Fifteen More

Gribbles reluctantly passed the half eaten box of chocolates over to Herod, who tipped the lot face down into the dirt.

Why did he have to go and spoil everything? It was beyond the comprehension of even the worst of the Demons.

"You know that they say misery loves company?" he drily asked.

"Yes."

"Well, he doesn't - so get out of here and don't come back until you’re invited!"

"But I live here Great One."

"Not anymore" Herod was displeased that Gribbles showed weakness at every turn and he suspected criticism being thought whenever he did or said something - this he found to be a constant aggravant.

"I shan't come back" the young Demon threatened, taking up his backpack with a sneer.

"If you do come back we will eat you - and that's a promise." Herod slammed his fist firmly onto the steel table - the one that was used for both meats and dissection.

Mark Forsythe came in just as Gribbles was leaving. He had his usual business with Herod, and as ever, turned up unannounced.

"Your son seemed largely upset" he commented, as Herod got up to offer him the executive chair.

"Just disowned him fer good" he grunted.

"Only son?"

"No, there's fifteen more."

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Romance between Worlds

"Move in with me please" Marley asked Puck, hugging him tight as he was preparing to go. "I want us to live together like a family."

"Gladly" he said with unreserved truthfulness, genuinely happy. "Or you and Charley can come live with me - it's a bit bigger where I'm staying."

"What if I forget us again? What if I can't see you next time, what if I can't see you tonight or tomorrow? Oh Puck, I have this most awful feeling..."

"Well" he stopped and thought for a moment, taking her concern very seriously. "I'll promise to never make you want to forget anything between us, and if you are agreeable, if I have to, I can record some video to show you - like on that movie with all the first dates" he laughed, he loved making a reference to something current in the world. "But honestly Marley I don't think we will need anything like that after what has been said between us today. We can make it work. Our minds are one now."

"And hearts," she said, following him to the door to give him one last kiss before he left.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Marble Dust

Puck stood back up and swept his hand in the air - the tiny fragments of shining glass drew up from the floor and reformed into one large clear marble that he handed over to Charley to play with. Some of the truth particles must have caught inside also because it was shimmering blue as she turned it side to side.

"What if she swallows it?" Marley said with a motherly worriedness.

"It’s too big to swallow and she plays with marbles all the time, much smaller...”

"Plays with marbles? When has she played with marbles?"

Puck wanted to stop the conversation there but the moth dust prevailed.

"When she comes over to my house", he said quietly.

"When she does what?" Marley asked. This took a bit of explaining and the three sat on the bed together talking then until lunch time with the occasional interjection from the rabbit, who had his own list of memorandum to be heard - including the incident when Charley had pulled one of his ears off. He wanted it stitched back on.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Together Again

The contents of the hourglass had brought Marley's clairvoyance back into being. It was as though earthly cataracts had lifted and the otherworld had become very obvious again. The room seemed to blaze with light.

Puck had appeared very manly to her standing there when he first arrived. He had come in such a hurry that he was still dressed in his gardening gear- strong leathers, a linen shirt that was woven through with a metallic thread, his long farmer's coat, that looked as though it belonged on a squire several centuries before, except for the scrawling artwork tattooed onto the leather. Tall, strong, tanned and muscular - his meditations had been working wonders these days.

"I never left you Marley. You might not have seen me, but I have been around." he then added, "on the few times you have known me, you forgot me just hours later". His jaw tightened slightly as he said this, but a minute later he could not help smiling as he now sat with her. He was remembering back to when Charlene was conceived, and how generously Marley had received him into her.

Marley thought Puck looked doubly attractive when he would look at her like that. His stare was intimate. It saw into her being, and touched her. Once they had locked eyes for minutes at a time, and she knew, just for a while, what it was like to be him. He was amazing.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Arubi Truth Dust

Marley could not help but call out, as one does when a small surprising mishap occurs. 

She in turn startled Charlene, who reacted as any small child would when feeling as though they've done something wrong - she started to wail.

Puck wasted no time in arriving to see what had happened with his girls.

He gave Marley another fright by appearing instantly in their room and this brought one more expletive followed by a loud cry from Charlene.

Marley hurried over to her daughter to give her a cuddle, but her foot caught up some of the glass from the rug - she yelped and fell on the bed beside Charlene having a splinter pierce sharply her heel.

Small blue clouds of the Arubi truth dust were now circulating the room.

They started to laugh, all at once.

"Puck, I've missed you so much. Where have you been?" Marley said warmly, as he joined them, kneeling down and putting an arm around each. With one light touch to her foot Puck had removed the shard, healing it perfectly for her.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Blue "Balloon"

"Balloon?" came a voice from behind the door - it was her mother coming to get her for breakfast.

"Where's the balloon Charley?" she asked in her cheery good morning voice.

"Bloon" burst out Charley, very pleased to share her treasure with her Mumma. She held it out proudly to her in both hands.

"Oh Charley" she said gently taking the glass from her ... "wherever did you get this from?"

And as she reached to take it Charley pulled it back unexpectedly, having decided to keep hold of it herself, but instead it fell hitting the wall, and as it dropped, it shattered into a hundred tiny pieces on the rug.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Vanilla with Sprinkles

Little Charlene discovered very early that if she closed her eyes tightly and pictured something in her mind, it would often as not appear there and then, before her in real life. This had first occurred one day when she had wanted some ice-cream and wishing with a picture, a bowl had appeared exactly as imagined with sprinkles on vanilla.

Marley was not awake yet and the toddler was bored - she wanted something new to play with. Thinking of the shiny hourglass that sat on her father's desk back in his house, in less than a minute she was holding it in her small chubby grasp.

Delighted at the way the blue dust fell down the fine tapered neck, Charley was mesmerized to watch it drizzle into the bulb at the other end. The glass glittered and the colour inside was so pretty.

"Bloon" she said, turning if over and over and peering inside.

"Ba-loon" the rabbit beside her corrected.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series