Chapter 42 – No Longer the Same.

Callie stood in the shower, letting the hot water flow over her body. Caress her. It was nice. Soothing. Relaxing. The scent of the bodywash was pleasant too. Lemongrass, or something, apparently. She had only paid the briefest of attention to the label as she’d squirted some onto the shower sponge.

But even with that, it wasn’t the same. The sensation didn’t feel right. She missed feeling the power of the river as the water flowed past her, being able to submerge herself in it. Lose herself in it. She’d gotten rather good at swimming while they had been there, in Arianna’s realm. It had been her domain, the others not quite as taken with it as she had been. Sure, they’d bathe in it, but that was it. She’d experienced rivers, and loved it.

The tears came again, flooding out. Pain and hurt. Loss. That the realm was gone. Arianna, gone, even if her blessing remained. Two years. Two whole years, living a very different life. Enjoying it, settling into it, getting closer to her spouses. Having Stella. Fighting the shadows every week and a half. She had wondered on it, and it really had. It had changed them, in many ways. None of them were the same as when they’d gone through the rift the first time. And they were the better for it. Callie curled up in the bottom of the shower, letting the water continue to fall on her. It was cooler down this low, but it didn’t bother her. She was used to far colder.

It had only been a couple of hours since their return, only three days passed here. But that didn’t change what they had been through. The reality of it. And that it was gone. She’d felt it clearly, as she’d stepped into the shower. Its end. The realm had collapsed in less than a month once Arianna had finally let go. The strain on her, keeping the world together, must have been so much. Callie felt pain over that, and some guilt. They’d all benefited from the death of the totems, that had been the keystones of that realm. But Arianna had been happy for them, given her her blessing, and granted her daughter her seed. It lessened the feelings, but they would never go away. Was it the same in other worlds? Was there something here as well that was keeping it together?

There was anger there too. At the one who they knew held some responsibility for it all. At Riddling. E’iures. She felt confusion about the others, the rest of the originals. She had no idea how much they knew, how involved they actually were. Did they know that they were causing the death of another world, and all of its population, when they dragged the totems out from it, and to here? Did they realise the consequences of their actions? How would she feel if Amber was directly responsible? The one who had given her the bond spell that had changed her life so much, given them all so much, and granted Julia her nature. She couldn’t imagine Julia any other way now, not that she’d known her for long before, well, everything had happened.

She smirked at that. Her parents had sort of gotten their wish there. Julia was her wife. It just hadn’t happened in the way that they’d expected, and she wasn’t Fraser any more. He was long gone. Not that he had never really existed in the first place. She was Callie, even if they tried to deny the fact. And she was also married to Uriah and Felicia, all through their magic, the bonds more real than any ceremony that society could perform. It had been for them too. Not for their families, in any way.

They were back at Julia’s house, and so far hadn’t hit any complications. No one had bothered them on the way over, and no one had been at home apart from Julia’s family’s servants, who Julia had told to piss off and mind their own business. In those words too. Something about them had irritated her, but she hadn’t made any mention of it yet. Not that they wouldn’t have been noticed at all. There were cameras everywhere within the Guardian’s complex, and who knew how many here in the Morestone estate. And for the complex, there would have been someone watching the feeds.

‘Are you alright in there?’

‘Yeah. Just reflecting.’ Callie smiled, standing back up and turning the shower off. Of course Felicia would notice. She always did. And she was grateful for that. It helped. She just wished Felicia would open up a bit more too. For all that she’dgone through. All the pain that she still carried. Felicia was a lot stronger than anyone gave her credit for.

It didn’t take her long to get dried down, apart from her hair, which she almost always left to air dry once she had gotten most of the water out of it, and stepped out into the room. Julia’s room, which looked nothing like what she would have expected. At least, not like what the Julia she knew would have had. The Julia who had been presented to her at the dinner was more believable. But that had been as much of a mask as the one she’d worn then too. The large bed looked very comfortable and inviting, though.Especially with Felicia sprawled out over it.

“You have no idea how beautiful you are,” Felicia said with a smile, her eyes fixed on her.

Callie blushed. “Says the drop dead gorgeous one, lying there so temptingly.”

She would have just joined her too, except it was still the middle of the day, and they needed to find the others. She had promised coffee after all. Callie picked up the clothes lying on the edge of the bed, and looked at them. Even though they had enchanted them, the clothes that they had been wearing for the last two years were well past their best. They’d learnt how to enchant too late, but at least they had survived that long.

What Julia had left her, clothes of her own as they were pretty much the same size, were very much Julia. The real her, not the foundling mask. As much as Callie would have loved a beautiful dress or the like, it was impractical for what lay ahead. You just couldn’t fight in one, no matter what movies said. And apparently Julia didn’t do short skirts, which she would have liked. But she wasn’t going to complain about what she’d been left. A simple pair of panties, exercise tights, sports top, a rather cute hoodie, and a pair of comfortable looking sneakers. Putting them on and looking in the mirror, she had to admit that she did look hot in them, a smile on her face. Her parents would probably have a heart attack seeing her like this, and it quite clearly revealed that she was, in fact, completely female.

“Julia’s going to love that look too.” Felicia had moved to the edge of the bed, her legs swinging lazily, tail swishing slowly.

“I’m pretty sure that’s why she chose it.” Callie grinned back. It was somewhat confidence boosting too. She could get used to this.

One last look in the mirror, then she sat down beside Felicia, looking at her. She was dressed in a short skirt and tight top, and absolutely owning the look. That her clothes were manifestations of her magic meant she had a lot of freedom in what she wore, though in the two years that they’d been together she hadn’t changed outfits very much. She just seemed to be rather fond of certain styles, and Callie couldn’t blame her.

“Do you ever think of seeing your parents again?” It was a delicate topic, but Felicia had only mentioned her parents once since she’d become her familiar, and that had been early on. They had caused Felicia a lot of pain, that much obvious from what had happened, and what Callie had learnt, but it was pain that she still carried. Felicia wasn’t alone any more. She had all of them now.

Felicia stopped swinging her legs, her tail moving out of the way as she flopped backwards onto the bed, hand above her head, eyes fixed on the ceiling.

“I died, Callie. The daughter that they never accepted is gone.” Felicia couldn’t hide it, Callie sensing the pain leaking through.

Callie sighed, reaching out to take Felicia’s hand in her own, sending warm feelings to her as best she could. It was difficult, and she could understand her completely. Callie hated her own parents with a vengeance, after all, and what Felicia had been through hadn’t been all that different. Well, Felicia’s father hadn’t tried to kill her best friend right in front of her, nor stripped her entire life away from her, but apart from that, the trappings were pretty much the same. It seemed to be a thing of the rich families, especially the ones in this area of the world. She would have said founding families, but Felicia’s family hadn’t been one, even if Felicia had been gifted with magic. They’d forced her to hide it, to become a scion, the worst possible choice that could have been made. Felicia had paid the price for that.

She shouldn’t have though. None of them should have. Children were to be loved and cherished and protected. Not controlled and treated like some kind of possession, a tool in their personal games of wealth and power.

“I just wondered, I guess, if you wanted some kind of closure to it all. A way to release some of that hurt. I care about you, Felicia. We all do.”

Felicia gave her hand a squeeze, and sighed. “You know, I did wonder about that, once or twice. To go back to them and say, hey look, this is the real me. The me that you denied. All it took was me to die to be able to get it.” Felicia gave a cruel laugh, small tears forming in the corner of her eyes. “To find out what their reaction would be, if they’d realise the mistakes that they’d made.

Another sigh, Felicia shaking her head. “I doubt that it would sink in at all. That they’d even recognise me, or accept me as I am. All they’d see is that, somehow, it is possible to bring someone back from the dead, and they’d focus on that instead. Obsess on that. Do you have any idea how dangerous that knowledge is, Callie? They wouldn’t care about the cost, how near impossible it is, or the consequences of it. All they’d see would be the tease of immortality in front of them.”

“Yeah...” Callie stared at the wall, feeling a bit deflated. She hadn’t given it any thought, to be honest, but Felicia was right. And the reaction of their families to that kind of information was far too easy to predict.

“Promise me, Callie, that you’ll never mention to anyone that I died. Not even to Stella. Sure, I am apparently a spirit, at least according to Arianna, but I am still as alive as the rest of us, and that is all that matters.”

“She’ll need to know, eventually. About a lot of things. But that one, Feli, you can tell her when you decide that you are ready to do so. I promise that I will not tell her before that point, nor anyone else.”

Felicia gave her a weak smile, shifting her arm to intertwine their hands. “Thanks. I’ll take that.” She then sat up, leaning into Callie, sinking into her embrace. “They’re never to know, my parents. They buried me, and that’s the end of that. That I never left, is not for them to discover. We belong together. You, Julia, Uriah, and Stella, you’re all my family now. And all that I need. But thanks. For caring. It helped, I think.”

---

Felicia had been right, of course. There was definitely a smile on Julia’s face as she watched her walk into the lounge, and a blush on Uriah’s face too. Stella, on the other hand, was busy exploring, happily seeing how many things she could pull off the seats.

“You know that you see me naked enough as it is,” Callie teased, though she was more than happy with the attention.

“There’s a certain appeal to this style,” Julia said with a grin. “And hey, it’s practical and comfortable. Especially given our lifestyle.”

Callie rolled her eyes, but she did have to admit that there was an element of truth to that, and the clothes were rather comfortable.

“What is this?” Callie both sighed and laughed as she looked at what lay on the coffee table.

Julia gave a shrug, not moving from where she was sitting snuggled up on the sofa with Uriah. “It was all I could find. I have no idea where they keep anything else.”

“Well you did tell them to go away, in not so nice terms,” Felicia reminded her as she sat down beside Julia, leaning over and wrapping her arms over her. “At least you found something for Uriah.”

The clothes that he had now weren’t too dissimilar to what he’d been wearing before. Men’s clothes were a lot like that, especially given that was what the higher end stores seemed to stock. At least they were a good fit. Julia’s clothes were pretty much identical to what she’d provided for Callie, and she was appreciating the look in return.

“It was kind of fun, ransacking their rooms, but some of what they left behind...” Julia screwed up her face, and then laughed. “Not that they’re going to miss anything. Only Eustance lives here now out of my brothers.”

“Yeah.” Uriah made a similar expression with his face. “Your brothers...” He shook his head, and then relaxed back into the sofa. “It shows, though, the difficulties that your family is having. They’ve been trying to cover it up, but really, I think they’ve just been deluding themselves, as to how bad it is. There was a lot of money, of some form, riding on the marriage?”

Julia sighed, her face dropping. “I think so? They never really told me, wouldn’t tell me. But it’s not like I’m blind as to what’s been going on. I was telling the truth when I said that they were desperate for the marriage, though that feels so long ago.”

“For us, it really has been!” Callie stated, as she started sorting through what Julia had found. Trying to make coffee on a small space like this wouldn’t be that unfamiliar. While she was rather used to having a kitchen off to the side of the lounge, a feature that estates like this didn’t have, they had just spent the last two years cooking in more difficult conditions. The water would need to be reheated, Callie just passing the kettle to Uriah as she prepped the mugs. Using her magic would be too harsh on it.

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“Stella, come here,” Julia called out, their daughter’s ears twitching at her name, who then turned, slid off the sofa she was on, and walked her way back over.

“Majji?” Stella gave Julia a look as Julia picked her up and sat her on her lap.

“Please don’t make too much of a mess. I don’t want the first impression to be a bad one,” Julia paused as she stared at the wall with a faraway look, “especially with how it’s likely to go.”

“Okay!” Stella nodded her head vigorously. “Coffee?”

“Not for you, no,” Julia said, gently bopping her on the nose. “Mumsy will give you a biscuit, though.”

“Bikut?” Stella turned, looking at her.

Julia had indeed found some biscuits, sealed in a plastic container. Callie carefully opened it, pulled one out, and flicked it to Julia.

“Biscuit,” Julia repeated, handing it to Stella.

Callie smiled as she watched Stella biting into it, her face breaking out in a grin, eyes sparkling.

“Yummy! Want more!” Stella exclaimed, as the biscuit rapidly vanished.

Callie extracted another one, flicking it to Julia. “That’s the last one for the moment.”

Stella briefly gave her a pleading look, before taking the offered treat from Julia and proceeding to devour it.

“I don’t know,” Julia said, looking thoughtful, and a little sad, as she watched their daughter eat. “I just don’t know. So much has changed, and I don’t feel the same way about them any more.”

“Your parents and family?” Uriah queried, handing the now boiling kettle back to Callie.

“Yeah. Back then, they were all I had. Now, you’re all my family. More than they had ever been.” Julia looked down at her ring with a smile. “What I so desperately wanted for myself. You have no idea what this meant for me.”

“Oh, I think we do,” Felicia said as she stretched up and gave her a kiss. “It means so much to us all.”

Callie had just managed to hand out the coffee, a brew that was average, but the best she could do with what had been provided, when someone finally burst into the lounge. She did recognise him though. Eustance, one of Julia’s brothers.

Who just stood there for a moment, staring, and looking stunned.

“Julia?” he finally managed.

“In the flesh,” she replied, taking a sip of her coffee. “Don’t recognise your own sister?” she then teased. “It’s only been three days.”

Eustance blinked, confused. “What?...” he started, before he finally finished looking at the rest of them. “Who the hell are all these people? What’s going on? Why are you acting like this? You’re meant to be marrying Fraser.”

Julia tilted her head in mock confusion, a mean smile on her face. “You don’t recognise my spouses? You’ve met them all before.” She then proceeded to point to them in turn. “Uriah. Callie Calworth. Felicia. And this little bundle of joy is Stella.”

“Julia, what the hell is going on. Why do they have animal ears and... wait, what? Spouses?!” Eustance almost shouted the last part, having finally grasped the critical word in Julia’s reply. Though, to be fair, their features were rather distracting from that point.

“Yup.” Julia had a look of pure innocence.

“All of them?” He still seemed stuck on that point.

“Well, yes. Apart from our daughter. That would be just plain disgusting.”

“Fraser...” he muttered, going a little pale. “Daughter?” he then added, another bombshell clicking.

“Callie is right here, Eustance. And yes.”

“What the #$%@, Julia? Seriously, what the #%@!” It wasn’t that the confusion had gone, more that it seemed to have been replaced by anger, Eustance glaring daggers at Julia.

“I haven’t lied about anything, brother.” Julia laughed, her brother twitching in response. “But, yes, seriously, where are father and mother? I’m only going to go over this once. Stella is still young, and she’s not going to sit through it twice.”

“Bikut, Majji?” Stella tried, seeing a chance.

“Biscuit, darling,” Callie said with a sigh, throwing another one over. Stella would be hyper later. It was more glucose than she normally got. She then got up and joined the others on the sofa.

“You go missing for three days, and this is how you act?” Eustance was definitely angry.

“You all left me to get dragged off by a demon,” Julia growled back. “You have no clue what has happened, brother. No damn clue at all. Summon them, please. I have no idea where I left my phone.” ‘Nor do I really care,’ she added.

Eustance glared at her a moment more, before he finally responded. “Fine.” Pulling out his phone, he stepped back from the door.

The conversation was short and abrupt, Eustance coming back into the room a moment later. They’d heard everything that he’d said, not that they were going to tell him that. Keeping his eyes on them, he went to one of the single sofas on the side, collapsing into it.

“Who that?” Stella asked, once she’d finished her third biscuit. She tried giving Callie a hopeful look, Callie just shaking her head in response. “He’s staring.”

“That, darling, is my brother. Your uncle. Don’t worry, he’s harmless.”

“Bad man?”

Julia shook her head. “No, just confused. But really, I can’t blame him.”