Chapter 10: Chapter 8: Familial Spat

“Dad, I’m a girl now!” Alex tried to extract herself from her father’s embrace, but Tunem just held on tighter. “Wait, are you crying?!”

“I’ve missed you so much! Are you hurt? Can I help?” Tunem said in a quavering voice. “We can get Yamato to put you back to how you were before, no problem.”

“No!” Alex blurted out, finally managing to extricate herself from her father’s grip. “I mean, no thanks. I like how I am now.”

Tunem frowned, wiping his eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want to go back to normal?”

Lilith looked down, ashamed. “That’s…my fault.” She said.

Alex moved over to Lilith, and clamped her hand over Lilith’s mouth. “It’s nothing, dad. Besides, wouldn’t Yamato be forced to take me away and interrogate me or something? It’s far and away the safest option to have me stay like this.”

Tunem thought about that for a moment, then sighed. “I suppose you’re right, you…are a known traitor. But what’s this Lucas was saying? It’s his fault? Not something some sick Society member did to you for their amusement?”

“Tunem, shouldn’t you know all this already?” Vithi said, confused. “This isn’t like you, normally you’re way more prepared.”

“It’s really hard to perform divination around Perfect Chimeras.” Tunem said. “And that means I had to do a lot of guesswork. But…Lucas did this? Where did he learn the spells to do this? This is…permanent, not an enchantment.”

Lilith gently removed Alex’s hand from her mouth. “I…didn’t. It just…felt like something I could do. I’m sorry, I offered to try and change her back, but she doesn’t want to.”

“It’s not really her fault.” Judy said defensively. “Alex tried to mind control her and unleashed some sort of weird alternate personality that knew how. Lilith couldn’t do it again right now if she tried.”

Tunem sighed. “Well, I suppose I can’t expect a Perfect Chimera to abide by the normal rules. Anything else I should know?”

“I put her under some sort of…contract of sorts.” Lilith replied. “I don’t know the details of it, but I made sure it couldn’t be removed by just…saying words. I would have gotten rid of it already if I could.”

“I’ll look into it later.” Tunem said, waving a hand dismissively. “I have an offer for the four of you. If I understand correctly, you’re on the run, yes?”

“We are, what about it?” Judy said, giving Tunem a suspicious look.

“You’re not going to find peace here on Earth.” Tunem said flatly. “The Society is going to keep hounding you and hounding you and you’re going to get caught eventually. So, I’m offering sanctuary; you can come to my demiplane. There you’ll be safe from the Society and you can properly learn magic. What do you say?”

Judy turned to Vithi. “Is this above board? Can we trust him?”

Vithi sighed defeatedly. “As much as I hate to say it, it’s probably the best shot we have at being safe. I don’t think we can stay on the run indefinitely. He’s high up in Haven’s government, so it’s…probably fine. At the least it’d be much better than whatever the Society would do.”

“Fine.” Judy said. “But on one condition; you have to let me come with. I’m not leaving her alone while she’s still getting used to everything.”

“Of course.” Tunem said smoothly. “We’ll even remove the limiter from you so you can properly learn magic as well. What do you say, Lilith?”

“Um, yeah, I think that’s acceptable.” Lilith said. “What do we need to do?”

Tunem smiled. “Not much. Gather your things and I’ll open a portal to my demiplane, and then that’s all that will need to happen. We’ll take care of everything else.”

“Got it.” Lilith replied, turning to Judy. “I’m going to go get our suitcases, you grab whatever else is loose.”

Judy nodded, and Lilith left to grab their suitcases. A few minutes later they were back in the main room, where Tunem had drawn out a large circle. “Just stand in here and we’ll be on our way. First, though, Lilith, stay still for a moment, I need to cast an illusion spell. There’s some…we’ll say racial tension between angels and demons, and as a result…well half angel half demons are very rare, and we don’t want you to stick out any more than you already will.”

Tunem bean to speak an incantation, and Lilith was only able to catch words along the lines of ‘disguise’ and ‘human’ before the spell finished. Lilith looked behind her to find that her wings and tail had seemingly vanished, though she was still able to feel them when she tried.

“So…what if someone feels them? I’ll be careful but it’s bound to happen.” Lilith said, poking at her invisible wings.

“If someone feels them, they’ll just ignore them.” Tunem said. “We’re ready now, so if everyone would just step into the circle we can be on our way.”

Everyone got into the magic circle and Tunem stepped in, bent down, and the circle began to glow. Lilith felt a lurching feeling in her stomach, her surroundings blurred, and then she found herself on a stone path in a lush garden. Tunem began walking purposefully down the path, and the rest of the group followed. Soon they were in front of the gates to a large complex, which slid open after a wave from Tunem.

He brought the group to a large mansion near the gates, one of several that Lilith could see. He stopped at the front door, turning to face the group. “This is going to be your place of residence for the time of your studies. Would you like to go straight to our examinations, or would you prefer to see your rooms first?”

“You didn’t say anything about exams!” Lilith said nervously.

Tunem chuckled. “Don’t worry about it too much. They’re just a few tests to see where you’re at physically and magically. It’s so we can figure out what your curriculum should actually be.”

“I…see. Um, can we see our rooms so we can put away our stuff first?”

“Of course.” Tunem replied, opening the door. “You, Judy, and Vithi will be staying in one of our dorms, though I’m sure Vithi would prefer to be in her lair most of the time, and Alex will, of course, be staying in her old room in my house.”

“Absolutely not!” Alex said quickly.

“Why not?”

“Dad, I know you’re excited to have me back, but you have to think this through more! What will people say if some random girl starts staying in the room your son used to be in? People are going to get suspicious!”

Tunem sighed. “Fine, you can room with them, but you have to spend time with me. If I think you’re avoiding me, you’re moving right back to your room, understand?”

“I suppose I –”

Alex was cut off by the doors in front of them opening, a young human man in robes stepping out.  “Ah, master Tunem, I thought I heard a disturbance. Who are these people?” He asked.

“This young lady,” Tunem said, indicating Lilith, “is Lilith. She’s going to be under our tutelage for a while.”

The man gave Lilith an appraising look, raising an eyebrow as he took her in. “Really? She seems a little…old to just be starting an apprenticeship, and there are no transfers scheduled for quite a while.”

Tunem waved a hand. “Extenuating circumstances. I’ll explain in a meeting later.”

“And the others?”

“Attendants of sorts. Yes, I know servants aren’t allowed, the circumstances are extremely extenuating. The four of them will need a dorm for themselves, I believe we should have one reserved?”

“Uh, yes, that’s…109, I believe.”

“Perfect. I’ll handle showing them their new room, you go update the registers and then let everyone know we’ll be having a meeting at five.”

The man opened his mouth as if to protest, then apparently thought better of it, closing his mouth again and scampering off.

“That was Alexei, if you have any issues with your new accommodations, you’ll talk to him.” Tunem explained. “109 is just down the hall to our left, if you would follow me…” He led the group down the hall until they reached a door marked 109, where he fiddled with some sort of placard to the right of the door.

After a moment he stepped away, the placard now showing the group’s names. He took out a key and unlocked the door before opening it and ushering them in. “There’s a set of keys on a hook to your left, make sure to grab them before we leave to test you. Go ahead and pick your rooms, put your bags down, and take a quick look around, then we’ll head off.”

Lilith entered the apartment, taking a moment to take the keys before continuing further into the dorm. It was…well, normal looking. There was a clean and tidy kitchen, a small dining room, and a living room that had a few couches and a TV. Further down a hallway there were a couple of bathrooms, four bedrooms, and a small laundry room.

The rooms all seemed pretty similar, each of them containing a closet, bed, a couple of empty bookshelves, and a desk with a computer. Seeing no difference between any individual room, she just put her suitcase down in the last one she inspected, the one at the furthest end of the hallway, and returned to Tunem. “Ready to go.” She said.

“Perfect, let’s just wait until everyone else finishes looking around and we’ll be on our way.”

And, a couple of minutes later, everyone filtered back into the entrance. “So, we need to go administer tests to Lilith now. The rest of you are free to watch the testing or stay here, whichever is your preference.”

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“Are you kidding? There’s no way I’m going to let her take some unknown series of tests alone. I’m coming to watch.” Judy said firmly. “Don’t try anything funny.”

“I don’t know what you intend to do if he does.” Alex said. “Not like any of us here except maybe Lilith could stop him if he really wanted to do something. Still, I’d rather not be alone right now, so I’m going to tag along too.”

Vithi was silent for a moment before she let out a sigh. “And I guess it’s in my best interests to make sure Lilith stays unharmed, so I might as well come.”

Tunem nodded. “Of course, that’s perfectly understandable. We’re going to be doing this in another building and then I need to go to that meeting I set up, so try and remember the way back.” He opened the door and strode out, leading the group back out of the building and into the wider complex.

From there they walked past several other large buildings, and Lilith was able to make out what appeared to be students in classrooms in a few of them. Those were…potentially her classmates now, though she noted with some discomfort that they all seemed much younger than she was, the oldest of the ones she observed appearing to be in their mid to late teens.

But they were soon beyond that series of buildings and were led to a much smaller building on the outskirts of the complex as a whole. “Give me a moment, there are quite a few locks here and it takes a bit to unlock them.” Tunem said, pulling out a keyring. He began to insert keys into locks and mutter incantations, the door glowing faintly as he did.

“This seems a little excessive for a testing area, don’t you think?” Judy said cautiously. “Those locks hardly seem necessary.”

“My apologies.” Tunem replied. “This is our high-concentration magic building, it houses several rare and dangerous artifacts, as well as chambers capable of withstanding severe magical energy. Normally we test students in a regular building, but as Lilith is a Perfect Chimera with little control over her magic and unpredictable reactions to spells, this is the safest place for all us in case something goes wrong. Please don’t take it personally.”

“He’s right.” Vithi said. “We have no way of knowing what Lilith’s true capabilities are, and I don’t think you understand just how dangerous Perfect Chimeras are. They’re like…like…I dunno, like a living nuclear weapon.”

“But it’s Lilith!” Judy protested. “She’s harmless!”

“I thought the same thing.” Alex said wryly. “And look how that ended up.”

“Exactly.” Tunem said, finishing with the locks and opening the door. “She may have the best of intentions, but things can happen that are out of her control. Best to be safe about it.”

“They’re right, Judy.” Lilith soothed. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Judy grumbled a bit but didn’t object further as they were led through a series of rooms and into a large, circular chamber with a series of glass booths along the walls. “If you all would please step into the nearest booth, that would be for the best.” Tunem said, motioning for Lilith to go to the center of the room.

Once everyone else was in a booth, Tunem walked over to where Lilith was and conjured up a chair. “Sit here please, I’m going to do some deep identification spells.”

Lilith complied. And Tunem began to draw out some sort of array on the floor. It took a few minutes for him to finish, but once he did, he began to chant, and the array flared into life before suddenly vanishing.

Tunem stared at the space in front of him for a while, occasionally nodding as he processed the data he had collected. Finally, he turned back to Lilith. “I would like to talk to your other personality, if that’s acceptable. Are you able to call her out yourself?”

“Um…I don’t know. Let me try?” Lilith responded. She couldn’t really think of how to communicate with Carmen, so she tried to send out a mental message for her like she would Vithi. Carmen, are you there? Tunem wants to talk with you.

Yeah, I’m here. Carmen’s reply came. Would you rather relay my answers or have me temporarily control the body?

Um…just use the body, it’ll be easier.

Roger that. Lilith felt control of the body leave her, but unlike the last time Carmen had been in control, she had full consciousness and was able to properly comprehend everything that was going on.

“Right, this is Carmen.” Carmen said, crossing her legs and leaning back in the chair. “What did you need to talk to me about?”

“I would like to know exactly what sort of contract you made with my s…daughter and how to free her.” Tunem said, noticeably colder than he had been previously.

Carmen, unfazed, shrugged. “Beats me. Demonic, mostly, bit of fae, bit of djinn, bit of whatever else that I’m not really sure of. And, as I told the others, I have no clue how to remove it now that I’ve gotten rid of the easy out. Though, to tell you the truth, she got what was coming to her. Turnabout is fair play and all that.”

“Then repeat your attempt on me.” Tunem said icily. “I would to know firsthand what it’s like so I can figure out how to remove it.”

Carmen gave another shrug. “Honestly, I don’t see the point. The mixtures aren’t going to be exactly the same, I was just feeling my way along.”

“Try.” Tunem growled.

Carmen raised her hands in surrender. “Sheesh. Fine, fine, I’ll give it a go, but no promises I can even get something on that level out right now. I’m sure my mana’s running low and all my instincts feel just that little bit duller now that I’m not in a life or death situation.” She stood up, looking Tunem right in the eyes. “Just look into my eyes and listen to my voice, OK?”

She went through much the same process she had with Alex, except Tunem wasn’t responding in the slightest, and he didn’t repeat anything Carmen told him to say.

Eventually, he sighed. “That’s enough. This isn’t going to help. I’ll need to have Kali come in and take a look at her if I really want to get to the bottom of this.”

“No!” Alex yelled. She was, surprisingly, not at all muffled by the barrier between them. “I’m perfectly fine as is, I don’t need people who are duty-bound to throw me in jail to come look at me right now!”

Tunem turned to face Alex. “Kali wouldn’t throw you in jail and you know it!” He argued. “She’s always been the most supportive of the proposal to give Earth’s magic back, she understands!”

“Not risking it! If you call her here, I’m not going to cooperate!”

“You’re being ridiculous!” Tunem said, starting to raise his voice. “Can’t you see I’m trying to help you! All of this,” he motioned at Vithi and then at Lilith, “was for you! Can’t you just let me try and help get you out of the awful situation you put yourself in!”

“Maybe I wouldn’t have gotten into this awful situation if you weren’t constantly trying to do everything for me!” Alex shouted. “You’re smothering me! I’m happy with where I am right now and would rather you don’t interfere!”

“You’re not even human anymore, and you’re under some sort of mind-altering affect!” Tunem yelled back. “You can’t tell me you’re handling this well enough on your own!”

“I chose that effect!” Alex shouted, face red as she opened the door to the glass booth and walked out. “Dad, being able to sometimes see the future right doesn’t give you the right to choose what people do! You have to think about my feelings!”

“What do you think I’ve been doing this entire time?! I just want you to be happy!”

“Well, I’d like that happiness to be the results of my efforts, not something I got from following a script you gave me!” Alex rebutted. “If I did everything the way you wanted, I would barely even be living! I’d be just some puppet dancing to whatever tune you play! I know I’ve made mistakes, but at least they’re my mistakes! Please, just let me try and figure this out on my own!”

Tunem fell silent, looking at the other people in the room. “We…can have this discussion later, when we don’t have company.” He said. “But I’ll think about what you’ve said.” He turned back to Carmen, schooling his expression back into one of neutrality. “You can go now, Carmen. We just have a few physical tests to run now, and Lilith can handle those on her own.”

Carmen nodded. “Alright, but just know that if you hurt Lilith in any way, I will come out, and I will seek my vengeance.” The shadows once again deepened, and Lilith got the distinct impression that she was looming over Tunem, despite the fact that she was sitting, and he was standing. “And trust me, it’ll be much worse than whatever you’re imagining.”

For the first time since she had met him, a flash of uncertainty showed on Tunem’s face, but just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished, leaving only the certainty that it had been there. “I won’t do anything to her.” He promised. “She’ll be safe while she’s under my care.”

Carmen glared. “I caught that bit of wiggle room you put there. I’m going to hold you to the spirit of this, not the letter, do not try this with me.”

Carmen, that’s enough. Lilith said. I can take care of myself.

No, you can’t. Carmen said flatly. If you could, I wouldn’t have had to come out in the first place. But I’ve said my piece, you can have control back.

And, suddenly, Lilith was back in control of the body. “I’m back.” She said quickly. “So, let’s put this all behind us and just…move on to the physical tests, OK?”

Tunem sighed. “Yes. Tensions are running high, let’s just…move on for now and we’ll come back to this with more level heads. Stand up and we’ll get started.”

The rests of the tests were uneventful, simple things like measuring how much Lilith could lift, the force her wings and tail could produce, and how fast she could run. And soon an awkward group, minus Tunem, was headed back to the dorms, nobody quite sure what to say.

“Hey…Lilith, can I…talk to you tomorrow?” Alex asked once they got back. “Alone, that is. I…well, I think I’m going to have some questions, but I need some time to sort my feelings out first.”

“Yeah, of course.” Lilith replied. “Just let me know and we can talk whenever.”

Alex smiled. “Thanks.” And with that she scampered off to her room, and Lilith went to her own. She flopped down on her bed and pulled out her phone; it had been a long few hours, and she needed to just…decompress and process everything that had happened. So, she booted up a game, hoping that, against all odds, it would be able to take her mind off of things.

She wasn’t holding her breath.