The 13th Mage Read Online Free PDF Page A

more convincing to present himself as his own grandson. The less they questioned the better.
    Trave ling was great in this century, what would have taken him a year to travel half a century earlier he had finished in two months, one hour in one country the next in another. What mortals had been up to since he had gone into invisible mode was incredible.
    Soon they would be as powerful as mages! He thought.
    Mortal communication technology had jumped the light barrier too, O wen had discovered the Internet. It amazed him to watch the energy threads jump from one country to another. But surfing the electronic waves crashed a lot of servers, leaving him stranded in all sort of strange and wonderful offices, so he stuck to us ing the Internet the mortal way, with a computer.
    It would have been much faster for him to do his research on an ethereal level but he didn’t want any other Elders keeping tags on him. Much better to do it on the physical level for as long as possible, Elders were well known for their incapacity to stay in their physical bodies for very long, most had the minimum physical presence needed to exist at all, their bodies kept on minimum metabolism just to keep themselves alive. It was one of the reasons why Owen liked it in the mortal universe, this was his territory.
    He was also considered an authority in mortal matters, and he didn’t really know that much about mortals at all .
    After much sex and some library research he found out that shawls were mainly for warmth, protection, love, invisibility and nurturing. Shawls could have many uses within magic, but it was an item mostly found within the confines of a witch’s cove, particularly a shawl like the one he now possessed, pink, soft and with ribbons on all four corners.
    It was in London that he finally made a breakthrough.
    He hadn’t been to London for a very long time. He usually stayed at a hotel, it was comfortable and anonymous. But for this visit he had decided to stay at one of his London residences. He would also contact old acquaintances, or as he told everyone, “his grandfather’s acquaintances.” He looked so young now that no one would recogniz e him.
    He didn’t have many mortals he considered friends, and even less so immortals. But he held Harry Johnson in high esteem. Harry had been one of the few mortals he had ever trusted. He remembered Harry as a studious young man, his father’s pride and joy. T hey had become relatively close in those days. Now Harry was old but still working and still in charge of the O’Neil Estate.
    The old man was delighted to have news of his friend Owen senior, especially to know that he was still going strong in Brazil , married to a young beauty queen and doing very well in all respects.
    “What ever happened to Owen Junior, your father?” Harry asked.
    Owen took another sip of his tea, he should have thought of all this before coming, it was an oversight he wouldn’t have made had he the body of a fifty year old.
    “Dad, passed away in a racing accident, broke Granddad’s heart, but he has me now, so the inheritance is safe.”
    “Take after your grandfather don’t you. You have as much tact as a bull in a china shop,” Harry said laughing to himself.
    Owen could never quite get Harry’s little personal jokes, but it was good to be with him again, he hadn’t expected to find him alive and looking so fit and well.
    “It’s obvious your grandfather holds you in high esteem looking at these figures,” the old man said holding the letter of recommendation he had received from Owen Senior a few days earlier, “the house in Oak Place , the European portfolio. Tell me young man, what are you going to do with all of this?”
    “Well, make it grow Mr. Johnson, that’s what all the O’Neil’s have done and always will do.”
    Harry Johnson smiled and leaned back, if there were any doubts in his mind about the boy’s identity this dispelled them immediately, the young fellow couldn’t