"We're here."
Valkyrie's heart leapt into her throat, jerked from her fitful doze. A soft whisper faded away.
"Steph?"
"Mm?"
"You ok?"
She turned to look at him. "I'm terrified."
Fletcher reached out and clasped her hands between his own. She could feel her fingers trembling.
"What if this changes everything, Fletch? What if it never goes back to how it was?"
The corner of his mouth curved upwards. In the semi-darkness of the interior lights of the Subaru, his lips were thrown into shadow but his eyes threw back the light. "Has everything not changed already?"
She shut her eyes and shook her head, nauseated. "I can't think about that, Fletch -" A spot in her mind twinged painfully.
"Okay. Sorry, sorry. Just...be ready, ok?"
"For what?"
"Anything." He raised an eyebrow teasingly and she smiled halfheartedly. He became serious again. "Stephanie, you know these people. You'll be okay."
Quickly, Fletcher pressed a kiss to her lips and then unlocked the doors.
Stephanie pulled on the door handle and stepped out into the cold, exhaling a puff of breath. Closing the car door behind her, she followed Fletcher on shaky legs towards the house.
It was small and quaint, ivy decorating the cream colored facade in the warm glow of the gas lamp affixed to the wrought iron fence post. The thatched-roof cottage meshed with its isolated surroundings perfectly, framed by the hint of rolling countryside to all sides, and beyond the hedgerow to Stephanie's back. As she made her way up the cobbled path, feeling her whole body tight with tension, trying to distract herself from her fear with the picturesque scenery.
She joined Fletcher in the alcove in front of the door. Suddenly, Stephanie gasped and clapped her hand to her mouth.
"Stephanie?" Fletcher asked urgently, grasping her shoulders.
"We...we didn't do our calculus assignment." Her eyes were wide.
He chuckled and tugged her in to hug her. "That's a little out of perspective, hon," he chuckled amiably. A small smile crossed her face.
Fletcher finally stepped back. Gripping Stephanie's hand tightly, she looked at her one more time, then reached out and pressed the doorbell.
Almost instantly, a light came on inside and a silhouette approached.
Stephanie's heart beat a frenzied tattoo against her ribs.
She heard a bolt being drawn back and then the door swung inwards.
Stephanie gave a little gasp - those open, loving, blue eyes - and threw herself into her foster mom's arms.
They moved back a few steps from the force of the embrace into the warmth of the hallway.
She stepped back abruptly. "Wow. Um. Becky - you -"
The other woman smiled. Same eyes, same, dimpled smile, and blonde hair. But gone was the small, soft lady, and in her place stood a tall, young, lean, muscled woman.
Fletcher quietly closed the door behind himself. "Stephanie, meet Tanith Low, aka Becky Argott."
"Hey, Steph." Tanith grinned at her. Stephanie swayed slightly. Fletcher's hand alighted at the base of her spine, supporting.
"Hi," she managed.
"Do you want to come in?" she asked, friendly. Stephanie nodded, utterly disconcerted. She couldn't take her eyes off Tanith. "Babe?" tossed the woman over her shoulder. "They're here."
Footsteps sounded in the corridor and a man opened a side door and stepped into the hall with them.
He crossed the wooden floor and went to stand with Tanith, resting his arm around her waist.
"This is Ghastly Bespoke," came Fletcher's voice from behind and above her.
Tom Argott.
Scars. Raised, pale against his skin, crisscrossing every inch of his skull. Stephanie tried to swallow, finding her mouth suddenly dry. His muscles, just like Tanith's, bulged beneath his shirt, and he loomed tall.
Tom - Ghastly - smiled at her, those eyes crinkling at the edges like always. A tiny moment of silence stretched, then Stephanie broke. Whatever this man looked like, he had been her father for six months, giving her a home and being the family she lacked. She crossed the gap and wrapped her arms around his waist. Ghastly jolted slightly but squeezed her back. Across the room, she heard Tanith's and Fletcher's minute exhalations.
When she stepped away, the couple smiled at her, expectant.
"Wow," Stephanie blushed. "Um...how did you guys get so...different?"
Ghastly chuckled and looked down at Tanith. Stephanie tried to adjust to their new looks.
"Well," began Tanith uncertainly. She reached into the pocket of her cardigan and pulled out a small, black device about the size of her palm. "It's called a transposer. It manipulates the space around your body to look and feel like something different. We used it with you in London because we...tend to stand out a bit otherwise."
Stephanie nodded, one question answered but a storm of curiosity and anxiety building. As she opened her mouth to ask the next, Ghastly quickly interjected. "Should we go sit down? I can make some tea."
Fletcher agreed out loud, and Stephanie nodded. Tanith opened a closet for them to put their shoes in and all traces of tiredness disappeared from Stephanie's system. She could practically feel her fingers buzzing with adrenaline as Tanith gestured her through a doorway into a cozy sunroom, littered with pillows and relaxed couches. Finally, Stephanie would get the answers. Finally, she would learn what the events of the past few days meant. Finally, she would know who she was.
At the end of the extended living room, Ghastly bustled about in the open plan kitchen, boiling water and setting out mugs. Tanith moved to the sofa across from where Fletcher and Stephanie stood and motioned for them to sit. Stephanie sank into the soft couch, clasping her hands between her knees. Beside her, Fletcher leaned back, gazing up at the sky through the glass ceiling. Despite the openness, it was remarkably warm and comfortable in the room.
"I really like your house," Stephanie said genuinely to Tanith. The other woman smiled, seeming surprised, and threw a glance at Ghastly across the room.
"Thanks, Steph," Tanith said softly. Her eyes glistened for a moment, but she sniffed and blinked as Ghastly made his way over with a tray of tea mugs. He laid it on the coffee table between them and joined Tanith, laying his hand on her knee.
"They'll need a bit of time to steep," he said, gesturing at the tea. The light from the various lamps cast his scars into dramatic shadow.
"Okay, Steph." Tanith's blue eyes met her own. Stephanie breathed in. Beside her, Fletcher tensed.
"I was never really meant to be your foster mom. I'm not a foster parent, and nor is Ghastly."
"I'm not even English, I'm just able to mimic the accent," he offered, and now Stephanie could hear the Irish burr in his kind voice.
"You see, Steph, we took you in because of the car crash."
She knew all of this already.
"We were best friends, sisters," whispered Tanith. Ghastly's face was serious but she could see the emotion in his eyes. Stephanie's heart heaved with the pain of what she was doing to these people by not remembering them, how her friends hand to accustom themselves to being treated like parents. She was horrified.
"I'm...I'm so sorry-"
"You have nothing to apologize for," said Tanith softly. "This is in no way your fault."
"No, someone else's." Fletcher's bitter voice came from behind her.
"Fletcher," Ghastly warned.
"She deserves to know."
Ghastly locked eyes with Stephanie. "You were in a car accident. A shard of glass is embedded in your temple and was declared too dangerous to remove without causing excessive brain damage. This may be causing your memory to be faulty, or it may have been the concussion that resulted in your condition."
Fletcher took over at this point. As he began to speak, she turned to him, gathering a pillow into her lap. His voice burned with acid.
"It was nighttime. You were a ways out of Dublin, passing through a small town. Your partner was driving. A lorry collided with the passenger side of the car when your partner failed to stop for a red light. He was drunk." On the last sentence, Fletcher's voice sunk to a dark whisper.
Weightlessness. Darkness and then the bright flash of agony. Blood. Stars. Disjointed images swirled wildly. Stephanie dug her nails into her palms, trying to compose herself. All eyes rested on her. She hugged the pillow more tightly.
Finally, her voice returned to her. "My...partner?"
"Work partner," said Fletcher tightly. Anger deepened his voice.
"You were dating at that point, too," Tanith added. Fletcher shot her a glare but she shook her head at him.
Jealousy?
But there was something more to this. "What about my parents?"
"Stephanie...your parents were never in that car."
"You're not an orphan."
"Your parents are fine."
"But they believe you to have died in the accident."
Words stormed around her head, rampaging and battling the shock that now crippled her.
They've been lying to you.
The voice in her head resounded. Her fingers felt cold and tingly. She couldn't accept - couldn't understand. "Why?" Her voice was soft and broken, edged with tears.
Fletcher reached out to her but his fingers slid off her skin. Stephanie looked to Tanith and Ghastly, vision blurring.
"It was for the best," Ghastly said simply.
Stephanie opened her mouth, but nothing but breath escaped.
"It was to protect your parents and your sister, to protect your investigation, and
it would have had to happen eventually."
"Why? I've had no one. I thought I was alone!"
"We were here with you." Fletcher's gaze sought hers, but she turned away with a little sob of exasperation.
"Why did this have to happen? Why am I not with them now?"
The other three looked at each other. A silence stretched out, brittle with stress. Stephanie pushed down the urge to scream.
Tanith looked down. "Magic is real."
Stephanie barked out a laugh. "Oh, come on."
No one moved. No one met her eyes.
"You'll have to make up something better than that." She pushed herself up off the sofa angrily. Tanith grabbed her hands. "Stephanie." Tanith's eyes bored steadily into her own. "I am not lying." She looked at Ghastly. Stephanie followed her gaze.
Ghastly clicked his fingers and a tiny flame burst into life, twisting and sparking above his palm. The light refracted from the glass above them.
Stephanie stared. It burnt into her retinas, leaving a green blaze. "No," she choked. His sleeves were rolled up, showing his bare wrists. Not cheating. She shook her head, denying it.
This was just like the man who had been chasing her and Fletcher. A spurt of blood on windshield glass filled her mind, and she began to shake.
Tanith's hands still trapped her own. Her voice, gentle but strong, commanded attention. "Ghastly is an elemental. He can manipulate earth, air, water, and fire. I'm an Adept - I have certain abilities, like manipulating gravity and unlocking or blocking doors. Fletcher is the world's last teleporter."
Stephanie couldn't breathe right.
Fletcher, who had sitting on the sofa, watching, said her name. She turned to him just in time to watch him disappear, wind rushing to fill the space he had occupied, and reappear at her side. A breeze of displaced air lifted her hair.
Her eyes rolled up in her head and her knees collapsed.
You fainted. I can't believe you did that. You're totally embarrassing both of us.
It's not like you didn't know this before. Well, you didn't. I'm not sure. I did. It's kind of confusing, telling the difference between us.
Hey, wait I don't think you even know who I am!
You're not listening, are you?
Bitch. Well, I guess we'll talk later then.
Slowly, the grayish blur sharpened into sounds and sensations and then vision.
Stephanie was laying on her side on a carpeted floor, looking at a mauve pillow.
"That didn't exactly go as I'd hoped," came a female voice nearby. Tanith.
"I think she took that better when she was twelve," muttered another voice - Ghastly.
Stephanie felt a blush rise in her cheeks. Her eyelids fluttered inadvertently.
"She's waking up." Fletcher's feet came into view and he crouch down in front of her. "Steph?"
"Hey, Fletch," she murmured.
His hand slipped under her back and the other supported her head as he helped her to a sitting position, then crossed his legs and smiled tentatively.
Ghastly and Tanith came over as well.
"You okay?" Ghastly asked softly.
Stephanie shrugged. He pressed a mug of tea into her fingers. "Maybe this will help."
Everyone's eyes followed her movements cautiously, as if she were about to freak out again.
She took a sip and smiled gratefully, looking around. "Thanks." Good. Her voice didn't wobble. The others returned her smile with relieved expressions.
A clock in the hallway chimed once. Tanith stood. "Should I show you guys your room?"
Fletcher got up. "Thank you so much for having us, Tanith. Really."
"Of course."
Stephanie stood up unsteadily and took Fletcher's proffered hand, setting the mug back on the table.
"Goodnight, Stephanie," said Ghastly softly. Her head snapped up as she remembered.
"Who's Valkyrie Cain?"
Fletcher turned to her with a crooked smile on his face. "You."
Hey wow, I actually updated!
So tell me if you like it. Next chap in the works.
And please please please review. You wouldn't believe how much it helps, guys! xx