Hidden Realms

by Dean Murray

  Frowning, I went to join the others in the living room.

  Allison had pulled out several board games and laid them out on the coffee table. “Pick your poison,” she told Lucy and Jason. Before they could answer, Allison turned to acknowledge me. “What’s wrong?” she asked, taking in my lugubrious expression.

  I shook my head ruefully. “Nothing. I vote for Scrabble.”

  Allison grabbed the scrabble box and started setting up the board on the coffee table. Lucy began turning all of the little letter tiles upside-down in the box since we'd long ago lost the bag they were supposed to go in.

  “Max is here,” Jason said an instant before Max knocked on the door.

  I walked to the door and let him inside. “Did you find anything?” I asked.

  Max shook his head. “Dan’s been everywhere. He’s crisscrossed his scent all over the place. I can’t find a definite trail.”

  Jason chimed in, “That's what I expected. He's hiding out, waiting for an opportunity to strike.”

  “Um,” Max began, “I found something else.”

  We all looked to Max expectantly.

  “Other scents. There are other wolves in town.”

  “Could it be Dan’s old pack, trying to find him?” I asked.

  “I don't think so,” Jason answered. “Packs don't travel much. They don't want to risk crossing into another pack’s territory. That's why they hired me.” He paused to think for a moment. “Could you tell how many?”

  “Two, besides Dan,” Max answered. “At least, that’s how many I caught scent of.”

  “What do we do?” I asked.

  “We do all we can do,” Jason replied. “Wait.”

  So it looked like we would have to wait for Dan, and maybe others, to come to us. Gotta love a stake-out . . . or not.

  I started to shut the door behind Max, but noticed Brian coming our way. I swear, he was worse than a puppy. I went outside and shut the door behind me. I had a feeling that a confrontation was in my near future. Brian stomped toward me, looking angry. He’d changed into a plain white t-shirt and jeans.

  He stopped right in front of me, arms crossed. “I’ve been thinking about your story Xoe, and I have to say, I don’t believe a word of it. We’ve been friends a long time, and if you’re in some sort of trouble, I deserve to know. I can help.” He gave me a slightly pleading look that was overtaken by his anger within seconds.

  I didn’t know why he was so angry. I mean, I could understand him being a little jealous about being left out, but this amount of anger was uncalled for. Men are always saying how difficult women are to understand, but they hadn’t met the men in my life, they could give any woman a run for her money.

  I stared at him blankly, considering my answer, then words tumbled out of my mouth. “Trouble’s over. Dan left town, Jason and Max just came over to hang out.”

  Brian did not look convinced, but I hadn’t really expected him to be. He roughly ran his hand through his hair in a frustrated gesture, making his short curls puff up. He said coldly, “You’ve always been a terrible liar Xoe.”

  Matching him stare for stare, I answered just as coldly, “What do you want me to say?”

  Brian shook his head and swept past me, going for the door. My guilt turned quickly into anger. I didn’t owe him any explanation! How dare he! I ran after him and caught up as he was reaching for the doorknob.

  I reached out and grabbed his wrist before he could turn the knob. Things seemed to go in slow motion. He jerked away from me with a yelp of pain. I looked at him dumbly, confused by his reaction. Then I saw his arm. A blistery burn, roughly the size of my hand, circled his wrist. I stared at him confused. My vision began to go dark. The last thing I saw was the terrified look on Brian’s face. Terrified of me. Then the ground came up to meet me.

  I woke to dark blue eyes above me. Wait, hadn’t this happened before? The eyes disappeared for a moment, then I felt Jason pulling me into his lap. He leaned me against his chest so I could sit upright. My limbs ached with flu-like weakness. I couldn’t move. My vision faded in and out. Jason ran his hands up and down my arms, like you do when you’re trying to warm someone up.

  We were outside my front door. Lucy, Allison, and Max had all come outside as well. Brian was standing a safe distance away, cradling his wrist.

  “We had to fill him in on some stuff,” Allison said, nodding in Brian’s direction. Allison looked uneasy. She seemed afraid to get too close to the situation. I looked at Brian’s face. His face was set in angry lines, but his eyes held unmistakable fear.

  Brian stared back at me, unable to make his face completely impassive, though I could tell that’s what he was trying to go for. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay before I left. I don’t want any part of—this. Whatever this is. I get the point. I’ll leave you alone from now on. You didn’t have to burn me.”

  My mouth fell open. I tried to speak and my voice cracked. I tried again with a little more success, “I-I didn’t mean to. I don’t know what happened.”

  Brian didn’t answer. He just turned and walked away toward his house.

  Jason stood, lifting me up in his arms, and carried me inside. He laid me down gently on the couch as I heard the footsteps of the others following us.

  Allison and Lucy came to hover beside me. I heard someone, Max, by process of elimination, shut and lock the door. Max walked up to stand beside Jason.

  Allison looked in their direction. “Could we have a little privacy?”

  Nodding and mumbling uncomfortably, the boys unlocked the door again and went back outside. The noises that came from their exit: the hushed tones of their voices, their footsteps, the click of the door shutting, all seemed like a distant dream to me. Allison lifted me up partially so that she could sit down and lay my head in her lap. She started stroking my hair, trying to be comforting.

  “What happened Xoe?” she asked.

  Lucy sat on the floor and grabbed my hand. Hot tears stung my eyes. I tried to stop them, but they flowed faster and faster. What had happened?

  “I hurt Brian. I don’t know how, but I did.” My tears were a mixture of confusion and fear. “He’s one of my oldest friends and . . . and . . .” My words caught in my throat. “He’s afraid of me!” The tears turned into raking sobs. I hiccupped on my breaths, trying to draw in enough air and failing.

  It was just too much. I had managed to keep my cool through everything that had happened, but this was just too much. My friends held me, Allison with my head in her lap and Lucy clinging to my hand, as I cried out my frustration and fear. Underneath the frustration and fear was an immense sadness. A sadness in knowing that life as I knew it had changed—forever. I had always had a solid sense of who I was . . . what I was. Now everything felt like quicksand. I was being sucked under into a new world, a new me.

  When my tears had quieted, Jason and Max came back inside. They had probably heard the whole thing with their supernatural ears, but I was still grateful for the illusion of privacy they had given me. I looked at them, eyes red and puffy, and asked, “What’s happening to me?”

  Jason knelt beside Lucy. “I think you are coming into your powers. Nothing like this has ever happened before?”

  I shook my head.

  He continued, “If this is just starting now, we can expect more powers to manifest, or for this one to grow in strength.” Jason averted his eyes.

  I stared at him until he gave in and met my gaze. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Jason’s eyes held mine steadily. “This type of power is usually related to . . . demons.”

  My eyes widened. Even if I could make sense of my friends being werewolves and vampires, I could not comprehend being a demon. Jason had told me that it was a possibility, but I hadn’t allowed myself to think too hard on it.

  “Elaborate,” I said shakily.

  “Well,” he began, “out of our three options, demons are the only ones that possess this type of destructive power. Merpeopl
e are capable of a mild amount of enchantment, and Ogres are simply strong. The powers of demons tend to be more . . . obvious.”

  I had an awful idea. “So . . . am I like, bad?” I asked, not sure I really wanted to know. I noticed Lucy dart a worried look up at Allison.

  Jason answered, “No, as far as I know, the manifestation of your genetics is often dependent on your upbringing. Demons have an inborn tendency toward violence and rage, but they do not have to act on their impulses. You were raised like a human, and therefore think like one . . . You simply need to watch your temper.”

  I looked a question at him.

  He went on, “Demons are marked by their anger. I believe that is what your powers are linked to. You burned Brian because you were angry.”

  The room was spinning. I had to focus. I held perfectly still, breathing deeply, trying to not let things sink in until I had gotten all of the facts. “What other ‘powers’” I gulped, “can I expect?”

  “I am not certain. There are different types of demons. Their powers vary. Given that the first power you exerted was to burn someone, your abilities will likely be linked to fire.”

  Fire? That could explain the dreams. I reached my hand up to pinch the bridge of my nose. I had a major headache building behind my eyes. “How do you know all this?”

  He looked down briefly, then met my eyes. “I have suspected that you were most likely a half-demon since the beginning. I did some research, called some friends who are a little more knowledgeable on this type of thing. Half-demons are the most common human hybrid, more so than Merpeople and Ogres. Any other races that can breed with humans are either very rare or gone altogether.”

  The room was still spinning. I closed my eyes to quell my dizziness. “Did your knowledgeable friends give you any other information?”

  Jason lightly placed his hand on the shoulder that I wasn’t lying on. “I'm sorry Xoe, I've told you all that I know.”

  I was overwhelmed, even with this scant amount of information. “What do we do now?” I asked, clinging to my last thread of hope. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a big deal. Maybe the “powers” would stop here. Maybe they would just go away. And maybe the moon is made of cheese to feed the little green men.

  Jason replied, “There's not much that we can do. As your powers come, if your powers come, you will learn to control them.”

  That sounded like a lot of trial and error to me. I’d already hurt one friend. I shuddered at the thought of the damage I might do before I got things under control, if I got things under control. It was a very big if.

  “Is there anything else I should know?” I asked, not really knowing what I was asking for, as Jason had already said all that he knew. The panic was coming back. I closed my eyes and tried to slow my breathing, afraid I was going to hyperventilate and pass out again.

  Jason answered, “Probably, but like I said, I have told you all that I know.”

  Angry and frustrated I replied, “Well, then I guess we should just focus on Dan and the matter at hand.”

  No one argued with the sharpness of my words. Each person nodded his or her assent. I knew there was no way I was going to be able to focus on anything except my recent horrifying news, but I needed the subject off me. I had a lot of processing to do and no time to do it in. A girl’s troubles never end.

  Chapter Fifteen

  We spent the rest of the afternoon playing scrabble, eating pizza, and trying to ignore what we had discovered about me. I’m usually pretty good at scrabble, but today I was filling up the board with three-letter words. The pizza guy had been really late, which I guess was good, considering what he could have walked in on. Plus, we got the order for free. My first slice was still sitting abandoned on a paper plate next to me. When we got bored of scrabble, we resorted to watching a movie.

  I couldn’t focus on the TV screen. I looked around at my living room and the people that currently inhabited it. Jason, Max, and Allison were sharing the larger dark blue couch that I had been lying on when I’d had my breakdown. Jason and Allison each clung to their respective corners while Max lounged in the center. I greedily hogged the mismatched purple loveseat. I needed distance, mentally and physically, to absorb all that had happened. Lucy lay on her stomach on the purple, blue, and green patchwork rug that covered the living room floor, using a throw pillow to prop herself up. My mom had gotten the rug to try and tie in the colors of our two couches, emphasis on the word try.

  I hugged a green throw pillow, clutching it against my stomach. For the past few hours my body had been debating whether I was going to pass out, throw up, or scream. Maybe a little bit of each, hopefully not simultaneously. My worry had been building a solid knot in my gut. What had started life as a golf ball of fear and worry had grown to bowling ball proportions. The more I thought about everything, the less sense it all made.

  For lack of any better distractions, I grabbed my mom’s most recent National Geographic and went into the dining room. I pulled out a chair, sat down, and started leafing through the pages of the magazine, not really looking at them.

  Lucy came into the dining room shortly after me and sat down on one of the high-backed maple chairs that matched the table. She nervously fiddled with a yellow woven placemat.

  She smiled weakly at me. “No offense Xoe, but . . . I’m kind of glad you’re a half-demon.”

  I gave her a ‘you’re kidding,’ look. She was . . . glad?

  She went on, “Not that you’re a demon specifically, it’s just nice that I’m not the only newly non-human one. I was feeling pretty alone.”

  “Well I guess when you put it that way, I’m pretty glad you’re a werewolf,” I replied.

  Lucy smiled, a little more strongly this time. “Thanks for everything Xoe. I mean it. If it weren’t for you I’d be curled up in a ball crying right now . . . or maybe worse.”

  You would think that at a moment like this Lucy would give me a hug, grab my hand, or even just pat my shoulder, just . . . something. However, Lucy kept her distance, hands neatly folded on the table. I had a feeling she wasn’t as comfortable with things as she was trying to put off. It wasn’t every day you found out that your best friend came from demonic origins.

  I gave her a forced smile. “Glad to be of service.” My own best friend was afraid of me. She was a werewolf, and she was afraid of me.

  We were weakly smiling at each other when Allison walked into the dining room to join us. She whined, “Do you both realize that now I’m the only measly human left? It’s so unfair. You get all these cool superpowers and I’m still just the same old me.”

  Lucy and I burst into laughter, releasing some of the tension. Allison crossed her arms and pouted, plopping down in the chair next to Lucy. She’d get over it. I wasn’t sure I would.

  I glanced out the wide dining room window. The sun was making its descent, giving way to darkness. Clouds obscured most of what light was left.

  Lucy stood. “I guess I should call my parents.”

  “You think they’ll let you stay over?” Allison asked.

  Lucy shook her head lugubriously and trudged into the kitchen to retrieve the phone. Allison and I waited in silence in order to listen to Lucy’s end of the conversation, short as it was. Lucy hung up the phone and came back to face us.

  “No?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

  Lucy shook her head.

  “Jason!” I called.

  Jason came trotting into the dining room, leaving Max alone in the living room. “Yes?”

  I sighed. “Lucy can’t stay. What do we do?”

  Jason sat down across from me in Lucy’s vacated chair. “In all likelihood, Dan will expect us to stick together. He will check here first, since we have spent most of our time here. I will wait here for Dan. Xoe, you and Allison are going to leave now and hide at my hotel. Lucy will go back to her house long enough for her parents to go to sleep, then Max will help her sneak out so that they can go to my hotel as well. Once you are all toget
her, you will drive. I want you to stay on the move until I call you on Max’s cell phone.”

  I rolled my eyes at Jason. “That’s the dumbest plan I've ever heard.”

  Jason looked at me, stunned.

  I went on, “We’re not leaving you here alone to fight Dan. We’ve already established that he might have other wolves with him. You’ll get yourself killed and then we’ll be back to square one, only with one less person to help keep us all alive.”

  Jason glared at me. “I can take care of myself, I won’t risk you . . . any of you.”

  I smiled haughtily. “Well seeing as this is my house, you can’t very well kick me out. I’m staying and you have no choice in the matter.”

  Max chimed in, “I’m not human. I can help.”

  Jason turned to Allison. “And how do you feel about all of this?”

  Allison raised her nose in the air, signaling that there were to be no arguments. “I’m staying with either Xoe or Lucy, preferably both. I’m not going to hide out.”

  We all looked at Lucy. I asked, “Do you think you’ll be able to sneak out?”

  Lucy looked down and shook her head, then forced her gaze to meet mine. “You know how my parents are. They check on me throughout the night. I don’t know what they would do if I were missing, probably call the cops.”

  Jason stood, a little angrily. “So you all refuse to hide?”

  “You got it,” Allison answered.

  Jason crossed his arms and glared at me. I smiled back sweetly, sure of myself. Finally, Jason gave one quick nod in agreement. “Fine, new plan. Dan will still likely check here first, so I will still wait here. We have already established that Lucy has to stay at her house, so Max will sneak in and wait with her.” He turned to once again regard Allison and me. “As for you two, since you insist on putting yourselves in more danger, you can place yourselves at either house, but I would prefer it if you stayed with me. Max needs to concentrate on keeping Lucy safe and I will have a better chance of protecting you.”