Flash Fiction #578 -- Neko's Vacation/4

 

It was only when they were halfway across the sound that Luna stopped looking over her shoulder as though she expected her enemies to show up at any moment.
After that, they found a quiet spot and discussed magic.  Neko thought Colin was starting to look a bit worn from all the magic used that day.

Neko had an idea, but he needed some answers, first.

"Where will you go when we reach New London?" Neko asked.

"There are some shelters in the area, and since I am getting there so early, it should be easy to find --"

"Do you drive?" Neko asked.

Colin started to say something and stopped.  Luna looked confused.

"That's not a bad idea," Colin conceded.  He smiled at Luna.  "It is a long drive to California.  Having a second person to drive means we could cover more distance in a shorter time."

"But you could get another fae, couldn't you?" Luna asked.

"We are trying to keep others from noticing us," he admitted.  "Or at least what we are doing."

"So you take along a talking cat?  You think that won't draw notice?"

"Two things," Colin said.  They were drawing closer to docking.  "First is a spell.  Once you move more than fifty feet away from Neko, you will forget that he talks or what you discussed with him."

"No!" she said, seriously appalled.

"Second," Colin continued.  "Neko is the perfect cover for a cross-country trip.  He was trapped by a spell in a single building for centuries.  Of course, he wants to get out and see things."

"And that's true, too," Neko agreed.

"I could call in more fae," Colin admitted.  "And I might, depending on what we find.  However, if we head out with that much magic, it is going to draw attention."

"I have magic," Luna reminded them.

"So do I," Neko added.  "But we aren't fae, so it is not the same.  If anyone with power does notice us, they'll see a human, a cat, and a fae."

"I don't know --"

"If it isn't working, you tell me, and I'll put you on a plane for wherever you want to go.  Take my hand.  You'll know the truth."

She did.  Colin repeated what he'd said.  She smiled brightly.

"Road trip!"

"Do you have a driver's license?" Colin asked.

Her emotions dropped.  "Not a current one."

"No problem." Colin pulled out his own license, looked it over, and passed his other hand over it.  Now there were two.  Colin studied Luna's face, which made her nervous.  Then he swept a tiny bit of magic over one card and held it out to her.

"Wow," she said.  "This looks perfect, except that the picture is too good.  No one's picture on these things look good."

"It'll pass any test," he promised.

"But you don't know if I can really drive or not!"

"The truth is that the car does most of the work on its own.  If you -- or I -- fall asleep at the wheel, it will simply pull off to the side of the road and put on the emergency blinkers.  We also won't need fuel, but we'll pretend we do if I suspect we're being watched.  We are not in a hurry."

"Good," Luna said.

They were soon off the ferry and into an area of red brick and white buildings.  Neko watched from Luna's lap.

Everywhere we have gone has looked different," Neko said.  "And how did there get to be so many people?When Maude and I arrived, there might have been 200,000."

"What was it like?" Luna asked.

Neko told her part of it and Colin filled in a few points of his own.  She soon caught on that he'd been around for centuries, too.  For some reason, she took the knowledge about Neko better than the same facts about Colin.

They did well, though. Late that night, they stopped at a small town hotel, got two rooms, and didn't leave again until late morning.

The two traded off driving.  They were soon on the back side of the Appalachians, despite having stopped many times along the way.  Neko thought the scenery gorgeous, and Colin found some of the locals fascinating.  Neko wasn't certain he gained any real information ... but they were not in a hurry.

Except Neko started getting an odd feeling as they crossed the mountains. He settled in the back seat  and watched every vehicle or group of tourists.

And the horses.

"Neko?" Colin said.  He might have said it once or twice already.

"Sorry -- distracted.  I don't know if you two can feel it, but there is some really old magic in these mountains, and it doesn't have a happy feel."

"Kind of a sting in the back of the head?" Luna asked.  "I always thought it was the start of a migraine."

"Do you think we can get clear of it, Neko?"

"I fear it's tracking us.  I can't decide if it's nebulous or corporal, though.  I suggest you find a good spot and see what it wants. It might just want us out of here."

"Maybe I should just drive on -- ah.  No."

Something appeared at the side of the road, a massive shape -- there and gone again.

Luna made a slight yip of sound.

"There is a pull off," Colin said and began angling that way.  "I'll step out to discuss the situation.  Luna, take the controls and be ready to run.  Neko, don't go out.  This is an apex predator from what I can feel.  She's not going to take a talking cat very seriously."

"She?" Neko asked.  "Spearfinger?"

"I get the feeling of ... a metamorph.  She might be what is left of many legends."

"And our magic could make her strong again," Neko added.

"Colin agreed with a silent nod.  He pulled over, but did not turn the engine off.  As he got out, Luna scrambled over to the driver's seat.

Something came to the edge of the woods.

Flash Fiction #577 -- Neko's Vacation/3

 They had drawn attention, of course.  Colin took care of it with magic so  no one came near.  

"I've gotten too used to talking to people," Neko said.  "I'm sorry."

"There is more going on here than being startled by a talking cat.  I suspect our friend here has seen a few odd things of her own."

"Yes," she whispered.  Her eyes opened, and she looked around, relaxing as she found herself still in the park and on the bench.  "I don't know who you are --"

"What I am," Colin corrected.  "You are a fortune teller with a true gift.  That's rare.  I'm a fae who happens to like living in the human world.  It makes me useful."

"And the cat talks."

Neko looked at Colin and said nothing at all.  Colin laughed.  "Say something, Neko."

"I don't like to scare people."

"What a nice cat!"  She started to pet him and stopped.  "He is really a cat, right?"

"I am," Neko said and jumped up on the bench.

"We could feel your power for some distance," Colin explained.  He watched as the annoying guy looked around, did not spot them behind the magic, and limped out of the park.

"My power can be felt?  I felt a tingle when you knocked Lyle down.  I had never felt anything like that before.  And now I feel like I am in a protective bubble."

"You know that guy?"

"Local gang scum," she snarled but then looked worried.  "I have to get away from here.  The gang leader knows I am legit.  He wants me."

"Come on.  I can give you a ride."

She frowned.  "Should I trust you?"

"Yes."

She held out her hand, and he took it.  Neko felt an odd rush of magic around them, but she looked relieved.

"Fae." She tilted her head.  "I find no lies in you at all."

"They are impossible for fae," he replied.  "Except when a fae has lied so well to himself that he believes some fundamental untruth and builds on that foundation.  You don't want to meet one of those."

She gave a nod as though she totally understood.  "I am Luna," she said.

"Colin and Neko." Colin swept Neko up in his arms.  "We don't have far to go to the car.  Where can we take you?"

"Anywhere away from here," she said and pulled a backpack out from under the bench.

"No home?" Colin asked as the three started away.

"None that is safe," she admitted.

"We're going across on the ferry.  Does New London sound good to you?"

"I don't have the fare --"

"Fae," he said.  "Money is the last thing we worry about."

Luna gave a tentative nod, but Neko suspected she still didn't trust them enough to go on the ferry.

She took the backseat, much to Neko's surprise.  Luna was asleep before they had gone far.

"Ocean!" Neko suddenly shouted despite himself.  He leaped onto the dashboard and plastered his face to the window.  "I saw ocean!"

"What?  You didn't believe me when I said that was where we were going?" Colin asked.

"Yes, of course.  But I saw it!"

Luna laughed.

"Oh.  Sorry.  I woke you."

"It was delightful.  Have you never seen the ocean before?"

"Not for several centuries," Neko replied.  Then he sighed.  "That sounds odd, even to me."

"Neko used to be the familiar for a particularly bad-tempered witch.  She's no longer with us."

"I tripped her on the stairs.  I did not expect her to break her neck."

"That was good luck," Colin added.  "She had gotten through my shields."

"More ocean," Luna pointed.

Neko pushed the thought of Maude out of his brain and leaped from the dashboard to the seat and back again.  Luna laughed with delight. Neko had the feeling she didn't laugh very often.

They had a pleasant ride out to Orient Point.  Luna didn't want to stay alone in the car and gladly carried Neko as they headed along the shore, Colin testing various spots with a whisper of magic.

"May I ask what you are doing?" Luna asked at last.

"The fae have found some growing magical trouble spots in the continental US.    We want to find out what is happening before something unfortunate occurs.  I am doing an initial reading, and then Neko and I will drive across country to find as many of the locations as we can."

"Across country?" she said in surprise.  They were finally heading down to the water.  She still carried Neko, and the cat felt the sudden rush of her heartbeat and even saw the start of a smile before she forced it away.  "How far?"

"All the way," Colin replied.  Neko could tell he was busy with his readings and had not noted Luna's reaction.

"To California?" she asked.  

Colin caught the tone this time and looked her way.  Luna glanced aside in haste and watched the slight ocean waves with the same intensity that Neko felt, although for her own reasons.

Colin took an hour or more getting readings from various spots.  Neko got down and chased a few gulls, even daring the edge of the water.

"Come on Neko," Colin shouted.  "We don't want to miss the ferry, unless you want to swim across the sound."

One of the gulls swept across the water and straight at Neko, but the cat flipped over, caught a few feathers, and sent the bird raging on.

"Well done!" Luna praised and scooped him up, seawater, sand, feathers, and all.

"Considering Neko had been trapped in a building for centuries, I am quite pleased to see how well he is doing," Colin added.

"I used to go up in the attic and pretend to be out in the wild.  I have a good imagination.  I always wondered if that flip would work."

They all three laughed, but Neko kept an eye on the enraged gull that tagged after them.

They barely made it to the ferry on time.

Flash Fiction #576 -- Neko's Vacation/2

 

Colin remained quiet for a few miles.  

"I wish we had known about you," he finally said.  "Why did you never try to contact the fae?  I think a few might have come to the store?"

"Maybe one every couple of decades.  I knew they were magical -- but so was Maude.  Until you showed up, I had no way of judging the fae."

"That's something I don't think any of us ever considered.  We're used to people knowing who we are and what we represent."

"I am not people."

"Yes, you are," Colin insisted, which surprised Neko.  "As much as any fae is, at least.  You think, you communicate -- I suspect that you even write.  Humans often judge by shape and color and not by what really matters.  Tell me you never noticed that in all those books you have read."

"I had thought they were getting better," Neko admitted.  "Although considering how most of them scream when I first speak, I suppose not."

"Not," Colin agreed.

Neko yawned.

"Go lay down on your blanket," he said with a wave of his hand toward the back seat.  "I'll wake you when we get to New York."

Neko crawled into his blanket nest and went immediately to sleep.  The soft purr of the car had a soothing effect. In fact, he didn't wake up until cars screamed in rage all around them and monsters as high as the moon rose up on all sides.

He let out an unexpected hiss.

"You are awake.  Welcome to New York.  I am never certain how anyone sleeps here."

Neko crawled to the front seat, stared out the windows, and finally shook his head in disbelief.

"Those are buildings.  Why do they make them so high?  It looks as though they want to be birds!"

"Humans like to make monumental buildings.  They've always been this way."

"Yes.  True.  This is excessive, though."

"I won't argue.  Do you want to see the city from the top of one?"

"Do I look that crazy?"

"I never know with cats," he admitted.

Neko didn't say anything. Even he had trouble reading cat emotions, despite ears, tail, and whiskers.

"Here is the good news.  New York is unique.  We are going to drive to the beach here and officially start the journey from there, unless you want to go back to the bookstore."

"I am ready for the adventure," Neko admitted.

Colin looked pleased.  Then they spent too much time between the monster buildings, often at a standstill.  

"They could walk faster," Neko protested.

"We'll be out of this mess soon.  Then we are heading to Long Island and out to Orient, a small spot about as far east as you can go.  We'll take the ferry from there across to New London."

"Why are we not simply heading westward?" Neko asked.

"I need to take some readings on both coasts so that we get a good idea of what is going on.  This won't take long."

"I don't mind.  I haven't seen the Atlantic in centuries, and the Pacific for even longer.  I am in no hurry to go anywhere, Colin.  Fast or slow, do what you need --"

Neko stopped talking and spun toward the window beside him.  He moved so fast that he startled the woman driving a car just passing, but nothing bad happened.

"Did you feel that?" Colin asked.  "You must have to react that fast."

"Magic out there -- not far away," Neko replied.  "Odd magic.  It seemed to have something to do with time."

"Good catch," Colin admitted.  "I think there must be a genuine fortune teller nearby."

Colin took the next exit and then a right into a residential area filled with big old houses at least a century old. The feel of magic lingered, spiked again, and died down a bit.

"Interesting," Colin said as he found a parking spot.  That had to be magic.  "Ready to try out your harness and retractable leash?"

Neko huffed.  "I am still not a dog."

"None the less..."

"Let's do it."

It really wasn't so bad.  Both harness and leash were really no more than magical images to keep people from bothering Neko.  They'd had enough of that back at the bookstore.

It wasn't hard to find the source of the magic.  She sat on a bench in a small park, a young brown-skinned woman with a flamboyant style in clothing and hair.  She had also planted a pennant that said 'fortune teller' beside her.

There were no lines of people.  Neko didn't know why not because this was the real thing, and from all his study of magic, he knew such practitioners were extremely rare.

In fact, the young man who now leaned close to her was clearly not looking for his fortune.  She shoved him away, and he sneered and reached.

"I think I'll go bite his ankle.  How kind of him to wear shorts and flip-flops."

"Go," Colin agreed and let the leash out of his hand.

Neko bounded through the grass, darted under the bench, and ran straight into the man's leg.  The man screamed in terror and took off at such a run that Neko decided it wouldn't be worth trying to catch up with him.

Besides, Colin gave a little wave of his hand, and the man lost his footing and went down into a mud patch.

The mud patch probably hadn't been there a heartbeat before.

The fortune teller surged to her feet and looked around -- focusing finally on Colin as he neared.

"What did you do?" she whispered, her brown eyes blinking rapidly in fear.  "How did you -- what is that!"

"I am a cat," Neko said with wounded pride.  "A rather nice, good-looking cat.  Why do people so often react to me that way?"

"Quiet, Neko," Colin said and caught the young woman as she fainted.

Flash Fiction #575 -- Neko's Vacation/1

 

You can find Neko's first story here: https://zette.blogspot.com/2023/04/flash-fiction-556-neko1.html 

"Vacation?" Neko said.

"I thought you might like one," Colin replied as he began locking up.  "Except for our walks, you've not been anywhere outside this building."

"We went to the movies!" Neko reminded him.  "But I still don't understand if the Force is science or magic!"

"It's all pretend," Colin explained yet again.  "At least in this reality.  There is probably another place where they can work together, though.  Anything and everything is possible out there."

The movie adventure prompted Colin to create a wonderful spell that allowed Neko to talk with people and for them to not only take it calmly but also to forget the experience as soon as they were fifty feet away from the cat. It even worked in the shop.

So Neko faced a whole new world.  He knew about cars, phones, computers (his favorite, especially in the cold winter), and all the rest of the wonders that had arrived since the age of horse and carriage when he'd last been free.

"What would we do for vacation?" he finally asked.  "Where would we go?"

Colin l pulled the blinds, and came to sit at the counter while Neko stretched out in front of him.

"We would drive to New York, and if the car doesn't bother you, then we'll start at the Atlantic Ocean and drive all the way to the Pacific while stopping at various places along the way."

Neko looked at him, wondering what had brought this on --

"What has gone wrong?" Neko asked.

At least Colin didn't try to brush off his question.  "So many things have gone wrong that I wouldn't know how to list them. Part of the trip will be stopping at places and doing a bit of fact finding.  Are you ready to play detective?

"My favorite genre," Neko admitted.  "Well, that and fantasy."

Colin laughed.  "When shall we leave?"

"I have no idea.  What do we need to do?  What about the shop?"

"Darion will take over while we're gone."

Neko wasn't surprised.  Darion loved the store and spent a lot of time there already.

"What else do we need?"

"I have to go get the car out of storage or else magic up another one.  I want the one I already have ready.  I'll go get it in the morning.  You need to think about anything you want to take along, like that blanket you like so well."

Neko was surprised he had noticed, but it did make a warm, soft nest.  "Yes, that one.  I assume food and such will be available as usual."

"No problems there." Colin smiled brightly.

So they went upstairs to dinner.  Darion arrived just as the pizza got done, and they discussed the situation.

"There are outbreaks of magic in spots all across the US.  Nothing yet in Europe or Asia, or the southern lands, though.  I have a theory."

"Yes?" Neko asked.

Colin took over.  "The Old World, as it had been known, had been densely populated with people who strongly believed in magic.  Fae were even common in some areas.  North America had less population and fewer practitioners, mostly shamans and wise women.  Some of them have been, and are, extremely powerful. Many of them made stockpiles of magic hidden away in various places.  That was, of course, what drew me here -- your collection of magical books."

"And now someone else seems to be finding those stockpiles and draining them," Darion added.  "And not doing it carefully."

"Dangerous," Neko said and nibbled on some pepperoni.   "There have been some unexpectedly bad storms in the south lately and a few earthquakes in the west."

"You put that together well.  We are going to check out a few of the raided spots and some that were overlooked and see if we can make sense out of it."

Neko thought it sounded like an excellent plan.  The only thing he hadn't counted on was the size of the world and the open spaces ... and the huge buildings.  Cars everywhere.  Semis.  No matter how fast Colin drove, someone else had to go faster.

They had gone barely twenty miles when Colin took an off ramp and pulled over.

"Okay, I'll take you back to the shop," he said.

"No, no.  Give me a chance to adjust."  Neko made himself relax.  A bird flew past the windshield, startling him again, but this time it annoyed Neko.  "I like the car.  I want to see things.  There is just so much -- what is that!"

Something huge and loud was heading toward them --

"Train.  You know about trains and train tracks.  You can see them there to the right."

"Those thin metal strips?  They can't be wide enough to hold something that large --"

However it did.  Sitting there and watching it go past helped.  The semis were not nearly as large or loud.  When they drove back onto the interstate highway, he found himself far more calm.  A deer crossing the road startled him -- but it startled Colin as well as half a dozen other drivers.  Somehow the creature made it across.  Neko thought there might have been a little magic involved.

"It is a dangerous world, Neko.  Even without going out there hunting for magical trouble.  Stay close to me."

"I will," he said and fully intended to do so, although mostly so he could protect Colin.  For some reason, the fae seemed to think he was nothing more than a pampered house cat.

"Maude stole me from a Persian Mage a long time ago," Neko said.  "We lived in the Middle East and then in different parts of Europe.  When we came to the Americas, there had never been a cat like me here.  Siamese were still hundreds of years away from these shores.  I changed into a gray tabby for a long while, mostly to keep from being killed.  I am not helpless, Colin.  There were dangers even in the store under some of the 'owners.'

Flash Fiction # 574 --The Traveling Egg

 

The problem started when the dragons made their migration from the Arctic to the Sahara.  They did this once every thousand years and were well used to the journey.  There should have been no trouble at all.

But someone got careless.  They didn't gather enough penguin feathers to make a proper nest.  They had five eggs that millennium, already having cared for them for hundreds of years.  The five would hatch soon after they reached their desert retreat.  Baby dragons needed lots of warmth, not the frigid wind of the icelands.

So imagine their surprise when they arrived and found only four eggs.  Even worse, the missing one was the largest, and most probably a rare Golden Dragon egg.  Those eggs occurred randomly to the various types of dragons, but there had not been one in at least five thousand years.

The dragons were upset.

The rock trolls, on the other hand, were quite surprised when a lovely stone rolled into their home cave and came to rest just before the cooking fire.

"Odd rock," Olga the troll said as she neared it.  The 'rock' rolled away from the fire.  "Smart rock."

By then, Chief Petof had been roused to come and take a look.  Pretty and smart rocks didn't often just fall into their home.

He took one look and backed away in such haste that he almost fell and shoved the egg into the flames.  Lucky for everyone, both rock troll and dragon egg avoided each other.

"What's wrong?" Olga asked.

"Dragon egg!" the chief shouted.  "Get it out of here before they think we stole it!"

Although it was only about five foot long, Olga couldn't pick it up on her own.  It took her and three more hefty Rock Troll women to get it  hoisted up and out the opening.  Then, at the chief's orders, they took it along the ridge line by two miles, put it down, and pushed it off the cliff.

Imagine the faes' surprise when the egg rolled into their forest camp.  Several Fae leapt out of the way, but one woman stepped forward and stopped it.

"Are you crazy, Kerris?"  someone demanded.  "That's  dragon egg!"

"Golden Dragon egg," she said with a nod as she squatted before it.  She tapped lightly.  It tapped back.  "And ready to hatch, too.  We don't want a baby golden dragon lost in the woods, especially when the other dragons come looking for it.  Is it migration time again already?"

"I suppose it is," Sherist said as he came forward.  "The time passes so quickly.  Does anyone know where their desert refuge is?  Can we get the egg there quickly enough?"

"And safely," Kerris added.  "We need to move fast.  I see a crack.  Unless we want to spend most of eternity raising a baby dragon, we need to get the egg there now."

The twenty fae move fast, forming a square around the egg and carefully starting to lift it into the air.  The local bard sat on the dragon egg and lulled the babies into a quiet sleep.

"Twins," Redkin the bard warned the others.  "Two golden dragon babes.  Strong ones.  Let's go."

Sherist knew the general direction of the Dragon refuge in the desert.  They went quickly over Europe, the Mediterranean, and then began looking --

It was surprisingly easy to find dragons that hadn't been spotted in over three thousand years. They had kicked up so much sand and dust that it looked like an unexpected storm.  It was so much wind, too, that it was impossible to sweep down in and give back the little ones.

"Hey!" Kerris shouted down into the heart of the trouble.  "We found your egg."

 Everything went still, the golden sand drifting downward and half covering a dozen huge dragons, all of whom looked up.

"About to hatch.  Twins.  Where do you want them?"

That got the dragons moving -- and arguing again, but they quickly dug a bowl out of some stone and the fae were twice as fast to put the egg down and back away.  They never did spend much time with the dragons, which seemed a mistake to Kerris.  There was no other creature that lived as long as the fae and the dragons.  They could have discussed the old days before humans.

"We are indebted," a dragon said softly - or what passed for soft for their kind.  "How did it come to you?  We can scent Rock Trolls, too."

"It just rolled into our camp," Kerris said.  "We realized it would be important to get it to you immediately.  Our bard says you have twins.  Congratulations.  Best that we get out of the way now so that there is no chance they bond with any of us."

The dragons agreed and the fae left just at the first soft cries of baby dragons.

Back at their forest retreat they settled in and celebrated getting out of such a close call.

They hadn't expected the dragons to stop by.

"Music," an older Jade said but with a snarl that showed what she thought of such fae-ish things.  "They heard fae music, and now they won't sleep until they hear it again."

The bard stepped forward.  The two young golden dragons were not in a good mood, having not slept in weeks already.  Redkin began to sing a soft lullaby and in a few moments all the dragons were asleep.

The fae decided this was a good time for a nap.

The nap lasted a few weeks and even the Elder Jade Dragon pronounced it wondrous.  So the dragons stayed until the baby Goldens were old enough to sleep on their own and a few of the other dragons had learned the magic of music.

It was an interesting four centuries for all of them.