*Author’s note* This is another short story with the characters from the novel ‘Everyday Witches”. In a previous short story, a house sprite opened a portal in the back of a coffee shop owned by one of the witches. Here, some of his friends are attempting to close it so that the shop can be repaired, but will have a strange surprise visitor first.
Maria tossed a pebble of concrete dust into the portal and watched it disappear into the blue hazy depths. “What do you think is on the other side of that thing,” she asked James, idly.
He looked up from the spell book he’d been perusing for the last half hour. “I honestly don’t know,” he said thoughtfully. “Want to find out?” He set the book down and grabbed his wife around the waist, pretending to push her towards the yawning abyss.
“James,” Maria shrieked, batting playfully at his hands. She inched a bit farther from the edge though, just in case. Better not to tempt fate.
The couple had been in the shop for most of the day now, trying everything they could think of to close up the portal that Heinrich had opened beneath the shop, in his fit. The kobold had been working in the dining area since they’d been there, gathering up the broken bits of plaster and sweeping the floors. He had only come out one time, to oversee their progress. He was a helpful spirit when he was in a good mood, but the Gaia help the witch who fell victim to his ire. Or in this case, James and Maria.
Neither one of them were well versed in the workings of portals. James was an expert at the runic arts and Maria was quite attuned to nature and the working of potions. But this was something else entirely. A rift had been created that obviously went somewhere, and they needed to figure out how to close it without causing damage to the world on either side of it. It was a conundrum.
“Maybe it’s an alternate dimension,” Maria said, playfully. “Maybe on the other side of this thing is a James and Maria who won the lottery and now live off the sunny coast of Spain, sipping margaritas by the pool every day.”
“And maybe its a James and Maria who’s farm was lost to famine and now they live on the streets of Philadelphia in tattered clothes, begging for change,” James said sourly. He wasn’t used to being beaten by a magical riddle, but this one had him stumped. He flipped through the pages of an old volume that had belonged to Juan’s parents, squinting at the faded pages.
Maria tsked softly and gently removed the book from his hands, setting it on the ground by her feet. Although Juan had done his best to clean up after the cataclysmic accident, there were still pebbles and concrete dust near the crumbling edges of the rift. She winced and picked the book up, dusting off the leather jacket and reaching up to set the book on the counter top above them. Then she settled back in beside James.
“Come on honey,” she pouted in her enchanting Spanish accent. “We’ll get this thing figured out. You know we will. We just have to figure out how to reinforce the barriers between the worlds. But wracking our brains over it and getting grouchy isn’t going to fix anything.” She pushed his cowboy hat back and rubbed seductively at the day old stubble above his ear.
James smiled softly and placed a hand atop hers, wishing they were back at home instead of knee deep in the magical workings of inter-dimensional barriers. “Of course it will,” he said, grinning. “Eventually we’ll put it right. But you’re right, we could use a little break.”
He leaned over to kiss her, running a hand through her silky hair and lingering a moment in the kiss before standing up. “We don’t need to get distracted and fall into the portal to who in the Gaia knows where though,” he added with a chuckle.
He stood beside one of the coffee pots and scrutinized the many buttons and levers. He didn’t know how on the green Earth Juan could run these things every day. They looked like some sort of space age contraptions that might just as well vaporize a planet as pour you a cup of coffee. He poked at a few buttons, testing to see what they would do before filling the filter basket. When he had the hang of it he pulled an industrial sized bag of coffee down from a shelf and began to fill the little basket with grounds. He was sealing the bag back up when a rush of wind and a strange keening sound came from the portal behind him. Maria shrieked again, for real this time, and he spun towards the portal in surprise.
A tiny dragon, about the size of an iguana sat perched on the lip of the hole, preening itself and shaking dust from its feathery scales. It was long and thin and had bird-like talons at the end of each of four long, muscular legs. Its head was something like a cross between a lizard and a bird, with an angular face and a sharp beak. Long scales that resembled feathers covered the entire body, ranging from red to blue and mixing to purple in spots.
James looked at Maria and she turned to look back at him, shaking her head in disbelief. “Well, I guess we can rule out the alternate dimension thing,” she said slowly. “Unless the other dimension includes dragons anyway.”
The dragon squawked and stepped towards them, eyeing them carefully. Maria couldn’t tell if it was curiosity or predatory behavior. The creature rotated its head from side to side and emitted an odd purring type sound. Suddenly it left the ground in a fluid motion, its body undulating rhythmically as it flew straight at Maria. She let out a little cry and ducked, her arms held up to cover her face. The dragon circled in the air around her narrow shoulders and then dove in to land on one of them.
The dragon’s talons dug through her thin peasant blouse and into her skin, and Maria cried out. She waved a hand towards it in a swatting motion but made sure not to actually hit it. The dragon continued making the odd purring sound and rubbed its scaly head against the side of her face, before slithering around her neck to land on the other shoulder. It paced back and forth, stopping to pull at the fabric of her blouse with a taloned foot, peering into the depths as if it had never seen clothing before.
Maria looked stricken and was frozen in place, her hands raised halfway in front of her body as if to ward something off. She looked at James, wide eyed and grimacing. James stood still for a beat and then burst into laughter. He doubled over, his hands clasping his thighs as the laughter rolled from him. Finally, the moment passed and he straightened up.
“Aww,” he said, around the fading giggles. “He’s kinda cute.”
Maria gave a long blink and then tried to pry the dragon from her shirt. It made a dissatisfied noise and coiled its tail around her neck, flattening its body to her chest and shoulders. Maria sighed.
“I guess it isn’t all that bad,” she said, hesitantly. She reached a tentative finger up to run along the creature’s cheek. It made the purring sound again and leaned into her neck.
James moved towards her and held a hand out to the small dragon. It retreated to Maria’s back, peering warily around her neck at him. A strange noise, halfway between a growl and a purr emanated from the depths of its chest.
“Well, it seems to like you anyway,” James said, cavalierly. “Maybe you should keep him. Look at how well Kojack’s training worked out. I bet we could do one better!”
Maria scoffed. “Really? A dragon? Where would I keep it?” She tried unsuccessfully to pry the thing from around her shoulders. It dug its talons in and held on.
James moved forward again and reached a tentative hand out to the dragon. He darted a hand in and grabbed it around the scruff of the neck and pulled. Maria cried out as the talons scraped her skin, but he managed to pry it from its perch.
“You’re right,” James said, looking closely at the amazing little creature. “He is incredible though. It’s a shame to have to send him back. But it’s the right thing to do.”
He moved towards the fissure in the floor, still swirling with a hazy blue luminescence.
“Tell him goodbye,” he said, turning to look at Maria.
Maria scowled, but she said, “Goodbye pequeno dragon,” waving her fingers dismissively.
James wound up like a pinch hitter, holding the dragon by its middle now and tossed it back into the portal. The dragon was visible for just a moment, and then it faded into the blue depths. James turned, grinning at Maria and sidled up to her.
“Well, we can tell Jude when we get home that we encountered a creature from another world. It’ll be a story for the ages!”
Maria shook her head and her shoulders slumped. “Dios mio, yes it will. But I’ll be glad when we get this dumb thing closed and Juan can have his shop back.”
James leaned in and embraced his wife, wrapping his arms around her and laying his head across the top of hers. “We’ll get it figured out. Don’t worry.”
A rushing sound came from the area near the portal and the couple looked up in surprise. The dragon was back and happier than ever. It sat balanced at the edge of the crumbling rift, preening its scales.
James chuckled and Maria sighed. The dragon shifted its head from side to side and then made its way across the dust strewn floor to Maria’s feet. It made another mewling sound and pawed impatiently at her leather sandal.
“No, pequeno dragon. You are not of this world. You cannot stay here with us.” Maria bent to scoop up the scaly creature and it nuzzled her hand affectionately. She gave the colorful dragon a little pat on the head and then dropped it over the portal. It flapped its scaly wings and swooped swiftly around the edge of the portal, landing on the counter top beside the coffee makers. Maria stamped her foot and made a little sound of disapproval. James laughed again.
“Come on, little guy, in you go.” James was still chortling as he picked up the dragon and carried it carefully back to the rift. He tucked it under one arm while he dug inside his shirt pocket for his alabaster focusing stone. If they didn’t get this portal closed, and soon, there was no telling what else might pop out of the thing.
This time, instead of letting the dragon drop, he tossed it with all of his might, hoping that it would fly far enough from the rift on its own side of the portal that it wouldn’t come back through. As the little dragon disappeared into the swirling blue mist he held out his focusing stone and began a runic spell that he prayed to the Gaia would actually work this time.
“Come on, Maria, grab my arm and say the incantation with me this time. We’ve got to get this thing closed, now.”
Maria came up beside him and closed her eyes, laying a delicate hand on his bicep. She recited the phrase with him as he traced the hand motions in the air. The air grew cool and some of the dust and rocks around the portal began to levitate, swaying as if in a gentle breeze. A tremor shook the ground and Maria opened her eyes in surprise. Suddenly, the little dragon came catapulting back out of the portal, landing on the spot where Maria’s hand rested on James’ arm. It clasped its spiky talons onto a finger, resting the other foot on James’ arm. A blinding flash erupted in the room and the dust and rocks began to swirl as if in a whirlwind. The draught spiraled around and down towards the portal until the whole thing disappeared in a blink. As the dust settled, they could see that the amorphous blue miasma was now gone, leaving behind nothing but a large crevasse in the floor of the little coffee shop.
James let out a whoop of excitement, throwing his hands into the air. The dragon that was still sitting cradled between his arm and Maria’s hand was startled into the air and flew in a circle above them, in a whoosh of wings and scales. James celebration was cut short as he remembered that the dragon hadn’t made it back into the portal before it closed and he looked at Maria with a grimace.
“Oops.” He glanced at the circling dragon and then back at his beautiful wife who’s thin, black eyebrows were narrowed tightly in disapproval. The dragon drifted back down and settled onto her shoulder, chewing happily at the edge of her white peasant top.
“Well, looks like the little guy’s gonna be here for awhile. I think I know of a good transformation spell anyway…”
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For more shorts, including the story of how the portal originally opened, visit- Odds & Ends
If you’d like to check out the full novel, you can find it at- Everyday Witches: chapter listing
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