Widening the Mantle: Shaman States of America: The Mantle

By Chrishaun Keller-Hanna and W.T. Meadows

Edward Mauer is a man pulled in two directions. He wants to excel at the Hunt, but he also needs to study. He's striving to make a name for himself in the powered community, but often at the expense of the people he loves. 

Speaking of love, while he anxiously awaits Kana's answer, Edward Mauer gets a proposal of his own - entry to an Elite Hunt with Clancy's famous team: The Magnolias.

If he says yes, both Edward's world and everyone he loves will be upended by forces more powerful than he could possibly understand - machinations fueled by vengeance, power, and deception.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The CKH Group
• Release date: Feb 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393601821

Chrishaun Keller-Hanna

Hello All, Chrishaun here! Welcome to Allazar! A place of beauty, danger, magic, and monsters.  This is the space where I want to have fun, write crazy stuff for the far edges of my imagination, while still looking at issues like oppression and struggle, where men and women can take on challenging roles. It’s my hope that you will understand my drive to create the magical space for adventure and that you’ll listen to and enjoy my words, these worlds, and thoughts. The Allazar Universe is big and there is room for you.  Meanwhile, on Earth, I live in the Great of Texas where I read, watch documentaries, podcast, and help my husband try to keep our cats from opening the Seventh Seal.

Book preview

Prologue

I honestly couldn't remember the last time I’d sat by the phone waiting for a call. Maybe I’d done it when Stefan and I’d first started dating all those years ago. I’d felt butterflies flutter inside me every time the phone rang back then. And after we’d been married, I’d waited by the phone in our tiny apartment while he fought over in Vietnam. Despite all of his strength and the advantages of being powered, I’d known plenty of good Hunters who’d never returned from that fool’s errand of a war.

Today would be nothing like that, though. With God’s grace, today my baby would be getting engaged. Well, not my babies who were just now starting to climb all over the furniture and talk my ear off with their cute little one-word sentences. Those sweet babies would be turning two within the next couple of weeks and were probably trying to break something in the living room as I waited. My oldest baby (because he would always be my baby) had been a good boy and told his mama he’d finally be asking that lovely girl to marry him.

Kana Abe was such a wonderful grounding force in his life, especially since he’d made up his mind to rejoin that foolish Hunter culture. At first, Stefan had tried to scare the boy by telling him the story of what’d finally snapped us out of that world. Then we’d attempted to ignore such a silly notion. Both had failed miserably when he’d ran back to Knoxville to track down some kind of sick acolyte of the same beast who’d almost killed Stefan and me. All those years ago, I had been terrified I had lost Edward. I was pregnant with him at the time, but our survival had mortified me. Stefan had lost his legs, and our dear friend Ed had lost his life. I made it out with young Edward still inside, though, thanks to some quick thinking on his father’s part…

Anyways, Edward had come back to us after killing that awful Troll who was so much like Galbard had been back then. There was no reasoning with the boy after that. He’d had his taste of the Hunt. Even with all that nonsense, Stefan and I had decided it was more important to have our son in our lives than to push him away over poor life choices. It was my daily prayer that the twins would never want to join him, but also that Edward would always return home safely. I’d been praying that last one extra-often since an Elite Hunter named Clancy had started to train Edward.

The irony in Edward being trained to Elite and Solo Hunt was that Stefan, Ed, and I were the models for what they now were. We’d removed ourselves from the powered world before those things had names. When people talked about the 60s and 70s being a wild time, they did so for very different reasons than we did. We’d run down every monster we could find back then and thought we were unstoppable, and even called our team the Puppeteers. It had all been such folly, and it’d cost Ed, our son’s namesake, his life.

The mental loop of memories and connections I always had trouble breaking was shattered when I saw Hope’s toddler-fine curly hair bopping as she tried to climb a bookshelf. She’d managed to get herself higher than her tiny form would normally be able to manage by clambering on top of her brother Isaac. The two of them were inseparable and had learned to work together to accomplish more than double the amount of mischief either of them could manage on their own. She’d somehow non-verbally convinced her brother to sit against the bookshelf and was standing with one leg on his shoulder and the other on top of his head reaching for the one book that was big enough to hurt them if it fell wrong. Somehow babies always managed to find the thing that could get them hurt. It never mattered that a good parent would try to put those things out of their reach. Babies always found a way.

I ran over to them and grabbed Hope. Just as I got to her, she turned to face me with a grin that was fit to bust. That grin looked like she was tryin’ to say, Look, Mama, see what I can do? It was adorable and made me think for the millionth time that God made babies cute so we would forgive their hijinks. Holding her high in my arms, I gave her little belly a raspberry while she giggled and squirmed. God bless the laughter of babies; nothing on this Earth could stop anxiety in its tracks like holding a child in your arms while their sounds of unbridled joy rang through your ears. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Isaac shouted, Mama, Mama, Mama until I shifted Hope into a one-armed carry and picked up her brother. I lavished his face and neck with kisses while he emitted his own life-giving peals of laughter.

Squeezing the twins tight, I finally registered which book they’d been trying to pull down onto their heads. The thing had been left leaning against some other books on the bookshelf and was partially hanging off the edge, which had surely caught their eyes. It was an old photo album I’d not thought about in years. It was leather-bound, about two inches thick, and had the logo we’d used for the Puppeteers embossed across its cover. In the logo, the t had been inverted and had lines running down from it to a monstrous skull. This book had been a gift to us from the Shaman of the South, a man known to us as the Judge after the first ridiculous Hunt we’d done for him. Back then, he’d still gone by his real name: Thomas Noble. This book had photos of the numerous Hunts we’d done for that man, and I had completely forgotten it existed.

Now that I had remembered it, I knew full well that the first photo in there would be of the enormous Basilisk we’d killed back in 1977. Stefan about managed to get himself killed on that Hunt, and while it’d been a thrilling experience at the time, the thought of it still gave me chills—and not anything close to the good kind. We’d only worked with the Judge for three years before turning our backs on the Hunt, but we’d still managed to go out on a mind-boggling number of Hunts. Even knowing I never wanted to return to the Hunt, sometimes I found myself wondering what life would be like for us all if we’d stayed in. Would the world be a better place if I’d Hunted after Stefan’d lost his legs? Looking down at that scrapbook, that bunny trail of thoughts started up again and other memories of those three years flooded back—certainly enough to fill up this album and then some. As I always did in those times, I squashed such silly notions like the insignificant bugs they were and returned my attention to other things.

I wondered how it’d gotten pulled out; it had to have been Stefan. No one else would have done so since Edward was still off at college finishing his fourth year. Besides, he didn’t even know the thing existed. To my knowledge, he’d only heard about the one Hunt that had ended it all for us. At least, that was the only story Stefan told him. The boy had had good enough sense to not bother asking me for more of them. I certainly wasn’t going to tell him about any of that. It did seem strange that Stefan pull the thing out after all these years. Once we’d made the decision to step away from the powered world, we rarely even talked about it. And when it came up between the two of us, it was always to say how well shot we were of that life.

The wriggling masses in my arms demanded my attention and additional kisses to distract my wandering mind. With a smile, I obliged them. Through their renewed bouts of laughter, I heard the ringing of the telephone. Of course, he’d call when I literally had my hands full. After kneeling to put the babies down, I grabbed the photo album to prevent a repeat performance. Before running over to answer the phone, I placed the book on a clear space on the mantle over our fireplace. That space had once been taken up by the sword Edward now used to uphold the family’s tradition; Homestead, we’d called it. The thing was named after the runes inscribed on its blade and had been passed down through Stefan’s family for generations. It would be an understatement to say my feelings on that sword, and everything it represented, were complex.

Before the call could get picked up by the answering machine, I pressed the Talk button on the cordless handset.

Edward, hunny? What’d she say?

One

"So, how do you really feel about the answer she gave you?" Clancy asked as he pushed a plate of loaded hash browns over to Edward Mauer.

Honestly, I think it went about as well as it could have. Probably better than I expected.

Clancy’s shoulders bounced with the sudden burst of laughter.

Them’s some low expectations, I’d say.

---

Edward simply shrugged.I’d say they were realistic, ass.

Clancy started chuckling again and waved for Dottie to bring him a refill on his black coffee. Edward noted with a smile that the red-haired hostess of the Dot ‘n Dash had already been making her way toward them. She offered Edward the usual pseudo-lascivious wink and poured some coffee for him.

I hear my competition’s about to get slightly more serious, eh, Eddie?

I guess you could say that, Dot. But not exactly, he replied, making a seesaw motion with his hand.

How’s that? Dottie asked.

Primarily because she hasn’t given me an answer.

That girl didn’t just say yes and immediately tackle you? Come on, now. Her head tilted in a conspiratorial manner, she shifted her eyes from side to side as she spoke. You wanna make her jealous? I can help you there.

Yeah, thanks, but I think I’ll give her some space to make the decision on her own, Edward offered, both confused and embarrassed. He was certain a blush was creeping up from the collar of his shirt.

You just let me know, hun. I’m sure we could figure out a way to make her real jealous. Absolutely make her come running to you.

Not quite sure it’d produce that kind of response, but the offer is appreciated, I think?

Dottie offered one last shrug-and-wink combo before pouring the exact amount of creamer Edward preferred into his coffee. With a smile, she headed over to assist someone across the diner.

Is she serious about all that? Edward asked, turning to face Clancy.

There’s a certain amount of flirtiness that ol’ Dot’s ha—

Not old, jerk, and I can hear just fine, she yelled from across the way without even looking in their direction.

S’why we love ya, Clancy replied without bothering to raise his voice to be heard above the din. She waved a red and white plaid kitchen towel at him. The older Hunter continued with a grin, Anyways, she’s kinda always been that way, but ya’ never know. You might just have a shot with her.

I think I’ll stick with someone closer to my own age.

Sure, sure. I get that. I mean, she’s aged astonishingly gracefully. That woman’s looked the same since before I was your age. Can’t remember her looking any different, and I’ve been coming to the Dot ‘n Dash for longer than you’ve been alive.

Woah! She’s been running them that long?

Boy, you aren’t even scratching the surface there, but now’s not the time for a history lesson on this here diner. Tell me about the proposal. You serious that she just straight-up didn’t give you an answer? The hell, man?

I can’t seriously blame her. I just dropped a big ol’ turd of truth on her—

To be fair, I would also consider you proposing to me as a big ol’ turd, Clancy said with a Cheshire Cat grin that showed he was very pleased with himself at that moment. The grin turned into an exaggerated scrunched grimace when he was hit in the face with a small piece of bacon from Edward’s loaded hash browns. Don’t you throw that gross crap at me!

That wasn’t what I meant, and you know it.

Clancy’s grin came back as he flicked the bacon back at Edward and then wiped his hand on a nearby napkin.

I see you’re back to your weird aversion to bacon. Edward said.

Yeah, it’s nasty. Always has been, and any stories to the contrary are obviously made-up. The corner of Clancy’s face curl into a smile to no one in particular.

Ahhh, so that plate with bacon scraps sitting right next to your coffee wasn’t yours? Good to know.

Dot brought it over and forced me to eat it earlier while we were waiting for you to get your non-answer, is all.

"Weird that she made you eat it, but whatever, Edward said, rolling his eyes. How long’ve you been waiting?"

"A few hours, because someone took his sweet time proposing to his… girlfriend? Ex-girlfriend? Fiancée? Honestly, Edward, you need to get this figured out, if only so that I’ll know how to refer to Kana."

I guess you could just call her by her name.

That’d make entirely too much sense. Can’t do it.

I must say that I kinda like this snarky side of you. Way more fun to be around than the gruff Clancy persona I’ve come to know and suffer through.

You’re one to talk about suffering through something. Imagine what it’s like to see you doing…well, pretty much anything that has to do with the Hunt. Clancy shrugged, and his Cheshire Cat grin returned. Or anything else, for that matter.

Edward picked up a few more bacon projectiles and took aim at Clancy, but his target raised his arms to cover his face. The younger Hunter laughed while popping them into his mouth.

It’d be a shame to waste such delectable fried meats.

Back to the subject at hand, Clancy said, lowering his hands and glaring at his student.

Sure, sure. What’s up?

In all seriousness, you okay with how things went tonight? The stony expression Edward had grown to expect from Clancy was back. There was one crack in it, though; the man’s icy blue eyes shone with genuine care.

Edward took a few moments to consider his answer, then nodded.

Yeah. I think so. I guess I’m kind of takin’ it on faith, ya know?

I do, Clancy said as he nodded. Edward once again noticed the man’s eyes flicker a darker shade for a moment while he was nodding. Sometimes the Elite Hunter’s eyes seemed to do that, but it was always something that could be argued away as a trick of the light.

Figured you might. I said my piece and, to be honest, that part went pretty well. She didn’t kick me out on the spot. He paused for a moment to laugh before continuing. "Well, she actually kinda did, but her sister put a stop to that by… Not important. The fact of the matter is, Kana listened. We talked about the powered world, and she actually listened to what I was saying. No running off screaming. No flat-out denials."

S’a good start, that’s for sure. What then?

Then we talked for a while, hence my delay in getting here. And then I needed to call my mom to update her on the proposal.

Good Southern boy. Wise to keep your mama in the loop. How’d she take the news?

Told me Kana was stupid for not jumping into my arms. Then Mom offered to kill her if she hurt me. I’m pretty sure she was joking, but I can honestly say I’ve never heard her sound quite like that before.

"Yeah, knowing what I do about your parents, them having retired notwithstanding, I would be more surprised if she was joking than not."

That’s a bit spooky and enigmatic, but sure? Besides, it was more important to me to spend the time I needed with Kana tonight than to check that voicemail you left for me.

"I can understand that this time."

Edward nodded to his trainer that he could appreciate the emphasis on this time as an exception.

What’d you wanna talk about, anyway? Surely not just the proposal.

We’ll get to that in a bit. There are miles to go before we sleep, but this is more important for now.

Edward shrugged again.

It’s your dime, I guess. Anyways, we talked for a helluva long while, and I showed her the vial you gave me so she could see the powered world for a few minutes. The ring fit real nicely around the thing, so I left it on there. When I proposed, she just kinda stared at me for a moment before taking the whole thing from my hand. Edward grimaced and patted the left side of his sportcoat before continuing, At that point, she took the ring off the vial like it was the less interesting of the two. Of all the things that went down over there, that’s the one that stung the most.

Clancy leaned back and took a breath in sharply through his teeth.

Yeah, that kinda sucks, for sure.

You aren’t kidding. Anyway, she just looked at the liquid in the vial for a minute and asked if she could keep it. I told her that she absolutely could, but reminded her that it’d only work for a few minutes. I also asked if she wouldn't mind me being around when she eventually used it…if she ever chose to. She agreed and said that that made sense to her.

What happened after that?

We sat on her back porch and just held hands in silence for a while. It was kinda nice to just be next to her. The weight of the truth was gone, and it felt good to just exist near her without all that hanging over us. Clancy nodded.

So, seriously, you’re okay with not knowing?

Yeah… Edward paused to think about his answer. "It’s not a no, and even if that is her answer, she’s making a decision knowing the truth. I respect her too much for that to not be ok. It’d suck that big ol’ turd I mentioned earlier if she said no, but I could at least understand why."

You certainly have a way with words, Edward. That’s super gross, ya’ know that?

I do, indeed. You’re welcome, by the way.

Casually, Clancy flipped off his student and then smiled at him.

Now that you’ve provided the conversation with that horrible little nugget, mind if we move this show along?

Sure thing. Or I can just drop more jokes about poop if you’d really like me to.

Nah, I’m good. Besides, we got shit— Clancy stopped himself and grimaced at his unintentional play on words. "Things to discuss."

Yeah, you did! Edward cackled and pointed at his trainer.

"You want me to just pack this whole training thing up? It’s not too late, and your sense of humor might be a good enough reason to just call the whole thing off."

Edward rolled his eyes at the older Hunter and waved a dismissive hand toward him.

You know I’m funny. Who else could make jokes this good?

"Anna. You know, my daughter who isn’t even quite six years old. That’s who. Your jokes are almost on her level." At Edward’s thumbs-up in response,

Clancy shook his head. That wasn’t a compliment, Edward.

The younger Hunter offered a childish raspberry, which caused Clancy to simply shake his head again.

A year invested, it really would be a waste to flush— dammit, Edward. Stop smirking at me like that!

Edward couldn’t stop himself from laughing at that point. He rocked back and forth in the chair, clutching his sides.

You done?

"I haven’t been the one making jokes here. But, if you can control yourself, I think I stop laughing at your awesome jokes."

Clancy narrowed his eyes at the student across from him and sighed. "In all seriousness. You royally screwed the pooch on your last few Hunts, so we’re going to change things up for the next one. When do your classes finish up?"

The student sensed the conversation had shifted tones, so Edward looked his trainer in the face, adopting a serious but respectful demeanor. Last final is Wednesday of next week. What’s the plan? Time for me to pop down to my parents’ house before we head off on the next adventure?

Sadly, no. As little as I want to incur the ire of Stefan or Maria Mauer, we’ve got business down south.

Like in the southern Tennessee area?

Nah, for this one, we’re going real far south. Down to Florida. Everglades.

Oh, cool! So, do I get to kill a monster gator or giant boa constrictor or something? Are they down there?

"There are some enormous snakes down there that could eat you whole without thinking twice, but they’re not the problem today. Honestly, most of those don’t mess with humans much…the clothes and shoes and whatnot are annoying to digest. If anything, they help us not have to Hunt in the Everglades as often as you might think ‘cause they end up eating most of the critters that would end up causing us grief."

Huh. Wouldn’t’ve called that, but neat.

Ya’ live, ya’ learn, Clancy offered with a shrug. We’ve gotta get down there to track something down. You in?

Sure. This a solo, Elite, or normal Hunt?

Phillip got a hold of me a couple days ago, Clancy said. He was referring to Phillip Noble, the son of the Shaman of the South and in charge of requisitioning Elite Hunters for the State. He asked when I’d be coming back into town because he wanted a few Mags to look into this. I’ve always had a special place for Phil, so I thought this’d be a good opportunity for you to make up for your previous experience.

Whoa! The Magnolias are looking into this? Isn’t that your team? Clancy made a see-sawing motion with his hand.

"I mean, yeah, it is, but there’re a bunch of Mags at this point. He said the name of his team with air-quotes. We’ve kinda become a loose confederation of Elite Hunters more-so than just one team."

"Still. That’s badass! And you’re going to let me go with the Mags? Do I get to be striker or lancer? Please tell me I can be striker for a Mags Hunt!"

Slow it up there, trigger. You’re neither.

Wait, what? I don’t get it. I’d have to be one or the other.

There are three parts to a Hunt team, Edward, Clancy said with his lips drawn together. He looked very unimpressed at the moment. Even you should know that.

A horrified look of realization came over Edward’s face.

No. No, you seriously…no! Don’t be like that, man. Clancy simply nodded.

Dude. Don’t make me a comm on my first mission with the Mags! Ugh.

Clancy’s only response was to grin and waggle his eyebrows like some kind of Olympic eyebrow-dancer.

Two

Edward took a deep breath and knocked on the bedroom door of his best friend. Charlie Logan had been his first roommate in college and was the most solid friend he’d had prior to Kana. Sadly, the same thing that had driven Kana away had also lead Charlie to suddenly become busy enough to successfully avoid Edward for large swaths of time. He knew Charlie’s general nature kept him from telling his friend that all the talk of survivalist camping trips and other similar excuses just didn’t add up, but Edward had been too blind to see what was going on with his friend.

Having previously revealed the powered world to Kana, Edward planned on doing the same with his friend. He hoped Charlie would understand why Edward had made the choice to keep his friend in the dark, and they could go back to some semblance of how things had been. Charlie had opted to return home to his parents’ house when Edward had moved into his current apartment. The excuse at the time had been to save on money, but Edward was very aware of how much his friend hated living under the same roof as his brother. James Logan was four years younger than his brother but absolutely insufferable. He was constantly talking about his various sports achievements and all of the attention he’d garnered because of them. James also completely disregarded all of the things Edward and Charlie found themselves gravitating toward, such as math, science, video games, anime, and Dungeons & Dragons. To make matters worse, James could do no wrong in the eyes of Charlie’s parents. So, it never mattered how well Charlie was doing in college, his high school jock brother had always been the one garnering all of the attention and praise.

Piss off, James. I don’t wanna hear it! Charlie screamed from the other side of the door.

Sorry, dude. Not your brother, Edward responded sheepishly. He was glad Charlie had at least learned to stand up for himself against his brother; that was something.

Oh, crap. Edward, come on in, man. It’s been a while.

Edward smiled as he opened the door to find his former roommate occupied with a video game. The tv in his room was against the far wall, and the Hunter could tell that his friend was in the middle of a battle; playing from his customary cushion on the floor. One of the characters on the right side of the screen had a sword that looked like it was made of water, the second had some sort of soccer ball thing and overly stylized hair, and the third wore a black bustier that was working overtime to contain her top half along a skirt made almost entirely of belts. She was also holding an adorable stuffed cactus. Edward recognized the game immediately.

"Figured you would have beaten Final Fantasy X by now. It came out in

December."

"Oh, yeah. Totally beat it over winter break, but trying to max out everyone’s sphere grids