“Ready for your first protest meeting?” Perchaladon asked.
I took a deep breath and nodded, grabbed Fudge’s carrier, and followed him to the front door. Surprisingly, he didn’t ring a doorbell or knock, just walked in as if he lived there. He turned to the right, into what was probably the original parlor, but now, cleared of furniture with mis-matched chairs forming a circle, was obviously a meeting room. Most of the chairs already had butts in them and those butts were attached to very young-looking people. College-aged, I’d say, although in the paranormal community, looks could be deceiving. I saw four elves in their unglamoured state, at least six were-somethings, and some more human-looking people who I assumed were either glamoured elves, or witches and wizards. Conversations halted and they all stared at me.
“Greetings, everyone. This is my friend Amy, who wants to join us.”
There were murmurs of “welcome” but some grumbling filtered its way through.
“Why does she bring a familiar among us?” one of the female elves asked. All the elves and a couple of the more human-looking people nodded in agreement.
I felt Fudge tamp down my emotions so rather than reply with a smart remark that might turn people against me, I simply said, “He is an emotional support animal.” Fudge snickered in my mind.
Some of the humans nodded in understanding. Some of the not-humans grimaced.
“Please, everyone. Amy needs her cat. Now, we have business to attend to,” Perchaladon said with an authoritative voice as he sat in one of the empty chairs, then motioned for me to sit next to him. “I see we are missing a few. Shall we begin or wait?”
“Wait a few more minutes. Richard texted to say he and his roommates are caught in construction traffic on 94,” said one of the weres, who looked like he’d change into a cat of some sort. At least, he had the look of a lion to him, with a wild mane of black hair.
Conversations slowly started back up, but I knew I was the topic of a few, given the glances and glares directed at me. “Pay no attention,” Perchaladon said quietly. “Once they get to know you, they will welcome you with open arms.”
“Based on what I am sensing, I sincerely doubt his statement. Be prepared. Notice all the natural substances around you: skin, the wood floor, cotton shirts, which I believe you call T-shirts. The rug smells like a combination of synthetic and wool. You can use the wool in it.”
I sat quietly and followed Fudge’s instructions, noting who was wearing cotton. Then, although I hoped everything would go smoothly, prepared myself for what I would do if things got out of hand.
A few moments later, four men tromped through the door. “Sorry we’re late,” one of them said. These, too, had looks of a were about them: a canine, another feline, and a couple rodent-somethings.
Perchaladon cleared his throat loudly. “Would someone call Mason and put him on speakerphone?”
One of the (probable) wizards grabbed his phone out of his pocket, hit an apparent speed-dial number, another button, then put his phone on the floor in the center of the room.
“We’re here, Perchaladon. Why could you not have had this meeting in another two hours?” a deep voice asked. Obviously, a vampire who was waiting for dark.
“Because some people have jobs to go to tomorrow and we need some shuteye before then,” the same wizard answered.
Perchaladon cleared his throat again. “This was the best time for the majority, Mason. Now, we have things to discuss. Warren, what have you discovered about security?”
One of the werewolf-looking men spoke. “As with most government offices, there are six armed guards at the main entrance, with three metal detectors. The guards do not change from day to day during the week, at least, not most of them. I presume if someone’s sick, they have a replacement ready. Once past the main entrance, there are six more patrolling the rotunda, also armed. The metal detectors are no problem because we don’t need metal. We…” [He gestured to the two men to either side of him] “…can take out the ones in the rotunda if you all can handle the ones at the doors.”
I nudged Perchaladon. “What does he mean, ‘take out’? I thought this was a protest?” I whispered.
“It is. But in order to get into the chambers en masse, we need to eliminate the guards,” he whispered back.
This was so not good! While I could feel Fudge tamping down on my emotions, I couldn’t let the threat of violence pass without saying something. I stood, moved to the center of the circle, and turned, looking at each individual as I did.
“What are you hoping to accomplish? Violence will only make humans dislike you more, not less! Have you tried working within the system to change it?”
There were growls, both figurative and literal, coming from nearly everyone. “Miss. Amy. We have waited centuries for humans to like us, as you say. We’re not looking for them to like us. It’s time the humans went back to being subjected to our will, not the other way around,” one of the were-somethings said.
“The only way to accomplish that,” the vampire on the phone added, “is to take control of governments. Start local and work our way up.”
I’d gotten what I came for: pictures of everyone in the room, except for the vampire on the phone. It was time to end my participation in something so foolish.
“My apologies. I thought this was a protest, not a revolution. While I agree with you in principle, violence is not my way of doing things. Have no worries, I won’t talk to anyone. But I’m out of here.”
I turned to walk out the door, grabbing Fudge’s carrier on my way, and suddenly was unable to take another step.
“I’m sorry, Amy, but I cannot allow you to leave now that you’ve seen everyone here,” Perchaladon quietly apologized. “You will be taken to my condominium until we’ve completed our task.”
Fudge burst through the door on his carrier, the impact knocking me off balance. With my legs frozen, though, I was unable to fall. Thankfully. As I watched, he arched his back, fluffed his fur more than I’d ever seen, and turned a complete circle while baring his teeth and hissing. I felt the spell on my legs break.
“Run! I have told Waldo what has happened, and he will get word to Gregory. I will keep them away from you until the wizard has come.”
“No way, José. We’re in this together.”
He might be able to interrupt elven magic but wasn’t immune to other magic or mauling by weres. I turned to see weres shifting, witches and wizards raising their hands to cast a spell, and elves looking frustrated. Thanks to Fudge’s heads-up, it only took a thought to bind fur to wood floor, and the wool in the rug to cotton clothing. Weres belly-flopped onto the floor in mid-change. Magical folks lowered their hands as they tried to disengage themselves from the rug that had slapped them in the face.
The front door burst open and Gregory came pounding into the room. He stopped to survey the scene and started chuckling. “I guess I didn’t have to be in quite so much of a hurry. I thought you were in trouble, Amy.”
“I almost was. Fudge saved the day. But I do need to leave. I don’t want to be involved with these people and their hare-brained schemes. Let’s go.”
I left the cat carrier where I’d dropped it and backed out of the room. Fudge backed right along with me, hackles still raised. Gregory preceded us out of the room and opened the front door.
“I can only disrupt their magic while they are within my sight. We will need to run.”
Once out the door, we ran for the Hummer, which Gregory had pulled onto the front lawn all the way to the porch stairs. The engine was still running. As soon as Fudge had hopped in, Gregory put it into reverse and hit the gas. Elves crowded their way out the door onto the porch, the magical folks right behind them, sans rug and pieces of their clothing. Fudge stood on my lap, paws on the dash, and the elves once again looked frustrated as their powers were taken away.
Once in the street, Fudge ran to the back window so he could still keep the elves in sight. As Gregory sped away, I felt the car lur
ch as spells hit it.
“Bumps in the road,” Gregory said. “Those youngsters aren’t strong enough to penetrate the protective spells on this baby.”
Once we’d turned a couple of corners and were well on our way out of Dinkytown, Fudge came back up front, curled up in my lap, and promptly started snoring. I’m sure he expended a lot of energy doing what he did and I didn’t begrudge him a nap, although I wished I could join him.
“Ed has asked me to take you directly to HQ. Are you okay with that?”
“Sure. Better there than home or Ev’s. They know those places.”
So, squinting against the setting sun, Gregory drove us toward downtown. I leaned back in my seat, exhausted.
“That was some quick thinking, Amy,” Gregory said. “I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, I guess, but Fudge was the one who told me what to look for. I hope I got what you needed because I never want to do that again. People like that scare me.”
“I hope you never have to do it again, too. Without Fudge, we both would have been in a world of hurt. At least for several sunrises.”
Less than a half hour later, we were once again in the conference room at Magical HQ (as I’d come to think of it), surrounded by the high muckety-mucks of the paranormal world. Fudge had woken briefly when I cradled him in my arms to carry him but had gone back to snoring. Mr. Bartz had taken the brooch off me the moment we got off the elevator and disappeared down a corridor.
“I’m sure you’re hungry after so much stress,” Ms. Fitzsimmons said to me, “but I’d like to postpone your meal long enough to learn what you heard and saw.”
I related the conversations at the house, describing the wizard who’d called the vampires in the hopes they could trace his phone or something. I also apologized to Nelion when I told them it appeared his son was the ringleader. He seemed to take it in stride.
Once I’d said my piece, I was dismissed from their discussions and escorted to the same hotel-looking room I’d occupied about a year earlier after Ev and I had been released from our kidnapping. I laid Fudge on one of the bed pillows; he still didn’t wake. As before, I spoke an order of a cheeseburger, fries, and soda for me, and tuna for Fudge at the phone, never even picking up the handset. Ten minutes later, a serving tray shimmered into existence on the table with a plate of mouth-watering food on it, as well as bowls for Fudge.
Just as I was about to chomp down on the burger, there was a knock at the door. Answering it, I saw Gregory standing there with a plate of food in his hand. His appeared to be hummus and pita chips. He, apparently, wasn’t as hungry as I.
“Hope you don’t mind. I thought we could eat together, and I’d tell you what I know of what’s happening.”
He didn’t even have to ask. Of course, I wanted to know what was going on! I ushered him into the room and we both sat at the table.
In between bites, he relayed that Fudge and I would be staying at HQ until at least the next night, possibly for a couple of days, until whatever it was had happened, and the perpetrators were caught. Mr. Bartz had printed out the photos taken by my lapel pin and they were in the process of identifying everyone. At least one of the weres (another rodent, fittingly, a weasel) was already on their radar for other crimes.
“My understanding is that all the planned revolutions…” [He used air quotes around the word.] “…in other cities had nearly fallen apart by the time the authorities had rounded up everyone. The one in the Twin Cities seems to be the largest and most well-organized. That’s not surprising, given our large paranormal population.
“I believe your actions may change, delay, or precipitate their plans. We won’t know for certain until they can get mobile phones tapped. Thankfully, my association with paranormal law enforcement is unknown to that generation so perhaps not too large a monkey wrench has been thrown into the works.”
“I hope they stop it,” I said. “As I told them, I sort of understand where they’re coming from. Oh, not the whole world-domination thing, which is stupid, but the lack of acceptance by humans. But violence is not the answer. Never has been, never will be.”
Gregory nodded. “I’m headed home. Ev will not be happy that you will be here tomorrow but there’s no help for it. Can I get you anything from home before I leave?”
I still didn’t want that man rummaging around in my underwear drawer. But I needed clean clothes. “I didn’t have a whole lot at your place and have worn most of it. Let me call Cassandra and ask her to pack a bag for me. Can you pick it up from her house tomorrow morning?”
“Of course. Get some sleep. You’ve had a rough few days and as you’re completely safe here, you should be able to sleep as soundly as Fudge appears to be.”
“I am not sleeping that soundly. I heard every word he said and as soon as I feel like moving, will eat the delicious tuna I can smell.”
I relayed what Fudge had said. Gregory chuckled, and with a ‘sleep well’ closed the door behind himself.
I called Cassandra, who didn’t seem surprised that I’d been sequestered again. “You do seem to get yourself into situations that require it,” she laughed. “Of course I’ll get some clothes for you. I’ll go over now and have it ready whenever he gets here in the morning. Sleep tight and don’t let the bedbugs bite!”
After ringing off, I once again stripped off my jeans and bra, and clad only in a T-shirt, crawled between the sheets. Thankful that Magical HQ had cable television, I tuned into the west coast baseball game, lay my head on the pillow next to Fudge and drifted off.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
It seemed I’d barely closed my eyes when my alarm went off. It was just beginning to get light, which was my normal wake-up time, established long ago thanks to Fudge shredding my drapes. I debated going back to sleep since I apparently wasn’t going to work, but habit took over. The magical phone delivered a large pot of coffee, which I slurped while checking social media and email from my phone.
Around six-thirty, there was a knock at the door. Hoping it was Gregory with a bag of clothes and toiletries from Cassandra, I pulled on my pants to answer it.
“Good morning,” Mr. Bartz said. “I hope you slept well?”
When I nodded, he continued. “I know being stuck here is extremely inconvenient, especially given the turmoil Mr. Angelich’s business is probably in after last week’s events. Therefore, we have determined to protect Mr. Angelich’s house so you can go to work. If that’s acceptable, of course.”
Was it?! It seemed strange, but I was actually excited to be able to go to work. “That would be marvelous!” I replied. “But I’m waiting for Gregory to bring me some clean clothes and toiletries.”
“I spoke with him moments ago. He is on his way and should be here within a half hour or so, depending on traffic. He’ll take you back with him.”
I heaved a huge sigh of relief. I could pretend normalcy for a few hours. “Great. And thanks.”
Mr. Bartz turned back down the hallway as I closed my door.
“Nothing about your life is what you would consider normal,” Fudge twined around my legs. “And working in the ogre’s house is definitely not so. But we will make the best of it.”
I refilled my coffee cup. “So, now that I’ve seen you in action, care to explain what you did last night?”
A sigh escaped him. “I suppose I must. A moment while I communicate with Waldo.” He closed his eyes and opened them a moment later.
“As long as it goes no further than you and Gregory, I have permission to share.
“We have already discussed how the elves are the magic you perceive around you, yes? Familiars are that same magic, but older. It is how we are able to traverse the ether without getting lost, move from host body to host body, and keep that body healthy until it is no longer needed. The oldest among us, myself and Waldo included, are strong enough in our magic to speak to our witch or wizard in their mind. It is that same strength that allows us to interrupt any magic the elves project outside thems
elves. Waldo and a few others can even disrupt elven magic to the extent that an elf will dissipate.”
“You mean kill them?” I was flabbergasted.
“Yes. It is why elves fear us. I do not know how much they know of us, but they do know we can destroy them. Hence the necessity of my promise at the enclave.”
Wow. Not that I didn’t already think it, especially after the previous night, but my cat was a bad-ass. Since Fudge knew basically everything I was thinking, he preened.
Another knock at the door, and Gregory was standing there with an overnight case in his hand. “I’d have sent it along earlier, but nothing can transport into this building,” he told me as he handed it to me. “I have to speak with Ed so that should give you enough time to shower and change. I’ll be back here in a half hour.”
Cassandra had packed everything I’d need and then some. Of course, she didn’t know I was going to be allowed to leave my prison – at least for the day. So I showered and got ready for work.
On the ride out to Ev’s, I filled Gregory in on what Fudge had told me, with the admonishment that it was for his ears only.
After I’d related Fudge’s revelation, Gregory whistled, then said, “Fudge, may I say, that is an extraordinary ability. Amy, and by extension, I and her other friends, are quite lucky to have you around.”
My cat just preened a little more. Not that he needed any encouragement to have a big ego. I said as much.
Gregory chuckled. "I understand most familiars have no humility. The fact that Fudge is a cat just augments it.”
Fudge snorted. “I am what I am. I know my own abilities. Why should I be bashful about it?”
I gave him a scritch behind the ears. “I know. But I still love you.”
We pulled into Ev’s driveway, Gregory maneuvering the Hummer between two police cars, both marked.
Gregory explained their presence. “Although the cars say ‘Edina Police,’ they are actually paranormal cops. While we hope the presence of the police will deter anyone, the four cops are trained to deal with anything except elves. Fudge, that’s where you come in. I’d like you to patrol, if you would.”
Transformation! Page 24
