Portents and Oddities by Gwen DeMarco

Author:Gwen DeMarco [DeMarco, Gwen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-12-19T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

After telling Birdie all about her ability to see death visions, how she accidentally uncovered a conspiracy, dug up a grave that culminated with her climbing up the Coit Tower clinging to an ogre’s back, Sophie glanced over at her friend who appeared to have been rendered mute.

“And then there’s Snow White,” Sophie continued, apprehension slowing her words.

“Snow White?” Birdie repeated, her words faint.

By the time Sophie finished telling Birdie about her serial killer stalker and her problems with Alphonse and his wolf pack, Birdie had recovered her voice. What followed was a twenty-minute lecture from Birdie about not keeping secrets from her and how Sophie needed to work on keeping herself safer.

When Mac scoffed in agreement, Birdie turned her ire on him. Sophie was careful to hide her glee and be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible.

“Where are you taking us, by the way?” Sophie asked once Birdie had finished saying her piece. Mac was circling yet another block. Sophie assumed that he was attempting to lose any tails and hide their destination from anyone trying to follow them. Despite dozens of random turns and switchbacks, they had slowly meandered towards the west side of the city.

“I’m taking you to the Knights of the Red Branch. The clan leader owes me. He said that his clan would keep you both safe.”

“Knights of the Red Branch,” Sophie repeated slowly. “Like, medieval knights with swords and suits of armor?”

“Hardly,” Mac scoffed. “You’ll just have to see.”

“The Knights of the Red Branch? Their hall burned down well over a decade ago. They never rebuilt. I thought they’d closed down,” Birdie replied.

“After the incident with the basan shifter, they decided to rebuild in secret and not open their doors to the general public anymore,” Mac explained.

“Basan shifter? What’s that? I thought that fire was caused by faulty wiring. What really happened?” Birdie asked.

“A basan is an avian shifter – a huge fire-breathing rooster. They are originally from Japan but have a small community in Sausalito. The basan in question was drinking at one of the many bars inside the KRB hall. He got completely plastered, and the story I heard was that he was trying to impress the local ladies by blowing fire rings. Things got out of control, and he set the whole building on fire. Luckily, no one was injured, but they decided to close their doors to outsiders.”

Flicking on his turn signal, Mac pulled his car out of the flow of traffic and into the driveway of a large apartment building squatting on the corner of Fulton and 6th Avenue in the Richmond District. It looked like an expensive place to live with the lines of bay windows on each floor and the fancy cornice molding along the roofline.

Birdie and Sophie followed Mac to the front ironwork gate and watched as he shifted both bags to one arm so he could ring the doorbell. He held the gate open for Birdie and Sophie to enter as they were buzzed in.

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