he is successful in reaching the earth realm. A single k’atun will determine the outcome of the struggle and woe upon those who side with evil.

  Three shamans and a shadow sorcerer are needed to defeat the evil, and they have one k’atun to do it in. A k’atun is seventy two hundred days long, opposed to a tun, which is a about a year; I wonder if Carl messed up his timeline by mixing up the two.

  If so, it would be great to get rid of the pressure on us. Carl told us the village elder called him a shadow sorcerer so that part’s covered, but assuming a shaman was someone like Mark and I who were psionically attuned, we were short one person. This was starting to become complicated.

  The first hmen must channel the huum chaak chich iik’ power of Ah Peku and not let it become k’o’ox.

  Ok, someone needs to control the power of a thunder storm and keep it from running wild… potentially problematic.

  The second hmen must borrow the k’aak’ power of Kinich Kakmo and use it to contain the fury of Ah Peku.

  That would be the sun god, so his power would be fire; we had pyrokinesis figured out already, so that one should be easier.

  The third hmen must attune the pixan power of Kukulkan with a sacrifice of one hmen. The hmen sacrifice may be substituted with eighteen tamax chi’ maak, but beware of the lack of harmony in such a route. Only a hmen who is one with the sacrifice may properly harmonize Kukulkan’s power.

  This one seemed to be fairly obscure. Pixan would translate as spirit, but how do you control spirit power? The need of a sacrifice was also extremely disturbing; one psionic or eighteen regular people… neither was acceptable. The last part about harmonizing with Kukulkan made no sense either.

  Once all three hmen have obtained their respective benedictions from the gods, the bo’oy waay must focus the power and send it deep into the realm of Ah Uuc Ticab. Only then may disaster be averted.

  So… once we figure out our parts, we dump the power on Carl’s shoulders and let him send it deep into the earth. I guess that would be the primitive analogy to sending electrical power to ground. All this mystical crap was starting to give me a headache, so I saved my work and decided I had earned a break and a glass of wine.

  I was shocked to see it was almost dark already; no wonder I had a headache. After pouring my glass of wine I went to see how the boys were making out with their setup for tonight. Stepping out onto the back deck I heard both banging and swearing; it sounded like construction to me.

  I peered over the edge and saw they had almost finished building a long trestle type table. It looked pretty crude, but would do the job and be long enough to lay out the entire codex. I decided they had things well in hand, so I flopped down in my favorite lounge chair to enjoy my wine while they finished up.

  It didn’t take them long, and they were both surprised to see me lounging on the deck. I guess they figured they would have to pry me away from the computer like every other night since the codex arrived.

  I filled them in on what I discovered today and took great satisfaction in the puzzled looks on their faces; the ritual was no clearer to them than it was to me. The translations I was reasonably sure of were the only things we all agreed made any kind of sense.

  Once he had the gist of things to mull over, Carl fired up the grill and began cooking some bratwurst, occasionally turning back to us to clarify something. It’s a good thing brat’s are hard to mess up, since it looked like he was only using maybe three percent of his active brain power for cooking.

  He didn’t burn them too badly, and I ate mine with gusto after skipping my regular meals throughout the day. After a quick cleanup, we got the codex and began carefully laying it out on the newly constructed table.

  After I got my third splinter, I had a few choice words for the boys about the quality of their construction. They promised to fix things up better before next time, but tonight we had to deal with it.

  I grumbled a bit more, but just out of habit; it was getting close to moonrise and I was starting to get excited. After what seemed like forever, the moon slowly climbed into view and shone its pale white light on our codex.

  It remained blank.

  We crowded around and studied it closely, hoping for the fiery glyphs to appear, but no luck. I could feel something emanating from it, but it looked like we needed to be astral to make it visible. This would make translation a pain in the ass, but nobody ever promised us things would be easy.

  Trying one last time, I lay my hands on the corner where I felt the strange emanations most strongly. One of my fingers brushed a smudge near the corner and for a brief moment it was like I stuck my hand into an electrical socket. Pain wracked my body and then everything started to go black.

  Just before the blackness overwhelmed, a spark of knowledge ignited… I could see.

  Chapter 13

  Gukumatz: The Secret Codex

  All was dark and silent.

  A voice, crackling with age broke the silence. “Hurry up, young one. The time of the ceremony is almost upon us.”

  “I’m coming, master,” I replied, my meditative trance broken. “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t expecting the ceremony to take place tonight.”

  “The gods wait for no man or beast; the time must be now. High Priest Cheec is already gathering the lifeblood volunteers at the temple steps, so we must hurry.”

  I felt like something was wrong, but I just couldn’t identify what it was. I was outside of my hut and my master was resting on a log, his hands folded in his lap as he patiently waited for me. Whatever the feeling was, I didn’t have time for introspection; this was to be the night in which I started my initiation into the secrets.

 
I grabbed the new book my master had me prepare over the last tun and stuffed it into a satchel. As I began going through my pens, inks, and paints, he told me not to bother.

  “Do not waste time on that now. If you succeed in your initiation, you will no longer need such things for what your life-work will become.”

  “Yes, Master Chon,” I replied, indicating that I was ready to proceed.

  Like always, my heart skipped a beat as my master lifted me from the ground and began flying us toward the new temple we were about to consecrate. The fear only lasted a moment before it was replaced with excitement as we covered a half-day walk in almost no time at all.

  As we arrived at the temple he settled himself to the ground, but sent me up high into the air above it. This was to be my place to observe the ritual and learn how it was to be performed. If done right and the gods favored us, then it would also allow me to share in the magic the gods gave to the priesthood.

  If the ritual failed or I was not worthy, then my ‘reward’ would be quite different… for the few remaining seconds of my life. I thrust the thought out of my mind, knowing that thinking about failure would most likely make it happen.

  I had just barely managed to calm myself before I saw my master signal for the ritual to begin. Four high priests, each proceeded by a lifeblood sacrifice, made their way up the temple steps. One pair on each side, they all arrived on the summit at precisely the same time; it was an auspicious start and bode well for our success.

  As one, they drew their obsidian knives and gestured for the sacrifices to kneel. Two heartbeats later, blood began pooling in the palms of each kneeling man. Coating their hands with blood, each priest began his own ritual to his chosen god.

  A sudden gust of wind in a night that had been still indicated the sky gods were coming. I saw a ring of fire spring up to illuminate the apex of the temple, and was surprised to see the flames untouched by the rapidly increasing winds.

  The fiery ring contracted until it was a mere finger length from the group, and then expanded upward, well above their heads. Even though I wasn’t granted the boon yet, the power below me was so intense that it began to become visible.

  I could see High Priest Cheec’s spirit leave his body and begin pulling in all the magic being generated. The fiery ring kept stray tendrils from escaping, and he soon had a steady stream of power flowing into the sorcerer.

  With a sudden crack, lightning struck the fiery shield and thunder echoed across the valley. In a blink of an eye the fountain formed and I started falling. I began to panic as my body rushed to meet the ground, but then the power of the fountain, now almost blinding in its strength, became mine.

  I came to a halt two hand spans above the temple and floated there under my own power, breathing heavily.

  “Congratulations, young Gukumatz,” my master said to me. “You have begun to live up to the very auspicious name that was given to you.”

  “Thank you, master,” I replied. Turning to each of the other priests I thanked them all in turn, bowing to each while still floating upon the air.

  “The gods were pleased with us tonight,” High Priest Cheec intoned. “The temple was found pleasing to their eyes, and our newest priest was deemed worthy of attending to it. Heed well the words of your master, for you now have much to learn.”

  “I shall not let you or the gods down,” I swore. “I will become adept at using the fountain magic and I vow to use it for the benefit of all our people.”

  “Well spoken,” the high priest said. “Now I must go and take care of the lifeblood chosen ones, while you learn the way of preserving the knowledge you gained tonight. Guard your book well, for it must remain with you for the rest of your days”

  “I shall not fail you. I will learn all that my elders teach me and I shall preserve the knowledge, keeping it secret until one day when it must be passed down to the worthy one of the great prophecy.”

  “Then let us begin,” Master Chon said, taking a seat on the far side of the altar. “Place the book on the altar and you shall record tonight’s events by the light of the full moon. It is now truly your book.”

  Once I complied and took a seat opposite him he continued. “No longer will you need your scribing tools, for now, as an initiate of the gods’ magic, you will use only your mind to write your journey. You can record many experiences upon this book as you grow in strength and master different lights and powers”

  Pulling a piece of paper and his knife out of his robe he nicked his finger and pressed it to the corner. “Watch me closely, but do not use your eyes.”

  Confused, I tried to follow his instructions and after several long minutes, began to see as he asked. Using only his mind, he was inscribing glyphs on the paper. As knowledge replaced confusion, I saw his words become clear and bright with the essence of the full moon. I nodded in satisfaction as I realized how he was doing it.

  Taking out my own knife, I pressed the tip into my thumb until it broke the skin. I quickly pressed it down on the corner of my book and began channeling the power of the new fountain into the pages. I couldn’t help but smile as the power took permanent form as hidden words on the back of the sacred book.

  I was no longer a mere apprentice; I was now hmen.

  Chapter 14

  Claire: Hit and Run

  “… and then she told me that she’s still in jail only because she knows she’s safe in there,” I finished reporting.

  “Wow,” Billy said. “That sucks rocks.”

  “Now y’all know as much as I do, so let’s decide on what we want to do.”

  “What options do we have?” Joey asked.

  “I’m open to suggestions, but I’ve thought of a few things already if y’all wanna hear.”

  “Go for it.”

  “Well,” I began. “The first option is to hide up here in the hills until things blow over or the old man croaks.”

  “I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for him to croak. Rich old goobers spend oodles of money to stay alive.”

  “Yeah, that one’s mostly wishful thinking but it would be nice. Our second option is to try and make peace with Mr. Moron.”

  “I’m sure he would love to make peace with us if we agreed to pay back all what we took with about a thousand percent interest,” Billy said in disgust.

  “Yeah, so the last thing I thought of was to fight him and force a truce. Rich bastards don’t like to lose money and if we hit him hard enough, I bet he’ll agree to back off.”

  “That could be risky. If we push him too hard, then pride will keep him hitting us no matter how much he loses.”

  “It’s a risk, but I think it’s our best shot. Besides, hitting him harder means we get to eat better,” I said with a grin.

  “I like the sound of that… and it’ll also be funner.”

  “Ok, then it’s settled. I’m gonna start nailing the bastard with everything I’ve got.”

  “What do you want us to do?” Joey asked.

  “I want you to do nothing for now. Y’all still need to stay up here out of sight for a bit, and I can work faster alone. This isn’t gonna be little sneak thefts, this is war.”

  “Why ask us then?”

  “Well, all of us is gonna have our bacon in the fire if this goes wrong so I didn’t think I should start a war without letting you know what we’re getting into.”

  Looking at my friends around the fire I saw they were all nodding agreement. We may have been homeless, but we had our pride and part of that was the need to take care of ourselves and each other. We weren’t exactly a family, but we were close.

  Satisfied, I nodded my head as well and turned to more pressing business. “Ok, so that’s settled… now who’s cooking dinner?”

  ***

  Waiting sucked.

  My plan was to leave a message for the turd at his house, but people were coming and going all evening; I needed privacy so I wouldn’t get caught. With a full moon out and no clouds at all, I had to be extra careful o
r I would be seen.

  I had spent a long time trying to figure out what my first move should be. I considered cutting to the chase and just burning his house to the ground with him inside, but that was a little drastic for my taste. I also thought about burning his house down when nobody was around, but even that was a little much.

  I even thought about confronting him directly and hanging him by his shorts from a flagpole, but I still wanted to keep my identity secret if I could. No… tonight’s message needed to be subtle, yet straight to the point; don’t mess with us.

  I was hidden pretty good up in a big old oak tree, but my aching butt was trying to convince me to find a better hiding spot. After far too long, the last of the cars in the driveway finally left and it looked like I could make my move.

  The first part of my plan would most likely take a while, but I didn’t want to jump the gun in case I got lucky. This wasn’t heavy lifting or frantic flying; this was work that needed fine control.

  Closing my eyes, I gathered my concentration and sent my mind into his garage where I began feeling around the wheels of his car. The valve stems were quick to find and the caps came off easy, but the cores were stubbornly resisting my efforts to remove them. Stupid things… I should’ve got one of them little tools to unscrew them.

  I probably could have got them eventually, but I didn’t want to fart around too long so I just forced the plunger thingy down and let the air out that way. It was slow going, but I had all night to work on it. Once finished, I took the extra time needed to put the caps back on so they would be really puzzled over what happened.

  Ok, that’s part one done, now for the message. I had made a pit-stop at the dollar store to buy a tube of lipstick before coming here, and I dug it out of my pocket. After wiping it to make sure there was no fingerprints, I floated it down and over to the garage door.

  A JACKASS LIVES HERE

  HE ORDERED A HELPLESS BOY BEATEN

  I had a lot more I wanted to write, but the lipstick wasn’t lasting as long as I figured it would so I just summarized with: