Tracking Magic by Maria E. Schneider

Author:Maria E. Schneider
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: detective, ghost stories, humor, anthology, mysery, paranormal, humor and comedy, fantasy, magic, ghosts, fantasy adventure, short stories, fantasy detective, urban fantasy
Publisher: Maria E. Schneider

Privy to Secrets

A Max Killian Investigation

Maria E. Schneider

I don't know if wormholes exist, but I do know that if someone kidnaps you and shoves you through time or space, they should pick a better landing than a privy. At least pick something with modern plumbing and keep it on the ground.

One second I was sitting at my desk, home of Max Killian Investigations. Next thing I knew I was tumbling through the air in an outhouse. It certainly wasn't Kansas, but neither was it the hill country in Texas, where I ran my nice, mundane detective agency.

I can smell magic and discern its purpose, but I hadn't smelled any magic in my office. The outhouse, on the other hand, was rife with it. I suppose I should be grateful that magic was the only thing I could smell. My arms shot out to the wooden sides to steady myself, but the outhouse was still airborne and unstable. The thing tipped completely over, dumping me off the wooden hole onto the splintered ceiling. If there was anything down the privy hole, I counted myself lucky it missed.

The thing took another tumble before hitting earth. Old weathered boards shattered, helping break my fall. I, master detective, had been plucked from my office without a clue.

"Oh dear."

The female voice obviously wasn't mine, and my own internal cursing wasn't so polite. Either my head was buzzing or...I was near water. A stream. I could hear splashing and the scream of a bird. I empathized with the screaming part.

"Are you okay?" The boards shifted rather quickly. I smelled the sharp ozone that often accompanied powerful magic.

Carefully, I opened my eyes and peered at...a very old lady. She waved her arm, and a few more boards obeyed, piling neatly off to the side. When grandma finally got a good look at me, she drew back sharply. "Well. You're...not what I expected."

I coughed as I tried to suck enough oxygen into my lungs to clear my head. "Yeah, me either." My mind had conjured aliens, a powerful wizard atop a mountaintop and of course, elves. Elves weren't usually combative, preferring commerce instead, but no one really knew their power limitations. That they often sold magical wares made them likely suspects when magic was involved.

Granny was not elflike. Her ears were large, but rounded. Her gray hair was braided and strayed as though full of static. Her wrinkles would have made a walnut proud. If she were elfin, she was the oldest I had ever encountered, and until she spoke again, I thought she lacked the inherent, snobby confidence of most elves that I knew.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

I sat up and looked around. I could hear the stream and smell it under the magic, but I was on sandy ground with stray rocks, tree branches and...cactus. My landing had left a bit of a dent. "Max Killian," I said. "Who did you think you conjured?"

She frowned, making the wrinkles worse. "I did a spell for help." She looked around again as though hoping someone else might drop down.

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