(April 27th, 1987)

Habits picked up during physical therapy tend to last, at least in my opinion. For example: I’d been given a series of stretches and exercises to restore the flexibility and strength of my right leg, and even though I’d long since passed the point of needing to do them as part of my recovery, I still did them. I’d even expanded them to encompass my left leg, and had added on similar exercises for my upper body as well.

Ten minutes worth of stretches had turned into an almost ritualistic thirty minute low-impact workout every morning before breakfast. It had done wonders for my flexibility and overall muscle tone.

Another example: During one of the rougher stretches of my recovery, my physical therapist - Dr. Patricia Kestrel - had gotten into the habit of dragging me out to breakfast once or twice a week. On the worst days, it was brunch or an early lunch instead of breakfast. Once she’d even had to draft Athena to help literally, physically drag me out of bed and toss my depressed, mopey ass into an ice cold shower.

That had been eight months ago, and I was very, very pleased to be well past it.

Since then Trish and I had become pretty close friends, and we continued to meet for breakfast at least a couple of times a month. Today we were meeting at an outdoor cafe we liked - mainly because we knew that it could always be counted on to deliver delicious (and no doubt highly fattening) breakfasts - just a couple of blocks down from Harrods. I was running a little late this morning, and could see that Trish was already sitting at a table in the warm morning sun as I approached.

But then, she was hard to miss. She was a couple of inches taller than me, but built along the same lines...slender and lithe, with golden blonde hair that was a few shades darker than my own, amber-colored eyes, and the delicately pointed ears of a Changeling, just like me. The children of a human mortal and one of the Sidhe, the immortal beings who ruled the Spirit World that existed alongside our own.

It wasn’t uncommon for people to mistake us for sisters.

Trish was, however, at least a couple of hundred years older than me. She hadn’t told me precisely how much. And we were at least reasonably certain that we weren’t related, except perhaps very distantly.

Trish was also a bit more…flamboyant than I was. She was dressed for work in sneakers, dark red spandex leggings and a matching cropped top, with a gray sweatshirt (probably with some sort of snarky comment printed on it) draped over the back of her chair. I watched in some amusement as the eyes of people around her, and those passing by, drifted over to linger on her for a moment, quite unconsciously.

She spotted me, pushed up her sunglasses and lifted a hand in greeting. Then started to smile as I slipped through the cafe’s gate and approached.

By the time I sat down, she was grinning. “Good morning, hot stuff.”

I blinked in surprise. Sure, I was wearing fitted jeans and a fairly tight shirt, but I hardly qualified, especially not sitting at a table with her. “Huh?”

Athena - dressed in an outfit identical to mine, as was our habit - sat down between us at the little round table. “Don’t bother, Trish. She hasn’t noticed yet.”

Artemis wound her way around the table for a moment before sprawling beneath it at our feet, her tail flipping lazily. She yawned. >

Her telepathic comment was heard only by me and Athena. The magical bond shared among the three of us was, I was told, deeper than that found between most spellcasters and their familiars. I had no reason to doubt it...Athena and Artemis were closer to me than my own sister.

Trish looked amused. “Seriously?”

I gave her my very best blank, confused look. It wasn’t hard, since I had no idea what they talking about.

“It’s been going on for a few weeks now,” Athena explained. “Ever since Ben gave her that Claddagh ring for her birthday.”

“What has?” I asked, confused, idly playing with the ring in question.

Ben had jokingly called it a promise ring when he’d given it to me, saying that neither of us was ready to get engaged...and joking aside, he was right. He was hard at work at Scotland Yard, and I was just as hard at work for Wizard Hollis Ellister, as both employee and student. I was intent on earning my Wizard’s license before my thirtieth birthday. We were both enjoying what we had together, and felt no need to rush things.

Trish laughed. “You didn’t see the way you were turning heads as you walked in here?”

“What?” I asked. “No, I didn’t.”

Out of curiosity, I glanced around, and caught sight of men and women alike quickly looking away from our table. Admittedly, we were quite a spectacle; two half-Sidhe - rare enough to see one, let alone two together - sitting with an Elevated snow leopard who looked very nearly like my twin sister and a normal snow leopard who weighed in at a comfortable (and sometimes intimidating) 85 pounds.

Trish shook her head, smirking. “Congratulations, you’ve come into your Glamour at last. Let’s order some breakfast. You can tell me what you’ve been up to, and I’ll fill you in on how to deal with this latest development.”

“My...what?” I was familiar with the term, of course...Glamour was a type of magic that Sidhe used to befuddle and bewitch the senses of humans. It was like illusion magic, only much more profound in a variety of ways. The most common use of it that I was aware of was seducing mortal men and women, leaving them with vague, fond, dreamy memories of the encounter.

Like the way my mom became pregnant with me 25 years ago.

Athena sighed. “Oh boy.”

A cute brunette waitress wearing black shorts and a red t-shirt approached and gave us a perky smile. “Ready to order, ladies?”

Trish looked up. “Let’s go wild. Waffles with strawberries and cream, side of ham.”

Athena purred. “Make that two. That sounds great.”

I chuckled softly. “Three please. Artemis?”

> Artemis yawned ostentatiously. >

‘Mousie’ was Artemis’s nickname for Elsie, Hollis’s Elevated mouse familiar housekeeper/secretary/etc. They had an interesting relationship.

I smiled at the waitress. “Nothing for my other familiar, thanks.”

She finished scribbling on her pad and beamed at us. “Rad! Ten minutes or so, ‘kay? Want anything to drink?”

Trish looked like she was getting a headache. “English breakfast tea, please.”

“Hot cocoa,” Athena said, smiling.

“Irish breakfast tea for me, and a bowl of water.”

The waitress giggled. “Cool! I’ll be right back!”

She flounced off, hair bobbing, hips swaying.

Trish finally gave in and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Brigid have mercy.”

That was interesting. It was the first sign I’d seen of Trish showing any religious bent, and she’d called on an ancient Celtic deity.

Athena laughed softly. “Slang getting to you?”

“Slang, insane energy levels...too perky!”

“This from the woman who introduced herself to us by yanking open the blinds in our hospital room and telling us we were being lazy at eight in the morning, while our injuries were still healing,” I teased.

“I’d already had my breakfast and tea,” Trish said plaintively. “I can’t take perky before tea.”

There was a moment of silence, then all three of us burst out laughing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw people turning to watch us again. As we calmed, Trish sighed happily and leaned back in her chair. “You know, a year ago I was afraid I’d never get to hear you laugh. I’m glad you found your balance again.”

“Mostly,” I said. “I have some anger management issues I never had before...”

Trish made a dismissive gesture. “Something most of us live with all our lives. You’ll adjust.”

“She is,” Athena confirmed.

I met Trish’s eyes. “So...Glamour?”

She nodded and smiled, and I thought that the expression might be a little bit sad. “Most Changelings come into their Glamour around their twentieth birthdays...you’re running a bit behind, in that respect, but you’re also the only Changeling I’ve ever known who was studying to become a Wizard. That might’ve had some effect on it.”

> Athena observed thoughtfully.

I glanced at her. >

>

> I admitted wryly.

“You know about Sidhe Glamour, right?” Trish asked.

Athena and I both nodded.

“Good. Well, we Changelings get a small measure of it. We can’t do the kind of total sensory override that our Sidhe parents can pull off, but it’s enough to befuddle weak-minded people.” Trish hesitated. “Mostly we just unconsciously make ourselves more attractive to the people around us.”

Something inside me twisted up. Was that how I’d gotten Ben’s attention?

“Generally it’s not something you do intentionally,” Trish continued hastily, probably reading my expression, “and it doesn’t usually have much of an impact on people who already have positive feelings for you.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, and felt the twist in my stomach un-knot.

Trish flashed a quick grin. “Worried about Ben?”

“Worried about having taken him against his will,” Athena clarified.

The waitress returned then, deposited our mugs in front of us and bent down to slide the bowl of water under the table to Artemis, who bumped the girl’s hand in thanks and received an ear-ruffle in return.

When she was gone again, Trish nodded. “Yeah, I get that. The first two times I was married, I was afraid I’d influenced them into doing it.” She smiled lopsidedly. “I realized about halfway through my second marriage that I wasn’t.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And how many times have you been married?”

Trish smirked. “Trade secret.”

“Woman of mystery,” Athena muttered, and sipped her cocoa.

Trish’s smile grew. “I have several human lifetimes worth of experience under my belt. Forgive me if I don’t share all of it at once.” She winked.

I huffed out a little laugh. “Fair enough.”

“Anyway,” Trish said, “It’s not something you really need to worry about or pay much mind to. Just be aware of it. When you’re out in public, you’re going to turn heads, but that’s about all it really amounts to. Like your anger management issues, you’ll adjust.”

“Not that she didn’t turn heads already anyway,” Athena said, amused. “Like that guy who was so busy watching you that he walked into the side of a taxi shelter.”

I snorted a laugh at the memory. “All right, so I didn’t accidentally use it to seduce Ben...”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Athena said, smiling behind her mug. “You certainly left him gobsmacked when you told him to come and ‘unwrap his present’ last Yule.”

Trish, who’d heard the story, started laughing. “You might’ve hit him with a bit of it then, but believe me honey, if he hadn’t wanted to, he wouldn’t have. Eventually, you’ll learn how to control it well enough to turn it on at will...and pretty much all you’ll be able to do with it is soften up someone in your favor.”

I set down my tea mug and held up both hands in surrender. “I’ll put it out of my mind and not worry about it.”

Trish nodded. “Good. It’s just another aspect of being half-Sidhe. Think of it as the Sidhe equivalent of going through puberty. And you might find it useful at times. Just don’t try too hard to use it to bend minds the way the Sidhe can. I’ve never met a Changeling who could. And maybe that’s a good thing. Keeps us humble...keeps us human.”

I snorted and picked up my tea again. Trish was many things, most of them - to my knowledge - wonderful. But humble? Not so much.

“So, how goes the physical abuse at the Yard?” Trish asked.

“I am free!” I said, spreading my arms wide and grinning. “At least, officially. I’m still going to go back regularly to keep working on my skills. But two days ago, Sergeant Malone said I was ready for field work, and Dr. MacMoran said the same thing. I’ve passed both my physical and psych evaluations, and in a few days I’ll go back to Scotland Yard to do the paperwork to get back my consultant’s license.”

“Congratulations!” Trish leaned across the small table to give me an awkward but heartfelt hug. “Girl, that’s a really big deal! I can’t believe you weren’t bursting to tell me that news as soon as you sat down.”

“I was,” I smiled, “but I kinda got sidetracked.”

“True.” Trish smiled warmly across the table at me. “This is cause for celebration. You’re more than ready to get back to work, kiddo. Don’t you doubt it for a minute."

"She will anyway," Athena said with a sigh. "Artemis and I have been trying to shore up her self-confidence for months."

I kicked her shin lightly under the table.

"Well, we have!" she said.

I huffed a little laugh. "Yeah, I guess you have. Sorry."

Athena waved it off. "We don't mind."

> Artemis contradicted her, but without any malice. Just kind of lazily. She's such a cat. >

Athena chuckled as I grimaced.

"I just missed a smart-ass comment from Artemis, didn't I?" Trish asked with a grin.

"She was commenting on how stupid my self-pity-period was," I said, "thus obliquely letting me know that she feels the same way about my current lack of confidence."

Trish reached under the table and ruffled Artemis' ears. "You tell her, kitty."

Artemis made a contented sound and subsided into silence. Evidently, she felt she’d made her point with Trish’s help. I guess she had, too. I’d been working hard to both recover and improve, and nobody could deny that I’d done both.

The question was, would I be ready for whatever came next?

“Whatever’s on your mind,” Trish said, “you’re thinking about it way too hard. It’s a beautiful morning, relax. And here comes our food.”

The arrival of our absolutely sinful (delicious, delectable, delightful…) repast halted all conversation and took undeniable priority over even my lingering self-doubt. Fifteen minutes later, feeling replete and with my good mood restored - it’s funny how a really good meal will do that - I sat back and sipped my tea. “Anyway,” I said, “I guess we’ll see soon enough what Hollis has in store for me. If anything. Sometimes I think he likes giving me mysterious instructions to stand ready for the sake of seeing how long I’ll hold out before my curiosity gets the better of me.”

Trish laughed. “From what I hear, that’s not uncommon in your line of work. Someday, you’ll get to do it to your own apprentice or employee.”

My lips stretched into a smirk at the idea. I couldn’t help it. The idea really did sound like a lot of fun.

Athena chuckled. “She gets it,” she informed Trish.

Trish smiled, then lifted a hand to flag down the server. “Breakfast is on me this morning, you got the last one.”

I nodded. “I believe I’ll go see what’s in store for me today.”

As it turned out, Hollis hadn’t had anything specific in mind for me…but, as is usually the case in the life of a professional Wizard, something had come up. We’d barely had time to close the front door behind us upon returning before he was calling our names from his office.

He leaned back in the chair behind his desk, folding his hands over his stomach (which had, thanks to Elsie’s ‘tender’ mercies, decreased in size significantly over the past year), and gave me a long look. “I received a call from a colleague this morning, who in turn received a call from an old friend in York.” He jabbed a finger at me. “Which is why networking is so important, as I’ve said many times before.”

I nodded. There was no point arguing. He was right, it was something I needed to work on improving.

“A teenage girl has gone missing, and I’m given to understand that the police are reluctant to look into it,” he said, then rolled his eyes a little. “Apparently, she’s run away three times in the last two years, but her parents are convinced that this time is different somehow and want a Wizard - or, in your case, a Wizard-in-training - to try to track her with magic.”

He tore a sheet of paper off the notepad by his phone and held it out to me - his desk was simply too overloaded with tomes, alchemical reagents and loose scraps of paper and parchment to safely put it down there anywhere. It would’ve just vanished into the scrum. So I took it from him and read a name - Wilhelmina Rein - and an address in York.

“You have a ticket waiting for you for the 11:00 train,” Hollis said, “which gives you about an hour to get there. You’ll be in York by one in the afternoon. See what you can do to help find the girl. Work with the police if they get involved, and for the sake of all that’s good don’t fight over whose responsibility it is. They’re the police. Follow their lead if they want to take charge, and back off if they decide they don’t want you involved.”

“Yes, sir.”

He smiled slightly and looked at me more closely, then nodded to himself. “Good. You’re ready for this...more than ready for it, if you ask me. You’ve spent too much time doubting yourself. Are you doubting yourself now?”

Athena smirked, no doubt remembering our earlier conversation with Trish.

I shook my head firmly. “No, sir. Not even a little. I’ll find her.”

His smile grew. “Good. Get going, you’re on the clock.”

That sort of abrupt introduction to a job was why Athena and I kept our Bottomless Bag packed with basic gear and ready to go at a moment’s notice. We stored a few of changes of clothes in it - including a very professional-looking pantsuit for me, and a more formal version of Athena’s bodysuit outfit for her - along with all of the basic tools and common bits and bobs that made up many Hermetic ritual circles. The outside pouches held several backup weapons, extra ammunition for Athena’s big LeMat revolver, snacks and drinks, and a variety of first aid items.

To make a long story short (I know, too late), it saves a lot of time on packing. In less than fifteen minutes, we had changed into work clothes, I was adjusting my utility belt, and Athena was slinging her sword and it’s harness over her shoulder as we headed out the door. Artemis bumped her head affectionately against Elsie’s hip as she saw us out and closed the door behind us.

On the cab ride to the station, I cast a Sending to Ben, letting him know where we were off to and that I’d let him know when we got back. We were already getting settled in the private compartment Hollis had reserved for us - he spared no expense for comfort, his own or ours - before Ben’s response reached us.

Artemis had just claimed one of the two cushioned bench seats when the Sending arrived; Ben’s spectral wolf entered through the outside wall of the train. It quickly turned into an image of my boyfriend sitting behind his desk and smiling.

“Congratulations on getting back in the saddle,” his image said with a slightly tinny sound to it, almost like a radio transmission. “I’ll see you soon. Love you.”

Then his Sending faded away. Athena and I sat down on the bench across from Artemis, smiled at one another, and settled in to enjoy the train ride.

We ate a light lunch on the train and arrived in York a little under two hours later. Before long, a cab had taken us to the address Hollis had provided, and we stood before the door of an old but well cared-for home.