Hunt For The Dark Phoenix (part 7) [Friday Fiction]

“A day?” Eira waited while he opened another door and stuck his head inside to search some more. “Exactly what kind of trip are we talking about?”

“The difficult kind. They generally do not send anything remotely easy in my direction, which now, unfortunately at this moment, includes you.” He shut the second door and whirled around to examine a side cabinet. His fingers flew over a tiny keypad in the corner and the space opened to reveal a clothes steampress. He suspended the cloak by the hood and shut the door, pressing the appropriate buttons. He suddenly froze and turned to look at her for a moment, the piercing gaze sweeping her from head to toe. He frowned. “You can’t go as a girl though.” He whirled from the steampress to the kitchen.

“I can’t what?” Eira sputtered. “Wait a minute! What do you mean I can’t-hold up here-did you just tell me-“

“I did and I’d appreciate it if you really would pay attention. You always sound as if you are at a loss for words or something.” He found a knapsack from under the sink and began filling it with tiny pouches. “It’s not a very good habit to have, it is a habit.” The frown relaxed into a more puzzled expression. “I’ve never thought of it as a habit, that’s a curious thought for later. Much later. Remember that, the loss of words thing, I mean. Work on it.”

“A loss for words.” Eira winced. “Right. Work on it. Uh-huh. I’ll…do that.” That may have been partially correct, but she wasn’t going to take him up on it. That, and she couldn’t help repeating what he said, mainly it was to assure herself that she wasn’t hearing things. Things that she wished she hadn’t heard. “You’re skipping my question! What do you mean I can’t go as a girl? I am a girl and I don’t do disguises very well or at all!”

The eyes locked onto hers again and it appeared he was searching for a way to say what was probably already halfway out of his mouth. “You really don’t get much, do you?” He sighed, straightening, the knapsack in one hand. “I mean, where we will be traveling, it isn’t safe to go as a girl and I’m very sorry if you don’t do disguises, but I’m sure I’ll think of something to make it work. It’ll be too dangerous and I won’t be babysitting you at all.”

Okay. I’ll review…slowly. You want me to train you, correct?”

“Yes.”

“You also requested induction as an apprentice, not a student. Do you know the difference between the two?”

“What’s the difference?”

“A student is expendable, an apprentice isn’t.” He said, matter-of-factly.

Eira blinked. “I see.” She was quiet for a moment. “What if I didn’t say apprentice? What if I didn’t want to be either…then what?”

“Then I would have kicked you out.” He ducked behind the counter again, resurfacing with a handful of thin cloths. “Seriously. Guest or not, I really do have to go and I’m afraid I can’t leave you here alone. However, as you nicely fixed that problem, you get to tag-along for the fun.”

“Fun?” A slight prickle feeling shivered along Eira’s shoulders. “I think our thoughts and ideas of fun would differ greatly if forced to share the same room.” She grimaced. “And I really don’t think I’d want to stay here alone.” She muttered.

He smiled. “Very well put, that is actually using your words…the room, thing I mean. Clever. And the house won’t hurt you, at least now that you are no longer a guess. Actually, this…home…was built for me by a good friend. It is to cater to my every whim.” He paused. “I suppose I should just say outright that the house is alive.”

“Alive?” Eira gnawed on a fingernail, her thoughts twisting and tumbling over each other. “Can’t you just um, drop me off…somewhere, nowhere specific until you get back?”

He shrugged. “Aye. If you so wish it. I wouldn’t recommend it at all, but since you have mentioned it, I will make the option available, with my express disapproval.” He exited the kitchen, brushing past her. “I don’t mean to rush you in such a delicate decision, but if you could hurry it up. I-er-we, need to be gone from here by lunchtime.”

“What happens at lunchtime?”

He perked a brow. “Eira, you really don’t want to know.”

“I don’t?” The look directed to her said far more than his mouth would have. Eira ducked her head, properly rebuked. “Right. I don’t.”

“We’re going to have to work on that.”

“On what?”

He stopped, dead in his tracks. “I feel incredibly-” He stopped. “Eira…stop packing.”

Eira automatically took a step back to be well out of reach from his next whirl. “I haven’t actually um, packed.”

“Good.” His face lit up. “Don’t bother to.” He headed for the door, crooking his finger over one shoulder. “Hurry up. We’ve got a matter of minutes.”

Eira trotted after him and it took her a few minutes to see what exactly he meant by lunchtime. They stood on the front lawn, waiting until a colorful, filmy distortion settled over the house. It shimmered, flickered and then shrank into something that the Dark Phoenix reached up and plucked out of the air. He half-smiled. “My head isn’t completely where it usually is.”

“Really? I didn’t notice.” Eira winced.

“I have too much energy, Eira.” The tired look returned to him, briefly. “I need to use it, which is why we are leaving now.” He snapped his fingers and the tall, black stick materialized between his fingers. There was a test spin between her fingers, and then one deliberate spin.

A brilliant circle of black, tinged with purple and blue around the edges swirled to life. The portal shimmered and he hooked the left edge with the black staff. “And in you go, it should spit you out on the other end, safely disguised.”

Eira grimaced. “Disguised? Still? I’m really-”

“There will be no discussion on this, apprentice.”

“I can’t turn up in an outfit I didn’t-”

The shimmer of black passed over her and Eira felt herself twitch involuntarily. Her outfit was replaced with something heavier and with more room to move about. Her shoes were new and the collar was tight. Eira stuck her lip out. “I want my boots back!” Her toes seemed already stitched to the seams. “Please?”

There was a quiet sigh and another shimmer of black. “Anything else?”

Eira bit her lip. “Yeah, I mean, yes. What if I mess up?”

The look softened a faint touch. “I’ve already made an allowance for that.”

“You have?”

“In you go, I can’t hold this open forever.”

“oh, right.”

“Eira.”

“What?”

“I’m not going to throw this at you often…at least I’ll attempt to make an allowance for it as we’ve met under different circumstances, but your lack of formality, will be the first thing that gives you away.”

“What’s wrong with my formality? I didn’t have trouble with that at League Init.”

“Title formality.”

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

“I flunked that.”

His mouth twitched. “As I said, I’ll make an allowance for it, at least for a little while.”

“For what?”

“Formal?”

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, Master Phoenix.”

“Good girl. In you go. I hope you like camping.”

“Camping? You’re taking your whole house with you and we have to camp?”

“I’m taking the house so no one else can.”

“That makes absolutely no sense.”

“Does it have to? We’re camping.”

“In what, trees?”

“Trees are good.”

“Oh sugar snap.”

“Eira?”

“I’m going, I’m going…exactly where is this going to spit me out?”

“Two feet ahead of where I’m going to be standing the moment you actually enter this.”

“I’m going.”

“I’m waiting.”

“Is this a slow warp or a fast warp?”

He pushed her in.

© Sara Harricharan