Chapter 23
“Well, that was fun,” I said to Vesta as I slumped into the common area couch next to her. I was referring to the circus that surrounded the economics hall when I left class.
“What did you do?” she asked with quiet curiosity.
“My class agreed to put me in the middle of a group of them as we exited. I had my cap on tight and hood up so none of the paparazzi noticed me right off the bat. By the time they did, I was able to move freely. Then I used Intent to evade them. They were like enemy soldiers seeking a prisoner of war. Intense. But I used survival class training. Broke contact, found a hide site, changed appearance, all that stuff.”
“So it was fun?” she asked with a little smile.
“Yeah. Kinda. But what are we going to do about tomorrow?”
“Well, I spoke to the college president, and he promised they would do what they could to curtail the media. He’s also spoken personally to all of our faculty, and they are supposedly on board. After that, I reached out to my Fairie godmothers.”
“Say what now?”
“Didn’t I tell you about them?”
“Ah, no. I would definitely have remembered that,” I said.
“Hmm, well I’ve only met them once each, so it’s not like they’ve had any kind of impact on my life prior to this.”
“Who and what are you talking about?”
“Neeve and Eirwen, the Co-Queens of the Middle Realm. After I was born, they insisted on being my Fairie godmothers. They both have complicated relationships with Dad and Mom. A weird like/hate thing. But at the end, Dad gave them what they needed to become queens of Fairie’s Middle Realm, so they felt there was a debt. They don’t like debts.”
“They’re cousins or something, right?” I asked.
“Yes. Neeve is the Winter Queen’s daughter and was known as the Black Frost or Queen’s Killing Frost. Eirwen is the Summer Queen’s daughter.”
“Okay, I have more questions. How does one reach out to fairie queens, and what do you expect they can do for our situation?”
“Second question first. You know I used illusion last semester to disguise my face, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, the elves of Fairie are much more gifted at disguises than we are. They use glamour, and Dad taught me a little about it, but not enough to do what we need. So I’m hoping one of the cousins will visit to teach us more.”
“And how do you pass on such a message?”
“Mal.”
“Jenks’ assistant?”
“The same. He’s like eighty years old and he’s Eirwen’s cousin on her father’s side.”
“You know, I saw his ears and figured he was a refugee from Fairie but never thought he was related to royalty.”
“His mother is an official in the government of the Middle Realm. Mom and Dad met her there. He expressed an interest in Earth and after some back and forth, Dad brought him over about eight or nine years ago. He was drawn to Arcane, mostly because of the witches. The original queens were all witches, you know, thousands of years ago. Anyway, now he travels the planet in the summer months and helps Jenks over the winter.”
“Not sure why it took me this long to find out his story,” I said, frowning at her.
She laughed. “Mostly because you’ve been busy disrupting everything else.”
“Hey,” I protested.
“I said disrupting, not destroying,” she said, leaning in to give me a kiss.
Tough to argue that. I had sorta upended a few things here and there.
She was studying my face, her blue eyes straying toward green as she read me. “Hah. You definitely upended a whole lot, space boy.”
“I’ve only ever been to outer space with you, princess. And only used a portal once before meeting you, so I’m hardly a spaceman. You have more time in actual space than I do.”
“Nice. Losing the disruption argument so you shift to debating my nicknames,” she said, narrowing her eyes.
“Hey, fight to your strengths, right?”
“Ooo, how very Art of War,” she said, her tone mock snide. I say mock because I could feel her amusement.
“Required reading if your father was Caleb Blackmore,” I said.
“Or you had Alex Gordon in your pack,” she said.
“So tomorrow comes in just like twelve hours or so,” I said.
“Yeah, I have a couple of disguises to work with. The thing is the disguise has to be the same general size as we are, whereas glamour can make us look larger or smaller. I figure we can use my illusion disguises for the next couple of days and hope one of the cousins responds by then, preferably Eirwen.”
“Why her over the other?”
“Neeve might try to pick a fight with you because she likes to fight and Dad was the only one to ever fight her to a draw. Eirwen will likely try to seduce one or both of us, and she has more actual practice with glamour than Neeve.”
“Wait, Neeve is a godmother but would want to fight you?”
“No… you. She would definitely want to fight you, as you aren’t part of her debt.”
“She’s tough, then?”
“She’s never lost until Dad. Couple thousand years of practice.”
“That’s scary… and kinda cool.”
“No. That’s just scary because you would have to kill her to win. No screwing around with an Elven assassin of her caliber.”
“Oh. Well, I don’t want to kill your godmother or whatever she is. Tell me about my disguise.”
“You’re gonna be pimply and overweight. Also, red hair and blue eyes.”
“Are you going to be riddled with acne too?” I asked.
“Goddess no. I’m going as a sorority sister… blonde with enhanced assets, so to speak. You might like me.”
“Nope. I like you just as you are,” I said.
“Oh, good answer, alien boy,” she said and kissed me again.
“Get a room,” Freia said as she, Reagan, and Thirzah entered the common space.
“Thanks for offering,” Vesta said.
“No! No, no, no,” Friea said in a rush. “None of that nonsense.”
“Oh? Maybe I misinterpreted,” Vesta said with an innocent smile.
“You did. I need to study and sleep, so keep that horny interstellar space creature out of our room.”
“It’s day one of college classes… why do you have to study already?” I asked.
“Because someone partied over the Solstice break in Europe and didn’t complete her pre-class reading list,” Vesta said.
“No regrets,” Friea said, heading out the other side of the room to the stairwell. She flashed a glance at the other two—well, mainly Reagan, but the Irish witch was taking a seat next to ours as Thirzah sat across from us.
“Today was bollucks, huh?” Reagan asked, glancing between the two of us.
“At least the start of it,” Vesta said. “My whole class got cancelled, but it’s apparently on for Wednesday. Craig’s was interesting.”
“She should know; she was a guest visitor by hologram,” I said.
“Oh, stop,” Vesta said quickly. Then she explained my Econ class.
“Think that will fly?” Thirzah asked. “The whole protection thing?”
“We’ve got a line on some better plans. Just have to wait a few days to see if they come through,” Vesta answered.
“They?” Thirzah asked.
“Fairie godmothers,” I said.
“Hush, you,” Vesta said.
“Huh?” Thirzah uttered.
“No way,” Reagan breathed, eyes huge.
“Maybe way,” Vesta said. “We have some good solid temp fixes, but we’re looking for something better.”
“Be careful. Don’t be owing any debts now, ye hear?” Reagan pressed.
“I know. This will be repayment of a debt by the other side,” Vesta answered.
Thirzah looked lost but she followed Reagan as the girl left.
“I should go explain or that will explode into rumors we don’t want,” Vesta said.
“Sorry. My tongue slipped before my brain caught up,” I said.
She leaned in and kissed me deeply. “We’ll talk more about this tongue thing later,” she said with a leer.
“Promise?”
“You know it.”