Chapter 41

Catching up

I felt grass blowing in the wind. I sat up. I was in a grassy yard. I didn't recognize it. I saw a dirt path on the edge of it. Large pine trees were far off in the distance. That was weird. How'd I get outside? I got up and followed the path. It led me to a garden.

A large fountain was in the center of the garden. A small grove of apple trees sat to the left. Stepping stones loosely followed a branching path. There was a fire pit surrounded by lilac bushes. I saw a thick patch of blackberries behind the bushes. I noticed all the people, no clones, working in the garden. Goliath, Puck, Owen, Grandma and my mom.

"Hey, Sweetheart." Puck appeared behind me.

"Ah!" I jumped. "What's going on?"

"Come on, we got to clear those blackberries away or we'll never be able to grow right." Puck started walking into the grove.

"Dad, wait! I don't understand." I ran after him.

The grove only had a few rows of apple trees. The blackberries had overrun the place. The vines were covered with thorns. Some of them were thin as a twig and others were as large as my arm.

"This is a mess, isn't it? Ok, you just cut the little ones away for now and we'll get the big ones later." Puck handed me a weird looking tool.

"You can't expect me to do all this!" I cried.

"I already cleared most of the garden. It's your turn." He told me.

"But Dad…" I whined.

"Talia, this is time sensitive. We have to get rid of them now." Puck stressed.

The vines seemed to press against each other, spreading closer to the grove. Puck took the tool and beat back some of them. When the growing stopped, Puck turned to me.

"Tai, you need to do this." He handed it back to me.

"Ok." I took it back.

I began to hack and beat them. The vines laid limp on top of each other until the next one fell. I lost track of time as my muscles burned and ached. I looked up. Most of the vines were gone now. There was bare grass showing. I crawled out of the blackberries. I was near the lilac bushes now.

"I don't understand this place. Why am I here?" I asked.

"Hey, little trickster. Are you done?" Puck walked toward me.

"Yeah." I said.

"Let's go for a walk." He waited for me.

We came to the fountain first. The water was clear. And cool. I realized as I was slurping giant mouthfuls of water. I drank a little more then got up. I wiped my mouth off.

"Feeling better now?" Puck asked.

"… Yeah. Why's this fountain shaped funny?" I looked at the centerpiece.

"You're looking at it from the back." We walked to the front. It was a woman wringing her hair out.

"I see now." I nodded. "Who designed this?"

"It wasn't my choice." Puck said as we moved on.

The clones seemed too busy to acknowledge us. They were moving around, working on something. Puck took me back near the apple trees. There was more room to move now. He picked a few apples and sat on the ground. I sat too, nibbling on my apple.

"I think you realize by now that this isn't a normal garden." He started.

"Uh huh." I nodded.

"This is… you. It represents you." He decided to say after a while.

"Like all of me?" I frowned.

"Yes. Normally, these kinds of spaces are hard to get to. But you were brought here out of necessity. The spell that I put on you to keep you alive was going to suffocate your growth." He told me.

"Is that it? When can I go home?" I watched his ears stiffen before drooping.

"I know you want to wake up, but it will be a bit longer. Your body is tired." He sounded remorseful.

"I wanna go home." I pouted.

"I know." He said.

"What is this place anyway?" I looked at the trees.

"It's part of the astral plane. I will teach more about it after you get settled with your powers. It won't be for awhile." He added.

"What do you mean 'get settled'?" I said.

"Your power grew again. That's why we're all here." Puck explained. "We're… making it accessible to you. For a long time, it was just me and Owen."

"I think I get it." I finished my apple.

"There's a few more things we have to wrap up." Puck got up.

"Is it going to make sense?" I asked.

"Someday." He answered.

We walked to the fire pit. The pit was made of metal. A fire was lit. There was a box waiting for us. A Goliath clone was standing in the background. I looked at the paper. It felt like newspaper. The first picture was of Thailog. I tossed away from me instinctively. It burned in the fire.

"Wait! Before you dump the box, there's no getting them back. They're already fairly damaged." Puck warned.

"Then why bring them here?" I look at the box.

"You have to decide you want to remember it or not." He said.

"Can't I just keep the important stuff?" I asked.

"You'll have gaps in your memory. It's all connected." Puck pointed out.

"What do you think?" I weighted my options.

"For the Weird Sisters' involvement, I would say keep it." He added.

"I don't want to deal with that right now." I frowned at the box.

"Ok, we'll bury it then." Puck nodded to the clone and he took it away.

"Can we burn it later?" I watched as he disappeared into the garden.

"If that's what you want. Follow me." Puck walked toward the front of the garden.

The area was mostly clear of blackberries, but we still couldn't get to the other side. I saw a pond in the field. I saw some animals playing out in the grass. They seemed to notice me and ran to look at me better. It was a group of foxes. Their tails wagged as they sat.

"Who are they?" I looked over each of them, but couldn't make out their features.

"They want to help. Will you let them?" Puck asked.

They barked in response. Puck shushed them.

"Are they good?" I watched them.

"Yes. I've been watching them for awhile now and they've been good." He answered.

"Ok." I decided.

They yipped and jumped around. It took a few minutes before they crawled under the blackberries. One by one, they slowly got to the garden. I still couldn't tell them apart and it bugged me. They jumped up for kisses.

"Hey, c'mon. That's not fair." I whined, trying to pet them.

"Get off of her, off!" Puck pulled them back.

The one closest to me nipped at Puck. He scolded them. I gave the fox one last pet. It got off of me and then went to Puck. They all started to leave.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I'm going to show them what to do. Go find Owen. It shouldn't be too much longer until you wake up now." He led them into the garden.

I looked around for Owen. I found him near the lilac bushes. He was sitting at a table. I sat too. There was a stack of papers and something on the table. I stared at it. Owen gave it to me. It was a book.

"Before you play with that, I'm sure you have some questions." He said.

"Why can't I tell the foxes apart?" I asked my first question.

"You haven't met them in real life yet. You don't know what they look like." Owen answered.

"I don't understand why all this stuff is here. The blackberries I get, but the apple trees and stuff?" I shook my head.

"Some of it is only obvious when it's pointed out to by others. Others are new." He said blandly.

"You're saying I don't know shit, is that right?" I gestured to him.

"I'm saying that you were kept from people who could tell you." He stood. "I'll be back in a bit."

I was left alone. I waited a bit to see if anyone would come for me. No one came. It was nice, warm and sunny. I brought the pile of papers closer to me. There were full body sketches. No faces though. I saw a little sticky note. Choose what you like. That was easy enough.

I shifted through the pile. Most of the female ones stayed on the table. A picture of a super muscly male fell off and turned into dust. I stared at the spot for a moment. I put a rock on the pile I wanted to keep. I sorted them into Like, Kinda Like, and Dump. I'd figure out what to do with Kinda Like later. After I sorted the whole pile, I tossed the Dump pile onto the ground. It blew away.

I looked at the book next. It was a flip book. You were supposed to mix and match the sections to make an outfit. Except this doll was weird. The body was different in all the sections. Skinny, curvy, fat, buff. I spent a few minutes making a doll.

The head was pretty average with pointed ears and slightly noticeable doe eyes. There might have been fangs, but it was hard to tell. The body was somewhere in between squishy and muscular. I was hoping it was anyway. For the legs, I chose the curvy option. The hair went down the doll's butt. My vision went blurry and I started to feel sleepy.

I woke up in a hospital bed. I felt an oxygen mask on my face. Alex was curled up next to me. I saw Owen sitting in a chair. He was dozing off. One of his legs was in a boot. I pressed the button to sit the bed up. Alex woke up.

"Tai!" He hugged me.

"Alexander, shh." Owen told him.

"Tai up!" Alex shouted.

"Talia's awake?!" Owen jolted.

"Morning." I waved before I hugged Alex.

Owen rushed over. He squeezed us both tight. I hugged back. I nuzzled Dad's neck. This was real. I was awake. We let go and Alex pulled a chair closer for Owen. He sat heavily.

"What happened?" I asked.

"It's been two weeks since we rescued you. It's June 9th. We've mostly recovered from that night. Nightstone Unlimited was destroyed. Thailog's dead." Owen told me.

"He's gone?" I looked at him.

"Yes. His body was found in the wreckage." He nodded.

I sat, unsure how to feel. I wasn't happy he dead, relieved maybe? Betrayed, upset… Alex hugged me again. I kissed his temple. Then a nurse walked in. David, Fox, and Adri followed.

"We heard you woke up." Fox smiled.

"Mommy!" Alex reached out to her. She hugged him back.

"Tai…" Adri buried her face in my shoulder.

"I missed you." I told her.

"Me too." She said, squeezing a bit tighter before letting go.

"Now I'm awake, when can I go home?" I asked.

"Let's checked you out first, then we'll see." David said.

The nurse checked everything and declared I was fine. Said I was probably going to need to gain some weight back and exercise gently. I drank some water from the cup I was given. The nurse left.

"What's happened since I was gone?" I looked at my parents.

"Ok, so let's start with the most relevant. You're going through puberty again and your magic is growing." Fox started.

"Oh, Garden Puck told me that." I commented.

"Garden… Never mind. Your birth mother apparently was a descendant of Lady Earth; she's on Avalon right now. Goliath claimed you at some point and you're part gargoyle. There's a vision about your destiny. Puck will show you later. That wasn't as much as I thought it was." She thought.

"Talia, you're going to need some training to control your new powers." Owen said gently.

"At home?" I asked hopefully.

"No, your powers can cause earthquakes. It's too dangerous to experiment around cities." Owen shook his head. "We will take you somewhere else."

"No!" Alex protested.

"Alexander." Owen furrowed his brow.

"He can visit, can't he?" I asked.

Alex paused. "Ok."

"Did anything else happen?" I asked.

They were thinking my question over when they slowly became taken aback. Owen's eyebrow furrowed together as he tried to remember stuff. I looked at Alex. He just snuggled close to me.

"Did something happen?" I tried again.

Owen snapped over of it. "That will take more time to explain…"

I looked at Adri.

"There was a lot of stuff." She shrugged helplessly.

"Fine." I huffed.

"I'm going potty." Alex left.

Someone was coming down the hallway. It sounded like a gargoyle. I heard the tail drag on the ground. Then there was running footsteps.

"Mother!" Angela called.

Demona came into the room. She looked confused. Her left wing was broken and she had some bruises and things littering her body. Owen snarled at her. Angela came up behind her and touched her shoulder.

"You know Puck doesn't want anyone near Talia." Angela told her.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Oh, you're awake! Father will be happy to hear that. We'll just get some more bandages-" Angela started.

"And ointment." Demona added.

"Then be on our way." She finished.

Fox gave them what they came for then they left. Owen calmed down. Alex came back. He settled next to me on the bed again. Adri held my hand.

"Why is Demona here?" I asked.

"Angela brought her!" Alex informed me.

"We didn't learn about it until a few days ago. It seems that Demona has lost her memory." David said.

"We're trying to get in contact with Macbeth, but for now, we just have to deal with it." Fox glared at Owen.

Dr. Sato came in and checked me. I would need to rest another day or two before I could move around. People came to visit me. Elisa, Matt, Goliath and the clan. It was good to see them. I was happy to let them sit with me. I wasn't exactly sure what to talk about, but it was nice.

Before I was allowed to leave with Puck, there were some more tests done. Everything was fine. I changed and then went to the Great Hall. My family was waiting for me. There were some bags on the floor. Alex gave me back Peaches. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, but kept Peaches with me. He held onto Adri.

"You say your goodbyes?" Puck asked me.

"Said bye to the clan and everyone last night." I said.

"Don't go, Tai!" Alex tackled me.

"Hey, it's gonna be fine. Puck's gonna be there and you'll come visit." I reminded him.

"Talia needs to learn about her new powers in a safe environment." Owen told Alex.

"Puberty stinky." He pouted.

"It's not forever." I hugged him.

"I love you." He squeezed me.

"I love you too." I said then he let go.

"C'mere, Talia." Adri stepped in.

I leaned into her touch. "I don't wanna go."

"I know." She stroked my hair.

"I wanna be with you." I whined.

"After you get a hang of your powers, you'll get all the cuddles and kisses you want." She kissed me gently.

"Ok." I smiled.

I turned to Fox and David. I frowned.

"What?" He asked.

"You get one goodbye hug." I said.

They hugged me.

"You ready now?" Puck walked over to the bags.

"I guess." I went over to him.

We were on an island. The beach was sand, but I could see some evergreen trees on it. We went inland. Puck found a good spot. We set up camp. He pitched the tents and I gathered wood. I got a bunch of sticks. When I came back, the tents were up. Puck was getting berries. There was a fire pit. I put the sticks in there. Then I was lost. I didn't have anything to start a fire. I glanced at it. I wanted a fire, it was getting dark. The sticks burst into flames.

"Ahh!" I fell backwards.

"Talia!" Puck ran back. "What happened?"

"The sticks; they… they fire now." I pointed.

"You ok, not hurt?" He looked me over.

"I'm fine." I stood up.

"So, what happened?" He asked again.

"I put the sticks in the fire pit and I was trying to figure out how to start a fire. Then boom!" I gestured to the fire.

"Huh. That's not part of my powers. We'll just be careful when we practice." He hummed.

"Ok." I nodded.

"You want fish for dinner?" Puck turned.

Puck caught the fish while I gathered more berries. It took awhile for the fish to cook. Puck told me about everything that happened. I was unhappy at first that David made a robot, but Puck swore it was ok since Alex helped make it. The vision was a little surprising, me having a bunch of wives and children. I hadn't really considered that since Sarah. She would have wanted me to be happy. I think it sounded nice. The ending of the vision was confusing. Puck didn't understand it either. We ate the fish and berries for dinner then went to bed.

In the morning, we ate before practicing. I discovered more of my powers. I could make earth do what I wanted and make things grow faster. My screams, did in fact, cause earthquakes. My hair apparently had holy water in it. I could control fire with my mind. Puck thought that power was from my birth dad. The abilities from Grandma were harder to pin down. But I think I was better at illusions and spell casting than before. Maybe a bit stronger. We learned I roared like a gargoyle when I got mad. They also caused a little shaking. I wasn't sure if I had gotten anything else from my gargoyle side.

The hardest thing to get a hang of was my new instincts. I wanted to roll around in the dirt and sleep during daytime. The day sleeping thing got better if I took naps. I whined a little after waking up. Clothes felt bad sometimes so I went around naked. Dad seemed to understand. My temper was shorter too. I snarled and growled. Puck usually let me play pranks and I'd feel better. When Alex came to visit, I got protective over him. I wasn't sure why. Alex didn't care. He was just happy to see me. Soon Puck decided it was time to go back home.

"Dad?" I looked him.

"Yeah?" He paused from cleaning up breakfast.

"Do you think I'm ready?" I asked him.

"You're in better control than you were before." Dad said.

"I guess…" I trailed off.

"We'll deal with any hiccups as they come. You all packed?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm gonna miss the island though." I put my bags next to his.

"Why?" Puck's brow rose.

"I dunno where it is." I said.

"I'll show it to you." He telepathically gave me the location.

"Oh, neat." I smiled.

"Let's go home now." We went back home.