l nine feet is," Rian protested. "Is that like... two cars?"

"You know what, close enough," Liesel said.

"This one?”

“Sure.”

"Okay, so two ‘96 Corollas tall," Rian said. He could be very precise that way. "Big black robes. That's all you've got for me?"

Liesel's eyes flashed up to the rearview mirror where she could see Breath of Thanatos sitting in the backseat. He was tall enough that his berobed knees covered up where a normal person's chin would be. But since Breath was neither normal nor a person, it just left what she supposed was his neck out of view, vanishing into the car roof.

"His head is sort of shaped like a shovel. Like a narrow spade. And it's... black."

"Just sheer black? No hood, no glowing eyes?"

"Just black."

"Dark grey? Maybe with a warm or cool tint?"

"Black."

"Okay, okay, black. Geeze. Maybe you should draw him for me," Rian suggested.

Liesel gave Rian a sideways glance. "You've seen my sketches."

Rian's nose wrinkled up. "It looked like a dick. And you left it on my desk.”

"Your mom’s gonna fuckin’ kill me."

Rian shrugged. "You're gonna be dead anyways."

That was a pretty hard point to argue with.

The Mojave Desert flew past on either side. Liesel was actually going the speed limit. Nevada police loved to pick up tickets from anyone foolish enough to think they were alone in this forsaken stretch of earth.

Night was setting in. She could see a small dusting of stars where the sky was darkest above them. The desert was turning into silhouettes of cacti and joshua trees and far-off mountains, tinged with the faintest golden beige. Anyone driving from LA to Vegas could see that.

Liesel could see so much more.

As stars twinkled into existence, so did sets of eyes. They glowed from behind brush and boulders, slithering through the sand around them. Just when Liesel's headlights should have fallen on their owners, they blinked out of existence.

Between the stars fluttered bats. Gliding between the bats were other creatures, just barely darker than the sky. Some were hunched, others bent. They dripped and sagged and twisted mid-air, minding their own business same as the bats did. In the road, on the side of the road, far off in the distance, there were figures. Pale grey, faintly glowing. Wailing, screaming, moaning, drifting. Ghosts who had died here and there. One got shot as Liesel drove past. Someone else was crushed by something--possibly a carriage that belonged to centuries long faded away. Another was struck by lightning, one by a flash flood. One, dying of dehydration, fell to her knees in front of the car, her blank-slate eyes stared deep into Liesel's. She vanished as soon as the grill hit her in the chest.

And of course, curled up in the backseat was Breath, impossibly tall, impenetrably dark, unbreathing and definitely not living.

"I wish I could see," Rian pouted, as if he knew Liesel’s attention had suddenly turned to other realms. "I wanna know what they look like."

Another creature, even taller than Breath, had stilt-thin legs and arms, with wide hands and thin fingers. His face turned to watch the Toyota trundle past. There was nothing inherently threatening about him--no claws or fangs or eyes like voids. But there was a wrongness about him that, even after all these years, left Liesel actively fighting her heart's impulse to race. So tall, so thin, always staring.

"Count your blessings, kid," Liesel muttered, slowing as she reached the beginning of traffic ready to enter Las Vegas. "None of this was ever meant to be seen."

"I guess." Rian looked over his shoulder again, as though thinking that Breath might magically become visible to him.

"Why does he believe you?" Breath asked.

His voice was deep, but muffled. It was like it wasn't coming from inside the car, but being transmitted from far, far away.

"Hey Rian, tell Breath why you don't think I'm fucking insane."

Rian looked politely at where he assumed Breath's not-a-face was. "Aunt Li got rid of that thing in my room.”

Breath was displeased–Liesel could feel it. His fingers, folded so neatly over his chest, gave the slightest twitch in her rear-view mirror.

"Most mortals can sense even what they cannot see," Breath said. “Most mortals know to leave what they cannot see alone.”

"Why do you think we're all so damn scared of the dark?" Liesel said ignoring the light chastizement. The lights of Las Vegas were visible now. She could see the Luxor's light beaming into the sky, fading out the stars.

Rian faced forward again in his seat, adjusting the flat-brimmed ball cap he always wore, flatting the bushy perm that topped his head. "When you said that fae thing was in my room, I could tell where," he said. "I couldn't see it or anything, but I didn't want to walk right there, you know? I never even noticed until you pointed it out. I never walk in that corner."

"That wasn't fae," Breath said.

"Yeah, no. That was a wraith," Liesel said. "Not fae. Don’t get it confused, you’ll piss off both Sovereigns."

“Sovereigns wouldn’t bother with the boy,” Breath said, almost with disgust. “You know better than that, Liesel.”

"Wraith, right. Realm of Shadow," Rian said, correcting himself quickly. "I tried to draw it like you described." He bent down to rummage in the glovebox--which he had claimed for his own as soon as the trip had started--and pulled out a small and battered sketchbook. A collection of energy drink cans, crumpled flat, cascaded into his feet. He flipped on the light, immediately making it that much harder for Liesel to see out the dust-coated and bug-spattered window. She glanced at the page.

Breath shifted in the backseat. "It's not so solid to mortal eyes," he said. "More like strips of grey that fade away at the wraith's feet."

"Wraiths don't have feet," Liesel protested.

"I didn't draw feet," Rian said, brow furrowed.

"Breath," Liesel reminded him. "Looks good, kid. Breath says it's more like cloth. Like strips, y'know? But gray. See through."

"Warm gray or cool gray?"

"Gray." Liesel reached up to turn off the light so that she could avoid rear-ending the Chevy cruising in front of them.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Okay, okay."

They drove in silence for a little longer. Liesel appreciated that Rian didn't have to fill the quiet with noise. He liked conversation but didn't require it. That worked out fine for her. Liesel didn’t remember that much about being fourteen, so maybe that was normal for kids his age.

Breath didn't like that Rian had come. Liesel didn't know if he thought it was irresponsible to bring a minor along--which it certainly was--or that he just didn't like the extra company.

"Why bring him?" Breath had asked in that deep but tinny voice, just a few days before they set out.

"He needs out of his mother's house for a while," Liesel said gruffly. She didn't bring up the scrapes and bruises. Breath would have seen those too. They weren’t the kind you get from running into a door—these were on the insides of his arms and legs, small and hidden.

"Rian's mother is less dangerous than the life you lead," Breath said.

"He can't even see the realms," Liesel protested. "He can't get into that much trouble. And if something happens to me prematurely, he knows how to get home. The kid’s flown himself to his dad's since he was about five."

"What do we stand to gain from Rian's presence?" Breath asked.

Liesel had looked down into her drink. It was a murky mix of brown and clear liqours that tasted kind of like a demon’s asshole, but a little more hot if you could believe it.

"Maybe some human company before I die. I haven't had much of that, you know. Not to cheapen my friendship with you."

Breath didn't answer, but Liesel was fairly confident that she hadn't hurt his feelings.

“Mostly in case it, you know. Takes too long.”

“You could simply write it down,” Breath said.

“It’s not the same.”

“You are not Rick.”

Liesel wasn’t so sure about that.

As she drove through the mountains surrounding Las Vegas, Liesel wasn't quite so sure anything.

From here, the city almost looked normal. As normal as Vegas could be. Suburbs glowed yellow in their neatly planned grids, dipping into darker splotches where the poorer areas stood. Then there was the Strip, like a neon scar crowning the city-filled valley. Dark mountains surrounded it on either side like a bowl, as though it could contain the famed debauchery and gambling.

Liesel used to wonder why an oasis of tackiness and artificial luxury had ever been set up in the middle of a desert. Something to do with the Hoover Dam, maybe. But then, why throw a massive dam in a place like Boulder City?

Well, historians had their answer. Liesel had hers. This little basin was one of the places where the Realm of Dream most securely touched the mortal world. Mare, the Sovereign, probably hadn't intended on this being the result. But mortals had a funny way of perceiving the unseen, and Las Vegas was the result of that.

Hopes, dreams, chance, nightmares. Las Vegas had become all that Mare's realm represented. If it had Titania and the Realm of Fae who touched this place, humans would have reverently and fearfully erected some sort of monument, some sort of Stonehenge. If Thanatos and Death, more a pyramid. Sassanid and mirror, empty vastness.

But this place belonged to dreams. It belonged to the night, and mortals belonged to it.

And perhaps most importantly, Mare had inflicted upon this place his love of good drink and pharmaceuticals. And a good drink was exactly what Liesel needed.

"Are we gonna stay in a casino?" Rian asked as they descended into the suburbs.

"No reservation, not much cash. I think not."

"Darn. But we'll be on the Strip, right?"

"There's a Motel 6 we can try," Liesel said.

"Aesthetic," Rian said, approvingly. “Really roadtrip-core.”

Liesel didn’t know how to even begin interpreting that.

"Hey, does Breath sleep?" Rian asked.

"Not that I've ever seen."

"I do not," came the voice from the backseat that only Liesel could hear.

"He does not."

"Cool. He can, like, keep watch in the night.”

As they drove down the Strip, Rian moved around to peer out every window possible. His grin and delighted exclamations left Liesel feeling less crusty than usual. Even the dim flickering of the Motel 6 sign didn't put a damper on his mood.

"Room for two," Liesel said. She tried to look a little older than she was. Maybe a little less frazzled, and a little more like she was ready to enjoy a cool vacation with her son. Rian was doing his best annoying-fourteen-year-old impression, which mostly consisted of complaining that his mom didn't let him drink Red Bull like his dad did. Liesel wasn't entirely sure if he was acting or if he was actually just complaining.

"$57 for two doubles," said the man behind the counter. He had looked nothing but bored when they walked in. Now there was something nervous to his actions, the whites of his eyes just barely widened. That was the usual reaction when Breath was present in a room, looming unseen in a corner.

The total ended up being $64.61 with taxes and fees. Liesel only had about nine months to spend money, but parting with any amount over twenty bucks cut deep into whatever constituted as her soul.

In the room, Rian began pulling out a computer and a tangle of cords from his backpack.

"What the hell is all that?" Liesel asked.

"My laptop. Duh. What else am I gonna do in here?" Rian asked. "Oh, geeze, the wifi sucks. Do they have an ethernet port?"

Liesel stared for a moment. "Whatever. Breath, keep an eye on Rian. I'm going out for a drink."

“I am not a baby sitter,” Breath protested. “I am a Vassal.”

"Wait, you're gonna do tourist crap?" Rian asked.

"No. I'm going out for a drink. Don't leave this room." Liesel let the door cut Rian's complaint short.

Liesel went into the lobby.

"Closest liquor store?”

The man didn't even judge Liesel for her apparent bad parenting skills. "7/11 down the road."

"Walkable?"

"Don't advise it."

"Crosswalk?" she asked.

"Just kinda dark out, you know."

"Alright, thanks." Liesel headed out the door.

It was just cool enough that she wanted a shirt with sleeves, or pants. The cool desert night might have been relaxing if it weren't filled with neon and cars. She walked briskly towards the bright lights of the convenience store.

Maybe if she'd grown up like a normal girl, Liesel would have been scared. Maybe she should have been. Just because she had survived creatures a dozen times more dangerous than a human didn't mean humans were any less dangerous. But Liesel just couldn't bring herself to be scared. She'd suppressed fear for too many years.

And facing an inescapable death put perspective on things.

Liesel left with whiskey and a box of rollers, but realized she didn’t want to drink in the hotel room, in front of Rian. So she drank straight from the bottle, straight from the brown bag, like a goddamn cartoon.

And she wandered.

Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts. Endless ghosts. They were the most boring thing to run into, and the thing you saw the most. A snapshot of moments before a death too early, something that happened a lot. Thanatos was a lazy motherfucker. Liesel had gotten good at tuning them out, looking straight through each traumatizing diarama until they became white noise for her eyes.

Cities weren’t like nature. They had different creatures, little spirits twisted up and spat out by an unbelieving humanity. They scrabbled in shadows like pests, clung to walls like vermin. Most didn’t have a mind enough to know what Liesel was saying if she said that out loud.

Other things would take great offense. Many would kill her for it. Others enslave her, some turn her into something like themselves. There were a thousand hidden dangers surrounding her, surrounding everyone, at every moment. And humans, big fucking clonky humans, took fat shits on the rules every single day.

That’s why Liesel was here, at least for as long as she had been. To stand before a Sovereign, like a lawyer, defending the knuckledragger mortals of the world who didn’t learn from their fairy tales that it’s a bad fucking idea to sit in a fairy circle or do a seance.

Liesel stumbled into a bar where a woman in a black bikini top took her ID and gave her a beer.

There was a band setting up in the corner. They didn't look too worried about hurrying up. The jukebox was doing just fine for the three patrons inside. The drummer had jet-black eyes.

"Wanna open a tab?" the bartender asked.

"No thanks." Liesel passed over a few bills. "Rest is tip."

"Thanks, hon."

Liesel watched the band set up. The drummer paused to look up and smile, flashing sharp teeth. They all curved outward. He had no lips to contain them, only a thin tongue that flickered out like a hummingbird trying to escape an ivory flower.

"How much longer?" the drummer called across the room to her.

"You know her?" asked one of his band members quietly.

Liesel wobbled the beer bottle back and forth.

"Give or take…. nine months." Her voice was steady. That was good.

"So sorry, Champ," the drummer said.

Liesel chuckled. It sounded like an innocuous pet name. Little did the humans present know.

"Good place to spend it, though," the drummer said. "I like this town."

"Not staying long," Liesel said. "Got too much to do."

"Shouldn't have procrastinated," the drummer said. He shook his head. A drop of blood slid out the corner of his mouth from where a tooth caught the edge of his cheek. He wiped it away carelessly. The other band members didn't notice. "You'll never train someone in nine months. Hell, good luck finding someone in nine months."

Liesel went back to her drink.