WELCOME TO WONDERLAND A Written Creative Work submitted to the faculty of San Francisco State University In partial fulfillment of AS the requirements for ✓ the Degree X o \\ Master of Fine Arts In V*2 Creative Writing by Lenisha Brown San Francisco, California January 2017 Copyright by Lenisha Brown 2017 145 Like most bars Mythique was quiet during the day. Only the milky eyed bartender was in attendance this afternoon, compulsively washing circles in the already spotless surface of the bar. He jerked upright when they walked in as though pulled by some invisible strings, and turned his head stiffly in their direction. “Drink?” he inquired, when they hesitated, his voice somewhere between a croak and a moan. “Um.. .no.” Alice replied, still creeped out by the zombie bartender even after all this time “We’re here to see Z” The creature pointed a skeletal finger towards a door at the end of the bar that Elijah was certain hadn’t been there when they walked in. Alice, past being surprised by spontaneously appearing doors, nodded her thanks and entered. The room beyond the door was nothing Alice had seen before. It was a dark, cavernous thing, lit only by flames that burst forth from a pit in the center of the room. The figure on the other side was cast in shadows, but for her scarred face, which seemed to twist into in grotesque shapes in the light. After a moment Alice recognized the face, and her initial fear was overcome by concern for her friend and mentor. “Z” she cried stepping forward, arms outstretched. The face behind the fire smiled, and for a moment she was once again the charming older woman that Alice had come to know. “Come child” Z’s voice called, and Alice stepped forward without thought, only realizing she’d somehow crossed the pit of fire after Z turned her around to face it and Elijah, still standing on the other side. 146 “Now winged one” Z spoke, her voice seeming to come from the fire itself “you will introduce yourself and state your purpose or you will not leave this room” Elijah’s serene facade was entirely gone, his face reflecting a slowly dawning horror, gaze fixed over Alice’s shoulder. Alice stood frozen in front of Z, somehow sensing that whatever form she’d taken to scare the angel, was not one she meant for Alice to see. A name flitted through her mind, one the boys had mentioned before, Erzulie Dantor, the bringer of justice. Alice let out a slow breath, and tried to look confident instead of terrified that she’d somehow ended up emissary to such a powerful being. Elijah meanwhile had obviously decided to error on the side of supplication. The angel had fallen to his knees and bowed his head low before replying. “I am Elijah, my lady.” He replied, his tone respectful. “Elijah?” Erzulie repeated slowly, sounding less than pleased “In some stories Elijah is the harbinger of the end days” The angel’s face registered alarm. “No my lady” he said quickly “I mean no harm to you and yours.” “Meaning harm and doing harm are often very different things, winged one.” Elijah glanced up from the floor, his eyes meeting Alice’s across the fire. His image seemed to shimmer and shift before her eyes like a mirage, but his gaze was clearly pleading. 147 “I- he- seemed perfectly nice to me” Alice piped in, a bit afraid of what would happen to the creature if she didn’t. After all she’d brought him here, she’d feel terrible if she’d brought him to his death. Tinkling laughter sounded in her head, both amused and exasperated. “Ah, Alice” the voice, Z’s voice, said “You’ve a soft heart, ma cher.” “Well he did” she whispered. “My emissary speaks for you winged one” Z said aloud “You are in her debt. You will obey her in all things for your time here, and we will trust her good heart to keep you in line.” “Yes, my lady” Elijah said, his voice plainly relieved. “If you should hurt her...or ANYONE under my protection....” The sentence hung in the air, nearly a tangible thing, promising punishments that were equally tangible, and perhaps more unspeakable. Both Alice and Elijah accepted a drink from the putrid bartender upon leaving the room. Elijah with the air of a man who’d just seen his life flash before his eyes; and Alice with the air of someone who had just realized the gravity of her responsibility. “Where are you staying?” Alice asked, her voice hoarse after downing the fiery shot of, whatever the hell the bartender had given her. “At the convent” was Elijah’s equally gasped response. 148 “I wonder if you should stay with me” she mused “So I can.. .1 don’t know, keep an eye on you” The gaze the angel slid in her direction was decidedly shifty. “That’s not necessary.” he replied into his second drink. Alice frowned. “I insist” “So let me get this straight” Jason said, the barely past puberty sound of his voice at odds with the irony in his tone “Z turned all fire and brimstone on some creature you brought to her, and you thought it was a good idea to invite him to stay at your house?” They were sitting outside of a coffee shop on the residential side of Deactur Street. As usual, Jason had chosen one of the farthest tables from the door, one that allowed him to sit in the shadows, as the bright florescent lights inside tended to make him look less human than normal. Not that anyone would have noticed either way. Jason was by no means the only deathly pale, sunken eyed creature on this end of Decatur. It had been the hang out spot for goths and gutterpunks since before the Ann Rice days, and while the hipsters were starting to invade even this enclave of New Orleans grunge, for the moment the seedier side of the city still held sway. “I wanted to keep an eye on him” Alice replied, by way of explanation. “So what, you intend to not sleep?” the vampire replied, incredulously “What if he decides to murder you in your bed?” 149 “If you had seen how scary Z was yesterday you wouldn’t be so worried. Trust me.” she replied with a small smile “I suspect he intends to treat me like a Queen, considering what his alternative was before I spoke up.” Jason still looked dubious. “Maybe Coyote and I should stay with you too” he posited, glancing at his friend for confirmation. Coyote was far more interested in the rapidly disappearing selection of pastries that Alice had brought to the table, than he was with the conversation, though he did glance up at the sound of his name. “I think we should at least come by and check him out, don’t you think so Coyote?” Jason inquired, noticing his friend’s sudden attentiveness. Coyote frowned down as his half eaten eclair and as usual gave voice to the question that they had all been thinking. “If he’s so dangerous, why didn’t Z just ask Mercy to take care of him?” “Maybe the situation called for more a more diplomatic approach” Alice replied, trying not to feel defensive. Sure, she wasn’t some heavy hitting supernatural powerhouse that set things on fire with her mind when she was angry, but still. She thought she’d done pretty well on her first day out as lone emissary. “Besides, I really don’t think it’s that serious, guys. He’s an angel for goodness sake! How evil can he be?” This time, Coyote did look up from the plate in front of him, one dark eyebrow arched in an expression that told her the boy had been hanging out with Mercy more than 150 she and Jason had expected. “Just because he has wings, doesn’t mean he’s really an angel” the boy said, his deep rumbling voice adding gravity to the words. “Exactly” Jason piped in “Plenty of nasty things have wings too. For that matter what do you really know about angels anyway?” With a sigh, Alice gave in. “Fine. Fine.” she said, throwing her hands up in exasperation “Come on by tomorrow night and we’ll all have dinner or something” “We could have dinner now” Coyote replied eagerly. “Seriously?” Jason replied, casting a pointed look at the assorted empty dishes that littered the table “I really don’t understand why you’re not the size of a house by now” “Mercy says I have a freakishly high metabolism” Coyote responded cheerfully. “’Mercy says’” was Jason’s grumbled reply. The vampire was still not pleased that Z’s usual emissary had taken such an interest in his friend. Alice was never quite sure if it was because he begrudged sharing Coyote’s attention, or because Mercy hadn’t seemed to take to him nearly as well. Jason didn’t seem nearly as opposed to Alice’s presence, but then it was a rare thing that she saw one boy without the other; whereas Mercy had clearly taken a special interest in Coyote alone. She couldn’t really blame the vampire for his reticence. Mercy was a mysterious character at best, and they all knew he could be dangerous. Then again, the same could be said for Coyote, she supposed. It made a sort of sense that the two were so drawn to each 151 other.