Sovereign (Realmwalker Book 3)

by Jonathan Franks

  “Yes, just children’s tales, as you can see.” Wasson gestured up and down at himself.

  Colonel Egan frowned and inhaled sharply to argue, but Wasson cut him off.

  “Never mind that now, James. Oh, many pardons. Sir James.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  “There’s a fairy from the Fairy Realms who’s interfering with the course of the war.”

  “How?”

  “When a pixie dies, or a fairy dies, the human connected to that pixie or fairy also dies. Similarly, when a human dies, the pixie or fairy connected to that human dies. Understand?”

  “So,” Egan said, “if I were to kill you, I’d die.”

  “Ah, well, no, that’s a special case,” Wasson said. “But if you were to kill Hellek, here, yeah, his human would die. And if you were to kill that guy over there,” Wasson pointed at a soldier standing watch on the other side of the garrison, “then his fairy would die.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Because that’s why you’re losing the war. There’s a fairy on the other side who’s got the fairies and pixies of the British under surveillance, and when you’re going into battle, he has them killed. Then the soldiers over here die and–”

  “And we lose the battle,” Egan finished.

  “Quite so.”

  “And how,” Colonel Egan asked, “is he able to determine which fairies and pixies are connected to which humans?”

  “The same way I found you, Sir James. That’s my gift. I can see the connections. I can find any fairy’s human, and vice versa.”

  “And why is it a special case if I were to kill you?”

  “If a human should die at the hands of his fairy, or the other way around, then he shall gain life unending.”

  “How,” asked Egan,” do you know this?”

  “Because that evil fairy I’m talking about… He killed his human a couple hundred years ago. That fairy who’s killing your men: He’s immortal. And you and I? We’re going to stop him.”

  “How do we stop him if he’s in a fairy world and he’s immortal?”

  “There are ways.”

  “Like what?”

  Wasson grinned at Colonel Egan. “Well, Jamie, that’s what we’re going to have to figure out.”

  Chapter 6

  David sat at the side of Joseph’s bed. Joseph coughed, hard and wet, and David half-stood to gently wipe the flecks of blood from Joseph’s lips. Joseph made a long, labored, dry swallow and sighed. His sigh sounded more like a labored, raspy exhalation than a sound of any sort of relief. David frowned in concern and sat back down on his chair.

  Mark approached him from behind and put his hand on David’s shoulder. David looked up and saw Mark’s questioning look. David shook his head. Mark’s face fell and he closed his eyes. He nodded solemnly then he quietly excused himself from Joseph’s room.

  Less than an hour later, Joseph had died. David wept quietly for a while, then he closed Joseph’s eyes and plucked each of the eight primary feathers from each of his wings. One, he pierced with a needle and threaded a thin cord through it. He placed this around his neck. He took the remaining feathers and went into the hall. Mark and several other angels were standing in the corridor, waiting for the final word.

  “He’s gone,” David whispered.

  The angels approached him and each of them placed a comforting hand on David’s shoulders or back or wings. David handed a feather to Mark, and then distributed the rest of them to Joseph’s closest friends. As each angel took a feather, he or she kissed David on the cheek and left. When the feathers had all been handed out, the remaining angels entered Joseph’s room to take care of his remains.

  David left the corridor. He didn’t want to go home yet. He wasn’t ready to face his empty apartment, the closet full of Joseph’s clothes, or any of Joseph’s things around their place. Joseph had been sick for a long time. David hadn’t had much time to himself over the last year or so, and the thought of time alone now - idle time, alone, all by himself - made him feel sick to his stomach.

  He considered flying to The Promenade, but he decided to walk up there instead. He walked to the end of the corridor, then up the stone staircase to the street level. He walked the rest of the way to the edge of The Promenade, hoping he could get a good look at the human city’s skyline below them before the daylight was completely gone. When he got there, Mark was leaning over the stone half-wall, peering down at the world below.

  “Hey,” David said. He walked next to Mark, turned around, and hoisted himself up to sit backwards on the stone wall. He adjusted his back so his wings hung over the side.

  Mark didn’t look at him. “How are you holding up?”

  David hung his head and sighed. His white, feathery wings, twitched slightly. His voice was shaky as he said, “I don’t know.”

  Mark patted David’s leg a few times and turned around to sit on the wall next to him. “I’m really sorry, Dave.”

  David nodded.

  “He was young, right?” Mark asked. “How old was he, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  “Thirty five.”

  Mark nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  “I know.”

  “How are his human friends doing? Was he married or anything?”

  “No,” David said. “His human was Catholic. He was a priest. No partners allowed.”

  “Right. Are you going to go down and watch the funeral?”

  David nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Want any company?”

  “If you want. He’d have appreciated it,” David said.

  “Did he know your human?”

  “No. I don’t think they ever met.”

  “What would human David say for his eulogy, do you think?” Mark asked.

  “Something about green pastures and the valley of death, I’m sure,” David chuckled, even though he really didn’t want to laugh.

  “Joseph was a good man,” Mark said. He put his hand on David’s shoulder again. “I’m really sorry. I’d like to come with you to the human funeral. Once you find out when it is, don’t forget to come grab me, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Mark hopped off the wall then held his palm vertically and pointed all five of his fingers at David’s head. He made the sign of balance to him, starting at the head, then down to the abdomen, then across the chest. It was meant to symbolize balance of the intellect, digestion and physical wellness, healthy breathing, and emotional stability - head, stomach, and across the chest.

  David nodded his thanks and watched Mark leave, then David rocked backwards and tumbled off the wall. He let himself fall for a moment, spread his white, feathery wings to catch the wind, then he flew back to his apartment.

  -

  David the human was in his office reading the paper. He wanted to make Daniel and Saul squirm a bit before he was ready to talk to them.

  He picked up the phone and dialed. The first ring hadn’t finished when the receptionist answered the phone.

  “Orphans of Mercy Animal Hospital, Lois speaking. How may I help you?”

  “Hey, Lo, it’s Dave. Is Tammy around?”

  “Hi, Dave! Sure, hold on a minute, k?”

  The animal hospital’s hold music was The Loop, Chicago’s Finest Classic Rock and radio talk shows that David actually enjoyed. Just the year before, it had been converted from a Christian radio station. When people heard WLUP-FM on his radio at the synagogue, he still got odd looks, even when it was Led Zepplin or David Bowie. Right now, though, he waited for a commercial to finish.

  “This is Doctor Liebowitz.”

  “Hey, Tammy.”

  “Hey, you! How are you doing?”

  “Eh,” David sighed, “I have to put the fear of God into a couple of kids who were caught stealing in after school today.”

  “Stealing?” Tammy laughed. “What in the world did they steal?”

  “Danny and Saul took Adam’s Optimus Prime out of his backpack and th
ey hid it.”

  “Which Adam?”

  “Goldstein.”

  “Oh, no! Not Good Adam!”

  There were three young Adams in the after school program: Adam Goldstein, who was funny and charming; Adam Cohen, who was kind of drab and uninteresting, but harmless; and Adam Black, who was a wicked little wretch. Tammy always referred to them as Good Adam, Regular Adam, and Bad Adam, respectively.

  “Yeah. He got his toy back, but I’m making Dan and Saul wait in complete silence out in the hall.”

  “Oh, you mean like, ‘You better go right upstairs and think about what you’ve done until your father is ready to talk to you’ silence?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Didn’t your dad used to do that to you?”

  David laughed. “He did. Constantly. And I hated it.” He checked his watch. “Okay, I think that’s probably been long enough. I’ll bring in the perps now.”

  Tammy snorted with laughter. “Book those perps. I’ll see you at home. Remember, it’s fried chicken tonight. Love you!”

  “Love you.”

  He hung up the phone and went to the door. He opened it and saw Danny and Saul sitting on the bench in the hallway and looking appropriately forlorn and repentant.

  “Come in, boys,” David showed them into his office. “Take a seat.” He spent the next half hour talking about the evils of theft and the Ten Commandments, and then explained practically that no good would come from their continued misbehavior. “Next time,” he explained, “I’ll have no choice but to involve the police.”

  Saul seemed unimpressed but Danny’s eyes went wide.

  David explained the situation to each of the boys’ parents when they were picked up. He knew there would be plenty of disciplining activity at their houses tonight. He tidied up his desk and went home, satisfied that he’d had a successful day at work.

  -

  David the angel stood on a plastic reindeer on the roof of the house across the street. He watched his human drive up the snowy street, park his car in the driveway, and go inside the house. Something was wrong here. He was about to fly closer to the house when he saw what it was.

  A pair of pixies sat on the sill of the semi-circular transom window. They were watching the family inside the house. After about half an hour, Tammy stepped outside, onto the front porch, to smoke a cigarette. She smoked quickly, shivering in the cold. A few minutes after she went back inside, the pixies talked quietly to each other. David couldn’t make out what they were saying. Then one of the pixies flew off, leaving the other to continue spying on the Liebowitz house.

  The angel shook his head. He was unsettled. In the past couple of months, there had been a lot of visitors from the Realms. First, four fairies a couple months ago. Now, who knows how many pixies? Something was going on and he was going to figure out what it was.

  He flew upwards, back toward home. The angels lived in the human world, but their cities existed in small pocket dimensions in the clouds. They looked down on the human world from above. David flew into the clouds over Lake Michigan and concentrated for a moment to summon the Gate that would let him enter the city. He crossed through and flew quickly over the streets to find Mark.

  “Pixies,” David said. “There’s a pair of pixies stalking my human.”

  “What do they want?” Mark asked.

  “I’m not sure. But they were armed. I think it’s time for me to go talk to the Oracle.”

  Mark’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “The Oracle? You really think so?”

  “Look,” David said, “We’re supposed to keep humanity safe, right?”

  “We’re not meant to interfere in their business. You know that.”

  “This really isn’t their business. We’re supposed to protect the humans from outside threats, right? These are pixies. That’s the very definition an outside threat, don’t you think?”

  Mark folded his arms across his chest. “Are you sure they were malicious?”

  “They were pixies!”

  “That doesn’t mean they’re out to hurt him,” Mark said. “Pixies aren’t all malicious.”

  “David from below is a rabbi. He’s not really equipped to deal with armed pixies staking out his house. I need to find out why they’re here and what they want with him.”

  “How’d they get here, anyway? I thought the Bridges were all deactivated. And that the Bridges don’t work from The Void, anyway.”

  “Then they must’ve come through the Realms in order to get to a Bridge. There’s a few that still work,” David said.

  “But the Oracle, though? He’s all way the hell out in the suburbs! It’s hours from here!”

  David frowned. “It’s less than one hour from here.”

  “Well, maybe. But it’s freezing and Thomas says there’s a snowstorm rolling in tonight,” Mark said. “You really don’t want to be out there.”

  “I have to see the Oracle, Mark. David from below could be in trouble.”

  “Maybe some pixies just came up to see who their humans were.” Mark sounded more like he was asking a question than suggesting an idea.

  “I know for a fact that David’s wife, Tammy, doesn’t belong to either one of those pixies.”

  “And it has to be tonight?”

  David frowned. “The sooner, the better! I don’t feel right knowing that there’s some ne’er-do-wells stalking out my human and his wife!”

  Mark leveled his gaze as David, but he didn’t say anything.

  “And with Joseph gone, I just have to be… I don’t know… Doing something. I need to take care of someone,” David said. “I can’t take care of Joseph anymore, and I really feel like David from below needs my help.”

  Mark sighed, then nodded. “All right. I trust you,” he shrugged. “Let’s go see the Oracle.”

  Chapter 7

  “How can you be my mom?” Gen asked. “That’s impossible.”

  “How is that impossible? I mean,” Slynn said, “You turned into a fairy.”

  Gen frowned. She looked at Hope for support, but Hope simply shrugged. Slynn turned to Hope and smiled warmly, then he took a step toward Gen. Gen forced herself not to step backwards away from him.

  “I met your girlfriend,” Slynn whispered to Gen. “She’s really nice. I can see why you like her.”

  Gen started at Slynn in disbelief.

  “You did say that Slynn was your mother’s pixie,” Shae said. “Maybe some part of her came through or something.”

  Slynn eyed Shae closely and then turned back to Gen. “You know something else? We met Jim’s new girlfriend. Your father and I did. And you know what? This one,” he jerked his head toward Shae, “looks an awful lot like that Portia girl.”

  “Portia?” Gen blinked. “Jim’s new girlfriend’s name is Portia?”

  Slynn shifted his mouth to the side and nodded. That was an expression Gen’s mother made frequently.

  Slynn looked Gen up and down, then peeked behind her and looked at her wings, now fully healed and shining orange in the bright daylight. Slynn brought his hand up to touch Gen’s cheek. Gen flinched and Slynn yanked his hand back. “I’m… I’m sorry. This is kind of awkward for us both, you know.”

  Gen straightened and looked Slynn in the eye. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

  “Do you really think I’d lie, Genny?”

  “What’s my favorite record?”

  Slynn thought for a second. “That one with the girl on the cover, looking in the window.”

  “What’s it called?” Gen asked.

  “I can’t keep up with all of your musical tas --” Slynn snapped his fingers. “The Violent Femmes! That’s what it’s called!”

  “What’s my favorite pop?”

  Slynn answered instantly. “Doctor Pepper.”

  “What color is George’s car?”

  “Orange.”

  “What’s the password?” Gen demanded.

  “Super strudel.”

  Gen’s shoulders
slumped. “Mom?”

  Slynn nodded.

  Gen rushed into Slynn’s open arms and they held each other in a long hug. Hope and Shae shared a glance. Shae shook her head and shrugged. Eventually Slynn stepped back. He looked Gen over from head to toe.

  “Look at you,” he said. “You look different! You look exactly like I thought you’d look when you got older.” Slynn eyed Gen’s tight, sculpted stomach, which was visible through her torn and tattered leather top. “And if you joined the Marines, I guess. And your wings. Wow. You look resplendent.”

  “What? Resplendent?”

  “Yeah,” Slynn said. “It means that you–’”

  “I know what it means. That’s just not a word you say.”

  Slynn shrugged. “It was the word that was in my mind. And it’s appropriate. Just look at you!”

  “How did you end up here? How did you end up in this body?” Gen asked. “I guessed a while back that Slynn was your pixie - that you two are connected like Ivy and I were, like Hope and Jim are. But how did you do this? How are you here?”

  “I really don’t know.”

  “What’s the last thing you remember?” Gen asked.

  “Your father got down on one knee at dinner,” Slynn smiled wistfully.

  “That was kind of a long time ago, I think.”

  “No,” Slynn shook his head. “No, this was recently! He took me out and he got down on one knee and asked if I wanted to renew our vows. We got home after dinner and we… Ah… We fell asleep together on the sofa. And he got a call from the hospital. Your aunt Violet had a heart attack. And my whole mind just shut down. The world crashed down around me. I lost you. I lost Greg. For a while, I thought I lost your father. And then I lost Vi and I just couldn’t take it. Everything is a haze after that. I remember your father sitting next to me outside. I remember the first snowfall of the year. I remember… Oh god. I remember!”

  Gen took Slynn’s hand. “You remember what?”

  “I remember they brought me into a room and they strapped it to my head and they put an IV in and I think they sedated me. Then I got these weird flashes of things. Like I remembered the day you were born. It was so clear, like I was watching it happen again. Once that all cleared, I opened my eyes and I was here.”