by W A Rowland
Liam had almost managed to get to the roof when the cops came around the corner beneath. He only needed another few feet to get to the lip, so just before he stepped onto the next block, he caused it to jump and the momentum of the block speeding upward helped launch Liam the few feet he needed to make the roof. His feet landed on solid ground, and he let out a sigh of relief.
Then the cinder blocks fell.
He hadn’t pulled them over onto the roof before releasing his control on them. He heard several loud curses and shouts as the cops below were narrowly missed by the shower of falling concrete.
“The hell? Is he on the roof?” one of the cops yelled, his voice echoing up the narrow alleyway.
“Of the old Wilson building? He’d be nuts if he was, this place was condemned decades ago; besides, we’d have heard him go up the fire escape. He’s gotta be hiding down here somewhere.” The other cop’s voice floating up as well.
Liam mentally added almost killing a police officer to his list of things he didn’t think would happen when he woke up this morning. After a few tense minutes, trying to be as quiet as possible, he proceeded to find a comfortable place to wait out the cops. He would hear if they decided to try the roof and risked more if he made a run for it now.
Liam only had to wait for about 20 minutes for the police cruiser to rumble to life and roll away. After much cursing, and grumbling, he had heard the two officers conclude that they either hadn’t seen someone enter the alleyway or that there was another exit somewhere. Either way, Liam felt a wave of relief when he heard them leaving.
He made his way over to the edge of the building after a few more minutes and looked down into a small, ill-kept lawn occupying the space between the building and the road.
“Ok, Lily, so how do I get down now? I accidentally smashed my steps.”
There were several seconds of silence as they both pondered the question. Then she spoke up. “Well, we haven’t tested your toughness yet. Why not jump?”
“Jump from three stories up? Sure sounds like a great idea! Genius!” he said sarcastically. “While I’m at it, why don’t we see if I can breathe fire and sprout wings from my back?!”
“Ehh. Probably not the wings bit, we already tried shapeshifting. But fire would be pretty cool, go for it,” she encouraged.
“You’re kidding, right? I mean, you can’t really be serious.”
“Sure, I am! I mean what could go wrong!” she said.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I find out I don’t have increased durability and go splat on the ground?”
“Then we get to find out if you’ve got increased healing too! Win-win!”
Liam blinked a few times. “No. How about we find a normal way for me to get down?”
“Pfft, boring!” she said. “Come on, I’ve got a good feeling about this one!”
“Kinda like the acrobatics experiment? Yeah, I’m still feeling that one too.”
“It’s not my fault you panicked and landed on your head! I still think you could have made it!”
“I’m not jumping off the freaking roof!”
After much back and forth about the pros and cons of the fast way down, Liam eventually found a fire escape and made his way down the first two stories without incident. The old rickety stairs ended at the first floor though, about eight feet off the ground, and the drop-down ladder was missing. He looked around for a way to drop the last eight feet to the concrete below, but while he wasn’t paying attention, the metal of the floor suddenly screeched under a weight it hadn’t felt in 50 years. Liam found himself falling forward towards the railing, which hit him square in the nose. Then his feet slid along the now vertical metal grating and one of his fingers got caught on the way down. He would have heard the sickening crunch, if he hadn’t been so busy screaming. The catch from his finger spun him around though and he ended up landing face first on the ground.
He moaned for a moment, thinking about his poor life choices, and then he heard a snap, and the heavy metal floor landed on top of him. He tried to move several times experimentally and deduced that he had at least one broken rib, and several other bruised or broken bits of himself. Liam cried out, and slowly managed to slide the large piece of metal off of his chest, but only with extreme pain.
“Ok, so definitely not super durable,” Lily intoned.
“That looked like it hurt,” a low, melodic voice said as a shadow fell over Liam’s face.
Liam looked up, but could only make out a silhouette standing over him, his vision blurry. He closed his eyes and groaned again, not feeling able to make coherent words.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” the voice said. “Here.”
Liam felt a sudden surge of heat and pain. He winced and grabbed at his broken ribs, but found that after a couple seconds, the pain wasn’t there anymore. He opened his eyes and found a dark-skinned face peering at him from a few inches away. A hand gripped his head and pulled his eyelids up. “Well, no concussion, that’s always good,” the voice said. “Mind telling me what you were up to on the roof of the old Wilson building? Everyone knows that place ain’t safe.”
Liam’s vision cleared and he looked the man over briefly. Dark chocolate skin covered handsome features and a well-muscled body from the look of the man’s bicep on the arm holding Liam’s head. Standing, Liam guessed the man would be about 6’3” and roughly 240 pounds. The man’s aura showed a brilliant white and his face seemed to reflect a genuine concern. Liam finally regained full control of his faculties and started to try to sit up. “A misunderstanding. That’s all.”
“Right…” the deep baritone rumbled out, “that misunderstanding didn’t by chance have something to do with the police cruiser driving slow circles around here would it?”
Liam’s felt his heart rate skyrocket and instinctively looked around nervously.
“Relax man. I ain’t gonna turn you into the cops, but you really ought to be more careful. Now, let me guess, you saw something weird with a black aura and you froze up?”
“Yeah,” Liam said, then froze. “How do you know about Auras?” he warily asked.
“I think you must have a concussion after all. I just put you back together after a tumble like that, with no medical equipment or treatment and that’s what you go with?” the man said, chuckling.
“Oh, Thanks,” Liam got out, his head still spinning from the fall and the weird sensation that must have been this guy putting him back together.
“You’re welcome. Now, I know you’re a demi, but what are you doing out here?” he asked.
“A what?” Liam said, moving into a sitting position.
“A demi. You know, demigod. Mortal given mystical powers by a metaphysical entity. Hang out at this old dude’s house every once in a while.”
Liam was a little dumbstruck. This was another demi? How common are they? Us? Personal pronouns were becoming increasingly difficult to rectify.
“Ok, so out with it, what got the cops on your tail? My first time, it was a vampire chick at the pub. About wet myself. Luckily, my guide got me out of trouble pretty quick. Only had to spend a night in observation at an asylum.” The man volunteered.
“Must be nice having a guide who knows what they’re doing,” Liam said with a bit of a smirk. Inside his head, he heard Lily huff and stick out her tongue. “I saw some kid in the neighborhood nearby. Something just wasn’t right about her.”
“Ohh yeah? Hannah, the changeling. Sweet kid, for a fairy that is,” the man said.
“Wait, you know her? The changeling?” Liam asked.
“Sure. Why not? She’s not a bad one, and she is good at getting information from folks. I mean, who doesn’t answer a little kid when they ask for something important? Also may have something to do with fairy magic and all that.”
Liam shook his head and couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “So many questions.”
“Ask for his name, doofus,” Lily prodded.
“What’s your name?” Liam blurted out.
“Steven. You?” Steven responded nonplussed.
“Liam.”
“Right, Liam, it’s fairly obvious you’re new to all this. So much so that your guide talking to you is still catching you off guard. When did you find your stone?” Steven asked pointedly.
“This morning,” Liam replied hesitantly. How had he known?
“Wow, and already out and about. Most new demis I’ve heard about take a few days to wrap their mind around things. You must either be crazy, dumb, or desperate.”
“I’d say definitely a mix of all three. At least, that’s how it feels today,” Liam answered holding a hand over his eyes.
Steven laughed. “Well, can’t really judge, I guess… but we should probably get moving. If we stay out here much longer, that cop car will be back around.”
Liam nodded and picked himself up off the ground. “Wow, whatever you did really worked,” he said, having expected blinding pain, but instead just got the normal discomfort of his unathletic body.
“Don’t mention it,” Steven said smiling and gesturing down the road. “So, where’s home, Liam?”
Liam snickered. “Wouldn’t exactly call it home, but I live over on Maple Street.”
“Close enough I don’t need to walk ya, just head home, and then I want you to call this number when you’re ready.” Steven produced a plain business card and handed it over to Liam.
“Ready for what?” he asked as he looked. No name, no title, just a number and business hours.
“Ready to find out what you’re capable of,” Steven said with a grin and stuck out his hand.
Liam nodded and the two men shook hands before parting ways. As he walked away, Liam saw Steven pull out his phone and start dialing. He was out of earshot when whoever he called answered though.
Liam made his way back to his apartment as the sun started to set. He walked somewhat quickly, as his neighborhood at night is not where you want to be by yourself. Especially if you’re a lanky, unimposing person like Liam. He figured he just screamed “MUG ME!” to any would-be criminals around. To keep his mind off of the thought of getting stabbed in a back alley, he practiced talking with Lily without moving his lips, figuring he could avoid some future mix-ups with the police if he could NOT look like a lunatic talking to himself.
He walked for around 15 minutes chatting amiably with Lily and was rounding the corner to his block when he saw the flashing lights of several police cars around the front entrance of his apartment building. They couldn’t have ID’d me that quickly, right? He continued to walk cautiously towards the police line, attempting to act innocuous until he had an idea of what had happened. Then he heard someone shout out his name.
“Liam!” The female voice came from the side of one of the squad cars and he made out Kat’s wide-eyed expression from where she stood next to a police officer with a notepad. She broke off from the man and made a bee-line for Liam. As she moved, he heard another voice, this one masculine, also call out his name, Rich. The two passed through the tape line that the police had up from car to car around the entrance to his building. Kat practically jumped on Liam wrapping him in a tight hug, her body giving off a strong, deep yellow aura, relief washing off of her in an almost tangible wave.
Liam felt the tingle again across his skin as she hugged him. Stuck in Kat’s bear hug, Liam could only smile and nod towards Rich who had also made it over by now, trailed by a few police officers.
“Good grief, Liam, we thought you were dead in a ditch somewhere!” Rich said.
“Why is that?” Lily said in his head at the same time that Liam said it out loud.
“Sir, is this the man who lives in the apartment?” a Police woman asked as she made it up to the group.
“Yes, he is officer. This is Liam Douglas,” Rich said motioning to Liam.
Liam partially waved around Kat’s form. “Umm, Kat? Do you mind?” Liam said, and then felt her ease up from where she’d latched onto him.
“Sorry,” she said, “just relieved to see you’re ok.”
“Why is that? What’s going on?” Liam said finally, looking from Kat to Rich to the police officers.
“Sir, we’re going to need you to come inside with us. There’s been an incident,” the officer said, and motioned Liam forward.
* * *
Incident was an understatement. Liam’s apartment had been thoroughly trashed. His couch was cut open, everything in his kitchen was broken, even his little TV had been thoroughly disassembled via sledgehammer it looked like. He stood in the midst of what had been his meager life, and looked at its shredded remains. Kat and Rich had come straight to his apartment after work since they’d heard that he’d been fired, and found the door standing open, the inside trashed. Rich had been the one to call the cops, who had been nearby, investigating a call about a suspicious person in the neighborhood.
Even with the fast response time, they had only just set up the police line a few minutes before Liam had shown up. Kat and Rich stood nearby, having been allowed back in with Liam’s permission. They stood in silence as Liam picked through his possessions, looking for anything unbroken, finding very little.
“What’s the big deal? It’s not like you had that much to begin with,” Lily quipped.
Liam shot her the internal equivalent of an annoyed glare as he picked up one of his law books. Even the pages had been ripped out them all. The police had just finished taking Liam’s statement and were busy checking the doorknob and flat surfaces inside for fingerprints, when Liam heard another familiar voice from the doorway.
“Ohh shit…” Anna said, peering over the police tape through the broken door. Liam grimaced and purposely turned away from the door as a police officer went and told the girl to keep moving. He didn’t need Anna’s snarky remarks or condescending attitude right now, and Liam was convinced that was all he’d be receiving from his one-time paramour.
“Liam! What happened? Are you ok?” Anna said over the police officer.
Liam was surprised to hear a little bit of actual concern in the voice, though he doubted that much of it was actually for him. She was more likely concerned that whoever wrecked his apartment may be going after hers next. He continued to ignore her, but he was alone in this endeavor. Kat eyed the woman in the door like an alligator about to jump a zebra that had gotten too close to the water. Rich saw Kat’s expression drop and moved to intercept the smaller woman, but wasn’t fast enough.
“Like you give a damn if he’s ok!” Kat spat, glaring daggers at Anna. Anna and Liam’s break up had included an implosion of the short friendship that the girls had shared through him, and it had not been pretty.
Anna shifted her attention to Kat and glared back. “What, I can’t care about what happens to my neighbors?”
“You’d need to be human first to care about someone,” Kat said. “And you’re obviously just a leech.”
The line hit Liam a bit ironically, and for a split second he wondered if Kat was onto something there, knowing what he did now. But his thoughts were interrupted as the octave of the argument went up in pitch suddenly. Liam hadn’t been listening for a few seconds, but caught the end of the fight.
“…you stupid little bitch!” Anna screamed.
“Bite me, whore!” Kat yelled back.
It was at this point that two police officers finally got the women split and bodily moved them away from one another before they stated trading punches. Anna was moved down the hall, and Kat into the kitchen, out of sight. Both the women had been glowing a bright emerald color, while the officers and Rich were both glowing a yellowish-green color.
“Well, that was entertaining,” Lily said, almost smirking in his head.
“Just prime time comedy there,” Liam retorted back silently, “So glad you’re entertained by my pain.”
“Come off it Liam. Besides, if I were you, I’d be more worried about why someone broke in and what they were looking for,” she replied. “Do you think it’s at all a coincidence
that the same day you find a core stone, one of the rarest and most powerful phenomena in your world, someone breaks into your apartment and smashes everything that could be used to hide a small object?”
Liam unknowingly creased his forehead while thinking about it and drew the attention of one of the police officers.
“Sir?” The officer questioned hesitantly.
“Why would someone just smash everything? I didn’t have a whole lot of stuff, to start with, and nothing seems to be missing. Why do you think someone would just trash my place like this?” Liam asked.
“Not really sure, sir; normally, something like this is what we would see when the perp is looking for drugs or cash hidden in an apartment. You don’t…” The officer trailed off, his question being obvious, as well as his realization that asking someone if they have drugs is a terrible way to get them to admit they have drugs.
Liam looked at the young officer with a deadpan expression. “No, I don’t have any drugs, and unless the mafia bought out my student loans and are trying to find couch change for next month’s payment, I don’t think that either of those would apply.”
“Ahh… yeah… right.” The cop turned a little red and then went back to documenting the smashed TV, emitting an off-blue aura now.
“Ok, so someone knows that I found the core, but they think I’ve hidden it somewhere. So, I’m assuming that cores don’t bond with just anyone,” he said to Lily.
“Bingo!” Lily said excitedly. “Only certain people are able to bond to a core. I don’t know why that is though. That’s a Joshua question. But, apparently, somebody else knew that Mr. Nelson had a core, and is trying to find out who took it.”