Love and Other Crisis | Season 1

Episode | 5

Kaliope hurried off the elevator behind Inola. "I'm sorry, did you say Occult Division?" The other woman nodded, confirming Kaliope hadn't misheard her. "You don't mean occult as in..."

Inola's eyes sparkled. "Magic."

The elevator dinged, and a man stepped out. With him floated a mail trolley stacked with various parcels and envelopes. As he navigated the cubicles, he called the name marked on each package. With a flick of his hand, the items floated off to their respective recipients.

Other oddities emerged as Kaliope surveyed the office slack-jawed. Papers stacked themselves from the printers stationed to one side of the office and levitated toward whoever printed them. The television she'd thought they suspended from the ceiling simply hung without any visible support in mid-air.

"How's—"

A melodic voice spoke over the PA system. "Caution. Portal opening in three, two, one."

"Portal opening?"

Inola gestured toward the elevator. Light glowed from the sides of the door in a quick flash. Then it dinged. Bickering filtered out before two men emerged.

"What in the world..."

The first man who appeared was stocky with a sandy complexion, a muscular body, and broad shoulders. His thick wiry black hair was braided down his back, his bushy waist-length beard accentuated with colored beads. Dark goggle-like glasses covered his eyes, and he wore a khaki jumpsuit and utility boots. Kaliope's mind did a double take at his twitching whiskers before she moved on to the man's companion.

The second man, who ducked from inside the elevator because of his ridiculous height, rose at least five feet higher than the first. His bald head gleamed in the office lights, his skin the shade of golden oak. He wore no glasses, and his eyes were stunning, reminding Kaliope of sunsets. He was barefoot and wore a baggy tracksuit Kaliope never would have guessed came in his size. His impossibly long arms extended almost to his knees.

Both spoke a guttural foreign language. A woman approached and ushered the two away into a room off the main office space.

Kaliope reached into her toolkit of magical knowledge from all the fictional books and shows she'd ever watched. "Is that a dwarf and a giant?"

"No. They're Chimeri. They're craftsmen and miners. For obvious reasons, Chimerans don't all blend in with humans, so most live in The Seam." Inola answered Kaliope's puzzled expression, explaining The Seam was a gap between space and time. Another dimension. Those who lived there traveled back and forth using portals like the one integrated into Sage's elevator system.

Kaliope struggled to keep up with all the information. Inola's revelations clashed with all she understood about her world. Magic? Other dimensions?

"My Chimeran is rusty, but it seems those two are arguing over a mineral mine?" Inola scrunched up her face thoughtfully. "Deposit?" She fanned off her confusion. "Whatever it is, they're always fighting over something."

Kaliope blinked slowly. "Ah. Right. Chimerans having a land dispute."

Inola chuckled, amused at her expense. "Welcome to the other side of the Veil."

"The Veil?"

"Mhm." Inola approached the glass wall, giving them a view of the city below. "The world has two sides. The human side, or the Noccult, and the world of magic and wonders we call the Occult. They used to coincide before humans ran amok of things. The Veil protects the Occult from the Noccult because some humans are rabid little creatures." She hastened to add, "No offense. You seem tame enough."

"Um. Thank you?" None of what the woman said made any sense. Still, the floating cart and stationary, the bickering Chimerans—they brokered a few questions. "So, what exactly do you guys do here?"

They walked between the cubicles as Inola filled her in. "The CMT Occult Division handles magic-related cases. Anything that might lead to discovery by the Noccult. Like the Chimerans." She gestured toward the two men sitting in solemn silence as the woman who escorted them mediated their argument. "If they fight over the mine, they might trigger earthquakes and landslides. Wars between the tunnelers have sunken entire cities before."

Whoa.

Kaliope's brain fought against the fantastical notion of everything Inola said. Everything she witnessed herself. Either she believed magic was real, or she'd died from an overdose of chunky monkey ice cream, and this was a trippy ride into the afterlife. "Alright. Say, I believe you. If the two worlds coexisted, why aren't there any records? Chimeran wars weren't part of my history syllabus. I mean, people would notice the disappearance of entire cities."

"We erased ourselves."

Kaliope laughed at Inola's matter-of-fact response. "Okay, I'm willing to believe something supernatural is happening here, but erasing the memories of billions is a stretch."

"Everything's connected to the Veil. With the master key, anything's possible." Inola faced her. "When you signed the NDA," she held up the folder she carried, "did you feel anything strange?"

Kaliope ran her fingers along her skin. "There was a tingle."

"That was the magic moving between you and the Veil to bind you into the contract. Most humans will never know the connection exists. When we bring your kind behind the Veil, the NDA prevents you from revealing our secrets."

Kaliope's stomach twisted into knots. "Prevents us, how?"

Inola offered a bemused smile. "It's perfectly harmless. I promise." She grabbed Kaliope by the wrist. "I'll show you our office."

Kaliope allowed herself to be drawn until they reached the opening of a corridor with a frosted glass door at the end. She stopped, and Inola pulled up short. Her tour of Sage Tower wasn't what she expected, and she struggled to process the new truths. Kaliope regarded the woman who might not be a human. "What are you, exactly?"

Inola leaned in, and her round pupils slanted. Kaliope yelped and stepped back, drawing attention from a few workers nearby.

"I'm a fox demon."

"A de—"

Inola's transformation into a fox with three tails tipped the scales in Kaliope's mind. The small four-legged mammal, with its slender body covered in reddish-brown fur, pointy muzzle, and fluffy white-tipped tails, gazed up at her with large jade-gray eyes. Heavy on the green.

No. No. No. No. No. This woman didn't just...

Kaliope spun for the elevator. Inola, the woman version in her smart black and white suit, blocked her path the second she turned to leave.

The fox demon pouted. "Are you running away?"

"Yes." Kaliope nodded, resolute. "Yes, I am." With whatever shred of sanity she had left. Magic. Demons. Hidden dimensions. Chimeran wars sinking cities. There was a limit to the flexibility of her imagination. She skirted around Inola for the elevator.

"Why don't we make a deal."

Kaliope's retreat halted despite her certainty the...fox demon could offer her nothing that would make her current situation any less weird. She turned with a polite smile to decline and thank the woman for her time.

"Complete the tour, consider our offer, and I'll erase all traces of the video. It'll be like it never existed." Inola gave her a fox-like smile. "The only evidence that bastard will ever have that it happened will be the bruise on his family jewels. Deal?"

Kaliope's misgivings parted momentarily as she returned the fox demon's smile. "Please, lead the way."

~~~

When an offer's too good to turn down...Kaliope makes a deal with a demon to erase her little indiscretion, but is she biting off more than she can chew?

To read the entire first season, along with Seasons 2 and 3, join me on Ream. The link's in my bio on the home page. Hope to see you there.