Gnomes of Suburbia (3 page)

"Well, her vow was more than basic. Did you feel that shockwave?” Seesee was amazed, the power of that tiny gesture had almost caused an animation. But she had to keep her eye on Abby. After all, it was up to Abby to control the expansion of the magic that would be produced. Her hair hissed in annoyance at the restraint it had been asked to engage in and she shook it out to let it free. The braids unravelled in seconds. Tiny snake-like tendrils moved softly in the afternoon breeze.

She didn't worry about being seen. There was only one minimally magical person on the street and she wasn't at home today. Randy was goodhearted, friendly and completely harmless for someone without an ounce of talent, she simply had been born into a magical family. A rare find and a welcome member of their close little community.

Her hair danced and caught the breezes, revelling in the new magic that had been spilled in the neighbourhood. She liked Abby. The new Nexus was a genuinely nice person. Now, if she could get control over her growing talents quickly, it would be much easier for her to join the magical community at large. For her sake, Seesee hoped that she was a quick study. Wild magic would not be tolerated indefinitely. The council would only leave her alone as long as she was under control. If she lost her control, she would lose her liberty.

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Dreams were Abby's weakness and the reason that she loved to get her eight hours of sleep. She loved the experiences in dreaming, even if she couldn't remember them. She only wished that the people she met in her dreams were as real as they seemed.

Tonight's dream was no different.

Everything was pastel. A huge crescent moon hung over a scene that reminded her of her new backyard. The huge oak was moving on its own, creatures that were surprisingly human jumped out of the river to wave at her and she wandered around this magical place touching and sniffing everything. It all seemed so bright and attractive.

Awash in her magical world, she held in a giggle as her gnomes strutted themselves across the green. Harby was exceptionally cute as she pranced in his leather and vinyl finery. Bitsy was controlling the others by herding them into formations that had endless sighs and laughter coming from their creator.

The gnomes were joined by the memory of creatures that she had made to sell to supplement her income. Dolls, unicorns, dragons and beasts that had no name populated the yard.

Their amusing capering held her attention for what seemed like hours until she felt a strange presence enter her little Eden.

It was a man, or at least the shadow of a man. Power seemed to come off him in waves as he approached her. He had no features, but was simply an outline of a masculine nature.

"So how are you liking your new home, Abby?” His voice was deep, rich, and she wanted to listen to him read the phonebook.

"I like it just fine."

"And your new neighbours?"

"They seem friendly. I think I could like it here.” She looked around and noted that her gnomes had gotten into a keg of beer. Two of the buggers had crawled onto her moon and were singing songs while dangling from the crescent.

A drumbeat started in the background. “That's weird. My mind usually doesn't have a soundtrack.” The beat shifted into an upbeat tango. A band kicked in and soon her mind was alive with her creatures dancing and the gnomes singing off key.

"I brought it along. Shall we dance?"

She looked up at Mr. Shadowface, “I don't know how to tango."

"Just trust me."

"Dude, you don't even have a face."

He held out his arms. “Does it really matter? This is your dream after all."

He had a point. Abby took a deep breath and stepped into his arms.

The first steps were awkward, but after he caught her a few times, she realized that he was a lot more substantial than he looked. They started to move faster and her head was whirling, it was only during the final dip that she had a chance to catch her breath.

It finally hit her and she had to ask, “What are you doing in my dream?"

He bowed formally from the waist after setting her on her feet, “Just welcoming you to the neighbourhood, Abby. Care for a waltz?"

She shrugged and embraced him again. A dance partner was a dance partner. Who cared how he got into her mind?

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When Abby woke the next morning, everything was quiet. She felt calm, serene, but still, it was too quiet. The sounds of the city were gone. Winnipeg wasn't huge, but it was still larger than the tiny town of Sargent. She immediately got up and started to make some noise, anything to break the silence. When she had a cup of coffee in front of her and was seated at the counter of her kitchen drinking it with a CD playing in the background, she could finally relax. And think.

Ah, nothing like moving into one's own home. At long last she had a place to call her own. No upstairs neighbour stomping like an elephant and no one behind a wall who liked to have domestic arguments at the top of their lungs. She had never felt right with the noise and clatter of the city, but here, she could breathe.

The peace and quiet might take some getting used to, but she loved it as much as it disturbed her. Taking her coffee with her, she went into her workroom and started to unpack. First her big book and then her gnomes.

Having their little cheerful faces around her would make her feel more at home. She took them out of their crates one by one and smiled as she lined them all up. Harbinger was her bondage gnome, kitted out in black leather, zippers and studs. She had even put a zipper running up his pointed gnome hat. His name had been a play on words. A sex related gnome meaning
things to come
. She hadn't been able to pass it up. His creation had spurred on the wave of creativity that had spawned the others. Even Bitsy.

She checked to make sure that the tutu of the ballerina gnome was intact. It had come loose in transit so she brought her over to the worktable that Verne had set up for her and got to work on repairs.

Hours passed before she looked up and it was something making noise outside that had distracted her. Specifically something knocking on her door.

Wiping her hands on her jeans, she blinked and stumbled to the front door. Holy crud. If this is what the church canvassers looked like in this neighbourhood, she was going to convert. She didn't even care if squirrel shaving was one of the requirements. Sign her up.

She finally remembered to open the door and smiled at her visitor. “Uh, hello?"

"Hiya. I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Alexander Desmith and I live next door in Number Seventeen.” He held out his hand for her to shake. His palm was warm, firm and he held her hand carefully. He almost seemed afraid to touch her or harm her by the contact. That was a little weird.

"Hi. I am Abby. Uh, Annabeth Hanover. I just moved in.” She was babbling. She couldn't help it. Blonde wavy hair, baby blue eyes and a body that had to work out at least four times a week. He was amazing to look at.

When he smiled, he was even prettier. “I know. Laura told me to present myself or face her wrath.” No fair. He had dimples and a strangely familiar silhouette. Ah well.

She smiled back, her heart racing and blood pounding through her veins. “Laura is rather intimidating, isn't she? She has demanded that I learn to swim.” Something occurred to her, “I'm being terribly rude, would you like to come in for coffee?” She remembered that hers was a few hours old. “I was just about to put on a new pot anyway."

"That would be great. Having Laura pounding on my door the instant that I got back from a business trip was a little intimidating.” That mind-smacking grin was back and she could almost feel the air around her trembling with energy.

She found herself backing away from him, down the hall and all the way to the kitchen. She was so going to slap herself once he had gone.

She went about the mechanics of making coffee. “What do you do for a living if you don't mind my asking?"

"I am a consultant. I sweep in when things are going wrong and try and sort them out.” He perched his chin in his hands as he leaned on the counter. “I know it's vague, but each situation is different."

"Sounds reasonable to me."

"Turnabout is fair play, what do you do?"

She couldn't help it, her lips twisted in a smirk that she tried to hide. “I have recently discovered a small but interesting market for books featuring gnomes in urban settings."

"Gnomes? Like that one in the corner there?” He gestured over to Harbinger who was occupying a corner of the kitchen.

"Huh, I thought that he was in the workshop. I must have moved him while working on Ruffles."

"Ruffles?"

"The ballerina gnome.” She stood. “The coffee will take a moment, Alexander. Do you want to see them?"

"Xander, please. And I would love to.” He scooted past Harbinger and looked a little abashed. “Are they all dressed like ... uhh."

"No, he is my only BDSM gnome. The rest are all based on other costumes and themes.” She smiled at the small marching row of gnomes on the floor.

"Introduce me, please.” He bowed formally to the gnomes and Abby wasn't sure, but she would almost swear that they acknowledged it somehow.

"All right. This is Mitsy, the female boxer gnome. Notice the small boxing gloves?"

"Yep."

"Next to her is Splint. He has those crutches because he was trying to look under Ruffles's tutu. Ruffles is the ballerina gnome on the table over there. She was damaged in shipping so I have been repairing her this morning. Now she is good as new."

"Is that one..."

"Naked? Yeah, his name is Skint. But I did put a lettuce leaf on him. And last, but definitely not least is Bitsy, my dwarf gnome. Don't even ask me how that one worked out. I think I was short on clay or inspiration that day."

"They are all fantastic. Where did you get these ideas?"

His genuine appreciation warmed her. It was so rare to be able to show her creatures to an appreciative audience. Let alone one that made her heart pound in her chest.

She was so screwed.

"Where did that little bondage gnome go? Did you move him?” Alexander looked around at the corner that the little beast had previously occupied and blinked. He was definitely gone.

"No, why?” Abby came around her worktable and she bent low to look for her model. Her butt was definitely nice. Her hair was a little shorter than what he normally preferred, but she was a bundle of goodwill and energy. Definitely his type.

When she had greeted him at the door, he had been surprised to see her face, it was so open and girl-next-door. There was even a sprinkle of freckles across her nose. Her hair was a golden brown that shifted from dark to light as she tilted her head and it framed the soft green of her eyes perfectly.

It was her mouth that made him pause. It shifted and twisted with every mood. One moment sensual, the next pursed, then pensive as she began to work on her gnomes. It was her mouth that was the insight to her moods. He could watch it forever.

He had been expecting someone much older, or at least someone more serious. Abby may have a good soul, but it was steel in her heart that would let her survive as the newest Nexus. She was just too soft. Bringing new magic into the world was the task for a strong soul.

She was still only beginning to create the magic that was spilling into the world, but it had begun to manifest. Training her was going to take a lot of courage and self-control on his part. Her ass was fantastic.

"Harbinger, where the hell did you go?” Abby called out and looked around. She felt silly, but she always talked to the gnomes once they had faces. She felt that the moment they had eyes, they had a soul. It was that moment when they came to life, in her opinion. It was also the reason that she made the faces last.

There was nowhere for Alexander to have moved him and he couldn't get around on his own so when she felt a tug on her jeans and looked down into the eyes of the thigh high bondage gnome, she screamed and jumped back. Right into Alexander.

"Do you see what I am seeing?"

She found it ironic that he was asking her. Her own mouth was opening and closing without any sound making its way out.

"Harby? Is that you?” A frantic nod from the gnome and she felt her butt hit the floor hard as her knees buckled. Abby simply stared at her creation come to life.

Harbinger took a few steps closer and then stuck his hand out to her. She looked at him for quite a while, then took his diminutive appendage in her hand. She shook it and a bright smile crossed his face under his beard.

He jumped up and threw his tiny arms around her neck. She hugged him back, absorbing the warmth that was emanating from his small body.

The hug lasted just long enough to start making her uncomfortable. “Okay, Harby. That's enough.” He smiled and nodded as he stepped back. She moved to push herself back to her feet and stopped. She stared at the little bugger that she had just released and he grinned back, unrepentant.

The damned gnome had unhooked her bra.

"Xander, did you just see Harbinger come to life?” She felt she had to ask the only other human in the room if she was hallucinating.

"Yes, I did indeed. In fact, he is currently trying to strip your ballerina, Ruffles, was it?” He gestured toward her workroom and she darted forward to stop Harby from tinkering with the delicate composition of the repaired tutu.

"Harby. Knock it off. Go comb your beard or something.” She picked him up and moved him out of the workroom, this time she closed the room behind her to protect the other inhabitants from his busy fingers. Hopefully he couldn't reach the doorknob to get back in. She really needed a moment to sit.

Shaking as the enormity of what had just happened hit her, she moved to have a seat on the couch. Her head hung down between her knees as she tried to absorb the fact that one of her sculptures was trying to climb into her cupboard.