Mike grabbed Alayna and pushed her behind him. “Get out of here. I can stall these things long enough so that you can get out of here.”
Alayna smiled. “That’s quite gentlemanly and chivalrous of you, but none of the animals around here is going to hurt us. Some might look mean, but they won’t harm us.” She walked up, and one of the animals wrapped all four arms around Alayna for a hug. “We respect the animals, and they respect us in turn. It can’t be a one-way street. I can’t believe you haven’t noticed the snotlings all around.”
“The what?”
“Look around. See those little green people with blinking red eyes?” She pointed to an area of thick green shrubbery.
Mike saw about ten flashing red lights. He focused closer and noticed the shape of a body. The tiny beings were much smaller than dwarfs and didn’t have any hair on their bodies. Four floppy ears sat in a circle on top of the snotlings’ heads.
Mike did a couple of three-sixties and noticed all the shrubs and bushes started to move. There had to be hundreds of the little people emerging into the open. They all looked so peaceful and non-threatening, that was until a few smiled at Mike and exposed sharp sets of deadly fangs.
“Always be aware of your surroundings. If you are, no one can ever sneak up on you.” Alayna followed the girallon creatures that seemed to be guiding the way.
The silent snotlings retreated back into their surroundings, and Mike couldn’t find a single one in the camouflage setting. The girallons suddenly took off into the woods, and a small opening appeared ahead of the couple.
An ancient oak tree with branches touching the ground and reaching into the sky greeted them.
Alayna said, “You are going to get a lesson on tree magic soon. For now, just remember to respect trees and plants the same you would an animal or human. They are no different.”
Mike rubbed his overloaded eyes, trying to absorb all the sights and creatures.
“Just wait until your next few visits when I’ll show you a karakadon.”
“Okay, I’ll bite. What’s a karakadon?”
Alayna walked up to the trunk of the massive tree. “It is a bull-like creature with a curved golden horn extending out of its forehead. They like to yodel in the forests and valleys. The yodeling is quite annoying actually, and their breath stinks beyond belief. They won’t take a mint leaf no matter how many you offer them.”
Alayna circled the tree and gave the trunk a hug. She whispered, “May I borrow a switch for a short while?”
The tree groaned, and Mike was positive it said, “O—kay.”
Alayna walked up to a low hanging branch and snapped off a thin piece of wood about as long as a baseball bat.
She swung the stick around and explained, “One of the worst things you can do in any conflict is panic. Had you tried to swat away those bees a little while ago, you would be in the physician’s office right now. Even in the midst of an intense battle, you must not allow revenge or anger to filter in. For this exercise, all you have to do is stand still and not get mad.”
“This lesson shouldn’t be too hard.”
“No. No, it shouldn’t.” Alayna smiled, slapping the branch into her palm. “You can’t foster a retaliatory attitude when using magic or it will get you and perhaps some regulars killed. Focus on bravery, courage and stamina. Trade pomposity for sagacity.”
She casually poked him in the chest, and Mike slapped the stick away. “Uh, uh, uh. You’re not allowed to do anything except stand still and be happy. Close your eyes. Find an enjoyable place and send your mind to that location. First class ticket.” She giggled.
Mike put his hands behind his back. She poked him a few more times in the chest, and he stood still as a stone statue. Alayna tapped Mike’s stomach a few times, and then poked his crotch. He backed away and cocked his head to the side.
“No, no, no. Stand still.”
Mike smiled and stood in place again. Alayna turned her back to Mike and tapped the stick against her palm a few times. In a flash, she whirled around and swatted Mike across his upper arm. Hard. He made a fist and cocked his arm back.
“You look like you want to hit someone.”
Mike gritted his teeth. “Nope. Not at all. Just a little misunderstanding.” He put his hands behind his back and puffed his chest out.
A buzzing insect almost as big as his hand flew in front of Mike’s face, and he instinctively backed away, then suddenly stopped. The green creature looked like an enormous cricket with a big stinger on its backside. The insect landed on his nose, and Mike tried to remain as still as possible. He held his breath.
The noisy insect jumped off his nose and flew away.
Alayna didn’t give Mike any time to celebrate. She poked his crotch several times. Mike held his ground, and she seemed impressed.
Next, Alayna walked behind him and jabbed him several times in each buttock. Mike flinched at first but took a deep breath and controlled his emotions as Alayna kept prodding his posterior.
Alayna asked, “How do you feel about your father?”
“Fuck that piece of shit.”
“Ooohhh. That sounds like anger. We can’t have something like that clouding our judgment if we are going to be fighting off the evil spirits in this world. How do you feel about your father?”
“Doesn’t matter. What’s done is done, and I can’t change it.”
“Very good. Are you sure that’s how you feel after all the terrible things he’s done to you?”
Mike wanted to go off about how awful his father had been during his childhood...but he controlled his anger. “Yes, ma’am. That’s how I feel.”
Alayna’s eyes widened along with her smile. “My, my. Color me impressed, young man. We will revisit this lesson a few more times but I’ll finish my story on the druids now.”
“Nice.”
“You want to learn. How great. Why don’t we go under the oak tree so we can have some more shade?”
They moseyed over to the enormous tree, and Alayna returned to the branch that she had gotten the switch from. She pressed the breaking point back onto the branch and held it for a few moments. When she let go, the reattached piece swayed in the breeze.
“On second thought, we should probably get back now. This way.” Alayna pointed down the path. “I’m going to give you the quick, quick version so pay attention. The druids were and still are Celtic people that put an emphasis on knowledge. They were the elder scholars, a group of learned individuals that also maintained a special relationship with nature. Their history is so mysterious because they chose not to write much down. It took the druids decades to learn all the oral lessons to tap into that power, and as you know, they grew to be extremely powerful. But how? They were small folk for the most part. Not as small as me, but the emphasis on mental activities rather than physical training had a lasting genetic effect on the druids.”
“So, they must’ve been great warriors or they struck in secrecy. Ambush-style, huh?”
“Not at all. They never practiced any sort of military-style activities.”
“I think I got it. They bought a huge army of mercenaries that swore to defend them?”
“Mike, this isn’t a guessing game, and we’re not playing twenty questions either, so just listen. The reason they became so powerful was because of the magic. When a group of Roman soldiers, wielding longswords and clad in shimmering silver armor, is defeated by a small man wearing no protection, that story spreads far and wide. People were afraid of the magic, and it took a mighty effort to finally vanquish the druids of the past.”
“That’s too bad. Sad.”
“Yes, it is. But it allowed them to find a new home that you see before you.” She held out her arm to present the land. “We’ll have plenty of time to delve into the Celtic and druidic cultures in the future. The druids also share this land with many other kind-spirited folks and creatures like me. All pure-intentioned folk of any kind can enter and take part in the great culture. The ancie
nt druids rarely wrote anything down so that the magic wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands and get used for dark purposes. Everything was passed down orally. With the fall of the druids on earth, it seems like a smart move.”
“I agree.”
“We still don’t write everything down for fear that it possibly falling into the wrong hands. Now they record lessons, like you would see in a podcast or a video on YouTube and store them on a mobile device like an iPad or tablet. The tablets are programmed so that if they leave this world, they explode. We don’t want any of our secrets leaving here and ending up in the wrong hands.”
“How do they obtain all this knowledge in the first place?”
She pointed up. “You see that flashing series of interconnected tree roots above us?”
“Yeah.”
“That is the world’s first internet. If the trees can see it, we can see it. They keep sending us new information that will come in handy when we need to heal you.”
“This place is pretty crazy.”
She chuckled. “We’ve only started to scratch the surface. Prepare to have your mind blown in the next couple of years. I’ll give you a quick overview of a few different kinds of magic. You will start by learning some more background knowledge, and then we must make sure that you have the ability to harness magic. Then we will move on to elemental and animal magic, which ties in with shapeshifting. The final and most difficult is internal magic and mind control, which subsequently results in body control of other people. And one of the most underestimated techniques is detecting the magic of others. Especially mind magic.”
“Sounds pretty intense. Shapeshifting. That’d be cool.”
“It is. Don’t get overwhelmed but there is a lot for you to learn. Shifting won’t occur for a few years. It’s rather intricate. I am rather confident you will be fine and dandy. You strike me as a mythic druid.” She chuckled.
Mike didn’t know if she had complimented him or insulted him. He tried to apply the new lesson and not let it bother him.
The pair traveled back to the small patch of woods that they had arrived at. Alayna explained that since they had fallen a great distance to get here, they would need the services of an elevator to get back to the earth’s surface. They went into a dark elevator and it took them to the dark tunnel. Mike navigated the pitch-black area by memory and eventually reached the secret door to get back to Prince’s Mountain.
Only half of the sun remained above the horizon when they entered the darkening woods. They walked back to Mike’s house and went inside.
Mike rhetorically asked, “What am I going to do tonight?”
“I can give you the best advice. Stay home for once and get some sleep. With your condition, you need to conserve energy for when it is necessary. Don’t forget you have a terminal disease,” she reminded him.
“That’s why I’m going out. I could die at any moment. How the hell did I end up with lung cancer anyway?” Mike asked in disgust.
“From your job. You were sucking in asbestos and other cancerous materials. They told you to wear that mask for a reason. You shouldn’t have taken it off all those times.”
Mike had never thought that the dust from the walls he had destroyed could have caused cancer.
Alayna said, “I’ve got to provide some help to another young wizard on the opposite side of the globe. Get some sleep, young man.”
“You have fun. And thanks for the advice.”
Mike decided he was going to take a short nap before going out. He lay on his back and thought about Kyle’s viewing tomorrow. It wouldn’t be much of a viewing with a closed casket. The past few days had been such a whirlwind that Mike hadn’t fully processed the death of his best friend yet. Everything still seemed like a surreal dream he would wake up from at any moment.
Mike thought about his plan with Emily to go back into Houlihan’s Circle tomorrow night. He was hoping she would call it off.
His eyelids quickly became heavy and he fell into a deep sleep. The next morning, Mike’s obnoxious ringtone caused him to slowly rise out of bed and grab his phone off the small dresser.
He pressed the answer button. “Hello.”
Chapter 17
EMILY’S VOICE CAUSED him to sit up in bed. “You sound sleepy. You’d better be ready like we talked about. I’ll be by in about a half hour.”
Mike shook his head rapidly, trying to wake up. “I’ll be ready. Don’t worry. See ya soon.”
“I’ll be there soon. Be ready.”
Mike hung up and scrambled to find a respectable outfit for the viewing. He opened the musty closet and unleashed a concentrated mothball stench. Choking on the harsh odor, Mike grabbed a long sleeved gray button-down shirt and a pair of black dress pants. He plucked the mothball out of the shirt pocket and wondered why both articles were wrinkled to high hell.
A brainwave had him spraying Febreze on the clothes to counteract the mothball aroma but the overall effect created competing waves of both smells. He didn’t change the boxers he had been wearing for three straight days, and just slid the pants on one leg at a time. He put his arms in the shirt and immediately noticed he had either gotten bigger or the shirt had shrunk.
Apparently, his newfound knowledge didn’t translate to proper hygiene.
The sleeves barely came to his wrists, and he had to leave three buttons at the top of the shirt undone, golden chest hair poking out. He hoped the stretching might take away some of the wrinkles. Peeking in the mirror, he was wrong.
A honking sounded from outside, and Mike grabbed his phone and wallet and looked in the mirror.
On his way out the door, he popped into the bathroom, grabbed the old tube of Crest toothpaste and squeezed some into his mouth. Mike slid his sockless feet into an old pair of shiny black dress shoes. They looked appropriate for the occasion until he crammed his feet into them and realized he should have checked his entire outfit earlier. They hurt like hell as he took the first few steps.
Mike hobbled outside and hopped into the passenger side of Emily’s Jeep.
“Hi,” he said, and put on his safety belt.
“How are you?” she asked.
“I’m alright. Not looking forward to this. But you look wonderful,” he said, staring at her short black dress creeping up her thigh.
She peeked over at him. “Wish I could say the same about you. Have you ever heard of an ironing board? You could have asked me to do it for you.”
Mike’s face became flush. He could almost hear Alayna chastising him with the same exact words. He wracked his brain for something to say as they cruised down the highway in an awkward silence. They arrived at the funeral home, and Mike’s chest tightened when he saw Kyle’s family.
Mike had lived with Kyle for about two years during high school. He didn’t know if he could look Kyle’s parents in the eye knowing he was partly responsible for his death.
He took a deep breath and walked inside with Emily by his side. They immediately ran into Kyle’s mom, who was greeting guests as they entered. She gave Mike a big hug, mashing her teary face into his shirt.
Mike uttered, “I’m sorry.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say.
She was crying hysterically. Eventually, she slowed down enough to speak. “Be a good boy now. Don’t do nothin’ like he did.”
They couldn’t find Kyle’s father as they waded further into the crowded funeral home. Mike and Emily gave their condolences to Kyle’s grandparents, and Emily’s red eyes started to spill tears. Mike tried to remain strong for the family, until he looked at the closed casket at the front of the room. Flowers of every color in matching and assorted bouquets surrounded the black casket.
Mike worked his way up to the casket as emotions raged inside him. He couldn’t help but feel somewhat responsible for the death of his best friend. He shuddered as he took a deep breath. Both Emily and Mike knelt on the cushioned bench in front of the remains of Kyle’s body.
Mike closed his eyes and folded hi
s hands in prayer. However, he didn’t know any prayers, and Alayna’s knowledge lessons hadn’t covered Christianity yet. He focused on the good times he and Kyle had enjoyed over the years.
Images of George tearing his best friend’s body apart kept flashing in, and Mike opened his eyes to dispel them.
He tapped Emily on the shoulder and stood up. She followed him to a corner of the room that wasn’t overcrowded. Mike wanted to leave but didn’t want to seem rude. He and Emily stood in an awkward silence, nodding at fellow sympathizers as they passed.
Peering around the room, Mike noticed Kyle’s girlfriend, Sarah, approaching, and he tried to produce a sympathetic but reassuring look for her sake. She walked up to Mike and stuck her pointer finger in his face. “You. This is all your fault. Murderer.”
Mike looked around, shaking his head and waving his arms to indicate he wasn’t to blame. “I don’t know what you are talking—”
She cut Mike off and talked even louder. “You are a murderer. That’s what I’m talking about. You, Kyle and Gary go into the woods, and Gary comes out dead. You go back into the woods with Kyle, and he comes out dead. I’m thinking that you are George. Murderer. Murderer.”
Sarah’s mother and father pulled her away and apologized to Mike for her behavior.
Mike turned to Emily. “Let’s get out of here before I get berated by somebody else.”
She nodded in silence. The couple slipped out a side door and walked around the building to the parking lot. That was not the experience Mike had hoped for. He hadn’t realized that people had been blaming him for the murders.
It took Emily a few attempts to get her vehicle started.
She turned to him. “Don’t let her get to you. You know what happened, and so do the cops. She’s just looking for someone to blame because her boyfriend died. It’s not your fault, and you know it. Besides, I’ll still say you were with me the whole time. I’ll give them some vivid details if they want.”
Bloodline Awakened Supernatural Thriller Series: Books 1-3 Page 50