by Martha Carr
“Now the other promise,” Louie said.
“Right,” Agnes replied, closing the book and standing up.
She pulled her wand out, frightening Louie into pulling his out as well. The guard reached over and calmly pushed Louie’s hand down, watching Agnes. She swirled the wand over her head, emitting streaks of black smoke. The smoke coalesced and morphed into a large crow and she swished her wand at the window, opening it. The crow flew out.
“The message will be delivered to everyone,” she assured him.
Louie nodded and zipped his bag back up, glancing out the window at the grapes growing in the distance. He was surrounded by some kind of vineyard, but that was all he could tell. The guard grabbed him by the back of the neck and shoved him toward the doors, slamming them behind them.
Inside the room the elders gathered around the book, running their fingers over the long-lost spells. The older witch stood next to Agnes, watching out the window as the guard tossed Louie through a portal and closed it behind him, giving them a nod.
“Is he on our team or their team?” she whispered.
“He’s negotiable.”
17
Yumfuck was lying back in a lawn chair on the back patio of the house with a glass of lemonade at his side. He shifted the small mirror in front of him, warming himself in the sun. “Yum… Fuck. He sighed and grabbed his glass, taking a long sip of lemonade. He laid back and closed his eyes, feeling the heat through his fur. His ears suddenly perked and he sat up, taking off his sunglasses. He could hear the tiny mew of a cat from two doors down.
“Come on, Mr. Furs, come down from that tree,” a voice called.
Yumfuck jumped off the chair and scurried through the grass, still only five inches tall. He listened for the cat again.
“Mew,” the cat griped.
“You got up there. Why can’t you get down?” The woman sighed.
Yumfuck scooted under the fence, jumped over the neighbor’s lawn chair, and inched through the crack under the opposite gate. He pressed his back against the gate as an old silver-haired woman stared up at her tabby cat high in a tree. Its claws were digging into the branch, and it was obviously more than frightened.
This is a job for Batfuck. I got this.
Yumfuck grew to three feet as he ran across the lawn and tugged on the woman’s arm.
“Excuse me?”
“Oh!” she exclaimed, putting her hand to her chest. “I’m sorry, you scared me. You...you must be the new neighbor. Lily told me all about you.”
“Is your cat stuck?”
“Oh, yes, that little furball got himself up there chasing the only squirrel in DC and now Mr. Furs can’t get down. I’ve tried using my wand but the damn thing has learned how to leap out of the way after all these years. I’m not as fast on the trigger like I used to be.”
“I got this.” Yumfuck put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest.
“Just like a super hero. Not bad.”
“This is a job for Batfuck.”
The old witch smiled and clapped her hands. “Oriceran humor… the best.”
Yumfuck grew till he was eye-level with the cat. The cat hunkered back, hissing, turning his head from side to side as Yumfuck’s paw reached toward him. He trembled, almost falling from the branch, as the witch gasped and slipped out her wand, grasping it tightly.
“One furball to another. Come on, we’ve got a connection.”
He reached out farther, letting the cat smell his paws where the faint smell of chicken wings and donuts lingered. “Look at that. We’ve got two things. Ever hear of Cheetos.”
The cat licked his paw as the troll reached up and grabbed the cat around the middle. He brought him in close, hugging Mr. Furs to his chest as he slowly shrank back to four feet tall. He handed the cat to the witch, who took him excitedly as she tapped the top of Mr. Furs’ head.
“That always calms him down.” She gave a wink as she headed to the back door. “Why don’t you come in and have some cookies? I just baked them.”
“Mmmm, cookies!” He followed the old woman inside, smiling at Mr. Furs as he entered. Her house was like the others, full of human knick-knacks, photos, and wallpaper that had to date back decades. The woman may her way into the kitchen, pulling open the fridge and grabbing a jug of milk.
“Have a seat. You’re the hero!” She smiled. “My name is Eleanor.”
“Nice to meet you.” He smiled back, eyeing the cookies.
“My husband would have loved you,” she exclaimed, bringing him a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. “A troll bonded with him too. His name was Earnest. Smart as a whip and swore just as much as Harold.”
“Where is he?” Yumfuck looked around as he piled four cookies together and carefully slid them all in, puffing out his cheeks.
“Oh, Harold passed away ten years ago next month and Earnest left for Oriceran not long after his passing. The bond was broken.”
“I heard you’ve met the main crew in the building.”
“Nice bunch of motherfuckers.”
Eleanor leaned her head back and laughed, a hand on her chest. “I guess they are. It’s like I can hear Harold again. This is a nice building. Cookouts all summer long. They’ve been doing it since we all had little witches and wizards running around. You should have seen Halloween around this place.” She gave a wink. “Regular celebration. Kind of like our Thanksgiving but with candy.”
“Best holiday ever.”
“Hey, why don’t you come over tonight for game night? It’s a potluck, so everyone brings food. We play games and have a good old time, at least until Wheel of Fortune comes on. You can bring some friends.”
“They’re in New Orleans tonight.” Yumfuck shook his head as he took two more cookies, doing his best to fold them in half and stuff them in his mouth.
Eleanor smiled as she watched him eat. “Never seen anybody mainline a cookie before.”
“Sounds like a party… I can deejay and I’ll bring chicken! We’ll raise the roof. Woot! Woot! Wueeeeee!”
“Oh, wonderful!” She twirled around the kitchen as she took his empty plate and glass. “It starts at five… motherfucker.” She let out another laugh as the troll cackled, pushing his hands overhead.
“Like the roof is on fire!”
Lucius sat at a small table in the basement of one of his fellow shifters’ homes. There was a round table that was used for playing poker, and food scattered across it. Around him were five shifters in their human forms, wiping their mouths after eating. Everyone was quiet since they weren’t used to having the new Alpha there. Lee, the old Alpha, had been in the group with Sirius, the one that led the shifters to safety.
He was a middle-aged man with a respectable job at a bank, a midsized suburban home, two kids, and a wife he had been in love with since he was in high school. He’d had a normal life. An above-average life, really—until Sirius, that was. He had been captured and changed to a shifter. He had been appalled at first when the change came. It had been painful and scary, and he had feared he would hurt his wife or kids, but he kept the secret, having seen the danger out there in the world and not wanting to put his family in jeopardy.
“Thank you for dinner,” Lucius said politely to Lee. “It’s been a while since I had a good meal.”
“Of course,” Lee replied, leaning forward. “Thank you for meeting with us.”
“You sounded like it was urgent, and we are a pack now. Though I’m sorry I stepped on your shoes.”
“Trust me, I wasn’t made to be Alpha, not the way you are.” Lee smiled. “Look, I’m going to make this simple. We—the others here and most of us in the pack—we are new to this life. We are fearful of hurting those we love or putting them in harm’s way. We need a safe place to change, land we can all gather on.”
“And not just us here, but all over the country,” another guy chimed in. “A sanctuary of sorts where we can come together to plan for the future and keep our loved ones safe on the ou
tside.”
“Hmmm,” Lucius replied, rubbing his chin. “A base of some sort with space to run, to work on the future, and to be safe from the magical and non-magical alike. That’s a very good idea.”
“We thought that maybe a large parcel of land would do, something we can protect from the outside world,” a woman interjected. “Something you can use your magic on to protect us.”
“We know that there will be fights like the one you were in recently, but a lot of us have zero training. We don’t know what to do with our bodies, but we would like a chance to perfect and protect ourselves, and to become stronger.” Lee watched Lucius as he rolled an orb of light around in his hand with a thoughtful look on his face.
“We know you come from Oriceran,” the woman added. “But we can get the land—go through the legal channels for that—and then you could take care of the magic part.”
“I like it,” Lucius agreed, crushing the orb. “But I think it will be best if I roll through some of my contacts first. I will be in touch soon.”
Everyone stood up when Lucius did, not out of fear but out of respect. He shook each of the shifter’s hands and nodded at them. He had been waiting for a pack that took the initiative; that stepped forward and let him know what was needed. It seemed he was really starting to build something.
Lucius left the house and walked out onto the dark suburban street, looking around him. Quickly he shifted into his wolf and took off down the street, heading for the woods across the road. Once tucked tightly into the shadows he morphed back into his elf form, pulling an orb into his hands and rolling it around. He lifted and stretched it into a portal, stepping through onto Texas soil. He had heard rumors of a sanctuary already in place somewhere around there, and hoped he could get word to the Gardener, whom he knew was behind it. He would need all the help he could get protecting his new crew, even if it meant asking for the help of someone from back home.
Yumfuck stared down at his red cards and peered at the others. They were serious about their Apples to Apples games and the room was completely silent. The word read aloud had been “Vile,” and Yumfuck was thrilled with his hand. His cards read Plumber’s crack, Daddy Longlegs, My Friends, and a Nightmare. He smiled and put down a card, setting the rest on a stack next to him.
Marcy shuffled the rest of the green cards and set them down, taking her time to flip each of the red cards over. She rubbed her chin, looking between Yumfuck’s Plumber’s Crack card and Lily’s Toe Jam card. Finally, after a few pushes from the guys, she reached out and held up Yumfuck’s card. Everyone groaned and threw their cards down on the table, leaning back in their chairs.
“Yumfuck has won eight in a row,” Elijah griped putting up his hands.
“Hey, the cards don’t lie!” Yumfuck chuckled.
“I need to have you over for poker night with the guys from Southeast. We would wipe the table with your luck.” Elijah smiled.
“Oh yes, the first thing you do with a creature from another planet is make them a poker fiend,” Lily agreed, grabbing the empty bowl of chips and walking over to the counter.
“I watch the World Poker Tour.” Yumfuck lifted his sunglasses. “It’s all about the poker face.”
“Oh, yeah?” Eleanor asked. “Let me see yours.”
Yumfuck cleared his throat and stood up straight, looking across the table sternly, his mouth pursed.
“Can’t tell if you’re doing a selfie or making a poker face.” Elijah did his best to imitate him as Yumfuck let out a cackle.
Eleanor chuckled and nodded. “That’s a good one.” She sipped her hot tea.
“Hey, did you know old Eleanor over here used to be a blackjack dealer in Vegas?” Elliot asked. “Oh yeah, first woman ever. She was a shark, or so we have heard.”
“Oh, come now!” Eleanor laughed. “I kept magic out of it, too. All natural talent. Just had a little fun in my twenties. That was how I met Harold. I beat the pants off of him at Rummy. It was love at first sight. He was too busy staring at me to pay attention to his cards.”
The women laughed as the men got up from the table and grabbed their cigars. “Ladies, we are retiring to the porch until Wheel of Fortune. Yumfuck, would you like to join us?”
“Why not?” He got up and followed them out onto the patio.
Elijah snipped the end of a cigar and handed it to Yumfuck, taking his and lighting up. Yumfuck watched wide-eyed as they puffed vast plumes of sweet-smelling smoke into the sky. He held the match to his, pulling in the smoke and blowing it out in rings. He started to cough and bent over, holding out the cigar. How did Estelle do this?
“Easy, little guy.” Elijah chuckled and patted him on the back. “Are you even old enough to smoke one of these things?”
“Three hundred and seventy,” Yumfuck informed them proudly, making Elijah choke on his smoke as well.
“I’d say that’s old enough.” He laughed, his belly shaking in front of him.
Yumfuck sat back on the patio chair and watched the stars above, blowing different shapes into the night sky. A shooting star raced across his view, disappearing into space. Yumfuck sighed, thinking about Oriceran and the beautiful two moons that shone brightly through the canopy of the dark forest. He might be old in human years, but compared to his parents he was a very young troll.
He missed his family, but he was so happy to have found one right here in DC. His neighbors had taken him in and it was his responsibility to make sure they stayed safe, no matter what that took. With the dark magic coming and the normal level of human crime, his neighbors were more vulnerable than ever.
Yumfuck looked through the window, watching Lily, Marcy, and Eleanor stand talking in the kitchen over a warm cup of tea. It was those moments that made his daily crime-fighting that much more important.
18
Lucius stood tall in his Light Elf form, looking over the hundreds of acres that comprised the new shifter sanctuary. The land rolled for miles, some of it open pasture land and the rest rich forests untouched by greedy human hands. The entrance was hidden in a stretch of woods along the highway relatively close to the Gardener’s animal sanctuary, but not close enough to interfere. The rains had brought abundant springs and fruitful deep soil perfect for growing things.
Many of the shifters would be coming to live there, to get away from the human lives they were no longer were attached to. Others still had families at home and would use the land for meetings or to run free as wolves. It was a safe place free of outside magic. Somewhere the government wouldn’t find, and the shifters could steer clear of those magical beings who feared them.
Lucius was proud of his accomplishment. He had come far since he had first arrived on Earth after being stuck in the World in Between for hundreds of years, tormented by the seeds of dark magic that had taken his Light Elf wisdom. The dark still lurked in the shadows of his mind, but the Light Elf magic was growing stronger.
“You did good,” Lee said, as he came up next to him. “We didn’t hear from you, so we weren’t sure, but this is amazing.”
“I called in some favors,” Lucius replied. “I have connections from my time on Oriceran when I was a warrior. There were two Gnomes, the prior owners of this land, who owed me for saving their lives.”
“Gnomes?” Lee asked with wide eyes. “I’ve heard they are angry little creatures, never giving a penny for another.”
“Quite the contrary,” Lucius replied. “They are sticklers for the rules, protectors of their worlds, and protectors of their own. They hold on to what they have, but when they owe a debt they are more than willing to pay up.”
“Are they here on Earth?”
“They are, one of them at the very bank you worked for.” Lucius smirked.
“Probably Larry,” Lee grumbled. “Grumpy little bastard, always tracking down the late fees.”
Lucius laughed for the first time in a very long time, thinking about the small red-headed receptionist who was actually the Gnome. Larry was just an ass
hole, like so many other humans he had met thus far. Lee smiled and walked toward the crowd in the center of the field, tilting his head from side to side as he morphed into his wolf.
The space was filling up with hundreds of wolves, some in their wolf form and others in their human form. There were wolves laid out all over the grassy field, licking their paws and taking short naps from their long journey there, and some were talking to the others, the telepathic chat mixing with the audible. It was a gathering of shifters like Earth had never seen, one that would be absolutely necessary to their future. This was not just a pack for Lucius, it was a pack that would lead the way when the gates to Oriceran opened. They would welcome the others openly, keeping their sanctuary hidden as long as they could.
Lucius watched two younger shifters bolt past, the one in the back leaping to tackle the one in the front. The wolves rolled across the ground, nipping at each other and their mother ran in front of them, apologizing to Lucius and shooing them toward the center. Children were one of the things he did not have a lot of, and in the end they would carry the pack into the new dawn.
“What do you plan on doing with this place?” a man asked. “Oh, my apologies. Rufus is the name. Descendant of the purebred shifters from Oriceran.”
“Thank you for coming.” Lucius nodded, his arms crossed over his chest. “The future is unknown, not just for the shifters but for all magical creatures on Earth. I have been through enough to know there is a thin line for most between what is dark and what is light, and that line sometimes blurs for creatures like us. With Rhazdon gone too many have let down their guard, but dark magic is brewing and not just on Oriceran. The dark families are waging war, the government is hunting shifters, and nothing is set for the prophecy. I want to use this, not just as a safe haven, but for our pack to gather, to form, to plan, and to push through the wars that will inevitably break out along the way. There are many reasons this needed to be established.”
