Earthbound: An Otherworld Novella (3 page)

“Can it be locked from inside?” I asked.

“Yes, but only if you know about the hidden mechanism. We obviously don’t show unwelcome visitors that aspect. But it allows us to bar it from inside, so the room can also be used as a panic room. Menolly will be safe from the sunlight, as well as from self-appointed vampire hunters.” He snorted, rolling his eyes.

“Seriously? Vampire hunters?” She gave him a long look.

Chase answered her. “There was a television show a few years ago.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
. It was extremely popular, and actually quite cute. But the main character was a vampire hunter, and vampires became big business. Then, once the vampires came out of the closet, a number of self-appointed vampire hunters decided to reenact the show they loved so much.”

I groaned. “I’ll bet that’s led to a lot of unnecessary bloodshed, especially if these so-called vampire hunters are kids.”

“Mostly teens, yes, who think it’s all fun and games to go hunting a vampire, until they realize they’re not as strong or clever as most of the bloodsuckers.” Chase suddenly stopped. “I apologize. I’m not used to interacting with vampires who are on our side of the law.”

“Not a problem,” Menolly said, though she looked anything but pleased.

“So, it’s bad enough when the teens go off half-cocked. They do get themselves hurt. But, and here’s where you’ll have to be careful, not all of them are teens. There’s a small but vocal minority of people—human—who don’t like it that the Fae, Weres, and others Supes have come out of the closet. There are some very vocal hate groups who would love to see all of you slaughtered. And they incite violence. We try to quash their activities, but unless somebody’s breaking the law, it’s difficult. And right now, it’s not against the law to kill a vampire.”

“Wonderful, just wonderful. I can see it’s going to be a field day living here.” Menolly let out a little growl.

“It’s not illegal to kill a vampire in Y’Eírialiastar either,” I reminded her.

“True enough.” She turned back to Jocko. “Let’s see this safe room.”

Jocko opened the door. There was a cot against one wall with a blanket folded on it. A table and chairs sat on the other side of the room, along with what I recognized as a toilet and sink. Several books sat on the table and I wandered in, picking one of them up. I loved books. My mother had taught me to read English. I also knew Kathar—the language among the Fae, Melosealfôr — a rare form of Crypto language, as well as Calouk—the common tongue used in every city in Y’Eírialiastar.

I glanced at the book, running my hand along the glossy picture of some sort of ship against a background of stars. Paper here was a lot smoother to the feel than back at home. My cover job was to pose as a bookstore owner, and I suddenly felt giddy. If my days were going to be spent among stacks of books, rather than fighting and chasing down criminals, maybe being stuck Earthside wouldn’t be a bad run after all.

I replaced the book on the table and turned Menolly. “Will this work?”

She nodded. “Kind of like the safe room at home, although it’s magic proof as well. I don’t mind staying here for a day or two until we find a place. That reminds me, how long till sunrise?”

“It’s the same over here as it is in Otherworld,” Jocko said. He glanced at a bracelet on his arm. “It’s three
AM
right now, which means you have about four hours to sunrise.”

“Are you wearing a clock?” I cocked my head to get a better look. Mother had owned a clock. Father had brought it home to her from one of his Earthside missions, after she told him it would make her feel at home.

“I suppose so, only when you wear it on your body, it’s called a watch.” Jocko held out his arms so we could see. The metal bracelet expanded around his wrist. In the center, was a round clock face, only the time showed in digits rather than two pointers circling the hours.

“I don’t want to go too far out tonight, until we get the lay of the city. We don’t want to chance Menolly getting caught out in the sun. So why don’t you show us the bar?” I didn’t want any chance of anybody on getting lost.

“Follow me, then.” Jocko let the way toward the stairs, as we headed into our new lives.

Chapter 3

The next morning, Delilah and I woke after a short sleep. Chase had taken us to a nearby inn—or rather, hotel, after Menolly was safely locked in for the night.

We spent the first hour watching television, which left me jarred and Delilah unnaturally fixated. I found it confusing, but Delilah took to it like a fish to water. In fact, I finally had to order her to turn it off so we could get some sleep. The noise of the traffic grated on my nerves, but I had to hand it to Earthside when it came to the blankets and bed. The mattresses were soft, the sheets smooth against my skin, and having heat that didn’t require stoking a fire? Priceless.

Chase picked us up from the hotel and drove us to breakfast. The car had terrified me the night before, but in daylight, it was even worse, watching all the other drivers coming toward us and not being able to believe they wouldn’t accidentally cross the white line and run right into us. But we made it to the restaurant safely, where Iris was waiting.

The house sprite stood around four-one, if that, and was absolutely gorgeous. Her hair was long, caught up in an intricate bun that spiraled up on her head and then hung down in a ponytail from the center. She was wearing a pair of navy pants and a pretty V-neck top. Her eyes were the clearest blue I had ever seen.

“Iris, I want you to meet the D’Artigo sisters. Well, two of them. Meet Camille and Delilah. Menolly is the vampire and she’s asleep right now.” A faint shudder in Chase’s voice told me that he was afraid of Menolly. I dreaded to think of the mileage she was going to pull out of that little fact. And she
would
notice his fear.

“Hi, welcome to Earthside. I work for the OIA. Chase has assigned me to help you out. Camille, I’ll be helping you in the bookstore, as well. But I’m here to answer questions and to help familiarize you with the city.” Her voice was soft, but the resonance behind it hinted at a great wealth of power behind it.

“So, you’re an Earthside house sprite?” Delilah slid into the booth, staring around with curiosity. “There are so many people over here compared to home. Even though our cities are crowded, it doesn’t feel anything like this.”

“You’ll find that less so in smaller towns, but yes, Seattle is big. Not as big or crowded as some of our cities, though.” Iris brushed a stray hair away from her face. “To answer your question, Camille, yes, I’m Earthside Fae, but I’ve been over to Otherworld a number of times. I was recruited by the OIA about four years ago. I was among the first of the Fae to come out over here, and I oversaw the opening of the Wayfarer portal. Lately, I haven’t been doing much for the agency, though.” Her voice was tinged with the faintest disapproval.

“As I said last night, Iris will be helping you house-hunt. When Trenyth asked me who I thought would be best, I figured that since she’s a house sprite, Iris was the obvious choice.” Chase looked extremely pleased with himself.

Just then the waitress arrived with menus. I scanned the choices, confused by some of the descriptions but one of the words rang a bell. Mother had mentioned loving waffles.

“I’d like to try a waffle.” I handed the menu back to the waitress.

“What would you like to drink?” She waited, pencil poised over her pad.

Chase let out a soft laugh. “Bring her a double shot mocha.”

I arched my eyebrows. “What’s that?”

“Coffee. If you want to survive over here, you need to learn to drink coffee.”

I figured that if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have to drink it. “All right.”

Delilah wanted steak and eggs, along with a big glass of milk. Chase ordered pancakes and sausage, and Iris asked for an omelet.

As we waited for our food, I stared out the window. The cars were bumper-to-bumper out on the road. So many people, going so many places.

Iris cleared her throat. “It’s going to take you some time to get used to things, but I promise, it won’t feel so alien after a while. You’ll be surprised how quickly you adapt.” Her voice was soothing, and I relaxed as I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Delilah brightened. “I like television.”

“Oh good gods, save me now.” But I grinned at her.

“I take it
somebody
found the TV in the hotel?” Chase let out a soft laugh.

“A man was wearing fish strapped to his chest. I have no idea what was going on, but it reminded me of some bizarre wrestling match. And there was man…he was talking into…” She paused, thinking, then snapped her fingers. “A microphone. That’s it. Anyway, he’s…handsome.” She blushed and I stared at her.

“This is new. You almost never notice men…not in that way.”

“I can’t help it. There was just something about him.”

Chase’s jaw dropped. “You found Jerry Springer?” He let out a garbled sound.

Iris snorted. “Well, it’s official. Your introduction to our society is complete.”

I wasn’t sure what was happening, but it was obvious that whoever Jerry Springer was, he was infamous for something. “Leave it to my sister to discover the oddballs.”

Chase cleared his throat. “Okay, the less said about Springer, the better. Anyway, as soon as we finish breakfast, I’m going to leave you in Iris’s capable hands. But I have assigned someone to drive you around today. Yugi will be helping you. He’s one of my officers, human and an empath. He’s a good guy so ask him for anything you need.”

The waitress appeared with our food at that moment. I stared at the oddly shaped cake for a moment. Iris reached over and motioned for me to spread butter on it, and then pour a stream of brown syrup over it. The smell was overwhelming, in a good way, and as I dug in, the first bite sent me into a tailspin of flavor. The second bite was even better. As I cautiously tried the steaming drink, the nuances of rich chocolate and milk ran down my throat, along with a bitter note. I closed my eyes. I could already feel a tingle from it.

“What’s in here?”

“Coffee—espresso, actually. It’s a concentrated form of coffee. A mocha is made with espresso, chocolate, milk, and whipped cream.” Chase sounded pleased. “You like it?”

It was then that I realized he was as nervous as we were. He wanted us to feel comfortable and was doing his best to make certain we did.

I flashed him a warm smile. “It’s good. I like it, and I like the buzz. This won’t make me drunk, will it?”

“I can answer that,” Iris said. “Unless there’s something wonky with your blood line, caffeine shouldn’t have much of an effect on you, other than to perk you up, make you feel a little tense, and give you a boost in energy.”

As Chase was at the counter, paying for the food, a thin, tall man walked in with platinum blond hair. He joined us, introducing himself as Yugi.

“I see you’ve met.” Chase returned and slipped on his jacket. “Yugi, take them wherever Iris thinks they need to go. Let me know how things are going. Girls,” he turned us, “Have a wonderful day. We’ll get you settled in as soon as we can. I know this week is going to be a difficult transition time, so we’ll do everything we can to make it easier. Meanwhile, Iris and Yugi will be able to answer most of your questions. Oh,” he added, “Iris, you might want to take them down to show them the Indigo Crescent—Camille’s bookstore. The floor directly above the bookshop is where Delilah will be opening her PI business. Delilah, we’ll have a talk about the laws and regulations regarding what you can and cannot do legally, but we can do so in a few days.” And then he headed out the door without waiting for a response.

“Does he always talked so fast?” Delilah glanced at Iris.

The house sprite laughed. “He’s probably more nervous than you guys are. The FH-CSI is his baby, and even though he’s not in charge, it’s up to him to make it fly. If it fails, he fails.” She glanced at Yugi. “Can you get us a few donuts?”

Yugi nodded and wandered over to the counter.

Iris turned back to us. “Don’t say anything in front of him that you don’t want Chase to hear. Yugi is a good sort, but he owes his allegiance to Chase. You can trust Chase, but as I said, a lot is riding on his shoulders and there are things you may say that he might try to work to his advantage. You can always come to me if you have delicate questions.”

“How did you end up working for the OIA, given you’re Earthside Fae?” I stared at Iris. Her energy was incredibly strong, and I already liked her lot.

“It happens. They have recruited Fae from Earthside for many years because the portals have been available all that time, though hidden. I came on recently. I have my reasons for doing so, but they can wait till later. But I will tell you this—don’t trust the OIA to back you up. I honestly believe, and this is no reflection on you, but I think that they send the agents over here they want to get rid of. I don’t know what you did or didn’t do, but don’t rely on them.”

Her words echoed Jocko’s sentiments. So, we were on our own. If we had been back in Otherworld, it wouldn’t be so difficult, but over here? We needed to learn and learn fast.

“Thank you, we’ll take what you say to heart. How do we find a house?”

She laughed. “They don’t have newspapers over in Otherworld, do they?”

I shook my head, although the word itself was pretty self-explanatory.

Iris held up a thick sheaf of paper, covered with tiny print. There were several paragraphs circled in bright red. “These are called the classifieds. We are looking at advertisements for houses that are up for sale. I contacted a real estate agent who will meet us later on. She’s going to help us find you a house. First though, I need to know several things. What do you really need?”

And we were off, describing what we were looking for, as she scanned through the newspaper and marked several other listings. A few minutes later, we were on the road. Delilah and I were in the backseat, while Iris sat up front with Yugi, as we headed into the streets of Seattle to look for a house.

The first four we looked at were unsuitable. None of them had a way to viably protect from the sunlight, and even though one had a basement, it would have taken a massive amount of work to make livable. But the fifth house was a surprise. It was in the Belles-Faire district, in North Seattle. It was out of the city proper, on a winding two-lane road. At first the houses were thick along the sides of the road and then they began to spread out, with more room between the lots. Iris pointed out various styles to us.