12:8
“Do you hear that?”
It had been several meros since Air had gone off on its hunt. Long enough that Kim and Prairie moved to the right wall and sat down between the first and second doors in it, with Kirby flopping down with One’s head draped over their folded paws, Hello’s slanted of to the side with tongue protruding, and Bunny seeming to have drifted into a light snooze as they gave an occasional woof at the volume dogs do when they are chasing rabbits in their dreams.
Kim started at Prairie’s question. Turning her head to look at her friend, she asked, “Hear what?”
Prairie’s brow creased on a frown. She tilted her head and her gaze searched blindly for a moment. The movement nearly mirrored the one Bunny got when they were on the scent of something. Kim suppressed a smile at the thought. She wasn’t sure how it would go over if she mentioned it.
“I’m not sure? I thought I heard–” Prairie stopped abruptly and turned her head to look across the ballroom. “That!”
Kim sat up and then leaned in that direction. She strained her ears to try to catch what Prairie had heard. A breath of air – or rather Air – flowed over her face, carrying the sound from the other side of the room.
“Is that a–” she searched her brain for a moment before she made the connection between her ears and her memory, “mandolin?”
“I think so?”
Then there was the strum of a guitar and maybe a banjo?
“I think that’s bluegrass?”
“I think so?”
Before they could puzzle out the music carrying through the recently silent space, there was a rushing sound and then a brigade of Air Ladies came flying in. Each of them held a mouse. And those mice held musical instruments. And were playing a hecka peppy song. Kim found her toe tapping along even as her eyes widened on the sight. Several more ladies flowed in carrying mice who did not have instruments but instead were keeping a slow steady beat with tiny clapping hands and were harmonizing a mournful melody. From the back of the group a lady zipped forward, leaving the others behind as she flew across the ballroom.
As she approached Kim was able to see the mouse the Lady held. Now, Kim was no mouse expert. They kinda all looked similar to her. Maybe slightly different fur colors but unless they were all white or something it was hard for her to differentiate them. But she’d been around Sass long enough to be able to determine the mouse the Lady was carrying quickly to she and Prairie’s location was Sass.
The mouse gyrated in the Lady’s hold, clapping out the beat. Then her high voice carried to Kim, the lyrics something about feeding a machine. The voices of the other mice resolved into the same thing. Clapping and singing and jiving as they flew across the space carried by the Ladies. They had quite a haunting harmony going. Kim found herself bopping her butt as she twitched her hips in rhythm with the claps.
Beside her Prairie clapped in time. She looked at Kim. Kim looked at her. And then they both turned in time for Sass to be dropped off on the floor in front of them by their Lady. The mouse righted themselves on the floor then waggled their hands, jazz-hand-style. The other Ladies deposited their burdens on the floor then swirled away towards the ceiling.
It seemed pretty damned telling the way the mice showed no concern about being picked up by the wind and flown around like little musical super heroes. Like a normal mouse probably would have dropped dead from shock. Or at least pretended to be dead. Or just ran in circles as their little mind imploded. Again, not a mouse expert, but Kim felt she was at least close to how a regular mouse would react. Not graciously bowing to the Ladies who should have been invisible to them as the mandolin and banjo playing mice did. And she was pretty sure one of the hand clappers curtsied. Curtsied!
“Sass?” Prairie asked the somewhat obvious.
Sass flared their hands again.
“Sass?” Kim leaned forward to do her best to meet the mouse’s tiny eyes. “Where is Patti?”
Sass stiffened. Their hands stopped. And then they wailed, “Mama!”
The cry was pitiable, hitting Kim’s chest like a little fist. The other mice, clustered at Sass’ back, leaned in. The ones not holding instruments pressed their bodies against Sass, probably providing mouse-y support. The ones holding instruments shifted on their little feet and stared at Kim and Prairie.
“Mice?” Kim ventured.
The mice leaned forward a little.
“Sass?” Sass looked up from the mice clustered around her. “Where is your mama?”
Sass held up their paw to Kim in a classic “stop” gesture then turned to the other mice. Apparently a silent communication was had between them because the other mice, as a whole, flowed across the ballroom floor towards the door they’d previously come through.
The ones without instruments scampered on all fours like you’d expect mice to do. The ones with instruments remained upright on their back legs which was mildly disconcerting. Which, really, kind of shouldn’t be considering Sass did similar but in Kim’s head Sass was Sass and special and anything it did that was not something she’d expect of a mouse was part of her special. Guess there were more special mice than just Sass. Mice that played mandolins, guitars, and banjos.
What a strange and wonderful world they lived in. Really.
Kim rose to her feet, dusted off her knees, then looked in the direction the other mice had exited. “She’s that way?”
Sass trilled. No words. Just a trill. But it had a positive vibe to it.
Okay, then.
Kim looked at Prairie. “Adventure awaits.”
“Adventure?”
“Sounds better than a potential fight that the two of us can’t handle.”
Bunny woofed, drawing Kim’s attention to where Kirby had risen to stand next to Prairie.
“Oh, yeah,” Kim corrected, “the three plus of us can’t handle.”
Bunny woofed again and Kirby pressed themselves against Prairie’s legs. Prairie laid her hand on Bunny’s head then nodded to Kim. “Ivan isn’t here so I’ll say it. Nothing to it but to do it!”
Kim gave a short laugh. “You are really freaking cute.”
There was a short hesitation, then Prairie grinned. “I am.”
She indicated the direction the mice went with a lift of her chin and Kim nodded in ascent. Then they both headed across the ballroom, their footfalls on the marble silent. Sass scampered next to them on all fours. Like a regular mouse. A real mouse. Which she definitely was not. Just like Kim, Prairie, and Kirby Sass’ feet made no sound as they impacted the marble floor.
Kim turned her head to look at Prairie. “Why could we hear the music but not our own feet?”
“I have no idea. Not even a guess. Besides because ARFA?”
Kim shrugged. “Good an explanation as any, I guess.” She looked Prairie up and down. “You have your daggers?”
Prairie pulled up the hem of her hoodie, revealing the weapons in their holsters. “I do.”
“Then as you said nothing to it.”
“But to do it,” Prairie finished. She squared her shoulders and strode through the door the mice had flown in through, Kirby close at her heels. Kim hurried to keep up. For such a short woman Prairie had a long stride! Maybe it was the trauma nurse energy – having to get to emergencies quickly.
Kim slanted a look at Sass’ hustle then turned to Prairie. “Hold up a mikro.”
When Prairie and Kirby stopped beside her Kim stooped down and held her hand out, palm up and knuckles on the marble floor. “Sass? Can I offer you a lift?”
Sass eyed her hand then shifted her attention to Kim’s face. If a mouse face could have a dubious expression Sass’ did. Or maybe that was just Kim projecting. Either way the mouse hesitated to take Kim’s offer.
Kim wiggled her fingers. “I promise not to drop you. Or, I could ask Air to carry you again?”
Sass’ eyes started in its little face. It looked around, like Air Ladies were lurking just waiting to ambush a mouse. Then it made a point of spinning on its feet, doing a full 360 before it eyeballed Kim’s palm. After a long pause Sass delicately walked over, sniffed Kim’s palm, then stepped into it and curled up there.
Looking up at Kim with watery eyes it warbled, “Mama?”
Kim nodded. “We’ll find her.”
That said she rose and started walking again with her hand held out to keep Sass reasonably steady. She found herself humming under her breath the tune the mice had played as they walked down yet another generic stone corridor lit by generic torches sporting blooms of generic fire. No. For real. It was very much generic fire. Or, to be more specific, completely fake. It glowed like fire. It smelled like fire – because although sound seemed to be non-existent in this never-ending not quite labyrinth of a castle smell still smelled like smells.
Which, yeah, she wasn’t sure that was the term but it worked so whatever. The fire glowed like fire. It moved like fire. It smelled like fire. And it had no presence. Not a hint of Fire. It just added to the overall creep factor of this damned place.
With their longer strides they caught up with the cohort of musician mice fairly quickly. The mice fell out a distance from their feet, keeping clear of being stepped on or potentially snatched up by Kirby.
Kim did not see Kirby snatching up any mice. It just didn’t seem their style. Not even Bunny seemed inclined to go mouse hunting based on how they kept their gaze focused forward and their sniffer going sniff from time to time on the stone floor. Likely because they were a magickal creature and the mice were magickal creatures – because Kim was pretty sure the whole bluegrass instrument playing, synchronized clapping, and singing in harmony was a dead giveaway of something supernatural about them. They probably had some kind of sympatico or agreement or something – one magickal creature to another. Or others.
One of the mice with a guitar – there appeared to be three – started strumming a cord as they trod along. Then the banjo player picked up the tune. And the mice without instruments began clapping out a cadence that matched the rhythm of their steps. Or, really, they matched their steps to the rhythm. At least Kim did and she felt Prairie doing the same next to her.
Then all the mice, every single one, chanted, “We’re all gonna die!” with such exuberance Kim almost found herself chanting along. She shot a quick look to Prairie who met it with wide eyes and lifted shoulders.
“Are we?” Kim whispered loud enough to carry to Prairie over the song.
Prairie eyeballed the dimly lit hall then cast her gaze forward before shrugging again. “I don’t think so.”
“Guess you’d know. You know, the cold icy hand of death on your neck?”
“That’s redundant.”
Kim stopped for a moment and stared at Prairie who stopped also and pursed her lips. “Cold and icy.”
“Oh, yeah. True.” She turned back to walking. “Still. Can you tell if someone is going to die?”
Prairie kept pace with her. “I can tell if someone is in a vulnerable state such as injured or having some kind of medical emergency such as a heart attack if they are dying from it or recovering but otherwise, no, I don’t walk around all dia feeling, as you called it, the cold icy hand of death. That would be very distracting.”
Kim shrugged. “Because the spirits aren’t?”
A grin lit Prairie’s features. “I’m used to them. They are background noise. Like your elementals, I’d think.”
“Yeah. Seems like we have a decent amount in common when it comes to our Magick.” She trailed off as the end of the hall loomed in front of them.
The mice stopped playing and singing and dropped back slightly as Kim, Prairie, and Kirby stepped towards the door. Kim eyed the arched entry way the door sat in. Unlike the other doors they’d gone through that were just set in the wall this one sat in a slight alcove. On either side of this were recessed alcoves housing statues of fantastical stone creatures. Or stone statues of fantastical creatures. Something. Stone. Creature. Statue.
She slanted a glance at Prairie as she eyed the beaked face of the gryphon to the left of the door. “Creepy?”
“They shouldn’t be. But, yes. Why is this door different?”
“Won’t know until we enter. Or try to.” Kim lifted the hand not holding Sass and reached for the iron latch on the dark wood door. Prairie flipped the hem of her hoodie back and rested her hands on her daggers handles then nodded to Kim.
“I’m ready.”
“Okay.” Kim took a deep breath because for some reason the moment seemed to call for one, then jiggled the latch. For a mikro she thought it wasn’t going to open because why not make this harder? But then the latch moved and the door glided open under her push.
Bright light poured out of the door, bright enough she had to blink rapidly to clear her vision. She turned to look at Prairie who had her hand raised to shield her eyes from the light.
At Kim’s “Good?” Prairie nodded then slowly lowered her hand.
“Think so.”
With that reassurance Kim pushed the door open fully and stepped over the threshold. She blinked a few more times once she was in.
“You seeing this/’ she slanted out of the side of her mouth..
“I think—yes?”
Yeah, pretty much Kim’s immediate response to the giant column of technology in the center of the room. The source of the bright light was the multiple computer monitors making up the tower. Kim may not be able to use a computer because buzz-plop-boom but she’d seen enough in movies at the drive-in as well as in offices, far away from her, to know what one was.
And these were definitely computers. Or whatever the screen of a computer was called. She thought it was called a monitor? Not that the term completely mattered but she liked things exact. So, she was settling on monitors to describe the many, many, many glass screens making up the column. Each one burned bright. Some had pictures of landscapes, bursting with the colors of such things. Others had pictures of children. Several had dogs. And cats. And, she squinted, one had a cow. Wearing a hat with a big flower.
She had no damned clue what the significance of it was. The cow. Or the computers or why they were in a towering column that was really hard to look at with all the light beaming off the screens.
Where initially pushing the door open she’d thought the room was blindingly bright it was actually just this column of technology that was causing the phenomenon. The rest of the room was fairly dim. The floor beneath her feet was dark, stone, maybe some kind of composite.
It was very hard to tell with everything so silent. Usually the tap of her feet on a surface could give her a fairly good guess at what it was made of. No Magick required. But this room was as quiet as all the other rooms in this crazy castle.
You’d think that towering column of computers would make some noise but nope. Not a thing. Still the floor had a spongy feel beneath her boots that suggested not quite stone. The space was dark enough that she couldn’t see walls or ceiling and with that dark, vaguely pliant floor it was hard to get a fix on dimensions so stepping into it was very much stepping into a void where there was no up or down. It created an effect of dizzying depth.
She found herself tapping the floor just to make sure it was there. It was.
She had to crane her neck back – way back – to see to the top of the column. It had to be like three stories high. Yeah, that high. She actually found herself getting dizzy while looking at it, like it was made of more impossible dimensions that her brain failed to comprehend.
Prairie’s gasp drew her gaze from the column. She shot her friend a questioning look. “What?”
Prairie was staring at the bottom of the column where Kim had been trying to see the top. After a long pregnant silence made more silent by the void of sound – yeah, that sounded better in her head – Kim gave up on getting a response to her “what?”. Shaking her head to clear the weirdness, she shifted her attention to where her friend stared, hand on her chest and eyes slightly bugged out.
Desks circled the base of the column. On each was a monitor, its light adding to the overall glare. At each desk was a chair, pulled up close. And on each of those chairs sat a figure, back slumped, shoulders slightly forward, and eyes intent on the screen. The glow from the monitor bathed their features in bright light. The figure closest to them had their back to Kim and Prairie so their face was hidden from them. But the person next to them on the right was–
“Ivan.” Prairie pointed to the figure on the left of the one directly in front of them.
“Yeah, Siobhan is in the chair to the right.”
“I think the one with their back to us is Dempsey.”
Kim eyed the back. “Sure looks like it.”
She didn’t know why she wasn’t rushing across the space. Maybe the brightness, the silence, or the utter stillness of her friends propped up in front of those computers stilled her feet. Whatever the reason Kim just stood there gaping, her brain grappling for understanding.
“They can’t use computers.”
Prairie stiffened beside her then craned her neck so she could give Kim a look. “That’s where your mind went?”
“Look, Prair, where my mind goes is often a mystery to me.”
“You don’t say.”
“Sass.”
The mouse shifted in Kim’s palm. Kim looked down into the mouse’s face, “Not you. Prairie.”
Sass turned a little to look at Prairie then lifted a hand and waved at her. Yeah, mouse, that definitely looked like agreement to Kim.
“Do you want me to put you down, Sass? Because I can.”
Sass turned and waved at Kim then shifted to stand on her palm so she could flare both hands.
“That seems like a yes.”
Sass peeped and added some extra oomph to the flare.
“Cool.” Kim stooped and put her hand flat to the ground so Sass could jump off. Once free of Kim’s hand the mouse took off around the shining column.
“Want to bet Patti is over there?” Kim asked Prairie.
“I don’t throw money away on bad bets.”
“Why aren’t they moving?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s too quiet.”
“It has been since we entered the castle.”
“Maybe I should say too still?”
“That works better. Covers movement and sound.”
Kim realized still also covered her. Her limbs, but also her thoughts. Still. Like waiting. Like her entire being was holding its breath.
“Why are we just standing here? Shouldn’t we be rushing over there?”
Prairie looked at Kim. Kim looked at Prairie. They both turned and looked at the column and the desks encircling it and their friends sitting in front of them.
“I don’t know. Magick?”
Kim thought about that for a mikro. “I don’t think so. Let’s test that.”
She slid her foot forward. When nothing stopped the movement, she stepped her back-foot forward. She slanted Prairie a quick look then repeated the pattern before saying, “No block.”
“I think it’s just weird?”
“Never stopped us before.”
“True.”
Kim realized if she didn’t make the suggestion it just might not get made. The complete stillness – boy was that word coming in handy – of Prairie’s form said she could stand there all day. And Kim found herself kind of wanting to do the same. Which suggested something weird, like Prairie had said. Nothing to it but to do it.
She cocked her head then lifted her chin towards the column and the desks their friends sat at. “On two?”
“Okay?”
Kim squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and then stepped forward slowly. When, again, nothing halted her steps, she settled into a normal pace and approached Siobhan.
“Siobhan?”
No response. Not even a twitch.
Siobhan just kept staring at the bright screen in front of her. As Kim got close she was better able to see the state of her friend. Siobhan sat, head forward, gaze focused. Her arms lay limp at her sides, the backs on the seat and her palms facing up with her fingers slack. Her bag sat under the chair with just a little bit of a corner poking out. Her flower crown sat on the top of the computer monitor.
The placement of the bag and the crown tweaked something in Kim. That just wasn’t right. Not like it was crazy, on fire shit, but Siobhan didn’t take that stuff off unless she was doing derby and had to wear a helmet to protect her head and the bag would a grapple risk.
Very slowly Kim reached a hand out and poked Siobhan’s shoulder. “Siobhan?”
Again, no response. Not a twitch. Not even–
“She’s not breathing!” She turned quickly to Prairie voice rising with her concern.
Prairie stood next to Ivan. She had a hand on his shoulder. “Ivan isn’t either.”
Prairie’s frown was really obvious in the glare of the computers. As was when she closed her eyes and took a long breath which lifted her chest and straightened her chest.
For a long moment Prairie was quiet. Her chest didn’t collapse with a released breath. Her shoulders remained raised. She canted her head to the side and her frown deepened. Then she expelled her breath on a whoosh, opened her eyes fast enough to be called a start, and spun towards Kim. Her hand clamped hard on Ivan’s shoulder.
“His soul is gone.”
“What?”
“His soul is gone,” Prairie repeated.
“No. I heard you the first time. What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Check Dempsey.”
Prairie moved over and focused intently on Dempsey for a moment then she turned to Kim and bit her lip. “No.”
“Siobhan?”
Prairie leaned forward and a look of intense concentration seized her features before she shook her head. “No.”
“Check the others?”
Prairie bit her lip then nodded and moved around Siobhan. Kim trailed behind her as Prairie moved to the right where Dan sat in an equally quiescent state. After a moment Prairie moved on to Abe to Dan’s right.
Abe sat like a mannequin, arms and hands arranged just as Siobhan’s were with their palms facing the infinite ceiling. The same way Dan sat. The same way, actually come to think of it, that Ivan sat. The similarity was fucking eerie and the utter stillness of the usually bouncy individual just felt fucking wrong. Really fucking wrong. More wrong than Ivan and Siobhan and Dan’s stillness combined.
Prairie moved on to check Gwen who sat next to Abe in the exact same posture with the exact same slack expression. If Abe’s stillness felt wrong then the lack of expression on Gwen’s face felt obscene.
With each read Prairie’s face paled until by the time they got to Patti, next to Gwen, Prairie looked like a coloring page before crayons were applied.
Sass sat on the desk facing Patti. The bright light of the monitor on their back cast a mouse-shaped shadow on Patti’s face. When Sass saw Kim and Prairie it let out a pitiable peep then warbled, “Mama!” while reaching an entreating paw to Patti. Patti didn’t move. Or blink. Or breathe. Like the others.
One of the musician mice sat on the desk next to Sass. It also stared at Patti, its gaze unflinching even when Sass reached out and wrapped their arms around the other mouse’s middle and squeezed tight. Then Sass cried out again, “Mama!”
Again no twitch from Patti. She stared straight through the imploring mouse, gaze fixed on the bright light of the monitor. Patti’s stillness felt almost as odd as Abe’s, but in a different way. In a way that made Kim more aware of the silence. Probably because Patti’s Magick made even her breathing sound like the cadence of a song.
Kim looked at Prairie. “It feels like she’s waiting to take a breath. Or like she breathed in then froze before she could let it out.”
“No soul.”
“Which means no breath?”
Prairie shrugged. “I don’t know. This is all new to me.”
“They look like zombies.” The thought came unbidden to Kim’s mind, defining her sense of unease, and then flowed right out of her mouth.
“If they were zombies they’d be trying to eat our brains not sitting frozen in the exact same positions.”
Kim twisted her head to the side so fast her neck hurt. “I needed you to say zombies are not a thing.”
In a complete deadpan, Prairie said, “Zombies are not a thing.”
“I don’t know that I believe you.” She paused a beat. “Now.”
Prairie shook her head and said in a normal tone of voice, “Zombies are not a thing. Reanimated corpses now. Well, maybe? I would have said no before talking to Aleric but now I’m not quite as sure.”
“Well, that’s reassuring.”
Prairie just shrugged. “But they aren’t zombies. Not because of the whole ‘brains!’ thing,” she drew out the word ‘brains’ like a zombie would. If zombies were a thing. “But because they are alive. Here,” she pressed her hand to Gwen’s neck where a pulse would be, then pulled Kim’s hand over and replaced her fingers with Kim’s.
Under Kim’s fingers Gwen’s blood pulsed in a reassuring rhythm. Her skin felt cold and their muscles stiff, but that pulse was there saying she was alive.
Kim pulled her fingers back and shook them out to remove the sense of ick. It clung but damn she was determined to shake that shit off, so she doubled down on the shaking until all she felt was a bit of pain from her wrist and where her fingers clacked together.
“See?” Prairie continued her thought, “They’re just in a state of suspended animation, I think, because their souls have temporarily vacated.”
“How?”
Prairie’s eyes widened and her shoulders rose. “I don’t know.”
She looked down at the ground in thought. When Kim followed her gaze she realized Prairie was looking at the musician mice which had started swirling around their feet. One particularly bold one climbed up on Prairie’s foot and grabbed onto her pant leg with tiny hands. Seeing that it had Prairie’s attention, it swept a hand out in an entreating motion.
“That mouse is trying to tell you something.”
“You think?”
“Yes.” Kim turned to Sass, still trying to get Patti to respond to it. “Sass?”
Sass shifted to look at Kim.
“Is the mouse trying to tell Prairie something?”
Sass let out a trill then a peep then a bunch more mouse noises. The mouse climbing on Prairie’s leg turned to look at Sass and replied in something like the same though its voice was less piping chirp and more low rumble that Kim swore rattled inside her head.
Both she and Prairie watched the exchange between Sass and the other mouse then a motion to the other side of Prairie’s foot drew Kim’s attention. Another mouse reared up on its back legs and had its front legs bent so their paws hung somewhere near its hips or whatever passed for hips on a mouse. Did mice have hips?
And boy was that a tangent Kim did not need her brain to go down at this time. Ugh. ADD.
The mouse seemed to catch that her mind was drifting because it made a big point of swinging its hands around then started to–
“Prairie?” Kim shot a quick aside. “Is that mouse flossing?”
Prairie shifted her gaze from the mouse on her pants to the one next to her. “Maybe? I don’t know. Definitely dancing. I think.”
“That’s not normal.”
“Is any of this?”
“Valid.” Kim squatted down to get closer to the dancing mouse. “Mouse?”
The mouse flared its paws. Kim would take that as an indication of attention.
“Are you trying to tell us something?”
At this the mouse gathered its haunches and launched forward. It hooked its claws in the fabric of Kim’s sweater and scampered up her chest faster than she could rear back in concern. Then it proceeded to curl its claws in the collar of Kim’s sweater, reached up, and poked her right in the mouth with its free paw.
Kim reared back at the strike, eyes wide on the mouse. “The fuck, mouse?”
In answer the mouse pulled its paw back and smacked Kim’s cheek right next to her mouth.
“Bitch!”
Kim fell back on her ass. Then she reached up and snatched the mouse in her hand, fighting not to squeeze hard or fling the mouse across the room.
A giggle burst out of Prairie. “I think it is definitely trying to tell you something.”
“That is wants to smack the crap out of me?” Kim glowered at the mouse squirming in her hold. The mouse, in turn, glowered right back at her. “I don’t speak mouse!” Kim said really loud, like volume was going to make up for a lack of shared language.
The mouse gave a really obvious humph. Like no shared language needed to translate that humph. And then it went invisible. Kim would say disappeared, but she could still feel it in her clasp.
“Prair?” She spun around, hand towards Prairie. “Did you see that?”
Prairie was looking down at the mouse on her leg, clearly not having seen the incredible disappearing mouse. Wait. Kim squinted. Not disappeared. Went dark. If she looked hard enough she could definitely see the vague outline of a dark mouse in her hand. It was the sheer shock of the substance change of the mouse that had made her miss it in the first response.
“The fuck?”
Prairie looked up at this and Kim waved her hand, obscured mouse still firmly in her hold, at her friend.
“The fuck?” Prairie’s foreign response got a blink from Kim. That was definitely very un-Prairie like and worthy of a quick goggle.
“You cursed.”
“You are holding a mostly invisible mouse.”
“I am.”
“The fuck?”
This drew a snort from Kim. Then she stiffened as the mouse in her grasp wriggled before sinking its little teeth into her finger.
“Fuck!” Kim jerked and her hold loosened, giving the mouse enough space to get free of her grasp. It darted from her hand and shot at the floor like an arrow. Kim winced, expecting at the best a mouse scream and at worst a crunch as its neck broke. But the mouse twisted mid-air like it was freaking cat instead of a mouse and landed on all fours like a special forces operative or superhero.
The mouse looked up at Kim with what sure looked like a “ha!” then ran off around the column. The brightness made it both easy to follow the path of the weird mouse-shaped patch of dark and also eye-wateringly hard to keep up the surveillance.
“You saw that?”
“I did–” Prairie’s response cut off as she looked down at the mouse on her leg. It had taken its tail in its free paw and was whacking her with it.
“What did you do to that mouse?”
“Nothing.” Prairie narrowed her gaze on the mouse flagellating her with its tail. “Uh, its tail.”
“Is hitting you.”
“Yes. But,” she kept her focus on the tail, “I don’t think its shaped right.”
“What?” Kim leaned in to stare at the mouse beating on Prairie. “I can’t tell.”’
The mouse stopped beating on Prairie’s leg, looked at Kim leaning towards it, and it must have decided her position invited it to attack her as it leaped across the distance between them and whacked her lowered face with its tail.
Which definitely hit like something other than a tail. Like it should have whipped, being a tail, but instead it whapped.
“Grab it!”
“You grab it!”
“I grabbed the other one!”
Prairie heaved a huge and very loud sigh then reached out and curved her hand around the mouse now hanging from the front of Kim’s sweater pummeling her face with its weird tail. Closing her hands gently around it she pulled it free of Kim’s sweater and held it towards her face. It gentled in Prairie’s hold and then very gently popped her hand with its tail. The hit was so gentle that the tail remained against her skin rather than pulling back as it had on the other hits.
Both Kim and Prairie stared at the tail for a moment then Kim very slowly ventured. “It’s flat. Ish.”
“It is.”
They continued staring. The mouse remained still in Prairie’s hold then very slowly craned its neck to it could lay its head on her knuckle and then it stared up into her eyes with an expression that could very easily be read as adoring. Very slowly it raised the end of its tail up in its paw and just as slowly tapped the weirdly flat thing against her wrist.
Prairie continued to hold its gaze and then very softly asked, “What does it mean?”
Kim wasn’t sure if the question was for her or the mouse. Not that it mattered. She didn’t know and the mouse wasn’t talking.
“So, uh, I think we need to figure this out.”
The mouse lifted its tail and again tapped super gently against Prairie’s arm. It also nuzzled its head against her knuckle and its expression grew more adoring, if that was possible.
“Mouse?”
The mouse turned its gaze on Kim.
“If Prairie puts you down can you maybe show us what you are trying to tell us?”
The mouse remained quiescent then gave a very clear nod.
“Prair?”
“I’m putting it down.” Putting action to her words Prairie bent and gently placed the mouse on the ground. It righted itself then looked back at Prairie before scampering around the column.
“Follow that mouse!” Kim cried as she started in the direction the mouse ran.
Prairie followed fast at her side with Kirby trotting beside her. Mice scattered across the floor, avoiding the dog and its massive paws. They didn’t seem as concerned about doing the same with Kim and Prairie. One flung itself at Kim’s leg, hooking its claws in her cargo pants before planting its ass on the top of her boot. Another scampered at speed next to Kim and two others ran in the space between she and Prairie. They were shockingly fast for mice. But, yeah, the truth of them being not-mice became clearer and clearer the longer they were in this room.
The mouse that had pummeled and then loved on Prairie skidded to a stop next to Ivan’s frozen form. Then it flung itself at his pant and climbed up to situate itself on the desk in front of him. It grabbed itself tail and started smacking it against the bottom of the monitor. Or, maybe against the squat box the monitor sat upon.
That box had a bunch of flashing orange and green lights to the left where several cables protruded from it. To the right of it was a solid white light that appeared to originate from a button that was almost flat with the surface of the box.
Kim watched the mouse’s antics for a moment then looked over at Prairie.
“Any idea?”
Prairie lifted her shoulders. “No. None.”
The mouse turned and looked at Prairie then gave a very clear harumph. It was pretty clearly frustrated but again no shared language and Kim had never been particularly good at charades.
Again the mouse flailed its weird tail against the box. When that clearly wasn’t making a dent in Kim’s or Prairie’s understanding, though it might have been doing so in the surface of the box because that mouse was whacking the crap out of the thing, the mouse stopped its smacking and ran over to the edge of the desk and stared hard at Ivan. Then it shifted and swung its tail. It was long enough that it whacked Ivan who didn’t shift at all. Then it turned and whacked the box with the flashing lights. Again it repeated. Whack, Ivan. Whack, box. Whack, Ivan. Whack, box.
“Okay. We are clearly missing something here.”
The mouse stopped its whacking to give Kim a hard look which she was pretty sure was ridiculing. Maybe she was just reading into it, but she didn’t think so.
“Do you think that box is a computer?” Prairie asked.
“No clue.”
“I think it is.”
“Okay?”
“What do you know about computers?”
“They break if I look them?”
“Okay. And?”
“They compute?”
“Yes, but I don’t think that is going to help us help the mouse.”
“What do you,” Kim leaned on the word, “know about computers?”
“They break if I look at them.”
This started a snort from Kim. Prairie grinned then continued, “They aren’t just boxes and screens. People have to use them somehow. How?”
“Uh, I think they have these flat things with keys that people type on. Like a typewriter, but tech-magicky?”
Prairie lifted her brows at Kim’s oh-so-intelligent way of describing the damned magickal boxes that did magickal things with technology that neither of them could touch.
“Maybe we need one of those key things?”
The mouse gave another harumph and smacked the flat end of its tail against the box. When it saw it had their attention it smacked the box two more times for emphasis. Then it jumped down off the desk onto Ivan and from there to the ground where it snatched up one of the other mice, hauling it under its arm while rearing back on its hind legs. It was a bigger mouse, like almost a third the size of the mouse it was assaulting.
The mouse buried under its arm went limp rather than fighting the grip, making it possible for the bigger mouse to hook its free paw into Ivan’s pants and then slowly climb up with that paw and its two back ones so it could mount the desk with the other mouse. Once they were on the desk the bigger mouse gently placed the smaller mouse close to the box, whapped the box with that mouse’s tail which also had a weirdly flat end, and then very gently placed its paw on the back of the mouse and pushed it. The other mouse seemed to get the point as it moved in the direction the bigger mouse shoved.
Then the bigger mouse pushed in the other direction and the second mouse went in that direction. After they had repeated this another two times the bigger mouse turned and stared hard at Prairie before gently patting the other mouse on the back and then reaching out and whapping the box with its tail.
“Prairie,” Kim dragged the word out.
“Yes?” Prairie did the same.
“Do computers have anything else beside the flat thing with keys? Like maybe an input device to move around on it?”
The bigger mouse reared up and smacked its pause against the bright screen then turned and stared at Kim.
“How do the key thing and the other thing work with the box?”
“Maybe they plug in?”
The mouse smacked the monitor again then turned and freaking threw thumbs at Kim.
“Oh.” Prairie’s eyes widened. “Is it that easy?”
The look the mouse gave her asked just how easy this had been but then it cocked its head and trilled at Prairie. There was definitely some praise in that trill.
Prairie very slowly reached towards the box and felt around it with a gentle hand. When she reached the back of it, her face pressed to the screen with her eyes closed against the brightness, she stopped. Then she pulled back and looked at Kim with a big smile.
“There are holes in the back.”
“What are the chances those holes are the same shape as that weird part of the mouse’s tail?”
“That is a bet I would take.” Prairie smiled then pulled back from the screen so she could reach for the smaller mouse which had remained kind of frozen in place on the desk.
The larger mouse rushed over and gently whapped Prairie’s hand with its tail. She shifted her attention to it.
“Use your tail?”
The mouse very softly whacked her hand again.
“Okay.”
Prairie gently took the mouse in her hand and shifted it so it was close to the box. Then she took its tail in her hand and moved it towards the back of the box. It was lucky the tail was long. Even then it scooted its ass closer to the back as Prairie routed around in the back.
There was a shift in Prairie’s shoulder as she clearly pushed at the tail and then a super bright light flared from the big mouse. Prairie yanked her hand back as the mouse dissolved into white light sharp enough it threatened to remain burned into Kim’s retinas. She slapped a hand over her eyes, shielding them from the flare.
“That worked.”
Well, that wasn’t Prairie. That was distinctly not Prairie. That was—Ivan? Sounding a combination of tentative and smug, if that was a thing.
Prairie gave a gasp and then a laugh. Kim cautiously lowered her hand and cracked an eyelid so she could squint in the direction of the sound. And met Ivan’s eyes as he leaned forward in his chair with a big ass grin.
He turned to Prairie and the grin melted into something more. “I knew you could figure it out.”
“Am I chopped liver?” Kim murmured.
Ivan didn’t respond. Instead, he leaned in and planted a soft kiss on Prairie’s cheek. Prairie reared back and looked at him with wide eyes. Then she pressed a hand to the cheek that was now blazing with a blush that had to hurt.
With tendrils of soft brown hair escaping her ponytail to frame her bright blue eyes and the blush emphasizing the rounded curve of her cheeks, she was stunning. It was no wonder Ivan stared at her like she hung the moon. The only real wonder was how Prairie didn’t seem to notice his fixation.
“So, uh,” Kim made a big point of shifting so she grabbed their attention. “The mice are–”
“Their souls,” Prairie finished for her. “I should have realized that.”
“You would have eventually,” Ivan said. “I know you would have.”
“How did you know what to do?” Prairie asked him.
“Computers are machines.” Ivan shrugged. “Not quite what I’m used to but mechanisms are mechanisms are mechanisms. Even as a mouse I still had my Magick so–” Again he shrugged.
Kim would have said it was false modesty but that wasn’t Ivan’s thing. He really was modest. It was kind of cute. At least she was pretty sure Prairie thought so based on the soft look she gave Ivan.
“Did you know Nulls call their peripheral devices for computers mice?” Ivan asked.
Kim shifted her attention from the bright monitor to the floor where the other mice were showing a lot of interest in what they were doing above.
“Really? Mice?”
“I think it might be because they are small and attach to the computer with something like a tail.”
Kim looked at the box. “I can kind of see that. Funky.” Then she shifted to look at Ivan as he rose from the chair and cracked his back. “So, we need to figure out which of the mice,” she jerked her head to the side to indicate the mice clustered on the floor, “is which of our friends and poke their tails into the boxes to get them reconnected to their souls?” She turned to Prairie. “Any chance your Magick could help with that?”
Prairie looked down at the mice and her gaze went inwards for a moment. “I’m not sure?” She turned her attention to the mouse the Ivan mouse had carried up on to the desk. Then she placed her index finger very gently on its head. She drew a shallow breath and then stared into space for a moment. “Hmm.”
Kim looked at Ivan. He shrugged then pointedly looked at Prairie. Prairie continued to focus and ‘hmm’ then lifted her finger from the mouse and looked at Kim and Ivan.
“I’m not sure. It feels like a mouse mostly. This isn’t really my skill set, if you think about it. If it was a real spirit and not a transformed or loosened or something soul then I could talk to it.”
“Any chance Kirby can help?” Ivan asked.
“That is a good question.” Prairie turned to look down at Kirby. “One? Can you help figure out whose soul this is?”
One took a long moment to stare solemnly at the mouse. “I am afraid, just as you, I am not quite able to tell. Too much noise, if that makes sense?”
Prairie nodded like it did.
“How about this?” Kim squatted down to be closer to the mice on the ground. “Mice? Can you please go to your own bodies?”
The mice all stared at her. Then one of them plucked the strings on the banjo, popping out a quick lick of the jaunty bluegrass tune. One of the mice with guitars picked up the rhythm. Then the other mice started clapping. Once they all had the same cadence beating out on mouse paws they paused to chant “We’re all going to die!”
Kim drew a deep breath and bit back a curse. “Not helpful.”
The mice went to gyrating to the tune from the banjo and the guitar then the mouse with the mandolin joined in and the mice were off, jiving and bopping and having what appeared to be a pretty good time.
Kim pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes then threw her hands down to look up at Ivan and Prairie. “Well, that did not work.”
“You don’t say,” Ivan drawled then shrugged. “It was worth a try, but I think I may have an idea why it didn’t work.”
“Tell?”
“When I was the mouse I don’t think I was the mouse.”
“How can you be the mouse and not be the mouse?”
“I don’t think I was the mouse. I think I was along for the ride with the mouse.” He gestured with his finger, pointing at the ground, then at himself then reached over and gently brushed the finger over the head of the mouse still sitting on the desk. The mouse butted its head against his finger then looked up at him with limpid eyes. “Look, I don’t have the exact words to describe it. This is just the way it felt. I think the mouse was separate from me. We were sharing the body and to an extent I had some control, but I had to work to have the reins.”
Prairie blinked. “Like a rider.” When Kim and Ivan gave her a confused look she continued, “I don’t know if you remember, but I’ve explained how necromancers in some faiths cause spirits to ride along with the living. They call the living host a horse. The spirit is invited in by the horse and then rides them.” She pointed her finger at her palm and bounced it along the length of her hand, mimicking the movement of a horse. “The faithful call the spirits riders. So, maybe here the mice were horses and you all were riders? It would explain why my Magick can’t pinpoint which mouse is which person’s soul. They aren’t.”
Ivan gave Prairie a bright smile so blinding it made the light from the monitor seem dim. “That explains how it felt. Like I was riding along and if I worked for it I could direct the action. But if I relaxed my control the mouse took over. Which is probably what is happening to our little friends right now.”
Prairie looked down and blinked as her blush deepened. Then she squinted at one of the clapping mice. “Does that mouse have only one black arm?”
Kim used her squatting vantage to peer closer at the mice. “Maybe?”
“Who do we know with a black arm?”
“Abe!” Ivan said with surprising gusto to which Prairie nodded and repeated, “Abe.”
Ivan pointed at the mouse with the black arm that was really bouncing and jiving and now that Kim thought of it was really giving off some Abe energy. “Grab that mouse!”
Kim flung up a hand. “Me?”
“I’d do it but I’m way up here.”
“Fine.” Kim duck walked closer to the mice who broke off their dancing to give her uncertain looks. Then as one they scattered. The ones with instruments kept on playing the instruments and the mice matched their movements to the cadence of the song, making their escape look more like a dance line than a random flight.
The one with the black arm actually threw their arms in the air, beating out the time on the air with their paws as they shimmied and shaked their little ass away from where Ivan and Prairie stood and Kim stooped.
Kim looked up at Ivan and Prairie. Ivan and Prairie looked down at Kim and then shifted their attention to the fleeing mice.
“Guess we gotta give chase?” Ivan said then looked down at the mouse still on the desk where he’d been sitting. “Except for this little guy. Girl?”
“Mouse?” Prairie offered.
“Sure. Mouse.” Ivan carefully scooped up the mouse from the desk and tucked it into the breast pocket of his button-down. It poked its head back out then curled its paws along the edge of the cloth before pointing one paw in the direction the other mice had fled. It peeped, looked up at Ivan, then peeped again before pointing again.
Ivan gave one of his panty-dropping grins. “Going! I’m going!”
The mouse peeped once more then lowered their paw down to hold on to the pocket as Ivan strode in the direction the other mice ran.
Enter The Woods 