Excantation

by Honor Raconteur

  “Give them what?” he asked, voice rising.

  Did I cut out? “Seals! I gave them seals!”

  “Why?”

  “How about you come here and I’ll explain when I don’t have to yell?”

  “Sure—”

  Something grabbed me around the waist and mouth, hard hands which yanked me abruptly off balance. I didn’t even have time to gasp or panic or scream before I splashed into the water.

  The waters in northern Canada were cold. Even that didn’t do it justice. The cold robbed me of all breath, an immediate shiver racking my skin. I shook with it, mouth automatically closing in defense. My eyes were useless under the water; it was too murky to see anything. I fought for the surface, but my arms were captured by something and I was drawn deeper down, down, down. No matter how I struggled, I couldn’t get free of it. The surface was drawing further away from me by the second, and panic seized me all over again.

  I was going down. And whatever had me wasn’t letting go.

  Cold, cold, cold!

  No air, need air!

  I gasped and flailed, but the hands only latched on tighter. Bruises were forming, that’s how tight the grip was. I had to get free, and I only had a few more seconds to do it in.

  My panic-induced brain was slow to think. But think I must, because no one was getting me out of this predicament but me.

  My first thought was I needed scuba gear. An air mask, something. But those were more complicated than the six layers I could create, and I didn’t know how they worked well enough to duplicate one. Screw it, brute force approach it was.

  I imagined a dense, tough rubber all around my body, tight to my skin, and then when I had it in place, I inflated it with a rush of air. It popped out, and the thing dragging me down was forced to let go. I breathed in deeply, taking in the air I’d just imagined into the space with greedy lungs. I panted for breath, still shivering hard. The rubber ball I sat in was clear, but I still only saw the dark murkiness of water.

  My first priority was warmth before hypothermia sat in. I looked down at what I was wearing, everything with five layers or less in each individual piece. I quickly stripped it all off—or tried. My frozen fingers weren’t cooperating. Screw it, I’d banish it. It felt unnerving to banish something off my skin, but I was more worried about hypothermia. Fortunately, I didn’t accidentally take off both skin and clothes. Relieved, I imagined a thick towel. Shivering non-stop, I dried off as quickly as I could.

  I did not know what had dragged me down here, but I was going to MURDER them. I hated being cold and this was not cool. Not cool at all.

  My ball went rolling, and something latched onto it, like they were still trying to drag me somewhere.

  My temper flared up and I shook a fist in that general direction while yelling, “Excuse you, no! I am sitting here naked and in a towel. You do not get to drag me somewhere else, you inbred swamp thing!”

  That made them pause, whoever they were.

  I took advantage of the distraction to imagine new clothes on me, from undies up. Ahh, blessed warmth. I wrapped the towel around my wet hair, which probably looked strange. I was past caring.

  I pointed a finger in the general direction of the swamp thing. “Listen, buddy, I’m up here to do some work. You’re not dragging me off to be a virgin sacrifice or whatever. Take me back to the surface.”

  My ball abruptly dove another foot.

  “Wrong. Freaking. Direction,” I gritted between my teeth. “But you know what, I don’t need your help.”

  They wouldn’t take me up? Fine. I imagined a pedestal under me, one that curved along the sides so it would hold my ball in place. Then a column that stretched up many, many feet into the air. “Form.”

  I rose quickly into the air, bursting free in seconds, with water sloughing off all around me in a wave. I was so happy to see that grey sky I felt like crying for a second. I imagined myself a knife, then stood before cutting my bubble open and climbing out, as I didn’t need it anymore.

  Now, in normal circumstances, I’d just create myself a bridge and walk back to land. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. But if I did that, I was afraid of getting too close to the water and repeating this whole nonsense that got me cold and wet in the first place. Not exactly my idea of a good time.

  A few people watched me from the docks, pointing and talking to each other. I was too far out to hear what they were saying. I only caught snatches of words here and there, but they probably wondered why I was out here on top of a pedestal that didn’t exist five minutes ago. Funnily enough, I wondered the same thing. I still had no idea who my wanna-be kidnapper was.

  Something’s head popped out, and I kid you not, it looked like something straight out of the old black and white version of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. A big fin trailed out the back of a very round head, with similar fins on either side of its face. Its eyes were round and frog-like. The skin resembled a dolphin’s but icy blue instead of grey. The creature reached up with webbed hands to touch my column, and I think it was frowning at me.

  I frowned back and leaned over the side so I could yell better. “What’s the big idea? Why are you trying to drown me?”

  It frowned harder. “You take seals.”

  I blinked. “What?”

  “You take seals. You say so. Where seals?”

  Oh, for the love of— “STUFFED seals, you idiot. I gave the kids seal toys!”

  The creature gave me a slow blink, processing this. “Not real seals?”

  Kanaaq came running out toward the dock, his bulk moving faster than I would have guessed him capable of. Klaus was right on his heels, despite being significantly shorter. Someone had reported that I was in trouble, and I was relieved to see it. With my cellphone sopping wet, there was no way for me to easily call my kobold guardian.

  Kanaaq screeched to a halt on the wet wood, hands waving frantically above his head. He lifted his voice and it sounded like he had a mic, he was that loud. “Honored Agloolik, please hear me!”

  Oh, is that what this creature was? I knew basically nothing about this culture’s mythology, so even knowing the name didn’t help. Who was I dealing with, here?

  The Agloolik turned its head, revealing more of its body, and it looked kinda seal-ish in the way it was formed. “You are the elder here?”

  “Yes, I am,” Kanaaq confirmed hastily. “The young woman above you is Imagineer Hunt. She has come to help us build a Hub.”

  There was that slow blink again, like the Agloolik was processing information. Maybe on a Windows Vista, ’cause it sure wasn’t going at high speeds. “She is ally?”

  “Yes, yes, she is an ally. Please release her to us.”

  The Agloolik wasn’t entirely convinced. He looked up at me dubiously. “Toy seals?”

  Showing’s believing, I guess. I created another one and dropped it down to him. He caught it with a webbed hand before it smacked him in the head, and looked it over curiously. Then he grinned. (Very alarming expression, that. Sooo many teeth.) “Cute.”

  “I’m glad you think so. Can I come down now, or are you going to drag me back under again?”

  “You are ally. I will not harm you,” the Agloolik promised faithfully. Then he looked at the seal again wistfully. “Can I keep it?”

  Seriously? He wanted to keep the seal—yeah, okay, whatever. I made a clear, water-proof bag and dropped that down too. “Put the seal in there. It won’t get wet and destroyed that way.”

  He flipped onto his back, kinda like an otter would, and immediately put his toy inside the bag. Then he waved at me, like we were friends now, and dove back under the water. In seconds, he was gone.

  Klaus cupped his hands around his mouth and called, “You alright?”

  “Peachy. Everything with me is soaked, though.” Including my phone, curse it. Of course he’d destroy the thing I couldn’t just easily imagineer a replacement for.

  I heard a motor and turned to see. Ah, there was Ciarán. He throttl
ed back and drove the cigarette boat in closer to my pedestal. Oh good, he could easily get me back to dry land. The closer he got, the clearer his expression became. He looked me over carefully. “What’s going on?”

  “Misunderstandings. Wet and cold misunderstandings,” I sighed. “Help me down?”

  “Okay, but fill me in, too.”

  I swung my legs off over the side and dropped down into his arms. It wasn’t that far of a drop, only a few feet, so we didn’t rock the boat much. We were barely seconds from shore, and Klaus was eager to help me out of the boat and back onto the dock.

  “What happened?” he demanded of me as soon as he had me back on dry land.

  “The Agloolik heard me say something about giving seals to people, mistook that as something nefarious, and grabbed me. He was dragging me down to the bottom of the ocean before I could get free of him.” I turned to Kanaaq and demanded, “Is that normal?”

  “No, no,” Kanaaq assured me, waving hands in dismissal of this. He looked dismayed at the idea. “The Agloolik are the guardians of the seals and their pups. They help us find enough food to feed ourselves and our families, thereby ensuring that we all survive. They’re protectors of this area. He must have misunderstood what you said and thought you were an enemy of the seals.”

  “Ugh. I wished he’d asked questions first.”

  “I do as well.” Kanaaq looked embarrassed, high color on his cheeks. “Please, come back inside. I will make you something hot to drink so you can warm up. We’ll find a hairdryer to dry your hair.”

  “Yeah, thanks.” I sighed because there was no saving the phone. Silver lining, I would get an upgrade?

  Doing all of that took a good hour. Klaus called in an order for a new phone and headphones so that when we returned to London, I’d have a replacement ready. Ciarán took over drying my hair for me, which felt nice. I’d always liked having my hair played with.

  Kanaaq made me some mean hot chocolate and put it in a large thermos so I could take it on the road. There wasn’t much point in staying here any longer, as this wasn’t the place where we were meant to be. So, after Brigid hugged and kissed her trees, we loaded into the boat. I had to banish my pedestal, as it was really in the way. After so much practice with banishing recently, I felt more confident than usual as I took it down. Zoya had been correct—the more I practiced, the more confidence I gained.

  With it gone, we waved a final goodbye, and away we went.

  It took several more hours to go from Prince of Wales Island to the harbor at Devon Island, which was Dundas Harbour. Klaus had packed a picnic lunch, which we all ate on the boat, and it was a good thing too. By the time we arrived, it was very late afternoon, and the only thing that kept me from fainting from hunger was that picnic lunch. The before birds rising was making more sense. Brigid had obviously realized it would take a while to get over here.

  It begged the question of when Richard had left with Aisling, as he’d had to do surveys and all sorts of stuff. Granted, he came back late, but still.

  I was relieved to reach the harbor, as being on the water had been even colder. I was not adequately dressed for this weather, and it was only going to get colder as the day went on. I should have created myself even warmer clothes. Without my yummy hot chocolate, I’d have been a popsicle. I’d definitely drop a word in people’s ears about designing the Hub with plenty of heating. We’d need it up here.

  We switched to another vehicle, a Jeep this time, and off we went. I had Richard’s survey map in hand, and we followed it out into the middle of freaking nowhere. Literally, nothing in sight. Just patches of something that might be grass? And lots of water and dirt. Yeah, he definitely picked an easy spot to build on.

  Brigid climbed out of the Jeep, lips pursed as she looked around in all directions. “Hmm. We’ll definitely need that greenhouse. Make it tall, Reagan. Give my Tree room to grow.”

  I did not underestimate the size of what she wanted. Not having seen the remains of a honed Alder Tree with my own eyes. Insanely tall greenhouse, coming up! “You bet. Uh, according to the map, you’re standing precisely where the Tree should go?”

  “Yes, so I am.” She backed up two feet, taking something out of the belt pouch at her waist, then bent. The ground opened up for her, and she poured black soil into the hole with her hand. She did that three times, creating a rich bed of nutrients, then pulled out a seed from another pouch. She folded it in with more black soil before standing back with a judicious eye. “Reagan, I do not trust there to be enough water to start a seedling here.”

  “I certainly wouldn’t,” I agreed. The place did not feel very humid, and I knew from the reports that it didn’t get much rain here. “I can do a rain collecting tank to the side, just in case, but how about a sprinkler system? I can make something simple and we can fill it with water whenever we bring supplies through and as we’re building.”

  “Yes, that seems the better plan.”

  “Sure. Let me make a supply building first, so Klaus can work on the Door.”

  Ciarán lifted a hand. “I’m going to return the Jeep. We don’t need it with a Door to go through.”

  “Good thought,” Klaus approved. “It will take Reagan a while to build everything anyway.”

  “Yeah, that’s true,” I agreed. And Ciarán could just fly back, it wasn’t a big deal for him. As he went for the Jeep, I surveyed the scene with a judicious eye. “So, Klaus, if this is the center of the Hub, should I really put anything here? I mean, they’re going to be building right here.”

  “That is a good point. I would say nothing permanent. How about something temporary?”

  I agreed with him, but that brought up another question. “Do you actually need a building? Or a room? Can I just make a door?”

  “Sorry,” he corrected with a shake of the head. “I need a confined space, like a room. I can’t properly anchor to it otherwise.”

  “Ah. Okay, room it is. How about something like a shipping container with a door on the side? That way they can move it around if they need to.”

  “Oh, certainly. That’s a good thought.” He waved me to a spot several feet away from the seed. “Over there somewhere, I would think.”

  “I’ll mark out dimensions first, as I don’t really want these two things that close to each other. Someone’s bound to accidentally send something through the glass, which would be no bueno.” I created stakes and set about marking the dimensions of both, then changed my mind and moved the shipping container/storage shed further out. Just in case.

  As it stood, I had about three hours of daylight left. It was a good thing I could imagine a shipping container, greenhouse, and sprinkler system all into place. If I’d been forced to build it all by hand, we’d definitely be here a while.

  I returned victoriously, and kind of pumped. Bummed I had to set up a new phone because that’s a pain, but yay new phone? I was trying to see the silver lining to my almost-drowning-kidnapping earlier today.

  When I waltzed back into Agna’s house with everyone else—sans Brigid, as she chose to go home directly after reaching London—it was to a full house. Fuller house? I couldn’t get more than three feet inside the door because of the people.

  “Reagan!” a happy voice boomed out. A hulking brute of a man in skin-tight jeans and a medieval tunic—yes, those did look odd together, why do you ask?—came forward with arms outstretched and gave me a hug. “Glad to finally meet you in person. I’m Boyd Rogers.”

  It took a second, then I realized this was one of the people who contacted me regularly for updates. A witch, in fact, although he’d told me once he had an Imagineer mother who he read all the notes to, as her eyes were no longer up to the task.

  I hugged him back, stretching up on tiptoes to get arms around his shoulders. “Oh, hi, Boyd! Glad you could make it.”

  “Wouldn’t miss it. Me mum, she was all excited to hear your call for help, told me to pack me bags, and booted me out the door.” He relaxed the hug to beam
down at me. “Don’t know how much help a witch can be to you Imagineers, what with you building things, but thought I’d offer my services. You said for all to come.”

  “We’ll need all,” I assured him sincerely. “There’s a lot of glamour and protection spells that go into the Hub, something we Imagineers can’t really manage. That’s something more in your wheelhouse. And considering the size of this thing, it’ll take more than a witch. Or a team of witches, even.”

  “That right? James said something to me, but he got interrupted partway.”

  “I have no doubt. I swear, every time I turn around, the amount of people in this house doubles. He’s probably going crazy trying to meet and greet everyone right now.”

  “Oh, aye, that’s clear. Who are these gents behind you?”

  Belatedly, I turned and introduced them. “Klaus, my kobold, and Ciarán, my guardian pooka. Guys, this is Boyd.”

  They shook hands all around and said hello. I spied Aisling coming out of the living room and hailed her. “Aisling!”

  She turned, spotted me, and changed direction, slipping past Boyd’s broad back to manage it. “There you are. How did it go?”

  “I honestly wasn’t sure if Brigid was giving birth to a child or planting a tree,” I answered ruefully. “She put it in the ground readily enough, but she had very, very definite opinions about how the greenhouse should function, and the sprinkling system, and all of that. The nesting instincts ran at high throttle.”

  Aisling laughed, a warm, rough purr of a sound. “That I should have guessed and warned you of. But if you’re here, it means you satisfied her.”

  “Took three tries, but yeah.”

  Boyd listened to this with keen interest. “What’s this, then?”

  “I went with Brigid to our building site and planted an Alder Tree,” I explained to him. “Well, she planted it, I built a greenhouse around it for protection to help its growth. We also have a storage container on site with a connected Door. You guys can go through it instead of the very, very roundabout method it takes to get over there otherwise.”