“How are you so good at this?” Mike asked.
“A good healer knows…how…to…” Zel’s eyes squeezed shut, and the water behind her exploded, her lower half kicking wildly. She let out a throaty moan, putting her mouth over his dick, and Mike felt a sudden expansion from beneath as Zel worked a second finger just inside his ass.
“Oh fuuuuuuuck!” Mike came, and Zel’s cheeks bulged with semen. She pulled her mouth away and jacked him off onto her tits, pushing gently upward with her fingers in his ass. Thick, creamy ropes of white covered her chest, and she let out a moan of delight, probably in seeing how much he had produced. Mike fell back on the rock, and Zel slowly slid her fingers out of him.
“That was really good,” Mike told her, his body going limp again. At least he wasn’t going to drown this time.
Zel climbed free of the water.
“What are you doing?”
Zel withdrew an empty glass vial from one of her bags. Sticking it to her lips, she filled the vessel with Mike’s cum. She did this with two more vessels before sticking her tongue out at him to reveal that her mouth was empty.
“I swallowed quite a bit of it,” she told him, grabbing another vial. She carefully collected what he had sprayed across her chest.
“Seriously, what are you doing?” Mike asked again.
“Everything in nature has special properties, no matter how small. In a way, your life force is in your semen.”
“I’m familiar with this,” Mike said. Abella had told him something similar after they first met.
“Your life force is also tied to a nymph. I want to analyze what you produced, see how I can use it in my potions.” Zel froze in place, suddenly aware of what she had said. “Oh, Mike, I’m sorry. Only with your permission. Say the word, and I will dump all these out. I’ve been so alone out here I forget what it’s like to be around others.”
Mike laughed. “You know what? It’s fine, as long as it never gets used against me or anything like that.” Breathing heavily, Mike stared at the sky. It didn’t bother him at all.
Despite the cool climate of the storage unit, Beth was hot enough that her deodorant was starting to fail. Her best guess was that a combination of stress and caffeine had overwhelmed her nervous system, and she was currently standing directly beneath an air vent in the hope of avoiding unsightly pit stains.
“Okay, so what’s the damage?” Lily asked, setting the last box back in place. Between the two of them, it had been nearly two hours of Lily lifting boxes aside to read their contents while Beth crossed them off. Currently, Beth was trusting that the boxes hadn’t been opened, mainly due to the fact that they had been sealed up extra tight with duct tape that had strange letters written across portions of it. She thought they were initials at first, but closer inspection made her think of Hebrew, or something similar.
“It’s so weird,” Beth said. “When I look at the stuff that’s missing, it’s nothing interesting. None of these boxes contains anything of actual value. Just random knickknacks. If anything, it looks like we are only missing maybe two boxes of items. Unless these things are antiques or something, I can’t imagine the financial loss is that great.” Beth turned over the paper. “Well, unless you count the missing grandfather clock.”
“Missing clock?” Lily undid her ponytail, her dark hair flowing freely across her shoulders.
“Yeah. An old grandfather clock. I don’t see it. However…” Beth stood on the corner of the pallet. “I imagine it was right here. You can see the gap where they didn’t stack anything.”
“That’s weird. From everything I saw, there was no mention of selling a clock. Just those boxes.”
“Well, that’s something for their lawyers to figure out. After all, clocks don’t just get up and walk away.” Beth stuck the papers in her briefcase, which was open on a stack of boxes. She closed it, sliding the locks into place. “This could have been way more work for me. Thanks for all your help.”
“Thanks for letting me tag along.” They walked out of the storage unit together, and Beth pulled down the door and then locked it. “I don’t know about you, but I am famished. Lunch isn’t holding me over like I thought it would.”
“I doubt there’s anywhere nearby we’d even want to eat, especially if it’s run by someone else in Randy’s family,” Lily said, her shoes clicking on the hard floor. They walked back into the sunlight, squinting at the sudden brightness.
“That’s probably true.” Walking past the office, Beth saw that Randy was fast asleep at his desk. “Such a hard worker,” she observed sarcastically.
“Hope he’s having good dreams,” Lily said with a smirk.
They got into Beth’s car, and Beth pulled out of the dirt lot and back onto the main road. They drove largely in silence, occasional small talk breaking up the trip. Beth pulled into the drive-thru of a local burger joint and requested extra fry sauce for Lily. The miles were swallowed up behind them until they found themselves back in the city. Beth dropped Lily off at the parking garage, noticing that the town car was gone.
“See you tomorrow?” Beth asked.
Lily winked, stepping out of the car and walking across the lot. Beth watched her disappear behind a concrete pillar, marveling at how helpful her new intern had already proven to be.
Navigating the cliff path took some effort, but Mike and Zel finally arrived at the door to the greenhouse. Standing before the giant wall of glass, Zel glanced up into the sky, her eyes round in wonder.
“I never thought about how it would feel to leave this place,” Zel said, lowering her gaze to the door. “I debated trying to sneak out a few times, but the human world is cruel to my kind, and I had nowhere else to go.”
“Why didn’t you bust out and speak to Emily?” Mike asked. “I’m sure she would have let you stay.”
“Maybe,” Zel admitted. “My aunt warned me that if I did, I’d be losing my one shot at survival. If Emily said no, I was out on my own with nobody to help me. Emily wasn’t exactly known for her kindness to strangers, especially among my tribe.”
“What did they say about her?” Mike asked.
“Recluse. Homebody. Murderer.” Zel shrugged. “She seemed okay when we met her but very guarded. Didn’t let us anywhere near the house.”
Mike moved to stand in front of Zel. “So here’s the deal. Be honest with everybody when you meet them. Tell them why you want to move in with us.”
“I’m lonely. I have nobody else. I want to fit in.” Zel’s eyes shimmered with tears. “You don’t think they’ll tell me no, do you?”
“I don’t think it’ll be a problem. We do have to talk to Naia first.” Mike appraised the centaur, listening literally to his gut. Naia had imbued him with a danger sense that often came far too late, one that he felt in his stomach as an icy spear of pain. For now, his stomach was silent.
Zel took a deep breath, running her hands across her stomach. “I’m sorry, I’m just a little worried. I don’t know what I’ll do if you make me go back.”
“I think you’re good to stay. Like I said, I want to run it by Naia first, simply because she knows the house better than I do.” Mike opened the door. “And if that doesn’t work, you’re always welcome to stay in the greenhouse and come visit. It isn’t like you haven’t already lived here for a decade. Maybe we can redo the garage, make it a living space for you.”
Nodding, Zel stepped through the portal onto the darkened lawn of the house. Mike followed, closing the greenhouse door.
“Hello?” he called, expecting someone to be waiting for him. Strangely, the house was silent. “I was supposed to be back hours ago,” he explained, walking across the lawn. Zel walked next to him in silence, her eyes fixed on the house like it would reach out and snap her up.
“Tink? Abella?” Coming around the corner into the garden, he saw Naia lying in the fountain, blue and green strand
s of hair spread across the surface of the water like seaweed.
“There you are!” Naia sat up, the water of the fountain parting to let Mike in without getting his feet wet. Naia pulled him in for a tight embrace. “You were supposed to come back forever ago!”
“Sorry about that. I ran into some trouble.” Mike stepped aside, gesturing at the centaur. “Naia, this is Zel. I found her living in the woods of the greenhouse. She asked if she could move in, and I said I would have to check with you.”
“It’s your call, lover, but we have some more important problems to deal with. You need to go see Cecilia right away!” Naia performed a curtsy for Zel. “It’s very nice to meet you, and we’ll have time for proper introductions later, but he needs to go deal with this right now.”
Puzzled, Mike waved farewell to Zel and went in the back door. “Tink? I’m home!” Surprised when the goblin didn’t appear, he walked through the front door and stopped on the porch.
“It’s about time,” Cecilia scolded, appearing next to him. The air was immediately chilled, but that wasn’t what Mike noticed. Standing in the middle of his yard was a black woman in a bright-white suit.
“What the hell?” Mike started to move toward her, but Cecilia placed a hand on his chest.
“She’s been standing out here all day,” Cecilia said. “She’s one of them.”
“Mr. Radley.” The woman’s voice was deep and soulful. “Such a pleasure to meet you. My name is Kali. I am a member of the society, and I have come to you with a very limited-time offer.”
“Zero fucks given, lady. This is private property, and I insist—” Mike pushed past Cecilia, and his foot was almost on the ground beneath his porch when dozens of snakes broke through the soil, fangs bared at him. He backpedaled onto the porch, staring at the writhing bodies in his front yard. His hand went to the bag on his belt. “Sweet fucking Jesus!”
“The geas of this home is quite strong, the strongest I have ever encountered,” Kali informed him, waving her hands slowly through the air. Shadows trailed behind her fingertips, then fell to the ground and squirmed away from her. “I will learn much by finding a way to break it. Unless, of course, you would like to discuss terms?”
“You need to find Tink,” Cecilia said, helping him to stand. “She knows how to activate the defenses. Emily showed her how.”
“The house has defenses?” Looking out at the woman on his lawn, he shivered. She was chanting quietly in a language he didn’t understand, more shadows dripping from her fingers to encircle the house. “And where is Tink? Or Abella?” Mike imagined the gargoyle could crush Kali easily beneath her weight.
Cecilia fixed him with a scowl. “Sofia gave you a fool’s errand. Once you left, she convinced Tink and Abella to help her in the Labyrinth while you were gone in order to keep you safe. They left shortly after you did. I wanted to come after you, but this bitch showed up.”
“They what?!” Mike cast a glance in Kali’s direction. The shadows and snakes were gone, but the woman’s sinister smile remained, sending a chill up his spine.
“The offer is only good until I find a way in,” Kali informed him. “Make no mistake. I will tear your entire world apart when I do.” Raising her fist, she pantomimed knocking on a door. Mike watched in astonishment as green light rippled away from her, traveling along a giant invisible sphere that surrounded the home.
Mike contemplated the woman on his front lawn for several moments. Without the others, how could he hope to protect the house? To protect them? Storming back inside, he did his best not to slam the door behind him.
“What should we do?” Cecilia asked, passing through the front wall, lines of worry on her face.
Mike ignored her, stamping his way up the stairs. He walked into the room at the end of the hall, the room with the closet that opened to another world. He could see the scuff marks in the wood from Abella’s careful footsteps. The door of the closet was still open. Reaching into the bag, he grabbed the knife tightly as he rounded the corner and promptly smashed his face against the back of the closet wall.
“Blef!” Mike’s nose gushed blood all over his shirt. He had expected the portal to still be open. Stumbling back out of the room, he ran past Cecilia at the bottom of the stairs and into the kitchen. The maps had all been taken, and there were no instructions left behind for how to open the portal.
“Fuck!” Mike screamed at the table, spraying blood everywhere. Cecilia was where he had left her in the front room, waiting patiently for him. He beckoned her to follow, stepping onto the back patio. Zel and Naia were deep in conversation.
“It’s bad,” Naia said, reading the look on his face.
“Yeah, it is.” Mike approached the fountain, pinching his nostrils shut with one hand. Zel stepped forward and applied a powder to his skin that stung like a face full of bees, but it stopped the bleeding.
“What do we do?” Naia asked.
Zel, who had no idea what was going on, stood quietly to the side.
“If they aren’t back by morning, then something must have happened. They were going down there to fight a fucking Minotaur, and that shouldn’t have taken them all afternoon. What was Sofia thinking?” Mike looked at the bedroom window of the second floor. “What were any of them thinking?”
“They were thinking of protecting you,” Naia told him, summoning a sphere of water to clean his face. “But that’s not what is important. If they aren’t back by morning, what then?”
“Then I go after them,” Mike said, a dark look crossing his face.
“But you don’t know how to open the portal,” Naia told him.
“You’re right, I don’t.” Mike pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing gently up and down. “But I might know someone who does.”
Beth tossed her briefcase on the counter and paused in her kitchen long enough to grab a glass of wine. After stripping out of her clothes, she greedily swallowed the contents of her glass, smiling at the soccer field outside of her apartment. Tonight, a swarm of red and black moved back and forth on the field, the enthusiastic crowd somehow cheering her up. She and Lily had figured out what was missing, and now the next step would be to visit with Mike. She used her phone to send an email, asking when would be a good time to stop by.
After sliding into a pair of panties and a nightgown, she brushed her teeth, hoping to rid her mouth of the taste of wine. The cheap stuff was good but had a bitter aftertaste. Feeling like her luck was improving, she wandered over to her closet and pulled out a black briefcase that had been hidden toward the back.
Her phone dinged. She walked to her nightstand to see that Mike had replied.
Tomorrow would be fine, he wrote. Early morning works best for me.
“Some other time, then,” Beth said, pushing the briefcase with some regret to the back of her closet. She didn’t want to be up late and knew that if she started playing with her toys, it would be at least an hour before she fell asleep after she was done. She closed the closet door and saw movement in the nearby mirror.
It was Sebastien. He sat on the end of her bed, bracing his weight on his cane.
“I’m afraid you’re about to become a victim of circumstance,” he told her.
Beth spun to face him, a scream building in her throat. He stood, placed the tip of his cane in the middle of her chest, and pushed. She fell backward into the mirror, expecting her world to become bathed in broken glass. Instead, the mirror cushioned her impact, the softened surface gripping her like thick glue.
“What is happening?” she asked, her body slowly sinking into the mirror. She fought to break free, but that only sped up the process.
“You’re about to become my ticket into the Radley home,” Sebastien said. His face twisted into a sneer, and he used his cane to push her again. Her stomach flopped, the gravity of the room shifting. Even though she was standing, she felt like she was on her back,
and she reached out with her one free hand to grab something, anything. Behind Sebastien, a lump was forming beneath the covers of her bed, an unseen figure slowly sitting up.
“I’m afraid that I can’t have anyone finding your body,” he told her.
“I don’t understand.” The silvery liquid clung to her skin, working its way up over her face. The figure on the bed sat upright, the blankets sliding away to reveal a mass of blank flesh. Its skin rippled like water, and Beth watched in horror as the thing on her bed opened its taffy mouth to take a deep breath. Breasts formed on its chest, and hair grew down to its shoulders. It stood, slender legs forming beneath it. It stuck out one hip, its horrible face settling into a shape that was instantly familiar.
The scream in Beth’s throat froze when she saw that the thing had become her.
“I don’t care to explain it. Through the looking glass with you.” With one final shove, Sebastien pushed her the rest of the way through. The world around her popped, and she was falling down a large, rocky shaft, the mirror above fading into the distance as she tumbled down the rabbit hole. Throwing out her arms, she was able to stabilize herself, and her descent slowed. Somewhere far beneath was a soft red light, and her destination came closer. The walls of the tunnel widened around her, its surface lit by the glow from beneath.
“This has to be a dream,” she said, unable to convince herself. But the warm rush of air across her legs and face was far too real. Perhaps she had fallen into a drunken slumber and this was a fever dream? The stress of her week must have finally gotten to her, and seeing that creepy lawyer had been her brain tossing one final detail into this bizarre fantasy.
She had plenty of time to contemplate these things as she fell.
MAN IN THE MIRROR
Beth’s fall slowed dramatically before impact, and she was easily able to rotate her body to land softly on her feet. Looking up, all she could see were the clouds she had passed through on the way down. There were now several red marks on her left arm, each one from a nasty pinch that she’d given herself to try to wake up from this strangest of dreams. Now that she was on the ground, she saw that she stood in a beautiful garden with a large marble gazebo in the middle.
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