Alterni

by Sunshine Somerville

  Esme tried not to smell her pizza while imagining being swarmed by the creatures.

  “After that,” said Owen, “I knew I had to suck it up and train the next alterni. She was crazy-good with a rifle. That alterni made it two years until one night we couldn’t fight off a felicox. The thing broke four of my ribs and left me for dead before it…killed her.”

  Esme noted the pause in his words.

  He’s trying to spare me the gory details. He’s telling me such horrible things – how much worse are the things he’s protecting me from?

  Owen finished his beer. “Then the fourth Esme fell in love with me. She might’ve thought it was her duty, or destiny. But… I’ve told you how you’re very different people, and the fourth Esme wasn’t the kind of woman I could love. She resented me for it, and we didn’t work well together after that. After a year, she went off on her own one night. A scout found her body the next morning. It took me weeks to track the chiroptorx flock that killed her.”

  The waitress appeared at the side of their table. “Anything I can get you? Another beer, Chief Lord?”

  Owen forced a smile. “No, thank you. Everything’s been great.”

  The waitress beamed at him again before ignoring Esme entirely and walking away.

  Well, thought Esme in annoyance, at least she isn’t staring at me. But wait… Is she just more focused on pretty boy over there, or does she not recognize me because I’m spelled?

  Esme tried to focus. “And numbers five, six, and seven? I know the alterni before me died a month ago.”

  He nodded and bit into his pizza, losing a piece of sausage off the side. “The next alt-Esmes were both easier and harder, if that makes any sense. I knew what traits to look for when picking them. I knew how to train them. But I also had a harder time navigating our interactions. As you pointed out, I got used to them dying. That anticipation made forming a partnership…difficult.”

  She took a bite and kept her eyes down, trying not to let her worry cause another outburst.

  It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. After a while he expected them to die, so… I hope he can snap out of that mindset.

  Owen swallowed. “Esmes five, six, and seven only made it a handful of months each. We didn’t have time to train them properly, to be honest, because things got intense with the malevolenci.”

  This wasn’t reassuring.

  “But your immediate predecessor survived a year. She was maybe not as brave as we’d hoped, but she was smart. She always used exactly the spell necessary to fight whatever demon we encountered. I’d just dared to hope she was strong enough to survive, but then she died. That hope… That nearly killed me.” He paused. “After losing her, I didn’t have it in me to drag another poor woman into this cursed life. That’s why I put it off for a month. I was too cowardly to oversee your summono, and I made Hakim do it in my place.”

  Esme saw his eyes were wet with sadness and guilt.

  Owen didn’t look away. “So to answer what I’m sure you’re wondering, yeah, I’m terrified you’re going to die too. I don’t even know you yet, and I’m already expecting that you’ll die. But I swear to you, I’ll do everything in my power to stop it from happening. I won’t go through that again.” He paused. “Kings have killed themselves before, you know. It sucks to carry this kind of responsibility for another person’s life. Seeing the same face die over and over and over… It’s driven kings to end their own lives. We do care about you alterni. I care about you alterni.”

  Esme didn’t know what to say.

  “As for you, Esme… We’ve pulled you from your home, your whole world. And now we’re telling you that we need you to help save our world when you have no self-interest here. Hundreds of alterni have bravely fought for us, and I wonder sometimes if we deserve any of you. But we need you, Esme. I need you. The malevolenci are attacking harder than they have for hundreds of years, and the people who depend on me are losing heart because I can’t get my shit together. But I promise, with your help, I’ll protect this world and you. Or I’ll die trying.”

  Esme took a moment.

  I believe him. What he’s been through… It wasn’t fair of me to expect him to be some kind of valiant King Arthur. He’s just a dude with a shit-ton of responsibility. It’s not his fault my alterni died. Not really. Obviously he wants me to survive almost as much as I do, but I can’t make him responsible for my wellbeing. I have to keep myself alive too…. What a weird partnership this will be.

  Owen collected himself and sat back with a short chuckle. “I’ve never told anyone half of that. You’re very clever, sitting over there, barely prodding at all. Nice tactic to get me talking.”

  She smiled. Sensing he needed a change of topic, she took another slice of pizza from the tray and asked, “So when do I get my allowance?”

  Owen pulled out a phone. “I’ll call Teddy and have him pick you up. He can take you shopping for whatever you need, then drive you home.”

  “Home?”

  He scrolled in his phone, distracted by something he’d found. “Hakim used my personal Order funds to buy you a house on the edge of the city. I saw the address in your file.”

  “You bought me a house?”

  “King, remember?” Owen grinned. “The house isn’t anything fancy, but I figured you’ll want something of your own. Something private.”

  “Oh. Uh, thank you.” She felt like a child. “But I was joking about an allowance. I can get a job or-”

  “You have a job.” Owen looked at her over his phone. “This will take all your time, and of course we’ll provide for you. I promise you’ll have everything you need, everything you want. Hell, we have access to funds like you wouldn’t believe, so ask and it’s yours. My conjuri yanked you from your world and thrust this job on you, so it’s the least I can do.”

  “Okay. Who’s Teddy?”

  “He’s with the Order. He’ll be your bodyguard, driver, and security at your house. Anything you need, Teddy can get it for you.”

  “A bodyguard? Is that necessary?”

  “It’s just a precaution. Really, he’s more like a butler or assistant. You’ll need someone dedicated to helping you acclimate. I’m not always available. Hakim travels weekly to meet with cavali. Lexi picks up my slack, since I’m this city’s loveable but all-too-often-absent chief of police, so she’s got a lot on her plate too.”

  “Okay, makes sense.” Esme looked down at her gifted blouse and pants. “You mentioned shopping… Can Teddy take me to get new clothes? These are nice, but not really my style. I’m a little more…bohemian. This outfit looks like what Hakim would wear as a woman.”

  The corner of his mouth went up in a smile, but his eyes had returned to his phone as he typed in a text. “Hakim might be a fairy, but I’ve never known him to wear women’s clothing.”

  Esme scrunched her face at him. “That’s a little rude, isn’t it?”

  Owen looked up from the phone in confusion before he realized what was wrong. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant an actual fairy.”

  Esme took a moment, then gaped. “Are you kidding me?”

  Owen dropped his head and muttered, “Hakim…” He looked back at Esme. “Sorry. He’s done this to me with three other Esmes.”

  “Done what?”

  “Failed to explain key details of our world.” Owen let out a huff. “We have fairies. And vampires, werewolves – pretty much every paranormal being you’ve read about in stories.”

  Again, Esme gaped. “How is that possible?” She looked around the restaurant, not believing him over her own eyes. “Everything is so normal.”

  “That’s because the Order does a fantastic job of hiding everything abnormal. But it’s all real here. When our first ancestors thought it was fun to summono people from other worlds, they didn’t always summono…what you’d call ordinary people. Some of those paranormal types chose to stay in our world. As a result, our magical little kingdom ended up with an interesting collection of rac
es.”

  Esme tried to pull herself out of shock. “There are alt-worlds where a vampire is the norm? Where werewolves or fairies or whatever else are the norm?”

  “I don’t know about vampires ever being the norm, but those races exist in alt-worlds, yes.”

  “But they’re…not real.” She realized how lame this sounded, considering she’d been sucked from another world herself. “I mean, those beings are just fictional in my world.”

  “Yeah, and how do you think they became stories in the first place?” Owen lifted an eyebrow like this was obvious. “The Order libraries have all sorts of crazy legends about our worlds’ beginnings. Some texts say one world broke up into hundreds of others. Others claim worlds splinter off each other with every different choice or historical event that goes differently. If any of it’s true, it makes sense that interesting facts from one world would be remembered in another, even if only as stories.”

  She thought on this.

  Owen lifted the phone back to his face. “Anyway, for centuries the conjuri have only used the summono to bring alterni for the purpose of fighting malevolenci. You won’t see many pureblood paranormals because the conjuri don’t summono people willy-nilly anymore. Most of the original paranormals integrated with our human society, and we’ve ended up with a melting pot of races. A lot of people today probably have paranormal ancestors and don’t even know it. Many that do know it are members of the Order, so you’ll meet some of them. But their paranormal blood is so thin that they’ve mostly lost their home world tendencies, magical gifts…feeding habits.”

  She gulped.

  The king smiled over his phone at her reaction. “Don’t worry. They’re quite ordinary for the most part. Like Hakim.” He stopped texting and looked at her. “Oh, and he’d want me to point out that he’s part jinn, not fairy. That’s just a little joke between us.”

  Esme thought on her observations of Hakim thus far.

  He’s not weird or scary. I never would’ve guessed there was anything different about him. He’s not even good at magic. Jinn…

  She remembered something else, and her eyes widened. “You said Hakim has the handwriting of a serial killer elf. Are there really-”

  Owen waved this off. “That was a joke. Sorry. Elves are very nice people.”

  She let out a breath. “Could you maybe be a little more literal?”

  “Sorry.” He strained to hide a grin.

  Esme tried to think. “So…there are purebloods still? Descendents of the original paranormals have kept their bloodlines unmixed?”

  “Yes. Again not many, but a few. Those guys look like the paranormals in your stories. And, they still have weird gifts because our magic works with whatever gave them their gifts. They’re all part of the Order. Fortunately, the paranormal races swore to the Order a long time ago that they’d live within our rules if they chose to stay. Their descendents today still honor that oath.”

  Esme took a second to add this to the vat of knowledge she’d ingested today.

  This is insane. Or is it? This world has magic. Why shouldn’t there be worlds where anything is possible? I wonder… Do vampires sparkle?

  She let out a deep breath. “Okay. I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised.”

  “Good outlook.” Owen tapped his thumb against his phone. “I’m texting Teddy now. He says the mall can be your first stop, no problem.”

  “Uh…okay. Thanks.”

  “Anything else you’ll need for the next couple of days?”

  “Um. Food?”

  “Sure.”

  “My own phone?”

  “We’ll set you up with a new phone, documentation, bank accounts, and everything first thing in the morning.”

  She wondered how big she could go. “How about a car?”

  Owen lowered his phone and smiled. “Let’s pace ourselves, shall we?”

  She faked a sigh. “King Lord giveth, and King Lord taketh away.”

  He laughed and put away the phone. “You know, you’re the first person to say something like that to my face.”

  Esme grinned, at the very least feeling better about this king now.

  He’s just a normal guy. Still, he’s the king. I shouldn’t be too much of a smart ass, or he might order a werewolf to bite my head off.

  “Let’s finish lunch,” said Owen, reaching for another slice. “Teddy’ll be here in twenty.” He remembered something. “Oh, are you allergic to dogs?”

  “No. Why?”

  “No reason.” Owen grinned to himself and stuffed his mouth with pizza.

  Esme let it go and decided to finish her cocktail after all.

  Later that evening, Thaddeus – not Teddy, he’d insisted – pulled Esme’s chauffeured car up to the curb somewhere in the suburbs. Esme looked out the window to see her new home. They were tucked away in a winding housing development, mature trees lining the street. Several of her neighbors’ brick homes even had high walls of ivy growing up their sides. The idea of neighbors in a new world was daunting, especially considering she usually rented apartments, where neighborhood friendships had an expected expiration date.

  At least this place is mine. Good King Owen promised no Esme ever lived here. That’d be weird. I’m living in their shadow enough as it is…

  Her house was modest, but modern. A short green yard stood between the curb and the house. The front of the building was multilayered but flat, and big windows on one side looked into a room with vaulted ceilings. The house was two levels, possibly with a loft as a third. A narrow driveway between her house and her neighbor’s ended where an attached garage blocked the view of the back.

  The muscular, father-aged, clean-shaven bodyguard opened her door.

  “Oh. Thanks.” Esme reached along the backseat and gathered several grocery bags, then scooted back to climb out of the backseat.

  Thaddeus had already collected her other shopping bags from the trunk. “This way, miss.”

  Esme followed him up the drive to the front door.

  She’d done most of the talking so far. Thaddeus had flinched when meeting Esme, suggesting he’d been acquainted with her alterni. However, the big man was quick to adjust. Thaddeus told her he’d served the royal family since Owen’s father’s reign. Only Owen was allowed to call him Teddy, and that seemed grudgingly so. The big man was kind and straightforward, but he seemed private about his own affairs. Esme hadn’t pushed to know much more.

  Thaddeus tapped a code into the front door – Esme memorized the code – and it clicked unlocked. He opened the door and stood to the side, gesturing with his armloads that she was to enter. Her bodyguard was a very proper fellow, so Esme didn’t argue and stepped inside.

  The foyer led into a narrow hall, and entries to other parts of the house could be seen up ahead. Strips of beautiful old wood covered the entry’s walls, nailed like planks to elongate the hall. The floor was dark gray tile. Her front door, she’d noticed, was made from some kind of white wood, possibly pine. From the high ceiling, a simple chandelier hung on a long wire. Esme also noted a powder room door by the front entry.

  High-pitched barks echoed from farther into the house, and the distinct sound of dog nails running on tile made Esme look down the hall. A beagle appeared from the far end and scampered toward them, tail wagging. The little creature had so much black around its blue eyes that it could’ve been wearing eyeliner. Its mouth was also dark, which created a funny-looking grin as it ran closer. The beagle skidded to a stop when it saw Thaddeus, and it sat on its haunches and whined, blinking nervously.

  Esme smiled and crouched to greet the dog. “It’s okay.” She looked up at Thaddeus. “Who’s this?”

  “Her name is Bethy Maude, miss. She belonged to your predecessor, and I believe the king hopes you’ll take her in.”

  Esme’s smile faded as she looked at the orphaned dog. She reached out and pet the beagle’s head, and Bethy responded by wagging her tail. The dog still grinned with the weirdest smile Esme had ever se
en on an animal.

  Poor thing.

  “Would you like a tour, miss?”

  Esme pulled her attention back to her bodyguard and stood. “No, thank you. I can manage.” She noticed Thaddeus still held her shopping bags. “Thanks, but you can put those down. I’ll take care of things myself.”

  “Yes, miss.” He bent to set the bags on the floor.

  That’s the end of that, thought Esme with a grin. It was funny to see this gorilla of a man carrying around pink shopping bags.

  “I’ll be staying in a house just across the street, miss. If there’s anything you need, press #194 on the house’s intercom. That’ll link you to my place.”

  “Got it. Thanks again for everything today, Thaddeus. You were a lot of help.”

  I knew most of the stores in the mall, she remembered. I could make my way around that grocery store again if I had to. But Hakim’s right – it’s weird what little cultural things are different.

  Thaddeus’s low voice regained her attention. “I’ll have the car here at 7:30 tomorrow morning. I’m to take you to get documentation.”

  Does the Order make counterfeit IDs?

  But she was sick of asking questions. “Okay. See you in the morning.”

  Thaddeus bobbed his head, reopened the door, and left her alone in her new home.

  With Bethy dancing around her legs, Esme held the grocery bags and strolled down the hall. She turned through the left opening first. This led into a living room. The wooden floor was dark and free of carpet. The couch, ottoman, and chairs were a pristine white. A wide, high window looked out over the front yard to the street. A big television dominated the entertainment center, and bookcases stood on either side. Esme scanned the books and saw fiction titles she didn’t know, biographies, a set of old encyclopedias, and travel guides.