Pocketed

  Shawntelle Madison

  Valkyrie Rising Press

  This is for my readers, the ones who kept reading Nat’s adventures over and over again. Your thirst to know what happened to Natalya and her friends carried me the whole way. I loved writing this story and I can’t thank you enough for caring about Nat as much as I do.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Also by Shawntelle Madison

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  This story takes place between Kept and Compelled.

  “Are you going to eat that?” A hand, with nails painted the same green as mold growing under old refrigerators, reached for the saddest-looking tiger tail donut in the box.

  “It’s all yours,” I said to Lilith.

  The succubus squealed with delight and snatched the rejected confection. When I attended group therapy, I rarely ate anything from the snacks table. My therapist, a white wizard psychiatrist named Dr. Frank, assured me he’d bought fresh coffee and donuts for his clients, but that information wasn’t enough to reassure me. Did that wizard honestly believe everyone washed their hands before they man-handled the maple bacon bars?

  Either way I wasn’t hungry for donuts. Right before I came here, I made a quick stop, by accident of course, at one of those big chain craft stores. You know, the one where you could scrapbook your heart out in one aisle, or snag cheap-ass table settings for a wedding in another one. Even in mid-January, they had the loveliest post-holiday display, free catered coffee included, so I saw it as a win-win.

  While I browsed the beautiful trinkets and disgustingly expensive lawn décor, Dr. Frank’s voice coursed through in my head loud and clear from a therapy session right before Christmas. “The holidays often present challenges, both social and physical. For you, this time of the year will be difficult in terms of self-control.”

  Self-control? Bah!

  I saw the loveliest golden Rudolph ornament. About a week ago, I’d left a similar one behind during a failed binge shopping spree with my close friend Nick the white wizard. Another woman had purchased it, but lo and behold, I had another chance to make him mine. That is, until I recalled my psychiatrist’s additional warning: “The best exercise to face your demons—the figurative ones—is to go to a post-Christmas sale and leave with one purchase.”

  I’d left the store empty-handed (take that Dr. Frank!), and as I stood waiting for my supernatural therapy group to begin, I considered sitting or chatting with the others.

  But I didn’t.

  Now that I was an alpha female for the South Toms River Pack, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was an imposter. I mean, I’m a supposedly dominant werewolf attending group therapy for obsessive compulsive disorder. That didn’t scream kick-ass leader to me.

  I scanned the room. My new status hadn’t changed the way I felt or my perception of this place. This conference room still had eight seats forming a circle. The mahogany conference table was pushed against the wall. Right next to the door, Dr. Frank had left refreshments on a small end table.

  Everything sat in its usual place. I should feel reassured and confident, but I didn’t.

  I sighed. I couldn’t hold up the wall forever—so I grabbed a seat the moment my friends snagged theirs. Warmth spread through me to see familiar faces. Many of them I didn’t expect to see.

  Apparently, Abby the Muse was back from her trip to upstate New York to spend time with one of her authors. Her chestnut-colored hair partially hid half of her face while she stared out the eastern wall of windows to Manhattan. She glanced at the door every now and then as if she expected someone ominous to storm through.

  The group member I didn’t expect to see at all was Heidi to my right. My heart sank to see the mermaid scratching at her left arm. Light blue hives—what she called blotchies—covered her wrists and likely snaked up her arms hidden underneath her military jacket. A tight ponytail contained what should’ve been thick red hair. It was now all white. The last time we spoke, she told me it was time for her to return home to the sea to end conflict among her people.

  Apparently, either her quest had failed or—even worse—her fear of the ocean forced her out of the water before her journey even began.

  Back when she told me she was called to arms as a member of the Royal Court of the Atlantic Coast, her face had been brighter, more full of hope. Now she clutched her bottle of water as if that small piece of plastic anchored her to her seat.

  I considered saying hi, but held back. We’d all speak soon enough.

  Smacking filled the room as Lilith, still munching on her dried-out donut, sat primly between Abby and Nick the white wizard. She wore three oversized sweaters over a green sun dress and had donned bright red rain boots. Nobody was gonna miss her coming. Everyone noticed how Lilith’s chair squeaked on the wooden floor as she scooted a little closer to Nick. I had to give her props for her never-give-up nature. Nick rolled his eyes and edged toward Tyler the dwarf. Tyler sat next to Heidi and completed the circle.

  Not sure if Raj planned to come this week. As a minor Indian deity, he’d said he planned to attend some Hindi religious festivals overseas. Compared to everyone else in the group, he used quality hand sanitizer and had the cleanest hands—or should I say multiple invisible arms and hands—I’d ever seen.

  “Hey, Nat.” Clad in his usual midnight-black ensemble of a trench coat and slacks, Nick’s polite smile made me grin in return. Usually a fleck of silver glinted in his left eye, but this time his eyes were muted.

  “How’s it going?” I asked.

  “Same old. Same old.” His voice trailed off and he glanced away.

  I tilted my head to the side. Nick usually had much more to say.

  “What do you mean—” I prodded as Dr. Frank’s hand rose.

  Small talk throughout the room ceased. Dr. Frank’s wise gray eyes shined with an unnatural light. He glanced at each of us in greeting.

  “It’s good to see you all.” He closed his eyes and my toes wiggled in anticipation. Before each session, Dr. Frank cast a spell to help reduce anxiety in the room. Honey smooth warmth cascaded from the top of my head and zipped down my legs. Good stuff. If I could, I’d roll over and beg for more. I opened my eyes to see Heidi with her mouth hanging open—in pure bliss—and Lilith had somehow managed to materialize next to Nick. She rested her head on his shoulder and the nirvana-like expression on her face melted away when someone tapped her arm.

  Raj stood right outside the circle. He’d made it just in time I gotta say. “May I sit between you two?” he whispered to her.

  The succubus gestured to the gap between her and Abby. “Can’t you sit—”

  As if on cue, we all shifted to the left—saving poor Nick and making space for Raj.

  The succubus scowled and released her prey.

  “Good to see you could make it!” Dr. Frank added a few words in a tongue I didn’t recognize. Perhaps Hindi.

  Raj responded in kind and sat. He said to us, “My apologies, everyone.”

  Dr. Frank continued. “Last week we talked about repetitive habits that hinder our progress in terms of anxiety. Would anyone like to share what you have faced and how you tackled the problem?”

  Heidi immediately turned away from Dr. Frank and crossed her arms. Everyone else glanced around until Lilith gave her usual spiel.

  “Yuri and I will be getting married soon,” she began, “but I’m afraid.”

  “…of killing him?” was my next thought but I’d dirtied my paws far too many times to be pissing in someone else’s yard.

  “Go on,” Dr. Frank encouraged.

  “I want to be loved…and respected, but I need to eat too.” Her head drooped a bit. “How do I build a long-term relationship with someone when I want to bone some random dude and suck his soul dry?”

  To be honest, at first I pitied Lilith, but by the time she finished speaking, I was as exasperated as Heidi. The mermaid’s grimace reflected what I felt.

  Tyler stiffly ran his hand through his blond hair a few times. “You can’t.”

  Heidi frowned. “He’s right. No matter what you try, you can never run away from your true nature. Even I know that.”

  The weight of her words lowered the mood in the room. To everyone’s surprise, Nick broke the silence.

  “You have free will,” he said to her. “You have to decide: Can you love someone enough to make sacrifices?” He paused and his voice stuttered. “Y-you have to f-find the middle ground and…” He took a deep breath as if he was winded.

  “Nick, you okay?” Abby whispered.

  “Yeah.” He wiped his brow and sucked in a breath through pursed lips.

  Dr. Frank’s calm expression turned stern. “Don’t do it, Nick.”

  Chapter 2

  “Don’t do what?” Raj said with a hint of concern. His dark eyebrows lowered and his head leaned toward Dr. Frank. Unsaid words danced between them—Raj’s irises grew wide, sharpened, then thinned.

  Something is wrong.

  The other group members peered at Dr. Frank and Nick.

  A glossy sheen of sweat formed on Nick’s forehead. The white wizard clenched his knees tight enough for his knuckles to turn white.

  Dr. Frank stroked his white beard. “In our last session,” he said calmly to Nick, “we talked about the steps you need to follow before you leave New York—”

  “He’s leaving soon?” Heid i snapped. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Nick said he wasn’t ready to go yet.”

  Not too long ago, Nick told me he wanted to attend medical school, but I assumed he meant months from now. My gaze swept over the room. The succubus didn’t appear as concerned as Heidi—she applied a bitter-smelling lotion to her hands while Tyler hung his head low.

  Suddenly, a heavy cloud of cinnamon crossed my nose. The tell-tale scent of a wizard’s magic emanated from Nick and permeated my senses. Tears pooled in my eyes.

  Dr. Frank continued as the heart rate of my friends shot up. Breaths hitched.

  “Your control is razor thin,” our doctor added.

  “Control of what?” I hissed.

  Raj shot to his feet. Added distance between them. Was Nick gonna explode or something? Would any of the goo hit me? The wolf within me whined and my fingers flexed as the warning bell to flee shot down my spine.

  An alpha stands and fights, I reminded myself.

  But who in the hell are you fighting? another part of me countered. Maybe the rational part.

  Pain stretched along my scalp as if someone grabbed a handful of hair and yanked hard. The bagel and lox I’d chomped down this morning snaked up my throat. Cinnamon blocked out everything—until the floor winked in. Winked out.

  The flood of body odors and overpowering scents (you’d call it NYC and its inhabitants) vanished.

  When the world around me stabilized, I sat on my seat in the therapy group circle, but only one other chair of the eight was occupied. Nick slumped in the seat, his limbs limp and his chin resting on his chest.

  “Nick!” I rushed to him and tilted his chin up to examine his ashen face. His breath and pulse were even, but sweat drenched his shirt. Where was his coat? He was wearing it a second ago. A quick glance around revealed I couldn’t call anyone for help, but we had bigger problems than our missing friends.

  The east wall was gone.

  Fields of blue-green grass replaced skyscrapers and concrete. A warm breeze and birds chirping replaced foul exhaust and honking cars.

  My breath caught and I had to use a nearby chair to steady myself. I’d seen many things over the past few months, from Grandma Lasovskaya’s old magic to devilish tricks by warlocks imprisoning fairy children. But none of those spells had transported me to a place outside of the reality I knew.

  I managed a few steps until I crossed the jagged boundary between the worn wooden floors and the grass. Patches of dark green and dark blue peppered the bluish-green grass.

  “Anybody there?” I called out.

  A bit of metal flickered in the distance. Could that be help? I turned around to see Nick still out cold. I’d check things out and return to see if he woke up.

  Even though I wore a pencil skirt and low heels, I bounded along until I ran the length of a football field. The soft grass abruptly ended and a breathtaking expanse of junk began. Wands, staffs, and a menagerie of magical doodads sat on furniture, tables, and shelves. A precarious pile of purple and red coats leaned to the left and cast a shadow over a vintage pink parasol. Holiday paraphernalia was crammed into brown U-Haul boxes labeled “storage.”

  It was as if someone had taken the content of my workplace, The Bend of the River Flea Market, and dumped the magical wares in haphazard piles.

  And yet, something tugged at my memories. In particular, a lime green T-shirt, socks, and slacks lay on top of one of the Christmas boxes. Hadn’t I given those to Nick not too long ago? I picked up the shirt and sniffed. Yes, a hint of my scent lingered within the folds. What was the shirt doing here?

  “What is this?” I murmured.

  From behind me a groggy voice said, “Nat, we’re inside my coat.”

  My ears had to be playing tricks. I heard Nick loud and clear, and yet, he said things that didn’t make sense.

  “How are we inside your coat?” I asked. I recalled him saying before the Industrial Age wizards traveled long distances and they used their robes to stash their magical goods to keep them safe.

  Nick rubbed his face. Somehow in the past few minutes, stubble had formed on his cheeks. He had an unkempt appearance I’d never seen before.

  “Nick, start talking.” I showed him the contents of my hand, and then gestured toward the mountains of crap behind me. “I saw a bunch of this stuff in your apartment.”

  “Yeah, it’s mine.” A laugh died in his throat. “I don’t even know where to start—I gotta get you out of here.”

  “No shit. How about you start at the point where your coat turned into a human-vacuum cleaner?”

  “Yeah.” He gently pried the bright green T-shirt from my hand and tossed it onto the box. “So about what happened. Like Dr. Frank said, I’ll be leaving New York soon, and I’ve been trying to sort out my personal affairs.”

  I feigned a nod, knowing what he was about to say. “You mentioned learning the healing arts through Dr. Frank’s guidance. Is that why you’re leaving?”

  “Yup, the school is in Budapest and I had to...pack.” His forehead furrowed and every emotion swimming in his statement flooded through me. Like Nick, I loved to collect things and never let them go. The very idea of having to pack up my boxes of holiday cheer and haul them elsewhere made my stomach form impossible knots. I took in the boxes, baubles, and such around me. Nick had filled his apartment to the brim with this stuff. After he cleaned out his home during our holiday gift exchanged, I’d wondered where he managed to store everything.

  To rest a moment, I considered sitting on a nearby couch, but there were too many boxes in the way. Felt like I was back at my house in Jersey.

  I said, “You need more than a couple semi trucks to move this stash. Does your new bachelor’s pad in Europe have enough room?”

  “Not really, but once I learn more as an adept healer, I should be able to hide more stuff.”

  I shook my head. “Maybe you should wait before you do that, Gandalf the Grey. Or should I call you Gandalf the White now since you’re training to become a doctor?”

  He chuckled a bit. “Not yet. I’m not that good.”

  “Okay, now I know why you have all this stuff in here. So why did you and I get sucked in? Didn’t you tell me your coat wouldn’t be able to hold all the junk you have?”

  “Yes, I did.” He turned away from me to head back toward the building and I was forced to follow.

  “Nick?” He didn’t answer me so I asked another. “Didn’t you put all your stuff in your bedroom?”

  “After what happened between us during Christmas—I slipped a little.” When he caught my stern frown, he slowed down and added, “It’s not your fault. I’m going through too many changes and I needed help.”

  As we walked toward the building, I couldn’t help but recall the night when Nick and I had exchanged Christmas presents. I’d given him those lime green clothes since he loved wearing black all the time. Other than the gift exchange, many words were said, including Nick’s profession of love. I’d turned him down, but he’d left the door open for something more if the opportunity ever arose: “I’m the kind of man that has all the time in the world. Whether you need me as a friend—or something more.”

  We reached Dr. Frank’s office space, or what was left of it, and Nick went around instead of going inside. I expected to see a fragment of Manhattan, not another lush field with medieval stone structures. Nick continued to walk while I took it all in. Right in the center of the field stood a two-story timber house surrounded by tall elm and juniper trees. Back at The Bends, my goblin boss, Bill, had acquired a few haunted cabinets from a 16th century timber house in England. This particular home had a similar architecture with white-washed external walls and beams intersecting at regular intervals. A stony path led from the house to a well to the east and a brook to the west. Right next to the brook, a run-down mill with a lop-sided wheel took up most of the western part of the field. The poor weathered wheel yawned and groaned as if it might break any day now. I stumbled as I watched how water descended from the clouds above, flowed across the fields through the brook, and the water ended about a mile away to disappear over the horizon.

 

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