Spliced

Zephyr looked up at the massive four-story mansion that stood before him. Surrounded by fields full of neatly tended grapevines and built with clean white stone, it was more modern than the Milton place. The other Milton place that was, for this too, had been owned by a Milton. It had been Arianna’s father’s before he had passed. Now it belonged to her and her siblings.

Arianna clutched his arm and gave him a daring grin. “Do you want to go inside and have a look around?”

Zephyr frowned. “I did tell you what happened the last time I went inside one of your relative’s places...”

When he’d left Indi and Wolf earlier that day, he’d told them that he’d had an appointment with a client. It hadn’t been entirely untrue. He’d promised to help Arianna with some paperwork. Sure, he’d offered the help for free but it was still technically work of some sort. It wasn’t his fault that when he’d turned up at the place they’d agreed to meet she’d declared the paperwork all done and had just wanted to talk about him instead, a not-so-subtle hint that this was actually a date. Something Zephyr certainly wasn’t about to complain about.

Arianna was enthusiastic, friendly, pretty to look at, and best of all, she seemed completely enthralled by him. Somehow she’d managed to get him talking about himself too, which was truly something remarkable given that was usually what Zephyr was good at getting other people to do. And so, he’d told her about her grandma’s house. Not everything, but most of it. And then she’d asked if he wanted to go see another Milton house. He hadn’t said no or yes, but his hesitation had been enough for her to grab his arm and quite literally whisk him away to a fancy looking winery in the middle of the Rainbow Valley.

It wasn’t that far from the Greenstone Valley, where Little Rock lay. Only a few ranges east into the Dragon Mountains. At first Zephyr had thought she was a teleporter but then she’d flashed her bracelet and explained that she often cheekily used the winery’s teleportation infusement as a quick form of transport. Apparently as long as you bought a certain amount each year they didn’t mind.

The Rainbow valley was known for it’s excellent wines and upper class residents. Hell, given how difficult access into the valley was, you pretty much had to be oozing gold to live here. Importing anything by ship was rarely attempted due to the rocks and currents. Most stuff got bought in by teleport or dreamwalker, or on rare occasion by those crazy enough to drive a vehicle through the Dragon Mountains.

Cat was one of those who drove that road regularly, sometimes just for the thrill of it. Zephyr had done it, once, and never again. Once you saw a dragon up that close and lived to tell the tale you didn’t forget it. Now, most of the journeys the group took out of Greenstone valley for Coal were by teleport, at least as far as Broomstick Beech. The further you teleported the more expensive it got, and teleporting an entire car of people wasn’t cheap to begin with. Given Arianna had said she was from near Ruin, it must be a pretty costly infusement she was wearing. Even more so, given she’d said it was a two way bracelet, as long as they jumped from somewhere near the winery and within several hours. Wander too far from the origin point or try to jump too late and the result wouldn’t be pretty. Luckily the house hadn’t been far from the winery, and after a couple of mandatory glasses and a helping of vibrant chatter, they’d made their way up to its front doors.

Now Zephyr was re-thinking things.

“Oh, don’t worry. This one wasn’t one of hers. Even my relatives don’t go into her house anymore.”

“Why not?”

Arianna shrugged. “Don’t know. Just that none of them like her or seem to trust her. She always kind of creeped me out you know?”

Zephyr nodded. “Yeah.”

Arianna’s grin returned and she tugged him toward the large estate. “So, coming then?”

Zephyr let himself be pulled forward. Who could say no to a request asked like that? If she’d asked him to go to the moon with her he probably would have said yes.

He watched as she jiggled a key in the door. It took her a few tries before it fit.

“Have you been in here before?” he inquired.

She shook her head. Her long red hair dancing against her expensive-looking dark grey cashmere sweater. “Nope. First time. My brother took a look inside when he came down though.”

Zephyr followed her through the door. The inside was big, made even bigger by the lack of furniture. High ceilings and fancy looking chandeliers towered above them. Everything in the entrance way was painted white, even the twin curving staircases, save for a touch of light brown on the steps themselves.

He followed Arianna through double glass-pained doors and onto lush carpet. A stone fireplace situated in one wall suggested that this was the living room, one of them at least.

“How many brothers have you got?” Zephyr asked.

“Three.”

“Three!”

She laughed. “And three sisters.”

“Big family. Do you get along?”

“Most of the time.”

He followed her voice as she went from room to room. She gazed about in admiration of the place as if she’d just found out she was a princess and this was her new castle. Zephyr was glad that the beauty of the place was not lost on her. She seemed to appreciate what she had, which was certainly a lot, but it had not gone to her head. Even at the winery, she’d been so excited with each glass, despite the fact that she’d been there several times before.

“What about you?” she asked. “Do you have brothers? Or sisters?”

“No, it’s just me,” Zephyr replied. “I grew up with my cousins though. Parents died in a car accident when I was young.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Arianna twirled around to face him with a sympathetic look.

Zephyr shook his head, indicating she needn’t be, it was long ago.

“Did you get on with them?” she asked. She swayed a little form side to side, her navy skirt swinging as if her body wanted to keep exploring, but her grey eyes stayed fixed, giving him all her attention.

Zephyr gave a small laugh and hesitated. He didn’t want to lie but nor did he want to answer honestly and bring the conversation down.

But she read it from his reaction anyway. “So, that’s a no then?” She smiled, keeping things light.

“Yeah, that’s a no.”

“Too bad.” She was astute enough not to press that line of questioning.

He followed her into another hallway. As they stepped through the door he felt the temperature drop substantially.

“Oh, that’s cold,” Arianna remarked. “Good thing we’re dressed warm. Somebody probably left a window open.”

“Maybe.” Zephyr frowned. What was that sound he could hear? It was like a faint whispering coming from the walls. Or a soft crying? “Do you hear that?”

Arianna paused and listened. “The wind maybe?”

“Maybe. Maybe we should go?”

She spun and gave him a surprised look. “Scared?” she teased.

“No,” he lied.

“I think it’s coming from this way.” Without a look back she pushed forward.

“Mmm.” Zephyr followed with a frown. “I don’t know if we should be following strange sounds in a strange house. Especially given what happened last time.”

Arianna paused and turned back to study him. Then she took his hands, smiled, and replied quite sincerely, “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” As she spun to follow the sound again she added, “I told you. This one wasn’t my grandma’s house. This was like her brother’s or uncles or something. I don’t know.”

“Does your family have a lot of deaths quite regularly?” Zephyr asked, recognising that his voice had notched up in pitch but unable to do much about it.

“Well, there are a lot of us, so I think it’s just a numbers game. If it’s not somebody dying, then it’s somebody getting married.”

Zephyr gave an amused smile at her tone. Evidently, she wasn’t a very frivolous person. He had guessed as much anyway. Despite her excitement at nearly everything, she always managed to come across dignified. She never slouched, and while she’d sway and shift she never jumped up or down or clapped her hands, although sometimes she would bring them quickly and softly together as if she wanted to.

“You know I swear, while I was in high school, we must have had a birthday like every second weekend. One time there were three at once.”

She stopped suddenly.

Zephyr nearly ran into her.

Then she rotated slightly, lifted one hand and placed it gently on his side as if to stop him.

Zephyr’s stomach did a somersault at her touch and he would have sworn his heart skipped a beat.

She tilted her head to the side and listened. “It’s stopped.”

He did the same. She was right. No more crying, just a quiet whisper of the wind. When he glanced down to meet her gaze he realised how close she was.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi.” She smiled.

For a full moment they stared at each other, only inches apart.

“Were you really scared?” she asked seriously.

“No,” he lied again. He took her hand between his and gently caressed her smooth skin.

She kept her smile but narrowed her eyes, obviously unsure if he was lying or not. She brought her other hand up and walked her fingers up his forearm. Casually she played with the half-rolled up sleeves of his woolen jersey.

For a moment he thought about admitting that he had been scared after all, but then she glanced away and replied, “She always used to scare me.” She shivered as she met his gaze again.

She’d said the same before, but Zephyr appreciated the comment now. He smiled and took the opportunity to run both his hands up and around her biceps, as if to warm or comfort her, but really just to touch another part of her that he hadn’t touched yet.

“Why did she scare you?” he asked as he dropped his hands back down.

“I don’t know. There were lots of rumours about her. That she messed about with sorcery and blood magics. That she ate children and bathed in the blood of virgins to stay young. Fairy stories, I think.”

“You think?”

“Who knows. Some people say the sorcerers can live forever. Not that they’d share it with the rest of us if they could.”

“Would you want to live forever?” he asked.

“Why not?”

“Well, I don’t know. I don’t know if it would still be us then. Maybe like a version of us.”

“I don’t think it matters. Only our perception of it. I think it would make things a lot easier.”

He frowned. “Easier? How would it make things easier.”

“More predictable,” she replied with a smile.

“You’d still have new people though and you’d still have deaths from other things.”

“Well, that depends on the nature of how we attain immortality,” she replied with a smile, “But things would change slower I think and people do some crazy things when they think they’re going to die. Plus, you wouldn’t have any aging minds in charge of anything. They’d be fresh and brilliant forever.”

“And in charge forever until someone bopped them off,” Zephyr quipped as he mimed hitting someone with a hammer.

Arianna laughed.

“And people might get a little impatient waiting around for a freak accident to collect their inheritance.”

Arianna laughed again and then she shook her head. “Inheritance isn’t something I think most people care about.”

“So says the rich girl standing in her inherited house,” Zephyr teased.

Arianna seemed to take his teasing in her stride although she did blush a little.

“You know what I think,” Zephyr continued before she could reply.

“What?”

“I think it wouldn’t make a single difference.”

“No?” She raised her eyebrows.

“No. That’s the nature of people. They get happy or sad for awhile depending on what happens but most people are like those dolls with the weighted bottoms. They have a set point and they always find it again. Same for peace and chaos. Give someone a perfect life and they’ll go looking for trouble. Give them enough chaos and they’ll make friends where they had none before.”

“Oh, so you do enjoy being a little scared then? Here I had you pegged for the smart and sophisticated armchair sort,” she teased as she placed her hands on his chest and leaned in a little. “But then you go telling me about your crazy adventures.”

“Sometimes, I can be both,” he replied as he leaned down, heart-thumping in his chest, and met her lips with his.

Their kiss was soft and sweet and only the barest tip of tongue was used.

“Well, you certainly make my heart beat a little faster,” she admitted once they broke apart several minutes later.

Zephyr grinned and was about to reply when a loud yowl echoed through the house, followed by a soft crying, just like they had hear earlier.

“It’s started again,” Zephyr observed.

Arianna frowned as she listened. Then she smiled and took off after it again.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Zephyr called as he raced to catch up.

“I think it’s some kind of animal,” Arianna replied as she paused by a door. Then she reached for the handle.

“What’s your power, out of interest?” Zephyr asked from just behind her, wanting to know, just in case it wasn’t an everyday animal.

She paused, gave him a surprised look followed by a smile. Then she held up on finger and created a small flame on the tip. A moment later she snuffed it out by forming her hand into a fist.

“You’re a firestarter?”

She nodded. “And you?” She was paused with her hand on the door handle now. From inside this room Zephyr could hear a quiet snuffling. Whatever it was was in there.

“Quickfoot,” he replied.

She raised her eyebrows and with a smile remarked, “Ah, well you’ll be able to outrun me then.”

He frowned. He did not think that helped things. He didn’t want anything to happen to her anymore than himself.

Gently she turned the door handle and nudged the door open just a crack, enough that she could peer around the edge. A moment later she pulled back with a smile on her face. Then she nodded for him to take a look.

Zephyr hesitated, but it didn’t seem like she was afraid of whatever it was so he leaned forward and took a look.

There lying against one wall of the room was a white fox-like creature with several bushy tails, nursing a small litter of kits.

“Fynxara,” Arianna whispered in his ear. “I’ve never seen a baby one before. She must have come in through a window to give birth. What a rare treat.”

Zephyr pulled back and whispered back, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen an adult one before, except in pictures. They don’t usually come near people do they?”

“They do if they’re bonded or looking to bond but that’s rare, and I don’t think this one is or she would be with her witch. Even bonded ones are pretty elusive though. One of my aunt’s used to have one. It followed her everywhere but you hardly would have noticed it unless you knew, and it often took the form of a cat. Lucky woman. We should leave it be.” But she peered around the door to get one more look.

Zephyr did the same, figuring it might be his last chance to ever see one. Just seeing a fynxara was a once in a lifetime event, let along several at once.

“Do you think it can get out?” Zephyr asked as Arianna gently closed the door to the room.

She hesitated. “If it got in then it should be able to get out. I’m not familiar with the sorts of powers they can have. Some can teleport I think but maybe the babies can’t.” She cracked the door open a bit. “We’ll leave them a way out just in case, and maybe give them a few weeks before we do anything with this place.”

“What are you planning to do with it?” Zephyr asked as they tiptoed away down the hall.

“Probably just sell it,” Arianna replied.

Zephyr could hear the wind whispering in the background again but it no longer seemed as scary as it had several minutes ago, not after the miracle he’d just seem.

He was feeling a lot calmer by the time they got back to the entrance hall, at least he was until a shrill sound rang out from his pocket. He jumped about a foot in the air before he realised it was just his cellphone. He checked the call screen. It was from Wolf.

He hit the answer button, ignoring Arianna’s gentle laughter. “Hey?”

“Hey Zeph,” Wolf’s voice filtered down the line. His tone betrayed worry. “How fast can you get to my place? It’s Indi. Something went wrong with a spell we cast. ”