The shower felt wonderful. It had relaxed me in ways that the garden couldn't. I cracked open the bathroom door, listening for the sounds of movement about the church. Once I was sure that no one was home, I dashed to my bedroom, towel held tightly about me.
Finally dressed, I wandered into the kitchen to find Ivy hard at work at her computer. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a black tank top, with her hair held back from her face by a clip. She was reclined slightly in her chair (jokingly called the "Throne") with her lean, leather-clad legs crossed and a pen cap clenched between her teeth, looking quite set in concentrating on her work.
My breath almost caught in my throat at the sight of her, but I stamped it out and went about my morning (well afternoon, really) ritual of coffee, cereal and flipping through the demon spell book that Kisten had given me a few months ago. Ivy didn't look at me the whole time I sat across the table from her. She was too immersed in her case.
I kept glancing up at her, only to find her with her face still buried into the computer screen, her eyes flicking to the map laid out before her, muttering something under her breath, before making a mark on the map. I must have stared too long because Ivy's voice rang out in the quiet of the kitchen, making me jump.
"Take a picture, Rachel, it lasts longer." She looked up from the screen with a faint smile and a chuckle, something rarely seen or heard from Ivy. I just blinked at her for a moment, still so unsure of what to do. I finally came to my senses and smiled sheepishly back.
"Sorry, I kinda spaced out for a moment," I said a bit more quiet than I normally would have as a deep blush tinged my cheeks. To hide this, I lifted the demon book up to my face, but I could still feel her eyes on me, as if she could see through the book to me.
"It's ok," I could hear the smile in her voice. "Don't forget that we have a sparring session at six tonight. I want to make sure that you've been practicing," She said as she stood. I heard her grab her keys and walk down the hall. I then heard the big front door open and close and gave a soft sigh of relief before slumping down into my seat. Maybe I could get out of sparring if I said that I had a headache. No, that would never work. She'd see right through that excuse and then grill me for the truth until I told her. That would only end up causing more problems than what Ivy and I already had to deal with. I gave another sigh and stretched and got up out of the chair.
I grabbed my purse and my keys and leaned out the back door into the garden. I gave a whistle and Jih, Jenks' oldest daughter, flitted out from behind a flower. She had just recently left from the stump and was living in Keasly and Ceri's garden. She game me a smile and fluttered upward to hover inches from my face.
"Hello, Ms. Morgan, how are you today?" Her soft voice rang into my ears like tiny bells.
"I am doing good, Jih. Is your dad here?" I gave the little ethereal beauty a smile back as I asked a question back to her. She nodded and flew over to the stump. A few moments later, two small glittering figures lifted from the stump, one silver, the other red. I knew the red one was Jenks, his color clearly showing his irritation.
As Jenks flew closer, his color lightened and I could see the smile slowly form upon his tiny lips. I offered my hand and he flew up to light gently upon it.
"What's up, Rache?" He asked.
"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to know if you wanted to come grocery shopping with me with me." I said softly and Jenks bounded into the air with a whoop of joy.
"Tink's red panties, Rachel. Of course I want to go grocery shopping with you!" Did I mention that after Jenks's little stint in the big world, he had grown a fondness for any kind of shopping. He landed upon one of my earrings, chatting cheerily into my ear as I made my way to my car. Yeah... My licence had been suspended, but I was OK as long as I stuck to the side streets and didn't go anywhere near the freeway.
By the time we returned home, it was already six. I grimaced, thinking of the upcoming sparring session with Ivy. Jenks had went out back to tell Matalina and the kids that he was home. I slipped into the house with the canvass grocery bags slung over my shoulder and walked down the main hall, into the kitchen. I set the bags onto the island and began putting the groceries away. The click and flutter of pixy wings brought me out of my own thoughts, telling me that Jenks was back. He landed upon a soup ladle hanging on the rack over the counter and watched me put away the last bit of groceries before flitting down to land upon the bar top, spreading a liberal amount of silver pixy dust upon the island counter. I gave a small smile and leaned my butt against the sink.
"Do we have any of that honey left, Rache?" He asked me, taking a few steps in my direction. "I need something to take the edge off. Not even home for five minutes and the kids are already driving me up the wall." I nodded, still staying silent. I grabbed a thimble from the drawer and the honey out of the cabinet before setting the thimble upon the table, putting a drop of honey and one drop of water in it to thin out the consistency and left the jar open on the table for him to get at.
"There you go." I mumble absent-mindedly, my mind already buzzing with excuses to tell Ivy as to why I couldn't spar with her.
"You ok, Rache? You seem kind of out of it." Jenk's voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked down at him as he sipped at his honey.
"Yeah, just letting my mind wander." I answered him back before taking a can of Coke from the fridge and going to sit down at my end of the table and flipped open my demon spell book to a random page. I heard the unmistakable sound of the front door opening and the heavy thump of Ivy's motorcycle boots on the hardwood floor of the main room. Jenk's flew up from the counter and moved to sit on the table in front of the demon book.