by Martha Carr
“Leira Berens, you are at least half a Light Elf.” Correk’s voice floated to her. “That makes any of the people who you can now see surrounded by light your family. Wherever you go, you belong to them, they belong to you.”
Leira felt the wave of energy cresting, threatening to overwhelm her. At the edges, she could also feel the pain of losing first her mother, and then her grandmother. Hell, not even knowing the name of her father. It drove straight through the center of the emotions coursing through her and punched her in the chest.
Instinctively, she pulled back, letting the energy subside.
Correk saw the pain in her eyes. “It’s okay. That’s enough for now. We’re here to enjoy the music and be with the humans you’ve adopted, anyway.”
“No, I want to know,” Leira protested, taking a sip of her beer, resisting the urge to ball her hands into fists.
“You will know. Give it time. At least longer than five minutes. Start by enjoying what’s happening around you,” he said, pointing at the band. “They’re not bad. You call this, what, funk? I might like this.”
She smiled, still struggling with the different emotions pushing their way through her from the inside out.
“When you get better at this I’ll show you how to see the different colors in the light around everybody. It’s like being able to read their minds. Right now, you’re a swirl of purple and yellow, which by the way, does not exactly look good on you. Very conflicted. I think you puny humans call it, mixed emotions.”
Leira laughed and gave Correk a gentle shove.
“Much better. You’ve blended into a nice green. On Oriceran it can be hard to have secrets. Everyone’s always up inside your colors.”
“I’ve said this before, you’ve been watching the puny humans way too much and it appears it’s mostly been bad cable TV.” Leira laughed again and felt the music move through her, making her want to dance. She started to move in time with the music. What the hell? Dance? I don’t do things like dance.
“Magic is just as much a part of you as the human elements,” said Correk. “Although, I’m not sure either world would actually call that dancing.” He laughed this time. Leira smiled and did her best to ignore him.
“Tell me more about the magical community. About Lavender Rock.”
“Ah, the kemana.”
“The what?”
“The kemana. It’s a place on Earth where the Oricerans who were here thousands of years ago stored as much energy as they could. They created different places where they’d be able to gather energy later, just in case.”
“Like an emergency battery. You mean in case they wanted to get home. So fucking weird. I suppose Oriceran is my home too, at least partly. It’s like finding out you’re part giraffe.”
“Not really. I’m letting that one go. You’re getting overwhelmed. Just enjoy the music. Let the spell work its way through you.”
“This isn’t like a drug thing, right?”
“You’d have a better time if you stopped thinking so much.” Correk watched Leira fight against the calming spell, looking around, taking in her environment. “Alright, no, it’s not. You’re not becoming a magic junkie. It’s a way of getting all your emotions, your energy to align but it only works for a little while. It’s nothing permanent. For that, you’ll have to learn to relax on your own. Apparently, it’s been too long since you’ve arrested someone.”
“Over twenty-four hours. That does feel like withdrawal.”
“You wanted to come here. Any chance you can be present and enjoy it?”
“You know how much I love a fucking challenge. Fine, I’ll be here, but I want a promise from you.”
“Let’s have it.”
“Go back with me to Lavender Rock and introduce me to everyone. Help me to get to know the family I didn’t even know I had.” Leira’s voice cracked when she said the last words. She was surprised yet again that night, at the emotion inside of her. Son of a bitch, if this is happiness… “Okay, okay. I can do this,” she said, shaking out her arms. “But promise me anyway.”
“I promise. I’ll take you to the local kemana. It will prove to be more interesting than you can imagine.”
“A teaser. I like it.”
“Come on, guys. How are you still standing over here like statues? Move to the music!” Mitzi was twirling around, her arms over her head, spinning between Correk and Leira. Scott was busy doing the twist with Margaret and Lucy, and Craig and Mike were jumping straight up and down. Leira joined Mitzi, throwing her arms up in the air and doing a bad rendition of the pony. She laughed harder than she could remember in a very long time.
I have more family than I realized. She spun around and felt the energy surge through her, lighting up all of the magical people in the room. Everywhere.
Chapter Seven
“You look like something I scraped off my shoe this morning.” Detective Hagan put a mug of hot coffee down in front of Leira, who was sitting upright at her desk in the precinct but resting her head to one side in the palm of her hand.
“Why so loud?” She lifted her head and looked at him.
“I could have sworn you never go out.” He sat down at his desk directly across from her and chuckled. “Good! It’s about time you acted your age, instead of mine. Believe me, you’ll get here fast enough. No need to speed things up. Next thing you know, you’ll need a good solid grunt to get out of a chair.”
“It wasn’t the drinking so much as the dancing. And I’m a damn runner!”
“Dancing! Now I’ve heard everything. You got your dance on! You must have strained something.” He did a little dancing in his chair. “No? Okay. Well, well, well. You were actually letting loose. This may take me longer to get used to than the idea of magic and shit. What the hell!” He laughed and slammed his hand down hard on the top of his desk, startling her.
“Seriously?”
“Sorry, I get exuberant. Rose points that out to me all the time. Frankly, half the time I think she likes it.”
“That’s definitely TMI. How do people do this every weekend?” Leira rolled her chair closer to the column next to her desk and leaned against it.
“You went at it too hard your first time. You have to build up to it. You got the bends,” Hagan said, chortling. “Boy, that takes me back to my community college days. Didn’t even go out till eleven. Still woke up pretty early in the morning. Take an actual sip of your coffee.”
“I don’t have a hangover.”
“Meh, can’t hurt. Coffee cures a lot of early morning issues.” Hagan wheeled his chair closer and put his hand up by his mouth to whisper, “Why don’t you stir a little magic in your coffee. Huh? You must have something in your magic bag that would help something like this?”
“You know, when you hold your hand up like that everyone knows you’re saying something they want to hear.” Leira did her best to muster up a dead fish look.
“That’s sad. Can’t even look bored, much less menacing. I’m surprised you people can get laid low so easily.”
“You people? We’ve already started with the you people? That’s got to be racist, somehow. And I’m your people. Well, mostly.”
“Try taking that one to IA. I insulted the people who live at the end of rainbows. Green stars, pink hearts,” he said, doing a bad imitation of an Irish accent. “Blue moons.”
“I think it’s yellow moons. Who ever heard of a green star,” Leira said, blowing on the coffee. The steam felt good on her face.
“Uh huh. See who they decide to help.” He did air quotes when he said ‘help’, annoying Leira more.
“That’s exactly why I’m not trying to magic my way out of this. If I got caught it won’t end like a Disney movie.”
“I don’t know. It might. Seven dwarves. A witch out to get you.”
Leira sipped the coffee. “This is not department issue coffee. It doesn’t taste like burned leaves and it’s not plastering the inside of my throat.”
Hagan put his hand back up to
the side of his mouth and whispered, “It’s my private stash. Don’t tell anyone.”
“For such a great detective…”
“Thank you,” he said, taking a bow.
“You’re not very good at being subtle with your own secrets.”
“Hey, no one’s found my stash yet.”
“Point taken.”
“Hagan, Berens, you’ve caught a case.” Captain Napora was standing in his doorway holding a file.
“Uh oh, this can’t be good. The Captain is handing out cases.” Hagan scratched the top of his head.
“Any day now,” said the Captain.
Hagan gave a half-hearted smile. “Right away, sir.”
“Someone important is dead.” Leira stood up slowly and took another large swallow of coffee.
“Or somebody died in a particularly inventive way.”
She put the mug down and followed Hagan across the room. The Captain handed Hagan the file, a grim look on his face.
“String of robberies with no suspects and until today, no real injuries to speak of. Today, a guard inside a jewelry store was fatally wounded. Gun shot. You’re going to help Thomas and Leakes in Robbery. This could use a fresh set of eyes. The basics are that a gang of three have been holding up high-end retailers in the more rural parts of Travis County where there aren’t as many witnesses or traffic.”
“So, not the Domain. I can never find a parking place there. I have to haunt someone with my car and follow them slowly back to where they parked,” Hagan said.
“They wear ski masks and say very little, preferring to let their guns speak for them. Very smooth. This isn’t even the first time a guard has tried to shoot it out with them. But every other time they were able to disarm the guard. No muss, no fuss. This time something went haywire. The guard got off a shot and may have winged one of them. One of the others reacted and shot the guard dead. They fled immediately and managed to leave no prints. Not even a drop of blood.”
Hagan glanced at Leira but she kept her eyes on the Captain. She knew what Hagan was thinking. Magic. Can’t be true.
“What kind of description did the witnesses give?” Leira took the file from Hagan and looked over the details. “It says there are ten robberies. That’s a lot. These descriptions are pretty vague. Medium height, medium build. No real accent. Some witnesses say they’re white and others swear they’re black.”
“Yeah, go figure. A crew of three finally figured out how to blend into the background in ski masks. They have the footage from the stores’ cameras and sure enough, average height, average build. Hard to say much else.” The Captain put his hands on his hips and smiled grimly. “I look forward to meeting these geniuses.”
“Understood,” said Hagan. “Come on Berens. Let’s see what we can dig up to assist our colleagues.”
The Captain went back into his office, shutting the door as Hagan and Berens walked away.
“Don’t say anything. Not in here.” Leira grabbed her leather jacket.
“I’m driving.”
“Not today.” Leira walked ahead of Hagan toward the door, the file under her arm. Hagan started to say something but Leira cut him off. “Not one word.”
“We go talk to the witnesses in the last robbery. It’s the best place to start.” Leira turned onto Ben White Boulevard.
“Maybe your funny friend can conveniently stop by,” Hagan suggested, waggling his fingers.
“That’s not how anyone does a spell, ever. Put your hands down. You are a decorated detective,” she said sternly.
“What? Did I embarrass you within the confines of the car? Nobody’s watching us, are they?” Hagan turned around and shouted into the back of the car, “Hey, if you are listening, meet us at the Rollins Jewelry store on Ben White near the Trader Joe’s. Can’t miss it. Big sign with a diamond on it.”
“It’s like you think there are tiny little elves hiding down there.”
“After everything I’ve seen lately that’s not so hard to believe. Besides, elves are often shown as very small. That had to come from somewhere, right?”
“Yeah, an ad exec who wanted to keep his job. Focus, Hagan. If you still didn’t believe in magic what would you see?”
“A very professional crew. Maybe former mercenaries. Disciplined. But…”
“No buts. We don’t start seeing magic everywhere. We didn’t wonder what weird shit was happening two weeks ago. No need to start doing that now.”
A traffic light was out near the highway on-ramp. Leira ran the siren for a few seconds, making it easier to cross over the intersection.
“You gonna call that in?” asked Hagan, already pulling out his cell phone.
“We already have an assignment. Go ahead, you call 311 and be the good citizen.”
“You can text it in. Much easier. Fine, have it your way. Not magic. I’m not convinced… hang on. These fat fingers, can’t talk and type.”
“The fact that they responded to gunfire with gunfire suggests ordinary humans who took a lot of precautions trying to make the robberies as smooth as possible.”
Hagan leafed through the folder. “They also seem to have figured out what days each store has the most cash on hand. Inside man?”
“Would have to be.”
“Hey, we’ve been partners for a while. We’re even friends, maybe family, right?”
Leira pulled into the parking lot of the strip mall. The jewelry store was tucked into a corner on the far left side next to a store that sold different flavors of olive oil.
“Go on,” she said, eyeing Hagan suspiciously.
“Well, I get the whole, I can’t do anything that will draw suspicion, but what about something no one will notice? Okay, not work related. How about a robotic lawnmower for your old pal? Hear me out!”
Leira was shaking her head and rolling her eyes as she turned off the engine. “Why robotic? Wouldn’t I just make a normal lawnmower do all the work? Skip the robotic part.”
“That works!”
“Not doing it.” Leira got out of the car, still shaking her head. “Besides, that’s probably the only kind of exercise you get.”
“Harassing me about my weight or my exercise is part of my marriage vows, reserved solely for Rose’s pleasure.”
Leira smiled. “Sorry, my bad.”
Hagan stopped on the sidewalk in front of the Starbucks. “Coffee first?”
“Always.”
“After you.” He held the door open, still talking as Leira did her best to ignore him.
“It would be like a dream come true. Sit on my ass from the comfort of my lounger right by the big window in the back and watch that sucker fly! Hey, that’s a good idea too.”
“In what world would a flying lawnmower be a good idea?” Leira moved up in the line with Hagan close behind her. “Two ventis, one with a shot of foam.”
“I could see it,” said the cashier.
“See, he gets it,” said Hagan. Leira raised an eyebrow at the young man and slid her card to pay for the coffee. An older woman slid two coffees in front of them. “The one on the left has the foam,” she said.
Leira took her cup and headed for the door. “Yeah, and the same guy thought piercing his nose was a good idea.”
“Yeah, I saw that. Do girls like that kind of thing?”
“Not this one.”
“What if it was just every other mow?”
“What if you just paid someone to do it for you? Mmmm, coffee.”
“Rose handles the finances. She already said no. Much the same arguments, plus we’re saving for a trip to Hawaii.”
Leira stopped in front of the jewelry store. “Look, you realize this is all deadly serious, right? I have to be careful. People disappear forever for less. My mother, for one.” She winced when she said those words.
“Hey, kid…”
“It’s okay. We’re going to get her out. The funny fellow, whose name is Correk by the way, Bert if you’re around the crowd at Estelle’s.”
“I panicked. Gave him another name so I wouldn’t have to explain. He has that same high forehead like the Muppet? There’s a steep adjustment curve with all this. Fuck! How did we get here?”
“From the looks of things, you were always here,” he said. “Now, you have answers, maybe more.”
“Other thing is, I don’t know enough about what I can do or how to do it. I can’t be sure of unforeseen consequences. What if the lawnmower kept going down the street and ran over someone?”
Hagan recoiled, squeezing one eye shut, trying not to picture what that would look like. “That would take a lot of explaining. Fine, I’ll stick to my riding lawnmower.”
“Riding? You were bitching about a riding lawnmower?”
“Hey, that still takes effort! Come on, let’s get in here. Figure out what our average but clever felons have been doing and catch these sons of bitches.”
A small group stood in a circle on the top of Shiprock, a rocky outcropping over fifteen hundred feet high situated all by itself in the open desert of San Juan County, New Mexico. The ground was considered sacred by the local Navajo and never open to the general public, but there was nothing general about this gathering.
It was a mixed lot of magical beings whose ancestors came from Oriceran thousands of years ago and stayed, mating with the local population of humans. Two were rogue witches who were briefly part of the Silver Griffins, a few more were half Light or Wood Elf but could pass for locals on Earth, and some were from the Crystal tribe, but without the magic from Oriceran had reverted from being covered in crystals to a more human appearance. Still, they preferred the coldest climates on Earth and the heat of New Mexico was making them surly.
A few were even said to have Atlantean blood in them from the only magical tribe that originated on Earth. They never tired of pointing that out. They came from different parts of the globe to pool the recesses of the magic they had stored in different relics and artifacts.
Even though they were all very different, they had one thing in common. They believed in the rise of Rhazdon and that his magic would unite the magical community again. And this time, they would win.
