by K. M. Shea
“Okay,” I said before Devin released me.
“I say, are we almost there? These boots are heavy,” Dave said, dragging his feet.
“It’s right there,” I said, pointing to a cluster of evergreens that marked the park border.
“Sledding!” Madeline cheered. She stopped to look both ways before hurrying across the street like a giant, pink puffball. Frank bounded after her, but the rest of my students were slower to follow.
Oak frowned as he made an inspection of the trees. “This is an Austrian Pine. It isn’t native to this area, and it is sick and inflicted with moths,” he said, squirming through the branches to get a better look at the trunk. “If they don’t act quickly, the moths will attack other trees.”
“Where is this sledding hill?” Kadri asked.
“My feet hurt,” Dave said.
“May I take a soil sample?” Zinnia asked.
“Hashtag: Yolo,” Perseus said, throwing a snowball at Athena.
“Remind me to never have kids,” I said to Devin.
The Pooka chuckled. “I hardly think any children of ours will act so oddly.”
“Mine, Devin. If I have kids they will be mine, not yours,” I said.
“So my part of the parentage will be ignored?”
“You will not be part of the parentage,” I said as Frank came bounding up to me.
“Madeline fell and thumped her head on the ice,” the werewolf said.
“Is there any blood?” I asked.
“No.”
“Then she’ll be fine.”
“Okay,” Frank said before he ran off, heading for the bright pink blotch on the snowy horizon.
“He’s moving in,” Devin said, looking down at his feet.
“Great,” I said, rolling my shoulders back.
I was surprised when Devin took my hand and squeezed it. “There’s nothing to fear,” he said. “You’re not alone.”
I offered him a weak smile. “Thanks.”
“Miss Fae,” Harrison said, moving to my left.
“What is it, Krusher?” I asked.
“Isn’t this disgusting? It’s the inferior human with her weakling friends,” Krad said, appearing just past Harrison. As was his custom, he was clothed in all black in a jacket and pants that were much too big for him. He wasn’t wearing a scarf today, but he had black gloves.
Devin squeezed my hand again. “You’re up,” he whispered before making a show of whipping out his MM.
“You still haven’t learned any good insults, have you, Krad? You obviously got that straight from a comic book.”
“I did not!” Krad said.
“Uh-huh, right. So what are you going to do this time? Start a snowball fight?”
“Today is the day I rid the world of your festering presence,” Krad said as several time ghosts crawled into view.
“I’m so afraid, I have no other choice but to call the babysitters’ club,” I said.
“This park is under my control,” Krad snarled before nodding to the time ghosts, who froze the world.
Trees stopped swaying in the breeze. I couldn’t hear the excited shouts of the kids on the sledding hill, and the traffic noise from Main Street died.
“You use the time ghosts waaaay too much,” I said, rolling my eyes as my students rallied behind me.
“What?” Krad stiffened.
“It’s like, all you do. You appear and use time ghosts to stop time so you can recite clichéd villain lines. I know it’s probably supposed to be your modus operandi or something, but I hope you at least pay them overtime. Do you guys have a union? Because if you don’t you really should at least bargain for higher wages together,” I said to the time ghosts.
“It isn’t all I do,” Krad said, his childish face scrunched with anger.
“It is, pervo,” I said.
“My name is Krad!” Krad shouted.
“Yeah, I know. There’s no way I could forget your lame-ass name,” I said, folding my arms across my chest.
“What?” Krad said, his jaw dropping. “Like your name is anything to be proud of!”
“Hey, at least I’m named after a legendary sorceress,” I said. “You sound like a badly titled super villain.”
“I am a villain!”
“Maybe, but you certainly aren’t super.”
“You!” Krad said clenching his hands into fists with such emotion that they shook.
“There is a problem,” Devin said, his voice was very low as he stood next to me. He turned his back to Krad, so the brat wouldn’t be able to see him talk.
“What’s wrong?” I said, ignoring Krad as he shouted his fury in the language of dark elves.
“Our reinforcements have been intercepted.”
My blood turned into ice in my veins. “What?”
“Troops from Fidem intercepted them. They’re taking care of them, but they might not reach us in time,” Devin said.
If I strained my ears I could hear the faint pop of the Shadow Shifters’ paintball guns, and the thunderclaps that accompanied dark magic.
“So he’s told you,” Krad said, standing on his tip toes. “I found out about your little trap. Your help isn’t coming.”
My heart thundered in my ears, and panic sank claws into my chest.
“Don’t,” Devin said. “Don’t give him any fear to feed on.”
“What do we do?” Perseus asked.
“Everyone circle up. We can’t be drawn away from each other,” Devin said.
“Those with shielding magic move to the perimeter,” Madeline said, having recovered from her head bump. “Morgan is in the center.”
“No,” I said.
“You’re a liability if you make yourself an easy target. Get to the center,” Frey said, pushing me into the middle of our small circle.
Harrison ignored our pow-wow and took out what appeared to be a battery operated nail gun. I watched as he loaded it with nails, flicked it on, and turned to face Krad.
Krad raised an eyebrow at him. “Human guns are mere toys to me,” he said.
Harrison shot a stream of nails at him.
Krad’s shield flared to life, and the nails passed straight through it. They barely missed Krad. One nail actually got close enough to slice his cheek.
Krad collapsed to his knees in shock—and perhaps a little terror—and Harrison grunted in irritation as he looked down at his weapon. “Aim is off,” he announced.
My students and I stared at the goblin in shock.
“What is that?” I finally said.
“Iron nails,” Harrison said, reloading his unusual weapon.
“That’s pure genius,” Dave said, eyeing the nail gun in jealousy.
“Shields up!” Devin called, pushing his way to the front of our group just as black lightning cracked over our heads. Devin raised his hand and said something in some kind of old Gaelic or Celtic. A yellow shield the same color as his full moon eyes briefly formed around us, absorbing the lightning.
Thunder boomed, and my ears rang. A piece of our vaporous shield broke off in the shape of a shadowy horse and reared.
Well. I now knew where my protective charm bracelet came from.
I felt the first brush of spider legs against me and screamed.
“He’s reaching for Morgan,” Sacmis, who stood next to me, shouted.
“Break his concentration!” Devin said.
Harrison shot nails at him, driving the pint-sized villain behind a bush.
Oak, Sage, Corn, and Zinnia—who were all holding hands—grinned.
“Excellent!” Oak said as the roots of the giant bush burst out of the ground, inside Krad’s protective shield. The roots wrapped around the dark elf’s thin legs and crawled upwards.
Krad shouted in dark elvish and used black lightning to fry the roots off him. He left the safety of the bush and ran for a park sign that wasn’t far away.
Harrison shot at him, but all the nails fell short. “Out of range,” he said.
&n
bsp; “Great,” Devin sighed, flexing his arms.
Krad peeked out from behind the sign. He must have realized he was safe, because he emerged. “Are you done playing yet?”
“That’s funny considering you’re the one running around like a kid,” I said, my voice shaking in spite of my false bravado.
“Krad,” Madeline shouted. “If you don’t get lost I’m going to call the Beer Brothers.”
“The who?” I asked.
“Wow, Madeline is tough,” Asahi said.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Krad said, his eyes narrowed.
“Don’t test me,” Madeline said, holding a pink cell phone up in the air. “Leave.”
Krad scowled. He shouted in dark elf to the time ghosts and pointed at Madeline. Eight ghosts peeled off from the park perimeter, gliding towards us.
Madeline hit a speed dial number. “Hello. It’s Madeline. I’ve got drinks and a Dökkàlfar that’s being a pain in the butt. We’re at Independence Park in Oakdale, Illinois. Goodle it.”
“Google,” I said.
“Google it,” Madeline repeated before she hung up.
“Administrator Moonspell is going to kill you,” Perseus said.
“At least I’ll be alive for him to strangle. Incoming!”
“We can take one,” Asahi said as he and Kadri slipped out of the circle. “Don’t you think, Kadri?”
“Yes,” Kadri said, tossing one of her wicked-looking daggers at their selected time ghost. Instead of going straight through the ghastly fairy—as I thought it would—the dagger pinned the time ghost’s wraith-like robe to the snow covered ground.
Asahi punched the time ghost in the face—no, I’m not kidding. He clocked it right in the jaw—and the fairy sagged to the ground. Asahi grabbed it and shook it like a dog shakes a toy.
Zinnia, Sage, Corn, and Oak took on three time ghosts. Using the park bushes and trees, they kept the time ghosts occupied. The Austrian Pine Oak previously held disdain for actually burrowed through the ground and snow and wrapped a time ghost in its branches. The fairies and elf used a benign looking, snow covered bush to devour the second time ghost before their last time ghost smartened up and tried running away from them.
Frey, Frank, Perseus, and Athena worked together as wolves and undisguised centaurs to occupy two time ghosts, leaving Harrison to deal with the last two.
“I don’t like this,” I said to Sacmis, Dave, and Madeline—the only three besides myself not involved in combat.
“I’m sure,” Madeline dryly said.
“We just have to sit tight and trust in Devin to protect us until Madeline’s backup arrives,” Dave said seconds before black electricity tried to encase us.
Devin activated his protective shield again, which absorbed the blow.
“You’ve already tried that. It’s still not going to work, squirt,” Devin said, adopting a superior tone as he spoke to the cursed dark elf.
Krad glared at Devin before his eyes popped wide open and he darted back behind his sign, barely missing a spray of pepper infused paintballs.
Shadow Shifters dressed in fatigues and MBRC guards in their uniforms pushed through the park perimeter. I didn’t see any MBRC wizards—they were probably being guarded by the goblins Hunter was lending the MBRC—but I did see bubbles of water and tongues of white hot fire through the trees.
Unfortunately, they weren’t alone. Dark elves, ghouls, skeleton soldiers, and some dark fairies oozed out of the shadows to engage our allies in combat.
I almost shrieked when there was a thud behind me. I whirled around to face a cute guy in army fatigues. I recognized him, although I couldn’t tell you what his shifter shape was.
“Shadow Shifters are in play. We are still engaged in combat, enemy is pursuing us,” the cutie said into his radio before he turned and jumped on me. “Get down!”
A black ball of fire was popped off at us from one of the pursing Fidem members, but Devin’s shield held against it.
“Harrison, can you grab all the time ghosts in the immediate area?” Devin asked.
“Yes, Sir,” Harrison said. Already six of the eight time ghosts that attacked us were trailing after him like ducklings as he made the rounds to persuade the remaining two—which were held in place by Oak and the fairies.
The shifter peeled off me. “The Princess is as safe as she can get. This is Black leader, initiating shift,” he said, after offering me a hand up.
He crouched down, and his gear—his fatigues, paintball gun, and radio—condensed into his skin as his body twisted, shrinking down to the body of a fruit bat.
“Wow, he’s actually kinda cute,” I said, momentarily distracted by the shifter’s big eyes and triangular head.
“He can’t take off from the ground,” Devin said.
“What?” I asked, looking up as the Pooka held off another blast of black fire.
“Not all bats can fly from the ground, pick him up and toss him in the air,” Madeline said before throwing a rock and clocking a dark elf in the back of the head.
I eyed the shifted mercenary, who looked up at me with his somewhat-cute-but-still-creepy eyes.
“Throw him, Morgan. He’s not going to bite you, and he doesn’t have rabies,” Devin said, grinding his teeth as he held his shield against a three pronged attack made by dark fairies.
“Shadow Shifters get their yearly shots,” Madeline added.
“Get ready to fly,” I told the mercenary before I picked him up and threw him as high as I could when the onslaught against us paused.
The bat shifter flipped in the air before he got his wings under him and flapped off.
“We need to condense. If we’re a smaller target Devin can strengthen his shield,” Madeline said, pulling me closer to Dave and herself.
“I’m going to engage the enemy,” Sacmis said, ripping off her scarves.
“Will you be okay in this temperature?” I asked.
Sacmis gave me a wide smile before she removed her glamour, reclaiming her lion body. “I doubt I’ll notice it in the heat of battle,” she said before she roared loud enough to make my chest throb. She twitched her tail and jumped out of the safety of the shield, pouncing on a ghoul like he was a hapless mouse.
Just past Sacmis, Frank and Frey were pulling a skeleton soldier to pieces. Frank, in his scrawny wolf body, gave an extra good chomp on the bones after the soldier fell apart. Frey had to headbutt him to get him to stop chewing.
A Shadow Shifter was trying to force Asahi and Kadri to the safety of Devin’s shield, and the sick Austrian Pine took out a row of dark elves before it was shucked like an ear of corn.
I watched a Shadow Shifter mow down six fairies with pepper laced paintballs before her partner—a lion shifter—attacked them with his claws and teeth.
Perseus, Athena, and four MBRC minotaurs chased down a pack of skeleton soldiers, stampeding over them and splintering them as if they were made of matchsticks.
An MBRC elf soldier teamed up with two pixies to stun and take down three dark elves. Unfortunately a dozen ghouls noticed the activity and raced to the dark elves’ rescue.
The MBRC forces were winning the fights, but Fidem kept a steady supply of reinforcements piling into the park through the shadows. The problem was that our wizards were tied up in a battle past the park borders—I could hear the earth rumbling and could still see the sparkle of magic between the trees—and couldn’t cut off whatever magic Fidem’s soldiers were using to get in.
A Shadow Shifter in the shape of a small fox with huge ears was almost caught by a dark elf that slithered out of the shadows, leading more forces from whatever gateway magic Fidem had set up.
Skeleton soldiers newly arrived to the scene pulled at Frank and Frey, hacking at them with blunted weapons.
The Shadow Shifters took turns firing at the hoards of enemies so they could reload in safety, but sooner or later they were going to run out of paintballs.
“We need to cut Fidem off,” I said as Madeline
hugged me to her with a stranglehold.
“No, we need more help,” Madeline said just as Asahi and Kadri were forced into the shielded area with us.
As if on cue a car—a Ford Focus actually—jumped up over the curve, ran over a bush, and skid out on a patch of ice about a dozen feet away.
The driver’s door opened, and my brain almost ceased functioning.
The driver was a dark elf—at least I think he was a dark elf. He had the same dark, ashy colored skin as Krad and his pals, but his hair was bleached platinum silver and covered with a baseball cap turned backwards. He wore a university hoodie and stonewashed jeans that were sagging so his boxers were showing.
This frat-boy/dark elf combed the fight with his eyes—which were the typical black for a dark elf. When he looked in my direction he lit up. “Maddy! I got your call,” he said before thumping the roof of his car with his fist. “This is the place, boys. Everyone out!” he said, kicking his door shut.
Three other elves popped out of car. One had on huge, oversized headphones and a beanie. Another wore a leather motorcycle jacket and man boots, and the last had a puffy jacket that was open to reveal his polo shirt—the collar of which was popped.
“Text Boxy, would ya? He got lost four turns back. If Shale misses out on the fun she is going to be epic angry,” the driver said to the headphones elf.
“Already did. They’re walkin’ in,” headphones reported.
An MBRC fairy guard turned around and paled when he spotted the unusual foursome. “Oh no,” she groaned.
“Administrator Moonspell will have our head!” another MBRC elf said.
“Then toughen up and push Fidem back!” a Shadow Shifter barked as another five of the dark elf frat boys—although two of them were girls, I could see—climbed into the park via the hole the Ford made with its unusual parking spot.
These five elves were dressed like the original four—in college fashion. In human fashion.
“You really called them?” Krad angrily shouted to Madeline. “Are you mad?”
“Whoa, it’s Krad! Hey Krad,” the hoodie driver shouted, waving to Krad.
“What happened to you?” said motorcycle jacket as he and his buddies drew closer. “You’re a little dude.”
