“The failsafe is destroyed,” he said with an air of relief. “I can now remove the transmogrification spell. I suggest we all move back a step or two because not only will an ogre take up much more space, but he will probably be angry as well. Laendra, please prepare yourself to isolate him.”
We all stepped back, Gregory and I to either side of Fudge and his prisoner. Alberon once again placed his hand on the bat’s back but this time, pulled it up almost immediately. In the blink of an eye, there was a naked ogre sprawled face-down across the table, butt high in the air. Eau de ogre washed over us. I quickly averted my eyes. I so did not need to see that!
“Sloppy,” Alberon said. “Clothing should have transformed along with the body. Allow me.”
“What. The. Fuck.” Ev choked out every word, as if his vocal cords weren’t used to working. Which they weren’t.
I raised my eyes. Ev had on a white bathrobe with the Omni Hotel logo embroidered on the chest. Phew!
Ev stood, holding onto the edge of the table for support. He cleared his throat, then roared, “Would someone explain what the hell has happened to me?”
Gregory stepped forward. “Ev, it’s a long story. You have questions; we have questions. Please, calm yourself and let’s sit down to talk.”
“I will not calm myself! I have been flying around eating bugs! And enjoying it!” He looked around and started flailing his arms. “Elves! I might have known. They’re sneaky bastards!” Ev’s face darkened from puce to a deep purple.
Gregory and I both cringed. Gregory went to restrain Ev but ran into an invisible barrier. Leandra smirked. “He is contained within a three-foot circle. He cannot harm us.”
“Mr. Angelich,” Nelion began in a calm voice. “What has happened to you is not sanctioned. Please allow us to explain, then perhaps you can help us by answering some questions.”
“Ev, please,” Gregory admonished.
“I am about to have a feast of bird,” Fudge whined.
“Alberon, can you take the bird from Fudge now? He’s about to lose control,” I said.
“My apologies. Of course.” Alberon bent down and put his hands around the bird, pinning the wings, careful to avoid Fudge’s claws. When he was certain Alberon had a good hold, Fudge sprang off the bird’s back and ran out of the room. Sounds of hacking came from down the hall. Alberon also left, taking the bird with him.
Gregory put his hands up in a calming gesture. “Ev, if you will please get yourself together, we can sit and have a civilized conversation. Yes, I know you are upset. We all are. But yelling will get you no explanation and I know you’d like one.”
“I will never get a direct answer from these bastards,” Ev roared.
“In that, at least this time, you are incorrect,” Nelion said, still calmly. “Believe it or not, we are as distressed at your treatment as your friends are. If we can sit and have a quiet discussion, I will answer your questions to the best of my ability.”
“And who the hell are you?” Ev’s face had lightened somewhat but not completely.
Gregory sighed. “Ev, this is Nelion, the Head Elf in the United States and the father of Perchaladon, whom you have already met.”
It was my turn. “Ev, get a grip. These people helped us find you and they’re the ones who removed the spell. Not Gregory, not me. A little gratitude wouldn’t go amiss.”
He turned to me. “You’re here, too? Who’s minding the shop?”
“First, it’s the weekend so the shop isn’t open. Second, Sally has everything covered and knows to call me if there’s something urgent.” Now was not the time to tell him about the fire.
Nelion was anxious to move things along. “Please, Mr. Angelich. Let us move to a more comfortable area, sit, and have a reasonable conversation. I wager you are hungry because your stomach has now expanded to its normal size. We have food ready for you.”
Ev visibly calmed even further. “Now that you mention it, yes, I am hungry. Let’s go, then.” He started walking toward the door and stopped abruptly after one step. “Hey! What the hell?”
Leandra smirked again. “If you promise no harm to us, I will release your cage,” she told him.
Ev glared at her. “I make no such promises for the long term. But in the short term, I won’t pound any of you to dust.”
“That will be sufficient,” Nelion told him. To Leandra, “Release him.”
She huffed. “Very well,” looked hard at Ev for a moment, then flounced out of the room.
Nelion apologized to us. “It’s not you. She does not like anyone who is non-elf. Were she younger, I am afraid she would join our younglings in their rebellion.
“Now, please follow me. We have a more comfortable place than this in the room below.”
We joined him in the infirmary, where Fudge jumped into my arms. “Are you okay now?” I asked.
“I am still somewhat shaken but will recover. I am unaccustomed to exerting that much control over this body’s instincts. Will there be more fish?”
I chuckled. If he was asking about food, he was fine. But he stayed in my arms out the door, down the flight of stairs to the ground, and around the clearing to the conference room we’d originally met in.
Somehow, during the intervening hours, an ogre-sized chair had replaced one of the normal-sized ones at the head of the table. In front of it sat a platter with a roasted chicken accompanied by the same sautéed vegetables we’d had at our dinner. An ogre-sized mug held something frothy. Four other chairs faced glasses full of the same frothy something.
Nelion gestured. “Please, sit. Mr. Angelich, while you eat, I will tell you what I know. Then, if you don’t mind, I have questions.”
Ev nodded, sat, and started tearing into the chicken with his hands. I desperately wanted to apologize for his eating habits but didn’t want to antagonize Ev any further. Instead, I took a sip from the glass in front of me. It was beer, but unlike any I’d ever tasted. It didn’t have the bite of hops but wasn’t overly sweet, like mead. It wouldn’t be something I’d drink on a regular basis, but it wasn’t bad.
“Food?”
Oops. “Nelion, my apologies, but Fudge is hungry again. Is there any fish left?”
“I don’t believe so, but I will ask. If not, we can get something suitable for him.”
“Please don’t go to any extra trouble,” Gregory said. “We have his regular food with us. With your permission, I will retrieve it from our room.”
Gregory didn’t wait for a response but momentarily, Fudge’s food and water dishes appeared on the floor next to the wall behind my chair.
“It is not fish or tuna, but will suffice, I suppose.” Fudge immediately started devouring his food, rivalling Ev for inhalation rate.
“At that rate, you’ll whorf it back up immediately. Slow down,” I told him. “I don’t want to have to apologize to elves for cat vomit.” Thankfully, he started to pace himself but in no time, the food dish was empty.
Without even batting an eyelash at Ev’s table manners, Nelion started talking.
“I am not certain of the whys of what happened to you. But this I will say: There has been unrest in the younger generation of virtually all species, ourselves not excluded. Apart from full humans, paranormals seem to want to shake up the status quo. Although humans, who outnumber us all, for the most part accept non-humans, the younglings want what they are calling ‘parity.’ I am not certain I completely understand their grievances.
“My son and some of his friends are part of this… movement, I will term it. Elves have always glamoured themselves when out in the wider world. Mostly to protect our privacy but also to more easily interact with humans and other species without suspicion. Weres are feared, regardless of their species, due to the violent nature of the more predatory species, especially as portrayed in the human cinema.
“I am sure there are other issues of which I am not aware. However, the younglings with whom we have spoken no longer wish to glamour themselves when in public.
They are determined to force the humans to accept us. This can lead to problems.”
“I saw it first-hand,” I interjected. “Perchaladon met me on the bike path at the lake. He was not glamoured and it caused all sorts of problems. Several accidents, actually, as people rubber-necked at him rather than watch where they were going. You must admit, you are definitely stare-worthy from a human perspective.”
“That is one of the reasons for the glamour,” Nelion continued. “We accept that humans find us attractive, excessively so. Many years ago, a woman of my generation walked the streets of New Orleans unglamoured – once. This was in the days before New Orleans was truly civilized. She was accosted by several men at once, found a need to protect herself, and damaged several of the men. She escaped with a deflection spell but there were ramifications when it was discovered one of the men was a wizard and they contacted my father with a grievance.
“To continue on in the present day. I believe there is an inter-species conspiracy to cause an uprising of some sort. Somehow, I believe, you got caught up in it.”
Ev swallowed the last of his food (he’d eaten the entire chicken) and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his robe. I cringed.
“I may have overheard something,” he began. We all sat forward in our chairs.
“You know I was on the set of the movie, right? And that there was an elf or two hanging around?”
Gregory and I nodded. Nelion just steepled his fingers.
“Well, I was walking to the porta potty and almost bowled over two guys talking in whispers. One elf, one somebody else. I didn’t exactly stop to listen because that would have been rude, but caught the words ‘demonstration’ and ‘August first.’
“That night, after saying goodnight to my date, I decided to go over to Frenchman Street for a drink before heading back to the hotel. The same elf was in the bar, at a table with a couple of other guys. I nodded at him because I knew I’d seen him on set and went on to the bar. I had my drink, decided to go back to the hotel, and left. Those same three guys followed me out.
“The next thing I knew, I felt kinda like I’d been trapped in something. Hard to describe. Then there was a feeling like I wasn’t alone in my skin. I was shoved into a cage of some sort. I tried yelling, but nothing came out.”
He took a swig of his beer. “I discovered I really wasn’t alone in my skin, and that I had no control over anything. There was another something thinking there, but it only thought with emotions. It was scared. I couldn’t talk, couldn’t walk, couldn’t move my hands. Nothing. Some time later, the cage door opened and the body I couldn’t control flew. Scared the crap out of me.
“All I could do was observe. We flew, we ate bugs, we slept, we shit. For how long?”
Gregory grimaced. “Two weeks, give or take a day.”
“Two fucking weeks? I lost two weeks thanks to whatever happened?”
“An elf, by the name of Obrist, cast a transmogrification spell on you,” Nelion almost whispered. “It is not exactly forbidden but is severely frowned upon to cast such a spell on another being without their permission. My assumption is that you overheard the end of a plot and to prevent you from telling anyone else, Obrist ensured you couldn’t.
“Now that we have a date, all we need is details,” he continued.
“And will this Obrist fellow pay for what he’s done?” Ev was starting to get riled up again.
“He is already in custody and has confessed to transforming you – after Alberon identified him as the caster. The council will decide his fate, which will hopefully be unpleasant. I am working now to change our laws to expressly forbid such actions.”
“They haven’t yet come to a decision?” Gregory was getting mad, too.
“As you may have noticed, there are some on the council who care not what happens to other species. It continues to be an intense debate. If I can tie this incident to something larger, especially something that may involve violence, that may convince them.”
“What about the office?” I asked. “Wouldn’t that convince them?”
“What about the office?” Ev stared at me.
“Um. The building got fire-bombed on Thursday.”
Ev started turning purple again. “What? When were you going to tell me this?”
Nelion cleared his throat. “If I recall what you said correctly, that was a member of the weres, not elves. Therefore, no, it will not convince the council.”
“The office?” Ev wouldn’t be put off.
Gregory put his hand on Ev’s arm. “Ev, the structure is essentially still there. Amy and Sally have recovered the electronic files and Amy’s foresight in purchasing fireproof filing cabinets saved most of the paper. The office has been moved to your house until Cassandra can fix up the building. There is nothing to worry about on that front. We are more concerned with wider matters at the moment.”
Gregory turned toward Nelion. “Ed Bartz, Head of Midwest Security, is investigating the fire. Because we had one of the weres in custody, he believes he can tie everything together. Hopefully, he can make a case that will hold up with your council.”
“My stuff! All my stuff!” Ev wailed. Gregory made shushing noises; Nelion just looked at him out of the side of his eye.
“I would be most pleased to have an, as I believe is said, airtight case. I am certain Althea and Howard will keep me up to date,” Nelion said.
“Now, I believe it is time to rest. Your friends, Mr. Angelich, have had a very long day, and I believe you will be better for a night’s rest. We have put a bed appropriately sized for an ogre in the guest room next to the one Mr. Tremaine and Miss McCollum are occupying. I am afraid, however, that you will find the shower cramped as we did not have enough notice to enlarge it.”
Nelion stood and we followed suit. “Allow me to wish you a pleasant night. I will see you in the morning before you depart.”
Arl stood at the conference room door and ushered us out, Fudge surprisingly quiet at my feet. Ev shuffled along in the rear, bemoaning the loss of his memorabilia, his pictures, and stuff in general. At the adjacent doors, Gregory told me to go on in, he’d be there in a moment, then followed Ev into the other room.
A few moments later, there was a knock at the door. Surprised that Gregory would be knocking, I opened it. Arl handed me two cell phones and quietly wished me good night.
The elves apparently still assumed that Gregory and I were a couple because there was only one bed. I liked the guy, but I was not sharing a bed with him. Their sofa had the same issue as Gregory’s – it was too short for a man to sleep on. Nor did it pull out to a sleeper. So I stripped the top sheet off the bed, grabbed one of the pillows, and made up a bed on the sofa. I took off my jeans and bra but left the t-shirt on, crawled between the layers of folded sheet, powered up my phone, and checked email while waiting for Gregory. Thankfully, nothing serious had arisen. I sent a quick text to Sally, letting her know we had Ev back as his smelly-ogre self and if we didn’t return the next day, I’d call her.
It took about twenty minutes for Gregory to return. I cocked an eyebrow. “Well?”
He looked at my makeshift bed, shrugged his shoulders, and sat on the regular bed. “He is, naturally, still upset. It will take a while for him to come to terms with two tragic events in such a short period of time.
“I also had to replace the beacon spell. Getting into the tattoo without affecting the rest of him was a little more difficult than spelling the bottle of ink the tattoo artist used. Strangely, Ev didn’t argue at all, especially when I told him that was how you identified him in your true dream.
“What took the longest is I had to get him some clothes. That robe will be gone with the sunrise and he had to have something to replace it. He couldn’t decide what sort of image he wanted to project to the elves in the morning so vacillated between casual and business. I finally convinced him that since we were casual, he ought to be, too. Then it came down to which shirt he wanted. The man is an ogre, for goodnes
s’ sake. In this case, clothing does not make the man. I swear!”
“Before we go to sleep,” I started in. “I need a question answered.”
“Yes?”
“I can see your energy when you perform a spell, although it usually fades from my sight quickly. I usually feel a tingle when there’s some sort of magic around. Fudge tells me elves are natural energy, yet I can neither feel them, nor generally see any of their spells. You tell me you can see at least the glamours. Why?”
“I can see everything they do, including a faint magical aura around them, even in their true forms. It has to do with age. Although you have come into your powers and can now use them fairly effectively, your subconscious brain hasn’t quite adjusted to it. What the elves are and do is considerably more subtle than what we are and do. You can see and feel the, for lack of a better word, blatant magic. When your brain grows into your magic, you will be able to see and sense them, too.”
“Gregory is correct. I have observed human children learning to walk. First they crawl, then they toddle, then they walk, sometimes falling, then they can walk without falling. It is the same with magic. You are to the toddling stage in magic. Does that make sense?”
I sighed. “But it would be so much easier to know who’s what, and who’s doing what, you know?”
“That is what you have me for. I will always tell you.”
“It will come with time. Go to sleep. I will wake you at sunrise because the elves will be here shortly thereafter.” Gregory powered up his phone and looked at it. I laid my head on the pillow, Fudge crawling behind me to make his usual nest in my hair. I slept.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Amy, it’s time to wake up,” Gregory’s voice penetrated my dreams. I blearily opened my eyes to find Fudge staring into my face, a paw raised as if to take a swipe at my nose.
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