by Mikayla Lane
“Are you OK?” BJ asked as she stood to try and see if he was bleeding.
“Yeah,” Nik said with a blush. “Wounded pride. The table is growing out of the floor isn’t it?”
BJ nodded and smiled.
“Holy shit! Holy shit!” Traze whispered hoarsely as he began to panic.
“What’s wrong with you?” Nik asked as he turned to the irritating kid.
“Dude, we gotta get out of here! Don’t you get it? Haven’t you been paying attention?” Traze asked, his voice rising with his panic.
“What the hell are you talking about now?” Nik growled, getting sick of the dramatics.
Bess just laughed and shook her head before joining Mojo at the stove and starting to ladle out the stew into colorful bowls that were obviously handmade and painted.
“The boy is a hoot,” Bess said. “You have to hear this one.”
Traze’s eyes widened, and he took a step back before whipping around to make sure nothing was behind him.
“We need to go Nik,” Traze warned in Nik’s mind as he kept a close eye on the crazy people.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Nik growled back.
“Nik, pay attention, damn it!” Traze growled back. “She admitted it! The house is fucking alive, dude!”
That made Nik take a mental step back as he took another look around the room and remembered the vine coming in the window to smack Traze. The living table, cabinets, shelves, walls, and the covered paths leading to the house took on a more ominous look now that he saw it from Traze’s point of view.
It’s more than a little creepy now, Nik thought. Way more than creepy.
Chapter Nine
Nik began to feel a little claustrophobic as he realized they were closely surrounded by living plants that could be asked to do whatever Bess wanted them to do. He swallowed the lump that formed in his throat as Bess, Mojo, and BJ all stared at him.
“So, uh, how safe is it to be inside something living like this?” Nik asked.
“Dude! We need to get the fuck out of here!” Traze argued. “She’s probably going to sacrifice us to the fucking thing! It’s probably how she gets it to do what she wants!”
Bess burst out laughing.
“And there it is!” she laughed so hard tears popped into her eyes. “I swear the boy is so funny! Stupid, but funny.”
Traze looked like he was going to hyperventilate, and Nik tried to calm him.
“I think it’s pretty safe if they’ve been living here,” Nik said.
“I’m out of here!” Traze growled. “You can be a willing sacrifice all you want, but I’m leaving.”
Nik moved to stop Traze, and Bess just laughed and shook her head.
“Let the child go. He’ll be back,” Bess said cryptically as Traze ran out of the room.
BJ took two colorful bowls of stew from her mother and handed one to Nik. One of her perfectly arched brows quirked at him as if daring him to take it.
Nik took the blue bowl and stared into her beautiful, unusual eyes as his fingers lingered on hers for a moment.
“Let’s eat while it’s hot,” Mojo said as he plunked his own bowl on the table and sat down.
Nik jerked his hand away and took the nearest seat, setting the bowl down in front of him as Bess handed out glasses of iced tea.
BJ set a bowl of freshly sliced bread in the center of the table while Bess set another place setting with food and drink in front of an empty chair.
Nik wondered what the woman was doing but shrugged it off as the steaming food in front of him beckoned to his empty stomach. He watched Mojo take a bite and followed suit, dipping his spoon and getting a healthy portion before putting it in his mouth.
“Mmm, this is so good!” Nik muttered when the flavors burst in his mouth.
The Markson family just smiled at him and continued to eat until the peace was shattered by the screams coming from outside. Nik launched himself to his feet and was getting ready to run outside when Bess cackled with laughter.
“Don’t worry. It’s the child coming back inside. He’s scared himself so bad he didn’t recognize your own sibiox outside,” she said with a laugh.
Seconds later, Nik heard heavy boot steps running towards them, and sure enough, a sweating and shaking Traze came barreling back into the kitchen.
“The fucking place is alive with demons! They’re everywhere Nik! She won’t let us leave! We gotta get Grai to port us man! Call him! He won’t listen to me!” Traze begged.
Traze jumped several feet when Gibly came trotting into the kitchen and chuckled as he nuzzled against Bess’s leg.
“You big scaredy-dog! Sibiox not demons,” Gibly said with a snicker.
“That was you!” Traze accused as his anger and embarrassment began to hit him at once.
Gibly shrugged casually as he sat beside Bess.
“It was you who panicked when you saw our eyes shimmer in the dark,” Gibly said.
“I didn’t panic!” Traze said defensively.
“You should try the stew, it’s really good,” Nik said, keeping his voice even in the hopes of calming the kid.
I refuse to bring him again, Nik thought, then wondered why he assumed he’d be back.
He stole a glance at BJ and knew he’d be back. Seeing her smiling and laughing with her family showed a tender, loving side of her that was in contrast to the tough but intelligent cop he’d first met. Her beauty radiated from her as she relaxed with her family, and he couldn’t help but be affected by it. It was her ease in this living place that made it easier for him to tamp down his own reticence at being inside the unusual home.
“Try the stew? Are you fucking . . .” Traze began before his voice strangled in his throat.
“Enough with the cursing and scaring yourself to death,” Bess said in a voice that sounded deeper, more primal. “Sit down!”
Nik watched in shock as Traze’s eyes widened, and he moved to where Bess had set an extra place at the table before he sat down in jerky movements.
“That’s better,” Bess said with a smile. “Now eat!”
The last was said in the same odd, deep voice, and Nik was amazed when Traze picked up the spoon, dug it in the bowl and brought it to his lips with a shaking hand. He shoveled it in and began to chew when his face relaxed, and he swallowed.
“It’s not going to harm you, child. Eat in peace,” Bess said, and Traze’s whole body looked like it relaxed.
Nik looked at BJ curiously.
“Momma’s just trying to help calm him in her own way. I swear she’d never hurt him. For some reason, she’s taking a real shine to him,” BJ whispered in Nik’s mind.
Nik nodded and smiled, having already assumed the same thing. He still felt better hearing it. He liked Traze more than he let on and didn’t like seeing the kid so upset and scared.
“Would you like to try the bread?” Bess asked Traze politely as she handed the basket to him.
Traze looked at it curiously for a moment before he shrugged and gingerly took a piece and sniffed it while holding it between two fingers.
“Why does it smell funny?” Traze asked, causing Bess to laugh.
“We seasoned it with herbs and rose hips to compliment the stew,” BJ added before she took a bite of her own piece of bread to prove to Traze it was good to eat.
BJ smiled when Nik slathered his own piece with butter and took a huge bite of it.
“Wow, that really is flavorful,” Nik admitted.
That does go well with the stew, he thought as he finished his piece and took another from the basket.
Traze took a small bite, and after chewing it for a few seconds, he nodded his head and took another bite.
“You’ll love the berry tarts for dessert,” Bess offered with a wink.
“So, tell me about those ships hovering above us? Who do I have to kill to catch a ride in one?” Mojo joked only half-heartedly. He was dying to get in one of them.
“I’m sure Grai wouldn’t mind
if you went up later for a ride. The transports are capable of interstellar flight so you can probably get a tour of the solar system in before morning,” Nik offered.
Mojo looked at his mother with pleading eyes, and she just smiled and nodded her head at him.
“You’re a grown man. You make your own decisions, child,” she told her son. “Besides, you should experience the magic beyond this world.”
“Magic? There’s nothing out there but stars and planets,” Traze scoffed.
“You must see with more than your eyes and listen with more than your ears. There is magic all around you if you but look and listen,” Bess chastised.
“Magic is a myth. Some things are exactly as they seem,” Traze countered.
“Nothing is ever as it seems because magic, energy, mysteries, and the wonders of this world have yet to be rediscovered by those who choose not to see it, who’ve been taught not to see it. It’s only when we suspend our disbelief and open our minds to the magic around us that it finds you. A willing vessel. Be that vessel,” Bess said as she looked deeply into Traze’s eyes.
Traze just stared at her as if mesmerized and nodded his head.
Nik had to admit his own curiosity at Bess’s words, but he didn’t want the woman to take a shine to him as well. He knew Traze’s dramatics were causing most of his problems, but he could acknowledge the place was weird as hell and felt odd. It wasn’t necessarily unpleasant, just different.
“So . . . uh, dinner’s almost over,” Traze began swallowing hard. “It was very good. Thank you for inviting us.”
Bess laughed and Nik saw Traze shiver.
“Child, your brother said he’s not coming for another two hours, and I have plans to show you some real magic,” Bess assured him.
Traze closed his eyes and appeared to be struggling to keep himself in the chair.
“But I would like to leave,” Traze ground out through gritted teeth.
Bess stood and put her empty bowl in the sink and rinsed it out.
“But I think you are here because I have much to teach you,” Bess countered.
Traze stood and crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at Bess with narrowed eyes.
“I don’t want to know your . . . witchy magic! You’re a fucking horror movie come to life!” Traze shouted as he threw his hands up in the air. “I can’t do the creepy, man. I just can’t.”
Bess cackled with laughter as she dried her hands on a towel and turned around to smile at Traze.
“See, you’re already making wonderful progress,” her patient smile only seemed to goad Traze’s panic.
“Progress? Are you fucking delusional?” he asked incredulously before he shook his head. “What am I saying? Of course you are. I’m surrounded by a killer tree and the insane cousin fuckers that talk to it!”
“Traze!” Nik growled as he stood. The man-child had gone too far.
Bess frowned and narrowed her eyes at Traze.
“BJ, why don’t you show Nik the grotto. Mojo, find something to do,” she said as her children jumped up from the table.
BJ moved over to Nik and slipped her hand in his as she looked up at him.
“Come on, you’ll love the grotto. There are so few places like it left,” she assured him.
Nik looked over at Traze with concern, unsure if he should leave him alone with Bess after he’d been so offensive.
“I give my word that no harm shall come to the child while he is under my protection,” Bess said as if she’d read Nik’s mind.
Nik nodded his head and let BJ pull him out of the kitchen door and into a moonlit canopy of vines and flowers.
Mojo walked over to his mother and kissed her cheek before he left the room and moved into another part of the house. Traze’s eyes widened when he realized he’d be left alone with the crazy witch.
Nik looked around at the covered path they were taking upwards and couldn’t help but appreciate the place’s beauty despite the humidity.
“Is it always so hot here?” he asked, wondering how she could look so refreshed and cool while he felt like he was melting.
“It takes a lot of getting used to,” BJ said as she looked up at him with a smile. “Do you want to take a rest? It’s not far up ahead, then it’ll be cool.”
Nik refused to let her think that he couldn’t handle the short walk. It wasn’t that he was tired-he was hot.
“No, I’m fine. Where are we going?” he asked, hoping to change the subject.
“It’s a special place. One of our most beautiful as well,” BJ said, not giving Nik much to go on.
“What makes it so special?” Nik asked, hoping she’d give him more information.
“You really have to see it to understand,” BJ said as she led him into a dark area.
He was just going to ask if she had a light source when she tugged him into a well-lit cave. There were so many vines and flowers growing along the walls that he couldn’t see what the light source was as BJ gently pulled him further into a twisting cave system.
The place was large, and Nik was fascinated by the patches of the walls that were bare except for what appeared to be fossilized crustaceans and sea creatures imbedded in them. He reached out to touch one of them as they passed and could have sworn he saw a spark of light before they moved out of view.
“How can there be fossilized sea animals in the walls so far inland?” he asked.
BJ turned to smile at him.
“This place is one of the oldest on the planet. There are several like this-where the magic of the elders is the strongest,” she explained as she continued to lead him deeper into the cave.
“What kind of magic are you speaking of? Your mother mentioned something about that to Traze. What was she referring to?” Nik’s curiosity had finally gotten the best of him.
“Only you can answer that,” BJ told him as they began to hear the echoes of water flowing.
“That’s not really an answer,” Nik muttered as the sound of water became louder.
The tunnel opened up into a huge cavern that made Nik gasp.
“What the hell is this place?” he whispered in awe.
“What do you see?” BJ asked him as she looked at him curiously.
Nik wasn’t even sure where to begin as he moved to the nearest wall and ran his hand over the fossilized remains of a whale that were imbedded into the wall near the tunnel.
“Is it real?” he asked as he turned to a smiling BJ.
“Yes, they’re all real,” she said with a nod.
“How is this possible?” Nik asked as he moved to another large creature on the wall before realizing he was also stepping on them as well.
The walls and floors were literally covered with cephalopods, trilobites, brachiopods, whales, dolphin-like animals, starfish, and even giant squids. Against the far wall was a huge waterfall flanked by a colorful diorama of cave art. Nik was drawn across the large cavern to the waterfall.
“It was a very, very long time ago when this area was covered by the sea, and the only things remaining above the water were the plateaus. It was there where an ancient race of beings survived and flourished in these cave systems and above,” BJ explained as she followed Nik over to the waterfall.
“What is this?” Nik whispered as his hand inadvertently reached out to touch a figure on the diorama surrounding the waterfall.
BJ stepped up beside him and smiled as she looked at the wall.
“It’s the history of this place. Those are the original inhabitants, the Elders. The Osage Native Americans called them underground spirits, but they’re known by many names around the world,” BJ explained as she put her hand on another figure on the wall. “Watch.”
Nik heard BJ mumble something under her breath that he didn’t understand moments before the figures on the diorama jumped off of the wall. He took his hand off the now figureless mural and turned as the figures now moved like spirits around the cavern.
“What the fuck?” he whispered as he p
ut his back to the wall.
“Watch,” BJ whispered back with a smile. “They are acting out the scene on the wall so you can understand.”
Nik had no damn idea what he was supposed to be looking at, and he suddenly felt way too exposed and too far beneath the earth for his peace of mind.
“I’m sorry,” BJ said, suddenly feeling his nervousness and confusion. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
With a wave of her hand the figures disappeared from the middle of the cavern and were back on the wall. Nik moved away from the wall and stared at it again.
“I’m not scared, but I admit I’m more than a little nervous and confused as hell,” he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pushed it. It’s enough that you even see it,” BJ said with an embarrassed blush staining her cheeks.
That got Nik’s attention.
“What do you mean?”
“Only those who are open to the magic or meant to learn it can even see the mural and the story it speaks,” BJ said and continued when she saw Nik’s confused look. “There are those, even among our people, whose minds are closed to the gifts of the elders. Who cannot see with more than their eyes and listen with more than their ears. There is much more to this world than what you can touch with your hands. Magic existed here long before any alien races came.”
Nik was trying hard to understand what BJ was trying to tell him, but it sounded too much like what her mother had been lecturing Traze about, and he didn’t think it applied to him. Instead he studied the mural for a moment, trying to understand what it meant.
There were winged people, larger than the humans they appeared to be assisting after a great flood inundated the land above. They taught the people how to grow food, hunt and build homes. They taught them how to live among nature with mutual respect and care.
The scene changed and showed the winged people beginning to back away from the humans as they learned to take care of themselves until they began to be considered myth and legend that was passed down through generations.