Mystery Lake

[43] The Wee Folk

Indeed, that was all, as they made their way back over to the main group. Something was stirring, but Roxy wasn't quite sure what. Layla had gotten into the classic costumes and was going through the feather boas and other items, sniffing and sneezing gleefully on her knees. She diligently held and sorted out her findings. Eugene admitted that not even he was entirely certain what was stashed away in there. Rydia moved as daintily as possible, despite her wide swath.

The proposal of a date got tangled up in the obligations of the two agents. They had other places to be and to observe. But Rydia didn't want to just say no, especially since she had never had what she was gradually learning was Italian food. The best compromise sounded like dinner would remain here while this would become lunch tomorrow. Rydia seemed equally excited about the prospect of lunch. Tapping her foot summoned a monumental vibration that she seemed embarrassed by.

Exchanging contact information wasn't possible for reasons that neither agent could properly express. Eugene wanted to introduce Rydia to his mother, but he wavered. The circulation of others hadn't passed many people or much information between the floors yet. It was almost as if two different worlds existed side by side. Cerberus seemed clearly displeased with something, although Roxy couldn't figure out what. His attention was not on her, Layla, Jake, or even Eugene. There was just a general air about him.

"Where's Miranda...?" Cerberus' question startled Roxy. She should have remembered that he'd collected all their names after finding them at the lake, but his awareness of who was who seemed to indicate far more interest in her group than he'd shown lately. Miranda was gone, and Roxy wasn't quite sure when, where, or how she'd disappeared.

Asking around, everyone in the space recalled seeing Miranda not too long ago, even Rydia and Eugene, who were quite separate and doing their own thing. Jake cautiously returned through the hidden door to visit the other realm of upstairs. He and Roxy both tensed up when unveiling the hidden steps, as if they were concerned that their guests might somehow use it against them. It didn't take long for Jake to retrieve a reluctant Miranda, who had a peculiar story to tell about where she had been.

"I'm sorry, I haven't come up, down, or all the way back yet, I guess. I was talking to… Ross the entire time. There was a lot to discuss, and they had a lot to share. Sort of private matters. Ross is hanging back."

Roxy's mind immediately went to the idea that they were fucking, although she found the prospect of them doing such things down in the basement hard to digest since it didn't look the least bit romantic or comfortable. It wasn't far-fetched for Roxy to assume that Miranda was hiding something about Ross. Her body language and hesitation were telling. Ideally, it wouldn't be her business to pry, but strange things were happening.

One thing was clear, though: Miranda was adamant about the fact that she hadn't been back to the store floor since the vault, or as she described it to the strangers present, since they had been dealing with monsters. Roxy hoped that these oddities didn't foreshadow another beast in their presence.

Cerberus hunched down and spoke in a low, compressed voice, "Scan the room; look for anything that seems out of place. Something is wrong here."

Damn, just as Roxy was beginning to relax, despite the many uncomfortable emotions and ideas in her head. Rydia walked over to the door without her boss having to tell her, utterly eclipsing the threshold. In any other situation, the way she crouched like a catcher at a plate would have been humorous.

Cerberus made Miranda wait over by the hidden door while he recruited the four of them to scour all the aisles. Eugene up front, since he was the most familiar with the layout and inventory, although the monster incident had shifted several things out of their proper places.

Roxy looked at an old-fashioned, painted horse with wheels instead of legs. Fancy leather straps around strange sticks invited certain kinds of questions, but she ignored that section because it didn't seem quite strange enough. The angry monkey cookie jar glared at her, but the eyes stayed put. A vast array of silver and blue crystal necklaces made her slow, linger, and imagine them around her neck. It wasn't long before Jake asked the question they should have asked at the beginning of their search.

"What exactly are we looking for?"

"Something that shouldn't be here. Something out of place. Something that clearly disturbs you. You'll know if and when you see it." Cerberus continued in his tightly clipped tone, not looking back as he spoke. Considering the nature of the being behind Cerberus' skin, she had to wonder what could possibly bother a creature like that so much. She didn't want to know.

Old company logos and oil insignia led to metal sculptures Roxy had avoided until now. There was a man on a dark throne and a girl on her knees scrubbing the floor, along with children running off together. One resembled Poseidon beside a little mermaid melting into frozen foam. Lots of creepy cherubs rounded out the collection. Roxy didn't have a problem with the fact that these were store fixtures, but she did have a problem with the fact that people thought it was a good idea to create them in the first place.

It all appeared cursed, creepy, and clearly haunted from the moment they were made. Past the ivory elephants and a ton of windup toys, Roxy noticed a smiling pygmy doll with blindingly white teeth. It sat in a corner, just as messed up as everything else in this part of the store. But there was one key difference: she immediately felt that it must be looking back at her. That sensation plunged deep into her soul, like thin, jagged fingers stirring her essence around as if she were a pool of water for them to play in. She wasn't the only one to notice.

The others all paid special attention to the strange doll. Eugene shook his head, and Cerberus circled around behind. The doll's eyes immediately darted to the left and then to the right. Roxy's arm throbbed, as if something inside her wanted to tear a hole in all of reality and shove this thing into the deepest recesses. As they got closer to it, the creature finally gave up this game of hide-and-seek, and a dark blur shot across the floor and made a furious run for the door.

Fortunately, Rydia didn't miss a beat and slammed the speedster like a combination of a rhino and a brick wall, sending the tumbling creature sliding across the wood, where Cerberus picked it up and glared in its face. Gradually, the leather and wood illusion of a pygmy dissolved into a tiny, red-bearded man with a sour expression.

"Traitor. Unhand me, ya filthy traitor, or I'll nip you good." The voice with which the small man spoke sounded far deeper than expected from his diminutive form. He wore a green, tweed, three-piece green suit without a hat. A leprechaun? Someone had mentioned them in the same breath as fairies, but this felt past Roxy's threshold. How the hell was she looking at a leprechaun? How was this real life?

"What are you doing here?" Cerberus looked at the leprechaun much more fiercely than he had looked at her when she told him to F off.

"I sent them a warning. A text message to the lot of them. I was just checking to see what result came of it." He fought with Cerberus's grip, shifting back and forth, even though he couldn't get much leverage.

So this was the one who warned them ahead of time? Why? How? Honestly, Roxy suspected that one of the agents had been responsible for the warning, considering how soon they showed up after the fact. Cerberus looked at Roxy and the others for confirmation. Layla had her head down with something approaching a frown, which made Roxy wonder if this appearance of a well-known fantastical creature didn't live up to whatever fantasies the poor girl might have had. Miranda had come closer when they caught the thing, but she was still far away from the group. Jake was tense, staying near Roxy.

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After taking a breath, Roxy confirmed that they had each received a message warning them of something coming their way and what to do about it.

"Aye! The Wraiths. Ya shouldn't breathe or move. They steal your sight before they take your life. You can only hide and hope that they give up their hunt. At least you survived them... but this is the thanks I get for my warning? Maybe I won't bother next time." He balled up his little fists angrily.

Even though Jake didn't want her to get that close, Roxy took a few steps and had to ask, "Why did you warn us at all? What are we to you?"

"Some of ya are nothing or a less than nothing, I must say. But some of ya are something more. I may be getting old and worn and tired and not quite as quick in my head or limber with my tricks, but I still recognize my Princess Asherah no matter what form she may take." He nodded his head in Roxy's direction and gave another firm tug against Cerberus's grip, which did nothing to loosen it.

Princess? Was he referring to the friend that Roxy felt inside? Oh no, had she swallowed the spirit goo of a princess? All right. Princess. If only being some kind of princess and all the other stuff that had come with it since she'd been splashed had been in her wheelhouse, Roxy would have been the happiest little grown-up girl in the world. But she was still a guy—still a man underneath it all. Or at least trying to be... maybe. She didn't know anymore.

The little man explained that, by his own definition, he was actually a "lubrican," pronounced in a way that put it very close to the name that they all knew. Roxy didn't like it very much because it rattled around in her head like 'lubricant'.

"So what were you doing around here?" Cerberus persisted.

"I was just checking to make sure that my warning was received, and you all were fine. Out of the goodness of my heart, I speak true."

With a raised black eyebrow that accentuated his dark eyes, Cerberus calmly turned the little man upside down, and a rain of golden and glittering trinkets spilled from him across the floor. It didn't take Eugene long to recognize that there were several small but valuable items pilfered from the store.

"Goodness of your heart, indeed," Cerberus shot back at him.

"My kindness isn't free, nor should it be. That wasn't much. Fair compensation for giving y'all a heads up. If I hadn't said anything, none of ya would be here. Don't expect any kind of help next time. And there will be a next time. They know that their hunters aren't coming back from whatever you did to them. It'll get worse."

Roxy had to ask, even though she had a sneaking suspicion that she didn't want to know the answer. "Who are 'they'?"

"The Fairy Court. The Unseelie Hoard is in agreement, though. And neither of them agrees on anything. It's all about the lake. It's been a sore spot for a long time. Few of ya had fun with it! That's unconscionable!"

Roxy's mouth twisted up in a frown. Whatever she suspected of the little man was more along the lines of them desecrating it, stealing its water, or smearing themselves with fairy scent. What the hell did he mean by having fun with it? Cerberus didn't seem surprised by this development. He obviously never bought their explanation that nothing happened at the lake.

She pressed the leprechaun on his point: "We did something wrong with that lake?"

"Of course! Anyone who winds up there must melt themselves and engage in the dance. There are so many horny, bodiless buggers down there, and they need their satisfaction. If they don't get it, the other side of the Veil has a bad time. I honestly have no idea how you escaped in the first place, so I was curious. That's why I followed the lot of you. You seem like decent folk, just caught up in the wrong thing. Well, some of ya anyway."

He made it absolutely clear that he was referring to Cerberus before continuing, "I wouldn't want the old crusty Court to punish you all cruelly, especially the Princess. I was one of the guards for the lake, and it was a quiet day, so I just got drunk off my ass for a while. I slept too long, almost like something was holding me back. And by the time I checked in, it was way too late."

The lake actually had guards—leprechaun guards. Roxy had no idea what to make of that. His whole explanation had left her lost and at a loss for what on earth to say. Layla had initially worn an expression of upset when the leprechaun was revealed, but that had cooled to a calmer, slightly disappointed sentiment.

"What about the one before? Someone who made it to the lake before us."

"Oh, that lake is hungry sometimes. There have been many before you. But I know what you mean—the one who is the pretty lass on the other side. The Clifton gal. She was resilient, and the Court had problems with her too. But she was just one little lady. And we all suspected that the stories she would tell would help feed the place. Not worth the trouble. But you lot were too many, all at once, too much disruption. They pushed you towards the Hollow Ones, and they tried to delay ya. But you, my dear, are the Princess. Once I knew that in my heart, I couldn't let them smother ya. You were the kindest, wisest leader we Fae folk ever had, respected by both the dark and the light."

Roxy scrunched her forehead. Clearly, this guy was sensing whatever was inside of her from her friend, from the fairy she swallowed. And it was uncomfortable because this princess thing meant a lot to him, or at least he was acting like it. But these fuckers trying to mess with them just because they unknowingly had contact with this stupid ass sex corpse lake pissed her off.

"Cerberus… please let him go." She knew she was pushing the guy, but if the leprechaun or whatever had this adoring impression of this royal figure and he thought it was her, then it was the only course of action that made sense. She had to play into that. Because clearly, the thing had a terrible impression of Cerberus. Traitor? Traitor of and from what? Since he didn't refute it, she figured it was something important to remember. She was also curious about what the princess inside her summoned against the trucker fucker earlier.

The man in black slowly turned his head towards her with a lighter version of his scowl. His grip didn't let the creature go, but it clearly wasn't as tight as it had been. Looking across the room, Cerberus gave a nod, and Rydia moved aside like a rock being rolled away from a cave entrance. Roxy hoped desperately that whatever she was doing wasn't the wrong thing. With a motion like tossing aside garbage, Cerberus released the leprechaun to plop down on the wooden table in front of them. He didn't immediately dash away.

"I thank ya kindly, m'lady. You are truly the royalty we have been missing. There's just one final matter, and then I can relieve myself of your… company. These little pieces don't amount to a whole lot, and I feel like I pilfered them fairly and squarely within the bylaws and treaties of my world versus this one. I'm not going to get huffy about it, but a wee bit of compensation seems only fair, don't you think?"