by Dean Floyd
“Where’s all the magic stuff?” asked Rob, speaking for both of us.
“What stuff?” said Nehemiah.
“We really don’t have time for this,” I said, but was ignored.
“You know, crystal balls, potions, eyeballs in jars, poison apples, caldrons? Skulls, black widows and cobwebs?” asked Rob.
“You expect the Wicked Witch of the West?”
“No flying monkeys?” whined Rob.
I kicked the cat. “You can’t talk remember.”
Nehemiah brought us into his study. Piano-centric Jazz music was playing faintly from a set of speakers. On one whole wall, pictures of horn, guitar, and piano players were mounted as well as a few choice Jazz records. On a stand in corner was an electric guitar, one of those hollow body types plugged into a small tube amp.
Bookshelves covered the other three of the four walls. Off to one side was a nice Ikea style desk that seemed naked without a computer on it. He offered me a reading chair under a lamp while he spun the desk chair around and sat down. “Okay,” he said.“Explain to me why you thought it was cool to track me down at this hour of the night.”
I spent several precious minutes filling him in on what had taken place up until just before going on the date at Pho Noodle House. "...and I thought I killed the one-and-only Sluagh, but—.”
Nehemiah cut me off before I could explain about Charice. "Sluagh means ‘Host’ in Gaelic.” His arms were crossed and he wasn’t even phased.
"You already know about the Sluagh?" I said.
Nehemiah raised eyebrows. "Know about them? I've only been fighting them for weeks. Why do you think the Banshee was trying to wash blood out of my clothes in the laundromat?" He lifted his shirt exposing his rib cage and I could see a nasty scar that wasn't quite healed. "One of those things got me good but I returned the favor."
"You killed one?" asked Rob, while inspecting Nehemiah's bookshelf.
"One? At least three. Maybe five."
Five, I mouthed. "I could barely handle one."
“That’s why they sent the Banshee after me. I was messing with their schemes.”
“They?”
“Fomorians.”
His staff was suspended on the wall also by a special hanger. It was a lot smaller than I remembered and now that I could see it up close the weathered grains in the ebony wood told me that the weapon had seen a lot of action.
I raised my hands. “The Sluagh took some women. Just over an hour ago. West. And I need your help to save them.”
Nehemiah sighed. “This is gonna sound harsh, but we can’t be everywhere at once Sean. When you’ve been doing this as long as me you experience failure. We’re finite. We can’t waste energy saving people that are already on the Otherside.”
“You know where the Sluagh are coming from?” I asked.
“Well,” he said, “Like all supernatural beings, they aren’t from here. They cross over one or two ways. A tear in the space-time fabric, like our Banshee last week.”
“Or?” I said.
“Or through a Threshold.” When I gave him a puzzled look he explained. “It’s a gateway, a place of crossing. Neither here nor there, but in both.”
"So if you know where they're coming from why not take the fight to the source?"
"To the Threshold? No way."
"Why not?"
"I protect the innocent but I don't go hunting them on their turf."
"That's so stupid. You could have ended this fight a long time ago."
"You think closing a Threshold is the answer? They’ll just make another one. You don't know nothin’ Sean. You just woke up to the hidden world remember? I’ve been doing this for a while."
"Well I would've at least tried."
"I bet you would," said Nehemiah nodding his head. "I have a wife and kids Sean. I have a responsibility to them first. You killed a Banshee and one Sluagh and now you’re all gung-ho to take ‘em all out."
My emotions got to me and I raised my voice."Why even help me save my little brother last week? Didn’t you cross over to their turf then?"
Nehemiah's eyes closed and he rested his chin in his right hand. "That was different. We were right there in the moment when it happened. No offence, but there’s nothing at stake this time.”
I took a step towards him raising my hands up. "That’s not true,” I started to explain. “The Sluagh took—"
"I can't let you throw your life away Sean,” said the wizard. “I’m not taking you to the Threshold."
I clenched my fists and was about to explain it was personal when my phone rang. Except when I reached into my pocket the ringing phone wasn’t mine, it was Charice's. On the screen I read the name and my blood froze in my veins. Justin.
Chapter 15
That Changes Everything
I pressed the red button and sent the call to voicemail. My stomach felt like a monster inside was gnawing at me, eating my innards and working its way up to my throat. I was almost physically choked up.
The phone rang again. I didn't need to look to know that it was Justin. This time I let it go to voicemail without touching it. The third time it rang I went against better judgement and answered the phone.
"Hello," I said, trying to keep the quivering out of my voice.
"Is this you white boy? Where's Charice?”
"Yeah, it's Sean," I said.
"What are you picking up my sister's phone for fool? Put my sister on the line."
I bit my lip then said, "I can't. She's not here right now."
I heard silence on the other line. "What do you mean she's not there?"
"I mean," I stammered, "she's busy right now, in the bathroom."
"She at your place? Boy I told you if you touch my sister—”
"She's in the bathroom at the restaurant. I'll have her call you back."
“She pocket called me. I heard all the screaming. I know something went down. You put my sister on the line right now or I’m coming to kill you.” he started yelling obscenities at me in English, Tagalog, and Spanish. I had to move the phone away from me to save my eardrums.
Having nothing else to say, I hung up the phone.
Seconds later, Justin's name appeared on the screen again. I went into the menu and set Justin's profile to "Do not disturb."
If I saved his sister he’d never know anything was wrong. Not if I saved her, when I saved her, I reassure myself. I stared down at Charice's phone in my hand. The phone was silenced but Justin's name popped up on the screen again. Nehemiah knows where the Threshold is, I just need to have him tell me how to get there.
I looked at Nehemiah. “Did you hear that?”
He nodded. "I basically heard everything. That guy wasn't being quiet."
“That’s why I need to get through. The Sluagh took Charice. It’s personal.”
He continued to stare with his hands folded in front of his mouth.
"I only need you to tell me how to get there."
Nehemiah licked his lips and took a deep breath through his nostrils. “Hoooo boy,” was all he said before leaving the room.
"Where are you going?"asked Rob.
I didn’t know whether to wait or to leave. If he doesn’t help me what do I do next?
Rob was inspecting the bookshelves. “Wow, quite an eclectic collection here. The Bible. Something called the Necronomicon. The Garfield definitive collection. Solomon Kane. Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual. Oh, it’s 3.5 though. That’s useless.”
The door to the study opened and the wizard walked in. He still had on his sweater and jeans but now he had pulled steel toe boots over his feet and was wearing the trench coat that I was more familiar seeing him in. He was also packing a .357 Magnum revolver if I wasn’t mistaken, and not the wussy snub nose version either.
I spoke first. “Look Nehemiah, You’ve got a family, just tell me where the Threshold is and I’ll leave.”
He shook his head. “You can’t get there without me. You don’t have a boat.”
We’ll have to cross the water, and by boat. I had totally forgotten it was somewhere near Highway 37.
"What are you staring at me for?" he asked. "Let's go."
Chapter 16
On the Water
The Vallejo boat launch parking lot was closed and blocked by a gate. But that doesn't stop a Chaos Wizard.
Nehemiah backed up his pickup truck until the boat was touching the surface of the water. We hopped out of the truck and I got Tain out of the truck bed. Nehemiah directed Rob and I until we had the boat completely in the water and ready to cast off.
I held the boat as everyone else got in one by one. Except for me.
"Come on Sean let's make haste!" said Rob. Tain barked at me.
It was an old tin boat that had seen better days. It felt incredibly thin, like there wasn’t that much between me and the water. "Guys I don’t know if I can do this," I said. My voice sounded a little shaky and my arm was twitching a little bit.
"Don't tell me you can't swim," said Nehemiah.
"It's not that," I said, "it's just that... I have this thing with large bodies of water."
"Do you want to save the girl or not?" said Nehemiah.
I nodded. "Obviously," I said in a quiet voice.
"What's the matter Sean?" asked Rob.
I closed my eyes and focused on breathing through my nose. I felt the small hand on my shoulder and looked to see Rob with a concerned look on his face staring into mine.
"My sister... she drowned," I said.
Nehemiah shook his head. "I'm sorry Sean that's too bad."
"She drowned herself— sort of. It's complicated."
“You don’t have to do this,” said Nehemiah. “There’s a good chance this girl is already gone. Time can move differently in Tir na nOg. It could have only been an hour for the girl, or a day. A week even. There’s no knowing.”
I shook my head. "I can't accept that. She's alive.”
“Get in the boat then.”
It took everything in me to step onto the boat. It felt like walls were closing in around me and I begin to breathe heavily.
Tain sensed my discomfort and moved his head under my hand encouraging me to pet him. The act of scratching him behind the ears helped. Nehemiah started the engine and we were off.
We rode for what seemed like an eternity. We went North up the Napa River. Vallejo was on our right and Mare Island on our left. We passed the Ferry building and the Marina.
Vallejo was basically the dead center of California, meaning that a drive in any direction for three hours or less would put you in a completely different biome. Everything from rocky snow-capped mountains, deserts, beaches, redwood forests, rolling hills, flat plains, and our current destination, marsh wetlands.
By the time we passed under the Highway 37 overpass that I had used over an hour ago, ten minutes had already passed. "Holy crow Nehemiah. This is gonna take so long!" I said. "Seriously man, can’t this boat go faster?"
"Nope. That’s why it was cheap. Thank you Craigslist.”
I rolled my eyes. “Can’t you just use your magic to get us there faster?”
“Nope,” said Nehemiah.
"Why not?" I asked him.
Nehemiah licked his lips, "I need to conserve my usage. Who knows what we’re walking into tonight. Plus it's not an end-all answer to solving issues. If anything it can be a burden."
"You got that right," I said. "I haven't been able to consistently use mine."
"That's because like all first-time magic users you triggered it emotionally at first so now you’ve trained your mind that emotional extremes are the only way to access the power."
"You didn't produce that force field out of fear when the Banshee attacked you?"
"Sure, during the fight I didn't want to get hurt. And I was somewhat fearful,” said Nehemiah, shaping his hands into a circle. “But my ability to conjure the orb around me had nothing to do with my emotional state. Just comes with practice."
"Where do I get training?"
"Not from me," he said. "I use the exact opposite magic as you. My magic is generated from Chaos and then wielded as Bad Luck."
On our right was the body of water that led right up to the old Kmart lot and to our left was the greater marsh wetlands.
I changed the subject slightly. "How come we’re able to do magic?"
"Both of us have Druid blood."
"Druids? Like old-school Irish wizards?"
"Old-school Celtic wizards," he corrected me. “The Irish descended from the Celts.”
I frowned at him. "But you're not Celtic."
"How you gonna tell me?” Nehemiah shook his head. “This white boy."
"You're the one that told my mom you are a shaman. Isn't that some kind of African wizard?"
"That’s true too. I do have Zulu blood in me," he said. "But don't you know most African-Americans have Caucasian blood in them too. Some of my ancestors run all the way back to the Celts, back to Druid blood. And some all the way back to South Africa."
We were winding our way through a slough stream now. The slough was as wide across as three city streets. On either side of us marsh grass and tall wetland weeds grew high, obscuring our view of Vallejo in the distance. We were more than halfway to Skaggs Island now.
I squinted at him and nodded. "And what are Druids?"
"You mean what gives them powers?"
I nodded.
"The legends and myths aren't exactly congruent in that area,” he said. “Some say they are the offspring of the Tuatha de Danann and humans, others say they were humans blessed by the Tuatha de Danann. And yet others say the Druids were the ones who bestowed power to the Tuatha. Either way they were humanoids that somehow inherited immense power and immortality. Some of their descendants inherited the Gift, the ability to channel magic.”
Rob tugged on my arm trying to get my attention.
“Hold on. I need to hear this,” I said to Rob. "So the Tuatha are all powerful beings?” I asked Nehemiah.
"They would like us to think that. Or at least they were way back when they ruled Ireland. But ever since they were banished back to Tir na nOg they've displayed that they're not in complete control, that their power is limited."
"Are they controlling the Sluagh?”
"I doubt one of the Tuatha de Danann is controlling the Sluagh. Seems more like Fomorian work to me."
"The Fomorians, are like the mortal enemies of the Tuatha de Danann?"
Nehemiah nodded. "Exactly. You can think of the Tuatha de Danann like beautiful elves—"
"The sexy kind,” said Rob. “Like in Lord of the Rings."
Nehemiah rolled his eyes. "...and Fomorians like massive ugly grotesque giants and such."
"Not so sexy then?" I said.
"Definitely not," said Nehemiah shaking his head. "Their outer appearance is but an extension of their inner corruption brought on by the Chaos that controls them."
"But don't you use Chaos magic?"
Nehemiah sighed. "The way I use Chaos is too advanced for you right now."
"So you're like Mace Windu who channels the dark side of the force as a Jedi. Of course that's not canon, that's only in the comic books and stuff."
Nehemiah looked at me like I was from the moon.
"Oh come on, you don't know Star Wars?"
"That stuff’s for losers."
"But it's Star Wars man!"
Rob tapped my shoulder this time. “Sean—”
“Hold that thought,” I told Rob. Another pressing question I needed to ask the wizard popped into my head. "So what’s with the Shepherd’s Guild?"
"What about it?" he said.
"Back in the laundromat you asked me if I was from the Shepherds Guild."
"Remember MIB?"
"Will Smith. Tommy Lee Jones. The best. Yeah we talked about it last week.”
"It's like that," he said, as if it was the only explanation I needed.
I held up my hands, "That's it? Come
on man. I need more."
“You know what would be the worst for you right now Sean?” said Rob, interrupting.
“What?” I asked.
“If Sluagh sensed your Keening and attacked us on the water. Especially with your whole aquaphobia thing.”
“Not even kinda funny dude,” I said.
“Tell me,” said Nehemiah, “Why is this Leprechaun here again?”
“He owes me a life debt because—” I started to explain.
Rob, Nehemiah and I all stopped talking. Tain began growling. Our monster senses were going off simultaneously.
“More Sluagh?”
“Yep,” said Nehemiah.
“Look,” said Rob. “On the horizon.”
I was about to ask which direction, but I didn’t need to. Whether I looked Northeast, Southeast, or true East, I could spot wings beating in the moonlight. And each one carried the faint outline of a struggling victim.
“We’ve got to do something,” I said, balling my fingers into fists.
“We are doing something,” said Nehemiah. “They’ll lead us right to the Threshold.”
“I thought you know where it is?” I asked.
“I can sense it,” he said. “But it’ll be easier to follow. We just need to lay low. We can’t do anything from the boat anyways.”
Several of the Sluagh were coming in faster than the rest. They were not carrying victims. They sensed my Keening.
Chapter 17
Sitting Ducks
“Told you,” said Rob.
“They’re coming right for us,” I said.
Tain barked furiously.
The Sluagh plunged down swiftly like black daggers.
I pulled out my shotgun and cocked it.
“Leprechaun, switch with me,” said Nehemiah. “Get the one on the left Sean. I got righty.”
We shuffled as fast as we could without capsizing the boat. Nehemiah produced his staff from the depths of his trenchcoat again. There’s no way that whole staff should fit in there. An image of Mary Poppins removing a lamp from her shoulder bag flashed in my head, but I ignored it. I’ll have to ask him about that some other time.
