by Power, P. S.
Then, when he'd shut down around them, they'd feared they were losing him completely. It had been that shutting down, they both let him know, that had truly frightened them.
Little things came back to him, that he'd blocked out, over the years... The objects that had intent in them laying around the house, for instance, that being how he perceived magic, he knew now. The ceremonial circle in the basement covered with cardboard. The Fourth of July always having clear skies where they lived. Always a perfect, light dusting of snow in their neighborhood for Christmas, even if the surrounding areas stayed green.
Zack decided he could deal with it, and simply shut down the parts of it that he didn't want to notice right now. He'd deal with that later, after they had gone.
Merri clapped her hands together once.
"I need to go prepare food. Zack will need to eat again soon. His link to Claire makes it needful. I won't be but a moment." Then she practically ran away, to get thing ready.
His Grandparents just nodded at this, as if it were totally normal. He wondered what all Agnes Miller had told them? He'd have to ask, later, when he'd processed everything a bit more.
This was so weird.
Then they talked about people in his old neighborhood. How the neighbor girl had gone to college, but gotten pregnant and had to come back home. How the kid down the street, who used to bully Zack, had gotten arrested for drug trafficking and now had to do five to ten years in prison. Not that he'd enjoyed being pushed around, but it was sort of sad at the same time. That was a huge bite out of a normal life.
They continued on in this vein for a while, though for once Zack didn't find that every third story contained the message that he should find a wife. Apparently, in their minds, he had that part of things well covered. If they though it strange, they didn't bother mentioning it to him, even on the Shadow level.
“So, we'd love to see where you work, meet the other people you told us about. If were allowed.” The lilt to his Grandfather's voice became playful on that last bit, Zack knew that he didn't think for a second that they would be kept away.
He thought about it for a second and agreed.
“Claire has to get back to work and Troy needs to sleep. He has work in a few hours at the dance club. Claire owns it, by the way, making me cool by association. In fact, most everyone here is skating out of work today to meet you. Since Claire is the Ambassador and the only Vampire they have capable of working days right now, she really should be there, just in case. Right now Rose is there, another person you should both meet, I guess... Shall we go?” Walking to the back door of the kitchen, he took the two steps and escorted everyone through to the back of Something Wonderful one by one.
His Grandparents blinked and looked around, but didn't say anything out loud. On the Shadow level they were both horrified though, realizing how much they'd botched raising him after he'd come back.
“This is the store that Libby manages, they make designer gift baskets.” He pointed out some of the displays.
Libby piped up then, grinning at the older couple.
“Zack owns the store, which makes me cool by association...”
This got a chuckle from everyone. Libby had an awesome sense of timing, he noticed. He also noticed once again that she had a really cute ass, as she stepped ahead of him to show his Grandmother the store. With his grandparents standing there, he turned his mind away from that subject and focused on other things. Really hard.
Charli offered to take Florence to get her nails done later, if she had time, since she had an in at the nail shop.
“My mom will be thrilled to meet some of Zack's family. She keeps telling me that I should snap him up myself. Definitely a Zack fan there.” Her smile grew huge.
“I can probably get you in too, sir.” She said to James. “Buff those nails out. Maybe a complete mani-peddi?” Everyone laughed except Zack and his Grandfather, who had no clue what Charli meant at all.
Zack finally picked up why this had been funny from Claire's Shadow self, far too late to laugh about it. He suppressed the urge and led them all out into the hall. Everyone took off to their workplaces, mainly to get everyone ready for the important visitors, Zack knew. Everyone really wanted to impress his family, for some reason.
They headed to Frozen YoGurt first. Claire wanted to make something for James and Florence, she said, asking them for their orders immediately.
Rose lit up when she saw who had walked in.
“Zack! Are these your people?” She walked out from behind the counter. Not waiting for an answer. “So great to meet you! We need to get together later and chat! Being that we're all family here.”
She kept her comments just vague enough that she could play it off if they didn't know about the whole situation, her Shadow let him know. Though she'd bring that knowledge about if they hadn't already told them, since it would be important later. She didn't know why, but her own powers guided it into being, and couldn't be denied, not if they all wanted the universe to stay in balance.
He introduced them all.
“Rose is one of the women they wrangled into being my 'wife'. I believe her brother volunteered her for it without her knowledge, if I have it right?” He added wryly.
Florence gave her a hug, "We'd love to chat with you, we should make an appointment for that."
Claire wowed them with the creations she provided, works of art, even by her high standards. He hadn't seen his Grandparents look so happy for a long time. If ever. They laughed when Rose related what her mother had done to her brother Riley, after he tried to trick Zack into taking her to Lesser Shia.
“He ended up being covered in mud for three days! I had to run the Fun Zone by myself, but it was totally worth it. It was only what he had coming.”
When the treats were finished Zack walked them over to Candles and More.
“Kaitlyn and I run the front part, or at least I try to help when I can. I've been pretty busy with transfers and stuff the last few months. She did this latest window display.” He pointed it out as they walked in.
Kaitlyn smiled tentatively upon seeing them walk in, figuring out who they were, but not knowing what she could say or not, in front of them.
Zack explained with a shrug.
“It turns out that they're Mages, and that my father was adopted... I'm processing that still. So, they actually know everything, except that they don't, because they've been staying out of the loop on everything for a long time... So, I guess, more or less you should all know that Kaitlyn is pretty much my adopted daughter... You have to get her Christmas presents.” He went over the whole thing about the void and the time differences. Kind of glossing over the fact that he was, by all rights, incredibly ancient now.
Not missing a single beat, Florence moved to give Kaitlyn a big hug.
"How wonderful, dear! You'll have to come for the holidays next year."
Kate shook her head.
"More likely the other way around and you'll have to come visit us. Everyone will want to see you. This is so great! I guess I get new Grandparents now too!”
Lisa walked out from the back then, Felicia following along behind her.
“Oh! This is Lisa, my boss, Lisa Penbroke. The young looking Lady behind her, who's also a good bit older than she seems is my other adopted daughter, Felicia.” He grinned at them both, winking at the girl as she blushed.
“I am?” Her eyes went big.
“Of course you are. We've spent years together now, what, nearly fifteen years all told? I think that has to count for something.”
Lisa stared at James intently for a while. Finally, she shook his hand, still staring at him.
“You're James Vanhorn...” It came out of her as a simple statement, not a question.
He blinked.
“I haven't used that name for quite some time. I go by Hartley now, so does Florence.” He said seriously.
Feeling baffled, Zack looked to Lisa for an answer, since she'd always told him t
he truth and been pretty open about things. Nodding for a minute, remembering something she had heard once, a long time ago, according to her inner being, she explained.
“James Vanhorn used to have Eloise's job, Zack. About twelve years ago.” She bobbed her head at him.
“He used to be our leader.”
Of course he did, Zack thought to himself. That only made sense.
Chapter eighteen
Lisa nearly panicked then. A former leader counted as a dignitary, a real one, and as an Embassy, they had certain ceremonial duties to arrange. Eloise had to be contacted, and George would want to meet them too, being a social climber. Her mind spun trying to work out what to do as quickly as possible.
Zack decided to buy her some time.
“Lisa, why don't you arrange for some people to come out to my house tomorrow evening, after dark, so the Vampires can come? We'll have a late dinner or something, maybe a barbecue. The weather's been nice lately, even at night.”
She jumped on this.
“Right! Thanks Zack. I'll set it up now.” Then she turned to both James and Florence, almost panicking. “It's a pleasure meeting you. I didn't know that Zack's family had any Mages in it, even through adoption, or I'd have contacted you earlier...” Freezing then, she couldn't think of anything else to say.
This seemed odd to Zack. Lisa always managing to speak, even with famous people around, something she did often, at least on the phone. He didn't say anything for a moment either. Finally he thought of something to say, hoping it would make Lisa feel better.
“Oh! Right, Lisa, I told them about that agreement everyone came up with behind my back a few months ago?” He turned to his grandparents, tilting his head back at Lisa.
“She's another one of those wives I mentioned. Really, she handles the biggest share of the work around here, as far as that goes. She sets the schedules and cancels things when I can't work for some reason, which I know is probably the hardest part of the job. People get cranky when you tell them their vacation has to be postponed.” Moving to her side, he put his right arm around her.
“Really, I don't think we'd even be here at all without her.”
Lisa smiled shyly and hurried off to the back, a tear in her eye, he could tell, though he didn't have a clue as to why. He hoped that nothing he said had insulted her, or made her feel embarrassed. Her Shadow wasn't telling him. He thought he'd gotten it right though, it being the truth and not making her look bad at all, unless she hadn't wanted them to know that she was one of those 'wives', of course.
He continued taking them to meet everyone, ending with the Demons.
Devon rushed over to shake their hands.
“What a pleasure to meet you! You must be so proud of our Mr. Hartley, Zack here, I mean. He's managed some things in a few months that hadn't been done in years, you know. Great fellow, too.” He pulled James away to talk to him about things, sharing stories, and tales of the last months, when James mentioned he had been out of touch with the political situation for a while.
Beatrice came over and shook Florence's hand, smiling like a politician.
“Oh, Grandma, this is Beatrice. She's the Demon liaison officer, so if you need to get information on Demons or send one a message, she's the go to person here.” His hand touched her arm briefly, in a friendly manner. It still took work for him to make contact with her and not cringe.
“Zack still has some problems with us Demons, since he associates us with his father and that situation. Though really, it turned out that Cruxias was an Arch-Demon, not really a Demon at all, so maybe that will help him be more comfortable with us in the future?” She gave Zack a friendly smile, not realizing, he thought, that his Grandmother didn't know that about her adopted son yet.
Devon, noticing that the conversation had turned, brought chairs out so everyone could sit, and explained the situation, so that Zack wouldn't have to.
The depth of information the Demons had surprised Zack more than a little, though he figured it would be better for them to know it all than not, even though he'd never talked to them about any of this.
“When Courtney Moore, the actress?” Devon looked at his grandparents who nodded, having actually heard of that story, it having been in the regular news for over a month. “When Cruxias and a band of Humans murdered her, simply to disrupt us here, I believe, Zack hunted him down and destroyed him in the void. Courtney was the mother of Valerie, one of his wives. It turns out that angering Mr. Hartley to that extreme was a mistake.” He added dryly.
They sat in shock for a while. It seemed that they had too much information too fast. Zack decided that they should have a change of scenery, so he took them home, picking up Libby on the way.
Libby held his hand as they walked into the house from the back of her shop. She'd heard the whole conversation, eavesdropping being one of her major talents, he knew. Her hearing seemed to be about as good, or better than anyone else he'd met, even the Vampires.
When they got in, she asked if anyone else felt hungry and suggested that they go out to dinner.
“We'll have to hurry though. If Merri finds out that we didn't prepare food for you with our own hands, she'll kill us. It's an Alfric thing, some hospitality rule they have.”
Luckily, his Grandparents needed to sleep, giving them all some time to prepare for the events of the next day. Lisa called and had him come get her, which took about fifteen seconds, since he could walk from his living room directly to her living room now.
She held a sheath of papers, with names to be called, caterers and protocols.
“There's so much to do! We need to get in touch with everyone we can now, so that no one feels slighted later. I've gotten most of the guests confirmed, no one wants to miss this, for one reason or another. I've told everyone it would be informal, but given this crowd, half of them will show up in tuxes anyway if we don't clearly spell out that it's a picnic.” She went over the complete list of guests, mainly people Zack knew and liked. She'd included the Demons, and Riley had already called to confirm she said, without being asked.
“He seemed surprised when I told him he was on the list already though. I guess tricksters just expect to be left out? I told him he had to bring Rose too, if he could. He mentioned bringing a date as well.” All of this had been written down.
Merri insisted that she'd cook for this, though Zack had to object.
“You have to be free to mingle and talk to people, not hide away in the kitchen. I wonder, do you think Xan would do it? I mean, he's an expert with cook out style food, burgers and such. I feel a little bad asking him to come to a party as help though, being friends and all...” Merri grabbed his hand and ran to the shortcut out the kitchen door. Dragging him most of the way.
She didn't talk at all, just pulled him along. He became acutely aware once again that, as tiny as she was, barely up to his sternum, she still managed to be about twice as strong, possibly more than that, as he was, even with all the weight training he had been doing for months.
She took him to Xan immediately and smiled, looking at him meaningfully, as if he should speak. Her brightly glowing Shadow self told him to ask, reminding him to say the whole thing, about feeling bad inviting a friend to work through the party.
Xan practically danced from behind the counter.
“Aye! That sounds like great fun! Your thinking of me... Well, I have not the words! May I recruit a few others to help with this?” His eyes shone with a glow that would probably shine in the dark, even to a regular person. Literally. It was golden in color and about as bright as a candle at twenty feet would be. There was no flickering though.
“That sounds good, Xan. I guess I should mention that Glen is on the list of invitees, so we can't let him do anything except stand around and talk to people. I think it may be an ambassadorial rule, actually.” This earned a laugh from Xan, who promised to make arrangements and be ready to go with his picked crew at six the following evening.
Merri kissed h
im once they had returned to the house.
“That was a kindness you did! Proclaiming Xan your friend like that, when he's not a person of great power or importance. It's a great honor you know...”
Zack thought of Xan as a friend... and hadn't considered that being his friend would be out of the ordinary to the Alfric man. He hoped that this kind of thing would stop happening soon. It always made him feel uneasy when people acted as if he were special somehow.
By morning they had almost everything arranged to Lisa's liking. Zack took her home about six in the morning, so that she could get some sleep.
Standing in her living room, she suddenly reached out and gave him a hug, causing him to stiffen in reaction. Having his Grandparents around had put a crimp in his sex life, which he'd expected. He couldn't do anything with them in the house, it seemed creepy.
He explained this to Lisa.
“So, you know, I'll just have to try and stay focused for a while. Maybe get something done tomorrow while at work if I can.” He noticed Lisa look at him funny for a moment, like she wanted to say something. Instead she bit her lip and let him go back.
Later that day he and Libby took his Grandparents to see the sights. Local historical sites mainly, explaining the mandatory party that Lisa had planned for them and how it had expanded from a simple barbecue, since a lot of the Mage community wanted to come.
“I hope it's okay Grandma, but I invited Agnes Miller, since you said you knew her from school and had talked to her recently? She really saved us during the whole war scare about a month ago. The whole thing involved answering phones and running errands practically. Without her, I doubt we'd have managed to get half of it done.” He stopped and thought for a moment, then shrugged. "All right, it was really more like a fifth, but still, it was a big deal."