Nehemiah and I stayed with the girl until the ambulance and the police showed up. Once they did, we conveniently disappeared, but left Rob the Hob to talk to them. Due to his Glamour they would simply see a homeless short Irishman and would write him off as sunbaked and crazy.

The girl’s story wouldn’t make any sense and I doubted they would be able to get much out of her since she was in complete shock. Nehemiah wouldn’t even have to do his memory wipe trick.

We retreated to the nearby Burger King in my ‘Stang. He hit up the drive-through and got the four for four deal.

He handed me the bag.

“I’m not in the mood to eat, bro.”

“You’re extremely pale Sean. Put something back in your stomach.”

Soaking wet, drenched in stagnant water with the heater blazing, trying to dry off, and having witnessed a monster murder someone for food, eating was the last thing on my mind. I hesitated at first but then reached into the bag and pulled out the dollar menu whopper. Once the smell of it hit my nose, my mouth watered and I realized exactly how hungry I was. Plus it smelled way better than stagnant water and wild fennel.

As I scarfed down the burger, the wizard spoke to me.

“Sorry I got over here late. I thought it was obvious I’d start at the Benicia boat launch on Ninth Street.”

I nodded in between mouthfuls of affordable cheeseburger. “Thanks for pulling me out. I—” but got choked up before I could even continue. An image of my sister’s face flashed in my mind again.

Nehemiah must’ve seen the look on my face and waved at me dismissively. “Don’t mention it.”

I went for another bite but then hesitated. “You know who can’t thank you or me for pulling them out? That guy. Jeremy.”

Nehemiah grimaced, rubbing his knuckles.

“I tried to go after him, to drag him back, hurt the Dobhar-chus, anything. But when I got out there, I just froze…”

“Sean—”

I cut him off. “It’s my fault that he’s dead. That girl lost her best friend and I have to live with it,” I said.

“If anything it’s my fault. I got here too late. And this stupid whip turned on me again.”

“If I wasn’t so bothered by… If I wasn’t so afraid of…”

“There was nothing we could’ve done differently,” said the wizard. “Look, if we didn’t bother to show up, they both would be dead.”

“You want to sugarcoat it wizard. We both know why I couldn’t defeat them.” My eyes glazing over as I remembered the size of the demon otters. “Dobhar-chus are so vicious.”

Nehemiah nodded. “You’ve been doing your research.”

“Yeah. Thanks for letting me borrow that book off your shelf. Figured since people have been drowning lately there was only one or two monsters it could be. The Dobhar-chu or the Merrow.”

“You forgot one,” said Nehemiah. “It could’ve been the Kelpie.”

“What’s that?” I asked, before I could catch myself.

“Ah ah ah,” he said wagging a finger. “You got to figure that one out on your own.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “But even knowing what we were walking into didn’t help. What’s the point of researching these things if we can’t stop them?” I spoke to myself more than Nehemiah.

A realization hit me. “Why didn’t the Oak leaf work like last time? I’d reached the end of myself, but the power available was enough for me to obliterate the Banshee’s sister and stand up to Donn. But this time it barely worked at all.”

He asked where I got the Oak leaf and I explained if was from my Mom’s house.

Nehemiah rubbed fingers on his chin. “Well, your girlfriend, your leprechaun, and me, we were all in danger. Add to that all of the people we committed to help escape. You were more emotionally invested. So you had an emotional reaction that manifested through your Good Luck. It probably had nothing to do with the Oak leaf itself.”

I shook my head. “No. That was power that I explicitly drew from the Oak leaf.”

“Let me use Bad Luck as an example,” said the wizard. “For me to draw as much power as you wielded from an object, the object would have to be the size of a car. Or several busted cars. I’d draw all corrupted Chaos out of the vehicles, restoring them to near new conditions, and all the Chaos available to me could now be used to toss massive amounts of Bad Luck around. But a little Oak leaf from your Mom’s front yard? It just had emotional history for you, mixed with what was happening in the moment. I don’t know where you got all the power you displayed, but it wasn’t from some little Oak leaf. It probably has more to do with being on the Otherside in the first place.”

I was about to explain the raven I’d seen thrice, when Rob returned.

“Hey leprechaun,” said Nehemiah. “How’s that pot of gold? Still hidden?”

Rob simply straightened his Celtics hat.

“Take that garbage off,” said Nehemiah. “I told you not to wear that around me, and I’m pretty sure Sean did too.” The wizard tried to snatch it off the shapeshifter. Rob whisked around the other side of the car to levitate just outside my window.

“How’s the girl?”

Rob grimaced. “Not good. She thinks they were attacked by a group of alligators thanks to the Glamour effect. The cops assured her that this isn’t the right climate for alligators to live in, let alone attack a group of joggers.”

“Group?” asked Nehemiah. “I only saw a pair.”

Rob shook his muppet-shaped head. “There were three of them. Apparently Jeremy’s friend Marc got pulled into the water first, then Jeremy went after him and we showed up.”

I shook my head. “That’s terrible.” I was very aware of the burger in my stomach. It felt like it wanted to come back up.

“We’ll just have to be quicker next time, be more proactive,” said the wizard. “We know they’ve attacked along this stretch of shore. We can be here tomorrow at sunset and stake the place out.”

“That’s easy for you. You’re used to your power. I’m still learning to tap into mine without some emotional crux. Also I’m out my predominant weapon of choice, my katana. Plus these creatures being aquatic… I don’t know how much help I’ll really be.”

“Well that ties into your earlier question,” said Nehemiah. “Researching a monster isn’t everything. If you can’t defeat a monster on the first try, go back to the toolbox and try a different tool. You can’t beat screws with a hammer.”

”Actually, you can,” said Rob.

I ignored him. “So you’re saying I need another sword.”

“I actually meant that I need a new staff. Thanks to you I’m stuck with a semi-sentient whip that attacks me. The Dullahan is going to come-a-calling for it eventually.”

“Discard it then,” said Rob.

Nehemiah shook his head. “I could, but it might be worth something to somebody.”

“Who would want that?” I asked.

“I know a guy who runs a pawn shop.”

“A pawn shop?”

“It’s an occult pawn shop,” said the wizard. “In fact the reason I haven’t tried to sell it yet is because the pawn shop isn’t always around.”

I scrunched my face. “What do you mean?”

The wizard loaded his mouth with chicken nuggets and drowned them in Dr. Pepper. “The owner’s got an enchantment of sorts on his pawn shop. It moves from place to place wherever business is best. I haven’t seen him for a while. Of course I haven’t needed anything recently either.”

“Well, let’s go check this joint out. I’m all game to get a new sword,” I said, then realized, “Actually I don’t have much money budgeted for magical artifacts.”

“He deals in favors too,” said Rob.

“That he does,” agreed Nehemiah. “But that’s always a risky way to obtain things you need. Worse than a credit card. Credit card companies only charge interest. They don’t ask you to dabble in magical affairs.”

My eyes glazed over as I imagined what a magical pawn shop would look like.

“Still, I’d like to look around. Do some window shopping at the least. Rob, you seem to know of this guy. Could you see if he’s around?”

“Sure thing, boss,” said the hobgoblin. He shifted into an owl and took off into the night sky.

“If the shop is in town call me and we’ll go ASAP,” said Nehemiah. “But until then I’ll be launching my boat and patrolling these waters, starting tomorrow night.”

Even though I didn’t think I’d be much help, I committed. “I’ll see you after sundown.”

---

I barreled down the road alone back to my house.

At least I thought I was alone. But then I noticed someone following me.

The guy rode a cruiser motorcycle with a modded exhaust pipe that rumbled as loud as a 747 airplane. Not the best way to stalk someone. But a guy riding a bike like that cared little about drawing attention to himself, I’m sure. What a tool.

His one high beam reflected off my rearview mirror, shining in my face, practically blinding me. The street I was on grew wider with the addition of a new lane. His engine roared and he tried to come up alongside me. With his full face helmet and visor down, I had no idea who the guy was. I sped up my ‘Stang and stayed ahead of him, not willing to risk anything. “Time for a detour.”

Abruptly I whipped a turn, leaving my original course and turned down an adjacent street. I zigged and zagged through neighborhoods. My rear view mirror stayed dark.

“Lost him,” I assured myself. At a stop sign I reached into my CD binder and pulled out Becoming the Archetype’s third album, Dichotomy, my personal favorite of theirs. The band had since split up and it made me appreciate it all the more. Jason Wisdom has one heck of a metal scream. I flew down streets head banging to the extreme metal riffs, thankful for whoever invented double bass drum pedals.

I rolled up to a red light and looked around. I was alone on the road. It always irks me when street lights turn red for no reason. But the song was at a high point, guitars chugging and the drummer dinging the ride cymbal, so I let the song beat the stress out of me via punishing my eardrums.

Then a gloved hand grabbed the door of my open car window. I flinched and leaned back, seeing my own face reflected in the guy’s visor. “Holy crow!” I mashed on the gas running the red light and left the guy choking in tire smoke.

“Where the heck did that guy come from?”

I turned into my apartment complex parking lot and practically drifted into my parking spot. Seconds later the motorcyclist puttered in behind me. I reached into my back seat and grabbed the Mossberg. I had a few bullets left. My experiences within the last month made me more than resolved to blast a monster or two, but having to shoot another human hadn’t crossed my mind.

“You asked for it bro.” You don’t just stalk a guy, grab his car door, and then follow him home, and not expect the hurt.

Opening the door quick, I exited the car and raised my weapon and pumped it in one swift movement. I trained the gun right on the guy’s helmet. The guy didn’t even put his hands up.

“Off with the helmet buddy,” I yelled. “Let’s go. Sometime tonight.”

The guy removed his helmet and shook his head, scowling at me, as if he was pissed at me.

“What’s your problem man?” I asked. His motorcycle headlight shone in my face and I couldn’t quite make out his features. He killed the bike and when my eyes adjusted to the darkness I almost dropped the gun.

“Hey bro,” said Gavin. “Mind pointing Dad’s gun somewhere other than my face?”