Chapter 7: 7. Diverted

Grace glared as she lowered her phone and stabbed at the disconnect button with her forefinger.

It was a brief glimpse of raw emotion and unrestrained anger, and it was a lot more intense than anything she ever sent my way back before I made friends with her. It was only a glimpse though, before she reined it in and calmed herself down.

"I'm sorry Mara," she sighed. "My folks are demanding I get home for dinner ASAP. They know if I stay here for dinner tonight I'll be tempted to stay over again, which means I'll be late for work tomorrow."

I'd gathered all that from what I heard of the phone call. Not that I was trying to listen in, but voices were raised enough on both sides that it would have been hard not to overhear.

It was also pretty clear from her tone just how much she didn't care about being late for work tomorrow. In fact I doubted she gave a damn if she ever went back to her uncle's business at all. But I didn't have to wonder how that would play out, I heard it loud and clear thanks to her dad's shouting over the phone.

I gave her a sympathetic smile and replied, "It's ok Grace, I get it. Before you go though I do need to know if you signed a deal with Lily? You don't have to tell me any details, just if you signed or not."

"No," she shook her head. From the tone of her voice and the look in her eyes I was tempted to ask if she wanted to see Lily again right then and there.

As she gathered up her purse and things she added, "I'll be in touch ok Mara? Thanks again for everything. I really enjoyed our outing today at the bluffs. Hopefully we can do it again soon?"

"Thanks for suggesting it," I smiled. "It was pretty cool, I've never seen the bluffs before. And I think we're all looking forward to going to the Ex at the end of the month."

She gave me a sad smile, then hurried up the stairs. She called a quick goodbye to my girlfriends who were all waiting in the living-room, then she ducked out the side door before anyone could respond.

I sighed as I stood in the kitchen and watched out the window as Grace got into her car. A minute later she pulled out of the driveway and headed off out of sight.

"Lily?" I asked quietly. "Did everything go ok when you were talking with her? Do you think she's going to be ok with her family?"

My demon mom replied calmly, "My meeting with Grace went fine Mara. You know I won't discuss any details of the contract I offered her, but as she already told you, she did not sign anything."

"Do you think she will?" I asked. "Like is she thinking it over or something? Or do you think she's been scared off or something?"

Before Lily could respond, Melissa joined me in the kitchen and asked in a concerned voice "What happened to Grace? Is everything ok?"

I shrugged, "She got through her meeting with Lily, she didn't sign anything though. Then before I could really ask her how she was doing her dad called? They got into an argument, and she had to go home."

The busty blonde frowned, "That sucks. I hope she'll be ok."

"Me too," I agreed.

We ended up getting drinks and joining the others in the living-room. I told Susan and Amber the same thing I told Melissa, but apart from worrying there wasn't anything we could do. Eventually we all agreed on getting pizza for dinner, so Melissa got out her phone and started putting our order into the app.

While she was doing that I asked, "Lily? Do you think Grace is still considering your offer? Do you think she's going to be safe with her family?"

My demon mom hesitated briefly, then suggested "Why don't you come in here Mara? We can discuss the matter a little easier face to face."

"Ok Lily," I replied. Then I told my girlfriends, "I'll be back in a few minutes, I'm going to go inside and talk to Lily about this stuff for a bit."

Sue nodded, "Ok Mara, let us know how it goes?"

Melissa teased, "Pizza should be here in forty minutes, if you're still with Lily when it arrives we're going to start dinner without you."

I grinned then let my eyes unfocus as I pulled myself inside to meet with my demon mom.

It was the same thing I'd done a thousand times over the past year or whatever. It was basically automatic, I didn't even have to think about it. Except instead of Lily's posh apartment in our head, this time I found myself standing somewhere else.

My heart started racing as I looked around wide-eyed.

I recognized the place immediately, I was in the atrium of demon-Mara's villa. Everything was just like I remembered it from my numerous dreams, down to the exotic plants growing in planters along the sides of the atrium and the colourful frescos on the walls.

One thing that struck me as odd was it was night here, while it was dinner time back at home. Assuming I didn't somehow pass out and spend five or six hours asleep before waking up in here.

Despite being night it was still warm, like it was obviously a nice summer night. It was August at home so I figured it was August here too. The night sky was clear, I could see lots of stars overhead.

A quick glance down at myself confirmed I was still me, still the half-human Mara from modern-day Canada. This was the first time I'd been here where it wasn't a dream and I wasn't her. At least, I was pretty sure it wasn't a dream.

It didn't make sense though.

Either it was a dream after all, or I'd somehow been transported to the demon-Mara's home on Thera.

And this wasn't ruins or anything. At least what I could see of the villa, the atrium around me all looked exactly like it did in my dreams. It was all still intact, it looked like she still lived here. So if I really did transport myself to Thera, then I also went back in time a couple thousand years. Which meant maybe demon Mara was still here.

That led to a pang of emotions, and I honestly wasn't sure if I was scared or excited to meet her.

If I did meet her, if I was back in the past somehow, then the next thing to cross my mind was maybe I could warn her. Tell her what was going to happen near Herculaneum. Maybe I could even warn her about Armaros and Verothilas, and she could warn Lily.

I hadn't moved from the spot where I'd appeared, but I knew my way around the villa. I'd been here so many times in my dreams it was like a second home or something.

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With my heart still racing I called out nervously, "Hello? Mara? Are you here?"

I waited for a few seconds but there was no answer.

With it being night and all, I figured maybe she was asleep in her bedroom or something. Assuming she was actually here. I knew where her private chambers were, so I turned and took a step in that direction. As soon as I started to move though I felt a wave of dizziness come over me.

Suddenly I was in Lily's apartment, facing the sofa instead of the window.

My demon mom was standing next to me, she looked both surprised and concerned as she asked "Mara? What happened? Where did you go?"

I looked up at her, my eyes were still wide and my head was spinning. I stumbled forward and slumped heavily onto her leather sofa, with my tail wrapped around and coiled up on my lap.

"I was at her villa," I sighed. "I don't know how? I meant to come in here to see you. I did the mental step-back thing same as always, but instead of being here I was in the atrium of demon-Mara's villa."

Lily looked confused and worried, but she didn't seem to know how to respond to that.

I gulped and added, "I don't think she was home? I called for her but there was no answer. Unless she was asleep, it was night-time there. And everything looked like it did when she lived there, like I was in the past or something. But when I went to go look for her, suddenly I was here. Maybe it was a dream? Maybe I blacked out or something?"

My demon mom was still standing a few paces away, she looked worried as she watched me.

"Maybe," she finally responded. She didn't sound that sure though.

"How long was I gone?" I asked as I looked at the window. It was still daytime here, we were still sitting in the living-room with my girlfriends. It looked like I was only gone for a few seconds, which made me think I wasn't asleep or dreaming. Like I didn't pass out for a few hours and wake up at night or whatever.

Lily sat down next to me, she still looked concerned and a bit confused. "Only a few seconds, but I didn't know where you were. You weren't in the body, but you weren't in here with me either. I lost track of you and... I was worried."

"Aww," I smiled as I leaned against her and gave her a hug. "Sorry if I scared you Lily. I'm ok, I just got lost somehow."

She gently wrapped her large arm around me and held me as well.

"If it happens again," I told her, "And if I do manage to speak with her, I'm going to warn her about Armaros and Verothilas. And about what happened at Herculaneum. If I'm somehow going back in time and visiting her, maybe I can save her? And save you."

My demon mom sighed, "I'm not sure that's possible Mara. I've never heard of any kind of magic to allow time travel. But if it were, if that's what's really happening, then if you managed to save her life what would become of you? If she didn't die two millennia ago, she wouldn't have been reborn as you. If you somehow saved her, you might not exist anymore."

"Oh," I frowned. "Huh, I didn't think of that."

I continued frowning as I puzzled through it, "That's one of those paradox things right? Like if I save her then I won't exist, and if I don't exist then I couldn't go back in time and save her after all. So then I do exist, and that means I can go back in time and save her. Or..."

Lily gave me a gentle squeeze and reminded me, "I'm quite certain time travel is impossible Mara. So whatever happened just now, I don't believe you actually went back in time. I don't think you'll be able to save her, as much as you'd like to do that."

"Aw," I sighed as I held her a little tighter as well. "I was hoping there'd be some way to save her, and save you so you wouldn't be imprisoned."

"Thank you Mara," my demon mom gave me another gentle squeeze. "I appreciate the thought, but please don't attempt anything that could erase you from existence. Your girlfriends, your mother, and I would all miss you too much."

I couldn't argue with that, so I just enjoyed the hug as the two of us sat on the sofa together.

"So if I didn't travel in time and didn't get transported to her villa on Thera, where do you think I was?"

"I really don't know," she replied. She sounded uneasy again as she added, "And that concerns me. But I don't know what to do about it either. For now, let us just hope it doesn't happen again?"

"Ok Lily," I nodded slowly.

After another minute or so I finally remembered why I wanted to come in and talk with her in the first place.

"So about Grace, do you think she'll be ok? And do you think she's actually considering your offer?"

Lily replied, "I'm confident we haven't scared her away. She needed time to think about my offer, but I believe she is seriously considering it. As for her family, I've never met them so I cannot give you an opinion on what I think they will do. But I can say that Grace does not believe her parents would do anything harmful."

After a moment she clarified, "She doesn't believe her parents would attempt to physically harm her. She does expect them to be emotionally or verbally abusive, and I believe we've already witnessed that ourselves while she spoke with her father on the phone earlier."

I grimaced, "Yeah. That's why I was worried about her being ok? But if she's not worried about them, I guess it'll be ok."

My demon mom agreed. She suggested, "For now I think the best thing would be to give her some space. She will probably have to deal with family issues before she has time to think about my offer. She'll contact us when she's ready."

"That make sense," I nodded. "Ok Lily, thank you!"

She smiled, "You're welcome Mara. Now why don't you return to your girlfriends, try and enjoy the rest of your evening."

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