The Magic Talisman Read online

  She held out her hand with the stone on her palm.

  “But what is it?” Mrs. Brant asked.

  “It looks like an ordinary little stone,” Mrs. Miller said in surprise.

  “There’s nothing ordinary about this stone, Mom.” Jan handed her the stone.

  Mrs. Miller’s reaction was just like those of Barby and Scotty. She passed it to Mrs. Brant, who had the same feelings of warmth and friendliness. The stone went around the circle and ended up in Hartson Brant’s hands.

  “Very curious,” the scientist said, rubbing the stone. “It emits very definite sensation, not of physical warmth, but of the feeling of warmth with some other tones harder to read. I think a little apprehension and fear. There’s a nice, friendly component to it.” He looked up. “Anyone believe in magic? If we were in any degree superstitious, I think this is what we would call a weirdstone , or a talisman.”

  Dr. Winston commented, “This ties in with what we know of Jan’s special talent, doesn’t it?”

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  “It definitely does,” Jan agreed. “Maybe you can help us find out how, Dr. Winston.”

  “I’m anxious to work with you on it, Jan.”

  Dr. Miller looked at Rick and Scotty. “And how did you react to smashing through the door and finding our two reckless daughters?”

  “I was scared to death,” Scotty admitted, “until I knew they weren’t in any immediate danger.”

  “I’m afraid I didn’t react the same way,” was Rick’s reply, “because of what I saw when I got inside. I had the IR radiometer helmet on, and I could see thegirls fine, so I knew they were okay, but I also saw that Jan was kneeling on the carpet and holding a miniature sun in her hands. It was so bright it had a halo in my image tube. By then I knew we’d missed the old man- whom we’d seen enter the office-and just then Scotty came back and he was upset enough for both of us.”

  “And what do you think now that it’s all over?” Dr. Miller pressed.

  Rick said what he had been thinking. “That the girls and Scotty and I were both half right and half wrong. We were right in not wanting them to be in any danger, and they were wrong in thinking there wasn’t any danger. We were just plain lucky. Last time, it wasn’t the old man who came, it was a big, mean-looking guy who is probably the hater Jan felt. If he’d been the one to show up tonight and found the girls in the office, there’s no way to know what might have happened. At the worst, Scotty and I might have had a fight on our hands in the darkness.”

  “And don’t forget,” Scotty added, “we heard noises that told us the mean looking guy-who’s a lot bigger and heavier than I am-was probably somewhere close by.”

  “Too true, pal! Anyway, we got out of it because the only one we ran into was Jan’s old man. But I do want to make a point about how we were wrong. We’ve been pretty one-way about this, Scotty and I, making the rules and telling the girls what they could or could not do, and all the time it’s been Jan’s mystery more than ours. She’s the principal, the one the old man wants to be in touch with.”

  The girls were listening, eyes wide. Rick grinned at them. “My point is, we should always give them at least an equal voice. If we think it’s too dangerous for them, we dig in our heels, as we ought to. But, unless they agree on all points, we just don’t do whatever we were considering. That’s the only way to be fair and to keep them from running off on their own because they disagree.”

  Both girls ran to Rick and put their arms around him. “I’ll never forget this day,” Barby exulted. “It was the day my beloved brother was converted from overprotective male chauvinist!”

  “All right.”Dr. Miller shook his head. “In view of this extraordinary conversion, I’ll withhold lecturing my daughter on foolhardiness until we get her home. Now let’s talk about this stone and what we do next.”

  “When things cool down a bit, I hope Jan and I can do a bit of experimenting,” Dr. Winston smiled at the girl.

  “I’ll be ready,” Jan told him.

  Hartson Brant commented, “From a quick examination of the stone, I’d say it’s a quite ordinary silicon-aluminum compound with enough iron to give it the red oxide color.How about you, Walter?”

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  “There may be small amounts of other minerals, but I’ll be surprised if it isn’t mainly as you say.”

  “Without a real examination, it’s impossible to tell the physical structure,” was Dr. Winston’s contribution, “but I’ll make a small wager there is crystalline structure inside quite different from the usual silicon-aluminum rock.”

  “And on that note, I suggest we adjourn.” Hartson Brant rose. “Jan, when you find your mystery man, he may be able to tell us more about this stone. When do you think that will be?”

  “We’ll try again tomorrow.By day!”

  “Before we break up, a question. Rick, you say the stone was so bright in the radiometer that it had a halo?”

  “Yes, dad.The radiometer was set so people would be in focus, which means the stone was a lot warmer than Jan’s hand.”

  Winston offered, “The question is, does the stone have an IR emanation of its own? Or was it warmed in some way?”

  “By the time we got to the front door, the stone was no warmer than Jan’s hand,” Rick told him. “My guess is that, when I first saw it, it was hot from being in the old man’s hand, which means he must have a high fever. Someone was wounded the other night, and it looks very much as though itwere he.”

  “We’ve got to find him,” Jan said urgently. “Tomorrow, Rick.”

  “Yes.Somehow.”

  As the Winstons and Millers walked to the door, Rick followed. He stopped Jan in the doorway. “Let me touch it again, Jan.”

  She held it out in her palm, and he covered it with his. Again, the sensation of loving warmth enfolded him, as intense as when he had first touched it at the estate, but there was a new feeling with it. Like glowing sparks in a mist were what seemed to be bubbles of laughter.

  “You don’t know what you’re feeling, do you, Rick.” Jan’s lovely eyes were mischievous.

  “Do you?

  “Uh huh.I’ll tell you sometime, maybe.” She laughed at him, turned and followed her parents into the darkness.

  Hartson Brant had heard the exchange. He grinned at his son. “Eternally feminine,” he said. “Provocative and filled with mystery.”

  Rick groaned. “It took me awhile to figure out that Karen was referring to Jan’s ESP talent when she called her one of the rare ones. Now I’ve got to puzzle out what she knows about the stone that I don’t.”

  “Don’t puzzle all night,” Scotty warned. “We’ve work to do tomorrow. We’ve got to find Jan’s old man. Your guess about him being wounded and feverish has to be right!”

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  CHAPTER XII

  Jan Finds a Friend

  The phone rang a few minutes before breakfast the next morning, and Rick picked it up in the library while Scotty ran to the kitchen. Derek Cameron told them the watchman had reported that four people left the house when he had been told two would be there, and that two were girls. Though the magician was puzzled, he assumed it had been Jan and Barby.

  The boys outlined what had happened, then Scotty told him, “We’ve got to find that old man today, Derek. From what we saw last night, he must be running a high fever. Will you be at the estate this morning?”

  “Within an hour.All three of us.Today we go full speed on the new show that begins next Friday night.”

  The current show schedule, extra long because of the holiday, had ended the night before.

  “We’ll be there,” Rick replied.

  As they hung up, Rick turned to see Jan in the doorway. “I can get him to come out,” Jan promised.

  “With this.” She held out the mysterious stone.

  “Why are you so sure, Jan?”

  She looked troubled. “Last night you only touched the stone while it was in my hand, except for a minute when everyone was hand
ling itHere , take it and close your eyes. Don’t pay any attention to what you feel at first. Try to get the more distant feeling.”

  Rick looked at her, wondering. He held out his hand and she dropped the stone into it.

  The same flood of sensation enveloped him, but fainter, there was a troubled feeling, too, an anxiety that had replaced the bubbles like laughter he had sensed last night. He closed his eyes and mentally probed behind the troubled warmth, and slowly it came to him, a faint sensation of distant loneliness and of pain.

  Unconsciously he rubbed his arm above the hand that held the stone, tenderly kneading the big triceps muscle. That was where it hurt. He felt feverish, out of sorts.

  For a moment longer he gripped the stone and wanted very much to reply somehow to an unspoken plea for help. He opened his eyes and met Jan’s.

  “We have to go, Rick. He needs our help. That’s how I know he’ll come out when I get there.”

  Rick nodded. What he had felt was Jan’s old man behind the initial sensation of loving warmth. Jan knew something about the loving warmth, and he had a wonderful, hopeful suspicion. He’d get it out of her somehow, after they took care of the more immediate problem.

  “We have time for breakfast before the Camerons get there. Have you eaten?” When she shook her Page 74

  head, he said, “Come on. Barby and Scotty must already be sitting down.”

  Within a short time of the Millers’ permanent move to Spindrift, the deep and growing friendship between the families and among the four young people had resulted in an informal part-adoption of the four by both families. They went in and out of each other’s houses-at least the family parts-with a minimum of formality. Rick and Scotty did chores around the Miller home as they did around their own, without being asked. The girls exchanged household tasks in a way that eased the burden on each. If one of the four happened by at meal time, a place was set with a pause only long enough to ask, “Have you eaten?”

  When Jan walked into the dining room with Rick, Mrs. Brant asked automatically, “Bacon or sausages, dear?”

  “Bacon please, mother Brant.”

  Hartson Brant and Mrs. Brant joined the young people at the table. The scientist smiled at Jan. “You’ve opened up a whole realm of possibilities with that stone. I’ve seldom seen Winston so excited.”

  “I’m glad he is. We’re all curious as can be.”

  “Hmmm.It’s a poorly defined field, as you know. The boys and Barby told us about your unusual talent.

  We can well believe it’s both a blessing and a burden.”

  “More blessing, I think. What kind of research do you think would be most interesting?”

  “I hope we can make an attack on the basic problem of ESP that causes most scientists to reject it out of hand, asan impossibility . It’s the one Rick made a passing reference to at our first meeting Thanksgiving Day.”

  “What’s the mechanism,” Rick agreed. “In this case, how are feelings transmitted to you, Jan.”

  “Why is it a puzzle?” Barby asked.

  The scientist answered. “Because every other kind of message we know about that doesn’t go through wires or some other physical medium is transmitted through the electromagnetic spectrum.”

  “Like radio and TV, Dad?”

  “Yes. Even like messages sent by light, which is also part of the spectrum, as I’m sure you remember from your science studies. But no one has ever shown that ESP, extra sensory messages, are carried in the spectrum, and we don’t know of another medium.”

  “How much research has been done?” Rick asked.

  “Surely, not enough.But there’s another factor. To send a message takes power, no matter what the medium or the message. No one has shown that the electrical energy available in normal brain processes could power an ESP message across the room.”

  “But people have reported that they knew of terrible accidents or deaths in the family all the way across the country,” Jan offered.

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  “True, Jan. And there have been so many anecdotal incidents, as they’re called, that they can’t all be rejected as coincidence. But until some means of transmission can be shown and proved, you won’t find many scientists buying the idea of ESP.”

  “I guess all my feelings are illusions,” Jan said with a smile.

  Hartson Brant chuckled. “The one thing that’s not an illusion is our ignorance about the whole field.

  Perhaps your mysterious talisman owner can shed some light for us, Jan. And perhaps the stone itself can help Winston understand more about the process. Do you go for the owner today?”

  Rick put his napkin away.“Right now, Dad.All four of us. We’re meeting the Camerons at the estate.”

  “Anything I can do to help?”

  “Yes. He’s hurt and running a fever. If we get him, the first thing we’ll do is take him to Dr. Frame.

  You might alert him that we’ll probably be coming.”

  “I’ll do that. And good luck, kids. If you need help, call.”

  The four got jackets and gloves and hurried to the boat landing. Within a short time they were turning into the Mirella estate. The three Camerons were in the office, working over a drawing board.

  “So you two got in the act in spite of everything,” David greeted the girls.

  “I think it’s wonderful.” Karen congratulated them. “It’s what you over-protective males should have expected. Girls like these just can’t be left out. The time is over when girls were delicate violets ready to faint at a mouse.”

  Rick smiled ruefully. “I’m afraid you’re right, but I wish you weren’t.”

  Karen returned the smile. “You don’t really mean that, Rick. I know you try very hard to protect them, you and Scotty, but I also know that you’re very proud of their independence and courage.”

  Rick sighed. “I’m beginning to realize that I’m about as hard to read as a highway billboard.”

  “Don’t feel lonely, Rick,” Derek laughed. “Karen gives us all the same problem.”

  “May I see the stone, Jan?” Karen asked.

  “Of course.” Jan handed it to her.

  Karen held it tight and closed her eyes. “I can feel it. He’s in pain. What shall we do?”

  “If you don’t mind leaving Rick and me alone here in the office, I’ll try to call him, using the stone. I’m not sure it will work, but it might.”

  “Let’s go,” Derek said, rising. “We’ll wait outside until you call us.”

  “Don’t close the door too tightly,” Rick warned as they all filed out. “It stuck twice; last night and the night before.”

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  Jan sat down on the couch and Rick perched on a chair where he could see both Jan and the panel. He watched as she cupped the stone in both hands and closed her eyes.

  She whispered, “Come out, please? We’re here to help you.” A minute ticked by. Jan kept her eyes closed, and he knew she was concentrating, trying to send a message. Another minute, then Rick felt the short hairs on the back of his neck bristle. He knew they were being observed through the mirror above the fireplace.

  Jan knew it, too. She said clearly, “It’s all right. We’re friends.”

  Rick tensed as the panel swung open. A deep but gentle voice said, “I know you are.”

  The old man was standing straight and tall, dressed in a pair of faded corduroys and a plaid woolen shirt.

  He wore ancient sneakers. His hair was white, but thick and curly. He was clean shaven, and his face would have shown the pallor of confinement and illness had it not been flushed with fever.

  He looked at Rick, bowed slightly, turned and walked to Jan. He sat down on the couch beside her, and they smiled at each other like old friends.

  “Hello, Mr. Wayland,” she said, happily.

  “Hello, Jan,” he replied, and his smile broadened. “I’m glad to meet you at last, in your own very lovely person instead of just through talismanic communication.”

  He tur
ned to Rick. “I’m glad to meet you, too, young Mr. Brant.”

  “It’s my pleasure, Mr. Wayland,” Rick answered. “I’ve tried hard enough to meet you. You are Mr.

  Wayland?”

  “Yes. Of course I know your names and faces from overhearing and seeing you. I suspect the first question that pops into your minds is why I haven’t come out before?”

  “That’s true, sir. Why haven’t you?”

  “Invite the rest in, and I’ll tell you all. I’m anxious to meet the rest of my new friends-and I know that’s what you are all are.”

  Rick opened the door. Barby, Scotty, and the Camerons were standing there, eyes wide. He stepped aside and they came in. Barby and Karen instantly ran to the couch. The old magician held out a hand to each, greeting them by name. He chuckled with pleasure.

  “This is the first time I’ve been surrounded by such youth and beauty since my last performance.”

  Rising, he bowed to Scotty and the Camerons, and greeted them by name, even getting the twins right.

  “The Marvelous Mysto,” Derek said in a hushed voice. “We are honored, sir.”

  Wayland waved a hand, rather weakly. “Not a bit of it. You two and Karen are a credit to our ancient profession.”

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  Karen smiled at him. “It was you who shifted me and the replica, wasn’t it?”

  “I’m the culprit, I fear. I was sure you had found that it was I who built the place, and I was trying to send a message, that it was indeed Mysto that Jan and Karen sensed.”

  “We did get the message, eventually,” Rick told him.

  “It was risky, in one sense. Not physically, but I wasn’t entirely sure it wouldn’t be too upsetting. I knew Derek and David were fast-thinking, cool young men, and Karen was their equal. I also knew the shock would be worse to her, but I hoped to alleviate it by putting her in her husband’s arms.”

  He smiled at Karen. “I will try to earn your forgiveness. I know you had a few bad moments, but you recovered even faster than I had hoped, and the twins handled it with incredible speed and poise. I congratulate all of you.”