3

My possibilities bag included kevlar chicken-plate armor for my torso, cold-iron nails, a fully charged paintball gun, a silver-plated machete, various pieces of rope, glass, and aluminum, a couple of small dolls, sprigs of oak and mistletoe, some charged pebbles, wooden stakes, and an ash baseball bat. Don't laugh, a wooden bat will hurt most anything magical, and I had training in its use as a defensive weapon from my sister Fawn. I added a bottle of water consecrated at a local catholic church, and some snack bars and chips in case I didn't get a chance to eat for some reason, like being carted away to Underhill.
Mr. Cobb watched all of this in imperturbable silence, reacting only slightly to the iron nails. His lack reaction let me know again that he was a powerful fae, and not to let my guard down just because his daughter was in danger. Fae are not human, and don't react to things like humans do. I would do well to remember that.
I called ahead to Larry and Fawn, and Larry picked the telephone up on the second ring. “Potter Emporium” he said cheerfully. “Hi Larry, how are you two?” “Pretty good Ferny, you wanting a locater spell?” I just sighted and shook my head. Larry was extremely astute and talking with him sometimes is like a chat with Sherlock Holmes, always a step behind even though it's your conversation.
“Yeah, a locater spell, but it's going to be a different sort. I want it to track down a rabbit.” There was a long silence, then Larry chuckled. “So it's going to have to be pretty specific then, only about 90 gazillion rabbits around Halifax, let alone the whole of Nova Scotia. This a person changed into a rabbit is why you want it.” It wasn't a question.
“That's the reason, and no I don't have any personal items for you to use, but her father is here with me and should be willing to help.” “So he's fae. Christ Ferny, they know how to pick you.” Like I said, a step behind even when it is your conversation. I didn't even bother to ask how he knew, I'd just feel sillier after he explained everything to me.
The trip over to Larry's place of business was quiet. Literally. Mr. Cobb just sat in the car, a statue except for the slight rise and fall of his chest. He didn't offer any conversation, and after two tries to talk with him, I gave up and stewed in silence. I hate silence. We pulled into the small parking lot in front of Larry's “new” place. About a year ago someone had firebombed his old one. A police investigation never caught the perpetrator, nor could anyone find a reason why. Larry, being Larry just shrugged and found a new place in a few months.
Larry came out of the Emporium as we drove up. He had his smock on over his robes, which probably meant he'd been laying down a magick circle, or some such thing as we were driving over. “Hey sis” he said. “You gotta come over more, you bring interesting company.” He looked at Mr. Cobb, and performed a slight bow, hand to forehead, and eyes downcast. “A pleasure sir, please be welcome and freely enter.” Mr.Cobb cracked a slight smile and returned the bow, bending slightly at the waist.
We all went inside and Larry led us back to his 'work' room. This was a twenty by twenty room. Larry had a silver four pointed star-and-circle cut into the wood floor. Outside of the circle and at each star point, there were a series of runes or sigils, I'm not sure which. Larry laid at the western point of the star a plastic rod with a string attached to it. He bade Mr. Cobb stand at the eastern point of the star. Larry stood at the North point, and asked me to stand at the south.
Once we were in position, Larry spoke in a tongue that I had heard before. Rynun, the Geowludmosiseg had uttered a few of them once. A wind sprang up in the closed room, running from Mr. Cobb to the plastic rod. A pale yellowish mist arose from the fae's skin and wafted to the rod. The rod began to glow light a lightstick, a greenish yellow, and brightened. The light pulsed once as Larry chanted, and then collapsed into the rod, reducing to a tiny pinpoint of light. Larry finished the last few words and the wind ceased.

2

Norman Cobb turned around slowly, tears leaking down his cheeks, and stood there, halfway to the door, and looked at me with the most intense anguish radiating from him. “Please, Ms. Fratelli, I'm....... sorry, I need you not the magickan. The rabbit, that's my daughter. She's been changed. Somehow, something changed her. She was playing in the yard and I heard her scream, and I got to the door and saw her shrink into a rabbit and run off. Now she's missing. Halloween is tomorrow and I'm afraid someone's going to catch her and keep her or take her to the pound, and I'll lose her. I know a magicker could do it easier, and cheaper, but I can't go that way Ms. Fratelli, I.... just can't.”
I sat back down and looked, really looked Norman Cobb over. He gave every semblance of a man broken by a need so desperate, that he'd do anything to fill that need. Hard-core Crack addicts look less strung out. This made no sense and it bothers me when things make no sense. Why would a person come to me to find a magickally changed girl and refuse to go to the people who could help him most? I decided to take a chance and look at him with my mage-vision.
Everyone has mage-vision, well theoretically at least. It's that even in a world where magic has been shown to exist, most people will run from it in a heartbeat. And of the other 10% who don't, maybe 1 in ten of those actually sits down to study it, and of those, only about one in fifty actually have the perseverance to become really good. What this means is that magickers, people who REALLY know magic are few and far bewteen.
When I looked at him, I just about went blind as the bright essence of him assualted my eyes. Looking at a faery can do that to you, especially it the fae in question is strong. All fae are strong in magic, much more so than humans generally. So they tend to glow when viewed with mage sight. Mr. Cobb glowed like a blast furnace. I was slammed out of my sight and the recoil stabbed through my eyes like a knife. I jammed my hands onto my eyes to lessen the pain.
'Mr. Cobb' straightened and threw off the glamour that shrouded him. His whole image changed. Instead of a rumpled grey business suit, he wore a deep violet shirt that looked like silk. Tights of deep green, and a leather vest that was a deep rich brown. A short, nasty-looking sword about as long as my forearm hung off of his left hip. HE gained in height as well, standing just a shade under seven feet tall, and rail thin.
“Ms. Fatelli, do you understand why it is so important to find my daughter?” “Well, for starters, because she's your daughter?” I said, deadpan. That's me, life of the party. I swear he growled slightly at that, and then took a deep breath. “My daughter has been turned into a rabbit by another mage. I need to find her before her assailant does. I am also certain that you have experience with this kind of magic also. That is why I have come to you.”
“Mr. Cobb, or whatever you're called,” I said. “I have no idea what you're talking about. What kind of magic are you talking about?” He straightened, and extended one arm. Just out from the tip of the arm an object faded into view, hanging suspended in the air, and I saw what it was and my stomach flipped over and I almost started whimpering. He was showing me a glass bottle. The same glass bottle that I had seen destroyed seven years ago during the biggest lviing nightmare of my life. Oh. Shit.
Mr. Cobb stared at me like a starving wolf stares at a crippled sheep. “Ms. Fatelli, you have seen this before, haven't you. The human who changed my daughter was attempting to use this on her.” “How the hell did the guy get that thing, and why are you sure he's human? If he was, why didn't your daughter just change back after she got away?” I almost yelled. I was angry and scared at the same time. I think that's a standard reaction when you have the absolute crap scared out of you like I did.
He didn't bat an eye, nor show any reaction to my outburst. He just waited, absolutely, completely, nerve-wrackingly still. He watched me a moment more and replied with a maddeningly neutral voice. “I believe that he had made a mistake in the spell, that the rabbit was not what he wanted. My daughter may have shifted before he could complete the spell, and he bound her to the form since his spell was tailored for a human, not a rabbit.” He shuddered slightly, and if he had not been so still prior to that, I would not have caught it.
He continued to look at me and said in that strange, neutral voice, “He had used cold iron in the spell.” Cold iron. Anathema to the fae. I'm not sure why, but cold iron is about the worst thing that a fae would face, and most of them would bolt away if given a chance. It's their poison, a single nail made of cold iron is enough to seriously weaken the most powerful of fae spells, and any weaker one is blown away like dust.
I wasn't sure what that did in this case, but it probably had something to do with why this child was still a rabbit. Maybe it locked spells like shapeshifting. Who knows? I sure didn't. But the bottle, the fucking bottle scared the crap out of me. I'd never thought to see it again after the huge implosion at the cabin. But god, or in this case magic, has got a real warped sense of humor. I hate warped senses of humor, especially when I'm involved in the humor part.
But I had to admit one thing, I sure as hell had more experience with that damned bottle than the rest of the world. I wish I didn't. That bottle sucks your whole self, soul and all, out of you, and converts the soul and anything that you were or might have been into magical energy. You're gone, nothing's left. No soul to reincarnate, or go to heaven, or hell, or wherever you believe souls go. It's a complete destruction of you. The holder can get one huge boost of power, but to keep at high levels, the use has to keep putting more people in the bottle.
As far as I know, since this one was crafted by a fallen angel, it would probably work on anyone or anything here. Which meant that a fae sucked up would turbo-charge anyone who had the bottle . Seriously turbo-charge. If the holder was skillful she might be able to lay waste to all of Halifax, and the surrounding countryside. I looked back again at 'Mr. Cobb'. “All right, I'll help you find your daughter, but I'm going to get full discretion on who r what's used to do the job, or we can part ways right now.” 'Mr. Cobb smiled and said “done.”
The first thing I did was pack up and head over to Larry so that I could get a locater spell. I was guessing that the other wizard was doing the same thing now that I had more understanding of what was going on. I also packed a few items in a 'possibilities' bag. I had a pistol but didn't trust it. Pistols don't always stop things coming after you, and they give ignorant people a misguided sense of confidence that got them killed a lot of times when running or a little thought would have saved their lives.