They didn’t mind the extra hands so much because it meant they didn’t have to spend hours wandering the hallways at night. Then again, with everything on edge, their free time was fairly restricted when it came to location and how far they could travel.
Frog tossed a balled-up piece of paper into the air and caught it. He was stretched across a chair, his head back as he stared at the ceiling. “I’m reasonably certain the boss and Elizabeth found a map, measured exactly how far it was to the edge of where there was possibly anything fun to do, and cut our liberty off right there.”
Lars chuckled. “Probably, and mostly because they don’t like you.”
Their teammates chuckled. Marcus, Johnny, Brendan, and Avery all sat around a small table off to the side, playing poker. None of them really paid much attention to the game since it was more something to do rather than their normal, every-other-Tuesday poker game. Johnny set his hand down. “Straight.”
The other players groaned and threw their hands down. Avery looked at the guys as he tossed his cards to Marcus, who was dealing. “Hey, so my niece…it’s about time for her birthday.”
Lars glanced at him. “Oh yeah? Your little mittens? Or whatever.”
Avery blinked. “My little kitten? Yes, that one. Eliza. The only one I have. Anyway, she freaking loves magical stuff. She’s super-obsessed with those Meligornian trading cards and has a list of magical abilities that she frequently adds to on a daily basis.”
“Nice, another witch in training.” Marcus smiled.
He scoffed lightly. “I love that little girl, but she struggles through the store-bought magic kits. The girl doesn’t have a lick of magical ability in her. Either way, I want to hire a magician for her party. Not the rabbit-in-the-hat kind, but a real-life magician. Like a Meligornian or something. Do any of you have any idea where I can get someone to do that for an hour or so?”
Johnny threw a chip at Frog. “Look at that, bro, they have a job for you. It should be one hell of a play. You already walk weird and have huge feet. Add the nose, and you’re on your way.”
Frog rolled his eyes and tossed the chip into his mouth. “Very funny, asshole.”
Lars shrugged. “Did you try looking in the system? I’m sure there is some Meligornian stowaway hard up for cash on Earth. Maybe they’re advertising.”
Avery sighed. “Yeah, but those guys are usually more black-market operators than seven-year-old birthday party wizards. The Federation is constantly on the lookout for unauthorized Meligornians—it’s been like that ever since they put the immigrant crackdown in place. Not that I can understand why anyone would leave there to come here, anyway. It’s damn close to choosing to live on Dreth when you had almost every other option.”
Marcus took the cards from Johnny and began to shuffle. “Get one of those 3D shows that perform and look like a real person. Or rent pods for a party.”
“It’s not the same,” Avery replied. “Besides, she has a pod. Her dad is a bigwig at an R&D on the Meligorn station. He tried to find someone, but everyone was too busy. It apparently has to do with that pesky little Dreth war going on out there in the black void of space.”
Frog swung his legs and his head now hung back completely. “Ask Stephanie. She needs a little fun in her life.”
The room went quiet and the guys all looked at one another. Frog raised his head slowly and glanced around. “What? That was a joke.”
Avery stood and began to pace. “No man, that’s a good idea…but uh… I don’t want to ask her.”
Lars shrugged. “It is a good idea, but she might think we are calling her a clown or something.”
“Let’s go as a group,” Marcus replied with gusto and stood. “She won’t say no, then. It’s the mob effect.”
Stephanie grimaced and listened as the news scrolled on her screen. She bit the inside of her cheek and mentally checked off all the places she could go where she’d be able to go by herself.
She knew Ms. E wouldn’t let her wander off alone, but the room seemed to close in on her, no matter how hard Sarah tried to make it seem open and spacious. You could charm the walls to look like the fields of Meligorn, but you’d still run into them if you walked too far.
“Your pod is open for your use at any time,” her AI suggested.
Even that held little temptation and she scrunched her nose. “I know it sounds wild since I would have killed for open time in a pod only a few months ago, but that doesn’t make me feel like I can actually be free for a while. All I think about is what a tight space I’d be physically locked up in. No, I really want to be out in the real world and free, but it seems more and more impossible.”
Before she could say any more, someone knocked on her door. She swished her hand to revert the walls to normal in an attempt to hide her restlessness from the others. It completely escaped her notice that she did it with a touch of her magic instead of having her AI switch it over.
She walked to the door and paused to make sure everything was normal. A shimmer of blue magic faded and she looked at her hands and chuckled at how naturally magic came to her.
No batteries needed.
Stephanie opened the door and stared at Avery, who looked nervous. She gave him a curious smile and leaned forward when she heard someone else clear their throat.
Her guards had lined up in the hall and all of them looked at her like they had a secret. She raised an eyebrow and stepped to the side. “Come on in, boys. For some reason, I feel this isn’t simply a friendly visit to see how I’m doing.”
They all marched in, one after the other, and arranged themselves around the room. Without their uniforms and not wearing anything they’d take on a mission, they looked different.
The lack of weapons on their hips almost made them look incomplete. Not to mention that they stood there and stared awkwardly at her before they shared uncomfortable glances. None of them, however, made any attempt to speak.
“Okay, either someone did something really wrong, or you’re about to ask me to do something you aren’t sure I’ll be okay with,” she told them and folded her arms. “Whichever it is, spill it. I really don’t want to stand here staring at your asses all day.”
Frog turned and looked at his ass. “Shit, is my backside showing again?”
Everyone laughed, which broke the tension in the room. Avery cleared his throat. “Okay, none of us have done anything wrong…so far…at least, not that you need to know about.”
Stephanie raised her eyebrow again. He clasped his hands together and shook them. “That is beside the point. We wondered if you would be willing to consider doing a really small personal favor for…well, for me I guess.”
“For all of us,” Lars replied and corrected him quickly.
One in, all in. That was how he played it.
Her gaze shifted to each of them in turn. “Okay, I’ll consider it. What do you want?”
He licked his lips nervously and cast a hasty glance at Lars, who smirked and stepped forward. “Avery’s niece—a little girl we’ve known all her life—has a birthday party. Today, I think.”
Avery nodded. “Yeah, later today.”
Lars looked at Stephanie once again. “We know it’s really short notice, but she’s a huge magic fan. She has her own pod, watches all the stuff on Meligorn, and aspires to one day do her own show. But even though her father works on one of Meligorn’s space stations, she’s never actually met anyone magical.”
Stephanie could already see where this was going. “So, you want me to crash a seven-year-old’s party and do some tricks?”
Avery shook his head quickly. “Yes and no. It wouldn’t really be crashing it. I told her mom since her dad has been and still is on the Meligorn station, that I would do my best to find someone who could do magic for her party.”
He sighed. “But I didn't want the usual old-school magician. I wanted an actual real-life magical person. I looked everywhere, even out in the creepy, shadowy part of the district where you can hire an
yone for anything.”
With an anxious look at Lars since he’d gone looking way out of bounds, he continued. “I even found one guy—a half-breed Meligorn human with a little magic up his robe—but it’s basically like buying everyone pods off the black market. This guy might actually rob my sister after he performs magic for the kids—and he smelled like booze and an unwashed armpit.”
Stephanie wrinkled her nose. She didn’t want to know how Avery knew what an unwashed armpit smelled like.
“Okay, so that doesn’t sound bad, but what about Ms. E? Do you think she’ll simply let me roll out to a kid’s party and perform magic in public? She’s told me over and over, if it’s not an emergency, keep it to yourself.”
She gestured apologetically. “That’s why you’re here, right? There are press everywhere, trying to catch a glimpse of what I can do, and it would only hurt the company to have people snooping around in the system or trying to get into the compound for a closer look.”
Lars nodded. “Actually, I thought about that on the way over here. In the armory, we have a wide array of suits—like fighting suits. You haven’t needed one, so you probably haven’t seen them. The boss—or the wizard behind the curtain—came up with the idea for them all on his own. One of them has a mask to it. You could wear the suit, perform the magic, and no one would ever know it was you.”
“Like a superhero,” Stephanie replied with a smirk. “Wowing little kids with one strong leap.”
Avery chuckled. “Something like that, yeah. But you would have made one little girl very happy, and I would be the coolest uncle ever. Well, we would all be the coolest uncles ever.”
“A party and no one invited me?” Elizabeth said and appeared in the doorway. “I saw the door open and Frog’s ass hanging out in the hall, and I thought I should make sure no-one was being coerced.”
Stephanie laughed. “I am being coerced, but I think it’s in a good way.”
She took a deep breath and looked at both Lars and Avery before she shrugged. “Actually, E, it's good you showed up because I need some help getting into a suit.”
The other woman narrowed her eyes. “Now why do I think I walked into a really bad idea?”
Lars patted her on the shoulder. “It’s all right, E. Everyone needs a little fun now and then.”
“Mhmm,” she replied. “It depends on what you consider fun.”
An hour later, the whole team pulled up in front of a large stone house inside one of the richies’ gated communities. Normally, Stephanie would not be okay with doing favors for the rich, but she knew that if Avery asked, there was no way they were the normal pretentious ones. And if they were, she’d simply fill their house with magical owls or something and leave it like that for a while.
Avery opened the door and put his hand out to help Stephanie out of the SUV. She ran her hands over her tight body suit complete with knee-high lace-up boots and a half mask that left her lips pouty and red. “How do I look? Magical superhero?”
He smiled. “Perfect. You look perfect. Almost superhero squad awesome.”
She snorted. “I’ll think that when you and the others don your tights and capes, too.”
Lars walked up. “Fat chance on that one.”
Avery nodded toward the house. “You guys are welcome to come in.”
The other man shook his head. “We’ll wait here. Security and all. We’ll wish her a happy birthday when she isn’t overwhelmed with friends and everything else.”
“All right, let’s get this show on the road.”
Stephanie took a deep breath and gave Lars a big forced grin as they passed. When they reached the door, Avery stopped. “Okay, so when we get inside, wait there. I’ll introduce you as a special surprise and you come in however you want to.”
“Got it,” she replied. “This is exciting. I’ve always wanted to try theatre. This might be more like the circus, but still.”
He chuckled and they walked into the huge house. She stopping directly outside the living room door and peeked around to get a good look at the birthday girl.
She had to admit, the child was adorable, and besides the obviously expensive clothes, she reminded her of herself at that age—dark-brown hair braided down the back and a shy expression, but with confidence lurking in her sparkling eyes.
Avery cleared his throat, stood in front of the girl and her guests, and put his hands up to quiet them. “For those of you who don’t know, I am Eliza’s Uncle Avery. I’ve brought a big surprise, so everyone make sure to stay seated and welcome a true, real-life witch.”
Eliza lifted onto her knees with a gasp and hoped it was Morgana, the real witch. There was a pause and her uncle cleared his throat again. Then, like on a windy spring day, magical flower petals began to shimmer and blow around the corner. The magic was a sparkling blue and the petals swirled wildly around the girls. They gasped and oohed in awe, but Eliza kept her eyes on the door.
Stephanie floated a few inches above the floor and glided in. She moved her arms to release magical butterflies from her palms and send them fluttering all over the room. This was met with a round of applause as she touched down softly, her eyes glowing brightly. She walked up to Eliza and put her hand down to help her to her feet. The girl looked disappointed and assumed the witch was nothing more than an actress.
“So, you’re the birthday girl—Eliza, right?”
The child looked into the woman’s glowing eyes and nodded shyly. “Well, let’s do some magic together, shall we?”
Avery stepped beside his sister, folded his arms, and smiled. She nudged him with her elbow. “You are full of surprises. I wasn’t sure you would be able to pull this one off.”
He chuckled. “I’ve never let you down before.”
They watched as Stephanie used her powers to erupt rainbows of color from Eliza’s hands. His sister shook her head. “Thank you for this. She’s struggled to cope with her father gone so much. This actress is good and looks completely believable. This must have cost you a fortune.”
Avery shrugged. “We did some bartering.”
Her gaze darted toward him. “You really have to stop being such a man whore.”
He rolled his eyes. “Not that kind of bartering.”
The two laughed as the show continued. After about an hour, to bring the show to an end, Stephanie knelt on one knee and whispered in Eliza’s ear. She’d guessed the little girl had wanted to see Stephanie in the flesh and hoped a hint would be enough. “Sometimes, your uncle has the ability to get you what you want.”
The little girl’s eyes widened as Stephanie stood and her body began to glow brightly as she focused on levitating from the floor. As she rose, her mask magically unraveled to reveal her face, even though she didn’t say her name.
Everyone in the room gasped and clapped their hands over their mouths. Eliza looked at her with a huge grin. Stephanie smiled and laughed and waved her hand downward. The long strands of hair from her blonde wig whipped around her.
She kept a certain level of magical light centered over her face, only enough to prevent people from being sure of her features. It was the only way she could think of to grant Eliza’s wish and keep her true identity hidden for the moment. The energy flowed out of her palm and swirled to wind itself around Eliza.
Slowly, the girl’s feet raised off the floor and she was brought up beside Stephanie to float over everyone’s heads, close to the high, vaulted ceilings. With her other hand, the witch released bursts of magic and swirled them into the shapes of different animals that descended to run through the children below.
They all stood and cheered, and Avery’s sister gasped and clutched his arm in alarm at seeing her daughter that high above them.
He touched her arm and nodded. “Trust me.”
Stephanie pulled Eliza toward her. “I couldn’t let the day pass without wishing you a magical birthday. There is nothing more important than that, and it’s exactly what I’ll continue to fight for.”
Sh
e pulled her wig back and allowed the glow on her face to fade so everyone could see who she really was. They all looked surprised and excited. Both the children and their parents could barely contain themselves as they jumped up and down and clapped wildly.
Not only had she shown them magic they’d never seen in real life, but she was their hero, someone who had saved lives and fought hard for the people.
Stephanie kissed Eliza on the cheek and released the little girl’s hand so she could float down once more. Aware that all eyes were on her, Stephanie pulsed her magic and created a bright light that grew in size by the second. As her illuminated figure became too radiant to look at, her voice could be heard whispering delicately through the room. “Be brave. Never give up. Always do the right thing.”
With a burst of purple and blue petals, the light went out and Stephanie was gone. The room was silent for a moment before the children erupted in jubilation. Eliza was stunned and looked up to find her uncle leaning toward her.
She grinned and raced across the room to fling herself into his arms. “Thank you, Uncle Avery. Thank you so much. You’re the best uncle in the whole galaxy. I miss you and daddy so much, but this was the best present you could ever give me.”
Avery felt a lump form in his throat and knew that despite the money they had, the little girl struggled with herself and her life without her father around. The man was important and had little say in when and where he went. Missing her birthday was incredibly hard.
He kissed her cheek and smiled. “Now, go play with your friends. This is your day.”
When he straightened, his sister hip-checked him with a glowing smile on her face. “Sometimes, you are the very best. Thank you, Avery.”
She kissed his cheek as well and he swallowed hard and gave her a big hug. “I have to get back now. I love you. Let me know if you need anything.”
His sister held his shoulders. “Of course I will. And Avery, I am so proud of you. You have become quite the man over the years. Very different to that rambunctious kid in the Gov-Subs whom Mom had to wrestle into the bath every night.”
Witch Of The Federation (Federal Histories Book 2) Page 8