In the end, Victoria and I spend around 4 hours in the hospital, the last hour of which she was sat in a chair with an IV bag attached to her arm to replace lost electrolytes. During that hour, a nutritional psychologist came down stairs and gave us both a lecture on just why Victoria was an idiot, and how her behavior could have killed her with nobody knowing.
At the end of the lecture he gave Victoria a meal plan for the next week based on her current body weight, a list of symptoms to watch out for, any of which means calling 911, and a letter to give to her parents to book an weekly appointments to check her progress. The last thing he does is give strict instructions that Victoria shouldn't be healed again by Panacea until she's back at a healthy weight. I'm sure I heard him muttering something about 'forced into medical school' as he stalked out.
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As we walk out the hospital, Victoria thumbs through the envelope full of paperwork she was given with an unreadable expression on her face. Eventually she looks up at me, "Thanks for dragging me to the hospital. I… Normally I just need to stuff my face for a few days and then I'm fine."
I nod, "But you're also normally at a healthy weight already."
Victoria nods, "Yeah, and Amy does her thing to make sure that the weight goes into all the right places. I figured that this would just be the same thing, just for longer." She holds up her hand, "Yeah, I know now that it's different. But."
I hold out my arm, "It's ok." Victoria flies over the few steps between us and pulls me into a hug, "Mum always said, ah, my ribs, not so hard."
Victoria sheepishly lets go slightly, "That's a funny thing for your mum to say."
I stick my tongue out, "I was going to say, 'Try to avoid making assumptions, as what you don't know could get you jailed'."
Victoria steps back to look at me, "Wait, what? I thought you were going to do the whole, assume makes an ass out of you and me thing."
I nod, "She did that too, but that was the one that always stuck in my mind, as mum and dad said they'd explain it when I was older."
Victoria nods, "Yeah, parents can be like that sometimes. Listen, um, I sort of don't know where I am right now. Well, that's not true, I know where I am, but only from the air, and I don't really know how to get home from here. And my phone's dead, so would you be able to help me get home?"
I wince, "Yeah, that's probably my fault. Sorry. I can get you back to downtown, would that help?"
Victoria nods, "It would help, but do you think you could teleport to the roof of the hospital?"
I shake my head, "I don't know, maybe. Why?"
Victoria smiles, "I just want to see if you can line of sight teleport, as I've never heard of a teleportation power that can go to anywhere you've visited but can't also go to places you can see. I mean, the other way around is fairly common, but that's usually within a fixed range and line of sight. Or you have capes that can only teleport to certain locations. It's one of the reasons why PRT cells never have windows."
"I'll try," I say doubtfully, as I'm trying to remember how Spike teleporting feels, "Hold on to me, as it's easier for me to teleport when I'm touching everything."
Victoria cheekily links her arm with mine as I try to reproduce the way that those animals teleported. Once I'm sure I've got it I blink through the space between here and the top of the hospital. Fortunately I got us on the roof, as we both collapse to our knees and groan.
"That was nothing like the teleportation you used before."
I stagger to my feet, "Well, I'm sorry but that was the first time I ever teleported like that."
Victoria rolls over onto her back, "What do you mean by 'first time'. Did you just pull a new power out of your ass?"
I shake my head, "Not quite, I'm copying something else I saw."
"Who did you meet that teleports like that? I'm sure it wasn't in Brockton Bay."
I laugh, "Sort of. It's actually my cat, Spike."
"What sort of fucked up life are you living where even your cat has powers?"
I raise my hands as Victoria manages to fly into a vertical position, "It's not like that. I found the cat after I got my own powers."
Victoria narrows her eyes, "Are you sure it's not some tinker creation?"
I shake my head, "I'm sure, he wasn't the only animal that could teleport there. Anyway, where next?"
Victoria points to the Medhall Tower, "If you can get to the top of Medhall, my house is to the south west, with a green and red light on the roof. My aunt's house is the one with two red and two green lights on the roof."
I stretch out again the same way, only it feels like I reach the limit of an elastic band before I get to the tower. It sort of makes sense, as those animals use this for hunting, but at the same time it's frustrating. Instead I focus on red light at the top of the tower and try to imagine what the antenna looks like.
While I'm focusing, Victoria takes my hand again. Once I'm sure I've got it in my mind I teleport to the tower with that dragging a sandbag feeling, only to drop for a fraction of a second until Victoria catches me.
As she lowers us to the roof, Victoria laughs, "I told you you could do it. Now you just need to work on the landing, as not everyone can survive a 20 food drop."
I laugh, "Don't you mean foot?"
Victoria taps me on the arm, "You know what I meant. I'm hungry damn it. Come on, you can see our house from this corner over here."
I follow Victoria as she floats over the roof and look down. It takes me a minute or so, and Victoria point it out, but eventually I'm able to see the green and red light against the sea of orange sodium lights.
"Those lights are kinda hard to see."
Victoria nods, "They are, and we turn them off when everyone's at home. Mum added them because I kept getting lost on my way home."
I shrug, "I guess that makes sense. Ready?"
Victoria just takes my arm as I focus on the green light, and the chimney stack it's just about illuminating. After a couple of minutes of concentrating, I teleport, and the two of us land on the slanted roof with a clatter of tiles.
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As Victoria lands the two of us on the ground, the front door to her house opens and a woman with blond hair storms out shouting, "Victoria Dallon! What do you think you're doing? And what time do you call this? You are grounded!"
Victoria squares her shoulders and shouts back, "Mum! Taylor brought me home, I didn't fly."
I wave nervously, "Hello Mrs Dallon, I took Victoria to the hospital before she killed herself."
As Mrs Dallon stares at Victoria, Victoria holds up the envelope and the box with her cake in it like a shield, "It's not like that mum. I was about to eat half a fudge cake and Taylor stopped me."
Mrs Dallon huffs, "Well, I'm sure that Amy…"
I interrupt once more, "With all due respect Mrs Dallon, Amy isn't a doctor. I will be forever grateful that she saved my life, and I'm sure she is perfectly capable of healing anyone you put in front of her. But there are limits to what she knows and can deal with."
Mrs Dallon looks like she's going to blow a gasket before Victoria pretty much shoves the envelope into her hands. It seems like it's an almost reflexive action when she opens the envelope and pulls out the sheaf of paper and spots the small envelope addressed to her.
While she's reading, Victoria looks at me and says, "Wait right there." Before flying into the house.
Mrs Dallon has just turned the page when Victoria comes flying out with a small cardboard box. "Hey Taylor, I'm guessing you destroyed your own phone when you got your powers. Mum got a load of these ones when I was 15 and I couldn't stop breaking mine."
I take the box and turn it over to see an old fashioned phone with an LCD display. Next to the phone are three AAA batteries. "I, don't know what to say."
Victoria smiles, "Don't worry about it, you took me to the hospital. Amy and I are both using one until the insurance comes in for our normal phones. Anyway there's a couple of cards in there with phone numbers on, the one with a V written in the corner is mine, the other one is yours. Oh, and they're locked to AT&T, so you'll need to buy more credit at Walmart when you run out."
"I, uh, thank you."
Victoria pulls me into a hug, "You're welcome. Look, I'd invite you in, but I think I'm about to have a conversation with my mum. Assuming I'm allowed out the house tomorrow, would you like to meet up?"
"I, uh, I think I'd like that. I enjoyed reading with you."
Victoria nods, "I'm not normally the reading type, but I was just so tired and cold."
"And you wanted to avoid your friends."
Victoria lets go and buries her head in her hands, "Don't remind me. I've said I'm sorry for punching you already, haven't I."
I smile, "You have, multiple times. Anyway, I'll leave you to your mother."
"Sure, text me when you're ready tomorrow."
I nod, "I think I will, thank you. See you tomorrow."
I teleport away to our lounge with a massive smile on my face.
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When I arrive in the lounge I frown as I realize that the light is off. A flick of telekinesis solves that problem and I glance up at the clock, 8:30, dad should be home by now. As I'm about to turn around to head upstairs, I spot my backpack on the kitchen table, and the books that Victoria and I were reading are neatly stacked beside it.
Walking over, I sigh when I see the note on top of the books.
Taylor,
You weren't home when I stopped by. Heading to Kurt's to talk to them about Lacey's new powers. You know where they live, so come round if it's not too late. Otherwise there's some dinner in the fridge.
Dad
I glance back at the clock, right, they're probably drinking now anyway.
Grumbling under my breath, I take everything out of my backpack to make sure nothing's missing.
Purse, books, notebook, pens, sewing, workbooks. Well, everything seems to be there, what about my purse. Student card, cash, library card. Wait, where's my bus pass?
I slump down in my chair as it hits me that someone's stolen the one bit of ID that has my name, date of birth, and my photo on it. And they left my cash. Who does that?
I dash my hand across my face, and look at in surprise as it comes away damp. I mean, I know it's bad, but it's not like the Trio didn't do the same a few times. Well, no, they didn't steal it, they just took a pair of scissors to it.
Angrily, I grab my purse and teleport to the only store I think might still be open at this time on a friday night, the out of town Walmart.
As I arrive in the parking lot, someone leans on their horn, and a man leans out of his window, "Watch where you're walking Lady!"
I quickly move to one side as I shout back "Sorry!"
As I look across the parking lot at the store, I smile as I realize that this is probably the part about coming to Walmart I used to get most excited about. As I'm right by the entrance, and the glowing sign promises a kids paradise of chocolate and toys.
My anger spent for the moment, I make my way across the parking lot as I imagine mum holding my hand as 8 year old me wants to just run ahead. I know we came more often than that, but I think it was Emma's birthday and we were her to buy her a present.
I'm brought out of my memory as I walk through the doors, as the shelves are completely different to what I remember. What used to be rows of toys, clothes, and other household goods, is now the fresh fruit and veg section. With a fortifying deep breath, I check my purse, two $10 notes and no coins. Rather than grabbing a cart, I grab a basket and start to meander around the store aimlessly.
I've covered almost the whole store, and picked out a few bars of chocolate and a tin of cookies, when I come across a small gardening section with a display for different garden seeds alongside a selection of tools, fertilizer, growing pots, and a couple of books. With a smile, I grab one of each of the 3/$1 packs, and wrack my brain for the things that Selene probably didn't have in her time.
Once I've got about $10 worth of seeds I quickly hurry back to the fruit and veg section and buy an organic apple, orange and lemon that have a warning about seeds, some seeded grapes, and a pomegranate.
Then it occurs to me that I can go and see Selene rather than eating dinner alone, so I add a twin pack of cheap chicken kiev's, a couple of baking potatoes, because it's cheaper than a bag. Thinking about it, I'll add an extra potato so that Selene can grow it, as they're a different variety to the ones we normally buy. Some carrots, a chocolate trifle, and a 20oz bottle of Coke finish off the meal.
On my way down to the checkout, I stop in consternation as I spot some 'sproutable organic wheat berries'. Reluctantly, I put back the tin of cookies and one bar of chocolate so that I can buy the smallest pack of wheat they have. Even so, when I get to the checkout, I still have to put back a couple of packs of seeds to bring the total inside the money that I have.
I've scarcely been given the few cents that makes up my change before I teleport home with my bagged up shopping.
I quickly pack my backpack, cursing lightly at the fact my telekinesis has stopped responding to my subconscious desires, and grab my staff before I head upstairs to use the picture of the moon. As I reach out to touch the wood, I remember what Selene said when I took Lacey there this morning. It is her home.
Rather than turn up uninvited, I put the bags down and head into the bathroom for a pitstop. While I'm sitting down, I step into my inner world and call out, "Selene, goddess of the moon".
Almost instantly, Selene appears standing next to me. "How are you Taylor?"
I smile, "I'm ok I think. Would it be ok to visit for dinner, I've got food."
Selene pulls me into a hug, "Oh dear child, you are always welcome. The warning was about unexpected guests. I will look forward to your arrival."
As suddenly as she arrived, Selene's gone, and I return to my body and finish off.
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When I arrive at Selene's camp the sun is still only half way towards noon, and her fire isn't lit.
Shrugging, I make my way up the incline to the cave before needing to step to one side as Selene walks out with several wheel barrows worth of broken rocks trailing along behind her.
Curiously, I follow along behind her and watch as she levitates a section of grass and dirt around as large as our house, and sprinkles the broken rocks underneath it.
Once she's put the dirt back down I ask, "What are you doing?"
Selene gestures back at the cave, "I am preparing the cave for the next Perihelion or Aphelion, which ever is due sooner. While the effects here will not be nearly as dire as they are closer to the sea of magic, they will still be rather cataclysmic in nature. At the same time I am slowly leveling the land around the cave to make it suitable for building houses. Now, I believe you said you brought food. Let us put it under stasis until it is time for dinner."
I nod and follow her back to the cave, "Does it ever get lonely here?"
Selene shakes her head, "No Taylor, not for me. While I enjoy the company of others, the way the mind of a god works allows us to view the passing of time differently to mortals. I do remember feeling lonely at points during my mortal lives, but only while I did not remember I was a Titan. Rather then ennui, the curse of our kind is our ability to remember everything as if it was happening right at this moment. That includes our emotions. Now, how was your day after its rather inauspicious start?"
"Well, first dad and Lacey said they were going to take the bus back to the union building. And then they refused to let me go with them, and they wouldn't listen to me when I tried to tell them that my purse was there."
Selene nods, "Your father was acting as he should for a young maiden. However I believe that he has forgotten that while you are young, you are no longer a maiden as life has forced you to grow in ways that are more akin to a young hunter or warrior than a maiden."
"I know, but he put his foot down and gave me $20 and told me to do my work in the library…"
"…so I lowered my magic like you taught me before I teleported to the library…"
"…ended up reading about woodworking…"
Once we reach the cave I stop my story and show Selene the food that I bought. Once we reach the different fruits and seeds, Selene kisses me on the cheek.
"Thank you for purchasing these, I was not expecting them for several visits, not in such a variety. I look forward to the day I can explore the mortal world once more."
I duck my head in embarrassment at the compliment, to cover it I ask, "How do you do the stasis thing?"
Selene smiles at me, "That is a topic for when you are here to learn. This day is all about relaxing. I have some seasoned meat and bread from last night if you wish a brief repast to tide you over the day."
I nod, so Selene goes over to a couple of copper pots and lifts the lids off to retrieve half a loaf and some sliced meat before we head back out of the cave.
"…so I bought the book and a couple other bits and looked for somewhere to eat…"
"…tea shop…"
"…found the coffee shop."
Selene interrupts me, "What is the difference between a tea shop and a coffee shop?"
I think for a moment before saying, "In America people tend to drink coffee as their drink of choice, so shops that sell ready to drink coffee are called coffee shops, a lot of coffee shops also sell sandwiches and cakes too. I think they call them café's in Europe. However, tea isn't really that popular, so a tea shop is a place to buy specialty tea leaves to be brewed at home."
Selene nods, "I see. And this coffee shop was special?"
I nod, "Yes, mum used to take me there after work when I was on holiday. Anyway, I ordered an Earl Grey tea with lemon."
"They sell tea in a coffee shop?"
I nod, "Some do, others only sell coffee. This one is more of a daytime restaurant than a take away."
"I see. I may ask to see your memory of the place later."
I smile, "That might be nice. Anyway after I'd drunk…"
"…that's when she apologized for punching me."
Selene frowns, "This slip of a woman was able to punch you so hard that it threatened to kill your body?"
I shake my head, "No, Glory Girl, that's her cape name, is normally much fitter and healthier than that. But I managed to skewer her with the spines from a teleporting wolf near my old camp, so Amy, her sister had to use most of her bodies resources to save her life. Um, I might call Amy Panacea occasionally, as that's her cape name."
"I see, then the debt of blood has already been repaid in kind."
I glance at Selene out of the corner of my eye, "Um, sure. Anyway, after that we got talking about cape stuff, and she told me that the unwritten rules only help me if I have a separate civilian identity, otherwise it's just my identity."
Selene nods thoughtfully, "I can see how that would work, much like having a moniker helped the heroes of old. Though it was not a separate identity, rather a way of standing out from the other mortals. Have you given any thought to your own cape identity?"
I look down at the firepit, "Um, given that you are my master, I was thinking maybe Menae. But it was only an idle thought."
Selene leans over and pulls me into a hug beside her, "Taylor, were it not for who the Menae are, I would welcome you as the 51st Menae. However, they were each my children born between myself and Endymion. If you wish to represent me I will give you a name."
I lean into Selene's shoulder, "I would like that. This is almost like having a mother again."
Selene kisses me on the forehead, "I did say that the bond between us would bring us closer. Then hence forth you will be known as Berenike, apprentice of Selene. It shall be your name until you earn another."
I smile, "What does it mean?"
"Bearer of Victory, or she who brings victory. I shall prepare raiments suitable for your new identity for when you arrive for your training. I charge you to live up to the name and make me proud."
I smile, "I will, I promise."
"I know you will, now on with your tale."
"Well, when I finished my second pot of tea, I took Victoria home so that we could look up…"
"…hours sitting in hospital…"
"…muttered that Panacea should be forced into med school…"
"…teleported the same way Spike does."
Selene turns to look at me, "How do you know how your cat teleports?"
"Um, I can sort of feel it. I mean I spent a few weeks at my old camp and all of the animals do it, and you can sort of feel them moving."
Selene nods, "We will have to refine that, as it is what I was trying to get you to learn before. I was unaware that you already knew the basics of how to do it. Though, if you were using the method I think, it would be very difficult to carry more than yourself or something you're physically holding. However, it is well suited for a hunter, and Artemis was well practiced at using it, as you can change your orientation, and even speed if you are well practiced. I personally prefer to imagine a doorway both in front of me and where I am going, then I simply step through. That is when I wasn't flying from place to place."
I look up at her face, "Can I fly?"
Selene smiles, "I don't know, can you?"
"I don't know how."
"Then you will have two mortal months to learn on your own."
"You know I tried that other method because teleporting with Victoria felt like I was dragging a sandbag?"
Selene nods, "I did hear that reference, yes."
"Do you know why it felt like that? I mean, it never felt like that with dad or Lacey."
"I do not child, but it may be in the way you teleport and something about Victoria rather than simply teleportation. I will have you teleport me a few times when next we train."
I nod, "Sure. There's not much left to my story now."
"And I have enjoyed every second of hearing it."