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“Wow,” whispered Tammy.
“Great, great!” Maple clapped and laughed. “You learn fast. We will be able to help Annie!”
“Umm.” Tammy stopped smoothing her hands down the front of her leaf dress to stare at the queen. “I’m like, what… seven now? I’m guessing you’re going to teach me how to do magic until I’m at least eighteen or something, right?”
Maple nodded.
“Does Annie have eleven years to wait for help?”
Maple shook her head. “No. I told you already. One night.”
“But... years.”
“Yes,” said Maple as if it made perfect sense. “Come, child. We go to the village now.”
At being called ‘child,’ Tammy stuck out her tongue.
Maple laughed.
Tammy gazed around at the magical forest, then down at her childish self, shrugged, and started walking after Maple. Barefoot hiking in the woods had not been one of her hobbies before, and it proved… painful. This led to the faerie’s second lesson. A little bit of magic helped her avoid stepping on anything painful as well as got the thicker undergrowth to move out of her way, filling in back to where it had been after she passed.
Watching plants sliding out of her way seemed even more bizarre than being a little kid again.
Soon, a cloud of other faeries swarmed out of the forest. They cheered, seeming delighted at Maple’s return. Once the excitement of their queen being home ebbed, they took notice of Tammy. She felt somewhere between a celebrity under assault by paparazzi and a little girl walking into a grandma convention where everyone there wanted to hug, squeeze, and tell her how adorable she was.
Maple chittered at the others. The rapid conversation didn’t appear in Tammy’s mind as literal words but rather a sense the queen explained she’d brought her here to learn ‘how to magic’ and it would be a multi-year process. In a sense, the entire faerie village would be adopting her as if they’d found a human orphan abandoned by her parents.
“This is so weird,” whispered Tammy, hit with a sudden worry that she might’ve made a mistake.
“It will feel like a long time.” Maple patted her on the cheek. “But it is a dream. You are safe and will be home tomorrow morning. For now, this is your new home.”
Tammy fidgeted at the leaf dress and sighed again. “Okay. This is seriously weird… but so is everything else about my life.”
Chapter Three
Dinner and a Case
Putting groceries away is a normal thing to do.
Casually putting groceries away after narrowly preventing a mass shooting is less normal. Truth be told, my nerves are a little frayed. That said, I may or may not end up having to appear in court for this, depending on if the guy takes a plea or ends up being declared mentally unfit. If you ask me, the guyismentally unfit and should be put in a secure mental health facility.
Easy for me to say. Guns aren’t too much of a threat to my existence. At least, barring silver bullets. The anxiety is coming entirely from what might have happened to other people in the store. Lots of children around. Hmm. Could the guy have been hesitating because he didn’t want to hurt so many kids? I thought he’d been hoping for a bigger crowd to maximize carnage. No idea. Nice to think he had a problem harming children, but whatever really goes through the mind of someone capable of firing a gun randomly into a crowd of total strangers is a mystery to me.
Well, a mystery to me now. A few years ago, I could have popped in there and saw why he did what he did. I’m guessing... it might not have made a whole lot of sense. To him, yes. To me, not so much.
Anthony is working on dinner. More and more often, he’s doing the cooking for the household. It’s kind of a reversal of normal. Kid does the cooking, mom does the dishes. I don’t mind switching things up. Another year or two, and he’ll be old enough to move out. Of course, it’s a question as to whether or not he will. The future has strange and interesting things planned for him… after he’s sure his sisters are safe.
This may or may not include him continuing to live at home once he feels like an adult. He doesn’t exactly need to be at their side 24/7. Maybe he will have a reasonably normal life and get a place nearby. His whole ‘angel thing’ is sorta backburnered for now. I mean, it’s not like there’s a rush for an immortal to do anything. It’s nice of the powers that be to allow him the time with us before he’s obligated elsewhere. Maybe they want him to know a somewhat full mortal lifetime before they whisk him off into the clouds and give him his wings officially.
Makes me think of that movie with Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. The one where he’s an angel who falls in love with a mortal woman, gives up his wings, and then she dies like the next day. Yeah, I cried. In hindsight, part of me wonders if it might’ve been based on a true story. Maybe they’re allowing Anthony this time with his family so he doesn’t quit on them. Heh. Funny to think about but somehow, I doubt he would. My boy is special—and I don’t just say that because he’s my son. He naturally protects, naturally cares. If given the chance, he would make a damn fine angel.
Barring the ‘excitement’ of the grocery store, the rest of our late afternoon is quite relaxing. Renae and Paxton hang out in the living room simultaneously watching a movie and doing homework. Anthony’s talking about bringing Kaitlyn to the prom. She’s evidently been promoted to official girlfriend. This naturally gets me wondering if my son is going to do the ‘normal life’ thing to the point of having a wife and children. Not sure if hecanhave kids, considering. Even if he can’t create them, he’s still capable of spending his life with a significant other… and they could always adopt. If he ever does give me grandkids, I will not be able to resist calling them perfect little angels.
When Tammy doesn’t yell at me for making a lame joke she telepathically eavesdropped on from across the house, I let a wistful sigh out. I’d gotten so used to her long-distance reactions, it still feels odd not to have them. However, we are both glad she’s free from what had become a curse. Constant bombardment of thoughts from every person within several dozens of miles wreaked havoc on her sanity.
It feels like only a few minutes before Ant starts moving food from the stove to the table.
Wow. Have I been standing there in the kitchen daydreaming for an hour? Apparently. I lean into the living room. “Guys, dinner time.”
