Chapter 16
-Alec-
"Hey..." I stepped in front of Taylor before she could vanish out the door for the night. "It's Cherie, isn't it?"
"The wiles of the French will not work on one whose heart does not beat," she smiled gently. "I fear I must decline your attempt at romance."
"That's not what I- ugh! Just tell me, the Heartbroken you mentioned, is it Cherie? Is she coming here?"
"The Cherished One is indeed searching for her own way in life." She smiled at me again as she reached out and ruffled my hair. "She will meet many interesting people, but though she is a fan of love, the flowers in her hair will not take root. "
I blinked at her a few times before giving up and turning to Lisa. "Yo, Tits! Any idea what the hell that's supposed to mean?"
"Oh," Lisa shrugged after a momentary glare at the old nickname. Come on, if you don't like it, don't sign every message with Tt. "I'd guess she's headed to San Francisco or one of the other hippie communes to try the whole free love thing? Won't stick apparently, though I could have told you that much."
"Yeah." I snort, turning back to our resident precog. "Even I could have— Oh come on! Where'd she go?"
"...and that's when I figured out how to turn this off," Aisha finished telling her story. The rest of the team, minus Taylor, were sitting around the loft, Taylor having dashed off to her room halfway through the story, Rachel's dogs still following her movements nervously. I sort of wondered what was so important, but also kind of didn't want to know given that it sounded like she was moving the furniture around.
"Aha!" I heard said cloudcuckoolander shout after one particularly loud crash, as if responding to my thoughts. "The new false face matches the Impish One's character - it hides itself like it will hide her!" Taylor returned at full sprint, holding a demon mask over her head as she vaulted the couch to plop it on the top of Aisha's head as if it were a crown rather than a mask.
"Oh… thanks!" Aisha said, smiling. She took the mask off to examine it, before grinning even wider and putting it back on, properly this time.
"A gift from the Falsely Accused to the True Imp," Taylor said dramatically. "It may not be green, but it will fit Loki's path even so."
"Imp… I think I like that name," Aisha decided. "What do you guys think?"
"Wait a second, Aisha," Brian piped up, "I didn't say you can—"
He dropped back to his seat. Why did he get up, again? Wait, why are we even here?
Our resident nocturnal lunatic sauntered towards an empty seat and grabbed the air above it.
"You let the fish slip from your grasp again in your Impatience," she said gently, like what I imagined someone teaching a kid in families other than mine sound. Minus the manic grin at the oddly pronounced last word, of course. That part was just weird… or maybe normal given who the girl wearing it was.
Aisha appeared in the seat, the nose of her mask caught between Taylor's thumb and index finger. Lisa just stared at the scene for a few long seconds, then put her hands in a time-out gesture.
"Wait a moment," she said slowly. "Is that what you meant with the angry fish thing? That her power is unruly?"
"Or… is there some danger to it?" Brian asked, looking concerned like he always does when thinking about his sister. "Something going wrong if she tries to push it too far?
"Wrong station!" Taylor denied, shaking her head.
"I know that one!" Aisha cheered, then turned and whacked Brian upside the head. "...What?" She asked as we all, Taylor included, turned to look at her funny. "Oh c'mon, guys. You know… wrong station... like with Batty?" She flapped her arms up and down like a bird.
"I liked that movie." Rachel, of all people, nodded as if any of that made sense and went back to scratching behind one of her dogs' ears.
Aisha looked around the room at the rest of us for a moment. "Was that not a Ferngully joke?"
Taylor stared back at her for a moment, then slouched. "...Your mind should find another train to board, for this one goes not where you wish." She sounded sad that Aisha hadn't known what she meant.
Usually I left thinking to Lisa and Brian, but something about Aisha's story tickled my memory. I thought back to the day Dad's attempts to get me to trigger actually succeeded. How I felt when the sound of dirt on the coffin lid kept getting more and more muffled.
"Aisha, when you got your power…" I asked in a serious tone, "...it only happened when you stopped hoping you'd get a power, didn't it?"
"Yes!" Taylor exclaimed, nodding. Aisha glanced in her direction, then spoke too.
"...Yeah. How did you know that?"
"Don't ask." I hadn't told the team - other than Lisa, that is - about my family, and didn't want to talk about it now. Though, now that I thought about it, the crazy girl would probably spill the beans sooner or later anyway…
Ah, to hell with it. Not tonight.
"But you- that's- a week- ugh!" Tattletale rattled off, pointing at Taylor with the hand that wasn't gripping her forehead. "No one can predict trigger events!" she finally settled on yelling, her voice shrill and pained, "It's one of the only things that trips up every precog!"
"It takes not any muddled glimpses of the future to learn of a choice made in the past," the crazy girl answered with a shrug. "Though one of the madmen feels she ought admit that not every choice goes to plan, nor does every plan get chosen."
"Wait wha- oh. Oh." Lisa's eyes went wide, her voice picking up speed. "That explains why- but that would need some kind of—"
"Breathe, Lisa," Brian interrupted, amused. Lisa didn't react.
"But don't you see!? That would require an external…" Lisa trailed off, her eyes unfocusing as the nerves in her head abruptly canceled their enthusiastic Christmas decoration impression. "Wait," she shook her head, "what was I talking about again?"
"About how my power is an 'angry fish' or something," Aisha reminded her, shaking her arms in what I assume was meant to show her trying to hold on to said fish. "Though… wouldn't wet soap be a better comparison?" she asked, looking at Taylor.
"No!" the vampire fervently denied. "Soap does not wiggle!"
She froze, then warily eyed the bathroom door.
"Soap should not wiggle," she corrected herself with a slight shudder that was honestly rather concerning given the topic.
It took a good fifteen seconds for the conversation to start again after that little gem. Brian eventually spoke up.
"We still need to decide what to do now, Aisha", he sighed. "Having powers is—"
"I'm going to join you guys, duh," Aisha huffed. I could practically hear her eyes roll.
"Absolutely not," Brian raised his voice. "It's too dangerous!"
I stayed out of the argument. They'd had it three times already before Aisha even got powers, and I was too busy trying to figure out what I'd just seen happen in Lisa's head to join round four. I'd seen stuff like that happen around my father sometimes, if I happened to look over when he was flipping some girl's switches but nothing quite so… total.
"And how exactly do you plan to stop me?" Aisha asked. "It's not like you'd even know I'm with you!"
"She's right, you know," Lisa said. Brian shot her a betrayed look, but she kept talking. "Besides, capes don't tend to stay out of trouble for long. Better if she has us watching her back and teaching her. Maybe Taylor can help us with that, since she's the only one who can keep track of Aisha?" She pointedly looked at the vampire.
"I will teach my sister a ghost's ways," Taylor said with a solemn nod. "Out of sight, out of mind," she smiled at Brian, "and well out of what dangers are avoidable."
"...Fine," Brian finally said, sinking back into his seat.
"Perhaps I may yet learn a trick or two myself," Taylor added with a small smile, "walking the Little Trickster's path alongside my own."
"Trickster?" Aisha asked. "Like pranks? Oh… we are going to have so much fun…"
"And don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Aisha waved, before zipping up her hoodie as she chased after Taylor. Tilting my head in thought, I took the moment to appreciate the view before she vanished down the staircase.
A suspiciously loud cough interrupted my thoughts, Brian giving me a look from his spot on the couch. "You know her getting powers doesn't change anything, right?" he said. "I'll still kick your ass if you do something stupid."
"Who? Me?" I asked, pouting. "I'd never! Besides, what could you even do about it? Fall on me?"
"There are worse things that could fall upon you," a very familiar voice spoke behind me. The shiver that ran down my spine was just an unexpected gust of cold air, of course. I slowly turned around to see our resident vampire standing barely a foot away from me. Her eyes were glowing faintly orange again, and her grin made her sharpened teeth quite visible as she leaned in towards me.
"You shall act the part of the fairytale prince for my new sister," she said, poking me in the chest. "As the mouse told them, I'd suggest, not as The Brothers wrote them," she emphasized, her poking finger slowly moving north, "lest the Noble Dark One and I find need to spin a new tale worthy of theirs, hmm?" The last was timed to match another gust of winter air pouring in through the open window behind her. The wind matched to her humming as if in agreement.
Smile and nod, Alec. Smile. And. Nod.
Apparently satisfied that her warning was received, Taylor patted my cheek gently before turning around and jumping out the window.
Brian and I just stared at each other. His expression was about as confused as mine probably was, but with just tiny bit of smug mixed in. After what seemed like a minute, Lisa stuck her head out of her room, looked over the scene, burst out laughing, and then just pulled her head back in. A few seconds passed before I heard the laughter pause as she stuck her head back out again.
"Close the damn window, it's January!" she yelled at us, then got back to whatever she was doing previously, still laughing.