by Elsa, Sandra
“There is a fiancée, and it doesn’t matter if she’s here. I’ve grown a new coat of scales, so just stop. You knew when we got together it would never be more than a bit of fun.”
“You have fun all up and down the boardwalk,” she sniped. “What if I told you I was pregnant as a result of your bit of fun?” I wondered if she’d planned to trap him into marrying her, or if hearing us talk about it put the idea in her head.
“If you told me that, I’d laugh at you and ask who else you’ve been sleeping around with. Our species are genetically incompatible in the creation of life.”
Trixie stuck her nose in the air and stomped off.
“Wish the people who created my ancestors had come up with that one.”
“Great-grandfather assures me it wasn’t anything they planned, but let’s face facts; once you add fish DNA to human DNA you have a whole new species. In your case, they only tampered with magic.”
“Guess that makes sense.” I picked up my fork and started eating. After the third bite I put the fork down and asked. “It makes sense, except Sorenson’s mother is a Were, which I guess pretty much puts her in the same category as you, and his father is a mage.”
“That shouldn’t be possible. Weres always marry Weres unless they’re not interested in having a family, or plan to adopt.”
“But he’s a Were with talent. He must have been telling the truth about that.”
“I suppose it’s possible his father has some freakish talent with fertility.”
I nodded. “That would make sense. Wonder if they brought him along. Still a mage shouldn’t have been able to affect me.”
“Like you said, quite probably the doctors. But from what you said, your father was able to affect your mother’s birth control, so you might want to ask him how he did that.”
“That’s simple. I figured it out when I had the device implanted. It’s not a spell cast against me, it’s inserted, becoming a part of my body, so my body accepts it, but that doesn’t make it a natural part of me. In order to turn something off you find the spell, you don’t affect the person, so he wasn’t casting against my mother, he was casting against the spell itself.”
“I follow…I think. So if you swallowed something that your stomach’s acid wouldn’t eat, theoretically a mage could cast a spell on that item but not on you?”
“I guess. Like I told Harrison when his father started messing with hedge-witchery. I can be affected by things I eat. I can get food-poisoning so I assume if somebody slips me a potion it would affect me. But I honestly don’t understand me any better than the rest of the world does. I spent most of my life hiding my abilities away. Until President Drover walked into a dinner party we were having I didn’t even realize the null field expanded and contracted. I mean, I knew it would expand to protect places I thought of as mine, but that’s how I always thought of it. A gradual expansion. After that dinner party, Harrison reasoned out that I must be able to control it, even if I’d only been doing it subconsciously until then, and he was right.”
“Null field?”
“It’s like a blanket, surrounding me. Actually it’s nullspace kinda three dimensional but not really. I apparently store a lot of stuff there, magical stuff that is, but then again I have no idea where there really is.”
“Ohh, I get it.” And amazingly he looked like he really did. “Don’t look so surprised, just because I’m not into the biogenetics thing, doesn’t mean I’m scientifically stupid.”
“I would never have implied such a thing. I’m not into the genetics thing either and I don’t consider myself stupid, but if you can explain it to me, I’ll award you genius status.”
“If something bypasses the null field by being inserted within you via doctor, injection, eaten, shoved down your throat, inhaled or whatever method you can come up with, as long as it is not actively magic the null field allows it to pass. It continues to function, even if activated once within you, like birth control, because it isn’t in the null field. The null field surrounds you, but it isn’t a part of your body.”
“Wow.” I sat back and stared at him. “Just…wow. That makes entirely too much sense. So where do you want me to pin the button that says ‘Genius’?”
He grinned. “You can rubber stamp it on my ass. That way when somebody calls me a smartass I can prove them right.”
I laughed and picked up my fork. All things considered, my appetite remained healthy. I dug into my food and didn’t slow down until my plate was clean. Paul matched me, forkful for forkful and we finished right about the time a waitress, not Trixie, brought our to-go orders.
The plastic box was solid with two metal latches that kept the top firmly sealed. Within, each meal was packed in separate plastic containers.”
Paul picked up the box by the stout handle on its surface and he nodded to the cashier as we left. Outside on the boardwalk I said, “You know I can pay for food sometimes.”
“After I almost ruined your meal, paying for it was the least I could do.”
“You didn’t almost ruin my meal. It was something of a shock, but I’m over it. I resent that I know somebody manipulated me into having a child now, but it’s not like we swore we would never have a family. And Harrison will be delighted. All’s well that ends well. Too bad the person that caused this to happen now, when he knew I didn’t want it, will never see his grandchild.”
“How will you manage that?”
“I don’t plan on moving to District Seven, and I don’t plan to invite him to our world.”
“Good luck with that. You may be able to keep him from taking over, but if people seriously start colonizing, you’re not going to be able to keep him out.”
“Don’t you think you’ve said enough for one day?” I grumbled at him. I was still a little damp around the edges as we strolled out onto the pier. Night had stolen twilight’s glimmer of light while we ate. I stared down at water reflecting moon, stars and boardwalk lamps. It looked perilous, the depths inky. I debated taking a bus back, when Paul pushed me over the side, diving into the water beside me as I floundered. I got my feet underneath myself and started treading water. The first head that popped up beside me wasn’t Paul’s, but Poppy’s. I laid a hand on her fin and she tugged me away from the pier.
When Paul did show up I said, “You’re lucky I’m not armed.”
“If you were armed, your weapons would be waterlogged.”
“I could still have fish fillet. Little water never hurt a knife.”
“Let’s get back. You have some news to give your husband.”
I glanced up at the sky. “Don’t suppose you know what time it is?”
He looked upward, then said, “Eight fifty-two.”
“You cannot tell that precisely by looking at the sky.”
He grinned and pointed to where a red mage-lit sign peeked over the top of one of the hotel’s at the southern end of the boardwalk.
“Shit. I should probably check on Jeffrey before I go back. Now that I’m soaking wet again, thank you very much.” Poppy tugged me toward shore and Paul followed us.
When her belly rubbed sand, she stopped and I stood up. “Thanks for the ride, Poppy. Back in a half hour or so.”
Chapter 29
Paul joined me before I was halfway across the beach, clad in a clean, dry pair of shorts. He held out a t-shirt and another pair of shorts. I carried them to a change house, even though Paul seemed to think I should just change standing on the beach.
I swished my hair around and ran it through my hand to squeeze as much water out of it as possible then we headed for the Jonah hotel. Annabel answered my knock, Lisa hovered protectively behind her, completely blocking the view.
“What do you want?” Lisa growled.
“Just wanted to check on Jeffrey. He should be up soon.”
“Where’s Harrison? And who is this barely clad person.”
“Paul’s a friend, and Harrison’s busy. Are you going to let me in to check Jeffrey,
or do I have to make you let me in?”
“You? What’s an untalented chit like you going to do to me?”
“You don’t want to know. Get the hell out of my way.”
I stepped forward and Annabel backed away until she ran into the wall of Lisa.
Paul stepped up behind me and wrapped a hand around my still slightly dripping hair. He leaned over my shoulder and pointed at Lisa. “Don’t give my friend a hard time.”
“Does Harrison know this man?” Lisa’s tone said what she thought about me being with a male ready to fight for me without using any words.
“Yes, Harrison knows him. As a matter of fact, Harrison is with Paul’s fiancée and grandfather right now.”
“Then why isn’t he picking up his phone?”
“There is no reception that deep,” Paul whispered in my ear.
“Maybe he doesn’t want to be bothered,” I told Lisa, and stepped forward again. “Lady…look…I don’t know you. The way it looks now, I don’t want to know you. But I am responsible for your husband’s condition and I will check on him before I leave here. Now you can get out of my way or I can move you out of my way.
She drew herself upright to an impressive height, at least three inches taller than myself and I’m no slouch at five-ten. Add her girth and she was rather formidable.
Paul turned his hand over and swished it through the air. Water left his fingertips and splattered across Lisa’s face barely touching Annabel as she hovered below trying to be inconspicuous. “What the hell?” Lisa roared as each droplet left a red mark on her cheek. ”You don’t want to start something with me.”
I felt her cast. I let my null field catch it. She stood, jaw hanging, and Annabel finally spoke up. “Let them in, Lisa. It’s plain you’re overmatched. What did you expect of Mage Jallahan’s daughter.”
“I expect her to be as untalented as her aura declares her to be.”
Paul positioned his hand in front of me as he had before he struck the last time. Lisa backed away. I turned to grin at him. “You’ll have to give me that trick.”
He trailed his fingers through my hair fluffing the dry strands. “Are you telling me you could have done that at any point in time?”
“Until our discussion at dinner, I didn’t think I could. But then I thought maybe I could reach through the field and use what was there.”
“Cool. Woulda been nice to know an hour ago.”
“Sorry. But now we do.”
“Ok. Let’s go check on Jeffrey and get back before everybody else’s food turns frigid. Where’d you leave it?”
“Emmy’s holding it for us by the grates.”
“Is Emmy one of Poppy’s relatives, or one of yours?”
“Poppy’s, and they don’t stay on task long so yes we need to move.”
I strode past Lisa and Annabel and through the door into the bedroom. Jeffrey hadn’t moved since we left him. I searched him for energy and came away glad to note his talent had returned.
“What’s the prognosis?” Paul asked.
“He’ll be fine. Talent’s strong. Should wake up in the next hour or so, good as new.”
“Then why not wake him up and get these folk out of your room.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to argue that I couldn’t, because when Dee put someone to sleep they stayed asleep, but I realized he was right. It was a spell. I placed my fingertips on Jeffrey’s lips. Lisa sucked in her breath, and I paused to be lambasted for touching her husband. When she remained quiet, I said, “Wake up, Jeffrey,” while I searched for Dee’s spell and turned it off.
His eyelids fluttered. He stared up at me with rapid lucidity, and watched as I lifted my hand from his mouth. He glanced over my shoulder to Paul, and finally to Lisa and Annabel. After clearing his throat he asked, “Where’s Harrison?” His hand went to touch his lips where mine had been.
“He’s preoccupied. Not to rush you, but we were taking food back to them when I realized it was about time for you to wake up.”
“Yes. Of course. My apologies. It wasn’t my intent to put you out. Just wanted to speak to you and Harrison without Jordan around.”
“We’ll talk.” I turned to Annabel, because frankly I didn’t want to talk to Lisa. “Do you still have your other rooms?”
“I went down and held them for another two days.”
“Good, then Jeffrey, we’ll see you tomorrow morning. Annabel if you could call Jerry and let him know Harrison and I won’t be at the house, I’d appreciate it.”
“Why don’t you call him yourself?” Lisa demanded.
“For starters, my phone probably wouldn’t have done well traveling the way I did to get here. Didn’t think it would be that great a problem for a mother to call her son.”
“I’ll do it. It’s no problem.” For the first time, Annabel’s voice took on some strength. I was going to have to ask Harrison about the group dynamics of his extended family.
“Thank you. Now, good-night.”
“Miss…” Jeffrey sat up on the edge of the bed, pausing to breathe deeply. “Francesca. Forgive me, I know you’re in a hurry, but could you thank your friend for me. Prince Charming wasn’t it?” His eyes twinkled, and not even the red irises made it anything but warm and friendly.
“I reckon that’s what she named herself. I’m not sure if she’s still around, but if I see her, I’ll tell her. From the looks of her and Ryan, she may just end up in District Seven.” It seemed odd to think of Dee living there but I acknowledged it was a distinct possibility.
“Tell her to look me up. What she did for me deserves its rewards. I don’t know how I miscalculated so badly. Haven’t done that since I was a stripling just coming into my talent…before I figured out I needed to have a focal point for landing. I owe her plenty. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll use your bathroom and we’ll get out of your hair.”
What a pleasant man. He was either a better actor than his brother, or he tried doubly hard to make up for his other family members’ short-comings. I glanced at Lisa, and pondered how he had ever ended up tied to a shrew like her.
“Ok. You have a good evening.” I turned and stalked out under Lisa’s glaring watch.
Once the doors closed behind us, I shuddered. “That woman would wear on my last nerve. I understand why Harrison didn’t want to stay around her. Let’s get going.”
I gathered up my wet clothing from the changing house and we headed back toward the pier, but Poppy swam near, chirruping to me.
“I’ll meet you out there,” Paul said. He headed up toward the keeper as I made my way to Poppy’s side and threw my leg over her back.
I laughed joyously to realize it had become normal in my life to ride a dolphin. The moment I settled, Poppy headed for deeper water. She stopped to circle and I could feel the current against my legs, like a giant breathing. She’d just started her second circle when another dolphin surfaced holding the plastic handle of the to-go food in her mouth. “Hello, Emmy.” I stroked the newcomers head and she butted against my hand. “You’re so wonderful. Thank you for keeping the food for us.”
She wriggled and I thought for a moment she’d leap out of the water and there was no good way I saw that ending for the food, so I said, “Would you like me to hold that for you?” and she placed her mouth by my hand and allowed me to take the food so she could cavort with the rest of the pod.
“Emmy!” Paul’s voice rang over the water. ”Didn’t I give you a job to do?”
“My fault,” I said, holding the container in the air. “She was getting a bit excited so I told her I’d hold it.”
Emmy, in the meantime had stopped playing and slunk over to Paul’s side. He patted her head. “My mistake, thank you.” She immediately went back to playing, incident forgotten. Paul swam over beside us and tugged me off Poppy’s back. Poppy nudged my hand on the container and I gave it to her. Paul grinned and said, “Ready?”
“As I’m likely to be.” He sank through the pitch black water, stopping a
fter a long while to tug open a grate that not even the submerged light disc illuminated enough for me to see. I felt Poppy brush past us and then he swam in and shut the grate with an eerily loud clang before zipping up the tunnels. I closed my eyes. Wasn’t any point to having them open and with them closed I could almost convince myself that all I had to do was open my eyes to be able to see.”
In no time, the lab’s light glowed ahead of us. Paul reached out to open the grate to the tank. Poppy darted out. She swam over to the side of the tank
Jesse hopped up to take the food. “Thank you, Poppy.” She looked over to where I floundered, trying to get my feet under me. Paul held me until I righted myself then waited while I got out of the tank.
I shifted over to where they had stood earlier to be dried off. The dryer started before I could create too large a puddle. It took considerably longer for me to dry off since I was wearing clothes, but it proved efficient. When I stepped away from the dryer Harrison wrapped me in his arms. “Starting to worry about you.”
“We ate there, then I went up to wake up Jeffrey, so they could get out and about.”
“Aunt Lisa didn’t try any tricks on you?” He sounded worried.
“She tried. Paul slapped her with some water and she launched something at me. Since it’s easier to let null eat it I just stood there and stared at her, while she got flustered and thumped her chest. I really don’t see her and Jeffrey as a pair.”
He kissed me. “I’ll find out what she tried to use later. Other than that, everything went all right?”
“His magic’s back, I turned Dee’s spell off about an hour early so we wouldn’t have to rush back to make sure he was all right.”
“Great. Cause we’re sort of in the middle of something here.”
“No. You’re in the middle of something. I think me and Mom are gonna head back to the hotel. Not saying I’m bored to tears, but the most exciting thing I’ve done this afternoon is fly through a tunnel so dark I couldn’t see where we were going. I spun back to the tank. “No offense intended Paul. It was fun, something everybody should try at least once, but if you take me underwater again it’s going to be in the daylight, in the ocean.”