Terrence Potter sat down behind the garage's desk, drinking his coffee. Work was quiet at the garage after the two days of non-stop working on cars with problems.
Terrence was twenty-seven and had married Gloria when he was twenty-five. His father was a Whitelighter, and his mother was a witch, meaning that both Terrence and his brother were half-witch and half-Whitelighter. Terrence's witch magic power could freeze time for others except for good witches and very powerful evil magical beings. He could use his power to stop time for people and objects around him, such as to stop bullets moving in mid-air to stop a good person being shot. His Whitelighter powers were orbing and a limited healing power. Terrence could orb between places if he thought hard about where he wanted to go and he could use his limited healing power to heal minor wounds such as scratches.
Gloria Potter walked in through the customer entrance and approached the desk. "Terrence, I received a premonition which might actually mean something."
Terrence clasped Gloria's hands in his and looked into his wife's eyes - they conveyed that Gloria felt sad. "Tell me all about it, dear."
Gloria recounted her premonition to Terrence, while he listened patiently to her; Gloria remembered a lot of detail about the vision, as small details could prove very helpful to them. After Gloria finished, she looked at Terrence and waited for him to speak, hoping he had more idea than her of what it could all mean.
Terrence cleared his throat and addressed his wife. "My darling wife, that is a truly sad vision, but judging by what you have told me, it actually relates to a past incident. The woman clearly isn't the innocent we are supposed to save, as she is already beyond protecting. At a guess, I would say it is the children we need to save. I fear that the man has been cruel to his children as well - your description described someone who doesn't care whom he abuses. I fear that the monk gave you the premonition because he works at the boarding school and the boy is now there - perhaps he was sent there after his mother died. I also think that the monk has had close contact with the boy - otherwise you wouldn't have received the premonition relating to the boy from him."
"You got all that from what I told you?" asked Gloria in amazement.
"It all came to me suddenly - I don't quite know how," answered Terrence, startled by the explanation that had suddenly come to him after Gloria had recounted her premonition. "The only bit I know is true for certain is that the monk must have had physical contact with the young boy."
"No, don't say that - don't prove that those awful rumors are true, please," begged Gloria, in horror of what Terrence had just implied.
"I'm sorry, dear," said Terrence sadly, as he stood up, walked around the desk, and held Gloria in a tight and comforting embrace. "We must take immediate action - we must go to the school and see if we can help all the children if indeed the rumors are true. We can't just save the one child and leave the others there to suffer at the monks' hands."
Terrence let go of Gloria and held her hand tightly, before orbing them away from the garage - Thomas, who was stood nearby, was used to Terrence suddenly disappearing so didn't pay much attention to the couple's sudden disappearance.
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A few minutes later, Terrence and Gloria walked along the school's corridors, adorned in the robes of the monks who taught there. The two witches had gone home and found a spell to help them fit in at the school better. After saying the spell, they'd orbed to the school, and found themselves dressed like the other monks who taught there.
Gloria saw the same monk she'd seen at the diner and 'accidentally' brushed against him as she walked along. She received another premonition that only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to prove that the boy was at the school, and the rumors were true. In the premonition, she saw a daily calendar which said the same date as the present day, and a wall-clock which read seven-thirty PM. "Sorry," she said, after the premonition ended, in a deep voice in an attempt to sound like one of the male tutors.
The monk moved away, not at all suspicious of what had just happened.
Gloria whispered to Terrence, close to tears because of what she'd just seen - she loved children and couldn't bear to think that some adults did inappropriate things to them and got away with it. Luckily, the premonition had included the clock on the wall of the office Gloria had seen. The time displayed was several hours away so they had plenty of time to save the boy. Gloria somehow knew that the vision was of that day.
Terrence whispered back to Gloria, not wanting to take his wife with him to rescue the boy in her present state. "I'll orb you home, then we'll work out a plan and rescue the boy. I'll find the office you saw and rescue the child before he's touched again, I promise." Then Gloria took Terrence's hand again and they orbed to their house.
A child with dark-brown hair stood nearby, amazed by what he saw when the two people suddenly disappeared amidst many lights. He knew they'd be back - they wouldn't just go there then vanish and never come back. He had a feeling that they were good people and would change the future for the school - the way they had disappeared made him think they were angels sent from Heaven.
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When the Potters arrived in their house, they were met by an elderly man wearing long white robes with short white hair.
The man began to speak to them: "Terrence and Gloria, the Elders know about the two premonitions involving the boy and have sent me here because of them. I am the Angel of Destiny and have been sent to ask you if you will carry out a special role for them - a new destiny for you both if you take it." The man looked at first Terrence, then Gloria, wondering if they would agree to what the Elders wanted them to do.
"Tell us of this role which would change our destiny and we might agree to it," said Terrence, his voice showing that he was unafraid of whatever the future held for them.
"The Elders know that you both yearn to become parents one day. Only those who cared about children a lot would receive those premonitions that you did, Gloria. You may be the witches to save some future witches from evil."
"Future witches?" asked Gloria, not understanding where this was leading.
"Children who will, one day, be good, powerful witches," explained the Angel of Destiny. "The Underworld is always finding and murdering children with magical destinies because they fear that the children could one day become a threat to them. There is a prophesy that one day there will be a group of witches who will be the most powerful good witches among their generation - they will save many innocents from evil, and vanquish many evils. The witches will come from different parts of this country and somehow be united - but it is untold how they will come together, as the future, even in the prophesy, is unclear."
"You need some witches who are good with children to rescue the ones who are meant to become witches?" asked Terrence, having quickly worked out the Angel's reason for approaching them from what he had told them.
"Yes, they also want you to rescue children who aren't magical. There are witches elsewhere in this state who can deal with the adult innocents. That's if you two would like to help younger innocents rather than adult ones?"
"It sounds like we would need to mind our innocents until we could return them to their families; children can't be left on their own like adults can."
"That is correct," said the Angel with a nod. "If you agree to help, you would have to sacrifice raising a family of your own. But you would be helping lots of children who would die otherwise."
Terrence turned to Gloria who stood beside him. "What do you think, Gloria?" he asked his wife; not wanting to voice his decision if Gloria would be opposed to it.
"I think that boy I saw won't have a family to return to - that somehow we could take him in as a son," said Gloria with a smile. "We can't help him unless we agree to the Angel's proposal."
"If we did that, one of us might have to give up work to look after him," warned Terrence.
"I would be glad to leave my diner job for him - being a mother would be much more rewarding. I wouldn't mind keeping house and taking care of him full-time."
The angel smiled kindly. "Have you made your decision?"
Terrence looked questioningly at his wife and Gloria nodded. "We will accept the Elder's offer and sacrifice raising our own family. If the boy does not have a family to go to, we would like help from the Elders to adopt him."
"I can already tell you that eight-year-old Josiah Sanchez only has two living relatives. One is a sister called Hannah, who is in care at the St. Mary's Institution in Boulder; and the other one is his father, Raul Sanchez, who wants nothing more to do with the children - he is scared because he knows they are children of a witch. He murdered his wife because he was scared of her magic once he knew she was a witch. Rescue Josiah, and the Elders will see that you are allowed to keep him permanently."
Gloria and Terrence said good-bye to the angel before he disappeared in a flash of white light.
"I need to check that the boy's sister is being cared for at a good, caring, home - I don't think we could take her as well if she really has special needs, but the boy will need to be reassured that she is safe. Once I have checked on her and made sure she is in the best place, I will notify the police of our suspicions relating to the boarding school. They will investigate the matter straight away - if they don't, I'm sure the newspapers will be interested to know about the school tutors who have been getting away with assaulting the pupils there, while the police have remained completely unaware despite the circulating rumors. Straight from checking on Hannah, I'll orb to the school and phone them from there, then I'll orb into that monk's office - I've got enough time to find its location. Why don't you bake some of your delicious cookies? I'm sure Josiah will be hungry."
Gloria smiled weakly; afraid that somehow Terrence might be too late to rescue the boy in time. "Please hurry, Terrence."
Terrence smiled confidently at his wife as he orbed to St. Mary's Institution that was a few miles away. He felt quite sure that it was a decent place and Hannah wouldn't need to be moved. Once he'd been reassured that the little girl was safe, he would rescue the boy and get the police to start a full investigation of all the monks that worked there - then all the children who remained there would be saved from further mistreatment. With all the children depending on him, Terrence couldn't afford to fail.
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"Jo-Jo?" asked Hannah Sanchez, as she was gently shaken awake by one of the carers named Nancy, a woman in her early thirties with fairly long, light-brown hair in a ponytail. Hannah had been having an afternoon nap, as she'd been feeling a little unwell that day, making her more tired than usual.
"No, Hannah, it's Nancy. I'm afraid I haven't been able to contact your brother for you, but I'll keep trying."
"I want Jo-Jo," said Hannah, getting out of bed and crying as she spoke.
Nancy stood beside Hannah and cuddled the small girl to her, stroking the little girl's head comfortingly.
Terrence orbed into the room and used his freezing power to temporarily stop time for Hannah and the carer. The woman and child stopped moving, still stood together hugging.
Terrence walked around the room, checking for any signs that Hannah wasn't being cared for properly. The little girl's bedroom was clean and very tidy. The walls were covered with painted scenes of teddy bears and rainbows, and the cover on the bed was a cheerful yellow color. There was a large wooden toy-box decorated with different colored spots. The bedroom definitely looked like one of a little girl who was being treated very well. Terrence decided that Hannah seemed to be safe living there for the moment - he'd come back and check things again soon - the time in Gloria's premonition of Josiah being improperly treated by the monk was getting closer by the minute, and he had to save the boy. Gloria could come back with Terrence once Josiah was safe, and try to get a premonition from Hannah's carer to tell if she was treating Hannah well.
Terrence started to orb, and motioned his arms at the woman and girl before he orbed away.
Nancy stopped hugging Hannah and took a clean tissue out of the pocket in her uniform. The young woman sat down on the bed, and Hannah climbed onto her lap. The carer wiped the girl's tears away, and then began rocking the girl while she softly sang to her.
To be continued in Part 2: The First Son.