by WL Flinn
A pimply sixteen-year-old showed up. Hey U she wrote back. sup?
U goin 2 da party @cityplace
“Where did these people learn grammar?” I complained. “Could we string a full sentence together. I mean try spelling out a word!”
Ashe rolled her eyes at me like any good teenager. “What do I tell him?”
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like we are ready for a party,” I told her. She typed a non-committal response and we started looking around the “room.” There were several teens talking about the upcoming party, and some talking about homework and finally a group talking about how people didn’t understand them anymore.
I pointed to that area. “Let’s get our feet wet in that one. I don’t think we can make too many mistakes in there.”
The first girl was saying she felt alone because she was the only one who got sick in her family. So, she is the only one that got magic. She tried telling her parents about her newfound ability to make the wind blow, but they totally ignored her. They either didn’t believe her or they just tuned her out.
A girl answered her back she felt the same way. No one cared about her. That since she had begun to manifest powers, she had been rejected by her friends and family. The stories went on and on. The common theme was isolation because now, not only were these girls teenagers and full of angst, but now they were different than the rest of their friends.
“And I thought I had it bad that I couldn’t tell my kids,” I said. “At least I have kids to come home to. Some of these girls have no one.”
“Look at this one,” Ashe said. “Anyone seen MoverandShaker? Should we answer?” We decided to hold off and scrolled down further. There were a few other posts asking if anyone had seen missing girls.
“Is it me or does it seem like there are more than just a few kids missing?” Ashe asked. She grabbed out her phone and texted someone. She put the phone down and it buzzed almost immediately. She smiled, “It is good to have friends in high places. Jolene is an old friend at the sheriff’s office. She says there have been several calls about runaways lately. But there haven’t been a lot of finalized reports.” She looked at me. “Well we know what that means. they found out the kid was a magical and stopped looking.”
I sat back in my chair and Penny laid her head in my lap. I started stroking her head. “We need to find out what is going on. I think we need to create a new profile for the agency. Then we can come from this two different ways, using the computer and using the agency.”
I logged out of Grimoire and deleted all my cookies. I went back in and created a new account for KahluandCream and went back in. I put in a new thread. “New magical detective agency to help when the cops wont. No job too small or too large.”
“How about that?” I said tapping the keyboard excitedly. Ashe smiled tightly. “I hope it works.”
While we were sitting waiting for the computer to notify us someone wanted our services, we plotted how we could get into this party if we chose to go. What was the best way to crash a teen party when you were mother age? Neither of us could pass for a teen. So we would either have to use SallyAnn and explain everything to her, which I really didn’t want to do or we had to use subtlety, which definitely wasn’t either of our strong points.
That is how we ended up outside City Place on a Saturday dressed in miniskirts and tight tops which showed my distressing lack of cleavage. I opted for Keds and Ashe had on stilettos. She had straightened her dark hair into a shiny curtain down her back and used a lot of blue eye shadow. I had deep red lipstick on—Ashe’s—and had taken off my progressive bifocal glasses. We were holding onto each other like we had way too much to drink and marched into the teen party room. So much for subtlety.
A man in his early twenties immediately came up to head us off and we grabbed onto him like any good drunk woman would do. “Oooh, you’re handsome…” I slurred and rubbed his arms. “Are you looking for some fun?”
Ashe grabbed at him playfully, “He is much more my type mami, he needs a bad girl like me,” she said throwing in some drunken Spanish with her affections. She rubbed up against him and his eyes glazed over. That is the magic of a large chest for you, I thought.
He coughed and stammered, “You guys can’t be here. We are having a party.”
“I love parties.” I giggled.
“This is a private party for teenagers.”
Ashe continued to rub against him, “But we are much more experienced than silly, little teenagers. And we are so much more fun.” She purred—actually purred as she leaned into him.
He gulped. His Adam’s apple jumped up and down. “We are only open for teens. This is a safe space for them.” I rubbed my fingers up his arm and across the scruff on his chin.
“We can be very safe for you,” I said in a husky voice.
Ashe pulled out a flask and said, “I’m Jasmine, this is Rose.” She winked and handed him the flask. “What’s going on here?”
He took a big gulp of air and said, “Oh nothing, just a party for lonely teens.” I started nibbling on his neck. Ewww, he was young enough to be my son practically. Nibbling away I said, “We’re lonely. Can we join in?”
He laughed and put his arms around us. “Nah, you don’t want to be here. The boss likes them young,” he said. He looked around at the teeny boppers in their spandex and their smart phones. No one seemed to notice us. He took grabbed Ashe’s flask and took a sip. “I like them a little more experienced,” he said planting a hand firmly on my butt. The other hand would have been grabbing Ashe but it still held the flask.
“Do they make these parties for those of us with more experience?” Ashe asked running her hand down his buttoned shirt. “Or do they just like the little girls?” she pouted and kissed him briefly.
He groaned as her hand lingered by his jeans. “Mi amor,” she whispered, “Let’s blow this place.”
A rough hand grabbed my shoulder. “Shawn, what the hell?” Flashing black eyes stared at me. “Christ man, keep it in your pants. Who are the bimbos?”
Shawn peeled us off of him, “Just some lost, drunk chicks looking for a good time.”
The new guy said, “Well Mr. Carlotta wouldn’t like it. Get them out of here. We can’t have them scaring the prospects.” He turned on his heel and stomped away.
I started to put my arm back on Shawn (at least I didn’t have to call him “the kid” in my head anymore) when I felt the guy grab me again. “Now, Shawn. Get rid of them or I will.” Some sparks flew from his other hand.
Shawn said, “The ladies were just leaving, weren’t you? You don’t want to make George angry. He has a very short temper.” He gave George the stink eye and walked us out the door.
We turned and waved and blew kisses and acted like obnoxious drunk ladies and called, “Bye, Shawnie…” and giggled and got out of there as fast as we could. As soon as we were around the corner of the building I stopped Ashe. “Give me that flask. I need to rinse my mouth out. He could have been my kid. Ick!”
Ashe kind of looked at her nails. “I don’t know, I think he was kind of cute.” She laughed. We jumped in the car and headed back to her house.
She jumped on the computer. She looked up Mr. Carlotta on Google and got lots of hits. “I was right. I heard a lot about him when I worked for the sheriff’s office. This guy is really bad news. He is into drugs, prostitution, money laundering, you name it. If he is involved with this, we are in way over our heads.”
She touched the picture of Beth she had taped to her desk. “What have you gotten mixed up in?” she whispered.
“Do you know who this George or Shawn are?” I asked. Neither one of us has been smart enough to take pictures. I guess this would be a learning process for us both.
She opened up Grimoire to see if we could find out anything about Carlotta on there. Instead, she found our agency mailbox was stuffed full of messages. I looked at Ashe and held up my hand for a high five. Maybe we’ve got something here.
>
We sat down and went through the various messages. “How could a Nigerian prince already find us here?” I whined. “I guess spam is everywhere.”
“Oh, here’s one,” Ashe said. “Looking for stable female for long-term relationship.”
“I think we really need to find out about the magical community,” I said. “Do you know anything about it? Do you know what is out there? Is there anything out there?” The tune of the Reba McIntyre song “Is there Life Out There” played through my head.
“I don’t want to be hidden and alone all my life,” Ashe said. “That is what all these people are saying, from the teens up to us. We are different not due to any fault of our own, and now we are all alone.”
“You know as well as me that makes us all the perfect victims. Isolated, afraid to talk. If this Mr. Carlotta is going after teens, he has the perfect market. But what does he want them for?”
“You didn’t really ask what a criminal kingpin would want with teenage kids did you?” Ashe said. “You know that is the main trafficking demographic.”
“But something is missing here,” I said. “I can’t put my finger on it, but there were mostly girls at that part. So, sex trafficking makes sense, but there is something else we aren’t seeing.”
We went through the various emails and three of them were about missing girls. All three were in their teens. All three were pretty. There was no connection between races or location or school.
We sent emails out and made appointments to see the parents.
I slammed my fist on the hood of my poor car. Three visits and we heard the same story each time. The girl got sick, she got more reclusive and isolated and then seemed to do better when she started going out to these parties at City Place.
When we casually tried to ask if any of the girls showed any magical talents only one parent could confirm it. But the fact the girls self-isolate and were withdrawn after the sickness made it a strong possibility to us. I had to hold a mom’s hand as she sobbed she only wanted her daughter to be happy. That is why she allowed her to go to City Place. It was the only time she seemed to smile.
“And now she’s gone,” I growled. I got into the car and started beating up my hapless steering wheel and saw my arms were white with hair. My fingernails were black. I had already dropped Ashe off so I quickly drove to my favorite park and made sure there was no one around. I stripped and changed into my alicorn form. I ran as fast as I could and then pumped my wings and flew high above the trees. Much like Ashe, I think my vision was sharper and clearer at night. It wasn’t as brilliant as with my human eyes, but it was just better for this.
On a whim I decided to fly to City Place. No one ever looked up I figured. So, I should be good. And what are the chances someone would even believe it if they saw me? It wasn’t like a flying unicorn were all that common.
So with all my rationalizations, I flew on to City Place and looked down on the mall. The place was all lit up with Christmas lights everywhere year-round. I wasn’t sure why, but I loved it when the palm trees had lights in them. It just made me happy. I spotted the building where we accosted Shawn. Even though it was a Thursday, it looked like there was another party there. There were a bunch of teens, both boys and girls hanging around. They all looked happy casually hanging out and drinking their Starbucks and showing phone screens to each other.
I flew lazy circles over the teens just to watch them joke and have fun. It warmed my heart to just see teens being teens. Every once in a while, you would see sparks light up the air or pretty glowy colors and just little hints of magical talents. My heart was happy to see these kids being themselves and enjoying their new magical talents.
As I flew a little away from them in my circle, I saw Shawn walking down the road with a girl. They were walking hand in hand, and I didn’t see any tension in her body. As a matter of fact, she was kind of stumbling and loose. Was she drugged? Was she drunk? I held my breath and flew following them.
They walked toward a building that looked just like a typical warehouse. It wasn’t dark, but it wasn’t lit up especially well either. It was completely innocuous. Shawn steered her toward the door. Her steps slowed and she put her hand on the doorjamb to try to stop her progress. Shawn ignored her feeble attempts and pulled her into the building.
“Well crap,” I said. “Now what do I do?” I looked around and didn’t see anyone nearby. I landed as quietly as I could and shifted to a human. Fortunately, my new lanyard held my phone made it through the transition. I tried to blend into the shadows. The road had nasty, slimy stuff I didn’t want to even guess at. I put the phone to my ear and dialed Ashe. “Please pick up,” I whispered.
“Where are you?” she yelled.
“Shhh, Ashe shush,” I whispered. “I am next to a warehouse near City Place. I just saw Shawn take a girl inside. I think this is our place. I need you here now.”
I killed the line before she could respond. I didn’t want to make any extra noise and attract people. I closed my eyes to shift when a cold hand gripped my shoulder.
“Who do we have here?” he said. I immediately recognized George’s voice. I told my body to shift as fast as possible. It did and suddenly I was kicking him in the face with my back hooves. There was the very satisfying sound of one of them catching him in the face and the other getting him in the shoulder.
I spun on my back hooves as soon as they touched down and stepped on his hand for good measure as he laid there. I didn’t know what he did with those girls, but it couldn’t be anything good. I should have stepped on his cajones, but I didn’t think about it fast enough.
I started to turn down the alley when I heard a guy yell for George. I decided that was my cue to get the flock out of there. I ran as fast as I could but couldn’t spread my wings. The alley wasn’t wide enough for me to fly. I hung a quick left and a right and it brought me out at A1A. I spread my wings and flew up as fast as I could before anyone could see me.
I circled around till I saw Ashe pull into City Place’s parking lot. Smart woman, she had stopped to get Penny. Penny could always find me. Penny jumped out of the car and sat down and looked up at me. Ashe tugged her leash. “She’s up there,” Penny told her.
Ashe looked up and waved. “Head to the beach,” she told me.
I flew over to the beach and when I saw them touched down on the firm sand by the water. I figured the waves would get rid of my prints soon. I turned into a human again and Ashe brought me my sweats which I quickly slid into.
“What did you find?” she asked. “And what the heck were you doing out here without me? You could have been killed out here! What were you thinking?”
“I think I found them!”
“What!” Ashe exclaimed. “Let’s go get them. We need to rescue them.”
“I don’t think that is a good idea. I think we need to look around and find out what is going on. We need to be really careful.” I filled her in on me cold-hoofing George. So, we decided she and Penny should just be walking going for a walk “There could be other guards walking around. I want to make sure they don’t notice we are looking. I think a woman walking her dog isn’t going to draw attention, right?” I was already biting my nails for Ashe. Sure, she was stronger and faster and better trained than I was, but I was asking her to go into a dangerous situation. What kind of friend was I?
“Don’t worry,” she said giving me a big hug. “I have a killer watch dog here.” Penny looked up with her pink tongue lolling. This did not inspire confidence! My heart beating in my throat, I watched them walk back towards the building. I had her call me and leave her phone on so at least I would be able to hear a little of what was happening.
Penny filled in some of the details. There are a lot of smells here. Mostly female. Some strong males. Some sparkly. I knew that is how she described the scent of magicals. She sneezed. Some sparkly with bad smell. She sneezed again. Ashe murmured encouragingly to her.
“Someone’s coming,” Ashe whispered.
Man, Penny supplied. Not the one you smelled like from party. That was good. Our biggest concern that we would run into Shawn. Though Ashe was dressed completely differently, we didn’t want to run the risk of her being recognized. It was agonizingly quiet while Penny verified he was gone. I heard the shuffle of stuff being moved.
“We found a window,” Ashe said. I could hear her wiping it. “It’s a good thing I can do a chin up,” she laughed. I could picture her looking into the window. “Hmmm…”
“What is she looking at, Penny?” I asked. I was too afraid to make noise to ask over the phone. I don’t know, she thought back at me. I can’t see through her eyes. I just hear thoughts. And hmmmm isn’t descriptive enough.
We gotta go. Penny stopped Ashe’s looking in the window. Men are coming. I heard Ashe drop lightly to the ground from the window she had been looking in. She started walking away before there was any confrontation.
They found me pacing on the beach. “What did you find? Can we help them? Is it them?” I hadn’t realized how tight my stomach was. Knots upon knots. I was definitely going to have an ulcer from all this.
Ashe grabbed me by the arm and kept walking. “I think we are being followed. Time for a walk on the beach. I don’t want them to see your car.”
For the first time I realized how dangerous this was. We could get hurt. More importantly, I could bring this back to my kids if they tracked this back to my car or my house. This was way more than a lost dog case. What was I thinking?
Ashe hooked arms with me and leaned in like we were a couple walking our dog on the beach. “There are girls there,” she whispered to me. “I couldn’t see how many, but there were at least three. They are being kept in a room. They are chained to the wall. They are in plain sight of the guys who seem to be guards.” Tears started rolling down her cheeks glittering in the moonlight. “I don’t think we can help them. There are several guys watching them. I don’t think we can sneak in unseen.”