A loud pop echoed behind me and I looked over to where the grumpy neighbor had been standing. His cell phone lay on the ground, a plume of smoke rising from its fried circuits
Ah, Karma. I stifled a chuckle.
The stone dragon bounded forward with great metallic thuds against the steel floor of the truck.
“Whoa! Look at MuShu!”
“Not MuShu, Zhīzhū! He Great Spider Dragon.”
“He doesn’t look like a spider.” I said. Though, I had always thought these dragons looked more like serpents, with their long, slender bodies.
“Eight leg.” said Grandpa Dan, holding up eight fingers. I double-checked, and sure enough, counted eight legs. They had previously been obscured by the packing crate. Zhīzhū was your classic Chinese stone dragon: serpent shaped body, dragon head, scaly stone skin, but instead of four legs, he had eight.
Grandpa Dan spoke to him in Korean and Zhīzhū jumped down out of the truck, leaving two dents in the asphalt where his front feet landed. Watching stone that had been statue just moments ago move with all the energy of a puppy was surreal. The stone colored scales rippled like snake skin, smooth and eerie. It would be awful if he stepped on your foot.
“You good boy!” Grandpa Dan said, and gestured over to the sidewalk in front of the shop. Zhīzhū stopped on the sidewalk, just past the curb and froze, assuming the same pose he had taken in the crate. The life in Zhīzhū’s eyes vanished and he was a statue again. I was left feeling empty as all traces of magic faded away. It’s a weird feeling—like when someone shuts off the music you didn’t realize was still playing.
I kicked the wood splinters out of the way and rolled the back door of the truck down. Zhīzhū was now a magnificent statue guarding the entrance to Grandpa Dan’s shop. He fit the shop décor as though he had always been a part of the design.
I glanced over at Angry Neighbor, who was swearing loudly, but otherwise minding his own business.
The truck rumbled to life again as I turned the key, black smoke pouring out the tailpipe. It was an old diesel, so it was to be expected. I didn’t usually love polluting the environment, but this time it was blowing toward the crotchety neighbor.
“Tomorrow, we take trip,” Grandpa Dan said, after I parked the truck in the garage. “Show you secret shortcut.”
“Where we going?” I asked, but he just shook his head.
“Tomorrow you see. Now we go home.”
As much as I was still anxious about everything, it was really comforting having someone else to discuss magic with. The last two days had been a real rollercoaster of emotions.
Normally I’d call Stephanie and vent about everything to her. She is the one person I think would actually believe me and I couldn’t tell her anything.
Where was Iverog? He’d promised to teach me things.
CHAPTER 7
I came straight to Grandpa Dan’s shop from school, and though it was only 3:30 he had already put out the closed sign.
I hurried around to the garage door because I really had to pee.
“Alecia,” Grandpa Dan said, as I entered. “Today we go Seoul. Hope you ready.” I was down the hall with my jeans halfway unzipped before his words sunk in. He said we were going to do some traveling today, but Korea seemed too far for a day trip, and I hadn’t even packed anything.
“I don’t have a passport,” I said, zipping my pants back up. I had never been out of the country, why would I have one?
“No need passport. We take shortcut.”
“Shortcut, all right,” I said. He must mean the International District, which wasn’t very far away, and there were lots of Koreans there. We could get there and back pretty quickly and if he had a shortcut, maybe faster. Grandpa Dan pointed at two bags over by the wall.
“You carry,” he said, pointing to the bags.
“Just a minute,” I said. “I need to use the bathroom first.” He nodded, and I disappeared around the corner headed toward the staircase. The bathroom was the first door on the left at the top of the stairs.
“What manner of place is this?” a voice asked, the moment I sat down. I’d locked the door behind me, but it didn’t stop whoever was talking.
“It’s occupied.”
Iverog’s head popped into view, but just his head. He was upside down, hovering near the bathroom sink and watching me intently.
“You’re back!” I said, and almost stood up, but recovered when I realized my pants would fall down around my ankles. Fortunately I was still fully covered.
“It appears that—”
“Get out!” I yelled. “You can’t be in here!”
“Wherever you go, there I am,” he said. “If we were to separate, one or both of us would die.”
“Well, you are killing me already. GET OUT OF HERE!”
“I don’t seem to be able to. Your soul plane seems to form itself to fill the available space, making those walls as real to me as they are to you. It’s very curious.”
“Then just freaking disappear. I don’t care how you do it. I don’t want you to see me right now. This is my private time.”
“But I don’t even know . . .” I glared at him. He nodded at me and then vanished.
“You’d better not be able to see me. Close your eyes if you have to. This is the privacy rule we discussed.”
It was silent for a moment, and then I heard footsteps on the stairs.
“Alecia, you OK?” Grandpa Dan said.
“Yeah, just fine.”
“I hear big noise.”
“It was . . . a spider. But I got it. So everything is good.”
“OK,” he said. It wasn’t till I heard his footsteps going back down the stairs that I finally felt alone enough to finish what I had started.
“You can come out now,” I said, after washing my hands.
“Alecia?” he said. I looked around and didn’t see anything.
“Alecia,” came Iverog’s voice again. This time I saw something. He was blurry and standing sideways in the air. He slowly came into focus.
“Iverog!” I said. This time it was a relief to see him. “You are sideways.”
“Navigating your soul plane is proving harder than I had imagined.” He disappeared for a minute and then reappeared standing the right way up.
“That’s better,” I said. “Where have you been? I’ve been thinking I was going crazy for the last couple of days.”
“It has taken me awhile to orient myself within your soul plane. It’s larger in here than I presumed.”
Seeing him was such a relief to my sanity, but I had to know how badly I’d botched things up.
“But what happened? Did I eat your soul?”
“No,” he said. I felt the crushing weight of disaster looming over my head.
“Is everything messed up now because of me?”
“No. It appears to have worked regardless. When you touched my soul offering, you absorbed it.”
“YES!” I said in a loud whisper, trying not to let Grandpa Dan hear me again. “I was so worried I screwed up.”
“Congratulations, it appears you did not,” he said. I looked at him, trying to figure out if he was being condescending or just literal. I gave up.
“I no longer need you to explain the function of this room,” said Iverog.
“Why not?”
“I heard the noises you were making and have figured things out myself,” he said. Oh crap, I forgot he could hear me. I blushed.
“Anyway,” I said, changing the subject. “I need to get back and help Grandpa Dan carry stuff.” Iverog disappeared. For some reason, having him show up made me feel better. I know I probably should have been freaking out, because I sacrificed half my soul to save this creature, but seeing him again meant I wasn’t crazy, just weird. It was somehow soothing.
I walked down the stairs and over to the bags I was supposed to carry.
I picked them up and held one in each hand. They were heavy, but I could manage. No wonder he aske
d me on this trip. I was going to be his pack mule.
“I’m ready,” I said. He nodded at me and then started casting a spell.
I’d seen him do magic a couple times already. The familiar waves of power rolled off Grandpa Dan as he started the spell, but this time I noticed something different; there was a steady flow of energy from overhead.
“He’s drawing magic from the ley lines,” said Iverog, appearing next to me. I jumped a little, but the heavy bags held me in place. Grandpa Dan didn’t seem to notice.
“Did you just read my mind?” I whispered as quietly as possible, wondering how he knew to answer the question I hadn’t asked yet.
“No, we don’t appear to share a mind link.”
“Then how did you know what I was thinking?”
“The stupid look on your face.”
I was about to make a retort when Grandpa Dan finished his spell. A shimmering sheet of liquid silver appeared in the air a few feet from him. Like someone had painted a doorway in the air using mercury. Little ripples crisscrossed the surface.
“Let’s go. This shortcut.” Grandpa Dan said, pointing at the portal.
“Just walk through it?” I asked. He nodded. I didn’t think I was the type to balk at trying something new, especially after all the TV I’d watched. I’d always told myself I’d jump at a chance to do something like this.
I walked up to it and stopped for a moment. I trusted Grandpa Dan, and I knew this was magic, and I should just go with it, but I still hesitated. It looked like molten metal, how safe could it be?
“Go now!” Grandpa Dan said, in a tone that told me he meant it. I reacted more than obeyed and stepped through. I’m not sure what I expected, whooshing sounds, or catchy theme music as I passed through, but nothing happened. I just emerged on the other side of the doorway in an entirely different place than where I had entered.
And it wasn’t Korea.
CHAPTER 8
Cobblestone streets stretched in all directions, cutting a swath through the vegetation, around and on all the buildings. Buildings of stone and wood extended up two and three stories amidst thick foliage. It was almost as if the buildings were growing in the forest instead of the other way around.
“Welcome to Tal-Oknal,” said Iverog. “This is Alfheim.”
“Tal-Oknal?” I repeated without thinking.
“Yes,” Grandpa Dan said. “How you know where we are?”
“Uh,” I stammered. “Just a feeling.” How was I supposed to explain how I knew where we were without giving away Iverog’s existence? It’s not like I could say a little birdie told me.
“Oh, maybe you locarus,” he said, without batting an eye.
“What’s a locarus?”
“Magic location skill,” Grandpa Dan said.
“A locarus is a person who always knows their location,” clarified Iverog. “It’s a skill many of my people possess. We serve as navigators for the Alfheim royalty.”
I heaved a small sigh of relief. It didn’t seem like Grandpa Dan suspected anything out of the ordinary. I guess being a locarus could be fun, with Iverog, I could go just about anywhere I wanted. I’d just need to figure out how to do a portal spell.
I looked around at Tal-Oknal. It was hard to believe I was finally in Alfheim and yet it seemed a bit anticlimactic. I’d been waiting for a chance to meet a faerie for as long as I could remember and now they were all around, walking down the street like they didn’t even notice me. They mostly looked human. Aside from their attire, they could easily fit in back on earth.
Most of them wore longer hair, even the males, so I couldn’t really tell if their ears were pointed. Grandpa Dan hadn’t stopped to talk with any of them. He seemed to be walking with a destination in mind, and I did my best to keep up, bags in tow. He stopped just past a large building, right up against the forest floor and began casting.
The portal appeared the same as before, silvery liquid floating in the air and obscuring the destination. This time Grandpa Dan didn’t wait for me. I awkwardly hurried through, carrying the heavy bags, so I didn’t get left behind. I had no idea how long the portal would remain open with him on the other side.
“Welcome to Seoul, back in your realm,” said Iverog, when I emerged.
“Seoul?” I said. I guess we really were going to Korea.
“Correct again,” Grandpa Dan said, and began walking at a quick pace. “You good locarus.”
“If you can open a portal, to anywhere, why couldn’t you go straight to Korea?” I asked. It was hard to keep up with him carrying the heavy bags.
“Everything connect Alfheim. Create shortcut,” Grandpa Dan said, as if that explained everything. The alleyway we emerged from led us onto a busy street filled with people. There were lighted signs everywhere, mostly written in Korean, but occasionally a few in English. We were walking too fast for me to read any of them.
“The portal spell only works between Earth and Alfheim,” said Iverog. “But the way Alfheim connects to the world creates shortcuts between different places on Earth. But you have to travel through Alfheim along the way. The well-known shortcuts we call paths.”
I whispered a “thank you” towards Iverog. That was so much easier to understand than what Grandpa Dan had said.
“So you know all these paths?” I asked.
“I know many,” Grandpa Dan said. “Only locarus know all. Maybe you learn.”
“Yes,” answered Iverog. “I have the potential to know any of the paths when I need to.” It was strange carrying on two conversations at the same time, especially with Grandpa Dan not being able to hear Iverog. I was going to have to figure out a better way to communicate with Iverog. Having a real conversation right now was too dangerous to risk. I put my finger to my lips and motioned Iverog to be quiet.
Grandpa Dan entered one of the shops that lined the street. I felt the now familiar sensation of magic as I walked in, though I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. I set the bags down on the ground near Grandpa Dan, who proceeded to open them and show the proprietor. One contained an assortment of Washington apples, and the other had live king crabs. I wondered how many laws we might be breaking.
I left him to his haggling and walked around the small room looking at the display cases. Rows of rings and necklaces lined two of the walls of the jewelry shop. Some of them behind glass and some not. The remaining walls were covered in larger, more unique pieces, such as hairpins, bracelets, and even tiaras. I stopped at one of the glass-covered cases. It was subtle, but I felt magic coming from inside. I ran my hand along the glass.
When I was younger, my great-uncle would visit from out-of-town, and we would go metal detecting together. He’d swing the detector along the ground, and it would beep when it came across metal. Now my hand was the metal detector as I waved it over a pair of matching silver rings. I could feel the pulse of magic.
“What do you think Iverog?” I asked quietly. I was far enough away from anyone that they wouldn’t notice me talking to myself. Iverog appeared at the mention of his name.
“What do I think about what?”
“These rings. They feel different. It’s like they have magic in them.”
“I know very little of magical items. I am afraid I cannot help in this situation.”
I walked around the shop once more, looking to see if any other items might be magical, but didn’t find anything. Grandpa Dan was still talking to one of the shopkeepers. He turned to me as I approached.
“Can I show you something?” I said. He nodded and excused himself from the clerk. I pointed to the matching pair of rings when we got close to the case.
“You want those?” he said.
“Maybe, they are magic.” I practically whispered it, worried the retailer might overhear. Grandpa Dan looked closer at the rings, squinting a little, then his eyes went wide with excitement and quickly returned to his regular expression.
“Good job,” he said, and nodded at me. His face no longer showed any di
scernible emotion. “You wait outside,” he said, and walked over to the proprietor.
The air outside was cool, and it was just starting to get light. Though it was early evening on Tuesday back in Seattle, it was Wednesday morning here in Seoul. This instant travel stuff was going to take some getting used to.
“You think you can teach me to open a portal?” Iverog appeared as soon as I started speaking.
“I believe I can. But first, you must learn to harness the power of ley lines.”
“Ley lines? You mentioned them earlier when Grandpa Dan opened the portal here. What are they?”
“They are the source of magic power throughout all the realms. You can think of them as rivers of energy flowing through the worlds. If you can tap into them, you can access vast quantities of magic.”
“Sounds dangerous,” I said. I’d been white water rafting, and I knew how dangerous a wild river could be. I didn’t know if the analogy translated to ley lines, but figured it was best to be careful.
“Yes, it can be, but once you learn to shape and control the magic, it should not be a problem.”
“Do you think we might run into your wife, Eliana, on our way back through Alfheim?”
“Silence!” The words came out in an angry growl. “Never speak her name. Eira has spies everywhere. And though I long to see my wife again, it would be too dangerous for you to venture anywhere near Eira’s realm.”
I had more questions, but Grandpa Dan emerged from the shop.
“We go,” he said, and handed me a large package of centipede scales. They were considerably lighter than the bags we’d carried over. I took them without complaint, and we started walking.
“Has strong disguise,” Grandpa Dan said, as he pulled out a small jewelry box. “Impressed you find it.” He smiled at me and opened the box to show me the two rings inside. The feeling of magic appeared when the box opened. I reached for it, but he closed the box again.
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