Blood Ties: A Junkyard Druid Urban Fantasy Short Story Collection (Junkyard Druid Novellas Book 4) by M.D. Massey

Author:M.D. Massey [Massey, M.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Modern Digital Publishing
Published: 2018-08-20T04:00:00+00:00

17

Sal led them down the street a short distance to a small, dilapidated playground at the very end of the mobile home park. It looked like something out of the seventies, with a swing-set made from thick lengths of iron plumbing pipe, a merry-go-round that Derp was certain would sever limbs should one be caught under it, and a few of those wobbly animal thingies that always reminded him of the kiddie rides outside small-town grocery stores.

But what the playground didn’t have was a magician.

“I don’t see anyone,” Derp said.

Sal looked up at Derp, still clinging to his hand. Derp thought that by now it would have gotten weird, but instead he just kind of felt warm inside. Safe. Fae magic. What is this kid, anyway?

“He’s here. Or, at least, he was here. Or he will be here. Click always tends to show up on time, or close to it,” Sal said.

“You needed something, little man?”

A lilting voice spoke from somewhere to Derp’s right. Derp’s eyes had just swept the playground a moment before, and he could have sworn no one had been there. He swung his head around, and there stood a youth who could have been fifteen, or seventeen, or twenty-three—it was hard to tell.

He had that ageless way about him that Derp had been told all higher fae possessed. The believers online talked about it endlessly, as it was one of the reasons people sought out the fae. Some people, especially those with chronic or terminal illnesses, thought the fae could heal them or grant them eternal life. Derp and Kenny knew this wasn’t so, because they’d asked Colin about it. After finding out the truth, they’d agreed they wouldn’t burst anyone’s bubble—people needed hope, after all.

“And what have ye brought me now, Little Sallie? Two curious kittens, out to steal a sip o’ cream from the milkmaid’s bucket?” The youth’s accent was weird and unfamiliar to Derp. He sounded sort of like one of those cartoon leprechauns, but the way he formed his words was altogether different as well. Derp also noticed that while he looked young, his eyes had something… ancient about them. This was no ordinary teenager, that was for sure.

“Not milk, silly—the boys are looking for magic,” Sal said matter-of-factly. “Can you help them, Click?”

Click chuckled and ruffled the boy’s hair. “I know what they’re about, Sallie. Aye, that I do.” Click looked at Kenny and Derp, taking them in with a sweep of his eyes. “Does the druid know yer here?”

Kenny tsked. “As if we needed his permission. We don’t work for him.”

Click chuckled wholeheartedly, as if that were the most amusing joke in the universe. “Ah, but ye do admire the cocky little twat, don’tcha now, boys? And if ye had yer way, ye’d be workin’ fer him, just as sure as I’m standing here before ye.”

Derp raised a hand in the air, waiting until Click nodded before he spoke. “You are standing before us, right?”

Click clapped his hands together, as if he were applauding a star pupil.

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