Episode 37: A Quick Retreat and Lots of Questions
- Crystal Crawford
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Mom and Dad moved near Lockley, Collin, and me.
“Get behind me,” my dad said, stepping in front of the rest of us protectively.
What he planned to do to protect us against that monstrosity rising from the ocean, I wasn’t sure, but I shut the hourglass back into its box, slid the case into my pocket, and obeyed.
“What is that thing?” Collin asked.
“Most likely an elemental,” Trenchcoat Man said, staring at it with a look of curiosity. “How long has this gentleman been here hiding?”
I would not have called this a gentleman—not in the slightest.
“Is that what Mr. Pierce really looks like?” Collin balked.
Trenchcoat Man glanced back at him. “Close enough, though Mr. Pierce is from a line of humanoid elementals, based on what I gathered from your exchange. I’d wager this one has never taken human form—or at least not in a very long time. The ones who stay in their raw form are still intelligent, but you shouldn’t expect human behavior from them. The raw magic makes them quite feral.”
Trenchcoat Man stared back out at the shore, where the monster—some kind of massive, seaweedy ocean golem—had risen to its full height. It was startlingly huge—taller than the dockside restaurant, even on its stilts, and then some. Its gaping mouth took up nearly its whole face, and any eyes it had were buried beneath clumps of seaweed.
“Ooh,” Trenchcoat Man grunted. “He does not seem happy we’ve disturbed him.”
My shocked brain finally caught up to me. “Did this thing take Emery?” I asked, a little panicked. “What does this mean?”
The monster raised its massive, bulgy face toward the sky and roared.
Trenchcoat Man looked back at me. “That means we should leave.”
He turned to Jillian, Tory, and Meredith. “Girls, run interference, please.”
The cheer hawks immediately shifted and sailed out toward the elemental.
Trenchcoat Man turned back to us. “The rest of you, huddle together. Quickly.”
We did, and Trenchcoat Man ran into the middle of us.
One big clap of his hands, and a flash—-and we were standing, crammed in around a paper-cluttered desk, in an office lit dimly by a small window.
“My temporary local P.I. office. Forgive me, I’m not the best at paperwork,” Trenchcoat Man said. “But please, make yourselves comfortable.” He walked to the opposite wall and turned up the lights. “That’s better.”
Collin and I gaped at each other.
“What was that thing?!” Collin shouted.
“An elemental,” Lockley answered. “Didn’t you listen?”
“Of course, but—” Collin gaped at me. “Did you see that thing?”
Mom moved toward us. “Are all of you alright?”
“Yes,” I nodded, then glanced around. The office was small, with one exit door—closed—and a bifold door I assumed was a closet. The cheer hawks were nowhere in sight.
“What about the others?” I asked with concern. Had this guy really left three teenage cheerleader-hawks to face that monster alone?
“Ah, right on time,” Trenchcoat Man said, sliding open the window.
The cheer hawks tucked their wings and sailed in one after the other, then shifted back to human form.
“All good?” Trenchcoat Man asked them, shutting the window behind them.
Jillian shrugged. “If setting loose a furious elemental on the local beach is good, then sure.” She glanced at me.
Was she blaming me? “I’m sorry! It’s not like I knew,” I retorted.
“Who would have?” Trenchcoat Man answered me, and I felt a bit justified.
He turned to Jillian. “Besides, we’ve traveled here with the dampener, which means whatever that thing is, it’s probably hidden again. Awake, but hidden. At least due to the weather emptying the beach, we won’t have caused a panic today.”
“Did that thing—is it what took Emery?” Lockley asked, voice trembling.
“I don’t believe so, no.” Trenchcoat Man walked over to his desk. “I can see no reason a feral elemental would have for taking a human captive.”
“Then what was that thing?” Collin asked. “Why would Emery have sent us to unleash that?”
“We didn’t unleash it,” Trenchcoat Man answered, rummaging through papers on his desk. “It was never leashed; it was asleep. We just woke it up.”
That seemed like a pointless distinction.
“So now it’s going to rampage down the beach?” Lockley’s eyes widened. “We aren’t going to stop it?”
Trenchcoat Man looked up at us calmly. “That is a problem, isn’t it?”
His smug, unruffled demeanor snapped my last string of patience. “Why are you so calm?!” I yelled.
“Aubrey,” my mom chided.
Trenchcoat Man just looked at me… calmly. I suddenly wanted to slap him.
“It’s always easier to think when you’re calm, don’t you agree?” he said.
Maybe so, but I was not feeling calm. I was feeling the murderous urge to wring his neck.
Trenchcoat Man turned to the cheerleaders. “Whatever illusion was at play, it seems to have been keeping that thing asleep. It’s possible that even though it’s now awakened, the removal of the dampener will at least re-institute the illusion enough so that no one else will be able to see it.”
“So it will still be rampaging, but people just might not be able to see it coming?” I gaped at him, my alarm growing by the minute. “How is that better? What if there’s someone on the beach tonight? What about tomorrow?”
Trenchcoat Man met my panicked questions with a thoughtful Hmm—which was infuriating—then he turned to the cheer hawks. “Get Rupert and Anglemoor. They’ll handle it easily enough. We’ll find a better solution later.”
He reopened the window, and the girls turned right into hawks and soared off.
“Rupert and Anglemoor?” my dad asked him.
I was glad I wasn’t the only one who had no idea who they were.
Trenchcoat Man turned to my dad. “Rupert can put most anything into slumber. Don’t worry; he’ll put that elemental back where it came from… for now. If needed, Anglemoor will throw another illusion on it to make sure it’s not disturbed, and we’ll deal with the rest later. It’s usually best to let sleeping elementals lie.”
Well, that was good at least. But my frustration was mounting, along with desperation from having hit another seeming dead end. “Why did Emery send us there?” I asked.
“Why have us wake that up? What does any of this mean?”
“What, indeed?” Trenchcoat Man said, glancing away in thought.
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