by T S Paul
“No, I don’t think so. Did you need to speak to my manager? Gina is right in the back,” Faith stated. Turning away from me, she started to organize her beer cooler.
Taking a different track, I dove right in. “Listen to me, Faith. My name is Agatha. Agatha Blackmore. Remember? I used to work for the FBI. My team came with me to Briarwood. The Garden was threatened, and Otherworld was under attack. Don’t you remember the strike force of witches you helped put together? You helped fight the bad guys.”
Faith shook her head back and forth. “No. I’m the dayshift bartender at Knockers. Fighting only gets you into trouble and hurts people. We don’t do that here. This is a happy place.”
Reaching up, I squeezed my head. Dammit! Someone or something was blocking me. What exactly happened after I was kidnapped? I could see her in the real world, sleeping in the chair. This was obviously one of grandmother’s war councils. Time was running out for me. Those damn kitsune would notice before too long that I was not all there. Magic users aren’t stupid.
Nobody in the bar seemed to notice when I slid out of my seat and walked around the bar. Stepping into the space near the food window, I confronted Faith directly by tapping her on the shoulder. “Faith! Look at me.”
Standing up, the younger girl held both hands in front of her body as if to push me away, “You can’t be back here! It’s against the law.”
“My name is Agatha, remember? Agatha?” Raising my hands, I conjured swirling balls of purple fire in each of them. “I’m a witch just like you are. You aren’t a bartender at all. You’re a witch in fine standing with the Blackmore Coven. Remember? Please remember. You have to tell them where I am, that I’m alive. Faith! Please listen to me,” I cried out to her. Closing my hands, I banished the flames.
Faith shook her head again. “No. This is my job. Go away. Just… go away.”
I let out a sigh. This was so much harder than I thought it might be. I’m only a super witch when things work as they’re supposed to. Bending down to meet her eyes, I smiled. “I’m sorry if I scared you. Tell Marcella and Minerva that you saw Agatha. The kidnappers took her to San Francisco. I’ll leave you to it then.”
Turning away, I started towards the doors. I guess I could try searching the town for more sleepers.
“Agatha?” Faith called after me.
Spinning around, I gave her a surprised look. “Did you remember me?”
“What are you doing here? Did you enroll at the college too? Your aunt said you were locked up somewhere,” Faith said.
“No, I joined the FBI, remember? I was in town a few months ago to fight off the dragons. Do you remember that?” I had her somehow.
Some way she needed to register my presence. I just wanted her to remember the whole thing and to tell the others. Grandmother would know if she said San Francisco or kitsune. Those two went hand in hand in our world. It was Marcella herself that told me I was related to them after all.
Faith cocked her head to one side as if remembering. Telepathy isn’t one of my powers, but boy did I want it to be. Not sure if it would work in the dream world though. If wishes were fishes, we’d all own an aquarium. Seeing the young witch’s brow furrow only reinforced that.
Slowly I explained using the simplest words possible. “Faith. I was kidnapped during the battle. Bad people took me to California. It was the kitsune that did it. Kitsune are fox-people, remember? They are a trickster race. Grandmother Marcella used to tell us all stories about them when we were kids. Do you remember the stories?”
“Stories…” Faith’s face suddenly lit up. “Stories! The fox and star ball or the one about the wolf and… and… the hare! I remember. Agatha, I remember. But you stopped coming to story time.” Giving me a funny look Faith pulled back just a bit. “You didn’t want to play anymore. Mother said you were dangerous.”
Too far. Having her remember childhood was a mistake. Concentrating, I pushed some of my memories into the dream. Khonsu told me much was possible in this state, but I only had so much time here.
“Focus Faith. Kitsune are tricksters. They took me from my home here, with you and Marcella. They took me to California where all the other foxes live. They kidnapped me, Agatha. Remember my name. It’s Agatha. The foxes took me away. Say it to yourself Faith. Agatha. Foxes. California. Kidnapped. Remember?”
Once again I repeated the words getting them ingrained into her dream state as much as possible. Much like a hypnotist would do, I tried to give her positive reinforcement to make her remember the words. Too much time had already passed. So much was wasted without them finding me.
The room shifted like an earthquake, only stronger. My face jerked sideways, followed by a sharp pain, as if I’d been slapped. Time to go back, they’d come for me. Crying out even as my soul was yanked back to my body, I stressed the words. “Remember me Faith, remember Agatha and the foxes. Remember me.”
“... I still say we should. If he only jumped one state he could still be in the area. What would it hurt to ask?” Cat asked the group even as she was about to rip her own hair out. The entire conversation was getting old. Leave it to the damn hay burner to cause so much turmoil. Finding Agatha was a priority, but so was moving as much of the Were Nation to safety. If her father couldn’t protect them anymore... maybe she and Chuck could do something.
“Looking where? My investigators could find a full sized unicorn just about anywhere. They sort of stick out. But one the size of a mouse? Especially one that can act like a trickster on steroids? Impossible. We have to rely on crackpot reports we find on YouTube and the internet. And right now the public aren’t looking all that favorably on paranormals. Let’s just forget about him for now and start in on the real reason we’re here. Can we do that?” Robert Moore, Cat’s father, responded with a growl. The elder Werecat was used to getting his way.
Marcella leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms out. “Ugh. Enough. Just enough. We’ve debated and argued too much already. Fergus will return when he wants to. If he truly knows where Agatha is then hopefully he will come back and tell us.” Taking in all shocked expressions, she forced a smile. “She is my granddaughter, you know. I love her and miss her just as much as the rest of you, but it’s been six months. Hell, it’s been longer than that and we all know it. New subject. Where are we with the evacuations and other plans? Anyone?”
“All the Eastern Packs have either moved through the gate or are en route. With Robert’s help Cat and I convinced eighty percent of the wolves, cats, and bears to go. Many of the others are either too scared or too ingrained in the system to go. After more than a century of peace with humans it’s hard to believe they’d just up and throw it all away,” Chuck stood up and pointed to a large map on the wall.
“Just the packs, Chuck?” Marcella asked.
“They were the easiest,” pointed to Cat and her father, he continued. “We have the contacts to reach them. Some of the witches in the Carolinas told us no as well as the unclassifieds. In their opinion, they’ve hidden before and can again. My plan is to bypass them for now. We have to pass through most of their territory once we start securing the Western states. They might have changes of heart by then.”
“Or be dead.” Minerva stated, her voice deep and ominous. Holding up her hand to stop Marcella’s comment, the old cook and housekeeper stressed her next few words. “Some of us are old enough to remember the purges and the hunts in previous centuries. This new government, they make what happened in Germany and Russia look like summer camp. If I didn’t live here, among all of you, I’d be scared.”
“Which is why we’re doing this. Catherine, what do you have?” Marcella looked to the former FBI agent.
Smiling, Cat glanced at the sleeping witch in the chair next to her. “Cat please. Working with Mack, Owl, and Faith here, we’ve got three dimensions set up for occupancy. Wereworld, Witchland, and Faery are our working titles.” Seeing the look on Marcella’s face, Cat laughed. “Just working titles to help us remember,
I promise. As Chuck said. We’ve moved the packs, tribes, and others through the gates to the hall of doors. The Legion’s been most helpful in marking where we need to go since it’s infinitely possible to get seriously lost in there. But we’re managing. Some few are setting up in Otherwhere as well. Embassies and such to help facilitate supplies and trade. Especially if this valley will be maintained. It will be maintained, right?”
“The Garden won’t allow it any other way. Besides, until those other worlds are built up we’ll be feeding everyone from here. The last time I spoke to Emesh he was setting up more wagon trains and traders. We’d be lost without him. Be sure the covens know and say a few prayers. Helping the divine never hurts our cause after all,” Marcella replied. “And this is Agatha’s home. She needs it to be here when she returns.”
“Agatha!” Faith cried out suddenly as her eyes popped open. “I know where she is.”
Everyone in the room stopped to stare at the young witch. Marcella asked first, “Where?”
Faith blinked a few times to clear away the sleepy from her eyes. “I dreamed about her. She said she was alive.”
Cat, knowing about Agatha’s dreamwalking power, poked at the young witch, “Where was she in your dream?”
Faith grinned and looked at her mentor, “Knockers. She was at the bar.”
“You went to Knockers and didn’t bring me any chicken wings? You know I like the spicy garlic ones,” Chuck blurted out. “Next time get some fried pickles too. Those are tasty.”
Cat growled at her longtime partner. “Chuck, chill out! Always thinking with your stomach, you’re worse than the unicorn. Now. Why was she at Knockers, do you know?”
Faith blushed a bit, her cheeks growing just a bit red. “I worked there for extra money last summer. College is expensive.”
Marcella stepped forward, laying a hand upon Faith’s shoulder, “you might’ve said something. The coven isn’t poor, child. Come now tell us what else you saw.”
Touching Marcella’s hand for reassurance, she started to explain the dream. “I was working my regular shift as the bartender. It was slow, really slow. Very few of the girls were there. Suddenly Agatha was there, at the bar. She ordered a diet Coke.”
“And? Did she say anything else?” Marcella prompted her.
“Stories. She got me to talk about the fox stories you used to read to us as kids,” Faith squinted as she tried to remember more of the dream. “California. I’m sure she mentioned California. That and foxes. Does that mean anything to you?”
Marcella could only stare at Minerva. The two old women locked their eyes as if in silent conversation. Turning to Robert, she spoke. “We never considered. Could they have snuck in so far?”
“Think of what was happening at the time. I’m surprised we noticed the damn dragons. I’ll get my contacts on it. We have to think the worst you know,” Robert replied, pulling out his cell phone.
“What? What’s happening, Marcella? Do you know where she is or not?” Cat demanded.
“California. Among the Kitsune. Her family has her. The family we never discuss,” Minerva answered for the Coven leader.
“Is that a good thing or not?” Chuck asked the group.
“Not. The Shinigama clan are yakuza. Japanese mafia. They control the prostitution, slavery, and gambling trade for most of the West coast. This has the potential to be really bad for us,” Minerva cursed.
Chapter Eleven
“Wake up you little bitch,” the richly dressed man demanded even as he slapped me across the face another time. One minute I was talking to Faith, the next I was being tortured. That was what it felt like. Wincing, I straightened up my limp body a bit. Two of the guards gripped my shoulders and arms keeping me upright. “Wake up!”
Squinting I looked up at the man. Stinging, my cheeks were starting to swell up. I’d been in fights before including the hand-to-hand training the FBI gave me, but for all of those times I’d been able to either heal myself or take a potion. This was different. I was still blocked. Even my bracelets were dead to me, which was strange. Khonsu told me they couldn’t be blocked. Not by mortal means. Which meant he wanted them silent for some reason.
“Ah, it wakes. There are some fates much worse than death. We own several Oiran houses that would simply love you, even in a battered condition. Some would revel in it. You will speak and you will cooperate or suffer the consequences. Enough is enough. No girl-child is worth the trouble you’ve caused! Do you hear me you gaijin bitch?” The man slapped me yet again.
“Why?” I asked through gritted teeth. A beat down wasn’t what I’d expected to return to.
At the man’s instruction the guards threw me to the floor. Unable to catch myself, the impact further bruised my already sore ribs.
“Why what?” The man demanded even as he kicked at me.
“Why bring me here at all if you planned on just killing me?” I asked. None of this whole experience made a lot of sense.
Kicking me again, the man grunted out a response, “Worthless girl. Just open the door.”
Lying on the floor, I looked up at the man. He wasn’t the Oyabun. No way the head of the clan here would soil himself to torture me. This had to be one of the lieutenants, a kobun. A mean one at that.
“What door? You have yet to explain anything beyond why you need it open. Not even why you animals kidnapped me in the first place!” I half shouted up at him even as his foot went back for another kick to my abdomen. My dreamwalking through the priest’s mind had told me the whole sordid story, but I wanted this man to admit it to me.
“Insolent gaijin!” The kobun kicked me, making contact with my ribs again.
Groaning in pain, I curled my body into as tight a ball as I could. The pain was intense.
“Stop!” A new voice echoed across the room. “We need her alive, Toshiro. Hold your punishment.”
Toshiro, the assailant in front of me, looked up then bowed his head. “Lord Shinigama. Forgive me. I was instructing the prisoner.”
Ignoring his advisor, the leader of the clan motioned to the guards. “Pick her up.”
Grabbing me by my now aching shoulders, the two men dragged me to stand in front of the kitsune leader.
“Did you think we weren’t watching? We know you’ve been traveling. Where have you gone? What secrets do you expect to find? Your grandmother couldn’t have told all she knows of us. Have the Zenko clan contacted you, is that it? You can forget escape. Tell us how to open the door and your pain will stop.” Lord Shinigama smiled magnanimously at me. “We are the family you lack. Those others are all lying to you. Open the way to paradise and the rewards… The rewards will be more than you can imagine. Tell us the way!”
I coughed and immediately regretted it. Pain lanced upward from my now aching ribs. A moment ago I’d have sworn they were cracked and broken. Concentrating, I could feel a trickle, a faint trickle of power from my bracelets. Either the God was helping me or the kitsune’s magic was weakening somehow. Healing was good, regardless of how.
“You people…” I coughed again, wincing in pain. Taking a shallow breath, I started again. “You people have yet to explain anything. If I went anywhere it was to find out who, what, and why I’m here. Key, door, family, pain, nothing about you kitsune makes any sense.” Seeing their looks of shock I chuckled. It caused me pain, but I couldn’t help myself. “I know what you are. My father wouldn’t help you, why should I?”
Lord Shinigama looked away from me and jabbered something in an unfamiliar language. To my uncultured ears it sounded like the language of manga, but not. The guards holding me twitched a few times but only increased their grip on me. Toshiro didn’t look happy at all. Especially now that the lord was yelling at him.
Switching back to English, the clan lord scowled at his friend and advisor. “Leave this room. You are expected to defend your honor immediately. Instruct Unway to bring the door and attend us. We need to end this here and now. Go!”
Hands together as
if praying, the clan lord tucked his hands under his chin for a moment. Staring into my half shuttered eyes, he glared at me. “You are a problem, Agatha Blackmore. We have no idea what you’ve seen or heard here among us. But seers are limited in what they can do. All of your communications are either blocked or restricted by us. The Zenco clan have no power here. You will no longer have their assistance in escaping us.”
My mind was going a mile a minute when I realized what the man was saying. They underestimated me. No one here bothered to do a damn bit of actual research into what I could do. They’d either gotten bad information or were too lazy. Grandmother might say that ‘the eternal conflict they were in blinded them to anything not part of the narrative they were pushing.’ I could use this to my advantage. Allowing my body to relax, I stopped fighting the guards.
“You and your people keep mentioning a door. What door?” I asked him to continue to buy time. Looking about the room for the first time, I sensed what the pain blocked. Everything. The world was open to me for the first time in months. My bracelets were awake, and no one was blocking me.
“The door to paradise. Both our salvation and our curse,” Chief Priest Unway called out as he strode into the room followed by his assistant. “We seek entry and you shall be our key.”
“There are two factions of kitsune, the light and the dark. The Shinigama Clan represent the dark here in the United States. Thousands of years ago at the dawn of time and history, if the legends are to be believed, kitsune were one people. There were no dividing lines. Not visible ones, at least. It all had to do with religion and belief,” Minerva started to explain. Faith’s revelation of Agatha’s location spurred them all into action. A war council was collected and formed of everyone involved. “Does everyone believe that the Gods are real, that they walked the earth in humanoid form?”