Transformation!

by Martin, Deborah

  “Hey Gregory, I may have something,” I yelled to the man who was back out on the balcony, people watching despite the heat. It sounded like the air conditioning labored from the warmth he let in during the time it took for him to come back into the room.

  “What?”

  “It says here that one of the producers just married the ex-wife of one of the assistant directors. It was a messy divorce followed by a lavish, in-your-face wedding just a couple of weeks after the divorce was final. And that said producer tried to nix the hiring of the AD only to be told he and the director came as a package deal. Perhaps some animosity there?”

  Gregory tugged on his chin. “Possibly. I guess. If the contract was written properly, the AD would get paid at least a base regardless of whether the film actually made it to the screen. Are either of them paras?”

  “Don’t know. This is in Variety and they don’t mention species in their articles.”

  “Something for us to investigate when we go back. If we have to go back. Keep reading. Perhaps you will come up with more information.”

  I nodded, and Gregory turned back toward the balcony. He didn’t make it far before someone rapped on the door. Once again, I stayed in my chair and watched him hold an energy ball in the palm of his hand while looking through the peephole. The red sparkles disappeared almost immediately, and he opened the door to usher Nelion in. I stood, closing the laptop as I did.

  “Good afternoon,” he intoned. Today’s robes were royal instead of midnight blue with all silver embroidery.

  “Do you have news for us?” Gregory asked.

  “Offer him coffee again. I think he liked it yesterday and it never hurts to have an elven elder on your side.”

  I mentally snorted again. My cat could be bossy, but it wasn’t a bad idea. I turned toward the men. “Whatever it may be, I’d like coffee to accompany my news. Would anyone else care for some?”

  Both declined, which surprised me. Gregory was usually as much of a coffeeholic as I. Nonetheless, I made myself a cup, listening while I did so.

  “I really have nothing to tell you,” Nelion started. Gregory opened his mouth to reply but a raised hand forestalled him. “My son is not in the city and I have yet to be able to tie him definitively to your ogre’s disappearance. But something tells me he is tied to it. Therefore, I will continue to aid you.

  “My most senior mage is waiting outside with my guards. He will accompany us to the building you say your ogre is in and dismantle the wards. Then we shall see what or who is inside and where that might lead us.”

  “Of course, and thank you,” Gregory nodded as he rose from his chair. “Amy, would you care to accompany us?”

  Nelion raised an eyebrow. “You would take your woman into a potentially dangerous situation?”

  I was about to get all indignant when Gregory answered for me. “She is not my woman. I’m sure your research told you that she is Evander’s assistant. She’s also a rather strong witch and can take care of herself.”

  “As you wish. Shall we?” Nelion strode toward the door, his robes making a slight swishing sound as he walked. Somehow Gregory managed to beat him to it and opened the door, holding it for both of us. He winked at me as I passed him.

  “Do not turn your back on them. Especially his guards.”

  “Why? Nelion does not appear to mean us harm.”

  “Just a feeling. Keep your eyes open. I am watching with you.”

  Okay, that was strange but if Fudge felt something was off, something probably was. Resolving to stay vigilant, I followed Gregory and Nelion to the elevators. Three other elves brought up the rear. One looked like an elven version of Dumbledore with bulky robes, long white hair, a long white beard, and bushy eyebrows; the other two were beefed-up versions of Perchaladon – and of course, drool-worthy. No one said a word until we were safely ensconced in a limo with tinted windows.

  “Where is the building?” Nelion asked.

  “On Barracks between Chartres and Decatur, about half way down the block on the west side of the street,” Gregory replied.

  “You heard that?” Nelion asked the driver, who nodded and raised the privacy screen as he pulled away from the curb.

  I stared at my hands during the ride. The guards were seated at each door, both looking out their respective windows and I couldn’t look out a window without it appearing I was staring at them. Nelion and Gregory were doing something on their cell phones and the older man had his eyes closed.

  I was grateful someone else was doing the driving. Based on the slow-and-go I felt, traffic was a mess. Or perhaps he was avoiding pedestrians. Either way, I wouldn’t have had the patience.

  We’d pulled onto the street where Ev was being held when the old man yelled “Stop” without opening his eyes. He was obviously heard even with the privacy screen up because the driver slammed on the brakes, nearly throwing the rest of us onto the floor.

  “What is it, my old friend?” Nelion asked.

  Eyes still closed, the mage said, “There is a barrier just up ahead. If the witch and wizard approach, it will harm them.”

  Gregory and I looked at each other. This was just getting weirder and weirder.

  “Drop us here and find a place to park,” Nelion said to the driver after he’d lowered the privacy screen. Turning to us, “Please wait here until my friend has taken down all the wards. It’s obvious someone does not want you around.”

  That was a ‘duh.’ If there was a barrier that would hurt me, I certainly wasn’t going to walk into it. I surveyed the street after we’d all exited the car. I didn’t see or feel anything, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something there.

  Gregory and I stood back as the four elves walked straight to the building in question. “Well, that tells us something,” Gregory murmured.

  “Oh?”

  “That ward is keyed to allow elves through but, I think, no other species. Therefore, whoever we’re dealing with has to be an elf. Otherwise, they’d have to key for other species, as well.”

  While he spoke, the mage turned, put his hand up, and pushed. I watched as his hand reacted as if he’d pushed on a piece of Spandex. He turned and whispered something to Nelion before reaching into the folds of his robes. He pulled out a small drawstring bag, opened it and sprinkled some dust onto his palm before pushing again. This time I heard a tinkling sound, as if glass had shattered and fallen on the ground.

  “You may approach, now,” he told us. We did so but kept our distance. The mage continued walking toward the building Gregory said had wards on it. Nelion, however, waited for us to catch up, his guards flanking him.

  “I am told this barrier bears the signature of one of Perchaladon’s friends. Therefore, I believe I was correct in assuming my son is somehow involved, despite the fact that he is still in Minnesota.”

  “He knows magical signatures?” I asked.

  Nelion gave me a small smile. “Similar to the way you register with your Witches’ Council, my friend knows the signature of every elf in the United States.”

  I noticed two things: first, that Nelion did not offer names for the mage or the guards, which made sense. Names have power – especially if you know exactly how the person in question pronounces it. Nelion probably did not pronounce his name correctly when he introduced himself although I suspected there were more magical protections around him and his name than water in the oceans.

  Second, he knew about the Witches’ Council and their rules. So, he wasn’t just a high-powered dad with a wayward son but someone high up in the elven community. So was the mage. If Ev wasn’t in trouble, I’d have been inclined to find out more. Not that Nelion would divulge anything to little ol’ me but it would’ve been worth a try.

  “Your elf is the Head of the elves in all of the United States. His mage is Alberon, who is also the Head of his class in the United States. Tread carefully. You do not want to anger him.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “I asked Wald
o [the Head of the Familiars’ Council] yesterday.”

  “And you didn’t tell me yesterday because…?”

  “I did not know then if it would be important. It seems now that it might be.”

  Cats. Familiars or not, they’re a close-mouthed bunch. But my assessment of the pickle Ev was in just went up a notch or two.

  “I have dismantled the wards surrounding the building. You may enter,” Alberon called.

  “Prepare an energy ball,” Gregory told me. “We do not know what we will encounter, so be ready.”

  I duly formed a ball in my hand and held it at the ready. I wasn’t really trained for magical combat but had learned – quite by accident – that I could throw the magical equivalent of a stun gun. I thought it would work on anyone but an ogre. Then again, I didn’t have a lot of experience with this sort of thing. I could feel Fudge’s presence at the back of my mind, ready to give me a magical boost if I needed it.

  One of Nelion’s guards put his hand to the doorknob. I saw a slight shimmer and the guard twisted it, opening the door with a very rusty creeeeaaakkk of the hinges. It was loud enough to announce our entry to anyone who might be inside. Given the scaffolding, I’d thought the building was being worked on. Oiling door hinges to spare my ears would’ve been first on my list. Obviously not theirs.

  We followed the first guard in, Gregory behind him and me behind Gregory. The other guard stayed on the sidewalk with Nelion and Alberon, who had their heads together in conversation.

  The interior wasn’t quite pitch black – light shone between the slats boarding up broken windows on the second floor. It was still dim and oh, the musty smell! Fudge would’ve had a case of the sneezes immediately. More scaffolding was along the walls inside, as if they weren’t there for work but to shore the walls up. We all looked around, trying to see if there were any humanoid forms on the floor.

  Gregory tapped the guard’s shoulder and pointed at a staircase toward the back and then at himself, indicating he was going up. He looked at me and made a gesture indicating I should stay with the guard. Not certain how I could help, I did stay.

  Watching where he walked, Gregory made his way over to the stairs on silent feet. Pausing a moment to look at the treads, he sidled up the stairs, testing each step before he put his weight down.

  “Breathe.”

  I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath. But I was so nervous! Exhaling and inhaling as quietly as I could, I checked my palm to ensure the energy ball was still there – my hands were sweaty from the stress. Thankfully, energy doesn’t dissipate with water the same way fire would. Gregory reached the landing and disappeared around a corner.

  “Bugger all!” Gregory’s roar echoed through the empty building. He reappeared at the top of the stairs, holding what appeared to be a piece of cloth with writing on it. He stomped back down the stairs, still keeping to the side of the treads rather than the middle. His expression was one of those “if looks could kill.”

  I released the energy I was holding, watching the green sparkles float away and disappear into the air. I also heaved a huge sigh of relief. I wasn’t sure I was ready to get into a magical fight with anyone.

  Gregory stormed past me and out the door. I looked at the guard, who shrugged his shoulders and followed. I did, too.

  “Mage, can you tell whose signature this is?” Gregory demanded as he held out the cloth to Alberon.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Someone figured out my beacon spell on Ev and duplicated it on this fabric, somehow masking what I’d put into the tattoo on his shoulder. I have no bloody idea where he is now.”

  “It is the same person who put up the wards both on the street and this building,” Alberon told us.

  “This person is known to us but not his exact location,” Nelion said. “I suggest we take you back to the hotel where you can wait in comfort while we locate him. Once we have him in custody and have spoken with him, I will let you know where your ogre is. Will that be acceptable?”

  “It will have to be since I cannot track Evander. I do appreciate your assistance in all this,” Gregory said, somewhat quieted after his outburst.

  “It is best if we cooperate with one another. This person is a known associate of my son’s and I do not wish to embroil my family’s name in any further embarrassing situations. Once I have the friend, I can find out what Perchaladon is up to this time and, hopefully, stop whatever he is doing. Then I will take my son in hand. At least I know where he is – at the moment, in any event.”

  We all climbed back in the limo for the quick ride back to the hotel where we were dropped off with only an “I’ll be in touch” from Nelion. Gregory fumed all the way to the room and once inside, practically ran to the balcony. He threw the door open and with a “whoosh” that blew my hair back and scattered some papers I’d left on the desk, released what felt like a megaton of Air energy up into the sky.

  “Is it safe to come out?”

  I took a peek at Gregory who was standing on the balcony, gripping the railing and staring without seeing. “Where the fuck could he be?” I heard him say to himself.

  “I think so. He’s pissed and rightly so, but I think he’s blown off the worst of it.”

  Fudge emerged from the bedroom and instead of twining himself around my legs, went immediately to the balcony and did it to Gregory. I almost felt a little jealous until I saw Gregory’s shoulders relax a little as he bent down to pick Fudge up.

  “Thanks, Fudge. I know you’ll help any way you can.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  “I need coffee. Would you care for a cup?” Gregory was attempting to get himself back to normal.

  “Of course. Have you come up with a next step?”

  He busied himself at the bar, pouring water and measuring coffee into the machine. “Go back to the set this evening to talk with more people. The elves have their own agenda and while it appears to coincide with ours, I do not trust them and prefer to do my own investigation. You can come with or not.”

  “Well of course I’ll come with. I want my boss back just as badly as you do and anything I can do to help that along…”

  “All right then. We’ll have an early dinner here and then head back. Last I heard they were going to restart about seven-thirty.”

  When we arrived at the mansion, we had to clear security. RVs and trucks lined the street, fat wires running from many through the fence in a pattern I swear was specifically designed to make you trip. There were a lot of people hanging around on the sidewalk, probably trying to get a glimpse of someone famous. The help must have come from John because Gregory produced two badges that got us waved through the gate.

  Gregory immediately headed around back to the garden, me in his wake. At the corner of the house, he turned and handed me one of the badges. “Wear this while we’re here so no one questions your presence. I need to speak with the weres again. How about you check out the ladies manning the catering tent? At least one of them is a witch and I suspect they’d be more inclined to talk girl-to-girl.”

  I put the lanyard around my neck, looking at the badge. It had my name and photo on it. My driver’s license photo. I wondered who, in this convoluted world I was working in, had access to DMV files. It concerned me, but I’d figure that out later. I still had to find my boss.

  Gregory disappeared into the mass of people milling about. After locating the caterers (not difficult – two tents toward the back of the property), I tried to appear as if I were just meandering around rather than making a beeline for them. As I approached my target, a man carrying a camera on his shoulder hurried past me. He gave off a werewolf vibe which meant he was probably connected somehow to the clan leader Gregory had met.

  “What a lovely view,” one of the ladies behind the tables sighed. I agreed. If he looked as good from the front as he did the rear, he was calendar model material. The Universe had granted me an opening.

  “Yes, isn’t it,” I said, appreciatively
watching him walk away. I perused the choices on the table as if I were going to get something to eat. “I haven’t seen him before. Does anyone know if he’s single?”

  “Wouldn’t do you any good if he was,” an older lady told me. “He’s a were and they always stick to their own species.”

  I knew better but that wasn’t germane to what I wanted to know. I let out a sigh that rivaled the one I’d heard. “Such a shame, really.” I craned my neck, looking around. “Not a lot of choice and when the best-looking one doesn’t go outside his species…”

  “Oh, there’s choice if you’re not that picky,” a blonde about my size and age with a witch vibe said. “There are all sorts of men around here who aren’t weres or vampires.”

  “Is that so? My name’s Amy, by the way, and may I have a cup of coffee?”

  She reached for a disposable cup and held it under the urn’s spigot. “Do you need cream or sugar? I’m Anne. And yes, the pickings are good at this shoot if you’re just looking to get laid. I haven’t seen you around before. What do you do here?”

  I had to think fast. “Snoop” probably wasn’t a job description that would endear me to anyone. A variant on the truth was probably my best bet.

  “My boss is an investor and came to look in on his money. I go where he goes.”

  “Niiicce. Do you get to go a lot of different places?”

  I shrugged. “Not really. It’s usually the same places. This is the first time I’ve ever been to a movie set, though. Is it always this crowded and hectic-feeling?”

  “Yup,” she grinned. “I believe the phrase is controlled chaos. Even when they’re actually shooting and it’s quiet, people are scurrying around out of camera shot doing stuff. Excuse me for a moment.”

  She went to help someone else and I turned to survey my surroundings. Although the sun had almost set, you wouldn’t have been able to tell. Lights on poles made it appear to be mid-afternoon. Cameramen were placed strategically, some operating from crane-like contraptions, a couple on ladders of varying heights. As I watched, a hole opened up underneath one of them, tilting the ladder and throwing both camera and operator to the ground.