Chapter 6

Big Hands, Big Feet

The walk back through the tunnels was uneventful. Back in the throne room, Mike had Beth broker a new agreement with the rats. If they wanted to stay, they could, but they needed to close off any tunnels to the outside world that could be used to get in. The rats were hesitant to deny their request, particularly because Tink kept throwing everyone stink eye while holding her club and Mike held Jenny in his arms like a pet.

The doll didn’t reanimate on the way back, but he could feel her cold, sinister presence within. He thought back to what he had seen in her illusory world. He was still rather pissed that he had been seen, cock essentially in hand, by Beth. There was still something so very daunting about her, a mental roadblock that prevented him from feeling entirely like himself when she was around.

Then again, who was he really? He thought back to the dual nature of Jenny and Jane. Was Jenny the product of Jane undergoing centuries of anger and abuse, that poor peasant girl now gone forever? Or was Jenny the facade that Jane wore to justify her actions, a true manifestation of her inner id?

With a tentative agreement to revisit the rats again to establish more rules, they were led back to the home by Reggie. Though he was now the monarch, he seemed to take a small amount of pride in leading them back to the house. If there was any anger over the death of the recent regent, he didn’t detect any.

“Thank you, Reggie.” Beth knelt down to shake his hand. “Let me know if you need anything. Also, if you could fix the locks on the doors, we would appreciate that.”

“It would be my honor, Lady Beth.” The new king gave them a wave and walked back into the secret passage. Mike yawned and looked at the others.

“I’m beat.” He held Jenny out to Beth. “Do you want to take her tonight or should I?”

“I’ll take her. She might want to talk later.” Beth took the doll. “Oh, and here is this.”

She handed over the emerald. It glowed eerily once it was in his hand.

“I’ll lock it up in the Vault.” He had no idea the extent of its powers, but he instantly knew it would be a bad idea to let anybody else mess with it.

“No use Vault.” Tink yawned too, then rubbed her eyes. “Tink find old rat hole in back of Vault. Hide in corner where only doll can fit.”

“I see.” He sighed. That explained how Jenny had gotten out before. “I’ll take it with me, I guess. Hold onto it until the Vault gets properly sealed.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Beth held Jenny out. She looked like she wanted to ask something, but thought better of it. “Well, goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” He watched her walk away. Embarrassing moments in the church aside, she had been a wonderful ally to have on his side. He made a brief visit to the kitchen for a drink, pleased that the others had cleaned up the worst of the mess already. He sucked down a beer that he had hidden from Tink behind the orange juice. The little goblin could as well be a dwarf based on how much booze she could handle.

Tink was already in bed, her club leaning against the side of the frame. Mike checked in with Naia, and she took the emerald from him and promised to keep it safe until the Vault was finished. He yawned while climbing into bed, miserable at how soon the sun was going to rise. Tink rolled over and grabbed his arm and he shifted it at the last second to avoid getting bitten.

He closed his eyes, contemplating the dull green glow of the emerald. He could see it as if it sat before him, mounted on a tiny silver stand.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” He spoke the words, but he hadn’t wanted to say them. It wasn’t his voice either. It was a mix of voices, all feminine.

“I ... I guess?” When he responded, he heard his own voice. At least he would know who said what.

“Take it.”

“Am I asleep?”

The voice laughed. The image of the emerald was now on top of a marble pedestal and he stood in the sideways tower in the sky. He contemplated the world below where it was early morning, could see the movements of cars and trains beneath him. So many people living ordinary lives, unaware that a man living in a magic house was apparently having a nervous breakdown thousands of feet above them.

“Not quite, but close.”

“When I was younger, I used to dream I could fly.” He grabbed the emerald sculpture. It was about the size of a chess piece in his hand, a hand that wasn’t his own. “I loved those dreams because I would fly straight up into the sky. Away from my mother, my problems and other people. In my dreams, it was so peaceful up in the clouds.”

“Congratulations on finding a new piece.” The room swirled around him and he was back in his house. The first floor was clean and untouched. He walked against his will to the room with the large dining table and saw the familiar gameboard from before. The board was larger now, revealing the new addition to the house. He set the emerald down on Naia’s fountain, next to her game piece.

“Every room has its purpose, every monster has its place.” The voice sang these words and withdrew their hand.

“Uh huh.” He experimented with the board like he had before. He touched the back wall of the servant’s quarters. The board shimmered, but instead of changing, a separate game board appeared to the side of his. Standing in the middle of the throne room was a figurine of Reggy, complete with Potatohead glasses and a crown. “This ... this is real, isn’t it?”

The voice just laughed at him. He tried to relax, allowing himself to sink deeper into the vision. He examined the pieces on the board, contemplating them. Off in the corner, he saw a pair of pieces laying inside the lid of a cardboard box. He pulled them out to look.

“Lily and Dana.” Of course. They weren’t on the board because they were traveling. He noticed other shapes on his board, blurry shapes. Those would be creatures he hadn’t discovered yet in rooms he couldn’t find. Frustrated, he tried to examine some of the pieces, but the harder he looked, the blurrier they became.

“So what’s the point in all of this? Am I playing a game?” He was reminded of a movie he caught on TV as a kid. Something to do with the gods using humans as game pieces and sending them out on quests. “Are ... are you god?”

There was no answer. Instead, he noticed a shadow sitting at the other side of the table. It was next to a game board of its own, and the shadow’s ears perked up as it noticed him. It stood up and leaned toward him.

“Oh shit.” He couldn’t make out this new creature, but the absolute malice it radiated washed over him like a heatwave. It had several game pieces of its own on a board that looked like it had a forest along the edges.

“You have been challenged,” the voice warned him.

“Challenged to what?” When he spoke, it was in his own voice. He was back in his bed, Tink clutching his thigh. Early morning light illuminated his bedroom and he groaned. Had he actually fallen asleep? His whole body was stiff as if he hadn’t moved a muscle the entire time he was in bed.

The vision had filled him with a certain level of dread, that shadowy figure regarding him from the other side of the table. Was it a Society member? He let out a loud sigh. He was too tired to give it much thought and briefly considered getting out of bed to go talk to Naia, or Ratu, or anyone who could give him a shove in the right direction. Fatigue sat across him like a heavy fog, pressing him into the comfort of his mattress.

“Fuck it.” He grabbed the edge of a blanket and rolled over, shoving his face into his pillow. Tink stirred, and he jerked his thigh away before she could bite it. Unless the world was currently ending, he was going to sleep in.

It was nearly noon when he walked outside. He held a cup of coffee and wore a pair of sunglasses. He went immediately to the sundial and gave it a good turn, then looked up. He had expected to see Sebastien standing there, but was surprised to see a dark skinned man in a fancy suit.

Amir. This was the head of the Society, standing right on the edge of his property, a false grin plastered across his face. He fiddled with a rather ornate ring on his finger, then put his hands behind his back. This was the first time anyone other than Sebastien had been on watch.

“Mr. Radley.” Amir smiled. “I guess the reports of your journeys are ... inaccurate.”

“Come again?” Mike only walked close enough to hear better. Amir, according to Lily, was one of the most powerful mages currently alive. To Mike, he looked more like an expensive car salesman.

“For several hours, a locator spell I cast with your name pinged in an overgrown region of South America. I sent many of the others to capture you, but we lost your location hours ago. Naturally, I came here myself to check on the situation.” Amir folded his fingers into a gun and a black and purple bolt ripped toward Mike. It struck an invisible barrier at the property line and scattered outward. “Can’t blame a man for trying. Anyways, I had hoped to be waiting for your eventual return so I could kill you.”

“Your locator spell is broken.” Mike sipped at his coffee. “Clearly I am still here and haven’t left.”

“Or clearly you have returned. You are a man of many mysteries, Mr. Radley.”

“Yeah.” He turned away from Amir, then paused and turned back. “Any luck finding your succubus?”

Amir’s features flinched. “She has been rather elusive, but I am a patient man. I have lived countless centuries and will undoubtedly live countless more. That is why I have decided that I no longer care about gaining your cooperation. It would be far easier to kill you and whoever shows up to claim your inheritance. If I do this enough times, eventually someone will sell me this place.”

“It’s a shame you have all the time in the world, yet you spend it being a huge douchebag.”

“That is a matter of perspective.” Amir’s smile reappeared. “As the wind wears down the mountain, I too shall see this through.”

“Uh huh.” The way Amir was looking at him now, he knew that he should be terrified. In a way, his death certificate had already been signed by the man. However, he had slept poorly and was officially too grumpy to care. “Anything else you have to say to me? I’m pretty busy these days. Found a dragon in the basement, I’m having him neutered so he quits humping the washing machine. Leaves terrible stains on all my clothes.”

“You have a dragon?” A look of disbelief crossed the man’s face. Mike ignored the man and walked back to his door. He stopped long enough to stare at the swing, wondering how long Cecilia would be gone. At the thought of her departure, his mood darkened.

In the early afternoon, a moving truck arrived. It was all the items from New Castle. He had them dropped off on the driveway and tipped the movers well. Beth came out with her list and verified that each item had, in fact, been returned.

The fairies helped him sort the items into magical and non-magical piles. Surprisingly enough, most of the items were non-magical. These Mike used to re-furnish the second floor with help from Sofia and Beth. The rats had unblocked the remaining doorways and closed up a couple of the portals already.

Tink spent her evening and the following morning in the Vault. When she came up for breakfast, she was muttering under her breath, her face and arms covered in soot. Between inhaling her eggos, she mumbled something about a magical item that had blown up in her face and had gone back down to the basement wearing a thick apron and heavy gloves. The Vault was eventually declared repaired before Tink flopped down on Mike’s bed and slept for nearly fourteen hours straight.

He expected to have another dream about the game board, but it never came. Cecilia still hadn’t returned, but Sofia assured him that many death myths claimed a personal escort could take time, especially when they were troublesome spirits that didn’t want to go.

Somehow, it didn’t help him feel better. He used his nervous energy to help Reggie transform the servant’s quarters into a sitting room. They had both agreed it would be more pleasant than storming into the throne room whenever they wanted to talk. To his credit, Reggie had some of the rats participate in cleaning up, and they even gave Beth an old, beat up doll house meant to be a temporary replacement for Jenny.

The doll hadn’t moved since they returned, but Beth assured him that Jenny’s weird little outburst had worn her out. He was happy to hear that the two of them were at least talking and that the grumpy ghost was okay. He cleaned up the doll house and Beth convinced Jenny to accept it until Tink could build her a better one.

Ratu had taken the gem to the Labyrinth for study and hadn’t been seen since. Utilizing the fairy messaging system, she informed him that the emerald had her thoroughly stumped. The magic it contained wasn’t easily catalogued and she couldn’t get it to replicate the effect of animating furniture.

Another day passed without answers or Cecilia. Mike turned the sundial the next morning, ignoring the figure in white who watched him from the sidewalk. They were able to repair damage to the first floor and Jenny’s new dollhouse was rebuilt and waiting for her. The rats agreed to avoid the front room, not as a punishment, but because everyone feared Jenny would kill one on sight.

Sitting at the large table in the dining room, Mike was busy clicking through websites on his laptop. He had sent out final emails this morning to his few remaining clients with references for other webmasters he recommended. He had thought to hold onto some semblance of his old life, but he had come to terms with the fact that he found no joy in working for others, nor did he have the time. He had ordered replacement plates and silverware for what the poltergeists had broken and had gotten some new furniture for the front room. Tink, Sofia, and Abella had worked to repair the table, but it still had several large cracks where it had broken apart.

Beth sat across from him, her nose buried in one of the Harry Potter novels. An abandoned crumpet was on the paper plate in front of her and she stirred occasionally at a large cup of tea.

The sound of scrambling claws announced Reggie’s arrival. For whatever reason, he had started showing up for meals. At first, Mike had found the rat’s continued presence annoying. However, after a couple of days, he realized that Reggie was a lot like he was. The rat had only been a mouthpiece for so many years that he had had no confidence or hopes of advancing his lot. Now, however, he had been given a chance to shine by the very people who would be his enemies and seemed determined to develop that relationship.

“Lord Mike. Lady Beth.” He had to sit in a booster seat Tink had built for him, his paws folded politely.

“Good morning,” Beth told him, then slid over her crumpet. Reggie broke off a piece and stuffed it in his mouth.

“How’s the kingdom?” Mike pushed over the rest of his omelet. Sofia was still sore about the mess they had made of the Library, so he and Beth had started sneaking him her cooking.

“We are doing well. We have rebuilt part of the warrens and moved our living quarters around. Now that we can move around, we were offered refuge down in portions of the Labyrinth.

“Really? Ratu was okay with that?”

The Rat King nodded. “We have built a series of portals through the maze that allow us to check her traps for her. She also had us build her some shortcuts through the Labyrinth so that she could get here faster. Sir Asterion was not a fan of this, but she placated him with something called ... time off?”

When Reggie said time off, Mike caught Beth grinning.

“He doesn’t have to be in the Labyrinth all the time anymore,” she explained. “He’s been allowed to come up and visit the garden. We actually had a nice walk in the greenhouse yesterday. We found a great little waterfall and had some lunch there.”

“Yeah. There’s a couple good ones there.” A chuckle escaped his lips. He hadn’t really thought of the greenhouse as a place to go for a pleasant walk. Since he was on permanent house arrest, it was likely that he would be doing that fairly soon. “Actually, Reggie, the greenhouse might not be a bad place for your people to look for potential homes. I don’t know how big it is, but other than a few extremely dangerous plants, nothing else lives there.” At least, that was what Zel had told him.

“We prefer our comforts to be made of wood. Unless you are offering to build us homes, we will stick with our current domiciles.”

“Of course.” He drank some more coffee and contemplated his computer screen. He felt like he had a million other things he should be doing right now and couldn’t focus on any of them as a result. He excused himself from the table and wandered the house, peeking into random rooms.

Zel sat in the front room next to Jenny’s dollhouse. She was reading a book on herbs that she had borrowed from Sofia. Every couple of seconds, she would scribble furiously in her notebook. She still hadn’t reverted and was taking advantage of being able to walk around the house without destroying the floor.

Out front, Abella was having a spirited game of tag with the fairies up above the sundial. She moved surprisingly fast, snatching Cerulea out of the air with her feet. Carmina and Olivia laughed, racing in circles around her. Out on the sidewalk, Sebastien watched with interest. Mike suspected that any Society members involved in the battle on his front lawn could now see everyone who had been involved, and this confirmed it. They were a potential thorn in his side that would never go away unless he did something.

Like usual, he had no idea what that something was.

Tink was busy fixing up the office, so he left her to it and walked up the stairs to his room. He took off his clothes and climbed into his bath, the water rapidly drawn at the perfect temperature for him.

“Rough morning, lover?” The water folded around him when he lay down in the tub, becoming her arms and legs.

“Maybe. I don’t know. Feel like I have a lot on my mind, but i can’t pinpoint it.”

“I think it’s your brain decompressing. You’ve done an impressive amount since moving in and, as of right now, you aren’t fighting for survival.”

“That’s just it. I feel like I am, somehow. I’m in a dark alley and am about to get robbed, or something.” He reached up and played with her hair. “And the strange vision I had keeps bothering me.”

“The one with the game pieces?” He had told Naia about it the next day. She had no idea what the vision had been.

“Yeah. There’s a challenger. But now what? Is someone going to show up on my front lawn and try to fight me? Or will it be like Lily and someone will try to kill me in my sleep? And I’m worried about Cecilia, and Lily, and even Dana.” He took a deep breath and let it all out at once. “I’m also worried about what Emily was hiding.”

“You’re welcome to look with me.” Naia’s hands squeezed his shoulders. “Where should we start?”

He wanted to ask about the emerald, the magic items she had collected, why she erased the second floor of her house. But Emily was smart enough to make sure that anything connected to those things would have been part of the wipe.

It suddenly occurred to him.

“I’ve been focusing on the outcome far too much,” he said. “Why she did certain things. But something must have given her those ideas, right? I mean, she didn’t just randomly decide to go look up some magic rats that could help her steal the Holy Grail or something like that. Whatever her goal, she based her path on knowledge she came by.” Or at least he hoped she did.

“So what do you want to see?” Naia asked.

“Memories about portals. Learning what they are, and how they work. I want to see that.”

Naia leaned over him, her lips finding his,

Then let’s begin.

Emily pulled her Chevy Impala onto the side of the road. The small hunting trail was nearly invisible from the road, and she wouldn’t have seen it either. The tiny yellow fairy sitting on her shoulder had tugged on her ear, indicating that she had detected magic.

“Are you sure?” Emily asked. There was nobody else around, so Daisy hopped onto the dashboard, her hands on her hips. The small creature went through a series of hand signs.

“Yeah, you’re right, I’m sorry.” She set the brake and turned off the engine. Emily knew better than to doubt Daisy’s tracking ability; she just didn’t feel like hiking through the thick brush so soon. When she got out, the wind caught her head scarf, whipping the ends free over her shoulder. She tucked her hair back into place, and Daisy squeezed back in to her hiding spot just beneath Emily’s ear.

It had been a long flight, and the clock was ticking. The sundial was good for only thirty more hours, which was cutting it close. She gazed up into the woods and let out a heavy sigh. She hated being away from the house for very long. While Abella had assured her that nobody had tried to break in since the late 1800s, she always worried about what might happen if someone did and she wasn’t home to activate the sundial.

On the other hand, she also needed to make the house bigger. It was key to solving the home’s mystery, and the only way to do that was to offer up her home as a sanctuary. Unfortunately, magical creatures were becoming increasingly hard to come by. The arachne she had discovered in Utah certainly wasn’t coming anytime soon.

However, she had been tracking any details on this particular quarry for decades now. His territory was impossibly large, and she wouldn’t have bothered if not for rumors that a couple guys had finally caught it on tape. She had seen it for herself and decided to take action. It didn’t matter that she was now over a hundred miles north of where it had been spotted. Based on her estimates, the creature could somehow travel a thousand miles a day with little problem.

That was assuming it was the same creature, of course. She had already visited the spot where it had been filmed and planted an enchanted stone beneath the soil. This would ensure that anybody trying to visit the same location would get lost or turned away somehow, thus hiding the creature’s last known trail. That was yesterday afternoon, and since then, Daisy had been tracking the creature using a locator spell, some hair she had found, and a map inside of the car. Once they were close enough, they no longer needed the map, and Emily had to drive incredibly fast just to keep up with the creature’s strides. An hour ago, it had been fifty miles to the south.

She slid the rental car keys into her pocket and they started walking. Her thick soled shoes were perfect for hiking, but the trail rapidly diminished. She found herself fighting to make it through the thick brush around the edges of the forest.

It was a sunny day, but the forest canopy kept her in the shade. She whistled quietly to herself, wishing she could listen to music while she walked. She certainly enjoyed listening to her turntable or the radio at home. Her happy tune began to sputter out as the trail steadily became more difficult. She could duck under branches, but the thicket was too massive to push through. She took enormous detours just to get around, stepping off of the trail to get to her destination.

Branches snatched at her clothing, tugging free her scarf. Grumbling to herself, she had to free herself numerous times from the thick vegetation. She was so caught up in keeping her clothes from ripping that she stumbled into a clearing backwards, turning around to kick a root free of her leg.

There he sat, his dark brown fur tangled up in knots. He had built a fire to cook some fish, several of them spitted over the flames. He was tossing some sort of herbs over them when she stepped out of the bushes. He sat up, his eyes already level with Emily. The skin of his face was dark, the hair growing around the outside of it. His dark eyes were kind, and he had several braids in his fur held together by string, ribbon and leaves.

“It’s about time you got here,” he said, his voice rumbling. “I was afraid you were lost.”

“I ... um...” She had expected a lot of things, but not this. “You’re cooking?”

“Even Bigfoot gets hungry.” He used one of his enormous feet to push a small boulder toward her. “Come. Have a seat.”

“This is not at all what I expected.” She sat down by the fire. The smoke of the flames sought her out immediately, then bent away at the last second. She would tolerate a lot of things from nature, but smoke in her eyes was not one of them.

“I could say the same about you. You carry yourself with confidence through these woods, yet you appear as a fragile beauty.” Bigfoot smirked, scratching his cheek with a giant finger.

“You looked a lot bigger on film,” Emily said, frowning.

“The camera adds fifteen pounds.” Bigfoot lifted one of his fish off the fire. “You hungry? You look hungry.”

“No, but...”

He handed over the fish, and she took it.

Up close, the trout smelled amazing and her stomach growled in anticipation. “I’m not here to eat your food.”

“That one is for you. Figured you might be hungry after chasing me all morning.” He winked and picked up the second stake with two fish on it. “Besides, I should probably eat less. That video wasn’t very flattering.”

She stared in disbelief. “You knew I was tracking you?”

“Yep. I have very keen senses. The sound and smell of your car are distinct, and the fact that they kept getting closer told me I was being pursued. I waited to see if you were friend or foe.”

“And what would you have done if I was foe?”

Bigfoot stood up and casually sunk his fingers into the giant rock he had been sitting on. He pulled it straight out of the ground, the earth parting like sand. The boulder was easily the size of a trashcan and he hurled it with very little effort across the clearing where it crushed the trunk of a tree. It was clearly some form of elemental magic, and just as clearly casually induced.

“Christ.” She looked at the broken tree and then down at the fish. She ripped a piece of flesh off and ate it. It had been seasoned with something sweet and lemony. “This is very good.”

“Thank you. I pride myself on my cooking.”

“Forgive me though, if I may ask. If Bigfoot are so good at hiding and can detect people from miles away, how did you get caught on video?”

“Oh. That.” He sighed, momentarily lowering his fish. “The forest protects me in many ways. I am rarely seen, and even when I am, I have magic which can disguise me in plain sight, even when I’m moving. But even though the magic is automatic, I can find myself in a position where my faculties are, um, not as effective.”

“Such as?”

He rolled his eyes. “I often like to incorporate floral delicacies into my meals. I found an interesting little hybrid that I thought would compliment my meal that evening. I made a wonderful little meal of it, put it in my salad, cooked it with some rabbit. Tasted phenomenal. About an hour later, I thought I was lost in the desert and a fucking cactus was trying to sell me an automobile.”

“Wait, you got high?”

“Yeah, I was pretty messed up. There are so many plants out here with medicinal properties, and I am usually so careful. This one was pretty bad though. When I saw those guys, I was convinced they were judgmental mushrooms. Unfortunately, they just happened to have that camera thing of theirs.” He took a bite of fish and snorted. “Fucking figures. No, I have so many people on my ass I should be charging rent.”

“About that.” She scooted closer to the fire. “I have a house, out on the east coast. It’s a sanctuary for creatures like you and---”

“Nope.” He took another bite and chewed it slowly. “I appreciate the offer, I really do. But you have to understand that, by nature, I am a restless spirit. I love to wander beneath the sky and commune with the animals. The forest isn’t just my home. It’s my soulmate, my best friend, the other half of my heart. While your home may be safe, I feel that I would not fare well in its presence. The others of my kind are tied to caves, the ice, and even swamps, so I wouldn’t bother making them a similar offer.”

Emily sighed. She had come so far for nothing. “I see. I guess this is a wasted trip after all.”

“Nonsense.” His dark features spread into a wide grin. “It has been many years since I had a guest. Especially one so pretty. Was one of your parents a nymph?”

She fought a smile. “That’s a long story.”

“We’ve got plenty of time. The nearest human is over ten miles away. Pair of hunters, a man and his son. He is teaching him how to use a rifle.”

“How can you tell all that?”

“The forest speaks to me. It tells me they have been camping for two days. The father is teaching his son to be a steward for the forest, to carry out his trash and to always put out the fire. The love of the woods is ingrained deep in his heart, and he shares it with his son.”

“Wow. The forest knows all that?”

“In a sense. It tells me what it sees, and I interpret. The forest is not one to judge, only to observe. In my grumpier moments, I may intervene.”