Iron forge crossroads, p.3
Iron-Forge Crossroads, page 3
I looked around me and remembered the two centuries I had spent here. Before the occult became more acceptable to display in public the shop had hosted a spiritualist church and table-tipping shows to distract from the reality of who the customers were and what services it provided.
There was always a human-friendly veneer over the ancient magicks that resided here. I couldn’t help but laugh that the current mask it wore involved a large display of crystals, incense, and tarot cards, pendulums, and cheap scrying mirrors.
“This place hasn’t changed a bit.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” asked Derfael, a half smile on his face.
“I haven’t decided yet.” I had trained and studied within these walls, Derfael never letting me slack off for a day with the reminder that I could be fighting for my life tomorrow and I could only blame myself for my death if I didn’t keep working. Perhaps a little overly dramatic, but it was effective as shit.
“There is something different about you, Talulla.” Derfael moved closer. “I did not notice it before.”
“You’ve talked to me a few times since I left. What could I have gotten past you?”
“No more is there a thirst for blood behind your eyes. You don’t look ready to kill anything and everything that crosses your path.” He looked at Jake. “And you have taken it upon yourself to care for a living thing.” Derfael shook his head. “I never would have thought it possible.”
“People change, Derfael.” What was happening right now? Was he honestly disappointed?
“But not you. You have not changed since you became a fully indoctrinated mage and started your life as a mercenary.” He sighed. “Perhaps I have made the wrong choice in bringing you here.”
“What, just because I’m not a stone-cold soldier for the Council anymore? According to you there’s a job that needs doing, and I packed up my life and drove nine hours to do it.”
“But are you prepared to do it?” Derfael’s brow creased. “Can you?”
I shook my head, trying to clear the buzzing anger threatening to show itself. “You knew my trepidations coming into this.” I clenched my fists to my sides and Jake snuck around behind me, unsure of what was happening.
Derfael turned away and walked toward the back room. “I did not know the severity of your change of heart. I don’t think you’re able to fulfill the duties that this task will require.” He disappeared behind the curtain.
I followed him, confused. “What are you saying?” I tore the curtain aside. “Are you dismissing me?”
“Evyn.” Derfael was seated at the table, and he looked up at me with tired eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how far off the path you’d strayed.”
“What path? You wanted me to stay the way I was?” I sat across from him and leaned over the table. “I was so far gone there were moments where I almost killed you! Just for funsies!”
“Humanity is a sign of the weak willed and soft minded. You are better than that.” He looked at me and then through me before correcting himself. “You were better than that.”
“I’m still perfectly capable. You should have a little more respect for me than that.”
“First you run and then you say that I should respect you? Respect is earned. And I don’t think you have what it takes anymore.” Derfael rose from his chair and made for the door that led to the apartment upstairs.
The anger flared and broke free. “Don’t walk away from me!” I shouted, smashing my fist on the table hard enough to crack it down the middle and break it in two. The pieces clattered to the floor along with the tea set which shattered. Jake retreated beyond reach of the puddle of English breakfast. “Do not treat me like a child!”
Derfael turned and laughed. “That is the woman I know!” He clapped his hands once. “The fire is still there.” He walked toward me and smartly stopped just short of striking distance.
“So, what? You were provoking me?” I crossed my arms and hugged my elbows to resist the urge to throttle him. “To see if you could get a rise out of me?”
He only shrugged and said, “Just a wee bit.”
“That’s not an apology.”
“I do not intend to give you one.”
I growled and let my hands fall back to my sides, fists still balled up and ready to go to work. “I guess I’d forgotten how it used to be with you.”
His mouth quirked. “How is that?”
“That you’re an ass and apologize for nothing.”
“It’s good for you to remember that.” His eyes twinkled. “And do not forget it.” Derfael moved in and clapped me on the shoulder, his firm grip reassuring. That was as close to a comforting gesture as I ever got from him.
He painted a sigil through the air and the tea set and table reassembled themselves. That same set had gone through that process many times before, I almost felt bad for it. He left to get some more water for the kettle, and I took the time to peruse the ancient tomes organized in the same way on the same shelf as they’d always been.
I trailed my fingers across the spines, remembering the hours I had spent memorizing each of their pages. Each of them shuddered a little in response and I smiled as they recognized my touch after all these years.
“They do not forget,” said Derfael in response to my unspoken words, coming back into the room with a kettle full of water. He set it on the hot plate and turned the heat to high. “They still ask about you on occasion.”
“You guys were always looking out for me.”
The books rumbled all along the shelves in reply and a compendium of curses on the end trilled a happy note.
Derfael and I sat and waited in silence for the water to boil. Jake had settled underneath the table almost immediately after Derfael joined the halves back together and was quietly snoozing.
The whistle of the teapot cut through the quiet and it was like the final step in confirming my return to the city. I finally felt completely at ease, back in my childhood home. The whole shop came alive now that I’d let my guard down, full of different energies of varying colors and vibrations. There were all spectrums here. Even the dust motes that got caught in the weak light of sundown took on a golden hue and danced in a breeze that wasn’t there.
“Now this is a nice welcome home.” I basked in the familiar magick as Derfael poured out some tea for us.
“So what are you going to do first?” He peered over the rim of his cup as he took a sip. “Eat or find some of your friends?”
I smiled. “You know me so well. Have you tried the pupuseria next door?”
He nodded. “Excellent. You can’t go wrong.”
I rubbed my hands together gleefully. “I can’t wait. It’s not that I couldn’t cook for myself up north, but when the majority of your options are chain restaurants or the local community hall for pasties and a fish fry it really gets old fast.” I wrinkled my nose. “Especially when far too many people choose ketchup as their condiment of choice.”
“What’s that now?” asked Derfael. “Who chooses ketchup over gravy? That’s a mortal sin.”
“Tell me about it.” I sipped my tea. Derfael always brewed his extra strong, more like coffee. “This transition will be a lot easier now that I’ll have great food right next door to my apartment.”
Suddenly Derfael looked guilty and placed his teacup down. “About that.” His long fingers nervously rearranged the saucer. “You’ll have to find other arrangements. Your old apartment won’t be available.”
“What? Why?”
“It’s occupied.”
“By who?” I was confused by how vague he was being. If he rented it out no big deal, just say so.
“I should have told you before you came, it completely slipped my mind.” Another nonanswer.
“Why are you being so secretive?”
He cleared his throat and changed the subject completely. “I suggest you find Adrian and any friends you may still have. You are going to need their help. The sooner you reach out to them the better, I should say.”
I slapped my hands to the side of my head. At Derfael’s questioning look I said, “Sorry, my head was spinning too fast from that obvious deflection.” I narrowed my eyes at him as he visibly blanched, but I let the subject drop for now.
“I don’t know if anyone would be willing to help me at this point. I’m pretty sure I burned all those bridges. I cut Adrian off completely. It’ll be a total blindside to just show up now.”
“You will not know until you talk to them face to face.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
Derfael looked like he wanted to say something, decided better of it, and went back to sipping his tea.
I was running my fingers over the woodgrain in the table, lost in thought, when he spoke again. “I understand why you are hesitant to return to this life. Truly, I do.”
He had my attention. “I can’t be that person again. I will never forgive myself for what I did. What if I relapse? What if I kill another innocent?”
“What-ifs will drive you mad, Evyn.” He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. “Maybe look at it this way. You have the chance to do some good. Not just following the Council’s orders. Steering clear of the assassin-for-hire jobs. Turn your skills toward illuminating some of that darkness. Honoring the memory of that little girl instead of just running from the fear.”
My eyes burned and my throat was tight as I fought the wave of emotion. I nodded my head jerkily and looked down to hide the tears that threatened to fall. Derfael reached his hand across the table, and I took it. His hand was almost fever hot, and I could feel the layers of scars like a terraform map.
“Emma.”
Jake rested his head in my lap and whined.
“I’m sorry?”
“Her name was Emma.”
Chapter three
Derfael managed to ease my fears, and with reframed purpose in mind I decided to contact Adrian first. Percy would be mad no matter how many platitudes I smothered her with, but there was a good chance that eventually she would forgive me.
Did I mention that Adrian was my familiar? We’d been bound together over a century ago and when I hightailed it out of town I might have, you know… cut him off completely and ignored any attempt at contact.
I drove for about fifteen minutes until I came to a bed and breakfast in the West Grand district that I used sometimes when I was trying to lie low. The older couple that ran it didn’t ask too many questions and it was in a beautiful old mansion that had a few bootlegger-era hideaways just in case.
When I walked in with Jake slowly plodding along beside me the same man that ran it twelve years ago was still behind the counter, smiling at me.
He came around the desk and gave me a hug. “Evyn! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you.”
“Hi, Mr. Cooper.” I returned his hug, albeit a bit stiffly.
He bent down and offered his hand for Jake to investigate but apparently Jake didn’t need to be swayed. He put his paw in Mr. Cooper’s hand and the older man was delighted, shaking Jake’s paw and giving him a scratch under the chin. “And who’s the gentleman you brought with you?”
“This is Jake. I’m sorry, I don’t know about your policy on animals, but—”
Mr. Cooper waved me off. “For you, he can stay.” He moved back around the counter. “Where have you been all this time?”
“I moved to the U.P. and I’m back in town for a while. I need a place to stay for a couple of nights, and I thought of you.”
He smiled and tapped the registry in front of him. “You’re in luck. Just had a cancellation.”
In no time I was checked in and headed up to my room. You may be wondering how it’s possible that someone who knew my former monstrous self would receive me with such warmth. Short answer is that I’m an expert with compartmentalizing, especially with humans.
I entered the tidy little attic room and Jake settled in a comfy-looking chair, immediately falling asleep. He wasn’t used to keeping Stranger hours yet, but I was sure he’d adjust. I slung my bag off my shoulder and went to the bathroom to clean up.
As I was splashing water on my face the replica 1930s lightbulbs with the giant filaments reflected in the basin. I watched the light dance and wave in the water, and I got an idea.
Filling the sink with water I dimmed the lights until they were just a dull orange glow and then unscrewed all but one bulb that was directly over the basin.
I stared into the water and settled into an alpha brainwave state. I was out of practice, so it took a little while, but eventually my thoughts calmed, and I could feel the weight of the etheric realm like a blanket wrapping around me.
I softened my gaze and deepened my concentration on the water, focusing on Griselda. The surface churned, blurry but still identifiable as Moreno. Once I knew I was on target I cast about for answers as to why she was here.
Slowly, like an old black-and-white movie with a shoddy projector, images began to form. I could tell that something was attempting to keep them occluded, so I didn’t pry too much. I didn’t want to set off any alarms and forewarn Moreno that I was already coming for her.
A chamber swam into view, dark, possibly underground. A large pool in the middle with steam rolling off it. I got the briefest glimpse of eyes staring in my direction from the darkness and then the image clouded over, and another appeared.
A crate full of carefully wrapped items. The ones that I could see looked ancient, like artifacts from a dig site. I pulled my vision back to get an overhead view and saw dry arid land all around, maybe some farmland. A lot of rocky hills and a nearby pit with large T-shaped pillars exposed.
That image too was swept away before I could get more detail. Suddenly a face loomed up in the water, tight brown skin stretched over a skeletal face more like a mummy than a person, and yet the solid black eyes blinked at me from the expressionless skull. Small tattoos were visible, sigils of some kind, written over every inch of available skin. I got the feeling that this person couldn’t see me as much as it knew someone was peeking around and giving a clear signal to back off.
And then the water cleared, and my concentration broke. I blinked rapidly, eyes screaming with dryness. I mulled over the visions as I put the bathroom back together but couldn’t make much of it yet. The world was full of artifacts waiting to be dug up that may or may not be connected to the Strangefells.
We weren’t always so careful to conceal ourselves from humans. There was a time that we were able to live openly. Relations may have been strained at times, but things always smoothed over, until one day they didn’t. There were still ancient sites human history hadn’t discovered yet that would raise a lot of questions about humanity’s development should they ever be found.
When I reentered the room, Jake had moved and was snoring in the middle of the bed. I hooked my arms under him and scooted him over without any disruption to his snoring at all. Gods, I wished I could sleep like that.
I crawled under the covers and tried to go to sleep but couldn’t. I looked at the clock, glowing dimly red in the darkened room. It was only 1:30 in the morning and Adrian would still be awake, at least I thought he would be.
Maybe if I gave him a heads-up that I was here he would have adequate time to cool off before I actually sought him out tomorrow.
I relaxed and opened the channel, the bond that we shared as familiars, reaching out to Adrian and trying to make a connection. I thought I felt him, but I wasn’t sure until the resistance fell away and I was flooded with feelings of hatred and betrayal. Yeah, that was him.
After sending as much apologetic energy through as I could, I let the connection drop.
No turning back now.
I spent the day looking for rental properties and getting increasingly frustrated when nothing fit the bill for what I needed. Security was the top priority and not many buildings met the requirements past having a doorman and cameras.
Even the greenest young guns they might send after me were able to disable cameras or disappear outright. A doorman would be at the least a small inconvenience and at most, a snack. More thorough considerations had to be made.
Jake yipped and I looked up, noticing the shadows were getting long on the ornamental carpet. The half-circles of bullseye glass set at three-foot intervals on the west wall began to glow gold with the sunset.
“Too bad we can’t just stay here, huh?” Jake cocked his head and I got to my feet and stretched. “Want to go for a stroll before I walk into the hornet’s nest?”
He was on his feet and grabbing his leash and harness from the hook on the wardrobe before I even had my toes in my sock.
We passed by Mr. Cooper on our way out. “Oh, Evyn.” He turned with a full stack of towels in his arms. “I’ve been noticing some folks hanging around your car. It could be innocent enough,” he said, chuckling, “it is a beautiful restoration job.”
I nodded my appreciation, only mildly concerned about the strangers. I couldn’t blame them for being drawn like moths to an electric purple flame.
“But then they sort of appraise the house and they end up staring at the attic space for a while before moving on. It’s happened a couple of times.”
My hackles were all the way up now. I’ve only been in town for a day, and they’ve tracked me here.
“Okay, I’ll keep an eye out. Probably some old friends that recognized my car.” I waved it off, not wanting to alarm him. He and his guests should be safe, no sense in drawing that kind of attention when there would be other chances for them to get to me. Like out for a walk, for example.
Mr. Cooper nodded, looking relieved and went back to his task at hand. “Hold on, Jake. I need to grab a couple more things before we go.”
When I stepped out the door of the bed and breakfast it was fully armed with my knife belt, a pistol, and a bowie knife strapped to my ankle, and a couple extra .9mm magazines tucked away just in case. My thick wool sweater hid the extra bulk nicely.
