A Familiar Problem

by Sam Cheever

  I pulled back and cupped the demon’s handsome face with my hands. “How? When? Nothing makes sense.”

  He nodded, his face uncharacteristically serious. “I’ll explain later. We’ve been waiting for you. We need to go to Familiar, Inc.”

  I knew by the tone of his voice that something wasn’t right. “What is it? Is it mother?”

  Mandy pulled me into a hug, and that alone was enough to make me worry. “It’s not your mother. It’s…” She glanced at Brock.

  He frowned. “It’s Celeste, LA. She’s really sick. We were afraid she wouldn’t make it until you got home.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  My mother’s face was pinched when I walked into the room. She stood up from the hard wooden chair she was sitting in and walked over, wrapping her arms around me in a hug filled with as much desperation as love.

  “How is she?” I asked.

  Mother pulled away, glancing toward the bed, and sniffed, shaking her head. “I’m glad you got here in time.”

  My heart broke in two pieces and my knees buckled. I just couldn’t believe the woman who’d raised me with a determined kind of strength and pride could be facing death.

  It seemed so sudden.

  “What happened? She’d been getting better.”

  Grandmama Celeste had suffered at the hands of a devious Familiar with uncommon powers and it had sucked a lot of the enduring magic out of her. She’d been tired and had aged from the event, but she’d been gaining strength in recent days and we all thought she’d soon be back to herself.

  Mother squeezed my hand and turned toward the door. “I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

  As the door closed behind my mother, my gaze slid to grandmama’s bed. She barely made a lump in the covers.

  Moving closer, I looked down on the too pale face, which was lined and gray with age. Tears flooded my eyes. Grandmama’s frail form shivered beneath the tears and I scraped them angrily off my cheeks. “It’s not fair,” I said to no one in particular.

  Grandmama’s lids fluttered and opened. Seeing me, she smiled, reaching a bony hand to clasp mine. “Hello, LA. Did you complete your mission?”

  I wasn’t surprised Celeste knew about my super-secret mission. She would have been the only one mother told. I shook my head. “I’m afraid it’s more complicated than we thought.”

  Grandmama sighed. “Of course it is, dear. Whenever Trudy’s involved things are complicated.” Her smile was shaky. “She just can’t help herself, I’m afraid.”

  I struggled with whether to tell her that her youngest daughter was sick and at the mercy of a ruthlessly evil creature.

  “What is it, LA?”

  I bit back a sigh. She always could read me like a kindergarten primer. “Trudy’s not in charge of the plot to merge the dimensions. She’s being…controlled by someone.”

  Grandmama’s red-rimmed blue-green eyes widened. “Is she? Well, that’s quite a turn of events for her. She’s always been one to try to control those around her. If she’d only been more humble, she’d probably still be with us today and leading Familiar, Inc.”

  “Really? What happened to her? Why is she in Axismundi?”

  Celeste patted my hand. “That’s a long story for another time.”

  I bit back the plea that rose to my lips. There might not be another time. And I really wanted to understand what was happening.

  Likely reading the disappointment in my face, Grandmama relented. “There are two ways to enter Axismundi. One is death. That buys you a spot in the Elysian Fields if you’re lucky. Hades if you aren’t.” She paused for a beat, her gaze going soft as if considering what she had ahead of her.

  “And the other?” I asked.

  “Banishment,” Celeste said softly. Her gaze sharpened on me. “Trudy was banished for trying to undermine the council.”

  I frowned.

  She sighed. “I know that sounds like a minor thing, but our world functions on the razor’s edge of control. We’re the only dimension where creatures from warring and competing factions live together among humans. Humans are fragile and must be protected from our interference and machinations.” She shook her head. “If our ruling body is usurped, all could explode into chaos. We can’t allow that.”

  “That’s why we have the web?” I asked. The web was a kind of magical Internet that tracked the whereabouts and energy use of every magical creature in the human dimension. It was the thing the rogue Familiar had been trying to hijack when Celeste was drained of her energy.

  “Yes. It keeps us all honest. And its loss would be catastrophic.”

  “Celeste…” Tears burned in my eyes.

  She patted my hand again. “Don’t cry for me, LA. We all have our purpose and I must fulfill mine.” She smiled gently. “We’ll see each other again. You’ve learned of the special door to Axismundi?” She lifted her eyebrows in question.

  “In the primordial forest. You could have knocked me over with a feather.”

  She laughed, the sound filled with some of the music that was Celeste’s trademark. “The council members must travel there from time to time. It comes in handy.” She frowned. “But it is a weak spot for us. It can just as easily be used to breach the human world.”

  I thought about her observation. “But that doesn’t make sense.”

  “What doesn’t, dear?”

  “If there’s a door between the worlds, then why would Reginald need to set off an interdimensional breach bomb?”

  “Reginald?” Her face leeched a bit more of its color. “You believe he’s behind this plot?”

  “I do. He’s controlling Trudy with poisonous magic. Making her sick. She’s little more than a puppet.”

  She paled, her expression thoughtful. “In answer to your question, the warding only allows creatures from this dimension to come through. Reginald couldn’t use it. But this information is concerning. The Dark Fairies have been plotting to overtake the other dimensions for centuries. They are cruel and ruthless leaders. If he’s found a way…” She didn’t finish the thought. But then she really didn’t need to. It was all too clear to me.

  Grandmama shoved ineffectually at the covers. “We must tell Katherine.”

  I stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll tell her, Grandmama. You rest.”

  Anger skimmed through her blue-green gaze and faded. She expelled a resigned breath. “Yes. You’re right, dear. I need to let the reins go. It’s time for the next generation to take over.”

  “I didn’t mean…”

  “No. It’s true, LA.” She reached out and tugged one of my unruly curls, smiling gently. “You’ll make a wonderful queen someday.”

  I flinched, the color leeching from my face. “Oh, I couldn’t.”

  “Yes. You could. And you will. Now if you don’t mind. I’m tired. And you need to fill your mother in on things.”

  I hesitated, waiting as she lay back, her mouth pinched tight as if she were in pain. I was afraid to leave her for fear I’d never talk to her again.

  Uncertain what to do, I tugged the covers higher under her chin. Then I gave in to an impulse and bent down, kissing the cool flesh of her cheek.

  The skin beneath my lips was etched and thin. I looked down at the array of thin lines covering her once-beautiful face and couldn’t believe the change.

  My heart twisted painfully.

  Something shifted in Celeste’s face again. I blinked hard to drive tears away. Finally, I stood with a sad sigh and headed for the door.

  A whisper of movement sent an errant red curl dancing against my cheek.

  Hesitating, I let the strange feeling wash through me and magically scented it. Dark magic. Evil intent.

  Panic rising in my chest, I whipped around and saw it.

  A man-shaped shadow, ominous in its silence, rising from my Grandmama’s sleeping form.

  My scream rattled the lamp on Celeste’s bedside and brought footsteps thundering down the hall. I didn’t wait for hel
p. Flinging my hands up, I etched a trapping spell on the air, a powerful one that Mandy had taught me. The magic shot from my fingertips and hit the wall behind where the wraith had been.

  It burned a perfect circle on Celeste’s pale yellow wall.

  But it didn’t even touch the wraith.

  The nasty creature was gone.

  The door slammed open and Mandy, Brock, Deg and my mother flew in, magic spitting on their fingertips.

  I shook my head. “It’s gone.”

  “What’s gone?” Mother asked.

  “A wraith. It was feeding on Celeste.”

  Brock and Mandy shared a look.

  “What is it?” I demanded, striding over to get in their faces. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Brock frowned. “I promise you we didn’t know.”

  “Know what?”

  They looked at Mother and Mandy’s cheeks flushed. She shoved a ribbon of straight black hair behind her ear. “We were afraid something followed us back from Axismundi.”

  “We saw a shadow…just a brief flicker of movement. But when we looked there was nothing.”

  Mother hurried over to Celeste and put a hand on grandmama’s forehead. A golden light pulsed from her palms and two lines of worry showed up between mother’s eyes. “Yes, I sense the residue it left behind.” She pulled her hand away and stood staring down at her mother, silvery tears sliding down her cheeks.

  I moved over and looped an arm through hers, resting my head on her shoulder. We stood like that, together, for a long moment.

  Finally, she moved. “I’ll have the room warded.”

  I nodded. “I’m sorry. I should have caught it sooner.”

  “It’s not your fault, Peaches. Those things are nearly undetectable. Frankly I’m surprised you saw it at all.”

  I stared down at Grandmama, remembering that she’d wanted me to fill my mother in on the situation with Trudy. I did it quickly, keeping emotion out of it as much as I could and greatly downplaying my time in the catacombs.

  Mother had enough to deal with at the moment.

  She didn’t say anything for a long moment. Finally, she dropped onto the edge of the bed, staring at her hands. “It’s been hard losing Trudy. I never believed she meant any real harm. But Celeste is right. We have to err on the side of being too strict. The council cannot be marginalized. The resulting turmoil would create a dangerous world for the humans as well as for us.” Rubbing her hands over her slacks, Mother stood up. “I find it hard to believe that Reginald is working alone. He’d need someone with knowledge of our world here. The protections we have in place for just this specific occurrence are nearly impenetrable for a full-scale invading army. He’d need inside help to pull it off. I’m afraid I can’t let my sister off the hook on this just yet. But…I’ll admit I’m hopeful for the first time in a long while.”

  She squeezed my hand, giving me a sad smile. “You did well on your mission. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to see you off. King Al called an emergency meeting to discuss the breaches.” She sighed. “But you found a way in and came back with vital information. I’m proud of you, Peaches.”

  I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything. We don’t know anything more now than we did before.”

  “We do, LA. We know Trudy might be as much a victim of this thing as we are. Or, at the very least, we know that she’s not working alone. That’s vital information.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I can go to the council and request a limited reprieve for my sister in exchange for her help and information on Reginald.” She smiled. “With mother dying…” She blinked several times and then sniffed. “It would be good to have Trudy home. Even under controlled circumstances.”

  “But the breaches…”

  “Reginald has to be a few months away from that yet. The incursions of his monsters into this realm have been infrequent and fairly easily controlled. I know how his twisted mind works. When he’s ready to strike he’ll distract us with a full-blown attack that will keep us from discovering what he’s doing until it’s too late.”

  She seemed pleased by her assessment, but I had to admit it was much less than comforting to me. “You believe Reginald’s the one behind all the plots?”

  “Not alone, no. He’s clearly had some help along the way. Running attacks in twelve separate dimensions is complex and needs many hands. That’s why Trudy’s input is so vital.”

  She stared at the burn mark on the wall for a long moment and then stood up. “I need to call the council together. Then once I have her pardon in my hand I can put together a coalition to go and get her.”

  “Reginald won’t just let you take her. He sees Trudy as his ticket to power.”

  “No. He won’t. But if we do it right we’ll be in and out of there with my sister before he even knows we’ve come.”

  She strode quickly to the door. It was clear from the relaxed and almost happy expression on her face that she was looking forward to the work ahead.

  I hated to throw poop on her party cake but…

  “What about Grandmama?”

  Mother stiffened slightly, one hand on the door.

  For the first time I realized my friends had left, probably to give us privacy in our grief.

  “I’ve said my goodbyes. Celeste understands the business of Familiar, Inc. and the council must take precedence.” She slipped one last, broken glance toward the frail figure on the bed and then fixed me with a gaze tinged in steel. “You’ll stay with her until the end. She’ll be glad of your presence and I’m sure you’ll want to help ease her into Axismundi.”

  I stared at mother’s stiff back moving away from me toward her office, noticing for the first time a new looseness to her usually fitted suit. She’d lost weight over the last weeks. I hadn’t even noticed.

  I sucked as a daughter.

  Deg stepped into the room, giving me a sad smile. “I’m so sorry, LA.”

  I bit my lip, nodding. “Thanks. Where are the others?”

  “I sent them home. I heard your mother tell you to watch over Celeste.”

  Setting my spine against my doubts, I gave my head a single jerk in the negative. “I can’t do that. We have something important we need to do.”

  He frowned. “More important than saving Celeste?”

  “Eminently. She’s beyond my help now. But I’m afraid something terrible is about to go down and my mother has no idea what’s coming.”

  “I doubt that, LA…”

  “Trust me, Deg. She wasn’t there with us. She didn’t experience…” Tears burned my eyes as my mind did a flash back of those horrible days in the hole. I clenched my fists against the memory. “Something’s not right about all this. Something doesn’t make sense. And I’m going to find out what it is.”

  “How are you going to do that?”

  “We, Deg. We’re going to do that. By going back to Axismundi.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  As I prepped for my return to Axismundi, I spent a good part of the time kicking myself for not asking my mother the one question that mattered most. I’d gone over and over recent events in my mind, including the events that had brought us to Celeste’s current state.

  I couldn’t shake the idea that they were somehow connected. And that meant I had to take a new look at our previous nemesis. Remembering Celeste’s description of the different ways people ended up in the afterlife dimension, I started to wonder about the creature we’d battled weeks earlier.

  What part of Axismundi had Star been sent to? Had she died when we’d banished her from the warehouse formed in Hell? Or had she simply been banished back to her own world. I was starting to have my doubts that she was well and truly gone.

  The front door opened and Deg called out to me.

  “I’m in the kitchen.” I shoved three small jars filled with shimmering, lively magic into my backpack and added three bottles of water and some protein bars to the contents. If we got stuck in one of the other dimensions fo
r any length of time, I wanted to be ready.

  No way was I trusting the food and drink of those alien places again.

  Not after seeing what kind of poisonous magic Reginald was capable of wielding.

  Deg walked into the kitchen, a big black and green pack slung over one shoulder. “Are you ready?”

  “Almost. I just need to feed the cats.” I zipped the pack and slipped it over my shoulders. “Come with me. We can leave from the sanctuary.”

  Deg opened the door into my cat sanctuary and let me walk through first. I glanced his way, noting the taut jaw, brushed with a dark stubble that made him look sexy and dangerous. His dark silver gaze was serious, his lips tipped down in the corners.

  He was tense about our incursion back into the afterlife dimension. I didn’t blame him. I was worried too. But it was the only way I knew of to discover what was really going on with the barriers.

  I filled bowls with food while Deg topped off a giant, communal water bowl. I gave the cats several days’ worth, just in case I was gone longer than I expected.

  The sanctuary was magicked to look like a small park with a large tree in the center and several smaller trees and bushes positioned around the domed space, their branches stretching over a lush carpet of real grass.

  There was a small pond on one end, filled with fish the cats could catch if they desired, and the roof was clear so they could experience the true change of hours throughout the day and night.

  There were no birds in my sanctuary. In an enclosed space where cats had the upper hand, that wouldn’t have been fair. If my cats wanted to hunt birds, they’d have to leave the sanctuary. A feat they could accomplish with minimal effort by pushing through a small cat door in the back wall.

  Deg rejoined me by the back door, dragging his hands over his jeans to dry them.

  He gave me an, Are you sure you want to do this, look and I smiled.

  “Ready?” He jerked his head toward the door. It had a key pad so I quickly punched it in and pulled it open.

  “Mandy and Brock were able to get away okay?” I asked.