by Harry Nix
Alex couldn’t blame him – he hadn’t called or emailed his friend. Although the wards on the house were secure, Alex was hesitant to test them. As he’d done before, he closed Howey’s email and read another. Puzo had written back, telling him that he was fairly certain the circuit was some kind of GPS that must've have had a power source that had been lost. He included a photograph showing where Alex could solder to fix the circuit.
Alex was pondering whether it was safe to retrieve the circuit from Puzo when Juno dropped a bundle of cash on the table and then a handful of rings.
“Check it out – two thousand big ones, “ she said and pushed the money over to Alex.
“That's single ring went for two thousand? Seriously?”
“Nope. It went for three thousand smackaroos so I took a grand and bought these ten rings. We work out how to increase the strength of them, from three to thirty, not three hundred, and then see how much we can get for them. We need the funds.”
Alex picked up one of the rings and cast Analyze on it. It was a ring of minor healing, capable of closing small wounds, cuts and scrapes and similar injuries. Another ring made the wearer stronger for a short time. Another made the wearer a more beautiful and charismatic for five minutes. The remaining seven rings were all shield rings. Alex canceled away the Analyze spell and then turned to face Juno, clasping his hands around her waist and pulling her close.
“How much do you think we can get if we multiply the power in these?”
“They cost a thousand. I figure they retail eight to ten thousand all up, so maybe we get five to six? Use a thousand to buy more rings, keep the rest in profit. You can pay for your friends’ office and we can afford food so we don’t go broke feeding two hungry werewolves.”
There was a chime as an email appeared on Alex’s laptop. It was another one from Officer Monroe, although the tone of it was different from previous ones, which was reaching out to find someone listed as missing.
“Dude is pissed,” Juno commented, reading the email.
In no uncertain terms it told Alex he needed to get in contact immediately or a warrant for his arrest would be issued.
“You think I should go see this guy?” Alex asked.
Juno shrugged and gave Alex a kiss before heading off to the kitchen. “Maybe. I mean he's a police officer so might have some clue as to who blew up the building. Could be something that he can't see because of the Great Barrier, but you'll see it immediately. Plus the mages would have to be hella crazy to attack a police station with you inside it.”
Nia came into the lounge room where a pair of very short shorts and one of Alex's t-shirts that was far too big on her frame. She gave him a sleepy kiss before he pulled her into his lap.
“So that police officer keeps emailing for me to get in contact and has now upped the threats to issuing a warrant for my arrest. We were thinking I should go see him, especially if there are any clues he has that are hidden by the Great Barrier,” Alex said.
Nia yawned, covering her mouth.
“Maybe it's a good idea. Plus could be a test whether there are still mages somehow tracking you. After all, we were out last night and no one chased you. Maybe you don't to keep hiding in the house.”
Nia gave him a kiss and wandered off to the kitchen, Alex following.
“I’ve been thinking about that. Between waking up last night across town and me going crazy climbing the walls here, I was thinking we need to get proactive, do something,” he said.
“When you mean waking up across town?” Juno asked. “Is this why my kitchen bench is covered in plant bits?”
Alex realized he hadn't told her about he and Nia’s late-night adventures. He quickly summarized what had happened, including coming across the unknown mage driving very slowly, casting the same spell repeatedly and how he'd managed to capture most of it, but not all.
“Firstly – don’t cast that spell unless it’s complete. Secondly – we can’t have you wolfing it up and going on sleepruns because you’re stuck here. It’s not safe so we need to take the risk and get your wolf out and running. Finally, these cuttings are all from Jane’s garden? There are some spots in the yard they could grow.”
“All from Jane’s. At least I can get back cousins of the same plants that got blown up,” Alex said.
“A green thumb and a gorgeous werewolf,” Juno said and gave him a quick kiss before returning to the kitchen to begin rummaging in the cupboards. As she cooked up breakfast, the three of them created and threw away countless plans.
It was obvious that Alex couldn’t continue to stay in Juno's house. He’d likely wake up again somewhere in the city. By the same token, given the serious power wielded against them so far, it seemed incredibly dangerous for Alex to show his face in public. When they were discussing the attacks, Alex mentioned that Puzo said the circuit in the wooden ball was some sort of GPS. At this, Juno’s eyes widened.
“That’s it! Go visit this Monroe to see what he's got and then Puzo to get the chip back. We can take it somewhere remote, like maybe that abandoned factory, and activate it. We have time to build plenty of traps and this time we take one of the mages alive!”
“Ooh! Pick me, pick me!” Nia said, putting a hand up in the air and jumping up and down.
“Yes, the adorably tousled werewolf,” Juno said.
“There we can stuff them in the trunk and drive out to April. She can definitely get any answers out of them, “ Nia said.
“April, yes!”
“Is April really good at torture or something? You mean April who owned the house me and Nia ended up at?”
“That’s her,” Nia said.
“April is half nymph on her mother’s side and then half earth elemental on her father's side. She's got all sorts of amazing powers, but she’s also really big into brewing things – potions, tinctures, any kind of drug or medicine under the sun. A lot of these mercenary mages will be hardened against interrogation but April can get through that. Plus her house place is remote so if backup comes to rescue him, we’ll definitely see them coming,” Juno said.
They kept talking, Alex soon learning that nymphs only lived about forty years and elementals lived practically forever. April was a rare combination of both and no one actually knew how long she was going to live for.
He again felt his world expanding, new information flooding in and upturning everything he thought he’d known. This included the idea that somehow something that was effectively a spirit of the earth could have a baby with a nymph who ran around naked in the forest.
After breakfast, Alex rang the Baxter police station and got put through to Officer Monroe.
“Alex Lowe you're alive. What a relief,” Officer Monroe said.
He sounded like a kindly grandpa with a deep gruff voice.
“I realize I got everyone scared. I met a new girlfriend and things got a little bit out of hand. I didn't realize I been gone so long, honestly,” he said.
“I understand. I was a young man once. Things can get a little bit wild from time to time,” Monroe said with a chuckle.
You have no idea thought Alex.
“But I'm still going to need to interview you. I take it you’re aware that your apartment block was detonated by persons unknown.”
“I am. I’d been there to collect my laptop and only just left when it happened.”
They quickly arranged for Alex to come to the police station and Monroe ended the call.
“Road trip, road trip,” Nia and Juno chanted.
“Road trip to the police station. Really hope this isn’t a bad idea. Every video and article online says never talk to the police and now here I am about to talk to the police,” Alex said.
23
Monroe was in his late fifties, maybe early sixties. He had a bristly salt-and-pepper mustache and looked as solid as a brick building.
When he came to the station waiting area, his eyes widened when he saw Juno and Nia, both wearing slightly skimpy outfits. His ey
es widened even more when Alex gave both of them a kiss goodbye before following Monroe to his private office.
There was an old desk stacked with papers, and files were collected on every surface. Amongst general crime and safety posters pinned on the walls there was the occasional child's drawing.
Monroe took a seat at his desk where there sat an ancient looking computer that was easily a decade out of date and then waved Alex to the seat on the other side.
“So where were you?” Monroe asked without preamble. He picked up a coffee sitting on his desk and took a sip.
“As I said on the phone, I was with my new girlfriend.”
“I get that son but where exactly? What's the address?” Monroe said, a pen suddenly appearing in his hand.
“Um... it was at her place. It's a country property, maybe about a hundred miles from here. We got together and then she drove me out there so don't even know the address. It was just on this dirt road,” Alex lied.
Monroe nodded and put his pen down.
“You know, one time I was chasing this guy who’d snatched a handbag. I was fast but he was outrunning me. We ended up down at Jameson’s. You know the junkyard?”
Alex knew the place. It was stacked high with abandoned cars. They had a compactor/grinder machine there and sometimes posted videos online of reducing cars to a small pile of inch-long pieces.
“Anyway, he runs into the back lot and I swear scales the wall like he was running up it. Twenty feet, zip, up and over. Now that lot backs on to a road and sidewalk so to me he jumped and ran away, all without a scratch. What do you think about that?”
Alex could see where Monroe was going with this – he’d jumped out of a third story window and was apparently unharmed.
“He got lucky?” he said.
Monroe rubbed his stubble and then yawned into the back of his hand.
“Sorry, we have my son and his wife and my six-month old granddaughter staying with us right now. Granddaughter wakes up a lot at night which means Grandfather, me, wakes up too. I’m very tired, so tired in fact that I’m going to overlook you walking away from a fall that should have killed you. After all, Frankie Belasconi did it and I saw it with my own eyes.”
Alex kept his mouth shut and waited. The advice “don’t talk to the police” was good and he felt that Monroe was far sharper than his sleepy grandfather front was letting on.
“What I can’t figure is why someone would be after you. Why’d they’d wire your building with enough C4 to take down a skyscraper? It’s a good thing everyone in the building was out. What is it you do again?”
“Games. I make games. Or, we’re trying to make a game. That’s all.”
Monroe sipped his coffee and watched Alex, as though he was assessing every word he spoke.
“That a particularly cut-throat industry? Lots of sabotage and murders in the games industry?”
“It’s cut-throat in the ‘try to get the fourteen year old to use mom’s credit card to buy lootboxes’ way that some developers do. Not in the ‘blow up a house’ kinda way.”
“Did you know the Bronsons who lived the floor beneath you?” Monroe asked.
“Yeah, a little. I’d talked to the husband once or twice.”
“Michael. His wife is Charlaine. Strange thing is that morning, before the explosion, their grandson reported them missing. From the family timeline it matches up with you going missing too. They failed to pick up prescriptions or buy groceries as is their routine. What do you think of that?”
Alex had a good reason he went missing – he’d shifted into a werewolf. The Bronsons going missing surely didn’t mean good things for them.
“Are you sure the building was empty when the explosion went off?” he asked, thinking they may have been murdered in their apartment and somehow he’d missed it. Maybe their scent had been covered up by chemicals.
“Definitely. We had the dogs out there immediately. The good news is there are no dead bodies in what is left of the rubble. The bad news is that the Bronsons are still missing. The even worse news is that the chance of the couple on the second floor and the young man on the top floor going missing at the same time is almost zero. One way to look at it would be that whomever wired it to blow kidnapped the Bronsons so they could have unfettered access. Another way would be that you vanished, taking the Bronsons with you and then came back to blow the place up to hide any evidence.”
“I was only back for a quick trip to pick up my laptop, that’s it.”
“Mrs. King says she saw you jump out of the third story window.”
“She’s old. That’s impossible. Maybe it was clothing or something,” Alex said.
They sat there in silence staring at each other before Monroe shook his head and then took another sip of coffee.
“She is old, I agree. Maybe it was just your clothes being blown out the window.”
Alex nodded, trying to work out why the Great Barrier seemed absent on this one. How far could Monroe dig before it kicked in?
“What about Mr. Clovis?” Alex asked.
“He’s fine. He was out at the time.”
More silence as Monroe watched Alex before speaking again.
“Birthday plans with your friends seems a strange thing to miss... but I can see from your girlfriend or two girlfriends out there why you might do that. Is that what happened?”
Alex silently cursed himself for bringing along both Nia and Juno. From the time they'd been living in the house together it now felt natural to kiss both of them, to have both his mates with him. He'd forgotten to normal society it was unusual see a guy with two girlfriends.
“As I said, things got a bit wild. Do you have any evidence who destroyed the building? Did you find anything?” Alex asked, hoping to redirect the conversation.
Monroe pulled the folder from a pile next to the ancient computer and passed it across to Alex. It was full of photographs of the rubble and surrounding area.
“They used a significant amount of explosive material. They were definitely professionals. Building fell straight down. If you know anyone who works in demolition who might have reason to hate you please let me know,” Monroe said.
Alex shuffled through the photos, not seeing anything of use before handing it back to Monroe.
“Sorry, I can’t help with that. Is there anything else or can I go?”
Monroe shook his head and then stood up, holding out his hand, which Alex quickly shook.
“Just the weirdest thing – up and over the fence. He landed, no problem, not a broken ankle, no skinned knee, not a drop of blood. You see so many weird things being a police officer,” Monroe said.
Alex nodded and then followed Monroe back up to the corridor and into the large waiting area where Nia and Juno were waiting for him. He wished he could have given some signal to the girls to tone it down because they broke into huge grins and rushed to his sides.
Alex didn't look back, but he saw in the reflection of the sliding doors Monroe watching the three of them. The sleepy grandpa thing was definitely an act Alex concluded as he pulled the two girls out of the police station.
24
“You son of a bitc–” Howey started to say before Nia and Juno stepped out from behind Alex. Howey gave a double blink and looked at each girl in turn.
“So this is what you've been doing? Or who you've been doing?”
Both the girls giggled and each laid a hand on Alex.
“Okay, I deserve that,” Alex said.
“Oh, he deserves that. You disappeared the day before your birthday, you’re gone for weeks, we don't hear from you, your building blows up and we still don't hear from you and now you finally show up at work with a girlfriend on each arm. I think you deserve a lot more than that.”
Howey was standing there with his arms crossed and a somewhat angry expression on his face but Alex knew his friend. Yes, he was furious but also quick to forgive.
“I have a six-part detailed apology for you, which I shall be a
ble to deliver sometime soon,” Alex said.
“Is there a musical interlude?”
“Two actually. Plus a dance section.”
Howey glared at him for a moment before finally relaxing. “Six parts is probably enough,” he said.
“Hey Puzo, Alex is here with two girls who are way too hot for him,” Howey called out.
With that, Alex hugged his friend, feeling an ache in his soul. They’d known each other since college, had been inseparable for years, and since they’d started making a game had virtually lived on top of each other. The last few weeks was the longest they hadn’t seen each other in years. They pulled apart just as Puzo came in from the other room.
“What have we got going on here?” he asked, looking at Nia and Juno
“Nia, Juno. This is Howey Rush and Andreas Puzo, known as Howey and Puzo. We were making a game together,” Alex said.
“Puzo? What is your opinion of The Godfather?” Juno asked.
“Best movie ever made. Damn good book, too,” Puzo said.
“Correct answers,” Juno said and gave him a high five.
“At college, he’d tell girls he was related to Mario Puzo. He was your uncle or something?” Alex said.
“Let's not go into the lies told the girls in college, Herr Schwarzenegger,” Puzo said.
“I want to hear that story,” Nia said.
“You want to go down that road Mr-whoops-I-must-have-knocked-on-the-wrong-door-but-now-I’m-here-how-you-doin’?” Alex said.
“Tell us, tell us!” Juno said.
Howey held up his hands. “Okay, okay, let's not go crazy now,” he said. The three of them laughed and just like that it was like the missing chunk of time had never happened. Despite the fact he had two hot girls by his side Alex felt like it was a normal day again back at work with his two best friends.
“So you okay? Someone blew up your building right? Why’d they do that?” Howey asked.
Alex shrugged. “I don't know. The police are looking into it but I have no idea,” he said.
