Storm Surge

by Melissa Gunn

  Freya wasn’t sure what could be done about all her scrapes and bruises, but she definitely felt in need of sympathy.

  “Sure, Mum. That’d be good.”

  When she tried to stand up from her spot on the floor, she found all her muscles had stiffened up. She groaned aloud.

  “Ow, ow ow. I am so taking up fitness classes after this. I can’t even walk without hurting after all that running. Damned weres.”

  “Freya, mind your language. I know for a fact that weres aren’t damned,” snapped her mother.

  Freya let her head fall backwards against the cooker door, dramatically.

  “Come on Mum, they beat me up. Now is hardly the time to debate their theological position.”

  Her mother gave her a more contrite glance.

  “I suppose not, but you know I hate loose language. It can get you into trouble,” she said.

  “I feel like I’ve already got into trouble. We’re probably OK while the storm lasts, but what do we do now we know we’re living in a were-town?” Freya replied grumpily.

  “That’s too much trouble for one night,” her mother replied stiffly. “Let’s deal with that situation in the morning. Right now, I want you and Tammy on lookout duty. Get that bedding in here, then check on the other rooms. I didn’t have a chance to cover the allotment, not that it was producing much yet. We’ll be short on food for a while after this storm. Make sure you bring in any supplies from the bedrooms.” Her mother clearly expected action now, whatever state her daughter was in. First aid seemed to be forgotten.

  Freya gave another sigh, and levered herself to her feet. She staggered to her room near the front of the house, upstairs, to collect her private supply of snack food. In the last few years they had started to keep a stash of snacks in their rooms, so that if anything happened to the supplies in one room, they had something to fall back on. Life could be detrimental to food stores when the unpredictable powers of three demis were concentrated in one house. Tammy had once accidentally summoned a naiad into the kitchen, which had drenched everything edible in the house, and a fair amount that wasn’t edible, too. Freya was sure she’d never done anything like that, but her Mum claimed she had induced their firewood to grow into trees when she was a toddler. Privately, Freya thought that if she could do that when she was a toddler, she would be much better at growing things now, rather than the bean-killing failure of a crop and fertility demi-goddess she knew herself to be.

  Freya was halfway under her bed when the tree fell. She’d been easing herself out, hoarded snacks in hand, when an enormous crashing, splintering sound made her try to leap up, bashing her head on the underside of her bed.

  “Ow, I so didn’t need that,” she muttered to herself. She had a sudden sense of deja vu, and remembered her last moments in that cottage on the cliffs, so long ago. She was aware of wind tugging at her clothing in the previously still room. Pushing herself all the way out from under the bed, she got her head clear at last.

  “Fafnir’s breath, lucky I was under there!” she exclaimed. The tall oak tree that stood near their front door had toppled onto the house. Most of the front of her room was no longer there, crushed by the weight of the tree. Freya’s pillow was pinned down by a branch, and rain was drenching the remainder of her bedding. Slates from the roof pattered onto the floor. Dislodged by wind-sprites, or just by wind? Or by something else? It was hard to know.

  “Mum!” yelled Freya. “Mum, did we have a deposit on this house? ‘Cos I don’t think we’re getting it back!” Realising that her Mum probably couldn’t hear her over the storm - which was even louder now that the walls and roof were breached - Freya clutched her snacks with one hand, gave a tug at the soggy bedclothes with the other, then gave up bedding retrieval as a lost cause. She was lucky there was still a door to exit her room, she thought. She certainly didn’t want to try climbing down from her second-storey bedroom window.

  Fortunately, the tree seemed to have destroyed only her room at the corner of the house.

  It’s hard to see my room being destroyed as fortunate.

  She was able to descend the stairs, limping a little, and made her way to the kitchen with her meagre supplies. Her mother was back in the kitchen, her own bedding tidily arranged in a stack in the corner away from the cooker, against the back door.

  "What happened, Freya? I heard a crash. And you don't have your bedding."

  Typical. A tree destroys half the house and she doesn't come to see what happened, just asks where my blankets are. Maybe this is why she never keeps a job long and we're always having to move.

  Freya loved her Mum, and knew that she was at least more stable than her now-absent father. But at times like this, Freya couldn’t wait to be old enough to move out of home. She and Tammy had not been close since what Freya thought of as the summoning summer, but Freya sometimes wondered why Tammy had stuck with the family. Perhaps she didn’t find her mother as infuriating as Freya did. She certainly wasn't driven by any obvious ambition, the way Freya was.

  "Mum, didn’t you hear me yell? I told you, a tree fell on the house. It fell on my bed. I'm lucky I wasn't killed. I would have been if I'd gone to bed the way I want to." Her voice shook a little as the shock caught up with her. Her mother replied apparently casually,

  "Oh, sorry. I was trying to get these windows sprite-proof.” She indicated some thin wire that criss-crossed the card in patterns. Freya hadn’t noticed it earlier. “But if the house has a breach already, there's no point. We may have to make some personal protection instead. If you want to lie down meanwhile, you can use my bedding. But get those wet things off first, please."

  "Mum! I'm not stripping naked in the kitchen. My other clothes were under the tree-trunk. I'll just- just- oh, I don't know what to do." To her own horror, Freya found herself sobbing.

  It's just the shock, she told herself. Everyone feels odd after a shock.

  She was ready for this day to be over. If she had a bed remaining to sleep in, she would pull the covers over her head and pretend that the rest of the world didn't exist.

  She found her mother giving her a blessedly gentle hug, and wrapping one of her own blankets around her.

  "Sorry, Freya. You always seem so resilient, it's hard to remember that you need a bit of comfort too."

  Freya allowed herself to relax in her mother's arms for a moment before pushing those arms away. She wiped her wet face on her even wetter sleeve. Not much drying had happened since she made it indoors.

  "I'll just sit down for a bit here. Where is Tammy?"

  Her mother replied vaguely.

  “Oh, she’ll be down in a bit. Sooner if the wind gets worse and starts lifting the roof. She was pretty upset, seeing what those weres did to you.”

  Freya frowned. Something odd was going on with Tammy. It sounded like weres might have something to do with it. But right now it was all too hard to think about. Freya sank onto the pile of bedding and closed her eyes.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  ADVENTURES WITH LIO

  The wind still howled when Freya opened her eyes to darkness. She wondered what had woken her. With the kitchen windows covered, there was no light to aid her as she peered around. Had she heard something? It was hard to tell, as the wind and rain continued to hammer the windows. She staggered to her feet. There was a warm body beside her, suggesting her mother or sister had also taken refuge in the kitchen. Her groping hand found plaited hair. Mum, then. Tammy’s hair was too short to plait.

  She felt her way into the hall. Unexpectedly, the front door hung open, letting in the rain.

  “Tammy? Are you out there?” Freya called. There was no answer. But as Freya’s eyes adjusted, she saw a flicker of movement out on the road. She approached the door with caution.

  “Who’s there?”

  Peering into the stormy night, Freya was half-blinded by the torrential rain. Her clothing was instantly soaked. Unexpectedly, a voice spoke in her ear.

  “Don’t put yourself out on acco
unt of me.”

  She jumped. There was a smile in the voice, wholly unwarranted in Freya’s opinion.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Just your friendly neighbourhood rescue service.”

  Freya squinted into the darkness. As she did so, something warm and wet pressed against her hand.

  “Ugh!”

  The owner of the voice laughed.

  “Don’t worry, it’s just the hounds saying hello.”

  “Lio, what are you doing here? And what are you, anyway? You’ve never said. Are you a sprite?” she demanded suspiciously. He might have rescued her, but she had no idea of his intentions otherwise. She had never known that, really, but she found herself more suspicious these days.

  “I am visiting with intent to please. But no, I’m not a sprite. Ghastly fellows. I am simply myself.”

  “Well, what are you, yourself, doing here then? Rescue accomplished, thanks and all that, but it’s the middle of the night, I’m being rained on and I want to go back to the pile of rags I’m currently calling a bed.”

  Lio laughed again, a rich amused sound which was drowned out as a flash of lightning was immediately followed by a deafening rumble of thunder.

  “You don’t fancy a midnight stroll with me then? I can show you all sorts of interesting things.”

  “No thanks. I don’t go walking in the night with strangers, or near-strangers either.”

  “I’m hardly a stranger, though. We’ve met at many times on dark and stormy nights. I thought we were friends. I even looked for your cat, which is in fact why I am here. Ah well, I’m not one to push in where I’m not wanted.” He looked towards the house windows, mostly covered with cardboard and wire - though Freya was sure he couldn’t see the wire.

  “And I can see I’m not wanted here.” He sighed deeply. “Such mistrust.”

  “My cat? What about my cat? Do you know where he is?”

  “I do in fact. And I have the scratches to prove it. It is both fortunate and unfortunate that I have acquired hounds. They enabled me to find Mr Fluffbum,” he began, before Freya interrupted him.

  “Where?”

  “In a deserted house near the shore, as it happens. Though I don’t believe it had been deserted long. There were signs of recent occupancy by trolls, as I had feared.”

  “But is my cat alright? Do you have him?”

  “I did have him. He is alive. But as I said, it was also unfortunate that I have hounds now. They don’t get on with cats. I’ve been waiting on a storm that brought me near you - I hoped that you would be on the coast again. But just after we drove off those were-foxes, tonight, Mr Fluffbum escaped me. He hasn’t appreciated my hounds in the least. I had planned to follow you and present him to you, but he ran off. I’ve been scouring the streets for him ever since. By the way, did you know there’s a large gathering of were-foxes in the town square?”

  “Wait, what? Around the oak tree there, by any chance?” Despite her concern for her cat, Freya was distracted by this news.

  “Ah, you do know.” Lio started to turn away and Freya put out a hand to stop him. His arm was uncovered, wet with raindrops. Freya wondered for a moment if he ever wore an anorak.

  “Do you know what they’re doing there?” Had they planned to meet Freya there all along, prompted by the note she’d been given at school? What if they’d appeared at her house? Suddenly, the broken front windows seemed a much greater safety hazard than before.

  “No idea. I avoid large gatherings of potentially violent beings on principle. If my brothers didn’t automatically fall into that class, my policy would work better.”

  “You have brothers?”

  “Is there one direction to the wind? Of course I do.”

  Freya was momentarily distracted. Apparently Lio was a wind sprite, or maybe a wind demi, after all. She remembered that he hadn’t been alone when she first met him, though the weeks he’d brought fish for Mr Fluffbum, his companions hadn’t showed up. But those weres... and Mr Fluffbum!

  I can’t believe Mr Fluffbum is still alive. But where is he now? In a storm in a town full of were-foxes, that can’t be healthy.

  “Do you think you could help me distract the weres? I got asked to meet someone in the town square at midnight, and they know where I live. But most of all, I want to find Mr Fluffbum. I’m guessing foxes are nearly as bad as trolls when it comes to cats.”

  “That’s quite a rescue you’re asking for.”

  “Well, are you able for it? You’ve got dogs and thunder, don’t you?”

  “Hmm. I can but try, since you ask so politely.” Lio’s sarcasm was thick enough to cut with a knife.

  Freya stepped into the rain and closed the door behind her.

  “Come on then, let’s go,” she said.

  Lio and Freya set off together in the direction of the town square. Lio’s dogs tugged at their leashes, first one way then another as they sniffed at each interesting spot along the way. The rain assailed them as they half-walked, half-jogged through the town.

  “Are we safe out here?” Freya asked. Lio didn’t answer. That was not reassuring. “Well?”

  “It depends on whether the elves turn up, I suppose,” Lio answered reluctantly.

  “What, the small beings who help humans grow things? That doesn’t sound worrying.”

  “No, those are pretty much a myth these days. I’m talking about weather elves. They usually stay above the clouds though, like sprites, so I guess we’re good.”

  Freya saw Lio looking up at the storm clouds which roiled above them. She shivered.

  “Are your brothers up there?”

  “Probably. It doesn’t matter though, they have their own plans. As I said, I try to avoid them when I can. Let’s find those weres and see what they’re planning. And find your cat, while we’re at it. I haven’t been plundering the ocean to feed him for a month, only to lose him to foxes. You have no idea how hard it is for someone like me to keep a cat.”

  “If we get him back in one piece, you have my endless gratitude.”

  “Well, that’s something worth trying for, I guess.”

  They slowed as they reached the streets surrounding the square. The wind was stronger than ever. Given that the square opened onto the seaside promenade, Freya wondered if this was the most sensible place to be. Then again, she would have stayed at home if she was being sensible. The dogs tugged at their leashes impatiently. Was it because there was a cat nearby, or the presence of were-foxes, that had them excited? At least they didn’t bark, and give away their presence.

  “What’s the plan? Freya had to raise her voice to be heard over the rain. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered if the dogs barked. Though it would scare a cat. Lio looked her way.

  “Let’s see how many weres there are, first. My dogs and I can only take so many. But we’ll have to be careful not to be seen.” Lio stopped suddenly and held up a hand to indicate that she should stop too.

  “They’re close.”

  Freya wondered how he could tell. She could barely see two feet in front of her, now. She stuck close to the railings beside the tall houses here. Lio paused beside a low shrub, crouching so that he was no taller than it. His dogs growled low in their throats, till he turned his head and gave each one a stern look. They subsided.

  Well, at least they are well trained. I wish I had Mr Fluffbum, though. He never growled at anyone.

  Freya brightened a little, at the thought that her cat was still alive somewhere.

  Lio peered around the shrub then shrank back. Leaning close to her ear, he whispered loud enough to be heard over the storm.

  “There’s a big gathering. Too many to take all at once. We’ll have to get them to separate.”

  “How?”

  “If it wasn’t raining, I’d run a scent trail. As it is, I’ll have to bait them. Lucky thing I’ve always loved running.”

  “What-”

  But he was gone, racing the wind as he tore around the square and off along th
e wave-battered promenade, dogs beside him. Freya started up as though to run after him, realised there was a square full of weres around the corner, and decided against it. She didn’t want to risk a second mugging. As she hesitated, she thought the sounds of the storm were changing. Was the rain getting harder? A sudden surge of water drenched her feet as it careened off the edge of the building beside her. Before she could react, it drained away again, only to be replaced by another wave.

  The sea - it’s overtopped the promenade!

  But as walls of water went, this was more of a garden edging. She could handle it. The tide must be in, she realised. And the storm pushing it even higher, flooding the low-lying land. But if she was getting wet back here, what was happening in the square, which fronted directly onto the sea?

  She risked a look, peering through the darkness, on her hands and knees despite the wet. Whatever Lio had done, a lot of the weres must have followed him. There were just two figures remaining. One was in the tree. The other one seemed to be trying to persuade the tree-hugger to come down. As she watched, another wave surged through the square, making the one on the ground stagger. Surely, she could deal with these drenched individuals? She stepped forth boldly.

  As soon as she turned the corner, Freya was buffeted by the wind. She staggered backwards a step before leaning into it and making her way forward. She got quite close to the figures before they noticed her. As she neared, she recognised Gareth from school as the were up in the tree. The other one was a girl who looked vaguely familiar; she had distinctive blue hair.

  I’m sure I’d remember that hair.

  Maybe she wasn’t a were after all? At least she wasn’t one of Freya’s attackers from earlier in the evening. Freya relaxed a little, but then fought to keep her feet as the next wave made its presence felt.

  No relaxing around here. What am I doing? I can barely walk in these conditions.

  Gareth’s eyes widened when he saw her. He made frantic ‘go-away’ gestures with his one free hand - the other was holding him in place. What was going on here? Had Freya misjudged the situation? Lightning flashed, and Freya saw the thunderheads outlined in a blue-tinted white light. Bizarrely, there was no answering roll of thunder. Blue-haired girl noticed Gareth’s waving hand, and looked around. She spotted Freya and stalked towards her. Freya backed away, unsure what to expect from this new player. She bumped into the railing that surrounded the house.