Chapter 4:

Reid woke to the smell of baking bread. He slowly sat up and stared around. He was sleeping in large bedroom decorated in shades of tan and gold. He looked out the floor to ceil window that revealed a stunning view of the city in the early morning light. He glanced at the clock, it was five o'clock. And someone was in his suite. He quickly put on some pants and grabbed his cane and flipped it into a staff. He cautiously opened the door and followed the scent.

Guardian Clara Rose dressed in a red tartan apron was arranging trays of scones. She looked up when she saw Reid and smiled. "Good morning Dr. Reid. Glad to see you're still sleeping on East Coast Time."

Reid just stared at her. Too many thoughts were hitting him at once. "What are you doing here? Why are you baking for me? Did you sleep here?" he asked, noticing the gray Old Navy T-shirt she had under the apron.

Rose continued to place her scones on a cooling rack. "Dr. Reid the fire you produced in rage was of the eternal flame variety," she said briskly. "It took an enormous amount of energy to stop it and I was lucky to have the energy to even get us out of there after that. So I feel no regret in choosing to take a nap in your residence rather exert myself further to get home."

Things just weren't clicking yet for him. Things weren't making much sense so he was feeling irritable. "Okay first, just call me Reid since we spent the night the same apartment together. And second it was never my intention to set the entire area-"

"Of course it wasn't," she said as she began to place some balls of dough on a rack. "The fire wouldn't have caused any major damage and it wouldn't have gone any farther than you planned. But I need to stop you before you passed out and became useless to me today."

He was growing more and more agitated by this push-and-pull game she was playing with him.

Rose wouldn't give him the chance to speak. "Reid why don't you go and clean yourself up. I'll have a traditional English breakfast ready when you return."

He felt like he was being ordered around by his mother- not his mother, what the average mother sounds like. But the idea of hot water easing some of the tension on his back was too appealing to resist. He grabbed his clothes and found a bathroom half the size of his apartment. Reid wondered what was motivating the council's desire to treat him like a king: Guilt or manipulation?

…

He found Rose at the kitchen table next to another large window overlooking the city. She was now dressed in a black pants suit with a blue top. Her brooch and other pieces of silver jewelry featured prominently.

"Sit," she said cordially.

There was a set of bacon, potato pancakes and scones on a plate in front of him. This was too much food for him. Usually he just grabbed a bagel and tall cup of coffee on his way to work. "Rose," he said politely, "I don't think I can eat all of this."

She didn't seem surprised. "Then just try a scone. I made it myself and I rarely bake these days."

He did as told and it was positively delicious. He ate it quickly and was about to grab another one she caught his hand. "Drink this first," she said and passed him a cup of tea. Again he did as told and felt the dull thumping headache he had been experiencing since he put on the ring decrease significantly.

"Is this pepper-mint tea?" he asked, taking another sip.

She nodded. "One of the few magic-shock pain reducers," she said and then pulled out her wand. She tapped his plate and another scone appeared. "This is from my favorite bake shop in Henderson where I keep a charge account. Please eat it."

He stared at it with mild disgust. "Magic food doesn't well sit with me. The thought of a food essential teleported out of thin air entering my system-"

"Just try it," she said coaxingly. "Trust me."

With a grimace he took a bite and it went down well. It didn't taste as good, but it wasn't upsetting his stomach.

Rose nodded approvingly."The tea is also a palette cleanser. It eases the pain and makes it easier to consume conjured food and experience other magic altering senses. You will be eating mostly magic-created food while working today and I need to have you well-nourished to focus."

This was what he hated about her. Every act of kindness she showed him had an underlying purpose. He took another sip of the tea. "Is that why you're doing all of this for me? The baking, the tea, even your appearance. It seems like a lot of work and I still don't know what you need so badly from me. You treat me like one your agents, yet you go out of your way to make things easy for me. What is your angle?"

Rose tapped the blank space in front of her and plate of food in front of her. "First of all Reid, you and I both very well know that those 'agents' are not agents," she said and munched on a piece of bacon. "They are guardians with only basic criminology education because The Council refuses to give me the memory charm funding to get them to qualify for the Bureau training school. So technically Cesar Coyle and I are the only ones on the Federal Payroll. Having access to a fully-trained profiler is a true gift that will help me apprehend the meta-UnSub."

Reid winced at the mention of the aged cowboy-like guardian. "So where is he right now?"

Rose rolled her eyes and took a sip of tea. "It's hard to say where he is. My superior prefers to stay off the grid and lead his team of dark wizard hunters into the darkest crevices of the state. He only comes out when I have mishandled a major case to berate me in front of The Council," she said.

Reid suddenly looked around. This suite was usually reserved for visiting heads of state. He wondered what wards had been set up.

Rose seemed to read his thoughts. "Don't worry Reid. I have a friend in magical surveillance who showed me how to reconfigure the enchantments in this area."

He let out a sigh of relief. It meant he could end this prattle about government organization. He set his plate aside and dived into what he really wanted to learn from her. "Okay, Rose," he said firmly. "You've given me the Magic Law Enforcement 101 course. Now it is time to tell me what might be pertinent to the case. What do you know about my mother?"

Rose finished her meal and with a wave of her wand, the plates disappeared. "Diana Mordrid was one of the most powerful young wizards of her time. The Mordrid name had lost a great deal of it dark magic connotation over the past century and her family was considered one of the most noble lines of heritage to have 'crossed the pond' in the last hundred years. It was said that her parents chose the name Diana based on reading the stars and it was indeed an accurate to name to describe her particular magic inclinations. She was 'one with nature,' able to run with the wildest magical creatures on end for months," she said with great admiration.

It was odd hearing someone describe his with such a romantic tone. He felt entranced as she continued the story.

"She brought her knowledge of the magical wilderness to the academic realm where she earned tremendous accolades for her contributions to the art of natural divination. She embraced the spotlight and performed feats of magic that enthralled the wizard community. It is unfortunate that so much of it has been lost as a result of the subsequent events."

Her voice turned doleful. "Power in any form, be it as menial administrative or magical, can be exceptionally addictive and thus vulnerable the malevolent manipulation. The Dark Arts was like the wilderness to her, vast and mystical magic that seemed so ripe for exploration. It took little energy to convince her to join the dark side."

Even though this was the story of his mother's terrible downfall, he couldn't help but feel like he was listening to a Star Wars monologue. He wondered why someone couldn't have just told him about his mother like this.

"Little is known about what sort of transformations she went through to change her perception of the mystic arts so dramatically. But when she re-surfaced in the magic community, the dark energy she exuded was deadly."

"She and her legion of dark wizards stormed The Council Chambers and she personally assassinated the High Lord along with at least three others. Her legion killed a combined total of ten members."

This was one of the parts that he still knew little about. "Why wasn't she executed on the spot? And who exactly discovered that she was acting under dark influence?"

She didn't seem to mind the interruption. "Well firstly, her family was still very prominent in the community and it would have caused further scandal if she wasn't granted a fair trial. Now secondly, are you familiar with a mystic from DC Comics named Madame Xanadu?"

Reid thought for a moment, trying to recount a recent encyclopedia of comics he had read. "Isn't she supposedly a nimue? One of the enchantresses who used magic to influence events Medial Times such as presenting Excalibur to King Arthur? It seems like an odd incarnation of such a sorceress. She looks more like a gypsy than a nymph-like being."

Rose nodded in agreement. "Yet she came to the Tribunal presenting a level of supreme sorcery that could not be ignored. The records are extremely vague about how what happened in the chamber but the end result was that your mother was clear of intentional wrong-doing. That she was indeed acting under the influence of a distant member of her own bloodline who still fought the universal illegalization of the Dark Arts."

Reid drank deeply from his tea. It was becoming extremely heady. When he set his empty cup down Rose immediately refilled it. "Are you sure you want to continue Reid? You know most of this story. It is your family heritage after all."

He nodded his head. "That I didn't get to learn until much later. I have been out of this world for so that I don't know how much the legend of my mother is still well-known here. The Lord of the Order probably knows all of this but his followers may not and they are the easiest ones to retrieve information from."

"Very well," Rose said with a sigh. "The removal of the dark magic from your mother left her weak, borderline-catatonic when she slept. But the thing was that paranoia had grown rampant as the result of the attack. The Council was afraid, extremely afraid. Though your mother's ability to harness power had decreased dramatically, there was the underlying fear that she would regain the abilities to fight them again. So they decided to do what was one of the most cruel, legal acts of magical law enforcement at the time: They removed her ability to perform magic in a ritual that destroyed her memory and all records of existence in the wizard community."

It sickened him to hear the words out loud. "You know I still research the possible rituals used. My best guess comes from the removal of hieroglyphics in Egypt."

Rose shook her head. "Your guess is as good as mine. The council was run at the time like the Nixon Administration. Except The Council was much better at covering their tracks."

Reid took another sip of tea and he felt some fury return. "Now comes the depressing part," he said bitterly.

"Your mother was able to live a decent life as mortal," Rose said fairly. "Xanadu's magic ignited a passion for medieval literature that she could not connect to her lineage as her family fled the country in shame. But it was also there that she fell in love with your father."

Suddenly a thought hit him that he felt guilty for not thinking of sooner. "Is someone checking in my mom and my dad?"

"We have an agent under-cover in the Sanitarium. And your father finally decided that he deserved a vacation. He is currently in Hawaii being observed from a distance by a few retired guardians," she said.

It was a relief to hear it but now he wanted to hear the thing that ate at his mind every day. The parts that Tobias Hankel couldn't touch with mortal drugs, but he felt the memories burn inside him after he overcame his addiction.

"Please tell me why no one helped me?" he asked in an almost pleading voice.

Rose's eyes flashed with anger. "You know I don't have direct answers for that. I was a junior agent when I heard about what happened. The simple answer is this: No one knew you're mother was a wizard. Your mother's maiden name was modified to Moore and your grandparents were dead by the time you demonstrated magical ability. Believe it or not your father has a small trace of inherited magic from a great aunt and that is enough to satisfy the inquiry in the inherited magic source."

"But not enough to gain assistance from the community," he said angrily.

"Reid!" Rose almost shouted. "International statutes of secrecy are strict for a reason! The mortal parents of the child are responsible for his or her upbringing and only the mortal social services are allowed to interfere."

He closed his eyes briefly and rubbed them. "You know as many times as I tell myself this I still have hard time accepting that Schizophrenia is a genetic disease and not some sort of mystical construct."

"You're a scientist," Rose said in a calmer tone. "Magic is not part of the human anatomy. Everyone is equally susceptible to cancer, Alzheimer's, and other viral ailments. The body can be repaired with magic but it cannot cure diseases."

"I know," he said with sigh. "So the rest of the story goes that I was taught magic while attending college where it was concealed in special courses and clubs the same way it is in modern public schools. I kept it a secret from my mother for fear that she will think that I am crazy and I don't want to upset her further. And then on the emotionally-charged day that I have my own mother institutionalized, I go through her things when I come home and find Pandora's Box."

A look of almost grim admiration came across Rose's face. "Possibly one of the most advanced, meticulously-well crafted artifacts your mother ever modified. It was designed to open when you came of age and decided to sever a strong emotional bond."

He agreed. "Even before I was born she knew that motherhood would be in her future. The Council may have removed the records of her existence, but she would not let her blood live without knowing that she was something greater."

"Now I do recall the story of you storming The Council Chamber," Rose said. "A young wizard opening a box that re-writes the history of magic made front page news."

He almost smiled. "Looking back I don't believe I wasn't charged with something," he said.

"It would have made the current Council look like idiots," she said. "They had to separate themselves from that era as quickly as possible. I'm not sure if you're aware of this but several serving members literally went into retirement during your appearance so only the ones not associated with your family were listed when the press caught wind of it."

"And I kind of made their lives easier by surrendered my ability to use magic right there also."

"I believe there are still pictures of the ringing ceremony hung in anti-Council establishments," Rose said lightly. "The story is still the main source of knowledge about your family by the way."

"Yet they have been fighting to get me back ever since," Reid said with a laugh.

"Reid, the common belief is that you have inherited most of your mother's magical potential tempered with the sensibility of your mortal father," Rose said diplomatically.

"Are you saying I should join them Rose?" he asked accusingly. "That I'm wasting my potential by using my genius intellect as opposed to my magical capabilities as an agent in law enforcement?" He instantly realized how irrational he sounded

Rose didn't seem at all offended. "Not all Reid. Quite the opposite actually. I am an FBI agent and I do access to some of your case files. I'd kill to have you under my supervision, but you are clearly helping more people as part of the BAU."

Reid was jolted by her compliment. He had been feeling like a pawn in this world up until this point. But Rose was returning to business mode before he could respond.

"Well as much I was hoping to avoid this discussion. It does remind me of a few old leads. There are still rumors that Xanadu is operating in the city that might be worth looking into."

Reid followed up on her train of thought. "Though is no direct embodiment of Diana associated with a medieval magician, there is a story about the Greek version of goddess enchanting those who saw her bathe which is another version which is one of powers associated to the lady of the lake."

"And which leads back to one of the places where you would find fish," Rose said rubbing her temples.

Reid thought for a moment. "You know the meta-UnSub hast distinctly masculine characteristics. But there is the possibility of the involvement of a female wizard. The love of a fair damsel did feature in the BAU attack."

Rose gave him one of the looks he was used to getting from his team. "I assume the fact that your team gets used to how you figure out things in such a circuitous way," she said.

She checked her watch. "We need to get going. Let's hope the rest of the day is less emotional drama packed."

Reid nodded in agreement; both knowing how unlikely it would be.

Reid grabbed his messenger bag and Rose retrieved her wallet purse. They met in the middle of the room and teleported.