Root

by LeeAnn McLennan

  We crept down towards the clearing until I could see our quarry. It was the size of a Pug with a rounded body, scales and tentacles. It snuffled around below a bush, releasing little sparks that flamed, then smoldered in the wet ground. It was hard tell, but I thought its inability to light a full-on fire in rainy Portland frustrated the critter. I felt a tug of sympathy while acknowledging it wasn’t a good idea to let the firebug run wild.

  “Gah!” I jumped at Six’s gasp and then stumbled when she fell into me. We tumbled to the ground, falling into the clearing where Six, the firebug and I froze for a moment. Before I could untangle from Six, the critter darted off.

  I staggered to my feet, with a quick, “Are you okay?” over my shoulder at Six, who nodded, looking furious, before I dashed after the creature. I didn’t waste time cursing at Six, time enough for that later.

  I aimed for the loud rustling sound below me, skidding to a stop when Zoe emerged from the trees.

  “Olivia, catch!” Zoe yelled at me as she wrapped the end of her bullwhip around the fleeing firebug. With a jerk of the whip, she tossed the hibachi-sized monster at me, sparks trailing in its wake.

  I sprinted down the hill, dodging trees, closer to Zoe. I stretched out my arms to catch the firebug before it hit the ground. It landed in my arms with a crispy slap, and I grunted; the monster was heavier than I expected, but I kept my balance despite the slippery leaves underfoot. The firebug twisted, its armor-like scales sliding against my arms, little spurts of flame shooting from the tentacles waving over bulging eyes.

  I winced when one of the flames hit a tree limb, licking up the leaves to set the limb on fire. Instinctively I gripped the firebug in one arm and held out my other hand. I imagined pulling the flames into my hand. Once the fire was out, I shook my hand, dispelling the wisps of smoke drifting off my fingers. Then I grabbed the firebug’s tentacles and thought freeze until they drooped under the weight of the ice. I set down the temporarily subdued creature, keeping my grip on the frozen tentacles. It chittered at me, revealing rows of tiny teeth.

  Six scrambled down the hill, her pale gray tunic streaked with mud. She brushed her hair from her face and I saw she was grinning. I blinked and when I looked at her again she wasn’t grinning anymore. She gave me a stern look. “Do you always use your abilities so publicly?”

  I peered around me, noting the complete lack of people other than the three of us. I couldn’t hear or smell anyone out of eyesight. “There’s no one around. I think it’s okay.”

  Zoe didn’t bother answering Six, opting to squat down beside me, tucking the handle of her whip into her waistband. “Nice job. How long will the ice last?”

  “After I let go, not more than a few minutes.” The firebug tried to yank away, but I gripped tighter.

  “How will we get this creature back to the van without a normal seeing it?” Six crossed her arms and shivered, looking around the forest with a thoughtful expression.

  She had a point. It would be difficult to maintain my hold on the tentacles while trying to scramble up the steep hills between our little clearing and the van.

  “Aren’t you glad I brought this then?” Zoe pulled out a folded cloth and shook it with a flourish. I grinned; it was a huge bag with a zipper on one end. Zoe held it open to show me the lining inside.

  “Aunt Kate?” I already knew the answer before Zoe nodded. Zoe’s mom always had the right tool for the job.

  Zoe held the bag open while I shoved the little monster inside. The ice on its tentacles cracked but held firm while Zoe zipped the firebug’s temporary home closed. She heaved the squirming sack onto her shoulder and we started up the hill, Six still making more noise than Zoe and me put together.

  The canopy of trees overhead filtered out a lot of the light. The trees also kept most of Portland’s ever-present winter drizzle from dripping on us, but the forest was still damp from the heavier-than-usual rain and snow over the winter. It was a good thing the firebug appeared during the wet season, otherwise it might have done more damage than a few smoldering bushes and one burned-out clearing over the past couple of days.

  Zoe shifted the bag to her other shoulder and I reached up to steady it. “Want me to carry it?” I offered.

  “No, I got it,” she said in typical, I can do everything Zoe fashion.

  I grinned and took the lead.

  We reached the Sprinter van parked in the mostly empty parking lot. The runner couple’s car was still in the lot. Zoe set the wiggling bag into the back of the van and got into the driver’s seat. I slid into the passenger’s side and leaned back, suddenly tired. With all that had happened in the past few days, I was looking forward to going home, eating dinner, and crashing. I supposed I’d have to fit in homework somewhere in the mix.

  I was grateful Six was quiet as Zoe drove back to warehouse. I glanced at her reflection in the rear-view mirror and she was staring out the window, tapping her fingers on the car door.

  The seatbelt dug into my shoulder as Zoe turned sharply into the warehouse parking lot.

  Kevin stood near the garage doors with his arms crossed over his chest and his hair falling over his forehead, hiding his eyes from me.

  “What’s your deal?” Zoe asked as she jumped out of the van.

  “I wanted to go out hunting with you guys, but you left too quickly.” Kevin shrugged. “Whatever.”

  “Sorry. You didn’t miss much; it was a standard monster catch.” Zoe grinned at me. “Though Ollie is getting better at icing.” She pulled out the bag from the van.

  Six got out of the car and Kevin stared at her. Before Zoe could say something snarky, I said, “Uncle Dan thought Six should see what a hunt is like.”

  Kevin shrugged as if he didn’t care and opened the large garage door.

  Aunt Kate stood in the opening. “Nice job.”

  She waved for us to follow her to the monster containment facilities, a well-hidden room near the locker rooms. Zoe and I followed while Kevin closed the garage door with a slam. He didn’t join us, choosing to go back into the weights area near the front of the warehouse, where I assumed Uncle Dan lurked, plotting more training for Six or hopefully for my new skills.

  Even after half a year of monster hunting, the contents of the containment facilities still amazed me. Creatures stayed here until we sent them to one of various destinations, depending on the characteristics of the monster. If it was mostly harmless except when around normals, like the firebug, then it went to either the habitat in Death Valley or the Green Mountains in Vermont. Both habitats were in remote locations with safeguards in place, since normals had a way of finding places and things they weren’t supposed to find. Groundskeepers staffed each place and looked after the monsters, as well as maintaining the necessary Glamour to keep the creatures hidden or disguised. Zoe’s brother Lange currently worked at the Death Valley habitat – ostensibly as his spring semester university internship. His university thought he was at a wildlife preserve, which I guess he kind of was.

  I knew Lange was also running away from the Emma situation. At least that’s what Zoe accused him of on a regular basis when we Skyped with him.

  Aunt Kate opened one of the insulated cages built to contain any critter that shot fire, acid, or any other corrosive substance. Zoe positioned the bag with the zipper near the mouth of the cage. She quickly pulled open the zipper while simultaneously shoving the firebug though the opening of its temporary home. The firebug skittered to the back of the cage and faced us. I saw that the ice had melted off its tentacles; the creature waved them at us, sending little spurts of flames against the sides of the cage.

  We watched the little firebug as it moved around the interior of the cage before settling down and watching us with drooping tentacles.

  “Where is it going? Death Valley?” I felt a little sorry for the creature. I leaned forward with my hands on the wall of the cage.

  “Yes.” Aunt Kate studied the firebug while chewing on her lower lip. “I wish I knew how it g
ot to Portland, though.”

  Zoe and I exchanged a look. Zoe ventured a guess. “Because it doesn’t make sense for a fire creature to live this far north?”

  “Well, not precisely.” Aunt Kate’s voice took on her dreaded lecturing tone and I gave Zoe a narrow glare; she grimaced and shrugged apologetically. “The firebug is, of course, native to hotter climates. However, that’s not what’s odd about this little guy. No, what’s odd is since he probably didn’t originate here, he traveled here recently or someone is keeping some interesting pets. If it traveled here, there should have been a trail of unexplained fires along its path. And this guy doesn’t move fast, so I should have seen the pattern over the past few months.”

  There was a pause before Aunt Kate turned away from the cage. “Well, I’ll need to dig a little deeper. The firebug wasn’t just dropped from the sky to cause mischief.”

  I glanced at the clock on the wall and realized I would be late to meet Anna. “Hey, gotta go.”

  Chapter 10

  “So what do you want to see?” I asked Anna when I met her at the end of SE Ivon where the Springwater Corridor trail led under the Ross Island Bridge. It was still drizzling but no more than usual for Portland.

  We’d avoided talking about my supernormal life that day during school. However, I’d burst out laughing when I saw Anna had worn an Avengers T-shirt under her sweater. Her answering smirk told me it was deliberate.

  Now that we were away from the school hallways where others might eavesdrop, Anna danced around with excitement. She pulled out her phone and read from it, “How fast can you run? How high can you leap? How far away do I have to be before you can’t hear me whisper –”

  “Anna!” I grabbed her phone and stared at the list on the screen, which she’d called O’s SN Stuff. “What part of a ‘secret life’ don’t you get? You can’t write anything down.” My heart was thudding in my chest.

  “Hey!” She yanked her phone back and cradled it in her crossed arms. “I gave it a codename, sort of.”

  I waved my arms, “You can’t write anything down. We’ll get in so much trouble if someone finds out I told you.”

  Anna cocked her head with curiosity, “In trouble from your family? Or someone else?” Her eyes widened, “How many more of you are there?”

  “Anna!” I yelled, the sparks flying from my fingertips managing to catch fire to the one piece of dry trash on the pathway. “Dammit.” I stomped out the tiny flames while Anna gawked at me. “Okay, ground rules,” I ticked points off my fingers, “don’t write down anything about supernormals, don’t tell anyone, and don’t take videos. The shirt thing, though, that’s pretty funny.” I ended on a lighter note.

  Anna’s expression turned thoughtful. “It must be tough to hide so much about your life from the world.” She held up her phone. “I solemnly swear to protect your secret with my life.” She put one hand over her heart theatrically.

  “Well, okay then.” Her dramatic words and actions made me a little uncomfortable. To cover my awkwardness, I returned to the point of our get-together. “Um, so the whisper thing, want to try it?”

  “Okay.” She glanced around. “So, I guess you should go far away and I’ll whisper?”

  I grinned, knowing I could make it more interesting. “Okay, I’ll text you a photo of where I am when I’m ready.” I figured a photo was innocent enough. “So you’ll know how far away I am.”

  I Glamoured up and dashed over to HWY 99 and over to SE 6th, about a mile away and over a busy street. Focusing my hearing on the way I’d just run from I snapped a photo of the street sign and sent it Anna. The whole thing took under a minute.

  With my hearing attuned to Anna’s voice and direction, I heard her whisper, “Wow, you are fast.”

  I texted back, Yes, I am.

  “Come back,” she murmured.

  Obligingly, I ran back. Anna jumped when I un-Glamoured in front of her. “How did you do that?”

  “It’s called a Glamour. It’s like –”

  “Hiding in plain sight!” Anna finished excitedly.

  “Yes,” I said slowly, startled by her accurate description.

  She sensed my puzzlement. “Girl, you are so out of touch with your magic-fu. Witches are always hiding behind a Glamour in the stories.” She frowned. “Though they usually change their appearance instead of being unnoticeable.” She looked wistful. “Too bad you can’t show me how to do it.”

  A harsh male voice came from behind us. “What are two young ladies doing down here in the dark, all alone?”

  The underlying note of glee in the man’s voice sent a cold shiver down my spine. I gripped Anna’s hand as we both faced the newcomer.

  A man stood in front of us, holding a skateboard under one arm. A six-pack of beer dangled from the fingers of his other hand. Two other men who also held skateboards flanked him. All three were in their late thirties or early forties, too old to look cool wearing torn jeans, loose T-Shirts and backwards baseball hats.

  I shifted so I was standing in front of Anna, my mind screaming at me to protect her.

  “Hey, don’t be afraid.” The man in front smiled at us in much too friendly a manner. “Whatcha doing?”

  “Just hanging out,” I answered, scanning the men while I squeezed Anna’s hand, hoping she’d let me lead. When she squeezed back, I decided it meant okay.

  “Want to hang out with us? I just met up with these dudes, but they seem cool,” the leader asked, holding up the beer with a creepy grin. I noticed the large pack on his back. He popped a can open and waved it at us. I wrinkled my nose at the sour smell.

  Anna let out a soft, “Ew.”

  “No thanks.” I knew my answer was pointless, especially as the other two fanned out on either side of Anna and me, boxing us in with the fence behind us.

  Fight or flight? If I’d been alone, I probably would have punched them all in a lightning move and then run away. However, I couldn’t decide how to save Anna without being too obvious about using my abilities in front of the men.

  The men advanced one menacing step at a time. The leader drained the can of beer and tossed it to the ground. He rolled his shoulders as if the backpack was tight or heavy. “Ladies, don’t be so stuck-up. Let’s party.” His grin seemed to have too many teeth.

  Anna breathed in and as she let out her breath she whispered too quietly for any but my ears to hear, “Olivia –”

  Before she could say something stupidly brave, the leader darted forward, grabbing for my wrist. I whipped my arm out of reach, careful to stay in front of Anna. He snarled, his face turning feral when he couldn’t reach either of us. He jumped at me with inhuman speed, hissing. Only my supernormally-trained reflexes kept us out of reach as I leapt back, still shielding Anna with my body. I narrowed my eyes. What was he? I was pretty sure he wasn’t a normal. His reflexes were too quick.

  “Party!” he growled, straightening up as he shrugged off the backpack. “With us!” The backpack slid off his shoulders, landing in a shredded heap on the concrete. I barely heard Anna gasp as the creature in front of me straightened his shoulders, a pair of wings unfurling to spread wide above him. The wings reminded me of a pterodactyl, with claws at the tips of each fold. He grinned wider than humanly possible, showing rows of tiny sharp teeth. “Now!”

  Well, this wasn’t good. Anna gripped my arm tightly.

  I risked a quick side-to-side glance at his stalking partners. They wore matching dumbfounded expressions, staring at the monster with shock. They glanced at me and then at each other before turning and running away in opposite directions.

  “Cowards!” Anna yelled after them.

  “Be quiet!” I said to her, furiously trying to think of a way to fight the creature without risking Anna.

  The creature cocked its head like a bird examining its prey. It flapped its wings slowly, fanning us with a blood-scented breeze. My stomach clenched. This was obviously not a nice bird thingy. I had to get Anna out of here, and fast. I took one la
st look, memorizing the creature’s appearance so I could describe it to Aunt Kate. Then I grabbed Anna around the waist and tossed her over my shoulder. I ran straight at the creature and kicked him in the crotch. As he fell to the ground, I darted off, still carrying Anna. Like Harold a few days ago, she didn’t struggle, but she did grab my waistband, hanging on so tightly I was afraid she’d give me a wedgie.

  I ran through the streets until I was a block from Anna’s house. I stumbled to a stop and lowered my friend from my shoulder. She dropped to her knees, laughing with an edge of hysteria. My hands were shaking – putting my friend in danger was so not cool.

  “Um, that was crazy amazing,” Anna gave a shaky laugh, “but don’t do it again unless you have to.” She echoed Harold’s sentiment from a few days ago.

  “Okay, sure.” I adjusted my waistband where it dug into my hips. “No more meeting in dark places at night.” I put a hand on her back and she jumped.

  “Sorry, I’m a little shook up.” She brushed her tangled hair out of her face and straightened up. “What was that thing?”

  I frowned. “I don’t know. I’ve got to tell my family.” I needed to get Anna inside first. “I’ll walk you home.”

  When we reached her house, Anna said, “Don’t think you can push me away again.” She put her hands on her hips. “I can’t unknow what I know and it’s better if you’re honest with me.”

  “Or what?” I asked.

  She hesitated before sighing. “Well, I’m not going to tell. Who’d believe me, right?” She gave me an appealing look. “Just don’t cut me out. Okay?”

  “Anna, I don’t know how to keep you safe in my world.” I shivered at the idea of that creature hurting her. “I’ve got to think about this.”

  “Whatever.” She frowned and stomped into the house.

  I started to follow, then decided to let it be for now. I didn’t know how I felt, anyway. How was I supposed to keep her safe? When I imagined what could have happened to Anna if I hadn’t been able to get her to safety, it made my legs weak with fear.