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It was all Brian’s fault really. He knew not to wander so far from his tree. He never should have left his grove. But he couldn’t help it. He wanted to see the stars.
There was an open field about five miles away that was perfect for stargazing. But it was close to a road. And roads meant humans. It was Brian’s fault. He never should have went close. But he did. And now he would suffer the consequences.
Brian choked on the polluted air as he cowered in the corner of the open building, tasting the smog outside in the city air and the stench that always came with humans. He was chained to the wall, unable to move, helpless as crowds of humans walked past, occasionally looking at him with interest. The room was filled with chained creatures, mostly humanoids with the exception of a poor hippogriff desperately tugging against the chain around its neck and screeching when a human whipped it.
Silent Auction, Brian heard someone say. The humans were buying them.
He stood there for hours, avoiding the eyes of the humans who leered at him, trying not to think of what some of them would use him for if they bought him. It’s not like he had any powers they could want to use him for. Unless one of them really liked gardening. But he doubted any of the humans had intentions so innocent considering where he was.
There was a moment, though, when a group of three humans caught his eye. They looked sad, staring at the ones in chains as if wanting to break them all out. They stopped in front of Brian, looking at each other before the tallest one nodded. They looked at Brian one more time. None of them spoke, just like no human spoke to any of the chained creatures, but they stared at him like they were trying to tell him something.
To Brian’s shock, the three of them returned soon. He had watched a few of the creatures be freed from the walls only to be handed over to their new owners, handcuffed or leashed to the new owner’s preference.So when a fourth human came forward with a set of keys, Brian realized that the three of him must be his new owners.
“Here, this one,” the blond one said, holding out a soft-looking leather collar and leash, but not letting the one with the keys take it. He fastened it around Brian’s neck himself under the suspicious eyes of the other human.
“You sure that’s gonna be enough?” he said to the blond, offering the chains. But Brian’s new owners refused.
They led him outside to a little blue car. The blond drove and the one with the jet-black hair sat in the back with Brian. The car was silent as they drove away from the building, the blond looking back in the rearview mirror every few seconds as if worried someone was following them.
It took ten minutes to make it to the outskirts of town, until the air was clearer and Brian could breathe easier. But it wasn’t until they were outside of the city that the others spoke.
“Are you alright?” The one next to him asked, looking at Brian with what looked like concern.
Brian’s brows furrowed in confusion.
“Fred, go ahead and take off the glamour. We should be safe now,” the one in the passenger seat said to the one sitting with Brian.
Fred, Brian guessed, nodded and closed his eyes. He muttered something under his breath and his hands twitched. Brian felt a wave of magic wash through the car and gasped when the other three changed. They weren’t humans at all.
For the one in the passenger seat, the change wasn’t significant. There was no physical change, but Brian could still sense the aura around him that all supernatural creatures had. The driver, however, was suddenly even more beautiful than before. His hair practically radiated and through the rearview mirror Brian could see his eyes had turned such a piercing blue it almost hurt to look at them. Beauty of magic, a nymph like a samodiva or maybe an incubus.
The one next to Brian, however, had the biggest change of all. Like the others, he now had the aura of being born of magic. But now Brian could see the dark marks twisting themselves like tendrils of shadow across every bit of exposed skin. The sure sign of a djinn, something Brian had never seen before and never thought he would see in his life.
“My name is Freddie,” the djinn told him softly. “The blond is Roger. And that’s John.”
Roger smiled at him through the rearview, revealing bright white teeth Brian was sure were much sharper than they looked. John turned around in his seat and nodded to him.
“Um… Brian,” he told them.
Freddie smiled at him brightly. “Nice to meet you, Brian.”
Brian felt a bit more confident, and decided to ask Freddie the obvious question. “So… why did you guys buy me? Are you-”
But he was cut off by Freddie’s exclamation. “Oh fuck! I almost forgot. I’m so sorry, darling.” And then he was unfastening the leash from Brian’s throat. Brian rubbed his neck, though the leather had indeed been soft, and Roger had fixed it quite loosely around Brian’s neck.
“We can’t save everyone. But we do our best to free as many of us as we can. You were perfect, so Freddie did a bit of magick and Roger did some minor influencing and we got them to give you to us,” John explained.
Brian bit his lip. “Are you taking me back to my tree?” he asked softly.
Freddie looked at him sadly. “I’m afraid we can’t do that just yet. There’s some red tape, you see. It’ll be a few weeks before you can leave safely.”
“We might be able to take you to visit a couple times, though,” Roger said. He slowed the car as he turned onto a dirt road. Farther and farther from the city. Brian could almost breathe normally again. “We really do want to help you as much as we can, Brian. I imagine it can’t feel good being away from your tree for too long.”
Brian realized they were pulling up in front of a moderately sized cottage.
“Thank you,” Brian said as he realized what this meant. They had saved his life.
“You’re very welcome,” Freddie responded.
**BONUS One Year Later**
The few weeks had passed and Brian never left. Instead, he had asked to stay with the other three, to live with them and help save others whenever they could. It was the same Roger had asked when John saved him and that Freddie had asked when they rescued him from the small smoke cage they had found him trapped in.
It had taken him four months to realize that he had fallen in love with the others, but they had quickly taken him into their relationship just as easily as they accepted him into their lives. They took care of each other. Brian had never felt so happy in his life. He would never wish the experience on anyone, but he would always be thankful that it brought him to the people he loved most in the entire world.