“You are not good at this,” The Maiden whispered as she yawned.
“You’re not very good at being a mentor,” Lila scoffed as she walked a few more steps into the forest.
“Yet,” The Maiden chuckled back,
“but you have the makings of a powerful avatar for me. You are charismatic, have a strong leadership drive, and are a natural with my beloved murder.” The Maiden with a hint of pride in her voice.
“Aww do you mean-,” Lila started but was hushed.
“You are also incredibly indecisive, don’t know how to wield the murder to its full potential, painfully naive,” The Maiden started with a stern tone.
“Okay, okay I,” Lila paused as she came to a clearing not far from the running trail,
“the only people who are out today are crazy runners and they’re too focused on not realizing how much running sucks,” Lila said as she looked down at her outfit. She wore a thick pair of leggings with some athletic shorts over top. She had a tight fitting but warm athletic shirt under a thin red sleeveless windbreaker. She felt warm, and ready to train.
“If anyone sees me they’ll just think I’m a crazy crow lady,” Lila said with a grin as she stretched her arms out.
“You are a crazy crow lady. I’m not actually sealed in you. Nothing has changed from before. You just have voices in your head,” The Maiden said with a dry voice. After an uncomfortable silence the entire murder cawed in what sounded like laughter. Lila sighed as she actually believed it for the briefest moment.
“Painfully naiv-,”“Don’t make me push you down,” Lila said before she felt the wings stirring beneath her back.
“And you make threats you can’t keep,” The Maiden said with an angry voice as she forced the wings to writhe under her back.
“Stop….. Please stop,” Lila begged as the pain became unbearable and she fell to her knees. A moment later the writhing stopped.
“You can’t even control,” The Maiden sighed,
“you can’t even control my body yet,” The Maiden paused as she pulled Lila up like a marionette puppet,
“whereas I can control yours.”“Your body is inside mine,” Lila said as she pulled herself free from the strings,
“there’s a lot of flesh between you and me,” Lila scoffed back,
“it’s incredibly painful.”“Two can’t be one if one rejects the other,” The Maiden tried to sound wise.
Lila looked at one of her crows with a dumbfounded stare.
“What the fuck does that even mean?Lila could feel The Maiden sigh. The murder began to form shapes in the sky above. They formed a crude stuck figure in the sky. Lila felt like it was supposed to be her. The crows put on a crude show in the air showing the stick figure in pain as wings and claws and more crow-like features erupted forth from their body. Lila had a look of disgust on her face. The crows reformed into another figure. It was more detailed, and had crow like features from the get go. A lot more attention was paid to the details here. The wings came out naturally as did the claws. It was as if Lila and The Maiden were one. Lila had a hand on her chin, and she nodded in understanding.
“Two can’t be one if one rejects the other,” The Maiden paused,
“do you understand now?”Lila nodded for a second longer before she looked away from the display above her.
“Nope.”The murder cawed in frustration, the sound was deafening, and Lila winced at the sound.
“You reject my gifts at every advance, you prefer to keep looking as human as possible, you haven’t given a gift to the murder since I was sealed in you,” The Maiden paused,
“we share a body now. Until you accept that fact you will only have a fraction of my power. Our power. You have to learn how to control the transformations and to do that you must transform more.”“And how do I know you’re not trying to push your way to the surface more so that you can take full control,” Lila asked with a sigh.
As Lila asked she felt The Maiden's cold talons grip tightly around her mind. The sky around her grew distant and she felt herself pulled all the way down. A chuckle was heard coming from no direction but every direction at once. The laugh was The Maiden but also a chorus of thousands upon thousands of men and women. From the darkness floated forth a woman, her wings stretched far and wide and seemed so massive in comparison to the tiny wings Lila could summon forth. She wore a gorgeous dress with various jeweils and crystals. The laughter grew in strength until it reached a crescendo as the maiden towered over Lila, breaking for a moment as The Maiden leaned in, hands behind her back. Lila gasped at just how big the maiden looked and just how small she felt in this moment.
“You don’t.”A moment later Lila felt the grip of the maiden release and she shot upwards back to the surface. As she ascended the laughter resumed all around her, sounding like it came from the darkness itself. As Lila assumed control once more she took a deep breath, and then gasped for air as she fell to the ground. She took a series of short shallow breaths before she realized there was something casting a vaguely wing shaped shadow on the ground. As well, her once skin tight athletic top had quite a few more ruffles of feathers that traveled far up her arm, which was seemingly much longer than normal. And her eyesight was much more focused than normal. A quick command was sent out to the murder. She needed to see. A series of crows flew past and she was able to capture just a quick few frames.
Her face was…different. Her nose was more beak like, coming to a much more visible peak. Her lower jaw had also grown a peak. Her face had much more of a beak-like feature to it. Half her face was covered in feathers. Her red windbreaker was also ripped in half, with one half still on each shoulder, pushed apart by the massive wings that now spread out much further than her normal wings. She looked like a proper crows maiden now, and Lila couldn’t help but gasp at the visage. Yet, this rapid and massive of a transformation would normally elicit a torrent of pain. But she felt none.
“Get it,” The Maiden asked finally as more crow swarmed around Lila allowing her to truly see the scope of her transformation. Lila unzipped her athletic top and pulled it apart and saw that her arms were longer and thinner and completely covered in feathers. Her legs were also much, much longer, which pushed Lila’s height up by a few inches. Lila's breathing stopped for a moment as she tried to understand what she was seeing.
“Two can’t be one,” the maiden said with a chuckle as she pulled back all the transformations at once causing unimaginable pain all across her body. The wings zipped back into her back, her legs snapped back into their proper place, her arms shrunk and reformed, and every extra feather pulled itself back into her skin. She was covered in feather cuts, broken bones, and she couldn’t even scream. And yet, a moment later she felt a strange warmth envelop her and within a few moments her body was as good as new. She still had her talons, and feathers lower arms, but the rest of her body was back to normal.
“Get…it,” The Maiden asked as Lila pushed herself to her feet. As she rose to her feet she finally caught her breath. Lila could only shake her head yes.
“Good,” The maiden said as she summoned forth a new round of transformations,
“we have a lot to practice.”
“I need a break,” Lila coughed out as she placed her clawed hands on her thigh.
“A pity. You’re making good progress somehow.”. Lila simply raised her middle finger to a crow as her transformation was once again reversed and the maiden healed all her wounds. Lila looked like a mess. Her clothes were shredded, none more than her leggings which were now cut off right above her knees. She simply wore her sports bra and had the athletic coverup overtop.
“Shit since when could you heal me like that,” Lila joked as she took a drink of water.
“I‘ll be ready to go in just one second,” Lila paused as she noticed that her murder was revealing her position too much. As such, she commanded them to hide in the forest away from the trail for the time being.
“Holy shit, Lila?!"Trisha had, maybe, deviated a bit from the route she'd promised Casey she'd take. Just a little bit. Half an hour of running by Temple after Temple business hadn't resulted in the clear head she'd hoped for, so she'd taken a detour through Memorial Park on the way back. Hopefully he wouldn't know… and she'd be back early, that would make up for it, right? This running path was a bit more out of the way than she'd liked, but it was the most direct way from where she'd ended up. She just picked up the pace… until she spotted many crows and someone familiar.
Different, but familiar. Lila, formerly Michael, looked different - and not just because of the ripped clothing. More like herself, probably. Trisha had heard through various Sycamore people she was still in contact with about the name change… and while she was many things, transphobic wasn't one of them. And while they hadn't been so close ten years ago, she'd been friendly with Jasper and Luca. Luca especially… the one person who'd really escaped her resentment.
Normally, she'd still keep going and ignore her. But, from memory, Lila wasn't like Adora. She was quieter, and less likely to punch Trisha in the face. Her ability to hold an amicable conversation with Leon, and Casey's confidence in her, was enough to make her want to try again. Maybe she could rebuild the bridges she'd burnt. It was possible to have a conversation without her snapping. That was all she wanted… just a conversation. To try and change a bit, to not have this resentment towards the entire coven for falling apart.
“Are you alright?" Trisha paused her running, jogging over towards Lila instead. As she did, the bees hidden in her thick, wavy ponytail started to crawl out and into more obvious positions - her shoulders, ears, a couple on her face.
“Isn’t being alone dangerous… uh, hi. It's been a while. Ten years."“Oh hey,” Lila said as she leaned up and stretched her back, she thought a ‘did you see her coming’ to The Maiden and she could tell The Maiden had,
“Yeah I’m fine. Just training today, you know? I’m never truly alone anyway so I figured if father wolf was on the prowl I’d at least have a chance. But it has been a while, you look good! How have things been,” Lila paused as she took a few steps closer.
“Is she a threat?”“No,” she whispered back.
“Never truly alone… huh…" Trisha looked thoughtful for a moment, remembering that Lila was adjoined just like her.
“I never thought about it like that when it comes to the Ghost attached to me. Next time I need to go somewhere alone…"She shook her head, realising Lila probably didn't care about her needing excuses to be able to go out alone without a whole cult security team. Not that she wanted to go into it anyway…
“Things have been good! Really good… I moved in with my boyfriend last week. I feel a lot safer thanks to that, and it's been really nice."Trisha smiled, looking actually happy… it was difficult to not when she thought about Casey. Of course there was a risk with mentioning it, because of her reputation in the old coven. All of the short lived and explosively ending relationships she had…
“How about you? Did you… go back to the coven?"“Yeah, it’s hard to be alone when your body is what sealing a ghost ha,” Lila chuckled nervously as she rubbed her arms.
“Right now company
is needed with that monster on the prowl,” Lila talked about Emily but the words carried weight for the wolf,
“that’s so cool though. How’s living with your boyfriend,” Lila asked genuinely.
Trisha's brow furrowed a little bit. She hadn't even realised an Apparition could be sealed by a body… well, maybe that was what it was like for Leon? She remembered it being a bit like that, but she decided not to ask any questions, for once using a bit of tact. Not asking things she'd dislike having to answer, and talking about something she could easily go on about.
“Honestly, it's great. Really comfortable, he treats me well… maybe a bit overprotective with the whole Father Wolf thing, but I get it. It's just because he cares." Trisha's expression softened further as she spoke about Casey, bees wriggling on her shoulders in reaction to the gentle pheromones she gave out that only they could smell.
“Our apartment is really nice and central, and there's loads more space for my bees too. It's perfect, really, aside from having to deal with his family more… oh-" Trisha paused, letting out a slight laugh.
“My boyfriend- Casey- is Leon's younger brother… I don't know how much you know about his family- or the, uh, Temple, but it's a lot. Worth it, just weird. They're really obsessed with us- Sycamore, that is."“Leon? Oh yeah that makes sense. How’s his brother? I don’t recall meeting him,” Lila chuckled as she stretched her arms out,
“so do you remember Luca? I’ve been staying with him, Jasper and,” Lynn paused as her conversation with Lynn flashed through her mind,
“Lynn. She went by Evelynn back in the day. Do you remember them? Luca’s apartment is nice enough and we’re safe together there.”“He’s way more chill than Leon is… pretty goofy, but it's cute. He wasn't kindled ten years ago so… he wasn't around," Trisha smiled, before moving into the next question.
“Yeah, I remember everyone." And everything they'd done against her. Evelynn. Trisha had tried to be friends with her back in the day but it had gone how it always did… She could still remember everything Evelynn had said. About her future. About how she would die alone.
“Luca was always so nice, I- well, wish I'd kept in contact, maybe. Jasper too. I'm glad you're all safe together." It was true that Luca was one of the few people she'd never properly pissed off in the old coven. She wasn't sure if he could even get upset. Jasper was similar. But Evelynn… Trisha was really trying her hardest not to say something horrible right off the bat. She did what Casey had told her to do with Lena - imagined him, how happy he'd be that she was able to be friendly with another coven member. It held back the words on the tip of her tongue, turning into another boring question.
“Are they all doing alright too?"“Luca and Jasper are doing really good. They’re both falling heads over heels for each other but neither are brave enough to make the first move. Jasper said he had something special planned though so fingers crossed on that front. I’ve been watching it all play out and it’s adorable,” Lila paused as she looked down,
“I’m worried about Lynn though. She has been quietly struggling since way back when, I think it’s about to be a lot more visible soon with what I’ve seen. She’s such a good friend that I want to be there to help her but she always has these walls up, you know,” Lila asked Trisha, almost pleading for guidance.
Trisha was genuinely happy to hear that Luca and Jasper were doing well… and also that Lynn wasn't. She didn't deserve to. Why did she deserve Lila putting in that effort for her? And if Lynn had those walls up, they should just be left. Just like hers. But she had hers because she'd been hurt so much before, not because she was a bitch.
“If she's not letting you in, what can you do?" Trisha tried to hold back still. Thought about going home to Casey… but if Lynn got her wishes, Trisha wouldn't have anyone at all. She'd be alone. Like she always had been… and she'd said it as if she deserved it. But really-
“Maybe she deserves to struggle without any help. What did she ever do for anyone?"“What did she-,” Lila paused as she let out a single chuckle as her head slightly crooked to the side. What did Lynn do for anyone? If only this bitch in front of her knew. But she didn’t, and probably couldn’t know. That didn’t excuse the coldness with how she delivered that final line. Lila did not know if there was any bad blood between Lynn and Trisha, but she knew that Lynn was there for her every step of the way.
“Lynn helped me embrace who I always was well before the rest of the coven knew. Lynn helped me learn to stand up to people who misgendered me, dead named me,” as Lila talked her arms and legs began to get a little more feathered,
“out of everyone in the coven, both past, present and future, there is no one more deserving of my help, my kindness, and my support,” Lila paused as she looked Trisha in her eyes.
“Don’t be a bitch like Emily, okay thanks.“She said I was going to die alone but thinking she deserves to feel shit is the same as being a near Nazi?" Trisha hissed, eyes narrowed. She didn't look away from Lila but her gaze turned cold. Loud buzzing filled the air around her as around a hundred bees crawled out from in her hair, her skirt, and even under her tank top. They didn't move from her, instead their wings just flapped in what was supposed to be a threatening display. The sound almost drowned out Trisha words, delivered with a harsh coldness but no increase of volume.
“I’m nothing like Emily- but I get it, I say one thing, and I'm the worst. Fuck you. No wonder your friends with a bitch like Lynn who enjoys watching everyone's worst nightmares in their futures."“Oh I’m friends with Lynn because we’ve also both struggled through loss, adversity and hardship unlike the rich bitch of the coven, Lila spat out as even more feathers sprouted forth from her body. Her arms and legs, most of her chest, and even her face were now covered with feathers. A moment later her eyes went fully black as well. At this point she was halfway between human and monster.
“You never met a problem daddy’s money couldn’t fix. Well, except your rotten personality and your abrasive fucking voice. I see no amount of money could ever fix you.“You don't even know me," Trisha snapped, not even flinching as Lila transformed. She didn't care. She'd seen worse - they'd both seem worse. This was nothing. Not when she was being told she was nothing without her father's money - the father who abandoned her, didn't care about her, and died before she was old enough to reform any relationship with. She was just a
Vanburen. It was always that, never Trisha.
But that didn't matter, because in their eyes Trisha was something terrible that needed fixed.
She was right.“Don’t bring up my dead father- Maybe you should stop blaming all your problems on not being rich and realise it's because you're both bitches you deserve everything you get. Judgemental, callous bitches. I'm not the one turning into a fucking bird, if anyone needs fixing, it's you."“I don’t need fixed, Lila spat out as she sudden felt her arms grow longer.
“Remember this, cunt, Lynn may have said that you’ll die alone but I have the power to ensure that YOU
DO.
Lila’s voice remained her own. The Maiden did not goad her into saying that, but Lila said it all the same. There was no regret in her mind. Lila suddenly saw one of her crows swoop down and eat one of the bees. She could sense it wasn’t the maiden who commanded it nor did she. The crow was simply hungry and the bee looked like a treat.
“You can't even help your asshole friend, what can you- fuck," Trisha jolted as a pain shot through her mind, like an electric zap to her brain. Just one bee… one bee too many…
“She didn't do anything to you, you murderous bitch," Trisha bit out. The physical pain subsided immediately, but the emotional pain - the loss of the bee, and Lila's words hammering at her already fragile confidence… it was all her worst fears. Everything she didn't want. Losing even the bees. Lila could do it. Her crows could eat all the bees, and then what would Trisha have?
The ninety-nine other bees with her all swarmed the crow that had eaten one of their sisters, trying to sting them to death. At the same time, Trisha called her entire hive, blinded by anger and the loss of a single bee.
Lila watched as the bees swarmed her crow. The crow attempted to break free from the stinging swarm but did not get far before it collapsed dead. Lila pressed her talon to her right eye as the immediate psychic backlash was profound and strong. Lila looked at Trisha with an even angrier look to her expression. All wildlife around them stopped making noise. Lila’s head twitched three times in quick succession. Not a single cricket, bird, or any other creature dared make a sound. Instead, Trisha would hear what sounded like a twig snapping. Yet this was no branch breaking, instead the rest of Lila’s bones finally gave way as she reached a true mid point in the transformation. Talons emerged from her feet, her legs stretched giving her an extra three inches in height, and her back exploded out revealing the much more massive wings that somehow had only grown in beauty.
From behind Lila the tree line erupted in a flurry of caws as a large portion of the present murder, tens of thousands strong, emerged from the tree line and beelined towards Trisha
Trisha commanded the bees to come back to her, landing all over her body. It would take at least a minute for the rest of the bees to arrive, she had to keep this group alive until then. She was at a disadvantage until then, she could grow
wings like Lila, but she was far too pissed to back down or flee. Her phone buzzed in the pocket of her skirt. She had no idea who it was, and didn’t care, she didn’t have time to think about it as all the crows flew at her. She squatted down, making herself smaller. Her hands came up in front of her face but she glared at Lila from behind them.
“Stay back,” Trisha hissed, as she bombarded the area with fear pheromones. It would hit through Lila’s emotional field, enough to make her feel strong panic and have an overwhelming need to flee… but it wouldn’t have any effect on the crows.
“Don’t say that. We’re just starting to have fun, Lila started before the fear pheromones hit. In an instant she wanted to flee and run away from this chaotic mess of a fight but the maiden’s emotional field was barely holding together under the stress of the fear, and was the only thing keeping Lila where she was. Meanwhile, the crows had begun breaking apart the bee dome. Some acted as decoys to draw the bees away from one spot only to slash at Trisha from another. Some even stopped swooping down and began to pick off her bees one at a time.
As the crows attacked her, it was difficult for Trisha to stop her bees from scattering in panic. With such small numbers their natural instinct was to flee in front of things that could kill them. Instead some were distracted and chased away by the crows, and some hid in her clothes. Trisha hissed in pain as sharp claws cut through her shoulder, blood trickling down her arm. Another caught her cheek, beak gouging into her forehead. But the pain from the scratch was nothing compared to the constant hits of bee death as they got eaten by the crows.
“I’ll show you… fun…” Trisha gritted out. Her fear pheromones intensified, but she could sense her other bees now. They were close. She got control again, switching up the pheromones she was sending the bees here, commanding them to fly up into the sky and away from her.
Lila and The Maiden both struggled against this new wave of pheromones and they were both pushed to the edge of breaking. Lila’s wings began to flicker a pale green color. It was short, but weak, bursts of her cursed wings but they were powerful enough to draw Trisha’s gaze. A second matter they fizzled out in numerous flashes but they went dark for seven seconds. Then, without warning, they erupted at full power momentarily making the surrounding area dark. They were brought, vividly green, and almost irresistible. Lila’s crows meanwhile chased the bees up following their previous commands.
The bees Trisha had with her stopped suddenly middair… and a loud, intense buzzing broke through the otherwise eerily quiet surroundings, and the crows were met with an entire swarm of bees. Sixty-thousand bees clashed with them.
Lila looked up to the sky and her mouth dropped.
“Good luck, Lila says as she looked Trisha in the eyes well aware the two were about to suffer.
The relief from the crows stopping attacking Trisha was short-lived as her gaze was drawn to the wings. She was lured to move towards them, to take a feather, going towards Lila with a hand raised.
NO!A small group of bees sped down from the larger group fighting the crows, covering Trisha’s eyes and cutting off the link. She couldn’t see the feathers anymore, and the temptation was immediately gone. She couldn’t see anything but… she didn’t need to. The Queen was awake, and she could sense all of her bees' pheromones in a much more accurate way. She could tell where each bee was, what they could sense, and it gave her a picture of exactly what was happening. She didn’t need her sight.
So, naturally, she reached up and grabbed Lila’s hair to pull as hard as she could… While directing her bees to make targeted attacks on the Crows in groups of the hundreds, leading them around. Others swarmed Lila and started stinging her.
“You need the luck.” Lila refused to back down from this fight. While her mind was shattering from the countless dead crows she knew for every one crow Trisha killed she had taken out many more bees. If Lila's mind was breaking so too would Trisha. Lila’s face had changed slightly with the increased death of her murder. Her veins had all gone black as well, and could be seen through the pale face that Lila had. Lila’s wings flapped backwards before they shot forward, sending all the bees in front of her flying with the powerful gust of wind. She commanded a small murder to envelop her in overlapping lines to try and keep the bees off her as best as possible.
“Bitch.” Trisha was in intense pain, as if her mind was being electrocuted. Blood dripped down her face from her nose in an unstoppable flood. She could hardly think, working on pure adrenaline and instincts sensing pheromones and commanding the bees. Some of her bees covered her in a similar action to protect her from the crows' claws, while more kept going at Crows and Lila herself.
“Feathery asshole.””Bee freak.” Lila hissed out as she took a step towards Trisha.
“Bird bitch,” Trisha gritted out, bees reactively covering her front as Lila moved closer, a group going for her face. At the same time Trisha reached out to try and grab her wings.
“Buzz-kill.” Lila spat as she took another step and reached for Trisha’s hair.
Something moving faster than the speed of sound was bound to make an entrance with noise and flare… But the only noise that pierced the air between the two combatants was a loud crack: Wind spiraled between Trisha’s face and Lila’s hand, and it was hot like a summer day as the pressure knocked the incoming hand aside.
Impacting a fairly large crow in the vicinity, there was a loud pop resounding across the space as the poor thing ruptured into a red mist. The shockwave of the impact shattered the bones within, sending a shrapnel of bird bone shards that ripped its comrades apart in a small area.
Unclear of the cause, one could only look into the distance and see a squat tower structure and an old roof cistern overlooking the bay area. A gentle glint directed the eye to that water tower… Before three more whizzing cracks left equally exploded crows as puddles to rain down.
A fucking gun…Trisha had no idea what was happening. All she heard was an ear piercing crack. She still couldn’t see, the bees beginning to peel back to show her a sliver of what was happening… only to see a crow explode. Her heart started pounding in her chest. What the fuck? What the actual fuck. It didn’t stop her from attacking Lila, instead she got closer, using the opportunity to pull harshly at her wings. In case the bees were next, somehow. Her head hurt too much from the hundreds dead to even consider
who would be intervening. She could barely think through the pain and anger and pheromones bombarding her, that she had to be constantly intune to.
“You’re- getting what you… deserve… birdbrains…”Lila, meanwhile, wrapped her wings all the way around Trisha instinctively as well as used her arms to grab Trisha around her waist before using her supernatural strength to pull Trisha with her back into the woodline of the forest and hopefully away from whoever was shooting at them. Once she reached the relative safety of the woods Lila used her wings to strike at Trisha.
” You’re so fucking dumb, do you even know what will happen if you pull a feather? No, because you have the intelligence of a fucking bee.”. Lila could barely even see straight at this point. Her mind had fractured into a hundred pieces at the death of so many crows.
” You are like baby,” Lila said in a slightly slurred tone before she commanded the murder to retreat to the safety of the canopy as she sent another wing strike. After the strike landed she quickly put her wings as far back as she could away from the hands of Trisha. She placed her taloned hands on a tree trunk to pull herself away from Trisha further but her strength was too much and she simply pulled a chunk of tree with her. Instead of dropping it to the ground she simply dropped it gently at Trisha’s head. The Maiden roared a command to the murder to look for incoming threats and their eyes would all begin to scan the area, she also ordered them to help pull any stingers out of any who were afflicted. Lila turned her attention back to Trisha and reached for her legs with her long, thin, arms with their long, sharp, claws.
“AND WHO IS SITTING SHOOOOTING AT US.”“My bees are much smarter than you…" Trisha mumbled out. The second wing strike caused her to fall back onto the ground. She managed to narrowly avoid the piece of tree dropped on her head by rolling, sudden movement only making her dizzier… she didn't understand, but at least she didn't have any feathers in her hands. She kicked at Lila's hands as they came for her legs, half her bee swarm covering her skin in a constantly flickering mass and the other half going for Lila's arms.
“How would I know?! You got… the crows… bet they just think… you looked like a great target…"It was really difficult for Trisha to process anything beyond keeping on going, as Lila's claws dug into her calves. Trisha curled forward, trembling hands trying to pull them off her. Her pheromones shifted slightly as the Queen woke up further, targeting Trisha with a light dose of aggression pheromones to help her get through the debilitating pain. She couldn't get up off the forest floor, but she could keep fighting Lila, practically becoming a mass of bees with their stingers out.
“At least I'm not part bird… who will ever like you… like that…"With Lila rushing off into the forest, the hail of gunfire ceased for a brief moment. The two were allowed to get far enough in that they were surrounded by trees.
And then the assault continued. There was hardly any warning as the trunks of trees around the duo began to shatter and explode with loud, hollow wood noises. Those were followed by loud snapping, crackling as the wounded trees began to fall one by one.
They very quickly blocked any hope of easy escape on foot, leaving Trisha with no real options, and only the option of flight to Lila. Though, without much cover in the air and presumably magical bullets covering that angle, leaving in any way was getting more precarious.
“What the fuck?!" Now Trisha was panicking in a way she hadn't when fighting Lila - and even fight, someone she wanted to hurt without fearing her own death. But now she was terrified as the trees practically exploded around them, sharp pieces of wood raining around them. She went from trying to pry Lila's hands off her to gripping onto them… moving forward to practically cling to her in another instinctual move this time pushed by fear rather than anger. The constant throbbing of her head meant there were very few thoughts, and very few commands given to the bees who also acted on instinct… continuing to sting Lila even as their Queen clung to her in fear.
”Don’t worry, I’ll..oww.. I’ll protect…oww… I’ll protect you,” Lila responded in a sing-song manner as she maneuvered Trisha behind her and spread her wings out wide. Her vision had gotten only more blurry and her mind only more fractured. Lila barely even registered what Trisha had said just prior to her clinging to Lila out of fear.
”Maybe..oww.. this fight wasn’t my..oww.. best idea,” Lila scanned the area around them but she couldn’t see the forest for the trees.
“Don’t need…" Trisha wasn't even able to finish whatever contrary thing she was going to say, instead using the little bit of concentration she had left to get her bees to crawl back to her and stop stinging Lila. For now.
As the two Adjoined clung to one another out of fear and safety, the telling crack of a bullet passed Trisha's face within millimeters. The round smashed into Lila's shoulder like a full on jackhammer, causing a blast of air to knock both of them out of one another's grip.
”Trisha!? Trisha!!!”Bounding out from the woods in the direction they'd come from, a massive man was holding a long, sleek and futuristic looking rifle. While his lower body moved, it was like his upper body was a stable platform that didn't lose its aimpoint no matter how much he jostled around. Legs moved robotically, almost automatically as they took great big strides across the ruined ground.
”Trisha, get back to the road, Now! Norm!? Get her to safety!””Fuck,” Lila said through gritted teeth, placing a hand over the impact sight and groaned in pain, as the man emerged in the forest calling out for someone named Visha,
” I will not let you hurt her,” Lila said and the murder began to caw as her anger builded. The sound of bones snapping and twisting could be heard a moment before the wings once again grew larger and larger. Lila spread them out even further as she tried to make herself look as big as possible.
Trisha could barely see past the wings even as they were knocked away from each other, once again landing on the ground with a light thud. Her vision was so blurred from tears and agony that she could only make out vague outlines - Lila's wings spreading, three men, one coming closer…
“No no no no no," Trisha said in panic, crawling back towards Lila again, ears ringing from the crack of the bullet and the constant buzz of bees as they clung to her and instinctively stung anything that came near. But eventually her slow, shattered mind processed what she'd heard. She couldn't see him, couldn't figure out where he was- not the one approaching, the bees told her as they couldn't sense any of their pheromones on that man. But he was around here somewhere.
“C-Casey?"”Close your eyes when I say- wait, your boyfriend Casey?”There was no time. Three more rounds sung through the air from Casey's rifle, blasting Lila further away from Trisha. Only enough so there was a gap between them where a speeding sheet of ice kicked up a torrent of snow. Trisha would feel the strength of frozen arms gripping her by the waist before accelerating in the opposite direction.
”Who the fuck sent you!? Fucking Bird Demons! All the fucking same!” Casey screamed as he closed in further on Lila, as if he was ready to begin the final confrontation.
”I’ll show you a bird demon if you keep shooting me,” Lila said as her limbs cracked and expanded, lengthening her arms and legs. Her chest also cracked and shifted as her ribcage grew wide. More feathers erupted and her face contorted into a more bird-like beak-like shape.
” Trisha, Trish, hey girl is this your Cassidy-Casey,” Lila asked as she looked at the man who shot her. She pointed two fingers at her eyes before she pointed them at the man with a growl.
“L-let go of me!" Trisha struggled against the frozen arms grabbing her with little luck, still confused and absolutely not thinking straight. The bees were going wild trying to sting through solid ice and their panicked pheromones were bombarding her. But without the active bee deaths the pain was beginning to alleviate a bit, enough for her to squint through the blurry vision and see what was going on a bit more. She could actually see Casey now, or enough of him to recognise where he was… pointing a gun at Lila.
“Yes, yes, my Casey, Lila, my boyfriend- Casey, babe, it's fine, I'm fine, it was just an argument!" Trisha shouted. It wasn't very believable when she was covered in scratches, some very deep, with blood all down her face and barely able to move. But she didn't hate Lila enough to want her to get killed- and she really didn't want Lila to try and kill Casey! Her brain was functioning enough to try prevent that, but messed up enough to think that she could somehow play it all off.
Norm yarded hard on his feet, skidding the ice to a stop next to Casey. An entire igloo-like structure seemed to form itself around them, leaving the gun barrel and a hole for Casey to talk out of pointing at Lila.
”Casey fucking Richoux… Tell me you're Lila Blackwood, Adjoined of the Maiden of Murders… The Veridian Wing…”He hadn't recognized her off the bat, but Theo had been feeding him sight info through his ear piece since he and Norm first left the apartments. With the majority of remaining Sycamore Members picking up activity, he started to make assumptions. They'd collected a great deal of information about desirable additions: Lila Blackwood was among those the Temple had a vested interest in.
The Maiden was a fairly recognizable Apparition, even having a small part in the lore of the Temple long ago.
Casey had reverence for this fact alone; but if she was going to try and hurt Trisha anymore, he wasn't going to stop shooting.
”You tell me what the fuck happened here… Why are you threatening my Trisha?” he barked from inside the barrier.
” That’s a cool nickname, I like that nickname. Sounds terrifying and cool,” Lila, Adjoined of the Maiden of Murders, responded by doing a quick fist pump.
”Yes yes that’s me. We were actually having a wonderful conversation, Trisha insulted my friend and then I insulted her and then one of my crows accidentally ate one of her bees and then her bees killed one of my crows and, that hurt a lot a lot for the both of us we feel their deaths, and then we fought and it was epic. Birds fighting bees, bees fighting birds,” Lila paused as she smirked,
” I did say some things I didn’t mean to Trisha, I had alllllll morning having my bones broken, healed, broken, healed so my brain is not here. Good fight though Trisha you did great, great, great fight. Your boyfriend is cute, good for you,” Lila paused as she squinted towards Casey,
” At least I think so I can’t see shit.”Casey, completely fed up with Sycamore garbage, pulled his gun through the little slot. This prompted Norm to drop the ice bunker, and it quickly blew away in a cloud of snow.
”What the fuck is the problem with you people? Leave Trisha alone, if she doesn't want to be a part of your dysfunctional gang, then steer clear of her. Tell your fucking friends that too: She's under Temple protection. We don't need you people around here causing problems like this…” ”We fought a world ending threat alone as kids and watched as so many died, and are all deeply traumatized as a result,” Lila paused as she used her wings to point to Trisha,
”She did approach me for the conversation, it is my fault we escalated first. And then Trisha escalated and then I...” Lila paused as her vision cleared enough to get a rough outline of Casey. Her brain began to feel less like a jelly.
“I- I-" Trisha looked down at her feet, vision swimming, in what was the closest to an admission of ‘guilt’ as she'd get. It was very difficult for her to stay standing, visibly swaying. The constant zaps had ceased but her mind was still trying to recover, and then there were the deep scratches bleeding all over her… it really hurt…
“I was just trying to be polite, I thought it would be fine, I didn't even do anything… I'm not deeply traumatised at all, maybe the rest of you are… her crows ate one of my- my bees…" The words tumbled out of Trisha's mouth in an absolute mess as she refused to look at anyone, but everything she said was what she believed was the truth… trying to explain why she approached Lila while getting away from any blame that she didn't believe should be pointed at her. She hadn't even said anything bad before Lila escalated.
“C-Casey, it wasn't- not worrying-" Trisha grimaced, sinking down onto one knee with a hand pressing into the ground to stop herself from properly falling over as another wave of pain hit her. The bees buzzed in panicked circles around her, with a few landing on Casey as they recognised her scent all over him.
Casey’s mind reeled at the possibilities surrounding the circumstance. None of them were good, and each took their toll upon his blood pressure. With Trisha and Lila both in various stages of dazed, he knew he wasn’t going to get a clear picture: But he knew he was pissed. Pissed that she’d been so far off the planned route, pissed that yet another Sycamite was responsible for Trisha having a bad day, pissed that he probably wasn’t going to be k-
”Christ on a small fucking bike, Trisha… Lila, just… Just fuck off! Whatever happened, you’ve made your point: But normal fucking people do not attack one another over their trauma! Fuck, go to a Goddamn Veteran’s meeting, talk to some of the guys that fought out in the Eastern Pacific and let me know if they attack one another or not… Fuck!”As he turned his body, he knelt down in front of Trisha.
”Babe… Open up, just… Just eat. Don’t think.-”He moved to his small pack, pulling a couple of the pouches of key lime mixture. Lila would be able to see the clear container with vibrant green jelly sliding about inside. One was held up to Norm, whose ice-covered form was barely recognizable as a man in a suit of frozen crystals.
Casey split the pack he was still holding open, putting the mouthpiece up for Trisha to eat. Norm began to walk forward toward Lila, holding out the package of green jelly.
”Temple’s famous Key Lime Pie. It’ll fix what’s broken, and the Maiden’ll love it. No funny business in there, I swear to you.” the icicle-covered man said with a gentlemanly accent.
”You’re uh… You’re quite the looker like that…””Norman!?” Casey barked up at him.
Trisha leaned forward, sucking up the green jelly. One hand curled around Casey's holding out the pack to her, while the other gripped onto his knee. It started to circulate her body, the deep gashes restitching themselves. Muscle reformed painfully, before the skin pressed itself back together. She finished the key lime before curling forward into Casey with pained groans as her body worked to repair any damage. It was strange, the pain from losing the bees getting worse before getting magically fixed… but the bees were still gone. Still an emptiness.
Oh, I like this… why don't you eat it more? “I’m fine, all fixed… I didn't attack her over trauma, I didn't start it… I didn't mean to worry you again…" Trisha mumbled as her brain began to come back online, but she didn't have the capacity to consider what the Queen had said right now.
”Quite the looker,” Lila asked as her head crooked to the side as she grabbed the jelly and began to eat it while maintaining eye contact with the strange man. Instantly, as soon as she started chewing she felt herself pulled down by the maiden. Pulled back down to the delta depts with a chorus of caws around her as she fell. Soon, she landed near the maiden who was busy doing something she’d never seen before. The maiden was pulling a vaguely humanoid shape from the green crystal on her chest and combined it with a black colored magic from her hands. A second later the spell was complete and a new crow was brought into the murder.
“Don’t worry about the ones lost. I haven’t gave you any that couldn’t be replaced in a moments notice. That food is delightful, chew slower so I can savor every last bite. Oh, as punishment for the lack of focus you showed in that fight you are going to remain in this form for a full day. The changes won’t entirely be permanent, but some will,” The Maiden said as she flicked her wrist sending Lila back to the surface.
She immediately started chewing slower on the jelly as a fearful look spread across her face.
” Well it looks like I’m stuck in this form until tomorrow. The Maiden is punishing me,” Lila said as she slowed down on the chewing even more,
”quite the looker,” Lila asked the man again, still oblivious to the meaning behind it.
Listening to what Trisha said, Casey’s heavy dose of White Lux kept his ears keen and sharp enough to hear and respond to both conversations. His finger slipped up against Trisha’s lips, but his head twisted upward again to stare at Norm. The man in question was letting the ice crystals around him start to fall, revealing a handsome man with gaelic features and dirty-red hair and a beard to match.
”Looker, yeah… Like… Beautiful.” his deep blue eyes stared at Lila in all her avian glory like a man caught in the gaze of the Lord.
”Oh, for fuck’s sake Norm… Fine! When you end up having your eyes and guts picked out, you… Fucking…-”Gritting his teeth, Casey took a deep breath while his face turned back to face Trisha.
”I’m actually mad. I’m so mad at you. And honestly, I don’t care if you get mad at me, or get sad: I’m going to have this one. I won’t rub it in, I won’t say anything more. Now, can you stand?” he spoke to Trisha in an incredibly stern voice, strained as it was by the frustration of the moment.
“I can," Trisha whispered, voice incredibly weak. She forced herself to her feet and hung her head with a sullen frown. Tears still reflexively streamed down her cheeks, her response systems not quite registering that the pain was gone yet. She wasn't mad, and just a little sad, but more than that she was scared. Not of Casey. She wasn't scared that he would hurt her or anything, just that he'd leave. Just his tone had her trembling, completely different from the Trisha who hadn't backed down when a whole group of crows were clawing at her flesh. It was just too like…
“I really didn't mean to." There were so many things she could mean by that, and really she knew none of that mattered or would dampen Casey's anger. But as long as he was there and angry it wasn't so bad…
She looked up slightly, towards Lila.
“I hope you can replace your crows." It wasn't an apology or anything, but it was at least an acknowledgement of the pain they'd both inflicted on the other.
Lila moved next to Norm as silently as she could, which was not very, and leaned over and whispered a not so silent whisper
”they are a cute couple,” she paused as she looked down at Trisha.
” And your bees. The maiden is busy bringing more out to replace but, but those were just the pawns I think. I’m worried about the rest of the board,” she paused as she chuckled. It was clearly a nervous chuckle. The death, the destruction, the compliment from an attractive man had made her very nervous.
Still holding tightly to Trisha, Casey turned his head to look up at Lila.
”You… Are always welcome to seek the fold of the Temple of Charming and Graceful Individuals. We can help you with whatever issues the Maiden may present to you. And I hope next time, we can avoid something like this happening. Until then, Lila Blackwood… Norm?”Norm turned his head to look up at Lila. From his pocket, he produced a wet business card that had his name and number on them.
”Gimmie a call somet-””God fucking dammit Norman…-” Casey grunted, putting his free hand up to his ear.
”-Theo, pull the plug. We’re good.”There was a strange series of noises that followed. In a danse macabre of rustling foliage and dust clouds, the fallen trees began to rise from their positions on the ground as if they were being pulled back through time. The explosions reversed, sucking the material back into place until the damaged forest had been repaired.
In an equally macabre display, the crows which had been shot initially were reconstituted into their whole forms; all were
still dead, which left one to question the status of the trees, but their corpses now littered the road and the path into the forest from whence they came.
”I guess I’ll go get the car…-” Norm started, looking back at Lila.
”-I’ll never forget you!”His foot flicked, and pressing off against the ground left a long trail of thin black ice that he skated off upon. Only Casey and Trisha remained with Lila in that final moment.
”And… I’m sorry for shooting at you. But we couldn’t have known it was you.” he said to Lila in solemn fashion.
”Nor will I, you wet card man Norman,” Lila said as she waved.
”I am tougher than I look, I don’t trust the temple fully but I know Leon. I may pay a visit in the future if that is alright,” Lila paused,
” this is all just so new and I don’t know what I’m doing,” Lila paused as she sighed.
”Then you find Leon, and you ask him to show you the truth. He will.”Casey turned fully, his face twisting to look at Trisha fully.
”I’m so fucking glad you’re safe… God in Heaven, do you kn-” he chastised the girl on into the forest toward the main road until Lila was left alone in that woodland of dead trees, birds and bees.
Lila smirked at the silence. Finally after was alone again. She could head home and tell Luca what happened, how the fight went, and she was sure that he would do everything he could to help her with this new form. She could eat, watch dumb romcoms and just enjoy the rest of the day. Nothing could go wrong.
“That was just your break, remember,” The Maiden laughed as she pulled Lila down to her level.
“Time for your next lesson.””Oh fuck.”
Always falling the same, always sent up different.
It took too many transformations to truly drive it home but she finally learned how the maidens transformation magic worked. At least, as much as one can figure out on the go as one’s own body is no longer entirely their own. The battle with Trisha took a toll on her mind, and this made her unable to prevent the maiden from trying to take full control. At first, she thought that the maiden just wanted to train her more to punish her for the failure during the battle. But as more and more of her body was taken away during these ‘transformation’ training sessions, Lila knew that she needed to figure a way out of it.
Even if she felt half drunk from her mind being broken into a hundred pieces she knew this with a steadfast clarity. She needed to find a way to stop the maiden. Her mind was held back by the death of five hundred or so crows today, a dozen or so yesterday, a few hundred over the past few weeks, but she had the formation of a plan. A dumb plan, a stupid plan, an out of the box plan, but a plan all the same.
Lila knew that controlling the process of the transformative powers of the maiden was only one piece of an equation that she had never learned but she did know she had to figure out the other half quickly. If she didn’t she would have single handedly brought doom to St. Portwell. That is what Lila thought, at least. To pull it off she needed to let the maiden put down her guard, and Lila needed to figure out how the curse magic worked.
As Lila landed she tilted her eyes and saw that her wings were positively massive at this point. They were easily twenty feet long each, and her body was also much more massive as well. She never remembered the ground being so far away. Lila fell from the light again and fell down to the cold depths of the maidens' sanctum. As she hit the ground she went limp so that the maiden would think that she was as broken as the maiden needed her to be. Her feathered head and crow-like head lay motionless as she watched the maiden manipulate the transformation magic to bring out more, and more, and more crows while her other hand infused them with the curse magic and, with a hand behind her back, Lila began to mimic the motions of the magic. She minced the motion of how the maiden pulled the crows out of her body and the way the maiden embedded them with her curses. The way the maiden shaped the magic. She tried to channel this magic into that hand.
“So,” Lila spoke as she left her eyes lifeless,
“are you ever going to tell me more about yourself,” Lila asked genuinely.
The maiden paused her spell work as she started to grow massive and began to tower over Lila once more. Lila stopped practicing the magic and let her arm remain limp at her side. The Maiden head looked over the form that she had crafted thus far.
“More practice is needed,”The Maiden paused and with a flick of her wrist upwards Lila flew back to the light. Back to transform once again.
Falling had always felt the same, but this time it felt different. This time Lila had laid the foundation of her salvation without alerting the maiden. It was a simple transformation, but a powerful one in the grand scheme of things. A dull crystal was now present on the chest of her monstrous form, molded from her very own flesh and after the one that adorned the maiden. It was unassuming, and it was well hidden beneath the thick tuft of feathers that covered her chest. It wasn’t hard to pull off, which means that the maiden must be focused on getting ready to take over.
Thud.
Lila was once again in the sanctum of the maiden. Her body was even more monstrous, ever more massive, and she was completely okay with it. She did not know if she’d be able to reverse what was changed but she could at least prevent the maiden from doing what she planned.
“I assume you were a green-blue adept in life, and when you died you became whatever this is,” Lila said with an uninspired tone,
”how did you die?”The maiden head crooked at the question. She continued with the magic work she had been doing all this time.
“What makes you think I was a green-blue adept,” The Maiden asked back.
”The transformation magic, the cursed wings, this space,” Lila’s hand still mimicked the maidens motion,
”you kept your powers even in death, you curse people and turn them into crows, you keep their souls in that crystal right there. When one dies you use the soul again to create a new one, Lila paused, her head remained still on the ground her eyes staring lifelessly at the maiden,
”when our ancestors finally murdered you, a creature that desired revenge was born, Lila paused again as she finally pulled some magic into her hand for the first time
”how am I doing?”The Maiden hissed as she flicked her wrist once again and sent Lila back up.
Falling no longer felt the same. The Maiden was distracted by the clearly successful line of questioning. So much so that she knew that The Maiden did not sense that she used the curse magic on herself. She just needed one final trip to the surface to execute her plan.
Thud
This time Lila stood up.
”I’m right,” Lila said with a sad tone,
”I know that I am. What did they do to you that caused you to be so angry that you became this?”“They killed my wife,” The Maiden finally admitted.
”I don’t feel like you’re a force of rage, or revenge, or anything really. What emotion made you like this,” Lila asked and took a few steps towards The Maiden. Thanks to her massive form it was a large distance she crossed. A test.
“I was left alone, ostracized from what we considered a society at the time. Years passed, and I was still left alone. Do you know how lonely that solitude was,” The Maiden hissed back,
“They made me feel that way, they made me feel so discarded. and I developed a spell to make them feel the same,” The maiden paused as she looked at her crystal. Lila knew it. It was important. The Maiden paused as she looked at Lila, before she flicked her wrist and sent Lila back up once more.
Lila fell with a purpose this time. She knew how long it took to fall to the sanctum. The maiden had forced the transformations at least a few hundred times today, probably a few hundred times more so she knew the right moment to show that the maiden was not in control. Halfway through the fall Lila flipped her body and pulled her wings in close like a bird of prey. She dove at a frightening speed before she landed in front of the Maiden. Before The Maiden could react, the green of her crystal began to be corrupted by a fast spreading blue wave. Before she was pulled back into the Sanctum Lila had used her curse magic on herself once again. She used this magic to curse her body in a way that would weaken the magic in her body, thus weakening the bitch, thus giving her the edge in maintaining control over her body.
Once the last bit of the green light faded from the crystal blue lines shot outwards to The Maidens arms and then her hands and began to spread down her body. The Maiden tried to take full control over Lila’s body, to kill Lila with the magic she infused into the transformation magic, but she quickly realized that they was prevented from doing so, and that she no longer had the power to try it.
”I am so glad you apparitions are always the same,” Lila smirked as she began to grow in size, towering over The Maidens like she had done to Lila.
”Did you forget that I stopped a world threatening monster like you before?” “What did you do,” The Maidens' voice echoed against the walls of the sanctum.
”You are an apparition sealed in my body,” Lila paused as she chuckled in a way that betrayed her excitement.
”I learned how to use your magic. Your magic is my magic. The transformation, the curse magic, I learned how to make a prison with a lock,” Lila paused as her form grew even taller over The Maiden,
”and I’m about to throw away the key,” Lila paused as she pulled herself out of the Mindscape. As soon as she was back she began to channel the magic into her hand. The magic took the form of a blue ball that seemed to generate a fog that fell to the ground. She slammed that magic into her chest and instantly she replenished the curse magic stored within and the blue feathers that now adorned her body began to glow. As it spread she tried to transform herself back to her normal form, she summoned all the magic she could command but the magic would not budge. Her transformation magic was weakened too much to even attempt such a feat
Lila knew that was why she was forced to undergo so many transformations. Lila summoned every last bit of the transformation magic as she tried to at least change the monster to be more presentable.
The air was filled with the sounds of bones breaking, muscles snapping, and the sheer agony that finally escaped her throat as she channeled the transformation magic of the maiden. She did not know exactly what to transform to but she tried to transform to something more her. Her body grew much smaller, quickly, and she watched as the ground grew closer and closer before she ultimately collapsed to it, landing on her hands and knees, and nearly passed out. The sheer physic toll on her mind from the death of her crows and the sheer pain of a day full of transformations had finally reared its head. The scream of agony that Lila sent out finally echoed back for several seconds before the transformation was complete.
And then she fully collapsed to the ground without seeing if it was a success and began to cry like she never cried before. The afternoon sun still shines bright, but it hid its warmth from Lila. She could feel the maiden trying to break free but the magic was much stronger than it ever needed to be.
All Lila could do is hope she was still quite the looker.
Lila panted as she pulled herself upright and pressed her back into the trunk of the tree. She was slowly losing her mind thanks in part to the pain that radiated out from her legs, and from the five hundred dead crows that dotted the landscape. She looked down and her eyes went wide at what she saw. Her legs were completely covered in a thick layer of feathers, there were now purple feathers that covered a swath of her legs, and her legs were contorted into a hindlimb shape with three large talons that replaced her toes. Every shred of her humanity was missing from what she saw. She closed her eyes as she started to hyperventilate. She dug her clawed hands into the dirt below. Her head began to pound as her fractured mind reared its ugly head again, no longer hidden from her by the maiden. As her breathing reached its crescendo a single caw forced her eyes to open and her breathing to stop. In front of her was a singular crow who seemed almost frozen in place. She held out a singular clawed finger and the crow landed on it without prompting. Lila held her breath for another second longer as she exhaled. The crow spun it’s head around and looked down at her legs. Lila’s eyes followed and she finally saw the real problem with them, they were both broken.
“Oh,” Lila chuckled at the sight, she giggled like she saw the funniest thing she’d ever seen. Her laugh was very reminiscent of a drunken night out that never ended.
“I don’t like how that looks,” Lila said as she looked around for her phone,
“I know who can help. Maybe some alcohol will fix this,” Lila said as she turned her head to her crow and she could’ve sworn it shook its head no,
“healing elixir,” Lila asked and now she was sure that it understood as it shook its head up and down,
“Sully. Sully! Sully could do both. Bring both,” Lila asked as she looked around for her phone. She found it, and the screen cracked down the middle. The time said 5:15PM, was it already that late? She tried to type in her password but quickly realized her claws did not register on the touch screen. Quickly she tried another solution that sounded smarter and she raised it up for her Face ID, but the denied screen and the reflection of her face on the screen made her realize that wouldn’t work either. She thought for a second before she stuck her tongue out and used it to tap in her password.
“Okay Google, call Sully” Lila said confidently. When nothing happened she looked down at her Apple device.
“Hey Siri, call Sully.”The phone started to ring.
And ring.
And ring.
And when it finally felt that the phone had rung for too long and Sully wasn’t going to answer there was a click, followed by a,
“Hey, what’s up?” only the “what’s up” was said like a Gen Xer making a dated reference to an old beer commercial, the epic whassup soaring on a melodic glissando. However, before Lila would be able to give a full response, Sully’s laughing voice would interrupt as he said,
“Oh, man, just playing, you’ve been talking to a machine. Deuces!” There was a beep, a robot voice stating that the voicemail box was full,followed by another beep on Lila’s phone showing that Sully was already calling back.
“Lila! Que pasta?” hollered Sully, mispronouncing the Spanish.
“Sully,” Lila nearly slurred out. Her voice was entirely her own but there was a giddiness to it that was unusual.
“Bro..bro..broo,” She paused as she had forgotten why she called him.
“I forgot why I called you but it’s good that you answered! Why did I,” Lila paused as she once again saw the broken legs.
“Oh THAT’S RIGHT! My legs are broken,” Lila chuckled again at the sight,
“I think I’ve torn muscles, lots of muscles, a painful amount of muscles. Are you free,” Lila paused as she rested the base of her feathered head against the tree. She could still see that she was very monstrous. No transformation would fix that now, but at least she was able to control the end result even if it broke her the most.
“I could use some healing and some bro bro time. Especially the healing. But also bro time,” Lila finally stopped talking.
“I might be able to send you a pin where I’m at. If you’re free, that is.”“What? What!? Yeah, send it, the calvary is on the way. Stay on the line with me, okay? How did you—” Sully was cut off by the sound of an engine roaring to life accompanied by a deafening wave of dad rock.
“You said your legs? As in both legs? How did you break both legs?” Lila pulled the phone away from her face as she used her tongue to send Sully her location.
“I will. It was hard to call you because my hands are a bit rough again. I don’t know what kind of phone I have. Things are difficult with my mind right now so I don’t want to think too much about that,” Lila paused as she looked to the sky,
“Nice day today though. What was I doing today?”. A crow fluttered in front of her face and Lila shook her head.
“It was something involving the birds and the bees,” Lila paused,
“OH OH I remember. The Maiden tried to take over my body! What a stinker. I broke a lot fighting her.”“Okay, okay, okay, I’m not that far from there,” said Sully, glancing at the pin. Lila clearly sounded out of it, probably due to some heavy blood loss or a head injury. He felt like the best thing to do was to keep her talking, even if what she was saying was nonsensical.
“Now you’re gonna be fine, buddy. Dr. Sully will be there in no time but for now let me just get this straight. You were trying to get your freak on but then the Maiden clam jammed you? How…how do you fight something that’s inside of you?”“Is difficult. She’s much stronger than I thought, so I had to learn to wield her magic. Her curses, her transformations, the whole kit and kaboodle. I had to fight her in a place she called her sanctum, it’s like a mind thing where she brought me to when she took control of my body. Once I won there I changed my body. Rapidly. Rapid body changes are bad for the body. Very very bad for the body. Put a lock on the maidens' own power, and threw the key somewhere. I should probably find that key unless it was a metaphorical key?”“You could always just find a locksmith. Trust me, way easier than finding a key sometimes,” said Sully, his new set of keys jingling in the roughly repaired ignition of his truck. He glanced over at the Chalice that rolled around haphazardly on the ground of the passenger seat. For all his bemoaning of being the supernatural equivalent of a waterboy, he was pretty certain he’d be able to soundly beat up the Chalice if it had ever challenged him to a duel.
“Look, let’s not focus on the pain. All that’s gonna be taken care of real soon, real, real soon. Should be there in a couple of minutes. We’ll get you walking in no time. You won right? That’s pretty impressive using their own thingies against them, you know. So now what? Does this mean the Maiden is donezo or is this just a rest break between rounds?”“We’re in between rounds. As long as she’s sealed in me I think we’re going to be tussling for the rest of my days,” Lila laughed maniacally,
“ who’s to say who won and lost? I kept control but the maiden did warn me the gifts she gave would be permanent. And she made a lot of changes, a lot if gifts,” Lila paused as she looked at herself through a crow's eyes, seeing the blue and black feathers that now covered her face and body and the blue crystal that shined bright on her chest,
“a lot of changes-a lot of changes. You’re close, good, just mind the hundreds of dead crows and thousands of dead bees on your walk over,” Lila laughed again as she remembered the fight with Trisha that caused all of this. What fun that was.
“Right, right, okay so actual birds and bees, okay,” said Sully. It didn’t make much more sense than before as he drove past a sign reading something about park hours and pulled into a small, empty parking lot. Sully killed the engine, grabbed the Chalice, and hopped out of his truck. Something squished under his boot. He didn’t have to move his foot to see what he’d stepped on. The path leading into the park was covered in the dead bodies of bees. Lots and lots of bees. He was lucky he hadn’t put his foot down a few inches to the right. He imagined that crow would be a lot more difficult to scrape off his shoes than bees.
“Okay, um, that’s a lot of dead bees. Why are there so many dead bees? Aren’t they supposed to be like, I don’t know, hibernating through the winter or something?”“The birds and the bees! Trisha and I,” Lila chuckled for several seconds,
“had a talk about the birds and the bees.. oh we talked alright …specifically about who would win in a fight, the birds or the bees. The answer was neither. If you’re seeing the death that means you’re close,” Lila paused as she pulled her wings across her body as best she could to hide as much of her as she could.
“Hey, you’re going to see me very differently than yesterday. Promise me you won’t judge,” Lila asked in the first clear tone since the call started. No longer did she sound delirious. She looked at Sully through a crow and her crows began to caw out for Sully revealing her hiding location. She buried her head beneath her wings leaving only the broken and distorted hindlimb like legs that were birdlike and feathered visible for Sully to see when he arrived. He would also see a few crows pulling stingers from these broken legs.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m not going to rip on you for having broken legs,” said Sully, his voice raised to be heard of the cawing of crows that echoed through the phone’s speaker. It felt like he was walking through the aftermath of a war scene where the bee commander had horrifically ordered a full bee charge across No Bee’s Land and the crows had been taunted out of their machine gun nests to meet them. He followed the trail of broken wings and loose feathers until he came upon a huddled form that looked like it had been through hell.
“Oh, shit. Hey, Lila. New haircut?” said Sully, squatting down near the broken bird. The Chalice filled up with the healing elixir.
“Sorry, dumb joke. Time to drink up, buddy.”The wings parted enough to allow a clawed hand to reach out towards the chalice but the hand could only reach so far. She tried to stretch out even more to grab at it but soon it became evident that she had misjudged the distance. An audible sigh could be heard a second before the wings parted revealing Lila in the form of a harpy. Everywhere Sully looked feathers would be the only thing Sully would see. They were sleek, fit close to the body, but feathers all the same. The blue feathers were prominent around the chest, down the insides of the arms, and the front of her thighs and waist. The blue feathers were especially vibrant around a crystal-like protrusion on her chest that glowed with a vivid blue hue. Lila’s face was her own, albeit more pale. Her hair remained unchanged. Her eyes were still mostly black, but they had now adopted a circle of blue where her iris once was. Her clothes were missing but she was not exposed, thanks to the sleek feathers that covered her body. As well, her body was taller, longer, and lankier. Her legs and arms were disproportionately long compared to her torso.
Lila reached out and grabbed the chalice, her pain filled groan showed that her ribs were very much out of place if not broken. She brought it back towards her face as she downed as much elixir a single drink could bring. Immediately Lila leaned back as the healing elixir began to take hold, and the air was once again filled with the sounds of bones snapping and muscles being pulled back to their rightful place. It took thirty long seconds before she felt almost fully healed. She took another drink from the chalice before she passed it back to Sully as her wings once again covered her new form.
“Thank you. You’ve always been a good bro. The best bro. Really? Why are you so awesome? How are those Greenwood people, they good bros? Ruby is not mad at me is she?”“Oh, come on, it ain’t nothing. You’d have done the same if you were in my shoes,” said Sully, rubbing the back of his head self-consciously at the compliment barrage. The only impressive thing he’d done was manage to keep his lunch down as the woods echoed with the snapping and popping of Lila’s broken body.
“But nah, Ruby ain’t mad. Not at you, anyway. I probably could’ve made it a little more clear to her that the old crew puts the fun in dysfunctional. But Greenwood are all real good dudes. It sucks the meeting got so derailed. It would’ve been fun to be able to hang with everyone. I miss just being able to goof around. I feel like I’m spending everyday either lying low or looking over my shoulder.”“I miss that too.”As if to demonstrate, Sully glanced back down the path he’d taken towards Lila. As he looked back, he pointed his finger up at the crows gathering on the branches and swirled it around in a circle.
“By the way, if any of your buddies spot a dude who looks like Jason Mamoa screen testing for a role on Sons of Anarchy give me a heads up.”“You need anymore?” said Sully, jiggling the Chalice in one hand while reaching out to help Lila up with the other.
“Or you good to get out of here? It’s starting to get dark. As cool as it is to hang around a bunch of dead birds, I’ve seen enough movies to know that we’d really be tempting fate. We can at least go back to my truck and chill in case we need to make a quick getaway. You hungry? Maybe once you molt we can grab a burger. Just don’t want to freak out the squares and have them start a pitchfork mob because they weren’t ready for Goth Big Bird.”“I might be stuck like this so I need to figure out a disguise fast, Lila laughed extremely hard,
“Goth Big Bird that’s meeeeee,” Lila leaned back as she laughed even hard, the crows cawed as if they too laughed at the comparison. In the laughter Lila passed the order to be on the lookout for the man Sully mentioned yet the crows did not budge, did not stop their caws, but they all looked to Lila with a familiar expectation. They wanted something in return. Lila craned her head as she stopped laughing,
“how strange. They usually follow my commands without a gift. I think they want the gifts again. Lila gracefully grabbed Sully's hand and allowed herself to be pulled up, and she noticed he was no longer as tall as he used to be. Did he get shorter?
“I think I’m mostly fixed. Mostly mostly. Did you get shorter, I could’ve sworn you were taller yesterday. I don’t think I can molt yet I think I’m more on a bird schedule so if I do molt I’ll do it once or twice over the next year. I really don’t understand this magic fully. Like I figured out enough to win, but I was warned that transformations eventually become permanent and from what I remember permanent means something like forever, so I need to figure something out fast…if there’s anything that can be figured out,” Lila chuckled before she sighed, her voice less delirious again,
“can we go back to truck and talk some more? I am really hungry.”“Hey man, I really don’t understand magic at all,” said Sully, jerking his head back towards the path to indicate to Lila to follow him. He squared up his shoulders and straightened his posture up as he walked back to the truck, as if the comments on him getting shorter struck something, moving in a stiff, soldierly march instead of his usual slouched saunter.
“Everytime Britney attempted to explain it all to me my nose would start bleeding and I’d forget where I was for a couple of minutes. Regardless, I’m sure there’s something we can do to change you back. Assuming you want to, you know. Personally I find there’s something kind of appealing about being a bird.”They made it to Sully’s old beaten up truck. A quick estimate was all he needed to know that the cab, while possibly able to fit Lila’s wingspan inside, wouldn’t be comfortable. Sully fiddled around inside for a second, grabbed a now dry picnic blanket that he’d used to soak up some of the rain damage from the other day, and clicked on the radio. He jumped at the sound of some shredding guitar solo from some overplayed Lynyrd Skynyrd song blasted through the speakers, bumping his head on the top of the truck, as he turned the radio down to appropriate “background noise” level. Rubbing his head, Sully went around to the back of the truck, unlatched the bed, and raised his eyebrow in surprise at the small, banged up cooler sitting back there. Well, that explained the rattling he’d been hearing. He draped the blanket over the edge of the bed and sat on it, leaving plenty of room for Lila to come join him while giving her room to stretch her wings.
All the while there had been a meandering commentary from the guy, fantasizing about bird life.
“Like you get to go around everyday just singing and eating food. You got no need for glasses or contacts because eagle vision. And obviously flying would be the big winner. Plus there’s migration. Like, man, I’d love to go winter in Cancun every year. I’d imagine it’s like being on a singles cruise, just a bunch of hot, young birds chasing tail around. Of course, you know, thumbs are tight, and you gotta watch out for planes, cats, and those dangerous ass windows,” said Sully. He was clearly just trying to make light of the situation for Lila’s sake.
“But going to the bathroom anywhere has gotta be freeing. Like, you could just follow a dick like Emily around for weeks just absolutely ruining their life whenever they go outside.”“For the last week my crows have been shitting on Emily. On her, the entirety of her house, at vehicles parked outside, and they have been following her. If she goes to a store they’ll wait, before bombs away, Lila joked as she sat down next to Sully, carefully to avoid her wings smacking him in the face,
“I haven’t heard or seen anything from them since then. Maybe she drowned in the shit.”Lila sighed as a small smile crept her face.
“You were right earlier, I’m sure there is a way to change back. Part of me likes the power I feel, you know? Like I was so useless ten years ago and now,” Lila paused as she raised her talons up,
“I feel very strong. I feel like I can make a difference in a fight now. If I can learn a way to control the transformations further, most of me would go back in an instant,” Lila paused as two crows landed on her shoulders and looked at Sully.
“Part of me is okay with staying. I was warned that transformations would become permanent and I let The Maiden convince me to transform a lot. This is a consequence of my decision to do that.”“All of me knows that it’s hard to truly think at all about it. Every time I lose a crow I get this backlash in my mind. It’s strong, hurts like hell, and kind of prevents me from thinking straight. I lost over five hundred. I think my mind is broken and needs to be healed but your elixir refused to touch it.”“Oh.”The playful tirade hiding genuine feelings of inadequacy that Sully was going to go on about wishing how he was a big, strong bird instead of just a dude carrying around the Gatorade was killed in that moment. A real look of concern crossed his face before his eyes fell down to the Chalice as he turned it in his hands. The taste of bitterness rose up in his mouth at the thought that his stupid little cup was limited in what it could actually fix. Sully looked back up at Lila with a sadness in his eyes. He sighed deeply, moving to put his hand on her shoulder but dropping it as the crow sitting on it gave him a look that Sully could only interpret as the bird weighing in its own judgment on Sully’s uselessness when it came to something like this.
“You serious? That, uh, yeah, that sucks, Lila,” said Sully, fighting off the urge to deflect with a dumb joke. He racked his brain, trying to come up with a useful idea or some poignant advice. He was pretty sure Ruby knew a little mental magic, but nothing that qualified. Greyson loved rooting around in people’s heads, but Sully truly doubted that dude would leave anyone off in a better state than from where they started.
“Sorry, Lila, I’m a little thick,” said Sully.
“But in a way I think everybody in the OG Coven is a bit broken. Going through the shit we went through and then pretending everything is hunky dory after…that doesn’t work, really. Not trying to belittle what you’re going through, obviously, just saying that you ain’t alone. Uh, to clarify, when you say broken, do you mean, like, man I’m fucking burnt out, could really use a little R&R, or do you mean like…”Sully circled his finger on the outside of his head and whistled like a cuckoo.
Lila mimicked the motion while nodding her head. Before she stopped and sighed. She pressed her hands against the side of her head. Why did she mimic him like that?
“I don’t think I’m crazy? But my emotions are cycling so fast without any cause. I’ll go from giggling like a mad woman at the sight of my broken legs, to crying about how I defeated The Maiden, to crying with joy at how much I’m loving my crows and our closer connection, to hating them for not doing anything anymore. I was never given an instruction manual for how ‘crow deaths affect the mind for idiots’ so I don’t know what to expect,” Lila paused as she did some simple head math.
“Since The Maiden was sealed I’ve probably lost a thousand. Looking back I did think it was suspicious that The Maiden let me be so bad with the murder. Like she needed me to lose to gain control.”Lila smirked as she thought over the rest of what Sully said.
“I’m blessed that I’m looking go-” Lila paused as she sighed, before she smiled again.
“Sorry, that phrase is stuck in my mind. I’m blessed that I am surrounded by amazing people. Even if you’re with Greenwood now you still came. Being a Sycamore did have some perks, then and now,” Lila paused as she playfully tapped Sully,
“looking good. You have always been one of the best perks. Thank you for being so cool. Like the coolest of cools. Even as a kid I thought you were fucking rad.” Lynn’s voice began to sound delirious once again.
“Takes a cool dude to recognize a cool dude, dude. I think that right there is proof you’re not crazy,” said Sully with a little, mild laugh.
“Now despite having a magical medicine cup, I am technically not a doctor so all if this is me talking out of my ass, but maybe you’re still in like some kind of shock. Or concussed. Either way…”Sully handed Lila the Chalice, once again filled to the brim with healing elixir.
“Wouldn’t hurt to have just a little more if it is a concussion or something like that. Who knows, it could clear things up a bit. There’s no manual for health potions either. While we wait to see if it works, you mind sharing why you were out here in the first place?” asked Sully, craning his neck to look around the park’s parking lot as if any of it was distinguishable from other parks. He was worried about Lila’s headspace, but felt like showing too much worry might agitate her when she needed to be clear minded.
“Isn’t this place near where Leon’s family is trying to reenact Waco?”Lila took the chalice and began to drink out of it. Maybe Sully was right. Maybe this fractured mind was just a symptom of something much more mundane. She finished the drink and passed the chalice back to Sully, feeling no worse but a bit better.
“Training. I only used the sealed power in a very limited way. With everything that happened yesterday I wanted to get better. The Maiden offered to show me the ropes but she only did so to hang me by them.”“Yessss. Casey, Leon’s brother, shot me a few times during my fight with Trisha. He was with another one of those temple cultists and saw my even more monstrous form and said I was looking good. Straight men are so weird,” Lila chuckled,
“so be on the lookout for their recruitment team for me. I might have enough damage upstairs right now to listen to them.”“Oof, yikes. We could mark down fetishists as another reason not to stay a bird, but frankly creepy dudes are gonna be creepy dudes no matter what you—CASEY SHOT YOU!?”“Not with bullets? More like an incredibly powerful paintball gun I think? It hurt really, really bad.”Well that was good, thought Sully. For a moment there he was worried he’d have to talk to Leon about his brother being a murderer. Now it’d just be about his brother being a dick, but he was pretty sure Leon already knew that.
Lila thought for a second as she nearly gagged.
“oh nooooooooo, oh my god I’m their dream bird person now. I have to figure out this magic and fix this.”“Oh man, it’s gonna be hell from now on. You’re gonna get so many dudes sliding into your DMs asking for talon pics. You could probably make a small killing, but I feel like thirst trapping isn’t really your vibe,” said Sully, then he arched an eyebrow.
“Wait, would the Blind see talons or toes? Like magic Blind, blind blind would obviously not…what the fuck am I saying, give me that.”Sully grabbed the Chalice back from Lila and took a quaff, worried for a moment that he’d hit his head a little too hard on the ceiling of his truck. He didn’t know if it did anything to bleach his brain, but the top of his noggin no longer hurt and a pain in his knee that he’d been ignoring faded instantaneously
“I should be safe for the blind, but the one eyed open,” Lila paused as she looked at her feathered form,
“is there a paranormal strip club in town? I would make a killing. Could retire young,” Lila said with a heavy sarcastic tone,
“but the blind should just see my normal form and….”. Lila paused as she looked down at her body.
“I’ll appear naked right now.”Sully hopped off the bed of the truck and threw his end of the blanket over Lila with a sharp laugh,
“Ew, bitch, cover up. This truck’s shares the same, good ol’ fashioned Catholic values held by Father McDonalds when it comes to no shirt and no shoes. No wonder the choir boy was so shook up by seeing you.”“But seriously we should get you some clothes that’d fit before a cop drives by and arrests you for public nudity,” said Sully, scratching his beard.
“You know what might work?”“Oh no, it’s not a big bird costume is it because that’d be in poor taste.”“Nah,” said Sully, grinning ear to ear as he nodded to the blanket.
“Toga.”
Streetlights fired up as the sun went down on St. Portwell. An office worker sat in bumper to bumper traffic on one side of the road, stuck thanks to a detour from road work that somehow led into even more roadwork, on the way back to suburbia. With knuckles tightening and head shaking she silently cursed the idiot in front of them and the asshole behind them, unable to fathom who even let them drive in the first place. A kind of jealousy was felt for the drivers on the other side of the road, the freewheeling bunch of vagabonds that didn’t work a nine to five, rats that had escaped from the race, who hadn't made the mistake of settling down. It was a jealousy that would go away the minute she pulled into the driveway, one that wasn’t really real, but in that moment it was felt. And in the next moment, the office worker saw something that she knew when she got home her family wouldn’t believe. Burning down the otherside of the road was a clunky, beat-up truck with its windows down, loudly blasting butt rock, the passenger and driver wearing little more than blankets fashioned crudely into togas.
“And this is how you remind me of what I really am!” belted out Sully, decked out yet again in a toga composed largely of flannel shirts tied together, the radio cranked as Canada’s finest rock band played. [color=goldenrod]
“This is how you remind me that I’m a toga wearing man!” He turned to Lila, who was rocking the picnic blanket toga, queuing her in as he continued to adlib, ignoring the stares from the people in the parking lot as they pulled into the line at a drive thru for Dairy Queen.
“It’s not like you to wear togas, turns out you waiting for a different toga, this time, uh, suh…something,
FOR HANDING YOU A TOGA WORTH WEARING! JUST TWO PALS! IN TOGAS!...bottom of every bottle…these five words in my head scream, are you wearing togas?”The next song soon came on, and it was one Lila knew well. She waited for her moment to add her own rendition.
“‘Cause you’re my Mississippi princess, you’re my California queen, like the Duchess of Detroit, wearing EVERY TOGA IN BETWEEN,” Lila sang along, her tone was off and her singing was a half second behind the song. Still, she held her arms against her chest as she sang and kept her wing as close as possible.
“Oh shi—” Sully turned down the Nickelback as a static voice came in over the intercom.
“Sorry, bro. Yeah, I’ll have the Two Cheese Deluxe, and a Chili Cheese Dog, and the 4-piece Chicken Strip Basket. Does that come with a drink? Yeah, no worries, I’ll do an Orange Julius then. And, oh, a Peanut Buster. Oh, and then we’ll also do…Lila?” said Sully, flattening himself as much as he could against the driver seat so that Lila could shout her order over him.
“Can I have,” Lila paused as she placed a hand on her stomach. Without the butt rock blasting and the cringey adlib additions to the music to distract her Lila realized she was hungry. So. Very. Hungry. She could have fifty five burgers and fifty five fries right now but she couldn’t afford it. Thankfully her phone still had her Apple Wallet.
“Can I get two 4-piece chicken strip baskets with the Orange Julius as well. Three Two Cheese Deluxe, and a large Oreo Blizzard? A large peanut buster. A thing of zesty pretzels, cheese curds, and one onion ring.”. Lila knew deep in heart that she was going to eat it all and want more, but she still gave Sully two thumbs up,
“my treat.”“You paying for it is the only thing that kept me from asking the dude to blend it up so we could baby bird that shit into your mouth,” said Sully, jamming up the radio to drown out Lila’s retort.
“I would eat it like that right now, don’t tempt me with laziness.”
“Thank you for not tempting me with laziness,” Lila said as she devoured another chicken finger. Lila had Sully drive to a nearby spot she remembered the coven using to plot excursions. Lila thought it would be a good spot to eat the feast she had bought and oh did she eat. The first victims were the zesty pretzels, cheese curds, and onion rings. Their greasy goodness could not be resisted forever, and as the two sat on the trunk door to the truck they were devoured with a rabid intensity. Next were the burgers and fries, the meat and cheese simply called her name in a sultry way and she was more than happy to oblige. Next was the Oreo blizzard, she needed a cool refresher after all that food. Within seven minutes she was then on her way to the tenders.
“Dairy Queen is special,” Lila chuckled as she ate another chicken tender.
”There’s a damn good reason it’s the only fast food available in St. Portwell,” said Sully, one-eye closed as he used the Chalice to pour a little extra hot fudge on his ice cream. He cursed silently as some dribbled over onto his fingers, licking both them and the rim of the Chalice clean. He joked, nodding to the chicken tenders,
“I’m honestly kinda surprised after you housed all that food you’re still hungry enough to resort to cannibalism.”“But, uh, for real. Now that you got some food in you, how are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m more crow than chicken soooooo,” Lila paused as she took another bite,
“better. I don’t think I’ve ever been that hungry since first and second puberty,”Lila looked over to Sully,
“I think I’ll be good. I am tired though. I think I will sleep for a day or two. Maybe a week.” Lila paused as she smiled weakly.
“Thank you for staying with me tonight. I truly appreciate you.”Lila looked out to the area around them. She knew she wanted to talk to others about what happened.
“I will be okay. I think I’ll want to take a walk, clear my head you know? I know it’s not super smart to be alone with what’s going on but I’ll be safe. If Father Wolf wanted to kill me he’d have done it earlier.”“Nah, you got too many homies around for that pun,” said Sully, pointing to the murder of crows that had been gathering around them. He tossed a handful of french fries out of the truck's window.
“Hey birds, you keep Lila safe okay?” Sully rolled up the window before the flock could descend upon his own share of the fires.
“I should probably check in with Greenwood anyway before they start sending out search parties. But if you ever get attacked by a bunch of bees and the lady living inside of your noggin again you know who to call,” said Sully, reaching out for a fist bump.
“Ghostbusters,” Lila joked as she connected the fist bump,
“keep this on the down low for me,” Lila paused as she turned around and raised a peace sign behind her. As she walked away it could be heard in the cold night air that a song was present. “
“Never made it as a wise man, couldn’t cut it as a poor man stealing,” Lila laughed as she continued to sing along to the fun song.
It was dark and cold tonight. A rolling haze of clouds hit the stars from view over St. Portwell, and blocked out the moon from sight. It was the perfect conditions for Jack to navigate through. He appeared through the shadows, wearing his usual long wool coat and combat boots, walking into a clearing in the forest outside of St Portwell. The cool air was dead silent as he took his surroundings in. He seemed to be alone here, arriving before anyone else without a sound, as usual. He took his phone out and sent a reply to the message he received.
I am here.Lila had texted him, asking to meet in this exact spot that some members of the coven had once used to plot their incursions. It was why he could be here so easily. She didn’t say why, but that was only moments ago, so he’d ask when he saw her.
“Hey,” a voice called out from behind a tree,
“hey buddy. Buddy friend. So so do you remember when we were kids, when you lost your arm,” Lila started as she pressed her form further into the tree she hid behind. She hid her wings as best as possible. To Jack, the forest would hide her well and she wouldn’t be seen visually.
“How long did it take you to get used to that…. change?”Jack could tell where she was, but he wasn’t capable of darkvision without a joint spell.
”...Long enough to stabilize the spell I used to recover. There were worse things I had experienced than that. It did not take long. Why?”“Oh,” Lila paused as age tapped her claws on the trunk of a tree. She contemplated how to best explain.
“It is… a long story. Very long,” Lila paused as she looked up to a crow on the branches above her and watched as it nodded its head at her,
“so.” Lila paused,
“it’ll explain something before I have to show you. Not that I’m hiding anything, drastic-drastic,” Lila chuckled nervously.
”Alright. Tell me.”“Do you remember back in the day I only had ten or so crows,” Lila paused as she looked around and at the murder,
“before I joined back up with the coven my murder had grown to nearly a hundred,” Lila paused as she tapped her talons again on the trunk,
“I felt cursed, you know? Suddenly my murder grew, there was a voice in my head. So I got scared and I asked for help. Instead of doing it while we were sober we attempted the sealing while drunk and the maiden was sealed in me and my murder grew to the tens of thousands,” Lila paused as she looked down at the purple crystal on her chest,
“mayyybe more. And I think there were tens of thousands more to come. I tried to ignore the maiden, and she is usually incredibly bored by everything and anything not utter chaos so it’s usually pretty easy. At least I thought it was. She wanted me to be her good little herald. This morning she convinced me to go train. And I did. She told me that I needed to master her magic. And she broke my body a hundred times because she wanted me to embrace her vision of who I was meant to be. A monster. And I didn’t like that one bit,” Lila chuckled as she took several deep breaths.
She was trying to decide if she was going to be brave at this moment and she went to move out of the tree line but stopped. Jack would be able to see her wings for the first time since the meeting, and he would see they were much massive. She looked down at her new form and pondered how she would be perceived.
“So like the good agent I am, I learned more about the maiden. She was a green-blue adept in life several millennia ago. Her powers remained similar to them even after she became an apparition, she has the power to transform forms and uses her other power to curse,” Lila paused as she looked out from the tree line.
“Do you follow me thus far, info dump of the year,” Lila chuckled.
”She cursed you. I follow,” he said, knitting his fingers together and observing the huge wings. They were surprisingly easy to see in the gloom.
”Sealing an apparition in a living person grants them full access to the apparition’s magic, that is not unusual.”“So she forced a transformation and I didn’t know how to use her magic yet. She kept forcing me to become more, and more of a monster all the while she was preparing to take control once and for all and I allowed it at first because I thought she was making me stronger. Evidently I wasn’t strong enough to resist, at least yet. I learned how to pull her power and use it. I undid parts of the monster, but I had to use her curse magic on myself to keep her locked up. I couldn’t go back as some aspects of the transformation were already permanent ,” Lila sighed.
“I don’t know how I’m going to go around the coven like this though. And I need a ride home,” Lila paused as she gripped the tree tightly causing her to accidentally shatter it.
Ah.
”We are surrounded by people who have witnessed a demigod tear reality to pieces, Lila. No one with a hint of empathy will think twice about whatever form you take, you have learned this before,” he said, walking around the tree and looking at her directly.
He saw the wings, the talons, all of it. And he didn’t see her differently.
“Okie-dokie,” Lila chuckled. Lila dropped the chunks of tree and took a deep breath. Two crows, seemingly sensing the apprehension, flew down and took a rest on her shoulders. Lila stepped out from the clearing and revealed the same form she showed Sully earlier. There were no modifications, no further changes, but it still felt like a giant leap of faith even with someone like Jack. Though the Toga
did help her feel less naked
“Okie-dokie,” Lila repeated the phrase and paused her breathing for just a second,
“I need new clothes, this Toga is a little breezy” Lila chuckled.
Jack tilted his head, quietly thinking of what might work for her.
”You have been cursed by her, and yet you should have her abstraction. That is strange, but for now, I may be able to help you.”Jack held a hand out in the open air, and a door appeared suddenly. Dark wood, carved with kanji symbols. He opened it, and the light of an early day spilled through. Jack stepped through, and motioned for Lila to follow.
”Come. I have something to show you.”“I have been cursed in a roundabout way. Did she curse me? No, not with magic. Was she a cunt, yeah, that feels like a curse being attached to her,” Lila chuckled,
“as long as you don’t show me Ohio,” Lila said matter-of-factly,
“never take me back to Ohio.” . Lila followed Jack's lead and went to step through the door but did not account for her wings, and was abruptly stopped in her tracks, before she took a step back and extended her wings and shimmied through the door sideways.
On the other side of the portal was a pocket dimension. The sky above them was a kaleidoscope of watery images showing distant worlds throughout the All-Verse, and before them was a stone staircase that led to a building styled like a japanese estate. Purple torches burned up and down the steps and down the side to a pathway into a large cave far behind them.
”This is the Eleventh Path, a pocket reality created by Kenshiro and myself. I believe I mentioned it at our most recent meeting.”“You did,” Lila gasped as she took in the visage before her. It was gorgeous.
“You did. this place.. quite the looker,” Lila repeated herself as she took a step forward and realized she was about to enter a building.
“I’m not going to ruin the floor in there will I?””No,” he said, sliding the wide shoji door open.
”But if you did, I would only need to wave a hand over the damage to mend it. This space was made from mine and Kenshiro’s purple Lux, and so we can freely reshape it as we wish.”Inside was a wide, spacious room that hadn’t been decorated much. There were stairs leading up to a second floor, which was visible from the ground much like a mall’s floors. There was also a long staircase leading downwards and away from the interior, towards a humid, mossy world tucked away.
”Down that passage lies Tennogama’s resting place. His builders assisted us in creating this, and it was agreed that he would have his own area to reside in.”There were four other wide doors on this floor, and Jack was walking towards one.
“Wait.. the giant guy is here,” Lila asked as she smiled.
“What’s he like in person? This place is crazy, if only we could agree upon anything as a coven. I doubt father wolf could ever find his way in here.””He is patient, calm and above all else, weary. We should not disturb him now. I will ask another time if he’d like visitors,” Jack offered as the door opened on its own. Behind it was a space that was very
Jack. The room was dimly lit, with braziers and candles of purple fire illuminating it. There were bookshelves and a rather comfortable looking leather chair placed just before a desk, as well as a long couch resting against a wall.
“Jack, did you secretly read my teenage mind and create the most perfect space possible,” Lila’s wings spread out in this space. The crows that had tagged along flew off her shoulders and began examining the space in detail. They also looked for shiny things. Jack might notice a thing or two missing tomorrow.
“it’s amazing.””Every individual room is a pocket space within the larger pocket space; they can be changed independent of the “anchor” room. That is why I can do this-” Another chair appeared next to Lila, one with a back just low enough to accommodate her wings.
”Effortlessly.” He then started looking through the closet.
Lila sat down as her head craned, crooked, and shifted as she looked around the space.
“That is incredible,” Lila said as her crows started to circle her again. She looked at herself through their eyes and she sighed. At least she didn’t look like that thing the maiden had her become. As long as Lila kept this form the magic she was able to draw from the maiden would keep the maiden far away from influencing her again. Far away from the light. Lila looked at her hand and tried to use the magic to bring the human hand back to the surface but her body did not yield and she was left staring at the claws.
“Quite the looker,” she repeated back from that conversation.
“Jack, I have a question for you. Why in my entire life have I never attracted a straight man, nor ever wanted to, but as soon as I look like a bird monster I get a guys number,” Lila head tilted to the side.
Jack turned around and gave Lila a blank stare.
”You are asking the wrong person.”“He said I was quite the looker,” Lila leaned forward,
“he was painfully straight looking guy but I like my men a little more,” Lila paused as she laughed,
“feminine.””Who was he?”“Someone from the temple. Trisha and I had a little fight earlier which is, kinda, the catalyst for this. Which was fun, by the way, she’s gotten a lot stronger. I was impressed,” Lila sighed as she used a single claw to point to her body,
“they followed the bee trail and shot me a few times. They had a cool name for me though.”Lila took a deep breath in as she pulled a fist close to her chest. Her eyes closed as she looked to the ground. As she looked up, eyes opening, and fist shooting to the air as she confidently spoke
“Lila Blackwood. Adjoined of the Maiden of Murders… The Veridian Wing…ahhhh” as Lila finished her crows cawed while she slowly dropped her hand with the palm facing up.
”The temple…” He scowled for a moment.
”Of course it was them.” He pulled something from the closet, a long woolen coat much like the one Jack was wearing right now.
He tossed it to her.
”You should be able to conceal your wings under this.”Lila’s head crooked to the side as she looked at the coat. She spread her wings out fully, each one longer than she was tall, and tried to do the geometry on her mind.
“I might have to cut out some holes for them I think,” Lila said as she grabbed the long coat from Jack and tried to get it around her wings.
“I can try to make this work,” Lila said as she tried to collapse the wings behind her back. She pulled the wings back into her body just a little, the air filling with the sounds of bones crunching, before they refused to go any further.
“I can’t change my form any further down.””That is large enough without being tied shut that it should have enough room. Have you tried folding the wings in on themselves?”Lila folded her wings in if by command and the tips still stood out a good head length overtop her head.
“That makes so much more sense,” Lila said as she tried the coat on again. It was not easy to put the coat on and several swear words, some English and some vaguely crow-like, could be heard before she finally went.
“ta-da,” as she closed the coat. It did very little to hide her form and she very much looked like a bird like monster stuffed into a tiny jacket.
Jack nodded.
”That would certainly make you seem less Adjoined from a distance. I have few more, they may fit you better, if you’d like. I have too many to wear, if I’m being honest. I tend to hoard such things.”“If only it were that easy.”There were a lot of books and vaguely supernatural objects in this room that confirmed what he just said.
“I am all for not accidentally being a furry's wet dream as well,” Lila said as she shuddered,
“bring them out Jack. We’re here anyway so maybe I can try on a few more to see if I can find one that fits better,” Lila took off the jacket and her wings instinctively spread and flapped, the force of which lifted Lila off the ground by an inch.
Jack pulled out a few more, each somewhat large or smaller than the other, and varying shades of dark blue, black or brown.
”Feel free. These would go to waste otherwise.”Lila proceeded to do an impromptu fashion show. Her mind was still somewhat fractured from the loss of her crows, and for some reason this was the thing that called to her, even if she didn’t realize she wanted this. Each one had the same problem, her wings would stick out from the top but she felt much less exposed to the world even if her skin was long since completely it was buried under her sleek feathers. She smiled, laughed, and for a brief moment forgot all about the traumas of the day and focused more on the fun she was having with a friend.
“There,” Lila said as she buttoned the first jacket Jack had brought out.
”Now I can completely hide these changes from my friends and they’ll never know I had the worst day of my life,” Lila laughed at first, then sighed, then groaned, then felt the urge to cry. She knew the jacket did nothing to help but she was hoping with a broken mind that it might.
Jack didn’t like the sound of what he just heard.
”If that is necessary… Are they your friends?” He asked, holding a bunch of coats she discarded.
”I am not myself right now,” Lila responded as she tapped her claws on her head,
”everytime I lose a crow I get a psychic backlash. It’s painful, and feels like my brain is breaking and fracturing. I lost five hundred crows today. My mind is broken in a way I’ve never experienced. I know they’ll be concerned, want to care for me, but my brain is still screaming in pain and I don’t have a way to quell that,” Lila paused as she looked up and smirked.
”Part of me knows I’m overreacting but I feel like I have a devil,” a crow landed on her left shoulder,
” and an angel,” the other crow landed on her right,
”fighting for control right now. Sudden change is hard to deal with on a good day, you know? Sudden, drastic, monstrous changes are harder.”The other chair magically moved closer to Jack, who fell into it.
”That is not unheard of. Apparitions who choose to adjoin themselves to humans rarely have benign intentions, and the Maiden obsessed over you before she had been sealed, did she not?””Oh yes, oh yes yes. The Maiden didn’t even reveal herself to me until a few weeks before the coven reformed. She likes to talk about how strong I am, how smart I am, and how good I am for the murder, and how much I mean to the coven,” Lila paused as she leaned to the side,
”but she also tells me I am too weak to make a difference, that I need to let her change me to make me perfect, and she thought it was fun to break my bones and my body multiple times today to make me stronger, and she did make me stronger,” Lila paused as she took a deep breath,
”and I know she means to be a threat to humanity again. That pink mist showed us our desires, right? Back at Kari’s house. I saw one for me, which was kinda like this,” Lila said as she pointed to her new form,
” and everyone was still my friend, and they came to have a party with me despite how I look,” Lila paused as she took a deep breath,
”but I also saw hers. I saw St. Portwell burning, I saw our coven dead at my feet. Killed by my hands. I saw a murderous murder ready to sweep across the world and there was nothing that could be done to stop them.. Lila began talking deep shallow breaths.
”And I still let her in more, let her talk up my strength, but the entire time I knew she was planning to take over my body and cast me aside like everyone she’d ever loved. She’s an apparition of loneliness,” Lila’s leg began to bounce rapidly as her mind began to grow weak.
Jack leaned forward in his seat.
”Apparitions live very long lives, and those lives are often lonely without a host. The Maiden may be a century old, or eons older than Shimmer, and her understanding of us mortals is therefore skewed,” he said.
”I was subjected to those illusions as well. What you saw may have been her idea of “good,” but she only takes and takes, as I understand her. There are ways of removing apparitions that cannot or refuse to leave willingly.”“I know. The problem is,” Lila said as she held out one claw on each finger and her crows flew over and perched on them,
“these guys are quite delightful. They were all human once,” Lila smiled as she looked over them.
“I think they deserve better than what the maiden commands of them. They deserve love.””Perhaps they do,” Jack acknowledged.
”But you deserve a fate better than theirs. A fate where your mind and body are not twisted by something you have no defense against.”“You’re right,” Lila paused as she stood up confidently,
“but I’m a pretty good seal. I beat the maiden at her own game and figured out how to suppress her,” she said as she tapped the crystal on her chest.
“Maybe after we deal with the murderer killing us, 8th street, and every other threat we face along the way I’ll be more ready to look into getting her out of me,” Lila paused as she made a fist with her claws,
“I can help more now like this. And I have all these cute guys to learn more about,” Lila paused as she made a noise that someone makes when they see a baby or a cute dog. She was clearly in a drunk state now, the heavy conversation weighed her down..
”That is a justifiably decision to make…” He chose his words carefully, wondering if he even
should say this.
”…But if the Maiden is influencing your mind, at what point will your decision to stay Adjoined no longer be your own?”“You won’t,” Lila repeated the maidens words from this morning back to herself as she slinked back down to the chair,
“she’s really strong, Jack, but I think, no I feel, like this, this was me,” Lila said as she contemplated what was said.
“Can you do any magic that would take away her influence, even for a minute, to see if I am making a stupid mistake staying like this,” Lila asked, unsure if Jack had any power or item to test this theory.
”Not unless the Maiden happens to originate from the Void,” he said, pulling the Black Star up and over his hand and handing it to Lila for a moment.
”How does she respond to this?”“Well,” Lila said as she looked down into the depths where the Maiden resided and was greeted by the wrathful face of a apparition chained to the walls of a soul,
“she’s not any more angry than she was earlier.””Then until Kenshiro and I find the Brass Needle, you may just have to be patient. We know where it is, and it may be able to unadjoin you, assuming you are not truly cursed.”“I at least choose a good form to be my cursed form,” Lila said as she looked at all the purple feathers that covered her body,
“very emo colored,” she chuckled.
”And useful, it seems. Have you tried flying?”“Not yet,” Lila said as she narrowed her eyes at Jack and smiled wide. She unbuttoned the jacket and placed it neatly on the chair as she took several long strides back. She stood confidently, and stood tall as she did. It felt almost like it did the first time she gained a new power, ten whole years ago. A surge of excitement filled her body.
“Will you two show me how it’s done,” Lila asked her crows but they simply flapped their wings in response. Lila sighed as she crouched down and raised her wings up high. She closed her eyes as she leapt into the air, her enhanced strength allowed her to jump fairly high as she began to furiously flap her wings. After a few frantic seconds she opened her eyes and she was still in the air. It was not graceful, it was not controlled, but she was airborne. For a few seconds at least before she miss timed her wings and fell to the ground hard.
”Be careful, there is a ceiling in here,” he commented.
Lila, face down on the floor, held up a thumb at the comment.
“I hit the floor not the ceiling though,” Lila’s voice was muffled by the floor before an infectious laugh escaped her lips as she rose to her knees and fell down backwards to the floor. She kept laughing as she laid on the ground.
“I will lay here for a second-a second. I think I’m trying to do much fast,” Lila said as her words began to lose their grammar.
“How time here work,” Lila asked with a tone that hinted
she was feeling uneasy about everything again.
”Slightly quicker than Shimmer. Ten minutes here is eight minutes there.”“So not in a way to help me train and control this body,” Lila sighed before she chuckled.
”You certainly could,” Jack noted.
”Four hours in here is only three hours in Shimmer. You have more time in this place than otherwise.”“I don’t know if I have even that,” Lila said as she grinned,
“friends worried you know.” Lila pulled out her phone and found it very hard to pull up her text app to see what Lynn and them were saying. Her clawed hands are still unable to register on the touch screen. She thought about using her tongue again but decided against it.
”If anything did happen, Kenshiro has access to this place as well, and could find us easily.” There was, unfortunately, no cell service in this place between universes.
“So we can stay here for a couple more hours,” Lila said as she craned her head to look at Jack, her eyes starting to feel heavy
“I have had a long day.” ”I believe that. Yes, we can stay here. As long as I am here, or Kenshiro, then you’re permitted to be here as well. That was part of the agreement we made with Tennogama’ servants. No one can be left alone here without us.”“Okay-okay, I’m going to take a nap. Please don’t leave then.” Lila said before she was swiftly taken away by a much needed rest. One of the two crows flew over to Jack and landed on his shoulder while the other remained with Lila
Lila opened her eyes once again and her head was pounding. The rest had not done much to fix the damage that her mind experienced but it was much needed all the same for her body. The pain from this day would forever be saved in the fabric of her body as a snapshot, but a nice good night's sleep was everything she could hope for right now. Lila's eyes flickered for a moment before she pushed herself up at least a little and looked around for Jack. The fact that she was actually here with him confirmed that this wasn’t the nightmare she had secretly hoped it was.
Jack didn’t look like he had gotten up. The remnants of the fashion show were put away, and he had several books stacked beside him, along with one in hand.
“You still here,” Lila asked as she yawned a big yawn. She could sleep for at least another twelve hours.
“How long was I out for?” ”Two hours,” he said, turning a page without looking up.
”You must have been exhausted.”Lila looked down at the crystal as she did another yawn. The vibrant blue color had begun to fade slightly as the maiden fought to release herself from the prison. Lila held up her right hand and a blue mist began to fall from it as Lila summoned the curse magic before twisting the magic into a ball before she placed it on the crystal. She held it there as the mist fell from her hand and onto the ground below. After a few moments the Crystal returned to its full glow.
“Yeah,” Lila saw that her crow was on Jack’s shoulder.
“I could go for a few hours more. Like twenty four hours,” Lila chuckled as she rubbed her eyes
”What are you doing? Is that a seal?” He asked.
“Hmm,” Lila asked before her mind clicked into gear.
“No, I used the curse magic on myself. The Maiden’s curse magic can force things to transform. I forced my body to transform in a way to prevent her from trying to force me from the light. This just kinda holds the curse magic I think. It’s like a canary in the coal mine,” Lila used a claw to tap the crystal,
“the maiden has something like this at the same spot though she used hers differently. She used it as a conduit for her power I think. When I took control over her I made one for myself thinking it would help,” Lila paused as she pointed to the blue feathers all across her body,
“from what I understand these feathers are cursed like my wings, and have been affected by whatever I did. The crystal is truly just a repository of the magic that I wield now,” Lila responded with another yawn,
“the more she fights the faster it drains and I have to refill the magic.”He leaned forward, setting his book down on the stack.
”What power do you draw from to maintain it? Her? Have you found a way to bleed her of her own Abstraction?”“Her magic,” Lila said as she leaned all the way on her side again,
“today is day one Jack, I have a lot to learn.”He nodded.
”That is very clever. Harvesting apparitions is not unheard of, but to do it as you’ve done is rare. I have books for this, one moment-” Jack stood up, and stepped over to his bookshelf, looking for something.
“The Maiden was cocky and taught me how to do it,” Lila smirked,
”she thought she broke me enough to make me weak and that I wouldn’t figure out how to draw her power for myself, but she just made me want revenge.”. Lila felt like she said that once before but couldn’t remember when.
”Here it is…” Jack walked back over and handed Lila a rather heavy book with an old illustration on the front. The Lifeblood of the Spirits, original author unknown.
”This details many ways of stealing the power of apparitions, especially ones sealed within their hosts. You should have plenty to learn from it.”“I will hopefully be able to explain what I did,” Lila paused as she grabbed the book and carefully opened it to the first page.
“Would I not have just used the powers like an agent would, like her power is based on curses and transformation magic,” Lila asked inquisitively. This was all new to her, and she was thankful that Jack was a wealth of knowledge.
”You could, if you learned. Though, every Agent is different, especially among those with the apparition sealed within them. You are essentially a living artifact, and your abstraction is now fundamentally bound to your soul. Unlike when you were Adjoined, your abstraction cannot be taken from you by the Maiden now. You have full access to every ability she does, there will be plenty to learn.”“Which makes it difficult to get rid of her,” Lila finally said.
“Transformation and curses,” Lila spoke to Jack,
“application of these magics can go far.””Difficult, but not impossible,” Jack said, sitting back down.
”Moreover, there are ways to reinforce your hold on her, to ensure she does not poison your mind further. Continuously draining her power for your own use is a start, but all things magic can be improved in their own ways.”“So I’ll have to train. A lot. And actually try to learn as much as I can about this power. After tonight, do you think I can come back here again sometime soon,” Lila asked Jack,
“you have helped me a lot with this all. And I hate to intrude on you and Ken like this without asking.””You have permission, Lila. We constructed the Eleventh Path for the coven, not for ourselves,” he said this firmly.
”Anytime I am here, or Kenshiro, ask. This is a sanctuary, a safe space. You are welcome here.”“Perfect,” Lila said as she finally stood up and stretched out her wings, her back, and then her arms.
“I wish everyone could see this place. I think more would want to stay,” Lila said as she walked over to where Jack got the book but she held onto it.
“Jasper, Luca, and Lynn especially.””Tell them. I offered to let the coven use this space as a meeting area, it still stands.”“Would you want more company here tonight?””I would not say no.”“If we get enough people to actually visit this place, I think it will be an easy choice to turn this into our meeting space. With you, Ken, Jasper, Luca, Lynn, and myself you have the votes to do it, Lila paused as she stretched her arms out.
“this place feels like it’ll be perfect for what we need.”He nodded.
”That is the intention. There are additional rooms we have yet to find a purpose for. We built a room specifically for the storage of artifacts as well. We have options, now that this is completed.”“How about a tour of those rooms, and then we can go back to Lucas’s and see if they’re down to come, Lila smirked.
Jack stood up again.
”Of course. Follow me,” He said, walking back out of the room and up a flight of stairs. They both stopped before the would-be meeting room. A large circular table with over a dozen chairs, and plenty of purple candles floating around, suspended by magic.
Lila’s crows took off into the room and circled around the table, the floating candles, and then back to their shoulders. Lynn placed a hand on the table and walked along the circular rim as she did. This felt proper. This felt like a coven meeting room.
“This is what we need”, Lila said with a wide smile. Away from the chaos of the past two meeting spots.
Jack walked in behind her.
”My thoughts exactly, I would have explained more at the last meeting. But we had other things to discuss.” The candles floated one way and the other, making room as someone walked by.
”Anyone could be brought directly to this room, by Kenshiro and I. We could gather within minutes, and disperse just as quickly.”“Could this be turned into something like what the mansion was for us back in the day,””Not quite. The Eleventh Path only has so much space within its walls, but we could rearrange one of the adjacent rooms to be a safe house if we needed. This pocket dimension is like wet clay, we do not add or remove anything from it. We simply reconfigure.”“Still, this place is incredible,” Lila paused as she looked at Jack,
“I’ll make sure it’s used.””I appreciate that.” He walked closer to her, and waved the door back to Shimmer into existence.
”But for now, I have rounds I should tend to, I’ll send you back to where we first entered.”Lila sighed as her one leg began to shake.
“Well I have to do this eventually,” Lila paused as she flashed Jack a smile as she tossed of Jack’s jacket, knowing all too well that that it would not do anything,
“any chance I could convince you to drop me off at Lucas’s? Maybe in the apartment,” Lila asked with an almost pleading tone to her voice.
”That is where I am going first. By all means, let’s go.””Lead the way.” 
