“Don’t be such a party pooper,” she said as soon as we put enough distance in between us and everyone else. She led me back into the circus tent, where we could have a private conversation. I was fairly certain the elephants were still around somewhere, but I didn’t think they’d blab.
“What are you talking about, and what was all that about being my high school buddy?” I asked. “I don’t really know you.”
I kind of felt like yelling “stranger danger” just for fun. I bet she’d get a kick out of it. I was still trying to figure out what was going on, though. She’d mentioned something about trying to see me when I was a kid, but I didn’t remember what age she’d said. I thought it would’ve been younger than ten, so it’d be easy for me to forget.
“Avery Clavens, one more lie like that and I’ll find a way to make your nose grow like Pinocchio’s,” she lectured me as I reached for my nose to protect it. I believed every word that came out of the crazy lady’s mouth.
Not knowing what to say in that situation, I just stared at her. I had the whole time continuum thing in the back of my mind, so the ball was totally in her court. Things were going pretty decent for me in the present, other than warlock issues, and I didn’t want to mess that up.
“Like I said the other day, you’re always good for a laugh,” she said. The edges of her lips turned up into a mischievous smile. “I know you know who I am. We were just reintroduced the other day, my fiery friend, and as bad as your memory is, I know you haven’t forgotten that.”
“You know it’s really me? How are you actually here with me? I didn’t know you had the ability to go back in time. I guess I’m not really sure what’s going on here, but it isn’t like one of my visions.”
“Of course I know it’s you, and it seems you’ve gotten yourself into another pickle. It’s a nasty spell that warlock threw at you,” she said, shaking her head. “As to how I’m here, let’s just say us Fates don’t let a little thing like a timeline keep us from having fun.”
“So this isn’t one of my usual flashbacks?” I asked, wanting to get verification. If it was one, I’d eventually wake up, but I wasn’t sure how to deal with time travel, or whatever else could be going on.
“Sorry, no. I did all I could to make it a little bit more enjoyable than originally intended. The original spell had you going back to being a baby and reliving the same day over and over a la Groundhog’s Day. Can you imagine how horrific that’d be?
“I guess the idea was if he couldn’t kill you, he’d just incapacitate you, or maybe he was hoping you’d somehow die of boredom being trapped in a baby’s body. I’m pretty sure it was before you started crawling, so there would’ve been a lot of lying around doing nothing.”
“I can’t say that sounds like fun, but this place isn’t any better. What actually happened back in the forest, and what am I doing here?” I asked.
“I couldn’t totally undo the spell, so I brought you back here to the day we met at your tenth birthday party until help can arrive,” she said.
“I don’t know which case I find more horrible, but I think I’d rather be a baby after having to see all the clowns. Why don’t I remember this day?” I asked. She kept explaining things, and the explanations seemed to bring up more questions.
“That would be my doing as well. When you didn’t remember me the first time around on this day, I chose to wipe anything that would remind you of me from your mind. It was apparent to me you weren’t ready to know about your other lives just yet, so I did a total mind sweep of the day. I’m not exactly sure how the fear of clowns remained, but everything else disappeared,” she explained.
“I think I should thank you for that. The phobia is one thing, but I’m pretty sure I would have been one messed up kid if I had to remember this day.”
“Just think, it’s only halfway over. There’s still plenty of time for you to be traumatized,” she said in her overly cheery voice.
“You know, I think I might actually hate you,” I said jokingly, but in reality I was fairly certain my words were true. “So how long do you think I’m stuck here?”
“I can’t say for sure. You shouldn’t have to relive the day more than once, though. I made sure of that.”
“You better hope that’s true. If you hadn’t mentioned you’d made me forget this day, I’d have had no problem believing I’d done it on purpose. I don’t want to be stuck reliving it over and over.”
“Like I said, probably only the once. Things like this are hard to predict. So, what should we do with the rest of the day? As you may have noticed, we’re actually in control of our bodies. As long as you hit the major events of the day, we should be able to have a little fun,” she said with her evil smile still in place.
“Do you know what other major points I have to live through?” I asked. With how well the day was going so far, I couldn’t imagine what was planned for the rest of the day. After all, I’d only made my mom cry once, there were tons of time for me to torment her.
“Hmm, July 14, 1997. You wake up, get your presents, go to big party, meet me, accidentally set a garage on fire, have dinner with your folks and then go to sleep after listening to your Furby speak baby talk,” she recited.
“Why do I set a garage on fire? I don’t remember ever playing with matches as a kid, and phoenix children for some reason don’t have those powers. Nate wouldn’t tell me why, but he said there was a good reason.”
“That’s what you picked up on out of all the things you do today? I would’ve thought listening to that creepy Furby would have triggered more distaste. I’m not sure why those things were ever made,” she said.
I didn’t know what her issue was with the toy, and I didn’t really care. She seemed to be trying to get me away from the topic of the fire.
“Fire. Why did I start a fire?” I asked again.
“Oh, you know how you little firestarters are. Someone says something you don’t like, the next you know things are catching on fire. I’m fairly certain another little girl was teasing you and you got mad and hurled a fireball at her,” she said, acting bored with the conversation.
“I showed that I had abilities as a child? Did I do that other times?” I didn’t remember any other times, but since I was reliving a day I didn’t know actually happened, it wasn’t out of the question.
“Yeah, your folks always found someone to erase it from your memory, though. Baby phoenixes aren’t supposed to know they can do stuff like that until they’re better capable of controlling it. Most of the time, just not telling them they can do stuff keeps them on the straight and narrow. You, on the other hand, have always been an evil child. Both of the times you were growing up, you did stuff like that. I’m surprised your parents didn’t somehow go gray.”
I started laughing. “And yet they still didn’t figure out I was the same person throughout this second childhood? Was Rick the same way; did they just grow used to rowdy children?” I asked.
“No, Rick was a perfect child. He had to have his memory wiped the first time you were a child just as often as you because you were attached at the hip. Even with your memories of him back, I doubt you can remember all the times you got into trouble. When you’ve learned to properly use your magic, you should say a spell to give you and him all of your memories back. You might be surprised to find out the stuff you did.”
“I’ll made sure mine are all intact, but I’m not sure I want to give him ammunition to use against me. If I was as bad as you say, I’ll never hear the end of it. So, since I know about the fire and such, do I really have to go and deal with the kid tormenting me?” I asked. “I’m guessing her mind got wiped as well, so she couldn’t tell everyone what a freak I am.”
“Good point. It would be one less gray hair for your parents. If you want, we could just go start some fires for fun.” she suggested.
“I’m starting to believe that we don’t have the same definition of that word. I’ve never been big into pyrotechnics.”
I was
afraid she was going to fall to the round as she laughed at my words. There was clearly a lot of stuff I still needed to remember before I made any claims about what I was like in the past.
“Come on, you only get to relive a day once in a blue moon. This time you’ll actually get to remember it. Do you want to remember it for the scary circus clowns and Furby or for having a good time?” she asked.
“Why did you have to bring up those dang clowns?” I asked.
It wasn’t like I could forget them while standing in the middle of the big tent where I could still picture their big red noses. Maybe it was time for me to see a hypnotherapist to see if someone could help get me over my fear.
“Just to prove my point,” she said.
“After a few more questions I might let you have your way.”
“Okay, shoot,” she said, and I had a feeling she already had her answers prepared.
“Can you tell me what’s happening back in the real world?” I asked. It seemed like our side was going to win, but you never knew when magic was involved.
“That’s not a very fun question, and since it isn’t, I don’t think I’ll answer it. I’m sure you’ll know soon enough the outcome of your little skirmish. I can tell you already have a good idea of what happened,” she replied. “Next question.”
That was really the only question I was concerned about. I had a million more, but I preferred to ask them back in the present.
“How about this one, if no uniques have been born in so long, like you’ve told me yourself, how does one explain me?” I asked, recalling the question I thought I’d have to wait to talk to Nate and my parents about.
“That particular question about the birds and the bees I think should be left to your parents. I’m pretty sure you remember how that stuff works, but I’m not going to be the one go over the basics with you,” she said, and then tilted her head and stared off in space. “Hmm, that was quicker than I thought.”
“What are you talking about now?” I asked. She obviously wasn’t in the question answering mood. I seemed to remember the last time we talked she was a bit more obliging.
“Lucky you don’t even have to relive a full day. You’re getting ready to wake up,” she replied, clapping her hands together as she shifted from her toes to her heels, like she was doing some crazy exercise.
“That’s great news. I’ve only been out a few hours, so hopefully Nate hasn’t gone totally bonkers,” I said. If I woke up and found myself shackled to a bed, I was going to be really upset. I wasn’t exactly clear whether my body had been left behind for my trip, but I assumed it had.
She laughed. “Even with the little magic you know, I would’ve thought it was obvious that real world time and spell world time don’t always run at the same speed.”
“Just how much time difference are we talking? Has it only been a second in the real world? That would be even better.”
“Let’s just say this time was the reverse of what you’ve been getting used to. Don’t worry, it hasn’t been years or anything, but rest assured it has been more than a second.”
Right as she finished her thought, I woke up in my bed. Not the bed at the wolf pack house, my real bed at the mansion. I looked around the room and the only other person I could see was an elderly woman looking out the window. Having just woken up from my spell coma, and being in a room with someone I didn’t know, I reached in between the mattresses to find one of the throwing knives I stashed there.
Before I made the mistake of throwing a knife at an innocent old lady, I did the right thing and tried to figure out who she was. I knew the move might come back to haunt me later, but I’d feel terrible about hurting her if she wasn’t evil.
“Care to explain what you’re doing in my room?” I asked.
She turned to look at me and smiled. “Of course, Avery. I’m so happy you’re finally awake.”
CHAPTER 21
Me and fate have a date in the boxing ring