Sorry for the delay in posting chapters, but here's the third installment. As before, please read and review, and thank you so very much!
Oh, before I forget: I don't own any of these characters. Would that I did….
Klarion and Greta: The Lazerus Project
Chapter Three: The Party
The first order of business, however, was the small matter of footwear. Greta couldn't feel her feet, not in the same way she used to, but nothing would do but that Klarion had to get her some shoes. "After, all," he'd said, "I keep seeing these signs saying, 'no shirt, no shoes, no service.' No point in asking for trouble, is there?"
"But where are we gonna find shoes for me? I mean, I can't really try anything on…not like this…."
"Leave that to me. What size do you wear?"
"About a four."
"High heels, mediums, or flats?"
"Maybe mediums…though flats would be okay.
"Regular shoes, or boots?"
"Uhm, boots, preferably. Klarion? I hope you're not thinking of stealing anything, are you?"
"Of course not." He 'ported them both to the back of a large warehouse. "It's just, you'd be amazed at the sorts of things humans just throw away." He bent over a dumpster and emerged with a pair of non-descript mismatched girl's shoes in his hands. "Now watch: I'll show you a magic trick." He frowned in concentration, running his hand over the shoes as if to clean them off, and they morphed into a perfect pair of girl's boots, size four.
Greta still didn't see it. "But, but I can't wear those! My feet will go right through them!"
"Not finished yet." He drew a pentagram on the ground, point up, placing the boots in the middle. He stood up, head titled back, eyes half closed, thumbs and middle fingers of each hand forming a closed circle as he whispered the proper spell….
Suddenly blue fire engulfed the boots inside the circle, rendering them ashes in the space of a second or so. Greta had to fight back a jump. Even though she was beyond being harmed by fire, old habits die hard.
Klarion erased the circle, and, with a flourish, reached into the ashes and drew forth….a new pair of spectral boots, in just her size. "Try these on," he said, as he handed them to her.
They fit perfectly. "But how…..?"
"It's magic. The boots had to be, well, ritualistically sacrificed, so to speak, in order for you to wear their supernatural counterparts. How do they feel?"
"Better. Much better" She stood up, turning around as she did. "So. How do I look?"
"Lovely."
"Huh? What did you say?"
"Uhm, I said you look very well indeed. Definitely good enough for a party!"
She smiled. "That sounds good." Now she frowned. "However…since we're here, and trying to do things right, there might be one other complication we can avoid…."
The gymnasium was packed with school-age children, as well as adults. Many of the adults were in costume themselves; it was difficult to tell who was having the most fun.
Klarion, with Teekl in arms, walked up to the front door with Greta. One of the adults was stationed at the door. "Uh, sorry, kid." He pointed to Teekl. "No pets allowed."
Greta just hooked her arm in his, miraculously making it on the first try. She smiled at the doorman, and gestured to Klarion, who'd put on a pair of dark sunglasses. "Seeing eye cat," she said.
The doorman scratched his head. That was a new one. But…"Ooookay, then." And he held the door for them.
Once inside, Klarion took off the sunglasses, and turned a mischievous smile her way. "Why, Miss Greta. You've a devious spark in you after all."
"Hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. And you can see through his eyes, so technically it's really not a lie." She turned her own impish grin on him. "Or maybe it's you. Maybe you're being a bad influence on me."
Klarion looked shocked. "Who, little old me? Perish the thought!" And they both laughed.
Teekl had jumped down from Klarion's arms when they first got in the door. Large groups of humans made him a little nervous, so he sought out some quiet corner. Then he realized something that put a whole new spin on things for him: there was food at this gathering. Teekl knew, from experience, that, where there were young humans and food, there was almost always dropped food, and where there was dropped food, there were usually mice. He just had to find them. So he sneaked into the darkest corner, following the smell of dropped human food…
Meanwhile, Klarion and Greta had been busy exploring the various booths and sideshows. She had to make him promise not to use his magic to dunk the volunteer in the dunking booth, and not to use his weather magic in the tabletop sailboat races. "Oh, pooh. You won't let me have ANY fun, will you?" He pouted.
She placed her hands on her hips and gave him a stern look. "Of course I will. I'm only asking you not to cheat. Just play the game the way it's supposed to be played. Believe me, it'll be much more satisfying to win without cheating!"
He drew himself up to his full height, a somewhat supercilious expression on his face. "My dear girl. You've obviously never been a witch-boy. You've never had all this Power inside you, straining to be released, wanting to get out, yearning to be… free…" He whispered this last word, as his expression focusing on something afar off, and Greta thought she could see something about him that she'd never seen before: Klarion Bleak, the Witch-Boy, one of the five Lords of Chaos, and one of the most powerful magic-users of the age, yearned to be free, to be liberated from all constraints placed upon him. Even by himself.
It wasn't his power that longed to be free; it was him.
For the briefest of moments, it seemed to her eyes that a miniature thundercloud had formed around his head; there was the slightest flicker of light, like a St. Elmo's Fire, sparking between the points. Then, as if remembering her presence, he deflated somewhat. "Oh, very well. You're probably right, anyway." And in that moment, in the flickering of his gaze, she saw something very few other living, mortal beings had ever been allowed to see: Klarion had, for all his life, been an outsider. He'd been an outsider in Limbo Town; he was an outsider here. Suddenly, it made perfect sense to her why he'd summoned her back from the dead. He was an outsider. She was the ultimate outsider, here in the world of the living. Where else did two outsiders belong, but by each other's side?
Could I be that someone? The question surprised her. And then, could he?
They both turned away, somewhat embarrassed by the unexpected intimacy of the moment. "Well, I—I had best go find Teekl. He gets nervous if, if I'm not around." He looked away and drifted off…
Greta stood there for a moment, taking it all in. "Oh, wow!" she heard, from behind her, "That's like, a totally fantastic costume!" Turning, she saw two girls about her age, one dressed as a green-faced witch complete with old-fashioned straw broom, the other as a fairy princess. The latter costume brought a sharp pang to her heart; she remembered once, long ago, having such a costume, and how proud she'd been…
"That's gotta be the most amazing ghost costume I've ever seen! I mean, you can, like, actually see right through you!" The fairy princess gushed, hands to her cheeks.
If only you knew, Greta thought. Aloud, she said, with what she hoped was a breezy laugh, "Yes, it's amazing what you can do with fiber optics, isn't it? Special fabric, an' all." She hurried away before they could ask if they could feel the material.
Behind her, the witch turned to the fairy princess with a scowl. "Idiot. Are you trying to draw attention to us? What if she'd asked about our costumes? How would you explain these aren't costumes?"
"Oh, El. You worry waaaay too much about mortals." The fairy princess laughed as she twirled her wand…
Now which way did Klarion go? She wasn't sure…
At one point she happened to pass by the punch bowl. She started to pick up a cup to try some…but then stopped. She didn't know if she could pick up the cup, or, if she could, and tried to drink from it, whether or not it would all just go right through her and end up down around her feet, like she'd urinated on herself or something. Greta was a very proper young lady, and the notion of the way such a mishap would look caused two small spots of color to form on her cheeks. Hm. But maybe there was a way to test it….
With as much speed as she could manage casually, she made her way to the ladies' room. Once inside, and safely alone (for the moment), she turned on the water in the sink and cupped her hands underneath the stream. At first, the water just poured right through her ethereal fingers, but as she concentrated, she was able to catch some in her outstretched hands. She took a deep, completely unnecessary breath—and splashed the water into her face.
Sure enough, the water simply went right through her intangible head and made a mess on the floor behind her. Greta let out a groan of disappointment. Nothing seemed to be working right tonight!
She tried to lean against the side of the sink, only to fall through both sink and wall, ending up halfway in the wall itself, partway into the crawlspace. A granddaddy longlegs scuttled over and through her; she stifled a shriek as it went by, and shuddered. Two things she could never stand were spiders and snakes. And in her current insubstantial state, it was actually possible for one of the vile things to get inside her, if only temporarily. That thought set her to shivering.
She climbed to her feet, now finding herself actually outside the building, and, out of sheer reflex, went around front to the door. Halfway there, it occurred to her she could've gotten back in by simply walking through the wall, but the thought of encountering any more spiders or worse cured her of any embarrassment at having forgotten that.
The night was a glorious one, the stars above sparkling like ice crystals on velvet. Off in the distance, she could hear the sounds of kids squealing with delight as they received some unexpected chocolate treasure. Although she no longer felt the temperature the same way, she could tell it was an invigorating, brisk cold; not the freezing sort, but a kind of refreshing cold, as the world waited, preparing for a long winter's sleep..
In life, Greta had always been a day person, but the sheer glory of the stars above, combined with the brisk weather and the holiday atmosphere seemed to cheer her more than the radiance of the sun ever had. I suppose there is a lot to be said for the nighttime, too, she thought to herself. Then she pulled herself together, and sighed. She needed to find Klarion.
For his part, Klarion was having a hard time finding Teekl. Oh, come on, now, he thought, both to himself and his familiar. We really do need to stay together.
Now now, brother Klarion. I am busy.
Busy? Doing what?
Hunting, of course. Teekl allowed his familiar a brief look through his eyes, where he spied an enormous rat poking his nose out of a crack in the masonry, smelling some of the food dropped by the children, and no doubt trying to come up with some sort of rat-plan as to how to go about getting it without being spotted, unaware that he already had been. You see that one? He'll be a fine meal.
How much more can you hold? You've already had the spider, and that rat's not much smaller than you. They aren't giving out doggie bags—sorry, I meant cattie bags—here.
Oh, Brother Klarion. Though we share so much, some things you will just never know. The hunt's the thing, not the end product. I could get better out of a dumpster, if food were the only-Hold! Abandoning his hunt, Teekl raised up, sniffing the wind. The rat, unnoticed, scurried back into the wall.
What? What is it, Teekl?
Danger, Brother Klarion! Danger! We must be wary!
I have to find Greta. Is she anywhere nearby you?
No. But find her. I smell danger on the wind. We'd best be gone.
Something was making Greta nervous. It was akin to that peculiar sensation one gets when one is being stared at. However, a quick look around revealed no one even looking at her, let alone staring. In the darkness, her partial invisibility served to make her easy to overlook; someone glancing her way might think they saw something, maybe a hint of movement, but nothing more. Still, she felt curiously exposed, somehow. Shivering, she drew her cloak around her, still looking around for those eyes she felt on her…