I found myself in space. Odd shapes made out of darkness moved in my periphery, but when I turned to get a better look at them all I saw was more nothingness. Though there was nothing as far as I could see, I was standing on something, though I wouldn’t look to see what I was standing on.

I was coming to the conclusion that I was having a dream when I was distracted by a shape resolving in the distance. It started like… well, it looked like the “Nothing” from the Neverending Story, only made out of darkness that was so dark it stood out against the backdrop of space. Super Darkness, I guess. The clouds began to gain definition, becoming a vaguely humanoid shape.

As soon as the shape became something more detailed, terror struck me like a hammer. It was huge. I suddenly knew this being dwarfed planets and stars like how I dwarfed ants. A “hand” manifested and reached for me.

If I could pee I would have.

I could scream.

I did so.

* * *

I became aware of a flare of pain in my cheek.

“Oh!” Someone said, surprised. “Do you think that’s necessary?”

“We need him to wake up because I’m not strong enough to hold him down,” said another, younger voice, grunting with effort. “I’m trying to see what’s in his mind that got him so worked up, but what I’m seeing doesn’t make sense.”

“What?”

“Oh right,” the second voice muttered. “Sorry, I’m—“ grunt of effort. “Distracted.”

I slowly realized I was thrashing and made an effort to calm down. I began to piece myself back together. The second voice was Alice. The first was my mom. I… was on the floor.

“How long was I out?” I asked as I opened my eyes. “Also, ow, fuck, my cheek.”

Alice was kneeling on my chest, holding my arms above my head. She let out a sigh and let go of my wrists, slumping off of me. She was breathing hard. I glanced around and saw a dent in the wall by the door that hadn’t been there before.

My mom cast a worried glance at Alice and myself before responding. “A couple of minutes,” she said, clutching her hands to her chest. “You t-touched the door and just fainted.”

I groaned and rubbed my head and face. I slowly levered myself up into a seated position and shot a lazy glare at Alice. “You slapped the same place I was punched,” I accused.

She shrugged. “We’re both right-handed, apparently.”

I sighed and gave my mom an apologetic look. “I’m fine,” I assured her. “There was… well, something happened here.”

I ignored the questions my mom began asking and held up my hand for silence as I sorted through the information touching the door knob had given me. What became apparent was that touching anything else in the room would probably be just as dangerous, so I took a moment to re-erect the mental defense against my own psychometry.

My psychometry wasn’t perfect. Usually, when I touch something I get flashes of information, usually presented in a slideshow of images with an undercurrent of instinctual information about what I was seeing. What I got when I touched the door was that someone—or something, had been here and their mere presence was strong enough to blanket everything with their psychic residue. A residue that was so strong it knocked me on my ass.

But other than that, I have no idea what happened to Conner. Something or someone with a presence akin to Alice’s Gran (Not her abuela, someone much older(and a lot more terrifying than the appellation makes it seem)) had come here to kidnap my little brother. A mechanic. Why?

I didn’t want to make this about me, but… I mean come on. I had a few enemies, one of which was really, really pissed at me now that I’ve come out on top in direct confrontations twice. Could it have grabbed Conner in a revenge attempt against me?

I made an irritated noise and returned my attention to the room. “Something with an incredibly powerful, ancient, and pervasive aura came through here,” I said more to Alice than my mom. “All that’s pretty much all I can get.”

Alice scrunched her nose in through. “I can’t really pick up auras,” she said. “I have to have a mind to interact with in order to get anything.”

I nodded, suspecting as much. I stood up with some help from Alice, which is when her phone made a noise. She pulled it out and read the message.

“That’s Guapo,” she said. “He’s on his way, should be here in fifteen minutes.”

I looked around the room. “Let’s go wait for him in the car,” I said. “I don’t want the building manager to show up with some awkward questions.”

My mom agreed heartily. I followed the girls out and locked the door behind me. We decided to take the stairs down, avoiding the temperamental elevator. We passed through the same security door onto the orange streetlight-lit street. It was then I noticed two men standing next to my car, about a dozen yards down the street. The light that had been illuminating the parking space when I had parked was out, but my modified eyes cut through the darkness.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“There are a couple of guys near my car,” I said. “You two stay here for a second while I make sure they aren’t trying to steal it.”

My mom did a little gasp and clutched her purse to her chest. I glanced at Alice, felt her mind brush mine, and let her inside just enough to let her know my suspicions. I could tell from the way the two men were dressed that they weren’t local.

I clenched my hands into fists anxiously, realizing that I hadn’t replaced my glove after taking it off upstairs. Dammit. This was my backup pair. I put aside my irritation to study the two men as I approached.

The one closest to me was a tall, good-looking black dude, mid-thirties with close-cropped hair. He wore a flower-print dress shirt covered by a leather vest, paired with leather slacks. He had a series of gold rings lining his right ear, connected by a delicate chain. The light was too low for me to tell, but I think his leather dance shoes were a vibrant blue.

His counterpart was caucasion, middle height with an athletic build. He had one of those haircuts I associate with male models in magazines, but haven’t noticed (until now) in real life. He was wearing a more muted version of his friend's getup, with a white dress shirt and gray vest, and slacks. His dress shoes were white.

“Can I help you, fellas?” I asked as I stopped about ten feet away from them, at the edge of the light behind me.

“Well, that would depend on whether you were Colm Avery, known formerly as Liam Hayes?” Said the tall one, approaching.

Fuck.

I help up a hand in a “stop” motion. “Why don’t you stay right there,” I said with an edge in my voice. “I tend to get frisky when strange men show up to confront me in a place I had only decided to visit less than two hours ago.”

The tall man stopped and held up his hands in the “I surrender” pose. “No harm meant,” he said.

“I think this is our guy,” the other one said.

“I’ve yet to hear what you want,” I said.

“You haven’t told us if you’re the guy we’re looking for,” replied the shorter one.

I gave him a look. Then, remembered not everyone can see in the dark, snorted. “If you can’t tell, I’m giving you a very exasperated look. It’s mixed with the ‘are you a moron’ look. It has many layers.”

The tall one laughed. “This is him,” he said to his friend, then turned to me. “We are representatives of the Corvus Concord—“

“Crow Agreement,” I interrupted, nodding. The tall guy’s body language went from amused to irritated real quick. “Or perhaps Raven Contract?”

“Listen, man,” the tall guy said. “You can make this real easy on yourself—“

“I’m sorry if I’m not real chummy with a couple of assholes who wait next to my car in the middle of the night under a broken street light that wasn’t broken an hour ago, who are doing a really shitty job of pretending to be mob toughs,” I interrupted again. Then: “Who haven’t even bothered to introduce themselves.”

I waited for one of them to open their mouth before interrupting again. With my future sight, it was pretty easy. “I got your letters,” I said. “I got your messages. Since my lack of reply was too subtle: The answer’s no. I don’t want into your little magic society.”

“That’s not a smart move,” said the shorter one, and I had to stop myself from sighing at the classic mobster line. I did catch a wince from his partner, however. “There are a lot of benefits in being part of a larger organization. Being alone has risks.”

“Now you sound like a protection racket,” I said. “Are you guys new? Are you off script?”

“They aren’t new,” Alice said as she came up beside me. “And he’s not alone,” this, she directed at the pair.

“Alice! Fancy meeting you here,” the tall one said with forced joviality.

“Church,” the shorter one said, like an epithet. I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Ade, I thought you would have ditched this dead weight by now,” Alice said, ignoring the smaller man. “Every time I see the two of you together, I’m slightly more disappointed.”

The tall ones—Ade, I assumed—forced cheer deflated abruptly. “Sorry I’m not holding onto your esteem,” he said in a flat voice.

“You heard his answer,” she said, her hand resting on her hip. The seemingly innocent gesture placed her fingers on her chain. I noticed that both men’s eyes had locked onto her hand. “Go intimidate some other Incipient.”

Both men raised their eyes to Alice’s, then to mine. “Fine, but before we go,” I tensed as the shorter of the two reached into his vest and drew out a letter. He noticed my flinch and smirked at me. Boy, don’t you fucking smirk at me, you were almost a smear on the pavement, I thought as he tossed the letter to me. I caught it with my magic and let it float in front of me to read the front. It was unmarked.

Apparently, my magical display caught them off guard, because both of them were displaying very different body language. Ade’s was more guarded while the shorter of the two seemed agitated. Oh, were they under the impression that I couldn’t defend myself? Suddenly the respect they showed Alice made more sense, and whatever respect I had for their organization plummeted. And it had already been pretty fucking low.

“What is this?” I asked, still not touching it.

“A summons to Elysium,” Ade said, his voice a smidge more respectful.

“I’m not really interested in the Greek afterlife,” I deadpanned.

The shorter one made a disgusted noise. “Explain it to him, Church. We’re leaving.”

He spun on his heel and started walking in the other direction. “As first impressions go, this is pretty shit,” Ade admitted. “But you really should reconsider. Many practitioners wouldn’t be alive without the Concord.”

He turned and began to follow his partner. “Myself included,” he said over his shoulder. “See you around, Alice.”

I finally reached up and took the letter in my gloved hand, scanning it with my magical senses. There was a faint spell over it, but nothing strong enough to cause harm. I tapped the letter against my thigh a couple of times before turning around and seeing my mom approach.

“Who were they?” She asked.

“Girl Scouts,” I said. “They’re getting really aggressive this year.”

My mom gave me a long-suffering look.

I gave her a sad smile. “They’ve been trying to recruit me for something,” I said. “I thought it was a Ponzi scheme, but if it is they are really doing the—“

“I’m not an idiot, Liam,” she interrupted, her normally muted voice full of emotion. “I’m dealing with enough with Conner being missing, but being treated like a child is where I draw the line.”

I glanced at Alice, who shrugged.

I gave my mom a measuring look. She was glaring at me, lines of her face in stark relief due to the slanted light coming from the street light back in the direction of Conner’s apartment. I noticed that the orange cardigan was beginning to fray, and her clothes were wrinkled. Her knuckles were white from the death grip she had on her purse strap.

I sighed. I stepped forward and drew her into a hug. I felt her release a pent-up sob. I rubbed her back for a minute as her shoulders shook. I felt Alice step away, giving us our privacy.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I—I’m not trying to make this difficult for you.”

I held her while she cried.