by J. S. Malcom
Still, it wasn’t like sex with Phoenix was bad. Far from it. The analogy that comes to mind is that sex with Phoenix was like drinking Dom Perignon. You never doubt that you’re experiencing something exquisite. On the other hand, sex with Esras was like bathing in Dom Perignon. While snorting coke. Something like that, anyway.
Then there's the fact that Phoenix and I are from the same realm. There's a lot to be said for that. To a degree, Esras and I aren't even the same species. I also adore Phoenix’s mother, Isabel, and his sister, Bethany—those two women who, along with Phoenix, helped Autumn and me come to understand what we are and how to use our magic. In other words, we share a special history together. So, in a sense, they’re also part of the deal. Maybe that shouldn’t matter, but it does.
Of course, there is that part where I busted Phoenix with that blonde chick. But what did I actually see, other than two people sharing a horse ride and a quick kiss? And, to be fair, Phoenix tried to explain and I didn’t let him. Maybe because I didn’t want to hear the truth? That I gave him signals indicating I was ready to move on? That I'm the one who said she needed some time to think about things? Time that stretched from days into weeks, during which I didn't pick up the phone? So, maybe I'm not being fair.
Right. Therapy, girl. Maybe think about it?
My head snaps up as something catches my eye. We're passing a park, and for a moment I wonder if it’s just the reflection of lamp posts in the rainy window. I look again, this time my eyes widening. That’s not a lamp post. It’s an orb glowing out there amongst the trees. My heartbeat kicks up a notch as that globe of light expands, growing brighter, glimmering in an all too familiar way. I tell myself it can’t be what I think, that there has to be some other explanation. Because, as far as I know, there are only two witches in this city who can open the veil. I’m one of them, and I very much doubt that Autumn is out strolling in that park right now.
I’m on my feet before I know it, yanking the cord for the bus to stop. I know what they say about curiosity, cats and all that, but I also know what they say about coincidences. At Martha Sanders’ house, something kept closing the veil right after I opened it. Then a tiny demon started popping up inside Anna’s and Lissette’s apartment. Tonight, despite my attempts at denial, Julia made me wonder if my nightmare might have been more than just a dream. And now I see the type of orb that can only be created by a veil witch. Yeah, I’m getting off the bus.
I check the street signs as I step out into the night, so I have some frame of reference. I’m at Meadow and Idlewood, so the Randolph area, which is what I figured. I doubt I’ll be able to catch another bus, but I can hike from here if I have to. Or catch a cab, if I’m lucky. I’ll have to work that out later. For now, I keep trying to track that orb. Or start tracking it again, since I’ve lost sight of it. All I see before me are the silhouettes of pine trees towering in the darkness. I start thinking that maybe it was just a trick of the light, and that I’ve stranded myself for no good reason.
Then I see it again, a sudden flare through the trees. I pick up my pace, to where I’m nearly jogging along the path. I come around a corner and almost collide with some guy. My heart leaps in my chest, but he’s staggering and mumbling to himself, his hoodie pulled up against the rain.
“Hey, watch where you’re going,” he says, as I veer around him.
“Sorry,” I say, and keep going.
Light flashes again, as in the distance I see an orb expand into a portal. Who the hell is doing that, and why? It doesn’t seem to make sense, and what crosses my mind is that it must be a witch who doesn’t know what she’s doing. Like me, once upon a time, when I had no idea why I could summon glowing balls of light and make them dance upon the air. My magic found me regardless of whether I knew how to use it.
I come around another bend in the path just as the orb contracts, the gap in the veil closing. I see no sign of whoever opened it, but someone steps through at the last moment. Or something. I can’t tell as the shimmering fades and the park plunges back into darkness.
Then I hear footsteps shuffling toward me, as well as a low and guttural rumbling. Is that growling? I swear to God, I hear growling. Suddenly, my skin crawls and my sense of edginess soars off the Richter Scale. Magic blooms to life within me, my defense mechanisms kicking into high gear.
As my eyes adjust, I see a tall looming form, sickeningly pale and covered with scales. It wears no clothes and, yes, it’s definitely male. By the looks of things, way too happy to see me. This aspect alone freaks me out, despite all of my other supernatural encounters. Maybe it’s just enjoying a stroll in the moonlight au naturale? I’d like to think so, but its eyes are locked on me, two coals glowing fiery red. Hang on. Does that thing have horns? Yeah, the fucker has two curling spikes protruding from the top of its head, as well as a long swishing tail. There’s just way too much stuff sticking out of this dude. Gross.
There’s no way I’m messing around with this one. I summon my magic and light up an orb. At the same time, I command my athame to leap from the sheath at my calf into my other hand. Tendrils of magic wrap themselves around my arm. I’m doubly-loaded, orb in one hand and dagger in the other. The creature lunges toward me and I have to decide. I ready my dagger, but hurl the orb just as the demon opens its mouth. In the flare of my magic, I see two rows of razor sharp teeth. Goopy saliva drips from its open maw. I’m pretty sure I get the true source of its excitement now. It planned on intimacy by way of digestion. I brace myself in case my magic fails, already lighting up another orb and cocking my other hand back to throw the knife. Thankfully, neither defenses are needed. The first orb hits home and the beast becomes engulfed in light. The portal opens and, with a frustrated roar, the demon gets sucked back through the veil.
The gap closes and the creature is gone. Darkness surrounds me again as my heartbeat thunders in my ears. I take a deep breath to calm down, looking around to make sure I’m alone. From what I can see, and feel, I’m pretty sure that’s the case. But one thing is definitely for sure. Someone is screwing with the veil. And it looks like there’s way more than just snorflers getting through.
CHAPTER 8
On a whim, I drive out to Glen Allen to check in on Ellie. Okay, maybe it’s more than just a whim. I’ve been meaning to look in on her for a while, but now I have last night’s conversation with Julia as motivation. The way I figure it, I can’t ignore the fact that Ellie is psychic too. Which is why Vintain nabbed her to begin with. In other words, Julia and Ellie share a very strange set of circumstances. It’s a long shot, I realize, but I figure checking it out won’t hurt. When has following my supernatural instincts ever gotten me into trouble? Aside from pretty much every time.
Ellie’s mother, Celeste, answers the door. Her eyes pop wide at seeing me. For a moment, I wonder if I made a mistake in coming, but then she swings the door open wide. “Cassie! How are you? Get in here!” Celeste turns and calls down the hall, “Ted, come look who it is!”
I step inside, my face growing warm at the attention. “I would have called, but I never got your number.”
Celeste laughs. “Well, we better fix that. Were you just in the neighborhood?” Her expression suddenly shifts. “Wait. Is everything okay?”
Right, I definitely should have fished up their number somehow and called first. “Everything’s fine,” I say. “I was just, um, thinking about you guys. So, I hopped in the car.”
Ted comes into the hall, his expression a little more guarded. Celeste reads him right away. “Everything’s fine, dear,” she says. “Cassie just came by to say hello.”
Ted sighs with relief. Yes, I have a way of warming hearts by showing up at the door. Kind of like a reaper.
“Let’s go into the kitchen,” Celeste says. “Come on. Can we get you something to drink? Ted, make some coffee. Cassie, do you like coffee? We have wine too, if you’d like. Ted, did you drink all the wine or is there any left?”
“I never drink the wine,” Ted grumbles.
“That’s what he says,” Celeste tells me, “but somehow all of my wine keeps disappearing.”
“That’s because you drink it,” Ted says.
I can’t help but laugh as Celeste herds us toward the kitchen. “Coffee sounds great, actually. I mean, if you have any handy.” If nothing else, I continue to hone my coffee mooching skills. Although, come to think of it, I might start gaining a reputation.
Soon, the three of us sit at their kitchen table, Ted having carried out his assigned task of setting the coffee machine to burbling in the background. I ask how they’ve been and they tell me they’re doing okay, still adjusting after everything that happened. Ellie, they say, seems to be doing fine.
“All things considered,” Celeste says. “She should be home in half an hour. Can you stay that long?”
“Of course,” I say. “I’d love to see her.”
The fact is, I timed my visit the same as the first time, since it coincided with Ellie coming home from school. Not the real Ellie, I remind myself. The changeling Ellie, the one whose eyes had transformed from brown to silver as she’d knowingly smirked at me. Had Vintain been looking at me through those eyes? I’m pretty sure he had been, although I still can’t wrap my brain around how he’d been able to watch our world through multiple changelings. Then again, I was dealing with a level of magic way beyond my understanding. A magic much more powerful than any I’ve encountered before. A shiver runs down my spine, one that I hope isn’t born of premonition.
Celeste brings each of us a mug of coffee, setting out milk and sugar. While doing so, she attempts small talk about the weather and recent changes to their neighborhood. Then she takes her seat again and gets to what’s really on her mind.
“I have to be honest,” she says. “I keep looking over my shoulder. I can’t help but wonder if it’s truly over.” Her eyes meet mine and she adds, “Are we finally safe from those… things? Those creatures?”
She doesn’t refer to the fae, I notice. She doesn’t use the word “changeling.” I suppose that’s because, even now, she can’t bring herself to accept what took place. Had it been the devil, or even aliens, maybe that would have seemed possible within her frame of reference. But not magical beings existing in a realm alongside our own. Even though, essentially, it means the same thing.
“Yes,” I say. “Those behind it no longer hold power in that realm. They’re in prison now.”
Ted frowns, hunched over his cup of coffee. “And you said the power they held…” He shakes his head wonderingly. “The magic. It’s now held by people who won’t abuse it that way?”
I nod. “They’re good people. And, yes, they have what we call magic, but they’d never do anything like that.”
“We notice things now that we might not have before,” Celeste says. “I mean, there have always been strange things, I suppose. Things that, well, I guess we would have ignored.”
“Of course,” I say. “Once your perspective shifts, it’s kind of impossible to go back again.” All the same, I think I know where this is going.
“Have you seen those strange stories in the news?” Ted asks.
Bingo.
“I caught one of them,” I say. No lie there, although I don’t point out that Julia brought the other to my attention.
Ted rests his forearms on the table, leaning in toward me. “What do you think?”
I’m not quite sure what to do with the question. “Do you mean, do I think it’s supernatural?”
He hesitates, but then nods. “Yeah, I guess. Those people said something about a shadow crossing over their land. They said the sky was glowing red. I don’t want to get paranoid or anything, but it just seems strange.”
I take another sip of my coffee. “It does seem strange.” I shrug and add, “But that doesn’t mean it’s supernatural.”
In a way, it seems unfair to try talking them back into thinking there’s a rational explanation for everything. Obviously, that’s not the case. At the same time, I didn’t come here to bring more fear into their lives.
“So, you’re not worried about it,” Celeste says.
“Not really.”
Am I lying to them? A little. But I’m not worried, exactly. Curious? Yes. Concerned? Mildly. But worried? I haven’t gotten there yet.
Thankfully, at that moment the front door opens. Ellie calls out, “Mom? Dad? I’m home!”
“We’re in here, honey!” Celeste calls back.
I can’t help but wonder if reassuring each other of their presence is new behavior. For one thing, it seems a little out of character for a senior in high school. Then again, both of Ellie’s parents are home on a weekday. I haven’t asked, but presumably at least one of them has a job. Are Ted and Celeste taking time off from work? Does Ellie make a point of coming straight home from school these days? My guess is both are probably the case, and that life getting back to normal will take some time.
Ellie strides into the kitchen and stops cold at the sight of me. Her mouth literally drops open. By the time she recovers, I’m on my feet and she wraps me in a hug. “Oh, my God!” she exclaims. “Have you been here long? How have you been?”
“Good,” I say. “I’ve been good. I just thought I’d check in. You know, to see how it’s going.”
Ellie still hasn’t let go of me, and I hang onto this girl who came so close to remaining forever lost. Tears run down her cheeks and a sense of joy washes over me at knowing I was able to save her.
Celeste’s chair scrapes against the floor as she gets up. “Ted, why don’t we pop out for a while. We should get a few things at the store.”
Ted remains seated. “You don’t need me for—”
“Yes, I do,” Celeste says. “When I go alone, you always complain that I forgot something. Come on.”
It takes Ted a moment, but he catches on. Celeste is trying to give us some time to talk. My guess is that her instincts are good. Chances are, Ellie still has a hard time telling them about everything she went through. Just as I’ve yet to come clean with my own sister and mother. Abductees need time to process things, long after they’ve been freed. We also need opportunities to confide in others who’ve been similarly victimized.
Soon, Celeste and Ted have their coats on. Not surprisingly, they don’t leave without hugging their daughter. I imagine this too to be new behavior. Chances are, past trips to the grocery store didn’t prompt a round of hugs.
Once they’re gone, Ellie gets herself a glass of juice and joins me at the table. She stares at me for a few seconds, her eyes searching my face. “Sorry,” she says. “I just… I’ve been wondering what I’d say if I saw you again. Now, I just… I’m not sure where to start.”
The fact is, we barely know each other. All in all, we’ve barely spoken. Everything happened so fast on the night I saved her, and she was so traumatized, that I don’t think she truly came to her senses before I delivered her home again. After that, I didn’t stay long. She was back with her parents after not seeing them for months. I still had Julia on my mind, my own narrow escape haunting me as I faced soon returning to Faerie. In some ways now, it feels like a dream. I’m not sure where to start either.
Finally, I decide on, “So, how’s school going?”
Ellie looks at me blankly for a moment. Then she laughs. “Seriously?”
“I don’t know. Yeah, I guess.” But I also have to laugh.
Ellie sweeps her hair back behind her shoulder. “Let’s just say the other me left a few messes to clean up. My changeling didn’t exactly care about her grades, for one thing.”
Right. There’s something that never occurred to me. In our life or death situation, the little things didn’t seem important. But for a high school student applying to colleges, getting good grades might seem like a matter of life and death.
“I also appear to have gained some new admirers,” Ellie says. “As in, every pissed off loner in the school thinks I’m one of them now. You know, because changeling Ellie was serious
ly dark.”
“Sounds like you have a new mystique. Maybe you could use that to your advantage?”
Ellie sighs. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, I always wanted to be more of a badass. Of course, I also lost pretty much all of my friends.”
Another aspect that didn’t occur to me. Naturally, no one knows Ellie was even gone, never mind that she was lured into another dimension. So, naturally no one understands that the real Ellie is back. They just think she radically changed overnight, and then somehow changed back again.
“That really sucks. I’m sorry.”
Ellie surprises me by shrugging. “Hey, I’m alive. And, thankfully, there are people I can talk to. Others who’ve gone through it too.”
Her comment takes me by surprise. “What do you mean?”
Ellie cocks her head. “The others that were trapped there. Haven’t you talked to any of them?”
I shake my head, confused. “Where would I talk to them?”
“Well, there’s a Facebook group, for one thing. People who claim to have been taken to Faerie join it to talk about what happened. Some of them are obviously fakes, but they get kicked out by the admins pretty quickly. It’s not like they’re hard to spot.”
Apparently, this is my week for Facebook groups, but there’s one more thing that never occurred to me—that those who’d been replaced by changelings would find a place to congregate online. But, of course, it makes sense. “What do you guys talk about?”
“Adjusting, mostly,” Ellie says. “Dealing with what happened. Their families and stuff like that. I mean, I’m lucky. My parents know what happened. Theirs don’t. Everyone just thinks they’re crazy. And it’s not like they can talk about it with anyone. Some are getting therapy, but it’s not like they can tell their stories. So, they find their way into the group and we talk about stuff there.”