by Martha Carr
The Willen looked at Leira, giving her a sidelong glance, sizing her up coolly. It was the same look she had gotten from a hundred different felons just before they cooperated. Only difference was this time it was coming from a rat the size of a dog who was looking her straight in the eye.
That's a little different. Good thing I'm growing comfortable with different as the new fucking normal. "I have time to wait. Do you?" It was a lie. The clock was ticking. But Leira was playing the odds that the Willen in front of her didn't know that part of the deal, yet.
The Willen gave an irritated high-pitched bark but slowly pulled the wallet out from deep inside a front fold, her claws scraping against the leather. She dropped it into Leira's open palm, letting a nail leave a thin, white scratch as she smiled at Leira. Leira just waited, not giving the oversized rodent the satisfaction. If you don't want to play their games, you have to not play. Another Hagan lesson. Fuck, this was always more fun with Hagan.
"This belong to someone? Don't be shy. A clever magical giant rat is brand new for all of us. Can't be expected to know what to do, especially when you're supposed to be watching them. Not locking them up." She held her arm out straight as an agent walked briskly over, his face reddening and took the wallet just as his badge fell out of another fold, clattering against the ground. Leira rolled her eyes. "Just kick it in his direction."
The Willen kept her eyes on Leira but picked the badge up with her foot and tossed it in the direction of the agent. He let it fall to the ground before he picked it up.
Just as the Willen put her foot back down, a service Glock slid out, falling to the ground. As the butt slammed against the concrete the Willen wrapped her claws around it, accidentally firing it. The bullet zinged through the air, passing by Leira's shoulder and lodging in the metal outer wall yards away. Leira barely flinched as her eyes opened a little wider.
"Son of a bitch!" someone yelled as guns were drawn pointing at the Willens. Leira kept her eyes on the mother in front of her.
"Take your foot slowly off the gun... and gently... slowly... nudge it this way. Everyone else, take a deep breath. Anyone shoots and you will have a big problem with me. I imagine someone has filled you in on my misadventures with dark mists and black holes. Breathe people." Doesn't matter that I didn't cause that gaping hole.
Eireka moved to the side of the Willen so she was blocking the view of some of the agents, staring them down. "Not today. There's too much at stake. You're going to let this one go," she said.
The Willen toed the gun over toward Leira and cautiously stepped back, giving Leira enough room to pick it up by the butt and hold it out in front of her. "Someone missing something?" The whole thing was finally pissing her off. Not everyone was lowering their gun and a few were looking like they had hit their limit of frustration.
Just as Leira was about to call on the energy and do something about it, her mother started to light up, her eyes glowing, her energy reaching out toward Leira for a boost.
Some of the guns pivoted toward Eireka.
Leira heard a few gasps. That gets old quickly. "We're on the same team people. You're not supposed to aim at us." Fear and exhaustion makes the stupid come out. She sensed her mother's request, could feel it in her chest and pulled in even more energy, flowing it out toward her mother.
"Never was, never will be," said Eireka, as she used the combined energy, sending it out as a pulsing wave over the room, erasing the last few minutes. Only the Willens remembered what had just happened. Leira and Eireka moved fast, rearranging everyone in the room to a more casual pose, putting away their guns and adjusting their faces into something less stern.
"A Silver Griffin said this would help." Leira curled up the corners of her mouth. Maybe this can change the mood of the room. Fuck me, I'm supposed to work with these people. It'd be nice if they weren't so afraid of me.
She looked over her shoulder at the Willens who were starting to move toward the still figures.
"Move a goddamn muscle and I'll forget all about this arrangement and send you underground myself. Only there won't be a city where you're going." She glared at the female who was clearly in charge. The female flicked her paw and they all moved closer together. "I've had enough," said Leira. "You aren't the only game in town. Fuck with me again and we will have a problem that you'll regret." She wasn't sure she meant it even if the thin stream of anger running through her wasn't leaving her with a whole lot of doubt. No one does something to threaten my mother.
The agents started to move again, looking around as if they were trying to remember what they were supposed to be doing, quickly getting back to standing guard. A large white van drove up, pulling into the hangar and two agents got out.
"Cohen, you are everywhere. New partner?" Fischer was nowhere to be seen. Leira was relieved. One less pain in her ass.
"Let's just say I convinced him to transfer," he said, frowning. "Are we ready to load everyone in?" He nodded at the Jersey Willens. Leira noticed he was doing his best to act like this was a normal mission.
"Ready as we'll ever be." Eireka walked toward the Willens, shooing them with her arms toward the van like she was trying to keep a small flock of sheep together.
"We understand what you're saying," said a male Willen. "You just have to ask."
"A talking rat that walks on two legs." Cohen shook his head. "And those live here on Earth?"
"For thousands of years."
"Great." He watched them lumber toward the van before turning back toward Leira. "We'll be driving you to Lavender Rock but I'm told we go as far as the parking lot and then wait. That what you want?"
Sounded just like something Hagan would say.
"We can take it from there. Humans are not exactly welcome where we go after that."
"Look, we got off on the wrong foot. Some of that is my fault. Getting used to magic being a real thing was harder than I expected. Can we start over? Most of these guys are good agents who want to do a good job. It's just a lot to take in, especially when things are going haywire."
Leira felt the hard piece of anger that had settled into her chest dissolve. "Fair enough."
"It's not an excuse but you had to know this wasn't going to be an easy adjustment. It's like a giant mind fuck frankly."
"We can start over. No one actually shot me. That shows a lot of restraint under the circumstances." She gave him a crooked smile.
"The general actually mentioned not pulling out our guns the first time something woo-woo happens." He ducked his chin down and looked up at her.
Leira looked at the agents nearby. Someone should tell them, she thought. Still, no one pulled the trigger. Not ratting out a fellow agent. Not for something like this. "We should go. Sooner we get this over with, the better. The clock is ticking."
They started walking toward the van as the oldest of the Willens, a male with grey around his whiskers pulled himself into the van as an agent pushed from behind. "I can do it," snarled the rat. The agent lifted his hands and backed up. "Pushing on my rear end like I was fresh bread. All handsy. And call me Uncle Flipper, everybody does."
"Not sure I'm gonna get used to that," said the agent, sweat across his brow. "Talking rats. Okay if I ride up front?"
Leira gave a quick nod. "That's probably best." He walked around and climbed in the passenger seat up front.
"You want to tell me what kind of deal you made with some rats?" asked Cohen.
"Way too complicated and not something I'm willing to do in range of the Willens. Everything is a bargaining chip for them. Loyalty is not their thing."
"Understood. Another time."
Leira turned to get in the van and noticed her mother was watching the two of them, her eyebrows raised.
"Lower your antennae, Mom. He's a coworker. You don't pee in the pool you swim in."
"I didn't say a thing." Eireka settled into a seat toward the front, helping the Willen next to her into a seatbelt.
Leira put her hand briefly on her
shoulder and sent a short pulse of energy into her mother just like Correk had done for her at times. Her mother looked up and smiled. "Okay, I was thinking that."
Leira arched an eyebrow and kept moving toward the back. She took the middle seat in the last row where she could see everyone else and keep an eye on the crafty Willens. Being someone's daughter will take as much getting used to as magic. She let out a sigh and clicked her seatbelt. The younger female Willen looked first at Cohen and then at Leira and winked. "Great. Universal maternal meddling across the cosmos," muttered Leira as she settled in for the long ride to the outskirts of Austin and Lavender Rock.
Once they got out of the van and left the agents behind, the Willens gave up on walking and got down on all fours, scurrying across the rocks. Leira shined a flashlight over the rocks but the Willens raced ahead, trying to get out of the light. Their eyes did better in the darkness under the dim light of the starry sky.
"Do they know where they're headed?" asked Eireka
"They must. That's some pretty focused movement." Leira moved easily from rock to rock, keeping an eye on her mother. She was tempted to slow down to give her mother a chance to move more slowly over the uneven ground. Treat her like a partner. I'd run ahead of Hagan and trust he'd find his way. Not quite there yet. "There's maps in the magical world of all these places. I imagine the Willen who lives here sent them the coordinates."
"You think they send mail?" Eireka leaped from one rock to another. The Willens were barely in sight in front of them.
"All new to me too, Mom."
"You're doing your best to keep the snark to a minimum, aren't you."
"And it's killing me. There's a whole string of words I have kept to myself."
Eireka laughed as she leapt across another small divide and took off at a jog, getting ahead of Leira.
Leira was surprised as she watched the light from the flashlight bob in the distance, her mother easily closing the gap between them and the Willens. "Something else I have in common with you." She took off at a run, glad to finally be able to move faster, feel the muscles in her legs responding easily.
They saw the low yellow glow from the lantern in the distance marking the entrance to Hilldale. As they got closer the outline of Correk became more visible as the Willens swarmed around him.
"Back up. We don't go in. Your husband has to come out first. We have a deal." He stood in front of the symbols, refusing to move. The Willens backed up but the ground underneath shuddered and a gold mist came up from the ground, gathering around their ankles and they rushed forward again.
Correk quickly conjured a fireball in his hands, sending it into an arc of flame between himself and the Willens. "Back up!" The flame lingered, lighting up the faces for a moment before slowly fading. "That's your last warning."
Leira caught up to the group and stood beside the older female Willen. "We've kept our side of the bargain and from what I know, you have your own kind of integrity. A deal's a deal. We get the information we came for and then you get to go down those stairs. The deal will be done."
She looked up at Leira, her eyes narrowed. "You know the difference between a thief and a thug. Impressive. You're right. A deal's a deal and you rescued us from the humans and their guns. I only took a weapon, just in case. We don't normally trade in things that go bang. The risk is not worth the reward. But humans..."
"I get it. Natural enemies of sort." Not going to point out I'm part human. "Then we wait."
Before she could answer the ground trembled again and opened up, the stairs jutting out, one at a time, down into the Earth. It wasn't long before the Willen they had met poked his head above the surface, sniffing the air, his whiskers twitching as he hurriedly looked around. His eyes darted back and forth between his mother, and his wife and son. He waved a paw at his mother.
"He always was a momma's boy," said the grandmother Willen. Leira saw Eireka smile for just a moment. That's going to be a crowded house, thought Leira.
"You have the information we wanted?" Correk went and stood in front of the steps between the Willen and his family.
"I do, of sorts. It's not great news but I kept my part of the bargain." He pulled an old leather ledger out of the folds of his skin. It had an 'O' burned into the cover. "All there is. Almost cost me my tail." He whipped his tail around and gingerly held it in his hands. There was a splint halfway down where the long tail was bent at an angle. Red and purple bruising stretched out under the bandage.
"How did you get in the vault?" Correk asked, astonished. He took the ledger from the Willen.
"Not part of our deal. Nothing is impenetrable. Have to know the right person, grease the wheels. Cost me my winter's stash but it was worth it." He smiled at his family, rubbing his paws together. "We good?"
Correk carefully opened the ancient ledger and saw the words appear as he turned the pages. "This says the way can be opened but only from within and only with enough power."
Leira went and read over his shoulder. "That's like atom splitting kind of power. And only from within." She stepped back and looked at Correk. "That's how much energy that black mist must have. It's got to be thousands of years’ worth of dark magic sucked into that thing."
Correk was still turning pages, reading as fast as he could, searching for something they could use before he got out of the way of the Jersey Willens. "It says once the way is finally ripped asunder, those that fell in can get out. Just as I suspected."
"Even the dead?"
He didn't answer, turning the page. "The world in between acts as some kind of balance between Oriceran and Earth. It's apparently got a function. It takes in dark magic and holds it, along with those who get sucked in accidentally. Ripping open a hole lets all of that dark magic out."
"At once," whispered Leira.
Correk looked up at Leira. "That's why it's hunting you. You're the tipping point. You have an unusual amount of energy. It's unable to open a hole long enough to crawl out. But with you..."
"Great. I'm it's fucking holy grail. Is there any good news?"
"Hang on, something about the power of the inner light...A test of character..."
The air suddenly shimmered around them and there was the smell of ozone in the air reminding Leira of approaching rain. The Willens all let out a collective gasp and a look of fear came across the Willen's face. He looked to his mother.
"Run away!" she yelled, waving her paws at him, but he hesitated at the top of the stairs.
"What is it?" Leira looked back at the grandmother Willen who was holding her grandson close to her.
There was a snap and a crackle and a shower of silver sparks. A portal opened up near Correk and a Gnome snarled, "I'll take that!" snatching the ledger out of Correk’s hand before he could react. The poppy on the Gnome's derby bared its teeth and blew a raspberry at Correk. "You!" The Gnome leaned out of the portal, half of him in Oriceran and half of him on Earth.
Leira could see into the portal. There were row upon row of books that stretched up behind him. The Gnome was reaching out for the Willen. "Trevilsom Prison for the likes of you." Leira rushed to block the Gnome, slipping by Correk's outstretched hand as he tried to stop her.
The grandmother Willen barked and ran at the Gnome who turned, his hand just grazing the Willen on the stairs, just as Leira pulled him out of the way. They fell back, tumbling down the first few steps together. Leira held him down, crouching there as the Gnome shook his fist.
"If I ever see you on Oriceran again...," he yelled at the Willen, holding the ledger close. "House of Oriceran!" He looked at Correk and spit. "You know better!" Before Correk could answer the portal shrunk to the size of the head of a pin with another shower of sparks, ending with a loud pop.
The stars overhead became visible again as Leira helped up the Willen. "You in one piece?"
The Willen nodded and scurried up the stairs on all four, running to his family. They embraced until it was hard to tell where one Willen ended and another one starte
d. Leira came up the stairs more slowly, trying to shake off the feeling their plan had failed. She made herself ask the question of Correk. "Did you see anything we can use?"
"No, not really," he said, his voice catching. "I'm sorry. I know you wanted..."
Leira balled her hands into fists, spinning around, her voice low and angry. One damn obstacle after another. "I'm not giving up. That's not my thing. You should know that about me by now. Same plan."
"The risk, Leira. If you got pulled in." Correk took a step toward her but she backed up, widening her stance.
"Even if it's the last good thing I do." Her voice was defiant.
"We do." Her mother went and stood by her side. "You'll need a lot of us."
Correk looked at the two women. "The greatest risk is to you Leira but I am honored to fight by your side." He put out his fist in front of him. "Even if it's the last good thing we do."
"What is this a fist bump kind of thing?" Leira swallowed hard, trying not to show how much it meant to her.
"No, woman! It's something we do before battle. You put your fist on top."
Leira put her fist on top of his.
"Well, now it's too late. The moment is gone."
"Go on, do the rest! There was more, wasn't there. Is there a slogan? Come on, shout it loud, nice and proud." Leira put her head back and howled like a wolf.
"Ridiculous." Correk rolled his eyes but he didn't remove his fist.
The Willen who had gotten his family back came over and put his paw on top of their fists. "If it's the last good thing we do. You saved my life. If you ever need a favor, on the house. You come look for me. Never seen anyone risk their life for a Willen before, least of all a Light Elf." He looked at Leira with tears in his eyes.
"Oh hell!" Correk leaned back and looked up toward the stars, opening his mouth wide to let out a guttural roar that started in his chest. The Willen's paw trembled but he held fast. Correk took in a deep breath and let it out again as Leira leaned back and howled and the Willen barked. Soon, all the Willens barked as the sound echoed down the stairs.