She’d always been a glass half full kind of person and liked being one.
Lena’s lips tightened as one guy left the group and approached her.
“Who are you?” he demanded as he stared at her.
“Who’s asking?” Lena demanded right back.
“Ma’am, this is a serious situation. I’m going to need to see some proper ID to establish your identity.”
“Fine,” Lena said and marched to the van. She returned with her school ID. “I’m Dr. Lena Verglas from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. I study and teach Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences. I’m here to see Dr. Danielle Topper on an academic matter—one I assure you does not merit a helicopter swat team dropping in on.”
The man snorted. “You may be unaware of this, but the woman who lives here is neither a doctor nor a professor.”
Lena straightened her spine and glared at the man eyeball-to-eyeball. If she’d been wearing her heels, she’d have been looking down on his head.
“Look—I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but I know who I am and what my business is here. Dr. Danielle Topper and her family are kindly helping me with an experiment. I’m trying to convince the town of Magic, New Mexico to let me build a snow study bio-dome here. The National Science Foundation is willing to fund the project for 1.2 million. My grant proposal will be looked at next month which is why I need Dr. Topper’s blessing to convince the townspeople to let me stay. You and your crazy sunglass wearing helicopter jumpers are not helping my cause.”
He snorted and pointed at the house. “We’ve detected low temperatures and unnatural precipitation in this area. Is this your idea of a snow study bio-dome?”
“Where did you go to college? A dome is shaped like a round glass mixing bowl turned upside down over something. Domes can’t be instantly built over a house just to prove a point. To convince Dr. Topper to help me, I made it snow in her backyard. Her daughter’s playing it in right now. Dr. Topper is like the unofficial mayor here. People aren’t going to talk to me until she gives her okay.”
“You’ve been misled, Dr. Verglas. Magic is no ordinary town. Strange things go on here all the time. We have reason to believe that normal science has not been involved in them.”
Lena rolled her eyes. “Good grief. Let me guess—you heard the alien rumors and about the witches who dance naked in the town square on nights with a full moon. I happen to know the town square is indeed going to be hopping with naked witches tonight. I wouldn’t miss that show for anything. And as for the so-called aliens, I picked some up on the way into town.”
“You did?”
“Yes,” Lena said, grinning. “They turned out to be Russians. Not exactly aliens, but you can see why I was confused. They were hunky though.”
“Russians?”
“Da, ty durak,” Stark said, crossing his arms and glaring. “They are friends of mine.”
Lena grinned. Stark was playing along real well. “Want to see the snow I made? It comes from recycled water. As it evaporates, it forms a cloud over the area. The trick is getting the water precisely cold enough to vaporize it and turn it to clouds. Snow doesn’t last long in this heat though. If Dr. Topper doesn’t return soon, it’s going to be gone before she gets here to see it.”
“How do you manage to make it snow in the desert, Dr. Verglas?” the man demanded.
“Oh no—no way. That secret is not leaving my mouth, or my brain, until it goes into a report for the National Science Foundation. I’m planning to apply for a freaking patent and no one is beating me to that. Do you realize what a big damn deal it will be to make it snow in any desert in the world? It could change the landscape of the Earth.”
The guy turned and walked back to the others. He talked to them for a while, waved his hand, then stomped back to her and Stark with a glare. “Okay, Dr. Verglas. Your story checks out… for now.”
“Well, thank you, Agent Sherlock Holmes. It’s good to know that I’m actually who I say I am. Do they really pay you for dropping in on people and scaring them for no reason? I might like doing a job like that myself—probably pays a lot better than teaching college classes. I can’t wait to tell this story to my rumor dropping co-workers. Hey! Can I take a picture with you guys?”
Lena fished her phone out of her pocket and lifted it to take a photo. The men in black yelled and turned their backs as they lifted arms to cover their faces. One barked an order, and they all ran back to climb up the still dangling ladders.
“Hey, wait!” Lena yelled after them, waving her phone as she ran in the same direction. “The first shot wasn’t good. I didn’t get any of your faces. Come on, guys. I don’t get harassed by government spooks every day. You’re a way better story than mistaking Russians for aliens.”
The ladders were jerked up into the helicopters as fast as the men disappeared inside them. They helicopters flew off in chorus of loud, whirling blades.
Lena laughed with true pleasure as she walked back to Topper’s husband. “Wow. That was so much fun. That really is going to be a great story to tell.”
Stark rubbed his jaw. “You chased the men in black away with only the simple threat of using your communication device to take a photo of you with them. I do not understand their fear of such a thing, but I am exceedingly grateful for your intervention. You prevented my usual altercation with them and all the work involved.”
Lena chuckled as she shrugged. “Put in a good word for me with your wife, and we’ll call it even. I really would like to build my snow dome here.”
Her gaze lifted and Lena saw a fully dressed Mars walk around the house with a cute purple-haired little girl in his arms.
“Will you look at that little cutie? She’s as pretty as her mama with that purple-hair,” Lena said.
Stark smiled. “Yes. She certainly is. I normally change my color to match as well, but I didn’t want to alarm my visitors. They already think enough wrong things about visiting Magic.”
Lena chuckled. “Like the need to arrive here naked?”
Stark blew out a breath. “I suppose Deputy Calix relayed the information about my original mistake.”
“I think he only told me because Mars and his buddies were completely naked when I picked them up on my way into town. Can I see your snow?” Lena asked.
“Of course. I have no grounds on which to refuse your request, especially not after your timely intervention.”
“You speak like an ambassador. Is that a yes in Russian?”
“That’s a yes in English.”
Lena chuckled. “Are you Russian at all?”
Stark shook his head. “No. Like Mars and my other visitors, I’m Glacieran from the planet of Glacier. Topper tells people I’m Russian because it simplifies things. It was prudent for me to learn to speak that particular Earth language so the ruse might be believable.”
“Hold up…” Lena said, stopping to plant a fist on her hip. “Are you telling me you're an actual alien from another planet?”
“That term is the one most people on Earth would use to describe me.”
Lena shook her head as she blinked. “It must be the peyote pie working on me again. Aliens don’t exist, Stark. People would know about them if they did.”
“Not if they were hiding to protect themselves from those like the men in black.”
Lena lifted one shoulder as she thought about it. “Guess that’s a good point. I could tell those guys were looking for any reason to cause trouble for you and Topper. Making snow is no reason for them to be coming down on anyone. It’s just a little cold and water mixed together.”
“Magic is used to dealing with the men in black, but it’s never pleasant.” Stark smiled and pointed to the sidewalk leading to the backyard as they walked. “Many creatures of Earth myths live here in secret. Topper guards them.”
Lena narrowed her gaze at his easily offered statement. “Why are they all here in Magic? Why aren’t they hiding in other places?”
“T
hey are hiding in other places, but a great many of them are here because of Topper. New ones are arriving all the time. The population of Magic increases monthly.”
Lena chuckled at how strange it all sounded. “Some people I know can’t get along with people who have a different color of skin than they do. I can’t imagine having a larger kind of difference. How does that work out?”
“I think a common goal of wanting a safe place to live helps them rise above all challenges. Once you’ve been here a while, you soon see that the residents of Magic want what all creatures on Earth want—a happy life and a safe place to raise their families. The men in black would never allow these people that level of freedom. Every creature in Magic would be turned into an experiment. Nate and his parents were a family of captured humans. That’s happening more too. Topper heard about them and rescued Nate, but she didn’t get there in time to save the rest of his family.”
“So Nate lost his parents to some evil version of those bastards. That poor little guy.” Lena pressed her fist to her chest to comfort the ache she felt in her heart. How many times was the truth going to slap her before she gave in and dealt with what she was learning?
She turned and met Stark’s earnest gaze. “There was no peyote in my cherry pie, was there?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know the answer to your question. What is peyote?” Stark asked.
“It’s a native plant that can cause hallucinations when people ingest it. I’ve been hoping that could explain all the crazy stuff in Magic that my mind hasn’t been willing to accept up to now,” Lena said as she rounded the house and saw a rabbit cage in the backyard.
She pointed at the three white bunnies in it. Memories of Topper’s intervention in her attack returned and she moved closer to accepting some things. “Are those the boys who attacked me and who were harassing Nate?”
Stark nodded. “Yes. Topper turned the children into gentler creatures so they could feel something other than their anger. Her methods might seem a bit unorthodox at first, but I have noticed that they work in correcting most bad behaviors. She’ll turn them back to their original forms eventually when she’s convinced they’ve learned their lesson.”
Lena’s eyes widened at his explanation. He sounded so logical. The woman was using some force greater than she knew to change walking-talking people into other creatures. “Are you really an alien?”
“Yes. I trust you will keep my confidence. Topper has ways of making humans forget what they’ve seen and heard here. I would hate for her to use that method on you. Everyone in town calls it mind-wiping.”
Lena thought of Topper’s refusal to do anything to her the night before. Topper had specifically said it wouldn’t work. Now she wondered if that was what Calix had asked Topper to do. Did he want to wipe her mind clear of all she’d experienced in Magic, including making her forget him?
Lena frowned at the idea. Given what passed between them most of the night, Calix must not have wanted her to forget about him too much. The man had all but branded her with his intense lovemaking. Her sigh over the memories was too loud, but it couldn’t be helped.
“Dealing with the men in black has taken me beyond my doubt and into believing there’s more happening here in Magic than my scientific mind has been willing to admit until today. I’m still in overload, but after what you shared about Nate and his parents, I’m doubly glad I helped you get rid of the men in black. The idea of anyone hurting Nate further hits me in the solar plexus. He’s a good kid.”
“I can see you’re a very compassionate person, Dr. Verglas. I’m very glad to have met you today.”
“Same here. Please call me Lena,” Lena said, sighing as they walked.
Stark bowed his head at the offer. “Perhaps I can help illuminate those shadows in your mind, Lena. At some level, the physical laws of the universe do apply to everything. Our planets are similar in that regard.”
“Educate me, Stark. My poor brain can use all the help it can get today.”
It was amazing, Lena thought, how once you accepted one extraordinary premise—like aliens from other planets actually being on Earth—that the rest seemed possible too. For example, Calix had said a couple of times that he was a dragon. She’d never in her life seen a dragon nor was she even sure she wanted to see one. She was a scientist first and always. She needed hard proof to believe something so bizarre. But now? Now she at least was wondering if he’d been trying to be honest with her… as he claimed.
Lena watched Mars put the little girl he carried down in the snow. She giggled with genuine joy and knelt to make a snowball. The no-longer-naked aliens had increased in number by one and all six were smiling at the child and watching her play.
She didn’t trust her scientifically trained mind at the moment, but she definitely trusted her female gut. Aliens or not, she’d take dealing with the smiling, kind aliens any day over those horrible men in black.
Realization of what she was seeing in the yard finally hit her. “Wow. It really is snow, but how…?”
Lena never got to finish her obvious question. She watched as Stark put both his palms together and formed a giant ball of ice between them. When he was done, he held it out to her, and she took it automatically. It was the size of a big grapefruit and extremely cold to the touch.
“My snow and ice don’t melt quite as fast as regular snow and ice here on Earth. It would probably interest you with your background to know I create it in much the same way you propose to do with your snow dome. I found the last academic paper you wrote about it online. I hope you don’t mind me researching your work.”
“Not at all,” Lena said as she held the ball of ice up to investigate it. The sphere was perfect and crystal clear. “I can’t believe I just watched your body organically pull moisture from the air and recycle it into this amazing ice sphere.”
Stark bowed his head to her knowledge. “That is precisely what I did. Something in my process also forms a temporary molecular shield around the water molecules. What I create does eventually melt, but not for a good long while.”
“I don’t know what to say, Stark. This is the most extraordinary thing I’ve ever seen or heard. It exceeds my imagination… and my science.”
“Not really,” Stark said. “You see… my planet is full of ice fields. Our scientists have concluded that over the millions of years our planet went from warmer climates to colder ones that Glacieran bodies naturally adapted to control all aspects of their colder environment.”
“We have some of that genetic adaptability happening here on earth.”
“Indeed, you do,” Stark said with a nod. “Earthlings haven’t evolved as much as Glacierans, but please never tell my wife I said that. Last time we argued about the superiority of our species, she turned me into a donkey and I ended up freezing her in retaliation.”
“Now I know you’re joking,” Lena said. “Only people who love each other can make a happy little girl like Jessica.”
Stark bowed his head. “That is perhaps the nicest compliment I’ve received on Earth from a female who was not my mate.”
Lena laughed. “Oh, you talk so pretty. I’m thinking I should have held out for an alien. Tell me more about how your bodies can do what they do.”
“Not all Glacierans have the power to make ice and snow, but a good many do. I find that I have similar control of cold elements here on Earth. However, the energy I expend here is greater and not as sustainable. Topper and I went to Alaska on our honeymoon. It was equally tiring to create there. I think perhaps it has something to do with gravity and the density of Earth’s atmosphere. Despite my daughter’s begging, I do not use my powers often for fear of attracting the unwanted visitors you saw today.”
“All I can think to say is… wow. Not exactly a scientific observation, but it’s an honest one.”
“Can I see the ice ball Daddy made?”
Lena’s gaze dropped to the owner of the voice asking the question. “Sure, sweetie. You can have
it. Enjoy it before it melts.”
“Wow,” Jessica said as she stared at her father. “You can do this?”
Stark nodded. “Yes. But those men that dropped from the sky, they don’t like it when I make ice balls or snow in our yard. They came to tell me to stop.”
Jessica held the ice ball and frowned. “So I got you into trouble because Mars and the others made snow for me?”
“Just a little… so don't summon tears again,” Stark said, touching his daughter’s hair. “Dr. Verglas got me out of trouble and everything is fine now. I’m just glad your mother wasn’t here. She’d be very upset with all of us.”
“I’m sorry I got you into trouble, Daddy,” Jessica said to her father.
“It’s okay this time,” Stark said. “Things worked out.”
Lena smiled when Jessica turned and bowed her head to her. The child was just as charming as her father.
“Thank you for helping my daddy, Dr. Very Glad.”
Laughter widened her smile. “Not Very Glad, sweetie, my name is Verglas. It means frozen water. And guess what? I can make snow. What do you think of that?”
Jessica drew in a breath. “You make snow? That means you’re the one! You’re really here. Oh, thank you so much for coming. The Good IceyLaLa said you were on your way.”
Lena laughed in confusion as the little girl enthusiastically hugged her legs. She looked at the men across the yard who were all smiling at her. Mars waved in recognition and Lena waved and smiled back. She was clueless about the child’s enthusiasm, but happy that she’d pleased the cutie.
“Oh goodness, I just realized that on the way to Magic, I really did rescue a bunch of honest-to-god aliens,” Lena said in wonderment, shaking her head.
She felt a tiny hand yanking on her dress.
“My name is Jessica, and the aliens you saved are Daddy’s visitors. He’s an alien too, but my mommy is a witch. She’s the most powerful witch in Magic, and you shouldn’t surprise her, because she might zap you accidentally.”
Topper's Magical Christmas: My Crazy Alien Romance, Book 4 (Magic, New Mexico 40) Page 9
