Chapter Two
Ted looked at three women, and they looked back at her. They were in the back yard of the new palace, and the green space was dotted with the curious and interested. Most were dark elves.
Three women of differing sizes and ear shapes were standing in front of her, and they introduced themselves. “Hello, I am Win. Known as the blood witch.”
“I am Mik, known as the chaos mage.”
“I am Arwell, known as Arwell.” The woman grinned.
“I am Ted. It’s an initialism.”
Mik’s eyes widened, and she smiled. “Cool. If this works, can I know who you actually are?”
“If this works. Yes.”
Arwell looked at her. “If I know your actual name, will I remember you?”
“Probably. We used to sit together at some of those socialite events. Way back.”
Arwell blinked. “We did?”
“Yes. People who knew me before the curse were the hardest hit. They lost me completely. The people who met me afterward still had a chance to remember.”
Mik blinked. “So you have lost your family, friends, community.”
“Correct. Now, what can we do to get this thing off?” She pulled her neckline down, and Mik reached out to touch it.
There was a crackle, a hum, and a feeling of heat with a curl of smoke. Ted kept still.
Mik smiled. “Win, come here, and take a poke.”
Ted chuckled. “I am in the hands of professionals.”
Mik grinned. “We are all learning here, but Win has the most exposure to the shadow mage grimoires.”
Win walked over and looked at the mark. Ted sighed and tore the neckline of the tee she had on at four points to expose the entire mark. “If you are looking through an index, it is a thrall mark.”
Win blinked. Mik blinked. Arwell smiled. “Ted, what happened when he put the mark on you?”
“I pushed him down the stairs, landed on one foot on his crotch, and screamed curses at him as he scrambled away, puking as he went. If I had known how bad this was, I would have killed him then.”
Win asked, “Were you lovers?”
“No. Ew. Gross.” Ted flinched.
“So you would have been one of his early attachments. He didn’t know how to anchor the curse, so he thought that would be enough. Later, he probably used sexual entanglement to lay his trap. Was he attractive?”
“Yup, and shallow as a mirror.” Ted frowned.
“He had very unsavoury hobbies as well. I was just in a class with him. He did this when I tried to call the police about him sending some betas after another girl in our class. She survived but just barely. He saw something in my face and followed me back to my apartment. That is when the collar came on, and I booted him down the stairs.”
“When did you see him after that?”
“I didn’t. I can feel a draw on me, constantly. Like someone is sucking at the last of the soda in the glass.”
Mik frowned. “You aren’t dead yet. You are still mobile.”
“Yeah. Why?”
“This is designed to kill you in about a year. How long has it been?”
“Six years.”
“Interesting.”
Win touched the mark and glided her fingertips along it. “We can break it. If three of us can share the shock, it should be fairly simple, but... we need everyone else at a safe distance.”
Regis said, “Everyone inside. This is going to be messy.”
Avor was speaking with Sabin, and he nodded. Aurora was carried inside, but Nora and Sabin were watching.
Ted looked at them and smiled. “This does not mean I am babysitting. She’s sticky.”
They grinned and nodded.
Regis looked at them, took her husband’s hand, and a wall of energy went between them and the four women on the lawn. She gave the ladies a thumbs-up, and Ted looked at the women who were spacing themselves around her.
“So you know what this is?”
Mik nodded. “It is sort of like a magnet that runs under your skin and pulls your life force out and gives it to him. So we have to break the link and then get the magnet out. If it just fades, it is hiding inside you, like a parasite, so there is going to be a scar that you can have fixed later.”
“Okay. As long as people remember me, I will be good. I just want to leave a room and come back to see recognition. I want someone to remember my birthday.”
Win nodded. “This is going to work, but it’s going to hurt.”
She looked at Arwell as she moved behind her. “I am good with pain. Should I kneel or can you all reach me?”
Mik smiled. “We can manage.” She waved her hand, and a box was standing there.
Ted grinned.
The ladies got into position, discussed how they were going to do it, and then they just grabbed the mark.
Ted felt agonizing pain that surrounded her; it burned, it was acid in her skin, and the burn continued as she heard cursing from the women around her.
It went on for over a minute, and then, suddenly, there was cool energy moving around her.
They held on, and the cool surrounded her.
The heat and draining were gone. She blinked and felt something else.
“Ladies, back off.” Ted’s tone was urgent as the energy inside her rose and then flared out in a blaze of silver and rainbow energy.
* * * *
Nora held onto Sabin as their friend was covered in bright power that spiralled upward in a column past the highest floor of the new palace. “Oh, wow.”
Sabin said, “Too bad Aurora is missing this.”
“She isn’t. Look at the window on the main floor.”
Nora looked at her daughter, next to Ira, with their hands pressed against the glass in wonder. Sabin looked and chuckled. “I hope she will remember this.”
“That Ted is made of silver and rainbow glitter? That is the kind of thing a little girl remembers. The only thing better would be if she were a pony.”
Sabin chuckled. “She might be able to. I am fairly sure she is one of the new mages.”
Avor rumbled, “Yah, think? So she was making you an estimate app? I saw it when I was looming over her desk.”
“Yes. She was. Labour, margins, the works.” Sabin grinned. “It is going to make our estimates so fast.”
Avor looked at the woman who was slowly easing up on the power expenditure. “Do you think she might want to make one for me?”
Sabin grinned. “She isn’t cheap, but after the specs go in, you end up with a comprehensive materials list. It links to suppliers for quotes.”
Nora watched Avor perk up. “Really?”
Sabin snorted. “Sure. If it involves organizing data, she’s your app developer. Reasonable prices, too.”
Avor looked at the woman who was staring at her glittering skin. Mik was talking to her, and Ted was nodding slowly. She started slumping, and Mik caught her.
Nora walked forward, and Regis was with her.
* * * *
Ted pressed a hand to her head. “Oh, that is a rush. I felt like a superheated cup of water in the microwave, and you just poked in the chopstick.”
Win smiled. “I understand and agree with that description. That was what it felt like.”
“I am sorry I glittered you.”
Win grinned. “I am sure it comes off.”
Ted muttered, “You believe that if it gives you comfort.”
Arwell paused and then hugged her. “Oh, Therese. Ohmygod. I didn’t realize you were missing.”
“I know. It’s okay, Arwell. Wait. You remember my name?” Ted felt the thick tears starting.
Arwell was crying. “I remember you.”
They hugged and stayed that way forever. Ted held one of her closest friends when she was growing up while her therapist stared and blinked away tears. A ping came from her phone and then another and another, and it started vibrating, and it sounded like it was going to explode.
With a thick voice, Ted said, “They remember me.”
Arwell laughed and sobbed. “We remember you.”
They held each other and cried for a very long time. When little hands started to pat her jeans, Ted looked down. Aurora smiled and said, “Ted!”
Ted laughed. “Yes, Aurora. Ted.”
A moment later, she was engulfed in two arms and the scent of chocolate. “Hey, Nora.”
“Ohmygod, Ted. You have been babysitting Aurora since she was four months old.”
Ted smiled. “Yes, Mrs. Skarov.”
Nora laughed. “And Lexa’s twins, and Alita’s boy, and... you have been there for us.”
“Of course. Sabin’s my second cousin on my father’s side.”
Nora stared at her dark skin, head full of fine long braids, and dark eyes. “Oh, wow. You have the same nose.”
Ted smiled. “So the glitter is fading?”
“It’s fading.”
Sabin was staring. “Therese?”
“Yup. Hey, cousin.”
She was caught up in another hug a second later.
She heard him mutter, “Therese Elinor Dahnov. Ted. Clever.”
“I have always been clever, cousin.”
He laughed, and there was a thickness to his tone. “I have missed you.”
“Ask Aurora. I have always been around.” She looked down at the little one who still had a grip on her leg.
Aurora grinned. “Ted. Tedtedted.”
Sabin wiped his eyes. “I never... you just...”
“Ceased to be. Even Dad didn’t remember me when I was gone. I visited, and nothing could crack the curse, so I have been sending money to Mom and Dad until she died and he went into the home.”
Nora put a hand over her mouth. “Oh, god.”
“Yeah. I visit the grave and imagine that she could remember me now. That is the thing that I can’t forgive and the reason I am going to rip that asshole from stem to stern. Then I will settle in and continue my normal work.”
Sabin asked, “Would you like help?”
“No. You are a dad and a husband. I don’t want to get you in trouble.” Ted smiled. “There’s a twist, huh?”
He smiled and ran his thumb over her cheek. “Love the hair.”
“Thanks. I have a great braider who sits with me the whole time. Small room. She never lost sight of me. Important when it takes hours and hours, but the braids last a long time. At least I have gotten over my hot pink weave fascination.”
He barked a laugh and hugged her. “I think your phone is going to blow.”
She lifted it and smiled. “One hundred twenty people just remembered me.” She laughed and sniffled. “They can remember me.”
He hugged her again like he was making up for lost time.
Ted looked at him. “I feel like I can breathe again.”
Mik spoke, “Ted, we need to talk.”
Win walked up to her and pressed something small into her hand.
Ted froze as glyphs and icons burned into her mind. “Oh, dear.”
She woodenly extended her hand, and Win caught the USB drive. Win asked, “How much can you use?”