Page 26 of Skulk of Foxes
‘Don’t worry,’ I said, patting his arm. ‘I know you could have rescued me too. You can do it next time.’
He rolled his eyes. ‘My ego is not that pathetic. Besides, you’re already sopping wet. Another dunk could hardly harm you.’
The bogle squinted at him. ‘I’ve heard of you, Morganus, although we’ve never met in person. I hadn’t realised that you were so … so…’ He cast around as if searching for the right word.
‘Schoolmarmish?’ I suggested.
The bogle snapped his fingers. ‘Schoolmarmish. Exactly.’
I smirked. Morgan’s green eyes flashed in my direction. This was kind of fun.
‘Let’s get to the point, shall we?’ Morgan snapped. ‘If you know what happened to Charrie, we’d like to hear it. As Maddy said, she has amnesia. She can’t remember any of it. We’re hoping more information will help us with Rubus. He’s—’
‘Your brother, yes.’ The bogle nodded. ‘The one who’s trying to bring the darned apocalypse down on our heads.’ He waved a hand up towards the now clear skies. ‘He may be succeeding.’
I grimaced. Perhaps the least said about the fire rain and the rampaging pink elephants the better.
‘My name is Sitri,’ the bogle continued. ‘If you’ll permit me, I’ll take you to Charrie’s family. They can explain everything better than I can. After all, they knew him best.’
It could have been a trap but we were already outnumbered and I knew that our Fey magic far outstripped anything even an army of bogles could throw at us. ‘Great,’ I said. ‘Sounds like a plan.’
Morgan shot me a look and I shrugged. After all, this was what we had come here for.
A couple of the younger bogles shuffled their feet, casting nervous glances up at the sky. ‘Don’t worry,’ I called out. ‘I have saved you all from further fireballs.’ Morgan coughed. I pointed at him. ‘He helped out a little bit but I did most of the work.’
‘Then,’ Sitri intoned, ‘we are even further in your debt.’ He bowed to add weight to his words, his dark curls flopping over his forehead. Morgan narrowed his eyes even further. Sitri straightened up, all his attention on me. ‘Do you know what caused such a terrible event? We’ve never seen anything like it before.’
‘Uh…’ I scratched my head. ‘It’s crazy, right?’ I fudged. Time for a sharp change in subject. ‘Tell me, what exactly is a bogle? I can tell your skin is slightly green but, with my amnesia, I’m afraid I don’t know much more about you.’
Sitri and the other bogles turned and started leading the way back towards the wood and the small housing estate on the other side of it.
‘Well,’ he said, as we walked, ‘we are indigenous to this demesne, not that the humans know it. As far as we can tell, we’ve been here as long as they have. But as our population is considerably smaller, and humans are known to be somewhat … inconsiderate of others who are different, we take considerable pains to keep our existence hidden.’
‘But you’re green.’ I didn’t want to be rude but I had to point out the obvious. Their skin wasn’t an emerald green or a deep jade but there was definitely a mossy tinge to it, which was markedly different from both Fey and humankind.
Sitri smiled. ‘As far as we can tell, we used to be more obviously viridescent.’
‘Viri what?’
‘Green.’
Ah. I nodded knowingly. Why the gasbudlikins didn’t he just say green?
As if reading my thoughts, the bogle leaned in towards me. ‘The PC brigade,’ he confided. ‘Ever since Roswell, we’ve avoided describing ourselves as green.’
‘Roswell?’ Morgan muttered. ‘I knew that was a bogle thing.’
Sitri continued as if he hadn’t spoken. I was finding it rather pleasant to be thought of as the altruistic, important one. It made a change. ‘Evolution affected us as much as the humans. Over the generations there have been changes to our genetic make up. Our skin has lightened, although there are parts, such as our scalps and sexual organs, that still maintain a more viridescent hue.’
I quirked up an eyebrow. ‘Green balls?’
The bogle didn’t take offence. ‘The greenest,’ he grinned.
‘I’m guessing no human interbreeding then.’
‘No. Anyway, we’re not biologically compatible.’
I tried to imagine how I’d feel if I pulled a bloke in a club and took him home for duvet shenanigans only to discover he possessed a bright green cock, but my mind just wouldn’t go there. Oddly, I suspected that it was because I couldn’t imagine being in bed with anyone other than Morgan rather than because a bogle’s genitals were too strange to contemplate.
