Page 93 of The Witching Hours

“It’s the perfect virgin strawberry daiquiri.” I set it down and looked at him directly. “But I think you know that. Can you read my mind?” His grin was made even more brilliant by the contrast with his darker complexion. “You have a beautiful smile, Aeskilas. Who was your orthodontist?”

Collective whispers surged so that I jumped a little, having thought the two of us were alone.

“You really are amusing for a human,” he said.

“We’re not alone, are we?”

“Alone?” he first seemed confused, then looking around said, “Oh. Show yourselves.”

Once again, the air was filled with fireworks, tiny pin pricks of light exploding and reforming.

“What are they?” My question was filled with wonder and a thousand follow up questions waiting on queue.

“They are representative of one of the species that conducts business here.”

“Here. Meaning.”

“Your world or dimension or reality. Any word you choose will be innately inadequate in its ability to describe. Because there are caps on your ability to imagine.”

“Are you aliens?”

“If you mean travelers from space. No. Like you, we are anchored to earth’s vibration. And, because we live longer, we have a greater interest in how our home is being treated.”

“Are we talking about environmental waste? Use of natural resources? Climate change?”

“All these things and more are affecting this world yousharewith others. For reasons we will never understand, you give control of your fate to the worst of you rather than the best.”

“I don’t understand.” As soon as I said it, I realized that might not be true.

“You mean politicians?”

“The humans you put in charge are often defective. What’s the word?” A rush of whispers surged. “Yes. Psychopaths. People who think the world’s bounty has been earmarked for their personal excesses.”

“I’d like to say I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I sighed. “But I do know what you’re talking about.”

“You think there’s nothing you can do.” He stopped and chuckled. “Except recycling.”

“First, I asked if you can read my mind. Second, why are you laughing about recycling?”

“Theatre.”

“Please don’t tell me that.”

“For the most part.”

“So, your purpose, or mission, or whatever it is you do here is to what? Save us from ourselves?”

With a Mona Lisa smile, he said, “I didn’t say. Nor will I. Let’s just agree to believe that there’s no cosmos without cosmic balance.”

“What you just described… Unscrupulous, avaricious rule makers and rule breakers. Do you…?”

Aeskilas stopped me before I finished the question. “He’s here.”

I heard the front door open and close followed by David saying, “Hello?”

He made it as far as the living room where he stopped and stood, mouth open. I wasn’t sure if he was more astounded by the existence of a solarium tearoom where a backyard used to be, or by the exotic look of his guest, or by the black hole in the dining room wall. What was certain was that he was frozen in disbelief.

“David,” I said. “Come join us.”