He should have understood the town better. He had to blend in.
A girl at the snack bar greeted him with a curious smile. "Never seen you before."
"Just exploring the area," Callum said.
She started recommending the best dishes on the menu.
But Callum suddenly felt something strange. He started to sweat. What is this weird presence?
He tried to look through the piping in the walls and realised the place was much larger than he had expected. Then he saw a dog, and it shocked him. That dog was the size of a human being.
Then a man's voice called him. Callum looked back, and looked straight at the man's pocket, and his eyes went to the gun.
The man took off his hat. "Felt strange, seeing you in here."
Callum gave a good answer. "I was just exploring the local cuisine."
The man introduced himself. "Sheriff Arthur Langley. And my niece Clara makes the best steaks in the county."
Clara happily agreed with that. As soon as she pulled away, Callum said it looked nice.
The sheriff replied that the young people here were well adjusted. "So far nobody's crossed your yard."
Smiling, he added, "Territory. Respect for it is the most important thing here."
That word stuck in Callum a little further in than he liked.
The sheriff put a hand on his shoulder. "Some strange faces have been seen out in the Linden area. Let me know if you notice anything else strange."
A pang of nervousness raced through Callum's chest and pulled the knot in it tight. "I was a strange face too," he said. "Has anyone told you anything about me?"
The sheriff confessed it. "Yes. They did. But then I realised you're not like Big City." He shook his head firmly. "You're not like those people."
"Yes," he said. "That's exactly who I'm talking about."
The statement hit Callum hard. Is that what Arthur is talking about? Because that would be a very bad development.
Then Clara announced, "Order ready, Mr. Hall."
Callum nodded and got out.
Coming out onto the street, the tension surrounded him immediately. Can they track my wrist tattoo?
He looked at it and decided. It needs to come off now.
He observed it. The magic on that small point was confined inside it, and it represented his particular type. He reassured himself. It's just a small drop of ink. It won't hurt much.
He sat down in the chair. He started channelling energy toward his wrist, focusing on the exact spot.
In the next moment, the point of the tattoo began to pull slowly out of the skin. Callum's eyes widened. A painful grunt came out of him. Gritting his teeth, he continued the process, and finally that point vanished, and a raw wound was left behind on his wrist.
From the centre of the tattoo a small black sphere emerged and began floating in the air.
Callum breathed. The pain was still in his body. He looked at the sphere in his trembling palms.
The rest of the tattoo could come off later. Now.
He threw the sphere into the fireplace. Gradually it started dissolving into the flames, and he let the blazing fire destroy it completely.
Then he thought about the small safes. I have to make one to store things exactly like that. Would it release them again when I needed it? Could I do that too?
Portals and small objects were easy. But as the scale increased, the cost of the magic increased with it. If he tried anything larger than a man, it would drain him like a battery.
But then he realised he could siphon and recharge in critical situations. That would come in handy when he needed a quick escape.
A knock on the door at that very moment. Callum was shocked by it.
He hesitated over whether to open it. The tension started rising. He used magic to look through the door and was surprised by what he saw.
It was Arthur Langley. With a police officer. The sheriff was an old man standing on his step.
Callum opened the door and greeted him unconvincingly. "We only just met this afternoon."
Arthur apologised. "Sorry to come by suddenly. I had a few questions."
There was apprehension in Callum's voice. "Did I do something wrong?"
The sheriff held his hat tight and asked, "Where were you last night at three?"
The question was directly suspicious.
Callum remembered that he had been in bed at exactly that time. But his mind went to the conversation at the diner. The matter of territory, and that dog the size of a man.
This basically confirmed it. The Langley family were shapeshifters. He remembered Clara too, the sheriff's niece. Jessica was the sheriff's daughter.
What had Arthur actually been trying to say? Had he been frightened of the strange faces? Of that thing?
But then he remembered that the man had been genuinely well intentioned when he asked him to report unusual things.
Callum decided it was better to hide from everybody for the time being.
There had been a strange scratching sound at the window.
It had lifted him out of where he was sitting. What was that? Almost at the same moment, strange purple energy started spreading outside. Looking out through the glass he noticed a quick movement in the bushes. Was it an animal?
He went out with a flashlight and illuminated the bushes.
Nothing. Just leaves moving in the wind. Perhaps it was imagination. He started to relax.
Then a chilling breeze passed by him and showered him through to the core. He ran straight back to the house. The door slammed. Heart racing, body trembling.
Back in the present, the sheriff was still asking the same question. Where were you at three?
He added, "Don't be upset. It's just the job."
"I was sleeping," Callum said. "Did something happen?"
The deputy asked, "No proof? Security system?"
Callum looked at him, annoyed. "Am I going to need a lawyer?"
The sheriff was embarrassed. "You're not a suspect," he assured him. "I just had to take you off the list."
"There's a basic logging system," Callum said. "No cameras."
He thought to himself: even if there were cameras, I couldn't show them. I practise magic in the backyard.
Then the deputy finally revealed it. There had been a murder in the neighbourhood.
Callum was shocked. "Here?"
The deputy said there had been no one in Mr. Huddy's house. "Did you see anything unusual?"
Callum stammered that he had not seen anything — and then suddenly he remembered the scratching sound in the night. He had been so absorbed in shapeshifters and the Guild that he had not thought there was any possibility of a regular criminal at all.
The sheriff noticed Callum's pale face. "Remember something?"
Callum finally shared it. "I woke up last night because of a noise. It seemed like a big animal. That's all I know."
The deputy took notes. The sheriff thanked him. "It helped. If there's any news, I'll tell you."
As the two of them left, the deputy asked the sheriff quietly, "Do you believe what he says?"
The sheriff replied, "He's not telling me everything. But he's not a murderer."
Sitting in the car, tying his belt, the sheriff added, "We already know who did it. I just didn't want to believe it."