Chapter 5

I opened up the door to my apartment, keys jingling in the door. My huge, orange tabby, Mac, came running up to me with sweet little “brrrows” of hello. I scooped him up and buried my face in his fur. There was nothing in the world this guy couldn’t fix.

I walked into the center of the room and set him down, flinging my bag on the floor and kicking off my shoes.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” I asked Killian as I walked towards the kitchen to get Mac his dinner.

“Ambrosia nectar?”

“How about a beer?”

“That would also be acceptable.”

I grabbed a couple longnecks from the fridge and popped the caps, handing one to Killian.

I stepped back into the kitchen and sucked mine down as quick as I could, my hands shaking a bit as I opened Mac’s dinner can.

Today had freaked me out more than I could ever let anyone know. That vamp almost had me. I rolled my car. I owed an elf a favor.

I popped the cap on a second beer and walked back into the living room.

Killian was lounging on my fat, plaid couch looking like he was ready to move in.

“Your home is quite pleasant,” he said, waving his bottle in the general direction of everywhere.

My place was a cozy two-story, arts and crafts style cottage I had picked up earlier this year. I had some extra cash and needed a change in scenery, so I met up with a nice realtor witch who was able to pluck my dream house straight out of my brain and, with a few tweaks, grow this place for me. It was almost all I had ever hoped for, but to Killian, I just shrugged, “Yah… well. It works.”

“You have many human items here, down to this delicious beverage we are partaking of.”

“I spend a lot of time on Earth.”

The truth be told, I had never quite felt right living in the Other Side.

My father had been an Other Sider, though. He met my mom on Earth. They set up house, had two kids, and for awhile, we lived the California dream. But they had to move the family to the Other Side of the border after a little incident where I discovered I wasn’t quite Earth material.

Some guy on the playground made fun of my math skills. So I tried to deck him. He ducked and my hand disappeared. I punched through dimensions. Most cultures would have thrown me a coming of age party, but evidently this Quinceañera involved packing boxes and a moving van.

My sister was smart. She hightailed it back to Earth as soon as she could steal Mom and Dad’s keys. Got herself a nice boring little job in finance. But with my special little gifts, I was stuck living amongst the magical folk.

No matter what wonders lay on the Other Side, it wasn’t where I grew up and, color me crazy, I kind of liked the order found in a place that abided by the laws of physics.

But a girl has to pay her rent, and since my typing skills were lackluster, I went into the tracking business with my dad. And business is business.

“Okay, Killian. Tell me what I need to know.”

Killian put down his drink, “Tracker Maggie, there are terrible things that walk the night…”

“In plain speak, please.”

He breathed deep at the difficulty of translation. Ah, elves. Only they would get bent out of shape for having to say things as they actually are.

“We are in trouble and we need your help.”

I nodded. Now we were getting somewhere.

“What kind of trouble?”

“There is an imbalance. Echoes from this world are appearing in the other.”

“I don’t follow.”

“That invisible hand that threw your…car…”

I could see he totally wanted to say “moving vehicle” or “mechanical steed” or something equally ridiculous. I wasn’t going to make this easy on him.

He shook his head in frustration. “It has been some years since I took Human Dialects 401 at university. I was once fluent,” he offered apologetically, “It is why I was sent.”

Yes, Human Dialects 401 is an actual upper level class here on the Other Side. It’s a requirement for any Other Side language major, so that told me this guy wasn’t a slouch. Sure, English wasn’t too far off for the elves, but sorting out American sayings from Cockney slang, Chinese euphemisms from Hindi cuss words, well… it takes a pretty smart cookie. I spoke a little Elfish myself, but sounded more like a bad actor in a community theater production of Julius Caesar .

“It’ll come back to you,” I said as I leaned back and took another sip of my beer. “Keep going.”

He closed his eyes again in concentration, “That force that threw your car… It has been happening all along the boundary. My mistress, the Queen of the Elves, wishes to put a stop to it.”

Crap.

“The Queen of the Elves wants ME to look into this.”

Killian nodded.

“Why me?” I asked, rubbing my forehead, wishing that this was all just a bad fucking dream.

“Your family can walk within the two worlds thanks to your father’s powers. Your family can see through the boundary and sometimes into the future thanks to your mother’s gift of sight. The Queen has heard you possess both their gifts.”

He was right. I did. My specialty was portal creation, though. I could get from Earth to the Other Side with a little more than a howdy do.

That said, I didn’t want to howdy anything he was doing.

“Is it too late to back out of that favor?”

Killian took my hand in his, and perhaps it was just the effects of shot-gunning two twelve ounce bottles in five minutes, but I didn’t punch him in the nose.

“Dear Maggie, we know the vampire who almost killed you today was no accident. He was not like those you normally track.”

I thought back to the words the sucker had uttered as we had struggled.

“He said there is a bounty on my head…”

Killian nodded. I hated that I knew he wasn’t lying.

“Any idea why?”

“My mistress believes it is because you are a child of your particular parents, parents with gifts of dimension travel and sight.”

Ah, family.

“So, this makes the bad guys want me dead or alive?”

Killian nodded again, “Or worse.”

He got me right where he needed me. Dead I could handle. It’s the “or worse” part that sends chills down my bones.

“Crap.”

I leaned back against the couch. I was spooked.

“You are not alone in the Queen’s task,” Killian said.

“We’re all alone,” I replied.

“I am here on behalf of the elfin kingdom to aid you.”

I rose from my seat, “Show yourself out. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

With that, I walked upstairs and went to bed.