by Martha Carr
"They're not Ninja Turtles. Besides, we want a particularly skilled Willen. We go to the nearest kemana. The city underground is called Hilldale and is well established. It won't take long to single out the Willen we're looking for."
"Then Hilldale..." Leira's phone began to buzz. She looked down and saw it said, unknown. "Hello? Yes, General, I understand. I can leave now." She looked at her mother who gave her a half-hearted smile. "Right away, will do. Yes, sir." As usual, duty calls and I answer.
She hung up the phone. "I'm sorry. Correk, can you go without me? Take my mother. The two of you can figure it out." Don't let her out of your sight, she thought. Make sure she feels safe.
Eireka felt the small tremors of worry come off her daughter. She blinked hard, letting it pass through her. "We'll wait for you," she said. "It's okay." She held up her hand in protest. "Think about it. Time doesn't exist where my mother is and besides, this may be complicated. And as much as we don't want to say it, may not work at all. We'll wait for you," she said firmly.
"That dead woman."
"The world in between is filled with the dead as much as the living. You want to stay sane, you're going to have to let it be."
"Then I gotta go," said Leira, hesitating only for a second. "You two be okay together?"
"I think I can handle it," said Correk, rolling his eyes. "I'll show her around town."
"No CVS, no Costco."
"We're both grown and I'm older than you are by well over a hundred years. I'm not taking orders from someone who would still be a toddler in Oriceran years."
"You want Yumfuck with you? Take him. Don't leave him with the TV as a babysitter all day. Terrible influence. Next time he gets angry, which is inevitable, he'll chop off someone's head and put it in a box."
"I was going to say no, but you have a point," said Correk.
"But, we will get to the underground kemana to find a Willen as soon as possible," said Leira, already turning to go. "You have that cell phone I got at Costco? Keep it on so I can call and check on the two of you."
"If you insist. Go, we'll all be fine. We have a tiny beast and fireballs. Plus, your mother must know a spell or two. You have fewer elements in your arsenal. Should we be worried about you out there alone in the world?"
"We must be related. You are definitely annoying."
Correk smiled. "Then you can go and save the world now. Eireka and I will be fine. This will give us a chance to get to know each other better and reintroduce her to this world," said Correk, softly.
"It's okay. I've learned to be very patient,” said Eireka, shooing her daughter toward the door. She waited till Leira had gone through the gate. When she was sure she was gone, she turned and pointed a finger at Correk, walking toward him. "And don't think I won't stop trying to make contact with my mother."
Correk stepped back, arching an eyebrow. "Another trait of Leira's I can stop wondering about its origin." He tried to hide his concern.
"Nothing is going to stop me. She's my damn mother after all!"
He saw the same fierce look in her eyes that Leira had at least once a day. How much trouble will two of them bring? "Of course, well, let's get going. I'm sure Estelle wants her patio back and the troll has eaten enough bacon for now. Let's go."
Chapter Two
Leira rushed to the address the general gave her over the phone. Normally, she was ready to go, already mulling over the facts she knew about a case, putting the beginning of a potential storyline together. But this time was different. The expectations were different.
I'm expected to use magic.
A thread of doubt ran through her. Something she wasn't used to, ever.
No Hagan beside me, no formal training on this magic shit.
She was adding up all the reasons taking the new job was really a bad idea as she turned onto Newning Avenue in the Travis Heights neighborhood on the South side of Austin. As an Austin homicide detective, it was never hard to find a place once she got a few blocks away. The hive of activity stretched out over a block with yellow police tape and patrol cars taking up room.
But this was different.
The street looked just as quiet as an average workday afternoon. Nothing out of place. Leira found herself glancing at houses as she drove by, looking for the house numbers, counting down till she got to the address. Clusters of short cacti were planted near the curb just in front of a stunted crepe myrtle tree.
The rancher looked like it had been recently remodeled and was well taken care of with new windows and not a single leaf on the front sidewalk. That meant nothing. Plenty of neat people have been known to kill someone, thought Leira.
There was nothing moving in the windows. No sound of anyone stirring. Leira pulled the Mustang in front of the house, taking in her surroundings. What crime happened here?
A black SUV further down the block blinked their lights at her.
"Okay, that makes me feel better. The Feds are still just as obvious as ever."
She pulled down the street, turning around at the end so she could park right behind them. A door opened but no one got out and after a few seconds Leira took the hint and got out, walking over to the car.
"Get in," said a man in a dark suit wearing reflective sunglasses. He slid over to make room.
A walking cliché.
"Show me some ID first."
"Can't you sense who we are or something?"
Leira gave them a dead fish look, glad she still had a reason to dish it out. The man reached into an inside pocket in his jacket and pulled out a thin wallet, flipping it open to show her an ID.
"Take off the glasses," she said, looking at the picture and back at him.
"Really?" he said, annoyed. He pulled down the sunglasses to reveal dark brown eyes.
"All the way, so I can see your face. You know what they say about getting in a car and stranger danger."
"Now you're just fucking with me for your own amusement."
"Isn't that what you're doing with all of this?" Leira finally slid into the car. She could see the driver smirking in the rear-view mirror.
"Hello," said the driver, turning around to offer his hand to shake. He looked like he was issued the same uniform of dark suit, reflective glasses, vinyl jacket as the man in the backseat. "Name's Fischer. We're your new coworkers. That's Cohen. He takes a little getting used to but he grows on you over time. So be careful." Fischer let out a laugh, covering his mouth with his fist.
Cohen grunted, his mouth pulled into a thin line. He was not amused. "As you saw," he said, putting his ID back in his pocket, "name is Alan Cohen. That's Jeff Fischer, a regular comedian and my partner, for now," he said, scowling at the reflection in the mirror. "This your first day?"
"Not even," said Leira. "I was supposed to start in a few days."
"We were told to give you this." Cohen pulled a black nylon jacket out of a paper bag on the floor. "Real nylon, no less," said Fischer. He snickered as Cohen handed it over. "Enough," said Cohen, glaring at Fischer.
Leira did her dead fish look on him and was tempted to ramp up the magic but it was too early. There would be plenty of time to make him shit his pants.
"What's so..." She flipped the jacket over and saw the white lettering across the back. PDA in large capital letters. "This somebody's idea of a joke?"
"In over two hundred years the federal government has never been known to have any kind of sense of humor. That stands for Paranormal Defense Agent."
"They didn't tell you much, did they?" Fischer twisted in his seat to get a better look at Leira, a wide, crooked smile on his face.
"And apparently you didn't ask," said Cohen. "You're an adjunct to the PDF. The Paranormal Defense Force, out of Alexandria, Virginia. Ever heard of the place? No? Not surprising. It's very hush hush. The powers that employ us don't want the average Joe walking around to find out someone can abracadabra him into a rabbit."
"Or can make him hand over all of his money and like it."
"N
o, that's not magic Fischer, that's your wife."
They both laughed, Fischer slapping Cohen on the shoulder.
"But they let you two in on it." Leira rolled her eyes, looking down at the jacket. Nylon. PDA, fuck me.
"I can't tell if it looks like you're asking for a public display of affection or to keep away." Fischer was sitting back, still chuckling. Leira looked up, a low-level glow to her eyes.
Might need to back the bozos up early.
Fischer choked on the spit in his mouth, letting out a soft gurgle as he shrunk back in the front seat.
"Gaaaawww! Goddammit!" Cohen fumbled for his gun. Leira sent the energy out ahead and gave him a solid shove, his head banging against the window.
"Are we done playing? I have better things to do than listen to you chickenheads. What the hell am I doing here?"
Fischer gasped for air, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish out of its bowl.
"Take a deep breath, Fischer. Go on, you can do it, hold it in for just a second. Now let it out." Leira spoke to him in a soothing tone. If only to get something out of one of them so she could move on to her first case. "Let's try this again. Why am I here?"
Fischer gasped but he finally started talking. "There's a dead body in there. Federal witness. Looks a little too hinky."
Cohen rubbed the back of his head, his eyes still squeezed shut, wincing. "Doesn't help that she was the only witness to a big case against some mean drug dealers."
"So far, sounds very ordinary and unfortunate all the way around," said Leira, looking out at the quiet street.
"A call came down to have you come take a look. Feel around or something."
"Because two minutes ago I was a homicide detective. Okay, I can do that."
"Not just that. The victim was shot in the head but is laid out like she's a living doll. This isn't the crime scene. We can't find a drop of blood or any other kind of clue for that matter." Cohen tried a nervous smile.
Fischer tsked, "Don't try to make nice with her. She'll make your eyes roll back in your head. No offense," he added quickly, holding up his hands. "You just don't look like the kind who wants to be friends with everybody. It's a sort of compliment."
Leira let out an aggravated sigh. "I get it. Not paranormal necessarily, but not exactly normal. A sociopath mixed in with a drug case."
"That is the dilemma in front of us. We aren't even exactly sure if we're looking at a weird hit on a witness or just bad fucking luck and a serial killer picked our witness for his own sick, twisted reasons."
"Since the introductions are over, let's get out of the car and go take a look." Leira got out and stood on the sidewalk. Perfect first case. Her detective skills were definitely going to come in handy. The only thing that could have made it better was if Hagan was there running slowly just behind her. Not the same without him.
Let's see if there's any kind of trail. She took in a deep breath and took another look around but this time drawing in the energy from under her feet, just a little. Not enough to light up like a Christmas tree and alert anyone who might be watching from their window. No traces. Either the girl was laid out a while ago or someone knew how to cover their tracks.
Just as she was about to let the energy flow back down into the ground, the tail of something caught her attention. A clear, wide open trail of something that lacked any kind of feeling. Sociopath. It was eerie, like stepping into a black space where everything was observed.
"She's in this direction." Leira walked toward the tidy bungalow two houses down. The energy gently pulled her in that direction, seducing her, telling her everything would be alright. It was like being hypnotized. "This must be what it's like to believe one of these fuckers," she muttered, letting herself be pulled along by the steady, thin stream.
"Hey, how did you know?" asked Fischer, scrambling out of the car, jogging a little to keep up with her.
"Don't show how stupid you are," said Cohen, looking around as he walked faster. Cohen caught up to Leira and jumped in front of her. "Wait! We still need to use protocol going in there. We can't just barrel in like maintaining a crime scene doesn't matter anymore. Here," he said, pulling out blue paper booties and handing Leira a pair. "Take the gloves too but do me a favor, don't touch anything. We'll need to search for evidence."
"No one's been in there yet?" Leira got to the door and fit the booties around her favorite black and white Keds.
"Briefly. But they want to come back. The brass didn't want anything disturbed till you got the chance to do a walk through. It's all been kept quiet. Neighbors have no idea. We'll light the place up with tape and the ground troops once you're done. Something about not clouding the aura. That came straight from the PDF."
Leira drew her brows together, frowning at Cohen.
"Hey, those guys are like you," he said, waving a hand in her direction. "You know, magical aliens."
Leira shoved past him, walking into the house. "You have a weird way of welcoming someone to the job. Come on, you guys better hurry up and get off the street unless you want someone wondering why two guys in dark suits are hanging around in their neighborhood."
Fischer tripped up the stairs behind her. "Prepare yourself Agent Berens. Some real freaky-deaky going on in there."
"Some badass shit," said Cohen. They both stopped at the door.
"So now you finally stand back," said Leira, turning to look at them. "Okay, wait here, I'll go take a look. Will one of you at least go take the back in case there's someone who's been watching the place. And no, I don't know what's going to happen next. It doesn't work like that. We still have to do actual work. Go!"
Fischer took off round the back while Cohen stepped just inside the door where he wouldn't be seen from the street. "She's just inside the first room on the right," he said, pointing toward the hallway. He kept an eye on the street as Leira drew her gun, sliding around to the first bedroom on the right.
The room was painted in a deep Superman blue and there was still a Justice League poster taped to the wall. White plastic shades hung across the window, cutting the light in the room making it harder to clearly see the body neatly arranged on the chenille bedspread atop a double bed pushed into a corner of the room. She didn't want to raise the shades and give a neighbor the chance to see anything. Leira pulled out her pen light to get a better look but she already knew something about the victim.
It was the dead girl she had seen desperately reaching out to her from the world in between.
Leira gave off a shudder, the light shaking over the girl, casting shadows on the wall. "Steady Berens. Not your hundredth dead body. This one is even all neat and clean for you."
"Everything alright in there? Who you talking to?" Cohen's voice echoed down the hallway.
"Not the victim, if that's what you're asking," Leira yelled back, glad she was telling the truth, for now.
She ran the light over the girl's body. One clean hole in the center of her forehead just like in the vision. But the rest was different. The girl in the world in between was wearing jeans and a hoodie over a t-shirt. The body on the bed was decked out in a sea foam green party dress with a sash. Like a giant doll. Even her hair was neatly arranged. "This is not good. Someone went to a lot of trouble. But, why this house?"
"House is for sale." Cohen had quietly positioned himself in the doorway.
Leira started, shaking the light again.
"Huh, nice to know you can't read my mind."
"I'm gonna guess that's more of a blessing for me." Leira went back to scanning the girl's body. "Did you see these marks on her wrists? She was restrained but with something soft. Still, she pulled against them. Must have been in them a while. How long was she missing?"
"Not entirely sure," said Cohen, running a hand through his hair. "She wasn't due to testify and we thought she was safe. No one knew about her..."
"Okay, I get it. Not interested in placing blame. How old is she?"
"Just turned twenty. A kid. Name was Ca
sey."
Leira reached out to move the girl's hair. A recent bruise was on her shoulder. Leira gently touched the bruise sending a jolt of energy through her body. She looked up, expecting to see the blue wall but instead there was a familiar gray swirling mist. "Fuck," Leira said quietly. She knew what she was looking at, an opening into the world in between. "Please don't be a portal." She braced herself, waiting to see what came next. "Maybe this is another way people just disappear."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Cohen stepped back out of the room and shouted at her from the hallway. "The goddamned temperature just dropped in there! What the hell are you doing? Communing with the dead? Magical shit can do that?"
The mist crept further into the room, enveloping Leira. She stomped one foot hard against the floor, grateful to still feel the cheap carpet underneath her shoes. Just a mist, okay. You only have one channel. Hunker down and get it done. No need to make this the exception. Let's go.
"Casey, are you in there?" she called out. Her energy went out ahead of her, searching in the mist. Leira could feel the emptiness of everything in front of her but somehow she still instinctively knew what to do. Let the energy lead her. "Casey, I'm here. I'm ready to listen," she said loudly.
The girl's face slowly emerged, still dressed in the hoodie and jeans. She was desperately trying to push her energy out toward Leira. "You don't have enough practice, do you? Fuck me," whispered Leira, as she settled down, feeling compassion for the girl, using it to draw up energy through her feet, lighting up the symbols along her hands and arms till they reached her face.
"Holy shit!" Cohen was yelling from the hallway but he didn't move, watching intently what was happening in the room. "A full on fucking ghost!"
The mist swirled around his ankles crawling up his legs. He pulled out his gun aiming it at the girl in the mist.
"Put your goddamned gun away!" Leira yelled. Her concentration was broken and she could feel the energy slipping away. "She's already dead, you fucking moron! I'd like to not join her! Leave if you have to but stop interfering!" Leira turned back to the girl, letting everything else fade into the background. "Casey," she whispered, "That's right, I know who you are."