Teagan's Books

Saturday, July 22, 2023

Hello, everyone.  This is a rather long episode, although it’s still under 2,500 words.  I didn’t want to split it, because we’re going to be hanging on the cliff about Donny Metatron for long enough as it is. So, there’s not much preamble today.  Fellow blogger, Fraggle. posted a photo that inspired me, and she gave me permission to use it for my “3 things” for this episode.  Don’t miss her blogs:   Fraggle Film, and Fraggle’s Otherverse.

Outside the blogosphere, Fraggle is also known as C.J. Hyslop.  She offers the best of her best for sale at FraggleRocks Photography.  Click over and check it out.

Among Fraggle’s photographs I found my three things to further the story.  The random things I chose are:  rain, umbrella, and window.

Today there are cameo appearances from Ralda Lawton (books 1 & 2), and Beira the Crone (book 2, Atonement in Bloom).  We begin from the point of view of Deme, an otherworldly pig.

Atonement in Zugzwang

Episode 19

Clouds gathered, snatching the morning back into twilight.  Deme saw Moccus cast a worried glance at the darkening sky.  The two glowing pigs struggled to get the reanimated corpse of Salty Riley away from the place where the young humans had accidentally walked into the body.

“Moccus, you were never worried about rain,” Deme commented teasingly, trying to keep her own spirits up.

Sheriff Robin Warden muttered and cursed just out of sight.  Deme grunted and snorted worriedly.

“Isn’t there anything we can do to make him move faster?” she asked.

“No, Deme.  Why don’t you go on ahead of me.  There’s no use in both of us getting caught,” Moccus whispered and cut off the protest she tried to snort.  “Sounding the bugle again might help, but it wouldn’t make him fast enough.  He got a lot slower when the arm came off.  Maybe that put him off balance.  Besides, the horn would let the law know exactly where we are.”

Thunder rolled.  The plunk of a large drop of rain on a leaf brought a groan from Moccus.  Only a few yards away, it also elicited a response from the sheriff.

Deme fretted silently.  If the body was already coming apart, then the deterioration would only happen faster if it got wet.  A drop landed right on Deme’s snout and she snorted and shook her head.  It was too late to take back the involuntary noise.  She listened closely for sounds of the lawmen coming closer.

The rustling of leaves while the men searched seemed to move in the opposite direction.  The scattered splashes of raindrops stopped.  Deme gave a sigh of relief.

Just when it seemed that a couple of fat raindrops would be the extent of it, the heavens opened and the rain began in earnest.

Moccus and Deme tried to pull Salty along to make him go faster.  Then one of his legs came off and the body toppled to the ground.

The sheriff’s frustrated voice reached them.  He quoted Shakespeare again.

When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

When the hurly-burly’s done, When the battle’s lost and won.

“What is he yammering about now?” Moccus muttered, but he and Deme both jumped when another voice came from only inches away.

“Throughout the play, Macbeth, whenever the witches appear, they are preceded by thunder, rain, or some other bad weather.  The stormy weather associated with the witches symbolizes how their powers stir up trouble, incite chaos, and go against the natural order.  Deme, I wonder if he meant you?” Honeybell said wryly.

Honeybell paused to let the other two pigs get over their surprise that she had managed to sneak up on them.

“Deme…” she continued with a snuffle that sounded like a tsk-tsk.  “I wish I could say I was shocked.  Moccus, your plan can never work now.  It’s not as if you can hold an umbrella over him.  We have to leave before the humans see us.”

“You two go ahead,” Moccus started, and Honeybell glared more fiercely than Deme had ever seen.  “That bardolator sheriff gave me an idea…  But first I have to make sure the reanimation is completely removed.  Be ready to run.”

As softly as possible the bugle sounded Taps.  However, the humans still heard the music, and began moving toward the sound.  The three otherworldly pigs darted away.

They had only run a short distance when Moccus told them to keep going.  Then in a burst of speed he veered off in a direction that wasn’t quite the way home.

Honeybell stumbled because she was astonished by his rebelliousness.  Deme stopped to wait for her friend.

“He said the Shakespeare quote about the witches gave him an idea,” Deme murmured.

Impossibly blue eyes wide, the two pigs sat back on their haunches, shocked.  They turned to one another and spoke at once.

“Oh-oh.”

♣ ♣ ♣

Sheriff Robin, the Warden of Atonement was Deme’s favorite human.  However, Ralda Lawton, who owned the Sunhold estate, was a close second.  In the past, Deme had risked herself to protect both of them.  The way to the pigs’ home was on the edge of the Sunhold estate property, beyond its graveyard.

Deme was not surprised when the pig trails Moccus used led to the opposite side of the estate.  They followed him along the back side of the old mansion.  Then they heard a woman’s voice.

“Deme, was that you?” Ralda Lawton called.

“Oh no,” Honeybell panted.  “Keep after Moccus.  I’ll go talk to her so that she doesn’t get suspicious and follow us.”

“Hello, Ralda-Esmeralda!  No, it’s me, Honeybell.”

Whispering thanks to her friend, Deme continued after Moccus.  He was headed to the unused extension of the grand old house.  Or rather it had been unused until a most unexpected visitor had taken temporary residence there.  Deme had thought she was gone.  However, the remark Moccus made about getting an idea from the MacBeth quote suggested otherwise.

Inside, Deme carefully made her way down hallways.  Soon she reached an area that looked clean and utterly new.  Then she came to the white room.  Moccus was there talking to an older woman with a waist length braid of lapis lazuli blue.  Everything smelled of pine, fir, spruce, and other evergreen fragrances, which melded to a pleasant tang.

“Cailleach Bheur, Beira the Queen of Winter,” Deme said respectfully and bowed.

“Come in, little one.  I was just telling your mischief-making friend that I was just leaving.  Now that Lilith’s kittens are weaned, I can go home,” Bera the Crone stated in a soft Scottish brogue, and Deme desperately wanted to interrupt, but she wouldn’t dare.

“Stop snuffling, dear.  Moccus has kept me informed of his escapades.  As well as the dangers threatening Atonement.  I will tell you as I have told him.  This is not my purview.  I only came here because that trickster fae had tampered with winter and the seasons.  I stayed because of my fondness for Lilith.  Neither she nor Esmeralda could have coped with kittens begat by the firedrake while he was in feline form,” she added.

Following a mew, Deme noticed a sulfuric tang in the air, and a tendril of smoke coming from a pet crate.

“They’re weaned now,” Beira went on.  “I can take them to suitable homes.”

“What about the one Adelle Metatron gave to Pepper Riley?” Deme asked, feeling shy in the presence of such a powerful being.

“That one is needed here.  Besides, she turned out different from the rest of the litter.  While the other kittens inherited traits from their father, Spike has some from her father’s grandmother.  She won’t set anything on fire,” Beira finished sardonically.

“Great Lady,” Moccus said with more respect than Deme had ever seen him show anyone.  “I wasn’t able to renew the protective barrier around Atonement.  There will be mayhem, death.  Won’t you please help?” he plead, and Deme held her breath.

“I cannot,” Beira stated firmly.  “As I have said, it is not for me to interfere with Atonement.”

“But the kitten isn’t old enough.  She’ll try to follow her instincts.  She’ll be squashed like a bug—” Moccus tried to say.

A wintry gleam came to her eyes, and Deme shivered to realize how devious Cailleach Bheur might truly be.  Her eyebrows rose, but she calmly bent to pick up the carrier of kittens.

“You make a good point,” she stated.  “Spike is not of age.  So look to her family for proxy.”

“But,” Moccus sputtered and snorted.  “You’re taking the kittens, and besides they’re… kittens.  And her mother is a non-magical cat.  Please!  Wait.”

However, with a blast of cold air and swirling snow, the Queen of Winter, along with the supernaturally sired kittens in her care, disappeared.

♣ ♣ ♣

If I said I was troubled it would be a vast understatement.  Deputy Hodge, Dr. Leggett, and a distraught Annie Metatron were a whirlwind of bustle as they left the diner.

Though I offered to help, I couldn’t imagine what I could possibly do in the circumstance — a missing boy in his late teens.  I hardly knew anyone or anything about the area.  Even so, when Fletcher turned to me and in a very official voice ordered me to go home, I felt utterly useless.

Worse, I saw uncertainty in his dark eyes — doubt or concern for me.  I wasn’t sure which, maybe both.

Fletcher has talked to Dr. Leggett.  Did she tell him something that she wouldn’t admit to me?  Something like I might be a prime candidate for insanity or some kind of psychotic break?

Trying to stave off anxiety, I paid the check for all three of our lunches.  I figured that was the least I could do, if I couldn’t help in any more tangible way.

Getting into my car, I lowered the window.  The rain had barely touched that part of town, but the air was nonetheless fresher.  I hoped it would clear my head.

As I pulled up beside the vintage gasoline pumps that served as ornaments in front of my home, my gaze was drawn to the upstairs window.  Something seemed… off.  Although I couldn’t say what.

Was it a reflection of light on the window?  But it’s cloudy, as if it might rain again, I pondered, but my thoughts moved to that chessboard and I shuddered.

As soon as I got inside, the tiny kitten Adelle Metatron had given me mewed and pounced until I picked her up.  Spike seemed to sense my uncertainty and crouched on my shoulder, tucked under my ear.

Glancing around the living room, which was open to the kitchen, I saw nothing disturbed.  The alarm had not been triggered.  I went upstairs to the chessboard.

At the far end of the long room, something small emanated an apple-green glow.  Of course, it was sitting on the chess table.

It was a carving of a lanky man in a cassock with capelet and a nipped-in waist, along with the mitre headdress, split at the top.  I turned it every which way, examining the glow.  When I moved it to the light the radiance dimmed.

“It’s a natural stone,” I muttered and Spike mewed back to me, but my mind searched what I knew of gems and rocks.  “Wasn’t there a stone that glowed?  A zinc silicate…  Ah, willemite.  That was the name.”

I remembered the description of a stone that I had never seen in person.

Willemite is well known for its extremely bright green fluorescence, though it can fluoresce in other colors, as well.  It can be found in a variety of forms and colors, from apple green gemmy crystals to blood red masses.

“This is clearly another bishop piece,” I murmured.  “And it’s already in that square for black.”

I had previously placed the elephant beside the white, or rather rose gold queen.  I gave an involuntary shiver thinking of how that one was like my hair-color.

Beside the new bishop was a bronze figure of a brutish pig-man riding a trike motorcycle.  I felt a cold chill, remembering such a rider in the parking lot of the Rowdy Rooster.

Beside the trike rider stood a castle tower supported by a group of mermaids, which formed the base.  The tower was carved from blue lace agate, and the mermaids were of abalone and enamel.

“A rook… the black queen’s rook to be precise,” I said, but then I thought of Donny talking about the singer and her amazing voice.  “Not mermaids, but sirens.”

The kitten scrabbled from the chess table onto the windowsill.  Below I saw Adelle Metatron approaching the front door.  Another vehicle was pulling up beside Adelle’s limousine-like Range Rover.

It was surprising that she was there rather than out with the others, trying to find her nephew.  Without waiting to see who was in the other car, I went downstairs to answer Adelle’s knock.

When I opened the door, Maudie had just walked up behind Adelle.

“I see you got a new rental,” I said to my friend, but quickly turned to Adelle.

“I’m so sorry, Adelle.  I was there when your sister told the deputy that something has happened to Donny.  Is there anything I can do for you?” I asked as I ushered her and Maudie inside.

“Adelle thinks she knows where the boys have gone,” Maudie broke in.  “That’s why I followed her here.  I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit by on the sidelines.  Could I borrow those goggles you found?”

Even though Maudie’s words were not meant as a criticism of me, I felt like such a loser for meekly doing as the deputy had instructed and going home.

Why had I done that?  Although where would I look for Donny and his friend in a town that was still strange to me?

“The goggles?  Those weird, steampunk looking things you were playing with?” I asked in surprise.

With a sardonic twist to her lips, Adelle spoke.

“Through simple logic, your friend has put facts together that she cannot see.  Meanwhile you actually can see, yet you keep yourself blind to those facts.  Those goggles are one of the artifacts your uncle collected,” Adelle told me.

“Wha—  Goggles?  Artifacts?” I stuttered lamely.

“Pepper Riley, somebody needs to tell you about what kind of town this really is.  In the interest of time and my nephew, I will break any number of rules and tell you.  Maudie has already figured out enough… and with her shall we say, dating history, I won’t take time to keep her out of it,” Adelle continued.

“Those goggles allow ordinary humans to see the supernatural.  Not everything, but they reveal a lot of the things that creatures can hide from human eyes.  You, however, do not truly need them.  That’s why you were pulled to Atonement, just like your uncle.  You can see those things with your own eyes.  The problem is that you simply won’t let yourself.  And when you do see them, you won’t admit that they are real,” Adelle said in a rush.

Her words made me week at the knees.  I plopped down of a sofa.  Abruptly I remembered that snippet of conversation about a party at a lake.  I described what I heard them say.  Adelle nodded.

“Lake Uktena,” Adelle murmured.

“Ookie-what-tay?” Maudie asked.

“Lake Uktena, ook-tay-nah.  It’s a Cherokee myth, a dragon-like creature. However, that is a very large lake, with lots of inlets and sheltered spots along the ragged line of its shores,” Adelle said.  “It’s a beginning, but searching it could take days.”

Then I saw that in her hand she tightly grasped a tiny harness and leash.  She saw my eyes fix on the harness.

“The kitten is absolutely infatuated with Donny,” Adelle said, without preamble.  “I know she can find him.”

“She’s a tiny kitten, not a bloodhound!” I blurted out in astonishment, suddenly feeling markedly less crazy than anyone who would suggest such a thing.  “She wouldn’t be able to cover enough ground,” I added in a more reasonable tone, thinking the woman must be beside herself with worry.

“We’ll take my car.  She will still be able to guide us.  You just have to be willing to hear… and see her guidance,” Adelle replied with Zenlike calm.

The way she emphasized the word “see” made my chest constrict.

♣ ♣ ♣

Hmmm… Adelle says Pepper is not hallucinating.  But if Adelle thinks she can use a kitten as if it was a tracking dog, then maybe she’s the crazy one. Unless…  Tune in next weekend remember from my short story post that we’ll be meeting a new character soon, because readers overwhelmingly voted that they want to meet him.  Although I don’t think he will be quite what you expect!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend.  I love to hear from you, so friendly comments are encouraged.  Hugs!

♣ ♣ ♣

The Atonement Series

Atonement, Tennessee

Full series of e-books with one click:  relinks.me/B087JV25JT

Kindle:  rxe.me/HGSVA8A

Paperback: relinks.me/1481826948

Also in Spanish, translated by Olga Núñez Miret! The title for the Spanish-speaking market is Expiación y Magia

Atonement in Bloom

Kindle:  rxe.me/5RRBLH

Paperback:  relinks.me/1726882128

The Glowing Pigs, Snort Stories of Atonement, Tennessee

Kindle   rxe.me/LTBDNH

Paperback   relinks.me/1725891972

♣ ♣ ♣

This is a work of fiction.  Characters, names, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2023 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

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