"The Hollow"
"Chapter 7: Trust Issues"
Alpha led Bernard to what would be her driveway if anyone in The Hollow owned a car, peering behind her every now and then to make sure he was keeping up. The sour look on his face told her all she needed to know about his state of mind, and she wisely resisted the urge to question him about the North Pole. Curiosity had its time and place, but this wasn't it.
"Where are we going now? Is this the Witch's house?"
The black cat chuckled wickedly. "No, it's the Bitch's house."
Alpha's muzzle briefly wrinkled back in a snarl, and she pointed a warning finger at the cat. Her mode of speech changed to reflect her annoyance; her Scottish brogue briefly came out of retirement. "'Felix', Ah will drop-kick ye intae th' middle ay next week!"
"Then I'll claw your face off on Thursday."
It took Bernard a second or two to realize that she had just threatened to drop-kick Omen into the middle of next week, and even though it was obvious that this was an empty threat, he visibly paled. His eyes widened, both at the cat's use of language and the fact that it actually could speak, and he looked anxiously at Alpha. "You wouldn't, really...?"
"Nahhh, 'course not." Realizing that her banter with Omen wasn't doing much to keep Bernard calm, Alpha shrugged off the cat's remark and commented, "Well, that's not exactly an insult for a female Werewolf. Though I don't think the men would appreciate it very much. We're stopping at my house first."
"What for?" Bernard seemed more confused than worried.
"Pearl isn't home. Her windows are dark. And you can't go into town dressed like that." Alpha gestured vaguely at Bernard's clothing.
Bernard looked down at himself. He was wearing brown trousers and a burgundy and gold striped shirt, and he never went anywhere without his hat. "This is what I usually wear. What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing, if you wanna stick out like a sore thumb!" Alpha unlocked her front door and stood aside to let him pass. Omen strolled in like he owned the place, but Bernard hung back.
"Look, I'm not...I'm not gonna undress, okay? And I'm not wearing women's clothing, either."
Alpha fought the urge to laugh. There was something endearing about his little fits of pique, and she was strongly reminded of one of her younger brothers. She pushed that thought from her mind, not wanting to remember. "Well, then, you're in luck on both counts. I hate wearing dresses, and you won't even have to remove your hat. Now, are you coming in or not? You'll let the bats in."
Bats?! Why am I not surprised? He shuffled quickly into the house, which was little more than a shack, and blinked when Alpha turned on a lamp. The light was dim, by his standards, but he was so used to the darkness outside that he couldn't open his eyes right away.
"Oh, sorry," she left him where he was and began rifling through her wardrobe.
Bernard lingered uncomfortably by the door as his eyes adjusted to the light, and as he gazed about him he felt a stab of pity. Alpha didn't seem to have very much at all in the way of material possessions. A half-finished knitting project lay in a heap on one end of her small table, and at the other end was a clean place setting and a single chair. A bed, covered in a patchwork quilt, sat at the back of the house. There was a door that Bernard thought might lead to either a closet or a bathroom, and the only real luxury item he could see was a well-stocked bookshelf. A dictionary-sized book stood out, and he went over to investigate. It was entitled, 'The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe', and on the same shelf he saw at least seven Stephen King novels. He quickly lost interest. Was everything down here about horror?
What were Buddy's surroundings like? Bernard shuddered and rubbed his upper arms. He glanced at the other shelves, and saw that, in fact, only a very small percentage of her books were of the horror genre, and he saw several fantasy and sci-fi books, arranged by series and author. The Chronicles of Narnia, various novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, Dragonlance novels, The Wind in the Willows, several books of sheet music for the tin whistle...Oh, and what was this? He read the title aloud to himself. "'Quilting For Dummies'?"
"Ah-ah, you forget all about that!"
Bernard jumped, feeling absurdly like a naughty little boy who had been caught in the act of raiding the cookie jar, and clasped his hands behind his back.
Omen had risen up onto his hind legs and reached up, stretching himself to his full length as he prepared to sharpen his claws on her wardrobe. He looked right at her, seeming to weigh his options, then he hopped onto the top of the wardrobe as if that had been his plan all along.
Bernard relaxed when he saw he wasn't the one being scolded. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I really think we should hurry."
"One second...ah!" Alpha withdrew a gray woolen cloak that looked like it was several sizes too small for her and held it out. "It might be a bit itchy, but hopefully you won't have to wear it for long."
Bernard wrinkled his nose at the smell of mothballs, but he supposed it couldn't be helped. He donned the cloak, putting the hood up and feeling like a prized dumbbell. "Whose is it?"
"Why, it's mine!" she grinned. "I used to wear it when I went up to the surface, at least until they went out of style and I started getting some funny looks. My human form's about your size...maybe an inch or two taller. How does it fit?"
"Well enough..." Bernard sighed. He wasn't in the habit of wearing other people's clothes! "This is weird."
"Better weird than caught, I say. C'mon. Omen, you come too. I don't want you spraying in here."
The cat sniffed disdainfully and leaped from the wardrobe and onto her shoulder. "How uncouth."
Alpha brought Bernard back to the Fairy Ring, and he immediately balked.
"Wait a minute, what is this?"
Omen laid back his ears and wrapped his tail around Alpha's neck, partly to keep his balance, and said in a stage whisper, "You've got a real genius on your paws, there, Alpha."
"Hush," she hissed back before addressing Bernard. "I'm not sure what you mean. I told you what they were, right?"
"Yes, and you also said they don't work!"
Alpha responded patiently enough. "No, I said we were on lock-down. We can't leave. But the Rings down here work just fine."
"No, they don't!" Bernard was practically yelling now. "I tried using it to get back home, and it didn't just dump me at some other Fairy Ring!"
Alpha opened her mouth to explain, but he wouldn't let her. As he ranted on, the fur on the back of her neck began to bristle.
"You said you don't like being lied to, well, neither do I! If this is some sort of prank, and you're just getting your holly-jollies by dragging the Christmas Elf on a wild goose chase, it's not funny at all!"
Omen cringed, leaped from Alpha's shoulder, and disappeared into the shadows. This was Bernard's first clue that he had committed some sort of grave etiquette blunder, and he swallowed whatever else he meant to say.
Alpha drew in a deep breath, then exhaled through her nose; the actions of one who was controlling their temper. "You just used up your only freebie."
"Huh?"
"You get one for free, but don't ever insult me like that again. You may do as you please; come with me, or go off on your own. But they'll not keep that wee one from his parents either way. No parent deserves that, and no child for that matter!"
Bernard took an involuntary step back. If this was only an act, it was a good one. Why on Earth was she so invested in this?
Before the silence could become too awkward, Alpha explained in a calmer tone of voice, "A Fairy Ring on the surface, at least one of ours, will bring you here and nowhere else. Down here, it's a little bit different. If you don't have a specific destination in mind, and you're not with someone who does, it'll transport you to a random location. You had a destination in mind, but-"
"Lock-down..." he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, I'm really sorry, but I don't know you. I wasn't ready for any of this, and..."
"You just want to find him," she nodded. "I get it. Believe me, I get it."
Bernard bit his lip before he began to ask, "Do you-"
He meant to ask her if she had children, but she cut him off, and the word 'evasive' passed through Bernard's mind. "I'm taking you to 'The Pale Horse'. It's Punky's tavern. Pearl might be there, and if she isn't, he'll probably know where she is. Look...I'm sorry, I know I'm asking a lot of you, but you'll just have to trust me."
He sighed. "I'm trying. Well...how many of these Rings are there?"
Omen rejoined them, climbing up Alpha's body to reclaim his shoulder perch, and provoking a peevish 'ow' from the Werewolf as he answered for her. "Ten."
"Huh..." Bernard frowned.
"What is it?" asked Alpha.
"It's just funny...I would have expected it to be thirteen."
Alpha snickered and led him to the Fairy Ring. "It's funny, because there used to be thirteen. I'm not sure why they got rid of the other three."
"You never asked?" Bernard looked up at her, still a bit nervous around her, especially after having angered her.
"Of course I did. I was told to mind my own business, and that was that. Now...hold onto my arm; I know where we're going, but if you let go you might end up at the other end of town. Oh, and shut your eyes. These things wreak havoc on the stomach if you don't."
Bernard did as he was told, and for the second time that day he found himself being transported to another location. This time, it wasn't so bad; he closed his eyes before the scenery had time to warp around him, and he only experienced mild vertigo this time. When he opened his eyes again, his surroundings were much brighter.
From what Bernard could see, different parts of the city were color coded, though he couldn't make sense of what each color represented. Maybe they meant nothing, and were just for decoration, but he didn't care enough to ask. A lamppost with a green light cast a sickly glow on the cobblestones behind him, glinting off of the windows of what looked like an apartment building. In front of him, at least for the next two city blocks, the lampposts were purple. And, in the distance, was an orange lamppost.
He thought he could make out a sign hanging from the building near the orange lamppost, and going by the street signs, he, Alpha, and Omen were standing at the corner of East Toadstool and Wraith. The streets were swarming with people, if you could call them that, on their way to whatever their destinations happened to be. Bernard did a double-take when he thought he spotted a creature that appeared to be human from the waist up, and a serpent from the waist down. "Is...was that a Naga? What do those have to do with Halloween?"
"Shh. Pull your hood down a bit, 'Curtis'," Alpha mumbled out of the corner of her mouth as she started forward. "Don't let them see your face. Don't make eye contact; people here take that as a challenge. Try to act like none of this is new to you, and try to remember that no one here has any interest in you."
"Gee, thanks," he snorted, knowing that she didn't mean it that way, but calling her out on how it sounded.
From the outside, 'The Pale Horse' closely resembled a medieval tavern. There was a wooden sign hanging above the door with a design carved into it, and when they drew closer, Bernard saw that it was a caricature of a robed skeleton astride a gaunt white horse. He quickly averted his eyes from the sign, picturing a cobwebby interior with a bubbling cauldron and jars of various disgusting items sitting on dusty shelves.
He expected 'eye of newt'. What he got looked more like a sports bar than a witch's den.
The neon signs that lined the walls glowed in shades of orange, purple, blue, and yellow, and they didn't advertise beer brands. Instead, they were shaped like various Halloween creatures; a bat, a Witch riding her broomstick, a ghost, an arching cat, and yes, even a Werewolf. There were others as well, but Bernard found his attention being drawn to the center of the room. The tavern was empty of people, save for the bartender.
Bernard stared. He couldn't help it. Standing behind the bar and wiping it down with a grubby cloth was a creature that seemed to be fashioned entirely out of wood, like some sort of mannequin. The finger joints bent and flexed as easily as his own, and it had been given a pumpkin for a head. No, not a pumpkin. It was a Jack-O-Lantern, and when the creature looked up its expression changed. The sour, jagged grimace became the upward-tilting crescent of a smile! How was this even possible?
The pumpkin-head adjusted the collar of his ill-fitting plaid button-down, and stashed the rag somewhere underneath the bar as it greeted them in a low, scratchy voice, "Hey, girly! Who's your friend?"
"Hey, Punky, what's up?" Alpha grinned, and exchanged a fist-bump with the creature.
"Not much. Business is slow today, but then again, it's early." Punky scrutinized Bernard, but didn't repeat his question. Instead, he pointed at Alpha. "Something's up with you, though."
"You could always read me like a book," Alpha leaned on the bar and whispered, "Listen, would you mind closing up shop for today?"
Punky drummed his wooden fingers on the bar, considering, then he came around the bar and turned the sign in the window so that it read 'Closed' before locking the front door and pulling down the shades. His green slacks were being held up by black suspenders, which was a good thing, because otherwise they would have fallen down. He came back and sat down on one of the bar stools, his wooden joints squeaking a bit. The magical fire that lit his pumpkin skull from within dimmed a bit as he grew more serious. "Locked up tight. Talk to me."
Author's Note: Never insult Alpha's honor. Also, there's another player in the game! You'll learn a bit more about him in the next chapter. I showed this story to my brother, and he asked me if Alpha and Bernard were flirting. The answer to that is a resounding no. XD Becoming friends, yeah, but I don't think they're each other's types. I actually had someone else in mind for Alpha, someone who hates his wings and wants to change his name (hint, hint) but whether or not it ever gets serious remains to be seen. It might not even head in that direction, truth be told. I thought of it somewhere around Chapter 2, and the idea won't leave me alone. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it goes!
