by Candra Kylar
“Sorry I didn’t tell you up front”, Liam said slowly, “probably should have ran it by you since Ethan is like your adopted kid now. Thing is, you won’t have to worry about taking care of him anymore because that’s my job.”
“The fuck it is!”, Braeden rose from his seat, “Ethan is under my roof and you are not marrying him! That is final!”
Gina exhaled loudly, “Could we all speak about this after dinner?”
Braeden glared at her, “Did you know your son would do this? Did you honestly think he was this deluded with how things work?”
Gina put her fork down, “My son is not deluded, he’s hopeful. I tried to talk him out of it for the time being but he had already bought the ring.”
“I love Liam and there’s nothing you can do to stop me from being with him!”, cried out Ethan, emotional as ever.
“You are under MY roof and you are under MY care. I don’t give a flying fuck what you think is right for you because, for now, that isn’t your decision! So take that ring off and go upstairs to do your homework!”, Braeden ordered.
Ethan welled up his fists, “No! You can’t tell me what to do! You can’t stand in the way of who I love just because you don’t approve of it!”
Liam growled, “You need stop yelling at my mate, old man.”
Braeden slammed his hands down on the table, “I’m less than a decade older than you, kid, so shut up and listen…”
“You can’t be a bully because my love for Liam makes you uncomfortable!”, cried out Ethan again.
I just focused on my plate and admired the silverware. Don’t speak up, Abbie, don’t get involved in this. I knew Braeden well enough to say that it wasn’t any kind of uncomfortable on Ethan being with Liam. Braeden had been the one to defend them to the elders and make their life easier here with his own help. There was something else there, some other reason, and I knew I wasn’t in a position to see those cards. Yell as he might, this was coming from a good place. He was doing this for some strange protective reason. As long as I didn’t look up and see Ethan cry or watch Liam lean in to barrage his alpha with a loud retort, I’d be fine. The awkwardness couldn’t set in. Think of Dimples, think of Elizar, think of anything else but the mess that had unfolded after dinner.
“If you don’t want me around, then I’ll go live with Abbie at her place”, Ethan sniffled, “and she’ll accept me even if she doesn’t understand my love for Liam.”
“I’ll get us an apartment”, Liam promised, “and we can break away from the pack.”
Gina gasped, “Please don’t leave the territory. You have your work here, both of you, and I’m sure this is a misunderstanding. Besides, Abbie’s apartment is small and I don’t think she could use more clutter.”
“I don’t care if I have to live in some simple, fashion-less apartment with minimal decorations and an overall sense of giving up”, Ethan went on, “but I can’t stay here with Braeden ruining my life.”
“Quit crying and listen to me”, Braeden commanded.
“I’m not one of your wolves that you can enslave!”, Ethan wailed.
Braeden groaned, “Stop crying at the dinner table. We talked about this and it gets no one anywhere. Maybe I shouldn’t have yelled but…”
Liam was ready to chime in, “But you don’t approve of me? Well fate decided that we’re mates so there isn’t anything you can do about that. We are getting married even if it has to be at Elizar’s club and Abbie has to decorate.”
Gina slumped back in her chair, “You’ve seen her apartment. Don’t let her be in charge of anything like that.”
“Well I think it’s a wonderful idea”, Cyril beamed, “you know I married Lorna when I was still in high school and look how well things turned out.”
Braeden sneered, “She killed Abbie and you now eat meat out of a can.”
Awkward level intensified. I pushed myself away from the table and got up. Without looking in Ethan’s eyes, because I didn’t want to be dragged into this anymore than I already had, I headed for the door. Braeden stopped me with an apology and Gina looked on in interest. I could tell a part of her still hoped that the alpha mender would get back together with the hybrid witch who had been so high profile in the territory. I didn’t want to give her anything to go on so kept a healthy distance from Braeden. A friendly distance. He struggled with trying to describe his feelings and finally walked me to my car where we could talk privately. Everyone was hiding something from me, everyone had carried something that they didn’t feel safe enough to express. Why did I have that effect on them? Why did I make them feel so unapproachable?
“So my reasons aren’t what you think”, he whispered, “but I don’t want to get into them now. I won’t lift my refusal and, as their alpha, technically they can’t be legally married on territory without my blessing. The one time tradition doesn’t blow.”
I poked him in the chest, “You could afford to be a little nicer to Ethan. He has always looked up to you and I know you care about him. That wasn’t a rational way to deal with the sudden proposal and you know it.”
“They caught me on a bad day and now Dimples…”
I stopped him right there, “Don’t use any of that as an excuse. You need to get your temper under control. Now go in and calm down Ethan so he doesn’t move in with me. Do you know how small my apartment is?”
“Is this you trying to give an alpha orders?”, he asked in amusement.
“It’s not a wolf thing”, I corrected, “it’s a friend thing. I know you’re better than this.”
He didn’t answer but the point hit home. Despite the way he acted, Braeden did really care about Ethan and Liam. He didn’t have an ounce of prejudice in him that would ever be unaccepting of two people in love. Ethan was coming from a young and terribly emotional place that didn’t see reason. Add to that Liam’s own temper flaring and the sudden surprised tarnished which made matters worse. The best thing I could have done was removed myself from the situation so I didn’t add in my unneeded opinion. I was taking the higher road in a pair of heels that didn’t have good traction. Still, the dinner hadn’t been a total bust. I had information that Frankie would like to know.
The store lights had been off but Frankie was inside. I knocked on the door three times and waited for her to come out of the back room. A human client had been getting their cards read and excused herself as I came in. I knew not to ask any questions about the world of psychic readings. When it came to my own hand and leaves, I didn’t want to know anything. Frankie often said that when my original life ended, my fate changed, so it was likely the lines on my hand wouldn’t be accurate. It was a good excuse not to get a reading. I had a tendency to overthink things. The dim lights of the store felt welcoming as we stood near the front counter. I explained the whole shapeshifting angle in as much detail as I could.
“I went over this book after you left”, Frankie said in disappointment, “and none of the monsters inside were shape shifters. If she had already ruled that out talking to Cyril, then it won’t lead us anywhere. She ordered this book after her last visit to territory.”
“Which brings us to another dead end. If she had only read the book before disappearing, then maybe she would have highlighted something. I don’t suppose you have a key to her cottage?”, I asked.
Frankie winced, “She always allowed me to have one but I politely refused. I wanted to respect her privacy. I take it that there are charms on her door that you can’t unravel.”
“I’ll have to look into doing it, sadly. There may be a lead in there.”
“Look! It’s that blonde watching us!”, Frankie cried out as she pointed behind me.
Sure enough, Cecilia Blane scampered off in boots befitting a hooker fallen on hard times. Expensive as they were, I knew her income wasn’t pooling in like it used to. No one liked to hire a condescending enchantress who also had a brush with Elder Fae magic. Her constant slamming of my work ended up ruining her character. Since then, she had laid lo
w and didn’t appear often in public. Some said she spent her time in Azuris and everyone now whispered that she was working for some Council members as their personal stress release. Either way, she had been tailing the store and Frankie caught her spying. I went out the door and crossed the street to follow her. I moved past a brick wall slathered with some flyers that had been torn down. A circus was coming to the area and it promised shocks to anyone willing to buy a ticket. Two flyers had recently been destroyed and I recognized the crimson nail polish marring the shreds of paper.
Why was Cecilia following me? Why would she care about a circus? As I turned the corner, she had vanished into thin air. Still full of parlor tricks and still eluding me as always. I couldn’t ask Elizar for help and the police were doing everything they could. My only other option was to go upstairs and break into Dimples’ cottage. There was no guarantee that I would be able to undo some of the wards she put up. As a whole, her magic had become far stronger than mine and her grasp on it more resolute. Still, inside there could be hope and a lead that would take me to my best friend. Whatever Cecilia was up to could wait for the time being. I had a disappearance to solve.
Three
Breaking in to my best friend’s cottage hit a little harder when she couldn’t insult me over it. I was used to her one-liners that would dress me down and provide some insight into her own little world. I had to do it without that encouragement and it stung. Weaving the charms away, something I had known to do in the back of my mind because I had helped create some of them, I felt the locks open on her front door to provide me entry. On all fours, I climbed inside. A garden gnome didn’t need the high vaulted ceiling and leisure room that a full sized person did. With a bump to my shoulders and a near collision in the entryway, I maneuvered inside her picturesque living room. It was like the home of a sweet doll with all the fixings of a country tea party. Still, I could picture the foul mouthed Dimples bouncing around and plotting her next move.
Sliding toward her coffee table, I found a small notebook and the crayon she used to write everything down. Some casters preferred to be dramatic and etch their thoughts with a flourished quill like the olden days. I used a pink pen and Dimples went the crayon route. I admired her cramped handwriting and how blunt she was in her descriptions. Inside, the pages revealed that identity crisis that I had somehow missed. Questions unanswered about where she came from, ideas turned into a mess of word bubbles. The side of Dimples I was never meant to see but that I so badly wanted to know. I turned page after page to devour it all and find meaning in it.
Who was Dimples before her spirit came to embody a garden gnome? Had she shape shifted into one and was really something else? Did she come from one of the monsters in that overpriced book of mythos? I didn’t have any answers. Even worse, I didn’t have a single lead outside of Cecilia tailing me for her own amusement and the likelihood that Dimples didn’t go willingly. I shut the notebook and squeezed my way into the front of her bedroom. A canopy bed with roses embroidered along her quilt gave me that fresh feeling of her spirit again. No monster meant to kill and destroy could have such beauty in them, such love for simple comforts and kindness. I refused to believe that she was anything like the creatures in that book.
Inside her bedroom, the glow of the moon illuminated a poster of Meredith Marble. With many books of her misadventures, the forgetful human that spent most of her time being a damsel in distress had found popularity with readers. Everyone loved the bumbling girl who fell in love for the wrong reasons and stumbled into adventure. Dimples had read the books countless times and bonded with Ethan over her desire to see them turned into movies. It was fitting that a poster would be on the wall, small enough to be a postcard, the titular character fawning over the infamous Duke who enraptured her. Now that I thought about it, Dimples didn’t mention being in love before. Was she scared of that, too?
I made my way out of her cottage and reformed the locks that had been set in place. She would keep her privacy until she could come home to it. My search brought me nothing but disappointment and fear. Afraid that I couldn’t save someone who needed me the most, that I would end up seeing my friends disappear one by one. I had been harsh to Braeden as I left the pack dinner, I had even been a constant confusion to Elizar. Loathe as I was to admit it, I didn’t do much of a good job making a truce with my newfound sister. Things had went to the back burner when I hit my career slump. It was no wonder Trent on the force gave me a deal to follow through on my request.
There was no other choice: I had to stop by Cecilia’s place on my way home and find out why she was tailing me. Reluctantly, I got in my car and headed toward her townhouse where many a betrayal had gone down in the past. Cecilia and I used to be buddies that used our haughty attitudes for the good of ourselves. Now, we were rivals and enemies that often got in each other’s way. This time, Dimples safety was on the line and I couldn’t play any of her games. The direct and threatening route seemed like the best.
I knocked on her door with extra oomph as the sound of a small clatter happened inside. She was hiding contraband that could get her reported, no doubt. Since her possession by an Elder Fae spirit and brief stint in a Council sanctioned jail, Cecilia had turned over a new leaf. That leaf just involved hiding all of the terrible and mostly illegal things she did. Lately, that had involved being a high end prostitute for several members of the Council seated in the capital city of Azuris. Dimples had tracked that case down and made it public online. There was enough bad blood there to make her as good a lead as any. I knocked again to no answer and decided to go around to the back door looking out at her tiny lawn. It was a hunch that worked out.
Outside, almost vanishing into the darkness, Cecilia ran with what looked like a medium sized pet carrier in her hands. She struggled to keep up the speed and had mostly forgotten to lock the back door. I couldn’t figure out why she would care about being a pet owner. She had taken Ethan under her wing for a short time and ended up trading him to vengeful vampires. Cecilia wasn’t the maternal type. I could only guess that it was a highly illegal pet – there weren’t many considered such in Iverli – and she thought I’d be out to bust her for my own cheap thrill. Generally, she’d be right. A thought crept up to me that perhaps she didn’t have a clue that Dimples was missing. I remembered how she tried to tear down some circus flyers in her wake and made connections. Her pet was stolen.
With my only lead on the run, I thought about shifting to chase her. I could go full wolf form and use all fours to get a lead on her. Then again, I couldn’t case counter magic while in that form and her spell slinging would get the better of me. I would just have to corner her another time. With no sense of victory on the horizon, I finally went back to my small apartment that seemingly everyone thought was ugly. Sure, I didn’t focus much on decorating, but my budget had been tight lately. The walls could use a repainting and my furniture was sparse enough to remain comfortable. It was a far cry from the lavish home that Elizar spent his free time in. A home he had invited me t0 use whenever I saw fit. It was an invitation I had to stop taking.
There was a knock at my door before I could pull off my dress. In frustration, I flung the door open and sincerely hoped it wasn’t a client needing a quick enchantment. Instead, it was my mother with a suitcase in her hand. I had just seen her earlier and she made no allusion to anything being wrong. Her face now told a different story. Puffy bags under her eyes, a wrinkle of worry at the corner of her lips, dressed to her best with nowhere to go. We weren’t close but this was upsetting. I moved out of the way to let her in, doing that supportive daughter thing that I had heard so much about. She didn’t need my prompting.
“Your father continues to prove what a mirthless bastard he is”, she flung her suitcase on the ground, “he sold everything. The house, our furniture, some of the art we purchased together on our honeymoon years ago. Everything!”
“I take it you went to go home after visiting Frankie and found the notice holographed o
ver the doorway in sparkling gold and blue?”
“I have never been evicted from a place before. It feels so...common”, she wiped at her eyes.
“Welcome to the world of regular people struggling”, I replied.
She raised her shoulders, “I am far from regular. This is far from over. Your father can’t get away with doing this just because he sits on the Council. There are certain responsibilities that he is accountable before. Our divorce is not finalized.”
“Then take him to court to get half of his money. I don’t think you two signed any pre nuptial agreement.”
She collapsed on my couch, “Darling, I don’t have the money to do that and he knows it. Amaris offered to help but...oh, here she is now!”
My sister who had been lost to me for a good portion of my life came into my apartment with a second suitcase. Ian, the visceral ghost that was assigned to guard me in my waking life, followed in a trail of otherworldly mist. The two were inseparable and it really irritated me. Ian was supposed to be my friend, my guardian, and Amaris had enough spiritual protection. The fact that they were ominous about what they were up to together was just another reason to be sour. Neither were welcome company in my apartment as far as I was concerned. Amaris could read that energy coming off of me and merely looked amused by it. Ian shrank just a bit in his own shame of betrayal.
“Don’t worry my poppy princess of a sister”, she droned on in boredom, “I’m only here to help our mother settle in. She didn’t prefer my much larger apartment in Azuris. It’s probably because Frankie lives so close. You’re just more convenient.”
“That’s me, only available for any kind of acknowledgement when it’s fully convenient to my family”, I sneered.