by Bob Dattolo
They both stepped forward and stared for nearly a minute. Mom finally turned back to me, “I’d like to request that you never, ever tell anyone about that. That should be impossible. And…no, don’t do that with your crown. Please.”
“Aaaalllll right?”
Melissa laughed as I closed the portal, “That’s the freakiest thing, you know that, right? Why a skull?”
“Umm, queen of the dead? Otherwise, no idea. I do love the design, though.”
“Yeah, I just bet you do.”
They didn’t say anything else as they got dressed. When they were done, they both looked amazing. Mom has on another martial looking outfit, this one with skulls in the design that sort of mirror what I had on last time. I think she’s trying to show that she’s connected to me. Melissa had an odd outfit on that sort of had signs of both of our outfits in place plus something more that I couldn’t figure out.
The ancient fey in the room looked us over, nodded, and headed towards the door. “Shall we? No rest for the wicked.”
We passed in to the hallway, and Melissa got her first look at the castle. She was suitably impressed. Then again, so was I. I may have seen it a few times already, but it’s just that impressive. I’m not sure I envision a time where I’ll never not be impressed by it.
As we walked, I thought back through the day, eventually nudging Mom, “Umm, not to distract us, but are Melissa and I basically playing hooky today?”
Mom raised an eyebrow at me, “You could say that.”
“What happened with the mages in school? I don’t think I ever asked?”
A small smile formed, “You did, although I’m thinking you don’t recall my answer?”
Uhh, oookay? “Ummm…not really? What did you say?”
“We left rather quickly, but I challenged them in your name. That allows me to step in as your champion, but with you being healthy again? I’m not seeing that being needed. They have until Sunday to respond, or it is assumed they accept.”
Melissa laughed from the other side of Mom, “They didn’t believe you. The principal didn’t have a clue what to do. The whole challenge thing is legal, but it’s on the back of him hitting Ceri. Do you plan to challenge him, too?”
I thought through that. I vaguely remember him hitting me. “Probably not? I’m not sure what he saw when he came up, not that I was doing much other than pulling power. The fact that he went after me and not those bastards for shoving Dave down confuses me, though.”
Mom’s smile widened, “Dave will be fine. By all means, work to protect him, but he is far harder to hurt than those boys will ever be able to appreciate.”
I nearly came to a stop, but the sheer momentum of our walk pulled me along, “What? So he is a supernatural? What is he?”
Mom faced forward again, “That, I won’t tell you. It’s his secret for now. By all means, ask him if you would like.”
Hmmm…okay. Something to do, I guess.
“You’re okay with me challenging them all?”
She laughed, filling the hallway with bells, to the point that others in the huge space slowed to a stop to watch us. “My daughter, they are dead, and they simply don’t know it yet. No one attacks my daughter.”
That makes me feel good as we continue to walk. As we clear another corner, I finally start to realize that people are staring at us. Well, at Mom and me. Melissa is being looped in, but she’s not quite the one being focused on. For some reason, that distracts me yet again.
“Umm, how much time has passed?”
“It is Thursday.”
“Okay, so we didn’t miss Melissa’s birthday?”
“No, we did not.”
I looked across to my friend, “Have you picked out anything that you want for your birthday?”
She gave me a look that I’m sure was supposed to get me to back off. “Are you kidding right now?”
“Umm…nope?”
“She’s not kidding, Melissa.”
“What?! You both bought me thousands of dollars of things already! You’re letting me live in your house!”
“Be that as it may, pick some nice things for your birthday.”
We pretended not to hear her grumbling as we continued to walk. She played herself out before we reached the throne room, stopping at the guards. Mom gave them our names, and we waited nearly 20 minutes to be announced. When they were ready, the huge door opened and a loud voice called out, “Lady Rasphael with Melissa…and Lady Ceri, Queen of the Dead.”
The throne room has been bustling with activity every time I’ve seen it where the king is present. I haven’t been in it a ton, but when I’ve been by it and people were being introduced, the various conversations inside tended to continue.
This time every voice hushed immediately, meaning we processed inside in a bubble of silence. Mom was in the lead, with me off of her left side and Melissa on the opposite. We moved up into a circle about 20 feet from the throne, and Mom stopped, moving into a bow. I followed her, Melissa going with it as well. We probably should have taught her more about protocol or something. Then again, she’s not 17 yet, so she’s considered a child by the fey standards and they’re usually cut a bit of slack.
Silence from the throne greeted us for long, long minutes. Thank God I’m so strong, otherwise I bet this would have sucked.
The king’s voice finally broke the silence, “You claim to be a queen…do you seek to usurp my reign? Take my throne?”
I stayed down, “No, my king. I have claimed my crown and my throne due to your good will, and I am still yours to command. My people are your people once more, just slipped beyond the veil of life.”
“Your people are my people? And what if the crown is threatened again? Which side will you take?”
I still didn’t rise, “I stand where I have always stood. With my king. With my mother. With my leader. If the throne is threatened, if the land is threatened, if my adopted people are threatened, then our enemies will face the might of more than 8 billion undead under my mother’s command.”
I waited long minutes from that point as silence filled the space, only to have it broken by laughter from the throne, “Thank all that is holy…the city lives. Please rise and approach…”
We spent nearly three hours with the king. It became readily apparent that the city has been a known thing for century upon century, going back past the time of his great grandparents. It was known a long time back that the city would be needed in order to defend the people of the between lands, just not when that would take place. So…me being given the land and waking the city up was rather preordained. At least to an extent.
That’s both awesome and terrifying. Awesome because, hey, followers! Terrifying, because who the hell is going to attack the between lands that require 8 billion defenders? I’m not sure I want to know that.
We were back home by dinner time on Thursday, which was pretty good. We left their fancy clothes there in storage again, while my crown went away where my sickle goes. My clothes changed to a normal set of shorts and a t-shirt as I crossed through the portal to the kitchen in Virginia. Mom and Melissa followed me, with Melissa smirking at my change of clothes.
“Isn’t that just the coolest thing? We should see if we can find a set for you guys!”
“You, uhh, did pick up that those things are incredibly rare, right?”
Mom patted me on the shoulder before moving past me, “Please tell me you heard that part?”
“I did? But then again, I just raised four dragons from the dead and gave them the power to raise 40 more. At some point here we’ll have baby dragons being born again. I’d like to think that we have an in to getting another set like this.”
Mom stutter stepped and then leaned into the counter, “Oh…oh my. I hadn’t thought about that.”
I raised a hand, “Hold on a second.” Instead of sending a shaft of light, I opened a portal, finding the main dragon that pretty much helped me along with everything.
His massi
ve eyes widened at seeing me, “My queen?”
“Hi. Just so you know, I’m back on Earth again for a bit. If you need me for anything, or your brothers, please connect with me. I will do everything I can to help you.”
“As you wish.”
“Ummm, and…I was given a set of clothing from a baby dragon’s skin?” I shifted my clothes back to the original set that I’d been given. The huge dragon leaned up to the portal and sniffed.
“Oh my…those are made from my scales. I gave those so long ago…I was so proud…I never knew who they were meant for…”
“In that case, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I may have only received them today, but they’re precious to me.”
He bowed, making me pull back from being so close to follow his face, “It is my pleasure, my queen.” He stood back up, “You surely didn’t open a portal from another world to tell me that, though?”
“I did not. I was wondering…if it is not an issue, my mother and a friend, the two I had with me there? Would it be possible for them to receive the same? I’m not sure what I can pay you with…”
He chuckled, “My queen, you simply have to request it and it will be done.”
“I don’t want to force…”
“It is not a force situation. You are our queen. As long as the skins are not abused, it is our privilege to gift you with them.”
“Thank you.” I could feel him deep inside, and it filled me with awe for someone to love me this much. “Umm, how is your mate-search going? Were you able to…”
He laughed as another huge head joined his, “My queen.” A female dragon voice came through the portal, making my jaw fall open.
“Holy…you came back?”
“I have. Stronger than ever…and with my love. Thank you for this second chance.”
I sent a shaft of golden light at her, looping her in at the same time I reached for the other dragons, finding three more. I pulled them in as well. “You are most welcome for the second chance. You have a bit of a job ahead of you. You need to repopulate the dragon species. I wouldn’t try to come to Earth unless we get buy-in from the governments. The militaries here are strong enough to kill you.”
She nodded, “We are already working on it.”
I pulled the portal back, catching that they were in fact working on it. As in right now.
They chuckled as I realized I caught them mid-sex. “My apologies…thank you both for your sacrifices. The city is alive again. We are tied in with the fey kingdom…and you have your tasks ahead of you. If either of you talk to the people of the city, please let them know that I am willing to bring back any species that has died out.”
The male dragon bowed his head again, continuing to thrust away, “We will, my queen.”
I let the window close without saying anything else and hit all eight of them with additional light, trying to focus in on what they were doing, and pushing hard. As my magic dove into them, focusing on the females, I could feel where they were connected. I could feel their wash of feelings and what they were doing to each other. I could feel it as if it were happening to me…and I’ve never had balls or a penis to feel it before. It’s different, I’ll tell you that much.
My magic focused in two spots, and a spike of magic flowed into each of the points on the couple, and both partners writhed in orgasm as my magic drove into both of them, stimulating them beyond their ability to stop it. Not that they want to. It’s their whole purpose for doing what they’re doing.
It’s just that I’m preeetty sure this is going to result in a pregnancy for each of the girls.
I smiled wide as I pulled my magic back. Mom was staring at me, having felt me doing something with my magic, “What have you done now, daughter?”
“Umm…what’s the gestation time for a baby dragon?”
She cocked her head, “They are born from eggs. I believe I heard that it’s somewhere in the nature of a year and a half before they are born. Why?”
“Umm, because I’m pretty sure we’re going to have four more dragons in the between lands in a year and a half or so.”
Melissa wrinkled her nose, “I don’t get it? How would that be? They’d have to be pregnant right now?”
“Well, they’re busy having sex at the moment, as in all of them, so I helped them along. I think they’ll all get pregnant from what I did. That’s what it felt like, at least.”
Mom sighed, “Daughter-mine…you never cease to amaze me.”
We decided on dinner, and I floated the idea of getting Tara and Marisela to come over as well.
Mom shot part of that down pretty quickly, “Tara is meeting with her lawyers tonight to review our proposal.”
“And she has enough money now…”
“She has plenty. The lawyers have been paid to help her set up accounts and to protect her…and her parents. They are truly working for her best interest.”
“Does that mean we could get screwed in this?”
She shrugged, “Screwed? Hardly. If we made a dollar off of the deal, we would be in a better position than we are now. The only way we get screwed is if we lose money. That being said, the lawyers are not foolish. I doubt they will attempt to gouge. I will allow it if you agree, but I do not believe they will try to kill the goose before it lays any eggs at all. While there are potential billions on the line here, it will take billions to bring everything to market successfully.”
Huh, “Good point.”
“Thank you. I’d like to think that I have a head for business.”
“And yet you’re a secretary for the FBI.”
She shrugged, “I believe my task there is coming to an end.”
I froze at that, “You what? You may quit?”
Another shrug came back, “I was there to make sure I was in the right place at the right time. That’s not to say that I don’t have a role there any longer, but the main driver is, I believe, either done or at the tail end of being in motion right now.”
“Wow…so what would you do?”
“I am thinking of training to be in the Olympics. Winter. Possibly cross-country skiing.”
Melissa began laughing, “Please tell me you’re kidding!”
Mom’s laughter died down, “I am. They would never allow me to enter. It’s against the rules. On the other hand…I’m not sure. I may stay there. I do enjoy the job, but there are other things that I enjoy. Crafting? I have thought a lot about opening a craft store online. Selling leatherwork. Jewelry. Things like that.”
“Wow, that sounds cool. You can really do that?”
I jumped into the conversation, “Mom has done pretty much everything a time or two in her life. I doubt there’s anything that she can’t do. Except maybe rebuild a jet engine.”
Mom shrugged, “Not the current models, anyway. I did spend some time during World War II helping in various ways.”
The room fell into laughter at that. Mostly because both Melissa and I knew that she was telling the truth.
We picked up Marisela an hour later, finding her home alone. Her mom got more hours at work, so she was gone already. Gone enough that I wouldn’t have had a chance of finding her to drive her the rest of the way.
The bigger girl was smiling wide in the back seat, “What the hell happened in school?!? The rumors are craaazy. Some said you tried to kill the principal?”
Melissa laughed with me and explained pretty much everything, leaving out just a ton of details. When she was done, Marisela squinted at me in the mirror, “Wait, so you said you were hurt, right? Are you saying you’re not hurt any longer?”
“Umm, no? I healed.”
“What the hell did you do to heal?”
“Umm…I can’t quite tell you that. Let’s just say that I made some connections that helped me magically.”
She spread her hands, “So…you said you could do some really cool things? Like what?”
I nodded forward, “What to see something really cool that you shouldn’t ever te
ll anyone I can do?”
“Umm, sure?”
I created a portal about a hundred yards ahead and slowed enough so that she could see what was different about the road. Then drove through it, appearing in our driveway.
“What. The. Fuck!” The ripe scent of fear and agitation filled the car.
“I told you that I can do some cool things! That’s a portal, basically. It makes getting around really easy, although it’s not supposed to be possible. My mom can’t do it.”
The smell of agitation faded slowly as I parked, but the fear didn’t go away. “That’s…that’s…”
Melissa got out and opened Marisela’s door, “Trust me, you haven’t seen anything yet. That’s pretty freaking cool and all, but I got to see real dragons in the between lands.”
Our friend slid out of the truck, “Uhh…what? Dragons are extinct! My grandparents told me that.”
“Not anymore.” I didn’t elaborate on that as I clapped her on the back, “Come on. Time to get some food!”
She followed us in, and we found Mom in the midst of cooking her mind out. I’ve been told that she’s an amazing cook, but I haven’t exactly been with her long enough to really see her doing it. It’s like watching a dance. I’m thinking that she thinks of it as a battle of some sort, otherwise…I’m not sure how she’d be this good.
“Can we help with anything?”
She nodded once, “Grab an apron, I have tasks!” We put them on and went to work…and she pretty much proved to me that it is a battle to her. Every command that she gave us was perfect. Every request was spot-on. It’s the craziest thing to watch someone in their domain. While people aren’t dying, I guess her skills carry over. Frankly, she must be a beast at project management.
We settled down to a table full of food less than an hour later, and the conversation was far more normal than you’d think.
“So,” Marisela eventually asked, “are you going to challenge the guys?” She didn’t bother trying to elaborate on who she meant.
“Yeah.”
She looked to the others, but they barely reacted.
“Seriously? That’s it? Just yeah?”
“Yeah? I warned them. They decided to ignore the warning. Then they attacked me with that spell. I’m not about to let that go.”