Chapter Twenty-Seven – Tammy

  Manifestation. Mnemonics.

  I flicked my wrist. The veins of mana coalesced, a ball of flame settling into my hand.

  Modification.

  A non-physical tug at the threads made it start to spin, wobbling slowly around my hand.

  Manipulation.

  From my other palm, a part of my mana snaked down into the water, sinking into the fringes of the coral’s magic and splitting into three. One by one, the strands coiled up, ribbons of water breaking the surface and layering around the orb. This was the worst part – wrangling the external mana without breaking it, since if I took it over completely, the water would fall. If it hit the fire, the whole thing would implode and my nose would start bleeding.

  Three safe rotations passed before it started shuddering in place. Right before I lost control and let it go, a rain of dagger-like bursts of air passed by, shredding it.

  “That’s the four benchmarks! If I were Mom, that would be a pass. Sad to say she’s teaching today though – we can’t move up to the juicy stuff without her ok. Since you’re pretty much at the limit, I’m gonna call it here.”

  Alyssa was back to her usual, chipper self. She’d been more subdued the first few days after the incident, but I found myself glad she hadn’t left. Not that I’d have blamed her is she had, but a familiar face really mattered to me. By this point, she counted. I didn’t feel quite as at home around Mini or Scully anymore, even if both had been normal since the day I’d met Agent Victoria.

  I had another meeting with the spook next week – actually scheduled through Scully this time. I’d try to avoid breaking down at this one. She’d been helpful, and I’d learned a lot, but all of it was obviously told to me through her specific lens and colored by how she hadn’t sworn to tell the truth. Still, I didn’t have a reason to doubt the way she’d driven home that I was, like I’d thought, in way over my head.

  I knew a little bit more about who grandpa was and what he’d done. A lot more useful things about the Initiative, and a list of books to read at home. It was coming along, and with Alyssa’s help I’d managed to get as far as I had. My hand – after that drunken night – had been calm. Like it recognized I was sticking to my convictions.

  The bracelet…less so. I hadn’t realized until the agent had left, but she hadn’t commented on it, at all. She’d mentioned the brand, talked to me about Teresa and how Ash wasn’t the worst court to be taken by, but not once had she seemed to notice the furtive piece of jewelry.

  I had a sneaking suspicion it had been hiding itself from them. If I could figure out how to use it, like Alyssa was sure I could…

  A ball of damp sand smacked me in the face and crumbled down between my tits.

  “Knock knock. Earth to Tammy. Come in, Tammy.”

  I bit back an impulsive response, letting out a deep breath as a sigh and flopping down backwards. There was sand in my bra now – that wasn’t coming out. It was just a fact of life. Like how if Mini saw me fuck up when I was practicing, he’d trigger a laugh track from the tablet before giving the lightest possible advice that would turn out to help.

  Usually.

  “I’m here. Just distracted. I had three ibuprofen this morning and I’ve still got a headache.”

  “Well duh. You’re trying to cram an entire childhood of training into as little time as possible. You probably aren’t even sleeping.”

  I flinched. The dreams were still there when I did. Seeing the same thing time and again, or these chaotic, impossible things. It was too much. So yeah – maybe I wasn’t sleeping enough.

  “Maybe. If your mom’s out, I guess we’re done for the day. I should get going.”

  I didn’t make a move to stand. I could hear her shuffling around, the sweep of a leg and the flap of her wings marking the destruction of the little sandcastle town she’d taken to building while we practiced. I just stared up at the geographically-implausible sunlight and avoided looking in her direction.

  It wasn’t that I was mad at her. I was still mad at myself for that day. It was, uh, that she’d worn a swimsuit, and I didn’t want to stare. Suffice it to say, there was less fur than I’d expected. It was there on her arms and the sides of her neck, but there was a lot more bare skin that I’d expected after seeing her mom’s form. It wasn’t even the illusion – well probably not, anyway – the fur just thinned to a light, downy tinge like it was on her face as it got closer to her torso.

  And to her uh…

  “Stop being so quiet! We could still go for a swim – you look about my size, so c’mon! It’ll be fun, and you need to give yourself a break. Even the government said so!”

  Never should’ve told her that. Ugh. When she stuck a hand out, I let her pull me up. She was warm even though I’d been in the sun – that just wasn’t fair.

  “Okay, fine. I don’t need to borrow your stuff though. I don’t think it would fit anyway.” We were about the same stature, yeah, but her chest was…not quite as big as me, when she wasn’t under her illusions. Before I could let myself think better of it, I shucked my shirt off, then kicked my shorts up and snatched them out of the air.

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  “Wait, really? Shit – I mean, wow! I didn’t think you’d say yes. You look nice in red!”

  I felt my cheeks heat up with an uncharacteristic blush as I tucked the clothes under my arm and went over to grab my purse and phone. I’d actually worn a swimsuit under stuff the last few days, since it did feel tempting. I just hadn’t felt up to it by the time the headaches started to stick and we backed off the exercises.

  “Well, hurry up! This was your idea!”

  I ah, might have put a little extra sway into the step as I started out, leaving her to trail behind.

  ~_~_~

  I still didn’t know what kind of magic they had about the weather, but fuck. That pool was way better than the actual beaches here in-state. Tons of rocky outcrops to jump from, little nooks behind waterfalls that came out of almost nothing, and perpetual sunshine shining down inside the colonnade even if it was cloudy past it? Amazing.

  Between that and having Alyssa show me that you could very much do a cannonball even if you had wings, it almost made up for the other sphinxes staring at us the entire time. The little one – Euanthe? – hadn’t been out here this time, so it was all adults and their possibly-jealous partners staring at us.

  It was weird though. I was half sure, as I shook my hair out and stepped back into my shorts and cringed at the feel of sand, that they’d been glare-staring at Alyssa more than me. Between how she talked about being ostracized and the vague bits of the conversation with Rita that I could remember, it was obvious that she needed a friend as much as I did now.

  Teeth and all, her smile was dazzling when she let herself go. It was nice to see her happy.

  “Looks like it’s about four. Mom’s not going to be back until eight or nine – but you could stay for dinner if you wanted! C’mon, it’ll be fun!”

  Well, how could I say no to that?

  This time, the dining hall was packed. We got a few looks – we’d toweled off, but her wings were still fluffed up like an angry chicken’s and my hair was still plastered down – that didn’t last long since we weren’t the only people filing in straight from the pool.

  A smiling, hairless cook with too many fingers and wide, wide eyes met us at the window. Something about him felt oddly, suspiciously, calming.

  “Ah, Alyssa! And Miss Aufrey, I presume? I was hoping to see you – why, I’d half thought the little troublemaker here was hiding you from me.”

  I tensed at the question, but the sphinx next to me just laughed and blushed. “I’ve uh, just been busy with the lessons. I’ve been back to cook in the mornings!”

  “Mmmhmm. Back to cook for someone else, with such a smile on your face I hear.” The man nodded, his grin not breaking. His mouth, I realized, wasn’t really moving as he spoke. The longer I looked, the less like a person he was. Roughly textured, almost painted, skin. A posture that felt forced. Teeth that looked almost carved. His eyes, though, swiveled to me, shining and full of life. “It is rude to stare so long, Miss Aufrey.”

  “I…sorry. I have no idea what you are.” I blinked and looked away. “You asked a question though. I thought…”

  “Yes yes, it’s a bad idea for you. My dear employers find my kind much less appetizing. We have a compact, as much as your darling little mentor here pushes the boundary of it time and time again.” The eyes swiveled to Alyssa as I looked back, the unnerving details fading into the background again. “Not that I’d ever begrudge her for it. Isn’t that right, Alyssa?”

  She flushed, her skin tinting as red as her fur. It was worse than when I caught her staring at my bikini. “Mirin here means that I, uh, technically shouldn’t go into the kitchen to cook like I do for breakfast. It’s their space, but um, I like going back. The rest of them are nice. They don’t treat me like my family does.”

  A hand that…didn’t seem to be attached to him reached up from under the counter and wiped away an oily tear, leaving a faint and fading smear on his cheek. “Ah, I believe this is what they call heartwarming. It’s so hard to just find a quiet, empty nook to relax in these days without a Hunter trying to wipe us out for existence, and we’re always happy to provide. You’ll be welcome just as much as your paramour, Miss Aufrey. Us deviations have to look out for each other these days.”

  It was my turn to blush. “We’re not dating.”

  They laughed, then pulled plates from somewhere behind them in what I realized was a suspiciously hard to focus on interior to the kitchen. “If you say so. Enjoy your meal – I hope you share your grandfather’s tastes.”

  Before I realized it, Alyssa had hustled us over to the table. I had no idea what exactly had happened and it sort of made my skin crawl, but…nothing there felt bad. Mirin didn’t exactly feel like Scully or Mini, but he definitely wasn’t as pants-shittingly terrifying as the room of bone spikes or the Faeries.

  “Sorry, Mirin does that. It gets easier the more you meet him, but try not to look too deep. I’m not sure if its just your eyes or something else, but it takes a lot longer for most people to notice more than the fingers. Trust me though – he means what he says, and everyone back there’s great.”

  I nodded and took a deep breath. The smell of salty, barely seared meat cut artfully into strips reached my nose and I realized that yes, I was really hungry.

  Halfway through eating, Alyssa pulled out a phone. I choked and stumbled over my words trying to say something, anything, that wasn’t a question.

  “Tammy, calm down. It’s a phone. I know you have one, so please don’t freak out like you’re going to die seeing it.”

  “You’re still in a bikini! It doesn’t have pockets!”

  She blushed and flicked the strap on the top.

  “That’s not a satisfying answer! We were swimming for hours!”

  “It’s waterproof, I don’t see what the big deal is.”

  She flipped it over. Her claws retracted back into her fingertips, and man was it weird that when pulled in they looked smooth enough for…

  Nope, no getting sidetracked there. She tapped a carved rune on the back.

  “See, waterproofing. I can do yours if you want me to. It even works to keep the speakers running, doesn’t even need charged since I put in an intake. Plus mundane people won’t steal it.”

  “Later, definitely, but I’ve never seen it before. I don’t even have your number, I could’ve called in that I’d be late to lessons earlier!”

  “Um, well, I thought…” She shrugged and looked down. “I wasn’t sure you’d want it. We can fix that if you want. I just know you need to go home after lessons and you worry yourself sick there, so texting or calling would just be a bother. I really think keeping your break running would help, though, just saying.”

  I swallowed back a sudden, inexplicable ball of nervousness, along with the last bite of my food. Then, I made an offer.

  “Well, uh, it is Tuesday. I promised to take you to Mordo’s sometime, so…”