Medium (Wonderfall #2)

1. Shane

CHAPTER 1

SHANE

Nothing to see here, just two guys road-tripping from Houston to Bent Oak to pick up a sentient Elven artifact.

“But what are we supposed to do with them?” Ellis had driven down to Houston from Dallas last night so we could ride to Bent Oak together. I didn’t have the cash to fly, and Ellis’ car was much larger—and nicer—than mine. We could’ve driven to Bent Oak separately, but neither of us wanted to be alone in the car with Ms. Jackson—that was the Elven artifact’s chosen name—on the way home. Not because they were dangerous, but because we were nervous about how to interact with them.

Two weeks ago, they’d announced they wanted to visit Ellis and me. At the same time. He and I lived in two different cities, but they’d insisted we both be present for the entire visit. It didn’t help that they couldn’t explain why they wanted to visit us. And did I mention they could turn into a panther, a tiger, and a freaking dragon ?

“I have no idea. I hope they’ll tell us when we meet them. Worst case, we can take them back to my house and order pizza. Greg said they liked pizza. ”

We were taking Ms. Jackson to Houston first. Ellis and I both owned free-standing homes, so sneaking an enormous predator inside wouldn’t be a problem at either place. But Ellis’ neighbors were nosy, and he’d told me they’d reported him to the homeowner’s association several times for minor shit. We’d decided it was safer to start out at my house. We could always go to Dallas later on.

This was only the second time I’d met Ellis in person. We were both District Monitors—magic carriers who acted as sort of a sheriff-slash-social worker for the Wonders in our area. We’d chatted on Discord for years, ever since I’d taken over my District. Ellis had already been a DM, and he’d been super helpful as I got my feet under me.

But we’d met face-to-face for the first time three weeks ago, when we’d both gone to Bent Oak to introduce ourselves to Cal, a Seer who’d been brand new to magic and the campaign.

The less said about that interaction the better, but at least it’d given Ellis and I the chance to spend the weekend hanging out together. We’d gotten along really well, and even after we’d returned to our respective Districts and homes, we’d continued texting and occasionally talking on the phone.

I might have developed a tiny crush on Ellis, but DMs didn’t bond with DMs. I could ignore my attraction until it went away.

He glanced over at me. “I forgot to tell you. I painted my living room last weekend.”

“Yeah? What color?”

He grimaced. “Off white.”

“That’s... nice? What color did it used to be? ”

“Blue. I really liked the blue, much better than the off white. But I couldn’t not paint it off white, you know?”

I got it. He and I were both nesting, which is what happens when magic carriers were about to meet their mates. We were compelled to make our homes more appealing to whoever would show up. Greg, the DM of the Central District, had gone so far as to buy a new house.

Luckily, to date the only things I’d had to buy were new sheets, a comforter, and a hammock for the back yard. Those purchases had stretched my budget further than I liked, so I was hoping they were the last of it.

Ellis, on the other hand, had traded in his MINI Cooper for this much bigger SUV, and he’d put flowers in planters around his back deck. And now the paint.

“That sucks. So you’re thinking, what, your mate will be someone who doesn’t like color?” I frowned. Ellis was wearing a bright orange polo with royal blue shorts. Surely the magic wouldn’t give him a mate who only liked neutrals.

“I don’t know.” But he sounded worried. “I have a strong urge to paint the bedrooms the same color.”

“Maybe... maybe your mate is an artist, and they need a plain wall to display their work.”

He flashed me a startled grin. “Yeah? That would be cool.”

I smiled back, my crush making my face go hot. Ellis was really attractive. Not in a model gorgeous way like Greg was, but in a friendlier, guy-next-door way. I especially liked how his dark brown eyes always found mine when we were in the same room. And the way his cheeks puffed up under his glasses when he smiled. He was a few years younger than me, and his umber skin was smooth except for the laugh lines next to his eyes. My magic was always reaching out to his when we were near each other, and it was hard to tell it to back down. And I really, really wanted to dig my fingers into his mane of coils.

I wished badly that DMs mated other DMs. I could only dream of getting someone as amazing as Ellis. The walls in my house were already white. Well, they’d been white when my grandfather had painted them twenty years ago at least.

But Ellis and I were each destined for somebody who was either a different type of magic carrier or a Wonder, a paranormal creature who’d originated in the Elven dimension. They were the source of most myths and folk tales, like shifters, trolls, or pixies.

The Elves had gone back to their own dimension after World War II. I couldn’t say I blamed them. Humans as a species were fucked up. But they’d bestowed a certain amount of their magic on a bunch of trusted humans before they’d left, and Ellis and I were descendants of those original magic carriers. Sometimes random people showed up with magic, like Cal, the Seer who was now bonded to Greg. Ellis or I might end up with someone who was also new to our world.

My phone rang. I sighed when I saw the screen. “Hi, Jed. I’m off today, remember? Ricky approved it last week.”

Jed grunted. “Right, and I’m sorry, but Ricky’s not answering his phone.”

I groaned. Ricky was the boss’ son, and he did as little actual work as possible. “I get it. What’s up?”

What was up was that Ricky had bungled an order to our supplier, asking for azaleas when the client wanted rhododendrons. We were supposed to do the installation next week. Luckily Jed had noticed when he was reviewing the paperwork to see how many people we’d need on the crew. I told him to call the supplier and find out if it was too late to correct the error.

I hung up and rubbed my face. I doubted that would be the last call I’d get today.

“Everything okay?”

“They can’t survive without me at work,” I joked. Or maybe I only wished it was a joke.

Ellis chuckled. “I know what that’s like.”

Unlike me, Ellis’ career was going places. He was in sales for a mobile phone company, and his clients were corporations who wanted their employees to have dedicated work phones. He made good money, and he liked his job.

Two things I didn’t have with my job.

When we were getting close to Bent Oak, I googled a bakery for us to stop at. Greg had told us he and Cal were making lunch, so Ellis and I picked up some lemon bars for dessert. We weren’t sure if Ms. Jackson would eat them, but at least we’d have something in our hands when we arrived.

When we got back in the car, I texted Greg to let him know we’d be at his place soon.

But then I read his response. I glanced at Ellis. “Um.”

“What?”

“We’re meeting them at Cal’s apartment, not Greg’s place.” Of course I’d known Cal would be with Greg. But I’d pretty much avoided acknowledging that we’d actually have to talk with Cal.

“Shit. I’d been kind of hoping Cal would be at work or something.” Good, it wasn’t just me.

“Yep. ”

Ellis rubbed his mouth. “We apologized on Discord. He’ll be nice to us. Right?”

“Fuck, I hope so.”

Ellis and I had been a little... overenthusiastic when we’d tried to meet Cal to see if he was our future mate. In our defense, there wasn’t exactly a guidebook for that sort of thing. But Cal had reacted poorly to having two strangers try to force him to hold our hands.

Which, in hindsight, was completely understandable.

Ellis walked me through entering our new destination in the car’s maps app. We were twenty minutes away.

My phone rang, and this time it was Ricky. I closed my eyes for a second, then I answered. “Yes, Ricky?”

“Where are you?”

I suppressed a hiss of outrage. “You approved me to take two days off, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But I mean, where are you right now?”

“I’m out of town.” No good would come of giving him my exact location.

“Well, I need you to come back.” He said this as if it were a perfectly reasonable demand.

I clenched my fist and struggled to keep my voice calm and even. “I’m sorry, I can’t. What’s going on?”

“We have a new client. They need a plan drawn up by tomorrow.”

I pulled the phone away from my face and stared at the screen for a few seconds. “Ricky, even if I were in town, I wouldn’t be able to do a full landscape design by tomorrow. I’d have to walk the site, get measurements, look at the soil, and everything before I could even start.”

Ricky made a dismissive noise. “You can use one of your other ones as a starting point.”

“I’m sorry, Ricky, but I can’t come back before Wednesday.” Ellis was throwing me concerned glances from the driver’s seat.

“Well, Shane, that decision could have long-term repercussions on your tenure with this company. My father took you in and gave you a job when you were a teenager, and this is how you repay us?”

I cringed. It was true. Mr. Fredericks had given me my first job almost twenty years ago now.

Ellis patted my fist where it lay on my thigh. I looked up into his commiserating eyes and found the balls to stay firm. “I’m sorry, Ricky, but it’s my time off and I have things I need to do.”

“What am I supposed to tell the client? If we lose this account, it’ll be your fault!” He hung up.

I sighed. It was just like Ricky to promise an unrealistic turnaround time. I’d spent more than one night at the office trying to meet his deadlines.

“That sounded rough,” Ellis said.

I shook my head. “It’s nothing I’m not used to.”

I stared out the window in silence, stewing over my job. I knew I needed to find a new one, but change was hard, and it wasn’t like I was a licensed landscape architect or anything where I could make big bucks. I hadn’t even been to college. I supervised yard crews and drew up landscape designs when they were needed. As Ricky constantly told me, anyone could do it.

We reached Bent Oak, and after about ten minutes Ellis slowed the SUV and turned into the parking lot of an apartment building.

He parked and turned off the car.

We looked at each other, and I held out my fist. “Cal will be nice, and Ms. Jackson won’t be scary.”

“Cal will be nice, and Ms. Jackson won’t be scary.” He bumped his fist to mine.

We got out and headed for the elevator. All too soon we were knocking on Cal’s apartment door.

Greg opened it and ushered us inside. I managed to nod a greeting at Cal before my eyes were glued to the freaking four-foot-tall hedgehog sitting on the floor.

“Uh, Ms. Jackson?” I squeaked out.

“That’s them,” Cal said. “They were trying to find out how small they could get, but as you can see....” He gestured at them. “Not very.”

The huge black eyes examined us as the long nose quivered in our direction. The spines—or were they quills?—that appeared cute on a regular-sized hedgehog had to be lethal at this length. Ms. Jackson stretched out one oddly naked-looking paw before their form morphed into the tiger we’d seen on Zoom a couple of times. The tiger form was disconcerting for a whole lot of new reasons.

They stalked toward us, and Ellis and I inched closer to each other. He was as tense as I was, but he grinned widely and said, “Wow, Ms. Jackson, I’m so happy to meet you!”

“Me too,” I managed .

Ms. Jackson sniffed our hands, then they circled us, rubbing against us like a ginormous housecat. Except a housecat couldn’t make you almost stumble off your feet. They had to weigh two hundred pounds or more.

Cal said, “Lunch is almost ready. Do y’all need some water or anything after your trip?”

Maybe it was cowardly, but I needed a minute to get used to Ms. Jackson. “Uh, the restroom?”

Cal pointed down the hall, and I edged carefully past the tiger. At least Cal didn’t seem so intimidating anymore. I threw Ellis an apologetic glance, but he was stroking the top of Ms. Jackson’s head. I didn’t know why they were triggering my flight reflexes. I’d met a lion shifter and a grizzly shifter in their fur forms before. They hadn’t bothered me at all.

Was it because Ms. Jackson didn’t have a human form? Did my brain think that made them more alien?

By the time I’d washed my hands and headed back to the living room, I felt more centered. I’d just treat Ms. Jackson like a shifted Wonder, and it’d be fine.

Except they’d manifested the Ouija board they used to communicate. On their chest.

I’d seen it on Zoom of course. But in person, the hard wooden board seeming to grow out of Ms. Jackson’s warm fur was much more disturbing.

My steps slowed until I stood next to Ellis again. I wanted to do my usual thing of shutting down and being quiet while I absorbed whatever was bothering me, but it wasn’t Ms. Jackson’s fault the way they were made. I didn’t want to offend them .

I forced myself to talk. “Uh, hey, Ms. Jackson. Um, did Ellis tell you we’re going to my house tonight? I hope that’s okay. It’s not nice like this or anything.” I swept my hand in an arc to take in Cal’s living room. He had eight—eight!—bookcases and a gigantic TV. The apartment was in good repair, with new-ish carpet and no obvious dents or scratches in the walls or fixtures.

Unlike my place.

Ellis scoffed. “I like your place. It’s nice and homey.”

I shook my head. “He means homely.” Ellis thwacked me on the arm with the back of his hand.

Ms. Jackson spelled out, I-S-P-E-N-T-D-E-C-A-D-E-S-I-N-A-R-O-O-M-F-U-L-L-O-F-D-U-S-T-Y-B-O-O-K-S-I-A-M-N-O-T-P-I-C-K-Y .

“Oh. Um, I get it. Just, you know, tell me if you need anything to make you more comfortable, okay?”

T-H-A-N-K-Y-O-U.

I felt better.

Cal called us to the table. I hadn’t noticed before, but the tether of Cal and Greg’s bond glowed super strong between them. I hoped I ended up with a mate bond like that.

He and Greg had bought a cowboy casserole from Central Market. Chicken, pasta, poblano peppers, and cheese—all good stuff. They’d also heated up a take and bake pizza, which had only cheese on one half and mushrooms and artichokes added to the other.

Greg sliced the pizza into smallish pieces and put the entire thing in front of Ms. Jackson. “We’ve been testing out different vegetables for them to try. ”

They sniffed at the artichokes and mushrooms but chose to start with a piece of the cheese-only half.

Ellis eyed Ms. Jackson’s plate. “You don’t eat meat?”

No flashed on the Ouija board.

I nodded. “Good to know. We’ll make sure you have options.”

Greg said, “They tend to eat about as much as an average adult human, but if they’ve shifted into something really big, like the dragon a couple of weeks ago, then they need more.”

Fuck, I kind of wanted to see them as a dragon, but I kind of really, really didn’t want to.

Ms. Jackson ultimately decided the artichokes and mushrooms were acceptable, and they finished their meal much faster than the rest of us. Without warning, they got up from the table and wandered over to the couch, stretching out on it.

I snorted to myself. It wasn’t like they’d grown up with a grandmother giving them the evil eye every time they didn’t use good manners.

Ellis took a sip of his iced tea. “Cal, I love the compendium you put together. Once I started reading it, I was shocked we didn’t have anything like it before.”

I nodded emphatically, my mouth too full to politely comment. Good for Ellis, thinking of a way to compliment Cal. Anything to help us stay on his good side.

“Thanks.” Cal shook his head as he poked his fork at his plate. “My learning curve would’ve been much easier if I’d had it to reference in the beginning. Let me know if you think of anything to add.”

I finally cleared my mouth enough to speak. “Any info on the vampires?” Because there’d been no news on Discord, and every Wonder and magic carrier in Texas was waiting for the next attack.

“No. Nothing. I haven’t had any visions, and neither have Edgar, Delphia, or Reno.”

Four Seers. That’s all we had in the entire state of Texas. And their range was limited. They couldn’t see visions of events more than a hundred miles or so from themselves. Slightly farther if they were bonded, but Texas was huge.

With Edgar and Delphia near San Antonio, Cal here in Bent Oak, and Reno down by the coast in Corpus Christi, if the vampires were planning an attack in my District or Ellis’, we’d better hope it’d be near the borders of the other Districts. The far north and east parts of Texas would be too far away.

Greg stood up to clear the plates. “Before y’all drive home, I’ve arranged for us to test whether Wonders can connect to more than one DM.”

Ellis’ eyes lit up, and I was excited too. A few weeks ago, Cal had asked Greg why Wonders could only connect to one DM at a time, when it’d be safer for them to connect to every DM whose Districts they were traveling through. Ellis and I had volunteered to test the theory out by connecting to a couple of Greg’s Wonders.

“I forgot we were going to do that. I hope it works.” And it would give me a little more time to spend with Ms. Jackson before they were locked in a car with me and Ellis for three hours.

“Great. If you don’t mind driving over to my new house, a couple of Wonders will meet us there. One of them is my general contractor, so he’s already on site, and the other is his daughter. ”

We cleared the dishes, and I opened the box of lemon bars Ellis and I had brought. Ms. Jackson heaved themself off the couch to come try them. After one lick they swallowed two of them whole. I was glad we’d bought a dozen.

It was still broad daylight out when we left, but Cal and Greg didn’t seem worried about walking downstairs with a giant tiger.

“They can still turn into inanimate objects like the cat statue we first met them as,” Cal told us. “But when they absorbed all the magic I gave them, they gained a larger mass as a result. It’s not easy to carry them down to the car.” He waved his hand to indicate the empty hallway outside his apartment. “It must be their magic, but no one seems to cross our paths when they’re out with us in public.”

So we walked out of the apartment with a huge tiger by our sides. No one was in the hallway. No one was in the elevator, and it didn’t stop for anyone else on the way to the ground floor. Then we walked to Ellis’ SUV and not a single other person was in the parking lot with us.

But after Ms. Jackson got in the back seat and Cal shut the door? People drove up and parked. Others walked out of the building. It was the weirdest fucking thing.

None of the human magic carriers could affect their environment like that. Our magic was more receptive than proactive. We were magical bottoms, if you will.

And Wonders were made of magic. Some of them had magical skills, like undines could become invisible in water, and shifters could change into their animal selves. But they couldn’t do the equivalent of casting a spell.

Like Ms. Jackson just had .

I was a fuckton more comfortable with Ms. Jackson now than when we’d walked into Cal’s apartment, but at the same time, I thought they might be the scariest creature I’d ever met.