The Presentation

It was a lazy weekend. No chores to do. Nothing pressing to attend to. We would normally be in pajamas, but today I dressed for work. Dter teased me about this. That I was such a businesswoman, I don’t allow myself to relax. Red blouse, black knee-length skirt. I had even donned my jewelry and brushed my hair. I smiled and laughed, but felt an instinctual pull. However, to make her feel better, I did start to remove the jewelry.

Snap, went the jewelry clasp. Knock, answered the interior door, leaving the exterior steel security door closed and locked. Dter looked up at me in askance as I resnapped the bracelet. I opened the door to find two men in black business suits. Both had sunglasses on, and were quite “Just the facts, Ma’am.” in presentation.

“Excuse me, Ma’am. Is this the residence of Kerian Nox?” The words framed a question. His tone spoke the answer. I noted as he asked, he had quietly tried to open the exterior door. Even though we stared at each others eyes, we both didn’t need direct sight to see.

“It might be. It might not be. Never mind if it is, what is it that you want?” I stood physically still, but leaned against the house defenses. They were stable and steady, despite the prodding that immediately ceased when I went looking for it.

“Ms. Nox, we need you to come with us, at once.” He stood to the side, allowing my gaze to view the black limousine parked behind him. A third man was standing at the passenger doors, holding them open for civility and security.

I decided to quit the verbal game. “Tell me why I should.” Dter had read my body language and fled away from the door to a pre-arranged spot in the house. I could feel her fear, but knew she was safe.

“Your presence is required.”

“By whom? And with whose authority dare you to order me as such?” I was not liking the way they were presenting themselves, as if the matter was already decided.

The second man at the door stepped forward and made a hand motion in front of me. His fingers left a glowing trail of light. The glyph was visible for only a second before fading into nothingness. Long enough for me to recognize.

“Shit.” I was not expecting them. “Gentlemen, please excuse my hostility.” I bowed slightly. “Also, please excuse my ignorance of proper etiquette.” The second man remained stoic. The first smiled and chuckled slightly.

“That’s to be expected of you, Ms. Nox. If you’re not being hostile, then you are ill.” I wrinkled my face at the accuracy of his dismissal. He reached for the knob, expecting me to unlock and open it. I remained still.

When he looked back up at me, the surprise on his face was fleeting, and satisfactory. “Gentlemen, while I recognize who sent you, there is still the matter of my daughter being alone in this house unattended. So, before I even think about opening this door, I want to know who is going to watch over her.”

The first man set his jaw in sudden anger. He was not used to being denied. The second man just nodded and turned to face the limousine. I heard no words spoken, but a fourth person emerged from the held-open door. A woman in a black skirt-suit and regulation height pumps came walking up. The first man grudgingly moved aside to give her room to speak through the security door.

“I won’t enter your home, Ms. Nox. But I can assure you, nothing else will, either.”

“How long will I be gone?”

“Two days at the maximum. Travel there, your… meeting, and travel back.”

I sigh in surrender and yell down the hall to my daughter. “My dear. I gotta go. I can’t refuse them.” She came running down the hall to grip me tightly. “I’m locking all doors behind me. This woman…”, I nodded at her, “will be guarding the outside. The house can defend itself. You just have to leave me some food to eat when I get back.”

I hug her tightly, then pull her arms from around me. Pushing her back gently but firmly, I remind her, “You are fifteen years old, and you know more than you think. You’ll be okay. If you weren’t, I wouldn’t be going.” She swallows hard, and accepts the confidence I have in her.

“So, I can have all the spaghetti I want?” I put my shoes on and glare at her in mock anger. “No burning down the kitchen. And wash up after yourself.”

“Yay!” She was using outward joy to mask her fear. She is such my daughter. She gives me another hug. “See you when you get back, Mom.” She flees to the back of the house.

I put my shoes on, a pair of low black pumps, and grab the Bag of Readiness I keep at the door. They back up slightly to allow me to exit the house. Locking both doors behind me, I stare at the woman that will be guarding my house. “No one comes here uninvited. No. One.” She nods and states she understands the implication.

As I am escorted to the limousine, the first man mockingly remarks, “It will be like a vacation to her. Don’t worry, you won’t be gone that long.”. If it wasn’t for the authority they are working under, I would have gutted him. Even the second man looked at his companion with a questioning glance.

Ah well. I’m torn between hoping I’m falling for some nefarious deception so I can play with his entrails later, and hoping the meeting is a serious one because I’m curious as fuck by now.

The first man is sitting across from me in the limousine. The second man is sitting beside me. The first man is quite smug about getting me out of the house after all. The second man is stoic and shows no emotion. The first man asks me if I really believed him when he said I would only be gone for two days at the most. I do not answer him, and I adopt the outward stance of the second man and remain stoic myself. When I do not react, the first man gets angry. He reaches across the gap but is stopped by the second man.

The second man only says, “Do not underestimate her. I will not intercede again.”

I look at the second man oddly. I do not understand why I am considered a force to be reckoned with in the Dreaming, when I can barely keep my head above water in the Waking.

The first man leans back in his seat and scowls at me. “I was only joking, anyway.” I continue to ignore him and focus on the second man, who says, “It will be a long trip if you insist on noting every detail. There is nothing spectacular about it. We will escort you to the meeting. The end.”

I nod, accept the trip is out of my hands, and lean back myself. Just as the limousine enters the freeway in the direction of the airport, I fall into deeper sleep.

I wake up as the car transporting me from the airport arrives at the valet entrance of a grand building. I know what I am seeing is a translation of what I was walking into, using symbols I was familiar with so I would know what to do. There are no marks on the building, no names or icons. It is not meant for the general public to know what happens here. The second man helps me from the car. The first man has tried to take my Bag of Readiness out of the trunk, and is mildly cursing and nursing a wounded hand. I chuckle, pat the bag and tell it how good a bag it is. I extend my hand, and the Bag of Readiness leaps out of the trunk into my arms. The second man cracks the briefest of smiles, just enough that I would see it, not enough that the first man can see it.

I walk from the driveway onto the property itself. I remember the first foot fall. I remember the second foot fall.

I remember nothing else, except I did give a presentation. What the presentation was, who attended, what was asked afterward, all this is gone from my memory.

I’m parked in a large parking lot of a shopping mall. Over my shoulder, I can see grocery stores at one end, and clothing stores in another. I still have the day to kill, as my return flight won’t leave until the beginning of night. I know I’m tired from the presentation, which was yesterday, I think. I know it was long, and went on long into the wee hours of the morn.

It’s a nice day, partly cloudy. The car has tinted windows, and I’m parked under a tree. There’s a nice breeze coming through the open windows. Time for a nap.

~screeech~ Ah! What the hell was that? The car moved as the sound was accompanied by a thud of impact. I sit up and look around. There is a family riding bicycles. One of the adults must have lost his footing and ran into the car. I don’t exit the car, but do look with my Sight. The car I have been lent for the return trip is self-healing. The paint was scratched, but is now almost completely restored. I wonder again about the reach of those that called me.

I watch the family ride off into the distance. They didn’t even slow to see if any damage was caused. Ah well, such bastards exist in every country. I settle back down for the nap.

~SCREEEeeeeEEEEEeeeeeeeEECH~ Oh, for fuck’s sake! I bolt upright and look over my shoulder. It’s the same family. The children are on bicycles across the lane, but now several adults have ran into the car. There is no subtlety here, they have done so intentionally. They return my stare, with a mocking smile. Dare I get out of the car to deal with them?

Oh hell, no. There is more going on that what appears. The children are present to give me a sense of familiarity. Surely they wouldn’t be dicks in front of their children, right? Wrong. I know the car will repair itself. There is no need for me to turn a bluff into a bludgeoning.

When I start the car, they start yelling at me. With well practiced lines, they hurl insults at me, my bloodline, and whatever cock I had to be sucking to get the car. They place their children directly behind the car so I can’t back out. I may be out of my country, but I’m not out of tricks. I open a simple gate in front of the car, and drive forward. I emerge clear across the vast parking lot.

I look around carefully. No sight of that family, or others like them. I exit the car, stand on the footstep, and look even further. Nope, no circling predators. Good. I really need that nap. I find another tree to park under, and note how very much it is like my favorite tree back home. Smiling, I fall asleep.

Ah, sleeping so well. I guess the wind is gusting, the car is being rocked gently. Ah. ~nudge~ That was a change in orientation. Tornado? I sit upright to find I am in the backseat of the car! Two men are in the front. I’ve been carjacked!

“Oh, ‘ay Lady! I ‘ope Jack’s drivin’ ‘ere di’nt wake ya!” (Oh, hey Lady! I hope Jack’s driving here didn’t wake you!”) The “bloke” in the passenger seat jerks a thumb at the current driver. I realize I’m not constrained.

“You carjacked me, and left me untied?”

“’Ell, t’be ‘onest, Lady, ya wa’ sleepin’ all sorts o’ ‘ard. I mean, Jack put ya in t’back, and ya di’nt e’en snort!” I just sighed and held my hand to my face. “’E figir ya really need t’ sleep. So ‘y ‘ake ya? ‘E jus need t’ get t’ a place ‘n’ back.” (Well, to be honest, Lady, you were sleeping all sorts of hard. I mean, Jack put you in the back, and you didn’t even snort! We figured you really needed to sleep. So why wake you? We just needed to get to a place and back.) (I loved the accent, even as I was ready to throttle them.)

Okay, I’m in one piece, they haven’t stolen my stuff, and they’re actually taking me back to the lot. I look out the window and note it’s late afternoon. SHIT!

“Okay, guise, I’ll make a deal with you. I have to get to the airport for my flight. If you get me there, I won’t file a police report against you. But that won’t stop the car’s owners from coming for the car, so I suggest after dropping me off, you two find a safe place to park and abandon the car.”

“’At sunds fair! Wut say ya, Jack?” Jack never looked at me, not over the shoulder, not in the rearview mirror. I could tell Jack was already thinking of an alternate deal.

“Of course, if you try to do anything other than take me to the airport…” I allow some of my internal cloaking to unravel slightly, filling the car with wisps of shadow. “I’ll rend your souls from your body, and use your bones to summon… Things.” I was hoping these two were not sophisticated enough that the threat of the unknown would still hold sway over them.

Over Jack’s shoulder, I can see his knuckles turn cream white. The bloke in the passenger seat almost swallows the toothpick he was chewing on. “Jack. JACK! Just nod, mate. Just bloody nod!” Jack nods fiercely. The bloke has never turned away from me. “Like I sed, it’s fair.” The bloke nods furiously while trying not to pee on himself.

I roll my shields back into myself, and put on my sweetest and brightest smile. “Excellent! To the airport!” Jack whimpers slightly, as the bloke breathes a great sigh of relief.

I watch the landscape change around me. Even though I slept from the airport to the building, I knew enough to know this isn’t the route that was taken before. Instead of dull industrial centers with smog stained buildings, this highway curved gently through mesas and desert plateaus. The weather worn sides are an explosion of colors, of reds and oranges and mauves and pinks. The closest I’ve seen this in the Waking is the Mojave Desert. I have a faint idea that I am dreaming.

“Hey, guise? Where are we? I don’t recognize this… place.” I’m half concerned because I am in a foreign country after all, and half entranced by the beauty of the desert.

The bloke turns around to face me again. “’er tak’n the back way. It’s fassa t’ drive in t’ desert t’an in t’ town.” (We’re taking the back way. It’s faster to drive in the desert than in the town.) I just nod, as the explanation does make sense.

“It’s beautiful out here.” I didn’t realize I had spoken out loud until the bloke enthusiastically agreed with me. He then noted dryly the desert is as deadly as it is beautiful. They would never completed their task without a car. Hitching a ride was out of the question and they were running out of time themselves. I never asked what their task was. Somehow, I think it was for the best that I remain an ignorant victim of a carjacking.

Jack did get me to the airport as fast as he could, but as he pulled up to the counter, we saw my flight taking off. The bloke looked at me in fear. “E ‘ent as fas’ as ‘e cu’d, Lady.” (He went as fast as he could, Lady.)

“Yea. You guys did good. Listen, I’m going to have to keep the car and find something else. Thanks for trying, though. I do appreciate it. But you might want to get as far away from this car as you can now.” I turned back to the pale bloke and smiled sincerely. It brought some color back to his face as he returned the warmth.

Jack had already left in a fast walk. The bloke wished me a good day and a good trip, and thanked me for not cracking his bones. As he walked away, he was whistling with a bounce in his step.

At least their day ended well. I’m stuck in a foreign country, with no funds, and no means of getting home. And a daughter all alone. I know I can’t leave the car here, so I start to get back in with intention of making my way back to the building, or the mall’s parking lot.

But as I closed the door, I heard, “Keri! Keri!” A second car pulls up beside mine. A man exits the passenger side. I can see the second man from before driving, with a severe look on his face. “Shit! You were carjacked, weren’t you. I was afraid of that! Those two men we saw leaving…” He stares off after them. I hurry to complete the sentence.

“Were the ones that got me out of trouble and tried to get me to the airport in time.” The speaker looked at me oddly, as if knowing the truth of the matter, but I wasn’t going to give them away. I had a word to keep. “How am I going to get home? My daughter… I need to get home!”

“Sir!” The second man is leaning out of the car holding a handheld device. “Latest image, Sir. Just taken.” The speaker takes the gadget, glances at it, and hands it to me.

“We’ve been keeping an eye on her. Our operative has not entered the house, however, it would seem your house is not as empty as you thought.” I look down at the gadget. There is a picture of my daughter, surrounded by friends of mine. But I know, they are masquerading to appear to her as people she knows. Not all of them appear (or is) human. One of them is facing the camera, with a odd knowing smile on his face. He has a distinctive mark, that I almost recognize, but not quite. I do know, she is safe.

“She is okay. She knows you have been delayed and will be home several hours later than she was told, but she is okay. And from what I’ve been told, you’re out of spaghetti.”

I didn’t know I had been crying until a tear splashed on the screen. Nor did I know I had been holding my breath until I sighed in relief.

“Here. I know you won’t be able to afford another ticket home, so I kept this for you.” He hands me a thick wad of money, wrapped in a note. As I turned the note over, I recognized my handwriting, but I was unable to make out the words.

“Keri, you did great at the presentation. Really great. I’d love to keep you around longer, but I understand. It’s time for you to go home.”

As he said “go home”, the dream dissolved around me even as I became fully lucid. In a sensation much like surfacing in a body of water, I woke up at once.

Make of that, what you may.