by Martha Carr
"Not as easy as you think. Four full grown Willens and even a medium-sized Willen are hard to hide, expensive to move. All under the noses of those Silver Griffins."
"Fine, we'll do it." We'll figure it out.
"First, you go to Oriceran for the information. We will start to arrange transportation."
"How do I know you won't double cross me?"
"That's more your bailiwick. If we don't have your family here when it's time for the exchange, then you don't tell us anything. But...," Correk's tone grew menacing. "We want everything. Every hidden book and scroll and mention of the world in between. Leave anything out and we ship Momma back to Jersey."
"Really need to pull you away from the TV," muttered Leira. "What is that? Real housewives?" Correk looked at her and shrugged. She shook her head.
"Deal," said the Willen, spitting into his paw and extending it for a shake. "It's the only way I do business."
Leira spit into her palm before Correk had a chance, shoving her hand on top of the wet fur, feeling the Willen's nails graze across her skin. "Deal," she said. "You have only two days."
"Then you have the same," said the Willen smiling, showing razor sharp, pointed teeth. "Better get a move on. My Uncle Flipper is old and doesn't move so fast. He'll be a hard one to get here in your time frame."
"You worry about getting past the lock on that vault. We'll worry about the Jersey Willens," said Correk.
The Willen wrote down an address and the directions to a kemana in Southern New Jersey and showed them to the door, jingling from the coins in the folds of his skin as he let them out, shutting the door behind them without even a goodbye.
Leira stood on the rickety porch, looking back at the front windows as a bright light shined out from behind the curtains.
"He's already opened a portal. He must be desperate to get his family back." Correk hurried down the steps. "Come on, you set a tight schedule."
"That black mist seems pretty determined. I don't want to fight it again before I'm ready and I don't want to miss what may be my only chance to rescue my grandmother. I took a chance."
There was a flash in the windows and the sounds of a sizzle, pop and a crack. The Willen was already on the other side.
Correk and Leira hurried back through the streets, stopping to buy a hairy limeola before they headed up the stairs.
"You have to eat that down here. Can't transport Oriceran produce above ground. Against the rules," said Correk. "Go on, bite into the rind. You'll see."
Leira bit into the limeola and was surprised to find it tasted like a sweet lime with a hint of orange. The hairy rind dissolved in her mouth and tasted like sugar. She took two more bites before throwing it into a trash can by the stairs. A Willen appeared out of nowhere, digging through the trash to retrieve the rest of the limeola, popping it into his mouth as Leira ran up the stairs toward the surface.
The ground opened up automatically as they approached the top and Leira was greeted with a rush of hot Texas air. The morning sun made her eyes hurt and it took a moment to adjust. The Earth rumbled under her feet as the rocks drew back together and everything around them grew still again.
"Like a trip to Oz," she said.
Correk was about to say something but Leira beat him to it. "Oh yeah, I totally see that one. Little people, wizard, path of gold. It's like human beings will buy whatever you're selling."
"So far," said Correk, as they hurried back in the direction of the car. There was a lot to do if they were going to move the Jersey Willens in time.
Chapter Thirteen
"The Jersey Willens live in Atlantic City? Is it under a casino?" Leira ran her hand through her hair, frustrated. She was getting pulled in different directions.
"The address says Margate. The entrance to the kemana is under a hotel shaped like an elephant named Lucy." They were sitting in the guest house, explaining everything to Eireka.
"Are you making this up?"
"No, I've told you before..."
"Light Elves care about telling the truth." Leira finished the sentence for him.
"I've been to that kemana. It's very nice. You can hear the ocean through the walls and the crystal is the prettiest gray blue." Eireka was sitting cross legged on the couch. The troll was laying back on her leg.
Leira stared at her mother for a moment. "I can never catch up on all this information."
"Does it really matter, dear? You'll learn what you need to know."
"What we need to know is where Katie Toler is going to be next and how she's tracking the necklace. It'd be our chance to get there first. But..."
"We may be able to do both." Correk was pacing the room, wearing his new jeans and cowboy boots.
"Don't say portal. You said you can't go back in time with those."
"Don't be ridiculous. No portals. If we can get ahead of the Silver Griffins agent we can get the necklace and take it with us to move the Willens. It's risky but it's doable."
"I say we try."
"There's a third option. You let me help." Eireka fixed a steady, determined gaze on her daughter. "First of all, I understand magic better than you do. Second, moving the Jersey Willens isn't about magic anyway. It's logistics. I'm a born planner. They need to get from point A to point B in a short amount of time without anyone seeing them move. This is really quite easy."
"Explain." Leira sat forward on the edge of her chair.
"We either disguise the move as something rare and expensive or something dangerous and volatile. And we get the government to help us with the cover up."
"General Anderson..." Leira finally took in a deep breath of air.
"There you go. I knew you'd get it. He'd do it for you, Leira and keeping things from the public is second nature to the government. If we can borrow a transport plane, we throw the Willens in the back and fly to Texas. I can handle that. If anyone gives me grief I make them sing like a canary. It's really pretty and soothing but scares the shit out of humans." Eireka laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. The troll imitated her, rolling over and letting out a fart.
Leira waved a magazine to clear the air. "This is what happens when you feed a troll whatever he wants."
"They do them for fun," said Correk, trying to glance at the ceiling without being noticed.
Eireka took the magazine from Leira and grabbed both her hands. "I trusted you to be able to take care of yourself. Now you're going to need to trust me to do the same. I can do this. Go after that necklace. It needs to go home where it's safe and to give the queen some comfort. It carries in it some of the energy from her son. She should have at least that to remember him by."
"What do you think Cowboy Correk? Stop pacing."
"He looks like a native Texan. Get a twang on him and no one would question his roots," said Eireka admiring him.
"Mom." Leira rolled her eyes at her mother, getting another laugh from Eireka.
"Hopefully, I can teach you to loosen up, just a little."
Correk finally stopped, his hands on his hips. "I don't know. Willens are always looking for an angle and five of them..."
"Five of them who all want to get to the Lavender kemana. We have the same purpose. They'll try and steal what they can on the trip and probably scare a few of the Feds but that will only make the trip more interesting. Call the general. Make the arrangements and then go, get the necklace.
Leira and Correk tracked Katie Toler to an old abandoned Esso station in Shreveport, Louisiana but they got there too late. There was no sign of Katie or the necklace.
"No obvious signs," said Correk. "Wait, don't rush off. You wouldn't leave a murder scene without gathering what you could from the evidence."
Leira turned around and did what was becoming second nature. She centered herself, pulling up the energy from the Earth and let it flow through her, forgetting about the dirty tile walls all around her. It happened more easily now, pulsing through her faster. She spread out her arms and let the energy flow out from her, s
eeking out the magic trails left behind. There they are. As individual as fingerprints.
The different glittering trails swirled around the room, each one giving off different energy. Leira sought out Katie's trail first and knew it when she found it. Icy blue and sharp. She shut her eyes, absorbing the energy and felt the remnants of the different spells.
"I don't know what this means." She opened her eyes, still holding the magic steady.
"You're getting stronger, Cousin. You can hold the energy steady and interact with me. Well done. What are you sensing?"
"Incantations but I don't know them. I don't know what the words mean."
"You don't need to. It's not the spells that matter, it's their intention. You're Light Elf. We use spells as a convenience but we don't need them. Feel what's there. That's where your power is. Let your energy mix with the remnants of the Atlantean. It'll tell you what Katie was doing and what she was after."
Leira shut her eyes again, letting the trail of her energy swirl and mix with the remnants. "She fought her way out of here. Pretty nasty fight. Wait! She wasn't alone. I mean she had an ally. A witch. I recognize the kind of trail they leave."
"Very good, Cousin. Was either of them hurt? You'll feel pain and a kind of emptiness in the trails."
"Wounded but not seriously. There's anger, too. A lot of it. They still don't have the necklace." Leira opened her eyes, dropping her arms as the symbols faded. "She had to retreat. This was a waste of time."
"Not entirely. Try again. Read the other side but be careful of the darkness. Sometimes they are clever and leave boobytraps in the remnants for someone just like you. You'll have to really focus and steer your way around them."
"Like a video game." Leira took in a deep breath and shut her eyes, pulling the magic through herself again, seeking out the darker trails. They were easy to spot, popping and crackling with tangled knots in the flow. "Nothing goes in a straight line."
"One of the consequences of playing with dark magic. It tangles up your energy. Stay long enough and the knots become permanent. Keep going."
Leira cautiously approached the energy with her own, using the same skills she would have used entering a strange house for the first time. She looked at every angle, ready to pulse a blast of energy. She drew near a trail, nudging it with her own as a section bubbled and popped, sending out sparks. A boobytrap. Sparkling black and blue pieces flew through the air as Leira let her energy catch a piece absorbing it into hers. A sharp pain stabbed at her temple and she winced but held on, feeling for the intentions buried inside.
"They took the necklace to D.C. to hide it." Leira opened her eyes, still squinting from the pain.
Correk put his hands on both sides of her head as his fingertips glowed, pulling out the dark magic. The pain gradually receded.
"How do they live with that much pain all the time?" asked Leira, rubbing her forehead. "They've gone to Washington but I couldn't get an exact read on where. And one other thing was buried in there. A faint pale blue trail of a purer magic."
Correk looked up, concerned. "They have a captive?"
"Not sure. It was Hannah Beecham. She left a distress call, asking for help. I heard it clear as day. She said contact Lacey Trader in the Silver Griffins. She needs help."
“There’s no time to help the young witch. We need to call the Silver Griffins.”
“I don’t like it, but you’re right. Even if Hannah betrayed them, they should still know one of their own is in danger. And as much as I hate it, we let Katie Toler have a clear shot at taking back the necklace. We have a few Willens we need to worry about more,” said Leira.
Katie Toler was backed into a corner on a soccer field in Fort Ward, in Alexandria, Virginia, fighting three Rhazdon followers who were doing their best to escape with the prized necklace. The park was closed temporarily for repairs. A ruse set up by the followers so they could more easily hide the necklace beneath one of the monuments. It wasn't going as they planned.
Katie showed up before they could deposit the necklace and they were equally pinned down, holding on to the precious artifact, too afraid of the priest who led them to let it go and run. Katie was following a tip from an old friend of May's who had soured on the movement but was still friendly with some of the members. The necklace was being moved to somewhere just outside of D.C. temporarily.
Rumors abounded about where the necklace was but Katie was too smart to just chase leads and drove around the area till she got close enough to be able to follow the trail the powerful artifact was leaving. It had a strong signal all its own that went out for more than thirty miles.
Like bread crumbs through the forest to the gingerbread house. A nasty witch was at the end of this trail too, flanked by two wizards.
Pzzzzztttzzzttt! Brrrrzzzzzzzttttzzz!
The tendrils of electric fire snapped back and forth burning whatever it touched. Katie had already managed to take out a witch with a lasso of fire that left the witch crumpled on her side, still smoking but alive.
The sky directly above them was red and purple, the electricity being absorbed into the clouds and sent right back down to Earth again. From a distance it looked like a breathtaking force of nature in a small storm.
"Surrender the necklace and you can back out of here." Katie yelled across the distance between them. She stood out in the open, dressed in leather, her tendrils swirling around her head. She had come prepared for battle and wasn't backing down.
"Not gonna happen bitch!" yelled one of the wizards.
"May happen anyway but I'll have to step over your dead bodies to pick it up. Either way is fine by me." Katie snapped her arm back, using the trail of magic like a white hot whip, flicking it through the air over the length of the soccer field.
Snap!
The flame licked the neck of the wizard, drawing blood and leaving a trail of blisters. He jerked his hand back sending a spray of sparks across the soccer field, obliterating the netting around the goal as he fell to the ground.
Katie saw an opportunity and snapped the energy back again, hurling it forward with all her might, just long enough to grab the branch off a nearby oak tree, breaking it right at the trunk.
Craaaaaack!
She hurled the thick branch at the heads of the remaining witch and wizard.
The witch ducked just in time, leaves grazing her head but the wizard caught it full in the chest, lifting him off his feet and flying through the air before landing face first in the dirt. The witch helped to pull the branch off him as Katie advanced, still sending out a strong and steady flame. The wizard's nose was broken and he could barely see from the dirt in his eyes.
"Take the necklace and get out of here. I'll make sure you get away. I'll use our backup plan."
"Not that," said the witch. She was dressed in jeans and a light jacket and looked like she should be standing on the sidelines of the soccer field watching her kid score a goal, instead of hurling dark magic at an approaching agent of the Silver Griffins.
"The movement must succeed. We must bring Rhazdon's teachings back for the sake of magic before the gates open. Go!"
The white light was blinding the wizard as he mumbled the spell ending with, "...the pure of thought shall prevail."
The ground began to tremble and Katie stopped her advance, holding her arm steady. A look of concern came over her face but she wasn't backing up. It wasn't in her game plan.
The ground cracked open in small fissures all across the soccer field as shimmers of gray light poured out shooting straight up ten feet in the air, instantly changing to razor thin, sharp ice. Katie saw the cracks under her feet and without a second thought ran for the cover of the field house as fast as she could, the sheaths of ice making a slicing and swooshing sound right behind her. A blood curdling scream echoed against the ice behind her from the wizards trapped on the field.
"Open!" she shouted at the door in front of her, holding out her hand as the door flung itself open and she dove headfirst for t
he concrete floor inside, just as the last slice of tall deadly gray ice shot into the air at the entrance to the door.
She rolled over, looking at the opaque wall of ice up against the door. "I have to admit, I did not see that coming. You bitches play a little meaner than I realized. Drank the Kool Aid and everything." She picked herself up off the floor, brushing off the leather. Her mouth was set and she was already working on her next move.
"Might actually need reinforcements this time." She shook her head in amazement. "How is one necklace worth all this trouble?"
Chapter Fourteen
"Is it okay that I invited him?" Eireka had pulled her long hair back on the sides with two silver combs and was wearing a silk purple shirt that flattered her pale skin. Leira saw what her mother had on and realized her mother cared how the night went. No one wore silk to go eat pizza.
"Of course it's okay. We love Donald." Leira held the door open for her mother as they walked into Home Slice Pizza.
"I would have held the door," said Correk as he walked inside. The troll was left at home with a salad, happily stuffing cherry tomatoes in his mouth. There was a group consensus that he needed a break from faux food.
"There he is, Donald!" Eireka waved, smiling as she picked up her pace. A tall man with broad shoulders and thick silver hair stood up, sliding out of the booth, nervously wiping his hands on his jeans. He was just as Leira remembered him. Only the color of his hair had changed.
Geez, he's wearing his best duds too, thought Leira.
"Makes you wonder if they missed each other all these years." Correk stood next to Leira watching the two embrace. Donald looked like he was having trouble remembering how to hug someone.
“I don’t remember ever seeing him that nervous.”
"We should probably walk over there, don't you think?" Correk gave a gentle push in the small of Leira's back.
"Donald, hey, nice to see you again! Can you believe it?" Leira heard her own high-pitched voice. Let this all go well tonight. She hugged him, patting him on the back and stepped back.