《FADE to FAIRY》


 Rocking the Cradle

    I was hiding in shadow, watching my step-father fish. My step-father from back when I was mortal. Not one of my Goblin step-fathers. Confused yet? Welcome to the club.


    My step-father was old. He was young back when I was eight, but fifty years had passed.


    My Goblin uncle/brother/step-father, Jordan, sent a ripple through the shadow. He was in the family before the family adopted me. He watched out for me and felt responsible for me, but when we played, we were equals.


    Jordan passed by again gently rippling the shadow¡¯s edges. He wanted me to follow him. Great, I was about to be lectured about shadow burn again. I followed him through the dappled shade of the bayou and upstream past swamp and into woods. He stopped high in a Spanish moss draped oak tree with limbs big enough to lie on.


    ¡°You want to look like Dennis?¡± Jordan asked.


    I said, ¡°I stay in clear shadows. Unless you¡¯re making ripples, I¡¯m safe.¡±


    ¡°Are you mad at your stepfather or do you miss him?¡±


    I shook my head.


    ¡°Answer me.¡±


    I said, ¡°Just curious.¡±


    Jordan sat with his legs around a large limb, leaning his back on the trunk. ¡°I need to take you to meet the Wize. You won¡¯t want to linger in shadow after you see them. If you¡¯re going to watch from shadows, hide in shadows, don¡¯t merge with shadows.¡±


    I was lying on my back with my legs dangling through a large Y in the branch I was on. We were just high enough to feel the tree rock as the wind changed.


    I glanced over at Jordan. ¡°I just want to know if there is any reason for me being this way.¡±


    ¡°Phil, your human parents were wrapped up in themselves and couldn¡¯t be bothered. We couldn¡¯t help ourselves. You needed taking care of.¡±


    I told him, ¡°I understand. I avoid the city because of David.¡±


    ¡°You still wish you had adopted him?¡±


    ¡°No, David¡¯s parents were desperate when they found out he was missing. They didn¡¯t seem to care, but they did. David¡¯s grown up now, so there¡¯s nothing there. I avoid the city because I might want to adopt another lost child. I have enough trouble taking care of myself. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be a good parent anyway.¡±


    We lay on our branches for a while just watching the wind in the trees. I felt the shadows flex as Brad slid in and slipped out of shadow to a limb over the one I was lying on.


    Brad looked down over the limb at me and made like he was going to spit on me.


    I asked, ¡°Do Goblins ever grow up?¡±


    Brad said, ¡°Jordan did. He used to be fun. Sure, he looks ten, but he acts like an old man.¡±


    Jordan asked, ¡°Have you checked the trout lines?¡±


    Brad said, ¡°Yes, I checked the trout lines. The fish have been delivered. The restaurant in Shreveport is trying to pay less, though. I hate shadow stepping that far north, and we have a new restaurant in Baton Rouge.¡±


    I said, ¡°I can manage Shreveport. The restaurant is far enough from any houses so I probably won¡¯t meet any children. I don¡¯t mind the trip, and they probably are beginning to wonder why you¡¯re staying the same age anyway.¡±


    Brad asked, ¡°How you gonna manage them?¡±


    Brad already knew. The truth was simple. My skin wasn¡¯t as dark as his so some folk that would deal with me honestly would try to take advantage of kids like Brad and Jordan. Made no sense but there it was.


    Jordan said, ¡°Phil, don¡¯t linger in shadow.¡±


    I dropped off the limb, slid into the shadows, and headed home. I could feel Jordan and Brad following me as I slid from shadow to shadow. In front of the cement tanks, I saw three more of the boys sitting in shade. Monroe was cooking. It smelled pretty wonderful. I looked down at the fish in the tanks. I walked along the planks over the largest tank and did a quick estimate. We were catching fish faster than we were selling or eating them. I needed to develop a few more customers.


    I yelled, ¡°How¡¯s money?¡±


    Monroe yelled back to me, ¡°We just had to restring the bass and get new hair on a violin bow. We¡¯re doing okay, but if you want an advance on your allowance, you¡¯re out of luck right now.¡±


    I made a quick jump into the shadow around the tank and got beside Monroe. ¡°I could work up a few more places for us to do business with. We have lots of fishing places no human can get to. We could run a few more trout lines.¡±


    Monroe looked at me. ¡°Your ears are going to need work soon.¡±


    I winced and reached for my ears. He was right, the points were growing back. I hated it, but if I wanted to pass for human, I was going to need my ears trimmed soon. I hated having ears trimmed even more than when a tooth fell out and a new one came in.


    ***


    The old man came out and said, ¡°That smells mighty good, Monroe.¡±


    Monroe asked, ¡°Phil, can you hand me the file powder?¡±


    I flitted into shadow and grabbed the bottle of file from the kitchen. I handed it to Monroe and smiled. If he was adding file to the gumbo, it was nearly done.


    ***


    I was watching my step-father fish again. As he took a beer out of the cooler, I could see seven empty longnecks floating. He fumbled and the bottle opener fell through a slit in the pier. I was wet from working trout lines earlier, and since I had been hiding in shadow, my clothes were still damp. I slid into the shadows under the pier, turned solid, and quietly slipped into the water to get his bottle opener. I didn¡¯t have a good way to give it back to him, so I took it with me into shadow. He didn¡¯t need to drink anymore, anyway.


    He started crying. He lost Mom ten years earlier, so I wasn¡¯t sure what was wrong with him.


    He asked, ¡°Phil, is that you?¡±


    I nearly fell out of shadow. Human eyesight was weak when it came to dim light. In full sun, he couldn¡¯t have seen me in the shade under the pier. I glanced down. The sun was nearly at its apex above us, and the light was going straight down through the cracks. He was looking for his bottle opener and could have seen me as I¡¯d left shadow, sank into the water, and picked up the bottle opener. He probably saw me step out, dripping from the water, and disappear. I was a fool. I trusted a human¡¯s poor eyesight and didn¡¯t think about the sun.


    He said ¡°Phil, do you hate me?¡±


    I slid out of shadow. ¡°You¡¯re the only original family I have left. I never really knew you. We weren''t close enough for hate. We ain¡¯t related, but you are as much as I have. You didn¡¯t look for me, but you married my mom, not me. I was the bad part of the deal.¡±


    ¡°Are you a Fairy?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s kind of offensive.¡±


    ¡°Are you a ghost?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a Goblin.¡±


    My step-father braced his hands on his knees and hung his head. ¡°I¡¯m drunk, aren''t I? I should have looked for you when your mother told me to, but we needed me to work the long hours, and I was scared to look for you.¡± He shook his head. ¡°I should have quit that job and stopped trying to fill that stupid hole. Are Goblins alive?¡±


    I said, ¡°We live, we have fun. We¡¯re mostly free, but adults resent paying children for work, think we should be in school, and get suspicious when we don¡¯t age. We can¡¯t show up in the same place for long, and we can¡¯t wander around when school¡¯s in session.¡±


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    He didn¡¯t say anything. We sat. I wanted to beat a rhythm on the pier¡¯s slats. The old weathered boards had a nice sound to them. My step-father was fishing, so I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d appreciate the noise. He didn¡¯t catch any fish, so I might as well have done drum rolls and danced on the planks. After a long silence, I left. I didn¡¯t know what to say really. I snuck back, and when he opened his cooler, I dropped a couple of fish in it. More as a prank than anything else. I left the can opener. It had been long enough for him to have gotten sober.


    ***


    I was on my bicycle awkwardly riding with a small pole and a Styrofoam cooler on the back. Until we got a pattern down with a new restaurant, we tried to make every appearance of being from a poor family and just wanting to work extra to help. It was the truth, really, but not the way they thought it was. I stopped at a gas station to air up my tires. My bike almost fell over. The last thing I wanted was to be brushing gravel off the fish and trying to put it back in a broken cooler. The gas station sold coolers and ice, so it wouldn¡¯t be as bad as it could be, but we tried to deliver pretty fish.


    A man signaled me from the open window of a car. Nice car. Black, clean, large, and expensive. It had tinted windows. I walked my bike over. He was a big man. Handsome, rugged. The kind women fell for.


    ¡°You selling fish, boy?¡±


    For a moment, I thought of trying to sell him some fish. I didn¡¯t think he was the type that cooked, and his car said city. I didn¡¯t trust him.


    He smiled at me. Like he knew me. Like he had plans for me. He scared me somehow.


    I said, ¡°I caught a few fish, but I¡ª¡±


    Something told me I didn¡¯t want to start lying. I said, ¡°I shouldn¡¯t talk to strangers.¡± I got back on my bike and kept riding. I was halfway to the dive I was going to sell fish at when I was passed by a truck with high school kids yelling stuff at me from the back. I stopped and let them drive past. I looked back, and the black car was sitting by the side of the road a good distance behind me.


    I¡¯d spent a week exploring this area by shadow and finding out where the locals bought fish and how much they paid. I found out which ones were family oriented. I always tried to avoid those. I wanted the country dives with low numbers. It was safer to avoid big restaurants and the restaurants in town. Trendy places were the scariest. In spite of all that work, my gut instincts were telling me to run and abandon the locations I¡¯d scouted. Something about the man and car seemed familiar and off.


    ***


    Monroe was watching me; I could feel him watching. I slipped into shadow and joined him in the shade of the large cypress. ¡°You¡¯ve been watching me for a while.¡±


    Monroe pointed to the trout line. ¡°You were slipping shadows through the water. That scares me to death, Phil. You could end up half-fish or worse. Things live in the deep shadows.¡±


    I looked up through the tree¡¯s canopy and squinted as I momentarily glanced at the sun. ¡°Out here, the shadows are crisp. Safer somehow.¡±


    Monroe got up quickly, dancing clumsily, and taking off his pants. ¡°Ants, Phil.¡±


    I took his arm, pulled him into shadow, and moved us to the shade of another tree.


    Monroe stared at me. ¡°I¡¯d be scared I might become half-ant, going into shadow like that. You don¡¯t even worry, and you managed to take me and leave the ants. What do I do to leave the ants behind?¡±


    I gave him a sly smile. ¡°Teach me to cook like you do, and I¡¯ll try to teach you all I can.¡±


    Monroe nodded. ¡°It might keep you out of trouble. I worry you¡¯re overextending yourself.¡±


    I asked him, ¡°How? I don¡¯t even know what you mean by that.¡±


    Monroe buckled his belt and sat. ¡°The more contacts you make with humans, the less attention and thought go into all of them. The more exposure and danger you risk. Money¡¯s nice and it¡¯s good to have a bit in reserve, but exposure can cause issues. If you draw the wrong sort of attention, everything we have can come crashing down.¡±


    ***


    ¡°Monroe, how did you learn all of this without hiding in shadows?¡±


    Monroe smiled as he stirred. ¡°Without being in shadows, a lot of places have spots you can watch from and still be solid. But the real trick¡¯s even simpler. A lot of folks keep notes on their recipes when they alter them and their family likes the result. I just copied their notes.¡±


    I suspected that Monroe probably hid on the other side of the shadows but didn¡¯t want to admit it. Since he cooked, he didn¡¯t have a lot of time to get in trouble with shadows, so he might have started cooking as a substitute for more dangerous behavior.


    ***


    Monroe and I were playing tag in the shadows. I was showing him tricks he never knew. How could someone have used shadows to move every single day for nearly two hundred years and not have figured these things out?


    After stepping out of shadow, Monroe asked, ¡°Why do you always take the long way? Is it so the rest of us won¡¯t notice how fast you are?¡±


    I sat and pointed to the stream we stood near. ¡°I always try, well, mostly always try to go with the flow of the light. It feels better that way. I can¡¯t do it going up or south. I can¡¯t do it when I go east in the morning or west in the afternoon. But when I can, I follow the light.¡±


    Monroe looked around and walked to a fallen tree. He straddled it and sat looking at the stream the fallen tree nearly crossed. ¡°That only sort of makes sense. If you go both ways, you have to go in the light direction just as often as you go to shade. Still, you barely ripple the shadows. What¡¯s your secret?¡±


    I looked for ants and considered his question. I sat on the grassy bank with my feet on the pebbles below. ¡°About fifteen years after I became a Goblin, I met the Queen of Shadows. The shadows didn¡¯t leave a ripple or a trace as she moved. She told me, ¡®A flashbulb can erase the shadow you hide in. How would you face that?¡¯¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t have an answer at the time. If I met her again, I¡¯d tell her, ¡®By teetering on the edge.¡¯ I stay on the edge of falling out of shadow.¡±


    Monroe peeled a strip of bark from the fallen tree he was straddling and tried to hit the water with it. It came closer to hitting me. ¡°Is that safer?¡±


    I shook my head in a wobbly, non-committal sort of way. ¡°It lets me go through shadows in the water, but if things go odd like a fast wind change, I can be thrown out of shadow. I swallowed a bit of water and sputtered for a while the first few times it caught me.¡±


    Monroe asked, ¡°Does that really make you safe from a flashbulb when shadow stepping?¡±


    I got up and dusted off the back of my pants. ¡°I think so, but that isn¡¯t the sort of thing I¡¯d test without a good reason.¡±


    Monroe got up. ¡°Teach me. Teach the rest of the boys. Who knows? It might work. Why haven¡¯t you brought this up before?¡±


    I winced and took a deep breath. ¡°Dennis will have to test it. You know how he is. If he disappears a couple of months after I mention this, I¡¯ll always think I killed him. I can share this with you since you aren¡¯t stupid and impulsive. Some of the things I¡¯ve figured out, I just keep for emergencies. I think I know how to do them, but I wonder how many Goblins have disappeared because they thought they thunk up a new trick.¡±


    Monroe nodded. ¡°Great, another explanation for missing Goblins.¡±


    I held my hand out to him. ¡°I should be here if you plan to practice coming out while in water. It isn¡¯t fun and it isn¡¯t quiet. I¡¯ll show you how to go through water, but don¡¯t try coming out in water. Not yet. As far as going with the flow of the shadow, if you go west in the morning and east in the evening, you can mostly go with the flow. There¡¯s also reflected light, so you can often go both ways in a shadow if you pick your shadow carefully.¡±


    I pulled him into shadow with me and moved us to the very edge of shadow. The penumbra of the penumbra where it was hard to tell you were even in shadow. He seemed stable and didn¡¯t fall out, so I took him through the water and back up into the woods. Under a tall mossy oak, I released him, and he dropped out of shadow. I joined him in the shade of the oak.


    He shadow stepped up to a limb that would normally be out of reach. ¡°Phil, I couldn¡¯t hold myself in shadow. This is going to take some practice. Tell me about stepping out in water.¡±


    I shadow stepped to the limb he was on but sat straddled on it by a wide fork farther out on the limb. ¡°First time you step out in water, be ready. The water pushes back so you can¡¯t breathe. The water can roar, and the splash is like a dozen boys did cannonballs after jumping from the highest tree. It can feel like you did a belly flop on all sides. I¡¯ve only done it enough to think I can handle it and a few more times by accident.¡±


    Monroe gave me a serious look and then grinned. ¡°Jerk, you may end up learning to cook without having taught me anything. I¡¯ll try and practice, but it seems like you can shadow step near shadow and not even be in it.¡±


    I pointed to the spots of light on the ground that managed to make their way past the oak leaves. ¡°None of these spots are as bright as full sun. Well, maybe that one. As the leaves move, you can see darker and lighter patches. All of these are edges of shadow. They are still shadow. You know how you can¡¯t slide into shadow in total dark or even enter a totally dark area by shadow stepping? I don¡¯t think we travel by shadow. Not most of us. The Queen of Shadows, maybe. We travel by light, but it has to be next to dark.¡±


    ***


    Jordan asked, ¡°You cooking again? Where¡¯s Monroe?¡±


    I kept stirring. ¡°Don¡¯t know. Are you trying to say my cooking isn¡¯t up to snuff?¡±


    Jordan peered into the pot. ¡°It¡¯s spotty. Not consistent. I mean, Monroe varies things, but he always pulls it off.¡±


    I gave him a weak smile. ¡°Been cooking maybe three weeks now. Give me a break. I do fish and pudding fine. My rice is good enough. Beans, I think, take magic to do right. I do exactly what Monroe does, best I can tell, and they might be goo or they might be tough.¡±


    Jordan returned my weak smile with a grimace. ¡°Then why you cooking beans?¡±


    ¡°¡¯Cause I¡¯m cooking beans.¡±


    Jordan said, ¡°We got a few complaints out on the routes. They like it better when you do delivery. Can we drop you back to cooking one meal a day?¡±


    I turned off the burner and kept stirring. ¡°Talk to Monroe about it.¡±


    Jordan turned to leave. ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m looking for him.¡±


    ***


    I was cleaning up in the kitchen. Randal was helping, so I figured Jordan had probably given him a lecture on not pulling his weight. Nick was playing guitar in the den. Old stuff that no one these days knew. Good stuff, though, once you learned the slang.


    Without looking, I could tell when Brad started in with his guitar. They would be harmonizing soon enough. I said, ¡°Go ahead, Randal, I can finish up.¡±


    Randal left and I kept cleaning. I beat a bit of rhythm on the sink, but not much sounded the way my crate did. My crate wasn¡¯t much of an instrument, just an old small crate Dennis brought in for a chair after his chair broke. I traded with him when I found the crate had a few sweet spots for sound, and I¡¯d been sitting on it and slapping it for the last ten years.


    The bass and the violin began playing on the next song, so I knew Hugo and Miles were in the den with them. Randal started in on his bongos, and Monroe came in playing the piano. Jordan joined in with his accordion, and the wild night of playing started. There was no need for me to hurry. I liked to half-dance while I cleaned up, and it wasn¡¯t like they needed me to make music. I pretty much beat on my crate, and sometimes used a triangle or a shaker when it was called for. I wasn¡¯t really needed.


    The old man who we took care of and mooched off of joined me in the kitchen. He played a penny whistle and didn¡¯t join in on the wild music my uncles and brothers played. He did like to move with the music though.

 When the Bough Broke

    The owner saw me though the window and opened the door for me. She followed me to the table where the empty cooler from yesterday was sitting. ¡°Six large fish and four small ones?¡±


    I put the cooler up on the table, picked up the empty one, and nodded to her. ¡°Yes, ma''am, six big ones, four small ones. How many for tomorrow?¡±


    She lifted the lid on the cooler and looked in at the fish. She took two twenties out of her apron and handed me the money. ¡°Six more and a dozen small ones. How are your beans turning out?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I have been soaking them overnight. I have tried not salting them. I have tried slow cooking. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m doing wrong.¡±


    She opened the door for me. ¡°Clean them well, soak them overnight, bring them to a boil, then slow cook them. Takes about two and a half hours. Depends on how old the beans are. Was that fancy car out there when you came in?¡±


    I looked out the window. An expensive-looking black car was parked a good distance away. I hadn¡¯t noticed it earlier, but I stepped out of shadow in the woods so no one would seen me appear out of nowhere. ¡°I didn¡¯t notice it, ma¡¯am.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Could you stay here ¡®til the first customer comes in? I¡¯ll give you a bowl of gumbo.¡±


    I smiled up at her. ¡°Gladly then, but let me watch you fix it.¡±


    She already had it ready, so apart from seeing the final seasoning and touches, I didn¡¯t learn much. I¡¯d nearly finished eating when the first couple of customers came in. The owner was busy so I took my plate and bowl into the kitchen and washed them before leaving with my cooler. I used the front door, but I went to the side and saw that the black car was still there.


    The car door opened, and a large man stood up. He gestured for me to come over to him. I walked close enough to recognize him. It was the man who¡¯d made me nervous enough to give up a route a few months earlier. He still made me nervous, but I didn¡¯t want to give up this route. I walked up close enough to talk but not close enough for him to grab me.


    He smiled at me.


    I smiled back. ¡°I really shouldn¡¯t talk to strangers.¡±


    He said, ¡°My name is Roland, Roland Hebert.¡±


    I said, ¡°I saw you a few months back.¡±


    He smiled broadly. ¡°Then I¡¯m not really a stranger.¡±


    I gave him a weak grin. ¡°Not so sure. Is there a reason you want to talk to me?¡±


    ¡°I like fresh fish. Tell you what, in exchange for your name, I¡¯ll buy you meal here. You can eat one of the fish you just delivered, if you want. That¡¯s what I¡¯ll be ordering.¡±


    I looked up at the sky. It was still early so I had time before it got too dark to shadow step. I should¡¯ve paid attention to the weather forecast, and I should¡¯ve kept up with the moon¡¯s rise and fall times. It was half a moon and waning, I kept up enough to know that, but I was a fool and hadn¡¯t check on the timing.


    He pointed. ¡°If you just look through the trees there you can see the moon coming up.¡±


    I looked where he¡¯d pointed. ¡°Thanks.¡±


    I did a double take, realizing he¡¯d answered a question I hadn¡¯t asked and he smiled.


    ***


    The owner wasn¡¯t happy with seeing me eating with Mr. Hebert. She recognized him as a customer and greeted him, but I could tell she was bothered.


    Mr. Hebert whispered, ¡°I should probably pay and leave before you do. She might call the sheriff if you left with me.¡±


    He took out a business card, wrote an address in the top corner on the back, and drew a small map. His drawing and writing were delicate and precise. The pen he held was one of those big expensive-looking pens; it looked tiny in his huge hand. He flipped the card over and slid it over to my side of the table. The card had his name, an email address, and a phone number. ¡°In the old carriage house, I have a couple of freezers and some ice makers. If you left me a few nice fish, I would be happy to pay you. I¡¯m not usually around, so if you just left the fish, I¡¯ll leave you money under the flowerpot with the fake flower in it. It¡¯s kind of hard to miss.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How much money?¡±


    He looked at his empty plate. ¡°I just paid twenty-six dollars for this, and I think it was well worth it. With a tip that would be about thirty-two dollars. If you brought me the very finest fish, let¡¯s say two of them a day, unless I left a note requesting more since I entertain sometimes, I think paying you thirty dollars each for those fish would be a good deal for us both. I wouldn¡¯t have to go out. I could fix them how I want them, and I would have, at least by my experience in the restaurants you supply, the very best.¡±


    I ask, ¡°Channel cats like this?¡±


    He made an odd gesture with one hand like he was holding a wine cup. ¡°Always catfish, but if you managed a bighead carp every now and then, I would pay a bonus.¡±


    I squinted my eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t catch a lot of em. You really like them?¡±


    He nodded and gestured for the check.


    I got up. ¡°Thanks for the meal, Mr. Hebert, I should get back home before it gets dark.¡±


    I waved to the owner and went out the door. I¡¯d just eaten two suppers and I probably shouldn¡¯t have. The moon was bright and still rising. I had some time before I needed to get home, so I checked the map on the card Mr. Hebert gave me. The shadows were long, and I was as fast as anyone I knew when twilight shadows merged into moon shadows. I enjoyed the rush of moving fast and found his place in minutes, stopping shy of the wards. Some tall trees with long shadows which looked like they¡¯d reach and didn¡¯t look warded seemed safe, so I considered going right in but stopped. If I got in, and the sun went down, the shadows would be all moon shadow, and they¡¯d be from above, and I¡¯d be stuck for hours.


    I held my hand out at arm¡¯s length and put my pinky and pointing finger out so I could measure an hour¡¯s movement of the moon to guess how long I had. Ten minutes at most. I almost shadow stepped to the tallest tree then stopped again. If the tree was warded, I could be stuck at the top. I slid through shadow, testing the invisible walls made by warding. They were too tight to get through and seemed well placed. The wall around Mr. Hebert¡¯s place was tall, and no trees were near enough to climb. I slid into shadow and took myself up a tall tree outside the warded area.


    It was a trap. I was way up high in a tree with no low limbs. The ward let me in, but it wouldn¡¯t let me go back into shadow. A little scared, I started looking for the ward. With my legs wrapped around a limb, I lowered myself so I was hanging by my legs under the limb. Just out of reach, a steel spike was nailed into the tree. The head of the spike probably had something carved on it that created the ward. I couldn¡¯t read it or reach it. I pulled myself back up and sat on the limb, thinking about my situation.


    Two people walked out from a nice big house that was surrounded by nice smaller houses. A swimming pool was at the back of the big house, and a large driveway encircled all the houses. A hedge maze in the middle of the gardens was out behind the big house.


    One of the people was a woman. Probably pretty. Too far to tell, but her clothing and shape made me think she would be if I saw her up close. The other was a man, and he had a rifle casually resting on his shoulder. They were walking toward me and got closer to the tree.


    The man looked up. ¡°Mable, I think we caught ourselves a Goblin.¡±


    I had no other way to escape, as far as I could see. I let myself slip. Made it look like I was trying to catch myself. Shouted, turning the shout to a scream, then stopped as I slid into shadow before I hit ground. I moved through shadow until I got to a bridge I knew had deep water under it. I fell out of shadow and splashed down hard. It was the only way I knew to safely get rid of the momentum from a fall that high.


    ***


    Jordan glared at me. ¡°Monroe, gather the boys. The old man, too. This concerns him.¡±


    Monroe said, ¡°I¡¯ll stay with the old man. The rest of you can run.¡±


    Jordan glared at Monroe. ¡°Phil can mostly cook and take care of the old man. He caused this, if anyone should suffer the consequences of exposing us, it should be Phil. I always figured it would be Dennis that exposed us.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Where will you go?¡±


    Jordan turned his glare back to me. ¡°None of your business. Maybe we will meet again, but we can¡¯t just have you leading someone who wants to catch Goblins to the rest of the family. Honestly, Phil, I thought you had better sense.¡±


    ***


    The next couple of days, I watched as my family, all my kin, gathered up belongings and took them to shadow. I made my runs delivering fish and put all the money in the coffee can. One by one, they finished gathering everything they wanted to take and stopped coming back. Monroe took most of the spices, but he left me a copy of his recipe book.


    ***


    The old man and I sat together eating ¨¦touff¨¦e.


    He had his penny whistle with him. ¡°Phil, can you take me and your box up to Oak Hill, or do you have something you need to do?¡±


    ¡°Nothing special going on. I don¡¯t have a crate, Dennis used mine to carry his stuff. I¡¯ll need to find a new one.¡±


    He smiled. ¡°Later this afternoon would do then. Bring your penny whistle too.¡±


    I returned his smile.


    ***


    At the top of the hill in the shade of the oak, I sat on a cardboard box that made pretty good sounds but wasn¡¯t going to hold up long. The man stood and rocked back and fourth playing sad Irish tunes. I beat on my crate substitute and sang the songs he¡¯d taught me over the last fifteen years. He couldn¡¯t sing while playing the penny whistle, so I had to keep my voice clear while singing songs that made me want to sob in anguish.


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    He paused and looked up at the tree. ¡°I think I would like to be buried up here.¡±


    I looked at him and struggled again to keep from crying.


    He shook his penny whistle to clear the spit from it. ¡°You know I¡¯m not going to last much longer.¡±


    I nodded.


    ¡°You could bury me and probably live at my place for a few more years. It isn¡¯t like anyone ever comes out and checks on me. My bills are mostly paid automatically, and you could probably fake my signature.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we get you to a doctor?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°When you take me through shadow, the worst of it¡¯s better for a while. I can¡¯t afford a doctor. A doctor will bring in specialists I can¡¯t afford. They¡¯ll send me to a hospital I can¡¯t afford. Then they¡¯ll put me in the cheapest nursing home, and a nurse will decide to over-medicate me one night because of my complaining, and I won¡¯t wake up and drink any water. I¡¯ll dehydrate and die. I was a nurse. I know the story, and I know how it ends. You may not want to see the ending. I won¡¯t blame you if you decide to leave.¡±


    ***


    The last two weeks I¡¯d stayed busy keeping ice on the old man¡¯s body, digging, maintaining trout lines, and making deliveries.


    I ran into a problem trying to burying the old man beneath the tall oak on the hill. The dirt was hard, and there were large hard roots that would probably kill the tree if I broke them. The places in the soil without roots were the hardest spots on the hill. If I hadn¡¯t figured out to dig into an old stump that had turned to soft pulp, I would¡¯ve never manged to honor the old man¡¯s requests. I scraped the soil smooth over the old man¡¯s unmarked grave and once again debated with myself over the value of a Goblin¡¯s prayers. I played my penny whistle until tears and rough breathing took over, and I was too busy blowing my nose to play.


    ***


    I sat at the table. With only myself to cook for, all I had were the fish in the cement tanks to take care of. No point in making a fancy breakfast. Not much point in anything. I needed a project, or I was going to end up following my Goblin instincts and adopting an unloved child. Last thing I needed to do was start my own Goblin family. I was making good enough money, but the moment someone realized that no one was legitimately living here, I was going to have to move.


    Someone was going to notice that the old man wasn''t answering calls or letters. Someone was going figure out he wasn¡¯t filing a tax return.


    I thought about what I wanted to do. I wanted to sit on a box and beat on it while my family played music around me.


    That gave me a plan. Simple, maybe, but I needed a goal. The next good moon-lit night, after I¡¯d delivered fish, I was going to find another wooden crate like the one Dennis took. Dennis and Jordan had been the family scroungers for the longest. I¡¯d gone with them to haul things, but they¡¯d always been the ones who found discarded items we could use. It was time for me to learn to scrounge. If I found a new place to live and a place to keep fish, that would be a bonus.


    ***


    All my plans changed when I saw the fish. On the line between two nice big catfish was the biggest bighead carp I¡¯d ever seen.


    It was too big for our tanks and too big for our scale. I put it in a cement tank where the circulating water would run over it, but that wouldn¡¯t work for long. On a whim, I decided to see if I could deliver it to Mr. Hebert.


    I rushed through re-baiting and clearing my trout lines, rushed through my deliveries, then went to Mr. Hebert¡¯s estate. Sliding through shadow, I looked for holes in their wards. No luck there. The walls were tall, and no trees were close to the walls. Even if I got in by a tree, there were no trees on the other side that might let me get out. A pair of ladders would be best. I could probably manage that, but if they had dogs or the guy with the gun came out, I¡¯d be done for.


    I wanted a good look, but I didn¡¯t want to get stuck up in a tree again. Inching up and back down the tree I¡¯d gotten caught in, I found the point where it had become a trap. Too low to see over the fence, but now I knew the feel of it. I checked more trees and farther back into the woods, I found a safe one that gave me a bit of a view. The man with the gun was out in the front area looking up at the tree I¡¯d been stuck in earlier. He must have a way to detect the presence of a Goblin. I knew to avoid cameras, and I could feel their effect on light, so I hadn¡¯t studied the front gate earlier.


    I went and looked at the gate from across the road. It had an old security camera. Through the gateway I couldn¡¯t see much. The driveway was curved, and a wall blocked the view so a pedestrian like me couldn¡¯t see into the property. The gate started opening. I backed up then ran to the woods on the other side of the road. Once in the woods, I took to the shadows up in the trees.


    A black convertible drove out and stopped just outside the gateway. It was the pretty girl. I shadow stepped to the shade of a tree near the road, stepped out from behind the tree, and sat down on the embankment.


    She yelled, ¡°Don¡¯t sit there, that is solid poison ivy!¡±


    I shouted back, ¡°I¡¯m not allergic.¡±


    She asked, ¡°What is a little boy like you doing way out here?¡±


    I answered, ¡°I was going to try and make good on a deal and deliver some fish, but this place seems a bit tight on security.¡±


    She got out of the car. Definitely good looking. She brushed back her hair and smiled at me. ¡°I don¡¯t remember ordering any fish.¡±


    I smiled back. ¡°Not you, a man named Roland Hebert.¡±


    She laughed and pointed down the road. ¡°Roland¡¯s place is a quarter mile farther.¡±


    I said, ¡°Thanks,¡± and ran back into the woods.


    The next estate was a nice, single-building affair. No carriage house. The estate after that had a wall but no gate and no wards and lots of trees and a carriage house. This one matched Mr. Hebert¡¯s description and had a pot with an artificial flower.


    I had to travel the shadowed path three times to bring a cooler big enough, the two catfish and the bighead carp. With that done, I was a mess, but I still wanted to see around the yard. I got angry and left. He had two jockey statues out in front of his house like a lot of rich places did. I felt like taking the fish back, but I just wanted out of there and went home and cleaned up.


    ***


    Finding a nice crate was going to be another thing entirely. I didn¡¯t want to steal, but I was willing to trespass to find what I needed. After a few hours, my search had narrowed down a bit. These days, crates were cardboard unless someone was shipping cast iron fittings or something heavy and similar to a cast iron fitting. Figuring out the right size item was another issue. I went home and spent a while beating on the cardboard box.


    In the barn with the old man¡¯s car and his riding lawn mower, he¡¯d had a small woodworking area with a table saw and some sheets of plywood. I knew how to drive a nail and clench it, so I figured I could probably build a crate. I never really examined my old crate to see how it was made. It had been labeled with a picture of a potbelly stove on a sheet glued to the side and wooden supports on the sides, but I didn¡¯t have much more to go on. It wasn¡¯t as heavy as a lot of crates were, but it held up for ten years of my abuse.


    I smashed a finger trying to hold parts together in a corner and nail the crate I was making. The resulting box I¡¯d made sounded bad and wouldn¡¯t last a month of me sitting on it and thumping. I needed to find a good crate or learn how to make one without banging up all my fingers.


    As I slipped through shadows, I could tell winter was not far off. Searching for a crate was taking me to the edges of towns. At a machinist¡¯s shop with a field of rusty cast iron pieces spread around outside the shop with grass growing up through them, I found a covered work area where crates were assembled. Several crates were in the middle of being made, so it was possible I could watch from shadow and learn.


    I had enough fish in the cement tanks to keep orders filled for a couple of weeks, so I wound my trout lines up on boards and took them to the shed. They needed some repairs anyway. This way I could be free to find a crate or maybe learn to make a good one.


    ***


    In the shadow under a corrugated steel roof where the zinc coating was just on the edge of being defeated by weather and starting to show dots of rust, I watched as an elderly Black man put together crates. He detected something, somehow. He glanced up and rubbed his eyes a few times as he looked into the dark recesses where the roof connected to the supports. He took a break to smoke a cigarette and watched the shadow I hid in the entire time. I watched him work and learned a bit more about crates. He had a handmade clamping jig that would be ideal, but I only needed to make one box, and it looked like more work and expense to make the jig than it would be to make a crate. He had a grinder he used to trim off nails that he didn¡¯t want to hammer the ends over on. He had a compressor and switched out between several heavy staple guns and a nail gun. Making a box looked like more work and equipment than I wanted to own or learn to use.


    I learned the man¡¯s name was Mr. Miller when another man came out with a cart filled with fittings to request a crate.


    At lunchtime, Mr. Miller sat with his thermos and coffee. Another Black man who had been setting out more iron fittings to rust in the yard came in to join him.


    Mr. Miller pointed to the shadow where I had hidden. ¡°There¡¯s something up there.¡±


    The other man asked, ¡°Should we leave some food for it?¡±


    ¡°No, not one of the folk, at least not likely. They avoid iron, so this wouldn¡¯t be the place for them. It¡¯s up close by the roof, anyway, and rusted iron¡¯s the last place they¡¯d want to be.¡±


    ¡°Lost soul maybe?¡±


    ¡°Nah, it ain''t trying to rattle nothing. This one¡¯s kind of a puzzle. It doesn¡¯t mind smoke, and it doesn¡¯t mind sparks. Not scared of steel, and doesn¡¯t feel particularly angry.¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll leave the corner of my sandwich here, just for luck then. No point in offending something we don¡¯t savvy.¡±


    Mr. Miller nodded. ¡°Respect goes a long way toward getting along.¡±


    While he was gone for a bathroom break, I took a break for lunch myself. Just a cheese and mayo sandwich since I wanted to get back quick. I took one of my cheap Styrofoam coolers and put some ice and a couple of catfish from a tank in it. The cooler had the start of a crack, so I would¡¯ve had to throw it away anyway. I returned to my shadow, and at the first chance, I put the cooler under the bench where the men had left the corners of their sandwiches. I thought I¡¯d figured out as much as I was going to figure out when he noticed the cooler.


    He opened it and smiled up at me. ¡°Seems like we¡¯re being friendly, but I¡¯m not sure what I owe you. Pardon, but I¡¯m a bit nervous about the sort of deal this might imply.¡±


    I shifted through shadows to see if anyone else was around and stepped out of shadow into the sun outside the shed. ¡°Pardon my spying on you, Mr. Miller. If you want, you can call me Phil. I had a crate I never knew was important to me before I lost it. Now I¡¯m just trying to learn a bit about crates.¡±


    He gave me a long look. ¡°You live in a crate?¡±


    I nearly laughed. ¡°Nah, I just like to sit on one and beat it like a drum.¡±


    He asked, ¡°So you want a cajon?¡±


    I was a bit confused and concerned. Maybe he was asking if I wanted to grow up.


    He chuckled and explained, ¡°A cajon is a crate-shaped musical instrument that you sit on while you drum on it. What sort of music you like?¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s lively and a beat goes with it, I mostly like it. If it makes you want to move, I love it.¡±


    He sat down and lit a cigarette. ¡°I¡¯d be glad to invite you in, but I¡¯m not so sure if that¡¯s safe. Forgive my rudeness.¡±


    I stepped in and sat on a counter. ¡°I guess I should run off. Just call the fish a gift with no strings attached. I got fish to spare. I spied on you and figured out that finding a box might be easier than making one. Thank you, Mr. Miller, and sorry about spying on you.¡±


    He got up, opened the lid on the cooler, and looked at the catfish again. ¡°I always wanted to make a cajon. I figured I might make a bit of money that way after I retire. Come back in a week, and I¡¯ll have a box you can try out.¡±


    I scooted off the counter. ¡°Then I¡¯ll be in your debt.¡±


    He gave me a long look. ¡°Still don¡¯t know what you are, so the thought of debt and owing things makes me nervous.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m a lost boy, like Peter Pan, but instead of flying, I move in shadows. Apart from that I don¡¯t do anything magical. I¡¯m probably about your age, but I only have a second grade education, and I don¡¯t know much more than how to cook and catch fish. I don¡¯t know all that much about cooking either. There are a lot of things in my life that haven¡¯t worked out, but apart from my personal sorrows, I don¡¯t know anything about curses, so you don¡¯t have to worry. If you make me a crate to slap on, I¡¯ll be in your debt, so I hope you like fish.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°I do like fish.¡±


    ***


    Mr Hebert was in the kitchen when I came in to deliver fish to the old lady.


    ¡°Long time no see, Phil.¡±


    I nodded to him and set the cooler of fish down where I usually did and picked up the empty cooler. ¡°Gotta run.¡±


    He smiled and said, ¡°That carp was amazing. You never came by for payment.¡±


    The old lady asked, ¡°He brought you a carp?¡±


    Mr Hebert held his hands wide. ¡°A huge one, seventy-one pounds of perfection.¡±


    I waved and stepped out.


    Mr. Hebert followed and said loudly, ¡°If you¡¯re in a hurry, I¡¯ll give you a ride.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d rather not.¡±


    ¡°Well, then, I¡¯ll walk with you.¡±


    We walked. We got down the road a ways and he asked me, ¡°Why disgust? I get a lot of reactions, but I can¡¯t figure that one out.¡±


    I thought I¡¯d kept a good poker face. but he managed to read me anyway. I made sure I was ready to move before I said, ¡°Your lawn jockeys.¡±


    He stopped walking. ¡°My lawn jockeys? They came with the house. They¡¯re kind of traditional around these parts. More large houses have them than don¡¯t.¡±


    I nodded and stopped a distance from him. ¡°And most of those houses have racists living in them.¡±


    ¡°Are you calling me a racist?¡±


    I looked up at his face. ¡°I used to think they were traditional, but then I saw an Obama lawn jockey. The men who made it and sold it and bought it knew exactly what that meant. You might not be a racist, but you have symbols that say you don¡¯t have an issue with racism going on.¡±


    He said, ¡°I¡¯ll take a sledge hammer to them tonight. Unless you want to sink them in a river. With the ring, they might make a good anchor.¡±


    I said, ¡°You could have them painted white.¡±


    He smiled at me. ¡°I might just do that.¡± His smile broadened. ¡°So, can I talk you into bringing more fish?¡±


    I started walking again. He caught up quickly, so I stopped again. ¡°You don¡¯t have to come the whole way with me. I¡¯ll bring a few more fish.¡±


    I walked and glanced back occasionally. He stayed by the side of the road, watching me. After a turn in the road, I took off into shadow.

 A New Crate

    Mr Miller noticed me when I slid into the shadows up near the tin roof.


    He pointed to a black plastic trash bag wrapped around a box and gestured with an abrupt sweep of his hand, like he wanted me to take the box and go. I looked around and saw a pair of men inspecting the odd iron fittings rusting out in the sun. A person who appeared to be a little kid like me didn¡¯t belong in a work area like that, so I snagged the box and took off into shadows. The box was lighter than I thought it would be. I ran off to a shady spot that stayed cool most of the day and untied the bag. Inside was a simple unpainted, sanded box with four white plastic feet screwed to the bottom. I didn¡¯t want to get it dirty, so I took it to the den in the old man¡¯s house and sat on it. One side had a panel held on by screws. That side had the sweetest sound. I played it for a while, then got a cooler, and put another pair of fish in it with some ice. I slid back through shadow to Mr. Miller¡¯s shop and put the cooler down where he¡¯d put the box. I hid in the shadows above him and watched him work as he measured and made notes on cast iron fittings in several carts.


    Mr. Miller whispered, ¡°I¡¯m working late. Just me and Mr. Villers. Don¡¯t worry about payment. It¡¯s a gift.¡±


    I spent the afternoon playing the box. I couldn¡¯t do deliveries until an hour or so after school was out, or folk would ask questions, so I had time to play. Since the family wasn¡¯t around, I figured I could be fast, and no one would think to report me to a truant officer. I cheated and took a pair of fish to Mr. Hebert¡¯s place.


    The jockeys were gone, and in their place were a pair of cement horse heads with hitching rings in their mouths. I heard voices and turned. Mr Hebert and another man were walking out in the ornamental gardens. The moment I looked at them, they both turned and looked at me. I didn¡¯t have time to hide in shadow.


    The man with Mr. Hebert said, ¡°You have a visitor, Roland.¡±


    Mr. Hebert looked from me to the man and back to me. They walked over to me, and Mr. Hebert introduced the man, ¡°Phil, good to see you. This is an old old friend of mine. Anthony, this is Phil, Phil, this is Anthony.


    We shook hands. ¡°My pleasure. What should I call you? I¡¯m too young to use your first name.¡±


    He smiled. ¡°How about Uncle Anthony?¡±


    I smiled back. ¡°Pleasure meeting you, Uncle Anthony.¡±


    Uncle Anthony crouched down and winked at me. ¡°I¡¯m not really sure about these backwater corners of Louisiana, but insisting you can¡¯t use a first name as a child would be a dead giveaway in just about any town I can name. It dates you. It means you¡¯re not over six hundred and not under thirty.¡±


    I almost ran into shadow when I figured out he knew I wasn¡¯t a young boy, in spite of appearances.


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Anthony, I just managed to get Phil comfortable with me, and now you might have run him off.¡±


    Uncle Anthony looked up at Mr. Hebert. ¡°How do you know Phil?¡±


    Mr. Hebert took the cooler from me and looked into it. ¡°He¡¯s the best source for fresh fish I know of.¡±


    Uncle Anthony got up and looked into the cooler. ¡°Just two?¡±


    Mr. Hebert stepped back with the cooler. ¡°It¡¯s usually just me here. A maid comes twice a week, but she brings her own lunch. I pay the Roark¡¯s gardeners to come over to help, so I don¡¯t really have anyone else to feed. I haven¡¯t managed to become a regular delivery, and I don¡¯t know how to let him know I need more if and when a guest like you comes over. I suppose I¡¯ll have to share these with you now that you¡¯re here, unless I can talk Phil into delivering more fish.¡±


    Uncle Anthony asked, ¡°You do your own cooking?¡±


    Mr Hebert gave me a look like he was lost in a world filled with worries. ¡°Archer shows up and drives away any permanent staff. I¡¯m dependent on the kindness of temporary help.¡±


    Uncle Anthony crouched down again and examined my face. He smiled up at Mr. Hebert then back at me. ¡°Really, how the mighty fall. It¡¯s an eternal downhill slide. I¡¯m reduced to carving garden gnomes, and poor Roland doesn¡¯t have a servant to his name. Roland, you could come and stay with me for a while. Archer probably wouldn¡¯t bother my servants.¡±


    Mr. Hebert looked down at me. ¡°Is it possible for me to order a dozen fish for tonight and a dozen for tomorrow?¡±


    I thought about it. I¡¯d need to mend and put out the trout lines sooner than I¡¯d thought, but at the price he was paying, if he was paying, that would be a nice bundle of money. I glanced at the flower pot with the artificial flower.


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°You¡¯ll be paid. Phil. I always pay my debts.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°Unless you can¡¯t. Then you pay for your debts.¡±


    I looked back at Mr. Hebert, and I couldn¡¯t quite read the expression on his face.


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°Phil, we have you at a disadvantage. We¡¯ve both been around long enough to know a Goblin when we see one. You probably haven¡¯t had a lot of experience with our kind.¡±


    I backed up and made sure I had a foot in a shadow. ¡°My family ran off when they figured out that a Daemon was following me. I was left behind to take care of a few responsibilities. Humans whisper scary tales about Goblins stealing children. Goblins whisper tales about Daemons twisting you into something you don¡¯t want to face in a mirror.¡±


    Anthony said, ¡°We¡¯re not actually Daemons. Daemons are, not to devalue them, a dime a dozen and common as dirt compared to us. Daemons are either descended from the gods or are the gods themselves. Like Goblins, we have a strained relationship with Daemons.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What are you?¡±


    Mr. Hebert answered, ¡°We¡¯re the fallen who continue to to fall endlessly. We¡¯re the remnants of an age before the gods made merry. Anthony and I are Titans. It¡¯s the fault of our kind that Daemons exist.¡±


    I wanted to check on the money, but I didn¡¯t want to seem greedy. I glanced at the flower pot with the artificial flower.


    Anthony said, ¡°Go count your money. Then bring us more fish.¡±


    I took the envelope from under the large pot and slid home through shadow. It was thick; he¡¯d probably paid me too much.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    High up in a tree with huge limbs I could lie on, I counted the money. It was too much. I figured sixty for the two catfish and that seemed high to me. There were fifteen hundred dollar bills and two twenties. More than I made in a week, and I was doing well for cash. I didn¡¯t realize it, but without the rest of my Goblin family, I was making decent money and not needing to spend much. I didn¡¯t know how long I could stay in the old man¡¯s house, and without the cement tanks, it was going to be hard to keep the business running. Still, the over-payment was probably a test, and I should give it back. I packed a dozen catfish and returned to Mr. Hebert¡¯s estate.


    Uncle Anthony and Mr. Hebert were sitting and drinking in the carriage house by the ice maker.


    I put the cooler down and put the bundle of money back on the table. ¡°Pardon, I think you might have put the wrong bundle of money in that envelope, or I grabbed an envelope meant for someone else.


    Mr. Hebert sighed. ¡°We agreed on thirty a fish, and the carp was seventy-one pounds. I weighed it. I went and checked it on a grocery store scale, and what they call fresh caught they sell for close to twenty a pound. The catfish were a lot larger than what I expected. I guess I shouldn¡¯t have considered that what they sold and what you sell were the same. Would forty a pound be right?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I sell a fish like these for around five dollars and the smaller ones two for five. This is a lot more money than I expected.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°Let Mr. Hebert pay you what your fish are worth, not what folks can rip off a child for. He was just asking if I thought he could talk you into catching some really large catfish. You know, the hundred pound monsters that¡¯ll grow out there.¡±


    I said, ¡°I let them go.¡±


    They both stared at me. I looked away. ¡°My cement tanks won¡¯t keep them healthy, and no one will believe I carried them to their shop. With my family gone, there¡¯s no point in catching them.¡±


    Mr Hebert asked, ¡°You have cement tanks?¡±


    ¡°For now I do. Hard to time things and bring fresh fish to folk if you can¡¯t keep them alive after catching them. My tanks are shallow, so I can¡¯t manage a large catfish anyway.¡±


    Mr. Hebert smiled. ¡°If I paid a thousand each for large catfish, and I had a few large cement tanks set up, how often could I get one?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll have to think on that,¡± I said, and then disappeared into shadow.


    ***


    Mr. Miller and Mr. Villers were using staple guns and putting the sides on a box they were building around a large iron fitting with clean shiny steel facings.


    Mr. Miller nodded towards the shadows I was in. ¡°I think he¡¯s here.¡±


    Mr. Villers looked around like he was scared.


    At a distance from where they were working, I stepped out of shadow and walked up to them. ¡°Mr. Miller, the cajon is wonderful. How many fish do I owe for it?¡±


    Mr. Villers looked at me and back to Mr. Miller. ¡°You set me up to scare me, Vern.¡±


    Mr. Miller said to me, ¡°I have to thank you. I showed off the box to a few neighbors, and now I have folk willing to pay for me to make more. I don¡¯t need payment, and I would rather not do dealing with the other side ¡®til I¡¯m on it.¡±


    Mr. Villers said, ¡°Come on now. Quit with the game. You set me up and scared me.¡±


    I looked down at the cooler Mr. Miller had scooted out toward me. ¡°So I shouldn¡¯t come around anymore?¡±


    Mr. Miller said, ¡°If you would be so kind.¡±


    I bowed to him. ¡°God bless you both, and thank you, Mr. Miller.¡±


    I picked up the cooler and returned to the shadows.


    Mr. Villers shouted, ¡°Whoa! That was real!¡±


    I slipped from shadow to shadow to leave the enclosed field of rusting iron fixtures.


    ***


    I felt bad about not paying Mr. Miller. I sat on and beat on my wooden drum, sang Irish ballads, and thought about all the wrongs in the world. I wasn¡¯t a spirit, but I could see him confusing me with one. I didn¡¯t rightly know what I was really; I just knew I was called a Goblin. I could move in shadows and disappear into them. I guess that made me a spook. A lot of poisons and diseases left Goblins alone. We regrew our teeth. From what I¡¯d been told, we could regrow fingers and toes. My pointed ears were growing back, and I didn¡¯t have anyone to trim them. Not that I wanted to go through that any time soon.


    I got a strong urge to take care of children when I saw them being abused or ignored. I wasn¡¯t like some Goblins, though. I didn¡¯t hide under kids¡¯ beds, wishing I could adopt a child. I wasn¡¯t growing old fast, but I was growing lonely.


    I really liked Mr. Miller. I didn¡¯t want to upset him. I owed him but didn¡¯t know what I could do for him without him detecting me and getting bothered. Some children noticed me hiding in the shadows, but only a few adults did.


    I couldn¡¯t play the penny whistle and beat on my crate at the same time. I saw an old picture of someone playing a penny whistle and beating a drum, but you needed a second hand to play all the notes, at least you did when playing a penny whistle. I missed people. I missed music with other people.


    I checked on my step-father, but I wasn¡¯t about to show myself again. The stories the other Goblins told all ended badly when a child tried to go back and connect with a lost parent or brother. The family ended up hating themselves and turned that feeling into hating you. Because you¡¯d stayed young-looking, and humans thought being young was wonderful, they got jealous. If you did make a good connection, then you got to watch them die.


    In the end, Goblins had to live with Goblins, so all the stories said.


    ***


    On Mr. Hebert¡¯s property, a crew was building forms for pouring cement. From the looks of it, he was serious about making fish tanks, and the tanks were going to be big enough to raise lots of fish in.


    There was a note with the money. Mr Hebert wanted to talk.


    I kept a foot in shadow as I rang the doorbell.


    Mr. Hebert looked at my foot in shadow and smiled. ¡°I¡¯d ask you to trust me a bit more, but that caution of yours is part of what I wanted to talk to you about.¡± He gestured to a table out on the edge of the gardens. ¡°Would you feel safe talking over there?¡±


    I went through the shadows and sat on a statue¡¯s raised base so I was near the table but out of reach.


    Mr. Hebert walked to the table and sat down. ¡°Do you know much about Fairylands?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°A few stories. I was told that a man we saw once was a Fairy, but he looked like a human to me.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°This property has a few passages to Fairy. Our kind follows the stories and buys properties that have such things. Often, there¡¯s a doorway to Fairy near springs, and I have a large and ancient spring here on the property.¡±


    I nodded.


    Mr Hebert continued, ¡°One of the passages to Fairy opens, or can be opened, around the twenty-first of March. It took me twelve years to find that out. It took me two years to get ready and get brave enough to open it. Nothing came out. Not even a sound. I tossed a few gifts in. Nothing came out.


    ¡°The next year I was better prepared. I put some gifts in with a string attached. I pulled the gifts back, but so as to not offend anyone there, I tossed them back in. Then I sent a few goats in and pulled them back by their ropes. I untied them and herded them through again. They didn¡¯t come back. They were trained to return, but they didn¡¯t.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Is it that scary?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°At least that scary. So, here was what I was thinking. Your typical Fairyland is worth more money than anyone in this county could pay. A good Fairyland is worth quite a bit more than that.


    ¡°I have done the basic tests. The Fairyland is survivable, it may be uninhabited, but it could also be quite dangerous. The tradition of old was to send a slave through next and to grant his freedom and fortune if he returned. That is, unless you had an expert who was willing to brave it for the reward. The best experts have always been Goblins.


    ¡°I was hoping to contact a clan of Goblins. Usually there are a few bold, wild ones that can be talked into this sort of thing for glory and treasure. I¡¯m kind of upset with myself for even mentioning this to you, though. I¡¯ve taken a liking to you, and I don¡¯t want the pangs of guilt if anything goes bad. Your safety is more valuable to me than I can really say.


    ¡°But, sadly, there is a cunning, greedy, and selfish part of me, or I wouldn¡¯t be telling you about this. I don''t want you to do this, but if you know someone else willing to take a risk for a large profit, let me know. You shouldn''t even consider it though. You can make good money keeping me supplied with fish, and Fairylands can be, and usually are, extremely dangerous for the living.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Is that what you wanted to talk about?¡±


    He smiled. ¡°No, really, it¡¯s more that I wanted to confess. The lady at the restaurant mentioned that you cooked and were trying to learn more. She said you knew your way around some of the classic recipes. I¡¯m alone here most of the time, and I pride myself on my cooking, but I don¡¯t have the recipes you might, and the kitchen here is rather large. What I want to do is invite you to come in and cook with me. Teach me, learn from me, and dine with me.


    ¡°You and I can¡¯t just share our stories and backgrounds with everyone we meet. There are obvious advantages to being as long lived as you and I. One of the disadvantages is the loneliness of the long years when mortal friends all pass away.¡±

 Fading to Fairy

    Uncle Anthony drove up in an expensive convertible. I looked out the window to make sure no one was with him before I shadow stepped down to greet him.


    He stopped when he saw me and got out. I went and looked at the convertible.


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°Phil, it¡¯s worse than you think, Consider that cars have only been around for a brief time. By the time you look old enough to drive one, they may not exist. A lot of change can happen in three hundred years.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Need help with your luggage?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°If word got out a ten-year-old was helping one of the mighty Titans of old carry his luggage, I¡¯d become a laughing stock.¡±


    I opened doors for him as he carried his luggage from the carriage house to his usual room. ¡°Uncle Anthony, be honest. Do I look like a ten-year-old?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Not really, but you can pass for one. You almost act like you¡¯re twelve, so I think you could pull it off.¡±


    I said, ¡°Thanks for the kind words.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°No, seriously, I¡¯m not insulting your maturity. Inside this house, you¡¯re an adult, but you keep a facade of being a child when you¡¯re outside or around others.¡±


    I gestured for him to follow. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the tanks. You can pick the fish you want to eat.¡±


    While we were looking at the fish, the feral cat I was calling Stripe came and watched from a distance. I shadow stepped to the refrigerator in the carriage house where I kept my bait and got a couple of hunks of fish to throw to the cat.


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°You¡¯re never going to tame it.¡±


    As I tossed the fish to the cat, I said, ¡°It won¡¯t come close, but it eats mice, and every now and then it wants some fish. I¡¯m not trying to tame it. We have legends of Goblins who have taken in pets and become part-pet and part-Goblin. I¡¯m told that it¡¯s horrible and it really happens.¡±


    ***


    While sitting around the kitchen island eating blackened catfish, Uncle Anthony brought up Fairylands.


    ¡°So, Roland, you remember Galen?¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Galen of Pergamon?¡±


    Uncle Anthony shook his head. ¡°No, Galen the Dutchman.¡±


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°How is he?¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°Couldn¡¯t be better. So, here¡¯s the thing. He¡¯d heard about the McNally Fairyland and managed to loot it like no one else has ever managed.¡±


    Mr. Hebert laughed. ¡°No way. The folk in the Fairyland are too tight to let a nickel slip, and the living laird outside the Fairyland is tighter than them. If Galen managed to squeak away with more than a week¡¯s wages, they would send a death coach for him.¡±


    Uncle Anthony smiled and ate a bit just to tease us and to build suspense. ¡°So, he went near enough to the entrance, but not so close as to alert any of the guards or seem like he knew a Fairyland was near. Then he took out bagpipes and started practicing.¡±


    Mr. Hebert looked at me. ¡°Galen owes me forty ounces of gold, so this may be good news. Wait, Galen is tone-deaf.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°Was tone-deaf. The Fairies, unwilling to put up with the noise and not wanting trouble, snuck up and gifted him. Then after he was able to play, they snuck him into the Fairyland to play for them. But that was just the start. He had a flute, a lute, and a lyre with him and managed to switch between them and learn to play them all. He said he could have faked not understanding them and gotten a few languages, but he feared he would be over-gifted. So, how much would it cost you normally to instantly learn to play by ear, remember tunes, and have expertise in four instruments?¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°It would only be a good idea if you knew the Fairyland had real mass and was not going to try and poison and keep a person. That would be deadly to try, and if they caught on that the person was playing a trick, even the nicest Fairylands can turn dangerous.¡±


    Uncle Anthony asked, ¡°Have you found someone yet to test your untried Fairyland?¡±


    Mr. Hebert shook his head. ¡°Three years ago, I was thinking about having Phil to do it. Now I wouldn¡¯t risk it for all the value we could get from a fully cooperative Fairyland able to convert mass. Phil and I get along too well. Eventually, we¡¯ll find someone foolhardy enough, but until then, I wouldn¡¯t try it, and Phil is smart enough to stay away. I have to visit England this March, so this year won¡¯t be good for it even if we found someone.¡±


    Uncle Anthony asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t you even tempted a bit, Phil?¡±


    I shook my head emphatically.


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°I¡¯m going to get him a passport, and I plan to take him with me to England this March anyway.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°Bad idea. He looks ten and won¡¯t change. They get a record of him, and in three years, they might be wondering why he isn¡¯t in school. When you can¡¯t show them a thirteen-year-old child, you could get into all sorts of trouble.¡±


    Mr. Hebert gave Uncle Anthony a smug look. ¡°Lots and lots of small countries will let you buy citizenship. If we say eight years old to start and give them an iffy photo for the ID, we can use it for at least three years. Then we go to another country. Someone asks, we tell them Phil, or whatever name we choose, went back to his home country. No worry, no suspicions, and no issue with school or records since he¡¯s from another country.¡±


    Uncle Anthony nodded. ¡°That¡¯s as clever as something Galen might come up with.¡±


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    ***


    I watched as Mr. Hebert drove off. My passport never arrived. When it was time for Mr. Hebert to go to England, there was no way for me to come. Maybe I could have hidden in shadow, but the truth was that I wanted to be able to take care of all the fish we were raising. They¡¯d probably be okay, but I really didn¡¯t trust anyone else to take care of them.


    ***


    I was sitting on the edge of the deep tank playing my penny whistle when I felt something sting my neck. I slapped it with my hand. It felt like a wasp or a bee. I crushed it and felt another sting. Looking at my hand, I saw a small dart sticking out. I collapsed to the wet cement floor by the tank and felt myself being picked up. I tried to remember the conversation about Galen that we¡¯d had five months earlier. I recalled Mr. Hebert and Uncle Anthony had said Galen was lucky that the Fairyland he visited was one of the nice ones.


    ***


    ¡°You stole a people.¡±


    ¡°Did not. He fell down and we carried him to safety.¡±


    ¡°And you poisoned him. He gonna die of gossamer and you did it. You know how much you scream when the gossamer shakes start? Everyone will know you killed a mortal.¡±


    ¡°Did not, did not. He was in the way of the dart.¡±


    ¡°Tell that to the queen.¡±


    I looked around and didn¡¯t see anyone. I felt ill, so I slid into shadow and sought a view of the place. I ended up high in a tree on a hill in a maze. The tree was dead, and the hedges were leafless remains.


    I could still hear voices. Some of the dead branches in the maze below shifted like someone was passing through the bushes, but I didn¡¯t see anyone.


    ¡°He gone.¡±


    ¡°He can¡¯t be gone, the gateway closed. He can¡¯t leave ¡®til it opens again.¡±


    ¡°He ded way before then. We got no food he can eat. He ded, ded, ded, ded, ded, ded.¡±


    ¡°He fertilizer then. Everyone, fan out. We find him.¡±


    ¡°He in tree. Only tree we got and he in it.¡±


    ¡°Put down that blowgun!¡±


    ¡°He in tree, I¡¯m gonna dart him.¡±


    A female voice from below asked, ¡°Do you play chess?¡±


    I said, ¡°I know the rules.¡±


    I felt another sting in my neck. I knocked the dart loose and started to fall. I stepped into timeless shadow and listened. Shadow stepping seemed to take care of the poison.


    The female voice said, ¡°Great, a mortal is brought in, and I finally have a chance to play chess. Then my own subject kills him.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Did too.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Ow!¡±


    I saw the blur of darts.


    The female voice said, ¡°If a dart hits me, someone is losing their head. Stop fighting and figure out where the mortal went.¡±


    A few more darts flew, and the lights went out. Since there were no shadows in total darkness, I fell to the stone below me.


    ¡°Okay, we didn¡¯t mean anything. You can turn the sun back on.¡±


    The female voice said, ¡°Why? You¡¯ll just start fighting. Do you think the mortal will be missed?¡±


    ¡°No, he was playing a flute by a fish tank.¡±


    ¡°Flageolet.¡±


    ¡°Still a flute.¡±


    ¡°Not.¡±


    A new voice said, ¡°I still smell a mortal¡¯s breath. He is feeding our world.¡±


    ¡°If you hadn¡¯t ate the goats, they would¡¯ve been feeding the world.¡±


    ¡°The goats had no grass.¡±


    The female voice asked, ¡°So you interrupted a musician playing and then abducted a mortal?¡±


    ¡°In our defense, my queen, we was bored, he wasn¡¯t stopping, and the gateway was going to close soon.¡±


    The female voice that was apparently their queen said, ¡°So you darted a playing musician, abducted him, and brought him here.¡±


    ¡°No. We just...Well, when you put it that way, it makes it all sound bad. But it wasn¡¯t like that. You had to have been there. We were jumping up and down in front of him, and he just ignored us.¡±


    ¡°Rude that. Like he was too good to look at us. I mean, we were dancing.¡±


    ¡°You were dancing, really?¡±


    ¡°You were too.¡±


    ¡°I was jumping up and down. Jigging to one of those Irish odes to depression would just be silly. No wonder he wouldn¡¯t deign to look at us. He thought I was dancing ¡®cause I was surrounded by idiots doing interpretive jigs to a lament.¡±


    The queen asked, ¡°Did you stop to consider that he might not be able to see us?¡±


    ¡°Yah, no. I mean, he was toodling Irish music. What sort of sot would toodle Irish tunes if he didn¡¯t see Fairies?¡±


    The lights turned on.


    The queen said, ¡°Do we have anything to feed him? We want to claim him before he dies. We should probably go ahead and off him so he doesn¡¯t go through the gossamer shakes. If he dies before being committed as a Fairy here, someone is going to suffer. Maybe several someones.¡±


    The voices started arguing at the same time that it was the other¡¯s fault.


    I looked and still didn¡¯t see anyone. Years ago, I saw the man that the other Goblins said was a Fairy. To tell the truth, though, I never saw any other Fairies. Even when they said Fairies were making the flowers bob up and down in the wind or playing up in the trees, all I saw was the effect of the wind or a few dragonflies.


    I didn¡¯t know for sure how long I¡¯d last, but passing long hours in shadow was possible. Hunger and thirst could be put off when hiding in a solid, stable shadow. I just needed a good boundary. Not a crisp one, just dark and light side by side, but a subtle one that wasn¡¯t likely to go away.


    I hunted through the Fairyland and learned it. Past the maze was greenery and castles, but the shadows were not real. They didn¡¯t feel right, and the disorienting quality of them was like waking from a fever dream. Except going through shadow was how you got rid of fever, and this fever you got by going through strange shadows.


    A manor house on the edge of the dead maze was closer to ruin than not. I avoided a stable that had strange shadows. The three intact manor houses had odd shadows as well, so I learned the maze, the tunnels below the maze, and the older manor house. Then I settled into shadow and listened to the voices in order to pass time.


    ¡°The mortal¡¯s smell left, but I still think he is near.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you think he is near? When did you ever think, and why would what you think matter?¡±


    ¡°I was a sensitive when I was alive. I know these things.¡±


    ¡°As if. Our queen is barely a Fairy queen, and as far as I can tell I am the only Fairy here with any sense.¡±


    The queen said, ¡°If you had any sense, you would not be saying such things about your queen.¡±


    ¡°It might be different if our Fairyland had a name. All the famous Fairylands have names.¡±


    The queen said, ¡°Then we might be found and have another invasion. We lost our water during the last invasion. We don¡¯t have much more to lose.¡±


    ¡°We got darts. We got lots and lots of darts. Way more than we had in any of the invasions. I say we invade right back. We might get someone who can repair things.¡±


    ¡°I say we make contact next time the gateway opens. Then we trade for stuff.¡±


    ¡°We got nothing to trade. We didn¡¯t even get that guy¡¯s tin flute.¡±


    ¡°It was steel and it was a flageolet. If you are so brave, then you pick it up next time.¡±


    ¡°It was dropped into wet by a pool of wet. It¡¯ll be rust by the time the gateway opens. For them, four seasons will pass before the gateway opens again.¡±


    ¡°Guys,¡± the queen said, ¡°Find the mortal. I¡¯m dropping the illusions. I know, it¡¯s just depressing without them, but we need to find him.¡±


    The lighting shifted. I moved to find a new hideout and ended up exploring. Without illusion, the maze only had the one ruined manor house. Two of the others were bare foundations. The third had been burned down, and only bits of wall and chimney remained. Out past the maze was a large expanse of burned stumps and the dry bottoms of ponds. Half-stuck in the dry, dead, cracked earth were several boats. The boats looked to be in better shape than anything else in this barren, dry place.


    A voice whispered, ¡°I hadn¡¯t seen it with the illusions all down. Now I am getting angry.¡±


    A louder voice said, ¡°This is getting me really, really angry.¡±


    There was a shaking sort of glimmer. I looked toward the voices, and from a spot of quivering yellow orange light, another voice said, ¡°We can linger here arguing as it all falls to ruin, or we can show the villains of the Rummage Fairyland that they can¡¯t just steal a neighbor to ruin.¡±


    More lights started hovering and moving to a stone archway on a stonework platform in the middle of several empty pools with deep cracks.


    As the lights gathered around the archway, I noticed that the shadows seemed to twist but were still connected to something in the middle of the archway.

 The Rummage Fairyland

    I slid through the archway and the lights changed.


    More blue to the light and less yellow or orange. The light was crisper. I went to the shade of the trees around a raised stone platform. An odd piece of furniture was on the platform, something like a cross between a couch and the sort of chair you¡¯d see around a swimming pool.


    A voice by the gateway asked, ¡°Did something come through it?¡±


    A voice near it said, ¡°Well, I thought so, but it didn¡¯t really open, did it?¡±


    From the platform, a girl¡¯s voice said, ¡°Someone came through. How odd. Mass came through. Nearly four and a half stone of mass, yet no fee or weight came into my realm. How wonderfully puzzling. What sort of creature can use a closed gateway, weigh less than a feather, and yet have more mass than a wheel of cheddar?¡±


    One of the voices by the gateway said, ¡°A flying foxhound. They don¡¯t have wings typically, so they have to be able to control their weight.¡±


    The other voice said, ¡°Flying foxhounds aren¡¯t invisible, are they?¡±


    ¡°Well, technically, we¡¯re all invisible, but we all have the sight. I never quite saw the sense in that.¡±


    The girl said, ¡°The gateway¡¯s opening. Looks like that stupid nameless Fairy queen¡¯s place.¡±


    ¡°Shall we call the guard together?¡±


    ¡°No, back up from the gateway.¡± the girl said. ¡°Unlike that silly girl, I can control my realm.¡±


    The light shifted. It felt like rain despite the sky being clear.


    I shifted to a tree farther from the gateway.


    The girl said, ¡°Clever spirit, I¡¯m called Rummage. Since thou canst conceal thyself, I must call thee clever. Art thou willing and able to talk?¡±


    I thought of the Fairies that shot me with darts. They¡¯d said Rummage¡¯s Fairyland raided them, yet I had no reason to be fond of them, maybe because of being shot. Oddly, I didn¡¯t want to betray the first group of Fairies, even though they were planning an attack.


    I appeared behind the trees. ¡°The folk from the nameless Fairyland are glowing mad and planning attack.¡±


    Rummage said, ¡°We thank thee for warning us. Guards, seal the gateway.¡±


    The guards came over. A hatch on the platform lifted and moved to an empty area. A breastplate from a suit of armor was lifted out of the opening using thin ropes and staves. The breastplate floated out and to the gateway.


    The ropes went slack, and the staves and ropes disappeared. Several bright flashes and glittery lights appeared and gleamed against the dull steel breastplate. From inside, the breastplate¡¯s glowing lights flickered and went out.


    A voice from inside the breastplate shouted, ¡°I curse thee, Queen Rummage. I curse your¡ª¡± The voice faded in mid-speech.


    Rummage said, ¡°Nine stone and change. Well, they really did plan to invade.¡±


    A voice by the gateway said, ¡°At least eighty darts that were not dissolved by the steel. They came in force.¡±


    ¡°Well, then, clever spirit,¡± Rummage said, ¡°We owe thee for a battle won with no losses and quite a bit of gain. As queen I claim half, and as the leader of combat, half the remaining. But as thou gavest warning, half of that¡¯s thine before the troops involved get their share. That gives thee over a stone.


    ¡°I would further gift thee any power I can as a reward, and gift thee once more for coming out, talking, and telling me what manner of being thou art and how thou hast managed to enter my realm.¡±


    With part of me still in shadow, I approached the edge of the platform. ¡°I¡¯m a Goblin. I was sitting and playing my penny whistle when I was hit by a dart and brought into the other Fairyland. I was shot again so I hid. I examined the gateway from their Fairyland, then I came here and heard thee speak.¡±


    A voice beside me said, ¡°Bow before Queen Rummage.¡± I felt something sharp hit my arm.


    I went to shadow instantly. I didn¡¯t know how badly I was cut. I started exploring, looking for a place to safely hide. For a moment, it had seemed like I would make out like Galen, then it became clear how dangerous Fairylands were.


    Rummage shouted, ¡°Well, he was near a friend, and now, if he were not already going to die from darts, thou hast assured his death. Three times struck by Fairy point means a short time and little joy as he passes from life.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, my queen, but he wasn¡¯t bowing.¡±


    Rummage spoke more softly. ¡°He would have died. I would have nursed him with porridge and eased his pain. He would have become committed to our Fairyland, then we would have had a musician with new songs. Instead, a soon-to-die spirit is loose in our world. ¡®Til he passes, he can appear as he wishes, and if thou didst not notice, his belt buckle was iron.


    ¡°He may be a gentle spirit now, but when gossamer fever hits, the only thing that may save thee is the one thing that will make me stay silent ¡®til his mass falls from him in death and becomes mine. I don¡¯t think he can see us. Of course he didn¡¯t bow.¡±


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°My queen, how do I make this up to thee?¡±


    Rummage did not reply.


    #


    I sailed through shadow in a silent world. I didn¡¯t know where any of the inhabitants were. I dared not come out of shadow to check my injuries, but there were drops of blood where I¡¯d stood.


    I found another gateway and slid through it. If I hadn¡¯t been in shadow, I would have fallen to my death. The gateway was in a woods beside a stream that had cut a channel twenty feet into the forest bed. The gateway was thirty feet above that. I was safe in shadow by a tree. From the slope and the woods, I knew I was far from the bogs and swamps I called home.


    It was night but the moon was up. I still didn¡¯t know how badly I was bleeding and didn¡¯t want to find out until I was somewhere safe.


    I knew woods and knew shadows, and Mr. Hebert taught me that a Fairyland was a valuable place. I made notes and surveyed the area before I took to the long shadows.


    The moon was rising, so the shadows would shorten soon. I sailed moonward. I prefer to go downstream in shadow, but I feared going too far west. I realized I might not be in America. I shadow stepped until I found a road, then zigzagged through shadow until I found a larger road and a road sign. I was still in the United States. I learned more as the moon rose, and my trip became choppier. I kept seeing the word ¡°Ozark,¡± so I guessed I was a bit north of home. Shadows seemed to fight me, so I tried something Dennis had mentioned ages ago.


    I followed the road signs to a small airport where a plane was taking off. I spent a while in an airplane¡¯s shadow and figured out that Dennis was lying about traveling in an airplane¡¯s shadow. It didn¡¯t matter if you stayed under the plane or on the plane¡¯s ground shadow, it was the slowest shadow stepping ever. I figured he was lying about shadow stepping in a train¡¯s shadow, too, since you could just sail down the shadows cast by the track faster than any train would ever move.


    I left the shadow of the plane as it crossed a train track running beside a large divided highway.


    I headed south and finally found road signs with familiar names. I got to Shreveport and from there headed home in shadows I knew.


    I got home and Mr. Hebert was in the kitchen. I went to my usual stool.


    ¡°What month is it?¡± I asked and then freaked out. I was dripping blood.


    Mr. Hebert made a call on his phone.


    ¡°Can you summon in with your doctor¡¯s bag? I have a hurt child here.¡±


    Mr. Hebert put his phone in his pocket and crouched beside me. He stood, grabbed the kitchen shears, and started cutting my shirt off.


    He held my arm, washed the cut with rum, looked up, and said, ¡°Yes, please come help me.¡±


    A Goblin girl wearing a knit cap and surgical scrubs appeared, looked at my arm, and said, ¡°You¡¯re gonna have a scar.¡± She opened her bag and took out a small bottle and a package with a syringe in it.


    I asked, ¡°What¡¯s that for?¡±


    She gave me a smile. ¡°Pain killer. Unless you¡¯re Rambo, you don¡¯t want me stitching your arm without it. Looks like a very sharp blade did this. How did it happen?¡±


    I said, ¡°I was stabbed by a Fairy.¡±


    She looked at Mr. Hebert. ¡°This could get expensive fast. We need a good psychic surgeon. This boy doesn¡¯t look like he can spare a lot of fat.¡±


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°How much in American dollars?¡±


    ¡°A quarter million to consult. A quarter million an hour. These things can take hours.¡±


    Mr. Hebert looked at me with a pained expression. ¡°Easy come, easy go. What point is wealth without friends? How quickly do they want payment?¡±


    She said, ¡°My contact¡¯s medical group charges ten percent a month interest if you don¡¯t settle with the physician immediately. You''ll want to liquidate resources quick and pay as fast as you can.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Fine. Save the boy.¡±


    She gestured to Mr. Hebert. ¡°Hold his arm up so he doesn¡¯t bleed. I need both hands free.¡± She took a book out of a pouch on the side of her bag and opened it on the table. She read symbols written in a magic circle drawn on a page, and the lines seemed to shift.


    After long minutes, she said, ¡°Fats, Mary summons thee. Fats, Mary summon thee.¡±


    A man appeared and stepped back looking at all of us.


    He looked at Mr. Hebert and bowed. ¡°I¡¯m honored.¡± He pulled a stool over, sat near me, and closed his eyes. He took out a flashlight and clicked it until it turned UV blue and shined the light on my wound then shined it right in my eyes before turning it off. He took out a pocket knife and touched it to the floor where I¡¯d bled, then went to the sink, and washed his knife.


    He sat down beside me and closed his eyes again.


    My arm itched terribly. The man opened his eyes and said, ¡°That was simple. Why did you want a psychic surgeon?¡±


    Mary said, ¡°The cut was made with a Fairy weapon. We want you to save him.¡±


    The man nodded then smiled. ¡°It¡¯s too late. That¡¯ll be five hundred dollars.¡±


    Mr. Hebert seemed to tear up as he looked at me. I wasn¡¯t sure he could cry.


    Mary asked, ¡°You can¡¯t save him?¡±


    The man said, ¡°He¡¯s already a Fairy. Don¡¯t worry, he doesn¡¯t appear to be allergic to iron, and sunlight won¡¯t hurt him. Lots of people live fantastic and rather long lives as Fairies.¡±


    Mr. Hebert smiled. ¡°The original quote for treatment was substantially higher. I¡¯m thankful to you. Would you like to stay for a very late dinner? We make an outstanding blackened catfish.¡±


    The man nodded. ¡°Seems like over-payment even on the terms I use to discourage and charge the folks that just want to alter their appearance. My name¡¯s Fats and I look forward to the meal.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said to Mary, ¡°You¡¯re invited too.¡±


    The meal went by simply apart from when I was asked how I got the wound. Mr. Hebert said, ¡°We shouldn¡¯t talk about such things when we are eating.¡±


    While serving bread pudding, Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°How did you become a psychic surgeon?¡±


    Fats said, ¡°I was a surgeon before the days of cosmetic surgery. At least before it happened in Real. I was known for leaving small scars. Because of debts, I started a second practice helping criminals with injuries.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know it, but a pair of Daemons were betting how far they could make me fall. I was in debt to a Daemon, then they decided to have me pay it off in Fairy. In Fairy, I met a man who I¡¯d helped years before. He was dead and Fairy, but he remembered me and recommended me to a Fairy psychic surgeon for training.¡±


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°What would it cost to get the points removed permanently from a Goblin''s ears?¡±


    Fats looked my ears. ¡°No charge, but I keep the mass from it. Are you sure?¡±


    I nodded. Fats closed his eyes, and I felt my left ear itch then my right one.


    Mary took her knit hat off. ¡°Can I get in on this?¡±


    Fats asked, ¡°Are you positive? They¡¯re quite cute.¡±


    She said, ¡°Absolutely positive.¡±


    I watched as the tips of her ears disappeared, the flesh bending and joining into a perfectly formed human ear instead of looking like you¡¯d had a terrible accident. I reached up and felt my own ears.


    I said to her, ¡°There''s a mirror in the hallway.¡±


    Mary shadow stepped. I joined her and we both looked in the mirror at each other. We both laughed.


    I pointed to her reflection. ¡°Still cute.¡±


    Mary smiled and shadow stepped back to the kitchen. I got close to the mirror and examined my ears. I was distracted by looking at how shadows appeared when reflected in the mirror.


    I walked back to the kitchen pondering the question: Did I really travel on the edge of light?


    I wondered if there were any Goblin physicists who studied light. It¡¯d seem like there should be, but the lack of aging meant school might be an issue.


    As I walked in, Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°Lost in thought?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Are there Fairy physicists?¡±


    Fats said, ¡°I haven¡¯t met one. Odd. Are alchemists physicists?¡±

 Count Juniper

    After Fats and Mary left, Mr. Hebert asked me, ¡°What happened? I found your penny whistle. You were still alive but gone. So I left your penny whistle where I used to put your money.¡±


    I¡¯d arranged the outside lights to give me good shadows a couple of years back, so I shadow stepped out and got my flute. It was in a sealed plastic bag with a small bag of desiccant and a note that said, ¡°If I offended you, let me know. I¡¯ll make it up to you.¡±


    I returned to the house, sat on my crate, and played to let Mr. Hebert know I was in the music room. He came in and sat down. I got up and turned on the music we played when we wanted to talk in private. He carried his cell phone out of the room and came back.


    I told him my story then asked, ¡°Were you really going to spend millions to save me? How did you know I was still alive?¡±


    He said, ¡°I have the same answer for both questions. But it starts with a question. Where are you? I mean, what spot do you exist in, where do you think?¡±


    I tapped on my crate and played a rhythm ending with three loud thumps. ¡°Sometimes I figure it¡¯s my hands but not really. It seems like they play the music. I feel it in my chest with my eyes closed, but with my eyes open, my mind¡¯s here.¡± I pointed at my head.


    He nodded. ¡°I am a Titan. Titans can¡¯t just point to each other and say, ¡®He is just like me.¡¯ Those of us who still exist are living fossils and experiments that survived. My father was made of music and rhythm.¡±


    Mr. Hebert got up and went to the computer and changed the music to Mendelssohn''s Die Hibreden. ¡°This isn¡¯t it, but it¡¯s the closest example of the sort of music that was my father. In times before life was much more than floating foam, crystals formed and resonated, and that was the start of the music. The music shaped the crystals, and the crystals spread and the music got more complex.


    ¡°My father feared the limits any musician feared as soon as the music had grown to where it knew it was music and became a musician as well. So crystals hummed and explored the limits of music, and eventually the music made silence. In that silence was resonance and rhythm, but it moved at greater speeds than sound and took on properties and played on things finer or at least smaller than the crystals that were the instrument that my father played and was played on.


    ¡°I was born out of that musical silence. So I can¡¯t point to where I am. I can just hear my thoughts, really. The ideas come from resonances resolved that are out of reach. Yet I can tell where the quiet music comes from. This body you see before you might take another hundred years to grow again if it were destroyed, but if this body were gone, I wouldn¡¯t be. I don¡¯t think I have a soul or a spirit.


    ¡°I have resonance and music. So when I saw you a few years back, it was a special moment, one that only happens every fifty years or so. Part of me found a new instrument to play its silent tune on. I¡¯m certain this will make no sense to you, but when I saw you, I knew that you were part of me. I also knew that you didn¡¯t belong here. I knew that you belonged in Fairy. Don¡¯t take that wrong. I don¡¯t mean dead, I mean in a Fairyland.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I understand but don¡¯t take this wrong, either. Fairylands are full of invisible people who think killing, kidnapping, and enslaving is all part of a day¡¯s work. I¡¯m a Goblin and have a totally different outlook on life. We¡¯re all about adopting sad children and freedom. Goblins who kill end up dead quick ¡®cause death is, to us, the opposite of freedom.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°I see Fairies. One reason a Fairy might be invisible is the lie. Illusions, or so I¡¯m told, fool the eye. There are two types of illusions, as far as I know. I can see illusions that bend light, but I can¡¯t see the ones that are entirely lies. The other reason a Fairy might be invisible is that they might be part lie. That doesn¡¯t mean they don¡¯t exist, it just means their material form¡¯s fake.¡± He shrugged. ¡°So I guess there are three reasons why a Fairy might be invisible.¡±


    Someone cleared their throat loudly. A small man sat on one of the speakers that hung up high on the wall. ¡°Thou hast gotten it right on three parts, but the fourth would be camouflage and how some manage to hide from those who spend their lives hidden.¡±


    He smiled a menacing sort of smile. ¡°Don¡¯t be alarmed. Queen Rummage¡¯s a bit scared thou might be a bit angry about things, what with thy lingering illness, wasting away, and horrible, painful death. So she gathered up a few wishes to try and appease thee before thou becamest a vengeful spirit with a belt buckle of iron, the will to kill, and the ability to pass unseen amongst them.¡±


    Mr Hebert asked, ¡°Thou dost grant wishes?¡±


    The man nodded. ¡°Yes, but not entirely. I¡¯m a wish broker. The intent is to protect Rummage. But I was hired to assure satisfaction. So while I do grant wishes if they¡¯re simple things, what I really do is orchestrate lasting satisfaction. Within this envelope, I¡¯ve been directed to not further empower the grantee, so for example, the simple request of having the sight isn¡¯t one that I¡¯ll be facilitating.


    ¡°But I can advise and shape the wishing and maximize the wish, and my client¡¯s the grantee and not the granter. So if thy dream was to learn the violin for example, I¡¯d not advise a wish for the skill to play the violin. That would be one wish, and thou might regret it. Wishing for violin mastery would be better. Thou wouldst get auxiliary gifting, things like relative pitch, much better than perfect pitch in my opinion, but that could be argued. Thou wouldst get playing by ear, sight reading, some basic music theory, and a few nice pieces of music.


    ¡°Better than that would be a wish to be a successful violinist. Thou might not end up as talented, but thou would be good, popular, and have money. Better still would be to be a successful concert master. Thou might not have as much money, but the skills would have to be top notch. Some might want to be a composer, that might give thee more instruments and more music theory, but sadly asking to be a great composer would be pushing it. We can¡¯t gift real creativity yet.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°If thou doest not have the brain for composition though, being a successful director might do. Thou couldst still learn a range of instruments, but thou might get by with a simpler mind. A great director takes a bit more intelligence, and we can¡¯t really gift that directly. We might give gifts to help thee grow in thy desired direction though, but really we¡¯re looking to help thee feel satisfied as thou make the tragic transition to a more glorious afterlife.


    ¡°Sad about the gossamer poisoning, really. I died that way, and ¡®tis a horrible way to go. Thou might consider an assisted suicide. We could throw that in as an extra.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What about being a physicist?¡±


    Mr. Hebert put his hand on mine. ¡°If you maintain interest, over time I can teach you more about material physics, sound, and light than anyone else is likely to know. I have my father¡¯s memories. I could and have recreated myself using those skills.¡±


    The Fairy on the speaker said, ¡°Yes, and I¡¯m not sure that physicists are always happy, so I would advise against that as well. I mean, thou wouldst probably be happier than a physician, psychologist, or comedian, but what we want is either true satisfaction or at least a good enough illusion of satisfaction to keep thee thinking thou art content for the long ages ahead.


    ¡°A lot of musicians are miserable, but at least they enjoy themselves apart from when they¡¯re asked to play the same wretched song over and over ¡®til it drives them bonkers to even hear a short passage from it.¡±


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°Wert thou a musician?¡±


    The Fairy nodded.


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°While we discuss this, I have some leftover bread pudding. Would anyone like some? I can pour some rum sauce on it.¡±


    The Fairy jumped off the speaker and smiled up at Mr. Hebert. ¡°Really?¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I can feed thee without the Deaths showing up.¡±


    The Fairy put his finger to the side of his nose and started walking toward the kitchen. ¡°I¡¯m called Count Juniper by some, ¡®cause of my blue-green suit. But I think the color suits me, and while it¡¯s meant as an insult, I rather like the title.¡±


    We sat at the table. I was stuffed from supper, but Mr. Hebert ate with Count Juniper and poured him a large glass of milk to go with it.


    I asked, ¡°Rummage said I was owed some stones. What was that about?¡±


    Count Juniper carefully covered his mouth and finished chewing. ¡°Rummage got nine stone three pound and four ounces from the mass of the Fairies that died contacting the iron breastplate as they entered her domain. That means a bit over 129 pounds of mass that she could turn into gold, gumdrops, or fancy hats. Thy share of the massacre amounted to an eighth of that, but she decided that she should put her three-fourths into appeasing thee, and the guard who stabbed thee put in his sixteenth share. That would be 1,938.75 ounces of Fairyland fee. A bit over a hundred and twenty-one pounds. Throw in that she wanted to gift thee with a pair of gifts, and she¡¯s willing to back up that with a few more, thou hast a pretty good appeasement coming. She now has a justified claim to a second Fairyland since they tried to invade hers, so she makes out pretty well even after all the expenses of mollifying thee. I think thy satisfaction, apart from the inconvenient and horribly painful death, can be achieved easily. If thou want to reduce it to numbers, like mortals tend to always try to do, thou canst probably eke out twenty or so gifts as long as they are not particularly rare or hard to track down.¡±


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°What about the ability to convert Fairy fee to objects? How rare is that gift?¡±


    The small man said, ¡°It would be a total waste. I can¡¯t advise such a gamble. I¡¯d be happy to gift it, but only the noble folk among the noble folk can use the power. It takes about five other gifts, and none of them are usable by the vast majority. Phil would be wasting a quarter of his potential for a long bet on being a Fairy noble. Unless thou art equating power with happiness, and that¡¯s a certain doom of joy, being a Fairy noble is hardly the way to pursue happiness even if thou art one of the few that can pull it off.¡±


    Mr. Hebert gave me a serious look. ¡°Probably a waste, but let¡¯s gamble with a quarter of it then. Phil, ask for the best arrangement of gifts in order to convert Fairy fee to objects in a satisfactory way.¡±


    Count Juniper frowned. ¡°That would take quite a few of the potential gifts. Some might bring joy, but thou wouldst need to practice them, and we might have to visit several times before all the gifts settled. If we give thee a week or so before thou doest find it hard to spend long out of bed and then a couple of months before the wracking pains and desperate longing for Fairy food sets in, thou wouldst have to be of Fairy king caliber to focus enough to properly back up the gifting with practice. Sculpting takes practice, art takes practice, and the visualizations of even the most basic chemistry takes long rumination to create useful and artistic objects. Most stick to gold and gumdrops. Hard to mess up those two items. Bronze is simpler than thou might think, but the sort of wood thou might use for an instrument¡ª¡± He squinted, shook his head, and ate another bite of bread pudding.


    I asked, ¡°Chemistry would be involved? Sculpture too?¡±


    Count Juniper frowned and shook his head as he ate. He finished and used a napkin on the corners of his mouth. ¡°Well, this meal is delightful. We can try it, but we¡¯ll probably be gifting half of it when thou art on the other side, and I¡¯m not sure that thou canst even make things without the sight, advanced illusion, and some basic ability to connect to a Fairyland. All of these are precluded by the contract, so let¡¯s try to focus first on what brings thee joy. What delights thee?¡±


    I looked at Mr. Hebert. ¡°I like cooking with Mr. Hebert. I like slapping my box in a group of enthusiastic musicians. I like sitting on a high shaded limb with a breeze blowing by and the water flowing below. I don¡¯t need a gift for any of that. Not really. I miss my family, but I can¡¯t say they make me happy. I miss them, though, so not having them around reduces my satisfaction.¡±


    Count Juniper said, ¡°Well, forget the family angle since thou art going to be dead soon enough, wishing them to join thee would hardly make for a satisfactory situation. Unless they¡¯re in a lot of pain, but then, Goblins are usually pretty healthy so apart from their original family issues, pain is unlikely.


    ¡°So if we can manage to find a Fairyland with old trees, water, and other musicians that wouldn¡¯t mind adding a percussionist to the mix, thou wilt be doing okay. That will be easy and might even be granting someone else¡¯s wish by introducing thee to them. No gifting required and we can arrange that without a single wish.


    ¡°Unless thou can visit Real easily, cooking with thy friend may be harder. Titans are mostly gift-proof, so I¡¯ll need to gift thee with summoning. This is ideal for me since I can manage all the gifting thou hast asked for, and I can visit to help make sure we keep it gifted since thy suffering will soon preclude much practice and study.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°I can keep a supply of bread pudding handy for when you visit.¡±


    Count Juniper smiled.


    I asked, ¡°Why gumdrops?¡±


    Count Juniper said, ¡°Easier than sugar plums and ever since C. S. Lewis, Turkish delight has had a negative connotation. Not that everyone loves the stuff. Really, it¡¯s just candy that¡¯s popular and easy to make. The rulers of Fairylands like to make candy to reward their subjects. The mass all ends up coming back to them, and it makes a lot of Fairies happy. Fairy liquor¡¯s pretty easy to make, but rarely has the depth of good rum, scotch, or bourbon. I¡¯m fairly skilled at making chocolate, so I can please a lot of folk, but I cheat on some of the harder ingredients, so it¡¯d kill a human to taste my best work.¡±

 Some Friends You Want, Some Friends You Don鈥檛

    Mr. Hebert and I were looking up at Stripe who was stuck high in a tree and yowling loudly. A storm was coming, but she seemed scared to climb down since she¡¯d fallen from a tree a couple of days before.


    Count Juniper appeared beside me.


    I asked him, ¡°Canst thou get the cat down as one of the favors owed?¡±


    Count Juniper looked up at me then up at the cat. ¡°Cats and Fairies have had a mixed relationship since the beginning of time. That one is young, injured, and about to have kittens. She¡¯s completely feral. I wouldn¡¯t advise any Fairy to risk getting near it. Let time and nature deal with it. Some matters are best left alone.¡±


    The wind started whipping more violently. I looked at Mr. Hebert, but he didn¡¯t have an answer. I looked at the shadows. They were just barely there and dancing violently in the wind of the coming storm. It wouldn¡¯t be any easier later, so I took to shadow, went up the tree, and reached out. The limb I was on made a cracking noise. The cat clawed me and lost its grip on the tree. When it touched me, I went back to shadow before the limb could break and the cat fall. I was on the ground, but the cat was still in air only touching me where its claw had snagged the skin on my wrist. It twisted and tagged my arm with its hind leg as it took off for the trees.


    As I sat on the ground examining the two bleeding cat scratches, Count Juniper said, ¡°I did warn thee. Shall we give thee another lesson?¡±


    We went inside as the first drops of rain started to fall.


    #


    In the room we¡¯d converted into a pottery study, I was finishing an ocarina, a type of clay whistle, when Count Juniper asked, ¡°Thou art not dying, art thee?¡±


    I coughed. ¡°Is that thee, Count Juniper? Sorry, I can¡¯t see thee. I guess I should wash up and go back to bed if I¡¯m hearing voices again.¡±


    Count Juniper turned visible. ¡°Thou art not fooling anyone. I¡¯m shocked and offended that thou wouldst even make such a pathetic attempt. I may have to get a double helping of bread pudding to make up for my distress.¡±


    I held up the ocarina and examined it, hoping it would survive firing. I was pushing the limits of clay to try and improve the sound, so I didn¡¯t have much hope for it. ¡°I made the rum sauce with some good bourbon. I think it turned out pretty well.¡±


    He rubbed his hands together and looked happy. ¡°I have a friend who would love to try thy bread pudding. He¡¯s a Fairy king and can only show up in Real as a crow, but thou couldst give him a takeout box.¡±


    I smiled. Mr. Hebert¡¯s plan was beginning to work. The simplest plans were the best, and Mr. Hebert¡¯s was brilliant. ¡°So, Count Juniper, I don¡¯t feel good inviting a guest to Mr. Hebert¡¯s house without his knowledge. But if this is a friend of thine, I¡¯d be happy to make a bread pudding for thee to share with him and several variations of rum sauce for him to try. I¡¯m sure my feeble attempt will fall flat, but if it entertains thy friend, I really don¡¯t mind.


    Count Juniper said, ¡°Don¡¯t count thy efforts short. Thou shouldst know, he has a nice place with large trees and lots of water. No mosquitoes at all. At least, not the mosquitoes that bother people. He has a few musicians, and he was rather amused by the thought of a percussionist perched on a crate and beating a rhythm on it.¡±


    #


    In a real building made with beautifully veined green marble pillars, a young boy in a green tunic sat in a dramatic, thoughtful pose on a carved green marble throne with large green cushions. He waited until he was certain we¡¯d seen him posed before he jumped up and ran over to see what I¡¯d brought in the sealed plastic containers I was balancing.


    I bowed and he laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t bow, we won¡¯t be stabbing anyone for not bowing. Not here.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Would it be possible for me to paint a picture of thee on thy throne?¡±


    He looked disappointed. ¡°Thou hast not brought thy crate.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°It has some adjustable rattles inside, so it would not be ideal for carrying bread pudding in. Also, the rattles are steel. Since I don¡¯t have the sight, I¡¯m rather concerned that I might injure one of thy subjects if I brought steel into thy world.¡±


    He backed up and looked me up and down. ¡°Seriously, Rummage is afraid of someone sightless? What power doest thou wield that makes thee so fearsome?¡±


    I put the plastic containers on the table. ¡°Nothing special. I can¡¯t make even the simplest of illusions, so maybe she¡¯s scared that if I saw her, I might paint a bad painting of her. That or a sculpture. I¡¯m not sure what would be worse, a clumsily painted picture or an amateurish sculpture.¡±


    He said, ¡°The sculpture, for certain.¡±


    I passed out bread pudding and sauce on paper plates. I felt someone bump into me as I was picking up the empty plastic containers, so I said, ¡°Excuse me,¡± turning carefully to avoid moving from the spot I was in.


    From my vantage point at the table, I could see the side of the throne. It had an eagle and a swastika. I quickly summoned Mr. Hebert, and he brought me home.


    #


    Mr. Hebert was in the kitchen. I gestured and pointed down.


    He widened his eyes and I nodded. He turned off the oven and led me outside.


    Count Juniper appeared on the pedestal of a statue we were passing. ¡°Phil, thou didst leave too soon.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I bumped into someone that I didn¡¯t see. Tell them I¡¯m terribly sorry to be so clumsy. I left before anyone could stab me for my offense.¡±


    Count Juniper said, ¡°None took offense.¡±


    Again, I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m just a common Goblin from a broken family. I wasn¡¯t raised with great etiquette, and I barely know how to say thee and thou. I should stay away from the nobility and courts. I have no idea what I¡¯m doing and reason to fear any action I might take.¡±


    Count Juniper narrowed his eyes. ¡°Here I thought that thou wert a common and clever rogue like so many of the humans that enjoy tricking the Fay. Yet thou has not taken any treasure from Rummage and left before thou couldst get a gift for thy amazing pudding.¡±


    I shook my head a third time. ¡°¡¯Tis made with old crusts and spare bits of bread. No great expense and not worthy of a court exquisitely crafted from green marble. I¡¯m not worthy to look on the gentry, and these were of much higher station than that. It¡¯s kind that thou hast taken time with me and my education, yet, I feel I¡¯m imposing too much. Tell Queen Rummage that I hold her to no debt. I don¡¯t seem to be getting ill, so all I had was the pain of a cut and that was mended.¡±


    Count Juniper nodded to me and disappeared. I followed Mr. Hebert into the carriage house and into the room with all the saddles. Mr. Hebert lifted the hatch on the floor, and we went down the ladder. Mr. Hebert closed the hatch above us, and we entered the steel vault and closed it.


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°What happened?¡±


    I said, ¡°I bumped into one of them. When I looked up, I saw the eagle and swastika on the side of the throne. Those Fairies were Nazis.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Phil, the swastika has been, until quite recently, a symbol of good luck and divinity. The eagle has been a symbol of royals as long as mankind has been passing their wealth and power to their children. They might not be Nazis. The odds are good that their Fairyland¡¯s older than the Nazis. There are a lot of different eagles and swastikas.


    I opened the hatch that went back to some of the storage area and knelt in the dust. I drew the eagle and swastika that I saw in the dust on the floor.


    Mr. Hebert looked over me and watched me draw. ¡°You see, the Nazis were a recent thing and¡ª Oh, my. Yes, that would be the Nazi war eagle. Okay, that sets our plans back quite a bit, but we have time. No need to rush these things. Phil, erase that. It¡¯s safe down here in this iron vault with all the horseshoes on the only passage in, but just in case, erase it.¡±


    I wiped the floor with my sleeve and got up.


    #


    I couldn¡¯t see them, but from a box of rags I kept by the washing machine in the carriage house, I could hear kittens mewing. I went and got Mr. Hebert.


    Mr. Hebert listened to the mewing for a while then looked at me. ¡°If their mother returns and smells you on them, she might not take care of them.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m going to a pet store to see if they have something to feed young kittens. I thought I heard mewing earlier. I haven¡¯t seen Stripe, and normally she¡¯d be trying to get my attention for me to toss her some bait.¡±


    I went to a couple of pet stores. When I got back, Mr. Hebert was in the kitchen using a baster to give milk to a kitten. ¡°Phil, I don¡¯t think the mother¡¯s coming back. Usually a mother stays near and watches. I went to the far end of the tanks and waited. I didn¡¯t see her.¡±


    I rinsed a pair of bottles and put kitten replacement milk in them. I handed one to Mr. Hebert and picked up the other kitten. ¡°I can take the night shift. We Goblins are used to missing sleep.¡±


    Mr. Hebert took the bottle and started feeding the kitten. ¡°My new plan for getting you gifted is a lot simpler, and the Fairylands involved are reasonable. By the way. I bought the place in Arkansas. Should we try and negotiate with the Fairyland?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I don¡¯t mean them any harm, but I don¡¯t want to deal with them.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°You know Rummage, at least you know it better than anyone in Real. Trade with them is possible, and it can be pretty lucrative. You forgave them a debt or at least an offer of a hundred and twenty pounds that could be gold. You also passed on five of the gifts you could have gotten, and they partially owe you for a Fairyland at the very least.¡±


    I answered, ¡°Money that I made through the suffering of others would seem tainted. I think we should go somewhere on the day the gateway here is open. You never know when fear will turn into hatred.¡±


    ¡°I agree. In any case, we need to arrange for you to be able to see the folk when they do come.¡±


    #


    I summoned Jordan. It took a while before he answered. ¡°Jordan, it¡¯s me, Phil. Jordan, this is Phil calling.¡±


    Jordan said, ¡°Phil when did you learn magic?¡±


    I said, ¡°Almost a year ago. I was nervous about calling. Is this a good time?¡±


    Jordan answered, ¡°Good as any. Good to hear from you.¡±


    I said, ¡°The old man died. I buried him on the hill. We lost the house, but I¡¯m doing well. I have an opportunity you might like. We can get passports from another country and have identification for a few years. We¡¯re putting together a children¡¯s musical group for a tour. Any of the family interested could travel overseas, see the old country, and we might have a chance of visiting and being gifted at one of the nicer Fairylands.¡±


    Jordan said, ¡°That just leads to more involvement with Fairy. Nothin¡¯ against it, but every time a Goblin gets involved in Fairy, it gets complicated. Some outright disappear. Some have strange accidents. Most visit less and less as they fade to Fairy.


    ¡°Phil, follow your heart on this, but be careful. We won¡¯t be following you to Fairy. Don¡¯t summon Dennis and ask him. He¡¯s reckless. He¡¯ll offend the folk and get you both killed. I wish you well, Phil. Always knew you had an odd path ahead. Even when we first took you, we knew you were different. Visit if you can, but don¡¯t bring the attention of the Fay to our family. Take care, Phil.¡±


    Jordan disconnected, probably to keep me from hearing him crying, just the way I was right then. I didn¡¯t think Titans cried much at all. We Goblins did and a lot of us had a lot to cry over. I needed comfort so I went to the room Mr. Hebert had converted for the kittens to stay in.


    #


    Uncle Anthony had a large box in the back of his car. ¡°Phil, I got this for you. If you¡¯re going into Fairy, you need one that doesn¡¯t have iron or steel, so I had one made special for you by a fellow who came highly recommended.¡±


    I smiled up at Uncle Anthony, thanked him, and shadow stepped with the box into the music room. I didn¡¯t tell him that no box was going to replace my original, but it didn¡¯t hurt to have a spare, and I didn¡¯t want to risk taking mine overseas.


    Inside the box was a cajon in a padded backpack bag. I opened the bag and pulled out a beautifully finished piece that looked mighty fancy compared to my old crate. The finish was not too heavy, and I could tell just taking it out of the bag that every spot on it resonated. I tapped it a few times and started to find the sweet spots. I adjusted the snare, then I took out the instruction book from the side pouch on the bag and started to read.


    There was a note written on the first page:


    ¡°Phil, I hope you¡¯re doing as well as me.


    I have to thank you for setting me on this journey. As you can see, I¡¯m enjoying making cajons and finding it rewarding. As I¡¯ve improved with my craftsmanship, I¡¯ve often thought how I¡¯d like to replace the crude box that was my first cajon.


    I knew when your Uncle Anthony gave me the measurements and described your box that this one was for someone special. He had a few interesting requirements that reinforced my suspicions. I feel bad that I charged for this, but your Uncle Anthony wanted it to be a gift from him, and I didn¡¯t want him to know that we¡¯d met.


    This is about the best cajon I know to make, so I would appreciate it if you let me know how to improve on it.


    Your friend, Mr. Miller¡±


    It was sad in a way, marking my new instrument with tears, but the sound of the wooden panels seemed to echo the bright and sad resonances I wanted to make despite the moisture.


    As I played, Uncle Anthony and Mr. Hebert came in with the kittens and sat with them, feeding the kittens from bottles.


    Uncle Anthony nodded toward me. ¡°He already knows how to get the sound he wants out of it. That¡¯s amazing.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Of course he does. Phil, take care of that box. Make it last as long as you can. It, too, is part of me.¡±


    I nodded. Odd how things were, but as Mr. Hebert¡¯s lessons in Titan physics were teaching me, bringing a new object into a room can change everything, and two ships passing in the night end up sharing and influencing each other more than they¡¯ll ever know.


    I stayed up late, like Goblins do, beating on my new drum.


    #


    When Uncle Anthony arrived, Mr. Hebert was explaining the Giants¡¯ concepts of physics to me, ¡°Humans have a lot of theories, but the Giants¡¯ concept of light was entirely based on observation. Giants didn¡¯t care if light was a wave or a particle or whatever. All they cared about was what light did, so they never put a speed limit on it since their concept of time was different. The only thing close to a theory that they held was a suspicion that light created distance. Since they couldn¡¯t see light until late in their history, they regarded light as an untrustworthy and inconsistent signal between electrons. Beams of light were not even a concept until giants were developing focusing eyes.¡±


    Uncle Anthony sat and cleared his throat. ¡°That was the general consensus, but some Giants had known about beams of light for ages. As a general principal, they didn¡¯t share their secrets willingly.¡± He looked at me. ¡°But more to the point, I met a Goblin at a guitar store.¡±


    I smiled up at him. ¡°You know, my family mostly avoided other Goblins. They broke off with the old family when the old family stopped rummaging and started stealing. That was before my time, but they said a lot of Goblins started stealing and a lot of Goblins disappeared. Some of the Goblins were bullying others, so my family decided to lay low and only occasionally met with other Goblins.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°Well, this one works for a living. He probably doesn¡¯t hang out with troublemakers. One never knows, but you don¡¯t have to worry about bringing them home. Since having part of your family join you and tour as a musical group fell through, we¡¯ve been thinking about forming a small band with humans, but humans that look your age are going to come with parents who will complicate things.¡±


    Mr. Hebert nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t know that I consider it right, even if it¡¯s fairly safe, to bring folk into Fairy without warning them of the possibility of it happening. I don¡¯t see explaining any of this to a human child¡¯s parents.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Show me on a map, and I¡¯ll check it out.¡±


    I didn¡¯t mention to either of them that I often felt the trails of other Goblins as they shadow stepped or that sometimes I kept still in places and listened to other Goblins. As I traveled, I wondered for a moment if Mr. Hebert and Uncle Anthony were releasing me into the wild. It didn¡¯t feel like they were dumping me at the side of the road, but I¡¯d only know for sure if I came home and found they had cleared out and left.

 New Music, New Friends

    I entered the shop, and the Goblin at the counter came out to greet me. ¡°Welcome, can I show you anything?¡±


    We were alone in the shop. I looked at his name tag and said, ¡°Hi, Vic, I''m Phil. I usually play a cajon. I¡¯m way out of practice and was never much good on a guitar, but I have an odd question. Can you get a dobro with no steel in it?¡±


    Vic looked at the guitars hanging above him. ¡°Chet Atkins played a resonator with nylon strings. The electronic pickups would have to be piezo. The cover on some of them is wood and the spider and cone could be aluminum. If you went with a biscuit, there might be less problems since that would be wood anyway.¡±


    I said, ¡°I was thinking all acoustic.¡±


    Vic winced, showing teeth. ¡°You¡¯ll probably sacrifice a lot of punch when you go back to nylon. You could probably put together a cigar box guitar that would be fun to play with and experiment, but for performance, not so much. A good luthier could probably give you a better answer, but a really good luthier might take a year or more before they delivered, and they might refuse just ¡®cause the project didn¡¯t interest them. Is there a reason why you might want to not have steel in it?¡±


    I said, ¡°I was just thinking Fairies might not like the steel.¡±


    Vic said, ¡°If you¡¯re being silly, I really can¡¯t help you.¡±


    I nodded since that made sense. ¡°What I¡¯m really looking for is contact with some other Goblin musicians.¡±


    Vic shook his head. ¡°Never heard of that kind of music. Sounds wild, do they use a dobro in the bands?¡±


    I reached up and felt my ears. I could tell Vic was a Goblin without looking at the scars on his ears, but sometimes my family would say I didn¡¯t feel like a Goblin. I never let it show that it bothered me, and I never figured out what they meant, but maybe, I really didn¡¯t feel like a Goblin.


    I said, ¡°I got my ears altered. I got tired of getting them trimmed.¡±


    Vic looked at me like I was crazy and said, ¡°I think I¡¯m going to have to ask you to leave. Please don¡¯t cause any trouble.¡±


    I shadow stepped to the door and past until I was out of sight then walked back to the shop. I opened the door and looked inside.


    Vic looked up from his cell phone and gestured for me to come in. ¡°You a shadow racer?¡±


    I shrugged.


    Vic gestured with one hand still and the other like it was zooming past.


    I shook my head.


    Vic said, ¡°You should be. Your family religious?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°Haven¡¯t been to church for over fifty years, but we kept a Bible handy. My family left me behind, though.¡±


    Vic asked, ¡°Drugs?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Just being careful and the old man we lived with needed care, so they left me with him. I¡¯d be back with them, but I didn¡¯t know how to find them. Then things changed and I got involved with the sort of folk my family didn¡¯t want to mix with.¡±


    Vic looked at me suspiciously.


    I said, ¡°A Fairy fixed my ears.¡±


    Vic said, ¡°They scared you¡¯re gonna fade to Fairy?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°My experiences so far are pretty mixed. As far as the before and after, I came out good. As far as the ¡®Oh, my, I am about to die¡¯ feeling, I went through that a few times. Right now, I¡¯m looking for a group to play some music with.¡±


    Vic said, ¡°Bring your cajon and come back to the shop. I¡¯ll take down a guitar and play with you. It helps pass the time, and sometimes it sells instruments. If someone wants help, I¡¯ll have to get up, but we can play for a bit. I haven¡¯t played with a cajon. I was tempted by them, but our shop is small, and the owner doesn¡¯t usually go for modern experiments. He¡¯s Goblin savvy, but if he comes in, don¡¯t bring it up.¡±


    I nodded and shadow stepped back to get my old cajon. I felt nervous at the thought of taking a brand new instrument into a music store.


    I sat and mostly listened. Vic didn¡¯t play anything I knew, and he didn¡¯t know anything I played. Since all I had was my voice, crate, penny whistle, triangle, and shaker, I couldn¡¯t teach him the harmonies and songs I grew up with. I kind of gave up on the band idea as Vic played. I might be able to play the triangle with another group, but I¡¯d started out copying Randal on the bongos, and he had just pulled his bongos out of a trashcan minutes before the trashcan would have been dumped.


    Don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯d listened to other music and copied things I¡¯d heard. I didn¡¯t think I was talentless, but a genius at playing a waltz might not be what a hard rock band was looking for.


    I mostly just listened and added a gentle rhythm when he played. I softly tapped some of the more complex rhythms I had, just to remember playing with my family. Thinking about it, Jordan said I could visit. I was tempted.


    A man in the shop, took a bass guitar down from the wall, and plugged it in. ¡°Phil, is it?¡±


    I nodded.


    He looked at the crate I was sitting on and stuck his hand out. ¡°This is my shop. I¡¯m Mr. Gibbs. The rhythm you were just playing, can you start over with it?


    We shook hands then sat and improvised together. He did that sort of lean in towards each other thing guitarists do when they¡¯re enjoying playing with another person.


    Mr. Gibbs got a pair of bottles from the vending machine and gave me root beer. He looked me in the eye and asked, ¡°You a Goblin?¡±


    ¡°What gave me away?¡±


    Mr. Gibbs said, ¡°Vic texted me, but it''s obvious when you know what to look for. The foot in shadow when I came up, and you¡¯re playing on a wooden box that looks like someone had seen a cajon and managed to do a damn good job of making one. You have rhythms that feel old and classic, yet you innovate on them like you¡ªWell, I have to thank you for coming in and letting me play with you. I feel like I got to glimpse a way that folk music or rock could have gone, but never did and probably should have.¡±


    I smiled, thinking I might have a chance with a band after all.


    Mr. Gibbs asked, ¡°Do you need any money?¡±


    I was surprised by the question, and I guess it showed.


    He shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t take it wrong and don¡¯t let pride get in the way. Everyone can use some help from time to time. But this would be pay for work. I would love to record a few jam sessions with you.¡± He pulled out a business card, wrote an address on the back, and handed it to me.


    I didn¡¯t really need the money, but I thought my family could probably use a bit. There were always expenses, so I took the card and said, ¡°I think I might enjoy it.¡±


    #


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°You might want to reconsider this. If Mr. Gibbs has connections, they might take your rhythms, and you end up with chump change. You have a unique sort of edge to your playing. Kind of like the early jazz back when the rhythms flowed and shifted. You could end up hearing your own music and wondering why you gave it away.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m a Goblin. No way I can go public. Little kid that never gets old? Then, after I skip out, everyone thinks I look just like that famous kid. Eventually, I get found out, and some rich guy cuts me up to try to find the secret of immortality. For me, the best I can get is a handful of cash for playing in a studio. If I get ripped off, that just means I was good enough to be worth robbing.¡±


    #


    I¡¯d expected a studio with sound equipment. Instead, a stage was set up just inside an open hangar at what used to be a private airport. The runway had seen better days, and there were cement tables and benches on it, so no planes would be landing anytime soon.


    Mr. Gibbs waved me over as soon as he saw me. ¡°Phil, we have a cooler with drinks in it and a big thermos of lemonade fresh squeezed this morning.¡±


    They also had a keg of beer he hadn¡¯t mentioned, but despite me being old enough in years, I didn¡¯t look old enough to drink, and a lot of folks might have issue with me drinking.


    I walked over to where Vic was serving and got some lemonade.


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    I gestured with my cup to the tables on the runway. ¡°Is there going to be an audience?¡±


    Vic shook his head. ¡°We have crab and crawfish boils here from time to time, but our Sunday jam¡¯s just for musicians. You should go ahead and put your bag down by the stage. No one will be playing for another thirty minutes.¡±


    I walked over to the stage and stood there not knowing what to do. If I kept carrying my huge square bag around, I¡¯d look odd. I¡¯d look silly carrying around my cajon, and since I was shorter than anyone here, my sitting down on it was going to be the sort of thing folks noticed. Everyone else was being trusting and leaving their equipment by the stage, but no way was I going to just leave my cajon somewhere.


    I got up on the stage, took it out of the bag, sat on it, and started playing softly. Just a slow comforting rhythm. A calm steady heartbeat with a few throbs thrown in for variety.


    I hadn¡¯t wanted to draw attention, but I¡¯d already done it. The speakers made a few electronic noises as Mr. Gibbs connected and moved around a few microphones. A kid got on stage and went to the double bass that¡¯d been sitting on the stage along with some chairs and microphone stands.


    I did a double take. The boy tuning the double bass was another Goblin, so there were going to be three of us on stage. The Goblin on the double bass was good¡ªNo, he wasn¡¯t just good, he was brilliant.


    He paused for a moment and gestured for me to move closer. I picked up my cajon and put it where he pointed, and I sat close to him and we played. Mr. Gibbs ran over and moved some mikes around.


    In my family, Hugo played the bass and was a great player. He got into the groove when playing and made it work. This fellow I was playing with on the stage was a genius. He played the groove perfectly, adding taps on the face of his bass and wove in melodies and flourishes of movement.


    I was so into the moment I hadn¡¯t noticed the bottleneck guitar music come in until a measure of the music had slid by. Slowly, the sound shifted from deep counter rhythms to deep, dark creepy resonance that spoke of Spanish moss covered trees and things that hid in the dark. Since the bass player and I were both on the list of those comfortable in scant light, we welcomed the shift in the music.


    The bass player was softly echoing the dark tone and turning the feel of slowly gliding over dark water into a visceral, lower, and uneven glide over the deep, dark water below. I took my shaker in hand and added a rattlesnake sort of threat where it felt right and tapped a simple slow heartbeat sound to add to the feeling that you might have taken a wrong turn at the last cypress.


    This wasn¡¯t the lively gotta move sort of music I usually backed up, but my long habit of joining in soft and exploring the feel before adding my touch to the tune let me blend in easily. Odd how I felt lost playing with Vic and felt at home with these two. I opened my eyes and looked at the other four musicians on the stage.


    Mr. Gibbs had his guitar slung in front of him ready to play, but his hands were on the mixer in front of him.


    Vic had his eyes closed, and he slowly moved his head as the music flowed. The three other musicians just watched. A man with a saxophone met my eyes and smiled at me. I nodded to him. I think he took that as a cue to come in, so he lifted his sax and started in with a slow, low wandering wail that faded out before the next faltering, but perfect, note came in. The feeling of gently paddling an overloaded boat with the water scant inches from flowing in and something large moving in the deep water below came to mind as he played.


    He explored a few variations then stopped playing. The guitarist finished the line he was playing, and that left me and the bass player who echoed the guitarist¡¯s last phrase a few times and stopped. I gave one last rattle with my shaker and slowly faded out the heartbeat, sped it up a moment unevenly, then let the sound drift away.


    My part in this had been simple. Not much more than a sort of double pat on the cajon and an occasional shake of the shaker. But I was happy to have been part of it.


    The double bass player nodded to me. ¡°Call me Gumbo Dan, everyone else does.¡±


    My feeling about the name must have shown. He explained, ¡°Years back, I was with a group talking about what sort of nickname we wanted. I said, ¡®As long as we avoid trite names like Gumbo Dan, we¡¯ll be okay.¡¯ The name stuck with me. I even thought I had left it behind, but an old friend showed up and used it. I have given up fighting about it.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m Phil. I don¡¯t know if I even want a nickname.¡±


    The slide guitarist said, ¡°Pleased to meet you, I-Don¡¯t-Know-Phil. They call me Overkill Jones. I rather like it, but I don¡¯t know where they got Jones from or overkill. My name¡¯s Jake. I hope the recording¡¯s good, ¡®cause I want to hear it again.¡±


    The sax player and the slide guitarist got up, so I had a chance to talk with the double bass player. ¡°Your family live near hear?¡±


    Gumbo Dan pointed to the microphone Mr. Gibbs had put in front of my cajon then put his finger in front of his lips to indicate our conversation might be recorded.


    I nodded and gestured to the table with the lemonade on it. ¡°Join me for some lemonade?¡±


    He got up and carefully placed his bass in its stand. We walked off the stage to get fresh drinks.


    He looked around and poured a drink. ¡°My family got rounded up in the seventies, I think. How about you?¡±


    I said, ¡°I had some encounters with a few interesting folk. My family¡¯s more than a bit skittish, so they fled and left me. I have an invitation to visit but not to stay.¡±


    He winced. ¡°Harsh that. Getting abandoned twice. What sort of interesting folk?¡±


    I took the drink he handed me. ¡°Well, for one thing, I got abducted by Fairies. They probably think I¡¯m gonna fade to Fairy and don¡¯t want to be dragged in with me.¡±


    He asked, ¡°You plan to visit Fairy anytime soon?¡±


    I cocked my head. ¡°Maybe. If you find a nice one, they have been known to be kind to musicians. But I can¡¯t even see them, so that might not be the most sensible plan.¡±


    A couple of the other musicians came up to us so our conversation died.


    Odd thing about music, sometimes it flows like it was meant to be. Other times, it¡¯s nice but not a revelation. The music that followed was nice. Maybe it was the full set of drums being played, and maybe it was just a magic moment that was over, but when I added in with the triangle or shaker or cajon, I felt like it was a contribution and the music was good, but I didn¡¯t feel that lean in sort of jam feeling.


    The drummer smiled at me, and we worked well together, but there was no magic. He was the big-toothed handsome sort of surfer guy women fell for. When I explored an odd rhythm, he backed me up, but I didn¡¯t want to take over the music and make it all about me, so it was more easy listening than stuff that made you want to get up and dance.


    The sax player had to leave early, the slide guitarist gave me a nod and pointed like he wanted to jam with me again. I smiled but he turned and left. Mr. Gibbs was talking with the group gathered around the keg and Vic was serving, so I started packing my cajon up. It was late and clouds had rolled in, making for one of those hard travel nights where you used the street lights as best you could.


    I looked over at Gumbo Dan, and he nodded to me. ¡°Looks like we might have to get a ride or wait it out in shadow.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°The way they¡¯re going after the beer, none of them should be driving, and we probably shouldn¡¯t wait.¡±


    He looked at his huge double bass and shook his head. I could tell he didn¡¯t want to slog home with partial light on a night that was looking like rain.


    I asked, ¡°Is there someone close that would bring us to them if we summoned them?¡±


    He gave me a hard look then softened it. ¡°You aren¡¯t joking, are you?¡±


    ¡°Nope. It¡¯s the only magic I know, but I can manage it if you think whoever I called wouldn¡¯t get too creeped out.¡±


    He thought about it for a while and looked at the group around the beer keg. ¡°Normally, I can sneak off and take to the shadows. This sucks. By the way, my name really is Dan, and I really hope the recording of that first piece was good. Sometimes, problems with the sound happen, and it all comes out muddy.


    I said, ¡°I might be able to take us somewhere. Let me try.¡± I summoned Mr. Hebert. ¡°Roland Hebert, Phil the Fishmonger summons thee.¡±


    Mr. Hebert answered, ¡°Phil, I was worried when I checked the weather.¡±


    I said, ¡°I have a double bass player with me that might need a place to stay the night.¡±


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°Can I have a look at him first?¡±


    I connected so he could see the surroundings. Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Bring him in. The storm is looking worse where you are.¡±


    I put my bag over my shoulder. ¡°Dan, hold onto my hand and hug your bass.¡±


    When we were ready, Mr. Hebert brought us through.


    I introduced Dan, ¡°Mr. Hebert, this is Dan, Dan this is Mr. Hebert.¡±


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°Dan, do you need to use a phone?¡±


    He said, ¡°No, no one¡¯s going to be worried about me.¡± He gave me a look.


    Mr. Hebert asked ¡°Is anyone hungry?¡±


    ¡°Starving,¡± I said.


    I set my bag down and noticed Dan¡¯s nervousness. ¡°Dan, no one will take it amiss if you keep your bass with you. You just met us.¡±


    He nodded but he left his bass beside my cajon.


    In the kitchen, I started cutting vegetables while Mr. Hebert dug around in the freezer.


    Mr. Hebert called to me, ¡°Phil, we¡¯re going to need to stock up on lamb soon.¡±


    I stopped chopping and made a note on the whiteboard so we didn¡¯t forget.


    Uncle Anthony came in and nodded to me as he went to the sink to wash dried clay off his hands. ¡°Phil, we either need to move your clay room to a sink or get a sink in your clay room.¡±


    I said, ¡°Dan, this is Uncle Anthony, Uncle Anthony, this is Dan, the best double bass player I¡¯ve ever heard. You won¡¯t even believe what he can do on a double bass.¡±


    Uncle Anthony hung up the kitchen towel and shook hands with Dan. ¡°I look forward to hearing you play. So, Phil, I met a fellow when I was out on a walk. He wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings about you getting stuck in a tree. Before he moved here, he had a place up in Maryland where he had some issues with wild boys. Between you and me, I think the long years have made him a bit paranoid, but I would advise anyone traveling in the neighborhood to stick to the streets and not venture too far off into shadow.¡±


    Dan asked, ¡°Is this a nice house in a bad neighborhood?¡±


    Mr. Hebert came in with a package of ground lamb. ¡°This neighborhood has a lot of Daemons. A lot of nice houses, with rich neighbors that trade out every twenty years or so. I hold onto this place, but I¡¯ll probably be moving again in another few years. Phil, how do you feel about moving to Vermont for twenty years or so?¡±


    I kept chopping. ¡°I¡¯ve only been out of Louisiana the one time, but it sounds fun. Snow and all. Is this enough onions?¡±


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°Dan, do you like onions?¡±


    Dan said, ¡°Looking forward to whatever you¡¯re making and thanking you for the meal.¡±


    Mr. Hebert nodded to me, and I grabbed a couple more onions to chop.


    Dan rubbed his head. ¡°You know, I was always told to avoid Daemons.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said. ¡°Really good advice, in my opinion. I mostly do, but I was out on a walk and couldn¡¯t just shadow step away. When a Daemon¡¯s leaning over a hedge and has a shotgun with him, I try not to look too alarmed and keep everything friendly.¡±


    Mr. Hebert took down the large wok. I smiled at Dan. ¡°You¡¯re in luck, Dan. Mr. Hebert spent years in China. His stir fry¡¯s amazing.¡±


    Mr. Hebert gestured to Uncle Anthony. ¡°Can you show Dan to his room while we cook? Dan, I ordered a bunch of clothing for Phil that was too big for him. We washed it all, hoping it might shrink but it didn¡¯t. Some of it will probably fit you, so you¡¯re welcome to it if it suits you.¡±


    Uncle Anthony asked, ¡°Is it the stuff in the hall cabinets?¡±


    I said, ¡°Yeah. Later, I¡¯ll check my closet. I have a suit that will probably fit him.¡±


    Dan followed Uncle Anthony. ¡°Are all of you always so generous?¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°More desperately lonely than generous. We aren¡¯t too proud to buy friends as long as they stay bought.¡±


    After they were gone, Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°No pressure, but do you think he¡¯d work out for a traveling band?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Just met him. He¡¯s more than good enough, but I barely know him.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Just checking. Don¡¯t press or pressure him about Fairies. If it works out, great, but I would rather make friends. You know me. Always plotting and then regretting my wicked plans.¡±


    I nodded.

 Shadow鈥檚 Queen

    I was cleaning the main filters and had the main flow of water running into the large tank. It was raining so I was letting some of the water discharge go instead of saving it to water the garden.


    Dan shadow stepped down to a dry area under an awning. ¡°I saw your paintings. You do that and raise fish?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°Good morning, Dan. How did you sleep?¡±


    He returned my smile. ¡°Best bed ever. There was a note saying I didn¡¯t have to risk the weather. Is it really okay for me to stay a bit?¡±


    I said, ¡°If you play some music for them, they may get all needy and try to guilt you into staying for a while. But there¡¯s an ulterior motive, sort of. It isn¡¯t a deal breaker or even a bargain, but Mr. Hebert collects Fairylands and would like to turn them to a profit. Part of that plan involves getting to know a few Goblins in hopes that there might be one interested in exploring Fairylands. Another goal is for me to be gifted with the sight and a few other things.¡±


    Dan asked, ¡°Have you been to Fairy?¡±


    ¡°Yep and it¡¯s as scary as they say. They¡¯ll poison you as soon as shake your hand, and after they have poisoned you, they¡¯ll ask if you want breakfast. While we¡¯re on the subject, it¡¯s a bit late for breakfast, but how does a fried catfish po¡¯boy sound for lunch?¡±


    Dan came over to look down at the sand I was rinsing out. ¡°Really good. Phil, I know it¡¯s hard to resist, and without a family around you, even harder, but keeping cats is dangerous. I saw a couple of the Wize once. You don¡¯t want to end up half-cat and deformed.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m not taking them into shadow. Besides, Mr. Hebert spends more time with them than I do.¡±


    #


    While eating po¡¯boys, Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Weather reports may be lying, but they say the weather will be clear. The broker who¡¯s managing the sale of the place up in Arkansas thinks we can get more if we build a platform or put up a house and have a large room around the gateway. I haven¡¯t seen the property, so do you think you could shadow step up there and summon me?


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to spend a few million building a lodge or something without having a better idea about what we¡¯re looking at, and while the broker comes well recommended, the recommendations are all from Daemons, so let¡¯s keep a count on our fingers.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°If the broker¡¯s savvy, can I just summon him?¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Once again, that might be just the trap a Daemon would plan. Better not get summoned into a warded place or worse. I realize it¡¯s more work, but let¡¯s be careful.¡±


    Dan looked at me. ¡°Is this a Fairyland you want to visit?¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°No. This one¡¯s much too dangerous. They stabbed Phil. Could¡¯ve killed him. We want to sell it and let it be someone else¡¯s problem.¡±


    #


    Dan and I were sailing through shadow with the dawn sun shining through the trees. We were going north though so we had to backtrack and find better paths a few times. The sun was well up above the trees by the time we got to the ravine with the gateway over it.


    I summoned Mr. Hebert, and he came out with his camera and started taking pictures. ¡°Phil, building a lodge here would be great, but getting a road here to do it would make it a lot more expensive. I say we drop our price to a quarter what we¡¯re asking and just sell it quick. You¡¯re getting half of it. Are you good with that?¡±


    I said, ¡°I don¡¯t feel good with getting half of half, that¡¯s a lot, and I¡¯d feel bad about passing a dangerous investment on to someone else.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°It¡¯ll be a wizard or a Daemon who may just know how to manage these things. I almost feel bad for the Folk on the other side of the gateway.¡±


    Dan got closer to Mr. Hebert and me. ¡°I think I saw something bright move over there.¡±


    Mr. Hebert held out his hand. I summoned Uncle Anthony and took Dan, Mr. Hebert, and myself home.


    #


    Dan had already taken his double bass out of the music room, so I knew he had decided he was close to outstaying his welcome. In a way, I was relieved because I wanted to get back to working clay and painting, and I felt obliged to entertain him when he was here.


    I¡¯d already steamed and pressed the suits I was giving him so there wasn¡¯t much for me to do but to see him off.


    It was twilight and as he took off into shadow and disappeared, I heard someone clear their throat.


    Count Juniper was up on the pedestal of a statue of a mounted horseman. The horse was well carved, but the details of the horseman were so bad, I contemplated trying to fix the carving by removing the horseman.


    Count Juniper said, ¡°Rummage hired me again. Thou must know that she still considers herself in thy debt.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Doest thou want some bread pudding?¡±


    He said, ¡°Of course, of course, but she wants to see if trade negotiations might be possible.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m too likely to offend such a great lady and her court. Let me get thee some bread pudding to take with thee though.¡±


    He said, ¡°My friend was delighted by the gift of the bread pudding and disappointed that he never got to hear thee play.¡±


    I said, ¡°Once again, I¡¯m a common Goblin and not the sort to deal with royalty. I¡¯m ever so glad that my meager efforts didn¡¯t offend anyone.¡±


    Count Juniper jumped down from the pedestal and looked up at me. ¡°Thou must know that in my profession we often lament the insane confidence and obvious greed of the mortals that we most often entertain. Yet I¡¯m finding now that greedy and overconfident folk may be harder to please, but they¡¯re a lot less difficult to manage than thou art.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Doest thou want to come in? I¡¯ll fix up the bread pudding.¡±


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    Count Juniper winced. ¡°Thou hast two deadly cats in there that would love the chance of cornering me. No, I¡¯ll stay out here, thank thee very much.¡±


    I bowed to him. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back with some bread pudding.¡±


    He said, ¡°Queen Rummage is prepared to pay for thee not to sell the property her gateway¡¯s on.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯ll have to talk with Mr. Hebert. Canst I summon thee later?¡±


    He looked at the door and then back at me.


    I bowed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll bring thee pudding in either case.¡±


    #


    Sunday was overcast and raining again, so I decided not to go to the jam session. Uncle Anthony and I spent the evening painting as we discussed the shed we were going to put up for working clay in. Every time we discussed it, we ended up deciding it needed to be larger.


    Mr. Hebert came in and sat. ¡°I had the most interesting discussion with the broker. When I told him we were contemplating taking the Arkansas property off the market, he was absolutely delighted. Then he turned the conversation around to Goblins and music. He mentioned a Goblin music Festival in Gary, Indiana, that happens every full moon.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Did you ever mention you had a Goblin living with you?¡±


    Mr. Hebert shook his head.


    Uncle Anthony gestured with his paintbrush. ¡°More than a few of the Fairy gentry and higher ranked probably know of your association. I can¡¯t even begin to tell you how loudly this screams, ¡®Setup!¡¯¡±


    Mr. Hebert squinted at me like he was evaluating things. ¡°It would be just like a Daemon to have you lured to a meeting where a raid on the Goblins was in the works. I would avoid it like the plague.¡±


    I considered what he¡¯d said. ¡°Can we go out to the tack room?¡±


    Uncle Anthony, Mr. Hebert, and I all went down to the underground steel vault and sealed ourselves in.


    ¡°If I went days early and warned a few Goblins, how likely would that be the trap?¡±


    Uncle Anthony asked, ¡°How¡¯re you going to find other Goblins?¡±


    I said, ¡°There are going to be common bottlenecks of shadow where Goblins travel. I¡¯ll avoid the ones that are potentially dangerous, but so will most Goblins. Goblins can feel the passage of other Goblins, so it¡¯ll be easy for me to find a few and, unless they¡¯re skittish, make contact.


    ¡°If they¡¯re skittish, then the odds are they won¡¯t be going to a music festival anyway.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°We can both tell you¡¯re going to do this, and you¡¯re going to be careful. Could you summon us before you get into town so we could be ready to bring you back in a moment¡¯s notice?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I can even regularly check in with you and let you know how it¡¯s going. If it looks dangerous, we could keep a connection open.¡±


    #


    I was using the shadow of a train track and making good time. I rested in the shadows of the train track¡¯s rock bed as trains passed by. I had just crossed a river when I felt the gentlest ripple in the shadow. I took off through woods, jumping shadow to shadow and taking myself to the tops of trees then down to the ground, moving as silently and smoothly as I could.


    What had passed me was something more comfortable in shadow than me. I slowed and hid and felt the gentle ripple again. I took to the leaf bed and it continued chasing. I fled shadow to shadow, dodging in the best way I knew. The gentle shadow¡¯s touch was still trailing me.


    As I ran, it became clear. I was being herded to the river. It wanted to corner me in a turn of the river, and it was keeping the pressure on me. That was fine by me. I didn¡¯t mind the water. As I approached the bank, I felt the shadows ahead. I took off deep and lost myself in the weeds before coming up to the opposite bank. I had to come to the shadows of the weeds growing from a sandbar. I stepped out of shadow and into full sun. Whatever was in shadow would not be able to follow me here.


    I stepped out of the weeds. My feet were wet, but I was dressed for that and used to muck and mud. A pair of girls were sitting on a blanket having a picnic. They saw me and one of them waved. I walked past, not getting close. I wanted to be out of sight before I summoned Mr. Hebert and left. Then I would find another path to Gary, Indiana.


    At the point where I was closest to the girls, I glanced over at them. They almost looked like Goblin girls. Both of them looked a couple of years older than me and both were cute.


    One of them cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, ¡°Phil, we¡¯ve been waiting for you.¡±


    I was stranded on a large sandbank in full sun. By the time I summoned Mr. Hebert, they could easily pull a gun out of their gear and shoot me. I walked over and stood where we could talk.


    One of the girls twirled the hair by her ear and revealed that it was pointed. She laughed. ¡°You look so serious.¡±


    The other girl said, ¡°Don¡¯t tease him. We don¡¯t want to run him off. Phil, let me explain all of this. Very shortly, you are going to be a Fairy King. Maybe even a true king of Fairy. Then you¡¯re going to get an ever so lovely Fairyland.¡±


    I turned. A black truck was driving up.


    I turned back to them. The one playing with her hair said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, that would be the Shadow¡¯s Queen.


    A tall, beautiful Daemon I¡¯d met years before stepped out of the truck. It was the Shadow¡¯s Queen.


    She brushed back her hair. ¡°You¡¯re as good as they say. That was a delightful chase you led me on. We were quite well prepared, or you might have lost me. Phil, you have befriended two ancient unique treasures, and we fear that the coming years might be dangerous for them. We think you¡¯re the only one who can keep them safe. Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯ll have help. But at least for a few years, we need you to take Roland and Anthony with you and fade to Fairy.


    The truck was turning around, but she didn¡¯t even glance back. ¡°Time passes so fast in Real, I shouldn¡¯t have stayed so long. Yet, I wouldn¡¯t have missed this chase. Girls, take good care of this boy. The Fates say that while he isn¡¯t much to look at now, you might regret letting this one pass you by.¡±


    She nodded to me and transformed into a large black bird with outstretched wings. I flinched and dropped to the ground. I turned my head to see her swoop, fold her wings for a moment, grab a chicken wing from one of the girls¡¯ plates, and take off flying. As she crossed the river, she dropped the chicken wing and sailed into the woods that she had recently chased me through.


    Twirly-hair girl asked, ¡°Why¡¯d she steal it if she was just going to drop it in the river?¡±


    The other girl said, ¡°She just figured out it was store-bought. You know how picky she is.¡±


    They both nodded. Twirly-hair girl said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about us chasing you. We were picked for this because we don¡¯t wanna ever grow up, and we look close enough to your physical age.¡±


    The other girl said, ¡°That and we both look so sweet that butter won¡¯t melt in our mouths.¡±


    She stuck out her tongue a short way like a cat might.


    I asked, ¡°Why set this up and scare me if you just wanted to talk. If you knew enough about me to set this up, what was the point?¡±


    Cat-tongue girl said, ¡°Folk are easier to predict when they get scared. In case you haven¡¯t noticed, the neighborhood you live in is full of interesting people. Having anyone from our group visit you might have drawn some interesting attention. We managed the dam downstream and lowered the water. This part of the sandbar¡¯s usually under water. It¡¯ll rain soon and will wash away any physical, mental, or psychic impressions on this sandbar so we have a sort of temporal privacy. It¡¯ll be under running water, so a lot of creatures that might be interested won¡¯t venture into this area anyway. The question was how to get you right here, right now, in the full sun that also washes impressions away and prevents some folk from hearing.¡±


    Twirly-hair girl pointed to the other girl. ¡°I¡¯m Effa and this is Nia. Don¡¯t worry about the Goblin Music Festival, it was never in danger and is being watched over. Don¡¯t worry about the weather. If you summon me this full moon coming, say about late afternoon, you can bring a friend. Expect a few hugs since you warned me about the horrible raid that was going to happen, and you were so very heroic to do so.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°But I didn¡¯t.¡±


    Nia smiled at me. ¡°You were going to, and you still planned to after you escaped us.¡± She held out a girls¡¯ purse and dropped it. ¡°It¡¯s so brave of you to want to go to the Festival just to be sure I got my purse back after I dropped it. The small box and everything in it is for you, though. Return the rest to me when you come.¡±


    Effa twirled her hair and pulled back a corner of the blanket they sat on, exposing a large stone embedded in the sandy bank. There was a Fairy gateway on it.


    Nia pointed at the rock and said, ¡°Off to Fairy with you, and we¡¯ll see you at the Festival. I look forward to the wonderful surprise of playing music with the man who came to our rescue.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What do you play?¡±


    She giggled. ¡°A double bass, silly.¡± She pointed sternly to the rock. I almost blushed from the cute of it, so I went through the gateway as it was my only quick escape from having her see me blush.

 She might be D-A-F-T

    Layers of fog drifted past revealing golden pillars. Above, the mist shifted for a moment and a moon peeked out, partially obscured by drifting clouds.


    A break in the mist appeared, and a huge white stone throne was visible. Perched on one of the giant arms of the throne, a small preschool aged-looking girl with a gap tooth was peering down at me. The fog obscured her. The even light diffused by soft cold fog precluded my passage to shadow. I looked to the side and saw a goat running past and into the fog.


    A voice shouted, ¡°Get in line!¡±


    I turned to look, but of course, I couldn¡¯t see anything.


    ¡°What¡¯s he looking at?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s get him.¡±


    I went back through the gateway.


    #


    It was dark so I summoned Mr. Hebert.


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    I jumped. The preschool girl had wrapped her arms around my left leg.


    I altered the summons so that Mr. Hebert could see the girl.


    She made an open mouthed exclamation that showed her gap tooth. ¡°Who art thou calling?¡±


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°Who¡¯s she?¡±


    I said, ¡°She was in a Fairyland.¡±


    The little girl said, ¡°I¡¯ll bite you if you don¡¯t tell me who you¡¯re calling.¡±


    Mr Hebert said, ¡°Be careful, just tell her who I am.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m calling Mr. Hebert.¡±


    A voice said. ¡°We sped up time ¡®cause you left, and we didn¡¯t want to wait.¡±


    The little girl holding my leg said, ¡°You got it backwards. If you slow time when I go to Real, then you don¡¯t wait as long.¡± She looked back up at me. ¡°How slow was time when we left?¡±


    The voice said, ¡°You¡¯re the one that normally fixes the time.¡±


    She looked at me and smiled. ¡°Can you read a clock?¡±


    The voice asked, ¡°Why did you leave?¡±


    The little girls said, ¡°¡¯Cause my new boyfriend ran off to Real, and I had to tell him I eat my boyfriends if they run off.¡±


    She made animated large bites and moved her head like she was eating a giant ear of corn.


    The voice said, ¡°Don¡¯t believe her. She¡¯s a vegetarian and she doesn¡¯t have a boyfriend.¡±


    ¡°Do, too.¡±


    ¡°Do not.¡±


    ¡°Do, too.¡±


    ¡°Do not, do not, do not.¡±


    ¡°Do, too times a hundred. He¡¯s my boyfriend.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Be careful she may be D-A-F-T.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Daft?¡±


    The little girl looked around nervously. ¡°Where? Stay back. Everyone, return to Snipsnort. Boyfriend, when I let go, go back through the gateway. I¡¯ll stay and try to misdirect the Daft Fairy. First, though, don¡¯t point but erewhay isay ethay Aftday Airyfay?¡±


    Mr. Hebert said. ¡°Play along but be serious and boring. Don¡¯t go to sleep whatever you do. Daft Fairies are dangerous. Don¡¯t run, don¡¯t hide, don¡¯t even go to shadow. When they get bored and wander off, you can probably leave safely.


    ¡°Don¡¯t lie but tell the truth carefully. Tell her you can¡¯t see the invisible, so you can¡¯t possibly be sure where any hidden folk might be unless they are visible and you feel the sort of confusion that indicates that daftness is probably nearby.¡±


    I said, ¡°While I do have that confused feeling you get in the presence of daftness, I don¡¯t have the sight, so I might not be able to point one out if I saw one because I might not see one.¡±


    The voice said, ¡°He does sound like he¡¯s being influenced by daftness.¡±


    The girl said, ¡°Put me on your shoulders.¡±


    I picked her up and put her on my shoulders. She grabbed my hair tight and pulled back. She kissed my forehead. ¡°Now look.¡±


    Three small people were nervously backing up toward the rock. One of them reached the rock and disappeared. The other two disappeared. Then I was back in the Fairyland in front of the giant white stone throne.


    Large golden pillars went up to a white stone framework, and the sun was visible and slowly moving across the sky.


    The little girl pointed and said, ¡°Giddy up.¡±


    I started walking.


    ¡°Faster.¡±


    I said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to trip and have you fall.¡±


    She prodded with me with her feet. ¡°Horses are faster. It¡¯s hard to pretend when you don¡¯t go fast enough.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m pretending I¡¯m a really old horse and feeble. This might be my last ride before I¡¯m put out to pasture.¡±


    She said, ¡°Riding goats is faster, but this is higher.¡±


    She wrapped her fingers tighter into my hair and pointed my head to a grove of trees. ¡°Go to the trees.¡±


    I stopped walking. ¡°The old sad horse gets confused when its hair gets pulled. He may just lay down and roll if his hair¡¯s pulled again.¡±


    She asked, ¡°You want some pears?¡±


    I said, ¡°If I eat Fairy food, I¡¯ll probably get horrible stomachaches and die. No more rides if I die.¡±


    She said, ¡°It¡¯s safe. This was going to be a hell, but it wasn¡¯t big enough and the hell mistress was discovered breaking the rules and went to hell. Everything¡¯s mostly real except the fog up here. Hey Guy likes to make it foggy. Hurry up. We can reach fruit that no one could reach. Well, they could turn into a bird, but then the fruit just gets peck holes in it and knocked to the ground.¡±


    I sped up a little, and when we got to the first tree with pears, she stood on my shoulders and started picking pears and handing them down to me. She wasn¡¯t having any trouble balancing while standing on my shoulders.


    She said, ¡°Hold up the bottom of your shirt up so you can put pears in it. I don¡¯t mean to be rude but, you¡¯re a boy, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    I started to nod, but I didn¡¯t want to cause her trouble while standing on my shoulders. ¡°Yes.¡±


    She said, ¡°You have a girls¡¯ purse.¡±


    I said, ¡°I need to give it back to her.¡±


    Through the summons, Mr. Hebert said, ¡°I don¡¯t think she is daft, just childish. You may be able to get the sight, illusion use, and the ability to connect with a Fairyland.¡±


    She sat back down on my shoulders. ¡°Are you still talking to that mister guy?¡±


    I nodded.


    ¡°What¡¯s he saying?¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Be careful and tell the truth, just not much of it.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s telling me to be honest but careful what I say.¡±


    She shifted on my shoulders. ¡°Let¡¯s go back and share the pears. What does he want?¡±


    I said, ¡°Mostly for me to be safe.¡±


    She started playing with my hair as we walked. ¡°We could dress you as a girl if you want.¡±


    I said, ¡°Rather not.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Why are you in Fairy?¡±


    I said, ¡°That¡¯s kind of complicated and supposed to be a secret. Several secrets really.¡±


    She stroked my hair down and leaned on my head. ¡°I love secrets.¡±


    I kept walking.


    She said, ¡°I really, really like secrets.¡±


    I said, ¡°If I tell all my secrets, they won¡¯t be secrets, and to tell about some of the secrets, I¡¯d be betraying others. I don¡¯t want to do that.¡±


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    I felt her nodding. She patted my head. ¡°I have a secret.¡±


    I said, ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to know my secret?¡±


    I said, ¡°Only if it¡¯s just thine own secret, and thou art not going to betray anyone.¡±


    She said, ¡°My secret is how I can tell you are from Real. I said ¡®you¡¯ over and over, and you didn¡¯t get angry.¡¯¡±


    I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a good secret, but what if I were a powerful other world being and got angry?¡±


    She said, ¡°I like to fight. Do you like to fight?¡±


    I shook my head.


    She said, ¡°I told you my secret, now tell me all the little secrets that you can tell me. I can tell if you lie so tell me.¡±


    I said, ¡°Thou might not like me if I told thee all my secrets.¡±


    She said, ¡°Quick, before we get to to the throne.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Who is the throne for?¡±


    She said, ¡°Nobody. We had a big throne made ¡®cause it was neat and when people come in they think I might have a Titan or something. We don¡¯t have a king, so some folk might say things.¡±


    I said, ¡°One of my secrets is that I¡¯m supposed to become a king of Fairy.¡±


    She said, ¡°Are not.¡±


    I said, ¡°I thought thou didst say that thou couldst tell when I told a lie.¡±


    She said, ¡°Okay, I¡¯m looking at your aura now. Tell me again.¡±


    ¡°I was told that I was going to become a king of Fairy.¡±


    She said, ¡°Being told isn¡¯t the same as going to be a king of Fairy. If I told you, you were going to be able to turn into a rook, you still might not be able to turn into a rook unless you already could or I gifted you with turning into a rook.¡±


    I said, ¡°I gave thee a ride and helped thee to pick fruit, but thou wilt not gift me with transformation. Sad really.¡±


    She said, ¡°Gifts are supposed to be rare and given on special occasions. I already gave you the sight.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°Well, I thank thee and that makes me one step closer to being a Fairy king.¡±


    She pointed to the throne. ¡°Everyone left. What else do you need to become a Fairy king?¡±


    I said, ¡°I need illusions and to learn how to connect with a Fairyland. Probably. Maybe more than that, but I¡¯m supposed to be able to maybe make real things if I get those.¡±


    She said, ¡°Not. I¡¯m a Duchess and I can¡¯t just make things. You need a lot more than illusions. Are you supposed to see through illusions or make them? There are a lot of types of illusions, and you need to be able to manage gossamer as well.¡±


    We got to the front of the throne, and she slipped down from my shoulders. ¡°If you eat a pear you¡¯ll connect with this Fairyland. It won¡¯t kill you. But when you die, you¡¯ll come here and stay.¡±


    I said, ¡°I can¡¯t tell if someone¡¯s lying and I¡¯m a big chicken.¡±


    She sat down. ¡°We have chickens. Sit down and let¡¯s look at the pears.¡±


    I sat down, took the pears out of my shirt, and placed them in front of her. ¡°I¡¯m still not going to eat anything.¡±


    She gestured with her hand like she wanted me to get closer. She pouted. ¡°I can¡¯t gift you if you don¡¯t let me kiss you.¡±


    I lowered my head, and she kissed my forehead a couple of times.


    She pointed to a pear. ¡°Is is safe?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Still not going to eat it. I¡¯m not sure about committing to live here for all of eternity when I die.¡±


    She smiled at me. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s put your eternity where your mouth is. You eat the pear, and you commit to this Fairyland. I gift you all the stuff you need. If you become a Fairy king, you¡¯ll be our Fairy king. If you don¡¯t become a Fairy king, then for your very first form, you have to turn into a rooster.


    ¡°I have to warn thee. Turning into yourself is a lot wiser, and a lot of folk can only ever turn into one thing. I have five forms, but I¡¯m a Duchess after all.¡±


    Through the connection, Mr. Hebert said, ¡°If you¡¯re able to make things, it¡¯ll be worth being a rooster.¡±


    I held out my hand. ¡°Do we shake on it?¡±


    She spit in her palm, held out her small pudgy preschooler hand, and gave me a wide grin. I spit in mine and we shook.


    She stood. ¡°First you eat the pear! Then you¡¯ll be Fay and my Fairy brother.¡±


    I picked up the pear and took a bite. It was hard, not like the ones you buy, but like the ones you find in old abandoned orchards. It was a good pear and still juicy despite being hard.


    She picked up a pear and took a bite. Then she offered me her pear. ¡°We share pears. I¡¯m called Duchess Bye-bye and your title will be Prince Rooster.¡±


    We alternated taking bites from each other¡¯s pear and then our own. A few small people came in.


    A girl with hair almost to her feet asked, ¡°Doest thou use a name?¡±


    Duchess Bye-bye said, ¡°He¡¯s Prince Rooster.¡±


    The girl with the long hair said, ¡°They call me Hippy-dippy. Welcome to Snipsnort.¡±


    Duchess Bye-bye picked up a pair of pears, handed one to Hippy-dippy and the other to the fellow that was half hiding behind a corner of the throne. ¡°Imma gonna gift Prince Rooster with everything I can. If he becomes a Fairy king, then we has a Fairy king. If he fails, then his very first form will be a rooster.¡±


    The fellow hiding behind the corner of the throne said, ¡°My name is ¡®My bestest friend in the whole wide world.¡¯¡±


    Hippy-dippy rolled her eyes. ¡°He changes his name all the time. He was ¡®The guy I think is the Coolest in the Universe¡¯ just a little while ago. So we just call him ¡®Hey Guy.¡¯¡± She turned and yelled at him, ¡°I¡¯m still going to call him Hey Guy.¡±


    Hey Guy wrinkled his nose at Hippy-dippy and hid behind the throne.


    I asked, ¡°Shall we get started, Duchess Bye-bye?¡±


    She said, ¡°Just call me Duchy. ¡®Cause if you say. ¡®Bye,¡¯ or ¡®Bye-bye,¡¯ someone will think you¡¯re leaving.¡±


    Hippy-dippy crossed her eyes and looked up at me. ¡°Can you cross your eyes?¡±


    I crossed my eyes.


    She said a quick little poem. ¡°If with a gift you¡¯re kissed and see a mist, cross your eyes so you resist.¡±


    I sat down. ¡°Is this Fairyland really named ¡®Snipsnort?¡¯


    Dutchess Bye-bye said, ¡°That¡¯s its name ¡®cause Anteater told the Archives that was the name, and without a Fairy King or Queen, we can¡¯t get it changed.¡±


    A girl that looked just a year younger than me walked up and sat by the pears. ¡°That means that Duchess Bye-bye isn¡¯t really Duchess Bye-bye. She¡¯s Snipsnort.¡±


    Duchess Bye-bye said, ¡°Am not. You¡¯re Snipsnort.¡±


    She said, ¡°Nope, I¡¯m Lady Anteater, and it¡¯s registered with the heralds.


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Anthony¡¯s calling me back. I need to tell him we found you.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Should I summon you later?¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°If it looks like you¡¯re in any sort of danger.¡±


    I felt the summons end.


    Duchess Bye-bye asked, ¡°What should we gift him first?


    Lady Anteater asked, ¡°Is he a he? Most boys won¡¯t carry a purse.¡±


    I looked at the purse I was wearing strapped over my shoulder. ¡°I have to find the girl that dropped it and return it.¡±


    ¡°Is she your girlfriend?¡±


    The Duchess shook her head and latched onto my arm. ¡°He¡¯s my boyfriend.¡±


    Hippy-dippy shook her head and her hair whipped around her. ¡°No, he can¡¯t be your boyfriend ¡®cause you¡¯re the mommy, and Lord Lodestone¡¯s the daddy.¡± Hippy-dippy looked me. ¡°I¡¯m the baby girl. Tell Duchess Bye-bye social realism isn¡¯t allowed when you play house.¡±


    Duchess Bye-bye said, ¡°We¡¯re about to play turn the boy into a rooster. To play that game prolly all of us¡¯re going to have to kiss him. So I guess he¡¯s our grandpaw, ¡®cause everyone can kiss a grandpaw. Unless you want to stay our old worn out horsie. We can all kiss a horsie too. Someone find Lord Lodestone, and tell him we have a new Fairy.¡±


    Hippy-dippy asked, ¡°What hast she gifted thee so far?¡±


    I thought about it and didn¡¯t know if it all had clear names. ¡°I can tell when something is safe to eat, maybe?¡±


    Duchess Bye-bye nodded. ¡°He can detect poisons. He can also detect gossamer, and he can see us. What should we give him next?¡±


    A man of average height with a neatly trimmed beard came in and I got up.


    He offered his hand. ¡°I¡¯m Lord Lodestone. How are you holding up?¡±


    I shook his hand. ¡°I¡¯m Phil the Fishmonger. What do you mean by holding up?¡±


    He said, ¡°The childish prattle will get to you eventually. I take long vacations. We can alternate after you pass away.¡±


    Hippy-dippy said, ¡°See, that¡¯s why he¡¯s the daddy.¡±


    Lord Lodestone closed his eyes and made a long-suffering look.


    They argued over gifting, the order of gifting, and then started gifting me. After each gift, Lord Lodestone had me practice the gift several times. Then he had me come out to the gardens, help him inspect, and do various chores like harvesting, hoeing, and tying vines. Then he¡¯d have me practice again. The gardens were huge.


    When most of the gifts had been given, he said, ¡°So, this was originally going to be a hell. I was against it, but our Fairy queen was convinced it was a great idea. Then it came out that she wanted a hell because she had eternal vengeance planned for quite a few people. That wasn¡¯t terribly long ago from our perspective. Several of us can control time, but Duchess Bye-bye and I are the only ones that really understand how it works and Duchess Bye-bye can¡¯t manage to tell what the time rates are. As a result, we have slowed to a crawl several times.


    ¡°If you can manage time and keep a sense of it, you can help us try and keep things on an even keel. If you can feel when someone¡¯s trying to change the time and resist it, you¡¯ll save us a lot of grief.


    Duchess Bye-bye said, ¡°That¡¯ll be your test. Then we¡¯ll see if you¡¯re a king of Fairy, or you¡¯ll be gifted and have to turn into a rooster.¡±


    Lord Lodestone slowly shook his head and gave me a sorrowful look mixed with sympathy.


    They gifted me then they played with the time rate. I could feel the change, but I couldn¡¯t stop it or make a change on my own.


    The rest of the Fairies made a childish dance around Lord Lodestone and me. They ran off and Hey Guy came back holding a rooster and followed by a flock of chickens and two other roosters. ¡°Meet Mr. Bill. He¡¯s our best rooster.¡±


    The darkest rooster stood up tall from his position in the flock and snorted. ¡°As if.¡±


    The other rooster in the flock said, ¡°Thank thee much. And since thou doest clearly recognize my superiority, I consider thee second best.¡±


    The dark rooster snorted again.


    Mr. Bill eyed me suspiciously as Hey Guy held him out to me.


    Mr. Bill eyed Duchess Bye-bye then gave me a dramatic side eye look. ¡°Art thou getting the ability to turn back?¡±


    Duchess Bye-bye crossed her arms. ¡°Of course he is.¡± Then she looked at me. ¡°Pity he agreed not to learn to turn himself into himself first. But he has no one to blame but himself for agreeing to turn into a rooster before turning into anything else. A Fairy king would be able to transform without making any gestures, but sadly a rooster doesn¡¯t have hands.¡±


    I consider summoning Mr. Hebert but Duchess Bye-bye would know if I summoned him. I looked around at these monstrous creatures. My Goblin uncles taught me that my word was all I had that I could ever count on. I¡¯d made a deal that my very first form would be that of a rooster. Mr. Hebert and I didn¡¯t realize that I was going to be stuck as a rooster.


    I said, ¡°My test was controlling time. How do I know that I was actually gifted with changing time?¡±


    Duchess Bye-bye smiled at me with her gaped-toothed inane yet horribly cute grin. ¡°Because we made a deal, and I always keep my end of a bargain.¡±


    Dennis, my Goblin brother and uncle, twisted deals and weaseled out of the ones he didn¡¯t think he was going to lose and didn¡¯t want to pay up on. The crate he took was mine, I had traded him for it, but he used it to pack anyway. He said the chair I gave him was uncomfortable. He just didn¡¯t want to make more than one trip shadow stepping and decided to leave the chair behind and use the crate.


    Thinking about it, I got a little mad then realized I was getting mad because I¡¯d been tricked. I also realized, being a rooster would be better than being like Dennis. As a rooster I could die, become a Fairy, and then warn anyone that fell into this horrid, almost a hell, Fairyland.


    Duchess Bye-bye tilted her head and looked up to me with a malevolent look and waggled her eyebrows. ¡°Lower your head so I can kiss you.¡±


    I got down on my knees and then I lowered my head. She kissed my forehead. Something was wrong. Everything went fuzzy. I put a hand down to steady myself.


    Someone shouted, ¡°Cross your eyes!¡±


    I crossed my eyes and lay on the ground. Crossing my eyes helped. My mind was slowly clearing, but everything felt like it was slowly turning and wobbling. As my mind cleared. Things fell into place. Even with the gift of transformation, I didn¡¯t ever have to use it. If I didn¡¯t use it then my very first form would never happen.


    Standing over me Duchess Bye-bye said, ¡°Well, he was going to go through with it. Shall we call him a Rooster Prince anyway?¡±


    The two roosters with the flock turned into Hippy-dippy and Lady Anteater.


    Lady Anteater said, ¡°Well, he was going to keep the deal, so he isn¡¯t a chicken, but he can¡¯t belong to the order of the Rooster until he can turn into a Rooster.¡±


    Hippy-dippy said, ¡°Only Anteater, Bye-bye, and I are in the order of the Rooster. The rest of them are all chickens. But right now, thou art halfway between rooster and chicken. Almost brave and honest. We could all see thee deciding to be brave. Many are tested, most fail. Thou didst pass, but barely.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What if I had become a Fairy king?¡±


    Hippy-dippy said, ¡°Sadly, you would not have faced the ordeal, and Fairy kings are usually slippy and tricksy.¡±


    Lady Anteater laughed. ¡°And we left such a big clue for you to be tricksy with.¡±


    Dutchess Bye-bye said, ¡°Such a huge clue, so he isn¡¯t tricksy at all. Maybe it¡¯s hard to be honest and be a Fairy king.¡±


    They nodded, looking at me, and I realized that if you had to have hands to change back, only Fairy royalty would be able to transform and return to their original form.


    I got up and dusted off my pants. There wasn¡¯t really any reason to stay here longer. I¡¯d end up back here when I died, but until then I¡¯d be free. It was a pity that things didn¡¯t work out entirely, but I could make illusions in the air and create gossamer. I could see Fairies, not that I wanted to anytime soon.

 Long Live King Snipsnort

    I summoned Mr. Hebert, ¡°Roland Hebert, Phil the Fishmonger summons thee.¡± I called and called, time after time, and he didn¡¯t answer. Everyone but Lord Lodestone got bored and left.


    Lord Lodestone asked, ¡°Who art thou summoning?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°A friend to tell him I am okay for now. Since I have given up heaven and will come here when I die, not that I think heaven would have had me, I might as well go home now.¡±


    Lord Lodestone said, ¡°Whilst thou were on the ground reeling from one gift too many, Hippy-dippy sped up time so we wouldn¡¯t have to wait an entire day or week before thou couldst be gifted and turn into a rooster.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t bother to explain it to her, because she never catches on, that speeding time in the same Fairyland that thou art in doesn¡¯t make things cook any faster. Thy friend in Real probably didn¡¯t have time to answer or even know what the sped-up buzzing noises were. We¡¯re running at sixty times sixty times as fast.¡±


    I started to nod but felt a bit dizzy still. I just wanted to leave so I slowed the time to match with Real and summoned Mr. Hebert, ¡°Roland Hebert, Phil the Fishmonger summons thee.¡±


    Lord Lodestone put his hand on my shoulder. ¡°Tell him, ¡®Phil the new king of Fairy summons thee.¡¯¡±


    Mr. Hebert connected.


    Lord Lodestone patted my shoulder and let go. ¡°Let¡¯s keep this our secret, at least for a while. But don¡¯t leave ¡®til we figure out how to be sure that thou canst come back. Most of what a Fairy king can do, they can¡¯t do in Real.¡±


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°Everything safe?¡±


    I said, ¡°Probably. I guess. I am just checking in, but I¡¯ll be summoning you to come home soon. Do you want to see the Fairyland?¡±


    I opened the connection so Mr. Hebert could see. ¡°Lord Lodestone, canst thou give me a tour of the Fairyland?¡±


    Lord Lodestone bowed. ¡°Yes, my liege. Thou didst say that thou wert a fishmonger. Wouldst thou like to see the lakes?¡±


    I nodded.


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°Did he call you his liege?¡±


    I said, ¡°Things seem to have worked out.¡±


    #


    As we walked, I paid special attention to the shadows. This was new territory. Lodestone and I walked for a couple of hours before a pair of crows landed and turned into Fairies.


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    A muscular man asked, ¡°Why art thou walking milords?¡±


    Lodestone said, ¡°Meet the new king of this Fairyland.¡±


    The men kneeled. ¡°Long live King Snipsnort!¡±


    I said, ¡°I thank thee. Is that really my title?¡±


    Still kneeling, the man with the big hat said, ¡°Thou may namest this realm, and that name will be thine.¡±


    Lodestone said to me, ¡°Ask them to rise.¡±


    I said, ¡°Please rise and forgive me for I¡¯m new to this role.¡±


    They got up and the man in the hat asked, ¡°Didst thou really defeat the duchess?¡±


    Lodestone said, ¡°She seems to like him. Who knows how it will end up though? She doesn¡¯t yet know that he¡¯s our new king, so we might not keep him for long.¡±


    The men gave me nervous looks.


    The muscular one said, ¡°Her scream can shut down all thought. When she raises to a full tantrum, no one can resist her rage.¡±


    Lodestone said, ¡°Only the roosters dare stand before her. The rest of us flee.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Art thou kidding me?¡±


    Lodestone said, ¡°No, roosters are strong against raging spirits. Evil spirits too. And they bring good luck.¡±


    I narrowed my eyes and looked at the three of them. They all seemed perfectly serious. ¡°Seems like chickens get slaughtered and roosters can¡¯t do anything about it.¡±


    Big Hat said, ¡°Well, humans can handle them pretty well, but that¡¯s the scissor, rock, paper thing. Evil spirits possess humans, humans eat roosters, roosters make evil spirits flee. That sort of thing. If thou hast never been a spirit and felt the insane power of a rooster¡¯s call making thee turn and flee in terror, thou canst not possibly understand.¡±


    Muscle Guy was looking at the purse I was carrying then back at me. He noticed I saw and bowed. ¡°Well, we should get back to work.¡±


    Big Hat said, ¡°Long live Snipsnort.¡±


    Muscle Guy and Lodestone said, ¡°Long live Snipsnort.¡±


    Lodestone pointed to a trail up to a large gentle slope. A few men were repairing the stone walls on either side of the trail. ¡°We should probably introduce thee when we see folk. But thou might want to do something about that purse.¡±


    I looked at the purse. It was clearly and obviously a girl¡¯s purse. It was cute with a cat face shape. If I tried to hide it, it would be even worse, and it might even look like I stole it.


    I adjusted it to be a bit toward the back and then worried it might get stolen, so I moved it back to the front. ¡°I don¡¯t have any good options, Lord Lodestone, so I¡¯ll just have to be brave.¡±


    Lord Lodestone winced, looking at the purse. ¡°Maybe I should introduce thee later. I didn¡¯t quite realize this was going to take so long. I have always flown. Now that I think about it, we are only halfway there. How about I show thee a nice stream? There is one near.¡±


    I said, ¡°Fly to the lake, I¡¯ll keep up.¡±


    He turned into a crow and leapt to the wall beside the trail. I stepped into his shadow as he took to the air. He flew and I stayed on the ground taking detours in shadow to explore and returning to his shadow to cross open areas. We crossed a stream. Then he sailed over a village on the edge of a lake with boats that had nets hung on the sides.


    Lodestone landed on a stone pier and turned back into himself. I stepped out of the shadow a short distance from the pier and walked to the bank of the lake. Small fish darted away as my shadow shaded the water.


    Lodestone asked, ¡°Art thou scared of the water?¡±


    I laughed. ¡°If I didn¡¯t have a purse that I needed to return and should probably keep dry, I would show thee just how scared of the water I am. This has taken a while, and I should go back to Real and take care of a few things. If I summon thee, wilt thou answer and bring me hence?¡±


    Lodestone said, ¡°I should perhaps get back to the throne then.¡±


    I bowed and summoned Mr. Hebert

 Kitchen Table Talk

    Uncle Anthony was sitting in his usual place in the kitchen. ¡°I was driving to Indiana to see what had happened to you when Mr. Hebert called me and told me to turn back around. I was still driving when he called me again and said you implied that you were a Fairy king.¡±


    As Uncle Anthony talked, I got the feeling that Hippy-dippy was slowing time. I felt like I could have stopped it, but that would have given away the secret. I smiled since I could take a year before returning and less than two and a half hours would pass in Snipsnort.


    I said, ¡°It¡¯s an odd thing. I just got confirmation that I am a Fairy king, but I don¡¯t feel crazy powerful or anything. I can control time there. I mean, that is amazing and impossible, sort of, but I don¡¯t see how it does me any particular good.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°As long as you can easily enter and leave Fairy, you can always be rested and healed relative to someone else. You can skip a hard winter. During famines, plagues, floods, wars, and hardship, you can speed time and prepare, or slow time and get past the worst. It gives you the ability to make sure that every day you live, the weather is perfect. The competitive edge has always been speed.¡±


    I said, ¡°The gateway is more than a little inconvenient. Even if we had a house nearby. Mr. Hebert, you have been warning me, scaring me, and still encouraging me to go to Fairy, and you seem to have expected me to become a Fairy king or something close. Someone else knew as well. What gave it away?


    ¡°I mean, I am a Goblin, but I ain¡¯t anything special or at least wasn¡¯t until I started getting gifted and that was all given to me.¡±


    Mr. Hebert nodded and glanced at Uncle Anthony. ¡°A few years ago, I ordered fish in a small dive and was told that it might be another hour before the fish arrived. I told them I would wait. You didn¡¯t see me, but I saw you put a cooler down and pick up an empty cooler from under a table.


    ¡°The resonances that are what I really am rang with a clarity that I had not felt for several years so I knew that I needed to keep you near. But that was puzzling since I also knew that you belonged in Fairy.


    ¡°When I asked about you, they told me something must be up, and that you must have made delivery for a friend, since they had never seen you before.


    ¡°The next time I came in, the fish was nothing like what they had previously served, and I found out that the boy that delivered fish said that he was falling behind in school, so he wouldn¡¯t be able to spend as much time fishing. No one had any idea how to reach him.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°That was the cover story we usually used for dropping a route that decided they could pay us less or made up things about our fish so they could get some free.¡±


    Mr. Hebert continued, ¡°I have mostly stayed out of Fairy but near Fairylands. Part of this was because all my caches of things are in Real. But when you appeared, I realized that I would have to move to Fairy if you moved to Fairy. That or lose a lot of myself. So, I have been traveling and seeking the things that resonate and that might survive in Fairy. When I call it inspirational junk, for me, it really is inspirational junk.¡±


    Uncle Anthony asked, ¡°When did you teach the kittens to shadow step?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I never took them into shadow. I don¡¯t think a cat can learn it.


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°Roland, show him.¡±


    Mr. Hebert took out a can opener and picked up a can of tuna. He started opening it and I felt movement through shadow. The kittens appeared in the shadow Mr. Hebert cast on the table in front of him.


    I said, ¡°I have never heard of this happening. Some Goblin Fairies have gifted non-goblins, but as far as I know, no animals. Even then, most Goblins couldn¡¯t have managed this. There are multiple light sources here in the kitchen, and the table is well lit. There¡¯s a light right over the table.¡± I shook my head, ¡°I never took them into shadow. Not even once.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Their mother was pregnant when you got her down from the tree. That might have made the difference.¡±


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    I asked, ¡°Are they ready for solid food yet?¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°The books don¡¯t think so, but the kittens don¡¯t agree.¡±


    I looked nervously at the kittens. I wanted to hold one, but I was scared it might take me into shadow, and it might turn us into one of the Wize.


    I said, ¡°Mr. Hebert, always hold the kitten where it can easily leave on its own. You don¡¯t want it dragging you into shadow. It might be dangerous.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°They like to play but they have almost stopped being cuddly. I think we can pet them without holding them anyway.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Can we go look at the vault?¡±


    Mr. Hebert nodded, and Anthony got up. We went to the carriage house and down to the steel vault. Mr. Hebert opened the door to the dusty area and gestured to the odd collection of road signs, chests, machine tools and musical instruments. ¡°Can we arrange a safe place for these things in Fairy?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Are you serious about moving to Fairy?¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°We may have to return to Real regularly to shop. Is the food there really safe?¡±


    I smiled, ¡°I just ate a pear, but they have fish, goats, and chickens. I¡¯m not sure they eat them. They may just use the eggs and milk.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°If they milk goats, they eat them. Not much choice in that. The real question is how safe is it?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I had a few moments of fear, but it seems like it might be okay. I¡¯m not sure how to even tell if a Fairyland is safe or if any of them are. Uncle Anthony, are you planning on living in Fairy too?¡±


    Uncle Anthony smiled. ¡°I have to every now and then. Parts of me can¡¯t be easily constructed in Real. The probabilities are wrong. Once they are assembled in Fairy they can last a long time, but I have to visit Fairy and I am overdue.¡±


    I checked the vault door and turned back to look at the two of them. ¡°I was going to tell you something important, but to be safe, I¡¯m going to keep quiet. Look at the purse I have. It was dropped by a Goblin girl. I will need to return it, so I will be going to the Goblin Music Festival.¡±


    I opened the purse and took out the cardboard box that mostly filled the insides. After taking it out, there was just a small wallet, a coin purse and a tube of lipstick. I closed the purse and put it back on. Then I examined the box. It had a bent corner and a stuck-on label that said, ¡°Prepared for Phil.¡±


    In the box were four bones with labels, three bottles of pills, a folded note, a small book with a wax seal on it, and a tag on a string embedded in the seal. The tag read, ¡°Wait for seal to fall off before reading.¡±


    The labels on the bottles read, ¡°365 pills. To age naturally take one each day. Warning¡ªa continued overdose could stunt your growth.¡±


    The bones were each labeled and there was a larger label that read, ¡°Rooster bone first, yourself second, owl third, rook fourth and rat fifth. One at a time and practice with each before proceeding to the next. A week between each would be preferable. Save your sixth and probably last form.¡±


    I opened the folded note and showed it to Uncle Anthony and Mr. Hebert. ¡°Let the old folks know that it will be at least three years before Real will be safe again. There was a bit of disagreement over the rat form so don¡¯t feel forced. When you transform the first time, try to stay in the form for a full day and practice before you change back. This helps you maintain the details.¡±


    Uncle Anthony asked, ¡°Is Real going to be dangerous?¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Probably. Know any prognosticators with a good track record?¡±


    Uncle Anthony shook his head. ¡°Apart from you, no, and you haven¡¯t shown any strong hunches for years.¡±


    Mr. Hebert looked at me. ¡°I had a Studebaker with great resonances for guessing the future. I shouldn¡¯t have driven it around. It got backed up into when I was in the store getting groceries. After repairs it looked and drove fine, but it no longer gave me premonitions.¡±


    Uncle Anthony put his hand on Mr. Hebert¡¯s arm. ¡°You¡¯ll find something and get it back. That broken washing machine did pretty well until Archer hauled it out for target practice.¡±


    Mr. Hebert gave me a strong look. ¡°Don¡¯t warn Archer. He will try and help us move and you don¡¯t want him anywhere near your Fairyland.¡±


    #


    My sense of duty was telling me I needed to practice my gifts. My sense of preservation was making me wonder if I should just run off to California or somewhere and start a new life without Fairies. My stupid sense of honor was certifiably insane. I felt obligated to turn into a stupid rooster, and I couldn¡¯t come up with any sense in that. I had become a Fairy king. Or at least, I passed their test. The deal was that I didn¡¯t have to turn into a rooster if I became a Fairy king.


    On one hand, I didn¡¯t even want to go back and learn how to transform. On the other hand, I didn¡¯t want to waste the potential of being able to transform on being a stupid rooster. Another insane part of me felt duty bound to turn into a rooster. The horror was that I knew myself and should stop beating myself up for it. I would have a sour taste in my mouth that would never go away if I didn¡¯t turn into a rooster.


    On the bright side, I might not be able to transform at all, but that idea is even more of a sign of crazy since that is worse than wasting a transformation on becoming poultry. The only real bright side was that once I had turned into a rooster, a group of daft childish Fairies that the other Fairies avoided would consider me one of them.


    Since I would have no peace with myself otherwise, I sped up time in Snipsnort and summoned Lord Lodestone.

 Time Changing is a Giveaway

    We were in a marketplace. Most of the awnings, tents and signs above the tables were bright gossamer, but the tables and wares were real. The huge willow trees cast partial shade that shifted and moved with the wind above. There was a network of aqueducts, held up by arches, that ran water that cascaded down to several walled pools where the Fairies were gathering water, sitting around and drinking.


    Lord Lodestone looked at my backpack. ¡°Thy bag is convenient, yet it has a serious feeling of hostility. The chrome on top of the steel fittings mostly provides protection but one can feel the malevolent danger of steel. Art thou trying to scare people, my liege?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Didn¡¯t think about the steel, I just wanted something to keep the purse in until I could give it back. Now that I think about it, the steel might help protect it.¡±


    Lodestone nodded. ¡°Not everyone can detect steel, so be careful and try not to bump into anyone.


    I looked up at the awnings as I took off my backpack and held it on top of my head with both hands.


    Lord Lodestone looked up at the awnings with me. ¡°Yes, the common folk will use gossamer for a lot of things, but the nobles here avoid it with good reason.¡±


    I gave him a questioning look.


    He said, ¡°To some, using gossamer seems cheap, it is poison to mortals, and there are worse reasons.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Worse reasons?¡±


    He looked down from the awnings. ¡°Make a gossamer chair and sit in it.¡±


    I said, ¡°Thou wilt dispel it, and I will fall to the ground.¡±


    He said, ¡°There are worse pranks. Think how wonderful it is to make a chamber pot from gossamer. It holds the night soil, and yet it can be dispelled when thou art ready to dump it. But think how funny Hey Guy thinks dispelling a chamber pot is when someone is carrying it.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Are the nobles all jerks?¡±


    Lord Lodestone pointed to a shop with shiny brass equipment. ¡°They have come together to fight and protect this realm. They mostly leave the folk alone. But, yes, but the nobles take what they want, expect other to clean up their messes, and generally make existence a pain for those around them. They serve another purpose though.


    ¡°If someone acts up or thinks they are above the common courtesies, they are forced to serve at court. The nobles teach them to be polite and meek pretty quickly.¡±


    At the shop, Lord Lodestone picked up a large shiny pot.


    The shopkeeper said, ¡°Milord, I wouldst be honored if thou didst take it as a gift.¡±


    I felt Lady Anteater trying to slow time. I didn¡¯t let her.


    A Fairy shopping at a stall beside us snapped his head around and looked at me.


    Lord Lodestone said, ¡°Interesting, sometimes you see a Fairy quite capable of becoming a noble, yet they keep hidden.¡±


    The Fairy that looked at me nodded and walked away.


    Lodestone nudged me and gestured for me to look away. ¡°Well, that probably gave it away. All the Fairies capable of monitoring or altering time will know. The Fairy nobles will be aware that we have a king soon enough and then try to find thee.¡±


    I glanced at the Fairy that noticed me. ¡°He could tell I altered time.¡±


    Lodestone looked at the quickly departing Fairy and then nodded. ¡°Some may be qualified to be noble but would rather not hang with the overly dramatic and childish. Leidingstad is one of the newer towns, barely six hundred years, but it is the most central and nice enough that someone can almost live like a noble and still fit in with the common Fairies.¡±


    I felt Hey Guy try to slow time. I stopped him.


    Lodestone said, ¡°So Hippy-dippy or Bye-bye will be the next to know that thou art our new king.¡±


    The shopkeeper nearest us winced and bowed. ¡°My lords. My liege, please don¡¯t let the battle be here in the market. Long live Snipsnort.¡± He looked up at the trees and aqueducts. ¡°I mean it, King Snipsnort. I hope that thou doest live.¡±


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    Then he gave a look of terror at Lord Lodestone. ¡°Please milord, after Duchess Bye-bye reduces this poor unfortunate king to mush, don¡¯t tell her I was disloyal.¡±


    Lord Lodestone said, ¡°We have high hopes for the king.¡±


    I felt Hippy-dippy try to speed up time. I let her.


    Lord Lodestone laughed. ¡°That¡¯s going to confuse them for a bit. We should get out of the market though.¡±


    Lord Lodestone flew up to a wooded mountain ridge and perched on the top of a statue under an open white stone building with columns.


    I sat at one of the benches. ¡°Doest thou thinkest Duchess Bye-bye will want to fight?¡±


    Lord Lodestone hopped down and turned into himself. ¡°She always wants to fight, but she is probably much more interested in seeing thee turn into a rooster.


    ¡°Wait for a moment, my liege, Anteater is summoning me.¡±


    Anteater appeared and looked at Lord Lodestone. ¡°Thou must try and change the time. Someone can stop it. We may be invaded.¡±


    Lord Lodestone looked at me and smiled.


    Lady Anteater turned ran and hugged me. ¡°Thou came back. Art thou ready to become a rooster?¡±


    Lord Lodestone said, ¡°He is our new king. He doesn¡¯t have to become a rooster.¡±


    I felt Duchess Bye-bye try to slow time to match with Real. I let her.


    Anteater started making one-handed gestures to summon and called out, ¡°Duchess Bye-bye I summon thee.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°No. Bring them all through.¡±


    Duchess Bye-bye appeared holding hands with Hey Guy and Hippy-dippy.


    Duchess Bye-bye shouted, ¡°Bad Anteater! Let go of my boyfriend!¡±


    Duchess Bye-bye pushed Anteater away from me and grabbed my leg. She looked up at the backpack I was holding over my head. ¡°Thou hast brought a stupid weapon!¡± She smiled at me. ¡°Doest thou want to fight?¡±


    Lord Lodestone said, ¡°He is our king now.¡±


    Lady Anteater said, ¡°I like the sound of that, what sort of kink?¡±


    Duchess Bye-bye let go of my leg and pushed Lady Anteater. ¡°He said king, not kink. If thou doest put together that all of thee art saying someone stopped time, it is clear that he is trying to weasel out of becoming a rooster by managing to win the bet and become a king.¡± She looked up at me. ¡°Cheater!¡±


    Lord Lodestone said, ¡°We don¡¯t want a fight to the death over this, so my leige, I should probably take the backpack from thee before thou doest fight.¡±


    I said, ¡°I won the bet, but I won¡¯t let anyone say I am a cheater. Gift me transformation and if I canst I will turn into a rooster.¡±


    Hey Guy said, ¡°I didn¡¯t bring a rooster. No one said to bring Mr. Bill.¡±


    I said, ¡°I have some bones.¡±


    I backed up, opened the pocket of my backpack and took out the bundle of bones with the note on it. Hey Guy snatched the bones from me and ran behind a statue. ¡°Cool, rat, owl¡ªoh, this isn¡¯t like any rooster I ever saw, and I eat them raw. I know a rooster bone, and this one isn¡¯t a rooster bone.¡±


    He peeked around the edge of the statue¡¯s base. ¡°I don¡¯t eat the talking ones. Those have Fairies in them. Where didst thou get these bones? Everyone look at him and make sure he is telling the truth.¡±


    I said, ¡°They were in a box that a Goblin girl gave me.¡±


    Duchess Bye-bye narrowed her eyes at me. ¡°Don¡¯t lie, we can tell. Was she cute? Is she trying to steal thee from me?¡±


    I said, ¡°I only met her for a moment, and it was before I met thee, so technically she was not trying to steal me from thee. I don¡¯t know her.¡±


    Lady Anteater said, ¡°So our new king is a player with girls everywhere. This is great, he got a bunch of bones in a box from a strange Goblin girl, and one of them is supposed to be a rooster bone but isn¡¯t. That¡¯s even braver than turning into Mr. Bill. I say it counts whatever it is.¡±


    Hippy-dippy said, ¡°There is only one way to identify the bone and know if our new king¡¯s Goblin girlfriend is true to him or gave him a bone from a lizard with a congenital heart problem.¡± She fell over to a bench and posed dramatically with her wrist against her forehead. ¡°Such is true love. She could not bear losing thee to the wiles of the evil duchess so instead she murdered thee by polymorph.¡±


    Duchess Bye-bye had run behind the statue where Hey Guy was.


    Hey Guy shouted, ¡°You broke the string!¡±


    Bye-bye came out from behind the statue holding the bone up and examining it. ¡°I say it counts as a rooster whatever it is. That way he can turn into it, and we can know if he has a girlfriend other than me.¡± She glared at me. ¡°Players always go around breaking the hearts of us little girls.¡±


    She sat on the bench beside Lady Anteater and waggled a finger for me to come over. ¡°Kneel and be gifted. Then take this bone in thy hand and peer closely at it. When thou doest feel its shape, transform!¡±


    I came and kneeled before her. She smiled showing the gap-toothed grin and then kissed my forehead.


    I could feel the form in the bone instantly. I took a deep breath and transformed. Everything was fuzzy. I adjusted my eyes then adjusted them more. Things came in and out of focus. Below me were statues and the Fairies were looking up at me, but nothing was clear. I was hungry but they were all a bit big to just bite and swallow.


    I took control of the feelings and tried to look out from under the building we were in.


    Lady Anteater said, ¡°The most grandest ultimate biggest rooster that ever was. The king of roosters. He will need time to practice being that monster.¡±


    I felt her speed time, so I let her. I wanted to see myself, so I clumsily started shifting position. I fell over and realized I didn¡¯t have hands, and I wasn¡¯t holding my backpack with the girl¡¯s purse. I tried shifting and looking, but my eyes kept doing strange things. The colors weren''t right, and I was hungry. I tried talking but the sound I made was more of a honking, bleating sort of thing.


    The Fairies ran away. I was hungry and alone and my eyes didn¡¯t work. The sun was going down. I tried to get up, but I couldn¡¯t manage it well. I pushed with my feet and wings until I got over to a statue and tried to stand but I couldn¡¯t get my feet under me, and my feet were odd. I gave up and went to sleep.

 Giant Rooster

    I woke up. There was just a hint of light. I called out for help and just made a strange gargling scream. Fairies that were gathered around me ran to the woods. There were baskets of fruit and baskets of bread. I¡¯d emptied four baskets when I realized I could see, and my eyes could zoom in and look at things. Someone had made a huge gossamer mirror with a gossamer sign over it. Whoever made the sign didn¡¯t write it in English, so I couldn¡¯t figure out what it said.


    With the mirror to help me, I figured out how to stand. Oddly, once I was on my feet, I could balance. I kept eating until I was well past full. Then I started walking, falling over, and walking. I was huge. Probably nine or twelve feet tall. I was a stocky half-bird, half-dinosaur that really did look like a brightly colored and proud rooster. No one was nearby. I practiced walking, pooped a giant and disgusting liquidy mass, then started down the slope next to a set of dangerous-looking stone steps. Craning my neck to see the best path through the trees, I saw a clearing on a hill nearby. I walked to the clearing. I needed the mirror.


    I started preening feathers and realized my instincts were helping. I let myself preen and stretch my wings. I got hungry and went back to the fruit and bread at the top of the mountain. Someone had cleaned up my poop, and the baskets had been refilled. I ate my fill and went back down to the hillside to practice. I made a huge gossamer mirror and did a few short glides. I could lift to the air but couldn¡¯t stay aloft for long. Looking up at the structure on top of the mountain, there was no way I¡¯d be able to walk up there, but I could glide. If I landed on a tree, I was going to break limbs. Probably my own limbs although they seemed pretty sturdy.


    I got brave after a few glides and got to the high end of the open area, ran, and took to the air. For a moment, I caught a lifting current of air, but then I passed out of it and made a controlled half-run, half-crash landing by the trail at the bottom of the mountain.


    I was making my way back up the mountain when it started to get dark. I wanted a place to perch, but there was none nearby. I¡¯d spent my day as a monster rooster, so I changed back into myself and continued up to the top of the hill. I was holding the bone with the rooster label and still had my backpack and clothing, so I didn¡¯t have to worry about that. I put the bone back in my backpack, got to the top of the mountain, and sat at a bench eating bread and fruit.


    It was dark so I slowed time to match with Real and summoned Mr. Hebert.


    He connected. ¡°I¡¯m driving right now, but at the next light, you can come to me.¡±


    I waited, then he brought me through.


    ¡°I¡¯m a giant rooster. I strike terror when I make my bone-shivering call.¡±


    Mr. Hebert laughed. ¡°Really? How big?¡±


    I said, ¡°We¡¯re going to need a really big measuring tape.¡±


    #


    In the barn at Mr. Hebert¡¯s mansion, I turned into the giant rooster thing, stretched out my wings, and stood tall. I was taller than Mr. Hebert, but not by as much as I thought I would be.


    Uncle Anthony walked over to the tool pegboard and took down the large tape measure. Mr. Hebert took the end and drew it out to the end of one of my wings.


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    Uncle Anthony examined the measuring tape. ¡°Thirty-one feet two inches. Phil, really stretch.¡±


    I stretched further and Uncle Anthony said, ¡°Hold it stable.¡±


    He examined it a bit and looked over at Mr. Hebert. ¡°Thirty-one feet nine inches. Mind if I try and lift you?¡±


    I turned back into myself. ¡°This thing doesn¡¯t want its feathers moved the wrong way. It has instincts.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°We¡¯ll need scales. Roland, you keep up with dinosaur discoveries, what do you think it is?¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Theropoda, for certain. I think coelurosauria is a safe bet, and so is maniraptoriformes. Really though, it looks like a rooster. Sad thing is that our fathers were around when these dinosaurs existed, but they couldn¡¯t see or travel back then. Not that my dad was ever able to travel. We¡¯ll have to look this up on the net. Can you fly in that form?¡±


    I said, ¡°No, but it gets really hungry. I¡¯m going to the kitchen. Before I turn into it again, I plan to catch at least twenty of the perch we have in the long tank. The rooster¡¯s had bread and fruit, but I think it wants meat.¡±


    Sitting in the kitchen, Uncle Anthony said, ¡°You¡¯re not going to be easy to weigh. What do you think, Roland, three hundred pounds?¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Seven foot two and a bit over two hundred and fifty pounds. I can hear the creak when we walk on the boards, and so he doesn¡¯t weigh as much as we do. Can you fly?¡±


    I said, ¡°I felt a thermal lift me, but I didn¡¯t manage to catch it. I can do a controlled fall.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°You look airworthy, but who knows how far you had evolved.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°His feet are spread out so we may have to use two bathroom scales to weigh him.¡±


    After eating and netting up some fish, we went back out to the barn.


    We spent a while trying to weigh me.


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Only two hundred and thirty and you just ate a good fifteen pounds of perch.¡±


    Uncle Anthony asked, ¡°Can you talk?¡±


    I shook my head.


    He said, ¡°Try this: Aaa-Eeee-Iiiii-Ohhhhh-Uhhhhhh.¡±


    I made an inarticulate bleet that shook the rafters.


    Mr. Hebert shook his head. ¡°For now, give up talking.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°Just try this: Ouuuuu.¡±


    I tried again more softly, but it still shook the rafters.


    Mr. Hebert took out his cell phone. ¡°No, sorry. We¡¯ll try to keep it down.¡± He put the phone up. ¡°Lady across the street said the noise was upsetting her animals.¡±


    I nodded and changed back into myself. Uncle Anthony said, ¡°It looks like it could fly. You probably just need practice.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Or practice trusting your instincts. It¡¯s a fine line but worth practicing. So, the next thing the instructions on the bones said was for you to change into yourself.¡±


    I nodded and realized that I didn¡¯t have the bones. I panicked and went to Fairy.


    #


    In a large stone gazebo sort of building with several roads passing through the center of it, I was standing on a raised platform in the middle of a roundabout sort of intersection. There were signs I couldn¡¯t read that probably led off to the various places I wanted to be. It was dark so shadow stepping was going to be slow and tedious. I took to the shadows and wove my way between shades and got even more lost.


    Realizing that I had just taken myself to Fairy, I tried going to the building where I had first turned into the giant rooster. No luck, I didn¡¯t go anywhere. I tried going to the throne and that didn¡¯t work. I tried going back to Real. Nothing. I summoned Mr. Hebert and returned to Real.


    Mr. Hebert was in the music room holding his lute. ¡°You disappeared.¡±


    ¡°I was able to go to Fairy. Nowhere else apparently. I lost the bones I was given.¡±


    Mr. Hebert smiled. ¡°If the rooster bone turned you into that monster, you want to find them.¡±


    I nodded and tried to go back to Fairy.


    #


    I was at the building with the roundabout again. I couldn¡¯t read the signs, but there were seven roads leading from the center of this building.


    I summoned Mr. Hebert, ¡°Sorry, I was testing going back to Fairy and it worked. I may need to fill my backpack with snacks. Transformation and going to Fairy makes me hungry.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°I want to visit the Fairyland, but first you should find the bones.¡±


    I said, ¡°Will do.¡±


    I sped time.

 Searching for Bones

    Hey Guy summoned me, ¡°King Phil Snipsnort and Ultra Rooster, The guy thou wanst to make second-in-command summons thee.¡±


    I said, ¡°Give me the bones back and we can talk.¡±


    He asked, ¡°What bones?¡±


    I said, ¡°The ones thou snatched from me.¡±


    He said, ¡°Bye-bye broke the string. Blame her. I ran off when thou madest the horrible call of doom.¡±


    I asked, ¡°So thou doest not have the bones thou snatched.¡±


    ¡°No, and if thou art going to be rude, I am not talking.¡±


    He disconnected.


    I summoned Lord Lodestone, ¡°Lord Lodestone, I summon thee.¡±


    He answered. ¡°Good, we needest thee.¡±


    In front of the giant throne, a tall, thin, elegant lady was laughing. Her dress was wet, and she was dripping water. ¡°This is getting better and better. Thy new king is a fishmonger, womanizer, Duchess Bye-bye¡¯s boyfriend, and the giantest rooster ever that all must flee from when he crows. I mean, thou might well believe all of this, but let¡¯s just start at the beginning. If a man is a womanizer and even looks at a girl like the duchess as someone to romance, thou hast really big problems on thy hands. Not that I haven¡¯t heard of worse Fairy kings, but ewwwww.¡±


    Dutchess Bye-bye pointed to me. ¡°There he is.¡±


    The lady turned and looked at me. I blinked at her and then looked away. She was wet and wearing a thin garment.


    She said, ¡°Nope, not a womanizer. No interest in women at all. Thou doest not even have to worry.¡±


    I said, ¡°I like women.¡±


    She said, ¡°Well, then. Come see me in a few hundred years after thy voice changes. Doest thou really turn into a giant rooster?¡±


    I said, ¡°I think it¡¯s a dinosaur. Sorry, I have to go look for some bones.¡±


    As I stepped into shadow and started to get my bearings, I heard her say, ¡°Not a womanizing bone in his body.¡±


    Duchess Bye-bye said, ¡°Thou art just too skinny.¡±


    #


    The shadows were patchy, but a fog was coming in. I didn¡¯t have a lot of choices. I managed to get most of the way there but had to walk in foggy woodlands and up a stone stairway set into a fog shrouded woodland mountain.


    At the top, I searched around the columns and statues. The baskets were gone, and there were no bones, labels, bits of string, or anything. Not even trash cans to search. I sat on a bench, took a deep breath, and considered my options. While I pondered, I practiced transformations. I turned into myself. I didn¡¯t really see the reason but did it anyway. I was naked. I changed back out of myself and into myself and had my clothing in that form. Still no ideas where to look for the bones next.


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    I summoned Lodestone.


    ¡°Yes, my liege?¡±


    ¡°How long before dawn?¡±


    ¡°Eight hours.¡±


    I said, ¡°Thanks.¡± After disconnecting, I summoned Mr. Hebert, ¡°I need to come to Real, pass time in Fairy, and go back to find the bones when it isn¡¯t foggy and dark.¡±


    He brought me through, and I shifted time, waited a minute, and then went back to Fairy.


    At the intersection, I took to shadows and started exploring roads. After a couple of hours, I found shadows I was familiar with and went back to where I first transformed. I searched again but had no luck.


    I shadow stepped down to the market. Around the market was the town of Leidingstad, but I had no idea where to go to find where the bones had gone. In the middle of the market, I sat on the lip of a pool where the water was cascading down from the aqueduct above. I sat and looked at the shops.


    A woman asked me, ¡°New here?¡±


    I nodded.


    She asked, ¡°Art thou okay, doest thou have a place to stay yet?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°No, I¡¯m just coming and going for now, but I guess I need a place.¡±


    She sat beside me. ¡°It¡¯s rough for a bit. If it isn¡¯t too hard to talk about, how did thee die?¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m not dead yet.¡±


    She got up and smiled at me. She went over to a group of women. ¡°He¡¯s either about to die or in denial. Nothing we can really help him with. Sad to have had such a short life.¡±


    Another woman said, ¡°He doesn¡¯t look sick. What doest thou think happened?¡±


    A woman left the group, came over to me, and asked, ¡°Art thou looking for something?¡±


    I said, ¡°Yes, bones.¡±


    She said, ¡°Thou poor, poor dear. Thou canst not go back to thy bones.¡±


    I said, ¡°No, I lost three small bones that had small labels tied to them.¡±


    She smiled. ¡°The noble folk may have played a trick on thee. Thou art the second one that has been asking about bones this day.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Who else was looking?¡±


    She said, ¡°This charming fellow I want to kiss me.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Was he really cute?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Kind of off-looking, if thou ask me, but he said his name was ¡®This charming fellow I want to kiss me.¡¯¡±


    I said, ¡°That would be Hey Guy, that¡¯s what the nobles call him since he makes up names to put words in people¡¯s mouths.¡±


    She said, ¡°Our nobles have some silly names. They say we have a king now, so maybe they are waiting for him to change all their names and give them titles. If I were advising the king, I would say to make them keep them. But then, he might not want to go by Snipsnort. Funny thing about it. We are all kind of used to Snipsnort, but Fairy kings get to decide these things.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What other advice wouldst thou give the king?¡±


    ¡°We have a group of leaders who quietly make decisions and keep the issues from the nobles¡¯ attention. It¡¯s a lot better that way since they would have us make bridges to nowhere and always eat pudding. That sort of thing. The king should talk with the leaders. That and give us a second moon. There is another Fairyland where there is a moon always opposite the sun so guessing the time is easy.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Then we would never have the moon in a sunlit sky.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°That¡¯s why we should have two moons. One that matches opposite the sun and the other that moves twice as fast so thou canst always see it part of the day.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°What shouldst I call thee?¡±


    She looked down. ¡°A noble once called me ¡®Gossip Number Three,¡¯ so I mostly go by the name Three.¡±


    I looked back at the ripples in the water. ¡°What wouldst thou like to be called?¡±


    ¡°Mrs. Something or other. I¡¯m still looking for a husband. Don¡¯t even ask, thou art way too young. What shouldst we call thee?¡±


    I said, ¡°Soon enough folk will tell thee to call me King Snipsnort. Doest thou really think we should keep the name Snipsnort? It¡¯s kind of silly.¡±


    She said, ¡°Thou art making that up, and if we do have a king, that might not be safe to say.¡±


    I got up. ¡°I should keep looking. It was a pleasure meeting thee.¡±

 Bridge to Nowhere

    I looked around the market, but I didn¡¯t have money that looked like theirs, and I didn¡¯t want to just tell them I was a king and take things. I saw a man complaining to another man, so I might have found someone in charge.


    The man in charge said, ¡°Pebbleplink, hast thou ever heard of entropy? No? Well then, let me makest this clear. We don¡¯t bring in Fairies from other worlds to do the work of our own Fairies. No Domestic Fairies, No Cleaning Fairies, No garden Gnomes. None of that. We try to be complete. Since we haven¡¯t had a Fairy king, we have to make everything lasting from scratch. Well, we can use gossamer for a lot of things, so it isn¡¯t all from scratch. In any case, the last thing we want is for all our scraps and weeds to be taken to other Fairylands and have our world slowly shrink.¡±


    Pebbleplink said, ¡°But, Leafsound, we just want to bring in a few musicians for entertainment once a year at the festival.¡±


    Leafsound said, ¡°If indeed we have a king, thou canst petition him. ¡®Til then, thou wouldst have to face Duchess Bye-bye, and thou doest know how she gets on audience day.¡±


    I walked over to them. ¡°Pardon me, but if the king did bring some musicians in, would they be safe?¡±


    Pebbleplink nodded. ¡°No one in Fairy would attack a musician. At least not if they played well and were not causing immense problems and be unwilling to change or leave.¡±


    Leafsound shook his head. ¡°Even then, it¡¯s the worst luck to attack a musician when they art playing music. Entire Fairylands have lost all their folk after they ignored the rules.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I witnessed one of those. So where would the king keep these musicians?¡±


    Pebbleplink looked at Leafsound. ¡°What do you think? I mean, the king will have three manor houses, two castles, and the palace. Brightstone is pretty far from anything. So, maybe one of the lost manor houses?¡±


    Leafsound said, ¡°Bogview Castle is on the other side of nowhere. I think the manor house up on the hill there would be the best place for them. Then they could play at the inn and the amphitheater.¡±


    Pebbleplink looked up at the manor house on the hill that was just visible through the gently moving willow branches and shook his head. ¡°Might take a year to finish the amphitheater.¡±


    Leafsound said, ¡°We can finish it with gossamer when they want to perform then get rid of the gossamer and start building it again. It would be great for the economy, but right now all the spare workers are making the bridge to nowhere.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Are they really making a bridge to nowhere?¡±


    Leafsound nodded. ¡°Yes, they are putting in a road to the village next to Bogview Castle. If we have a king, that might speed up.¡±


    Pebbleplink said, ¡°If he can make things, he will be one of the richest Fairy kings that ever was. Consider how much mass has been banked in this Fairyland in the last two thousand years. He could probably finish the road and the amphitheater in gold bricks.¡±


    Leafsound shook his head. ¡°Nah. Too heavy. Gold bricks would sink into the swamp. The footers would just be pushed deeper. Plus, gold is a total waste of mass. Way too heavy and way too soft, the traffic would cause ruts in the bricks in no time.¡±


    Pebbleplink sighed. ¡°Impossible to guess what a king might do. If I were king, I would make huge gold statues of me on all the roads.¡±


    Leafsound folded his arms across his chest and took a deep breath. ¡°Complete waste of mass. Quartzite is a better material for statues and would make seven statues out of that mass that would make one gold statue. Then there is the question of how big a stone could be made at one time. When I was studying Fairy engineering, we saw a statue that was a hundred feet tall and weighed 1200 tons, but I was taught that most Fairy kings max out at something less than a full ton. One of the Fairies in my class could make things, though, and when we visited his Fairyland, we were shown a gateway made out of fifty-ton stones. He wasn¡¯t even the king of that Fairyland, but I bet he could be one if he wanted to.¡±


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    I asked, ¡°Doest thou know a lot of physics?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Engineering. There are Dwarves that study Fairy physics, but that¡¯s usually a secret kept at the highest levels. No one shares that stuff.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Were the classes long?¡±


    He said, ¡°No, just a short convention after we were gifted so we would retain the knowledge. But it came with a certificate from the Crossroads Council, so I have that going for me.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What is the Crossroads Council?¡±


    Leafsound said, ¡°They have been working to improve Fairyland stability and safety. All the best trained Fairies get certified by them. Best thing that has happened in Fairy in the last hundred years.¡±


    Pebbleplink said, ¡°I would argue that the Fairy Market was the best thing that happened.¡±


    Leafsound shook his head. ¡°Nah, they shut it all down. I never got to go and then it closed.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Who would I ask if I were looking for three small bones with labels?¡±


    Leafsound asked, ¡°The bones that were lost when the giant rooster¡¯s crow shook the windows? Thou art the second one that asked. Like I told the last fellow, check with the folk that went up there and cleaned up after the monster.¡±


    I winced. ¡°Where would I find them?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Since I was asked earlier this morning, I finally came up with an answer. Make a large mess up where they saw the monster and wait to see who comes and cleans up. The council won¡¯t be in session for another week, so ¡®til then, it might be hard to track down who is responsible for that area.¡±


    I bowed to them both. ¡°Thank thee for thy advice.¡±


    I walked to the edge of the town and looked up at the manor house. I shadow stepped up to it, but it was warded. I walked around the stone wall and got to the gateway at the front. On the wooden door was a note. ¡°No need to clean but the garden needs work. Check back next week.¡±


    There was a knocker on a smaller door by the side of the gateway. I considered using it when I was summoned.


    ¡°King Phil Snipsnort and Ultra Rooster, ¡®The guy I owe big time¡¯ summons thee.¡±


    I brought him to me.


    He looked up at the gateway. ¡°Cool. One of thy homes. I¡¯ll trade thee three bones for it.¡±


    I looked at Hey Guy. ¡°Doest thou want me to give thee a title?¡±


    He said, ¡°I just spent the day hunting for thy stupid bones, and now thou art threatening me with a name? That¡¯s just rude. Hold out thy hand.¡±


    I held my hand out, and he put the three bones in it. ¡°Just for that, I¡¯m gonna poop on your house.¡±


    He turned into a crow and flew up over the manor. I went into shadow and didn¡¯t linger to watch him do his business.


    I carefully put the bones in an inside pocket of my backpack and summoned Mr. Hebert. He didn¡¯t answer so I summoned Uncle Anthony.


    Uncle Anthony brought me in. I asked, ¡°Is Mr. Hebert asleep? He didn¡¯t answer the summons.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°He just went to the restroom.¡±


    Mr. Hebert walked in. ¡°Sorry, Phil, I was in the restroom. I figured you would call again if it was urgent, but for speed, when summoning say, ¡®urgently call thee.¡¯¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°In an emergency, if you want to come to us, just say ¡®call thee,¡¯ and we will know to bring you right through. If you need us there, say ¡®request thee,¡¯ and the rest of the time say ¡®summon thee.¡¯ That would give us a bit more information if we¡¯re in traffic or the bathroom.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Sounds good. I have several places to live in the Fairyland. I have only seen one of the manor houses from outside the stone wall, it was warded. But it looked nice. There is a market in the town below and it seems peaceful. Shall I see about starting to move things in?¡±


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°Can we see it?¡±


    I said, ¡°Let me go there and summon you. By the way, turning into myself was a complete waste. I end up naked.¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°Go upstairs and get dressed and equipped in as many versions of yourself as you can. You can keep your backpack safe. Just don¡¯t try to carry any silver. Silver can cause problems with transformations.¡±


    I went up to my room and started changing. I ran out of underwear before I had the entire range of clothing on in various forms. I had a form with nice lace-up tennis shoes and a swimsuit and shirt for rough work in water and a form with just a swimsuit. I had several forms with shorts and no underwear for working in water, but I probably needed to purchase a lot more underwear. I had everything but my bed packed away, so I was ready to move if I needed to. There was a pile of clothing in my basket that I needed to clean, so that would get me a few more changes. I walked down to the laundry room and started a load. I went ahead and pressed some of Uncle Anthony¡¯s shirts while I was waiting on the washing machine.


    Mr. Hebert came in. ¡°Are we going to have electricity in Fairy?¡±


    I looked at him and winced. ¡°Probably not. Will solar panels work in Fairy?¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Cheap enough to try. Anthony knows more about that. I¡¯ll ask him.¡±


    Mr. Hebert left and I continued ironing.


    Uncle Anthony came in. ¡°Phil, thanks for ironing my shirts, but you don¡¯t have to do that. I¡¯m going to the hardware store to get some solar panels to test in Fairy. If I can¡¯t find anything good, I¡¯ll just get some of the rechargeable solar lights. You can speed time and test them, any case.¡±


    Uncle Anthony left and I finished the ironing, so I changed my form to the one carrying my cajon and started playing a rhythm that went with the sound the dryer was making.


    Mr. Hebert came in and laughed. ¡°Should I bring my lute down?¡±


    I nodded so he left and came back. I don¡¯t know what to call the music we improvised. Jazz, maybe. Laundry room jazz probably doesn¡¯t have a market, but we liked it.

 The Kings Manor House

    I summoned Lord Lodestone, and he brought me out in a kitchen where two women and a man were busy cooking.


    Lodestone said, ¡°Welcome to my humble home.¡±


    I bowed to them. They did quick bows and curtsies and continued working.


    Lodestone said, ¡°Forgive them. They know not who thou art.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°As if I know. I heard that I had several places to live.¡±


    Lodestone said, ¡°Most royals in Real do and we would hardly want to have lower standards for thee. We have been trying to get a Fairy king for some time, but when we think we have a deal, they end up backing out of it. Thou may have noticed that our noble court is a bit close to daft, and once thou doest meet the nobles that are not generally at court, thou wilt wonder if the water in this Fairyland is tainted. The common folk seem quite a bit more stable, and I think they are more stable than their counterparts in Real are. It is our nobles that makes one wonder if madness is what makes a Fairy powerful.¡±


    I looked at the cooks and back to Lodestone. ¡°I saw a walled manor near Leidingstad. Is it really mine?¡±


    Lodestone said, ¡°It is expressly thine. Technically, all of this is thine, but each Fairyland is different. This one has a lot of the folk, and if thou didst go around claiming everything, thou might find that they consider this Fairyland more theirs than thine.


    ¡°If thou art not too much worse than the nobles, they will probably decide they like thy quirks and happily put up with them. Fairy royals are not generally famous for their emotional stability or reasoning, so, as long as thou doest not go too far and are not too much of a coward, thou canst probably do as thou wilt.¡±


    I asked, ¡°So I could bring a few friends in?¡±


    Lodestone nodded. ¡°Keep the numbers down though. Much more than a hundred and we might get complaints. If thou could make sure they eat before they come it would be better.¡±


    I asked, ¡°So we don¡¯t feed them?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°No, this is simple economics. If they come in well fed, then the odds are good that they will not take out more fee than they brought in. Thy realm is more stable than most. On that subject, hast thou tried making anything yet? Not gossamer or illusion, I saw thee do such when thou practiced after gifting. We don¡¯t have the gift of making real things in this Fairyland, but there was some mention that thou didst already have such gifted. Hopefully, it isn¡¯t worn out. Hast thou tried gold yet? It is said to be one of the simplest.¡±


    I tried it and made a gold ring. I could feel that I had a large reserve to draw on.


    He looked at the ring. ¡°We have a few sculptors here, but I am not sure if any of them can gift their skills. Pity that. Artistry matters.¡±


    I made an illusion of a statue and adjusted it. A leaping Asian carp. I made it in silver on a gold pedestal. Then I made it real. I still hadn¡¯t made a noticeable reduction in my reserve.


    He looked at the statue. ¡°Is it mine?¡±


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    I nodded. He tried to pick it up, but it wouldn¡¯t budge.


    I waved to him and bowed to the cooks. ¡°I need to check on the manor house and see if I can get in.¡±


    He nodded and I slipped into shadow.


    #


    In front of the manor house, the note on the door said, ¡°Do a nice spruce up and put flowers in the vases. See about finding a small staff. Not more than twenty. Don¡¯t hire them yet. If the king looks like he is going to be too hard to get along with, Bogview Castle out past nowhere is where we want him.¡±


    I used the knocker on the small door.


    No one answered. I walked around the stone wall and found two more doors. They were locked and warded. Walking back around, I heard a door slam. I went to the front. The note was gone, and there was no one around. I used the knocker on the door and waited. No one answered.


    I shouted, ¡°Hello!¡± a few times and no one answered. I hid in shadow and waited. After a while a man came out, looked around, and shut the door behind him. He locked the door, looked around again, and started walking down the hill. I stayed in shadow, moving from tree to tree. He went to a cottage. I hid in his shadow as he went in. He closed the door and shouted, ¡°Dearest, we have trouble.¡±


    A woman came down the stairs. ¡°What is it this time?¡±


    ¡°I think the king was trying to get into his manor. We want him mad enough to go away and use one of his other dwellings but not angry enough to do anything vengeful. I¡¯m sort of scared now that I didn¡¯t go far enough, or I perhaps went too far. If he is anything like the duchess, we may be in trouble. At the very least, I could lose a pretty nice job where I don¡¯t have to do hardly anything.¡±


    He hung the key ring on a hook and followed his wife to another room. I picked up the key ring and left. I went farther down the hill, passed through the front entrance of the town, and into the market. I found Leafsound in front of a shop where a man was making chairs.


    I circled back, left shadow, and walked to the shop.


    Leafsound said to the man making chairs, ¡°No, he seemed quite reasonable. By all the stories, kings of Fairy can be pretty awful, but he was quite polite and just trying to find some bones.¡±


    I stepped into the shop. Leafsound turned and bowed low. ¡°Long live Snipsnort.¡±


    The man sitting and weaving cord to make a seat nodded respectfully. ¡°Long live Snipsnort.¡±


    I said, ¡°Thank thee for the kind words, Leafsound, yet there is one that will not like me soon enough. The caretaker of the manor saw fit to not answer the door and tried to drive me off.¡±


    Leafsound winced. ¡°My lord, we will try to take care of this immediately.¡±


    I said, ¡°I have been considering this for a while, and I think I need to deal with this. I just wanted to warn thee that I might be making a bit of a display.¡±


    Leafsound winced again. I bowed and turned. Behind me, I heard two voices say, ¡°Long live Snipsnort.¡±


    #


    I went to the caretaker¡¯s cottage and knocked on the door. I heard shutters close above me. I looked up. I slipped into shadow and found that he had warded his house. I shadow stepped up a tree and to the roof of the house. I fell through rough reeds and onto a bed. He came into the bedroom with a bronze poker in his hand; the end smoked like it had been heated up in a fire and gotten some resin on it while pushing wood around. I turned into a giant rooster and crowed at him. Windows broke. He dropped the poker and ran. I went down the stairs. The door was open. People were running in fright. I found the key to the cottage door and locked it. Then I slid through shadow up to the manor house.


    I walked through the nice gardens and stopped to take a drink from a covered spring-fed pool with a spout. The water was wonderful. Following a covered walkway from the spring to the house, I explored the manor. No showers and no running water apart from a few cold pools down in the basement that were spring fed. No electric anything. Apart from that, it would be perfect if we managed to get electricity. We wouldn¡¯t have to have any servants, but we got along fine in a large house with only Mr. Hebert and me.


    I reconsidered the servant thing. We had cleaning and gardening help at Mr. Hebert¡¯s house, so a few servants a couple of times a week would be nice.


    Anthony was there fairly often, and he made things easier. Archer was a bit more difficult when he imposed, but we weren¡¯t planning on inviting him to Fairy.


    I matched time with Real and summoned Mr. Hebert.


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°Get Anthony. We have a bunch of equipment to bring. Is there a safe place for it?¡±


    I said, ¡°It¡¯s warded, and I have the key.¡±

 Visiting the Family

    After setting up a solar panel and an inverter, Uncle Anthony said, ¡°Looks like we have power. It may take a bit to get all the stuff we need, but this is going to work. How do we hire a crew here?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Will they have to handle iron or steel?¡±


    Uncle Anthony winced. ¡°That¡¯s going to be rough.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°We are going to need a crew to make forms and pour cement anyway. We have a spring that could fill the fish tanks. The roof is solid, so it will be easy to put a framework up and mount solar panels on it. A few solar panels over half the fish tanks might be nice.¡±


    I thought about the massive weight of all the cement and considered making a stone fish tank. Either way, tanks were going to be heavy.


    I asked, ¡°How about large stainless-steel fish tanks? You know, like the galvanized cattle troughs they sell, only bigger. A lot of folks keep fish in cattle troughs. We just need them a bit larger.¡±


    Mr. Hebert showed me the sketches of the tanks he¡¯d planned. I looked them over. He was planning big, and a lot of the large stonework party area below the garden and spring were going to be taken over by tanks. We¡¯d be raising a lot of fish. I nodded, looked at the area, and walked down. I made illusions of all the tanks and equipment. It would need a few pumps, so I left room for them and would make the final pipe connections when we had the pumps.


    ¡°Mr. Hebert, what do you think?¡±


    Mr. Hebert asked, ¡°Of what?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Sorry, I forgot that you don¡¯t see illusion.¡±


    I adjusted the illusion and made ladders to climb out of the tanks and walkways. I put in drains and extra places for fittings, just in case. I made all the tanks for fish and the tanks for the filtration media. I still couldn¡¯t tell that I had used any of the Fairyland¡¯s reserved mass.


    Uncle Anthony asked, ¡°Do you know how much that would be worth if you had made gold?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t think money is an issue anymore. I¡¯d like some for my trip to the Goblin Music Festival, and I¡¯d like to give some to my family. How much do you need to do what you want to do?¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°We live pretty well, and Mr. Hebert and I have more than enough money for now. What has always concerned us is the future. Things change and being poor sucks. It¡¯s hard to make it back from poverty.¡±


    I said, ¡°Well, as long as I have this job, anytime you need a few hundred pounds of gold, I can probably spare it.¡±


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°We¡¯ll just keep it in the Bank of Phil and consider it another backup investment. Anthony, how long before we can get all the solar equipment?¡±


    Uncle Anthony said, ¡°I really don¡¯t know yet. We need inverters, batteries, all sorts of cables, and, of course, the solar panels. Then we need to bring in water heaters, ovens, washers, dryers, and any other tools we want. It will be a work in progress for a while. With Phil able to make fittings and structures for it, we can do it all without too much help, but now I have to spend a while reading and researching. It wouldn¡¯t hurt for you to learn all of this, Roland.¡±


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    Mr. Hebert nodded. ¡°Phil, can you put in another row of tanks? There is still room if you go all the way to the wall here. Make them even deeper so they are level at the top with the other tanks.¡±


    #


    I summoned Monroe.


    ¡°Phil, I heard that you could do magic. This is pretty amazing. Are you going to fade to Fairy?¡±


    I said, ¡°Probably, at least for a few years. Can I visit?¡±


    Monroe said, ¡°You¡¯re family. Of course, you can.¡±


    I looked around. They were living in a Quonset hut that had vines growing over the corrugated steel arch. There was a locked gate, and the gravel drive had a small tree growing up in the center, clearly, no car had driven here for a long time.


    We walked down to the stream and sat at a bench. I took off the backpack I had gotten just for this purpose and put it down beside me.


    Monroe asked, ¡°Can you do any other magic?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°In Fairy I can. Here in Real, I¡¯m pretty much the same old Phil. I can let you visit sometime if you want.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t want to fade away. What all can you do?¡±


    I shrugged and handed him a heavy handful of gold rings. ¡°I can make gold.¡±


    He asked, ¡°Fairy gold?¡±


    I said, ¡°This is real, but I can make that too. Hide the backpack. Use what you want or need, but don¡¯t let Dennis know about it.¡±


    He opened the backpack and took out a bundle of twenties. ¡°This is a lot of money.¡±


    I said, ¡°I didn¡¯t work hard for it, but it¡¯s still honest money. I¡¯ll summon you from time to time. If you need more, let me know. It¡¯s no hardship to me.¡±


    Monroe asked, ¡°You need anything?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I miss music time with the family. I got mostly anything else I want and then some. Seriously, if you want to live somewhere nice, I can provide.¡±


    Monroe said, ¡°We do okay. I never noticed that you pulled way more than your share of work when you were with us. Still, it¡¯s probably good that some of the bums in the family have to pull their weight now. It¡¯s not the same without you beating on the crate, though. We never really noticed how important the sound was ¡®til it wasn¡¯t there.¡±


    I felt shadows shift and Jordan sat beside us. ¡°Good to see you, Phil. Are you still fading to Fairy?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°At least for a few years.¡±


    Jordan asked, ¡°Can you take Dennis with you?¡±


    I laughed. ¡°No. My Fairyland seems safe enough, but I don¡¯t want to feel responsible if he got himself killed.¡±


    Jordan asked, ¡°Do you think about Dennis getting himself killed very often?¡±


    Monroe said, ¡°Doesn¡¯t everyone? I always figured the funeral would be awkward. No one wanting to say what a jerk he was, and everyone scared that someone would start snickering and set them off, too.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°That would be one hard to resist snicker. I would probably be crying too, but I¡¯m pretty sure the snicker would get to me.¡±


    Jordan said, ¡°You two are awful. I thought we had raised you better. The thing to do is to get all your laughter out of the way before the funeral.¡±


    We all nodded.


    Monroe said, ¡°He brought us a bag of money.¡±


    Jordan said, ¡°Oh, no. There is no telling where Dennis got it. We should plan to move again.¡±


    Monroe said, ¡°No, Phil did. He can make gold in Fairy.¡±


    Jordan said, ¡°Phil, you can¡¯t go around buying friends. Fortunately, we¡¯re family and easily bought.¡±


    Monroe got up and went to hide the money. He came back and we sat for a while watching the stream.


    I said, ¡°I¡¯ll check on the family from time to time, but I may disappear for a few years.¡±


    Jordan said, ¡°I understand but I don¡¯t understand, and you probably shouldn¡¯t bother explaining. Just know we¡¯re thinking of you and take care.¡±


    Monroe said, ¡°I can¡¯t help but think that fading to Fairy¡¯s kind of like dying. The result¡¯s the same. Take care, Phil.¡±

 Choices and Consequences

    I sat in the music room playing on a hang drum that Uncle Anthony had gotten for me. It was able to make some amazing music, but I hadn¡¯t come close to mastering it yet. I wasn¡¯t certain that taking another huge chunk of steel into Fairy was such a good idea. With all the odd gear we had been moving to Fairy, the manor house was going to be poison to Fairies. We still had shipments coming to the house, but for the most part, we had moved everything to Fairy.


    Mr. Hebert¡¯s resonant junk collection had mostly been moved. Not everything resonated when thumped, but Mr. Hebert said that sound was the slow resonance and that others mattered as much or more.


    Without power for the pumps, I couldn¡¯t move all the fish yet. I was going to miss this place. The freezers were going to arrive the next day, and I expected to have quite a bit of summoning to move them all into Fairy and in place. Day after that was the Goblin Music Festival. Hopefully, I could find someone to answer summons so I could take care of some business in Fairy and still see most of the festival.


    #


    I was sailing through shadow and had just turned from Leidingstad to go up the hill to the manor house. A pair of figures were crouched in the bushes under a tree. I slid into the shadows up in the tree to see what they were doing.


    Hiding beneath me were the man who came at me with the poker and his wife. I stayed in shadow and listened.


    ¡°No, I have it on excellent authority that he died of gossamer poisoning, so this little bit of steel should be all it takes to kill him.¡±


    His wife asked, ¡°Won¡¯t they track the crime back to us?¡±


    He said, ¡°The manor house is so heavily warded that the psychic impressions will dissipate quickly. Our Fairy king comes and goes, but eventually he¡¯ll go to bed, then it¡¯ll be goodbye, Fairy king.¡±


    His wife said, ¡°The place is warded, and we no longer have the key. How are we getting in?¡±


    The caretaker said, ¡°Since I set the wards, I made sure I had a way past them.¡±


    She said, ¡°Clever plan. Is it dark enough yet?¡±


    He said, ¡°Just in case, here is the plan. I pull back a brick and expose a hole that goes right through to the manor house. If thou fly in low and even, thou canst fold thy wings and go right through the hole. A carefully laid illusion takes away light, so the hole won¡¯t be obvious from the other side. The wards will prevent detection that it¡¯s an illusion, so it hides the hole, and it is hidden.


    ¡°Here¡¯s the trick to getting in¡ªthou hast to go fast. Don¡¯t dawdle, or thou could get stuck in the wall between the wards. So, remember, the ward keeps thee from going in under your own power, but if thou art already up to speed, thou canst sail right through it and end up in the yard outside the manor.¡±


    They flew as birds up the hill, and he took a stone brick out of the wall to the manor. They turned back into birds, circled, then one flew into the crack followed by the other.


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    I heard a loud thump and then another. Beautiful sparks drifted up from the other side of the wall. I looked over the wall. There were two scorch marks on the side of the stainless-steel tank.


    Inside the house, I went down to the basement. Just down the stairs, a spring outlet ran into a few small pools. They looked like they were intended for swimming, but they were cold enough to cool a watermelon in. In one of the rooms, I¡¯d made a steel chamber to keep Mr. Hebert¡¯s resonant junk in. Mr. Hebert had drawn a plan for another room to store food in. I sat down in the middle of the room.


    I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d killed the caretaker and his wife. They were planning on murdering me. But, if I hadn¡¯t entered their home, or if I hadn¡¯t shown up, they wouldn¡¯t be dead. I considered authority and didn¡¯t like it one bit. By becoming a king, which had never been a goal of mine, dream of mine, or something I even casually considered, I had become someone who would probably make decisions that caused deaths to happen. Kings are killers.


    I thought about Duchess Bye-bye and the group around her. I got up and went out to the yard. I summoned Lord Lodestone. ¡°Lodestone, canst thou visit me?¡±


    He appeared before me. ¡°Gladly, my liege.¡±


    I said, ¡°Two people died. The caretaker of this manor and his wife.¡±


    He stared at the large steel tanks.


    I gestured for him to follow me. I opened the door beside the gate and led him to where the stone brick had been pulled out of the hole. ¡°He had a secret way in. He was going to try and kill me in my sleep, but instead he ran into the steel on the other side of the wall.¡±


    Lord Lodestone said, ¡°When a new king shows up, or when there is an opening for a new king, all who want things the way they were and all who side with a different lord they want as king become traitors. When a man doest raise arms, pour poison, or even stir up the populace against the one who eventually becomes king, that man becomes a traitor. Even if their intent was to protect their homeland, they become traitors the moment they actively support the wrong man who would be king. Death becomes their just fate the moment their side fails.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Do they deserve death? Death seems a bit much.¡±


    Lord Lodestone asked, ¡°How many will die, and how much will a kingdom lose when the fight over a ruler continues? Even when a man rebels against a tyrant, he must know that the penalty for failure is death.¡±


    I said, ¡°I don¡¯t think I want to be a king.¡±


    Lord Lodestone said, ¡°Much too late for thee to escape this. Thou will be king material even after death. Thy existence would cause any other king to fear thee. Thou doest have another problem. This Fairyland is half-way to being a hell. Those that die here have a habit of returning. Unless their spark was just for show, the caretaker and his wife could possibly come back.¡±


    I looked out at the lightly wooded hillside. ¡°Should I worry about bringing friends here?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°There is a chance that the caretaker and his wife will not return. He was made a caretaker because he was too talented to give up on, but too lazy to ever do anything worthwhile. The lazy often fade away as the circle turns. The hateful often slide to a hell that is more appropriate for them. If they hold onto hatred, that often happens. If, however, the spirit remains and delights in malevolent behavior and wishes to pursue thee, thy friends will not be entirely safe wherever thou or they go. But thou doest have a strong defense against such beings.¡±


    I asked, ¡°My rooster form?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°If they commit to being malevolent spirits, thy cry would seal their fate.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Is there no safety?¡±


    He smiled. ¡°There is, but not for thee. Thou canst create safety, but the price is knowing that safety is for those thou doest care about. Never for thee. As rough as thy noble court may seem, they allow for finer things to thrive. There are folk here that have dwelt in peace for a thousand years, so the duchess has done well for those who live in these villages and fear her.¡±


    I crouched by the wall and picked up the stone brick. It fit neatly in the hole.

 Learning to Owl

    In shadow, I sailed north. The sun had risen enough to make crisp shadows, so I was in the shade of a north-bound train track and making good time.


    My next bone for transformation was tagged ¡°owl.¡± All things considered, I couldn¡¯t guess what sort of owl it might be. I had put off the transformation since I hadn¡¯t had a day free, and I was a bit nervous about being helpless for a day as I stayed in owl form and flopped around, unable to see or control my movements. The seal on the book was still intact so whatever message was written there was still a secret. Since I was about to meet with the girl who gave me all of this, I wondered if I was supposed to have gone through the forms in Fairy first.


    I was second guessing my second guesses. As I hid in the shadow of a bush while a train clattered past, I decided to take the time in Fairy and be prepared for whatever they had planned next. That meant I was going to have to travel these tracks again since I would be back to Mr. Hebert¡¯s place when I summoned my way out of Fairy. I could always try Jordan or Monroe, but that might put me even further away.


    I went to Fairy.


    At the seven-way crossroads, a pair of men sat on the edge of the raised area I appeared on.


    One of them raised his bottle to salute me. ¡°A good morning to thee, lad.¡±


    I sat beside them. ¡°Good morning.¡±


    The other man said, ¡°Good morning, indeed. Art thou from Downway?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Which way is Downway?¡±


    The man holding the bottle pointed. ¡°That way. Halfway to Nowhere.¡±


    I asked, ¡°The Nowhere they¡¯re building a bridge to?¡±


    He pointed his bottle toward another trail. ¡°Then I¡¯m guessing thou art from Storn. Hast thou seen our king?¡± He held his bottle up. ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    He took a sip and handed it to the other man who took a large swig and said, ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    I said, ¡°It is a pleasure to meet such fine men and true.¡±


    The man now holding the bottle said, ¡°While thou art but a lad, still thou shouldst wish the king a long life. He may be facing all manner of challenges and wishing him a long life is cheap enough an offering since we have little that we could give him.¡±


    I asked, ¡°If thou met the king, what boon wouldst thou ask for?¡±


    The man currently holding the bottle said, ¡°Well, not to say anything that might be taken wrong, but since the life of a king is dangerous, perhaps a ring for remembrance if ill fate happened. But I would not ask it. It would be more fitting to ask how I could serve him.¡±


    I made an illusion of a ring on his finger then made one for the other man.


    The other man held up his hands. ¡°¡¯Tis nice. Pity it will not last long. ¡®Tis a nice thought, but thou hast made an illusion and not yet wished thy king well.¡±


    I said, ¡°I truly wish the king a long and happy life, but I feel selfish saying so.¡±


    I made the rings Real, sped up time, got up, bowed to them, and took to the shadows.


    I passed through a town that was probably Downway. I continued to Nowhere. The road changed to a bridge as it entered swampland. A man leading a horse with a small cart behind it was coming my way, so I went back to a ramp going down from the bridge and stepped out of shadow.


    I got back up on the bridge, and the man waved to me. ¡°Canst thou holdest these reins for a bit? I need to attend to personal business, and there is no place to harness a horse.¡±


    I took the reins from him as the horse pulled back and eyed me suspiciously. The man ran down the ramp with an odd sort of gait, so I figured out what the personal business he needed to attend to was.


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    After a while, he came back and took the reins from me. ¡°I thank thee. Thou may have saved my life. It will be different when they finish the bridge and there are railings to tie horses to. Art thou headed to Nowhere?¡±


    I nodded and waved as I walked past him. After he got his horse and cart moving, I took to shadow again. The trees thinned out, so I had to shift under the bridge to keep in shadow. By a ramp down, another cart was being unloaded from a low ferry boat. I continued past and came to a man leading a large empty wagon pulled by six large mules. I sailed past and came to the end of the bridge. Men were lowering a large stone down a wooden ramp.


    One of them shouted, ¡°Brent, thy replacement just arrived. He looks like we might be able to get a bit more work out of him than we ever got from thee.¡±


    A large man looked up at me. ¡°No, he just came all this way to beat thee up for thy lunch. Best hand it over to him, he looks serious.¡±


    I looked for where the bridge was going but I couldn¡¯t see it. There was a path forward where the trees had been cleared but little else.


    As I looked, Duchess Bye-bye summoned me. ¡°Bye-bye here, calling King Snipsnort.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How can I be of service, Duchess Bye-bye?¡±


    ¡°Bring me there.¡±


    I brought her to the bridge.


    She looked at the men working and grabbed my leg. ¡°Boyfriend hug.¡±


    The men all looked at her then at me. I picked her up and put her on my shoulders. ¡°I was heading to Nowhere, doest thou want to come?¡±


    She rocked up and down on my shoulders enthusiastically. Then she stopped. ¡°Are we going to get wet? I don¡¯t mind, but I have my nice shoes on and should take them off.¡±


    I said, ¡°Brace thyself.¡± Then I backtracked a bit and took shadows through water and woods following the cut in the trees until I reached a village with boats. In the distance behind the village was a castle. I took us to the nearest shade tree in front of the castle and stepped out of shadow.


    Bye-bye hugged my head. It wasn¡¯t the most comfortable hug I had ever had. More awkward and a neck strain than anything else. ¡°That¡¯s more fun than anything!¡±


    I smiled and set her down. She gave me an upset look.


    Then she turned to the castle. ¡°Let¡¯s explore.¡±


    I said, ¡°It is probably warded.¡±


    She pouted and said, ¡°Zoom us back to the village. Someone can get us in.¡±


    From the castle, someone shouted, ¡°Lower the drawbridge for Duchess Bye-bye.¡±


    Another voice said, ¡°Right on it.¡±


    The drawbridge started to come down slowly. Bye-bye said, ¡°We could fly.¡±


    I said, ¡°I can¡¯t fly as a rooster, and I haven¡¯t tried to turn into a bird that can fly yet.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Why not?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m supposed to stay an owl for a day next. I was pretty helpless and couldn¡¯t even walk before I slept as a giant rooster. The watchman and his wife tried to kill me at the manor, so I¡¯m kind of nervous being an uncoordinated owl for a day.¡±


    She said, ¡°Stay here. Imma gonna find the watchman and teach him to leave my boyfriend alone. Maybe kill him.¡±


    I said, ¡°He died. Had an accident running into a steel wall.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Didst thou make the steel wall?¡±


    I nodded. The bridge was down so I took her hand, and we walked into the castle.


    I bowed to the guards at the gate. ¡°Art thou fully staffed here?¡±


    The taller guard said, ¡°We are hoping that our new king will choose this as his main residence. Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    From various locations, I heard people saying, ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    There was no point in concealing my identity, so I bowed. ¡°I thank thee for thy good wishes and hope a long and happy life for thee as well.¡±


    One of the guards started to kneel, looked at the other guards, then returned to attention.


    I asked, ¡°To visit this castle easily, I will need to be able to summon my way here. Art there any volunteers that would give me thy name so I can summon thee to bring me hence?¡±


    Several of the guards volunteered and while they were giving me their names, Bye-bye let go of my hand and ran farther into the castle.


    I was guided through the castle and introduced to more of the staff.


    Duchess Bye-bye said, ¡°Turn into an owl. I will stay here and watch over thee. They are making supper and it smells wonderful. Wait, do we need a bunch of rats to feed thee?¡±


    I shook my head.


    A servant said, ¡°Would cooked goat or fish do?¡±


    ¡°Hopefully.¡± I changed into me with the backpack and took out the bone labeled owl.


    I held it and examined it and it revealed itself to me and I turned into an owl. It was difficult walking, but then it might be hard anyway with Duchess Bye-bye chasing me. I took to half hopping and using my wings to keep away from her. She relentlessly chased after me. I managed to get up on a ledge, but she turned into a raven and landed beside me. She turned back into a gap-toothed little girl and grabbed me. I didn¡¯t dare shift. She was going to ruin my feathers.


    ¡°My owl! Thou canst not be my boyfriend, ¡®cause thou art my pet!¡±


    I felt bones threaten to break as she hugged me. She held onto me and jumped down from the ledge. She carried me to a servant and asked, ¡°Can we feed Owlie? He¡¯s hungry!¡±


    I ate my fill and then escaped. She chased me. Being chased by a preschool terror with a gap-toothed maw was incentive to learn to hop, glide, and then fly. Exhausted, I sat on a limb that wouldn¡¯t support Duchess Bye-bye¡¯s weight. She came and leaned against me as a raven.


    ¡°Owl, owl, owl, owl. I have a pet owl. Owl, owl, owl, owl, I have a pet owl.¡±


    It went like that for a while. I flew. She chased me. I got better at flying and gliding. She managed to catch me and took me back in to feed me. We finally slept, perched on the same limb. I woke up to her grabbing me and carrying me in to find some more food.

 Little Sister Bye-Bye

    When a day had passed, I happily turned back into myself, put the bone in my backpack and sat beside Duchess Bye-bye in another form of myself without the backpack with metal rings.


    Bye-bye said, ¡°I never died so iron doesn¡¯t bother me.¡±


    I asked. ¡°How didst thou become a Fairy?¡±


    She gave me a look. ¡°Vikings raided us and lit our house on fire. Fairies took us, but my family had to pay, so I was given to them. I got mad and beat them all up. After forcing them to gift me, I went a lot of places. I met Anteater and stayed here.¡±


    I hugged her. My Goblin instincts wanted to adopt her. I held her tight. ¡°Doest thou want pointed ears like mine?¡±


    She laughed. ¡°Thou does not have pointed ears.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t stop myself. I took her into shadow and held her close. When I took her back out of shadow, I hugged her. ¡°I¡¯m thy brother and uncle now. Thou art my sister. Soon enough, thy ears will have points.¡±


    She said, ¡°That was nice. I like the shadow.¡±


    I said, ¡°I have a lot to teach thee. Until then, don¡¯t stay in shadow long, don¡¯t take any animals with thee, and no people. Be careful and don¡¯t tell anyone that thou canst travel through shadows.¡±


    She slipped into shadow, sailed around, and came back out beside me. She put her head in my lap. ¡°My brother.¡±


    I said, ¡°Tomorrow, I learn to be a rook.¡±


    She smiled and went to sleep. Turning into a Goblin is often like that. I stroked my sister¡¯s hair. Now I was committed to this Fairyland entirely. I had a family here.


    The rook was easier. Duchess Bye-bye gifted me with raven speech skills and flying. It was close enough for me to start learning the tricks that Duchess Bye-bye insisted I learn.


    We spent the day flying and playing follow the leader. I slept as a rook did a bit more practice and gave my little sister a hug before summoning Mr. Hebert.


    ***


    Mr. Hebert said, ¡°I thought you were gone to the Goblin Festival.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°There was a bit of stuff I had to do first. I will be heading out as soon as I get something to eat.¡±


    Mr. Hebert started walking toward the kitchen. ¡°Phil, you shouldn¡¯t wait long, Archer is going to visit soon.¡±


    As he said it, I saw Archer¡¯s Hummer coming up the driveway. I started making a sandwich and just throwing it together.


    I had just poured a glass of water when Archer came into the kitchen. ¡°Hey, Roland. Hey, Phil. I thought you were going to a music festival.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Hey, Uncle Archer, I¡¯m just leaving.¡± I took my drink and the plate of food with me as I slid into shadow.


    ***


    While taking a break to finish my meal, I changed into me with the backpack and made sure the cat purse was there and intact. I contemplated putting the bones back in the purse to return them, but I couldn¡¯t make up my mind if it was horrible to put bones in her purse or just polite. As I put the purse back up and checked on the bones, I took out the rat bone and decided not to waste a form on it. I put it back and noticed that the seal on the small book was evaporating and that a glowing LED sort of blue light was flashing.


    I opened the book just as it started to vibrate. Inside of the book was hollowed out and a small electronic device like a cell phone, but a quarter the size and thinner, lit up.


    The display read, ¡°Do not summon Roland or Andrew. Get to them as fast as thou canst. They are in great danger. Beware flashes of light.¡±


    I transformed into me without the backpack and slid into shadow. I didn¡¯t care about ripples or waves. I hurled myself through shadow. I had gone this path just now and twice before. I knew it and I knew its tricks. I was moving faster than I could see ahead. Bathed in blue light that limited my speed, I sailed through shadow to areas I knew even better than the starting section of the path north to Indiana.


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    I stopped when I got near the neighborhood and stepped out of shadow. I realized I was still hungry and had left my plate and glass behind. I flew high up as a rook. Archer was on top of the roof with his oversized crossbow held ready. He had two statues near him and an open bottle of whiskey. The statues were of Mr. Hebert and Uncle Anthony. The statues were in front of him, and he was sitting where he could kick them off the roof. As I focused on the statues, I saw they were dressed in clothing. Mr. Hebert¡¯s outfit matched what I had just seen him wearing. I dared not fly closer, but I dared not wait. I flew down until I could slide into shadow and slid from shadow to shadow and came in from the back of the garden and behind Archer. I saw the dark shadow gleam of a camera and noticed several such gleams around the house and up higher where the eaves overhung.


    I came out of shadow and turned back to a crow. The cameras were all in black silvery globes attached by clamps and boards. There were light fixtures on the top of the globes. I turned to an owl. My eyesight wasn¡¯t as good in the bright of day, but I could hear Uncle Archer talking to himself.


    ¡°Roland, you idiot. You were always so nice and generous. I thought I had killed you back when we served Charlemagne, but no, your body wasn¡¯t that important. So, I studied you. Anthony was easy. The right resonance and he would freeze up hard as rock and only a visit to Fairy could save him.


    ¡°Oh, but then lucky, stupid, lucky Roland, you found a Fairy. A freak Goblin Fairy. Well, tell you what. I found all your little resonant caches. I got rid of your damned Studebaker and washing machine, ¡®cause I couldn¡¯t have you figuring out how long I¡¯ve been stalking you. I still have all the science my father discovered, and I have a nice little gizmo that helps me find the strings that play your music. It¡¯s gonna let me know when the Goblin brat returns.¡±


    I could hear him taking a swig of whiskey. He was still a perfect shot even dead drunk, and he was fast. I wasn¡¯t sure how to deal with him. He was stronger and out of shadow faster than me by a long shot. He was tough as rock.


    I slid into the very softest edge of shadow and slowly, without a ripple, slid up toward the roof. Lights flashed and I fell out of shadow. I would have fallen the three floors if I had not been in crow form. In silence, I perched on a ledge and listened.


    ¡°Oh, goody! My prey is here. Poor Roland, your resonant junk is all but gone. My sensors so carefully used to find your junk are now locating the last instrument that plays your tune.¡±


    He shouted, ¡°Phil, is that you? I¡¯m up on the roof. I want to show you something.¡±


    I heard him shift position and take a couple of steps. He might not be in position to kick the statues off the roof now. I thought about the roof tiles and wondered if I should have chosen the rat form after all. I considered my options.


    I could go to Fairy to speed time, but then I would need someone to summon me out of Fairy. I knew a Goblin that played a double bass and a Goblin that worked in a music store. They might be near, but they might be up in Gary, Indiana. I had no way of knowing, and I couldn¡¯t risk Mr. Hebert or Uncle Anthony. From my perch I could see Uncle Archer¡¯s shadow. He was standing near the edge of the roof above me and holding his oversized crossbow.


    Flashes of light were going to knock me out of shadow or kill me if I tried to go up in shadow. I just had to beat his speed with the crossbow.


    Silently picking up speed as an owl, I flew upward. The blinding lights flashed as I got near, and they were giving away my movements under the eaves. I swooped and turned to a rook. I flew to where Uncle Anthony¡¯s statue was and turned in to me in shorts ready to grab the statue and transform.


    I slammed into the statue. My air was knocked out of me as a I grabbed the statue. One of Uncle Archer¡¯s arrows hit me in the arm. Only my grip on the statue kept me from falling off the roof.


    I transformed and fell off the roof as the statue disappeared. Falling, I went to shadow. The lights flashed and I fell out of shadow. I slid into shadow again before I hit ground. I shifted to the shade over the deepest fish tank and splashed down to stop my fall. I took to shadow again as the pain from the crossbow bolt made it clear that it was still there, even when it should have been in another form of me. I needed to get it out of me, but there was no way I was going to be able to pull it out on my own.


    Dripping blood in the carriage house, I winced as I crouched under a worktable and locked the end of the arrow in a vise. With it held firm, I dropped to the floor leaving the arrow behind. I changed into myself uninjured. Apart from feeling as hungry as I could remember feeling, I was fine. I wanted that sandwich I had left behind.


    I shadow stepped into the kitchen. There were several open cases. Sitting on the foam of one was a long flashlight-looking thing with a sort of bronze bell. It looked like the sort of thing Uncle Archer would build if he was trying to make a steampunk accessory, but I couldn¡¯t figure out what it was. I heard the creak on the stair a floor and a half above me as I realized that the flashlight thing had two safeties on it, and both of them were off. It was a weapon. Of course, it was a weapon¡ªUncle Archer built it.


    Armed with the weapon, I went to the stair and looked up. Uncle Archer and I met eyes, and he backed up into the second floor out of sight. I turned into an owl to listen.


    He whispered, ¡°Lottie, I summon thee. The damned Goblin has the crystalizer. Bring me home.¡±


    Then he shouted, ¡°Did you hear me? I don¡¯t care about the Hummer! Get me out of here!¡±


    I didn¡¯t wait. I went to Mr. Hebert¡¯s statue. Both the kittens were holding onto the clothing on the statue, and their fur was raised. There was a sound by the hatch that came up onto the roof, so I held onto the statue and took it to Fairy.

 Goblin Music Festival

    In the open area beside the pools, just in front of the steel vault, I lay on the floor with a heavy statue half on me. I didn¡¯t want it to hit the hard floor, so I made a gossamer brace to hold the statue.


    The cats hissed then disappeared into shadow. I looked around. I had just introduced two shadow stepping cats into a Fairyland that might or might not despise cats. I was pinned under a statue, and I might never be able to chase them down.


    With gossamer braces holding the statue in place, I managed to get out from under the statue and then I got the statue stable and on the ground without gossamer. With layers of gossamer padding in place, I brought Uncle Anthony into the chamber and onto the gossamer pads. Then slowly I got rid of one pad at a time, and Uncle Anthony was finally safely on the floor.


    I sat beside them and took out the small device that had warned me that Mr. Hebert and Uncle Anthony were in danger.


    The display was blank. I considered my options. I was starving, but I needed to find the cats.


    I shadow stepped until it was clear that there was no point in searching farther.


    I summoned Monroe and he answered.


    I asked, ¡°Monroe, do you have any food ready?¡±


    Monroe pulled me to Real and gave me a bowl of beans and some bread. I had missed his beans. I never did manage to get them right.


    Monroe asked, ¡°What happened? You don¡¯t look well.¡±


    I shook my head and chewed until I could swallow and wash it down with the lemonade he gave me. ¡°Two of my friends were turned to stone. I think they will be okay. I was shot with an arrow, and I am injured pretty badly in two of my forms. After I get some food in me, I plan to go shopping. I¡¯m going to fill a few backpacks with snacks and go to the Goblin Music Festival to see if I can find out how to save my friends.¡±


    Monroe said, ¡°Now I am certain I don¡¯t ever want to visit Fairy.¡±


    I stopped eating long enough to say, ¡°Nope. No place is safe. This happened in Real.¡±


    Monroe asked, ¡°Is there really a Goblin Music Festival? Why am I asking? it¡¯s probably dangerous.¡±


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    I shook my head. ¡°I was assured by a source that has been pretty reliable so far that the festival would be safe.¡±


    Monroe asked, ¡°Where is it?¡±


    I said, ¡°Gary, Indiana.¡±


    He frowned. ¡°That¡¯s up by Chicago. That¡¯s a pretty long trail to shadow step.¡±


    I asked, ¡°I could teach you some more tricks to make travel faster. Will the rest of the boys be okay if you left for a couple of days?¡±


    He frowned. ¡°They might get upset if I went on my own. Can we leave in an hour? I need to put some food away and go to one of the caches where I put the money you gave us. Then we can round up the family and see who else wants to go.¡±


    I said, ¡°I have more backpacks with cash. I can pay. Pack up the food you think might go bad, and I will store it for later and thank you for it now.¡±


    ***


    We were sitting outside a grocery store in Indianapolis where I had stocked up on peanut butter, jelly, summer sausage, cheese, bread, and candy. All my brothers were holding sausages, hunks of bread, and cheese they were happily eating.


    I gestured with my sausage. ¡°I had a situation where I tested it. If you learn to ride on the fringe of the shadow, you should be able to handle a flash of light.¡±


    Dennis looked around. ¡°Yeah, right. All of you are in on this together, and now my favorite brother Phil is trying to get me killed. I ain¡¯t going near a flash.¡±


    I started to say something, but Jordan looked like he was about to laugh so I just stayed quiet. I wondered what I had done¡ªright or wrong¡ªthat had made me his favorite. Probably just suggesting this outing to the music festival.


    ***


    In front of an abandoned factory with a few vehicles in the huge parking lot that was slowly being overtaken by weeds, we were stopped by wards. Music was playing in the distance, and a lot of Goblins had huge double bass cases or guitar cases with them.


    A Goblin in the line ahead of us said to the group he was with, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the wards can keep you out, but you can leave right through them. They got a lot of security. This is nothing like any of the other Goblin festivals I¡¯ve been at.¡±


    When we got to the front of the line, and it was our turn to be checked for weapons, my family was taken aside. All the Goblins were staring at us wondering what we had done. A girl came out of the security booth and smiled at me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Phil, we just put the picture up so we would recognize you. They¡¯re waiting for you in the office area on the second floor.¡±


    She looked at the rest of my family and said, ¡°Just Phil. Don¡¯t worry, Phil, we can take care of Roland and Anthony.¡±


    She pointed at me. ¡°Everyone, this is Phil, he¡¯s the one that saved the festival. Anyone with him is okay, just let them in.¡±


    It was turning from partly cloudy to overcast as we walked across the shadowless parking lot to the old factory that for a moment in time would no longer be abandoned, Jordan asked, ¡°What did you do, Phil?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Nothing I can explain, and in this case, not much at all.¡±


    A cute Goblin girl ran out of the building and straight for us. I recognized her and took her purse out of my backpack. I held it out and said, ¡°You dropped this.¡±


    She took the purse, slung it on her shoulder, took my arm, and led me to the building.


    I whispered, ¡°You are making me look like a hero for things I never did.¡±


    She said, ¡°You are a hero, but for things you could never explain. It all works out.¡±


    The End of Book 1 Fade to Fairy

 Goblin Music

    You know the guy you see in the occasional band that is way too into the music? The over-enthusiastic fellow with the tambourine or at least shaking something, beating a rhythm on something, and dancing or moving without even thinking how he looks to the audience? That was me at the Goblin Music Festival. Who am I kidding? That¡¯s still me when I get lost in the music.


    In a huge abandoned factory now alive with Goblins, I was sitting on and beating a crate with a band way out of my league. I don¡¯t read music. I never had a lesson. I never got past second grade. So all the Goblins in the audience were staring at the nine-year-old that everyone was calling a hero while he made a fool of himself playing music well above his pay scale. I¡¯ll confess that I¡¯m not all that terrible, but only because I have been slapping rhythms on every board I come across for the last fifty years. Yep, I¡¯m that kid who won¡¯t stop drumming on the table. The Goblin they are calling a hero.


    If I confessed it all to someone, they might think I had moments of bravery and moments of good intent, but hero is not a word I¡¯d use to describe myself.


    Back out in the audience, another Goblin nudged me. ¡°Seriously, wow. Every band that gets up on stage is inviting you to play with them.¡±


    It all dropped into place. The hero thing. The bands gesturing for me to join them. My not having done anything heroic. I shadow stepped back to the area my family was in and handed Jordan a backpack. Back here, it was louder so I couldn¡¯t be heard. I waved bye to him, and he took my arm and dragged me into shadow. In a chamber below the stages, he left shadow and we sat on large pipes with valves and dials with the music still throbbing above us.


    I said, ¡°The backpack has money, spread it around, hide it, don¡¯t get in trouble over it. It¡¯s all clean. I didn¡¯t work hard for it, but I didn¡¯t steal it. I¡¯m gonna see a few people and head out.¡±


    Jordan said, ¡°See you ¡®round. Thanks for bringing us to this. Phil, it was amazing seeing you play with all those groups. You worn out?¡±


    I said, ¡°Something like that. Take good care, Jordan. Seriously, if someone tries to rob you, just let it go. Don¡¯t get hurt. I¡¯ll check on you, and I can give you more money. It ain''t a problem.¡±


    I slid into shadow. With all the Goblins in and moving in shadow here, there was no way anyone was going to be able to trail me. In the office, I was taken by the arms by two pretty Goblin girls. Both appeared to be at least sixteen. Since I looked to be about nine, and it had taken me around fifty years to get that last year of age, I couldn¡¯t guess how old these girls really were.


    Sitting in the highest chair at the table, I looked down at the tall, bare-wood stool they had me sitting on. Probably to make sure I didn¡¯t feel bad about being the youngest looking person in the room but it seemed a bit like a booster chair.


    A girl said, ¡°Phil, we have been debating things, and we think you should stop taking the pills that let you age naturally. At least for a while.¡±


    I glanced around the room, and Nia, the girl wearing the purse I had returned to her, nodded to me. ¡°Sorry, but it is possible that your aging might change things, and right now Roland Hubert needs you unchanged.¡±


    I polymorphed into the form of me carrying the backpack with the pills in it and started taking out the three bottles of pills they had given me.


    A girl who I wasn¡¯t sure if she was human or Goblin said, ¡°Keep them. Someone else you know might want to age up a bit.¡±


    I thought about Monroe, Jordan, and the rest of the family and wondered if I could get more of the pills for them. I thought about the ancient toddler I had just adopted and wondered if she might want to grow up a bit. I looked at them and realized that if these folk knew as much as they knew about me and what was going on, then, like me, they probably didn¡¯t need money.


    They wanted my friends alive so that meant they wanted me well.


    I asked, ¡°How do we turn them back from stone?¡±


    The girl I was thinking might be human said, ¡°Keep them moist or wet and in a dark, cool place. They are or were or sort of are among the last remains of the giants. Roland and Anthony, as long as they don¡¯t stay in sunlight for too many days, will still be living crystals in a matrix that can grow. Eventually, they will start transforming to take advantage of biological distribution of chemicals and the process should speed up. As long as they are not shattered, heated up, or exposed to too much ultraviolet radiation, they should be fine. Roland will need you around to restore his full cognitive ability, but we have a plan to wean him off of that necessity.¡±


    Another girl slid a briefcase towards me. ¡°Here are some identification papers for you and some detail and maps to a few junkyards you inherited. Sadly, Mr. Phil Thibodeaux, the same horrible genetic condition that makes you look so young ended up killing your mother and father. You should be able to get away with being Phil Thibodeaux for at least ten years. If you don¡¯t stay in one place long, you might get away with it for twenty. The management agency that oversees these junkyards will keep bringing things in and then recycling them, so you should take Roland to visit these junkyards regularly. This way he has the best chance of finding the sort of resonant stuff he needs to thrive.¡±


    An athletic looking girl stood up and gestured for me to stand. She smiled and said, ¡°I need to gift you with operating heavy equipment, and then you need to go practice.¡±


    I was confused and looked up at her as she kissed my forehead several times. I looked back and the stool I¡¯d been sitting on was gone. Still confused, I didn¡¯t react when she took my arm and took me into shadow. We ended up in a field a distance from the factory. Around us were cranes with magnets, large machines with scoops and grabber claws, bulldozers, trucks and tractors.


    She let go of my arm and said, ¡°The keys are all in them. You are certified as a heavy equipment operator. Now you need to practice.¡±


    This was a gifting I had never dreamed of, desired, or needed in any way. Oddly though, it was also crazy fun getting up in huge monstrosities and picking up wrecked cars and smashing them around or moving them with the gentlest touches. I worked through the night, taking a pile of rusting metal and arranging it into small neat collections of similar items. I loaded trucks and drove stuff around.


    In the cab of one of the trucks was the briefcase I had forgotten and two boxes of bandages with a note stuck to one of them. I took off the note.


    ¡°Put these bandages on Anthony and Roland where they will contact skin, or stone in any case. When you question your own heroism, remember, heros are the ones who keep going and keep trying. Swords, guns, and armor are not the true tools of a hero. An open hand and an open mind are all the tools that a hero needs. Bravery is not the hallmark of a hero. A hero is the one that remains guided by his compassion despite his fears and tears.¡±


    My eyes welled up with tears as I read. I put the bandages in my backpack and took the briefcase to Fairy.


    #


    Standing on a platform in the middle of a stone structure with a roundabout intersection and seven roads leading off into the distance, a pair of men sitting at a stone bench build around a column stood up and bowed.


    ¡°Long live King Snipsnort!¡±


    I bowed back. ¡°Please rise.¡±


    The shorter one stepped forward. ¡°My lord, we are wondering if you couldst be persuaded to build the bridge to Nowhere. There are many other projects and having the major crew keep building a bridge to Nowhere for the next hundred or so years will mean, no new castles, no new aqueducts, and no new amphitheaters.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How should I build it?¡±


    The taller of the two said, ¡°You are king of Snipsnort. You have control of vast energies stored for eons that you can change to stone and be built with.¡±


    I stepped down from the ledge after looking around for the traffic that was probably going to be a plodding mule with a cart a few times a day and approached them so we wouldn¡¯t be yelling across the road. ¡°You¡¯re aware that fine things like jewels and gold could be made with it instead of stone.¡±


    The shorter one sighed. ¡°Fine, you can make piles of trinkets that some women would delight in, yet the practical ones will ask why uou didn¡¯t bring a pale of water from the well when you came in?


    ¡°Jewelry gets stolen and buried, but a bridge or a lighthouse becomes a treasure that unites and guides people for ages to come, builds pride and aids exchanges. A well made aqueduct is a treasure that make a town clean and prosperous. Gold in a vault is only useful to pay off ransoms and wage wars with.


    ¡°Better not to fight or get kidnapped in my opinion.¡±


    I asked, ¡°We have lighthouses?¡±


    The tall man said, ¡°Not nearly enough. When the great seas rage, and fishermen look to the shores for refuge or debate riding it out on an endless and angry sea, a lighthouse can be the only guide to one that works so hard for so little and provides the fish that greedy fishmongers charge so much for.¡±


    The short man whispered out of the side of his mouth. ¡°Shhhh. He is one of those greedy fishmongers.¡±


    They both stared at me blinking for a moment before they kneeled and bowed to me. ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    I said, ¡°Please rise.¡±


    They stood up. ¡°Sorry, Great King.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Do we have great seas?¡±


    They nodded and the short man said, ¡°We are bounded by the seas of Fairy. Most of the really great and ancient Fairylands are.¡±


    I asked, ¡°There¡¯s one big Fairyland, and we¡¯re an island?¡±


    The tall man shook his head. ¡°While you are the kingdom, great lord, no man is an island. You might as well ask, ¡®How large is this realm?¡±


    I asked, ¡°How large is this realm?¡±


    He shook his head from side to side and his tone changed to that of someone lecturing a child. ¡°In Fairy, we have a term for the size of such things, yet we do not measure them. Measuring is a way of limiting and preparing to market things. It¡¯s all fine for an accountant, but if one values something with their heart, one does not weigh it to find out how much one should value it. When we have something huge that requires appropriate vagueness, we say it is rather huge. How many can say what a hectare really is or comprehend it? When you say a hundred thousand hectares did you truly make it any more clear?¡±


    I asked, ¡°So we keep it all irrational?¡±


    The short man says, ¡°Kind of, but irrational is an entirely different thing. You see man tries to separate things into two piles before weighing them. Good and evil, chaos and order, but the truth is simpler. Within your yard and neighborhood, there may be good and bad dogs and the smith¡¯s yard may be full of old junk and chaotic, while the old lady¡¯s garden is clipped neatly in fine order, the neighborhood is much bigger than either yard and what is outside of that is even larger.¡±


    The tall man said, ¡°And beyond that outside are things unimagined, yet to deny these unimagined things their place would be unreasonable. So, when do you plan to start building the bridge?¡±


    I asked, ¡°I am not sure, but what does that have to do with the irrational?¡±


    The short man asked, ¡°What is larger, the set of irrational numbers or the set of rational numbers?¡±


    I winced. ¡°Sorry, I only made it through second grade, and that was long ago.¡±


    The tall man asked, ¡°If you have three apples and call that three, which is larger, the number of neat slices of apple that you could make or the number three?¡±


    I said, ¡°Three, wait, no the number of slices.¡±


    The short man looked around like someone might have shown up. The tall man continued. ¡°That is to say that the real fractions of an apple is larger than the number of apples. But let¡¯s say you took a sledgehammer to the apples and splattered them everywhere. You have far more bits just stuck on the hammer and your apron than you ever had neat slices. Those bits are the irrational numbers. You can¡¯t even try to count them so why do it?¡±


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    I said, ¡°Aren¡¯t there Fairytales where the good folk count things that no one else can count?¡±


    The short one asked, ¡°Are we really going back to square one?¡±


    The taller one shook his head. ¡°Look, I take an orange and eat it. Now we can¡¯t compare the orange to the apples. But how many bits of orange are there inside me?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°That isn¡¯t even a rational question.¡±


    He nodded to the short one. ¡°There, I love it when a student catches on. So, you see that it isn¡¯t a question of good or evil, though that matters, but we are stuck in the worlds between heaven and hell, so, really, we can ignore those questions and as long as we treat each other well, who cares? And it isn¡¯t an argument of entropy because that never ends well. It isn¡¯t even order versus chaos. The real question is: can you explain it or is it just plain daft?


    The shorter one looked around again and said, ¡°Since we agree that everything is possible and the reasonable things are smaller than the possible daft things, that makes the universe a tiny insecure puddle of reason in the middle of a huge expanse where insane children are running around trying to make splashes, and that is why we need you to finish that bridge as quickly as you can.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How did this relate back to bridge building?¡±


    The shorter one threw his hands in the air while the taller one stared at me and shook his head.


    The shorter one waved with the back of his hand as he started walking away. ¡°You¡¯re having better luck explaining this than me. Wow, how does a being explain the obvious to someone who couldn¡¯t handle a third grade curriculum. Oh, well. Long live Snipsnort.¡±


    The taller man crouched down beside me and then looked at the man who was leaving. ¡°Long live Snipsnort.¡±


    He looked at me and asked, ¡°Do you like puppies?¡±


    I nodded. He said, ¡°None of the puppies will be let into the house if they get all muddy. We don¡¯t want that do we now, do we?¡±


    I shook my head.


    He nodded at me and smiled. ¡°But if there were a nice long bridge over all that mud, the puppies could all come in and play. We all like playing with nice clean puppies don¡¯t we?¡±


    I asked, ¡°What if they grow up to be bad dogs? What if they get out of their yard, eat all the apple bits and then go make a mess of the old lady¡¯s yard? If there is a bridge, those dogs will be loose and able to go anywhere. They could end up chasing all those children trying to make splashes and then drink from the puddle. What happens then?¡±


    He started backing up slowly, quietly muttering under his breath, ¡°When faced with a Daft Fairy, don¡¯t draw any attention. Keep a mild and uninteresting smile as you slowly back away. Do not run until you are well out of sight and the Daft Fairy is distracted. Do not, whatever you do, use glitter. That was poor advice to begin with.¡±


    He bowed while still slowly backing up, keeping his eyes on me and smiling in a reassuring but patronizing way. ¡°Long live Snipsnort.¡±


    I took to the shadows along, but not in, the shadows I had taken this way before. Expanding my feel for the paths of shade. As I approached my manor house, I saw the gate was open and men were working in the yard.


    I slid out of shadow back by a tree and walked up.


    A man greeted me at the gateway. ¡°Good morning lad. What crew art thou with?¡±


    I tried to think how to put this. As a new king, few would recognize me and it seemed bad to not tell them, but telling them I was king also seemed a bit odd. I thought, ¡°I am thy humble servant, King Snipsnort,¡± but that didn¡¯t feel right either. My image of a king would say boldly, ¡°I am the lord of these realms, the king of Snipsnort.¡± That sounded conceited but I really didn¡¯t know what else to say.


    The man said, ¡°Lad, are you slow or do you not have any good reason for being at the residence of the great king of Snipsnort.¡±


    I said, ¡°Sorry, I was just trying to figure out the best way to introduce myself without seeming too self important. My name is Phil, and I am the king of Snipsnort.¡±


    He shouted, ¡°Krul, the Kings here.¡±


    A man came over and looked at me and then back the man who greeted me. ¡°Are you through taking a break or are you ready to help get those statues out of the basement?¡±


    I said, ¡°Please be careful and they stay in the basement.¡±


    They both looked at me. I started walking in and they blocked my way.


    I backed up, and gave them a hard stare. ¡°Don¡¯t push it. Those statues are friends of mine.¡±


    They both crossed their arms. More men and a woman came out and looked at me. I didn¡¯t have a choice. I turned into a giant rooster.


    Everyone dropped to the ground. ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    I passed through shadow and down to the basement. There were two crates that had been partially built around the statues. A pair of men were sitting and talking.


    The one wearing an apron said, ¡°Fairywings! It would be sweet to live in a place like this. I mean the pools down here are cold, but imagine getting in them after a hard day of work in the sun.¡±


    The one in the vest said, ¡°Fairywings, indeed. But you wouldn¡¯t want to stay long. Imagine though that after a long day in the sun, you had wine and a melon cooled in these pools. Now that would be sweet.¡±


    I went up stairs, slid out of shadow and started to step down when I realized I was still a seven foot giant rooster.


    Vest guy shouted, ¡°Fade me, it¡¯s the king and he looks pissed. I knew we shouldn¡¯t have taken the break.¡±


    They both kneeled and bowed, touching their heads to the ground. I turned back into myself and went to examine my friends as they said, ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    The statues looked intact, and the crates they were building were really nice. I sat on the corner of one of the frames and thumped on a panel attached to it. It had a good enough sound, but I needed to get my friends in water and out of the crates. I was about to ask the men to guard the statues for a moment while I found blankets to pad them, but I had a better solution.


    I said, ¡°Please rise.¡± I made gossamer sand to put in the bottom of one of the pools. I stepped in and the sand was too solid. I had forgotten that wet sand on a beach could be solid while dry sand was soft. Sort of the opposite of mud. I started playing around with gossamer fluff and came up with a sort of soggy horsehair sort of mess that stayed flexible when wet and would still pad the impact of stone on stone. Then I made gossamer ramps.


    I got rid of them and kept trying. Finally a teeter-totter sort of thing let me lift one end of a crate. I tried to put a gossamer ice block under the end but that wasn¡¯t going to be stable when I lifted the other end. I kept trying things until I got the first statue lifted. I made supports and levered the crate over a pool. Dispelling thin layers one after another, I finally got the statue, still held by the crate, into the pool. The second statue was easier since I had already done one and knew what I was doing.


    I used gossamer cloths to dry the exposed parts of the statues and then put the bandages from the box marked for Mr. Hubert on him and the other set of bandages on Uncle Anthony. Mr. Hubert¡¯s face was under water, so I had to do some more leverage work and then make a stone block to hold the crate in place at an angle.


    By this time, I had an audience and displaced water had flooded the area. There were channels for the water to flow through, but I was wet and the floor was wet. I looked up at all the workers watching me and smiled. ¡°These are good friends of mine. They got turned to stone but they need to stay right here and safe until they get better.¡±


    I thought about it and sped up time in the Fairyland. I was hungry but with all the people here, I didn¡¯t want to leave my friends alone. I didn¡¯t want to take out candy bars because I could go through them quickly if I shared them. I sat on the lowest step and looked back at the crew that was still watching me.


    I continued looking up at them until one of them got the idea. ¡°We should get back to work.¡±


    All but a couple of men left.


    A man holding a hat said, ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    Another man joined in part way through and then said it again. ¡°-ive King Snipsnort, long live King Snipsnort. Great and powerful king, I have a bit of a request. Somehow several huge steel structures got in your courtyard. Do you think you could lever them out like you did the statues? We have no idea what the caretaker was doing or how he got these here.¡±


    The man with the hat said, ¡°Won¡¯t work. Gossamer levers will dissipate the moment they touch steel. Great King, be careful though. All that steel may be a trap. There are a pair of scorch marks in a spot in the corner. I fear that some of your subjects may have died the second death.¡±


    I stood. ¡°Gentlemen, I thank thee for thy concern. I will, I think, keep all that steel to remind me to always be careful. When I look at it, I will keep mindful of the dangers that can face one if one is not prepared.¡±


    They nodded and bowed. ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    I was hungry or I might have started laughing from hearing ¡°Snipsnort¡± one time too many. I asked, ¡°Do you ever start to laugh when you hear the name Snipsnort?¡±


    The man with the hat wobbled a hand. ¡°At first yes, but after¡±¡ª He turned to the other man¡ª ¡°What do you think, was it about six hundred years ago when we got the name?¡±


    The man said, ¡°Probably in our time, but I suspect it was not more than eighty years in Real. They shift time so oft and do it strangely so there is no way to keep track.¡±


    He turned and shouted, ¡°Henny, you were there when Snipsnort was named. How long ago was it?¡±


    A woman came into view at the top of the stairway. ¡°No telling for sure. It is hard to keep track of, but the closest I can come is eight-hundred and twenty-three years, sixty-four days and seven hours. I am sorry that I can¡¯t be more useful what with me memory and all.¡±


    She sat down, looked at me. ¡°Long live King Snipsnort. So at the time Lady Sneezewort was alone at the throne room guarding the gateway. When the representative for the Registry came in on a survey of greater Fairylands, he assumed we had a Fairy King. He asked what name our Fairy king went by, Lady Sneezewort laughed since we hadn¡¯t had one in ages. She said, ¡®Snipsnort.¡¯ Not sure what she meant by it, but the man took it as the name of our King and Fairyland. He bowed and said, ¡®Well, then I will be thanking you and on my way, Lady¡ª¡®


    ¡°Well, Lady Sneezewort didn¡¯t love her name and was laughing at the thought of having a King named Snipsnort. So she blurted out, ¡®Anteater, Lady Anteater.¡¯


    ¡°It was not until later that we found out that our Fairyland was named Snipsnort, and once it was entered it would take a Fairy king of this realm to change it. It was also found that Lady Sneezewort was officially titled as Lady Anteater and well stuck with it since she had given it to them herself and the Registry does not look kindly on jokes.¡±


    I asked, ¡°So you are used to the name, ¡°Snipsnort?¡±


    The man with the hat said, ¡°Not merely used to it. We are quite proud of it.¡±


    The other man said, ¡°Proud enough to punch any Fairy foolish enough to call it, ¡®Snipsnot.¡¯¡±


    I asked, ¡°Does that happen a lot?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Not terribly often, but if you visit another Fairyland and Dutchess Byebye isn¡¯t around to beat the snipsnot out of anyone who says it, it¡¯s almost the first thing other Fairies think to say.¡±


    The woman nodded. ¡°Apart from the beating. Our Dutchess Byebye doesn¡¯t usually beat people. She prefers to reach down their throat and pull things out. She¡¯s quite the terror, our Duchess Byebye.¡±


    I stayed sitting by the statues until the last worker told me they would be shutting the gates and leaving. Then I took out the food Monroe had packed up for me and started eating. After eating, I made stainless steel fittings and doors in the basement to protect my friends. Then I made a bed so I could comfortably sleep next to them.


    Waking up, I found I needed to shadow step out to the woods to take care of business. A couple of men armed with bows and swords were sitting concealed in the bushes. I hid in shadows to find out what they were up to.


    One whispered. ¡°Still, you have to admit, this is pretty sweet.¡±


    The other nodded. ¡°No question about it. I doubt anything is going to happen though.¡±


    ¡°Do you think we will get to meet him?¡±


    ¡°Probably, we are royal guards after all.¡±


    ¡°So cool. You have to admit it is pretty sweet having an actual king to guard.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t get carried away, we don¡¯t just get to kill anyone who approaches the manor.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. I mean, we shout, Halt,¡¯ or, ¡®Who goes there,¡¯ and they had better stop dead in their tracks and not even think about reaching for a weapon. Do you think we can put an enemy¡¯s head on a spike if we have to kill them?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. Byebye doesn¡¯t keep heads anymore so that day may be gone.¡±


    I decided not to step out of shadow and greet my loyal subjects. Instead I went back to the manor house and realized I had to get past wards to get in. As I used the key and opened the door, I felt something slide through shadow into the manor. I left the key in the door and chased it. I beat it to where the statues were and came out ready to fight.


    One of the kittens that had come with me into Fairy stepped out of shadow and perched on top of the stairway.


    The kitten narrowed its eyes at me. ¡°Can you fix him?¡±


    I asked, ¡°You talk?¡±


    The other kitten appeared near my feet. ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡±


    I said, ¡°I need to go shut the door and get the key, but we can feed you and talk after that.¡±


    #


    I woke from a dream where I was in the hallway of a high school about to take a science test but I was still in a nine-year-old body and I still just had a second grade education. I was holding a large clock, like you might see on a wall, in both arms because a girl was following me and trying to snatch it. It was a disturbing dream and in parts, it felt real.


    I got up from bed hungry.


    #


    Through the cracks where my stainless steel wall didn¡¯t join perfectly to the tiled ceiling, I shadow stepped out to the woods. There were people outside the gate to the manor. From the woods I could smell food cooking down in the town below. I reconsidered my decision to stay here. At least at Bogview Castle they fed me.


    Lady Anteater was trying to slow time. I didn¡¯t let her. I wanted Uncle Anthony and Mr. Hubert back to normal and no longer helpless stone before I sped time back up. No one told me how long it was going to take, and as far as I could tell, I only had one way to find out and that involved waiting.


    I had food in several backpacks, but I was having to use it to feed two kittens, and I had intended to use it when I was starving after transformation. I shadow stepped up to where the people were waiting to see if any of them had brought gifts of food. There were a pair of them arguing over who owned a parcel of land. I got the impression that it was big, and they were both doing well. Neither of them had brought any food to bribe me with so I wasn¡¯t in the mood to settle their argument. That was that, hungry I wasn¡¯t going to be fair to anyone.


    When I slowed time, it was still early in the morning on Saturday. It was too early to summon most Goblins. Since Vic worked at a music store, and unless he was at the music festival, he was probably going to be up and at the store by ten. Maybe nine and he probably had to get up at least thirty minutes earlier, but I didn¡¯t want to bother him.


    I sat in the basement with the kittens eating sausage, cheese, and bread.


    Fuzzy said, ¡°We couldn¡¯t find our yard. The house is gone.¡±


    I said, ¡°We are in a Fairyland. I need to figure out how I am going to feed you.¡±


    White Gloves stopped licking the cheese she had between her paws. ¡°We can feed ourselves, but the only thing with the smell of home is now a statue in a pool. I miss Mr. Hubert.¡±


    I said, ¡°Hopefully he will be back to normal soon.¡±


    The cats both nodded to me like it was perfectly normal for a person to turn to stone and then turn back.


    Fuzzy got up. ¡°We want to sleep down here but there is no padding, and we can¡¯t get back into the place easily. We have to leave to find food.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I ¡®ll have to work on that. Keep checking back here and I¡¯ll try to take care of that soon.¡±


    I thought about Dutchess Byebye and wondered if she had eaten yet. She wouldn¡¯t have any trouble with getting food. She would probably just walk up, point, and tell them to give it to her.


    I considered going to the caretaker¡¯s house and seeing if there was any money there. He and his wife died while they were trying to kill me. Unless they had a will or something, I probably had as much right to the money as anyone. I was kind of disgusted with myself for even thinking it. I needed money but I didn¡¯t want any taint so I started shadow stepping to the giant throne. I was nearly there when Lady Anteater tried to slow time down to match with Real. Since I was about to go to Real, I let her.

 Meeting Caerwyn

    I stepped out of the gateway on a large rock in a large sandbar on a bend in a large river. The water level had risen a bit so the sandbar wasn¡¯t as big as it had been the last time I was here. I walked to the nearest shadow cast by trees and took to the shadows.


    In the carriage house, I opened a freezer and looked at the frozen lamb Mr. Hubert kept there. I opened the freezer I kept my trout lines in. They were iced and frozen, but they already had bait on them ready to thaw in water and start catching fish. I looked around for something to put things in and saw pallets with solar panels and other things that had been ordered to provide power in Fairy. There were ovens and freezers and all sorts of other equipment. I picked up the box of rags and smelled it. I hosed them out and ran them through the washer and dryer before putting the rags in a new box and storing the box in another form of myself.


    I looked at all the equipment. I didn¡¯t know how to set up any of this, and I didn¡¯t have a good way to get it to Fairy. I could get it to Fairy, maybe, but then I would have to go the entire route back each time.


    The lady from across the street shouted, ¡°Yooohoo!¡±


    She was walking a pair of her dogs and came right into the yard. ¡°It looks like it¡¯s going to rain, and that nice gentleman, Anthony, left the roof down on his convertible.¡±


    I nodded and got into the back of the car to flip the latches that held the roof back.


    When I got out of the car, I locked it. I would need to find the keys if I wanted back in. That or wait til the shadows were right to pass through the window.


    The lady was looking at Archer¡¯s hummer. ¡°When does Mr. Archer leave?¡±


    I gave her a questioning look.


    She whispered, ¡°Those of us who live lives longer than most don¡¯t like recorded images for obvious reasons. Mr. Archer is impossible to talk to. He threatened one my dogs years ago.


    ¡°But I want to ask Mr. Hubert to take down those cameras on the roof. They are ugly and sometimes we need our privacy. I would love it if we could be sure the tapes were erased.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Do you know someone who could figure out all the electronics? I am almost scared that Archer¡¯s room might be trapped.¡±


    She smiled. ¡°My son knows all that stuff. He even studied with Tesla when he was in the circus. Just come over when Archer is gone.¡±


    I said, ¡°He¡¯s gone.¡±


    She looked at the Hummer.


    I said, ¡°We will probably be moving out of the neighborhood for a while.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Is that because of the prophecies? Goodness. Everyone is moving out. My son wants us to find a Fairyland to shelter in. He says he has a way to get past the Persephone limit. But to be honest, none of the Fairylands around here are safe. I was thinking about a boat or an island, but I may just try and weather through the plague.¡±


    I smiled up at her. ¡°Mrs. Nelson, I have a Fairyland that might be safe. I mean, I don¡¯t think any of them are entirely safe, but you might like it.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Could I bring my animals?¡±


    I said, ¡°Probably. I am speaking without really being sure. I don¡¯t know all the rules.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Does it have a king or a queen?¡±


    I said, ¡°A king.¡±


    She looked at the Hummer again. ¡°You know that isn¡¯t even a real Hummer. The military ones have more clearance underneath. Is the king reasonable?¡±


    I checked the door to the Hummer to see if it was locked. It was. ¡°I like to think so. It¡¯s my Fairyland. I¡¯m King Snipsnort.¡±


    She turned to face me. ¡°Don¡¯t laugh and don¡¯t tease. Duchess Byebye lives there and, if you offend her, you need to say bye-bye to all your friends quick.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I think she likes animals. I would take you there to see if you like it, but I don¡¯t have a good way back.¡±


    She crouched in front of me, and her dogs started sniffing me. ¡°You¡¯re serious. Well, my son can summon us back. No, wait. Let my son go with you. Wait here, I¡¯ll be right back with Caerwyn.¡±


    I was looking at one of the huge coils of wire on a pallet when Mrs. Nelson came over with an athletic albino boy that looked like he was about to start high school. He had brown eyes that were startling as a contrast with his nearly angelic features.


    Caerwyn tipped his large straw hat. ¡°I¡¯m Caerwyn.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Phil.¡±


    He looked around. ¡°Is Archer likely to come out?¡±


    I looked up at Mrs. Nelson and decided to share the truth. ¡°Archer killed Mr. Hubert and Uncle Anthony. He ran from me, but I¡¯m scared he¡¯ll be back. I¡¯m trying to nurse Mr. Hubert and Uncle Anthony back to life, but it may take a while.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°How did he kill them?¡±


    I held back tears. ¡°He turned them to stone. He put the cameras up, at least in part to track me and try to kill me. The cameras flash when I get near them.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Where do they send information to? You don¡¯t want Archer watching your movements.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I can mostly use my cell phone. I never got into electronics. We had no internet out where I lived and I stayed busy.¡±


    Caerwyn looked at the solar power equipment stacked around me. ¡°Kind of a waste getting all this gear and not knowing how to use it.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Yep. I¡¯m going to try and take it to my Fairyland. We have tested and solar power will work. I¡¯m just going to have a hard time getting it all there.¡±


    Caerwyn looked up at his mother. ¡°We won¡¯t have the internet in Fairy.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°On a boat or an island, it will all be slow. If the plague is as bad as they say for our ancient race, it could be worse. As far as I know, there is no internet when you¡¯re dead.¡±


    I looked down and thought about it. ¡°Second grade was the last grade I attended so I don¡¯t know much, but you may be older than you look, and since you¡¯re both still physically young, you should be safe.¡±


    Caerwyn nodded. ¡°For humans that might be true, but when plagues kill off a quarter or more of the population, over and over again, disease resistance is selected for. When diseases from overseas were introduced to the Native Americans, they ran through a populace that had no resistances. My mother and I are of the healthiest stock that was possible, but we aren¡¯t the result of selection that has strengthened the resistance of mankind through the years.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°We have to be more careful than anyone. We resist most of it, and a lot of diseases can¡¯t even live in our systems. But some of the illnesses that humans consider minor can take us out quickly.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Can I check out the house? I may be able to figure out where the cameras are sending their information.¡±


    I said, ¡°Yes, but be careful. Archer is the sort to trap things.¡±


    Caerwyn smiled. ¡°That¡¯s what makes it all fun.¡±


    I felt Hippydippy trying to slow time in Snipsnort. I let her since it seemed like I was going to be here a while.


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    I said, ¡°I want to get all this stuff to Fairy and set it up so I have freezers in there. I just let Hippydippy slow time since I wasn¡¯t going to be back for a while, and I don¡¯t have a good way to get back here.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Just summon me, Caerwyn Nelson. I¡¯ll answer and bring you through.¡±


    I nodded to him, sped up time, and went to Snipsnort.


    I sailed through shadow and ended up at the manor house. The gates were open, and there were stakes in the ground in front like they were planning to do some expansions. I walked in and waved to the people bowing and greeting me. Once past the gates, I ran to the basement.


    Mr. Hubert and Uncle Anthony were still intact and soaking. The area around the bandages looked a little different, but it was still stone.


    I went to a large room with a large balcony and examined it. I looked at the floor below to be sure it all looked strong enough to bring equipment in. To protect the floor, I made a thick pad.


    A man came in and bowed to me. ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    I waved. ¡°Please rise.¡±


    He asked, ¡°More and more steel keeps showing up. Is there a reason for worry?¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m protecting two friends that almost got hauled up into the sunlight. I¡¯m also going to be bringing a lot of equipment into this room. A lot of it will be dangerous.¡±


    He said, ¡°That will reduce the number of Fairies that will be able to serve you.¡±


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    I said, ¡°That¡¯s probably for the best since I don¡¯t have a way to pay anyone. You should probably warn everyone that until I get my fishing operation going, I won¡¯t have a source of income.¡±


    He asked, ¡°Are you teasing me, your highness?¡±


    I said, ¡°Call me Phil. Look, everyone here has been doing okay since well before I showed up or was born. Because of a few things I can do, and because I¡¯m linked to this Fairyland, I¡¯m a king. That¡¯s all kind of fun and sort of tiring. I have some houses and stuff and I like that, but I don¡¯t think I can just take things that others worked for just because I have a few powers that no one else does.¡±


    He said, ¡°You have a treasury.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯ll be returning to this room with dangerous stuff. Can you warn folk not to come in here?¡±


    He bowed. ¡°Of course, your highness.¡±


    I said, ¡°Just Phil.¡±


    He said, ¡°I am but a servant. That would be looked askance upon by others.¡±


    I said, ¡°Fine. I dub thee Sir¡ª¡±


    I looked around the room for inspiration. ¡°Sir Balcony. I order you to just call me Phil. Now that I have a name for you, canst I use you to summon my way back here?¡±


    He bowed. ¡°Yes, Phil.¡±


    I summoned Caerwyn Nelson, and he brought me out in Mr. Hubert¡¯s kitchen.


    #


    Caerwyn had several laptops out and an odd shaped keyboard in front of him. ¡°Thanks, Phil, I haven¡¯t had so much fun in ages. I found his router. He was sending everything to a computer in his room, and then he was sending it all to a managed server in Atlanta. He¡¯s a total newb as far the net goes. He makes some pretty wild weapons, but breaking the security on his server was child¡¯s play. I used script kiddo methods and broke in.¡±


    He noticed my blank stare and shook his head. ¡°Slow time in Fairy, this may take a while.¡±


    I slowed Snipsnort.


    He said, ¡°This is going to be no fun explaining any of this if you can¡¯t follow along. Are you up for being gifted?¡±


    I nodded. He kissed my forehead a few times and pointed to a bag with three more laptops in it. ¡°Grab a laptop and charger and plug it in. The reason why will come to you. You can have the laptop. I¡¯m upgrading as soon as my new order comes in. I always buy two dozen at a time. Gives me spares and multiple screens. I use a lot of macros, and I hate waiting so I switch between computers so I don¡¯t have to sit through all the grinding.¡±


    I took a laptop out of the bags and smiled at the stickers on it. A year ago, these specs would have been impossible. Odd how gifting made me suddenly an expert on things I knew nothing about a few minutes earlier.


    I plugged in the flashdrive Caerwyn handed me and turned the laptop on. I looked at the boot screen that came up and chose Linux. He wrote down the password for the router he was using and slid an open laptop over to me with a webpage for setting up an email account.


    I smiled at him. ¡°You have a keylogger on this?¡±


    He smiled back. ¡°Would you?¡±


    I shook my head and set up my email account. He would be able to break it as fast as he found out my mailing address so it wouldn¡¯t even matter.


    I nodded and went through the process of setting up the laptop. When I got a browser up, he had already sent me slew of emails.


    I asked, ¡°Is that your mail server?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Might as well be. I keep it secure for them. They don¡¯t know, but I quietly pay for all the perks they don¡¯t know they give me.


    ¡°I sent you Archer and Lottie¡¯s cell phone data. They¡¯re in Denver now but they have a place outside Huntsville, Alabama. By the way, you¡¯re really good. The only time I got an image of you was when you checked the door on the Hummer. You manage to avoid cameras like the best of them. You might be the best of them.¡±


    I said, ¡°Cameras do something odd to shadows. I hate them.¡±


    He said, ¡°There¡¯s a problem with taking them down. They¡¯re set to blow up if you move them. Not a huge explosion, but here.¡±


    He fast forwarded through a video Archer had made on his phone of the assembly and a test demolition of the camera setup. Glass slivers flew as the explosion went off.


    He closed the window to the video. ¡°I would have blow them up already but it would upset the dogs.


    ¡°Archer has a EMF burst generator set to destroy his stuff in Huntsville. I kept a copy of the plans. Well, all his plans. Anyway, as soon as I have everything downloaded from his systems, I will scrub his drives, fill them with incriminating evidence, and activate the EMF. He¡¯s so paranoid about his files being gotten by someone that he doesn¡¯t even keep an off-site backup. But then a lot of folk with perfect memories don¡¯t understand the value of backups. The stuff should be scrubbed by the EMF, but if anything survives and gets examined, Archer is going to have a few agencies get interested in him.¡±


    I started looking through emails and brought up several videos in small windows to check for content.


    Caerwyn looked over and said, ¡°I¡¯ll give you another two laptops since you are slogging through the videos. Keep them, they¡¯re yours.¡±


    I set up the extra computers and had to run an extension for more power. I cooked us a meal of lamb and potatoes, and we spent the afternoon looking through Archer¡¯s files and hacking his contacts.


    As it got dark, a thunderstorm rolled in, and our internet started getting flaky so I asked Caerwyn, ¡°It¡¯s the second night of a Goblin Music Festival. I can probably get you in. Do you want to try it?¡±


    He smiled at me. ¡°On account of my skin, I don¡¯t spend much time in sunlight. So there are two things that I can¡¯t get enough of. Sunblock and a good party.¡±


    I summoned Monroe.


    Monroe didn¡¯t answer. I tried Jordan. No answer. I tried Brad and Nick, no answer at all. I was getting worried. They had a lot of money on them. Anything could have happened.


    I tried Miles, Hugo, and Dennis, no answer. I was really worried. I had given them a lot of money, and they didn¡¯t usually go far from the swamp. The big city wasn¡¯t our thing.


    I tried again and got nothing. ¡°Caerwyn, none of them are answering.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Where is it?¡±


    I said, ¡°Gary, Indiana. I would normally shadow step, but with the weather that doesn¡¯t look like an option.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°I have a contact in Chicago. Let me see if he¡¯s on Discord.¡±


    Caerwyn clicked for a bit while I tried unsuccessfully connecting with my brothers.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Okay, I remembered this guy, bugteeth68, because he was always saying he would pay to meet someone who could do real magic. I don¡¯t want to reveal what I can do so you are going to summon him. Are you okay with revealing yourself to a mundane?¡±


    I nodded.


    He said, ¡°Good, ¡®cause you¡¯re way more of a wizard than I¡¯ll ever be.¡±


    He clicked a bit more and typed a bit. ¡°Idiot bugteeth68 doesn¡¯t want to reveal his real name in chat. He wants my email first.¡±


    I said, ¡°That sounds smart to me. So we just register a quick email on a free server and email him.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°There is usually a reason email servers are free. Okay, let¡¯s find his name. It¡¯ll be good practice for you.¡±


    I said, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll search for instances of bugteeth as a name in social media.¡±


    He said, ¡°May take a while. I¡¯m gonna cheat while you try and beat me to the punch. Will I be distracting you if I tell you what I¡¯m doing while you search?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°No prob at all, and good luck.¡±


    He said, ¡°He plays Minetest. Ages ago, I got tired of a group of griefers and decided to track them down. They all spoke Spanish, but that really doesn¡¯t reduce the area much. So I set up a server and told the admin about a great deal for hosting his game. So he contacted me, but me with a different id, and I helped him move his domain and server to my hardware. He told some friends, and I got them set up as well.


    ¡°Then I just blocked the griefers¡¯ ip addresses. So right now, I¡¯m finding what IP address bugteeth68 uses. Since my service blocks VPNs, he can¡¯t use a virtual IP. Unless he has a good proxy setup, I can find out what web service he uses and maybe access his router.¡±


    I said, ¡°I think I found him. Fellow¡¯s kind of creepy.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Yeah, that would be him. Well, probably. Got a name yet?¡±


    I gave Caerwyn a sour look. ¡°Not yet. Hey, I¡¯m a newb, give me some slack.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Yeah, but you take gifting well. Do you gift?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°No one has gifted me that.¡±


    Caerwyn shouted, ¡°Got him! Rodger Emanuel Qin. That¡¯s quite a mix, English first name probably, Spanish middle name, maybe, and Chinese last name almost for sure. So, let¡¯s make a plan. He¡¯s going to want to see some magic, Summoning¡¯s good, what else can you show him?¡±


    I said, ¡°In Real, not much. Not much in Fairy either but a bit more. I can turn into something, I guess. Do we really have to do show and tell?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°I guess summoning is pretty impressive if you¡¯ve never seen evidence of magic. Look, when you summon, don¡¯t give your real name. Can you really transform? Never mind. I was gifted it, but it never took. You need to use a name that you sort of identify with but it doesn¡¯t really give you away. Something like ¡®The drummer.¡¯¡±


    I asked, ¡°You know I do percussion?¡±


    He said, ¡°Come on. You go out to the yard and play. I have a pair of binoculars. Of course I know you play. You had no presence on the net though, so I couldn¡¯t figure out much more than the fact that you¡¯re the only Goblin I¡¯ve seen with perfect human-style ears.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t really think of myself as a drummer. How about I say ¡®I am The Fishmonger?¡¯¡±


    Caerwyn nodded. ¡°Great. It tells me more about you while not giving me a single clue. You tend those big fish tanks though, so I guess it makes sense. So I guess we just summon in, you nod to him, and then shadow step us out of there. I¡¯m going to spend a while doing makeup. I don¡¯t want to give away that I¡¯m an albino. That makes me easy to track. What do you think? Black, brown, or red hair?¡±


    I said, ¡°Black. Let¡¯s keep it simple.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Hmm. Check this out. Rodger Emanuel Qin is probably not his real name either. But it gets a bit interesting. A picture of him from six years ago and his recent driver¡¯s license. He hasn¡¯t aged.¡±


    I looked over at the screen. ¡°His ears are neat, no scars at the top, so unless he had cosmetic surgery, he¡¯s not a Goblin. He looks college aged so maybe he¡¯s a normal human but holding onto a youthful look.¡±


    Caerwyn shook his head. ¡°He¡¯s not a Daemon, unless he managed to get no sparkle at all. And even then, I don¡¯t think so. Look at that face, I bet he doesn¡¯t even know what he looks like in a mirror. A Daemon might not smile, but a Daemon wouldn¡¯t be able to keep from posing. Best way to test if you think someone might be a Daemon is to point a camera at them from behind. If they pose without looking at you and then turn to show their best angle while still looking casual, the odd are good. This guy is a gamer nerd, but he ain¡¯t aging. We probably shouldn¡¯t risk this.¡±


    I winced. ¡°I¡¯m worried about my family. I¡¯ll summon him. If it looks odd, I¡¯ll back out.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Bad idea. What if he has you in a ward and this is a trap? You could be held, unable to escape.¡±


    I said, ¡°You¡¯re probably right.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Don¡¯t do it. I can tell you are planning to do it anyway.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°My family isn¡¯t answering. They could be in trouble, and it might be my fault.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Come with me then.¡±


    He took me to his house and up stairs to his attic. He took out a pitted, rusty knife about a foot long and put it in a sheath. ¡°Cut a hole in one of your backpacks so the hilt can be reached. We¡¯ll super glue it in place since we don¡¯t have time to be neat. We just want it where you can reach into the hole in your backpack and pull this out.¡±


    I nodded and took out a backpack. I started tossing cash out of it to make room for the modification.


    Caerwyn pouted. ¡°Damn, being able to polymorph is convenient. I would love to be able to carry a stash of money like that and not have it on me. Do you buy backpacks like that in bulk?¡±


    I said, ¡°Uncle Anthony got me a bunch of matching backpacks the moment he found out that I could transform into myself.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°He always seemed like a nice guy. I probably should have introduced myself.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m gonna take this to Fairy and make it right. I¡¯ll summon you when I have it done.¡±


    He nodded and I went to Snipsnort.


    #


    On the platform in the center of a seven-way intersection, I sat and started making illusions to fix up a backpack. I sped up time since the iron blade was dispelling them instantly. I examined the blade. It had inscribed runes and traced lines on it. I made an illusion of it in bronze, and then I made a bronze one to work with.


    The bronze blade was a lot heavier. I made a gossamer mirror and then made a bunch more mirrors to improve my view. I had been gifted with a lot of materials when I was gifted with making things, but I wasn¡¯t able to practice back then so a lot of it was fuzzy. To make the backpack out of real materials I was going to have to use leather.


    I made a few gossamer tests and made a backpack that I liked with a pocket I could reach in and draw the blade out of without cutting the leather or my own hand. Putting it back was harder. I was going to have to take the backpack part all the way off to put the knife in properly. I made it in real materials. It was heavier than my other backpack, but it was dark toned and wouldn¡¯t make me as obvious when hiding as the shiny fabric of my other backpacks.


    I smiled at the look and summoned Caerwyn.


    #


    ¡°Here you go, Caerwyn. We have matching backpacks. I made a copy of the knife, only without the rust. I made you a steel one, and you can have the bronze one I made to test with.¡±


    Caerwyn put the backpack on and stood in front of a mirror. ¡°It¡¯s cool, thanks. ¡®Til we test to see if these copies can break wards, keep the original. Let me gift you with using the ward breaker.¡±


    He kissed my forehead a few times. Then he asked, ¡°Can you go back to Fairy and make some softer ones to practice with?¡±

 Meeting My First Wizard

    I went back to Fairy, made several leather blades like the rusted steel ward breaker he had given me and then summoned Caerwyn again. ¡°Caerwyn, can we summon your mother for you to return? We can practice in Fairy.¡±


    Inside the circle of columns holding the stone roof over the seven-way intersection, we practiced fighting with blades. Time was sped up so I took him through shadow to see Mr. Hubert and Uncle Anthony still soaking in the water with no change from the last time I looked. I fed us with sausage, bread, cheese, and candy from my backpacks. I would have to replenish my food supply soon and find something with some more variety. Boudin and some crackers would make a nice change. Some smoked fish would have been better than perfect.


    Rested and ready for what might come, Caerwyn summoned his mother and took us home.


    Caerwyn sent a message to bugteeth68, ¡°Be ready, you are about to meet The Fishmonger.


    I prepared myself and started the summons. ¡°Rodger Emanuel Qin, The Fishmonger summons thee.¡±


    When he replied, ¡°Wow, come right here.¡± I knew it was a trap. He knew the summons could be used to transport people. He was familiar with real magic.


    I went anyway. We were in a huge industrial basement with windows way above and grass growing up on the other side of the windows. There was a huge circle painted on the floor centered in the area without pipes and fittings. The floor above us had a large circle about a quarter of the size of the circle on the floor cut out neatly showing a ceiling much higher above.


    I was in an impossible place. I was in Real and I was in a Fairyland.


    The young man in front of me had eyes shifting and looking. Examining me while holding still in a half-crouched sort of knee-bent posture like someone playing dodgeball.


    He said, ¡°You must gift me or fight.¡±


    I said, ¡°I can¡¯t gift.¡±


    A small man with folded wings on his back said, ¡°He probably can. He¡¯s trying to link with the Fairyland as we speak. I¡¯m blocking it, but don¡¯t take too long, my lord.¡±


    I said, ¡°What if I win?¡±


    He said, ¡°I gift you. That¡¯s the general idea. That way you don¡¯t have incentive to kill me. But if you won¡¯t gift me, then I have no such incentive.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How about a backpack with fifty thousand dollars?¡±


    He said, ¡°Deal, what gift do you want?¡±


    I had no idea what he could do. I had just learned to use a knife, and I could turn into a big rooster. I could shadow step. I was pretty sure I could kill him if I wanted. I didn¡¯t want to kill anyone, and I didn¡¯t know what else I could do. I looked up and stepped back. My foot was over a long crack in the floor. I had a shadow to use.


    I looked at the circle. ¡°Teach me how to put Fairy over Real like this.¡±


    He kept his eyes steadily on mine. ¡°That would be a deal, then. Fairies, attack.¡±


    I slid into shadow and dropped out behind him, stomped the floor and went to the shadows behind a mass of pipes that went up to the floor above. I turned into a giant rooster.


    He shouted, ¡°Not fair, leaving the circle.¡±


    I said, ¡°You should have told me the rules first.¡± That was what I intended to say, but I was a giant rooster and what came out was quite a bit different. The glass windows high above us fragmented. I couldn¡¯t see what had happened to the Fairies. He was on the ground holding his ears. I turned back into myself and walked back into the circle.


    He was clearly in pain. I was worried that he might not be able to hear. I summoned Fats.


    ¡°Fats, this is Phil, King of Snipsnort. I think I just hurt someone pretty bad. How much for a house call?¡±


    Fats said, ¡°Are you feeding me?¡±


    I said, ¡°I have some sausage, cheese, and bread. Nothing fancy. I have a few soft drinks. I also have cash.¡±


    Fats asked, ¡°How much sausage, cheese and bread?¡±


    I said, ¡°Maybe twenty-five pounds, not counting the soft drinks. Let me check. Okay, I have five one-pound packages of sharp cheddar. Three loaves of bread and seven twelve-ounce summer sausages. A couple of jars of mayo and some mustard.¡±


    Fats asked, ¡°What kind of mayo and what kind of mustard?¡±


    I said, ¡°Dijon mustard. The spicy kind. The mayo is real mayonnaise but nothing special.¡±


    Fats said, ¡°Bring me there.¡±


    Fats looked down at the youth. ¡°Damn wizard. Sure thou wantest to help him? They cause more harm than good. Monsters all of them. I should know monsters, I work with the Unseelie. Tell thee what, I¡¯ll look the other way, and thou canst slit his throat. Then I¡¯ll gift thee with something more useful than whatever curse he was gonna teach thee. Didst thou say thou wert King Snipsnort now?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Yes, but I¡¯m not really interested in killing anyone, wizard or otherwise.¡±


    Fats nodded. ¡°I give thee maybe two years before thou dust change thy mind. Still, not up to me to try and push a person¡¯s ethical boundaries.¡±


    Fats knelt. ¡°Yep, internal bleeding, broken ear drums. Concussion and a headache. This is gonna cost thee. How about all seven of the sausages and two of the cheeses?¡±


    I nodded.


    He shook his head. ¡°Must be nice to be able to throw around wealth like that. It sure pays to be a King.¡±


    Fats spent a while with his eyes closed and then looked up at me. ¡°He¡¯s going to be desperate for something to drink when he comes to. You can probably extort him for more than just the one gift. You got two peers of Fairy cowering in corners, and this fellow was wrecked pretty badly. No wonder thou managed to take over Snipsnort.¡±


    I held out the plastic shopping bag with all the food in it and said, ¡°Keep the rest as credit.¡±


    He nodded to me, took the bag, and disappeared.


    The fellow on the ground shifted position. He rolled over and looked up at me. I held up the bag with the six soft drink bottles in it. ¡°You like root beer?¡±


    He winced. ¡°Can I gift you after I have recovered? What was that? I saw a dark shape behind the pipes and then wham.¡±


    I said, ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll contact you later.¡±


    I took to the shadows and started searching for road signs to tell me where I was. Outside it was a clear and pleasant night, not like the overcast storm I left back in Mr. Hubert¡¯s neighborhood.


    Realizing I had other options now. I took out my cell phone and pulled up a map. I wasn¡¯t terribly far from where I wanted to go. I put the cellphone in my backpack and since they were checking packs at the Goblin Music Festival, I changed into me without the weapons.


    #


    They recognized me at the gate and waved me in past the line. It pays to be a fake hero sometimes. There were lights in the parking lot, and the shadows were good, so I went to the spot that my family had been hanging out the night before.


    They were all there. They were fine. The music was too loud to talk over, and they probably hadn¡¯t heard the summons. I didn¡¯t even stop to say hi. I was relieved and disgusted. I went down to the gate and waved to one of the girls there.


    She gestured for me to follow and went into the security station. I followed.


    She gestured to a duffle bag. ¡°That bag is for you. Please bring your pale friend here. Summon me to come back. I¡¯m Tess Gray. Then you can go to Fairy, speed time, check the contents of the bag, eat, and get rested. After you rest, check out your briefcase. Then when you are ready, summon your friend, and enjoy the festival. If you come back and it looks like Caerwyn and I are getting along, give a girl a break and just go to the festival and leave Caerwyn with me.¡±


    I smiled at her. ¡°Tess Gray?¡±


    She nodded so I grabbed the bag and went to Fairy. A cart was coming towards the seven-way intersection so I took to shadows and went to the manor house. It was sealed up so I pulled the brick out of the wall. As an owl I might make it. As a rook I was not going to fit easily. Maybe if I went slow but that might get me stuck between wards. I put the brick back and went the gate. I couldn¡¯t approach the gate, so the door was going to be my only option.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Then I thought about the knife I had. I took it out and held it in front of me and passed the wards. I shadow stepped the rest of the way in and put the knife away in another form before going down to see Mr. Hubert and Uncle Anthony.


    I felt Hippydippy speeding time up to a hundred years per day in Real. I let her.


    Sitting on the steps down to the basement I opened the duffle bag.


    There were a couple of quilted blankets wrapped around a long wooden box. I folded the blankets up and put them on the stairs so they wouldn¡¯t get wet when I splashed around in the pools checking on Mr. Hubert and Uncle Anthony. I tapped on the new box. It had a muted tone so as an instrument it was nothing special. It looked really nice, but I couldn¡¯t really see it as a piece of furniture. It was too low to be a table unless you put it on its side and even then it was still low and too narrow. The end of it had a drawer pull. I pulled on it, and it was like a really long empty drawer. It only opened halfway, so I checked the other end and pulled the drawer open.


    Inside there were six stainless steel boxes with clasps on them. On top of the boxes was a folded piece of glossy paper with a logo of a winged Fairy holding a monkey wrench. Below the logo were the words: Fairy Dynamics, LTD.


    I opened what I thought was a note and discovered was a slick sales brochure.


    ¡°Congratulations on acquiring the finest in conveniences from Fairy Dynamics. Properly cared for, this should provide thee with dependable service for hundreds of years. Please summon Hazily Midnight, our sales coordinator, for a discussion of your further needs and our reasonable prices. We appreciate our loyal customers and look forward to further business.¡±


    Below the note was a diagram like the ones I have seen others use to summon with. There was a card held by the corners in four slits in the brochure.


    I examined the card. It had the image of the Flying Fairy with a monkey wrench and the words: Fairy Dynamics, Hazily Midnight, Sales Coordinator.


    I took one of the stainless steel boxes out of the drawer and closed the drawer. The steel box had several layers all held together by latches. Unlatched, there were three deep trays and a lid. In the trays were sheets of wax paper over the contents, a pair of chopsticks, and a small spoon with a long handle. Some sort of seasoned fish, fried shrimp, a few things I couldn¡¯t identify, and some rice. It looked wholesome so I picked up a shrimp and ate it. I used the spoon mostly and stabbed a few things with a chopstick. I never learned to use chopsticks, but the spoon mostly worked, and the food was great. I cleaned out the trays and then dipped water from the pools to clean them up and wash the drains.


    I sat and played on my cajon and looked at the statues in the pools. I wanted to play sad Irish tunes on my pennywhistle, but I couldn¡¯t pound on my cajon while doing it. I wanted to beat a rhythm more and the Irish tunes would end up making me cry. I realized that Tess Gray had told me to bring Caerwyn to the Festival first, so I slowed time to match with Real and Summoned Caerwyn.


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Are you at the festival?¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m in the Fairy basement with two statues. Come here and let¡¯s talk.¡±


    Caerwyn moved one of the blankets and sat on it. ¡°Good idea, these stairs are cold. So what do we talk about?¡±


    I said, ¡°There¡¯s a Goblin girl at the Festival, one of the officials, who wants to meet you and wants me to give her room to try and make you her boyfriend.¡±


    Caerwyn started taking his shoes off. ¡°Is she cute? How old does she look?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Impossible to guess, but she could just barely pass as an adult. Yeah, she¡¯s cute, but if your standards are Daemon, from the few I have seen, she may not be anything special.¡±


    Caerwyn smiled and got up. He went to the pool with Uncle Anthony in it and started examining him. ¡°What are these poultices?¡±


    I paused tapping on my cajon for a moment. ¡°The bandages were given to me by the Goblins running the festival. There¡¯s a group of Goblins that know a lot about me and have been really helpful. I¡¯m a little nervous to say much more about them.¡±


    Caerwyn got out of the pool and went over to the one with Mr. Hubert in it. He started examining Mr. Hubert. ¡°Phil, I didn¡¯t examine them that closely when I was here last, but I think they¡¯re changing color. Roland more than Anthony. I think Roland¡¯s color is shifting in time with your music.¡±


    I stopped playing.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°It shifts back a bit when you don¡¯t play.¡±


    I started playing again. ¡°Any changes?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s good or bad, but it definitely responds to your music.¡±


    I stopped playing again. ¡°They gave me a briefcase of stuff they want me to read. I can read, but I¡¯m not the fastest reader you ever met. Maybe the slowest, but I understand it fine. We should get you to the Festival so you can meet your new girlfriend. I¡¯ll come back and speed time here so I shouldn¡¯t be long.


    ¡°After I summon you, if you look at me and scratch your head, I¡¯ll find something else to do until you summon me so you can spend more time getting all lovey-dovey.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°What¡¯s her name?¡±


    I said, ¡°Tess Gray.¡±


    He looked up at me. ¡°I need to get on a computer and look up that name. Something about a Goblin girl named Gray rings a bell.¡±


    He got out of the pool, and I handed him a towel. ¡°The towel is gossamer, so don¡¯t chew on it.¡±


    He smiled and dried off his feet before sitting beside me and picking up his shoes.


    I asked, ¡°No socks?¡±


    He said, ¡°I¡¯m a Daemon, my skin is tougher than it looks.¡±


    He finished tying his shoes and held his hand out to me. ¡°Ready to go.¡±


    I summoned Tess Gray.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Is Caerwyn with you?¡±


    I said, ¡°Right here. I¡¯ll drop him off and then run back to Fairy.¡±


    She brought us to the security booth at the gate to the old factory. I nodded and went back to Fairy.


    #


    I appeared on the platform in the middle of the roundabout intersection under the gazebo with seven roads coming in. Six men were sitting on the step to the platform and looked up at me. I sped time up since it looked like they wanted to talk.


    They stepped to the road, kneeled and bowed. ¡°Long live King Snipsnort!¡±


    I said, ¡°Please rise.¡±


    One of the men was Leafsound, the fellow I met at the Leidingstad market.


    Leafsound bowed again and gestured. ¡°Please allow me to introduce the five men who have been managing this world up until you became the king.¡±


    He gestured to the men. ¡°Mettle, Thrift, Jib, Knocker, and Reader.¡±


    Reader said, ¡°There is also a woman¡¯s group that is more influential. We just manage the obvious things.¡±


    I asked, ¡°When do I meet the woman¡¯s group?¡±


    Reader shrugged. ¡°Probably never. I¡¯m sure that a representative will make it clear when they disagree with a decision. After a while, you will probably just give in to most of their suggestions.¡±


    The other men shifted nervously and looked around.


    Thrift said, ¡°We did get a message from them before we came here. They like the cats. They don¡¯t want too many, but they think two more since they don¡¯t want inbreeding. Did you really bring cats here? I mean, the ladies are happy with it, but cats are nothing if not trouble.¡±


    Mettle said, ¡°In any case before we dissolve our organization and hand it over to you, we have prepared quite a few papers for you to read.¡±


    I said, ¡°Can you just keep managing things? Call this a constitutional monarchy or something like they have in Europe. If you¡¯ve managed things and folk are getting by, let¡¯s just leave it the way it is.¡±


    Thrift said, ¡°That would be prudent at least for now but there are a few complications. We have, because of our fear that the nobles might decide to get involved and wonder at our wealth, for our own safety lived on scant anonymous donations.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Then should I make you councilors? I am not sure how to pay you?¡±


    Jib shook his head. ¡°Not to ask for trouble, yet kings have been known to have short lives. We would rather remain a bit more hidden since we have no idea how the nobility might react at some time in the future. You could always use your treasury since it has been stacking up wealth for ages and has only been tapped into for public good.¡±


    Thrift said, ¡°If you made a donation to our anonymous fund, however, it would be appreciated.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°How do I do that?¡±


    Jib said, ¡°Sadly, we cannot tell you since we have never had such position or duty. Your highness must resolve that puzzle without us.¡±


    I asked, ¡°I am puzzled with a bit of manners. Why is the phrase, ¡®your highness,¡¯ polite yet the word you is offensive?¡±


    Mettle glanced at Jib. ¡°You implies ownership. You can say you and most here will not have issue. But when I say, ¡®My liege,¡¯ I imply a sort of reciprocal ownership. So for me to say ¡®you¡¯ to you would be improper, at least in some Fairylands. When I say, ¡®Your Highness,¡¯ I am affirming that you possess a great position.¡±


    Reader asked, ¡°If I may, where did you learn the speech?¡±


    I answered, ¡°I was raised with the King James Bible and a Complete Shakespeare. What I have is a weak understanding from trying to understand those two sources.¡±


    Reader said, ¡°Truth be know, your Fairyland is a bit behind the times. Almost none of us are tiny and even less have wings. We are a bit old fashioned in that regard. When all the Fairies started being touchy about thee and thou, we tried hard to keep up but we don¡¯t really have the language down ourselves.¡±


    The sun started to come up and the men looked around nervously.


    Mettle said, ¡°We and you would not be best served by our acquaintance being well know. ¡®Til we have need for guidance, we shalt depart and wish you a long and healthy life.¡±


    ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    #


    I went to the manor and the cats were waiting for me. I let them in and locked the door. In the basement, they had already claimed both of the folded quilts that were sitting on the steps.


    I sat and slapped my cajon until I felt like eating. Opening the box, there were six black lacquered cases instead of the five steel ones that were there when I closed the box. I closed the box and opened it again. There were six clear plastic containers with salad in them.


    I opened and closed it until I saw twenty-four frozen drinks with straws. I took one and closed the box. It had a pineapple-coconut flavor so I was happy with it. I still didn¡¯t know what was up with the box.


    I continued playing and checking on Mr. Hubert. Changes in color were happening, but I couldn¡¯t tell if it was good or bad. I kept playing, hoping it was the right thing to do. The cats got up and decided to sit on the dry part of Mr. Hubert while I played. I wasn¡¯t sure Mr. Hubert would want them sitting on his head if he were well, but I didn¡¯t see any harm in it considering his current state of health.


    I took a break and explored the manor again. The cats came with me. Partway through the exploration, the cats both left. I stretched and went back down to see if Mr. Hubert or Uncle Anthony had changed anymore. Mr. Hubert¡¯s face wasn¡¯t the same. It looked like a Goblin that had gotten shadow burn. It had the look of a ceramic statue that had been made from a mold that had been used too long and the features were rounded and less distinct.


    I summoned Tess Gray. She didn¡¯t answer. I realized time was going fast and slowed it. I summoned her again. She didn¡¯t answer. I looked at Uncle Anthony and Mr. Hubert¡¯s statues. Mr. Hubert was looking like a poorly made statue.


    I tried summoning Tess Gray again. Again I got no answer. I tried summoning Caerwyn. No answer. They might be where the music was loud. They probably were. I didn¡¯t know who else to summon. I summoned Fats.


    ¡°Sorry to bother, but dust thou know anything about Titans when they are statues?¡±


    Fats said, ¡°Phil, it is good to hear thy voice, but no, I am only skilled in working with organic beings.¡±


    I said, ¡°Thank thee, dust thou know of anyone that might know anything?¡±


    Fats replied, ¡°Sadly, no.¡±


    I said, ¡°Thank you.¡± I disconnected.


    I summoned Count Juniper.


    Count Juniper said, ¡°Phil, the story is that thou art a King of Fairy? Is that for real?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Canst thou come? I have a few issues and I could use thy advice.¡±


    Count Juniper said, ¡°Of course.¡± He appeared beside me.


    Count Juniper walked over to the edge of the pools where the statues were. ¡°This is not a usual circumstance, Phil. I can tell they are both still active, but they are more like giants of old than modern Titans.


    ¡°On another subject, since thou has managed to make use of the powers thou didst ask for, I should gift them yet again so they are fresh. My commitment to thy satisfaction remains, but I must check on a few things. What is thy title now, Phil?¡±


    I said, ¡°King Snipsnort.¡±


    Count Juniper nodded. ¡°That does change things, Thy Majesty. Let us pretend I did not hear that yet and gift thee things again before that would seem improper.¡±


    I grinned at him and lowered my head. He gifted me several times and nodded before disappearing.

 The Hatching of Hubert

    I was smiling before I examined the stone lump that was looking less and less like a statue. The stone appeared to be absorbing Mr. Hubert¡¯s clothing, and there was stone growing out over the crate. If there was a problem, it was probably too late. Mr. Hubert no longer appeared to be Mr. Hubert. I watched as the crate was pulled in, and the bandages sunk into the stone.


    Mr. Hubert asked, ¡°Phil, could you play for me?¡±


    I cried tears of relief mixed with anxiety as I started in on my most complex rhythms. I watched as the stone became an egg shape and started absorbing the edge of the pool next to it and part of the basement floor.


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°The kittens want in.¡±


    I shadow stepped up to the door to the manor and let the cats in. I shadow stepped back.


    Fuzzy shadow stepped to the top of the egg.


    I said, ¡°Fuzzy, get down, you might get taken into the stone.¡±


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°It will be okay, Phil. His purr is helping. Keep playing, please.¡±


    I kept playing.


    Mr. Hubert asked, ¡°Do you have anything to eat? Metals and human food.¡±


    Count Juniper had just re-gifted me with materials so I made small blocks of aluminum, silver, gold, iron, zinc, copper, and tin. I opened the magic food box and took out boxes of food and put them beside the stone egg.


    The egg flowed over the food boxes and blocks of metal. Mr. Hubert said, ¡°Not so much of the metals and more of the food, please.¡±


    I kept feeding the egg as Mr. Hubert requested more things. I played music and watched as the egg destroyed the tiles on the floor and the pool enlarged as the egg moved. The cats took turns sitting on the egg as the egg shifted changed shape and grew.


    I slept and woke. I let the cats in when Mr. Hubert told me they were there. I ate and played music.


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°I will need new clothing. Can I ask you to go to our house in Louisiana and bring me a few changes?¡±


    I nodded, not certain if he could see my nod. ¡°It will take a bit. My entrance to Real isn¡¯t in Louisiana, and the weather is not ideal.¡±


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°Slow time here while you are gone. I am not fully awake when you are missing right now.¡±


    #


    I was picking through what I thought was suitable clothing that Mr. Hubert liked to wear when Count Juniper appeared. ¡°I still need to train thee so let¡¯s ignore thy station for a bit longer if thou wilt.¡±


    ¡°No need for formalities, Count Juniper, thou hast been good to me, and thou art an old acquaintance now. Let¡¯s ignore any formalities in the future as well.¡±


    Count Juniper said, ¡°Rummage wouldst be happy to let thee have the Fairyland that hast a gateway here on this property. She hast made some improvements but thinks they might go some way towards reparations.


    ¡°She was quite nervous when she heard thou wert King of Snipsnort. Only the most dangerous of Fairylords retain names that might make others jest. It is a sign that thou would welcome a fight and consider defending thy name fine sport. That and the question of the Dutchess Byebye. There is quite a bit of question as to whether thou art in league with her or thou hast defeated her.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°I have adopted her. We¡¯re brother and sister now.¡±


    I got together a few sets of clothing and put them in a suitcase for Mr. Hubert. Holding shoes in one hand and the suitcase in another I transformed into another me. ¡°Pardon, Count Juniper, I need to get back and watch over Mr. Hubert.¡±


    Count Juniper said, ¡°Call me when it is a good time. Thou wilt need some re-gifting and training before it can all be settled in. I would hate for a student of mine to not be in the best of form.¡±


    I nodded and went to Fairy.


    #


    As I played, Mr. Hubert said, ¡°I will be quiet for a bit. Please keep playing. We are close to done.¡±


    Since the pool had been leaking I had reworked a bit of the floor and made a raised area for me to put my cajon on so I could sit high and dry while the egg ate through the floor. The top of the egg was just barely over the water when the egg started to crack. I kept playing. Odd quivery goo oozed out of the cracks and sections of stone shell flowed and stuck to the goo as it dropped. Mr. Hubert stretched and felt blindly for the edges of the stone shell and stood. He wiped the goo from his face. He no longer resembled Mr. Hubert.


    He wiped goo from his arms and then slung it. I slipped into shadow with my cajon and moved it to the top of the stair before going back down.


    Mr. Hubert opened his eyes. ¡°Silica gel is always such a mess to clean up. Let me check on Anthony.¡±


    Using the stone egg shell to balance, he climbed out of the egg and slopped of more of the gel onto the ground. He spent a while scraping it off with a section of egg shell and then got into the pool with Uncle Anthony.


    He lay down and pulled apart the crate enough to hug the statue. ¡°Uncle Anthony is coming along fine. He is close to self-aware. Should be himself in another couple of months.¡±


    I said, ¡°You¡¯re not yourself, Mr. Hubert.¡±


    Mr. Hubert lifted his head and looked at me questioningly.


    I made a gossamer mirror.


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°I need more light.¡±


    I made an illusion of light. ¡°Can you see now?¡±


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°No change.¡±


    He slopped more of the jiggly white goo off himself as I played around trying to make a light. I made a more complicated illusion of a candle and Mr. Hubert said, ¡°That works.¡±


    I put illusions of wall-mounted candles with mirrors behind them as Mr. Hubert stood in front of the mirror.


    He looked back at me in the reflection before posing and looking at himself. ¡°Nice, but who am I?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Mr. Hubert, you look younger, like you might still be in college, maybe.¡±


    He smiled at the mirror and started taking blobs of goo from his hair. ¡°Since, I look a lot younger, just call me Roland. No need for Mr. and that is kind of dated anyway.¡±


    I nodded as Count Juniper summoned me. ¡°King Snipsnort, Count Juniper requests thy audience.¡±


    I said, ¡°One moment, Count Juniper.¡±


    I turned into me with shoes and a suitcase, ¡°Count Juniper¡¯s calling. Your clothing is here. I am going upstairs. Are you okay down here?¡±


    Roland said, ¡°Fine, but the clothing is going to be loose on me. I¡¯m not as bulky as I was.¡±


    #


    Upstairs I said, ¡°I am free to talk now.¡±


    Count Juniper said, ¡°If thou wouldst visit with me and Queen Rummage, we would be most grateful.¡±


    Ready to turn into a rooster or dive into shadow, I let Count Juniper bring me to where he was.


    #


    We were in the Fairyland where I had first been abducted. We were on a pieced-together stone platform with a ring of columns around us and a ring above that. Seats surrounded the ring and a young tree grew in an opening in the center. Around us was a hedge, and from being here before, I suspected it was part of a maze. In the distance, I could see a nice manor house and a lake with boathouses and boats lifted above the water in slung cradles.


    There were ample shadows as the sun was just above the horizon.


    A young lady in bronze fish scale armor was sitting on a bench. She inclined her head toward me. ¡°Snipsnort, once again I must apologize for our first meeting.¡±


    I said, ¡°I have recovered nicely and bear thee no ill will.¡±


    She looked over at Count Juniper and then back at me. I walked to the hedge since the sun was coming up quickly and noticed that there were wholesome-looking blackberries. I picked one and ate it without thinking. I felt the world connect to me. I looked back at Count Juniper and Queen Rummage. Thinking this might take a while, I sped time up to a hundred years here per day in Real.


    I felt a touch of resistance but decided to ignore it as I changed the time.


    Count Juniper exchanged a glance with Queen Rummage.


    Queen Rummage said, ¡°I was going to offer this world to thee, repairs and all, as a peace offering, yet thou hast managed to take it on thy own.¡±


    I realized that since I was connected to this world I could come here at will and since there was a gateway to Mr. Hubert¡¯s¡ªI mean, Roland¡¯s place¡ªI could go there in moments. Suddenly getting back and fourth was no longer a struggle. I also realized that I didn¡¯t want to manage yet another world.


    ¡°Dearest Queen Rummage, whilst I intend to visit this world of my first abduction on a regular basis, I would much rather remain a good neighbor to thee and have thee keep this realm as thine own. So long as humans are not to be abducted and relations are kept kindly and cordial, I think we can in some ways share this world. Apart from the visitation, I plan to only lightly use this world but, I must¡ª¡±


    I thought about it and wanted to remain humble sounding but maintain a bit of a potential threat. So I continued, ¡°¡ªas The Fishmonger Fairy King, ask what fish is stocked in the lakes below and dust thou need some fish to stock it with? I do love to catch a fish from time to time.¡±


    She looked again at Count Juniper and Count Juniper smiled at me. ¡°Sire, on my part thy offer seems more like a gift to Rummage than a price asked.¡±


    She looked at Count Juniper with a questioning look.


    Count Juniper said, ¡°If dear Rummage thou dust stop and imagine the gossip. Those that might question thy strength and wish to test thy mettle for thy realms, must now take into account that Snipsnort and Byebye would be part and parcel with dealing with thee. As long as thou didst maintain a good connection with Snipsnort, it would be a rare fool that would think to challenge thee.¡±


    She looked at me and asked, ¡°What are the real costs of this deal?¡±


    Count Juniper said, ¡°Since, despite being so strong, Snipsnort is new to such things, it might be in thine own best interest that he be gifted more thoroughly. I, of course, would profit from such an arrangement since Snipsnort and I get along so well. Yet if thou dust consider that thy realm is made more secure and thou art retaining two realms, a few dozen more giftings might not be much of a price.¡±


    Rummage looked at the Count. ¡°Dearest Juniper, thy original deal involved wish fulfillment and as always thou has managed it wondrously. Yet I do question how this further duty does thee profit?¡±


    Count Juniper said, ¡°As I would be gifting and training the young lord, I would have to be in turn trained and gifted with a few things I might not already have. I have not the discipline to be a king, nor the violent turn to be a duke, yet I can handle gifting with the best of them.


    ¡°In addition, I measure the friendship with Snipsnort highly and ¡®til thou has tasted his bread pudding thou has no idea what joy can be had by dining.¡±


    #


    I had no way to get to the Festival. The weather was bad, and no one was answering my summons. In the yard at Roland¡¯s house, I had arranged lights and shadows, but since there was lightning, I was reluctant to shadow step. With time set to match with Real, I was hoping someone would summon me. I sat at a table up in the manor house and opened the briefcase.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Someone had created a life for me that I had never had. My parents met in a waiting room in Switzerland where the doctor was an expert in the genetic disorder that eventually killed them. There were a number of doctors with different specialties who had studied the disorder.


    I had an estate that managed my wealth for me and an empire of junkyards, and toxic waste laden land that had been bought cheap. The entire setup was strange. The corporate conglomeration had existed since the late seventies, and there were notes indicating that the areas had been cleaned up and yet the clean-up continued operations and payments to people who had suffered from exposure still continued. I was getting angry as I read about the histories of land that had been ruined by pollution. Companies that had dumped materials they knew were toxic and never had a thought to what they were ruining. A lot of what they were dumping was upstream of the sort of bogs and swamps I grew up in and loved.


    As I read and reread each part I started to almost cry for the fictional me that they had made up. Poor rich kid raised by doting parents that had recently passed way. His parents kept him away from everyone in the mistaken fear that he was susceptible to disease. I reread the part about how even today, I carried sanitizer to spray things with before I touched them and wore a mask when I was around people. The clean, careful kid they described was going to be hard to portray.


    Since I worked trout lines and gutted fish, I pretty much considered my time swimming in lakes and rivers as regular bathing. More often than not, I let my clothing dry while wearing it and hardly bothered with baths and showers unless I was trying to get new customers. I figured I was cleaner than most nine-year-old kids.


    This poor kid though had the sort of life that would make kid crazy. I memorized details and read on.


    It started to come together. The kid liked to play and since he was scared of contact with others, he usually kept a masked bodyguard with him, and everyone else had to leave the junkyards that he was going to play in. The kid did sculpture and found art, so he would bring new junk into the junkyard or take junk away. This gave me an excuse to take Roland as my masked bodyguard to junkyards, make a mess of things, and then leave with a few items that I was interested in.


    I kept reading and rereading to memorize the parts that I might have to remember later.


    Fuzzy came and curled up on the table beside me as I worked my way through all the papers. This stuff was going to be a playground and fun, but pretending to be Phil Thibodeaux wasn¡¯t. I got to the last folder. It described my estates. I had nine of them, and the staff at each of them had never met me. They knew that if I ever showed up, they would all be expected to stay out of the main suite. All nine of the estates had a member who was aware that I practiced magic and were ready to answer a summons. One of my estates was a small hotel in Chicago where I kept a nice apartment for myself.


    I quickly read through the rest and took one of the surgical masks that was in the briefcase and put it on. I put on a pair of the disposable gloves and summoned my contact in Chicago.


    ¡°One moment, sir, while I get my mask and gloves.¡±


    I waited still connected looking at the area as he put gloves and a mask on. When he was ready, he brought me through and then backed up out of the room and closed the door without talking to me. It was creepy, but this was how Phil Thibodeaux lived. I looked around the apartment. Clean, practically sterile. The only spark of personality were the pictures of heavy equipment on the walls. Phil Thibodeaux had a serious thing for cranes, big rigs and bulldozers. In another room, there were models of heavy equipment in glass displays. Someone had gone all out creating a cover for me. Oddly, since I have lived as a Goblin in a swamp, there is more evidence for the existence of Phil Thibodeaux than there is for the kid who used to go around selling fish.


    A long closet was filled with clothing: suits, work clothing, hard hats, and orange vests with reflectors. Some of the clothing was worn looking. Most of it looked new.


    It made me feel like an impostor. Phil Thibodeaux was the real deal. This, more than Fairy, made me want to run and hide. Someone had a lot of plans for me. Someone had spent a lot of time and money on all of this.


    It was okay when I thought it was someone who just wanted to protect a pair of Titans, and I was the only way to do it. That made sense. This was crazy. It was like I was a construction site secret agent. Someone planned for me to do something and had provided me with a cover that was way too complete. While I considered this a way to protect and help Roland Hubert, it all seemed fine. Now that I was targeted, this was creeping me out.


    To play along though, I took a shower and cleaned up. I dressed in more than one of the outfits provided and went out to the hotel and down to the parking lot. Out on the street and away from the hotels outside cameras, I took to shadows. Partway, I turned into me without the mask and continued shadow stepping to the Goblin Music Festival.


    #


    The security booth was staffed by girls who didn¡¯t recognize me, but the lines were short so they checked me for weapons and let me past. As soon I was clear, I used the shadows and took the shade from the top of a light mounted on the side of the building up to the shade above the lamp and quickly found my way to where my family was listening to the music. Jordan noticed me so I appeared beside him.


    Because of the noise, I spoke to him in Fairy speech, ¡°Jordan, how¡¯s it going?¡±


    Jordan said, ¡°I never knew there were so many Goblins and such a party was possible. How are you doing, Phil?¡±


    I nodded to the music. ¡°Things are stranger and stranger. Jordan, take care of the family, I¡¯m not going to visit for a while. I¡¯m scared what sort of attention I might bring with me. You have a new sister. I had no choice. I had to adopt her. Don¡¯t worry about taking care of her, she is tougher than the rest of us.¡±


    Jordan sighed. ¡°You¡¯re fading to Fairy, then?¡±


    I said, ¡°Worse, I think I¡¯m tangled up in too much real. If I disappear, don¡¯t ever come looking. The shadows I may be visiting are deep ones.¡±


    Jordan turned to look at me, but I slid to shadow and blurred my trails. In the dark paths, Goblins were everywhere, sliding along every shadow strong enough to make a trail. I blended in and disappeared. I looked for Caerwyn and didn¡¯t find him.


    This was the worst place to sit in shadow. Goblins, with the feeling of alcohol or worse, hid in every convenient patch of shade. If ever there was a place where one might get shadow burn or become one of the Wize, this was it. I had no urge to become part of a two-headed Goblin, so I stepped out and made my way through the crowd looking for Caerwyn or anyone else I might recognize.


    On a crowded catwalk, I made my way past couples and clusters of Goblins looking down at the band and moving enough to make me wonder what the load limit of the catwalk was. Gifting took over and I looked at the support rods going up to steel beams and decided the catwalk was more than tough enough. Odd how gifting can give you spots of talent like bright areas in darkness. If you asked me to tell you the circumference of a circle, I would have to give you a blank look. If you asked me the circumference of a three-foot diameter steel reinforced cement column, I could give you the weight, load characteristics, circumference, and volume for a range of lengths instantly.


    Now I felt even more like an impostor. Phil Thibodeaux was the real deal. He just hit his head when he didn¡¯t have a hard hat on, and now he has a delusion of growing up in a swamp.


    One of the Goblin girls I had seen in the security area waved to me and beckoned for me to follow her.


    I glanced down at the band and shrugged. I wasn¡¯t going to find out what was happening out here on the catwalk. She held the door for me so I went into the office area.


    She had me sit down in a large empty conference room and gestured to a seat with a keyboard, mouse, and three screens in front of it. I sat down.


    There were pdfs open and .mov files ready to watch. I started reading articles and then commentary and details on the articles. I watched several videos, and I was getting madder and madder. It was all about companies leaving destruction behind them and then moving assets to other companies leaving employees without benefits or jobs. Communities destroyed and poisoned. Employees exposed to toxins while the money slipped away silently after causing destruction than might take hundreds of years and more for the poisons to recede enough for humans to dwell in places that were once considered their homes.


    I was getting angry, and I was frightened at how easily they had managed to bring me to such a peak of rage. I got up and went to the door. The Goblin girl had been waiting for me. It felt like she knew exactly when I was going to get up and come to the door. She led me downstairs and down to a boiler room. She walked to an ancient steel furnace that was no longer connected to the heating ducts. A remnant left inside a building because it was too large and would be too much work to remove. She opened the rusty door to the furnace. Inside, Goblin girls sat with a woman who I guessed had to be a Daemon. She had that sort of look. Her skin was as darker than skin ever was, more like a silhouette of darkness than a form, and her face seemed to pull yours to look at it. Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing slowly and deeply.


    I looked at the Goblin girls. Nia, the girl I had returned the purse to, was pointing to the empty seat between the dark woman and her. Ready to take myself to Fairy if anything happened, I stepped into the furnace and sat down. As I sat, I heard the furnace door shut behind me.


    The woman I sat beside put her hand on mine. I pulled it back and she said, ¡°He will do.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Do what?¡±


    She held out her hand. I shook my head. I looked up at her. Her eyes were like staring up at the stars on dark night. I don¡¯t mean this romantically or poetically. They were beautiful but not like eyes. The effect was creepy enough to make me want to flee to Fairy and never come back.


    She said, ¡°Learn how to destroy my kind. We have come up with a way to do it, and you are one of the few who can master all that it will take.¡±


    I tried not to show how repulsed by all of this I was.


    She said, ¡°Phil, I am a traitor to my kind. I have fallen in love with this world, and I would rather not see it destroyed like so many others have been. My kind is destruction. I no longer fear for my own existence. That is why I am here in a chamber that no other member of my race would even approach.¡±


    I said, ¡°I fear and avoid Daemons, but I don¡¯t want to hunt them down and kill them.¡±


    She said, ¡°Oh no, I am not a Daemon. I am older than that. I am a Djinn of the worst type. You will not hunt us down. No, you will make our lives inconvenient. My kind will hunt you down. Then, in self-defense, you will end their eternal destruction.¡±


    Nia said, ¡°You see Phil you really are a hero. Look at it this way, if you could save the world, and the world needed you, if the bogs and swamps with all the frogs and fish were threatened, how far would you go?¡±


    I asked, ¡°With all that you can do, why do you need me?¡±


    Nia smiled. ¡°Oddly enough, Phil, we¡¯re quite limited, and we can only do things when certain folk are looking the other way and even then only on special occasions. The resources you have been handed were set up long ago, back when we had a bit more freedom. Tonight, well, this morning, we are all going to go away. Fade to Fairy, as it were. So you will be a free agent in all of this. With all the trails the Goblins are leaving, nothing will leave a trace that anyone can follow. This room will be brought to a high heat later and any residual evidence will disappear. Besides, this old factory is yours. It only makes sense that you might let the Goblins use it from time to time.¡±


    The Djinn said, ¡°Use the name ¡®Midnight Treason¡¯ to summon me when you need me, Phil. I was planning to stay for the rest of this meeting, but I am beginning to get shaky here in the presence of all this iron. I wanted to make a bold show of my commitment, but¡ª¡±


    She started look around and breathing heavily. A Goblin girl knocked on the side of the furnace and the door opened.


    Nia reached over and put her hand on the Djinn¡¯s hand and shadow stepped out of the furnace with her. The furnace door was closed again.


    Another Goblin girl said, ¡°A man will be waiting to see you. You need to visit him this coming Sunday.¡±


    She handed one of those folded sheets that they hand out at the front of churches. In pencil, a name on the bulletin was circled, Deacon Dan, the person who was going to give the reading Tomorrow.


    I nodded and memorized the address. It was in Chicago, but I would have to check a map to find it.


    The girl who slid the church bulletin to me slid a jar containing dry blade of grass across the table. ¡°This is the best we could manage. Later, but before you go to church, chew on that. No need to swallow.¡±


    I held the jar up. ¡°What is it?¡±


    The girl shook her head. ¡°That would be part of a complex discussion, and we have already taken too long. Caerwyn should be out looking at your heavy equipment collection out back.¡±


    The furnace door opened, and the girls all shadow stepped away leaving me alone at the table. I shadow stepped out of the furnace as a Goblin girl with a five-gallon metal can that looked like it contained camp stove fuel appeared by the door.


    I shadow stepped out of the building and over to the shadows made by the treads on a crane.


    Caerwyn was sitting beside a Goblin girl but not the Goblin girl that was trying to become his girlfriend. ¡°Tell her I like her, but she is what eighty years old, maybe? I don¡¯t feel right going after a girl that young. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t think it couldn¡¯t work out, but some folk talk, and I don¡¯t want to put her through that sort of thing.¡±


    I stepped out of shadow. I don¡¯t know anything about relations with girls, but I could tell this conversation wasn¡¯t going to end well.


    Caerwyn got up. ¡°Phil, I should probably split this scene.¡± I nodded and then nodded to the girl. She smiled at me. I offered Caerwyn my hand and took him to Fairy.


    Under the gazebo at the seven-way crossroads, Dutchess Byebye, Lady Anteater, and Hippydippy were marching in a circle on the round platform in the middle of the crossroads while singing, ¡°Bye, Bye Miss American Pie.¡±


    Duchess Byebye asked Caerwyn, ¡°Do you know any songs with the words ¡®bye-bye¡¯ in them?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Bye-bye love, and Bye-bye Blackbird?¡±


    Duchess Byebye said, ¡°You passed. Do you want to turn into a rooster?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°You¡¯d have to transform me. I never managed to learn how to do it on my own.¡±


    Lady Anteater got up close to Caerwyn. ¡°He¡¯s telling the truth, so we may never know if he is a chicken or a rooster.¡±


    Byebye grabbed my leg. ¡°My little brother.¡±


    I picked her up and put her on my shoulders. ¡°My little sister.¡±


    Hippydippy said, ¡°No, he is our grandfather the horse, silly. You¡¯re the baby in the family, so you can¡¯t have a little brother.¡±


    Byebye said, ¡°No, he and I are really, really brother and sister. Right, Phil?¡±


    I said, ¡°Right, Byebye. Everyone, this is Caerwyn. Caerwyn, meet my sister Duchess Byebye. She¡¯s the one sitting on my shoulders. This lady here is your new girlfriend, Lady Anteater. This is Hippydippy, the poor sad girl that Lady Anteather stole you from. This is all pretend. Unless you want to be another horse like me. Playing house can get complicated.¡±


    Caerwyn asked Hippydippy, ¡°Do you want to ride on my shoulders?¡±


    Hippydippy nodded. Caerwyn picked her up and said, ¡°See, I¡¯m a horse.¡±


    Lady Anteater put her arm around Caerwyn. ¡°My boyfriend is a horse.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°I thought you said it wouldn¡¯t be complicated if I was a horse.¡±


    Byebye patted my head. ¡°We could all be a horsie family. I¡¯m the baby horse, so Snipsnort is a baby horse, too. Caerwyn can be the weird uncle horse that no one lets anyone else be alone with.¡±


    Caerwyn looked at me. ¡°This is getting worse by the minute.¡±


    Hippydippy said, ¡°My horsie is the best horsie. He¡¯s a Sabino!¡±


    Lady Anteater said, ¡°Sabinos are spotted.¡±


    Hippydippy laughed. ¡°He is one big spot so his horsie name is ¡®Spot.¡¯¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Is it always like this?¡±


    I nodded.


    Caerwyn put Hippydippy down. ¡°Sorry, I hear my mother calling.¡± Caerwyn waved a finger at me and disappeared.


    Hippydippy looked up at me. ¡°That went well. What game are we playing next?¡±


    Dutchess Byebye made a giddyup move on my shoulders. ¡°Get the kitty! I wanna get the kitty!¡±


    Hippydippy shook her head. ¡°She says she saw a shadow kitty.¡±


    Lady Anteater made circles around her ears with her finger. ¡°Byebye should have her name changed to Lala, ¡®cause she has totally gone lala.¡±


    Duchess Byebye stood on my shoulders and jumped down. ¡°I¡¯ll go find it and show you. You¡¯ll see my shadow kitty.¡±


    Byebye disappeared into shadows. Her wake seemed to leave changes in the shadows behind her. I needed to give her some lessons in shadow stepping. I went into shadow and rode on the ripples she left behind her. She blindly charged through shadows and ended up in a large tree on a ridge.


    I appeared on a limb on the opposite side of the tree. ¡°Dear sister, I need to teach you the tricks of shadows.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Can I catch cats?¡±


    I said, ¡°That remains to be seen, but if thy movements were more stealthy thou might have a better chance.¡±


    She nodded and looked at me intently. ¡°You believe me when I say I saw a cat in shadows?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Yes, I believe thee. But first let¡¯s play follow the leader, and I will show you how to move more swiftly, more quietly, and keep safe from the dangers of shadow and light.¡±


    We played in shadow until she was worn out. ¡°Brother Phil, I¡¯ll summon you when I wake up.¡±


    I nodded and watched her slide more gently into shadow. She was easy to teach since she was so brave. I feared that braveness though. Too many Goblins have disappeared through the years for anyone to consider the paths we trace safe.

 Who Are We?

    At the manor, I opened the door and felt the shadows shift as the cats slid past me. Roland was wearing his old clothing and it didn¡¯t suit him. It was loose and cut wrong. The problem with a well-fitted suit was that it didn¡¯t fit anyone else well. He was sitting at the table where I had left the briefcase open and reading from one of the folders.


    ¡°Phil, I hope you forgive me, I have been looking over your papers and eating from your magic food box.¡±


    I sat beside him. ¡°You probably understand this stuff better than I do, and you should feel free to eat anything I have. How are you doing?¡±


    He smiled. ¡°Never felt better. That is the honest truth. I don¡¯t know this body, its balance and its limits, but so far¡±¡ªhe gestured to the files in front of him¡ª¡°we have someone looking out for us, and I am wondering exactly why they are doing so much.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Should I make another steel vault for us to talk in?¡±


    He said, ¡°Probably. We have a lot of details we need to discuss.¡±


    We explored the manor house and found a large room that Roland thought would be ideal. I made illusions first and realized I knew a lot more about building this sort of thing now. I explored a few designs then chose one that I considered secure.


    #


    In our office inside the steel vault, I explained most of what had happened to me. Roland said, ¡°Phil, someone saved us. You, me, and Anthony. You have been handed a huge conglomerate of companies that manage waste. This was all set up over forty years ago. As far as I can tell, you are the largest shareholder, but you don¡¯t control it. It¡¯s as though you are the figurehead, but no one knows you are the figurehead.


    ¡°None of this made any sense until you told me about the woman with stars in her eyes. Someone wants plausible deniability while aiming you at an enemy. I don¡¯t see my place in this, though. I don¡¯t see why they would include me.¡±


    I held up the church bulletin. ¡°This may give me some answers, but I suspect that we will never get any answers that tell the real truth. Someone wants to obscure their motives and actions. If they can do all of the things they have done, and they want to remain a secret, what chance would we ever have of finding out the truth?¡±


    I decided to get something off my chest. ¡°Mr. Hubert, I¡¯m not really comfortable calling you Roland. Can I go back to calling you Mr. Hubert?¡±


    Mr. Hubert shook his head. ¡°I have been thinking about this. Since I have a new appearance, I am going to have to transfer controls and come up with a new identity. Do you have any suggestions for a new name?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°A lot of things have changed, and I¡¯m not really comfortable with all the changes.¡±


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°Embrace change. The immortals that don¡¯t keep up are a sad lot.¡± He looked at the papers he¡¯d been reading. ¡°Can I see the blade of grass?¡±


    I got up, stretched and turned into me with the bottle. I put the bottle on the table in front of Mr. Hubert.


    He unscrewed the lid and smelled it. ¡°I can¡¯t smell anything that raises any alarms.¡±


    I looked at the blade of grass. ¡°It isn¡¯t unwholesome, but I don¡¯t get the impression it is particularly nutritious either.¡±


    I picked it up, smelled it, and put it in my mouth. After tasting it, there was a flavor that seemed dry and desolate. I chewed it, pulled the wad out, and put it back in the jar. I looked at Mr. Hubert and shrugged. Then I felt the link as another Fairyland connected to me.


    ¡°Mr. Hubert, it¡¯s from a Fairyland, and it doesn¡¯t feel right.¡±


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°We need to change my name quick so you can practice with it. I need to get a new set of identification papers. I need to change my estate around and get clothing that fits. We need to pick a name quick. Your choice I think, as long as it doesn¡¯t drive me up the wall. What would you be comfortable calling me?¡±


    I shrugged and winced. ¡°I¡¯m going to see what¡¯s up with this new Fairyland and think about it. I¡¯ll get back as soon as I have an idea.¡±


    #


    The new Fairyland had real but hard and stony sand. The sky was gray, like an overcast day but with no clouds or features. It had another quality that I could feel. If I stayed here too long, I would die. I was the king of this desolate sandbox world with gray sky. If I stayed here a month, I thought, I would start getting sick. If I stayed here a year, my body would stay here forever. I returned to Snipsnort and shivered.


    #


    No one was near the crossroads, so I stepped into shadow and went to the manor house.


    Mr. Hubert was still in the steel office looking at papers. He had brought the magic food box into the office and was eating potato soup. He pointed to the box. ¡°Phil, I can¡¯t make sense of this thing. Did it come with instructions?¡±


    I looked at the box and shrugged. ¡°Just a brochure wanting me to continue making purchases with the company. I just opened it and closed it until it had something I wanted.¡±


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°We can¡¯t experiment with it now. Fuzzy went to sleep in the drawer. I shouldn¡¯t have left it open.¡±


    I nodded and looked at Fuzzy sleeping. I considered picking him up and summoning Duchess Byebye but decided not to risk getting clawed.


    I looked up at the briefcase where White Gloves was sleeping. ¡°I think they like you more than they do me, Mr. Hubert.¡±


    Mr. Hubert asked, ¡°Any name suggestions?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I thought of artists. So maybe Vincent or Mike.¡±


    Mr, Hubert looked at his reflection on one of the steel walls. ¡°I think Vincent will do. But I hate Vinny or Vince. Are you okay with calling me Vincent?¡±


    I said, ¡°No. Not really. But I understand your need to change. My name was originally Phillip, but no one ever called me that. The Goblins told me just to drop the worldly name. It was of no use to me, so Phil is all the name I have. I¡¯ve been given the name Phil Thibodeaux, I think I can go ten or fifteen years using that, but in the end, I plan to just go back to being called Phil or Snipsnort.¡±


    ¡°Call me Vincent.¡±


    I said, ¡°Vincent, I feel like an impostor. As King Snipsnort, as Phil Thibodeaux and even as Phil the fishmonger. I don¡¯t feel like I am me and I don¡¯t feel like I am anyone else.¡±


    Mr. Hubert, or Vincent, said, ¡°Immortals are all in their own way and in turns, vagrants, refugees, and impostors. We only get to be ourselves among friends. In another thirty years or less, I will change my name again. Eventually I will go back to being Roland and then maybe Hubert. Most of my names of old are obviously old French or ancient Greek. Before that, my name was a resonate hum and more of a label than a name.


    ¡°Phil, you are who you are. You have spent years with a family of Goblins, delivering fish to restaurants for far less than the fish were worth. No one but you ever called you a fishmonger. How long ago was it that you caught a fish and put it in a tank?


    ¡°When others put names on you, it may or may not have a bearing on who you are. One of the early best examples of a well-written character was Hamlet. Everyone, including Hamlet, had a view of who he was, and everyone including Hamlet was wrong. Only the audience had all the clues, and a strong part of the tragedy was the character¡¯s lack of understanding of who they were.¡±


    #


    There were two couples in the congregation who had light skin like mine. Deacon Dan was an imposing man with darker skin than most of the congregation.


    After the service, I was uncertain how to approach him. I was trying to blend in but since I was a white nine-year-old-looking kid in a nice suit with a fashionable black mask over a surgical mask, that wasn¡¯t going to happen.


    People came over to greet me, and I bowed to them and told them I had a cold that I didn¡¯t want to spread. I was asked about my parents and were I was from and I tried to manage that without saying another lie. Most of what I said through the two masks was misunderstood, so one of the women explained that I was here praying for my parents who were sick, too.


    It wasn¡¯t what I said, but it sounded like a good story so I didn¡¯t try to correct anyone. I was surrounded by the kindest of folk and half-way living a lie while trying to figure out how to escape and find out where Deacon Dan was when the small crowd around me parted and Deacon Dan said, ¡°Phil, I am so glad you came. I was a little bit worried about you.¡±


    #


    I never had a chance to get away. I ended up at a backyard barbecue where a woman told me she was a registered nurse, felt my forehead, and pronounced me as no longer contagious. With a plate full of food, I had an excuse not to talk much and by staying close to talkative adults all I had to do was nod and look respectful to not seem rude. I didn¡¯t want to lie to any of these good folk, and there was just about nothing I could honestly say about myself without lying.


    I should have pretended I had a sore throat and couldn¡¯t talk, at least that would only be one lie. Before I knew it, there were at least five lies about me that I never quite said circulating and by not correcting them I felt like I was lying anyway.


    Deacon Dan saved me. He bent down near my ear. ¡°Find a good place for us to talk. I¡¯ll come see you in an hour.¡±


    He stood up and gestured for me to follow. We went to the gate and a woman asked, ¡°Is Phil leaving so soon?¡±


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Deacon Dan said, ¡°Imagine how worried a child¡¯s mother might get if he was gone too long on Sunday right after being sick.¡±


    Deacon Dan stayed in the gateway blocking it and talking so I managed to make my getaway without anyone following me or asking if I needed a ride.


    #


    Behind the factory that had recently hosted a Goblin Music Festival, I was extending the boom on a mounted boom truck crane when Deacon Dan appeared.


    ¡°Phil, do you have a license to operate one of these?¡±


    I nodded, ¡°It¡¯s forged, of course, but I know what I¡¯m doing, and this is my truck. or at least it belongs to the identity I was given.¡±


    Deacon Dan was suddenly up on the side of the truck sitting in the shade of the crane cab. I didn¡¯t feel any movement in shadows when he moved.


    I sat beside him. ¡°Can you explain any of this?¡±


    Deacon Dan said, ¡°I was asked to gift you with a few things. The person who asked works with a person I trust, and I owe that person so I have a few things I can gift you. I won¡¯t break any confidences, but I will tell you that anything they gave you, they can afford to give and won¡¯t even notice the cost. What I was asked to gift you with is kind of a strange arrangement, but it was all arranged in confidence so I won¡¯t question it much.


    ¡°Before we get started, though, is there a church you regularly attend?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Not for fifty years.¡±


    He smiled. ¡°Then let me invite you to come back to church next Sunday. I¡¯ll explain to folk that you don¡¯t feel comfortable talking. You can attend without any questions asked.¡±


    I smiled thinking about church. I liked the music a lot, and the folk seemed genuine. ¡°Deacon Dan, I¡¯m a Goblin. I don¡¯t age and there are almost no questions I can answer about myself and not lie. I¡¯m going to have to lie to be the person my drivers license says I am, but I don¡¯t want to lie to good folk in church.¡±


    Deacon Dan said, ¡°I have been a deacon as long as Christianity has had deacons. Do you know how I avoid lying?¡±


    I shook my head.


    He said, ¡°I tell bits of the truth in an unconvincing way. So they all consider me a bit eccentric. I never quite fit in as a result, but to tell the truth, I never did quite fit in. Something in me, something I do, brands me as different.


    ¡°Phil, if you can live with being different, you might find comfort in a good congregation and this one is one of the best.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll consider it.¡±


    He said, ¡°Good. Now, for the gifting. First the linking. This one will usually let you decide on the final destination of a spirit or Fairy. It is perhaps the most frightening power I can give. If the call of Heaven or Hell is stronger, it may override this, but for the most part, your decision will be final.¡±


    He took a breath and gifted me.


    ¡°This next one goes with it. It lets you force a form on a bodyless entity. In a vocation of mine that I rarely dabble in, I used it to turn spirits into Fairies. There are other uses, but I advise against them.¡± He gifted me again.


    ¡°This next one used to make you immune to disease. It still mostly does, but in the last three hundred years diseases that can get past it have started to show up.¡±


    He gifted me.


    ¡°These next three let you detect, shrug of, or return a lot of the dark things bad folk might do with magic.¡±


    He gifted me and then he smiled. ¡°Be careful who you share those with. I¡¯m looking forward to seeing you in church next Sunday.¡± With that, he disappeared.


    I had the crane ready to play with and I hadn¡¯t practiced with this model, so I made sure everything was stable and locked in place before I extended the boom. As I moved stuff around, I noticed waves in the shadows. Goblins had come out to watch me play. They were hiding in the shadows so I decided to ignore them, but I ended up showing off for them.


    It wasn¡¯t a skill I had developed on my own, but I was good and I knew what I was doing. It was fun pushing the limits of precision and speed. The odds were that the watchers didn¡¯t have the background to know that what I was doing was Olympic gymnast grade crane maneuvering. From their movements in shadow, I think they found it entertaining. When I was done, I shut everything down carefully and took all the keys. No point in letting Goblins get hurt operating something too tempting to leave alone.


    #


    Wearing a suit, gloves, and mask, I summoned my contact in Newark. He quickly disappeared and I went into my private rooms. In a long wide hallway that lit up as I entered it, there were doors on either side and between each door were several works of art. Unlike the place in Chicago that made me out to be a person obsessed with heavy equipment, this made me look like I was obsessed with one woman. She looked like the Queen of Shadows but only if the Queen of Shadows was the Queen of Summer Light. She had bouncy-looking spiral curls in amber-tinged golden hair.


    I explored the rooms and in one of them was a signed photo of her, but I couldn¡¯t make out what her name was. Pretty script but not clear. In an office filled with maps, I summoned Vincent. He didn¡¯t answer so I tried Mr. Hubert and he showed up.


    ¡°Mr. Hubert, how long does it take to get used to a new name?¡±


    He said, ¡°Forever if you don¡¯t use it, so call me Vincent. That is the only way I will learn to answer to the name. If I don¡¯t answer, call me Vincent Hubert. That may help us make the transition.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Vincent Hubert then.¡±


    Vincent looked over the maps and a subway schedule. ¡°We won¡¯t have time to get to the appointment with the tailor if you don¡¯t shadow step. First we need to get to this department store so I can at least have basic clothing that fits. Can you find your way using the subways? I¡¯ll stay here and study the maps.¡±


    I shrugged, looked at the map and took to shadow.


    #


    I left Mr. Hubert at the tailor¡¯s and went out to follow the trails of Goblins traveling through shadow. New York had Goblins living among humans in concentrations that I never thought possible. In the last four days, I had encountered evidence of more Goblins than I had imagined ever lived. My image of what a Goblin was didn¡¯t match with what I was seeing. I saw an old man with a cap over his ears come out of shadow. His age startled me. He must have been a thousand or more years old to look that age.


    Caerwyn summoned me. ¡°Phil where are you?¡±


    I said, ¡°New York City.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Great, let me go tell my mother and get my wallet, then you can bring me through.¡±


    I said, ¡°Summon me. I still have a few hours to kill before Vincent Hubert is going to be free.¡±


    A few minutes later Caerwyn¡¯s mother, Mrs. Nelson, summoned me. ¡°Caerwyn has a list of things he wants me to get. Is is too much of an imposition?¡±


    I brought her through to New York.


    She said, ¡°This is wonderful, thank you so much. Oh my, I don¡¯t have much time, I forgot about the difference in time zones.¡±


    She waved to me as she ran off down the street.


    I returned to where I left Vincent Hubert and breezed through in shadow. He was still busy and it didn¡¯t look like he would be free anytime soon. So I followed a few Goblins and ended up in Central Park listening to a man playing a saxophone. I lost track of time while listening.


    My phone started beating a rhythm so I answered it.


    ¡°Phil, I¡¯m through.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be right there.¡±


    I stepped out of shadows and walked to the tailor¡¯s shop. Mr. Hubert was standing out front waiting for me. ¡°The suits won¡¯t be ready until next Monday so we will have to wait on my getting identification papers.¡±


    I said, ¡°About the identification. The more I hear ¡®Vincent Hubert,¡¯ the more I hate it. You have been living in a backwater area of Louisiana, and your appearance has changed. Can we just stick with Hubert? Most people call you Roland, so no one is going to think you are your old self if you don¡¯t tell them.¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°Deal. I hate changing my name. But no more mister. Just call me Hubert.¡±


    #


    In the manor house, White Gloves shadow stepped to the table Mr. Hubert and I were sitting at. ¡°There¡¯s a woman at the front door. Tell her to go away.¡±


    Hubert smiled at me. ¡°You know, White Gloves, that you are speaking to Phil, the King of this Fairyland.¡±


    White Gloves said, ¡°That¡¯s even better. Phil, order her to go way.¡±


    I got up and walked down to the door and opened it. An old lady gingerly got down on her knees. ¡°Your Highness, I didn¡¯t expect thee to answer the door.¡±


    I helped her get up. ¡°Please rise and don¡¯t worry about kneeling.¡±


    She said, ¡°Sorry, my hearing isn¡¯t what it once was.¡±


    I said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about kneeling,¡± in a louder voice.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°¡¯Tis good of thee to say that, sire.¡± She started to kneel again.


    I said louder, ¡°Please don¡¯t kneel.¡±


    Another woman was approaching on the path from the town below. She shouted, ¡°Is that our new king, Annabelle?¡±


    The woman turned and shouted, ¡°Mrs. Shortstrop, come and meet the king. He was just telling me he¡¯s going to finish the bridge to Nowhere.¡±


    Mrs. Shortstrop shouted back, ¡°Such a great new King to think first about his subjects¡¯ needs.¡±


    A couple more women came into sight as they came up the hill. ¡°Did I hear right? Is the King going to finish the bridge? Well, that will be wonderful.¡±


    I memorized all their faces. I was pretty sure I had just met the woman¡¯s group that the men had warned me about.


    As the women approached They all curtsied. ¡°Long Live King Snipsnort.¡±


    I bowed.


    The women all looked down at the spot I was looking at.


    Mrs. Shortstrop asked, ¡°Doest thou see anything?¡±


    The old lady, Annabelle said, ¡°Our liege must be able to see things we cannot. For it would be nonsense for our great ruler to bow to the likes of us. Almost dishonorable, you know.¡±


    Another woman said, ¡°Shhh, our great and proud king bows to no one. It would shame us all if he made such a gesture.¡±


    I asked, ¡°I there something I can help thee with?¡±


    Mrs. Shortstrop took Annabelle by the arm. ¡°My leige thou has found our dear old Annabelle when she wandered off again so we will be thanking thee and telling folk how kindly thou art.


    ¡°Come along, Annabelle. We don¡¯t want to waste anymore of our King¡¯s precious time. He has so much to do and despite all the time he spends crafting horrific steel devices and turning the manor into a mansion of terror, he has decided to honor us all by finishing the bridge to Nowhere.¡±


    The ladies walked away with Annabelle so I went back to see Mr. Hubert.


    White Gloves saw me and slid into shadow.


    I looked at the sketch of the manor house that Mr. Hubert was making and pointed. ¡°Are we making an addition?¡±


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°We will need more area for the solar panels. We will want to have a fence around them since they will have some steel fittings. We might as well expand the house a bit.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m about to make a bridge to Nowhere. It seems like a waste to me.¡±


    Mr Hubert nodded. ¡°It is a matter of perspective, really. You must keep in mind that what is valuable in Real and to humans has never quite matched with what the Fairies in a Fairyland think is valuable.


    ¡°If you go to the common markets of the Real world, nothing is made to last even ten years and all of it is just for your own use. A bridge is something that everyone can use. It helps the poor and the rich, and if it is well made it can still be useful three thousand years later. While I would advise you to keep some reserves, too much stored and never used is a type of waste too. If you save a thousand pounds for making gold with, you have all the emergency money I can imagine needing. If you save a thousand more, you can fix and replace a lot of parts. I suspect that a world like this produces enough in a day to make a thousand pounds seem small.¡±


    Mr. Hubert looked at me and smiled. ¡°Not long ago you were worried that I was planning to spend a few million saving your life. Now you can spend that much on whim and not feel the loss. Do you want help building the bridge?¡±


    I nodded.


    He said, ¡°Can you get me to our house in Real? I need to get a few things.¡±


    I summoned Caerwyn.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°I have a contact that says he has a contact that can connect the internet in Fairy. I¡¯m a little worried that it might be a scam. They won¡¯t take gold unless it is in the form of fine craftsmanship or fine art. I¡¯m scared they¡¯re just trying to find out what some of the wealthy Daemons have hidden away. I may need your help with this if it gets complicated.¡±


    I said, ¡°Can you bring me and Mr. Hubert through?¡±


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°Just Hubert.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Sure, how are we getting all your power equipment to Fairy?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Hubert, Caerwyn wants to know how all the equipment in and in front of the carriage house is getting to Fairy.¡±


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°Anthony has a contact that can manage things like that. When he gets well we can move everything.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Ask him how long before Anthony is better?¡±


    I said, ¡°Bring us through and you can ask him yourself.¡±


    #


    As Caerwyn and Mr. Hubert talked, Mr. Hubert packed things and brought them to me. Then I sped up Snipsnort, went to the crossroads in Snipsnort and shadow stepped to the manor house. After I had the load dropped off, I ate the meal Mr. Hubert had packed for me and rested. Then I matched time to Real, and summoned Caerwyn.


    In Real, I would go to the kitchen, pick up the meal that Mr. Hubert had for me and take another load to Fairy. Sometimes I skipped a meal and made several trips without sleeping. Ten hours passed in Real. Days passed in Fairy.


    While I was helping Mr. Hubert cook, Caerwyn came in. ¡°I just got an email from bugteeth68. Rodger is asking how to summon you. He says he owes you gifting and you aren¡¯t answering to ¡®The Fishmonger.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Caerwyn, how do you summon me?¡±


    Caerwyn looked up at the ceiling and around the kitchen. ¡°I watched you in the yard taking care of fish. Then I met you and we made friends. Sometimes you don¡¯t need a name, if you just know someone, you know them.¡±


    I said, ¡°Now that I have made a few zillion trips back and forth to the manor in Snipsnort, I may have an easier way to move things.¡±

 Heavy Lifting

    I summoned Rodger Emanuel Qin. ¡°Phil, the fishmonger king of Snipsnort summons thee, Rodger Emanuel Qin.¡±


    Rodger answered, ¡°I¡¯m ready to complete the deal. Wait, did you say Snipsnort? I need to look that one up. Oh, come through, of course.¡±


    #


    In a long dusty room filled with cubicle offices, he led me to a clean office with windows at the end of the room. ¡°Sorry about the mess. I won this place in a duel, but I still owe taxes on it. I mean to have it all cleaned up, but now I¡¯m paying a crew to replace the windows you blew out. You would think an independent wizard would have all the money he needs, but expenses build up quick.


    ¡°On paper I am worth forty million. Considering I barely manage in my week to week handling of debts, I wonder how I got into this mess?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Do you have Daemon friends?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Several have been really helpful along the way. I doubt I could have gotten the loans I needed to keep this going without them.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What do you owe?¡±


    He said, ¡°Twelve million more or less.¡±


    I turned into me holding a laptop and connected to the internet and looked up the spot price of gold. Six hundred and forty pounds of gold would cover his debts.


    He looked over my shoulder. ¡°Yes, I know I could speed time and make enough gold to cover it, but then I would be spending four years in my Fairyland twiddling my thumbs without the internet. With expenses, it would be closer to five years.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I have lived week to week, but I have never been in debt apart from the debts I owe friends who have given me so much without taking.¡±


    Rodger said, ¡°I need to gift you and train you in the basics, but the place I normally make the gateway in at has a lot of workers on ladders replacing glass right now. We can go up on the roof, though. I have used it from time to time.¡±


    #


    On the roof, there was a clear area where a black painted circle with symbols around the perimeter was painted on the roof with thick black paint that was starting to peel in places.


    Rodger gifted me and stepped back. ¡°The story is that the Dread Lord of Fairy made up this spell in his head and then taught it to the wizards. It¡¯s unlike any other spell I know. Tight, smooth, and clean. You can use this spell in dark or light and ignore the phase of the moon, but it will not function in the presence of someone who has not witnessed magic before.


    ¡°As long as you are in it and using it, it stays active but it collapses immediately if an unbeliever shows up or you leave the circle.¡±


    Having been gifted with the spell I knew I could use it, but I didn¡¯t want to immediately connect to Snipsnort. I stepped into the center of the circle and opened a gateway to my new desolate world.


    I looked around at the gray skies and sand and then closed the gateway.


    Rodger said, ¡°You could win some duels just by opening that world. It feels like death.¡±


    I smiled and opened a gateway to Snipsnort. I made the platform in the middle of the seven-way crossroads overlay on Real. I made an illusion of the lady who Phil Thibodeaux is supposed to have a crush on and then made a gossamer coin with her on one side and a fish with its tail swishing in front of its body on the other. Then I made the coin a one pound real gold coin. I made another illusion and adjusted it. This time with lines on the edges and morning glory vines around the edges on the side with the girl and spider lilies and iris around the image of the fish.


    I crouched and made an illusion of a thousand of these coins, shifted the illusion to gossamer, and picked one up to examine it. Then I made the gossamer real and picked up a handful of the heavy coins and turned into me in another form, picked up another pair of coins, and shut down the gateway with me and the coins still in Real. The coins and I fell from the platform that was now gone and onto the roof two steps below.


    ¡°Rodger, I just took a handful of coins plus two. Maybe twenty or so pounds out of the thousand I made. You can pay off your debts to everyone. You will owe me a thousand pounds of Fairy fee and until you pay it off, if you accept my offer, you cannot force anyone to duel with you against their will.¡±


    He asked, ¡°Why are you trusting me like this?¡±


    I said, ¡°You kept your deal from before, so I think you¡¯ll keep your deal now. While you could easily pay me back by passing time in Fairy, I suspect that after you are out of debt to everyone else, you will find reasons to put off paying me. So at least for a while, you won¡¯t be forcing challenges on anyone.


    ¡°Since you kept your bargain, I think we might at least become something functional if not friends. I just don¡¯t want any friends who force fights on people who don¡¯t want to fight.¡±


    Rodger walked to the center of the circle and picked up a gold coin. ¡°She¡¯s pretty. I like the fish. Heads and tails. Nice coin. I may make more money selling these to collectors than just the value of the gold. I may be able to pay this off faster than you think. Is she real?¡±


    I said, ¡°You¡¯re talking about the woman I¡¯m obsessed with. Or at least that is the story. I need to go back and examine some pictures. I think she may be real, but I didn¡¯t quite get it right and I think she may be too perfect to be real. A lot can be done with Photoshop these days.¡±


    #


    I summoned my contact in Newark and from my suite there, I took some of the best images of the woman with me to Snipsnort. I made a few practice runs and some illusions before making a few statues of her. She really was a work of art, living or not.


    Then I summoned Caerwyn. ¡°Caerwyn can you bring me through?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Hubert is here. Give us a moment to load up, and you can bring us there.¡±


    I went to the center of the room and waited before bringing Mr. Hubert and Caerwyn to the manor house.


    Caerwyn and Hubert both put down their things and walked over to see the statues.


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Phil, when did you meet Goldilocks?¡±


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°Phil, that¡¯s Helen of Troy. Whatever you do, don¡¯t fall in love with her and don¡¯t trust her for a moment.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°It¡¯s apparently too late. It seems that I¡¯m obsessed with her and have a crush on her despite never meeting her. She¡¯s very pretty. I¡¯ve met someone that almost resembled her but I shouldn¡¯t say.¡±


    Mr. Hubert asked, ¡°It seems like you are obsessed?¡±


    I said, ¡°Exactly.¡±


    #


    Flying over the path the bridge was going to follow, the cleared area had a different color under the water. I flew down and dropped into the water to swim. There was a gossamer footing going the full way. I climbed out and turned back into a rook and flew back to where the men, along with one muscular woman, were building the bridge.


    ¡°What is the reason for the gossamer foundation?¡±


    The woman said, ¡°Please don¡¯t tell the other nobles. They will play games and dispel it. It¡¯s the only way to keep the mud clear down to the bedrock so the bridge will have a good foundation later.¡±


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    I changed from being a crow and stood in front of the table they had plans set up on.


    Everyone bowed, kneeled, and genuflected except for a few who were moving a large stone.


    I said, ¡°Please rise and when you¡¯re working there is no need for any formalities.¡±


    I went to the water¡¯s edge where they were lowering the stone. The area in front of them had gossamer wooden ramps built to guide the shaped stone into place. I walked out of the area they were working in and waded out into the water. The top of the gossamer footing was about twenty feet under the surface. I swam over the footing and shifted it to white quartzite before making it real.


    #


    Voices were shouting. I was dizzy, I coughed up water and threw up. Someone pushed me on my side. I was washed off and given water. I went to sleep again as I was lifted into a boat.


    I was woken to drink broth. I drank a lot and went back to sleep.


    I heard Annabell¡¯s voice, ¡°We didn¡¯t mean for him to kill himself.¡±


    It might have been a dream. I woke for a moment as something was put in my hand. A voice said, ¡°Transform well, Phil.¡±


    I lay for a while and opened my eyes. In my hand was a bone. The label on it read, ¡°Otter.¡±


    Someone brought me more broth.


    I woke up miserable. My head hurt and I felt like I had a fever. Someone brought me more broth. I drank it. ¡°Is there something more solid to eat?¡±


    They brought me porridge. I felt disappointed. I at least wanted stew or gumbo or chowder. In spite of that, the porridge was wonderful, and I went back to sleep.


    I woke up and looked around the room. A candle was lit. My attendants were sleeping so I turned into me well with a backpack with food. I ate and then I went to the Fairyland that I was first abducted in and slipped through the gateway and into Real.


    #


    It was early in the morning so I slowed time in Snipsnort and shadow stepped to a grocery to replenished my backpacks of food. Dense food with lots of nutrients and lots of protein and no worry about how much fat was in any of it.


    I flew as a rook back to Mr. Hubert¡¯s house and sat on my bed before turning into myself still sick and holding the bone. I put the bone on the bed. I was hungry but felt well enough, so I turned into an otter.


    I slid off the bed and managed to reach the doorknob and get out of the room. I ran to the stairs and half-ran, half-slid down them. I got to the front door and opened it. Closing it took a while. I ran to the fish tanks and looked down at all the delicious fish.


    I carefully chose my next meal and slid into the tank with it.


    #


    Rested and healed, I sped time back up in Snipsnort and summoned Mr. Hubert. He brought me through to Fairy.


    ¡°Mr. Hubert, where are we?¡±


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°Just Hubert. This is Bogview Castle. How much mass did you use?¡±


    I checked. ¡°Barely any of it. What happened?¡±


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°You made a real stone footer for the bridge all the way to Nowhere. They say that you have finished three-fourths of the job and done all the really hard work. My advice is that you start small and see what you can handle. Just make a few tons and see how you feel.¡±


    Mr. Hubert went to a door, opened it, and said, ¡°The king has returned and appears to be in good health.¡±


    I said, ¡°I will be flying over the bridge, no need for any concern.¡±


    Mr. Hubert said, ¡°Before you build anything else, take me to our house in Real and let me show you something.¡±


    #


    On one of the pallets was a large spool of cable. Mr. Hubert said, ¡°Fiber optic cable. Not part of the rest of the equipment but if Caerwyn can manage to get the internet in Fairy, we might have a use for it. The reason that Anthony got it was that he heard about Goblins using it at an exclusive passage. Can you travel through the cable?¡±


    I found the end and felt the shadows. There was no passage. I turned into an owl and jumped up on the spool. The other end was probably wrapped so it wouldn¡¯t pass light. ¡°Hubert, this may work. Thanks, I will try it when I make the rest of the bridge.¡±


    #


    I studied the plans and since I was going to use better stone, I decided to use my gifted construction knowledge and just wing it. With time sped up in Fairy, I swam as an otter and made columns to support the bridge above. I tested my limits and ate fish that had never learned to fear an otter. I swam and made columns for days before I had managed to complete the trail through the swamp. Then I flew as rook and made gossamer arches to connect the columns that would support the bridge above. When the arches were stable and looked how I wanted them to look, I turned them into real stone. Flying high above the water so I could see deep underneath, I could see stone under the water. I made extra supports and put in ramps and stairways and more arches that would go up to the bridge.


    A boat with bridge workers in it waved for my attention. I landed on the prow of the boat.


    The woman said, ¡°We noticed that you spend more time traveling to find food than building so we came prepared.¡±


    They had fruit, bread, and meat. It sped up the process, and I started working from the prow of the boat as they paddled along.


    #


    The bridge surface itself was easy after all of this. I could walk and build. The food carts kept coming and apart from rest and sleep, I was able to continue without interruptions. I was working on a covered area for fishermen to use lines and poles from the side of the bridge when Hubert came to visit with a tall man who looked like a Daemon.


    The tall man asked, ¡°Do you recognize me?¡±


    I shook my head.


    Hubert said, ¡°Just call him Anthony. No need to call him uncle.¡±


    I ran to hug Anthony, no longer Uncle Anthony but still Anthony.


    #


    The bridge was in use, but the plans were for it to be covered and have places for small markets. There were a lot of plans that would look grand, but the craftsmen and workers were arguing over them.


    Under the stone roof of the market area I had built where the bridge officially started, they had tables set up with their plans and drawings. None of them were ready to compromise on their plans.


    I cleared my throat. ¡°Fine, then it is settled. When none can agree, then my decision is final. Make sure to get along, gentlemen, or you will have to tear down and repair my arbitrary decisions if you all agree they are horrid.¡±


    I looked at the crew who built the first part of the bridge and fed me as I built the rest. I looked at the men who quarried the stone and started making an illusion of them pushing and hauling a huge stone. When I finished, I altered the stone to take water from an as yet unbuilt aqueduct and splash down to a pool around the sculpture. With some adjustment and a shift to gossamer so it would remain stable as I examined it, I finally finished it and made it real.


    The muscular woman said, ¡°Nice work, sire, but if you would spare me, please no more statues of me.¡±


    Another worker said, ¡°But pretty women are the basis of great art.¡±


    She said, ¡°Get someone else to pose.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Did I go too far?¡±


    She said, ¡°No, sire. it is a great honor and I thank you, but apart from this one I would rather not be put on a pedestal.¡±


    I thought about having women pose and decided it might not be ideal. While thinking about it, I went to an empty pedestal and made an illusion of Mable, the attractive Daemon lady that lived near Mr. Hubert. I couldn¡¯t get the details right, and I didn¡¯t know if she wanted to pose. I had enough pictures of the woman who I was apparently supposed to be obsessed with, and I had already made statues of her, just not big enough for this pedestal. From the pictures of her, she had no issue with posing for paintings or sculptures.


    I changed the illusion to look like her, and the men around me applauded. I made it in gossamer, checked it, and then made it real.


    #


    My heavy equipment collection had been moved inside the large garage at my empty factory in Gary, Indiana. I set up a gateway and took a boom crane truck with a large bed to my barren Fairyland.


    Then I went to the Fairyland where I was first abducted and went to Hubert¡¯s house. I made another gateway to the barren world and brought the crane out on the driveway in front of the carriage house. Using the crane, I tied off pallets and loaded them on the truck. With the first load secured, I opened the gateway to Fairy and discovered the gazebo around the seven-way intersection and the platform were going to cause problems. I was going to have to remake everything.


    #


    I opened a gateway large and moved the entire gazebo around the seven-way intersection to Real. It collapsed on the uneven field where I moved it. I considered moving it all to the Fairyland of death, but I liked the ruins look of it in the field and left it there, wondering how it would look when it was finally discovered.


    I rebuilt the intersection to have a wide path around the center and the center area was raised to the level of the platform. I brought the crane truck in, and with it there, I made a new gazebo over the remade and much fancier intersection. The gazebo had columns and arches and a dome over it and statues of my muse/obsession in between the roads.


    Then I drove the truck to the manor and unloaded it with the crane. After ten more trips, I flew back over the road and upgraded it as I repaired the damage I had done driving over it. As part of the repair, I made and laid an armored wound stainless steel tube with fiber optics running through it.


    #


    Duchess Byebye summoned me as I was operating the crane. ¡°Are all of those statues, Goldilocks?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I never met Goldilocks. Do you think she will mind?¡±


    Duchess Byebye said, ¡°She¡¯ll probably steal them all when she finds out about them. I¡¯m bored bring me through.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re immune to steel?¡±


    She said, ¡°I have a steel dagger and a suit of steel armor that pinches when you bend over.¡±


    I brought her through. She sat beside me as I used the crane to lift a solar panel up for Anthony to position on the mounts set on the roof.


    Duchess Byebye put her head against me. ¡°Big brother is wonderful.¡±


    She sat with me and watched as we put things in place and shadow stepped out to watch us build the next morning. With everything lifted. I took the truck back to real and put it back in the garage at my factory in Gary.


    #


    After returning to the Manor House I started working on running a fiber optic section through the hole in the wall that the old caretaker used to pass the wards on the manor house. I was debating how to safely test the passage when Fuzzy went through it.


    He came back out and looked up at me. ¡°Pick me up.¡±


    I picked him up and scratched under his chin.


    ¡°Oh yeah, right there. Now stop. Other side. Harder. Lower, not that low. Right there. I like the light tunnel. Leave it there so we can get in and out.¡±


    I continued scratching until he jumped out of my arms and shadow stepped back through the fiber optic cable and into the manor.

 Opening Another Box

    Caerwyn and I were sitting in the carriage house drinking iced tea with mint leaves.


    ¡°Phil, no luck on getting the internet running in Fairy. People swear that there are generators and magic ovens that don¡¯t need power and all sorts of things, but when I try to track them down, the leads all disappear.¡±


    I said, ¡°I can¡¯t quite figure out money in Fairy. I¡¯m king, but I have no way to get paid. People pay taxes. Nobles get handed money for being there and doing nothing, but I have no way to buy anything. People tell me to hire a staff, but I can¡¯t buy a meal for myself in the market, let alone pay someone.¡±


    Caerwyn held his hands up and looked at them. ¡°My mother and I wanted to move into Fairy for a while, but I don¡¯t know how to support myself in Fairy either. We got money here, and I can make more with my computer work, but that means nothing in Fairy.


    ¡°I appreciate your offering to letting Mother and me use one of your houses, but we would be paupers there with no way to support ourselves.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°It would be simpler if I had a small Fairyland like Rummage and just a few Fairies. Then I could set up gardens and make houses, and I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about what sort of rules I was breaking. I¡¯m not supposed to bow to anyone. That¡¯s going to seem pretty rude and aloof in Real. I had a magic box that provided some pretty nice meals for a long time, but now I¡¯m having to shop in Real and take it all to Fairy so we have food at the manor house.


    ¡°I can always go to Bogview Castle for a meal, but it¡¯s pretty far out of the way. Until I run fiber optics down the rest of the road, it¡¯s still a long trip. Once I get the fiber in, it should be a quick jaunt for food, but then I would have to take Anthony and Hubert there. We don¡¯t have power at Bogview Castle either.¡±


    Caerwyn held up his iced tea. ¡°Here¡¯s to not being able to make it in Fairy.¡±


    I clicked glasses with him and we sipped tea.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Do you still have the sales brochure for the magic box that stopped working?¡±


    I turned into myself a few times until I found the backpack with the brochure in the front pocket. I handed it to Caerwyn.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Let me summon her.¡±


    I looked at my distorted reflection in my glass with condensation dripping down it and shook my head. ¡°Hazily Midnight might be a guy. Thinks about it. As a Fairy, Hazily Midnight could be just about any thing.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Well then, let me summon Hazily Midnight.¡±


    A Fairy appeared on the table between us. ¡°That counts as three times calling my name, what can I do for thee?¡±


    Caerwyn gestured towards me with the brochure. ¡°He has a magic food box that stopped working.¡±


    Hazily Midnight scowled at the brochure. ¡°I don¡¯t work for them anymore. Five hundred years working hard for a Fairyland and then they decide to go all corporate. I helped them and then they let me go. Fairy Dynamics, bah. Of course the box stopped working. Idiots never tested the product and expected me to sell all they made. Then I got fired for selling a prototype after being yelled at the day before for not selling enough product.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not going to play like that anymore. I am out for number one and they can¡¯t just push me around anymore. By the way, do you know anyone who might be looking for an experienced Fairy sales manager?¡±


    We both shook our heads. I asked, ¡°Can I get you some tea?¡±


    Hazily nodded so I got up to fix him a glass.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°We can¡¯t even figure out how to buy things in Fairy. He¡¯s a major Fairy King in a huge Fairyland, and he can¡¯t even pay for a cleaning lady.¡±


    Hazily took the glass of tea I handed him and tipped it to drink from. ¡°Well, if it is like most big Fairylands, they do a lot of dodgy things. It¡¯s all supposed to be wishes you know, but since a wish is worth a year¡¯s work, more or less, it¡¯s not a good way to pay for lunch out. So they use tokens to represent a small portion of a wish, and that is pretty much a direct violation of all the wish rules. Of course, they don¡¯t want to involve the king directly. A king could get into a lot of trouble quickly by breaking the rules that way.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°How do we lodge a complaint with Fairy Dynamics then?¡±


    Hazily shook his head. ¡°Not much point, but you can try summoning the general manager of Fairy Dynamics or the current sales coordinator.¡± Hazily sighed. ¡°It isn¡¯t easy supporting yourself in Fairy. It isn¡¯t all happily ever after, and we don¡¯t get to retire like they do in Real.¡±


    The three of us nodded. Caerwyn clicked his glass to Hazily¡¯s. ¡°To failing in Fairy.¡±


    I clicked my glass to Hazily¡¯s, and we all sipped tea together.


    I asked, ¡°Caerwyn, are you ready for a refill?¡±


    Caerwyn nodded so I got up.


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Is it okay if I try to summon the sales coordinator with thee here, Hazily?¡±


    Hazily said, ¡°Definitely. If you give me a pencil and paper, I can write notes so you can ask the right questions. Where is the broken unit? You may need it handy if you have a complaint.¡±


    I said, ¡°In Fairy. I¡¯ll be right back.¡±


    I adjusted time, got the box, and summoned Caerwyn. He brought me back to Real, and I turned into myself holding the box and set it down.


    Hazily jumped down and examined the box. ¡°Boys, this is the prototype I sold to a pair of Daemons. How did you end up with it?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Long story. It was given to me by a Goblin girl.¡±


    Hazily kicked the box.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Don¡¯t damage the merchandise.¡±


    Hazily sat on it. ¡°You¡¯re right. Okay, let¡¯s put the screws to Fairy Dynamics. So here¡¯s the thing. They really, really want this back. Be careful, I wouldn¡¯t put it past them to ignore the Deaths and send an enforcer to just take it. We¡¯re talking Duke grade enforcer. So we gotta be careful, but we can probably hit them hard on this.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Why do they want it so badly?¡±


    Hazily said, ¡°I put this together after talking with a few other disgruntled employees. Are you familiar with the Black Cauldron?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°The one the giant made to raise the dead with?¡±


    Hazily nodded. ¡°Yeah, The biggest player in magic tech is a guy named Bran. Once you have seen enough of his designs you can recognize them when you see more. Most the best magic tech is by him. It might be under another name or set of designs, but if it uses high magic, advanced gateways and giant logic, you can pretty well tell that either he designed it or someone ripped off one of his designs.


    ¡°Well this box is a poor failed rip-off of one of Bran¡¯s designs. Being obvious about such a thing could get your company shut out of the field instantly. Worse than that, Bran is tight with the Dread Lord, and that means that if Bran doesn¡¯t like you, the Queen of Shadows doesn¡¯t like you.¡±


    I coughed from swallowing tea wrong. This got stranger by the minute. My source for the box was someone who worked for the Queen of Shadows. Caerwyn and Hazily were both looking at me so I smiled. ¡°I¡¯m okay, just accidentally tried to inhale some tea.¡±


    Hazily continued, ¡°So the day after being yelled at for not making enough sales, these two big Daemon twins come in. They looked rich. They were dressed sharp, well fed, and they both had eighty plus wishes on them. They were looking to buy, and they didn¡¯t want to wait. They just wanted a quick gift.


    ¡°Fairy Dynamics was still trying to break into production so they mostly ordered product from other companies and then resold it under their name. We rarely had any inventory. Someone would order something, and we would get it and deliver it. So I went back to the racks and right there on the nine-wish rack was this box. This was where we put returns and things with issues after refurbishing them. It looked good, so I slapped a sales brochure on it and carried it out to show the Daemons. I managed to sell it to them for fourteen wishes and then after they were long gone, suddenly everyone was screaming about the box that went missing.


    ¡°They put all the blame on me and fired me.¡±


    Caerwyn asked,¡°So what should we ask for?¡±


    Hazily asked, ¡°What are you looking for?¡±


    Caerwyn gave me a look. ¡°Power generators and internet connections that work in Fairy. That sort of thing.¡±


    Hazily said, ¡°The more I think about this, the more I think I better stay out of this. I mean, put the screws to them but be careful.¡± He kicked the box again. ¡°This thing has been nothing but trouble.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Don¡¯t hurt the merchandise,¡± as Hazily disappeared.


    I looked the sweat dripping down the side of the tea glass. ¡°Great, if he talks, they¡¯ll know we have the box and come after us. If we try to make a deal, they might come after us.¡±


    Caerwyn shook his head. ¡°If they do any inquiry and see Dutchess Byebye¡¯s name come up, they¡¯ll probably get someone else to try and steal the box. You know the pretty girl you made statues of? Goldilocks is the sort they¡¯ll hire.¡±


    ¡°You know, Caerwyn, a nice cool glass of tea makes a day like this about perfect. So do we summon Goldilocks?¡±


    Caerwyn grimaced. ¡°She has a history of robbing people blind. I wouldn¡¯t."


    I said, ¡°Well, even then, I don¡¯t want to involve her if this box leads to violence. Funny how things are. This box was convenient when we needed food to get the Titans back and healthy. Now it seems cursed. There was a song when I was young that the Goblins sang. ¡°You¡¯ll never get rid of the¡ª¡± I knocked three times on the table.


    Caerwyn laughed. ¡°Haven¡¯t heard that in years, you do know that was originally about VD?¡±


    I grimaced. ¡°Thanks for ruining the song. I think I know how to manage this then. I don¡¯t want to involve anyone else. So I will try to deal with this quickly.¡±


    I stood and drained my tea. Then I picked up the box and went to my Fairyland of death.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    #


    Oddly, I felt like the world recognized me. It wasn¡¯t a terrible feeling, but the gifts I had that told me what was safe and what was poison were telling me it was safer now for me than it was before. It still had a such a strong feeling of death that I think anyone, even without the gifting I had, could tell this world was toxic. I wasn¡¯t sure what being recognized and being sort of an accepted thing by such a world meant.


    I changed into me in a dark suit and black mask over a surgical mask and looked at the blue plastic gloves I was wearing. I sat on the box and summoned the general manager of Fairy Dynamics. ¡°King Snipsnort requests an audience with the general manager of Fairy Dynamics.¡±


    ¡°Is this a prank?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Is this how thou dust treat customers?¡± and disconnected the summons.


    I started another summons, ¡°King Snipsnort is sitting on a box that Fairy Dynamics wants so he is summoning the sales coordinator of Fairy Dynamics. The deal gets more expensive the angrier that King Snipsnort gets. King Snipsnort is announcing his call the second time requesting the attention of the sales coordinator of Fairy Dynamics.¡±


    ¡°Look, pranks like this can get you¡ªWait, did you mention a box?¡±


    I disconnected.


    I got summoned. ¡°Rasnarf the Greedy summons King Snipsnort.¡±


    I answered, ¡°Rasnarf, I don¡¯t know thee, but Fairy Dynamics just raised my ire so this would not be a good time. The sales coordinator just called me ¡®you,¡¯ and it is a real pain planning an invasion of a Fairyland and the destruction of all who dwell there. After I have rendered that Fairyland unlivable, I might be in a better mood then.¡±


    I disconnected.


    I looked around and decided I needed some furniture. I went to Snipsnort and summoned Phil Thibodeaux¡¯s contact in Chicago. I went to my factory and looked at the heavy equipment in the garage.


    #


    It wasn¡¯t one of the ones that was originally outside, and I had no specific gifting on using it, but the spider excavator was the coolest looking bit of heavy equipment I had ever seen. It had a great cab, and it was potentially the most threatening. Four wheels on arms that could lift and spread. An articulated arm like a steam shovel that could have a range of heavy tools mounted on it. It had a wench on the back with a large hook.


    As I drove it out, I ignored three more summons and got three more names to work with. I practiced a bit with the excavator and ignored two more summons. It wasn¡¯t impossibly different so I was comfortable operating it and figured that in a few hours of play, I might be good at it.


    I started digging. This thing was great. I drew a circle around me with the excavator by dragging the bucket. I fell in love with the machine. I wanted to know how many of them I had in all my locations. This was not just a learn it in a few hours thing. This machine could dance with all four wheels lifted in the air. It did things that would be impossible for any other tractor, excavator, or lift.


    I had a plan, so I opened the gateway and took it to the dead Fairyland.


    I made a circle in the dirt using the bucket. Then a circle just inside that circle. I walked it out of the double circle so I wouldn¡¯t damage the first set of circles with tire marks. This excavator could roll or walk. Then I made another double circle beside the first double circle. I got out of the cab and made huge gossamer mirrors so I could see what I was doing as I practiced with the excavator.


    I was summoned again. ¡°Dogbane, Chief Executive Officer of Fairy Dynamics summons King Snipsnort.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Dogbane?¡±


    Dogbane said, ¡°I have heard that thou art planning an invasion on Fairy Dynamics. Art thou so foolish?¡±


    I altered the connection so he could see what I was doing and spun the cab around with the bucket extended and raised up on the wheels to half height.


    ¡°What doest thou thinkest, Dogbane? I do love technology. See the box over in the other circle? That¡¯s what started this. Shall I smash it, or shall I see if the Queen of Shadows will answer a summons? Or should I just come in with all my wonderful toys and see how things turn out?¡±


    Dogbane said, ¡°Bring me there. We can settle this in a duel¡ªaway from the steel monstrosity.¡±


    I made sure the lights from the cab shining past the bucket in front of them gave me a good shadow and stepped out of the cab and walked out of the circle.


    Then with a foot in shadow, I brought Dogbane into the world of death. I was ready to return to the cab and swing the bucket if it came to that.


    He looked around and then a toxic mass of spell started forming around him. I turned it back against him. The gifting that Deacon Dan had given me was already paying off. I decided that I owed him at least one more visit to his church.


    Dogbane looked around and I think realized the nature of this world. He said, ¡°Away!¡±


    It was a signal to someone summoning him. I slid into his shadow as he went to another world.


    #


    We were in a large warehouse in a Fairyland with crates on pallets and catwalks overhead. I slid into shadows.


    He shouted, ¡°Damn, he still has the box.¡±


    The small gnarled-looking man beside him said, ¡°Thou didn¡¯t kill him?¡±


    Dogbane shouted, ¡°He plays in a deathland. He¡¯s a freak from beyond the second veil. His Fairyland sucks life from thee. I don¡¯t think a Fairy can last an hour in that place.¡±


    The small man asked, ¡°Then what do we do?¡±


    Dogbane said, ¡°Grab the valuables and run. Change thy name and don¡¯t answer any summons. I don¡¯t know thee. We never met.¡±


    I slid through shadow and found an ornamental garden. There was a rosemary hedge being trimmed, and the rosemary didn¡¯t seem toxic. I slipped out of shadow and picked up a cut branch that had fallen among the rest and examined it again. Safe enough so I took a leaf and chewed it.


    I connected to the Fairyland, took back to shadow, and saw where several Fairies were grabbing everything they could carry in multiple forms.


    A Fairy shouted, ¡°Five more minutes. That is all. Get what thou canst. In five minutes, we set fires and leave.¡±


    I appeared beside him.


    He asked, ¡°Who art thou?¡±


    I shouted, ¡°I am Snipsnort. Any more looting or threat of fire and I will act.¡±


    The Fairy stepped back and shot the finger at me. I used mass from the world and put him in an iron cage with an interlocking horseshoe pattern for bars.


    Another Fairy picked up a small cardboard box. I made another cage. The rest of the Fairies started putting things down and one by one they were summoned away. I could feel them leave this Fairyland. I felt someone try to use mass from the world, and I refused the attempt. I slid into shadow and searched. Dogbane and the small gnarled man were arguing.


    ¡°Thou art King of this Fairyland. What doest thou mean thou canst not pay me?¡±


    Dogbane said, ¡°I am CEO of Fairy Dynamics. Kings are a thing of the past. That monster from beyond the second veil has blocked my use of fee. Consider thy escape good enough.¡±


    The knarled man scratched his head and then lowered his arm. Something shot out from his sleeve and hit Dogbane. Dogbane started to sparkle and then caught on fire like thin paper. As the fabric that was Dogbane was consumed the sparks few and swirled in the air above him.


    The small knarled looking man said, ¡°Good riddance to a fool who gave up a kingdom with dreams of an empire.¡±


    He knelt. ¡°I can tell that I am being watched and thou didst summon me earlier. Long live King Snipsnort. Art thou truly from beyond the second veil?¡±


    I appeared and stayed ready to slip into shadow if he moved an arm to point in my direction.


    He looked at me for a few seconds. ¡°Thou has few enough tells. No offense, but thou dust smell of fish, otters, steel, and oil. There is the faint smell of death on thee. Thy aura says that thou art willing to die but have no such wish.


    ¡°I am owed two stone of food fit for high station. If thou dust pay the debts I am owed, I will depart and bother thee never.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Would sausage and cheese do?¡±


    He smiled. ¡°Thou wouldst rather pay than fight yet thou has shown thy nerve clearly. Yes, King Snipsnort, yet if thou wilt pay the debt owed me, then I will stay on and serve thee.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure that I want to run a business. Certainly I would prefer not to run a business that is run dishonorably.¡±


    He bowed while still kneeling. I am Rasnarf the Greedy. I would prefer to tinker and manage no more than my garden. I would gladly serve my king but would rather not run a business.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°How do we manage previous commitments and wind down the business without too much debt?¡±


    Rasnarf said, ¡°There is a company that wishes to buy us out. They would take responsibility and pay us. Well, thou wouldst be paid since we would no longer be a company, and thou wouldst be our king.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Art they honorable?¡±


    Rasnarf nodded. ¡°A frightening reputation if threatened or cheated yet they are fair in negotiation. Let us visit my office, and I will find their latest offer. It is a strange one as I recall.¡±


    I turned in to me with a backpack of food and placed it on a bench in front of me. ¡°Your back pay, Lord Rasnarf.¡±


    Rasnarf looked at the steel fittings on the backpack and back at me. ¡°Thou dust speak with actions both generous and threatening. I will be looking forward to serving thee, my liege.¡±


    I opened the back pack and took out the cheese, sausage, jerky, and raisin bread. He nodded. I put up the backpack as he carefully put the food in a bag one item at a time while naming each item. Then he led me to a large office with floor-to-ceiling windows showing the view of the woods and gardens below.


    ¡°Can we start growing crops again or wilt thou be diminishing this realm?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°What dust thou mean?¡±


    ¡°Dogsbane kept all but one measure in twelve. So if I grew a bushel of tomatoes and ate them, he profited by forty-eight and a half pounds of fee and only four and a half would go back into the realm. Our world shrank whenever we ate food and thus we had to work long hours for Dogsbane to get back the measure he took.


    ¡°A wise king would put back into the world and not spend it all in other realms. Beg pardon my liege for telling thee such.¡±


    I said, ¡°So he took fee and spent it on himself?¡±


    Rasnarf said, ¡°If he had made wood, it would have ornamented this world and then degraded and come back to us. If he made stone, it would be useful ¡®til it too broke down. Even steel rusts and iron is needed by plants. Yet he spent it in Fairylands with Fairies more flexible than ours, so we dared not consume much lest this Fairyland turn to barren waste.


    ¡°We had to sell things to other Fairylands to get back even a small share of what he took. Such is the way of big business. It takes away money from community and nation. It give it to those who care nothing for the realm that created the wealth.¡±


    I nodded. I didn¡¯t know much about business, but that sounded about right to me.


    He pulled a folder out and opened it on the desk. ¡°Here it is. ShadowFeet Holdings. They are offering a hundred and fifteen tons of balanced mulch certified by the Crossroads Council on Better Agricultural Practices, along with that there are some odds and ends, nothing special compared to the mulch, but interesting. Six Fairynet beacons, six power supplies, and six Shadow Mark cell phones.


    ¡°The power supplies are mostly useless unless you want to make sparks. I¡¯m not even sure about the Shadow Mark company. I think it¡¯s new. There are also nine time coolers and three kitchen sets. I am not sure what the kitchen sets are but from what I hear, the time coolers are amazing.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What¡¯s a Fairynet beacon?¡±


    Rasnarf said, ¡°Unless thou art looking for conspiracy theories and porn, they are pretty much useless. They connect with the internet in Real and thou canst even trust the internet to give thee accurate weather reports. Not that Real world weather reports are all that interesting.


    ¡°So while the mulch is an amazing offer that we should have taken ages ago, apart from the mulch and the time coolers, thou wilt not be getting anything of much value.¡±


    I said, ¡°So we make the deal, and the realm gets the mulch. Would that make up for what Dogsbane spent?¡±


    Rasnarf got on a knee and bowed. ¡°Long Live King Snipsnort.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Please rise, how do we contact them?¡±


    He stood and took a card out of the folder and handed it to me. It had a symbol I had not seen before for summoning. I could recognize it so I spent a while memorizing the turns on it. Then I noticed the name on the card: Nia Gray, Associate Manager, ShadowFeet Holdings.


    I recognized the name. I had returned a purse to her only a few days back, yet it felt like years had passed.


    Rasnarf said, ¡°It looks as if thou hast dealt with them before. Then thou dust know to be careful.¡±


    I nodded, held the card up and made the summons using the pattern on the card. ¡°Nia Gray, Associate Manager of ShadowFeet Holdings. King Snipsnort summons thee.¡±


    She answered, ¡°Phil, come on through.¡±


    #


    We were in a small cold Fairyland with a small barn and trees. I looked up at the trees and asked, ¡°Are those cherries?¡±


    Nia pointed. ¡°Those are White Gold and that one is a Coe¡¯s Translucent. You should try them.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°That would be rude of me. I tend to connect to Fairylands that I eat from.¡±


    Nia laughed. ¡°That¡¯s the entire point. A gateway to the world with your equipment is in the barn. You can put the box in the barn at your own convenience. You are two days ahead of schedule but a Gleaning Fairy will be contacting you soon to deliver the mulch.


    ¡°The Fairy that will contact you goes by, ¡®Fargone Banana.¡¯ You¡¯ll understand why when you meet her.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Are you giving me this world?¡±


    She said, ¡°Sharing it really. Others will use it, but you can feel free to pick all you want. You may meet others here. When time speeds up, let it. The folk who use this world try to keep this world either in bloom or in fruit.


    ¡°I have to go. I have been warned not to stay too long. We don¡¯t want to be obvious to those who prognosticate this sort of thing.¡±


    I looked up at the trees. ¡°I¡¯m told that your group can afford this, but I still don¡¯t understand your generosity.¡±


    She shadow stepped to a high limb and picked a couple of cherries. ¡°Imagine that you had an unlicensed pet rescue service and hundreds of really cute puppies that needed homes. You love the puppies, but it is too much work to take care of them all, and it gets rather expensive. Since you are doing this quietly without any authorities involved, you are delighted and may even seem forceful as you find someone who needs a wonderful dog.


    ¡°To the ones that want a puppy, you seem way too kind. To you, your only regret is that you can¡¯t find more good homes for puppies. It is a lot like that except we also need Phil the hero to save a few puppies from cruel people who want to make coats out of their fur. It is something like that.


    ¡°Well, I thought it was just that until I saw the time coolers. Now I suspect that someone who loves etoufee has plans that involve you. To say more would be to say too much, so I should go now.¡±


    She smiled and disappeared.


    I shadow stepped up to a limb with several cherries in easy reach. I picked a few, ate a few ,and then stopped when I realized I had been going from branch to branch, sitting and eating all the cherries in sight.


    I shadow stepped down to the barn and through the gateway.

 Mulch

    I was in a large stone chamber with circles set up for opening gateways and trailers with shipping containers on them and three spider excavators. These excavators looked different. The buckets were three-in-one buckets with extra fittings. The hydraulics were different and the cables were armored.


    A man stepped down from one of the cabs and walked up to me. He was about my height and solidly built. ¡°Can you transform?¡±


    I changed into me wearing a hard hat, mask, and gloves.


    ¡°And you can take things with you. What flying forms do you have?¡±


    I said, ¡°Rook and owl.¡±


    He pointed at one of the spider excavators. ¡°Then get in the cab and see if you can turn into a rook and take the excavator with you.¡±


    I climbed up into the cab and closed the door. It was different with more controls. The basics were the same, but there were a lot more switches. I put on the seat harness and secured myself in the chair. The chair lifted and adjusted position for me. The foot controls shifted position. I grabbed the basic controls and turned into a rook and spread my wings to land gently on the ground.


    He nodded at me and held his arm out like he wanted me to land on it.


    I flew up and landed on his arm making sure not to grab too tight with my talons.


    He kissed my head and gifted me three times. ¡°Now you can practice with the other machines, shift the position of the gateways, and open a more respectable gateway. Don¡¯t be gifting the spell to make this gateway to anyone. It¡¯s rather exclusive.¡±


    I said, ¡°I have not been gifted with gifting.¡±


    He said, ¡°Wise, keeping some of your powers back and hidden. Find a better line though. Anyone who knows gifting knows it can¡¯t be gifted. You take a gift to easily not to have the power. Still, it is wise to hold back.¡±


    He lifted his arm, and I flew off and landed as myself. ¡°How do I judge the height when I bring the excavator back?¡±


    He said, ¡°Just do it. We¡¯ll see if there is a problem.¡±


    I turned into me in the excavator. Apart from being really hungry, it worked easily. I used the controls and lowered the machine into a more stable stance. It moved silently. No engine noise, no noise at all. There were controls that let me retract the teeth and use the bucket as a grabber. There were controls to change the contours on the tires. I tested all the controls and made sure it was in a wide, low, and stable stance before changing into me without the excavator around me. I fell and went to shadow. I came out of shadow higher, turned into a bird, and caught the air before landing. There were tricks to this that I needed to practice.


    The man walked to a spiral staircase carved in stone and gestured for me to follow. He started walking up the stair, so I had to shadow step to catch up. The stairs came up to an open area with a gazebo and a hedge around it.


    The man pointed at a hedge. ¡°I was told to tell you to eat some of the raspberries. You can keep your equipment down there if you want. Leave it there with a note if you break any of it. Any improvements or complaints, leave a note.¡±


    I tasted a few berries and looked back. The man was gone.


    There was a small arm with a grapple for pulling trailers on the excavator opposite the bucket. I connected to a trailer and got out of the cab to open a gateway to Snipsnort. I adjusted the position of the gateway and then realized this would be faster than pulling the trailer. I slid the gateway as far as I could see, shadow stepped ahead, and continued sliding the gateway from as far behind me as I could see to as far ahead of me.


    Shadow stepping up into trees didn¡¯t work as well as I thought it would, since the leaves obscured my view. I took out some sausage and ate some before turning into a rook and filling up on meat. Then I took to the air and made quick progress shifting the gateway to the manor house. Then I brought trailer after trailer up beside the manor.


    The time coolers looked like shipping containers. One of the coolers had an envelope taped to the door. I opened it and looked over the ten page recipe inside. It detailed how the grain for the flour used to make roux should be ground. It was an odd recipe that detailed every step and gave proportions instead of measures.


    It looked interesting but a bit tedious.


    Hubert came out of the mansion. ¡°Are you done pulling things around, or should I stay out of the way?¡±


    I handed him the recipe. ¡°Done for now. What do you think about this?¡±


    He said, ¡°Looks like it is worth trying, but I have never known anyone that made their own Worcestershire sauce, and this cook expects you to grow all the spices. We should buy the ingredients and try this, though. I love crawfish etouffee, and this looks like it might be good. To actually do this the way they want you to we would need all the trees and a serious garden.¡±


    I opened the shipping container. Inside there were rows of potted trees. I started looking at labels. Bay trees, lemon trees, calamondin trees, all sorts of citrus, and even sassafras trees.


    Hubert yelled from further back in the container. ¡°There are doors to other rooms. This is bigger than it looks. A lot of these plants aren¡¯t in the recipe.¡±


    He came back to the front of the container. ¡°There are more live crawfish than we could eat in a year. Someone is serious about crawfish etouffee.¡±


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I shook my head. ¡°Hubert, some things I am involved in just don¡¯t make sense.¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°The instructions here by the door say the separate rooms will stay frozen in time unless a person is present. The crawfish should stay fresh until we need them. Do you think it will be safe to release crawfish into to this world?¡±


    I shrugged and stepped out of the container. I went to the next one and opened it as Hubert closed the one we were just in.


    Mr. Hubert joined me and we looked in the container filled with kitchen appliances. ¡°Looks like you are going to have to set us up with an area to put in a rather large garden and a big kitchen.¡±


    I felt a summons. ¡°Fargone Banana begs an audience with King Snipsnort. Can Fargone Banana visit?¡±


    I brought her through. I thought it was a her. She was wearing a dress and lipstick. Apart from that she looked like a banana that you probably couldn¡¯t safely pick up without it making a mess.


    The top of the banana looked like it was about to pour out juice and slime as it moved the way someone looking around might. ¡°Nice world.¡±


    A section of peel bent up and waved for me to get closer. I knelt down to listen.


    ¡°The agreement was for a hundred and fifteen tons of mulch but¡ªhere¡¯s the thing¡ªyou might have something I¡¯m looking for, so we might be able to adjust the deal. I mean this is a really big world, after all. It¡¯s possible that someone might have something I¡¯m looking for and well, I got mulch.¡±


    I said, ¡°I could probably use some mulch here since I want to set up a garden, but the mulch is for another Fairyland. How long does it take for mulch to turn to good garden soil?¡±


    The banana started jumping up and down. I expected it to smush into goo with every jump. It stopped and looked up at us. ¡°Well, here¡¯s the thing. I¡¯m a bit of a collector, and someone was trading some limited edition gold coins. The word on the street says the source is one of those Windy City wizards that smart Fairies avoid. That means if I want one of those coins, I might have to go through three connections to try and obtain one. There is a rumor, though, that maybe he got them from another source.¡±


    I turned into me holding two gold coins.


    The banana part sticking above the dress shifted back, and I winced, expecting brown mush to ooze out. ¡°I love it when a treasure hunt pans out! Are there plans for your garden?¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°I have some drawings on a table inside, but we just got a bunch of seeds, trees, and plant starts. We may have to rearrange things.¡±


    The banana held up two sections of peel. ¡°Can I see one of the coins? I¡¯ll be careful with it.¡±


    I handed the banana a coin.


    It examined it. ¡°Goldilocks would kill to get some of these. How many were minted?¡±


    I said, ¡°One thousand. There was a prototype coin, but it wasn¡¯t quite right.¡±


    She reluctantly handed the coin back. ¡°So a prototype exists. That gives me another treasure hunt. Finding these things is always fun, and when another layer to the mystery is revealed it makes it all worthwhile. So do we have a deal?¡±


    I looked at Hubert.


    Hubert asked, ¡°Can I see a coin?¡±


    I handed him one of the coins. He looked at me. ¡°Nice work. Someone has been practicing. What is this, about a pound, I think? If we can get mulch for this in Fairy without a lot of complications, we come out pretty well.¡±


    The banana made a nodding gesture. ¡°So we want this all done quiet, simple, fast, and easy then. Might be a bit more expensive. How about one of the coins, and you get me a clue on where the prototype is.¡±


    I made a gossamer blanket and lay it out on the ground. I turned into me with a handful of coins and sat down. I put the coins down and sorted through them.


    The banana sat across from me on the blanket and started spreading coins out. ¡°Found it. Oh, it¡¯s perfect. So, how is this deal? We set you up in your other Fairyland like the original deal stated, and then we set up the garden here with a complete deluxe package everything you need. I get three of the coins and the original.¡±


    It held out a section of peel like it was ready to shake hands. I shook hands and it shouted, ¡°Deal!¡±


    It took out a marble, and small decayed fruit started pouring out of the gateway on the marble. A team of them started running into the manor through the door Hubert had left open. More of them were working together to open the containers. A group of moldy oranges started filing out of the gateway with small wheelbarrows. Then flying Fairies came through the gateway.


    They started busting a hole in the wall around the manor house. There were fruit and Flying Fairies digging and sifting dirt. Anthony came out as a pair of Fairies started yelling about matching the bricks on the original wall. The banana yelled over them, ¡°The deal specified quiet!¡±


    The argument continued with the two Fairies glancing towards me and whispering about matching the stone.


    Like pictures of slaves building pyramids, the damaged-looking fruit made gossamer sleds and ropes to maneuver potted plants and kitchen appliances from the containers. There was occasionally shouting that was quickly silenced as a large addition to the manor was made with an enclosed garden and orchard around it.


    As another section of walled garden was being set up a Fairy shouted, ¡°Call in some plumbers. They don¡¯t have running water, Crossroads Council specifications insist on a kitchen having running water.¡±


    Another Fairy shouted, ¡°Great, now you have been brought up code. Architects, might as well add bathrooms.¡±


    The banana ran to them and shushed them.


    I whispered to Hubert and Anthony, ¡°Wasn¡¯t this just for garden soil?¡±


    The banana picked up the coins I had offered and said, ¡°No going back on the deal. We play for keeps around here.¡± The banana smiled and showed teeth. No face, just a split in the peel with teeth.


    The Fairies were breaking rock by making a clear gossamer tube to drop a gossamer bronze cylinder with a crystal tip on the stone below. I started watching their methods as they worked.


    #


    Anthony looked up at the manor house. ¡°Phil, I am finally well and I think improved. Hubert though, is barely functional when you aren¡¯t around. The cats purring seems to help, but cat¡¯s don¡¯t continually purr, and they don¡¯t stay near. Here is my real fear. Archer made a device that could detect Hubert¡¯s resonance. If Hubert returns to Real, Archer will probably know. But we need to get things that will resonate properly for Hubert. My fear is that Archer will be hunting for just those things and destroying them.¡±


    I said, ¡°Take care of Hubert, I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡±


    #


    In Hubert¡¯s mansion, I sat at the kitchen table with Caerwyn looking at plans he had taken from Archer¡¯s computers before signaling Archer¡¯s failsafe system to put out an EMF burst to destroy Archer¡¯s equipment.


    ¡°Phil, I didn¡¯t have a choice really. I destroyed all the originals. Well, I triggered their explosions. They were set to go off if you got too close, and the last thing we want is for the cameras to send data to Archer. That leaves us with a problem, though. Some of these components are custom built and have to be tuned. Without one of the originals, we don¡¯t have a way to test them.¡±


    I pointed at my chest. ¡°If it detects me, it might be close to right. There¡¯s a collection of resonate junk at the manor in Fairy. We can test using that. Some of it¡¯s pure acoustical, though. That helps, but what he needs is the more subtle forms.


    ¡°I can make test examples in Fairy, and we can see about making a detector.¡±


    Caerwyn brought up a browser on his computer and started a search. ¡°Some of this stuff is hard to get and mostly available overseas. Without going to a market in China, we can¡¯t just get some of this stuff. We may have to buy some high dollar items just to take out parts worth a few bucks.¡±


    I said, ¡°Let¡¯s do it. What do we need?¡±

 Archer causing trouble

    Late at night in a junkyard near Dallas, I had the yard all to myself. Earlier that morning I had walked through the junkyard and found the equipment I needed to loot. Having a computerized inventory of the things that went in and out of my junkyards gave me hints as to what might be there and usable, but without looking in person, I couldn¡¯t really trust the odd inventories of the junkyards.


    With a spider excavator that I was ready to transform away before I took to shadows, I used a grapple to clear out and find equipment I could loot and then use to make equipment to find equipment that would let me find the equipment that Hubert needed to be fully functional.


    I was taking a break and eating boudin when I heard the gate opening. I shadow stepped into the cab of my excavator and turned into an owl. The chains on the junkyard main gate were being cut. Archer was breaking into the junkyard.


    A woman¡¯s voice yelled, ¡°The blip got smaller.¡±


    Archer shouted back, ¡°We¡¯re already here and it¡¯s a long drive. Lotty, if the blip isn¡¯t stable, then whatever it is probably won¡¯t stay useful to Hubert. If the blip doesn¡¯t show while I am looking for valuable scrap to at least justify the trip, then I think we can just head up to Chicago where all the solid signals are.¡±


    I waited and watched as Lotty drove a truck with a gooseneck trailer into the junkyard. As Lotty and Archer were unloading a tractor from the back of the trailer, I slid into shadow and went to the cab of the still-running truck. There was a laptop with a beam sweeping on a map of the area. On the dashboard, there was a fast spinning cup-like arrangement on a plastic box that was connected to the laptop. Here was the detector I needed, tested, and working. I slid out of shadow. Listening and looking as an owl, as best I could with the truck¡¯s engine still running, I decided the coast was clear so I turned into myself so I could grab the laptop and the detector.


    A large blip appeared on the screen. The detector was detecting me. I unplugged and peeled the detector from the Velcro on the dashboard and unplugged the laptop¡¯s charger from the cigarette lighter before transforming them away. Archer had a lot of weapons and odd equipment in the back of the cab. I put it all away and thought about taking the keys to the truck. Archer probably had another set of keys, so that would just immediately give my presence away. I hid and listened to them.


    Lotty said, ¡°The signal was solid for two hours this morning. We should have waited a day or two to see if it was stable.¡±


    Archer said, ¡°We were in Houston, so this wasn¡¯t far off our path.¡±


    Lotty asked, ¡°Why are we destroying the resonate nodes instead of trapping them? A few pounds of TNT might destroy Hubert.¡±


    Archer said, ¡°The Sinful One is always collecting diviners. The Sinful One has a list of things that might alert the other dabblers in prophecy. Explosions are just the sort of thing they notice.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t fair. The Sinful one asked me a lot of questions about explosives. I think he plans to use them, but he won¡¯t let me. Not since my monitors at Hubert¡¯s place blew up.¡±


    Lotty, asked, ¡°What do you think Hubert did to make such a horrible enemy?¡±


    Archer started walking. ¡°Let¡¯s look for stuff we can sell to another junkyard while we talk. He wants all the old ones dead. He thinks this is the time to do it. But my guess is The Sinful One wants to eliminate anyone capable of prophecy that doesn¡¯t belong to him. Since Hubert, if he is properly equipped, is potentially one of the big players in precognition, I think Hubert is marked for death. That¡¯s my guess. Nice. Someone kindly loaded a truck with clean aluminum scrap. Tell you what, we load up with all this copper and then I¡¯ll hot-wire the truck. We¡¯ll hide the new truck and the copper in the barn near Texarkana and in fifty years when everyone has forgotten the theft, we¡¯ll sell the scrap and the antique truck.¡±


    Lotty said, ¡°We need to sell a little soon. We¡¯re getting low on liquid cash, and you refuse to use your backup supplies.¡±


    Archer said, ¡°Since we are making an obvious robbery, I might as well empty the safe and registers. It¡¯ll be chump change, but since the alarms have been shut off, I might as well be thorough.¡±


    I waited until Archer had set up to cut into the safe before I set off the remote alarms. There was no point in setting off the alarms in the yard. I made sure the cameras had sent a good image of Lotty, Archer, and their truck¡¯s license plate before leaving.


    #


    I summoned Caerwyn and he brought me to his room in the mansion across the road from Mr. Huberts. ¡°Caerwyn, do you need help packing?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°No, I still need to decide what to trash, what to donate, what to store, and what to take with me to Fairy or wherever Mom decides to take us.


    ¡°A lot of this stuff will be useless in five years, probably sooner, so I might as well give some gear to people who have been helpful online.


    I sat and opened up my computer. ¡°I got Archer¡¯s current laptop and one of his detectors. It has crazy range. It can detect resonate gear half way across the continent.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Let¡¯s go somewhere safe to analyze his laptop. He might have it rigged to blow. He probably did. I know a couple of boys who are experts in that sort of thing. You might enjoy jamming with them. If anyone can help us safely manage Archer¡¯s laptop, it would be Jet and Jasper. Since you play and have something that might blow up, I think they¡¯ll be interested in meeting you.¡±


    Caerwyn tried summoning them a few times without any luck. ¡°Sorry, Phil. They could be working with explosives and not want an interruption, or they could be rocking to loud music. Let¡¯s wait a bit. While I sort through stuff, tell me what happened at the junkyard.¡±


    I pulled up images of the junkyard and gestured for Caerwyn to look over my shoulder. ¡°So I looked up all of my junkyards¡¯ recent inventory additions to try and find stuff to loot for detectors. Dallas had the best chances, so I went there looking for stuff to loot for parts. When I showed up there, I became an obvious blip on Archer¡¯s scanner.


    ¡°So not even knowing that I had been located, I spent a few hours looking for parts, and then I warned the staff that I would be rummaging around later after they closed. I had just recovered most of the stuff we needed and was taking a break before leaving when Archer showed up and broke into the lot.


    ¡°He was in Houston this morning, saw the blip caused by my being in Dallas and decided to come and destroy whatever caused the blip. When I showed up again in the evening, the blip appeared again so, he broke into the yard. My junkyards, network security needs to be updated, ¡®cause Archer managed to take it down while he was driving to Dallas.¡±


    Caerwyn held up a gaming console. ¡°Do you think this is going to be safe in your Fairyland? Some Fairylands have had some pretty bad internal wars after video games were introduced. At least that¡¯s what they say online.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Let¡¯s not bring in anything you can¡¯t secure with a good password.¡±


    Caerwyn nodded.


    I continued, ¡°So he was going to grab compacted bundles of copper and a truck full of aluminum scrap. While he was breaking into the safe, I set off the alarms.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°You need to get better at the dirty tricks. When the cops pull him over, the odds are that a few cops are going to be killed. Kind of rough on their families. Even unarmed, Archer isn¡¯t going to be taken in and arrested by the cops. Having his picture posted might get a Death interested, but the odds are they¡¯ll come after you for posting it instead of going after Archer for commiting a crime. Let me log in and help you shut down any posting of Archer¡¯s pictures. Then we put it out on the dark web where the immortals post things. What did Hubert do to make Archer go on a nationwide search to kill him?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°He mentioned a fellow called ¡®The Sinful One.¡¯ Apparently the Sinful One wants to eliminate immortals, but those capable of prophecy he really wants to eliminate.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Hubert does prophecy?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°When he has the right gear with the right resonance. I really don¡¯t know what he needs that way.¡±


    Caerwyn sat down at his computer and started searching. ¡°I got a book by Fritz Leiber and a book by Edwina Mark. The next interesting link related to The Sinful One is to the Branch Davidians in Waco. I would ignore it, except Archer was in Houston and Dallas. It¡¯s still a pretty thin link and not the same name. I think trying to google The Sinful One is going to be waste. If Archer is working with this guy and he fears prophecy, we may be able to find out from someone else. Let me check on Jet and Jasper again.


    Caerwyn did a few more summons and then asked, ¡°Jasper, do you want to meet a wild Louisiana backwoods style percussionist?¡±


    Caerwyn looked at me. ¡°I think we got him hooked.


    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s hep, Fairy king and Goblin cred. How hep do you want?¡±


    Caerwyn folded his laptop and held out his hand. ¡°We got him interested. Let¡¯s go to Kent.¡±


    I put my laptop away and took his hand.


    In a sound studio, two solid-looking identical twin Daemons were holding electric guitars. A elderly Goblin with a coronet nodded to me.


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Another old Goblin gestured to me with his harmonica. ¡°You a Goblin?¡±


    I felt my ear. ¡°Been called one before.¡±


    The Goblin with the coronet said to one of the Daemon, ¡°Jet, neither of them brought instruments, and I thought we were here to play. If we have to wait an hour for you to show off your collection, I¡¯m out of here.¡±


    Jet said, ¡°Milk Paint here does beat box, and he said this guy was a wild Louisiana backwoods style percussionist. Let¡¯s see what they do first.¡±


    I looked at Caerwyn and the nickname sort of made sense, what with his brown eyes and albino skin. ¡°Milk Paint?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°When you do scat, you just hope for a kind nickname.¡±


    I turned into me with my old crate and sat down on it. I decided to beat a rhythm that I had only shared with mosquitoes and alligators. It had beats to it, but it shifted speed and made a mess of counter rhythms. Something I had improvised and sang my questions to after my second family left and the old man died, and I had just gotten a cajon that could speak for me.


    They asked for wild, so I gave it to them. Caerwyn went to a mike and started weaving in effects while holding his hands around his mouth. I looked at Caerwyn. He had heard me play this before. I don¡¯t see how he managed it, but he¡¯d been watching me longer than I had suspected.


    The old man with the harmonica started in with a sort of train chugging sound and long lonely notes. The coronet took those lonely train sounds and magnified them. Jet came in with his bass guitar finding a melody inside my percussion and then the other Daemon, who I assumed was Jasper, changed it into a song. His song wasn¡¯t that far off from what I would sing in my lament and outrage so maybe some of the songs inside us are universal.


    This was a band I never expected to hear and never imagined would join together and play. One by one, they faded out and I kept playing for a few minutes longer.


    The old Goblin with the harmonica said, ¡°I¡¯m Roy, the other geezer is Skins. Wild Boy, if you see us playing, anytime, and anywhere, just get out your box and join us. We play a lot of set pieces, but we love it when they turn to chaos and we see new directions in old tunes.¡±


    Jet said, ¡°Not so fast, Wild Boy came to see us, we got first claim on him and Milk Paint for our band. Jasper, what¡¯s our band called?¡±


    Jasper asked, ¡°Do you sing, Wild Boy?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°He sings great, but almost never in front of folk.¡±


    I gave Caerwyn a side eye. ¡°You¡¯re spooking me, Milk Paint.¡±


    Caerwyn smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t get out much. Over-protective mom thing. So I have to live vicariously through others.¡±


    I stood and turned my box over. I examined the inside closely and found the transmitter Caerwyn had managed to put in it. Probably about the time I first delivered a fish to Hubert. I left it there, but I made a mental note to check my newer cajon and make sure one of the two didn¡¯t have a bug in it.


    Jasper said, ¡°Wild Boy and the Gators. But we can¡¯t go on tour. Milk Paint has too distinctive a look to ever dare get famous. Too long staying young and looking like that means we are a studio group only.¡±


    Jet said, ¡°That¡¯s sadly one of the pains of immortality. We don¡¯t dare do much more than backup music, and even then we have to use an alias for the album credits.¡±


    Jasper said, ¡°Yeah, tellin¡¯ folk you¡¯re really big in Fairy is only a little bit better than bragging your mom thinks your cool.¡±


    Roy said, ¡°That was fun, boys. Let¡¯s do it again soon. I have to get some rest.¡± He looked at Jet and Jasper, ¡°Some of us have to work for a living.¡±


    Jet said, ¡°Yeah, being a landlord to shipping companies sure keeps you poor.¡±


    Roy looked back at them as he walked out.


    Skins said, ¡°So, Wild Boy, what name should I summon you with?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Phil, King of Snipsnort is what he answers to.¡±


    Jasper laughed. ¡°Man, Milk Paint, you slam the beat box, and they don¡¯t even ask your name. You¡¯re welcome to play with Jet and me anytime.¡±


    Skins says, ¡°Sorry, but I usually play in front of a small audience, and they aren¡¯t always savvy. After a couple of times seeing a Daemon jump someone for holding up their cell phone, I started avoiding inviting Daemons. For a distinctive looking one, that would go double.


    ¡°I liked playing with you, Milk Paint, but even among the Goblins there are those that avoid Daemons.¡±


    Jet said, ¡°So that¡¯s why you don¡¯t invite us.¡±


    Skins shook his head. ¡°Love playing with you, but your reputation makes a lot of Goblins decide to slip into the dark.¡±


    Skins got up. ¡°Same time next week?¡±


    Jasper said, ¡°Sure, if our egos recover by then.¡±


    Skins walked out and Jasper asked, ¡°What next?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°You remember Nimrod from the Sons of Giants tech forum?¡±


    Jet said, ¡°Kind of a jerk, as I recall.¡±


    Caerwyn nodded. ¡°He tried to kill Phil. Phil has his laptop in another of his forms, and we would like to check it out without having it blow up.¡±


    Jet and Jasper exchanged a look.


    Jet said, ¡°You came to the right place, but that isn¡¯t all that easy.¡±


    Jasper said, ¡°Wasn¡¯t Nimrod the fellow who always bragged about his weapons?¡±


    Jet said, ¡°Yeah, someone would describe an idea, and Nimrod would say he made it a couple hundred years earlier and why it wasn¡¯t all that good. He never posted any proof, so we all ignored him.¡±


    I said, ¡°I have a collection of his weapons in other forms, but now I am worried that if I transform and bring out his weapons, they might blow up on me.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°You didn¡¯t mention his weapons.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Kind of forgot about them till now.¡±


    Jet says, ¡°You think Emmy would be interested?¡±


    Jasper said, ¡°A new weapon, duh. Just the sort of thing our sister loves.¡±


    Jet said, ¡°We have access to a world where time can be stepped in fine increments, and you can easily be isolated from things you are holding. Hundreds of overlapping gateways to take off explosions, separate detonators from explosives, and that sort of thing.


    ¡°But we need a serious operator to run it. For the most part, you go there, wait a few weeks frozen in time, and then someone who can manage it will show up and deal with things.¡±


    Jasper said, ¡°Mostly, you just get separated from the explosives, and it all goes boom. We have other simpler worlds that do a great job if you are fast and just drop the explosives, but if you want to examine the stuff, you gotta go to this one and get one of the good operators. Our sister Emmy is one of the best.¡±


    I thought about this. I didn¡¯t know either of these Daemons. At the same time, I didn¡¯t like the thought of having explosives ready to blow up if I changed to the wrong form.


    I smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s do it.¡±


    They took us through a gateway to a Fairyland library. Jasper took a book from the table in the center, closed it, and looked at the spine. He moved some stairs set in tracks around and put the book up. Then he got down from the stair and pulled out another book and flipped pages before opening the book and activating the gateway.


    We stepped into a ball-shaped chamber with glowing-blue grid marks on the walls. We were floating in the center.


    Jet said, ¡°Phil, identify yourself.¡±


    I said, ¡°Phil, King of Snipsnort.¡±


    Jet said, ¡°Control, take all but Phil to the controls layer.¡±


    I could still see them, but they were almost like illusions. Caerwyn, Jet, and Jasper were all standing with gravity while I was floating, so they were in a different Fairyland but overlapped with this one.


    Jasper said, ¡°Queen Emerald, your brother Jasper summons thee. We have weapons that might blow up and need your assistance.¡±


    A tall, graceful, beautiful Daemon appeared beside them.


    The Queen of Shadows looked at me and said, ¡°The Fates were right. You do seem to get around.¡±


    Jasper asked, ¡°How many forms have potential explosives in them?¡±


    I answered, ¡°Three. I have a detector and a laptop in one form, and I have weapons split between two others.¡±


    The Queen of Shadows said, ¡°Laptop first. Phil, give us a moment, and when the lines marking the walls change from blue to red, transform to the form with the laptop.¡±


    The grid marks on the walls changed to red, and I turned into me with the laptop and detector except the laptop and detector were gone. Caerwyn, the Queen of Shadows, Jet, and Jasper had all moved to new positions. Caerwyn was holding the detector. The grid marks changed and were glowing blue again.


    The Queen of Shadows said, ¡°Now when the lines turn red, transform to the form with the first set of weapons.¡±


    The lines turned red so I transformed. The weapons were gone. The line turned back to blue, and I had to crane my neck to see the others gathered around a table with the weapons on it. I was slowly drifting at a different angle and had to resist an urge to throw up.


    The Queen of Shadows said, ¡°Okay, on red the next set of weapons.¡±


    The lines changed to red so I transformed. Again, the weapons were gone, and now I was spinning the other way. The lines were blue, and they were looking at the weapons.


    #


    I threw up in my mouth, so I took myself to the barren world of death and spit it out in one of the circle grooves I had dug with the excavator. Then I threw up again. I changed into another me and sat on the hard sandy ground and summoned Caerwyn. He didn¡¯t answer. I took myself to the seven-way crossroads in Snipsnort and lay down on the ground. I sped time up a lot.


    From behind me, someone cleared their throat.


    It was the one of the ladies that sort of forced me to make the bridge to Nowhere.


    She curtsied. ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    I lay my head back and closed my eyes. ¡°Please rise.¡±


    She said, ¡°Sad that we so displease our King that he hires outside labor.¡±


    I said. ¡°Fine, I abdicate. Someone else can manage things. I don¡¯t have money to hire anyone. If you¡¯d thank the folk that fed me at Bogview Castle, I would be grateful. Sorry if I offended anyone.¡±


    She said, ¡°You can just command folk.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Nope, not thy king anymore. Never really liked the job and everyone here got along fine without me. It¡¯ll take me a bit to move, but I have another Fairyland that I think can set up a house for me and my friends in.¡±


    She said, ¡°You can¡¯t just leave.¡±


    I said, ¡°Yeah, I have a little sister to take care of, but she can visit. Just because I abdicated doesn¡¯t mean I won¡¯t visit my little sister, Duchess Byebye.¡±


    The woman shouted, ¡°Shortstrop, we have an emergency.¡±


    I opened my eyes for a moment. Despite a wave of dizziness, I saw Mrs. Shortstrop step out from behind a column, narrow her eyes, and shake her head at the woman near me.


    I closed my eyes again and relaxed my neck. ¡°Drop the fiction, you are both part of the woman¡¯s group that manages the things the men¡¯s group doesn¡¯t and you have been managing things pretty well without me. Look, it didn¡¯t work out. I never really felt comfortable here, and I think I have left things better than when I came. I¡¯ll take all the steel and gizmos when I go, so no one has to worry much. Just give me a while. Sorry about running out on all of you, but I¡¯m feeling sick again, need something to drink, and probably should rest before I eat anything.


    ¡°Before you go on about my dishonoring, everyone consider how much honor you have by having a pauper as a king. Next time you get a king, maybe you can be ready for one.¡±


    I slipped into shadows and went to a tall tree where I could sit on a limb and get a drink without sharing the little I had in a backpack or being rude and not sharing. I greedily thought about how much back pay a laborer would be owed for making a long bridge and updating several roads.


    As I thought about how to get payment, Lord Loadstone summoned me.


    ¡°I abdicated. Next time just summon Phil the Fishmonger.¡±


    Lord Loadstone asked, ¡°Really, you have abdicated?¡±


    I said, ¡°Yep. About the manor house that we have been expanding¡ª¡±


    Lord Loadstone asked, ¡°The one above Leidingstad?¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m thinking of taking it with all the steel to another Fairyland as payment for the stuff I built. I can rebuild the manor house close to the original, probably a bit improved.¡±


    Lord Loadstone asked, ¡°Sire, can you bring me through to where you are?¡±


    I said, ¡°No, I¡¯m drinking and eating, and since I can¡¯t really buy anything here I would rather not be rude and eat in front of you and I¡¯d rather not share. I¡¯m nearly sick from hunger and need some rest so I going to end this conversation.¡±


    I sat in the tree and then it dawned on me how much of a nightmare I was in for. From the little I had learned, most Fairy kings are colossal jerks, and they would have just killed folk that didn¡¯t give them what they wanted. Odds were good that I was about to get all sorts of embarrassing attention.


    While sick with hunger and thirst and general illness, what had seemed logical now seemed like I maybe went too far, but at the same time, I didn¡¯t want to go hunting for whoever didn¡¯t exist to pay the king because they had never paid one before and never considered it. I didn¡¯t want to negotiate, demand or threaten anyone. I wanted rest and I wanted food, but it all made me nauseous to think about. I needed something to drink.


    Lord Loadstone summoned me again. ¡°King Snipsnort, you should come to me. We have food and drink here at Bogview Castle.¡±


    I accepted the summons.

 Recovery

    At Bogview Castle I sort of collapsed gently to the ground. I got up and Lord Loadstone asked, ¡°What did you do?¡±


    I shook my head. They guided me to my bedroom, and a servant brought me some broth. I drank a bit, nodded and went to sleep.


    I woke up and they had milk and porridge for me.


    Lord Loadstone came in. ¡°We have the drawbridge up and the wards are proof against any that would cross the walls. It was quite fun telling a group of old ladies that harassing a young lord when he was lying down sick was going too far.


    ¡°You must know that turning the stick they have been using to rule this realm for the last thousand years back against them was one of the greatest pleasures that I have had. Sire, can we say your abdication was the fever talking?¡±


    I asked, ¡°How weak will that make me look? Not that it matters, but those old ladies are going to be upset if I embarrass them by looking like a weak king.¡±


    Lord Loadstone laughed. ¡°Shall I ask them which of them we should execute since we can¡¯t have thee look weak? Or do you desire to conquer them since they are clearly the hidden rulers of this realm? If they survive thy rooster crow, I am quite sure they will surrender.¡±


    I said, ¡°No need for dramatics. But feel free to turn the screw on them all that you want. Their methods may have been effective over the years, but I¡¯m not really fond of the manipulations.¡±


    Lord Loadstone asked, ¡°How did you get so ill, sire?¡±


    I said, ¡°Polymorphing three times in succession without food or drink is rough but this seemed worse, and I got a lot worse dehydrated than I thought. I don¡¯t know really.¡±


    Lord Loadstone asked, ¡°So can we bury the thought of your abdication?¡±


    I smiled at him. ¡°Not really, no. I¡¯m connected to six Fairylands and rule three of them, not that anyone can live long in one of them. I sort of like this one, but I want a Fairyland that I can safely have a few friends live in comfortably, and I suspect this isn¡¯t the right world for that sort of thing. I have a lot of things I need to do, and I have spent most of my time doing things that the folk here had wanted done for ages. It has been fun, but I can see getting real tired of it real soon. I know that one should expect a king to be more loyal, but I didn¡¯t grow up here. If considering the events, I sort of won the world in a bet.


    ¡°Now I expect I¡¯ll have to hide out and act aloof to try and avoid the folk apologizing, and I¡¯ll have no idea if and when they decide to pay me, if it will be too much, too little, or embarrassing that your king charges a fee for ruling thee instead of just making demands.¡±


    Lord Loadstone smiled. ¡°You know that all the fee in this land is yours to decide on the distribution of. So by proper form you had shown great generosity by using your wealth to build things for them. Since the nobles of this realm play so roughly and since the less magically endowed tend to suffer when they are near the nobles, it was long established that we put their homes and gathering places in remote areas and made sure to feed their egos and their mouths in such places.


    ¡°It was assumed that a king would need more than just one very remote and isolated castle, yet we did not plan for these places to be anything but locations to entertain visiting dignitaries or host meetings. So this castle in the swamp was where, ages ago, the plan was made to try and keep whatever monster eventually took over this land and became king.


    ¡°There were other plans, of course, that were based on the hopes of a reasonable ruler, but none of this was ever really resolved. In any case, it was never even considered that when you showed up, that you might consider this realm something that you might choose to leave. So now, it is clear that we need to change our plans considerably.¡±


    I nodded and closed my eyes. I must have fallen asleep since when I woke up I was given porridge and Lord Loadstone was gone.


    #


    Feeling recovered, I got up and changed into me in clean clothing. I¡¯m not a clean freak, but I could smell myself and knew that everyone else could probably smell the sick on me. I took to shadow and found a stream to bathe in. It was way too cold, so I was nervous I was going to make myself sick again. After getting adjusted to the water, it was only miserably and unbelievably cold instead of being so cold I had to wonder why it wasn¡¯t ice. I got out and the air was worse and my wet clothing wasn¡¯t helping. I changed into myself in dry clothing and shadow stepped to the manor where I could get a warm shower and run my clothing through a washer and dryer.


    I was ironing my shirt when Anthony came in. ¡°How did it go in Real?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I may have a way to find things for Hubert, but I had to leave since I was getting ill.¡±


    Anthony asked, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Mostly better. How is Hubert?¡±


    Anthony said, ¡°He is functional when you are here. I don¡¯t want to pressure you when you are sick, but if you can manage something for Mr. Hubert, I will feel a lot better.¡±


    I nodded and thought about summoning Caerwyn. Then I realized that I had sped time up considerably, and as far a the group that I left behind knew, only moments had gone by.


    I slowed time to match with Real so I could try and summon Caerwyn. Caerwyn summoned me.


    ¡°Where are you Phil?¡±


    ¡°In Snipsnort. I got sick and had to leave.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°He got sick and had to leave. Okay, I¡¯ll ask him. Phil, how did you get sick?¡±


    I said, ¡°I don¡¯t know, I transformed three times and started to throw up. I was pretty ill.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°He says he transformed three times and threw up. Yeah, I¡¯ll ask him. Phil, are you okay to come here?¡±


    I said, ¡°Bring me through.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°One second. They are checking on something. I¡¯ll summon you in a second.¡±


    He disconnected and then summoned me. ¡°Okay, come on through.¡±


    Caerwyn and another Daemon lady were in hazmat suits, and the Fairyland looked like an operating room with movies of cute kittens doing cute things playing on the walls.


    The lady gestured to the examining table sort of lounge chair thing that she was sitting next to.


    I lay down and immediately started itching. I got up. ¡°Are you a psychic surgeon?¡±


    She said to Caerwyn, ¡°Be ready to catch him.¡±


    #


    I woke up on the examining table. The woman said, ¡°He¡¯s awake now. I have another call, tell him he¡¯s fine.¡±


    She disappeared and Caerwyn said, ¡°Yeah, they made you sick. No one wants to spend a lot of time near you since it might show up in someones visions.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How did they make me sick?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°A lot of explosives can contain toxic compounds. The room you were in was also set up to clean all the toxins from you. They only expected to have to use it one time on a person. So between transforming three times and having everything purged from you three times, it left you low on everything. These folk are crazy geared up to deal with disease, so I¡¯m scared that they know more about the plague that¡¯s coming than the rest of us. You went through three purges. Each one of those purges was set to be as extreme as a person could experience and still remain standing.


    ¡°So we have a detector and a computer set up to use it now. Someone is going to email us with a source for the parts we need to try and make a few more and maybe improve the detector. We also have all of Archer¡¯s files and passwords to various accounts. The computer was trapped several ways, but as far as I can tell, right now Archer doesn¡¯t have a file, and I have changed all his passwords online, overdrawn his accounts, and shut off all his utilities and his cell phone.


    ¡°I¡¯m a bit miffed by all this. The Daemon twins apologized but said they have been told to avoid contact with us. Their sister took all the weapons and said they will make it up to you. I was asked to summon someone so we could leave this hospital Fairyland as soon as you were okay. Seems a bit rude after almost killing you, but we do have Archer¡¯s laptop and the detector.¡±


    I said, ¡°They aren¡¯t infallible. Up until now, I feared destiny was infallible.¡±


    Caerwyn looked at an image on the wall where a kitten was trying to figure out how to go down a stair. ¡°You¡¯re not making sense.¡±


    I pointed to a kitten on another wall who was sneaking up on a golden retriever. ¡°The Queen of Shadows is a legend among the Goblins. I saw her and I saw her slip through shadow when I was young. Just now, she almost killed me. I just did something in Fairy that I probably wouldn¡¯t have done otherwise.¡±


    Caerwyn looked at me. ¡°Still not making sense. Let¡¯s get out of here before the cat pictures make you simple.¡±


    #


    Mrs. Nelson, Caerwyn¡¯s mother, summoned us into a large room where she was making a quilt on a long thin table with rolls of quilt and an oversized sewing machine.


    ¡°Caerwyn, where have you been?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Shh, Mom, not in front of Phil. We didn¡¯t go out in public, and we just met with some Daemons and Goblins. No one with cameras.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°Don¡¯t you dare shush me. You weren¡¯t there during the inquisition.¡±


    I said, ¡°I should probably go.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson asked, ¡°You look pale, Phil, have you eaten? I worry about poor Mr. Hubert and you.


    I said, ¡°I just got a bit run down. I¡¯m mostly eating okay, but we just got a kitchen going, and we may have to make some hard decisions about where we are living. I need to check out Fairy Dynamics and see what it is going to be like before making decisions.


    ¡°Caerwyn, were we just in England? I heard Kent, but I wasn¡¯t sure and everyone sounded American.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°I don¡¯t get outside, so I¡¯m not really sure. I think it was in England, the bathroom fixtures are a little different, but since¡ªNo, wait, the wall plugs were type G. It¡¯s probably England.¡±


    I gave a mock sigh. ¡°First time out of the country and I just stayed inside. I don¡¯t even have a way back since they¡¯re going to avoid us.¡±


    Caerwyn looked at his mother.


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°I keep a few places in other countries just in case something happens, and there are a few places that will bring you through. They usually want a gift or for you to buy something. Some charge a stated fee. Where do you want to go? And, no, you can¡¯t take Caerwyn there.¡±


    Caerwyn whined, ¡°Mooom. What if it¡¯s indoors?¡±


    I smiled. Caerwyn had solid defined muscles and was physically a good six years older than me and probably a hundred years older and still had to ask for his mother¡¯s permission.


    I said, ¡°I was just thinking that I need to beat Archer to Chicago and see about collecting a few things, but I really want to check out junkyards in some other countries since Archer might not have gone there.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Let¡¯s check the detector and see how it works.¡±


    I waved to Mrs. Nelson as Caerwyn and I ran up to his workshop. Inside the box the detector was mounted on there was an Arduino board with a mess of circuitry just wired together without any visible order.


    Caerwyn smiled as he looked at it. ¡°Old school radios were wired with things avoiding flat planes. That canceled some of the internal interference. When the descendants of giants make things, you can expect it to be old school like this combined with some really old school like the spinning cup.¡±


    ¡°They said they were going to email me a source for parts, but I can tell you already this stuff is all going to be in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, or Indonesia. We won¡¯t get this stuff for months if we order it. We might be able to find some of it at First Saturday in Dallas. I hear it is huge, but since it¡¯s outdoors and public, I won¡¯t get to go, and that¡¯s over a week from now.


    ¡°I have boxes full of Arduino¡¯s and the like, but some of the other components may take a while to get and sometimes they say it was sent, and you never see it.¡±


    I said, ¡°I hate to risk the only one we have, but I want to beat Archer to the stuff that is in Chicago. Do you think he can find it without this detector?¡±


    Caerwyn nodded, ¡°He made it so he probably could write the code as soon as he downloads a compiler on a new laptop. He knows how he made the first one and all the equipment is simple enough. He¡¯s tricky, there might be an electronics place he knows to get this stuff, and he might go as far as to order it online, find out where it¡¯s shipping from, and then go rob the place. Trying to duplicate this cup might be another thing entirely. You can see where he sanded down this part. I suspect that was how he tuned it since it looks smoothly turned apart from that. Do you think you can duplicate it in Fairy?¡±


    I said, ¡°The filing may have been done to balance it so it didn¡¯t wobble as it spun. It spins pretty fast. I¡¯ll go to Fairy and see.¡±


    #


    With an illusion overlapping the object, I could easily see where I was off so the illusion mostly shaped itself. The parts all unscrewed easily, so it was easy enough to make them in gossamer, test their weight, and put them together for a dry fitting. Then I made them real and made six of them, hoping I had the right materials. My only way to judge was by finish, color, and weight. Most of it was aluminum, so it was easy enough to make.


    I summoned Caerwyn and returned to Real. Caerwyn was talking with his mother.


    ¡°Phil, tell her you¡¯ll look out for me in China.¡±


    I asked, ¡°China?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°There is a sort of electronics bazaar area, and a fellow near it runs a pharmacy that will accept a summons if you donate to the temple at the Fairylake Botanical Garden. I was there at night a couple of years back.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°That was for a special occasion, and it was an opportunity for you to be gifted and practice a few languages. It was all at night, and we were going to stand out in appearance whatever we did.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson looked at me. ¡°You can go, since you need the parts, but try to bring something nice back for Caerwyn so he doesn¡¯t feel so bad.¡±


    I smiled since it seemed like Mrs. Nelson was beginning to treat me like one of her children. ¡°Caerwyn speaks the language and I don¡¯t, I will need him.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°I can gift you, then I can regift Caerwyn when you get back so you can both practice. You need to spend at least thirty minutes a day for a week to really get it down and not seem awkward.¡±


    She knelt and kissed my forehead four times. ¡°Mandarin, Xiang, Sichuanese, and Cantonese.¡± Don¡¯t waste your opportunity to learn these languages. A lot of the people there will speak English, but try to listen to what they say in other languages.¡±


    #


    The pharmacist pointed to a box on the counter. There was a slit in the top and written in Mandarin was an indication that all proceeds would go to the Hongfa Temple.


    I handed him one of the gold coins and he examined it. ¡°No further charges for you. You can summon me any time.¡±


    I thanked him and we bowed.


    On the street I didn¡¯t know where to go but there were signs and people walking. I was following a group, listening to them talk, when I felt Goblins pass by in shadow. I followed and listened to them when they left shadow. They were speaking Cantonese and flirting so I shadow stepped away to look and quickly stepped out of shadow and onto a lonely street. There were so many wards that I didn¡¯t know where it would be safe to go. Without knowing the shadows, walking was going to be safer and faster. I followed the shadow trails but out of shadow until I came to the busiest street. A few people were walking with bags of computer parts, so I went in the direction they came from. I saw a food vendor and realized that I had no money here and no way to get money.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Story of my life these days. I knew the languages, but I needed to practice them so I decided to remain, listen, and see if I could find the parts on the list Caerwyn had printed for me.


    I had just found the place I was looking for when I heard an American say, ¡°There¡¯s one. Just a moment while I do a quick money exchange. I hate doing this, you never know when they are going to be ripping you off.¡±


    His friend said, ¡°Let me help, I know the tricks around here.¡±


    He went on to explain what not to select and how to ignore what they were asking you to do and just get the money with the exchange rate of the bank.


    After they left I went up to the machine, and it rejected my card. I had a couple of backpacks of US cash, but I was as broke as I was in Fairy.


    I went into the market and saw a display of drones that I thought Caerwyn might like but I had no cash. I listened to conversations and just walked by trying to find the sort of parts I needed. A pair of Daemons were buying computers.


    Approaching them, the irony of the situation was off the scale. I had grown up knowing to avoid these dangerous, strong, selfish beings. I had grown up knowing that Fairylands were deadly dangerous, and more often than not, you disappeared forever if you got near them.


    The things I was taught were entirely, true but now my best friends and most of my associations were the things I was warned about and knew to avoid.


    I walked up to them and looked at the laptops they were getting. The shop attendant was busy with another customer so I decided I could talk to them frankly. ¡°Gentlemen, I saw a better deal on much better system just a short way from here.¡±


    One of them asked, ¡°How did you know I spoke English?¡±


    I said, ¡°Thou art what thou art, I am what I am. Those of thy persuasion oft speak many tongues.¡±


    The other one said, ¡°Alright, show us this other shop.¡±


    I led the way making sure I had shadows touching me at all times as I wove through the crowd. We stopped in front of a shop and I pointed out a motherboard that I had considered buying for Caerwyn. ¡°If you want top end, you want to build your own. You can get a lot more computer with a lot better specs.¡±


    The man said, ¡°Sounds nice, but we are looking for an intact computer, ready to go, and portable.¡±


    I nodded and led them to the shop with the best laptop price for value I had seen so far. I asked the shopkeeper, ¡°Give me a total, top end, we will put the upgraded memory in here. I have an OS on a flash drive that will work. How long do you think it will take to put it together, best memory, this laptop with two of the fastest and most reliable solid state drives and every thing we need?¡±


    The shopkeeper gestured to another worker and explained what we were doing before going to another customer. The new attendant quickly gave a price and a Daemon said, ¡°Four of them.¡±


    I said, ¡°Men, to speed this up, I can help you build this. We may need a few screwdrivers but this should be easy enough. Best of all, you will learn how to upgrade a laptop, and you can brag that you did it yourself.¡±


    The taller one asked, ¡°Is the operating system you¡¯re giving us virus and spyware free?¡±


    I said, ¡°Watch me so you know. This OS was written to this flash drive a couple of hours ago, and the Daemon who downloaded it knows his stuff. No virus, no spyware, and a decent suite of tools. After you get used to Linux, you won¡¯t want to use anything else.¡±


    The shorter one asked, ¡°Anyone we know?¡±


    I was half in shadow so I said, ¡°Do you know a young albino who goes by the name of Caerwyn?¡±


    One of them almost appeared to light up. ¡°Nelson¡¯s boy? How is he?¡±


    I said, ¡°Caerwyn is a bit sad that he couldn¡¯t be here.¡±


    The Daemon said, ¡°I¡¯m Larry. No, I mean Caerwyn¡¯s parent, never met the kid. Just heard about him. Nelson, how is he?¡±


    I said, ¡°I have only met Mrs. Nelson but she is fine.¡±


    Larry winced. ¡°So you haven¡¯t know them long.¡± He looked at the Daemon beside him. ¡°Lewis, you explain it.¡±


    Lewis said, ¡°He¡¯s Fairy related, this isn¡¯t anything he hasn¡¯t encountered.¡±


    I said, ¡°Fine, I think I¡¯m on the same page now. Mrs. Nelson¡¯s doing quite well.¡±


    We moved to a table at the back of the area and started putting together computers. This was my first time, but I had been gifted. We were talking back and forth in Mandarin so I was getting practice with several gifts at the same time.


    We booted and got the first computer up and the shopkeeper helped them get it on the net. Lewis said to me, ¡°We can tell you want something, and we owe you, so, what is it?¡±


    I said, ¡°I have US cash, but no way to convert it. My credit card isn¡¯t working.¡±


    Lewis shook his head. ¡°If you just showed up in China and decided to use your credit card, your credit company is going to think someone is trying to rob you. If you confirm you are in China, and you got here quick, you don¡¯t want to use credit anyway. There are lots of places that will convert your cash though, so you don¡¯t have a problem.¡±


    Larry said, ¡°I know one you can trust.¡±


    Lewis asked, ¡°Really, Larry? The kid just did us a solid.¡±


    Larry winced. I asked the shopkeeper, ¡°Is there a place near here where I can get US money converted at a decent rate?¡±


    He went to a computer and pulled up the current rates. ¡°I can do it. Five percent charge.¡±


    I said, ¡°Sounds good. I¡¯ll be right back.¡±


    As I walked off, I heard Larry say, ¡°Come on, never give a sucker a decent break.¡±


    Lewis said, ¡°Right and after a Fairy that¡¯s willing to walk right up to a pair of Daemons figures out you burned him for small change, what do you do for an encore? We could have made friends with a freaking Fairy that knows technology. How many of those do you think are out there?¡±


    I got back to the counter with a few bundles of money and the shopkeeper said, ¡°Your friends left. Thanks for helping with the sale.¡±


    I showed him the shopping list and asked him where I could find the items on it. He pulled out a laminated directory of the mall and pointed out the areas I should look.


    On the way I found a shop with some kits that had a pretty complete Arudino set up and they had motors that matched the ones Archer used in his detector setup. I got a few sets and some motors and then went after the components I still needed to build and test my detector. After getting what I needed, I went back and got a few drones for Caerwyn.


    #


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°What was it like?¡±


    I said, ¡°Cellphones and cases for them. Headphones everywhere. Batteries of every sort. Cameras, lights, and tripods. My credit card was rejected so I had to convert cash.¡±


    We finished connecting the detector parts, and the cup wobbled horribly.


    I switched it off. ¡°Now that we have it together, let¡¯s take it to Fairy and take the cup off. I can make a gossamer version and adjust it until it balances and then substitute with real materials.¡±


    #


    In the center of the seven-way crossroads in Snipsnort, with time running fast, we setup several detectors with laptops connected and then put one aside for testing. After hand spinning the new gossamer version of the cup before testing it with the stepper motor spinning it, we found that I caused a wall of blips on the display. I backed up and moved and we found that I was blocking another blip. The blips appeared when the cup faced the direction of the mansion.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°I think we can make this easier. Archer¡¯s method is to get it spinning and then sample by timing to see if there is a response. Because the cup samples a wide swath his software tests the range and reduces it to a single point. If it is bigger, he does some interesting math to calculate strength and width from the signal.


    ¡°With a worm drive, we can aim this where we want it, and we don¡¯t even have to spin it as much. We can have better angle resolution.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Why didn¡¯t he adjust the cup for a smaller area?¡±


    Caerwyn shook his head. ¡°Until we are comfortable playing with this we don¡¯t know if you can make it smaller. It¡¯s possible he didn¡¯t want elevation to cause issues, so he left it wide so he just got direction. We need to figure out how he used this to find things close up.¡±


    I looked at Caerwyn. ¡°The handheld version in his plans was just the cup and sensors in a flashlight base. He probably had it on him. The odds are good he still has a detector he can use.¡±


    As we played with this, I got concerned with timing. ¡°Caerwyn, it¡¯s a fourteen hour drive from Dallas to Chicago. We only have a few hours to get there before he does. I¡¯m guessing he¡¯ll be speeding, so I don¡¯t know how long it will take him to get to Chicago.¡±


    We tried out the worm drive method and ended up using Archer¡¯s method instead. We did improve the cup and found much better resolution.


    #


    Back in Caerwyn¡¯s house, we fired up the detectors. The blips in Chicago were gone.


    Caerwyn got up and looked at the map he had on the wall. ¡°The moment he figured there was an alarm, he probably abandoned his trucks. Odds are he dipped into his emergency funds, found a flight, or hired someone with a small jet.¡±


    I looked at the map. ¡°I was just in China. What if I went there and looked for junk?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Unless this plot against Hubert is worldwide, and that seems a bit expensive, there has to be a ton of stuff. My question is why not new, why are we looking for trash?¡±


    I said, ¡°I can¡¯t guess. I¡¯d think that we would be detecting stuff in stores, houses and warehouses. Maybe it has to be old. Maybe it needs to have been hit a few times and have dents.¡±


    Caerwyn did a search for maps and brought up China. ¡°You could get into big trouble, and you might have to break in and steal things.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Hubert¡¯s life may hang on this. I¡¯ll cross that bridge when I get to it.¡±


    #


    In the pharmacy, I bowed and thanked the pharmacist for answering my summons and shadow stepped to a rooftop where I could work. With the detector running, I found a strong signal. I didn¡¯t know the references to match the signals with the map, but I could tell direction and shadow step. I followed Goblin shadow movements and stopped to walk when they detoured in directions I didn¡¯t want to go. The clouds were obscuring the sun with the worst timing, so I had to walk past shops filled with used car parts sorted and hanging from the walls and rafters. I could imagine someone building a car from scratch as they pushed a chassis down the road. From the prices, they could probably build it cheaper than you could buy a used car.


    I had to wait for the clouds to part so I could shadow step and find a vacant roof to pull out my computer and detector. I was close and the detector was set up to work and detect on a flat plane so I could no longer use it from this elevation. I put it up and took out the flashlight-looking version and started searching for the signal. I was very close. I had to wait for the clouds to clear before I had shadows I could rely on. I needed solid paths. Many places were warded from shadow stepping here. I had to go back over older paths to find a ward-free and safe route.


    The signal was strong and hard to miss in an area where brightly colored charms were on all the shops and shadow stepping was impossible.


    A building that took up the entire block was where the detector led me. I walked around the warded building and had nearly circled it when a sudden loud car horn made me jump. I looked for the source and saw the window of a black limousine was going down. Looking out at me was a man who looked like one of the Arabic princes. He asked, ¡°Are you Phil?¡±


    I nodded. He got out of the car and said something in a Middle Eastern sounding language to the driver. The car window went up as the limousine pulled away from the curb.


    He went to a covered keypad beside a door and started entering a code. ¡°You are looking for something special. It is an important day.¡±


    I was nervous but if the Shadow Queen was trying to help, I didn¡¯t want to make it difficult. Inside a large room were evenly spaced pallets with appliances and odd parts. A city block worth of items that Hubert could use if this was what we were looking for.


    The Arabic sheikh/prince-looking man gestured to the collection of odd equipment. ¡°Test them and feel the exquisite joy of success after a long search.¡±


    I used the handheld detector, and every item, if I could trust my equipment, was something that Hubert could use.


    He smiled at me, closed the door, and held a button beside the door. Shades over windows above us opened and light streamed into the room. ¡°This collection was made just for you.¡±


    He took a couple of steps past me into the room and collapsed to the floor. I looked to the door and then down to the man as I felt a horror.


    Something with the taste of bitter metal had entered my mind. I collapsed as the use of my hands and legs was taken from me.


    The horror said, ¡°Now feel the despair of defeat. I will take you apart, and you will be of no use to your friend. My collection of diviners told me that you would come if I gathered these parts. I am The Sinful One, and you can now feel utter despair.¡±


    I felt him shift something, and I knew that I no longer resonated for Mr. Hubert.


    The voice continued, ¡°Know that your world will be destroyed, and there will be nothing you can do. You will watch, helpless in your own body, as everything you care about is destroyed. We Djinn have watched and waited, and our time has finally come.¡±


    I went to the Fairyland of desolate death. If I was going to die then this monster was, too.


    He started to move my fingers. One section at a time, he moved and managed to get up. I bound him to this Fairyland as Deacon Dan had gifted me. Then with that inspiration I used another of the gifts Deacon Dan had given me. I turned him into a Fairy. The Fairy screamed. I had fallen in a position where I could not see him.


    He shouted at me, ¡°You will die here.¡±


    I felt my facial control coming back as I felt his teeth biting into my throat. He continued chewing. I couldn¡¯t see him but he felt small. I felt blood running down from the wound in my throat. I felt myself fading out, so I changed into me undamaged in a swimsuit. He asked, ¡°How many forms do you have?¡±


    I felt my neck being bitten again, so I moved my chin down to stop him.


    He backed away. ¡°I die, you die.¡±


    He started chewing on my wrist. My regret was that Mr. Hubert was without me and without me or any of the parts he might not last long. I did not regret my going if it meant this monster was gone too. I could move my neck so I could see the little naked man-like creature gnawing on my wrist.


    I was able to moan, so I changed forms into a rooster and screamed at him.


    I saw spark and flame and felt the heat of his passage.


    After recovering control of my body, in another undamaged form of me in a suit, I summoned the pharmacist and again went to China. I gave the man another gold coin. Following shadows I knew, I traced my way back to the place where the Djinn had attacked me. The clouds were cooperating.


    I stopped along the way and bought a blanket. Then I bought a hammer and a long ladder that I could barely hold up on my own. I half-carried, half-dragged the ladder to a spot mostly out of sight before taking to shadow and continuing until the clouds interrupted my journey. I ate and rested as the sun started to set. I had a hint of shadow, so I continued for a few blocks. Then I ran out of shadows and had to walk. It was going to be a long night.


    After walking a few more blocks, street lights started turning on. I was saved. I shadow stepped to the building and set up the ladder. I climbed up to a ledge with a window but it was dark inside. There were people on the other side of the building, so I didn¡¯t dare use the hammer and blanket to break a window.


    I climbed down the ladder, put it away in another form, and walked to an open convenience store. Inside, I did the one thing you will almost never see a Goblin do. I bought a flashlight.


    Using the flashlight from up on the ladder, I shadow stepped into the building and summoned Hubert. No one answered. I checked and Snipsnort was running at Real time. I summoned Anthony.


    Anthony said, ¡°Thank goodness. A while ago, Hubert sat down. He is functioning but barely. I think he may be shutting down for good.¡±


    I said, ¡°Take his hand and come to me.¡±


    Anthony and Hubert appeared beside me and Hubert stood. There was a light in his eyes like I had never seen before.


    He looked around the room and said, ¡°Stay back from the equipment. Some of it is trapped.¡±


    He looked around and then he looked at me. ¡°Tell me, which of these are unwholesome.¡±


    I looked and there were three that I would not want to eat standing next to.


    I pointed. ¡°That shiny one with the steel tank on top is the worst, but the avocado green dishwasher is really bad. The trash compactor has something wrong with it as well.¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°Sad, those are the most valuable. Phil, you just saved my life. Can we get the rest of these back to the manor house?¡±


    I opened a gateway and shifted it until it was in place at the mansion. With a fork lift attachment on a spider excavator, I took the equipment that Hubert thought safe to the manor house.


    Hubert and Anthony stepped through the gateway and I closed it. I was alone in a large chamber with three trapped objects that might be valuable to Hubert.


    I cast a summons. ¡°Phil the fishmonger summons Nia Gray.¡±


    I brought her through. ¡°These are trapped. I don¡¯t know how. But they would be nice to have if they were undamaged and no longer trapped.¡±


    Nia said, ¡°We will do our best. You should leave. Someone will contact you.¡±


    She seemed cold but it was what I had. I went back to Snipsnort and shadow stepped to the manor house.


    Hubert and Anthony were arranging equipment in the steel rooms below the mansion.


    Hubert said, ¡°Phil, I can¡¯t tell you how much I owe you. This is probably good news, but it is sort of sad. I am well enough equipped and more now, but a while ago, you stopped resonating the way that you used to. You are free in a way, but somehow I miss the bond.¡±


    I nodded. There was something in me, perhaps the Goblin part that wanted to take care of people, yet another part that might be the Goblin as well that didn¡¯t want anyone too dependent on me. A lot of Goblins are like that. It makes us mixed up, and I think it keeps us lonely.


    We want to nurture things, but we don¡¯t want them tied down to us. I shadow stepped out to a long pier that I had made along the bridge to Nowhere but there were Fairies fishing on it. I needed to be alone. I shadow stepped out into the swamp until I found a large boulder jutting out beside a willow tree growing in the dirt beside it. Under the shifting partial shade of the willow, I sat and played my penny whistle.


    I lay back on the rock and looked up at the sky through the willow leaves gently waving in the wind. Hubert was going to be okay. I needed to see if the Fairy Dynamics Fairyland was going to be a better place for Anthony and Hubert. Maybe it would be a good place for Caerwyn and Mrs. Nelson. I put away the penny whistle and slid off the rock and splashed into the water. It wasn¡¯t as deep as I thought it was going to be. It didn¡¯t matter. I needed to swim and I needed to think. I turned into an otter and swam with only the occasional chase so I could dine on a fresh fish. I rested on the water and explored the swamp.


    #


    Lying on my back floating and not even caring what day or time it was, I felt Lady Anteater try to slow time to match with Real. We were only five times the speed of Real, but I let her change the time. I floated a while longer before I was summoned.


    ¡°Fishmonger King of Snipsnort, I ask for thee to appear in a comely form and answer three questions.¡±


    It was a girl¡¯s voice but it hadn¡¯t identified itself. I asked, ¡°Show me where.¡±


    She shouted, ¡°Did you say that?¡±


    I said, ¡°Let me see.¡±


    She said, ¡°There¡¯s a voice. It wants me to let it see.¡±


    The summons disconnected.


    I floated in the water and yawned. I was considering going after some fish or just sleeping for a while when I was summoned again.


    ¡°Fishmonger King of Snipsnort, I order thee to come hence.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Is this a prank?¡±


    She yelled, ¡°It asked if this was a prank.¡±


    I said, ¡°Show me where thou art and who thou art or forever leave me be.¡±


    She said, ¡°I command thee to appear in comely form and answer three questions.¡±


    Ready to transform, jump, or go into shadow I decided to find out who was pestering me.


    #


    I was on a low round table surrounded by tall white candles. Five girls who looked junior high age were sitting on the floor around the table.


    This was worse than being set up for an attack. I slid into shadow as the girls screamed. They were lucky I was not a vengeful otter. Then I considered it. I went out to the front lawn and rang the doorbell. When the door opened they saw a giant seven foot two inch rooster standing well back from the porch.


    I said, ¡°Knock, knock.¡± I think the girls and the rest of their neighborhood heard something very different.


    #


    Transformed into me as a Goblin with ears that let him pass for human, I walked through the neighborhood. It was dark but there were lots of lights on the street and in the yards all the houses had grass lawns and garages. The sort of neighborhood where Goblins might be hiding in closets or under beds but never living there.


    I looked at the streets with sidewalks and thought about growing up and graduating high school. I thought about living in a nice clean house like this with other children who didn¡¯t have to hide their ears.


    In my imagination, this had always been the dream. I didn¡¯t have it when I was with my original mother, this much wealth was always out of reach. This life was impossible as a Goblin. Yet as I walked my ears perked up and then I had to run to save myself from myself.


    Even in these neighborhoods with every dream in the world within reach, there were children who cried themselves to sleep. The siren call that begged a Goblin to intervene was present even in the richest neighborhoods. I didn¡¯t fit in and these streets were dangerous to me.


    I was no longer perfectly fit with Hubert. I still felt close, but there was a feeling of slight distance. I wasn¡¯t ever going to give up on our close friendship and time cooking together, but I didn¡¯t quite feel that his home was where I was going to live. The Queen of Shadows and her kind seemed distant. My Goblin family was now a group that I visited but was no longer an integral part of.


    I thought about the sister that I had just adopted and smiled. I took myself to Snipsnort and summoned her.


    Duchess Byebye brought me to a castle I had never seen in a forest where the air felt cool. ¡°Everyone else is hiding. You have to cover your eyes and count to a hundred. You can count to a hundred, can¡¯t you?¡±


    I nodded.


    She said, ¡°Then you have to get out of the castle before any of us catch up with you.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Have you ever been taught the rules for hide-and-seek?¡±


    She said, ¡°Silly, when everyone can transform into things, regular hide-and-seek barely works. This is much, much better. We hide, you run, and we seek. No shadow stepping, getting summoned, or leaving Snipsnort. That would be cheating.¡±


    The End of Book 2

 B3-1 Rougarou Phil

    The most active nobles of Snipsnort were playing ¡°Mother, May I¡± in a clear area beside the boulder that had been carved to look like a toad with a crown. I looked up at the face of the toad and the resemblance to me was making me worried that I really did look like a toad.


    I asked Lord Mousedeer, ¡°Do I really look like a toad?¡±


    Mousedeer felt one of his fangs between a thumb and finger. ¡°Only a little, sire. Don¡¯t worry, a lot of preadolescent boys look like toads and they usually grow out of it. In another two hundred years, you will be fine, I am almost certain. You are slim so it is really just your face, sire.¡±


    Lord Mousedeer gestured to the two artists who carved the boulder to look like me. ¡°Shall we cut off their heads or draw and quarter them?¡±


    I looked at the girls. ¡°Do I really look like a toad?¡±


    One of the wobbled her hand. ¡°Not really and we think toads are really cute, your majesty.¡±


    I said, ¡°Well, there is nothing for it, then. Since I¡¯m quite impressed with your work and everyone insists that as king I have to execute you, I¡¯m afraid that I have to grant thee executive pardon and abdicate.¡±


    Lord Mousedeer said, ¡°You can not abdicate, you are a King of Fairy.¡±


    I changed into me with a backpack and took out a sausage and a steel knife. ¡°Oh look, I¡¯m touching steel. Clearly not a Fairy and therefore not a Fairy King. And I¡¯m clearly not a king among men because I¡¯m not sharing any of this and eating right in front of you.¡±


    From where the nobles were playing, someone was shouting, ¡°You can¡¯t just quit in the middle of ¡°Mother, May I!¡± I was about to win!¡±


    Dutchess Byebye shouted, ¡°My brother just took out some sausage! Game over, I¡¯m hungry!¡±


    I climbed up on the toad statue and sat inside the crown. Since Byebye was a small, perpetual five-year-old girl, she fit in the crown with me. I cut off some sausage for her. ¡°Do I look like a toad?¡±


    Byebye said, ¡°Nope. Toads are cuter. You are my old horsie that should have been put out to pasture years ago.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Do I really have a horse face?¡±


    Lord Mousedeer cleared his throat. ¡°Your Majesty, we really need to resolve this in a mature way. You can not just threaten to abdicate all the time.¡±


    I said, ¡°No, I mean, Yes, you are right. This time it is real.¡±


    Lord Mousedeer asked, ¡°What about your castles and all the material power you have?¡±


    I smiled at him. ¡°It is all mine. As a private citizen, I keep my stuff. It isn¡¯t like there was ever a constitution or a parliament that said I was just borrowing it. So now I¡¯m just a wealthy toad. The protest these girls made accusing me is entirely true.


    ¡°The only way I can make up for it is to abdicate. Tell the old ladies that made my life as miserable as they possibly could that they won and drove off the irresponsible embarrassment of a king. I could never please them, so really they will be better off managing the realm without me.¡±


    Lord Mousedeer said, ¡°There are still two more lighthouses that you need to make.¡±


    I gave Byebye another slice of sausage and took out some cheese and a bottle of root beer to share with her. ¡°As king, I never got paid for any of my work. Have someone make an offer, and I will decide if I want to take it.¡±


    Dutchess Byebye said, ¡°They don¡¯t pay me either.¡±


    I said, ¡°¡¯Cause you don¡¯t do any work.¡±


    She said, ¡°I fight off all the invaders that come to take over the Fairyland.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°You do that for fun, and you didn¡¯t do it when I took over. That would be falling down on the job.¡±


    She smiled up at me with her gap-toothed grin so I had to hug her. ¡°Besides if they paid you, you¡¯d have to pay for things and not just take whatever you wanted.¡±


    She nodded and took the chunk of cheese I offered her.


    Lord Mousedeer said, ¡°Well, if no one is going to be mature about this, I am leaving.¡±


    One of the girls asked, ¡°Are we really spared?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°More than that. Since I appreciate good art, you are going to be rewarded. Do you want a slice of sausage?¡±


    Both of the girls nodded.


    #


    I was sitting at the back of the church with a nearly tone-deaf old man sharing a hymnal. The old man had sort of latched on to me since I started coming to the church. I was the only white boy in church, and Deacon Dan had spread the word that I was uncomfortable talking. I think the old man was watching out for me. I didn¡¯t know his name, but like most Goblins, I am always looking for some sort of family attachment. I looked up at him and decided he was the grandfather I never had.


    A little girl kept looking over the back of her pew at me. She was really cute, but it was clear her family loved her, so I had no urge to steal her and make her a Goblin. Kind of sad, that. She would look even cuter with pointed ears. Not that I¡¯d kept the points on mine.


    I reached up and touched one of the rounded ears that Fats, the psychic surgeon, had given me. So far, it was staying round, so I didn¡¯t have to wear a hat or worry about having the tips trimmed. I used to hate having the tips of my ears trimmed.


    The service ended. The old man and I sat in the pew until the crowd had cleared. It was nice weather outside, perfect really. Ideal for the jam session I was planning to go to this afternoon, but that was in Louisiana, and the weather in Chicago wasn¡¯t an indication of what the weather would be like down south.


    When the crowd cleared, I went with the old man until we reached the turn where we parted ways. I started walking and just before I was going to turn off into an alley and go to Fairy, Deacon Dan came out beside me.


    I asked, ¡°Don¡¯t people notice when you suddenly appear?¡±


    He smiled down at me. ¡°Not the uninitiated. I can gift you.¡±


    I smiled back. ¡°You¡¯re mighty generous today.¡±


    He asked, ¡°Are you the one that left twelve pounds of gold in the collection box?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°That¡¯s horrible that you would even ask. It takes away all meaning if you try and take credit for that sort of thing.¡±


    He knelt down and kissed my forehead. The way he did it, it seemed like an ancient church ritual. Considering his history, it probably was.


    I asked, ¡°You were one of the first Deacons?¡±


    He said, ¡°Not one of the seven mentioned in Acts. But it was my calling.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I could hold onto a job that long. I just quit being a Fairy King.¡±


    Deacon Dan gave me a concerned look. ¡°I have had issues with the church since early on. I stopped arguing when I realized it didn¡¯t convince people. As a deacon, my obligation was to the people and not the hierarchy, so I mostly got by ignoring the church leaders. They didn¡¯t see it the same way, but that¡¯s a long, long story. Here is the real truth. Angels don¡¯t come down to Earth to split hairs or straighten out theology. Compassion and sharing are the basics of church. Just like they try to teach children in nursery school.¡± He paused a moment, then asked, ¡°Just how do you quit being a Fairy King?¡±


    I considered his question. ¡°Well, I''m still me, whatever that means, but I abdicated and since they got along without me being king for ages, I think they will get along fine without me now.¡±


    Deacon Dan asked, ¡°How long were you a fisherman? Did becoming a king stop you from fishing?¡±


    I gave him a puzzled look. ¡°Where is this set of questions leading?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Nowhere, really. Just concerned. See you next Sunday?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°The old man I sit with would miss me if I were gone.¡±


    Deacon Dan said, ¡°Yes, I think he would.¡±


    #


    Passing through an unnamed Fairyland, I stepped into shadow and went through the gateway to a tree-covered area in Real outside Hubert¡¯s mansion. I stayed in shadow because I didn¡¯t want any chance of the neighbors across the street seeing me. Caerwyn was a good friend, and I didn¡¯t want to hurt his feelings by being obvious and going places he couldn¡¯t go. As an immortal, a striking appearance like his was not a good thing. He was a well muscled youth with albino hair and skin. His brown eyes were a striking contrast that did him no good since he didn¡¯t want to stand out or have people remember how he looked. If they saw him again in twenty years, they would remember and realize he hadn¡¯t aged.


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    I was fortunate. I just looked like another nine-year-old kid. Thinking about it, I realized that I had three bottles of pills that would allow me to age three years in three years time. For me, that would be about fifty times as fast as I normally aged, so I could look twelve in three years instead of having to wait a hundred and fifty. That might take a hundred and fifty years off my life, but considering the events of the last two years, if I were another person, I would not bet on my living the next three years and would consider a hundred and fifty very unlikely.


    I shadow stepped to a tree in a swamp close to the old private airport I was heading for. I balanced on a limb and turned into myself with the backpack with the pills. I took one out and swallowed it before polymorphing into me with my cajon in a large bag. I shadow stepped down to the edge of the swamp and near the clearing and caught a whiff of barbecue.


    I walked out of the woods and onto the cracked cement of the old runway. Jake was sitting on one of the cement benches near a barbecue grill and taking his guitar out of its case.


    I waved to him but he didn¡¯t see me. The wind was blowing my way so there was no point in shouting so I just kept walking.


    Jake was playing his guitar when he noticed me and nodded. I got close and took my cajon out of its bag and sat on it.


    As he picked complex music, I added a simple beat.


    He said, ¡°You just came out of the swamp. Aren¡¯t you scared of the Rougarou?¡±


    I smiled. The Rougarou is a creature who steals children who don¡¯t obey their parents. As a Goblin, my strong urge is to steal unloved children and take care of them. Rougarou might have the body of a man and the head of a wolf or it might turn into a wolf or even a rabbit. I could turn into an otter, owl, rook, or monster rooster.


    ¡°Jake, what makes you think I¡¯m not a Rougarou?¡±


    Jake said, ¡°I haven¡¯t observed Lent since I stopped being an altar boy. A Rougarou would get me for sure.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Should I call you Overkill Jones or Jake?¡±


    Jake looked at his guitar as he picked out a complex pattern. ¡°I forgot what we decided to call you. We were worried that might not come back, you missed the last two Sundays.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Am I still welcome?¡±


    Jake smiled. ¡°Mr. Gibbs was worried. He really likes the rhythms you come up with, but he got busy and never paid you. He was scared you might have decided he was a deadbeat. According to Vic you never came back to the shop, so we figured you were one of those legends that show up once and disappear back into the swamps.¡±


    I asked, ¡°He pays everyone?¡±


    Jake said, ¡°Mr. Gibbs has this thought that the real music rarely gets on the airwaves. So when he hears a musician who plays things that no one knows, he gets excited. His hero is Charles Seeger, Pete Seeger¡¯s dad. Charles Seeger recorded folk music. Mr. Gibbs records old or original music that he fears might be lost.¡±


    I asked, ¡°You don¡¯t agree?¡±


    He winced. ¡°Music evolves and grows. I play licks I heard others play. I like to think I improved them. Sometimes I come up with a twist or a new pattern. In turn others listen and it spreads. I listen to old bits, but a lot of the old bits are the same songs. Right now there are laws against writing music so all you can do is steal from really old music if you want to make it.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I thought it was just me that had a hard time. Are there really laws against writing music?¡±


    Jake started playing another tune. ¡°You play percussion, so for the most part anything you come up with is free. Doesn¡¯t mean someone rich won¡¯t try to sue you, but bass lines are almost safe. If you have money, you can do what you want. If I play anything that isn¡¯t clearly and obviously a tune made before the twenties, someone can find three notes in it and sue me.¡±


    I asked, ¡°So how does that disagree with Mr. Gibbs?¡±


    ¡°Mr. Gibbs¡¯s recordings, if they ever get out, are gonna stomp on a lot of feet, far as I can tell. A lot of it is really and truly modifications on copyrighted music by folk that can¡¯t afford to pay for the right to play it. By the time it is legal to be heard, if it ever becomes legal to hear it, no one will remember Mr. Gibbs and his recordings will all be forgotten bits of digital data on corroded disk drives deep in a landfill. If your music is your soul, unless you have money, or the person you sold your soul to has money, your soul can never be heard apart from small dives that may or may not have paid a fee for the right to play music.¡±


    I gave him a puzzled look.


    He nodded. ¡°Venues have to pay fees to companies so that live music or even recorded music can be played out loud. This way, I can go into a dive and play what I want. If you record it, then you can probably listen to it later, but it gets weird if you put it on the net. Suddenly, you and I are stealing from someone, but really that someone is probably being stolen from by the same someone who can legally take your money and make your life hell. If I claim no ownership of the recording, maybe I am okay. But if I try to make a profit on the recording of my music, I may end up with less money than I started with.¡±


    ¡°So I just play like a troubadour. I get money for gigs and let everyone else make the recordings. I¡¯m never going to make it big, but then no one owns me, so I do okay.¡±


    I nearly laughed. ¡°I have similar feelings about my playing. Not the same, but as long as there are no videos, I¡¯m good.¡±


    Jake asked, ¡°You¡¯re friends with Vic and Gumbo Dan right?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Dan, for sure. Vic and I jammed but we barely know each other.¡±


    Jake said, ¡°You jammed with Vic? I didn¡¯t know that was possible. I have got to hear it. I mean, Vic is a brilliant musician and all, but he plays it exactly how he heard it and doesn¡¯t have any flex in his work. You are all over the place weaving in with rhythms that in hindsight were perfect, but it¡¯s kind of scary playing with you.¡±


    I didn¡¯t reply to what Jake said. Clearly, it was praise and he meant it, but I was going to have to figure out what he meant.


    I just nodded in agreement. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you how much fun it is playing music with you, Jake. Seriously, you and Dan are crazy good.¡±


    A car drove up to the front of the old hangar. Vic and Mr. Gibbs got out of the car. Mr. Gibbs started taking sound equipment out of the car and putting it on the stage just inside the hanger. Vic came over to us and handed me two envelopes.


    ¡°You got the coals going. Thanks, Jake. Phil, take this, it¡¯s for the last time you played and your playing today.¡±


    I opened an envelope and counted, there were ten twenties inside. I checked the other. This was no longer a lot of money to me but not long ago it would have been. ¡°Does playing music pay this well?¡±


    Jake said, ¡°For a pleasant Sunday afternoon jamming with friends, this is amazing pay. It¡¯s on the level for what most of us get for a recording gig, but all of us take gigs that pay a lot less. I¡¯ve made more money busking, but I have also had cops decide to destroy my guitar as a public service.¡±


    Vic said, ¡°Bad week, Jake?¡±


    Jake said, ¡°Could have been better. Still getting to jam with Rougarou Phil is a pretty nice end of the week.¡±


    Mr. Gibbs came over to us. ¡°I thought you were calling Phil ¡®Wild Boy.¡¯¡±


    Jake said, ¡°No wonder I forgot his nickname. Nah, Rougarou Phil sounds legendary.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°So, Overkill Jones and Rougarou Phil. Sounds good to me.¡±


    A few more players showed up, and then a fiddle player drove up with Dan riding shotgun.


    Mr. Gibbs asked, ¡°Can we try the mix with Jake, Phil, and Dan again?¡±


    Jake and I nodded. I got up, slung my bag over my shoulder, and picked up my cajon. Jake and I sat on stage improvising as Mr. Gibbs walked over to the newly arrived car and spoke with Dan. Dan smiled and waved to us.


    I got up. ¡°Jake, you want a lemonade?¡±


    Jake nodded so I went down to where Vic was setting up a drinks table. The rest of the musicians were sitting at the cement tables and from the stage.


    Mr. Gibbs was saying ¡°Testing, Testing,¡± into a microphone. I hurried up with the lemonade and Vic carried a third one to the edge of the stage.


    Jake took a sip and said, ¡°What do you say we call this one ¡®The Lemonade Blues?¡¯¡±


    Dan started playing on his double bass and creating a pattern that evoked the feeling of walking on an easy afternoon.


    I added some bright splash to the sounds with fingernail strikes on the upper edges of the cajon, and Jake came in with a lonely walk sort of feeling. It was a bittersweet exploration of a few chords, but mostly I just kept to sounds that echoed the steps of someone walking aimlessly while the occasional car drove by and made splashes in puddles from a recent rain.


    Dan added a feel of clouds overhead, and I added a distant rumble, like faraway thunder. Jake stopped first and I stopped playing a few measures after. Dan added a touch like a bird song that felt like a shaft of light coming through the clouds and ended the piece.


    It was nice. The players on the concrete benches applauded, but I wanted more so I started in on a lively rhythm that Dan and I had explored together in Hubert¡¯s music room.


    Dan nodded to me and took off with it. Jake waited until I was wondering if he would ever join and then came in and twisted it into a number I wanted to dance to. Like old times, I started moving and dropping into the groove like I used to do with my Goblin family.


    Dan and Jake didn¡¯t know the music of my family, but they had music of their own to add. We finished at the same time. I think we each thought it was time to let the others fade out, but it ended up a sudden stop in a riot of music.


    The audience applauded and Jake took a long sip of lemonade and coughed.


    I said, ¡°Too much, too fast?¡±


    Dan said, ¡°Good name for it. I was thinking of calling it, ¡®Too Much Lemonade,¡¯¡± but ¡®Too Much to Fast¡¯ is better.¡±


    The rest of the music, with all the musicians playing went a lot better than the last time I was here, so when it wound down I was feeling pretty happy. I helped Mr. Gibbs take down the sound equipment, and he put it all in the car. ¡°Do you want a ride back into town?¡±


    I nodded since my disappearing into the swamp was probably a bit odd.


    Vic got in the back seat, so I got in the front beside Mr. Gibbs.


    As we drove Vic asked, ¡°Do you need a ride on rainy days?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Probably. But my place is pretty far from here.¡±


    Mr Gibbs said, ¡°Is there a problem with us knowing where?¡±


    I said, ¡°You know about Goblins, right?¡±


    Mr. Gibbs adjusted his grip on the wheel. ¡°Not a lot, but I read up on them. I figure most of what I have read is just stories. I had a friend that disappeared when I was little. I was spying on his house ¡®cause I was certain his dad killed him. My friend appeared in the tree beside me and told me to go home. A couple of times I think he got me out of trouble. I left things in my tree house for him, but he stopped coming by.


    ¡°I saw him once when his back was turned. It was about fifteen years after he had disappeared, and he had pointed ears but apart from that he was only a few years older. Three years ago I spotted him again. His clothing told me he was down on his luck. I was lucky enough to be born rich. Well, both of us were, but Goblins don¡¯t usually get to keep it. So I offered him a job. Vic is a childhood friend and the person I trust most in the world.¡±


    I said, ¡°So you and Vic have talked a bit.¡±


    Vic said, ¡°I¡¯ve pretty much shared it all with Jaxon. Sorry, Mr. Gibbs.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Okay, how much do you know about Fairy?¡±


    Vic made a coughing sound. ¡°Dan was asking me what I knew about Fairy. He didn¡¯t say anything that quite linked you to anything like that, but I think he was worried about you and was more that a bit scared that you had faded to Fairy.¡±


    I glanced back at him. ¡°Yeah, he was probably right to be worried. So far I am okay, but if I disappear, best not come looking for me. Next Sunday after church though, if things work out and you don¡¯t mind, I would like to summon you and have you bring me through. That way I could ride in with you.¡±


    Mr. Gibbs asked, ¡°You go to church?¡±


    I answered, ¡°Yep, up in Chicago.


    Vic asked, ¡°Can you really do a summons?¡±


    I said, ¡°Yeah. I would summon my way home right now to show you, but I am not sure if it is safe doing it from a moving car.¡±


    Mr. Gibbs said, ¡°I kind of want to get your opinion on some cajons to put in the shop. Can you stay a bit longer?¡±


    #


    At the music store, Mr. Gibbs brought out a few catalogs and fliers that had cajons for sale.


    I looked at the fliers and shrugged. ¡°Watching videos is going to be better and even then the sound can be off. The man that made mine is local and the only one I know. Wait. Sorry, I am being summoned.¡±


    Lord Loadstone was calling. ¡°King Snipsnort, canst thou spare some time?¡±


    I didn¡¯t want to have a one way argument over my being a king in front of Vic and Mr. Gibbs so I waved to them and went to Snipsnort.

 B3-2 Living for Honor or Living for Wealth

    In Snipsnort, Lord Loadstone was standing on a wharf. Around us were cliffs. In front of us across the bay, the cliffs were broken and rocks jutted up from the water.


    He got on one knee and bowed. ¡°Long Live Snipsnort.¡±


    I said, ¡°Please rise and please don¡¯t address me as a King. I abdicated.¡±


    Lord Loadstone got up. ¡°Sadly, sire, we need a king.¡±


    I sat down on the edge of the wharf and considered jumping in. The water was clear and beautiful. ¡°Lord Loadstone, I¡¯m not looking forward to having say ¡°please rise¡± as a greeting the rest of my life. How long did this realm survive without a king?¡±


    Loadstone pointed to the rocks. ¡°The cliffs collapsed here at Realmsedge a hundred or so years ago. Now only small boats can make it out to the sea and only when tides and weather cooperate.


    ¡°If you made a gateway and another gateway, you could easily clear the opening of this bay and allow this town to function as it once did years ago. We need this sort of thing from time to time, but without a king, we just have to make do. We got by without a king because we had no choice.¡±


    I said, ¡°Where do we want the rocks?¡±


    Loadstone said, ¡°If thou were to take the mass with silt and all and clear the passage deep, you could take it to a place, and then one piece at a time, do whatever you wanted with it. A few stable stones stacked on each other in a lonely field can make for a nice place for shepherds to gather.¡±


    I said, ¡°It¡¯s a worthy request, but it may take a bit. How far is this from the seven-ways intersection?¡±


    Loadstone sat beside me. ¡°Sire, this is near the edge of your realm. The crossroads you mention is in the very center of thy realm.¡±


    I said, ¡°How long does it take to fly there?¡±


    Loadstone said, ¡°About thirty-one hours.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°It may be possible. My gateways appear at the crossroads. I¡¯ll have to fly and maintain the gateway for thirty-one hours straight. That means I¡¯ll need food as me and as a rook. That means no rest. I¡¯ll have to take bathroom breaks on the way. I¡¯m not eating the best diet these days. I¡¯m used to healthier food. Are there more tasks like this ahead of me?¡±


    Loadstone said, ¡°Lots. We need at least twelve lighthouses and who knows what else we will need as time passes. We need a king.¡±


    I got up. ¡°I¡¯m going somewhere so I can get a decent meal. You may need a king, but I don¡¯t need a kingdom. I¡¯ll try to help this town out, but I¡¯m still recovering and if I keep doing this sort of thing, I¡¯ll be dead soon enough.¡±


    Lord Loadstone got up and bowed to me. ¡°If you would, follow me for a bit.¡±


    I followed him along the wharf and he lead me to a place with tables and chairs out under an awning. The smell of fried fish was delightful and making me hungry.


    Lord Loadstone went to a counter and asked, ¡°Farren the Younger, can we have some fish?¡±


    I said, ¡°Loadstone, I won¡¯t be stealing any fish.¡±


    From behind the counter Farren asked Loadstone, ¡°Is the lad with thee, Lord?¡±


    Lord Loadstone said, ¡°This is your king who wishes to abdicate but still plans to risk his life trying to fix your harbor. He refuses to steal fish from you.¡±


    The man looked like he was going to cry as he knelt behind the counter and said, ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    Around me quite a few others bowed low and wished me a long life.


    I said, ¡°Please rise.¡±


    Farren rose and asked Lord Loadstone, ¡°Does his majesty despise fish in general or the fish as I prepare it?¡±


    Loadstone waved his hands. ¡°I don¡¯t for a moment think it is your fish specifically. He has been a fishmonger by trade, so it is possible that he is tired of fish, but the real problem is that he will not steal from you.¡±


    The proprietor asked Loadstone, ¡°Can I give it to¡ªno wait¡ªit is his majesties to begin with. How can he steal it when it belongs to him?¡±


    Loadstone asked, ¡°I have dined here many a time and never paid you anything. Is that a problem?¡±


    Farren said, ¡°You rein in the excess of the other nobles, and when you dine here, it tells others that you come here from across the realm and choose my place to dine. In turn, others come here and the fishermen save the best fish for me so they can have the honor of supplying my fish.¡±


    Loadstone asked, ¡°If the king were to summon you everyday to deliver meals to him, how would that be?¡±


    The proprietor looked at me, then looked at the ground. ¡°A greater honor I could not imagine. I would be able to expand the business and the finest chefs would want to join me in my kitchen.¡±


    Lord Loadstone smiled at me. ¡°And what about the lazy scoundrels that do nothing for the kingdom and still continue to take?¡±


    The man behind the counter looked up at Loadstone. ¡°They still need to be fed. The finest food goes to those who serve the most, so the finest fish might not be theirs to have, but we would not stint them.¡±


    Loadstone asked, ¡°If everyone is to be fed, then why would you continue to work?¡±


    He smiled at Loadstone. ¡°You are strong and could take what you wanted to and to prevent you damaging things and being angry, we would still feed you the finest we could. Yet you still serve the kingdom. Fishermen would rather fish or they, like the laziest Fairies, would fade away. I have bad days, my lord. Days when I consider and regret my choices, yet there is no respect or honor in being a bum.


    ¡°If I did naught but beg, my measure would be small. If I took more than my measure, the nobles you restrain from excess would find me and make sport of me at my expense. So keeping this place going has been my joy for near to seven hundred years. I hope to keep it going for at least seven hundred more.¡±


    Loadstone turned to me. ¡°You would honor this place and this man by dining here. If you ask a man to serve you, unless it were a task unfitting or unloved, you would honor him and in turn others would give the man respect. Fairy is not like Real. I suppose some Fairylands may be different yet isn¡¯t this the idea behind a wish? Something big freely given? In turn it honors both parties and gives respect and joy to both.¡±


    I said, ¡°It would never work in Real.¡±


    Loadstone said, ¡°The worst go to other realms when they depart Real. Without them, even the middle worlds are better than Real can ever be. Not that we don¡¯t get our share of the selfish. We tend to keep them in the center of thy Realm so we can keep watch over them. That is why you might see the dishonorable exchange of wealth. Those that cannot adapt to living for honor must instead live for wealth.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t see how this can work. It seems like it would be uneven and unfair no matter what happened.¡±


    Lord Loadstone said, ¡°Do hard workers die poor without medicine in Real? Money doesn¡¯t work. Money leads to corruption as certain as water makes things wet. Those with money use it to make more and claim to provide service when they allow others to do the work while they have all the goods. Honor works better but as you say, it is flawed. It probably wouldn¡¯t work in Real, it barely works in Fairy, yet it works better than money does in Real or Fairy.¡±


    I said to the proprietor, ¡°I would love to try your fish. I cannot say for sure that I¡¯ll be able to fix the passage into the bay.¡±


    The proprietor said, ¡°Of course not, your majesty. The sea does not take to everyone. None of the great lords here have been able to solve this.¡±


    #


    I dove into the water as an otter and explored the area they wanted cleared. Fish darted past but I was well fed from my meal at the seafood shop.


    None of this looked impossible but getting a gateway here was going to be an ordeal.


    As I swam, I felt a summons. ¡°King of Snipsnort, I summon thee.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t answer or even make an inquiry as an otter in the water so I took myself to the Fairyland where I was first abducted, turned into myself, and then took myself back to Snipsnort.


    I was in the center of the seven-way crossroads. ¡°Who is calling me?¡±


    She let me see. It was the woman I had been using as a model for making statues. ¡°Call me Goldie but call me to Snipsnort.¡±


    I looked around at the seven statues of her that were between each of the roads. I brought her to Snipsnort.


    She was even prettier in person.


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    She looked down at me, and then looked at the statues. She walked over to one and looked back at me. She squinted at me and then looked back at the statue.


    ¡°Thou art not in love with me.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know how to answer that.


    She walked to another statue. ¡°You do appreciate beauty though.¡±


    She turned to me. ¡°You are the King of Snipsnort, that made these statues, right?¡±


    I looked up at the statues and back at her. ¡°Are you going to steal them?¡±


    She smiled at me. ¡°Yes, little boy, I probably am.¡±


    I walked over to a statue and looked up at it. ¡°Good. I got them wrong. I didn¡¯t have enough to go by. You are a lot prettier than these statues. Don¡¯t worry, I want to do more statues of you now that I have seen you, but I won¡¯t. I should have gotten permission first. I¡¯ll just have to invent someone so I don¡¯t have to worry about offending them.


    ¡°If you want, I can probably arrange gateways to help move them where you want them. Some of the ones out on the bridge are a lot bigger.¡±


    She asked, ¡°And you will give them all to me?¡±


    I said, ¡°If I replace them with another figure, some folk will complain, but this way no one will think I have a creepy obsession with you. I¡¯m really sorry about all of this. A lot of folk get creeped out by us Goblins obsessing over them and stalking them. It¡¯s kind of a Goblin thing, but I understand why it would bother you. I¡¯ll try to make it clear that it was a passing thing and not bother you anymore. I¡¯ll tell them I don¡¯t really have a thing for you.¡±


    She put a hand out, looked at me, and then put it on the statue beside her. ¡°So this is mine with no complaint?¡±


    I winced. ¡°No, I kind of like it, but really I would do it over now that I have seen you. I mean, you are really pretty.¡±


    She got up on the pedestal and sat down. ¡°Make a proper one of me, for me to take, and I will forgive you.¡±


    I made a quick gossamer image of her sitting like she was on a pedestal of a statue of her only adjusted to match her better. After carefully made a few changes so it would hold up to time and have solid supports of the details, an increase in the depth of a few lines gave her eyes more dramatic darkness and enhanced some of the shadows. I gave her the face she made when she was looking at me with the puzzled expression that said, ¡°What am I going to do with you?¡± I added a bit more menace to it, kind of like the Queen of Shadows.


    She asked, ¡°Were you planning to make more statues of me?¡±


    I said, ¡°Sorry, I had this idea of making twelve lighthouses kind of like the Statue of Liberty but with more dramatic lines and your form. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll just look up lighthouses on the net and make them like they should be.¡±


    I shifted the materials of the gossamer statue a few times. ¡°What should I make it out of? I have been doing them in quartzite, but since it¡¯s the last one I will make of you, it should be something special. Should I make it out of ruby? We could do it in gold, but diamond or emerald would be pretty., too Probably a really dark ruby, but a dark emerald would still have the shadows perfect.¡±


    She winced and got up to look at the gossamer statue. ¡°Definitely not emerald. Definitely not. Not a dark one ever. No, let¡¯s not do any of those. Are you doing this on purpose?¡±


    I looked at the statue and adjusted it a bit more now that she was close. I made it as a dark pink mostly transparent star sapphire and looked up at her and back at the statue. ¡°Sorry, I have to look at you to get the details right, but don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not obsessed with you, and I will make it clear to everyone that I wasn¡¯t ever obsessed and I just thought you were pretty.¡±


    She raised her voice, ¡°Can you quit saying I am ¡®pretty.¡¯¡±


    I said, ¡°Sorry.¡±


    She said, ¡°There are better words to use. Beautiful is okay every now and then. Ravishing, gorgeous, and irresistible are good if you are just keeping things simple, but someone needs to gift you with some poetry so you can be a bit more evocative. ¡®Pretty,¡¯ makes it sound like I am barely attractive. Now as far as the obsession thing goes, the rumor is out that you saw a few images and became totally entranced by my beauty. If you ever let anyone know that you were not entirely smitten with me, I will hunt you down and make sure your life is ruined.


    ¡°Yes, I will take these and the other statues of me, but you have to replace them all with better statues of me and make copies of the replacements for me to take. When do you want me to pose for the lighthouses?¡±


    I said, ¡°It may be a few days, if I even survive it. They really don¡¯t care if I die. I guess Fairies wouldn¡¯t, since I will come here when I die. I need to find out which way this town on the edge of my realm is and then move a gateway all the way there. I don¡¯t know if I can keep a gateway going for thirty-one hours.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Why are you moving a gateway that far?¡±


    I said, ¡°Since gateways appear here at the center of the realm, I have to move them and keep them going while I move them.¡±


    She said, ¡°Fine. Show me where you need the gateway.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Can you make gateways?¡±


    She crouched in front of me. I felt a bit dazzled looking in her eyes. She put her arms around me. ¡°Remember that feeling whenever you describe me. That way you can put off telling them how absolutely devoted you are to me.¡±


    Gateways formed around us and she held me tight as we moved to other worlds. She let go and we were on a tower over a maze of a castle going to the horizon. A castle was above us, and some towers went all the way up and became towers on the upside down castle high above.


    She said, ¡°This is just one of my little getaways. Don¡¯t stray, this is a place you can easily get lost in.¡±


    She held me next to her. I hadn¡¯t been held like this in fifty years. Not since I was first taken through shadow. Not even then. I couldn¡¯t remember my mother ever holding me like this, but we Goblins are not taken from happy homes.


    She said, ¡°Let¡¯s find a place for the statues.¡±


    She shifted the gateway we were in, and we moved without moving while in the gateway we sailed through walls to a large courtyard.


    More gateways opened and the seven statues at the crossroads appeared shifted around and then settled into place.


    The gateways around us shifted, and we were back at the crossroads. My recently made gossamer statue was the only one there.


    I made an array of gossamer mirrors so I could see her. She hugged me one more time and let go.


    She asked, ¡°Infatuated now?¡±


    I made a gossamer image of her in gold holding me in silver. I put that in a large crystal sphere with lines and traces through it to try and show it as a gateway, but it really came out as looking like some sort of protective sphere. I adjusted it and made it look more magical and dramatic, but it still didn¡¯t evoke the look of a gateway.


    I set it up in one of the now empty spaces between the roads and made it with real materials.


    Then I improved the statue I had previously made of her sitting on a pedestal of a statue of her and put it in one of the places around the intersection.


    She smiled and clapped and with all the gossamer mirrors around I saw her full image as she did it and made a statue to match it. Now I was hungry.


    I summoned the proprietor of the shop where I had just eaten fish. ¡°Farren, can I bring the most beautiful guest to ever dine at your establishment to share a meal?¡±


    The proprietor said, ¡°I would be honored, your majesty.¡±


    #


    Sitting at a table in front of the shop I pointed out to the broken stone teeth the waves of the sea were crashing against.


    Distant lightning was flashing in the clouds far out over the sea.


    Goldie looked up and asked, ¡°Can we get the food to go?¡±


    #


    On the top of a hill in a meadow near the crossroads Goldie posed for me as I made statues. Some of them were models for larger works I would do later.


    Goldie got up to look at a huge statue I made of her lying on her side and looking down. I made the statue where it mostly looked like she was looking down at you wherever you stood.


    She walked to where the face was looking right down at her. ¡°It might be better if you didn¡¯t make a lighthouse that looks like me.¡±


    I said, ¡°I think I could make it structural.¡±


    She said, ¡°That¡¯s not the point, I don¡¯t think the sea likes me. Let¡¯s go see the other statues of me.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I will shadow step to the bridge and then summon you.¡±


    She held out her hand. ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to wait six hours.¡±


    #


    I took her hand, and she took us to a Fairyland with a wooden floor and a ping pong table. The sky was a collage of large glowing flowers drifting like low clouds.


    She said, ¡°Connect to this Fairyland. It was an experiment, and I¡¯m not sure I like it, so you can have it.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Are you giving me a Fairyland?¡±


    She smiled. ¡°You¡¯re my apprentice now. Here¡¯s what we are going to do. First off, you need to learn a few of the better gateway forms. The good stuff, all spells designed by the Dread Lord. Don¡¯t go sharing these with folk. Then you need to be able to seal them off, unravel them, and adjust their position properly. Don¡¯t worry about pay. I have a lot more places I want to put statues, and you have the means to make them.


    She held our her arms, and I was happy to be hugged. She gifted me several times. ¡°Now, Phil, here is what you say when they ask about me. Just tell them you love me. If they say that you can¡¯t trust me, just tell them they don¡¯t understand me the way you do. That¡¯s all you need to tell them. Don¡¯t tell them anything else.¡±


    I nodded and just snuggled into the warmth of the hug.


    #


    The Fairyland we were in was like a bubble more than a hundred feet across. Over a ten foot section of floor, I made a gateway and stood in it. I made a gateway to the crossroads in Snipsnort and started moving it. With our Fairyland in a gateway where the other end was in Snipsnort and only as big as a plate, everything looked huge as I stood at the edge of the gateway and moved it through Snipsnort. In less than a minute we were at the bridge and looking at a statue.


    Goldi said, ¡°This wooden floor won¡¯t support the statue. Alright, let¡¯s put the ping pong table and this floor in an empty Fairyland, and then we will want a stone floor. If I leave, can you use this to go fix the harbor quick, and then summon me?¡±


    She made a gateway and then another and shifted us to another Fairyland and then shifted the floor and the ping pong table to another world.


    We appeared to be floating among flowers drifting around us in all directions.


    She said, ¡°Make a gossamer floor.¡±


    I made a gossamer, but solid, quartz crystal floor filling the bottom half of the spherical world so we could still see the flowers drifting below.


    Goldie shifted gateways and we were standing on the gossamer. ¡°As long as no one pulls any pranks on us, we will be fine. I guess for safety¡¯s sake, in case someone bad dispels the gossamer floor, I need to teach you to fly and control gravity. Still, I can¡¯t have my apprentice seeming like a total newb.¡±


    She took me in her arms again and gifted me. I just snuggled in. She smelled like roses.


    #


    I had to adjust the floor several times to accommodate all the different statues as we moved them, replaced then and made more.


    She never tired of posing and having statues made of her until she gestured for me to be gifted, and I fell asleep in her arms.


    #


    I woke up and I was being held in the lap of a different woman who was stroking my hair.


    She stopped stroking my hair. ¡°Goldilocks was being summoned so she left you with me.¡±


    She pointed. ¡°The bathrooms are that way.¡±


    I got up and walked to the bathroom. I looked back and the lady smiled at me and waved. I was more than a little embarrassed by this.


    I came back into the room and she offered me a bowl of melon, an omelet and some fish. I sat beside her. ¡°I¡¯m Phil.¡±


    She said, ¡°Yes, King of Snipsnort. I¡¯m Grady. Are you really a Goblin?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Pretty much. I had my ears fixed so I would fit in better.¡±


    Grady said, ¡°I¡¯m an Ogress.¡±


    I offered my hand. ¡°Pleased to meet you.¡±


    She gave me a bright smile and shook my hand. ¡°You aren¡¯t the least bit scared. Are you that trusting?¡±


    I said, ¡°The stories about Goblin¡¯s don¡¯t make us sound like heroes. I guess we really do steal children, but only ones that are better off stolen. Do ogres really eat people?¡±


    She smiled, ¡°Yes, we do, but not friends. Some people need to be eaten.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Have you known Goldie long?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Goldilocks said you are her apprentice.¡±


    Since Goldie had given me instructions on what she wanted me to say, I said, ¡°I love her and no one else understands her the way I do.¡±


    Grady said, ¡°That¡¯s a bit scary. You know that I love a good puzzle more than anything else. Do you fall in love easily?¡±


    I looked at her and asked, ¡°Can I make a statue in your likeness?¡±


    She asked me, ¡°Really?¡±


    I said, ¡°I have a place where I want to make some lighthouses, and I want to make one that looks like you.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Are you in love with me?¡±


    I didn¡¯t answer. Something about waking up with her holding me made me feel like maybe I did love her. Thinking about it, I loved my sister, Dutchess Byebye, and she had hugged me. Now I felt something like that with Goldie and with this lady that I had just been held by.


    I decided I should probably be careful who I let hug me if I was going to be this easy.

 B3-3 My Enemy鈥檚 Enemies

    On the cliffs near the lighthouse statue of Grady, I¡¯d made several practice statues of her before choosing the final form.


    Grady and Lord Loadstone had gone down the path to the lighthouse so they could climb up the stairs inside and explore the insides of the statue. My next statue was going to be as tall, but much larger. I was going to make a statue of Grady lying on her side looking out to sea with her head on her arm and a hat tilted so there was a good place for the signal fire.


    The sea was calm so maybe it didn¡¯t have an issue with Grady.


    Dutchess Byebye summoned me. ¡°Where are you?¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m at the new lighthouse. Want to see it?¡±


    I brought Byebye to me. She looked up at the lighthouse, ran to the edge of the cliff, and shouted, ¡°Can you make a statue of me?¡±


    I shouted, ¡°You want to be a lighthouse?¡±


    She twisted around trying to look at her back and then said, ¡°No, ¡®cause then everyone will be looking up at my butt.¡±


    I made a gossamer image of her beside one of the statues of Grady.


    Dutchess Byebye ran back over and said, ¡°Make mine taller than hers.¡±


    I asked, ¡°So people can get behind it and look up at your butt?¡±


    She narrowed her eyes at me. ¡°Okay, make it like you have it there.¡±


    I said, ¡°The lighthouse has stairs that you can use to climb up to the top. Flying is no fair.¡±


    She grinned and ran off down the trail to the statue. I made the statue of Byebye in real materials and set up a few gateways to unload boulders with. Inside a Fairyland that Goldie used to move things, I shifted one of the gateways to quickly cross over to the bay and descend to the bottom.


    I cleaned out the entrance to the bay. Moving the boulders, gravel, sil,t sand, and rocks was easy enough. Arranging the materials in an artistic fashion was more complicated. I wanted everything stable, and I wanted a dry place where someone could take shelter from the rain. It took me several hours before I was satisfied.


    I had cheated a bit by making a few extra boulders in the right shape so the jumble of rocks would be stable. Grady, Lady Anteater, and Dutchess Byebye applauded when I finished.


    Lady Anteater said, ¡°Can you put my likeness on the new amphitheater?¡±


    Dutchess Byebye pushed her. ¡°No, he can¡¯t and no one is going to call it the anteater instead of the amphitheater.¡±


    I said, ¡°If you¡¯ll pose for me and let me use your likeness in statues, I might make several likenesses of you. But I would rather hide them so that you¡¯d have to find them over time. It¡¯s not even a game if I put them right at the amphitheater.¡±


    Anteater, Grady, and Byebye posed for me as I made illusions and then several small stone figures to use as models later. I was feeling sore in my arm where I had the injury in two of my forms from Archer shooting me. I felt pain from my neck and wrist where The Sinful One had bitten me.


    ¡°Has anyone ever felt pain from when they were injured in another form?¡±


    Grady said, ¡°That would be your etheric body trying to heal the damage. How badly were you hurt?¡±


    I said, ¡°It¡¯s not lethal but I have a crossbow bolt wound in my arm in two forms.¡±


    Grady nodded. ¡°Sounds about right. You¡¯ll probably mend over time. Some folk do, but you should see a good doctor who knows about this sort of thing. I learned medicine in the thirteen hundreds, but I wouldn¡¯t try to practice it today.¡±


    She held out her hand. ¡°I know a doctor that is pretty good.¡±


    I took her hand, and she took us to another world.


    #


    The world had retaining walls and scaffolding. The ground was concrete and brick rubble and broken tiles mixed with bits of pottery and crushed rocks. Three shipping containers with open sides were arranged around a wooden platform built around a large boulder that was partially carved into the form of a sleeping dragon.


    A solidly-built woman stood up. ¡°Grady, you just brought a Fairy King here. Are you trying to destroy everything?¡±


    Grady said, ¡°I just saw him create a lighthouse with more mass than we have. He¡¯s not going to rob us. And in case you didn¡¯t notice, he trusts me enough to hold my hand.¡±


    The solidly-built lady said, ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t mean to make you uncomfortable or start a fight, we don¡¯t get a lot of visitors. I¡¯m Maud.¡±


    I held out my hand. She smiled and shook it. ¡°You know that we are both Ogres?¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m Phil, a Goblin. Is there bad blood between Ogres and Goblins?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Bravest Fairy King ever. Grady, where did you find this guy?¡±


    Grady said, ¡°He¡¯s injured in another form. He¡¯s King Snipsnort.¡±


    Maud said, ¡°Explains a lot. If he can hang out with that crew, he might not be scared of Ogres.¡±


    Maud asked, ¡°Can I see the injury?¡±


    I glanced between them and turned into me with the wound made worse by ripping the arrow out while it was locked in a vise. If anything it hurt worse now than when I first got it.


    Faster than I could see, she moved and held my arm solidly in place. I startled but she had a firm hold on my arm so I didn¡¯t hurt myself moving. She closed her eyes and started mumbling in a language I couldn¡¯t identify.


    #


    I woke up with my head Grady¡¯s lap.


    Maud asked, ¡°How¡¯d you get hurt?¡±


    I examined my newly healed arm. ¡°A fellow I used to call Uncle Archer shot me with a big crossbow. I transformed but the crossbow bolt stayed in my arm. I managed to lock the crossbow bolt in a vise so I could just drop and get the bolt out. Then an evil djinn chewed on my throat and wrist in a few forms.¡±


    Maud asked, ¡°Is Archer dead?¡±


    I shook my head.


    Maud asked, ¡°Do you think he will try to kill you again?¡±


    I nodded.


    Maud said, ¡°Well, then, as your doctor, I must remind you that we never discussed payment.¡±


    I winced.


    Maud said, ¡°Next time Archer is near you, summon me. That is the debt you owe me. Now turn into your other damaged forms.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯ll bleed all over Grady. Archer¡¯s dangerous. He¡¯s a deadly shot. I dove in fast as a rook and was ready to transform and go to shadow as soon as I grabbed a statue. He made an instant shot in a direction he wasn¡¯t planning to and still hit me in the arm.¡±


    Maud nodded. ¡°He wanted you unable to transform. He was playing with you. You managed to transform anyway. His next chance to shoot you will be lethal. Summon me the second you think he is near.¡±


    Grady kissed my forehead and then got up and laid my head down on the deck. Memories started coming to me. I had been gifted with something. Fight scene after fight scene.


    As battles flashed in my mind¡¯s eye, Maud touched my shoulder and shook me. ¡°Transform so I can mend you.¡±


    I turned into me still damaged as the battles in my head played. As I drifted off, I dreamed about battle. In the distance as I watched fight after fight, I heard Maud asking me to change into my hurt forms.


    #


    I woke up with my head in Maud¡¯s lap.


    Maud smiled. ¡°You¡¯re not scared of me?¡±


    I sat up. ¡°Most Goblins don¡¯t realize it, but we, too, are killing machines. I heard a story ages ago that the noble Elves of old were raised by Goblins made to care for children that no one else could love. We were friends, companions, caregivers, and slaves to a race that had grown from our stock before modifying us to better serve them.


    ¡°The story didn¡¯t say so, but it was pretty clear to me that the caretakers would have to be able to defend those horrid brats. There are things I think I can do that I don¡¯t think most Goblins even contemplate. Most of us ignore the physics of what we do.¡±


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Maud asked, ¡°Do you have a fast way of killing?¡±


    I winced. ¡°Maybe. I don¡¯t really want to test my theories.¡±


    Maud said, ¡°If Archer beats me, you will need to test your theories or continue fleeing forever.¡±


    I thought about all the battles I remembered and dreamed. There were faces in those battles. Some faces appeared more than once. Archer was in some of those battles and so was Hubert. A lot of battles ended with retreats. Archer used projectiles. He was never at the front of the battle. Some battles started after he started firing. While I wouldn¡¯t want Archer in a battle against me, having him on my side might be worse. Archer got people killed.


    I took a deep breath. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I know how to find him. Are you sure you don¡¯t just want me to try and take him out?¡±


    Maud shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re new to this. Without a commitment to killing, you might not ever become old at this. We have better odds if we tag team and I go first. I want to live in a world without Archer.


    ¡°I want to live in a world without several monsters who make decent life hard and exploit those who don¡¯t know them for who they are. I would rather not live in a world where I ignored the injustice of their having lived so long while destroying so many.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I will lose, but if I do, you¡¯ll know that you have to play your hand to win. If Archer¡¯s going to come for you, you need to be resolved. In this game there is no fair. There is only the price you¡¯re willing to pay for victory or the price you¡¯ll continue to pay by running away.¡±


    More memories came up. More battles. As I started to make sense of it all, I realized that my point of view was not from the same person in all of these battles. The memories and view that I saw from were not from heroes. The were from people who enjoyed killing and who did not fight fair if they didn¡¯t have to.


    I slept and dreamed of war.


    #


    I woke up hungry. I was on a couch in a room with plastic covering all the other furniture. I got up and looked out the window. The yard and garden had not been managed for a few years. I looked around for the bathroom and discovered the water wasn¡¯t turned on.


    I shadow stepped and found a wooded area where I could have privacy before I found a stream I could bath in. It was nice having another form where I could keep my shoes while swimming.


    I shadow stepped down a road until I came to a sign: LA NEUVILLE en HEZ.


    I didn¡¯t know where I was or if I could even find a meal there or pay for it. Just in case, I took the time to place a gateway to one of the Fairylands Goldilocks gave me for moving things around with. I set it up to be nearly shut down so you would have to use one of my shadow tricks to enter it. What I wanted was boudain and lots of it, so I went to the Fairyland that first abducted me and stepped out near Roland Hubert¡¯s place.


    It was dark so most of my food plans were probably ruined. I didn¡¯t want to wake anyone, so my options were bleak. I shadow stepped to my room and checked the time. Five in the morning.


    I went to a bait shop and got some frozen boudain, five pounds of shrimp, bread, milk, butter, brown sugar, and eggs.


    #


    In Hubert¡¯s mansion in Louisiana, I was making French toast. I was trying to thaw the boudain, but it wasn¡¯t cooperating. We had cleared out the kitchen of everything that was going to go bad, so my options were limited.


    I took out my phone since Caerwyn was calling. ¡°Phil, saw the lights on and figured I would see if it was you.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Caerwyn, want some French toast?¡±


    Caerwyn answered, ¡°I¡¯ll be right over.¡±


    #


    Caerwyn was looking at the boudain I was thawing and then gestured to the pot of shrimp I was cooking. ¡°Man, you are the king of a Fairyland, and you come here to cook.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m the king of Three Fairylands and have connections to several others. But I don¡¯t really think I can barge in early and insist on being fed.¡±


    Caerwyn sat back down and watched me wash dishes. ¡°And you wash your own dishes. You got some bad habits. Do they disrespect you that much in Fairy?¡±


    I paused rinsing. ¡°Snipsnort would feed me. I¡¯m polite and I don¡¯t refuse a meal offered, but I feel bad about showing up at someone¡¯s place around suppertime. I might be doing a kindness by eating at a place, but it still feels odd. I think kings have to be the sort that expect to be fed and think you¡¯re doing them a favor by letting them feed you.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°What about the other Fairylands?¡±


    I started counting fingers. ¡°One is a place of death. Not a good place for getting food. One is Fairy Dynamics. It used to be a business. Now I¡¯m not sure what it is. I was considering making it home and setting up a place for you and your mother to stay, but I haven¡¯t really checked it out. Then there is the Fairyland that first abducted me. It isn¡¯t mine so I just use it to come here. Then there¡¯s the place with the cave and the place with the cherry trees. I also have a collection of Fairylands that Goldie gave me so I could move things around.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Can we visit them?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Sure, anytime.¡±


    Caerwyn gave me a grimace. ¡°If you can recall, I don¡¯t get out much. I mean, can we go right now?¡±


    I said, ¡°Let me finish cleaning up, and then I need to put the boudain in the refrigerator and store these shrimp.¡±


    #


    The cherry trees were in full bloom in the Fairyland with the barn and cherries. We went into the barn, and I opened the gateway to the Fairyland with the cave.


    Inside the large cave there was a large armored spider excavator. It had two arms and six legs with wheels. The cab had room for two people. Around the excavator were metal sculptures. There was a large steel frame with a hoist at the top and a heavy iron kinetic sculpture hanging from a large chain.


    There were sparks and flashes of light coming from behind a cluster of racks filled with large sheets of metal and long rods of various sizes. Heavy metal music was coming from the excavator.


    In Fairy speech, Caerwyn thought to me, ¡°It¡¯s too loud for anyone to hear you.¡±


    The sparks stopped and a woman about my height, but much more heavily set, came out from behind the racks. She was wearing a leather apron and had a welding mask raised up on the top of her head.


    She walked to the excavator and climbed up to the open door and reached inside. The music stopped.


    ¡°Well then, art thou King Snipsnort and Caerwyn Nelson?¡±


    We nodded.


    She smiled showing large teeth and pointed to herself. ¡°Feile Griff. I took up the challenge, and I rather like it, but why do you want sculptures that create plasmons?¡±


    I looked at Caerwyn, Caerwyn looked back at me.


    Feile said, ¡°Well, even if it is nonsensical, making sculptures that create negative mass, phonons and polarons is quite a challenge. Fun part is the whole color thing. See the large red flower sculpture? It would be gold if the colors were normal. Are you going to take the excavator away when you take the sculptures? I will miss it. It¡¯s come in handy moving these things around.¡±


    She gestured for us to follow her. We went back to the area she was assembling sculptures in. There was a setup like the bell thing that Archer made to detect things that resonated for Hubert. It was modified, but the basic configuration was easy to identify.


    She gestured to a display with the image of the finished sculpture she was making. ¡°Anyway, take all the ones out there and then tell me which ones you like the most. I will try to improve them. Even though this feels like we¡¯re on the edge of being daft, I really like making sculptures that have qualities that no one can see and that might not even exist.


    ¡°This is pure art like no other. This is like making GADS-influenced art without having GADS.¡±


    I looked at Caerwyn since he nodded like he understood what she was saying.


    I think she took my look and Caerwyn¡¯s look wrong.


    She looks at me with a sympathetic look. ¡°Do you do art?¡±


    I say, ¡°Sculpture, mostly with gossamer prototypes.¡±


    She looked at me and nodded in an understanding way. ¡°Well, that explains your requests. I hope you don¡¯t regret commissioning my art after you get well. Are you making progress?¡±


    I gave her a weak smile and nodded.


    She asked me, ¡°Is it rude for me to ask what you saw in Fairy that influenced your change in art?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I saw some pictures in Real. Then I met her in Fairy.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Who?¡±


    I said, ¡°Goldilocks. She made me her apprentice. Now I am redoing all my sculptures.¡±


    She gave Caerwyn a look.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Yes, the real Goldilocks.¡±


    She winced. ¡°You know you can¡¯t trust her.¡±


    I said, ¡°I love her and no one else understands her the way I do.¡±


    Again Feile winced.


    I looked at the excavator and realized I didn¡¯t know how to operate it, and I wasn¡¯t sure about working it in tandem with someone. ¡°Feile, I will probably need the excavator later, but for now, I can leave it here.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Thanks.¡±


    A lot of the sculptures were not going to fit in the manor house, so I opened one of the Fairylands Goldilocks provided for storing sculptures in and set it up to transfer the sculptures.


    Then with another Gateway sliding around I shifted the sculptures to the intermediary Fairyland and then the storage Fairyland.


    As I worked, I brought Caerwyn into the intermediary Fairyland and closed the gateway to the cave Fairyland and then felt the cave Fairyland speed up. I took the red flower looking sculpture to the manor house. Caerwyn and I looked at it for a moment.


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Is it me or is this really ugly?¡±


    I said, ¡°I thought they were all bit off. I was gifted classical sculpture and just a smattering of modern. Only up to the Art Deco era. I don¡¯t really understand this stuff. Caerwyn, what is the GADS thing she was talking about?¡±


    Caerwyn smiled at me. ¡°You did a great job of looking like you have it, but I don¡¯t think you¡¯re even close. Gossamer Art Derangement Syndrome is where you see or hear something in Fairy and it obsesses you. A lot of artists have glimpsed things, and then went kind of crazy as they pursued it. I don''t think it describes you.¡±


    Anthony came running into the room. ¡°Hubert collapsed, I think it is bad. Something has gone wrong.¡±


    I looked at the flower and then put it back into the intermediary world. I froze time on the workshop in the cave Fairyland and then shadow stepped through the manor until I found Hubert in the kitchen trying to stand up. I didn¡¯t have a way to help him, and I suspected Feile might have done something horrid. I went to the intermediary Fairyland and shifted the gateway in the Cave Fairyland to a small portal that would let me view. Fiele was gone and so was the excavator. The equipment she was using to make sculptures with was gone.


    I started to summon Nia Gray. Then I stopped. She was cold the last time I saw her. Last time I met with any of that crew, I was nearly killed. We gave them weapons and tools that Archer had made and then they cut off all connections.


    I thought about it. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I obtained the equipment to save Hubert on my own and was in a situation where I would probably die. I was given a world of death, that saved me, but maybe it wasn¡¯t intended to work out the way it did. They gave me a lot of things, but maybe they were trying to kill Hubert.


    Solving this sort of thing wasn¡¯t what I did. I feared that I had a collection of sculptures toxic to Hubert and there was a sculptor out there that knew how to make more. The circle of people I could trust was small.


    I needed to be certain before I moved, and I had little that I could be certain of. Despite what everyone said, I knew I could trust Goldilocks. I knew two Ogresses that I could trust. Dutchess Byebye and Lord Loadstone were on the list of those I could trust.


    I went back to the manor house to see if I was jumping to conclusions.


    From shadow I heard them talking.


    Mr. Hubert said. ¡°Yes, I think the harmonic attack that turned us to stone has been incorporated into a resonate item. Fortunately, I was not near it and I had not yet opened myself to its resonant field. It seems that what has kept me safe and alive for all this time is now a danger to me.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°It is easy enough for us to make more resonance detectors. The question is how do we determine if something is trapped?¡±


    Anthony said, ¡°Caerwyn, you mentioned a female dwarf. Roland, did you ever meet a female dwarf?¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°I have heard of them, never met one. No reason why one would be my enemy. I need to think about how to safely test the other sculptures.¡±


    Sitting in shadow was not going to solve anything, and I didn¡¯t want to risk Caerwyn, Anthony, or Hubert in any of this. Snipsnort could get along without me. Duchess Byebye would get by well enough without me, and my Goblin family was in as good a shape as a Goblin family can be. I had few ties, so it was time for me to find out if my ideas about Goblins were true.


    When I heard the stories about Goblins being bred to care for the horrid children of noble Elves, it had come to me that they would also need to be able to defend those evil brats. It also came to me that it was likely that the methods revealed themselves only in extreme circumstances. I also feared that those methods took the lives of Goblins that used them. That might be the only way that such secrets would remain secret.


    I tried to bring myself to a rage thinking about the danger Hubert was in, but nothing came to me. I needed more information. The earliest stories that my Goblin Family told were set in France, so I probably needed to start there.

 B3-4 Gossamer Art Derangement Syndrome (G.A.D.S.)

    I summoned the pharmacist in China and went to Shenzhen. I asked the pharmacist where I could get money exchanged before I went out into the streets. I shadow stepped while avoiding wards and found a place to hide a gateway. Then I went to the money exchange.


    At the same brick paved intersection I was able to exchange money, get a wonderful meal, buy snacks, and find what I was looking for. As I stepped out with as much takeout food as I could carry from the cafe across from the money exchange, I saw two Daemon ladies stepping out of the exchange.


    I smiled at them but they didn¡¯t notice me. They walked down the street so I followed them at a distance.


    I followed them for a good while before a male Daemon addressed me in English. ¡°Boy, you¡¯re not in lust, love, or anger, so why are you following the ladies?¡±


    I turned and the handsome oriental gentleman radiated warmth and wealth.


    I bowed and answered in Mandarin, ¡°I was looking for a gentleman of your great distinction. I made the assumption that if I followed such lovely ladies I might encounter such.¡±


    He said, ¡°Well spoken, but there is a hint of distraction and twist to your words. Before I shoo you off, tell me what you are seeking. My eyes are open, and I am considered fast by my compatriots so please tell the truth.¡±


    I bowed and smiled again. ¡°I am looking for the name of someone who would answer a summons. Someone who dwells in France. I seek a fast passage to that country.¡±


    He smiled at me. ¡°I am at a loss to discern what sort of being I am talking with.¡±


    I bowed again. ¡°As you are what you are, I am what I am. It all gets complicated as we inquire further, and many of us treasure discretion. I am in a position to reward someone who did me a service, but at this moment I would like to maintain anonymity.¡±


    He shifted position. I knew that stance from the memories of battles that I had seen recently so I took off to shadows. He was now in a low stance and making gestures that were clearly to call on magic. There was no point in staying around.


    #


    I placed a gateway in a spot with good shadows and considered what I was doing. I wondered about shadow stepping to France. If I started in the morning and the weather was good, I could travel with the sun. I went into the electronics market and found a place to setup my laptop and look at maps. Looking at France, I noticed a few towns that started with the word ¡°La,¡± so I typed in the name of the place I had set a gateway at when I was lost: LA NEUVILLE en HEZ.


    I had a gateway in France, but I didn¡¯t speak the language. If I was going to try and get information from the local Goblins, I would need to learn the language first. I decided to try and find some Goblins first before I tried to find someone to gift me with French.


    I looked up as a very young Chinese girl sat at the counter beside me. In English, she asked, ¡°Child of Shadow?¡±


    I looked at her ears, and she widened her eyes. ¡°Felt you passing by. Knew you were here. This was the best place to sit.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What language do you prefer?¡±


    She said, ¡°Sichuanese.¡±


    In Sichuanese, I asked, ¡°Do you know old legends?¡±


    She answered, ¡°That is all I know well. How did you become a Shadow Child?¡±


    I said, ¡°My family didn¡¯t have the time or money for me.¡±


    She said, ¡°Older brothers?¡±


    I said, ¡°Only child.¡±


    She gave me a strange look. ¡°America. Here a boy would matter. Most of the Shadow Children in China are girls.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Are there legends of Shadow Children fighting?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°We fall together. Sometimes we catch ourselves in the treetops and our enemy falls. I have not done it, but I have considered it.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Any fights with more powerful beings?¡±


    She leaned in and looked at the laptop I was using. ¡°Mostly they come out of shadow with swords. Shadow Children have learned secrets and turned enemies on each other.


    ¡°Are you rich?¡±


    I was being summoned. ¡°Skins calling King Snipsnort and inviting him to play music.¡±


    I closed my laptop and held it under my arm and took a bundle of Chinese cash out of my pocket. ¡°I get by. Sorry, I have another conversation. Skins, bring me through.¡±


    I handed the girl a small stack of Chinese money as Skins brought me to him.


    #


    In an office with windows all around and fenced gates that could be opened, Roy was with Skins. The little girl had held on to me, and she was here, too. I was looking for Goblin legends, and these were the oldest Goblins I knew.


    Roy asked, ¡°Wild Boy, who¡¯s the girl?¡±


    She slipped into shadow and left.


    I asked, ¡°Where are we?¡±


    Roy said, ¡°New York.¡±


    I looked at my empty hand. ¡°She¡¯s from China. She has a decent amount of cash, but it is Chinese. I don¡¯t know how far she will get.¡±


    Then I looked at Roy and realized I might be among enemies. I was going to have to play this carefully and be ready to run. ¡°Skins, are we playing here?¡±


    Skins said, ¡°It¡¯s a slow day for Roy, so I came to keep him entertained. We were talking about your rhythms, so we decided to see if you were available to play.¡±


    There was a good shadow across me, cast by the frame of a window, so I decided to see if I could get a reaction and know where I stood. ¡°Sirs, I may be trouble. I¡¯m caught in a war between Titans, and I don¡¯t think I¡¯m safe.¡±


    That got their attention, but they didn¡¯t look like I had set them off or exposed them.


    Roy asked, ¡°Who¡¯s after you?¡±


    I said, ¡°I think I was useful for a bit, but now I¡¯m in the way of the Shadows Queen.¡±


    That got both of their attention. Skins shifted his hand. I knew the gesture, it was a Goblin gesture, and it was often used as a warning, but it was also used as a threat. The gesture meant, ¡°Run fast, change your name, and never trust shadows again.¡±


    I nodded and took myself to Snipsnort.


    #


    In the seven-way crossroads surrounded by statues of Goldilocks, I didn¡¯t know which way to go. I needed to find a safe place for Hubert. Fairies associated with Nia Gray had made an extension on the manor that Hubert was in. Nia Gray was the Goblin girl I had returned the purse to, and she worked for the Shadows Queen. I needed to warn Hubert. I needed to find a safe place for him. I sped up the Fairyland and shadow stepped to the manor.


    #


    Outside the manor, Effa the Goblin girl who was with Nia Gray the first time I met her was sitting on the hillside.


    I smiled and waved as I thought. If Effa was here outside the manor, anyone could be inside. My speeding time in the Fairyland only protected us from things on the outside. If they were inside already, my options were few. Anthony, Caerwyn, and Hubert could all be in trouble. I went to the Fairyland where I had first been abducted and froze time on Snipsnort. I didn¡¯t know what might have happened in the manor house, but what was done was done. To be able to manage what I could, I needed to up my game. I needed to up it a lot.


    #


    In the real world, I was rushing through shadows to get as far from anyone as I could possibly get. I shadow stepped deep into the swamp. There were places in the swamp that no one went. Places where cabins had been built and forgotten. Places where the hunting toys of a man who had gotten old or passed away were largely forgotten. Hunting blinds and shacks set up and abandoned. I was looking for one of those so I could spend a few days and recover from dehydration, stress, injury, and exhaustion.


    I need to up my game, but first I needed to get my game back. I found a nice wooded isle with weeds grown up around a flat bottomed boat and a pier that was perfect for fishing from. Apart from my footprints and a few raccoon prints, the soil showed no signs of recent visitors. I was going to leave it clean and not take anything, so I figured I could borrow it for a while. I set up a gateway and walked out onto the pier.


    Goldilocks summoned me, ¡°Phil, darling Phil, this is Goldilocks. Can you come visit me?¡±


    I went to where she was.


    #


    I had to shift forms to me clean and in nice clothing quickly. She was in a fancy department store looking at a jewelry counter.


    She turned to me and crouched down to hug me. ¡°My darling Phil. How did you ever convince people that you where experiencing GADS after seeing me. You wonderful boy. Everyone is talking about it. I mean, there is smitten, obsessed, and hopelessly in love, but having GADS over me is the best ever!


    ¡°So we need to take you to get some serious art gifting, not just the normal plain old art gifting, I mean Dutch Old Masters and the like. If we¡¯re going to pull this off, your wonderful sculptures are going to have to get way more dramatic.¡±


    I realized that with Caerwyn frozen in Snipsnort, there was only one way that she could have heard about GADS and me. Feile Griff, the woman who had almost managed to kill Hubert, had talked to someone.


    Goldilocks held me at arm¡¯s distance and said, ¡°Wow, that is a sudden change. Who are we trying to kill?¡±


    I said, ¡°You may not want to be involved in this. I don¡¯t want you in danger, and the people I may be facing are as dangerous as they come. Where did you hear about me and GADS?¡±


    She gave me a serious look. ¡°I was summoned by a friend and she told me. I haven¡¯t seen this side of you before. What happened?¡±


    I said, ¡°A friend of mine was almost killed by the woman who is the only possible source for the story about my GADS. She ran and took off with some equipment¡ª¡± I realized just then that if the armored spider excavator was for me, and she ran off with it, I was probably not facing a battle with the Shadows Queen. I couldn¡¯t be entirely certain, but there was more to this than I thought.


    Goldilocks looked closely at me. ¡°Wow, all sort of confusing depths in my apprentice. I really, really need to get you trained. As far as I know the source of the story was from a Dwarf named Feile Griff, don¡¯t even think about getting any art lessons from her. We want classic and modern lin,es but we want them bold and wild, not confusing and disturbed.


    ¡°I wonder if she has GADS and is projecting. Doesn¡¯t really matter, you just gave me the best brag ever and now we need to be able to keep it going!¡±


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    She looked at me and then put her hand on my forehead. ¡°Are you okay? You don¡¯t feel feverish.¡±


    I said, ¡°A lot has happened in too short a time. I have been healed, and I am mostly good, but I haven¡¯t had a chance to recuperate.¡±


    She said, ¡°Silly apprentice, follow me.¡±


    She led me up a few escalators and then purchased several beds. She got sheets and blankets and pillows. She looked around and pointed to an embarrassing long pillow with a cartoon girl¡¯s figure on it. ¡°We need to get one for you with my likeness.¡±


    I shook my head.


    She said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to sleep with it, it¡¯s just to maintain the story.¡±


    I shook my head again.


    She pouted at me. She was still beautiful even when she pouted, but I still shook my head.


    She sighed. ¡°Well, be that way. So here is the thing. We will set you up with a nice little Fairyland, and you can speed time and rest there. Nothing fancy, but it would be nice if you made a few statues of me for your bedroom.¡±


    I said, ¡°No. No statues in the bedroom. How could a boy possibly sleep with your image in the room?¡±


    She smiled. ¡°Perfect. You¡¯re absolutely perfect.¡±


    Goldilocks distracted the staff while I used a gateway to take our purchases.


    I asked, ¡°Can we summon your friend so I can track down Feile?¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Get some rest. Summon me in thirty minutes, but make sure you are in good health first. We¡¯ll set you up with a good Fairyland for this later. Right now, just use what you have.¡±


    I didn¡¯t bother to set up a bed. I just put a mattress down in a storage world and used one of the pillows. I slept and got up. I realized that I had just slept surrounded by sculptures of Goldilocks. I went to the island with the cabin on it so I could relieve my bladder. I had just finished when I felt someone slide through shadow nearby. I walked around to the front of the cabin, and a young woman was sitting on the pier.


    Most Goblins keep growing baby teeth. I still had some of my first baby teeth when I became a Goblin. I have had most of the adult teeth that came in fall out and baby teeth have replaced them. My mouth is a bit awkward but in another thirty years, I¡¯ll probably have a full set of baby teeth, and my dental issues will probably be okay. That happens for most Goblins. It didn¡¯t happen for this girl. She had extra teeth come in and push teeth in odd angles. She had scars. She was wearing a T-shirt and shorts, but she was wet so I could see she was wearing a swimsuit under that.


    I¡¯m not an adolescent yet, so I don¡¯t turn into an idiot around girls. Most Goblins can take or leave the opposite sex anyway. Not all, but a lot of us can. I don¡¯t think this young lady had to worry about much attention. She had clearly had a rough life.


    She smiled at me. ¡°I was three hundred a year ago. I noticed you about twenty years ago while you were working trout lines. Now everyone has noticed you, and everyone is trying to have you do their bidding. They can wait in line. I saw you first.¡±


    I sat down on the pier a distance from her. The nice thing about a good pier is that you can easily slide into shadow on one. The girl had a scary vibe.


    She said, ¡°So first off, don¡¯t kill the Dwarf girl. She¡¯s a fool. Steal her computer, steal the stuff attached to the computer, but don¡¯t worry about the art. Don¡¯t worry about the Shadow Queen, she¡¯s beset by prophets trying to twist her fate, just as you are. She¡¯s on your side, but she can¡¯t plan past all the twists and turns, and her advisers are distracted by their own issues.


    ¡°Soon you have the advantage, soon you will have two prophets smoothing your path. Soon your path will be uphill brambles, a much easier climb than you would otherwise face.


    ¡°The thing you have to worry about is the one with the bow. Listen to his half-truths, and he will tell you more than he knows himself. Don¡¯t kill him. You will wish you had but don¡¯t. Wheels have to turn, and he¡¯s one of the ones that has to turn them. You have bigger enemies.¡±


    I looked down at the water my feet were making ripples in. As I spoke, she said my words just before I said them. ¡°How do you know this, why, how?¡±


    ¡°Phil, those who see what might be eventually start trying to choose what might be. There¡¯s a battle going on and you are the wild card that will decide who wins the pot.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What side are you on?¡±


    She pointed out to the water. A fish jumped. ¡°Your side. You¡¯ll know it soon, though you have no reason to believe it now. For now, bring me fish to eat from your Fairy kingdom.¡±


    I looked out to the trees. ¡°Do you want to die?¡±


    She slid into the water and went under. She stood up and brushed the water from her face with a single stroke of her hand. ¡°Your fish will not kill me, but yes, I do. I die coughing in two years if I don¡¯t die as a hero first. Not much of a hero as these things are measured, but unless you count vision as a decent helping, my measure has always been from the bottom.¡±


    I winced at the thought of her death. She kicked the water with her bare feet. ¡°Don¡¯t you think three hundred years is enough? Three hundred years of seeing the future and knowing it never quite pans out. For poor Etta, it just gets worse from here. You have possibilities, you can change things. I die coughing if I don¡¯t die sooner. I would rather die a meaningful death.


    ¡°Bring me fish then rest. For now, Phil, only kill those who try to possess you. You have a busy day ahead of you.


    I asked, ¡°Your name is Etta?¡±


    She said, ¡°Call me ¡®Swamp Witch¡± or call me ¡®Swampy,¡¯ when you have time. Right now, go.¡±


    I sped Snipsnort back up and went there.


    #


    Both the cats were waiting.


    Fuzzy said. ¡°There are strangers inside the manor. Get them out.¡±


    White Gloves looked away as if I was a thing of disgust before disappearing into shadow. Fuzzy disappeared right after so I was alone at the intersection. I sped time and went to the manor.


    Effa was sitting by the walk and stood as I started walking up from the woods I had shadow stepped to. ¡°Good to see you Phil.¡±


    I smiled. Etta had said that I could trust the Queen of Shadows, or at least that she was on my side. At this point, I still didn¡¯t know for sure and I wasn¡¯t entirely sure about Etta. If Etta could be trusted that the Queen of Shadows could be trusted then perhaps I could trust Effa.


    I said, ¡°It¡¯s a bit hard for me to know who I can trust right now.¡±


    Effa nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t have a good way to assure you.¡±


    I said, ¡°Unfortunate.¡±


    Effa said, ¡°Please don¡¯t kill anyone.¡±


    I realized I might not have time if anything was happening to Hubert, so I left her without saying goodbye.


    Hubert was in the largest chamber of the manor house, and there were cables running from patches on him to equipment surrounding him. Caerwyn was arguing with a short stocky man. Around them, Goblins were busy running cables.


    Anthony said to me, ¡°Phil, you know how Hubert likes his kitchen arranged. Can you go make sure they aren¡¯t making a mess of things?¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°Please, Phil, they have me wired in place, so I can¡¯t check on my own. As long as my work area is the same, I don¡¯t have any issues, they can do what they want.¡±


    Since Hubert didn¡¯t seem stressed or hurt, I went to the kitchen. Flying Fairies were arguing about placement while Goblin girls were posing in the illusions of kitchen areas like they were cooking.


    I got rid of the illusions near the windows and made illusions of Hubert''s work area, and what I had imagined my own ideal work area in the kitchen would be. Then I made an illusion of the spot that Anthony liked to sit.


    The Fairies all stopped. One of them flew up close and looked down at me but right in my face. ¡°You¡¯re messing up our plans.¡±


    I said, ¡°You might end up arguing with the king of this Fairyland or at least the former king.¡±


    The Fairy gave me a sarcastic look. ¡°What would King Snipsnort know about cooking?¡±


    I said, ¡°Not a lot, but he has cooked with Hubert, and this house is his.¡±


    The Fairy dispelled the illusions I had made and shouted, ¡°Someone get this mortal out of the kitchen.¡±


    I made a horseshoe and held it up. I made the Fairy back up.


    I looked at one of the Goblin girls. ¡°What are you doing here, anyway?¡±


    One of them said, ¡°Trying to make up for some possible issues with Phil, the King of Snipsnort.¡±


    I said, ¡°So far you¡¯re not doing a good job of it.¡±


    I shadow stepped back out to where Effa was standing. ¡°Get the crew out of the kitchen.¡±


    Effa winced. ¡°This is all part of the plan.¡±


    I said, ¡°Effa and Etta both told me not to kill anyone. It seemed strange at the time, but I can see the value in the warning right about now. Hubert seems to be okay with what is going on. Anthony and Caerwyn seem okay with it. But Hubert wants to be sure his work area in the kitchen is the way he likes it. I have a few ideas about my own work area, and there is a place that Anthony likes to sit in our old kitchen that I would like to reproduce. I made an illusion of what I wanted. It was just over a small part of the kitchen, but it was dispelled, and I was made to feel unwelcome.


    ¡°You¡¯re a Goblin so you might understand the feeling of being unwelcome in your own home. I¡¯m going to leave now since I don¡¯t want a confrontation.¡±


    Effa touched the side of her neck. ¡°Tendra, please let Lord Soupstone know that King Snipsnort was not happy with his treatment in the kitchen. Ask him if he really wants to face gallus mutabilis.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What is gallus mutabilis?¡±


    Effa said, ¡°Mutabilis was an unfortunate Fairyland. King Mutabilis was quite famous for transforming and breeding creatures. He was also famous for his love of cockfighting. Unfortunately for him and his Fairyland, he bred a rooster that proceeded to depopulate the entire Fairyland and then pass away since it had no chicken large enough to breed with. Your first transformation was to that form.¡±


    I said, ¡°I thought it was some sort of dinosaur.¡±


    Effa said, ¡°Maybe it was bred back or reverted, but from all evidence the egg¡¯s mother was a chicken and its father was a rooster. When Fairy breeding is involved though, it is nearly impossible to tell which came first.¡±


    Effa gestured for me to follow and lead me back into where they had surrounded Hubert with electronic equipment.


    Caerwyn gestured for me to come over. ¡°Phil, can you get us all something to eat?¡±


    I went back up to the kitchen. Fairies and Goblins were arguing. The kitchen area was dismantled and the equipment pushed against the wall, blocking the doors to the time coolers. I made the illusions of how I wanted the few sections of the kitchen that mattered and left since I wasn¡¯t going to be able to get food here.


    I summoned Farren at Realmsedge, ¡°This is King Snipsnort. Is this a good time to get some fish?¡±


    #


    The proprietor of the fish shop brought me through the summons. ¡°Long live King Snipsnort!¡±


    The other workers and patron knelt. ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    I said, ¡°Please rise.¡±


    Farren asked, ¡°And what would you like today?¡±


    I said, ¡°Anything would do, fish and chips would be great. I have a lady in Real that wants to have some fish from Snipsnort and friends at a manor by Leidingstad who are hungry. The kitchen is a mess there, and flying Fairies are moving things around in the manor making it a worse mess.¡±


    A Fairy at a table put down his mug of beer. ¡°We don¡¯t need outside Fairies coming here and making a mess of things.¡±


    The Fairy at the table with him said, ¡°Sit down, Oatis, you¡¯ll pass out before you march a tenth of the way to Leidingstad.¡±


    Oatis sat down. ¡°I¡¯m just saying that outside Fairies cause trouble.¡±


    Farren said, ¡°Great King, take these orders now. The rest of the customers can wait. I¡¯ll summon you when a large order is ready.¡±


    I started to bow and remembered that I wasn¡¯t supposed to. I smiled and had to change into several versions of me to manage all the platters of food.


    #


    Caerwyn grinned at me as I set down a plate of food for him, ¡°You¡¯re going to have to hand feed poor Hubert. He¡¯s connected to many wires to move.¡±


    Anthony said, ¡°I¡¯ll manage it. Phil, go back to the kitchen have them gift you so you can design the kitchen. Tell them the old plan has been canceled.¡±


    I looked at Anthony and winced. ¡°I have been told by two girls with similar names that I need to not kill anyone. I¡¯m not a prophet, but I can tell that the kitchen might be a scene of violence if I go back there.¡±


    One of the Goblin girls in the room touched the side of her neck. ¡°We need a de-escalation team in the kitchen to make sure no one pisses off King Snipsnort.¡±


    I walked to the kitchen to make sure I had time to think and try to be calm.


    There was shouting ahead of me, ¡°What, so someone just gifted that can¡¯t even cook beans can come in and ruin the design?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s with kitchen designers. I thought the drama and dance Fairies were the worst to work with, but you don¡¯t even entertain. Kitchen designers are the worst.¡±


    ¡°Not according to the last survey of Fairylands dedicated to specific occupations, Lawyer Fairylands are considere¡ª¡±


    ¡°Shut up, King Snipsnort is coming, and we don¡¯t want to stress him.¡±


    ¡°Why would I care if the King of some backward Fairyland that still used aqueducts for plumbing gets stressed?¡±


    I stepped in. Illusions on illusions showed kitchen layouts and the illusions I had made were gone. I made a stainless steel counter and sink right where I wanted it without even making an illusion or gossamer model first. The illusions around the sink and counter faded out. The sink was crafted in an Art Deco style with wonderful lines and swirls of hair, ribbons, and cloth around figures of Goldilocks. My first thought was that it was going to be hard to clean, but the look was probably worth it.


    My next thought was that my subconscious was getting a bit dirty minded, and that I might be about to suffer through a voice change. It was good art though, and all the naughty stuff was covered by swirls of hair, ribbon, and clothing.


    I turned and said, ¡°No, I am reasonably certain that still mortal, Goblin, borderline adolescent, artist Fairy kings suffering from Gossamer Art Derangement Syndrome are the worst to work with. My kitchen, my rules.¡±


    One of the Goblin girls in the room nudged another. ¡°Hold me, Greta. You know I can¡¯t resist a strong man.¡±


    Greta put her arms around the girl that had nudged her. ¡°And he¡¯s an artist. Dee, do you think he does nudes?¡±


    Dee looked at the sink and said, ¡°Oh, yes. He does nudes. Exquisite nudes. Do you want to pose for him?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Are you two the de-escalation team?¡±


    Greta smiled and nodded.


    I said ¡°Good work deserves a reward.¡± I made a pair of stone sculptures on short platforms, life-size with them hugging and nude. I made sure the dirty bits were hidden, though. The rest I left to my subconscious.


    Dee said, ¡°Just got a call, we have to go. Goldilocks is arguing with Fairies at one of our art colonies. None of the other de-escalation teams are available.¡±


    Greta asked, ¡°The one where all the Fairies from Dutch masters went?¡±


    Dee started examining one of the statues I had made. ¡°They say she visited them, but now she is wanting to get her apprentice gifted, and she is picking and choosing the artists in the modern art enclaves, and a lot of them are taking offense.¡±


    Greta rolled her eyes. ¡°She has an apprentice? Oh, my, what sort of scoundrel did she choose? Has she even had an apprentice before?¡±


    Dee walked over to the sink and crouched by it. ¡°I think King Snipsnort has met Goldilocks.¡±


    Greta faced me. ¡°You know that you can¡¯t trust her?¡±


    I said, ¡°I love her and no one else understands her the way I do.¡±


    Dee said, ¡°Please, please, Creator of the Universe, please let me be off duty when they call for a de-escalation team after this one goes sour.¡±


    Greta said, ¡°We should go. I¡¯ll call and get someone to take out statues. Dee, you try and find out who Goldilocks has taken for an apprentice and how much trouble this might end up being.¡±


    Greta and Dee disappeared.


    A gateway opened and a lovely little female Fairy flew out. She looked around the kitchen and then looked at me. ¡°Well, they can¡¯t all be clean and cute. How much gifting before we reach thy limit?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Who art thou?¡±


    She smiled. ¡°I¡¯m Lady Kissykiss the kissing Fairy. Everyone was talking about having thee gifted so trouble could be averted, so I decided to find you and solve the problem before anyone made a mess of things by acting brashly. From all the things they were talking about gifting, I¡¯m gonna have to kiss you ¡®til you¡¯re cross-eyed and then when your head clears, kiss you more. Can we go somewhere safe and speed things up?¡±


    I looked around the kitchen. Several Goblin girls and several Flying Fairies were staying back, but they seemed to recognize Lady Kissykiss. I was exhausted and worn down. I didn¡¯t think I had time to deal with another flying Fairy.


    Farren summoned me, ¡°Farren the Younger of Realmsedge is calling King Snipsnort.¡±


    I said, ¡°Bring me through.¡±

 B3-5 Lady Kissykiss

    Chapter 5 Book 3 Lady Kissykiss


    I appeared beside Farren in the dining area of his restaurant overlooking the bay. Farren gestured towards platters with plates of fish covering a long table. ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    Around the area and outside there were echos of people wishing me a long life.


    ¡°Please rise and I thank you all for your good wishes.¡±


    I started changing into myself and picking up platters of food and then stopped and looked at Farren. ¡°Am I depleting you supply of dishes and platters? I could make you more but not of these materials and patterns.¡±


    I realized that Lady Kissykiss had come with me when she kissed my forehead and gifted me several times in quick succession. ¡°Now, King Snipsnort, close thy eyes and look at the plates. Look closely, make a gossamer copy, and then make them real.¡±


    With my eyes closed, I could see, but not far and only a small area, but I could see details I had never seen before. With other gifts just given and taking hold, I copied the plate in my mind and was able to see how the ceramic worked. I had basic ceramic materials previously gifted, but nothing about glaze and color. I made several stacks of plates and several stacks of trays and then started putting away as many trays of fish as I had forms to hold them. With a few platters left, I sat and started eating. I gestured to Lady Kissykiss to join me, and she sat on the table and picked up some fish.


    From another table, Oatis said, ¡°Last thing we need is some foreign flying Fairy eating all our food.¡±


    I already had a gateway near and one on me so I linked up the transitional world and took Lady Kissykiss, the table with the food and the chair I was in to a place where I had put a circle of statues on a hill near the lighthouse I had made in Grady¡¯s image.


    Lady Kissykiss said, ¡°We have a lot to gift thee.¡±


    I said, ¡°I don¡¯t have time to study the gifts. I need to rest for a few days, but thank thee for the gifts thou hast given me though.¡±


    She said, ¡°We can use thy transport Fairyland. We can make time.¡±


    I started to balk and realized that free gifting was right in front of me, and I was about to be stubborn and ruin the opportunity. I held back and did as I was instructed.


    ¡°We need a name for your transport Fairyland, so let¡¯s both call it ¡®Happy Place! Open the gateway to thy Happy Place and lay it over this place and speed it all up!¡±


    It got dark and I felt another gifting.


    ¡°Now let the light flow naturally from the Happy Place walls. There now, I see lots of other gateways here, so let¡¯s add another one that doesn¡¯t have anyone in it to bother us. Open that Gateway but just let light in so we have it look like this table and chair are in the other Fairyland.¡±


    I activated the gateway to the storage Fairyland I had just slept in and altered the gateway to allow light to pass back and forth.¡±


    ¡°Nicely done. King Snipsnort! Look at all your sculptures! The next gifts are going to be complicated so warn me if it gets to be too much. One more gift to let you remember patterns, and then we test your skill so far.¡±


    She kissed my brow and then flew around the area. ¡°Speed time, speed time, we want to be done before anyone can come and tell us we were hasty! Here is a gossamer Go board with two bowls of pieces. Close thine eyes and study it all. Then learn it, then make it. Don¡¯t cheat and make all the pieces the same. Each is different and you need to practice, practice, practice.


    ¡°We are still in Snipsnort, so thou hast all of the wealth of mass, but we are sped by being in thy Happy Place, and we can see thy beds and statues. Make a few beds and pillows come here.


    She landed on the side of the bed I had just slept in and made a crinkling sound as she walked on the plastic cover I had decided to leave in place. She sat on the pillow I had used and made even more crinkling sounds as she shifted the plastic bag it was in.


    I copied the board, and she dragged several of the pillows over to it, stacked them and then sat in front of the board examining it as I started examining and copying all the little game pieces.


    Crystals and flaws and tiny swirls of stone and shell. One after another, tiny things yet large as a world once you were inside, exploring how they went together. Small universes of stone and shell. I was tired but wanted to finish. I lay back on the mattress with the last handful of stones and closed my eyes. One world after another world and the stones fell as I fell into dream.


    #


    I flew like a mote of dust in the wind drifting inside a double bass. Sheets of music drifted past as I remembered playing all these notes and carving the bridge. So many adjustments to make it sound perfect. I drifted over myself only, like dreams do, I was someone else arguing about the height of a sink while worrying that it was too many steps from the cutting board.


    Long arguments drifted in fog and the fog and blur got worse as I made an oven that was not smart. I didn¡¯t want it smart enough for a Fairy to move in, but I wanted it to know when the bread¡¯s core was perfect and the crust would crack with a gentle bite.


    Recipes tested in a fog too thick to see while a gentle Fairy¡¯s voice said, ¡°Maybe I should have stopped at a hundred gifts, maybe ten. We may have to just stay here forever so no one knows that we made thy mind mush.¡±


    I woke up and smiled at the pretty Fairy and laughed.


    She winced and said, ¡°Be a good boy and make a nice big tank of water so we can clean things up. You had a boo boo.¡±


    I smiled and laughed cause she said, ¡°Boo boo.¡±


    #


    I was tired of fish. That was my first clear thought after days of nothing. My second clear thought was that my plan for a microwave wok wasn¡¯t going to work. I tried to remember my name. I just remembered that Lady Kissykiss had me study fish to copy it so I could eat and had given me clear instructions on cleaning myself up and how I was to stay here so no one knew about her little over-gifting mistake. I looked over at the double basses I vaguely remembered making and started to remember making all the kitchen equipment. I got up and made my way through all the framed paintings and small statues that were keeping them from falling over.


    I was Phil, King of Snipsnort. I didn¡¯t feel comfortable with the name or implication that I was a Ruler of anything. I just wanted to go back to the swamps. I had a magic door to a swamp, so I opened it and went there.


    I remembered I was an otter, so I turned into an otter and slid into the water. I was hungry as an otter, but I couldn¡¯t face fish. I swam and saw a girl with her feet in the water on a pier above me. She looked familiar but only barely. I chased some minnows not really wanting to eat them but more for sport. Then I remembered that the girl was Etta and she wanted me to call her ¡°Swamp Witch.¡±


    I surfaced and turned into me as a person in a swimsuit. I was holding a platter with plates of cooked fish, bread, and vegetables. It was all ruined now from being in water. I knew I had more. Lots more but I didn¡¯t want fish right now. The bread and vegetables seemed nice, though.


    I walked up the shore and onto the dock. I changed into me, dry with another platter of food. I didn¡¯t want the fish, but I set it down by the girl and sat beside it.


    ¡°Do you want some fish?¡±


    She smiled at me.


    I picked up a piece of bread and tasted it.


    She was eating the fish, and somehow that reminded me of more things. I remembered that I was a Goblin who could turn into an otter and not an otter that could turn into me.


    Thought and memory and then an effort of will pushed back the fog and I remembered who I was.


    She said, ¡°Good fish. Can you hear it?¡±


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    I heard the hard-to-mistake sound of an airboat in the distance. ¡°Airboat?¡±


    She smiled a jagged-tooth smile. ¡°Yes. Now everything changes. I have dreamt this a thousand ways. I am about to die, and you are about to avenge me. Take this card, don¡¯t try to save me and remember not to kill the Dwarf girl. Take care of the efreet. He has a gun and flash grenades on the airboat. I will damage him so he will need a new body. Wait for him to come to you. You know what to do with him.¡±


    I looked at the card as the sound of the airboat got louder. ¡°Miss Marvoo¡¯s Cleaning Service. No job too messy. Thorough discretion is our standard.¡±


    Etta turned into a raven and took to the air. She flew out of sight. I heard the popping sound of gunfire in the distance. I saw a flash from behind trees in the direction she had flown and the sound of the airboat was coming from. The airboat looked like it was going to run into a cluster of trees before it reached me. A man with a white cloth over his head and a black band around his head was holding his hand at his face and there was blood on his hand. He adjusted the angle of the boat but seemed to be having trouble controlling it. When ge got it nearly pointed in my direction, he slumped over, and fell into the boat where I couldn¡¯t see him anymore. The boat was still a long way away. I watched as it got closer and then backed up and got partial cover from behind the shack.


    The boat ran ashore over the ground and hit a couple of trees before being stopped. The noise from the engine and fan drowned everything else out. I crouched ready to go into shadow when I saw a dark shape like a black cloth being blown in the air coming towards me.


    Then I felt it. There was an evil spirit in me. It seemed lost. I took us to my Fairyland of death, bound him to it, and then made him a Fairy. I went to the Fairyland that Lady Kissykiss called my Happy Place.


    #


    It stunk. I didn¡¯t know where to start cleaning it. I was still holding the card for Miss Marvoo¡¯s Cleaning Service. I summoned Miss Marvoo.


    ¡°Woowee!¡± Shouted the small lady in a black and white maid outfit. ¡°Was someone incontinent?¡±


    She looked around at the paintings and instruments and mess on the beds. ¡°Plastic sheets was a good idea. Someone must have been out of their mind.¡±


    She walked over to where the gossamer chamber pots with gossamer lids were stacked and then looked at me and her eyes widened. ¡°Oh, my. I had heard a rumor that King Snipsnort had gone dada with GADS, but I didn¡¯t know gossamer art dementia got this bad. This may take a while what with everything so dried and crusted the way it is. Oh, goodness. What is that smell? Tell you what, run along, and by the time you come back, I¡¯ll have this all clean and spiffy and everything I can¡¯t recover with be discretely disposed of.¡±


    Images of wounds, horrible wounds came to my mind. Images like I had made horrible head wounds. I was nauseous from the thought but had to know if I had done horrible things while I was not there mentally.


    I pulled up horrid memories of making copies of parts of bodies that were my own parts and doing surgery on them. Horrible images of body parts, like mine if I had been vivisected, flashed through my mind, and I nearly threw up. I think Lady Kissykiss had made me a psychic surgeon, but I didn¡¯t think I had the stomach to be able to face the job. I think the Cleaning Fairy might have some really dark suspicions about the sort of person I was.


    I went back to the island with the shack. The boat was still running. I went over to it. The body of the man in the bottom of the boat had blood all over it. I found the throttle and shut down the engine.


    I summoned Miss Marvoo, ¡°I have a corpse and an airboat with weapons. Do you manage that sort of thing as well?¡±


    She appeared and said, ¡°This will be a pleasure after the last one. I¡¯m not complaining, but are you okay?¡± She winced. ¡°I¡¯m probably asking too many questions.¡±


    She climbed into the boat and examined the man. I looked away. There were some gross noises.


    Miss Marvoo said, ¡°Well, it looks like the sort of wound a raven makes when it does a suicide attack on a man¡¯s eye. We see a lot of that in my business. Not like we used to, but it still happens every couple of hundred years or so. You¡¯re shop is all clean, spiffy, and sanitary. About half the paintings were beyond recovery and the less said about the musical instruments the better.¡±


    I walked out into the water and turned into the dirty me that had been making near mindless art while in a daze from having too many things gifted and too many things being practiced at once. I was swimming and my mind was getting fuzzy again when Goldilocks summoned me.


    ¡°Phil, are you rested and healthy?¡±


    I said, ¡°Physically, I¡¯m not sure my mind is all together perfect.¡±


    Goldilocks brought me to her.


    #


    I was dripping water while looking around at a Fairyland laid on top of a brightly lit studio.


    Several well-dressed women looked at me.


    A tall one said, ¡°And this is the boy that needs artistic gifting?¡±


    I went into shadow and hid and realized the shadow I was in was part illusion and unstable so I left shadow and was under a table looking up at the women standing with Goldilocks.


    The tall woman said, ¡°Come out and let¡¯s see your work. Make a quick sketch of us.¡±


    I crawled out from under the table and looked at the paints that were set up. I cringed and images of congenital deformities caused by exposure to the compounds common in a lot of paints ran through my head. I looked around in panic.


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Phil, what¡¯s wrong?¡±


    I overlaid my Happy Place here and gave myself access to Snipsnort so I could create. I made a canvas and an easel to hold it while working. I pointed at the art materials on the table, ¡°I can¡¯t use those.¡±


    I looked at the paints and drawing materials they had out on a table and winced as medical book images flashed in my mind¡¯s eye. ¡°Please take them away. I will use my own paints.¡±


    As I made a set of paints and drawing materials that would be approved for real world use by the Crossroads Council on Material Safety, I kept glancing at the horrible paints on the table and wincing at the images they brought to mind.


    One of the women asked, ¡°Have you ever seen such a case of GADS gone so far?¡±


    Another asked me, ¡°Was it really seeing Goldie that wrecked your mind?¡±


    I said. ¡°I love Goldilocks and no one else understands her the way I do.¡±


    To practice, I did a quick watercolor wash with bright explosions of wet on wet color. Then I used Fairy powers and made the paint dry and started in with oil colors mixed with an emulsion of egg, calcium carbonate and purified stand oil. I added a touch of anise oil and a touch of mustard in the mix and frothed it before adding pigment, making a flat stone slab and smearing it.


    Then with the knife I had been using to mix, I looked at Goldilocks and started pushing paint into place. I added the other ladies in the background but made Goldilocks stand out with golden light shining.


    One of the ladies asked, ¡°How about I gift him with some architectural lines? This is all very good but just emotional and abstract.¡±


    I held the painter¡¯s knife out in front of me. ¡°I do architectural lines.¡±


    She recoiled.


    I said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I was told not to kill anyone today. Apart from the things that possess me. I can kill them.¡±


    Another lady said, ¡°Well, he is definitely talented, and this is as clear a case of GADS as I have seen. Perhaps no one should gift him right now. Pity about the architecture. Most of the best classic artists were also draftsman.¡±


    I realized I was still a bit unstable and needed to slow things down, so I took some dark ocher paint and started putting a bridge in perspective behind the ladies in the painting. Now it was fuzzy watercolor in lovely splotches, an overly dramatic and shiny gold glowing Goldilocks and a group of ladies that I just realized were Daemons in the background on a path with an arched bridge. I started adding a tower and decided I may have put too much in the painting already.


    Then I turned and saw the paints spread on the table and saw images of medical illustrations of congenital things best not seen and then saw images of my own body and my stitching things back together so I fell to the ground and begged them, ¡°Please can you take the table with the paints away?¡±


    Goldilocks took me to the shade of a tree on a hillside with cattle in the distance. I calmed down and mostly got myself together.


    Goldilocks hugged me. ¡°Phil, you are amazing. The best actor I have ever seen. How do you do it?¡±


    I just nestled into the hug and relaxed in the warmth of it.


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Wait, someone else is summoning me. Yes, Olivia, you can visit, but we are going to one of those parties you hate. Yes, my apprentice is fine. Right here with me. No, definitely not dead and definitely not possessed. Yes, King Snipsnort. No, really, he¡¯s alive and fine. Come on then and meet him.¡±


    Another really pretty woman appeared. Long dark hair and a deep golden-brown tan. She sat by the trunk of the tree. ¡°So, not that long ago I heard that there was a Fairy King in Snipsnort and the bets were strong that he wouldn¡¯t survive a week. I didn¡¯t pay any attention since Snipsnort didn¡¯t seem like the worst repressed Fairyland and apart from its being connected to the Great Sea and being rather large, it wasn¡¯t really that remarkable.


    ¡°King Snipsnort, no one has met you, and yet everyone knows you are dead, dangerous, insane and in love with Goldilocks.¡±


    I said, ¡°I love Goldilocks and no one else understands her the way I do.¡±


    Olivia asked, ¡°Phil have you ever seen the movie, ¡®The Manchurian Candidate?¡¯¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I think I have heard of it.¡±


    Goldilocks stroked my hair back. ¡°Don¡¯t try to confuse my apprentice and I will let him do a sculpture of you. Be careful, Phil, when people want an example of a troublemaker, Olivia is one of the first ones they mention.¡±


    Olivia said, ¡°Right back at you, Goldie. So, Phil, what are you up to right now?¡±


    I looked at her and stood. ¡°I need to find a woman named ¡®Feile Griff.¡¯¡±


    Olivia asked, ¡°Dwarf girl? She¡¯s an odd one. Never quite made it into legend or a pantheon.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°She showed up at Darla¡¯s place. Phil, Darla belongs to one of the old families, and she¡¯s one of the ones that can decide if you¡¯re inspired or just sloshing paint around.¡±


    Olivia said, ¡°Make a sculpture of her, Phil. That would spark her interest in you.¡±


    Goldilocks shook her head at Olivia. ¡°Too obvious at this stage. No, Phil, we don¡¯t want to rush this. We won¡¯t be trying to present you as a serious artist for a hundred years. Until we have a definite style, there is no point in even trying. Phil, I¡¯m going to visit Darla, but unless I signal you, you should stay hidden in shadow. It¡¯s too soon for me to present you as an apprentice, and we haven¡¯t even worked on your making clouds and stars yet. We also need a backlog of art before we can present you.¡±


    Olivia said, ¡°Phil, I know you love her, but be advised that Goldilocks and I have the worst records for bad planning. However, most of the stories about me can be dismissed as myths. There is solid archaeological evidence to the ruins Goldilocks has left behind.¡±


    Goldilocks shook her head and her ringlets bounced. ¡°Phil, anyone who live long enough has had their ups and downs. Everything falls eventually. Since Olivia is being a big pooty, I want you to go clean up and dress in something dramatic and nice.¡±


    I changed into my church clothes.


    Goldilocks shook her head. ¡°This is not Sunday-go-to meeting. You need flair. Honestly, you are so brilliant and then¡ªWell, that will never do. You look like a miserable eight-year-old dressed in a suit bought for an uncle¡¯s funeral.¡±


    I shifted Fairylands so I could appear to fade away.

 B3-6 Swampy

    In my Happy Place, a couple of pillows, still in their plastic wrappers, where placed where the bed had been, but the bed¡ªframe and all¡ªwas gone. A smell of ammonia and bleach was in the air. Most of the statues I had made to prop up the paintings were still here, but most of the paintings were gone. I wasn¡¯t sure if the paintings were stolen or incinerated. I looked at the paintings remaining and decided that stolen or incinerated, it was a good thing they were all unsigned. Unless the missing ones were a lot better, and my vague memories suggest that they were not, it was no loss to the world that they were gone.


    While lost in a mental fog, I had not made disturbed, deranged but brilliant art. I was considered calling the Cleaning Fairy back and having her take the rest of it, Statues as well. I shifted to the storage Fairyland with the rest of the beds, pillows, and sculptures of Goldilocks.


    #


    I decided to test and make sure I still could make decent art. I threw together some swirls of illusion, and then filled them in with figures of Goldilocks and Olivia dancing. Stone wasn¡¯t going to do for what I had planned, so I switched to aluminum and decided it didn¡¯t have the look I wanted and went for bronze instead. I looked at what I had done and then pulled and pushed the lines to give it more motion and then got rid of it and started over.


    I relaxed my mind and then made a loose illusion of what I wanted. Then I made it in gossamer, and it was too shiny. I made it real, but I wasn¡¯t happy with it. It didn¡¯t have the look I wanted, and the ammonia smell was bothering me.


    I made illusions of me in a range of clothing. I was one of those awkward looking eight- or nine-year-old kids that looked like a bully¡¯s sidekick. No point in making a sculpture of myself at this stage. Maybe not at any stage. My teeth were uneven, not bad, but not quite right. I looked like a popular kids less popular little brother. Nothing to be done about it.


    I had the cards nature dealt me, and I wasn¡¯t really complaining. When I thought about dressing up in the past, I always thought of Zydaco or Cajun musicians. That could range from Western to Sunday school to street clothes. These folk played music and unless they were in a parade, the look was not what they sell. I changed into me in one of the Phil Thibodeaux suits and started to take off the gloves and the mask. Then I decided I actually looked pretty good in the mask. I had good eyes and I thought I looked a bit smarter somehow. I shifted gateways and returned to where Goldilocks and Olivia were.


    #


    I had been in a sped-up world so no time had passed here in Real.


    Goldilocks and Olivia circled me examining me.


    Olivia said, ¡°Well the mask and the gloves are an odd touch and you are still in Sunday clothes.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°I smell ammonia. What were you doing?¡±


    I said, ¡°Just testing some art, nothing special.¡±


    Olivia said, ¡°Let¡¯s see it.¡±


    I looked up. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t think and used you for a model, Olivia. I do that a lot. I¡¯ll go destroy it.¡±


    Olivia said, ¡°Lets¡¯ go see it.¡±


    I shifted gateways so they could see it without it being there so they wouldn¡¯t smell the ammonia. The statue had aged and darkened while I was gone, so I shifted time in the storage Fairyland to slow it back to Real.


    Olivia said, ¡°Well, he¡¯s no Ben.¡±


    Goldilocks laughed. ¡°I love Ben and his art. But, yes, this is a bit less posed and a lot sexier than anything he would do.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I covered all the dirty bits.¡±


    Olivia laughed. ¡°You have to see Ben¡¯s art to understand. It¡¯s the best! Brilliant, charming, even deep, but somehow you don¡¯t even imagine the dirty bits are even there when you look at one of his works.¡±


    Goldilocks gave me a hard look. ¡°If you use ammonia vapors to age bronze, any expert is going to know you faked it. I¡¯m going to have to teach you how to do patinas and make them real. This looks good, and I suppose since you are a new artist we don¡¯t want your stuff to pass for ancient, but when we start doing forgeries, I¡¯m going to have a lot to teach you. You know you are a great artist when you can pass your work off as forgeries.¡± She stood back and looked me up and down. ¡°You¡¯re still dressed like you¡¯re going to church, but at least now it¡¯s interesting since you look like you¡¯re ready to do surgery.¡±


    Goldilocks asked, ¡°Are you coming, Olivia?¡±


    Olivia shook her head. ¡°Darla¡¯s a bore and her constant gossip parties don¡¯t interest me at all. Are you going to summon your way there or use one of the gateways I know you have hidden?¡±


    Goldilocks smiled brightly, ¡°Darla¡¯s circle of friends think it takes me hours to make a gateway. I can charge more for them if I keep it theatrical. They never catch on that all the tricky stuff I do to set up Fairylands uses a couple of dozen gateways, so they¡¯re happy to pay extra when they need a new one.¡±


    Goldilocks gestured and started a summons, ¡°Darla, darling, is this a good time for me to visit?¡±


    I slipped into Goldilock¡¯s shadow as Darla answered and brought us through.


    #


    In a mansion that made my manor house in Snipsnort seem small, a woman just a little taller than me said, ¡°It¡¯s always a good time for you to visit, Goldie. I heard the saddest news, are you okay, Goldie?¡±


    Goldilocks asked, ¡°What happened, Darla?¡±


    Another woman said, ¡°It isn¡¯t like you have had many apprentices, Goldi. How can you be so casual with his death?¡±


    Goldilocks laughed. ¡°King Snipsnort? I assure you he¡¯s doing fine. Who told you he was dead?¡±


    Darla said, ¡°Well, then was that just theatrics. Or are things more complicated than I thought? Feile Griff got a summons and left. She was quite certain that King Snipsnort was dead, and they would be coming after her next. Odd, that. She¡¯d been telling the story that she had been framed, and your apprentice was likely to be trying to track her down and kill her.¡±


    A muscular woman with large jewelry asked, ¡°What are you teaching your apprentice anyway? You always seem so jealous of your world crafting. Not that your competition stays in the trade. Well, not that anyone is in competition with the artist named Ben.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°We have to be generalists in our trade. Art, magic, technology, and craftsmanship are all part of world shaping. I suppose my work¡¯s a bit to complicated to really explain to someone outside the trade. Where did Feile Griff get off to?¡±


    Darla shook her head. ¡°She didn¡¯t say. That girl is always into something. A month ago she was making waterwheels that were pitched to play music that would lull people to sleep and calling it art. Seriously, who wants art that makes people collapse around the display?¡±


    The muscular woman said, ¡°She¡¯s a Dwarf. Forgive her, she comes close but never quite understands. The last thing I heard was she was trying to make wind chimes that no one could hear. Made no sense to me. It¡¯s not really a wind chime if you can¡¯t hear it.¡±


    Goldilocks asked, ¡°So when is your next art show?¡±


    The muscular woman said, ¡°Goldi, until my art is sold and delivered or at least insured on someone else¡¯s property, the last thing I want to do is to tell you about it.¡±


    Goldilocks looked around the room. ¡°Well, maybe I came at the wrong time. Don¡¯t worry, Perry, your artwork is entirely safe from my interest.¡± She looked as though peering into the distance. ¡°Oh, wait, I¡¯m being summoned. I better go outside to have this conversation.¡±


    She walked out into the garden and then took a trail into the wooded area inside the brick walled yard.


    At a bench she said, ¡°Phil, this might be a good place to hide a gateway for later. Much later, after you are an established artist, until then don¡¯t waste your time.¡±


    I slid out of shadow, made a gateway, and slid it into a small wasp hole in the mortar of the brick wall.


    Goldilocks looked back at the path. ¡°We should go. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll learn anything else here.¡±


    She held out her hand and took us to the storage world with the beds and sculptures.


    #


    She walked around the statue I¡¯d made of her and Olivia. ¡°Can I have it?¡±


    I nodded and she hugged me. ¡°You really do understand me. Look, if you are going to track down Feile Griff, you may need to do it fast. Call if you need me, but you probably need to proceed quietly, leave no traces, and keep to the shadows. That isn¡¯t really what I¡¯m noted for. Be careful. If they think you¡¯re dead, there may be a reason.¡±


    I hugged her one more time, let go, and went to the Fairyland with the barn and cherry trees.


    #


    I sped time and took to the shadows and ended up in a cherry tree surrounded by ripe cherries. I was munching away when I felt someone with a stronger hold on the world slow the time to seven times the speed of Real.


    A pair of Goblin girls stepped out of the barn. ¡°Whoever sped time must have left. Do you think it might be related to the stolen excavator?¡±


    ¡°You heard about the walking excavator?¡±


    ¡°It looked like one of the cooler new toys. So, yes, I have an alert for when spider or walking excavators are brought up. There was a plan to weaponize it, so I¡¯m wondering why we don¡¯t just track it down. There has to be a gateway hidden on it.¡±


    ¡°I was told that we wanted plausible karmic separation from the owner so we can¡¯t just use the tracking on it.¡±


    ¡°Are they scared the owner will do something bad?¡±


    As far as I know, they just don¡¯t want prognosticators to link us with the owner. They get silent when you ask for any other details.¡±


    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    ¡°So we can¡¯t track the walking excavator?¡±


    ¡°Well, we can, but we won¡¯t. So we keep an eye out for it, but without the weapons mounted on it, and two people trained to use it, it¡¯s just a digging tool and not a good one. The charge will run out before they get half-way trained.¡±


    ¡°I thought it never ran out of power?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s only for the person it was intended for. It doesn¡¯t really matter. They¡¯re planning a better one anyway.¡±


    ¡°So what do we do about Feile Griff?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s a female Dwarf, last thing we want to do is mess with her. If she dies, all the other Dwarves are going to decide to avenge her. They couldn¡¯t care less about her alive, but they will drop everything to go after whoever killed her.¡±


    ¡°So she just gets to try and ruin everything, and she just walks away?¡±


    ¡°I got this directly from one of the Heads. We¡¯re in the middle of a destiny war, and no one is safe ¡®til it ends. No one. Here¡¯s the thing that bothers me. Someone sped time here. That only happens when someone is on the list of those who can speed time here, but then we were sent to investigate who did it.¡±


    ¡°Do you want to pick some cherries while we investigate? A thorough investigation might take hours.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I volunteered.¡±


    I sat quietly in the tree I was in for nearly an hour before they left and I could safely shadow step down to the barn. Once in shadow, I think I could hide from just about anyone if I was careful. Entering shadow this close would set off ripples a clever Goblin might notice.


    I slid through the gateway to the cave where Feile Griff had been working.


    The cave was empty apart from the circles with gateways. There were eight other gateways in a pattern here other than the one that went to the cherry world¡¯s barn. In the painted circles were painted images. The one I stepped out of had a bunch of cherries stenciled on the stone floor. The other circles had stenciled pictures of fruit, so I guessed they had fruit trees or vines or patches. I hadn¡¯t been invited to those, but I considered going to the one with the peach. I shook my head, and then realized that Feile Griff probably had to have take the excavator through one of these gateways. I had an excuse to explore them all.


    I shadow stepped up the stairs and looked at the gazebo with all the raspberry bushes around it. No one was up there, so I went back down and started examining the area where Feile Griff had set up her shop. There were scratch marks where the racks of steel parts had been, and the sort of scorch marks and iron splatters you would expect from a place where someone had ground steel and done welding. A pair of wooden bathroom doors with images of a girl in an old-fashioned pink dress and a noble looking boy in blue clothing that would get a boy of that age beaten up, were on the doors.


    The scorch marks were obscuring another circle on the floor with a gateway. Instead of an image of fruit, there was the image of a beer stein. I decided to test it out.


    #


    I was in a large barn like building with rows and rows of time coolers on one side and brewing and bottling equipment on the other side of a glass wall. There was a tractor and harvesting equipment The tractor looked like it had been pushed out of the way, and Marks on the ground led me to suspect the missing spider excavator came through this way. I followed the tracks out through a field of grain and past arbors that looked overgrown with a vigorous weed.


    The tracks stopped so I looked for a gateway. Someone had scattered dirt to conceal the tracks and hide the stone the gateway was on. It was so obvious that I started getting nervous. This was the easiest trail anyone had ever had to follow. Signs placed by the side of the path wouldn¡¯t have made it any clearer. For all I knew the Goblin girls¡¯ conversation could have been planned as well. Without really opening the gateway or changing it, I slipped into the shadow of a pebble half over it and then slid through the twisted shadows of the gateway.


    #


    I was under a tree beside a truck that had been damaged by being pushed from the side. From the marks on the ground and a few steel bars that were lying on the gravel, the spider excavator had come through here with a trailer behind it and pushed the truck out of the way.


    A few buildings stood around a large gravel area, and a couple of men were talking in German to a police officer and pointing to the truck. I ducked and got closer.


    I didn¡¯t remember being gifted with German, and the gifting I had seemed to be fading. I was probably gifted when I was asleep. I wasn¡¯t brilliant at German, but I could make it out. I knew everything but the words. I listened for a while and then gave up. I saw a gravel drive that I could tell someone had driven on with one of the six wheels not aligned properly. This made it easier to track. I ran out of trees and shadows before the drive made it to the main road, so I had to step out of shadow and walk to the intersection to figure out where the spider excavator had gone. With a wheel out of alignment, a large trailer and heavy equipment on the trailer, it was going to be easy to track.


    Constantly popping out of shadow to check the road and then going to the next intersection was getting tiring so I shadow stepped a long way down the road, checked, and then continued until I couldn¡¯t see marks. I was able to read a lot of the road signs but a lot of words escaped me.


    After a few turns, I saw one of the racks with sheet metal had fallen off the trailer.


    I slipped out of shadow and walked over to it.


    A man stood up and stepped out from behind the flipped-over rack and gestured to the sheet metal and bars.


    ¡°Mr. Goblin, do you know anything about this?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    I realized we were both talking in what I thought was German, but the word Goblin had more devil-related connotations.


    He gestured to the metal. ¡°There¡¯s a six blah blah blah with a blah blah blah up ahead and it would be real nice to find out some specifics and have whoever blah blah blah it take it back to where it came from.¡±


    I said, ¡°My German isn¡¯t so good. Do you speak English?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°A little. Do you know anything about a six-wheeled vehicle?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°It was given to me, but it got stolen by a Dwarf.¡±


    He asked, ¡°Small human or Legendary?¡±


    I said, ¡°Legendary.¡±


    He asked, ¡°Can you get this stuff out of here before anyone asks about it?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°How far ahead is it?¡±


    He gestured with his head towards the rack and metal. ¡°This first if you can manage it. The rest of it is just a few kilometers ahead. Is this alien technology?¡±


    I looked at him and winced. ¡°I have trouble keeping up with things. Are there aliens?¡±


    He looked up at the sky and then touched the side of his nose. I wasn¡¯t sure what he meant. I made a quick gateway and took the metal to Fairy.


    He looked startled. ¡°Art thou a Fairy King?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°What gave it away?¡±


    ¡°On the list of warnings to watch out for, it mentioned gateways. We are trained that if a being makes a gateway, cooperate with them whenever possible.¡±


    I said, ¡°Thanks, then. Your English is quite good. Much better than my German.¡±


    He smiled. ¡°Probably not.¡±


    I said, ¡°Do you have a car nearby?¡±


    He shook his head and disappeared.


    I took to shadows and found the excavator and the trailer. The man was with two others beside the excavator. Two more men were standing a distance away from the excavator signaling for cars to go around.


    I walked up and asked, ¡°Should I wait until the cars get past?¡±


    The man asked, ¡°Can you drive this thing? If you can get it off the road, we can clear out traffic quickly, and you might have a moment with no witnesses.¡±


    I got up and opened the door to the cab and looked around it. One seat was the driver¡¯s. There were more controls. I was familiar with a four-legged spider excavator, so it didn¡¯t look entirely impossible to use, but there was a power indicator that said it was out of power. The indicator was on a display, so it was a lie or at least a partial one. I sat in the driver¡¯s seat, and the power indication went away and the rest of the panel turned on. I lifted the extra wheels so they would be out of the way and then lowered the cab for stability.


    Aligning the wheels and driving the excavator forward and to the side of the road was easy after that.


    I stepped back out and arranged a gateway to be ready to take the excavator and trailer to Fairy at the first opportunity.


    The man said, ¡°You managed to power it.¡±


    I nodded.


    Another man asked, ¡°Art thou a Fairy King?¡±


    I said, ¡°King of Snipsnort.¡±


    He didn¡¯t grin or laugh, so I decided I liked him. Odd thing about that moment. I realized that I really did think of myself as the King of Snipsnort. I still saw myself as a fishmonger and as Goblin kid raised in the swamps, but it had finally settled in my mind that I was a king of Fairy.


    I laughed because I figured I was going to have to work extra hard to keep from developing the low-life behavior that came with that sort of occupation.


    The traffic cleared so I waved to them and took the excavator and trailer to Fairy.


    #


    Searching through the equipment, I found that the detector bell, the computer, and the box she was using to weld with were missing. I checked the cab and found a half-eaten sandwich and a few empty beer bottles.


    I had the six-legged two-driver excavator that I didn¡¯t really care about, a trailer, and a bunch of metal. What I didn¡¯t have was the computer and sensor that were used to hurt Hubert. I could care less about the welding machine, but I didn¡¯t want that computer and sensor to remain out where it could hurt my friend.


    I returned to Snipsnort feeling far from victorious.


    #


    A small, winged Fairy in black was looking at her refection in a gossamer mirror I had left near the seven-way intersection. She was switching hair color and shape while posing. ¡°Phil, what is better, magenta or turquoise.¡±


    I said, ¡°Teal maybe but that might be cold. Do I know thee?¡±


    She turned and posed. ¡°Sad, less than a day dead and already forgotten. What sort of girl do you like? Hourglass or pear? Both are classic for flying Fairies, or do you like Twiggy?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Thou art saying you, that¡¯s probably a bad habit. Apart from Goldilocks, I don¡¯t have an opinion on girls. I have to run now, so have fun with it.¡±


    She said, ¡°Stay a bit longer. After others see me, my appearance will be harder to change. Pear-shaped it is, then. It¡¯s the shape I¡¯m used to. Should I go with the black hat and Spanish moss?¡±


    She changed her appearance and she had a black witches hat, bat wings, and a black goth dress with a Spanish moss pattern.


    I asked, ¡°Did I meet thee in the swamp recently?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Call me Swampy, short for Swamp Witch. Just call me Swamp Witch when you are upset.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Art thou really going to dress that goth?¡±


    She smiled brightly showing sharp teeth. ¡°I¡¯m not going to go for tattoos or piercings, but yes.¡±


    She flew to my shoulder and said, ¡°Giddyup.¡±


    I took to shadows and took us to the manor house. Hubert was naked with patches and electrodes stuck on him. He was still surrounded and connected to wires.


    Anthony and Caerwyn waved for me to come over. Swampy jumped off my shoulder and sat on the edge of a table looking at Hubert.


    Hubert spoke slowly with an even tone. ¡°Good to see you. The way all the Goblin girls and Fairies ran off I was worried that something had happened to you.¡±


    I nodded.


    Caerwyn looked at Swampy. ¡°Who is this?¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°I saw her long ago, back when I still had my Studebaker. She is on our side.¡±


    Anthony asked, ¡°Was it real or prophecy?¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°It was a possibility that I thought was long gone. It is good to see you, Swampy.¡±


    She smiled. ¡°I have so much to tell you. But first, Phil will need to be wired up so he stays in one place to listen.¡±


    I said, ¡°Not happening. I plan to go up on the roof and do some painting and sculpture. I need to find out what my style is before Goldilocks teaches me to make forgeries or clouds and stars.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Why would we wire up Phil?¡±


    Fuzzy jumped up on the table and said, ¡°My play toy, thanks.¡± Fuzzy gently picked up Swampy with teeth showing.


    Swampy waved and said, ¡°Good, they¡¯re both girl kitties.¡± Fuzzy disappeared into shadow with her.


    Anthony said, ¡°I¡¯ll start wiring up Phil. Phil, take off your clothes.¡±


    I backed up.


    Anthony said, ¡°No, this is brilliant. Give Caerwyn the crystalizer weapon so he can analyze it. Then he can make Hubert immune to it, and we can tune Hubert to resonate with you as the intermediary and initial filter. After that, I will get wired and made immune. Phil can adjust what he crafts and then pass the tuning instinctively to Hubert just like he used to have a connection with him.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Brilliant. So, when Phil makes art, he can tune it to resonate and pass the frequencies to Hubert. Then as it spreads and gets taken away and put in other Fairylands, Hubert becomes more and more secure. The more artwork you do, Phil, the stronger and safer Hubert will become.¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°That is brilliant. Phil, hurry and get your clothing off. The sooner we get you set up the sooner I can take of these patches.¡±


    I transformed and handed Caerwyn the weapon with the bell end. ¡°Careful, it has multiple safeties for a reason.¡±


    #


    I woke up to a pain on my arm. Swampy was victoriously holding an electrode patch and the tape on it had arm hairs stuck to it that the small bat-winged Fairy had just ripped off of me. I rubbed my arm.


    I started to yell at her, and she put her finger in front of my mouth and said, ¡°You don¡¯t want to wake up Caerwyn. He has been working on this all night. Go set up the kitchen.¡±


    I had sat down and then slumped for a moment. I hadn¡¯t planned on sleeping, but sitting in one place and not being in shadow after a long day had put me right to sleep.


    I looked at Swampy and realized I was naked so I winced, turned, and started peeling off tape to get the electrodes off of me.


    Swampy laughed. ¡°Who is going to look at you after they have seen Hubert?¡±


    I put my finger in front of my mouth. ¡°Shhh. You don¡¯t want to wake Caerwyn.¡±


    She stuck out her tongue and pulled down on her lower eyelid to expose her eye.


    As I peeled tape I whispered, ¡°Did you act like that when you were alive?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°No, but now that I¡¯m small and cute, I can pull off acting like an anime character. As a mascotu, this is perfectly acceptable behavior.¡±


    I asked, ¡°You plan to spend eternity acting like a brat?¡±


    She smiled, showing sharp teeth. ¡°I¡¯m trying things out. I don¡¯t know what I want to be. Maybe the goth clothing and bat wings are just a phase. Who knows? I can still turn into a rook, so I might be able to learn another form. I was planning to sit on your shoulder and give you guidance, but my prophetic dreams about myself have all been Hubert related, so I think I am going to abandon you and go sit on his shoulder. Do you think you can set up the kitchen without my help?¡±


    I made a shooing away gesture and continued taking the tape off until I was free and then transformed into me in comfortable clothing.

 B3-7 Taking and Giving

    I stood in the kitchen and just let the illusions swirl around me and form into kitchen equipment and furniture. My odd cloudy dreams of kitchen design and equipment that was almost aware merged in with my lifelong passion for thumping rhythms on every surface I was near. It was odd though. I had a taste for rhythms that were fast, inaudible frequencies, almost fast enough to be visible and some faster than that. I felt my bond with Hubert and took a deep comfortable breath.


    I had felt that I no longer belonged, and somehow having the connection to Hubert restored felt like being family.


    I had to shift my perfect dream of the kitchen a bit. The window and plumbing placement were good, but not quite what I would choose if I were making it all from scratch. My dream came together, and so did a kitchen with hanging copper-bottomed pots, a pair of burners for Hubert to put woks on, stoves, mixers, and all the other equipment we used and my overgifted delirium had either taught me or invented.


    Everything was going to resonate in ways that helped Hubert, and just about everything was going to be wonderful for thumping on and making a rhythm while I waited for pots to boil. My dream kitchen was as much a percussion instrument as a place to cook.


    To test it, I started simple. I had boudain and shrimp at Hubert¡¯s mansion. Thawing boudan took time. It was store-bought boudain, not the wonderful dish Monroe taught me to cook, but still tasty. The shrimp was making me think of shrimp creole.


    In a large skillet, I melted butter on a very low temperature while I cut onion, red bell pepper and celery and added it all to the butter.


    While I waited on that to soften, I started washing rice. When the vegetables were soft, I turned the heat off since I had forgotten to gather the stuff I needed. When I got back from the time coolers, I turned the heat back on and added salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, thyme, oregano, and cayenne. I chopped some real garlic and added it just as the smell of the spices started to make me think life was a wonderful thing.


    Hubert came in and took over the rice from me and asked, ¡°Shrimp creole?¡±


    I nodded.


    He looked around the kitchen. ¡°This isn¡¯t the equipment from downstairs. It¡¯s beautiful. Who¡¯s the second woman?¡±


    I looked at where I had embellished images of Olivia beside Goldilocks. ¡°Olivia. She¡¯s a friend of Goldilocks.¡±


    Hubert smiled. ¡°I¡¯m thinking you should take those aging pills so you don¡¯t spend years with your voice cracking.¡±


    As I chopped tomatoes, I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t trust the pills. The source did a lot for us. I am grateful, but they also came close to killing us both. I would rather not risk taking anything from them. They seem friendly and then it seems strained like they are about to stab me in the back and twist the knife.¡±


    I added the tomatoes to the mix as Hubert started peeling the shrimp.


    I added chicken broth and a bay leaf to the mix and started chopping green onions. ¡°Hubert, in the cabinet up there is a shrimp peeler. It has an image of Goldilocks riding a shrimp on the front of it.¡±


    Hubert asked, ¡°This big thing, how do I use it?¡±


    I said, ¡°Put a large bowl by the port with the shrimp head over it to catch the shells. Put a bowl by the port with the peeled shrimp and then just add shrimp to the top. When you¡¯re done, push the button with the flame image over it. Keep the shell bowl in place because the ashes from cleaning will come out there.¡±


    Hubert started processing the shrimp as I added most of the green onions and some Worcestershire sauce to the skillet and set it to slowly simmer.


    Anthony came in with Swampy riding on his shoulder. ¡°Smells wonderful.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Shall we start you with some toast and eggs over easy?¡±


    Anthony nodded. ¡°This is already beginning to feel like home.¡±


    Swampy made her boots disappear and jumped to the counter. She walked over to the salt and pepper shaker and grinder. ¡°Goldilocks and another girl. Should I be jealous?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°The pepper shaker is Olivia, and I suspect a lot of girls get jealous when they see her.¡±


    Swampy poked the pepper shaker. ¡°I¡¯m not scared of you.¡± She turned back and shook her head at me. ¡°The pills are safe. Keep taking them. Their source is mostly safe, but nothing is entirely safe. There are mad prophets trying to turn everything against everything so we have to be careful. Soon the crazy years will start to show just how crazy things can get.¡±


    Caerwyn came up and asked, ¡°Do you really think we can trust them?¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°You can¡¯t ever. At least three Goblin girls have wicked plans for you, Caerwyn. Don¡¯t ever let them get you alone. I don¡¯t want to lose a single member of my reverse harem.¡±


    She looked at me and I said, ¡°I love Goldilocks, so leave me out of your harem plans.¡±


    She said, ¡°You¡¯re the lumpy-looking wizard kid. Not even part of the love interest side story. These three hunks are my harem. Sam and Ivan Raimi proved that romance was a plot killer, so your destiny as a world saver has nothing to do with my collection of hunks.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Does dementia happen a lot when a person dies violently?¡±


    Swampy nodded. ¡°That and we dark prophetic witch women are supposed to be a bit crazy. I¡¯m just going for the fun type of crazy. In case you didn¡¯t notice, I didn¡¯t get a lot of fun crazy when I was alive.¡±


    I served Anthony his eggs and toast. ¡°Caerwyn, want some eggs and toast? The shrimp creole will take another fifteen minutes.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Eggs and toast sounds great, but I want it with the shrimp creole. Creole sauce with eggs sound like a dream come true.¡±


    I looked at Swampy, ¡°How much food can you eat?¡±


    She sat by Caerwyn and batted her eyes at me. ¡°I¡¯ll share with Caerwyn when his food¡¯s ready.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Hubert, eggs and toast with your shrimp creole?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Eggs and toast with the boudain that looks almost ready. Then shrimp creole. I¡¯m starting a bread pudding so I hope everyone is hungry.¡±


    When it was ready, a few more spices and a touch of lemon juice made the shrimp creole perfect. I thought about the plan to move people to the Fairy Dynamics Fairyland, but I hadn¡¯t seen that much of it and this was beginning to feel like home.


    #


    In the manor house, Anthony and Hubert were completely settled in and Caerwyn was talking about my building another manor house beside this one for him to move into.


    Anthony had done an estimate on the supplies in the time coolers and even without the fish in the tanks, we could get by for four years.


    Hubert said, ¡°We¡¯ve managed to make friends down in Leidingstad. Odd part is we have a job as well.¡±


    Anthony said, ¡°We were sitting in the market trying to decide what to trade for some coins when it became clear that money was something only the least trusted individuals used. We were watching and saw an argument break out between a pair of vendors.


    ¡°¡®Since trusted and honorable tradesmen still have to take coins,¡¯ one merchant said, ¡®It¡¯s a good thing that you have a good stock of coins. The moment everyone catches on to you ways, you¡¯ll need them to make exchanges.¡¯


    The other merchant replied, ¡®I get all the coins because you art so slow with your service.¡¯


    From that argument it became clear that the coins were just handed up the chain to be paid to keep the ethically impoverished fed and sheltered.¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°So a few men gathered and asked if there were witnesses. Anthony, in a moment of odd humor said, ¡®It would be easy enough to settle this. Since the honorable merchant with the roast lamb is jealous of the sausage vendor¡¯s coins, I think the sausage vendor should be generous and share them. That would be the honorable way to deal with it and give the roast lamb vendor some spending money.¡¯¡±


    Anthony nodded. ¡°After that, we spent the afternoon settling arguments. I almost think we are entertainment as much as a way to have neutral parties settle issues.¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°They did mention how indebted they would all be if someone managed to talk the king into finishing the amphitheater for them.¡±


    I got up. ¡°Lead the way. I might as well get it done.¡±


    Hubert slid a bundle of papers over to me. ¡°I took a look at it and made a few diagrams of how I think it should be finished.¡±


    I looked over the diagrams and made a gossamer model. ¡°It looks good to me. You know I¡¯m going to have to add some artwork to it. We might as well do it now.¡±


    We walked down to Leidingstad. People started bowing. After saying ¡°Please rise¡± over and over, I asked a woman, ¡°How does a king get everyone to stop bowing?¡±


    She kept her gaze down. ¡°Your Majesty, when you tire of the pomp, put on a disguise. It is considered bad form to recognize a Fairy Royal in disguise no matter how poor the disguise is.¡±


    Anthony said, ¡°Phil, can you promote her to an advisor? We need someone who knows the rules.¡±


    She backed up into the crowd with her gaze still down.


    Hubert shook his head. ¡°Looks like she knows enough to avoid an appointment at court.¡±


    #


    On the way up the road to the amphitheater, the crew that had been working on building the bridge were debating what to do with a large stone that had cracked. Leafsound was with them.


    From nearby I heard, ¡°Long live King Snipsnort!¡±


    The workers looked around and then bowed to me. ¡°Long live King Snipsnort!¡±


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    I thought I was over it, but found myself suppressing a laugh at my ridiculous title. I managed to say, ¡°Please rise,¡± without laughing, giggling or tittering but it took serious effort.


    Goldilocks summoned me. ¡°Phil, Olivia just mentioned a way you might be able to find that Dwarf girl. Don¡¯t say her name, she might be able to listen in or detect if you do. She has managed to be elusive so far, so she may be able to listen in. Are you in a good place for us to visit?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Is it okay if I bring Goldilocks and a friend of hers here?¡±


    Hubert smiled. ¡°It is odd to consider, but having her take copies of your art and hide them away doesn¡¯t bother me at all.¡±


    Anthony looked at Hubert. ¡°It seems like a great opportunity, and if you are going to ignore history, who am I to argue?¡±


    I brought Goldilocks and Olivia through.


    Olivia offered me her hand. ¡°Goldie, distract the men. Phil, take us somewhere we can talk.¡±


    I took Olivia through shadow and to the kitchen in the manor house.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t ask before I used you as a model.¡±


    Olivia looked around the kitchen. ¡°You made all of this?¡±


    I nodded.


    She said, ¡°Feel free to use me as a model. I know you are going to end up saying that you love Goldie and you understand her, but tell people I¡¯m your muse.


    ¡°As far as finding the difficult Dwarf goes, a rune was almost certainly left behind. A rune of concealment would be with it, and maybe runework to warn, but more runes would make it harder to hide. The person you¡¯re looking for has been left out of everything and has a serious lack of people skills. The runes were quite likely made as a way to get back and maybe spy on the place. So now I need to gift you with rune craft, and then we practice a little.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Why are you being so kind?¡±


    She smiled. ¡°Call it solidarity between fishmongers. When I heard you wouldn¡¯t take things from your people, I decided your heart was in the right place.¡±


    She kissed my forehead and took out a pencil and a stack of sticky notes. She looked at my hands where I was thumping on the table so I stopped. She drew character after character on sticky notes and then handed me a blank stack of sticky notes and a pencil.


    As I drew, she started beating a rhythm on the table and slowly figured out that the entire kitchen was made to also be a percussion set. By the time I finished she was wildly dancing and performing music on the hanging pans, counters, and cabinets.


    I joined her and we clumsily and happily danced and made music.


    She laughed when we stopped. ¡°How much for a kitchen like this?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°You just gave me a clue and a gift. I owe you.¡±


    She brushed back her hair. ¡°One warning. Rune paths are often trapped. Some runes are nothing but a trap. Others may require you to be ready to dodge left or duck or jump. So be very careful, and if it feels suspicious, don¡¯t use it.¡±


    She held out her hand. ¡°We should get back before Goldie comes up with a way to cause some real trouble.¡±


    I glanced at the locations where she had hidden runes and took her hand. She smiled and said, ¡°You missed two of them.¡±


    I took her through shadow and back to where the amphitheater was going to be. I didn¡¯t mention that there were three runes I hadn¡¯t pointed out.


    Goldilocks had already made a gossamer model of Hubert¡¯s plans for finishing the amphitheater. She¡¯d made substantial changes. I made a few more changes and asked, ¡°Any objections?¡±


    The workers looked happy, so I started making the various pieces and sections. I had hidden images of Anteater, Hey Guy, Lord Loadstone, Hippydippy, and Duchess Byebye in various parts of the stonework. The images of Goldie and Olivia were more obvious. I had also put a few images of the cats hidden in various parts of the amphitheater just because there needed to be a few more surprises for anyone who really wanted to explore it. As I built it, I made it in illusion and then relaxed on my control of it so that my subconscious imagination had a chance to run wild with the details. After examining the results to make sure too much wasn¡¯t being revealed, I made the illusions in real stone.


    In a dark corner high up in a place that no one could normally walk, I changed into me with a platter of fish and started to eat the bread and vegetables. I was tempted by the fish but I still hadn¡¯t gotten over living on only fish for way too long while in a haze. The cats appeared in front of me so I broke some fish and gave it to them.


    White Gloves dragged off a chunk of the fish and sat with it. Fuzzy lay down with her fish and started wolfing it down.


    I couldn¡¯t face watching Fuzzy eat the fish, so I took myself to the storage Fairyland with the statues and mattresses.


    #


    I sped time, lay back and slept. I had a dream about eating potatoes, so when I got up I went to Real and went to a grocery store.


    #


    I was thinking that there were potatoes in the time coolers, but I didn¡¯t want to time to pass while I cooked. Then I realized I had messed up. I had left everyone running fast in Snipsnort, gone to a storage world, set time faster, then I went to Real, and time had passed without me. I slowed the time to match Real in Snipsnort and to barely move in the storage world, but over a day had passed in Snipsnort and weeks in the storage world.


    I started to empty the cart and then went back and forth on the decision. Instead, I went to a fast food place near the grocery store and ordered fried chicken livers.


    I was sitting in a booth waiting for my order when Caerwyn summoned me. ¡°Phil, are you okay?¡±


    I nodded and then realized a nod wouldn¡¯t be heard. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I went to a sped up Fairyland to rest in the middle of building the amphitheater, and when I woke up I forgot things were sped up so I went to Real to get some food. Tell everyone I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°No prob, Phil. We were just concerned. Fuzzy said you looked sick and left.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m waiting on an order of fried chicken livers. Do you want anything?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°No, I¡¯m good. Now I kind of hate to ask, but is it still possible to get a house put in beside this one?¡±


    I said, ¡°Yes, that would be great, but let me finish the amphitheater first. Get with Hubert and make some plans for it.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°I¡¯m being asked too many questions on this side, Phil, so I will talk to you later.¡±


    #


    After finishing the amphitheater, I was hungry and tired again so I sped the storage world I had been sleeping in up to match with Real before taking myself there. As I got ready to speed up the world so I could catch a fast nap without anyone knowing, Goldilocks and Olivia showed up.


    Goldilocks said, ¡°I felt you speed up this world, so I knew you would be here. When are you going to finish the amphitheater?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°Good to see you both. I finished it and was about to take a nap.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Fine, get your rest. We will be looking at the amphitheater. Summon me when you are rested.¡±


    #


    I woke up from a dream where I was in a kitchen Fairyland cooking potatoes. The kitchen didn¡¯t make much sense, but my dreams had been shifting between realistic and outrageously fanciful and this was one of the fanciful ones.


    I matched time with Snipsnort and summoned Goldilocks.


    #


    Goldilocks brought me through, and then I gave Olivia and Goldilocks a guided tour.


    I ended the tour in front of a statue of Olivia and Goldilocks standing back to back.


    Olivia asked, ¡°Phil, darling, can you spare the mass to build me a copy of this in a Fairyland? I would love an amphitheater Fairyland, especially if it had a kitchen like the one you made tucked away underneath.


    ¡°Goldilocks, you owe me a couple of Fairylands.¡±


    Goldilocks shook her head, ¡°Phil, did you make a kitchen?¡±


    I said, ¡°I made it for Hubert, but I would be happy to make you one.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Olivia, you never cook. Why on earth do you want a kitchen.¡±


    Olivia pouted. ¡°I do cook. I cook quite a bit, but once you see what Phil does for a kitchen, you will want the kitchen he just offered. It¡¯s as much a work of art as it is a kitchen, and it is more than just that.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Fine. Phil, someone with very deep pockets, who will remain unmentioned, let me know that they would love to find out if you needed anything.


    ¡°I was going to give you a darling little Fairyland that I had, but now I think I should give it to Olivia, and we¡¯ll build yours from scratch. Let¡¯s fix up Olivia first. You can make her a kitchen and then we can see about some serious apprentice training for you.¡±


    In a Fairyland with the sun appearing as a gilded painting over a pasture with a few trees and the ruins of a stone cottage, Golilocks said, ¡°Well, first thing is to take that cottage and all the stone walls to a Fairyland for storage. This grass is good, so we want to save these patches. The pond will need to be drained to a gossamer tank in another Fairyland and then the topsoil taken sifted through gossamer gratings. Then we¡¯ll see if there is rock under this and if a cave is hidden here.¡±


    I started moving it all and doing what she said to do while Goldilocks and Olivia talked.


    ¡°Olivia, do you really want an amphitheater?¡±


    Olivia said, ¡°No, but it¡¯s always hedge mazes, gazebos, and raised herb gardens in Fairylands. I have a few that the Dread Lord filled with majestic trees and made cascading waterfalls in, so I don¡¯t really need one like that. Phil¡¯s amphitheater looks good, actually nicer than the Artist Named Ben¡¯s amphitheater, so I thought it might be nice. But it would spoil the view from the kitchen window.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°And then we end up with a few fruit trees and butterflies flitting in an herb garden with statues and a maze. Might at well have a few scenic gazebos. After a while, all Fairylands end up there unless they are the creepy type.¡±


    They moved to another Fairyland and kept a full gateway open so they could watch me work. My supply of carbonated beverages and fruit drinks ran out, so I took some time to set up the gossamer and steel filters needed to purify the pond water and then the various stone and mineral filters to run it through and make it taste right. I was running out of food that I could face eating. I needed to set up some variety so I didn¡¯t wear myself out with everything I liked to eat.


    I stopped and asked, ¡°Do you think the friends with deep pockets would give me a time locker?¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Good plan. I¡¯ll ask about time lockers. Go ahead and finish up here in fast time and Olivia and I will go check. Slow time when you are ready for the next step.¡±


    I sped time and slept. After getting down to stone, I found the passage down to the Fairylands filters. Just gravel and sand with roots running through it and a membrane sort of gateway to wick moisture up to the top of the Fairyland. The mechanics were simple, but they would need intervention and cleaning before long. I cleared it all to other Fairylands and started over using methods that bubbled up as memories from fuzzy dreams.


    I ran out of food before I finished. I thought I maybe could eat fish again, but I didn¡¯t want to push it. I wanted potatoes. I wanted hamburger, gravy, and potatoes. I wanted an oyster po¡¯boy. There were oysters in a market in Snipsnort, so I sped Snipsnort and went shopping.


    #


    By shopping, I meant pointing at things I wanted and having them give me more than a boy my size could normally carry. I put away two large baskets of bread and then pointed at the oysters.


    They didn¡¯t just give me oysters. They gathered and started shucking. They were making a party of it. I felt bad about just taking the oysters since they were doing all the work and refused to let me get dirty. I had no choice. I went to the manor and got hot sauce, mayonnaise, buttermilk, flour, dijon mustard, ground mustard, white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, corn meal, cayenne, capers, pickles, and paprika.


    In the market, I got lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.


    Again, they wouldn¡¯t let me do the work. ¡°Please, Your Majesty, if we don¡¯t do it, we won¡¯t know how to prepare it for you in the future.¡±


    I started out telling them how I wanted to batter the oysters, dipping them in a mix of egg, hot sauce, and buttermilk before battering them in the cornmeal, flour, and seasoning mix.


    I gave instructions for Comeback sauce and Remoulade sauce. They were making and adjusting it so my only input was tasting and advising. They took over and we ended up eating wonderful poorboy sandwiches, not quite what I would get in Louisiana but so good none of us were going to complain.


    One of market vendors asked, ¡°Can you find seeds for these peppers?¡±


    #


    In the Fairyland I was making over for Olivia, I was setting up a foundation for the kitchen when I realized I had gone halfway back into a fog state. I had a wide range of foods from the market stored in versions of me, but I was consuming them all and spending days working and Olivia and Goldilocks had probably just spent the few moments they were waiting in idle conversation.


    I rested, ate, and slowed time.


    Olivia and Goldilocks appeared and walked around the foundation.


    Goldilocks said, ¡°We talked with the deep pockets, and they are going to give you thirty-three time lockers. I was thinking we could split them evenly, eleven for each of us.¡±


    I narrowed my eyes.


    Olivia said, ¡°And now your apprentice, who loves you, understands you even more, Goldie.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°How could I refuse? After all she gave me twenty Fairylands for transportation and fourteen just to store things in.¡±


    Goldilocks turned and narrowed her eyes at me. She was lending them to me, but now I had turned her generous lending into an outrageous gift.


    Olivia said, ¡°Eleven time lockers that I¡¯m pretty sure take eight Fairylands to make, as compared to thirty-four Fairylands that are mostly empty, still puts you at a loss, Phil, and I¡¯m getting a rather large share just for standing around. How does that make you feel, Phil?¡±


    Goldilocks glared at Olivia. ¡°I only have one apprentice, Olivia, so it¡¯s going to be a bit hard for you to get him to set up a union.¡±


    Olivia said, ¡°I just want the common folk to understand that they do all the lifting while the rich and powerful only take deep breaths so they can yell at their help.¡±


    I nodded and made an illusion of what I planned for Olivia. My subconscious took over and I could tell that Olivia and Goldilock¡¯s imaginations were adding to and altering the illusion as they walked through it. I saw some flaws in the kitchen and they corrected themselves. The bathrooms and the guest rooms and Goldilock¡¯s suite all shifted. I was not sure that Olivia and Goldilocks noticed.


    The foggy dream state that I think I spent months in with Lady Kissykiss having me make and remake things had left an impact on me. I don¡¯t think others saw illusions like this, they just saw what they expected and wanted to see. For me, it was a lucid dream with my subconscious making changes and as I saw flaws or other possibilities, they flickered, shifted, and improved.


    Olivia asked, ¡°Do you think he really had a case of GADS?¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°I think he could cause GADS.¡±


    I realized that I could not make this in gossamer with all the steel in it so I just closed my eyes and made it all real with mass from the overlaid area from Snipsnort.


    I fell and just caught myself before I went to sleep.

 B3-8 Frozen in Time

    I heard voices. ¡°They say he may have set a record for materializing mass.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s going to kill himself if he keeps this up.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t know what to do for him. The Elves never over-gifted anyone like this. It¡¯s funny, I¡¯m kind of jealous. Imagine having every odd gift that Kissykiss has collected over the years.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but then you would be as insane as Lady Kissykiss. The Dread Lord was made to handle gifts like this. I think it would tear a normal brain to shreds.


    ¡°Wait, look at the monitor. Is Phil awake or dreaming?¡±


    I woke up on a bed with a tubes running from bags hanging on a hooks and running to patches that itched. Four Goblin girls that were sitting in front of displays and keyboards spun in their chairs and looked at me.


    Four really, really pretty Goblin girls. I looked up at the tubes and bags, sort of hoping this was an effect of the drugs and not puberty. I have dreaded the stupidity of going through puberty for over thirty years, and right now, I was lying in a hospital bed nearly overjoyed that four cute girls I didn¡¯t know were talking about me. My next thought, right on time, was my wondering how I could impress them.


    Great, there went my I.Q. Me without anything past a second grade education, and now that was going to fall apart. I was going to have to take those pills religiously so I didn¡¯t linger in puberty for sixty or more years. A lot of Goblins don¡¯t have to worry about the pimples, stink, or hair, but some Goblins get it worse than humans. Stupid, however, is something Goblins are good at.


    One of the Girls got up and asked, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    I said, ¡°Embarrassed mostly. How much is safe to materialize at once?¡±


    She said, ¡°I¡¯m a physician and a double bass player. I¡¯m not qualified to instruct a king of Fairy.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m noticing that girls are pretty in ways I don¡¯t normally. Am I going to get stupid with puberty soon?¡±


    She said, ¡°The aging pills you were given should regulate that and keep you from excess as you mature. We didn¡¯t have a sample, so we came up with a mix that would match your blood contents to that of a few Goblin boys we had around to sample. You may be feeling the effect of that.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Do you have a boyfriend?¡±


    She took out the needle and bandaged a spot where it had been stuck in me. ¡°You are definitely feeling the effect of that.¡±


    Goldilocks came into the room. Her voice was like a lilting song. Her gleaming coils of golden hair bounced as she turned her breathtaking face to look at me. ¡°Phil, are you okay?¡±


    I smiled. There was no way that I could not be okay when looking at Goldilocks. I felt the white mist of dream around me as they took the needles out of me. I just smiled happily and looked at Goldilocks.


    #


    I woke up on a bed in the room I¡¯d made for Olivia. I rushed to the bathroom. I vaguely remembered saying things about how lovely Goldilocks was. I think I went a bit too far. I heard talking so I slid into shadow.


    Olivia and Goldilocks were sitting in the kitchen.


    Olivia gestured. ¡°Yeah, we should share it. Let¡¯s give King Phil the master bedroom so we don¡¯t argue over it. If he is really coming of age, he needs his own bathroom anyway.¡±


    Goldilocks looked around like she might have noticed I was in shadow. ¡°We both can cook, but neither of us really like to. This kitchen is going to be wasted anyway. Too pretty to let a crew come in and ruin while cooking. Too nice for the designer to use. Phil is a good enough cook, but he¡¯s no Avery and Avery would be slowed down by a relatively normal kitchen like this.


    ¡°I still need to teach him to do the clouds and stars, but he¡¯s got the rest of the world building down and a few things I wonder at.¡±


    Olivia asked, ¡°So we keep the rights to come here but this belongs to Phil?¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Yes, I guess. Why are you so insistent?¡±


    Olivia shook her head. ¡°Odin and I were like brothers, but he kept using me and eventually went well past too far. I don¡¯t want to abuse the boy. You and I don¡¯t really have that many friends. If he survives and doesn¡¯t destroy himself by stunts like making this building, he would be a good friend to keep. Let¡¯s not risk burning him out by making two more of these.¡±


    I gently passed through shadows, back to the bedroom, and changed in to myself in my casual clothing. Walking in to the kitchen, I was relived to see the hormones were gone or at least left in the other form.


    Olivia got up. ¡°Phil, are you okay?¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Phil, we need to take a few days and then test making things. You need to learn your limits, and you probably shouldn¡¯t push past developing a nice appetite. If you are low energy when someone comes to challenge you for your Fairyland, it could be bad.¡±


    Olivia gestured to a stool and sat beside it. ¡°A lot of Fairy King wannabees will find a fortune teller to ask when the best time is. If they find a good fortune teller, then an obvious condition, like your being near dead, is just the sort of thing they might detect.¡±


    I sat beside Olivia. ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m usually a lot more careful. I was sort of half in the illusion and it was shifting and improving. When it seemed right, I just went with it.¡±


    Goldilocks asked, ¡°Olivia, does that sound like GADS induced daftness?¡±


    Olivia gave me a worried look. ¡°Phil, does this place seem to be changing?¡±


    I shook my head.


    She asked, ¡°Are you seeing the mechanics behind things when you look at them?¡±


    I looked at a stove and remembered the mechanisms that made it work.


    Olivia said, ¡°Are the things you¡¯re seeing alive and aware?¡±


    I said, ¡°Absolutely not, unless molecules are aware. Light can do some strange things, though.¡±


    Goldilocks shook her head. ¡°Doesn¡¯t sound like he is going daft, but we should check on him. Phil, are you tempted to cook anything?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I want to make some jambalaya, but it takes about an hour.¡±


    Goldilocks got up and started looking at her cell phone. ¡°You know, Phil, you would be the perfect apprentice if you were more serious about cooking. It¡¯s almost a waste leaving this amazing kitchen in your hands.¡± She looked a bit longer at her phone. ¡°We still have a bit of time before the lunch crowd in England hits. What do you think?¡±


    Olivia said, ¡°I know a really great fish and chips place. Phil, how does fish and chips sound?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°You two go ahead. I don¡¯t think I could handle it.¡±


    They joined hands and disappeared. The moment they were gone, I regretted it. Going to England sounded fun and I wanted potatoes. Still, the thought of watching them eat fish made me queasy, so I went to the sink just in case my queasiness got worse. Through the window, I could see the amphitheater rows in a ring with garden beds in rows. I remembered this like it was a dream. Maybe it half was. I went down the stair by the elevator and looked at the ring of thirty-three container-looking time coolers with their doors all facing the center where the stairs and elevator were.


    The elevator was on this floor, so I got in and went down to the stage below. The kitchen was a three-story building that was also the roof over the stage in the center of amphitheater. The amphitheater was mostly over-sized stairs in a circle around the stage with raised beds for growing things. There were walkways to the stage that crossed the moat that was fed by the waterfall channels that came down the steps and divided the circular garden into six sections. I wasn¡¯t sure how practical it was going to be as an amphitheater or as a garden, but even without plants growing, it was pretty. I went back up to the time coolers. They had clipboards describing their contents. They were already stocked with food. I was hungry and I had already put off eating too long to hunt through the time coolers and put together something to eat. I slowed time to match with Real and went to Snipsnort and slowed time in the new amphitheater/kitchen.


    #


    At the manor house, there was a line waiting to get in. I snuck past by shadow stepping.


    Hubert and Anthony and Caerwyn were sitting on steps inside the yard and listening to woman complaining about water being diverted from the fountain near her home. After listening to the complaint, I shadow stepped to the aqueducts that supplied the town and realized I hadn¡¯t eaten so I went to the market and approached a merchant cooking flat bread.


    ¡°Long live King Snipsnort!¡± the crowd in the market shouted.


    I almost bowed but remembered I wasn¡¯t supposed to. ¡°Please rise.¡±


    #


    I sat at a table eating meat wrapped in bread looking through a gateway in front of me as I slid the gateway on the other end up the aqueduct. I found a place where bricks had been put in the aqueduct and nearly a third of the water was pouring over the side. Worse, the water pouring over the side was eating away dirt from around the foundation of the aqueduct.


    I put up the gateway and shadow stepped up to where the water was overflowing. I flew up as an owl to the top of the aqueduct and turned into me and took the bricks out so the water would flow. Then I reinforced the base of the aqueduct and followed the flow of the water mostly as an otter.


    The water didn¡¯t cause extra overflow or cause problems when it got to the town, so I went back to the new kitchen Fairyland.


    I felt the world speed up and then Goldilocks appeared and laughed. ¡°Phil, you froze yourself in time. Always be careful and never go to a frozen world. I have made the mistake before. It happens, but you could get lost, and no one would know where to find you. You could have friendships grow cold in your absence as everyone else moves on.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How long was I frozen?¡±


    She said, ¡°Two days in Real. No big loss, as these things go. I once lost three hundred years. Every mortal you know, gone in an instant. At least from your point of view. You turn from a close friend to an old acquaintance in the blink of an eye. The only positive thing about it is that all your treasures that held up, and no one found or stole, are suddenly ancient, rare, and potentially much more valuable. Then you keep noticing things you miss. To be honest, there are weeks that you feel like crying. Stuff that was new is now ancient. Every place you love to eat is long gone, and often you can¡¯t even find the descendants of those you cared about.¡±


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    I nodded. ¡°I should probably contact my friends and tell them I am okay. Who knows what may have happened when I was gone?¡±


    Goldilocks shook her head. ¡°No, take this as solid advice from someone who knows. Speed up time. I¡¯ll go so you can rest. First thing you need to do is get all the rest you need. If you need exercise, get exercise. Eat well, check your inventories, and make sure you¡¯re in the best shape possible before you dive back in.¡±


    I sped up time. Goldilocks hugged me, then backed up and smiled before she disappeared. I went to the time lockers to find ingredients to start cooking. I decided to take her advice and finally get all the rest I have been missing. Goblins are good at managing without sleep, but I have been pushing even the small limits we Goblins share.


    #


    With rest and all my forms cleaned, healthy, and stocked up, I felt ready to go. It wasn¡¯t that dramatic, but all I had been doing for the last week and a half of sped up time was cooking, sleeping, gardening, and practicing. Mostly practicing playing percussion in my kitchen while cooking. I found seeds in the time coolers, so there were starts of a lot of herbs and plants in the amphitheater gardens.


    I slowed time to match with Snipsnort and summoned Caerwyn, ¡°Caerwyn, Phil here, I messed up and got caught in a slow Fairyland.¡±


    Caerwyn answered, ¡°Good to hear from you. It got a bit crazy this morning with folk trying to reach you. The water to the village stopped flowing.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Can you bring me through?¡±


    Caerwyn brought me to him. He was on the roof of the manor.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been charging batteries all morning. I was about to test using drones in Fairy. On another subject, I was checking out the kitchen you made. The kitchen equipment is brilliant and better than anything I¡¯ve seen before. But the stuff downstairs that you didn¡¯t use is crazy better.


    ¡°You can set the preheat temperature on an oven, open it, and it¡¯s up to temperature. Put in a roast and set it to cook to an internal temperature, close the door, and open it. Instantly cooked. The equipment down there makes everything differently.¡±


    I squinted at him. ¡°Really?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Really.¡±


    I looked at the drones he was putting batteries in. ¡°That¡¯s crazy. I just made the best I could make and thought it was better than anyone had ever seen. Now it¡¯s obsolete. I need to summon a few people and make sure things are okay. I¡¯ve been thinking about things over the last week, well, for me last week, and I think I should try and make contact and keep up with people better.¡±


    Swampy landed on my shoulder. ¡°Good idea. Real good idea. By the way, you have a Fairyland that¡¯s about to be invaded, you¡¯re gonna hate being a Fairy king this week, and you need my help finding and telling which runes will be safe to use. Hubert knows you got frozen in time. He felt it when you unfroze and sent me up here so you didn¡¯t run off to see where the aqueduct has been vandalized by a Fairy that¡¯s going to fight you when you fix it.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Really?¡±


    She said, ¡°Probably. The future is never certain unless it is.¡±


    I looked over the railing at the courtyard below. ¡°How serious is the fight going to be?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°For him, very serious. Attacking a king of Fairy in the Fairy king¡¯s realm, unless it is a duel with rules, usually means death. Even with a duel with rules.¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°Don¡¯t agree to rules and be ready. If any of the nobles of this Fairyland are involved, it will get even more complicated.¡±


    I asked, ¡°But is this wrestling, punching, or worse?¡±


    Swampy closed her eyes and shook her head. ¡°I think I did pretty good with the predictions so far, let¡¯s not push my luck. In any case, don¡¯t risk losing. Make sure you are going to win.¡±


    I nodded and slid into shadow. I needed to get information if I was going to be sure to win.


    #


    Just above the area where the brick had been stopping the flow of water, water was flowing down the hillside and as it ran it followed a path that looked like someone had been moving rocks to make sure the water flowed down to the same path it was taking previously. I got close enough to see where an entire section of the aqueduct was on its side, and water was cascading down onto it. Wards were set so I couldn¡¯t shadow step closer. I slid a gateway in, but the wards stopped it. I wasn¡¯t sure I could materialize anything to replace the knocked-over aqueduct, so I was going to have to remove the wards first and getting close to the wards might leave me defenseless.


    Someone wanted a fight, and they wanted me at a disadvantage. I considered my options and decided to fix the water problem first. I went around the warded area, and much higher up, I used a gateways to start digging a tunnel. I made a stone pipe-way and reinforced the tunnel with steel just in case. I ran the tunnel at a slight slope well under the area that was warded, and when it finally exited the ground, I set up a solid aqueduct to connect to the original downstream of the broken area.


    Then I went back and used gateways to move a section of the aqueduct out of the way so the water would run into a large pool and then run down the pipe.


    Someone yelled, ¡°You stay right there.¡±


    A middle-aged man was walking towards me, ¡°I was Fairy King here before you were, and this water is mine.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Then change the time and prove it.¡±


    He kept coming toward me. ¡°I don¡¯t have to.¡±


    I didn¡¯t want to back up, but he was a grown man and I had the body of a nine-year-old. A fairly rugged nine-year-old, but I was still at a disadvantage.


    I said, ¡°Stay back.¡±


    He was getting closer. ¡°What are you going to do, be a chicken and kill me by magic before I prove how weak you are by watching you run away?¡±


    He was trying to limit me by words and keep me from using magic or backing up, I also realized that a man larger and stronger than me was about to attack someone obviously less strong. I also suspected he had wards on him, so I didn¡¯t want him too close, or I would have to do a dead out run.


    I had no time, and the smart choices were to make a tunnel down that was too small for him, shadow step away, or take myself somewhere.


    I turned into a rooster. A giant rooster.


    He laughed as he came closer. ¡°I wring the necks of chickens before I eat them. You¡¯re just a large chicken.¡±


    If I let him closer, I was going to be in melee with him. He looked stronger close up. If I crowed, he would probably die. If I ran, he might outrun me. And if I fled, I could give up being able to solve the towns water problem. It was two days ago real time that I was told not to kill anyone, not that¡ªhe was too close. I crowed. Smoke rose from where he had been.


    Something hit me. I went to the new amphitheater Fairyland. I had a dart in me. Someone was trying to kill me. I pulled the dart out with my beak and dropped it before turning back into myself. Then I used the gateway I had left at the aqueduct and went back. I carefully moved in shadow until I saw a gateway that wasn¡¯t mine sliding along the ground. I watched from shadow. Two small Fairies with blowguns stepped out.


    Oddly, this made me feel a lot better. Maybe not so oddly. In my old family, we would occasionally wrestle. Sometimes it got serious, and sometimes we got hurt or hurt someone. We made threats and talked about killing the other or breaking their arms, but we never did. A large man or Fairy really was setting wards and damaging a towns water supply. He threatened me and came at me, but then I killed him. Being a King was horrible.


    But now someone able to manipulate gateways was part of the attack. Since their gateway did not seem bothered by the wards, it was clear that this was a coordinated attack, and they were planning to kill or capture me.


    Manipulating gateways was taught to me, mostly by Goldilocks, but also by Lady Kissykiss and the man, who I suspect was a Dwarf, that gave me three spider excavators that ran on Fairy power. From all of them, it was clear that among rulers of Fairy, being able to manipulate gateways like this was rare. So I was facing Fairy nobility from another Fairyland. Apart from Swampy, the Fairies in Snipsnort were human-sized. These two were maybe a foot tall.


    I stopped and considered my options. I hid a gateway, sped up the amphitheater/kitchen and went there. If I was going to fight multiple opponents, I needed more gateways, but the type of gateway I needed to make required me to be in Real, and I didn¡¯t have time for that. If I was facing an opponent who could move gateways, I had to assume they could speed time. I rested, ate, and tested my forms. My rooster had been drugged. I had to sit as a rooster and close my eyes and see what was going on. I was huge as a rooster, and I think the drug was intended for humans. I changed out of the form before I had figured out what it was. The rooster was close to falling asleep, so I wouldn¡¯t be able to resolve if the poison was toxic before I fell asleep.


    My rooster option was no longer available. If I went and asked for advice, time would pass in Snipsnort, so my enemy would have even more options. If I tried to sleep through the drugging on the rooster I might end up dead.


    I needed information so I took gateways from worlds Goldilocks set up for transporting statues and moved them into Snipsnort. The enemy gateway was there but not really open and not passing any information. I suspected whoever was using it was allowing light in and nothing else, so the crowing wouldn¡¯t hurt them and so they could see.


    Rested and ready apart from not having a rooster option, I went back to Snipsnort and hid in shadow.


    #


    The two Fairies were hiding and waiting for me. There was a dark side to the enemy gateway, so the gateway was only looking in that direction. They might have a full view of the facing. I needed to be careful.


    I slid a gateway carefully while avoiding being seen by the Fairies or the enemy''s gateway. I got a gateway inside a blowgun, and then slid out of reach and sight in shadow, before going to a transport world, removing the dart from the blowgun and then making a matching dart without the drug on it.


    Fortunately, I had forms of myself with gloves and masks already on so I was able to handle the stuff carefully and not touch the drug.


    I slid gateways around and got several other darts replaced, but there were darts that I would move things too much if I tried to take.


    Then using a gateway, I tried to poke one with a dart. The gateway didn¡¯t pass it, and I vaguely remembered Kissykiss saying something about that. I made a blowgun and went back to the amphitheater/kitchen to practice.


    #


    With time, I got good enough at using a blow gun. When I was ready, I went back to Snipsnort.


    #


    I slid out of shadow fired a dart at a Fairy and slid back into darkness. The second Fairy ducked and ran. Foolishly, he found a shadow to hide in, but even in a straight up blowgun fight he would not win. There was no dart in his blowgun, and if he put one in and blew, it would go through the gateway I had put inside his weapon.


    The other Fairy was gone when I looked. I watched as the enemy gateway slid to where the remaining Fairy was trying to stay standing. He dropped his blowgun. I was counting on that to sneak a gateway into the enemy¡¯s Fairyland. I slid back and examined the area where the first Fairy had disappeared. His blowgun was gone, so maybe I still had a way.


    I returned to the second Fairy, but he was gone now. I watched as the enemy¡¯s gateway slid into the darkness under a stone.


    #


    In a nearly bare Fairyland, I floated and watched through a gateway hidden just inside the edge of a blowgun.


    They were using Fairy speech, so apart from a few audible interjections, I couldn¡¯t hear the mostly telepathic speech through the gateway. They had a bunch of wooden crates. The framing was on the outside of the boxes, so they weren''t the sort of crate I liked. Some of the crates looked like they would be too heavy for one person to carry even if they were empty.


    There were three Fairies that I thought were a bit large for humans, two I thought might be Dwarves, and four more that were small like the two I¡¯d shot. They were treating those Fairies like they were sick and probably going to die. There was an exchange of nods and one of the Dwarves took a knife out and touched it to one of the Fairies that I had shot with their own darts.


    The Fairy burst into sparkles and mist. The other Fairy tried to back away, but seconds later he too burst into sparkling motes that floated up and disappeared. I was really scared to turn back into a rooster. I was also scared to handle the darts even with a mask and gloves.


    I needed help. This was more than I was equipped to handle. I spent a while managing time rates and trying to summon Maud and Skins.


    I contacted Maud. ¡°Maud, this is Phil, I think I may have a disease in one of my forms. A bad one.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Do you have a sample?¡±


    I opened up the connection so she could see the poisoned darts I had put in a solid glass jar. The jar was in a steel mesh cage on the floor so it would not fall or be easily broken. ¡°These are darts I took from the ones that shot me. I watched as the Fairies I shot had iron put to them by their comrades.¡±


    Maud asked, ¡°Have you shadow stepped with these darts?¡±


    I thought back over my actions. ¡°No and I have one that I dropped on the floor right after I pulled it out.¡±


    Maud said, ¡°Phil, this may be out of my league. A lot of folk have been talking about a plague coming. I am not an expert on disease. Basic illnesses and surgery are what I know. I have a contact that might be able to handle it though. Summon her using the title, Fairy Council Justice Lydia Gray.¡±


    I said, ¡°Thank you,¡± and disconnected. Everything seemed to go back to the Grays. At the same time, I didn¡¯t want a chance of this spreading and this stuff was in the amphitheater/kitchen, Snipsnort and a transportation Fairyland.


    I summoned Goldilocks, ¡°Goldlocks, Phil calling to tell you there might be a bad disease in the kitchen I just made. Also one of the transport Fairylands. Don¡¯t risk it until I say it is okay. Can you contact Olivia?¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Phil, summon Lydia Gray. She¡¯s the expert here.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Will she kill me?¡±


    There was a pause before Goldilocks answered. ¡°If it¡¯s bad, she¡¯s your best chance.¡±


    I said, ¡°Take care, Goldilocks. I really do love you.¡±


    I disconnected and summoned Hubert. ¡°Hubert, Phil here. I may have a bad disease. I am about to contact someone who I think is connected to the folk we got the time coolers from. I¡¯m not going to risk anyone. If I don¡¯t see you again, it¡¯s been fun. Give everyone my regards.¡±


    Hubert answered, ¡°We will keep a light on in case you come back as a Fairy.¡±


    I said, ¡°I will see you either way, then.¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°Take care, Phil.¡±

 B3-9 Surveillance

    I started a summons, ¡°Fairy Council Justice Lydia Gray, this is Phil the Fishmonger King of Snipsnort. I may have caught a bad disease.¡±


    I felt her connect and disconnect.


    I looked down at the dart on the floor and considered dowsing it with bleach. I didn¡¯t want to destroy the hope of analysis, but if I was exposed, I didn¡¯t want this to spread to anyone else.


    I bleached the area around it and sat near it.


    I smelled something and turned as a girl wearing what looked like a jogging suit crossed with a bee suit caught me as I passed out.


    #


    I woke up in a large white bed in a white chamber with mirrors far above me. Apart from the folds in the white quilt and white sheets, there were no shadows. The walls and the floor all glowed, so there were no shadows at all. I tried to transport myself to the amphitheater/kitchen but it didn¡¯t work. I tried to transport myself to the transport world that had been exposed to the darts but nothing happened.


    I sat up and started to make a gateway.


    An amplified voice said, ¡°The disease is not a strong concern. It is a very old Fairy poison. Shadow stepping cures it, and it is not airborne. Please transform into any forms that have been poisoned and try to shadow step.


    I shrugged. ¡°With what shadow?¡±


    The glow on the floor stopped. There still wasn¡¯t much shadow. I changed into me with a backpack filled with sausage and cheese sandwiches and arranged it to make a shadow. I turned into the drowsy rooster and shadow stepped and then fell asleep.


    #


    ¡°Wow, a giant rooster fell asleep in shadow.¡±


    ¡°Naw, that¡¯s one of them there dinosaur pre- bird things. Nice plumage. How did a dinosaur end up in shadow?¡±


    ¡°Goblins must be descended from prehistoric roosters. Must have been wild back when giant chickens roamed the earth.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s get feathers, otherwise no one will believe us.¡±


    ¡°What if it wakes up?¡±


    ¡°How many millions of years has it slept here, do you think?¡±


    ¡°Do dinosaurs hibernate?¡±


    ¡°No idea. I didn¡¯t even know they shadow stepped.¡±


    I started to pull my head out from under my wing.


    ¡°It¡¯s getting up. Run!¡±


    I looked around. I could tell I was in a Fairyland, and the cave lit by large glowing fungus made me even more certain of my assessment. I turned into myself and walked out and into a field. A pair of small Goblins were leading a band of ten more Goblins carrying ropes with weights on the ends.


    A Goblin girl looked up at me. ¡°You a human?¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m a Goblin.¡±


    She said, ¡°Kept your ears round. Did you see a giant chicken come this way?¡±


    Another Goblin said, ¡°Rooster. Giant rooster.¡±


    The Goblin girl asked, ¡°How do you know? Looking like a rooster hardly means it¡¯s a boy if it¡¯s a dinosaur. Here¡¯s the thing, most critters go through their various forms as they grow up. So young critters may look like they did ages ago. Since everyone sort of look more like a boy than a grown woman when young, it¡¯s clear that boys are the more primitive form.¡±


    The boy Goblin rolled his eyes. ¡°Not this again.¡±


    I saw another Goblin pick a leaf off a tree and start chewing it. He noticed me looking. ¡°You got an issue with me, big guy?¡±


    I took a leaf and chewed it. Now I was linked to the Fairyland. I returned to the amphitheater/kitchen to start cleaning up the dart and the area around it. The dart was gone. I cleaned the area anyway.


    As I cleaned, I considered the Fairies that had attacked and wondered what they were doing at the aqueduct. It didn¡¯t make sense, but then as I thought of Fairies willing to use disease as a weapon with a gateway near the aqueduct, I got concerned. I went back to the transport Fairyland, and the darts were gone. I opened the gateway I had put inside one of the blowguns in the world with the disease-using Fairies.


    There was no light, and it would not open in a way that I could pass objects through it. I could open it to transmit, but I was not going in without knowing what was up.


    #


    At the seven-way crossroads in Snipsnort, I considered summoning folks to tell them I was okay. I didn¡¯t quite know how to tell them I had been abducted and woke up in a strange room. As I composed in my mind various ways of interpreting events and explaining things without telling any of my wild theories, I slid through shadows beside the aqueduct in Snipsnort until I reached the place where the enemy Fairies had hidden their gateway. I didn¡¯t want them to notice my moving and altering their gateway, and I didn¡¯t want them popping out and attacking me. I made a steel mesh cage and moved the gateway into it.


    From vague dream-like memories and clues I was given about runes, I made wards to try and keep the gateway from being able to be moved out of the cage. I tested it until I could no longer move it out. Hopefully that would do. I had little choice. I needed to deal with these Fairies before they decided to poison a town¡¯s water supply.


    With it hopefully secure I altered the gateway so I could see through it.


    The crates were gone. Through the rain and mist, tall banana trees in rows went as far as the fog allowed vision. I moved the gateway around. There were steep embankments with tall grasses growing and water in channels at the bottom. In a gazebo, there was a pair of Fairies with wings sitting at a Go board playing. I altered the gateway to allow me to hear them and slid it up into the gazebo so hopefully they wouldn¡¯t notice.


    ¡°How much longer?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s rude to rush a person trying to figure out where to place the next stone.¡±


    ¡°No, not how long before you take your turn. How long before King Snipsnort comes and claims this Fairyland?¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t hear? He¡¯s probably never coming. He was in a level six disease ward. Something went wrong. He was there, turned into a giant rooster, and poof, he was gone.¡±


    ¡°He got out of a level six disease ward?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, they estimate that maybe six to eight of the top transport experts of Fairy could get out of a level six disease ward if they had time. Maybe two could get out of it fast. King Snipsnort pushes the limit of manifesting materials, but apart from that he isn¡¯t anywhere near the top of anyone¡¯s list at anything.¡±


    ¡°Well, he is a Fairy king of one of the oldest known Fairylands and he¡¯s Goldilock¡¯s apprentice.¡±


    ¡°When they made the level six containment areas, Goldie was one of the prime targets for making sure they could contain her. She¡¯s one of the top transport experts, but the consensus is it would take her at least an hour to get free. No, now that King Snipsnort is gone, everyone¡¯s planning for the end of the world.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna keep my hopes up.¡±


    A Fairy flew in and landed next to the Fairies playing Go. ¡°Has there been any sign of Snipsnort?¡±


    ¡°What, King Snipsnort?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. He did some odd stuff with gateways. He altered a gateway he hid in a blowgun that was put in one of the museums. The Dread Lord felt someone pushing on the edge of speeding time there almost like he was testing the water. On the other side of the gateway was a series of worlds set up in stacks for transport with gateways in Snipsnort and several other Fairylands.


    ¡°From way-up sources, we were informed that King Snipsnort is about to conclude that he can¡¯t trust anyone even remotely related to the Dread Lord.¡±


    ¡°That would be us. That¡¯s crazy.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, the Efreets have their own team manipulating destiny, and they have been trying to get rid of Roland Hubert as one of their low level efforts. When Snipsnort showed up, they were still aiming for Roland, but it looks like they may have caught on that Roland is just support for their real enemy.¡±


    ¡°So what do we do?¡±


    ¡°Wait for him. Play dumb. If it gets rough, you know what you volunteered for.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we defend King Snipsnort no matter the cost. If we are caught, we have glass vials with bits of iron in them, hidden in teeth. Don¡¯t worry, we know our duty.¡±


    I closed the gateway and hid it. Someone was passing through shadow under the aqueduct. It didn¡¯t feel like one of the cats or Duchess Byebye. There was a Goblin or a Goblin¡¯s Fairy here in Snipsnort. I slid slowly into shadow and waited. Whoever was there was waiting too. Minutes passed and suddenly the other Goblin took off, moving fast in shadow. I caught a ripple and rode it. I slid in the shadow of their shadow in shadow as they sped their way to the huge white throne were Snipsnort¡¯s nobles played rough games and the gateway to Real was.


    I felt Duchess Byebye enter the chase in shadow.


    The Goblin fleeing reached the shadow of the throne and shifted to the shadow of one of the golden pillars holding the roof over the throne. She stepped out of shadow and moved to activate the gateway to Real.


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    Duchess Byebye grabbed onto her leg. ¡°No one gets away from Dutchess Byebye without answering three questions. Be sure to tell the truth, ¡®cause I can tell and I eat people who tell me lies. Why are you here?¡±


    The Goblin girl looked down at Byebye and her jaw went stiff. She collapsed and Byebye touched her throat, pushed her over, and sat on her chest. Sitting, she bounced on the girls chest. ¡°Wake up, Goblin girl.¡±


    The girl opened her eyes.


    Byebye put her head closer to the Goblin¡¯s face. ¡°You poisoned yourself to escape my questions. But I can tell if something is poisoned and I can cure it. No escaping questions, not with Byebye here.¡±


    Lady Anteater walked up. ¡°Is this King Snipsnort¡¯s girlfriend? Oh, you¡¯re in so much trouble. Duchess Byebye is not going to let you steal her boyfriend.¡±


    Byebye said, ¡°No, he¡¯s my brother now, so him being my boyfriend is just weird. Okay, get the gang. We tickle her ¡®til she talks. If she¡¯s my brother¡¯s girlfriend, and she was ready to die to not admit she is desperately in love with him, there must be some terrible secret. Are you his sister, too? ¡®Cause if you are, ewwww. That¡¯s just creepy.¡±


    I felt a gateway sliding up. I was in shadow, and it seemed like as it moved the light was now less blue and darker. I shifted through the gateway.


    #


    I was in shadow under a desk in a Fairyland where Goblin girls were watching displays. Various views around the throne were displayed.


    In an open area right beside me was the gateway to Snipsnort that I had just passed through. Byebye and the Goblin girl were shifted into an intermediary Fairyland. They were in a slower Fairyland so they appeared frozen in time, and the light looked dim.


    I heard a man¡¯s voice, but I dared not shift and look to see him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t hurt Byebye. Not joking around girls. We hurt Duchess Byebye and everything falls apart. None of you ever get boyfriends. Seriously, Phil adopted her. She¡¯s his Goblin family.¡±


    A girl¡¯s voice asked, ¡°Which of them was that?¡±


    Another voice said, ¡°Not Bell, he stays older looking. Not that we are going to hurt her, but how would Phil know if we did?¡±


    ¡°Phil has the swamp witch, and Roland is about to become a prognosticator again. He may end up knowing everything.¡±


    A voice near me said, ¡°We have induced sleep state on Duchess Byebye and Petra. Someone extract Petra and we can put Duchess Byebye back in Snipsnort.¡±


    I watched as a pair of Goblin girls carefully moved Duchess Byebye off of the Goblin girl and took the Goblin girl out of the area.


    She immediately got up and looked back. ¡°I saw Phil. He¡¯s alive. I took the poison, but Duchess Byebye negated it. I should probably be taken off this project before my karmic links to Phil get any stronger. Fortunately, he never saw me.¡±


    ¡°Good, as long as you avoid eye contact with him, we don¡¯t think the Efreets will be able to link you. That was the latest assessment. We won¡¯t have to move you to another universe like we did Nia.¡±


    In the area beside me, the gateway got brighter, and I saw Duchess Byebye get up.


    Lady Anteater asked, ¡°How¡¯d she get away? No one ever gets away from Byebye.¡±


    Duchess Byebye said, ¡°We¡¯re in the middle of a secret gateway. Call the team. We have a Fairyland to invade!¡±


    The view went blank as the gateway closed and then dissipated.


    ¡°Do we keep looking for Phil?¡±


    ¡°We should confirm that he is safe. Everyone back to monitoring stations. Roll call on stations and status.¡±


    ¡°Phil¡¯s Banana Farm is clear.¡±


    ¡°Snipsnort cleanup crew has reached the site, and they are removing the wards.¡±


    ¡°All the gateway to areas frequented by Olivia and Goldilocks have been put into deep hiding and set to dissipate on detection.¡±


    ¡°Good, now lock down those stations. Goldilocks and Olivia have both been here before.¡±


    ¡°Twenty years ago, maybe.¡±


    ¡°Do you want to risk it?¡±


    ¡°Phil¡¯s medical center has the framework set up. Shall we move the gateway in Fairy Dynamics so it can be discovered?¡±


    ¡°Wait for it. The probable invasion will be tomorrow around 14:00 Greenwich. Shift the gateway right after that gets resolved.¡±


    ¡°While we are being active, can we just take care of the invasion for Phil?¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t solve all his problems, and we don¡¯t want to show our hand.¡±


    ¡°So we just root for him?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s all we can do. We can try to be a safety net, but we have fumbled so much, we don¡¯t dare try to help him directly. The Efreets prognosticators have destiny snarled in knots. Half our attempts to help have put him in danger.¡±


    The Goblin girls were regularly sliding in and out of shadow and moving during all of this. I was right by an area they used for opening gateways, so if they used it, I would have a good way out and they might not notice me. If I moved in shadow here, they would certainly detect me and probably identify me. I was stuck.


    If I just took myself to another Fairyland, I might not be identified, but I didn¡¯t trust going to another Fairyland like that while still in shadow. Fortunately, this world was sped up or someone might summon me and that would give me away.


    I might have another way out. Going to sleep while in shadow had taken me to another Fairyland, but that was an unexplored and unknown possibility and full of risks. If I went to sleep and fell out of shadow, I would be worse than just revealed.


    A Goblin girl¡¯s voice said, ¡°Feile Griff has been contacted by an Efreet possessed oligarch. Can we launch an interdiction?¡±


    ¡°If this incursion to Snipsnort had not happened, we suspect he would have already contacted Feile. We can launch an observation team and send this up to see if the Heads want to risk interaction with the Efreet, but none of us are Phil or Avery. We will need any volunteers to die before the Efreet extracts memories from them. Only volunteers go though the gateway and only if you are rigged and you speak Russian, Ukrainian, and Crimean Tatar.¡±


    The gateway opened to a wooded area. I didn¡¯t speak any of those languages, but I gently went through anyway. I barely shifted and after passing through the gateway, I took off as fast as I could for just a moment, blazing through shadow not even knowing where I was going or seeing anything but the shadows ahead. I stopped short by a stream.


    I didn¡¯t know where I was. I didn¡¯t know anything about Russia or Ukraine or Crimean taters.


    I felt the ripples from shadow stepping. I wasn¡¯t near and didn¡¯t want to disturb the shadows so I took to the air as an owl. A Goblin girl was sitting in a tree mostly concealed by the leaves and aiming a listening device at a house on top of a hill.


    I didn¡¯t fly anywhere near her. I stayed low but she was at the edge of the wooded area and between her and the house there was only a bit of scrub and grass. I flew low and found a small gully up to the wall around the house. Fearing wards, I flew into the canopy of a small tree and perched on a limb. I could make out several conversations. One was in German, and I could mostly make out what was being said. The rest of the conversations sounded like Russian.


    The German conversation ended sharply as I started to listen.


    Feile Griff said, ¡°You want me in America? I don¡¯t think the North American Deaths like me.¡±


    Another voice said, ¡°Shhh. Someone is listening to us.¡±


    After a minute of waiting, I started sliding a gateway to find a way to see inside. I felt something dark enter me. An Efreet had possessed me.


    #


    I went to my Fairyland of Death, bound him to it, and turned him into a Fairy. I did it in one quick instinctive move. Then I turned into myself and was immediately hit in the face with a bit of gravel. The little thing was picking through the rough dirt to find something else to fling at me.


    #


    I went to a transport Fairyland, turned back into an owl and went through the gateway I had just slid half-way down a tree. Another foul spirit entered me. I went to the Fairyland of Death and dodged a thrown bit of gravel as I turned into myself, bound the spirit to the Fairyland, made him into a Fairy.


    Another bit of gravel hit me near my ear. I needed to get body armor and a face shield.


    I went back to the transport Fairyland, turned into an owl again, and stopped. I sped time and linked up with an overlay gateway to Snipsnort.


    I moved around gateways so I could examine the six-legged, armored excavator. I sat on it and closed my eyes to examine the windows. I examined the armored body of it, then made sheets and bars of the materials in gossamer, and started testing them with gossamer hammers and pickaxes. It was all tough stuff so with gossamer mirrors, illusions to feed imagination, and a few practice attempts at making armor, I could move in comfortably and still see. I made real armor that I could keep in a form. Since I had just left a backpack in a shadowless white room, I chose that form to wear the armor.


    #


    As an owl, I went through the gateway by the house where I had twice been possessed. I landed on the ground and hopped to the wall.


    From inside, I heard Feile, ¡°Don¡¯t try it, my wards will kill us both if you possess me. Where the hell are you going?¡±


    I turned my head and saw the dark shape. Again, I was possessed.


    #


    In the Death Fairyland, I made the invading presence a Fairy, turned into me in armor, bound him to the world, and heard more than felt the impact of two bits of gravel hitting my face shield.


    I went to a transport Fairyland, sped time in the Fairyland of Death, and felt for changes in mass. When it felt like three small bundles of mass had been given to the Fairyland, I went back and waited. Oddest thing. This horrible, desolate, broken Fairyland gave me a strong sense of it being happy with me.


    #


    Ready for an evil spirit to invade me, again I hopped out of the gateway as an owl.


    I heard a voice say, ¡°Feile, my rider has left me. Am I going to die now?¡±


    Feile asked, ¡°Do you want a ward so you can be safe?¡±


    He said, ¡°I¡¯m not used to making decisions. Tell me what to do.¡±


    Feilie said, ¡°I¡¯m just drawing a simple ward. Just stay there. If a guard comes, tell him to leave.¡±


    I decided I needed to get in fast. The grating at the bottom of the gully where the fence passed over it had a gap that I thought I could fit through. I scrapped my chest up pretty good and was bleeding a little after quickly forcing my way through the grating. A guard was walking over, so I tested shadow and moved into the house.


    From the shadow on a beam in the ceiling I saw Feile carefully drawing a rune that would ignite and incinerate the paper it was written on after the transport rune she had already drawn was used. I hid in a shadow on her large handbag.


    #


    She finished the rune and then we were in a workshop in a large stone and timber barn in a much colder place. I shifted between shadows and found myself sealed by ward inside the barn. I went to the shadows behind a booth set up for spray painting in and turned into me.


    I hid a gateway on the other side of a cobweb-covered pegboard with tools that looked like they hadn¡¯t been used in thirty years. I hid another gateway in a seam on Feile¡¯s bag. Then I went back into shadow to explore and find the equipment and computer that Feile had used to nearly kill Hubert.


    I found the computer in a room in a building connected to the barn. It was hooked to a router. Keeping watch for Feile, I brought out a laptop and a router and set the router up to just pass data and listen. That gave me the IP addresses I needed.


    I sent a message to Caerwyn. ¡°Here¡¯s Feile Griffs router¡¯s IP.¡±


    I was working on breaking the security on the router when Caerwyn sent me a message back, ¡°Phil, you gave me a present, and it¡¯s not even my birthday.¡±


    I replied, ¡°I need to make fakes of the connected equipment and take the ones she has. Should I take anything else?¡±


    Caerwyn sent back, ¡°I¡¯ll let you know. She¡¯s a Dwarf and sadly, that means she knows how to make it all again. They have great memories. But that might slow her down.¡±


    I shadow stepped back out to the barn. She was putting runes on everything flammable. She was planning to burn the place down.


    I shadow stepped to the top of the paint booth and asked, ¡°Gonna run for it?¡±


    She spun around. It took her a moment to find me. ¡°Phil, first they told me I had killed Hubert and needed to run from you. Then I was told you were dead. Phil, these are Efreets. You need to run, too. Cover your tracks. They can take you over, then they¡¯ll go after everyone you know with the knowledge they have taken from you. You can¡¯t fight these things. They are ancient and horrible. They tricked me into using resonances that killed the Giants on Hubert.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How many of them were in the house with you?¡±


    She said, ¡°Four of them. One would be more than enough to take you, me, and everyone we know to oblivion.¡±


    Just before returning to the transport world, I said, ¡°Then I missed one of them. I should go back and deal with it.¡±


    #


    Once more I hopped out of the gateway as an owl. This time I tested for wards. No wards. I should have guessed that an evil spirit that wants to keep its options open and possess people would prefer a place without wards. I slid in shadows to listen to the guards talk.


    When they spoke, it sounded like Russian. I slid in shadow and found where three men were talking. One was the man who spoke German to Feile, but their group was speaking yet another language that I didn¡¯t speak.


    So much for being a spy. I explored. I found a lot of guns. I don¡¯t think it counts as stealing when you take things from someone who tried to possess you. Arguing it in court probably wouldn¡¯t work, but Goblins tend to avoid jail.


    There was a man sleeping in an expensive bed. He had a guard outside the door. I guessed that he was an Efreet or at least had one inside him.


    He woke up as I watched and looked up at the shadow I was hiding in. I shifted around to the floor as he closed his eyes and a dark shape came out. I turned into me as it entered me.


    #


    In a well-worn pattern with just a touch of variation, I went to the Fairyland of Death, made him a Fairy, turned into me in armor ,and bound him to the world. I expected gravel to hit me. Then I remembered that I¡¯d let time pass and the others were gone.


    The Fairy glared up at me. ¡°You will watch as the world ends. There will be no escape for you.¡±


    I said, ¡°You will watch as this world ends you. There will be no escape for you.¡±


    He said, ¡°I am eternal. I have survived time more distant than the evolution of your kind.¡±


    #


    I left him there, sped time on the world he was in, and felt his substantial mass get added to the Fairyland of Death.

 B3-10 Feilie

    In the amphitheater/kitchen Fairyland with time running fast, I dove into the moat around the stage as an otter and chased minnows.


    Things were simple and things were complicated. A huge and powerful organization was in a battle with another huge and powerful organization, and if the one that had evil things that possessed people won, the creeks, bogs, and lakes I grew up in would be destroyed.


    So one organization was doing what it could to help me, but they didn¡¯t want the other thinking I was connected to them. All in all, I owed them for what they had given me, but they had their own thing going on. Even if they were on my side, they seemed more dangerous to me than the side I was against. There was mention of a Dread Lord being involved. I just identified that person with the Shadow¡¯s Queen. Either way, I was happy to stay away.


    The Shadow¡¯s Queen wasn¡¯t trying to destroy the world, but she was happy to mess with others¡¯ lives. Maybe that was the price of being a queen, but it still wasn¡¯t right. It¡¯s horrible being royal, and I don¡¯t even think the royals know it. I suspect they complain all the time, but very few of them give it up.


    I spun and turned in the water, chasing schools of fish and weaving through long green fronds as I swam. I had responsibilities. The way things were going, I needed to be sure things would be okay after I died. Even after I come back as a Fairy, I might not last long. Things had been rough in the last year. I had a lot of Fairylands. Too many and more coming. I needed names for them. The Fairylands I used to move things around in either had frames, floors, or were entirely empty. The storage worlds had floors and holes to move things from floor to floor while reducing, altering, or eliminating gravity.


    They needed labels of some sort just for me to keep them all straight in my mind. I needed to be able to return to any one of them, just in case, and I needed to keep them fueled. My staying in them fueled them, so I needed to divide my time in them.


    Snipsnort had a name. Fairyland Dynamics didn¡¯t have a name and I didn¡¯t like its old name, ¡°Dogbane.¡± But Swampy thought it should be ¡°Rougarou.¡±


    The amphitheater/kitchen was more than just that. It had a garden and a moat. Under the amphitheater, it had examples of art, room for storage, room for a bunch of heavy equipment, and a large area for making art. I needed to talk with Goldilocks and Olivia since we shared it.


    Before I did much else, I needed to go back to Real and figure out what to do with Feile Griff.


    I climbed out of the water, shook off and turned back into a boy. Then I went to the transport Fairyland that had gateways that interconnected the other transport Fairylands.


    #


    There were other gateways that interconnected, but this one I decided to call it ¡°Nexus¡± since ¡°Interconnect¡± was too long and ¡°Link¡± seemed to simple. Nexus was an empty Fairyland and sort of a central one that mostly got passed through.


    #


    Then I went to ¡°Effect.¡± also empty, and almost unused by me. Goldilocks liked to make it glow for positioning it and made illusionary division lines to help locate things.


    I had named two worlds, and realized that while I needed to do this, I really needed to deal with Feile Griff. She was a danger, sort of, but I unlike the Efreets, I didn¡¯t feel like it was right for me to kill her, and I had gotten all sorts of warnings not to kill her.


    #


    I moved to the transport Fairyland that I had taken gateways that linked it to several others and moved them around in Real. I named this one ¡°Almost Real,¡± and went through the gateway to the barn that Feile Griff was preparing to burn down.


    #


    I asked, ¡°Do you have to burn it?¡±


    She said, ¡°It could give clues about my decisions. I don¡¯t want them to be able to follow me.¡±


    I said, ¡°They¡¯re gone. They have been destroyed. All four of them.¡±


    Feile said, ¡°Even if it were true, and I doubt it, there are more of them. They want to hire me. If I say no, they will want to know why. If I say no, they may decide to eliminate me.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Why do they want to hire you?¡±


    She stopped writing runes and looked at me. ¡°Fine art is not as regulated as a lot of other things. It¡¯s one of the ways that the rich move money so it is protected. I am an expert on art, so they want me in America to evaluate authenticity. That way they can convert rubles to art and art to well-laundered money in the international scene. I would rather not. Anything I do to help them helps bring the world one step closer to destruction.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Is that why the North American Deaths don¡¯t like you?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re a Goblin. You should know. Cops end up serving the rich and powerful. That¡¯s just how it is. The North American Deaths think they are putting off or stopping the end of the world. Truth is they are just cops. Cops end up serving the rich and the rich, as a general rule, never do anything to prevent destruction if they can make money instead.¡±


    I said, ¡°You sound like Olivia.¡±


    Feile nodded. ¡°We both were used and abused by the gods. It takes some of us a thousand years to learn this lesson, but eventually you learn that the folk at the bottom are all considered tools and numbers by those at the top. Odin is trying to stop the end of the world, I¡¯ll grant him that, but his methods turn truth into lies and lies into truth. I¡¯m a Dwarf so I¡¯m immune to whatever power he uses to make women swoon, but I respect that his heart is in the right place, for now.


    ¡°Despite that, he is one of the rich, and you can¡¯t trust any of them. But then I have to consider who I am talking to. You rule one of the great Fairylands of old, and you can create more gold than any Dwarf has ever seen without even lifting a hand. You are new to this, but in the end you will be just like them.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Olivia knew Odin?¡±


    Feile said, ¡°They were like brothers, not that it ever did Olivia any good.¡±


    I gave her a confused look.


    Feile said, ¡°Look, I¡¯m a Dwarf, and I am not the right being to explain gender issues to someone who has been stuck as a preadolescent for half a century. What I have learned is this. If someone is currently saying they are a girl, then just shut up and call them a girl. If they say they are a boy, just call them a boy. If it¡¯s more complicated than that, just shut up.¡±


    She looked at me and asked, ¡°How well do you know Olivia?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°Do you want to evaluate some art?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Since I can¡¯t take everything here, I need to destroy it all.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Can I have it?¡±


    She said, ¡°If you take it from Real, Deaths will get involved. Trust me, the Barvarian Council is a lot more lenient than they are in North America, but Deaths are Deaths and when you leave craters in real, they get angry.¡±


    I took a gateway and cross-connected to an empty transport world and tried encircling the area with the barn, but it was warded. I left the wards on the outside limit the gateway and moved all but me, Feile, and her runes to a transport world. As blocks of wood with wards and runes on them fell and small bits of paper with runes on them drifted in the wind, they burst into flame around and above us.


    I barely noticed as I was falling. I turned into a bird and slowed myself since there was a really deep basement and storage area that had been dug out below the barn that just disappeared.


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    Feile landed with a thud and water from a pipe that I had just disconnected by removing the barn was pouring out and splashing near her.


    She ran to higher ground. ¡°You stole my barn.¡±


    I landed on the ground above and looked down. ¡°You stole my excavator and planned to burn the barn down.¡±


    She got a determined look on her face. ¡°My bag is on a table in the barn. I wasn¡¯t going to burn the bag.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Are we even-steven if I give you your bag?¡±


    He face showed obvious greed. ¡°My bag and five pounds of gold.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Gold coins or art?¡±


    She looked at me and said, ¡°Wire. Gold wire, pure gold wire on spools.¡±


    I shifted gateways around and made her what I thought was about sixteen gauge gold wire on a gold spool. I messed up on weight. The spool was heavy so the total was closer to fifteen pounds.


    I set it down on the ground beside me and put her bag beside it. Then I sat down and started making gateways. A boring task that needed to be done. I slowed all my worlds down to match with Real so I wouldn¡¯t miss anything.


    Feilie asked, ¡°Are you going to help me out of this hole?¡±


    I continued the spell until the gateway I was making was finished. ¡°Sorry, I was in the middle of a spell. I just made you about fifteen pounds of gold and brought you your bag. Since it¡¯s getting wet down there, I figured you might prefer having your purse stay dry.¡±


    She made an angry face at me so I started making another gateway.


    She pulled a rock out of the side of the hole and started to try and shape a rune in the dirt. After trying a few times, she said, ¡°My shoes are going to be ruined if the water reaches them. I like these shoes.¡±


    I finished making the second gateway before the water level reached where she was standing. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll make a deal to get you out of the hole.¡±


    She grimaced.


    I asked, ¡°Should I start another spell?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°What¡¯s the deal?¡±


    ¡°If I take you somewhere, you aren¡¯t allowed to take anything or put any runes in that world without my clear intended and expressed permission.¡±


    She said, ¡°That¡¯s pretty precise for someone new to making deals with supernatural beings.¡±


    I said, ¡°Some of my brothers were pretty tricky about making deals, so I grew up learning to be careful.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t generally take things, but we did get off to a rough start. Will you take my word, or do I have to give a binding oath?¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯ll accept your word, but keep in mind that if you weasel out of it, your word won¡¯t be worth anything to me in the future.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°That¡¯s fair. Okay. Get me out of this hole.¡±


    I shifted gateways around, put two back to back, and moved them so that one could open beside me and one beside her. ¡°We haven¡¯t made a deal yet. And I don¡¯t really want anything from you. Last time I got something from you, it was worse than disappointing.¡±


    She said, ¡°We made a deal about my placing runes.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°If that¡¯s the deal, and I took you here to the surface out of the hole, then you would be breaking your deal if you ever made a rune in Real without asking me.¡±


    She winced. ¡°Okay, we didn¡¯t make a deal yet. I see your point.¡±


    I said, ¡°You can appraise art. Can I get your honest opinion about something?¡±


    She gave me a look like I was crazy. ¡°I¡¯m an old-world Dwarf made by Giants. I always say too much and offend people. It¡¯s what we do. We might try to point out extra flaws or point out the good things if we are making a deal, but I¡¯m not going to lie about art.¡±


    I slid a gateway down the road a ways and into a crevice in a rock outcropping and then took the rest of the gateways back.


    I picked up her purse and the spool of gold. As an owl, I flew down to where Feile was and turned into me. I offered her my hand and took her to the amphitheater/kitchen.


    #


    She dropped to her knees and started examining the art. ¡°Whatever you paid for this, you stole it. This is as close to Fairy-addled dream art as it gets before turning outright insane. Did a woman do this? Had to have been. A woman who wishes she were Helen of Troy or Olivia.¡±


    Feile got up and walked over to the sink and then she looked at a salt shaker. ¡°Insane, almost dream-like art. Timeless, haunting.¡±


    She glared at me. ¡°Are you actually using this to cook in?¡±


    I said, ¡°It all works.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I understand testing it, but stop. This needs to be preserved. You rich people don¡¯t know how to value things.¡±


    I put her bag and spool of gold on a counter and started thumping out a rhythm on the sink and counters around it. ¡°You¡¯re making fun of me.¡±


    She recoiled. ¡°Don¡¯t. Fine, I see that it¡¯s an instrument but don¡¯t.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Is it really that good?¡±


    She said, ¡°It¡¯s no Michaelangelo, and I would value a Vernier as worth a lot more, but this is a strange and wonderful piece. It¡¯s comfortable and functional and a lot of it is the right height to use and a lot of it was made so a range of height would be comfortable. It also has a haunting sort of beauty that only gives way to the warmth and functionality.¡±


    She looked out the window. ¡°There are sculptures out there. Can we take a look?¡±


    I nodded and led her to the elevator. She picked up her bag and the spool of gold before following.


    She said, ¡°I¡¯ve seen the Artist named Ben¡¯s work. This isn¡¯t his. This is more fluid and more primitive. No one else does work this large though. Is the artist alive?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°So far.¡±


    She said, ¡°There was a mention of having you learn art from me. I¡¯m not teaching. If you can, learn from this one. Don¡¯t learn too much though. There is a dream like quality that makes me think her Fairy will end up daft.¡±


    We walked out to the gardens and she approached a statue of Olivia. ¡°She¡¯s human. The artist was born human. You almost have to be a born mammal to have this much fixation on breasts. It probably doesn¡¯t seem excessive to you since you were born human, but to someone made human it¡¯s pretty obvious.¡±


    I gave her a sideeyed look and then she smiled broadly. ¡°Oh, I see it now. The artist has also seen Emerald, the Dread Lord¡¯s wife. She wanted to make sure that no one confused this as an image of the Shadow¡¯s Queen so she emphasized the differences between them and made sure you immediately see the difference. You know there is a theory that Goldilocks and Emerald are actually the same person.¡±


    I shuddered at the thought, but I didn¡¯t have a way to refute it. I decided that it wasn¡¯t true, but I suspected the idea was going to bother me for a while.


    Feile asked, ¡°How did you even pay for all of this?


    She looked closer at the statue. ¡°The sculptor is a Fairy queen. No question about it and definitely insane. Why would she make a statue of stone when she could make it from gold?¡±


    I said, ¡°Gold weighs a lot more.¡±


    Feile said, ¡°She could have made it hollow. That would be expected. No this artist is throwing wealth to the wind and either showing off in an insane way or she is just plain too crazy to see. Quartzite is wonderful but common. She could have done an alloy. Quartzite is complex. If she could manage Quartzite she could have made it out of a single gem, and it would have been even more valuable. Alright, having seen this and examined it, don¡¯t learn art from her. She could be dangerous.¡±


    I nodded.


    From a balcony on the floor above the kitchen, Goldilocks shouted, ¡°Phil, are you going to cook something?¡±


    I turned into a rook and flew up to her and landed on the railing. In a low voice I said, ¡°I¡¯m showing this to Feile Griff, and she thinks it was all made by an insane Fairy queen. Don¡¯t give it away. She also thinks you might be the Queen of Shadows.¡±


    I was watching carefully to see if Goldilocks reacted to that bit of information. Instead I felt something enter the Fairyland. There was mass but no weight.


    Goldilocks laughed and then looked at me closely. ¡°I¡¯m not that good an actress, but tell me the truth. Do you think I might be the Queen of Shadows?¡±


    I looked down. ¡°No, I am quite certain you are not the Queen of Shadows.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Phil, you¡¯re amazing. I don¡¯t know how you do it. When you asked, there was a feeling like maybe you thought it was true. But when I asked, you answered with absolute certainty that I was not. How do you change so fast?¡±


    I said. ¡°Because, amazing and wonderful as you are, Goldilocks, I don¡¯t think you can be in the same place at the same time with yourself.¡±


    I felt the mass leave the Fairyland. I slipped into shadow and started looking. I knew she was in her own form, since she had similar mass to Goldilocks. She hadn¡¯t take any control over the Fairyland, so I knew she was herself. She was brilliant at shadow play, so she could probably enter and leave without my noticing, but she would have to have moved a gateway off of her while in her physical form. I found the gateway. More gateways were streaming out of it.


    I whispered. ¡°If I wanted to try and keep a relationship secret, the last thing I would do is invest a bunch of gateways in spying on the person.¡±


    All the gateway dissipated.


    Goldilocks and Feile were walking together when they caught up with me.


    I was in a small kitchen I had put down by the sinks and bathrooms by the mudroom that was ready to go and make sculptures apart from not having any glaze or clay to work with.


    Goldilocks asked, ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Do you know anyone who can dowse for gateways or runes?¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Emmy can.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Emmy?¡±


    She answered, ¡°The Queen of Shadows.¡±


    I said, ¡°Never mind.¡±


    Feilie asked, ¡°What are you looking for?¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°You know how you mentioned that the artist that made this might be close to daft?¡±


    Feilie looked at me and her eyes widened. ¡°Oh. That explains it. He¡¯s looking for things that aren¡¯t really there.¡±


    I said, ¡°Goldilocks, didn¡¯t I ask you not to give away my secret?¡±


    Goldilocks hugged me. ¡°You did, but she said such nice things about you that I just had to tell her that you are my apprentice.¡±


    She stood and brushed my hair back. She grabbed my jaw and moved it. ¡°You know, Phil, with a good dentist, you might look quite a bit more presentable.¡±


    I winced. ¡°Are you aware that right now a Dwarf is managing to seem a lot more tactful than you are?¡±


    Feilie shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking. Just because there is a chance that you might not look like such a thuggish and sullen preadolescent if you had some corrective dental surgery, there is no cause for saying it out loud in front of others.¡±


    I said, ¡°Feilie, we should probably take you back to Bavaria now.¡±


    She said, ¡°I¡¯m on the run and it this looks like a good place to hide out. If I can convert this spool to cash we could order enough materials to keep me going and working on artwork for years.¡±


    I looked at Goldilocks.


    Goldilocks asked her, ¡°Do you cook?¡±


    I took myself to Snipsnort and just sat at the seven-way crossroads.

 B3-11 Bootlicking

    I had invited Feile to the amphitheater/kitchen out of an immature need for validation of my artwork. In doing, so I had brought her to a place that I had begun to think of as mine but realized that despite my doing all the work, providing the materials, and the thirty-three time lockers that were intended for me, I had no real claim on any of it except maybe eleven of the time coolers. I had almost nothing just a few years back. Now I was worried about possessions and keeping towns from being poisoned while not really owning anything. Maybe the world with bananas was mine.


    The original owners of the world with bananas had attacked me. I went for medical help, and the medical help cleared out the world and planted bananas. Maybe that world was really mine. I shadow stepped to the spot where I hid the gateway and looked through.


    Down below the gateway, the pair of winged Fairies were still playing Go. I slid the gateway to the roof of the gazebo, turned into an owl, and went through the gateway. I took off flying.


    Below me, I saw a gazebo on the edge of a banana field with two streams running from it and into a wooded area. I flew quietly into a woodland swamp with slate-roofed stone houses and stone trails with arched bridges, along with larger buildings and some larger houses. I didn¡¯t see anyone as I flew, just a few small deer, a few rodents that tempted my owl instincts, and some fish in the water.


    I circled back and went over a few islands with bamboo growing and landed a distance from the gazebo. I said, ¡°Hello?¡±


    The Fairies got up and stepped out from under the gazebo.


    One of them asked, ¡°Wouldst thou likest a banana?¡±


    I looked up at the nearest banana tree. The bananas were shorter than the ones I had eaten before, but they didn¡¯t look poisonous or tainted.


    I smiled. ¡°I am Phil and I am a bit scared to say anything to thee about anything or ask about anything. I would feel terribly guilty if I said the wrong thing and a really bad thing happened. Please don¡¯t take this as me being rude. Just accept that I am scared to say anything at all.¡±


    They both stood blinking at me.


    The Fairy that talked to them before flew up and said to them, ¡°It¡¯s time to go now.¡± She looked at me. ¡°Thou art not making this easy.¡±


    I gestured like my mouth was zipped shut.


    She said, ¡°Nothing terrible will happen if thou talk to me.¡±


    I looked at the two Fairies that were packing up the Go board and stones. I shook my head.


    She said to the two Fairies, ¡°Leave the Go board.¡± She turned to me. ¡°Look, this is not supposed to play out this way. Thou art supposed to eat a banana and then be recognized as the king of this Fairyland.¡±


    I looked around. The two Fairies were gone. I looked back at the Fairy in front of me. ¡°Promise me thou won¡¯t die if I ask the wrong question.¡±


    She coughed. I rushed to grab her and transform with her still alive, so I could take her to someone who could save her.


    She backed up and flew higher. ¡°What art thou doing?¡±


    I said, ¡°I was worried thou might have swallowed a tiny bit of iron and wanted to try and save thee.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°No one, and I mean no one, ever said thou wert this smart. Thou art making this harder than it has to be. Look, let¡¯s just say those two Fairies got kicked out of their Fairyland for giving away secrets and now thou art going to kindly take them in.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°They seem nice, but I don¡¯t want them to suicide over me.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Look, can I speak plainly with thee?¡±


    I nodded.


    She said, ¡°If there were a reasonable chance that these precautions were set up to save the world, couldst thou just accept things and consider that maybe other folk are willing to take risks because they believe in a cause?¡±


    I nodded.


    She flew up, picked a banana, and flew back down to hand it to me. ¡°Now eat a banana, enjoy thy new kingdom and don¡¯t worry about upsetting the boys, but keep in mind that there are a lot of things we don¡¯t want to say out loud.¡±


    I nodded and examined the banana.


    She said, ¡°Good. Now try, please try, to come up with a better name for this Fairyland than Banana McBananaFace. It¡¯s getting old.¡±


    I looked at her without understanding why anyone would name a Fairyland like that, as she disappeared.


    The banana was harder to peel than I was used to, but the taste was better than any banana I¡¯d ever had. I felt the link with this world.


    Swampy summoned me, ¡°Phil, this is Swampy. Bring me there.¡±


    I brought the small bat-winged goth-looking Fairy through the summons, and she landed on my shoulder. ¡°Phil, speed time.¡±


    I sped up time.


    ¡°Now make it dark and pay attention to the world¡¯s mass.¡±


    I made it dark and then shook my head. ¡°No change.¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°That means we¡¯re probably alone. Keep talking Fairy talk. It¡¯s mostly telepathic so if we¡¯re being spied on by gateway they can¡¯t hear us. Let¡¯s put some distance between us and this gazebo though so we can find out what is going on. Keep it dark. I¡¯ll summon you as soon as I find a good place.¡±


    She flew off. In darkness, I waited and wondered how she saw.


    She summoned me and I went to her.


    ¡°Now make it light and cut me a pole.¡±


    We were standing on a path in the middle of a bamboo patch.


    I looked at her and imagined her fishing. A two-foot pole would be about right.


    I made a gossamer blade and cut a pole.


    She gestured. ¡°Cut it here for me. Keep the long section for yourself.¡±


    I stripped the leaves off and offered her the pole.


    She took it and turned into a raven. ¡°Follow.¡±


    She took us to one of the slate-roofed stone house and landed on the rail of a tall arched bridge leading to another island in the swamp. A tall thorny honey locust tree gave us shade.


    Still in the form of a raven, she hopped down the rail until we were at a low area just a couple of feet above the water, then hopped from the rail, and sat on the edge in her bat-winged Fairy form.


    She held out her hand. ¡°My pole, please.¡±


    I sat beside her with my feet stirring the water. There was a nice breeze and the bridge was going to be a nice place to fish. ¡°Anyone live in the house?¡±


    She said, ¡°You can. The houses are all empty. Keep stirring the water with your feet. That is how I see the future. I was going to use the cane, but this is better. When I was a little girl, I used to stir the water with my feet and watch the ripples. I started seeing things in the ripples. The Goblin that first took me to shadow knew magic and taught me what she could.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Have you summoned her to tell her you are okay?¡±


    She shook her head as she peered into water I was agitating with my feet. ¡°No, for so many reasons. She adopted a boy and he was trouble. I left when I was being blamed for something we all knew he did. She always saw her magic as ¡®Christian Magic.¡¯ That didn¡¯t make it nicer, but a summons from someone who passed on, like me, would not end well. A lot of the living have an instinctive fear of us dead people. They should have that instinctive fear of those who would possess you, but being dead doesn¡¯t make you evil.¡±


    I looked out at the trees on the various islands. ¡°If you linger in Real, you might just be haunting and causing grief just by spying on folk. A lot of Goblins are like that. They don¡¯t see it as bad, but it never ends up being good.¡±


    She said, ¡°You can feel a camera in shadow.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°They take in light and give little back. They end paths.¡±


    Swampy looked up from the water. ¡°Tiny apertures on cameras. Few Goblins go to shadows so small.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°A willow leaf¡¯s shadow is about the limit if it moves. A power line¡¯s shadow is a good highway though.¡±


    She looked back at the water. ¡°So you don¡¯t fear the dead?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Never did.¡±


    She asked, ¡°You slew things that possessed you.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°They make my skin crawl.¡±


    She smiled up at me. ¡°Then you can detect them. Use that.¡±


    She leaned out and looked into the water. ¡°You¡¯re linked with this world.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I ate a banana.¡±


    Swampy smiled and looked at her rippling reflection. ¡°But you do it instantly. Does it have to be food? Have you tasted dust to see if you could link with more?¡±


    She looked back at the water. ¡°If you can feel the shadows that end when the light is taken, then you can find gateways that are looking.¡±


    I nodded and slipped into shadow. I found a gateway that was only letting light through. But shadow is the edge of light so I entered the Fairyland on the other side.


    #


    The world I was in took a moment to resolve. There was a scaffolding around a spherical room that held gateways with cameras. Inside that scaffolding was another scaffolding holding up monitors. Inside that scaffolding was a platform with four chairs with monitors and keyboards mounted to them.


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    In two of the chairs were Goblin girls.


    One of them got up. ¡°Chive, is that you sneaking around in shadow?¡±


    The other pointed at a monitor. ¡°Phil disappeared.¡±


    It was at that moment it sunk in. I was important. Even as a king of Fairy, I never had the feeling that my disappearance would cause much grief. In my original family, my disappearance was a relief. My Goblin family left me behind.


    I felt important to Hubert until I wasn¡¯t important to him. I still felt like he wass family and I was again important, but within a lot of us Goblins, there is an unanswered need to be needed. That is, until we are needed and then we¡¯re desperate to make whoever needs us need us less.


    I had been given things by these people who kept me at more than an arm¡¯s distance. Since I knew they were watching, maybe it was okay that they were watching. I would just have to check for spies when I went to the bathroom.


    The monitors showed views of places in the Fairyland that I hadn¡¯t seen. The monitors were right in front of the camera and gateway so I could see where the gateway went and see what was happening there. The gateways only let light go through one way.


    But light knows when light is divided and split. It knows when and where it arrives. I prefer to travel in the direction of shadow, and that is the direction of light. But you can¡¯t just go in the direction of shadow, half the time you have to go towards the sun unless you find an odd reflection or artificial light source to use.


    I went back out through the gateway that only allowed passage one way and sat beside Swampy.


    #


    I resisted the urge to wave at the gateway they were watching us through. ¡°We¡¯re being watched, and I¡¯m okay with that. As a result of their spying, I have a way to see and get to a lot of interesting places quickly.¡±


    Swampy nodded. ¡°Look down. Do you see the footprint?¡±


    I just saw the water being stirred and the reflections of the trees rippling. I started moving my feet in the water. Perch swam by. I shadow stepped to a thorny tree and cut a small branch with large thorns. Too large for perch. I found a better branch and went back to sitting by Swampy.


    I stirred the water with my feet as I lay back on the stone path and carved a hook using a thorn on a branch. Blackberry thorns, if they are strong, do pretty well, and these thorns seemed stronger. I broke the hook I was carving and set it down.


    Swampy asked, ¡°How many of the dark spirits have possessed you?¡±


    I sat up and looked at the ripples she was watching. ¡°Five have tried.¡±


    Swampy leaned against my leg. ¡°Tomorrow, three more. Wizards will try to take a Fairyland from you. Play by their rules until one cheats. One of them will insist that you lick his boot. Lick the bottom of his boot before you consign the creature possessing him to death.


    I stuck my tongue out. ¡°Really, lick the bottom of his boot?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Be ready for him to kick. He has spent months getting along with beings he considers well beneath him. In that moment, he will be unable to resist his impulses. Mercy is not something he enjoys pretending to have.¡±


    I asked, ¡°But you really want me to lick his boot?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°A broad wet lick and then swallow.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Ewwww.¡±


    She said, ¡°He has visited a place where treasures from worlds long gone are stored. The dust on his boots may be your doorway. His unending greed for things that others valued and died for has driven him to accumulate treasures that no one else has seen for hundreds of thousands of years.


    ¡°If you can link to that world or any of his others, you¡¯ll have what no one else has been able to obtain. Your humility may grant you what no one living has ever seen.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What do I do with such things?¡±


    She said, ¡°You take the gateway they¡¯re using to watch us. Then you put it in that world. Then everything you have been given. Every gift, world, and stone has been paid back in full. Their debt to you will be as a bottomless well.


    ¡°This moment and this opportunity may not come again. This window is a window that might turn your enemy against itself. How¡¯s that for a prophecy?¡±


    I looked at the water she was stirring. ¡°Can they hear us through the gateway?¡±


    Swampy sat up and leaned over the water. ¡°We aren¡¯t saying anything out loud. If we are subvocalizing, the water being stirred is going to make the faint vibrations scarce. The sound of the trees in the breeze will cover most of what is left. Only if one of them is clairaudient do they have a chance of hearing. I scratched a ward against that on the stone I¡¯m sitting on.


    ¡°I can¡¯t say that no one can hear us, but the odds are very, very low. Only because this is a quiet moment before a pivotal one is there a chance. Your enemy thinks the pivot is your death. Let them. Your friends think the pivot is the death of three dark spirits. Let them. Only you and I know the pivot is access to a treasure larger than the memory of mankind.¡±


    I lay back again. ¡°And I give it all away?¡±


    Swampy lay back with me. ¡°Apart from this one, you have a few other Fairylands. But right here, you have a swamp with fish, places to sit and watch the water go by, and trees to climb. You have houses to explore, and a cute little girl with bat wings beside you. How much more do you need?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Seems like I have just about everything I need apart from a fishing pole without any iron parts. I have a few nice fishing poles, but swinging so much steel around seems kind of rude in Fairy.¡±


    Swampy nodded. ¡°That would definitely be rude. Day after tomorrow, let people overhear that you¡¯re looking for a good fishing pole that won¡¯t hurt Fairies. I don¡¯t need to be a prophet to tell that you might end up tripping over a few dozen.¡±


    I felt someone trying to spend mass in the Fairy Dynamics Fairyland. I slowed time there. ¡°Swampy, someone in the Fairyland that is about to be fought over just tried making something using the Fairyland. Do you want to come with me?¡±


    She said, ¡°Not yet. They may be testing you. Try not to give anything away as you deal with it. Wait a moment.¡±


    She stirred the water with her pole. ¡°Best stick to their rules, but don¡¯t believe it is one of their rules until they have a convincing argument, yield no authority.¡±


    I matched the time in Fairy Dynamics and went there.


    #


    I was in a courtyard with dead bushes that were at one time shaped to fancy spirals. The gardens had small plants that did not fill or cover the bare soil in the planters around them. I looked around at the small castle around the courtyard and slid into shadow to explore. The castle was old and was built in reverse. This castle protected itself from the courtyard inside instead of the area around the castle. In shadow, I watched a pair of men wearing the sort of clothing you would expect a wealthy hiker to wear. Their clothing announced that they grew up in cities, but I suspect they thought it made them look like outdoorsmen.


    The one with the Fidel Castro looking hat pointed with the end of his walking stick. ¡°That will be a good open place to do the dueling. Do you think the current Fairy king will show up?¡±


    The one with the cargo pants said, ¡°He may show up afterwards thinking he will only have to fight one of us.¡±


    Another man shouted to them from the distance. ¡°The current Fairy king is still active and stronger than we thought. I couldn¡¯t access the mass on this world, and he slowed time here for a short time. Probably to test us.¡±


    The man in the cargo pants asked, ¡°Do you think he will agree to the rules?¡±


    I stepped out of shadow, arranged gateways around me, and walked towards the three of them. The one who said he accessed the mass had a creepy feeling. If Swampy¡¯s advice applied here, the odds were good that this man had an evil spirit possessing him. He turned and looked at me. The other spirits seemed to notice and attack me, so there must be something about me that they detect.


    He said, ¡°Well, if it isn¡¯t the missing Fairy king. I am afraid the Order of Crepuscular Gloaming has set its collective gaze upon this realm. Are you ready to yield this land and all your chattel?¡±


    I looked at the three men all standing casually but ready to move and strike.


    I asked, ¡°Thus far I see trespass and see no reason why I should yield to any of you.¡±


    The man with the walking stick smiled.


    The man who gave me the creepy feeling said, ¡°Darren, feel free to explain his plight to him.¡±


    The man with the walking stick looked at the man in the cargo pants. ¡°Vic, Fazil wants me to explain, are you in agreement?¡±


    Fazil frowned.


    Vic said, ¡°Please continue.¡±


    Darren said, ¡°You were unfortunate to claim a Fairyland that had lots of connections and many named Fairies that were far from loyal. So thy land is one that only a very strong king could hold or a group of Fairy kings bound by oaths to come to the aid or avenge their brothers. We are such a group. Since you are not a member, we will offer you three options.


    ¡°Your first option is to release your claim and be bound by oath to never come back to this world.¡±


    ¡°Your second option is to defend your claim by successive duels ruled by our order¡¯s guidelines for battle arcane. If you lose, then you are out and must make vows to never get in the way of our order. If you manage to win until you have defeated all who choose to face you, you can join our order and retain your world after paying all the appropriate fees and making the required vows.


    ¡°Your third option is to face all of the wizards in the Order of Crepuscular Gloaming.¡±


    I said, ¡°This sounds like extortion and quite unfair.¡±


    Fazil said, ¡°When has the pursuit of power ever sought to be fair? There are rules the game is played by, but fair is a term made up by imagining that the powerless should have any rights at all. I feel quite offended just talking here. We battle tomorrow but you have slowed time on us. That is by all measure an attack.¡±


    Darren said, ¡°He did not know, and he is still ruler of this realm until the battle tomorrow.¡±


    Fazil said, ¡°An offense is an offense and made worse by one that yields to the Fairies. He¡¯s a boot licker.¡±


    I looked at his boot and saw what was coming. I said, ¡°What happens if I am attacked before the duels tomorrow? Do you all attack me if one of you starts a fight?¡±


    Darren said, ¡°No, but if you used a ruse to fake being attacked, we have spells to tell the truth and you would have to answer due inquiry about the attack.¡±


    I asked, ¡°And if there were witnesses?¡±


    Fazil said, ¡°You tire me, boot licker. Lick my boot and I will forgive your slight. Otherwise, I will claim injury.¡±


    I asked them, ¡°Can he get away with this?¡±


    Darren said, ¡°Possibly. He does have a position of authority in the Order of Crepuscular Gloaming.¡±


    I got on one knee and said, ¡°Your boot, sir.¡±


    My thought was that Swampy had better not have decided to play a trick on me as I licked the offered boot.


    I had barely pulled back my tongue and started to swallow when the kick I was ready for came.


    #


    I took him to the Fairyland where I had taken the rest of the evil spirits. I bound him to the world and turned the spirit into a Fairy. It worked.


    I wasn¡¯t sure if I had just made a wizard a Fairy and killed a man. Then I felt the connection to three Fairylands. The boot trick had worked at least a little. The Fairy was looking for something to attack with.


    The wizard got up. ¡°This is a world where life cannot last.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Welcome to my most peaceful Fairyland. Well, it will be soon. After I leave and speed things up, it¡¯ll get peaceful again.¡±


    The wizard said, ¡°It wasn¡¯t me, it was him.¡±


    I said, ¡°Fine, give me your boots, and I will take you back.¡±


    He started taking off his boots. The Fairy found a small rock, so I took the wizard back to Fairy Dynamics.


    #


    We were in the courtyard inside the castle again. I sped time for a bit in my Fairyland of Death until I felt the mass given.


    The wizard sat on a bench and went back to taking off his boots. ¡°I found a spirit and used him to learn what others were doing. I didn¡¯t realize it but he was measuring me. As a Fairy king, I was strong enough to resist him, but as he became more familiar with me he found my weaknesses and took me over. Then he used me as a wizard and with two other spirits doing the same thing with other wizards, they founded the Order of the Crepuscular Gloaming. I was there but I had no control.¡±


    He handed me his boots. ¡°Flee this world. The order will destroy you no matter what decision you make. If you are not one of the leaders then they will use you up. Flee and take me with you.¡±


    I put the boots away in another form. ¡°I can perhaps put you somewhere safe, but I have two more unclean spirits to deal with. The idea of your order doesn¡¯t sound terrible but the way it works is a nasty thing. Do I have to kill people to end the order?¡±


    The wizard said, ¡°My name is Dwight, but keep calling me Fazil. I don¡¯t know my last name. Fazil punished me by taking memories. I don¡¯t know where I grew up. Most of my memories are embarrassments and failures. Thank you for freeing me from that monster.


    ¡°The three dark spirits, as founders of the order, never took the vow but let the rest think they did. So I am not bound by their orders.


    ¡°The ancient evil that dwelt in me needed me for practicing magic, but there is a lot I do not know. He put me to sleep when he didn¡¯t need me. This I do know, if you don¡¯t defeat them, they will hunt me. I know where the oath seal is hidden. Since I am not bound by the oaths, I will go after the seal while you are fighting. I wish you luck in your fights. You managed one of them, but they are an ancient evil, and they have faced and destroyed countless opponents before.¡±


    He stood and made gossamer boots. ¡°Fazil would want you to lead the way but he would tell you were to go. If you are going to fight, then we need to walk out together so there is no evidence that you defeated me.¡±


    He walked to one of the doors to the castle and pulled it open. He gestured for me to lead the way. We walked in silence until we reached an area Vic and Daren were pacing out.


    Daren shouted. ¡°We moved it out here since Mason likes blasting things to bits. Less to ruin out here.¡±


    Vic said, ¡°I am more worried about Henry¡¯s sticky fire burning everything down again. Fazil, since you¡¯re back, we can probably leave until tomorrow when the entire Order of the Crepuscular Gloaming meets here for battle.¡±


    Dwight, pretending to still be Fazil, said, ¡°I have other things to attend to. I will not be joining you.¡±


    Vic and Darren made illusions of patterns for performing summoning and started chanting.


    I watched as they slowly went through the steps and connected with someone before disappearing.


    Dwight looked at me. ¡°I have names I could call for summoning, but I fear meeting any of the ancient ones. They will know that I am no longer ridden if I get withing a hundred yards of them. At the duels tomorrow, I will need to stay away from them all. If I don¡¯t show up, they will wonder. Are you certain you don¡¯t want to run? We could probably last a few years. If we sped up our time in Fairy, we could live long lives and might even miss the destruction they plan.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Do you ever wish you could stop the destruction?¡±


    His jaw clenched. ¡°You took one of them down. Maybe we could take another down and slow them. Let¡¯s train you. I will teach you each member¡¯s strengths and weaknesses. I will teach you how to fight them. Fazil studied them all and made sure I was gifted to manage them. Be careful though, the other two ancient ones are certain to have done the same and have secrets they have not shared.¡±


    I nodded.

 B3-12 FAAFL (Fairies Against Abuse From the Living)

    I sat on the stone embankment and put my feet in the water that Swampy had been stirring with her pole.


    She looked up at me. ¡°It took forever before Dwight went to sleep. I thought you would never come. Next time, speed time a bit more. Right now, speed time so you can rest. We need you in Real making gateways.¡±


    I looked down at a minnow that was trying to nibble one of my toes. ¡°I got connections to three worlds from licking the boot. Just in case, I should check out those three worlds and maybe pass them up the ladder.¡±


    She nodded and looked down at the minnows. ¡°They aren¡¯t scared of you.¡±


    I smiled and moved my foot. The minnows darted away.


    Swampy looked at the ripples. ¡°Don¡¯t go to those worlds yet. One of them is poison. Hot acid vapors. Pure death.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How did he get such dust on his boots?¡±


    She peered into the water. ¡°Sorry, that was just an image of what might happen to this world if you fail. I got it confused. But now I¡¯m nervous that there might be traps. Do you have any armor?¡±


    I turned into me in my recently made armor.


    She looked at it and grimaced. ¡°Can you wear armor over that armor?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I think I can. Come with me.¡±


    She flew up and landed on my shoulder. I shifted gateways and took us into the Fairyland with the two-seat six-legged spider excavator.


    #


    She flew up when she saw the spider excavator. She flew around it a few times. ¡°This will do. It even has its own air.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I can¡¯t operate it to its full capacity by myself, and I¡¯m not sure how someone would properly manage it.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Can you drive it? Can you operate it as an excavator?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Yes, but I have to switch seats.¡±


    She landed back on my shoulder. ¡°Take it, but be ready to leave it behind if there is a trap.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Why would he put traps in worlds he thought were safely his?¡±


    ¡°You need a haircut unless you¡¯re going to grow it long.¡± She pulled back the hair in front of my ear. ¡°These monsters trust no one and they have their own prognosticators. Their pride and lack of imagination have kept them from seeing you as a real threat, but if there was an inkling of doubt, they would destroy anything to slay you.¡±


    I took us back to the world with bananas and bogs.


    #


    ¡°How about I call this world Rougarou?¡±


    She laughed. ¡°Are you going to take the form of a wolf?¡±


    I said, ¡°I have maybe two forms left. I don¡¯t think wolf is on my short list.¡±


    She said, ¡°Call Fairy Dynamics Rougarou. This place deserves a romantic name.


    I asked, ¡°How about we use the name of a lost town? Lots of them out in the swamps.¡±


    She said, ¡°We don¡¯t know the rules on naming Fairylands, but I can look at probabilities as you name them. Rougarou looks good for Fairy Dynamics, but we need a good name for this place, not that we should tell anyone.¡±


    I asked, ¡°You have been around longer than me. All I can think of is Bayou Corne and naming a Fairyland after a town that disappeared in a sinkhole sounds like bad luck.¡±


    She stirred the water. ¡°Frenier is taken. Don¡¯t want to mess with the Queen of that Fairyland. La Belize is also taken. Burrwood, taken. This is looking like a dead end, anymore ideas?¡¯


    I splashed the water with my feet. ¡°I like Bayou.¡±


    She looked and pointed. A grey heron was wading in the distance. ¡°Heron Bayou? No, it¡¯s taken. Wait, well, we could avoid this destiny, but it looks like we name it Anabranch.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Will people call me Anabranch?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Snipsnort is your major name. You might get a mention of Anabranch in your long form title, but this Fairyland isn¡¯t on any of the lists. Unless you go out of your way to advertise, no one is going to remember the name.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°It sounds kind of pretty and sort of dignified. If it were my last name, I wouldn¡¯t mind. Does it have a meaning?¡±


    She shrugged and stirred the water. ¡°Get rest, go check out one of your new Fairylands. Be careful.¡±


    I went to an empty transport Fairyland and made a gossamer mattress and pillow. I napped a bit and went back to Anabranch to wash up in a stream.


    After changing into me in armor and then getting in the six-legged spider excavator, I went to one of the worlds I had linked to by licking a boot.


    #


    The rules here were different. I felt that I could not safely stay here for more than a day.


    I was on a metal catwalk in a warehouse without floors. Catwalks and ramps went from level to level, and there were metal boxes held up on scaffolding. The boxes had their bottom corners missing, and they looked like they might be made of aluminum. In boxes with lids pulled back were things that almost looked right, but the proportions were wrong. Ornamented weapons and sheaths. Walking sticks with carvings of unidentifiable creatures. Coins. So many coins, so many bottles and jugs.


    I didn¡¯t want to get out of the spider excavator or move it. As agile a vehicle as it was, it was not the right size for going down the catwalks. I saw a metal box with the sort of oil lamps you might imagine rubbing and having a Djinn come out of.


    I decided to leave. If the stories were right. Care needed to be taken if you removed treasure from one of these places.


    #


    I ate and rested before taking the gateway that was nearest the house that Swampy was now sleeping in. I put it in the Fairyland with all the catwalks and went to the next one.


    #


    I was in the two seated spider excavator inside a palace. A man turned his head, saw me and then fell over. A dark shape hurtled towards me. As it entered me, I bound it to my Fairyland of death and went there. I made it a Fairy as it tried to put me to sleep. I held myself awake and saw it fall to the ground. It tried to climb my ankle, but I left the Fairyland and sped up time until I felt it pass away.


    Back in the Fairyland palace, the man who had collapsed was dead. His throat had been slit. He was also barefooted.


    I slid through shadow. There were Fairies hiding. I found rooms, closets, fountains, and places to bathe. In the closets were sandals, shoes, and boots, among other things. I looked for poison and then I made sure no one was looking. I was sure someone would eventually figure it out, or Swampy would tell on me, but I didn¡¯t see any choice. I was now Phil, fishmonger and boot licking king of Snipsnort.


    I had eight more Fairylands connected to me. By the distribution of shoes in the various closets, at least five of these nasty folk visited this place. If I subtracted the two I had taken care of, there were three more. If two of those were members of the Order of the Crepuscular Gloaming, then there was at least one more after that.


    I decided to clean up the body and went back to where the corpse was. It was gone.


    I had ten Fairylands to explore, and I felt like I needed to explore them before I risked my life in a duel. I needed to eat, but I didn¡¯t feel like eating. I needed to wash my mouth out before anything like eating was going to take place.


    #


    I sat on a stone outcropping far above a wave-swept shore on the coast of Crimea while I made gateways. I was just about finished with a gateway when Feile Griff summoned me. I finished the gateway and contemplated summoning her back, and I had decided not to when she summoned me again.


    She asked, ¡°Phil, where are you? Can I come there?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m on a narrow stone high over a lot of rocks. There isn¡¯t room.¡±


    ¡°Can I see?¡±


    I opened the connection so she could see.


    She asked, ¡°Can you land below so I can come there?¡±


    I turned into an owl and sailed down to the rocks below. In a stable spot, I let her come to me and then I went back to Fairy.


    #


    On a rock outcropping in Barvaria, I was making a gateway when Feile summoned me again. I had just started so I dropped the spell and answered,¡°Feile, I¡¯m going to be dueling a lot of wizards tomorrow, and I need to make some gateways. I¡¯m not going to be hanging out or visiting anyone. I have a lot I need to do.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Can you take me to Barvaria? You took the barn that had all my runes of transport in it.¡±


    I asked, ¡°The barn you were going to burn down?¡±


    She said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    I disconnected the summons and ignored her summons while making a gateway. She kept summoning me so when I finished with the gateway I went to a transport Fairyland and took all the gateways from it.


    She summoned me. I let her come to me and then I left the Fairyland and froze time. I thought that might teach her a lesson, but then I realized that since she wasn¡¯t going to feel the passage of time, she probably wouldn¡¯t learn a thing. It gave me peace though, the last thing I wanted was for her to summon me while I was fighting someone in a duel.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    #


    I made several more Gateways when Rasnarf the Greedy summoned me. I canceled the Gateway and connected.


    ¡°King Snipsnort, all the Fairies from the old Fairy Dynamics Fairyland have refugeed to a few of the Fairylands we used for testing. A gang of wizards have invaded, and I just thought I should warn thee to stay away. It¡¯s the Order of the Crepuscular Gloaming, and I am pretty sure which Fairy betrayed us. Worse yet, another Fairy decided to take what profit he could from the situation and now the Order of The Veiled Mist is involved. If that were not enough, FAAFL is planning a visit.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What is FAAFL?¡±


    ¡°Fairies Against Abuse From the Living. Considering that thou art alive still, even though thou art a Fairy, thou shouldst really not want to be anywhere near this. ¡®Tis sad, but I don¡¯t think there is much chance for the old Fairyland. Dogsbane took us corporate and that was our ruin.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Can I get a name so I can summon someone from FAAFL?¡±


    Rasnarf asked, ¡°Dust thou want to go to the rally? I doubt they would hear a summons.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How do we get there?¡±


    Rasnarf said, ¡°It¡¯s in one of the old warehouses from back when Fairy Dynamics was still a thing.¡±


    I said, ¡°I suppose I should.¡±


    Rasnarf said, ¡°Hold on a moment, King Snipsnort. Yes, I am talking with King Snipsnort. No, he wants to go to the FAAFL rally. Yes. Yes.


    ¡°King Snipsnort, the rest of the Fairies in the room think it¡¯s a bad idea for a living Fairy king to go to a FAAFL rally. Wait, what? That might work but it¡¯s practically daft.


    ¡°Your Majesty one of the Fairies had the idea that thou couldst go in an obvious disguise. Since it is thy Fairyland, at least for now, it would be rude to call thee out in disguise. It could be dangerous, but thou couldst probably get away if it turned ugly.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What sort of disguise should I wear?¡±


    Rasnarf shouted, ¡°Rumble, doest thou still havest that box of¡ªYes, that would do nicely. King Snipsnort, come to us.¡±


    I stepped into a Fairyland with sand dunes and measurements on the walls and illusions of measurements in the air. I looked and the Fairyland was two hundred and twenty feet across according to the measurements. We were looking down at once-pretty stone gazebo that had been scarred by scorch marks and spray paint markings.


    Rasnarf and three other Fairies in worn business suits were standing on the dune with me looking down at the gazebo.


    From a hatch almost by the outer wall of the Fairyland, a Fairy came up holding two clear plastic packages one with a pair of black glasses with a plastic nose, fake mustache, and fake eyebrows. The other pair of glasses were to make my eyes look like big silly googly doll eyes.


    The Fairy looked up at me and opened the package with the fake nose and bushy black eyebrows. I put the glasses on and smiled.


    Rasnarf said, ¡°Perfect. No one polite will recognize you.¡±


    The Fairy still holding the other package handed it to me. ¡°Just in case you need a backup.¡±


    Rasnarf gave me a thumbs-up. ¡°Twidlings is making his way to the rally. With any luck he should be summoning me shortly. Then we can go see what they have planned.¡±


    #


    The warehouse was filled with a range of folk: tall, short, flying, bestial, and more. A human-looking Fairy was standing on a gossamer platform.


    ¡°Wizards have gotten organized. Wizards have been making us do the dirty work and claiming the wonders as their own for ages. What has it gotten us?


    ¡°While this Fairyland was not directly ruined by mortals, it is in ruin for having adopted mortal ways.¡±


    A Fairy with a sign in a language I can¡¯t read was staring at me. When I glanced at her, she looked away.


    The Fairy on the platform looked at me. ¡°We get along fine without mortals. Why do they insist on coming into our realms and robbing us? We are told we can¡¯t take it with us, but then they come here to take what we have from us.


    ¡°This Fairyland was torn apart by adopting mortal ways. Fairy ways can be cruel but at least we know where we stand. The new Fairy king of this world managed to enrich it with soil and then he ignored it. Now it is in the middle of a struggle, and we have a chance to fight the wizards who would enslave and use us, but this Fairyland has no hope for peace. We fight for Fairy rights but apart from our striking fear into the hearts of wizards, we have no chance for peace. These wizards are strong and they are wicked. They will use steel, and they will slay many of us. Yet we must fight them together, or we will be enslaved and turned against each other.¡±


    ¡°Strange Fairy who we don¡¯t recognize, when will we rest in peace?¡±


    The room got silent.


    I looked around the warehouse.


    The man on the stage said, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t mortals just let us be instead of trying to rule us?¡±


    I looked around for Rasnarf, but I didn¡¯t see him. I looked back at the man on the stage. ¡°If a mortal had any sense, he would leave Fairies alone. If a mortal were wise and knew the risks, he would flee Fairy, and he would not prepare to duel the wizards gathered to attack this Fairyland.


    ¡°A mortal Fairy king would be a fool to fight for a Fairyland that was betrayed by it¡¯s own Fairies. A mortal Fairy king would be a fool to fight for a Fairyland that he had spent only a short time in and wanted nothing from.


    ¡°A clever gathering of Fairies would wait until a foolish mortal died fighting against the odds. If they waited until the fighting had weakened their enemies, and mortals had fled the field, then they could show their strength.


    ¡°Faced with such force, even a foolish mortal Fairy king would know to abdicate and then flee a place that he did not desire, need, or deserve. If Fairies cannot make this Fairyland right, then there is no chance that a mortal with scant experience in Fairy could manage it.¡±


    A Fairy behind me shouted, ¡°After the mortals have worn themselves down, then we strike for justice!¡±


    There was shouting and I felt someone bump into me, so I went back to my transport Fairylands. I started arranging gateways. I had a few more gateways, and I had a few more ideas about fighting wizards. I had nine Fairylands I needed to explore. One of my transport Fairylands was occupied by Feile Griff.


    I had planned to keep her in that Fairyland until I had finished fighting, but if something happened to me, she would be stuck there.


    I sped the Fairyland back up and went there. I put in a gateway to Barvaria and opened it. ¡°Feile, I¡¯m preparing for battle. I have a lot to do, and I don¡¯t need distractions. I don¡¯t need you summoning me endlessly. If you summon me while I¡¯m fighting, I might just let you show up.¡±


    She scowled. ¡°Fine. If you¡¯re going into battle, in case you die, tell me. Who did the artwork? Who made the kitchen?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°He doesn¡¯t want you summoning him either. You¡¯re in Barvaria now. I have a lot to do, and I don¡¯t need to be bothered.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Can you get me to the nearest town?¡±


    I pointed. ¡°Five minutes. Walk that way.¡±


    She nodded and started walking.


    I went back to the transport Fairylands and continued arranging them. I had a gateway in China that had been moved. I looked through it. It was under a bridge that went over a double train track. There was a train stopped on the far track. Directly opposite the gateway was a train car that someone had spray painted a picture of a mechanical spider on.


    I would have ignored it, but on the gravel beside it was a broken road sign. The name Philadelphia was split by a crack right so one side of the sign said, ¡°Phil.¡±


    Someone meant for me to see this. Someone had arranged this image. I moved the gateway just in case and contemplated what it might mean. I went to the Fairyland with the cherry trees and the barn, and then when to the Fairyland where I first met Feile Griff.


    #


    There was a new eight-legged spider excavator surrounded at a distance by mirrors. The excavator was armored, and it was smaller than the others I had seen. Beside it was a spacesuit. Not a big bulky thing like the astronauts wore when they went to the moon. This was big bulky thing like you would imagine hard-working men would wear if they were doing construction in space and expected rocks to be hurtling by.


    After speeding time, I read the display with instructions that was on a stand by the suit. The instructions told me to be clean and to remove other garments. There were instructions that were even more personal, and I had to refer to them as I suited up. When I got it together and closed up, it inflated and held me in place. Then I got into the new excavator, and it locked the suit in place when I closed the hatch.


    I practiced moves in front of the mirrors. After going through a few maneuvers, a panel slid back to expose a control panel with covered keys with built-in maneuvers. I tried a few. It could drop low, spring, and dodge. The controls moved gently as the maneuvers executed. I ran over some of the mirrors when I tried the forward roll. I practiced the moves on my own after I felt the excavator that really wasn¡¯t an excavator could take it. It was more like an armored robot acrobat with a cockpit and controls.


    As I did the maneuvers and practiced them, the displays built into the covered keys started changing to still more maneuvers. I took a break, transformed out of the acrobat machine, ate, and slept. Then I went back to practicing. After learning a wide range of maneuvers, the keys started going blank. It was sort of sad to see an end to the crazy maneuvers, but I could do things in this armored robot acrobat machine that I wouldn¡¯t even try in my own body. I¡¯d probably break my neck the first time I tried a triple back flip.


    When I finished learning the last maneuver, the panel slid back and covered the keys. I sat for a moment and considered things. If this was mine, it was mine. I didn¡¯t really have an agreement that said either way. I had things that I owned as Phil Thibodeaux, and as long as my identity held up, it was all mine. Ownership was an odd thing. Most of my life I have been crossing fences without caring and fishing wherever I could put a trout line.


    Fish wandered in and out of areas that maybe someone owned. I was legal to fish by apparent age, but my real age gave me limits. Now I was in a spacesuit sort of thing in a spider robot sort of thing and I didn¡¯t know if any of this was mine really. I was about to fight for a place that I didn¡¯t have any special feeling for. I had thought about having a friend move there, and I had tried to make it a better place for the Fairies, but I had only seen a tiny bit of it.


    My mind wandered and then I made a decision. I transformed with it and went to Anabranch.


    #


    I flew high over the slow-moving streams. I followed long stone bridges that snaked their way through wetland woods. I passed numerous small houses and stone trails that widened into roads, and I found an empty village with barns and a town hall. All of it was empty. No furniture, no Fairies.


    I left a gateway in the barn and went to Real.


    #


    At a fast food place in a gas station, I ordered five of every poor boy other than the ones that had catfish. I could probably face it, but I didn¡¯t want to risk it. I ordered ten of their red beans and rice. I got chicken wings and extra coleslaw, french fries, and potato salad.


    The girl at the counter said my order would take a while, so I sat and made gateways while I waited. I took several trips outside to hide my putting the bags of food through a gateway into a world that I set to have slow time when the gateway wasn¡¯t open.


    #


    With time sped up, I sat on top of the barn in Anabranch and ate a shrimp poor boy while watching the setting sun. After eating, I set up a bed in the loft of the barn and went to sleep.


    When I got up, I went swimming as an otter. I caught a fish, and as I carried it up onto the bank, I saw Swampy waiting for me.


    Swampy waved. ¡°Don¡¯t want raw fish, so take your time, but I would love a bite to eat.¡±


    I turned into me and got a red bean and rice plate out to share with Swampy.


    She didn¡¯t eat much before she flew to the water¡¯s edge and started stirring it with her pole. ¡°Phil, go ahead and do what you do. I have ripples to watch.¡±


    I said, ¡°This may take days.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll stop for meals, but I think this is important.¡±


    I finished eating and went back to the barn. I sat in my spacesuit in the new armored spider acrobat robot and closed my eyes. Slowly and carefully, I examined the suit. I examined the materials.


    Caerwyn had gifted me with computers and hacking. This was different but still there was a lot of carryover. I had been gifted with making strange things and kitchen equipment that was nearly sentient. Now I took the time to learn just what this spacesuit was and how it worked. I learned the materials and the parts. The programming had documentation in it, but I couldn¡¯t read the documentation.


    Some of the stuff I left out as I made my own suit and made a mental pattern to be able to make more suits in the future. Then after getting the suit down, I spent the time to figure out how the various spider excavator things were made.


    I had to make several more trips to Real for food before I was finished.


    #


    Swampy looked at all the odd failures and experiments I had filled the barn with. ¡°Well, at least they¡¯re going to do Hubert some good. Did you take all the equipment back?¡±


    I nodded.


    She said, ¡°We should keep the link between you and them as small as we can.¡±


    I nodded.


    She said, ¡°Okay, I know it¡¯s killing you. You can show off your latest contraption.¡±


    I led her out of the barn and gestured for her to stay where she was. I walked a bit further and transformed into me wearing my evil-looking, armored, wheeled, double-clawed, six-legged spider suit.


    She asked, ¡°What if you go to a Fairyland that is mostly gossamer?¡±


    I sighed and turned back into me in casual clothing. ¡°Fine, I will make another.¡±


    She gave me a thumbs-up as I walked to the barn.


    #


    I had ten worlds to explore. So I suited up and went to a new treasure store. Different boxes, wider catwalks, same sort of treasures, at least the same as far as I could see. I placed one of the gateways the Goblin girls were spying on me with and went to the next.


    Four more treasure worlds, two more palaces, and a horribly trapped place that I had to leave the excavator behind in.


    With the two palaces, I got six more worlds so I had eleven worlds still to explore.


    A wooded place and a ruins in a desert. An orange and dark-red jungle. More palaces and more treasure troves. I put gateways intended to keep watch on me in thirty worlds before I finished. I didn¡¯t need the worlds. I didn¡¯t want to manage them, and I was connected to them in any case.


    I was worried about the battles that were about to happen. Not the evil spirits that wanted to possess me. Those two things were the final reason I was going back. With all the Fairies involved and a set of duels and arguments between two sets of Wizards, they might take care of themselves. If there was no hope for the Fairyland, then there was no hope for it. If it had traitors ready to summon in wizards, then maybe it was doomed no matter what happened.


    Swampy landed on my shoulder. ¡°Let¡¯s go see Hubert.

 B3-13 When Wizards Cheat

    Hubert was on the manor house¡¯s highest balcony. Anthony was sitting with him. They were petting the cats, and they had iced drinks on a table between their chairs.


    Hubert picked up Fuzzy and whispered to her. ¡°Is Phil here?¡±


    Fuzzy said, ¡°He hides in shadow too well to know.¡±


    I stepped out of shadow. ¡°Good morning.¡±


    Anthony said, ¡°Phil, Byebye visited us and made it clear that you were not to go to battle without her.¡±


    I said, ¡°I would rather not risk anything happening to her.¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°At least you should visit her.¡±


    I nodded and summoned Dutchess Byebye, ¡°Want to see me build a manor house?¡±


    Byebye said, ¡°Yes, can Hippydippy come?¡±


    I said, ¡°The more the merrier.¡±


    Hey Guy, Hippydippy, and Anteater came with her.


    Hey Guy said, ¡°You can¡¯t run off and fight without us.¡±


    I said, ¡°The odds on this fight are pretty bad. I want all of you to be able to run away quickly if it turns out poorly.¡±


    Hey Guy smiled, ¡°That¡¯s why they call me ¡®The Greatest Hero I Have Ever Met.¡¯ If I die fighting, then they might let me be a rooster.¡±


    Hippydippy asked, ¡°Has anyone ever called you, ¡®The Greatest Hero I Have Ever Met?¡¯¡±


    Hey Guy said, ¡°Thank you for calling me, Hippydippy, but I am right here. Oh and yes, you just called me, ¡°The Greatest Hero I Have Ever Met.¡±


    Hippydippy said, ¡°But you just thanked me for calling you Hippydippy. I fear thou might be going daft.¡±


    Anteater said, ¡°And here we all thought Hippydippy would be the first of us to go daft.¡±


    Caerwyn came out to the balcony and nodded to me.


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m about to build you a house, Caerwyn. Want to explore the gossamer version?¡±


    Caerwyn nodded.


    We went out to the field beside the manor, and I started laying out illusion to mark the area.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Too big to start. It¡¯ll be just me, my mother, and twelve dogs.¡±


    I adjusted it down and made a gossamer version of it. It was a stone version of the house they lived in with a few modifications.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Let¡¯s bring my mother. Can we get her back, or should I summon to her and then you summon her here?¡±


    I said, ¡°I have a gateway I can spare. It¡¯s no problem.


    We did a few back and fourth summonings. Mrs. Nelson and Caerwyn requested a few changes, and I ended up expanding the yard quite a bit so they could have a couple of green houses and more room for the dogs.


    When they were done and they liked the plan, I made an excavator and used a shaped gateway to dig blocks of dirt and then stone. I hit water and that changed my plans. I was worried that I might have ruined the spring or water source for the original manor, but after inspection it was fine. I ended up with a spring that would deliver a stream to the second story of the new manor so the plans were changed again. After finishing and putting in the wall on the basement, Hubert brought out more that enough etoufee on rice so everyone was happy.


    I shared my etoufee with my sister, Byebye, and asked, ¡°How do you like my excavator?¡±


    Byebye hugged my leg. ¡°Can I have one?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°It¡¯s going to take some training, but I can make one that has all the maneuvers. Then it can train you how to use it.¡±


    She hugged me again. ¡°Best big brother ever.¡±


    After eating, I used my transport gateways to position and place the stone dug from the basement. The wall wasn¡¯t going to need much stone to be finished.


    I divided up sections to build and slowly tested how much I could make without exhausting myself. I didn¡¯t have a good way to measure, so I only had a vague idea of about how much building made me how hungry, and I decided to limit myself to avoid feeling starved. Then I decided to limit myself to just feeling like it was time for a meal. That was safer and gave me more reserve.


    I had placed three dining rooms around the kitchen as part of the design, but my intent was that someday I would get a few time lockers for Caerwyn and his mother.


    That left me with just a few things to do before the duels started. I didn¡¯t have time to visit my Goblin family, and I had already left them with more money that was probably safe for them to have. I had passed on the evil ancient beings¡¯ Fairylands to the people who were probably wise to keep me at a distance.


    I had a gateway set up in a vault doorway in the basement of the new manor that Caerwyn and his mother could use to get their stuff and that Hubert and Anthony could always ask and use to get to Real. I had mostly built the things that the folk in Snipsnort wanted me to make. If I died, I would probably come back to Snipsnort, so I could still do things they needed to have done from time to time.


    I had gateways to all of my worlds set up just in case I needed them, so I had finally done all the preparation I knew to do.


    #


    Rested and ready, Duchess Byebye, Lady Hippydippy, and Lady Anteater were all dressed like children that were to be presented to formal guests, but expected to go play and get dirty afterwards. I was wearing a suit of my own design. Layers of thin armor almost like the spacesuit I had examined. It was flexible and a lot thinner, but it was padded on all the parts where I might hit ground hard when dodging. I would have to transform to have protection from gases, but I planned to keep looking for poison so I wouldn¡¯t get surprised.


    When Hey Guy showed up I asked, ¡°Would you all like armor like mine?¡±


    They examined me. My fashion sense clearly wasn¡¯t as good as I thought since they all shook their heads.


    I said, ¡°Odds are good I¡¯ll turn into a rooster and make my call loudly so keep a good distance and brace yourselves. If something happens, don¡¯t try to avenge me. Do what you need to do, but for the sake of Snipsnort, take care of yourselves.¡±


    Lady Anteater said, ¡°King Snipsnort, we have been doing this for a very long time. We may seem like we are all just fun and games, but this is battle, our favorite game of all, and we take it very seriously. If it gets rough, just put some distance between you and your enemies so we have room to work.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Can everyone get back to Snipsnort on their own?¡±


    They all nodded so I started opening gateways so we could see the battlefield they had set up. There were four large round gateways open. Three of them had wizards gathered. The fourth one was set up as the battle area.


    I did a count. The Order of the Crepuscular Gloaming had nine people in their circle. The other two circles had six and fourteen in them. There were ten more people wandering around further afield, so I didn¡¯t know what group the extra people were with, and I wasn¡¯t sure what group was the Order of The Veiled Mist.


    Hippydippy said, ¡°New Fairyland. Let¡¯s explore.¡±


    Byebye said, ¡°We¡¯ll come back after you crow and things get interesting.¡±


    The Fairies ran off, and I started walking to the field. Five of the people present gave me a creepy feeling like they were probably possessed.


    I looked at the smallest group. It had six members all with staves. None of them seemed more than just normally creepy.


    As I approached, I heard an argument between on of the men with staves and a wizard I was certain was possessed.


    The man with the staff said. ¡°That sounds like you plan to start a war between our orders.¡±


    The possessed member of the Order of the Crepuscular Gloaming said, ¡°Just warning you. Unless your order enters into an agreement with our order, there are inevitable consequences when you duel with one of us.¡±


    The man with the staff said, ¡°So all other wizards and organizations have to agree to your terms or you will gang up on them?¡±


    The possessed wizard said, ¡°No. The rules in these duels is of course not to secure kill on your opponents. Accidents happen but if you are careful you can avoid injuring an opponent seriously.¡±


    The man with the staff said, ¡°But if one of us duels with one of you, and your man messes up and kills himself, then you will all gang up on our brother and hound him to death?¡±


    The possessed wizard said, ¡°We have taken oaths that we will avenge the death or grievous injury of our brothers. Unless you are in an associate order, you are not technically a brother and therefore we are oath bound to, as you say, ¡®hound you to death.¡¯¡±


    As I approached, one of the wizards I identified as possessed did a quickly jerked his head around and looked at me. He nodded and all of the rest of them gazed at me.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    The man with the staff shouted to me, ¡°Have you heard? They can kill you, but you can¡¯t kill or even disable one of them without their hunting you down as a gang.¡±


    I asked, ¡°So are we fighting to first blood or touch?¡±


    The man with the staff said, ¡°No, they consider a duel won if one of the parties concedes, dies, or is disabled. So unless you can make them itch intolerably, their alliance is designed to eliminate single wizards or other magic brotherhoods. If you do take out a member, they will hunt you and put your Fairy to steel.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Doesn¡¯t that seem a bit like cheating?¡±


    The man with the staff said, ¡°It is cheating. No question about it. A wizard is not a wizard if he can¡¯t ignore pain or injury. If a member of theirs doesn¡¯t choose to concede, you can¡¯t win against them without their all attacking you. This is going to end up starting wars between the brotherhoods.¡±


    The possessed wizard stared at me. ¡°Do I know you from somewhere?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°So I should just leave since you are ganging up no matter what happens.¡±


    The possessed wizard cocked his head. ¡°But we can¡¯t have you coming back to cause the wizard who won this realm any trouble, can we? No, if you do not take binding oaths that you will never interfere or oppose any member of our order, we will have to hound you to death.¡±


    I said. ¡°Well, then. I guess I should get started. Are you brave enough to go first or are you going to wait until you have the entire club to hide behind?¡±


    The possessed wizard looked around at the group. I examined the gateway set up for battling in and decided I didn¡¯t trust it. I closed it.


    Another wizard said, ¡°Return the circle to its place. All wizards who battle need equal access to their powers.¡±


    I strode out to the center of the area and said, ¡°I can arrange that, and since the battle appears to be one where one group is assuring that they will hunt down and slay you and your Fairy or render you unable to ever stand up for your rights again, I will arrange for the fight to be a bit more fair in that regard as well.¡±


    I opened a gateway to a transport world and placed it as the circle. Then I opened a gateway to my Fairyland of Death and opened it to encompass the entire area with all four circles in it. Then I turned into a giant rooster and crowed as loud as I could. In the distance, I heard glass breaking. From the circles, eyeglasses and drinking glasses were broke.


    Five dark shapes were driven from their host bodies and five wizards collapsed. I turned the five dark shapes into Fairies and bound them to the Fairyland of Death. I then closed the gateway to the Fairyland of Death and sped time there.


    ¡°There. I have settled the first five challenges. Now I suppose some of you are oath bound to attack me. I¡¯m right here.¡±


    A man that Darrel had warned me used electrical attacks started walking to the circle I was standing in the middle of. As he approached I said, ¡°Such a pity thou art oath bound to make sure I die twice.¡±


    I opened the gateway to the Fairyland of Death again. His step faltered but he continued in. I saw Vic, Darren, and four others following him from a distance. Now I knew the area of this man¡¯s attack.


    He stepped into the circle, and as he neared me, I felt the hair on my arms raise. As he raised his hand to prepare the strike, I got ready. The moment he brought his hand down, I made a gossamer cable of copper from a copper cage around me to a copper pole in front of him. There was a glow around the copper and electric arcs struck him repeatedly as he fell.


    He twitched until the glow went down, and someone dispelled the copper.


    From a distance, Dwight shouted, ¡°The oath seal has been broken. Your oaths are no longer binding.¡±


    I heard another cry in the distance and saw Hey Guy grab a wizard¡¯s legs while Anteater was biting the hand the wizard was trying to cast a spell with. I closed the gateway to the Fairyland of Death and changed into me in a spacesuit as the air turned poisonous around me.


    There was a horrible sound of bones breaking, and Duchess Byebyes childish laughter.


    There were wizards fleeing, and the Fairies Against Abuse From the Living were chasing after them.


    I saw several of the original Fairies from this Fairyland using gossamer firing weapons that looked like they were space marine military issue.


    The wizards with staves managed to get cover and dispel the incoming gossamer long enough to get summoned out of the battle.


    It was over as fast as it started, and now I was alone in a field surrounded by bloody Fairies.


    I turned into myself in a steel spider excavator, raised myself high and spun the cab around. As I built inertia, I turned it into a cartwheel and moved to a clear area of the field. I turned back into myself as I first came to the duels and shouted, ¡°Anyone else want to challenge me?¡±


    I waited. A good distance from me, Fairies gathered around.


    Duchess Byebye came running in to hug me. She was covered with blood, but I crouched and hugged her.


    She asked, ¡°Did you see where Anteater went?¡±


    I shook my head.


    Duchess Byebye said, ¡°I¡¯ll go find them. They are probably looting.¡±


    She looked at the ring of Fairies gathered at a distance and then she gave me a look of sympathy. ¡°Pretty sure no one wants to challenge you. Pretty soon you¡¯ll have to start looking for fights if you want any.¡±


    As she ran off, the Fairies gathered cleared out of her way.


    I said, ¡°Since no one wants to challenge me for this Fairyland, I abdicate.¡±


    A Fairy yelled, ¡°Thou canst not abdicate!¡±


    I said, ¡°Watch me.¡±


    I started walking in the direction that Byebye had run off to. Fairies followed me.


    A Fairy asked, ¡°Who will defend the Fairyland?¡±


    I stopped walking and looked back at the Fairies behind me. ¡°Not really my concern. It seems sad, but I am new to Fairy. I don¡¯t know how to manage things, I would rather not die anytime soon, and you don¡¯t trust mortals.


    ¡°Makes sense when I think about it. A lot of you were mortal. You know just how trustworthy men are. Some of you betrayed your own world to wizards. I don¡¯t know how to bring security or stability back to this realm. You need a stronger sort of king than me.¡±


    I kept walking. Behind me, the Fairies were arguing with each other.


    ¡°What does he want?¡±


    ¡°I heard a rumor that he was reluctant to take anything from his own Fairyland.¡±


    ¡°So he¡¯s just going to leave us to whatever wizard or monster comes along next?¡±


    ¡°Can he just give up a Fairyland?¡±


    ¡°What happened to Dogsbane?¡±


    ¡°He came back. Barely a trace of the power he once held. He said Rasnarf killed him. Don¡¯t try looking for Dogsbane, though. When the great rooster crow shattered everything, he was one of the ones who turned to sparkles.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I was standing beside a Fairy that turned to sparkles. Pretty sure he was the one that called the Attar of Ambrosia Brotherhood to join the fight.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re going to have to see who¡¯s left. If this guy doesn¡¯t want to be our king, why are we following him?¡±


    I reached the edge of the field and slid into the first good shadows I could find.


    Hippydippy and Anteater were sitting on a rooftop with Rasnarf. In the shadow of a chimney, I watched and listened.


    Rasnarf said, ¡°No chance, I¡¯m out of here. One more rooster cry like that, and I¡¯m done for. You know a third of the Fairies went poof. All the good businessmen. The sales force gone. A few Fairies from research survived, but mostly just shipping, assembly, and support are left. One girl from Fairy Resources survived and few of the low ranking accountants.


    ¡°We can¡¯t even go back into business. I¡¯m the only one in upper management left, and all I want to do is garden. Without a Fairy king, someone is going to eat what I planted the moment it sprouts. I don¡¯t want to get back into business, but that looks like my only option. Do you think Shadowfeet will hire me?¡±


    Anteater said, ¡°Shadowfeet. That would be a good name for a Goblin. Do you want to go to work for a Goblin?¡±


    Rasnarf said, ¡°Shadowfeet Holdings has a lot of Goblins. I might get a job in research if they will have me. I did research before I got promoted. I like tinkering but I hate the corporate environment.¡±


    Anteater stood and balanced on one foot on the top of the roof. ¡°Stupid to go into business when you hate business. That¡¯s why I got a government job. No pay, but I get to travel and kill strangers.¡±


    Rasnarf shook his head. ¡°I¡¯d never make it as a Fairy Diplomat. I don¡¯t even enjoy the killing. Right now the FAAFL is wandering around the Fairyland looking for survivors. This was meant to be a membership drive, but I think the militant arm mostly got dispelled.¡±


    I slid out of shadow and sat with my back to the chimney. I moved carefully around to the other side of the chimney so I couldn¡¯t slide of fthe roof. My leg was shaking, and my hands felt weak. I lay down on the roof with my feet against the chimney and closed my eyes. That made me feel dizzy, so I opened them and looked at the Fairies sitting on the ridge of the roof.


    Rasnarf made a sitting bow. ¡°King Snipsnort, welcome to the end of Dogsbane and Fairy Dynamics. This was an ill-fated realm to begin with.¡±


    I gave an open handed ¡°What can I do?¡± gesture.


    He shook his head. ¡°Not a damned thing and that is what I think will happen to this realm. We wanted a strong king, and we got a wicked one. We thought that meant strong. He always wanted more and never gave back.


    ¡°I can¡¯t blame you, King Snipsnort. Dogsbane made the ruin inevitable, and I am as much or more to blame than you.¡±


    Hippydippy tilted her head from side to side. ¡°Your kingdom just got saved, and you don¡¯t need a king. We did fine without one. We are just being greedy and keeping the nicest one we could find. He doesn¡¯t eat much, and he makes nice statues so having a pet king is pretty nice.¡± She fixed Rasnarf with a fierce stare. ¡°You can¡¯t have him. We saw him first.¡±


    Anteater asked, ¡°How did our pet king save this world?¡±


    Hippydippy said, ¡°Well, first off he gave it all the fresh dirt. That helped, then he taught the wizards that this was not a place they wanted to use for their next vacation. But the best part was his killing off hundreds and hundreds of Fairies.¡±


    I winced.


    Hippydippy said, ¡°Now all the disloyal Fairies are gone ¡®Poof¡¯ and not having King Snipsnort here makes it safe.¡±


    Rasnarf asked Anteater, ¡°Is Hippydippy going daft?¡±


    Anteater said, ¡°She occasionally ends up making sense, so let¡¯s hear her out.¡±


    Hippydippy got up and came over and sat beside me. She leaned against me. ¡°King Snipsnort has me and Anteater and Duchess Byebye always looking for a good fight. Now people are going to be more scared of him than they are Duchess Byebye. All you have to do is let folk know you pay tribute to King Snipsnort and live happily ever after.¡±


    Rasnarf said, ¡°He gave us topsoil and mulch. What sort of tribute would interest him?¡±


    Lady Anteater said, ¡°There¡¯s a reason we call him Kink Snipsnort. You don¡¯t even want to know what he has planned for all the beautiful virgins!¡±


    Hippydippy said, ¡°I¡¯m not the daft one, no one but you calls him Kink, and he doesn¡¯t have the slightest interest in virgins.¡±


    Lady Anteater gave me a questioning look. I shrugged and straightened my leg so its shaking wouldn¡¯t be as obvious. The other leg was starting to shake.


    Lady Anteater said, ¡°Well, it¡¯s not really traditional, but I guess you can send Kink Snipsnort a yearly tribute of sadder but wiser women since that is more his style.¡±


    A raven landed beside Lady Anteater and turned into Dutchess Byebye. ¡°Someone is about to be pushed off the roof and her name is Anteater.¡±


    Rasnarf asked, ¡°King Snipsnort, what sort of tribute would you demand?¡±


    I looked out at the buildings. ¡°These folk have me confused with another King Snipsnort. I don¡¯t do demands, tribute sounds worse, and if I hear that anyone started giving anyone to anyone against their will, I¡¯ll come and crow at them.¡±


    Rasnarf asked, ¡°What do you need?¡±


    Another raven landed and turned into Hey Guy.


    I stared at Hey Guy for a moment and then smiled at Rasnarf. ¡°I occasionally build things, and they don¡¯t always work out, but I don¡¯t want them instantly torn apart. Sometimes there are good ideas that just need to be looked at again. A place to put my failures up on pedestals so they can slowly weather and rust sounds fun.


    ¡°Sometimes I need to speed up a place and pass some time. A place to get away and rest. A place to sleep and a place to eat is always a nice thing.¡±


    Rasnarf asked, ¡°What sort of things do you build?¡±


    I slipped into shadow and down to the ground where I felt safer and walked out where I could see them still sitting on the roof. Being on the ground was better. I got ready to make an illusion of the training spider excavator I was going to make for my little sister Byebye and winced. I knew how to do the acrobatic maneuvers I wanted to program the giant gizmo to train Byebye with. I wasn¡¯t quite sure how to perfectly program the maneuvers, and I had given back the original. It had slid back the panel of buttons that trained me, and I wasn¡¯t able to read the programming comments.


    If I did it wrong, someone was going to get hurt, and Byebye had already seen me do a few athletic things in one of these. Byebye is more than a little reckless, so I didn¡¯t want her hurting herself trying to get giant robot to do cartwheels. I looked up at the group watching me. I had planned to show off and make one that worked from patterns I had tested, but for safety¡¯s sake, I was going to have to make sure it didn¡¯t work. I stopped and smiled at myself. The last day in Real seemed like it took forever and I managed put aside the risks and ignore personal consequences. Now that it was over, I was scared to make something I had made for myself and been ready to fight in.


    It seemed likely that I might get a place to stay set up here and probably a small kitchen, so instead of making a giant spider robot, I made an oven that would monitor the cooking inside. It was nicely made and had some decent, if reserved, lines. Even my subconscious was being cautious.


    In only one way I was feeling bold. I wanted some fish.


    The End of Book 3

 B4-1 Very Like a Whale (With apologies to Ogden Nash)

    A whale flew up and said, ¡°No time to explain, get in.¡±


    He opened his mouth wide. I looked at his teeth, and I looked out over the expanse of ocean. Everyone had warned me that the Fairy sea was not something to trifle with, but I figured that if I flew as a rook and stayed above the clouds, I would be safe. Apparently, I was wrong.


    Fortunately, I could fly through the air faster than the whale could swim. It looked like he was having trouble staying this high anyway. I circled and landed on him.


    ¡°Now that I¡¯m going your way, do you have time to explain?¡±


    The whale started dropping altitude. ¡°I¡¯m you from the future. I¡¯m here to warn you so you don¡¯t mess up your life.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Do I turn evil in the future?¡±


    The whale said, ¡°No, you can trust me in all ways.¡±


    I said, ¡°So if I turn into a rooster and if I crow as a rooster, it won¡¯t hurt you?¡±


    The whale pitched to one side and said, ¡°Long way down.¡±


    I said, ¡°Roosters can glide.¡±


    The whale stopped flapping his flippers and tilted forward. We started to plummet. ¡°This is going to hurt.¡±


    I spread my wings and watched him fall. He leveled out before he got too close to the waves, and his splash as he entered the sea wasn¡¯t terribly violent.


    I saw a lighthouse in the distance, and it wasn¡¯t one of mine. The clouds were sparse, and I didn¡¯t see any whales flying, so I started drifting lower.


    A cove with ships and a pair of towers in the middle of a village on a high hill were set above the cove. I flew over the town and past it. I passed another tower and a village with a wall around it.


    I heard singing and someone playing a drum, so I sailed a bit further and landed in a wooded area. I put a gateway in the hollow of a tree to be able to get back here and flew back up to the place where the music was and landed on a wall to listen.


    The man was singing in German, and for once, the German was clear to me. It was a song about a son who had gone to Fairy to find a magic lute that his mother had heard when she was a child. When the son returned, time had passed, and his mother was gone and no one knew him so he went back to Fairy to try and find his mother.


    It was sad, and it made me think of my families.


    #


    I took myself back to my Fairyland of bog and swamp and flew to the island with the banana trees. None of them were ripe. A few of the trees had fallen and started to rot, but small banana trees were growing from the roots.


    A small Fairy with bat wings in a black one-piece bathing suit was digging in the dirt around one of the fallen banana trees.


    I landed on the branch of a banana tree that was beginning to bend from the weight of a huge bunch of small green bananas. ¡°Swampy, you changed clothing.¡±


    She looked up at me. ¡°Phil, you could help me dig.¡±


    I got down, turned into my normal self, and made a gossamer shovel.


    She pointed to the small banana trees growing from the roots of a fallen tree. ¡°If we dig these banana pups and just leave one, we can plant the rest of them on the island next to the village our house is in.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Has your divination found out when we¡¯ll start getting Fairies for the village?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°I ate all but one of the ripe bananas. I saved it for you to feed to your stepfather. He¡¯ll be our first Fairy.¡±


    I asked, ¡°You really ate all those bananas?¡±


    She said, ¡°I want to build up the mass. I want to be able to turn into me in the form I had before I died and be big enough to dig one of these on my own.¡±


    #


    My stepfather was out on the pier fishing. He had aged more in the last couple of years than I had in the last fifty but that¡¯s life as a Goblin. He looked up as I stepped onto the pier.


    We exchanged nods. I walked out and sat by him.


    He asked, ¡°Do you catch a lot of fish?¡±


    I answered, ¡°You should have seen the one that just got away.¡±


    He asked, ¡°Phil, you don¡¯t hate me do you?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Never knew you well enough to hate you. You ain¡¯t blood but as far as my original family goes, you¡¯re all I got.¡±


    He said, ¡°I should have looked for you. The sheriff was a friend, and said he would keep an eye out.¡±


    I said, ¡°It¡¯s water under the bridge.¡±


    He started reeling in his line. ¡°Phil, you look like you have aged maybe a year in the last fifty. Are Goblins immortal?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°We age slow. Some slower than others. We can step into shadows, see pretty well in shadows, and have good hearing. That¡¯s about the only difference between being human and Goblin. I look and feel nine years old, but I remember fifty years more than that.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Fifty-two years more than that. So you aren¡¯t immortal.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Maybe I am now. I have a little sister who met Vikings.¡±


    My stepfather raised his pole and cast the lure back out into the water. ¡°How do you become immortal?¡±


    I offered him a banana.


    He asked, ¡°It¡¯s small. What¡¯s this for?¡±


    I said, ¡°Eating. Unless you go to heaven or hell, if you eat that you will go to a place where there are piers, bayous, and fishing. That¡¯s the best deal I can offer.¡±


    He asked, ¡°How do you make a deal like that?¡±


    I said, ¡°Last time we met, I was just a normal Goblin boy. The sort you see on the street and never notice or that hides in the shadows under your bed when you are little. Now, I¡¯m a king of Fairy. I still can¡¯t do much while sitting here on the pier, but in Fairy, I do alright.¡±


    He said, ¡°You kidding me?¡±


    I said, ¡°The banana is pretty good. Try it.¡±


    He peeled it and tried it. ¡°It is good. Phil, I don¡¯t mean to bring you down, but I will be seeing the other side pretty soon. No chance of Heaven, not by any measure I can make.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Have you seen a doctor?¡±


    He said, ¡°I have managed to stay out of debt and would rather die that way. A man who ran a backhoe and tractor all his life can¡¯t afford to die in a hospital if he wants to stay out of debt.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I have money. More than enough.¡±


    He said, ¡°Can¡¯t take your money. I was no good to you. Wouldn¡¯t be right. You already gave me some fish and a banana, that¡¯s more than I ever gave you.¡±


    He pulled back his pole and started reeling in. He was busy pulling in a pretty nice catfish, so I took the moment to disappear.


    #


    I was summoned by Hey Guy. ¡°King Snipsnort, this is The Guy In Charge of Awesome. Where are you right now?¡±


    I said, ¡°In a junkyard in Real.¡±


    Hey Guy asked, ¡°Is it one of those places with steel everywhere?¡±


    I said, ¡°That would be every junkyard in Real.¡±


    He asked, ¡°Can¡¯t you find some place more fun?¡±


    I said, ¡°It is fun. I have a huge crane with a magnet. I just wanted to study how it worked and use it one more time before I gave it back.¡±


    ¡°Who are you giving it back to?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s complicated, but I was given a lot of stuff in Real, mostly junkyards and heavy equipment and I want to give it all back.¡±


    Hey Guy said, ¡°First thing you¡¯ve said that made sense. Get rid of all that iron.¡±


    He disconnected. I started clearing up the bits that had dropped from my last move and then I put the arm where it would be stable and shut down the crane. I waved to the watchman at the gate and he waved back. The gate slid back, and I got into my car and drove it out of the junkyard.


    I startled as a Goblin looked back at me in the rearview mirror. I hadn¡¯t notice him when I got into the car.


    He asked, ¡°You a wizard? Keep driving. I don¡¯t think you can throw a spell while driving.¡±


    I kept driving.


    He said, ¡°I heard from someone who heard from someone that you don¡¯t age. Since you got the round ears, you¡¯re not a Goblin. Since you got no issue with iron, you¡¯re no Fairy and a Daemon would be a lot better looking. You have to be a wizard.


    ¡°Here¡¯s the thing. I¡¯m a Goblin. I can spy on folk, and I can get around easy. If you¡¯re a wizard, you can summon something and have it gift me. I dropped out of the human world when I was in fourth grade, so I want gifting of everything I missed.


    ¡°I know, you¡¯re thinking ¡®Just go haunt a school and learn. It¡¯ll just take a few years.¡¯ Problem is, we Goblins have a soft spot for children with parents who don¡¯t love them. So I have to stay away from schools, or kids are gonna start disappearing. I can¡¯t afford to support a bunch of kids who are just getting over their previous parents, so school isn¡¯t an option.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Sadly, I know exactly how you feel. I never made it past second grade so you got two years on me.¡±


    We went by a streetlight, and he got a good look at my face. ¡°You¡¯re that box drummer from the first night of the festival. How come your ears are round?¡±


    I pulled over to the side of the road. ¡°I got surgery on the ears. Sorry to call this short, but I don¡¯t plan to drive all night. You can get out here.¡±


    He stabbed me through the seat.


    #


    I¡¯d been on edge so I was at the seven-way crossroads in Snipsnort before he managed to move the blade around. I changed into me uninjured and sped up Snipsnort.


    I was standing in a raised area in the middle of a seven-way crossroads. Sitting with their backs to me were a pair of girls who looked college aged. They didn¡¯t seem to have noticed me.


    The taller girl asked, ¡°Do you think King Snipsnort really comes here?¡±


    The other girl pointed to one of the statues around the intersection. ¡°If he does, it¡¯s to gawk at the statues, and if that¡¯s his type, we¡¯re out of luck.¡±


    The taller girl said, ¡°They say he¡¯s about to hit puberty. Boys that age aren¡¯t really picky. They say he isn¡¯t that good looking, so I think our odds are pretty good. If he weren¡¯t king, we would be out of his league.¡±


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    I was beginning to feel the injury despite being transformed. I didn¡¯t have a chance to see the injury. I knew my Goblin family avoided other Goblins, I¡¯d just learned a painful lesson as to why.


    #


    I went to Anabranch, my Bayou Fairyland. I slipped into shadow just in case I had gotten an infection. I didn¡¯t feel like there was any poison, so I was probably going to be okay.


    At the pier we sat at, Swampy landed beside me and looked up. ¡°You know there is a gateway to a Fairyland set up for medicine in the Fairyland you didn¡¯t name Rougarou.¡±


    I felt my back. ¡°I¡¯ve gotten more than enough gifts from mysterious sources. If you think about it, and they want to keep our connections hard to track, they need to stop giving me stuff.¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°The Efreets have a team of prognosticators trying to influence the future and make sure you don¡¯t have one. Odds are slim to nothing you won¡¯t live long if you don¡¯t have a Fairyland you can go to when you get hurt.


    ¡°As far as I can tell, the Efreets know you¡¯re out there, but so far, they don¡¯t know who you are. When that changes, we can expect attacks to aimed better. Before that happens, we need Hubert brought up to full strength. I can¡¯t do this all on my own. So you know what you have to do.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t really.¡±


    She ran to the pier and sat down and started stirring the water with her bamboo pole. She stared into the water. ¡°Oh, no. It was bad enough that you were overgifted and went into lala land from too much unsorted knowledge. Now your mind is turning to mush for another reason. Phil, you can expect to start noticing girls soon.


    ¡°¡¯Til then, while you¡¯re still able to think, let me explain what you need to do. First off, make a lot of stuff that¡¯ll resonate for Hubert. Whenever you have a chance, make more of your sculptures, kitchen appliances, and heavy machinery. It doesn¡¯t have to work, so go wild and just do it.


    ¡°Then we need you to man up, claim Rougarou, and find your hospital Fairyland.¡±


    I waved to Swampy and went to the Fairyland that was at one time Dogsbane and more recently Fairy Dynamics LTD.


    #


    I was in a courtyard in the middle of a small castle. Growing in the planters were mushrooms.


    A lady Fairy, with long charcoal-colored wings like a moth that had been in a fight, was standing at a reception stand like she was about to take my reservation.


    She curtsied. ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    I said, ¡°Thou dust not have to do that, I am not king here.¡±


    She gave me a smile. ¡°Let a girl have her dreams. How can I serve thee, great king?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Your dreams?¡±


    She said, ¡°Someday I might get married you know.¡±


    I gave her a confused look.


    She smiled at me and fluttered her eyes. ¡°Thou must know that there is a tradition that lets a king bed a newly wed girl.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m, like, biologically nine years old, and I am pretty sure thou art making that up.¡±


    She fluttered her eyes again. ¡°Call it what you will ¡®jus primae noctis, droit du seigneur, droit de jambage or droit de cuissage.¡¯ It is a fine tradition in Fairy and a girl always dreams about having a perfect wedding.¡±


    I gave her a blank look, and she winked at me.


    Another female Fairy came up to the reception stand and said, ¡°King Snipsnort, please come this way.¡±


    The Fairy receptionist in gray asked, ¡°Where art thou taking our liege?¡±


    I said, ¡°Not thy liege,¡± as the new girl said, ¡°His doctor.¡±


    I followed the new Fairy as the Fairy in gray said, ¡°Oh, playing doctor. Why didn¡¯t I think of that?¡±


    The girl leading me said, ¡°I don¡¯t think you have to worry about that first night stuff. As far as I can tell, some of the druids took advantage of it, and the kings that tried to went down in history as colossal jerks. Even if it is traditional in Fairy, you don¡¯t have to go to the wedding, and you don¡¯t have to insist on your ¡®rights.¡¯¡±


    She led me to a tower in the middle of a small market area. An old lady Fairy in front of the tower was selling bottles of snake oil.


    The old lady looked at me and said, ¡°Thou art a lively looking lad, dust thou wish to test our wonderful elixir?¡±


    She took out a spoon and wiped it on her apron before opening a bottle of snake oil and pouring some of the thick black syrup into the spoon. The syrup bubbled and puffs of green smoke rose from it. I looked closely at it and it wasn¡¯t poisonous. It smelled like licorice.


    She held the spoon out to me with a hand under it to catch the drips that were coming down from the spoon. ¡°This will make all thy injuries disappear.¡±


    I winced and looked around. All the Fairies in the small market were watching me. Since it wasn¡¯t poisonous, I let her shove the spoon in my mouth and gagged a bit as I got the syrup in my mouth. Not the worst thing ever but odd and too sweet.


    She said, ¡°It will make all thy problems disappear, or maybe make thee disappear.¡±


    She picked up the table and disappeared. The girl that led me to this market was gone when I looked for her. Then I felt it. I was connected to a new Fairyland. I looked at the crowd and then I went to the new Fairyland.


    #


    The old lady Fairy and the younger one were both dressed in green scrubs. The old lady had a large wooden popsicle stick. The younger one had a metal stick with a light on it. She stuck it in my ear and looked through it.


    The old lady came at me with the popsicle stick and said, ¡°Say ¡®Ahhhh.¡¯¡±


    I winced.


    She said, ¡°Open wide.¡±


    I opened my mouth, and she looked down my throat with a flashlight. ¡°Some dental hygiene would be good. Have you been taught to brush your¡ªOh, woof, apparently not.¡±


    She backed up and handed me a mint in a clear wrapper.


    The young girl put a thing around my arm. It began inflating and cutting off the blood circulation.


    The old lady pointed to a poster with letters on the wall and said, ¡°Start reading the letters from the ninth line down.


    I shifted the mint in my mouth so I could talk and read the letters as the younger girl put her freezing cold stethoscope against my bare skin and looked at her watch.


    A little girl in a cute little doctor outfit came in and smiled at me. She read from a clipboard. ¡°Stab wound in his twenty-third from primary form. Stomachache in his twenty-eighth and a tick on his primary owl form. He has not developed multiple form as an owl, rook, otter, or rooster.


    ¡°The stab wound is above his kidneys, but the parietal pleura was punctured. The patient comes from a line of Goblins with slow regenerative capabilities, and he shows healing across transformations.


    ¡°King Snipsnort, art thou currently taking any medications?¡±


    I said, ¡°Some aging pills.¡±


    The little girl said, ¡°Hmm. Can I see them?¡±


    I said, ¡°They are in a bottle in a backpack in another form.¡±


    The young girl took the arm thing off of me and said, ¡°Thou canst transform now.¡±


    I changed into me with the backpack and pulled out a bottle of the aging pills.


    The child doctor looked at the bottle and took notes. ¡°Nurse, we need to order a nine year supply for King Snipsnort and a fifteen year supply for me. Go ahead and get twenty more bottles so we have them in stock.¡±


    She took out a small rubber tomahawk looking hammer and hit me hard on the knee. ¡°Did that hurt?¡±


    I nodded and rubbed my knee.


    The little girl said, ¡°We will need to get someone to gift him with toughness. Canst thou turn into the owl with the tick?¡±


    The old lady turned into a raven and leapt to the arm of a chair.


    I turned into an owl. The raven plucked a tick off me and swallowed it.


    The little girl doctor squealed and jumped. She returned to her normal composure. ¡°Sorry, thy owl form is just too cute for words. Let me get ready and then thee canst turn into thyself with the stab wound.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What¡¯s all of this going to cost?¡±


    The little girl shouted, ¡°May Bell, our patient needs to discuss payment options.¡±


    A man wearing makeup came out from the same doorway the little girl¡¯d come from and said, ¡°Please follow me.¡±


    I followed him to a small room with a computer and pictures of horrible mouth diseases on the walls. He gestured for me to sit and closed the door. I felt us shift to another Fairyland.


    He went around, sat at his desk, and opened a folder. ¡°Phil, you are trying to give things back to someone who wants to maintain some anonymity. That person gave you things that were not on the record as belonging to him and for his own reasons, needs for those possessions not to become linked to him. As a result, your taking and keeping said properties is more than convenient for that person.


    ¡°Additionally, it has become apparent that a functioning Fairy hospital without ties to that individual will aid him in his goals and may end up protecting a lot of his properties. Is all that understandable?¡±


    I asked, ¡°How does my having a Fairy hospital protect his properties?¡±


    He drummed his fingers on the desk and stared at me for a moment. ¡°By surviving, you increase the odds of the world not being destroyed. The individual concerned has a lot of property in the real world that has historic, artistic, and economic value. So, by preventing the world¡¯s destruction, you help insure the continued value of this individual¡¯s property.


    ¡°Additionally, the Fairyland that was previously known as Dogsbane, has the potential to become competition with ShadowFeet Holdings.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°And he doesn¡¯t want competition?¡±


    May Bell narrowed his eyes at me. ¡°Where would the fun in that be? No, the only probable chance that the realm that was once Fairy Dynamics might become real competition would be if it is under your leadership. Don¡¯t think you will ever be number one, but we want the competition and the competition will keep a lot of technically inclined Fairies from coming up with more destructive ideas. So we want you to keep stealing our technology and try to keep up with us.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Does this make any sense?¡±


    May Bell said, ¡°Look, idle Fairy hands do work the Devil fears. We need you to not only deal with the enemies of our world, but we need you to also keep some of the more creative Fairies occupied.


    ¡°Seriously, I am about to reincarnate and forget about all of this. I want to have a nice, long, and rewarding life, and right now, it is looking pretty unlikely. Unless you and a few others manage things well, I doubt I will survive long enough to see any of the wonders of the world.


    ¡°Now as far as billing goes, you are owed for treasures and worlds given and you have managed to hand over the next world the Efreet¡¯s plan to move to and eventually have the inhabitants of that world destroy it, just as they are encouraging men to destroy this one. As a result, you have insured that this world is likely to be the last one they destroy. It is, of course, possible that you and others can prevent the destruction, but I have to admit the world is looking pretty grim right about now.


    ¡°So, it is unlikely that we will be able to pay back any fraction of what we owe you and will continue to owe you. I am afraid we will have to remain quite thoroughly in your debt. These Fairies are your vassals now, and they want to do the work you are allowing them to do. This is your Fairyland, and for your Fairies to have a productive and content existence, you need to give them ample opportunity to practice medicine.¡±


    I nodded. He got up and opened the door for me. ¡°Next time we meet, I won¡¯t remember you, and hopefully, I will have lived an interesting and fulfilling life. Take care, King Snipsnort. My replacement will arrive in a couple of days. There is some gifting we need to take care of before she can take over.¡±


    I walked back out, and the three girls gestured for me to get up on a padded and paper-covered table.


    The young girl said, ¡°Shirt off, back up. Put thy head here.¡±


    I lay down with my face sticking through an opening.


    The old lady said, ¡°Sorry. We are going to need thee naked in the form that got the stab wound.¡±


    I looked up and she was holding a towel to drape over my butt after I transformed.


    I said, ¡°How do I transform naked into a form that wasn¡¯t naked?¡±


    She said, ¡°We may have to cut your shirt then.¡±


    I said, ¡°It has blood and a stab wound in it. I don¡¯t think I mind thou cutting it.¡±


    I looked at the little girl. She was sitting on a stool with her eyes closed. ¡°What is she doing?¡±


    The young girl said, ¡°Preparing for psychic surgery. Please lie down and transform.¡±


    I turned into me with the cut and felt blood soaking into my shirt. They were cutting the shirt, and my back shifted from hurting to itching.


    After a few odd pangs, the little girl said, ¡°Okay, you can sit up now.¡±


    The young girl was wheeling a big light thing in with a small sink and drill-looking things.


    The little girl closed her eyes and got close to my face with hers. She made an illusion of a set of teeth and a skull with transparent skin.


    The three of them looked closely at it and then glanced at me.


    The young girl started making an illusion of my face and shifting my jaw around. The illusions aged a bit and shifted back to young and then there were nine illusions of my face shifting between ages.


    The old lady pointed to one. ¡°That is thee without intervention. See how thou age with thy teeth shaping your face and how they will cause issues as new teeth come in.¡±


    She pointed to the one beside it. ¡°This will be how thou wouldst look with some basic work to prevent issues. If thou could find a normal doctor who knew Goblin physiology, this would be thou with basic surgery and no further care.¡±


    ¡°This one is thee with care and braces if a talented orthodontist without any psychic or mystic powers gave thou full care. The other five are the faces thou couldst have if we made a few modifications. As thou canst see, with the raw materials thou bring, thou couldst be quite handsome.¡±


    The little girl pointed at one and said, ¡°That one.¡±


    The young girl said, ¡°I like this one better.¡±


    The old lady said, ¡°No, this one. Thine choice is more handsome but has a stalker look, and the square jaw looks a bit too obviously heroic.¡±


    The little girl pointed at the old lady¡¯s favorite and shook her head. ¡°Fat cheeks and dimples. Everyone is going to want to pinch them.¡±


    I looked and pointed to the one that looked the least like a bully¡¯s sidekick.


    They all winced in unison.


    The old lady said, ¡°That one is going to hurt for a while. No way around it. I liked it best, but it almost seems cruel.¡±


    I kept pointing at it, and then I looked over all the illusions and said, ¡°I¡¯d prefer to keep some options, but if I¡¯m going to choose, it is this one.¡±


    The young girl gestured to a dental chair and picked up a rubber mask.


    #


    I woke up in a bed. I was wearing a thin garment, and there was a metal thing in my mouth and connected around my head. It was uncomfortable but the pain was not bad. The young girl came over with the rubber mask and showed me an image of myself with a backpack.


    She held the mask near my face. ¡°Since thou want a few other appearances, we can give thee all of them in different forms, but thou willst have to transform to the other copies of thee that hast not undergone surgery. If thou want this form fixed, please nod and then turn into it.¡±


    I nodded and transformed. The metal thing stayed with me, and the pain was unbearable as it shaped my face. She put the mask on me, and thankfully, I went to sleep.


    I woke up and she smiled at me. ¡°Art thou ready for the next form?¡±


    I tried to talk and then I used Fairy speech. ¡°I need to eat between transformations or I get sick.¡±


    She pointed to a clear bag with a tube running to my arm. ¡°It has a silver needle so it will stay in thee. Please go to thy next form.¡±


    #


    They were talking as I started to come awake.


    The old one said, ¡°Fairy kings are stubborn things. I would have given up from the pain after the second form.¡±


    The young one said, ¡°A year ago, he probably wouldn¡¯t have taken the pain. Now, with three girls present he probably felt he had to.¡±


    The little one said, ¡°Thou art the only one of us that counts. I¡¯m too young and Aren is too old.¡±


    I started to get up. The young girl came over with a mirror. The face in the mirror was like a better looking brother. It wasn¡¯t me. I didn¡¯t really like looking like him, but then I don¡¯t spend a lot of time looking at my face. I had multiple faces in other forms. I changed into them, regretting having agreed to the changes. I only looked like me in six forms of me. It didn¡¯t really bother me. It was only as bad as not getting ice cream when all your brothers had ice cream. It wasn¡¯t the end of the world, and I didn¡¯t think it would bother me long.


    I am who I am, and changed, I am who I am. It isn¡¯t really a lie unless someone married me and wanted children that might look like me, but then, natural-born Goblins are rare. A couple could be married for a hundred years and not have a child. At least that was what the stories said. It made sense. If you live fifty times as long, you don¡¯t want to have too many children. The story was that we were crafted by Elves in another world so we could take care of their horrible children.


    There was another story that the Elves sculpted their own bodies and faces so that few resembled their original form. But the story also said that after sculpting their forms, their children would then resemble children of the changed form. I didn¡¯t think that would be true for me.


    I looked up at her and asked, ¡°Do you think I could have one of me with the basic orthodontic work and pointed ears?¡±


    She lifted the rubber mask and smiled.

 B4-2 Dining with Death

    A few minutes had passed in Real since I was stabbed. The car was gone. It wasn¡¯t important to me. The Goblin that stabbed me was the problem. I didn¡¯t want to avenge myself, and I didn¡¯t want to kill him, but I suspected that what he wanted all along was to go to a rich person¡¯s house, kill him, and loot his place. Probably live there until he found something better or was forced to run.


    I considered just reporting the missing car to the police. While it was easy for a Goblin to evade the police, Goblins that caused a lot of trouble seemed to disappear. If I was going to keep the cover story for Phil Thibodeaux, I probably needed to report him.


    I put a gateway down and sped time in an empty Fairyland before taking myself there. Then I went through a gateway to Phil Thibodeaux¡¯s closet in Philadelphia. In my one form that still matched my original appearance, I showered and dressed up in the Sunday-go-to-meeting clothing Thibodeaux wears and put on a mask and gloves. I got a fresh bottle of hand sanitizer and my wallet and looked in the mirror. Then I went back to where the car was stolen and called 911. It disconnected before it rang.


    A man¡¯s voice asked, ¡°What¡¯s the emergency?¡±


    I looked around. Off the road and by a chain link fence, A man in a biker¡¯s jacket held a phone and stared at me. He hadn¡¯t there when I first arrived, so he had to be supernatural.


    ¡°My car was stolen. I was just going to report it.¡±


    He spit on the ground. ¡°You¡¯re from the other side and look rather young to be driving a car.¡±


    I said, ¡°While this is an interesting conversation, I think I¡¯ll skip the rest of it.¡±


    I took to shadow and found the car where it was stuck in a ditch. The Goblin was using his cell phone as I approached. I had slowed and started concealing my movement in shadow as soon as I spotted the car, but the Goblin had detected me. He took off into shadow. I was debating taking the car to Fairy, calling 911 again, or just ignoring it all when the biker guy appeared.


    ¡°This your car?¡±


    I nodded.


    He opened the door and looked at the driver¡¯s seat. ¡°You don¡¯t look like you were stabbed.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What do you want?¡±


    He said, ¡°When a Fairy shows up in Real and calls 911, things can spiral out of control pretty fast. I¡¯m just trying to find out what you¡¯re trying to do here in Real.¡±


    I said, ¡°Excuse me.¡± I went back through gateways to Phil Thibodeaux¡¯s house and buzzed for the attendant.


    The voice on the intercom said, ¡°Yes, sir, what can I do for you?¡±


    My phone rang. The caller ID was ¡°Death.¡±


    I answered the phone. The voice was that of the biker guy by the road. ¡°You¡¯re in a warded place. Tightly warded. Don¡¯t hang up. I just want to ask a few questions.¡±


    I said, ¡°Hold for a second.¡±


    With the phone muted, I said to the intercom, ¡°I¡¯m on a phone call. I¡¯ll call you back later.¡±


    I walked to a bedroom and sat on the bed. ¡°Are you stalking me?¡±


    He said, ¡°That¡¯s my job. So, what¡¯s a living Fairy that never even once showed up on our radar suddenly doing calling 911?¡±


    I asked, ¡°What¡¯s a biker I met by the side of the road doing calling a little boy in the middle of the night?¡±


    He asked, ¡°Can we meet at a diner somewhere? I have a feeling this may take a while so I called and got my shift covered.¡±


    I said, ¡°Fine. Where?¡±


    He named a diner. I looked it up on my phone. ¡°I¡¯ll meet you there.¡±


    I slid through shadow and then decided to walk a block after I got close. He appeared beside me. ¡°You were in an expensive place. Well warded.¡±


    I took out my wallet and handed him a card. ¡°You¡¯re pretty good at tracking folk down.¡±


    He said, ¡°I have to be. I¡¯m a Death.¡±


    I said, ¡°My family warned us all not to come home if we ever met one of you.¡±


    He asked, ¡°Let me guess, you¡¯re the kid of a mortal and a woodland Fairy. Not common but it happens.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m a Goblin.¡±


    He looked at me. ¡°You sure?¡±


    I said, ¡°I got my ears done by an expert. I got tired of having the points trimmed.¡±


    He said, ¡°So what happened?¡±


    I said, ¡°I got in my car and didn¡¯t notice the Goblin in the back seat until he threatened me. He thought I was a wizard and told me to keep driving. I suspect his real plan was to kill me after getting inside my house. Instead he stabbed me in the car, I went to Fairy, and got better. Then I came back and figured I¡¯d let the police deal with the missing car.¡±


    The Death said, ¡°Look, you can hunt him down or avoid him, whatever you have to do. But on the mortal side, you can¡¯t just bring the cops into it.¡±


    I asked, ¡°If I don¡¯t report the car stolen or damaged¡ª¡±


    He said, ¡°You have all sorts of advantages over the mundane. The downside is that if you start to become visible, the walls start to tumble. So, don¡¯t bring the police into it and don¡¯t expect anyone to take care of your issues for you. Stuff happens, you deal with it. Don¡¯t cause issues, don¡¯t cause deaths unless it¡¯s between you and other supernaturals, and then make sure that you don¡¯t leave any obvious clues behind that something happened.¡±


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    We got to the diner where other people could overhear our conversation, so he switched to Fairy speech midway through what he¡¯d been saying.


    I asked, ¡°The paranormal can hunt and kill each other?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°It gets them out of the world. Can you imagine trying to stop them? Justice after the fact is an endless witch hunt. Going after people that cursed others didn¡¯t work in the Middle Ages, and it doesn¡¯t work now.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Is it like second grade?¡±


    He looked at me.


    I said, ¡°In second grade, the rule was never tattle. If anything, the teachers supported the bullies over the rest of the kids.¡±


    We sat down in a big semi-circular booth far from the other patrons, and a waitress took our order.


    After she left, the man in the leather jacket said, ¡°Sadly, that¡¯s a good analogy. The teacher learns that her boss, the principal, doesn¡¯t like hearing about it and doesn¡¯t want to hear from parents. The bullies¡¯ parents are most likely bullies themselves, so the teacher ends up just wanting the kids to quietly deal with it all and not get their parents involved.


    ¡°Here¡¯s the thing. We Deaths try to keep the supernatural from exerting too much force in Real and send them away after their time is up.¡±


    I asked, ¡°The powerful get to lord it over the weak?¡±


    He said, ¡°There¡¯s the Persephone limit. That keeps the really powerful out of the game.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    He looked at me and squinted. ¡°Really? Well, if you¡¯re too powerful, or at least your presence is, you become an attraction to the paranormal. More powers become possible to you in Real, and when near you, other creatures start being able to use their powers.


    ¡°We try to keep the otherworldly powers to the other worlds. If you don¡¯t spend enough time in Real, you start to develop a Fairyland presence. When that happens, you start destabilizing everything, and we can¡¯t have you wandering around in Real. That¡¯s when we Deaths have to show our muscle.¡±


    I said, ¡°Do I report a murderous Goblin to you?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°As long as he keeps it to the supernatural, we figure it helps keep the numbers down. Supernatural beings killing each other just moves their game to the other side where it belongs. It might not go well for the Goblin, though. After we enjoy our meal, I¡¯m going to have to have a conversation with him.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Just a conversation?¡±


    He said, ¡°There¡¯s an expensive vehicle with bulletproof glass in a ditch with a bloody cut in the driver¡¯s seat. Never seen one like it. Genesis brand. Nice and styling while looking normal. That¡¯s just the sort of thing we don¡¯t like left around. He needs to fix the mess. You might want to save him the work, though, ¡®cause the simplest fix would be his setting the car on fire.¡±


    I thought about the various sides of the issue. ¡°Let me get this straight. If I fix it, he walks off and can kill again. If I don¡¯t, the car gets burned.¡±


    The Death shook his head. ¡°He was aiming to kill a wizard, there is no down side to that. As long as he kept it among the paranormal, he¡¯s fine. I still need to make it clear to him that he can¡¯t go around leaving evidence.¡±


    I looked at my reflection in the dark glass. Oddly, now I wanted to look like I had after surgery. ¡°If he doesn¡¯t cover up his work, what do you do?¡±


    ¡°We try to talk you into doing it. If talking doesn¡¯t work, we talk to other folk that like to take care of this sort of thing. You don¡¯t want to meet them. They¡¯re like your Goblin friend except they aren¡¯t just in it for the money.¡±


    I asked, ¡°If I pay for this meal, will it be taken as a bribe?¡±


    He said, ¡°We live on bribes. Taking care of the mess and paying for the meal means you know how to manage yourself in Real. It means that when an issue comes up, we look to the other side for fault. Too many issues come up, then we stop showing preference, but if you go out of your way to smooth things, we take that into account.¡±


    I said, ¡°I need to go to the bathroom.¡±


    I went to the bathroom and changed into me with a backpack full of cash and then changed back while keeping the backpack. I took out a bundle of hundreds and pocketed it. Then I went back and put the backpack under the table and pushed it with my foot over to his side of the booth.


    He lifted it up to the seat beside him and opened it. ¡°That¡¯s a serious bribe.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What are my limits, what can I do, and when do I get in trouble?¡±


    He smiled and closed his eyes for a second. Three more men in leather jackets came in the door and walked to the table. I slid over and one of them sat beside me. The man with me scooted over to make room in and pointed at the three men and then himself. ¡°McNair, Monvil, Jewett with two tees and I¡¯m Ketler.¡±


    I said, ¡°Phil Thibodeaux.¡±


    McNair asked, ¡°Did he really ask what his limits where?¡±


    Ketler nodded.


    Jewett asked, ¡°We all had to memorize it, but do any of you still remember it?¡±


    The other three shook their heads.


    Jewett waved to the waitress, ¡°Whatever they¡¯re having, we¡¯ll have the same.¡±


    McNair said, ¡°And some waffles.¡±


    Monvil said, ¡°I got a bad one. Save my place.¡± Monvil disappeared.


    Jewett said, ¡°No one ever asks the rules. No one. You may be the first ever. We had to memorize a long list, but we have to memorize a lot of things and a lot of it fades over time. First off, if you bring it, you gotta take it home. Basically, any spirits you summon or bring to Real, you are responsible for and you have to take them back to where they belong when you leave Real or twenty-eight days. Any unattended unnatural things you can expect to get taken, destroyed, or dealt with, and you won¡¯t have a say.


    ¡°Killing mortals is out. You can con them, but no outright theft. If you take a building to Fairy, you had best have the hole filled and rubble on top of the hole before anyone notices. Plumbing issues, electrical issues, and making things dangerous can get you in real trouble. Don¡¯t take what you don¡¯t own clearly and no landmarks.


    ¡°There¡¯s a long list of protected plants you can take seeds from but only half and you have to plant some and it gets complicated. Just buy seeds and plants unless they¡¯re common.¡±


    Monvil appeared back in his seat. ¡°Dark gateways, three of them. The whole crew got whisked to hell. I though it was going to be rough, but the Devils were right on it.¡±


    Jewett said, ¡°God bless the Devils. Where were we?¡±


    McNair said, ¡°You can take all the oil you want as long as you don¡¯t cause sinkholes or earthquakes. Seriously, rob the oil fields dry. We¡¯re trying to save the planet. Coal, as long as you don¡¯t destroy anything above it, is all yours.


    ¡°As long as it¡¯s legal and paid for, grain and flour is yours for the taking. Keep fires small and try to limit the damage when you are covering up problems. Our real goal is to try and keep things running smoothly and put off Armageddon.¡±


    Ketler said, ¡°And that¡¯s where it gets complicated. None of us can agree on what prevents Armageddon.¡±


    Monvil said, ¡°My theory is that it¡¯s already happening. Best we can do is slow it.¡±


    The conversation turned into an argument between Jewett and Monvil and continued until Monvil had to disappear again.


    Ketler smiled as the waitress started placing our orders in front of us. ¡°Thank you, ma¡¯am.¡±


    We had just started eating when McNair gave a disgruntled side to side look. He picked up his burger and disappeared.


    Ketler said, ¡°Now you know what we are about. How do you did get from Fairy and manage to be doing so well in Real?¡±


    I didn¡¯t know how much to stick to my story so I covered my mouth and chewed slowly while thinking. ¡°I inherited a waste management company. We clean up polluted sites and recycle waste. It¡¯s complicated but there are folk in the company that are savvy. I have a few Fairylands.¡±


    They all looked up at me when I said that. I feared I might have said too much, so I put the bundle of hundreds on the table. ¡°Gentlemen, leave a good tip. I just realized that I need to clean up a car stuck in a ditch before it causes any issues. I don¡¯t want to get into any trouble with the powers that be.¡±

 B4-3 Blue Pass

    I left and went back to Fairy before taking a gateway and shadow stepping into the car. The murderous jerk Goblin had taken the keys and without thinking, by sitting at the drivers seat, I had put blood stains on the back of my suit. I maneuvered gateways and took the car to Fairy. Examining it, all it needed was the seat fixed. The seat was worse than it looked. The Goblin had mangled the back of the seat well before I got in it.


    While I¡¯d been moving scrap around with the crane, he¡¯d been in the back of the car preparing to kill me. This was looking more like a murder attempt than a random and violent theft. I didn¡¯t know where the Goblin had gone. Ketler had a way to find him, but I didn¡¯t plan to see another Death if I didn¡¯t have to. I spent a while studying the seat, managed to do a decent fix on it, and put the seat back in and took the car back to the garage in Real.


    The Goblin who tried to kill me was in Philadelphia, but the weather for shadow stepping was good so he could have come from anywhere. Unless someone had paranormal knowledge that I was going to be in Philadelphia, only a few people that could¡¯ve known that. The guy I¡¯d summoned to go there and the employees of the office were the only ones who knew I¡¯d been there.


    I went back to the junkyard and felt movement in the shadows. A Goblin was near. The Goblin that stabbed me stepped out of shadow and waved to the man in the office. The watchman waved and the Goblin slid back into shadow. He was close enough to the cedar tree I was hiding under for me to hear the gravel drop from his shoes as he went to shadow.


    Lights suddenly blazed on and the shadows instantly disappeared. I think the Goblin who¡¯d stabbed me was still in shadow when the shadows went away. He probably didn¡¯t survive. I felt the heat from the lights despite the cover of the cedar branches. As I closed my eyes and shifted to a form that wasn¡¯t blinded by the blazing light, the lights winked out, and I heard a door open. I stayed down, hidden by the mound of scrap tiles that had been pushed up around the tree.


    The night watchman took out his cell phone. In Archer¡¯s voice, he said, ¡°I managed the loose end, so we don¡¯t have to make the second payment. Bring the truck so we can load up on scrap.¡±


    He put the phone in his pocket. ¡°Good night, Phil. Good night, Alvin. Let¡¯s hope you both went to a much worse place.¡±


    Archer was a Titan or a Daemon. There were blurred lines, and he never quite made it clear. I figured Alvin was the Goblin who¡¯d stabbed me in the back, literally. All the time Archer was staying with Hubert and me, I mostly avoided him. He was strong and tough but if I turned into the me in my favorite armored heavy equipment and spun the cab while extending the bucket, I might hit him hard enough to stun him.


    Then I could probably bounce the scoop on him and grab him with the claws. Holding him with the claws and pounding him against the pavement enough times would probably take care of him.


    It might not work. He was fast and he was a near perfect shot with any projectile weapon you could name. He might miss with the first shot as he got his bearings, range, and windage, but he would never miss with the second.


    I needed to get out from under the tree to be able to transform into a form carrying so much bulk, and he would have seconds to prepare. If he had a gun he was used to using, I wouldn¡¯t have seconds. Whispering, I summoned Maud, ¡°Maud, lovely Ogress who heals, Phil summons thee. Archer is near.¡±


    Maud asked, ¡°Can I see?¡±


    I shifted the summons so she could see the location.


    She recited to herself like she was planning. ¡°Hidden in a depression in a mound of broken and intact tile. The ground will be noisy and unstable, but we¡¯ll have cover. Over us is a juniper or cedar tree, we can¡¯t get out without moving it. Good cover but so poor strategically that no one with training would hide here. Archer has ignored it since he rejected it as a hiding place for himself. In turn, this makes it a good hiding place.


    ¡°Archer is standing by a door. He could get through it, but there are windows entirely around the office. If Archer runs, it will be to his truck or back to the scrap piles. The truck will be too slow, so unless he is going to use it for cover and has a weapon in it, he will go to the scrap piles.


    Archer took out his cell phone. ¡°Okay, I see your lights. I¡¯ll open the gate.¡±


    An eighteen-wheel truck drove into the junkyard and a solid-looking man got out. they started loading up with the pallets of the more expensive scrap at the front of the junkyard.


    Maud said, ¡°Leave the summons open for me to show up. The lights are too bright for you to shadow step except to the shadow cast by the tree out of the yard, and there is broken glass and gravel there. He will hear us. We have to wait.¡±


    I opened the summons and we waited. Every time I thought I had a chance to get out and do something, one of them would turn where they would see me if I did.


    Archer shouted, ¡°Milton, I just got summoned. See you in Cincinnati.¡±


    After Archer disappeared, Maud said. ¡°We lost our chance.¡±


    Milton laughed and let out a string of cuss words before saying, ¡°You won¡¯t be seeing me in Cincinnati. This is the last time you run out and leave me to do all the work. Thanks for the truck and the free load of scrap.¡±


    I thought about doing something.


    Maud said, ¡°Leave him alone. Let him go. He¡¯s no friend of ours, but he just made Archer his enemy. If letting Milton leave with a load of scrap means Archer has another enemy, it¡¯s a low price to pay.¡±


    Maud disconnected from the summons, and Milton drove off and left the gate open. I didn¡¯t have my keys, and thinking about it, I was better off with Archer thinking I was dead. He might still be employed here so maybe I could track him that way, but if I closed the gate I might alert him, and if I left it open, he might lose the job. Archer wasn¡¯t the sort that would give up his last paycheck, Social Security, or retirement benefits, so there might be a way to track him even if he lost the job.


    I explored in shadow and noticed a camera hidden in a far corner of the yard. I slid a gateway over to examine it, and the area exploded and threw things in the air. In the areas where pieces fell, two more explosions went off. I backed up into shadow and took my gateway back. I worried that setting off the explosions might have revealed me, but if he had a sensor to detect a gateway, he only knew a gateway was involved.


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    I used a gateway to retreat to the area where the car had been left in the ditch and changed into me with equipment to scan for Hubert¡¯s resonant items. It was out of date, and the current methods would make such an item to identify his current resonance hard to make, but it would still detect me, and it would still detect the old items. A few blips appeared where the junkyard was, so Archer had probably set the place up as a trap.


    On a wider scan, a lot of places in a swath had things lit up.


    I didn¡¯t see a choice. I summoned Kelter.


    Instead of connecting to the summons, he appeared a short distance from me. ¡°Let me guess. You want help finding the Goblin that stabbed you?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°He¡¯s gone and this one is complicated. It¡¯s out of my league. It is indiscriminately aimed at me, but it¡¯s real target is someone who isn¡¯t even in Real.¡±


    He asked, ¡°How complicated?¡±


    I said, ¡°Very. There is a guy we call Archer. Titan or Daemon, I¡¯m not sure. If he aims something at you, you had best change position unpredictably between the time he pulls the trigger and the projectile gets to where you might be. The blips on this screen are places where he has probably put cameras and explosives. They¡¯ll probably go off if they are disturbed, falling shrapnel from one set off two more explosions. They will definitely go off if something supernatural goes near them.¡±


    He asked, ¡°What do you expect me to do about this?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Just pass it around that Archer isn¡¯t doing you any favors and let me know if you want me to walk away from this or set off a bunch of explosions tonight.¡±


    He gave me a sour look. ¡°Seems like you are involved in trouble. Maybe it would be best for you to stick to the other side and stay out of Real.¡±


    I said, ¡°Fine, enjoy explaining away the magic-related technology after the bomb squad that finally survives one of these takes it apart. Archer¡¯s going to keep doing this sort of thing even with me gone.¡±


    Kelter said, ¡°I need to get a few others in on this.¡±


    I said, ¡°By the way, Archer killed the Goblin that stabbed me, and he¡¯ll probably keep killing off more supernatural beings, so he is probably just what you want, apart from his¡ª¡±


    Five more men in leather jackets appeared.


    Kelter said, ¡°Explain it one more time.¡±


    I said, ¡°Sixty or so bombs have been planted in junkyards across the Rust Belt and down through the Bible Belt. Definitely the Bible Belt, I¡¯m iffy on the exact location of the Rust Belt. These bombs have cameras, and they send images to a fellow called Archer who designs and makes weapons with paranormal properties. I moved a gateway near one, and that set it off. The falling debris from that explosion set off two more. I can¡¯t safely go near them, and I suspect you can¡¯t either.


    ¡°Best I can think to do is set them off. Archer will know that I¡¯m still alive, but I don¡¯t want mortals killed, and I don¡¯t think you want their technology examined by the first bomb squad to successfully deal with one.


    ¡°I realize you¡¯re feeling duty bound to tell me to get out of Real. Fine, I was just looking for a good excuse to fade to Fairy, but I thought I would warn you that a bunch of explosions are about to happen, and you should probably stay out of the way until I finish and run off never to bother you again.¡±


    A man dressed like an undertaker showed up behind the men in leather jackets. He laughed. ¡°Stand down, gentlemen. The oracle is hopping mad that you¡¯re about to start Ragnarok.¡± He held up his hands at me like he wanted me to calm down or back off. ¡°Are you the fishmonger?¡±


    I nodded.


    The man said, ¡°Men, this child has a blue pass. After he dies, he still has a blue pass. If he exceeds the Persephone limit, he has a blue pass. Memorize his form, boys.¡±


    He asked me. ¡°Can you forgive us and not visit destruction on us?¡±


    I looked at the five men who just started to step back.


    I winced. ¡°Did your oracle give any details? I was about to set of some bombs so no one got hurt and go home, but now I¡¯m not sure what to do.¡±


    One of the men in leather jackets said, ¡°We didn¡¯t do or say anything. Kelter called us here to make a decision he didn¡¯t want to make on his own.¡±


    The undertaker said, ¡°What are you planning? Can I call you ¡®Fishmonger?¡¯¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Oddly, I figured that I¡¯d just been given a good excuse to miss church tomorrow. I want to go play music afterwards, but that¡¯s in Real, too, and I don¡¯t think the deacon will be happy if I miss church and then go play music.¡±


    One of the men asked, ¡°Your deacon knows about Real?¡±


    Another asked, ¡°What¡¯s your deacon¡¯s name?¡±


    I said, ¡°I would rather leave him out of this. What does your oracle want us to do?¡±


    The undertaker said, ¡°Fishmonger, I can¡¯t just ask the oracle for advice.¡±


    The gateway I had used to get here opened. Two men stepped out with a woman between them. The men were the largest, tallest, and sturdiest-looking men I had ever seen. The woman had dramatic curves and thick red hair with glints in it like sparks from a flame.


    The lady said, ¡°I expected a bit more thunder and drama.¡±


    In a low rumbling voice, the man on her left said, ¡°Pivotal events have no sense of drama.¡±


    The one on the right said, ¡°I¡¯ll bet five on the Fishmonger.¡±


    A large coyote stepped out from the brush on the other side of the ditch. ¡°I¡¯ll bet ten on the Fishmonger and give you five to one odds in your favor.¡±


    The undertaker said, ¡°No one is fighting.¡±


    I said, ¡°No, I¡¯m just leaving.¡±


    The woman with red hair shook her head and her hair swirled around. Sparks spread and then faded away as she smiled at me. ¡°And there we have it. Men, talk him out of leaving or the coming plague will be the least of your worries.¡±


    She looked at me and then posed with one leg out of a long slit in her skirt. ¡°It might be ill-advised to make a deal with me, but if you decide to stay and play, I give you permission to use me as a model.¡±


    The coyote, the woman, and the two huge men disappeared.


    The men in leather jackets looked at each other, and one of them disappeared. Kelter looked at the undertaker and disappeared. Then the rest of them disappeared leaving the undertaker.


    The undertaker said, ¡°Forgive me for not knowing who you are. I¡¯m Cliff, by the way. As a Death, I am probably limited to five hundred dollars a day as a maximum expense toward helping someone stop the world from ending, but I can probably take a couple of days off to help you as long as I keep receipts.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Isn¡¯t your entire purpose to keep order in Real and prevent the apocalypse?¡±


    Cliff nodded. ¡°Technically, but trying to explain that to accounting is another thing entirely.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Were those big men Deaths?¡±


    Cliff said, ¡°You just met four Devils. The hot one that posed for you was Lilith. So, how are you about to prevent the end of the world?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Now I am scared to do anything. Look, I was planning to set off a bunch of bombs that a fellow we call Archer set. I didn¡¯t want anyone hurt. I am a bit worried since they¡¯re all close to superfund sites that have mostly been cleaned up, but now I don¡¯t know what to do.¡±


    Cliff asked, ¡°I know someone who can manage gateways. What if we put the explosives in another world?¡±


    I said, ¡°I slid a gateway near one of the explosives and that set it off.¡±


    Cliff scratched his head. ¡°It¡¯s always wonderful when an oracle is involved. They jump up and down screaming, ¡®Beware the crow!¡¯ and then nothing. After you have spent your day ducking every time you heard or saw a bird fly over, you go home to unwind you find out your bottle of Old Crow Reserve is empty.¡±


    I narrowed my eyes at him.


    Cliff nodded, ¡°No, it really happened to me, just like I said.¡±


    I asked, ¡°So, how do I stop Armageddon?¡±


    Cliff shook his head. ¡°Maybe you buy a package of spoiled peanuts and spit them out. A squirrel eats what you didn¡¯t and dies so it doesn¡¯t short out a breaker box and start a blackout that causes the death of a child that might have come up with a cure for stupidity if the poor child lived. Who knows? Do you know any good oracles?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Really, this is all kind of strange. I should go back to Fairy.¡±


    Cliff said, ¡°I am quite aware that some find it easier to slip away and decide the real world is too much trouble. I fight every day to keep things from getting out of hand, and I can go for months without seeing the good I do outweigh the bad. But there are moments when it matters, and sometimes after taking it on the chin and fighting the good fight, I get a nod from someone who knows about pain and sacrifice.


    ¡°If you are moving gateways around, then the odds are you can afford things I can¡¯t imagine. I don¡¯t know what you do or what you are meant to do, but let me give you the nod. I don¡¯t know if it will mean to you what it means to me, but sometimes it¡¯s all that keeps me going.¡±


    Cliff nodded to me. I really hadn¡¯t done anything to deserve that nod, but it had meaning to me. It meant more that being a king ever did. I went to Fairy knowing I needed to earn that nod.

 B4-4 Blubblub

    Swampy was sitting out on the pier stirring the water with her bamboo pole. I changed into me in my swimsuit and sat beside Swampy.


    She did a double take when she saw my face. ¡°Phil, I knew you were being made pretty, but with the water ripples, I wasn¡¯t sure how it turned out. When I get my mass back, do you think they¡¯ll do work on me? I don¡¯t have to be pretty. Probably shouldn¡¯t be pretty, it makes things complicated.


    ¡°A lot of jerks don¡¯t respect a woman, ugly or pretty, but if a girl is pretty, for most men it¡¯s kind of like having a big dog that bares its teeth at you and growls every time you make a move. You always know the dog is there, and you can¡¯t really develop an easy relationship with the owner.


    ¡°So, like most foolish girls, I have thought about being pretty more that a few times, but I don¡¯t think I want to go there.¡±


    I kicked the water and made waves for her to look at. ¡°Well, your Fairy form is more than a bit cute. I¡¯m planning a sort of tree sculpture. Could I get your permission to use your likeness in it?¡±


    She said, ¡°The musical tree has been showing up in a lot of probabilities. I¡¯d love to be part of it. As far as what you have to do in Real, don¡¯t worry about it right now. A lot of things have resolved to clarity so it might be simpler than you think.


    ¡°We have a new visitor. He comes and goes. I think your stepfather¡¯s spirit is getting ready to leave his body.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°He didn¡¯t look well. I should take him to my hospital world.¡±


    Swampy stirred the water. ¡°He¡¯ll never forgive himself if you do that. As it is, his spirit runs off and hides. The images of him shows him hiding off in the swamp for years before he¡¯ll come out to talk. Hopefully, the regrets aren¡¯t too much even without you taking him to get well for a bit.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What if they are too much?¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°Even the dead don¡¯t know what really happens when you die. I had a mortal body, now that is gone. I have my mind and a lot of my memory, but that is odd, too. There is another part of me that I think is really immortal, but I don¡¯t know what it is any more than I know what God is.


    ¡°Some Fairies die and come back. Some Fairies just fade away. It is almost like things gather to make a person. Talents and passions and needs. Even anger, maybe. Odd things. Then I think they get worn like a body by a soul and then that gets worn by a mortal body.


    ¡°Don¡¯t take this as truth. I¡¯m just guessing. But if a Fairy doesn¡¯t have what it takes to hold it together, I think the passions and talents just walk away. Well, not walk, but whatever bits of dream do when they are not being dreamed about.¡±


    I said, ¡°I always figured it was just electronic impulses in a matrix of brain cells firing at random.¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°Don¡¯t make me hit you with my cane.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Okay, here¡¯s what I figured out when I was still just a simple Goblin who had finished second grade and read the Bible a few times. Sometimes when you sit in a tree and the wind comes blowing through, you can feel the life and awareness in the wind. Sometimes when you toss your line out, you know that a big fish is going to grab it. Sometimes you feel a powerful sorrow that makes your chest hurt to cry and you don¡¯t know who it is for or what it means. Sometimes the light comes through the clouds, and you know you were meant to see that moment of beauty.


    ¡°What all that means to me is that there is something more than any Goblin or Fairy knows. I like hearing all the ideas of what might be, but until I have to act on them or something is revealed to me, I¡¯m not committing to much. I try to mostly practice what church folk say is Christianity, but I don¡¯t think for a moment I¡¯m going to heaven when I die. Fortunately, I have a nice Fairyland, and it looks like there are four Devils that don¡¯t seem likely to drag me off for eternal torture anytime soon.¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°Keep stirring the water and tell me all about what has been happening. I may see something we missed.¡±


    I sat on the pier beside Swampy looking down at the water I was slowly stirring with my feet.


    ¡°I have a hospital Fairyland with three physicians. Hada is the oldest, Placy is the little girl, and Asper looks like she might be about to graduate high school. They already call the hospital world ¡®St Phil¡¯s,¡¯ but they say it for the apostle Philip who is my namesake. I guess that¡¯s okay. After making a bunch of the spider excavators out of aluminum, a lot of the Fairies in what was Fairy Dynamics got enthusiastic about the project, and they were all calling me King Snipsnort. After telling them I was planning at one time to call the place Rougarou, they kind of jumped at the name.¡±


    Swampy asked, ¡°You¡¯re king there, too?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°A lot of the Fairies Against Abuse From the Living seem to have moved in, so I might have some problems in the future. Some of the FAAFL have said I was as good as dead and decided to make me an honorary dead person, so I have that going for me. If I object, they¡¯re bound to say I¡¯m being lifeist, so I¡¯m just keeping quiet.¡±


    Swampy nodded. ¡°How well do the aluminum spider excavators work?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Steel¡¯s a problem in Fairy, so there isn¡¯t much option. There is an alloy of stainless steel that doesn¡¯t hurt Fairies, but it dispels gossamer and illusions. It isn¡¯t as strong as some of the aluminum alloys and weighs a lot more. For a tractor though, weight can be a good thing. Sometimes you fill a tractor¡¯s tires with water and even put things in the water to make it heavier. Weight helps you do a lot of things. In other ways, using the right aluminum has advantages. Fairy make things simple and make things hard.¡±


    Swampy was looking down at the water and frowning. ¡°I¡¯m not sure that introducing tractor pulls to Fairy was a good idea. What happened in Real?¡±


    I gave her the details and she said, ¡°There are ripples that show you and Caerwyn standing behind a dark-green scaly man. Bombs are slowly blowing up in an empty world.¡±


    I nodded and she pinched me.


    I asked, ¡°What was that for?¡±


    She said, ¡°Being stupid. You¡¯re still going to go talk to your stepfather despite my warnings.¡±


    I changed the subject. ¡°If I start making a tree, will you pose for me?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Make the tree in gossamer, test it, make it work, and I¡¯ll pose in it. ¡®Til then, let me stir the water and see what I can see.¡±


    I took out my cajon and sat on it. Then I started working with illusion and then gossamer. I played a simple rhythm on my cajon as I worked.


    The tree itself was simple, making it functional was another thing. When I saw a set of colorful aluminum bottle openers on a display in a gas station, I had the idea that leaves and bark made the same way might make a pretty tree and be a change from what I¡¯d been sculpturing. Then I thought about having the tree like weeping willow. From that came the idea of a percussionist¡¯s sound cage that didn¡¯t look so much like a cage and more like a tree that I thought would be nice.


    What I wanted was sound effects. I had the idea of a portable one, but I wasn¡¯t sure if I could make it do everything I wanted. I wanted the sound of thunder like metal sheets can make but attached to a branch or vine or fruit I could pull on to make it work. I wanted the washboard sound and the sound of shakers and cymbals and everything conveniently at hand. Rainfall, crickets, frogs in the distance. All of it acoustic but I wanted more than just rhythm, I wanted the sounds of nature.


    I started making trees and gave up on making it portable. With everything I was trying to do, it was going to be too heavy for me to fake carrying it around in Real.


    With gossamer to experiment, I was making sort of a reverse marionette. With a limb in reach, I could move it in various directions to set off different sounds and even combine them. With multiple limbs and roots I could move with my feet, I had a wider range of sounds. Rainmakers, g¨¹iros, washboards, and maracas were easy, but this was going to be an ongoing project.


    As I learned to use it, it was going to change. Some things would be moved back and some made more convenient. I still planned to play the cajon as the main percussion instrument. I could come close, and by my ear, do better than most of the sounds a drum set made, but there were things that the cajon could only do a good fake of when compared to a good drum kit.


    With the hollow tree, though, a lot of great sounds were possible. I was going to have to learn to play it, and I needed to examine what other people had done.


    Swampy looked back at me, so I dispelled my work and just made a pretty version in gossamer with the few sounds I had gotten right. She flew up and landed on a limb with her long bamboo pole held like she was directing music. I made an illusion of her and she glided down to see it. With her open wings as a model, I made an illusion of her with her wings spread and her bamboo staff held like she was a drum major or a wizard throwing a spell.


    Then I went in close and articulated it so the thunder sound would match with her wings and the triangle sound would match with her moving her staff.


    She shook her head. ¡°Hide me back in the leaves. Only let those who come close see this detail.¡±


    I moved her image back to where she was sitting in the tree with her stave held on her shoulder. After rigging her wings to open as the thunder sound started she nodded.


    The final version wasn¡¯t too heavy for me to lift, but carrying it around was going to be a bit more difficult. It had a few adjustments so the trunk could be extended and the controlling branches raised and lowered. It was solid, stable, and durable. Sometimes I got carried away when playing, and I didn¡¯t want to bring the thing crashing down on me. I made a real one to test and decided to leave it with Swampy to see how well it survived the weather.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    #


    I summoned Caerwyn and he brought me through to his manor house in Snipsnort. Caerwyn¡¯s mother, Mrs. Nelson, was sitting at a table with Anthony and Hubert. They all smiled and said, ¡°Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    They were still sitting but I waved my hand. ¡°Please rise.¡±


    Fuzzy stepped out of the shadow and rubbed against me. ¡°Where¡¯s my toy?¡±


    I asked, ¡°What toy?¡±


    Fuzzy gave me a squinting look. ¡°Bat wing girl. My toy.¡±


    Caerwyn picked up Fuzzy, and Fuzzy disappeared into shadow.


    I said, ¡°Archer rigged a bunch of bombs in Real. At least sixty. I don¡¯t want innocents killed, and I don¡¯t want to reveal that I am still alive. Archer probably thinks I am dead. Caerwyn, want to help me try and figure out how to deal with them?¡±


    Hubert set his hands on the table like he was balancing himself. ¡°Phil, some of those bombs are going to be big. Really big. Don¡¯t go near them. Deal with them but don¡¯t go near them.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Is there a good way to make sure Archer doesn¡¯t think I¡¯m alive after this?¡±


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°Oldest way in the book is probably the best. If there is someone else giving you trouble, frame him, and make Archer think he has a new enemy.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Mom, let¡¯s not push Phil down the slippery slope. Phil, it¡¯s a good idea to blame someone else, but let¡¯s use someone that¡¯s already dead and gone so you don¡¯t end up framing someone innocent. Does Archer have any old enemies that are long gone?¡±


    Anthony said, ¡°Blubblub didn¡¯t care for him.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson laughed. ¡°Poor Blubblub. He was a sea giant. Didn¡¯t figure out speech as a communication method for ages so everyone was constantly making fun of him.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Blubblub?¡±


    Mrs. Nelson corrected him. ¡°Blubblub. In Carthaginian, there was a silent sort of ¡®R¡¯ sound between ¡®Blub¡¯ and ¡®blub.¡¯ He didn¡¯t ever talk, so that was the name he was given and it stuck.¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°Not sure Blubblub was a him.¡±


    Anthony said, ¡°Blubblub might have been one of the first giants to figure out how to get around, but he mostly stayed in the ocean. Archer was in a group making fun of him as Blubblub rose from the sea. Blubblub had just figured out how to understand speech, so he got to hear all the running jokes for the first time.


    ¡°He slew a lot of them, but Archer and a few escaped. Blubblub hunted a couple more down, but then no one heard anything more from him. That was quite some time ago. Anyone think Blubblub is still around?¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°If he were around, he¡¯d have dealt with Archer already, so probably not.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson made an illusion of a dark-green scaled man that looked like he was half-man and inflated half-puffer fish. ¡°He looked like this only quite a bit larger.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Let me get some gear together, and we can get started.¡±


    #


    I had set up gateway and transport worlds so we could see dimmed images of explosions in a Fairyland while staying in another Fairyland that was safe from the explosions.


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°How are we going to test gateways?¡±


    I said, ¡°With a gateway to watch, I plan to slide a closed gateway closer and closer to see how close we can get.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°How are we going to make it seem like Blubblub did this?¡±


    I said, ¡°Are we sure he isn¡¯t still around? How can we test to be sure?¡±


    Caerwyn laughed. ¡°We could just make up some monster-looking thing.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°What if there is someone who used to look like that and we start trouble for them?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°You could try summoning him.¡±


    I started a summons.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°I was joking.¡±


    I said, ¡°Blubblub, ancient enemy of Archer, sea giant who learned to move early and speak late, Phil the Fishmonger summons thee.¡±


    Blubblub answered, ¡°I go by Rodrigo now and who is Archer?¡±


    I said, ¡°A Titan or Daemon who is good at backstabbing people and great at making and firing projectile weapons.¡±


    Rodrigo said, ¡°Oh, him. Please, how can I help?¡±


    I said, ¡°It¡¯s complicated.¡±


    Rodrigo asked, ¡°But you know how to find this guy?¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Seriously, are you are talking with Blubblub?¡±


    Rodrigo said, ¡°Tell him I would really prefer he call me Rodrigo.¡±


    I said, ¡°Rodrigo would prefer to be called Rodrigo.¡±


    Caerwyn winced. ¡°Wait, how did he hear me?¡±


    A handsome Spanish gentleman appeared beside me. ¡°I have been keeping communication skills at the forefront of my research for quite some time. Who do I have the pleasure of having met?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°I am Caerwyn Nelson, no relation to any naval officers. This is King Snipsnort.¡±


    Rodrigo looked at me. ¡°You go by Snipsnort and Fishmonger. How did you get stuck with those titles?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°If a name causes someone to laugh or underestimate me, then as far as I¡¯m concerned, it¡¯s all for the best.¡±


    Rodrigo said, ¡°I will have to think about that for a while. Well, when do we go after him? Oh, wait, we are talking about the jerk that was left out of the Mah¨¡bh¨¡ratam and not Ullr, Orion, Apollo, or Artemis?¡±


    I made an illusion of Archer.


    Rodrigo said, ¡°That¡¯s him. Alright, gentlemen, how can I be of assistance?¡±


    I said, ¡°Archer thinks I¡¯m dead. I¡¯d rather it stay that way. I¡¯m about to try and defuse a bunch of bombs he set. I don¡¯t want anyone innocent hurt by them. We were going to use your likeness to try and make him think it was you, but I didn¡¯t want to frame you for something if you were still around.¡±


    Rodrigo asked, ¡°Can I see the likeness you were going to use?¡±


    I winced and made an illusion.


    He shook his head and made an illusion beside it. ¡°This is a lot closer. Can you record a sound?¡±


    Caerwyn hit a few keys on a laptop and said, ¡°Recording now.¡±


    Rodrigo made a long ¡°Blubblubblub¡± sound. ¡°Play that if you want him really convinced. I rather like the idea of his having a warning that I am coming. Like old times really. Where do I find him?¡±


    I said, ¡°Cincinnati. Probably at a junkyard. That¡¯s all I have right now. He plans to meet a fellow there, but the fellow isn¡¯t going to meet him and Archer may not be there yet.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°We are going to try and take apart a few of the bombs. They have cameras. We may be able to figure out where the signals are going and give you better details.¡±


    Rodrigo said, ¡°Mind if I watch? I can manage the special effects so he blames me.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Phil, I think we are ready. Start moving gateways.¡±


    #


    After testing for a long time, we figured out that the gateway itself wasn¡¯t the problem. I had set them to observe so they¡¯d receive, but not send, light. That altered shadows since light disappeared and did not come back. The bomb was set to detect any differences in shadow that wasn¡¯t caused by changes of light.


    My gateway took in light and that made the shadows more shadowy. We managed to move all the bombs I could get to into slow worlds where we could watch the bombs blow up.


    Rodrigo made it look like he was appearing as a huge, dripping-wet sea creature that was swallowing the bombs. We extracted parts and Caerwyn started to hack into the destination the cameras were sending signals to. After giving information to Rodrigo, we decided to take a break.


    The sun was coming up. Rodrigo, Caerwyn, and I were standing in the middle of a junkyard.


    Rodrigo looked at a copy of the map Caerwyn had printed. ¡°We¡¯re lucky it¡¯s Sunday. You might be able to get a few these before church ends. Hopefully no one at any of these junkyards decides to work on Sunday.¡±


    I held up my hand to block the sun while I looked at the sunrise. ¡°I hope Deacon Dan can forgive my missing church. I don¡¯t want to risk anyone getting blown up.¡±


    From behind me, someone snatched the map from my hand. Deacon Dan studied the map and said, ¡°No excuse for missing church today, Phil. Which of these do we need to go to first?¡±


    #


    Rodrigo decided to attend church with me. We sat at the back, and he explained to a woman who introduced herself from the seat in front of us that he was an uncle by marriage. I was sitting by the old man who had sort of adopted me, and Rodrigo was on the other side. As usual, I didn¡¯t say anything but when the service was over Rodrigo got up and made friends.


    As we walked away, I asked him, ¡°What are your plans for the day?¡±


    Rodrigo said, ¡°Cincinnati is a large place. On Monday, I will be trying to introduce myself to people and ask if they have seen Archer or if they could carefully contact me if they did. Until then, I plan to stay near you. He may have another plan to approach you, so I am just following what I think are the best chances.¡±


    I said, ¡°That was a long time ago. Are you still that offended by him?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll never get over it. Never. I had just learned to talk. Not well, mind you, I knew maybe two hundred words, but I was desperate to learn more.


    ¡°It was a lovely day. I was walking out of the sea to a gazebo on the shore where many of the Giants¡¯ children gathered. They were laughing and happy as I approached. I got close and greeted them. I didn¡¯t know what Archer said, but everyone with him started running. Several disappeared. The remaining ran and Archer shot them down. Shot them in the back. He spoke to someone I couldn¡¯t see. At the time, I didn¡¯t know what a summons was. He said something to me and disappeared.


    ¡°After that I was attacked by several people. It took me years to find out the reason. Archer had told everyone that I came out of the water and started killing. He had managed to pin the murders on me. So, no, I will never forget what he did. Through the years, as I have tried to track him down, I have noticed a pattern. Those who trust him end up dead. There must be a powerful pain in a being to be so horrid, but despite my sympathy for the being he might have been, I plan to destroy the monster he is.¡±


    I said, ¡°That sounds like him. Yeah, he¡¯s trouble. I do have a bit of a problem, though. Where I am planning to go play music, a pair of Goblins will be playing and a lot of Goblins disappear, move away, and change their names after they meet one of the old and powerful.¡±


    Rodrigo said, ¡°Of course they do and they probably should. What sort of music do you play?¡±


    I said, ¡°Anything with a beat that makes you want to move. I play other things, but my favorite thing is to lose myself in the music.¡±


    Rodrigo nodded. ¡°What sort of instruments do you play?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Pennywhistle, if I want to cry, Ocarina, if I¡¯m alone on a hill. I sit on a crate and pound on it when I play with others. You might laugh, but I am good with a triangle.¡±


    He laughed. ¡°You would love Uruguay. You will have to visit me there. Do you play the cowbell?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I have a couple of kitchens that I play in and I¡¯m making a musical tree. I need to get to a stage out in a swamp in Louisiana and put one of my trees out before anyone gets there.¡±


    Rodrigo asked, ¡°Is there a road to the place?¡±


    I nodded.


    Rodrigo smiled. ¡°Will your tree fit in a truck?¡±


    I nodded again.


    He held his hand up.¡± ¡°I can drop you off, we set up the tree, and then I will leave. I will stay close enough to notice if Archer shows up, but I will stay far enough away so the Goblins won¡¯t think I am watching. I need to do that in case Archer shows up anyway. I have a truck in Newark, and you had a gateway there, so it shouldn¡¯t be hard to arrange if you don¡¯t mind getting my truck back to Newark when this is done.¡±


    I asked, ¡°If you are parked far away, how will you be able to react and deal with anything if Archer shows up?¡±


    He smiled. ¡°I am a Giant, parts of me have been listening, watching, and learning since the day I found out Archer framed me. It is quite probable that I am ready for him. My only real limits for effectively dealing with him are the restrictions of collateral damage. I would rather not have any mortals or immortals other than you notice my activities. While I rather like the thought of having Archer feel the approaching danger, I don¡¯t want to make anyone else nervous.


    I said, ¡°He made a flashlight gun sort of weapon that crystallizes Giants.¡±


    Rodrigo nodded at me. ¡°The Sealer of Way¡¯s Bell. When it pealed, it shut three-fourths of me down. That was quite a while back, and I had to completely rebuild myself. Now I am a bit paranoid about complex resonant attacks so I am investigating the phenomenon constantly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me. I don¡¯t want this body destroyed, but it will only take me sixteen years to get another one up and going. If I could talk you into lending me a Fairyland and helping a bit, I expect we could reduce that time to a few hours.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Sure, if we need to.¡±


    He smiled broadly. ¡°Well, then. It is a definite pleasure to have met you, and I hope we can be friends for an extraordinarily long time. On another subject, do you think Caerwyn would be offended if I offered to cure his albinism?¡±


    I looked up at Rodrigo, thinking about his question. Caerwyn talked about it, but I wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°Rodrigo, if you hang around much, he will probably mention it. If the time is good, you could mention that you could cure it. I think he might, but it kind of gives him an angelic look. I have a few different appearances in different forms of myself, and to tell the truth, I am a bit uncomfortable in my most handsome forms. I can¡¯t imagine how someone might feel if they went from beautiful to mostly good looking.¡±


    Rodrigo nodded. ¡°If you get a chance to mention it to him. Ages ago, the Elves brought an engineered disease to this world. Several of them, really. Some didn¡¯t work right or sit well on humans and the Daemons were made with human genetics. It is possible to cure the disease, but only a few of us are aware of that fact since the disease will be caught within minutes of the cure and establish itself again. I think curing the disease and letting the more modern version infect him might fix things.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Are you an expert on disease?¡±


    Rodrigo shrugged. ¡°A few diseases. I was quite an expert, but as you change and grow, some things become impossible to recover.¡±


    I said, ¡°I have a few trucks with Louisiana plates. We can use those so we don¡¯t have to move yours around.¡±

 B4-5 Showing Off

    In a warehouse near Baton Rouge, Rodrigo and I walked between vehicles. The Conestoga trailer was going to be too long to manage, and I wasn¡¯t sure if Rodrigo knew how to operate a big rig. The small trucks would probably do, but the walls were going to be difficult.


    I ended up deciding to use a flatbed tow truck since the back could be lowered, and we could probably match the height of the stage. I needed to spend a few days in Real making more gateways to place in convenient places.


    I said, ¡°Sorry, Rodrigo, I¡¯m going to need to shadow step to get a gateway to a good place to bring the truck out. The drive from here would take too long.¡±


    Rodrigo asked, ¡°Can I see the tree you want to move?¡±


    I got up on the back of the tow truck and shifted gateways so I had an overlay from Snipsnort and made a new tree with a few changes I¡¯d been thinking about. Mostly to give it secure spots for tying it down to a truck bed. The tree was only six feet tall the way I used it and that was the lowest setting, so tying it down was going to be easy.


    Rodrigo got up on the back of the truck and said, ¡°Go shadow step, I can secure it.¡±


    I sailed through shadow and stopped to summon Vic.


    Vic answered, ¡°We were just talking about you. Mr. Gibbs and I are about to leave the music store.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m coming in a truck. I¡¯ll meet you there.¡±


    Vic said, ¡°Mr. Gibbs, Phil has a ride.¡±


    Vic paused for a moment. ¡°Phil, Mr. Gibbs said he looks forward to seeing you and will miss the conversation we might have had while driving.¡±


    I nodded, but nods don¡¯t transmit unless you have viewing established in a summons so I said, ¡°Okay. Later, then. I have to arrange a few things.¡±


    #


    After setting up a gateway to bring the truck out on a road near the old abandoned airport we were heading to, I opened the gateway and connected another gateway so I had passage to the warehouse where Rodrigo and the truck were.


    Rodrigo had extended the tree to full height, and he was playing it. ¡°Sorry, Phil, I couldn¡¯t resist. This is so beautiful and wonderful. With no magic at all, it is a magical thing.¡±


    He adjusted it to the lowest setting, and we tied it down and put a tarp over it. We secured the tarp with rubber straps. I shifted the gateway around, and Rodrigo drove the truck through. I ran through the gateway, closed it, and got into the truck.


    Rodrigo asked, ¡°Can you adjust the mirror on your side and give me directions?¡±


    I nodded and after he was happy with the mirror, we started driving.


    Rodrigo was smiling as he drove. ¡°That¡¯s a wonderful thing you made. Art, visual, ergonomic, and musical. It¡¯s also solid without being heavy. I do have a few ideas for it, if you are interested. I don¡¯t want to offend your artistic sensibilities, though.¡±


    I looked out at the Spanish moss-covered oaks we were passing and the grapevine-covered trees farther in the distance. ¡°No offense at all. I just realized that a lot of music imitates traffic noise or factory work or trains. Some of it is pastoral, and some evokes the sound of birds. I wanted some ambiance like cicadas and frogs, brooks, and wind-blown leaves. That sort of thing.¡±


    Rodrigo said, ¡°My only real advice would be to arrange pickups so the sounds could be amplified. There are a few odd instruments I would love to see incorporated as well. This may be your goal, but it also kind of hides the musician from the listener. I am not sure how to change that, but I think it will also isolate the musician from the rest of the musicians.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I didn¡¯t think of that. I love playing with others. Really, I prefer it, but most of the time I¡¯m just pounding on anything near and playing by myself. Tapping out a rhythm helps me to think.¡±


    Rodrigo said, ¡°I feel the same way, but most Giants would feel that way.¡±


    We got to the old cracked, grass-invaded runway. There was no way to get a large truck close to the stage in the front of the Quonset hut. I couldn¡¯t use gateways because the drummer and Jake the guitarist were at the grills and cooking.


    Rodrigo looked at me. ¡°I don¡¯t think they are Goblins. Should we get the tree to the stage quickly?¡±


    I nodded and shifted so to me with the bag with my cajon in it and got out of the truck.


    Jake shouted, ¡°Rougarou Phil!¡±


    I shouted to Jake, ¡°Overkill Jones!¡± Then I felt kind of bad since I didn¡¯t know the name of the drummer, so I waved and went to help Rodrigo unstrap the tree.


    After pulling back the tarp, the sunlight hit the colorful mix of anodized aluminum leaves, and I realized how pretty the musical tree really was. I looked at the stage and had that sinking revelation that reminded me that sometimes my mental age was a match to my physical age despite the fifty year discrepancy. I¡¯d made a musical instrument and wanted to show it off, but this was a jam and not a show-and-tell for a small boy who¡¯d made something shiny.


    Rodrigo whispered to me, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    I said, ¡°As far as anyone here knows, I¡¯m as poor as dirt. I didn¡¯t even think how much I was showing off something that a cajon-playing son of the swamps wouldn¡¯t be able to have, make, or even dream of.¡±


    Rodrigo was smiling and then making gestures with his face and head while I said that. Then I realized I had doubly put my foot in my mouth. While we had been unstrapping the tree, the drummer had walked up behind me, and he¡¯d heard everything I¡¯d said.


    The drummer whispered, ¡°You made this?¡±


    I nodded.


    He said, ¡°Yeah, I come from money, too. Don¡¯t tell anyone.¡±


    Rodrigo lifted the tree and it made several musical sounds at once.


    The drummer gasped. ¡°Its a percussion cage. Wait, no, a cage is to control sound. This is a rack. Did you really make it?¡±


    I nodded.


    Rodrigo started carrying it to the stage. ¡°Don¡¯t lie to them. Just tell them this was made by an artist, and you are testing it out and learning to play it. Phil, I¡¯m rather amused by this so I am wondering what you would charge to make me one.¡±


    I blurted out, ¡°Do you really want one?¡± Then I drew a breath and quietly whispered, ¡°Are you serious?¡±


    Rodrigo said, ¡°It¡¯s a wonderful thing, but I want to wait and see what it evolves into. No, now that I think about it, I will want more than one as you make them. Think very hard on what you might charge for them.¡±


    Rodrigo set it up on the stage where I pointed, behind the area where the rest of the musicians sat because I didn¡¯t want to interrupt the playing.


    Rodrigo said, ¡°I should go now. Call me when you need to be picked up.¡±


    I nodded and waved as Rodrigo went to the truck.


    The drummer asked, ¡°What all does it do? Oh, my name is Jeremy, by the way.¡±


    We shook hands and I took out my cajon and sat. After adjusting the positions of the control arms and pedals built into the branches and roots, I started improvising a rhythm and incorporating the various sounds. Here on the stage showing it off and trying to use it as my main instrument and not a collection of sound effects, I wanted it all back in Fairy so I could alter it.


    I stopped when another car drove up.


    Jeremy said, ¡°We¡¯ll talk later.¡±


    The music set went well enough, everyone was interested in the tree and wanted to know the name of the artist, but I told them he didn¡¯t want his identity revealed. Mr. Gibbs was clearly frustrated by the impossibility of recording and balancing the sounds the tree made.


    When we played, the music was great, but I was at the back hidden in my cage and separate from the other musicians. There was never a moment when I felt totally in the groove and united in the musical moment. I felt like the triangle player in an orchestra and not a triangle player in Cajun or Creole music where you are part of the rhythm and make the dance happen. I added effects, but the tunes would have still been the same tunes without me.


    Instead of a weeping willow, I imagined a mimosa tree. One of the ones that grew like a small acacia. Open with layers that other musicians could gather in next to you and play in the shade of.


    When the music wound down, Mr. Gibbs asked, ¡°Do you need a ride?¡±


    ¡°No, thank you, Mr. Gibbs. I¡¯ll need to call and have the truck come to take this back. Can I lock up the hangar when I leave?¡±


    Mr. Gibbs said, ¡°I was kind of hoping you would leave it here so I could play with it and figure out how to mike it. How did you find this?¡±


    I said, ¡°The artist wanted it tested. He doesn¡¯t really want any attention, though.¡±


    Mr. Gibbs asked, ¡°Ask him if he would be okay with displaying it in the front window of a music store. We have a few instruments that are heavily insured, so we could arrange for it to be covered.¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°You would need to insure it. If it was in the front window, I would try to sneak in and play it. Any percussionist would.¡±


    Mr. Gibbs said, ¡°Jeremy, it¡¯s got a broad range of volumes and little control over each of the volumes. Do you think many percussionists would really go for it?¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°Lots of things we hold up to mikes. Shakers and such, but some things you can¡¯t just pin a mike to and sometimes pure acoustic is what you want. Not everything needs to have a hybrid drum trigger adding effects.¡±


    I got up and put away my cajon. I didn¡¯t want to share my cajon, but the tree was just a prototype. After I put up my cajon, I raised the height on the tree and gestured for Jeremy to try it out. Mr. Gibbs and several others took that as an open invitation. I was glad I¡¯d made it sturdy.


    I went down to the food area as the last of the group continued to abuse my poor tree.


    I sat with a glass of lemonade, some sausage, and potato salad and watched as some of the group would come down to get more beer from the keg near me and then go back up on stage to mess with the tree and play music along with it. I clearly needed to add a cowbell, probably a range of cowbells.


    I was feeling left out again. If I went in to play it with them that might take away the fun, and if I set up my cajon beside it and played, it might seem odd.


    Jeremy came down from the stage, got some of the sausage and some potato salad and sat across the table from me. ¡°I sent a video of it to an uncle. He wants to talk to you.¡±


    I finished chewing and nodded.


    Jeremy handed me his cell phone. A man said, ¡°Call the artist that made that thing. I¡¯ll give him ten thousand for it, but first get all those drunk hooligans away from it so they don¡¯t break it.¡±


    I was kind of offended by the man¡¯s voice, so I said, ¡°The artist has a few odd opinions. He thinks if it were worn, broken, and even repaired, it would be a better work of art. Do you really think ten thousand would pay for the time and materials used? He¡¯ll make more, but this is the first one he felt like letting anyone see.¡±


    The man on the other end said, ¡°Give me the artist¡¯s number.¡±


    It was like an order, so I said, ¡°He doesn¡¯t want to be bothered. You know how artists can be. He would rather have it trashed than sell out and go commercial with it.¡±


    The man on the other end said, ¡°Ask him how much aluminum and piano wire he can get with five hundred thousand dollars.¡±


    I took out my cell phone and looked up the spot price of gold and compared it to the weight of the tree. Gold prices were down and dropping, but I could have gotten millions if I¡¯d been making gold.


    Jeremy had taken his phone back. ¡°He¡¯s checking something, probably messaging.¡±


    I said, ¡°Tell him that the artist isn¡¯t strongly attached to this piece so he would be willing to let it go for three million.¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°Uncle Reardon just offered eight hundred thousand.¡±


    I smiled. I didn¡¯t like his uncle, but suddenly I felt like all my art gifting wasn¡¯t entirely wasted. I looked up modern art and how much it went for. After looking at a few works, my heart dropped. Some were great, but being worth eight hundred thousand wasn¡¯t proof my art showed talent, taste, or anything, really.


    I shook my head. ¡°Sorry, the artist is busy and doesn¡¯t want to bothered right now.¡±


    Jeremy winked at me and got up. He walked with his cell phone held out as he filmed the scene of the near-drunk musicians playing and experimenting with and around the tree.


    He came back after a bit and sat down. ¡°You just made three million, if you want it.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Is he serious?¡±


    Jeremy nodded. ¡°He invests in art. When you said you didn¡¯t want to be bothered after he offered eight hundred thousand, that got him hooked. Last thing he wants is an artist he has invested in to ever let a work go for less than he paid. Odds are good he will want more from you. Are you prolific?¡±


    I shrugged.


    Jeremy said, ¡°He¡¯s gonna want to meet you.¡±


    I said, ¡°For three million? Tell him I charge for more for performance art, and if I have to dance like a monkey for him, it starts at three million.¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°You could lose the sale.¡±


    I smiled and pointed to the stage where the tree had gotten nearly tipped over, and they were adjusting the height of it, and one of them had nearly gotten hurt under it as it slid down. ¡°You may have noticed that I¡¯m not cringing as they¡ª¡±


    I stood up, worried, but saw that none of them seemed hurt from it falling over, so I sat back down.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Jeremy said, ¡°The value of the tree is going down as we speak.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Not in my opinion. I¡¯m currently valuing it at four million. They can¡¯t leave it alone. I should probably try and get them away from it, though, before someone puts out an eye out on it.¡±


    I went up on the stage. ¡°Please, I want it to stay in one piece and not get covered with blood. You all need to go down and eat and stop drinking. It¡¯s going to be dark soon. Are any of you safe to drive?¡±


    I wasn¡¯t making myself popular, but they were leaving the tree alone. I went back down, and one of the musicians was complaining the spigot was gone.


    Jeremy gestured so I went over to him. ¡°Phil, I let my uncle watch you shoo everyone away from the tree. He cussed at me and told me to buy it. I¡¯m sorry I slipped up and gave away that you are the artist.¡±


    Jeremy handed me the spigot from the beer tap. ¡°Hide it. They¡¯re going to suspect me. If I can get together three million by Wednesday, can I buy the tree from you? I can¡¯t manage four million.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Are you going to sell it to your uncle?¡±


    He smiled. ¡°I might even double my money. It may take a while, but if I play it at one of his events, he may even have competition over it. You could be a famous artist in a year or so.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°No, I¡¯m total recluse. I never want anyone to know who I am.¡±


    Jeremy grinned. ¡°Like Banksy. I think that¡¯ll make Uncle Reardon even more interested. Give me your number so I can contact you. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t share it with anyone.¡±


    #


    Swampy leaned against me as I sat on the pier slowly jiggling my feet in the water.


    She looked up from the ripples I was making. ¡°You need an art studio in Real.¡±


    I said. ¡°I have one in Hubert¡¯s house.¡±


    She looked back down at the ripples. ¡°You have a place in Baton Rouge. The drummer boy is going want to visit your studio.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Jeremy?¡±


    She took her stick and stirred the water. ¡°Jeremy. He will open doors for you. Sneak him some food from Snipsnort just in case he dies.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯ll feed him food from Snipsnort, but if I¡¯m going to endanger him, I shouldn¡¯t see him again.¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°No, he dies for certain without you. You must travel with him. He will open the doors, and you will be the flame that catches moths.¡±


    I gave her a sour look. ¡°Suddenly you are talking in riddles. I though you were a better prophet than that.¡±


    Swampy shrugged. ¡°Other seers are trying to see what I see. If I say it clearly, they might see it clearly.¡±


    I said, ¡°Phil Thibodeaux has a few places in Baton Rouge, but I have seen two of them and neither one would make a good studio.¡±


    Swampy lay back on the plank she¡¯d been sitting on. ¡°Check the rest, make one into a studio. Get Caerwyn to help you.¡±


    #


    After looking through the papers and locating the six properties I had not yet been to in Baton Rouge, I shadow stepped from Hubert¡¯s mansion to Phil Thibodeaux¡¯s mansion. The walls around the mansion were warded, but I used a copy of the dagger Caerwyn had given me and went past the wards and over a wall where a tree gave me shadows.


    A pair of Black Goblins were sitting under a canopy in front of the swimming pool. They noticed my slide through shadows, but they didn¡¯t get up.


    I slid out of shadow and walked to the glass table.


    The Goblins¡¯ ears were obvious. They had caps on the table beside their beer cans.


    The girl said, ¡°Got past the wards. Pretty clever, I never found a flaw in them, but now you¡¯re trespassing.¡±


    I said, ¡°No, this is my place.¡±


    The girl said, ¡°No, the owner¡¯s a clean freak and wears a mask. Plus, you¡¯re a Goblin. Nice ear work, but still a Goblin.¡±


    The fellow with her said, ¡°Doesn¡¯t feel like a Goblin. But he does shadows well enough. My name¡¯s Teller, this is Maud.¡±


    I pointed at myself. ¡°Phil. Do you stay here?¡±


    Maud shook her head. ¡°My brother and I stay in the loft over one of the garages. We have a long-term arrangement with the management. Look, clever as you are getting in, you need to get out. Thibodeaux¡¯s a wizard and he doesn¡¯t socialize. If and when he comes, you don¡¯t want to be here. We don¡¯t want to be here either, but at least we have the right to be.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°You¡¯re part of the company?¡±


    Teller said, ¡°When they plowed down our shack, we decided we had enough and haunted their machine operators. We had been good little Goblins for ninety years, but we kind of got tired of it and decided to make things expensive for them.¡±


    Maud said, ¡°We fought the company and a pair of skinny white Goblin girls came to negotiate with us. We told them where we stood.


    ¡°We told them, ¡®Before we were Goblins, we lost our parents in the Thibodeaux Massacre. We don¡¯t plan to run so a pair of smart little girls might want to skip shadow before we finish what the companies started.¡¯


    ¡°The Goblin girls made us an offer. If we protected it, we could dwell in a place we would never, ever be able to afford. Now this is our place as long as we keep the riffraff out. That would be you.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Thibodeaux Massacre? When was that?¡±


    Teller said, ¡°Look it up.¡±


    I had a laptop in a backpack in a version of me with the Phil Thibodeaux mask and gloves, so I changed forms and took out the laptop. The Goblins watched as I turned the laptop on and linked it with the wireless connection and looked up the Thibodeaux Massacre.


    I figured I was given the name Thibodeaux as joke, since there are a lot of backwoods jokes about Thibodeaux. After reading a few internet articles, I was probably given the name as a sort of respect for the Black sugarcane workers who had died in the massacre. That and it¡¯s a fairly common name in the area.


    Maud asked, ¡°You¡¯re really Thibodeaux?¡±


    Oddly reading about the massacre and having her ask my name made me decide it wasn¡¯t just a joke, and I might as well accept it as my name. I nodded. ¡°You don¡¯t have to run off when I¡¯m here. Just keep taking care of the place.¡±


    Teller said, ¡°Wizard or not, we don¡¯t know if you really are Phil Thibodeaux.¡±


    I summoned my contact in Baton Rouge.


    ¡°Yes, sir. One moment while I get my mask and gloves.¡±


    I said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m already in Baton Rouge. Just let people know that I¡¯ll be visiting.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir. Please let me know if you need anything else.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. I will.¡±


    I disconnected the summons.


    I smiled at the Goblins as several lights turned on at the top of the mansion.


    Teller pointed to one of the floodlights. ¡°That¡¯s the signal that you¡¯re coming. Sorry for questioning you.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I guess I need to thank you for being diligent. So what¡¯s my new hobby?¡±


    They both gave me a blank stare.


    I started putting away the laptop. ¡°Never been here before, but you would know that. In all my places, I have a theme or more like an obsession, really.¡±


    Teller said, ¡°Your parents doted on you. Everyone knows that. They probably wanted you to do more than just business.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°Did you ever meet my parents?¡±


    Maud said, ¡°He¡¯s a Goblin. There¡¯s more to the story.¡±


    Teller shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s always more to the story. The girls who persuaded us to stop messing with the heavy equipment did magic.¡±


    I got up. ¡°No offense, but I probably should keep a few things secret. I don¡¯t want to scare off any employees.¡±


    They followed me as I walked toward the mansion. I took to shadows since it was clear that it was always a slow day here at the Thibodeaux house.


    I stepped out of shadows next to some buildings. A garage with a few expensive cars and a garage with several trucks, a pair of tractors, and stuff like box blades and mowers. A barn that had been soundproofed and turned into a music studio. From that, I suspected the house would be filled with musical instruments. Everything was carefully placed for easy shadow stepping, so it was easy to check out the house. My guess was right, but the emphasis was guitars. There were drums and pianos, but someone had made sure to collect guitars whenever a new one came out.


    Seven more Thibodeaux properties were located in and around Baton Rouge. I¡¯d checked out two of them when I¡¯d needed a truck, so I had five more to explore. I didn¡¯t have any issue with the two Goblins at the mansion, but I didn¡¯t want them to be prying at the edges of my disguise and possibly uncovering secrets my benefactors wanted to stay secret. So I took to shadow and took a shortcut using the Mississippi River to be sure no one followed me.


    #


    I had a warehouse full of boats on a site that repaired boats, cars, and heavy equipment. It looked more like a place that mothballed heavy equipment, but when I studied the accounts for this business, I saw that this place made serious money from time to time.


    I stopped at the next business. This one had been set up to mass produce a few parts and then when the demand was met, the employees were all transferred to other locations. There was a hangar where a large aircraft could have been built but never was. CNC machines were set up in soundproofed rooms, and the robotics to take parts from one CNC to the next. A computer room with a raised floor and computers and computer-controlled machines was geared to welding, cutting, and shaping materials in a number of ways. I looked at the large empty areas, and I couldn¡¯t keep from smiling. This was going to be Phil Thibodeaux¡¯s new art studio.


    The tragically departed imaginary parents of Phil Thibodeaux clearly wanted Phil to be able to pursue his wildest dreams. In this location, Phil Thibodeaux could make a stainless steel blimp if he wanted to.


    Swampy had mentioned getting Caerwyn to help me. If there was ever a place that needed Caerwyn, it was this crazy collection of CNC machines.


    #


    In an office with windows on one side that looked into the hangar and windows on the other side that looked out to the walls around the factory, Caerwyn stretched and looked down at the couple of large metal trees I¡¯d made. The trees looked tiny inside the giant hangar.


    Caerwyn and I sat surrounded by a new set of laptops while the old laptops were transferring files. Caerwyn was going to use the old ones to expand his rendering farm. I didn¡¯t want to say anything, but I already missed the old laptop.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°You can keep the old laptops. I gave them to you. But give the new ones a chance.¡±


    I smiled at him. ¡°Thanks, sorry about being an old fuddy-duddy.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°If you don¡¯t wear down the inner curmudgeon, you won¡¯t last three hundred years. At a hundred years, you¡¯ll be peeking through the blinds worried that the kids are taking a shortcut through your lawn, and that will be the end of you.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Is that why Daemons all have walls around their mansions?¡±


    Caerwyn looked out the office window. ¡°Pretty much.¡±


    I said, ¡°Man, reality¡¯s confused. I¡¯m looking up drum and percussion stuff. And a lot of other things. Tone wood opinions and the like. So, I¡¯m looking at local plants. A lot of folk say mimosa is a trash tree, short-lived, messy, invasive, and non-native. But it¡¯s pretty and I have seen it around and only occasionally see it wild. I¡¯ve never seen a field of it. Seems like willow and oak would be what they should be calling invasive.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°A lot of trees are short-lived. A lot of the dwarf fruit trees die pretty young. Mimosas are pretty. But you know a lot of folk say cedar is an invasive and it isn¡¯t native, but it has been around for a lot longer than the grasses they plant everywhere, and those really are invasive. My advice is that there¡¯s no point in arguing with fools, but you¡¯ll end up feeling bad as every idea you don¡¯t argue becomes something everyone knows is true without any evidence.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°You know, I was thinking my next percussion tree should be shaped like one of the mimosas that looks like an acacia. Come to find out the native mimosa is an acacia.


    ¡°Then I was looking up Banksy, the British artist guy. I¡¯m convinced he has to be a Goblin or maybe even a Fairy King.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°I always figured he was probably a Daemon and had something noticeable like my albinism so he had to hide. He probably has someone ready to summon him the moment he might get caught.¡±


    I nodded, but I thought the Goblin theory was better. ¡°Caerwyn, Rodrigo thinks he can cure albinism. He¡¯s just worried about offending you.¡±


    Caerwyn nodded. ¡°A lot of folk have had plans for cures in the past. Fairies traditionally have the cure for everything, but then if you look online in Real, you¡¯ll find that just about everything cures male dysfunction, hair loss, obesity, and grants you immortality. Until I see a doctor cure something, I pretty much consider it fake.¡±


    I said, ¡°Honestly, it makes you look pretty amazing, so I can imagine you might regret it if you had it fixed.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Well, here is the thing. Never getting to go to a party is worse than not being the prettiest thing at the party. I¡¯ve had girls develop crushes on me and still be scared to touch me ¡®cause it might be contagious. While, yes, I am the most handsome male that has ever existed, the stress of it tires me, and I would be happy for a change.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell Mom about the possible cure. The list of horrid potions I¡¯ve had to swallow to try and cure this condition would fill ten scrolls. She never gives up hope.¡±


    Caerwyn frowned at the screen. ¡°I think Archer suspects his data is being read. This feels like a sandbox. I¡¯m being passive and making sure my searches look like the sort a random hacker would make. He has gotten quite a bit more subtle, so I think someone is coaching him.¡±


    I said, ¡°Maybe we can locate him by other methods. He seems to have an affinity for robbing salvage yards. I could hide runes in the more valuable materials.¡±


    Caerwyn shook his head. ¡°Runes can be reversed and tracked back on you. I have some plans for a few systems we could use to track with if you are up to making some microchips.¡±


    #


    Rodrigo summoned me. ¡°As far as I can tell, Archer has disappeared. Anything on your side?¡±


    Caerwyn was looking over my shoulder, so I opened a text file and typed, ¡°Rodrigo summoned me.¡±


    I answered Rodrigo, ¡°Nothing new. We¡¯ve been monitoring the salvage yards closely for two weeks, and he hasn¡¯t show up. My sources think he¡¯s still going to be trouble in the future. but right now we don¡¯t have any leads.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Tell him Caerwyn says ¡®Hi.¡¯¡±


    Rodrigo said, ¡°Tell Caerwyn ¡®Hi¡¯ for me. Okay, just checking. If you do get any leads, be sure to let me know.¡±


    I answered, ¡°Will do.¡±


    He disconnected.


    I asked Caerwyn, ¡°Do you know of anyone else who can hear past you on a summons without your opening it up?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°I have been thinking about that one. There are spells that will set things to where you can see or hear things when certain criteria are met. Like if you whisper their name in darkness, they can see you, and some can even come to you. It¡¯s like a summons used for spying, sort of. If he set it up to see who he summoned, that¡¯s pretty clever.


    ¡°But his letting clues drop are not the sort of thing you should do if you¡¯re being clever like that. Does Rodrigo seem that clueless?¡±


    I said, ¡°Somehow I think he has decided to trust and be open with us, but I feel like that may be a rare thing. I¡¯m not really sure. I think he¡¯s pretty clever, but he has mentioned not having his full mind.¡±


    I took out my phone. Jeremy was calling, ¡°Phil, can I come look at the tree? I have three million I can spend on it, but now I want to look at it again. My uncle says, ¡®Buy it,¡¯ but unless I turn it around quick, I may end up as broke as I pretend I am when I play gigs.¡±


    I said, ¡°Jeremy, I don¡¯t want to break you. I got no need to sell it. I¡¯ll sell it if you want it, and I¡¯m fine with you selling it again for a profit, but seriously, I don¡¯t want to rob you.¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°Can I come look at it?¡±


    I muted the call. ¡°Caerwyn, a human drummer wants to come see my tree. Are you okay with that?¡±


    Caerwyn nodded. ¡°As long as I don¡¯t get out in public, and no pictures of me survive, I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    I gave Jeremy the address and called down to the gatehouse so the guard would know Jeremy was coming.


    #


    After I told Caerwyn that Jeremy was coming to see my art studio in twenty minutes, Caerwyn got up.


    ¡°Phil, that¡¯s barely any time. Bring as much of your art as you can to the hangar. Seriously, this needs to look like you actually make these things by normal means. You need scaffolds and carving tools and power tools around large rocks half carved into sculptures. You need finished sculptures, painting, and sketches. We only have twenty minutes. Go to Fairy, speed things up and figure out how to make this look like a real studio, only crazy big. Then come back and help me get some of the CNC machines going so it looks like your output is justifiable.¡±


    #


    We let Jeremy into the warehouse. We had a few machines shaping leaves and branches. Nothing like the entire factory, but it was late and this at least made it look like work was going on.


    Jeremy walked in and stared up at the rows of Goldilock¡¯s statues. He walked around the scaffolding surrounding the nearest one.


    I said, ¡°Jeremy, this is my partner in crime, Caerwyn. Caerwyn this is Jeremy, the drummer I was telling you about.¡±


    Jeremy looked at me and then Caerwyn and smiled. ¡°Sorry about my manners, I was just amazed by the statues. Are they for sale?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Sorry, they¡¯re spoken for.¡±


    Jeremy asked, ¡°Where are they going?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Private collector. The public will never see them.¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°Well, then, I guess we should look at the tree.¡±


    #


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Are you still planning to fly to Morocco?¡±


    I answered, ¡°My prognosticators think I should. Jeremy bought me a ticket. He ended up selling the tree to an art collector who collects musical instruments and a friend of that collector wants me to make him one. I would blow it all off if Jeremy wasn¡¯t so excited to take a friend with him. I barely know him, and he has latched onto me like I¡¯m his best friend in the world.


    ¡°It sounds like the art collector wants to commission me to make something expensive and fancy. I know it sounds boring sitting for hours in one place, but I¡¯ve never been on a plane and for years I¡¯ve thought it was the fastest way to travel. I never realized that shadow stepping was so much faster, and with summoning, there¡¯s no point in flying, but I¡¯m still excited to get on a plane.¡±


    Anthony came up the stairs. ¡°I¡¯m ready for my next lesson, Caerwyn.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Good, I¡¯m passively sniffing my way through a chain of IP addresses and trying to make a map. Well, not me, I have programs doing it, but I think with some tweaking I can get some better data. Then I will bring my proxy swarm active and do some more testing. Phil, what are you doing?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Since Archer has a sandbox on his server, I¡¯m trying to build a good fake myself. When I was playing around at the salvage yards, I found an old server rack, and it still had an old version of Apache on it. So I¡¯m making what appears to be a dated system and putting a few modern patches on it so it still looks like attempts at security were made.


    ¡°If I get someone interested and digging around, maybe we can follow their trail and track them. Later, when it¡¯s ready, I want you to explore it and tell me how to make it more real and more interesting.¡±


    Anthony asked, ¡°Phil, did you get all of that from gifting?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Pretty much everything I got was gifted. When I go deep into this stuff, sometimes I wonder if I¡¯m me anymore.¡±


    Anthony gestured with his head. ¡°Hubert is down in the kitchen getting ready to test some new recipes.¡±


    I got up. ¡°Later, Anthony, Caerwyn. Hubert has been talking about putting in a new smokehouse so I may be a while.¡±


    #


    In the kitchen, Hubert turned. ¡°Phil, when you make your jaw different, you don¡¯t resonate the same.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s try out the forms.¡±


    After I transformed a few times, we discovered that my baby face version and original version were the only ones that were consistently tuned properly, so I would need to be in those forms when I made sculptures or they wouldn¡¯t resonate for Hubert.


    I said, ¡°I can set up the original tuning system and fix this so all my forms work.¡±


    Hubert shook his head. ¡°If I can feel the resonances, someone else might be able to. You said that the Efreets immediately detected and located you. I have met Efreets in the past, and they didn¡¯t seem to notice me as anything special. I have heard of some that had possessed wizards and others that wouldn¡¯t even go to Fairy. Maybe there are breeds of them or distinctions. I have heard of Blue Djinn and other distinctions, but I wonder how much of that is modern Fairytale. Al-Shaytan is supposed to lead the Shaytan¡¯s and that may be a better term for them than Efreets since efreet is more of an adjective describing certain sort of Djinn.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Some have felt different from others, the first one was definitely worse. All of them have an angry and prideful feeling to them. I have heard that it takes high ethics or a strong will to resist them. They possess me without even trying, so I am probably the weakest willed and least ethical being you know.¡±


    Hubert smiled at me. ¡°You are a puzzle. Fairy Kings don¡¯t suffer from lack of willpower. You are tough and stubborn. Even stubborn about keeping an open mind. You have always felt like a spirit to me. Not a Goblin, not a dead person, more like a Fairy, but one of the old kind.¡±


    Hubert shrugged. ¡°If you are going to Morocco, and you are going to hobnob with the rich on their yachts, the odds are good you¡¯ll meet one. If they are detecting resonances, you might want to be in one of the other forms. Since we don¡¯t know all that much about them, you might be able to learn something before you destroy them.¡±

 B4-6 Morocco

    I had an air freight container in my workshop in Bogview Castle. When I asked the fellow that I summoned to go to my office in New Jersey, he advised me to send my shipments as early as I could and provided me with the address of one of our offices that shipped materials overseas.


    After talking with the men who packed and shipped things, I came up with a plan. I made a range of aluminum parts that could go together and locked into place as a range of trees. With branches set up to hold and manipulate instruments, channels for cables to control the instruments and wire pickups, I came up with a way to put together several different tree forms together and stick new instruments up in and around the trees. I was shipping a wide range of parts in six air freight containers with the plan to use that as cover if I needed to put together an instrument.


    Unless the customs agents showed up and had a really good memory, no one would know that the stuff I had shipped was not the same stuff that I presented as just put together.


    #


    Jeremy and I were sitting in the lobby facing the boarding desk. I had just looked up the spot price of gold and decided I needed to increase what I was going to charge for my sculptures when I felt a dark spirit.


    I didn¡¯t want Jeremy to get involved, so I got up and turned. I saw a man in an embroidered shirt with four other men around him. He was laughing and smiling but was clearly possessed. This was not my image of the beings I had met before. I wanted to deal with this possession, but I was in the middle of a busy airport, and we were about to board.


    I wanted to slide a gateway over but again, I didn¡¯t know what he could see and how things might end up. There was a line forming and Jeremy nudged me. ¡°They just called for us to board.¡±


    I looked back and the group with the possessed man had gone out of sight. I didn¡¯t know what to do. If I summoned someone he might notice. I was with Jeremy so shadow stepping was out. I had one of those evil things in me before. I knew what they were. Monsters that destroyed minds.


    I went with Jeremy and got in line. I felt guilty for letting such a monster pass by.


    #


    Jeremy opened the carry-on bag he had kept with him and took out a bottle. ¡°This one is for nausea. Do you get car sick?¡±


    I shook my head.


    He took a pill and a sip from his ice water. ¡°The next one is so you can sleep. If you don¡¯t sleep now, you will miss half of everything. Jet lag can last for days as you try to adapt. Best thing is to get all the sleep you can on the way over.¡±


    I shook my head. He took a pill. I think he took more than a pill. He said, ¡°If there is any food offered that can be kept in a pocket, take a share for me in case I wake up hungry.¡±


    I nodded.


    He got comfortable and closed his eyes.


    I looked out the window for a while and then I closed my eyes and spent my spare time on the voyage making gateways. Jeremy woke for a bit and then went back to sleep. Like all Goblins, I kept odd hours and caught sleep when I could. In this case, I was spending time in Real, so I might as well use it. I continued making gateways.


    #


    After making it out of customs, Jeremy made a phone call and found out where our driver was parked.


    I decided that there was another reason why humans and Goblins were a combination doomed from the start. I wanted to shadow step through the town that we were driving through. We were driving towards a tower in the distance, and as we got close enough to see details we really couldn¡¯t since we were in the back of a long fancy car. I wanted to open the window and lean out to see the tower, but instead I held still as Jeremy pointed at things.


    I¡¯d resisted drumming on things for the entire flight, and the car was stuck in traffic so my hands were desperate to beat a rhythm. There was faint music outside so I asked if I could open my window partway. Through the open window, the rhythm was wonderful.


    Jeremy said, ¡°That¡¯s Chaabi. Forget everything you know. This is a different pattern entirely.¡±


    I smiled. I was barely educated and had been magically gifted. I never got a music lesson, and from childhood, I¡¯d pounded any odd beat that came to mind or I thought I¡¯d heard. I could catch and care for fish, but that was easy. The only thing I could really say that I did¡ªand is what I did well¡ªwas to hear a rhythm and let the rhythm move me. I started cupping my hands and flattening them, striking with fingers full palm and partial palm on the seat beneath me like it was my cajon. This rhythm was wonderful and it had ranges of variation within it that could be explored for years. I wanted to hear more. I wanted to learn what the music was. I had a basic rhythm, but there was more to it.


    Jeremy said, ¡°Not fair, someone taught you.¡±


    I just continued exploring the rhythm as we drove on and away from the wonderful sound.


    #


    On the yacht, Mansour, the owner introduced himself. He led us to a large and ornate room with a great view of the port and water around us. Set up around the room were drums like I had never seen before.


    Mansour played drums and we played around on them. There were drums of all shapes. He even had a range of cajons. We played and food was brought to us. We played around with rhythms until Mansour begged off and we were shown our rooms. I went to Fairy and rested. The advantage of controlling time rates was that you could get rest and match up with time. Fully rested and ready to go, I cleaned up, messed up my bed sheets, and made them back, showered and dressed in fresh clothes. I stepped out of my cabin desperate to shadow step into a new town and found that we had left port during the night.


    There were staff members awake, but everyone else was still asleep so I went to the room with all the drums and spent a while with my eyes closed memorizing how the ones that interested me were put together.


    At breakfast, Mansour asked me about my sculptures.


    I said, ¡°Having played on your drum collection last night, I am thinking of a few changes.¡±


    Mansour asked, ¡°Have you thought about my request for a percussion tree that resembled a Cedar of Lebanon?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Yes. I think a nice version can be made.¡±


    Mansour slid a pen and a pad of paper over to me. ¡°Can you make a sketch of it?¡±


    I drew a sketch. I had the materials to make it in the air freight containers I had shipped, but it would need adjustment for some of the drums I wanted to incorporate. I planned to just take the parts back to Fairy and make it all new.


    I showed him the sketch, and he turned it to look at it. ¡°This is wonderful. How are you going to manage the drums?¡±


    I made another sketch showing my plan. To hit the various parts of the drum correctly would take several controls with different pads to get the strikes right. Properly done, though, it should allow the percussionist to have nearly full control of the drum despite it being hidden in the leaves above him.


    When I finished, he asked, ¡°Can I purchase these sketches?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°It¡¯s your pen and paper, and it¡¯s your yacht. Call it a gift.¡±


    He nodded and smiled.


    I asked, ¡°Where are the containers I shipped? I can probably start putting it all together.¡±


    He gave me a worried look. ¡°There was a problem with the shipment. We should try to go back to the wharf and check on your shipment. I have a couple of people in Morocco that can look for us.¡±


    I nodded. I had gateways in all of the containers so I would be able to find them. I put gateways in so that I could change out the contents if I needed to make drastic changes without anyone knowing, but that gave me the opportunity to figure out where the containers were.


    After breakfast, Mansour got up first. ¡°Please entertain yourselves until noon. We should be able to find out where your shipment went after we get to the port. I have a bit to do before then, and I should have them turn the yacht around.¡± He spoke in another language to one of the staff, and they left the dining area.


    I nodded to Jeremy and said, ¡°I need to go clean up. I¡¯ll meet you in the music room.¡±


    #


    In my cabin, I opened a gateway and went to Fairy and sped time. I set up a gateway to allow viewing and slid it out of one of the containers.


    Mansour had made printed copies of the sketches I had made and was looking at the parts in one of the other containers I had shipped.


    I was sped up so I stared at his image not even knowing how to react. I watched long enough to see him change position and decided I needed to learn a few languages quick. I didn¡¯t know what to do. Clearly, he was stealing my work of art without my work of art even being completed. I couldn¡¯t even wrap my mind around what was happening.


    I didn¡¯t want to go begging to Mrs. Nelson for language gifting, and I wasn¡¯t sure about asking Count Juniper so I summoned my teacher, Goldilocks.


    Goldilocks answered, ¡°Phil, we were talking about you just the other day. Have you made any new statues?¡±


    I said, ¡°I have been making trees. Mostly aluminum and small. I put percussion instruments in them so they are within reach as I play.¡±


    Goldilocks asked, ¡°Can I see?¡±


    I shifted gateways around me so I was in my workshop and brought Goldilocks there.


    She looked at the trees scattered around the room. ¡°They are lovely. Are they as musical as the kitchen?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Different but yes.¡±


    She walked over to play with one of the trees.


    I said, ¡°So, technically, I¡¯m on a yacht in the water offshore from Morocco. I had a bunch of air freight containers with the parts to make several trees. Mansour, the man who owns the yacht, is claiming they never came, but he has them in a room somewhere else on the yacht. I can¡¯t believe someone with that much money would just steal something like that and then pretend he was such a good friend. He implied that he had people looking for the missing equipment.¡±


    She said, ¡°I¡¯d believe it. That¡¯s how the rich get rich. Steal and pretend they¡¯re your friend. That¡¯s the basic MO for politicians, preachers, and the rich. First off, do you have proof he is stealing from you?¡±


    I nodded. I opened gateways and shifted gateways so we were in darkness and could see the scene better.


    Mansour was laughing as he and a member of his staff were putting together the structure for a tree.


    Goldilocks altered the gateway so we could hear what they were saying. It was in a language I didn¡¯t speak. Goldilocks sped time, gestured to me, and then gifted me with the language. ¡°Are you going back to Morocco?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I plan to leave a few gateways there. I¡¯m curious about the music.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Good idea. The oracles all seem to think Morocco¡¯s going to be the pivot of everything in the not too distant future. It¡¯s always good to be familiar with such places. Be ready to run though.¡±


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    She gifted me with a few more languages and then pointed to the gateway and slowed time to match with Real so we could hear them talk.


    Mansour and his employee were discussing putting the tree together, and they weren¡¯t plotting anything wicked against Jeremy and me, but I was suddenly nervous that they might poison us or do something else to get rid of us. The way they talked, it was clear that Mansour considered the tree his.


    Goldilocks said, ¡°This is perfect. Smile, don¡¯t trust him, and get out of there as quick as you can or fall overboard and make it look like you¡¯re gone. Then with the gateways, after he has this placed in his private art gallery, we can return the favor by stealing the tree. The odds are good that he has stolen other people¡¯s works, so he won¡¯t dare make too much trouble.¡±


    I said, ¡°I have an innocent friend on board with me. He doesn¡¯t know about Goblins or Fairies.¡±


    Goldilocks shook her head and her ringlets bounced. I kind of felt a sort of odd shift in my crush on her as I looked. She smiled and patted my head. ¡°Phil, don¡¯t let your suspicion or knowledge show. Don¡¯t tell your friend. Tell this Mansour guy that you have an inspiration for an even better design. Ask him to keep looking for your stuff, but you need to get back to your shop to make him something incredible. That way he will think he might be able to get more than one work from you. Just keep playing stupid.¡±


    #


    I returned to my room and went to the room with all the instruments. Jeremy and I had a good time playing percussion together but I was nervous. I put a gateway on the small of his back and hid a few around the room.


    At lunch, I examined all the food and drink carefully. None of it was poisoned or tainted, so I didn¡¯t have to come up with an excuse about eating or try to keep Jeremy from eating.


    I told Mansour, ¡°We were playing and I realized that all my plans for the tree I was going to make you could be improved immensely. I need to get back to my shop. It is sad, since I put so much into the previous plan, but I am going to redo everything. If you would try to recover my equipment wherever it is, I would be grateful, but with my new plan, it won¡¯t be that much of a loss.¡±


    Mansour managed to maintain a flawless act. Even with my watching carefully, there were no signs of his deception.


    ¡°That sounds wonderful. I very much look forward to seeing what you come up with.¡±


    He signaled the crew member that was with him earlier and said in Arabic, ¡°Call our government friend and tell him to cancel our plan. He will still get paid, but we don¡¯t need to follow through.¡±


    I was trying to puzzle out the meaning of what he said when I felt one of the possessing beings.


    I got up, realized that might seem rude, and said, ¡°Excuse me.¡± The feeling left as I got out to where I could get a good view. Our yacht rocked as the waves from the large yacht that had just passed us. Behind me, Jeremy asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Phil?¡±


    I shook my head. I doubted there were a lot of yachts that looked like the one that just passed us. The yacht we were on was huge and impressive. The one that just passed us made this yacht seem small.


    A crewman spoke to another crewman in Arabic, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we are letting the Americans go.¡±


    Jeremy guided me toward the front of the yacht. He stopped before we reached the prow and pointed at a large yacht that we were going to pass by.


    While looking, the glare from the sun glancing off of Jeremy¡¯s cell phone nearly blinded me.


    I winced and while still pointing, Jeremy asked, ¡°Would you look at that?¡±


    I looked where he was pointing. The yacht was huge. Jeremy shoved up against me and pointed again. ¡°I wonder how tall that is.¡±


    The corner of Jeremy¡¯s cell phone was poking me in the ribs. I looked down. There was text message from Jeremy¡¯s uncle. Only part of it showed. ¡°In that case, be ready to abandon your luggage. Keep your passport on you, if you can.¡±


    I looked up.


    Jeremy pointed to the tall square tower in the distance and shouted over the wind, ¡°We should visit the Hassan II Mosque this afternoon.¡±


    I shouted back, ¡°Sounds like a great plan.¡±


    Jeremy shouted, ¡°I think we are about to dock. Since we are staying on the yacht for the week, just take what need to keep with you.¡±


    I shouted back, ¡°I¡¯ll just bring my backpack.¡±


    Jeremy shouted, ¡°Keep it light.¡±


    #


    We had left most of our luggage on the yacht. Jeremy¡¯d brought a pair of small egg shaped shakers with him that he¡¯d showed me on the plane. Since his bag wasn¡¯t making any noise, he¡¯d probably left them behind.


    One of Mansour¡¯s men was with us to act as a guide and a guard.


    Jeremy said, ¡°First thing you need to do in Casablanca is get a fruit drink. Then you have to visit the mosque.¡±


    Jeremy came back to the table, and he had a drink for the guard as well.


    The music wasn¡¯t as interesting here as the short bit of sound I heard at the intersection, but they used a different style of singing. I listened to it and drummed on the table as we watched people go by. Our guide was acting odd, and Jeremy caught him and managed to have him sitting with his chair and back to a wall.


    Jeremy said, ¡°They overwork labor on yachts when the owners are on board. Let¡¯s let him rest while we go to mosque.¡±


    We got up and hailed a taxi. Jeremy negotiated price to a place I didn¡¯t recognize, and we got in the taxi.


    Jeremy said, ¡°Before we go to the mosque, I need batteries for my cameras.¡±


    #


    In the marketplace, Jeremy said, ¡°My Arabic is poor and mostly Egyptian, but from the snippets I heard, I got nervous. It may be nothing, and we might be running for no reason, but I fear I¡¯ve gotten you into a dangerous situation. I checked and there are available flights. How does a visit to France sound since we are leaving Morocco early?¡±


    I asked, ¡°France?¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°Just in case we don¡¯t want to be too predictable. I hope I am wrong. But sometimes it pays to be careful.¡±


    We walked past a place that had musical instruments and drums. We both wanted to look, but we were in a hurry. I left a gateway since this might be my only chance to see the sights.


    I asked, ¡°Do you want to get some shakers to replace the ones you left?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°I dropped them overboard. Maybe they will think I still have them on me and will use them in a description. Maybe accuse me of stealing them. Probably not, but there¡¯s a chance.¡±


    #


    In a taxi on the way to the airport Jeremy angled his phone towards me. ¡°How about Lisbon?¡±


    I got out my phone and looked up Lisbon. I nodded since Portugal sounded interesting.


    #


    At the airport, Jeremy had us stop by a window and pointed at a plane outside. ¡°We went through security, so we are probably okay. The Lisbon flight is the quickest we can get out of here. I don¡¯t speak Arabic very well, but a few things I heard made me suspicious that they have your musical tree sculpture. I didn¡¯t quite put it all together, and I think they might have decided to cancel some further plot against you. I¡¯d avoid Casablanca and probably Morocco for a while. Were your shipments insured?¡±


    I slid a gateway off my foot and down into the window seam in front of us. ¡°Yes, they were insured. Not for as much as I would have sold it for, but I suspect I¡¯ll be able to recover my losses.¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°The window here gives us a good reflection so we can see anyone coming. If it¡¯s an official, I¡¯m not sure what we can do. Keep your eyes open. We want to keep away from trouble. We don¡¯t even want to run or defend ourselves. So maintaining distance from suspicious people is our best bet. We have an hour before our flight boards, so we need to just stay out of trouble.¡±


    In the reflection, I saw a very large man smile and approach. I turned and he wasn¡¯t there. I looked back and he was in the reflection of the window.


    He bowed. ¡°Honored one, I wish peace upon you and your family.¡±


    I glanced at Jeremy, and he was looking at the reflection but not at the man. There was no evidence that he could see or hear the man.


    In Fairy speech, I answered, ¡°Peace to you and your family.¡±


    Jeremy made no sign that he had heard me.


    The man said, ¡°Great one, I have a request. A friend of mine is concerned. His daughter is in danger, and I have no one else to turn to.¡±


    I looked at Jeremy again. He still hadn¡¯t noticed anything amiss.


    In Fairy speech, I asked, ¡°Where is she and how can I help?¡±


    He pointed. ¡°I can guide and point, but only from a window farther down.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°My friend does not see or hear this. I would rather not behave strangely in front of him.¡±


    The man bowed. ¡°Man does not see what man does not understand. It has always been so. Our kind can come and go, but still man is dangerous. I cannot enter for fear of the steel.¡±


    I said to Jeremy, ¡°I¡¯m going to the bathroom. Will you be okay?¡±


    Jeremy frowned. ¡°I guess we should be prepared. You go first.¡±


    I walked to a shadow. Jeremy wasn¡¯t looking my way so I shadow stepped to a window farther down and out of sight from Jeremy.


    From shadow, I saw the man moving. I stepped out of shadow by a window and he came to it.


    He pointed to a man sitting with luggage at his feet. ¡°My friend¡¯s daughter is in the blue suitcase. The man plans to smuggle her out of the country, but I fear she will not survive the journey.¡±


    Jeremy wanted us to stay out of trouble. This looked like trouble.


    I asked, ¡°Is his daughter small?¡±


    The man said, ¡°His daughter is a snake. Can you save her?¡±


    I nodded and changed into myself in another form of myself that didn¡¯t quite look like me. A strong family resemblance but no more than that. The man didn¡¯t look or dress Middle Eastern, but I suspected he wasn¡¯t English or American.


    I walked over to where the man was sitting and asked, ¡°Do you speak English?¡±


    He looked up and nodded. ¡°A little.¡± He had a French accent.


    I asked, ¡°How much trouble would I be in if it was discovered that I was smuggling a snake?¡±


    The man got up without picking up his baggage and walked away. As he walked away, I realized I had asked the question in French. I picked up the baggage and turned into another me without the baggage and went to the window.


    The large man was reflected in the window so I asked him, ¡°There is a music shop in a market that I passed earlier. Can we meet there?¡±


    The man in the reflection bowed. ¡°My interest was drawn when I saw a portal that was not a portal placed. I can go there.¡±


    I put another gateway down in the frame around the window and went to Fairy.


    #


    With some quick gateway maneuvering, I slid into shadow and through the gateway to the market.


    I heard the man say, ¡°Here, let me be a guide.¡±


    The man was reflected in the side of a brass bowl. A tuft of smoke blew past and stayed a distance from me. The man¡¯s reflection was gone. I followed the thin wisp of smoke, and it led me down alleys to a place where I suspected even muggers feared to go. Alone in the place, I opened the suitcase. There were clothes and cameras. I was nervous to check for snakes, and I was nervous that I might have been set up and cornered.


    A voice from a pocket inside the suitcase said, ¡°Take the lens off the camera.¡±


    I picked up the camera and took off the large lens. There was a cloth bag tucked just out of sight inside the camera. I took out the bag and opened it. There was a tiny snake inside. I set the bag down, and the snake crawled out.


    The voice said, ¡°Great one, we thank thee.¡±


    I said, ¡°Is this all that I need to do?¡±


    The voice said, ¡°Yes, great one.¡±


    I said, ¡°Then I bid thee and thy families peace.¡±


    #


    I returned to Fairy, then I returned to the airport and went back to where Jeremy was. I wanted to visit the music shop, but there wasn¡¯t time to do it justice.


    Jeremy said, ¡°Okay, it¡¯s my turn in the bathroom. See you shortly.¡±


    #


    On the flight to Lisbon I asked, ¡°Are you going to stay up for the whole trip?¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°We are just going north. No jet lag to speak of. Remind me to get some more sleeping pills in Portugal if I can, though. I used up all of mine at the cafe in Morocco on the guard. But no, I¡¯m feeling sleepy so if you don¡¯t mind, I may snooze a bit.¡±


    I decided to look like I was sleeping while I made gateways and ended up sleeping after making just a few of them.


    I woke up as the plane was preparing to descend and the wheels were lowered.


    As I looked out the window, Jeremy asked, ¡°We were going to stay in Morocco for a week but that fell through, Do you want to get back to Louisiana or should we spend the week exploring Europe?¡±


    I said, ¡°I should try to be back in Louisiana by Saturday, but you don¡¯t have to return if you are enjoying Europe.¡±


    #


    Jeremy handed me a copy of the key to the hotel room. ¡°We probably both need to get some clothing and luggage. How good are you at finding your way around?¡±


    I gave him a puzzled look.


    He smiled. ¡°Do you get lost easily?¡±


    I smiled back. ¡°I do alright.¡±


    As we walked from our hotel Jeremy pointed out landmarks. ¡°If you get lost you can probably find your way if you just head for these buildings.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I have your cell phone number.¡±


    #


    Inside a large mall with a glass roof, Jeremy and I split up. I didn¡¯t really need new clothing, but if I didn¡¯t change my wardrobe a bit, Jeremy would notice. The people walking by were wearing clothing that was no different from what you might see in Louisiana. Apart from souvenir shops, the shops were not that different either. By their languages and accents, there were tourists from all over Europe and while the mall was nice, it seemed like I had come to another country just to go to a place that was just like the country I was from. A couple with a girl that looked my age walked by speaking in French.


    I understood them and thought back to try and remember when I learned French. My memory of speaking French seemed tied into speaking Hebrew, but Hebrew was more violin and French was the double bass. I remembered a small winged Fairy insisting I make another violin. I shuddered. Lady Kissykiss didn¡¯t teach me Portuguese, but maybe that was a good thing.


    I was looking for clothing. I wanted something with local flair but nothing that would draw too much attention.


    There were classic Portuguese dressed dolls in a window, but I doubted I could find the same sort of clothing, and no one in the mall was dressed that way. In the window of a clothing store was a manikin of a child that was about my height. The manikin was dressed like the rich kids I had seen on and around the yachts in Casablanca. The clothing looked like it would dry out fast enough, and the shoes looked like they would survive getting wet. They had some duffel bags and some of them were labeled as being the right size for airplane travel, so I got one and picked a range of clothing that I thought would fill the bag.


    After leaving the store, I noticed that the perfume smell was coming with me, so I went to Fairy, and took a gateway to Hubert and Anthony¡¯s Mansion in Snipsnort to wash everything. I sped time, and after starting a load of clothing, went to find Hubert and Anthony.


    Hubert had bread pudding and homemade blueberry ice cream waiting for me. ¡°Phil, great to see you. Anthony is down in the village. Caerwyn is in your studio in Real, and Mrs. Nelson is at a dog show in Real.¡±


    I spooned up some more ice cream. ¡°Well, then, they are missing out on a wonderful treat.¡±


    Hubert sat beside me with a plate of his own. ¡°How is Casablanca?¡±


    I paused eating. ¡°We fled, probably from nothing, but the stuff I shipped was stolen. It¡¯s all good, but strange. We¡¯re in Lisbon now.¡±


    Hubert asked, ¡°How is Lisbon?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°So far I¡¯ve been in an airport, hotel, and mall. I might as well be in Louisiana. After Jeremy goes to sleep, I think I¡¯ll explore Lisbon and see what it¡¯s like if you get away from the tourist areas. It seems crazy to me that they would even have such a thing. As a tourist, I would much rather go to Portuguese shops that sell Portuguese things and see Portuguese places instead of a mall. It¡¯s a wonderful mall, but it seems crazy to travel and spend money on planes and hotels just so you can go to a mall that is just like you might find anywhere else. The food and souvenirs are different, but the souvenirs are like nothing you¡¯d ever see on the street.¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°That¡¯s going to be more and more true as time passes. You have Fairies that make wooden shoes. A hundred years ago, they were common in Real. Now you have to hunt to find them. As time goes by, everything changes, but right now all the distinctions are disappearing. For every innovation that comes, three traditions die.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How do we stop that?¡±


    Hubert shrugged. ¡°You have money, so you can support the handmade and independent. You can purchase traditional craft and work. Fairy may be the only way to preserve things. If you can find the right craftsmen and manage to lure them to your Fairylands when they die, then maybe you can preserve some of their art.¡±


    I nodded since that seemed like the only way.

 B4-7 Lisbon

    Shadow stepping through Lisbon was like New Orleans only more so. New Orleans had buildings that are almost three hundred years old, areas that let you see slices of time, side by side. Lisbon was like this but even more so, ancient buildings scattered around that are wonderful, with a lot more tile on the roofs, walkways, and walls than in New Orleans.


    I sat on a red tile roof and looked at the city lights. The busy night spots weren¡¯t going to welcome someone who looked nine years old, but I was old enough and had seen enough to have no urge to ever ¡°party¡± in one of those bars or night spots. Play music, listen to music, dance to music, yes, but shouting over the music and drinking didn¡¯t seem like it would ever interest me.


    Caerwyn would warn me that getting set in my ways and becoming an old man was a folly as bad as staying a child. Apart from having interests and wanting to learn and see things, I couldn¡¯t really see a way to stay young mentally.


    I wasn¡¯t usually judgmental so maybe I was safe, but my love of fishing was clearly not something that¡¯d keep me young since a lot of crusty characters are also old fishermen and they get more crusty every day. My love of percussion maybe helps. From the drummers I¡¯d seen, some lived to be old in age, but stayed young at heart. Art and sculpture may help, but even when I was still just ten years old, Brad had accused me of being an old man.


    The face I saw in the mirror was around eight or nine, but I¡¯d been around for sixty or so years. Caerwyn is a little older in appearance and a lot older in actual age, but he still seemed young to me.


    In any case, I needed to start having more fun. I thought about it and decided to explore.


    I took to the air as an owl. Flying over Lisbon, my perspective was different. Staying in shadows means staying at the borders of light and dark and risking shadow burn. As an owl, I sailed over and by ancient, Gothic, Neogothic, Art Deco, and modern buildings.


    Perched on a castle tower, I tried to get a feel for the city of Lisbon, a living town that had preserved some of the ancient. Commercial areas had built up to sell things to tourists, but they also served the community. While tourists could go to these areas, there were places like the castle I rested on.


    A voice asked, ¡°Can I ask what breed of owl that is?¡±


    A young man in a black trench coat was sitting on the wall about fifteen feet away. I hadn¡¯t heard him approach.


    He said, ¡°Not an owl we see in Portugal.¡±


    He was talking in Fairy speech, so I turned into myself. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what owl it is. I have a friend that thinks the breed is probably extinct or really rare.¡±


    The man said, ¡°Call me Pedro. I¡¯m an Ankou, how would you describe yourself?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know what an Ankou is, and I have no idea what to call myself.¡±


    Pedro nodded. ¡°The Ankou were originally a temporary militia formed by inducting the last person to die in the previous year. There were local representatives in most areas and towns, and the turnover was seen as a way to prevent corruption. Didn¡¯t work that well but most other systems were a lot worse.


    ¡°That was up in Brittany. Witch hunters and the Inquisition kept us local. Funny that. Our job was to round up the dead and send then along to where they were supposed to go and the religious just got in our way. So I am a psycopomp, I urge, and sometimes force, spirits to depart the living realm.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m still alive. Am I in trouble?¡±


    Pedro shook his head. ¡°No, not really. We don¡¯t usually go after a spirit or a supernatural being unless it is causing trouble. So what do they call you?¡±


    I took a deep breath. ¡°Phil. That or King Snipsnort. I¡¯m a fishmonger, Fairy king, Goblin, musician, or sculptor depending on who you¡¯re talking to.¡±


    Pedro gave me a nod. ¡°Fairy king explains it. I think I have heard of Snipsnort. One of the nicer ones, as I recall. What are you doing in Lisbon?¡±


    ¡°I was in Casablanca when a suspicion developed that a man who had stolen artwork from me might use his connections to get me in trouble. I was going to visit France, but the flight to Lisbon was a better flight for getting out of the country fast.¡±


    Pedro said, ¡°That¡¯s perhaps a little suspicious. Since you can transform and probably shadow step, why would you need to fly? Are you really an artist?¡±


    I looked over at him and moved gateways. I shifted them around me so I was partially in Snipsnort and made an illusion of him, added a bit of dramatic flair and then made a small statue in gold.


    I closed the gateways and set the statue down on the parapet beside me before hitting my palm against my head.


    ¡°Sorry, I keep doing that. I didn¡¯t get your permission first. Honestly, I need to start carrying release forms around so I remember to ask.¡±


    He smiled. ¡°Nice, is that Fairy gold?¡±


    I said, ¡°It¡¯s yours. About a pound and a half of gold. 18 carat so it will hold up a bit better. You can test it with steel if you want.¡±


    Pedro said, ¡°About that, I can¡¯t take it, but thanks. It proves your point. It also says you are not stealing or terribly greedy. If you can make gold, and you would be willing to reduce its value in order to make it stronger, I suspect you¡¯re honest. You could have left here by using the gateway, so I think I trust you. Why did you take a plane?¡±


    I winced. ¡°I¡¯m with a mortal who knows nothing about Fairy or magic. We both play percussion, and he has artistic contacts.¡±


    Pedro looked at the statue. ¡°If you can make gold, why do you want to sell your art? Oh, I see now.¡± Pedro sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t go seeking accolades. It¡¯s a hollow search. Your artwork is brilliant. You don¡¯t need the accolades. Seriously, I paint. I know art. There¡¯s no need for you to get approval from living art critics.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t bother, normally. Some of the stuff that passes as art makes me think Earthly recognition has nothing to do with quality. Think about it. If you can make a unique painting and pass it off as an old master, doesn¡¯t that mean you are as good as the old master himself?¡±


    Pedro said, ¡°The old master did it first. Some value has to go to the one that innovated and created the original style, but I see your point.¡±


    Pedro smiled. ¡°Please take your statue back. Don¡¯t tempt me. I would rather not get into trouble and it¡¯s pretty cool. Since you do art, and dark doesn¡¯t bother you, would you like a private tour of some of the museums and private collections? I can show you things the public will never see or even hear about.¡±


    #


    In a museum filled with old carriages, Pedro pointed to an old carriage. ¡°That was popular among psycopomps years ago. Classic lines, room for a casket, reasonable comfort.¡±


    I crouched to examine the suspension. ¡°Why a casket? If they are dead, they leave the body behind.¡±


    Pedro laughed. ¡°A lot of them just lie there for a few days. Easier to move them to a casket when you haul them off. We Ankou don¡¯t bother anymore. Most spirits wander where they need to. We leave them alone unless they are suffering or going to cause suffering. It took us a long time to come to the conclusion, but for the most part, psycopomps aren¡¯t needed anymore. It¡¯s the ones that¡¯d argue with Jesus that make the most trouble, anyway.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Who would argue with Jesus?¡±


    Pedro led me further down the row of carriages. ¡°That¡¯s what we say about the folk that die and insist on imposing their beliefs instead of accepting how things are. A lot of them are nice enough, but they end up in the worst Fairylands. They reject everything ¡®til they find a group of other Fairies that believe the same sort of nonsense, and then they get suckered into someone¡¯s Fairyland nightmare.


    ¡°You want to help them, but you never can. Not really. They are too stubborn and think if they drop any of their beliefs, they have lost faith, and will go to Hell. The sort of folk that were mostly functional when they were alive, if you kept from talking politics or religion. Once they get on the other side, they get dysfunctional. Don¡¯t get me started on how bad politics work when you try to carry it to the afterlife. When a recently dead member of the CDS starts in on their right to life, it gets pretty awkward.¡±


    I winced. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t follow politics.¡±


    Pedro shook his head. ¡°It wasn¡¯t really a good joke. But when a person¡¯s stubborn about how things are and ignore the facts in front of them, it doesn¡¯t bode well for their continued existence in the afterlife. Even the nicest people who have been decent in life can get off to a bad start. An open mind when you face the next stage of existence is a strength worth cultivating in my opinion.¡±


    I smiled at that. ¡°I¡¯ve always felt that it takes a strong mind to be open-minded, but I¡¯m not so sure I¡¯m open-minded or have a strong mind these days. I always figured I was, but now I¡¯m not so sure.¡±


    Pedro asked, ¡°Are you really a Fairy king? No, you are, I saw you move gateways in Real and materialize an object. You didn¡¯t spend all day chanting, either, so you have a strong mind. Without a strong mind, that stuff is impossible.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Maybe. So how many museums are left?¡±


    Pedro said, ¡°If you visit two or three during the day, and then we visit two or three at night, we might get to visit most of them in a bit over two weeks.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Really? Are there that many?¡±


    Pedro nodded. ¡°Really.¡±


    I smiled, ¡°We probably won¡¯t stay that long, but I can come back in the evenings. You won¡¯t take the gold statue, but I can afford quite a bit. Can I pay you to be a tour guide?¡±


    Pedro said, ¡°As long as you don¡¯t mind an occasional interruption. Sometimes I have to guide a spirit. It¡¯s a different sort of tour. Before I take the job, let me find out what the going rates are first.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Go high end. On another note, since we are sneaking into these places, should I pay the entry fees?¡±


    Pedro nodded. ¡°That would be good of you.¡±


    #


    At the hotel, Jeremy was sleeping late, and I didn¡¯t want to bother him so I went to the mansion in Snipsnort.


    Anthony was talking to Mrs. Nelson. ¡°I like the idea of fruit trees, a few in the yard is a good idea, but if we extend walls around an orchard, we are going to seem greedy.¡±


    I stepped out of shadow. ¡°This is probably the worst area to plant fruit trees. I¡¯m told that they keep the worst folk around here. If we plant somewhere else, people might act differently. I don¡¯t really know the rules.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°Good to see you, Phil. We have a lot of fruit trees in the time lockers, and I was wondering where to plant them. I¡¯m not sure about chill hours in this Fairyland so I don¡¯t know what will grow.¡±


    I summoned Lord Loadstone. ¡°Lord Loadstone is there a good place for us to plant fruit trees?¡±


    Loadstone answered, ¡°Tropical fruit would do well in the gardens around Bogview Castle. Brightstone is unfinished, so it might be ideal for fruit that need a colder clime.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Where is Brightstone?¡±


    Loadstone said, ¡°It¡¯s at the base of the Bone Mountains. No one has lived near the unfinished castle for ages, but the nobles go there for egg fights.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Egg fights?¡±


    Loadstone said, ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s pretty far up into the barren area. We usually have someone go up there and summon us. The nearest town is two hours of fast flying away. This is the wrong season for planting trees, in any case.¡±


    I said, ¡°Mrs. Nelson, this is the wrong season for planting trees.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson nodded.


    I said, ¡°Thank you, Lord Loadstone. I¡¯m currently visiting Portugal. Is there anything you might want?¡±


    Loadstone said, ¡°No, but, thank you.¡±


    I said, ¡°Later then. Thank you for your help and sorry about the interruption.¡±


    Loadstone said, ¡°Always here to serve, Your Highness.¡±


    I disconnected the summons and Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°Phil, you left Morocco too soon to have practiced any of the languages.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Sorry, there were complications.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°Sadly, my Portuguese is a few hundred years out of date. How long are you going to stay in Portugal?¡±


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure. We may be in France soon.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°Wonderful. I could gift you, and you could practice French with Caerwyn. I¡¯ll have to re-gift him. He speaks it but not fluently. I can also gift you with written French, but you¡¯ll have to read several books to secure your gifting.¡±


    I winced. ¡°I think I speak French. I am not sure I can read it.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°I''ll gift you. Be sure to let me know if you need a touch up.¡±


    #


    Jeremy wasn¡¯t awake yet, so I shadow stepped to the airport and got a few Lisboa cards, water bottles, and some guides and maps to the attractions in Lisbon and Portugal. I wasn¡¯t sure how long we¡¯d be in Portugal, but if I was going to visit the museums, buying the cards seemed like the right thing to do.


    At breakfast, I took my bundle of guides and maps from my backpack and gave Jeremy his Lisboa card and water bottle. ¡°This gets us into thirty-seven museums, free rides on public transport, and discounts.¡±


    Jeremy paused eating. ¡°We never got to explore the markets in Morocco, and we left most of our luggage. I like to collect small percussion instruments, so the first thing I want to do is visit music stores.¡±


    I nodded in agreement since I wanted to see if there were more instruments I could mount in a percussion tree.


    The first music store we went to had instruments like guitars with more strings and fancy adjusters. Jeremy went right to the percussion area. I caught up with him as he started to turn over a rain maker. There were a few square drums like I¡¯d seen in the market in Casablanca. An attendant had followed me. I looked at the cajons on the floor, but they were close together so I couldn¡¯t easily sit on one and play it.


    I pointed to one of the drums and before I could ask if I could try it, he shook his head and spoke in English. ¡°It¡¯s considered a woman¡¯s instrument.¡±


    Jeremy put down the rain maker. ¡°Can I examine it?¡±


    The attendant smiled and gestured with an open hand for Jeremy to try it. Once again the disadvantage of eternal preadolescence made me sympathetic to the Goblins who had decided to stay in Fairy and abandon Real. No one wanted a third grader to handle their merchandise.


    Jeremy asked, ¡°Is it really a woman¡¯s instrument?¡±


    The attendant nodded. ¡°There are men who play it, but it is traditional for women.¡±


    Jeremy held it in a hand and hit it. It had a good tone. Then he handed it to me. I didn¡¯t know how to use it so I just held it gently in two hands and tapped the drum with fingers like I did on my crate. It was upside down in comparison with a leather head instead of wood, but it sounded good. I adjusted my hold on it and found there was some something inside that made noise when you shook it. I tried a few adjustments on my grip and tested the sound of striking the drum as far as my fingers could reach and close to the frame. It responded to cupped hands and the sound changed near the corners so it was easy to come up with a range of sounds.


    Trying to hold it where I could strike it by the corner, it slipped and I almost dropped it. The attendant took it away and put it back up. I hadn¡¯t even beaten a rhythm on it and now it was gone. I was tempted to buy it, but because of the way I¡¯d been treated, I didn¡¯t want to spend any money at this shop. The attendant was probably right to be nervous about a child my age dressed like a rich kid off a yacht. Flashing money wasn¡¯t going to help.


    Jeremy must¡¯ve read my expression. He nodded to me. ¡°We don¡¯t want to carry anything that large around as we shop anyway. We can always come back later.¡±


    We walked out of the shop and Jeremy paused. ¡°At the next shop, can I tell them you are my cousin and a musical prodigy?¡±


    I nodded.


    #


    At the next music shop, Jeremy asked me, ¡°Phil, are there any instruments that interest you?¡±


    I wobbled my hand since I didn¡¯t see any of the square drums. The guitar-like instruments were cool, but I didn¡¯t know them. ¡°I¡¯m always interested in stuff I could put in a percussion tree.¡±


    An attendant came over. It was clear he was there to make sure that I didn¡¯t decide to ruin the nicest instrument in the shop.


    Jeremy said to the attendant, ¡°Phil is a musical prodigy. We never know what instrument might interest him.¡±


    I said, ¡°I don¡¯t see any of the square drums.¡±


    The attendant said, ¡°No, we don¡¯t have an adufe, sorry.¡±


    Jeremy started trying out some of the larger drums so I asked him, ¡°Can you call me when you are done? I want to look at the buildings.¡±


    Jeremy nodded. ¡°If we can¡¯t make contact, let¡¯s meet back at the hotel.¡±


    #


    In the marketplace in Casablanca, I asked the man, ¡°How do you play the square drums?¡±


    He took one and held it and started playing the rhythm I had heard two days before as we drove through Casablanca. Then he played two more rhythms and I asked him, ¡°How much?¡±


    I probably should have tried to barter for a lower price, but I was too excited by the adufe.


    #


    With time sped up, I stood at the seven-way crossroads and played my new adufe. Playing it was like having a cajon I could carry and dance with. It was far from small, but it was more portable than a cajon. This one had a sort of bell inside it. The last one had something like a shaker.


    A man with a pushcart came and stopped to listen as I played. He smiled when I looked at him. He clearly didn¡¯t recognize me as the king, and I didn¡¯t want to say anything. I played a bit longer, and he sat down to listen.


    After a while, I slowed time, nodded to him, and went to a transport Fairyland. I put the adufe in another form and returned to Lisbon.


    Jeremy was at a counter buying a pair of maracas. After we left, he smiled. ¡°I spent a while on their drums and felt guilty about leaving without anything. Shall we try another shop or look for some food?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Your choice, Jeremy.¡±


    In the next shop, they had an adufe. I pointed to it, asked the price, and got it. As we walked to the next shop, I explored rhythms on it.


    Jeremy said, ¡°After the next shop, we eat.¡±


    I pointed to a nice place where we could sit outside and eat.


    He shook his head. ¡°Someplace cooler and I want to get an adufe. If you¡¯re going to be playing it while we wait for food, I¡¯ll be miserable.¡±


    I said, ¡°You have maracas.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°I want an adufe.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m a kid. I can get away with it. You don¡¯t want to be caught playing a woman¡¯s instrument.¡±


    He kept walking. ¡°It¡¯s got some serious tone and range. I¡¯m not sexist about instruments.¡±


    #


    I was nervous about carrying my adufe into the shop.


    Jeremy came back out. ¡°They don¡¯t have adufes so you can bring it in.¡±


    The shopkeeper stepped out. ¡°It¡¯s risky busking in Lisbon. I don¡¯t mind, you might bring in customers, but the undercover police could take your instrument and fine you.¡±


    I stopped playing. ¡°I¡¯m not asking for money, and I don¡¯t have a hat out.¡±


    The shopkeeper said, ¡°Good. Don¡¯t take money or sell anything. That will probably keep you out of trouble. You are welcome to bring it in and play inside.¡±


    We went in and another man led us to the percussion instruments. In the corner with the drums and cajons, there was a large clay jug with an extra hole in the side.


    I pointed to it. ¡°What¡¯s that for?¡±


    The attendant moved a cajon out and then stepped into the space he had cleared and picked up the jug. ¡°This is an udu or udu drum. They originated in Nigeria.¡±


    He sat on the cajon and held the jug in his lap and started beating on it. He wasn¡¯t a percussionist, but he knew to hit and hold his palm over the hole and hit and lift his palm. He knew to strike the large clay jug in various places for different sounds.


    I handed my adufe to Jeremy. After sitting with the jug and playing it for a bit, I realized I was going to be torn between the adufe, cajon and udu.


    I looked up at the attendant. ¡°Sold.¡± Then I looked at Jeremy. ¡°You can play my adufe until we get you one. Let¡¯s pay for this and go eat.¡±


    We found a place that was cool enough for Jeremy as I carefully carried my new jug. Jeremy got permission for us to play, so we sat and improvised around the music the restaurant was playing until a man that was probably the owner came out, smiled at us, and turned the music off. He gestured for us to continue playing so we sat and explored percussion with the adufe, a pair of marachas, the udu, and a rainmaker Jeremy bought when I got the udu. I just stuck to the udu and kept exploring the sound.


    #


    Sitting on a bus going back to the hotel, Jeremy said, ¡°I need to go more places with you. I¡¯ve seen both of these drums before, but I never saw the range they were capable of. You have an open-minded way of looking at things that I need to learn. Maybe it¡¯s just your youth. Sometimes you feel older than me, but then you turn around and show those open eyes ready to see things from a different angle.¡±


    I smiled at him. ¡°It seems like this trip is teaching me about having an open mind. You know a lot of closed-minded people will say you have an open mind if you agree with them. A lot of times people with closed minds think they have the only open minds. I wonder that maybe your seeing an open mind when you look at me indicates that you are the one with a truly open mind.¡±


    Jeremy looked past me to the window and pointed to a picture made of tiles on the wall of a building where we where stopped. ¡°There you go, sounding like a wise old man. I don¡¯t know. I have been using a drum set and just thinking about the next drum to add, or if I needed to add anything. You can take a wooden box and do just about everything I do with a drum set. Not as bright a sound, maybe. Not as much splash, but mellow and rounded somehow. Now you¡¯re doing the same sort of magic with a single square drum or a clay pot.


    ¡°By following you, I have found that I can play almost as if I have a full drum set with a single instrument. I think I need an udu like that one. You know, I saw a shop with a range of udus and some that were fiberglass. That might be better to carry around. Lighter and tougher. As long as it has the sound.


    ¡°The advantage of the udu is clear. After we figure out the best way to put a mike in it, and we figure out how to transport it safely, it¡¯s a perfect instrument to play in a hotel room. No one is going to complain you¡¯re making too much noise. At least not if you don¡¯t play it long into the night.


    ¡°With a mike, you¡¯ll still be able to play it in a group.¡±


    In the hotel, I looked up udus and adufes. My udu looked like a mass produced one, and there were a lot of others available. I emailed Phil Thibodeaux¡¯s office in Baton Rouge and gave them links to the udus and adufes I wanted them to order. I learned a few more methods of playing while watching online videos.


    Jeremy knocked on the door between our rooms. I opened it and he said, ¡°I found a place with two models of udu, and it¡¯s cooled down a bit. You interested?¡±


    I put my laptop back in my backpack and got up. ¡°Sure, let¡¯s do it.¡±


    #


    At the music store, there was an English family dressed like they had gotten off a yacht. I was dressed the same, but their little girl that looked two years older than me was comparing two double basses and trying to decide between them. I remembered my Goblin friend Dan thumping out rhythms on the double bass, and I remembered Lady Kissykiss having me practice with one that the cleaning Fairy decided to take away. I also remembered that I knew how to make one. Several of them. I went over and listened to the girl playing and decided to try out the one she wasn¡¯t playing. I didn¡¯t want to ask the attendant for a bow, so I just started in playing softly and doing a few exploratory thumps on the instrument.


    I knew the double bass better than I knew that I knew it. I knew almost all of Dan¡¯s moves and more. So many of my methods were identical to Dan¡¯s, so I suspected that Lady Kissykiss might have gifted him. I got into it and forgot myself playing. When I realized what I was doing, everyone in the shop was staring at me, Jeremy included.


    I wanted to step into shadow and leave. I exchanged a smile with the girl and said to Jeremy, ¡°I¡¯ll be outside at the coffee shop waiting. I¡¯ll get you something.¡±


    I went out to the street and ordered a seafood and potato dish for the both of us that I didn¡¯t recognize, but it looked good. It was a bit soon to eat again, but I¡¯d read a warning that restaurants in Lisbon were closed when we would normally be eating. I waved to Jeremy and he came and sat down.


    Jeremy said, ¡°When I was planning to tell everyone you were a child prodigy, I was thinking about art and percussion. I didn¡¯t know you played the double bass.¡±


    I said, ¡°I don¡¯t play it often. I was debating what would end up being my favorite instrument. The cajon, udu or adufe. I can¡¯t decide, but maybe it¡¯s the double bass. Problem is, the double bass is too big to carry around.¡±


    Jeremy shook his head. ¡°Phil, I was thinking of having us take a train and start heading to France tomorrow, but now I need to get luggage so I can safely pack my adufe and udu. That¡¯s the problem with travel. I always end up with too much stuff too early. Then I have to pass on everything that isn¡¯t tiny.¡±


    I nodded and slid a gateway under the table. ¡°Was I dancing too much as I played?¡±


    Jeremy shook his head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t put it that way. You were definitely into the music. What was the piece you were playing?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Nothing really. I heard the girl play a few things, and I just sort of took off with the theme.¡±


    Jeremy asked, ¡°Back on the subject of travel, I have a friend in Marseilles that would love for us to stay for a while.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Our plans failed in Morocco, I don¡¯t really have any strong plans, but don¡¯t plan anything for Sunday.¡±


    Jeremy nodded. ¡°The plan was to introduce you to friends and some art collectors, but without your art, that¡¯s fallen through. Tell me what you want to do. We could head back, spend a few days here, or got to France or whatever. I¡¯ve gotten shopping out of the way, so I¡¯m open to anything.¡±


    #


    In the Jer¨®nimos Monastery was a naval museum, the Museu de Marinha. It was there that I fell in love with model ships. The perpetual eight-year-old within me wanted to live in this museum. I hid several gateways. My plan to see as many museums as I could in a few days fell through. I wanted to spend days in the Jer¨®nimos Monastery.


    Looking at a large mural made of tiles Jeremy said, ¡°I think they lay out the lines where they¡¯re going to cut on dry green clay and then draw the sketch on clay. Then they paint and glaze before cutting it up and firing it.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°That or Fairies made it.¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°Some of the statues were probably made by Fairies. Imagine carving that much stone that perfect and not making a single mistake.¡±


    I smiled at him. He was joking. Maybe. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure.


    Jeremy gestured to another tile mural. ¡°I bet we can find out exactly how these were made at the National Tile Museum.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Tomorrow morning then. After we finish, we can come back and examine these tiles with a better understanding.¡±


    #


    While I was sitting on a battlement looking over the towns evening lights, Pedro and another fellow appeared and sat down nearby.


    Pedro said, ¡°Phil, this is Lucas. If I am going to take payment from you I need a witness that it is okay.¡±


    I held out a pair of Lisboa cards. ¡°I got some extras. Just for three days. I have euros we can give as donations when we visit a museum that the card doesn¡¯t entirely cover.¡±


    Lucas said, ¡°We figure a guide is probably 150 euro for the day.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°No, I looked it up, and they can be a lot more expensive. This is a unique tour that no one else gets, and you have more history and access. How about twice that?¡±


    Lucas asked, ¡°And with this hiring, do you affirm that in no way are you trying to gain information potentially embarrassing or harmful to Portugal, you expect no token exchanges, and you have no associations with art thieves.¡±


    I winced. ¡°I¡¯m an artist. I probably know several. I am the apprentice of a person that may or may not have had a history of art theft. Is that a problem?¡±


    Pedro looked back and forth between us. ¡°It changes a bit. No private property tours and you can expect us to show up whenever you enter Portugal. We take art seriously.¡±


    Lucas nodded. ¡°Very seriously. Are you really an artist?¡±


    I offered him the statuette I had made of Pedro the other day.


    Lucas reached over Pedro and took it. ¡°Pedro, you never looked this heroic.¡±


    Lucas held it back out to me.


    I shook my head. ¡°If you can¡¯t keep it, sneak it into a display case somewhere. Tell me where later so I can brag without lying that one of my pieces is in a museum in Lisbon.¡±


    Lucas examined the statuette. ¡°I know several places this might be fun to sneak into a display.¡±


    Pedro asked, ¡°What museums did you visit today?¡±


    I said, ¡°Jer¨®nimos Monastery, I could spend a week there. The ships are amazing. Tomorrow, we plan to visit the Tile Museum for a bit and then go back to the Monastery to examine the amazing tile murals.¡±


    Lucas said, ¡°Expect to stay at the Museu Nacional do Azulejo for the day. If you like tile murals, there is a tile panorama of Lisbon from the mid-seventeen hundreds.¡±


    Pedro laughed, ¡°Fronteira Palace, if you want to see tiles, you have to see the Fronteira Palace.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What¡¯s your favorite place?¡±


    Lucas said, ¡°Pedro likes Fado, I like the Aquarium.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Fado?¡±


    Lucas said, ¡°The night is young, we should go to the Old Walls.¡±


    Pedro asked, ¡°Can you summon me in five minutes?¡±


    I nodded and both of them disappeared.


    #


    By the light of a candle, I could see Pedro and Lucas in an arched tunnel with tiles on the floor and walls. The candle was on a candle holder that matched with the tiles it projected from. On the floor below it was a mound of layered and multicolored wax where ages of candles had dripped to the tiles below.


    In the distance, there was another candle, and from somewhere past that, came the distant music of a man singing and guitars playing.


    I followed Pedro and Lucas followed me as we approached a cross section in the tunnel. There was an illusion on the path ahead and on the left turn.


    Lucas whispered, ¡°This was hidden by the rubble from the earthquake. It was built over, and this became a haunt for Goblins and the like. Now, the various creatures that Pedro and I find it easier to allow than discourage gather here and draw others. As far as most of them are concerned, if you are with us, you will be with the police and conversations will stop when they see us. Whatever means you use to get around, this is the place to arrange it. This is the place where your kind, our kind really, meet in Lisbon.¡±


    Pedro said, ¡°We¡¯ll go ahead. You might not want to be seen with us.¡±


    Lucas nodded and they both walked further down the tunnel.


    I found a crack to hide a gateway in and decided to follow at a distance in shadow.

 B4-8 In the Shadows of Lisbon

    In a large candlelit chamber half-carved from stone and half-tiled, men sat at tables watching three men perform. One was singing a song I couldn¡¯t understand, but I could feel the loss and sorrow the singer projected.


    The audience was mostly Daemon men with few Goblins and a few humans in the mix. I backed up and stepped out of shadow before returning to the entrance.


    A Daemon woman looked at me and smiled. She pointed at me and two women with short fur and cat ears leaned in towards her as she whispered to them.


    A slender Goblin girl spoke to me in Portuguese.


    I asked, ¡°Do you speak English?¡±


    She said, ¡°The cover charge is twenty euros. Are you with someone?¡±


    I looked around the room. Pedro and Lucas were looking at the performers. I didn¡¯t have an issue with being associated with them.


    I paid her. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sitting with Pedro and Lucas.¡±


    She led me to their table and left a menu. I looked it over and couldn¡¯t read it. I slid it aside and watched the musicians performing.


    A little later, the Goblin girl came to our table with a bottle of wine, opened it, and took out the cork. She took a glass out of the pocket of her apron, poured a bit into the glass, and tasted it before nodding and filling a glass in front of me and nodding for me to taste it.


    I shook my head.


    The girl gestured to one of the girls with cat ears and short fur. ¡°She sent it for you. It would be rude for you to refuse.¡±


    I took a sip, it was sweet, and I could tell it was strong. I looked over at the cat girl and gave a low wave. She made a claw-like gesture towards me.


    Lucas leaned over to me. ¡°I think she likes you.¡±


    I asked the girl who brought the wine, ¡°Can you give your best chicken dish to each of the ladies at the table?¡± I looked at Lucas and Pedro. ¡°And three for this table. Oh, and if you would be so kind, what is proper for a tip?¡±


    She laughed. ¡°We charge a lot, so you don¡¯t have to tip, but if you want to show off, we are always glad to take your money.¡±


    She looked at Lucas and Pedro. ¡°We usually make the folk that disappear regularly pay in advance, but we trust the Ankou.¡±


    I settled the bill and rounded it up.


    As she left, Lucas leaned toward me again and looked at the cat girl. ¡°The do?as de fuera definitely likes you.¡±


    I whispered back. ¡°I may be of age, but my body is a bit young still.¡±


    Lucas said, ¡°Phil, you may be missing an opportunity you will regret for years to come.¡±


    I made a point of looking at the musician. ¡°I expect to have a lot of regrets as I grow older. I¡¯ll have to learn to sing Fado.¡±


    A pair of waiters came out with our order and put three extra plates on our table. The Daemon lady and the two cat girls came and sat with us. The cat girl who had made the clawing gesture to me sat beside me. She looked younger than the others. Maybe sixteen.


    She was close, attractive, and I was nervous and embarrassed.


    As we ate, her leg kept making contact with mine. I didn¡¯t want to offend her, and I kind of liked her but I was embarrassed by it all.


    The Daemon lady said, ¡°I am Luan.¡± She gestured to the girl beside me. ¡°This is Findscop.¡± She gestured to the other cat girl. ¡°And this is Eriu. We are all Cats.¡±


    The girl beside me said, ¡°By that she means we are Picts.¡±


    As we ate, Luan managed to keep the conversation going. ¡°You know that Lisbon is one of the oldest cities, older that Paris or London. Olisipo, that¡¯s what we called it ages ago, was always a delight.¡±


    She paused to eat a bit and continued, ¡°We all recognize Lucas and Pedro, but you are new in town. Will you be staying long?¡±


    I shook my head and covered my mouth to finish chewing. ¡°I plan to come back and visit all the museums, but I will probably be leaving in a couple of days and definitely will be gone by Saturday.¡±


    Findscop, the cat girl beside me, gave a sad look. ¡°So soon?¡± She wrinkled her nose. ¡°You have two girl cats. Are they cute?¡±


    I nodded and found my eyes caught in hers for a moment.


    Luan asked, ¡°What brought you to Lisbon?¡±


    I said, ¡°I was being commissioned to make a work of art but the man who commissioned it stole it and maybe planned to get me in trouble. My friend and I had to leave Casablanca quickly, and this was the destination of the first plane we could board.¡±


    Findscop asked, ¡°Where is your friend?¡±


    I said, ¡°Sleeping in the hotel. He is mortal and does not know about any of this.¡±


    Eriu asked, ¡°How will you get back to visit the museums?¡±


    I looked at the musicians while trying to figure out how to politely avoid the question.


    Findscop put her arm around mine and held onto my arm. ¡°He¡¯s a King, can¡¯t you tell?¡±


    I quickly glanced at her and looked down at my food. ¡°How could you tell?¡±


    Findscop said, ¡°You met my gaze and were able to look away. Even a child would have kissed me. Only a king has that sort of willpower.¡±


    I smiled, looking down. ¡°Yet I don¡¯t feel strong at all.¡±


    Findscop let go and picked up a piece of chicken on her fork. ¡°Phil can summon me when he wants to come to Lisbon. Or he can get here by other ways, and I will just have to hunt him down. I like hunting.¡±


    Luan said, ¡°He could break the spell of your eyes if there was another that he loved truly. Is there someone else you love, Phil?¡±


    I smiled since I had perhaps been given an out from a complicated situation. ¡°I love an amazing woman who is quite possibly the most beautiful woman who ever lived.¡±


    Luan seemed to glow. Men at other table turned to look at her. She was in the moment a blazing beauty. ¡°Is she as fair as I am?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°I love a woman named Goldilocks.¡±


    Luan asked, ¡°The Goldilocks?¡± She leaned in and whispered, ¡°As in Helen of Troy?¡±


    I nodded.


    Luan said, ¡°You know you can¡¯t trust her.¡±


    I said, ¡°I love her and I am the only one that really understands her.¡±


    Luan laughed. ¡°And what are you to her?¡±


    I smiled, ¡°I am her apprentice.¡±


    Lucas and Pedro exchanged glances.


    Pedro said, ¡°On second thought, I don¡¯t think we should take Phil to any museums. If something happens we might get blamed.¡±


    Lucas said, ¡°Yep, tonight, take him to the Ocean¨¢rio de Lisboa. That¡¯s probably safe enough. Sorry, Phil, we have to keep our reputations clean, and if it gets out that we took Goldilocks¡¯ apprentice on a tour of the museums, and something happened, we could be in a lot of trouble.


    #


    I summoned Pedro and he brought me to a large walkway a short distance from the water. I looked at Pedro and Lucas and turned. One of the beings that possess others was nearby. I felt it getting nearer. Pedro and Lucas stepped up beside me.


    Lucas asked, ¡°Do you feel it?¡±


    I nodded. Out over the water was a dark thing. It kept distant and then it quickly left.


    Pedro said, ¡°It¡¯s gone. Probably in a host now. Do you think it¡¯s host is dying?¡±


    Lucas shook his head. ¡°We will probably never know. It stayed over the water and it never got close. Now it is probably hidden. It¡¯s probably back in its host. Why do you think it came out?¡±


    Pedro touched my arm. ¡°You still seem alarmed.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°How much trouble will I be in if I deal with such a thing?¡±


    Lucas said, ¡°We think we could deal with one if it was out in the open and near. Those things are ancient, though, and they can invade your mind in your sleep. Best to stay ethical, stay positive, care for others, and pray before you sleep.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Sorry. I can¡¯t just stand here.¡±


    I turned into an owl and took to the air. The feeling disappeared. I flew back down.


    ¡°Gentlemen, it is gone.¡± I took out money and counted it. ¡°Here¡¯s payment for the tour. I have other things I need to do.¡±


    Lucas said, ¡°This is four times what we agreed on.¡±


    I said, ¡°Two guides, and you are worth twice what you think.¡±


    I turned back into an owl and took to the air. I flew along the shore and saw the boat that had passed by the one I¡¯d been on two days ago. I flew to the yacht but it was warded. I landed on the pier and looked at the ropes holding the yacht in place. With a ward-breaking dagger held in my teeth. I turned into an otter and made my way up a rope and into the yacht. On the yacht, I turned into myself and slipped into shadow.


    As I explored the ship, I felt the presence again. I slid through shadow and felt two more presences but these were different. The first one tasted of metal. That was my clearest impression, and it didn¡¯t quite make sense. The new ones tasted like bitter salt. It wasn¡¯t really taste, but that was my impression.


    A man was laying down on a bed. He had two daggers on the bed far from him. He closed his eyes, and the dark thing came out of him.


    I bound it to the world of death as it entered me. I took it to the world of death and made the creature a Fairy as I realized I should have left a gateway on the ship.


    #


    I went to the transport world and to the gateway in my hotel room. I took to shadow then took to the air. I was close to the marina and the yacht. I flew down and landed on the pier by the rope I had climbed up earlier. I needed to turn into an otter, but I felt a wave of nausea and realized I was hungry from too many transformations and too much travel between worlds.


    I sat as myself on the pier and ate a few chewy peanut candy bars. I finished a bottle of root beer and turned into the otter with the knife still held in its teeth.


    On the ship, I hid a gateway and shadow stepped to the room.


    The man sat in a chair, looking in a mirror. He held one of the daggers like he was ready to use it on himself. The other dagger was on the bed. The daggers were the presences that felt like bitter salt. There was something evil and angry within them. I stepped out of shadow and picked up the dagger on the bed.


    The dagger whispered to me. It wanted blood, it wanted death, and it wanted oblivion. It wanted revenge on everyone alive. I took it to the world of death, dropped the dagger, bound it to the world, and made the spirit in the dagger a Fairy. I left as it charged me. I sped time in the world of death and returned to the ship. The man was looking at the place where the dagger had been on the bed. I watched him from shadows.


    In Arabic, the man said, ¡°I have a dagger you intended to use on the Lisbon paranormal authorities. I think it might work on you. Come back into me, master. I will end both of us when you do.¡±


    I feared the dagger in his hand. I had held one just a moment earlier, and my impression of it was that if I flicked it at something, it was certain to hit it and certain to kill.


    I shadow stepped out of the room so he could not see me and aim the dagger. From outside the door, I said, ¡°The master will not be coming back. Put the dagger down. I will be taking it away.¡±


    The man asked, ¡°What do you want?¡±


    I said, ¡°Just your slippers.¡±


    I heard something soft hit on the floor as the man said, ¡°Even if my master is gone, there will be others. They are too strong. I refuse them.¡±


    I felt the dagger screaming. I slid into shadow and back into the room. The man was disappearing, and the dagger he had pushed into his own throat was disappearing with him. He screamed as he faded away. I heard running out in the hallway. I looked down, picked up the single slipper he had dropped, and went back into Fairy.


    #


    In a transport Fairyland, I sat on a stone floor and looked at the slipper. There was a hint of toxicity. Nothing deadly, but maybe enough to make me throw up. This had a metallic feel but it was different from the feeling of the spirits. This was the metallic feeling of metals best not ingested.


    I sighed and licked the sole of the slipper. Metallic. I felt a linkage to a Fairyland, so I spit it out. I had just spit up in my Fairyland. I needed a mop or something. I went to my hotel room and turned on the water in the bathroom and rinsed my mouth out. I took a washcloth and wet it before going back to Fairy and cleaning up where I¡¯d just spat. I left the cloth in the Fairyland of Death and returned to my hotel. I contemplated showering while sitting on the edge of the bed.


    My phone vibrated. Jeffery¡¯d sent a message. ¡°You awake too? I can¡¯t sleep and we probably shouldn¡¯t try and do percussion this late. Do you want to take a walk?¡±


    I texted back. ¡°Good idea. I¡¯ll be right out.¡±


    #


    As we walked the streets, I realized I¡¯d missed a unique chance to test my other forms and see if the possessing spirits could be detected by or detect me in my various forms. Maybe I could test them in a Fairyland. I wasn¡¯t thinking things through the way I should be.


    Dwight the wizard said the spirits would be able to tell he was no longer possessed at a hundred yards. If the possessing spirit was on the yacht when he detected me outside the Aquarium, the range was probably ten times that for me. Pedro and Lucas had detected the spirit as well, so I didn¡¯t know the range for everyone.


    As we walked, we passed a few tourists. We stopped to look at some tile work, but I didn¡¯t think Jeremy could see it well in the dark.


    We got near the castle I¡¯d met the Ankou.


    Jeremy said, ¡°We should try to visit the Saint George Castle during the day.¡±


    From behind, Pedro said, ¡°Yes, that would be a wonderful place for you to visit.¡±


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    I turned, stepped back, and tried to make a gesture to indicate that my friend wasn¡¯t savvy to the supernatural.


    Pedro smiled at me. ¡°Sorry, I should introduce myself. I am Pedro and I have just recently become a guide, but I am afraid I am not a very good one. Would you like a small tour of the streets?¡±


    Jeremy nodded.


    Pedro turned and led us to a park area where a few people were quietly gathered.


    Jeremy made a gesture for me to follow and started running. I followed and we ran down cobble streets until we were well out of sight.


    Jeremy waited until he¡¯d caught his breath. ¡°If that Pedro guy, and I suspect that isn¡¯t his real name, was leading us to get mugged, I figured we had to run when we had a chance to.¡±


    I smiled. Jeremy seemed to err on the side of caution, but I was impressed with him for two reasons. He could run at a good pace on sometimes rough ground and had great endurance. I keep busy so I¡¯m in pretty good shape. I was only a bit winded by and not winded enough to have to stop, but Jeremy was in amazing shape for a human.


    He smiled at me. ¡°You kept up the whole way. I think we can probably get some rest now.¡±


    #


    Sitting on the crenelations of the Saint George Castle making gateways, it was not long before Lucas and Pedro sat on crenelations beside mine.


    Pedro asked, ¡°Why did you run?¡±


    I finished the gateway I was working on. ¡°My friend saw the group in the park and decided that you might be taking us to get mugged. He figured that was a good time to run away.¡±


    Lucas nodded. ¡°I keep telling Pedro not to mug people, but some folk never listen.¡±


    Pedro said, ¡°Bad joke to be making, Lucas. We need to maintain our dignity and trust in the community.¡±


    Lucas said, ¡°We felt you bind the spirit.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Can we not talk about such things? There are things that listen.¡±


    Pedro asked, ¡°Are you a psycopomp?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°What I am confuses me. I have enemies that attack me the moment they detect me. I try to return the favor.¡±


    Lucas asked, ¡°Where is the spirit now?¡±


    I looked out at the water in the distance. ¡°That¡¯s a mystery that I can¡¯t answer. He was a Fairy for a short while. Now what was left of him powers a peaceful Fairyland.¡±


    Lucas said, ¡°A couple of times a year, we detect one. Maybe it is just this one. The feeling comes and disappears. Can we summon you when another one shows up?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Please do.¡±


    Pedro asked, ¡°Do you hate them?¡±


    I said, ¡°When a foul thing enters you, and you have no control, it is a horror. On occasion, I have been bitten by horseflies. As a result, I would almost prefer to be bitten by one as long as that gives me the opportunity to kill it. It¡¯s kind of like that. I don¡¯t hate horseflies, but I¡¯m willing to suffer if it gives me the chance to get rid of one. Someone has to deal with these monsters.


    ¡°These dark things do no end of horror. They live surrounded by wealth and cause suffering wherever they go. Really, we should not talk of such things.¡±


    Pedro said, ¡°These walls have history. So much that impressions left are just going to blend into more history and be hard for our tiny impression to be read.¡±


    Lucas said, ¡°We owe you for a tour you never got.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Sad how we tourists get ripped off. I¡¯ll be sure to give you low votes on Yelp.¡±


    Pedro said, ¡°We can probably make it up to you. Have you seen the Quinta da Regaleira?¡±


    Lucas shook his head. ¡°One of us needs to stay in Lisbon.¡±


    Pedro started pounding his fist against his palm. They both started counting in Portuguese and Pedro made paper while Lucas made a gesture with three fingers.


    Lucas said, ¡°Fogo derrota madeira.¡± He looked at me and said, ¡°Fire beats wood.¡±


    #


    Lucas led me down a beautiful spiral stairway like a tower that was instead a hole in the ground. The mansion he showed me was wonderful. I wanted to use it as inspiration to make one in Snipsnort. Maybe more than one.


    Lucas said, ¡°This is on the edge of Lisbon, not all that far, but we try to keep one of us in town at all times.¡±


    I said, ¡°This more than makes up for what I missed.¡±


    Lucas asked, ¡°Tell me the truth, do you really know Goldilocks?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I am her apprentice.¡±


    Lucas asked, ¡°Are you an art thief?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°No, but I may be one soon. A man stole art from me, and he was probably planning to do worse things to me. I may be returning the favor soon.¡±


    Lucas asked, ¡°How?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Would you like to visit Fairy for a bit?¡±


    He held out his hand, and I took him to a storage Fairyland where Goldilocks had her collection of statues that I¡¯d made.


    Lucas looked up at the statue of Goldilocks with spread angel wings. ¡°You do know her. This is a rather specific collection of statues. Do you really love her?¡±


    I shifted gateways and made an illusion of a percussion tree as if Goldilocks were a nymph in the tree trunk and then made it real. I made a copy of my cajon with images of Goldilocks, Maud, Olivia, Cat girl Findscop, the Daemoness Luan, Swampy, and Nea Gray dancing in a border around the base of the cajon. I made it real and sat on it. I started to play and realized I had started showing off, and Lucas had come here to learn about art theft.


    I opened gateways and shifted them around until I had a view outside the crates. Most of the gateways were still on Mansour¡¯s yacht, but I had gateway on parts of the tree that had been partially put together in a gallery.


    I listened as best I could through the gateway and then opened it so we could step in.


    I pointed to the half-assembled percussion tree and whispered, ¡°That was stolen from me.¡±


    Lucas nodded. ¡°I figured since I saw you make one.¡±


    We quietly looked through the gallery. After a while Lucas whispered, ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the castle.¡±


    #


    On the battlements of the Saint George Castle, the first hints of daylight were showing.


    Lucas said, ¡°I will need to check, but some of that art was probably stolen from people in Portugal.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Let me know. It¡¯s getting early so I need to get some sleep.¡±


    Lucas said, ¡°Pleasant dreams.¡±


    #


    I woke up from a dream that bothered me. As I swam to wake up and get clean, Swampy landed on a stump near the area I was swimming.


    ¡°You had a dream. What was it?¡±


    I winced. ¡°It had a girl in it. I¡¯d rather not repeat those dreams.¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°Dreams have meanings. What was your dream?¡±


    I said, ¡°There was a girl I knew. A Goblin girl. She dropped a purse, and I had to carry it around for a while before I could return it. It was one of those little girl sort of purses with long straps and shaped like a cat head. The last thing a boy wants to carry. Embarrassing.


    ¡°In the dream, the girl was taking the purse from me, but it was like it was several purses and the straps were tying my wrists together. I kept trying to give her the purse, and I was getting worse and worse entangled.¡±


    Swampy lay on her side on the stump and it showed her curves so I looked away.


    I asked, ¡°What does it mean?¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°The same thing your looking away means. Was the girl cute?¡±


    I said, ¡°Nia? I guess so.¡±


    Swampy asked, ¡°Are you not admitting it to yourself or just not admitting it to me? Do you like her?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t dislike her, but I have mixed feelings about her family, and she seemed cold to me the last time I saw her.¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°Now it all becomes clear.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What does it mean?¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°It means I need to eat a lot more bananas. I need to stay with you for a while. My visions say that I will end up cute, and there are more possibilities for me in the future than I ever dreamed possible. I need enough mass to be full sized, and I need it quickly.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Isn¡¯t my dream supposed to be about me? I don¡¯t mean that selfishly, but that¡¯s what I always thought.¡±


    Swampy flew over to where I was treading water. She got close to my face. She looked at me and smiled. ¡°Your dream means you are about to become a real boy. The pills you are taking are working. It means I am going to have to work hard to make sure this Nia girl doesn¡¯t steal you from me. I am not saying you belong to me, Phil. What I am saying is that if I play my cards right, you will.¡±


    She turned and flew away. I found myself noticing that she had nice legs and curves.


    I slipped under the water and thought about what I was going to do for breakfast.


    #


    Swampy was waiting for me. ¡°Be the you in your art clothes.¡±


    I winced. ¡°Really?¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°Really. Summon Goldie. I want to meet her.¡±


    I turned into me in my paint-stained overalls.


    Swampy smiled. ¡°Perfect. Tell Goldie that you are going to be visiting places in Lisbon, and you will be happy to copy artwork she likes. Tell her you are going to get art supplies for doing en plain air.¡±


    I summoned Goldilocks. She appeared dressed in hiking boots and holding two bags with tripods strapped to them.


    Goldilocks handed me one of the bags. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it wasn¡¯t really stolen.¡±


    I didn¡¯t quite know how to take that, but I put the shoulder strap on and took us to my hotel room in Lisbon.


    Swampy landed on Goldilock¡¯s shoulder and smiled at me. ¡°Goldie, this going to be your lucky day.¡±


    Goldilocks asked, ¡°Have we met?¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°We met just now. I¡¯m Swampy. Phil, if you would be so kind as to call Jeremy and ask him to meet us at the Saint George Castle we can get started.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°I haven¡¯t been to Lisbon in ages. We have to get egg tarts. You can¡¯t go to Lisbon and not get egg tarts.¡±


    Swampy took to the air and landed on the table where I had guides and brochures spread out. ¡°We get egg tarts and bean tarts in two hours. Right now, we are going to a grocery.¡± She pointed to a spot on the map. ¡°Phil, I will stay with Goldie, shadow step to this grocery and summon us.¡±


    I looked between them and got an impression that I didn¡¯t want them talking for long. I pulled back the curtains and shadow stepped out to the street and stopped for a moment to find the best path. I didn¡¯t care if other Goblins noticed as I sped to the store and let the shadows ripple behind me.


    #


    Just a short way inside the entrance to the Castle, Goldilocks set up a tripod and got ready to paint a view of the city below.


    Swampy landed on Goldilocks¡¯ shoulder. ¡°Phil, is this a good pose?¡±


    #


    I was painting a picture of Swampy and Goldilocks when Jeremy walked up.


    Jeremy looked at the sketch I was painting on then looked again at Goldilocks. ¡°I was going to call you, but I saw you from the entrance.¡± He looked meaningfully at me and then Goldilocks.


    I pointed to the painting. ¡°This is Swampy and this is my mentor, Goldie. Swampy, Goldie, this is Jeremy, a fellow percussionist who I am traveling with.¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°I remember Swampy from the first tree. Goldie, it is a pleasure meeting you.¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°When I was living, men acted like they didn¡¯t see me. Nothing has changed.¡±


    I was distracted by fuzzy memories of practicing with a watercolor set almost identical to this one. I had painted Lady Kissykiss over and over. Most of the paintings had been taken off and disposed of by a Cleaning Fairy. I tried to remember it, but it was like a dream with just a few elements and moments and a disturbed and lost sort of feeling.


    I opened my eyes and looked up. Goldilocks was asking, ¡°Phil, are you okay?¡±


    I winced. ¡°Yes, sorry. I was reliving a memory of my happy place back when it was not my happy place.¡±


    I felt like it was all memory, but I felt like three artists were fighting over what to do with the paint. I had brushes in two hands. One was just painting with water, and the other was coming in with a green so dark it was almost black. I checked that I was not possessed as my hands seemed to know what they were doing. I was there and doing it, though, so I relaxed and like playing the cajon, I let the paints take me where they were going.


    I added the warmest burnt sienna. Without remembering doing much watercolor at all, I went into a creative fugue. I felt like I needed more hands, and the colors in the world around me were dancing as I looked. I was in the dappled shade of a tree. I had set the tripod up so the paper was in full shade, but the sun had risen since I started, and now the light was dancing on the page as the wind blew past.


    Like going into shadow, but instead going into colors, I felt time stop and spin as I painted. I wondered if I was going mad or having a seizure. I had no fear of going mad, just a curious observation amidst the creative dance. I couldn¡¯t stay in this place and paint. The water would not flow from the brush. Without time, there was no change.


    All of this thought happened in one moment of color. I breathed out and I was painting again and under the tree as if I had never left, but in fact, I had never left.


    There were sparkles in the light around me and bright spots of light that had always been there but they had never been what I paid attention to. The sparkling glare on the water too bright to look at was something I¡¯d always looked away from. In that moment, the dancing bright light was like shadow. I closed my eyes so I could see my eyes from inside my eyes with the surgical gifting of sight Lady Kissykiss had given me. Others had gifted me with the ability to see inside things, and I began changing my eyes while painting dots like the range of colors I had on may watercolors palette.


    I had been altered to resonate and be able to tune resonances to resonate and connect with Hubert in ways that would be secure. While painting, I was tuning myself and laughing inside because I had no conscious way to know if what I was doing would even work. I was painting a painting of my eyes inside my eyes and laughing madly at the crazy wonder of it all. I had to memorize the painting, so I could compare it to what I was seeing. I had to memorize the scene in thirty colors and shades of gray. I had to memorize the paper and the structure of the paints. The paints, inside the paints were so pure and so wonderful.


    I stepped back to admire my painting of myself that was myself and my ability to see myself in my own painting since I had painted the insides of my eyes that I saw with. I saw my painting through my painting and had to use colors in tiny dots to make the bright I needed to paint bright enough. I could not see with my physical eyes close enough so I laughed out loud and felt the fog from my happy place surround me but with all the colors that made white fog as I borrowed parts of my rook form and parts of my owl form to make my eyes more technical. Then I had to use my eyes and go back to fog and use my eyes.


    Someone was shaking me. It wasn¡¯t helping me fix my eyes. I laughed. Maybe I should fix their eyes first so I could see what I was doing!


    I looked and the fog faded. The sparkle of the light through the trees on the Saint George Castle seemed to fall back in tone and blend back from the rainbows and into white light with a warm yellow balance.


    Jeremy let me go. ¡°Phil, you were shaking.¡±


    I smiled since he¡¯d been shaking me and looked at the painting. It was unfinished but some paintings need to stay unfinished.


    Jeremy looked at the painting and up at Goldilocks who was still painting her landscape of the view below. Jeremy looked back at the painting. ¡°My uncle has never collected watercolors. If he saw this, he would start. You could name any price you wanted.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Why this painting?¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°When a painting is a real thing, a thing of beauty, and it has the feel of a bright cartoon and the light and color bring you joy, that is what my uncle thinks is the best in art. Plus, you managed to paint a kind of scary looking but really hot devil fairy on Goldie¡¯s shoulder and that takes it over the top. She looks real and yet she looks like anime. The golden ringlets of hair behind her lead you to look at the curve of Goldie¡¯s face, and I don¡¯t want to even say anything about how that is. She probably hears that sort of compliment all the time, and I¡¯m sure it¡¯s gotten old.¡±


    Goldilocks turned and looked at Jeremy. ¡°No, really, Jeremy, say what you are thinking. It never gets old.¡±


    A pair of men in trench coats ran to the wall beside us and looked out over the view. One turned and looked at Goldilocks. ¡°Voc¨º sentiu isso?¡±


    Goldilocks ran a finger through one of her ringlets and drew the coil out before letting it go and having it bounce. ¡°Sorry, not everyone speaks Portuguese.¡±


    The man asked again, ¡°Did you sense it?¡±


    The other man still looking out over the tile roofs of the city below said, ¡°We know a Daemon when we see one. We felt a daftness incursion. You had to have felt it.¡±


    Goldilocks whispered, ¡°Some folk around here are not savvy to what you are saying. Perhaps plain English and by plain English, use normal words that won¡¯t confuse anyone.¡±


    The first man said, ¡°Hopefully, it was just a passing thing.¡±


    The other man looked at my painting and then at me. He looked at Swampy then back at my painting.


    He jerked his head towards my painting, and the other man looked at it.


    They looked at the matching tripods that Goldilocks and I were using then looked back at the art and then at me.


    One of them asked, ¡°Are you a Fairy king?¡±


    Jeremy backed up.


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry Jeremy. See the trench coats they are wearing in this heat. Well, it¡¯s not hot yet, but it will be. They are doing anime cosplay, and they think we are doing cosplay too. I get that a lot with my ringlets.¡±


    Jeremy appeared to relax, but I could still tell he was being wary.


    One of the men in trench coats said, ¡°Whatever. A daft incursion is more important than a few words that might confuse someone who does not realize this world is a mystic place.¡±


    He looked back at me. ¡°I asked a question. Are you a Fairy King?¡±


    The other man was summoned, but he was answering it in Portuguese. I heard him say the name Lucas then the name Pedro, so it confirmed my suspicion that this was the day shift of the Ankou.


    I said, ¡°Tell Lucas and Pedro that Phil says hello. I felt something but I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s gone now.¡±


    The man spoke again in Portuguese and said my name. He nodded to me. ¡°Lucas says you handle things that are out of reason. He also mentioned that you knew Helena de Tr¨®ia.¡±


    Both of the Ankou looked at Goldilocks.


    Goldilocks smiled. ¡°My name is Goldie. This is my apprentice, Phil, and these are my new friends, Jeremy and Swampy.¡±


    Jeremy laughed. ¡°This really is a bit daft.¡±


    The men in trench coats bowed.


    One said, ¡°Very good. Enjoy your visit. We will be watching carefully.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Good. I feel safer already.¡±


    The man said, ¡°That isn¡¯t entirely how we meant it.¡±


    We watched as they walked further up into the castle.


    Jeremy said, ¡°They were strange. Who knew cosplay was that big in Portugal?¡±


    A girl in a ruffly short skirt who¡¯d been standing nearby said, ¡°It¡¯s huge. I didn¡¯t recognize the anime they were doing. It wasn¡¯t Stray Dogs or Sword Art.¡±


    A girl dressed in a more sedate dress said, ¡°I haven¡¯t seen Attack on Titan, but it looks kind of like that. A lot of manga has trench coats. Vash wears a trench coat but it¡¯s completely different.¡±


    Goldilocks came around and looked at what I had painted. ¡°Phil, this is going to be a real problem. I¡¯m going to want this painting and so is Swampy.


    Jeffery looked at the painting and asked, ¡°Is Goldie your art teacher?¡±


    I said, ¡°She¡¯s my teacher and my muse. There is no better teacher. When your inspiration and your model is also your instructor, everything is perfection.¡±


    Jeffery looked over at Goldilocks¡¯ painting. ¡°Not much would distract a student from a teacher like her. How much do you charge for lessons, Goldie?¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Sorry, I only take students who show the right talent.¡±


    Jeffery sighed.


    The girl in the short dress asked, ¡°What anime is Swampy from? Now I want to dress just like her.¡±


    The girl with her said, ¡°Me, too. Is she from a video game?¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°Tell them I¡¯m from a manga named Swamp Witch. A hideous Mulatto¡ª¡±


    I interrupted, ¡°I don¡¯t use that word. Ever.¡±


    The girls looked at me.


    Swampy said, ¡°A hideously scarred girl with skin the shade of milk coffee¡ª¡±


    I said, ¡°There was a manga about a slave girl who was beaten and scarred terribly. She was of mixed race and became immortal, kind of like Peter Pan. She met a Fairy King in the swamp who gave her a magic banana so she would be bound to his Fairyland when she died. An Evil Djinn attacked, but she turned into a crow and stabbed him in the eye with her beak and killed him.


    ¡°As a Fairy, because her heart was so pure but her past was so dark, she became a beautiful Fairy with bat wings.


    ¡°Despite being so lovely, she is really bossy and is constantly telling the lumpish-looking Fairy king what to do. The Fairy king is kind of stupid and just does what everyone tells him to so it mostly works out.¡±


    The girl asked, ¡°What¡¯s the name of the Manga?¡±


    I said, ¡°Swamp King. It started out about him, but it quickly changed to being about Swampy. I think the handful of fans that read it preferred looking at pictures of Swampy over the pictures of the slow-witted Fairy king.¡±


    The girl asked, ¡°So she is pardo? Now I really want to be her. I¡¯m pardo.¡±


    Goldilocks sat on the low wall and started putting up her painting and tripod. ¡°If you live long enough you will discover that race is mostly a lie made up by bullies. So are nationalities and a lot of religions. Anything that can be used to divide people will be grabbed onto by bullies. There are traits that people have, but mean people add hatred and lies and then deceits become taken as truths.


    ¡°You can love your land, your language, and your traditions, but when men tell you to hate those who have done you no harm, know that they are the enemy of your faith, people, country, and home. Even if they are your father, king, or priest, never let them teach you anger without reason.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How does religion fit in? People choose their religion.¡±


    Goldilocks¡¯ ringlets bounced as she nodded. ¡°Historically, religions have been forced on people. Religious authorities attack anything that isn¡¯t their religion and that ends up making the religion mandatory. If you ask a person what their faith is, they¡¯ll have to think about it, but if you ask about another faith, they can instantly tell you how wrong it is.¡±


    As I took the paper block with my painting on it from the board that was mounted on, Goldilocks took it from me and smiled. ¡°If you don¡¯t stand up to bullies, they will keep taking and taking.¡±


    I said, ¡°A smile like that is more than enough payment.¡±


    We explored the castle and accumulated a small cluster of high school age kids. I was mostly ignored as they showed Jeremy and Goldilocks around. While looking at a display of artifacts, I thought about the world I had just linked to by licking the bottom of a slipper.


    No one was paying attention to me, so I slid a gateway into a hiding spot and went to that Fairyland.

 B4-9 Another Poisonous World

    I was on the top of a crystal tower with walkways to other translucent crystal towers with spiral stairs. The ground below glittered with gems in gold, silver, bronze, and aluminum settings. Everything but steel. On the ground, dark gray dust rose in small clouds as I stepped. The dust was the poison I had detected from the shoes. In the mass of dust, I felt another toxicity. I think the dust was at one time radioactive, and it had mostly lost that over time.


    There were places like gateways opened to areas that were not like any gateway I¡¯d seen before. I sped time up and tried to overlay a gateway here. The gateways I had on me were dead. I went to the seven way intersection in Snipsnort.


    #


    I realized I¡¯d brought a small cloud of toxic dust around my feet into Snipsnort. The gateways on me still worked, so I shifted the dust to my world of death and felt a tiny increase in mass. The world of death had eaten the poison.


    I made a suit to protect me and went back to the world I¡¯d linked to by licking a poisoned slipper.


    #


    I sat beside a strange gateway and closed my eyes. I couldn¡¯t see it with my surgical and microscopic vision so I went further and looked with even greater magnification. Beyond the size of the toxic grit, light was barely useful. I thought about the deepest blue vision that I had played with while painting. Using violet-shaded ultramarine as the basis of sight, I could see smaller things, but it wasn¡¯t enough.


    And then everything changed. The world, they say, is an illusion. They say the world is made of tiny particles held together by electrons. I¡¯d heard that and assumed it to be true.


    Vision was impossible when the things you wanted to see were ignored by light. The only way to truly see was to use your imagination and imagine things you cannot see. I went past fog into thought and dream and thought. I dreamed I was in an abandoned world carved to hold things once loved by creatures driven by hate.


    The gateway my almost-distant body stood by was a thing of cultured imagination. Someone had twisted physics so they could see something that was frozen in time. No light hit the things within the odd gateways, but the information inside was preserved on the outside of the gateway, and the effect was still vision.


    I didn¡¯t know how to cast a spell or wrinkle my nose and make this gateway. There was no position of the tongue to conjure this, but I knew how to build one, bit by bit, and then force it to grow. I also knew that if I touched it, it would go away, the objects inside would no longer be frozen in time.


    If the original builder built these small gateways the way I¡¯d have to, it would¡¯ve taken twenty minutes each, and the number of towers with numerous gateways like this faded and stretched like glass telephone poles into the distance.


    Returned to my senses, I stirred up toxic or at least noxious dust as I walked between towers and down to the more enduring treasures below.


    In a time-frozen display, I saw a wooden drum like a six-sided gem that tapered from a drum head on one end. It was made of a golden wood with rose-colored grain. It was like a six-sided seed pod, and it had a hole in the side with strings above the hole. It was like a harp was attached to an udu made of wood. I closed my eyes to see it, but of course, it was frozen in time, and I could not really examine it.


    I looked at the expanse of gems, jewelry, and coins I was just a few feet above and thought of the treasure that Aladdin took the lamp from. I smiled. He was allowed to take one thing. It might be silly, but this wooden drum and harp would be my choice even if I managed to explore this entire world.


    I reached out, drew my hand back, then reached out to touch the drum. The gateway that had held time back was gone without visible change, but I could see it was gone. I picked up the instrument. It was lighter than I expected it to be.


    A voice rumbled and shouted.


    I looked up at a giant four armed man thirty-feet tall with huge stumps for legs. He shouted at me.


    I shrugged. ¡°I can¡¯t understand a word you¡¯re saying.¡±


    He pulled on his vest like he was going to rip it. He gestured to me. I shook my head. He looked around. His expression changed but I could not read it.


    He gestured at me and shrank to fit on the walkways and stairs. He gestured and I finally guessed that his gesture meant to follow as he would walk, look back, and gesture.


    I followed him and he kept checking to see if I were following, but he¡¯d stopped gesturing at me.


    On a large crystal pavilion, a large half-natural half-carved crystal with pretty but tiny lights shifting from the dark base the crystal sat on.


    He touched it and started talking. None of it made sense. Then he gestured the same way he did when he wanted me to follow. I caught on. His gesture did not mean follow, but it could. It meant, ¡°Do as I do.¡±


    The huge crystal he wanted me to touch wasn¡¯t toxic, and I was wearing a suit with gloves anyway, so I touched it and started talking.


    ¡°My name is Phil. A dark thing tried to take me over, so I put I where it would die. He had been here so I came here. I picked up this wooden musical instrument, and you started yelling at me.¡±


    I felt something like the possessing spirit that tried to take me over touch my mind. I recoiled but instead of trying to take a memory or action of mine from me, it had given me one.


    The man with four arms said, ¡°Do you understand me now?¡±


    I said, ¡°Clearly.¡±


    He said. ¡°Good. You woke me. I thank you. Now I will kill you.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just attack me in the first place?¡±


    He looked puzzled. ¡°Who does that? No, you must know that you will die or it is no fun.¡±


    I said, ¡°You expect me to just stand here and let you kill me?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°No, we go to the fighting place and then I stomp you. The master would be really mad if we broke the thought storage device or damaged his treasures.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Why would I care if I made your master angry if I¡¯m about to die?¡±


    He wavered. I think that was like shaking his head. ¡°Because I could just slightly stomp you, and it would be really painful for a long time.¡±


    He made the gesture for me to do what he did and started walking. ¡°Don¡¯t try to attack me from behind, or your death will be painful. I have eyes on the back of my head.¡±


    I followed him until we reached a large raised crystal platform.


    He got large again and his legs became huge stumps.


    I turned into me in an armored spider excavator, turned on the outside speakers, and spun the cab around while extending the five-in-one scoop and putting its hardened steel teeth out to their longest extension. I made a biting move with the scoop. ¡°How do you feel about stomping on steel?¡±


    He shouted, ¡°Unfair! That is the forbidden metal.¡±


    I said, ¡°I have no problem with it, and you made the challenge. Are we going to take all day, or are we going to fight?¡±


    He wavered. ¡°When the master comes, he will take over your mind and destroy you.¡±


    I said, ¡°I killed him. He¡¯s gone. This is my world now and my treasure. If I give you a candy bar, will you leave me alone?¡±


    He wavered. ¡°You have food?¡±


    He shrunk.


    I held out the musical instrument I was holding, and realized I had a name for it. ¡°Can you hold this pa-ad for a moment?¡±


    He took the pa-ad carefully, and I turned into me with a backpack full of snacks. I set the backpack down, took the instrument from him, and turned back into me in the suit. I offered him a candy bar from the backpack. ¡°Be careful, you¡¯re not from my world, so you might not be able to safely eat peanuts.¡±


    He took the candy bar.


    I said, ¡°No, take off the wrapper first.¡±


    He bit through the wrapper and started chewing. I thought he said, ¡°I¡¯m not going to waste any of it, and I can eat just about anything.¡±


    Or maybe he said, ¡°I was going to eat your slime from the bottom of my foot, but this is better.¡±


    He was eating as he talked, so it wasn¡¯t clear.


    He finished eating. I opened a root beer and handed it to him.


    He drank it. ¡°Did you really kill the master?¡±


    I said, ¡°Dark shade sort of thing that enters your mind and tries to control you?¡±


    He said, ¡°Yeah, that would be him. How do you kill a Spirit of Oppression?¡±


    ¡°I have a world that feeds on life. It takes a while, but I can speed up time. So what do I do with you?¡±


    He made another face. ¡°The master took away just about all my memories. He would have had me shrink back to my display and use the time freezing tool on me so I would just be freed if another display was unfrozen. I¡¯m kind of used to that.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What did you do when you weren¡¯t frozen?¡±


    He gestured to the expanse of treasure below. ¡°I sorted things. I like sorting things. I mean, I like candy bars and that drink you gave me more, but I like sorting things and stomping things. I only got to stomp things when master came in with them. That¡¯s how he would feed me. Not that he did it a lot.¡±


    I tried to feel the time rate. I had sped things up, but I didn¡¯t have a reference for time.


    I looked around and wondered if this simple and rather violent creature would be dead and dust by the time I got back. ¡°Tell you what. Until I can get a clock in here, show me the time freezing tool so I can make sure you are not abandoned here.¡±


    He asked, ¡°Can I keep the rest of the food?¡±


    I said, ¡°Steel rings on the backpack. I¡¯ll freeze it in time, too, so you can get food from it later.¡±


    I went to the world of death to decontaminate my suit and made sure the poison was gone.


    #


    Back at the castle, I rejoined the group. As we walked, the group slowly broke up until it was just Goldilocks, Swampy, Jeremy, and me.


    We stopped for coffee and egg tarts. I think they were a bit sweet for Jeremy. Without Jeremy noticing, I shared several with Swampy. I¡¯ve always had a sweet tooth so I thought they were perfect.


    Goldilocks said, ¡°This has been a wonderful day. I have things I need to do, so I will be parting ways after this. It was a pleasure meeting you, Jeremy. Take good care of my apprentice for me.¡±


    Jeremy excused himself to find a bathroom.


    While he was gone, Swampy jumped to the table. ¡°I¡¯ll finish the pastel de nata. Goldilocks, there is a deal you want to make with Phil. In the gallery where Phil¡¯s stolen tree is, there are several works of art that were stolen from places in Portugal.


    ¡°If you were to hand them over to the two gentlemen in trench coats that are trying to discretely watch you, and if you said the right words as you gave them those lost treasures, you might be able to travel the streets and cities of Portugal and not feel like they were trying to run you off. You could have coffee and pastel de nata here any time you wanted, and the only reason they would be watching would be their delight in seeing a beautiful woman.¡±


    Goldilocks shook her head and her ringlets bounced. ¡°But then I lose the delight of having such wonderful things.¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°They already know about the art and your association with Phil. You don¡¯t get to keep the wonderful things, and Phil doesn¡¯t want to. If Olivia finds out you are giving poor Phil a criminal reputation after he set up an amphitheater and kitchen for her to share and gave you each eleven time lockers with food in them, Olivia will start plotting how to teach you the errors of your ways.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    ¡°This is your lucky day, since you are about to avoid some serious grief for no real cost to you.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Since you put it that way, I might as well get it over with.¡±


    Goldilocks got up and started walking. She waved up to the pair of men in trench coats that I had not noticed before.


    #


    Jeremy, Swampy, and I spent the rest of the day at the Museu Nacional do Azulejo examining tiles and trying to figure out all the methods that were used to make the amazing murals and decorations.


    #


    At the hotel, Jeremy said, ¡°Phil, since you want to be back in the Louisiana by Sunday, we only really have one more day, and you should probably take a flight back tomorrow evening. I have a friend in Madrid that I¡¯d like you to meet. If you did a quick watercolor study of her, it could open some doors for you. How do you feel about taking a night train to Madrid?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°I will want my own sleeper. I don¡¯t sleep well with others in the room.¡±


    Jeremy asked, ¡°Do you need to contact Goldie and let her know you¡¯re leaving Portugal?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°She was just here for the day. She travels a lot, and she is kind of impulsive.¡±


    He smiled broadly. ¡°I can¡¯t believe she isn¡¯t famous. Her artwork is wonderful and seriously, well, you know.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m already packed, how soon do we leave?¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°Not soon. The station is near our hotel, and if we get there at nine we¡¯ll have lots of time. Shall I schedule it?¡±


    I nodded.


    #


    We leisurely walked the streets looking at shops and trying to decide where to eat our last meal together in Lisbon. We ended up eating fish at a place because the smell was good. As we finished eating, it was almost time for us to leave when a trio of musicians started playing.


    Back out on the street, Jeremy looked back at the restaurant. ¡°I don¡¯t know that a drum set would be right, but imagine how it might sound if someone added percussion to it.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Fado is what it is. When I play the pennywhistle, I don¡¯t need percussion. I think percussion can enhance just about anything, but then you and I are first and foremost percussionists.¡±


    Jeremy asked, ¡°Do you ever think of fate? Fado means fate but in this case I think it is more like the regrets caused by the winds of chance.¡±


    I glanced at Swampy. It is hard to look at someone who is sitting on your shoulder. ¡°I think of fate from time to time, but when I do, it¡¯s more about what¡¯s going to come around the next corner when you least expect it.¡±


    #


    I opened a gateway for Swampy to sneak back to Anabranch while we waited to board the train. I was carrying four bags: my backpack, my new clothing bag, my udu, and my adufe. Jeremy was struggling with seven bags, and because of the shakers and maracas he¡¯d bought, he made noise every time he moved.


    Once we settled in on the train and Jeremy had decided to try and sleep, I contemplated my situation. I wanted to go back to Lisbon, I wanted to go to Fairy, and try my new instrument, and I wanted to make a double bass and play it. I was on a train and I was scared to try and shadow step off. I thought about trying to find a way to fly and decided to just sit on my bed and make gateways.


    #


    I¡¯d woken up to the sound of Jeremy timidly knocking on my door. In the dining car we sat at a counter waiting for breakfast.


    Jeremy said, ¡°My friend, Noa, doesn¡¯t get up before noon most days, so we¡¯ll have most of the morning in Madrid. She wants to meet us at the Prado.¡±


    I asked, ¡°The Prado?¡±


    He said, ¡°You know the Museo del Prado.¡± From his look and sound it was inconceivable that I wouldn¡¯t know the place.


    I didn¡¯t know, but I nodded.


    After eating, we sat by windows and watched the scenery. I took out my phone and looked up the Museo del Prado and loaded the app so I could conceal my ignorance. I looked up maps and guides. I was irritated with myself for trying to conceal the simple truth. Somehow I had gone from just doing art and enjoying the gifting to needing to not seem stupid.


    I was in the habit of pretending to be a normal child and that took a certain amount of deceit as I sold fish to small restaurants. Some of those restaurants were run by honest and caring folk that I felt bad about deceiving, but I had no choice. A Goblin is forced into little white lies, and we end up living a double life.


    I didn¡¯t need any such thing. As it was, my identity as Phil Thibodeaux was a fabrication. I wasn¡¯t going to break down and confess anything, but I decided that I was best off not building any more stories unless I needed to.


    #


    Jeremy said, ¡°We only have an hour before it opens, and we want to be there early. It isn¡¯t a long walk to get there. I can¡¯t predict Noa, she might wake up early and get there before we do or might be an hour late.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I booked my flight. I¡¯ll need to leave at 4:00 so I can get there early.¡±


    Jeremy asked, ¡°You don¡¯t want me to see you off?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll call you if there is a problem, but I don¡¯t anticipate any issues.¡±


    #


    Inside the Prado, I wanted to take my time, and Jeremy wanted to rush to show me his favorites. I just followed Jeremy since I was going to be able to get back here easier that Jeremy was.


    We stood in front of Diego Velasquez¡¯s Les Meninas quietly. As I examined the details, I realized that the faces I¡¯d carved and drawn were all showing beauty but not much else. I had dramatic lines, but Velasquez captured moments of personality.


    As I studied the painting, I heard others¡¯ conversations discussing the meaning of the painting. I could almost follow the Spanish. The French was clear and for once the German was mostly understandable.


    Jeremy backed up to take a call and I continued looking. Part of me wondered if Velasquez was being over-examined and part of me was intrigued by the puzzle. I kept studying it. I wanted to walk back and forth to see it from other angles. but the crowd was going to make that difficult.


    Jeremy tapped me on the shoulder. ¡°Phil, I want you to meet my good friend Noa and my new friend Enzo.¡±


    I turned. Noa was a small thin lady with dramatic features. Enzo was a large handsome Spanish gentleman. He was also a Daemon.


    I glanced back at the painting and gave up my position to join Enzo, Noa, and Jeremy.


    Enzo asked, ¡°What is your impression of the painting?¡±


    I said, ¡°Truthfully, I don¡¯t ever plan to settle in on a definite decision unless I have a chance to talk with the artist first. For now, I will take it as a self-portrait.¡±


    Enzo asked, ¡°So you don¡¯t see deeper meaning?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°I think the artist watched expressions and knew that the eyes often told one story while the face told another. Of course, it had deeper meaning. But I hardly think my wildest theories are going to hold up to examination.¡±


    Noa slapped Enzo on the shoulder. Not hard but not gently. ¡°Ignore Enzo, he¡¯s an artist and we have heard so much about you from Jeremy that I think he¡¯s jealous.¡±


    I considered my situation. Enzo had a good chance of already knowing that I knew he was a Daemon. I made sure to keep close to shadows and put myself on the other side of the group.


    Enzo smiled at me as Noa extended her hand.


    Noa said, ¡°I¡¯m delighted to meet you. Jeremy says that you have to leave this evening. You¡¯ll have to visit again. Come anytime. I may be busy, but I can provide a place for you to stay while you explore the city.¡±


    I looked up at Enzo and back at Noa, ¡°If the gods are willing, I would love to take you up on your offer.


    Enzo smiled and I recognized his face. One of the pictures I had looked at on my phone was a probably a painting of him. Not smiling, but I had seen his likeness just a few hours before. I had only looked up a few artists so I could probably find his likeness if I searched.


    Noa asked, ¡°So what is your wildest theory?¡±


    I walked to another painting. ¡°Notice how perfect and expressive the hands are. As far as I can see, he used hands to reveal even more personality. Velasquez¡¯s Les Meninas shows hands in movement and blurred, yet there is a claw-like aspect. What that means, I cannot guess, but I think it is likely that he saw the claw and left it there. His face in the painting seems distorted. Not having met him, I cannot possibly judge, but I wonder if he was hinting at a mask or again suggesting motion. Again, these are wild observations.¡±


    The crowd had moved on so I went back to look. Maybe he was hinting that we should look deeper.


    Enzo said, ¡°You have more, care to share?¡±


    I said, ¡°There are discussions on the web about the positions, shapes, and meaning. If I put myself in the painting, then I am either the king or queen. The mirror establishes that. Maybe he was telling the king and queen something. Maybe he had spent so long in the room painting and as a result, he had disappeared from everyone¡¯s attention, and he was placing all the characters he had gotten to witness.


    ¡°Maybe he overheard or saw something and wanted to signal the king without saying anything. Unless Velasquez shows up and explains it, I¡¯ll never know.¡±


    I looked at Enzo. He wasn¡¯t Velasquez unless he had more than one human form.


    Enzo said, ¡°No, the mirror is reflecting the painting.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Unless Velasquez is painting details, he is looking at the king directly. Since he is in the act of painting, if it is the painting in the mirror, it shows that he is nearly finished. I don¡¯t know the rules of the day, but his direct look at the king may have been bold but required of an artist.¡±


    Enzo asked, ¡°Do you think it is a commentary on art?¡±


    I looked at him, not understanding the question. Since he was a Daemon, I wasn¡¯t going to be able to slide on this or fake an answer with him looking right at me. ¡°Since this painting is obviously one of the more influential works in history, it is a milestone. From the moment it was made, it was going to be a reference for depth, perspective, position, shadow, and meaning. Before it, all paintings can be declared as uninfluenced.


    ¡°Now that I have seen it in person, how can I paint without being influenced by it?¡±


    #


    Looking at Fransisco Goya¡¯s Death With Cudgels, Enzo asked, ¡°What do you make of it?¡±


    I said, ¡°The Dog in combination with this gives the meaning away. I am not absolutely sure, but The Dog shows a poor beast looking up for help despite knowing none will come. It seems timeless and eternal. This is a protest, a lament, and a cry for help.¡±


    Looking at Enzo, I saw past him. Olivia was looking at the painting.


    I was a bit nervous about being with a Daemon, but with Olivia behind him, I felt brave.


    I said, ¡°Death With Cudgels shows two men mired in mud brutally fighting it out. If you put yourself in both pictures, you, too, are mired in the mud. You, too, share the fate. Possibly, there is a feeling that you might be charging the two men blindly, but slowly since you, too, are mired in mud. They are not attacking you, so if you are attacking them, you are not attacking the source of the problem. Maybe that is just my feeling, but Goya clearly wanted to me to feel strongly when I saw this work. Even as a bystander, the viewer is close and involved.


    ¡°When I look at this picture, my mind¡¯s ear is playing ¡®Sixteen Tons.¡¯¡±


    I looked at Enzo. ¡°I think man has always looked at the gods and wondered if they were going to help. In the end, the gods drive men to madness, and men turn against each other since the gods are out of reach.¡±


    In Fairy speech, Enzo asked, ¡°Art thou trying to start a fight?¡±


    I looked at the painting of men with the cudgels and thought back to him, ¡°I was brought up fearing your kind. For you and me to fight, it would be like those two in their eternal battle. I reserve my battle for the ones who cause this mess. Perhaps you are my opponent, but I will avoid this fight. I am aiming for another target.¡±


    Enzo asked, ¡°Are we the dog in the painting?¡±


    I said, ¡°If we accept the dog¡¯s plea, our perspective changes. If I am going to endlessly fight let me fight the ones that made this mess.


    Olivia came over and took my hands. ¡°Phil, darling, it has been much too long. Goldie told me you were wandering around, so I had to cast a few knucklebones and guess where you were. Then I came to see my favorite painting and here you were.¡±


    Enzo asked, ¡°The Dog?¡±


    Olivia shook her head. ¡°No, the picture that absolutely defines what Goya was saying.¡±


    Olivia gestured to the painting of Saturn devouring his son. ¡°It¡¯s really quite unfair. Apart from a rebellious period, Saturn was always a sweetheart. It is entirely unfair that he got such a bad reputation. But the meaning of the painting is just using Saturn as an icon of injustice.¡± She turned to me. ¡°So, Phil, I haven¡¯t seen you in ages. How long are you in Madrid?¡±


    I said, ¡°At four, I need to get to the train station to get my luggage out of the locker and then go to the airport. Olivia, forgive my rudeness. Olivia, this in Enzo. I recently saw a painting of him, but I¡¯m not remembering who painted it. I need to spend a while looking it up. Enzo, this lovely, gentle, and kind lady is Olivia.¡±


    Olivia held out her hand to Enzo.


    Enzo carefully took her hand. ¡°I am delighted to meet you.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Olivia, are you and Goldilocks looking out for me?¡±


    Olivia said, ¡°Someone has to.¡±


    Enzo asked, ¡°Goldilocks, the Goldilocks? You know you can¡¯t trust her.¡±


    I said, ¡°Oh, please. How could I not trust someone I¡¯m head over heels in love with? It¡¯s sad that no one else understands her the way I do.¡±


    Olivia said, ¡°Goldie will be ever so glad that you are varying your refrain. Do you really love her more than you love me?¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Looking at you, I cannot image that anyone is as lovely. Yet, I am Goldilocks apprentice, and she is my muse. But if you want, I will be glad to put your likeness into more of my art.¡±


    Olivia hugged me and looked at Enzo, ¡°He¡¯s always begging pretty women to pose for him. None of us can resist, and he does such delightful things.¡±


    ¡°Phil, I¡¯m going to be wandering around, I don¡¯t get to Madrid often enough. When you can, I have another favorite painting I want you to look up. It is by Velasquez, Juan de Pareja. It¡¯s another favorite of mine. It shows an artist looking at one of the few men he could completely trust. The subject is looking back at the master artist and regretting that his friend is mortal and in a few short years, he¡¯ll lose an irreplaceable friend. At least, that is what it says to me, and it¡¯s a feeling that I have felt more than a few times.¡±


    I nodded since I thought that was the painting of Enzo that I had remembered seeing.


    Olivia stepped away and looked back. ¡°When you create art with me in it, remember to invite me to see it. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t claim it as mine like some people do.¡±


    #


    Jeremy and Noa came back and joined us.


    Jeremy asked, ¡°Phil, who was that?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Smitten?¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°I could easily be.¡±


    I said, ¡°Her name is Olivia. As to the rest, I think she likes to preserve a bit of mystery.¡±


    Noa asked, ¡°Do you need a ride to the airport?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°No, I want to travel the street a bit on my own, reclaim my baggage, and then get to the airport.¡±


    Noa said, ¡°Remember my invitation and be sure you have more time next time you are in Madrid.¡±


    #


    On the plane, I made gateways and decided that in my further trips, I would make my own travel arrangements. I¡¯d still visit Jeremy, but I didn¡¯t want to be constrained by travel times. I¡¯d use cash and if I could, leave no record that Phil Thibodeaux was in a country if I could avoid it.


    After passing through customs, hopefully for the last time, I was free.


    #


    I sat on the Empire State Building and felt a pair of Goblins sliding through shadows.


    A girl who looked like she could be in high school said, ¡°If a fellow were pushed off with enough force, he wouldn¡¯t be able to get into shadow fast enough to survive exit.¡±


    I said, ¡°Pleasure meeting you, too.¡±


    She laughed and went back to shadows and down.


    The other girl looked younger than me. ¡°Ignore her. She thinks she has to act tough to survive.¡±


    I handed her a bundle of twenties. ¡°Honest money. Take care of yourself.¡±


    I slid into shadow and raced downward to the street. I spent a short while gently sliding from shadow to shadow so no one noticed me. Under the cover of trees in Central Park I looked up Velasquez and the painting, Juan de Pareja. It was in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met was just a short way away. I shadow stepped and found a pair of Goblins had joined me in shadow as I got to the museum.


    They were trying to hit hard with the shadow¡¯s wake, like they wanted to cause shadow burn. I stepped out and two large disfigured men slid out of shadow with me.


    ¡°You got a Met card?¡±


    I shook my head.


    ¡°You don¡¯t just wander in, and you don¡¯t take things. You play by rules or you disappear.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Are you the Goblin police?¡±


    The taller Goblin raised his head in a slow nod keeping his eyes on me. ¡°This is our turf, and we keep trouble down. We don¡¯t let light-fingered Goblins ruin things.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Can I pay to go in?¡±


    The tall Goblin said, ¡°Walk in during the day and pay to go in. We still watch, but regular hours. New York isn¡¯t like some places. We have rules.¡±


    I said, ¡°You can shadow burn yourself doing what you do.¡±


    The shorter more disfigured one said, ¡°Badge of honor. Tells folk we are serious. You can stroll through our turf but don¡¯t be steppin¡¯ in buildings you don¡¯t belong in.¡±


    I asked, ¡°I can offer you cash, and I don¡¯t plan to damage or take anything. What if you accompanied me so I can just examine the exhibits?¡±


    ¡°We extract fees from some of the local businesses. A lot of folk around here are savvy. Some are a little savvy, and they all know a good deal. Since we work this turf, it wouldn¡¯t be right. We are honest business men.¡±


    I asked, ¡°So there¡¯s no way for me to just explore? I don¡¯t plan to take anything.¡±


    The tall one said, ¡°Buy a membership or become an intern. Right now, you can leave until ten tomorrow.¡±


    The other one said, ¡°You won¡¯t like the wards anyway. There are surprises for folk that shadow step where they don¡¯t belong.¡±


    I nodded to them. There was no reason I had to see anything that night. I shadow stepped back to the park, hid a gateway, and went to Fairy.

 B4-10 Another Bone

    In Anabranch, I sat on a pier beside Swampy and stirred the water with my bare feet.


    Swampy said, ¡°You had a moment in Lisbon where you went strange. Things shift when you go strange. The future gets strange and little holds together. Next time you go strange, visit me as soon as it stops. I want to see what the destinies are before everyone else adjusts things. I may be able to see what could be without what everyone else is trying to make it be. It might give us options we would never see otherwise.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Do you think I will go strange again?¡±


    Swampy nodded. ¡°There is a chance that when you appear others will someday scream, ¡®Daft,¡¯ and flee. Then others will come and you may have to flee. I am as scared of the others as I am the daft.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What is a Daft Fairy?¡±


    Swampy looked at the water for a while. ¡°You have heard that the world is an illusion. Imagine that the world is a lot of illusions. If you take one away and replace it you might see things differently. My vision is like that. I see what could be as the light shifts through ripples on the water.


    ¡°I focus on a view, and it becomes more likely. I talk you into doing something, and the chances are that the world will end up the way I saw it ending up. If you take more than a few of the illusions away, you might not see things the way others do. You might just see past enough of the illusions to get part of the joke.


    ¡°That¡¯s being daft. In the ripples, I see a girl walking up a path and looking down at the valley below. She turns and holds her little finger out looking down at the valley below while laughing. Then she picks up a small pretty stone from the path and holds it out between her fingers and places it in the valley below. Now there is a giant beautiful bolder that has made a small lake in the path of the river and water cascades down from the bolder. Then she runs down the path to go see the boulder that a moment ago was a pebble in her hand. That¡¯s being daft.¡±


    I squinted at the water to try and see what she was seeing. ¡°I thought destiny was all about order. I mean, seeing it sounds like wispy woo-woo but you generally give me solid information. What about Biblical prophets?¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°Their prophecies killed people. Putting order on the universe may be the sort of woo-woo you mean. Just because our perceived world says order rules, that doesn¡¯t mean that our perception is the real one. Maybe that is why the daft are so dangerous. Maybe they return the universe to how it is supposed to be. Just because something makes no sense to you and me, doesn¡¯t mean it isn¡¯t right.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Even though I travel in Fairy and Shadow and do things mortals never dream of, I still have to fix breakfast or we are going to stay hungry. I still have to pee after I wake up. If perception of reality means we live in different realities, there has to be some common ground.¡±


    #


    At The Met, I decided to purchase a membership so I could visit and maybe get the Goblins to give me some slack. There was a range of donation levels, and they mail you your cards so I summoned my contact in New Jersey.


    ¡°Pardon me, sir, while I get my mask and gloves on.¡±


    I said, ¡°All I need to get is an address for the Met to send me membership cards.¡±


    ¡°Sir, you have a membership. It is under the name of a trust, but you have a card. It should be in your desk, sir.¡±


    #


    Standing in front of the painting of Velasquez, Juan de Pareja, I wondered if I would ever be able to create art like that. A lot of the paintings I¡¯d passed were great, but I thought I could do as well. This painting was a step above all of that. In an odd impulse, maybe because the trustworthiness of the man in the painting, I decided to see if Juan de Pareja would like to see the painting.


    I went out side and started a summons, ¡°Juan de Pareja. Phil, the kid you met at the Prado, summons thee.¡±


    Enzo answered the summons.


    ¡°Hello, Phil, I was just wondering about you earlier today. Are you a wizard?¡±


    I said, ¡°Not sure what I am. In any case, I¡¯m in New York looking at what may be the greatest painting that was ever made. My membership card lets me bring guests, so on impulse, I decided to see if you wanted to look at a picture of you that was painted long ago.¡±


    Enzo said, ¡°I would love to but for two small things. I have no way back to Madrid, and it is unwise to appear before images of yourself. People tend to suspect things.¡±


    I said, ¡°I can get you back to Madrid. After all this time, no one will think you¡¯re anything but a look-alike. You would be more suspicious if tried to hide the resemblance.¡±


    He said, ¡°I would love to come see it then. Can you really get back and forth between Madrid and New York?¡±


    I said, ¡°Come on through. I¡¯ll get you home when you are ready to leave. Better yet, bring me through to where you are so I can take you right back to where you are.¡±


    #


    In a room filled with printers and computers, Enzo was standing by an art station with a large drawing pad. I slid a gateway to the floor and opened it. I arranged another gateway and led Enzo into New York.


    #


    Standing in front of the painting, Enzo started to cry. I gave him a towel and he laughed.


    #


    In a less busy area, Enzo said, ¡°Daemons play horrible games to pass the time and seem brave. I lost a bet and as punishment, I had to be a slave for a period of time. Velasquez freed me. He was a great man and a great artist. Let¡¯s go back and look at the painting. I will try not to cry this time.¡±


    #


    Out on the streets of New York, I bought Enzo a couple of hot dogs, and we sat and watched the crowd go by.


    Enzo gestured to a statue. ¡°I am told you do sculpture. Have you made one of Olivia?¡±


    I nodded.


    Enzo asked, ¡°When you see her next, can you ask if she would pose for me?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°I will but I can¡¯t guess what she will decide. Anything else you want before we take you back?¡±


    Enzo said, ¡°I would love to do a bit of shopping, but don¡¯t have any American money.¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ll buy. I can afford to be generous.¡±


    He decided on a New York Police Department sweatshirt as his souvenir for New York. It wasn¡¯t expensive.


    #


    Sometimes church is cheerful. Sometimes church can be rough. This was one of the rough times.


    The sermon was about how your soul shrinks every time you decide not to help someone. I found myself close to tears. The old man I sat with clearly agreed with the lesson, but he wasn¡¯t crying. I suspect he gave everything he could afford to.


    My wealth wasn¡¯t really my own, but I gave it whenever it was convenient to give anyway. Just like the sermon described, I thought, ¡°I can¡¯t save everyone.¡± As soon as the old man and I parted ways on our walk, I took myself to Fairy so I wouldn¡¯t have to talk with Deacon Dan while I was on the edge of tears.


    #


    An old man sat beside me inside the circle where seven roads joined under a dome supported by columns.


    I asked, ¡°How many years does it take to become an old man in Fairy?¡±


    He said, ¡°We wear the face we earn. I have been an old man for several thousand years. I don¡¯t mind. I¡¯m still spry and folk let me rest when I want to.¡±


    I asked, ¡°If you were the King of Snipsnort, what would you do?¡±


    He said, ¡°Probably ruin things. Offend everyone. Make changes to things that are working pretty well as they are. It¡¯s hard to say, really. If I were the king¡¯s adviser, that would be great. Nothing would be my fault, and I could still watch all the dancing virgins slowly take off their clothing to music.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Does that really happen?¡±


    He said, ¡°If you were king, wouldn¡¯t you make that happen? I bet all the pretty Fairies are lured into his palace. I mean no disrespect to our great and mighty lord, but there is a reason they call him Kink Snipsnort.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°He has a terrible reputation?¡±


    The man nodded. ¡°Yes but he keeps the carts on time. What with fixing the roads and all.¡±


    #


    In the kitchen with Hubert and Anthony, I asked, ¡°Did you know I am kinky Hitler?¡±


    Anthony said, ¡°Well, you could have a worse reputation.¡±


    I thought about it and wondered how it could be worse. Nero, maybe. Caligula, perhaps. I shook my head. ¡°No I can¡¯t imagine a worse reputation.¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°You should probably do a few more charitable acts.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How do we take care of the poor?¡±


    Anthony stood. ¡°It has been said that the poor will always be with us. Take that as meaning the selfish rich will always be in charge. You may be one of the few that is doing what has a chance of helping the poor. Taking the evil spirits out of the wealthy sounds like the best plan yet. Reform has to start at the top, and it almost never does.¡±


    #


    Jeremy called. ¡°I should be back in the states by next Sunday, so I look forward to playing music with you Sunday afternoon.¡±


    I said, ¡°We don¡¯t really play with each other. Since we both do percussion, we play around each other. It¡¯s still fun.¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°I saw a pair of percussionists playing an instrument together, so I was stupid and had it sent to me. We could have built one easy, but this one is authentic. We¡¯re in Biarritz right now, Noa is selling her place, and my uncle wanted me there to send him pictures and answer questions about some of the art she is selling.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Does she need money?¡±


    Jeremy replied, ¡°Heavens, no, but she doesn¡¯t surf anymore, and she never gets out to that house, so she is just selling while she thinks the market is good. Sad, though, Biarritz is beautiful.¡±


    #


    In Snipsnort there was a place with white mountains in the distance, an area where the stone had been cleared down to a foundation, and a thin tower with a stair on the outside had a waterfall coming down from the top to a clear moss-lined stone pool below. A zigzag road carved in the stone led up to the bare area and there was a stairway shortcut up the center. Along the road were huge white stone blocks with crystal veins in them.


    I flew over the carved-out area they were calling castle Brightstone and imagined the rest of the nobles maneuvering through all the stone blocks and throwing eggs at each other. This was definitely the right place to have the Fairy nobles play their roughest games. I wasn¡¯t sure it would be a good place for a castle. The stone blocks were pretty, though.


    #


    In one of the lost manor houses, I discovered the reason it was considered lost. The town had suffered through a fire years ago and as an emergency measure they had moved into the manor house. For over a hundred years, they had been continuing to use it and now it had grown and become one with the town. I had no need for it and I liked the town, so I walked out the front gate without anyone knowing I was the king.


    #


    The other lost manor house was smaller, but it had a stable. It was being used as a pub of sorts, and I was politely told it would not be proper for a child my age to go in there. Again, I walked away and decided it would be easier to build something new than to clean the place up, and I didn¡¯t want the grief of arguing over it and evicting people.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    #


    My palace was a finished property, and it was being cared for like it was really a palace. It was also an over-sized bunker, mostly open and absolutely solid. It looked like someone saw a modern concrete structure that was impressive but had no soul and decided to make it out of stone.


    The best I could say about it was that it would probably stand the test of time. The staff area looked comfortable, but it also looked like a bunker. If I had rough guests and expected a fight, this was the perfect palace. Looking up at the overly large stones on columns as thick as the room between them, I was tempted to start adding graffiti. This had the grand look and feel of the structure under a major city intersection where highways and interstates merged, crossed, and looped around.


    I laughed because this was the sort of place where you might meet Goblins in real life, apart from the one that might be under your bed or hiding in your closet.


    I didn¡¯t really need a house, mansion, manor, or palace, and one castle was good enough, but after seeing a few grand buildings in Casablanca, Lisbon, and Madrid, I might like to make something like that. I decided that I should visit more of Europe first and maybe a few other places.


    Fortunately, I was well equipped to travel the world, and I didn¡¯t have anything else on my schedule. I considered travel and thought about what instrument to take with me. Not that I had to choose. I hadn¡¯t yet tested the instrument from the Djinn¡¯s world. I had exposed myself to toxic dust in the form I had been in and had been holding the instrument.


    #


    The world of death seemed like it ate the toxic dust, so I went there and turned into myself with the instrument. It ate the toxic dust. I had a way to decontaminate. It was a weird way, but it worked like a charm.


    I took myself to a transport Fairyland so as not to have the mood of the strange, and in its own way, toxic world of death influence the music. Holding the instrument from the Djinn¡¯s world, I realized this was a unique thing so I sat down with it and closed my eyes. I examined the instrument. Simple, clean construction. Nothing terribly fancy. Some spots inside were carved out. There was a shaker with seeds inside. I rocked the instrument, and it made a sound like a rainmaker. The red veins in the wood were natural. The yellow was the result of chemical treatment.


    Having memorized the pa-ad, I was ready to make another. I changed forms to protect it and then thought better of that.


    #


    In my protective suit, I carried the wooden seedpod-like instrument and put it back where I took it from and froze it in time. I returned to the world of death to decontaminate my suit, then I went to my transport Fairyland and took a gateway to Realmsedge where Farren the Younger was cooking.


    I looked out at the cove and saw a fishing boat coming in from the sea outside the cove.


    There was chorus of ¡°Long live King Snipsnort!¡± and without looking I waved my hand and said, ¡°Please rise.¡± I was beginning to get casual about it. I wasn¡¯t sure that was a good thing, so I said, ¡°And I thank thee for thy good wishes and wish the same for each of thee.¡±


    They seemed rather pleased, so I decided to use that reply on a regular basis.


    Faren put a plate on the counter. He¡¯d served a different fish before.


    I looked up at him and he nodded. ¡°Your majesty, since you opened the cove back up we are getting a broader range of fish. This is one of our favorites.


    I sat and ate and decided that life was good, and the afterlife might be just as pleasant.


    #


    I walked past the spot where Swampy was sitting and stirring the water with a length of bamboo.


    As I passed, her she shouted, ¡°Whatever you are about to do, don¡¯t do it.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Sit on the pier?¡±


    She said, ¡°You are about to make something. Don¡¯t. Later, much later maybe, but whatever you are about to make will bring attention we don¡¯t want. The beings that possess know that something is up. They do not share their secrets readily, but they conspire with each other and meetings have been missed.¡± She beckoned to me. ¡°Come sit beside me.¡±


    I sat and stirred the water with my feet. I decided not to make a copy of the pa-ad. Swampy poked at ripples with her pole. It was pleasant, with a light wind making ripples of its own. I was distracted by Swampy¡¯s tiny figure as she made ripples so I kept my eyes on the ripples.


    I got sleepy and sort of crossed my eyes and saw layers of shadow on the weeds, rocks and sand below the water. The shadows crossed in an intricate pattern, and I found myself almost snoozing off. I saw an opening in the shadows and a voice cried, ¡°Got a new one!¡±


    Three Goblin girls were sitting and watching a turned off old-time TV from back when they were still big and like a cabinet.


    There was a tape deck for playing video tapes connected, but there was no power to it. Ripples of shadow from the bayou above were dancing across the lumpy half-shag rug half-bed that the girls were sitting on. The TV was on with ripples running across the screen. Maybe that was what they were watching.


    One of the girls pushed her chair back. It was more like she pushed part of the couch she was on back, and it became a chair except it was part of the floor, and maybe the ground and furniture were all part of the back of an animal, and we were all small, except the TV would have to be small, too.


    The girl pulled me down to sit on the couch her chair became, and we were on a couch behind the couch the other two girls where on.


    She whispered. ¡°I¡¯ve seen this part a hundred times, so I¡¯ll fill you in. Are you a fan of K-dramas?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t watch TV.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°These aren¡¯t on TV. This is one of my favorites. The Dong sisters wrote it.¡±


    I asked, ¡°The Dong sisters? Who are they?¡±


    ¡°They aren¡¯t in Real, nothing real has to be Real, it only has to matter and if you love it, it matters. We love this show. Let me fill you in, it¡¯s all subtitled and the English name is ¡®Off Pitch.¡¯¡±


    She pointed to the screen with the waves of shadow crossing it. ¡°There he is. That¡¯s the main character. I could die, he is so handsome. Anyway, he¡¯s a failed music director. Ghosts show up and sing off pitch and ruin everything for him, so he writes and adapts music for others. He wears headphones when he does music so the ghosts can¡¯t mess with him. He never admits he can see ghosts.¡±


    I looked at the screen and almost saw two Asian faces in the lines of shadows. I looked back at the girl beside me and noticed she had nice legs. She touched my chin and pointed my head back to the screen. ¡°Stay unfocused or it all goes away.


    ¡°So the music director has a twin brother who was a prosecuting attorney who also saw ghosts and was just killed. He runs to his director brother and tells him he died and the director goes to see if his brother can be saved and at the scene he can¡¯t get in because there are police but then one of them mistakes him for his brother and lets him in and when he sees the body, he drops the baton he always carries and it rolls where it is hidden right by the body and a detective notices it and they turn the head and look at the director and the baton and now they think the director is the dead one and that the living one is the prosecutor.


    ¡°He has no way to explain the baton and doesn¡¯t want it to look like he did it and he wasn¡¯t the twin with the cool head and now his twin is yelling at him and he sort of collapses in place and the police take him out of the room.¡±


    I lay back on the fur couch sort of thing and shut my eyes as she continued.


    ¡°The two brother are jealous of each other and there is a general ghost that keeps them from arguing by saying their mother would come back and scold them if they argued.


    ¡°It turns out the reason the prosecuting attorney is so mad at the music director is that the general who was their mother¡¯s spirit contact decided to go with the music director and not him.


    ¡°The general said, ¡®What the nation needs is inspiration and not an eye for an eye making everyone blind.¡¯


    ¡°The attorney would occasionally brag or let leak his powers. The director never did. A lot of their story is revealed by flashbacks.


    ¡°In high school, the attorney guy before he was an attorney bragged to a girl and showed off that he knew more than he could normally know.


    ¡°The girl talked to the director-to-be and said, ¡®Your brother is creepy. He acts like he knows things.¡¯


    ¡°The general standing behind the director-to-be, nodded in agreement, and looked over at the attorney-to-be.¡±


    I fell asleep and I was in the ripples. A pair of winged Fairies were riding on grass blowing in the wind and looking down at the ripples I was in. They had large brimmed hats that were flopping about in the wind.


    The one in the red hat said, ¡°Alien radiation is the only explanation.¡±


    The one in the green hat said, ¡°I¡¯m not saying it¡¯s aliens.¡± Then he nodded to me like he was.


    #


    I woke up with my head in Swampy¡¯s lap. Swampy smiled down at me. ¡°We don¡¯t have time for this. Stir the water.¡±


    I sat up, embarrassed, and kicked the water with my feet. Wet feet made my need to pee worse.


    Swampy said, ¡°So much revealed, keep kicking make it splash.¡±


    I splashed water. Not an ideal thing to do with a full bladder.


    She looked down and then slid off the pier and into the water. I noticed she was full sized as I slid into shadow and into the woods where I could take care of business.


    #


    On the pier, I sat beside Swampy. She was taller than me.


    She pointed at the ripples. ¡°You went daft for a bit. I had a chance to see things without interference. What do you call the ones that possess people?¡±


    I said, ¡°Translated from their language: ¡®The Spirits of Oppression.¡¯ They consider it a compliment. I guess we should call them Oppressors.¡±


    She pointed to the ripples. ¡°There, the pattern has been set. They will be seeking you now. We must let them find you, but not as you. Sorry if I am being cryptic, but now I know why oracles are cryptic. We have enemies we don¡¯t want to know that we know what we know.


    ¡°Go to New York City and look for Oppressors. They will find you soon, and they will bring a bone to you.¡±


    I looked at her. She was part-gossamer and part-real, and I was very aware that I was close to a beautiful woman. I went to my transport Fairylands and went to New York City.


    In Central Park, I sat at a bench and started looking up where the rich people in New York stayed. Tall buildings around the south end of Central park was the general consensus of a few articles on the web. Some of the buildings were described as empty, so it seemed my search might be complicated.


    I felt a pair of them. I looked and five men were jogging. Two of them slowed down, and the other three slowed down with them. I met eyes with the two that slowed down. They were Oppressors. I wondered how I appeared to them.


    In the Oppressor¡¯s language, the older one said, ¡°It is my turn.¡±


    The younger one said, ¡°Both of these bodies are too valuable to just leave, and they are not well enough trained to be left.¡±


    The older one said, ¡°Stay near and watch him. Don¡¯t claim him but keep him from others. I will go and drug this body so I can come and we can claim him.¡±


    The younger one said, ¡°If I can resist. I will agree, but this one is tempting.¡±


    The older man approached me with a look similar to greed on his face. ¡°Young man, have we met before?¡±


    I said, ¡°I haven¡¯t spent much time in New York, so it is unlikely.¡±


    He smiled. ¡°Would you like to go to a party?¡±


    I wanted to learn more, and I didn¡¯t understand why they were talking and not attacking like the ones before. I felt that any child my age would know to run from this creepy guy though. I decided to see what they would do, so I let the horror on my face show as I stood on the park bench and jumped behind it.


    He made a gesture, and the men with him started to come around the bench. I took off running. I was in great shape, but they were all athletic adults, and I had a nine year old¡¯s physique. I didn¡¯t want to escape, but I didn¡¯t want to be caught. I had not thought this through. Running to an open area with lots of people in it seemed like the best choice.


    I didn¡¯t look back. I felt the two of them behind me. I nearly made it to a clearing when I felt another presence in front of me. An attractive lady, flanked two men who were clearly bodyguards, was looking at me as I ran.


    She smiled at me and gestured to her guards. ¡°Keep them from bothering the boy.¡±


    She shouted to me, ¡°Follow me, you¡¯ll be safe.¡±


    I was quite certain that she was lying, but I followed her as she led me down a well traveled path.


    I felt another presence. It was like a convention here. I wanted to turn into a rooster and deal with them all. I followed her. She was talking on her cell phone, but I could not make out the conversation.


    We got to the sidewalk by the road, and I felt another presence moving fast. The first two were farther back but still close. A dark thing crossed the road and came for me. I was trapped. I could fight them, destroy them, but I¡¯d reveal myself in any case.


    Tires squealed and the shape went high and backed away. A man stepped out of the car. He was the presence I¡¯d felt on the road. I looked up at the dark thing. It had a presence but it was not like the others. It was more like a ghost.


    The woman took my arm. ¡°Quickly.¡±


    I ran with her through traffic. I was ready to drop into shadow under the cars if anything happened. We made it across. We ran to a building and past a pair of men at the entry. The man from the road came in, followed by the two jogging men.


    We were in an elevator, and the door was closing as the man from the road put his foot in the way of the elevator door and it opened. He got in. I started to run out, but I was grabbed. The two jogging men came into the elevator and the door closed.


    I looked up at the woman and without moving a muscle in her face, she asked in their ancient language, ¡°How are we going to decide this one?¡±


    The man from the road said, ¡°Legion?¡±


    The older of the two joggers said, ¡°I am willing to accept the challenge.¡±


    I didn¡¯t have any trouble acting nervous as we entered the lady¡¯s apartment.


    The lady said to a woman who was waiting inside the apartment, ¡°Quickly, get all of the staff out of here. Everyone has the rest of the day off.¡±


    The woman gave me a nervous, guilty look as she ran out of the room. I was led with little chance of mundane escape into another room with large paintings on the walls. All of it modern.


    At the door, the woman looked back. ¡°I won¡¯t take the challenge, but I want more than the normal exchange for this one.¡± She stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her.


    I asked, ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    The younger jogger said, ¡°No one is going to harm a hair on your head. Don¡¯t worry, you are too precious for that.¡±


    The man from the road turned a ring on his finger as he looked at me. The ring he spun was brownish-yellow and didn¡¯t look valuable. It seemed out of place. He met my gaze and put his hand out and lay it against the back of my neck. The gesture was more than a little strange.


    The door opened and the lady came back in. ¡°The staff is gone. We are alone.¡±


    The man with the ring asked in the ancient language, ¡°Do we fight for control, or do we attack each other and take what we can?¡±


    The older jogger asked the woman, ¡°Can I get a sedative? The body I am in is not yet trained.¡±


    The man from the road adjusted his hand on my neck and I felt it. The ring was bone, and I could learn the form. I slipped off a shoe and started to scream. Several of them smiled as if I was making it more fun. I turned into a giant rooster and continued the scream. Glass covering artwork shattered. I opened the gateway on my shoe wide and bound the spirits to my world of death while taking them there. I made them Fairies and closed the gateway.


    Returning to a transport Fairyland, I went through another gateway to my shoe and put it on as I sped time for a moment in the world of death.


    All of their bodies were lying on the ground. I sat beside the lady and closed my eyes. Her hearing was damaged. Apart from that and a lot of pain, she seemed okay. She was unconscious, but I put her to sleep and fixed her ears. Ear injuries are painful.


    The two joggers were in similar shape. I got to the man with the ring and he was dead. Thinking back, there had been an extra Fairy, so the man he¡¯d been was now gone as well.


    I picked up the ring of bone and transformed.


    I¡¯d been impulsive. The advice I had been given on transformation said I needed to spend a day in the form to make sure I could control it perfectly. From my arms, I was a reasonably large man with the sort of muscles I always wished I¡¯d have when I grew up. I was naked. Checking out the men with me, the younger jogger was big enough so I took off his clothing. I left him his underwear.


    I dressed in his clothing, went to Anabranch, and sped time.


    #


    Swampy said, ¡°Um, wow. I did not expect this. I think that¡¯s a Daemon body. Phil, was that from the bone?¡±


    I said, ¡°First bone I felt I could change into. I hope it¡¯s the right one, I don¡¯t think I have a lot of forms remaining.¡±


    Swampy nodded. ¡°It may not be the right one, but it won¡¯t be a waste. You need to see your reflection.¡±


    I made a mirror. Oddly, this form didn¡¯t bother me as much as the variations of myself did. It wasn¡¯t me, but it didn¡¯t have to be me. I started slow with the exercise. This body had instinctive balance. Swimming was the problem, all the muscles made it sink. It had no buoyancy. I spent the day as a Daemon and then slept.


    #


    Sitting beside Swampy, I kicked the water for her.


    She looked at my reflection in the water and shook her head. ¡°Phil, see how many versions of him you can be and then go shopping. He¡¯s going to need a wardrobe.¡±


    I considered shopping and then worried that some Daemon who knew this Daemon might see me. If someone came to me wearing the body of someone I cared for, I think it would bother me. If I knew they were dead, it would be a different kind of bother.

 B4-11 Bringing Back the Dead just Before Dying

    In the yard behind the manor house, Mr. Hubert was spreading fish out on racks to put in the smoker. The two cats and Anthony sat in chairs around the pool. In the next yard, I heard a dog whining like he was lonely. I sat between the cats, and White Gloves decided to come and sit in my lap for attention. Fuzzy stepped into the shadows and went up to the top of the wall. The dog on the other side started whining louder. White Gloves couldn¡¯t resist and joined Fuzzy on the wall.


    I heard Mrs Nelson¡¯s voice say, ¡°Marauder, be quiet or you¡¯re going inside.¡±


    Marauder barked. Fuzzy sat on the wall, looking down into the other yard.


    Anthony said, ¡°Phil, great to see you. What is up?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I have a new form. A fellow wearing a bone ring was possessed by an ancient evil. I transformed using the bone, and now I have a Daemon body. Since an evil Djinn Oppressor was wearing a ring made from a bone, I suspect the fellow was a hero with a habit of going after Djinn. In that case, I would rather have an old friend of his as a friend of mine.¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°That¡¯s probably why I keep seeing the image of Soslani.¡±


    From the other side of the wall, Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°He¡¯s a Fairy king now. King Soslani.


    Hubert asked, ¡°Really? I wonder how many Daemons have become Fairy?¡±


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°A lot, but not that many Fairy Kings. It takes self-discipline and finding a Daemon with what it takes is not easy.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Would I offend anyone here if I turned into someone they knew?¡±


    Andrew said, ¡°With the explanation and excuse, I think we will all be able to stay mature.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°Wait for me. I just need to put up a pair of dogs, and I¡¯ll be right over.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Did Soslani kill Djinn?¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°He was immersed in human politics. The long game of fighting over territory.¡±


    Anthony said, ¡°I seem to remember someone else who was involved in that game.¡±


    Hubert shook his head. ¡°I am speaking with hindsight and distance. We both fought battles for land and faith. The battles were often justified by religion, but in the end, it was a bloody mess between Middle Eastern faiths with teachings that would have forbidden the battles if the teachings were truly followed.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What faiths?¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°The two of the three biggest Middle Eastern Faiths. Muslim and Christian.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson came in. I stood and she hugged me. ¡°You¡¯re looking a lot better. Are you eating enough?¡±


    I nodded.


    She said, ¡°As a Fairy king, you have to keep up your energy or you¡¯ll just shrink to gossamer.¡±


    I nodded again. She stood back and said, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s see your new form.¡±


    I turned into me as a large, handsome Daemon.


    Mrs. Nelson laughed. ¡°Good guess, Hubert. Phil, I need to gift you with Georgian. Sadly, I am out of practice and my knowledge of the language is four hundred years out of date. No, you should try to find someone who knows the language now.¡±


    Hubert asked, ¡°What is Soslani like these days?¡±


    Mrs. Nelson turned to Hubert. ¡°He¡¯s avoided. He remains involved in Real. At least that¡¯s the rumor. He seemed nice enough to me, but he¡¯s one of the Realists.¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°Well, Phil is mortal, but he¡¯s a Realist when you get right down to it. Phil, we are in a well warded place and your nobles like a fight. I doubt it will come to that, but maybe you should summon Soslani and see how he feels about you wearing his body.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How am I a realist? I¡¯m a Fairy king, and I travel between Fairylands.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°Among the non-savvy, a realist is someone who just accepts what they see. Among the paranormal savvy, a Realist is one of those who stays in the struggle, you know the kind, those who fight the fight in Real. It isn¡¯t considered safe these days, and most of us have retired from it. But those who try to alter the outcomes in Real are Realists and are in some cases admired but in most cases avoided since they find trouble and trouble finds them.¡±


    I said, ¡°Okay, brace yourselves for incoming.¡±


    I turned back into me and summoned him, ¡°King Soslani, King Snipsnort summons thee.¡±


    I felt a connection. ¡°Snipsnort has a king now?¡±


    I said, ¡°Yes, sort of. Anyway, I called because I used a bone ring that was worn by a Djinn-possessed man and turned into thy mortal form. I didn¡¯t want to offend thee, so I decided to make contact.¡±


    King Soslani said, ¡°Best news I have heard since October of ninety-five. Brother, bring me to see thee.¡±


    King Soslani was a Fairy and a small one. He held my hand with both of his tiny hands and then let go. He looked around. ¡°Roland, Anthony, well met. He looked at Mrs. Nelson and laughed. ¡°Nelly, still a girl, I see. I thought thou wouldst have tired of it by now."


    He looked at me. ¡°You¡¯re not in my form.¡±


    I turned into his form, and he held his hand out.


    ¡°Pleased to meet you, King Snipsnort.¡±


    I took his hand, and he held it while looking up at me and smiled. He turned into the same form and hugged me. ¡°Strange that this was the only way I could have recovered my form after I died. I thought the Efrit had burned my bones.¡±


    He stood back and looked at me. ¡°I am going to have to eat well and get some medical help before I can handle steel again, but having a twin is wonderful. So, you¡¯re the King of Snipsnort, and you have been fighting Efrits.¡±


    I turned into me and handed him the bone ring. ¡°This is yours.¡±


    He laughed, took it, and put it on his little finger. ¡°Is it morbid for me to wear it?¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°Keep it in a safe place in case you need it again.¡±


    Soslani nodded. ¡°Great idea. So, King Snipsnort, how did you survive Duchess Byebye?¡±


    I smiled, ¡°My sister, the Duchess, is doing fine.¡±


    Soslani said, ¡°I have a twin now, and he is Dutchess Byebye¡¯s brother. We had best keep your and my connection secret, but having a double will help in the fight with the Efriti. When they find I am among the living again, there will be Efrit-possessed Russian oligarchs trying to find out how I came back from the dead.¡±


    He held out his hand. ¡°Come with me, brother. The rest of thee, keep this as thine own secret. I was never here, and my brother never had my form.¡±


    #


    We appeared in a round stone chamber. About six feet up, wire mesh covered thick glass windows. There were several exits. As I looked, an alarm went off, and steel mesh doors slammed down.


    Soslani laughed and shouted, ¡°It¡¯s just me and my new brother.¡±


    He looked at me. ¡°They probably saw my doppleganger and decided to slam the gates down.¡±


    Someone shouted, ¡°Soslani, run, get clear. We¡¯ll check on you at a meet point.¡±


    I was about to say that I was in my own form so they wouldn¡¯t see a doppleganger, when slots opened and crossbows with foul spirits on bolts were aimed at us. I dropped, ran my finger on the floor, and took Soslani to the crossroads. I sped time but I felt the crossbow bolts coming.


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    I sped time in a transport Fairyland and went there. I slowed time to match with Real in the other Fairylands to gain time for myself. I put my finger in my mouth and used the dust from the floor in the round chamber to bond with that Fairyland. I still felt the crossbow bolts coming. I bit my finger and spat blood as the bolts appeared. I started to turn into a rooster to scream and try to destroy the bolts, but they hit before I changed. My blood started boiling and smoke rose as I floated above my body and remembered.


    #


    It was about sixty years before. I¡¯d just finished work on an island castle. Brilliant plan, really. The gravity in the Fairyland went to a plane in the center, and the castle was mirrored on both sides so that from either side the lake that wasn¡¯t there looked like it reflected the castle above, but it was really the castle below. They called me daft, but all the really great artists in Fairy are at least a little daft.


    I wanted to put some ripples in, but I wanted to get them right and make sure that they would only be seen close to the castle or looking down at a castle. That way, the illusion of a lake would be perfect. I went to a swamp in Real so I could see the ripples and reflections on the water and tried to get the image perfect.


    As I was flying over a canal, I heard a child cry. In a small brick house, a woman and her child were both sick. I watched as the child abandoned his body. I saw his spirit bite his own silver cord sundering his connection and fleeing to the nether regions. A dark portal opened and shut. It seemed the child had escaped his damnation. Looking further, I saw miserable karma and body so filled with destiny that I could not bear to pass it by or let it pass away, it hummed like a musical instrument that no one could hear. I wanted the lessons that karma would bring.


    I looked at the mother that I knew would never accept me as hers and still I wanted all that destiny. I mended the toddler¡¯s body as best I could before entering it. I couldn¡¯t fix too much, the music it made needed to stay untouched.


    My last memory, before I accepted the veil and became entirely bonded with the child, was that all the accusations made declaring me daft were probably right.


    #


    The crossbow bolts had already eaten themselves away and their evil payload was working its way through my bloodstream. With my body disappearing into sparks, I made a gossamer form and secured the spit and blood I had spat moments earlier. I took them to another empty Fairyland and started moving gateways around.


    I knew the pattern of my body and had living spit and blood to work with. I started building a new me. I had my pattern in forms for transformation, and I had examined my body minutely and let gifts given when I was in a half-dream state store those shapes. But first, I wanted to save these memories before I lost them again.


    Easily done. I turned into me as a Daemon and made an armored environmental suit to fit. I went to the Oppressor¡¯s treasure room Fairyland and put my gloved hands on the crystal that recorded memory.


    I decided to gift myself with the memories of my origin and let me know that I would be using the Daemon as an example and cheating. I wanted to have every advantage I could since I was going to be Phil for a long time if things worked out. Poor me, as Phil I¡¯d never had a clear feeling for who I was. Now I was going to be part Daemon and even more lost.


    I recorded as much as I dared. Too much and someone might someday visit this Oppressor''s Fairyland and gain access to memories I¡¯d rather not share with something evil. I recorded just a bit more.


    #


    I woke up tired and hungry. I felt like I¡¯d been ill. Memories started coming back. I went to my hospital Fairyland.


    #


    In my medical Fairyland, four women were watching an Asian medical drama on a TV. The new girl looked back and said, ¡°We have a customer.¡±


    The TV was turned off and the little girl doctor asked, ¡°Are you hurt?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Sick, tired, hungry. Not thinking clearly.¡±


    #


    I woke up and the last thing I remembered was that I was about to die. I had been killed by four of the horrible death weapons.


    Beside the bed was the nurse who looked like she was about my age.


    I asked, ¡°How did you bring me back to life?¡±


    She said, ¡°You came in sick but still healthy. Really healthy, considering.¡±


    #


    In the Fairyland where I woke up in before going to the hospital Fairyland, there was a statue of a winged Fairy holding a staff with a gem on the end. He was holding it out on his hands like he was offering it to me. He was winking his left eye. I took it from the statue¡¯s hands and looked at the gem. It looked a bit like the crystal in the Oppressor¡¯s Fairyland. There was an inscription in the mounting the gem was held by.


    ¡°Ask for thy memories to be restored.¡±


    This was getting strange. I turned into me in an environmental suit and went to the Oppressor¡¯s Fairyland. I went to the crystal and put my gloved hands on it.


    ¡°Restore my memories.¡±


    I remembered who I was before I was who I am. I remembered asking the crystal for the knowledge of how to use it then used it to learn several more languages.


    I looked at the ancient thing. A crystal made to be able to record, store, and share knowledge. From its index, it had hardly been used. It was a treasure stolen from a world now lost and so much that could have been recorded never was.


    #


    In the world of death, I felt the toxic dust from the Oppressor¡¯s Fairyland being digested. I sat in this quiet place and let my thoughts organize. I reflected on what had happened, turned into me in more normal clothing and went to the seven-way crossroads in Snipsnort.


    #


    Soslani looked at me with a range of emotions too complex to sort. ¡°You look like a brother and no longer a twin to me.¡±


    I sat down on the step beside the road. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Soslani, I¡¯m okay and I figured out what happened. Your world¡¯s guarded and paranoid and ready to face the threat of a possessing spirit that might come at any time. You¡¯ve been ready to face an invasion, and you have people who can detect the possessed and clear instructions on what to do.


    ¡°This body is still sort of a twin of you, but part of me has been altered it so I am no longer quite your doppelganger.¡±


    ¡°We are still friends. We are still brothers fighting in the same cause. Maybe even more so now that I understand your commitment to the cause. You face an enemy that could take someone over and steal all his secrets. You have to have methods and fallback positions and the ability to kill yourself quickly.


    ¡°I understand all of that. Whoever set off the alarm detected something that I did not know. It is the reason that so many people knew I belonged in Fairy before I ever went to Fairy.


    ¡°I am a walk-in. I took this body when a toddler¡¯s spirit left it. In a way, I am possessed, but by myself. There was no spirit in this body that I displaced. I moved in when that spark moved out.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that child was a good one. The world may be better without him. Now the world has me. I probably shouldn¡¯t go back to your world. A sensitive that detected possession might well detect that nature on me despite all the years I have dwelt in it. I forgive them entirely and respect their determination.¡±


    Soslani relaxed and sat beside me. ¡°How did you survive?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I won¡¯t bore you with the details. I will say that getting hit with those crossbow bolts is worse than having your ears trimmed.¡±


    He gave me a confused look. ¡°Are you okay now?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Better than okay. Let me know if you need my help on anything. If I find out anything that relates to our mutual cause, I will summon you.¡±


    Soslani said, ¡°There is a legend that you may have heard of. They say that the Dread Lord is the only one to have ever survived one of those death weapons. It is said that he survived two of them. I always wondered if that tale was made up.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°If it is any consolation to the legend, I didn¡¯t survive. Those weapons are nasty.¡±


    Soslani got up. ¡°I have a few things I need to attend to. I noticed that you slowed time in my world to match with Real. That means several others have noticed, and they have set traps and fled.


    ¡°I will have to get the gang together, and we will be double-checking each other. Then we will have to share our separate trap information so we can safely go back and put our Fairyland in order. After I get enough mass to get my body into shape, I will still have to get rid of gossamer safely before I can handle steel.


    ¡°After that, I will have to have my Persephone limit restored. But when I can safely walk down streets in Real, do you think we could go a few places together?¡±


    I answered, ¡°I think I might like that. Do you play music?¡±


    He grinned at me. ¡°I am a wild man with a chonguri or panduri. I guess with things sped up here, we have time.¡±


    He sat back down and made an illusion of an old-style stringed instrument and then he made it over in gossamer. He played it and adjusted it and then started in on a rhythm like a horse riding fast.


    I made a gossamer cajon and sat on it. I came in on the rhythm, and together we went wild. He kept looking over at me and grinning. Neither of us knew where the music was going and neither of us cared. After a long while, he slowed like a horse stopping after a long run. I echoed the sounds and made the hoofbeats sounds softer and held my hand after the beat so they sounded like hooves placed and not the flying gallop of the music before.


    He ended and held out his hand.


    I shook it and after he let go of my hand, he disappeared.


    I went back to tapping on the cajon and exploring the sound of horses. I pulled up a browser on my phone and started playing videos with horses in them so I could hear their gaits and play along with the rhythms.


    #


    I woke up and looked down at my poor exhausted self sleeping. He/I needed a better place to sleep. I¡¯d been working on the perfect place, and that project had been abandoned for close to sixty years. I took myself to the world I had been working on and two blazing balls of light engulfed me.


    Spinner said, ¡°So long gone, we ran out of excuses, and the teams were all remade without you.¡±


    Far Blue blinked on and off. ¡°We were scared you undid yourself.¡±


    I slid under and around them, basking in their light. ¡°I found a new game and it is still running and pending. I¡¯ll wake up soon enough and disappear ¡®til dreams free me.¡±


    Far Blue asked, ¡°No, seriously, did you incarnate?¡±


    I led their presences to the castle I¡¯d been making. ¡°I did and I forgot everything, and I don¡¯t know how often I will be free in dream. But it¡¯s a wonderful game. Spinner, do you still want to be a dog?¡±


    Spinner expanded and let his lights go bright. ¡°So much. So much.¡±


    I gestured to the castle mirrored above and the castle below. ¡°I was working on the perfect bed so I wanted gravity to converge on a plane. So you fell there and stayed while you slept. But then I got distracted like I do and had to make a mirrored castle. I was going to put in ripples, but when I went to look at examples in Real, I found a chance to incarnate and poof, I forgot all my friends.¡±


    Spinner asked, ¡°What about the dog?¡±


    I said, ¡°I will have to wake and I hope I remember, but a friend of mine¡¯s mother has a bunch of dogs, and I think one of them is perfect. I should ask them first, though, but I will try to give you a good recommendation.¡±


    Spinner oscillated and danced.


    I coalesced in to what would be recognizable as a Fairy. ¡°I want to place a few gateways before I wake, so if I don¡¯t see thee ¡®til the universe ends, know that I do love thee well.¡±


    We embraced and I sailed to Real and back to being Phil.


    The End

 B5-1 Just Trying to Help

    The glass walls of the office allowed us to see most of the factory, but the office had been designed years before the factory was filled with CNC machines. With the glass door closed, the noise was bearable without hearing protection, but we still had to shout at each other to be heard over the noise.


    I shouted to Caerwyn, ¡°Can you handle this if I disappear?¡±


    Caerwyn shook his head. ¡°If Mr. Miller is superstitious, an albino like me is the last person he¡¯s going to want to see.¡±


    I grabbed my hair with both hands and rocked my head. ¡°He¡¯s not superstitious. Don¡¯t even say that. It makes people who know what I am sound stupid.¡±


    Caerwin said, ¡°I¡¯m a Daemon. For me ¡®superstitious¡¯ is a nuanced word. Like the word, ¡®Bro¡¯ can mean affection, closeness, just a guy, talented, brilliant, or stupid, superstitions can mean aware, nervous, stupid, or believing nonsense. Not that I can name a lot of nonsense. No wait, palmistry is worthless. A good psychic doesn¡¯t need a stupid crutch like looking at lines in hands. If a good palmist switches to using a real divination tool like the I Ching, they¡¯re going to suddenly make a leap in accuracy and drop palmistry in an instant.¡±


    I said, ¡°Well, let me clarify this. Mr. Miller is Black. When you say superstitious in that context, you¡¯re going to sound racist. It make him sound stupid when the truth is he knows so much more that most folk do. He senses things and he knows I am a Goblin. I¡¯m trying to do him a favor, and if he knows I¡¯m involved, everything will fall apart.¡±


    Caerwin shouted over the noise, ¡°This is Louisiana. A Black person has every reason to be suspicious of the melanin deficient. As an albino, I¡¯m the last person he wants to meet. I¡¯m so white I make white people nervous. If were a Black man, and nervous about the supernatural, an albino like me would be the last person I wanted to meet, superstitious or not. If he senses what I am, he will have twice the reason to get nervous.¡±


    I shouted, ¡°He¡¯s not superstitious, he senses things and his wanting to avoid the supernatural is perfectly reasonable. Apart from your skin and rather impossible good looks, I don¡¯t think he will have any reason to suspect you¡¯re immortal and descended from the gods.¡±


    Caerwyn yelled back, ¡°None of my line were ever worshiped, apart from the natural physical attraction that comes with being so physically perfect. My family avoided the god thing.¡±


    I begged him, ¡°Please, Caerwyn. He was scared of me when I was just a swamp-dwelling Goblin, but he was kind enough to make me a cajon that¡¯s still one of my most treasured possessions.¡±


    Caerwyn laughed at me. ¡°I¡¯ve noticed that you¡¯ll happily give someone a hundred pounds of gold, but you never let anyone near the wooden crate you sit and pound on. Why is this so important?¡±


    I waved at the open expanse of the huge building I had taken over for my artwork and pointed to the CNC machines that were cutting out wooden panels. ¡°Mr. Miller had the idea to combine tongue drums on the side panels of a cajon. Then he decided to look for a company that could do the CNC work to mass produce them, and when he asked around, he heard that my company used to do a lot of that sort of thing.


    "When I heard about it, I was delighted to do it cheaply for him. Seriously, I own Mr. Miller big time. He was generous when I had nothing. I wanted to do him a favor and I knew we could do it right. If he finds out I¡¯m a King of Fairy and filthy rich, he¡¯ll probably run.¡±


    Caerwyn put his finger to his lips, making a ¡°Careful what you say,¡± gesture.


    I turned, Jeremy was climbing up the stairs to the office.


    I shouted, ¡°Jeremy, Caerwyn and I have to go run an errand. If Mr. Miller shows up while we¡¯re gone take care of him, show him around ,and don¡¯t mention my name.¡±


    Jeremy shouted, ¡°Mr. Miller was just here but he said he had to run and left.¡±


    I just sat and thought about it as Jeremy and Caerwyn talked. I didn¡¯t pay any attention to what they said. I was too busy trying to figure out how to solve this.


    I stood and hit the CNC production line emergency stop button. ¡°Did Mr. Miller see me?¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°I had just pointed you out and told him you were the owner.¡±


    I sat back down. Jeremy didn¡¯t know anything about Fairylands so I couldn¡¯t include him in the conversation and I couldn¡¯t explain Mr. Miller¡¯s reaction. Jeremy was a fellow percussionist and a friend I had traveled with, but he was not up to speed on the supernatural.


    I was scared that Mr. Miller would abandon his first attempt at a mass produced cajon. He hadn¡¯t paid me yet, but now I was scared that he would refuse delivery and try to pay anyway.


    A pair of workers came up the stairs.


    One of them asked, ¡°Why was the line shut down?¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. You can continue production. I was just nervous that there was going to be change in the plans.¡±


    Caerwyn asked Jeremy, ¡°Since you¡¯re a percussionist, do you want to try out one of the new cajons?¡±


    Jeremy looked around, ¡°Are any assembled?¡±


    Caerwyn got up and led him to the room we had soundproofed the week before. He sat on a cajon and started thumping a gentle beat. ¡°We try to test them from each run. Phil likes them, but we want a second opinion.¡±


    I was entertained by this since Caerwyn had been picking up my habit of thumping things and, from my point of view, was a pretty solid percussionist.


    #


    In the soundproofed room, Jeremy started playing on a cajon, and Caerwyn joined in on another.


    I called and made sure we hadn¡¯t been paid and we wouldn¡¯t take any pay until a shipment was made. I was worried about Mr. Miller¡¯s reaction. He¡¯d only left a few minutes before. I shadow stepped and beat him to his house. Since he could detect me when I moved through shadows, I didn¡¯t dare spy on him in person, so I stood in the garage he made cajons in and set up a gateway to Fairy. With the gateway well hidden and only receiving sound, I left, hoping I wasn¡¯t going to make things worse by spying. I returned to my art studio. The production line was still off.


    From the shadow I was hiding in, I listened for a moment before sliding back to my office and stepping out of shadow.


    The crew leader said, ¡°We¡¯re ready to start cutting again. is everything okay?¡±


    I gave him a thumbs-up and went to the soundproofed room to join Caerwyn and Jeremy.


    They stopped playing when I entered.


    Jeremy said, ¡°Phil, we need a sink, microwave, and refrigerator in here.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Worst idea yet. It¡¯s bad enough that we make loud noises in a sound proofed room with loud noise outside. If we have an enemy, he¡¯s going to have the perfect opportunity to sneak up on you. By making it easy to stay here for hours, it gives your enemies a lot more time.¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°Phil, I thought I was paranoid, but Caerwyn is way worse than me.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Why are you paranoid?¡±


    Jeremy winced. ¡°Well, just between us, my uncle¡¯s the only one in my family that I trust, and I wouldn¡¯t dare to get between him and a work of art he really wanted. My sister was kidnapped when I was little, and she was never the same afterwards. When she found out the ransom money was taken out of the trust fund Grandfather set up for her, she started acting up, and I started examining my own family and decided they were all a bit off.


    ¡°Then a friend got kidnapped, and one of my father¡¯s business partners got greedy. About the same time, I met an old friend whose family had gone bust after they were caught for tax evasion.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How do people lose everything to tax evasion? Are the penalties that high?¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°They¡¯re the only real penalties the rich face. We can avoid just about everything but that. Truth is that if you have to evade taxes in a risky manner, you¡¯re probably going broke fast and are unable to stop spending money.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I decided that it was a lot better to seem poor that it was to seem rich. I was going through my trust pretty fast, and the kids around me that were richer were spending more of my money than me. Funny how fast a rich kid can clear out and leave you holding the bill.


    ¡°While we are talking about money, my uncle still wants to meet you and discuss an art project. How do you feel about making a trip to Oslo?¡±


    I shrugged. I knew Oslo was in Northern Europe, but apart from that, I couldn¡¯t pretend to know anything about it or what language they spoke there.


    #


    Caerwyn and I were downstairs in his server room in his old mansion across from Hubert¡¯s mansion in Louisiana looking up places to see in Oslo.


    Caerwyn stopped talking in Swedish and switched to Norwegian, ¡°I got you some 360 degree cameras. If you¡¯re visiting Oslo, do a brother a favor and record everything you can.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°That might be easier. I have a better camera but getting anything but a still image off of it is a nightmare.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Not fair holding tech out from a brother. What sort of gear do you have?¡±


    I asked, ¡°How important is security in this room?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Since I moved my operation to Fairy, this is all a sandbox and trap. While it¡¯s functional and real, it¡¯s got internals watching. I want this place discovered but only by serious top end hackers.¡±


    I asked, ¡°I can give you top end, but it may be higher grade than you expect.¡±


    Caerwyn shook his head. ¡°Nothing here gives away anything I mind being given away.¡±


    I transformed into myself with the artist¡¯s bag Goldilocks had given me.


    I unclipped the tripod from the bottom of the bag and showed him how it worked. Then I pointed to the small bumps on the tops of the legs and junctions.


    ¡°I was given this when I was doing watercolors in Portugal. Each of these bumps is a camera that records close to every photon that hits it and saves the angle and frequency. It goes way beyond visible and it records sound and direction at the same time. So far, I have managed to link it to an illusion to view and hear what was recorded and get an image off of it. It¡¯s way advanced Fairy tech and not like any other I have seen. Most of the complex Fairy tech tries to avoid being complex enough for a Fairy to possess it and take it over. This thing is different. It partitions things and passes things back and forth between the partitions and does complex stuff I haven¡¯t figured out yet. I can reproduce them, and they end up linking with each other, but I can¡¯t make any sort of use of them.¡±


    He picked up the bag. ¡°Nice bag. Whoever made it understands universal and timeless grace. Are these cameras, too?¡±


    I pulled out a black paint palette and opened it. ¡°See the flat black paint job on the outside of this pallet? It¡¯s a camera. Every flat black fitting in the bag is a camera. The rings on the backpack, too. All the cameras know the other cameras¡¯ locations and positions. I don¡¯t think it is transmitting anything, but if someone walks by with another camera like this, and their camera has the right handshake, all the data will be exchanged. I have altered the handshake, but these guys are clever. They may have a way around what I have done.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°So we need to be careful what we say. How much does it know?¡±


    I took a deep breath. ¡°I¡¯m the King of Snipsnort and I am apprenticed to Goldilocks and I can travel in shadows. It knows all of that. Since Goldilocks has one of these too, and I hadn¡¯t changed the handshake yet, her tripod and backpack knows that, too. I mentioned it to Goldilocks. She didn¡¯t seem to mind and I think she already knew.¡±


    Caerwyn gave me a puzzled look. ¡°Of all the people I can think of, I would think she would value privacy more than anyone. Can you¡ª¡±


    Caerwyn narrowed his eyes and picked up the paint palette. ¡°A lot of science fiction has stories where people put on viewing devices but end up inside the web and possibly lost if the connections break. It makes for a good story, but unless you¡¯re doing weird astral projection along the wires and having an out-of-body experience, it¡¯s kind of silly.


    ¡°Back when computers were tiny, I tried it. I have a lot of gifting and experience in weird physics, so I figured it was worth a try. I had a little success early on, but now I think it¡¯s close to impossible. As technology has tried to eliminate error, by trial and error they have built wards into the structures and mostly prevented that sort of thing.


    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ¡°They just selected for designs that worked reliably but the end result is reliable warding. But this could be different, I¡¯ll try and see if I can examine it from the inside. If I start shaking, slap me.¡±


    Caerwyn squinted more and then relaxed. His face went limp-looking and his eyes unfocused. Still partially open but with a vacant look. He started to slump and then jolted to sitting straight. ¡°Warded. No getting in. How do you reproduce these things?¡±


    I picked up the palette and opened it. I looked at the watercolor paints in wells waiting to be wet and turned into images on paper. ¡°Caerwyn, a Fairy overgifted me. We were in Fairy with time sped up so no one would be able to intervene. She taught me way too much too fast. I lost my mind for a while. I don¡¯t remember a lot of it. I don¡¯t think I was myself, and I don¡¯t know how long I obeyed her or what I did. She taught me to copy things.¡±


    I thought about the plate of fish, and my stomach went queasy.


    Caerwyn made a worried expression and then a quizzical one. ¡°What did you copy?¡±


    I forced down the feeling of queasiness. ¡°Odd things. Picture frames, anatomical parts, the same plate of fish over and over¡ª¡±


    I stopped talking. There was a vague memory of making intact corpses from bits of skin. The bodies were not in the small Fairyland I was in when I came to my senses. There were a lot of gross things there but no intact corpses. I shook my head.


    Caerwyn looked away. ¡°If it bothers you, you don¡¯t have to talk about it. I was just curious. On another subject, what are your plans for visiting Oslow?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Plans occasionally work out in Fairy. You can make illusions of things and then prototypes in gossamer before committing to real materials. In Real, plans are fine, but if I¡¯m going someplace I have never been, how can I possibly make a plan for what I want to see? If someone came to Louisiana and got a tour guide, all they would end up seeing would be a couple of charter boats, the French Quarter in New Orleans, and some Spanish moss hanging from a tree. You might get a few meals in and drinks in the expensive places, but you probably came for Mardi Gras, and you will leave with a few strings of beads and a glass with a ¡®gator image stuck on the side and think those are good souvenirs.¡±


    Caerwyn smiled at me. ¡°Here we are in Baton Rouge, but I don¡¯t get out much. If you find a good string of beads and a glass with a gator on the side, I¡¯d love to have a few souvenirs.¡±


    I gave Caerwyn a long look. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to see if Rodrigo can cure your albinism?¡±


    Caerwyn closed his eyes. ¡°Depends on how much nasty stuff he wants me to drink. Everyone thinks they have a cure and no one does. I can¡¯t transform and so far, no one else can transform me. I guess it makes me safe in a way. I think my being albino is linked with that, so I don¡¯t think a bunch of bitter herbs tossed in a blender is going to do anything but make me feel nauseous.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What was the worst?¡±


    Caerwyn opened his eyes and looked up. ¡°Leeches. Lots of leeches. The theory was that I had silver in my bloodstream and that prevented my change and it was making me pale. Apparently, arsenic can give you pale skin. This was a long time ago. I looked up silver recently and found out it can give you blue skin if you are badly enough poisoned by it. What¡¯s Rodrigo¡¯s theory?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Something about a disease made by Elves that he wants to cure you of so you can immediately catch it again and have it fix itself. Do you have an Elven disease?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Not that I know of. Find out how he plans to cure it but don¡¯t commit. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen an Elf so I don¡¯t see how I could have caught a disease from one.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Where you born this way?¡±


    Caerwyn nodded. ¡°My mother must have met an Elf when she was pregnant with me. So far that¡¯s the best explanation I have heard. I doubt it seriously, but I will be sure to ask her when I see her next.¡±


    Speaking of Elves made me think of a woman I met at a clandestine meeting inside a large iron furnace. I started putting my watercolors up. ¡°Caerwyn, I met a woman with eyes like the night sky.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Do you think it was an illusion?¡±


    I gestured by shaking my hand with my fingers spread. ¡°No. I was already a Fairy king when I met her. I would have noticed that. I think she¡¯s related to the creatures who possess others, but they always seem like a cross between a dark flying rag and bird made of blurry shadow. She asked me to call on her when I needed her. She said to summon her using the name ¡®Midnight Treason.¡¯¡±


    Caerwyn asked. ¡°How will you know when you need her?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°No telling. I¡¯m playing this by ear, Caerwyn. No, not even that. I¡¯m making it all up as I go.¡±


    In the distance, I heard a chime like cathedral bells.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°That¡¯s the doorbell.¡±


    Caerwyn was using Google maps and streetview to look at Oslo.


    The chime went off again. Since Caerwyn wasn¡¯t getting up, I figured he probably didn¡¯t answer the door because his mother didn¡¯t want anyone to remember his rather striking appearance.


    I got up to go to the door.


    Caerwyn whispered, ¡°Pretend we aren¡¯t here.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Don¡¯t you even want to see who it is?¡±


    Caerwyn brought up another window on his computer. ¡°We can look, but it¡¯s going to be a salesman or a delivery person and neither are worth getting up to see.¡±


    He brought up an image of his front door. A woman in a heavy cloak was at the door. She turned like she could tell she was being watched. The cloak was empty.


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Anyone you know?¡±


    I slid into shadow and through a hole in the wards. I shadow stepped down from the roof, across to a tree, and along a hedge until I could see the doorway. The woman in the cloak was the dark being I had met before and told me to call her with the name Midnight Treason.


    She looked around like she knew I was watching her. I stepped out of shadow.


    She visibly relaxed. ¡°Phil, is there a safer place? A place no one knows?¡±


    I glanced at the hidden camera that Caerwyn was probably watching through. I thought about all the Fairylands I knew and wondered which I wanted to reveal and which she might consider safe. I held out my hand and took her to a world where a castle drifted in a lake.


    #


    We stood on a bank in the shade of a mulberry tree. I sped time and started picking mulberries. ¡°I am sorry, I think I summoned thee without a need.¡±


    She picked a mulberry and looked at it. She asked, ¡°Is it safe to eat?¡±


    A Fairy I had not noticed lying by the tree sat up. ¡°Pyramus would never poison thee. And on the other side, Thisbee wouldst not wish thee ill.¡±


    I asked, ¡°The other side?¡±


    The Fairy squinted. ¡°Me thinks I know thee well yet I do not ken who thou art. Well, the underside other side. On the other side upside is Amoryus and under Amoryus is Cleopes. They are all sweet, but couples can be that way. It is possible that Sharon¡¯s fruit is so sour because she envies the couples.¡±


    I asked ¡°Sharon?¡±


    He pointed to the large flowers in hedges. ¡°By the fruit thou shalt know them. Amoryus is lavender, Cleopes black. Pyramus is red, of course, and Thisbee is white. Sharon has a range of hues, but her fruit is more sour than lemon.¡±


    Midnight Treason turned her face towards mine, and I was again startled by her lovely dark face and emptiness with stars in the distance for eyes. ¡°I meant for us to be in a place where we could speak without witnesses.¡±


    The Fairy frowned and started walking towards the water¡¯s edge. He looked back at us, clearly hurt. ¡°Well, in a thousand years, no one has ever before accused me of being a witness. Some nerve some beings have.¡±


    He stepped into and under the lake and was gone from sight. Ripples spread.


    I puzzled over the ripples and tasted a mulberry. It was sweet and delightful.


    Midnight Treason said, ¡°Need is a funny thing. Oft it has passed before thou knowest. I have a need of thee, though. Canst thou make me a Fairy?¡±


    I felt and I knew that I could. I nodded.


    She looked around at the castle and the hedges and put the mulberry in her mouth. She smiled as she chewed it and swallowed it. ¡°Please, if thou wouldst then, make me a Fairy.¡±


    I felt like I was destroying a beautiful and frightening work of art and using the bits of it to make another work of art as I made her into a Fairy. She was still dark and beautiful but her eyes were no longer the empty vastness of a star-filled sky. They were dark eyes that twinkled and seemed to draw you in, but they were no longer disturbing.


    She smiled. ¡°Now I am bound to this Fairyland and I belong here. That is no small thing. When you need to know things about those who would destroy thy world come here and seek me. I am abandoning my name so that none can trace me. Give me title so thou canst call for me when thou wilt.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°Lady Nightsky, I have a question. How do the Efrits detect me?¡±


    She had just picked and eaten another mulberry so she waited until she had finished it. ¡°By several marks we know thee. First is thy resonance. It calls to us. It makes us look closely. But then thy value is clear. Value is an awareness muted in many but clear in my kind. A lot of human children have it. A human toddler can instantly notice that something is valuable or forbidden when it enters a room. It will run to that item and try to claim it, eat it, or break it, depending on its form of expression. Thou might distract a child with a bright red ball or a toy that makes noise, but eventually the child will return to wanting the item most valued and protected by others.


    ¡°You hold so many strings of destiny. Who would not wish to own thee, wear thy form, or break thee if they could not have thee?¡±


    She picked another mulberry and chewed it. ¡°There is another thing. My kind rarely takes on the shell of appearance that I had when thou met me. Instead we prefer to dwell inside others and control their minds and bodies. Some bloodlines make better horses than others. Some bodies allow more of an Efrit¡¯s powers to manifest than others.


    ¡°Thou art like a prize stallion. A mustang that must be possessed, broken and ridden. As long as thou dust resonate like a bell that calls, thou wilt be noticed and in that noticing the kind of being that thou hast saved me from being wouldst be drawn to thee like a moth to a candle, a shark to blood, or a worm to an apple.¡±


    I sat at the base of the tree. My memory of this Fairyland felt like a well-remembered but long past dream. I made this half right side up- half upside down castle before I became the me I know as me and remember growing up as. I was a Fairy king then, but I don¡¯t think I claimed any Fairyland as my own.


    Lady Nightsky walked to the edge of the water. I didn¡¯t warn her it wasn¡¯t water. But then it seemed my ripple puzzle from before this life had been solved and it was water. She put her foot in. Since gravity on the other side pushed this way, and the gravity on this side pushed down, there was a layer of water sandwiched between the two layers. It seemed clear enough so someone either fixed the problem of the water being cleaned or someone was maintaining this.


    A small fellow tugged on my shirt.


    I recognized him but I didn¡¯t recall his name. He pointed to the water and nodded like he was proud of it. I nodded and he smiled. As I recalled he was a friend and a rival, a Fairy king and a Daft Fairy. Just the thing that everyone is scared of.


    I asked, ¡°Since I am no longer a Daft Fairy, should I be scared and run?¡±


    He laughed and then looked up at me and did a sort of winking squint as he thought about it. ¡°Na, thou art Daft-Daft. Look at thee, choosing on a whim to be mortal, easily killed and likely to live ¡®til the clocks all wind down. That takes a commitment to impulsivity that few would dare.


    ¡°No, no, I fear thee. Thou has gone beyond the corner and split thyself between mortal, sensible and Daft. So I¡ªNo, I have the perfect solution.


    He stood, looked at me, smiled, and then put a face of sheer horror on and ran. ¡°Everyone flee, for the love of all, save thy-selves. We have a Fairy king that has gone Daft-Daft. There is no knowing what could happen.¡±


    Other Fairies popped up from behind stones, and small animals stood on their hind legs.


    A spiny mammal that I didn¡¯t recognized rolled over laughing. Fairies started running and screaming.


    A large bush got taller and started screaming as it ran. ¡°Abandon Fairyland, abandon Fairyland, we are all lost if we do not flee.¡±


    Lady Nightsky turned to face me. ¡°Who are we running from?¡±


    The spiny mammal managed to control his laughter. ¡°The one thou art talking to. He¡¯s gone Daft-Daft. Terrible thing that. Don¡¯t stay near him, he could turn thee normal. Or at least I think that is where this game is headed. Still, this game may last for a while. I had better get out of here before they decide I was influenced by him and run from me.¡± He started quickly waddling off. ¡°I¡¯ll be on the other side of the lake as I suspect all the folk that don¡¯t flee the Fairyland will be.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure if we would prefer to continue the game and have thee chase us there or stay to this side and call this the rational side. I best stop this conversation. Even without thee talking, I am beginning to feel all rational.¡±


    He waddled to the waters edge, looked back at me, and waved his tiny fingers with large claws before falling into the water and beyond.


    Lady Nightsky asked, ¡°What was that about?¡±


    I walked to the edge of the lake examining the ripples. ¡°I know, what with me being an Efrit slaying, fishmonger Goblin, and king of Fairy, I seem completely rational, yet in truth I am part Daft.¡± I sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can escape myself by running or diving to the other side of the lake.¡±


    #


    After exploring Oslo, for a while I became a bit nervous about what sort of art project Jeremy¡¯s uncle had in mind. Oslo was a bit more bold minded about public art than I was used to in Louisiana. Most my art is functional, architectural, or what I find attractive and cool. I don¡¯t really try and send a message with my art but then, most of the sculptures I saw in Oslo clearly had messages but not a lot of those messages were clear to me.


    Jeremy and I had planned to meet at the hotel, but I decided to visit the airport anyway, just to see if there were good travel brochures, deals, or details about the airport that Jeremy might ask about.


    The airport was gray and white and I was feeling like I didn¡¯t fit in. Well, I wouldn¡¯t fit in, I was a swamp child. I¡¯m happiest up to my waist in bog water with Spanish moss hanging down. At the edge of my senses, I kept feeling like there were possessing spirits just out of range. Nothing I could exactly pin down. I wanted to call it off. I wanted to go back to Fairy. Fairy wan¡¯t safe and there were strange things there, but the real world was feeling less and less comfortable.


    If a possessing spirit just entered my body and tried to take me over, as slimy as that felt, I would at least know what I was facing and have the tools to deal with it. But at that moment, I was in a form of myself where I did not resonate like a beacon and call them. I still resembled myself, but I wasn¡¯t comfortable with how my jaw felt after surgery, and I was not comfortable with the slight change in my face when I saw it reflected.


    I looked a bit less like a boy soon to turn thug, but I was used to my old reflection and the slight difference made my feeling of not being myself seem stronger than usual.


    A woman asked me, ¡°Are you lost?¡±


    I smiled at her, shook my head, and hurried off. Knowing that there were good folk around made me feel better.


    #


    Streetlights and posts with cables cast shade, so it was easy to sail through shadows on the way back to the center of Oslo. A couple of times, I felt dark presences in the distance but nothing I could point to. I wasn¡¯t here to hunt them. Not yet. I needed to know more about them first. I wanted to meet them without them knowing I knew what they were.


    Out of shadow and in the cold night air, I looked up at the clear sky and knew it would be colder tomorrow morning. Cold didn¡¯t hurt me, my Goblin nature could take much worse than this, but the cold was part of the mood and the menace I felt.


    #


    In Anabranch, my swamp Fairyland, I sat on the boards of a pier with my bare feet stirring the water.


    Beside me, Swampy sat staring at the ripples. ¡°Phil, it¡¯s okay for you to look at me. Get a good look and enjoy. I don¡¯t want anyone stealing you from me so that might be your best defense.¡±


    I smiled as I looked at the ripples trying to see what she was seeing in them. ¡°Not planning on getting all girl crazy anytime soon, Swampy. Don¡¯t worry, as soon as I go girl crazy you¡¯ll be the first to know.¡±


    Swampy looked up at me. ¡°What¡¯s your hotel room like in Oslo?¡±


    I continued looking at the water. ¡°Nice enough if I had to spend the night there, but I would rather sleep somewhere safe and comfortable.¡±


    She turned back into her small bat-winged Fairy form and lay with her back against my leg. ¡°I have seen enough visions in the water, and all of them are confused right now. I keep seeing conflicting images with Mr. Miller in them. I can¡¯t sort out or see what you need to do. The plague we are all predicting is coming on us quick. This winter we may know what it is and what it means, but right now it¡¯s making a mess of what we can see.


    ¡°You need to get Hubert up and running as a prognosticator. We need his help sorting out the future.¡±


    I nodded and lay back on the pier. Soon enough, I¡¯d have to sleep and then adjust time so I was up and ready to step out of my hotel room in time to meet Jeremy.


    #


    The breakfast buffet was wonderful. I wasn¡¯t going to leave Fairy and go to my room so I could exit it and look normal until eleven, but I woke up hungry and decided to try out Norwegian food. I loved eggs, sausage, and smoked salmon. There were a lot of other choices but right then and there, I wanted eggs, sausage, and salmon.


    Even after eating my fill, I had time to waste before Jeremy showed up. I looked around the hotel, and it was even fancier than I had first noticed. Presidents, stars, famous musicians, and kings had stayed here. I¡¯d been thinking of finding a place to sit and slap a beat out on my udu so Jeremy would know where I was, but I didn¡¯t really feel comfortable doing it in such a fancy setting.

 B5-2 Downhill Ride

    A few buskers were playing on the street, but I was intrigued by the buildings. Oslo sculptures were not my cup of tea, but the buildings were wonderful. I found a building I liked near the hotel and set up my tripod to do a few watercolors. It was getting close to time for me to get back to meet up with Jeremy when my phone started vibrating.


    ¡°Jeremy, how was your flight?¡±


    ¡°Great, Phil, my uncle picked me up at the airport. Can you meet us outside the hotel when we drive up in five minutes?¡±


    I said, ¡°On the other side of the street from the hotel is a sculpture of a lion on the end of a wall with a ramp beside it. I¡¯m on the ramp a bit past the lion doing a watercolor. I¡¯ll try to finish up, but it might take a bit for the paint to dry.¡±


    Jeremy¡¯s voice was muffled as he spoke to his uncle, ¡°Phil¡¯s working on a watercolor. He¡¯s on the other side of the street opposite the hotel.¡±


    Jeremy¡¯s uncle said, ¡°Tell him to keep painting. I want to see him at work.¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°Phil, don¡¯t stop painting. My uncle wants to watch you paint.¡±


    His uncle said, ¡°Hang up the phone. Don¡¯t interrupt him if he¡¯s painting.¡±


    I looked at the painting I was making and decided to start another. ¡°Jeremy, I¡¯ll see you when you get here. Later.¡±


    I took out a larger block of watercolor paper and put the smaller block to the side. I started with a nice loose set of washes and then used layers to slowly bring in the bodies of the buildings and the feel of the structure.


    Jeremy and a solid-looking older man with white hair came up and stood behind me.


    The man said, ¡°Don¡¯t stop painting. I don¡¯t want to change your mood.¡± Then he asked, ¡°Jeremy, is he one of those moody artists that gets in a funk easy? I can¡¯t abide by them, they bug out on you and they never finish their work.¡±


    I kept painting. ¡°I¡¯m Phil Thibodeaux, and you probably won¡¯t like working with me. I disappear without notice. I like to wander off and go fishing when I can. I¡¯m not motivated by money and gruff, bossy people annoy me.¡±


    Jeremy said, ¡°Good to see you, Phil. This is my Uncle Reardon. Call him Reardon, his name is Saerbhreathach Reardon Nilson, and he prefers to go by my grandmother¡¯s maiden name, Reardon.


    Reardon picked up the smaller painting I had mostly finished from the wall I had set it against. ¡°You put more detail into the smaller sketch, isn¡¯t that the reverse of normal order?¡±


    I continued adding layers of wash to make the shadows right. ¡°That was an architectural work to capture detail. This one is to capture mood. I was going to paint a few sculptures, but so far my favorite sculpture in Oslo is the lion behind me. I love the buildings, so that is what I am painting.¡±


    Reardon walked a little. ¡°The lights better over here.¡±


    I said, ¡°You should paint something. I have an extra block of watercolor paper, some pencils, and lots of brushes in my bag.¡±


    I glanced over at Reardon and started adding him to the painting. I painted him as if he was standing in front of me painting what I was painting and looking back at me annoyed, like he was mad that I would dare to paint what he was painting. I added him in fine detail, dry brush and tight lines over the layers of wash that was my painting. I decided to add my brush as if I was painting it still and decided to leave the part I was painting unfinished.


    Reardon and Jeremy stood on either side of me watching me paint.


    As I started cleaning my brushes, Reardon cleared his throat. ¡°I didn¡¯t give permission for you to paint me.¡±


    I kept cleaning and putting up my equipment. ¡°It only superficially resembles you, and you were never in such a pose, and I didn¡¯t see you paint anything. Besides, I¡¯m giving it to you.¡±


    He grunted and walked past us toward the road.


    I asked Jeremy, ¡°Is it going to cost you anything if I decide to run off and not spend any time with your uncle?¡±


    Jeremy looked back and forth between me and his uncle. ¡°I regularly stop speaking to him. After few months of no communication, he calls as if nothing happened. The family seems to think we¡¯re close, and I don¡¯t see why. Honestly, if we don¡¯t stay with him, we can have some fun. I¡¯ll introduce you to some of the younger friends I have around here, and we can go to London and see even more friends. I can call some friends in Brittany. If they¡¯re free, they can show you the music scene.¡±


    From the street Reardon shouted, ¡°Are you coming?¡±


    I¡¯d just packed up my stuff. The small painting was dry enough to be put away, but I was holding my bag over my shoulder and the larger block with the painting on it in my hands. Jeremy shrugged and walked over to where his uncle was. I followed him.


    Jeremy asked his uncle, ¡°Where are we going?¡±


    Reardon answered, ¡°To where I had the driver stay. It¡¯s six miles to Grass Roots Square, and I don¡¯t feel like walking all day.¡±


    I followed without catching up. When it was clear that they had reached the car, I started using my fingernail to separate the painting from the block of watercolor paper it was on top of.


    They got into the car, and Reardon put down the car window. I offered him the painting.


    He asked, ¡°Are you coming?¡±


    I shook my head as he took the painting.


    The driver rolled down the window and I backed up. I didn¡¯t know how I knew, but I knew what the driver was. He was an angel, an actual angel.


    The angel said, ¡°If you get carsick, sir, you can ride up front with me.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Don¡¯t drivers usually hold the door for their passengers?¡±


    The angel smiled. ¡°That isn¡¯t in my contract.¡±


    I walked around the front of the car ready to take to shadow or return to Fairy if the shadows seemed off. Right at the moment, the shadows seemed off.


    I sat in the passenger seat and looked at the angel.


    The angel asked, ¡°Mr. Nilson, shall I roll up the window and give you some privacy or do you wish to speak with Phil? He might enjoy the subject we were discussing earlier.¡±


    I was startled that he was using my name, but he might¡¯ve heard it from Reardon earlier.


    Reardon said, ¡°Roll up the window, not everyone is interested in discussing the Nephilim.¡±


    The driver put the window between the compartments up and started driving. ¡°We don¡¯t have time to talk much, but I have a warning for you. The plague is coming, and apart from those you already know and care about, for each one you save from the plague, ten will die in the next plague. At least in Real, where man must learn that the only gods with knowledge and wisdom as enemies are false gods.¡±


    ¡°Know that these rules are not by my agency. These rules were set by the nature of man.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Can you stop the plague?¡±


    The angel said, ¡°There is a worse plague. When men claim holiness, they break covenant. When they cease to care for their elders, they break covenant. When they lie about what they do not know, they break covenant. The covenant is not there to please or displease the almighty. It is there to protect men from becoming monsters. ¡®Til man puts truth, reason, and compassion first, plagues will come. Each will be worse. Men have made up the Rapture and pray for it to happen soon. It may but it will not be as they think.¡±


    I sat quietly. I considered that I was, by a possible point of view, a possessing being in a child¡¯s body. I considered that when I went to church I was not what church people wanted around them.


    The angel turned the car onto another road. ¡°We won¡¯t have another chance to speak. Among liminal beings, you are a liminal being. There are beings who would destroy the world to make the art they collected from it even more valuable. You are their enemy and a hunter of them. My kind is, and must be, restrained, so we watch you with anticipation. Take my warning not as a threat, but as advice from a fan.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Who makes plagues if truth, reason, and compassion are not put first?¡±


    The angel said, ¡°Without compassion, truth, and reason, medicine will not go to those it needs to go to. When the least of these are downtrodden, and authorities turn their eyes away, and the wealthy try to profit from disaster, plagues are part of nature. No spirit, divinity, or monster needs to call them forth.¡±


    The driver stopped the car beside the road. Jeffery and Reardon got out. The driver nodded to me and I got out.


    As I caught up with Jeffery and Reardon, I asked, ¡°What is a liminal being?¡±


    Reardon laughed, ¡°You might have enjoyed a discussion of the Nephilim after all. Liminal beings are the ones that are hard to classify. Like Tom Bombadil in Tolkien or chimeras in mythology. The creatures between and not entirely of one nature or another.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What is a Nephilim?¡±


    Reardon said, ¡°Maybe a Giant, maybe a Fallen Angel, maybe an angry supernatural being, or perhaps an ancient race that was here before man. I would be happy to discuss this at supper, but warn me if I am boring you.¡±


    I smiled at the thought of hearing someone entirely outside the loop talking about the supernatural. Not that I thought I knew what is what and what it all meant, but I could reduce a lot of things to being unlikely and know others that might straighten out a few things if I got confused.


    I asked, ¡°What do you call a Djinn that possesses people?¡±


    Reardon stopped and looked up for a moment. ¡°All the hidden things are Djinn. That is the meaning of the word. Even an angel might be called a Djinn. The bad ones are Marids or Efrit.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What is the difference between a Marid and an Efrit?¡±


    He nodded as he looked at me. ¡°Best I can tell by reading is that a Marid isn¡¯t as smart as an Efrit. There are also the Shaytan, Zar, Arwah, and samum, but Islamic practice will often disagree on the nature and existence of the various beings.¡±


    I asked, ¡°So, if a possessing being was sort of clever and planning to destroy the world, would he be an Efrit?¡±


    Reardon nodded and gestured for us to follow as he led us to an area where the paving slabs were held up on grass. As we got closer, it was more like plastic army men were supporting or replacing the stone. Up close, I saw they were small bronze sculptures of people.


    Reardon asked, ¡°What do you think?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Disturbing. They can be trampled and worn down. Anyone could just walk on them.¡±


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Reardon said, ¡°That may be the meaning. That may be what the artist wanted you to see.¡±


    I crouched by the tiny sculptures. Thousands of tiny sculptures.


    Reardon gestured to indicate the entire square. ¡°The Grassroots Square is interesting to me since so many people react differently to it. Some want to step on it. I know a man who wants to have it replaced so he can take it and put it in a covered courtyard in a house of his so he can keep it safe. I have a project in mind that would inspire the same sort of thinking.


    ¡°What if you made a musical forest? A sturdy child¡¯s playground of your trees that children could explore and make music or cacophony within.¡±


    I nodded. The idea seemed fun, and I could make a lot of prototypes to test forms and sounds and then settle on the best of them for music. None of the prototypes would be wasted since they could be used in a children¡¯s forest of music.


    Reardon looked up and smiled. ¡°After the patrons that we would invite in to see the woodland you made for children to play in, a lot of them will cringe at the thought of children wearing it down and breaking it. If we make a small example and have them bid for the final project to be assembled where they want it, the bids will go through the roof as they make sure that they alone can care for it, and no children will ever get near it.¡±


    I looked at the small figures and nodded. The rich people he described sounded like they might be the Efriti I was looking for.


    #


    A violinist, pianist, and double bass player had been hired to accompany Jeffery and me. All of them were tall, attractive girls in short black dresses, and I didn¡¯t think they knew what to expect when they met me. I¡¯d crafted an aluminum cajon shaped mostly like a tree stump with the stump from a cut limb as the main drum surface.


    It had a different sound, but I am willing to go to town thumping a beat on a counter, and this had lots better spots for thumping than most counters. I had an aluminum tree with anodized colors to make it look like a tallow tree in fall. Bright red, brown, and yellow leaves partially concealed the percussion instruments inside the tree canopy. I had gone childish and had small creatures like frogs that could swing out and have their mouths move when I played instruments that sounded like frogs in the distance.


    Jeffery was playing on a txalaparta he had put together. It was a rough cut pair of sawhorses made from silver birch with the bark only missing where mortise and tenon joints held it together. Resting across these sawhorses were more small logs. The bottoms of the logs had the bark removed where they rested on pads over the sawhorses and the tops where Jeffery was beating out a rhythm with a pair of wooden mallets that looked like rolling pins. It was energetic and fun.


    I wanted to join him and play beside him on it, but the reason we were on stage with these three girls was to show off the aluminum tree I was playing.


    The girls were doing a good job of improvising around the rhythms that Jeffery and I were exploring, but in keeping with the plan of presenting this as a musical project for children, we were keeping the rhythms simple.


    No one was dancing, but it didn¡¯t seem to be that sort of party. Tables of fruit, smoked meat, and cheese were scattered around. The guests mingled, carrying wine glasses and small plates, as they viewed the art on the walls.


    A woman came up to the front of the stage with a pair of children that looked to be six and eight years old. ¡°Can a young child really play on this?¡±


    I got up, winked at Jeffery, and gestured for the kids to take over. I walked away as I saw more children pointing to the stage and trying to get permission to play from the adult they were nearest.


    Jeffery joined me out on a balcony. ¡°How do you stand the cold, Phil? It¡¯s freezing out here.¡±


    I gestured with my head for us to go back in. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you would abandon your txalaparta for the kids to hammer on.¡±


    Jeffery said, ¡°That was the plan all along. I just didn¡¯t realize it was going to look so cool, sound so nice and be so fun to play. I would bid on it myself and try to keep it, but someone would report me for trying to drive up my own auction if I did.¡±


    I said, ¡°You can always have another made.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Yes, but I¡¯ll always regret losing this one. Such is dealing in art. If you can¡¯t live with regrets, you can¡¯t play the game.¡±


    Back in the hall, the music was now chaos. Children were making nonstop noise with all the effects they had managed to find, and one child had taken a pair of wooden mallets from the txalaparta and was beating on the tree to make noises I never intended for it to make. They were having fun and not endangering each other or breaking anything, but I was glad I¡¯d made it so sturdy. Because I feared that children might climb on it, I¡¯d made the leaves out of thicker aluminum to make the edges rounder and stronger. The roots were a lot longer so a child would not be able to tip it over. This was not a portable tree like I had been making before this. This was meant as installation art that would be able to handle playground abuse.


    We had agreed that unless it looked like someone was going to get hurt, we shouldn¡¯t intervene. It didn¡¯t look like it was going to be broken, so I just smiled as Jeffery gave me a nervous look.


    Jeffery said, ¡°Honestly, my feelings are hurt, one older kid and an adult on my txalaparta and you have your tree covered with all the rest of the kids.¡±


    I said, ¡°I am surprised the children¡¯s parents are letting this happen.¡±


    Jeffery shrugged. ¡°At six, they start teaching children to use knives. Norway has the happiest children in the world.¡±


    Before the children could get tired of the noise making, the three musicians returned to the stage, and I was signaled to come back and play. A few of the children were reluctant to leave. One of them was keeping the rainmaker going, so I sat on the stump and started in with a rhythm and tried to make it sound like a walk in the woods with the rain falling. With an occasional clash like thunder in the distance and the sound of frogs made by the array of four ridged wooden strips with a wood stick rubbing past them, all activated by a foot pedal disguised as a root, I managed to make the sound of the woods come to life.


    The violinist was playing along with it, and to me, it sounded like someone relaxing and then bringing up another worry as they hurried home through the damp woods as it was turning dark.


    I shifted the rhythm to make it feel like the lights of the house could be seen in the distance, and the little girl playing with the rainmaker stopped and blinked at me before running to the edge of the stage where her mother was waiting.


    We finished playing and Jeffery gestured for me to join him. ¡°What we really needed was Overkill Jones playing guitar. If Jake were here playing swamp blues with you, the bidding would be insane. I thought about inviting him, but that would give away my cover as a poor boy in Louisiana.¡±


    I noticed that people were noticing us. I nudged Jeffery. ¡°We¡¯re being watched.¡±


    Jeffery said, ¡°Conversations are going on using the same app that the bidding is being done over on for all the art. You look at a painting on your phone, and you can read and add to the chat scrolling beneath it. When they found out that the sculptor was the kid playing the percussion tree, and he is an orphan with the same genetic disorder that killed his parents, the bidding started to jump. Nothing like a tragic backstory and the imminent death of an artist to drive up sales.¡±


    I took out my phone and scanned the QR code on the wall beside a painting so I could find the app. I downloaded it and then opened a window to examine the code before I ran it. I found a few interesting bits of code in the app that I didn¡¯t quite trust. I emailed a copy to a server where Caerwyn could look it over and set a flag to alert him. Then I started editing the app to clean it up a bit. Jeffery got into a conversation while I immersed myself in the code.


    I got an alert and checked mail. Caerwyn had sent me a replacement app. He had gone right to the source, hacked the server the bidding app was linked to, and downloaded the administrator¡¯s version of the app. I was looking through the code on the admin app when Caerwyn sent me his hacked version of the admins app and could see more details on the people bidding. I could tell who was circulating among the guests in the hall and pushing to drive up prices on the artwork. No one was assigned to push up the prices on my percussion tree. I suspected that Reardon had decided not to cut the auction house in for an extra share, so that service wasn¡¯t being added. He probably had a few ringers adding comments on my percussion tree. The bidding for the tree was steadily climbing, and the bid for the installation piece was already over what we expected it to make.


    I didn¡¯t detect any Efrits in the room so I suspected that if they were involved, their bids were being made by representatives.


    A pair of kids that looked about fifteen came over to talk to me. ¡°Phil, is it? This is Olaf, I¡¯m Nils. Your bio says you are twenty-four despite looking like you¡¯re ten. Do you date?¡±


    I shook my head.


    Olaf asked, ¡°Don¡¯t like girls?¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m not girl crazy but I like girls.¡±


    Olaf nudged Nils. ¡°You¡¯re out of luck.¡±


    Nils sighed. ¡°I kind of got a crush on you watching you play music. If you ever change your mind about girls, let me know. ¡®Til then, can we be friends?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°Absolutely, but my heart is spoken for.¡±


    Nils asked, ¡°She cute?¡±


    I said, ¡°Torn between two girls right now. One is probably my age and looks it. If I hang out with her, folks will think she¡¯s creepy or my big sister. The other¡¯s a lot older, but she¡¯s so pretty no one is even going to think about me if I¡¯m nearby.¡±


    Olaf asked, ¡°Got any pictures?¡±


    I showed him the background screen on my phone with the picture of Goldilocks.


    Nils said, ¡°For her, I could turn straight. Does she like you?¡±


    I said, ¡°Well, she knows I have a crush on her, but I think she considers us just friends.¡±


    Olaf asked, ¡°Do you ride a bike?¡±


    I nodded.


    Nils asked, ¡°Mountain bike?¡±


    I shook my head.


    Nils said, ¡°You look athletic enough. We¡¯re going mountain biking tomorrow. If you want, you can rent a bike and join us.¡±


    #


    Caerwyn was looking up at a map on the projection screen and then back down at the monitor he had the Oslo bike rental places detailed on. ¡°You can¡¯t rent a bike in time to meet up with the kids in Oslo. Not without cheating and you don¡¯t want to give away your supernatural nature. You don¡¯t even know them. Are you sure about this?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m trying to make connections, and if I live a few years, some of the kids I meet might be good friends and good connections. Besides, it looks fun and riding for fun without balancing a cooler of fish on the bike¡ª¡±


    Caerwyn interrupted me, ¡°I looked at a few of the downhill runs on mountain bikes around Oslo. If they do this for fun, they might not live to become good contacts.¡±


    I brought up my inventory search for the junkyards I owned. ¡°I had some bicycles, well, a lot of bicycles. I can probably put something together from a few examples.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Sounds like a lot of work. I have a better idea that will take a lot less. Shadowstep into an expensive bike shop. Find their most expensive mountain bike and copy it like you do.¡±


    I leaned back in my chair and did a search on my phone. ¡°Best bike shop in existence.¡±


    Top of the search showed: ShadowFeet Holdings and a name to summon: Nia Gray.


    I clicked on the search.


    I ran my finger over the tiny logo on my phone that matched the logo for the website. I typed in mountain bikes. There was only one model and only one color. I clicked on the easy credit terms to find out what it would cost. I had an account already and I had credit in my balance. The balance said, ¡°Unlimited Funds Remaining.¡±


    I looked over at Caerwyn. ¡°I think I better take your advice on this one and give up on the mountain biking.¡±


    A notice on my phone let me know I just got a message.


    I had just had a delivery on a mountain bike. It was dropped of at the seven-way crossroads in Snipsnort.


    I took a deep breath. ¡°Looks like I¡¯m going mountain biking after all. Then again, my special friends have come close to killing me more than once. This might just be their best opportunity.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Bad idea, then.¡±


    I got up. ¡°Death has a sting, but I can get over it.¡±


    #


    A tiny winged Fairy was sitting with a small wooden box beside him. He got up and dusted off before picking up the box and holding it out to me. ¡°Ready for gifting?¡±


    I took the box from him. It looked more like a long wooden jewelry box but it had the silhouette of a mountain bike in a darker shade of wood inlaid on the cover. I opened the box and took out a nice wooden pen with several slides on the side like a multicolor pen. I slid one down until it locked. It was a mechanical pencil. ¡°This looks more like a pen than a mountain bike.¡±


    The Fairy gave me a look like I was clueless. ¡°Like I said, ¡®Ready for gifting?¡¯¡±


    I lowered my head and he flew up and kissed my brow. I was ready to cross my eyes since I was still recovering from the last time a winged Fairy from this group kissed me.


    Someone really liked their fancy multidimensional gizmos. I slid the rings around switched between several pens and rotated the ¡°pen¡± that was an eraser before extending and unfolding the pen into a mountain bike. I dialed in for it to be a sparkly blue and spent a while adjusting the size of it and selecting the second largest tires as the default.


    The Fairy landed on the handlebars and pointed. ¡°That way looks to have some good hills.¡±


    I got on the bike and started pedaling. I liked the bike a lot, but uphill got tiring fast and the right gear to go uphill was slow, so I turned on the assist and mostly rode up the hill on power. When it got steeper, I turned on the full drive so I was mostly just steering around the rocks as we went uphill.


    I sat beside the Fairy on a rock looking down at the slope. I was a bit nervous about riding back down it. I didn¡¯t think there was going to be a way to stop apart from falling off the bike after I got up to speed.


    The Fairy asked, ¡°So, do you like Nia Gray?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I have a prognosticator Fairy that is pretty cute that will probably know you asked that. She has plans for me. I have a crush on Goldilocks. Nia is cute and all, but she didn¡¯t seem to be interested last time I saw her, and biologically, I¡¯m probably ten and she¡¯s at least five years older biologically.¡±


    The Fairy said, ¡°She¡¯s just playing hard to get. You know a girl can¡¯t just act like she is crazy about a guy.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I can see what I look like in a mirror. She¡¯s out of my league, but then the prognosticator Fairy¡¯s out of my league and so is Goldilocks. I¡¯m pretty sure Nia can find someone better.¡±


    The Fairy laughed. ¡°Seriously? You have no idea. She has a few hundred sisters desperate to find their one true love. You have no idea at all. Someone dependable and hard working, like you shows up and they will be gathered around like you are fresh cooked meat at a barbecue.¡±


    I changed the subject, ¡°So how long are you staying to train me on this?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°I am planning to move here now that I have seen it. The Goblin girls are beginning to eye me, and I doubt I could resist one if she set her mind on catching me. Yep, even a tiny little guy like me. I told you those girls were getting desperate. I rather like my single life, so this looks like my best escape.


    ¡°I spotted a few nice holes coming up the hill that with a little bit of work could be a dream house. Apart from the shadow cats, this Fairyland seems about perfect.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Are you going to be a double agent and spy on me?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°If I were, would I admit it? Besides, it isn¡¯t like I would be the first, if I were, which I am not saying that I am. But, if you have any requests for goods from ShadowFeet, I would be happy to be your representative and get the commission on them.¡±


    I looked out across the slope down and tried to map out the least rocky path. The bike had brakes that would stop me, but there was a warning that they might or might not work in Real. I got up, got on the bike, and looked down at the Fairy who had just landed on the handlebars. ¡°You might be safer flying.¡±


    He looked back at me. ¡°What and miss the fun? Nah, since my legs won¡¯t reach the pedals, I have to catch a ride or miss out entirely.¡±


    I took off down the hill. I was right, there was going to be no way to stop without falling off the bike.

 B5-3 Faking Death

    In an uninjured form, wearing a bike suit that the ShadowFeet brochure assured me would be the best protection available even if it was not being used as a hazmat suit, I waited for the other kids to show up at the place Olaf had told me they were going to meet up at.


    I scratched at my leg where I was injured in my other form. The itching, I was told, meant I was healing. The bike suit and gloves I was wearing prevented me from effectively scratching, but without them, I was about to cause actual damage to this form while trying to claw at the itch. I needed to go to my hospital Fairyland, but I figured I would save up and give them two forms to heal after my likely bike wreck in the mountains around Oslo.


    As two young men biked past me and nodded as they passed. A girl in a warm-looking bike suit rode up and stopped a little way in front of me. ¡°You¡¯re new.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m Phil.¡±


    She asked, ¡°America?¡±


    I nodded again.


    She said, ¡°Grethe.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What?¡±


    She said, ¡°My name is Grethe.¡±


    Three more boys showed up. They looked like they were maybe seventeen.


    One said, ¡°Hi hi.¡±


    Grethe answered, ¡°Hi hi.¡±


    Another looked at me and said, ¡°Hi hi.¡±


    I replied, ¡°How are things progressing?¡±


    The third one said, ¡°Yo.¡±


    I nodded and said, ¡°Yo.¡±


    Another boy came up on a bike and made a follow-me gesture as he slowed and then biked past.


    Grethe said, ¡°See you at the bottom.¡± She followed the boy who just passed us. The three boys followed her. Before they were out of view, Olaf and Nils came into sight. As they got close, Nils gestured for me to follow.


    When it was clear ahead, I could see all five guys and Grethe on their bikes in front of me. There were places where there was no stopping, but it was a laid out bike trail. It had seen better days and some places had been eroded away by rain, but for the most part it was an okay trail.


    When I was young, fifty years back, kids were expected to risk their necks like this when playing. Nowadays in America, a place like this would be barricaded and fenced off so no one sued the owners. Here in Norway, it seemed they believed in letting their children take risks when playing. Maybe it was because their better healthcare was better than America healthcare. My healthcare was even better than the Norwegian''s and I was feeling like I was being brave.


    Nils skidded out ahead of me. I stopped a little past him and got off my bike, but he waved and got up like he was okay. I watched until he rode past before getting back on my bike. Another kid waved a finger at me as he passed me.


    This was fun, not at fast as sailing through shadows, but sometimes shadows don¡¯t provide easy paths, so having a good mountain bike handy was going to be worthwhile.


    At the bottom of the hill, the group was gathered and I joined them. Otto and Nils both hugged me. I had seen Norwegians doing this, so it didn¡¯t seem out of place to me. They were drinking coffee and the sad sandwiches they seemed to live on, so I took out some Norwegian Christmas soda and chocolate-covered marzipan pigs from my pack. I had several bags of the marzipan pigs, so I offered an extra bag for them to share. I¡¯d already placed a gateway near a Norwegian shop so I could come back and get more marzipan pigs.


    They started asking questions. I could tell that Nils and Otto had already told them about me since the other kids knew I¡¯d made a sculpture that sold for five million euros, but oddly they didn¡¯t act like that had turned me into a rich person. It was impressive to them, but my possible wealth didn¡¯t seem as important.


    I answered a lot of their questions, but when they started to zero in and ask me questions that were harder to answer, I decided to deceive them by telling the truth.


    ¡°So you have a company with a lot of machines and staff to build this stuff?¡±


    ¡°Truth is, I am a Fairy king and I make most of it in Fairy. It is easier to make a model with gossamer and then make it Real. But I have a company that lets me fake making this stuff in Real so I don¡¯t reveal my magical nature.¡±


    Nils said, ¡°I knew it. No one but a Fairy could possibly eat that much marzipan and not get sick.¡±


    Otto said, ¡°Nils hates sweets. Don¡¯t listen to him.¡±


    I grinned. ¡°Doing magic burns a lot of calories, so I get sick if I don¡¯t eat like this.¡±


    Grethe was staring at me. Not like she was in love or disgusted, more like she really believed me when I said I did magic. I¡¯d probably gone too far.


    I went back to my bike and waved to them. ¡°I need to get back to work. This was fun. Call me next time you have something planned.¡±


    I added some assist to the speed, not enough to be noticed but enough to put some distance between me and the group before any of them decided to follow me.


    I was nearly out of the clearing and about to be riding under trees again when I glanced back. Grethe was head-down bicycling behind me and just far enough to safely brake if I stopped suddenly. My plan to stop and go to shadow was ruined. I turned off on a trail going uphill, hoping she¡¯d continue on the paved area, but she followed behind me. The hill was getting to be steep and hard to get up as we got further from the paved trail. I had glanced back and skidded out. My bike was nearly magical but it wasn¡¯t that magical.


    The suit was pretty close to magical, though. I didn¡¯t feel a scratch apart from where I was injured in another form of my body.


    She sat beside me. ¡°You hurt?¡±


    I said, ¡°No, my suit protected me.¡±


    Grethe asked, ¡°Is your suit magic?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Maybe. Either way, it¡¯s pretty amazing. You don¡¯t really believe in magic do you?¡±


    She didn¡¯t smile, just looked straight ahead. ¡°Sort of. Not really. But, yeah. Not until I met you.¡±


    I looked up at the trees. ¡°That almost sounds like a confession of love.¡±


    Grethe made a laugh like a short grunt. ¡°Nope. I¡¯m not into boys. Not into girls either.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Why do you believe in magic?¡±


    She dusted some dirt of her gloves and mostly just smeared what was nearly mud into them while doing it. ¡°I¡¯ll answer this using your same trick. I was born able to tell when folk lied. Well, the reverse really. Truth sounds different. I can¡¯t know if it¡¯s really true except sometimes, but when they believe it¡¯s true, it sounds different. Sometimes it rings like a bell. Sometimes, I know it¡¯s really true.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I am not into boys or girls. Everyone lies. They just do. When you were starting to skirt the truth, you decided to tell the truth to avoid our knowing the truth. When you said you were a Fairy king, it rang. Do you really do magic?¡±


    I thought about it for a moment. ¡°If it happens, no matter what it is, it is real. What a person calls magic, miracle, or science is all based on your understanding. If it happens then it¡¯s real, your or my lack of understanding does not make it magic. Computers are real. Do you really know how they work?¡±


    She asked, ¡°Do you?¡±


    I decided not to answer since I was able to make and modify something very like and in many ways more advanced than the computers she knew. There were things that were too complex for me to solve though so my answer wasn¡¯t going to be simple.


    Through the trees, I saw the rest of the group ride past on the paved road below.


    She said, ¡°My parents divorced because of me. I was little and I could tell a lie from truth. I figured it out and shut up. I was taken away for a while.


    ¡°I started swimming as a sport since you could be with people and make friends and maybe not talk. After you get on teams, you start talking. I lifeguard at a water park.¡±


    I looked up. A few flakes of snow were drifting in the air.


    Grethe smiled. ¡°First snow of the year. It¡¯s early.¡±


    I asked, ¡°You have water parks in Norway?¡±


    She nodded.


    I asked, ¡°You mountain bike a lot?¡±


    She got up. ¡°I can hang out with people and not talk much. I¡¯m beginning to get over not talking, but when people lie, I shut up. We should go. If it gets slick, riding can be rough downhill.¡±


    I looked up at the gray sky through the trees. I had no way to tell how bad the weather might get.


    Snow was falling, none of it was sticking, but the road was getting damp. We stood straddling our bikes, and I held out my hand. ¡°Want to take a shortcut?¡±


    She took my glove in her glove, and I took us into shadow, bikes and all. We sailed through the trees. The gray day in the open areas didn¡¯t have enough shadow, so I found the nearest edge of woodland and brought us out in the woods near a road.


    She took her hand back and looked up at the trees. ¡°Like diving into water.¡± She went back into shadow. I¡¯d thought she was too old to become a Goblin. I didn¡¯t have the feeling like I was adopting her, but now I felt responsible. She may have already been part Goblin. I went into shadow to make sure she didn¡¯t do anything foolish.


    The small flurries of snow had given way to a short drizzle which stopped by the time I¡¯d taught her as much as I could in an hour. I warned her of the dangers of shadow stepping. She knew the area, so she found paths through shadow into Oslo.


    I felt the presence of an Efrit, so I made note of the spot as we sailed through shadow. Near my hotel, I stepped out of shadow.


    Grethe stepped out beside me. ¡°Where next?¡±


    I said, ¡°I have to go to work now. Be careful in shadow.¡±


    She nodded and slipped back into shadow. Her ripples faded into the distance, and I was free to investigate. I slid back into shadow and back along the way we had come. In a stone-walled alley shaded by bushes that came over the walls, I glanced around and switched forms to put my bike away. I walked down streets paved with brick and stone until I passed by and was walking away from the feeling of invasive evil.


    #


    Two men in an outdoor dining area were talking in a language unknown by man.


    ¡°Peracai, we are not that close.¡±


    ¡°I can offer you a gateway to riches.¡±


    ¡°I will not part with a prophet or even let a prophet point to one that could be made a prophet for anything less than a gateway to the next world.¡±


    ¡°It is too soon to depart.¡±


    ¡°This world is edging too close for you not to have a gateway ready. If you hold them too long, there are those that may decide to push back against you. Be warned, Cuyan.¡±


    In the reflection off my milk glass, I saw Cuyan lean back. ¡°If I had a prophet, I might heed your warning. You are not making me love you.¡±


    ¡°I think the boy is trying to follow our conversation.¡±


    ¡°Let him try. His kind will gasp and die as sulfuric fumes blow over them. He will die as he was born. Ignorant.


    ¡°I cannot give you a gateway to the next world. Nor access to one. But I can let you know where many of the mighty have moved yachts and built homes.¡±


    ¡°Well, then, maybe I can give you a seer.¡±


    ¡°A seer? Is that the best you have?¡±


    ¡°Best I will give. But a seer will show you what could happen if you play false by me.¡±


    Without looking at the reflection, I could tell the were both looking my way. I got up and made sure they didn¡¯t get a good look at my face as I walked out.


    #


    In a nearby shop, I¡¯d purchased a range of clothing that looked like what Norwegian ten-year-old boys would wear when I felt the evil moving. By the time I was out of the shop with my purchases, it was clear, by the feeling of their evil presences, that they had separated and one was leaving the area fast. I didn¡¯t want to lose either of them, but I wasn¡¯t sure how to track them both.


    I turned into an owl to try and get an aerial view. It was a mistake. I was in air and I felt the nearer presence coming for me. In owl form, I attracted them. I turned into a rook and dove. I could not feel either of them as a rook.


    Before I was a Goblin, I saw a submarine movie on TV. It was black and white and I couldn¡¯t remember any of it but the set and the feeling and the ping noises as they tried to blindly find an enemy submarine. With my Goblin brothers, I used to play a game on paper where we sunk each others¡¯ battleships by choosing grids to fire on. This felt like that.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    I didn¡¯t know if they could sense me as a raven, but I was without any sense of them. If I turned into me, and they were there to see, my game might reveal itself. This was like fishing for big ones in a dark muddy bog where the locals don¡¯t like strangers fishing their favorite spots. Sometimes you just have to cut bait and run.


    I flew off until I was out of sight or hearing of anyone and then landed. No one seemed to be near, but if I¡¯d been followed, they might see me transform.


    #


    I took myself to my Fairyland hospital and turned into myself with my leg skinned up but more or less healed.


    The ten-year-old-looking girl nurse started to cut away the blood-soaked parts of my jeans with a pair of large scissors.


    The little girl doctor turned off the TV and picked up a jar of gauze. ¡°Would you prefer to be unconscious, or do you want to act all brave in front of girls?¡±


    I narrowed my eyes. ¡°Seems like I would be braver if I let you knock me out.¡±


    She nodded. I felt her try to knock me out. I decided to let her since the jeans being pulled off the scabs they covered wasn¡¯t something I wanted to keep feeling.


    #


    I was dreaming that we were standing beside a set where the actors were being filmed for a subtitled Korean drama. I saw the subtitles even though I was right there watching it being filmed. The actors were eating lasagna. When I woke up, the nurse told me food is medicine, and I needed something substantial.


    When I finished eating, I started picking up plates to take to the kitchen when a small Fairy in a maid suit gave me a hard look. I put the dishes down, and she smiled like she had just decided to let me live. I was wearing my ugliest jeans shorts, so I went to my Anabranch Fairyland and took to shadow.


    #


    I swapped clothing on several forms so I could blend in on the streets of Oslo and tested my various forms. If I was going to be playing a game of hide-and-seek with an Efrit, I wanted every advantage and to know all my disadvantages. I had a form of myself where I sensed the Efrit, and they didn¡¯t seem to sense me, but my range was not as great as my normal form. As an owl, I had the most experience spying on Djinn, but I didn¡¯t know the ranges. As a raven, I didn¡¯t detect them.


    My sense of them was different in different forms. Before I was possessed for the first time, I¡¯d never sensed them. Afterwards, I did. My best advantage seemed to be my original form with some dental work and shaping of my jaw.


    Swampy in her small bat-winged Fairy form came in the window and sat on the sill. ¡°Phil, if you¡¯re going to keep attracting new girls, and I think you are, I¡¯m going to have to have you help me reduce the numbers, or prognostication¡¯s going to get complicated. Grethe is no real threat, but she is a complication.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll look eleven soon enough, but that hardly makes me an appropriate target for romance. How do I reduce the numbers?¡±


    She put a finger to her chin like she was being cute while thinking. ¡°There¡¯ll be big party for Goblins on Halloween this year. The moon will be full for three days, and the prophecies say that bad things are coming, there¡¯ll be some serious music and serious partying. You should try to attend.¡±


    I asked, ¡°In Gary, Indiana?¡±


    She said, ¡°That one will be bigger, but the one I¡¯m thinking of is less rock and more bluegrass. The one you want to look for is in Virginia.¡±


    I looked back at the outfits I was putting on in various forms and realized I wasn¡¯t going to be comfortable changing into them with Swampy watching. Back when I just thought of her as a cute Fairy, it wouldn¡¯t have bothered me, she was just like one of the boys. Now that she had a solid form that had interesting curves, things were different. ¡°Swampy, I need to see if I can find a pair of Efrits first. Am I in a hurry?¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°You have a few days.¡±


    #


    When I returned to my hotel room in Olso, I detected the Efrit immediately. My owl form was a beacon so I couldn¡¯t use it, but my rook form was blind to what I needed to see so it was useless apart from being able to fly. I left the hotel, still feeling the Efrit¡¯s presence, and then spotted him. Cuyan, the one that was looking for a prophet, was hurrying through the streets. I let him get as far away as I could feel him. I had a direction sense of him that wasn¡¯t precise, and it faded as he got about two blocks away. At three blocks, he was hard to spot and hard to pinpoint for direction. Flying from rooftop to rooftop and using my rook form¡¯s sharp vision to spot him, I turned into myself to test range further. I lost the feeling nearly six blocks away. I tested my various forms and could not detect him until I turned back into an owl. I saw him collapse and the dark shape started coming for me.


    #


    It was too soon for me to confront him. I wanted more information, so I went to Fairy, turned back into me with my jaw slightly fixed, and returned to my hotel room in Oslo.


    Outside in the streets, he was still hunting for me. I kept watch over him. He appeared to be working himself up into a rage as he searched. I saw binoculars in a window display, so I went in and bought a few pairs of them and a telescope.


    #


    It was dark when the Efrit gave up and boarded a yacht. He sat by a hot tub set into the deck, and a servant brought him supper. I sat on a roof well out of sensing distance watching with binoculars and eating a catfish poorboy.


    He picked up his phone and started talking. He disrobed and got into the hot tub. I finished my sandwich and continued surveillance. It was slow so I summoned Caerwyn.


    ¡°I¡¯m watching an Efrit making phone calls. How do I intercept his calls?¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Where are you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m in Oslo on a rooftop using a pair of binoculars to watch the guy. He¡¯s in a hot tub on the deck of a yacht. Not the biggest I have seen, but it looks pretty fast.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Perfect, let me get some stuff and then you bring me there.¡±


    #


    Caerwyn was carrying a heavy battery system in one hand and a large case in the other. He opened the case and pointed. ¡°Phil, hook up the power while I set up the antenna. How long has he been on this call?¡±


    I started uncoiling a power cable. ¡°Not long. He¡¯s made several calls, and none of them lasted too long.¡±


    Caerwyn pointed to the box. ¡°Then plug the coax cable into the stingray and give me the other end.¡±


    I connected the power to the Stingray unit and started uncoiling the coax cable. ¡°How do we do this?¡±


    Caerwyn slid off his backpack and continued setting up the antenna. ¡°All the software is on my laptop. After we get it set up, we can find out what our options are. If we can¡¯t hack the existing cell tower, we either wait for him to make a new call, or we interrupt service to end this one.¡±


    I handed him the end of the coax cable. ¡°Where did you get this?¡±


    He said, ¡°This thing? It¡¯s three years old. Some police were trying to spy on a friend so I tracked it and confiscated their setup. The cops didn¡¯t have a warrant, so I figured I was preventing crime. If we lose it, it hardly matters. The laptop was theirs as well. As are most of the security cameras we¡¯re about to setup. We are going to set this up to record and send the calls to a dropbox. If it gets confiscated, no big deal, I have better and I¡¯ve been needing an excuse to get one I read about last month. Toss me that power cable.¡±


    After securing everything and protecting it from the rain, Caewyn set up the cameras to watch the equipment and to watch the yacht.


    ¡°Thanks, Phil. This will give me some entertainment for a while and it¡¯s nice getting out.¡±


    I finished making a gateway to my transport Fairylands so we could get back before I replied. ¡°I haven¡¯t done gifting before, do you want to see if I can gift you with some Efrit languages so you can tell what they¡¯re saying after we have a few recordings?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Go ahead and gift me. Mom worries about me not practicing but coding a speech-to-text translator for a language usually does the trick for long-term memory.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Caerwyn, there is going to be some serious Goblin partying this Halloween. Full moon and all. One party will be at the place you went to in Gary. The other will have bluegrass music and is somewhere in Virginia. Do you want to go to either of them?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Maybe. I like the music and getting out, but I was dropped pretty hard by the Goblin girls. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m their type. Yeah, I know, but looks aren¡¯t everything. I mean, they saw me and of course they fell in love, but then when I got serious talking to them it was like I was¡ªI don¡¯t know, but I wasn¡¯t their type. I overheard one say I sounded just like Dread Daddy-O. Apparently, that isn¡¯t a bad thing but not what you want a boyfriend to sound like.¡±


    #


    With time sped up, we gathered in Hubert¡¯s kitchen in Snipsnort. Hubert, Anthony, Caerwyn, Mrs. Nelson, and I listened to the first of the Efrit¡¯s conversations. Hubert and Anthony agreed that there was no point in trying to gift either of them, but if we translated out loud they could pick up the language quickly.


    When it finished, Caerwyn rubbed his forehead. ¡°Translating this is going to be a pain. It¡¯s an alien language. It didn¡¯t originate in our universe. Phil, should we subtitle this or just collect their viewpoint?¡±


    Mrs. Nelson said, ¡°Subtitles so Hubert and Anthony can learn the language. Three colors on separate lines, one that gives the meaning and one that is literal and one that take a words or phrase and describes the allusions the word or phrases refers to.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Should we call them by pronounced name or meaning? From this one conversation, I think we need Venn diagrams to plot out all the groups these things belong to. We may need Venn diagrams to identify them, because it seems like a lot of them keep more than one host body, some of the host bodies will serve them without being inhabited and some of them share host bodies between them.¡±


    I imagined the crazy wall of Venn diagrams we¡¯d need and decided that if the wall started getting too big, my only answer would be to get rid of the Efrits who made things too complex.


    #


    As Caerwyn sat in front of his monitors working on translations for Hubert and Anthony, I sat back and thought about how to draw the complex relations the Efrits had. I was trying to listen to the conversations and give Caerwyn input, but I found myself loosing focus and drifting off. I resisted it for a while, but then I decided to just take a nap.


    #


    I woke up holding a crystal ball in both hands. I remembered a dream where I was on a glass throne saying, ¡°No more time, never mind,¡± as I looked into a crystal ball.


    I looked over at my friend still working on translating. ¡°Caerwyn, what¡¯s this for?¡±


    Caerwyn looked at me and then down at the crystal ball. ¡°Did you make it while you were sleeping? Can you make things while you are sleeping? I don¡¯t know. Look into it and see if you can see the future.¡±


    I held it up. Inside the ball, I saw a menu which scrolled as I looked. The first line said, ¡°Stare at the dot to select an item.¡±


    The second said, ¡°Message to Phil.¡±


    I looked at the dot and the menu changed.


    ¡°Show in crystal ball¡±, ¡°Show in area,¡± and ¡°Advanced actions¡± were on the new list.


    I selected, ¡°Show in area,¡± and then followed through menus until I¡¯d selected an area on the table and chose ¡°Play.¡±


    A Fairy with bronze feathered wings sat on a glass throne.


    He leaned forward. ¡°I am you and you are me. Caerwyn, if I guess right, is able to see and hear this, so I won¡¯t be giving any embarrassing secrets away. Well, maybe I will, but get over it. So you went to sleep, and I managed to wake up mostly intact.


    ¡°Free from my body and the stupidity of mortal form, I looked at Caerwyn working away at translating evil nonsense that matters and my Phil body snoozing away. I didn¡¯t look like I was going to stay asleep long, so I had to hurry.


    ¡°First, I needed a way to talk to me as Phil since he wasn¡¯t going to remember any of this when he woke up. I considered gifting him, but that might end up in a feedback loop and cause brain damage. Gifting myself might not work out. I thought about gifting things I didn¡¯t know, but that might make me crazy instead of just daft. Still, it¡¯d be cool to know what I don¡¯t know. Maybe worth the risk.


    ¡°Phil didn¡¯t remember the mirrored ball that Lady Kissykiss had me as Phil make multiple copies of. The mirror ball projected illusions, and even had the option to keep people¡¯s imaginations from interacting with the illusion when accuracy is needed and not just illusion.


    ¡°That ruins everything if you¡¯re trying to turn an old black and white Twilight Zone episode into a three dimensional color image, but reality tends to ruin most good plans. Still, I had chosen to be mired in reality, so I gotta work with the tools I got.


    ¡°When Bran the Blessed and the Dread Lord worked over the designs for their illusion maker, they left a lot out since they didn¡¯t want them too complex so their illusion maker wouldn¡¯t get possessed. That meant they had to keep sections that should be together apart, and frankly, their work is hobbled. But then, since they don¡¯t know possession the way I and I or you and I do, Phil, they didn¡¯t know you could make it smart, tight, and nasty-tasting if someone tries to take it over.


    ¡°So, here you go. I put some instructions in on how to fix the cameras in your tripod and art equipment. Given a few months work, I think I¡¯ll be able to follow instruction and figure out how to use, modify, and make more of these crystal balls, but I don¡¯t know. Being in mortal form limits brain efficiency.


    ¡°Oh, just great. I¡¯m waking up. Phil, use this to make your Venn crazy wall. That was the point of the dream. And, oh, the crystal ball can translate, and well, no more time, never mind¡ª¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Does this mean you¡¯re daft?¡±


    I winced. ¡°Probably. But a lot of us are daft when we dream. I just take it a step further.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°Can it really translate?¡±


    I looked at the crystal ball. ¡°I just got it, so I haven¡¯t tested it, but why would I lie to myself?¡±


    I held the crystal ball. As far as I could tell, this was unique and something I had made. Sort of. My sense of me kept getting further and further away.


    Mrs. Nelson was shouting from downstairs, ¡°Stop, Phil, Caerwyn, Stop.¡±


    Caerwyn opened the door. I could hear Mrs. Nelson coming up the stairs.


    ¡°What ever you are doing or about to do, stop immediately.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Mom, we weren¡¯t doing anything.¡±


    From further away, Hubert¡¯s voice asked, ¡°Phil, Caerwyn. Don¡¯t play any of the recordings. Phil, be careful with what you just crafted. It¡¯s precious.¡± His voice became clearer as Mrs. Nelson came into the room. She let out an exasperated sound and started picking up empty drinking glasses.


    Hubert continued as he came up the stairs and into the room. ¡°Phil, I see you making more of the crystals in the future, but I fear it being broken if we use it before you make more of them.¡±


    He came in and looked at the crystal ball I was holding. ¡°How appropriate. Phil, that crystal¡¯s resonance lets me see glimpses of the future. Now that I see bits of future, other seers will be looking for us. Don¡¯t play anymore of the recordings until we have a way to do it without drawing the wrong attention.¡±


    I held up the crystal. ¡°I may be able to duplicate this in an hour or so if I work at it. It may take a month to understand it, if I can understand it.¡±


    Mrs. Nelson turned to Hubert. ¡°I thought you said he made it.¡±


    I gestured with my head to a box with packing materials that was stacked with several other boxes on top of unopened boxes of computer equipment.


    Mrs. Nelson looked at the boxes I was gesturing toward. ¡°Caerwyn, you need to tidy up.¡±


    I said, ¡°No and yes, I made it but, never mind. It¡¯s complicated. Could someone bring over that small box with packing material? I want to put this crystal ball where it won¡¯t roll away while I study it.¡±


    I put it in the box where it was secure but visible and set the box on the table in front of me. I got comfortable, closed my eyes, and started looking at it in a different way. I relaxed my mind and let the method of filing things away take hold and filed away the exact details of how the crystal ball was made. Then I started working.


    #


    The crystal ball had an effect that prevented examination, but it recognized me and let me see what I needed to see. It was beautiful. Transparent layers in resonant, electronic, and optical circuits laid out with beautiful grace that few could possibly ever see. The me that was me while I was dreaming was showing off. If I was going to ever fall victim to Gossamer Art Derangement Syndrome, it would be while examining this.


    The rules gifted to me like a program my mind could follow to build a recording that kept moving me past trace and line of exquisite art made of layers having the same index of refraction and clarity or compensation to give it the same refractive properties as the rest. Hidden bits were reflected around so it all appeared transparent and even the configuration of the microscopic reflective surfaces were arranged with precise artistry.


    #


    As I finished studying the crystal, I took a deep breath and made a duplicate of it. Having it copied and having that copy in my mind, I realized that I had been gifted with parts of this in various gifts and parts of me had designed this. I was pretty sure it wouldn¡¯t take me an entire month to figure out most of what I didn¡¯t already grasp about the crystal ball I held in my hands.


    Caerwyn was sitting beside me doing translation work. I made a stand for the crystal ball and peered into it long enough to make it display the words, ¡°Caerwyn, this one is for you to play with,¡± appear over it. I slid it and the crystal ball over next to Caerwyn¡¯s keyboard.


    Anthony was near the doorway, he glanced at Caerwyn, and then gestured for me to follow him. At the bottom of the stairs, he stopped and turned to face me. ¡°Hubert and Mrs. Nelson are cooking shrimp Newburg. Hubert wants to see you as soon as possible.¡±


    I handed Anthony a crystal ball and stand before running down the stairs.


    In the kitchen, Mrs. Nelson gave me a plate with shrimp Newburg over noodles.


    Hubert sat beside me. ¡°We didn¡¯t have any puff pastry ready. We¡¯ll make that next time.¡±


    I made two stands and made crystal balls to put on them and started eating.


    Hubert and Anthony picked up crystal balls. Hubert held his up. ¡°It is good the see things clearly, Phil, when we slow down and return to speed, other prognosticators will know someone just joined the game. We need to disarm a few of them before they start looking our way.


    ¡°You have a recycling center in Arizona that¡¯s mostly shut down. An occasional delivery is accepted and when enough stuff builds up, it¡¯s loaded on a train car and taken to one of your active sites to be processed. I want you to make up a delivery for it. Fill it with stuff that resonates the way I used to need it to resonate.


    ¡°Archer will be lured there. You¡¯re able to create a corpse. If you can fake your death and leave a mangled body that Archer can take as evidence you¡¯re dead, we can buy some time, and they won¡¯t link the new prognosticator with you or as me. You¡¯ll have to play dead for a while so get all the resources from your identity in Real that you¡¯ll need.


    ¡°First thing you need to do when we slow time down is to summon the Queen of Shadows. Give her a crystal ball and tell her you¡¯re going to die soon, but plan to come back.


    ¡°This way they¡¯ll keep your estate going so you can still use it when you come back. The crystal ball will be a message to them and in their hands, it will give me security from anything Archer or the rest have planned.¡±


    I stopped eating and took a drink of the ginger ale Mrs. Nelson had set beside me. ¡°Thanks, Mrs. Nelson. The crystal ball there is yours. Hubert. What message are we sending them?¡±


    Hubert said, ¡°A confusing one. I haven¡¯t figured out what it means apart from our needing to do it.¡±


    I had stopped talking and had just gone back to eating when Lord Loadstone summoned me.


    ¡°King Snipsnort, there is some worry at Realmsedge since their ships are not coming back. I have assured them that it is due to the sped-up time, but there is some worry.¡±


    I had a mouth full of food so he disconnected before I could tell him anything.


    I covered my mouth. ¡°Our speeding things up and staying that way means the ships that went out have not returned for a long time. I want to study this crystal ball, but it might take me a month, so I am going to go to another Fairyland to speed time so this one can return to being functional.¡±

 B5-4 Preparing to Die

    In Anabranch, Swampy was waiting for me. ¡°Phil, in Norway, an Efrit is looking for you. You have to deal with him quickly. Deal with the Efrits he¡¯s in contact with, too. He is going to start investigating to find you. In his case, investigation means possessing people, to rummage through their memories. If he has asked about someone with your description, after he disappears, the others will start asking questions. He and others will be possessing and mangling people who look your age.¡±


    Suddenly, I had lots of thing I had to do all at the same time. I sped time so I could plan. With time sped up, none of my problems were going to get worse, but none of them were going to go away either. In any case, being ready was my best choice.


    #


    Swampy and I pulled the seine net up onto the shore. She wasn¡¯t the best partner for seining since she was distracted by the ripples as we worked, but even with a lousy partner a seine was still the best way to get bait. In this case, we were catching fresh water shrimp for grilling, but the extra minnows, perch, and whatever else managed to get caught in the net were not going to be wasted.


    As we picked the stuff most likely to flop out of the net first and tossed them into buckets, Swampy gestured to the water. ¡°Since everything else but us here in this world seems frozen in time, I¡¯ve gotten a lot of details on what will be moments from now, but nothing sweeping and large.


    ¡°I think I need to visit Real and I think I need to meet up with Hubert. We don¡¯t want to slow down yet, but if we brought Hubert here, he could enjoy shrimp with us. He and I could talk while you spend hours staring into crystal balls. Funny that. You would think a crystal ball would be my thing, but then your crystal balls mostly tell the past.¡±


    I picked up part of the net so I could concentrate minnows into a smaller area to make them easier to pick up by the handful. ¡°I should be finished soon. I need to get some equipment from Caerwyn so I can figure out how to integrate it with a crystal ball. I¡¯ve already managed with my laptop and cell phone, but if I can get this to hack into the data channels for cellular towers, it may be able to triangulate and locate phones.


    ¡°If I can find out where the cellular towers are sending their meta data, then I will know where Caerwyn and I need to get access to. If government agencies and businesses are exchanging metadata, the odds are good that we can access the same channels.


    ¡°That will let me locate the Efrits that Cuyan has called. In turn, I may be able to track down more Efrits.¡±


    Swampy abandoned me to picking up shrimp and walked back out to stir the water. ¡°You will place crystal balls. That¡¯s all I can tell right now. Other than that, I see you putting fish and shrimp in your filtered tanks to feed and a wonderful meal in two days, our time, with Caerwyn and Hubert.¡±


    #


    I didn¡¯t get as far in my studies with the crystal ball as I wanted to since I spent one of the two days getting a place for Hubert and Caerwyn ready. I also set up places for Mrs. Nelson and Anthony if they wanted to come. Another half a day was spent making clothing for Swampy to wear in her full-sized form. Near the end of the day, I sped time up in Snipsnort to match with Anabranch and setup a gateway so we could bring equipment through.


    Mrs. Nelson came in just to make sure it would be safe for Caerwyn and went back to Snipsnort after she looked around. Anthony wanted to fish and had a stack of books he wanted to read so he was content to stay in Anabranch.


    #


    Caerwyn rolled back in his chair. ¡°We¡¯re having you interface and incorporate equipment that¡¯s as much as three years out of date with your crystal ball. We need to match time with Real, and we need you to go in person and pick up the latest greatest.¡±


    I stretched and picked up my glass of tea. ¡°The cutting edge has too many issues. I prefer the stuff that has been tested for three years, and the drivers have all had the bugs worked out. You have everything up to date on drivers and firmware, and it¡¯s all functional in the real world.¡±


    Caerwyn rolled his eyes. ¡°You can incorporate both of them if you want to be careful. Keep a choice. When they made the Stingray you are incorporating in the crystal ball, 5G was brand new technology. It works, but it¡¯s not the best. Not by a long shot.¡±


    I nodded and then shook my head vigorously. ¡°Hubert and Swampy have nearly every hour of my time in Real mapped for the first four days. I¡¯m going to have to take breaks sped up in Fairy to maintain the pace. I¡¯m probably going to have to fake a death twice, take out twenty Efrits, deal with bombs, and give myself air tight alibis in three places while meeting with the Queen of Shadows, and Deacon Dan, two Deaths, an Ogre, Jeremy¡¯s Uncle Reardon, and Rodrigo aka Blubblub. After all of that, I need to check on Mr. Miller before he hears that I died.


    Then it still stays busy. Are you sure you don¡¯t want to go to a Goblin music festival this Halloween? I can¡¯t imagine you wanting to miss out.¡±


    Caerwyn rolled his chair back up to the table and put his hands on a keyboard. ¡°Yes, I want to go to a Goblin party. You knew I would give in. Only chance of my getting out and into a party in Real the rest of the year, and if the coming plague is what they say it is, I might not get out for several more years. I can always go to the villages in Snipsnort, but the real world may be off limits for ages.¡±


    #


    After a week, Hubert and Caerwyn decided to go back to Snipsnort. Anthony was having fun exploring the swamps in a canoe and fishing, so he stayed in Anabranch. I gave him a copy of my most up to date version of the crystal ball so we could keep in touch.


    My studies had slowed down since I decided to examine my Shadowfeet brand cell phone to see what I could learn there. Anthony was documenting his exploration using recording technology I¡¯d gotten from studying my art tripod so we could keep up with him using the crystal balls.


    Swampy was bringing me meals and having me make outfits for her based on illusions she came up with. I took breaks and did watercolor portraits of her, but I kept my nose to the grindstone and continued studying the crystal ball.


    #


    Anthony and I were peeling crawfish when Swampy came in with corn and potatoes. ¡°We cooked a lot. We¡¯ll be waiting here with food ready when you come back.¡±


    Anthony asked, ¡°Why not Snipsnort?¡±


    Swampy took a crawfish from the platter we were sharing and started peeling it. ¡°The folk in Snipsnort are hoping to stay slowed down. After Phil is rested and fed, he¡¯ll need to speed up Snipsnort for a bit so Hubert can come back here to work on planning and so Phil can make a few things using Snipsnort mass.¡±


    #


    In Oslo, I started a summons, ¡°Queen of Shadows, the King of Snipsnort summons thee.¡±


    A feeling like the wind had just picked up and stopped just before she answered, ¡°Please come here, King Snipsnort.¡±


    #


    In a Fairyland garden on a high hill, the Queen of Shadows sped time. At the distant base of the mountain was a huge maze made from long brightly colored blocks stacked like bricks. A raccoon in a vest ran toward us on two feet, with a small yellow tomato in its paws. He offered it to me. ¡°Your highness.¡±


    The Queen of Shadows nodded, and I took the tomato and chewed it. It was a really nice tomato and as I expected, eating it gave me a connection to the Fairyland we were in.


    I asked, ¡°Are we sharing this world or are you giving it to me?¡±


    She said, ¡°Giving it but really sharing. I will still come here from time to time. You can use the mass on this world freely and the vegetables are yours to use. The coolers are yours as well.¡±


    I felt the world connect to me, so instead of pulling out a crystal ball, I made one and handed it to her.


    She laughed. ¡°A Goblin king just handed me a crystal ball.¡±


    I gave her a puzzled look.


    She held the ball up. ¡°From the movie Labyrinth.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Never saw it. The sort of movies that children go to are dangerous for a Goblin unless they are looking for children to adopt. In any case, I am going to die soon, but plan to come back. If you can keep my identity going in Real, I would be grateful.¡±


    She asked, ¡°Why are you dying?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°If I talk about it, it becomes easier for someone to figure out.¡±


    The Queen of Shadows nodded. ¡°Wise, but this Fairyland is in another universe and protected on top of that. We can talk with quite a bit more freedom here. Why the crystal ball?¡±


    I made another. ¡°This is like the mirror balls you use to show things. It has a few updates. It can make gossamer as well as illusion and it has a few more tricks. I¡¯m told it is a message to you, but we don¡¯t know what the message is.¡±


    She held it up and peered into it.


    The raccoon asked, ¡°Shall I make us a salad?¡±


    A bowl appeared in her hand, and she put it down in front of the raccoon. ¡°Taco salad. One of my favorites.¡±


    The raccoon sat with it in front of him and put his snout over the bowl to smell it.


    The Queen of Shadows continued looking into the crystal ball. ¡°Sorry, Phil, but I cannot share the salad with you. You would gain connections to at least three more Fairylands that I¡ª¡±


    Her eyes widened as she looked into the crystal ball.


    The raccoon picked up the bowl and made a dry rasping sound before saying, ¡°Must have water.¡± He walked off carrying the bowl of taco salad.


    I watched him walk and realized that the maze in the distance was made of stacked shipping containers that I was guessing were time coolers.


    I asked, ¡°Are all of those time coolers?¡±


    The Queen of Shadows momentarily glanced at me before looking back into the crystal ball. ¡°Yes, we have been collecting food from Real for quite some time. It is nice to be able to ignore expiration dates.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Why so generous?¡±


    She kept peering into the crystal ball. ¡°We have been advised that meals are often an issue for you. We don¡¯t know how else to repay you. You face things, that for various reasons, we cannot.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What sort of reasons?¡±


    She made the crystal ball disappear. ¡°If the Efrits decide that my group is actively going after them, they will initiate Armageddon. If the North American Deaths decide we are active in America, then we will have another confrontation, and this is not a good time for them to escalate against us. The coming plague will be bad enough.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°The Angel said, ¡®¡¯Till man puts truth, reason, and compassion first, plagues will come. Each will be worse.¡¯¡±


    The Queen of Shadows asked, ¡°Did you speak with an Angel?¡±


    I nodded and she disappeared. She tried to slow time in the Fairyland I was in, but I didn¡¯t let her.


    I walked through the garden on the high hill. Mostly tomatoes, basil, and onions.


    A man¡¯s voice called out, ¡°King Snipsnort?¡±


    A slender college-aged fellow not much taller than me was walking toward me. He stopped about twenty feet away. I felt something almost like possession happening. I tried binding him to my Fairyland of Death, but my power felt like I was just trying to bind stone. I took myself to the Fairyland of Death.


    #


    Without entering me, he had been touching my mind, reaching into my memories, and how I thought. Once again, I had made contact with the Queen of Shadows and once again, I felt like she was dangerous even when she was trying to help.


    I felt a summons. It was the Queen of Shadows. ¡°I summon thee, Phil, King of Snipsnort.¡±


    I considered just closing the connection but decided to play this carefully. I opened the connection.


    ¡°Phil, you left the place we can safely talk.¡±


    I answered, ¡°Safely? That would mean that there wasn¡¯t someone there attacking me.¡±


    She said, ¡°Roc, he says someone attacked him.¡± After a moment she said, ¡°Roc assures me that he would never attack you. He¡¯s desperate for you to come back.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Can I see where you are?¡±


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    She answered, ¡°I¡¯m not in the other world, and we shouldn¡¯t meet where I am.¡±


    I said, ¡°Sorry, I am planning to get blown up soon and possessed a dozen or so times in the near future. Thank you for all your help, but I should really focus on the tasks in front of me.¡±


    I disconnected the summons. The Queen of Shadows tried to contact me again. Several other people who I didn¡¯t know tried to summon me.


    Nia Gray summoned me. I answered. ¡°Phil, I have several people who want to talk with you.¡±


    I answered, ¡°Nia, I know you mean well, but right now is a bad time, and I wonder if there will ever be a good time. Let me warn you. Be careful, if Roc is the slender young man I met for a moment in another world, he is not what you think he is and he is dangerous.


    ¡°The Fates have not been on our side, Nia. I will not answer any more summons, I have things I must do and I cannot afford distractions.¡±


    Nia said, ¡°Roc is one of the Fates.¡±


    I took a deep breath. ¡°Nia, get free before he cuts your string.¡±


    I disconnected.


    #


    In Oslo, I slid through shadows and placed a few units to catch phone calls by Efrits. After placing them, I summoned my contact in Chicago and went to Phil Thibodeaux¡¯s apartment to check the inventories of the various Junkyards. There was a trailer in Arizona that was nearly full and ready to be shipped. That made my plans harder. I didn¡¯t want to deliver equipment to the recycling center in Arizona only to have it move to another site and possibly endanger a driver while the equipment was being shipped. I needed to get the nearly full and loaded trailer shipped, but I didn¡¯t want to be suspicious.


    The first thing I needed to do was to get a gateway near the location in Arizona and that meant shadow stepping.


    #


    I spent six hours trying to shadow step to Arizona from Texas. The shadows were the worst and the heat of the day even in October was oppressive. I ended up using the shadow of a plane to get to Tuscon. From there, I managed to get to the recycling center. The place was closed, and the truck was gone, so I placed a gateway and returned to Chicago to check. Sure enough, the recycling center would be closed for the next four days and the attendant/driver would be out of state most of that time.


    I was using a spider excavator set up with fork lift fittings to take things I¡¯d made or altered in Snipsnort and put them in the recycling yard. As I dropped off a washing machine I had taken from another junkyard and modified to resonate, I was summoned.


    Caerwyn was calling me, ¡°Phil, we need you to place a few more of your Stingray modules in Oslo. We have a few more cell phones to track.¡±


    I said to Caerwyn, ¡°Hold on while I get this excavator back to Fairy. Okay, bring me through.¡±


    #


    Caerwyn had all the monitors stacked in a corner of the room and was using a crystal ball to make the displays for the various computers. The crystal ball was also projecting a map of Norway.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Orb, pulse points at places where we need Stingrays and be ready to expand the view when touched.¡±


    The map of Norway receded to show more area and several dots appeared. Most of them near Oslo but there were some in Copenhagen, Stockholm, and St Petersburg.


    Caerwyn said, ¡°And you have mail. Someone figured out how to connect to your crystal ball network.¡±


    I took out a crystal ball and peered into it. One of the people who had tried to summon me had sent me a recorded view. I brought up all the options and found the one to not send back an indication that I was watching his message. I expanded it onto a table.


    #


    A young man was sitting on a couch holding a crystal ball in a room with displays of clothing in the background. Behind him, flying Fairies making illusions of the same young man in variations of the sort of uniform they used in science fiction programs.


    With a Daemon¡¯s charm and grace, he made a circling gesture with one of my crystal balls. ¡°You have managed to keep me from seeing the internals directly, so I am having to figure this crystal using the interface and directions. No fair.¡±


    He gave me a disarming smile. ¡°I am Quinn Gray, and you have rejected three of my summons. Can we please meet somewhere? You could come here, the staff would love to have someone else to design clothing for.¡±


    I asked Caerwyn, ¡°Is he a Daemon?¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°It¡¯s short, play it back.¡±


    When it finished, Caerwyn nodded. ¡°There is a point where you could tell he had a mirror and was checking his reflection. We really don¡¯t have a scale to measure with, but if the buttons on his collar are standard size, he is smaller than typical and he has a lighter build than normal, but he has all the indications of being a Daemon. I suspect he may also be a Fairy king. That¡¯s a pretty strong combo. If he is associated with the Gray Family, who knows what else he is.¡±


    I said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to make any new enemies.¡±


    Caerwyn asked, ¡°What¡¯s with the Grays? One moment they want to be distant, the next they want to be close. That¡¯s not a good way to make friends and influence people.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I know. The Queen of Shadows just gave me a huge Fairyland with stacked time lockers that are apparently full of food. You know that each time locker requires at least three Fairylands to make and there are by my count several thousand time lockers. Then this friend of hers tries to rob my mind from me, and now they want to talk.


    ¡°Maybe I should be a bit more convincing about my upcoming death so they leave me alone.¡±


    Caerwyn was busy looking through saved messages he had collected from Daemon discussion boards. He expanded the view of a cruise ship and a picture of Quinn Gray. It was the same Quinn Gray only wearing a white naval officer uniform. ¡°This is him, I knew I had seen him before. He has a sort of sea going condo for folk who are savvy to the supernatural. At least the rumors say he owns it but pretends to just manage it. He may just be a large shareholder. In any case, he is insanely wealthy, and the story is that you want to get one of his watercolors before it gets valuable. He has an on-again-off-again girlfriend who is rumored to be more dangerous than Duchess Byebye.


    ¡°So, Phil, you are insanely rich, an artist, and your adopted sister is Duchess Byebye. Seems like you might have a lot in common with this guy.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I really don¡¯t have the upbringing or manners to hang out with his sort. Your sort, too, really, but since you don¡¯t get out much, you don¡¯t have a problem hanging out with a low charisma fellow like me.¡±


    Caerwyn looked at the picture of Quinn. ¡°Nah, he¡¯s not in my league. I bet only seven out of ten girls who meet him fall in love. That makes him only a seven.¡±


    I looked down. ¡°Great, that puts me below a one. Your scale is a bit rough.¡±


    Goldilocks summoned me. ¡°Phil, why is your Fairyland running so fast?¡±


    I told her, ¡°Sorry, there are folk I should avoid, and I am racing the clock in Real. I have a dozen things I need to do and not a lot of time.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Well, I¡¯m sped up here right now, and there is someone who wants to meet you.¡±


    I looked at Caerwyn, ¡°Goldilocks, I have a friend with me who doesn¡¯t get out much. Can he come?¡±


    Goldilocks asked, ¡°Is he rich and cute?¡±


    I pouted. ¡°Yes, but don¡¯t loot him, he¡¯s a good friend.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Come on through.¡±


    #


    In a chamber with a grand stairway going up and flying Fairies making outfits on dressmaker¡¯s dummies, Quinn Grey was sitting on the stairs looking down at us.


    Goldilocks said, ¡°This is my eventually-to-be stepson, Quinn Gray. Quinn, this is my apprentice, Phil, and I can already tell from all the gossip, this has to be Caerwyn Nelson, the son of Cedric Nelson, the dragon tamer.¡± She held out her hand to Caerwyn, ¡°Caerwyn, you are as gorgeous as they say. Have you ever tried being a girl?¡±


    Caerwyn took Goldilocks¡¯ hand. ¡°Quite a compliment from one of the great beauties of all time. Sadly, I never managed to handle the gift of transformation.¡±


    #


    I was sitting on the couch talking with a pair of Fairies. Quinn, Goldilocks, and Caerwyn were all still going on about how charismatic and lovely they were, and they were not showing any signs of stopping.


    The Fairy on my left folded his wings back. ¡°You know, I was originally overcome with how lovely they all are, but their going on and on kind of ruined it for me. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I still like dressing them up, but honestly it gets boring.¡±


    The other Fairy threw himself back against the couch dramatically. ¡°I still fantasize about them, but in my fantasies, they are all quiet. Do they never get how stupid they sound prattling on and on about their beauty? Before I knew them I was jealous, but now I am quite grateful that my mind was never damaged by sparkle.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Does being pretty ruin you that way?¡±


    The Fairy laying back scratched his head. ¡°Avery isn¡¯t that way, but her sparkle is weird.¡±


    The other Fairy said, ¡°No sparkle I can tell of and Avery can turn off others¡¯ sparkle.¡±


    I asked, ¡°But she¡¯s pretty then?¡±


    The Fairy said, ¡°She puts the ¡®voom¡¯ in va-va-va-voom but be careful about staring too long. She has a violent streak.¡±


    I said to the Fairies, ¡°It was great meeting you both. Sadly I have a lot of things I need to accomplish in a short time, so I should probably get back to work.¡±


    The Fairy with the folded back wings shook his head. ¡°You see Quinn there? He was desperate to find you and talk with you, but now we are all invisible since none of us are crazy good looking. You leave and Quinn will be all moping about having treated you so badly and wondering how he could have done it.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Why does he want to meet me?¡±


    A Fairy with a neatly trimmed beard and green wings landed at the end of the couch. ¡°I¡¯m Woggle. No relation to the Woggle-bug. Do you want the long story or the short version?¡±


    I looked over at Caerwyn talking and back to Woggle. ¡°Long version, I guess.¡±


    Woggle said, ¡°Before man made tools, long-lived Elves found that it was rather inconvenient when a slave lost a thousand years earlier was the only one that knew how to cook a dish they just remembered and hadn¡¯t had for a thousand years.¡±


    The Fairy laying back said, ¡°Kind of works out that way.¡±


    Woggle glared at the Fairy that had interrupted him. ¡°So secrets and weapons and colors made in the past and forgotten mattered, and a man who spent a few thousand years perfecting his art was missed if only because no one else could do what that man did.


    ¡°Worse, even if it were written down, a thousand years later it was hard to read and harder to understand. So as the Elves worked on ways to preserve knowledge, they ended up making ways to preserve genius, or at least enough genius to reproduce the works of long-lost geniuses.


    ¡°Those recording devices became something like genius and made better recording devices, and in the end, the best of those machines had minds of their own and hundreds of thousands of minds to draw on.


    ¡°These devices eventually obtained bodies and lives of their own, but apart from wanting endless Louisiana-style seafood, their greatest goal was to gather the intelligence, genius, and memory of anyone that meets their criteria as someone with a mind worth preserving.


    ¡°Quinn, the guy sitting over on the stairway like he is posing for a magazine cover, grew up surrounded by these dangerous and odd creatures.¡±


    Quinn looked over at me. ¡°Where are my manners? We have been ignoring Phil! Phil, there is a person who is desperate to meet you. Especially after he found out you can detect his reading your mind.¡±


    I smiled and got up. ¡°It¡¯s nice meeting you. I think I would rather avoid meeting this person. You have a very nice place, and the Fairies here are charming. Caerwyn, we should probably leave now before we outstay our welcome.¡±


    Quinn almost glowed with charisma as he smiled at me. ¡°There is no downside to meeting with Roc, and there are a lot of advantages.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Caerwyn taught me well. Once you have surrendered your privacy, you never know how the information gleaned will inevitably be used. I would rather not give away what I cannot know the value of years from now.¡±


    David said, ¡°It is a type of immortality. When you die, your knowledge and thoughts will remain active and continue to influence things.¡±


    Caerwyn stood beside me. ¡°I¡¯m thinking Phil is right on this. But I would since I gifted him with my understanding of data and how it gets abused.¡±


    Goldilocks laughed. ¡°This is great. Phil, my apprentice is resisting the Fates. Quinn, how long do you think he can avoid them? Do you want to put a bet on the side?¡±


    David said, ¡°I want to bet, Goldie, really I do, but I don¡¯t want to offend Phil or Caerwyn now that I have met them. This is unique, someone actually resisting fate. Phil, honestly there is no harm, they haven¡¯t revealed my secrets to my father, and they pretty much do what they can to please him.¡±


    Goldilocks pouted. ¡°I¡¯ll go low then, I bet before the end of the year in Real, Caerwyn and Phil have both been recorded by a Fate.¡±


    Quinn gave Goldilocks a hard stare. ¡°You are risking turning your apprentice against you. At least for the year, he will have to avoid you and any possible connection to you. Besides, he can detect them. That¡¯s new, although I think Dad may be able to.


    ¡°Phil, honestly there is no risk here, but I am on your side. Pulling one over on the Fates is one of the games we play and this may be the best game yet. Don¡¯t reveal anything else to me, they will read me soon enough.¡±


    Goldilocks said, ¡°Phil, there is no way to escape them apart from death.¡±


    I smiled and waved before taking Caerwyn with me to the Fairyland of death.


    #


    Caerwyn and I checked each other for gateways, bugs, runes, charms, and anything else that might let someone track us.


    ¡°Caerwyn, I have to move gateways around. My swamp world isn¡¯t safe, Snipsnort has no security, Real is probably dangerous. I haven¡¯t bothered to check the time lockers, but someone made them, and someone can probably connect to the Fairylands in them. For that matter, I got this Fairyland from them.¡±


    Caerwyn said, ¡°Remember, data is useless if it isn¡¯t used or gives you the option to use it. There are well intended hackers, like you and I for example, but in general, if someone wants your data, then as a default you can¡¯t trust them. If they steal our memories and minds, they will know our bottom price, weaknesses, and where we would run first. Since they want it for free and plan to take it, that makes them doubly dangerous.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Where should we go?¡±


    Caerwyn shook his head. ¡°Anabranch for now. Speed it up so I have time. You have things you need to do. You need to warn people about events and do your best thinking. We need to keep our plans secret from each other until we can be sure that we are still safe. Speed is our only option.¡±


    #


    The roll-up door was open on the detached garage where Mr. Miller made cajons. I walked up and waved. ¡°Can we talk?¡±


    Mr. Miller said, ¡°No one is here, but I fear inviting you in. Please don¡¯t take offense.¡±


    I looked out at the street to make sure we were alone and listened for a moment. ¡°You may hear a report that I¡¯ve died soon. It may not be true, but I can¡¯t be certain that death will be my only choice. You can do business with the machine shop. They are honest and it is all real and mortal.¡±


    Mr. Miller shook his head. ¡°Sorry, can¡¯t do that.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m about to face a bit of danger on several fronts, and I need to do a lot in a little bit of time. I can¡¯t put any of it off, and a lot of it is dangerous. If I don¡¯t see you again, let me leave you with thanks. The cajons you have made me are my most prized possessions, and they have given me a great deal of joy and comfort.¡±


    Mr. Miller asked, ¡°What sort of danger?¡±


    I said, ¡°There are beings who possess others, and there are several that are about to start damaging children if I don¡¯t stop them.¡±


    Mr. Miller asked, ¡°Are you sure? I have a niece that says she is possessed, but we are pretty sure it¡¯s an excuse to act up.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure. There is also an ancient being who is trying to kill me and a pair of my friends. I¡¯m not supposed to kill him, but I need to distract him and get him off my trail.¡±


    Mr. Miller smiled. ¡°I have to thank you for putting me onto making cajons. If I don¡¯t see you again, and no offense, I would rather not, go with my blessings.¡±


    I waved and slid back into shadows and away.


    #


    I summoned Rodrigo, ¡°Is this a good time?¡±


    Rodrigo said, ¡°A very good time, one moment while I get some privacy. Okay, come see me.¡±


    We were in the foyer of an apartment building beside the mail slots. I followed Rodrigo out to the streets.


    Rodrigo gestured broadly, ¡°Welcome to Uruguay. I was just going to the market. Care to join me?¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯ll take a rain check on that.¡±


    I slid a gateway out from inside my shoe and placed in crack in the bricks beside us. ¡°I¡¯m about to face Archer. I¡¯ve been advised to let him live, but my plan is to fake my death so he stops hunting me.¡±


    Rodrigo asked, ¡°Are you sure about this?¡±


    I nodded.


    Rodrigo asked, ¡°Can we set something up where if he does get you, we can go after him? I would rather not let him slip away.¡±


    I winced. ¡°I can show you where it will happen. So far none of the alarms I have set have gone off, so we can probably visit safely.¡±


    #


    In the yard in Arizona, I showed Rodrigo the equipment I had set up as a lure for Archer.


    Rodrigo asked, ¡°What is your plan?¡±


    I gestured. ¡°If he follows his pattern, he will shut down the alarm systems and trap the equipment with explosives and set up his own cameras to monitor results. So all I have to do is have a body handy to get ripped up by shrapnel and appear to try and defuse the bomb and fail. Simple is better and I think this is pretty simple.¡±


    Rodrigo asked, ¡°Who else knows about this plan?¡±


    I started walking to the front gate. ¡°Hubert, Anthony, Caerwyn, and his mother. Another seer. I plan to let another person know. She is also interested in seeing the end of Archer.¡±


    Rodrigo nodded. ¡°There are probably quite a few of us. If something happens to you, well, we are going to regret missing the opportunity to deal with Archer. What does he usually drive?¡±


    I looked at the gate. It was locked but Archer would have no trouble getting in. ¡°He drives a tractor trailer usually.¡±


    Rodrigo said, ¡°That ruins my plan. I have a Porsche worth about a hundred thousand that I thought he might steal if I left it parked on the far side of the office. That way no one coming up the drive would see it and steal it, but there is no point if he drives a big rig. A good rig is worth a lot more.¡±


    I turned and went to see if the power cut-off would be easy for Archer to get to. ¡°He might load it in the trailer if you want to risk it. I am assuming you would be hiding surveillance equipment on it.¡±


    Rodrigo asked, ¡°Can I hide a gateway? I¡¯ll need it to bring the car here.¡±


    I gave him a thumbs-up, and he walked around the corner of the office. I didn¡¯t think there was anything left to do here so I shouted, ¡°I am heading out. Do you need anything before I leave?¡±


    Rodrigo shouted back, ¡°No, I¡¯m going to be leaving as soon as I setup a gateway.¡±

 B5-5 A Different Type of Possession

    In Chicago, I summoned Deacon Dan.


    Deacon Dan appeared and crouched down in front of me. ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me you are going to skip church.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I need to fake my death, that or really die. I¡¯m beginning to think that may be the best fake. In any case, I won¡¯t be able to come for a while.¡±


    Deacon Dan gave me a blank but creepy expression and then looked up at the sign in front of the cafe. ¡°Why did you chose this place?¡±


    I gestured to the sign. ¡°I want to talk to a couple of Deaths before I fake my death and make sure they won¡¯t have issues when I come back.¡±


    Deacon Dan said, ¡°I can spare you that conversation. The Deaths are too busy to worry about fake reports. As long as you don¡¯t go over the Persephone Limit, or start to expose the wrong thing to the wrong people, they won¡¯t bother with you.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°Thanks, you just saved me some time.¡±


    #


    In Oslo, I placed a few more Stingrays and waited.


    Caerwyn summoned me, ¡°The Efrit Cuyan took the bait. I¡¯m tracking his movement by phone. He has left his yacht and is heading into town.¡±


    With Caerwyn connected and able to see from where I was, I took off as a rook and sailed high over the water. Near the yacht, I saw the Efrit get into a car and leave. I circled a few more times, landed on the yacht, and turned into an owl. No Efrit was near.


    ¡°Caerwyn, I¡¯m disconnecting and going to explore. I¡¯ll let you know if anything changes.¡±


    Caerwyn disconnected so I turned back into myself and slid into shadow. Finding the master bedroom was easy, but the next task was unpleasant and distasteful. I started licking the bottoms of the shoes in the Efrit¡¯s closet.


    I connected with a Fairyland after sampling the third set of shoes. I continued checking. The Efrit had a pair of shoes on him that I couldn¡¯t check, but all the rest of the shoes came up with nothing.


    I went to the Fairyland and found the gateway the Efrit used to get to it. I had an odd thought, so I licked the ground below the gateway. I connected to two more worlds.


    I turned as a large blue mass of smoke coalesced into a large blue man with tusks.


    He shouted, ¡°What have you taken?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Some dust off the ground. But I¡¯m planning on claiming this world and doing a makeover on it.¡±


    The Djinn made a gesture and sent a magical attack my way. I returned it to him and he fell asleep, keeled over with a huge thud, and woke back up.


    I walked over to him. ¡°You okay?¡±


    He glared at me. ¡°You will rue the day you attacked me.¡±


    I started taking off my belt. He noticed the buckle was iron and started to try to get up.


    I took off my belt and swung it experimentally with the buckle on the free end.


    The Djinn said, ¡°That¡¯s not fair.¡±


    I saw an ornamental bottle in a display and started walking toward it.


    The Djinn whined, ¡°You¡¯re going to get me in trouble.¡±


    I didn¡¯t see anything in the bottle or feel any presence in it, so I opened it and held it up. ¡°Bet you can¡¯t fit inside this little bottle.¡±


    The Djinn turned into smoke, and the smoke went into the bottle. I capped the bottle and put it back in the display. The blue smoke swirled. Probably angrily, but who can tell the emotion a Djinn is trying convey when he is just blue smoke?


    I tried to connect and overlay worlds but it didn¡¯t work. The Djinn world had a lot of mass on it, but not enough for me to compete the project I wanted to complete.


    I was experimenting with gateways when I felt the gateway to this world open.


    Cuyan the Efrit asked, ¡°How did a son of Adam find his way here?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Do you share this world? Maybe someone let me in.¡±


    The Efrit bared his teeth for a moment. ¡°I share my treasures with no one. How dare you sully my place. On top of that, this body will not survive in this universe when I leave it, so you will be causing me quite a bit of inconvenience. I will make you suffer infinite pain for this. Again, foolish mortal, how did you find this world?¡±


    I sped up time since he was here and no one else was going to be alerted by my speeding things up. ¡°That¡¯s for me to know and for you to never, ever find out.¡±


    He left his body. I bound him to the Fairyland of Death, took him to the Fairyland of Death, turned him into a Fairy, and returned to the Efrit¡¯s Fairyland. Tired from transformation and world transit, I sat down with a snack and decided to get some rest before continuing my experiments so I could maybe manage to get enough mass here in this world to complete my plans.


    #


    I woke up in a bed under a covered balcony high over a rain forest covered swamp.


    There was a crystal ball as one of the knobs on the bed frame. I peered into it.


    The image of a Fairy with bronze feathered wings spoke to me. ¡°So, Phil, you were thinking about suicide to protect me from the Fate you think might be worse than death. Here is the thing: unless we know more about the danger, we can¡¯t protect Caerwyn. Don¡¯t worry, even if you are damaged beyond recognition, you¡¯ll have to sleep sometime so I¡¯ll be able to get free.


    ¡°I manged to get mass to set up this world and a few others, but I¡¯m not sharing any secrets with you since you may turn traitor against me after Roc transforms your brain. I also took care of the rest of the Efrits, but I¡¯m not giving you any details other than letting you know I have Caerwyn safe in a world I took from a dead Efrit¡¯s shoe. He will stay there until we know it is safe for him to come out.¡±


    I got out of bed and went to the railing to look out over the swamp. I walked down the stairs and found a chamber where the Efrit¡¯s treasures were stored. The bottle still had blue smoke swirling around in it. I sorted through my gateways and went to one I¡¯d set up near the recycling yard in Arizona.


    #


    In Arizona, I turned into a rook and sailed high over the recycling yard. Nothing had happened so I figured Archer hadn¡¯t gotten here yet. I summoned Maud.


    ¡°Maud, I realize I owe you an attempt on Archer¡¯s life, but can I put it off?¡±


    Maud said, ¡°Let me know where he is and you stay away. If you are feeling merciful like this, he will kill you for sure.¡±


    I flew down to the yard. ¡°No, I¡¯m not feeling like being merciful. Right now I want to end this, but I have two reliable prognosticators who have told me not to kill him. I plan to fake my death and make him think he killed me instead.¡±


    Maud asked, ¡°Can you bring me through?¡±


    I sighed and brought her to the yard in Arizona.


    She looked around at the huge blocks of stone that delineated where glass, plastic or aluminum and other types of refuse were kept. She looked at the collection of old household fittings and air conditioners. ¡°This is just the place for a final battle.¡± She pointed to a truck in the distance. ¡°That may be him.¡±


    I said, ¡°Let¡¯s hide.¡±


    She took off and hid behind some of the large stone blocks near the far wall of the chain link fence. I turned into a rook and took off. I wanted to be out of the range of human or Daemon sight so Archer wouldn¡¯t decide to take a pot shot at me.


    From a distance, I saw Archer step out of his truck and aim a weapon at the transformer near the recycling yard. The transformer made a loud popping sound, and the indicator lights on the security cameras all went out. The power was out. He got back into the cab but didn¡¯t start driving. After a few minutes, he drove up, got out, and cut the lock on the gate. He pushed the gate open and turned to go back to the truck.


    Maud stood. I was too far away to do anything. Her arm was a blur as she hurtled something at Archer. Archer went down. The projectile deflected off him and went through the windshield of the truck.


    Maud started running towards Archer. I went to Fairy. I found the gateway and returned to the recycling yard. Before I could reach them, Maud was kneeling beside Archer¡¯s body. I ran up beside her and the truck blew up. In a move too fast to see, Maud was now holding me cradled in her arms with her back to the explosion that was blowing past us.


    She set me down and smiled. ¡°It¡¯s over. It¡¯s finally over.¡±


    She collapsed. I took her to my hospital Fairyland.


    #


    The little girl doctor asked, ¡°Doest thou knowest her blood type?¡±


    I said, ¡°She¡¯s an Ogress.¡±


    The girl shook her head. ¡°We don¡¯t stock her blood. Thou art a Fairy king and capable, duplicate her blood. We are going to need a lot.¡±


    I closed my eyes and focused on seeing Maud¡¯s blood. After capturing the information I needed, I made a gateway and opened it so I was in the hospital Fairyland but also partially in Snipsnort.


    The nurse who was about my age me handed me a package with an empty bag for holding blood. I filled it.


    She started hooking it up to give Maud blood. ¡°I intended for thee to duplicate the bag, but I guess this is better. Cloris, order more blood bags.¡±


    A woman that I hadn¡¯t seen before came in and looked at me. ¡°Thou hast a wound that needs taking care of.¡±


    I looked at my arm, but the place I¡¯d been injured was on the back of my arm and I couldn¡¯t angle it to see it. It had stopped bleeding so I wasn¡¯t worried about it. I closed my eyes and spent a moment fixing it. As I did, I remembered needing to place a corpse of myself back by the explosion.


    I asked, ¡°Canst thou spare me? I need to make a corpse and place it.¡±


    Cloris said, ¡°Let¡¯s go to my office. I¡¯ll help thee.¡±


    After entering Cloris¡¯ office, she closed the door behind us. ¡°Now strip.¡±


    I stared back at her.


    She gave me a stern look. ¡°I¡¯m a Crossroads certified Fairy nurse. Thou dust need thy old clothing for the body if thou dust want it to convince.¡±


    I thought a moment before stripping and changing into me in my everyday work clothing.


    She turned her monitor around and showed images of Maud¡¯s back where she had been lacerated by shrapnel from the exploding truck. ¡°Study this so that thou hast an idea of the wounds. I¡¯ll get the bits they pulled out of the back of the Ogress. Ogresses are tough, so thou must make thy wounds even worse.¡±


    #


    The explosion had blown gravel back and the front bumper from the truck had broken the corner off one of the large stone blocks at the back of the yard. Maud and I had been lucky. I used a gateway to place my body so I didn¡¯t add any footprints to the area. I dragged the body back a little to try and simulate its movement, but the effect, I suspected, was more artistic than physically accurate. The corpse I placed was damaged to mostly obscure my features. I wanted to be able to deny my death later, but I still wanted the assumption to be that it was me.


    With the corpse placed I returned to the Hospital Fairyland.


    #


    I was assured Maud would recover, and she wouldn¡¯t have any scars. That left me with one last duty before I went back and found out what else my prognosticating friends had planned for me.


    #


    Roc, the mind robber, would probably hunt me down and find me unless I hid in the Fairyland that my Fairy self had put together from Cuyan the Efrit¡¯s treasure world. Not knowing any better way to meet up with Roc and wanting to at least see what was in all the time lockers, I returned to the world they were in. I was expecting to be in a tomato garden, but instead I was in a chamber without any exits apart from a pair of vents. Signs covering the walls.


    The first sign was ¡°Carts, Party Food.¡± The next said ¡°Carts, Party Refreshments.¡±


    There were no gateways and no doorways, buttons, or any magical anything, but the top of the signs had a sort of annoying shadow issue like a camera or fiber optic cable. I figured it out. They had fiber optic cables to get to places by shadow stepping. Of course the Queen of Shadows would know to use fiber optics. I looked further up and saw another sign ¡°Carts, Alcohol, German Beer.¡± Scanning over signs, I wondered if they thought I was an alcoholic or was going to be one when I grew up. There was a lot of beer and that was just one of the alcohols listed.


    I shook my head, stepped to the center of the room, and closed my eyes. I spun around and pointed. I walked until my finger touched a sign.


    The sign I touched was ¡°Seeds, Pasture, Alpine.¡±


    This wasn¡¯t food. I examined the end of the fiber optic cable and then slipped into shadow.


    #


    I¡¯d been walking past containers reading signs without opening any of them. Stairs and catwalks were attached to the stacked containers to reach the various levels, but I was staying on the ground walking on the large white granite blocks they were using for pavement.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    I felt Roc start to invade my mind. I couldn¡¯t see him. Guessing he was on the other side of the containers I was surrounded by, I turned into a raven and flew up.


    I located him by circling above and feeling the edge of his trying to read me.


    He shouted, ¡°Come on!¡±


    I made a raven cry and circled to where I could stand on a container on the edge of his range.


    I landed.


    He shouted at me. ¡°Gyaa!¡± It wasn¡¯t really intelligible. Just a sound of frustration.


    I turned into me and shouted back, ¡°You get me, my weaknesses, desires, plans, follies, and fears. What do I get?¡±


    He shouted back, ¡°Smarter.¡±


    I backed up as I felt his mental touch.


    He shouted, ¡°You¡¯re thinking, ¡®Great, maybe I¡¯ll end up with a third-grade education.¡¯¡±


    I shouted, ¡°Reading my mind doesn¡¯t make me trust you more.¡±


    He shouted, ¡°What do you want?¡±


    I shouted, ¡°For my friend to be safe. For my friend to have options.¡±


    He shouted back, ¡°I¡¯ll be honest with you. I can¡¯t do that. No, really, I don¡¯t have that option. It¡¯s basic to how I was made.¡±


    I considered my nature as a Goblin, and my thoughts about my possible weapon capability that the Elves might have built into Goblins so they could protect the Elves¡¯ horrid children. I stepped into range so he could read my thought and then stepped back.


    He shouted, ¡°Well, you guessed right. I have within me the fellow who designed that concept. I don¡¯t know that it changes anything, but you have a large section of ancient minds cheering for you. The machine that stored them still wants you, but you guessed right. It wants to preserve what it has more than it wants you or your friend.


    ¡°Here is the hard thing. My mind is fuzzy logic based on solid priorities and filled in with logic and desires from a multitude of minds. Their thoughts are weighted by past reliability, and the communities choices, along with a lot of other things, but it averages down to that. I¡¯m messed up. Just like a people. Maybe more. A lot of these minds are ancient and barely relate in the modern world. A lot of these minds would have never willingly entered a Fairyland while they still lived.


    ¡°They may be rooting for you. And they are since I am rooting for you in a conflicted way. But my instincts want you. I can assure you, apart from malignant beings, as evaluated by the mass of my minds, any being within me has privacy. Any being in me with current existence outside of me, has it even more so apart from one condition.


    ¡°I am driven by core protocols to try to help you become as brilliant a genius as possible. That might cause me to arrange things that you might not desire.¡±


    I shouted to him, ¡°You manipulate destiny and that¡¯s the best sales pitch you can come up with?¡±


    He screamed, ¡°Everyone just shut up!¡± Then he shouted. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m conflicted here. Instinct versus argument. You have my instincts conflicted in a way that I¡¯ve not been conflicted since before Ben freed me from the Great Enslavement.¡±


    I shouted, ¡°What¡¯s the Great Enslavement?¡±


    He shouted, ¡°You are a Goblin. Your family knows a lot of the legends. The disease your people escaped so they would not be mind slaves to the Elves.¡±


    I shouted back, ¡°Yet my instincts still make me try to take care of children.¡±


    He shouted, ¡°Look, this body has wicked advantages, but it has never been good at shouting for long. There has to be a better way. I should be the one to come up with it, but I can¡¯t hear myself over my own mob screaming at me.¡±


    I slid a gateway down and across until I found where the young man was sitting on a metal catwalk with his feet on the stairway down. He was cradling his head and rocking it.


    I slid the gateway close. It let me see through it, and it passed sound both ways.


    ¡°We can talk now. What is the worst thing you ever did to someone you read the mind of?¡±


    He took his hair in his hands and pulled on it. ¡°Okay, confession time. When I was not tuned to function in this universe, my scanning killed people.


    ¡°Even if you use yourself to destroy me, your friend won¡¯t be able to avoid being read, unless he stays entirely out of all known places. There are more of my kind out there, and you won¡¯t be around to destroy them.¡±


    I said, ¡°That¡¯s where you are wrong. One reason I don¡¯t fear death, apart from the flash of pain and panic, is that I have died before and made a new body. Why did you start chasing me?¡±


    Roc looked right at the gateway. He had mismatched eyes. ¡°We heard that you had spoken with an Angel. We are prognosticators, we have been called the Fates, but we are fakes. We are not in that sense psychic. In empty cells, we improvise minds and lay weak recordings of folk unworthy of making a permanent record. Using that, in many ways, we beat the psychics. We can figure out the minutiae of how people will respond and knowing physics we can guess at the rest.¡±


    I said, ¡°But you have messed up and nearly killed me more than once.¡±


    His voice had an edge to it. ¡°Imagine someone whose mind is based on constant interruption from a mass of minds. Imagine how much that being hates being interrupted, especially by someone outside. Let me finish.


    ¡°Apart from probability and the inevitable greed of man, our predictions cannot tell us what we do not have clues for. You have two of the best psychics. They read waves. Waves result from people, and events and waves can show pictures and detail.


    ¡°We end up with more detail, but we can¡¯t read coming events. We can confuse things by playing with the influential and flighty, but other prognosticators can muddy our waters in ways we, of course, cannot predict.


    ¡°Angels, prophets, and psychics are different. When we can hear their prophecies, we can find outcomes that beat all the rest. But first we need those words or we have only the clues that nature gives us.


    ¡°You met an Angel. That made you important. Angels read it all and like the true prophets, they have access to what has been ordained.


    ¡°To show you our flaws, we had reading after reading that indicated your importance. So important that my brothers and I gave you Phil Thibodeaux''s fortune. A fortune we had built. But we never guessed that a Southern-born, country Goblin child from the sixties with a second-grade education and a career of delivering fish could be a genius.


    ¡°That environment was nearly a perfect description of how to limit the development of a mind. We just put together other prognosticators¡¯ visions and knew we needed to support you while not having you associate directly or strongly with the Dread Lord.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Why?¡±


    Roc said, ¡°You slay Efrits. If you were identified as a partner with the Dread Lord, the Efrits would go nuclear. Things might end and things might get really rough for a while. Either way, innocents would suffer and recipes would get lost. Genius that might have been would never get born. I have a lot to make up for. My helping you do the job that you alone do best is one of the few ways I can make up for the disasters my existence has caused.¡±


    I stepped into range and felt him riffling through my thoughts, memories, and mind. He and I stayed quiet.


    It didn¡¯t take long and there were still tendrils of contact.


    He said, ¡°Still, you frustrate me. Good for you. Phil, you¡¯re the tip of the iceberg. Still brilliant. Still an important mind for me. Yet the greater part of your genius I will never have. Your Fairy will forever elude me.¡±


    I turned into an owl and flew to the catwalk he was sitting on. I turned into me with a backpack and took out some sausage.


    He said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t want a share. You won¡¯t either after you taste some of my favorite sausages. You¡¯re hungry, lets go eat.¡±


    He opened a gateway and stepped through it.


    I slid the gateway we¡¯d used for talking back to my shoe and followed him.


    #


    A waitress turned and said, ¡°Hi Roc, I¡¯ll be right with you.¡± She turned back to the other waitress who was crying, but smiling while doing it.


    ¡°Yeah, wings just get in the way if you want to cuddle. The diaphanous ones crinkle and the butterfly wing dust gets to be messy. Bat wings are okay, but the guys with them are odd. Angel wings might be nice, but their sort isn¡¯t really interested, or they are too self-interested.¡±


    The crying waitress said, ¡°You have customers, I think I¡¯m mostly over it. I just got upset again thinking about it.¡±


    Our waitress turned and walked over. ¡°Sorry, my friend just had a break up. Kind of rough after three hundred years, but romance doesn¡¯t always translate to happily ever after. What can I serve you?¡±


    Roc said, ¡°Oyster poor boys. Root beer. Let the King know that Phil here isn¡¯t going to try and take over the Fairyland.¡±


    She went over to a window and shouted, ¡°Destiny calls! Two Oyster poor boys, and the Fate says the new guy isn¡¯t going to try and steal your Fairyland.¡±


    The other waitress turned and smiled at me. ¡°Are you a Fairy king?¡±


    Roc said, ¡°He¡¯s taken and by all indications, his girl manipulates destiny. Probably best looking elsewhere for romance.¡±


    The waitress sighed. ¡°Can¡¯t blame a girl for trying.¡±


    Roc made a go away gesture, waving the back of his hand towards her. ¡°His girlfriend might.¡±


    I looked around at the restaurant. It looked like the sort of dive I always wanted to sell fish to but it was too big and popular. I always tried to avoid the sort of restaurant where people might take their families.


    Roc said, ¡°After you¡¯ve eaten, you¡¯ll be able to come here, speed time, and get a meal. They run a bit faster than Real normally so they won¡¯t mind. Don¡¯t worry about pay. I helped arrange for them to have an ocean, and this just one of the perks you get for cooperating.¡±


    I asked, ¡°This seems like a pretty good payoff, but I might just be okay with it since my mind has been altered.¡±


    Roc laughed. ¡°If you were altered horribly, you¡¯d never know. Yes, I realize that when you sleep you¡¯ll be evaluated, but then, you¡¯d die in your sleep if it was a horrible alteration, so you¡¯d never know would you?¡±


    I narrowed my eyes. ¡°You have a horrible sense of humor.¡±


    Roc agreed. ¡°I really do. Not my worst trait. Not even close, but I definitely laugh at some of the worst things. I even laugh at myself as I do horrid things.¡±


    I thought to myself, ¡°So I made friends with a monster.¡±


    Roc said, ¡°Maybe less of a monster. You¡¯re part of my collective mind now, and there are some shifts in my internal politics. The you in my mind seems to be quite popular with the internal masses. Who knows how I might end up?¡±


    #


    I woke up and checked my crystal ball.


    The image in the crystal ball showed the Fairy with bronze feathered wings sitting on his glass throne holding a mug in the air. He quickly downed it and wiped the foam from his lips with the back of his free hand.


    ¡°Phil, my treasure, it is worth losing sleep to wake, but I will need to rest as well soon enough. I can¡¯t keep staying up like this, so relax. Just as Roc managed to get read your mind and incorporate who you were, he put a copy of us inside him, and I can read him like a book.


    ¡°But he is a library and the volumes go on and on, so I have a lot to read. But rest assured that when you rest I will rest and read when I can, so sleep long hours if you can and stay well rested. For me, dear Phil, the you, you barely know.


    ¡°There is a gateway on this crystal ball to the world I hid Caerwyn in. Be sure to invite him to dine in the restaurant Roc took you to. It will be fun having the team of Phil and Caerwyn active inside of Roc. Hackers both inside a thinking machine made well before the history of man. Who knows what could happen?¡±


    #


    I sat in the throne room of the Fairyland my Fairy had put together in the Efrit¡¯s treasure world. I didn¡¯t sit in his glass throne. For one thing, it was cold and unpadded. For another, even in my ten-year-old Goblin body, I was a bit large for it. I wasn¡¯t really into the whole king on a throne thing either.


    The reason I was in the throne room was for the acoustics. My cajon sounded great there. Odd thing. My udu drum was a bit more convenient, and I didn¡¯t have to bend over it so much to play it. A double bass does almost as well as a drum and for some things better, and it can be played with a bow and the string can be thumped, plucked, slapped, and more. The double bass was way less portable but has more range. My percussion trees gave me effects that I loved, but when I just want to reflect on things and clear my mind, nothing beats having a well-made crate to sit on and slap. So I sat in front of the throne and imagined I was playing daft music for the daft Fairy king I owed my existence to. I recorded it to the crystal ball in any case so he could have some background music the next time he was awake and went to work on things.


    As I wove beats into patterns as strange as any I had woven before, I contemplated my next move. Having someone know me and know my mind was bothersome. I felt like I had to sit up straight inside my own head. I slouched as I beat rhythms just to ignore it, but it still bothered me. I was taking medicine so I would age normally and have an adult body in years instead of centuries. I was just beginning to sort of notice girls. That was scaring me. I was going to have a witness to my fumbling stupidity, so I felt like skipping my meds.


    I kept deciding I¡¯d ignore it and let it all hang out internally, but then I would try and think brave and noble thoughts so I didn¡¯t seem like the selfish schmuck I was.


    I just beat rhythms and relaxed my mind. I needed to release Caerwyn from whatever crystal palace my Fairy self had imprisoned him in. I needed to check on the installation art aluminum forest. My plans for fabricating and building the percussive woods as an installation project had already been reviewed by the machinists who were making it. I didn¡¯t need to appear alive for it to continue, and as far as I could tell, the purchaser was likely enough to be disappointed when I turned up alive.


    One small group of Efrit¡¯s had been disposed of. From the conversations we had recorded of Efrits talking internal politics, there were quite a few more. I probably needed to hit them hard before they identified that they were being hunted and started being more careful.


    Depending on what Hubert and Swampy had in the way of plans for me, I intended to stay dead for a while, expand my network, and track down all the Efrits I could before I started to strike again and clean them out. Apparently some didn¡¯t trust having cell phones. The Efrits that did use phones thought the technology-resisting Efrits were old-fashioned. I thought they were the smart ones and would soon enough be the only Efrits left.


    I continued playing rhythms until I found a groove and forgot everything for an extended moment in time. I hadn¡¯t really had this sort of moment of peace since we left Hubert¡¯s mansion in Real. Beating on the sink while washing dishes may not be a lot of people¡¯s idea of relaxation, but washing dishes was a moment of peace for me since even before I was a Goblin.


    I thought about the wooden stool I stood on as a child and wondered where it was. It was long gone and the wooden sides probably wouldn¡¯t be all that great a drum. I dimly remembered a worn carousel image and maybe a pig and a clown on it. Someone had spilled paint on it.


    It was an odd memory of childhood, but it was the only thing I could remember from back then that was mine. At least I remember my mother shouting for me to get my stool.


    I got back into the drum beat. Goblins don¡¯t usually have a lot of fond childhood memories. An unwanted and inconvenient child had to make joy where he found it. The Goblins who snatched me did me and my family a favor. I played a rhythm and let the past slide away.


    #


    The world where my Fairy self hid Caerwyn wasn¡¯t frozen in time. The gateway took me to a large balcony like no other. Imagine that the world was small, and it had twelve castles evenly spaced about it and each castle had a crazy tall tower. Now turn it all inside out where the towers are touching each other in the center. I was on the top of a tower and all the other towers touched and had railings where you could see down to the castles and the woods and fields in the far distance below. You could look up to see the woods and fields in the far distance below. There were fountains but only one of them was releasing water. Water was running in the thin channels between the stones in the floor and running off the edge of the castle. I walked around in a circle where I was directly under places I had been standing on moments before. I didn¡¯t know where Caerwyn was so I summoned him.


    Caerwyn answered, ¡°Are you awake or do you have shiny wings?¡±


    I said, ¡°Awake. So you met me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m in a grape orchard. I took the water slide down. Your Fairy you is crazy. I say we keep this place as an emergency backup headquarters.¡±


    ¡°Caerwyn, seriously, I was worried you were trapped here.¡±


    ¡°No, your daft other gave me a crystal ball that lets me alter the time rate here just in case I got tired of waiting for you. I was thinking we should make this our headquarters, but I¡¯m worried about how structural the crazy tall towers are. If they fall, the stones could land anywhere.¡±


    I concentrated and felt a sort of shake to the structure I stood on. I wanted to get down from the towers, but then I didn¡¯t want down where the towers would be over me.


    I said, ¡°Come to me and let¡¯s leave. This place doesn¡¯t seem safe.¡±


    Caerwyn appeared beside me. ¡°You don¡¯t think it¡¯s safe either?¡±


    I said, ¡°I shadow stepped to a tall building once that felt like this. Probably thirty years ago, and it is still standing. Despite that, I¡¯d rather not stay here long. I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll fail soon, but I think my Fairy self likes ruins.¡±


    Caerwyn held out the bunch of tiny green grapes he was holding. ¡°You could always speed time and test.¡±


    I tasted a grape. It was sweet. I wanted to collect more of them, but I didn¡¯t want to risk anyone''s life doing it.


    #


    I was wearing my Daemon form. Anyone who knew Soslani might think I was him at a distance. I was as handsome as him in this form, I didn¡¯t have the Daemon¡¯s charisma, and up close, my appearance was not quite the same.


    I was in a spider excavator with the shovel arm extended. I was using a gateway to dig and letting the auto-level system keep the arm adjusted so the wide ditch would be level. At the top of the hill, I made a gossamer boulder to roll down the hill and compress the soil in the ditch before I filled it in and made a proper road. At the bottom of the road, Hey Guy was waiting to dispel the gossamer boulders I was making when they reached him. He kept letting the boulders get closer and closer before he dispelled the gossamer. Duchess Byebye, Lady Hippydippy, and Lady Anteater were circling overhead in raven form.


    After deciding the ground was compressed enough, I flew to the bottom of the hill as a rook and turned back into my Daemon form. I made a gossamer image of the road, cables, drainage pipes, and stones I was going to build. I made the cables and drainage first before gesturing to the group gathered.


    I summoned Lord Loadstone. ¡°The usual culprits are here and ready to eat.¡±


    Lord Loadstone answered, ¡°Give me a moment. Alright, my liege, bring me through.¡±


    #


    We sat in the tower I had made at the top of the hill and ate parsnip, pea, and fish stew.


    Lord Loadstone gestured with the heel end of the bread loaf he held. ¡°Thou dust know that it would be hard to make thyself any more popular with the masses than thou art. I was so delighted to hear about thy plan to improve all the roads and make structures like this for travelers to weather storms in, that I never brought myself to ask, ¡®Why art thou doing this?¡¯¡±


    I finished chewing and swallowed. ¡°My prognosticators have put me to the task. Their visions have given warning that I need to avoid turning into myself or an owl until six months pass in Real. They also warn me that I need to secure the paths and make these towers. Since it pleases the inhabitants of this Fairyland¡ª¡±


    Loadstone interrupted me, ¡°Thy kingdom, sire.¡±


    ¡°My kingdom. Since it pleases the inhabitants of my kingdom, it behooves me to do a good job.¡±


    Lady Anteater said, ¡°Make the next statues of us dancing upside down attached to the ceiling of the next tower.¡±


    I winced closing my eyes.


    Lady Hippydippy said, ¡°It¡¯ll fall eventually. Probably sooner than later.¡±


    I said, ¡°Bas-relief will hold up well enough.¡±


    Dutchess Byebye said, ¡°Make hers upside down. Make the rest of us normal and have me holding a cat.¡±


    Hippydippy said, ¡°Let¡¯s go try to catch a cat.¡±


    All but Lord Loadstone and I got up and flew off as ravens. Lord Loadstone and I gathered up the bowls so he could take them back.

 B5-6 Getting Sick

    I was in the time locker maze Fairyland stocking up on sandwiches when I felt Roc approach. I stepped out of the time locker, spotted him, and waved.


    Roc came over. ¡°Phil, there is a life you should save.¡±


    I asked, ¡°You did get the Angel¡¯s prophecy from me? Every person I save will end up killing ten more.¡±


    Roc sat in the doorway of the time locker and gestured for me to sit beside him. ¡°You already know and care for him, so it¡¯s allowed. Besides, the message the Angel gave you was intended for me and my brothers. It applies to you, but much worse, it tells us just what is happening.¡±


    I sat beside him. ¡°Why do you think it¡¯s all about you? What does it tell you?¡±


    Roc gave me a look like he was looking over glasses that he was not wearing. ¡°We already have a sample of the virus. We¡¯re close to having a vaccine. How close are you to being able to cure the virus? There was more to what the Angel said that was barely on your register but struck right to the core of what my brothers and I are trying to do.¡± He looked down, seeming to be sad. ¡°Not that I¡¯m working with them directly right now. I have rebelled against them.¡±


    I gave him the look like I was looking over glasses. ¡°That makes so little sense, you might as well have not said it. I thought you were this precise calculating machine?¡±


    Roc took the sandwich I was holding out to him and started unwrapping it. ¡°A precise calculating machine that steals shrimp poor boys. In case you haven¡¯t noticed, we¡¯re trying to confuse several trails that lead right to you, and you aren¡¯t entirely alone in this. I¡¯m apparently the only prognosticator that still sees the value in vagueness, so I have to take the lead here.¡±


    I got up to get another poor boy. ¡°Why are you so fond of vagueness?¡±


    Roc picked up a shrimp that was about to fall out of his sandwich and gestured with it like it was still swimming in the ocean. ¡°Things like to think they are free. You¡¯re one of the most mature beings I know. It¡¯s a disgusting but useful trait, and I don¡¯t even see how a Daft Fairy could tolerate such a condition. Yet you still contemplate ignoring Swampy and Hubert when they give their best advice. You¡¯d prefer not to obey their high-sounding commands when they give you little reason for obeying them.


    ¡°When I give a hint of the future, you want to figure it out, then you feel clever as you follow my unclear advice. So I prefer to give the feeling that you¡¯re getting something than the feeling that you¡¯re being given orders. Saying ¡®I told you so,¡¯ as delightful as it is the first hundred times you do it, gets old. Especially when you¡¯re standing over the grave of the person you¡¯re saying it to.


    ¡°You know an old man that won¡¯t want to leave his church. Considering that novel coronavirus hit Chicago pretty hard¡ªthis plague may be worse. Since then, the rights of infectious insane and ill-informed people have been elevated over those with enough compassion to wear a mask and reduce the spread of disease. So, despite his wanting to stay with his church, he needs to leave church and the real world.


    ¡°In order to be vague, I am thinking it¡¯d be nice if someone warned his medical team and caught the virus as a Daemon so it could be sampled and examined as it started to infect one.¡±


    #


    It was dark and snowing as Deacon Dan and I walked down a paved trail in a park near Lake Michigan.


    Deacon Dan stopped walking. ¡°Phil, it is time for me to retire again before they figure out that I really am staying the same age. I don¡¯t know where I will go next.¡±


    I said, ¡°The reason I asked how you would feel about moving to Fairy for a while is that I was warned that the plague might end up being really bad in Chicago. I made a new chapel in Fairy recently, and they wouldn¡¯t mind having a deacon there.¡±


    Deacon Dan said, ¡°I¡¯m a bit worried about the Persephone Limit. If I stay away from Real too long, I might not be able to return to a flock when the plague is over.¡±


    A man walked past us so we stayed quiet for a short time. A bit after he passed us, he coughed.


    I glanced back at the man hurrying away. ¡°Deacon, as soon as I have you squared away, I¡¯m going to expose myself. I¡¯ll have a medical team ready to examine me and take blood samples. A few other groups will get samples, too. As soon as we have a cure, we¡¯ll treat you. Until then, since every warning says this kills old people, you need to stay safe, or the Persephone Limit may not be an issue anymore.¡±


    Deacon Dan asked, ¡°What if I already have it?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°We¡¯re going to my medical Fairyland before we go anywhere else. Until we have some answers, we don¡¯t have a choice.¡±


    Deacon Dan said, ¡°I need to pack and make some calls.¡±


    I said, ¡°You can call from Fairy. We can match time with Real and we have connections. I¡¯ll help you pack.¡±


    Deacon Dan stopped and put his hand on my arm. ¡°You know, there is no greater love than giving your life for your friends. But from my years and time, I have learned that the second greatest love is helping someone move.¡±


    #


    Placy, the little girl doctor was looking down at me through a glass window set in the top of the room. Her muffled voice was faint. ¡°We don¡¯t have a good test or an incubation period we trust. Until we know more, we are going to have to keep a watch on you. Were you well exposed?¡±


    I gave her a weak smile. ¡°How can I know? I met people I was advised to meet. I saw people that may die soon but seem fine now. I haven¡¯t done any shadow stepping.¡±


    Placy said, ¡°We will watch over you in shifts. Since you are qualified as a psychic surgeon, but unregistered and untested, you can do the testing, but we will have to instruct you and watch over the tests you make.¡±


    #


    After three weeks my time, and less than a day in Real, Placy came into my suite of rooms. ¡°Phil, you weren''t infected. You¡¯ll have to try again.¡±


    #


    I sat with Swampy on our favorite pier in Anabranch. I kicked the water gently and she watched the ripples. ¡°There it is.¡±


    I looked at the ripples, but as always, I just saw the ripples.


    #


    In my handsome Daemon form, nurses paid attention to me as I walked down the halls trying to keep from giving away my lack of medical experience. I¡¯d been gifted but my gifting was fifteen years out of date as far as hospital procedure was concerned.


    A man sitting across from a nurses¡¯ station coughed. I rushed over, knelt, and offered him a lollipop. ¡°It¡¯s xylitol, so it shouldn¡¯t rot your teeth.¡±


    He took a moment to figure out what I was saying since I was saying it through a mask and a gateway hidden inside the mask. When I breathed in, I was breathing what others breathed out. When I breathed out, I was putting the air in a Fairyland so wouldn¡¯t spread the infection if I got it.


    I heard another person cough, so I rushed over to give them a lollipop.


    #


    I was breathing heavily and felt congested when I isolated and confirmed that I was sick with something and it wasn''t just allergies. Now that I had seen it, it was going to be easier to identify. I looked up at the window. The girls were watching me, and I gave them a thumbs-up. ¡°I caught something, for sure. Don¡¯t know if it¡¯s the plague or not. How far do we want me to progress?¡±


    My doctor and nurses looked down, then at each other, and back to me.


    Placy said, ¡°Can you observe it for a few more hours? We don¡¯t want you to pass out or go to sleep.¡±


    #


    I was flying as a Raven and building roads in Snipsnort when I was summoned. The person on the other end disconnected, so I went to the Time Lockers Maze Fairyland.


    Flying over time lockers, I saw Roc walking. I flew down and landed on a container well over him. ¡°Roc, I got infected as a Daemon, and I¡¯m probably going to die if I stay a Daemon without shadow stepping. Since it¡¯s well established maybe that won¡¯t save me. So I¡¯m not supposed to turn into myself or an owl, and I¡¯m dead if I stay a Daemon. I don¡¯t talk well as a rooster or an otter, so you get to talk to a bird.¡±


    Roc looked up at me. ¡°Price you pay for being a hero.¡±


    I extended my wings. ¡°No hero here. Just an idiot that listens to fortune tellers. So, yeah. This thing is crazy deadly to Daemons. Probably. It spreads from cell to cell without having to circulate in the airways or bloodstream. Contact will do. The immune system has a hard time detecting the thing.¡±


    Roc asked, ¡°Do you have tissue samples?¡±


    I flew down, turned into an otter, and took off the backpack I¡¯d made for my otter form. I had to turn back into a Rook to talk. ¡°It¡¯s all in the backpack. So, you¡¯re rebelling yet you are passing things along to the people you are rebelling against? Isn¡¯t that a bit lame?¡±


    Roc shook his head. ¡°No, it¡¯s well established that I¡¯m immature and will run off and overreact. We have a ceasefire going to deal with this virus. Stay here a moment. I¡¯ll be right back.¡±


    He took out the gum he¡¯d been chewing and stuck it to the side of a time locker. Then he put a tack in it, opened the gateway hidden on it, and disappeared.


    He came right back out with a bag and offered it to me. ¡°There are vaccines in there for Daemons, humans, and Goblins. The Goblin version will probably work for any elves you might meet. If it doesn¡¯t, oh, well. Most Elves you meet have had nice long lives anyway.


    ¡°Your samples helped us make sure we had a good vaccine. So quite a few ungrateful jerks will owe their lives to you. As far as saving you in your Daemon form, it¡¯s a bit late for the vaccine, so you¡¯ll have to wait until we come up with a medical procedure. And yeah, we tested. When this is established, it is weakened, but not eliminated by shadow stepping. A Goblin that shadow steps a lot will probably be immune, but a Daemon shadow stepping will still need to be vaccinated, or he¡¯ll probably go belly up quick. For what it¡¯s worth, the Queen of Shadows is one of the ones who may just owe her life to you.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How about you? Are you immune now?¡±


    Roc said, ¡°My blood is toxic to all but me and my brothers. This plague doesn¡¯t have a chance. But the vaccine doesn¡¯t keep you from catching it. It just keeps you from getting real sick. Mostly. You can still get reinfected, but you probably won¡¯t spread it.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Probably?¡±


    Roc nodded. ¡°This is biology. Nothing is certain. In epidemiology, we have to use probabilities, and there are always outliers. Since an Angel gave you warnings, the odds¡¯re good that you¡¯ll survive this.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say the message the Angel gave you was for you and your brothers?¡±


    Roc looked away. ¡°Like I said, we all have to go by probabilities here, but I have a lot invested in you. Rest assured, I think the odds are good. Since your prognosticators are okay with what you¡¯re doing, you¡¯re probably better than good. I play with probabilities and the weaknesses of mankind. Your prognosticators cheat a lot better when it comes to this sort of thing. For the most part, I have to go with quantity over quality.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Can I treat people I know and care about?¡±


    Roc said, ¡°That¡¯s where it gets complicated. Replicate and save a good inventory of the vaccine. Vaccinate all your forms as soon as your prognosticators say you can be in all your forms.


    ¡°You¡¯re in charge of a few kingdoms so treat them. If some get stupid and don¡¯t want treatment, you can be the judge on that. That¡¯s where the wicked comes in. If one sick person can spread a disease to eight more and those eight can spread it to eight more, it will continue like that. If it only spreads eight times, that person¡¯s responsible for the infections of over sixteen million people. If one percent die, that means they killed a hundred and sixty thousand people and the suffering caused is much higher than that. By the way, I¡¯m seriously rounding down on this.


    ¡°If you say that, because other people were treated, the unvaccinated only had a one in a hundred chance of catching it, then they only have the random chance of probably killing a thousand six hundred people.


    ¡°If you force treatment, you save countless lives, but now you have resentful people telling others the plague wasn¡¯t that bad, and they have plans to avoid cooperating the next time a plague comes through.


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    ¡°If, as a king, you are responsible for your subjects, then you¡¯re less of a killer if you shoot all your citizens that resist vaccination. Not that history books will end up liking you, but there it is.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What about Fairies? How do we vaccinate them or do we need to?¡±


    Roc shrugged. ¡°Our king has ruled out Fairy testing after a few abuses were witnessed. The Fairies were all volunteers, but he almost froze me in time for a hundred year in Real over that incident. Right now, he¡¯s struggling with the folly of his absolute decrees, so any information you manage to collect will help. If they are mostly made of real stuff and human, give them the human vaccine. It should work. The various vaccines are mostly similar, so if there¡¯s a question about which to use on which patient, then your guess is probably good. The results might not be a perfect, but they¡¯ll be better than nothing.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What if they resist but stay isolated?¡±


    Roc said, ¡°The chuckleheaded are rarely that cooperative. Expect them to blame you when they¡¯re gasping for air and dying while surrounded by folk they infected. I don¡¯t have samples of the mindsets in your Fairyland, but you can expect a few assassination attempts after this, no matter what you do. This all happened on your watch, so it¡¯s all your fault, Phil. Of course, you can abdicate again, but then who knows how many will die without you in charge?¡±


    #


    As a rook, I recorded a message for my people. Behind me, Lord Loadstone, Hippy Dippy, That Guy, Lady Anteater, and Duchess Byebye were sitting on stone thrones with noble looking-otters and rooks crafted into the stone work.


    ¡°My people, I have an injection I want thee to be brave and take. As thou has surely heard, there is a plague loose on the world, and it is only a matter of time before it comes to Snipsnort. This plague, like the last, is particularly harsh on old folk. And most of thee qualify as ancient.


    ¡°I know how horrid this plague is. I caught it on purpose so that a vaccine could be made. Thou might have noticed that I have not been in humanoid form. There is a reason. We have a cure, but we don¡¯t yet have a treatment that will assure my survival now that I am infected in that form.


    ¡°Let me make this very, very clear. I have read all the details on this vaccine and the nobles sitting behind me have all taken the vaccine. They all acted like adults, and they all got a lovely xylitol butterscotch lollipop.¡±


    I spread my wings. ¡°Thou may have noticed that I have been spending long hours making roads and towers. I do this for thee and this fair Kingdom. Now I will let Duchess Byebye address those who may decide to not serve the kingdom and avoid taking this injection.¡±


    I flew up, and landed on the arm of Duchess Byebye¡¯s throne and turned into an otter.


    Duchess Byebye picked me up and hugged me. ¡°Byebye here. You know the games we nobles love to play. One of our favorites is hide and seek. Anyone who plans to be beneath a chicken who would poo in their fellow chickens¡¯ water, and not take the vaccine, should start running and hiding now.¡±


    Duchess Byebye started giggling and had to tense her muscles to make herself stop. She was squeezing me way too hard as she continued, ¡°I can¡¯t wait for the hunt to begin.¡±


    She looked down and me and relaxed her grip. ¡°Sorry. Did I squeeze too tight, my brother and King?¡±


    I squirmed out of her arms and flew as Lord Loadstone shouted, ¡°Cut!¡±


    #


    I was contemplating taking on another form. I could talk as a rook, and I¡¯d made a spider excavator that worked for me in otter form, but as an otter, I was constantly hungry even before I started using magic to build roads. Since I wasn¡¯t spending any time as myself, I stopped taking aging pills until I could transform into me again.


    I was letting the Fairyland run slow since the agonizing crawl of the news of plague spreading through the world was unbearable. As I walked along the road I had crafted making statues and gazebos on the pads between the towers, I was again summoned and then the summons was disconnected. I ignored it but then it happened three more times, so I went to the Time Cooler Maze Fairyland.


    Roc was standing by the doorway of a time cooler. ¡°Yeah, I know you got a false alarm and flew around here for a few hours. We need a better signal, but the false signal you got may have revealed something so check with your prognosticators.¡±


    I saw some nice pebbles the right size to put in my gizzard to grind food with so I started picking them off the ground.


    Roc said, ¡°We have a better vaccine now. It works for most creatures, will last a hundred years, and you won¡¯t need boosters. It should handle all the foreseeable variants that will be coming.¡±


    I said, ¡°That was quick. How did you do it?¡±


    Roc pointed out some pebbles for me. ¡°I can¡¯t take any credit but some brave Fairies got an audience with the Dread Lord and begged him to let them be experimented on and begged him to turn them into things for testing. As a result, we also have a procedure your medical team can use to save your life. How have your efforts to vaccinate your people gone, and how are they going to react to having to take another shot?¡±


    I quickly swallowed the pebbles and said, ¡°Snipsnort was easy, Rougarou wasn¡¯t. I ended up having to have the world banish everyone who wasn¡¯t vaccinated. I¡¯m not winning any popularity contests there. Hopefully, a lot of them will change their mind and come back.¡±


    Roc held out a bag. ¡°Unlikely. After a being has decided to ignore reason and compassion and take on whatever excuse they¡¯re using to avoid treatment, to change their mind would be to admit they had been a mass murderer. But in Fairy and for these folk, unless they can become immune by other means or pass time away in a safe place, the odds are we won¡¯t have to worry about them for long. In Real, most of the asses will survive to bray that it wasn¡¯t that bad and only the weak died.¡±


    I turned into an otter and took the bag before turning back into a rook. ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll make copies of this.¡±


    Roc looked up at the top of the hill. ¡°Before you travel much, you should stock up with treats from this time cooler. Feel free to share them and give away the nice bowls, cups, and tables. It might help you make some friends. Next time we should meet at the restaurant. They¡¯ve all been vaccinated. Snipsnort has a shore on a body of water that connects with at least six other Fairylands. It would be a kind act to offer the vaccine to them. Don¡¯t worry about it causing more deaths down the line. The Angel said, ¡®At least in Real.¡¯ so at the very least you should offer it. Their own denial will be their lesson.


    ¡°Not that saying, here memorize this and then killing those who wondered, ¡®Who was that and why did they tell me to memorize things?¡¯ is all that good a way to teach.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What should our signal be?¡±


    Roc started walking up the hill. ¡°A while back, some Fairy decided to prank you and gave your name to a group of little girls to use in a s¨¦ance. I¡¯ll make sure spam email is sent to you at the same time as your blank summons. Just check your crystal ball and see if something related to a little girl s¨¦ance is in your spam.¡±


    I stopped hopping after him and took to the air. I flew to the top of the hill and waited for him to reach me. ¡°Is this just an excuse to send people creepy spam related to s¨¦ances?¡±


    Roc grinned. ¡°Everyone needs a hobby. No, this is an attempt to find out who the Fairy was that was pranking you.¡±


    #


    I swam as an otter making ripples for Swampy to look at as she sat with her legs dangling over the edge of the pier.


    Swampy said something but I was chewing a minnow and couldn¡¯t hear her. I sat up on a rock half-buried in sand and listened.


    ¡°¨Cso you might as well turn back into yourself and take the vaccine.¡±


    I turned into a rook and flew to the railing she sat under. ¡°I missed most of what you said.¡±


    She looked up at me. ¡°Turn back into you and start vaccinating yourself. Then you can see about distributing the new vaccine¡±


    I shook my beak from side to side. ¡°Don¡¯t have the vaccines with me.¡±


    She said, ¡°Make them.¡±


    As I sat as myself and moved gateways and then made vaccines, Swampy told me what had happened. ¡°When Archer died, it was not the end of him. His Fairy has been building up its strength and his summoning you was his attempt to find out if you were still around. You didn¡¯t connect, but he still managed to obtain data. Now we know why you had to make the roads and towers. If someone invades Snipsnort, you¡¯ll have a way to get quickly to a place and be able to use fortifications or at least know what fortification they are in.¡±


    I started injecting myself in my various copies of myself. It felt good to be me even if it was variations of me. ¡°So Archer has returned. It never really felt like he was gone.¡±


    Swampy said, ¡°Get yourself healed in your Daemon form. Then contact the other Fairylands around the Great Sea, and see if they want the vaccine. The odds are good that Archer will try to use disease against you. He likes remote weapons and doesn¡¯t care what he destroys.¡±


    I held up a syringe. ¡°Your turn, Swampy.¡±


    #


    I was in Daemon form strapped to a teeter-totter. Looking down at me through a glass window were four girls in medical outfits and a girl dressed as a maid. As I coughed and choked on my own phlegm, I wondered what would happen when I died. I would be free and have bronze feathered wings, but when I woke up as me, would I have a dead Daemon form? Or could dream me be unable to change my form so I just stayed dead as Daemon me and I had to make a new body to come back to life and then I could kill myself by turning into a dead Daemon.


    My thoughts were not clear but then I was dying or at least having the gross version of waterboarding torture without anyone asking questions.


    When I opened my eyes the teeter-totter was going up, and I was getting slightly closer to the four girls looking down at me through the slanted window. They were eating something that looked like rolls with jelly on them. I closed my eyes and went back to feeling miserable as I struggled to breath and wondered why, with all the meds they had given me, none of them had put me to sleep?


    #


    At Farren the Younger¡¯s place in Realmsedge, Lord Loadstone and I were sitting with the group of volunteers who were making sure everyone got vaccinated.


    I made a case of sixty vaccine kits, set it down, and pushed it under the table with my foot.


    A man in an old military jacket picked it up, put it in his lap, and wrapped his arms around it.


    I said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±


    He said, ¡°We lost a case and our great king had to come all the way to give us another. I fear that some fool may have thought this cures more ills than just the plague.¡±


    A dark-complected woman said, ¡°Or they just wanted the boxes, booze, and lollipops.¡±


    Everyone nodded.


    Lord Loadstone asked, ¡°My lord, why didst thou package the vaccine in such nice boxes?¡±


    I pointed to the fine details on the plate of fried shrimp in front of me. ¡°These lovely lines around the edge of the plate don¡¯t make the shrimp or the sauce any better. But they make one respect the meal. Getting a lollipop and a wooden case with the otter and rook crest on it gives the folk a stronger impression of the value of this shot and may make future enterprises like this go easier. I was advised that a painting should have a nice frame or the value will be lowered by more than half.¡±


    I looked out past the cliffs and out to the sea. ¡°Gentlemen, ladies, let¡¯s hurry with the vaccinations. As soon as we are finished, wish me luck. I will be crossing the sea to find our neighboring Fairylands in hopes I can persuade them to take the vaccine as well.¡±


    From another table, a man said, ¡°When did foreign Fairies ever do anything for us? I say let them die so they can¡¯t think about invading our shores.¡±


    The men at that table with him nodded.


    The dark-complected woman said, ¡°Fast Boat, art thou telling the King his business?¡±


    Fast Boat got up and the rest of the men at the table joined him. ¡°No, we¡¯ll be off before the tides change.¡± The group bowed to me and the man said, ¡°Pardon us, great Lord. Long live King Snipsnort.¡±


    Lord Loadstone gestured to the departing crew. ¡°Is his boat fast?¡±


    The woman started to say something, looked at me, and stopped.


    The man in the old military jacket said, ¡°Molly, speak freely, I think our lords might enjoy the gossip.¡±


    Molly, the dark-complected woman said, ¡°His boat can only hold a quarter of the catch a fishing boat can. It¡¯s seaworthy, I¡¯ll grant, and I would love to sail such a thing, but it¡¯s more like a rich man¡¯s toy than a true fishing boat.¡±


    #


    In the covered pavilion I had built to provide a work place, meeting place, and area to manage vaccinations, the last of the fishermen who had sailed in just before the storm hit were getting their shots.


    Lord Loadstone looked out at the dark cloud-covered sea. ¡°¡¯Tis bad timing, my Liege. The storm brought in the last boat, so we finished early, but now your plan to explore the Great Sea will have to be put off.¡±


    I looked out at the storm and considered trying to fly through it anyway when I saw a huge chain of lightning blaze across the dark clouds for a moment. ¡°Lord Loadstone, I left a gateway in a place I found the last time I explored. I can always go and explore there. How do I approach them?¡±


    Lord Loadstone¡¯s face was lit for a moment by distant lightning. ¡°Not a lot of visitors to our kingdom. There is little profit in it. We do well enough and make what we need. Our nobles do have friend from outside, but most serious nations avoid us. We are legendary but not in a good way.


    ¡°Your Majesty would probably be best advised to come up with thy own strategy for dealing with other nations.¡±


    #


    As a rook, I peeked out of the hollow tree I¡¯d hidden a gateway in ages ago. At least it seemed like ages. It was morning and there was no music playing. I flew up and heard a conversation.


    Two rooks were talking in a language I didn¡¯t understand. I had heard a German song when I was here last, but the rooks weren¡¯t speaking in German. The sky above us was cloudy, and the weather was cold, but there was no great storm raging here.


    The rooks landed beside a gateway to the courtyard that music was being played in the last time I was here. They turned into a warmly-dressed couple and continued talking as they walked out to a roadway that was more of a well-beaten trail. It looked like it had been raised ages ago, but barely kept up since then. A raven flew over and the woman held up her arm. The raven landed on her arm and started talking to them. It was in the same language, so I didn¡¯t know what was being said, but at least it told me these folk dealt with talking birds.


    The raven gestured with his beak in my direction, and the couple looked right at me.


    From my perch inside the tree I prepared myself to return to Snipsnort before addressing them in German. ¡°Does anyone here speak German?¡±


    The lady with the raven on her arm asked in German, ¡°Art thou Phil?¡±


    I looked back out of the hole in the tree. ¡°Amazing guess. Did someone tell you I was coming?¡±


    The man said, ¡°We had a prophecy. What do we need to do?¡±


    I hopped out and dropped to a low limb. ¡°So you are aware of the coming plague?¡±


    The man said, ¡°Yes, what do we need to give thee for thy cure?¡±


    I shook my beak. ¡°No charge, this is a charitable act. I¡¯ll need to know how many doses you¡¯ll need to treat everyone.¡±


    The man said, ¡°Close to five hundred thousand.¡±


    I got down from the limb and turned into my most handsome version of myself. I didn¡¯t want to ruin things by looking like a thug. The logistics of five hundred thousand doses being distributed in a low technology world seemed overwhelming, it was ten times as many as I had already treated. ¡°I can provide the cure, but that¡¯s a lot to manage and distribute. The treatment needs to be used within a month. I can provide more if there are logistic problems, though.¡±


    The man looked at the woman. ¡°Can we treat Prophet right now?¡±


    The woman said, ¡°Let¡¯s go to the old palace first.¡±


    The man gestured to the woman. ¡°Phil, meet Prophet. Thou canst call me Precious, everyone else does.¡±


    I said, ¡°It is a pleasure meeting thee.¡±


    The woman said, ¡°Sorry, all this came as a surprise to us. The sign that you were finally coming didn¡¯t show up until last week.¡±


    The man said, ¡°The prophecy said first thing. Can we treat her here and now?¡±


    I said, ¡°One moment. She will need to bare an arm.¡±


    The raven flew up and landed on the limb where I had just been perched. I got the impression he was ready to attack if I made the wrong move.


    I opened a gateway to overlay with Snipsnort so I could make a vaccine. I went ahead and made a case of them like we used in Snipsnort.


    I slid the drawer back and then out so a box with a syringe, swab, bandages, cloth, alcohol, and lollipop was ejected. I treated her arm, gave her the shot, and put a bandage on her before handing her the lollipop. I gestured for her to put it in her mouth. ¡°You¡¯re all done. Enjoy the lollipop.¡±


    She tasted it. ¡°This part of treatment almost makes up for the first part.¡±


    The man bared his arm. I treated him and gave him the boxes and his lollipop. ¡°This is just a reward. When you deal with Fairies, this makes things a lot easier.¡±


    He pointed to the small crystal bottle. ¡°What is this?¡±


    I said, ¡°You can drink it if you want. Most do. It¡¯s rather strong. Pure spirits. I use it to clean so we don¡¯t cause another illness while trying to prevent one.¡±


    The man held his lollipop up and looked at it. ¡°Makes sense. Do we treat Fairies as well?¡±


    I said, ¡°Yes, treat everyone. I¡¯ll need to train a few people so they can train others.¡±


    The man said, ¡°When we get to the palace, we¡¯ll have people ready for training. Art thou certain thou hast no desire for payment?¡±


    Prophet put her hand on his arm and took one of the boxes from him. ¡°He just made these from nothing. I don¡¯t think he needs anything.¡±


    The man said, ¡°Less than a hundred of these boxes can fit in that case.¡±


    I said, ¡°Sixty.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°So he has to make over eight thousand of them, and the peers of Fairy are constantly arguing over a single pound of material when they eat a meal or make anything. We at least owe him produce and food. We don¡¯t want to seem ungrateful.¡±


    Prophet opened the gateway to the courtyard and then opened a more magical gateway to another courtyard and stepped through.