Alice put her hand gently to Glen’s shoulder. “This life hasn’t been easy for you, has it?”

             Glen looked up at her and Mister Smith. “Actually, that was one I was glad to forget. I really would have had nightmares for the next ten years.” That was not necessarily what Alice meant but he did not feel like talking about it. Naturally, the empathic Mister Smith picked right up on that.

             “I think we have all we need. Let us hope these Vordan accept the terms,” the Zalanid said and pointed to their work on the treaty.

             Glen nodded before he shook his head. The Vordan were not an accepting people, at least not at this point in history. They were militaristic and full of themselves. Not unlike the human race, he supposed.

             Josh brought the Kargill craft in low and stopped in mid air before he lowered the invisibility screen. As soon as they were visible, the Vordan scrambled their fighters. They still had thirteen with some auxiliary craft, and it was a marvel to watch how efficient they were. Of course their weapons had no penetration on the Kargill screens, even when they concentrated their fire, and once they saw that, Glen knew the Vordan would try something else. One of the Vordan cruisers fired its main gun. It was nearly point blank range, but it did not even show up as a spark against the screens or a blip on the power gauge.

             “Okay, Wilson. Put their fighters back on the ground like we practiced,” Glen said.

             Wilson did his best, but it was hard for his mind to encompass thirteen craft coming at him from so many different directions. He tried to imagine himself above it all in order to grasp each ship, but he was not entirely successful. Eleven of the ships got planted back on the ground, but two of them crashed more than landed. Then the Vordan engines burned out so they would not be able to fly again.

             “Okay, set us down.” Glen nudged Josh the pilot and he landed the Kargill craft without too much of a bump. With that, Glen stood up straight. That was not an easy thing to do in that cramped control room, but he was not so tall. He felt sorry for the marine, Sergeant Thomas, who had to stand hunched over the whole time. He looked ready, though. The marines were always ready. Mister Smith looked relaxed, but Glen thought that might be natural for the Zalanid. Alice looked much more human. She was nervous and he did not blame her.

             “Not before I say, Mister Smith,” Glen said as he went away from there and let Nameless take his place. Nameless immediately vanished from the cockpit and reappeared in the doorway at the back of the ship where the others would eventually exit the ship. He walked from there. Sure enough, as soon as he was outside the screens around the Kargill ship, the Vordan opened fire. With his first thought, he disabled the weapons systems on the three main warships. He hoped that would signal the soldiers, but the small arms fire continued so with his second thought he disabled their weapons as well.

             He paused, caused a table and chairs to appear under an awning against the hot sun and caused the Vordan Admiral and his legal Adjutant to appear in those chairs, along with the Vordan pilot who had exchanged languages with Alice the Lawyer. He deliberately spoke in English and let the pilot translate, but he keyed his words to the Admiral’s and Adjutant’s thoughts to be certain the Vordan got the gist of it even if it was mistranslated.

             “Do not be afraid. No one is asking you to surrender. You have not been defeated or disgraced in any way, so far. If you persist in these foolish attacks, however, I cannot make promises. This is a Kargill planet.” Nameless looked back and mentally gave his permission. Alice, Mister Smith and Sergeant Thomas vacated the Kargil ship and began to walk in his direction. Nameless paused. The Kargill ship was barely bigger than a shuttle, like nothing compared to the size of the Vordan warships, but like some women he knew over the millennia, and maybe a few that he had been, she was small but mighty. He turned back to the conversation with barely a pause.

             “The Reichgo, whom I see in your mind that you have met, have no authority here and only limited visitation rights. This meeting is to negotiate fairly so that as representatives of the Reichgo, you may also be granted some reasonable visitation rights. After that is settled between the Vordan and the Humans, I will return you across the uncountable stars to your home planet with your honor intact, provided you cease behaving stupidly.”

             “Alice Summers speaks for Earth.” He waited until Alice got within hearing distance to say that. “Sergeant Thomas is an observer for the military. Humanity has no intention of giving away any military secrets.” That actually impressed the Vordan. “And Mister Smith is here to facilitate the process. He is neither human nor Vordan and so he has no vested interest in the outcome. His people negotiated the original treaty between the Reichgo and Kargill that ceded this planet to Kargill space. It is only right that a Zalanid be here on this historic occasion to oversee the peaceful negotiations between the Vordan of the Reichgo and the Humans of the Kargill. Are these conditions for negotiation acceptable to all parties?” Nameless waited.

             The Vordan Admiral rose slowly and bowed to Nameless and then offered the same consideration to Mister Smith. “Zalanid we know,” he said. “We are honored.” Alice breathed and Nameless spoke.

             “Then I leave you in Mister Smith’s good hands.”

             “Wait,” Alice looked up from her seat. “Where are you going?”

            “I am going to the Asteroid belt.  Don’t worry.  I’ll tell Boston to take good notes.  And  yes, Admiral.  I will be sending them home as well.”  And he vanished.

             Glen found his parents and siblings downstairs in that big living room.  His mother rose and ran to him to hug him and hold him.  “Oh, you’re alright,” she said like she was in tears.  “I was so worried about you.”  Glen thought, who is this woman?  His mother would be yelling her head off at him being so stupid to get himself lost.  Glen pulled back.

             Greta’s mother was there.  Madam Esmerelda was not.  But the Colonel shook his dad’s hand like they were indeed old friends, and then his dad turned and spoke to Glen with one eyebrow raised.  He alternately grinned and frowned like some sort of Morse code as he spoke.

             “Well, we better get back to the park if we plan to go up the Ferris Wheel before they close.”

             “But dad.  I can’t leave David and Greta here.  They found me and saved me.  They are prisoners locked in an upstairs room.  We have to set them free and bring them with us.

             Glen’s dad frowned and this time no grin followed.  “No,” he barked.  “We must go.”

             Glen took a step back.  “You’re enchanted,” he said.

             “What?”  Glen’s brother let out his ridicule voice; it was his put the little brother down voice.  “Don’t be stupid.  Nobody is enchanted.”

             “Yes, they are.”  Glen’s little sister whispered.  She held her mom’s hand and nodded to the truth of what Glen said.

             Glen stared at his sister before he had a thought.  “Don’t be silly,” he said and he put his arms up to reach for a hug from his dad.  He saw and heard everyone in the room exhale and relax.  As soon as his father started forward, Glen turned and raced for the stairs.

             “Hey!”  Everyone yelled.  Then everyone looked around at one another before they reacted and that gave Glen a good five second start.  He was half-way up the stairs before anyone down below moved.  By then it was too late because it was no longer Glen on the stairs, but the Nameless god and there was a shield of force at the bottom of the stairs that the others could not break through.  Of course, the gods normally did not interfere with the lives of the Kairos, but Nameless justified himself.  Glen was still much too young, and the vampire could not be allowed to escape.

             Nameless was not surprised at what he found at the top of the stairs.

             Carl was free and stood in the doorway to the upstairs sitting room.  He was drooling.  Greta and David were backed up to the corner window and David held the sword up with one hand while he pushed Greta behind him with the other.  Madam Esmerelda was also in the hall and she speared to be egging on the vampire.

             When Nameless arrived, the witch took one look at the god, realized who he was and became so shocked and awe struck she died on the spot.  Her old heart quit.  Nameless ignored her, stepped over her and stepped into the room where he shoved the vampire to the wall with enough force to crumple that whole side of the man’s body.

             David and Greta gasped, and while they were drawn to this stranger, Greta especially, they could not help but watch as the crumpled vampire slowly stood, stretched and healed every bone in the process until it was like new.

             “Why do I always get the werewolves, vampires and creepy things like that?”  Nameless complained while he picked up a small wooden chair and snapped off two legs.  He shoved one leg into Carl’s heart with enough force to make it stick out the back.  Then he went to see about the dead old woman in the hall.  He rammed the other chair leg into her heart and her eyes sprang open and she shrieked – a spine chilling sound—before she remained dead.

             Nameless stepped up to the couple cowering in the corner.  “David, do you mind if I borrow my sword?”  David paused, looked at the vampire holding its chest, still on its feet but leaning against the wall and not looking at all well.  David glanced at Greta and at the doorway as if looking for the old woman.  Without a word, he held out the sword.

             “I have others I could fetch, but this one started the job so it might as well finish it.”  Nameless turned and in one swift motion he cut off the vampire’s head.  Then he did the same for the woman in the hall.  When he stepped back into the room, the sword was gone.  He handed David some papers.

             “This is the list of the Swiss and South American accounts.  I’m sorry, most of the art works are in private hands and I am not authorized to straighten that out.  The colonel and his three henchmen are tied up but they might get free.  I recommend the telephone and moving on the accounts first.  As for these two,” he turned to Greta.

             He raised his hand and Greta’s mother appeared in the room, disoriented at first before she put her fist to her mouth to hold back the scream on sight of the Nameless god. “You must fill their mouths with garlic and sew them shut to marinade the brain and make it useless.  Your mother must do that as part of her penance and don’t make me come back here.”  He stared at Greta’s mother and she got the message.  “Then you must bury them with their heads between their knees so the heads do not attempt to reattach to the bodies like the snake.

             “Who are you?”  Greta trembled in the presence of this man.  She could not help it.  It was in her blood to feel the awe of Aesgard, manifest.  David was not quite so affected.

             “Glen?”  He asked.

             Nameless looked at the ceiling and bit his lower lip before he responded.  “I have no name, so I suppose you might as well call me Glen.  Listen.”  And those present could do nothing less.  “Glen and his family will go back to their life, no wiser than when this began.  You must not look for them, and if you happen to see them you must pretend like you do not know them.  Glen, especially must forget his haunted house experience or he will never sleep nights.”  Nameless felt there was no reason to go into a big explanation about how Glen would forget, regardless.  “I will write you a letter someday, or maybe Danna will,” he promised, and raised his hand again and vanished.

             Glen and his family were in line for the Ferris Wheel.  What they had been doing for the last couple of hours never came up.  Glen stood by the window of the car for most of the ride to the top.  He ignored his family and for the most part they ignored him.  When they got to stop at the very top of the wheel, Glen thought he would rather step back a bit toward the center of the train car.  He really did not like heights all that much.

             Mom was in the corner with her baby girl in her arms.  She was pointing out things below.  Probably museums and cathedrals.  Dad was a few steps away with his son.  They were commiserating on what they could see.  Glen was left out and neglected, as expected.  He could intrude on one group or the other or just look on his own.  That might sound sad to some, but Glen was happy at that moment.  He felt this was a sure sign that everything was back to normal; and by the time the Ferris Wheel came back to earth, Glen himself had forgotten all about his own personal haunted house and all that went on there.  He just yawned and looked forward to getting back to the hotel.

            The room, an upstairs sitting room was comfortable enough apart from the locked door.  They were quiet for a good five minutes while each was lost in his or her own thoughts.  Glen thought, Greta Gruber, what a name!  He got the impression that she and her mother did not get along well, sort of like Glen and his mother.  And David, he looked to be pacing the room trying to find a way out or a weapon if he could.  The silence was interrupted when they heard shuffling in the bedroom next door followed by a bang on the wall as if whatever was there wanted to get at them.

            “Carl.”  David named the occupant of the bedroom.

            “Vampire.”  Glen had another name for the beast.

            “Don’t be silly.”  Greta spoke to Glen.  Vampire was not a word she wanted to think about, much less hear.

            “There are no such things,” David added.

            Glen looked up at the man.  “They have made one.  Carl is dead and gone.  Demons have taken the flesh.  As long as the heart pumps and the brain functions, they can appear normal enough.  They can even use the synapses and neural pathways to pretend to be the person, drawing on a lifetime of memories of family and friends and relationships.   They can heal the body from almost any wound, but they avoid the sun because it triggers the flesh to decay.  That’s why they sleep days and walk the night.”

            “And the blood?”

            “The body is dead, remember?  The digestive system is generally useless and they cannot create new blood cells very well if at all.  They need the blood like we do, to carry oxygen and keep the heart and brain alive and keep the flesh from decay and keep the muscles functioning.”

            “How old are you?”  David asked.

            “Nine,” Glen answered honestly enough.

            “What, are you in some special genius school?”

            Glen shook his head.  “Greta – my Greta studied these things and Lady Alice knows all about it, and there are others.”  He looked up at the two of them.  “We have to do something about the vampire first.  I know there can’t be Nazis again back in power, but if the vampire escapes, Vienna will soon be filled with zombie vampires.”

            There was another spell of pounding on the wall and some of the plaster in that old wall fell to the floor.  David looked but said nothing.  Greta said what was on her heart.

            “You’re frightening me.”

            Glen nodded.  “I’m terrified.  I hate witches.”  Greta frowned before she knelt down to give Glen a hug.  Another few minutes of silence followed before Greta screamed.  There was a serpent in the room.  It was much too big to have slithered under the door and no one could guess how it got there, but it was bobbing and weaving and shooting out its tongue as if testing the air in search of its prey.

            “Behind me.”  David stepped up and Greta eagerly complied, but he had to grab Glen by the arm to drag him back.  David had no doubts who the snake was looking for.  The snake dropped to the ground and ignored David.  It slithered to another part of the room where it stopped, lifted its head and began to bob and weave once more.

            “David.”  Glen whispered, though there was no reason to suppose the snake could hear or understand him.  David turned his head to see Glen struggling with a sword that was too big for him to lift.  “Lady Alice said you might need this.”

            “Glen.”  Greta took her eyes off the snake long enough to exclaim her surprise.  “Where did you get that?”  David picked it up and shook his head.

            “I’m no knight.  I’m Jewish, remember?”

            “Lady Alice sent it,” Glen answered Greta.  “From Avalon – the netherworld, I suppose.”  Even as Glen spoke, the snake made a lunge for him.  David brought the sword down, and it must have been a lucky blow because the snake’s head was severed in mid-lunge.  Greta and Glen screamed and the pounding on the wall began in earnest.

            Still, the snake was not dead.  The head and neck appeared to be searching for each other in order to reconnect.  As David looked at the sword and wondered about his lucky blow, Glen stopped screaming long enough to tug on Greta’s sleeve.

            “Make it disappear.  You have to delete it.  Hurry, before it gets fixed and starts hunting again.  Greta!”

            Greta looked at Glen and took a breath before she nodded.  She concentrated and Glen saw her magic come out in a mud colored stream.  It covered the snake, both parts, but while the snake flickered like a bad holograph, it did not go out.  Greta concentrated and began to sweat.  Glen leapt forward when the snake looked ready to find its other half.  He had a long knife in his hand and he managed to pin the snake head to the floor. 

            “Keep trying.”  He yelled even as David yanked him back to safety.

            The snake flickered again and finally vanished, and Greta had to sit from the strain.  She spoke when she caught her breath.  “Mother could not have done that.  Madam Esmerelda must be a very powerful sorceress.”

            “Hey!”  David yelled that time because the knife vanished from the floor where it was stuck fast.  He turned on Glen.  “Who exactly are you?”  He eyed the sword in his hand.  “Don’t give me that American tourist bit.”

            The pounding on the wall to the next room stopped and everyone paused to look.  The wall was badly cracked, but not broken.  Then the door opened and one of the gunmen with the swastika lapel pin came in.  “Young man, your family is here.  Come unt see them.” 

            Glen took and squeezed David’s and Greta’s hands.  “For later, no time for tradition” he said before he let go of both hands and ran to the door.  As soon as he was out the door, David and Greta both looked back at the cracked wall, but there was only silence from the other room.

            Glen put his hands straight up and kept his mouth closed.  Greta dropped a hand on to Glen’s shoulder but otherwise merely frowned.  David fingered his pocket before he shook his own head.  A man stepped up and took David’s souvenir along with a knife and brass knuckles. 

            Glen watched as they escorted them to a large living room area.  He saw the swastika pins the men wore and he knew enough history to recognize them for what they were.  But that was twenty years ago.  There weren’t supposed to be any Nazis anymore.

            The old man in the smoking jacket from the front door was sitting in a comfortable chair sipping brandy.  The older woman with the reddish-brown hair was there as well, and she stood when they came in.

            “The boy,” the woman gasped.

            “Eh?”  The old man looked up from his brandy

            “But he couldn’t have followed me,” the woman complained.  She shot a sharp look at David.  “The Jew must have been watching in the park and brought the boy by another way.”

            “This is the missing boy?”  The old man stood slowly and smiled.  “How convenient.”

            “No, mother.”  Greta spoke to the old woman.  Glen looked, but swallowed his surprise.  He might have guessed Greta, being magical, was related in some way to the witch with the purple smoke.  He was surprised they were mother and daughter, but someone inside his head said to swallow his reaction.  It would be better if they did not know he understood German and assumed he did not know what they were saying.

            “You might say he found us,” Greta said.

            “Don’t be silly.  I watched and left a trail of magic.  No one followed me.”

            “Yet, here he is.”  Greta pointed at Glen and imagined that should be proof enough for her mother.

            “Quiet,” the old man put his hand up.  “What does the Jew say?”

            David looked around the room like a museum visitor.  “I say how could an SS Colonel afford such a nice house?”

            The Colonel was surprised for a second, but then he joined David in looking around the room with admiration.  “All of those art treasures of the Fuehrer.  We have enough secreted away to begin again, but I did help myself to a bit of it.”

            “And the Fuehrer’s fascination with the occult made some discoveries as well I see.”

            The Colonel picked up his brandy.  “You will not believe me, but I actually saw an ogre once.  It was too strong and fast to capture.  It escaped back to the netherworld, but it was a sight, let me tell you.”  He took a long drink and Glen thought to himself if the ogre was smart enough to escape it was probably a goblin or a troll.

            “But things have not worked out so well for your adjutant, have they?”

            “Carl?”  The Colonel put his emptied glass on the table beside his chair as if he intended to pick up where he left off once business was taken care of.  “You have been spying on me.”  He shook his finger at David and grinned at a joke he did not care to share.

            “It’s my job,” David responded flatly.

            The Colonel continued.  “I killed him myself and dearest Eva,” he nodded to the Greta’s mother, “and Madam Esmerelda brought him back to life.”  He looked squarely at David.  “Oh, yes.  He was quite dead, but the revival was not entirely successful, it is true.  He looks well, his heart is pumping and his mind seems whole, but he does not say much.  He has become violent and will not follow orders.  He sleeps days and is up nights, but most curiously, he will not eat.  All he takes is blood.  We have kept him well on pig’s blood from the butchers, but the ladies have no idea what the problem may be or how to correct it.”  The Colonel sighed.  “I had such hopes of reviving my regiment.”

            “So now you have taken to kidnapping innocent people?”  Greta could not hold her tongue.

            “A different, perhaps simpler idea.  The trick will be to have them appear perfectly normal but to work subtly for the cause.”

            “Which is?”

            The Colonel looked at Greta and David like they were stupid.  “Why, the revival of the Fatherland and the realization of the Fuehrer’s dream, now that we have a whole new generation of young men to work with.”

            “What?”  Greta did not follow.

            “World War Three.”  David spoke even more flatly than before.

            “But now.”  The Colonel became all friendly smiles, but Glen thought the smile looked wicked.  “The family spoke no German.  I assume the boy is the same, and we have left him out of all our conversation.”  He stepped up and bent down to smile at Glen.  Glen could barely keep himself from turning away.  “Do not worry, young man,” the Colonel spoke in English.  “Your family is here, safe and sound.  They came to visit me because I am an old friend of your father from the war.  Your father was in the war, was he not?”

            Glen shrugged.  His dad never talked about such things.

            “Anyway, I will bring you to them, shortly.  They were very afraid that you had gotten lost, but here you are, found and safe.  I am sure they will be very pleased to see you.”

            “What do you have in mind?”  Lady Eva asked in German.

            “Please, speak American for our young friend.  Everyone speaks American since the war.”  The Colonel sounded like he was gently scolding the woman.  Glen was only glad that the Colonel turned his face away, stood and took a step back.  “When the family is ready I thought this young man might be reunited with them.”

            Lady Eva nodded like she understood something.  “A test case,” she said.

            “If you like.”

            “Glen—“ Greta started to speak, but Glen interrupted, in English of course.

            “Yes, I know, but I want my family back.”

            “Good.”  The Colonel seemed to think the matter was settled.  “Gentlemen.”  He spoke to the three with the guns who had kept to the back.  “Will you escort Mister Bronstein and Frauline Gruber to their room, and bring the boy to where he can freshen up.”

            Glen quickly grabbed Greta’s hand.  “I would rather stay with my friend until my mom and dad get here.  Please?”  Glen put on his best pleading face.

            The Colonel did not think that was a very good idea, but he said, “Very well.”  One of the gunmen smiled and pointed them to the hall and stairs.  At the same time, a woman, much older than Greta’s mother who was bent from age came hobbling into the room from a door that likely led to the kitchen.  She took one look at the three visitors and shrieked in her loudest voice.

            “Kill it.  Kill him now.”  Her wrinkled, boney old finger flew up and pointed.  Glen barely kept himself from screaming in the witch’s face like he screamed in the haunted house.

            “The Jew?”  The Colonel did not understand.  “Do not worry Madam Esmerelda.  If there is one thing we are good at it is handling Jews.”

            “Kill him.”  Madam Esmerelda shrieked again.  “Kill him now.  He will ruin us all.”

            “The boy?”  The Colonel still did not get it.

            “I see only death and ruin.  The danger is too great.  No power on Earth…”

            “Calm yourself,” the colonel said, but by then, the three and their escort were climbing the stairs, Glen out front, dragging the others to hurry them, so they heard no more.

            “Who are you?  What are you doing here spying on that house?”  The speaker was a woman, young, blond, with blue eyes and not too many freckles.  “It isn’t safe.  You should run along home.”

            “But my family.”  Glen pointed toward the house. “My home is in America.”  The woman looked and frowned before she understood. 

            “Your family?  But how did you escape?”

            “I,” Glen had to think.  “I ran.  A voice in my head said run and I ran.”  Glen felt uncomfortable and a little afraid.

            The young woman got down to one knee to look him in the eye.  “Your family?”  Glen confirmed with a nod of his head.  “My name is Greta.  And I think you speak German very well for an American.”

            “I’m Glen.  I was Greta once.”  He paused, not because she said he was speaking German but because he thought of Greta and wondered why he did not think of her earlier.  She would have blended perfectly into the background.

            “You mean, I knew a Greta once.”

            Glen shook his head.  “No, I was Greta once.  She was a wise woman of the Goths, oh, long, long ago.”  He decided that maybe she had not come to mind because she was actually a Goth and not technically a German.  “Marcus Aurelius was Emperor back then.”

            Greta gave him a strange look but straightened up.  She shouted up the tree.  “David.  We have a complication.”

            A man climbed down out of the tree.  He had binoculars around his neck and swung from the last branch.  Glen had to use his hand to shade his eyes because the sun, nearly set, was at the man’s back.  “That side window looks like the only option,” the man said.

            “We have a complication.”  Greta repeated herself and pointed at Glen.   “Glen, this is David.  David, that was Glen’s family who was taken.”

            “I don’t get it.”  David ran his hand through his curly brown hair.  “What are they doing now that they need to take people off the streets.  I would think that would be a great risk if the locals started to disappear.”

            “But we aren’t locals,” Glen spoke up.  “We’re Americans.”

            “Tourists would give them much more time,” Greta nodded.

            David knelt down and smiled for Glen.  “Don’t worry, son.  We will get your family back, safe and sound.  You need to stay here and keep quiet and for a long time.  Can you do that?”  He pulled out a gun, a German Lugar from the war.  “Souvenir.”  He called it.

            Glen shook his head.  “I need to go with you.  Maybe I can break the enchantment.  You know, coercive magic has limits, like hypnosis.  A strong, familiar outside influence might break the spell.”

            David paused and looked up at Greta.  “How do you know that?”  He asked Glen but his eyes never left the young woman.

            “Greta told me,” Glen answered.  “My Greta, I mean.  Not her.”

            “And she is right,” Greta spoke up and then confirmed for David.  “He is right.  If they are enchanted and I don’t see how they could not be, the presence of their son and brother might be enough to break the enchantment.”

            “I don’t like risking the boy.”  David spoke, this time to Greta.

            “David,” Glen interrupted and his words came out in Hebrew.  “Are you Jewish.  Israeli, I bet.  Secret police maybe?”

            David frowned, grinned and frowned again.  “Are you a Jew?”

            “Nah!”  Glen sounded all American with that response.  “I’m a Presbyterian.”  He looked up at Greta.

            “Lutheran,” she said, softly.

            David shook his head.  “The German, maybe, but how do you speak Hebrew?”

            “I’ve been Jewish a few times,” Glen said like it was the most natural thing in the world.  “I was Korah long ago.  He fought the Witch of Endor, but I don’t like to think about that.  I don’t like witches.”

            David looked quickly at Greta.  She put on a serious face and put her hands on Glen’s shoulder.  “I don’t blame you,” she said.

            “Yeah.  My mom says the first time I saw the Wizard of Oz I ran from the room when the Wicked Witch of the West showed up and I wouldn’t go back no matter how much they begged.  I think I was three or four.”

            David stood, stuck the Luger in his back pocket and pulled out the corner of his shirt to cover it.  “I don’t like witches either, most of them anyway.”  He looked at Greta again.  “We better get going.  No telling what they are doing.” 

            Glen heard, “No telling what they are doing to Glen’s family,” but he was grateful David did not say it out loud.

            It was not far to the side window.  The house was on the end of the row and Glen imagined that was a kindness because only one poor family would share a wall with the witch house instead of two.  David kept his eyes on the corner of the house while Greta stepped up to the window.  Glen saw a mud colored stream leave Greta’s hand.  It was the color of that older woman’s hair, and Glen said as much.

            “You can see the magic?”  Greta asked as the stream penetrated the glass and reached the lock.  The window unlocked itself and drew itself up as well.

            “Sure,” Glen said.  “The other magic was purplish, but dark.  That’s why I ran.”

            Once the window was up, Greta turned to face Glen again.  “There must be some magic in you,” she said.  “Non-magical people cannot generally see the colors of the magic.”

            Glen shook his head.  “But maybe my Greta or another life is helping me see,” he said.

            “You are strange.”  Greta looked confused.  “I do not understand this talk of being other people.”

            “Ahem.”  David coughed quietly.  “Ladies first.”  

            Greta nodded and climbed up over the window ledge.  David helped Glen up to the window and Greta helped him on the other side.  She added “Shhh,” as if Glen did not know that.  David came last and fingered his gun as he touched his feet to the floor.  They were in a dark room since the window caught no light from the setting sun.  They imagined they were alone.  They found out differently when the lights came on and three men in suits already had their guns pulled.

            Amphitrite found the dolphins on her way back.  It was deliberate.  They were in such a playful mood she could not resist.  She loved to go down with them into the depths and shoot straight for the surface and leap out of the water.  Of course, she could swim faster and jump higher than any of them, but that was not the point.  And the fact that she had on her mermaid tail instead of legs was not the point, either.  She did not care who saw her.  The point was it was fun, and she was feeling rather playful.

             That may be why she swam right to the shore in her mermaid form and let the dolphins crowd her out of the water.  The beach was filled with vacationers by then along with all the locals who served and preyed on the vacationers.  There was a collective noise when Amphitrite’s tail vanished and she stood up on her own two feet.  Every eye on the beach was on her, and rightly so.  She was beyond beautiful, as all goddesses are, and she glowed just a little, as all goddesses should. 

            To be honest, there were two sets of eyes that did not see any of what happened.  They belonged to the two policemen who were trying to get a passport from Alice and Pumpkin, who naturally had reverted to her big form so as not to attract attention.  They were also wondering why a United States marine in combat fatigues was lounging in the sand.  Josh and Wilson, who saw the policemen coming, had gone into hiding by the food stand.  When Amphitrite came up to the group, she smiled for the one policeman before she turned to the other.

            “Excuse me.  Perhaps I can help straighten this all out.”

            The eyes of the man she smiled at got very big and he quietly breathed one of her many names.  He did not dare to say it too loud.  “Calypso.”

            Amphitrite frowned.  Presently she thought that name made her sound like a left over Disney character.

            “One minute, missy.  I need some answers first.”

            “Oh, Great Lady, I am so glad you are here.”  Pumpkin was hiding behind Sergeant Thomas’ big shoulders.

            “You need to call your government or home office or whatever you have.  We were all cleared at the airport on special visas.”  Alice the lawyer argued.

            “Alice, dear.  Do you mind if I have a turn?”

            “What?”  Alice paused and squinted before she spoke.  “Be my guest.”

            ”Pumpkin, you can get little if you promise to stay on my shoulder.”

            “But everyone is watching.”  Pumpkin was uncomfortable under the gaze of so many human eyes.

            “You can hide in my hair just like Periwinkle.”

            “May I?  Oh, yes Great Lady.  Thank you Great Lady.”  And without another thought, Pumpkin resumed her natural fairy form and shot straight to Amphitrite’s shoulder where she easily hid in those luxurious black locks.

            “Um.”  The policeman articulated.

            “Josh and Wilson!”  Amphitrite called and the two appeared like the fairy had once appeared.  Wilson stood like a statue and stared.  Josh made a circle where he stood as he tried to figure out what just happened.

            “Um.”

            “Just a minute.”  Amphitrite spoke in her girlish best while she wiggled her finger toward the sea.  A three year old was getting too close to the waves, unobserved.  The boy left the ground and floated safely back to his mother’s arms before Amphitrite turned to the policemen.  “Now, I understand there is a problem here?”  She smiled and at least one of the officers looked like he was going to faint from this vision of loveliness.

             The other officer shook his head, vigorously.

            “Well, good.  If that is all cleared up, we need to go.”  With that word they vanished from the beach and reappeared in the tight quarters of the Kargill cockpit.  Pumpkin screamed.

            “Now, Miss Pumpkin.  It hasn’t been that long since we have seen each other.”

            “Sorry, good Mister Smith,” Pumpkin said.  “I thought you were an ogre.”

            “She says that every time.”  Mister Smith assured everyone.  They were all staring at him with uncertain eyes, Alice in particular.  Amphitrite felt it best to proceed immediately with the introductions, and by the time she was finished, she could see that Mister Smith had won them over.  A Zalanid, it was said, could sell a drowning man a glass of water or a mother her own baby.  Fortunately for the universe, the Zalanid turned their talents toward negotiating peace and harmony in the universe.

            “Pumpkin.”

            “Yes Great Lady.

            “Have you had a good visit?”

            “Oh, yes.  I’ve made lots of new friends.”

            “But I think Moira may be missing you, don’t you think?”

            “Oh, I hope not.  That would not be good.”

            “I think you should go and see, don’t you?”

            “Yes.  Oh, but—“

            “Be good, Pumpkin dear.”  It was hard to say exactly how, but somehow the goddess managed a kiss on that little fairy cheek.  “Say good-bye for now.”

            “Good-bye for now.”  Pumpkin intoned the words exactly like the goddess, and then she vanished.  Amphitrite also vanished and Glen returned to sigh in Amphitrite’s place.  Everyone looked at him.  “It was too crowded in here.”

            “But she was so little.”  Wilson said it.

            “Yes, but I was afraid she would start touching things.  By the way, don’t touch anything until I tell you.”

            Mister Smith laughed quietly so Glen had to ask what he was laughing about.

            “With you, it is always a circus.”

            Glen felt that sounded about right.