Chapter Three
I never agreed to stay at the same time I never said I’d leave. Not only to avoid the cold, I stayed because my life had taken a dramatic turn into fantasyland, and I wanted to know why. The monsters that attacked me, the coin, my tattoo, and even Rosie who is more than just a cook at the Salvation Army, needed explaining, no matter how extraordinary everything was.
“Each bedroom has its own bathroom. I’ll bring you some more towels and fresh linens.” Will glanced at them.
Spots of blood, now turned slightly brown, stained the white sheets. “Oh,” I said as Will flicked them off. “I’m sorry.” The lace trimmed sheets looked expensive and now, I’ve ruined them.
“Don’t worry; it’s better to have soiled sheets than a dead body to deal with.” I felt a shockwave run through me—I would’ve been the dead body, and his words were so casual like he was talking about the weather.
I glanced back at the bloody sheets and touched my stomach. Will hummed as he rolled them up, and glanced at me with a small smile.
“There are more sheets in there if you’d like to get them out,” he said as my skin tingled.
The thought of almost dying made my insides churn with acid. I could usually tolerate a lot, especially living on the street, but the thought of my own demise, made me sick.
Will had the sheets all in a rolled bundle hiding the blood stains. I looked to the bathroom and made a run for the toilet. I tried to flick the door shut, blocking Will’s view, but it caught on my foot and opened wider so Will had a clear view of me hanging on the toilet.
My eyes watered, not only from getting sick, but with everything that has happened.
“Little one, are you alright?” Will’s voice quietly asked as I looked up at his concerned eyes.
“Eliza Thorn, that’s my name,” I said after a few moments, and stood up finding a soft towel to wipe my face. I was getting tired of him calling me ‘little one’.
Will smiled. “I know you heard Bea say my name, and I do like proper introductions.” He cleared his throat. “Eliza, it’s nice to meet you, and my name is Will.”
He held out his hand, and I extended mine. His touch was cool and delicate as he lifted my hand and gently kissed it. I could feel my cheeks flush, and was surprised he did so, especially after witnessing me throw up.
“Well, I’m sure you’d like to freshen up, and I’ll find you some clothes,” Will said pointing to my torn off sleeve.
I glanced down at it, and then back at Will, who had disappeared. I went to the door, looked down the hallway, and saw no one. He had simply vanished, and I was beginning to wonder if I was still dreaming or hallucinating.
The warm water was welcoming and even better, was the lavender soap that lathered into a wonderful scent. I looked at my stomach and could barely see three scratches right above my navel. They didn’t look life threatening, but when I touched them, they were still very tender. I wondered why there was so much blood on the sheets for such a minor wound, and I’ve no stitches or sores or any injury that bad.
I turned off the water then tried to dry my wavy brown hair as much as I could, and wrapped the damp towel around me. I opened the door to see Loki leaning back on the bed with his hands behind his head. He looked comfortable, and maybe a little too comfortable. I tightened the towel around me.
“Ah, our kitten is finally clean, and here,” he said handing me a fancy bag—like the ones expensive clothing stores have with tissue paper and all. “You must’ve really impressed the daylights out of Will, because he ran out and got you these.”
Loki let the bag hang on his finger as he extended it with a smirk. I tightened the towel around me as he studied me with his dark eyes.
“So, it’s true,” he said nodding with his head to my new tattoo. “You’ve been marked.”
I glanced over at it, and then back at Loki. I took the bag, and held it in front of me as extra coverage.
“That’s what I’ve been told.” I felt uncomfortable with Loki, but he was here, and I had questions. “What does it mean? Bea said something about a guardian—or something like that.”
“Well,” he said supporting himself on a bent elbow. “The coin that you acquired,” he emphasized. “That coin is what seals the guardian to the realm it’s designed for and protects it with all of the training they had prior to initiation. Only, I don’t think you had any training or orientation to the guardianship, did you?” I shook my head. “I thought so, just asked to make sure. Anyhow, little kitten; it seems you’ve stumbled into our humble abode here as well as a whole new world of creatures, entities and demons—good and bad, as well as countless dimensions and worlds that have been around longer than this one.”
“Other worlds, that isn’t possible,” I said. “I mean really, what’s going on here?”
Loki sat up. “You’re a hard cookie, aren’t you?” He smiled. “Still deny it, that’s alright, most humans do when they see things they’re not supposed to.” He slid off the bed and stood in front of me. “Why don’t you get dressed, and join us for afternoon tea.”
Suddenly, his image faded like dissolving mist.
“And yes, that bottle you were looking at in the bathroom was perfume.” Loki’s voice was behind me. “It’s from France…stole it from a French woman who has too much…and cheats.”
I turned to see my reflection in the large mirror. I tightened my towel around me and gazed all over the room.
“You were…” I started to say.
“Yes, in the bathroom with you, but not just to get a free show, entities aren’t really into the pleasures of the flesh. I had to check you out for myself. You’re a curiosity to us as much as we are to you; only, I can hide and be sneaky. As for you,” his voice said behind me.
I turned back to the mirror to see Loki smiling at me as he stepped out of the mirror.
“You humans aren’t made like us—shame.” His eyes glistened with a child-like mischievousness.
“What…what are you?” I forced myself to ask.
He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I always have to explain myself at least twice if not three times to humans, ugh!” he said more to himself, and then looked up at me with a fake smile. “Why, kitten, I’m the things that go bump in the night, the things that hang out in basements, attics and other dusty, wet, smelly places.”
“You are?”
“No,” he replied quickly examining his fingers. “Would you like to hang out in someone’s smelly basement often disorganized or someone’s dusty attic where they store their junk?” He shook his finger at me. “I take that back. If in the right house, sometimes you find some delicious things about naughty humans.”
“So what are you?”
He cocked his head to the side, and gently pushed back my hair. “I’m an entity, but you call us many things like ghosts, poltergeists, apparitions, specters…the list go on, but really, we’re no different than you. The only difference is that we live in different worlds, but joined worlds.”
He pinched my chin, and laughed as I stood gazing up at him. “You are an interesting human, Eliza Thorn. And hurry so we can visit, the tea is getting cold.”
I watched Loki glide out of the room with the door shutting by itself behind him. I stared at the door and then looked around the room waiting to see if Loki would appear. I turned around and caught my reflection in the mirror. I jumped when I saw my image staring back at me, and then laughed.
“Stop standing there, and move!” Loki’s face nearly filled the mirror, and gazed down at me.
I fell to the floor dropping part of my towel to reveal a little too much. I covered up quickly.
“Modest, that’s sweet of you, but I’ve already seen you darling.” He sighed. “I’ve seen lots of girls before, and I’ve outgrown that fetish a long time ago, so don’t worry, you’ve got nothing that will anatomically surprise me.” He smiled. “Please
hurry kitten,” Loki said as his image faded.
I went into the bathroom, and locked the door just in case Loki came back, in any form. I then turned to the mirror, and grabbed another towel to throw over it.
Feeling I had as much privacy as I was going to get, I opened the bag and pulled out a pair of jeans, black t-shirt, and even a pair of socks. I blushed, thinking of Will picking them out. I then pulled out a long V neck sweater. It was soft and tightly knitted in thick braids of nubby cream colored yarn. I put the ensemble on, surprised at the perfect fit of everything. I was grateful, but embarrassed at the same time.
I ran my fingers through my long brown hair trying to tame it. I pulled the towel off the mirror glad Loki wasn’t staring back at me. My appearance was about as frightening as finding out that Loki can travel via mirrors. I opened a drawer, and found a brush. I combed through my ratty hair and smoothed it out the best I could.
Opening the cabinet that had the perfume in it, I glanced around the room, and then pulled it out. The wording on the bottle was in French, and smelled wonderful, like they shoved the whole rose garden into a tiny bottle. I put a drop behind both of ears and on my wrists.
I grabbed the sweater to put it on when I caught a glimpse of my new tattoo in the mirror. I looked at it. It was round with looping lines inside of it. I wondered what it meant, if it had a meaning or told my fate. I brushed my fingers across it, and it tingled, but not like when Will touched it.
Jinxed. That word kept running through my head. It wasn’t meant for me, and I should’ve died when I became part of this guardian thing, but, I didn’t. I sighed as I put on the warm sweater.
I then glanced back at myself in the mirror. Forty-eight hours ago, I was just another person in the crowd, a normal girl, invisible to most people. I was living on the streets and answering to no one. Now, I had a tattoo put there by magic, attacked by demons, and now surrounded by things I thought only existed in Grimm’s book of fairytales at the library in the children’s section.
I tilted my head back, and then looked in the mirror to see Loki staring back at me. I jumped back, nearly falling into the toilet.
“You look fine for Will,” he said with a sigh. “Hurry,” he motioned with his fingers. “Get downstairs or the fun will start without you.” Loki’s image faded into my pale reflection staring back at me.
At least he waited until I was fully dressed.
The curving staircase led to a large foyer with a chandelier and light blue marbled floors. The air was cool, and the walls were paneled in richly stained wood. A long desk was off the right and had a tall lamp sitting on it. It was a large house—at least that’s what I guessed it was.
I knew we were around Lake Moore, and in the old section of Pleasantville—the original downtown area that was abandoned a long time ago—or so I thought.
I stood in the middle of the room gazing up at the chandelier, mesmerized by the hundreds of sparkling glass beads. It caught what little light there was. I then turned my attention to the two large wooden doors with leaded glass sidelights beside them. I started to twirl around taking in the whole room, when I met two eyes glaring at me.
I jumped back as the man, or more like dwarf, dressed in a suit wearing a fedora, glared at me not amused.
“I take it you’re Eliza,” he said with an expressionless face, and a bothered tone of voice.
“Yes,” I replied as he studied me with his dark eyes, and hands folded in front of him. He could’ve been no taller than three feet, but he had a menacing appearance to him.
“I want you to know that I was on my way to a holiday, and you interrupted that.” His eyes didn’t blink, and his words were stern. “Now, I’ve got to put that on hold—again. You guardians just don’t care about others—simple as that,” he said with a final gruff.
“I-I’m sorry, but I’m not a guardian, and I didn’t mean to ruin your holiday.” His dark eyes made tiny slits.
“How very nice of you…makes everything all better,” he said in a sarcastic tone as he pronounced each word clearly like he was trying to restrain his anger. I started to say that I was sorry again as he put his hand up. “I don’t care what you have to say. Your mark says otherwise, Rosie is calling the whole staff in, ruining everyone’s plans and…” He glared at me again. “Oh, just come on, I haven’t all damn day.”
I followed the dwarf down the hallway as he mumbled to himself in hash whispers until we reached a set of double doors. He pushed them open to a bright light. Large windows, some with portions of stained glass, opened to the sunny winter sky. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, and when they did, I was first greeted by Will’s gentle smile.
“Ah, Eliza, I’m glad you are feeling better,” Rosie said stepping past Will. “Please come in.”
The room was rectangular in shape with three chandeliers, though not as big as the one in the entryway, but just as beautiful. The wood floor glistened, and appeared like it had just been redone in comparison to the peeling walls.
“I take it that Clive came and got you, and was nice.” Rosie asked me with raised eyebrows.
I glanced at Clive who glared at me with a snarl.
“Yes,” I lied not wanting to cause any trouble.
Clive left with a nod to Rosie. He closed the door behind him which echoed in the large room.
“Clive, I know wasn’t a nice little doorman, like he’s supposed to be,” Loki said as soon as the door shut. He sat crossways in a chair by the window. His feet dangled over the arm of the high-back chair that looked antique. “Really kitten, he isn’t nice to anyone, and I know he isn’t nice to unexpected guests interrupting his holiday.”
“Enough Loki,” Rosie turned to him. “If Eliza says he was nice, then he was. I’m not going to assume that he wasn’t, and call him on that.”
Loki smirked, and then slid off the chair. “Shame, the little bastard deserves it.” He continued gazing out the window. “He deliberately moved the mirrors in the living room after I had them where I wanted. Just to cause me trouble,” Loki said as Rosie rubbed her forehead and gave a small grumble.
She then came over and gently put her arm around me.
“Eliza, I know you never dreamed anything like this could exist outside of novels and movies, but it’s real, and so are the dangers.” She guided me to the large window overlooking Lake Moore. “This place used to be called The Blue Moon Hotel when the city was just beginning to grow. Now, as you can see, the town has moved elsewhere, leaving its remains behind, and a place for us to live quietly and unnoticed.
“Mostly unnoticed,” Loki said. “I wouldn’t say that we are the quiet sort, especially Piper when she had a little too much to drink.” He laughed motioning with his hands a pretend bottle of I guessed, would be booze.
I glanced between Rosie, Will and Loki. “You mean there’re more of you… I mean…”
“You didn’t think it was just Rosie, Will, Bea and me?” Loki sat up. “You are a little naïve around the edges, aren’t you?” His chuckle echoed. “There are many of us, and this place here is a stopping point for some who travel, guardians and honored dignitaries. And some of us are housed here as employees or are serving as guardian assistants. It’s really not a bad life.”
“Not a bad life,” Bea, who I didn’t notice, was leaning against the wall. I gazed at her knowing I would’ve noticed her wearing the skin tight, red dress and silver platform shoes that made her tall stature taller. “What dimension did you come from?”
“Just get in or getting ready for tonight?” He whistled at her as Bea strutted towards him. “Going to hunt for some manappitizers?”
“Shut-up,” Bea said crossing her arms.
“Both of you,” Rosie pointed to both Bea and Loki. “Out.” She pointed towards the door.
Bea stormed out while Loki gave me a wink before shutting the door.
“If I could, I’d have them reloca
ted, but I think I’m the only one who can handle them or—cares enough, and they are good at what they do when they do it, that is.” Rosie shook her head as Will got the chair Loki was sitting in, and offered it to me. It was the only one in the room. It looked like the room was under construction with cans of paint, plastic on the floor, and tools laid in neat piles along the walls.
“It’s complicated Eliza,” Rosie said standing in front of the window. I could see her ghostly, worried reflection in the rippled glass.
Will motioned for me to sit with a smile as Rosie turned, and gazed between both of us.
“You are marked Eliza, and I’m going to tell you there’s no reversing it. I don’t know how or why the coin allowed you to become a guardian, but it did. There is usually training, initiation, and other rites given before someone receives a coin.” Rosie stood in front of me, and then knelt down to my level. “Tell me, in exact detail, what happened after you picked up the coin.”
I took in a deep breath, and ran the images through my head. I told Rosie about the lady that dropped the coin and the incident that happened at the library. Every detail was clear to me, especially the monsters.
“We were following two imps, but Eliza claimed there was a third.” Will’s eyes were steady on Rosie. “The imps called it Angus.”
Rosie’s face went pale. “It can’t be him, I killed the arch demon.”
Just then, a bird, followed by another, started slamming into the windows like rain. They were blackbirds, and all of them appeared to be on a death wish. They slammed against the glass, and I held my hands in front of me thinking it might shatter. I watched in horrified awe as the mass suicide of the blackbirds stopped as quickly as it started.
Will stepped by the window gazing at the few remaining dead birds laying on the stone ledge. “By the looks of things…he’s not as dead as you think.”