by Logan Jacobs
“Running, swimming, and climbing?” Ariette guffawed. “Child’s play.”
“I figured you’d say that. Hey, Mecini,” Kalista called out to the crowd behind us, “it’s your time to shine, bud.”
The crowd parted to let a tiny red fairy flutter through. He flew right up into my face, and I could make out his pointed chin and crimson eyes.
“Hey, pal, how you doing?” the fairy squeaked before he flitted over to float next to Kalista’s head.
“This is Mecini,” the dwarf said proudly, and her violet eyes shone with glee. “Show them what you’ve got, dude.”
Mecini spun around in the air, and one little red arm raised in front of him. And where his little red arm pointed, the earth began to shake and shudder before it crawled together and formed into a mound about a foot high.
Oh, boy. That was Kalista’s catch.
“Not so easy now, huh?” the dwarf cried out exuberantly. “The Earth is at my command!”
“Not quite,” Maaren replied with a laugh. “Man, Kalista, your brain is one interesting place.”
“I know,” the dwarf said with a shrug of her left shoulder. “Don’t you wish you lived there? Now, each one of you pick a lane and get ready.”
The three of us got to our marks with Maaren in the middle and Ariette and I on either side.
“On your marks,” Kalista shouted out, and the crowd went silent, “get set … go!”
I immediately sprinted off down my lane. The three of us were even with each other, and Maaren shot me a shit-eating grin as she pumped her arms.
“Ready to be totally dominated?” I yelled at her with a sly smile. I could swear I saw the hint of a blush crawl up her chest at my innuendo, but it could have been due just as much to exertion.
“Not quite yet,” the embarrassed Fae shook her head at me with a soft smile and then pumped her arms to propel her body faster.
And then suddenly, the ground roiled up beneath me, just as I was feet from the finish line. It swelled and pulsed as if it was alive, and I caught a tiny red blur out of the corner of my eye. I almost lost my footing as a mound of earth suddenly popped up right underneath the balls of my feet, but I quickly righted myself, took a flying leap over the mound, and stumbled toward the finish line.
Maaren decided to use her Hand to propel herself into the air, and she easily avoided the swells of the earth. Ariette was not so lucky. As I hit the finish line gleefully, I heard the elven warrior cry out in frustration.
“Shit!” Ariette yelled. I swung my head around just for a second and saw her flat on the ground as she rode out a wave of earth. I heard a tiny laugh bubble up from the red blur, but I didn’t stick around to watch Ariette get back to her feet.
I had a race to win.
Maaren and I dove into the lake at the exact same time. The water quickly enveloped me in its warmth.
I loved the Fae water. It was crisp and clear, and always the perfect temperature. This made it very easy for me to slice through, but Maaren was nearly neck and neck with me as we stroked through the liquid. As I ducked beneath the water, I caught the shimmer of mermaid scales and glanced down to see a shirtless man with a blue tail wave at me from about twenty feet below. He flicked his tail lazily and easily kept pace with us as he watched.
I turned my face and took in a big gulp of air. The end of the pond was only a few feet away, and Maaren was still almost even with me.
And then, suddenly, Ariette appeared on my other side. Except she wasn’t alone.
The elf was brilliant, I had to admit. She rode on the back of a pretty young mermaid with red hair and a purple tail, and they easily outswam both Maaren and me.
“That’s not fair!” Maaren exclaimed as she clambered onto the shores of the pond, and both of us dashed toward the tree. Ariette was now a few feet ahead of us, and she scrambled up the branches.
“Kal never said we couldn’t ask for help!” she called down happily to us.
“Well, she also never said anything about our Hands,” Maaren mumbled as I leapt onto the lower branches of the tree.
The water dripped from my clothes as I scaled up the tree. I concentrated on my footing and ignored the sting in my hands as the bark scratched my palms. But just as I was about halfway up, Maaren flew past me with a big grin on her face. I paused for just a moment and then instantly started to scramble back down the tree.
I was going to steal that flag from the hunter.
“What!” Ariette screeched above me, and I looked up to see Maaren snatch the flag just as the elf made it to the top.
I landed back on the ground just before Maaren did, and then I ducked behind the trunk and waited in the shadows for a moment. I watched the hunter hit the ground in front of me and take off to the pond edge as she sprinted toward Kalista in a mad dash, but I didn’t give her long.
I darted out from behind the tree, jogged forward, and lifted my Hand to connect with her blood. The moment the familiar tingle of magic rose in me, I pulled my Hand back, and Maaren flipped head over heels onto the ground. She struggled to get up as I calmly approached her, and her green eyes were filled with amusement.
“Next time you lay me on my back, you should get on top,” she joked as she tried to get away from my blood pull. I knew it was partially a joke, and she hoped to throw me off my game just long enough, but my dick started to fill as I imagined us writhing together in bed in the position she just described.
“Nice try,” I whispered as I bent over her head and tickled her nose with mine. Her green eyes went wide, and I took the opportunity to snatch the flag from her hand.
“Badass full-body suits, here we come!!” I called as I began to jog backward toward the finish line. “I can’t wait to see all of you women in them!”
Just then, a bolt of lightning cracked in front of me and split the ground open into a thin, deep chasm. I heard Ariette’s laugh, and then the elven warrior threw her hands around my waist and tackled me as soon as I stepped back to avoid the pit of the earth.
“Not so fast, HC,” the elf giggled as she pinned me to the ground and reached for the flag.
I turned my head to assess the distance to the finish and kept a tight grip on the green flag. We were maybe fifty yards away. I looked back up at the elf as she tried to jerk the flag from my fingers. Then I connected with her blood and felt the strength of its pulse as it flowed through her body.
“As much as I like you on top of me, I think we’re going to have to save this position for later,” I teased before I bucked her off and sent her body flying back five feet. She landed in the dirt with a grunt, and I knew I was probably going to pay for that later. But I wasn’t above kissing her bruises.
I scrambled to my feet just as Maaren came up behind me. Then I felt the whoosh of air as she made a mad grab for the back of my shirt. I pushed all of my strength into my legs and pumped them even faster. The pond shot past in a blur at my side as my feet ate up the line of the shore, and I could hear my pulse race in my ears as I closed the distance between myself and the finish line.
As I drew nearer, I heard pounding footsteps at my back as my opponents raced to cut me off. Unfortunately for them, I had too much of a lead. I put my head down, gritted my teeth, and gave it all I got.
And then, I slid to a stop in front of Kalista. I proudly handed the dwarf the beautiful green flag, and she took it with a small bow.
“Yes!” I cried out as Kalista, and the crowd surged forward. I heard cheers and shouts of “Go Milton!” as they came toward me, and I turned on my teammates with a triumphant smile.
“Don’t worry,” I promised Maaren and Ariette. “I’ll make sure I pick something comfortable.”
“Good one, Milton!” Kalista said as she dashed up to us. Her small form vibrated with excitement and pride. “How was that for a competition, huh? I’d say I did a nice job, if I do say so myself.”
“Alright, alright,” Ariette lamented with a sigh, “maybe we did bite off a little more than we
could chew.”
“Just a teeny, tiny, little bit,” Maaren added with a chuckle.
“Oh, sure,” I replied with a wink. “Just a little bit. Well, then, I suppose you won’t mind if I hold this little victory over your heads for a little while then.”
“Pfff,” Ariette coughed out as she turned to make herself seem completely unbothered. “Just wait until next time.”
“Not at all, Milton,” Maaren said softly as she patted my chest lazily, and a gentle smile stretched across her face. It warmed me to see her happy and relaxed.
“I, for one,” I declared, “will be remembering this for a long, long time.”
“Come on, you guys,” Ariette said with an eye roll, “let’s get to the command center and see what non-exciting stuff is on tap for today.”
The elf strode off, Maaren close behind her, and Kalista gave me a playful punch and a shrug as the two of us followed.
Little did we know that Ariette had spoken much too soon. This day was going to be a lot of things, and it would be anything but “boring.”
Chapter 2
The command center was dead when the four of us arrived, still sweaty and high from the excitement of the competition.
The second special ops teams, led by a grumpy dwarf named Ilias, had taken up their usual space in the left center of the room. They sat around the table lazily, looking like they were bored to tears. Elvira, a glittery pink nymph with a sass problem, had her leather clad feet up on the wooden table. Ariette threw a glare her way as we entered the room, but it went completely unnoticed.
Other than this particular group of special ops members, no one was there. The interns all picked up tasks in other departments to help out, and the other three special ops teams didn’t even bother to wait in the command center. Even if there was a mission, they’d probably have to wait their turn when shit went down, they always wanted to bring out the big guns. Unfortunately for us, we were those big guns.
Ariette sat down with a grunt at the round table in the center of the room, and then she casually surveyed the computers as they flicked through different video feeds from throughout Jefferson City. Everything was perfectly calm.
“I am exhausted,” Kalista cried out as she threw herself into a swivel chair and spun it around in a circle. “Having a brain like mine is tiring, you guys! It’s like having one of those supercomputers racing around in your skull, going a mile a minute at every waking moment of your life.”
“Quick, somebody turn it on and off,” Elvira muttered to her team “Maybe even leave it in the ‘off’ position permanently.” When I turned to shoot her a glare, the nymph raised her head to the ceiling and casually avoided eye contact.
Maaren, ever the friendly one, tried to make light conversation with the other team.
“How are you guys today?” she asked cheerfully. All she earned in response were shrugs, and a muttered “fine,” from one of them, though I couldn’t pick out which one.
“Having a slow week is kind of nice, right?” Maaren tried again, a fake smile plastered on her face.
“Noooooo,” Kalista sighed out as she threw her chair in a circle yet again. “I’m on the verge of insanity right now. You know that elaborate obstacle course I came up with? That’s just the tip of the iceberg, my friends. If things keep going the way they’re going, it’s going to get real weird up in here.”
“Are you saying you want something bad to happen, just so you’re not bored?” Ilias grunted out with a harsh glare. “I lost many of my dwarf brethren the last time we went on a mission. It’s not a laughing matter.” The dwarf toyed with his black beard as he enjoyed the look of embarrassment that crossed Kalista’s face.
“What? No! Of course not,” Kalista stuttered, “I just--”
“He’s just screwing with you, Kal.” Ariette sighed out from her vantage point near the computers. “I don’t think there’s a single person here who wants to just sit around doing nothing all day.”
“Are you still enjoying the accolades from your last mission?” Ilias shot back at Ariette. He had this weird obsession with the word “accolades,” and also an obsession with using the word to refer to our victory and almost celebrity status at the guild now. At least twice a day for the last week, Ilias found some way to mention our “accolades.”
“Naturally,” Ariette said proudly and didn’t even miss a beat. “Don’t you worry, Ilias, your team’s time will come soon. Hopefully.”
“Doubtful,” was all Ilias said before he turned his back on us.
The Fae guild had some serious competition amongst itself, and I still wasn’t quite used to that. Sometimes it seemed as if the special ops teams were all pitted against each other, instead of all part of one guild with a singular goal: to protect people. I didn’t have too much experience with the human police department, but I wondered if the different units competed with each other quite like this. It was pretty intense.
“Oh, oh, what’s that?” Kalista suddenly piped up beside me. Her violet eyes were fixated on one of the computer screens that showed a busy street in Jefferson City.
A young teenage boy dashed down the street and weaved through the crowd of people. He threw a glance behind him and then took out a middle-aged brunette woman with a bag full of groceries, but he just kept going.
“Is he running from the cops?” Ariette questioned excitedly. The elf stood automatically and came closer to the computer screen, just in time to see the teenager get tackled by another. The two came up laughing and ignored the disapproving looks from the surrounding adults. Clearly, they were just screwing around and not doing anything shady.
“Is it sad we got excited over the possibility of a couple of teenagers being stupid?” Kalista asked with a pout.
“A little,” Maaren replied with a twinkle in her green eyes, “but I can’t really blame you. There’s not much to do, and it would be pretty fun to teach some punk ass kids a lesson.”
“Preferably incognito,” Kalista replied. “With elaborate character backstories, too. Think about it-- We could all have our own costumes, and we could let it all play out over a long period, maybe even years. We build up these kids’ trust, get them to love us, and then bam! We throw off our masks and laugh in their faces!”
“We need to get a hobby,” I said with a sigh. I’d also felt a slight twinge of excitement at the possibility of being needed and was disappointed as it faded.
“Incoming!” someone suddenly screeched behind me.
I whipped around toward the noise just in time to see a pink fairy rocketing through the air directly toward me. Her bright blue eyes were wide, and her legs kicked wildly in an effort to slow down, but it didn’t work. I ducked right before she smacked into my face, and the hair on my head fell flat as she whooshed on past.
Maaren wasn’t so lucky. The fairy careened straight into the hunter’s face and knocked her flat on her back. The two landed on the floor, Maaren on her rear and the fairy right on her nose.
“Canna, have you been going to your flying lessons?” Kalista barked out as she peeled the tiny pink creature from Maaren’s face. I gave the hunter a hand as she stood up and regained her breath. Maaren’s bony shoulders shook with laughter as she put a hand up to calm Kalista, but the dwarf vibrated with anger.
“Um, I have, mostly …” the tiny fairy squeaked as she struggled against Kalista’s tight grip.
“Mostly?” the angry dwarf questioned. “‘Mostly’ is how accidents happen, you know. Imagine if Maaren here was a deadly enemy that you were trying to dive-bomb? Poof! You’d be fairy dust.”
Canna’s tiny pink head just nodded, and her eyes were wide open with fear.
“Okay, Kal, I think she gets the point,” I commanded soothingly. “She didn’t hurt anyone.”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Maaren added breathlessly. The following cough didn’t really help her statement, but Kalista relented all the same.
“Fine,” she grumbled and then released her hold on the fairy
. “But just for the record, I’m not liable if she takes out somebody’s eye next time.”
Canna fluttered her iridescent wings a few times, and then she hovered in the air and stared at the four of us while she turned in a slow circle.
“Uh, Canna?” Ariette asked after an awkward moment. “You okay over there?”
“Huh?” the fairy responded. “Oh, oh yeah, I have a message for you guys.”
Again, the fairy went silent for an awkwardly long moment. I was acutely aware of Ilias’ eyes on us as he waited to eavesdrop.
“And the message is …?” I prompted finally.
“The message is …” the fairy repeated slowly as her tiny brow furrowed in thought. “Right! The message is that Danira would like you to please come to Hasen’s office by eight, please and thank you very much.”
The way Canna repeated the message was almost robotic, and I stifled a laugh as she zoomed out of the room.
“Wait, Canna!” Maaren called after her. “It’s already half-past eight!”
“Oh is it?” the fairy froze and flipped around in the doorway. She was too far away to see her expression now. “Oh dear. I’ve got quite a few apologies to make, then. I’m so behind!”
And with that, Canna was gone. Ilias stifled a brutish laugh to our left, and Ariette just rolled her eyes.
“She’s sweet,” Maaren said after a moment.
“Sweet, but deadly with that trajectory,” Kalista grunted as she charged out of the room. “We gotta go if we want to meet Hasen on time.”
“We’re already late,” I tried to explain to the dwarf, but she was too far out of earshot.
We sped through the guild halls to make it to Hasen’s office as quickly as possible. I lost count of the number of interns Kalista nearly collided with, but I made sure to throw a quick apology in their direction every time.
Finally, we came up to the big oak door that marked Hasen’s office, and Ariette gave it a tentative knock. It swung open to reveal the guild master seated at his oversized desk, with a pair of wiry spectacles perched on his nose.