Vinnie holds the door open for me and I make my grand entrance. Inside I see my parents, Kyle with a woman I don’t know, Sophia and Gavin, Scott and Megan, Elizabeth, Charlie, Rick and a woman I’m guessing is Lucy, Joseph and Miranda, Frannie and Gary, the rest of my core advisors and their significant others, and some of the troops we have who I’m closest with.
There are a few other people, who I’m not really certain of who they are and of course there are about twenty children other than my three also running around. I could see why they don’t all live under the same roof. Even with the bunkhouse in the basement, the house couldn’t hold everyone.
“Wow, you finally did it?” Kyle says, walking over to me, poking my shoulder as if I wouldn’t react negatively. “You somehow replicated her.”
I smack his finger away. “He did nothing of the sort, you crazy person. If you like that finger, which I have no reason to believe you don’t, you better watch where you put it.”
“I’m pretty sure he did, or you wouldn’t be standing here right now, dollface,” he replies, looking at me skeptically.
“If I hadn’t been transported here by a spell five years ago, you may be right. I’m sure there’s some way for me to prove that to you, how about we talk about the first time we met? Do I need to go into details about how you basically drooled at my feet? Would something Vinnie created in his lab know about those kinds of details?”
“So you aren’t a clone, just a time-traveling super hero?” he asks. He hadn’t really drooled at my feet, but I imagined the woman he’d been standing by didn’t want to hear the details about what did happen.
“Hey, it wouldn’t be the first time-traveling adventure for me. At least this time I got to stay an adult. If I had to go through another adventure as a kid, I’d lock myself in a room to keep from having to deal with anymore warlocks.”
I look at the rest of the crowd, and they seem to be in shock still. I know they haven’t had me around for a while, but they had to remember that life with me was extremely unpredictable.
“You going to introduce me to your lady friend?”
I glance over to Aisling to see if she has a problem with it. She shrugs her shoulders, which I take to mean I can meet anyone in the room who I don’t already know.
“Sure, sorry, forgot that you might not know her,” he says as he walks over to grab his tall, blonde friend by the hand. “Avery, this is Rachel, Rachel, this is Avery, who you’ve heard everyone talk about, but really haven’t had a chance to meet yet. I’m kind of glad you’re meeting the real person and not a robot version.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I say, shaking her hand. I don’t feel the need to tell her the man standing next to us is a giant dork.
“I can’t believe I’m actually getting to meet you,” she replies shyly. It surprises me a little that loudmouth Kyle would end up with a sheepish person, but she probably evens him out well.
“So, everyone, do we want to get this party started, or what?” I ask the rest of the room while smiling at Rachel. The crowd finally comes out of their daze and starts clapping. I don’t know why they feel the need to clap, so I carry on with what I want to say.
“I’m guessing Aisling has already given her speech about not revealing anything I shouldn’t know, because it can affect my choices, but just between us, if you really want to let me in on any of those secrets, I’m totally good with it.”
I look over at Aisling and she’s giving me a dirty look. “Just you wait until Aunt Eva gets here. She’ll make sure no one says anything bad.”
I smile at her and head over to Nate. “You guys weren’t kidding, everyone is here.”
“Yeah, this is usually the one day we all get together for reasons we aren’t supposed to tell you,” he says. “I guess this is Vinnie’s first time joining the party, so it’s a little different this year.”
I can’t help the snort slash chuckle that escapes my lips. I assume the rest of the group believes there’s a little something else making their party different.
“You know it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out this is the anniversary of my death. Why else would you guys be so secretive? I’ll be a good girl and try not to figure out the exact date, but I’d like you guys to realize I still have a brain in between my ears,” I tell him.
“She’s going to be so mad at you,” he says with a little laugh. “I won’t be the one to confirm or deny your allegations and I doubt anyone else will. Aisling is a little spitfire when she’s angry. She hasn’t accidently torched anyone yet when her temper boils over, but I know that day is coming.”
Rick heads our way with his soulmate. “Are you allowed to know who this is?” he asks as confused as most of the partygoers probably are on the rules.
Before he has a chance to consult with Aisling, I say, “It’s nice to meet you, Lucy. Aisling has already mentioned you to me, so I believe we can be introduced.”
I reach out my hand, but instead of shaking, she wraps her arms around me and brings me in close for a hug. “Thank you for being our leader.”
“You’re welcome, I hope that I didn’t disappoint too many people with my actions. I find it’s a little difficult to please everyone,” I say.
“I know your exact actions are a topic we can’t speak of, but I will say you could never disappoint your family. They’re behind you, whatever decisions you make,” she says, releasing me.
Over the next ten minutes, I walk around and make sure I greet all the people there, including the ones who I don’t know. I have a sneaky suspicion that one of them is the daughter I don’t remember, but nothing sparked for me like it did with Scott earlier. That’s too bad. It would have been cool heading back to my time remembering all of my kids. There’s a part of me that hopes once I do remember everyone, all my other memories will click into place.
I finally get to my parents, and it looks like Mom has been crying like expected. There’d been a few other misty eyes, so carrying around tissues would’ve been smart.
“You don’t have to cry, you know. This is supposed to be a happy event,” I tell her, giving her a hug.
I’m pretty sure I’ve handed out about one hundred of those. It has to be pretty close to a record. At least I can’t think of a single setting where I’d been hugged as much.
“I know it is, but did you really have to wear that awful shirt for it?” she asks. “You’ve been dead to us for the past five years and you come to us wearing a shirt talking about working in Hell. It’s really tacky, and you know I can’t stand tacky.”
“Same old Mom. It’s good to see my passing didn’t change your sense of humor,” I say, smiling at her. “You were pregnant last I recall; can I meet my newest sibling?”
“Aubrey should be around her somewhere,” she says, looking around the group of children. “That’s odd. She was here just a second ago. Honey, have you seen her?”
My dad mimics her, glancing around for my sister. “No, she was playing with Aine and now she isn’t there. Maybe she went to the bathroom or something. I’m sure she’ll wander in before too long. She’s not as ambitious as you were at that age.”
“From what I’ve heard and remember, any kid who was that ambitious belongs locked up to protect others from chaos. You know, I have to go use the little girl’s room myself, so maybe I’ll bump into her,” I say, heading toward the door.
It is getting a little warm in the cramped room and I could use a little fresh air. It isn’t clear whether I can actually use a bathroom in my weird phantom state, but it’s an excuse no one can argue with.
I head towards the closest bathroom, but I don’t find anyone on the way. Still wanting my fresh air, I step out onto a terrace we have in the back of the house. It’s pretty early and the sun looks enchanting as it starts to set.
I find a chair, and make myself comfortable. I’m sure the crowd won’t miss me for a few minutes. I wish I could read a paper or something, so I can see how the world has really settled in the last f
ive years. I know Aisling said everything was copacetic, but I’m not certain if she was just saying that to make me happy. It makes sense to me that she’d try to sugarcoat things to keep me from prying into reality.
“Are you my sister?” a small voice asks from underneath the table.
I didn’t even realize someone was sitting under it. She’s lucky I didn’t kick her in the face when I sat down. I don’t tend to be the most graceful person.
“Are you Aubrey?” I ask, peeking under the table to get a look at her. Like the majority of our family, she has brown hair, but hers is cut in a little pixie cut that looks adorable with her thin face.
She nods her little head up and down instead of vocalizing her response. I bend down and pick her up, so she can sit on my lap. She doesn’t give any resistance, so she mustn’t be afraid of me.
“Then yes, I would be your sister, but we haven’t actually met before. Back in my time, you weren’t born yet.”
“Mom told me you died. She said I used to have a brother and sister, but I only have a brother now. She cries sometimes when I ask about you. Daddy says I should wait until I’m older to ask. ”
“This must be really confusing for you then, huh?” I’m hoping now that we’re out in the open that they’ve been telling phoenix children what they really are. I know Nate mentioned it was hard not to with our kids, but I don’t know if the rule was totally abolished. “Do you know that you’re special?” I guess her response would answer the question.
“Yup, I’m a phoenix,” she replies. “I’m part of the royal family and everything.”
“Well if you know that, then you must know how magical some of us are,” I say.
“Yup, Rick told me you were really magical and can do all sorts of neat stuff. I can’t do any of that yet, but he says I might be able to when I’m older.”
“I don’t doubt you’ll be able to do all sorts of fun things. Part of the magic we have is the reason I’m able to be here with you today,” I don’t really want to go into details about it being a warlock spell and all that, so I’m sticking with an easy explanation, magic.
“Does that mean you’ll be staying with us now? I know that would make a lot of people happy around here. There’s lots of people who want you to come back forever.”
“I don’t know for sure, little sister. Magic can be silly sometimes and it doesn’t always last. Chances are I’ll go back eventually, but it’s fun seeing how everyone is doing.”
“Even if you don’t stay, it was nice to finally meet you. I’ve only seen you in pictures before,” she says, wrapping her arms around me.
“What do you say we head back into the house? Mom and Dad are probably worried that you’ve disappeared.”
“Good idea. We don’t want them to think I died too,” she says, climbing down and holding out her hand for me.
I stand up and take the extended hand. As we walk into the house, I tell her, “No, we wouldn’t want them to think that.”
CHAPTER 17
Dogs always remember a person they love