“Guardians” is a short story published in Habitual Heroes in 2021. Leticia has found a nice second-hand armoire, and enlists Drew and Alex to help her collect it.
Warning[]
“Guardians” contains explicit violence, sorcery, kicking, stabbing, awkward shopping encounters, outdated sports merchandise, intimidation, hidings things from Mom, sorcerous inadequacy, assault with common hand tools, pop culture references, and failure to disclose the cult origins of used furniture.
Synopsis[]
Leticia had found a nice armoire for sale in the rural areas of King County on Craigslist, and enlisted the help of Alex and Drew to help her collect it. As the talk turned to cults, Alex and Drew had to tapdance around their involvement with the Shadows as the two became increasingly suspicious about the seller and Leticia raised her worries about Drew and Alex getting into trouble.
They arrived at Elegant Estates where they found the place increasingly spooky, but Alex and Drew managed to bully their way out—with the furniture and Leticia’s worldview intact. Rachel approved of their actions.
Appearances[]
Characters[]
- Leticia Jones
- Alex Carlisle
- Drew Jones
- A judgmental Starbucks customer
- Summer and Flint, possibly “normal” people
- Autumn, a cultist and magic user
- North, cult leader
- Miles, his assistant
- An imp
- Rachel
Locations & organizations[]
- Elegant Estates, likely near Hobart
Items[]
- A large armoire
Continuity[]
The story is set in late March, after Past Due and “Outsourced” but before “Like a Professional” and “Strangers”.[1]
Theories[]
Leticia appears to be unaware of the arrests made of Alex and Drew,[2][3] despite them being widely published on the Internet.[4][5] One possibility is that neither Leticia nor Michelle are that internet aware, but friends could easily have brought them to their attention. Another possibility is that some angels—either their guardian angels, Rachel, or both—serve to intercept and misdirect any attempts to bring the videos to their attention.
It is unclear how Autumn and North fit into the Shadows, but they are magic users with connections to Hell. Drew believes Autumn is a demon, and the way she acts has some similarity with Leanne, but the direct suborning of free will does not fit with the way demons usually work. The cult might be made up of human Practitioners, but then their ways of speech is off.
The pattern of speech from Autumn and North also changes considerably during their short interaction with Alex, Drew, and Leticia, going from very stilted to standard colloquial English.
Alex possibly recognizes the spiral symbol that the Elegant Estates cult uses, but it is unknown from where.
Trivia[]
The story refers to Southeast 216th Way, which connects Hobart to Maple Valley and the Washington state highway system.
Publication history[]
“Guardians” was first published on Elliott Kay’s Patreon in November 2021. It was re-published in Habitual Heroes in December 2021.
References[]
- ↑ Timelines and Links: Good Intentions (Elliott Kay’s Patreon, July 4, 2022)
- ↑ Natural Consequences, chapter 12
- ↑ Past Due, chapter 1
- ↑ “Accomplished”
- ↑ Past Due, chapter 2