Spliced

Wolf tried Amanda’s number first but all he got was dial tone. Calling Cat produced much the same result. But the third time was the charm.

“Hey Zeph, how fast can you get to my place? It’s Indi. Something went wrong with a spell we cast.”

He watched Indi the entire time he talked. She was still pressed against the back wall, clutching the knife and staring at something he could not see.

“Indi, there’s nothing there,” he told her as he covered the mouthpiece.

But she didn’t listen to him.

“Stay back!” She held the shaky knife out in front of her, too far from her body to do any good. Then she curled into a ball as if bracing for an attack from something. A few moments later she peaked back up, her eyes fixed on one spot in front of her.

Zephyr’s voice filtered back down the line. “Uh, that’s kind of tricky. I’m in the Rainbow Valley.”

“What? Why are you in the Rainbow Valley?”

“Long story, what’s wrong with Indi? Is she okay? Can you phone someone else?”

“She’s seeing things that aren’t there and thinks she’s still dreaming. I already tried Amanda and Cat. I got no answer. I don’t know who else to call.”

“Uh, how about her husband?” Zephyr replied in a tone that suggested he though it an obvious first call.

Wolf hesitated. “He’d probably just make things worse. He’s not familiar with spells or dreamwalking, and he’ll probably just bite my head off for getting Indi into this situation. You’re a therapist, can’t you tell me how to calm her down? Convince her what she’s seeing isn’t real.”

“Is what she’s seeing not real?” Zephyr asked matter-of-factly.

Wolf hesitated again. He wasn’t sure about that. It was a good point.”Hang on,” he said to Zephyr. Then to Indi he asked, “Indi, what is it that you’re looking at?”

“A monster,” she whispered. Her whisper was followed a moment later by a small whimper.

Wolf suppressed a groan. “Yes, but what does it look like?”

“Like a wolf.”

“Like a...” Wolf frowned. He put the phone back to his ear. “I’m not getting anywhere. I need some better suggestions, Zeph.”

“Uhh...ahhh!”

There came a high-pitched scream down the line and suddenly two figures and fox-like creature fell out of midair and landed on Wolf’s table.

The figures landed roughly, sprawled and groaning. The fynxara dropped in delicately right between then, as if it had just hopped down a single step. It straightened up, looked Wolf right in eye, then leapt straight toward him, vanishing into thin air before it reached him.

“What the?” came a woman’s voice that he did not recognise.

The other figure was Zephyr.

Wolf frowned, crossed his arms, leaned back against his bench, and waited for the new arrivals to come to their senses.

“Um...” Zephyr sat up and scanned his gaze around the room. He paused when he saw Indi, then he looked to Wolf and recognition flooded his face.

The woman didn’t bother looking around the room. Her eyes had found Wolf and from that moment she had fixed him with a wary look.

“Uh, hi Wolf,” Zephyr replied.

At his words, the woman turned from Wolf to look at Zephyr with a surprised and confused frown.

It was Zephyr that asked the question she was probably also thinking.

“What just happened?”

Wolf could guess but he hesitated in saying it. It had been the work of the fynxara, he was sure, but fynxara were so rare a thing that saying ‘a fynxara did it,’ was like saying the dog ate your homework. He wasn’t even sure if Zephyr knew what a fynxara was.

“Well, it looks like you teleported,” Wolf replied.

“Uh... yeah, but how?” Zephyr gave the room another sweep and once more his gaze found Indi, still scrunched up silently in the corner, breathing heavily. He hopped down off the table and made his way toward her.

“Well, it might have something to do with the fynxara that was just here,” Wolf replied, expecting to have to explain what that was. He watched Indi shrink into her corner a little as Zephyr got closer.

But to his surprise, the woman on the table said in a more relaxed voice, “Oh, the fynxara, it teleported us?”

Wolf gave her a second assessment. She was slender, red-headed, and tall. Almost as tall as Cat but without an ounce of muscle on her. She was more limb than body and kind of delicate looking. She smelt like fancy perfume, white wine, and comfortable living. She was dressed fancy too, in a skirt and soft jersey, neither of which looked fit for running about or fighting monsters or handling vials of blood. Was she a client of Zeph’s? She’d lost her wary expression now and was instead giving him a look of curiosity.

“Oh, err, Arianna, this is Wolf. Wolf, this is Arianna.” Zephyr waved a hand behind himself without even a glance back. He was was focused on Indi. “Hey Indi, you alright?”

Arianna held out a manicured hand to Wolf. “Pleasure to meet you.”

He gave a loose shake of her limp grip and grunted a reply. Then he turned to watch Zephyr.

Zephyr took a few steps slowly toward Indi.

Suddenly she raised both hands as if to ward him off. “No, don’t come any closer, it might hurt you.”

Zephyr paused, his eyes now drawn to the knife in her hand. “What might, Indi?”

“The wolf.”

“The Wolf? You can see a wolf? What does it look like? Is it big or small?”

“Big.”

“Like a werewolf?”

She nodded.

“What colour is it?”

“Brown.”

Zephyr was gentle and slow with his questions and after each answer he’d nod thoughtfully.

“What sort of brown? Like a light brown or dark brown?”

“Mmm, medium maybe.” Indi was sounding slightly less shaky now. Her breathing seemed less panicky.

“Any distinctive markings?”

“It’s face is painted like a clown.”

“Like a clown?” Zephyr had been crouching slightly, now he stood up straight and glanced back at Wolf.

Wolf shrugged so Zephyr turned back to Indi.

“What’s it doing now?

“Just... growling, kind of.”

Where is it?”

Indi pointed to a spot a couple feet in front of Zephyr. He took a few steps toward that spot.

Indi furrowed her brow, obviously not happy with what he was doing. But before she could object, Zephyr was standing in the spot she had pointed.

Her objection seemed to falter and she looked at the spot with a frown

“Is it still there?”

Indi nodded slowly. “It’s a dream I guess. I don’t know how to wake up.”

Zephyr glanced once more at Wolf who shook his head. Arianna was watching Indi with a concerned empathetic expression on her face.

“You’re not dreaming, Indi. You’re just seeing some things that aren’t there. They“—He looked to Wolf—“can’t hurt you?”

But this time Wolf didn’t respond. He just looked at Indi with a worried expression.

Zephyr sighed. With a smile he said to Indi, “We’re going make them go away okay, just bare with me.” Then he turned and walked back to Wolf. “What magic were you doing?”

Wolf looked past him, his gaze still fixed on Indi, his mind thinking how this was all his fault and how useless he was at people things. At least calling Zephyr appeared to have been the right decision. He had managed to calm her down somewhat. But Wolf had no idea what to do now.

Then Indi spoke, “What if I cut myself with the knife or something, maybe a strong pain will wake me up?”

Wolf met Zephyr’s eyes and for a moment he saw the terror he felt reflected there. Then, in less than a blink of an eye the quickfoot was on the other side of the room, kneeling next to Indi and prying that knife from her hands.

Indi gave a yelp and jerked back into the wall with a light thud. Luckily, she forgot to shield and the surprise loosened her grip. Zephyr easily took the knife from her. He threw it safely across the room and out of her reach. It lodged neatly into a cupboard door.

He spoke to her calmly and quickly. “It’s okay, Indi, it’s just me. I don’t think that’s a good idea okay. The dreamworld doesn’t work like that so even if you are dreaming all you’d do is hurt yourself okay. And if you were dreaming we wouldn’t leave you in there would we?”

She hesitated.

“Anyway, you’re not dreaming.” He held out a hand. “Look, feel my hand, feels real right?”

“I guess.” She carefully touched his fingers, turning his hand over within her own.

As she seemed to relax, Zephyr closed her hand in his own and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Indi frowned. “But, the dreamworld feels real right? How can I be sure?”

Zephyr reached up and squeezed her shoulder.”Well, sure it can feel real.”

“But not this real,” Wolf interjected in a gruffer tone than Zephyr’s.

“And the magic wears off eventually so you’d wake up,” Zephyr added.

“Not if it was a dreamweaver that trapped me,” Indi argued, although she seemed much calmer now at least.

“Yeah, but think back to what happened. You and Wolf cast a spell or something right? So Wolf would wake you if you had gone to sleep. But you didn’t, you...” he gave Wolf a questioning look.

But Indi replied before Wolf could. “But what if I was dreaming then too? What if I’ve been dreaming from the moment I stepped foot in that house, or, or... or even before that?!” Her voice was getting raspy again.

“Uh...” Zephyr frowned. “Let me talk to Wolf for a second okay? You just sit here.”

Zephyr started to get up but Indi grabbed his arm.

In a panicked voice she said, “No, don’t go.”

Zephyr gave Wolf a hard look. “Call Falco, now.”

Wolf sighed and grumbled but he pulled out his phone and started dialing.

“And try Amanda and Cat again.”

Arianna suddenly seemed to realise what she was sitting on, not so much the table itself but the circle of blood that had been painted onto it. As Wolf made his call, she climbed down off it, checked her clothes for any stains, eyed the table warily and then slowly walked around the edge of the it until she was in Indi’s line of vision.

“Hey,” she said in a friendly tone. “I’m Arianna.”

“You were chatting to Zeph that day we were all in the Rusty Nail?” Indi replied.

Arianna looked surprised. “That’s right.”

Indi glanced from Arianna to Zephyr and then back again and a small smile started to form on her face. She released Zephyr’s arm, then in a shaky breath she asked, “I’m really not dreaming?”

“Nope,” Arianna replied with a smile. “Although I suppose it’s possible we’ve all always been dreaming.”

Zephyr gave her a frown but then Indi laughed.

“I suppose,” she said. ”Maybe that’s not so bad then... except...” she turned to look at that same spot again. The place where nothing was.

“It’s still there?” Zephyr asked.

Indi nodded. “But you did walk through it before, so I know that’s not real at least. Wolf said I teleported, like through the dreamworld, with this.” She opened her hand to reveal the little silver cat charm.

Zephyr didn’t point out that it was also possible the creature was real and he wasn’t. She seemed to have decided that he was the real one and he sure as hell wasn’t going to challenge that assumption. He took the cat charm from her and glanced toward Wolf, who was by now off the phone and watching with a concerned look.

“I can sit with her,” Arianna offered.

Zephyr gave her a grateful smile.

“Would that be alright Indi?” Arianna asked.

Indi nodded. She glanced nervously toward the invisible creature but made no move to grab Zephyr as he got up this time.

Arianna proceeded to distract her by chatting to her and asking her questions about herself.

“What did you cast?” Zephyr asked Wolf in a low voice.

Wolf sighed and reached for his book. “Bad dreams spell. It was supposed to lure the dreamweaver here, and-”

“You were trying to lure it?!”

Wolf shrugged sheepishly. “It was Indi’s idea and I figured it gave us a chance to trap it.”

“That thing kills, and fast by the looks of it. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking it was going to kill more people if we didn’t soon something about it.”

“So you used Indi as bait?”

“a) her idea, and b) she would have been perfectly safe.”

Zephyr gestured to where Indi and Arianna were now deep in conversation over in the corner. There was a lot of smiling and a little bit of laughter going on but every now and again Indi would glance nervously over to that same spot. “Would have being the operative words.”

“I don’t know what went wrong.” Wolf studied the instructions for the spell again. “I got her to use the dreamwalking infusement as well but, they shouldn’t have had this result.”

“This thing?” Zephyr handed him the necklace.

Wolf nodded as he took it. “She was having trouble falling asleep and I can’t be 100% certain that she didn’t take some dreamskeep. She had some on her and she says she didn’t but she seems jittery and I have no idea what that combination of things would have done. I would have expected that it just didn’t work. Teleportation via the dreamworld is hard. Cat can barely do it and that’s with a lot of extra set up.”

Zephyr frowned and glanced toward Indi. “Indi’s often jittery.”

There was a sigh from Wolf. “Yeah, I don’t know. Sometimes the dream world can bleed into reality. A dreamer can make a monster real. That’s usually more common with novice dreamwalkers though, not infusements. But maybe that’s what she’s seeing. Cat could fix it but I still can’t get a hold of her.”

“And the others?”

“Falco’s on his way.”

Zephyr frowned and looked down at the description of the spell that Wolf had placed before him. He didn’t think he was going be much use though. He didn’t know magic like Wolf did, and Wolf seemed to be at a loss. “Maybe we should call Coal?” Zephyr wondered out loud.

Wolf made a choking sound. “I’m going to try Amanda again. Or maybe I’ll phone one of her kids. I’ve got all their numbers and Gemma might be at the house or know where she is.”

Zephyr turned back to the book while Wolf dialed. He studied the words. When he got to the bottom of the page he reread them. It seemed like a simple and straightforward spell, a specific drawing in blood and a special paste. The paste was made from a bunch of ingredients that Zephyr had never heard of but which sounded plant-like. The caster was instructed to have the subject of the spell lie above the rune. No more was required than that. It was almost too simple. The more Zephyr reread it, the more questions he had. Like, how big was the rune supposed to be? Did the accuracy matter? What about blood type? Blood freshness? Even the amount of blood probably varied depending on how thick you painted the lines of the rune. The book mentioned none of these things. Even some of the paste components were simply measured in handfuls. But whose hands? He found it especially disconcerting that this looseness wasn’t consistent. One of the ingredients was listed with a weight to 3 decimal places. Did that mean it mattered more than the others?

These weren’t the only things missing though and once Wolf got off the phone Zephyr turned to him and asked, “Are you sure this spell just induces bad dreams while a person is asleep?”

“When else would it induce them?”

“Well, a daydream is a dream right.”

Wolf considered it, then he pulled the book over, skimmed it and shook his head. “Gavelroot is usually only used in spells whose effects last only so long as the subject is within the circle.”

“Within, as in their entire body has to be within the circle. Wouldn’t that mean it would have to be quite big then and thus obvious?”

“Well, people use rugs or sometimes paint them on the other side of the floorboards, but no, it doesn’t. It can be small. It just has to be”—Wolf looked over to where Arianna and Indi were chatting—“close enough and maybe the angle matters... Except, she teleported from here, quite a distance, too far for the spell to work. Although, I suppose it’s possible it took a little while to wear off...” He stared at the book a little longer with a frown on his face. “Do you think it creates hallucinations?”

“Maybe we should destroy the rune then? Is that safe to do?”

Wolf nodded. “Yes, that’s a good idea.” He spun around and retrieved a bucket, gloves and wash cloths from beneath his sink. He filled the bucket with warm soapy water and then handed Zephyr a pair of gloves and a cloth.

“I probably should have thought to do this already,” Wolf remarked as they began scrubbing the blood off the table.

Zephyr shrugged. “You got Indi back to the cabin safe and called for help. It’s not a bad response. Why do you think the fynxara teleported us here?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it sensed that’s what you needed. They’ve been known to help their familiars like that.”

“Neither of us is bound to it though.”

“Maybe it’s looking to be?”

“It had kits.”

“Did it? Hmm, interesting. I don’t really know that much about fynxara. Nobody does. They’re reclusive creatures and the witches they bond with typically rarely speak about them.”

It took them some time to scrub their way fully through the circle. The blood had soaked into the wood nicely. But eventually they made a cut.

“Zeph!” Arianna’s voice carried across the room.

Both men looked up from their scrubbing.

It was Indi who replied. “It’s gone.”

“What’s gone?” Zephyr asked. “The creature?”

Indi nodded.

It was at that moment that the door crashed open and a worried looking Falco burst into the room. He stopped, looked around, saw Indi, and ran toward her.

Indi, upon seeing Falco, got to her feet and leapt into his hug.

He hugged her tightly for a moment and then he held her at arms length so he could look at her. “Are you okay?”

Indi nodded and then he pulled her into another hug.

“Just a bad dream,” she replied. “While I was awake... I think... I mean I could still be dreaming but as long as you’re here then that’s fine, and as long as that thing is gone.”

Falco, still holding Indi in a hug, turned to glare in Zephyr and Wolf’s direction. “What in the blooming splice were you thinking?” His frown deepened when he saw the half-cleaned blood rune on the table. “What is that?!”

“It was just a simple spell,” Wolf explained with a slight grumble.

“Oh, a simple spell?!” Falco replied in a booming voice. “A simple spell that has you calling me to tell me that my wife can’t tell the difference between a dream and reality... still, still can’t tell the difference between a dream and reality. And you expect that just makes it all okay, because it was a simple spell?!”

“Well, when half the reason it probably went wrong is because she’s abusing a dangerous substance then yeah,” Wolf snapped back.

Sensing things were about to get out of control, Zephyr held up his hands. “Hold on, hold on.”

Falco ignored him and took a step toward Wolf. “Say that again.”

“Say what again?” A calm voice asked from the doorway. Amanda had just arrived.