Snow Bait (Iz)

The following fictional events take place in Reality D (Blue)

Isolde Floccinaucin was no ordinary inter-realm traveler. Iz was a badass Pixie princess with long red hair and peppered-freckle cheeks and the most average set of rose-pink wings. She was on a mission to discover a compelling argument to have a public radio station for the kingdom of Nivern, Elesara, a kingdom where electricity had become mainstream but real outhouses were still considered amazing. It was her mom, Hannah Boden’s, preoccupation (the radios not the bathrooms), but it got her out of the house and off the sheep farm.

Tomorrow they would head home. The end of a trip always made Iz restless. She tucked her red hair behind her ears. Her rose-pink wings fluttered as she paced their hotel room.

She stopped and looked at her brother, Oisin. He had most of his bag packed and was cuddling one of his foxes on the edge of the bed. His hair was even more red than Iz’s, more carrots and cherry than desert strawberry. His wings were like sanded emeralds, a polish away from being harvested for the black market. He liked them that way, else everyone would stare at him.

Their mom had Iz’s hair color, and her freckling, and…mostly Iz was her mom. And somehow Oisin was his own being, not very Nell (their dad) at all, but not much Hannah either.

Oisin was a lot their dad’s soul. It’s like their souls were so powerful the physical genetics were like sure, we have eyes. Whatever.

Their dad wasn’t around a lot, because he had a whole different life on the other side of their home world, but when he was he was fixated on Oisin.

They’d go home the next day and Nell would see to Oisin, ask him of his travels. He’d say hi to Iz, but they didn’t really have much in common, much to talk about. Mostly Nell worried that Iz was both too female and needed to grow-down, all while she was also not married enough for how female she was, maybe too much her mom’s independence. He was a mess of contradiction. At least Iz didn’t feel pressured to be anything, because she knew she couldn’t be everything at once.

Iz huffed. “I’m going down to the bar to shoot some more pool.” And get a few drinks.

“Don’t get lost.” Oisin teased.

Oisin was her best friend, and even if they had different parental preferences, she loved him more than anyone else in the known universes. She rubbed his pet fox. “I’ll try my very best.”

Iz glanced at their mom next, but she was preoccupied with rebuilding a radio they had found in a bazaar the day before.

“Bye,” Iz whispered. She slipped out of the room, room key in her pocket.

The bar was amazing. It had red carpet that seemed like a catch all for anything tomato, of which the menu was full of. There were angled metal posts and grates on the ceiling. Dark wood tables filled the floor except where two pool tables were settled. Iz eyed the tables, but they were full. She sat at the bar and looked at the bar tender. “I’ll have anything delicious and I’m next on the tables.”

“You’ve got it,” the bar tender replied. He started to mix a drink with bright orange and neon blue liquors. He handed her the martini  glass, swirled in gorgeous sunset. “I didn’t think I’d see you again tonight.”

“The rooms are amazing, but this bar outdoes them by far,” Iz replied. She took a long drink from the cup. The taste of liquor was mild, but the fruitiness was so good. She took another drink and looked around the room.

It only took a few minutes for a guy with dark hair and thick eyebrows to sit beside her. He hunched over the bar and picked at the bowl of wrapped candies. His skin was a bronzey-tint, not tan but naturally that way, maybe from Noc Thui. He sat beside her. She’d seen him earlier, doing some sort of puzzle game. He didn’t say anything at first, not to her. He ordered a drink that turned out to be fiery and green.

“Hey. Isolde.” She offered her hand between them. “I saw you earlier. What brings you here?”

“I’m in the area for work.” He shook her hand, short and firm. “Rui.”

“Nice to meet you, Rui.”

He took his drink off the counter then spun his barstool to face her. She got a good view of him: defined muscles all over, olive brown skin, narrow eyes, thick black eyebrows, and short black hair. “What are you here for?”

“Leisure,” Iz shrugged. “Passing through.” She didn’t want to tell him too much about the radio stuff, because it would give too much away about where she was from. Travel 101: Don’t tell everyone where you’re from. Instead, she waved down the bartender and ordered the same green drink Rui had.

“What do you do for work?” She asked him.

“Whatever my boss tells me. Today I’m looking for recruits for a school and social experiment.”

Iz took a drink to hide her interest. “What kind of school? What kind of experiment?”

Rui sipped his drink, slow. “A school for teaching people.” He shrugged again. “Like any school. And they’re looking for strength…physical, emotional. And stamina.”

Iz wanted to sign up right then and there. It sounded like fun and would be a good test of who she was. Plus it would mean not going home yet. Unfortunately, Iz started to get the feeling there was more to her coincidental meeting of Rui than first glance. She tried to read his mind lightly, but it was focused on the flavor of the drink, the way the lights hung, and the snow falling outside.

She had to stop being suspicious. Her mom had taught her that. She could listen to his thoughts more deeply, but she hated intruding.

“Interesting,” Iz settled with. “Adults? I don’t see many kids around here.”

“We need adults for a different kind of program.” He looked at her, his eyes soft but open, his face smiling but not in a creepy way. “What do you do for leisure?”

“Pool,” she glanced at the table. “Meet people. I live on a farm so it’s nice to get into a city.”

“You don’t look like a farmer.”

Iz leaned back and motioned toward her black leather top and jeans. “That’s because I’m warning this.”

“And that is a shame.”

Iz laughed. She looked at him. But he was immersed in his drink, eyes off of her. Iz turned toward the barn and took a drink of green fiery alcohol. She liked Rui, as a first impression. He didn’t seem up to anything, but he didn’t seem overly honest.

Iz wasn’t overly honest either.

While they talked and drank, the pool table opened up. The bartender handed her the white 8 ball.

“Table is open,” Iz said, and hoped he caught the invitation.

Rui followed. “What are we playing and what are the stakes?” He picked up a cue stick.

Iz glanced at him. She couldn’t help but look at the way his clothes hugged his biceps and chest. She needed a night of fun. Rui might be everything she was looking for.

“What are you willing to put on the table?” she asked..

This was much better than being stuck upstairs with her brother and mom.

Rui walked around the table. “You, but I don’t have you.”

Iz laughed. Give it time. “I’ll stay an extra night here and go on a date with you, if you win. In exchange for…” Iz could ask for a date for herself, but then what was the point of the game? She had to win something for herself, something unique. “If I win…you come recruit at our next stop.”

After I convince my mom and Ois that there will be a next stop.

“Where is that?”

Iz made up a town and hoped they had something cool like a rare radio or a tech shop with cords and antennas or a scrap yard, something enticing. Maybe a wildlife sanctuary for Ois.

“I can swing through there if—” Rui stopped mid sentence. His eyes were fixed on the rest of the bar, behind Iz.

She turned around. Eight people had come in, all dressed in matching maroon cloaks. The bar had cleared out, including the bartender. The people encircled the table.

Iz took a deep breath. This was bad. She was alone. She tried to call out for Ois or her mom, but there was some sort of block.

Which meant they knew she was Pixie and had magic.

This was really bad.

Was Rui recruiting her?

They all held guns up, the fancy laser kind that could lock onto her heat signature and not the boring old fashion kind she could melt with fire. Fire magic, but it was her only card and once she did it they’d be more prepared. They might even be prepared as is.

“Come with us,” one of them grunted. She stepped forward in the group, her hair in a bun at the back of her head. “We know you are Dragon, and we know if we kill you, you’ll revive. Let’s make this peaceful and clean.”

Iz raised an eyebrow. She was bad at being attacked. Instead of panicking, she was intrigued. She wanted to get out of there, skip the question answer torture phase of things (and maybe death, apparently), but still her eyebrow rose. “Okay…” She glanced at Rui. He had his own hands up.

“Okay? Seriously.” Rui stepped away from Iz.

Awesome. At least he isn’t one of them. In one motion, she grabbed the gun and flipped it on the lead girl. It zapped into her chest. Her eyes flung wide.

Shit. Iz vomited. She didn’t have time to vomit. She picked herself back up and tried to not shake.

“Wow.” Rui stood against the wall, but beside her. “I was ready to fail at rescuing you.”’

Iz tried to laugh. She still hadn’t processed the body that was her fault. She could heal her, maybe, but she wanted to hurt her…

She glanced at Rui for one second. It was a second too long. She could hear their minds, but she was too slow. Someone got behind her and kicked her knee out. He pinned her to the ground, face first.

Iz burst into flames.

The guy screamed in pain and flipped away from her.

“Shoot her!” Another voice chimed in.

Rui jumped in front of Iz. The shot missed him, but it burned a hole in the wall behind them.

Iz grabbed Rui’s hand. “Come on.” She burst flames out toward the group of them and ran behind the cloak of fire toward the stairwell. She ran until they got to her room. She glanced back down the hall while her hands fumbled with the key.

“It was probably sexist of me to assume you needed to be rescued,” Rui said.

Iz looked at him. He was shaking too.

“You’re fine,” Iz said. “I told you I’m a farmer.”

“That was not farming.” He rubbed his arm.

Iz got the key in and pulled him into the room. It was empty, not just empty but like no one had been there at all. She locked the door and looked at Rui’s arm. It was burned and bleeding from the shot that had “missed” them.

“We have to get out of here,” Iz said. There was nothing there. Were Ois and her mom kidnapped or did they flee? Did they leave her?

Iz went back to the hallway, but voices filled it.

“I know somewhere safe,” Rui said.

“Okay. For now. When we lose their trail I’ll find my family.”

“You have family here?” Rui asked. “Are they in danger?”

Iz frowned. Seriously? “I don’t know. Either they’re in trouble or they got out. Do you need to grab your stuff? Mine is gone.”

Rui transported them to another room. His hand let go as soon as they were there. He grabbed a duffel bag and a laptop and then her hand. He whispered something and they were somewhere else, somewhere empty and alone feeling. Everything was metal except the couch and fabric on two sets of bunk beds.

“This expires in 12 hours,” Rui said. “We can sleep here and ride out those criminals. Did they hurt you at all?”

“What does expires mean?”

“It’s in an existence bubble. It pops out of existence in…” Rui looked at his watch and showed her. “Twelve hours and fourteen minutes. I have an alarm for an hour before it expires.”

“So you know magic. Obviously.” Iz looked around. What had she gotten herself into?

“No, I transported out of desperation to save a sexy girl.”

Iz laughed, finally. “Magically.”

Rui shrugged. “Magic is everywhere.”

“Do you really think I’m sexy?” Iz asked.

“I think watching you take that guy down was intense.”

Iz had taken the room in by that point. It was all she saw: a glorified hotel room with a bathroom with plumbing to nowhere, and a few beds.

At least he’d chosen a room with more than one bed.

But he had to have this planned, if he had an alarm.

Iz turned to face him, ball of fire in her hands. “Who are you and what are you really doing with me?