4 Terramezic Energy by John O'Riley Page B

from my home. I would explain the reason why this is necessary and they would either hire me or not,” Helen said.
    “You’ve always been so determined to remain in retirement. What’s changed your mind?” Josephine fixed a curious gaze at her friend.
    “Seeing you save the world and seeing so many category six wizards become enforcers. Now that I’m a White Knight, I feel a sense of responsibility.”
    “But we don’t even know what that means. APU 4093 mentioned White Knights but it refused to give us any details. For all we know, they weren’t very common before the Great Wizard Wars either,” Josephine said.
    “They must have been a force to be reckoned with or the computer never would have agreed to even talk to Mark. To give him any access at all to the computer systems was a sign of respect that doesn’t happen unless there’s a very good reason.” Helen’s green eyes reflected the passion she felt about this subject. Obviously, the idea of the White Knights was extremely important to her.
    “All right. You, Mark, and I should meet at my house with Perry to bring him into our network.” Josephine glanced down at her watch. “We’ll have to wait until this evening though. I need to go to work.”
    “Aha!” Alice pointed at Josephine’s mug. “You haven’t even touched your coffee! You’ve got morning sickness!”
    “What are you talking about?” Josephine tilted the cup so Alice could see. “I’ve drank it all except for what’s left here.”
    “Don’t try to fool me.” Alice frowned at her with disgust. “You only filled it a quarter of the way.”
    Josephine didn’t bother to respond. She should have realized Alice would watch her like a hawk. She breezed out of the room and dumped the contents of her mug in the sink. As she washed and rinsed the dish, Alice and Helen emerged in the room.
    “I think we should have a baby shower.” Alice’s vibrant green eyes danced with excitement and a bit of smugness. “What do you think?”
    Josephine dried her mug and placed it back in the cupboard. “That would be an excellent idea if one of us was pregnant. I’m not going to hold my breath though.” She threw Alice a pointed look. “And neither should you. None of us are spring chickens anymore.”
    “You can’t deny the truth.” Alice jutted her chin out in an obstinate manner.
    “Did anyone ever tell you that you’re a little OCD?” Josephine asked.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” Alice leveled a moody frown at her.
    “Several months ago, you were determined to think I was a vampire. With practically every conversation, you were comparing everything I did to vampires. Ironically, you ended up becoming one.”
    “Whatever.” Alice’s eyes flashed with annoyance.
    Josephine felt just a tad guilty for being so cross with her friend after she’d helped her with the claro mentis enchantment. She slipped behind the wheel of her car and sat there for several seconds as she mulled over Alice’s irritating behavior. Even though Alice was a bit ornery at times, she always came through for her friends. Josephine drove away from the senior citizen condo association parking lot and made her way North on Tamiami Trail. Without warning, scorching heat bore down on Josephine. She cried out in pain and activated her protection enchantments. She had managed to protect herself from injury but waves of heat from inside her car continued to brush against her skin. She couldn’t sense any magic at all but felt the impact of an attack against her shield which meant this was terramezic energy. Josephine kept her car moving so she’d make a more challenging target. She activated the wards attached to her car to shove the destructive energy farther away.
    Josephine stomped down on the accelerator and her car lunged forward. She swerved into the next lane to pass the sedan ahead of her. She wished her car was equipped with a police siren. Josephine clenched her jaw and gripped the steering