Chapter#03

"So you think it will work?" He had thought the idea of a sprinkler system was a good one, but implementing it was a bit of a problem. The water in the home was fed to it by a spring buried deep beneath, which meant there was no easy way to hook anything up without potentially disrupting the spring itself.

"Husband look here." Tink pointed near the bottom of the cistern, and when Mike bent down for a closer look, she snatched the rest of the pastry from his hand and stuffed it in her mouth.

"Hey, that was mine!" He crouched down so that he was eye level with the goblin. She wore a work apron and had dirt smudged all along the green skin of her arms and legs. Her reddish hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, revealing the short yellow horns on her forehead. When he had first met the goblin, she had stolen his tools. A fight had ensued, which turned into sex, which now meant they were married—according to goblin law, anyway.

He wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.

"Husband pay for doubting Tink," she informed him with a condescending pat on the cheek. Her mouth was still full of pastry as she spoke.

"She's got you there, lover." The water in the fountain swirled into a frenzy and the nymph Naia appeared. A statuesque beauty, her blue and green hair rippled behind her as if she stood in a breeze. Her feet were translucent, her body made of the very water she stood in. "But yes, we tested it this morning. It should work."

"I guess that leaves the star of the show." Mike looked past Naia at the oak tree. "Where is Amymone?"

Naia pointed upward with her finger and rolled her eyes.

"Again?" He looked up into the thick branches of the tree and was just able to make out a figure through the mostly bare branches. The dryad was huddled up against the trunk on one of the higher branches, a book clutched tightly in her hands.

"Apparently this one is a good read," Naia explained. "We were making too much noise, so she went up there for some peace and quiet."

He nodded. Once properly hooked by a story, it was nearly impossible to get the dryad's attention. He could climb the tree and try to convince her to come down, but nobody seemed to be in a hurry to start the festivities.

Tink spent the next thirty minutes showing him the sprinkler system she had built. The way it worked was that Naia would summon a giant surge of water from her spring and force it into the cistern, which would activate the sprinkler system properly. Apparently whatever Amymone had planned for the equinox was going to require a lot of water.

Up on the rooftop, he saw a dark figure wave to get his attention. He squinted his eyes to see who it was, and managed to make out the large stony wings of Abella the gargoyle. She was pointing at the front yard, but because she was backlit by the sun, he couldn't make anything else out.

He left Tink behind and went through the house. Jenny and Reggie had their faces pressed against the glass. Behind them, Death stood with a hot cup of tea in one hand and a small saucer in the other.

"What's going on?" he asked the grim reaper.

"I am not sure, Mike Radley." Death took a sip of his tea, the hot liquid vanishing in the darkness. Mike was grateful that it went somewhere other than his floor, but he had no idea where that would be. "This man has been standing there for several minutes now. Perhaps he is lost? If so, he is free to use one of my maps if needed, but I must insist he return it."

Frowning, Mike opened the door and stepped outside. Standing at the edge of his yard was an older man in a white sweater vest holding a newspaper under his arms. He wore silver spectacles, and his mouth was hanging open as he gazed up at the house.

Mike looked around the yard, and saw that the centaurs were still working, but a couple of them had grabbed their bows. Over by the far wall, a large creature that vaguely resembled a dragon lifted its head and snorted. The Jabberwock had been rebuilt after the incident with the shadow on Halloween, but was now trained to obey voice commands from Mike. It was hard to say what the stranger might be seeing, because the geas had a way of keeping anyone from seeing the fantastical creatures in his front yard. The effect used to only apply to creatures inside the home, but as the home grew, so did the geas.

"Can I help you?" Mike kept his distance.

The man hadn't stepped into his yard yet, which meant the geas would protect him from a magical assault. Even if the stranger walked in and tried to cast a spell, the lion statues that stood above them would drop down and crush him to a pulp. Really, his main concern was any sort of physical assault, and Mike's danger sense (courtesy of Naia) would warn him of impending harm.

"The end is near," the visitor said with a raspy voice, then lowered his gaze. His eyes were cloudy, like partially cooked egg whites, and his hanging mouth barely moved. The voice Mike heard was ethereal in nature, like someone speaking through a large tube. "Prepare yourself for judgment, child of—"

As if he was suddenly disconnected, the man lurched forward and his pupils appeared. When his jaw shut, his teeth clacked together, causing him to wince and rub at his cheek. His dark brown eyes focused on Mike, and a scowl formed.

"Are you the new homeowner?" he asked. It was as if the past few seconds hadn't occurred. Mike scanned the street, convinced that the threat was still out there, that this stranger was little more than a decoy.