Shadow Web

by Yasmine Galenorn

  What is it, Xi? Is there something wrong?

  She let out a purp and I got a flash of my magical studio, the storage cabinet in particular. I kept seeing a line of bottles, and a sense of urgency rushed over me. Xi couldn’t talk to me, not like a human, but she was clearly trying to tell me something. I set down the mix and headed for the reading nook, clambering down the stairs from there to the basement.

  Once there, I opened the storage cabinet to stare at my supplies. There was the row of bottles, and as I looked at them, something tugged on the edges of my thoughts. I wasn’t sure what to think, but then I picked up one bottle—War water—and an instant nope clicked.

  “Okay then, what about…Florida water?” I picked up that bottle and again, nope. I started going through the various waters—Ward, Protection, and Bewitching waters, Faerie and Thunder waters, Full and New Moon waters, and then finally, I came to the Disruption water that I had found on the rather gruesome remains that we had found hidden in my house. I picked up the bottle and a spark flickered.

  “Okay, then. Disruption water.” I carried the bottle back upstairs to the kitchen where Xi was waiting. She wouldn’t be able to tell me exactly how to use it in this case, but maybe…

  Esmara, are you there? I held my breath, hoping.

  I’m here. What do you need?

  Xi told me to get the Disruption water. I’m wondering what I might need to use it on. What all does Disruption water even do? While I was coming along with my studies with my grandmother and my aunt, we hadn’t covered more than the basics so far.

  Think about the name. Disruption water disrupts things.

  I stared at the bottle. Okay then, maybe this would disrupt the spell and send Tarvish home. I hurried into the dining room, where I found the demon looking through the coffee table book on national parks that I had set on the sideboard.

  “I’m going to flick some water onto you. Please don’t be freaked out.” I held up the bottle, covering the name so he couldn’t see what it was.

  “All right,” he said, looking confused.

  I had attached an atomizer to each of my magical waters, so I held up the bottle and sprayed him with a fine mist. There was a momentary shift—he faded out for a second, then back in.

  “Well, that didn’t do much. Do you feel any different?”

  “A little jarred,” he said. “What is that?”

  “Disruption water,” I admitted. “I was hoping it would disrupt your energy enough to send you back.”

  “Will it disrupt the force field preventing me from leaving the house?” he asked.

  I snapped my fingers. “Good idea! Maybe.”

  I hurried to the door, with Tarvish following me. As I sprayed it around the door frame, the energy of the doorway began to snap—snap, crackle, and pop, like Rice Krispies. I turned to Tarvish and stepped back.

  “Go ahead and try to leave now.”

  Tarvish hesitated, then tried to step through the door again, and this time he ended up on the porch. “Yes! It works!”

  “Yay!” I was so excited that I almost dropped the bottle. I quickly set it on the foyer table, and then joined him on the porch. “See if you can leave the porch.”

  He headed down the stairs, then turned around, standing in the yard. “I’ll try to leave your yard here,” he said, heading for the street. A moment later, he was standing in the middle of the road, but quickly jumped back as a car sped past. Returning to the porch, he sat down on the porch steps. It was cloudy and looked like rain was due, but the porch steps were dry. “Well, that solves at least one problem.”

  “Yes, it does, though you can’t walk home to where you belong.” I thought of trying to find the gamers’ addresses, to send Tarvish back to them. Imagine their surprise if he were to show up on their doorstep. That might teach them not to be stupid with their magic.

  “Tell me the truth. How far away from my home am I? Do you even know?” An anxious expression clouded his eyes.

  “I don’t know, Tarvish. I’m not sure how to explain this to you or—” I stopped as Rowan pulled into the driveway. As she got out of her car, I motioned for him to stand as she approached the steps.

  “I see you’ve made progress,” she said.

  I nodded. “We have, thanks to Xi. I sprayed Disruption water on the door and it allowed Tarvish to leave the house. He can also leave the yard.”

  A satisfied look spread over Rowan’s face. “That makes sense. I was planning to try a similar spell, but now there’s no need. I do have some news, so let’s go inside.”

  As we entered the house, Killian was standing there, bare-chested, wearing jeans and nothing else. His hair was tousled, falling to his shoulder blades, and he was looking so sleepy and snuggly that I wanted nothing more than to go ruffle his hair some more and run my hand over his chest.

  “You were outside?” he asked, as Tarvish entered the house.

  “Xi helped me figure out how to break the force field.” I motioned toward the kitchen. “I’m making waffles and—oh! The bacon!”

  “I caught it before it burned. Never leave a griddle of bacon alone,” Killian said, waggling his finger at me. “I’ll go grab a shirt and meet you in the kitchen.”

  I rushed into the kitchen to see that the bacon was definitely crisped—thank gods Killian had found it before it caught fire. I finished mixing the batter for the waffles and plugged in the waffle iron.

  Rowan set the table, glancing at Tarvish. “You hungry?”

  “Yes, please,” Tarvish said.

  Killian returned, this time with a T-shirt on and his hair gathered back in a ponytail. “So, tell me what’s been happening. You managed to get Tarvish through the door?” He seemed far happier than the night before.

  “We did. I used Disruption water, thanks to a nudge from Xi, and it broke whatever spell was keeping Tarvish inside. He was even able to walk into the street.” I poured batter into the double-sided waffle iron and set it to cooking. Meanwhile, I popped the bacon in the warming oven. Rowan set the maple syrup and butter on the table as I pulled out the eggs. “How does everybody want their eggs?”

  “Scrambled,” Rowan said.

  “That’s fine with me,” Killian said.

  Tarvish frowned. “You cook them?”

  I stifled a laugh. “Yes, we eat our eggs cooked.”

  “I’m willing to give it a try,” he said.

  I brought out a large skillet and poured some of the bacon drippings into it. Meanwhile, Killian fired up the espresso machine and began to pull shots.

  When breakfast was ready, we gathered around the dining room table—Tarvish was too big for us to all sit comfortably in the kitchen nook—and I opened the curtains that covered the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the front porch. It occurred to me that I should ask Jim Lark to install sliding glass doors into the dining room. I could have him switch out the windows for those, though it would cost me a pretty penny extra.

  As we dove into breakfast, I turned to Rowan. “What brings you here this morning?”

  She worried her lip. “I don’t like bringing down the mood, but I have been doing some research on…” Pausing, she glanced at Tarvish. “How are you at taking bad news?”

  “I’ve almost died a number of times and once, the cleric didn’t think he was going to be able to cast a heal spell on me, so I thought I was facing my maker. I remained calm and collected. Funtime demons are like that,” he said. “The one thing that sets me off is when I smell orc blood or when someone is clobbering the hell out of one of my fellow adventurers.”

  “Right,” Rowan said. “Okay then. Well, Tarvish, have you ever heard of a thought-form?”

  He thought for a moment, then asked, “Is that like when a high-level illusionist casts a ‘conjure monsters’ spell and the other party thinks they’re facing a group of creatures that aren’t there?”

  “Yes, well…something like that. But here, in our world, it means that you focus enough energy on a thought to bring
it to life. For example, if you were to imagine a rare bird that no one has ever seen, and you focus on this bird and you cast a spell to give it life…and then boom, one day it actually appears.” Rowan glanced at me.

  Tarvish set down the piece of bacon he was holding. “Okay, I understand that.”

  I took up the story. I had a feeling it might sit better coming from me.

  “Well…some witches in our world, they love to play a game called Dungeons & Dragons. It’s a role-playing game where they assume the characters of adventurers and go wandering around an imaginary dungeon—it’s all done around a table with dice and maps and sometimes miniature figurines. Apparently, they decided to create what’s called an NPC—a non-player character to help them in their quests.” I paused.

  Tarvish was staring at me, and I began to see a glimmer of understanding on his face. “They…created me?”

  “Yes,” Rowan said. “I’m sorry we have to break it to you this way, but they created an NPC called a Funtime demon, and one of them decided to imbue that character with magic. Before you appeared here, January was downloading their dungeon program off a computer—we’ll explain what that means later—and she downloaded their dungeon. There was a problem with the computer cord, and when it malfunctioned, it appears that you sort of…showed up here.”

  “Can you send me back through the computer? I’ve heard my party talk about such things.”

  Rowan slowly shook her head. “No, Tarvish. If we send you back home, you’ll cease to exist. You’ll vanish.”

  “Oh, hell,” I whispered. “He won’t go back to an alternate universe?”

  Rowan shook her head. “No, I’m afraid not. If he leaves our world, Tarvish will…die.”

  Chapter Ten

  Even Killian looked askance. “Are you serious? He’ll die?”

  Rowan nodded. “He’ll cease to exist, and that might as well be the same thing.” She turned to Tarvish. “You have a big decision to make. I’m not willing to ship you back against your will, not when it means you’ll die. You haven’t done anything to warrant such action. So it’s up to you. You can stay here in our world and learn to adapt to our ways, or…” She hesitated. I seldom saw my grandmother lack for words, but this was one of those times.

  “Can’t we send him to whatever realm demons live in?” Killian asked. “Where he might be more comfortable?”

  “Stop talking about Tarvish like he’s not even here,” I said, frowning at him. I turned to Rowan. “But that is a good question. Is there a way to send him to a realm where he might be more at home?”

  Rowan glanced at Tarvish, looking resigned. “The fact is, you’re the only one of your kind. Funtime demons don’t exist, except in the realm of this particular game. If we were to send you to the realm of fire, or the astral realm, I doubt you’d last very long.”

  “Crap, I hadn’t thought of that,” Killian said.

  “The truth is,” Rowan turned to include Killian and me, “Tarvish is no more demonic than your cats. He detests evil—orcs are a literary evil—and he loves kittens and crossword puzzles. He stands up for his friends in the game, and has their back. You could say the same about any one of us—except for the puzzles. I don’t like them.”

  Everything she said hit me like a sledgehammer. Tarvish wasn’t a demon. He’d been given that name, but there was no way in hell—pun intended—that he was demonic. Or devilish. I had read nothing off his energy that was threatening. The wards hadn’t gone off. And he had been a cordial gentleman during the entire time he had been here.

  “She’s right,” I said. “Tarvish, you aren’t a demon, regardless of what you might think. If we did send you over to one of those realms, you’d be somebody’s lunch or slave within hours. While you can fight, well…I’ve met real demons and they don’t just go clobbering orcs. They’re out to cause as much chaos and destruction as possible.”

  Tarvish stared at his plate, looking both confused and concerned. “I have no clue what to think now. If I’m not a demon, what am I? I can’t call myself a thought-form. That feels like I’m not real. Maybe I’m not real, though?”

  It occurred to me that Tarvish was, in essence, Frankenstein’s monster but unlike the movie version, with a brain and heart that worked. He had been created, but he was alive, nonetheless. Though she hadn’t said it aloud, I knew that Rowan was thinking that to send him back would be murder. How could we do that?

  “What about it? Do you think you could learn to live here? There are no orcs to fight, and you won’t go adventuring. But we can help you make a home in Moonshadow Bay, and find you work.” I reached out and put my hand on his. He held very still, staring at my fingers.

  “It seems that’s the only choice I have, other than if I choose to…cease to exist, as Rowan so delicately put it.” He glanced around. “It’s going to take some study for me. I’ve picked up a few things watching your television—which reminds me very much of what the group called ‘holo tales,’ though I never saw any of those.” He played with his food, cutting another piece of waffle. “Do I actually get the choice? You aren’t going to force me either way?”

  “We won’t force you,” Killian spoke up. “I apologize. I’ve been rude and suspicious, but I’ve been looking out for my friends and my girlfriend. I guess I wasn’t thinking about the fact that you don’t fit the definition of demon.”

  “Thank you, I accept your apology.” Tarvish paused again, then finally looked up from his plate. “I think I’ll choose to stay here and integrate into your society. Should I pick a different name? If I am…generated by someone else’s thoughts, it seems that I should perhaps break away from my past.” He leaned back in his chair, contemplating his plate.

  “I think you’re very astute,” Rowan said. “I will say this. Whoever created you gave you a brain, that’s for certain. They may have meant to make you funny, given your love of all things domestic, but they didn’t play the oaf card.”

  “I’ll think on the name idea for a while,” Tarvish said. “Meanwhile, if I’m to join your world, where will I stay? And how do I go about learning the ropes?”

  A smile spread across Rowan’s face. “I have a guest cottage in my backyard. You can stay there, and you can help around the place while you get your bearings and we can find you some real work. I’ll take you home with me after breakfast and you can get settled. We’ll buy you some better clothes, and some essentials.”

  “At least they had you speak English,” I said. “That’s been a huge help. That’s the language you’re speaking, by the way—English.”

  “I thought it was Common-Speak. That’s what we spoke in our adven—” Tarvish suddenly paused. “None of those things ever really happened. Not truly, did they? Everything I remember is a lie.”

  “Not a lie,” I said. “In a way they happened. They happened inside the game, and you were real inside the game. So they did occur, in a different world. Keep the memories, and consider them real, because for you, they were.”

  He sighed. “I have a lot to sort out.”

  “I have a friend you can talk to,” Rowan said. “He’s good at listening. That’s what his job is. He’s called a therapist, and he can help you sort out the confusion. We’ll talk to him in a day or two.”

  I glanced at the clock. “Meanwhile, I have to get ready to leave. Ari’s coming by at eleven, and we’re going to check out Majikoil—” I paused as Rowan’s phone rang.

  She glanced at the screen, frowning. “What the hell does she want? I’ll be right back.” She slipped into the living room to take the call.

  “Anybody still hungry?” I asked.

  We had finished every speck of bacon, waffles, and eggs, and I had downed my mocha. Killian and Tarvish shook their heads.

  Killian stood and stretched. “I’d better get a move on. If I want to widen the gate between your house and mine, I need to get started.” He picked up his plate and the waffle platter and carried them to the kitchen.

  Tarvish jumped up
to help. “If you need muscle, I’m available.” They returned to finish clearing the table.

  Killian eyed him for a moment. “What the hell. Sure, come on. Tell Rowan where Tarvish is when she wants to leave.”

  The two of them headed out the kitchen door and down the steps. I watched at the window as they crossed the backyard to the gate and stopped to discuss it. As I rinsed the dishes and stacked them in the dishwasher, I was very grateful that we had come to some resolution, and that Tarvish would be out of my house. But I also was beginning to realize that I actually liked him, and there was a part of me who was very glad he was going to be sticking around town.

  Rowan stomped back in the kitchen. “That was Marnie from the Witches Guild. She did not take kindly to your message.”

  I glanced at my grandmother, expecting to be scolded. “I didn’t volunteer, I was drafted. I don’t have the time, I’m dealing with this demon—though at least now we know what’s going on—and frankly, with my laptop in the shop, there’s nothing I can do. Why can’t we make up our own ritual instead of relying on the past?”

  Rowan regarded me, then said, “Why didn’t you tell her what you told me instead of promising to do it last night, then sneaking around to call her to back out? I know you shouldn’t have to explain yourself, but since you didn’t say no at the meeting, you came off sounding like a coward. Never let Marnie put you in that position.”

  I was still irritated. “I told her last night in the meeting what had happened. She steamrolled over me and changed the date.”

  “I see, and did you agree to the change in plans?”

  “Well…I didn’t say no.” I paused. “She kind of scares me.”

  “That’s precisely what you should never let her know. She’s a harpy at heart. Call her back, explain calmly and firmly why you’re backing out. Tell her you didn’t have time to really think about it at the meeting. Not only do you look like a pushover, but it also makes you sound unreliable. That’s one of the things about your family lineage you must be aware of. Our family—at least through me—keeps our word. Which is why we seldom make promises to begin with.”