by K. F. Breene
Or maybe they treated every place with this level of disrespect. I had no idea, but if Daisy and Mordecai treated our house like this, they’d get a thumping.
Thinking of Mordecai dashed my righteous annoyance. With a heavy heart, I went about my managerial duties in a “department” of one, working from one end of my area to the other, cleaning up after patrons. When that was finished, I started over, cleaning up the same amount of destruction I’d just set to rights. It was an endless loop.
A few hours into the mindless daze, my phone vibrated in my pocket. Hoping it was my alarm signaling lunch, I dug it out of my too-tight pocket and looked at the screen.
Fear blasted through my chest. It was home calling, and since Daisy and Mordecai knew I wasn’t allowed to look at my phone or take calls on the floor, it meant this was an emergency.
“Hello?” I said, hurrying toward the stockroom.
“It’s me.” Daisy’s voice was filled with fear and determination. “He’s at it again and I can’t get him to wake up. Alexis, he’s going to die if we don’t do something. He can’t last two more days. You know it as well as I do.”
Bands of steel squeezed my chest, but I swallowed my fear. It wouldn’t help this situation. “Get him sitting upright and use the steamer. Give him the cough medicine. I can ask for a cash advance. That’ll buy us time.”
“The fees for doing that are enormous.” I had no idea how she knew that, but it was true, so I didn’t say anything. “Besides, you’ve tried that before and they wouldn’t let you. You’re magical, remember? They don’t trust you. But that bitch Denny does owe me two hundred bucks. That’s our play. Grab a sword or something from the store. If I call again, it means everything went to shit, and we need to fight back.”
“No! No.” I lowered my voice when a guy on a forklift looked up. I scurried toward a large stack of unopened boxes. A woman in a different uniform stood idly in the far corner, picking her nail while watching me with solemn eyes. I had no idea what she was doing there. “I’ll apply for the cash advance. You take that job with Denny’s dad. And please don’t call that boy a bitch to his face. People don’t take kindly to that. He is a boy, right, not a man? He’s your age?”
“If he doesn’t pay up, I’ll call him a bitch! And yeah, he’s fourteen. Why do you think he bought fake weed? He doesn’t know any better.”
“Good point. But… Just take the job at his family’s vet clinic.”
“Lexi, I love you, but you are shit at making decisions—”
“You’ve got to stop swearing.”
“—and money doesn’t grow on trees…” Her voice trailed away as a hoarse, hacking cough sounded in the background. “Shit. Oh shit. That’s blood.”
“What?” I clutched the phone so tightly it dug into my palm and fingers. The woman down the way took a step in my direction, confusion on her face.
“He just coughed up blood. He just coughed up blood! What do I do?”
Adrenaline flooded my body. “Fuck it. Get that money from Denny. I’ve got a bat at home. If he gives you trouble, tell him I’ll personally bash his face in. Please don’t hold this horrible parenting against me.”
“What about Mordie?”
“I’ll be right home. I’ll watch him.” I was running through the store before I knew it, headed straight for the office. Once there, I burst in, out of breath.
Jason Bertram’s shiny bald head jerked toward me. His annoyance at having to momentarily lift his eyes off a clearly riveting game of solitaire was evident. As the store team lead, he sure was busy. Of course, it wouldn’t help my case to point that out. I needed him on my side.
“Sorry to barge in, Mr. Bertram.” I put my hand on the doorframe to show I wasn’t technically invading his space. It was the little things. “But I have a family emergency. I need to take lunch early.”
A cloud settled over his round face, something fairly common when he was talking to me. He’d only hired me because the labor force willing to work in the dual-society zone was small. “Your lunch isn’t for”—he checked his watch—“another three hours.”
“Two hours. I came in at nine. But I don’t really have a choice. My ward is sick. He needs someone to watch him while my other ward goes and gets his medicine.”
His brown eyes were cold and flat. “Your lunch is in two hours. I suggest you have your ward wait until then—”
“He might not have two hours. Please, Mr. Bertram—”
“As a woman who is out of sick and vacation leave because of these types of situations—”
“I don’t get sick or vacation leave. I don’t qualify because I’m mag—”
“—I think you should really take a hard look at your life. A place of business cannot juggle its schedule around a flighty employee.”
“But Mr. Bertram, it’s only two hours—”
“End of story. You leave early, and you can hand in your resignation.” His lips pressed into a thin, colorless line.
I stared at him in shock for a moment with my mouth hanging open. All the odds-and-ends jobs I could conceivably do until I found another job rolled through my head. Followed by Mordecai’s sick, exhausted face.
I let a humorless smile contort my lips. “You miserable bastard.” I took off the nametag pinned to my shirt and thought about stabbing it into his leg. But then he could call the cops, and I didn’t need that. “You can keep your joke of a job. And for the record, I know for a fact that I have the cleanest, best managed section in this entire store. I have been nominated for employee of the month every month since I started. Guests find me attentive and courteous. In just six months, I’ve already earned a star for excellent service. A star I’ve never seen, of course.” His eyes widened and his cheeks turned red. “Yeah, I’ve been peeking at the files. I like to know when I’m doing a good job, or when I need to improve, and because no one here has ever done me the favor of filling me in, I had to self-educate. Us magics can be resourceful, which you should know, you filthy, black-hearted bastard. I hope a bird shits on your head at lunch! In fact, maybe I’ll use my ‘superpowers’ to ensure that it happens.”
He sucked in a breath, and I could barely hear the word “witch” escape his colorless lips. I was sure that if we lived in the days of witch trials, he would be one of the shortsighted, puritanical hypocrites spearheading my stoning.
I wasn’t a witch. I’d give my left arm for that kind of magic. But ignorant guys like Jason Bertram—the quintessential Chester—assumed anyone with magic was a witch, didn’t want to hear differently, and would tell anyone who’d listen that fire was the best way to rid the world of us.
Try telling that to a fire elemental. They’d laugh and laugh.
My last paycheck would be ready in twenty-four hours. That was the law in this zone, regardless of what happened here today.
When I pushed through the door of my house, I ran to my wards’ bedroom. A limp Mordecai was lying on his bed with red-tinged drool leaking out of his mouth. I knew Daisy was right. He was dying.
“Frank, how long has Daisy been gone?” I asked as I jogged back to the door, belatedly seeing a note left on the kitchen table. I wasn’t sure if she’d left immediately after talking with me, or if she’d tried to bring Mordecai around first.
“That foul-mouthed, doll-faced girl took off about fifteen minutes ago,” he answered. “She ran down the street. You know, it’s against the law to keep minors out of school. They are delinquent—”
“I got it. Now get off my lawn.” I slammed the door and hurried to the kitchen table to read the note scribbled in Daisy’s careless hand.
Out of time. I took your stash. I’ll be back with meds and change.
My stash—she meant every cent I had to my name. I kept it in a hiding place the kids knew about for just such a situation.
Back with Mordecai, I propped him up in my lap, made sure his airways were open and the steam was reaching him, and did the only thing I could.
I waited.
&
nbsp; 11
Alexis
After what felt like forever, I heard my front door crash open. A glance at the alarm clock on the bedside table said I’d only been home a half-hour. That wasn’t nearly enough time for Daisy to have done all she needed to.
Footsteps stalled in the entryway before heading right, to the kitchen. Rustling, followed by a small thunk, coincided with the crashing of my heart against my ribcage. Who the hell had just entered my house?
The footsteps pounded the floor toward the bedroom, and the door flew open, swinging so hard it slammed off the wall and left an imprint.
Daisy stood in the frame, her sheet of dark hair falling around her set expression. An object I couldn’t see was wrapped in her bloodied fingers. “I lost that job opportunity.”
“What?” I croaked out.
“Turns out the bastard knew the drugs were fake. He just wanted to spend time with me. He doesn’t even have any money. So I punched him in the face, then searched his whole room.” She stopped at the bedside table and gently set down the item in her hand.
My heart surged. It was the anti-morphing serum!
“How’d you get that?” I breathed out, relief and dread taking turns running through my body.
She dug into her pocket and pulled out a wad of money. “How is he?”
“His pulse feels weak, but he’s hanging on. How did you get that?” I repeated.
“I stole it, that’s how.”
“But… Your hand…” I was having a hard time piecing this one together, and was a little concerned that whatever she’d brought home would turn out like that faulty can of mace.
With quick economy, she left the room and stepped into the bathroom down the hall. I heard a drawer roll open.
“During the shake-down, I found a stash of nude magazines in that lying bastard’s room,” she called. The drawer rolled again, and she stepped back into the hall. “In that stash was a gay one. The shock on his face when I found it said it likely wasn’t his, and whatever friend he got the stash from, some guy named Martin, has a secret. But anyway, his dad is super uptight. He would not like to find out his son has a gay porn magazine, because then he’d think his son is gay. See where I’m going with this?”
“So you blackmailed him? But you said he didn’t have any money.”
She set a syringe next to the serum. “He didn’t. But it gave me an idea. Here, we need to switch places. I hate needles.”
I carefully slid out from behind Mordecai. “Gay porn gave you an idea?”
“No. Well, yeah. His reaction to the gay porn gave me an idea. I told him that I wouldn’t rat him out if he distracted his dad long enough that I could get in and steal something from the vet office.”
“But…why would a vet have anti-morphing serum?”
“A dual-society vet.” Her smile declared her brilliance. “He keeps this stuff to sell on the side. Like a black market for magical people who don’t want to be in the system. They can pay a premium and get their drugs, no questions asked. He had all sorts of stuff—the serum for vampires to walk in the sun, the lotion to keep fairies from shedding pixie dust everywhere, and…”
My smile came up from my toes. “The serum to block the moon’s call.”
Her eyes glittered. “Exactly. That stuff is legit. And yes, I took out the surveillance camera, used a cloth so I didn’t leave prints, and stole a bunch of stuff to make it seem like I wasn’t just after the one thing. I did leave behind a little blood—I put too much weight behind breaking the window and fell forward—but it should be fine. I’m not magical and this was a small job. It’s not worth a detective’s time, and certainly not worth the expense to do blood work. If I keep this a one-time situation, I’m good.”
I paused in picking up the syringe. I wouldn’t have thought of any of that.
How the hell was someone eleven years my junior so much better at this stuff?
My thoughts must’ve come through on my face, because she rolled her eyes while delicately situating Mordecai so that his arm was easy to access. “I grew up in the foster system, in case you’d forgotten. What I did back there would’ve been deemed saint-like compared to the antics of some of the other kids. One was trying to start up a prostitution ring, just to give you an idea. Thankfully, I left before that panned out, because you’ve seen these goods and they would have been a hot commodity. I’m sure he ended up getting his ass beaten anyway.”
“I had to quit my job,” I blurted as I tore the syringe out of the plastic, trying to slow down so I didn’t mess up. “That miserable bastard wouldn’t let me take an early lunch, so I took a long, permanent walk instead.”
I heard her release of breath. “Shit.”
“We’re going to be all right.” My hands were shaking. I took a couple of deep breaths. Mordecai would be fine, just as long as I got this serum into his arm. “Look at what you did this morning. You saved the day!”
“Well, I got three other bottles of that stuff. So we’re good on his medicine for a while.” She rubbed his hand, also taking deep breaths. “And I got that other crap. Once we figure out what it is, we can sell it off to keep us going until you find another job.”
I put the normal dose into the syringe, afraid to do more in case it would give him a bad reaction. Despite having done this for years, I wasn’t a doctor. Or a vet. The bottle wobbling in my hands proved it.
I closed my eyes, stilling. I had to calm down. He was going to be okay. Now that we had the serum, he’d bounce back. He’d done it before.
He had to bounce back.
“Maybe you earn money with your magic?” Daisy said, her eyes tight as she watched my movements. She shivered. “Gross.”
I huffed, not able to laugh just yet. My ability to see spirits creeped her out. She hated the thought that the dead walked amongst us. So did most people. It was why I was seen as a weirdo, even in the magical community.
I held up the syringe to check the level of the serum, my shaking a little more under control. Adrenaline still coursed through me, but it was manageable. “It pays shit, you know that. Unless you are the absolute best, and have a good track record, there aren’t any jobs for people like me. But I’ll put in as many nights at the freak show as I can until I find something else. Okay?”
One more deep breath, and I gingerly sat on the bed next to them. Nice and easy. Taking Mordecai’s arm, I prepared to give him the dose.
“You should’ve gone to college,” Daisy whispered, holding as still as she was probably able. The bed still trembled under them.
He’d bounce back. He would.
“I did. In a way.” I took a deep breath, held it, and jabbed the needle into the muscle on Mordecai’s upper arm. With my thumb, I pushed the dispenser, forcing the serum into his arm.
“Reading a bunch of books from the library is not college,” Daisy said.
“You’d be surprised. My mother went to college. She guided me on what to learn.”
“A college certificate would make it easier for you to get a better job.”
The clear liquid emptied into Mordecai’s arm. I pulled the needle out and rose, allowing myself a small bit of laughter at what she’d said. “No, it wouldn’t. I’d need magical blood…or some actual power to go with my magical blood. Or a type of magic people actually want to use—”
“I get it, I get it.” Daisy rubbed Mordecai’s hand again, looking down at him.
After ten minutes of silence, waiting with bated breath, I checked Mordecai’s pulse.
I forced down a sob. “He’ll be okay,” I said, back to shaking. Tears filled my eyes. “His pulse is already stronger. He’ll bounce back.”
A hard exhale deflated Daisy’s chest. “Thank God.”
It never ceased to amaze me. The serum worked almost immediately. Already his pulse had resumed beating, strong and sure. In a moment, I knew his breathing would even out as well. A shifter had to change for the fastest healing, but that didn’t mean a shifter’s body wasn’t resilie
nt in human form. Now that his human side wasn’t warring with his magic, his shifter side would fight for health.
“Do you ever wish for a better life?” Daisy asked quietly.
“Sometimes. You?”
She rested her cheek against Mordecai’s head. “I used to. All the time. And then you found me. Now I have a better life. My prayers have been answered. And soon, yours will be, too. I can feel it; we’re on the brink of change.”
12
Alexis
I took a deep breath with my hand resting against the worn wooden door of the local Irish pub. The green paint was peeling away, revealing the faded brown beneath. Night cloaked the damp streets, and thick fog blocked out any hint of the moon or the stars. My mind still spun from all that had happened earlier that day, and my body ached with fatigue and the press of worry.
Even without shifting, Mordecai was healing at an impressive speed. Faster than he ever had before. It was a testimony to how much magical power he truly had. What an absolute shame his pack leader wanted him dead, and I didn’t have magical medical, because if he could get healthy, he’d be unstoppable.
Curing him was too big of a dream. At least for right now.
Dream small.
He had medicine for three months. Or, worst case, two, if he kept needing it like he had this month.
Small miracle number one.
Daisy was positive Denny wouldn’t buckle and tell his dad on her. In fact, when she’d called him with the intent to deliver a few post-theft threats, he’d fallen over himself to apologize for how he’d treated her. He’d begged to still be friends.
He’d apparently told his father that he’d heard of some out-of-town thugs blowing through San Francisco to get magical supplies to take back to Los Angeles and sell at a premium. Since Los Angeles was trying to eradicate all its magical people, and many of the poorer magical people didn’t have the funds to get out, they were desperate for the medicine to which they’d grown accustomed.