by Tao Wong
“You sure this will work?” Alexa muttered as we walked through the rundown neighborhood later that day.
Unlike the docks, the Green Skulls had a more prosperous neighborhood under their thumb, even if prosperous was a matter of degrees. Buildings here mostly had their windows in one piece, even if graffiti was everywhere and trash accumulated around us. Unlike the docks, the homeless were fewer here, their presence less desirable. On most street corners, we noted young men standing around taking cash, while children ran the goods to customers, and prostitutes smiled and strutted their stuff along the streets.
“The glamours will hold,” I muttered through the corner of my mouth softly. We both had changed our clothing to something a little more worn—and less geeky in my case—courtesy of a thrift store. Both of us wore baggy hoodies, Alexa to hide her fit figure and mine to hide my skinny one. “We’re just looking for now. Maybe grab a cup of coffee…” I said softly, jerking my head to the lone diner that sat on the corner.
Alexa made a face at my suggestion but shifted her trajectory slightly as we headed toward the diner. Unlike most other corners, this one was empty, bereft of drug dealers, though we passed by enough on our walk and heard their “recommendations.” Sadly, we heard nothing similar to what we wanted, declining offers for marijuana, crack, and other “mundane” drugs. But at least I now had an idea of where to pick those up.
Once inside the diner, we found ourselves a seat in one of the duct-taped polystyrene booths and waited to be served. And waited. And waited. Thankfully, we weren’t particularly concerned with the lack of service while we took note of the rest of the diners.
An old man sat at the bar with a plate of pie and a newspaper before him. A trio of hookers chatted quietly among themselves as they took a few minutes to relax and massage tired feet. A tired, overweight waitress in her worn uniform of pale blue and white smoked a cigarette right under the No Smoking sign. And of course, a large grouping of werejackals sat at the opposite end of the diner, their bodies in human form but shimmering with the slight hazy outline of their hybrid form behind them—at least to my eyes.
Alexa noted my gaze but didn’t turn around, instead pulling the steel napkin dispenser to play around with—and, of course, adjusting it enough to glance behind her. After a few minutes, she twisted around and spotted the waitress to meet her eyes directly. With a huff, the waitress walked to our table and slapped down a pair of menus before sauntering away.
“Well, she’s not getting a tip,” I said with a sigh before perusing the menu. I frowned, suddenly stumped, when I realized I had no way to listen to the group speak. And speaking they were certainly doing.
“The menu’s not that bad,” Alexa said, mistaking my frown.
“No… just…” I sighed, then shook my head. Right. The movies always made this entire “gather intel” thing so much easier than it was. They always had the right tool for the situation, the luck to meet the right person, the skills to do it right. But here I was, sitting in a diner under a glamour that made me look like just another human, and I had no idea what to do next. I couldn’t hear them speak, and I couldn’t cast Link without risking them sensing my use of active magic. We could, at best, see them make a deal or two, and what would that tell us? Nothing more than what Andy already had.
“Just relax,” Alexa said softly, flashing me a slight smile.
“Okay…” I sighed and closed my mouth. She was right. We had talked about this. We were only here to watch. Everything else—anything else—we learned was a bonus.
An hour later, after a rather unsatisfactory, sloppy burger and over-cooked fries, the pair of us finally left the diner. We’d dragged out the meal as long as we could—inadvertently helped by the lousy service—but now, we needed to leave. Either that or attract more attention to us than we wanted.
In that time, we’d learned all of nothing. That wasn’t exactly true of course. We had spotted a few members of the Green Skulls. We knew what they liked to eat and that they enjoyed hanging out at the diner. In fact, it was interesting to note that the vast majority of the gang must have been men; no women had been present at the diner. Of course, there were other reasons for that. The way they’d interacted with the ladies of the night was a pretty good reason why no sensible woman would want to be around them. But in the end, it was still not particularly useful information.
When we’d left, it was alone. I clocked the pair of werejackals who came out a short couple of seconds after us but thought nothing of it. Not until I noticed they took the same corner as we did, their pace slowly increasing.
“Trouble,” I said softly to Alexa.
“I noticed. Confront or run?” Alexa said.
“That…” I frowned, considering the matter. I shot her a look back in question, dithering.
“Too late.” Alexa pointed subtly ahead.
I looked up and noticed another pair of werejackals, these two not even bothering to hide the fact they were coming for us. “This way.”
Alexa grabbed my arm and tugged me sideways, pulling me down an alleyway. A quick look around showed us it was filled with a pair of foul-smelling garbage dumpsters, soiled clothing, and other unmentionable wastes. A single, huddled body in the corner indicated the alleyway wasn’t as empty as we wished, but at least it was out of sight.
“Watch our back,” Alexa said as she reached behind her and pulled her baton out. She kept it in her hand, unextended for now as she waited. It wasn’t a long wait before the quartet of werejackals made their appearance with wide, almost lolling grins on their faces.
“Hello there, girlie. So nice of you to stop.” One of the werejackals walked forward, a loose, cloth jacket in red and white hanging over tattered blue jeans. Obviously, he was the leader – of this group at the least if not the whole group.
“What do you want?” Alexa asked.
“Just a word,” the werejackal said. “You and your boy were real curious about us. We’re not real friendly with new strangers…”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alexa said softly.
“Really. Then why’d you run?”
“Two big men chasing us down? Seemed like a good idea.”
“Really? That what you think too, boy? You going to let the girlie talk for you?” the werejackal asked, taunting me.
“Yes,” I said simply. With my body bladed toward the group, I could watch both sides of the alleyway, with most of my attention facing behind us. It meant I saw the van pull up at the end of the alleyway first.
“More company,” I whispered softly to Alexa.
“Damn.” Alexa set her feet apart and reached with her other hand into her jacket pocket. She froze when the lead jackal pulled out a gun and aimed it at her. Within seconds, the other werejackals had pulled out various weapons.
“Easy there, girlie. We don’t want any mistakes,” the werejackal said.
Alexa pressed her lips together but slowly eased her hand away from her hoodie. I grimaced, mentally running our options through my mind. I could throw up a Mana Shield, and it could deflect some bullets, but the sheer number and the fact that they had us flanked made it a bad option. Fighting them, well, that probably would just result in our deaths. Or severe injury at the least.
“That’s better. Now, why don’t you tell us the real reason you’re here.”
I frowned, my mind racing as I looked for a way out. Damn it, this damn quest, this confrontation was unwinnable. No competent game master would ever let you run into a situation like this. There’s no way to fight…
“I told you—” Alexa paused when I laid my hand on her arm. She shot me a quizzical look that held traces of “what the hell are you doing” in it.
“Fine. I’ll tell you the truth,” I said, stepping forward slightly and past Alexa. When the werejackal focused on me, I continued and desperately hoped I was right. “My name is Henry Tsien. I’m the new mage.”
Hisses and growls erupted from the werejackals as even mo
re weapons pointed toward me.
I ignored them, even as I felt my back grow cold and clammy from sweat. “I have a quest.”
“Better.” The werejackal grinned, staring at me. “So, you meaning to mess with the Skulls? If you do, you’d be dull.” Laughter erupted at that, the sing-song manner the werejackal said the last line an indicator he had probably said this a million times before.
“No. I’m here to collect mushrooms,” I said. When the laughter finally died down, I gestured to my backpack. “If you’ll let me, I’ll show you.”
“Slowly.”
“Of course,” I said. It did not take me long to take out my sample and show them the spotted Wynn I had collected. “These are spotted Wynn. They’re good money if you can collect them, but they’re rare.” I noticed one of the werejackals leaning in and whispering to the lead one, but I ignored it, continuing my story. “We came here to check out this area because we heard you ran this neighborhood. Since poaching is bad…” I trailed off, shrugging my shoulders.
“You wanted to see if you could get away with it.” The werejackal snarled at me.
“No. I wanted to assess your gang, see if the rumors about your drug dealing were true. If you did deal drugs, you wouldn’t want to deal with a mage over a couple of mushrooms,” I said simply. “I doubt the number we could scavenge here would be worth even a quarter of your night’s revenue.”
“Damn right,” one of the other werejackals boasted before he got smacked over the back of his head by another.
“And that’s the truth, is it, mage?” the leader asked, walking forward. I sensed Alexa tensing behind me, but I held my hand out backward, hoping she got the meaning. Stand down. We couldn’t win a fight here.
“Yes,” I said simply.
“See… There’s only one problem with that.” I found myself tensing when the werejackal neared, his face scrunching up while his gun continued to point at the middle of my chest.
“Oh?” I focused, building a Force Shield spell in my mind, holding it in abeyance for the moment.
“Yes. You smell crafty,” the werejackal said, his eyes glinting as he stopped a few short feet from me.
“Well, I am a mage,” I said, cursing inside. Of course. He was a shifter. Expanded senses were one of the major things they all had. Still, I had chosen my words carefully to tell the truth. Just not all of it. I just hoped it had been sufficient.
The werejackal paused for a second at my answer, then burst out laughing. It wasn’t a normal laugh, more like a braying, yowling noise. A few seconds later, all his friends joined in, making the hair at the back of my neck stand even straighter. If it wasn’t for the fact they’d lowered their guns when they laughed, I’d be even more worried. But still, guns were still in their hands, so I kept a close eye on them. When the laughter finally subsided, the leader stared at me again, pointing his gun back at my chest.
“Funny. Funny mage. Okay. You smell somewhat truthful. And they say don’t mess with mages, so we won’t. But I don’t want to see your faces here again either,” the werejackal said, gesturing with his gun to the side in an obvious invitation for us to leave.
I nodded and waved Alexa ahead of me. We skirted to the side of the alleyway, and the pair of us slowly shuffled past the werejackals who barely moved far enough aside to let us through. I kept myself in front of Alexa, my ability to put the primed and ready Force Shield in front of us at a moment’s notice a better option than anything she could do. It seemed she agreed since I didn’t get a complaint. Still, other than a sudden lunging motion by one werejackal—which managed to elicit a slight jerk from me—and a series of cackling laughter by the werejackals, they let us leave.
It was only when we finally got back to Alexa’s car and were blocks away that we began to relax. I shuddered then, the adrenaline slowly leaving my body as my hands shook and too-tense muscles around my neck unclenched. I groaned softly, waiting for the after-battle effects to go away.
Damn it. That had been too damn close.
Chapter 6
We regrouped back at the duplex, safe behind magical wa—shit. I hadn’t even managed to put those up. I buried my head in my hands again and forced myself to draw deep breaths. I felt my heart begin to jackhammer again. I’d risked my life before, nearly gotten killed, but somehow, staring down the end of a gunmetal barrel had driven home how little of a game this was, how pitiful my simple Force Shield was and how little it could do.
A low thump near my head had me raising it to stare at a slowly steaming cup of tea set on the coffee table, inviting me with its rich, creamy tones. I reached out, wincing slightly at the heat when I cupped the beverage in my hands and stared at Alexa, who sat across from me with her own cup.
“First. Tea? Don’t you think I’ve been tortured enough? And secondly, how are you so calm?” I asked, at first trying for a joking tone before my voice rose at the end, escaping my control. I choked back my rising voice, drawing a deeper breath.
“Training,” Alexa said simply, touching her cup to her lips before lowering it and staring at me. “Experience. Ritual. Mindfulness.”
“Have I mentioned how messed up your childhood was?” I asked Alexa rhetorically. But thinking about her rather than my own reaction helped me push feelings of helplessness and rage away for a moment. I drew a breath, sitting up slightly more as I finally tasted my tea. “Ugh! What is this tea?”
“Peppermint. And you shouldn’t be doing that,” Alexa said.
“Doing what?” I stared at the abomination of liquid in my cup, debating why people would do this to themselves. What was wrong with simple black tea? Jasmine. Pu’er. Maybe a little dragon seed.
“Avoiding processing,” Alexa said as she leaned forward, meeting my brown eyes with her blue ones. “If you have to, you have to, but we’re safe. You should let yourself process your emotions. Otherwise, it’ll affect your performance later.”
“Performance…” I said softly, picking at her words. The initiate didn’t flinch, just continued staring at me. I found myself looking away eventually, looking aside to stare at the jinn who was blatantly not listening in on us. “I just… I couldn’t stop those bullets. Not even if I tried. A single Force Shield, at full strength, I could do if they were in front of us. Or behind. But if I had to split the spell, or dual cast… I don’t think I could do it.”
“It would have been difficult,” Alexa replied.
“I felt like such a fraud. A mage. Who can’t even throw lightning or fire properly. Who can’t stop bullets. Who gets run off by a gang of thugs,” I said softly, shaking my head. “And it was my idea to go in there, to look. Because I didn’t know what else to do. I just feel so stupid.”
“You’re not stupid,” Alexa said softly, reprimanding me. “You’re just out of your depth. You’re learning, but six months ago you had no idea of this world. For a civilian, you are doing amazingly well.”
“Learning…” I sipped on my tea again and made a face, once again reminded about what I had in hand. “I keep doing this. Getting in over my head. Learning as I go along. Hoping I can cobble a solution together with whatever I have.” I waved my hand at Lily before continuing. “We got away because I guessed it was a social confrontation, that if it wasn’t, we’d have been warned. Or protected. But, maybe I—we… wouldn’t.
“Because the wish I made had to be open, had to be vague, so Lily could fix things as they came up. But of course, she’s limited too. I’m playing a game I can’t read the rules of. There’s no manual, and I was the guy who always RTFMed.”
“RTFM?”
“Read the fucking manual,” I replied. “But it’s not a game because people die.”
“No, it’s not,” Alexa said softly. “But it is your life.”
I paused at her last words, drawing a deep shuddering breath. It was my life. And damn it, I had chosen it—chosen it and chosen that perhaps I would do something more than just live it for myself. So here I was, trying to help a friend, and not doing
a good job at it. I shook my head, clutching my mug harder as my thoughts spiraled, as I searched for resolve and understanding within myself. Alexa stayed silent, sipping on her mug of tea while I worked through my emotions and the implications of her words.
“It is, isn’t it?” I said softly. “Then perhaps I should stop playing…”
Alexa smiled softly, tilting her head to the side. I fell silent again, caught in my own thoughts. I was dimly aware Alexa stopped to whisper to Lily before she walked toward the stairs, pausing only long enough to place a hand on my shoulder as she left. When she did, I felt the warmth of her hand leave too, leaving me with my thoughts as the night deepened.
“Morning, Henry,” Alexa said softly when she came downstairs the next day. I was seated on the couch, the discarded remnants of various sugary snacks scattered around me. I blinked, startling awake from the light doze I had fallen into and wincing when the stream of sunlight penetrated my eyes.
“Morning…” I grunted out, rubbing at my eyes.
“Did he not sleep?” Alexa asked.
“A bit, but he mostly sat there muttering to himself,” Lily replied, looking up. I frowned, hating how she seemed to be still chipper and put together even after an all-night gaming session.
“Extra coffee then,” Alexa said in reply, heading to the kitchen as she hid a light yawn behind her hand. “Should I call Caleb and let him know you’ll be skipping his lesson?”
“No!” I shouted, jerking awake further. “No,” I said again, more moderately. “I have questions and training I need to do.”
“Oh?”
“I need to work on dual casting. Or a better shield. Or both.” I spat out my reply quickly and then drew a deep breath before continuing. “Also, I think we’re looking at these quests the wrong way. Or I am. I’m not playing the game right.”
Alexa winced but did not stop her preparation of the coffee pot. The pot itself had been cleaned the day before, so it took her only a few seconds.
