When We Were Still Human by Vaughn Foster (best ereader for textbooks .txt) 📕

completely forgotten about the girl. She was being dragged out of a casino by what looked like two giant seals in suits. Castor was running after them with pleading hands but the bouncers were ignoring him.

“What do you know of dreamwalkers?” Dove asked.

“Not as rare as in the West, but not common,” Yemọja remarked. She leaned closer and stared at Avia in fascination.

“The practice is common among shamans,” Obatálá continued. “But their skill isn’t at the level of natural dreamwalkers from the Old World.”

On the screen, they had now dragged Avia outside and were throwing her ungracefully into a mountain of snow. The mound melted to slush as she lunged back towards the men. Castor grabbed her around the waist, but not before she launched a ball of fire at the closest bouncer. He ducked, but it still singed the fur on top of his head.

Castor gave another apologetic nod before throwing Avia over his shoulder and running away from the casino. There was no sound, but Val could clearly infer that Avia’s screaming probably a string of colorful profanities.

“Now that’s interesting.” Obatálá moved for the first time, stepping around the table to eye the screen at different angles. “The fire?”

“That’s what I was hoping you could help with.” Dove’s last word drifted off as he turned to look directly at Val. Her stomach dropped and she pressed her back tight against the pillar, hoping to disappear into the stone. Several seconds passed and no one came. Obatálá and Yemọja were still speaking, but there was no talk of an intruder. Then silence. Finally, daring to peek again, Val found herself alone once more in the empty hall. The room was gone.

“We’re wasting our time,” Avia grumbled. She rested a hand against one of the frozen lampposts to catch her breath. “We’ve been walking all day and haven’t seen anything the least bit suspicious. The theatre, the diner, the day care center… The security guards at that casino were rude.”

“You threatened to burn the place down when you lost at blackjack,” Paris interjected.

Avia rolled her eyes. “But I doubt we’ll find anything in the city. Whatever’s going on won’t be lying in the open.”

“Still, we can’t just stop here,” Castor spoke. Avia followed Paris’ gaze down the sidewalk and stared at each passing patron. Mother and child amaroks exiting a candy shop. An octopus-merman playing both guitar and cajón on the corner. A group of kids loudly talking about a swimming match. Avia darted her eyes from one person, to another, trying to find something out of the ordinary. But there was nothing. Everyone was happy, carefree, and content… Steam rose from her hands as she clenched her fists, infuriated they’d wasted the entire afternoon.

“Oi, es that even legal?” a high-pitched voice said.

Avia darted her eyes to the children, now huddled directly across the street. She looked up at Paris, who nodded, then proceeded to walk back down the sidewalk and cross the street. A safe distance from the group, she struck her best tourist look and pretended to stare at one of the window displays.

“I on’t know,” one of the other kids replied. Avia smirked, having hopefully found some excitement. She pulled out the map-brochure they’d picked up that morning and leaned into the conversation.

“What I do know is they pick em up far out of the country and bring them ‘ere,” a boy tried to whisper. Stealth was a forté of none of the children—a fact Avia was most grateful for.

“Jus for a show?” the girl in the trio asked.

“No, not jus a show,” the second boy answered, shaking his head. “Dad said it’s one of the reasons Ys even exists. ‘We live for it’s our lifeline.’”

Whatever the boy meant by that was left to the imagination. One of the kids pointed to the candy shop and they quickly started back the opposite direction. Avia burned the map to ash and cut across the street. They were illegally bringing people in from other countries for a show? Human trafficking? Slave festival? She couldn’t give them the benefit of the doubt because they were children. If they’d been raised around evil then even the most obscene acts would be normal.

Fire slowly spread down her arm as she closed in on the group. Twenty feet. Ten. Five. She gripped the flames in the palm of her hand, ready to strike. As she slowly pulled her hand back, a sharp pain struck her thigh. She fell to her knee.

The children stopped and turned around, confusion and concern on their faces.

“Are yeu alright, miss?” one of the kids, a boy with dark hair and freckles, asked.

It took a moment to process the thick accent. Before she could answer, a black hand fell on her shoulder and warmth pulsed through her coat.

“She’s fine,” Paris said with a bright smile. “Just tripped, that’s all. But thank you so much for your concern!”

“No problem at all,” the girl answered with an equally large grin. “Is plain yeu two aren’t from around here, so the ice walkways can be tricky at first.”

“Well, we are thankful to have three locals to help us out!”

Avia tried to stand, but another stab from Paris’ fingertips kept her down. With a deep sigh, she lifted her head and forced a small smile. “Thanks.”

The second boy laughed. He looked almost identical to the other, but with blond hair. “Yeu really are green. We soun nothing like the locals here!” He flexed his arm and his body covered in green scales. He was more reptilian than the Atlanteans, and when she glanced down, Avia noticed he had sprouted a ridged tail as well.

“Dragons,” Paris remarked, bringing a hand to her chin.

The freckled boy underwent a similar transformation, though his scales were orange. “We just arrived from the Northern Kingdom this