Chapter Six
A bunch of strange women and Achilles hugged Lucia. He was very impressed with her stone-to-flesh enchantment.
“Where did you learn that?”
“Well, when Win had created the USB grimoire, I touched it and got a whole bunch of information and not enough energy to use it. That changed today. I can do all kinds of sketchy shit.”
The djinn and mages laughed at her. The elves looked a little wary.
The king and queen walked up to her. Avor and Regis. Lucia smiled. “Thank you for hosting this get-together. I would normally have provided a hostess gift, but I will have to owe you for it.”
Regis reached out and took her hand. “You owe us nothing. One of my dear friends was in a similar situation.”
“Ah. Pandora.”
“You know her?”
“Yes, but she doesn’t know me. I was already pretty far gone when you set up house here.”
Regis paused. “You have been... here?”
“Outside the home. I am not super invasive, and I didn’t know what would happen if I came into contact with you ladies. Poking at random seemed insensitive. I have just been able to hang around and keep folks from sneaking up on you.”
Avor looked at her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that when the white elite were sneaking around town, I would touch your neck and run through them, causing a collapse. When the shadow mages tried to snag Ira, I intervened. They stopped hunting at her school that day.”
He looked at her, at his wife, and then pulled her in for a hug. She muttered, “What’s with all the hugging?”
Regis said, “Your frequency demands contact. Be prepared to have a line of suitors out the door?”
“What door?” Lucia cocked her head.
Regis blinked. “Where will you live?”
“My home is long gone. I have to discuss it with my family. My brothers have started families, so that is off. My parents are semi-retired, so that is out of the question. I will have to figure it out.”
“If they don’t offer you a place, you can stay here. We have plenty of rooms, and Emperor Vaayu sent through a few more high-powered individuals who have a mind on partnerships. They were sent back in time and should be returning here in a few days.”
“Like migrating penguins?”
Regis smiled. “Yes. There were a few who might be a good match for you.”
“With a stone body? I am not even sure that I have genitalia. I didn’t want to ask Achilles.”
Regis blinked. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Well, I don’t want to think about it, but I will have to figure that out on my own.” She shrugged.
“If it doesn’t work out, you can always come here. I am serious. That is what the new palace is all about. It is for the sheltering and education of the new magic. Even without pointy ears, you are welcome.”
Lucia smiled. “Thank you. I could write programs but not like the apps that Ted works on. Mine were long and boring and not a lot of fun.”
“So you were really around here the whole time?”
“Yes. Their initial draw on me incapacitated me, and I lost my physical form a few years later. After that, they looked for me but couldn’t find me, but four of them were already using me as a primary power source. I had to watch the world pass me by, so I interfered when I could.”
“Interfered?”
“I have been very good at zapping.” She clenched her fist. “Now I think hitting might be my thing. I will have to get Achilles and Keres something nice for the holidays. Dante is on his own.”
“You know them?”
“I don’t sleep. I know everyone around here. I was there when one cousin sprouted wings, I was there when Nora was being tormented, and I tried to mitigate it as much as I could, but without a body, I could only make folks uncomfortable.”
Regis hugged her. “You did what you could.”
“And apparently, I have a damp kitten vibe. I don’t suppose you know where I can steal a cheap phone?”
Regis leaned back. “We have a bunch inside. No stealing required. We give the ten-year-old ones to the guys who come through and step back and keep new ones in case someone forgets their pants in a transformation.”
“Sensible.”
“Yes, I am just going to... Oh, thank you, Ira. Are you still on time for school?” Regis took the cellphone box and opened it, waking the phone up.
“Yes, Mom. Hello, I’m Ira.”
Lucia smiled and met the small hand with her own. “I am Lucia Danyova.”
“You are pretty.”
“Thank you. Achilles did it. I used to be invisible.”
Ira smiled. “Like Auntie Pandora. She floated around the world as fog for years.”
Lucia smiled. “I know. She was in this lake and saved you when you hurt your foot.”
Regis looked at her. “You were here?”
“I was made of magical electricity. Anywhere I went, I went at the speed of thought.”
Ira looked at her. “Wow. Do you know how?”
“Sure. Particle transfer. Do you want me to draw you a schematic?”
Ira’s eyes glowed. “Yes, please.”
Regis snorted. “School, Ira. Now.”
Ira sighed. “Can I ask you more questions later, Miss Lucia?”
“Of course. I will write a synopsis of how I travel and send it to your mother.”
Ira smiled. “Thank you. You get me.”
Lucia nodded. “I really do.”
She watched as Avor walked over and held his hand out to his daughter. Ira smiled, and he carried her pink and sparkly backpack in his other hand.
Avor said, “There are a few mages who would like to speak with your cousin and yourself. They are waiting until the other mages leave. They don’t wish to distract anyone.”
Lucia looked around, and the women who had come together for her smiled, waved, and disappeared. “Workday.”
Regis smiled. “Yes. I knew this was coming, so I did my prep at two in the morning, and now my assistants are filling today’s orders.”
“Thank you for taking time for me. I have spoken more today than I have in my life.”
Regis put a hand on her shoulder. “It is good to hear you. When Ted started asking about this event, she explained your condition, and I have never heard of someone so far gone coming back. It was a good call that you asked for extra mass, but Achilles couldn’t leave it there.
He’s super fussy about the shape of stone. ”
A low voice said, “He is not the only one. If he had not assisted you, I would have, lady.”
Lucia looked up, and she saw a man who continued where he should have stopped. She looked way up and blinked. “Hello up there.”
He smiled. “I have a smaller glamour, but I wanted to meet you properly, Lady Lucia. I am Yorwell, mage, giant, bon vivant.”
She snickered. “You have been around for a decade.”
“Indeed. The emperor is wise, and he pointed out that ladies were being born to match power this world didn’t have balance for yet. So he is providing the balance and the training.”
“I saw him. The emperor is shocked, and he is trying not to lose the foothold that the original colony began.”
“Just so. I have felt you in the city.”
She blinked and blushed. “Uh, I have been around in the energy state for about seven years.”
“And have you peeped at anyone in all that time?”
She blushed. “You have really clean grout in your shower.”
He looked at her, and his own blush began, turning his pewter grey skin dark across his cheeks. His features were lovely. He was like a giant elf made of soft metals.
She shrugged. “I did go through a peeping phase. Sorry. After looking at a few hundred naked guys, I was numbed. No novelty after fifteen.”
He grinned. “That is honest.”
“You asked.”
Regis chuckled. “Lucia, is there anything you need?”
“A change of clothes? This is nice in a rogue silk nymph kind of way, but I am more jeans and sweatshirts, much to the despair of my family matriarchs.”
Regis nodded. “You are a tall fit, but I think we can find you something.”
“Good because I am one rainstorm away from indecent exposure.”
Yorwell smiled. “If it comes to that, you can have my jacket.”
Ted came to them and smiled. “Are you ready? The family took the day off for the reunion.”
“With you. They remember you.”
Ted frowned. “What?”
“I was fading while I was in their minds. They were happier when I didn’t show up. It was easy to make me disappear. I wasn’t really there anyway.”
Ted looked at her and stared. “You stopped coming to events three years before you disappeared. You lived alone, and your family didn’t talk to you.”
“Yeah. I will come with you, but just say I am a friend from school. They won’t recognize me.”
Ted took her hands. “They will remember you.”
“That’s doubtful. What do I get if I win? They have to recognize me, not just my name.”
Ted blinked. “Right. Um, you get an extra hug from me?”
She laughed. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”
Ted hugged her. “That’s the spirit.”
Regis smiled. “You two share a relative?”
“Yes, a grandmother,” Ted muttered. “She’s the one with the sight in the family. I wonder what she will see now.”
Regis pressed the phone into Lucia’s hand. “There is an app to call a car on our account. Just push the button, and a car will be called, and you can get it to bring you back here. We will help you get back on your feet.”
Lucia nodded. “Thank you.”
Yorwell smiled. “Do you mind if I check up on you?”
“Uh, why would you?”
“Because I have an affinity for stone and a fondness for my shower.”
She blinked. “It is a lovely shower.”
He grinned. “It is. I shaped the waves and grooves in the stone myself.”
“I didn’t notice those. I was distracted.”
He blushed again. “Right. So you stopped to see new configurations after fifteen?”
“Yes.”
“Where was I?”
She coughed and pushed Ted toward the drive. “Fifteen.”
He was laughing as Lucia pushed her cousin toward the driveway. Ted grabbed her wrist, and they were standing at the back of Sabin and Nora’s house.
Ted turned and smiled at the family as Aurora belted out, “Ted!”
Her little brother was carried, and Sabin smiled and then froze. “Ted, who is your friend?”
Lucia stepped forward with her hand extended. “Lucia Danyova. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Skarov.”
Sabin frowned and rubbed his head with the hand not touching hers. “I used to have a cousin named Lucia.”
Lucia watched Ted smile with anticipation. “Did you?”
“But she moved away nearly fifteen years ago.”
“Ah. Well, it is a common enough name, I suppose.”