Static Reflections: Book 1 of The Mortal Guard Series

Chapter 1 - Nick: Strange Animals

PART 1: OUR LIVES LEFT BEHIND

Chapter 1 - Nick: "Strange Animals"

A flash of green. Confused whispers. A bright light was shining on his face. He was sitting in a chair in some sort of remote cement room with smooth, polished walls. A group of three animals stood in front of him, each with black armbands on the left sleeve of their gray lab coats. The accessories each had a white shield-shaped symbol with a picture of a pink brain and the letters "MG" on either side.

The hyena felt hazy, and his head was aching. He raised his dark hand to hold it, but his other hand came up with him, followed by a clinking noise that filled his ears. Looking down revealed that he had been handcuffed. Finally, Nick gathered his words to speak. "Where am I? What is this?"

One of the animals, a stocky black and white badger, turned to face a silver fox looking directly at Nick with his arms crossed. "Should I really ask him again?" he asked with a concerned face on his muzzle.

The fox nodded. "Go ahead."

The badger looked back to Nick, their eyes meeting. "Alrighty. Let's try this again. What do you remember, Nicholas?" The third animal, a brown weasel, touched a blue pen to a small clipboard.

The light illuminating him was blinding, and he squinted his eyes against the sharp glare. "Did I get arrested for something? And can you turn off that light? I can barely see."

The other animal's eyes darted at the fox once more. "Do I have to answer that question every time, Dante?"

"Just tell him 'no' and be done with it," Dante responded. "And cease the light spell again."

The smaller animal nodded, making some sort of strange gesture with his hand as the light went out. "No, Mr. Flynn. You aren't under arrest. Can you please tell me what you remember before we brought you here?"

Nick blinked ponderously, scanning  his recent memories, immediately finding what these animals were probably looking for. But he wasn't about to give answers before getting some for himself. "Hey, woah. If you're gonna have me in handcuffs and interrogate me all menacingly, I at least want to know why you brought me here. I'm not gonna answer anything until you tell me."

"Do you know what Absalom is?" the badger asked. His mouth was like a bow that shot his words into Nick's heart, sinking it into his chest.

The hyena swallowed, feeling it hard to get the saliva down like he hadn't drunk anything in days. How long had he been out? "You know about that?!"

"We do. We brought you here because your friend Boris is in big trouble. We want to help him but to do that, we need you to tell us what you know."

The gears in Nick's mind immediately began turning rustily. Can these guys really help Boris? There's no way, right? "He's . . . I mean, I don't exactly know what he is, but I know he's possessing Boris."

The badger's face changed to one of disappointment as he looked at Dante, yet again, gesticulating wildly as he spoke. "See?! He still remembers! I've done the spell eight times, and nothing is working."

Dante stroked his chin gently, clicking his tongue. "Uh-huh . . . . Never experienced something like this before . . . ."

Nick shook his aching head, furrowing his brows. "I'm sorry, can you guys explain what's going on now?"

"Since we can't seem to erase your memory of Absalom, I might as well tell you," the silver fox began. "Your little otter friend, Boris, committed a supernatural crime because he was under the influence of possession."