12:3
“You don’t think it’s a little weird that Prairie said she was keeping her eyes open to possibilities and, bam, Gia shows up with a story?” Abe broke the silence hanging between them.
Ben clenched his hand into a fist. “I think it’s a lot weird. And I’m going to keep my eyes open for a lot more than possibilities.”
Patti turned to eye the direction of the bathrooms. “She’s been gone a while. Someone should check on her.”
“I’ll do it.” Gwen rose to her feet and headed across the pub. She heard steps behind her and a moment later Patti pulled up next to her.
“I’ll go with.”
“Okay. Good. Makes sense.”
“You seem a little off.”
“Really?” Gwen slanted Patti a look. “No. I’m good. Great. Happy face.”
Patti hummed a snatch of tune.
“What’s that?”
“Life is good,” Patti sang beneath her breath, then stopped dead and looked around with a look of intense concentration. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“That!” Patti didn’t give any more explanation. She just took off at a run for the hall leading to the bathrooms.
No one in the pub did more than a quick look check as she ran past. The benefits of her working there and also the casual certainty of the regulars that anything Patti was running towards was any of their business. For all they knew there was a toilet issue. Weren’t no one gonna jump up to offer to help with that.
Gwen hurried her steps to follow. She didn’t have the leeway of being able to run willy-nilly through the pub, but everyone knew a woman making a beeline in that direction was also up to some business – personal business like doing her business which wasn’t any of their business – so she also passed without comment or even a casual look.
The door was still bouncing against the wall with the force Patti threw it open. Gwen tapped her palm against the wood to stop the motion then hurried into the bathroom. After stopping to peer under the green-velvet couch, Patti rushed from stall to stall – shoving the doors open. When she hit the last one she stepped into it. A moment later she came back out with something shiny hanging from her hand.
She lifted it, revealing the heavy chain with three charms most recently displayed around Gia’s neck.
Gwen’s heart dropped. “She wouldn’t just drop that.”
Patti’s head jerked in the negative. “She wouldn’t. Get the others.”
Gwen spun on her heel and exited the bathroom then quick-walked to the corner where the group gathered. Upon her approach Dempsey looked up. Her expression must have given something away because he rose immediately.
“What’s wrong?”
“Gia.” Gwen pressed her hand to her chest, willing her racing heart to slow. “Missing. Bathroom?”
“What?” Ivan surged to his feet. Prairie followed a mikro later. Siobhan turned to look at Gwen, her gaze searching Gwen’s features.
“Missing?”
Kim looked to the side. “Fuck. That fucking bathroom. Why did we let her go alone? No one goes alone!”
“We weren’t thinking there could be a threat.”
Siobhan snapped around and stared at Abe and they fumbled to a halt with a hand up, as if it would ward off her stare. “We should always be thinking there’s a threat! Always!”
“We messed up.” Ivan moved around the back of the couch. “Let’s fix it.”
As if they’d just been waiting for their marching orders everyone who wasn’t already on their feet abandoned their seats and as a mass they headed towards the bathrooms at a clip.
Gwen dropped back as they neared the door, slowing her steps so she could fall in beside Siobhan.
“That poor girl,” Siobhan said in a small voice.
“We’re sure she was taken?” Ben asked as he stepped into the hall.
“She was taken,” Kim said with a certainty without even looking into the bathroom. “Of course, she was taken. We dropped the damned ball.”
Prairie laid a soft hand on Kim’s arm. When the other woman looked down at her, she said, “We did. But we’ll fix it.” She looked down for a moment then back up. “Do you think this is the opportunity we were supposed to keep our eyes open for?”
“Probably. It’s still shit. In fact its doubly shit because we were supposed to be aware.”
“I agree.”
“Maybe it was meant to be.”
Kim whipped around to stare at Abe. “What?”
Abe scuffed their toe. “Maybe this had to happen?”
“I–” Kim shook her head then threw a hand out whether to block Abe’s words or as the start of a move on Abe. She narrowed her gaze on their friend. “I can’t with you right now. I can’t. Fucking meant to happen.”
“What did I say?” Abe asked in a quiet aside to Dan.
Dan just grunted and stared at the open bathroom door. “Focus.”
Patti stepped out of the bathroom, necklace still in hand. Dempsey and Ivan pushed into the room, followed closely by Ben. With the two big guys and the slightly less big Ben in the space there wasn’t really room for anyone else to enter so the remainder of them clustered in the hall.
Patti sidled over to Abe and lowered their head to say something into their ear. Their expression went from intent to chagrined and they darted a glance at Kim and then Siobhan for good measure.
“I’m sorry.”
Their subdued words carried in the quiet of the hall. Kim jerked a nod, her gaze intent on the open bathroom door.
Siobhan attempted an encouraging smile. She half succeeded. Maybe a third. Mostly she grimaced and then murmured, “Okay.”
Not ‘it’s okay’. Or ‘I’m okay’. Which she clearly was not. But the okay seemed to soothe Abe as they relaxed visibly, shaking their hands out of the fists they’d formed.
Ivan poked his head out of the bathroom and looked over the group in the hall until his gaze settled on Prairie. “Prairie, can you do your thing? We know she was here last.”
“I don’t know how much good I’ll be. They probably used that pen to open a rift, but,” she shrugged, “I can try.”
“All we can ask.”
With that Ivan stepped back to Prairie shimmy passed him and into the bathroom. A long mero passed and then she craned her head around the doorframe. “Rift.” Her gaze slid over Dan and then Abe. “Can you do anything?”
“Unknown.” Despite saying his standard, Dan stepped over to the door, Abe close on his heels. He looked at Ivan. Lifted his brows. “Move?”
Ivan stepped out into the hall and Dan and Abe stepped into the bathroom. Another mero and they returned with Abe sticking their head out into the hall. “We can see the edit. Can’t touch it.” They looked at Dempsey. “Dempsey is going to try using his cards to find her.”
“Excuse me!” Gwen wove her way between her gathered friends and shoved into the bathroom. Ben jumped back to sit on the bank of sinks, giving her room to move in and plunk herself down on the green velvet couch next to Dempsey.
“Whatchadoon?”
Dempsey stopped unwrapping his deck of tarot cards from the silk scarf he kept them in and slanted her a look.
“Cards.”
“Mmm.”
Dempsey swiveled his head to look around the bathroom then stood up and moved over to the sinks. Gwen rose and followed close enough he could probably feel her breath. He turned and looked down at her with raised brows. She mirrored his expression then shifted her gaze to the cards in his hands.
“Whatchawaitinfor?”
“Are you inventing new words?”
“So? Yeah. I could be.” Gwen planted her hands on her hips. “Waiting.”
Dempsey looked at Ben. “I need a flat surface.”
Ben hopped off the sink and planted his back against the wall next to the door. Dempsey moved in and began to mutter under his breath as he shuffled the cards in his big hands.
“She’s petite. Blonde. Shortish hair.”
Gwen snorted at that description. “Shortish hair. Such a guy description.”
Dempsey stopped muttering to shoot her a look. “I am a guy.”
Gwen raised her hands in surrender and made a point of staring at the cards. Dempsey shook his head, all sad like, then went back to his shuffling and his muttering.
“She’s alone but that is new for her. She has a male friend. He is missing and she is looking for him.”
He laid a card down on the sink. Gwen craned to look at it. The number 6 was at the top. The image on the card was of a hooded figure sitting in a boat with six swords stabbed into it in front of her. That didn’t seem particularly marine safety to Gwen but, eh, tarot cards probably factored symbolism over structural integrity. Based on the shoreline to the left of the image it looked like the boat floated on a river rather than another kind of body of water.
“Okay,” she muttered from the side of her mouth. “What’s that mean?”
“Usually the card represents, in the broad sense, sadness or loss. A journey.”
“But what does it mean when it shows up in a reading?”
Dempsey shrugged. “Could be a lot of things. Usually the Magick engages but I’m not feeling anything.”
He frowned down at the card. Gwen craned her neck to look around his arm at it. “Try another?’
Dempsey shuffled the deck again. “She is sad. She is on a journey. She is looking for her friend.”
He laid down another card. This time it had a five at the top and the image was of a man standing on the shore of a river. Three cups lay spilled at his feet. Two more stood behind him but he was definitely looking at the spilled ones. Across the river on a hill a building stood. As Gwen and Dempsey stared – and Ben craned in to do the same – the image shifted.
The male figure became a woman with shoulder length blonde hair wearing a pink sweater. Gwen shot Dempsey a fast look in surprise. He didn’t respond as his gaze was firmly locked on the card. Gwen turned her attention back to it in time to see the castle on the hill morph and become The House. At that Dempsey gave Gwen a side-eyed look.
“Cards suggest The House.”
“Try another one. Just to be sure.”
Again, he shuffled. Again, he murmured. Then he lay down another card. This one had a four at the top. A male and female figure danced in front of a castle. The female had blonde hair. Shoulder-length. She wore a pink sweater. Yeah, didn’t take much interpreting to think it was Gia. It was confirmed a moment later as the tiny features shifted to those of the young woman they’d spoken with at the fire.
The male figure’s features were obscured. His hair was dark. Longer. Like maybe shoulder-length like Gia’s. Other than it looked like someone had taken a wet finger and smooshed it in the paint that made up his face.
Gwen shot Dempsey a look. “That’s weird.”
“It is.”
“Very,” Ben added. “Weird. What?” He met Dempsey’s amused look. “I want to be included.”
Gwen was staring at the card pretty hard so saw the exact moment the castle behind the figures changed and became The House.
“Yeah. So, I think this card seals it. To The House!” She pointed a finger at the ceiling as she made this declaration.
Kim poked her head through the open doorway. “Did I hear The House?”
Gwen turned to nod then poked her finger at the ceiling. “To The House!”
“Yay!” Kim’s tone was less than enthused. In fact if you asked Gwen she’d say it was pretty sarcastic. Or, you know, par for the course for Kim.
“That’s the spirit!”
#
“Yeah. That’s not opening.” Abe stepped back from the door of The House. They dusted their hands off and then reared back to look at the building. “Has it gotten taller?”
Gwen walked over next to Abe and looked where they were looking. “It has been pretty much from the beginning.” She pointed at the foundation line. “See how there are variations in the color at the bottom of the wall? Darker at the bottom? We think it’s because its growing.”
“Like a mushroom,” Kim added, coming up on Abe’s other side.
“It grows?”
“Well, it is a living thing. Apparently.” Ivan added from behind Abe.
“It’s kind of creepy to think we’re entering a living thing.”
“You mean like Pinocchio and Geppetto in the whale?”
Abe wrinkled their nose. “Apropos and also makes it creepier.”
“Here,” Ben brushed between Abe and Kim. “Let me.”
He shot his cuffs then tinkered with the lock. He clicked his tongue against his teeth and rocked back on his heels to stare at the door, like with intent he could open it. “Huh.”
He pulled a set of lockpicks from the inside of his jacket and crouched so the lock was at eye level. There was a subtle click. He grinned wide and rose to his feet. Reaching forward with a flourish he grasped the knob, turned, and pushed. Then frowned when it didn’t open.
His grin melted. “Eh?”
Flexing his arm he pushed again. Still didn’t budge. “Huh.”
He crouched and tinkered with the picks again. There was another click. This time he held back the grin and the exultant sound. He didn’t even rise from his crouch but instead just twisted the knob and pushed. And the door remained firmly firm in its firmness.
Resting a hand on the door, he looked up at the side of The House. “Are you dicking with me?”
The wall shimmied. No, really, shimmied. Just a little. But enough to give the impression of laughter.
“Really, ARFA? Really?”
Another shimmy. Ben glared at the door. “Will this ever work?”
This time the movement of the wall could only be described as a shrug. If a building could shrug. Well, a building that was a living thing could probably shrug way better than your average building. Which, of course, could not shrug at all.
It didn’t take someone who worked with architects to know that. Kim was pretty sure that was something kids learned when they were too young to remember learning it.
Prairie walked up to the wall, picking a spot between the two front windows. “ARFA?”
A super subtle shimmy.
“Can we please enter?”
No shimmy. No nothing.
“Please?”
Well, if a silence could be grudging this silence definitely was.
Abe shifted over to stand beside Prairie. The expression they adopted was like comically imploring. They raised their blackened hand and held it forward, palm out. “Please?”
Ivan walked up on Prairie’s other side. “ARFA?”
Silence.
“I told Aria that I would help. I haven’t. But, I want to. I was sincere in my promise. I just don’t know where to start.” When there was no obvious response to his words, Ivan powered on. “I don’t have enough information to make an informed plan but I think if we help this guy we’ll get that information.”
It was possible The House leaned toward Ivan. Just a little. The curtains in the windows fluttered.
Siobhan walked towards The House. She stood a few feet down from Ivan and stared directly at one of the windows. “ARFA? A girl is missing. And a boy. I bet they are very scared. Like you are?”
She took a shallow breath and pressed both hands to the wall, then leaned forward so she rested her forehead against The House. In a very quiet voice, she continued, “I think you convinced The Three to take me and Kim because you needed us to understand. I’m just not sure why you picked me. Out of this group I’m really the most powerless. I’m just an alchemist.”
Patti stepped over and laid a hand on Siobhan’s shoulder. “You’re our leader.”
Siobhan turned her head so she could look at Patti. “What?”
“I mean—of course you are.” Patti looked around. “Right?” When Dan and Kim nodded, she turned back to Siobhan. “You’re like our moral compass. Or maybe just our compass. The rest of us dumbasses would run around like chipmunks on crack if you didn’t corral us.”
Gwen nodded so hard her hair flopped around. “Totally.”
Prairie walked over and laid her hand on the shoulder opposite Patti. “If ARFA wanted someone to understand it makes sense it was you. You have such a capacity for caring.”
Siobhan pulled her forehead back from the wall so she could turn to look at Prairie. “No. That’s you.”
“I appreciate the sentiment.” Prairie wrinkled her nose. “I won’t fight you for the position of nicest.”
Kim scoffed. “We all know that’s Gwen.” When Gwen, Prairie, and Dan turned to look at her she hurried to add, “Though you two come close!”
The corner of Siobhan’s lip curved up. She bit it to suppress the smile then turned back to address the wall. “I wish I wasn’t the one you picked but I understand why you did it and if it had to be one of us I’d rather it was me than anyone else.”
“Damn,” Kim made a big deal of grumbling, “Now I feel bad for being angry. No.” She tilted her head, contemplated the sky for a moment, then focused back on the wall Siobhan leaned against. “No. I’m okay with my anger. You screwed us up, House. ARFA. I could have killed them all. And I don’t understand. Maybe I’m too dense but I look at it from every angle and it’s just garbage.”
“She doesn’t mean that,” Siobhan whispered to the wall.
“I do,” Kim whispered with conviction. “I really do.”
“She probably does,” Prairie added then patted the wall.
Then Kim heaved a big sigh. “Siobhan is probably right. She usually is.” She reached out and gently patted the wall next to Siobhan’s hand. “I’m also glad it was me and not anyone else. I’m tough. I can take it. Sort of.”
The walls expanded, like a subtle breath, and when they settled again the door opened a crack.
“Thank you,” Siobhan whispered then stepped back to sweep her gaze over the group. “Ready?”
“Enough,” Kim said.
“Best we can ask for.”
That said Siobhan curled her fingers in the strap of her bag and walked over to the door Ben still stood in front of. She gave him a smile and looked significantly at the small opening. “After you?”
Ben cast a look over the group. “Me first. Then Ivan and Dempsey. Because shields.” He inclined his head to Siobhan, “Not because anyone else is less effective.”
“I’m okay with the big strong men forming a wall separating me from any shit that flies,” Patti said.
“Me too!” Gwen piped up.
Kim decided to add her own answer. “Agreed.”
Without any more discussion they fell roughly into line with Ben, Dempsey, and Ivan the first through the door, followed by Dan and Abe side-by-side, then Siobhan and Gwen, Prairie and Kim, and Patti coming at the back with her shield held loosely in front of her.
One moment Kim’s feet were crossing the threshold, the next they were sinking into a cushion of grass. A soft breeze blew over her skin, ruffling her bangs. The scent of water drew her gaze to the river a few feet from the point they entered.
Every damned time The House proved it was bigger on the inside than the outside her brain took a moment to adjust. It was just all so real. Only how could it be?
Yet, no, it was real. The air was real. The earth beneath their feet was real. The river winding in front of them? Real, real, real. Water beings danced the flow of the river’s ebb. Air ladies wove through the blue sky, flowing in and out of the wispy clouds and slowly moving them around. The earth sent gentle vibrations up Kim’s legs. If any of that was false the elementals would not be there.
A snap of a closing door drew her around in time to see the rectangle of the entrance wink out of existence as Patti cleared the threshold. Where it had been was now the open vista of a flower-speckled meadow. Patti turned to look at where Kim was looking and shook her head before turning to meet Kim’s gaze.
“Did you expect something else?”
“No. I guess not. Still every time it takes me a moment to adjust.”
“Might be because of how you are connected to the world through the elements.”
“Makes sense. Anyhow.”
She turned and looked at the river then walked over and put her hand into the water. A water creature, something like a sea horse if a sea horse’s lower body was made of seaweed, nuzzled her fingers. A pulse of Magick from the creature drew Kim’s attention downstream. She squinted then sent a question back into the water. The creature sent her an image of a boat with a blonde woman in a pink sweater sitting in it. There were no oars. The water propelled the boat forward.
“She’s in a boat.” She stood up and turned to the group. “Downstream.”
Patti walked up to stand next to Kim and peered down the river. “I don’t see anything.”
“The water told me.”
“Oh. Yeah. That makes sense. So,” Patti turned in a circle, sweeping her gaze over the area. “I guess we start walking.”
She took two steps downsteam and her feet sank into the mud. Then her ankles. Then her calves. She flailed her arms and looked around wildly. Dempsey strode over and grabbed one of her arms. And then the mud proceeded to rapidly eat his legs up to the knee. He sank into the earth until his face was even with Patti’s.
“Uh.” He looked at Kim. “A little help?”
Oh. Oops. Yeah. She could do that.
Earth? She pulsed the question from her core, through her frame, and out the bottom of her feet. Release?
There was a long, suspended moment in which she wasn’t sure Earth was going to listen. Then there was a sploosh as Dempsey’s feet released and he fell backwards, out of the reach of the mud. Ivan hurried over and dragged Dempsey further back
Patti stared at her feet, still submerged in the mud. “Kim?”
“Mikro,” Kim stared down at the ground. “This earth feels like Earth but it doesn’t respond like earth. Completely.”
“Well, that was clear as,” Patti looked up then back down at her feet, “mud.”
Earth?
Kim? The voice was deep, down in a cavern echoing deep.
Whoa! Kim took a step back and gawked at the ground. Had an element ever called her by name? She couldn’t recall. Weird.
She looked around. “Did anyone else hear that?”
Gwen shook her head. “No.”
Siobhan walked over and stood next to Kim to stare at Patti’s trapped feet. “I thought I heard something.”
Patti lifted a finger. “Me too. Maybe?”
“Huh.” Kim tilted her head. “Interesting.”
Earth?
Kim? Again the cavernous voice.
On a hunch, Kim sent a pulse through her feet. ARFA?
Kim! The cavernous voice became far less cavernous, taking on a roundness and warmth.
“Hmm. Interesting.”
“Would you like to share with the class?” Patti sniped. “Or help get me out? I’ll settle for that.”
“Oh.” Kim looked up at Patti, then stooped down and pressed her hand to the ground. Release?
This time when she asked, the earth responded. There was a squelching sound as mud retracted from around Patti’s legs. Patti bunched up her thighs and jumped up and out, clearing the riverbed like her legs had springs. Her feet hit hard enough for Kim to feel the impact reverberate from the earth and up her hand. Carried forward by the impetus of her movement, Patti landed on her hands and knees with a ‘oof’. She hung her head for a moment then tossed it back so her hair fell back and away from her eyes. Pivoting her head she gave the river then the group a look.
“I’m guessing walking is out.”
Enter The Woods 