"Duh," said Rob.

  See. I knew that Nehemiah was wrong. The Oak tree was a source of power for me. But the question still remained. Could I use an Oak leaf to draw power, or was that sometime of magical mishap? Either way, caution was needed next time I attempted this "Close call," I muttered.

  Gavin glared at me with an I-told-you-so look. He looked like he wanted to grill me again about using my magic but I cut him off.

  "Stuff it," I said.

  "What?" he said.

  "I've heard enough of your anti-magic rants."

  "I wasn't going to—" he started to say.

  But then Tain started barking and the front porch light came on.

  "Looks like you boys will get that family reunion after all," said Rob, as he shifted into a tabby cat.

  Mom opened the door slightly, and then all the way. I heard her gasp and then say, "Gavin? Sean?"

  WE STAYED UP FOR ANOTHER hour, Mom Gavin, Tain, and I. Mom was so thrilled to see Gavin she didn't even notice the tabby cat we brought into the house with us. Probably because Tain wasn't making a fuss over the hobgoblin shifter. They were friends already. And Tain seemed to know instinctively that Gavin was family even though they’d never actually met. Probably because Gavin smelled like us.

  Mom asked us why were there. We played it off like we had planned to have a family reunion past 11 PM. Because that made total sense. Aiden managed to stay asleep during the entire thing. Puberty will do that to you though. Kid slept like a rock.

  Mom did pretty well for not having seen Gavin in nearly two years. She only teared up a few times. Just after an hour of conversation though Mom yielded. "I'm so happy to see you boys, especially you Gavin. But I'm very exhausted and I'm sure you are too. It's really late. Why don't you boys sleep on the couches tonight."

  Within short order Mom brought pillows and blankets out for us and were ready for bed. "Goodnight Mom," said Gavin and I in unison.

  After she left the room, Rob whispered, "Aww, just like old times."

  "You've never slept over with us," I said. "We've literally never done this before."

  "I know, just—" he tried to explain.

  "Shut up Rob," said Gavin.

  Tain barked in agreement.

  We all laughed.

  Despite the insanity of the whole night, I fell asleep still smiling.

  10 Teacher & Chiropractor

  NO NIGHTMARES. NO STRANGE dreams about Nicolas Cage, or my sister, or my Dad for that matter. For the first time in a while I slept pretty dang good.

  Then I woke up and remembered that I had community college and that I was running late. Aiden woke up to find Gavin home and was ecstatic. He could care less about me.

  After a bowl of cold cereal and a quick goodbye to my mother and brothers, I took off.

  "Great," Mom said. "You can walk Tain today, Gavin."

  "And hang out with me all day too," Aiden yipped.

  Gavin tried to object, but what was he going to do? Follow me to class?

  "Hey Sean, have you seen my sword?" Aiden asked me.

  Making a quick exit, I hollered, "Gotta go, bye."

  I SAT THROUGH HISTORY class completely bored, just trying to make it through the day. My mind wandered all over the place. The empty chair next to me where Charice usually sat taunted me. I hadn't seen her in a few days and every time I tried to call her or text her she would respond vaguely. According to her she was sick. She wouldn't clarify what kind of flu she had. I hadn't seen her at class all week either.

  Why wouldn’t she talk to me? I saved her from Donn the lord of the dead and rescued her from the dungeons of his crazy island, Tech Duinn. You'd think I'd get a hug and a kiss and be the best boyfriend in the world.

  When I arrived at her house with flowers and chocolate, her mom answered the door and politely turned me away. Maybe she was just really sick.

  After class my teacher stopped me and asked to talk to me. "Sean you completely failed to turn in the last assignment. It's a large portion of your grade and I noticed that your homework and attendance have been spotty at best. If this keeps going you're going to be dropped a full letter grade, possibly more. Can I expect to see that homework assignment anytime soon?"

  I had no idea what she was talking about. "Honestly Miss Baxter, I’m not sure what assignment you're referring to?"

  She pursed her lips. "Not to get into your personal affairs Mr. O'Farrell, but if you spend less time dawdling over that young woman and more time focusing on your assignments, you could turn this thing around. I know you're a smart guy and it's become concerning. Even your girlfriend managed to turn in all of the homework to me via email while being out sick."

  What, was I in high school? Since when do community college teachers actually care about their students? But I liked the sincerity of Ms. Baxter and I respected that she took the time to be completely up front with me. I told her I'd do my best to get the assignment done ASAP.

  After a few hours of crammed study time and homework I went straight from community college to my janitor job.

  "SEAN, A MINUTE OF YOUR time please."

  Dr. Stafford, moved through his office tidying paperwork. We hadn’t interacted in a long time. He trusted me to come after hours and clean this place.

  I stepped inside his office and he motioned for me to sit down. "I want to inform you of an incident that occurred." He slowly turned his massive Apple monitor around so that I could see a video surveillance tape of the inside of the office. Oh crap had I forgotten to clean something?

  I saw the upper right hand corner that the video was dated two weeks ago. I also recalled that Dr. Stafford had been out on vacation for two weeks. On the screen I saw myself spill some cleaner, clean it up and then get ready to leave. Maybe he was pissed that I had wasted some of the cleaning supplies? And then it dawned on me what night it was. It was the night that the Sluagh attacked Rob outside of the office.

  I saw myself stop and look out the window and I remember that was when I had seen Rob talking to himself and heard something funny outside. The event played out in my mind as I watched on the screen. In my head I had armed the security code to the alarm system and ran out the door, but in the video I could clearly see that I had started to put the code in and then run outside swiftly leaving the building completely unarmed.

  "Did you see it?" said Dr. Stafford. "That right there bothers me" He rewound the video to the point where I was running out of the door and paused it. "You're in such a hurry to get out of here that you forgot to arm the alarm system."

  I looked at him dumbly. What could I say? That a giant bird attacked a shape shifting hobgoblin and I intervened?

  "I'm sorry Dr. Stafford. Really, I am. There was some kind of commotion outside but it turned out that it was a homeless man."

  His expression was like an Easter Island stone head and he raised the large finger at me pointing right in my face. "I don't care if somebody is in the parking lot dying, you make sure to arm my office alarm when you leave. We have all kinds of expensive equipment, electronics, and patient information in this office. Anybody could've walked out of here with any number of things and ruined my business. If it happens one more time, Sean, you're fired."

  The threat echoed in my head. I froze up for a second.

  Geewhiz. What happened to the three strikes rule? Though it seemed unfair to me, all I said was, "Yes sir. Won't happen again. I'm very sorry that I left your business unprotected."

  He didn’t hear me and proceeded to grill me. "Do you realize I received a phone call from the alarm system at night while I was on vacation? I had to call the secretary to come down and lock up because I couldn't trust you to do it. Understand Sean that your neglect has ramifications not just for you but for other people as well."

  "Understood," I said.

  He rose and left without another word, leaving me to my work.

  I moved through the office dumbstruck and absent minded. I found it hard to concentrate on my tasks. The weight of secrecy bore down on me. Was I supposed to keep taking punishment for doing the right thing?

  Powers were awakened in me. I didn’t ask for them, I’d purely been born with them. But not only were the monsters threatening my life and the lives of others, but it was starting to have ramifications in every facet of my life. School, work, even my girlfriend. "Something needs to change," I said out loud, resolving within to find a way to fix things. But I didn’t have a clue where to start.

  I needed a job, but the current job would never be a career. For that very reason I needed to do good in school, so I could figure out what I wanted to do for a career. But now all this magic monster mania mucked everything up. What should I do? I couldn’t ignore the monsters when it was within my power to do something, literally.

  At the same time, if everything stayed the same, I’d be out of a job and flunking community college. And who wants to date a jobless dropout? Not a smart girl trying to become a pediatrician. She’d leave me in the dust and find some ultra-successful guy that drove a brand new Mustang, not a beat up classic. I’m like the opposite of King Midas. Everything I touched turned to ruin.

  Maybe I would do what Gavin said. Delve deep into finding ways to get rid of the Keening. If I got rid of the Keening monsters would not regard me as a threat or target. I’d still have powers, but I wouldn’t be on the receiving end all the time. Remove the physical queue and the result would be a positive change in my behavior.

  But I couldn’t do that just yet. I’d never be able to sleep at night with a clear conscience knowing that there were more Dobhar-chus and a stampeding stallion trying to drown and devour people at every waterfront in my city and the surrounding ones. For starters, I'd have to get a new sword.

  I knew just where I might get one.

  11 Jade

  "I REALLY DON'T THINK you should be doing this, Sean," said Gavin.

  "I don't really care," I said. I drove to Sensei Hector’s dojo with Gavin and Tain in the ‘Stang. After getting done with work, Gavin informed me I needed to pick up him and Tain. Something about Mom saying the dog had been cooped up in the house since I last dog-sat him and it would be good for him to stay with Gavin and I for the weekend. Since Gavin’s motorcycle was at my place and Tain couldn’t ride on that anyways, it left me with soccer-mom duty. And now my brother was trying to tell me— the one driving and doing him favors—what I should and shouldn’t do. "You're not my dad Gavin. You're not even the oldest brother. I am. Why are you even coming with me?"

  He shrugged. "I'm in town. I want to see Sensei Hector again. Say hi."

  "Ah, are you getting sentimental?"

  He cocked his head to the side. "Maybe a little. If he hears that I was in town and didn't drop by...well that's just messed up."

  "True, true."

  "But seriously man," said Gavin, "we should be figuring out how to get rid of your Keening, not getting a sword to do battle with the Kelpie."

  Today was not a day I volunteered at the dojo. I only did that a few times a week at most. I’d come to the realization that the katana was my weapon of choice. When I don't have one in my hand in a fight I feel like I'm missing a limb. And since I didn't have money to buy one, it was time for me to ask Sensei for a favor.

  "I already told you bro. Once I handle this monster I'll figure out a way to get rid of this Keening. But I can't do it now."

  "Yet you yourself are the one that said you've been so caught up with monsters this month that you haven't had time to look into the Keening. I know exactly what's gonna happen when we’re done with the Kelpie, Sean. Some new monsters will pop up and you'll be ‘forced’ to fight them. The pattern will keep repeating itself until you either walk away from it and get rid of the Keening or you get yourself killed in the process."

  My blood boiled within me. We already had this argument and I was really getting sick of hearing it from Gavin. Why did he come back down here if he was just going to argue with me? This is exactly why he left on bad terms in the first place two years ago. But I didn't have time to retort because in the rearview mirror I noticed the same Impala that I had seen several turns and streetlights ago still tagging along at a safe distance, but definitely following me nonetheless. "Hey, see that Impala back there?"

  He eyed his side mirror. "Yeah. You think it's following us?"

  "Yep," I said.

  "Somebody that wants to hurt you? Besides monsters, that is?"

  Of all the people mad at me right now, the one person I knew that actually might want to seriously injure me was Charice's brother Justin. But he didn't drive an Impala that color. But who's to say he didn't have friends that did.

  "Yeah I pissed off my girlfriend’s brother two weeks ago. But I figured he was all hot air. A poser. He did threaten my life though."

  "And you didn't take that seriously?" asked Gavin.

  "Not really, I mean he was being protective of his sister. What guy wouldn't throw out death threats for his sister?"

  "I guess so," said Gavin.

  There wasn't really anything I could do. It was broad daylight outside and I really didn't need a speeding or reckless driving ticket. Plus I wasn't going home and I didn't know that these guys were actually in any way related to Justin. So I just kept on heading to the dojo.

  When I pulled into the dojo and parked I noticed that the Impala parked a ways down the street but still within eyesight, able to watch my every move. Leaving the windows down for Tain, Gavin and I stepped inside the dojo, setting off the door chime.

  The dojo was empty. It was one of those pocket-times, in between classes. With the tinted windows we’d be able to see out, but the people in the Impala wouldn't be able to see in. Sure enough, as we stood there the Impala drove slowly in front of the dojo. The back window of the car had a window sticker that read RDN in Old English style lettering. To the best of my knowledge it stood for Raza del Norte, roughly rendered North-breeders, or The Northern Race, a local gang loosely affiliated with a bigger local gang in Oakland, and the Mexican Mafia abroad. Two Mexican guys with buzzed heads and sunglasses eyed my car and the dojo. In my car, Tain barked like crazy.

  "You seen those guys before?" asked Gavin.

  "Nope," I said. "But I wouldn't doubt they’re friends with Justin."

  Sensei Hector joined us at the window.

  The Impala took off down the road.

  "Who were those guys, Sean?" asked Gavin.

  Sensei’s back tensed and his fingers balling into fists as he eyed the car as it disappeared out of sight. "That’s Raza del Norte."

  "RDN," I said.

  Sensei continued, his eyes glossed over. "You know that girl that was gunned down a few weeks ago? Word on the street is it was the leader of RDN who did her in. He shot his girlfriend in cold blood. After he found another guy texting her. Turns out the other guy was the girl’s cousin. So he killed her for no reason. Ruthless. That’s what they are."

  I thought about Charice. There was no way I could ever be so stone cold enough to point a gun at her and shoot her, much less fill her body with AK-47 automatic fire. Scumbags like that guy needed to die.

  Gavin filled the silence. "They’re also Sean's girlfriend's brother's friends. That’s a mouthful of S’s."

  Sensei Hector glanced at Gavin then took a step back. "Yin & Yang, Gavin! I didn't even recognize you."

  Gavin gave him a sheepish grin. "Yeah, it's been a while. Figured I'd drop in and say hi."

  Sensei continued to small-talk with Gavin, questioning him about his work situation at the lumber mill and how Washington State was, as opposed to living in the Bay Area. He asked Gavin if he still practiced martial arts and stuff like that. The two hit it off great. I stood there awkwardly with my hands in my pockets, because the last few weeks Sensei and I hadn't been on good of speaking terms.

  Things were awkward, mostly because of me. Well really not because of me at all. Because of this whole monster thing, my responsibility was to see these things destroyed as they popped up. The problem is that they kept popping up, and it didn't look like they were going to die down anytime soon. I hated to admit Gavin was right. I needed to figure out a way to get rid of this curse. Then maybe I wouldn't feel the responsibility to answer every single threat personally. But, I already committed to seeing the threat of the Dobhar-chus and the Kelpie dealt with, and the only way to speed up the process was to get my hands on a katana.

  "So why’re you guys really here?" asked Sensei. "I'm sure it's not just to catch up on old times."

  Gavin motioned to me. "Actually Sean needed to talk to you. I'll stay out here and beat up the practice torsos if you don't mind."

  Sensei smiled and nodded. "Go ahead Gavin. Help yourself to anything in the dojo."

  He turned to me and I asked if I’d like to speak in his office, and we moved in there. "What's going on Sempai Sean?"

  And then I completely choked on my words. I hadn't actually thought this far ahead. I needed a new katana but what reason could possibly give him that I would need one? All I had from him was a promise that if I ever needed to talk I could speak with him and he'd be there for me. "How’s it going Sensei?" I asked awkwardly.

  He frowned at me. "I'm doing fine Sean. How are you doing?"

  The last time we talked seriously besides just saying our hi’s and goodbyes was two weeks ago when he called me in his office after I was late to martial arts class. My job that day to instruct students on the new kata form that they’d be putting to practice. And I'd totally biffed it. I didn’t really know how to come back from that, especially after he gave me a sharp scolding and dropped some life-wisdom on me. So I'd kept our conversations to a minimum and tried my best to be on time to the next few practices.

  When I didn't speak up he broke the silence. "Sean, things have gotten slightly better since I talked to you last time. But I really do expect more from you.

  "You used to come in on a full night's rest, ready to instruct the kids, totally enthused to be giving back to the community and I saw a fire in your eyes. I could tell you really loved helping these kids grow and giving them an example, a goal that they themselves could one day have these martial arts forms mastered like you do."

 

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