Oberon Rising

"Done what?" The young girl's groggy voice asked as she got up from her make-shift bed, rubbing her eyes and discovering the pink, glitter-like sparkles around her eyes. "What the..." She stared at the rubbed off sparkles. "Pixie dust?" James would've laughed at the irony if his encounter wasn't so "personal."

"Here, let me get that off." He took one of the unsoiled ends of the blanket and dabbed her face.

"You're not from around here, are you?"

"Well you were the one who summoned me; I figured you would know who I was."

"Not a clue. I'm just surprised that you didn't run off to burn that blanket and scrub the infected areas with sandpaper after touching me."

"You know, not all of us hate your kind."

"I guess. It's just a little hard to believe these days." She pushed aside the angst from a bad memory that popped into her head. "The name's Angie."

"Jay Gatsby." He held out his hand for her to shake. Hopefully it would be enough to gain her trust. After a few eternity-long seconds, she accepted. It was a decent start. "You might have heard of me." Angie just stared at him. "The Great Gatsby." Still no response. "You couldn't read an issue of the New York Times without hearing about me...oh, never mind."

"Then you have long walk ahead of you." She chuckled. "You're in Georgia territory now."

"I see. Before I ask this, do you promise not to collapse or vanish on me?"

"I got nothing better to do."

"Who's Oberon?" Angie's eyes rolled to the back of her head as she fell side-first onto the bed. "Very funny."

"I don't know much; he's just some Loa that started to appearing to me."

"Loa?"

"A spirit. At first he'd make some brief visits in my head while some Loa was riding me, but I guess he over came his shyness or something and got more bold." She hoisted herself up from the bed and made her way to the cramped, dingy bathroom. "Excuse me, I got to change. Don't worry, I can do two things at once." She pulled out a dark forest green dress from a burlap bag sitting on the sink and then shut the door. "He said he knew how to make things better. Of corse I thought he was full it, but then he started saying how sorry he was about what happened to my family and..." Even with the door closed, James could tell that a sore spot was hit. "I caved in. I miss them to death, Jay, and those fucks took them away from me."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Thanks." She smiled. "There's some pretty sick forces out there that controlling everything so I agreed to let him ride me and summon his champion."

"And that's where I come in."

"Yep." She swung open the bathroom door in a dramatic pose. "Ta-da!" Like an young child with a new outfit, Angie proudly displayed a black dress jacket with the a cheetah pattern along the cuffs and the hemline with a matching derby.

"You look wonderful."

"Really? I just got it last week." She touched one of the cheetah cuffs. "I couldn't resist getting it. I just love animal patterns and...I shouldn't be gushing like this."

"Go ahead. You're still young, you shouldn't have all of this on your shoulders. Besides, it's a lot less gaudy than this thing." He held up one of the sleeves of his white outfit.

"Just say you're a priest; that'll them shut up." She turned to him. "Say, I didn't turn into anything when I summoned you did I?" It was James' turn to shake his head. "It usually happens when I let a really strong Loa ride me." She went back to the sink, stuffed her ceremonial rags back into the bag, and tossed it over her shoulder. "So fearless leader, did Oberon give you any clues on what to do next?"

"No." Angie's face began to show signs of disappointment. "I got to get back to New York; God knows what state my business was been in since I've been gone. If I run fast enough, I can probably get back in time before it gets too run-down and still have enough time to show you around if you want to come."

Her eyes beamed like the Star of Bethlehem as she grabbed James' right arm and nearly dragged him out the front door. "Come on, let's go."