Chapter 2

The Walking Egg

The morning of the first day, Ari twisted and turned in bed, soaked with sweat. When the nightmare broke she snapped into consciousness, gasping for breath. Her heart thudded against her breastbone. She wiped her brow with a shaking hand, forcing herself to take deep breaths. Her body felt tight, too small. She was so hot. Every inch of skin prickled, burned, and itched. Her head was light and the room blurred as she sat up, kicking off the sweaty sheets.

“Please don’t be sick, please don’t be sick,” she chanted silently, perched on the edge of the bathtub, waiting for the thermometer to finish reading her temperature. Worried hands combed through her hair, absently twisting the black locks back from her face. The thermometer peeped. She pulled it from her mouth and released a breath. Her temperature was normal. The heat was gone from her back too. It was like she’d imagined it all.

“Weird.”

She cleaned up and left the bathroom. The thick, buttery scent of pancakes and savory bacon greeted her at the door, chasing away her worries. She followed it to the stairs. Through the railing she spotted her father and Hamza seated at the kitchen table, speaking to each other in hushed tones. She thought nothing of it at first, they often whispered sweet-nothings to one another, but the concern on their faces made her pause. She caught the tail end of their conversation before they noticed her coming down the stairs.

“We’re leaving tomorrow. Don’t you think it's time we had the talk?” Hamza asked. He was a broad and muscular man, a former soldier, though years of easy living had laid a layer of soft fat over hardened sinew. His dark brown skin was lined here and there with pale scars. Ari had learned the stories behind a few of them, but the worse of his faded injuries he kept secret.

Ashlain shook his head. He was the academic of the two, slight and lanky. His long black hair, silken, with a blue undertone that he had passed to his daughter, was pulled into a long tail that Hamza ran his fingers through.

“I’m not even sure how to start. Earth is all she’s known. Best to show her before we explain. It will make everything easier to believe,” he said.

“Something wrong?” Ari asked, her sudden appearance making the two men jump in their seats.

“No--no, everything’s fine,” Ashlain said, a little too quickly.

“Sleep well?” Hamza asked with a forced smile.

“Not really, had a weird dream,” Ari said over her shoulder. She grabbed herself a generous plate of pancakes and doused them in maple syrup.

“Weird how?” Hamza asked.

Ari set down the bottle of syrup and was silent for a moment. The dream was fading at the edges, but it was still fresh. She tugged at the loose strands of it with a frown.

“It's like . . . I’m looking at the sun, up so close I can see the burning surface. There’s something trapped inside, some kind of animal or maybe a monster. It’s trying to get out. It’s being crushed. Then I start to feel like I’m being crushed too,” she explained with a shiver. If she closed her eyes, she could still see that blazing sun. Was that why her skin felt like it was burning earlier?

“And it’s the third time I’ve had the dream this week. Kinda freaky,” she said, more to herself.

Ashlain and Hamza traded worried glances. Ari caught them in the corner of her eye. She frowned and took a seat across the table, wondering why they were acting so cagey.

“Perhaps it's anxiety related to the trip tomorrow,” Ashlain said.

“Maybe,” Ari said, pushing a slice of pancake around a lake of maple syrup. “Where are we going anyway? You’ve been keeping it a secret all year.”

“And a secret it will remain,” Ashlain said, “What’s the point of a surprise if it’s relieved before its time?”

“Seriously? We’re leaving tomorrow. Can’t you at least give me a hint?”

Ashlain sipped his coffee, looking a little flustered. Hamza gave him an expectant stare over the rim of his own mug.

“It’s someplace . . . magical.”

“So like . . . Disney?” Ari asked, perking up in her chair.

“Maybe,” Ashlain said, avoiding eye contact with both his husband and daughter.

Ari didn’t press him for further details. In her mind, she’d guessed correctly. What else could he have meant? Magic wasn’t real.

That assumption would be tested later that afternoon.

After breakfast, Ari checked her bags once again, making sure she had all the gear she’d need for their road trip. While her dad’s kept their ultimate destination secret, they made it clear there would be great deal of backpacking and camping along the way. The three heavy-duty, hiking packs she and her fathers owned were stowed by the backdoor, ready for their trip tomorrow. Her sleeping bag and tent were neatly strapped to the outside of her orange pack. She knelt down and checked the straps to make sure everything was properly secured, then took inventory of the gear inside. Cookware, water canteens, and dehydrated food packs were neatly packed in neat rows inside an insulated pocked on the front of the bag, along with enough choco granola to kill a horse. A few changes of clothes and her hiking boots were added into the inner pocket, along with a hunting knife, and a small med kit.

Once she’d checked off everything on the list made for her by Hamza, Ari grabbed a second, smaller backpack and headed for the back door.

“Going to the park, see ya for dinner!” she called as she slipped through into the backyard.

Her father looked up from trunk of his SUV where he was loading cords of firewood.

“Don’t wear yourself out, we’ve got a long journey ahead,” he called after her.

“I’ll be fine! Just don’t forget to pack the coffee this time!” Ari called back.

Ashlain waved her off. Ari smiled as she jogged down the garden path to the sidewalk.

It only took her ten minutes of walking to reach the park. She carried on past the baseball diamond and into the woods behind the playground, wandering off the easy paths onto the deer trails where the brush and trees grew close. Gossiping leaves and birdsong were the only accompaniment to her footsteps. Crossing half-buried train tracks surrounded by milky-green beer bottles filled with dirt and leaves, she made her way to the old hollow oak tree. Hidden behind thick foliage, the hollow was large enough for her to sit comfortably inside. She sat on the tarp she’d set on the leaf-strewn floor and pulled a book from her pack.

While she was nowhere near the bibliophile her father was, Ari had read her fair share, and took pride in having a reading level well above her years. When she got tired of being cooped up inside, she’d come to the woods to read, hidden away in her secret hollow, occasionally visited by passing deer. She’d seen a fox once and an opossum one evening when she’d read a little too late and nearly got lost in the dark trying to find her way back home.

She was halfway into her book when the sound of footsteps drew her attention from the page. Peering through a small hole in the trunk, she searched for deer, and spotted a man instead. She blinked. He was dressed in camouflage, with a rifle and what looked like a harpoon strapped to his back.

“What the heck?” she whispered.

Harpoon Guy wandered into the clearing underneath the old oak's shade, looking up from the compass in his hand with narrowed eyes.

“Close. Where are you, beasty?” he growled.

“What are you doing here, Freeholder?”

Ari jumped a little and so did Harpoon Guy. Looking through another hole in the other side of the oak’s trunk, Ari watched another man enter the clearing. This one was clad in a uniform, not unlike the sort police officers wore, but there were noticeable differences. It was dark purple instead of navy blue, and the collar of his shirt was tall and straight. No gun or radio hung from his belt. The badge on his breast was shaped like a diamond, with the letters O.C. embossed into the metal.

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I know for a fact the council hasn’t issued you a hunting permit. There are no demons or beasts in this sector,” the officer said firmly.

“Demons?” Ari whispered, wondering if she was imagining things, or if she was eavesdropping on a Larping session.

“I don’t need a permit to kill a monster. You’ve got a walking egg hiding right under your damn noses,” Harpoon Guy said over a mouth full of chewing tobacco.

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Ari almost laughed. Whatever a ‘walking egg’ was, it didn’t sound remotely threatening, but the officer looked alarmed.

“Where did you get this information? You should have notified the Obscureous Council before conducting a search yourself. These are intelligent beasts we’re talking about, not monsters,” he said.

“They’re animals, thinking don’t change that, only makes’em more dangerous. That’s why I hunt’em. No better game than the kind that can think on your level,” Harpoon guy said with a wicked, yellow grin.

The officer narrowed his eyes on the other man. After a moment of examination his expression morphed from suspicion to surprise.

“Wait a moment, I know you. You’re Ezekiel Evangel!”

“Yes sir, I am. Greatest monster hunter in all the Realm Sea,” Evangel proclaimed.

“Why would a hunter of your caliber be chasing after such a low stakes game? I know how you Freeholders like to hunt. Inciting violence here will only lead to human casualties.”

Evangel scoffed and jabbed a finger at the officer. “If you really gave a damn about human lives you wouldn’t be in my way.”

The heck are they talking about? Ari wondered. She intended to sneak away while they were busy arguing, but curiosity held her still. What was a walking egg? What was the Realm Sea? Was the Obscureous Council some kind of shady government organization? And this Evangel guy calling himself a monster hunter, was he like those ghost hunter guys who made bad TV shows? She’d never heard of him before.

“You need to leave, Evangel. The Obscureous will handle this situation,” insisted the Officer.

“By ‘handle the situation’ do you mean, sit around and talk about it for three weeks? You mages are trash, think’n you’re better than us non-magi. Let’s be honest, you want me to leave so you can take the egg back to your Stronghold. Well that’s too bad ‘cause I’m gonna smash it. Now get out of my way or I’ll make you move,” Evangel growled.

The Officer kept his cool, but his grinding jaw displayed thinning patience.

“Sir, if you don’t stand down I will be forced to take you into custody,” he said, pulling from behind his back what looked like regular handcuffs, until they started glowing. Ari’s skin prickled and her heart raced. The air felt charged, full of static and possibility.

“Ain’t happening, Mage,” Evangel said with a wicked smile.

The Officer took one step in his direction and collapsed as a bullet flew through his temples in a spray of blood. Ari clapped both hands over her mouth, holding back the scream that threatened to reveal her. Evangel stepped over the officer’s body and spat on his face. Three more men, armed with rifles, long blades, and harpoons, emerged from the brush, one mere inches from Ari’s hiding spot.

“Alright, Boys, let’s go. Smashing this egg is gonna set us up real good,” Evangel said, leading the men deeper into the woods.

Ari lingered in the hollow long after they’d gone, eyes glued on the corpse, barely breathing. Time stretched out. Every sound, her heartbeat, the chafe of fabric shifting against fabric, seemed earsplitting loud. Sobs banged against her diaphragm, threatening to break free, but she held them back, afraid that the men would hear her and return. Every snap of a tree branch or rustling of leaves made her stiffen with cold panic.

This can’t be real, she thought. She shut her eyes and prayed that she was dreaming, that this was some sort of hallucination, but the body was still there when she opened her eyes again. A gasping breath escaped the cage of her throat, breaking the paralyzing spell fear had cast. She scrambled out of the hollow and ran, faster than she ever had, ignoring the branches slapping at her face and arms. The phantom image of the body chased her through trees

A shout sounded behind Ari. Then came the rhythmic, pounding crunch of large feet running over leaf strewn ground. A startled scream tore out of her mouth as a bullet bit a chunk out of a tree ahead of her. The strange hunters had seen her. They were chasing her. They were aiming to kill her.

Instinctively, she ducked and wove her way through the trees, putting as many barriers as possible between her and the barrels aimed at her back. The crack of gunfire was barely audible under the rush of blood humming in her ears. Each pop and bang sent shock waves of adrenaline through her system and granted her another burst of speed. She’d never ran so fast in her life, but bullets were faster.

Something slammed into her back, hitting the burning place between her shoulder-blades. She fell to the ground, breathless, and clawed at the wet earth.

“Got her!” shouted one of the men. His proclamation was followed by whoops and hollers.

They shot me, Ari thought, and then wondered how she was still thinking at all. The bullet should have hit her spine. She should be dead or paralyzed at the very least, but somehow, she wasn’t. With an effort she raised a shaking hand and reached behind her back. Her fingers found the crushed casing of the bullet and detected something . . . else. There was something hard and smooth covering the skin between her shoulders. Whatever it was, it had saved her.

“It’s still moving, shoot it, shoot it!”

A fresh wave of electric adrenaline pulsed through Ari. In a second she was back on her feet, ducking behind a cluster of birch trees in time to avoid the volley of bullets that pelted the earth where she’d just been. Curses and frustrated shouts trailed after her. With a cry she broke into the open field beyond the woods. The children and parents gathered around the baseball diamond stared wide-eyed at her tear-streaked face as she bolted through their midst. They devolved into panic as she passed. Frantic mothers grabbed their children, dragging them towards the parking lot, cell phones pressed to their ears, already calling the police. Most ran, but a few scanned the trees, searching for the source of the gunfire they’d all heard.

Ari cleared the park and thundered down familiar streets and alleys, only slowing to catch her breath when she was sure she’d lost her pursuers. Then came the black van. It turned the corner onto her street just as she did. The roar of its engine startled her, making her stop and look. The windows were tinted, but she didn’t have to see inside to know who was driving. The brilliant red skull with a spear and rifle crossed underneath its chin made it obvious. Ari froze. The vehicle barreled down the street, halfway on the sidewalk, aiming straight for her.

A sudden flurry of bullets bit holes into the van’s side and the driver veered off the sidewalk. Ari turned to see Hamza wearing a kevlar vest and holding a semi-automatic rifle. Embossed on the vest was a silver shield with a golden, four-pointed star and two crossed arrows within.

“Get inside!” he barked, aiming for the van’s tires, and taking them out one by one. The vehicle spun, leaving a black swirl on the street as it whipped around, sparking and screeching back toward them.

“Ari,” Ashlain called, holding open the door to the bookshop, reaching for her.

Ari bolted toward him and grabbed his hand. Ashlain pulled her inside.

“Are you okay?” he asked, holding her shoulders and looking her over. Ari shook her head, breathless, her body quaking as she tried to process what was happening.

There was an explosion somewhere outside. Ari gave a startled cry and turned to see what was happening, but only caught a glimpse of fire and smoke before Ashlain tugged her arm and spun her back around.

“Follow me,” Ashlain said, pulling her deeper into the store and through the door to the basement. They rushed past the towering stacks of boxes and holiday decorations to a remote corner of the dimly lit room. There was a door in the corner, it had been locked for as long as Ari could remember. She’d assumed it was full of cleaning chemicals and tools, things that were dangerous for kids to get into, but something about it always felt weird. The air coming in from the other side smelled wet and sometimes she heard things, voices, animal calls, and growls.

Next to the door was her hiking backpack. Ashlain pulled the smaller pack from her shoulders and tossed it aside, handing her the larger one. It was heavy.

“Dad, what’s going on?” Ari asked, her voice cracking with fear.

Ashlain paused, breathing heavily, his eyes full of worry and what looked like regret. He shook his head and helped her pull the heavy pack over her shoulders. Then he took her face in his hands, locking his eyes on hers.

“There’s so much I should have told you before today. So much you’ll have to figure out on your own and so many questions you’re going to have to wait to have answered. All I can tell you is this. You’re going to Taitamar to meet your mother, Sonatha. Give her this letter of introduction to anyone at the Grand Library and they’ll take you to her.”

“My . . . mother?” Ari asked, staring at the letter, “I thought she was dead! Where’s Taitamar? Why can’t you come with me?”

“Hamza and I need to take care of the hunters. We’ll follow you once it’s safe,” Ashlain said, pressing the letter into her hands. Before she could ask anymore questions, he turned to the door and pressed his palm against it. Violet threads of light radiated through the wood in strange patterns. The doorknob gleamed and twisted. Instead of a closet filled with bottles and tools, the door opened onto a fog shrouded forest. A damp breeze billowed into the room, tugging at Ari’s hair.

“What?” she breathed.

“Don’t worry, I won't send you in there alone,” Ashlain said. He reached over the door’s threshold and called a name.

“Boreal.”

A shimmering ball of light darted through the gloom, expanding into a lumbering blob, eventually taking on the shape of a large bear with blue fur, and eyes of starlight. Ari gaped at the creature. Ashlain smiled like he was seeing an old friend.

“What is your command?” the bear asked, its voice wispy and oddly layered.

“Boreal, I need you to guide my daughter to Taitamar and keep her safe,” Ashlain said.

The bear nodded, its eyes falling on Ari. She backed away, awestruck, confused, afraid. This had to be a dream. None of this could be real. Her father set a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, pleading silently for an explanation.

“I need you to be brave, Ari. This won't be easy, but you have more strength than you realize. I love you,” he said and pulled her into a hug. Ari clutched at him, hoping she’d wake up in the hollow tree, wishing this was all part of the fevered dream from last night.

The sound of shattering glass from upstairs broke the embrace. Shouting and gunshots echoed from inside the store.

“I have to help Hamza. Go, don’t look back, and keep moving,” Ashlain said.

“No, please, don’t leave me,” Ari protested. Ashlain kissed her on the forehead and pushed her through the door. She fell onto the damp grass at the bear’s feet. With a cry, she scrambled to her feet, but was unable to reach the door before her father slammed it shut. It faded like a mirage over a hot road in summer, leaving no trace it had ever been there.

Ari stared at the place where it had been for a long while. Her mind reeled and her stomach spun. Tears traced hot trails down her cheeks.

“We must move. Is not safe to linger,” Boreal growled softly.

“I want to go back. What if they get hurt? What if they die?” Ari asked.

“Do you want to die with them?” Boreal asked in turn.

Ari sobbed. “Don’t say that. I don’t want any of this! Why is this happening?”

Something keened in the distance, the sound alien and unnerving.

“No time for questions, we have to move,” Boreal said, settling on all fours. “Get on my back. I will carry you.”

Reluctant, but with no other options, Ari climbed onto the bear’s back. He carried her on into the wilds, far from home, and even farther from Earth.