We found Mr. Darbinyan in the Prohibition Bar, sleeping in the second level. Lucky for us, the bar itself could be repurposed to be in lockdown for a night. Not so lucky for us, on the other hand, he also told us someone has to stay inside the observation pod to activate the lockdown mechanism.
—Yeah, I think we can manage— Dr. Tang seemed completely unfazed by the idea—. Is it safe up there?
—Yes, the lining of the rails is silver, reinforced with lead screws. Besides, wanting or not, they could never even reach the upper floor after the mechanism is working—he pointed at the spiral staircase and for the first time I saw the hinges behind the steps—. You should be fine, and if anything happens, I will appear in a couple of hours.
—You said “they”, as in plural— I noticed—. Is there anything else we need to know?
—Besides Ms. DeLuca there are other six members of our team who belong to this subrace. Therefore, we considered to facilitate this place and let friends or family to keep an eye on them. Also, Ariel is going to be with them. They have a special way for it.
At that point the other door opened and a group of about ten people, Mx. Bonheur among them, walked in. Like Ursula, about half of them were a greenish colour and deeply uncomfortable. The others were trying to calm them down, and Bonheur was looking at the room, assessing the situation of what we were going to do this night.
—Precautions, we need precautions— they said—. We have about half an hour to prepare and we don’t have precautions.
—Yes, the mechanism is working, I tested it after our meeting— Mr. Darbinyan added with a self-sufficient smile—. The doors seal properly and the bars go up as predicted.
—No, not those precautions, you imp— Mx. Bonheur pinched the bridge of their nose in frustration—. Food, we need food Tir, I mean Taryn. A lot of it. The transformation consumes a large number of Calories, and to avoid the rampage it usually causes, we stuff ourselves with food. It’s the sensible thing to do.
—Right, right, I will talk to the kitchen to send everything they got here and to get more for tonight’s diner— he left immediately with a red gleam on his face—.
We stayed with Ursula until Mr. Darbinyan returned. Following him was a seemingly endless number of trays, which had everything from dairy to fresh fruit to cooked and uncooked meat, and put it on several of the tables that had been prompted to the walls. As soon as I one can say “continental” the place looked like the buffet of a strange restaurant where everything could be edible. Mx. Bonheur told the companions to fetch what we wanted or needed, and then go upstairs.
—We are ten minutes to the rise of the moon, so I’ll recommend you do it quickly— they said—. Last one up, activate the mechanism, please.
—Wish me luck— Ursula said, with small dark circles on her eyes—. Oh, I forgot.
She proceeded to quick and hastily remove her gold rings, two-row pearl necklace, pearl earrings, and even her high heels. I suppose all those things could be troublesome in the midst of a transformation, so I took everything inside the leather briefcase I had with me.
I ended up being the last one going up the stairs. Can’t help being a picky eater, sue me.
—Oh gods, to be Little Bo-Peep tonight— I heard Mx. Bonheur say before walking to fix themselves a plate—. I am too old for this…
The mechanism was activated by a small lever next to one of the light fixtures at the top of the stairs. There was the loud crashing of metal chains coming from in the walls, and I had to leave my plate on the floor and hold to the handrail with all my might. The observation balcony was elevating along the ceiling, and soon we were three, four, six, ten metres high from the ground floor. When it stopped, the chain began again and iron bars appeared on the windows, sprouting from hidden places in the wooden frames. The doors made a suction noise, and disappeared on the walls, and soon we were in a prison made of expensive wood panels and elegant electrical fixtures.
—Mx. Bonheur just called themselves “Bo-Peep” — I said to Dr. Tang, sitting next to her and her quaint cup of coffee—. Any idea why?
—Isn’t that a nursery rhyme? The one about the sheep? —she remembered with a tired tone in her voice. She was to fall asleep in any moment, and the clock stroke six when I realized I’d never seen a werewolf in my life.
Now, this was my fault to some extent for not travelling outside the British Isles never before in my life. Werewolves were, as much as regular wolves, extinct in the United Kingdom. Last one of them, don’t know if it was one or the other, was killed during a raid in Nottingham around 1888. So, no. I’d never seen a werewolf in person, much less the transformation that was so badly described in my books. That last part is to blame in myself again, because it was far too late when I realised everything related to that subrace was strongly biased due to the visceral hatred my people had for centuries after the Schism. New Fairies, that were, not myself. I’m an old-world one.
Anyway. I was so focused in avoiding Dr. Tang to fall over herself and onto the floor, that I didn’t see any part of the transformation. One moment the seven were there, and the next they were gone, instead large bipedal wolves roamed the plates and trays, searching for food. I recognised Ursula, not by something she did, but because her fur (fur?) had the same light-brown curls close to the ears.
—Everybody, this is normal, they are going to be like that for a while. Once everyone eats is going to be alright— Mx. Bonheur said, and I gasped when I saw them—.
They weren’t a werewolf, like, at all; there was no way in hell they could be confused as one. Their head was of a canine like creature, but not a wolf, that was for sure. Dr. Tang, when I asked her later, said it was a jackal, which made a lot of sense. The pitch-black fur extended to some point below their robes, which now were wearing instead of the old-fashioned suit. Their glowing yellow eyes had the eyeliner I had only seen once in my life, which helped to confirm what all the suspicions were yelling inside my head.
Ariel Bonheur was the Egyptian god Anubis. Which was a sentence I had never written in my life, but here we are. Man, this experience was just starting and I was quite sure I have had enough surprises to last me a lifetime.
At my side, however, Dr. Tang was unimpressed. For some reason, the sleepy expression on her face gave the impression that she already knew about it, and was not even in her list of strange things.
—It is been a while since I looked like this, so I hope no one is too terrified— Mx. Bonheur, Anubis, said—. Also, I hope you are comfortable upstairs. This is going to be a long night.
—Of course, it’s going to be— another man, with a tray filled with teacups filled with coffee, approached—. Would you like some coffee? I brew it myself.
I grabbed a cup, Dr. Tang woke up to do the same and, after that, he sat in an empty chair. The tray hovered for people to serve themselves of the coffee, and then flew empty, so we could use it to put empty plates, glasses and cups. The man seemed older than Dr. Tang, with grey beard stricken in black and several age lines crossed his face.
—I’m Hari, I work with Anubis and with my friend over there, at the Archives— he pointed to one of the werewolves—.
—You happen to know my friend Leslie?
—Oh, yes, the human —he seemed confused at my confusion—. Leslie Holmes, right? Thin, short black hair, big doe-like eyes?
—Yes, that’s her. What do you mean by human?
—She’s human, no magical qualities whatsoever, but enough extensive knowledge to make everyone a fool against her. She even got me fooled until we had to fill some papers for the Human Resources database. I’m an elemental myself, so I know how it is to appear human…
—Fire?
—Water; tea and coffee aficionado.
—Of course.
I thought one of the reasons the Ivory Tower closed doors and we were working for the renamed “Terra Nova Research Base” was due to humans being on the original payroll. I was aware humans worked in artefact retrieval, the great Jules Verne was an example of this, at least until early years of the last decade. The reason given, as far as I could figure out on my time on the boat and train, was the number of deaths in artefact-related incidents.
—Caveat everyone up there! —Anubis yelled— We have a climber!
Indeed, we had. One of the werewolves was beginning to use the end of the windowsill as a climber’s ledge to propel themselves in an effort to grab the handrail. At the last moment, and by that, I mean when they were flying through the air toward us, Hari moved his hand and a burst of water came from the glasses and pitchers. I was glad it wasn’t the boiling coffee what flew in the face of the werewolf, making them loose momentum and plummeted to the floor.
—Thank you! —Anubis went to see if it was injured or something.
—You’re welcome— Hari yelled back, before turning to me—. Anyway. I was as surprised as you, but the girl has recommendations from President Wilson and the governor of Massachusetts, so I guess it’s okay. I just hope she doesn’t…
—Die? —Dr. Tang seemed to suffer from selective narcolepsy, pretending to be asleep at times where the conversations bored her, but now was wide awake—. I hope she doesn’t. Seems like a nice kid. Reminds me of Alice at times.
—Alice? —I’d heard the name before in passing conversation, especially between Anubis and Mr. Darbinyan.
—Alice Athenida, Daedalus’ daughter. She was part of the last retrieval team of Sophia. I met her decades ago, back in China— the doctor said—. However, no one seems to know what happened with her or why she isn’t here.
—When we first heard the Tower was relocating the artefacts and creating a new department for retrieval, most of the older generation thought “she” was going to be in charge of it— Hari stretched his arms while still sitting—. Either that or she was the Overseer, since Old Man Athenida has mostly retired from this whole ordeal.
—For someone who’s retired, still seems to have a strong holding here— I said, pointing at the fixtures, which had the logo of “Athenida Electrical Features” on them—. This seems like a playground for him and the board.
—It is, as Alice once called it, a private empire providing a public service—Dr. Tang said it in such a verbatim manner that it was impossible it only heard it once—. And though I never liked the private sector, this was too tempting.
—Hear, hear— Hari lifted his empty cup like making a toast—.
—Aren’t you a bit long in the tooth to be making life-changing decisions? —another one of the people around interjected. A woman with long wavy dark hair in a red nightgown— Neither of you two are spring chickens.
—Shut up, Iggy— Dr. Tang barked at the woman, but was smiling when she did it—. You are older than both of us combined.
Feeling it wasn’t my conversation anymore, I walked through the observation balcony was surprisingly ample for something that had a mechanism which pretty much turned it into a lift. The seven people up there, counting Dr. Tang, Hari, this new woman Iggy, and myself, were quite comfortable there with the couches and chairs and food. If we ignore the occasional using our powers to send the werewolves back to the first floor, it was a dainty evening for all. Iggy seemed to know how to conjure and play the cello, so she gave an improvised performance when the energy was dying out, and Hari showed how to make a rainbow with a glass of water and a still-on lightbulb.
Comments (0)
See all