Shamrock Samurai

9 | ROB SWELLFELLOW

The engine fired to life, and I slammed the door on the monster but not before it ripped away, tearing through my jacket and drawing blood. I cried out in pain as I peeled out of the parking lot, my tires answering the cry of the bird.

Even though we were putting distance between the monster and the Mustang, my senses alerted me that something supernatural was close by. "Can you see it?" I asked the little man.

He looked out the rear window. "Nah," he said. "It's flying West, the opposite direction."

"You okay?" I said to the little man I'd rescued.

"I am now, that's for sure," said the man. He had a funny accent. He held out his hand.

"Sean O'Farrell," I said, giving him a firm shake.

"Rob Swellfellow VII." His hand was notably small, almost tiny. Auburn hair peeked out from under his cap and fell over the collar of his thick wool coat. He gave me a wide grin. "My friends call me Rob the Hob."

His eyes darted to my shoulder, and he became very serious. "Oh no. You're hurt." He leaned close to me and examined my torn jacket, and the blood that was now running down my arm. "Oh this is bad."

As he examined me, I studied him. The more I gazed at him the more alien he looked. He wasn't a short person, he wasn't even human to begin with. Had I escaped one monster only to invite another into my car?

His mouth stretched across his oval head from ear to ear, like a muppet. His eyes and nose were squished together in the center of his face. He had elf-like ears whose pointy tips drooped slightly like a dog. What struck me was that he didn't smell homeless, which is to say he didn't reek of garbage or a lack of bathing. Actually he smelled pretty nice. Reminded me of an old pipe-tobacco-smoking grandpa.

I could not let my guard down because of nostalgia. My abs tightened. I reached out with my senses and sure enough the something I detected was this creature sitting in my car, with only a center console and a stick shift between us. One week of peace and these monsters gang up on me during the same stinking night? Awesome.

Again I reached into myself trying to find that secret well of power, the Luck magic but it was allusive.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to access your magic again?" asked the creature.

I didn't waste time with pleasantries. I jerked the car off to the side of the road and slammed on the brakes. Grabbing him by the collar, I pulled him close to my face. He let out a high-pitched cry.

"Try anything funny buddy and I'll blow your pointy-eared head off."

I meant to be threatening, but my demeanor completely changed when I realized that he floated in the air. On impulse I pulled my hand back and screamed. He stayed there, toppling like a NASA astronaut, and screamed too. After we both ran out of breath we kind of stared at each other, me sitting there grounded by gravity and him rotating upside down through the air above my passenger seat.

"You're floating," I said.

"You can see my ears?"

The sincerity of the question threw me off. "Well yeah. Can't everyone?"

"You can see through my Glamour. But you're just a human. That means you've been..."

"To the Otherside," I finished.

"Took a quick trip to Tir na nOg huh?

"Tear-na what?" I asked.

"The Otherside. You humans have many silly names for it. The Netherworld, the Underworld, the Otherworld, Neverland, Nevernever, Narnia. How did you end up there?"