Elfed In New York: Magus

By Erik Schubach

Copyright © 2022 by Erik Schubach

Self publishing

P.O. Box 523

Nine Mile Falls, WA 99026

Cover Art © 2022 VitalikRadko / DepositPhotos license

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties.  Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, blog, or broadcast.

This is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

FIRST EDITION

Chapter 1 – Riicathi

I can honestly say I led a pretty uneventful life right up until the life-changing moment which was thrust upon me just a few weeks ago when I found out I wasn't what or who I thought I had been the first twenty-five years of my life.  It became quite, irrevocably evident when I discovered, along with millions of viewers on the Channel 3 News here in Manhattan, when I Elfed on the air.

That had been the biggest turning point for me, which sent me into an embarrassingly awkward yet somehow graceful exit as I ran away from the encroaching crowd.  I knew as a fact that there was nothing that could possibly shock me in as a life-altering way as that ever again.  Yet, life had other plans for me as I stood here in the International Elf Council chambers, having just been seated as the most junior member with an almost insignificant voting share as the head of the Riicathi clan.

No, it isn't being seated on the Council that had me standing and gaping in stunned disbelief which almost eclipsed my Elfing on live television.  No, it was what just happened in the chamber, and who had just perpetrated it that had my mind reeling in confusion.

I'm getting ahead of myself here, maybe I should introduce myself and clarify a couple of things.  I'm Killishia Renner, and I'm an elf... well, actually only half-elf, as I'm the only halfling on the planet, my mother being Elf and father Sapien.  I know you were expecting me to say he was human, but we're all human, just different branches of the Homo Erectus tree,  Homo-Sapien and Homo-Aelftus.  So the preferred terms are Elf and Sapien since using Elf and Human excludes Elves from humanity.

My particular disposition is supposed to be a secret, as the senior families of the Elf Council believe that it would cause panic among Sapiens and even Elves to learn that cross-species children are possible, no matter how astronomical the odds of a successful birth are.

So rare in fact, that there have only been two other halfling babies over the centuries who survived childbirth.  At the time, Elves hid among Sapiens, and their fear of discovery and extinction at the hands of the more violent Sapien race had them committing the unforgivable.  They executed the children and their parents so it wouldn't happen again.

I just learned that it was my mother's family line, my family line, the Riicathi, or Pallbearers, who were treated as servants of the Council, who were the ones forced to commit the act.  This sent my ancestors fleeing to the New World, to free themselves of the control of the Council and never have to commit such heinous acts again.

The Riicathi have been hiding ever since and the Elvish Security Service, basically black ops had been dogging my mother and her parents when rumors of Riicathi sightings arose in New York City just over twenty-five years ago.

They left a safe house for Elf families hiding from the Council, which was run by my father's parents, to lead away the pursuing security forces, leaving their daughter behind, sacrificing themselves for her.  Mom and dad had an instant connection and married, I was the result, mom and I almost died from various complications when I was born.

Then came the Reveal.

Just over twenty years ago, I was just four at the time.  I remember the mix of excitement and fear from all the adults in the neighborhood when Evander Laun and Natalia Havashire went on the air throughout the world on nearly every news channel simultaneously to reveal to the human race that Elves walked among us. It happens to be the most-watched historical event in modern times.  In school, we had to study it in Social Studies.  I must have seen the clip a zillion times which everyone at first thought was some sort of publicity stunt by the CEOs of the two most powerful corporations in the world when before our eyes, their ears lengthened to points and eyes deepened to that almost glowing blue right on the air.

There were varied reactions to this, most were skeptical and thought it was simply digital visual effects, but some governments and militaries started to react and mobilize in ways that told the world it most certainly wasn't just a corporate stunt from the two companies that rivaled each other.  And when more and more people stepped forward with those pointed ears and blue eyes, all mesmerizingly beautiful, the panic began.

The press releases that were circulated by Laun and Havashire explained that Elves and Homo-sapiens have lived side by side forever.  We were just different branches off the Homo-erectus tree, like the Homo-neanderthalensis, only the Homo-Aelftus continued to thrive after the decline of the Neanderthal.

There was a good deal of forethought given to the Reveal prior to its execution.  By making themselves known to all, it was impossible for the government to keep the lid on it as some people panicked while others celebrated the discovery.  And of course, there was the fact that the governments of the world made the realization that the companies that supplied over forty-five percent of all the arms and sixty percent of all consumer goods in the world were owned by the emerging Elvish families, which stopped any talks of rounding them up until the threat could be properly assessed.

It seems that not all the Elvish families wanted the Reveal, as the complex hierarchy of their sociopolitical society is still not entirely clear even after two decades.  Whether the outliers still wished to evade discovery from homo-sapiens, or the influence of larger Elf families, they remained hidden after the Reveal.

They haven't shared how they've eluded discovery all these thousands of years, when it was clear, with their pointed ears and unnaturally blue eyes that they weren't entirely like the majority of the population.  Hell, we still didn't know just how many of them there were in the world, but estimates put them at a population of around a hundred million, or roughly one percent of the world's population.

There was speculation that they somehow possessed some sort of magic to hide their obvious differences from the rest of the population, though scientists dispute that theory, saying there has to be an answer in science and biology.  Their genetic makeup is so close to Sapiens that it is almost indistinguishable.  Closer even than Homo-Sapiens are to neanderthal.

Though we've learned over the years that the tiny shift in their, well our, genetic makeup gives Elves better strength, reflexes, and senses, especially hearing, than the rest of us, and because they have much denser telomeres they enjoy not only a lifespan of almost three times longer than non-elves but appear to be all prime physical specimens... that last assertion I've learned recently isn't fully true.

The children of the families who remained hidden after the Reveal have sometimes reached their physical maturity anywhere between sixteen to twenty years old at inopportune times, causing their Elvish traits to manifest in public view instead of them being confined to Elvish campuses children had been confined to in the past before the Reveal.  And most never shared their heritage with their children, so it was a shock to even them.

Over the past twenty-one years, seemingly random young women and men would spontaneously manifest elvish ears and eyes.  And with the now overwhelming popularity of Elves in our society, they are treated like celebrities or royalty.  It is viewed and celebrated almost like winning the lottery.  The term people have adopted for this public manifestation was called being Elfed.

Never knowing of my mom's heritage, I Elfed just before my twenty-fifth birthday and have what some Elves are calling defects.  My new pointed ears, which seem to have a mind of their own as they pivot toward the sound, are a little shorter than normal Elves, and my eyes are a crystalline green instead of the blue all other Elves have, but they aren't defects.  It's because of my halfling status, I got my eyes from my dad.

After my Elfing, I refused all overtures from the various Elf families offering me the world to claim their family or pledge my allegiance to them, but... well, I have my own life, my own dreams, which never included being an Elf.  I studied off and on for six years to get my bachelor's degree as a broadcast journalism major at Havashire, to pursue my dream of becoming an investigative journalist.  Yes, I said six years, not four.  Even though Havashire University is just a step above the community college I started in, we couldn't afford tuition at times so I had taken a year off a couple of times until my family was in better financial straits.

But now, after two years as an intern at Channel 3, my goal is in sight as I'm sort of a probationary journalist now, as well as having to work in the morgue, the records room at the station, and being blackmailed by the station manager to do an on-air segment twice a week so Channel 3 can tout the only on-air Elf personality outside of ENN, Elf Network News.

Now the secret of my family, the smallest and most insignificant Elf family, with only two surviving members, has been revealed... as a surprise to me too.  That we are Riicathi and hold the smallest number of voting shares of any family, just two one-thousandths of one percent.  Mom had ceded the leadership of our clan to me.

So that leads us up to this moment, my mind already reeling after just being seated on the International Elf Council, and listening to the boring parliamentary procedure, and then the call for a vote on a project I thought held merit when a scuffle was heard outside the chamber doors.

Two middle-aged Elves, with athletic forms and slivering hair, had just burst in, throwing around security like they were rag dolls.

Many Council members were gasping, some standing or moving to protect others as the two newcomers just scanned the gallery, like they were assessing threat levels of all those present, and they didn't look worried in the least.

Evander was pushing through those protecting him, working his way to the floor below, hopping over the railing as Tana pulled her mother behind her protectively.  “Who are you? Why are you in the Council Chamber, attacking our people?” Mr. Laun called out.

My heart was beating so fast I could hear it as well as the blood rushing in my ears.  I realized I was standing as my hands clenched and unclenched.

Another guard came rushing in, seeing the intruders and started to draw his sidearm from a shoulder holster under his suit coat.  But the male Elf moved in a blur, and somehow jammed the slide of the pistol just as the guard pulled the trigger.  And with a spinning move that tore the gun violently from the guard's hand, he landed a windmill blow with a fist and a leg hook ending in front of the man with the pistol whipping across the younger man's face.

Teeth and blood went flying in an arc as the guard went down in a heap while the dangerous newcomer locked eyes with Evander, ignoring the man he had downed in less than a heartbeat.  And while their eyes were locked, the Elf manipulated the gun with one hand, ejecting the magazine and somehow detaching the slide from the body of the gun and dropping the pieces on the floor.

Holy snail in a turbo factory.

Evander didn't back down and just asked, steel in his tone, “What do you want here?”

The woman joined the man when I blinked in recognition.  The woman growled out in a tone so much like mother's, “We're here for our granddaughter, we won't let our family be subjugated by the Council ever again!  We Riicathi are free.”

I just blinked at the couple I've only seen in pictures, only without the pointed ears, in mom's picture album.  “Grandma and Grandpa Riicathi?  You're alive?”

The two swung their eyes my way, pinning me with the bright, crystalline blue eyes that all elves but me possessed.  It was like looking into my mother's eyes.  Was I seeing ghosts?  Was that an Elf thing, did... focus Kia, there's no such thing as ghosts... then again, there was no such thing as Elves just twenty-one years ago.

Then almost in synchronized unison, their eyes flicked around, taking in the chamber as a whole, seeing me seated in a Council chair separated from the two sides of the aisle, in the center with the minor houses and non-voting families.

Then, umm... Gran Riicathi locked eyes with Evander who looked nonplussed, always so in control that man.  She made a grasping motion at her side.  “Come child.  We're leaving this place.”

Evander said as he examined, with great interest, the stances they were taking, and he mused, “Hmm... Mahta-quárë?  I've only seen one other who used it, let alone seemed versed in it.”  Then he chuckled. “Cyrus Renner, of course.  How had we not put it together?”

Then as the woman snapped her fingers rapidly toward me and motioned to her side, knocking me out of my shock, and shakily stepping down from my small raised platform, Evander said as he checked his cufflinks, unbothered by the two who had just downed highly trained men in moments, “Killishia is not being held here, the Riicathi are as you say, free.  We are trying to make reparations for the reprehensible manner the Council, and all the Aelf have treated your family.  We can never make things right, we can only try.  That is why the Riicathi have a full seat at the Council now through... well through your granddaughter.”

This gave the two pause as I stopped five paces from them, just staring at them like I was looking at one of mom's photographs of them, only aged a little.  The only difference I could see was just the silver that frosted their hair, making them look more... regal?  The long lives afforded Elves were to thank for that.

The man looked from Evander to me, as if prompting me.  I blurted as I stepped quickly forward, “Oh, it's true.  Gleep!”  I slipped on the... well, I slipped on the slide, from the weapon my seemingly resurrected grandfather had disassembled.

Evander reached out to steady me, and faster than I could follow, my grandmother's hands shot out, one somehow reaching up under his chin, and grasping his lower jaw by the soft tissues under the chin, and one hand in a claw-like position over his larynx.

The man held his hands to his sides, fingers splayed wide to show he was no threat, eyes wide in surprise, and I saw a little fear glinting in those eyes for the first time in the always confident man.  I spun as I stopped from doing the splits and landing on my arse, just to trip on the arm of the downed guard.  I went up on a single tippy-toe, one hand reaching out to rest on Gram's arm, steadying myself as the Council members shouted out in alarm, anger, and fear of their own.

I winced as my ears swiveled around, the sound pressure pounding into my head from my more sensitive hearing.  And I squeaked as I panted, getting my feet under me and applying gentle pressure to her arm, “Grandma Riicathi, it's ok.  He was only trying to help.  Evander is, well he's ok, for a Laun that is.”

The snort from his daughter, Tana, the girl who I have a confusing, and I'm pretty sure romantic relationship with.  She's a good kisser at least.  I pointed back her way and said, knowing she'd hear over the din of voices competing to be heard, “You too, smartass.”

Dimitri Havashire's voice boomed over the chaos, “Order!  We will have order in these chambers!”  He slammed his gavel down, the crack of it making all of us wince as the sharp sound sent what felt like daggers of ice into our heads.

The shouts became murmurs, then trickled off into silence.  I prompted the woman who was looking at me like she was seeing a ghost, with my chin toward her captive.  “You look just like our Abby.”  She slowly turned away from me, then looked up at Evander, turned his head from side to side, examining him.  “Pretty boy, like all the Launs.”  She huffed and released him.  He stepped back a step on reflex, then composed himself again, straightening his tie and dress shirt sleeves, and I could see marks on his neck and under his chin already starting to bruise, she had to have had a grip like iron.

It looked as if the man was about to speak to break this new ominous silence, when a raspy, craggy voice as old as time itself, said from behind us, “Could I get your names for the rolls please Mr. and Mrs. Riicathi?”

Gramps, on reflex, struck out as he spun, both Evander and me shouting, “No!” just to have my voice trail off when Claude, the Council's historian and oldest elf in the western hemisphere at three hundred and one, beyond the perceived maximum age of Aelfs, seemed to just raise his arm, gently sweeping the feather quill he was holding to write on his notepad.

The strike went wide as if the barest pressure from Claude's quill had diverted it.  The old Faker McFaker was much more than the doddering old man everyone believed him to be.  He played off the deflection. “Oh, my, my apologies, sir, I didn't mean to startle you.  Names please?”  And he held his quill over the pad, eyes widening behind his thick glasses in question.

My improbably alive grandfather blinked at him, eyes widening, whispering, “Claude Blackwood?”  Gramps deflated, his combat stance gone as he held the man's arm as if to steady him.  The old man had that effect on people who were in awe of him and his age.  He played it up, not as addled or senile as everyone believed.  “Sir, a thousand apologies.”

My grandmother pulled me behind her with an arm that felt as unyielding as coiled steel as she almost whispered in awe at the man, “We are Audrey and Emit, sir.  You were there, the night the Riicathi stole away to freedom.  Emit's grandmother shared stories of that day.”

He nodded sadly. “Ah, yes, I was but a boy the day the Riicathi were no more.  But, it seems our records are in err about the demise of your clan because here you stand.  Did you know there's another Riicathi?  Her name is...  I don't recall, let me check my...”

I cleared my throat, and prompted in exasperation, not wanting to give away his act, “Claude, it's me.”  I realized what he had so expertly done.  If I didn't know his secret, I wouldn't have given it a second thought, but he had diffused the situation entirely, and my newfound grandparents were no longer on the verge of violence.

His eyes widened as if he just now saw me, “Oh Kia, there you are dear sweet child.  I've news, it seems your family is...”

“Yes, I see, Claude, let's get you back to your seat.”  I put a hand on my grandmother's and she just dropped it as I took Claude by the arm and walked him to his old secretary desk at the doors. He made a show of sitting back down as the entire chamber seemed to be holding a collective breath, though his bones did grind as his tendons creaked like old dry leather.

He settled in and smiled up at me, then I heard thundering footsteps and dozens of armed Elves came running from the arriving elevators in the corridor.  I held a stopping hand up to the ones leading the charge, my security detail, Ivan and Pietor Korsivair.  I shook my head at them and they spread their huge arms wide to slow the other men and women who looked ready for war.

Giving them thanks with my eyes, I hit the controls on the great doors of the chamber, and they closed us back in, away from trigger happy security looking for payback.

I closed my eyes, took a deep, centering breath, clenching my hands into fists, well the one not in a cast, and then steeled myself as I opened my eyes and turned back to a silent chamber.  All eyes were on me and I felt suddenly awkward as I bit my lower lip and went to scratch my head only to whack myself with my cast... again.  Then repeated, “Grandma and Grandpa Riicathi?  You're alive?”

Chapter 2 – Reunion

As I waited with my recently un-deceased grandparents in the basement of my dad's parents' house that night, Tana was enthusiastically sharing over the phone, “That... was... epic, Killy!  I love your family so much!”

I felt my cheeks heating as I looked around to the four sets of eyes on me, all their heads cocked slightly, listening in.  My new Gram and Gramps staring at me incredulously.  “Um... I gotta go, Tana, I'm not supposed to be... well, I'll call you tonight?”

“Of course, I'm sure you have so many things to discuss with your family.  Tana out.”

I said to the air even though she had already hung up, stealing our friend, Lisa's tag line, “Bye.”  I waved at the cell lamely as I set it down on the duplicate of the kitchen table from upstairs.

Grandma Riicathi looked to Gran Renner, and asked as I looked around trying to make myself small, “She's friends with a Laun, and taking calls in the safehouse, is that wise?”

I raised my hand. “Umm, I'm right here.”

Gramps Renner chuckled. “Oh, they're more than friends, and the young Laun girl... well she's not like any other Laun.  Still, Kia should know better than having her cell on down here.”

“Right here in front of you.”

Gran Renner waved them all off. “Leave the poor girl alone, all of you, Kia's still processing your miraculous return.”

I looked at my hand and pointed at it, asking myself, “I am visible, right?  Or is this some psychotic hallucination and I'm still in the Council chamber?”

Grandpa Riicathi's stern demeanor changed as he chuckled, telling his wife, “She even has Abby's odd sense of humor.”

“Hey, it's not odd, it's sophisticated, and...”  I trailed off as all of them turned to me with slight grins on their faces.  “Ok, so what if mom and my humor is an acquired taste, I happen to believe my mother rocks.”  Then I added quietly, “Even if she does seem to have an overabundance of air horns.”

It was true, my mom must have stock in an air horn company or something, she has them stashed everywhere in the house and our vehicles.  Maybe two in her bag.  When this prompted confused looks by my newfound grandparents, Gran explained, “Abigail has an unorthodox manner in which to defend herself non-violently.”

Grams Riicathi nodded slowly. “Auditory deterrent, inspired.”  Yes, those air horns felt as if they scrambled the brains of anyone with sensitive Elf ears.  “But why when she has mastered the Mahta-quárë under our tutelage?”

I answered, “Because not everything can be handled with violence.”  Then I quieted quickly when they turned to look at me again.

Mahta-quárë was an obscure Aelftus closed fist combat style that nobody practiced anymore because there were no masters to keep it alive after the exodus of our family from Elf society almost three hundred years ago.  Since the only masters were Riicathi.  So the predominant fighting style over the past three centuries has been the open hand Mahta-cambë style which focused more on defense than the brutal viciousness of quárë since that is what the Elvish security forces have used for millennia.

I blinked in surprise when Gran supplied, “Our Cyrus has almost reached master level under Abigail's tutelage.”  I've seen dad in a fight when he saved me when I broke my hand, but mom taught him?  She wouldn't hurt a fly.

This got Grandpa Riicathi looking at me, then cocking his head, staring intently at my eyes for some reason, cocking his head as if to see under the silver ear shields that protected my overly sensitive pointed ears.  Then he said slowly as something appeared to be dawning upon him as his eyes slowly widened, “But it appears that young Cyrus isn't what he seems either, now is he?”

Gramps chuckled. “Imagine our surprise when we found out that little tidbit.”

Then the other man made a prompting, rising motion with his hand toward my ears.  Oh... I swear I'm usually a lot more mentally nimble than this, it's just a lot has happened the last few weeks and it has me in a tizzy.  I reached up slowly to my ears shields then lifted them, starting to say, “Just please don't say they're...”

I was cut off by Gram Riicathi exhaling out with a huge smile on her face, “Adorable.”  My cheeks and ears heated.  I know they were only half as long as they would be if I were a full Elf, and they were the bane of my existence, and not because they had a mind of their own, always swiveling around to the sounds around me, but because most Elves had the same reaction, calling them adorable to my embarrassment.

“Yeah, that.”  Gramps patted my shoulder in consolation, though his shit-eating grin didn't make the action seem sincere.

My new grandmother moved in front of where I sat at the table and reached out tentatively, just shy of cupping my cheek as she examined my eyes. “We know what you are, sweet girl.  And it is the source of our family's eternal shame.  Funny how fate has a way of holding a mirror up to us that we might weigh our own morality.  You're the miracle of the Riicathi who can hopefully lead us out of the darkness of our bloodline's sin, our redemption, child.”

She added as she dropped her hand sadly to her side, “Spectacular.”

A timer dinged and Gram said, “We should table these topics until the kids arrive.  Cookie?”  She hustled off into the replica kitchen to the one upstairs to take the delectable smelling cookies out of the oven.

I looked around, still amazed that this hidden basement had been a safe house for Elves who wished to hide away from the Council and my grandparents ran it, like heroes of the Aelftus underground.  And to make it feel less like a hole in the ground, they duplicated the first floor of the house for those who stayed here, as mom's family had done so long ago.

The silver-haired woman looked over at me and asked, looking nervous for such a badass, “Does your mother know... about...”

I shook my head. “I can hardly wrap my own head around it when I saw you in the chamber, I didn't know how to bring it up, and it would be the coward's way out to tell them over the phone.  I just told them it was important for them to come here as quickly as possible.”

Grandpa Riicathi said as he looked in the direction of the street outside as if he could see through walls and dirt, “We were followed, did you warn them?”

I chuckled. “Those are just the Cookie Twins, they sort of go where I do since they are assigned as my security ever since I Elfed, and especially now that I'm a Council member.  Just how surreal is that? Mom and dad know they're wherever I am.”

“The... Cookie Twins?”  Then he shook his head as if to clear away the nickname I have for my detail, and countered, “As security, or to spy upon...”

“Grandpa!  They've risked their lives for me many times and defied the Council on occasion for me.  I trust them.”

I did a doubletake when I saw Grandma was just staring at me.  She held up a halting hand and looked away, saying in apology, “I'm sorry, Killishia, it's just that your eyes.  They are amazing.  They look so unnatural on an Elf.”

Again I felt my cheeks and ears heating so I looked away and took a moment to replace my ear shields.  And then I was turning to the door when we heard the biometric lock mechanism cycling open.  I swallowed as mom and dad stepped in, bantering like they always did until they turned to look at us.  Mom's hand went slack as her face visibly paled, her bag thudding on the floor as the door behind them closed itself and locked, re-engaging the white sound curtain to keep unwanted pointy ears at the street from listening in.

Dad looked completely stunned as he steadied mom who was swaying, covering her mouth as tears started welling up as she whispered, “Mom?  Dad?”  Then she was running and openly crying, which got my tears flowing and a hard lump in my throat as she threw herself on them and the three of them embraced each other desperately, her mother kissing the top of her head.

Then dad was beside me hugging me to him as we watched the tearful reunion.

When they finally separated, my grandfather looked over at us and said in a tight voice, “Cyrus.  Thank you for looking out for our girl.”

Dad just shook the offered hand, inclining his head. “Emit.”  Then he inclined his head to the women who were grasping onto each other. “Audrey.”  She reached a hand out to clasp Dad for a second.

Then mom was dragging them to the table sputtering out, “How?  We thought... we thought the worst when you didn't return from getting supplies.”

I've never seen two more guilty looks than the ones they gave her.  “Fucking Elvish special forces intercepted us at the store.  We knew we had been compromised, so we ran, knowing they didn't know about you, baby girl.”

Mom looked stricken, almost betrayed, and Grandpa Riicathi picked up the narrative. “We led them away, drawing them out from time to time so they would never suspect you right under their noses here in New York.  We came out of hiding in Brazil when news of Killishia started showing up everywhere.  It took us a few weeks to get back into the States, and we learned our granddaughter would be at the Council today when we arrived.  So we went to rescue her from the Council before they started all over again, subjugating our family.”

Dad prompted, “She didn't need rescuing, if anything, the Council needs rescuing from her... she's a Renner after all.”

I absently bumped fists with him as we muttered in unison, “Renners.”

Gran Riicathi almost snapped, “Riicathi.”

My mom just held up her hand to show her wedding band. “Renner now, mom.”

This got the middle-aged woman to close her eyes and inhale deeply, like she was centering herself the way mom and I always did, before opening her eyes and saying, “Of course.  But still of the Riicathi line.”  Then she looked from mom to me and shook her head, a little smile playing at the corner of her lips.  “And no, apparently she didn't.  And the way she handled the Council when they started questioning us, telling the Launs and Havashires that the Council would have to wait in line until her family spoke with us, reminded me of your fire Abby.  It seems we made a spectacle.”

I murmured, feeling self-conscious, “Bursting in, taking out security is a spectacle?  That's like Cthulhu being called a cute squid.”

They stared dumbly as mom snorted then chastised, “If you would have had the decency to call, to let us know, me know, you were alive... any unpleasantness at the Council could have been avoided.”  There was more than a little accusation and hurt in her tone.

I added sheepishly, not knowing if it were appropriate for me to interject myself in the looks they were sharing with each other, “It turns out the Security Forces weren't hunting you down, I mean they were, but not why you thought.  They were trying to contact the Riicathi, to try to make amends, to admit guilt and try to start anew.”

Grandpa Riicathi was the first to awkwardly speak in the awkward silence, as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, “Well that's awkward.”  I know that's a lot of awkward, I swear I know more words, I'm just at a loss right now.  He prompted Dad, “Any chance that was a ruse?”

Dad shook his head and said without apology, “I'm afraid not, Emit.  Evander Laun is a pompous, self-important Elf, but he's got integrity... I'll deny saying that if he ever hears of it.”  PopPop nodded affirmation from where he had just been watching the reunion.

That's when Gran showed up with a plate of fresh-baked cookies.  “Oh pish, sounds like a bromance to me.”

I whined out, “Grannnnn!” just as mom whined out, “Moooom!”  And a nervous chuckle circulated the room.  Gramps said as he motioned to the table, “Everyone sit.  Emit, Audrey, it's probably best if you start from the beginning.”

And I had the most surreal afternoon of my life as they told us of all they did to keep the Elf Council chasing them while simultaneously evading them for the past twenty-five years, trying to keep their daughter from being discovered.  And then mom and dad were telling them about all that has occurred in their absence.  From building a family of their own, to the close call of almost losing mom and me in childbirth, to me growing up until my Elfing on live television.

I was just a fly on the wall as I listened in rapt fascination.  If I thought they had been badass before, now it was doubly so.

Chapter 3 – Rooftop

It was almost two in the morning by the time we got home, Grandma and Grandpa Renner offered for my other grandparents to stay with them in the basement safehouse for now since we didn't have any room at our much smaller place.  Even though I offered up my bedroom to them and I could sleep on the couch downstairs with our sheepdog, Barney, Grandma Riicathi had been adamant. “We will not displace you from your bed, dear child.”

No amount of whining about being twenty-five and not a child would change her mind, I know because I attempted just that.  We settled on us promising to see them in the morning when we celebrate Christmas at Grams and Gramps Renner's.

I had to hide a smile behind my hand when Audrey's brow furrowed and she prompted, “It's Christmas tomorrow?”

Just to have mom scold, “Duh, mother.  That's what all these twinkly lights and Christmas trees are for.  You had to have noticed the decorations in the yard, bright enough to see from space.  Cy's parents are a bit... excessive.”

“Don't sass, Abby, it was daylight when we arrived and the lights weren't on out there.”

“Yes, mother.”

Wait, how did she do that?  Mom never deferred to anyone, and just marched to the beat of her own, demented platypus drum.

Then I almost choked up myself when mom added like she was containing a sob, “I missed you every day.”  Ok, my tear factory was getting a workout.

Now back home, I couldn't have slept if you paid me to.  The events of the day were just another shot of adrenaline and nerves to my system.  Laying back on my bed, Barney draped across my legs, pinning me there, I was sharing everything I learned about my grandparents earlier with Tana, “And one day they said the Elvish security forces tracking the false trails they had laid in Brazil just packed up and left.”

“They wondered if it were some sort of ruse until they heard the news through the underground that the Riicathi had resurfaced in New York City, complete with the reports from a couple of weeks earlier of my public Elfing on the air.  So they were adamant that our clan wouldn't be used again and came to 'rescue' me.  I made finger quotes there for emphasis.”

I was grinning and chewing on my lower lip when she replied, “You're so odd, Killy, but it works for you.  You emphasizing the word emphasized it.”

I grumped without any intensity driving it since I was secretly starting to like it, “Stop calling me Killy... Tanny.”

“Touche.”  Then she asked, “You getting to bed now?”

“I can't sleep.  Barney is keeping me company.”

“Be there in ten.”

But...  my mouth got ahead of my brain. “Oh, ok.”  Wait, ten?  Was she already here in Queens?  This late at night?  My eyes widened in realization.  Grr... the Cookie Twins.  She probably tracked their cells since her family engineered the globally popular LaunPhones, and she's demonstrated hacking them on multiple occasions.  Though my belly did heat knowing how protective the woman was of me, especially since we're sort of an... item? now.  We really needed some us time to discuss what we are together.

I gleeped and would have fallen off my bed a few minutes later if Barney's snoring bulk hadn't had me pinned down when there was a light tapping at my second-story window.  I looked over to a smiling punk rock princess Elf squatting on the roof under the gable.  Her dark reverse rooster swoosh of hair obscured one of her crystalline blue peepers, causing my heart to jump and beat faster.

Slipping my legs out from under my snoring mass of dog-shaped hair, I padded over to the window quickly, whispering as I slid the sash up, “Tana?  What are you doing up here?  And more importantly, how did you get up here?”

I reached a hand out to help her in only to be tugged gently out onto the roof as she whispered back, “Come on out, you can see half of Queens out here.”  I squished my lips to one side then looked back and snagged a throw off of my desk chair by the window and let her lead me out to the roof that was slicked with frost.

Then we shared a look and sputtered out a chuckle when mom thumped the wall between my bedroom and theirs, “I can hear you girls.”  Of course, she could, her Elf hearing in her Sapien form was as good as my newly pointed ears were.

We slid the window mostly shut then I shivered, not having my coat on.  Tana reached over and rubbed my arms and helped me get the throw wrapped around me as we sat on that sloped rooftop.  Then we looked out over the city for blocks, and all the Christmas lights slung everywhere.  I sighed and laid my head on her shoulder and smiled contently when she laid her head on mine.

Even though it was freezing out, it was an amazing view I've seen from my window my entire life.  I have to admit that one of the things I missed most about my old Sapien life, was the night.  When darkness ruled, only to be broken up by the lights of the city, instead of this view that was slightly dimmer than daylight with muted colors I saw now thanks to my Elfing intensifying all my senses.

I prompted her with that thought, “You ever miss the night?  You know, how it was before you manifested?”  She lifted her head and seemed to think on the question, nodding slowly. “I do, but I think the benefits I gained from my manifesting my Elvish traits have more than compensated.”  I felt a wistful smile on my lips as I offered, “The sunrise and sunset.”

She was all smiles, telling me we were in tune with each other.  It was like the sun was imparting some sort of ethereal gift to Elves twice a day, as our eyes picked up more of the light spectrum, causing an ocean of beauty and color to sweep across the sky that I can't describe well enough to do it justice.  As sappy as it may sound, it was almost life-affirming.

Ok, she had me there.  I took a moment to drink her in, my eyes widening, realizing she was wearing the same outfit that I had first met her in, except for the winter duster she wore over it all.

I tentatively reached up to her jet black hair which hung down in a plume over her left eye, with undercut shaved sides, its layers allowing blood-red locks to peek out from underneath. I bit my lower lip as she allowed me to run my fingers through those deceptively silky locks which tickled between my fingers as they glided through.

I loved her multiple silver piercings on her brows, lips, and especially the adorable little silver ring on her nose.  Her almost understated black eyeliner made her big crystalline blue eyes appear larger than they were, almost like a character in an anime, which is the effect she always shoots for.

Thin, gossamer-like silver chains led up to silver pointed caps of her ear shields, with some Elvish runes adorning each in delicate carvings.

She wore those same stylish torn black jeans which looked almost painted on, and I had to grin at the peek at the ironic black Hello Kitty tee topped with a studded black satin belly length jacket under her duster  And of course, to finish her look and evoke our first meeting, she wore black combat boots with what looked like more elvish runes painted on them in silver.

She was so... so Tana.  Reaching up she captured my hand and pressed it to her cheek a moment, her hand taking away the chill air.  And she whispered, “Merry Christmas, Killy.”

The Christmas lights along the street glowed in her eyes, though they weren't looking that way, instead, she had mine captured, a little cocky smirk on her face.  Oh.

I reached up and tucked a loose lock of my boringly long and straight red hair which she seemed to like for some odd reason, it was the bane of my morning routine, brushing out the rat's nest it always tangled itself up in when I slept.  I squeaked, “Merry Christmas, Tanny.”

She didn't even complain about me using the nickname her family did that embarrassed her so much.  Then it hit me that it was Christmas since it was past midnight, but I didn't dwell on that, because she was leaning down and kissing me gently.  I sighed into it, then she repositioned to be behind me and pulled me back into her wrapping me in her arms and sharing heat after I had shivered a little.  The throw not doing as good as my puffy jacket she makes fun of, but she was a sinfully perfect heat-generating pillow.

By the Great Spaghetti Monster in the Sky, I was a goner, wasn't I?  I bleeked out, “Hi.”

She chuckled and whispered next to my ear, her hot breath causing goosebumps to rush down my flesh as my core heated, “Hi.”

Then she took a breath and released it, prompting, “So, tell me everything you can.  This is amazing, your grandparents are alive.  Claude tells me the special ops teams that have been sent out to investigate possible Riicathi sightings through Central and South America over the last twenty-five years have always returned beaten and broken, usually needing extended stays in the medical wing.  They're hardcore in the scariest way.  Was it weird?”

I nodded at that, grinning.  Apparently, you don't mess with the Riicathi.  I glanced at my cast and amended that thought to 'most Riicathi', since the one time I tried punching someone, I broke my thumb and wrist.

Chuckling, I said, “That's not even the most disconcerting thing of the night.”  She prompted with a raised brow.  “Mom Elfed out when my new grandma asked her why she still hid her heritage away after the Reveal and me uncovering our family line.”

I scrunched my lips to one side. “She Elfed right there, it is still so odd to see my mom as an Elf.  But then she explained that it was because it was so ingrained in her to repress it, having hidden it since she manifested, and now that we can't share what I am with anyone and dad can't Elf due to his Sapien lack of ear pointitude, they think it best if they make it appear both of them chose not to.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “Makes sense.”

Then I blurted, wincing when it came out as a whine, “Then before we left to come home, she just repressed her Elf traits again.”

Tana wondered aloud, “That still blows my mind that your family can regulate the Protoelastin in your bodies.  Just doing a single Protoelastin dump once, wiped dad out for weeks until it finally left his system so he could re-manifest.  It was freaky seeing him looking like a roundie... oh, sorry, I know, I gotta curb that Sapien slur.  I promise I'll do better.”

My voice was low as I shared, “I wish I knew how to do it.  Nobody has shown me.  There are times it would make my life easier if I could accomplish it.”  When she looked conflicted, I added, “You know, like to get a good night's sleep not being assaulted by all the sounds around the neighborhood, or for work when I don't want to draw attention when I'm out on a story for the station.”

She chuckled. “You stand out anywhere, Killy, and everyone knows who you are, ears or not... Channel 3 has your face plastered across almost every bus in Manhattan.”  Then she looked almost bashful as she added, “I can step you through it though... if you want.”

I grinned at that, then I sighed and relaxed back into her and looked out over the neighborhood.  I waved at the movement of a curtain from the house across the way, and a shadow behind it backed away. It was Mrs. Clemens, our excessively nosy widow across the street who always watched everyone on the street at all hours of the day or night, usually in suspicion.  I'm sure she suspected all her neighbors to be up to no good.  Except dad.  Like most of the women on the block, I'm pretty sure she had a thing for dad.  Eww.  The curse of having what my best friend, Lisa, says is a hot dad.

Then I turned my head to the house at the end of her block, prompting, “Couldn't the Council at least have sprung for a string or two of Christmas lights?  Isn't the whole idea of stationing some Elves to spy on us in the old Stenson place, to blend in?  It sticks out being the only unlit house on the block.”

Ever since we revealed our clan to the Council, someone has been staying at the old burned-out house which was abandoned by the Stenson's in mid repair when they ran out of insurance funds.  We assumed, correctly it turns out, that the Council bought the place and have a permanent presence there.

She chuckled. “Nobody is spying on your family Killy.  They are Council security and you know it.  All the heads of the houses with voting shares have details on overwatch.  But yeah, it does sort of stick out doesn't it?”

“Aren't the Cookie Twins enough?”

“No, those two are assigned to you personally, the nest there is watching out for your family.  Families can be vulnerable to people wishing to have leverage over a Council member.”

This had me snorting lightly. “I'm pretty sure anyone going after my parents would find they bit off more than they can chew.”

I could almost hear the grin on her face as she agreed. “Yes, your dad is a one-man wrecking squad.  I've seen the bodycam footage on our secure servers, taken from those U.S. Black ops assholes who tried to kill you.  I've never seen anyone using Mahta-quárë before since there aren't any masters left who teach it.  But it was brutally efficient and your dad unloaded on them.”

My grin ached it was so huge as I nodded slightly, explaining, “Renner rage.”

She tutted, “Just so.  On you it's adorable, on him it was sort of terrifying.  And now I've seen it twice since your grandparents just tossed around highly trained guards who were two hundred and fifty pounds of muscle like they were nothing.”

She admitted quietly.  “Dad can be an asshat at times, but for the most part he can back up his swagger.  I wasn't really worried in the Council Chamber when he confronted them, since he is the second most accomplished Mahta-cambë practitioner in the states, behind Amara Badu of course.  But I was afraid for him for the first time when your grandmother incapacitated him in an instant with that unorthodox hold.  His chin and neck have nasty bruising on them now.”

“Sorry, apparently I'm not the only one in my family who shakes things up.”

I could feel her amusement in the way she shook slightly in silent laughter.  “You'd think I'd learn to expect the unexpected around you.”

Then I blurted as her earlier words finally registered, “Wait... there's a video of what went down in that warehouse with the Reaper toxin?”  It was unfair how distracted she made me when she was in close proximity, I'm usually much quicker on the uptake, I swear.

She didn't answer.  And I knew she wasn't supposed to have seen it either, and the government likely didn't know they had it either, but she was a highly accomplished hacker of her own family's systems.  I stuck a pin in it to bring up at a later date.  As much as the memory was already stressing me just talking about it... I needed to see.

We sat in silence for a moment, just soaking in each other's company, before she started asking questions as she started playing with my hair, the sides of her fingers 'accidentally' brushing the bottoms of my ears that weren't covered by my ear shields, causing me to shiver in an inferno of arousal  I had to swallow and attempt to ignore since we were plainly visible on the roof.

There wasn't much to tell yet, but I shared what I had learned, and that devolved into one of the most in-depth personal conversations I have had with her yet as she shared a lot of her inner thoughts and some of the things that made up this multi-faceted, intriguing, and beguiling Elfette.

We were winding down at around four as my head started bobbing as I tried to stay awake to have just one more minute with my... crush?  Girlfriend?  Acquaintance afflicted with the same fascination with kissing each other that I had?  Penguin Golf buddies?

I blurted as she looked back at the window, signaling it was time for this Killishia to get some shut-eye, “Are we... dating?  Oh god, forget I asked that, just shoot me now and sprinkle my ashes at Skywalker Ranch.”  I buried my face, which was burning in a blush, in the throw which I have decided was not the thing to wear if you wished to keep warm in New York winters.

“You're such a hopeless geek, lady.  I doubt George Lucas would agree to have your ashes sprinkled there.”

I pointed in accusation, eyes wide. “J'accuse! You knew the reference, closet geek!”

She batted at my finger, a huge smirk on her lips.  “Oh shush or you're not getting a good night kiss.”

My eyes widened, and I was feeling full of mischief and shenanigans, then made platypus lips and pointed at them, eyes wide in my best attempt to look innocent.  She shook her head, her smile growing and she leaned in and kissed me with more heat than she ever had, causing my entire body to start humming as it heated to supernova and my toes curled into balls.  Wow...

She broke the kiss leaving me in a pleasant haze.  “That answer your question, Killy?”

I was nodding when my window opened beside us and Mom asked, “Are you two done?  It's getting late.”

I squeaked out in startled alarm, “Gah!” And I backpedaled a step which had me sliding down on the frosty shingles.  Then there was a moment of weightlessness before I realized I was falling as I had run out of roof to slide down.  Tana was calling out, “Killy!” as she reached out too late.

I looked down, seeing the bushes rushing up at me, and I twisted in the air and landed with my legs spread wide, my feet alighting on either side of the long planter the bushes were in, and it was over, I sighed in relief of possessing my elvish reflexes and slightly enhanced strength.  Then the trim around the top of the planter splintered, dumping my arse soundly on the bush I was straddling.  “Son of a bitch!”

I looked up to see the punk rock, Hello Kitty, emo elf looking over the edge of the roof, her panic bled away to relief at seeing me unceremoniously removing myself from the bush.

The door opened and mom stepped quickly out onto the porch, looking relieved when she saw me dusting twigs and dirt from my legs.  She sighed in relief when I blurted, “Don't sneak up on people like that mom, you almost gave me a heart attack!”

A lithe form dropped beside me from above.  How did she do it so gracefully, and without a bush getting handsy with her no-fly zones?  She checked me head to toe, and as I was windmilling her hands away from me, she seemed satisfied I was in one piece, “You're always wound up so tight, woman.”

Not wanting them to realize why I have been on edge, every little thing having me relive that moment in the warehouse when I was fighting for my life, I whined at the two who looked to be of one mind on the subject, “I'll have you know that I have one of the most finely honed flight or flight defenses.”  I clarified, “There is no fight selection on the dial.”  I shivered in the stiff, frosty breeze.

Tana rolled her eyes and then gave me a warm hug. “See you tomorrow after you celebrate?”

I nodded, getting lost in her eyes again.  “Oh, ok.”  Then my eyes widened, “I have a present for you upstairs.”

She grinned. “I've got yours in my car.”

Mom just said, “Why don't you join us in the morning, Tana, sweetie?  Cy will be cooking breakfast then we do the gift exchange.  We're not religious or anything, and it is really informal.”

She beamed.  “If Mr. R is cooking then I'll be there.  Thanks for the invite, Mrs. R.”

“Abby.”

“Abby.”

And to my surprise, that was how Tanny was invited to our family celebration just a few short hours away.  That thought had me pause and I looked between them.  We had already invited Lisa to celebrate with us since she was alone this Christmas, since her parents were in Florida visiting her brother for the holidays, so she wouldn't be going to their house.

“Umm...”  I looked down the road to the black SUV Ivan and Pietor were in, and the old Stenson place, knowing they could all probably hear, so I was vague as I pointed at my ears. “I'm going to tell Lisa tomorrow about... my, umm, defects.  She's my best friend and I trust her implicitly.  It's harder and harder to keep it from her, and I feel like a terrible friend doing so.  I know the Council doesn't want it known outside of our little circle here, but she 'is' part of our circle.”

Mom was just nodding, and Tana looked thoughtful.  I could tell she was going through every possible scenario in her super organized brain.  I recently learned she had minor OCD, as evidenced by her being a complete neat freak and always wanting to be in control of all aspects of her life.  Which was odd, since I was such a disruption to that and everyone I met for some reason.  Well, that, and her little sister outed her the other day.  Fine, I should have just led with that.

She said, “Mom and dad are going to shit bricks if you do, so there's the icing on that cake.  The more people who know, the bigger the chance someone is going to find out, and people may panic.  But I like Lisa, and she is always protecting you anyway, I think she deserves to know, senior Council be damned.”

Chapter 4 – Celebration

The next morning I was wiped out, only having gotten three hours of sleep.  I shot Lis and Tana texts, reminding them to be at Gran and Gramps for Christmas brunch.

It was a tight fit in mom's Volkswagen Beetle, which we had just got running again using the windfall we received when I became a Council member, thanks to a yearly monetary draw called an Arwë, from the Elvish treasury called the Mírë.  For the first time in eight years, we were all caught up on our bills and mortgage, free of any of the late notices my parents always tried to hide from me.

I looked at Barney who was taking up three-quarters of the back seat while I was squished to the side window.  He always came with us to celebrate, it was tradition.  It was a lot easier to haul him around when he was a pup when I rescued him off the street with a broken leg.  It wouldn't be the same without him there.

He must have known my mind was on him because the opportunistic boy gave me a wet sloppy slurp up side the head as he crowded me more to peer out the window.  “Eww!”

His tail began to thump on the back of the driver's seat as he recognized the house we were pulling up to.  Why wouldn't he get excited?  The silly boy knew Gran would have a nice fresh soup bone for him to gnaw on.  She spoiled him so.

Mom told dad from the wheel while we held on for dear life as she weaved through the Christmas traffic of people heading off to their own Christmas celebrations, like a madwoman... her occasional cackling as she beeped the ridiculously pathetic horn that was still too loud to my ears, didn't dissuade me of my madwoman analogy, “Your mother was intrigued when I told her your little girl would be bringing her girlfriend to Christmas brunch, Cy.”

I sputtered out, “Mooom!”  Then pouted. “I'm not a little girl.”  Ok, that wasn't making my case.  So I settled for a well-articulated, “Grr,” to their mocking chuckles.  “I hate you both.”

We arrived in one piece, luckily never hitting eighty-eight miles per hour to initiate time travel, then again, we didn't have any way of generating one point two one gigawatts of power, so I think we're safe.  I know, I watch far too many science fiction shows, it's my only flaw.  Well, that and... never mind I've been talking too long on the subject.

As usual, Gramps Renner was on the porch, anticipating our arrival.  Once mom and dad got out, I grinned over the fact dad looked as relieved as I was to be in one piece, and he flopped the passenger seat forward and... “Glack!” Barney plowed over me to get out.

I called after him as I exited the car, shaking a fist at him, “Traitor!”  He loped up the steps and right past Grandpa and into the house when he held the door open for our woolly mammoth, tail swishing.  See?  Right there, the traitorous pup chose soup bones over me.

I ran and squeed out, even though I had just seen him a few hours ago, and he pulled me into a hug, “Gramps!”

He chuckled and hugged me tightly before releasing me and accepting a kiss on the cheek from mom.  He clasped dad's shoulder as he opened the door again to usher us in.  That's when a Humvee pulled up to the curb behind mom's car, and not the civilian model, this looked like something taken out of a war movie except that it was painted an electric yellow.

Who the heck was... Lisa, my best friend, and co-worker at the news station slipped out of the passenger door.  She said with a suggestive purr, “Thanks for the ride, Elf-boy.  I'll hitch a ride home from here unless you can get out of your family dinner later and want to unwrap your present tonight.”  She ran a hand up and down in front of herself, indicating her decidedly feminine form.

A familiar voice with an Australian accent, “Mum always said a sheila would be my downfall.” She gave one of her devastating smiles that seemed to accentuate her cute Hispanic features, and she leaned into the open door, I caught sight of the guy she had beguiled at the Elven dance club, the Aelftus Strip, that the girls talked me into going to.  She called Isaac Walker her Elf arm candy.  He gave her a peck on the lips and she sighed into it.

I waved, calling out, “Hi Issac.”

“G'day Killishia.”  The boy winked, saluting with one finger and then pointing forward.  He revved the engine after Lis shut the door, then a moment later the beast of a machine drove around us and down the road, its powerful engine growling the whole way.

I grinned at the smug woman as she approached.  “How many blocks to the gallon does that thing get?  I bet Gerty gets better mileage.”

Before her eyes were done rolling in good humor, I observed, “Sooooo, Issac?”

She beamed. “I know, right?  Who knew an elf could find me interesting.”

“Hey!  I'm an Elf... and so is Tana.”

“You're contractually obligated to as you're my work wife, and we won't raise Junior in a broken home.  And your Elfette wouldn't give me the time of day if it weren't for you.”  Our imaginary child was the glue that held our equally imaginary marriage together.  Whatever, both of us are geeks.

I shook my head, demonstrating to her I too could roll my eyes and gave her a quick hug.  She hugged mom, then offered a fist to dad who bumped it.  “Mr. and Mrs. Renner... I mean, Abby, Cyrus.”

Mom looked smug as she led the way in past Grandpa Renner, he and Lis doing a complicated handshake.  When did they have the time to have their own handshake?  She's only been here like five times, but she did have a habit of endearing herself to the people she liked and enraging those who she didn't.  It was one of Lisa's superpowers.

We came to a halt just inside when we saw the two people flanking my Gran.  Lisa squeaked excitedly, the flash from her cell going off having the three all shielding their eyes and wincing as she blurted, “Riicathi!”

I gave a repentant look to the blinking elves. “I apologize for this one, she's got the Elf stanning chromosome, and doesn't understand the definition of the word inappropriate.  This is my best friend, Lisa Rodriguez.  Lisa my other grandparents, Audrey and Emit Riicathi.”

She stepped forward and reached out to cup their hands as she shook them, assuring them, “I do too know the definition, it's an adjective meaning not suitable or proper in the circumstances, but I do it with flair so it is forgiven.  And I must say, you two look amazing for being recently resurrected, especially you Audrey,  people pay good money for frosted highlights like that, you're rocking it.”

The two looked... discombobulated, which was a common occurrence around Lisa, who elicited that reaction on purpose to gauge people.  She was a lot more intelligent and put together than she liked to project.  Then Gran Riicathi smirked and inclined her head. “Miss Rodriguez, it's a pleasure.”  Ah, she was quick on the uptake herself, and she 'got' Lis, the crooked grin telling me of her approval.

Emit cocked his head then said apparently to himself as his eyes looked her up and down as if assessing threat levels, something they had been forced to do all their lives thinking they were being hunted down by Elvish Special Ops, “Sapien.”

I nodded and just went for it without any preamble since they both looked a little guarded, not knowing what she knew.  “You can talk freely around her, she knows everything, except that I'm a halfling.  But she does now.”

There was complete silence for four heartbeats, I know because I counted those heartbeats I could hear around me in that same silence before Lis' eyes widened, and she pointed at me.  I offered helpfully, “J'accuse?”

She looked thoughtful, setting her surprise aside like an old book she put a bookmark in. “Nah, you've overused that particular Doctor Who reference lately.”  She smiled and snapped her fingers, holding one up and trying out, “I knew it!”

“You did not!”

“You'll have to prove otherwise, little Miss Withholding.”

Dad cautioned her, “Besides all of us here, only the heads of the senior Council know.  It would be dangerous if word got out.”

I raised my casted hand and added sheepishly, “Well, and Tana, the senior medical staff in the medical wing at Laun tower, and...”  I looked toward the door and said, “And the Cookie Twins, but they'll keep their traps shut.”

I chuckled at the response from the black SUV across the street, as the two chimed out in their Russian accented English, “Yes, Miss Kia.”

Lisa nodded, winking and making a finger gun. “Gotcha, like one of those secrets that everyone and their dog, but not their best friend knows.”  Then she spun on my parents and eyed them critically, her finger moving between them. “That means...”  She froze looking from dad to me, and she got that self-satisfied smile she always got when she figured something out cleverly, and she asked, “Abigail?  You?”

I blurted as both mom and dad looked surprised, “How did you know?”

She sighed at me like I were a misbehaving kid. “Really, woman?”  She pointed at herself. “I mainline all things Elf when I'm bored.”  She winged a thumb toward dad. “He'd be the obvious culprit for your ear's pointitude, I mean he's gorgeous, but the elves are all calling your eyes a defect.  Sooo, by logical deduction that means they aren't natural... for Elves, so as fine as he is, he has to be the Sapien half of you.  And Abby is a lot more stunning than she lets on with her terrible mom haircut and frumpy clothing.  But it's that she has blue eyes that makes her the only logical candidate for your Elvish half.”

Then she grumped, “And I'm mad at you for keeping it from me and telling Tanburger before me.”

Grams huffed. “Can we take this into the family room instead of crowding the entry?” Eeep!  We all quickly capitulated and took seats around the room, dad depositing our bag of gifts under the tree.

That's when someone knocked lightly on the door.  I smiled as they all turned that way as I hopped up, recognizing the gait of the footsteps which came up the walk and onto the porch. “And that would be my... umm... girlfriend?”  It sounded so odd, but exciting to me to articulate that as I almost skipped to the door, Barney padding there with me, he must have recognized her scent out there or something because his tail swished like a great hairy fan.

Emit asked the room, “Is it safe having a Laun here?”

Audrey chastised, “Emit, behave, we said we'd keep an open mind.”

The muffled voice behind the door said, “You all do know I can hear you, right?”

I swept the door open, and was immediately hit by the chill outside air, “Yes they do, they're all being buttheads.”

Lis blurted, “Except me.”

“Except Lisa.”

She glurked when a wall of fur landed on her, pushing her onto her butt on the porch as Barney gave her a wet, drooly greeting.  My smile threatened to split my face at the sound of the punk princess giggling as she tried pushing the mass of hair off of her, “Hiya boy.  I gotta get up, my bum is freezing here.”

I prompted, “Let her up, Barney.”  He lumbered off of her, done performing his solemn duty, and shambled past me back into the house.  I offered my good hand and she took it, and I heaved her to her feet. “Your bum?  Did you become British since I saw you last night?”

She rolled her eyes at me and leaned in to touch foreheads with me, her eyes twinkling in mischief as she dusted off the aforementioned bum. “Funny, Killy, I just didn't want to be crass within earshot of your family.”

She glanced down at my lips making me feel flush, and I absently tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.  She stole a quick kiss, and we both stood tall as someone called out, “Shut the door, you're letting the cold in!”

I grinned and looped my arm in hers to drag her inside, shutting the door behind us.  “Hi.”

She started pulling her gloves off and shrugging out of her duster which I just then noticed had some sort of heavy zip-in liner.  It probably cost more than my entire wardrobe.  I took her things from her and placed them on the growing stack on the entry bench.  Then was dragging her into the family room where everyone waited.  I felt her stutter step in hesitation when she noted all eyes were on her.

Lisa blurted as she looked between them and us, “Hey Elfette, merry ho ho.”

“Hey  Lis.  Back at ya.”  Then she looked from my bestie to me and said, “Damn, I owe Sonia ten dollars.  I thought the two of you are geek enough to have been wearing those Santa-girl getups you wore at the tree lighting.”

I puffed up my cheeks and jabbed her in the arm with a finger.  “Behave, wench.  Those things were god awful, not to mention likely hadn't been cleaned in a decade.  I swear I can still smell them in my room almost a month later.”

For good measure, because I caught on she was just messing with us, I looked around, “You know mom and dad, and you've met my grandparents, Roberto and Irene, in the medical wing on my birthday.”

She inclined her head to each, “Of course.  Good to see everyone again.”

Mom grinned like a loon. “And this time you aren't throwing poor Kia off the roof, hon.”  They shared mom's maniacal expression as I harrumphed and crossed my arms petulantly over my chest.

This got the other two in the room to bristle, their muscles tensing as if ready to strike.  I put my hands on my hips, “Really?  They're just teasing me for sort of maybe accidentally sliding off the roof, and onto a bush... kinda.”  As they relaxed, I continued my introductions, “Tana, you've already been informally introduced to my other grandparents when they stormed the proverbial castle, the no longer late Audrey and Emit Riicathi.  Gram and Gramps, Tanaliashia Enid Laun, Aryon of Evander and Marcillia Laun, and my – girlfriend.”

My cheeks heated when she beamed at me, winking, then inclining her head to them and offering her hand as she said with humor underlying her tone, “Of course, nice to officially meet you.  You set off a complete shitstorm in the Council, everyone is demanding to speak with my parents.  It's awesome, I just love Killy's family.”

They hesitated, brows slightly creased, and I was chuckling inside, the emo Elf had that confusing effect on people, especially when they are expecting the Laun's Stepford daughter.  But not... not my rebellious, independent thinking girl.

They shook her hand, and when Grandma Riicathi shook, she didn't release, instead, she said, “Solid grip, weight centered and distributed, calloused hands, not those of a pampered heir.  You've combat training?”

“Mahta-cambë since I was old enough to stand.”  She raised a brow, which Audrey returned.

Umm... what was going on?  Then without releasing her hands, my Gran moved to backhand her with her other hand with just a pivot of her elbow.  As my eyes started to widen, Tana deflected it with an up-strike up from below with the palm of her hand, then pivoted her arm on her elbow to block the return strike that was so fluid both strikes looked to have been a single move.

I was going to blurt out, well, something, but instead, they released their handshake finally as my grandmother nodded with a little smirk, “A little sloppy, but otherwise good form, Miss Laun.  You'd do better learning Mahta-quárë if you are going to protect our granddaughter.”

I whined out, “Graaaaan.  We're dating, she isn't my bodyguard.  And I can defend myself.”  They looked at my cast, disproving my assertion.  Fine, whatever.

But Tana inclined her head. “Would if I could but I can't so I won't.  Nobody has used Mahta-quárë in almost three hundred years since there are no Masters to teach it.  That's why it was so shocking seeing the videos of Mr. Renner here using it to save Kia.  It had all the security staff abuzz.”

Has everyone seen those body-cam videos but me?

Emit said as he made an ushering motion to everyone to sit, “For a Sapien, he is quite adept since it is usually too taxing for one of his people, but his obvious strength makes up for it.  Audrey is the last Grand Master of Mahta-quárë now since Abigail never finished her training, though she is a Master.  We fear the forms will be lost to the Aelftus when the last of the Riicathi are gone.”

Dad prompted, “Well now that everyone is introduced, I'll excuse myself, my mother and I have to prepare brunch before we open gifts.”

I towed my Elf-y princess back to sit on one of the loveseats, and the rest of us sat, except Lisa, who was looking at the muted big-screen television.  “Ummm... is everyone seeing this?”

Chapter 5 – Elvish Magic

We all just blinked at the television as Gramps picked up the remote and unmuted the special report from a rival station, the anchor was saying, “...ing you this special report.  Channel 9 News has obtained a video of purported Elvish magic being used last night in Central Park by an anonymous source.

The video was vertical, and grainy in the lights of the park paths and the full moon above, so was likely recorded on a cellphone.  The trees around the figures we could see there looked to be in the North Woods near the Block House if I wasn't mistaken.  About twenty people were sitting on the ground, around a woman in a dark cloak, I kid you not.

The woman was illuminated by the flickering candles held by each of the people surrounding her.  There was no mistaking the two men standing behind her as anything but Elves, with their pointed, sweeping ears with silver ear shields and their crystalline blue eyes reflecting the light, looking as if they were glowing.

The audio was muffled a bit, but the woman was speaking, “Disciples, the event is upon us, are you prepared?  Has all the venom of your lives been purged, so that you can be one with the Arcanium?”

They almost chanted out, “Yes Magus.”

“Are you ready to become a conduit to the living magic of the Aelftus?”

“Yes, Magus.”

She pointed at the sky toward the moon.  “Behold the Cold Moon, the last full moon of the year, in conjunction with Saturn, Venus, and Mars, triggering the Droichead, the bridge between the Earth and the ancient magics of the Aelftus, the Arcanium.”

She lowered her hood and like most elves, she was stunning, with braided silky black hair, showing off her pointed ears and the most ornate ears shields I have seen, with the delicate silver chains on them draping not only below her ears, but strands looping down her chest with some sort of adornments I couldn't make out on the poor quality video.  Her eyes blazed blue like the others, and she looked vaguely of Middle Eastern descent maybe, it was hard to tell on the television screen.

The woman looked around almost regally, at the people around her, all who appeared Sapien.  “We have but one chance to anchor the Droichead on our side, that the connection can be left open until the spring equinox.  Only the most devout of you will become the anchor, or the Arcanium will be lost to us another twenty years.”

Then she lowered her head into shadow and started chanting words I didn't know, ancient-sounding words, the Elven men behind her lowered their heads and did the same harmonizing with her.  And then I was blinking in shock.  I mean they were just delusional nutcases, right?  There was no such thing as magic, let alone Elvish magic, right?  Tana and other Elves have assured me of that.  But as we watched, all around the group the ground swirled in an eerie green light, a circle of what looked like elvish symbols or runes surrounded them, pulsating with the chanting.

The woman's voice became an insistent command. “Now disciples, lend your purity of dedication and purpose to ours so that we may all reap the blessing of the Arcanium into ourselves, becoming the vessels of the power of the Aelftus.  Let me, Magus of the Way, Samira Khani, be your guide.”

What the actual, chipmunk on a trampoline, fuck?  Wind seemed to kick up, swirling leaves around them, the candles being blown out, but the green light of the runes illuminated everyone as all the people started chanting the same words.

I looked around, and everyone else looked as dumbfounded as me, and Tana absently took my hand and squeezed as if in anticipation, her pulse pounding like mine as she looked completely shocked too, telling me she knew nothing of... whatever this was we were seeing.

The chanting built to a crescendo as the leaves swirled more violently and the runes brightened more.  Then a woman gasped and stumbled to her feet, a hand pressed against her chest, eyes wide.  This Magus woman stepped to her quickly to steady her, almost yelling the chant now.  Then I stopped breathing when the Sapien woman... well... she Elfed.  The Magus called out over the chanting, “The  Arcanium has chosen you as the first conduit, and blessed you with rebirth, as only the Aelftus can hold the power within them.”

Tana squeaked out, “What the fuck?”

Then one of the Elves with her looked toward the camera. “Someone is there, in the trees.  They're recording!”  And they started running toward the camera and the video ended.

Leticia Kramer of Channel 9 was back. “You saw it here first in this exclusive video.  Elves have been hiding magic all along, and have the ability to change humans into their kind.  We've reached out to the Mayor's Office, but it is closed for the holiday, and NYPD will not comment.  We'll bring you updates as the story develops.”

Even Dad and Grams had come out of the kitchen to watch.  I whispered, “It has to be a hoax right?”  I looked to Grandma and Grandpa Riicathi.

Emit was shaking his head. “It is.  There is no such thing as magic.”  He sounded mostly sure though he still stared at the television as it went back to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in progress, Rudolph's nose screeching as it lit cherry red.

Lisa cocked her head almost upside down a couple of inches in front of Tanny, “You holding out on us, Elferella?  Can Sapiens really be Elfed?

Tana placed a finger on her nose to ease her back a bit. “No, it's impossible.  You're either Elf or Sapien, it's genetics.  It's basic biology.”

Then my cell started buzzing.  I looked around, almost everyone I knew was here in the house, who would be...  I paled and answered, “Mr. Klien?  What... yes sir, I just saw the... no sir, I didn't know... I... yes sir.  Of course sir.”  Then the man hung up.

I exhaled long and loud, knowing the bulk of those gathered heard both sides, but I said for Dad and Lisa, “Umm... the station manager is livid Channel 3 was scooped of an Elf story when I should be giving a heads up on stuff like this.  He wants me in this afternoon to get ahead of the story... because I'm...”

I pointed at my ears and shrugged my cheeks heating.  I don't know how it was my fault, how was I supposed to know something as mind-bending as this would pop up on Christmas.

Then as Mom started to ask me something my LaunPhone buzzed again, I should have turned the damn thing off for family time.  I held up a stalling finger as I accepted the call. “Yes sir, did you forget somethi... oh, hi.”  I stood up straighter.

“Detective De Luca... Sofia, what can I... yes I saw.  What?  No, it has to be fake.  Magic isn't real, that was impossible.  I... no, I was just assigned the story by the station manager.  What, you think I'm a confidential informant or something, just because I cracked your biggest case for you?  Yeah, it's going to be like that, flatfoot.”

I sighed. “Yes, people still say flatfoot, I just did, didn't I?  And... fine whatever, but I expect the same in kind if you find something.”  I looked at my cell. “The copper just hung up on me.  That's twice in two minutes, doesn't anyone say goodbye anym...”  I trailed off at the dark look on Tana's face.  She was sort of jealous of the detective, mostly because she was pretty hot in a dangerous kind of way.  I gave my most innocent grin as I tucked some hair behind my ear nervously.

I filled in those who hadn't heard. “People are flooding all the lines at the police station in a panic over this.  She is looking into it as a public safety concern to see if any laws were broken, but she doesn't think so.  She wanted to know if it was real or just some holiday prank.  And since I'm the only International Elf Council member who might speak to her about it without waving the Reveal Accords in her face...”

I waved it away. “Well that's enough Twilight Zone and interruptions, we have a celebration to...”

Tana's cell buzzed and she looked quickly at the text on the screen after giving us all an apologetic look. Then she snorted.  “Mom and Dad want to know if I can get in contact with you.  They're afraid you're going to investigate outside of the Council and plaster it all on Channel 3, making it harder for Elf Special Ops to investigate.”

I nodded, unrepentant. “Pretty much.”  She rolled her eyes at my toothy grin.

Dad took the remote from Gramps and switched off the television.  “Let's get this party started then if we're going to be losing Itty-Bit, Mom and I will get the food going.  Everyone just relax and chit chat before we eat.”

My cell, Tanny's, and Lisa's all buzzed... causing mom to blurt out, “For Fezzik's sake, turn your phones off girls.  This is family time.”

We all eyeballed my mom as we silenced our phones without looking...  I mumbled, “As you wish.”

Then Tana was asking Lisa out the side of her mouth, “Are the Renner women making Princess Bride references?”

Lis just smirked as she nodded.  “Just when you thought they couldn't get any hotter, huh?”

The two effected attentive and highly suspicious innocent smiles as Tana nodded without saying another word.

“I hate you both.”

Lisa assured her, through the smile without moving her lips, “No she doesn't.”

“No, I don't, brats.”

Then the banter spread to everyone, my newfound grandparents just observing with looks of sorrowful amazement.  I moved over to where they stood against the wall, and took their hands, dragging them to the big couch to sit next to me and Tana, putting them in the middle of everything and including them in something they haven't enjoyed in twenty-five years on the run.  Family.

Chapter 6 – Assignment

In the early afternoon, I arrived at the station, with an entourage it seemed.  Lisa and Tanny insisted on coming, so we could hit a holiday party at Laun Tower after I spoke with Mr. Klein.  Which also meant two other cars were following us, both my and Tana's protective details.  Her's had finally figured out where she was after she spoofed the GPS on her LaunPhone to show her somewhere in New Jersey.

She noted them as we walked up to the main doors, to badge our way inside, “It makes them think they're smart when they finally catch up with me.  The joke is on them since we're heading to the Tower after this.”

As I held the door open for the ladies, I again noted how deserted the city core seemed to be.  This is the first time I had been to Manhattan on Christmas.  And by deserted, I mean there were only a few cars on the streets and the sidewalks weren't packed shoulder to shoulder with people.  Only a few people were on the block, likely either having drawn the short straws and heading to work on a holiday or heading to their holiday event. Of course, some areas, like Times Square would be buzzing still.

I slipped inside and heard the locks engage after I closed the door behind us.  I looked at the front desk security desk manned by just one guard instead of two, and I didn't even recognize him.  He probably had the night shift normally but had drawn that proverbial short straw I had just been thinking about.  And the monitors on the wall above the front desk were showing our normally late-night anchors as they reported on any holiday news they were likely recycling every fifteen minutes or so on the air.  The good news was this counted as air time for their records.

The guard took a look at me then Tana, squinted his eyes, and prompted, “I'm going to have to see some ID, the station is closed for the...”

I interrupted, looking at his nametag under the shiny gold security guard badge, “I work here Mr. Mendez.”  I held the lanyard around my neck up to show him my press pass and station ID card. “I'm sort of the only Elf who works here?”

The fit fifty-something just grunted and scanned my ID. “I can't be expected to know everyone who works here Miss...” he looked at the smart surface as my credentials pulled up, “...Renner.”

I nudged my chin toward Tanny. “I'll need a visitor's pass for this one.  We...”

Lisa stepped up beside us and the man brightened, “Miss Rodriguez.”

“Hiya Manny, these two are with me.”

“Oh, by all means, sorry ladies, go right on in.”  He typed something on the smart surface.

As she dragged us along, I craned my neck back to see the man just relax to watch the security feeds. “How does he know you and not me?  My face is blazing away right beside him on the screen next to the station call letters in the lobby.  And why didn't he issue Tana a visitor's pass?”

She just smirked and walked with a little swagger, “Everyone knows me, duh.  I am the keeper of secrets.  As in he has his fishing lures sent to the station so his wife doesn't know.”

“And you being in the mailroom.”

Tana clutched at imaginary pearls. “Stars and garters.  Scandalous, woman.”

We all snickered and I shared with the delectable Elf beside me as we went upstairs.  “Most everyone at the station is afraid of her, except Mr. Klien of course.”

“Including you?”

“Never, she'd never put Junior through the stress of a divorce.”

Tana sighed heavily. “You two are so weird.  Remind me why I hang with you?”

Before I could stop her, Lisa laid her head on her hands like an imaginary pillow, fluttering her lashes, “Elf-y love.”

“I hate you both.”

Then we pulled up short when we rounded the corner into the bullpen and Mr. Klien was standing there, an impatient look on his face.  “Ah, Kia, there you... oh.”  His eyes widened in apparent excitement, “Miss Laun, did Killishia bring you in for an interview on the Elf magic this Magus appears to wield?”

She shook her head. “No, the Laun family has no comment on the video that has surfaced but to say there is no such thing as magic.”  Then she nudged her chin toward me. “We're just here to spend Christmas with Kia here.”

Lisa puffed up and made a fist. “Solidarity.”

The man just cocked a brow at her and she spun on a heel, saying, “Making myself scarce sir.  Come find me when you're done Killshanaru.”

“Killishia... it's not that hard to pronounce, you're the worst friend ever.”  She waved behind her, the... the jerk.

Tana looked from her to us and winged a thumb back. “I can... if you need to talk station business.”

Tobias shook his head and spoke quickly, “No, it's fine.  You can stay, I just needed to speak to Kia about this shocking development.  I'd be remiss excusing such a high-ranking Elf.”

She got a sly look on her face, her eyes flicking my way. “Mr. Kline, until I become head of the Laun family, Kia here outranks me as she is a member of the senior Elf Council with voting shares.”  My cheeks started to burn with their attention on me.

The man, always quick on the uptake, nodded as he processed her words and accepted them.  He started, “How is the Council structured between those with voting shares and the minor families who don't have...”

I spluttered. “Sir?  She's not here for an interview, and if she were, I called dibs. Why are you always trying to scoop me?”

“You can't call dibs on an interview, Miss...”

“Too late.”  It was all I could do from stomping petulantly.

Tana grinned. “Sir, I regret to tell you, she did call dibs.”  She caught my hand and laced our fingers and held our clasped hands up as I felt the need to run away, run away.  “And any forthcoming interviews I might grant, I would insist upon an Elf reporter conducting it.”  I chewed on my lower lip as I tucked some hair behind my ear with my casted hand.

He at first looked surprised.  I knew the man didn't put any stock into all the trending Elf gossip, especially any pertaining to me, but this was one rumor I was happy is true, even if it surprised me as much as everyone else.  Then he nodded and chuckled. “You can't blame a man for trying, I've been in this game too long.  Journalism is in my blood.”

She inclined her head in acceptance of that, and something passed between them.  Like two opponents squaring off but leaving a space between them.  I turned on Tana. “Ok, woman.  Go find Lis, she's probably putting my stapler on the top shelf again so she can get another Elf on a Shelf picture.  You're too distracting here.”

The woman just looked amused, the bullpen lights glinting off her plethora of piercings, and making her blue eyes glitter and almost glow.  I pointed toward the elevators in the deserted bullpen that was usually teeming with activity.  She gave a confident wink at me, then surprised me with a peck on the lips before turning and almost sashaying away, saying dramatically, “If I must.”  Then added as she hit the down button, “It was nice seeing you again, Mr. Klein.”

He spoke normally, being used to having me around now, knowing raising his voice wasn't necessary with elves, even a floor away. “You as well, Miss Laun.”

Then after the elevator doors closed and she was on her way down to find my evil work wife, he told me as he shook his head, “You're doomed, Kia.”

I nodded, not even trying to deny it. “I'm helpless against her.”

I chuckled nervously when he did.  Then he just sat lazily on the sorting table next to the copier, hands together, draped lazily across a knee.  “So.  You were saying earlier, why Channel 9 scooped us on an Elf matter when we here at WTRL have an Elf on staff?”

I squeaked as I flopped into a chair in Wendell's cubicle, facing him. “I wasn't saying.  I didn't know anything about this.  I saw it on television as you did.”  I was trying to wring my hands and then gave a squeaky growl to the cast that was getting more and more annoying every day and I couldn't wait until I could get it removed in around three weeks.  I settled for grabbing a pen from a cup on the desk to feed between my arm and the cast to try to get at the deep itches that I could never quite alleviate.

He nodded slowly as if he had had to see me to tell if I were just doing the wall of pointy-eared silence with him that Elves always gave us when pursuing stories.  “Ok.  We need to get ahead of this.  Dig into it, see if you can locate this Magus woman, Samira Khani, and find out all you can about what happened.  Dig deep.  We can't let Channel 9 take the narrative on this.  We'll have Mary run with your story once we've proofed it, I'll expect something by the end of the week.”

I blinked as my heart sped up in building excitement. “I'm getting the assignment?”

“Of course.  But don't go getting a big head, Renner, they won't talk to any Sapien reporters, you've got an in.”  He tapped his rounded ears and pointed at mine.

“Gee.  Thanks for the vote of confidence, sir.”

He chuckled.  I never knew if he was being serious or was just ribbing me, just like during my two-year internship here before I got my new hybrid position.  “This Elf magic has the potential to shake up Elf/Sapien relations.  And for some people, it may start a panic, while the people who borderline worship all things Elf are going to go insane.”

Sighing I offered, “Really Tobias?  There's no such thing as magic.  That had to have been staged, just digital effects.”  I cocked a brow in a challenge, not believing for one moment he believed it was really magic.

Nodding with a smirk, he said, “And that, my dear Kia, is what you need to prove, one way or another in your investigation.”  Then he sighed, hopped off the table, and started toward the elevators. “Now go enjoy the rest of your Christmas with Miss Laun and that troublesome Miss Rodriguez, your life is about to get hectic.”

I called after him, defending my best friend, “Lisa's not trouble, she's unorthodox, but the best there is in the mailroom.”

He said as the elevator doors closed between us, “Yes.  That she is insanely competent at her job is the only reason we look the other way at her shenanigans.”  I had to grin at that, him affirming that he was aware of how great an employee she was.

Then I sat there, twiddling my thumbs, feeling all sorts of awkward as I stood in the abandoned bullpen, looking around for some reason as I started hesitantly walking, then speeding up to a jog, squeaking to myself, “Alrighty then.”  Then I was off, down the stairs four at a time in search of my accomplices.

Chapter 7 – NYPD

The girls were nothing but questions when I joined them in the records room, the Morgue.  Where Tana was just shaking her head, judging whatever scatterbrained plan Lisa was whipping up at Azu and Renny's desks.

When they saw me they didn't say anything, looking conveniently innocent.  This did not bode well.  I started, “I got assigned to the Magus story, and...”  Lis, tongue in cheek, bounced on her toes and I trailed off.  “Which you somehow already know.”

I glanced at my obsession and her longer ears, and I squinted. “I know your hearing is even better than mine, but there's no way you  heard through multiple floors.”

Tana just shrugged with a smirk and nudged her shin toward my best friend.  I turned to Lisa and cocked an expectant brow.  She bit the tip of her tongue then supplied, “I may or may not have paged the Morgue from Ulanda's desk on my way out of the bullpen, and left the receiver off the hook.  We heard everything.”

Wha?  The sneak!

She swished back and forth, and looked exaggeratedly demure as she added, “Including you defending me.”  She clasped her hands and held them to her cheek, batting her brown eyes. “My hero.”

Then as I sputtered, she assured Tana, “She'll never love you as she does me.”

My Elf ran with it, “Obviously.”

“When you two jerks are done teasing me, we've one last stop before we can enjoy what's left of the holiday.”

My cheeks heated when Tanny took my hand, gave it a little squeeze, and started dragging me toward the door, calling back, “If you're done changing the language on their computers to Cantonese, you coming?”

Lis speed-walked past us. “Mission accomplished.”

I assured her, “You're positively evil at times, lady, but I think the boys can handle this one.”

“Yes, but it makes them feel appreciated and included.  The poor ghouls have trapped themselves down here by being overly competent.”

There was that.

A minute later we were climbing into Isaac's monster size Hummer.  I had to grin at how cute Lis was when she called shotgun again, then leaned over in the front seat and gave her Australian Elf a peck on the lips.

He asked, his accent making him sound a bit mischievous... or maybe because he was being mischievous?  Well whatever, there was mischief in his tone, “Destination, mates?”

They looked at me, and I sighed, visibly deflating, “Last stop before the party, NYPD 19th precinct.”

I felt almost like I had an entourage as I entered the precinct, what with Tana, Lisa, and Issac in tow, then Ivan and Pietor at our backs.  Tana's new security team... she went through them almost once a week when she became too much for each team to handle without some sort of nervous breakdown, never knowing where she was if she decided they didn't need to know... she just held a stopping hand up to outside the doors.

“Stay.”

They looked uncomfortable waiting outside the building again, but, umm... police station?  I'd have made jazz hands if I didn't think my companions wouldn't have thought I lost it, punctuating my internal dialogue.  Seriously though, how much safer could we possibly be surrounded by... a... building full of... umm, where was everyone?

The only person in the deserted lobby was the desk sergeant on the other side of the space, who looked up from an old-school newspaper and leaned back in his chair, feet on the counter.  Didn't he know that everyone consumed their news online or on television nowadays?

I tried to step more quietly as my feet clopped on the worn marble floor, echoing off the walls, sounding like a horse prancing on a cobblestone walk, my Elf-shaped companions walking soundlessly, at least Lisa was... oddly silent too.  What the hell, man?  I mean, seriously?

We stepped up to the man after I turned around and pushed Ivan to a stop, well my legs were churning as I pushed on his expansive chest until he looked down at me and just grinned as he stopped.  “You've seen us inside, now shoo you two, stand over there and glare like man mountains.”

As they did as I requested, tongue in cheek, I nudged my chin toward them as I widened my eyes at Tana.  “See?  Overprotective.”  She looked amused at me and I sighed in exasperation, then turned to the desk Sargent.  “Hello, sir, I'm here to...”

He didn't look away from his newspaper and just tapped a clipboard sitting next to the cutout in the glass between us on the desktop.  “Sign in please.”

“I'm expected, Detective...”

He tapped the clipboard with a piece of beef jerky he had been eating.

“But...”

“Sign in please.”

I huffed and growled in my head as I filled my info on the clipboard on the second to last line, under a lot of other names and dates.  And as I did that, some side doors opened, and two uniformed officers stepped in with a staggering and swaying Santa Claus.  He was slurring out, “It wasn't me, ossifer.  It was the other Santa, Larry Salazar.  I wouldn't have done that with that reindeer, I'm a happily married... oh, mebbe I am a think as you drunk I am.  Are you seein' elves too?”

“Come on old-timer, you can sleep it off in the drunk tank while we determine what's what.”

And they moved through another set of doors behind the front desk.  My ears swiveled to their voices as I heard footsteps going down steps.  Gah!  It was all I could do to force my ears to swivel away when they started talking with each other about what pervy Saint Nick had been picked up for.  I shivered and put the pen down and slid the clipboard to the Sargent.

He sat up. Setting his paper down as he picked up the clipboard, his attention finally on us and the poor man almost choked on the bite of jerky he was chewing.  “Ok, now what can I do for you miss... holy fuckmas!  I mean...”  He straightened up his uniform, pulling his sleeves down to his wrists, a sweat breaking out on his brow under the silver buzzcut.  “...sorry.  I mean, well, you're Elves.”

I wanted to say, “Astute,” but my mom and dad had pounded manners into me.  “Hello officer,” I glanced at the name sewn on the chest pocket of his uniform, “Giuseppe.  I'm Kia Renner, and Detective De Luca is expecting me.”

He ran a hand over his stubbly hair as he picked up his desk phone and hit a line, “Detective?  There's a lobby full of elves down here for you, a whole passel of 'em.  They say you're expecting them.”

I corrected, “Expecting me.”

He cupped his hand over the receiver and whispered behind it, even though I was quite sure even Lisa could hear him with her Sapien hearing. “It's that Killishia Elf.  From the TV.”  He nodded. “Ok.”  Then he hung up, eyeing us.  I almost snorted when I saw one of the many security cameras swivel toward us, no doubt De Luca scoping us out.  I waved awkwardly from my hip up at the camera.

The man told me as he pointed at a side door, “Up the stairs and to the right, third desk to the left.”  He eyed my group and said, halting our motion, “Sorry, Miss, just you.  The others have to stay down here.”  He pointed at the floor by our feet to emphasize.

Tana just looped my arm and pulled me along. “It's alright, I have to accompany her, I'm her  Ráquen.  I'm sure you understand.”  The Liar McLiar, she was just making the man feel sheepish, not understanding.  He just rubbed the back of his neck, looking confused as she was quick to pull me through the door and we started swiftly up the stairs beyond.

I noted the colors were muted slightly around us, so looked up to see only a couple of lights were illuminating the way the rest were out.  Likely because I didn't hear anyone upstairs, except a single person moving around.

There weren't any lights on at all on the second floor except emergency exit lights and a single desk lamp almost at the end of a row of empty, messy desks.  I glance up to see the stairs kept going up a couple of additional floors.

As we stepped into the open space that was oddly reminiscent of the bullpen at the station, I was glad for my enhanced vision, because it was creepier here than downstairs, it being virtually deserted for the holiday.  I'm sure it would have been all dark and creepy shadows here except for that one point of light to my old Sapien eyes, but at least now I could see everything.

We heard papers shuffling and someone typing on a keyboard at the desk with the light on and headed that way.  I noted as we went, that Tana was positioning herself slightly in front of me in a protective manner.  I snorted and pulled her back beside me, rolling my eyes.

A familiar voice chimed out, “I know that snort.  I didn't think you'd actually show, Renner.”

My cheeks heated and I droned out, “Hello detective.”

Then my eyes landed on a dog bed two desks beyond hers as we stepped up to her as she stood from her chair.  I nudged my chin, “Police dog?”

The tall, dark-haired woman with sharp brown eyes looked over and shook her head, “No, that's for Detective McLeary's dog, it's sort of a mascot here.”

Then she took in my Elffette.  “Miss Laun, will you be providing...”

My girl seemed too intent, sizing the detective up, as she shook her head, stating in a challenge, “Absolutely nothing.  Just moral support for my girl.”  Oh.  She was jealous again.  Well, I guess De Luca was a head-turner in an 'if you mess with me I'll tear out your spine' way.  Too intense for me.

It took all my willpower not to grin like a loon as I just took Tana's hand and shook it. “Down girl.”  I offered, squinting an eye, “Sorry about Tana here, she hasn't had her quart of blood today.  How are you Sofia?”

The woman blinked. “Blood?  Is that an Elf thing?”

I did grin that time. “I know I'm not the only person here who reads Back Alley Conjurings.”  This got the woman exhaling and shaking her head at us as Tana grinned, whether it was at me or that I derailed the copper, I didn't know.

I could hear the eye roll in De Luca's tone. “I forgot for a moment that you're a geek, Killishia.”

“Hey!  I know for a fact that...”  Tana's hand tightening ever so lightly in mine had me trail off.  Instead, I offered, “You rang?”

She motioned to three chairs on the other side of her desk and she sat behind her desk as we took the offered chairs.  “I drew the short straw today since I volunteered to take the Christmas shift, and was tasked with addressing public safety concerns arising from that video that is now all over the Internet.  And since according to my commander, I have an 'in' with the IEC, knowing a Council member...”  She ended with a sweep of her upturned hand toward me.

I chuckled then turned to Tana and supplied even though she was intimate with the subject, “What she means is that I solved her big case for her.”

“You didn't solve the...”

“Did too, suck it up buttercup.  And I don't know what more I can add, since as I told you on the phone, there's no such thing as magic, so this is an elaborate hoax.  Someone is getting their jollies, springing this on people over the holidays.”

She turned to Tanny.  “Does the Laun family have any knowledge of...”

“Officially I must state that the Launs have no comment on any Elf matters, and if you wish to engage further on the subject, then I would have you go through the proper federal channels in accordance with the Reveal Accords.”

The woman didn't look amused, but not surprised either as she has had to deal with the wall of Pointy Eared silence and the accords far too often in her career.  I felt for her.  “Yet Miss Renner here has worked with us in the past.”

This time the punk rock princess smirked and shared, “If you think the Council can rein in Killy's particular brand of irreverent chaos, you'd be mistaken, Detective De Luca.”

They shared a grin as Sofia nodded. “Touche, I've been on the receiving end of that chaos.”

“Hey!”  Were they bonding?  Abort, abort!

Then De Luca nodded as she tapped the folder on top of her desk.  “Just doing my due diligence, making sure no laws have been broken.  I don't suppose you know any way we can find this Magus woman?  I looked it up and a magus is purported to be a priest from ancient Persia, a sorcerer, or sorceress as this case may be.”

I started to shake my head, when my phone played the title lyric of You're Having My Baby from Paul Anka, my ringtone for Lisa, an homage to our ongoing joke.  And hey, don't judge, Gramps Renner loves that ancient song.

I muttered, “Sorry, I thought I had it on vibrate.”  I looked at the screen which read, 'Yur gonna wanna see this, Elfikins. Like, now.'

I tapped the link and scanned one of the Elf Stanner chatgroups that came up.  It was one Lis frequented when uploading embarrassing pictures and memes of me.

As Tana was saying, “Even if we knew, we cannot divulge personal information of...”

I interrupted wiggling my LaunPhone as I smirked, “As it turns out, my confidential source knows where to find Samira Khani.”

Sofia nodded slowly, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Confidential source?  You mean Lisa Rodriguez?”

I was blinking in shock. “How did you...”

She pointed. “I saw it on your screen when you tapped the link.”  Oh.

I nodded and said, “According to this, Samira Khani's followers are trying to recruit more people to share in the 'truth' of the Arcanium. Huh... looks like she has some sort of compound on Long Island by Hampton Bays.”

I shared the link with Sofia, she glanced at her cell when it chimed, then nodded.  “Well, thank you for your cooperation, Kia.  And I would ask that you keep away from this until I've done my due diligence and assuaged any concerns the public may have on...”

Tana's squeaked abort of laughter had us both turning to her.  She shrugged, not looking repentant, “Detective, you obviously don't know Killy well.  Telling her not to do something will only backfire on you.”

I radiated my own brand of unrepentance as I grinned, dangling my press pass on its lanyard around my neck. “I'm assigned to the story, so...”

The detective muttered, “For fuck's sake.”

I stood, dragging the delectable Elf who had a satisfied shit-eating grin on her face along with me.  “It's been nice catching up Sofia.  Have a merry ho ho.”

“Renner!”

I squeaked and we ran to the stairs, ignoring the colorful diatribe being spewn behind us.  I didn't miss the little chuckle from the woman when she was done and we were bursting back into the mostly deserted lobby where everyone was waiting.

We didn't even wait for them to start voicing questions as we motored past as I just pointed forward, “To the party!”

Chapter 8 – Compound

The next day, I thought back on the party on the drive out to Hampton Bays, mom's VW was puttering along, acting up a little.  I just coaxed the gas a bit to calm her down, you just needed to know how to handle her.  She had been out of commission so long I almost forgot how to drive a stick shift and a fidgety one at that.

The odd sense of freedom I was experiencing was refreshing.  I was all on my own, for virtually the first time since I Elfed.  Though I knew the Cookie Twins would catch on fast to the GPS hack Tana did on my cell for me.  I knew I wouldn't be able to talk them into not following me to the Magus' compound, and I didn't want to appear as if I were operating as a Council member, or the woman and her group might just shut me down at the door.

The party at Laun Tower had been surreal at best, they branded it as just a celebration of the season, recognizing at least seven separate celebrations of various religious affiliations.  Though the predominant one happened to be Christmas, I think because we were in the states and the predominant religion is Christianity.

My favorite group, there were the ones celebrating Yule, the Pagan holiday that pays tribute to the Norse god Odin.  And it for some reason made Tana endlessly amused as I got into a deep discussion on Norse traditions with a group of Elves who were just moments away from 'spontaneously breaking out into Norse god cosplay.' her words.  Then she was grinning like a loon and laying her head on top of mine when I prompted, “You mean like the people over there dressed in Santa's village gear?”

“Touche, Killy.”

Evander and Marcillia Laun, and Natalia and Dimitri Havashire had cornered me at the party, at various points to warn me off of taking the story about the video most of the world knew about now, to just let Elvish Security look into the 'hoax', just to have the Tan-burger remind them Council business was off-limits at the party.

At one point we even ran into Claude as we circulated.  Everyone wanted to wish him well for the holiday season.  The old faker was certainly popular, and the few children flocked around him as he performed obvious close-up magic tricks for them.  When I smirked and winked at the old man, he pulled a coin out from behind my ear to the delight of the children.

I asked as I looked around, “If children are allowed, why are there so few here?”  This seemed to be a sticking point with my Elf, as she huffed, “Because they haven't manifested yet and their pompous parents are ashamed of their round ears.”

This set off Lisa, and I dragged my hand down my face as she made a beeline for them, and within minutes, she and all the children were sporting pointed ear shields made from tin foil she got from the caterer, and she was leading them in a Spanish holiday carol, Issac accompanying them on a ukulele they had found somewhere.  They were a hit with everyone, I mean, that much cute can't be denied.

The only things dampening my mood were how stand-offish people were around Lisa before then, as if a Sapien at the gathering was beneath them, points to Issac as he didn't seem to notice and only had eyes for her.  The other was that Tana's sister, Sonia wasn't down at the celebration.

When I asked, “Why isn't Sonia here?  She'd have fun as long as she didn't have to touch people, I know she has an aversion,” I swear Evander and Marcillia turned toward us when I voiced that, their ears swiveled our way at the very least.

Tana exhaled long and loud, then replied through gritted teeth, her face reddening in anger, telling me this was a sore point with her, “They don't want to be embarrassed by the fact she has Kerricyn Syndrome since they're trying to project such a perfect facade for the Sapiens.”

My cheeks heated and I wanted to run away and bury my head in the sand when I heard Marcillia almost growl back from across the space, “That's not true and you know it, Tanaliashia.”

“Then why isn't she down here?  When the rest of the family is?  Lisa is the only Sapien at the party.”

I chanced a glance around and saw Evander's eyes boring into us, speaking softly, and the owners of dozens of ears swiveled our way and pretended not to hear, “This is not the proper time nor forum to discuss this, young lady.”

“Never is.”

Then before I could figure out how to spontaneously vanish from the feel of all the eyes on us, I was gleeping and being dragged by the hand out into a corridor and to the elevators.  I sighed in relief when she pulled us in when the doors opened and stopped security from accompanying us, then we headed up to the penthouse suites where her family lived.

She looked at me in apology. “Sorry about that.  It was fairly ok up until it wasn't.”

I nodded, then gulped as she stepped close, into my personal space, and her proximity and scent were causing a heated reaction from all my favorite parts of my body.  And her self-confidence in her little smirk had me swallowing and glancing at her lips as the intensity of her gaze held me willingly captive.

Then she proceeded to melt me into a puddle with the most heated kiss we had ever shared.  I was gasping in want when the elevator doors opened and we separated, her dragging me along like a puppy on a string.

“I've wanted to get you alone all evening, Killy.”

My ears heated to supernova, but then I glanced back at the elevator in guilt, “But Lisa.”

“Will not be joining us.”

I shook my head and then caught up through my haze of need. “Hey!  You're just being a butt.  I was not suggesting that and you know it.”  I realized she was just trying, and succeeding, in getting a rise out of me when her smirking lips moved to the side of her face.

I shoved her shoulder. “Jerk.”

“Your jerk.”

I sighed.  Damn it, I wasn't some love-struck schoolgirl.

She held up her cell. “Already texted her to tell her Issac was her ride home as I was abducting you to see how many ways I can make you squeak.”

I squeaked, then closed my eyes to chastise myself for doing so.  “Oh. Ok.”

She virtually dragged me to her rooms attached to the informal family and gaming room on the second level of the penthouse.  I was nervous and excited and aroused all at the same moment as I realized we finally found a moment alone, I had so many questions about where our relationship was going, and...

All the questions and even my ability to think straight were put aside when she pulled me past the seating area around the entertainment center and through her doorway, closing it behind us and slapping the privacy controls, engaging the white noise curtains.  Then she was virtually purring at me as she pinned me against that same door and kissed me so hotly I melted into her, her tongue piercing clicking along my teeth as I allowed it access.

She released me, leaving me gasping and panting in frustrated want, gently tugging my hands as she moved us backward.  Then something registered in the back of my mind and instead of saying something seductive, like quoting the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I murmured in my haze, “Were there people out in the family room?”

She nodded and whispered, “The tutors.”

I would have nodded if I wasn't biting my lower lip as she worked the buttons on my shirt as she lowered me to the bed.  The Launs didn't much like saying nanny since their younger daughter was twelve.  Though they did do double duty, actually homeschooling her as they did their other nanny duties.  It felt weird to me since I knew just how intelligent she really was, her developmental and emotional hurdles didn't affect that.

Then I was trying not to grin when Tana had trouble getting my shirt off around my cast, which blew her whole sexy and seductive vibe just a pinch as I giggled and whispered, “Smooth there, Laun,”  Then I helped her get my shirt off.

It was all I could do to stop from crossing my arms across my chest even though I still have my bra on.  Her eyes dilated and her smile grew wistful as she breathed out as she traced the back of a finger down my arm as she took me in, “You're beautiful, Killy.”

I felt so exposed yet admired at the same instant, then I was reaching for her shirt in urgency to do the same as she reached for my pants buttons as we frantically increased our need to see each other, to feel, to experience, to... by the grace of the Great Spaghetti Monster in the Sky, this was really going to happen, I was about to...

Then I was diving backward, blurting out, “Gack!” when the adjoining door to Sonia's room opened and the girl stepped in, looking all sneaky like she always did when she joined us in Tana's room to read or watch movies with us.

She exclaimed with glee, “Oh!  Pajama party sleepover!  I'll be right back, Tanny and Kia, I'll get my jammies on,” as I was scrabbling to pull the bedspread over myself, my cheeks on fire as I panicked, not knowing whether to run or hide or both or neither or...

A hand on one of mine that was clutching a fistful of the bedspread got my focus on Tana again, her face in a minor panic that was like ten percent of what I was feeling.  She said, “I'm so sorry Killy, I forgot to lock the connecting door.  I was just so...” she gave me a hungry, heated look that had my toes curling again, “distracted.”

I looked from her to the door, then found myself scrabbling again to get my shirt back on before her sister returned.  She snickered at me, though I could see her sexual frustration was just as high as mine was just then.  Then she stood and headed to her huge walk-in closet, calling back, “I'll grab you a nightshirt and some shorts.”

I was blinking at that, wondering if my reality circuits weren't processing correctly after panting as if I were in heat a moment before. “Wha?”

She mumbled as I heard drawers opening and closing as she rummaged around, “Didn't you hear?  We're having a pajama party sleepover.  You should let your parents know the Laun girls are kidnapping you for the night, or your Riicathi grandparents might hunt me down.”

And if I am to be completely honest, I had more fun at that small 'after-party', just the three of us, than I had at the official party a few floors beneath us, because... I could just be myself and hang out with a couple of my favorite people.

As an added bonus, I was able to give Sonia her present directly.  It was a portable writing desk like the one dad got me on my first day of college.  They are basically a glorified breakfast tray you use in bed, but the top angles up around fifteen degrees for writing or typing on a laptop or tablet.  I spent many a night doing my assignments in bed late into the night on mine.

She loved it, and her beaming smile made it so worth it.  And she had a special gift for me too, she showed me the dedication page for her manuscript which she had two chapters done already.  She had dedicated the book to me.  Tana is still amazed that Sonia fist bumps and hugs me at times like that since she was almost violently opposed to people outside her immediate family touching her.  I grinned like a loon when she gifted me one of those hugs after opening her gift.

Instead of some special, private time with the woman I was date-ish with, I wound up at my first slumber party since junior high.  And as much as Evander and Marcillia wanted to corner me last night to pressure me not to pursue the Magus story, they stayed away just for the night, since they were amazed at Sonia's interactions with me.  Case in point they had never known their daughter wished to be a writer before she met me.  They still get guilty expressions whenever Sonia's writing comes up.

After a quick stop at home this morning to get cleaned up and a change of clothes, I was off on this trip to Long Island.  The goodbye kiss from Tana made my toes curl with the promise of continuing what she had started last night when we could find some alone time.

I felt as if I were driving through a world apart from the city as I drove past all the mansions and beach houses with sprawling compounds full of nature and waterfronts, canals, and yachts whose prices could feed some third world countries for years.  How was this so close to New York City?  I'd never been to the Hamptons, even though it was only an hour and a half from the city on Long Island.  Mostly because only the people who make rich people look poor had property here.  So me and them?  Different circles and all you know.

And it was easy to see which of the spectacular estates belonged to Elves and which didn't, as most had guards stationed at the gates off the highway, and if they had pointy-eared guards, weeeeeell...  ok, I could have led with that but I'm way out of my league here so give me that.

Looking at the addresses on the estate walls, fences, and ornate gates, I had to pull in when it appeared I had gone too far.  The men at the gate of the wide drive I pulled into didn't look amused that a beat-up VW was stinking up their posh grounds.  I checked the GPS again and looked back.  Driving slow, I noted a picturesque expanse of trees and the natural area between the two McMansions with street numbers on either side of my destination.

I slowed, causing a Lamborghini behind me to honk and rev its engine before rocketing past me at around half the speed of light, the man behind the wheel giving me the stink eye as he passed.  Then I saw a small access road heading into the natural space, which I had overlooked the first time because it was actually a cobbled drive that seemed to be stylized to look like a dirt road.  Heh, rich people camouflage.

The drive twisted right then left, which allowed the destination to be hidden by the trees and shrubs that were too strategically placed to be natural, giving the feeling of heading into an old forest even though it was surrounded by all these mansion compounds.  I could catch glimpses of a structure through the trees as I wound back the other way again, the twists and turns making it seem the building was much deeper into the trees than the hundred and fifty yards I had probably actually traveled as the crow flies.

The driveway straightened out as I arrived at a wide cobbled turnaround at some huge iron gates that led through an equally huge iron fence that stretched up probably ten or twelve feet on top of a low stone wall that was maybe three feet tall.

I could see the compound beyond which was dominated by a villa that had to have been inspired by an Italian vineyard, complete with terracotta roof and stucco and timber walls.  It seemed to organically flow with the dense copse of trees it seemed to be engulfed by.  There were dozens of people, both Aelftus and Sapien going by the ears I could see clearly at this distance with my enhanced vision.

It was what was in front of the gates that had me grinning.  A NYPD police cruiser, an unmarked black SUV, and a county sheriff since Detective De Luca was out of her jurisdiction here.  She didn't look happy as she was gritting her teeth as she was walking from the closed gates to her vehicle.  Then she stopped and looked my way when she noticed my approach... or maybe heard my approach as the exhaust pipe may have a little hole in it we need to get fixed one day.  Mom's car isn't the most stealthy as it coughs and chugs along.

Sofia's sour look turned into a smirk with an eye roll to punctuate it as she started shaking her head, I heard her chuckle from inside the car as I approached the gates. “Renner.”

I was unrepentant as I just waved through the windshield as I puttered to a stop.  She said, knowing I could hear her as my ears swiveled her way, having a mind of their own, “You're wasting your time, Kia, they won't let us in without a warrant.  And didn't I tell you to keep away from this?”

There was always the chance I'd get turned away at the gates since I didn't have any way to contact Miss Khani, but I was persistent and could whine, I mean staunchly and professionally request to be seen.  I was the press after all.  I saw how intent the four people on the other side of the gate were at glaring at the police assembled there and saw the truth in her words.

Well llama socks in a kettle corn factory, it was a long drive home.  I thunked my head against the steering wheel and a silly little beep from the horn went out before I could stop it, wincing in pain from the high-pitched sound.

Then I looked up quickly when with the whirring of machinery, the gates started opening, someone saying, “It's Killishia Renner, the Magus will want to see her.”  Another asked in excitement, “Is she joining us?”

I snorted and waved again, shooting a toothy grin when Sofia muttered in incredulity, “Oh you've got to be shitting me.”  Then she called out louder in case I didn't hear her as I tooled through the gates, “You better fill me in later, Renner!”

It was far too hilarious for me for some reason.  I parked next to one of four Range Rovers in front of the entrance to the villa as a man and woman from the gates came jogging up as I got out.  I awkwardly waved again, from my waist as I said lamely, holding up my press ID in my other hand, “Umm... hi?  I'm Killishia Renner, umm, take me to your leader?”

The woman blurted, “Of course, please follow us to the Magus.”

I looked back to see De Luca glaring as she opened the door to her SUV, I gave a mature neener neener look at her which got me her middle finger as she chuckled, shaking her head again as she got in and shut her door.

The man who I noted was Sapien, unlike the woman, said, “There some sort of history between you and that police officer?”

I nodded. “Detective actually, and yes, I scooped her on a case before.  She's bent out of shape because you let me in and not her.  Umm... why did you let me in?”

He looked at me as if I were being purposely dense.  “Because you're Killishia Renner.  The Magus told us that more and more influential people would join us in becoming one with the Arcanium, and here you are.  Everyone knows who you are, and with you, on our side, we can spread the word farther.”

Holy cult sounding, Batman.

“Umm... ok, but I'm just here to see if I can interview Miss Khani.”  It was all I could do to keep from squinting at the name since I was quite positive it wasn't her real name.  What?  I had done some research of my own before driving out this way and made some discreet calls during the drive.  I mean, investigative journalist, hello?  Well, probationary investigative journalist, but that's just splitting hairs.

I rolled my eyes at my internal dialogue.

He just inclined his head and the woman said, “The Magus will be thrilled to speak with another elf.”  Then called back to the gate as they led me along, “Make sure they vacate the compound and let the Dara know when they have gone.”

I squinted as I prompted, “Dara?  The Magus' second?”

The woman nodded with a smile. “Yes, you know the teachings of the path?”

This was freaking me out, like a spider crawling on your ear freaking.  They were talking either like Shaolin Monks or people who have been drinking the Kool-Aid.  One was frickin' awesome, but the other?  Not so much.  And I was pretty sure they couldn't even spell Shaolin.

“Yup, sure.  I mean, who doesn't?  Am I right?”

They opened the stylized doors which played into the vineyard aesthetic of the building and the interior matched the exterior, looking a combination of modern and rustic with exposed beams and flagstone floors.

My ears twitched when I winced, my nose crinkling at the heavy smell of incense burning.  Well, it might not be heavy, but with my enhanced sense of smell since my Elvish traits manifested, it smelled like someone was burning dozens of incense sticks instead of the single stick I could see by the huge freestanding fireplace in the equally huge living space just beyond the entry.

The pleasant smell of the wood fire burning in that fireplace underpinned the perfume of that incense.  We moved through the space and my eyes were flicking everywhere.  I asked, “May I?”  Holding up my cell and the man nodded, prompting, “Of course.”

I snapped a couple of shots of the place, with almost a dozen people, mostly Sapiens, who were sitting in a circle in the middle of the room, where the furniture was pushed back so they could all sit, painting familiar symbols with watercolor inks on what looked to be rice paper.  They were runes representing words, ideas, and sounds in the Elvish language that nobody spoke anymore, though the Council had linguists who interpreted them and created a database and for the senior Council, believe it or not, there was an app for it.

The written language was similar to the Japanese logographic writing system, Kanji.  With influences from... sorry, I geek out about facts and interesting tidbits of information.  But I saw some runes I didn't recognize and one that I knew for a fact wasn't Elvish.  “What are they doing?  And I didn't catch your names.”

The woman said as we exited a set of french doors at the back of the space onto a patio that stretched at least fifty yards, halfway to a beach, the space dominated by a white silken tent,  “I'm Jessie and this is Travis.  They're just centering their spirit to better harmonize with the Arcanium.”

I shivered from the cold outside air and prompted as Travis held a gossamer flap open for me and we stepped in. “Sounds interesting, what does that accomplish?  A sense of peace or something?”

A voice on my other side, right next to me had me blurting a startled, “Gah!” As I spun away from it, tripping over some pillows on the ground in the surprisingly warm space, and pirouetting on a toe to keep my balance, knocking into a table with some wide candles on it, one falling just to be caught on my outstretched foot.  I held my good hand out in a faux karate chop.  I'm sure I looked ridiculous with my clumsy display, especially since I don't know karate.

My eyes were wide in embarrassment as I looked at the woman who uttered. “Why, to ascend to become one with the Arcanium of course,” which had my flight or flight reflex kick in.  As I've said before, I apparently don't have a fight mode.

I kept my eyes on the woman as I retrieved the candle on my foot to replace it on the table.  I recognized her as the woman in the grainy footage that was being replayed everywhere.  Squishing my mouth to one side, trying not to sound as awkward as I felt at the moment, “Samira Khani I presume?”

Someone snapped, “Magus,” causing my ears to swivel that way but I didn't look over as I sized the woman up.

She was actually quite striking like most Elves I have met, her dark hair contrasted the typical startling crystal blue eyes of all Elves, well, but me I suppose.  And she wore that same black silken hooded cloak and gloves from the video.  Her full lips and aquiline grace of her nose gave her an almost timeless air of beauty.

She smiled and reached up with her gloved hands to pull her hood back, exposing her long sweeping ears covered in silver ear shields which bore more Elvish runes and draping curtains of gossamer-thin silver chains.  “Yes, and you are Killishia Renner.  You are possibly the most recognizable of Elves right now, as you are now only one of four to have manifested on television for all to see.”

Then before I could say anything, she added, for the benefit of the two who brought me and six or seven others in the tent.  “Your bloodline is deeply intertwined with the Arcanium, resulting in the green eyes of your family.  The magic pulses within you.”  As I cocked an eyebrow, knowing the shit she was slinging at that comment, her not having a clue the real reason my eyes were green instead of blue, she made a dismissing gesture with her hand and everyone but two Elves hurried out of the tent which looked almost like something from a fairytale, except that it was heated by two large electric patio heaters.  There were pillows everywhere, and wicker furniture adorned with white satin cloth.  Another of those incense sticks was burning in the space.

I recognized the two who stayed from the video as well.

When the space was cleared, she seemed to relax then cocked her head at me, looking me up and down, assessing me and my demeanor as she made a shepherding gesture to some wicker couches with more pillows than sense which were arranged around a low table.  “Please, Miss... Riicathi.  Have a seat.  I take it you're not here to join in our spiritual retreat?”  She had a sly smirk on her lips.  I think she was trying to show me she knew all about me by using my clan name, which was common knowledge now that I was on the International Elf Council.

I exhaled and looked around as I corrected, “Actually, it's Renner.  Riicathi is just my clan as you know.  I'm here for a story I was assigned for Channel 3 News, I was wondering if I could interview you about the video of the ritual in Central Park, and your organization here.”

One of the men started to step forward, though not as big as my dad or the Cookie Twins, he was still much larger than myself and I almost flinched, but she just held a hand up to his chest, stopping him as she kept one eye on me as she told him, “It's ok, Emir.”  Then to me, she said, “Actually, that would help our cause and spread the word to more who wish to cast off the venom of their lives to harmonize with the Arcanium.”

To the other man, she said, “Davis, see if you can have Tamara scrounge up some refreshments for young Killishia here.”  Young?  She looked to be my age, or maybe even a year or two younger.  Though I guess it was possible she was older than she looked since Elves have such long lives.

I pulled my LaunPad from my shoulder bag and held it up, cocking a brow in question.  She just smiled, inclining her head in assent and I set it up on its stand at the end of the table between us so that the camera would frame us both.  I squished my lips to one side, thinking that maybe I should find out if I could get better equipment to do this.

The first impromptu recorded interview I did was on my cellphone.  The camera on my tablet was marginally better.  Then again, I'd probably have to have a cameraman assigned to operate the studio cameras, and I'm sure I didn't warrant one yet since I was just probationary and all.  I needed to talk to Tobias about it.

I started with some baseline questions as the woman I recognized had Elfed in that grainy video from Central Park, came in with a tray of fruits and little finger sandwiches and a crystal pitcher of water with glasses.  What was the name Miss Khani had used?  Tamara?

She noted me staring at her, and so did the Magus.  The first gave a nervous smile and the latter a sly one, knowing I recognized her.  As she almost scurried out of the tent, the Magus held a hand palm up in the direction Tamara went.  “Tamara is the first of hopefully many Sapiens this cycle who will be found pure by the Arcanium, and be granted ascension to become Aelftus.”

Nodding slowly, I said distractedly, not having words, “Incredible.  I'd like to circle back around to that in a moment.”

She inclined her head, eyes on mine, and I watched hers carefully as I prompted, “Can you tell me what is your Magus title?  And what is this Arcanium?  I know in general from your inference in the leaked video of your ritual in Central Park, but can you expound upon it for the general public?”

The woman looked halfway to the camera on my tablet but kept her eyes on mine like she was trying to read me.  “Of course.  Magus of the Way is the title bestowed upon me twenty years ago, the last time we were able to anchor the Droichead, the bridge between our world and the power of the Arcanium... when I balanced the magic-infused in all living things, some might call it chi, or our soul, with the forgotten magics of the Aelftus race, the Arcanium.”

“After the Spring Equinox had obscured the Droichead, severing the connection, I have taken on disciples to share the Arcanium within me and prepare them for ascension upon the next twenty-year cycle, which occurred with the Cold Moon two nights ago.  Only the most devout will become anchors for the Droichead to hold the bridge open, and those who truly have purged all the venom of their impure lives will be blessed to become a vessel for the living magic of the Alftus, thus becoming one with it and us, and will be transformed.”

The little girl inside me who was fascinated with stories of fairy tales and magic stared through my eyes in wide-eyed hope and amazement that magic... Elf magic could really exist.  But unfortunately, while only twenty-five, I've seen more than my share of the seedy underbelly of mankind, both Sapien and Aelftus, and knew that a fairy tale is just that.  Then again as dad would point out, “You don't know what you don't know, Itty Bit,” or as mom puts it, “If you rely on only what you know, you're a moron, sweetie.  Now dry the dishes.”  Mom's a little unorthodox, just how cool is that?

I nudged my chin toward the door. “And Tamara?  She's the first to ascend this cycle?  What's her full name?”

The woman poured us water in little tumblers and offered me one.  She sipped, cocking her head, still not taking her eyes away from studying my face so intently as I schooled my thoughts.  I could tell she was an intelligent, calculating woman who you didn't want to let your guard down around.  She was using her actions to delay her answer as she considered her response.

I sipped some of the chilled water too, and she provided, “Tamara is her chosen name, now that she has stepped beyond her old life in Sapien society.  Just as she has shed the toxins trapping her to this plane, so has she shed all that brought those toxins in the first place, all the material and intrinsic things that defined her Sapien life.  Like the name given to her to tether herself to them.  There is power in names.”

Translation, I'm not getting the woman's real name.  And she wasn't the only one.  I changed topics knowing I wouldn't get any farther identifying the woman who had Elfed.  “And for the record, your full name is Samira Khani?  From the Khani clan?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes, deemed an insignificant non-voting clan who never joined the Mire.  We're the same, you and I.  The last of our lines.  You have your parents, a clan of three, and I have but my father.”  Hmm, word of my grandparent's reemergence apparently hasn't reached her yet.

I was about to press since I had done some searching earlier, but she changed the topic. “You yourself know the old teachings?”  She made a motion with a hand toward her ear, which had me instinctively touching one of my ear shields as she said, “A rune of the old teachings, 'treasured one'.”

“Treasured one?”

She nodded, “Tanalia'shia.  From the first teachings of the old Elvish script.”

Wait wait wait... that's the meaning of the rune etched on the ear shields Tana had given me the day after I Elfed because I was having such a bad time with my newly pointed ears?  Everything hurt them back then, sound, and incidental contact.  She had an old set of shields with her and gave them to me.  She's never asked for them back.  And to be honest, I never made an effort to return them or have some made to fit my shorter ears better, because, well they were hers.  So all this time I've been walking around with her name displayed on the shields for all to see?  Part of me was embarrassed, but part of me felt the burn of a blush on my ears and cheeks.

I realized I had broken eye contact with the Magus when she spoke again, “I see conflict within you, but also the magic of the Arcanium burns brightly in your Riicathi bloodline.  So much so, that the fire of it casts the green glow in your eyes, giving your clan that unique eye color.  Here.”

She pulled some sort of melted red crystal from her cloak, uttering a couple of guttural words, as she opened her hand on top of the low table, showing the crystal.  Fut the actual Cthulhu fluffing wuck?  I could hear the buzzing of the power as my eyes widened slightly while I tried to school my reaction. “As the Arcanium flows through me from years of dedicated study,”  the crystal began to glow a luminous red as it lifted from her hand to hover above it, starting to lazily spin in the air, “It flows freely in your clan's blood.”

She held her other hand out to me as she seemed to be concentrating hard on the crystal. “The sounding crystal reacts to the living magic of the Arcanium.  It measures the purity of it and shows it to all who follow the Path.”

She took my hand and pulled it gently down toward the tabletop, releasing it.  I looked at her and she nudged her chin toward the crystal.  I tentatively slid my hand toward hers, my eyes on the buzzing, glowing red crystal.  She nudged her hand as if handing it off to me and I just stared at it as it pulsated brighter and brighter casting a red flow around the tent like a heartbeat as it hovered over my hand, the little hairs on my arm standing as they did in the statically charged air before lightning strikes.

My eyes were stuck on it now, but my ears swiveled at the buzzing, and my eyes flicked to the table itself just as she uttered a few disjointed syllables, and as if a switch had been flipped.  The buzzing stopped, the light in the sounding crystal extinguished, and it fell into my hand, me catching it instinctively.  It was heavier than it looked, its undefined shape resembling a lump of melted glass.  Inert.

I looked up at her smiling face, and I caught just the slightest impression of smugness behind the smile as she shared while taking the crystal and returning it to her pocket, “You possess, what all my disciples are aspiring to, to be a conduit for the Arcanium, so that they might ascend to become Aelftus, and feel the living magic within them.”

Taking a second to gather my thoughts after what had just occurred, I looked back toward the villa.  “And that's what they are doing?  Studying this Way of yours?”  She inclined her head.  Then cocking my head in curiosity, I asked, “Are those lessons or something they are painting?”

The Magus nodded as she pulled her hood back up and seemed to relax.  “They are infusing the parchments with the ancient Aelftus runes to focus their energy, and bleed off the negative energy and toxins.”

Then my eyes widened a bit. “Wait, were those the same runes that started glowing around the group during the ritual?”

She nodded, seeming pleased. “The same.  The energy is pulled from the very same parchments here at the compound and infused in the ritual circle.  We need more Sapiens who are willing to devote themselves to our Way so that we can share the Arcanium with the world before it is lost to us for another twenty years.” Ok then, there was something else I needed to check.

She stood. “It was good to meet you Miss Renner, but I must shepherd my disciples.”  Ah, and the interview was over.  Subtle.  I stood too and offered my hand. “Kia, please.  And thank you for taking the time to speak with me.”

She inclined her head again and handed me a business card with nothing but a phone number and an infinity symbol on it.  “Samira.  And it is I who should thank you.  Never in my days have I thought to meet a Keeper of the Flame.  The Riicathi have always been a myth to our cause until you reemerged into the light.”

I nodded and the four of us started to move to the tent flap.  Just as we reached it, Emir holding it open for us, I stopped and looked back.  “Gah!  That crystal has my mind reeling, I forgot my tablet.”  I jogged back to the table, and promptly tripped on a pillow, landing unceremoniously on the low table, knocking everything off of it onto the ground, the glass pitcher breaking and one hand shooting out to snag my LaunPad before it suffered the same fate.

“Oh god!  I'm sorry!  I'm about as graceful as a walrus at a dance competition.”  I started picking up the food and broken glass strewn about as I blurted, “I can pay for everything.”

The woman looked genuinely amused.  “It's fine, Kia, don't worry about it.  All the pillows around here are always getting underfoot, I seriously don't know why we have so many out here.”

My cheeks burned as I chewed my lower lip, stuffing my tablet in my shoulder bag.  And stiffly marched past them, my eyes down as Emir escorted me around the villa instead of through it, back to where I was parked.  And I didn't look back until I was back in mom's VW and driving through the gates.

I had learned a lot more than I had let on, and I had one more stop to make today as I made a call to Laun Tower, then cringed as a black SUV passed me as I headed back to Manhattan and it made an aggressive U-turn to fall in behind me.  I looked in the rearview mirror and scrunched my head to my shoulders and waved awkwardly to Ivan and Pietor Korsivair... the Cookie Twins had found me.  I squeaked out, “Sorry.”  Knowing they could hear me, I got a humorous growl in return.  I felt bad for tricking them, I so owed them a discount coupon for my dad's food truck.

Central Park, here I come.

Chapter 9 – Central Park

It was mid-afternoon when I arrived near the Park.

I sighed heavily after I stopped at a bodega for some supplies as I walked the block to Central Park from the underground parking lot that was charging six dollars an hour, and I saw mom's VW drive past me with a large Hawaiian Elf at the wheel.  Then I rolled my eyes and started trudging, shoulders slumped as a sleek black sedan pulled up, shadowing me down the road as I navigated the busy sidewalk, people stopping to gawk at me as I passed.

I didn't bother glancing over as I gave a resigned wave from my hip, saying, “Hello Clifford,” knowing the Elvish chauffeur would hear.

The amused man chuckled. “Hello, Kia.”

I mumbled, “I suppose you're my penance for ditching the boys today?  And what's with everyone stealing my mom's VW all the time?”  I glanced back to see the familiar SUV shadowing us from a block back.

He sounded endlessly amused as he shared, “Yes, they were quite adamant that I help you defy the Senior Council's wishes for you to stay away from the Magus situation.  Since you put yourself in danger already today.  And it isn't stealing.  The carpool provides the service to all Council members.”

“Without asking?”

“Would you have agreed to it?”

“No.”

“There we are then.”

Grr.  Renner Rage rising.  “Ok, mister funnyman.  And growl the Cookie Twins for me for this, I know they can hear our conversation through their earbuds.”

A man passing by slowed and prompted me, “Are you speaking to me?”

I put my hand to my ear, giving him a sheepish look, and lied, “On the phone here.  Sorry, sir.”  By the Great Spaghetti Monster in the Sky, was that why I was getting some strange looks, they thought I was talking to myself?

I pulled out my cell as I lowered my head and scurried along, pretending to talk into it. “I'll only be a few minutes in the park, I'm going to...”

He supplied, “Investigate the location of the video, against express instructions not to.”

“Yeah, that.”  Then I whined out as he chuckled, “And they can't tell me that if they can't get ahold of me and... hey wait, I'm Council now too, so like, can they tell me what to do?”

He said as I crossed into Central Park as he was forced to turn down the road. “You would have ignored them anyway, Kia.”  As he moved down the road and out of range of my hearing, I waved him off... with an extra special finger, the smartass beeping his horn in return.  I was grinning like a loon.

Then I was pointing a finger at the man getting out of the trailing SUV to follow me on foot as Pietor drove on.  “No, bad Ivan, stay.”

The man shook his head and followed me, but giving me a fifty-foot buffer,  “I can't do that, Miss Kia.  You were foolish today to contact an unknown group without security.  We would be responsible if anything were to happen to you.”  I heard the self-recrimination in his tone.  He felt responsible for me almost dying when I was ambushed by a deep black ops government group who were perfecting a neurotoxin that targeted Elves.

I noted we were drawing attention, two Elves walking in the park.  I pulled out my knit cap and some round Lennon glasses with actual rose-colored lenses in them, and put them on, to hide both my ears and eyes as we strode through the Park on a mission. It didn't do much good as it is almost impossible to hide a six-foot-four wall of Elvish muscle walking in the park.

It only took a couple of minutes to reach my destination, and I slowed as I played the video on my phone as I used it to compare the vantage point.  Ah, here we are.  I moved off the path and pulled out the clear tape, and blue and purple markers I bought at the bodega.  Ivan joined me, curiosity painting his face as I put a piece of tape across the camera's flash LED that doubled as a flashlight.

He prompted, “What is it that you are doing?” as I colored the tape with the blue marker before putting another piece of tape over it and coloring that one purple.

I wiggled my brows at him, crinkling my nose, and said with drama, “Science.”  Then I defended as I walked slowly to the location of the ritual the best I could determine.  I crouched and ran my fingers across the grass in the clearing between trees, and I blinked as I realized I could smell what I was looking for, disappointment making me sigh.  The little girl in me stomped her foot at me bursting the bubble of her imagination.

“It sometimes pays to be a geek, my finely muscled friend.  I spend way too much time watching police procedural shows and watching too many DIY videos on MyTube online.”  I turned on the flashlight feature on my LaunPhone and ran it across the grass, squishing my lips to one side of my face.  Then recorded what I was doing.

The big man's eyes widened as he saw the results.  “Clever.  You'd be a good candidate for our investigative team, little Elf.”

I held up the lanyard around my neck, giving him a neener neener look as the press pass rocked.  “Sorry, already have a job like that.”  I dropped the lanyard and winged a thumb toward myself, wiggling my brows as I supplied with dramatic flair, “Kia Renner, investigative journalist.”

The big guy wasn't impressed with my antics as he just shook his head and patted the top of my head with one of his big paws, smirking.  “Probationary.”  I windmilled my hands at him, gaining a deep basso chuckle from the man.

Then I marched right into the woods beyond the ritual place. And slowly scanned the ground.  I sighed again when I found what I was looking for, some indentations on the ground.  I took a picture and spun on a heel and ran face-first into a wall of muscle.  My face smooshed into Ivan's chest I mumbled, “Ow.”  Then took an exaggerated step to the side and walked past him, sharing, “That's all I expected to find here.  Now to Laun Tower, for another piece of the puzzle.  I have to say, I'm a little disappointed here.”

“Oh?  Do tell.”

“Part of me was hoping I was wrong, and magic was real.”

“Da.”  The big guy had been hopeful too.  And just how cool would that have been?

We turned around to extricate ourselves from the North Woods and Central park but I froze when we saw a familiar person striding down the path toward us.  Detective De Luca cursed, “God damn it.  What's Renner doing here?”  She picked up the pace, two uniformed officers walking in her wake.

I gave her an awkward wave and a sheepish look that likely resembled a kid with his hand caught in a cookie jar.  Ok, I wasn't in too much trouble because even fifty feet away I could see her fighting a smile at that self-same social awkwardness I wear like a mantle.

Ivan started to step in front of me, but I held my arm out to stop him from... gack!  I turned like a subway turnstile – How had I thought I could stop the man? – as he moved past me like I was just a blade of grass, to take a defensive position slightly ahead of me.

She looked him right in the eye as she moved directly beside him and in front of me.  “At ease Gargantua.”  Intimidation fail, the big guy was going to get a complex if people kept being, well, not intimidated.

She sighed heavily, standing directly in front of me, her duster hanging down to her calves.  I squinted an eye in mock pain, “Um, hi... Sofia.  Nice day for a walk in the Park?”  My breath fogged the air belying my assertion, then I sneezed and shivered.

The woman's eyes widened slightly and she chuckled, asking, “Was that a sneeze, Renner? It was more like a...” she rolled her hand as she tried to come up with a comparison.

Ivan, being ever so helpful, offered as he seemed to puff up in menace, causing the uniformed officers to take a step back, gulping, “A small kitten, squeaking.”

She turned to him and smirked up at the man before winging a thumb his way. “Yeah, that.”

Chewing my lower lip and looking around for a quick exit I blurted, “So, how's the investigation going?”

She answered instead of being all coppish and intimidate-y. “Not as productively as one would hope.  We have nothing in the system for that Magus woman, and if she isn't willing to speak with us, we're at a dead-end, but it doesn't seem there's any real threat to public safety, so I guess we'll just call this one.”

I cocked my head. “Then why are you here?”

She deflated, letting her guard down.  I'd lay odds she didn't ever do that often around people.  “I thought I'd just poke around where the video was shot, do a sweep of the area before putting this thing to rest since it seems as sketchy as that compound was, there doesn't seem to be any laws broken.”

It was all I could do to keep a straight face, but I failed since she cocked an expectant brow.  I sighed. “There's a reason you don't have her in your cop-o-later database, Sofia.”

“You holding out on me, Renner?  What did you learn at...”

“Well would you look at the time, I've got to...”  Someone squeed and we all turned.  Some young children, maybe five or six, who looked to be in a tour group through Central Park had caught sight of me and my pale man-mountain of an Elf.

They were squealing out exciting things about Elves, and one little girl told the others staunchly like she was imparting wisdom, her little fists on her hips, “That's Killyshee.  From da TV.”  It was adorable.  The adult chaperons and the woman in a tour guide's winter jacket was gaping too.

I shrugged an apology to the consternated detective.  “I've just got to...” I pointed at the group.  “...over there...”  Then I glanced back at her again as I grabbed Ivan's arm and tried dragging him along with me. “Sorry.”  Run away, run away!  And I promptly tripped over myself and before I could do an acrobatic recovery, I squeaked as my feet left the ground, Ivan lifting me at my waist with his huge bear paws.

He put me down as my feet churned in the air just above the path, and we were off.

“Renner!  Kia!  Damn it.”

I felt bad since I was pretty sure some sort of fraud was being perpetrated, though it likely wasn't a public safety issue. Still, there had to be a law.  So I called back as we moved up to the children, “You got a black light in your gear, De Luca?”

She looked from me to where the ritual had been performed, then back at me again as I turned away, giving the delighted children a huge smile that was making my cheeks ache, them clapping in glee as I crouched and said, “Hi!  I'm Kia, what are your names?”

I felt the tips of my ears heat and my cheeks burn when my ears swiveled back, to hear the copper complaining to the uniforms, “The only thing worse than stonewalling elves are the cute ones.”  They chuckled and...

I discreetly stomped one of the big military boots behind me when Ivan chuckled too.  He asked, “Ow?”

Through my toothy grin, I whispered back to him as the children were excitedly telling me their names, “I'll ow you, Mr. Funnypants.”

We walked with the group a bit, until we were out of sight of De Luca and I deflated in relief, then the tour guide shamelessly prompted, “I'm sure Miss Renner would love to sign autographs for everyone.”

I gave her a, 'guilting me with children, really?' look, and she looked unrepentant, reminding me of Lisa.  Evil.  Fine, whatever, they were little kids, and I was having fun with my forced celebrity for once.  So I signed everything the children and even the chaperones gave me and took a plethora of selfies with them all.

Ivan looked like a deer caught in the headlights when I decided to pay the evil forward by pointing at him from where I crouched doing a selfie with a small boy with leg braces, “And that Elf there?  He works for the International Elf Council, a very important man.”  And he was mobbed by all the cuteness wanting selfies with him.

I had to snort at the mortified look on his face when they did a group shot with him, the chaperones snapping the picture of him making muscles, two kids sitting on each arm, two on his shoulders, and the other kids making arm muscles in front of him.  Oh lord, what I wouldn't give to snap the shot too, but taking pictures of other people's kids?  Creepy.

We were treated to a chorus of, “Thank you, Miss Kia, thank you, Mr. Ivan, bye!” as we waved to them and made our exit, two vehicles slowing to a stop as we approached the road.

The big Russian gave me a menacing glare as he got into the SUV parked behind the sedan Cliff was driving.  I gave him a nose crinkle, asserting, “You loved it, you big softie.”  I caught his smile as he slipped into the passenger seat beside Pietor.

I ran around the sedan and slipped into the front seat instead of the back, and just buckled in.  Clifford knew better than to try to talk me into sitting in the back.  See?  Boys can be trained.  I snagged the chauffer's cap off the skinny man and pulled it down over the knit cap I had put back on.

And before he could snag it back, I held up a finger and said, “Put your seatbelt on, big guy.”

Ivan droned out from their car, “Yes, Miss Kia.”

“Good boy.”

“I want a transfer.”  I could hear the grin in his tone.

“No.”

“Yes, Miss Kia.”

I winced at the pain the horns from the traffic we were stopping in this lane caused my hearing, and  Cliff started us moving down the road, I said with an abysmal attempt at a British accent, “Move along, driver.”

He looked at me. “You look ridiculous with two hats on,” as he reached out and plucked his cap off of me and replaced it on his head.

“Love you too, Cliff.”

The man was shaking his head in amusement.  “Now would be a good time to give me a destination or we might find ourselves in New Jersey.”

I faux shuddered.  I didn't have anything against New Jersey, it was just that I'm a New Yorker, and we're supposed to, have for decades.  I don't think anyone knows how the rivalry ever started.  “I guess there is that.  Laun Tower if you would, please, and thank you.”

He put the turn signal on as he supplied, “Laun Tower, yes ma'am.”

For his smartassery, I turned on the radio and found a sufficiently bubbly pop song to torture the man with on our short two-minute drive.

I had to chuckle at myself.  Just a few weeks ago, I would have thought you daft if you told me I'd be bantering with three elves who felt like misbehaving brothers to me now.  But here I was, happy to have them in my life.

Chapter 10 – Laun Tower

I had to smile when a certain punk rock princess met me at the porte-cochère of the tower, a grin on her face that probably matched mine.  Is it wrong that I was excited to see Tana?  I thanked Cliff, flipped his chauffeur's cap off his head, then scooted out of the car, as he growled.

She looped an arm in mine and dragged me through the doors as I waved at the doorman, Ursula. My captor shared, “I was wondering when you'd be braving the dragon's den in pursuit of your story, Killy.”

She pulled us to a stop for a moment, and she reached up to tuck a lock of my hair behind my ear, smiling in satisfaction.  I chewed my lower lip as I looked at hers.  She had a thing for my ears, but I won't share what she calls them.

She whispered, “Adorable.”  Doh!

Then she gave me a lingering kiss, heating me up in all the best places before talking through my haze of pleasure and want. “So how are you going to shake things up this time before my parents' informants tell them you're in the building?”

It was my turn to drag her along, to the elevators, waving at the security desk.  “Medical floor.”

She nodded as I touched the sublevel on the controls as she shooed an elf couple out of the elevator.  “The only one you can guilt into defying dad down there is Doctor Ahmed.”

I said, “Ding ding ding.  Give the woman a prize.”  I bobbled my head for her amusement.

She prompted as the doors reopened on the medical wing sublevel and we stepped toward the nurse's station, “And what do you...”

I cut her off, wiggling my fingers. “Magic.”  And she just smirked, getting the message and not trying to force the matter.  It wasn't the first time that I felt... I don't know, seen by her?  Like she understood me and was letting me be me instead of conforming to any expectations of anyone but me.  It made butterflies flutter in my tummy.  Grr, was it too much to ask for the universe to give us some alone time without interruptions?  Just once?

The nurse at the station popped up as if on springs, bouncing on her toes, with a genuine smile for us as she rushed out, “Kia, Aryon.”  Then her smile dampened as we reached her. “Are you unwell?  I can get Doctor Himoto to...”

I tried not to smile as we walked past her, taking the corridor to the left at the intersection which met at the station there.  “Hi Julie, is Baahir in?”

She padded after us, eyes wide. “He's not available, he's in the middle of a...”

At the door with a placard which read, “Doctor Baahir Ahmed Ph.D., Genetics and Physiological Studies”, and we stepped right in.  The man looked up, his crystalline blue eyes blazed behind some safety goggles where he stood hunched over a centrifuge with little vials spinning in it.  His reddish olive complexion spoke of his Middle Eastern heritage.

He stood and started peeling off some latex gloves.  “Kia!  What a pleasant surprise.”  Then to Tana, he inclined his head in respect, “Aryon.”

I smiled at him and asked, “How is my favorite...”

He cut me off with a chuckle. “Oh my, you must need something.” His sly look told you all you need to know about the man.  Highly intelligent, fast on the uptake, though easily distracted.  He secretly used that keen mind to aid Grandma and Grandpa Renner lend aid to Elves still hiding from the Elf Council in a sort of underground railroad.

I made duck lips at how transparent I was, then pulled an object wrapped in a linen napkin from my shoulder bag.  “I'm not that bad am I?”

He, Tana, and even Julie nodded.  Then Julie looked around me and said, “I'm sorry Doctor Ahmed, I was trying to tell her you were in the middle of an experiment, but she's surprisingly quick and nimble.”

He waved her off. “It's ok Julie.”

The woman just inclined her head, then looked at Tana and my hands clasped together and backed out of the lab looking moments from squeeing.

I turned back and Doctor Ahmed was examining me again, the geneticist in him fascinated with my halfling, or hybridization status as he says.  He challenged in his borderline hyperactive manner, “So you just came to visit then?”

Exhaling, I deflated and squinted an eye. “Ok, I'm busted, but I really should take the time to come visit.  My life has been hectic lately, just now slowing enough for me to catch my...”  I trailed off as he stood on his tiptoes, looking down at the side of my head as I spoke.

The man was already almost a foot taller than me so that just made him look silly as I exhaled in exasperation.  Eyeballing him I took off my ear shields and made a conscious effort to block out all the conversations down the hall and the floor below.  “Amazing.”

He grinned and held up some calipers. I rolled my eyes and he quickly took down the length, width, and projection measurements, my ears twitching like an annoyed cat's whenever the cool metal touched them.  Tana intercepted my hand as I started to put on the ear shields again, taking them from me, then she blew hot air on her hands and rubbed my ears gently before slipping the shields back on.

My legs almost buckled on the spot, it felt erotically charged as liquid heat flowed through my body to my core.  The wicked and satisfied gleam in her eyes told me the evil wench had done that on purpose. Gah!

I handed him the glass wrapped in a linen napkin saying, “Ok, you got your measurements, so tit for tat man, can you get DNA off this if someone drank from it?  And run it through the medical database to get the name of the person it belongs to?”

He nodded slowly. “Theoretically I could, we do have a comprehensive database of DNA of approximately ninety-five percent of all Elves on Earth, but it is confidential.  Privacy concerns and all you understand?”

I cocked an eyebrow, sharing, “It belongs to someone I'm investigating for Channel 3, I just need to verify she is who she says.”

The man is almost too smart for his own good as he started shaking his head, taking a step back as he held out a stalling hand. “Oh no.  This is about that Magus video that's been showing everywhere.  The Senior Council would have my hide if they knew I was helping you dig into Elvish matters.”

I challenged, “Since when do you do what the Senior Council wants?”  Leaving what I knew about his... extracurricular activities unspoken, but then brightening up at a realization. “And I'm Senior Council now, so you couldn't possibly get in trouble for just doing what a Council member asked, could you?”

He nodded fervently, looking at Tana as he pointed at me as if to get her agreement when he assured me, “Yes, yes I could.  Tell her Aryon.”

The light glinted off her various piercings as she just smirked at the man, “Don't look at me Doc, I'm just here to admire the cute one in action.”

I bit my lower lip as I looked down, tucking a loose lock of hair behind my ear.  Why did she take pleasure in making a point of embarrassing me in front of others?  “Just messing with you, Killy.”

Grr.

The doc sighed heavily and accepted the glass, then said as he examined it, “I should get my head examined for this.”

I beamed at him and said, swishing side to side, “Thank you Baahir.”

The man beamed right back, and then cocked his head, prompting on one of his wild tangents, “Is it true the Riicathi can regulate the Protoelastin in their bodies?  Can you do it too?”

“Yes, it is true.”  I wouldn't share that my mother had done it twice the night I Elfed.  “And I don't know if I can or not, I don't know how it works and nobody has taught me yet.  Hectic life lately, remember?”

“Mind if I take blood to find your baseline levels of...”

“Baahir?”

He held up a stopping hand. “I know, I know.  Maybe I can leverage that the next time you need something.”

I poked his chest with a finger, then remembered. “Oh, and can you run the fingerprints on the glass?  They are from someone other than who took a drink.”

Chuckling he said, “You don't ask much.  And I can't run fingerprints, do you think I'm with Council Security or Elvish Special Ops?”  He sighed. “I'll see what I can do.  What time frame are we looking at here?”

It was my hope the innocent, pleading look I gave him spoke for me.  Tana chuckled. “Good god woman.  Put that look away.”

Doc Ahmed looked both amused and deflated as he explained, “DNA testing isn't like on television, Kia, I can't just put it in a machine and a printout is generated.  It is an involved process that takes, well, fine, we do put it in a machine and a printout is generated...”  He defended. “But it isn't instant.”

I was grinning like a loon when I shared, “I realize that.  It takes NYPD weeks and sometimes months to have DNA processed.”

“Of course, it doesn't take that long, they just have hundreds of samples pouring in all the time and they can't prioritize one case over another.”

I cocked my head at him and he sighed. “Of course, we don't have hundreds of samples to go through, and our equipment is generations ahead of the labs the NYPD uses.”

“And you're a geneticist.”

“And I'm a geneticist.  But the NYPD won't have the entire Senior Council breathing down their necks like I will 'when' they find out.”

I corrected, holding up a finger triumphantly. “Almost the entire Senior Council.  And you'll have my eternal gratitude.”

He chuckled. “Your eternal gratitude?  That and a subway token will get me...”

I dug in my shoulder bag, knowing they could do this quickly since medical had told the Launs and Havashires my DNA didn't match any on record shortly after my initial exam with them after my Elfing. “I can sweeten the deal.”  I pulled out a family discount coupon for Dad's food truck, Cyrus' Mediterranean Cuisine, between both hands as if I was presenting the Holy Grail to Indiana Jones.

His eyes lit up.  Dad's shawarma was legendary.  He snatched the coupon away and I affected an old knight's tone, “You have chosen wisely.”  Tana's snort told me she got the quote, which also showed the geekiness she hid behind her sexy and rebellious exterior. “You're such a geek, Killy.”

I ignored her and prompted the doc, primly, “And?”

He smirked at us and said, “Give me twenty-four hours.”

I hugged the man, he stiffened in surprise. “Thanks, Baahir, you're the best!”  He beamed at me.

The Tanaburger pointed out, “It's just weird that you have family discount coupons at your own truck, shouldn't family eat free?”

My face screwed up as I shot her some duck lips, explaining, “Mom's rule.  It's something about not eating profits or the profits will eat you.  I dunno, she's a little off-kilter at times.  Isn't she awesome?”

“Yes.  Yes, she is.  Now if only I can get her to stop looking at me with suspicion.”

I shrugged. “She just does that because you're an evil Laun, it can't be helped.”

I loved the smile I got from the surly woman, then her expression changed when I absently licked my lips looking at hers, to something heated.  The doc cleared his throat.  “You two really are a couple now aren't you?  I didn't put stock to all the hullabaloo online.”

Shrugging I said, “Nah, she told me all Ráquens are required to lip-lock their fledglings.”

The man blinked dumbly at us and Tana assured him, “Killy's just messing with you, Doc.  I just told her I was required to bed her.”

I grabbed her hand as my cheeks heated, and I dragged her along to the door, calling back as I waved from my hip, “She's evil, ignore her.  Thanks again Baahir.  Oh and the fingerprints?”

He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts and waved back.  “I'll get them to someone who can be discreet.  No promises.”

“Bye!”

And I was dragging the punk princess down the corridor as she chuckled, her tongue piercing clicking along behind her teeth.  “You are.  You're evil.”

“Hey lady, you started it.”

Fair point, but still. “Hey!”

We skidded to a stop when we came up to the nurse's station, Julie was diligently typing away on the computer... I'm pretty sure she was just trying to look busy, because standing there was Doctor Himoto, going over a patient's charts.  She flipped a page over the top of the clipboard she held and then noticed us, eyes narrowing over the chart.  “Miss Riicathi, Aryon.”  Then as she lowered the clipboard a little, her eyes looked me up and down. “Are you ill Miss Riicathi?  Has something happened?”

Though I knew she took her position almost too seriously, seeing to the health of every Elf who she treated, she had possibly the coldest bedside manner, possibly from the huge stick she had stuck up her... “Um, hi Beverly.  Nope, I'm fine, she's fine, we're all fine.  Just touring the facility as a newly minted Senior Council member.”  I lamely pointed at the iron ring, the Riicathi family seal, on my finger.

She corrected me, brow cocked, “Doctor Himoto.”

“Gotcha, roger that. Umm, well everything seems to be in order here, carry on and all that.”  I just wanted out of there, so I didn't even bother correcting her as to the name I went by, Renner.

I grabbed a thoroughly amused-looking Tanny's hand and dragged her toward the elevators then squeezed my eyes shut when the doc called out in her clinical tone, “Miss Riicathi?”

I turned to look back at her as my hand blindly searched for the elevator call button, “Yes, doctor?”

“If there is anything you require, please just call the nurse's desk to make an appointment.”

To that, I just held up my cast, which had maybe twenty or thirty more hearts and kitties drawn on it than was socially acceptable. “What about removing this thing?  It is so inconvenient, and I may or may not have given myself a concussion forgetting I have it on.”

She shook her head as if she didn't realize it was a joke as I finally hit the call button.  “You're a fast healer, Miss Riicathi, probably something to do with your hybrid physiology, but you don't heal that fast.  Give the bones time to fully heal. Come see us in five more weeks,”

“Will do.”  The elevator chimed and we stepped back into it.  I sighed in relief, as Tana chuckled at me while I hit the floor just below the three-floor penthouse suites of her family.

Then I squeaked out in alarm, almost jumping face-first into the elevator doors before us when a voice right behind us prompted, “Understandable panic, I've always harbored a suspicion Himoto was a vampire.”

Spinning, and tugging at Tana's hand to pull her back, finding I couldn't budge her amused self, I blinked in surprise at the very last person I would have expected to see.  One of the leaders of the rival house to the Launs here in Laun Tower, Natalia Havashire in all her glamorous glory.

“Hello Kia, Tanaliashia.”  She inclined her head slightly in greeting, looking as always, so proper and, well, and powerful, her crystalline blue eyes studying the two of us, making me feel as if she were seeing more than I could fathom, a knowing smirk teasing at her lips.

My girl shared a look with the woman before saying, “Hello Aunt Natalia.  Do my parents know you're in the tower?”

“It is good to see you too, Tana.  And they likely do since I just came from visiting your sister, where some of my people informed me our young Miss Renner was seen entering medical.”  Then directly to me, she said, one brow raised, “And since you're ignoring Evander and my attempts to contact you today, I thought I'd take the initiative to come to you.”

Feeling awkward, not knowing what to do with my hands as I tried to wring them with limited success around the cast, I said, using my extensive vocabulary in the English language, “Umm, hi?”  I thought it pretty cool she had been visiting Sonia, who doesn't get to see many people outside her immediate family and the group of tutors slash nannies.  Natalia always surprises me and my expectations.

She beamed at her niece. “She's too adorable, I can see why she holds your attention.”

My girl had my back, not. “I'd like to think so, even if she did wield it like a weapon. Like today, when she did what Special Ops couldn't.”

The woman, who I could see the family resemblance between the two now that I knew they were related, smirked and inclined her head again in acknowledgment. “Yes, it is all Evander, Marcillia, and my dear husband have been going about and shifting into damage control mode over this morning.  I told them we wouldn't be able to warn her off.”

She looked at me as the elevator stopped moving, the doors opened, and she stepped out with us, stopping the door from closing with a hand.  “I'm not going to suggest you stop chasing a story that is causing undue pressure on the carefully crafted image we try to project to the Sapiens about the Aelftus.  That would be a useless endeavor on our part, as you are a very headstrong individual, one of the reasons I like you and appreciate your particular brand of unrestrained chaos, Killishia.”

The woman exhaled and added, “I just ask that you try not to make our spin control any harder regarding this Magus woman. Until we find out who she is, and what her goals are.  She is proving to be quite the enigma, frustrating our intelligence operatives.”

Tana looked from her to me and said, pride in her tone, “Yeah, they're going to have to step up their game since I'm pretty sure Killy has already cracked that particular nut, just from what I've seen today.”

She looked at me expectantly and I grasped the straps of my shoulder bag, still trying to figure out what normal people did with their hands.  “Hey now lady, just because you're, well, you, doesn't mean I'm telling you what I've learned yet.  A lot is just conjecture I have to verify, that's why they call it investigative journalism.”  Then I added in a whisper, thinking back on the first comment Natalia made, “Are vampires real?”

Ok, her over-exaggerated eye roll reminded me I may watch too much TV and read too many sci-fi and fantasy books.

She reached up to tuck a lock of my unruly red hair behind my ear, giving me a look that made me sigh inside before she looked away down the hall.  “Claude?”

I nodded and she furrowed her brow.  “What sort of information do you think he could provide for your story?”

Shooting her a sly look and raising my brows slightly, I shared, “Actually, I expect, none.  At least for now.  It is all part of the investigative process.  Checking out all avenues to gather information, and sometimes the absence of information can be helpful.”

“Not tracking here, Killy.”

“And that's why I'm the journalist here.”

As we approached the door halfway down the hall with a couple of oversize guards, almost the size of the Cookie Twins, protecting it, Tana just looped her arm in mine, then stole my words from downstairs as she dragged me past them, “As you were, gentlemen.”

Their eyes tracked us as one responded, “Aryon.”

We turned down another hall at the end of the corridor before she released me.  “This is easier than dealing with their overprotective bullshit.”

She pulled open a door to the Aelftus Historical Archive and we ducked in.  Unlike the last time I was here, a couple of workers were going through some of the books on a counter.  They looked up and Tana said before they could speak, “Nothing to see here, just passing through.”

Then she grabbed my wrist and moved my hand to a palm scanner.  To my surprise, the locks thudded open for the restricted section of the historical archives, where all the best Elvish history teased anyone in the space.

I nodded at her smirk.  “Yeah yeah, lady, apparently I'm finally in the system.  I take it all Council members can get in here?”

She shook her head. “No, just Senior Council, and of course the heads and future leaders of the Havashire and Laun clans, like me.”

It still freaked me out, making me feel as if I were on some sort of elaborate hoax show on TV.  Even though my family held the most insignificant number of voting shares in the Mírë, it made me a Senior Council member by default.  I gave her a pained smile, then was distracted by the rows of shelves filled with all manner of boxes, books, papers, maps, and even some scrolls and what looked like clay tablets.

I moved over to reach out a hand longingly at a bound set of scrolls sitting in a broken clay vessel.  She tugged me away to another door with another pad and just knocked.  The sound of the white noise curtain a solid hum that matched the blue light above the door telling us that privacy mode was engaged.

She knocked lightly on the door and an impossibly old-looking face of an Elf wearing thick glasses appeared on the screen, his voice sounding of all the wisdom and history of the three hundred-plus years of the oldest elf in the Western Hemisphere.  “Yes?”

Tana just rolled her eyes at Claude and pointed at me.  “I have a gift for you.”

He straightened on the screen, the old faker, then a light buzz sounded as the door locks disengaged.  The man stuck his head through the doorway when the door swung inwards, then looked around and said without the raspy tremor in his tone, “Ah, Miss Riicathi, Aryon, come in, quickly.”  And Mr. McFakes Alot shot me a wink as I beamed a smile his way.

Chapter 11 – Training

I reflected on that short meeting with the Council Historian as I watched the spectacle in the detached garage of Grams and Gramps Renner a couple of hours later.

Claude was in the middle of watching a re-run of Jeopardy.  Enjoying what looked like a beer in a glass mug and, “Cheetos? Really Claude?”

“I don't tell you how to disrupt the Council with your particular brand of chaos, so don't presume to look down your nose upon my choice of snacks, young Kia.  I'm old enough to know a time without them.”

I rolled my eyes and hugged the old man, carefully, hearing his bones and tendons creak like old leather-covered tinder, belying the vitality he showed only a select few, and I was proud to be one of the people he trusted with the secret that he wasn't the doddering old man he showed the rest of the world.

After we settled into the comfortable couches of his sitting area, accepting bottles of an import Elven label of a beer owned by the Jäger clan from, funnily enough, a little styrofoam cooler he had tucked beside the overstuffed recliner he settled in, he prompted, “And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company, ladies?”

I glanced around the amazing space again, a lavish suite that looked to have antiques and artifacts spanning the centuries of his life in it.  I knew some were just modern devices in disguise, like the oversize coffee table our beer bottles sat on contained a smart surface for his computing needs.

Then I shared, “A little business and a moment to decompress and just enjoy some time visiting with you.  I haven't had much time recently just to enjoy the company of the people in my life, since, well since life keeps getting in the way.”

Tana leaned her shoulder into mine, making me relax into her at those words, knowing just what I meant.  We'd get our own alone time soon, I made a silent pledge to myself.

“Ah, splendid.  Then let us dispense with this pesky business of yours first, so that we can catch up with each other without the distraction of this 'life' you speak of.”

I couldn't help but smile at how much he sounded like a mischievous Elf just then as I shared, “I just wanted to see if you knew anything about a non-voting Elf clan named Khani.  I figured that you, being the Council Historian, would have records of all the clans out there.”

Tana cocked a brow at me and looked from me to Claude, who looked endlessly amused, as if I had asked just the right question as he bent forward, bones creaking to activate the smart surface in front of us, displaying a file already pulled up with a huge list of family names along with the numbers of members, conveniently showing the family names beginning with K.  The old Elf fart knew I was coming and for what.

“Ah, straight to the point, refreshing.  And I can tell you I anticipated the inquiry ever since I saw that Magus person's video.  I can tell you all that is in our archives about her clan, and that is absolutely nothing, as this is the first time anyone has claimed it.”

As my punk rock princess blinked in surprise, I just nodded, anticipating that would be his response, but it would be irresponsible as an investigator not to chase down every avenue of info no matter where it led.  And as I had intimated before, sometimes the lack of information is telling.

The Tanameister prompted, “Nothing?”  Then she accused me as I just nodded, “And you knew this already.”

“I suspected, but I just wanted to verify.  Leave no stone unturned yadda yadda.”

He clapped his hands and then cleared the screen and sat back, melting into his chair as he said, “Grand,  Now ladies, regale me of the happenings in your lives since we spoke last.”  Then he randomly blurted out to the television, “What is Dark Matter?” just moments before a contestant on the television gave the same answer.

There was one real moment with Tana when she shared when the subject of our futures came up.  Her face looked almost haunted when she shared, “I don't know.  I'm afraid all the time that I'll fail everyone's expectations of me as Aryon, of my expectations of myself.  I don't even know who the person I'm supposed to be.  Have you ever looked in the mirror and didn't recognize the person staring back at you?”

I laid my head on her shoulder as I nodded, and she laid her head on mine as her thumb stroked the side of my hand.  And Claude laid some wisdom down on us as he nodded too, cocking his head at Tana.  “None of us ever really knows who we will be in the future, we only have control over who were are in the moment, the here and now.  It's terrifying and exciting and can wind up being gratifying if you stay true to yourself instead of conforming to the expectations of others.  And questioning yourself alone tells me you'll be a fine leader of your clan and the Elf Council.  Just don't let your fear or anxiety stop you from finding yourself, else you are already lost.”

It struck home for me too.  And I felt Tana was a little more... real to me now that I knew we shared some of the same self-doubts.  When we didn't speak after a few seconds. Claude waved his hand out to the world, “Does the younger generation need some sort of modern catchphrase to know I'm done talking, like, 'and may the Force be with you' or something?”

My girl snorted and I just grinned like a loon, pointing at him as I said tongue in cheek, “Modern?  That's from a generation back, old man.  But points for the geek reference.”

He muttered, “For fucks sake.  Now you went and ruined a poignant teaching moment, Kia.  Now shush and drink your beer.”

After that, we wound up meeting everyone at Gram and Gramps Renner's, in the garage that used to be Grandpa's workshop but was now empty except for the benches along the walls and a thick, rubberized exercise mat.

I was just blinking at Grandma Riicathi as she was showing Tana some basic Mahta-quárë moves that were violent counterpoints to the more fluid techniques of the Mahta-cambë open hand combat techniques that my dark-haired Elf has been training in since she was little.

And as that was happening, my jaw just about hit the floor when Mom stepped out onto the far side of the mat with her dad and they bowed to each other and exploded into motion.  What I witnessed was perhaps even a bigger shock than learning mom and I were Elf, to begin with.

I mean, my mom has always been a lover, not a fighter.  The most violent I've ever seen her was pulling out one of those damn airhorns she has squirreled away, and almost deafening any elf within earshot.  Though there was some sort of cattle prod incident with dad, that's a whole different story.

But here was my semi-pacifist mother, exchanging violent blows and kicks with Grandpa Riicathi, he was flying through the air to collide with a bench in moments, but he was up sweeping her leg before the bench finished falling over.  She arched her back, turning her fall into a backflip, catching her father's chin with her feet as she flipped. He landed with a thud, as mom had somehow reversed course and her leg was coming down on him in a devastating-looking axe kick.

All motion stopped as he caught the leg then furrowed his brow, turning her leg side to side as if evaluating her.  He said, “Your form is sloppy, you haven't been training.  But this was unexpected, you've changed the Unali strike with this reversal.  Impressive, Abby.”

Lisa leaned over from where she was just staring, her jaw almost on the floor, “Damn, Kia, your mom is hawt!”

I didn't look at her as I blinked away my shock, opting to just reach over and grab her face in a brain-sucker until she licked my palm and I yanked my hand away. “Eww!”

I noted Grandma Riicathi and Tana had stopped to watch too.  Mom said, “I haven't trained since I taught Cy the Mahta-quárë.  Since his umm...”  She looked in the direction of the road where Tana and my security were idling across the street, and chose her words carefully, “...reflexes, are slower, he adapted some moves to compensate for his strength.  I'm not a grandmaster like you two, only a master, so I did the best I could with him.  Then along came Kia, and I found I had better things to do than train.”

Audrey glanced my way then prompted her, “But you will be training, Killishia?  She needs to be able to defend herself.”

I raised a hand like I was in class.  “Umm, I've already perfected the ultimate defense.  I like to call it run away.  I've upgraded the circuitry for it since I got this.”  I lifted my casted hand.

Emit looked pained, and... guilty, looking at my injury, and said, “That is why you must be able to...”

The door opened and dad stepped in a blast of cold outside air infiltrating the space as his strong baritone cut Emit off, “No disrespect, Emit, but she'll do no such thing... unless she wants to.”  He was wiping his hands on the chef's apron he wore when cooking.  He and Grams and Gramps were preparing a meal for our big group.  “I was just coming out to let everyone know dinner will be ready in ten minutes.”

They had been preparing the meal in the kitchen on the first floor, not the replica kitchen in the basement since Tana and Lisa didn't know about the safe rooms down there.  A fact that had me feeling guilty like I had when I had to hide my Halfling status from them until I broke and shared.  I was going to talk with my parents about sharing everything with the girls since it felt like lying to them by not sharing.  If I could trust anyone, it was those two.

Emit eyed dad critically, and started, “If she cannot...”

“She lives in a different world than you and Abigail did, she isn't alone like you were.  Itty Bit is out, with no need to hide anymore and has a large support network, and the protection of the Council itself.”  He nudged his chin in the direction of the street.

When Emit snorted, Audrey said, “Emit.  Play nice.”

But Gramps Riicathi said, “I've seen the bodycam footage of your rescue of Killishia.  I'm impressed with your rudimentary grasp of our closed fist technique.  Your dedication to our daughter is what won us over, and I can see that extends to our granddaughter as well.  But those opponents were... Sapiens.  I fear the greater threat is from within.  You know the history of the Riicathi, and we cannot allow that to happen to us or any other clan again.  She needs to be able to defend herself.”

“I got a whole lot of 'run away' in me, Grandpa.  I could go pro.  And the Cookie Twins...”

He finished my sentence with a heavy sigh, “Cannot defend you properly.  They learned the Council Security art of the open hand, while passable is woefully inadequate to the task.  Size and even strength don't matter if the technique is lacking.”

Then as if to prove a point he called out, “I know you're listening.  Would you care to spar?”

I called out, “You don't have to, boys.”

Ivan spoke, sounding as if he were walking across the street, “It is ok, Miss Kia.  If we are lacking, I would like to rectify it.  If not, then we are up to the task.”

Lisa was looking at me, knowing I wasn't just speaking to the air, as I sputtered, “Um, if not then... you do know you're like stating the obvious, right big man?”

“Oh shush, little one.”

A moment later the garage door opened, letting in another blast of cold air, and Ivan's massive frame, so much like my dad's, lumbered in.  Well ok, not lumbered, since he still had the fluid grace most Elves had.  He shut the door and looked around.

Ivan inclined his head, his Russian accent almost punctuating his words, “Mr. and Mrs. Riicathi.  It is a pleasure to meet you face to face.  I've heard so much about the combat style your clan uses.  I am glad it is not lost to us, nor is your clan.”

I stood and stepped up to him and stared face to chest and poked his chest of solid muscle.  “You don't have to prove anything.  Go back to the car.”

He grinned down at me and just picked me up at the waist like I weighed nothing, set me down off to the side, and patted my head.  I snapped at his hand with my teeth, and he chuckled, making me grin.  I sighed. “It's your funeral.”

I know the big guy has been wanting me to ask dad if he would like to spar since dad was using a form of the lost combat style when he saved me.  Heh, mom taught dad, so she was the bigger badass then.

Tana had moved from Audrey to sit with Lisa, pulling me back and down to sit beside her, but my feet got tangled in a towel and I squeaked and twisted ready to recover when I wound up on her lap instead.  The woman just grinned at me and hugged me to her as if she had just won a stuffed llama at the fair.  Then sighed in defeat when Lisa cackled and snapped a picture.  I knew it was destined for her Jitter or Instasnap feeds.

Then Emit surprised me by asking Audrey and mom, “Ladies?”  And he sat down beside us, the elder woman joining us.

What was, “Oh crap.”

Dad and Ivan blinked in unison in confusion.  Emit said, “It would be an unfair matchup if we or Abigail faced you, Korsivair.  Our son-in-law is only passable in Mahta-quárë.  That will be sufficient to demonstrate where Mahta-cambë is lacking.”

The two men looked at each other.  One in a Men In Black suit, the other in a t-shirt stretched across his broad chest and a “kiss the cook” apron.  Dad shrugged, and Ivan shrugged back.  I asked mom as I covered my eyes, peeking through my fingers, “Are they really going to do this?  It's pointless.”

She shared like she was explaining to a child, “It's a boy thing, sweetie.  Your dad isn't immune to it.”  She cocked an eyebrow in a challenge when her father looked at her, his brow raised.  Oh dear lord, that's where mom got it!  They were definitely father and daughter.

Audrey finally spoke, “Abby is right, this is pointless, but can still be educational.  Our intel says that the Korsivair brothers are the number three and four fighters in Council Security.”  I blinked, not realizing they were ranked so high.  Wait, their intel.  Just how did Gran and Gramps Riicathi know so much about the inner workings of the Council, yet still hadn't been aware I was given a seat on that same Council, thinking they were going to subjugate our clan again?

Emit said, “Best of three falls, or submission.”

Dad looked conflicted. “We don't have to, it's a stupid argument.”

Ivan shrugged, and voiced, “I've wanted to have a demonstration of Mahta-quárë since you utilized it in that warehouse.  I'm, as they say, game if you are.”

Dad smashed his lips to one side, causing Tana to look from him to me, I smashed my lips to one side and squeaked out, “What?”  Then she and Lisa shared toothy grins.  What?

Mom reached over and hugged my arm to her.  I just sighed, being trapped on the punk princess' lap, soaking in her heat.  Lis was mumbling, “If only I could record this.”

Dad took off his apron and then stepped over to drape it over mom's head, sneaking a quick peck on her lips.  It was so awesome they were still in the honeymoon phase after all these years.  She rolled her eyes and said to us, “I hope he isn't expecting my handkerchief to show my favor.  I mean, if I had a handkerchief I so would, but then I'd remember we weren't in medieval times where something like this wouldn't be...”  She raised her voice a bit. “So stupid.”

She grinned when dad chuckled, and she pointed at him and reminded all of us. “That one's mine.”

Then the men bowed slightly to each other and moved into fighting stances.  It struck me that after all these weeks of him guarding me, I've never seen Ivan ever fight.  When Emit said, “Begin,” Ivan was stepping backward when Dad simply charged him, stepping right into his guard.

Ivan was fighting off a flurry of blows from Dad, trying to make space, but dad wouldn't let him. Ivan made a slick move to avoid a strike and grabbed dad's wrist.  That's when I realized that Elves were stronger than Sapiens, by maybe twenty percent, though I've never been able to utilize it for anything constructive except lifting heavy boxes to put away on the shelves in the records room back at the station.  Twenty percent boost to virtually zero is still pretty lame, my ineffective punch to Captain Creepy that busted my hand instead of his jaw bore witness to that.

That's when I realized I was worried for nothing, as dad wrenched his arm from the big Russian's grip easily as he spun low, grasping Ivan's wrist instead, his other hand shooting up to grab the webbing under Ivan's armpit, and twisted with all his might.  Ivan's feet flew up as he was lifted and slammed to the mat, dad hyperextending Ivan's arm, his hand in a claw in the pale bodyguard's armpit.  “Good one, Cyrus.”

Holy crap on an anthill.

Then the two testosterone-laden men chuckled at each other and dad released him and they stood again.  They inclined their heads again and dad again exploded toward Ivan.  Grandpa Riicathi turned to us, one eye on the sparring match. “The problem is the open hand, the Mahta-cambë is a defensive art, whereas the Mahta-quárë is almost purely offensive, aggressive advance.  Doing more damage to your opponent than opening yourself up to them can do to you.  No elegant moves, every strike meant to do damage.  Every move designed to inflict pain, to incapacitate.”

He cocked a brow, telling me dad must have been doing ok in his eyes.  A Sapien going toe to toe with a highly trained Elf.  Then he winced when dad made a mistake, finding himself face-first on the mat, Ivan imposing his mass down on him, his leg in some sort of scissor lock.  They chuckled and Ivan helped him up.

Lisa asked, “Is it wrong I find this a little hot?  I mean...”

“Eww, Lis, that's my dad.”

She shrugged and then said, “One more fall decides it.”

And when the men started moving, Dad took a step back, Ivan had expected him to charge like the prior times, so was taken off guard.  Dad's hand shot out to grab Ivan's necktie and yanked him toward him, catching the big guy off balance, stumbling right into Dad's outstretched arm as he reversed course, stepping into the big Elf.  The clothesline move snapping him back to slam onto his back on the mat.

Ivan coughed as dad offered a hand and helped him to his feet, and they slapped each other's backs.  Mom's right, boys.  Then Audrey said as she stood, brows pinched, “That wasn't a move I'm familiar with.  It wasn't Mahta-quárë, Cyrus.”

Dad winked at mom. “Just a little Brooklyn street fighting cheap shot, growing up an orphan leaves one open to bullying unless you do something about it.”

Emit moved next to his wife and nodded, a little smirk on his face.  I don't know why I was so happy they seemed to approve of dad.  They were hard to read for me, but I think it's just that it's been a long time since they've been in a family group, being on the run for so long.

The Elf with the silvering hair said, “Thank you Mr. Korsivair, your assistance is appreciated.”  Then he turned to me. “This just shows that, through no fault of their own, your security isn't up to the task if a mid-level fighter can best them.”

But before I could speak, Ivan stepped up, dusting off his suit. “Which is why I would be honored to learn from you if you are willing, as I and my brother are permanently assigned to Miss Kia now that she is Senior Council.  We strive to be the best we can be to assure no harm befalls her, no matter how chaotic she can be.”

“Hey!”  Tana chuckled at my outburst and I squeaked at her, “Hey!”  Oh wait, did he say the boys were assigned to me permanently?  I don't know why that made me happy.

Dad said as he retrieved his apron from mom, snapping her butt with it.  “Now that all this silliness is over, it's time to eat.”  And he strode out into the cold air of the evening.

Mom winged a thumb his way, a silly look on her face, and informed us all, “That's my man.”  Then scurried after him.

Chapter 12 – Secret Mission

Mr. Klien called me in for a status update on the story Monday morning, and I sat in the 'war room' the same conference room he had just used to hand out story assignments and take the pulse of the journalistic staff.

At one point I think one of the new interns, Ryan, almost had a nervous breakdown after Tobias got his name wrong three times in a row.  I've since figured out it is just one of the things our station manager does to weed out those not cut out for the pressures of a television news station.  He had done the same thing with me when I interned for two years before being brought on full time after I Elfed, a couple of weeks sooner than scheduled, so I was fairly confident I had the job anyway and not just because I Elfed.

The boy was again correcting him when he said as the meeting was wrapping up, “Good job on the coffee today Marlin, you got it right this time.”

“It's... it's Ryan, sir.”

Our shameless boss looked around the room and prompted as everyone stood, gathering their things, “That's what I said, right?”

It felt like hazing to me, since the kid was pretty useful in the newsroom, but there I was nodding in agreement with everyone else.  As he scurried past me, I reached out to put a hand on his arm, and he paused as I grinned at him and said, “You're doing fine, Ryan, just keep your eye on the prize at the end.  We've all been through it.”

He exhaled a shaky breath and nodded once, I could see him steeling himself for another day in the trenches as he gave a thankful smile before heading out to transcribe his meeting notes.  Then I stepped in front of Tobias when he headed to the door, the room now empty beside us.  The man looked overly amused at me, telling me he was messing with me in some way.

I prompted, “You didn't ask if I was making progress on the Magus story.”

“I assume you are since the station got a call from the Captain of NYPD's nineteenth precinct, warning us away from pursuing it since some new facts have surfaced in it, making it a police matter.”

“Oh.”

He smirked a little as he stepped past me. “That's why I texted that I need to see you back in here in an hour so we can go over your progress.  You're doing something right if the police are calling here.”

“I didn't get a...”  My LaunPhone buzzed and he winked making finger guns toward it as I glanced at the screen to see a text from him. “Oh.  Ok.  I might miss the deadline, I sort of made some progress on...”

He held up a halting hand, “In an hour, Kia.”  Then he strode out, bellowing, “Where's my coffee, Jane?”

Ryan called out from his cubical, which, once upon a time, had been mine.  “On it, sir... and, it's Ryan, sir.”  I rolled my eyes and grinned.  He'd be fine, but the other two interns from this batch hadn't made the cut.  I looked over at the inspirational poster on the wall, the one about “Tenacity” and a fisherman standing next to a huge marlin, then over to a Jane Eyre book on the conference table that Mary had accidentally left there.

What?  I may seem frazzled by everything happening to me, but I've always been observant.  I texted a response to Tobias, “You aren't even putting any effort into names anymore.  Using things in the room is just lazy.”

The man actually responded... with a devil emoji.  Wasn't he too old for that sort of... another one came in, “Get back to work, Kia.  We don't pay you to stand around mocking your boss.”  Eeep!  I hustled out to do as much research in the Morgue as I could before the meeting.

I wasn't surprised to find Lisa waiting, messing around at my desk.  She had likely already finished the sorting in the mailroom and already finished her morning deliveries throughout the building.  She was scary competent in the mailroom, and that is why, no matter how many times the head of the mailroom, Oliver, filed complaints about her conduct and vanishing all the time to human resources, she's never been called in.

The fact my best friend slash work wife knows everyone's secrets may play into that a bit too.  I mean, she sees everything that goes to everyone in the station, so it is best not to make waves with her.  It never ends well.  Tobias may have let it slip to me recently, that he can see her running the mailroom inside of two years when Oliver retires.

“Sup, Elfette?”

I shook my head at her and wiggled my fingers her way. “Shoo, woman.  I've work to do.”  Then I paused and said as she started to stand, and no doubt a smooth retort, “Wait, never-mind, I'm going to have to borrow you for a bit.  Should I speak with Oliver or...?”

The cute Latina rolled her eyes then prompted as she scooted over as I pulled up another chair, “Do I want to know?”

I wiggled my brows and swooshed a hand through the air as if revealing a marquee, “Secret Mission.”

This had Azu and Renny oohing as she repeated, “Secret mission?  Count me in!”

“Umm, I already did.  Like, just now.  You sure you haven't been replaced by a body snatcher?  You're usually much... eeek!”  I was slowly rolling across the floor, my chair lazily spinning.

A messenger from the Elf Council showed up just then with a visitor's pass lanyard on.  He had a package for me from the head of a family I didn't know, the Huynh clan.  It was likely just more of the little gifts that were starting to show up from the various clans trying to ally with me now that I had a seat on the Council.  I didn't have time for all the maneuvering just then, since I had to fill in my partner in crime before I had to be back up in the conference room.

And so here we were, sitting in the war room an hour later when Mr. Klien stepped in, a brow cocking, “Miss Rodriguez?  Shouldn't you be...”

I held up a hand lamely and said, my head scrunching to my shoulders, “I asked her here.  We need her for something, for the final puzzle pieces.  I mean, I'm almost positive already, but we don't report on conjecture, only cold hard facts, sir.”

“Utilizing my own words against me, are we?  There's hope for you yet, Miss Renner.”

I was nodding then blinked. “There wasn't hope before?”

He chuckled at me and sat, ignoring the question he just prompted, “You need to be sharing your progress on the Magus story.  It better be good as we're not making any friends at NYPD about this, especially since they already have people calling.”

I inhaled and let out a nervous breath as I chewed my lower lip.  Pulling out my LaunPad and turning it on, I shared, “I have a whole lot of little nothings that tell a much bigger story.  The only thing I'm missing is the 'why' and if what they are doing is illegal.  I know what my gut is telling me but I know you can't come to conclusions over a gut feeling for a story.”

The man eyed Lisa again as he shut the door and then moved over to sit across from us at the big conference room table.  Then he spread his hands, “Dazzle me, Miss Renner.”

Ok, why wasn't I as sure I had something now?  I looked down at my LaunPad and Lis cocked her head at me, eyes nudging toward our boss, followed by her pointing at him in a not-so-subtle manner.

I started as I turned on my tablet.  “I sort of interviewed the Magus woman, but there is a whole lot more to this story than the leaked video.  And I'd lay dollars to porcupines that she was the one who leaked it.”

As I started to pull up some documents, I shared, “I already had suspicions before you gave me the story since a couple of things stood out.  But the more I dug into it, the more hokey this whole Magus situation looks.”

Squinting an eye I went on. “I mean, sure, it would be paradigm-altering if magic really existed, and I would have been giddy as hell. But I also know when I'm being played, especially since I Elfed, since all the competing families were offering up fantasies at the same time the senior Council was gas-lighting.”

I shrugged, and he stopped me, asking, “So you did get into the compound?  They've been turning the media away at the gates.  Tell me you brought a cameraman.  Your last scoop was barely usable shot on your cell.”

Whaaaaa?  “Umm, I can use one of the cameramen?”

The man dragged his hand down his face, sighing. “Of course, you can.  You were assigned the story and use station resources.  Did you think we just dangle you out there unassisted?”

“Oh.”  Ok, I never thought about that.  I mean, why would I?  It isn't like anyone sat me down to let me know what I could or couldn't do in pursuit of a story.  I figured I was just on my own until I proved myself.  “Umm, yes, I brought a cameraman, and unfortunately, he's not real good, I mean, his stuff looks like it was filmed on a cellphone or possibly a LaunPad.  How lame is that?  And why am I still talking?”

I sighed as Lis covered her mouth with a hand.  Glad I amused the wench.  “I'll get a cameraman next time... if there is a next time.  I mean...”

He held up a halting hand. “Kia... it's fine.  An exclusive is an exclusive.  Channel 9 can eat their hearts out.”

That had me chewing my lower lip and saying, “You might not want to air it.  I mean, there's a bigger story here, besides the Magus being a complete fraud.  Here see?”  I tapped on the video I made and sat back as he watched my pseudo-interview.  Lisa was watching him, not the video she had watched down in the morgue with me before we came up here.

His eyes widened with the demonstration of magic.   He held a skeptical expression until the woman passed the glob of melted crystal to me.  But I'm happy to say his look, born of experience in the reporting game, returned that skepticism to his eyes.

The man tapped the table with a fingertip as he thought and said, “This is a goldmine here, so make your case or we'll run with this with the disclaimer the story is still developing.”

Steeling myself and marshaling what confidence I had left, I pointed out, “If you do that, you'd be doing exactly what she wants.  The spotlight on her and the bogus Arcanium she's selling.  Besides the fact there is no such thing as magic, her name bothered me.  I knew that Samira Khani translates to Hidden Princess and that had my bullshit-o-meter starting to ping.  I mean sure, she could have changed her name or just uses it for her priestess, or whatever's name.  Not to mention there is no Khani clan in any of the Elf Council records.”

He stopped me.  “How do you know the translation?”

Squinting an eye in mock pain and scrunching my head to my shoulders I shared, “That's a whole rabbit hole of being a dungeon master for a recurring D&D game in my college years I'd rather not go down just now sir.”  Sighing when Lisa snorted, I forged on. “There's no public records for a name change to that in the tri-state area. Nor any birth certificates.  The boys in the Morgue are a wonder, they deserve a raise.”

The man gave me “the look”... doesn't look like a raise is coming for them anytime soon.

So I went on.  “I was wondering who benefits from a video like that.  And since there isn't any such thing as magic, Elf or otherwise, what could explain the video and how genuinely stunned and shocked the others were when the Sapien woman Elfed.”

I pointed out the door. “Kwon in graphics assured me after she ran it through some software she has, that the video hadn't been altered, so that meant what we were seeing was real-ish.  So I did what any good reporter would, I investigated.  I'm getting off track here.  About the Magus...”

I pulled up a definition on the screen. “She's going through great pains to present everything with a decidedly Middle Eastern flair, what with the name and all, but when I was being escorted to her, her disciples were calling the Magus' second, the Dara.  And that's not Middle Eastern, that's Irish, and it means 'second'.”  I showed him my screen again to corroborate my assertion.

The next item I pulled up were the photos I took of the supposed runes the disciples were painting,  “The people drinking the Kool-Aid there were painting these.  And while quite a few are actually Aelftus runes, one stood out to me as the Japanese Kanji character for Soup.  Don't ask how I know that.  It involves too many peach coolers and an episode of Big Bang Theory where Sheldon said Penny was brave to have it tattooed on her.”

Lis said, “Oh, I know that episode, it was a good one.”

When Mr. Klien gave us a look of warning, I blurted, “I may or may not have looked it up online after that.  So when I saw it among the other runes and symbols, I found another Kanji character and two hieroglyph pictograms, all seemingly random.”  I showed references to those three.

He raised a brow.

“That's when she tried to do the whole shock and awe thing with the supposed magic.  I mean, it was pretty good and would mystify a Sapien, and even my ears were almost not sensitive enough to hear the electromagnets under the table cycle on and off with her voice activation commands. It was a nice touch with the wireless chargers to light the crystal.”

He prompted, a look of warning in his eyes.  “So just a sound clued you in?  That's not good enough to...”

“And I 'accidentally' tripped and fell on the table and started to clean up my mess and got a good look at the electronics under the table.”  I crinkled my nose fiercely at the man as he nodded in satisfaction.

“She of course didn't tell me anything about the Sapien who Elfed, but that's ok since I may or may not have knocked a glass she touched into my bag when I fell.”  Ok, now I was beaming at the impressed look on his face and the overly amused one on Lisa's, she had already heard all of this downstairs as we waited for this meeting.

Tobias prompted, “And how can that help us?”

I shrugged, feeling a little smug as I shared, “I obviously couldn't ask the NYPD to run the prints or the saliva from the glass where the Magus had drunk from it.  But I happen to know that the Council has access to certain resources that are superior to anything the police had to run the prints and DNA to find out who both women were.  The Magus was very careful to wear gloves and a hood to prevent leaving any DNA and hair that could be used to identify who she really is.”

His eyes were wide in anticipation as he smirked a little, “And?”

I tapped the LaunPad's screen and pulled up a mugshot of the supposed Sapien woman. “Meet Amanda Musgrave from Brooklyn, she did a stint at Riker's Island Correctional Facility just before The Reveal.  She and her father Edmund did a nickel each for a long con they ran that bilked a convent out of over a hundred thousand dollars.  She's older than she looks because, well, Elf.  And Elves have much longer lifespans.”

I was proud of the next as the man just blinked at me. “And when our doctors got the lab results back on the saliva, it indicated the Magus was of the Musgrave clan as well.  So with some digging in pre-Reveal records, and...”

I showed an obituary for Amanda's mother which indicated she was survived by her husband, and her two daughters, “Amanda and... meet her older sister, Serena”  I showed a yearbook photo of  Serena Musgrave from thirty years ago to him. A lot younger obviously, but it was the Magus.

He nodded slowly. “This is outstanding work, Miss Renner.  So this had to be some sort of con.  This  Amanda must have done one of those Protoelastin dumps you described to me once, to hide her Elvish traits, then embedded her with these disciples, looking Sapien.  Then once she manifested in front of them, they'd believe a Sapien Elfed because of her dedication to this Magus' teachings?”

I nodded with a toothy grin on my face. “Precisely.  But why this elaborate hoax?  What do they gain?  I'm pretty sure these disciples would give up anything to have the chance to be Elfed too.  And money makes the world go around.  But unfortunately, there's no chance they'd let me speak with any of those disciples alone.  It's practically a cult.  Though I do have an idea to verify it.”

He opened his mouth to speak but I held my casted hand up lamely, shooting him a look of apology.  “That wasn't all, sir.  Did you want to know how they did the rest?  It wasn't hard to figure out.”

His cocked brow relayed both his surprise and his wish for me to share.  So I took a deep breath and said, “When I visited the site of the ritual, I went a little old school.  My grandparents talk about the seventies all the time and all the 'groovy' things they did back then.”

Pulling out my cell which still had the tape over the flashlight, sharing as I turned it on, “Including crushed velvet blacklight posters and paint.  Invisible to the naked Sapien eye and virtually invisible to an Aelftus eye, the ground had been painted with that glowing circle of runes to look like magic spellwork.”  I pulled up the pictures and video I took on my cell to show my makeshift blacklight exposing the paint.

Shrugging, I went on. “I was wondering how they illuminated it and how that wind arose.  So I re-watched the video to see which direction that 'mystical wind' was coming from, and surprise surprise it was out of the frame of the camera, and the eyes of the Sapien disciples.  When I looked in the trees I found indentations on the ground where they had some equipment staged.”

I shut off my devices and finished, “So when Amanda Musgrave, playing one of them, Elfed in front of the others, they believed it all to really be happening.  These poor people are being snowed more than a picnic on the ice planet Hoth.  Gaslighted more than the Unquiet Dead episode of Doctor Who.  And were less than al dente in the great strainer in the...”

He looked to be getting a headache for some reason as he again pinched the bridge of his nose as he cut me off. “I get the picture, Kia.”  Then he exhaled and smiled a little. “This is some pretty good work.  We could run what you have, expose this Magus of the Way. Or we...”

I snorted and squeaked, covering my mouth as my face heated in mortification.  When he rolled his hand in the air for me to explain my amusement, I sighed and squinted an eye at them both. “I forgot about that one associated with the Magus of the Way, though it is in the recording of the interview...  Serena Musgrave tried to con me as well, saying the reason for my umm 'rare' eye color was that my clan was attuned with the magic of the Arcanium and I was Keeper of the Flame.”

Lis slapped her hand over her mouth when she snorted and squeaked just like me.  See?  I'm not the only one prone to random outbursts.  She chuckled. “Oh my god.  She didn't?”

“Would either of you like to clue me in before I fire you both just for my own peace of mind?”

I smirked at the man, and shared, “Keeper of the Flame?  Really sir?  It's the main plotline of The 100, it's syndicated now and we air episodes on our network.”

He nodded slowly. “I don't know anything about that, but it is yet another example of the Magus stealing elements from various sources to forge a patchwork story to fit the narrative she is trying to sell.”  Then he started to ask, “But... what's the endgame?  With her followers, or disciples not in on it, it has to be more than just an elaborate hoax. Especially with her sister and father having done time.  Surely she was part of their other cons and just hadn't been caught with them.”

Then he looked at me then Lisa, his finger going back and forth between us. “Ah.”

“Bingo, sir.”

Nodding but not looking convinced, he voiced it, “A mole.”  Then also voiced his doubt, “But, no offense to you Miss Rodriguez, I'm sure you're very persuasive, but why would they accept you, a random girl off the street, into their fold when I'm sure people are lining up at their compound gates for the chance of living their dream with the chance to become an Elf?”

Before my bestie could open her pie hole and get herself fired, I explained, “If Lisa was simply a random girl off the street, they wouldn't, but I know first hand the Magus wants publicity to draw others in, likely to fleece the richer people who want to join.  But, Lis isn't some random girl, she's an influencer in the Elf Stanner community on multiple social media platforms, she's one of their geek queens as ElfGold371 and her huge audience. Plus she has an in.”

The man cocked a brow in question and I pointed at my ears. “She knows me, and Musgrave wasn't quite sure if I was buying her particular brand of bullshit or not.”

He nodded.  “Risk to reward, it's safer just to expose the hoax and when the disciples learn of it, the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.  It would be potentially dangerous for Miss  Rodriguez to infiltrate their compound to determine what the real endgame is, then we have a much more substantial story that would potentially expose crimes of this Musgrave.”

Lis piped up. “I'll do it, sir.  Both Amanda and her father don't have a history of violence, they're just a family of con artists.  And I can play the happy little drone with the best of them.”

We both looked at her in incredulity as I tried not to grin at that statement as she winced in false pain and added “Ish.”  Her cheesy grin was priceless.

He exhaled in defeat and held a finger up, stalling our celebration as he said, “I'll give her to you for two days starting tomorrow, no more.  That should be sufficient to learn what the endgame is and if it breaks any laws.  Any longer and it will put her at more risk.  It would be a shame to have to find another mailroom worker to stir up trouble.”

“Roger dodger sir, ten four and all that malarkey.”

I asked, “Malarkey Lis?  Really?  Are you a seventy-year-old man?”

“And hokey isn't, grandma?”

“Ladies!  Please.”  He pinched the bridge of his nose.  So let's get this ball rolling and...”

Even though he was looking right at us, I slowly held a fist out to my brown-eyed work wife and she bumped it just as slowly.  Then he stood. “Now get to work, both of you.  We're not paying you to just stand around.”

I paused as we scurried toward the door, I waved Lisa on and turned to Mr. Klien and then almost whispered in apology.  “I may or may not have shared the fingerprint results with Detective De Luca, and hinted about the blacklight paint.”

He looked to be digesting that, then started nodding slowly. “Not ideal, but we report the news, not manufacture it.  You should have cleared it with me first, but what is done is done.  And as there might be laws being broken, it's best to nurture your working relationship with the Detective.  A little goodwill goes a long way, especially when it comes to sharing info with the NYPD when needed.”

I exhaled loudly in relief since I thought he might spontaneously combust when I shared that little tidbit.  But he saw I was forging a professional relationship with Sofia, that has already proved to be beneficial for both.  Internally I smiled as I realized I was building my professional network in my capacity as an investigative journalist and it made me warm and fuzzy inside.  I'm doing my dream job, and I only almost died only once so far.  That's good, right?

Then I said as he reached over my head to hold the door for me to exit before him, “I'll let Oliver in the mailroom know Lisa will be working with me the next couple of days so he doesn't blow a gasket thinking she bailed.”

He smirked at me as we walked toward the elevators and stairs together, “No, don't.  The man has used her as a crutch for quite some time now, she does the work of any three of the others there and in half the time.  It'll do them all good to step up to the plate and put in more effort while Oliver tries to figure out where Rodriguez vanished to.”

I overacted as I placed a hand on my chest. “Why Mr. Klein, did you just compliment Lisa?”

He chuckled as he stepped into the elevator when a couple of workers left it. “Get to work Kia.”  Then after the doors closed, he kept talking as I started jogging down the stairs, knowing I'd hear, “She's a disruptive presence in the entire station, but is overly competent in her job.  I'd take her over a worker drone any day of the week, but if she knew that, there'd be no living with her.”

I giggled then covered my mouth again.  Come on Kia, twenty-five-year-old women don't giggle.  I giggled at my inner dialogue.  Drat.  Tobias surprises me at times like this when he shows just why he was tapped to run Channel 3.

Chapter 13 – MoleGirl

All it took was just a call to get the ball rolling the next morning.  After I saw dad off with our newly repaired food truck, Gertie, at O-too-damn-early, Lis showed up to plan with me how to handle this on our way into work, her Elf arm candy beau chauffeuring us.  Gack, those two were saccharinely sweet together.  I approved and was chuffed for my bestie.

As we strode inside, I took note that the Stanners who have mobbed the station ever since I Elfed had dwindled to just a couple of stragglers now.  I was so relieved I was no longer the shiny new bauble for them to obsess over.

Lisa was prompting, “So spill woman, did you finally get some alone time with your Elfette last night, or what?”

I exhaled in exasperation as we waved to the security desk as we slipped into the back halls to head down into the basement.  “No, when we got to my place last night, mom and dad wanted to spend some family time with Grandma and Grandpa Riicathi to catch them up to speed more.  I really think it was so I could get to know them better and for me to ask questions about our clan.”

“We have more, um... privacy there.”  I still wasn't sure if I was supposed to share the existence of the saferooms below their house, since technically they were still a sanctuary to families hiding from the Council after the reveal.

Then I brightened. “When I apologized to Tanny and told her we just wanted to be able to talk without the security stationed at the Stenson place listening in, she had chuckled and informed me to just contact Council Security Services and have them install white noise curtains in any rooms we wished to have privacy in our house and they would.  Council members discuss sensitive topics at their homes and businesses, so it just comes with the position.”

She grinned. “Ohhh so like if you and Tanburger wanted some privacy to boom a chick a bow-wow.”

My ears heated quickly as the burn of a blush rushed down my face and neck.  I shoved her shoulder. “You are a wicked woman.”

She lifted her nose high and challenged smugly. “That isn't a denial.”

I growled low. “Shut up.”  Then added more quietly as we hesitated at the stairs.  “I'm getting so frustrated...”

We aborted the subject as we both looked up and down the stairs.  We could meet in the Morgue or one of the small conference rooms beside the War Room.  On the same wavelength, we turned to go up to the next level to claim one of those rooms for our planning session.

So that didn't work out the way I thought as we sat in one of the janitor's supply rooms at an old grey steel desk.  How was I supposed to know I had to reserve one of the conference rooms at least forty-eight hours in advance on the internal Intranet server?  And, “How did you know about this back here?”

We were wedged in the corner behind three flimsy steel shelving units of cleaning supplies, toilet paper, and light bulbs, just off to the side of the floor sink with the rolling mop buckets beside it.  The place smelled like bleach and cleaning supplies which almost burned my nose with its enhanced olfactory receptors, one of the things that weren't always great about being Elfed.

Then I added, “We should just go back down to the Morgue, we can hide you from Oliver.”

She rolled her eyes. “It'll do the old curmudgeon good to do some of the work his damn self with me not around for a bit.”

Then she waved her hand around face up like a TV show presenter. “On a similar note, I found this back here just a few weeks after I started when I was looking for someplace to hide from Oliver.  The janitors used to use this corner to eat lunch until Mr. Klien took over as station manager and found out the support staff weren't allowed in the break room.  He changed a lot of the elitism that went on around here and made the place his own.”

She shared, squinting an eye as it pained her to admit, “By all accounts, the man increased the morale in the station by leaps and bounds, while simultaneously going all hard-line about productivity... firing fifteen percent of the staff who weren't pulling their weight the year before I started here.  I gotta say, he's a good manager.”

I grinned, nodding at her assessment.  I've found him to be both strict and lenient as situations dictated as well.  By the time I got here, eight months after Lisa, she had pretty much cemented her reign as the queen of the mailroom and official station gossip hub.  She had a habit of taking the station interns and backing the ones who showed promise.  We just clicked from the beginning because of our geek statuses and sarcasm-slinging competence like we were old friends.  Now the Latina cloud of chaos is my certified or certifiable best friend.  May Cthulhu have mercy on my soul.

We pulled out our LaunPads and got down to business.  I shared, “Ok, so I may have made things sound easier than they're going to be with Tobias.  We need to somehow get the Magus to invite you to join their cult-ish disciples and embrace you into the Arcanium compound.  It's the only way for us to determine the end game here since I refuse to believe it was such a convoluted hoax just for kicks and giggles.  Her family is no stranger to the long con.”

She nodded and wiggled her brows.  “You said she gave you a card?”  Then she smirked as I dug it out of my bag.  “What is it with you and all these Elf ladies?  And detectives?”

I held the card up between two fingers as I shook my head at her, sighing, “Just shut up, woman.”  Then I took out my cell, “You want me to call her and...”

She held up a finger to stop me as she looked at the card. “I got this Killyshera.”

“Where do I get a new best friend?  This one is defective.  It's Killishia, it's not that hard to pronounce.”

“It is when you no hables ingles.”

I sputtered, pointing an accusing finger, “You do too, wench.  English is your first language, which you speak better than me.  You barely speak any Spanish since your grandparents and parents insist on speaking only English 'around the kids'.”

She winked at me as she started to dial her cell.  I squeaked as I reached for the card she was reading the number off of, “What are you doing, Lis?  We need to...”

Looking away from me she said when a woman answered.  “Umm... hi, is this Samira Khani?  The Elf Magus woman?  I... no wait please don't hang up, Killishia Renner gave me your number.  She's my best friend.”

My eyes widened and I opened my mouth wide as I pointed at her in accusation.  J'accuse!  She could pronounce my name, she's just been messing with me the past two years!  Her returning smile was all teeth, the, the, the jerk.

“No, I... she... I've admired Elves and Elvish culture since the Reveal.  I sort of have a huge social media following.  Over a half-million subscribers to my InstaSnap channel.  I'm ElfGold371.”

Ok, I got her game now, and the sudden change of tone from the Magus, from dismissal into something calculating and suddenly inviting.  I was grinning that she was running with my idea of somehow leveraging her potential for spreading the word to get invited to join the Kool-Aid drinkers at the compound.  Wait, what?  Rewind!  Half a million subscribers?  She had to be making a killing off the monetization of her feeds.

“She's not one hundred percent convinced everything is on the up and up there, but I guess you did something she can't explain, and... well... if you can do what you say... umm, I could be Elf with her too.  Just in case this Arcanium is real.  I know it sounds stupid but...  What?  Oh really?  I can drive out now to meet with you?  No... yes... yes this is my number.  Thank you so much, It'll take me about an hour and a half to get there from Manhattan.  Thanks again.”

She sounded so genuine, hopeful, and excited, and the wide eyes smile on her face suddenly vanished as she ended the call, replaced with her signature smirk.  “And that, my dear Killy, is how it's done.”  She laid the back of her hand across her forehead in a dramatic fashion.

“Holy walrus kittens, Lis, that was awesome.  And don't call me Killy.”

She shrugged and opened her mouth to say something, but then looked up to the left in thought and changed tack, “I call dibs if they ever make walrus kittens, I mean, kitties with tusks?  Sign me up.”

I was about to comment but then my brain caught up with me as my eyes widened in panic. “Wait, you have to go now to be there when you said.  We haven't strategized yet.”

She shrugged, hopping up and looping an arm in mine to pull me out of the old office chair behind the desk and dragged me past all the cleaning supplies to the door.  “We'll have plenty of time for that, it's a looong drive.”

I sighed and let her drag me through the studio toward the underground parking, which I'm glad we can use again since most of my Stanners have moved on.  I got the boys on the phone to fill them in since they'd follow us anyway, and I'd have to catch a ride from them in the Hamptons since she couldn't pull up to the gates of the compound with me in the car.

Her little Havashire Motors Robin hybrid was blissfully silent on its electric motors until the gas engine kicks in.  Heh, a lot like her personality.  The little robin's egg blue car really fit her.  I was already planning on trying to find a used car of my own next year after our family's Arwë draw from the Mire.  I've never had a use for one since I could borrow mom's or just use the subway, but my life has been so hectic since I Elfed, I'm thinking it might be time.  I certainly wasn't going to waste Council assets by having Clifford drive me around everywhere when I could do it myself.

I gleeped as two cars settled in behind us and wondered aloud, “Does saying his name make him materialize like Beetlejuice or something?”

Lis said as her brows pinched at my outburst, “What's up, Elfette?”

I nudged my chin toward her rearview mirror, “Cliff is back there between us and the Cookie Twins.  How much of a waste of resources is this?  Three cars going out of town.”

A moment later I was cocking a brow, impressed at the quote she spit out, “This is Rubber Duck, mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy.”  How did she even know that reference?  I only knew it because Convoy was one of Grandpa Renner's favorite movies from the nineteen seventies.

I pointed and accused with a grin, “Ah-ha!  You 'are' a seventy-year-old man!”

The woman beamed at me and assured me, “Face it, Kia, I'm just the queen of pop culture.”

Her radio turned on and both of us looked at it accusingly since we hadn't touched it.  It was set to the auxiliary input and Ivan spoke through it, “Miss  Rodriguez, would you be so kind as to ask Miss Kia to turn her phone back on?  We're trying to coordinate.”

She pointed at her radio and said, “This isn't creepy, not one bit.  How are you on my radio, detached cookie voice?”

He was silent for a moment and I looked at my phone which I had turned off right after I filled them in.  Tana was able to hack my phone on a moment's notice, and this was a Havashire Motors vehicle that... I accused, “The overprotective Russian funny factory back there hacked your car.  It seems anything LaunCorp or Havashire Industries builds has all sorts of back doors.  Privacy is an illusion.”

Pietor said, “Hello Kia.”

I had to chuckle.  “Hello, Pietor.  You I like, your brother the hacker, not so much.”

Ivan chuckled as I turned my cell back on.  “There, you can call, you walking redwoods.”

“No need Miss Kia, just put in your earbud, it will connect to your cell via Bluetooth.”

Though they were far enough away I couldn't hear them in their SUV without the earbud, I could hear Clifford right behind us as my pointed ears swiveled back, “It's like living inside a comedy routine.”

I looked back and waved lamely, saying, “Love you too, Cliff.”

Lis was smirking.  I asked, or maybe whined, “What?”

She looked too smug when she said, “You've got your own entourage.”

“Shut up.”

Then she prompted, “So, do I get some sort of super-secret spy pen or something?  Oh!  And a code name, I so need a code name.  I've never gone undercover before, so how about MoleGirl.  And do I get one of those earbuds?”

“No, no, and hell no, woman.  You can't have an earbud or any sort of bug, they're savvy enough if their equipment is any indication, I'm positive they'd find any listening devices.”

Ivan noted, “All she needs is her cellphone.  We can put a patch on the operating system to listen in as long as it is on, but she would not be able to hear us.  She would be going in blind.”

She pointed at the radio. “Is that what you did to my radio?  This is seriously big brother mojo here.”  After a pause she added, “Have you been listening in on my car all this time, and how did you get the patch on it?”

“Nyet, I just used a toolkit developed for our Special Forces, to hijack the automatic firmware update your hybrid was downloading, just a few minutes ago.  It was based on a hack we discovered the US government using on our diplomatic vehicles.  We use those channels to feed false intel to them now, and our cars are protected from similar hacks now.  Your vehicle, however, Miss Lisa, is a civilian vehicle without the same protections.”

I held up a finger as if he could see me and prompted slowly, “Wait, how did you get a Special Forces toolkit to be able to... eep!  Were you two in the Elvish Special Forces, boys?”

“Da. But our skillset was less... morally centered than we cared for, so transferred to Council Security to feel less compromised.”  Gulp, my Cookie Twins were a little more imposing to me now.

Pietor added, “Of course, we hadn't known that would have us watching over a little bundle of chaos when we took the position.”

Gah!  “You two are mean.  And stop grinning Lis!”

Lisa added, “How do I get the non-civilian protections from you doing this?  I mean, as cool as cloak and dagger it is, it's still creepy and I like my privacy.”

“We will patch your firmware once this mission is...”

I blurted, “It's not a mission.  She's just sort of infiltrating the compound to determine the endgame... of... the...”

Lisa was all grins as she made a finger gun at me as she winked. “Mission.  I am so using MoleGirl as my call sign.”

I exhaled in exasperation my head hung low with my face covered by my hand as I shook it slowly. “Ok, so we need to make sure you are safe above all else Lis.  If you even feel they as looking at you funny, we need to get you out of there.  So we need a word or phrase for you to say if you need us to meet you at the gates to get you out of there.”

She nodded staunchly, “Roger that. Safeword. Extraction.”

“For Cthulhu's sake, woman, this is serious.”

She nodded again. “Ok, so what would you call them?”

I blinked and came up with nothing.  “Grr, whatever.”  Then I turned around in my seat to glare back at Clifford who was chuckling in my earbud.

Then I said, “You know what to do.  Just be you and get them to try to bring you into their fold.  The moment you confirm their endgame, which we can only assume is fleecing their disciples in exchange for the promise of Elfhood if they are devout enough, then hightail it out of there.”

She nodded, getting serious finally.  “Ok, so how about if I just use something innocuous?  They already know we're friends, so I'll just say I need to call Killisiria as my safeword phrase?”

I couldn't help grinning in triumph as I pointed at her in accusation. “Nice try lady, you're busted.  You know how to say my name.”  I ignored the nervousness in her chuckle belying her cool as a cucumber aloof act.

She needed to know that. “You don't have to do this, lady.  It has the potential to go all pear-shaped.  Her sister and father hadn't been convicted of any violence, just of fraud, so there isn't likely any danger.  And the Cookie Twins have your back, right boys?”

I knew they didn't have any responsibility to protect anyone but me, but I was proud of them when, after a pause, Ivan confirmed, “Da.”  There were the morals that made them leave the Elvish Special Forces.  They rock.

I knew it had to be a chore and a half watching over me, always throwing things at them outside of their normal duties, so I had to do something nice for them.  Maybe inviting them to our Renner's New Years' Eve Bash Friday night as friends, not as my security.  Or... I patted my bag where I still had five or six family discount coupons for the food truck.  “I just want you guys... yes you too Clifford, to know that I really appreciate you.  I know I don't say it enough...”

Cliff chuckled. “Or ever.”

“Shush you.  But you guys are tops in my book.”

It only took a couple more minutes to iron out the logistics.  Apparently, it was a pretty simple plan, I was just making more of it than there was before I realized that there wasn't anything else to it about fifteen minutes into the trip.

So for most of the drive, we sat in relative silence, the adrenaline in our systems keeping us on edge the closer we got to the compound.  I finally broke. “So you and Isaac coming over for the Renner's New Years Bash?”

She nodded slowly, face scrunching a bit. “I'm like ninety percent sure, but he has some obligations with his family for New Years, but since he ditched me for Christmas at your place, I'm pretty sure I have him guilted into hanging out at your place.”

We finally fell into our comfortable conversation mode, pushing back the anticipation by force of will.  And that made the last bit of the drive fly by.  It was getting pretty serious between her and her designated Elf arm candy, and it made me beam with giddiness that she seemed to finally be over her ex Tommy Buttface Assmunch.  The boy who was hitting on me right in front of her after I had Elfed, and I felt responsible about it for some reason when she dumped him on the spot.

Issac was nothing like Tommy, and he had that look of adoration every time he locked eyes with her that just can't be faked.  And he didn't seem to care about the stigma in the Elvish community about an Elf dating a Sapien.  I think she found a good one in him.

“See that drive going into that green space there?  The compound is in there, so why don't we park in that marina parking lot on this side of the highway?  This is where we'll monitor you, Lis.”

She nodded and pulled over, her eyes darting to the entry road to the Magus compound, chewing on her lower lip, looking a little nervous now that she was actually about to do this.  I assured her, “We can just call it a day and head back to the city.  You don't have to do this.”

“No, I'm fine.  Just nerves.  I can use that in there.  I mean it isn't every day someone could get the chance to get Elfed by Middle Eastern Irish 100 magic, right?”  Before I could respond she looked angry. “It pisses me off that they are preying on these people who actually believe them because they want out of a life that they must feel doesn't hold anything for them.”

Oh oh, if I had any reservations about this before, they were gone now.  A vindictive Lisa was not a force you wanted to contend with.  Now I think it might be them who may need a safe word when hurricane Lisa blows into their compound.

When we parked in the back of the lot, Cliff and the boys parking their vehicles on either side of us, I noted the other vehicles in the lot looked to be expensive enough to fund small countries, like the mini-limo-like stretch sedan Clifford drove.  The Havashire Motors Tantalus SUV, with its Elf Council diplomatic plates my detail was driving, looked just as out of place as Lis' little Robin, even though a Tantalus was almost a hundred thousand dollars... before the armor plating and bulletproof glass upgrades.

We all got out and converged on the sedan and got in.  Ivan prompted, “Your cell, Miss Lisa.”  She handed it over and Ivan placed a device on it and hit a few buttons and I could hear the electronic whine of it as the pale Russian told her, “We'll be listening, and are just a minute away.  Do not fear.”

She grinned, and I could still see a bit of nerves in her as she socked his arm. “I didn't know you cared, big guy.  Holy smokes, how many hours a day do you work out?  You're as hard as stone.”

Ivan tried not to grin but failed.  And he just handed her cell back.  “As long as the battery is in it, even if it is powered off, we will be able to monitor.”

She nodded and looked out the window to her car, then nodded and started to reach for the door.  I made wiggly fingers at my sides and a duck face at her.  She rolled her eyes and we hugged each other.  “You got this, lady.”

“Damn straight.”  Then she opened the car as she slipped out, she said, “MoleGirl out!”

I stepped out with her, standing behind the door, gripping the top of it as she got into the Rodriguez mobile, took a deep breath, then waved at me and drove off.  I waved back until she crossed the highway, then I froze at a familiar voice calling out, “Kia!  What the fuck do you think you're doing here?”

I spun back to look at the utility repair van by some men working on an electrical transformer at the edge of the parking lot.  I blinked, “Sofia?

Chapter 14 – Embedded

I looked around for some reason, then released the door and hustled over to Detective De Luca who was hanging out one of the large back doors of the big utility van.  Well crap on a salad fork, I was in trouble, wasn't I?

Again I was feeling all kinds of awkward as I gave her a wave and a sheepish look.  She ground out through gritted teeth in a controlled tone, knowing I could hear as if she were standing beside me.  “Get your ass in here before someone sees you, Renner.  You're going to get us made here.”

I fisted my hands and held my arms at my side as I marched on over, probably looking petulant before holding up a stopping hand to the boys who were starting to exit their vehicle.  “Not now guys.”

I got to the van, and she just held the door open, I ducked under her arm and stepped up in, and stopped with wide eyes. “Eeep!”  There were four uniformed officers in the van manning all sorts of electronic gear, their badges on their body armor indicated they were East Hampton Police officers.

I held my hands up in surrender and Sofia squeezed past me as she closed the door behind us.  She had to incline her head a little since there was a low ceiling, even though I stood quite easily.  “Put your hands down woman, you look ridiculous.”

I looked up and took a half step back, bumping into the door because her head cocking down as she loomed over me in the cramped space was a little intimidating with the lack of any personal space.  I put my hands down, my breath fogging in the unheated space, “Umm... hi?  Nice day out?”

“God damn it, Renner, don't hi me.  What are you doing out here again?”

Grr, my Renner Rage was rising at her accusatory tone. “I could ask you the same, woman.  I mean isn't this a little out of your jurisdiction?”

She said through her gritted teeth, enunciating each word, “The NYPD is working in cooperation with the East Hampton PD on investigating the Magus compound for possible felony fraud, larceny, and conspiracy.  And your presence here is compromising our surveillance post.”

I scrunched down a little and looked under her now crossed arms at a woman who had more stripes on her uniform than the others in the van, holding up my lanyard with my press pass that I needed to get updated since it had a picture of me before my ears gained their pointitude. “Hi, I'm Kia Renner, who might you be?”

The woman narrowed her eyes just like De Luca, was it a look they were all issued at the academy or something?  “We're aware of who you are, Miss Renner.  I'm Lieutenant Amahara Kyoto with EHPD.  What are you doing interfering in our operation?”

I stood to my full, non-imposing, five foot two, having to look around Sofia's arms since she hadn't moved even an inch since she started looming over me. “I had no clue you were here, Lieutenant.  I'm an investigative journalist with WTRL Channel 3 News, and it is you who is endangering my team's operation.”  I pulled my LaunPad out of my shoulder bag and powered it up, asking her, “Kyoto?  Is that spelled K Y O T O?”

De Luca uncrossed her arms and plucked the tablet from my hand.  “You can't write anything to compromise our investigation, Kia.”

Then she was squinting an eye in pain when Amahara said, “If you interfere in an official police investigation, I'll have you hauled in for...”

I moved Sofia aside, having to use both hands when even with my slightly enhanced strength, I couldn't move her with one, and cut the woman off, “I dare you.”  De Luca was exhaling as she dragged a hand down her face.

The Lieutenant looked at me holding my wrists out.  A detached portion of my mind was absently wondering how they cuffed people with hand casts on like me, I'd have to look that up.  She smirked. “I suppose this is where you start spouting all that Reveal Accords bullshit the Elf Council likes to throw around.”

Sofia looked at her and started to open her mouth but I nudged her ribs with my elbow. “While I do hold a Senior Elf Council seat, I don't need to wave any of that around.  I'm a reporter enjoying the full protection of the First Amendment of the Constitution that you are sworn to uphold.  So unless you want the headache of Channel 3's legal team knocking on your department's front doors, I'd appreciate it if you didn't try strong-arming me.”

“Gleep!”  Detective De Luca put her hands on my shoulders from behind, giving me a little squeeze.

“Down, girl.”  Then to Kyoto, she shared, “This one is a spitfire, but as chaotic as she can make things, she also has really good insight and some peculiar resources.  She's the one who clued us in on the setup in Central Park on the case and shared the connection to the Musgraves.  I hate to admit it, but she has a knack.”

They exchanged some sort of silent cop-ish conversation with just an intense shared look before Sofia released my shoulders and prompted, “So spill pipsqueak.  Why are you here?”

I grinned like an elk who just wandered into a chandelier factory and shared as I swiped back my LaunPad from on top of one of the electronic panels, giving her a squinty-eyed look daring her to try to take it again. “I take it you can't get a warrant for the compound, which is why you're setting up this surveillance station.  Kudos for not being cliché enough to disguise your van as a plumbing truck... I mean, how many movies have...”

She pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes, before breathing out. “Focus, Kia.”

The Lieutenant shared, “We're building a case for probable cause to obtain a warrant for the compound and their financials.  We don't have enough yet, but we will.”

I beamed at them. “So it seems I have something you don't have.”  I spoke quickly before either could admonish me.  “I've got someone embedded in the compound... well, hopefully in a couple of minutes.”  I quickly looked at one of the dozens of digital time readouts on all the equipment, “If she hasn't already gotten in.”

Sofia looked at a screen that looked like drone footage over the highway. And I could see Lisa's Robin pulling up to the gates of the Compound now.  “Rodriguez... she's the one that provided the Elf family names in the Elf Smash and Grab case.”

“Yup, and I'll have audio.”

Kyoto almost growled. “Illegally obtained evidence is...”

“It isn't illegal.  We're not cops, and we don't have to play by your rules.  She was invited to meet with the Magus.  I can't run with my story with just conjecture and a strong gut feeling that crimes are being committed by the Magus' group.  So Lisa is going to hopefully confirm their endgame is what we... and you, believe it to be.  Fleecing all the disciples they have duped into believing in this magic nonsense.”

I had the full attention of everyone in the van now and I gave them a toothy grin, pointing at my LaunPad.  Sofia broke first. “For fuck's sake, Renner.  What do you want?”

Tapping the pad like I was thinking I said as if it had just come to me.  “I'm sure I could be convinced to share our discovery of illicit happenings in the compound for a little Quid Pro Quo.”

The Lieutenant asked her, “What does she mean?”

We said together, “An exclusive.”

I nodded. “I'll make sure our station doesn't run my story until you've made the arrests, in exchange for exclusive interviews with the two of you at that time.”

“That's blackmail.”

I nodded and made a jazz hand with my left hand, forgetting my cast yet again and it struck an expensive-looking black box doodad that fell off the console, knocking a coffee cup with a lid off as well.  I eeped, a leg shooting along Sofia's to catch the electronic device on my foot, my left hand shooting the other way around her to catch the cup with a finger and thumb by the lid.

I spoke into Sofia's side, where my face was smashed against it, “Ow.  Can someone get those please?”

When they did, I quickly moved against the back door, tucking some strands of red behind my ear as I blushed profusely.  That woman was made of muscle it seems.  She was smirking as she eyed me and spoke over her shoulder, “She's quite possibly the biggest klutz with the best reflexes I've ever seen.  Nothing about Renner here is normal.”

I noted everyone still had wide eyes after witnessing my reflexes and agility, which I'm happy to say is all me.  I was just as nimble before my Elfing, I'm just a little quicker now without any Protoelastin in my system muting my Elvish traits.

I tried to get the attention off me.  “So, do we have a deal?  I really have to listen in on Lisa to make sure she's ok.”  I saw her getting out of her car and walking to the gate where five people were gathered on the other side.

They exchanged a look and each just nodded, looking put out.  I grinned and asked, “So how do I work this?”

Kyoto looked confused. “How should I know?”  Then she added, “You're not like any Elf I've ever met, Miss Renner.”

I opened my mouth but Sofia said, “She isn't talking to us.”  She pointed at a screen that showed the SUV and sedan the boys were in.

I ignored the woman's shocked realization, then nodded to myself at Ivan's instructions as I pulled up the application on my LaunPad he put there.  I rolled my eyes at the icon that read 'MoleGirl'.  Really?  They were humoring my Work Wife?  Internally I wondered if I should let Sofia know I was using an earbud to talk to Ivan.  True, I could hear him fine without it being this close, but it was clearer through the bud.

I prompted, “Is it all being logged too?”

He gave an affirmative. “Da, on the Council's encrypted servers.”

Then I heard Lisa speaking on the pad.  “Yes, I'm her.  I was supposed to... well... the Magus. She.... umm, can she really... can I be Elf?”

Someone whispered, “How is this being transmitted?  Our equipment isn't picking up any transmissions, and the data packets coming from the device are mostly just station keeping.”

I looked over at the tech and, feeling full of mischief, pointed at my ear and winked at him.  Kyoto muttered, “Damn Elvish bullshit.  Of course, they have tech they aren't sharing.”

Narrowing my eyes her way I said to De Luca, “I'll be in the sedan.  I know you can't hear this or it might not be admissible in court.”  Then I got serious, telling her, “I'm not going anywhere until Lisa is out of there safely.  I'll let you know the moment we get confirmation.”

Just before I slipped into the car with the boys, I took a quick picture of her and Lieutenant Kyoto hanging their heads out the back door of the van.  I chuckled as I heard Sofia growling out, “Renner!”

Then I got serious and looked at the LaunPad as if I could see what was going on as I heard Lisa speaking with the people at the gate.  It echoed slightly and I froze, lifting my head slightly to the flickering light.  The screen between the driver's seat and the two backbench seats that faced each other was, well, it was a screen now.  I had to blink when I saw the police drone's feed displayed on it and the audio feed from Lisa's phone streaming along with all sorts of data scrolling beneath it all like vocal stress levels and such.

I looked from the impressive display to the now pathetic app and inferior sound quality of my device.  I prompted, “Seriously?”  Then added in a whisper, “Are you hijacking the police feeds?”

Ivan explained, “Nyet, because that would be illegal.”

I glanced back toward the van, then them, and he assured me, “They cannot see inside the vehicle, the window tint has mirrorized on the exterior.”

“Are you sure you're not in the special forces anymore?”

Cliff said from the other side of the screen, “The Council's resources are...”

I sighed out as they all joined me in unison, “Vast,” but they didn't sound resigned like I was.  “Seriously, Elves need some new material.”

I was starting to realize just how vast these resources were, and how cutting edge since I'd stake my next paycheck that the feed we were watching was tagged with the EHPD logo, time and date stamp, and tactical and technical data overlaying it, was heavily encrypted.  There was no doubt all the technology developed by LaunCorp and the Havashire Group was the byproduct of some of the tech I was witnessing just then.

I prompted, “You'd have to tell me if you were really the Men In Black wouldn't you?”

Pietor took the pen out of the inner pocket of his suitcoat and deadpanned, as he tapped the end of the pen, “Look here, Kia.”

“Oh hardy har har, big guy.  But seriously, bonus points for getting the reference.  You two are closet geeks, aren't you?  I already know Clifford is.”

Then I shushed them, even though it was me babbling as Lisa was explaining to the people at the gate, “Umm... how long are we just going to stand here?  Just call Miss...”

A male voice said, “Ok, right away.”

I slid my lips to one side, confused until Lis said, “Ooo an earpiece, that's like so James Bond.”

“We will need to check you for listening devices, Miss Rodriguez.  We've had some unsavories trying to besmirch the spiritual work we have been doing here.  You understand of course?”

She sounded understanding as she said, “Of course.  I can understand people trying to disprove the  Arcanium and magic.  I'm still not entirely convinced myself, but if there is even the slightest chance I can join the Elf community, I'm willing to be open-minded.  And the video leaked to the Channel 9 defies any logical explanation.  Who are we to believe magic isn't real when we just recently learned that Elves walked among us?”

The man said, “Check her.”  And another responded quickly, “Yes Dara.”  I squinted at the screen as if it would help me see the man better.  That was the Magus' second.

Cliff said quietly from the front seat, “What is she doing? She'll scare them off by saying she isn't sure won't she?”

I shook my head and said, “No,” at the same time the Cookie Twins said, “Nyet.”  I explained to him as we saw on the drone video, that two of the people stepped out to her when the gate opened enough for people, but not enough for a vehicle.  “She's got them hooked, and is reeling them in.  It would be more suspicious if she told them everything they wanted to hear, like a convert already.  She sounds more genuine by admitting she's not totally convinced, but she is layering it with the hope that it is true... knowing her facial expressions were adding to it by exhibiting a longing and need to be involved in something greater.  She's pretty awesome.”

Then my heart sped up as she said, “What's that?”

The other man said, “We just need to check for transmissions.”  He was waving some sort of paddle around her.  Son of a bitch.  I almost panicked until the man said, “She's clean.”  I glanced at the boys who looked amused at my minor panic.  Grr.

Ivan explained, “It piggybacks on the normal 'heartbeat' data packets a cell sends to cell towers.  It wouldn't be seen as anything else to them.  Homeland security and some of the US Black Ops groups might be able to detect it, but even then, it is heavily encrypted.”

As the man said, “Please, Miss Rodriguez, the Magus is expecting you,” I prompted, “AES 2.0?  Gigabit key encryption?”

The men just blinked dumbly at me, Ivan slowly nodding, “Similar, but with an asynchronous layer.”

“What?  Don't look so surprised.  I know I can be a little... random... but I'm a fact-checker in the Morgue at the station, and I'm a geek who loves learning odd facts.  I got that geek gene from my parents.”

We turned back to the screen and I asked, “Why isn't the drone following?”

Pietor explained, “The police have rules they must abide by.  Without a warrant, they can't go over their property to gather intelligence.  The FAA defines the public airspace or 'public highway' as beginning at five hundred feet above the highest point on a structure on a piece of property.”

I pointed out, “They are recording from more than five hundred feet away now, so why aren't...”

The man was playing with me, I could tell because of subtle markers like the huge smirk on his face, the jerk.  He held his hand's palm up, “The Catch 22 is that the FAA also puts the ceiling on sUAS... small unmanned aircraft systems... drones, at four hundred feet.  So that leaves the police with their hands tied until they can obtain a warrant or get special authorization from the FAA to exceed the altitude limit.  But...”

I nodded, picking up what he was laying down. “But, they need probable cause that a crime has been committed, is being committed or is about to be committed to obtain one. Thus the surveillance van.”

We just sat in relative silence listening to Lis asking the same type of questions I had, showing her curiosity as she was led through the villa.  Then she was asked to wait in what I assumed was a den or library from her offhand comment about so many bookcases along the walls.

Pietor noted, “She would be a good operative.  Giving us information surreptitiously without making it seem so.”

I squinted an eye at the man. “Surreptitiously?”

He deadpanned. “It is the word of the day from the calendar you gave us for Christmas.  Sue me.”  His Russian accent added to the humor of his statement and I was grinning so much my cheeks hurt.

I prompted, “Cliff, I feel weird talking to you without seeing you.  Why don't you join us back here?”

He said, apology in his tone.  “Sorry, I can't, Kia.  I have to be ready to drive at a moment's notice.  My primary function is to drive my riders around, my secondary is to get them to safety if anything untoward occurs.”

So we sat and waited as Lisa did.  I could hear rustling noises from time to time as she got restless.  I was quite sure that was by design.  I think they were likely watching her, well... surreptitiously... take that Pietor, to see if she did anything suspicious like snooping around.

I admit I got a little bored so texted Tana, letting her know how things were going so far.  When I mentioned Detective De Luca was here, and I bargained, or possibly extorted, another exclusive from her and Lieutenant Kyoto, she had responded after a long delay, “So, that Detective is there too?  Interesting.”

I responded, “Yeah, Sofia.”

“Sofia?”

Why was she repeating the things I was... holy petunia pants, was she jealous?

I heard the door on the audio feed and texted quickly, “Gotta go, I think the Magus is finally meeting Lisa.”  Then I gave her a platypus emoji and a heart emoji.

There was that pause again, until she texted back, “You are so weird, Renner.”  But I curled my toes as my cheeks and ears heated when she added a heart emoji too.  Then I turned my attention back to the audio feed, with a certain punk rock Elf princess on my mind as the Magus greeted Lis.

Chapter 15 – Gotcha

Cliff told me an hour later, to eat something from the mini-fridge under the seat when my stomach growled loudly, almost as loud as a low flying helicopter over the marina was, which caused me to cover my ears until Cliff activated a white noise curtain in the car, blue lights appearing over the doors.

My neck and back were stiff from leaning in toward the screen which really hadn't changed at all while Lis spoke with the Magus.  I blinked when I realized what he had said before the audible overload. “Wait, what?”

“The mini-fridge.”

“The whosie whatzit?”  I looked around at the bench seats, how had I missed a mini-fridge?  There were some bottles from a tiny mini bar like always but...

Ivan man-spread his legs.  “Gah!”  I shielded my eyes and he rolled his own eyes at my antics as he reached down and pressed a panel under the seat, a drawer popped out and he opened it the rest of the way.  Oh my.  A well-organized drawer of foodstuffs was revealed, including some fruit and small chilled bottles.  It was a little refrigerator drawer.

I glanced down under my legs and saw another drawer, I pressed it and opened it until the two drawers thunked against each other.  A selection of unrefrigerated foods like chips, candy bars, and crackers was in my drawer.

I sighed. “So this is how the other half lives?”

“You're the other half too, Kia.  You're Senior Council, and this is a perk of that position.” Cliff said.

This didn't sit well with me for some reason.  I wondered if I was changing in ways I haven't realized since it was happening so slowly.  I've never been a fan of the entitlement that Elves seemed to exhibit.  Was I any better as I dug in the little refrigerator to pull out a bunch of grapes and cheese?

Catching the boys' attention, I pointed two fingers toward my eyes and then down to the food.  When they looked ready to decline I crossed my arms, defiantly, the grapes dangling awkwardly by my side.  I smirked when they exhaled in defeat and grabbed some things from the drawers.  I told them, “We could be here the rest of the day and maybe most of tomorrow if they are cautious about letting Lis in on their cult-ish-ness-ly thing.  So eat up boys.”

I spoke toward the front, “Cliff?  You need anything?”

“I have a lunch up here, Kia.  Thanks.”

Nodding I popped a grape in my mouth and closed the drawers as I said, “This feels like pampering, too bad there isn't any coffee.”

“I have a thermos up here if you need some.”

Widening my eyes manically and wiggling my brows, I assured the man.  “You're a godsend, man.”

The next moment I was squeaking out, “Ahh!,” as I dove across the gap between seats, twisting to land between Ivan and Pietor, holding Ivan's arm up in front of me in one hand, and thrusting the grapes out in my casted hand to fend off the intruder when the back door opened beside me and someone had slid in along with a gust of frigid winter air. “Danger!”

Tana chuckled with the Cookie Twins, reached out to pick a grape off the bunch, and pop it in her mouth as she asked, “Jumpy much, Killy?”  Adding with her brow creased in confusion, “Were you defending with grapes?  And what's with his arm there?”

My ears and cheeks were burning in embarrassment as I admitted, “Maybe.  And my arm is already broken, his isn't?”

Ivan asked, “Sacrificing me, Kia?”

“Anyone trying to attack me would break their fist on your arm.  Have you seen your muscles man?”  I had to be the most awkward person in the world as I shrank away between the big men, wondering if I could just hide in the shadows and everyone would stop looking at me.

The smirking, overly amused-looking Elfette across from me patted the seat beside her like she was trying to coax a flighty bunny out of a burrow.  I elbowed both of the Korsivairs as I exhaled and sat beside my multi-pierced obsession.  I lamely held the grapes up for her and she took another and popped it in her mouth.

Then I shook my head to clear it.  I had just texted her an hour ago, so… “How are you here?  What are you doing here, Tanny?”

She growled at me using the nickname her family used, but she wouldn't stop calling me Killy, soooooo... Then she shrugged.  “I just flew out to inspect my family's beach houses here in the Hamptons.  I thought I'd drop in and say hi to my favorite short, red and adorable Elf since I was passing by.”

I narrowed my eyes and prompted, “Passing by?  Wait, beach houses plural?”

She nodded and winged a thumb toward the Marina piers without her normal confidence as she rubbed the back of her neck. “Had the pilot land on our yacht at this marina then remembered this is where you said you were on a stakeout.”

Not buying what she was selling as a small smile started ticking at the corners of my lips, understanding what was really going on, I prompted, “I'm on assignment, Detective De Luca is on stakeout.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly before she regained her composure.  “So where is the overachieving officer?”

I was smirking a little as my eyes kept flicking to her lips. “Detective.”

“Whatever.”

I bumped shoulders with her and teased her as I laid my head on her shoulder, her laying her head on mine. “Did you think she was in here with us?  You're silly, woman.”

Then I was spreading my arms wide in front of her, hands in a karate stance. “Gah!” when the other back door opened and Sofia slid in on my other side, glaring past me as she shut the door and growled out to Tana, “Are you trying to burn this operation, Miss Laun?  You're drawing too much attention here.  It's like Grand Central in this parking lot.”

Tana spoke around me, “I'm here inspecting our properties, and thought I'd say hi to my girl, officer.  Aren't you out of your jurisdiction here?”  Then she hesitated and reached out to lower my arms. “Were you protecting me, Killy?  That's adorable.”

I squeaked as my face burned since I witnessed her fighting prowess at my grandparent's house and she obviously didn't need me defending her. “Maybe.  These two don't seem concerned about everyone treating this like some sort of clown car.”  I accused the unrepentant-looking Russians.

De Luca ignored my segue and corrected, “It's detective, Miss Laun.  And I'm coordinating in a multi-jurisdictional operation here.  A helicopter draws attention to...”

I was still sort of basking in the fact of how openly she called me her girl when she interrupted Sofia by just nudging her chin out the side window toward the Marina. “We're not in the city anymore, Detective.”  I followed her gaze to see a different helicopter taking off from a nearby property.  “It would be more conspicuous if there wasn't any air traffic here.”

They were doing a stare-down, and I glanced between the two as I retrieved my fallen grapes and started munching on them, with great interest in which of the overly hot and confident women would break first... was it getting warm in here?  I only just then noticed the dividing screen was blank.  Someone was quick thinking in hiding the fact we had hijacked their drone signal.

As if my noticing had signaled it, the divider lowered on almost soundless motors and Cliff held out a cardboard cup with divine smelling coffee in it.  “Here, Kia.”  I grinned and bounced up to settle between the boys again, accepting the coffee and looking on at the two apex predators staring each other down as I took a sip of the now lukewarm coffee.

Tana got a little hotter when De Luca broke first and just warned, “No more theatrics, they can endanger Miss Rodriguez in there.”  My smile dropped at that.  Lisa!  I held up my pad to hear the conversation that sounded almost like a cat playing with a mouse, relieved nothing had happened while I was distracted.

Sofia grabbed the door handle then paused and looked at the food and the coffee I was holding, then around at the sedan's interior.  “Heat and food?  Really roughing it here, Renner.”

I held out the little plate of cheeses toward her.  She chuckled and took a piece, popped it in her mouth then in a blast of cold air, she slipped back out to make her way quickly to the surveillance van.  I chuckled then froze at the stink eye Tana was giving me.  “Hey now little Miss Jealous, you're hotter and you're mine.”

She smirked at that and said, “Damn straight.” Then she reached out to tug me back over to sit next to her, giving me a peck on the lips before allowing me to cuddle into her side as the dividing screen rose, the feed resuming.

Then I was chuckling, feeling all sorts of tricksy when she grumbled, “I don't like her one bit.”  I shut her up with a grape.  Then we all started to listen to the expertly crafted con that was unrolling before our ears.

I was wondering how long the preliminary probing would go when they decided to set the hook.  The Magus said, “All our words are nothing compared to hearing the experience firsthand from one of our Sapien disciples who was the first to ascend, allowing the Arcanium to flow through them, evolving them to Aelftus.  Dara, be a dear and fetch Tamara?  I'm sure she could enlighten Lisa here.”

“Yes, Magus.”

Then Lisa was asking, “Mind if I get a photo for my feeds?”

“Not at all.  It is fortuitous you found us.  You can share our message with your base of followers.  The more we can spread the word, the more people we can help embrace the Arcanium and shed the venom in their lives.”

I quickly pulled up her various social media feeds as Tana leaned in close to look at my pad, distracting me as I caught her slight floral scent and the leather of her jacket.  On her InstaSnap page, a selfie photo of Lisa and the Magus at a carved walnut desk in that posh-looking office or den was posted.  With the caption, “Elf-ing it up with the Magus of the Way and the Arcanium, trying to realize my dream.”

She was making a finger gun with her free hand.  I gave it a like, smirking as I mumbled, “That a girl, Lis.  Thank you.”

Tanny looked from the picture to me, confusion on her face.  “She's surprisingly photogenic.  What are you...”

I stole a peck on her lips and asked Ivan, whose fingers were flying on his own device, and I prompted, “Did you get that?”

“Da.”

Tana narrowed her eyes, “I'm missing something, aren't I?”

Pietor gave her an affirmative. “Da.  Miss Rodriguez is a little frightening, she'd have made a good operative.”

“Ok, now you're all just messing with me.”  She grabbed my pad out of my hands and scrutinized the post.  “What are you seeing that... ah.  Holy crap.”

She looked at me, eyes wide in appreciation.  “Damn.”

“Just so.”

I felt a bit of pride for my work wife as I took my pad back and looked at the picture again, taken with the ultra-high-resolution 8k camera of her cell, she had to have the best since she was always posting selfies of her and me online and demanded quality from herself.  It made me frown at my old model LaunPad and LaunPhone with their inferior 4k cameras.

There in the photo, of her doing one of those anime style head cocked, winking with the other eye wide, too cute for human consumption selfies, with the cloaked but glamorous Magus, Lisa's seemingly random finger gun was pointing at the computer on the desk where an international banking application was sitting at a login screen, and a neon pink Post-it note on the monitor with a username and password scribbled on it.

A moment later Ivan was hmm-ing.  I made an impatient sound and he tapped something on the pad and I heard a buzz over the white noise generator a few seconds later, Cliff lowered the screen for a moment to pass a couple of papers to Ivan.  What the flork?  They have a printer in the front seat somewhere?

He looked the papers over and then handed them to me.  “It seems this Magus has made copious amounts of nine thousand dollar deposits in a Cayman account over the past few months, and there have been various other wire transfers from multiple others in the same amounts.”

I smirked and muttered, “Gotcha.”  As the owner of the account was Serena Musgrave from Brooklyn.  Another fact verified.  Now we just needed to tie the money to the disciples to prove conspiracy and fraud.  We needed names, and not just the ones they 'chose' for their journey.

Tana shared, “All of the deposits are under the threshold set by the Bank Secrecy Act and the Patriot Act of ten thousand dollars.  And it is through the Sapien banking system.  If an Elf were to do this through the Aelftus banks, the threshold is much less and the activity would be flagged.  But either way, it is called Structuring, which is illegal, regardless of whether the funds are obtained from legal or illegal activity.  The law specifically prohibits conducting a currency transaction with a financial institution in a way to circumvent the currency transaction reporting requirements.”

I asked, giving her big doe eyes, “Can I quote you on that?”

“Good god woman put those things away.  And you know I'm not allowed to comment on Aelftus affairs, as my parents would have kittens, so yes, please do.”

I beamed at her and snuggled into her side as she draped an arm across my shoulders possessively, and I told the boys, “She likes warm socks.”  The Cookie Twins were judging us with their pale eyes, so I defended with a shrug, causing them to issue a rebuttal in the form of twin eye rolls and smirks.

Then we all hushed as 'Tamara' led Lisa around to all the communion centers where others engaged in activities to cleanse their minds and bodies.  Then brought her to what Lis said was, “What a beautiful dining hall.”

Tamara said, “Let's eat and I can share all I can about my ascension to Elfhood.”

Lis was all ears as she agreed, “Oh, please.  Do you... you know... feel any different now that you've manifested?”  Ok, she needed new material since she started asking all the questions she asked me after I Elfed.  She asked if they could sit at a table with some of the other disciples.

“Of course.”

Then she went about introducing herself.  The others were asking what her chosen name was.  She sounded suitably embarrassed when she said, “I haven't been invited to join your journey yet, they're evaluating me I think.  I'm Lisa Rodriguez, a friend of Killishia Renner's. And if I get the chance, I'd probably go with La'hania.”  She came up with that awfully fast, had she given thought to this before?

Tamara slipped. “Inquisitive?” Showing her knowledge of the old Aelftus language.

A woman said, “Rain.”  A man offered, “Temperance.”

Lis said with curiosity coloring her tone, “Do we know each other, you two look so familiar to me.”

The man sounded engaged as he said excitedly, “I was Darin Rutherford, and she was Althea Jones.  Did you travel in the art circles in Manhattan Lisa?”

I blurted, “Bam!”  Making the three elves jump.  I squished my head to my shoulders in apology, then shared,  “Darin Rutherford.  Son of Cordelia and Boris Rutherford opened an art gallery on 5th Avenue with his parents' money.  Surprisingly, it had become extremely successful when he featured art from Elvish painters until he suddenly shut it down and sold off all its assets five months ago.”  I looked at them, Tanny with a brow cocked.  I defended, “What?  I work in fact-checking in the station's Morgue, the boys give me most of the local interest stories because I find them fascinating and they... well they don't.  Sue me.”

“You're so adorably geeky, Killy.”

“Grr.”  I forged ahead, “Now we have some names, to try to match to some of the transfers.  We only need to connect the money to the promise of ascending somehow.”

Tana was shaking her head. “I've gotta say, Lisa is smooth, are you sure she isn't running a few cons of her own on the side?”

I was grinning as I said, “Nah.  We just binge-watched Leverage a few weeks back.  She's channeling Parker.  She was shipping Parker and Eliot hard.”  My grin left my face as I wondered aloud, “How is she going to find out what the others were promised?”

Ivan said, “Time.”

Pietor nodded in agreement, “Da.”  Then he clarified, “She already got a large amount of information in a short period, any more will look suspicious as con-men or women are a suspicious lot.  That is why they vet her.  She will need to bide her time as she gets in their good graces.”

I pointed to her social media feeds on my tablet and shared, “She's on her way there already.   In just a few minutes she has had four hundred views, likes, and dozens of comments.”  Most of the comments were envious and many asked how they can be part of the Arcanium too.  Elf Stanners be crazy.  Well whatever, I may have been a borderline Stanner myself before I was soured on Elf privileged back in school when I lost a couple of friends to it.

Absently, I texted the Cayman account number to Sofia with one word, Magus.  Since how we obtained it was bouncing all over deep inside the fuzzy grey area of legality, it would be better if they looked into it themselves.

She responded, “WTF is this, Renner?”

“You're a detective, detect.”

“Don't mess with our operation, woman.”  I grinned until I heard Tana growling next to my ear as she looked at my screen.  I exhaled long and loud.  As cute as her actually being jealous was, she knew she is the one I'd choose every time.

And so we listened, and listened, and listened.  I may have started to doze off snuggled into my punk princess of an Elf a couple of times, being jostled gently awake each time by an amused woman.  I yawned.  “I thought a stakeout would be more... I don't know, exciting?”

Then I turned to Tana.  “Didn't you say you were here to check on your family's beach houses?”

She deadpanned.  “I lied... now shush, she's singing with the group.”  I warmed, knowing that was as close to an admission of jealousy as I'd get from her, and cuddled further into her side and listened.  I rolled my eyes at the 'communion' which sounded like a prayer ceremony they invited her to, meant to align your inner energies with nature, to better commune with the Arcanium.  I knew it was probably taking all of Lis' self-control not to roll her eyes as well as she sang something that sounded a cross between a Tibetian Monk chant and Kumbaya.  And it was... sad.

I voiced my opinion. “How does someone get to the point where they feel so lost that they grasp any lifeline to anything resembling hope, that they put blinders on?  I mean, most rational people would see right through all of this, and I believe these disciples are rational, intelligent people who feel... broken?  And the Musgraves are taking advantage of that by offering them something these people crave, belonging and inclusion.  It's like a drug, and they don't want to look beyond it.”

It was Cliff who answered me.  “It's what cults do, they take advantage of people's emotional turmoil and brainwash the people who need the most help.  It's the ultimate con as the leaders get rich off those they are offering the world to.  My kid brother got lured in by one, and once we finally got him away from it, was he able to see how he had been used, and he was confused as to how he hadn't seen it, and violently denied it when he was in the cult.”

Elves were human too.

We were all silent for a few moments, and he added, “I'd appreciate it if this doesn't leave the car.”  We murmured agreement.

Well, that put a damper on the atmosphere in the car, so we listened... more.  It had started in an exciting way, but now we had to sit through an endless introduction to what they offered to what they called potentials or those who, with the guidance, of course, could reach the goal of ascension.

It seemed to be winding down around dinnertime when the Magus and her second took over for Tamara.  “So, what do you think of our retreat so far, Miss Rodriguez?”

She sounded genuine with her response. “Lisa, please, and it's everything Killishia had said and more.”  Then she lowered her voice to just above a whisper and asked with all the hope in the world, “Can you really do it?  Is it real?  Can I...  is it possible for me to...”

“Of course, Lisa.  I can understand people's skepticism because magic in the modern world is such a fantastical concept, but so too were Elves to humans not so long ago.  Our goal is to shepherd as many people as possible while the Droichead is anchored until the spring equinox.  The bridge will become more stable the more people who can allow the Arcanium to fill them so they may know the full truth of themselves.”

I whispered for some reason, “That's all such word salad,”  Tana flicked my nose and I squeaked.

Lisa made her move.  “Well, you've certainly got my mind on overdrive here.  I should be getting back to the city.  But know that I'm really interested in the possibilities you have brought up, and I'm impressed with the dedication of all the people I've met today.  I'd like to know what the first step would be for me if I wanted to pursue this.  It would bring me closer to Killishia if I could...  never mind, I'm talking nonsense here.”

The Magus took the bait. “No, you are opening yourself up to those same possibilities, and that in itself is the first step.  I would be honored if you would allow me and our people to shepherd you.  Why don't you stay tonight, be our guest for dinner, and then you can join the others to experience the rituals under the stars.  It will open your eyes.”

“No, I couldn't impose.  I know I've monopolized too much of your time and Tamara's.  God, it is still so incredible a human, a Sapien... she's an Elf now.  I don't think I believed it until I met her.”

“It would be no imposition, would it Dara?”

“Of course, it wouldn't, Magus.”

Lisa sounded thoughtful. “I think I'd like that.”

I exhaled, and Ivan nodded approval. “She couldn't make the connection we needed, so she is creating more time for herself to dig deeper without drawing their suspicion.  It is not an insignificant thing to con a con artist.”

I squished my lips to one side and then exhaled. “So, a night in the car.  What else is in that fridge?  I'm going to need more grapes.  Gah, I think my legs are cramping.  Should we sleep in shifts?  Why am I still talking?”

Pietor told an amused Tanny, “I do not believe Kia is well suited for surveillance work.”

My Elfette shook her head and I complained, “Hey!”  Which only made them all grin.  Jerks.

Then she prompted Ivan, “Standard ops package?”

“Da.”

She nodded and contemplated out loud to herself, “So the range isn't an issue so long as we stay within that cell tower's coverage.”  She looked out the window toward the surveillance van and smirked.  Her fingers flew across her cell, then she slipped it into her leather coat's pocket.  “Then why don't we move this to someplace more comfortable?”

“Wha?  But what if Lisa...”

She interrupted, first saying, “Clifford, the Empress please.”  He responded, “Yes Aryon,” and started the car.  Then to me, she said as I started to panic, “We're only shifting positions about two hundred yards, Killy, so ixnay on the Renner Rage-nay.”  Her mischievous grin promised all kinds of shenanigans, which had me smiling back almost involuntarily.

When Cliff stopped the car in a VIP parking spot right at the start of the pier, I looked down the rows of yachts, realizing this Empress was one of them.  I was whispering, “Which one is the Empress?”

She squinted one eye cutely and pointed with her finger right next to the side of her head.  I followed her gaze and then my eyes widened when I saw a helicopter emblazoned with the Laun Corp logo sitting on what I thought was a small cruise ship that towered over the other multi-million dollar ships.  And painted on the bow of the ship was a stylized Empress, with an Aelftus rune beside it, marking it as Elf owned.

I blinked at the vessel and squeaked, “Oh, ok.”

Chapter 16 – Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo

We were in some sort of grand suite on the ship, all gathered around a seating area with a large, low low table.  The setup reminded me of the family area in the Laun Tower penthouses.  I had to blink as I looked around the space just to realize it was set up exactly like that, down to the stand-up arcade games in little hollows.  The only real difference was the windows didn't look out onto Manhattan and Central Park, instead they looked out to the ocean and coastline.

As we set up all our equipment so we didn't have to rely upon my LaunPad, a woman came in pushing a cart that had five pizza's in a silver revolving cage and a mini salad bar.  A man rolled another cart in with a selection of chilled drinks ranging from sodas and teas to wines and even champagne.  But what had my full attention... besides the pizza as my stomach growled and burbled, making my cheeks heat, was the large carafe of coffee with clear glass mugs.

I was just blinking and making grabby hands.  Tana chuckled and said, “Two coffees please, Ethan.  Black.”

The other Elf was asking the boys what drinks they wanted.  The three of them opted for coffee too as the woman started dishing slices of pizza onto clear glass plates and assembled small salads beside them with selections of dressings as she slid them in front of each of us.  “Thanks, Claire, Ethan, that will be all, we'll require privacy mode.  We'll call if we need anything else.”

I whispered when a blue glow of uplights circled the room and a white noise curtain descended around us, alleviating the always there sound pressure and giving my ears a needed rest, “What is this place?”

She shrugged. “Just one of mom and dad's little boats.  This whole level is laid out like the main living level of the penthouse for Sonia.  She got confused easily when she was younger, but not so much now.  She's gotten a lot better, and now thanks to you, is completely engrossed in writing her urban fantasy novel.  She's devouring all the writing workbooks you gave her.”

I sputtered as the Cookie Twins and Cliff started devouring their food, “Little boat?  This thing is just shy of a cruise liner.  And pizza?”

She chuckled. “There are a couple of perks to being a Laun.  There are four fully-staffed kitchens on board, and I texted them a half-hour ago that we'd be dining in the secondary suite.”

“Oh, ok.  Wait, but pizza?”

She bit her lower lip to devastating effect, sending my libido into overdrive, heating my core.  “Yeah, pizza.  You know, our first kiss?”  Ok, I melted into a puddle.  If my life were a Christmas special, there would be a carrot, a pipe, and some coal floating in the puddle.

I tucked an errant lock of red behind my ear as I swallowed self consciously.  Then to preemptively cut off whatever dweeb-ish thing I was probably going to say, I grabbed my slice and took a big bite.  There, crisis averted.

Not a lot was going on on the audio as Lisa dined with the people in the compound.  I sent a few more incoming calls from Tana's parents, some other Senior Council members, and even one from legal, to voicemail.  I didn't need to listen to them all going crazy telling me to stop investigating the Magus, that it was an internal Elvish matter.  They should know me by now... after all, I am my mother's daughter.

I was about to turn off the vibrate mode when another call came in.  My thumb hovered over the 'ignore' icon when I saw who it was, I answered quickly, blurting, “Sofia?  Oh god, is Lisa ok?” when logically I knew she was since I was listening to her making nice with some of the disciples over dinner.

What I got in response was, “What the hell is wrong with you, Renner?  Are you trying to get us made here?”

“Whaaaaa?”

“Having takeout delivered to the van.  And very funny, bean burritos?  You're not the one stuck in this unheated, crowded van.  And they're eating them!  Beans?  Come on, woman.”

I blinked, my mind trying to catch up. “Take out?  Burritos?”  Then I got it as I shot an accusatory glance at an over innocent-looking Elfette.  Then I smirked. “Wait, you sound more upset at the prospect of flatulence in a confined space than the getting made part.  Are those your priorities, detective?”

“Damn it, Kia.  It isn't funny.”

It sort of was, but I was determined to remain professional, “Are you sure?  Then why am I smiling?”  Doh!  So much for professionalism.  Isn't my mouth supposed to run things by my brain before just blabbering?  Tana snorted, so I ratted her out as I pointed an accusing finger at her, “And it was my misbehaving girl who sent the re-fried legume time bombs.”

Tana didn't look repentant, only smug.  Then Sofia shared, “Thanks for the tip about the offshore account.  At the very least, that's Structuring, and since it is going through another country, we have a call into a federal judge to freeze the account.  And we're trying to track down a local judge to issue a warrant for the compound now that we have probable cause since a crime has been committed.  Maybe we can still pin conspiracy and fraud on them once we're able to search their records.”

Oh.

I prompted, “Is that enough?  Should we pull Lisa out?”

There was a long pause before she said slowly, “No.  As much as it pains me to say, she's our only eyes in the compound now since EHPD's drone can't fly at night, no night vision.  But any sign of trouble and we go in.”

I was nodding and Tana whispered, “She can't see you nodding.  You're so weird, Killy.”

Seriously, I'm usually more intelligent than this.  I mumbled into the cell, “Ok.” Then she grumbled, “I need some fresh air.  Contact me if you hear anything.”

“Will do and you already hung up leaving me talking to nobody, jerk cop.”

We finished our meal and listened for a few minutes as the disciples moved out to the tent to view the conjunction and then to listen to 'words of communion' with the Magus.  I pointed at the large flat screen on the wall we were using, with all the readouts next to the visual representation of audio being transmitted.  “What's that pulsing red icon?”

Tanny didn't look to know, but Ivan just said, “The battery on her device is getting low.  We will not be able to monitor her once it is depleted unless she recharges it.”

I sat up quickly.  “You mean we'll be in the dark while she is in there?”

Tana placed a hand on my arm. “Slow down, lady.  Lisa is one of the more intelligent Sapiens I have met, unorthodox and almost as random as you, but intelligent.  I think she can handle plugging in a charger.”

Exhaling I nodded, she was right.  Just look at everything she's already accomplished in there in less than a day.  I was going to ask something when Lisa whispered to someone, “Do you know what my first steps will be?  I don't want to mess this up.”

It was Temperance or Darin Rutherford or whatever he was called who answered in a low voice as I heard someone calling for everyone to form a circle and look to the heavens, “You'll do great, Lisa.  It's simple.  You'll just need to dispose of all the things poisoning your inner light, divest yourself of earthly belongings and attachments to open yourself up to the Arcanium.”

“Divest of...?”

“Get rid of your material things.  The Magus can help, she has a list of various charities and outreach programs to donate to.”

I squeaked, a huge grin on my face.  Game, set, match!  I started to text her to get herself and her pretty floral bonnet out of there... what?  So I'm a Browncoat.  Firefly forever!  But before I could send the message, I heard Dara calling out with urgency.  “Magus!  You need to see this, now.”

Lis was murmuring, and I doubt anyone without ears of pointitude would have been able to make it out on the transmission, “The 'second' dude is showing her something on a laptop.  She doesn't look happy.”

Then the man said, “And look at the post she made.  See that there?  She's pointing at it.”

The Magus called out, “Miss Rodriguez, I need to see you in my study... now if you would.”

“Umm... actually, I think I may have left my iron on at home.  I'll just pop out to check.  Wow, would you look at the time?”

Then Lis was mumbling, “Shit, there's more elf dudes.”

The Magus called out, “Stop her!”  My heart was pounding.

Then I was wincing when an air horn went off on the audio.  It was double the volume of what we were listening to and it hurt a little.  Did mom give her one of her airhorns?  She says they are the best defense against Elves.

Lisa was almost screaming, “Shaka, when the walls fell, Shaka, when the walls fell! Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo! MoleGirl out!  Extract, extract!  Tumultuous Penguins!  Shit, they're coming!”  Then 'signal lost' showed on the screen, her battery finally giving out.

“Lis!”  I dove over the couch and was running, Tana and the boys were calling after me to wait.

I slammed through the doors out onto the deck and bolted to the gangway, leaping up to slide down the railing and flip down to the pier, my feet already running when they hit the planks.  A detached portion of my brain who wasn't terrified for my best friend was impressed that in her panic she was making all sorts of geek references.  Except for the penguin one... wait, wasn't that her safe-word phrase for her more amorous activities with her ex, Tommy?  Ew!

The others were trying to call me back.  I poured on the speed, my mind snapping back to when I was trapped in that warehouse, alone and thinking I was dying of the neurotoxin that targeted my Elf DNA.  I wasn't going to let Lisa feel that terror.

I tore past the surveillance van, Sofia throwing the door open, “Renner!  What is it?”

What came out of me was likely incoherent as I babbled something about Lisa, and Elves chasing her.

“Get back here, Kia!  We're going to breech!”

Ignoring her I leapt the guardrail onto the highway, leaping over a honking car, my ears twitching in pain as the sound hit me like an ice pick to the brain.  Another car slammed on its brakes, and I leapt and slid across its hood before dashing down the wooded drive to the compound.  The voices behind me were fading as my heart felt as if it were going to burst as it hammered in my chest, my lungs heaving from the exertion.

My ears swiveled forward, and I could hear the tone of Lisa's voice, sounding panicked though I couldn't make the words out yet as my gasping breathing and pulse pounding in my ears was drowning out almost everything as I tried to go faster.

The gates loomed in front of me, closed and impassable.  My eyes scanned the night, and I was thankful for once how there wasn't much difference between night and day for me now, my Elvish eyesight saw the barrier and wall in front of me with only muted color, so it was plain as day.

I veered and dove up onto a rock, springing off of it to use angular momentum to kick off the trunk of a tree to give me enough vertical leap to clear the wall.  My hands hit the top, and I shoved to spring into a back-flip.  I grabbed a branch on another tree on my way down to spin around it to bleed off the twenty crap-loads of momentum I had built up.  Then released and landed in a roll on the ground beyond, popping to my feet.

It wasn't lost on me that this was likely a really stupid thing for me to do, rushing into danger.  I usually ran the other way, and I had no clue what I planned on doing.

That's when I skidded to a halt, blinking dumbly at the sight before me.  Lisa was just sitting on a stump, shaking and patting her phone like that would revive its battery, and laying on the ground around her were three male Elves and a female, all unconscious.

What the ever-loving walrus thumping heck?  I panted, gasping out, “Lis... are... what?  How?”

She looked over to me as I bent over, placing my hands on my knees, panting.  Possibly vomiting a bit and spitting it out of my mouth from the exertion, but I won't admit to it.  The woman just grinned and pointed at her phone and said, “No go.  Battery kaput.”  Then she added, “Hello.”

I just stared dumbly at her and the scene when I jumped, squeaking out, “Gah!” when some thuds sounded beside me, and two pale man mountains of Elf-y menace seemed to unfold, as they stood to their full height of one and one-half Kias.  And I backpedaled holding out a leaf in defense, which I somehow had in my hand, when with a soft padding sound, Tana landed gracefully in front of me.  And of course, I tripped on the legs of the unconscious woman and fell flat on my arse.

The Tan-burger was panting like me, and the boys even sounded winded as they took in great gulps of air as the three stared dumbly at the sight around us as Lis reached out to pat the top of my head.  I snapped at her fingers with my teeth and she just chuckled.

Before we could ask again, what had happened, flashlights and thudding feet all came our way, De Luca bellowing, “Police! Put your... what the actual fuck?”

She and four others in tactical vests, including Lieutenant Kyoto, skidded to a halt, their weapons drawn, flashlights feeling like they were burning holes in my eyes.  “What happened here?”

I stumbled to my feet, raising my hands in surrender until they lowered their weapons, and Lisa shrugged and said,  “When the Magus lady and her second started babbling about accounts being frozen or something, she told them to get me, so I decided to like, not be got.  It was a sound plan.  But they almost had me at the gate, it was locked, and then Killeeshla showed up and took them all out.”

I panted out, eyes wide in confusion, what nonsense was she spouting?  I hear myself whining, “Killishia, I know you can say it, woman.”

I glanced around, and all eyes were on me, looking incredulous, what?  They believed her?

Sofia prompted, “Kia did all this?”

Then Lisa locked eyes with me and said firmly, “It's a 'Riicathi' thing.”  She stressed Riicathi and my eyes flew wide, darting around.  Grandma and Grandpa Riicathi had been watching over Lisa?  I saw no trace of them, nor did I hear anything in the trees around the gate.

“Is this true, Kia?”

“Umm... yup.  Mother lifting a car off her kid stuff.”

The looks were still all skeptical, except I think Tanny got it because her eyes were flicking around the trees as mine had.

Kyoto prompted, “Where are the Musgraves?”

“They went running into the villa.  Probably to scoop up their ill-gotten booty and escape.”

She snapped out, “Graves, secure these elves until backup arrives.  The rest of you, on me.  Civilians on-site, secure the building, nobody in or out.”

I grabbed Lisa in a hug as Tana chuckled out, “A Riicathi thing, huh?”

Feeling silly in my relief that my best friend was ok, I elongated, “Riiiiiicathi.”  And shot her googly eyes and a thumbs up.

Then I leaned over to rest my head on Tana's shoulder, as I continued trying to fully catch my breath my heart started slowing while the adrenaline burned off.  She grabbed my head in both hands and kissed the top of my head as she shared in low tones so Officer Graves couldn't hear, “I've never seen any Elf move that fast Killy, we couldn't keep up.  I mean, holy shit.”

I looked around, assuming she was teasing me but Ivan was shaking his head, “Da, that was not something I've ever witnessed.”

De Luca returned, saying, “They got Amanda coming out of the villa, but Serena is in the wind, She's got no place to go now that we're on to her.  That 'second' guy, the Dara, matches the mugshot of their father.”

Then she looked at the Cookie Twins and wondered aloud, “The question is, how long we'll be able to keep them in custody before the Elf Council starts throwing around the Reveal Accords and springs them?”

Ivan opened his mouth but I held up a stalling hand, remembering something one of the Council lawyers, Aldrich Ingels, said once, and I supplied to the detective.  “Normally only federal police can enjoin Elvish citizens... unless...”

She picked up the thread, a smile spreading on her lips, as she finished, “A traffic stop or felony is involved.”  Looking like the cat who swallowed the canary, she voiced aloud, “And there were quite a few felonies involved.”

One of the men began to come to and started when he saw everyone, and then jerked when he realized his hands were zip-tied behind his back.  Sofia growled, “Stay still.  You need to be checked by EMS before we haul your asses in.”

He spat toward her then looked around to the others. “What happened?”

“You don't know?”

The man looked disoriented, well I guess being knocked unconscious will do that to a person, his eyes locked on Lisa. “One moment we had the round ears bitch cornered then next I know I'm waking up on the ground with my hands bound.  Holy shit, what did you hit me with, my head feels like it is splitting open?”

Lisa shrugged and grinned, pointing my way.  I didn't want my grandparents getting in any trouble so I just hammed it up and made a little muscle, pointing at it.  The Elf hissed, “Fuck you, defect.”

And I was impressed with how fast De Luca moved to intercept Tana as she dove at the man.  For the barest of moments, I wondered which one was more dangerous, since Tana had years of Mahta-cambë training, and I was sure Sofia likely had the equivalent, being a cop and all.  She just held both of Tana's arms and said low, “He's not worth it.  And I'm pretty sure Kia would be pissed at me if I arrested her girl.”

Tanny looked past her shooting the man a death glare, and she growled then said between gritted teeth, “The only defect here is you lot, a disgrace to all elves, preying on the desperate.”

He spat back, “What do you know about anything?  Sitting in your glass and steel castle while the Council just let us all rot in jail before the Reveal.”

I reached over and extracted my girl from Sofia, shaking my head.  If the idiots were lame enough to be caught, they deserved what they got.  Then I wondered if the Aelftus had jails or prisons for the Elves who broke the law.

Epilogue

Lisa was with us in the documents archive, getting ready to head out to lunch the following day.   The Ghouls, Azu, and Renny had the volume up on the screen on the wall as the 'breaking news' Mary and Tyson were reporting was running again.

Mr. Klien was almost giddy with the story when we contacted him an hour after the impromptu raid on the Magus compound.  They ran with my story, after some substantial editing.  But I got the byline as well as our 'embedded' investigator, Lisa Rodriguez, which made us squee if I'm to be honest.

It was a matter of pride for the station that we exposed the video Channel 9 ran as a hoax, but our anchors were gracious enough to offer that sometimes misinformation can be spread when a station rushes to be first with a developing story instead of verifying it.  Doh, call the burn ward!  I'm sure Channel 9 is glaring at us for that.

I grinned when my 'exclusive' interviews with an amused-looking Sofia, and not so amused looking Amahara Kyoto were run with the story.  And I'm quite sure I'll never live down the fact there were little leafy branches tangled in my hair when I turned my cell to myself to say, “This is Killishia Renner with WTRL, Killishia out.”  Everyone in the conference room this morning was calling me Twiggy already.

I'm planning my revenge now for nobody on the scene telling me about it before I did the interviews.

It was late when we got back to the city.  Tana told us she'd be our ride back home when Lisa pointed, her mouth working silently in accusation when her car drove past with a familiar Hawaiian Elf behind the wheel.

At first, I thought my girl was going to load us up in the helicopter on the pad of the Empress, but as soon as we were aboard, the crew quickly had us underway.  I have to say, the lights of New York City twinkling across the surface of the water were almost prismatic to my enhanced vision, and the Statue of Liberty greeted us as we sailed past.  What took an hour and a half by car, took almost three hours in the Laun's super yacht.  You'd think that was a bad thing, but it gave us all time to decompress from a stressful end to our MoleGirl's first undercover operation.  And the food was so much better than the bodega convenience store food and snacks we would have had otherwise.

We all had approximately three-quarters of a quadrillion questions for Lisa since all we could do was listen to what occurred, and she filled in what she saw and experienced as I finalized my story to forward to Tobias.

I was even able to sneak off to the upper deck with Tana for a few minutes to look into her eyes under the stars stubborn enough to shine through the light pollution of the Big Apple.

When I got home, Grams and Gramps Riicathi were there, visiting with my parents, acting so very innocent.  I eyeballed them and they eyeballed me right back before first Gramps then Gran stiffened when an overly grateful Lis grabbed each of them into a rocking hug.  Grandma Riicathi sighed then relaxed patting Lisa's hair then cupping her cheek in a motherly manner.  It was almost disconcerting for such a dangerous woman to show compassion.

The mail room had virtually collapsed as it fell into chaos without Lisa there.  Oliver had almost had a nervous breakdown when he had to step up and bring in every intern in the studio to help as he hunted everywhere for Lisa and was frustrated when Human Resources wouldn't take the reprimand write-up he tried to put in Lisa's file “As per the station manager.”

Serena Musgrave was still on the run.  She had taken a small boat out and somehow avoided the police patrol boat and the coast guard in the area, but I'm sure we've not heard the last from her.

I grinned when a sexy Elfette with her piercings gleaming sashayed in. “Hello, ladies and Ghouls.”

Azu and Renny stood quickly then again tried to look casual in the presence of one of the most influential and powerful Elves.  Renny first leaned an arm on his monitor, but when it almost fell over he opted to make it look like he was just reaching to straighten folders on his desk while Azu put his hands on his hips, then looked down to see the Superman pose so went to lean against a shelf of document boxes, missing and almost falling, then stood quickly, drumming his chest and looking aloof like he was listening to music.

Tana grinned and wiggled her finger between them. “You two are my favorites you know?”  They suddenly had so very much work to do as they tried to hide matching blushes.  Tanny was so bad... but they were my favorites too, they worked their asses off and still covered for me when I was pulled away to investigate stories.  Lisa made finger guns at them and winked.

She turned her attention to us, a hungry smirk on her lips when she took a moment to take me in, head to toe, causing me to chew on my lower lip as I tucked some hair behind my ear.  “I thought I'd take my two favorite girls to lunch.”

Lis grinned.  “Too late Elfy-wench.  Issac already has that honor, but you're welcome to tag along, there's room enough for like a gazillion people in that tank my guy drives.”

In answer, Tana just reached over, and grabbed my good hand, lacing our fingers and giving me a quick peck on the lips.  That was a yes, and I was beaming over her attention.  She said as she released me and then started to help me into my puffy winter jacket, making me feel bashful as I looked down as my ears heated, “The council is going crazy over your story eating up the airwaves, Killy.  Mom and dad, and even the Havashires are incensed and going into damage control to smooth over the black eye of an Elvish crime family gives their carefully crafted narrative that Elves are above such things.”

She was beaming, her amazing smile showing teeth.  She took such pleasure in the chaos I seemed to sow in the Council and her family.

I nodded and almost squeaked out in embarrassment, “I know, I've been sending calls to voicemail all day from Senior Council members and the legal team from Laun Tower.  And of course, I've been ducking your parents and Natalia too.  I'm sure they all hate me by now, but I'm not going to stop doing my job to toe the pointy-eared line for anyone.”

“And that's why I lo... like you so much Killy-saurus Rex.”

Lis, Ren, and Azu all made an “Oooo,” sound until she shot them a death glare while I floated on cloud nine.

Then Lisa grabbed my arm, self narrating grab as she did so.  Then I was gleeping as she started to drag me to the door, saying, “Let's get going, Issac is waiting.”

I reached for the door as we approached just to back up quickly, bumping into Lis when it started to open. Lisa on one side, Tana on the other, grabbed my arms so I didn't do a not so graceful, graceful retreat to my surprise.  Hey, I'm not that bad, they're just mean girls.

Then I was blinking at the man who hesitated in the open doorway when he saw the three of us standing there, and the boys craning their necks from their desks.  I spluttered out, “Mr. Galen?  What are you doing here?”

I haven't seen the man who represented the Elf Council's interests since after I Elfed and he showed up at the News Station to whisk me away to be brought before the Council to be named and received as a new fledgling in the Elvish community.  From what I gather, the man wears many hats and was sort of like an office manager with a ton of clout who garnered respect from most Elves.

He inclined his head. “Miss Riicathi, Aryon.”  He didn't acknowledge Lisa, which was annoying.  And this must be something official since he acknowledged me first before Tana since I outranked her as a Senior Council member until she assumed leadership of her family when her parents retired.

Then he said, almost embarrassed, “It has been difficult for me and the rest of the delegation to contact you, even legal tried.  There seems to have been a mix-up in our bookings as we've not received our boarding passes nor itineraries yet, and the Conference starts on Thursday.”

My brow creased in confusion as I cocked my head to take in the harried-looking middle-aged Elf, I used the extensive vocabulary I obtained in my various English courses and my years in college for my journalistic studies. “The whosie whatzit now?”

Now he looked a little confused himself.  “The annual Transparency Conference in Bangkok.  Yan  Huynh said he messengered over all the pertinent paperwork, audience requests, and schedules to you as soon as you were seated in the Council.”

I blinked dumbly. “Two steps back now?  I don't have any clue what you're talking about.”

I looked between him and Tana to take in a quick breath, her eyes wide.  So my girlfriend seemed to clue in on what was going on here, now I needed to buy a clue or a vowel.  The embarrassment left the man like a fleeting shadow, being replaced with his cocksure commanding attitude as he dragged his hand down his face in exasperation.  “The Transparency Conference.  The junior member of the Senior Council is duty bound to attend to address the concerns of the minor, non-voting families each year, and to share all Council business of the prior year to ensure operational transparency for all.”

He grumbled, “It is a waste of time and resources since they have no voting shares, thus not relevant.  But the Launs and Havashires insisted on setting up the conference, why?  I have not the faintest clue.”

Tana opened her mouth to speak but the man continued, “The Huynh's sent the package to you did they not?  It spells out all your obligations in it.”

I blurted, “Wait!  The Huynh family?  I did get something here...”  I dashed to my desk and pulled out the unopened package I had signed for from under some folders.  “I completely forgot about it with the excitement of the Magus video that surfaced.  I was out on assignment, investigating the story.”

He said drolly, disapproval in his tone, “Yes, the Magus debacle.  You've single highhandedly set the Elvish image back ten years with your reckless pursuit of...”

Tana snapped. “Mind your tongue, Mr. Galen.  She is Senior Council and deserves the respect of the position.”

He closed his eyes a moment, and took a deep breath re-centering, then opened them again to look at me. “Yes, of course,  Aryon.  My apologies Miss Riicathi.”

I mumbled, “Renner.”

He inclined his head and then looked at the package in my hands.  “So you haven't familiarized yourself with any of the materials or what is expected of you.  It'll be virtually impossible to book a passage in time.  It would not look good for the council if we are late.  Perhaps we should cancel the Conference?”

Tana shook her head. “No.  This is the only chance the minor families have to voice their concerns.  We'll use a Laun Corp jet from our private airfield tomorrow.  This isn't the Councilwoman's fault, I was lacking in my duties as her Ráquen and failed to inform her of this as one of her duties holding the junior chair in the Council.”

I was just blinking.  “Umm... what's happening?”

She turned to me and sighed in apology as she said simply, “Time to pack, Killy, we're heading to Bangkok for a week.  Happy New Years.”

My shoulders slumped in resignation, even though it sounded sort of exciting,  “Son of a son of a son of a bi-bi-bi-bitch!”

The End

Killishia's Musings WTRL Channel 3

Umm... Hi there everyone, I'm Killishia Renner, and as you all know and for all of you just joining us, I recently learned along with you that I wasn't who I had thought I was and Elfed on live television.

I do this segment twice a week, to share my thoughts and experiences with you, our viewers, to take you along with me as I navigate this strange new world as, well... as an Elf.  It's still hard for me to wrap my mind around it.

Here is where I explore many preconceptions and even some misconceptions we've all had about Elves, and even Sapiens, many of which I'm finding to be false.  Today I'd like to discuss perception.

This won't be a popular topic for certain members of the Elvish community, but I feel it is still important to address.  Perception is not reality.

As we grow and mature, it is human nature to wish other people to perceive us as the best version of ourselves.  Anyone who has ever been a teenager knows this a little too well.  There is a fine balance between just putting your best foot forward and actual deceit.

To be quite honest, the Aelftus are a little afraid of Sapiens, and what could possibly happen if we are seen as some sort of threat, even though we are just people trying to live our lives like everyone else.  To this end, as many suspect, a carefully crafted image of Elves has been offered up to the public.  Depicting Elves as these flawless individuals.

But guess what, we're just human too, flaws and all.  There are good members of the Elvish community and bad members.  Those who follow the law, those who do not.  Those who go out of their way for the betterment of all, Sapein and Aelftus, and those who take advantage of all.

The facade can backfire on not just Elves, but everyone, in cases like the Magus grifter and her bogus Arcanium scheme devised to part unsuspecting people of their belongings and life savings.  Why?  Because it exposes the fact that the image the Aelftus powers that be project, is in itself, a scam of its own. It crosses that fuzzy line between putting our best foot forward and deceit.

So it hits harder when a member of a supposedly more enlightened community breaks the law, it makes everyone wonder what else isn't true.

I just wish we could all live in a world where nobody feels they need to live behind a mask to be accepted.  Whether you're a geek like me, a school teacher working to impart knowledge to our next generation, or emergency responders who strive to keep us all safe.

So just keep that in mind, whenever you encounter someone who isn't what you've come to expect, who is a little flawed just like you, that we're all just people trying to survive a world of sometimes wicked curve-balls.

Umm... I feel like I should say something like may the Force be with you here or something... gah, I got nothing, so moving along.

It's the little things like this I find along in my journey I need to address to figure out just who I am and navigate the world of Elves that I hope to share with you.

I hope to see you on Tuesday for the next Killishia's Musings here on WTRL News 3.

Killishia out.

Novels by Erik Schubach

Books in the Worldship Files series...

Leviathan

Firewyrm

Cityships

Morrigan

Changeling

Mutiny

Utopia (coming  soon)

Books in the Techromancy Scrolls series...

Adept

Soras

Masquerade

Westlands

Avalon

New Cali

Colossus

Books in the Sparo Rising series...

Blade of Wexbury

Mason of York

Hammer of Flatlash

Books in the Urban Fairytales series...

Red Hood: The Hunt

Snow: The White Crow

Ella: Cinders and Ash

Rose: Briar's Thorn

Let Down Your Hair

Hair of Gold: Just Right

The Hood of Locksley

Beauty In the Beast

No Place Like Home

Shadow Of The Hook

Armageddon

Books in the New Sentinels series...

Djinn: Cursed

Raven Maid: Out of the Darkness

Fate: No Strings Attached

Open Seas: Just Add Water

Ghost-ish: Lazarus

Anubis: Death's Mistress

Shaytan: The Final Wish

Books in the April series...

Facets of April

Shadows of April (coming  soon)

Books in the Drakon series...

Awakening

Dragonfall

Books in the Valkyrie Chronicles series...

Return of the Asgard

Bloodlines

Folkvangr

Seventy Two Hours

Titans

Books in the Tales From Olympus series...

Gods Reunited

Alfheim

Odyssey

Books in the Bridge series...

Trolls

Traitor

Unbroken

Krynn

Books in the Elfed In New York series...

Intern

Riicathi

Magus

Transparency (coming  soon)

Books in the Fracture series...

Divergence

Novellas by Erik Schubach

The Hollow

Novellas in the Paranormals series...

Fleas

This Sucks

Jinx (coming soon)

Novellas in the Fixit Adventures...

Fixit

Glitch

Vashon

Descent

Sedition

Novellas in the Emily Monroe Is Not The Chosen One series...

Night Shift

Unchosen

Rechosen

Novellas in the Shadow of the Scrolls series...

Hell's Gate

Arcadia

Short Stories by Erik Schubach

(These short stories span many different genres)

A Little Favor

Lost in the Woods

MUB

Mirror Mirror On The Wall

Oops!

Rift Jumpers: Faster Than Light

Scythe

Snack Run

Something Pretty

Romance Novels by Erik Schubach

Books in the Music of the Soul universe...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Music of the Soul

A Deafening Whisper

Dating Game

Karaoke Queen

Silent Bob

Five Feet or Less

Broken Song

Syncopated Rhythm

Progeny

Girl Next Door

Lightning Strikes Twice

June

Dead Shot

Music of the Soul Shorts...

(All short stories are standalone and can be read in any order)

Misadventures of Victoria Davenport: Operation Matchmaker

Wallflower

Accidental Date

Holiday Morsels

What Happened In Vegas?

Books in the London Harmony series...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Water Gypsy

Feel the Beat

Roctoberfest

Small Fry

Doghouse

Minuette

Squid Hugs

The Pike

Flotilla

Books in the Pike series...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Ships In The Night

Right To Remain Silent

Evermore

New Beginnings

Books in the Loft series...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Settling In

Books in the Flotilla series...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Making Waves

Keeping Time

The Temp

Paying the Toll

Books in the Unleashed series...

Case of the Collie Flour

Case of the Hot Dog

Case of the Gold Retriever

Case of the Great Danish

Case of the Yorkshire Pudding

Case of the Poodle Doodle

Case of the Hound About Town

Case of the Shepherd's Pie

Case of the Bull Doggish

Case of the Dalmatian Salvation

Case of the Irish Sitter

Case of the Pom Poms

Sample chapter of my epic fantasy, dystopian adventure, Techromancy Scrolls: Adept...

Chapter 1 – Portcullis

I yawned as I stepped out of my family's stone cottage with my little brother, Jace, the steel pin hinges groaned in protest.  I closed the old wooden door as quietly as I could as to not waken mother.  Her health had been deteriorating and we didn't like her exerting herself.

We walked to the pig pen and I grabbed my wooden cart by the handles and started toward the portcullis of the defensive wall around our village.  I called back, “After you feed the hogs, bring Matilda to the butcher.  She isn't laying anymore, and we could probably get at least two pennies for her or trade for a half sack of grain, she has some good meat on her.”

He nodded as he grabbed the bucket to get some of the castoffs from Castle Wexbury we had traded some eggs for.  Our feathered ladies were some of the best laying hens in the village and the lords of the castle were partial to them.  I smiled.  He was only seven but was a godsend around here.  With mother down, he was all I had to help me with all the chores while I was out scavenging.

I was not about to marry myself off just to maintain the household, I don't care if I was of age of consent last month or not.  No man would have me, ever, and I don't understand why any woman would ever betroth herself to one.  I shivered at the thought.

I looked back at the door then added, “Remind me when I get back to grease the door hinges with lard or bacon grease would you?  I don't want that noisy door waking mother, she needs her rest.”  He nodded in earnest.  I smiled at him, he was such a good boy, I was proud to have him as a brother.

I started wheeling my cart to the cobbled road in the twilight of the morning.  He called back, “Do you think you'll get enough today Laney?”

I smiled more confidently than I felt and crossed my fingers at him, “Let's hope this batch will get us enough for the medicines.”  He crossed his small fingers too and smiled and went back to the morning chores.

I walked down the lane, the village was waking up.  I started passing people getting to their jobs and had to move for a couple chargers trotting gallantly past as the morning patrol went to replace the night patrol outside the walls.

I looked at them with awe and amazement.  To be a noble would be so glamorous.  They protect the village and we tithe them so that they can concentrate on that defense.  I blinked.  One had the crest with a lightning bolt crossed with a sword on her sash.  A Techno Knight!  I noticed my jaw was hanging open as she passed by and snapped my mouth shut.  She noticed my admiration and she winked at me as she trotted past.  She looked a year or two older than my nineteen years.

I blushed, she was not only a knight, but a Techno Knight.  Her red hair flowed back over her armored shoulders like a cape draping over the studded leather and metal.  Her emerald eyes were sharp, and they glowed with the magic potential of a Techno Knight... they seemed to swallow me whole.  I looked down in embarrassment when the other knight said loudly, “Looks like you have an admirer Celeste.”

She hissed at him, “Don't be such an ass Bowyn.”  I kept my eyes down but I could feel her eyes on me.  I had a little affinity for magic and could tell when it was focused my way.  Her eyes were overflowing with it.

She kicked her horse and gave it some rein and shouted, “Hyah!” And galloped off toward the gates.  I looked up to watch the other knight urge his horse to catch up.  I grinned, being a mere Knight of the Realm, he was subordinate to that Techno Knight.  What did he call her?  Celeste?  He was subordinate to Lady Celeste.

I noted the street lamps in the row I was passing were flickering.  I looked at the electric filaments in the globes and they were intact.  I stepped over and kicked the ceramic containment vessel which held the magic potential that powered the little copper wound generator.  With a scree that was just beyond all but the hearing of the young, the bulbs brightened and remained steady.  I grinned.

I absently wondered how the wizards of the old realm of the Before Times powered their tech.  I have heard so many ludicrous theories.  Like chemical reactions.  The old buffoon who proposed it called it batteries or some other nonsense.  That would be terribly inefficient, and what would you do with these... batteries... once the chemical reaction was exhausted?  Throw them out and build new ones?  Non renewable resources were in such short supply and that would be a waste.

But that wasn't as funny as the Techromancer who was laughed out of the conclave for suggesting that his interpretation of the old writings of the Before was that it was with water from rivers.  How can water power electricity?  The two do not mix.  I chuckled at the thought.

No, the wizards of the Before were so much more powerful than us.  Just look at all they had accomplished.  We unearth more every day.  They had to be so far beyond our abilities.  It was only the Great Impact that brought down their civilization.  I imagined all the wonders I would have seen if I had lived in their time.

As I approached the huge gates at the portcullis, I glanced back to the east, to Castle Wexbury.  The great castle with it's soaring towers and waving standards.  It was so large it formed two thirds of the east wall of the village itself.  Well over a half mile of stone.

There, hanging above it in the sky, were the Three Sisters.  The three pale white moons and the ring of debris around Earth.  I tried to imagine what it would be like to see one huge moon in the sky in ancient times, before the Great Impact.  A rogue astral body had collided with Mother Luna and tore her in half.  I looked at her oblong egg shape and the two smaller sisters, Athena and Freya, which formed afterwards.

They say that Mother Luna will again be round one day as gravity reshapes her as she spins.  She appears to be always looking down on Earth with her red eye.  The pale red glow of the vast magma fields on her broken edge will eventually be swallowed.  Much like the vast magma fields on the Dark Side of the Earth.

It is rumored there were billions of people in the Before.  Over three quarters of the population was wiped out when the debris storm and shock wave had hit the Dark Side.  And even more died in the early years.  There were rumored to be huge bodies of water they called oceans that covered most of the surface of the planet.  I would not have believed it if I had not seen some of the old writings that they have in the castle.  The Techromancy Scrolls.

There was a picture in one, of the Earth as a blue ball, covered in water.  The language looked so much like English, and I could read most of it, but the old English from the Before was so different than now.  Now all villages were built by the few lakes and small rivers that came down off the Whispering Walls Mountain range in the center of the habitable lands.

The young chamber maid, Resme, who cleaned the library had been punished for letting me in to see the forbidden writings.  I still feel bad for putting her in disfavor with the lords of the keep.  They traded her off to another realm.  She had been my only friend here.

I had to take ten lashes at the whipping post for my part.  The punishment for trespass into the library was usually twenty, but the magistrate did not wish to be so harsh on a thirteen year old child.  I believe he did not strike me with the enthusiasm I have seen in the past, the blows barely left any scars.  He explained why the nobles were so strict with public floggings in regard to the library.  The scrolls and tomes there are invaluable, and the kingdoms greatest treasure.  I did not cry out, I was strong like mother told me to be.

The library had tens of thousands of scrolls and tomes that were falling apart with age.  They have had Techromancers working diligently over the centuries to restore them or make modern records and reproductions so that the knowledge would not be lost to the ages.

I was knocked out of my musings when the first rays of sunlight from Father Sol crested the majestic peaks of the Whispering Walls far in the distance.  I took a deep breath and looked at the line of people that was starting to form on either side of the gate.  We all stayed clear of the knights, and the gate and wall guards.

A man was walking down the line with a checklist asking each person their business outside the gates.  The grumpy, heavyset man wearing old, ill fitting, worn leather armor that had suffered most likely decades of disrepair, finally got to me.  “Name, station, reason for travel?”

I glanced over to see the Knights just twenty feet away.  I smiled a little when I saw Lady Celeste speaking with two other knights of the realm.  I looked away and said to the man, “Laney Herder, serf, scavenging.”  We used our profession to identify ourselves, in case there were more than one person in the village with the same name.  My family are livestock herders, so I had to identify myself that way.

He placed his pen down on his tablet and cuffed my ear roughly.  “What are you doing scavenging you worthless tramp?!  Get back to your animals, the kingdom needs food more than junk!”

I held the side of my face, my cheek stung, but I did not cry out.  I worked my jaw trying to get the ringing in my ear to fade.  I looked at his feet.  “Please sir.  I'm scavenging copper, and iron.  I'm a sensitive.”  I pulled my crystal necklace from under my shirt, it hung on a small leather strap, it started glowing faintly amber when my hand came in contact with it.

I heard a large horse approach.  A familiar woman's voice snapped out with authority, “Steward!  The realm needs metals and machines from the Before as much as food!  Maybe more.”

He stood at sloppy attention and I kept my eyes down as he ground out, “Yes Lady Celeste.  She didn't specify that at first.”

Then she spoke again, “You, young miss. Are you of majority?  Has your age of consent come?”

I bowed my head a little, looking at my feet.  “Yes Lady.”

She spoke again with a tinge of amusement in her voice, “Look up, I do not bite.”  I looked nervously up and she asked, “You have others to tend your animals while you are outside the gates?”

I nodded and my voice wavered when I replied, “Yes Lady.  My brother.  He's small but is a good worker.”  She smiled a little and I looked back down.

Then she asked, “You say you are a sensitive, but you said copper AND iron.  Which is it?”

I chanced another look at her up on that grand mount of hers, its coat dark as midnight.  “Both, Lady.”  I tried not to show the pride on my face.  It was extremely uncommon to have the magic affinity to more than one metal.  That is why I did so well on my last two outings once I was the age of majority and could travel outside the walls without an adult.  I also hid the other abilities that I had started developing the past two months.

The Techromancers needed the various metals and machines to maintain and build upon the growing technology base of our village.  We were one of the most advanced villages in all the realms.  There was so much old technology buried just below the surface, which was so much easier and quicker to use than the mining and smelting of ore from the mines. I was able to save up fifteen iron pennies and two gold coins from my previous outings.  Just one more gold coin and I could afford the medicines for mother from the hospital.

She cocked an eyebrow and gave me a genuinely surprised smile. “Truly?”  I nodded and then she looked at the man.  “Steward, allow this woman to the front of the line, her work is valuable to the realm.”

He shot me a glare but bowed slightly to her and responded, “Lady.”  Then he grabbed the handles of my cart and pushed it roughly to the front of the line, cussing the whole way.

I looked up to the knight and did a curtsy and said quickly, “Thank you Lady.”

She shook her head and said, “Celeste.  You may call me Celeste, Laney.”

I nodded and ran off to my cart.  I was blushing profusely.  I wondered where all my confidence had gone.  I'd never felt so self conscious around anyone.  Because Laney you fool, she was a Techno Knight!  A Knight of the Realm!  I caught myself smiling.  I had just spoken to a Techno Knight, Jace was going to be so jealous!

The clock in the church steeple in the center of the village turned over to seven o'clock and the huge church bell started chiming the start of the day.  The deep resonating bongs filling the valley.  Lady Celeste had her horse sidle up to the receiver beside the huge motors that operated the gate.  Then she drew her long sword.

The light of the rising sun reflected off of it.  I could feel her magics rise like a pressure on my chest and the little hairs on my arm and the back of my neck stood on end.  I could see energy bleeding out of her green eyes, lighting them like twin emerald stars as energy crackled down her arm, arcing from stud to stud on her armor.  It traveled into her sword and it started to glow red hot in her hand.

Then she looked over to me and winked again and slammed her sword into the receiving socket.  It was like energy just cascaded into the ground, and I felt like I had dropped down three feet.  Nobody else seemed to notice any of this.  The motors began to turn, the huge iron gates groaned then started to rise and she withdrew her sword and slid it into her scabbard.

The steward was speaking loudly.  “The gates close at seven this evening.  If you are not in the gates of the keep by the seventh strike of the bells, you must seek your own shelter for the night.”  As he spoke, the returning knights passed the day patrol.  They saluted each other, my eyes were glued to Lady Celeste and she turned back in her saddle as she went out on patrol and I swear she looked directly at me.

I was cuffed on my ear roughly by the steward again.  “Are you listening Herder?  I told you to start moving three times.”

Oh, I had sort of tuned him out.  “Sorry sir.”  I grabbed the handles of my cart and headed out the gates, looking up to the iron gates suspended in the soaring arch above us.  I turned east toward the mountains as soon as I was out.  I had found a great rock outcropping just a couple miles away that had brought me luck so far.

I made sure to take a circuitous route through the Whispering Forest, mindful of other scavengers that had their eyes on me.  They were probably wondering where I was finding so many relics from the Before.  When I was certain I was not being followed, I turned back toward Beggar's Creek and Hawktail River that ran through the keep.  They emptied into Dragontooth Lake at the west side of the village.

I grinned, this was going to be so much fun!