Hurricane #45: The Return (Patreon)

You float down the river, sunshine on your face, a gentle breeze, the scent of sweet lavender—

Serrano sat up woozily, trying to get her bearings. Sunshine, check. Gentle breeze, check. Lavender? Garden? Well, she was on grass.

This was the courtyard at Mensura College where she’d first transformed into a taur. She was her normal old biped self, though, and it felt strangely off-putting. Somehow, she was back in jeans and a T-shirt, too. If she’d just fallen asleep and dreamt this whole adventure, she was going to find the god of dreams and punch him right in his fucking—

“Welcome back, Stormbringer.”

She looked up, startled. Cormac, Sarah’s brother, stood there, dressed just as medievally as he had been the last time she’d seen him, back at his “mere” six and a half feet size.

“Uh. Thank you. How’d I get here?”

He crouched by her. “Through the grace of the Queen.”

Serrano rubbed her face. “I’m pretty sure Ulohne was the one who took my hand, not Anu. Does that mean they’re back on speaking terms?”

“I cannot say. The Queen appreciates everything you have done, though, Lady Serrano, as do I.” He cleared his throat. “I am given to understand ‘Goddess Serrano’ may be a more appropriate title.”

“Frankly, Cormac, I’m not sure what the hell I am now, besides an exhausted coyote lady. Please just stick with Serrano.”

“As you wish.”

“But about the Queen and appreciation.” She lifted her ears. “Does that mean Sarah…?”

He rose and offered her his hand. “She is restored, and has faced judgment.”

That made her ears drop again as she stood up with him. “Judgment for what?”

“Failing to perform her duties.”

She narrowed her eyes, but an edge to his tone kept her from picking a fight over what absolute bullshit that was. “You think that’s absolute bullshit, too, don’t you?”

“I was not invited to weigh in on the topic,” he said curtly. “But I am given to understand your friends are waiting for us at the campus’s clinic.”

“The clinic?” She lifted her eyebrows. “What’s wrong?”

“May we teleport there?”

“Be my guest.”

The world spun briefly, and when solid ground returned, they stood on the floor/countertop that she’d visited Sarah on. Professor Irsaw and Dr. Garcia stood by the same bed; Mrs. Webb looked down from above. She and Cormac glanced at one another, and headed over.

“Miss Layotl!” Abruptly Irsaw lifted her off her paws in a hug. “Congratulations on saving the world! Worlds, even!”

“Oof. Thanks. Uh, what’s going on?”

“Truth to tell, we were hoping you might have more of an idea. Earlier this morning, a student reported finding an unconscious, quote, ‘alien being’ on campus.” He motioned her over. “Thanks to our adventures with you, we recognize her as a human.”

“Human!” Cormac said, narrowing his eyes.

“But she doesn’t look like one who worked for Mr. Sark,” Mrs. Webb added quickly. “And I’m glad to see you safe, Serrano.”

“Thanks. I’m glad to see…” She stopped short, looking down at the bed. “Oh, no. That’s Courtney.”

Cormac looked taken aback. “You know her?”

“Yeah, she helped me a lot there. How’d she get here? The goddess said she would protect her, but…”

Webb lifted her brows. “You spoke to Ulohne?”

“Yes, but I meant the other goddess. One of the other goddesses. It’s complicated.”

“It sounds like it.”

She grinned wryly. “Wait ’til I get to how I was all the goddesses at once. Kind of.” She walked to Courtney’s side and put a hand on the human’s shoulder. She was dressed in a hospital gown now, and looked decidedly bedraggled, bruises visible on her arm. “How is she doing?”

Courtney flinched and let out a pained whimper. She didn’t open her eyes. Serrano lifted her hand warily.

Dr. Garcia frowned. “She nearly drowned. Coupling the soggy state she was found in with the bruising, I suspect she was caught in a flash flood.”

Serrano’s ears folded back. She didn’t need to look around to know everyone was staring at her.

“But,” the ferret continued, “these…‘humans’ seem to be put together the same way we are, so she should be fine. Actually, she’s quite lucky—she’ll have a few sprains, but nothing’s broken or fractured. She just needs rest and recovery.”

Courtney frowned as the doctor spoke, as if the language about “humans” was filtering in, and cracked open one eye. She looked at the coyote, and opened both eyes fully, expression growing confused. “S-Serrano?” She turned her head, seeing Garcia and Irsaw, and her eyes widened.

“Courtney. How…uh…how are you—”

“What the hell is going on?” she whispered. With a painful grunt, she pushed herself into a sitting position, looking at her hospital ground, then at Serrano with a more panicked expression. “Where the hell—”

She stopped at something, then looked straight up. Her eyes got even wider.

Serrano followed her gaze to Webb’s face. Oh, boy.

The giant mouse woman cleared her throat, readjusting her glasses. “Hello,” she said cautiously.

Courtney made a voiceless scream and fell back on the bed, starting to hyperventilate.

“Easy.” Serrano put a hand on her shoulder. “I told you about this place, remember?”

She turned to face the coyote, eyes still wide and now a little wild. “I didn’t ask to be here!” she shrieked. “Why the hell did you bring me here!”

“I didn’t! I think your world’s storm goddess sent you here when I asked her to protect you. Your city is, uh, kind of, you know, it took a lot of storm damage.”

“That wasn’t a nightmare? You fucking destroyed my city?” Groaning, Courtney rubbed her forehead. “God, everything hurts.”

Serrano’s ears had folded back completely. “I didn’t—I mean—”

Irsaw leaned over, speaking in reassuringly quiet tones. “I can’t imagine what a shock this all is for you, Miss…should I just call you Courtney? But you need to keep resting. We can discuss next steps tomorrow, when you’re feeling better.”

“Courtney.” Serrano cleared her throat. “I’m—look, I was just trying to make sure you were safe, okay?”

“Safe from the damage you caused. Because I helped you.”

“That’s not—”

“You heard the hyena person. Let me rest.” Courtney rolled over onto her side, facing away from Serrano.

“Yeah.” Serrano turned, ears still down, and strode back toward the exit as fast as she could go without running, ignoring Irsaw plaintively calling her name. She didn’t stop striding until she was down the stairs, through the hallway and back outside.

The “little” front entrance, lawn, and sidewalk all sat about two stories higher here than the giant-sized path leading to the entrance. She dropped onto a bench at the edge of that path, not far from a matching giant-sized bench, and looked up accusingly at the sky. “Three Lords, what the fuck were you thinking?” She didn’t get an answer, from Ulohne or any other storm goddess. She’d never quite figured out if they were all Ulohne. Hell, she’d never quite figured out if she was Ulohne.

A shadow fell over her. Mrs. Webb took a seat on the giant-sized bench and turned to the side, looking at Serrano, but didn’t say anything.

The coyote sighed, crossing her arms and looking away. After a few seconds, though, the frustration boiled over. “I did it, Julia. You know that, right? I saved our world and I saved gods know how many other worlds and I might have saved Faerie itself, and I mean…” She swallowed. “It’s not like I expected a ticker-tape parade, but ‘Hey, good job, let me at least buy you a fucking pizza’ would have been nice from somebody.”

She raised her hands, as if fending off any ripostes, even though Webb still just silently listened. “I did damage Courtney’s world in the process, especially the area around where she lived. But I know, I know, that I couldn’t have done much less damage than I did and still succeed. There weren’t any tidy fixes, not with that much power.” Her voice started to shake. “The really shitty thing, though, is that it would have been so easy to damage a lot more than I did. It’s not just that it would have made the work easier. It’s that the hardest part of the whole thing was holding myself back.”

Webb nodded slightly, looking away herself for a few uncomfortably silent seconds, then looked back. “I can’t say I fully understand that, Serrano, but I understand myths, and there’s a real sense in which you are—at least when you transform—a being straight out of folk tales. As you are now, though, I’m sorry your homecoming plunged you back into another difficult situation. I wish I could tell you that Courtney will come to least as much of an understanding as I have, but all we can do is give her time.”

Serrano sighed. “You think Professor Snep can send her back home when she asks?”

“If anyone can, yes. Now, come on.” She held out a hand by the coyote, palm up.

Serrano lifted her ears, and looked up at the librarian. “Are we going to Snep’s?”

“No. We’re going to the Beanstalk, and I’m buying you a fucking pizza.”

That might have been the first time she’d heard Mrs. Webb curse. Smiling despite herself, Serrano climbed onto the mouse’s hand, and then onto her shoulder when offered.

After they’d been walking a few minutes, Webb said, “Oh, I just remembered.” She pulled out her phone and started tapping on it.

“Remembered what?”

“I found music I wanted to play for you, so I’m setting it up with the Beanstalk’s jukebox system.”

“Huh.” Serrano scratched the back of her head. “The mix of medieval magic and high-tech gadgetry at this school keeps throwing me for a loop.”

“It feels natural to me.” Webb laughed. “Being a ninety-foot tall mouse is natural to me, though, so I know all perspectives are relative.”

“Yeah, I was the most exotic creature Courtney had seen before this morning, and she only saw me looking like this, not like a mile high taur.”

Webb’s eyes widened. “Literally a mile high?”

“I…” Serrano shrugged, spreading her hands. “I mean, there were thirty-story buildings not much taller than my toes at one point, so probably literally, yeah.” She paused and half-grinned. “It won’t make you feel more comfortable if I say I’m pretty sure I could have gotten way bigger, will it?”

“You know quite well it will not.”

They’d entered the Student Union building; it was a short walk from there until they entered the Beanstalk. “A little crowded today. Let’s find an open table.” Webb paused, looking around.

Serrano nodded, then squinted at the bar. “Wait.” She pointed.

“Hmm?” Webb looked where she was pointing, then made a surprised squeak, heading over. “Ms. Wylde?”

Sarah grunted, but didn’t look up from where she sat at the littles bar set on the large one. She had four empty pint glasses in front of her and was drinking a fifth like soda.

Webb and Serrano exchanged glances; the mouse set the coyote down on the bar without prompting.

“Sarah!”

The wolf paused, then set the glass down, turning to face Serrano and mustering a wan smile. “You did it, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I did.” She pulled Sarah into a hug. “And I’m so fucking glad to see you alive and well and…here!”

“Two out of three.” She returned the hug. “I’m glad to see you, too. I heard Cormac had left to come here, so figured you must have made it back.”

“He said the Queen was…judging you?”

“Yep.” She finished the beer, and signaled the bartender over.

“And?”

She waited until she got her next glass, then downed about half of it in one gulp. “I’ve been exiled.”

Serrano’s ears skewed.