31. Gemini and Scorpio #2
Something was poking her leg. She reached into her pocket to withdraw the cat toy.
But instead of pulling out a burlap pouch stuffed with catnip, she discovered she was holding a live scorpion by its tail.
Its shell was green and speckled with shiny iridescent dots.
Its claws and legs flailed as it lifted its head to look at her.
“Oh, my gods!” Maida flung the scorpion away from herself.
Before the venomous creature could land anywhere, Gemini reappeared. She flew through the air, leaping at the flying scorpion and catching it in her mouth.
“No, Gemini!” Maida shrieked as the cat crashed to the floor beside her water bowl, spilling the contents.
The scorpion was no longer in the cat’s mouth, but she was crouched down, holding something between her paws. What had she done? Had she done that, actually turned an inanimate object into a living one? Maida lunged forward and Gemini hissed.
“Leave it, Gem!” she implored. Gemini stared back at her, obstinately refusing to move.
“Please, Gemini.” Maida was near tears. She squatted down, trying to use a pencil to get the deadly creature away from Rosie’s beloved cat.
Finally, with a bored look, the cat stood up and walked to the water dish for a drink. Maida was prepared to see a mangled arthropod. But the only thing that had been sitting beneath Gemini’s paw was the burlap toy. It stared up at her with empty eyes, embroidered with x’s.
Gemini came back towards her purring loudly, and nudged the toy back towards her, as if to ask her to throw it again.
She was afraid to touch it. Or anything. Between this and the incident with the bee, she was beginning to wonder if she might be a danger to others.
“That’s so cute! Is Gemmy playing fetch with you?
” Rosie burst through the door and flung her backpack to the floor.
Her cheeks were pink, and she sounded breathless, as if she’d run the entire way home from school.
“What did I miss? Anyone interesting come in today? It’s so hard wanting to be in two places at once, Maida!
Can we take the books over to the squirrels later?
You didn’t go without me, did you? I hope not.
Those squirrels can get nasty with Ordinaries.
Not that you’re uh…Ordinary…Sorry.” Rosie bit her lip and twirled the end of one of her dark curls between two fingers.
For the first time since her enlightenment, Maida wished she was.
“Tell me everything that happened today. I want to know exactly who came in, what they bought—leave nothing out!” Rosie demanded.
The teenager’s enthusiasm was a welcome distraction.
“How about we have a snack first.” Maida gestured at the bakery case. “I’ll tell you about my day, and I want to hear about yours as well. After that, if it’s still slow, we can close up for a break and go deliver the books to the squirrels.”
“Bardo says it’s not unusual for some shifters to try out different shapes before settling. We have more agency than our parents have led us to believe. Some things are inborn, but we still can choose,” Rosie was saying.
The basket of books for the squirrels was swinging from Rosie’s arm as they made their way across the lawn to the house next door. Per Granny’s advice, Maida was carrying a second basket, filled with bundles of nuts and wedges of cheese.
“You never want to cross a squirrel,” Granny had warned. “They’re terribly vengeful and gossips to boot. Luckily, the doctor put in a word for you.”
“Lots of shifters like to test out different shapes,” Rosie asserted. “It’s totally natural. It’s not a big deal.”
“Mmm hmmm.”
Maida loved hearing about the magical community from Rosie’s perspective. She couldn’t help feeling jealous of the way Arthur’s daughter, Rosie, was raised with one foot in the magical community and the other in the Ordinary world.
But today she was distracted. She couldn’t stop thinking about the scorpion. Perhaps she had just imagined it coming to life in her pocket—a trick of the light, or her imagination running away from her. If only she could ask Gemini the cat if she’d seen it too.
“I can’t really talk about this stuff with my dad…” Rosie sighed, snapping Maida back to attention.
She studied Rosie. The young girl was so tough, and resilient.
She was very pretty, with her glossy dark curls, pale skin, and fiery eyes.
Maida could see Arthur’s influence in her eye color.
Genetics were a wondrous thing that way.
But she had no idea how magical genes were expressed.
Not for Rosie, and certainly not for herself.
“Why can’t you talk to your dad?”
Despite Rosie’s tough exterior, she still had a certain youthful vulnerability that it was impossible for Maida to miss. Rosie let out a dismissive snort and rolled her eyes, but Maida sensed this was bravado. Something was bothering the girl.
“You might not have noticed, but my dad is really uptight. He’s very much into following the rules. That’s probably why he became a solicitor. I think he spends too much time with the Ordinaries. Who knows when the last time he even shifted was?” Rosie scoffed. “He might have forgotten how.”
Maida bristled, thinking of her own father suppressing that side of himself for decades.
“I don’t think he’d ever forget something so essential,” she said, knowing it was the truth. She hesitated before asking the next question. “What about your mother? Can you speak to her?”
Rosie laughed a little bitterly, and stopped in her tracks to examine Maida, a challenge in her eyes. “Very funny!”
“I’m sorry if I’ve overstepped,” Maida apologized immediately. “My mother passed when I was a baby, so I should have considered?—”
“She’s not dead,” Rosie interjected. “My mom’s very much alive. She’s just the exact opposite of my dad. Completely wild. She went full-time caribou and left for the wilderness when I was only three years old. Apparently, raising a child was too boring for her. Good luck finding her.”
“Oh.” Maida was at a loss for words. “I’m so sorry, Rosie. That?—”
“—sucks,” Rosie completed the sentence.
“Yes. Yes it does,” Maida concurred.