“What do you plan on doing with the pollen?” he asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
“Don’t know yet. Maybe it could be used to cure impotence or even be a side ingredient in a poultice. I won’t know until I can experiment with it.”
“Count me out,” he said, wincing at the cramp now traveling up his left calf. “This is the second time I’ve been fucked up by the stuff. I don’t ever want to do it again.”
“The second time?” Zel already had her notebook out. “When was the first?”
“Last week. Got in a fight with a witch. She lost.”
“Does that have anything to do with the full pod? I noticed that one of them seemed swollen. Normally, when the Mandragora feeds, it drops morsels of food into those pods, but I’ve never seen one sealed shut before.” Zel scribbled frantically. “It wasn’t a standard digestion either. One morning, I saw that the pod had been absorbed by the main plant, and the colors on the bud had changed.”
“I think it transformed the witch.” Mike reached into his pocket, pulling out the necklace. “The plant was wearing this.”
“Of course. It makes sense. The Mandragora was struggling to survive and couldn’t be bothered to develop a fully mature body for incubation. Therefore, rather than completely digest its food, it used the skeletal structure of its previous prey as a base to build off of.” She was scribbling frantically with her pencil. “Amazing. The plant is already capable of low-level human intelligence, which means, in some respects, the part of the Mandragora that left is both human and plant!”
“Yeah, well…” Mike’s stomach rumbled. “I need to get back home. I’m starving.”
“Nonsense. I made plenty for both of us.” Zel closed her journal, clapping her hands together. “Afterward, I can walk you home!”
“I’m not in much condition for walking,” he informed her. “Last time this happened, it took me forever just to get back to the cliffs, and that was after a full night of sleep. I’m actually wondering if I can talk you into making the trip for me. I know someone who can pick me up.”
“Oh, it really isn’t any trouble, you’ll see!” Zel stood, her blanket falling to one side. Mike’s eyes widened at the powerful legs that emerged from beneath the fabric. Four long, muscular limbs with hooves on the ends. Zel walked over to the fire and leaned over the pot to stir the soup with a stick, her horse tail flicking back and forth contently, before she poured some into a bowl.
“I should have known,” Mike muttered to himself.
The centaur smiled, handing him a bowl of food to eat.
NEW CASTLE
The drive to the storage unit took over an hour. Staring at the seemingly endless fields, Beth couldn’t fathom why Emily would insist on a storage place so far away from civilization, especially when there were several good ones within fifteen minutes of her home.
“Fries,” she said, and Lily, acting as her copilot, held up the small red fry cup like an offering to the gods. Beth grabbed a few, stuffing them in her mouth carefully to avoid smearing her lipstick. They had grabbed a bite to eat at the edge of town on Lily’s insistence. Beth had almost told her no, but the gnawing feeling in her gut had kept her mouth shut.
“Are you sure you don’t want any ketchup? Fry sauce? Anything?” Lily held up an open container.
“Rookie move. You don’t want to drip sauce on your blouse. It makes you look unprofessional, and then people stare at your breasts all day, which can be distracting to everyone involved.”
“I think I would rather pack an extra shirt than go without fry sauce.” Lily stuck a pair of fries in the tub and pulled out a large glob of the pink stuff, sticking her tongue out to catch it before it fell.
“You sound like you damn near worship the stuff,” Beth said, grabbing a few more fries.
“It’s a bit awkward to talk about, but my last boyfriend didn’t let me eat what I wanted.” Lily hooked some more sauce on a thicker fry before wrapping her tongue around the crisp potato skin and pulling it into her mouth. “It was a pretty bad relationship. He was a huge dick, very controlling.”
“How long ago was this?” Beth asked.
“Long enough for me to be in a new relationship. Seriously, do you want any of this?” Lily held up an unopened fry sauce packet.
“Knock yourself out.” Beth watched Lily hook her fingers into the current tin of fry sauce before licking her skin clean. There was something dirty about the way she did it, her tongue making slow, long licks along her digits. It was a terrible thought, but Beth briefly wondered how many dicks Lily had had in her mouth.
“A hundred and forty-six,” Lily said.
Beth stared straight ahead, trying not to crack a smile.
Several moments passed in silence, and Lily pointed to the side of the road. “Exit one forty-six. You’re about to miss it!”
“Oh.” Beth swerved her car, jumping across two lanes, someone honking at her in protest. They came to the end of the long exit road, waiting at a red light to turn left. “Is the new relationship good, then?”
“We’re still in the beginning stage. You know, figuring each other out. Seems like he might actually be a good guy, but I guess I’m a little afraid that I could be wrong. I would hate to get my hopes up only to get burned. Wow.” Lily’s eyes settled on the vast expanse of land before them. “Why would anybody want a storage unit in the middle of nowhere?”
“There’s an agricultural town down the road a way. The storage
