Fae Wings

And

Hidden Things

A Wolf Pack  Publishing Anthology

Table of Contents

Title Page

Fae Wings and Hidden Things

Luck | Warren Rochelle

Doubting Thomas | Stephen Blake

Obsession | Angel Blackwood

Fairy Dreams | Layne Calry

Bêtes et Beautés | Jaap Boekestein

The Brothers Doran | John A. McColley

True Thomas | Cynthia June Long

The Café at the End of the Lane | Vonnie Winslow Crist

The Wish | Deborah Brown

Angelo | Elana Gomel

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Copyright © 2017 Wolf Pack Publishing

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under the international and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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All rights reserved.

ISBN-13:

978-0-9991513-0-3

Luck

Warren Rochelle

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Walking home down Tate Street on the last day of classes Glosson Bennett always felt lighter. By the time he turned off Tate onto Carr Street, he felt as if with just a little effort he could take flight or simply just rise upward until he found a comfortable bit of sky in which to float. The neighborhood, College Hill, would spread out, and the UNC Greensboro campus, a green island, and over the city he would drift.

Never mind the box of undergrad intro fiction portfolios he was carrying. And never mind all the grading he had to do after that. Today classes were over. No matter how well his classes had gone, Glosson always found himself longing for this last day a month before the semester’s end. That he and Cameron were heading to the Old Town Draft House for a drink and then dinner out made it all the sweeter.

Glosson was upstairs changing out of what Cameron called his professor costume when he heard the door opening and voices. Who are you talking to, Cam? Tell them you’re busy, okay? Glosson quickly pulled a blue and gold UNCG T-shirt over his head (part of his last day costume), hoping he could get rid of whomever it was before Cameron got too involved in what was probably some random and accidental conversation. That Cameron seemed to have never met a stranger was something Glosson both envied and found endearing, and sometimes, annoying. He had been looking forward to their semester’s end drink and dinner all day long and whomever it was could go hang. Cameron, please, stop talking...

When he got downstairs to the front door, Cameron was standing there, still in his school counselor costume, talking to a man and woman who looked vaguely familiar.

Glosson, there you are. Cameron took his hand and gently pulled him out on to their front porch. You remember Peter Macnab? Peter, Owen and Elspeth’s son? Peter’s wife, Sarah? We met Christmas before last.

Of course. He remembered Peter and Sarah now. Owen and Elspeth Macnab, Peter’s parents, both retired professors from nearby Greensboro College, were their next door neighbors. Or they had been. Glosson and Cameron had been house-sitting and looking after Lord Donalbain, the Macnabs’ rather large and curmudgeonly black cat, for almost two months.  The Macnabs, junior and senior, had gone off to Scotland and Wales together. Owen and Elspeth had both grown up in Killin, a small town in central Scotland. The original plan had been for two weeks in Scotland and a week in Wales, then London. Cameron got an email from Peter in the second week. His father had taken ill in Killin, would they mind ... Then, the next email, ten days later: Owen Macnab had died and Elspeth wasn’t coming home, we are so sorry, would you mind looking after Lord Donalbain a little longer and the mail ...

Peter looked just liked his mother, the same red hair and grass-green eyes. I’m so, so sorry, Glosson said, taking the man’s hand. Owen and Elspeth had been great neighbors and friends. They had asked Glosson and Cameron over for afternoon tea right after they moved in. Elspeth made amazing scones from scratch. Meals every now and then, mostly random chatting on the street when coming home from a neighborhood walk, catsitting Lord Donalbain, collecting mail. Both Glosson and Cameron adored their Scottish accents and had spent too much time trying to imitate them and had watched way too many instructional YouTube videos on how to speak like a Scot.

Mum insisted he be buried there in Killin, surrounded by the ancestral territory of the Macnab clan. It took us forever to arrange things for the funeral, thank goodness they both had kept their UK citizenship. Mum said she wasn’t leaving him alone, so we had to get her settled there. But finally we can take care of the house, Peter said. We imposed so long on you guys and we wanted to thank you in person, and Mum wanted you to have something as a thank you.

Cameron shook his head, as he waved his hand. You didn’t impose. We were glad to do it. We always liked your folks.

Lord Donalbain was no problem, Glosson added, wondering where the black beast was at the moment. Lord Donalbain liked to wander and hide in various corners of their house, or go next door and curl up on the porch swing. Sometimes he saw the cat methodically patrolling the Macnab yard, walking from corner to corner.

Sarah held out what looked like a tiny treasure chest, the size of a music box. Cameron took it, turning it this way and that. Glosson wanted to touch it, trace the curious carvings that looked like Celtic knots. She insisted it be this box, for luck. She didn’t give us a key. She said we had to make sure the realtor touched it first, then give it to you. We got an offer this morning, even before the sign went up, so I guess it works. She wanted you two to have some luck.

Peter looked down at his feet and then back up, first at Cameron, then at Glosson. And we wanted to ask you guys if Lord Donalbain could just stay on here? What with quarantine and stuff, it would be impossible to take him over there, and he likes you guys. There’s some extra food Mum and Dad had and Lord Donalbain’s got a box of toys that I can bring over ...

Sure, we’ll take him. Bring over his toys, Cameron said quickly, looking apologetically at Glosson, who nodded, hiding a frown.

I guess we have a cat, then. Let me get you the mail we collected. It’s okay, but we really should have talked about it. You do this to me all the time, Cam.

Much later, that night, curled up in bed, spooned together in the close darkness, Cameron apologized. I know, I know, we should have talked, but we both like Lord Donalbain, and we’ve talked about getting a cat. Sorry, Gloss.

Glosson sighed. He could never stay mad at Cam for long. He pulled Cameron against his chest, stroked his white-blond hair. You’re forgiven. Where is that beast, by the way, and where’d you put that treasure chest? Did you get it open?

"On the counter by the kitchen sink—ˮ Before Cameron could finish answering, the cat screeched and something hit the floor, breaking.

What the hell? Glosson scrambled out of bed, with Cameron right behind him. The treasure chest lay on its side on the counter, open and empty. The shattered remains of a coffee mug littered the floor. Lord Donalbain crouched on top of the refrigerator, hissing, his fur and tail up, his bright yellow eyes almost glowing.

Donal-boy, what are you hissing at? You knocked the mug off. I hope to God you didn’t see a mouse, Glosson said, frowning at the cat. "I’d get you down but picking up a pissed-off cat when naked is not a good idea. Cam, what are you doing?’

Cameron had turned on all the lights. He stood by the dining table, scanning the room. I thought I saw something, like a shadow moving.

Glosson yawned. It was a shadow moving; it’s the middle of the night.  Let’s clean up this mess and get back to bed. Watch your feet. C’mon. Leave his lordship up there. He’ll come down when he’s ready. I thought that box couldn’t be opened.

Cameron stood staring a moment longer, then shook his head and grabbed a broom. Yeah, me too. But I did wish it open a while ago, too. He yawned.

A little while later, they tumbled back into bed.

Glosson was up long before Cameron. The box of portfolios to grade, then, back to his office, drop off the completed box, grab the to-be-graded box, and keep grading like a maniac, post grades, and then. That. Would. Be. It.  His grad fiction workshop, already done. He staggered into the kitchen to tank up on caffeine and scrounge for an English muffin and stopped and stared. Lord Donalbain was still on top of the refrigerator, clearly still upset about something. And on the counter by the sink, all the dishes from the drainer, arranged in stacks. What the fuck, Cam? Got bored putting up the dishes?

Glosson shook his head. I’ll feed your lordship, but you have to come down and get it, or I am shipping you to Scotland, quarantine or no quarantine...

A while later, he looked up from a depressingly bad short story when he felt Cameron coming down the stairs.

Hey. Good morning. Almost done? Cameron stood in the doorway, scratching his stomach. His white-blond hair stood up in odd places, like tiny tufted horns. 

Five more. Did you leave all the dishes out on the counter?

Cameron shrugged. Sleepwalking, I guess, he said over his shoulder as he disappeared into the kitchen. Glosson heard the refrigerator door open. You know, I had really weird dreams. I think I’m going for a bike ride. Any coffee? Hey, there’s a twenty-dollar bill on the floor. Yours?

Something you ate, I guess. There’s still some coffee in the pot. You might have to nuke it. I’ll finish up this box while you’re gone. Finders keepers on the twenty.

Later that morning Glosson couldn’t find his keys when he was ready to take the graded portfolio box to campus. He finally found them in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. How the hell did they get here? Cam? He heard Cam coming in downstairs a he stared at the key.

"Did I do what? Hide your keys in the medicine cabinet? Yeah, right, Gloss. No, it wasn’t me."

Something about Cameron’s face made Glosson give up trying to get Cameron to admit to that prank, never mind leaving the dishes out. It just wasn’t worth it.

On Thursday, the last of his grades posted, Glosson came home after lunch with his next door office neighbor to find his lordship perched this time on the dining room table, verboten territory. Dishes had been stacked on the counter again. After spending over an hour looking for