by Martha Carr
“How the rail cars work is another mystery to me since there’s no engine as far as I can tell.” Leira looked out the windows on the side at the landscape passing by in a blur.
“This entire rail car is an artifact, I imagine, or running off a crystal from a nearby kemana or both.” Correk leaned as far as he could toward Leira, turning away from the Gnome.
“You think anyone knows you’re the new Fixer?” whispered Leira. “It’s like you’re a celebrity in these parts.”
“No, I don’t and today’s not the day to tell them. Let me figure out how to do a tenth of the spells in those books without leaving burn marks and then I can hand out business cards.”
“Very old school of you. Pretty sure the native population does that over their phones now. You think they get reception down here?”
The rail car started to slow as everyone leaned forward and steam surrounded the car.
“That was no time at all. Not sure I like it as much. No reason to bring along snacks.” Correk waited for some of the passengers in the aisle to move out before he stood up.
Leira followed him out, easily falling in line again with the commuters. “Granted, not much of a road trip. Come on, we have another hike up the stairs.”
The lines of commuters heading up the stairs moved along at a steady pace as an Elf waved to a friend heading down the stairs, a delighted smile on her face. “Kerry! Kerry, hi! What are the odds?” she shouted. Kerry looked up and waved a mittened hand back, even as she continued down the stairs.
Beings peeled off at different levels, heading to catch a different rail car or to come up at a different Starbucks as Leira and Correk continued to climb.
Close to the top Leira watched a Wizard in a puffy jacket deftly reach into the back pocket of a balding Wizard in a green coat right in front of him, sliding out a wallet with two fingers. Leira shoved the Witch in front of her gently to the side and pushed her way to the Wizard, tightly grabbing him by the elbow. Correk wound his way up just behind her.
Feels good to grab a petty thief for once. She squeezed his arm hard enough to get a squeal as he dropped the wallet.
“Hey, that’s mine!” The balding Wizard reached down to retrieve his wallet as the entire, snaking line came to a halt and everyone leaned over the sides to get a better look at what was slowing down their ascent. Correk heard the grumbling behind him and turned around to give a cold, hard stare to the offenders who quickly looked away. This is not going to go like Leira thinks it will. He looked at the turned faces. But, they understand. A short stay in Trevilsom.
“You and I are going to become fast friends,” said Leira, keeping her grip on the man’s arm.
“No need,” said an older, round Witch in glasses who appeared by her side, pushing her way through the crowd. “I’ll take it from here.” The Witch showed her badge with two silver-colored Griffins intertwined as the thief’s face became ashen. “You were warned, Boris. Come on.” Stairs just to the right began to light up as the Witch made her way with Boris, pulling him out of the crowd.
“Okay, now I’m not sure I did the right thing.” Leira watched the two disappear into the distance as everyone commenced climbing the stairs again.
“The Silver Griffins don’t brook with any kind of criminal behavior, but they’ll be fair.”
“I’m not sure we’d define fair the same way.”
“You’re probably right. They’ve never been known for just giving someone a ticket.”
“Come on, we’re at our destination,” said Leira, still looking back.
Correk took Leira by the elbow, steering her away from some grumbling commuters. At the top they were met by a Witch who walked them through a different exit from everyone flowing around them and Leira felt the same pull through the darkness as it gradually gave way to the light and she was back in the same paneled room.
Correk watched Leira step through the passageway before stepping back and making his way through the Starbucks and out to the street where he saw the Witch dragging a wilted Boris toward a minivan for transport. The cold spring Chicago wind whipped at his face.
“No time like the present to try out a spell,” he muttered. “Luci tenebras. Dimittas.” Correk’s eyes glowed momentarily as he bent his thumb and forefinger into a square. Fog seeped out of the ground filling the air on one side of the street. The Witch looked back startled to realize she wasn’t holding anything anymore and Boris was nowhere in sight. The witch removed her glasses, wiping off the dampness from the sudden fog, peering into the gray cloud. “Well of all the…”
Correk led Boris away from the fog, toward the Red Line stop, pulling him out of the isolated fog. “You get what I’m guessing is a fifth or sixth chance, Boris. Don’t waste it. Call this number if you want to stay out of trouble and find real work. They’ll help you.” Correk pressed a card into Boris’ palm with the number of a network Turner Underwood created a long time ago to help magical beings.
He gave Boris a shove toward the subway stairs. “Hurry…” Boris hesitated, his mouth open and clutching the card but he got his wits about him and took off at a run. Correk turned and walked back into the thick fog as it parted to either side for him and he easily found his way back to the Starbucks. He paused at the back wall, letting himself relax and watched the wall dissolve and the scent of chocolate filled the air. He walked through and took a sharp left toward the door Leira went through and opened it, looking into the darkness. “I suppose this is what Turner meant. Be the calm. Rule number one of being a Fixer.” He stepped forward, enveloped by the darkness as the door shut behind him. Be the calm.
Chapter Five
Correk emerged into the light just as Leira was turning around to go back for him. She recognized the look on his face. It was the same one Hagan gave her every time he needed her to have his back and ask questions later. Leira turned back and rested her hands on her hips, as Correk came and stood by her side.
Turner Underwood was waiting for them, sitting in a brown leather upholstered wingback chair. It was brought in from another room especially for him. Age has its privileges. Lacey was sitting behind her desk, a plate of cookies between the two of them.
“Coffee is coming,” said Lacey. “Have a seat. We can get started. Everyone knows each other here so we can skip the formalities. There’s no time these days, anyway for all the niceties. The wizarding families had a meeting that was mandatory attendance. All the old lines were there, of course. The consequences of being a no-show make the Silver Griffins look mild-mannered.”
Leira gave a sidelong glance to Correk as she took a mug of coffee from the Witch who came into the room carrying a tray.
Turner lifted his shaggy head, his hands resting on his cane and cleared his throat before speaking. “It was quite the performance… I hear. Fortunately, we have a few spies of our own who are willing to serve the greater good. Or at least the side that isn’t interested in pummeling humanity into submission. But we needed you both here for a reason.” Turner looked at Leira with a patient, kind smile.
Leira sat back in the hard wooden chair, her hands wrapped around the mug, the bracelet sliding down her wrist. This isn’t going to be good.
“Their star attraction for the meetup wasn’t even invited.” Turner tapped his cane softly against the floor. “That would be you, Leira. Your name and face were taught to every attendee. They see you as their greatest threat to securing their power.”
“Not to sound braggy but that’s not news, exactly. That Wizard who got dragged to the other side… he’s one of their own, isn’t he?”
“He was the head of the entire network. Their leader of many years and thought to be invincible… till you.”
“He must have told the families about me. He already had a bee in his bonnet about me before the world in between made him its bitch. How does this change things?”
“It’s all about focus and intent, my dear.” Lacey waved away the Witch coming in to see if anyone wanted more coffee.
“Please see that we’re not disturbed.” Lacey waited till the door was shut with a soft click. “The old wizarding families are wealthy and powerful and have been around for centuries. Their kind are everywhere. You’ve run into them without knowing it but before they didn’t know it either. That may be changing and in this instance that gives them an advantage. Stay aware of your surroundings. Keep the troll by your side a little more often.”
Correk shifted in his seat. “Was that the only item on their agenda?”
Leira knew what they were going to say before they even said it.
“The families experiments with turning humans into shifters has been successful enough.” Lacey pressed her lips together in disgust. “They’re ready to move forward with the next part of their plan.”
“What’s the rest of the plan?” asked Correk.
Turner interrupted her, shaking his head. “We don’t know what that means, exactly. Only the leaders sitting at the table got the details, but we can surmise a few things. We expect them to use the shifters in soft spots heavily crowded with people to put the fear of magic into human beings and get them to pull back.”
“General Anderson will never do that. Hell, the entire U.S. government will never do that. They’ll push back harder with bigger weapons,” said Leira.
Turner raised his eyebrows and could feel the weight of nearly a thousand years. “It’s difficult to know where to aim a weapon if you can’t locate the enemy.”
“Shifters have an advantage…” said Correk.
Leira sat back against the chair. “They can change back and blend into the general population. Fuck, they’re still human even if they’ve been modified.”
Turner pointed a finger in the air. “This is where you come in handy, Leira and why they fear you so much. Your ability to ride the energy without having to physically be there lets you follow the trails that these shifters will leave behind. If you can use the light, bend it without becoming part of it, you can trace the shifters and identify them.”
“Maybe… It’s not quite that simple. The energy doesn’t always show me everything or maybe it can’t. It’s more like puzzle pieces at times.”
“More than we have right now.”
Correk sat on the edge of his seat. “Surely we can track them before harm is caused.”
“Until they release them outside of their current confines there is no trail to follow.” Turner sounded weary. “We will have to play a waiting game and hope the damage is not too extensive.”
I can find some of them. Leira ran her fingers along the bracelet. There’s a connection there. I can feel it. She looked up at Correk. “We’ll be ready.” It was all she said. Better to keep this growing connection to myself, for now. No need to give false hope.
Chapter Six
Correk and Leira emerged in the Starbucks just before lunchtime. The place was filled mostly with students working on term papers, and writers trying to finish their novels. Correk pulled Leira out the side door of the Starbucks and held onto her hand as they headed down the side street and into the alley.
“What are you doing? Did you see something?” Leira peered out from the alley, ready to pull in energy if it was needed.
“No, I wanted to talk to you. Although, it’s good to see you’re taking Turner’s warning seriously. We need to find the troll and keep him closer.”
“We needed an alley for you to tell me that? Come on, we need to get to the warehouse and see if we can figure out where the shifters are being kept.”
“Not the warehouse.” Correk held onto Leira’s arm. “We need to figure out a different plan. The warehouse is a government facility designed to help the human population. All well and good, but this may be something that we can solve without alarming them, or worse. It’s only incidental if something good comes out of it for the magical beings on this planet.” Correk shook his head, his face tense. “They will not take any of this well and once they know, it will be out of our hands. Self-preservation will kick in and General Anderson will come up with his own strategy.”
Leira looked at his hand still on her arm. “Really?” She looked back up at him with a dead fish look. “Peel your hand off Correk. Okay better, where did you have in mind? Lois has been warning us about this from the very beginning. It’s a good bet tampering with humans and their DNA is the line that crosses into panic land for the government.”
“We make it a rule to meet at the sanctuary. Not the one on Oriceran, we’ll use the one outside Austin or even the one in Alaska or Hawaii when we need to. No one outside of who we choose to invite will even know of the meetings. And we keep that number small.”
“Not a bad idea. There’s so many sides to this puzzle now and the sanctuary will keep us hidden from everyone.”
Correk formed a ball of light between his hands, singing into it and pulling his hands apart as the opening grew. “Now we need to convince the Gardener of the Dark Forest it’s a good idea.”
“Shouldn’t be hard once he finds out we’re going out on our own, at least to hunt the shifters and find the old Wizarding families.” Leira stepped through the opening into the forests at the edge of the sanctuary as Correk followed behind her. Leira always liked to take a moment and take in the calm. No sounds of technology or people rushing somewhere.
“I do love this place. It’s like I can breathe here without staying aware of who’s on my six all the time.”
There was a rustle from the edge of the forest. Leira turned, expecting to see an animal foraging nearby. Instead, a familiar figure stretched his arms over his head making the trees and bushes appear to bend and roll.
“Perrom! You’re here.” Correk smiled and took the last few steps at a fast clip, grasping his good friend’s hand.
“I hate it when my father’s right.”
Perrom emerged from the green foliage, the scales along his skin flipping over from different shades of green to honey brown. “He said it wouldn’t be long before you two showed up here again. He predicted the divides would become wider and you’d have to choose sides. I take it things have gotten worse.”
“Not worse as much as we are coming to understand the new reality,” said Leira.
“Come on, follow me further into the woods. Even with the magical protection over this land, these days more caution is necessary. I don’t want to find out the hard way that the darker forces have figured out a way to infiltrate the spells.”
“The Gardener wouldn’t be very happy.”
“He would start his own war if the wrong element ever penetrated a sanctuary. He’s the last guardian of so many things.”
Leira stopped on the mossy path. “Well, that brings me to our request and this is probably far enough in, just in case it’s a hard no. We need a regular place to meet and share information, plan our next steps.” She looked all around at the dense forest, the light dappling the leaves. “The sanctuaries are the best places I can think of where we can talk openly.”
A macaw landed easily on Correk’s shoulder, only managing a raised eyebrow out of the Light Elf. The colorful bird let out a squawk, spreading its wing as it sidestepped down his shoulder to Correk’s outstretched arm, scooting right back up to his shoulder. “The world is changing. Magic is slowly seeping back onto Earth and thanks to Rhazdon everyone got an early heads up. Being able to meet here will be the thing that helps keep the sanctuaries safe.”
“Damn, that’s two in a row. The old man has powers beyond what he’s even shown me.” Perrom smiled, his pupils coming together to look straight ahead. “He already had the same idea and told me to wait till you showed up and asked. Said you’d appreciate his generosity more.” The smile faded as he reached out to a deer who ventured close enough to nibble on nearby leaves. “He won’t tell me what else he sees coming or if it’s his best guess or some strange ability he had that he’s kept to himself. Either one is possible, but I can tell you that he doesn’t like whatever he believes is coming next. Too many powerful rivalries bre
aking out into the open for their share of power in whatever form they can get it.”
Leira watched, amazed, as Perrom’s hand took on the look and feel of the fur he was rubbing, the texture spreading up his arm. “We will protect the sanctuaries with our lives, if necessary. We will be guardians of the magic here and not let the forces out there destroy it. Anyone who comes to a sanctuary will understand that they do so with the same agreement.”
“Agreed,” said Correk, holding out his hand. Perrom put his on top as they waited for Leira to do the same.
“What, this is a thing on Oriceran too? Do you guys fist bump and hide away in man caves?” Leira put her hand on the top.
“What’s a man cave? Humans don’t live in caves anymore.”
Correk let out an annoyed sigh. “You both are taking the cool factor right out of this. Come on, this is marking something sacred. The beginning of our Forest of Solitude.”
Leira let out a snort as the bird squawked at her from Correk’s shoulder. “Birds of all kinds generally like me,” he said.
“Yeah, well Super Elf, that’s not a bad name for it. Okay, what do we say here? This is getting weird.”
“All for one…” said Perrom.
“And one for all!”
“Our two worlds are more aligned than people realize.” Leira flexed her fingers, feeling the tired muscle of a nearby bionic animal. She could feel it slowly settling down to rest. “Too bad coming together is turning out to be a shit show so far.”
“Not everything is written yet. Things change quickly these days. We may make a difference yet.” Correk held out his arm for the bird.
The macaw spread its wings, pushing down as it took flight, rising above the canopy and letting out another loud squawk before disappearing from view.
“We should be going. Till we meet again, my friend.”