Blorgscht

Lubic slowly turned, coming face to face with a wicked grin. Sure enough, there was a shark in front of him. But this shark was unlike anything he had ever seen before. For one thing, antennae grew out of the shark’s forehead, two esca with bioluminescent tips. But besides the esca, Lubic could barely make out the shark’s outline; the shark’s body was camouflaged, blending in with its surroundings.

Lubic took a deep breath. “You are the Camathu Starlord?”

“Yes,” the voice said. “I am Blorgscht.”

Lubic stared at the creature in front of him. Blorgscht was not exactly what the Camathu’s name was, but it was the closest thing that Lubic’s mind could make out. “Well, Starlord,” Lubic said after a moment, deciding not to offend the shark by attempting to pronounce his name, “will you tell me your version of events?”

“Now wait a minute!” Azalyn interjected. “You can see it as plain as the sun through the waves! A shark bit him, and so the Camathu are at fault! There are no other sharks on Immezza!”

“Hey, you asked me to look into this, Azalyn. Let me do my job.” He turned back to the Camathu. “What do you know about the death of this Immezzan?”

“Not why I come here now,” Blorscht began after a moment, talking rather slowly. “The carcass, he was a friend. He brought us things we cannot make ourselves. He was friends with two Camathu. They always met here.”

“After which they killed him!” Azalyn snarled. “It was no yaash that ripped his insides out!”

“What is a yaash?” Lubic asked her.

“A yaash is a tiny predator fish. They have sharp teeth and usually swim in schools. They will swarm fish that are a bit bigger than themselves.”

“No, it definitely couldn’t have been them,” Lubic mused.

“Of course it couldn’t have been them! They’re tiny!”

Lubic ignored her, turning back to the Camathu. “What did you come here to talk to me about?”

Blorgscht regarded Lubic with an eye that was black as shadow. “The Camathu friends of the carcass are dead.”

“How did they die?”

“By Imezzan hand.”

“Lies!” shrieked Azalyn. “We would not violate the treaty!”

“We would not either,” Blorgscht stated.

“Okay, let me get this straight. Both of your people only met with very specific members of each other’s races. Now all of them are dead, and it looks like they killed each other?”

“Yes,” said Blorgscht.

“Before this gets too far out of hand, will you take me to see their bodies, Starlord?” Lubic asked Blorgscht.

“Yes,” said Blorgscht. “Follow.”

“Oh, and Starlord, I needed to ask you another thing. Are you an average sized Camathu, or a large one?”

“I am biggest.”

“Thank you. Lead the way.”

“Lubic, what are you doing?” Azalyn asked him. “His people attacked and killed one of my own! Why are you looking into the deaths of his people?”

“Azalyn, I want to know what happened here. It’s a little hard to believe that your one guy killed two of them at once.” Lubic started to swim after Blorgscht. “And anyway, I’m not entirely convinced this is as simple as it seems.”

Azalyn stared after him in amazement for a bit, and then had to hurry to catch up to their disappearing forms.

The Body

The treaty lands were relatively barren. At first Lubic wanted to refer to them as a desert, but he quickly revised that thought. The barrens were a wasteland. In deserts, life is still present; in this wasteland, there was nothing. No colour. No movement. No life.

“It’s just a little further,” Azalyn called back to him.

“How can you tell?” Lubic was swimming hard, trying to keep up with her. “It all looks the same to me.”

“Remember what I told you about being able to feel where your people are?”

“Never mind. Forget I asked.”

Suddenly, Azalyn stopped, pointing ahead of her. Lubic was still looking around and almost ploughed into her. Luckily her attention was riveted on the area her webbed finger indicated. “He is there.”

Azalyn was indicating a hill, much like all the others they had passed. Lubic moved forward cautiously. As he came closer, a body gradually took shape before him. It was humanoid, but like Azalyn, rather fishlike. The scales on the body were a dull brown. Even the hair was a mousy brown colour.

“Do your people turn brown when you die?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course we don’t! Are all humans the same colour?”

“Look Azalyn, I have no idea how things work with your people.”

Getting a little closer to the body, he was able to see the mess of the torso. There were gashes across the man’s chest, where something had ripped chunks out of him. The left side of his body was a torn up mess. His right foot was almost severed.

“Wow. Whatever did this must have large teeth!” Lubic exclaimed after taking a closer look. He was amazed that everything looked so well preserved; being under the sea, he thought it would have decomposed a lot more by now.

“The Camathu are sharks. What do you expect?”

“Just because they are sharks doesn’t necessarily mean they’re big, Azalyn.” The marks from the teeth were relatively clear. Whatever did this knew exactly what it was doing; this man died very quickly. “Wait, you told me about some kind of war. Did the Camathu eat your people? Or did they just kill them like this?”

“I’m honestly not sure. Like I said, the war was before my time.”

“Can the Camathu see very well?”

“As far as I know, they smell better than they see.”

“Have you ever seen a Camathu attack anything before?”

“We try to leave them alone so they’ll leave us alone.”

“That didn’t answer my question.”

“Look Lubic,” Azalyn was darting back and forth in a controlled line, like she was pacing. “Why don’t we go and talk to their Starlord? He can answer your questions better than I can.”

Lubic took another look at the body in case he missed anything important. “Okay. Where can we find him?”

“I am here, Spacelord” said a voice from right behind Lubic.

Chameleon Sharks?

Azalyn paused before continuing. "But before we go on any further, I think we have something we should deal with first."

"Alright. So how does this allegiance thing work?" Lubic asked.

"I will swear it and you will accept it. That will bind us."

"If you say so."

Azalyn ignored his comment. "I, Azalyn Minara, Starlord of Imezza, pledge my allegiance to you, Spacelord Lubic."

Lubic hesitated. "What do I say?" he whispered. "Is there anything formal I need to recite?"

"Not really. Just try to take it seriously."

"Alright." He considered what to say for a few moments more. "I, Spacelord Lubic, accept the allegiance of Imezza’s Starlord."

They felt the familiar shiver as their allegiance was formalized into a new law. "That was actually pretty good."

"Thanks," Lubic grinned. "Now what am I doing here?"

"My people are being harassed by the Camathu of the North. They have left my people alone for over a hundred years, but now something has happened to anger them. They have moved into the treaty lands, which, in itself, is not troubling. But earlier this morning, they drew blood."

"Before you go any further, what are the treaty lands?"

"The treaty lands are the lands between the chameleon sharks and my people. They are a neutral territory where the two people can meet and trade. The treaty lands were put into place when the last war ended a century ago."

"Chameleon sharks?"

"Yes, the Camathu are chameleon fish. They are predators, built largely like a shark from your planet. But they can blend in with their surroundings. They are not overly bright, but they do have a primitive culture and a Starlord. They were at war with my people for hundreds of years. Luckily the war ended long before I was born, so I have not had to deal with it."

"Alright, so what exactly happened?"

"One of my people went missing late last night. His family told me he had gone into the treaty lands to trade with the Camathu, as he did every week. They told me he knew his way as he has traded in the same spot for years. He has always returned before sundown. So I went to investigate and found his body a little ways away from where he was supposed to be."

"And how do you know it was one of these Camathu? Are they the only predatory things on this planet?"

"They are the only ones who would dare attack my people, especially in the treaty lands. Those lands were chosen because they have little to offer either of our people in the ways of resources. And that is also the reason why they are safe - predators would most likely require the same resources as the chameleon fish."

Lubic sighed. "I guess first thing’s first. Take me to the body."

Welcome to Imezza

He couldn’t breathe. Lubic opened his eyes, thrashing wildly about. There! Way above him, he could see the spot where the sun kissed the water’s edge. It looked like quite a ways above him, but his lungs were screaming and he knew he had to try.

"Lubic, just breathe normally."

He glanced around wildly, but there was no time! He thought his lungs had been screaming before, but that was a mere whisper compared to now! He kicked his way towards air, towards life.

"LUBIC! JUST BREATHE NORMALLY!"

He hesitated, and in that instant accidentally breathed in through his nose. Instead of the nose-full of water he was expecting, he got air.

"What the...?"

"Lubic, why the heck did you bring yourself to my planet under the sea? I thought you would meet me on one of the islands, where I could explain this to you before you started panicking!" Azalyn rolled her eyes once again. "My predecessor made a rule that all visiting Starlords and Spacelords would be able to breathe beneath the seas of Imezza. It was put into effect after one of the Spacelords made it so that we could breathe the air of other worlds."

"So I won’t drown?"

"No."

Lubic took in a deeper breath this time. Sure enough, no water. "Neat. And this will remain true for the whole time I’m on your planet."

"Yes. This whole time and every other time you visit."

"So how do I move around then?"

"You can swim."

The Question of Allegiance

"I need you to come to my planet to help me." Azalyn repeated slowly.

"How the heck am I supposed to get to your planet? And why should I go to your planet anyway? Isn’t it enough that I have to take care of my people?"

"Lubic, I pledged allegiance to you, which means that -"

"Wait, yesterday? I never accepted."

"WHAT?"

Lubic grinned sheepishly. "Back in the park. I never accepted your allegiance."

"Then why the heck was I helping you with the witch?"

"I don’t know. Maybe you felt sorry for me?"

Azalyn rubbed her temples. "Alright then. I will re-pledge my allegiance to you. And this time you will accept it. Then we will talk about Imezza."

"Wait a second. Before any of this is finalized, what does this allegiance do for us?"

"Well, if I pledge allegiance to you, then you have to help me look after my people. And I in turn will come to your aide whenever you need me. That is the Spacelord/Starlord bond."

"Sounds kind of like the feudal system."

"Sure. Whatever. The point is, you have more power than me, so I need your help to deal with something."

"I have more power than you?"

"Yes. Lubic, do you remember when you stopped time? When Jaleesa said that Jared could not have stopped time? Well, that is the same as me. I can affect my planet, Imezza. But you, you can affect the entire Universe."

"Really? Why would someone give me that kind of power, but not you?"

"It is someone’s cruel joke on the universe. My people have not yet left Imezza under their own power. Your people have."

"Well, we did go to the moon."

"I don’t think that is what did it. Otherwise Jared would have been a Spacelord, too. But he wasn’t."

"Oh." Lubic thought about that for a bit. "So there are humans running around on another planet somewhere?"

"Can’t you tell?"

"Should I be able to?"

"Yes. Most Spacelords can feel where their people are if they try."

"Okay, that sounds kind of creepy. Let’s get your problem sorted out before I even think about that some more." He took a deep breath. "How do I get to Imezza?"

A Meeting of Minds

"Spacelord! It's Azalyn! Please, stop screaming!"

Lubic looked again at the reflection staring back at him. It was a bit distorted, and every so often the reflection seemed to ripple a bit, but yes, it was the fish woman. "Azalyn! What are you doing in my mirror? Get out of there!"

"Lubic, I am not in your mirror! I am just talking to you through it!"

"Then where are you?"

"I am on Imezza."

"Imezza?"

"My home world! Weren't you listening to anything I told you yesterday?"

"Quite honestly, no."

"LUBIC! You are a SPACELORD! How are you going to help anyone when you can't even listen when people introduce themselves?"

"Azalyn, look at it from my perspective for a minute. One day I'm a normal guy. The next, I have aliens and witches telling me I'm a super hero or something. Did you honestly think I would take that at face value?"

"But you should have been told all of this years ago! It should not have been a big surprise when I first showed up!"

"Look darlin, it is what it is. If you want my help, you're going to have to be really patient with me."

"Do you still think this is a dream, Lubic?"

"Honestly, I'm starting to have my doubts. I've never had a dream as long and crazy as this one. Although I guess it's possible I'm in a coma..."

"Lubic," a roll of midnight eyes, "why is it so hard to accept that I am real?"

"Remember, my perspective."

"Alright. I will try to be more patient with you. But you in turn have to try to have an open mind!"

"Deal. So what did you need?"

"I need you to come to my planet to help me."

"WHAT?"

Sunday Morning

Lubic woke up, looking around wildly for a minute. His eyes found the familiar picture of his father, which always sat on the desk across from his bed. I’m home . . . he thought, trying to remember what had happened the night before. And then he wished he hadn’t. He could remember flying away from the raven cave with Elara and Jay. Not in an airplane or anything; he had simply declared they would fly home, and then they did. It had been just like he imagined Peter Pan would fly. Once home, he’d called Stevens to cancel poker, then gone straight to bed.

Was all that a dream? he wondered as the door opened and Elara rushed in.

"Uncle!" she yelled cheerily, "time to wake up!"

Maybe not, he thought, groaning as she threw open the blinds. "What are you doing? It’s 6am! And this is my day off!"

"But the sun is up! Do you want to waste the day away?"

"If the day starts at 6, then yes!" He pulled a pillow over his head, blocking out the bright rays.

She grabbed the pillow from him. "But you promised we’d go to the library!"

"Elara," he glared at her, "the library doesn’t open till 10. We can still sleep for an hour or two, then head there when they open."

"Then can you show me around a bit? Please? Everything is so strange and new, and I was only able to see a bit of it from the air yesterday. You’re up now, anyway!"

He rolled his eyes. "Alright. But you’re going to have to let me sleep in a bit more tomorrow. I have to get ready before we go. Can you give me like a half an hour?"

"Alright. Thank you!" She bounded out of the room.

Lubic groaned. No one should have that kind of energy this early! But after lounging around for 15 minutes, he hauled himself out of bed like he’d promised.

It was around that time that he became a bit disturbed: he had flown out of the raven cave? And Elara was okay with that? What the heck was going on? He decided it was too early to deal with this right now; he'd ask Elara later, maybe over breakfast.

After throwing on some jeans and a t-shirt, he headed to the bathroom. He was reaching for his toothbrush when he glanced into the mirror. Right where his reflection should have been, there was a woman with scaled, pale green skin and strawberry blonde hair. Lubic screamed.

Calling the Big Guns

"What do you mean you couldn’t pull the trigger?"

The Raven held the telephone away from his ear for a moment, wincing. "It’s exactly like I said: the Lubic guy fell for the trap. He was nicely in line. Then I go to squeeze the trigger, and BAM! Nothing!"

"The big boss isn’t going to be pleased," the voice on the other line cautioned, calming down a little bit.

"Then you tell the big boss to get his ass down here and pull the trigger!" The Raven pounded his fist on the telephone booth’s glass, startling a passerby. "I don’t know what more you want me to do!"

"Well, maybe I shouldn’t have delegated this to you. I’ll deal with this guy, or my name isn’t Ron Jambo!"

"And what about the deal the big boss has with me, huh? He claimed I could be free of this stupid bird form if I’m the one who spills this Lubic’s blood."

"Are you trying to tell me you want another shot at him? Even after you failed?"

"Look Ron, one more chance! This is my big break! My shot at a normal life! I won't blow it! Not this time!"

"Alright then, one more shot. But if you fail me it's going to be barbeque for supper. And I'm not talking about chicken."

Click.

The Trap

Lubic found himself at the mouth of a cave. He hesitated before entering the darkened maw, as he could not see more than a few feet in front of him. "If only I had a flashlight," he muttered to himself. But he knew that Elara was here, and so he entered. He took a few steps into the cave and was immediately swallowed by the darkness.

It became immediately apparent that he was in a tunnel; Lubic could feel the cave walls closing in around him. A few feet from the cave entrance, the tunnel started turning gradually to the left. He stopped for a few moments, letting his eyes adjust to the gloom. It was then that he realized that there were voices coming from up ahead.

As he slowly inched his way forward, he found that the tunnel was widening into a larger cavern. At about that time, he realized that one of the voices was Elara’s. The second one he didn’t think he had heard before.

“I honestly have no idea,” the second voice was saying. “Well, I think he took me accidentally. It seems to be you he was after.”

“Yes, he was so very happy he couldn’t contain his excitement, so he left.” That was Elara. “That makes a lot of sense, Jay.”

“Elara,” Lubic said into the darkness. “Where are you?”

“Uncle? Uncle, is that you?”

Oh yeah, she thinks I’m her uncle. “Um, yeah, it’s Lubic. Are you okay? Where are you?”

“We’re okay. Jay and I are just chained to the cave wall.”

“The bird man brought us here and then left,” Jay added.

“Okay, well, let’s see if I can free you two. Then we can get out of here.” Lubic walked cautiously forward. About two steps in, he felt his foot trip some sort of mechanism on the floor. He stopped moving forward just as the ceiling in front of him collapsed, missing him by several feet.

“UNCLE LUBIC?” Elara screamed.

“Gee, not so loud! I can hear you just fine!” he said, coughing a little. “The cave-in missed me by several feet. I knew this place was supposedly trapped, but I thought the traps might be a bit less obvious than that! Are you two alright?” He moved cautiously around the collapsed ceiling until they were in view.

“Yes, we’re fine. The ceiling collapsed a good ten feet in front of us,” Jay said.

“Alright, I’m coming, but I’m going to be careful. I don’t want to set any other traps off.” It took several tense minutes, but Lubic made it to the two of them without incident. He examined the chains as best he could in the darkness. “I’m not entirely sure how I can free you two without any . . .” he trailed off. What the heck? “Chains . . . release them!” he commanded. The chains instantly released the two captives.

“How did you do that?” Jay whispered in awe.

“Apparently in my dreams, I can do whatever I want,” Lubic said, pulling Jay to his feet. “Let’s go.”

All three of them cautiously made their way out of the cave. “What a stupid trap,” Lubic laughed as they got to the mouth of the cave. “With all that effort, you’d think he would have had something better than an obvious cave-in!”

*

The Raven stood, stunned, watching the three of them leave. He was standing in the secret passage he had meticulously carved out beside where his prisoners had been chained to the wall. He was holding an extremely powerful sniper rifle that was still aimed at Lubic’s back. Yet no matter how hard he tried, he could not will his finger to press the trigger. It was only after the three of them were gone that he blew a hole into the opposite wall, right at the point where he had last seen Lubic.

The Human Enigma

The emerald waters shivered as a large shape cut through them, marring the glass-like calm. Powerful flippers pulled Ba’laironshantinlavydalar’s bulk quickly forward through the unusually calm S’seeleyar Sea. The Spacelord headed steadily south, away from his latest obligation, deep in thought. He had been busy over the last few days since the meeting with Mikala: he was in the middle of important negotiations with the Gartraxin, and had been overseeing a few other projects that had recently come up. Finally, he found himself without anything pressing to do, and so he swam with no real destination in mind, puzzling over the human enigma.

Throughout the last three days, ever since Lubic’s power had manifested itself, Ba’laironshantinlavydalar had wondered how it was possible: how could the vermin have a Spacelord? How?

Ba’laironshantinlavydalar had known Jared since he had become the human Starlord over two millenia ago. He was reasonably certain that the humans had not left their planet under their own power in all the time Jared had been Starlord. Well, other than their little jaunts to their moon, but those do not count. Otherwise Jared would have become a Spacelord long ago. So if this Lubic became a Spacelord as soon as he came into power, the humans must have only recently left. But Ba’laironshantinlavydalar was not aware of any recent human activity in space.

Ba’laironshantinlavydalar knew that Jared had never been a Spacelord; he had remained a Starlord to the end of his days. But what if Jared was supposed to have been one?

“Spacelord,” a voice said, startling him out of his thoughts. Ba’laironshantinlavydalar was surprised to see his second in command, Kai’rowandel, casually floating in front of him. Kai’rowandel was smaller than Ba’laironshantinlavydalar, and leaner; the younger Lavydalar was streamlined, and designed to be one of the fastest swimmers. But Ba’laironshantinlavydalar knew the younger Lavydalar was only acting. None were faster than the Spacelord; Kai’rowandel must have swum very hard and fast to catch him.

“What is it?” Ba’laironshantinlavydalar rumbled.

“Sir, the Gartraxin send word: their swarms will support us when the time comes.”

“This is most excellent news indeed. And are they willing to help with the experiments as well?”

“Yes sir. Even now we are transferring some of the subjects.”

“This is good news indeed. I will go to the Gartraxin and finalize the treaty.” He sighed inwardly. This human enigma would have to wait once again.

Kidnapped

Jay sat chained to the back of the cave, looking forlornly around. Not that he was really able to see much, as the bird had left him without any light. But he could tell that it wasn’t a particularly large cave. There were two passages that led outside of the cave, the large one that the bird had flown out of, and a smaller one, hidden just to the right of where he sat. The only reason he knew about the hidden passage was from the draft that was coming from it.

His thoughts turned once again to how he had gotten himself into this mess. He had been stuck in that room with the soul of Elara, listening to the crazy woman with the knife talking to two possibly crazier people, when suddenly, he was standing in front of his house. He had started to walk up to the door, when the largest raven he had ever seen swooped out of the sky and snatched him up. They had flown for a long time, when suddenly the raven deposited him here.

The raven had then changed into a tall, lean, dark haired man, who had looked him over carefully, before scowling. "You have the stink of Spacelord powers all over you, but you’re not who I’m after!"

"What are you talking about? What do you mean ‘Spacelord powers?’" Jay asked, shrinking back from the man.

"I thought you were the old Starlord’s child. The one who’s been missing all these years. The one the new Spacelord just freed." The man spat. "But no, I can tell already. The stink’s fading."

The man chained him to the cave wall anyway, then changed back into the large bird. Cawing once, a low, evil sound, he launched himself into the air and was gone.

And so Jay had been left alone. He tried to loosen the chains from the wall, but they remained firm. When he stopped to examine how they were attached to the cave wall, he discovered that they were newly fixed in place; there wasn’t a trace of rust on any of the metal. And from the look of them, whoever had fixed them to the wall really knew what they were doing; Jay would need more than his own strength to break free of them.

His muscles gradually stiffened up, so he fidgeted in an effort to relieve the cramps. At least the fidgeting gave him something to do. Jay had never been this bored in his life. So he sat, trying in vain to amuse himself, waiting for the bird man to come back.

Jay had just finished singing his favourite song for about the fiftieth time when he heard a triumphant cawing gradually getting closer. The raven reappeared, depositing another form into the cave. The form struggled to its feet. Jay had yet another shock: the form turned out to be Elara. She looked around wildly as the bird man changed back to his human form.

"Where have you taken me?" she demanded. "What do you want?"

The bird man looked her up and down, before smiling in triumph. "Yes, you are the old Starlord’s daughter! He’ll come for you!" He said, grabbing her by the wrist and chaining her next to Jay. Then he turned back into a bird and flew away once again. His caws echoed after him like cruel laughter.

After a few moments the echoes died away. "Well, he seems happier with you than he was with me," Jay said into the silence.

Elara gasped, spinning around. "I recognize you! You’re the last person I remember from the witch’s place!"

"I’m Jay," Jay tried to hold out his hand, but couldn’t reach her. He gave up with a shrug. "I know who you are. You were the witch’s slave."

"Yes. I’m Elara." She glanced around the cave. "How long have you been here?"

"A couple of hours. I’m not entirely sure." He watched as Elara tried testing the chains that were holding her. "I already tried breaking free. Whoever put these here sure knew what they were doing; I think we’re thoroughly trapped."

An uncomfortable silence followed his last remark. Jay couldn’t think of anything else to say to the dark haired beauty. Or at least nothing intelligent.

"So what do you think that bird man wants with us?" she finally asked, breaking the silence.

A Visit

Lubic stood in his driveway for another few moments, unsure of what to do. How could he find a giant bird? Who would even believe this story, especially when he wasn’t altogether certain he believed it himself.

With a sinking feeling, he was able to think of three people right away who would probably believe him. One of them he had no intention of talking to ever again if he could help it. So that left Azalyn and Jaleesa. He quickly decided on the witch, as she had promised she would help him find information whenever he needed it. And at least he knew where she lived. He had no idea how to find Azalyn.

With a word and a thought, Lubic found himself standing directly in front of Jaleesa. Her ancient dark eyes showed her surprise, but she quickly mastered her features. She was no longer in animal skins, but was instead in baggy silk trews, with an ornate vest. Her long hair was partially up, but for the most part still loose.

"Lubic, what a surprise! I did not expect to see you again so soon."

"Well, Jaleesa, I didn’t really expect to be visiting you again so soon, either," Lubic replied. He glanced around. They were in a smaller room, one he had not seen before. They were right beside a dressing table. Behind him was a rather large and ornate bed. Lubic’s face reddened. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to meet you in here."

"It is quite alright." Jaleesa turned and led Lubic to an anteroom that had many plush cushions arrayed around for sitting on. Jaleesa clapped and a servant entered, bearing refreshments. The servant placed the tray in front of Lubic, bowed, then quickly disappeared the way she came. "Now Lubic, what can I do for you?"

Lubic quickly outlined what had happened to him upon arriving home, ending with the raven carrying the girl away.

"I see," Jaleesa mused. "And I suppose you want me to find her for you?"

"Yes please. And any other information that might be useful. I’ve never heard of a raven that size before!"

"Well, to me it sounds like a shifter of some sort," Jaleesa said, clapping her hands once again. "But I will be able to tell you more momentarily."

The servant once again appeared, but this time with an ornately carved box on a tray. She placed the tray in front of Jaleesa, before bowing and disappearing once again. Jaleesa opened the box and removed a small package, wrapped in silk. She moved the box off of the tray, then unwrapped the silk, revealing a deck of cards.

"The old ways work best," she smiled, beginning to shuffle. She quickly lay the cards in a complex pattern on the tray. Then, as Lubic sat fidgeting across from her, she contemplated what the cards revealed to her.

"Are you sure this will work," Lubic asked, unable to bear the silence any longer.

"Shhh!" Jaleesa shushed him. She remained silent for a long while after, her attention firmly on the spread. Lubic was just about to speak again, when she looked up.

"It is as I thought: a shifter. A were-raven, to be more exact. But it looks to me like he is not happy remaining as he is; he wants more power," she said, tapping a series of the cards. "I will tell you where he has taken the girl, but I warn you, this has the looks of a trap of some sort."

"I’m not leaving her."

The Raven

“How can that be? 2000 years???”

“That’s what it says on the internet, Elara.”

She turned to look at him, her sea green eyes wild. “How do you know this internet is accurate?”

“Well, let’s look at another one.” Lubic went back to the search engine and opened the next website. That one just confirmed what the first one said. He looked at about five others and they all confirmed the information. “It looks like they’re all in agreement. We could go and see what the library has to say about this though, if you’d like.”

“Yes, please, let’s go there. This has to be a mistake!”

He checked his watch. “Well, if we hurry, we should be able to make it before the library closes.”

Lubic went to make their excuses to his grandmother. Then they headed outside.

“Your house is so strange looking. Well, all the buildings are rather strange looking. But at least your house is oddly pretty.”

“Thank you, I think.”

Elara’s gaze turned to the sky. “I wonder when it got so cloudy? It was sunny earlier.”

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Lubic said, looking up as well. “Those clouds sure moved in fast.” They were just about at his Protégé, when out of nowhere a gigantic Raven swooped out of the clouds, grabbed Elara in its talons, then quickly flew back into the clouds. Lubic stared dumbfounded as the clouds quickly dissipated, leaving no trace of bird or girl. The bird had disappeared before Elara had had a chance to scream.

It was then he noticed that no one else seemed to be around. “How did no one else see that???”

Elara

"Wha . . . ? How is that even possible? Jaleesa made it sound like Jared was extremely old. How could he be my brother?"

"Well, if I had to guess, I’d say you have the same mother. Although I didn’t think my grandmother would ever come back here. She hated this planet."

"Alright. Let’s pretend this is all possible for a moment. How old would your grandmother be then?"

"Well, what is the year?"

"2007."

"That doesn’t make sense!"

Lubic looked at her blankly. "What do you mean that doesn’t make sense?"

"I . . . I need to see the stars. I need to know how much time has passed."

"Well," Lubic said, checking his watch, "we still have a couple of hours until nightfall. But maybe we can just figure this out. Can you tell me anything that would be historically significant? Like who led your people?"

"Alexander Molossus had just taken the throne."

"Okay. Umm, I’ve never heard of him. Where was he king of?"

"Epirus."

He looked at her blankly for a few minutes. "I have no idea where that is."

"Maybe we should go look at the stars then?"

"We could go and look it up on the internet."

"Internet?"

"Come on, I’ll show you."

The two of them went to Lubic’s computer. Lubic did his best to explain how everything worked. Eventually he asked her to take it on faith that the little boxes could indeed tell him what they wanted to know.

"I’ll bring you to a library tomorrow. The librarians might be able to explain it all better than me." He typed ‘Alexander Molossus’ into the search engine. He opened the first website, skimming it quickly. "Ancient Greece??!!"

"What? What does it tell you?" she asked.

"It says here that Alexander Molossus was king from 350 BC to 331 BC!"

"And what does that mean?"

"He was alive about 2,300 years ago!"

"What??"

Family Values

Lubic felt his jaw drop. It has to be a coincidence! She can’t possibly be the same girl the witch was talking about!

"I’m sure this is quite a shock, meeting each other for the first time. Why don’t I leave you two for a moment?" Mary stood up. "I’ll go and get something to munch on."

"Okay," Lubic took a deep breath, "just what exactly is going on here?"

"I’m sorry," Elara whispered. "This is all so confusing! The whole world is so strange and terrifying! I didn’t realize I’d been gone for so long!"

"Easy there. It’s okay. Why don’t you tell me what you remember?"

"I remember the witch. Her face is burned into my memory. I can remember faces of people who are gone now. I remember my father visiting. And I can remember my grandmother." She looked up at him. "Where is my father?"

"Okay, first of all, who is your father?" Lubic asked, already sure he knew the answer.

"His name is Jared."

"I’m really sorry, Elara, but Jared is dead."

Tears started spilling from her green eyes. "I thought it was true! I hoped it wasn’t, but I knew, deep down, that it was."

"Is there anywhere else you can go to stay?" Lubic asked gently.

"All I remember is waking up with the clear command to ‘return to whatever family’ I have left. And this was where that led me." She peered up at him. "Everything is changed! The whole world is such a scary place now! This isn’t even my native language that I’m speaking. I don’t know what it is!"

"So how, exactly, do you know that I’m related to you?"

"Well, even if I didn’t just know that you’re my family, we have the same eyes. My father once told me that our family was gifted with eyes the colour of the sea. Only those related to us by blood, no matter how distant, will have eyes like ours. The colour comes from my grandmother."

"Wait a minute. You called me ‘uncle.’ Is that just a polite term for a relation?"

"In your case, no, it’s not."