Beware the Night

There was a monster in the garden.

Tabitha had always been warned by her parent’s staff not to wander about at night by herself. It was something that turned out to be very hard for her not to do though. In her mind, there were just so many fascinating things to look at in the dark.

The fall and movements of shadows, the way the house complained and shifted its weight around when it thought no one was paying attention, and the play of moonlight outside in the garden all allured the little girl out of her bed. While others dreamed, it was a safe bet that Tabitha was tripping down opaque hallways, and peeking into void corners, looking for things usually best left unseen.

Most children would have hidden under their sheets, depending on their teddy bears to protect them from all that went bump in the night. Tabitha had never been one of those children. With a fearlessness that burned like a flame, she sought out the shades that moved all on their own, set just on the fringe of sight and in the lost corners of the room.

On a summer night much like any other, Tabitha once again found herself unable to fall asleep, left to her own devices for far too long as the rest of the house slept. After much inner debate, Tabitha decided to explore the garden. Mostly because the last time she had gone out around the house, a teapot that her mother adored had gotten shattered.

Tabitha still wasn't sure how that could have happened. She had been on the other side of the room at the time when the death of pottery had occurred. Tabitha also wasn’t too keen on telling anyone about the light retreating footsteps she had heard when she had gone to investigate. Being the only child in the house, Tabitha was very curious to find out who they could have belonged to. She also knew that she would be in trouble if any of the help, or her staff caught Tabitha wandering about instead of being asleep in bed like any other normal person.

The garden was the better option from discovery, and for the continued safety of tea sets alike. That particular mystery of the footsteps could wait because Tabitha was interested in founding out what kind of flowers only bloomed at night. Earlier that very day, she had read all about such flora in the family library. Tabitha wanted to see the blooms for herself, if any existed in the garden.

The garden, which was really more like a walled in part of the forest, was quite lovely and diverse. Her father liked to brag that it was older than their old keep. It certainly was bigger, which was impressive given how huge the old family home was.

The grounds, flower beds, and the little random orchards scrawled out well past the main house until its borders merged back into the woods. An ivy covered wrought iron fence divided the garden from the rest of wild, its one door grown over with a soft patina of moss and other clinging vines. Only the metal framework of it remained, the wood of it decayed and gone for a very long time now.

All was going well in the matter of her nightly adventure as Tabitha stepped out into the garden, feeling the cool flagstones beneath her bare feet. A full moon was out that night, shining so brightly it painted the world around her in shades of silver, white, and an entire spectrum of blue and purple she hadn't even realized existed until now.

The full moon also clearly illuminated the monster who was standing in the garden, its talon tipped toes tapping on the decorative mosaic stones of the main pathway, crumbling them further into the dirt. Pausing in its moonlight stroll, the monster appeared to be studying her mother’s climbing roses with a quiet regard. Being the girl she was, Tabitha did the first rational thing that came to her mind.

Tabitha hid in plain sight behind a small tree.

Not the brightest idea, she realized belated, but it gave Tabitha a moment to assess the situation. Standing in her garden, on her path was the strangest creature the little girl had ever laid eyes upon. It certainly wasn't the strangest thing she had ever imagined though so that worked to her advantage as Tabitha gazed levelly at the being...

…And it back at her.

It stood tall, well over three times her meager height of four feet, and was covered in thick fur from bent head to clawed foot. Tabitha could not tell what color it was, the hair of its pelt bleached out to soft grays and silvers by the moonlight. The monster had sharp looking talons for hands and a long neck that arched a curious face of sorts at her, if it could even be called that.

The monster’s actual face was covered by a near featureless mask with a pair of twisted horns that looked like they grew straight from it. The monster had tufts of fur on either side of the mask that Tabitha could only assume were its ears. Its eyes, or more accurately its eyeholes, glowed faintly, dimming and lighting up from within as it studied Tabitha back.

Its mouth was a simple dark slit cut in the mask that ran from side to side, giving the creature the look of a permanent grin similar to the ones found on naked skulls. As far as Tabitha could tell from where she stood, the mask seemed to be the monster’s actual face, or at the very least, physically attached to it.

"Are you going to eat me?" Tabitha asked, stepping out a bit from behind the tree. She was still careful to keep one hand upon it though. It made her feel safer for some reason. Tabitha asked the question because she felt like she ought to know. Running seemed like a silly idea. Judging by the looks of the creature’s lanky form of sinew and muscles, it would easily catch her.

"Not likely," The monster said in a surprisingly deep voice that made Tabitha's bones feel like they were rumbling together, but in an almost pleasant manner. The creature tilted its head to the side as if in thought. "Do you taste especially good?"

Blinking a few times in surprise, Tabitha straightened her spine, her posture going from already immaculate to rigidly indignant. It did nothing to make her physically taller, but it mentally added six inches to her height.

"Of course not!" Tabitha said in a firm tone, crossing her arms as she stomped her foot properly, something she almost never did or at least, tried not to do. The childishness of the gesture was not lost of her, and as much as she abhorred it, Tabitha felt it was merited.

"How should I know?" it shrugged, its deep tone indifferent. As far as she could tell, the creature didn't look particularly bothered by her presence. Tabitha was beginning to get annoyed that the monster was wearing a mask.

"I'm a little girl!" Tabitha said in exasperation, even as her mind backpedaled on the proof she had provided. For all she knew, creatures such as this ate little girls for its meals morning, noon, and night.

"I don’t think I would taste very good at all." She quickly added, though she couldn‘t be sure about that. Tabitha being Tabitha assumed that she would taste wonderful, but she wasn’t about to tell a monster she’d just met that.

"Then why did you offer?" the creature sniffed, folding its overly long arms across its chest to look questioningly down at her. In Tabitha’s opinion, that expression was an impressive feat, considering the monster had so little mobile face to work with. He was very expressive with his glowing eye slits though.

"I wasn't," Tabitha corrected. She imitated the movements, tilting her chin upward to meet the creature’s gaze. “I just had to check."

"Why?" the creature asked, sounding curious for the first time since their meeting. Up till now, it had just sound bored and a little put out, like Tabitha was bothering it by simply being here.

"Because you are a monster, and that's what they do." Tabitha stared at the creature. She had been told many a time that she had a good stare. It was the kind of stare that made adults tell her to go play outside, or to go find something else to do, usually far away from them.

The creature drew itself up to its full height to settle its clawed hands on its hips in a gesture very similar to Tabitha‘s own mother when she was exasperated with her strange daughter. The little girl was well familiar with it, remaining unbothered.

"How vulgar. Were you spawned?" the creature said, waiting until Tabitha shook her head in confusion before continuing, "I can't believe any respectable parent would let you out into the world being so rude."

"I am not rude." Tabitha insisted, because she wasn't. Other people were just too sensitive in her humble opinion. "And yes, I have very respectable parents, or so I am told. Why would you say something so strange?"

"Me? Strange?" the creature snorted, "I am not the one going around asking complete strangers if they are going to eat me. I, and most everyone else, consider that form of greeting a bit touched in the head at the best, and very rude at the worst."

Tabitha worried her bottom lip in thought, seeing the creature's point of view. The monster wasn’t wrong. Tabitha reasoned this out with a certain amount of chagrin, and she so hated being proved wrong.

"I am sorry." Tabitha curtsied, like she had been taught to by her governess, one of many. Tabitha wished she could wear a nightgown all the time. Curtsying was much easier to do in it barefoot than her usual garb of petticoats, stiff dresses, and annoying button up shoes. "But you do look...odd." she added, because Tabitha being Tabitha really couldn‘t help herself.

Tabitha watched the eyeholes dim and light up from within in quick succession, doing a swirling motion. She suspected it meant that the creature was rolling its unique eyes at her.

"Odd? You do realize you appear odder to me than I to you. Perhaps I should be the one asking you if you go around eating people." the creature sighed, gesturing a click of claws at her meager form.

"What? Do I really look like I could eat someone?" Tabitha asked curiously, looking down at herself. She didn‘t think she appeared especially frightening, dressed in a pale pink nightgown with ribbons sewn onto its sleeves and collar.

"Hmmmmmmm...I wouldn't put it past you." the creature said after a moment, tapping his claws in thought against its mask. The eyeholes squinted as they seemed to appraise her again. Tabitha's jaw dropped before the little girl could recover it with a sharp click of porcelain.

"Just because I have wondered once or twice about it...Oh, never mind that. What is your name? I am tired of calling you 'the creature' in my head." Tabitha grumbled, working her lips into a thoughtful pout. "Mine is Tabitha Angelique Rose Cartier Côté. I am delighted to make your acquaintance.”

"That is a very long name for such a little girl with terrible manners." the creature said, sounding a bit miffed from the onslaught of Tabitha‘s full name.

"My mother says I will grow into it. She used to say it would give me character, but she stopped doing that because apparently I already have loads of that." Tabitha shrugged. She had heard worse before from better.

"Indeed." the creature answered with shake of its head, "My name is Brome."

"You are named after a type of grass?" Tabitha said skeptically, searching her extensive memory for a moment. She had already read the library twice over with its full sets of encyclopedias and science journals, even if they were considered outdated. She didn't see a lot of character building qualities in that sort of name. “Is that it?”

Brome looked down his nose or lack thereof at her, the tall creature obviously unimpressed by her assessment.

"It is the simplest form of my name that you can understand, and still be able to pronounce. My real name is much longer. To say it properly, you would have to lose your tongue, completely hollow out your skull, and refill it with mist, tree moss, and dew collected on the night of a new moon." Brome stated, sounding a touch smug.

“Oh. Well, I am much obliged then since I will be doing none of that." Tabitha said, falling back on manners, at least for a moment. "What are you doing in my garden?"

"Your garden?" Brome chuckled, "My dear child, you are quite mistaken. This happens to be my land. Your ancestors decided to build a house upon it, oh I don't know, a hundred or so years ago. I was bored so I let them."

"How old are you?" Tabitha asked, impressed despite herself.

“As old as my mask and a little bit older than my fangs.” Brome replied.

“That’s not an answer.” Tabitha pointed out, “Not a real one at least.”

"You are a very rude child." Brome sighed, shaking his horned head sadly, "I am sure your parents are somehow to blame. I must admit I am quite surprised to see you out here. Did they not warn you about wandering around by yourself at night? You do live in that house, correct?"

"Well, yes, they did, and yes, I do. Why?" Tabitha conceded, wondering briefly to herself if she should have done more on her part to defend her parents. They were nice enough people, but she barely saw them. Her father was always busy with work while her mother focused on their good standing in high society. Neither was home very often, or for too long. Tutors, governesses, and the house’s help were more involved in Tabitha’s life than her parents were.

"A nasty hobgoblin lives there. I’m not entirely certain where, but I believe it is in one of the downstairs’ closets. All I know is that I wouldn't want one of my offspring running into him, especially at night. It is when his kind are most awake." Brome lectured, even going so far as to shake a clawed finger at the little girl. Tabitha ignored it, her mind too busy reveling in personal triumph.

"I knew it!" Tabitha crowed in the delighted victory of being right. The lifespan of both emotions were very short-lived though. "I knew something beastly lived in that particular broom closet!"

"Quite." Brome said dryly. The long necked creature leaned his head down until it was about level with Tabitha's line of sight, casting the little girl‘s face in a bluish light from his eyeholes. "You do realize that you could have been eaten up, bones and all, by him."

Tabitha dry swallowed, her mouth coating itself with ash as her throat jumped wordlessly. She glanced back over her shoulder at the suddenly too dark house. Thoughts of the broken teapot sprang to mind immediately along with a whole other list of unexplained yet ignorable incidents, ones that children noticed, but adults tended to explain away. The hobgoblin must have broken the teapot in its haste while trying to get to her, the sudden shattering noise of porcelain frightening it off as it woke the house up.

"If you do not terribly mind, I think I would like to stay out here with you in the moonlight." Tabitha admitted in a quiet voice after a long moment of staring back at the house.

"I think that is a very wise decision." Brome said in grave bass tones, watching as the little girl shivered, though not from any chill of night.

“What are you then? A fairy?” Tabitha asked, partly because she was curious, but mostly because she didn’t want to think about what lurked in her house.

“Do I look like a fairy to you?” Brome said in a bone dry tone, gesturing down at himself. Tabitha noted that his eyeholes slivered into thin slits of blue light whenever Brome was annoyed.

“I don’t know. I’ve never met one so I have no basis for comparison. I have only read about them.” Tabitha shrugged. “If you are not a fairy, and you are not a ghost or a monster, what are you then?”

“Complicated.” Brome told her.

“That’s a terrible answer.” Tabitha pouted. She hated not knowing things.

“And yet, it is the only one I will give.” Brome said, “If you really must, you may refer to me as a wandering spirit.”

“That sounds an awful lot like a ghost to me.” Tabitha said, studying Brome again with renewed interest. She noticed that his antlers were banded with metal, and even had some glittering charms hanging from them.

“Poppycock. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.” Brome snorted, dismissing the little girl‘s words with an airy gesture. “I am not that type of creature. I am practically a god. A minor one, mind you, but one nonetheless.”

“Are you sure?” Tabitha asked, giving Brome a very unimpressed look.

“I promise you that I am not ghost. Are you an expert in such things?” Brome sighed, studying the small child in front of him. “How many gods have you met before?”

“I’m not sure. I read quite a bit though.”

“That’s a terrible answer.” Brome echoed.

“Rude.” Tabitha said, resisting the urge to stick out her tongue at him.

“You would know.” Brome chuckled. If he had a mouth, Tabitha was positive that it would be in the shape of a rather smug grin.

“Then what kind are you?” Tabitha asked with another stomp of her foot. She really couldn’t help herself.

“Simply put, my people are spirit folk, the embodiments of storm and snow, wind and rain, sky and earth. We have connections and control over the cold, the season of winter, and the land we choose to reside over. Though I am not a fairy, I do associate with them, and I can move through their realms.” Brome explained without really doing so. “I started out as something like you though, so there is hope for you yet.”

“What happened? What made you into what you are now?”

“You are better off not knowing. It was not a pleasant experience.”

“Oh. Well, that is fine, I guess.” Tabitha mumbled, scratching her cheek with a finger in an awkward gesture to help relieve some of her pent up nervousness. Despite his claws and long horns, Brome didn’t seem to be a bad person…spirit thingy. He certainly didn’t treat her like she was a bother like most others, including her parents. Tabitha also found that she was actually enjoying their conversation, as odd as it was.

Tabitha decided that she would much rather be out here talking to Brome than inside her house, which apparently had a hobgoblin on the loose down dark corridors, one that wanted to eat her. It was not something she wanted to think about at the moment.

Watching the little girl fidget and fret, the Spirit came to a hesitant yet profound decision, as his kind were prone to do.

"Would you like to come with me for a bit? I was on my way to speak with some stars about the Moon Jumpers." Brome offered his clawed hand to Tabitha, palm out to the little girl who stared at it with wide eyes. After a moment, Tabitha placed her own hand, mindful of the talons of course, in Brome's much larger own. She found it was surprisingly easy to smile up at him.

"I didn't know stars could talk, and I honestly can’t say I know what a Moon Jumper is either." Tabitha said, being very careful not to thank the Spirit.

That was one lesson she did not want to learn hard won. Tabitha had often read about the perils of thanking a fairy, the Fae often offended by the human practice that was viewed as common courtesy. She wasn’t sure if it applied to wandering spirits or minor gods yet, but Tabitha made a mental note to find out.

Brome led Tabitha down a path that led deeper into the more untamed parts of the garden. The little girl found it eerily familiar and yet not, all at the same time. She barely recognized the framework of the iron wrought garden door, the only border between her garden and the wild world beyond that. The wood of it had rotted away long before Tabitha had even been born. She had been warned to never go beyond its borders.

Brome reached toward what was left of the garden door, and in the blink of an eye, it changed. A different sort of garden door stood before Brome and Tabitha now, the wood of it a strange shining green tinted with silver around its glowing edges from the moonlight. It even had a knocker which was occupied. Tiny white creatures clung to its frame, using the knocker as a swing. They appeared to be taking turns.

"Talk? My dear child, they never shut up. Stars are terrible gossips." Brome chuckled as he shooed the Moon Jumpers off the knocker. Tabitha was amused to see them leave it, only to jump and flip themselves up to Brome’s horns where they stayed for now, peeking down at the little girl. Tabitha waved to them, giggling out loud when they enthusiastically waved back, the littlest one falling off of Brome because of it. It landed on Tabitha, climbing up into her hair to sit on her head. She left it there, doing her best to keep her head level as she tried not to laugh.

Ignoring his new passengers, for Moon Jumpers were harmless Fae, Brome opened the Night Door, the one that only appear for wandering spirits and small gods like him, witches, ghosts, and very few others. Brome stepped through, Tabitha following the Spirit in without a backwards glance to all that she had ever known.