Fractured Doors and Forgotten Gods (Hidden Realms #1)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Riley

“What are you feeling for dinner? We can’t have chicken every single night,” I mutter.

“We had it last night… and the night before… oh… and the night before. What about pizza? Don’t you ever get tired of eating chicken?

And if you go nab the neighbor’s chicken again, I’m going to be pissed, you hear me? ”

My familiar gives exactly zero shits as her eyes stay absolutely focused on the rows of meat at the grocery store.

She’s sitting on my shoulder, loudly licking her chops while her muscles bunch up, like she’s just going to dive into the cooler and wallow around on top of the chicken… again.

The first time she did it, the store clerk was so livid, I was afraid that if we didn’t leave, she was going to burst a blood vessel and keel over. Kit, my familiar, seemed eager to see this happen.

“One pack, that’s it,” I say, giving in for some reason. Probably because if I don’t, she’ll continue to stare at the chicken like she’s a starving creature until we leave the store. And then she’ll go steal the neighbor’s chicken in retaliation.

I toss the meat into the cart, and Kit dives off my shoulder to guard her chicken as though anyone in this store would even think of rushing my cart to take it.

The genet, a catlike animal with brown fur and black stripes, sniffs the chicken like she’s making sure I got a piece fit for a king.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought she was a king; she sure gets her way like she’s one.

I reach out and my hand bumps into the handle of the cart before I grab it.

“Kit,” I urge while I pat my shoulder, waiting for the small, five-pound creature to return. Half of the animal is made up of a long striped tail that she uses to balance herself as she climbs trees… or my body.

Kit is too busy deciding that she wants to eat her weight in chicken as she longingly gazes at it, prepared to sink her teeth right into the packaging.

“Don’t you dare,” I warn. “Have you forgotten how embarrassed you were the last time I had to pry Styrofoam out from between your fangs?”

Aside from grabbing Kit and restraining her, I have a feeling that nothing is going to stop her from staring at that chicken… other than the screams that explode around us.

Her head snaps up and she looks around as I remember that I forgot mozzarella for the French bread pizza I’m planning on stuffing myself with tonight.

Kit leaps onto my shoulder and then we’re off.

It’s oddly hard to reach the back of the store while people scream and run toward us. Like… why’s our aisle suddenly Grand Central Station? I have some mozzarella to procure.

“RUN!” a woman shouts right before the overhead speakers crackle to life.

“Please exit the building in a safe and orderly—oh my god!” and then that cuts out.

“None of this screams ‘safe and orderly’ to me,” I comment, using my cart to separate the people streaming out of the building.

A crash at the far end of the store really gets them going as someone slams into me and Kit falls off.

Suddenly, she’s on the floor, attempting to avoid being trampled while I try to reach in her general direction.

I snag her long tail and pull her to safety.

She hisses out her complaints about nearly being stepped on.

“You alright?” I ask, scratching under her chin to calm her.

Her eyes narrow, pleased, and I’m also pleased that the number of screaming people has diminished and the store is now practically clear.

It makes scooting down the aisles a breeze as I head all the way back to the other end of the store for the cheese.

I snatch up the cheese and hurry toward self-checkout, finding that it’s rather nice having no lines. Maybe someone should cause chaos every time I go to the grocery store. I start scanning my items before picking up the chicken.

“Why are there tooth marks in the chicken?”

Kit looks away like that’ll make the marks disappear.

I sigh and scan the chicken before grabbing the very last item in the cart.

And just as I’m sliding my donuts across the scanner and into the overflowing bags, a wyvern lands right on them, crushing my groceries and busting the screen of the checkout machine while mozzarella oozes out from between its talons.

Kit hisses, pissed that her chicken now belongs to this asshole.

I watch as the wyvern lets out a battle cry before it rips open the box of donuts and helps itself to some.

“What about a mobile pickup?” I ask Kit. “We’ll do one of those… ooh, no… delivery. That sounds even better.”

The wyvern is less than happy that there are pieces of glass from the self-checkout littering its prize but still not as unhappy as I am after having wasted half an hour of my life acquiring those groceries, only to have them disappear before my eyes.

My eye twitches a little while I watch the wyvern eat the donuts I’d very much looked forward to.

Like there’s a part of me that kind of wants to just punch it. Would it solve anything?

No.

Would I probably break my hand and get my arm torn off?

Yes.

Do I still want to do it?

Absolutely.

No… no.

Violence gets us nowhere.

I realize how much I’m clenching my jaw as I head toward the door. I walk out and face the crowd of onlookers. They have their phones up, recording the whole scenario, and strangely look disappointed that I didn’t get maimed or mauled by the wild creature that happened to venture into the city.

Sirens sound and the crowd parts. I decide that my only option now is to go home, order some pizza, and longingly think about the donuts the wyvern is distracted by while the people whose job it is to deal with this hurry onto the scene.

They’ll surround the monster, probably tranquilize it, and move it to a safe location, especially because it doesn’t seem overly interested in human consumption when junk food is to be had.

The unit rushes forward and gets into position, surrounding their target.

“You are under arrest, put your hands up!”

Obviously, they’re confused. Obviously, this is their first day on the job and they can’t tell the difference between a wyvern and a human since they jerk my arms down and place handcuffs on me with runes embedded in them that make my world go black.

I let out a growl of irritation as I suddenly return to being a spectacle. They read me my rights while I seethe. Is everyone determined to ruin my day? Someone grabs the handcuffs and uses them to guide me toward a vehicle that I’m ushered into.

The door slams shut and Kit leaps down to my lap where she tries to weasel her head between my back and the seat so she can chew on the handcuffs. It takes one bite to realize she’s not getting through them before she circles my lap twice, yawns loudly, and settles in to sleep.

I consider doing the same. Maybe when I wake up, I’ll be at home with my donuts and my pizza.

I close my eyes and decide a nap is in order.

“Are you seriously sleeping?” a woman asks on my right.

“I must be in a nightmare if you’re here, Imani,” I say as I feel the handcuffs release, freeing me from their restrictions and their ability to incapacitate whoever is wearing them.

My vision returns, and I see the woman in question standing right outside the car door.

Kit lets out a noise of excitement as I lightly grab her tail with my gloved hand to keep her from rushing to the traitorous woman. “Kit, don’t do it. We don’t like her.”

And then I’m left with a view of Kit leaping into Imani’s arms, making all of these irritating happy noises while she gives the woman little licks and hangs on her.

“I’ve missed you! It must be rough being stuck with such a grumpy loaf. Is he a grumpy loaf all the time now?”

“I was just arrested, and you think I should be pleased?” I ask, making sure to show her my displeased expression. “You could have at least sent stripper police after me.”

“I didn’t know how else to get you here. I tried asking, calling, stopping by your apartment. One time I saw you dive down behind a car, like you thought I wouldn’t see you crawling your way out of sight.”

“It… wasn’t one of my finer moments,” I admit with a grimace.

“I recorded it and showed everyone here. We laughed at your expense. It was very enjoyable,” Imani says as she beams at me.

She’s a gorgeous lady with dark hair that is currently being mauled by Kit, who is clambering up her shoulder and giving her light brown skin far more licks than Imani should ever want.

I’ve always liked the woman… even if I’d refuse to admit it at this second.

She has powerful light magic that can create barriers, and I worked with her for nearly ten years before I quit the Magical Interference Unit about three years ago.

I don’t interact with her as much as I used to.

It’s not because I no longer get along with any of my former coworkers; it’s because I’ve cut myself off from everything.

“I’m not coming back. I’m very happy with my job. So if that’s why you dragged me here, the answer is still no.”

“You work at a library,” she says, as if I’m not aware where I work.

“I do.”

“You are—”

“Riley!” Vinny exclaims, rushing up and practically peeling me out of the car I’ve been reluctant to get out of, mostly because I’ve been hoping it would take me back home.

No part of this is enjoyable as he rubs his bearded cheek all over my face and I feel a flash of magic rush up my arms. It’s a familiar magic, one I’ve felt many times before.

He’s a stout man with red hair and a long beard. His tanned skin is freckled and wrinkles around his brown eyes every time he gives me one of his smiles.

I give him a pat on the back, but it doesn’t seem like enough, so I have to give him two more back pats before he finally pulls away. Then I scoop up Kit, climb back into the back seat of the police car, and shut the door.