Chapter 35 #2
Know him? Mal had nearly eaten him. He would have managed it if Timin hadn’t escaped into the depths of the ocean. Mal could have gone after him, but he wasn’t excited about a potentially long and drawn-out chase.
Thalassophobia had many avatars in the nightmare race, and Timin was created by someone who was specifically afraid of being eaten by a giant fish. How had Timin made it to the fae realm?
“They let nightmares around children? On purpose?” Mal scratched his head, unable to get his mind around the concept.
“Don’t look so surprised. You’re a nightmare, these are children, and they seem fine to me,” Clayton teased.
“I want uppies,” Tommy announced, holding his arms up to Mal so he could be picked up.
Mal reached down and took the little snot monster without thinking. “You don’t have to live in the Real to work there, Red. I’ve got more than enough juice to portal us there and back every day.
“Us?”
“You don’t think I’m going to let you go there alone, do you?”
“I’m sorry, but have you seen me? I’m officially amazing now and can do anything I want.”
“Not in the Real,” Mal reminded.
“Oh… right. That’s how this conversation started, isn’t it?” Clayton’s face reddened, and Mal unconsciously formed a tentacle to stroke it.
“Do you want to live in the fae realm, Red?” He drew Clayton to him and only realized he'd done it with tentacles when he cupped Clayton’s face between his hands while still holding his man tightly against him. He also realized Tommy had been transferred back to the ground with another tentacle.
All of his new power was going to take some getting used to. His essence well was easily a hundred times larger than it had been before. He could get up to a lot of fun with all that power.
Clayton stroked the tentacle at his waist and asked, “Do you think Astraea would let me?”
“Only one way to find out.” Without another word, Mal opened a portal and dragged Clayton through. Merry chased after him with Tommy in tow, barely making it through before it slammed shut behind them.
They came out directly in front of Astraea’s tree, and without preamble, Mal said, “Hey, can we move our family to your realm?”
:Hello, Mal. Thank you for bringing my children back. Clayton, dear heart, you’re welcome to stay as long as you like, but I don’t think you’ll want to.:
“Why not?” Clayton asked.
:You aged rapidly in the Real as a reaction to living with creation magic instead of chaos magic. If you move back here, you’ll return to the age you’re supposed to be.:
“Oh.” Clayton’s face fell.
“Do it, Wynwyn!” Merry said. “I’ll take better care of you this time, I promise.”
Clayton shot a glance at Mal, “Ah, no. I won’t be doing that. Thank you, though. I guess we’ll have to live in the Real, then.”
“Then we’ll stay with you, right Tommy?” Merry said, grabbing Clayton’s leg and clinging to him with her whole heart.
“Right,” Tommy agreed, clinging to Mal and smearing snot onto his pants.
Mal dematerialized it immediately, though he knew more would inevitably follow.
Clayton smiled noncommittally, but his face was pinched with worry. “Thank you, Astraea. I think we solved your kidnapping problem, by the way.”
:Oh, I know. I was listening when your mother informed the Queen. She’s sending soldiers as we speak. I’m very impressed with you all. You’re welcome in my realm any time, Clayton, my little traveler.:
“Thank you.” Clayton gave the tree a little bow and turned to Mal. “Mal, can you take us back, or do you need to rest first?”
Clayton’s tone wasn’t half as polite and proper as it had been while he was speaking to Astraea. However, he wasn’t being rude so much as deeply preoccupied.
Mal opened a portal with little more than a thought. “I could open a hundred right now and not notice.”
“Show-off,” Clayton scoffed, though Mal could tell he was only pretending to sass him. His mind was leagues away.
Clayton had just said he didn’t want to become a child again, but he was clearly unhappy about something. He wasn’t considering de-aging in the fae realm, was he?
Mal didn’t love the idea, but he was eternal. If Clayton wanted a second chance at his childhood, Mal would wait.
They portaled back onto the boat, and Clayton slid on the deck for about a foot before he caught himself and Merry. Mal shot out a tentacle to keep Tommy stable until the boy could right himself.
“We really need to fix this before someone gets killed. Can you do something temporary, Mal?”
“Let me,” Here said as it appeared beside them as misty and undefined as before.
“Who are you?” Holly demanded, bristling with fear. “How did you get through my shield?”
“I’m the dimension you’re currently standing in,” Here told the teen patiently.
Holly took a deep breath like she was about to flip out all over everyone on the boat, but then she sagged, too tired to care about one more weird thing happening to her that day, and grumbled, “Whatever, man.”
“So you can talk to anyone now?” Clayton sounded sulky. Mal thought it might be because he liked feeling special, being the one person in the group who could talk to anything.
“Now that my captors are dead, I can talk to anyone I want.”
The world shimmered around them and reformed. The boat didn’t move, but suddenly it was upright and everyone was on firm footing.
Mal went to the railing to see a small body of water surrounding them. The boat was now in a tiny pond with a dock connecting it to the cavern. A water sprite poked its head out of the hole in the hull and stared at the water dubiously.
“I could have done that,” Mal complained. He didn’t need some misty mother fucker showing off in front of his mate.
“You would have given me indigestion,” Here said dryly. “So I thought I’d save us both the trouble.”
“I thought you were exhausted from making a million tiny barriers,” Clayton said.
“I was. I took a nap,” Here said, like it should have been obvious.
It wasn’t. The last time Mal had exhausted his resources, it took him a hell of a lot longer than an hour to recover himself. Not counting when Clayton had helped him earlier, of course.
Here must be one hell of a powerful creature. How had it gotten invaded in the first place?
“Your parents invited more people inside me, and it’s making me anxious. Can you tell them to leave?” Here made a shooing motion toward the commotion happening on the other side of the cavern. Bits of mist swirled off its incorporeal arms as it gestured, and they vanished into nothing.
Clayton turned to see a swarm of silver-clad soldiers surrounding Naerith and discussing something intently. “Ah, yes. They would be the queen’s soldiers. They’ll leave once they’ve gathered up all the kidnappers.”
Here huffed in annoyance. “I’ll save them the trouble then.”
Once again, the world shimmered, and suddenly, there was a pile of battered, burned, and terrified kidnappers next to the soldiers, tied up and thoroughly demoralized. Naerith looked up and over at the boat, and Clayton waved cheerfully.
Here drifted over to Naerith, and after some shouting and hand waving, Naerith recalled all the soldiers and their captives to a portal.
See? Reality did whatever Mal told it to. He told it to give Naerith whatever it took to get him to leave them alone, and it gave him a stable portal.
It was great to be Mal.
Just as the last soldier went through, the portal began to warp and fizzle, cycling wildly through all the colors of the rainbow.
Naerith started shouting and shoved his wife at the portal, pointing at her and then at it over and over again, like it would be helpful.
Elena shot a glance at Mal and made a gesture that was probably considered incredibly rude among the fae, then she rubbed Naerith’s shoulder soothingly. She made a cutting gesture with one hand, and the portal vanished with a zhwoop.
Okay. A mostly stable portal.
She stormed over to Mal, shouting, “They’d better all be safe at the castle now, Mal.”
Mal waved a hand lazily. “They’ll be fine. My essence got bored. It was just messing with you.”
At least that’s what he thought had happened. He’d make sure to check in on it later.
If he remembered.
“You’d better be right. Son-in-law or not, I don’t let anyone mess with the safety of my people.”
Mal’s mind flashed to moments ago when Elena was bathing in the blood of the last person who crossed her. Maybe they could go hunting together one day.
It could be a family bonding experience. He’d heard people talk about family bonding before. It sounded dull and irritating, but family bonding with Clayton’s parents could be fun.
Hell, the whole family could get involved. Mal could get Tommy a Glock, and he could craft Merry an item that would help her focus her magic. He could even give her a few training spells to practice with to make monster killing more fun.
As for Holly… “Hey, Holly,” Mal shouted at the shell-shocked teen to get her attention. “What’s your favorite way to kill people?”
At first, Holly looked at him like he’d lost his mind, but then she surveyed the bloodsplattered cave and gave a rueful laugh. “Anything long range,” she finally answered.
“Holly, you don’t need to fight to stay in the family. Right, Mal?” Clayton said with an edge to his voice.
“No, but she’s going to feel really stupid standing there the next time we get attacked.”
“There won’t be a next time,” Clayton said in a scandalized tone.
“Red, I hate to break it to you, but there’s always a next time.”
“He’s right, son,” Naerith said. “I wish it weren’t true, but powerful people always attract bad guys. You get lulls between fights, but there’s always another one.”
Clayton’s face paled, and his voice was shaky as he asked, “How do I keep my family safe?”
“You’re asking the wrong person. I failed miserably.” Naerith couldn’t meet his eyes. Elena took his broken hand gently and began to mend it with magic, looking equally miserable.