“Ha! Suck it you over grown worm! Piece of shit! Worthless piece of snake skin!” I shouted as I jabbed the eyes of the monster with my fingers, god revenge felt good.

Starting time again might not be a smart idea, I had no way of knowing this thing wouldn’t kill me so I had to take care of it somehow. With a shrug I started pushing it further into the underbrush, wheezing at the strain of it as I slowly took the monstrous thing further away from me. Finally satisfied when I pushed it behind a particularly large plant pot I returned to my previous position and restarted one of the greatest forces in the universe.

With a sigh a flopped down in to the chair just in time for a different creature to start rustling in the bushes.

“Hello Mr Beck! How are we this fine evening?”

The man who spoke to me could be only described with one word, spherical. From face and nose to belly and feet he looked like a toy, a toy stuffed into a white suit. When I say white I mean spotless white, this is the kind of white that glowed in the dark, the kind that dentists have a small orgasm every time they see it. And he also had a cowboy hat, also white.

“Uh oh, are you alright Mr Beck? It seems like you’ve seen a ghost.” Whitey asked concernedly,

Must be the reflection of you suit, thought but held my tongue and instead said. “Oh not to worry I’m fine. Rather, do you know that you have a basilisk in here?”

“Oh yes, her name is Shelia. Quite the voracious one, she is my pet and I take her with me everywhere I go.” Whitey said happily.

“Hmm, well yes of course, how silly of me.” I responded in kind.

“Are you sure you’re quite alright? You seem to have a bruise under your eye.” Whitey was still worried, bless his soul.

“Oh that? Yes yes quite fine. A case of bullying I’m afraid but I’ve handled the issue.” I said dismissively.

“Good, good. Glad to see the younger generation standing up for themselves.” Whitey said musingly, with said musing turning in to an awkward silence.

“Now. Where was I?” His brain started again, “I believe I contacted you on my cousin’s phone. Which I must congratulate you on, excellently done by the way. I want to come to an agreement between us.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That was you? That dark, deep, menacing voice which promised ash and brimstone came from you sir?”

He laughed at that. “Indeed it was! You have to be firm when you lead an organization like mine. Call me Murdoch by the way.”

“Well Murdoch, what organization would that be?” I asked

“Well young Norman, that organization is a criminal one, the Kompaniya to be precise.” Murdoch turned serious here. “I am the head of a family whose power extends through the entirety of Gordon.”

“Ah.” Was all I could manage.

Murdoch smiled. “Yes ah. And you’ve been causing quite a bit of trouble in Patterbrook. Which, granted isn’t an important location but my cousin runs that place and you’ve been getting his panties in a twist.”

“And you’re angry at that I take it?” I asked nervously.

“What? Pffft no, in fact I’m glad you’re teaching Rowan a lesson. A lesson that there is always someone bigger then you, hopefully it will have been a humbling experience for him.” Murdoch replied.

“So what do you want from me then?” I asked, glad that my life wasn’t in danger now.

“Your power.” Murdoch said, his gaze like the headlamps of a truck and I the deer in front of it. I gulped.

“You demonstrated a set of skills that are quite simply put, unnatural. Now the common pleb might pass it off as a trick of the mind and simply forget about it, but I know what they are because I’ve seen them before.”

Shit this was getting really bad.

“The point is that your power, forgive me but I’m not an expert, would be invaluable to the Kompaniya.” He said, still drilling holes with his eyes through me.

“Ah, yes. Um… Do you want to recruit me?” I asked, hoping against all hope it wasn’t the case.

“That is one way to put it but essentially yes.” Murdoch said impassively.

“And if I said no then would I be horribly tortured until I submit under the threat of death?” I asked.

Murdoch didn’t answer but his big jolly smile was all the confirmation I would ever want. Oh yeah, not even the ability to stop time would have helped here.

“Uh.. Sure. Yeah, fine by me!” I said as I put on a fake sense of bravado.

Murdoch’s impassive gaze broke into a wide smile. “Splendid! I’m glad you made the right choice, let’s not dally then, let me introduce you to a very special someone, he is the previous experience I was talking about.”

Murdoch pressed a pressure plate which I haven’t even noticed on the table and almost immediately another man appeared. I was surprised partly by the speed of the response and partly by how I didn’t notice a hidden button which I should have checked for. But what I was most surprised about was the man in question who appeared, it was the same guy who I first assumed was the boss, Greenie.

Greenie walked up and stood behind Murdoch, now that I saw him in better light he looked like he jumped straight out of a comic book, I suspected he’d just as likely kill me as offer me tea and biscuits. Why did I think that? For starters he had a trench coat on, the type you would have on when you’re planning to murder someone in an alley on a rainy day. Second was the scar that ran over his left eye, because of course. And lastly was his demeanour, he wasn’t smiling, quite the opposite in fact, instead regarding me with a stony expression.

“This here is Thorn, it’s not his real name obviously but I believe it describes him much more aptly.” Murdoch chuckled, finding his own joke funny.

“Anyway he’ll be showing you the ropes, telling you what to do and making sure you don’t get any notions of escaping.” Murdoch said.

I looked back at him “But I already agreed.”

“I know I know.” He put his hands up placatingly, “But precautions must be made and you still have to prove that you mean business. Now I’ve got things to do so Thorn will take you to a hotel. Be ready for a long day tomorrow.” Murdoch said as he stood up.

“Wait! What about my mom? And school?” I cried, this was not going how I intended it to.

Murdoch stopped at that, “Wait how old are you?”

“Sixteen.” I replied.

“Well damn, alright. Okay sorry but you’re dropping school.” Murdoch said as he frowned thoughtfully. “I’ll give you a day to tell the news to your mom. Lie if you have to, tell her you’re going on a gap year but after that Thorn will come pick you up. I’ve got a lot of work for you two.”

I was having a panic attack now, “What the fuck? You can’t just rip me out of my life just like that!”

“Really?” Murdoch put his palms on the table, all trace of friendliness gone. “Listen here Norman, listen here and listen well. You’re in the real world now and you owe me, I am one of the most influential people you will ever know and if I wanted to I could kill every single person you’ve ever known with a phone call. You can’t hide from me, you can’t go to the police or the government or the army, I hold them all in my pocket.”

I was close to crying now. “But!-”

“There are no buts Norman, Rowan would have killed you if I didn’t interfere and that means your life is my hands. You will work for me, understood?”

Tears were streaming down my face but I didn’t say anything.

Murdoch sighed. “I know this is hard but you’ll understand. You’ll come to love me like a father eventually.”

And with those parting words he left me and Thorn, who gazed on impassively with his expression unchanged.