by Lysa Daley
“Do I know you?” I took a step back.
“It’s me. Officer Brown.”
Oh. The cop I met the other day when I retrieved the necklace from the troll’s nest.
“Officer Brown?” I said, taking off my sunglasses. “What are you doing down here?”
“I saw you come out of that building.”
“Yes? Are you following me or something?”
“Me?” He frowned. “No. Why would I be following you?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging one shoulder. I didn’t want to mention that yesterday I’d been dumb enough to let myself be followed which ultimately led to me losing my job. “Seems kind of weird running into you again.”
He repeated, “Were you in that building? The Ironwood Building?”
He obviously watched me come out the front doors, so I really couldn’t deny it at this point. “Yes.”
“Can I ask you why?”
“I’m doing some…. freelance work for a company in the building. Or should I said, I was doing some stuff for them. But it’s not going to pan out.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the name of the company?”
I had to think about it for a moment, and it occurred to me that Mr. Stroud still hadn’t mentioned the name of the company. He paid me with a cashier’s check. And he never gave me a business card with the company name on it.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean they never told me. And it didn’t seem important.”
He looked very serious. “Ms. McCray. I think you may be working for some very bad people.”
“What do you mean, Officer?”
“Call me Sam.”
“Okay, Sam. I don’t know anything about the companies in that building.”
“Good. You should stay out of there.”
“Why?”
He hesitated, fidgeting like a nervous cat. His anxiety made me anxious, and I found myself looking around. Maybe someone was spying on us.
“I don’t know if you’re a believer in…” he began, studying my face for a reaction. “In the supernatural.”
I decided not to give him one. Instead, I nodded in a neutral way.
“You may think I’m crazy, but I have reason to believe that there are some very dark things happening behind those doors.”
“What sort of things?”
“I’ve only been a police officer for two years, but I’ve seen things,” he said, and I could tell by hard look in his eye that he had seen things he didn’t understand. Of course, no human really understood the shadow world of the supernatural. “I’ve seen… monsters out there. And whatever’s going on in that building has something to do with them.”
“You have nothing to worry about,” I said, trying to set his mind at ease. “And I plan to stay as far away from the Ironwood Building as I can.”
Chapter Thirteen
Defeated, I drove myself home.
My apartment’s parking lot had fewer spaces than there were cars. So naturally, the lot was already full when I got back, and I had to park seven blocks away from my apartment.
Parking near UCLA during the school week, a campus of 50,000 students, could be a serious challenge not to be undertaken by the faint of heart. For me, it normally wasn’t an issue because I walked to campus most days and only drove my car during the off hours. I circled my neighborhood for fifteen minutes, until I got lucky and stumbled on a mom in a SUV pulling out.
As I hoofed it back to my apartment, it occurred to me that finding that parking spot may actually have been the luckiest thing that happened to me all week. I only had two days left to raise the money, or there was no way I was going to be able to stay in school
Just as I turned the corner of my block, I suddenly had the weirdest feeling that someone was watching me. I stopped and looked around. Nobody. So I kept going, but I couldn’t shake the feeling. Still, no matter how many times I turned around or glanced across the street, I didn’t see anyone or anything suspicious.
That cop’s paranoia was rubbing off on me.
By this time of day, my apartment complex was usually a ghost town, by midmorning everyone was at class or at work. Today, it felt even quieter than usual.
Trudging up the steps to my apartment, something rustled in the branches of the all-fruit tree that occupied the center of the open air courtyard. Something big.
I stopped and looked into the thick foliage. At first I didn’t see anything.
But when I took a step closer, a pair of large glowing angry eyes appeared.
I leaped back as the biggest great grey owl I had ever seen swooped out of the foliage and came straight at me. Its wingspan must have been ten feet wide. A gust of wind smacked my face as massive clawed talons reached toward me, then passed me by as the bird effortlessly transformed into a man wearing tan field clothes and a familiar parka.
“Daddy! Thank God,” I said as he pulled me into an embrace. Tears of relief streamed down my face.
“Lysandra,” he breathed. “I’ve been worried about you. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. What is going on? I haven’t been able to reach you.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” he said, rubbing my back like I was seven-years old.
“Please tell me what’s going on? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he said, quietly pulling me into the shadows. His hand raked through his slicked-back salt-and-pepper hair and he scoped out our surroundings. My normally calm and confident father seemed fearful, and that stirred fear in me.
“Come inside,” I said.
“No. I can’t stay long. Others are looking for me, and I don’t want to put you in danger.”
“Danger?” I repeated. “Dad, please, come inside and tell me what’s going on.”
He stepped forward. “I’ve come to warn you.”
“Warn me about what?”
“Don’t trust anyone. And do not believe what you hear about me.”
“Now you’re scaring me.”
“Lysandra,” he said, using my full name for the second time. He only called me Lysandra when I was in trouble or the situation was gravely serious. “There’s something about me you don’t know. Something I’ve tried to keep from you.
“You can tell me.”
“I work for the Society of Shadows. I have for years.”
“The Society?” I said, my eyes wide with confusion and disbelief. “Daddy, that’s not a real thing anymore. It’s been gone for over a century.”
“Oh, it’s a real thing. A very real thing. The Society has fought evil from the shadows for centuries.”
“What? I don’t understand…”
“There has always been dark magic in the world. You know that.”
“And… you work for the Society?” I asked, wanting some clarity.
“I have a seat on the White Council.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This made no sense. There was almost nothing anyone could have said that would have seemed farther from reality. My father had always maintained that the continued existence of the Society of Shadows was nothing more than a myth.
“But…but,” I stuttered. “Since when?”
In legend, the White Council was sort of like the Knights of the Roundtable. They were supposedly an international group of ten leaders who made up the governing body of the Society of Shadows.
There has always been crazy speculation about who might have sat on the council, including names like Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, Winston Churchill, Steve Jobs, several U.S. presidents, and various kings and queens. The most powerful people on the planet.
Of course, it always seemed more like a bedtime story than a real thing.
“Since when?” I repeated.
“Since your grandfather died,” he replied. “And he sat on the White Council after his father died. A McCray has held a seat for centuries.”
“I can’t believe what I’m hearin
g.”
“Who do you think keeps this world in balance? Who keeps the non-magicals safe. Who polices the vampires and weres and the witches? Who forces evil and dark magic back to where it came from? Without us, the world would fall into chaos.”
“But you always said the rumors that the Society still existed were a myth. You said the Society was something that had faded out centuries ago.”
“It was for your own protection,” he explained. “I wanted you to focus on your own life. On your own goals.” His eyes shined fiercely. “But there has always been dark magic in the world. And as long as it exists and tries to turn the tide toward the dark, the Society must exist.”
In legend, it was an ancient society of magicians, founded by no less than Merlin, that kept the world safe from the evil forces of magic. Merlin, who lived for several hundred years, could see the future because his father was rumored to be a demon. He realized that things were getting pretty grim during the dark ages. He saw firsthand how a small faction of supernatural beings began to rely on dark magic to control the non-magical world. As this faction grew more and more powerful, not to mention richer and richer, the rest of the world lived in poverty and hopelessness.
Merlin gathered a small but powerful group of witches and wizards, who became the first Society of Shadows. This group banded together to eradicate anyone who used dark magic.
They spread out across the globe, each taking a region to reform. They recruited and trained young witches and wizards to help stop the spread of dark magic. These were the original seekers.
Over the centuries, they were able to turn the tide on dark magic and even managed to spread the popularity of white magic. And if a supernatural chose not to follow the new code of white magic, then they were either imprisoned or hunted down and killed.
They say the Society of Shadows remained out in the open until the end of the Renaissance. Slowly, regular humans became less and less tolerant of magic. Eventually, the Society had to go underground.
The 18th century saw the birth of the Enlightenment, a non-magical movement devoted to science and rationalism, predominately amongst the non-magical ruling classes. However, amongst much of Europe, belief in magic and witchcraft persisted.
Governments cracked down on magicians and fortune tellers, sometimes throwing them in prison. In doing so, they confiscated and burned homes, businesses, and many magical libraries. Who knows how much history and knowledge was lost during this period?
Soon, a hysterical anti-magic movement began. Things like the Salem Witch Trials occurred. Witches were burned, drowned, and stoned. Vampires were staked. Werewolves and the like were forced deep into the wilderness.
In reaction, the Society fought back. Some say it became power hungry with an ongoing internal battle for power. Wizards fought for control on the council.
Payoffs and bribes became an all too popular way to get Society members to protect common people. No longer was the Society of Shadows a beacon of hope and light in a dark, evil world. It had become as corrupt as the forces it once tried to fight.
But then, something happened. No one was exactly sure why. The Society of Shadows all but vanished at the dawn of the 20th century.
Some said they’d done their job and were no longer needed. They’d established a framework in which the magical community could live and work.
Today, some think the Society was never real. I was taught that it was nothing more than a bedtime story to motivate magical children to behave.
“If you are a member of the White Council, where have you been?” I asked. “Why are you hiding in the shadows?”
“I have been accused of a crime I did not commit.” My father’s face darkened. “For twenty-five years, since before you were born, I have sat on the White Council. But now, a dark force has penetrated the Society. Someone has stolen a fortune from the Society’s private vaults. They think I stole gold that belongs to a powerful supernatural.”
“Why does the Society of Shadows think that you stole it?”
“There’s a recording,” he confessed. “That shows me coming and going from the vaults.”
I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t believe that my father was thief.
“Whose gold is it?” I asked breathlessly.
“I don’t know. They refuse to divulge that information.”
He read the dismay on my face and explained, “The recording is a fake. It isn’t me. It’s someone who looked like me. Or took my form.”
“So you’re being framed?” I said, trying to put all of these pieces together in my mind.
“Let me ask you… if you were going to steal something, how would you get in and out without being seen?”
At first, I wasn’t sure what he was getting at. Why was he asking me to think like a thief?
Suddenly, it occurred to me.
“I’d turn myself into something small, at least to get in. Maybe a mouse or a bug. Then something larger, maybe a raccoon because they’re excellent thieves with handy little paws, to get out.”
“Exactly.” He nodded. “It makes no sense that I would breeze in and out in my human form when I could easily disguise myself as anything I wanted.”
I quickly ponder the possibilities. If I had the abilities that he had, I might turn into something nimble, like a chimpanzee. I could disable any security cameras or block any wards.
“Who would want to frame you?” I asked.
“Sadly, there are many mages — even some on the White Council — who would go to great lengths to steal that much money,” he said. “The Society has stepped in and made my life very difficult. It’s why my bank accounts have been frozen. I can’t access our money, investments, or property. They’ve formally accused me of being a traitor. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I swear to you, Lacey, don’t believe anything you hear. They’re trying to force me out of hiding.”
“Where have you been staying?” I asked, worried that he’d been on the run all this time.
My father lived in a very nice townhouse in a swanky London neighborhood. It had been in our family for almost two centuries. After he and my mother split up, he moved from the East Coast back to London.
I’d spend a couple summers and school holidays there. But to me, it wasn’t home. It was just a very fancy place to visit, scattered with a lot of old breakable antiques.
“Don’t worry. I’m safe,” he said. “I’ve been with Rudolph and his family.”
My throat clenched. I hadn’t heard him mention Rudolph’s name since I was a little girl. “I thought Rudolph was dead?”
He shook his head. “He fooled us all. Went into hiding. He has a new family. They’re well hidden and growing fast. They’ve been keeping me safe.”
Rudolph was a Scandinavian blue scaled dragon, who lived north of the Arctic Circle, somewhere between the border of Norway and Finland. The terrain in that area was treacherous and nearly impossible to navigate for huge chunks of the years. There was no question that my father was safe if he was living with a thunder of dragons.
He didn’t have to say it, but I knew he wasn’t telling me exactly where he was in case prying ears were listening to us. A skilled wizard would easily be able to track us on their scrying glass if they knew that he’d been here.
“Have you been able to… fit in with his family?”
He gave me a small nod with a wry smile.
“Really?” I couldn’t hide my enthusiasm. What he was basically telling me was that he had been able to transform into a dragon.
This would make my father one of the only Class 5 animagus to ever live.
During my childhood, he’d spent months living with the dragons in order to learn their ways and take in their essences. That was the only way to get to the next level — to take in the very essence of the creature you hoped to transform into.
Others had tried. None had succeeded.
Eventually, the dragons had been discovered. It was believed that Rudolph and his f
amily had been killed by a group of big game hunters. Their teeth, scales, claws and even eyeballs were worth a fortune on the black market.
My father, who had been studying his family group, was heartbroken at the loss of an animal that he had grown to know and love.
Over the years, he went back several times to try to locate any other blue scales. As far as I knew, he’d never any luck.
“Oh Lysandra, if only you could see how amazing they are. I do hope one day I'll be able to take you there,” my father said, drifting off for moment until we heard voices approaching.
“What should I do?”
“Trust no one who says they can help.”
He pulled something from his pocket and carefully placed a small coin into my hand. A regular tarnished coin. It looked like it had no magical properties, but I couldn’t tell what sort of currency it was.
“See if you can identify this coin. Perhaps your school library will have a reference guide.”
“Is this what they think you stole?” I began, but voices drifted in closer from the first floor.
“I have to go,” he said, spooked. “Be careful, my child.”
“How do I contact you?”
A pair of underclassmen, pixies but in their full human glamour, were coming up the stairs, chatting animatedly about some nightclub they were planning to go to.
No one likes to party more than a faerie.
They didn’t seem like a threat, but clearly he wasn’t going to take any chances.
The fairies’ conversation stopped when something startled them and their gazes lifted I turned to see the great grey owl blustering into the sky.
“Whoa!” One of the girls pointed. “Never seen an owl during the day like that before.”
“Gorgeous bird,” said the other, as my father disappeared over the rooftop. The girls walked silently past me. They were smart enough to know something was up and not to ask.
I slipped the coin into my pocket and walked the rest of the way to my apartment.
I arrived at my green front door to find a formal eviction notice pinned to it.
Chapter Fourteen
“Mr. Gulch!” I pounded on his front door. “Are you home?”
