“I have clearance to use ALPHA vehicles as necessary. Shopping counts. I asked.” Danika shoved an apple at him. “Eat,” she said at his puzzled look.
Loken took a bite to appease her before he'd realized what he'd done. Should he be concerned at his rare display of obedience? He debated it and then took another bite, chewing slowly. As he did, he considered telling her he could teleport them to the store, but he decided against it. Today, he’d let her be the guide. He hadn't been grocery shopping in a while, but he knew humans preferred to take their cars to haul their purchases home.
Ten minutes later they were on their way to the closest town, sans Zree and Smaug. Danika assured him that while pet stores often welcomed visiting pets, grocery stores did not. Loken didn’t see what the fuss was. They were no mere pets; they were magical constructs. The aracari was probably more intelligent than some people, but Loken supposed the humans wouldn't like having that pointed out.
While Danika drove and sang along to the radio, Loken stared out the window, watching the terrain shift from hills to mountains. By the time they reached the town, he had a better understanding of why humans preferred to stuff themselves into cities. Driving this far for tedious tasks was awful.
They stopped at the pet store first. It was relatively small, and Danika frowned at the meager selection of bird food. “I don’t see softbill pellets...but that makes sense. I can’t imagine many people have toucans here. Okay, well. Let’s grab him some toys. And some crickets for Smaug.”
As Danika browsed toys, Loken peered into a glass display, inspecting the furry little creatures inside. Each enclosure had a plastic house and a small wheel.
“Hamsters,” Danika told him as she came to his side. “Little devils but kids love ‘em.” She held up her findings, two different toys made of paper. “Think he’ll like these?”
Loken eyed them, unsure what qualities he was supposed to be judging. “I don’t believe my opinion matters. I’m not an aracari.”
Danika ignored him. “I can probably order more online, but this is a good start. Should I get him a cage too? They don’t have good sized ones here...”
In the end, she purchased a perch-stand for Zree, in addition to toys and some refrigerated insects for Smaug. Then, they were off to the grocery store.
Loken wrinkled his nose as they wandered the produce section. By now, he knew the names of the common fruits and vegetables of Earth, but he had no idea what an avocado was.
“That’s not for birds,” Danika told him and then placed a box of ‘organic’ blueberries and blackberries in the cart—the cart that Loken was being made to push around. “It’s poisonous to them.”
Loken discarded the avocado back into the pile and immediately had his personal space invaded by a woman rifling through them. Worst of all, she seemed oblivious to his murderous glare.
“Hm. Let’s get some cantaloupe, bananas, and grapes…Don’t forget; we’re shopping organic. It’s supposedly better for them,” Danika said, but Loken wasn’t listening.
He cast a quick spell on the green fruits, making them slippery. When the woman picked one up to inspect it closely, it slid through her hands and hit the ground. Each time she tried to grab another, it did the same. He watched her in open amusement, but the woman was too flustered to notice.
“Oh, and some romaine. Lyall, can you grab some organic kale? Thanks.”
Pleased with his lowkey mischief, he did as Danika asked and dismissed the spell only when the woman walked away.
They explored most of the isles, much to Loken’s displeasure, but he was determined to get through this outing. When they reached the frozen section, Danika paused and contemplated the selection.
“Want some ice cream? You look like a rocky road fan.”
“Mmm,” he hummed.
If Danika was discouraged by his taciturn mood, she didn’t say so. She merely led them through the store, tossing things into the cart with the comment of, “You'll love this.”
They'd just finished browsing the baked section when she asked, “Stuffed peppers for dinner?” and headed towards the meats.
He made a noncommittal sound, eager to be done here. Wait. When had he agreed to having dinner?
She tossed the packaged meat into the cart and dragged him back to produce.
It was almost five by the time they returned to base. After putting away his groceries (apparently, she'd felt the need to buy him some) they went to her apartment where she immediately set him to task cutting up fruits and veggies for the pets. Meanwhile, she prepared dinner while the television played the news in the background.
Fifteen minutes later, while the stuffed peppers cooked, she collapsed onto the couch next to him.
“Here. Try this.” Danika handed him a dark, glass bottle. “It's alcoholic root beer,” she explained at his suspicious look.
He ripped off the bottle cap off with ease and took a sip, swirling the flavor around on his tongue. Interesting.
“You seem better than you were this afternoon,” she commented as she sipped her own.
Though Loken supposed that was true, nothing had really been resolved. He grunted and took another sip.
Danika caught the hint and switched topics. “So. What’d you need my dress for?” she asked with a grin.
“I needed it to seduce a mark on my last mission,” he said nonchalantly.
She wrinkled her nose. “Gross. So, some old creep likes crossdressers?”
Loken laughed because she didn't yet understand. “Not at all. He preferred women, which is why I shifted into one.”
He saw her struggle through processing his words, as if she wasn't sure she heard him right. Then, she blurted out a torrent of thoughts. “Shift? Like shapeshift? No way! That's so fucking awesome. Do it. Do it right now. I have to see!”
Pleased by her exuberance, he indulged her. Unlike the last time he had changed genders, he kept his hair and eyes the same color. He merely became a feminine version of himself, soft featured and curved.
Danika squealed. “That's so awesome! So, you change genders? Is that all? I mean, that itself is pretty amazing but—”
“I'm no one trick sorcerer, my lady,” Loken said with mock indignity. Then, without prompt, he changed his form to imitate Danika so that she was sitting across from a perfect replica of herself.
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed, leaping to her feet and pointing at him in shock.
Thoroughly amused by her reaction, Loken changed his hair color, making it bright green.
Danika scrunched her face, forgetting her shock. “I do not look good with that color. Try purple. I've always wanted purple hair.”
He did so and let her inspect it.
“Hm.” Danika considered him. “Maybe like darker purple. So dark that it almost looks black.”
Loken raised a brow. “Fair hair suits you.”
“Aw, thank you,” Danika said, looking touched. “Okay then. Well, how about...a platinum purple? Like, faded. Oh, except the tips. Darker tips.”
He indulged her once more, changing his hair so she could see what it looked like.
“Oh, that’s gorgeous,” she said wistfully. “Damn. Do you know how much it would cost to get my hair professionally dyed like this?”
Not liking her crestfallen look, he said, “Lady Danika, who said anything about cost?” Changing someone’s hair color was a simple spell, one he’d learned as a youngster so that he could prank his brother.
By the time she'd given him a hopeful look, he’d already changed her hair to the specified colors. “Go see,” he told her, gesturing towards the bathroom.
She dashed off, and when an excited squeal filled the apartment, Loken smirked.
Danika rushed back in, clutching a lock of purple-tipped hair. “It's gorgeous! Thank you!”
He basked in her gratitude...until she threw herself at him. He froze with her arms around his neck, unsure of what to do.
When she finally pulled back, she grinned she
epishly. “Hugging yourself is surreal…”
Though still stiff from the uninvited contact, he recovered and reverted to his usual Evoir form.
Danika mockingly pouted. “I thought we were gonna have a girls night,” she teased.
Loken rolled his eyes.
“Before I forget, what pronouns do you prefer when you're female?”
He blinked, caught entirely off guard by the magnitude of consideration in her question. “No one has ever asked me that before,” he admitted, and it wasn’t something he’d been allowed to contemplate. There was, after all, only one socially acceptable answer. In the privacy of his own mind, however, he’d pondered the duality of his nature.
(Aberration.)
In his youth, he’d read that because changelings shifted between genders so often, many were genderfluid. When one could change their gender on whim, it became less of a defining feature and more of an afterthought. That was not the case for himself, he'd decided long ago; genderfluidity was not accepted among the Evoir.
“It matters little to me. Unless I'm in disguise; then, I would recommend addressing me by the appropriate gender and name,” he replied at last.
“So, it's okay if I refer to you by whatever gender you currently are?”
Loken was not the Evoir’s definition of masculine, and it was strange to have someone not berate him for it. Danika’s acceptance was so...new. It gave him the strength to admit, “No matter what form I take, I am me. Does that answer your question?”
Danika considered it. “Yeah. Actually. If you're not hung up on pronouns, I won't be either. I asked because...”
She spent the next five minutes explaining that some humans identified as transgender and what that meant. It wasn’t a difficult concept to grasp, but he wondered where it originated from if they didn't have changelings on Earth. They dissected the concepts of gender and sex in both of their cultures, and he told her Rellaeria’s idea of masculinity and femininity.
“It’s not that women are less than men,” Loken explained. “It’s that different things are expected of them, skills, professions, and so forth.”
“It's still archaic,” Danika commented between bites of green pepper. “How come so many cultures seem to think the ultimate insult for men is to be called feminine? Imma fight someone.”
He didn't disagree, but discussing Rellaeria further would put him in a foul mood. So, he changed the subject and informed her that there were races in the galaxy that had more than two genders—as well as those that had only one. The idea baffled her.
“Humans,” he said with a long-suffering sigh. “So limited by your own experiences.”
Danika threw a napkin at him.
Though the melancholy lingered on the fringes of his mind, he went to bed in a much better mood.
Chapter 8
March bled into April.
Over the weeks, there were days when he found it hard to start the day, and each one of those times felt like a setback. It was impossibly despairing for your greatest enemy to be your own mind, but he endured the hopelessness. On the worst mornings, Danika would show up at his apartment, rouse him, and feed Zree blueberries while he got ready for the day. Though he groused and grumbled, he accepted the push. That didn’t keep him from snapping at her, but she remained unaffected by what she called his “tantrums.”
Loken was raised a scion of the royal family of Rellaeria. He did not throw tantrums; he raged.
Which is exactly what he did the day he discovered that the Archangel remained free. Thanks to the intel collected from Barnard’s phone, ALPHA was able to track a man believed to be a link between Maganti and the Archangel. After summoning Loken, Eloy, and Raaum to his office, Callum assigned them the task of apprehending him. He dismissed them to leave immediately, but Loken lingered.
“I’m curious,” he said, the calm before the storm. “Did you intend to mislead me about the Archangel’s status?”
Callum folded his hands on the desk. “You’re privy to the information that meets your clearance level,” he replied calmly.
“I fail to see how I can be a valuable agent when I do not receive updates for cases I’ve worked on.”
“You weren’t an agent when you worked that case.”
Loken scoffed, unimpressed. “You’ll hide behind a technicality?”
“It’s not your concern. The order came from above. It was decided that since you’re a target of his, it would be better for other agents to handle missions pertaining to him.”
The Archangel still desired revenge for the times Loken had thwarted his operations? How petty...and amusing. Regardless, it wasn’t himself Loken was worried for. “Every second he breathes is another moment Mrs. Naiara, the children, and Nora spend in danger.”
“It was my understanding that Nora hasn’t been a concern of yours since joining ALPHA’s ranks.”
Loken bristled, but Callum cut him off before he could reply.
“You’re dismissed, Agent Locke, and if you want to accompany Agent Bowen and Agent Raaum, I suggest you go. Now.”
Seething, he bit his tongue and left. He took it out on their quarry when they finally found him. As much as Loken enjoyed the chase, the catch was even sweeter. Pinning the scoundrel to an alley wall, Loken towered over him as he waited for Raaum and Eloy to catch up.
“Where is the Archangel?” Loken hissed, the blade of his dagger pressed to the man’s throat.
“I don’t know!”
“Pity that I don’t believe you. Tell me what I want to know or I’ll cut your fingers off. One. By. One.”
The unintelligible scream that invoked was less helpful than Loken had hoped.
“Back down, agent.”
Raaum’s order had Loken fuming. For a split second, as he stared into the target’s brown eyes, he debated disobeying. It might be worth disciplinary action to cut this man apart. If only to vent his frustrations.
“Agent.”
Raaum’s tone told him she’d lost patience.
Loken snarled, wrenched his dagger from the wall, and let the man fall to the ground. Eloy kept his gun trained on the target until Raaum had him handcuffed. Then, at her command, Loken teleported them back to base for interrogation.
“What the hell was that?” Raaum confronted him as soon as the delivery was made.
Eloy backed up to give them space, averting his gaze.
Loken scowled. “I caught him, didn’t I?”
“When I give you an order, Locke, I need to know you’re good for it. I need to know you’ll listen unless there’s a damn good reason not to.”
Though furious at being scolded, a hefty amount of his anger was directed inward—for letting ALPHA make a fool of him regarding the Archangel, for every morning he nearly drowned in hopelessness, and for the rage he couldn’t seem to shake.
(Gullible. Weak. Impulsive. You've become everything you hate.)
They weren’t traits he’d ever attributed to himself. He’d always thought he was too wise to be tricked, too strong to fall victim to misery, and too controlled to lash out like his brother often did at every slight.
If he was not any of those things, who was he?
Regardless, it hadn’t been Loken’s intent to make Raaum question his trustworthiness in the field.
“My temper got the better of me.”
“No, really?” Sarcasm dripped from her voice. “We’re a team. Remember that.”
A team. He thought back to the days he’d been a part of Sanjay’s team and nearly laughed at the comparison. Not wanting her to hear his doubt, he inclined his head.
Loken thought that would be the end of it, but Raaum didn’t move. “Either you want to be on the team or you don’t.”
“I do,” he insisted, without thinking. And, when he thought about it, he realized it was true.
She stared up at him before her tense stance slackened. “Okay.”
As Raaum walked away, Eloy gave him a sympathetic look. “Don’t sweat it. You�
�ll be out of the doghouse in a week. Tops.”
Loken gave him a quizzical look—dogs owned houses?—but didn’t ask for clarification.
Penny returned to the lab a week later, refusing to comment on what she’d been called away for.
“Look.”
One day, soon after her return, Penny gestured to the images on the computer, but Loken hadn’t a clue what he was looking at.
“This is your baseline. And this is when you’re actively using a spell.”
Loken hummed in thought. “Technically, I’m always using magic, though it’s a simple translation spell.” He was also always disguised, but there were no conditions under which he would admit such.
Penny frowned at that. “Right.” She looked thoughtful but then shook aside the questions obviously rattling around in her head. “The point is that your magic gives off low level electromagnetic energy.”
“Yay! A breakthrough!” Danika cheered, raising a cup of coffee to toast their miniscule victory.
With Penny returned, watching movies was now limited to the nights he and Danika spent together—which ended up being three to four a week—but their progress in the lab was worth it. Loken was less worried than he’d previously been about them understanding his magic. After all, they were still light years away from harnessing it.
Every Monday (and sometimes other nights), Danika taught him ASL and how to write English. In turn, he taught her Rellaerian. He even helped her write out how to phonetically say each word so that she could practice when he wasn’t present.
“I. E-ko,” she said.
“Eko,” he corrected her.
She frowned and made a correction on her paper. “You. Tu.”
“Excellent.”
She scanned the vocabulary list, skipping to the end. “Magic. Mha-der.”
“May-deer,” he enunciated. “Maedir.”
“Damn. I was close though!” She furrowed her brows. “I swear, when I come back from summer school, I’m going to have these words perfected.”
Come back? Loken didn’t like the sound of that and narrowed his eyes at her. “What do you mean?”
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