Rafe laughed. “Go ahead and tell them, Tess. It won’t hurt anything.”
“Well, Maia is my familiar. She possesses my Harley.”
“Familiar?” Emily asked.
“It’s like a helper for witches, sweetheart. I wouldn’t have thought Wanderers would have one,” Ashley stated.
“I just got mine a couple of nights ago. She’s marvelous.”
“And just what kind of animal is this Maia that she can drive your motorcycle?” Emily asked.
“She’s a hippogriff, something between an eagle and a horse. She’s quite beautiful. Rafe,” I said with unplanned enthusiasm. “Can I show them?”
Rafe looked concerned.
“Oh, come on. You said it wouldn’t hurt anything.”
“That was for telling them, not for freaking them out with the real thing.”
“They aren’t going to freak out. Will you?” I asked looking toward my aunts.
“I don’t freak out,” Emily stated forcefully.
“Sure you don’t, dear. What my wife means is that she won’t freak out any more than she already has,” Ashley said with a wink to me.
“Rafe, please?” I said.
“All right, but not in the driveway. I’ll move them around back, and they can see them there.”
“Great, you are so sweet,” I said, trying to butter up his ego. It didn’t usually work, but he was still a man.
“Yeah, tell me about it. Give me a minute or two and then come outside.”
Rafe finished his drink, stood up, and walked to the front door. As soon as the door shut, Aunt Emily spun to me. “Tell me the truth, Tess. Is he keeping you against your will?”
“Against my will? Aunt Emily, I wouldn’t leave Rafe if my life depended on it. Verðandi’s call has given me a mission in life that is so much more than I could ever have hoped. If you could just see what I’ve seen in the few days we’ve been together. We’ve traveled to other worlds!”
“What? Other worlds?” Emily said with a grunt.
“Yes, there are other worlds besides ours. Some are just behind a veil from us. Rafe can open a portal to these other worlds, and we just step through into them.”
“This is sounding more impossible with every statement you make. Other worlds, come on, girl, you can’t expect me to believe other worlds.”
“You don’t have to accept everything, Aunt Emily, but everything I’m saying is God’s honest truth. Come on, they should be in the back yard by now.”
“How? I didn’t hear the motorcycles,” Aunt Emily said.
I chuckled as I downed what was left of my drink. I glanced toward the bottle with thoughts of a third drink, but when I caught the glare Aunt Emily was giving me, I decided against asking for another. It wasn’t like I needed another, the first two hadn’t even kicked in. Maybe later, after Emily had seen the familiars, she’d want another drink herself.
Aunt Ashley rose and led the way to French doors that opened onto a much wider deck than the front one. Cliffs of pale stone rose at least fifty feet above the small backyard. As soon as all three of us were on the deck and Emily had pushed the doors shut behind us, I saw Rafe standing at the foot of the cliff between our rides. Both familiars had resumed their Harley forms. I guess Rafe wanted to see the expressions on my Aunts’ faces when they changed.
“It’s gotten too dark to see anything,” Aunt Emily said. “I’ll get the lights.”
“Don’t bother,” Rafe said as fairy lights winked into existence over each of our heads.
Emily let out a grunt of surprise, but Ashley laughed and applauded lightly. “Well done, Rafe. Well done.”
I stifled a laugh at Ashley’s enthusiasm over such a minor feat for Rafe.
Ashley again led the way, down the short steps to the backyard that was bare rock with a sprinkling of ornamental plants. I followed my aunts to Rafe, and we stopped a dozen feet or so back from him.
“So where are these familiars that control your motorcycles?” Emily asked.
“They’re right here. Now remember, these are our familiars and are no threat to you. Don’t freak out,” Rafe said.
Emily harrumphed loudly, but Ashley nodded eagerly.
Rafe nodded toward me, and I spoke up, “Okay, Maia, you may change back to your natural form.”
“As you wish,” Maia said.
I saw Aunt Emily flinch, but she made no other move as she tried to identify where the voice had come from.
A moment passed and then my Harley shifted forms. It elongated, grew great, feathered wings, and then stood erect on four horse-like limbs. Its single headlight morphed into two bright yellow eyes set deeply in the head of an eagle whose beak looked powerful enough to snap off a human’s arm.
“Wow!” Ashley said.
“Holy crap! What is that thing?” Emily asked.
“I am a hippogriff, not a thing,” Maia said with a toss of her head that stood her feathers out.
“You ride that thing, ah, sorry, hippogriff?” Emily asked.
“Boy, do I. She flies effortlessly with me on her back. It’s amazing. Hey, if you want, she’ll give you a ride. Won’t you, Maia?” I said.
“If that is your desire,” Maia responded.
“Perhaps another time,” Emily said.
“I think a ride would be fabulous,” Ashley replied.
“You can both go. One of you can ride Beast,” I offered.
This time, the harrumph came from Beast.
“Be nice, Beast. These are my Aunts,” I said.
“If Rafe orders, I will grant the ride,” Beast said with his usual growl.
“Don’t mind him, he just sounds grumpy. He’s actually a sweetheart,” I said.
The rumbling in Beast’s throat vibrated deep in my chest.
“Be nice, Beast,” Rafe ordered. “And don’t scare the ladies.”
“He doesn’t sound anything like, Maia,” Ashley observed.
“That’s because I am nothing like her,” Beast agreed.
“Okay, Beast, you may change,” Rafe said.
Rafe’s 1965 Harley began to morph, growing four massive legs that ended in claws that could rend steel as well as flesh. Its tail elongated, and spikes appeared on the last foot or so of it. Its body grew in size, if not mass, and then its great black mane appeared behind a head twice the size of mine. Its nearly
