Fiona put her cell to her ear and spoke to Siri. “Get me Alex.”
“Calling Alexandra Stephanovsky on cell,” came the obedient robotic voice.
To the elves, Fiona said, “She should have picked up the girls and been back by now.” The phone went to voice mail immediately. She texted and got no response.
“I’ll try Panda.” Ekk took out his European model and punched in many numbers. “I need to make sure she and Mitzi are all set for this evening.”
Elsa suddenly froze; then she climbed up a chair and scrambled onto the file cabinets to turn on the TV that was mounted on the wall in Panda’s office.
Fiona watched it happen so fast. “I would have helped you turn that on. What’s up?”
“Something, intuition, listen.” Elsa had a strange look on her face.
On Channel Five, an excited blond woman was reading news with an inset showing Panda and Mitzi’s house and neighborhood.
“A stunning turn of events is reverberating through Merryville, and many are asking how it could have happened. Here is a scene from earlier today at the press conference.”
A news clip showed police on a stage in front of Panda and Mitzi’s house and then the arrival of the women by Uber car.
Fiona’s slender hand went to her mouth. “They’re back. Oh my God, that’s not Alex dropping them off. I knew it was too quiet.”
“Let me try to sense where she is,” Elsa said. The diminutive elf, back on the floor, crossed her arms and lowered her head, eyes closed. The scent of roses became strong in the room. She pictured Fiona’s close friend, Alexandra, and drew upon that woman’s love of her good friend to send a tendril of energy out to the universe.
Soon, she wasn’t standing in the tiny tax office. Her mind’s eye could see below as she said, “Airplanes flying up ahead, I can see them...then...asphalt...” Images sped by. A scream ripped through her mind. She saw a blinding crash, then blinking lights caught her attention. Alex’s Lincoln was suddenly a twisted shape, with smoke billowing from the engine area. She gasped. There she was. “Her car crashed!” Fiona and Ekk gasped.
“I can see her. Alexandra has a neck plastic on and was, or is, being loaded into an ambulance, so at least she is, was alive—for now.” The shock snapped Elsa back to herself. She was white when she opened her eyes, leaving out the worst. “Hospital, she will be at a hospital.”
“No!” Fiona screamed, and grabbed Elsa by both arms as if she could shake more information out of her. “What else did you see? What did you see?”
Ekk watched in rapt fascination. Elsa always gave off some of the feeling of well-being from the Hercynian Garden when performing her special skills, but it faded rapidly; this new information was awful.
“It was red and white.”
“Which one, where?” Fiona’s hair flew around her face wildly as she pinned Elsa with her eyes.
The diminutive seer still looked pale. “I, I don’t know. She was being loaded into an ambulance.”
“Easy, Fiona.” Ekk moved protectively toward Elsa, who folded into him.
“She said she saw airplanes. I’ll start with Cedars Sinai in L.A.” Fiona walked to the other side of the office and started punching numbers on her phone.
Ekk and Elsa were deep in conversation and didn’t notice the front door open. Lulu, the Samoan security guard, walked in. Her face was triumphant as her strong arms reached out. “Gotcha!” She grabbed Ekk in her left hand and Elsa in her right. Their little feet kicked in the air.
Fiona lowered her phone, tears in her eyes, which quickly turned to fury. “Unhand those elves!”
“Hey! Fiona? Weren’t you the lady at the art museum with dat big ting the other night?”
“Yes, now put those two down.” Her tone brooked no disobedience.
Lulu carefully lowered the little couple, who moved close together again. Lulu took a deep breath and hooked her thumbs in her belt, adopting a belligerent stance: “Somebody better splain what going on.”
Ekk spoke first. “I was sent here to watch over Panda. You almost caught me several times.”
“Dat was you?” She looked off to the side and shook her head. “Knew I wasn’t crazy.” The big woman sat down, then said, “Where’s Panda? I came to tell her somethin’ important.”
Fiona took charge. “She’ll be here shortly. What’s up?”
“Oh, shoot,” the big woman said in a big sigh. “I don’ worry ’bout sounding nuts no more,” Lulu said, eyeing the elves. “The Brazilian boys been talking crazy, and it don’ sound so good for Panda.”
“What do you mean? What Brazilian boys?” Apparently Fiona hadn’t noticed their presence in the strip mall.
Turning toward the window, Lulu simply said, “Look.”
Fiona, Ekk, and Elsa had been so involved in their own conversation they’d failed to see the jiujitsu studio inhabitants had emptied into the parking lot. There were about thirty-five or forty buff-looking martial arts experts standing in formation. They wore what Mitzi referred to as “white pajamas” but were called “gis,” which sounds like gee with a hard g. A young-looking, gi-clad man started a kick that was emulated down the line, and the visual was that of a rather lethal wave.
“Well, that’s a fret,” Fiona whispered.
“Isn’t this just practice?” Ekk asked.
“No,” Lulu said.
“No,” Elsa said simultaneously, her keenly tuned senses on full alert. “They’ve been enchanted by Wolfrum.”
Lulu looked from one to another of the motley group.
“Turn off the TV. I can’t reach it,” Ekk said.
Fiona turned off the TV.
Then they heard it.
The atmosphere seemed to be compressed, and in the vacuum, the sound of the gi material flapping was scary. The martial arts fighters’ expressions were blank, and they moved in unison.
Suddenly, a familiar chant started:
“Wolves are always followed by ravens!”
“Scavenging for the kill!”
“Eat fast, ravening wolf!”
“Ravens follow five and twenty!”
“Cleansing the world of unworthy prey!”
“Taking out the weak!”
“Consuming the meek!”
“Wolf-Raven cycles this world to the next!”
Lulu held the blinds aside, so they could better see the frightening gathering.
Looking closely at the wall of fists and feet moving toward the tax office, they could see the martial arts experts’ eyes didn’t look normal. “But how?” Fiona said.
“What is Wolfrum?” a very rattled Lulu said. She locked the door and lowered the blinds.
“You mean who,” Fiona said absently.
Lulu looked shaken. “All I know is, it’s not safe out there.”
A chill went down Fiona’s spine. “We have to warn the girls. They can’t come here.” She lifted her iPhone to her ear and had a quick conversation.
Ekk dropped the blinds, where he’d been on tiptoe peeking out. “But we need this space to do the ritual. We only have about an hour. Oh, this is bad indeed.”
“I have an idea.” Fiona punched in Juniper Gooden’s number.
Wolfrum’s reach was long. All it took was one person with evil in his heart to open the door to him. Wolfrum could then use dark magic to possess hearts, similar to how a hijacked drone computer is used to infect others.
Fiona hung up and asked, “Is there a back way out of here?”
Lulu said, “No,” just as Ekk said, “Yes.”
Lulu and Ekk exchanged a glance. The large woman had hardly been able to take her eyes off him.
Ekk scratched himself, remembering his uncomfortable two weeks living in the bushes. “While I was here, I made an elf hole. It’s going to be tight,” he said, looking back at Lulu.
“Let’s go.” Fiona urged them on.
“Oh, hell to the no, I’m not going down no elf hole!”
Elsa came running in from the back.
“We better do something. They’re starting to attack!”
The front window broke and became dark with bodies pushing forward in a surge.
“This way!” Ekk ducked under the desk.
“I hold them off as bes’ I can,” Lulu said. “You go!”
“No, I’ll hold them off,” Elsa said in her sweet voice.
More glass splintered on the floor. It was like a zombie attack. “Fiona lady, grab the little one or she be killed!”
Elsa had again put herself in a trance. The scent of flowers was overpowering; this time it was lavender. Fiona and Lulu couldn’t help but look out the window as the beating on the building had stopped. The sight was surreal. Thousands of tiny petals were falling from the sky. The jiujitsu attackers seemed confused and diverted from their assault.
“Hurry!” Elsa said, eyes closed, “I can’t keep this up much longer.” As she said this last word, she fainted. Lulu scooped her up, slipped her into the hole under the desk, and turned to Fiona. “Art lady, go!”
“Lulu, come with us.”
“I’ll be fine, miss.”
“But we need you.”
“This my beat, and I don’ think I fit anyway.” She gave Fiona a shove into the elf hole. Ekk nodded at her and followed the other women.
For those who had never traveled this way, the sensation was that of being in a luge, fast and somewhat disorienting. The trip ended abruptly, seconds later, as the trio landed in the bushes. “This is it?” Fiona asked Ekk.
He looked mildly indignant. “It served me for my purpose. Ehren said never use more magic in the human world than is necessary.”
Although at a safe distance, they were still close enough to see the Brazilian boys rally and renew their attack on the little tax office. Fiona said a prayer for Lulu, then said, “Quickly, this way. I asked Juniper to come get us at the end of the block.”
Not having to be told twice, Fiona, Ekk, and Elsa made their way, as silently, quickly, and carefully as they could, to the corner. Lulu had probably saved their lives. Elsa let them know that the enchanted warriors would be able to sense if there was a live being inside the building, and because of Lulu’s incredible bravery in staying, they should make it out without being chased.
Juniper’s Citroen was packed tight with herself, Valerie, Fiona, Ekk, and Elsa. “Where to?” Valerie asked nervously, seeing the battle going on in the strip mall parking lot.
“Take us to the museum.” Fiona and Juniper shared a look and a secret smile.
“Not a great time to look at art, but okay.” Valerie put the pedal to the metal and screeched up in front of the Merryville Museum. Mitzi’s Miata pulled up a few seconds after. The place was locked up tight, but the security lights made it possible to see the green space between the buildings. Juniper walked to the scene of the great fiasco that got her fired for the “Floodlight!” exhibit.
Fiona walked up next to her and put her hand on her shoulder. “It’s lovely at night, isn’t it?”
“Yes, as long as some damn cherry picker doesn’t rise up from the beach below.” They shared a quick laugh before getting to work.
I WAVED AT Fiona, having last seen her at the hotel in Germany. Elsa was in a trance already, with Ekk staring intently at the sky that, to me, looked like any other normal Merryville Spring night. He laid his hand on my arm. “Do you have any food with you?”
I searched my pockets and came up with a couple of Lara bars. “Don’t want you two disappearing in the middle of the ritual.” Ekk took one and gave one to Elsa, who accepted and smiled sweetly.
Fiona went back out to the parking lot and met several young men with a truck. I walked over to Juniper. “What’s she doing?”
Before Juniper could answer I heard someone say, “Don’t worry. Just get ready to do your part.” The commanding male voice came out of the darkness and sounded a great deal like Ehren.
“How is that possible?” I asked. “Is he here?” Mitzi and I strained our eyes into the dark.
“No, but the portal is thinning,” Ekk answered quietly. “It leads directly to the Hercynian Garden. Shhh, Elsa needs to concentrate.”
Fiona’s men, all dressed in black, were well trained to sneak up on the unsuspecting and light it up like the brightest noon. Tonight, they silently unrolled a huge map with what looked like a compass upon it, as well as symbols. In the center was the image of a large octopus.
“And what exactly is that?” I asked.
Rather than answer, Ekk moved forward and tugged gently at my left arm. “Panda, you stand on North. Mitzi, you’re West. Valerie, South and Juniper, where’s Juniper?”
“Over here.” She’d been watching the scaffolding being set up and walked toward the elaborate ritual space. “Looks like a game. Remember Twister?”
Again, the creative artist in her was tickled.
“This is no game, I assure you,” Ehren said. Not for the first time, I thought Mitzi would have been under a firm hand in her childhood had she been raised in the Hercynian Garden.
“I’m ready, Father.” Mitzi took her place meekly.
With all four of us in place, the moment became denser, compressed. It felt to me like we had entered another two or three atmospheres of pressure. Along the edges of the designated space, I saw blurry images of Ehren and his advisors, but one area was still dark.
Mitzi screamed, “I feel it! Wolfrum’s near!” Her shoulders sprouted nodules.
Ekk took control again as the whole place began to vibrate. “It’s to be expected. We’ve opened a portal to the entire area of the Black Forest. Whatever you do, don’t leave your spot. Scribe?”
The elf who had explained that we could do this ritual in Merryville cleared his throat. It was so strange that I could hear him clear his throat 5000 miles away. When he first started speaking, his voice sounded underwater, like some of those bad school films in Health class. It slowly became clear.
“The treaty between Wolf-Ravens and Hercynian Garden folk has its roots in the mists of time...”
Valerie and Juniper were listening raptly, but Mitzi looked wild-eyed. I couldn’t see what she was seeing.
“Every fourth generation, at the time of the dog sun...”
“Wolf-Raven!” The voices broke through, loud and clear.
“Wolf-Raven!”
From the Hercynian Garden, Ehren’s scribe spoke louder. “The dog sun is the sign for the change. In modern-day North America, the Native Americans looked to the rainbow.”
The ground under my feet rumbled. Fiona’s men spread out at the edges of the green space, facing outward. They were obviously there to protect us and were on high alert.
Off to the side, Elsa was as still as stone. I was worried about her. This whole thing seemed to drain her of energy.
Unexpectedly, Mitzi sprouted wings with a force that frightened me, and I almost ran to her. Seeing this, Ekk shouted, “Don’t move, Panda!” Then he said to Mitzi “Stay on the ground. Stay on the ground!” The little man ran around us, just like my childhood border collie used to do. What weird thoughts I was having; my old collie died twenty years ago.
Valerie and Juniper were amazing. Each held their place and lifted their arms to the sky, as if they’d practiced for this ritual. Valerie was morphing, too, looking darker and, well, Native American. When did she put beads in her hair? I looked up as the sky, for lack of a better term, opened. It was suddenly light and clear as day, and I saw what had been only described to me before. The sun was bright, like an orange ball, but to the left and right of it were arcs of light, like false suns.
The scribe went on. “We call upon great Mother Father God to shift our world into the light, and to stretch the rainbow of peace for all peoples.”
My ghost collie ran up to my parents. What? Then I saw them reaching out to me in their hippie garb. “Mom? Daddy?”
“Panda, stay put.” A sharp pain on my foot brought me back to the present. Ekk pinned me with his eyes and had poked his little dagger into
my instep through my sandals. “It’s a trick. Stay focused,” he said.
Back in my body, I noticed a number of cars had pulled up in front of the museum.
The Brazilian jiujitsu boys came streaming across the green space toward us. There must have been thirty of them, far too many for Fiona’s men to handle. I stood in place, not sure what to do, with a strange wind blowing from nowhere and everywhere, watching what was sure to be a massacre.
“The false sun dogs the true sun. The rainbow brings together all peoples. The octopus...”
This made no sense to me. The arch on my foot still smarted where Ekk poked it. I became very interested in the scene before me and in the battle about to begin. Valerie and Juniper were perfect, smiling and still in their places, arms raised to the sun. Mitzi was scaring me. Seeing her in full wings was still a very new experience. She looked like she was getting the brunt of some very powerful force. It was now so bright, it looked like heaven had landed.
The first gi-clad enchanted warrior took a giant leap toward one of the black-dressed artists from Fiona’s Floodlight project. I winced, expecting the skinny, bearded, hipster-looking dude to fold like cardboard. Imagine my surprise when he stood there slack, then lifted his right hand and effortlessly repelled his attacker, who sprawled on the grass and looked stunned. This scenario was repeated again and again as the skinny Eurotrash/ hipster art crew used some kind of force field from their hands to meet violence with magic. Cool, very cool. I was encouraged, but this was not to be a slam dunk.
Since our side was outnumbered about three to one, with the jiujitsu folks being under the influence of Wolfrum, there was still some worry. Occasionally one of the men in Wolfrum’s dark thrall would break through and Ekk would run up to them and stab at their shins with his tiny dagger, with little effect. I gasped and had to fight the urge to run to him as he was propelled ten feet away into the bushes by a well-placed martial arts kick. Elsa’s concentration wavered, and I saw things turning and not in a good way.
The scribe droned on. “It is now time to reclaim the peace and reverse the spell of evil that has gripped this world.”
Floodlight Page 14