Gregory kissed the top of my head and with his hand on my back, guided me to the helicopter. While the medic strapped me into my seat, the motor roared and the rotor blades started turning. Gregory held Fudge in his arms, shielding him against the wind and waved to me.
The flight home was uneventful. The medics in the helicopter had given Ev something to knock him out so the transfer to the private ambulance plane, the flight to Minneapolis and the transfer to the hospital went smoothly. That gave me about four hours to wallow in my grief but not as much as I would have liked – I remembered that I had to keep a tight lid on my emotions. Who knew what I might do to a flying conveyance? It’s probably a good thing I wasn’t on a conventional plane with a fully-stocked bar.
I got Ev settled in his overly-large bed in a private room at St. Aloysius’ Hospital – the only one in the Cities that treated non-humans. He was still knocked out via some powerful drugs and had what seemed like twenty IVs going at once. The wizard doctor told me that Ev had a broken jaw, a broken nose, two cracked ribs and more bruises than he could count. In addition, he was severely dehydrated and slightly starved.
“He’s an ogre so I can’t use magic to make him well. He should be ready to go home in three or four days but it’s going to be a couple of weeks before he’s fully healed. I’ll keep you apprised.”
I could only nod, ensure the desk had my cell number and head home. I was about to crawl into a taxi when a car screeched to a stop behind it. Cassandra jumped out of the passenger side and enveloped me in a big hug.
“Honey, we just heard from Gregory. Are you okay?”
“No.” I started sobbing into her shoulder. I felt another arm around both of us and knew it was Tommy from the ever-present scent of coffee, bread and herbs.
“Come on. Let’s get you home,” Tommy said as he waved the taxi off. I let them tuck me into the back of the car, Cassandra crawling in beside me and rewrapping me in her long arms.
“I won’t ask you to tell me what happened right now. I got the gist of it from Gregory. But you know I’m – we’re here for you.” Her voice soothed me and I sobbed myself to sleep on her shoulder, only to be woken again shortly thereafter as we stopped in front of my apartment building.
Cassandra saw me to the door and opened it with her key. “I hope you don’t mind but I called Elinda and Marge. I suck at sleep spells and you need some dreamless sleep right now. They’re waiting for you inside.” She hugged me and pushed me through the door – right into Marge’s ample bosom.
Marge and Elinda were like my grandmothers – always ready to lend an ear or to help where they could – and that included bringing me homemade cakes and cookies on a regular basis. I saw Elinda in my kitchen, doing something at the stove. Marge kept her arm around me as she guided me to the bedroom.
“I’m so, so sorry, honey. Cassandra told me a little of what’s happened to you in the last few days. She’s right – you need dreamless sleep and I’m going to make sure you get it. Climb into your jammies and crawl into bed. I’ll be right back.”
Fudge was already curled up on one of the pillows and he meowed softly as I did as I was told plus one other thing: I brushed my teeth. I’d just pulled the covers up to my chin when she reappeared with a mug in her hand.
“Drink this. It’ll nourish you so you don’t have to try to choke down food. It’s not hot so you can down it.”
I sat up and mechanically drank the liquid, grateful that, although slightly woodsy-tasting, it wasn’t too bad.
Marge took the mug from my hand and smiled at me. “Lie back down and get comfortable. Fudge, you know what to do.”
Fudge, without his usual kneading in my hair, curled up right next to me and I felt the now-familiar pressure at the back of my head. Marge closed her eyes, extended her hands and I could see and feel gentle tendrils of energy wrapping themselves around me, forcing the tense muscles to relax. My eyes closed and the last thing I remember is hearing “Sleep well, my human. I will keep watch” in my head.
When I opened my eyes, it was to a view of chocolate brown fur. Fudge had draped himself over my head again. This time, however, he moved before I had a chance to sneeze into his stomach, which would have necessitated another thorough grooming. The smell of coffee accompanied Cassandra’s voice saying, “Mornin’. How ya feelin’?”
The events of the prior day slammed back into me and I pulled the covers all the way over my head. “Like shit,” I mumbled. “What are you doing here?”
“You didn’t think we’d leave you alone to wallow, did you? Marge, Elinda and I are taking turns until we’re sure you’ve got a good handle on everything. Here, drink this. It’s some of Gregory’s Italian stuff I found in your suitcase which, by the way, is still in the middle of your living room.” She handed me one of the two steaming mugs she was carrying then sat on my cedar chest.
After taking a sip from her mug and moaning a little with pleasure, she continued, “You’ve been through some awful crap in the last few days, not the least of which is your powers not just blossoming but rocketing off. Couple that with the horrible emotions you must be feeling and we think you need supervising. No arguing, either, because it’s already been decided.”
I glared at her. “What? I’m a little kid who can’t tuck myself in at night? I don’t need anyone hovering. You know I like my privacy.”
“Amy, this is different. According to Gregory, you can cause earthquakes if you lose control. That’s dangerous. A mundane who’s been through what you have can lose it on a moment’s notice. You can’t afford to lose it. Ever.”
I sighed and drank some more coffee. “All this before even one full cup of coffee. I know Marge and Elinda are retired but don’t you have a deli to run? And I have to go into the office to take care of stuff that’s slid while I was gone.”
She grinned. “Yes, I do have a deli to run. And for the first time in our lives, we’re both going to bring our cats to work. Familiars can talk to each other, you know, and Fudge can tell Merlin if anything is happening that means I need to run upstairs.”
Someone had been doing some blabbing and his initials were Gregory Tremayne. I looked at the clock.
“Holy shit. It’s already nine. Who’s in the deli? I gotta get to the office.”
“Calm down. Tommy opened the store for me this morning and Charlie’s coming in early. Sally is already at her desk and Gregory won’t be there until about noon. We have plenty of time. I need a refill and I know you do, too. We need to talk and the couch is a lot more comfortable than this chest. Come into the living room.”
I duly padded after her and after refilling both our mugs, she curled up on one end of the sofa while I tucked my feet underneath myself in the recliner. Fudge hopped onto the chair arm and leaned against me.
“So, talk,” she said. “Tell me in your own words what happened. Don’t leave out anything, including how you felt while wielding energy. Filter out the rage if you can. I need to know how you process things.”
For the next hour, I related everything I could remember. Strangely, I felt no rage or deep sorrow when I told her of Tony’s death. I felt detached, somehow. I said as much.
Cassandra nodded at my cat. “That’s Fudge at work. He’s dampening your emotional centers. There are times we have work to do when strong emotions would screw up the spell. Familiars can block the stronger emotions so they don’t come through in our magic. Once he releases his block, you’ll feel them again. It kinda sucks in a way but on the other hand, it’s helpful at times.”
I looked at my cat and then at her. “This is weird,” I said.
“You’ve got a lot of stuff to get used to. Fudge’s abilities are just one of the weird things that are going to become normal. Familiars are much smarter than pets. Of course, they have to be. Fudge has been living with you for what? Five years, now? He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows when to help and when to stay out of things, including your head. I grew up with Merlin so I’m used to
it. You’ll get used to it in time, too.”
My jaw dropped. “Wait. You grew up with Merlin? He’s over thirty? Twenty years old is ancient for a cat.” I looked at Fudge. “How long do you guys live, anyways?”
Fudge preened a little as Cassandra answered me. “They live as long as we do in this body. This body will die when you do and the spirit will reincarnate in another body when and where it’s needed. Fudge and Merlin are probably a thousand years old.”
More weird crap to process. My cat is a feline Yoda. Joy. But as long as we were on the subject of familiars…
“Does Merlin talk to you in your head? Gregory said they don’t but I distinctly hear someone talking to me in English at times and I know it’s not coming from my ears, if you get my drift.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s really rare. I know what Merlin’s thinking but it’s more of a feeling. He obviously understands what I’m saying but we don’t converse, for lack of a better word. My great-aunt could hear her bulldog, Spike, speak, though. You’re one of the lucky ones. You can have an actual conversation with him!”
“I am older than that moving picture character. He was only nine hundred as you humans count years. There are many of us who have lived long enough to develop telepathy with humans. If the youngster, Merlin as she calls him, behaves, perhaps I will teach him to have mind speech with his human.”
My eyes widened as I looked down at my cat. He just looked back at me with a totally expressionless face.
“You have a lot of learning to do in a fairly short period of time,” Cassandra continued. “Fudge can help with some things, like controlling your emotions and being something of a memory bank, but there are laws and methodology and stuff like that I’ll need to teach you. From now until I deem otherwise, Sundays will be devoted to magical work.”
I glared at her again. “I have things to do, you know. Like a job, my writing – oh hell, I’m even later than I was past a deadline. My editor is going to kill me.” I looked at the clock again. It was ten-thirty. “I gotta get moving. I promise I’ll be at your house at noon on Sunday, okay?”
“Make it eleven and you’re eating both lunch and supper with us. Bring a notebook or your laptop. Whatever you’re most comfortable taking notes on. Mom has given me permission to make a copy of my workbook for you so you’ll have immediate reference material. But arrange your schedule so you have time during the week for studying. Like I said, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do. I’m headed to the deli. I’ll be bringing your lunch up so I’ll see you in a bit.”
She gave me a hug and headed out the door without another word. Fudge got off the arm of the chair and all of a sudden, I felt a wave of both sorrow and anger wash over me. I slumped back into the chair, not wanting to move.
“I let go of the block,” I heard. “You must learn to deal with this as any human must.”
He was right. I pushed myself out of the chair and headed for the shower.
After I dressed, it dawned on me that I was supposed to take Fudge to work with me. I didn’t have a carrier for him, and I certainly didn’t want cat hair all over my suit before I even set foot in the office.
“Unlike dogs, I do not need a leash. I will walk beside you,” he said. Having someone else in my head was going to take some getting used to.
“Why am I now just hearing you?” I asked him – out loud.
“I have always been here. But your magical abilities had to completely manifest before your conscious mind would acknowledge me. Now, so other humans do not think you are completely crazy, I suggest you learn to think to me rather than speak aloud.”
I know we got some funny looks. A human walking on the sidewalk with a cat trotting alongside. Daintily, I might add. It was still early spring in the frozen north and I’m sure the concrete was a little cold on the paws. “Do I need to get you booties or something to keep your paws warm?” I asked, er, thought.
“Please do not insult my dignity in that way. I have walked farther on much colder surfaces. I will be fine. Watch where you are walking instead of looking at me. You are going to trip on that tree root.”
I looked up too late. I stubbed my toe on said tree root and damned near fell flat on my face. Thankfully, I didn’t and there wasn’t anyone looking to see my face flush deep red with embarrassment – and a wee bit of anger that my shoe was scuffed. I hated polishing my shoes – it was so messy. I heard a small chuckle in my head and walked with an eye on my path the rest of the way to the office.
Sally came around her desk and gave me a big hug before I could even get my coat off. Then, looking down at me she said, “Are you okay? I can keep things going just fine if you want to take a few days off.”
“I wish people would quit asking me that,” I replied. “No, I’m not okay but I will be. Work is the best medicine.”
“All right but if you need to get out of here, you just get up and leave. No one will blame you. Why is there a cat with you? Did he follow you here?”
“Well, yes, in a way he did follow me. This is my familiar, Fudge. Fudge, this is Sally. Apparently I have some magical issues to work through and he’s here to help. At least that’s what he and Cassandra say.”
“Wow. A familiar, huh? Jack is going to be jealous. No one in his family ever got assigned one. What issues?”
I sighed. Here we go again. “That earthquake you read about in Atlanta? The one that broke some dishes? That, apparently, was me. When I get highly pissed, which I was at that moment, I can cause them. So, Fudge is here to help me keep a lid on my emotions. Cassandra’s familiar is down in the deli with her so I have a bunch of babysitters. If you don’t mind, I’d really rather not rehash everything for the second time today. I promise I’ll tell you everything but not right now. What’s been happening while I was gone?”
She smiled in understanding. “Don’t worry about it. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and go sit down. My notes are on your desk. There were only a few things I didn’t feel comfortable handling so it shouldn’t take too long to get back up to speed. I’ll be here if you need me.”
I sat down to ten pages of meticulous notes, detailing not only calls and emails but exactly what time the message came in, what time she answered, how she dealt with whatever it was and anything I had to do was highlighted. She was even more anal about things than I! Thankfully, the highlights were few and far between. Ev couldn’t have chosen a better time of the year to get kidnapped.
“Martin’s on the phone,” Sally’s voice said over the intercom. “He says it’s important.”
“It is,” I sighed back while picking up the receiver.
“Good morning,” I said.
“Mornin’ Amy,” his gruff voice was cheery. “I wanted to ask you which account you want to take the loan interest out of since all the principal has been repaid. I know it’s not due until Monday but we may as well take care of it now and reduce the total amount of interest a bit.”
Repaid? They got all the money back? To be honest, the money end of things never crossed my mind with everything else that had happened. I took a quick peek at the computer and told Martin which account to use. As I hung up, I saw Gregory leaning against the door jamb with a smile on his face.
“You have Jarvis to thank for that,” he said. “He and his group tracked down everyone involved…all ten of them. Five were rogue weres and because he puts a bounty on those, he decided against getting paid for their services. Hello, Fudge.”
I blew out a puff of air in relief. Now that I was in work mode, I realized that having to rearrange portfolios to accommodate such a loss would have been a major pain. I was indeed grateful to Jarvis for not demanding payment, although it would have been his right to do so.
“I presume you’ve already been to see Ev this morning. How is he?” I asked.
“Grumpy, which is a good sign. They took out most of his IVs this morning. I left when the nurse told him he’d have to be on a soft diet until his jaw healed. I know ogres heal almost as q
uickly as weres but it’s still going to be a week or so before he will be able to really chew anything. I didn’t want to stick around to hear the argument.”
I grinned. Better someone else than me nursing him. Given that Ev flew off the handle at the slightest provocation, I could imagine the argument that ensued.
“Speaking of nurses, has anyone called Marianna?” I asked.
“I called her when I landed in Minneapolis last night. She ran right over to the hospital and I don’t think she’s left yet. She was sleeping in the chair when I arrived there this morning. She’s how they snatched Ev, you know.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Huh? How?”
“I got Ev to tell me this morning when Marianna went to get some breakfast. Someone called him with her mobile, apparently able to effectively imitate her, said she was in hospital in Atlanta after a car accident and could he come be with her? That was the call he got at Cassandra and Tommy’s reception. Loverboy had me drop him at Flying Cloud without telling me where he was going or why.
“He felt a little sheepish saying anything to me. Apparently, he’s really smitten with her. They snatched him at his hotel down there. I learned that one of the wizards had obtained an ancient spell specifically designed to bring down an ogre which, by the way, I now know and have made the council aware of.”
Gregory moved from the doorway to one of the chairs in my office. Setting his coffee cup on my desk, he continued.
“All the bumps and bruises are from David and his cronies taking out David’s anger on Ev when he was tied up. I hope they have a boxing gym or the equivalent in prison. They’re not going to be seeing the outside for quite some time and this time it’s dwarf, not human prison. Even for the wizards. It’s not going to be a fun time.”
Gregory coughed. “Marianna is feeling a bit sheepish as well. Someone stole her mobile out of her bag at one of the parties they attended a fortnight ago and because she was staying home where she has a land line, she didn’t bother calling her provider until Wednesday.
Upheaval! Page 11
