Hannah reached over and smacked Castor on the back of the head. She pointed at him and said, “Language.”
“Sorry,” he bit out in an insincere voice.
“The police said we should contact them if… God, they actually said if…” Hannah’s words trailed off and she took a shaking breath.
Adrienne got off the couch and went to her mother. She knelt in front of Hannah, hugging her around the waist. “I’m right here, Mommy. I’m right here. I know it was scary. Believe me, I was terrified. But Malik saved me before anything happened. I went to my wedding day a virgin.”
Hannah hugged her daughter close and rocked her back and forth. She whispered, “My baby. My sweet, sweet girl.”
Pollux whispered, “That was a bad scene, Sis. The cops showed us the pics from a digital camera found near one guy’s body.” He rose from his seat quickly and walked to the far end of the living room away from everyone.
Malik watched them all. He felt Adrienne’s sadness but it dulled in comparison to her joy at being home. Her sadness only echoed her mother’s, and that was why Malik didn’t call an end to the visit. He asked, “The authorities wished you to contact them why, Hannah?”
“Call me Mom,” Hannah ordered. “You’re not old enough to use my given name.”
“As you wish, Mother.”
“Close enough,” Hannah said. “The police told us to contact them if Adrienne came home before they could find her. They wanted to question her to get an ID on the killer of her attackers. You may have done us a favor but you still broke the laws of our land…of this Earth.”
Adrienne looked at Malik. He had a thoughtful expression. She started to explain about murder being murder even if the person deserved it or had it coming, but he rose from the couch and walked through a portal before she could say anything.
“Malik?” she asked in astonishment. She pulled away from her mother and went back to the couch. She looked at Mushira and asked in a scared voice, “Where did he go?”
Mushira shook her head. She looked as shocked as Adrienne felt.
Adrienne didn’t have time to work herself into a state over Malik’s disappearance, because he returned and resumed his seat moments later.
He said in a calming voice, “I did not mean to alarm you, my Adrienne. I simply solved the problem causing Mother so much worry.”
“‘Solved the problem’? Solved it how exactly?” Adrienne asked. Her surprise over his disappearance turned to worry.
Malik took her hands in his and kissed them. “I understand your authorities must punish all who commit murder. I gave them someone to punish.”
“Gave?” Hannah asked.
“There is a man who has occupied my dungeon for quite some time. He committed travesties in my kingdom. I captured him myself when the mages I sent after him proved too inept to see the deed accomplished,” Malik explained. “I implanted the memory of the killing in his mind, gave him a sword, and placed him near the location of Adrienne’s attack. He will be arrested and tried. Your problem is solved, Mother.”
Hannah asked, “Just like that?”
“Yes.”
Adrienne countered, “The police are going to know he’s not from Earth, Malik. Sure, they might think he’s nuts and lock him in a loony bin, but what about his magicks?”
“I took them away. Magicks fade or they can be taken away if the subject is removed from the source. That is why Ulan is so important to mages across Bron. It is the center of all magicks, and the orbs created in Ulan are wells of magicks a mage can use anywhere. Those mages practicing their trade in Biton, for instance, must purchase hundreds of orbs a year to ensure their magicks will not run out when they need them most,” Malik said.
“This isn’t the time for lessons, Malik. Besides, that knowledge became evident to me as soon as I asked the question. What I want to know is how—”
“I gave him enough knowledge to be tried as a sane person and took away a large portion of his memories from his time on Bron,” Malik interrupted.
Castor asked, “How the heck do you know anything about Earth? You didn’t even know about the justice system until Mom brought it up.”
Malik answered, “All I know, I learned from Adrienne.”
“I knew it,” Adrienne said loudly. She pulled away from him. “I knew you didn’t give me all that knowledge without taking something from me.”
“Knowledge for knowledge, my Adrienne. It is a fair trade. The information I gained has made it easier for me to interact with you,” Malik argued. He grasped her hands again and held her firm when she tried to get away from him. After he kissed the backs of both her hands, he said softly, “I took only knowledge, my lady. I did not delve into memories or desires—no matter that I wanted to.”
“Huh?” Castor and Pollux asked in unison.
“Never mind,” Adrienne said. She allowed Malik to pull her onto his lap. He hugged her close and her worries and anger went away. Whether from a spell or his nearness, she didn’t care.
She faced her mother and said, “That’s one problem solved. Now all you have to do is call the cops and let them know I’m safe. They’ll probably want me to fill out some forms or something, which I hope I can do from a police station near here.”
Hannah blinked at her daughter. She opened her mouth, paused, closed her mouth, and then shook her head.
“What?” Adrienne asked.
“And you’re my daughter’s head lady’s maid?” Hannah asked Mushira, ignoring Adrienne’s question.
“Yes, my lady.”
Hannah waved that off. “Call me Hannah. I’m not any type of royalty.”
“As you like, Hannah,” Mushira conceded quickly. She looked uncomfortable at the request but didn’t voice her misgivings.
“Your father’s going to be home in another hour,” Hannah said.
“Why not call him and let him know I’m home, Mom?” Adrienne asked.
“No, no. It’s okay. He’ll find out when he gets home.”
“Ouch,” Castor said.
“I don’t want your father getting into an accident trying to rush home to see Adrienne,” Hannah snapped. She pointed at her son and ordered, “Shut it.”
He grinned at her but kept silent.
Hannah got out of her seat and went to the fireplace. She took down a framed document and gave it to Adrienne. She explained, “Your father accepted it on your behalf. Your teachers said, even though you missed the last few weeks of classes and the exams, your grades didn’t suffer enough to hinder you graduating.”
Adrienne’s hands shook as she took the degree. Her name was scrawled in the middle of a bachelor’s degree of art for literary history. She smiled at it and then laughed. “It’s so silly now.”
“You worked hard for it,” Hannah said firmly.
“I’m not arguing that fact, Mom. But all those years of education and all that money were pretty much wasted since I can’t use any of it on Bron.” She hugged the degree to her chest. “Still, I’m happy to have it. Thanks for attending my graduation for me.”
Malik distracted her from the sorrow of missing her graduation when he plucked the degree from her arms and looked at it. She explained the significance of the paper to him, then remembered he probably already knew. If the information he garnered from her worked like the information she got from him, every time he had a question about Earth it was automatically answered if Adrienne had knowledge of it.
Malik suggested, “You should hang it in our room, my Adrienne. Even if what you learned has no usefulness on Bron, you cannot deny all your hard work.”
“What if someone sees it? Someone other than the people who already know I’m not from Bron.”
Malik tapped the glass of the frame. The degree inside shifted and changed into a picture of the royal crest. He said, “Only those who know of your secret will be able to see the truth. Others will see the crest.” He smiled when Adrienne placed a small kiss on his cheek.
Hannah nodded. She
looked at the middle of the living room. Feyr occupied a huge part of the floor with Mischief trapped in front of him. It was the only way to keep the cub from running all over the house exploring.
She asked, “What is that?”
Malik answered, “He is Feyr and the cub is his son Mischief.”
“Fear?”
Adrienne corrected, “It's pronounced ‘feh-er’, Mom. Think ‘fair’ instead of ‘fear’. I made the same mistake, too. The magicks in Ulan combined some animals, and mulits are the results of one of those combinations.”
Pollux turned to Malik and asked, “Any chance I can get one? You know, a gift to the brother of the bride and all that. Hook a brother up.”
“No,” Hannah and Adrienne said in unison. Hannah went over and looked down at Feyr. He stared back up at her. “I don’t have enough food to feed this thing and your brothers, Adrienne.”
“Stop feeding Castor and Pollux, then,” Adrienne quipped. She grinned at her brothers and they glared back. “Got it covered, Mom. We brought food for Feyr and Mischief.”
“I’m going to assume you named him Mischief for a good reason. I’m also going to assume he won’t be living up to his name while you’re home,” Hannah said with a warning look in Adrienne’s direction.
“He’ll behave. That’s partially why Feyr came along.”
Hannah said sarcastically, “Just what your father always wanted, another cat in the house. Speaking of which, where are the cats?”
“Hightailed it when Sir Sheds-a-Lot sounded the alarm on Feyr over there. Little punk,” Castor said.
“Sir Sheds-a-Lot?” Feyr asked with a disgusted look. “It would seem you have a tendency of naming your pets for their traits, Adrienne.”
“Don’t pin that on me,” Adrienne shot back. “Castor named him. Sphinx is my cat…sort of…was my cat. But, I named Sphinx.”
Pollux asked, “Are you talking to Feyr?”
“Yes.”
“Kick ass,” Castor said. He dodged Hannah’s hand a second later. She pointed at him instead with a warning look.
“What else can you do?” Pollux asked.
Malik answered, “Whatever she likes. Though it would not be wise to expend magicks frivolously.”
Hannah walked over and held out her hand to Adrienne. She pulled Adrienne to her feet and said to Malik, “Does that mean you’ll be cutting up the vegetables in the kitchen the old-fashioned way? With a knife, I mean. Or do you only know how to chop up people?”
“Mom,” Adrienne yelled.
“Oh no, Adrienne. He may be royalty where he’s from, but here he’s a person just like everyone else. And people in this house help out if they want to eat.”
Mushira stood.
“Except you, Mushira. You’re on vacation. Sit down and rest.” Hannah looked back to Malik. She dropped Adrienne’s hand and crooked a finger at him. “Let’s go, Malik.”
Malik stood and followed Hannah without argument. Adrienne stared after them with a small smile on her face. Her eyes traveled over to Mushira, who looked very worried. Adrienne soothed, “Relax, Mushira. I warned you my mother wouldn’t let you do anything while you were here.”
“I should be the one helping, Ma—” She stopped when Adrienne frowned at her, and corrected, “Adrienne.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’ll do Malik good to see how the other half lives for a little while,” Adrienne said with amusement. She looked around. “I guess I better go find the cats.”
Castor asked, “Can I pet Feyr? Does he mind? He ain’t gonna tear a chunk out of me or something?”
“Go for it.” At Castor’s wary look, she said, “Feyr won’t hurt you unless you try to hurt him or Mischief. Keep that in mind and it’s all good.” She didn’t wait to see if Castor would pet Feyr, before she jogged up the stairs in search of her cats. She knew where they would be hiding. She may have changed over the last few months, but home hadn’t.
Hannah handed Malik a knife, the cutting board and a bowl full of rinsed cabbages. “I want them thinly sliced, and don’t be all day about it.”
Malik was tempted to use magicks, but then thought better of it. He had stopped Adrienne from using her magicks because he knew they wouldn’t come to her call as readily as before the wedding. She hadn’t noticed this fact and Malik wanted to keep it from her as long as possible.
He started to cut the cabbages, then asked, “Why are you hiding your anger?” He couldn’t feel Hannah’s anger as he could Adrienne’s, but he recognized the signs of someone hiding their true emotions.
Hannah gaped at him. She crossed her arms before she answered, “I don’t want to upset my baby. Adrienne said you all are here for three days and I’m going to enjoy them. If that means not giving you a piece of my mind over your high-handed, insensitive and overly spoiled actions where my daughter is concerned, I’ll hold my peace.” Grudgingly, she added, “Besides, Adrienne looks happy with you. That’s enough for me.”
“I will not apologize for taking what is rightfully mine.”
“Then you can’t get mad when someone calls you on it.”
“Adrienne warned me of that very fact before we arrived.”
Without warning, Hannah reached up and pulled Malik down to her level. She kissed his cheek and gave him a quick hug. She released him and said, “You saved my baby. You brought her home—even if it took you a while. Thank you.”
“You understand, we are not staying.”
Hannah nodded, stepped away, and started chopping carrots. “I know. I also know you’ll be coming back for visits. I may not have magic or magicks or whatever, but I’ll find a way to get to Bron if you don’t bring my grandbabies here to see me.”
“I believe that of you, Mother,” Malik said with a smile.
A thought made him open another portal and retrieve an orb, which he held out to Hannah. She took it with a confused look on her face.
“Is this that orb you were talking about earlier? You sell these to people?”
“Yes,” Malik answered. “This will be your way of contacting Adrienne after we have gone. Simply sit the orb by any mirror and speak Adrienne’s name. It will open up a communication portal.”
“Like talking on the phone.”
“Like talking on a video phone.”
“Even better.” Hannah turned the orb this way and that. She smiled at it, then turned her smile on Malik. “You’re a good son. I know your parents would be proud of you. Even if you are spoiled, you still know how to place someone else’s happiness before your own.”
“Only Adrienne’s. It makes her happy to see you happy. Therefore, it makes me happy.”
Hannah placed the orb in the middle of the fake flower center piece on the dining room table. She asked, “Will this thing break if it gets dropped?”
“No. It may look fragile, but the orbs do not break. They fade after the power inside them is used up, but I shall make sure to replace yours before that happens.”
“Thank you.”
Malik nodded. He went back to chopping the cabbage.
* * *
A car pulled into the driveway an hour later and caught Hannah’s attention. She gave the stew one last stir. “I’m going to head him off. You finish those apples,” she said on her way out the door.
Malik stopped peeling the apple in his hands and watched Hannah through the kitchen window. Listening to what Hannah told Benjamin would be easy, but he knew the story already.
Hannah spoke to Benjamin as he got of the car. He looked elated at what she said. When he would have run into the house, Hannah grabbed his arm, stopping him. She continued relaying the news of Adrienne’s return. Benjamin’s attitude steadily darkened the longer Hannah spoke. When he started to argue with her, Hannah tried to get Benjamin to keep his voice down, as some of their neighbors watched them.
Malik lost sight of them when Hannah pulled Benjamin in closer to the house. He turned his attention back to the apples. It would seem his new father-in-law wasn’t
as forgiving of Malik’s actions as Hannah.
Benjamin slammed into the house. He stalked into the living room and took in the scene there. Castor half-petted, half-wrestled Feyr. It looked like Castor had tried to give Feyr a noogie and Feyr decided to return the favor. Pollux ran Mischief around in circles with a kitty toy he found under the couch. Adrienne, who had Sphinx asleep on her lap, and Mushira were engrossed in a lesson on television and remote usage.
Adrienne smiled at her father. “Dad!”
Benjamin growled out, “Upstairs. Now.”
“Dad?”
“Move!”
Malik came out of the kitchen but said nothing. Benjamin didn’t even look at him. Adrienne saw this and knew her father hadn’t taken the news of her whereabouts well. She pasted a smile on her face to lighten the mood. “Dad, this is—”
“Don’t care,” he snapped. He pointed up the stairs. “Don’t make me come get you.”
Adrienne gathered Sphinx close and started up the stairs. Benjamin followed behind her.
Hannah shook her head and said, “I don’t understand why he can’t be happy Adrienne is home, and leave it at that.”
“What angered him?” Malik asked.
“Adrienne got married without his permission,” Castor said from beneath Feyr. He pushed at the cat, but Feyr wouldn’t let him up.
“He’ll get over it,” Hannah predicted. She turned to Malik and asked, “You finished with those apples?”
“No,” he said quietly.
“Then get back in there and finish. Benjamin and Adrienne will be a while. He didn’t like the Cliff Notes version of the story so he’ll make her go through the entire thing all over again,” Hannah surmised. She headed back into the kitchen, pushing Malik in front of her. “There’s nothing to worry about. Benjamin is all show. He had to pretend to be mad or he would have cried all over Adrienne in front of everyone and embarrassed himself.”
Adrienne Page 21
