Chapter Six #2
“Is it?” He looked at her intently. “She was shorter, and her aura was different.”
“Fascinating. Why did she leave?”
“Her grandmother kept trying to tie her to alphas, and I suppose it got a little much.”
“Oh, she didn’t go to university?”
“She could have, but the elders went silent, and her family fell in line.”
“She went. She graduated. She was cursed, and she lost her body and her family, and then she waited.”
Sabin swallowed, and his eyes teared up. “Is she done waiting?”
Lucia smiled weakly. “She’s here.”
He hugged her, and tears started to course down her cheeks.
Lucia whispered, and he nodded.
When they separated, he turned to Nora. “Nora, this is my second cousin, Lucia. She and Ted share a grandmother. She’s been gone over a decade.”
Nora smiled and walked up to her for a hug. “Well, thank you for returning to this insane family, Lucia. I look forward to hearing stories about Sabin’s youth.”
“Oh, he was a fun cousin. He didn’t let the others trample me and grabbed my legs to get apples out of my Nanna’s trees. He used me like a vertical claw machine, but we always split stuff fifty-fifty.”
Sabin chuckled. “She was an excellent apple-picker, but that was when she was twelve. After that, she had to make dumplings with the aunties.”
“I have made a lot of dumplings.” Lucia smiled. “A lot of dumplings. And nothing else.”
Nora smiled. “Not one for the parties?”
“Not invited. I looked like a beta through and through, and Nanna Anya couldn’t see anything in my future, so I kept to the kitchen and kept out of the way. My brothers had futures, and I didn’t. Now I know why.”
Ted looked at her. “Can you do this?”
“Probably. Nora, may I hide in your house if things become too much? I haven’t been out in a while.”
Nora nodded. “Of course. Aurora is also good at distracting people. Aren’t you, Roar?”
Aurora smiled and stated a full sentence “Yes, Mama. When we are done, can I play with Cici?”
Lucia stiffened. “Cici?”
Nora nodded. “Her invisible friend.”
“Oh. That’s fun.” Lucia asked, “Is Cici fun?”
Aurora smiled. “She makes the tablet and the television talk.”
Ted grinned. “Poltergeist?”
Lucia smiled. “I think Cici just wants to make sure that the quiet nights aren’t scary when Aurora wakes up.”
Ted looked at her. “No way.”
Lucia shrugged. “I didn’t sleep, and she used to have dreams of falling on stairs.”
Nora’s eyes went wide. “How do you know that?”
“She told me.”
Nora stared. “You know I am going to need to see proof.”
Lucia grinned. “Get me a tablet.”
The sound of approaching cars became a roar. Nora murmured, “Maybe later.”
Ted looked at Lucia and held her hand. “Showtime.”
Lucia held her cousin’s hand and watched the wave of family arrive. Showtime.
Lucia stood to one side as Anya held Ted’s face and cried and kissed her cheeks over and over. Every crush of people who recognized Ted pushed her further back.
They didn’t remember her. Ted had kept herself in their lives with work and associates. They had remembered her when they saw her. Lucia had been gone before she disappeared, and she was seeing the result of that distance now.
She sighed and walked into the house. Ted was happy. The family was happy, and Lucia was getting some lemonade.
She looked around the comfortable house, trying to figure out what she would do next. Her brothers and parents couldn’t remember her, she didn’t know her in-laws, and the nephews weren’t looking at her in a good way.
A voice said, “Are you a friend of Ted’s?”
Lucia turned to look at her grandmother. “I am. We met when she helped me out from under the same kind of curse that had gotten her.”
“She helped you?”
“She did.”
Anya smiled. “I am so proud of her. She has been through so much.”
“Yes, she has.”
“Where are my manners? I am Anya.” She extended her hand.
“Lucia Danyova.” She extended her hand, and when they made contact, Anya fainted.
Lucia caught her and walked outside. “Does anyone know first aid? Anya fainted.”
Nora looked at her and checked Anya’s pulse. “Pulse is steady. What was going on when she fainted?”
“I introduced myself, and we shook hands.”
“Put her on this lounge chair. One of the cousins is an EMT.”
She looked at her third brother and nodded as he controlled the landing of Anya with gentle instruction.
She settled her grandmother, and Demmer took her pulse and nodded. “Nothing beyond the handshake?”
“I believe she got a sensory overload. My energies aren’t stable yet.”
The family started edging closer to Anya, and Lucia backed away. She pulled out her phone and was about to hit the car app when she heard, “Lucia!”
Lucia paused and looked around. Horror was filling the faces of the people around her grandmother, and the woman was sitting up and staring at her. “You are really Lucia?”
“Yes, Nanna Anya.”
Olyna was standing near her sister. “You... are Lucia?”
“Yes.”
“You left.” The accusation was in her tone.
“I went to university, Auntie. I was attacked there, and I disappeared from the memory of those who knew me. It’s an effective spell.
It meant that no one would ever come looking for me.
” She looked at Olyna. “None of my family came for me. No one looked for me because I was arrogant enough to insist on going to school. You were very adamant that I not bother with a degree, Olyna. You said a girl as pretty as me didn’t need more of an education.
I needed to focus on doing nails and waiting for Nanna to find me a nice, stable alpha.
You told Nanna Anya that I would come to my senses and return to the family when I realized what was good for me. And Nanna? She believed you.”
She looked at her grandmother. “What did you see?”
“I saw it all. Oh, Lucia. I saw it all.” Her grandmother scrambled to her feet and walked toward her, hands outstretched. “You were so alone.” Anya was sobbing.
“So you understand how many times I tried to kill myself to end it.”
Her grandmother rushed her and hung on.
Ted was looking at her in shock. “Lucia?”
She shrugged. “It has been a very long decade without touch or communication. If you didn’t leave your phone and computer on, you wouldn’t have known I was there yesterday.
I have been to hundreds of family events, watching and listening.
There was nothing else for me to do, so I was nosey.
It was hard to occupy my time, so I started to visit the children.
Their senses were better, and they could see me, sort of.
” She smiled. “They certainly interact with me.”
She looked at her audience. “It was when all the little ones started arriving three years ago that I got hope. The ones with enhancements, their energy resonates with mine, and they can sense me.”
Aurora smiled, “Cici!”
“Indeed. They can sense Cici.” She looked down at Anya, who still had her arms clamped on. “Nanna Anya, you can let go. I have a new body now, and I am enjoying the thought of seeing what it can do.”
Anya leaned back, and Lucia felt the press of her talent. “You... had no body.”
“Nope. It was destroyed in my third year of the curse. My spirit didn’t disappear. That was a shock. I thought I would fade with my cells, but no. I didn’t. At first, it was fun, but then it was frustrating, and after that, depression kicked in. You know how that went.”
Her grandmother nodded, and tears seeped out.
“An international sculptor made this body, so it’s worth more than I ever was, and now I weigh close to three hundred pounds. That is a niche dating market. I have thwarted you at last.”
Anya paused, spluttered, and started laughing.
Ted was grinning in relief.
Lucia hugged her small grandmother, and she leaned down. “I am sorry that this is all you have ever seen of me.”
Anya’s eyes sparkled a little. “I see you in the arms of a giant. What do you know about that?”
Lucia eased away from the small woman. “Uh, I think dementia has kicked in.”
Ted snickered. “If you want to interview him, Nanna, I have his number.”
Lucia glared at her. “You are just begging for a computer virus the likes of which even god has never seen.”
Ted grinned. “Bring it.”
“When you least expect it,” she quipped, but she was looking at her parents and their confused expressions. “It’s okay, Mom and Dad. You can still pretend I am at school and that I just never graduated. This is a lot to adapt to.”
She looked over at her brothers. “Those of you who are married, I know your wives are the ladies of the house. I am not here to boot them out or edge them out. I just want to live again and am working out what that means.” She looked at Anya. “Nanna, Ted needs to learn how to do dumplings.”
Ted glared at her. “Really?”
“Told you, you wouldn’t expect it.” She smirked.
Ted paused and grinned. “Guess who I just texted?”
Lucia held up her own phone. “Guess who I just texted? The orc and giant are on their way.”
“You didn’t type.”
“Honey, I just sent the message to their phones. I don’t need silly fingers for texting.” She smirked.
“Wait. Orc? The mage? How did you know?”
“Ted, you always had a very obvious tell when you liked a guy.”
“I just got my family back.”
Lucia winced but said, “And they aren’t going anywhere, but he has been waiting to start courtship for ten years.”
“I just met him yesterday.”
“And in that time, time has looped a decade around. He’s been waiting and watching for you.”
“What about your giant?”
“He can work with stone, and I am stone. Hell, I don’t even know if I have genitals. I certainly don’t have clothing, and I need a place to stay. He is offering those things free and clear.”
Anya said, “What about your trust account?”
“Gone. The guys who cursed me removed every trace of me from this world and kept me underground so they could keep draining me. It took me three years to break out. I spent one year in a coma in hospital, and then my body shattered into a million stars and my soul came loose. From there, I was in the same state as this morning.”
Ted frowned. “They robbed you?”