Road trips can be fun but they can also get old quickly. The same can be said for being ‘on the run’ and ‘in hiding’ of course. Naturally Hannah would mix all three together, you know what she’s like? Events unfold including but not limited to: Eris eating pancakes and John stares at the sky (then he swears a bit) In other news, Hannah considers turning off her phone.

 

John’s mouth dropped open while I was still crossing the street.
He didn’t bother closing it even after I reached the truck and pulled the door open with a hard yank.

“..not one word..”

I tossed my bag into the back of the truck.
Dropped my phone onto the dashboard and put both hands on either side of the doorway.
It took a bit of effort to get my long skirt into the truck’s cab properly.

Eris barely seemed to notice hers as she hopped up the slight step and landed herself neatly in my lap with a proud grin on her face.

“It’s very.. uh..”
He trailed off uncertainly.
With a glance in his direction I blushed and moved my arm around Eris to cover my cleavage from his wandering eyes.

Apparently Eris and I spent a lifetime together in Austria, where I spent a few years as a maid to a family and she played her part as my daughter.. naturally?..

I don’t remember it in the slightest but Eris took great joys in telling me with far too much detail how fun it was there.
Before we had to leave when one of ‘my’ Husbands caught up with us at least, forcing us to flee under the cover of darkness.

Eris loved the clothing apparently, specifically the ‘dirndlgwand’ I wore while working.
Quite obviously at this point, she took the chance I’d given her to ‘request’ that we wear a matching set of them for the journey!

Honestly.. despite her hopeful looks and pleading I almost turned her down in the end.
I can’t even wear a BRA with this thing!
I feel completely exposed!

It took five tries for me to even get something close to what she wanted conjured correctly, the closest thing I’d ever seen to what she wanted was those little joke costumes you see all the waitresses wearing in photos from Oktoberfest in Germany.

My first attempt ended up with a skirt no longer then my forearm and a neckline so low it felt like you could see my bellybutton through it.
At this point I’m almost glad to be wearing the current version which, while looking like I’m on my way to a ‘Ren-faire’ in Germany, it at least covers a fair amount of skin and looks relatively pretty now.

The bodice is a bit tight though?
It was even tighter on the forth version which Eris decreed to be ‘perfect’, luckily I managed to talk her around to letting me ‘make it prettier’..

For a start I switched out the simple but thick and heavy cotton material for velvet and silk.

The velvet has a bit more stretch to it.
If the bodice wasn’t made of velvet then I doubt I’d be able to breathe right now with how tightly it’s pulled my waist in!

The white silk blouse underneath is full of ruffles and ends with puffy sleeves that go with the style even if they wouldn’t be my first choice normally, at least the silk is light enough that I’m not going to be dying in the heat later.

Unlike the original design Eris described, the skirt is connected to the bodice to form an ankle length dress, although it’s made of dark blue linen instead of the velvet of the top half.
Eris wouldn’t let me change the detailing on the knee-length overskirt/apron with its fussy little beading and almost ‘old lady’s scarf’ like patterns but I could at least make it silk and change the color from a bright gold to more of a muted bronze that suits my complexion better..

The whole look was topped off with some little detailing like the ruffled blue silk around the neckline and some little metal fastenings which Eris managed to roughly imitate with some staples I had laying around so that I could understand what she wanted.

The silk belt was an almost last minute edition.
With long trailing ends tied in a wide bow at my waist that does a surprisingly good job of hiding the point where the elasticated edge of the overskirt meets the velvet bodice.

It’s actually quite nice?

Eris seemed to take an inordinate amount of fun from making sure the bow was positioned ‘just right’ so that it rather annoyingly sat just slightly above my bellybutton, over my stomach obviously.
From the way she was giggling her head off I’m sure there’s something I’m missing but I’m kind of getting used to the bow already so whatever it is can’t be that important.

Honestly, I’ve worn worse before?
It’s just kind of embarrassing, especially because John can see me in it!

I may look like I just stepped out of a particularly posh Disney movie or ‘the sound of music’ but at least Eris is wearing a mini-version of the same outfit so I’m not alone in looking silly.
It helps that, from what John was saying, we’re going to be traveling all day so it’s not like anyone’s going to see me too much.

Whenever we stop I’ll find an excuse to change outfits and I am NOT making the mistake of letting Eris choose our clothing next time!

======

“Hannah?”

John’s voice snapped me out of my blank moment before his arm could actually give me the shake he was obviously aiming for.
I shifted my feet a little, then shifted Eris in my lap self-consciously before turning to look at him with a forced smile.

He cringed for a second.
Is it really THAT obvious how deeply uncomfortable I am in this thing?

All I’m missing is the funky hairstyle and the beer mug, I’d be every drunk man’s high class dream German waitress!
My boobs are going to get COLD from this wide, almost ‘U’ shaped neckline!

..speaking of which..

Before he could protest I brought my thumb up to my mouth and dragged a sharp canine across the side of it to let out a little blood.
John almost freaked out when I reached for the dashboard of his Truck but a single look stalled his protests easily enough.

I’m NOT in the mood for arguments right now!

It only took me a few seconds to finish the design.
I perfected this thing years ago.

My very own, one of a kind, ‘temperature control’ rune-set.
It’s REALLY primitive but that’s what makes it so handy!

The biggest problem with it is that it tends to burn itself out after a while.
That’s not too bad in this case where I’ve put it on the old truck’s dashboard, because it’s made of metal, but on plastics or especially cloth like the cotton of my old male underwear I last used this gylph on it tends to pretty much reach a limit and decide to ‘melt’ whatever it’s drawn on into a charred mess.

Even if you stop using the thing they’re drawn on, the runes will eventually self-destruct.
Thinking of it, I should probably fish out my last set of ‘Al’ underwear and throw them away soon before they decide to burst into flames?

Luckily Edith is REALLY good at making expanded bags.
I think she even put a flame-resistance charm on it, which should keep the runes from smouldering until they’re removed from the bag at the very least.

“..if you’re quite done messing with my truck ‘Julie Andrews’?”

Ohhh.. he did NOT just go there?!
Just for that, I’m making a note to screw with his truck every chance I can from now on!

I REFUSE to apologise or admit to being embarrassed, out loud, that I let my daugh-.. because I let ERIS get me wearing a silly outfit that she likes so much!

..damn insidious ‘Mother Arista’ thoughts..

“Make sure you’re both strapped in quickly. We’ve got to go, we’ve wasted too much time as it is.”
Before I could reach for our belt he’d already put the Truck in gear and pulled us out of the Martials driveway.

If he’s actually silenced the Truck then it’s got to be localised in some way because I can still hear the engine’s meaty roar just fine.
Judging by the fact that no-one came running out of the house wondering what all the noise was though I guess he really did manage it somehow?

I’m angry at him for the ‘Julie Andrews’ comment still, so I refuse to offer him compliments at this moment.. but it IS pretty impressive in a completely arbitrary ‘only if done by someone who isn’t a complete asshole’ kind of way..

I wonder what method he used to do it?
Knowing him, he probably did something un-necessarily complicated and flashy just because he COULD.
His ego is one of his biggest markers in most of the things he does sadly.

Not that I can really hold the moral high-ground on that one, making things far too complicated and long lasting for what they need to be is one of MY biggest markers, which is pretty much equal to his ego when it comes to bad habits you could fall into as a mage really..

======

Eris passed the seat-belt into my hand and I moved it across the pair of us to clip it shut.
The belt only just reached but with a little bit of shifting we managed to get comfortable anyway.

“I’d recommend you both get some sleep, it’s still early and you look tired.”

Hypocrite!
He looks even worse than I do at the moment?!

Eris seemed to accept his idea without question though.

She settled her head on my chest.
After pushing one of the silk blouses ruffled edges away from her face she had her cheek on my breast with her ear above my heart as usual.

I’m pretty tired but I’m NOT going to sleep again anytime soon!
I’ll just have to keep myself busy somehow?

My hand came up to adjust the seatbelt when Eris shifted a little, pulling it tighter across my neck.

Hmm.. Project number one?
Magical replacement for an annoying seatbelt!

I’d started doing the rough math in my head already as John silently turned us out onto the highway leaving the resort and ‘home’ far behind for now.

An awkward silence fell between us and stretched out through the confines of the truck which quickly became both pretty distracting AND annoying.
With a mental note that my second ‘project’ should be some way to magically boost or replace John’s crappy radio I sunk deeper into my own head to make it easier to process the math without having paper to write it on.

Where are we even going anyway?
I kinda forgot to ask..

Oh well, I can check later when Eris isn’t trying to go to sleep I guess?

======

I was just putting the finishing touches to my mental ‘diagram’ for the seatbelt replacement system when my phone started buzzing against the dashboard.
Instinctively I jolted out of my haze and reached forward to snatch it up with my free hand.

“Hannah speaking?”
For a painfully long ten seconds there was silence from the other end.
“..Hello?”

“Han, darling dearest little sister.. why are you not in your bed?.. and why did you leave a stupid little barely legible note on your pillow?”

..uh oh..
Sarah sounds PISSED!

“Heeeyyy Sarah. Lovely.. um.. morning?.. huh?”

I think its morning at least?
She’s awake and the sun’s really bright in my eyes so I think that’s a fair guess?

“It’s a long story but basically I had a nightm-”

“This is John’s idea, isn’t it?”
I cringed and my eyes trailed over to John as he slumped forward slightly and continued to drive along whatever highway we’re on at this point.

“Technically..?”

“I’ll KILL that little bastard! WHERE ARE YOU?!”
..Whoa?!..

“Sare, calm down. It’s no big deal, we’re jus-”
I couldn’t even get my explanation out properly before Sarah cut across me angrily.

“Don’t give me that crap Han! We talked about this damn it?! You can’t just go wandering off like this all the time!”

My breath hitched angrily in my chest for a second.
I’m not ‘wandering off’..

We have a plan!
We’ve got REASONS to leave right now!

She can’t just jump to conclusions like that, it’s not fair..

“Sare, come on. Be reasonable we’ve got-”
She cut across me again!

“No Han, YOU come on, we only just got you back you can’t just go running away again!”

I could feel Eris shift slightly against me as a frustrated growl rumbled low in my chest.
What the hell is her problem?!

This is another bloody ‘girl’ thing, isn’t it?
If I was still male she wouldn’t give two SHITS if I disappeared for a while, note or not!
She never did before.. but no, I’m ‘Hannah’ now.

I’m her LITTLE sister, I’ve got a track record for being impulsive and unreasonable lately so she think’s I can’t take care of myself or something?!

“Damn it Sarah LISTEN to me! We left for a reason. I ne-”
She made a noise as if she was going to cut across me.. AGAIN!

Before she could manage to voice her next blast of yelling about how much I can’t be trusted to look after myself or whatever I sent a pulse of magic into my hand which cut off the call instantly.

A long silence stretched out awkwardly in the Truck.
John kept cutting his tired eyes over to me before turning back to the road and repeating the process over again.

“..she’s the one being unreasonable..”
He didn’t say anything but I could just FEEL his judging eyes on me.

My phone started buzzing.
A glance at the screen told me all I needed to see, it was Sarah again.

With an angry growl I tossed my phone onto the dashboard instead of answering.
The long judging silence stretched out again while John kept cutting his eye’s over at me when he could.

“She should have let me explain first, I’m NOT the one who wouldn’t bloody LISTEN..”
My phone stopped buzzing for a moment and then started all over again.
Out the corner of my eye I could see Sarah’s number on the screen.

We carried on driving in silence until the phone stopped vibrating at last.
John moved slightly in his seat and his eyes shifted over to me one more time.

“..shut up John..”

He huffed loudly and shook his head instead of answering me properly.
At least he’d stop giving me those annoying ‘knowing’ looks now!

..stupid stubborn Sarah..

======

I was idly staring out at the rough stone to our left and the wide river to our right when John shifted gear and flicked on the indicators.
My eyes caught on the off-ramp sign, apparently we’re turning off Exit 124 for the I-38 East to ‘City Center and Diamond Lake’?

“Where are we?”
He cut his eyes over to me as we pulled down the little slip road towards a run of buildings including a blue motel that had honestly seen better days.

We came to a crossing and a sign pronouncing this road to be part of the ‘Oregon Scenic Byway’, ‘Rogue-Umpqua’ to be specific.
That feels kinda familiar but before I could really work out where I’d heard it before John spoke at last.

“We’re in the outskirts of Roseburg just off the I-5. I need some coffee, the little one needs a bathroom break and the truck needs gas.”

True to his word he took a right at the next crossing followed by a sharp left a few seconds later pulling us into a Denny’s car park.
I glanced down at Eris.
It was pretty obvious by the look on her face that she needed the toilet, not desperately or anything but there was just some slight tightness to her face that I recognise from years of watching her as she grew u-

DAMN IT!

This is seriously annoying.
I NEVER saw Eris growing up!
I never changed her diapers for her, I never held her when she had nightmares or taught her how to talk!

These memories are getting too much.
I can barely feel when they decide to rear their heads anymore!
I..I’m kind of scared?

What happens when I really can’t tell what’s ‘me’ and what’s ‘them’ anymore?!

“Hannah, snap out of it. Eris needs her Mom to take her to the bathroom.”
John’s words were like a cold blast of wind, jolting me out of the spiral of self-doubt I was circling dangerously close to the edge of for a second there.

It’s going to be fine.
I’m strong!

No stupid crusty old memory from a dead woman is going to stop me living my life!

“Come on sweetie, let’s go find the ladies room shall we?”
Eris hopped down from my lap without a word.
The motion reminded me just exactly what we were wearing.
After a moment’s hesitation the pinched look to her eyes washed my embarrassment away, in favor of sorting her out first.
“Find us a table and get me a strong coffee John. We’ll only be a minute.”

I got some odd looks from the early morning patrons of the Denny’s when I swept in looking like a Swiss milk-maid but with years of practice I ignored their stares and marched us off to the bathroom.

“Do you need a hand going in your dress Eris?”
She shot me a slightly embarrassed look but shook her head and quickly dived into the only open stall.

While she did her business I turned to the little mirror above the sink and fiddled with my hair a bit to make it look slightly less like I just rolled out of bed.
The bags under my eyes weren’t helping the look either.

By the time Eris was done with her business I’d managed to get my hair tucked back slightly behind my ears but it wasn’t great or anything.
If only we could do magic at the moment!

Roseburg isn’t THAT far from Klamath Falls, it’s the next big city on the I-5 after Medford.
While that’s a good hundred miles away it’s not far enough for my liking.

With the amount of mages around at home the odds are good that at least one of them is proficient at tracking magic properly.
Even a weak pulse of my magic at the moment would be enough to give them a rough guess of where we are, it’s not like it’s hard to get a sample of my magic considering our home is practically swamped in traces of it at the moment.

“Wait for me.”
Eris nodded and moved over to practically stand guard over the cubical door while I went in to do my business.

The skirts on this ‘dirndlgwand’ dress weren’t hard to handle, I’ve worn worse before.
It was awkward trying to pee while knowing there’s someone standing outside waiting for me and I’m still not quite comfortable with.. ya know.. ‘all of that’?

It took everything I had to not blush brightly when I came out of the cubical a minute or so later, only for Eris to quickly tuck herself back into my skirts before I could even reach the sink to wash my hands.
She really is clingy sometimes?

I can kind of see why, if more of her past-lives were anything like the ones I’ve seen lately in my nightmares, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying or awkward..

We slipped out of the bathroom without much hassle and I quickly made a beeline for the little ‘booth’ table John had managed to claim for us.
Eris happily hopped onto the green leather seat and slid along so I could sit down next to her.

I’d only just managed to get my skirt settled before a waitress in a bright red apron and black shirt came over with two coffees in her hand.
She gave me a second look because of the dress obviously but I have no doubt my silly outfit wasn’t the weirdest thing she’d seen on the job.

Roseburg is the self-proclaimed ‘timber capital’ of the US after all.. a town that’s proud of something like that has to be weird deep down in my opinion..

“What can I get for you today?”
I smiled at the waitress awkwardly.

She really didn’t seem bothered by how weird we must look?
..that’s kinda nice honestly..

I shot a glance down at Eris and smiled slightly.
She’s made herself comfortable leaning into my side.
With one hand I reached down to give her a little squeeze, with the other I reached out to snag a menu.

“Have a look and see what you want Eris.”
She perked up and took the menu with wide eyes.
Like the TV and the rest of our house before that, I don’t think she’s ever ordered from a menu before, traditionalists aren’t exactly up-to-date on modern consumerism after all?

While she scanned through the menu, staring at the pictures with surprising intensity, I turned back to the waitress and ordered my breakfast.

“I’ll have a Philly Cheesesteak Omelette with an extra side of bacon, John will have..”
I trailed off and shot him a questioning look.

“An All-American Slam and a French Toast Slam.”
..piggy..

I glanced down to Eris again, she smiled up at me but seemed reluctant to speak.
Judging by the way her eyes kept cutting between me and the waitress it’s not hard to guess why..

With a shrug I slumped over slightly so she could tell me what she wanted in relative ‘privacy’.

“Can I get this and some juice?”
Her little finger pointed at the ‘Grand Slam Slugger’ meal, two pancakes, two eggs, two bits of bacon and two sausages with Hash browns.

For a moment I was tempted to swap out her order for the kid’s meal equivalent but it’s not like she has to eat it all.
If it comes to it I’ll finish what’s left off for her, I don’t mind a bit of leftovers and those pancakes DO look rather nice..

“She’ll have a Grand Slam Slugger and an apple juice.”

The waitress nodded to me, her eyes flicking down to offer Eris a little grin too.
She’d obviously worked out that our order was complete but she still asked if there was anything else anyway before receiving a negative from John and moving off to deliver our slip to the unseen chef.

We settled into a comfortable silence as people moved around us and cars drove past the window.
Eris was content to lean against me and stare at the menu while her hand played with the wide silk ribbon which made up the ‘bow’ of my dress.

“..sorry for getting you in trouble with Sarah..”
I shot a glance up at John and smirked slightly at him.

“You didn’t get me in trouble, I got me in trouble.. I probably shouldn’t have hung up on her but she was treating me like a child and it just.. I’m sick of it, ya know?”
John wisely didn’t open his mouth but he did nod at me encouragingly.
That was all I needed to go on.
“Everyone’s acting weirdly, Sarah’s trying.. I know that.. but.. but she just doesn’t GET it! She’s acting like my change is some kind of Joke?!”
I shifted my arms a little and rested a casual hand on Eris’s shoulder without thinking.
John winced visibly.
“Don’t blame yourself for that one John. The physical changes.. I.. I’m kind of okay with that? Magic can fix physical problems eventually, it’s the emotional side of it that’s bothering me. Ever since my second awakening I’m having a hard time working out where I end and the other incarnations begin.”

He winced again but nodded in understanding.
Of course he understands.. he’s gone through this sort of thing more times than I have..
He always.. he always understands?..

“How do you do it John? How do you hold back Max so easily?”
We sunk into a painfully long silence and John couldn’t look at me for some reason.
Eventually he huffed out a long breath and took a gulp of his coffee.

“I don’t.”

For a drawn-out moment I froze in fear.
He can’t mean it like that?
He’s John!

He’s changed, he’s not that crazy bastard anymore I can FEEL it!

“Mages.. there’s an old trick we developed centuries.. millennia ago. I can teach you but you need clarity first, that’s why I’m taking you to her, so you can have enough clarity to pull off the first crucial steps.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”
He cringed at the hurt in my voice.

After a long pause he shifted uncomfortably in his seat and glanced around to make sure no-one was listening.

“I wasn’t sure if you were ready. This trick.. it’s not clean cut or easy to pull off. If it works you could go into shock with how far along you are in your integration cycle so far.”
His magic said he wasn’t lying and his body language agreed but something didn’t feel right?

I’ve lied by omission enough times to know when he’s hiding something.. no idea what though?

“John.. be honest with me, what’s the real reason you didn’t tell me?”
It was almost physically painful to see the play of uncertain emotions cross his face.
His magic wasn’t much better.

Just feeling how he was changing his mind so quickly through his magic was enough to give me a mild headache.
My arms shifted slightly so I could hug Eris a bit better, it seemed to help a little.

“I..”

Before he could continue the waitress practically appeared from nowhere at our side and started dishing out breakfasts with a warm smile.
I shot him a look to say that this wasn’t over but turned to smile at the waitress anyway.

When her ‘Grand Slam’ was put down in front of her Eris was all smiles and wide eyes.
Her smile got even bigger when the tall glass of apple juice joined it.

“Thanks.”
The waitress smiled at us and walked off.
She really is surprisingly nice for Denny’s server this early in the morning..

“okay, so as-”
I stalled and glanced over at Eris.

She was holding her knife and fork awkwardly with her head cocked to the side slightly as she tried to cut into the pancakes.
With a heavy sigh I leaned over, took the cutlery from her and started cutting it up for her.
She blushed and sunk down in her seat a little but smiled at me anyway, so I guess I did something right at last?

When I finally finished cutting her food for her she happily took her knife and fork back to dig in with gusto.
I turned back to my own food and opened my mouth to start in on John again but before I could get a word out my phone started vibrating.

I’d been tempted to turn the bloody thing off in the truck but I’m really not in the habit of turning my phone off in general, it makes me nervous.
I shot John a glare just for poor timings sake but grabbed my phone up and checked the screen anyway.

Crap.. it’s Mum?!..

I coughed nervously to settle myself properly then accepted the call with a forced grin on my face, even if she can’t see it.

“Hi Mum, what’s up?”
She paused just long enough to let me know I was in trouble before answering.

“You sister’s upset. I’m not much better.. you ran off AGAIN Ari?!”
My mouth flapped down, a denial on the tip of my tongue, but I managed to hold it in.
She’s right.. technically a least?

I went away from the place where I didn’t feel safe and moved very fast while doing so, that’s generally acknowledged by most people to be pretty much the dictionary definition of ‘running off’..

“I left a note this time!.. and I didn’t go alone, and it’s not my fault Sarah wouldn’t listen to me! She just kept yelling and she wouldn’t listen an-”
For some reason tears started forming in the corner of my eye?

My hand came up to wipe them away quickly and I felt immensely stupid for letting it happen but at least John kept his mouth shut and didn’t laugh at me for once.
With a sniff I pulled myself back together and waited for the inevitable explosion from Mum.

“..what’s going on with you Ari?.. there’s something you’re not telling us?”
My breath caught in my throat slightly.

How annoyingly ironic?
I have a go at John for hiding things then get accused of doing the same by Mum!

“I had a bad dream Mum, that’s all. John knows someone who can help me sleep better, we should be home in a few h-”
John waved his arms for attention and shook his head furiously.
“-a few days?”
He nodded then let out a relieved sigh.

“..at least you have your phone on this time I guess?..”
I’m not sure if she intended for me to hear that grumble or not honestly?
“Look Ari.. just.. just think next time okay? I could have done without waking up this morning to find you missing again..”
She just sounds tired at this point, tired and a bit disappointed..

“Sorry Mum. I’ll try next time.. it was a really bad dream and with the.. the ‘kids’ turning up and the threat of ‘husbands’ following on soon..”
I hesitated for a moment to let out a long breath.
“It seemed like the right thing to do, the SMART thing to do at the time.. ya know?”

“I believe you Ari, I really do.. but it doesn’t stop me from worrying when my sixteen year-old goes running off with her ‘not-really-a-boyfriend’ older boyfriend and a little girl claiming to be their daughter to parts unknown in the middle of the night..”

“He’s NOT my boyfriend!”
Instead of accepting that stated fact for what it is she LAUGHED at me?!
John’s not my powers-damned BOYFRIEND!

Okay, so he’s a boy.. man.. and he’s my best friend, but that DOESN’T make him my boyfriend damn it!
He’s my.. he’s my ‘Man-Besty’?!
It’s a COMPLETELY different thing from a boy-friend!

John laughed openly which really didn’t help me stop my flustered reaction or lessen my embarrassment in the slightest.

“I have to go now Mum, John wants to get back on the road and Eris is looking a bit tired.”
Eris grunted in annoyance through a mouthful of pancake.
John opened his mouth to speak but a hard kick to his shin under the table stopped whatever evil little plan had popped into his head to make my day worse.
“Love you Mum. I’ll be home as soon as I can be okay?”

She barely managed to return my hasty farewell before I cut the call in my rush to avoid anything else going wrong.
As soon as the line cleared my phone landed on the table and I shot a glare at the pair of them.

“Eris, if I lie to someone then it’s for a reason okay sweetie? If you want to know why or don’t understand then just play along until we’re alone and I’ll explain what was happening for you.”
She shot me a slightly confused look but eventually nodded with a partial shrug in favor of going back to her food.

“If I have to tell you what’s going on than you’re purposefully being an asshole John, stop trying to make things worse for your own amusement. It’s not big, it’s not clever and it’s NOT funny..”
He shrugged but didn’t meet my eyes as he chewed his food instead.
His magic was broadcasting loud and clear that he was feeling mildly guilty, only mild of course, but it was honestly more then I was expecting to get from him right now.

With a frustrated huff I snagged a sausage on my fork and stuffed it in my mouth.
Chewing gave me something to do rather than grumble, it was kind of therapeutic too.

“Can we have ice cream?”
Eris looked up from the menu she’d laid out on the table at the desert page and gave me a look that could melt steel with its cuteness factor alone.
What is it with Arista’s kids and ‘ice cream’?!

Marshalling all my willpower I pushed pass the pout on her face, I’m LONG used to her unwittingly manipulative looks. She picked most of them up from me wh-
DAMN IT!

“If you eat all your breakfast we can get something to go..”
Hopefully my annoyance didn’t show in my voice.
Eris didn’t notice if it did, she squealed happily and gave me a quick hug before diving back into her breakfast with a renewed sense of determination.

I smirked slightly despite myself.

As I turned back to my own breakfast I caught John’s eye and he winked at me with obvious amusement on his face.
We shared a secret little smile that went over Eris’s head, metaphorically and physically, before going back to our food again.

The food here’s surprisingly good.. even if mines got a bit cold at this point..

======

“Where are we going anyway?”

We passed through the edge of Eugene about an hour ago.
I don’t really recognise the road we’re driving along but it’s nice looking at least, very ‘forest-y’.. if that’s even a word..

John glanced up at the sky for a second then back over at me before turning back to the road.
He seemed somewhat tense all of a sudden.
Whatever the answer is, why does it feel like I’m not going to like it?

“Reach into the glove box for me and grab the glasses from inside?”
Bastard!

“Don’t change the topic..”
He’s so frustrating!
He KNOWS that I’ve worked out something’s going on but he just refuses to give it up.

“Get the glasses out, put them on and I’ll tell you.”

With a suspicious glare and a huff I popped the glove box open.
There’s a few different pairs of glasses inside surprisingly?

Why the hell does he have so many glasses?!
He doesn’t even wear any!

I grabbed the first pair to hand, a wire framed pair with a metallic blue finish to the rims and arms, shoving them onto my face after a glance to make sure there were no obvious tricks on them.
Without another word I turned to glare at John again expectantly.

“Well?”
He sighed heavily but didn’t look away from the road for once.

He seems to know where we’re going but I don’t recognise the practically empty backwater road we’re on in the slightest, we turned off the I-5 a while ago.
Eris seems to be enjoying all the trees and little farms around at least.

“The woman I’m taking you to see practically invented mind-magics, she knows you.. well, knows Arista at least.. sorta..”
He cringed and seemed to have to stop himself from glancing over at me.
“She’ll help. That’s the important part, trust me on this one Hannah.. please? It’s going to be awkward but until she looks you over I just can’t go into it all.”

If anything that explanation left me feeling MORE suspicious and with quite a few extra questions too.. I.. I trust him though?..
He’s John.. he can be an asshole, Max was a psycho and they both have their flaws but neither of them have ever outright lied to me, not that I can think of at least?..

“Okay.. for now. This better not be a trick or something John, I’m giving you ONE chance here.”
He cringed again.
“DON’T blow it!”

An awkward silence stretched out in the truck.
Even Eris was quiet.

I think she’d been eavesdropping on our conversation?
I can’t exactly hold that against her though, it’s kind of hard to NOT listen in on a conversation when your all stuck in such a tight space together I guess?

“So what’s up with the glasses? Despite the pair I had the other day they’re really not my style in general..”
It was a weak attempt at giving him an easy out but honestly I’m curious and perhaps a little confused by his sudden insistence that I wear them?

“How many mage’s do you know that wear glasses?”
Duh, that’s an easy one!

“..none..”
He didn’t seem to appreciate my deadpan tone but continued on despite that fact.

“Precisely, after a while mages tend to get a habit of discounting people wearing glasses from being threats. If someone needs glasses then they can’t be a mage.. it’s solid logic, if completely flawed in a very obvious way..”

Clever bastard!
Sneaky clever bastard!!
THAT’S why he has so many glasses.
That’s HOW he gets around without being noticed so easily?!

That’s.. that’s..
That’s so bloody STUPID!

That’s not how reality works!
Despite what his ego might say, he’s NOT ‘Superman’!
You can’t just put glasses on and magically make everyone think you’re a completely different person..

Well.. I guess you could?

Magically speaking, a pair of glasses are just as good as a leather choker if you want to put a long lasting illusion on yourself, better in fact, depending on the materials involved?
That’s not what he’s talking about though.
He just means using the glasses as some kind of psychological trick, no magic involved.
No-one’s stupid enough to fall for that!

“If you want to hide, why don’t you just change your hair color Mom?”
My head dropped down to meet Eris’s curious eyes in confusion.

..I guess I could?..
I’ve never really looked into it, we’d have to stop off somewhere to get some dye or something though which sounds like more effort than it’s worth to be honest.

“You can do that?”

Huh?
Why’s John looking at me weirdly all of a sudden?

“What?.. eyes on the road!”
He turned back quickly, not that it matters much.
We’re on about as isolated a stretch of road as you’re likely to find at this time of day.
There’s nothing but trees and the road for as far as the eye can see.

“Yeah she can! She did it all the time when we were in Nottingham. I wanted her to teach me but she wouldn’t, I’ve been stuck as a ginger for years now because of it!”
Eris’s little cheeks puffed up in annoyance and she huffed to herself while tossing a strand of her long red hair back as if it was suddenly offensive to her.

I’m.. honestly not sure what to make of that?
..it feels kind of familiar I guess?..

I don’t remember any incarnations from ‘Nottingham’.
I think that’s in England isn’t it?.. Robin Hood and all that stuff?..

“Did ‘I’ happen to say how I did it?”
Eris shrugged lightly and her eyes got a little distant as she seemed to drop into thought for a moment.

“Something about modifying a hair-care spell? You got the idea from Morrigan’s shape-shifting thingy..”
She wiggled her hands together a bit as if she was trying to describe an item using nothing but poorly done mime but I honestly don’t have a clue whatever she was talking about.

Modifying a hair-care spell though?
That has potential.
I’ve already done that, by accident originally and then on purpose when I cast the same one on Sarah to make her hair longer too..

Let’s see, the ‘Artius Capillatio’ spell only has three lines to it?
The middle one apparently controls hair length so the other two would be..
..hair color and hair ‘volume’..
Maybe?

Those are the two effects I saw from the spell that aren’t attached to the growth from the middle line at least.

I hadn’t even noticed my hand coming up to my head until it made contact, I must have been running on autopilot or something?
..there’s only one way to see I guess?..

I dipped into my lines, pulling a single strand of power along the ‘left’ line to my hand and leaned forward slightly so I could run my hand from the crown of my head down to the point where the tips are piled messily just below my shoulders because of the seatback.

Almost the instant I finished the hand motion to activate the spell my hair fluffed itself up into massive wide curls to a point that I had to push them back before I could see anything as the sides pushed in to cover my whole head.
DAMN IT!

Apparently it’s not the left line that controls color?!
The three of them together must balance themselves out to give a ‘perfect’ effect normally because without the other lines they seem to go out of control pretty quickly..

Eris made a happy squeal sound and reached up to play with my puffy new ‘perm’ like curls with her hand.
John shot a look over at me before turning back to driving with a smirk on his lips.

I can feel his magic, he just wants to crack up laughing but he’s resisting it as best he can!

Damn magic!
I must look like some kind of county singer with hair like this!

Out of frustration rather than planning I dipped back into my lines and dropped a single line into the ‘right’ hand line instead this time.
My scalp tingled as I ran my hand awkwardly through my now much less manageable hair, down to the thick curly tips again.

“Cooollll..”
I shut my eyes tight and sighed.
I almost don’t want to know what could make Eris sound that full of awe so suddenly?
“Do me next!”
Her weight shifted on my lap as she obviously positioned herself to be in easy reach for the spell.

Her little hands snatched up mine and placed it on the top of her head expectantly after I apparently took too long to comply with her command.

With my eye’s closed it was easy to pretend nothing out of the ordinary had happened at least?
I dropped into my lines one last time and dropped a lines worth of power into the apparent ‘hair color’ line, finishing the simple spell off with the usual sweeping gesture.

For a long moment the truck went silent.
Ever so reluctantly I cracked my eyes open to see what happened.

Well then.. I turned Eris into a brunette apparently?
It could have been worse I guess!

I could have turned her hair a light pastel shade of blue.. like I did to MY bloody hair for example!!

What the hell am I going to do with BLUE HAIR?!
It’s not even something nice like royal blue, it’s a pale baby blue!
How can you make blue look like such a girly color?!

Damn it, stupid magic!

I opened my mouth to complain at how unfair the world is but stalled slightly when a rumble of thunder practically shook the truck and made me jump in fright.
What the hell was that?

It’s a clear day!
There’s not a cloud in the sky let alone bloody thunder and lightning!

“..oh crap..”
My head swung to face John through my thick curls of now baby-blue hair.
He slammed his foot down jerking us all back in our seats.

He’s going WAY to fast!
What the hell’s gotten into him?!

“John, slow down!”
He grunted to show that he’d heard me but didn’t pull his foot off the accelerator in the slightest.
“JOHN, SLOW DOWN DAMN IT!

Eris squeezed herself tightly into my chest.
My arms wrapped around her in response and I clung on for dear life.
This isn’t safe!
She’s not even got a proper belt on!

“SLOW THE DAMN TRUCK DOWN JOHN OR I’M WARPING OUT AND TAKING ERIS WITH ME!!”

My seatbelt cut into my upper-chest a bit as we decelerated sharply.
We’re still moving at a good sixty miles per hour on the deserted ‘highway’ but at least it’s better than the speed we were doing a moment ago!

“What the HELL got into you J-”
My rant was interrupted by a deep rumble of thunder that shook almost painfully in my chest.

“..shit, we didn’t lose him..”

“Lose WHO John?! What the hell is going o-”
More thunder, so loud it practically drowned out my voice as it crashed down around us.
“-and what the HELL is going on with that bloody lightning?!”

Before he could respond there was a bright flash ahead of us with an accompanying rumble of loud thunder.

John slammed on the breaks making me yelp and Eris cry out in fear.
We came to a rough stop slightly askew in the road facing the flash’s location and I took the chance to blink furiously in an attempt to clear away the effects of the flash from my eyes while gasping a little for breath.

“oh shit.. keep your mouth shut Hannah, let me do the talking.”
I growled low in the back of my throat at his rude demand but he ignored me in favor of scrabbling out of the truck in a rush.

From the point ahead of us where the flash struck the road, a voice rolled in with an angry growl all of its own, a voice I’ve never heard in real life before but one I certainly recognise from my ‘dream’ last night..

“BROTHER! Where is my WIFE?!”
I froze.
Almost subconsciously my magic started shrinking back, deep beneath my skin to ‘hide’ as much as possible.

John coughed nervously and made his way around to the front of the truck.
“Thor, buddy! How’ve you been? I haven’t seen you since New York in seventy-seven! We re-”

Thor, because that’s who the newcomer from the lightning flash was without a shadow of a doubt, cut across him in his deep overpowering voice as if John hadn’t said a word to start with.

“Don’t play games Loki! I felt her magic, clear as day. Echo said you’d taken her in the night, this is your last warning Loki. WHERE is my WIFE?”
..oh.. crap..

DAMN IT ECHO!
Why do you have to repeat everything you hear to anyone who will listen?!
Oh yeah.. ‘echo’..
..greatttt...

Thor’s here for me and John was Loki back in the day!
John was Loki.. why does that not surprise me in the slightest?..

Thor stepped closer to us and my heart started thumping away in my chest.
“Oh crap.. oh crap..”
I’m hyperventilating!

My arms went to squeeze Eris a bit tighter to me for my own comfort as much as hers but she struggled and managed to get loose from my grip with surprising ease.
The moment she was free she leapt to the side and stuck her head out of the trucks window with a big grin on her face.

“Hi Uncle Thor!”

The large red-headed wall of muscle with his thick ceremonial leather armor, bushy red beard and ever present enchanted Hammer hanging from his belt-loop turned from John to stare directly at us instead.
I sunk down nervously in my seat until I was practically out of sight but it probably didn’t help much with my hair being so fluffy and still such an eye-catching shade of blue!

“oh crap.. oh crap..”

With tense fingers, my hand reached out and tugged Eris back inside the cab of the truck by the back of her little replica ‘dirndlgwand’ dress until she was tucked in at my side practically laying in the foot-well of the long passenger seat.

Heavy footfalls started moving towards the truck, each step seemingly emphasised by a slight rumble of thunder as he moved close and closed.

I squeezed my eyes shut tight in fear.
Hopefully Eris doesn’t feel me shaking.

I don’t want this!
I don’t want to have to see Arista’s ex-husbands EVER, especially HIM!

Powers damn it!

It isn’t fair!
This is PRECISELY the reason why I left home with John this morning in the first bloody place?!

Why the hell did I have to go using magic?
It’s practically second nature to me but that’s no excuse, I should have been paying more attention not getting caught up showing off for Eris!

I’m going to get captured by a Norse GOD and all I got out of it was BLUE bloody HAIR!