Chapter 1
1943 Words
Chapter OneAgainst the orange and yellow desert sunrise happening on the outskirts of Magic, a shimmering silver oval bent space and time to allow interplanetary travel between Earth and Glacier. It was a marvelous gift from his Goddess and a secret Stark guarded diligently from those on Earth who would not understand.
However, the amazing travel portal closing after only one Glacieran came through did not make Stark happy.
He hadn’t opened a portal in several months, but he was sure the one he’d created mere minutes ago was as sufficiently powerful as any he’d ever made. His calculations about the space-time fluctuations and the positioning of the vortex were precise.
Six hand-picked warriors had been scheduled to come through, but only one had done so.
“Hail, General Stark,” his visitor said.
“Welcome to Earth, Lieutenant. Where are your clothes?”
The selected officer bowed low and then looked down at his n***d body. “We were instructed to disrobe and leave all of our Glacieran belongings behind. Commander Freezing wanted us to have the same full Earth experience you modeled for us, sir.”
Stark gave Thor a stern look when Thor covered his mouth with his hand to stifle his laughter. He knew Thor wasn’t purposely trying to embarrass the Glacieran Lieutenant. Thor was just reacting in a very human manner. Apparently, being on Earth a hundred years without seeing anyone from his home planet had changed what the formerly stoic Glacieran found amusing.
Stark saw nothing funny about every official on Glacier passing along the story of him arriving on Earth n***d. He had Frost’s father, politician Polar, to thank for the original over-sharing to all who would listen.
As the first known Glacieran to ever attempt to acclimate to Earth—since no one had known Thor had been stranded on the planet—Frost’s not so scientific reports back to Glacier hadn’t been clear on the matter of dress. Stark hadn’t understood at the time that all Earthlings wore clothes regardless of climate fluctuations.
Pulling himself from his unproductive musings about the past, Stark turned to give his Glacieran visitor his full attention. “And the other five warriors who were to come with you, Lieutenant? Where are they?”
The warrior turned and looked at where the portal had been. “I do not know, General. We all entered the portal together. Only I seem to have exited. This is quite unexpected.”
“Indeed,” Stark said, frowning as he looked in the same direction.
Thor asked the question he assumed they were all three wondering. “Do you think the other warriors are lost within the portal, Stark?”
Stark shook his head. “No. The goddess would not do such a thing to her loyal subjects. I suspect the men have been sent somewhere else for some purpose she forgot to share with me. I will contact the Goddess to ask about them when we return home.”
The lieutenant drew in a breath. “So it’s true then? You were indeed chosen by the goddess to be here? And you talk to her frequently?”
Stark nodded. “Yes, and I am twice blessed, Lieutenant. My mate is a powerful Earth female. She also speaks to several goddesses on a regular basis. I speak only to Icela.”
The lieutenant bowed his head. “It is a great honor to have been chosen by you for this visit, General Stark. I look forward to meeting your extraordinary mate.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant. Let’s find you some clothes before the town’s chief protector has a fit. Public nudity is not condoned in Magic. Were the others…?”
“Yes, General. They were unclothed as well. Commander Freezing advised all of us to emulate your arrival on Earth as closely as possible.”
Beside him, Thor burst out laughing. Stark turned this time to openly glare. “You are not being helpful, Thor.”
“I know,” Thor admitted through his laughter, trying to sober again, and failing to do so. Magic’s two dragon law keepers were going to be very unhappy about the news. “Perhaps I should check with Sheriff Theo and Deputy Calix to see if five n***d aliens have shown up anywhere unexpected in town.”
“Good idea,” Stark said firmly, motioning for their visitor to follow him.
Thor smiled as the two started walking off. “Perhaps I will check with Priestess Rime before visiting the sheriff’s office. She may have some knowledge.”
Worried about the missing men, Stark nodded without verbally responding as he and the lieutenant walked away.
Topper smiled as she braided her daughter’s purple hair. Like her father, Jessica’s hair was naturally silver but she liked to wear the same color her mother was wearing. Sometimes they all had purple hair, even Stark.
Stark had left early to collect several visitors from his home planet of Glacier. He’d asked for his hair to be restored to normal while they were on Earth.
“I’m glad I have long hair. Elizabeth Crawley has short hair. She can’t have a braid like me. She said her mother said that she wouldn’t grow long hair until she turned into a wolf. Then her mother said Elizabeth would have more hair than any of her friends. Is that true, Mommy?”
“So Elizabeth told you she’s a wolf?”
“Uh-huh… I wish I could be a wolf. Will she be a wolf puppy when she shifts, Mommy? Do you think she’d fetch a ball for me?”
Topper chuckled at the image of Jessica playing fetch with a werewolf, but she doubted Elizabeth Crawley’s parents would have found it as funny. “Don’t get your hopes up, sweetheart. Elizabeth won’t turn into a wolf until she’s much, much older.”
“How much older?” Jessica asked.
“Oh… about thirteen, I imagine.”
“Wow. That’s really old,” Jessica said.
Topper wondered what Jessica would say when she was the equivalent of thirteen while Elizabeth was still in elementary school? At the rate her hybrid alien child was growing, Jessica would be a teenager by the following Spring.
An eventful pregnancy had netted her and Stark an alien-witch child who’d passed from infant to being a five-year-old in the same number of months it had taken her to be born. While Topper missed cuddling the infant version of Jessica, she was finding it a lot easier taking care of a child capable of speech. Her primary problem now was how much her daughter loved to talk.
“Mommy? Do witches celebrate Christmas? Elizabeth Crawley said everyone celebrates Christmas at her house.”
Wishing Elizabeth Crawley wasn’t so talkative about her home life, Topper tied a silver ribbon at the bottom of her daughter’s purple braid and turned her around to face her.
“Elizabeth’s mother is a human who’s married to a wolf shifter. They celebrate Christmas because Elizabeth’s human grandparents do. Witches are different, sweetie. Witches celebrate the Winter Solstice and the resting phase of the Earth’s natural cycle.”
“That doesn’t sound as fun as Christmas,” Jessica said sadly, her chin dropping as she thought about it.
Topper chuckled as she lifted her daughter’s chin and made her meet her gaze. “Sweetheart, all celebrations are about being happy for the good things in our lives. That’s common across all beings on this planet no matter which holidays they celebrate.”
“Does celebrating Winter Solstice at least mean having a tree with lights and decorations?”
“We make a bonfire and dance around it to call power into ourselves,” Topper said brightly.
Jessica sighed with disappointment. “That’s definitely not the same.”
“Oh, I think you’ll like it. Just wait and see.”
Jessica sighed louder than before. “Do we at least get to have snow? Harley the Third said his grandfather makes it snow at their house. Harley the Third said snow was always part of his presents.”
When her daughter started going to school, Topper suddenly had insider info on all the f*******n magic being practiced in town. Now she knew there was a warlock making snow in the middle of the New Mexico desert. No wonder the men in black kept showing up every few weeks.
“This is New Mexico, sweetheart. We live in a desert climate. It doesn’t naturally snow here. I know Auntie Rime sometimes creates little pockets of ice and snow, but with her, it’s always an accident. And although Harley the Third’s grandfather is a warlock, I know he can only do that spell once a year because it takes a lot of energy. Did Harley the Third tell you that the snow his grandfather creates only lasts a few minutes before it melts away?”
“No.”
Topper sighed at the disappointment in her daughter’s voice. “I’m sorry we don’t have snow in Magic, Jessica, but that’s just how it is.”
“But Daddy really likes snow and the cold. Couldn’t we get him some as a Winter Solstice present? Humans give each other presents and witches are a kind of human, aren’t they?”
Topper arched one brow as she studied her daughter. Jessica’s confidence in her own logic had to have come from Stark. Her daughter was fixated on having snow and would be asking about it until that arrogant logic was satisfied in some way.
No matter what flaws Jessica had inherited from her or Stark though, her heart still melted at her daughter’s hopeful gaze. Some tough-love mother she was turning out to be.
Certainly, she could create snow for Jessica. Stark could create snow and ice as well when he wanted to. However, the novelty of a few minutes of cold and snow wasn’t worth the risk of Magic being invaded by the men in black over it.
“Witches are indeed human, and I would love to give your father a Winter Solstice present. Maybe we can take a trip somewhere and go see some snow. Even if Magic doesn’t get snow, plenty of places in the world do.”
Jessica reached up and patted her mother’s face. “Don’t give up, Mommy. The pretty lady in the mirror said she was sending someone to help us make snow in Magic. She said Daddy was her second favorite male and she wanted him to have his every wish.”
Topper frowned. “Jessica, have you been calling Goddess Icela again? You know you’re not supposed to be using my special mirror.”
“You don’t have to worry. She’s super nice to me, Mommy—just like Auntie Rime. They both have hug energy.”
Topper nodded with her lips pressed firmly together. How could she warn Jessica about the whims of a powerful goddess? She really couldn’t right now. Maybe she could in the next year or so—if she was right about Jessica becoming a teenager by next summer. The two of them would look like sisters then, a thought which oddly depressed her. Motherhood was turning out to be more enigmatic than she’d ever dreamed.
Over five months had passed since Evanna’s aging glamour had fallen away. Some of the residents of Magic had blamed her sudden return of youthfulness on Jessica’s birth. Others had blamed her daughter’s alien father. Topper let everyone assume whatever they wanted. The actual truth of her youthfulness being a gift from her long-dead mother was far too difficult to explain to those without such magical powers.
As for her own lack of adjustment to it, maybe she would move all the mirrors in the house out to the potting shed. What if her daughter started using her scrying mirror to call the Fates as well as Icela?
That gave Topper chills merely thinking about it.
“But the pretty lady in the mirror…” Jessica began.
“Her name is Goddess Icela,” Topper supplied, frowning over her daughter’s familiarity.
“She said I could call her Good IceyLaLa and she said she had it all worked out. She said the Fates were helping her with the tails.”
“Helping her with the details?” Topper asked to be sure she understood.
“Yes. That’s what I said, wasn't it?”
Dreading to find out what the Fates were up to, Topper smiled reassuringly at her daughter. She liked all three of them, but they better not mess with her child. Jessica deserved to retain her innocence about life for as long as possible.
“I think you speak very well for someone who was only born five months ago.”
“Thank you, Mommy. Can we witch pop to school this morning?”
Right now Topper was all about anything that distracted her daughter from wishing for snow. She stood and took her daughter’s hand. “Yes, we can definitely witch pop to school. I’m glad you don’t get sick like your daddy does.”
“I think it’s funny when Daddy barfs,” Jessica said with a happy giggle.
“I do too, but let’s never tell him that,” Topper advised, grinning down at the miracle that was her child.
- Writer
