“Yeah, I never thought about that. It’s a good thing we got sewer systems.”
“That is one of the things, but, another, that I cannot tell you how much I love, is toilet paper. The very wealthy had rags they could wipe on, and people to clean the rags for them. I saw nobody who admitted to doing that. This toilet paper you throw away and never have to deal with again, this is amazing. This is riches. Wiping your ass on a stick or some grass, that sucks. If you ever wipe your ass on a poison bush, well, that is hell. Imagine the swelling and the itching and having to work with that going on. People got sick because they had dirty hands, so many thought they were clean when they wiped their hands off. Then whole families could get sick and die and never know why. We taught them.”
“Y’all knew about germs – never mind, y’all knew.” They could heal just like I did. They could ‘see’ what was going on in the body.
“Yes, we knew about them. We tried to give people an idea about why they got sick without details, we didn’t let people see we were different. People hate different. We never stayed in one place too long. You arrive at a place, see what they need help with. Help with what you can and leave.”
“Yeah, I can see that. It won’t work that way these days, too many people, too far, and people are too connected. If I showed up at somebody’s house they would worry about what I wanted and figure I was homeless.”
Mags steepled her fingers, “You cannot keep doin’ what you doin’ here. Everybody knows where you are. They come to you for help. Other people hear of you and they want help, they have to come here or call you. Some will be jealous or angry or fear you. Or want what you have.”
Words to live by. I could see all that. But what could I do?
Fifteen
“H ey, all. How we doin’ today?”
I jumped and rolled to the side as I squeaked, Mags jerked back from the table, her chair screeched as it moved. Beta formed a sword blade on my right hand as I moved without any thought or effort on my part, I held it before me as a block.
I looked around the kitchen, there wasn’t anybody there but me and Mags. I knew I had heard the words; the voice was right behind me. Mags stood with her back against the counter, crouched and ready to spring; but there was nothing to attack. Nobody there.
“Didn’t mean to make you jump, I’m right outside, just getting your attention.” The voice didn’t come from anywhere I could pinpoint.
“What do you want? Who are you?”
The voice was like bells, high, leaving a faint ringing behind as it faded.
“I want you both to come outside your house and talk with me or invite me inside. I am willing to tell you who I am but it will take quite a while. I mean you no harm, quite the reverse actually. It will be to your best interest to come out and meet me.”
Cold chills ran up my back, this sounded bad to me. Wanting to get invited inside was straight out of a bad vampire movie. The idea something abnormal was outside, where Carl or Wanda or some of the kids might run into it, just took my breath away. I didn’t want to go out and mess with this. It was here for me and Mags it appeared. I didn’t want anyone else to have to deal with it. They had already been through enough.
I stopped at the front door, Mags right behind me, and got set. I looked at her to make sure she was ready for whatever this was gonna be and she nodded.
I snatched the door open and stepped through looking at everything fast as I could. I moved to the side so Mags could get out when I didn’t see anyone on the porch.
M ags came out and to the right, I was on the left. Beta was waiting to find out what was necessary. The sword was gone and I hadn’t even noticed.
“That was almost well done. I can show you a few things you could do that would help, but at least you are a little cautious.” It sounded like a wind chime somehow but there was nobody there.
“This is gonna be aggravating if a voice just gone happen a lot from now on. Most of the time they is somebody hooked up to voices. When they ain’t, some bad things can happen from what I seen on TV.” I spoke conversationally, this was some weird shit. Mags had no more idea than I did from the way she was standing and looking around, back against the wall of the house.
“I projected my voice using the air. I’m around back. I don’t like getting hit and cut and so forth. I’m here to pass along some information.”
“Ok, somebody else wants to threaten us, or you want some blood? This ain’t gonna end well for you. I reckermend you pack yo shit up and git yo self gone before we even start, I am sick and fed up with mothafuckas annoyin’ me.” I spoke in a conversational tone but inside I was cooking mad. I was done. I’d dissolve whatever shitbag this was before it skinned anybody or cut somebody’s head off or some other gruesome shit I hadn’t thought of yet. I sailed off the edge of the porch and toed off my tennis shoes soon as I hit the ground. I Pulled at dirt for strength and Beta was a layer of armor over my body and a couple short blades on my hands. I got madder each step. I could feel Mags behind me, the shudder when a foot hit the ground, I felt in a bubble around me like I was looking in every direction all at once.
There was nothing there. All the way into the back yard I was ready for something to jump at me, shoot at me, something. I ended standing back there ready for anything, and …Nothing.
“Bring yo nasty ass on out here and let’s get this done, I want to do some grocery shoppin’ today and you wastin’ time with all this drama shit. Let’s get it on, bitch.”
I was damn near frothing at the mouth mad, all I needed was a target, this just wasn’t gonna keep on happening.
“I’m a little hesitant to show myself, you know you are a bit scary, right? I didn’t mean any harm.”
There was a short silence, then
“I swear I have no thought or intent of harm to you or anyone you claim. I place myself at your disposal.”
A ringing noise pinged and something changed. That was said slowly and carefully like it was read from a contract. Another voice spoke, male, quick, casual,
“Witnessed. Sealed.”
“How many of you fuckers are out here?” My knives were longer now, I was listening and looking as hard as I could for something invisible to hit me, putting my back against the wall so they couldn’t hit me from behind.
Mags said “I have heard of this, it is something to do with the fey. Ease up Rose, this might be ok.”
“If I show myself would you calm down? Could you hold off attacking me for a bit, maybe we could talk? I can come back after a while if you would like some time.”
“Show yoself and let’s see where it goes from there.”
At the far edge of the yard, against the hedge bushes, a man faded into view. It didn’t take long, but not slow either, maybe careful not to spook us. Or actually me; Mags had relaxed a lot, she must have some idea what was going on.
He was average. About my height, white, brown hair, couldn’t tell eye color from here, tennis shoes, pullover, jeans, not chiseled or tall or anything at all.
“Hi. I didn’t mean to freak you out. Sorry about that. I know your names, I’m Kate. Wait, oh fuck, I mean, um, Harry.”
He looked down his body and frowned.
“I hope I didn’t screw that up too. Look, this is supposed to be simple, I came to help you.”
“I appreciate that, you here to wash dishes, right? I don’t think so. What are you to help with, why? And what the hell are you?”
“I didn’t come to wash dishes but I will if you want me to, learning what you can do and how to do it, because the Morrigan told me to, a crow.”
“What?” He stood very still, giving the impression he would escape if I made any move toward him.
“You didn’t understand me? I’m sure I was clear.” Then he repeated what he said the first time exactly, word for word, same tones, like a recording.
“You’re here to help with learning? Morrigan sent you? To teach?”
“Yes, yes.”
“Y
ou gone answer every question I ask like that?”
“Yes, exactly!”
“What was that about a crow?”
“I’d rather not get into that, but you did ask, I am a crow. This isn’t something you need to explore. I don’t see it helping with your studies.”
“You mean like an Indian, right, blackfoot, apache and so forth?”
“Ehhhhh…fuck my life. No, I mean crow, black bird that flies in the air, eats dead things mostly, gets run over on the road, sits in trees and sqawks. There, now you are in much better shape to work your life out, see? Totally useless. The knowledge I mean.”
“Ok, it’s just that you don’t look exactly like a crow. I mean its close, but, you know, you a little bigger than most crows. And they is other little things, like you ain’t got no feathers. And your wings, well, they look almost like arms and shit.”
“I knew you were going be this way. I knew it. I didn’t want to get into it. The whole thing sucks to try to explain, look, can you just take my word for it? I got no reason to lie that you know of. Or me either. Right now, at least.”
A new voice spoke, I recognized it, Morrigan
“I sent you a teacher. Learn.”
“Oh, hey Morrigan, how you doin’?”
I got no reply from Morrigan. crow – Harry –said “She gave me that so I could convince you I was for real. She said I would screw it up and make you mad. She didn’t tell me you were a berserker.”
“None a this shit makes sense but I understand a little now maybe. Leadin’ off with that might have helped. And I don’t know what a berserker is, if that’s a bad thing, I don’t think you ought to be insulting me.”
Mags squatted down against the side of the house listening with a big grin.
“Berserkers are great, don’t worry about it. Ok, we good, we done? I got things to do, places to be. Nice meeting you.”
He, or it, or whatever it should be called, bent over and started wiggling its ass back into the hedge moving backwards. It looked massively silly.
I hollered “Hey, wait a minute, what are you doin’?”
“Morrigan said teach, answer questions, I did it. I love y’all, truly I do, and I would like to stay with you for… well, not for long now. I gotta lotta things to do and I must be off, we’re done.” It was buried halfway in the hedge.
“Hold up. I would like to get some answers to other stuff, some explanations. You ain’t taught me shit.”
“I taught you everything you asked me. We got done. Your concentration needs some work, what part do you not remember? And you not even takin’ notes.”
“How can I get a water thingy? What do you call these things? How do I talk with the wind, and the fire? What does Mags need to do now? What training are we missing and where can we get it?”
“You take a container, wait, what is a thingy? What things? I like to call things by their names. You’re just talking nonsense.”
I explained Mags relationship with fire, my relationship with Dirt and Beta, which should include fire and air.
Harry stopped backing into the hedge; he came out and walked over to me.
“You got some kinda necklace named Beta that has Air and Fire in it?” He reached down the front of my shirt and felt around, he moved so quick he had his hand in before I could move.
As quick as I could think, Beta or me or we, maybe, punched him in the chest, kneed him in the crotch, and would have wrapped him up and maybe lit him on fire but the punch blasted him away from us all the way to the hedge. He was seriously light, it was a shock.
“I just wanted to see it. Do you mind if I look at it?” He didn’t act hurt at all. Anyone else would have been winded, gasping, maybe collapsed in a heap.
I ‘looked’ into him like I did the vampire. I needed to know what the hell this was, and I was halfway ready to take it apart. It moved too fast, it wasn’t normal.
It took me a minute, it had the right things in the right places, but they were made of the wrong stuff. It was a crow. I mean, it wasn’t labeled, but it was a fucking bird. It was shaped like somebody; it looked like somebody all over, but the body that was shaped started out as a bird and was just stretched to look human the same way I did to shift into a dog.
A whole lot came clear, or at least more clear. But how much could a crow know about anything? it had a tiny brain. This one had a human sized brain. Maybe somebody had packed it.
“Come here, you can look, but don’t touch. It’s hooked to me, if you touch it, it might hurt you.” I pulled out the necklace and held it by the convenient chain in front of him. He grabbed it. And his fingers fell off, cut free.
“Ouch! Fuck, damn, ow, that hurt.” He bled like a stuck hog. Well, he was bleeding a lot. I never seen a stuck hog. Surely not a hog like, for instance, stuck in a puddle and unable to get out. They saying didn’t really make a lot of sense. Ok, save that for later.
“That’s what I told you, it will hurt you if you touch it. It got Mags the other day. You want to grab it again?” That was sarcasm; I held it out like I was offering it, and the damn thing was suddenly back in front of me, close, and grabbed it again.
“Ouch, fuck, that stings.” He didn’t have any fingers left on his right, grabbing hand and part of the palm was missing. He stopped moving after he jumped back, bent his head over and looked at his hand close, bent it back and forth and touched his tongue to it.
I had the necklace dissolve, spread out and move into a pair of bracelets, one on each wrist. Maybe he’d keep his hands out of my shirt.
He was watching closely, ignoring his bleeding, devastated hand. I couldn’t tell if he was about to zip over and grab again or not, he might have been faster than Chen. He didn’t lean or anything when he moved, he was just suddenly wherever he wanted to be, not like he was running.
“Ok, that was weird and sickening. Leave the thing alone. How do I talk with the air – and you know what I mean, no bullshit.”
He held his hand up to me “Can you fix this?” blood ran down his arm to his elbow and dripped off.
I energized him and directed the healing carefully. I didn’t want to screw him up. It worked to an extent, he stopped bleeding and got little finger stubs on his hand, but it didn’t look good and he had little feathers on the backs of his fingers when I finished. And the skin wasn’t human looking, but what the hell, it was done.
“Each element has a different feel, of course. Earth is ponderous, huge, and doesn’t recognize time. The way you communicate with Earth will not work with Air or any of the other major elements, Water, Fire.” He gracefully slid down into a cross legged seat and gestured at me to do the same. I waved at Mags to come on over.
He continued, “You have a voice you use for communicating with Earth. You must create a voice to communicate with Air.”
Mags sat down, he turned to face her.
“You have a way to communicate with Fire. Something you do; a part of you that stands between you and fire and translates back and forth.”
Mags nodded but stayed silent.
Facing both of us now, he began again.
“Earth is not that dangerous. Fire is a little dangerous, unless you work with a very hot or very large fire, you just get burned a little while you are trying to communicate until you learn how.”
“Air and water, they are very hard to do, very dangerous, and I would not recommend it until you have more experience with Earth and Fire.”
“You got that?” He reached over and lay his hand on my arm as he spoke. I felt a flash of warmth, then he screeched
“Ow, fuck! That hurt!. Ow.” He was crouched twenty feet away looking at his hand, which, once more, was bleeding and missing the little stubby fingers. They were lying in my lap.
“You tried to grab my bracelet? Fuckin’ idiot, leave it alone!”
Mags was astonished, she leaned over to look at the fingers in my lap and the blood on my arm. She snickered, looked over at Harry, snorted once. I was shocked when she fell o
ver sideways holding herself laughing. Then I got tickled, even though it was gruesome.
“What’s up with that shit, Harry? Why you keep on doin’ that and you know it’s gonna hurt you?”
“I want to touch it, it’s so pretty, it pulls at me. You know how it feels, that’s why you keep it.” He was holding his bleeding hand out away from himself to keep it from dripping blood on him.
“It don’t want to be touched. It will hurt you every time. You know that, right? You gettin’ what’s goin’ on here?” Was it that stupid?
He said “Look, you’re upset, I get that. My hand is torn up here, can you fix it?”
“Yeah, come here, I’ll fix it. Do not touch this thing again. At all, just leave it alone. You understand?”
He looked at me for a long moment. Looked at the ground and muttered something to himself. Hopped to one side, then back toward the hedge, then finally came over to stand in front of me.
“Naw. You don’t get any closer till you agree to leave the damn thing alone.” I figured he was about to grab again, Beta disappeared from my wrists and hung under my shirt tails as a belt against my skin.
When it started to move he leaned down and watched, fascinated, then reached toward me and started to run his hand under the bottom of my shirt. I didn’t have a clue how he knew where it was. I slapped him upside the head as he reached, he fell to the side.
“Don’t get up. I am about to sink yo ass, you crazy mofo. What the hell is wrong with you?”
He remained half standing, crouched.
“My hand is hurt and my face is hurt, would you heal me?”
“I’ll fix you, but it’s pointless if you gonna just hurt yourself again. Gimme your word you won’t try to touch it.”
He got on up and came toward me, I sank his ass down to his neck in the dirt. He laid on down, flipped over and swam through the dirt like a fish in water, back into the hedge and was gone so fast I had no time to even think of trying to stop him,. I was left standing there with my mouth open. Mags was howling with laughter over by the house.
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