I weave between the streets, taking alleys and parking lots whenever I can. There’s something going on above me. The zeppelin has been joined by another strange flying craft, but they don’t seem to agree. I avert my gaze.

I’m moving on pure instinct, trying not to let the insanity of my situation catch up to me. I have one goal, get to Colby Rock without running into another crazy person. Sierra told me about it late one night, how she’d found a way to get atop the rock in Colby Park, and how she’d sometimes go up there just to get away from it all. It reminds me of how I’d go to that dead-end overlooking the skyline. Even in a city this big, everyone has their hidden places.

It’s hard to miss, I can already see the top of the rock, covered in trees in the distance. Colby Rock is the last remnants of Seattle’s landscape before the Denny Retrograde, when the city tried to make the city’s incredibly tall hills flatter. I don’t think they succeeded very well; the neighborhood is still steep as fuck. Although, if Colby Rock is any indication of what the place originally looked like, they might have had a point.

I reach an arterial that I’ll have to cross if I’m to make it to the park. I press my back to the alley wall, peeking my head around the corner to check for Within weirdos. I don’t see anyone, but double-check, just to be sure.

“Has the rattlesnake slithered?” a voice asks.

I spin around and come face to face with a woman not five inches from my face. Her brown eyes pierce through me, staring with a lucidity I’d never seen before. I could tell her full attention was on me with just a glance. It could have even been nice, had I known who this person was. Since I did not, I jumped with a high-pitched yelp and fell on my ass in the middle of the arterial.

“Sorry! Was I hitting eleven?” she kneels down to get on my level, and I get a better look at her. She has short, shaggy hair, bleached bright white like a shell worn away by waves. She wears overalls and a plain gray tee. She also has a sword strapped to her back, its jeweled hilt barely visible over her right shoulder, “Let’s get through the mist before someone likes the view. Colby Rock isn’t going anywhere but we should be!” She pronounces the e’s in “the” like a’s, an accent I can’t quite place. To make matters worse, I can barely understand a word she says.

“Who are you?” I should probably get out of here ASAP, but if my last encounter was any indication, I wouldn’t get far. She hasn’t become violent yet, so I decide to play this through.

“Connor, don’t joke around about my condition. It’s definitely fixed and it’s not funny.” She gives me a once-over. “Are ya okay?”

I get off the ground. “I’ve never met you. How do you know who I am?”

She facepalms, then stomps her foot. Biting her lower lip, she thinks on something. “I can’t believe it happened again. I thought I had settled up my score. You can call me Fische. Fische Unigo.”

I’m concerned that she knows my name. For all I know, she could be one of the crazy magic people stuck in here, and can read my thoughts. Although, if she wanted to kill me, she wouldn’t have let me notice her. Plus, by her body language and physical closeness, she seems to trust me. Why?

Fische notices me sizing her up and grins. “Oh well, if this isn’t the real you, that means…” She grabs me by the waist and pulls me in for a kiss. I’m confused, but let it happen. Her mouth tastes like rosemary and evergreens, and I can’t help myself but press in a little deeper. Her fingers gripping the small of my back, her chest pressed against mine, I can’t help but be drawn in by her passion. There’s something foreign in her mannerisms, something unusual but attractive. She pulls away and our lips part. She wipes the sweat off her brow.

“God, I never could’ve done that to the real Connor. Hope you don’t mind me doin’ a trial run.”

“Uhh, sure,” I stutter out.

Fische rubs her hands together, telling me, “You’re one prime rack of lamb, I do say. See you never!” She snaps her fingers and disappears. All that’s left of her is the lingering taste of pine.

Well, that was bizarre. Does this sort of thing happen often? Being assaulted by two magical people in the span of two hours? I stand there, wondering what she meant by ‘the real Connor’. Was she from the future? That didn’t seem right, she would have been initially confused.

A gunshot brings me back into reality, coming from the direction of Crucible Books. I hope it was Sierra and not Diggs. I remember my goal and start towards Colby Rock once again.

*

YES, YES, YES! Roiling, tumbling, fits of laughter bubble up inside me. It’s nothing, it’s everything, I’m the pilot of my DEST- IN- Y!

I, The Lizard Who Will Greet You at the End of Your Life, feed off my newfound freedom. There’s nothing like chumping on some chomp, wait, chomping on some chump who hasn’t yet clocked out. They’re tastier, they have a certain je ne sais quoi. Not that I know what that means, but then again, I don’t know what anything means! I’m a Lizard, baby!

I move with poise, I tango through my new domain. A million curses to befall those who kept me from here! There was that one, that primordial keeper, the one who could mold the clay around my feet. I still cannot pass the clay, but it’s weaker, I can sense it. It’s looking for a new master. AND IT WILL GET ONE!

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

What a shame it would be to have rosewater eyes. I let out a TERRIFIC SCREECH to stun those unfortunate souls.

Yes, a Lizard is the way to be! Nothing else is as exalted in the struggle! And who will be my next convert? I sniff the cosmos, my reach is boundless. Who is the most scrumptious? I smell a human, a mage. So boring, flesh and bone and no extra fun bits. But something about this human is… familiar. They smell of my captor, power hangs off them in much the same way. A family member? Wouldn’t that be splendid!

I advance into a waltz, making my way towards the human. I cross multiple ley lines without consequence. I near them now, I can almost smell their entire being! WHEN WILL THEY DIE? I HOPE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DECADES FROM NOW!

Oh no. I smell more, I sense more. I, The Lizard Who Will, uh, The Lizard, knows this person. They are my old captor. The one who so easily bested me when I came for her. This is not one I can defeat. I weigh my options. THE LIZARD tells me to pounce, to get payback for my long time in the shallow time. The Lizard warns me that I was not able to best my captor the first time, and I will not be able to now. Better to avoid the jailor and keep my freedom.

I twist away, making the smarter choice. If only I could be that Lizard Who Will forevermore. Instead, I pirouette off and look for something easy. YES, YES, YES!

*

I, Connor Mayfield, have had too many close calls. Good thing I’ve been peeking around each corner, or I would have been a goner. First there was a man in a long, long cape, trailing all the way down the block. Then it was a woman in welding goggles, grey metallic cubes hovering around her. The latest was just an alligator, a huge one, wandering with its nose up. Its eyes were milky white. Blind. All these creatures, supposedly wizards or something, seem a lot more like B-list Supervillains.

I’ve finally reached Colby Park, but haven’t yet found the way up to the rock. Sierra said there was a fallen tree she would scramble up to reach a lower section of it, and from there I’m supposed to follow a narrow footpath made by other such explorers. I swear I’ve circumnavigated the rock at least twice now, but I have yet to see a fallen tree.

I head back to the side that is closest to the ground, as that is probably where a tree could possibly create a bridge. Pushing through thickets in an area I really shouldn’t be – poison oak is common around these large parks – I enter a small clearing. Damn, I’d been here before.

But wait, why is there a clearing at all? I look to the center and see a tree stump that I had passed earlier. It was a clearing because there was once a tree there… I kneel down and examine the stump. The cut marks look fresh (to the best of my limited ability). This must have been the fallen tree. If this was the fallen tree, and the stump has been cleaned up, they must have removed the trunk. Damn parks department!

I search for where the tree would have fallen. It’s not hard, I quickly find a part of Colby Rock significantly lower than the rest of it. I could see a well-placed tree creating a way up to the rock but I can’t make it up there alone. Oh well, I’ll wait for Sierra to arrive, she’ll need to head up this way too.

Unless she doesn’t. If she can teleport up to the top of the rock, she might already be there. Who knows what magic can do?

Finding an answer to my question, I look down at my fingers. My left pointer finger starts to glow. I hold my finger to the sun and the sunlight shines through it. Is this Glory? What does it mean? I point it at a tree, but nothing happens. I try waving it around, clenching my fist, extending and contracting it, nothing works. Then I remember the woman with white hair, Fische. She had snapped and then disappeared. Could I do the same?

I snap and are propelled into the air. It’s like I’m on a roller coaster that has just begun to drop; my stomach curls inward and I try not to breathe. I reach about halfway up the trees before descending slowly, being placed gently back on the ground.

Could use this to get up onto the cliff? I guess this is why the glow appeared, to help me up. It’s certainly convenient that magic can listen to me. I snap my finger again, but nothing happens. I shake my hand, look up to the sun, but nothing I do seems to re-activate it. Goddammit.

I sit for a while, waiting, hoping for Sierra. I slip into my trance, the whole world goes away. I pretend that I’m not here at all, I pretend I’m at my parents. Actually, I pretend I’m at college, learning shit. Wouldn’t that be nice.

I look at my hands, moving on their own, pretending to copy down notes from the board. My left index finger is glowing. Maybe I just had to wait? Or maybe I had to not think about magick for magick to find me. Either way, I step back into the clearing and plan my jump. I face the low point and start running towards it. Twenty paces away I snap my hand and shoot into the air for the second time. I go up, and up, and then down, but my horizontal velocity deposits me right on the edge of Colby Rock.

I can now see the trail, and I follow it. It takes me up and up through overgrown grass (and Sierra was right, it is steep). Eventually, I reach a flat area where the trees open up to a brilliant view of Puget Sound. It’s late afternoon, the Sun is about to crest behind the Olympic Peninsula. Where had the time gone?

I look at the campsite, and… It’s certainly a campsite. A dirt circle between the rock-topping trees, scattered beer cans of previous inhabitants, a loose collection of stones that could be considered by some to be a firepit It’s nice, surprisingly so. I would’ve camped here was it not for the fact that it was in the middle of the fucking city. In fact, by some act of god someone even dragged a wooden picnic table up here.

I sit at the picnic table and watch the water. Trees surround all sides but the part facing Puget Sound, cutting off the rocky waters like a picture frame. A thought dawns, that maybe Sierra will also have trouble getting up here, but I push it away. I’ll hear her if she approaches.

*

A long time passes, the sun dips lower, almost cresting the hills over the water. Sierra still hasn’t arrived. I look towards the path, just in case, and see not Sierra but Fische, fastening one of her overalls’ straps. “I’m done. So, let’s retread this little shindig. Why hasn’t Sierra arrived yet?”

“You!” I exclaim, pointing at her.

She rolls her eyes, “I was sure I had fixed it this time. We’ve met? Are you the Connor I…” she trails off, eyes locked on my lips.

“Yeah,” I answer.

“Oh… Wanna have another go at it?”

Yes. “No. Who are you and why do you keep appearing and disappearing?”

“Shame. Sorry, can’t explain, the fool is happier than the king and all that stuff. Bye again, for real this time.” She snaps her fingers.

And stays right where she was.

“Fuck, I really did fix it this time.”