Chapter 13
The Side Job
Peggy sat in the living room, arms crossed while sternly scowling at the newspaper pages spread out on the coffee table. She was in deep thought. Deep, deep thought. She was so deep in thought, she never noticed Mrs. Arkans had been sitting across from her for a good hour until the old snake lady spoke up.
"Something bothering you, dear?"
Peggy jumped in surprise and yelped, "Yikes!"
"Sorry for startling you, Peggy," Mrs. Arkans apologized.
"No, it's okay!" said Peggy. "I should be the one saying sorry for not noticing you. How long have you been here?"
"Not long," Mrs. Arkans replied. But Peggy could tell it was a fib by looking at the yarn work on the lamia's scaly lap. “I see you’re looking at job listings. Is everything okay at the shop? I remember hearing that something happened there a little while back.”
“Oh, no, everything’s fine,” Peggy said. “Well, kind of.”
Mrs. Arkans responded, “What do you mean, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Well . . .”
Peggy’s story to Mrs. Arkans took place a few days ago.
One afternoon, a giant otter in a butler outfit popped into the store asking to speak with the Boss. Apparently, a relative of the Boss’s had passed away and the Boss was being called to take care of that relative’s things. And because this relative’s house was a little far away from town, Boss was going to have to close the shop for about a week. This meant that for a whole week or so, Peggy was going to be out of work unless she could get another job.
“And that leads to right now,” Peggy said. “As you can probably tell, I’m having a bit of trouble.” Whether it was on Emeron or Earth, finding a new job was not easy.
“Hmm,” Mrs. Arkans rubbed her chin thoughtfully. The tip of her tail flipped left and right. “Say, Peggy, what’s your magic level right now?”
“If you mean how many stars I got, I’m on two,” Peggy replied. “I passed the test a few weeks back.”
“In that case, I’ve got just the thing,” Mrs. Arkans said.
As luck would have it, a friend of Mrs. Arkans was short on help for a job and could use some extra hands. Coincidentally, that job landed on the same week the shop would be closed.
“It’s nothing too hard,” the old lamia told Peggy. “It’s just a little bit of assistant stuff like taking notes. But you will need to travel a little out of town. Is that okay with you?”
“Sure, it is,” Peggy said. “But if it’s just assistant stuff, why ask about my magic level?”
“It’s just in case,” Mrs. Arkans said. “Most of the time, you don’t need to use magic for jobs like that, but you never know. Will you still take the job?”
“Sure thing!” Peggy replied with no hesitation.
And that was how Peggy’s first ever trip out of town started. Her white unicorn-drawn carriage ride took her south across a vast sea of green grass to the edge of an even vaster forest, where a square-shaped plot of dirt laid, closed off by a black iron fence that stood ten feet high. According to Mrs. Arkans, Peggy’s job involved exploring a huge house, but as far as Peggy could see, there was no house in sight.
Waiting at the gate was a goblin lady with green skin, darker green hair and bat-wing shaped ears. She wore a blue jacket that was pinned with a half-oval-shaped badge.
That must be that Inspector friend Mrs. Arkans was talking about, Peggy thought as she climbed out of the carriage.
Standing next to the Inspector was a young man around Peggy’s age, a human with hay-colored hair. There were also three knights wearing shining, silvery suits of armor with helmets that completely covered their faces. One of the knights wore an impressive red cape with gold edges. Talking to the caped knight, too Peggy’s surprise, was –
“Boss!?” she cried out.
Startled, the vampire turned and exclaimed, “Peggy? What are you doing here?”
“I’m a temp helper for the Inspector,” Peggy answered. “What are you doing here?”
“I told you that I had to take care of a relative’s things,” Boss said. “This is his house.”
Peggy tilted sideways and looked past Boss to the plot of dirt beyond the gate.
“What house?” she asked. “All I see is dirt.”
“Well, yeah,” said Boss. “That’s because –“
He was cut off by the Inspector who loudly coughed, “Ahem!”
All eyes turned to the lady goblin.
She gently pushed her horn-rimmed glasses up her nose and said, “I believe some introductions are in order. I am the Inspector, here by royal decree to inspect the belongings of Baron Bellbrooks before they are handed off to his family. You must be Peggy, the helper recommended by Mrs. Arkans.”
Boss scowled at the Inspector and said, “What is the meaning of this, Inspector? Peggy here is still a two-star magic user. I thought I made it clear to you that this place is not safe for anyone below three stars.”
"I understand your concerns," said the Inspector, "but we will all be quite safe with the knights with us."
"Uh, quick question," Peggy cut in. "Why is your relative's house not safe, Boss? Also, you're related to a Baron!?"
"I have relatives in all walks of life, all over the world," Boss said. "And got all sorts of species in the family too, not just vampires. It comes with being a family of wanderers, nomads, and explorers. Uncle Theo's a werecat who got the Baron title thanks to his work as a doctor."
“Well, that’s a nice and interesting tidbit about your family,” said Peggy, “but that still doesn’t answer my other question. Why’s your uncle’s house not safe?”
Boss hesitated. “That’s because he’s . . .” He murmured really low.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you,” Peggy said. “What did you say?”
With a huff, Boss replied more loudly, “It’s because he’s a crackpot inventor and a horror fanatic.”
Peggy blinked. “Huh?”
“Like I said, Uncle Theo’s a crackpot inventor,” Boss said again. “He was a nice guy with a heart of gold, but he’s always mixing up all sorts of magic items and machines to make random, weird stuff. DANGEROUS random, weird stuff.”
“Oh come on, Trickster,” the caped knight cut in. “It can’t be that bad.”
“He was a baron who retired early,” Boss said. “He had both the time AND money to buy whatever he wanted to make whatever he wanted! You tell me if that’s bad or not. To make things worse, he was a HUGE fan of horror stories so whatever he made ended up being terribly terrifying. I wouldn’t be surprised if his house led straight into the pits of the Underworld.”
“Be that as it may,” said the Inspector, “whatever lies in Baron Bellrooks’ home, I’m sure our knights are more than able to handle it. Isn’t that right, Captain?”
The caped knight thumped his fist against his chest.
“That’s right,” he said. “I, Percival Gawain Caliburn, swear that I and my fellow knights, Avalonia Nimue von Artoria and Bob, will keep you all safe.”
Peggy went, “Uh . . . Wait, so you two got long, fancy names like Percival and Avalonia, but he’s just Bob?”
“Yes,” replied Percival. “Why?”
“No reason,” Peggy said.
“ANYWAY,” Inspector cut in, “I think we’ve wasted enough time out here. I’m on a tight schedule, so it’d be great if we could get this done as soon as possible.”
“Come on, Boss,” Peggy said. “I’ll be fine. I’ve taken the job so I can’t really back out now, anyway.”
With groan, Boss conceded. “Fine,” he said. “But you make sure to stick close to the knights. Also, take my cape. It’s handcrafted with loads of protective charms and magic spells.”
He shrugged off his long, black cape and held it out. Despite thinking the vampire was being a huge worrywart, Peggy took the cape and draped it over her shoulders.
As soon as Peggy clipped the cape together, Boss turned around and pulled a big, bronze key out of his pocket. Purposely slowly, he walked up to the gate while putting on a grimace that clearly showed how much he did not want to be here. He slipped the key into the keyhole and twisted his hand right.
Peggy wasn’t sure what to expect from all the drama Boss made over the simple move of unlocking a gate, but she was in for a pretty big surprise.
As soon as the lock made a snap noise, a low rumble came from deep in the earth that grew louder and louder with each passing second. The sky turned dark with a gathering of blackish-gray clouds as two rows of lifeless, charcoal-like trees rose up from the ground to create a pathway to a large, black house that looked derelict from years of neglect. At the very center of the house was a square tower with a pointed pyramid rooftop and a big, round window.
CREEEEEAAAAAAAK! Went the gates as they parted for the house’s visitors.
Peggy looked beyond the gates at the house and gulped.
“Having second thoughts?” Boss asked.
“N-no!” Peggy quickly stammered. A job was a job. There was no backing out now.
“One question, if you don’t mind,” Inspector said. “Was that creepy pipe organ music really necessary?”
“I’d tell you to take it up with the guy who designed the house, but he’s already dead,” Boss replied.
Percival led the way through the gate, followed by Boss and Inspector. Peggy and the Inspector’s assistant went in next. Avalonia and Bob were the last to go inside. They were going to close the gates behind them, but before they could even touch the iron bars, the gates moved on their own again and closed with a loud bang.
As everyone went inside the big, creepy house, no one noticed that high above their heads, the clouds changed shape to look like a face with a really evil grin.
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