Keeley Thomson (Book 3): Mistress of Souls (10 page)

"You got along with Ginger alright. Karen Benson is about your age and into swinging, so she
has
to know some guys for you. Not that I want to know about that." Seriously after she said the words Keeley had to clamp down on all her negative emotions hard, especially disgust. Her mother was good looking and still young enough to be out having fun. She shouldn't feel like she had to wait just because of her daughter.

"Darla is going to be in with us little kids, but you know, she's actually hundreds of years old, if you ever need to talk to someone. Um, Clara? She's pretty cool, plus you two have a lot in common. Or Deborah Forbes. She's a bit younger than you, but has some connections now and is making more. Newscaster. Lots of people. I bet some of them would even show up if asked. They just don't know to be pushy about it with you yet. I'll get you the numbers." It was worth a shot and they were all decent people.

It did get a tired and slightly sweaty grin from her mom as she wiped her forehead.

"If I ever have the free time at least. Did you know that Clara and her son have events almost every day? People reschedule weddings and even birthday parties just to make sure the Taggards can work the event. That's what this order is for. A young woman's wedding arrangements fell through as far as flowers, so Clara called earlier and asked if I could do an emergency order. There isn't time to do what we should. I don't suppose you'd have time to help?"

Keeley sighed. It was one of those things that she really shouldn't try to get out of. Her mom was clearly trying to make enough money for them to live, going from zero to a hundred percent effort in hours. That meant she was taking on tasks she couldn't really handle to try and get everything to function properly. It wasn't honestly needed, but as she'd said, she was the adult and to her mind that probably meant paying the rent and buying all the food. Keeley ate a lot, so it made sense to do her part, didn't it?

There was just so much to do though.

"I... Can give you a few hours. When does this have to be done by?" The clock on the wall was just saying it was three-twenty. Hopefully it was for the next day.

"I need to leave by five in order to have the church set up in time. Eve is going to help with that. I just can't get all the arrangements done in time. It will take at least a day. If I would have known three days ago it would be possible, but I just got the flowers dropped off half an hour ago. I have a list of what's needed and some pictures..."

They were lovely arrangements and not that hard to put together, but Keeley agreed, it would take a lot longer than they had, at least working at human speeds.

"Argh. I do this under time pressure and with fist shaking." Keeley smiled though and didn't shake anything at all.

"If you'd go and make some food, about a quarter of what we have in the house, I'll do this for you. I suggest you just set it on the table and try to ignore me for an hour or so. I mean it on the amount of food too. This is going to burn some calories and so will what I have planned for later."

She didn't wait for an answer, focusing as hard as she could on remembering what it felt like to move quickly, trying to slow time around her to a level she'd never tried before. Then she added in a feeling of being cool and dry, so she wouldn't end up sopping wet with sweat and killed off all sense of pain. She'd have to be careful and heal constantly, or she could break her spine with the rapid movements. It had happened once before, so it was a real issue.

It felt to her like she was just working normally, and after what felt like a few hours the beginning of hunger pangs started in pretty severely. Not bad enough to make her stop, but she only had about a quarter of the white and yellow things finished. All wrapped in their light yellow satin bows and tucked into bits of green florist blocks she had to cut down to fit the little vases or wrap in green tape and more ribbon. She decided not to stop until she had half of it done, even though that meant fighting the hunger too.

When she finally checked the clock it said thirty-three minutes had passed.

Then she ran out to get some food, which was thankfully already out on the table, her mother never turning around to see her eat any of it. She had to stop again for more before she was done, but by four-fifty the whole order was completed. Hopefully well enough. She'd tried to match the pictures as closely as possible, but the flowers didn't all look the same. There wasn't a lot she could do about that, since they grew the way nature wanted them to. What she could do was start Freida, take the back seats out and turn the air conditioning up on high to help keep the blooms fresh. Then she pulled back, moving toward normal as far as speed and slumped at the kitchen table after loading it all.

"Done." She sounded exhausted, which reminded her to eat.

"What? Really?" Her mother blinked a lot for a few seconds as Keeley ate a giant bowl of canned ravioli. It was probably four family sized containers worth of it, but it tasted wonderful. Cold still, but honestly she couldn't care about that and just slurped them down as fast as possible. Then she ate the garlic bread that was sitting out and, to her own surprise straight up drank a large bottle of ranch dressing. Eating like this wasn't about fun, or even taste, just getting enough into herself. Older Demons rarely had to do things like this, but she'd pushed things a lot there and was going to be doing more of that soon. It couldn't be helped.

Between bites she managed to gasp out where they were.

"In Freida. Hope they'll do." They didn't have time to redo it all if it sucked.

That got something that smelled like hamburger to be taken from the stove while Sherry ran to check, she was back in a few minutes, eyes wide. Not scared though.

"That's amazing. You know, I don't think I really believed any of this before. Dan showed me a few things and read my mind, but I kind of thought, on some level, that it might be a trick. It isn't though, is it? All of this is real?" She did sit down at the table instead of cooking, which got Keeley to jump up and return the pan with four meat patties in it back to the heat. She didn't want them raw if she could help it.

"So I hear. On the good side it means that you don't really have to wonder if you can make enough as a florist to support us. Though you clearly can. On the bad, I eat like this. Horrible manners, shoving food in like this, but what can I do?" The stuff on the table was disappearing faster than she liked, but it was enough to get her started and part way repay the energy dept she'd worked herself into.

Eve came and saw what was going on, shrugging at the mess that had been left. Sherry tried to clean it up a bit, but Eve pushed her toward the front door.

"Later, we need to go now. No time to hang Keels. Let's get together later?"

"Yeah." When that would be she didn't know. She kept eating as they left and for about an hour after.

Then she threw herself into the inroads again. The first time hurt, but by alternating food with staying in the warped and distorted space she was able to keep the pain in her head to a dull roar. At midnight after another snack break she decided to try actually going somewhere. The first trip was said to be a pivotal one, if her implanted memories were right. People didn't normally try for about thirty years or so after starting to practice. A lot of Demons didn't try for decades past that. She couldn't waste the time though. If she screwed it up, she died of course, but if it was easy no one would make a big deal of it, would they?

It wasn't normally some kind of long trip, that was in the memories too. It was better to go short and work on control than to be stuck far from home and crippled in pain. She opted for a trip from her bedroom to just in front of the sofa. The first step into the distorted air was straight to her perspective, but still felt like a powerful twist to the right. The world looked different of course, like it was made of horrible funhouse mirrors, stretched and warped in places, blank in others. It was the gaps she was interested in. If you looked into them hard enough you could see what they led to, some of them decently far away. The one closest to her right now was her target. She had to move carefully though, because it was so nearby she nearly overshot and had to turn around, making a much smaller step to get back.

Then she took another straight step, this one twisting left somehow, and came out standing next to the sofa as planned. Nearly. She was on the wrong side of it, but it was pretty darned close for a first try. Just at that moment the door had opened, with Clara and her mom walking in. That wouldn't have been a huge deal of course, except that the pain was nearly crippling as it tore through her head. She couldn't let it show though. Shutting the pain down didn't work either, so she forced a smile and tried not to look weak.

"Clara. Sherry." Her voice cracked a bit, which showed distress. It got an odd look from the Hsreth who recognized it for what it was.

That meant it was time to spin up a lie or two before things got out of hand. There could be no signs of weakness in front of her people, or they'd get scared about what had done it. First though she had to fix herself and fast.

"Sorry about the mess in the kitchen. Do you two think you could find me something else to eat? Major situation came up. I dealt with it, of course, but I could use a snack." She tried to make it sound all happy and sweet, and nearly even made it.

That decided the matter in her mind once and for all. She was definitely going to try out for the school play.

As soon as they left she sat down and tried to master the pain. She needed to heal and let her mind change she remembered, focusing on that instead of the pain, trying to make it happen as fast as she could without losing consciousness. Ten minutes later a nice tray of food that looked professionally prepared came out, being carried by Clara.

"Here you go. Mistress." She bowed.

"Thank you. This looks wonderful. How did the wedding go?"

Clara actually took a full step back, but recovered from the shock of the question quickly enough, looking only a little scared. She knew enough about Greater Demons not to trust a seemingly good mood, didn't she? Her personal experience was much broader than most.

"Splendid. Your Sherry worked a true miracle with the flowers. The bride's mother cried when she saw it you know. They'd lost their deposit to a wedding confidence scheme and couldn't afford what anyone else would have charged for the last minute work. That we managed to bring it in for the agreed upon cost saved the day I think. Good people and not poor, but an extra twenty thousand dollars would have strained the budget to breaking I believe. We did get leads for three more events because of that however. Sherry and Eve stayed to help clean up as well. I've rarely seen a florist do that. That kind of quality help can't be bought normally. The rest of the evening went well, of course. The bride was lovely and the groom looked like a lumberjack stuffed into a hideous powder blue suit, but it was perfect anyway." The woman actually seemed pleased with it and nodded to the tray, which was empty.

"More then? Did you want something different? I could make some pastries I think, with what's left in there."

"Sounds great. Don't take too much time though, you've had a busy day already. I have more to do, but you need to be back to your own place, living your life, not here waiting on me. I would like it if you could look in on my other people in the next few days and make sure they're all happy with what they're getting food and clothing wise? Especially Rebekah, since she's an employee. I need to do that myself, but you have the expertise to make sure they aren't just getting enough, but what they should have." It was a real point. She could afford some good things now, so she might as well make sure that the basics were all taken care of for everyone else as well.

"Sherry too. The Yorks as well. I'll get you the needed addresses."

"Certainly... Keeley."

She'd been about to say Mistress, but Sherry walked in with a giant bowl of ice cream covered in marshmallow fluff. It looked like a disaster and got a sniff from the Hsreth for not being pretty enough, but Keeley dug in after mumbling her thanks.

"This is really great. Thank you both. I think this should about do for now. We can leave the kitchen for now. I'll get to it before I leave in the morning. I made most of the mess and it was all for me."

That made both of the women look uneasy. Clara cleared her throat.

"It wouldn't be a problem..."

"Oh, go on. I can do it. True, mom will redo it in the morning, but I can do the heavy lifting to start. After I make more of a mess I mean." For as well stocked as they were, the food was starting to run out. She'd have to go out to find something then. Maybe borrow something from Darla?

That made up her mind to go and see if she could scrounge some food and chat with Rebekah who would still be up, nearing one or not. Vampires were creatures of the night after all. She slept mornings for the most part. So did Elis. Balthias was like Keeley and didn't need sleep at all.

It should be safe enough to visit.

Grabbing a school backpack filled with odds and ends from her room she stepped and twisted, then carefully walked through the gaps, looking at everything carefully, going slowly, before making the next step, ending just about ten feet from Darla's door. The pack had pulled at her hard, but it wasn't something she couldn't manage really. She had to hide the pain still, but didn't go down or feel half as bad this time. She was starving again though as she knocked firmly.

The door opened to show Darla standing there with a strange copper tube with a closed and rounded end that looked like it had a perfectly smoothed crystal tucked into place. The projections on it made the whole thing look a little bit like someone had been experimenting with a saxophone and failed utterly. It looked incredibly dorky and cool at the same time though. No doubt it was capable of ripping her apart with a single though on her sister's part. That or the thumbing of the G tab.

"Good evening. I've come to try and collect foodstuffs for the Keeley Thomson charity fund. Because a hungry Demon is a terrible thing." It came out deadpanned.