Short Story
Seattle was not what Aurelius Winterhold had expected.
Then again, he wasn’t entirely sure what he had expected.
The city rose around him in a mixture of glass, steel and old brick, its streets winding between towering buildings and steep hills before disappearing into the grey horizon. Rain hung perpetually in the air, sometimes little more than a mist and sometimes coming down with enough force to make the streets shimmer beneath the city lights.
Leo liked it.
There was something about the place.
Perhaps it was the atmosphere. Perhaps it was the sheer number of strange stories that seemed to cling to the city. Or perhaps it was simply the fact that Seattle felt like somewhere he could disappear.
For someone like Leo, that was worth a great deal.
His move from Newcastle, England, should have taken considerably longer than it had.
Planes, airports and customs would normally have been involved. Instead, thanks to a few old family connections and a favour owed by someone who technically did not exist according to any government record, the journey had been considerably shorter.
The fae had their uses.
Leo stood outside a coffee shop, watching the rain slide down the window while he finished his drink.
He had been in Seattle for only a few weeks.
Long enough to decide that he liked the city.
Long enough to discover that the coffee was considerably stronger than anything he had been drinking back home.
And long enough to fall completely in love with the Seattle Seahawks.
That part had surprised him.
The supernatural connection hadn’t.
There was something about Seattle.
Something beneath the surface.
Leo had felt it almost immediately.
He couldn’t quite explain it. The city seemed to sit at an intersection of things that weren’t supposed to intersect. Old magic. New magic. Things that had crossed oceans. Things that had never left them.
For an investigator of supernatural occurrences, it was almost impossible to ignore.
Which was why Seattle had seemed like the perfect place to start over.
For now, he was living out of hotels.
Not because he couldn’t afford somewhere permanent.
He simply hadn’t found the right place yet.
Leo had learned a long time ago that choosing a home was not something to be rushed.
The wrong building could have poor wards.
The wrong neighbourhood could have an inconvenient vampire problem.
And there was always the possibility of accidentally purchasing property directly above something ancient and murderous.
It had happened before.
He had no intention of repeating the experience.
His phone vibrated.
Leo glanced at it.
An email.
He opened it.
The message was short.
Subject: Investigation Request
A local property owner had been experiencing strange disturbances across several adjoining buildings.
Water leaks.
Unexplained noises.
Damage to the lower levels.
And, according to the email, one tenant had claimed that they could hear something moving beneath the basement floor.
Leo smiled.
Finally.
His first case in Seattle.
The buildings stood close together on a relatively quiet street.
They were nothing particularly impressive.
Old brick.
Three and four stories high.
Businesses occupying the ground floors, apartments above them.
The kind of buildings that most people would walk past without giving them a second thought.
Leo parked across the street and studied them from the pavement.
There were four buildings in total.
The owner had explained that the problems had begun in the smallest of the four before spreading into the others.
Water had appeared in the basement.
At first, it had been nothing more than a puddle.
Then came the leaks.
Pipes had been replaced.
Walls had been inspected.
Plumbers had been called.
Nothing had worked.
The water always returned.
Then the noises had started.
Leo crossed the street.
The owner was waiting for him outside.
“Mr Winterhold?”
“Leo is fine.”
The man nodded nervously.
“I’m glad you’re here.”
“Tell me what happened.”
The owner glanced towards the building.
“Water started appearing in the basement about three weeks ago. We thought it was a plumbing problem. Then we discovered there wasn’t a leak.”
“Where was the water coming from?”
“Everywhere.”
Leo raised an eyebrow.
“That’s not particularly helpful.”
“I know.”
The man sighed.
“We’ve had plumbers, engineers, even the city come out. Nobody can find anything. But every morning there’s more water.”
“And the noises?”
The man’s expression changed.
“At night.”
“What kind?”
He hesitated.
“Scratching.”
Leo waited.
“And sometimes...”
“Sometimes?”
“Something splashes.”
That was more interesting.
Leo looked back at the building.
“Show me.”
The basement smelled of damp brick and stagnant water.
Leo descended the stairs slowly.
His shoes touched the floor.
Water covered almost the entire basement.
Only a few inches deep.
For now.
He crouched beside it.
The surface was completely still.
Too still.
Leo reached into his coat and removed a small silver charm.
He held it over the water.
Nothing.
He frowned.
The charm was not reacting.
That didn’t mean there was nothing there.
It simply meant whatever he was looking for wasn’t using the kind of magic the charm detected.
Leo stood.
“Has anyone entered the water?”
“Not willingly.”
“Good.”
He walked towards the far wall.
The owner followed.
Leo stopped.
There was a section of brickwork that looked newer than the rest.
He touched it.
Cold.
Very cold.
Not normal cold.
Magic.
Leo smiled.
“How long has this wall been here?”
The owner looked confused.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s a shame.”
Leo placed his palm against it.
A thin layer of frost spread across the brick.
The owner stared.
Leo pulled his hand away.
“Interesting.”
“What is it?”
“Something has altered the structure beneath this building.”
“Something?”
Leo looked at him.
“Something.”
He turned towards the water.
Then he heard it.
A splash.
Leo’s eyes narrowed.
The water rippled.
Something had moved beneath the surface.
The owner took a step backwards.
“Did you see that?”
“Yes.”
“What was it?”
Leo removed his coat.
“I’m about to find out.”
“You’re going in there?”
“That’s generally how investigations work.”
Leo handed him his coat.
Then his shoes.
The owner stared at him.
“You can’t seriously be planning to swim through that.”
Leo glanced at the water.
“No.”
A pause.
“I’m planning to swim underneath it.”
The water was freezing.
Leo immediately regretted not wearing something more appropriate.
He pushed beneath the surface.
Darkness swallowed him.
The basement disappeared.
For several seconds, he could see nothing.
Then he whispered a single word.
" Aquira Veyra.”
Magic flowed through him.
The water around his face shifted.
A thin layer of frost formed over his skin before dissolving into the water.
His lungs filled.
Not with water.
Air.
Leo smiled.
Much better.
He pushed forward.
The basement floor had been broken open.
Beyond it was a tunnel.
Not a natural one.
A sewer.
Seattle’s underground stretched beneath the streets, a maze of concrete tunnels, pipes and forgotten spaces.
Leo swam deeper.
The water became warmer.
Then he heard something.
A scraping sound.
Leo stopped.
Ahead of him, two small eyes appeared in the darkness.
They blinked.
Leo stared back.
The creature emerged slowly.
Green skin.
Webbed hands.
A hunched body.
A mouth filled with sharp teeth.
And on top of its head was a shallow depression filled with water.
Leo’s expression softened.
“Oh.”
The creature hissed.
“A kappa.”
The creature lunged.
Leo barely moved in time.
Its claws scraped across his shoulder.
Pain flashed through him.
Leo spun and threw his hand forward.
" Cryosta.”
Ice erupted through the water.
The kappa froze mid-attack.
For several seconds, everything was silent.
Leo floated in the darkness.
Then the ice cracked.
Leo’s eyes widened.
“Of course.”
The kappa shattered the ice and charged again.
Leo pushed backwards.
He hadn’t come prepared for a fight.
That was irritating.
The creature slammed into him.
They collided against the tunnel wall.
Leo grabbed its arm.
The kappa snarled.
Its strength was considerable.
Leo gritted his teeth.
“I really don’t have time for this.”
The kappa opened its mouth.
Leo saw the rows of teeth.
Then inspiration struck.
He reached towards the creature’s head.
Ice formed around his fingers.
The kappa recoiled.
Leo caught the water from the depression in its skull.
The creature screamed.
Leo thrust his hand forward.
" Cryosta!”
The water froze.
The kappa stopped.
Its body became encased in ice.
Leo released it.
The creature floated motionless in front of him.
Leo took a breath.
Then another.
He studied it carefully.
He had no desire to kill the creature.
It wasn’t evil.
It was simply in the wrong place.
Something had drawn it here.
Or perhaps it had found the perfect place for itself.
A flooded underground network beneath a city.
Warm water.
Darkness.
Plenty of places to hide.
Leo could understand the appeal.
Unfortunately, it had also decided to turn someone’s basement into its personal pond.
That wasn’t going to work.
Leo pressed his hand against the ice.
" Exilia.”
The spell changed.
The ice surrounding the creature brightened.
A thin crack appeared in the darkness.
Then another.
The kappa disappeared.
Not dead.
Banished.
Sent back to wherever it had come from.
Leo floated there for a moment.
Then he looked around the sewer.
“Now”
He glanced towards the tunnel behind him.
"how the hell do I get back?”
The owner was waiting when Leo finally emerged.
He looked horrified.
Leo climbed from the water, dripping from head to toe.
“Problem solved.”
The man stared at him.
“What was it?”
“A kappa.”
“A what?”
“Japanese water spirit.”
The man blinked thinking Leo was mad.
Leo picked up his coat.
“It won’t be coming back.”
The owner looked towards the basement.
The water had already begun draining.
“How much do I owe you?”
Leo considered it.
Then he looked around the building.
“How much are you charging for the building?”
The owner laughed nervously.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’m completely serious.”
Three days later, Leo stood in the doorway of the same building.
He had signed the paperwork that morning.
The owner had given him a considerable discount.
Apparently, removing a supernatural creature from someone’s basement was worth more than a standard reference.
Leo carried the last of his belongings inside.
There wasn’t much.
A few clothes.
Books.
His equipment.
And a box containing several things that were better left unexplained.
He walked through the empty apartment.
It wasn’t perfect.
The kitchen was too small.
The windows were old.
The plumbing made a strange noise whenever he turned on the shower.
But there was something about the place.
Something that felt right.
Leo walked towards the window.
Seattle stretched before him.
Grey skies.
Towering buildings.
Rain.
Somewhere in the distance, he could hear traffic.
And beneath it all
Something else.
Something he couldn’t quite identify.
Leo smiled.
He had come to Seattle looking for a place to live.
Instead, he’d found something that felt remarkably close to home.
He looked around the apartment.
“Well.”
He dropped his bag onto the floor.
“I suppose this will do.”
He had no idea how long he would stay.
He certainly had no idea what waited for him beneath the city.
And he had absolutely no idea that this ordinary-looking building would one day become the centre of events far beyond anything he could currently imagine.
For now, though, Leo had a home.
And somewhere beneath his feet, in the darkness of Seattle’s sewers, the last fragments of ice slowly melted away.
