A Whateley Academy Tale

Seeing is Believing

by

Phoenix Spiritus

Part One

Let us go

"Lady Astarte welcome, I see we've all assembled."

"All?" Lady Astarte questioned eyebrow raised. Night black skin-tight costume surrounded by a blue aura Lady Astarte waved her sceptre at those assembled. Along with the man before her wearing swimming trunks and a sky blue polo shirt seated on a sun lounge beside the hotel pool there were only three others present.

Lying on the sun lounge asleep was a girl, she had on a one-piece swimsuit and her head resting on the lap of the man who had welcomed Lady Astarte. To the left and right of the sun lounge where two 'government types' in black suits, black ties, black shoes, black sunglasses, both men were trying real hard to project Men in Black 'We are here for your protection' auras while glaring hard at each while occasionally, furtively, frankly with more then a touch of trepidation one or the other of the men would glance at the girl asleep on the sun lounge.

Lady Astarte floated down to stand at the foot of the lounge her staff held theatrically out to her side. She gave the younger sweating MiB wannabe a hard glare before turning back to the man sitting calmly on the lounge.

"Very few will run towards an 'End of the World' level event," the man on the lounge remarked with wry smile "even amongst those who have the skills to know its coming," he finished with a laugh, shifting absently to reposition the girl more comfortably in his lap.

"Everyone said it was unavoidable, the world would end yet here we are," the younger of the dark suits growled.

"I think you are misquoting or perhaps they themselves misguided you?" The man on the lounge politely questioned turning to face the dark suited man. "I'm pretty sure all your Readers simply stated 'neither you nor they' could stop what was coming."

"That was what I was told," Lady Astarte agreed once again giving the sitting man a thoughtful look.

"Did any of you ask 'if not me they who'?" he queried smiling as he turned toward Lady Astarte.

"No but I did ask what. That," snarled the younger dark suited man pointing to the girl lying on the sun lounge with her head cradled lovingly in the sitting man's lap "is destined to manifest in a breakout event that destroys the world!"

"Twist it and changes it and not the knowledge or the control to prevent her accidents," smiling the man agreed. "And please she has already manifested and for your information has a danger sense. Don't. Please, relax." Holding a hand over the sleeping girls back he smiled. "Thank you, the true danger has passed, that there was when the world could have ended," he grinned around thankfully to Lady Astarte and the two men.

"Such a simple request?" Lady Astarte enquired surprised.

"Simple but delivered to three with real power and, thankfully, iron resolve," he agreed. "If any of you had reacted to the confirmation of her power with violence her danger sense would have triggered and the escalating battle would have seen her accidentally unleashing an Extinction Level Event trying to defend herself. Please calm, I am not insane." Holding out a palm to them entreatingly he pleaded. "She is tired and drained, unlike normal at the moment fleeting thoughts of homicide towards her from the three of you are not enough to wake her hence I can have this conversation were you will almost automatically analyse your chances of killing her and yet she will not react. I need to get all of you past that before she is awake, later thoughts such as the ones you are having now will cause her to retaliate violently and it will quickly spin out of control."

"How can you sit so calmly nursing it like that?" demanded the younger dark suited man.

"How can I not love a child?" The seated man replied simple truth in his eyes. "She is scared and she is alone. Her parents where just killed in the plane crash in the desert, she is frightened and in need of comfort, of security and yes of love. How could I not provide it?" Watching the younger man he sighed as jaws clenched the man turned angrily from him, glaring at the girl in his lap.

"What plane crash?" the second dark suited man asked with deceptive calm, enough emotion in his voice to leave none in doubt that he would 'demand' the answer if one was not forthcoming.

The seated man turned to him calmly. "The crash in Nevada caused when the power generator spiked on the advanced gravatonic beam weapon being tested at Area 51," he answered eyebrow raised in polite innocence, the smirk in the corner of his mouth betraying his understanding of how upset the black suited man was at his knowledge of the true reason the crash occurred. "Before exploding and destroying itself the weapon's beam spiked out and ripped Flight 92 apart in midair. That plane crash. The plane crash that crises manifested her mutant abilities in order to save herself," he finished gesturing slightly to the girl in his lap.

"How did it save her?" The man growled out, almost hiding his respect for the knowledge displayed.

"She warped herself to safety. From the flight to the ground. Here where I caught her," he replied turning to smile down at the girl.

"TK? Force Field?" the younger suit demanded forcefully.

"No nothing so impressive," the seated man laughed before turning back to the older and more professional of the two men in suits. "I just jumped," he smiled at the fleeting look of frustration, the first true emotion the disciplined black suited man had displayed passed over his face. "I caught her in my arms and used the pool to cushion our impact as we fell."

"Exemplar? Flight?" the younger man pressed.

Turning to give him a sigh the seated man shook his head. "No I only jumped about two inches. She'd already aimed herself for the pool and matched her relative velocities, I just caught her and held her as we hit the water. In my arms she didn't panic and warp again, instead patiently waiting to be rescued," he smiled happily around.

All three of them stared at him incredulously. "How did that save the world?" the younger man demanded incredulously.

Turning to regard the younger man with exaggerated patience he replied. "Unlike you I am safe, calming, soothing," he stated flatly, moving slightly to better shield the girl in his lap from the glare of the younger man. "She was drowning and I rescued her. She was wet and I gave her a towel and a change of clothes. She was distraught and I comforted her. She was grieving and I talked to her, soothed her and let her cry it out. Basically she is a child with a child's needs on a difficult day, I provided for those needs. Now she is exhausted and asleep and except for the crash not once did she feel frightened, scared or terrified enough to need to warp. No warping, no escalating. No escalation no accidents that could destroy the world."

"So how do we deal with her now?" the impatient man demanded.

"You do not," the seated man declared forcefully. "You are scary. You are frightening. You don't get near her is how you deal with her." He spoke succinctly, biting off the words shortly as though dealing with a simpleton.

"I am an Agent of the MCO!" Mr. Young-Black-suit-and-tie snapped incredulously.

"I rest my case," the seated man snarled back with venom.

Lady Astarte and the Government Man were both too professional to react to that declaration but a slight crinkling around her mouth as though about to laugh betrayed Lady Astarte's true feelings.

"She is a dangerous mutant who will destroy the world!" Mr. Self-confessed MCO man blustered.

"Aren't they all?" her protector replied with heavy sarcasm. "She's the same young girl she was yesterday," he continued seriously. "Only now she is orphaned and afraid. She's no more going to destroy the world today then she was yesterday."

"She destroys the world today at 12:47 pm!" the MCO agent snapped leaning in close to snarl in face of the seated man who, unfazed, smirked slightly at the MCO agent's antics.

"And yet it is ten to one and we are all still here," he calmly replied. "And please keep your voice down, she's sleeping," he chided the MCO agent.

"As the ranking Agent here from the organisation with paramount authority over mutants I demand she be turned over to me!" the MCO agent thundered.

Smiling wryly the quiet man just looked at him. "I think you'll find that none of the rest of us here agree with your claim of paramount authority over anything," he finally said making no moves threatening or otherwise, just sitting there looking up at the MCO agent in amusement.

"I represent the United States Government Department of Paranormal Affairs..." started Mr. Dark Suit number two when he was interrupted by Mr. MCO man.

"The Mutant Commission Office is a worldwide organisation, you only have jurisdiction in the United States!" Mr. MCO snapped turning his glare on the DPA agent.

"Which is precisely where we are standing…" the DPA agent replied back in a reasoned tone his calm professional demeanour unfazed, almost pointedly bringing attention to the MCO Agent's fierce, emotional behaviour.

"Gentlemen," interrupted Lady Astarte before the legendary hostilities between DPA and MCO could break out in front of her. "I don't believe you are quite understanding the nature of the situation," Lady Astarte continued quietly, preventing an escalating battle for dominance between the two black suited men. When they both turned to look at her she nodded to the smirking man seated on the pool lounge before them, the girl they were arguing over cradled protectively in his arms. "What we think should happen matters less than nothing compared to what he will allow to happen," Lady Astarte stated simply.

"And he decides why?" Mr. MCO agent demanded angrily.

"Because it is now five minutes to one," calmly the man on the lounge replied, managing to be seated but still project the impression of looking the MCO agent right in the eye.

"And your point about the time is?" the MCO agent demanded rudely.

"That it exists," he replied simply. "You came here knowing you could not stop the end of the world but determined to try anyway. I came here and stopped it." Calmly he sat there staring at the MCO agent his expression daring him to disagree. "You came here with questions, I came here with answers. You rushed here for the climax, I was already here waiting, containing and controlling the situation."

"So?" the MCO agent snarled.

The seated man sighed and returned to calmly monitoring the girl cradled in his lap, dismissing the MCO man from his attention.

"So," Lady Astarte emphasised. "This man had a plan. This man came prepared. This man who has proven to have pre-knowledge about what is going to happen was sitting here waiting for us, the situation already under control and contained and you believe you will be able to dictate what he does?" she asked with a slight raise of her eyebrow, the consummate teacher putting down the annoying pupil.

"How can he stop me?" arrogantly the MCO agent demanded.

"You don't even know who he is how can you know what he can and cannot do?" Lady Astarte snapped in exasperation.

"If he is so important why wasn't he in the readings?" the MCO agent demanded dismissively.

"Why indeed?" questioned the DPA agent. "He is the man who saved the world, before you or I even understood how it was endangered." With a calm confidence, almost teacher lecturing favoured pupil the DPA agent spelled it out for the MCO man. "He has been the one with all the answers. He is the one with all the knowledge. He has totally dictated our actions here and the path of our conversation. If he had wanted instead of waiting for us here he could have disappeared before we even arrived." Turning he directly addressed the object of their discussion. "I have only one question," the agent stated. "Who are you?" he demanded forcefully.

"What is my name?" the seated man rephrased the question, quietly sighing at the firm nod he received. "Wrong question," he absently muttered. "My name is not one you'll know, it does not help you," he advised calmly watching the DPA agent, studying him carefully.

"What are you?" demanded the DPA agent after considering the reply.

"Technically imbued, again the wrong question because it does not help you." The seated man studied the DPA agents reaction his intent study at odds with his projected calmness.

Lady Astarte carefully examined the seated man and then smiled. "Very nice evasions but let's stop dancing. Why should we listen to you?" she asked bluntly with a raised eyebrow, no hit of threat or violence in her posture at all.

Turning to Lady Astarte the man smiled. "Because it is now nearly one pm and I promise while she is in my care there will be no issues. She will live a normal life, I will teach her to control her gift and the world will continue to spin." Calmly regarding Lady Astarte he sat awaiting her judgement.

"You could have taken her, left before we arrived?" Lady Astarte questioned.

"And the three of you would have searched," he replied with a sad smile. "Combined your resources to keep looking and as long as you searched, as long as you chased us the possibility of future events equally as terrifying, equally as able to get out of hand as those averted today remained. Running would not have resolved today's issues, merely assured a repeat at a later time," he explained.

"So what now?" Lady Astarte asked inviting his suggestion without comment.

"We have a choice," the man replied sweeping his gaze to include not just Lady Astarte in the choice but also the two black suited men. "The four of us we can end this, save the world once and for all from this danger," he stated fixing each of them in turn with a firm gaze. "Let me go," he pleaded. "Let me take her, hide her, train her. Let her live out her life in anonymity. You have no records of her, no DNA, no pictures, nothing you can use to track her, while those circumstances stand we have an opportunity, an opportunity were I leave, take her with me, and the danger is over."

Slowly turning from one to the other he begged their understanding, their consent. "Nobody will chase us, nobody will attack us," he asserted. "I will be able to dedicate myself to the time she needs to the training she requires. Training her, sheltering her until she has the ability, the knowledge, the skills, to do it for herself," he explained. "With nobody chasing her there is no fear, there is no danger, no need to rush just calmness and time. Time to study, time to learn control, time to learn her power and how to use it safely. Time to learn new responses to danger, responses that don't escalate through fear and desperation."

Slowly he turned from one to the other trying to gauge their reactions.

"What power do you have to do to let you control her?" the DPA man asked quietly.

"Smell? Comfort? Familiarity?" he responded with a shrug. "I suspect that she is a proper little daddy's girl, used to sleeping within the comfortable protection of her father's arms. She is warm, she is comfortable, she is exhausted." Finally the man sighed and admitted the truth "There is nothing else controlling her other then herself."

The MCO agent became visibly upset the more he spoke, finally he reached for his firearm. As he did so Lady Astarte stepped behind him and with an almost serene move rendered him unconscious, seemingly the most innocuous of touches causing him to fold into her arms. As she gently lay the unconscious MCO agent on the ground Lady Astarte carefully observed the sleeping girl sighing in relief as she stayed settled, happily cuddling into the lap of the seated man.

"I believe we have reached a decision," Lady Astarte announced regretfully. "It is obvious that letting her go is not an option for our MCO colleague."

Shifting slightly to accommodate the cuddling actions of the sleeping girl the man looked up at Lady Astarte and the DPA agent with a sad smile. "With all regards for the MCO and its resources, it is the two of you that matter more. If you so decide I can still leave and the two of you can cover my tracks so well that the MCO for all their searching would have no means to identify us, we could be held in their cells for the rest of our lives and never once would their tests identify us." With quiet desperation in his eyes he appealed to them, "Please, it is so much simpler and safer for us all if you let us go." Looking back and forth between lady Astarte and the DPA Agent he begged their co-operation.

"I need something to know that I can trust you" DPA Man stated finally.

Shoulder's slumping the seated man looked up dejectedly towards the DPA Agent. "I can give you no more then my actions today," he whispered softly apologetically.

"What about a name?" The DPA agent pressed.

"No," he regretfully replied. "A name has traces, in the hands of the MCO records can be made, DNA discovered, family harassed, resources traced." He shrugged his regret. "I need those resources if we are to survive, I don't have time to make more. I need to concentrate on the training of my ward, concentrate on giving her the skills she needs to control her gift."

"What about a code name?" The DPA agent demanded.

"I am not a mutant, I need no Mutant ID and its associated code name," the seated man replied in frustration.

"Damn it! You saved the world! There is no way you don't exist in our systems! By what name can I find the records? Tell me!" The DPA man demanded.

"Anonymity is our only defence," the seated man pleaded.

"Any psychic can read this moment! The MCO will have all it needs as soon as our friend wakes up!" the DPA man growled out in anger.

"No think. I saved the world and none of you had the slightest inkling I would be here! I have nothing to fear from psychics, it is the mundane application of technology, logic and almost limitless resources I fear," desperately the seated man pleaded.

"How is it that you do that?" Lady Astarte asked attempting to defuse the argument.

"Anonymity," the seated man repeated. "Anonymity is our only defence, once that is lost then we no longer can walk away. Once you have the least bit of knowledge it can be used to chip, chip, chip away at my anonymity until poof all is revealed. The choice I am offering is this. The best chance, the safest chance, the happiest chance for all concerned is for you to go back stating the situation is resolved and you left the girl in my charge, protecting both of us by making sure nobody knows who either of us are. Even with the MCO looking, once you have cleaned up the scene no trace will remain and we'll disappear back into history, never to be so much as a passing comment or a footnote in a report ever again."

"Or?" the DPA agent demanded.

"Or I answer your questions and with a single word you, Mr. Banks will swear sulphorously and wish you had listened to me," the seated man replied sadly.

Looking carefully at Lady Astarte silently Agent Banks and her reached a decision and the calm man's shoulders slumped. With tears in his eyes he looked to the DPA man and silently begged him to change his mind.

"I'm afraid sir I'm going to have to require you to give me some information about who you are and what you can do before I am willing to do leave her in your care" he firmly stated.
Crying silently the seated man looked him in the eye and said his one word.

Ripples

Lady Astarte was white and she stood still, her fingers clenched tight, staring in disbelief at the man silently cradling the girl on the lounge beside the pool in a Las Vegas hotel.
Finally calming down some Agent Banks of the DPA stalked back to the lounge from the pool pointed furiously at the man on the seat and angrily ground out, "You don't exist, you can't exist that name is a fantasy!" he all but wailed.

"That name is a legacy, as is its power," the seated man replied with exaggerated calm. "I told you I'm imbued, I am not a mutant."

"You're also supposed to be an immortal agent of the Catholic Church!" the DPA agent half screeched.

"Hardly immortal," the seated man chuckled. "I'm no older then I seem. As I said the power is imbued and the name is a legacy, It's not even a name we call ourselves rather a code assigned by the enemies of the Church as they studied those of us with this power."

"Are the ratings true?" The DPA agent demanded.

"Yes," the seated man replied calmly.

"Impossible!" This time the DPA agent did screech. "There has never been a seven precognitive!"

"Impossible for a precog, yes," the seated man replied as if lecturing. "Anything higher then a three would cause intense anguish, by five or six even the sanest will find themselves broken and in a mental institution at best."

"So how can you be a seven!" the DPA agent demanded in disbelief.

"I'm not a precog, I'm a clairvoyant," the seated man replied with a shrug.

"What!? That's the same thing!" the DPA agent snapped.

"Actually no, they are not." Still as though lecturing the seated man explained, "Precognition is involuntary, it happens when it happens. Some learn to call the visions at their command even look to the things they want to see but all of them, always, for their entire lives get visions they neither call nor control.

"Clairvoyants on the other hand always need to go looking to see the future. If we don't look we don't see. You can think of precogs as clairvoyants with a danger sense. The more powerful the more they sense and the more often it happens. It's not the power that drives them mad it is the anguish of the knowing, the inability to prevent over and over and over again events they have seen. Eventually the powerful ones will do anything to make the visions stop." The man calmly looked the DPA Agent in the eye. "Yes I am powerful but only when I ask for the visions. I control my visions they don't control me.” Calmly the seated man looked up at the DPA agent.

"That's why you can save the world, you could see it!" he accused.

"That's only part of my power," the seated man replied calmly. "'Solomon' is rated so high for the skill. The ability to see near infinite possibilities and the cleft points in them all and to map out the paths between them. I knew not only what could happen but how I alone could stop it, the exact steps I needed to make to force those cleft points the way I wanted them to go."

"So you knew not just what was going to happen, but the steps you needed to do to prevent it?" the DPA agent clarified.

"More. What date, airline and flight to catch. What luggage to pack. What seat to pick. When to stand up and exit the plane. Which line through security to take. Whether to pick up my luggage first or organise a car hire. The company to hire my car through, the exact make, model and insurance to pick. The route to take. When to stop and rest, when to get petrol. A million and one little things all cleft points where history's fate is decided, all needing to be correctly navigated to allow me to arrive precisely here at precisely the right time to allow me to do the things I need to do, to rescue, calm and comfort a frightened girl, all of which leads inevitably to now."

"If you knew all that, why are we having this conversation? Why did you tell me that name!" the DPA agent exclaimed in anguish.

"History doesn't run on rails," Solomon replied with a pained expression. "Even knowing all the possibilities doesn't mean that I can physically affect the cleft points I needed. Yes, a simple trick with a door would have had your boss look right instead of left and he would have sent your female partner and not you. She would have given up her career and let me go, convinced Lady Astarte to do so as well. But I needed to be here and I needed to be here before she could have gotten here. There was no combination of cleft points that let me force the decision at your office and still make it here in time to catch Shelly. So I tried, oh how I tried to convince you anyway even though I knew I was likely to fail."

"Why? Why try if you know it doesn't work?" the DPA agent demanded.

"I work for the Catholic Church." Solomon stated with a shrug. "I believe in miracles but you have to meet them halfway. If I didn't try to convince you God would have no chance to work on your heart and let you believe me."

"Miracles!" the DPA agent demanded in disbelief. "How can you talk of miracles! You said it yourself you have the fate of the world in your hands, you can make it walk whatever Path you choose! You can make the butterfly flap its wings that would drown the entire planet!"

"Who better to recognise miracles?" Solomon replied calmly. "Who else but I who can see all the futures and can see the ones that never should have happened? A face framed in a train window just as a train that should not stop pulls up, allowing a quick dash and a chance joyous reunion?" Solomon smiled. "I know not which one prayed nor who they prayed to but that miracle was my gift for today." Solomon stopped and then cried as a sad smile played on his lips. "Was that my miracle? My prayer answered?" he whispered. "A joy to start the day to make sure I had hope in my heart and love in my soul to survive the hardships to come?" he mused.

"You prayed for a miracle?" the DPA agent demanded in shock. "You who set out to save the world knowing you'd succeed?"

"The world is not saved," Solomon reminded him with sorrow. "Unfortunately you now know what I am, I can no longer hide. Shelly is still in danger, and that danger could cause another event like today's could have been. And now, I am confirmed, something I've know from the moment of my gifts arrival to avoid has happened. Proof exists that I am real and my gifts as stated."

"What? With the existence of the world at stake you worry about that?!" There was a note of contempt in the voice of the DPA agent.

"Think!" Solomon growled. "You think Lady Astarte turns pale and shakes at the mere mention of a name? You think secrets in her past I could know scare her that much? I shake the world when my skills are known. With the secret out the world trembles. If I so will it, any nation I desire falls. Can you not see what that means? All the nations on earth with power will be after me. Not just nations, institutions, groups, individuals of power, it doesn't matter. All will need to make sure that if they can't control me they can at the least deny me to their enemies. I can bring down anyone and anything or I can raise it up. There will be a frenzy after me greater then you can possibly imagine and at the centre of it will be Shelly, scared, afraid and unstable. I cannot leave her, only I have the foresight to guide her through it, only I can guide her and show her the control she needs and as of now I am a walking time bomb of my own and my gift has been completely crippled!"

"Crippled? How?" Agent Banks demanded.

"Using our skill leaves ripples, leaves changes in the time stream other clairvoyants can see. Paths taken that should not have been taken, changes to history that are not natural. Skilled clairvoyants, and after I stop being a legend all the skilled ones will be looking for me, can track me. See what events have my touch on them, infer from those which events will touch me, which will not. Once they have a fix on me, even all my skill can't stop any of them let alone all of them pushing the cleft points till eventual someone corners me and then?" Solomon shrugged. "We have Shelly witnessing attacks on me and depending on circumstances attacks on her and then ..." he closed his eyes and shuddered.

Solomon sat there shaking before finally he looked up with a sigh. "Anonymity," he sighed. "Anonymity was our best defence."

The three stood silent for a moment, before Lady Astarte finally asked "What now?"

"You believe me?" Solomon questioned her.

"I do," Lady Astarte stated firmly. "Your actions speak for themselves. Your fears are well founded." Lady Astarte looked to Agent Banks. "You know as well as I do the protections needed by our highest skilled precognitives. Foreign governments are the least of those attempting to Shanghai them for their purposes." Turning back to Solomon, she asked. "What now? What is your suggestion for now?"

"Hiding is no longer possible," Solomon stated. "We need protection, protection formidable enough to deter most but also of a type that doesn't inflame others." Solomon turned to Agent Banks. "I'm sorry, the protection of the United States Government is about the worst thing I could have. The United States Government has enemies. Once those enemies find out where I am they will assume for my protection I am providing help to you. They will respond as though attacked. World War Three even preemptive nuclear war lies down that path," Solomon warned causing Agent Banks to stagger back briefly, blanching as white as Lady Astarte.

Turing to Lady Astarte Solomon continued. "I'm sorry, I know this is an imposition but can you host myself and my ward? At least long enough for us to instil a layer of control for her gifts? Enough to allow me to try and build some cover again, learn some skills and hopefully make some contacts to try and allow us to disappear?"

"How long for?" Lady Astarte asked cautiously.

"About a week, a fortnight at the most," Solomon stated. "There is one who I believe I can contact that will change our fortunes, one who will hopefully allow us to disappear again, fade back into anonymity."

"Will they help you?" Lady Astarte questioned curiously.

"I believe so," Solomon stated. "There is something she wants and giving us what we want obtains her desires too but as with all there are costs." He shrugged. "I need to ask."

"Can't you use your skills to make sure she does it?" Agent Banks demanded.

"Would you?" Solomon enquired. "Force someone to pay a price they may not wish to pay, to get a reward they might not consider enough all just for your convenience?"

"The fate of the world!" Agent Banks started before a glare for Lady Astarte silenced him.

"I see your point, you have other options?" she inquired turning back to Solomon.

Solomon sighed and looked at Lady Astarte in sadness. "We both know the ultimate option," Solomon stated. "Solving both my issues and Shelly's."

"You would kill her?" Agent Banks asked incredulously. "After the stink eyes you just gave me for suggesting something as benign as coercing help?"

"Of course not," Solomon snapped. "Whateley has had incredibly dangerous students and other things bought to it for many decades, they have whole lists of options available to them, I am just confirming that their ultimate safeguard is as potent for me and Shelly as it is for the others and no agent Banks, it does not involve a bullet to the head or anything else similarly lethal."

"Why don't we do that then? Solve the problem?" Agent Banks demanded, confusion and desperation showing through the cracks in his professionalism.

"It is our Ultimate solution for a reason Agent Banks," Lady Astarte primly reprimanded him. "Let's us instead see if one of Solomon's lesser solutions will suffice." Turning back to Solomon she replied, "Alright, you have my support. I invite you to my school and offer its shelter," she formally offered.

Solomon nodded and shook the girl in his lap. "Shelly. Shelly? We have to go now," he softly called as she slowly awoke.

Helping the groggy girl stand he looked up, "Lady Astarte? I would suggest you take our MCO friend to his local office and on the way please manage to drop his glasses, his pen and his phone into the pool, that will destroy his recording of everything we've said since you knocked him out."

Turning to agent Banks Solomon instructed, "Whatever you decide to put in your reports, destroy all evidence here. That will put the MCO on the back foot needing to get records either from your office or Lady Astarte before they can start whatever it is they will do, you'll have some control if you do that."

Agent Banks nodded grudgingly. "And you?" he questioned.

"Anonymity," Solomon replied. "What you don't know you can't report and what you don't report the MCO can't steal. Until we get to Whateley the MCO is by far my greatest concern. None of the other problems are already spread out across the whole country in every airport, major town and choke point ready and waiting to slam down the fiery warm 'unwelcome here' mat on us."

Agent Banks frowned at that image, then nodded his reluctant understanding.

Turning Solomon put his arm around the girls shoulders, guiding her. "Come on Shelly, I have a surprise for you," he stated hugging her close as he walked from the hotel.

In permanent motion above continental USA.

"Naughty, naughty chess is a game for two and you are distracting my opponent." The figure studied his chessboard thoughtfully for a moment then smiled. "And to think I almost didn't watch today's apocalypse," he murmured before turning his head and ordering a hovering underling. "Inform the council that both Solomon and Ragnarök will be at Whateley, they have less then a fortnight to carry out any action they wish before the window closes and the two of them disappear."

"And if they ask for specifics?" the underling enquired.

The Chessmaster smiled. "I believe they were most specific in their instructions to me regarding Whateley. Let them use their own resources."

A Ferrari

"A Ferrari! I thought you said you were a priest!" Shelly demanded as she looked at the car she was led to in astonishment.

"I am and I wish I could see the face of my Bishop when he gets that credit card bill," Solomon replied with a smile.

"You bought it?" Shelly squeaked turning to regard him eyes wide.

"At more then a million dollars?" Solomon replied incredulously. "Of course not, I merely looked up the address of a company that hires them and let my unlimited Visa from an excellent bank do the talking." Shelly blinked then laughed along with Solomon's chuckle.

"I thought we were going for anonymity?" Shelly said excitedly climbing into the red futuristic machine's passenger seat.

"No that is past," Solomon said helping her secure the racing harness. "They will expect us to rush to protection. The MCO will concentrate on Airports and routes to them and flights booked from them by a man and a teenaged girl. So I have a computer in Australia happily booking such flights from all local airports and airlines, it will look to the MCO that we are trying to confuse them, trying to get through the airports with the least amount of time for them to find us. They'll need to waste manpower searching and screening all the airports and flights." Clicking the harness together he securely fastened the straps.

"Is this necessary?" Shelly asked looking at the racing harness in bemusement.

"Unfortunately yes," Solomon replied as he carefully closed the door and moved around to the drivers side and got in himself. "This car isn't a whim, our trick to beat the MCO is going to be pure speed. We are basically going to ignore the airports and race across the country in a very fast car instead, going as fast as I can bear to take her." He finished securely fastening his own racing harness, then handed over his phone to her.

"Here you can run the tunes. Keep her plugged in and charging and leave the maps alone for now she's all ready to lead us to our first destination. Let's see if I can get out of the parking lot without making a typical supercar noise and getting that put in Agent Banks report and our grand plan smashed before we've even started." With a conspiratorial grin for Shelly he started the Ferrari.

Very carefully not pumping the accelerator Solomon almost rolled out of the lot, carefully and slowly turning into the side road and keeping the revs as low as he could they rolled down to the main road. Turning onto the main drag Solomon only then let the accelerator spike the engine causing the supercar rumble that put a smile of delight on both his and Shelly's face as he came up to the speed limit where controlling himself with iron discipline he carefully stayed under it.

"I thought you said we were going to speed," Shelly whined in disappointment.

"I did but we're not going to get far if I keep getting pulled up for speeding," Solomon explained. "So patience, put some music on and we'll get to the speeding once we are out of the city."

"Where are we?" Shelly asked, looking around curiously.

"Las Vegas."

"Where are we going?"

"New England, we are near the west coast and we need to get to the east coast, we're going all across the U.S. of A. running Route 66 after we make a few stops first.”

"Stops?"

"Stops. Play some music, put it on shuffle if nothing else it's got a pretty eclectic mix of tracks."

Pressing shuffle Shelly looked at Solomon in surprise. "J-pop?" She stared at him in disbelief.

"Hey you recognised it too," he replied smirking, burbling the engine just to hear it sing "never gets old!" he murmured sharing a smile with Shelly at the electric tingle down their backs from the sound of the deep rumbling engine.

Twenty minutes later with the tracks still on shuffle Solomon wasn't surprised to see Shelly silently weeping as an older song played. "Want to talk about it?" Shelly sniffed a few times. "A favourite song of your parents?" Solomon pressed.

Shelly nodded. "Dad. He loved singing to this as he watched the threshing machine."

"What about your Mum?" Solomon enquired gently.

"Dad and Mum didn't get on much," Shelly explained. "She left him before she had me but stayed around local so he and I could see each other. I spent most of the Christmas holidays with Dad riding around to the various farms with him, watching him loading up the truck with hayrolls taking them back to town and running them through the machines. Dad had saved up enough to take me to see America, Mum saved up enough for herself and we were gonna see some sights. We were flying to Las Vegas today," Shelly cried some more silently. "I didn't even get to say goodbye, I didn't get to say I loved them or anything," she quietly cried into her hands.

"I know," Solomon said pulling into a lookout beside the road stopping the engine and getting out. Coming around to the passenger side door he opening it and knelt. "I know you didn't Shelly," he said popping her from the racing harness and pulling her into a hug, just kneeling there at the side of the road hugging her as she let the tears flow, listening to her father's favourite song repeating over and over as she had set the repeat and now forgotten it.

When Shelly had cried herself out Solomon helped her up and walked her to the lookout. Down below they could see in the distance emergency vehicles spread out over a large area with signs of a fire all around them. "It's not much Shelly but say goodbye, I promise they'll hear you," Solomon suggested

Once again he just stood there and held the sobbing girl tight, letting her take her time and say a proper farewell to her parents.

"Thank you," Shelly said heartfeltly as they arrived back at the car. "What now?" she enquired as Solomon stood there contemplating the Ferrari musingly.

"Dinner," Solomon said looking around at the twilight that had arrived while they had watched the emergency services below. Turning to Shelly he explained "You've had nothing since breakfast and that was airport food."

Shelly smiled. "I thought we was running? This is a very leisurely high speed getaway," she teased.

"And it's gonna get even more leisurely," Solomon replied with a smile. "Come over here," he waved Shelly over to the driver's door as he opened it for her.

"Yes?" Shelly said cautiously.

"Get in," Solomon instructed.

"In the driver's seat?" Shelly asked disbelievingly.

"Yes, time for you to learn to drive a super car," Solomon replied with a smirk.

"Why?" Shelly asked confused.

"You're a country girl, you telling me you can't drive?" Solomon demanded back.

"Course I can drive but why are you letting me?" Shelly stood arms crossed waiting for an answer.

"Because it's a Ferrari," Solomon stated. "Which is fine, out here they're common as but I need you to spell me through tonight and tomorrow. We have to cross the country and once we truly start we need to go full pelt, minimum stops, as much time as possible on the road. I'm going to use the same trick I used when I drove across Australia once, Sydney to Fremantle."

"What was that?" Shelly asked curiously.

"Swap drivers every two hours. Only drive during the day," Solomon stated.

"Why's that?" Shelly asked confused.

"For us there is two reasons. Swapping every two hours, or really every time we re-fuel and we'll be doing that near enough every two hours whether cars needed it or not, keeps us fresh, let's us rest and recuperates we can drive for as long as the sun is up. Two hours isn't long enough to start feeling it before you get a break," Solomon explained.

Shelly nodded. "What about drive in the daylight only?"

"Well in Australia that was because it was drought and all the Kangaroos where right next to the road eating the grass, it was fifty-fifty if they'd hop left and away or right and straight across the road in front of you. After the first two hours of that we just pulled up for the night in the next town and swore off doing that ever again," Solomon explained with a laugh.

Shelly guffawed. "You needed a roo bar," she smirked.

"What? That thing that cuts them in half so half comes through your windscreen and the other half rips out your radiator?" Solomon replied with a smirk of his own.

Shelly laughed. "No silly the full sized ones."

"Maybe," Solomon said with a shrug. "We just chickened out and drove daylight hours only, when all the Roos were asleep or at least sitting under trees well away from the road but enough of that our second reason, today’s 'drive only in the day' reason is because of cover. Out here we'll have free reign to let her rip and get some distance but by tomorrow the MCO will be all over the roads. They'll know we didn't go by plane but hopefully not what car we have so they'll be watching the roads and at night there will be few cars. With only a few cars each car can be checked carefully, followed, examined, its occupants identified. In daylight there will be so many cars on the road they can't do that, they'll merely scan our license plate see a valid rental and shrug at another middle aged man on his wish fulfilment trip across America in a supercar, not even caring if they see us going straight down the highway all the way because as long as they see the expected we are in effect invisible to them."

"So we're going to sleep now then?" Shelly asked in surprise.

"No," Solomon explained. "That’s for tomorrow, tonight we drive like a bat out of hell swapping every two hours and we'll drive deep into the afternoon tomorrow making use of as much of the time as we can get before the MCO realises we’re not on any plane, train or bus and then we'll crash and sleep somewhere way in front of where they'll ever believe we could be. The next day we'll get up nice and early and do it all again. Hopefully by the third day we'll be where we want to be. Now, before you get in time for another change of clothes." Opening the bonnet he pulled out a couple of bags, handing one to her.

Looking at the name on the boutique bag Shelly raised her eyebrow then when she saw what was inside whistled and smiled up at him. "More gifts from the Visa card and your favourite bishop?" she asked wickedly.

"Cardinal actually and a real mean bean counter," Solomon confirmed with a smile. "Not that I object normally but I just couldn't resist putting it all on the one card imagining his face over and over as he reads through the line items when he receives the card's statement." Solomon shared a smile with Shelly. "Now since it's nice and quiet here you'll stand with the door open looking that way and slip the nice dress on over your costume while I swap my swimming trunks for a nice pair of pants on the other side of the car looking the opposite way, OK?"

"If I'm just slipping it on over my swimsuit what's with being such a prude?" Shelly asked pulling the slinky dress from its bag and holding it up to herself eyes wide in appreciation.

"Shelly you're a pretty young lady and I'm a priest. Ignoring my vows there have been more then a few priests who would take advantage of that situation." At Shelly's glowing eyes of amusement he jumped in before she could say anything. "And yes if we're pulled over that is the story I'm going to try going with. I'd much rather the two of us be taken to a police station and bailed out by the local Catholic Bishop before 'quietly disappearing' then the MCO get us and we not so quietly get shot."

Shelly went wide-eyed and stared at him. "Will the MCO shoot me?" she gasped in horror.

"Not on sight, not yet," Solomon replied giving her a comforting hug. "But for now I'd really prefer them not to catch us at all wouldn't you?" At Shelly's nod he squeezed her tightly and released his hug. "OK change. Call out when you finish and we'll swap your thongs for some sandals and yes Shelly I know what the Americans mean by 'thongs' but 'flip-flops' is so juvenile I refuse to contemplate using those words."

Secure Syndicate Tele-conferencing channel

"How reliable is the information?" a distorted voice enquired unhappily.

"My spy took pains to inform me that Chessmaster was almost gleeful in instructing the information be passed on." Distortion of different pitches was used to distinguish the different speakers as all the voices were distorted and the icons nothing more than random avatars.

"So true and he believes we'll act on it," a third commented wryly.

"Not an especially powerful piece of precognition, deduction alone would inform such" the original voice commented. "We can't allow Solomon to come into play in the hands of anyone but us."

"Are we sure that Solomon even exists?" another voice demanded piqued.

Silence greeted the question until a voice that had previously not spoken joined the conversation. "Whether Soloman exists or not is irrelevant, such an asset must not be allowed to deploy against us we cannot take chances. It must either be in our hands, confirmed false or removed from the board. As the Chessman expects we must assemble a team they are ordered to recover or neutralise the asset, off campus if possible. An operation on campus is authorised if necessary."

"And our agreement with Whateley?" another queried.

"It survived the Chessman it will survive this, especially if the team minimise damages and casualties. I leave the assembly and instructions of the team to our planner, if there are no further urgent matters?"

Quietly one-by-one the avatars swapped to "disconnected" signs.

"Pull in here this is dinner tonight," Solomon directed Shelly who was still at the careful and slow stage of driving the Ferrari.

"Little posh isn't it?" Shelly commented looking at the restaurant as she carefully parked in front of it.

"Travelling meal?" Shelly enquired as she released the steering wheel with a small sigh of relief and started undoing her own seatbelt.

"Something not too heavy we don't want to be feeling sleepy and I want to save caffeine for tomorrow, so no drinking coffee or coke just go for the waters and the juices."

"Something not too heavy we don't want to be feeling sleepy and I want to save caffeine for tomorrow, so no drinking coffee or coke just go for the waters and the juices."

"So?"

"Basically we'll be getting salad and the fish," Solomon summarised with a smile.

"You got a jacket in the boot?" Shelly eying the other cars in the lot, the Ferrari was the star but she was hardly in poor company.

"It's not that posh," Solomon replied getting out.

Shelly got out too frowning as she looked around. "Is it OK for us to leave the Ferrari here? Right at the front?"

"It's the best car let's use her as distraction, as an accessory she's better then a jacket for getting into places. Walk slowly Shelly, one foot in front of the other let's give people a chance to mistake your age."

"Mademoiselle, Monsieur how can I help you?" they were greeted as they stepped inside.

"Secluded table for two please and what's the chefs suggestion for seafood tonight?" Solomon asked pleasantly.

"Of course, the chef is pleased to recommend deep sea bass sautéed in a light lemon sauce."

"Perfect, two please with Caesar salads," Solomon ordered as they were shown to a table.

"Certainly and to drink? Shall I send the Sommelier?" the waiter asked.

"Regrettably no," Solomon replied. "Travelling and we need to stay clear headed I'm afraid. Is there something else you can suggest?"

"We have a selection of bottled water..."

"Perhaps something with flavour? Fruit juice maybe?" Solomon suggested.

"I'll have the kitchen squeeze some fresh for you," the waiter replied with a smile.

"Thank you," Solomon said holding out a chair for Shelly to sit in before sitting himself.

"We're not checking the menu? You're just going with the recommendations?" Shelly asked surprised.

"Even in a Posh restaurant," Solomon said carefully looking around, "the Chefs specials are what they have most off and it's always one of the fastest dishes to prepare, we are in a bit of a hurry," Solomon gave Shelly a smile.

"You could have fooled me," mumbled Shelly as Solomon's smile widened.

"There is a reason for this meal," Solomon murmured.

"There is?" Shelly asked in surprise.

"Shift change," Solomon replied. "Let's get the cops finishing shift and looking for one more ticket for their daily quota off the roads and the new night shift ones busy with their normal customers then we can sneak out to the back roads and let her rip with fewer problems from the police."

Fidgeting slightly Shelly thanked the waiter for her plate of salad and then look at Solomon as he began to eat. "Salad is a course in its own right for the Americans," he encouraged. "Eat up."

Looking down at the multitude of cutlery Shelly looked back up confused. "Start with the outside and work your way in," he suggested shrugging. "That's what I'm doing, if it needs a special knife or a fork I assume it'll come with the plate."

"What if I get it wrong?" Shelly whispered.

"Still plenty on the table, I'm sure though if it's too wrong the nice waiter will bring you a replacement piece with the next course." Solomon smiled at Shelly's rigid posture. "Don't sweat it you're already eating with a knife and a fork at the same time, that alone is going to cause all sorts of eye rolls from our antipodean friends," Solomon encouraged Shelly with a smirk nodding to a lady a few tables over looking down her nose at them, though whether it was their holding the fork with the left hand as they moved food to their mouths, the obviously older man with a way younger woman, Shelly's dress or his own lack of jacket that was causing the frown was of course a matter of conjecture. Smiling and nodding to her Solomon encouraged Shelly to wave politely too.

"Why did we wave like that?" Shelly asked later as she finished her fish. "Shouldn't we be trying to not be noticed?"

"I don't know how to do that so we are just going to look unscared and normal instead," Solomon explained.

"Unscared and normal?" Shelly asked with a blink.

"It's the hardest thing to do," Solomon explained. "Running and looking like you are running actually sticks in people's mind, it's the first thing they think off when law enforcement starts asking questions. Waving at that lady probably will stay in her mind somewhat but what do you think she saw?"

Shelly shrugged. "A father with his daughter, sorry but your sense of style is a little staid there is no way people think you're getting any from me."

Solomon shrugged. "As long as it's not 'mutants running from the law', on that topic would you like some more to eat? Another salad? Some desert?" Solomon offered.

"No this was fine," Shelly stated pointing to her finished plate.

Smiling Solomon raised his hand and summoned the waiter. "Let's make tracks then, I'll drive first and get us on the back roads under the speed limit then we can swap at the first gas station."

"Are we really running Route 66?" Shelly asked eagerly.

"No that runs south of here, we'll be using mostly the interstate like everyone else," Solomon apologised.

Shelly nodded as the waiter arrived to retrieve Solomon's much abused piece of plastic. Standing and holding the chair Solomon offered a hand to her as Shelly too arose. Offering Shelly his arm they followed the waiter to the front counter where Solomon signed the slip, retrieved his card and escorted Shelly from the restaurant smiling.

Handing Shelly into the Ferrari Solomon quickly crossed to the drivers side got in and looked across at Shelly who had just finished attaching the racing straps and was stroking her dress. Looking across to Solomon as he strapped himself in Shelly asked, "Isn't this a bit much for a drive?" pointing to the dress.

Smiling and starting the engine as he checked for other traffic Solomon looked over to her as he pulled out. "Beautiful girl, stunning dress, million dollar car," he stated. "It's all camouflage Shelly, just never the type people would expect from those on the run. Our MCO Agent is actually one of their best and he would know by now that he's chasing 'Solomon' who works with the Catholic Church so is a priest and unlike most Americans he can pick an Australian accent so he knows that about me too, you he knows nothing about, thankfully. Our MCO agent is busy searching for a Catholic priest, who will stick out like a sore thumb in civilian clothes he thinks, with an Australian accent, possibly using Church assets maybe even Vatican ones trying to run and hide with an American teenager." Turning onto the main road Solomon smiled as the engine burbled its trademark gurgle and slowly he allowed it to accelerate being mindful still to stay below the speed limit. "I believe we look as far from that as I can think off, plus Ferrari!" Solomon enthused with a huge smile. "How could I say no to the chance to drive a Ferrari!" he said letting the engine burble again.

"How come I get to drive fast first?" Shelly asked after a while of Solomon carefully navigating traffic and keeping the speed down.

"Well a couple of reasons," Solomon responded. "Partly because I drove it here and might possibly have already got the childishness out of my system," he said with a smile. "But mostly because both of us are fresh and we can concentrate on you learning to drive fast and learning your limit, we just need to go fast not necessarily as fast as she'll go," Solomon explained to Shelly.

"If we are not going as fast as she'll go why get a Ferrari?" Shelly asked.

"Because on the open road everyone lets a supercar rip, nobody would think anything of a supercar going past them at speed they'll just be concentrating on the looks and the noise, they probably won't even glance at who is driving it. Again camouflage a Ferrari going fast is expected, the MCO agents along our route will have probably seen it a million times before. They'll know to look out for speeding cars but the Ferrari just won't prick their curiosity as anything other then a supercar to perv at as it goes past."

"So we are just going to drive up to the school in a Ferrari?" Shelly confirmed.

"Nope around Chicago we have to return it and pick up a normal car rental," Solomon said regretfully.

"Why's that?" Shelly asked also with a little regret.

"Eventually the MCO will work out where we must be going," Solomon explained, "and just move out ahead of us to block us so we are going to go to Detroit, then cross into Canada and onto Montreal. We'll buy you some clothes and then catch a train down from Montreal to Berlin, and drive to Whateley from there."

"Why a train?" Shelly asked.

"The MCO at Berlin is all based at the Airport, they'll never expect us on the Canadian train. It's all about the unexpected, as long as we aren't doing what they expect us to do they'll keep not seeing us even when we are right in front of them besides as Australians the last thing they'll expect is us to be in Canada, so we'll be able to do the shopping we need in peace. I don't have the clothes for a Northern Hemisphere cold snap either after all," Solomon smiled at Shelly.

Precognitive Floor, MCO Headquarters

New York City

"We've got a request for all information of a precognitive called 'Solomon'," Agent James yelled across the room as he read the assignment screen.

Derisive laughter greeted the statement and once again Agent James wondered what superior he had pissed off to get this assignment. They were precogs, their number one joy was to stuff his inbox full of all the information someone was going to ask for days if not weeks before he was going to need it then refusing to provide it for him again when the request finally came through. Every time he tried to push his superior's wrath to the deserving party they'd desultorily pull out the offending file from the piled paperwork on his desk before walking off leaving him to try and explain why he hadn't forwarded the information when requested.

"OK which file is it?" he wondered allowed as he started searching his desk.

"Solomon is a myth!" Julie the youngest precog explained. "He's supposed to work for the Catholic Church and apparently there are reports of him doing so all the way back to the twelfth century."

"That can't be right," James muttered.

"If you believe the looney conspiracy boards," Adams the most pontifical of the precogs started up "Solomon is an imbued line of Precogs stretching back unbroken to King Solomon the First from the Old Testament times. They say the reason the Catholic Church has survived so long is that when Constantine converted to Christianity split his Empire and built a new capital the Line of Solomon that had been moved to Rome at the conquest of the Jews stayed in Rome eventually falling under control from the Catholic Church."

"Anything else? Any power ratings?" Agent James asked curiously.

"Solomon is supposed to be one of the few true sevens ever to have existed," Adams shrugged.

Agent James boggled. "A seven!?" he whispered horrified. "A precog seven?"

"Actually a clairvoyant seven according to the crazies but don't worry it's all a myth," Adams assured him.

"Can you point me to some of the crazy's sites?" Agent James asked politely breathing a sigh of relief as Adams just shrugged and started opening his browser. Agent James didn't know why someone wanted to know about a mythical precog he just sighed in relief to get an easy assignment for once wincing in pain at the vague sense of deja vu as he read the next item in his assignment list while waiting for Adams, he just knew that somewhere buried on his desk was that file already.

Berlin

"Mrs. Carson! I certainly didn't expect you to meet us personally," Solomon greeted Lady Astarte in her civilian attire outside the Berlin railway station.

"A set of co-ordinates and the words 'discreet car'? I had no idea what to expect and our clairvoyants just can't find you! How do you do that?" she demanded of him in return.

"I assume you are able to give us a lift back to the school?" Solomon responded. "I'll tell you as we drive?"

Nodding she indicated a sedan and Solomon walked to the back and waited while she unlocked the trunk before putting the two suitcases and the gym bag into the trunk then helping Shelly into the rear seat before finally getting into the front passenger seat himself.

"Well?" Mrs. Carson demanded as she got into the drivers seat and started the engine.

"It's real easy, we made no ripples, even today what could be more normal? Two people meet at the station and enter a car. Every passenger who got off the train did the same thing. There are no ripples, no cleft points, nothing momentous happened. Shelly and I had a nice drive across the U.S. to Montreal where we did a little shopping then boarded a train and came down to Berlin to be meet and picked up and driven the rest of the way," Solomon shrugged depreciatively.

"That's it?" Mrs. Carson exclaimed.

"That's it," Solomon confirmed. "Boring lives leave no unexpected ripples and I picked a route and method of travel that went perfectly smoothly and never had the MCO suspecting the least little thing. Even now we'll drive up to the school in your car straight through all their patrols as they've been bugging your office phone and think you've received no messages from us. As far as they are concerned you just went to Berlin for some shopping or a meeting or something else common place. They are not interested in you at the moment so they'll note the car and then ignore it, it's expected."

"How did you let her know to pick us up without calling?" Shelly asked curiously from the back seat.

"I left a note in her pocket back in Las Vegas knowing she'd find it this morning and only then send someone to pick us up," Solomon explained turning to smile at Shelly.

"Why only GPS coordinates? Why not an address?" Lady Astarte asked as she manoeuvred the car out of the car park and onto the road.

"Honestly before you pulled up did you even remember Berlin had a passenger train connection with Montreal let alone where the station was? Even Amtrak just pulls up their coaches in the centre of town and throws you out. It's a nice normal everyday way of arriving here that even most Berlin residents forget about unless they live next to the railroad. It's simultaneously commonplace and forgotten, perfect for a surreptitious arrival without the appearance of being surreptitious so clairvoyants go nuts trying to predict it."

"What's that got to do with anything," Mrs. Carson demanded.

"The reason I'm so hard for your clairvoyants to read is because I know how it works and more importantly what I have to do to stay below the radar. Nothing I do is exciting so there is never any precognitive readings on me which means your clairvoyants have to go looking and since I do normal everyday but still unexpected things they are never looking in the right place, or if they are looking in the right place they can't spot me because it all looks so normal. Your clairvoyants were checking the airports, the buses, the roads and if they thought of the trains it would have been Dunwich station. Nobody thought about the Montreal - Portland line so nobody checked it. Not looking means not finding, it's as simple as that," Solomon explained with a shrug.

"If you were in Montreal you were outside the country, why didn't you just keep running?" Mrs. Carson asked confused.

"The U.S. Canada boarder is a pretty permissive boarder," Solomon explained. "You don't actually need a passport to cross it but to get out of Canada we'd need to use air travel, straight into the maul of the MCO. I don't have the resources to fool them yet."

"What about your contact?" She inquired.

"She'll be waiting for us at Whateley," Solomon explain.

"She's a member of staff?" Mrs. Carson asked with a frown.

"No," Solomon casually replied.

"A student?" Carson all but growled giving Solomon a quick glare before turning her eyes back to the road.

"No!" Solomon assured her. "She's just a resident of the area, we'll be at the school so that's where she'll meet us. I promise you other then a meeting place it's nothing more, she has no ties to Whateley past or present she just lives in the area. If she agrees to help us I'll organise a meeting for you you'll understand everything then."

"I will?" Mrs. Carson asked surprised. "Why?"

"Because to be safe Shelly and I will need the support of people in your school and it's your decision first about whether you'll allow us to do what we wish," Solomon explained quietly.

"What is it you wish to do?" Mrs. Carson demanded sternly.

"I can't say yet she hasn't made up her mind," Solomon apologised.

"But you know already?" Mrs. Carson pressed.

"I have my plans yes," Solomon agreed. "But people need to agree to them. I promise as soon as I have the means of implementing the plans you'll be the first to know my proposal and have the right to refuse it."

"If you have the methods what's to stop you ignoring that?" Carson asked sternly.

"You'll understand when I tell you," Solomon assured her. "Basically without your help the plan just doesn't work, your contacts would be needed to get it done."

"So I'd be the linchpin?" Carson demanded.

"Everybody is a linchpin." Solomon laughed. "It's a complicated plan if all goes well we get our anonymity back, that's all I am trying to do."

"You're going to fake your deaths?" Mrs. Carson suggested cautiously.

"Sorta, along the same lines certainly," Solomon agreed.

"I'm still not sure I trust you do to all you say you can do with her training," Mrs. Carson came right out and demanded of Solomon.

"Don't worry," Solomon assured her. "You'll get plenty of time to make a decision on that, it'll be about a week before even the first of the times we could try and do this."

"So what are your plans in the mean time?" Carson asked politely but with the assurance of someone used to getting her answers.

"Well for tonight when we get there Shelly and I will be pitching a tent while you organise some quarters for us," Solomon said blandly a slight smirk betraying his humour.

"A tent?" Carson gasped frowning at him again.

"I told you our contact would be meeting us at your school, her instructions were to wait between the Grove and the school boundary and she'll meet us 'sometime' tonight." Solomon explained. "Since tonight is going to be practically a blizzard Shelly and I will be waiting in a tent."

"Is that wise? If the weather is that bad will she even come?" Carson asked concerned.

Solomon sighed. "Yes she'll come. She doesn't know about the blizzard, it's not even September after all, but she does know that tonight is the meeting night. I'm sorry if you drop me and Shelly off at your store I'll be able to buy the tent and supplies we'll need and it's not as though you've had time to organise us quarters."

"I don't even know what type to organise," she grouched at him.

"Guest quarters as far away from the students as possible." Solomon suggested. "I don't want any of them accidentally involved in any unpleasantries and you have a lot of good kids here, they'll get involved if Shelly is a student in almost any of the dorms."

"Cottages," she corrected absently. "What cover story?"

"Let's keep it simple those that are unfriendly won't be hindered by any cover story and let's not have misunderstandings getting incompetents going after the wrong people. I'm a Catholic Priest Shelly is my ward who has just manifested, she's here for some basic training and testing while we organise to have her start next semester."

"That's no cover story at all! That's almost the raw truth!"

"Yes, I want the MCO to call off their alert and anyone else looking to concentrate here. No need to be fancy about it it's not like the plan isn't to cower under the protection of the school. This is about time, Whateley is giving us breathing space to plan and implement a solution we are not fooling anyone about where we are."

"Even the schools defences are not enough, you aren't a student nor technically a parent or staff, they'll take you and then face the consequences."

"Yes but the reputation of Whateley will mean they'll only send their best and only when prepared. As I said this is all about time."

"How long?"

"Realistically two weeks isn't just the best chance but the last, it gets pretty dicey very fast after that."

"How dicey?"

"About what you'd expect, kidnap squads, assignation squads, multiple kidnap squads, not nice things to have wondering around a school campus. Shelly and I will leave before that happens my word to you, I will not endanger your students."

"It doesn't take two weeks to organise that."

"It does to build up the will to authorise them to enter the grounds of Whateley Academy though and I'll be staying wholly within them." Lady Astarte nodded her understanding.

A Tent

"I'm freezing!" Shelly said dancing around in front of the Whateley school store as she rubbed her arms and stamped her feet. "I thought these clothes were supposed to be warm!"

"Imagine how much colder you'd be if you weren't wearing them," Solomon suggested. "Hurry up Shelly we want to get the tent up before it starts getting windy, not only will it be colder it'll be harder to pitch the tent too." Solomon bent down and swung the gym case over his shoulder with a strap then picked up a sleeping bag and strung its strap over his other shoulder. With that done he bent down and picked up the suitcases and stood checking Shelly's preparations.

Shelly had her own sleeping bag over one shoulder the bag with the tent in it over the other and two large reusable shopping bags with other assorted items in each hand. Smiling they set off from the store along one of the school paths. "Hurry up Shelly, I know I'm pushing you but we'll have to hump all this through fresh snow and I'd like to do that while it's still daylight and not blowing a gale."

"Aren't we getting an escort, couldn't they help us carry this stuff?" Shelly demanded.

"They could but I want to be there faster then they do," Solomon replied. "If it starts howling they'll just laugh at us as we chase the tent around, I want the tent pitched and to be snug inside before that happens."

Sighing Shelly nodded and quickened her pace slightly up until the paths ended and they stepped off into the snow, unfortunately with snow falling even patrols had been infrequent in these areas so they were forced to walk through unbroken snow, a new experience for both of them even if the snow was only about an inch thick.

"How much further," Shelly puffed.

"See those trees ahead? The ones off to the side near that bit of woods? That's our destination, we want to pitch our tent in the leeward side of the trees between them and the woods."

"Why?"

"To protect us from the wind tonight, less wind on the tent will make for a warmer tent."

"OK," Shelly agreed and stopped trying to have a conversation as she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other on the unfamiliar walking surface of snow. The unfamiliar and hard work of walking through snow was making Shelly's legs burn and she found she wasn't quite up to polite conversation.

After a bit Solomon gestured to the ground and placed the suitcases down. Unlimbering the gym bag and sleeping bag he turned to Shelly. "Drop everything in a pile here but hand me the tent," he instructed.

Taking the tent bag Solomon carefully opened it making sure not to drop any parts he then sorted the parts out across the top of the gym bag so as not to loose parts in the snow. "Here Shelly," he said offering her a package. "This is the ground sheet it goes on the ground under the tent. I want you to lay this out short side next to us here and run it straight towards the woods understand? Hurry up because if the wind starts it'll blow it away before I can get the tent erected and on top to weight it down."

Nodding Shelly took the roll of plastic and started unraveling it as Solomon did the same with another roll, the tent, and then started threading bendable poles through slots in the tent watching wryly as a man on a snowmobile pulled up to them.

"Mrs Carson told us you weren't going into the Grove," greeted the man as he arrived taking some more reusable store bags off the back of the snowmobile and casually adding them to the pile of bags as he walked up the last few feet.

"We aren't, that's the Grove there," Solomon nodded across the snow to their right. "You can tell by the impenetrable bushes all around. this is just a group of trees close to it." Solomon finished threading the poles through the tent and dropped the small three man tent on the ground sheet Shelly had rolled out. Lining up the tent tags with the holes on the groundsheet Solomon knelt briefly and pushed a peg through both holes and partway into the ground before standing back up and driving it all the way into the ground with his boot heel.

"Shelly just get all the bags inside then I want you to blow up your air mattress and layout your sleeping bag on it and crawl in, you can then blow up my mattress for me," Solomon called to her.

Nodding Shelly got busy while Solomon drove in the next peg. Turning to the Whateley security guard Solomon commented "You might want to get back on your bike too, this storm's gonna be a real howler. You can tell everybody we got the tent pitched in time and we are in the lee of some trees and protected."

The security guard nodded. "Right, I'll let the patrols know where you are so nobody comes roaring through your tent in a snowmobile I'll also assure everyone you're snug as a bug with adequate provisions and all, as you say this storm looks to be a howler and may blow for several days."

"Two or three at least but that's to the good, everyone still thinks we are trying to get here the last thing they'll expect us to be doing is camping in a blizzard like this."

"Can't say I'd blame them for that, I personally think you've a couple of screws loose for doing this."

"Thanks for bringing up the food, sorry we didn't wait I wanted to make sure the tent was pitched as fast as possible."

Looking up at the sky the security man laughed. "Can't say I'd blame you, looks like you're barely gonna make it as it is."

"Well it's done now so I'll just crawl in and seal her up. See you the tomorrow." Solomon drove in the last peg with his heel and crawled into the tent.

"Is this tent going to be all right?" Shelly asked as a gust of wind shook the tent just as he crawled in and mostly sealed up the two zippers.

"Yeah, I carefully placed it and it's the same type of tent they use in Polar expeditions, it's rounded so the wind goes over rather then tries to blow it down."

"What about snow and tree branches and stuff?" Shelly asked concerned.

"My you do have a good imagination!" Solomon complimented her with a laugh. "We are in the lee of the trees, that means that the trees are protecting us from most of the wind and the little wind that gets through will blow the snow off the tent almost as soon as it lands, piling it up in the lee of the tent and therefore not on the tent. Also I carefully positioned the tent, while we are in the lee of the trees we are not under the trees, no branches should fall on us nor is there a tree directly upwind from us for the wind to blow over onto us either. All we have to worry about is the cold so lets fix that as best we can."

Kneeling down he started sorting the bags out, quickly finding what he wanted. "First Shelly I want you to get out of your boots, coat and pants and hang them up on this hanger near the door, I'll do the same on the other side," Solomon ordered handing Shelly a hanger.

"But it's cold," Shelly complained.

"I know it seems weird but believe me you'll be warmer in your undergarments with the over garments off your sleeping bag can do its job properly that way, in fact soon you'll strip down another layer without me even telling you you'll be that warm."

"How?" Shelly demanded removing her jacket and hanging it up before bending down to undo her shoelaces.

"Your outer garments are mostly water proof and wind resistance, the tent is now doing that. Slowly our body heat will warm the air in the tent making it a few degrees warmer then the outside air, add to that the lack of windchill inside the tent and you'll start feeling warmer soon and in your sleeping bag your body heat will be trapped even more efficiently."

"What are you doing?" Shelly asked bemused as he shifted around the items in the tent.

"The tent is keeping the wind out but it's still freezing cold out there. I'm putting the suitcases between the tent wall and our heads to give us some insulation from that then I'm pulling the beds into the centre of the tent to get us away from the cold side walls. I’ll put our food against the walls so that it is out of the way and stays cool."

"You know maybe I don't want to be sleeping side by side with a horny old priest?" Shelly demanded.

"Don't worry," Solomon said pulling out a small camp table and setting it up between the air mattresses before setting an electric light on it and turning it on. "I'm well aware of our respective conditions," he smiled and set up a small camp stove next to the table between the beds. "Careful when you get in," Solomon warned Shelly pointing at the stove. "I'm just going to boil some water, make us some two minute noodles and fill the thermos with some milk coffee."

"Milk coffee?" Shelly asked sitting down carefully on her bed and digging out some of the noodles in a cup and placing them on the table then she picked up a small object and asked "what's this?"

"It's a porcelain thimble, it's the best I could find for our guest to use when she arrives."

"She's going to be sewing?" Shelly asked puzzled.

"No actually I am, that's for after dinner." Just then a harsh gust shook the whole tent and Shelly shivered and started crawling into the sleeping bag again. "Shelly before you do that better find your balaclava and inner gloves, you'll probably want to sleep in them tonight."

Nodding Shelly got up and went to her coat and dug them out of the pocket, pausing to put on the gloves before coming back and climbing into the sleeping bag. Pouring boiling water into the noodle cups Solomon handed one to her and then rummaged in a bag before passing her a bread roll and a fork. Shelly held the bread roll and then looked at him confused. "Dip it in like for soup, it'll fill you up." Dubiously Shelly did so, slurping the resulting soggy bread up as Solomon prepared another cup of noodles for her and placed that on the table near her commenting, "You're cold, you need the warmth." Nodding Shelly continued eating as she watched Solomon.

Pouring hot water from the pan into two more cups of noodles Solomon then rummaged around behind him and brought forth a thermos and dropped the thimble into the pot of hot water.

"Why'd you do that?" Shelly asked nodding to the thimble.

"Just making sure it's clean," Solomon stated as he undid the thermos, first the cup cap on the top and then the actual sealing plug underneath carefully placing the rest of the thermos on the table then he got out a fork and fished the thimble out of the boiling pot placing a tea towel on the table dropped the thimble on it before pouring the boiling water into the thermos, sealing it and then carefully shaking the thermos before laying it down on its side.

"I thought you were gonna make coffee or something?" Shelly asked.

"I am," Solomon said reaching around behind and rummaging again this time setting a small tin of instant coffee on the table along with some sugar packets and a bottle of milk. "The thermos is brand new I'm rinsing it out and using the boiling water to warm it up first." Turning back around he grabbed two camp mugs and put them on the table, smiling as Shelly finished her first cup of noodles returning the empty one to the table and taking a second. "Would you like a second roll?" Solomon enquired.

Shelly shook her head and settled back to eating before nodding to the cups. "I don't really like coffee," she said.

"Country girl like you? Probably a good tea drinker," Solomon commented. "That's all right I don't really like coffee either or tea much. It's a decided disadvantage to a priest I can assure you but I like milk coffee and I think you might to and I know our guest will love it."

"What is milk coffee?" Shelly asked again.

"Coffee made with just milk," Solomon stated pouring the whole bottle of milk into the pan and turning on the jet again then he took the sugar, tore open the packets and poured all that into the pot before getting a spoon and prying open the tin and breaking the seal and peeling it back before slowly spooning some coffee into the milk.

"That's basically just hot chocolate made with coffee instead!" Shelly proclaimed as she watched him stir the pot.

"Basically yes. Since you seem to have done something similar before can you keep an eye on this? I'll just empty the thermos outside." At her nod he carefully pushed the lid shut on the coffee tin and put it away then picking up the thermos he carefully crawled over to the tent entrance making sure to not to bump the camp stove.

Quickly Solomon opened up the thermos smiling at the wisp of steam and the proof it was working as expected. Opening the tent just enough to reach through Solomon poured the water out into the snow outside before quickly pulling back his hand and closing the tent zipper and moving back to the stove where Shelly was fairly quickly stirring the pot to keep it just this side of the boil. Smiling Solomon lined up two mugs and the thermos and then just as the milk started to froth took the pot off the stove and poured two mugs of milk coffee and the rest into the thermos which he carefully sealed up.

"I'm just going to take the pot and clean it, I don't want to smell cooked milk permeating the tent all night," Solomon told Shelly. "Why don't you hold the mug? It'll warm your hands," he suggested.

Solomon quickly took the pot and poured some water in to the warm pot before swirling it around and using his hand to clean it. Moving to the tent door he partially opened the zip again then reached through to pour out the water, finally partially filling the pot with the last of the water from the large water bottle he returned to the stove.

Returning to his bed Solomon put the pot onto the unlit stove and then rummaging in a bag of purchases he pulled out a needle and cotton as well as a quick unpick and one of the extra thermal gloves he had purchased. Placing the cotton on the table he stuck the needle into it and sitting up with the glove in his hand started to unpick it. Looking only at his hands he suggested "Tell me about your parents."

"What?" Shelly asked startled.

"Tell me about your parents. Tell me some stories about them."

"Why?"

"Because you are grieving. Because you keep remembering your last seconds with them over and over."

"I don't want to talk about it!"

"I know but I don't want you to be only remembering your parents that way, to have it be the thing you remember each time someone mentions them. The mind is an amazing thing always playing back things to remember, building new links, strengthening old ones. If you fall asleep over and over remembering just those few seconds it will slowly build stronger and stronger links to those images, I want you to keep other memories of your parents is all like what does your mother smell like?"

"Dove. Dove soap and the cheep no frills fruit hair products, the ones that for some reason have 'peaches' and 'pears' and other foods as their ingredients. Dad always teased me about smelling the same, said he never understood the need to smell like a fruit salad."

Slowly Solomon teased out simple daily stories of her parents, keeping the conversation light asking question after question as though a friend just trying to get to know her parents, at first unpicking the glove as Shelly nursed her warm milk coffee and sipped occasionally. Sometimes Solomon had scissors in his hand, mostly the unpick, eventually it was needle and thread. Shelly barely noticed almost numbly responding to his questions about her parents, she didn't even register really when he casually packed up the table between them and moved the camp cooker, not even when he pushed his mattress beside hers and started sipping his own coffee nor when he casually took her finished mug from her and put that away too she just kept numbly almost automatically answering his questions on her parents.
She did notice though that he was there to sweep her into his arms when eventually she cried "oh my God they're gone they’re never coming back!" and wept into his chest as he held her and stroked her hair.

Selanothis

After crying herself out again Shelly mumbled a "Thank you" into Solomon's chest and pushed herself up, wiping her face with her gloved hands.

"You needed it Shelly, don't be afraid to take the time you need to grieve. That will be far from your last crying session, they are your parents and you loved them. Take the time to remember them and grieve over them like you need, people will understand."

"Not the MCO!"

"The MCO is not a problem at the moment. They will be a problem for the future, a future that will be better for you if you grieve properly, including crying when you need to. We are in the middle of a blizzard can you think of a better time? No? Then don't worry."

Shelly nodded and sniffed a few times, blowing her nose on some tissues Solomon handed her. "Hey aren't we supposed to be meeting someone? When is she getting here?"

"Selanothis is already here, do you want to help me coax her out?"

"Selanthos?"

"Selanothis."

"She's here?" Shelly asked looking around. "Why can't I see her?"

"She's shy. Let's try and coax her, shift around so you feet are at this end of the mattress and your head the other."

As Shelly did so Solomon moved the camp stove to the foot of the mattresses and started warming the water.

"What's that?" Shelly asked confused.

"A nice warm bath," he said stirring the water with his finger.

"A bath?"

"Selanothis is cold, this will warm her up especially as she got caught outside in the storm. Selanothis please we know you are there," Solomon called. "We won't hurt you we are here to meet you and make a proposal that is all."

"How can she be here but I can't see her?" Shelly questioned looking all around. It was a three man tent with two of them in it and quite a bit of baggage, Shelly couldn't believe someone else would even fit in here let alone hide be able to hide.

"You'll see," Solomon said turning off the stove and adding some detergent to the pot and stirring it vigorously.

"What's that for?" Shelly demanded.

"Bubble bath, for Selanothis modesty."

"Wait modesty? You'd only fit a hand in that pot!"

"You or I would, Selanothis on the other hand" Solomon pointed across the tent.

Peeking out from behind Shelly's hanging jacket was a wonder, a tiny women little larger then a man's hand in height with long red hair and huge nearly transparent wasp-like wings. She was wearing what looked like brown leather pants and vest and her arms were tightly hugging her chest.

Flying down and hovering over the pot Selanothis looked haughtily to Solomon and then pulling an arm loose from hugging herself made an imperious twirling motion.

Shelly giggled. "I think she wants you to turn around."

"Yes Shelly I got that," Solomon sighed turning his back to the pot. "It wouldn't hurt for you to give her a little privacy too. Set up the table for her Shelly, put the table cloth on it to help her dry you will find the things I was working on for her are right next to it."

Rummaging at the foot of the mattress Shelly held her hand in his sight. "These? What are they?"

"They were a thermal glove, the closest things I could find in her size." Pointing he explained. "I cut the thumb off and sewed that up then the two middle fingers I removed as well turning the hole into a 'neck' hole for her. I then evened off the lengths of the two remaining fingers by cutting the ends of and turned them into sleeves. It's a little lopsided but should be warmer then anything she has." Pointing to the left over things on her hand he finished. "That's my best impression of a beanie made from the end of the thumb. Those are opened up fingers, I hope they'll make warm leggings for her. Just put them on the table Selanothis can examine them when she’s finished her bath and all warmed up.”

Listening to the splashing behind him Solomon waited patiently until he heard Shelly whisper. "It's like watching a bird!"

"Shelly!" he growled. "How would you like to be taking a bath with a great big giant leaning over you and commenting? She understands English, in fact she probably speaks it better then either of us she's been doing it for longer then both of us have been alive!"

"Oh wow! Of course, Fairies live forever!"

"No Shelly she's a mutant just like you I just mean she was born in the sixties, she's old enough to be your grandma. Think how your grandma would react to you being in her bathroom with her!" Solomon chuckled at the sounds of Shelly quickly turning around and he couldn't help peeking sideways to see her flaming red cheeks as he heard musical laughter from behind him.

"Give her a chance Shelly once she has stopped shivering she'll be able to say the spell to allow us to hear her talk, though if you want," Solomon called over his shoulder, "I give you permission to speak to my mind directly."

"She's a telepath? Cool does she need permission to do it? Is that like a fairy thing?" Shelly demanded excitedly.

"No it's a Selanothis thing, she considers it rude to project into people's head without their permission."

"Oh cool! Please feel free to telepath to me too!" Shelly called.

*Careful, you know not what you offer after all once in I could wander anywhere.* With the words came emotion and these words came with all the humour and wickedness of a cat with a new toy mouse.

"I did Selanothis," Solomon replied. "There's nothing earth shattering in my mind. Sure you'll find lots to embarrass me with, even confessions that are meant to stay between a priest and God, but still I've only been a parish priest, the minor sins and misdemeanours of people you know not are hardly going to excite you."

"Solomon!" Shelly squeaked.

"Shelly is there anything you've ever done that embarrassed you and your closest friends weren't there with you? That they haven't teased you about your whole life?"

"Well no."

"And growing up in a small country town do you think there is anything you or your friends have done that wasn't known to your parents almost before you finished doing it?"

Shelly crossly opened her mouth to defend but Solomon just talked over her. "Shelly an Australian, small, country, town? My mother came from one her relatives begin conversations with 'well, wha' do ya' know?'. Gossip is the casual conversation of a small country town, some of those old ladies would know what you dreamed the night before, probably who it was and what you were wearing too!"

Shelly blushed and nodded. "Yeah Dad's Mum before she died, I swear every morning I woke up in her house last summer she had a smirk and an eyebrow lift that made me blush to the roots."

*First crush?* Selanothis asked to Shelly's rueful nod.

"Don't worry Shelly if Selanothis has a rule not to 'path to people without their permission I doubt she'd suddenly go all larcenous and rummage unasked through your memories. Just be careful what you think about, anything you're rerunning in your mind might as well being said out loud to a telepath."

*Spoilsport* came the miffed reply from behind them, causing Shelly to laugh.

"If it's sports you want we could go back to watching you bathe and making comments?" Solomon suggested.

*Feel free* came the calm reply.

Exchanging glances Shelly and Solomon turned to see Selanothis siting in the pot with plenty of bubbles covering her.

"Sorry about it being washing up liquid," Solomon apologised.

*Don't be,* Selanothis replied. *Most of the time I wash with ash and fat.*

"How does that clean things?" Shelly asked confused. "Isn't that like rubbing in the dirty stuff more?"

"Wood ash from a fire and fat from cooking is the original soap Shelly, people used it exclusively for millennia."

*If not usually the best smelling,* Selanothis agreed. *So washing up detergent is a welcome change.* She sniffed her hand. *Smells of lemons,* she 'pathed with a smile.

"Are you warm enough?" Solomon asked.

*Warming up nicely,* Selanothis said wiggling her fingers happily.

"I'm sorry you got cold for a meeting with me," Shelly blurted.

*I was not aware of such a meeting?* Selanothis replied curiously.

Shelly turned to Solomon who blushed slightly. "Selanothis lives in the Grove I was aware of a chance to organise a meeting and I planned it, I may have slightly exaggerated the degree of mutualness about the organisation of the meeting to get certain other parties to leave us alone for a while."

*Other parties?*

"Lady Astarte, you might know her better as 'Miss Might'? It's her capacity as Headmaster of the school the Grove is in the grounds off that matters at the moment."

*Ah. Mrs. Carson.* Selanothis nodded.

"If she wasn't here to meet us why is she here?" Shelly asked confused.

"To get warm."

*I was very cold,* Selanothis agreed. *I saw your tent and crawled in to get out of the wind and to get a little warmer.*

"Cold? But aren't you a fairy? Isn't this your natural environment?" Shelly asked confused.

Selanothis laughed a silvery bell like sound that was both heard and emotions in their head. *It's a blizzard! Even wild animals are tucked up trying to stay warm waiting this out. Fairies are no more capable of surviving cold then humans are, we have just as little hair and the Grove isn't equipped to receive weather reports so an August blizzard took me by surprise.*

"But we have clothes!" Shelly declared then looked at the tiny pile of things Selanothis had been wearing. "Um, that's not very warm is it?" she asked confused.

*OK I lied. Mostly I keep warm with magic but this blizzard's so cold I drained myself and that's why I was so cold, I should be snug in my hole but I was away from the Grove and the blizzard caught me.*

"You can do magic? Show me? Please?" Shelly begged.

"Um Shelly magic so drained she was freezing to death?" Solomon gently chided her.

"OH. Oh right. Sorry."

Picking up the thermos Solomon address Selanothis. "I have a little treat for you." She looked a little warily at the huge thermos. "It's not anything special, it's a form of coffee the three of us can enjoy." Putting two camp mugs on the floor he carefully poured out the still warm coffee in to them, then taking the porcelain thimble he carefully dipped it into one mug to fill it before wiping the outside of the thimble and passing it to the eager hands of Selanothis.

As Selanothis all but inhaled her first thimbleful of coffee, Solomon passed a mug to Shelly before refilling Selanothis' thimble and taking a sip of coffee himself.

*I miss coffee* Selanothis sighed leaning back in her pot and hugging the thimble to her chest causing Shelly to giggle. Turing towards Shelly Selanothis smiled and 'pathed *Since we all know who I am perhaps you'll introduce yourselves?*

"I don't know who you are I was just told that you could help us and we were meeting you tonight." Shelly exclaimed looking crossly at Solomon. "I'm Shelly Kelly from Australia, I live in a small town near Wagga Wagga in case you know where that is?" Selanothis shook her head sadly. Shelly shrugged "No biggy it's the opposite side of the world after all, I can't say I've heard of most of the places we travelled through in the last few days either. I'm a newly manifested mutant and when the plane I was in exploded I managed to end up in a pool being rescued by Solomon here and then we had Lady Astarte, the MCO and the Men In Black all there while Father Solomon here tried to talk them into letting us go. After Lady Astarte knocked out Agent MCO, her and Mr. Government Man agreed to let us go as long as we made for this school. We just arrived tonight in time to setup the tent."

*Father Solomon?* Selanothis asked with a raised eyebrow. *What Church? That's not a name I would expect.*

Looking at her seriously he explained. "'Solomon' is not the name I gave myself nor normally the one I go by. You have heard the rumours about the Catholic Church and 'Solomon'?"

Selanothis eyes widened. *They are true?*

"Some. It is a legacy I am but one of them, it's not a line nor is it immortality."

*But? The rest?*

"At the upper limits of the more common speculation, nothing more."

*Upper limits! Nothing more! I think you and I have different scales of magnitude.*

"Why are people so surprised about Father Solomon?" Shelly asked wide eyed.

*She doesn't know?*

"She only meet me a few days ago and we've been running ever since, she's had a busy few days."

"Why is everybody so upset with me?" Shelly asked.

Solomon looked to the distressed Shelly and the speculative Selanothis and then nodded firmly. "Shelly I want you to give Selanothis a demonstration of your power. She's lonely and she a little bit sad, do you think you could think of a good companion pet that would cheer her up? Something Australian? Something she wouldn't expect to see around here?"

*A Pet? For a Pixie? That's your demonstration?*

"Don't worry about our sceptical friend Shelly," Solomon laughed. "Just close your eyes. Think of an Australian pet, something that would be perfect for her. Imagine it right here. Imagine her cuddling and petting it, stroking it. Right here with her."

Laughing Shelly closed her eyes and concentrated, opening them again shocked at a surprised squawk and yelp. Standing on her knee was now a black bird with white patches a startled and naked Selanothis perched on its back.

*Your idea of a pet to cheer me up is a bird thrice my size?!* Selanothis demanded.

"But it's a Magpie!" Shelly exclaimed. "They have the most wonderful song and I thought you'd enjoy riding her!" Shelly looked as though she didn't know whether to laugh or cry but a smile was forcing its way out as Selanothis sat perched on the bird that turned its head around and looked the pixie in her eye.

Startled Selanothis jumped in the air and floated away from the bird as Tentatively Shelly reached out. Turning the bird rubbed its head against Shelley’s hand before jumping off her knee and flying across the tent to perch on one of the suitcases. Confused Shelly looked up at Solomon "How?" she asked pointing at the bird.

"You are a reality warper, a very powerful one," Solomon explained.

"Reality warper?" Shelly asked confused.

"If you concentrate nearly anything you imagine you can make. You change reality in a field around yourself and after you've finished things are different. There are limits on what you can do but the most dangerous part of your skill is how good it is. Most reality warpers need to consciously build up in their mind in detail what they are warping, they are limited to what the can understand. You are not. If you can imagine it your skill can make it and that's what has them scared."

"Why?" Shelly asked distressed.

"Well unlike other warpers if you decided to create a black hole you'd get a black hole, only a micro or a mini one but it'd still be an uncontained black hole in contact with the earth, quite literally 'bang goes the planet'." Shelly stared at him in shock.

*Why would you even mention something like that? Put such an idea in her head?* Selanothis demanded outraged.

"Because she's a well adjusted girl. She'd never do anything like that except accidentally and it's accidentally everybody is afraid off."

"How would I accidentally make a black hole?" Shelly cried desperately starting to shake.

"Shhh." Solomon comforted her moving over to again pull her into his arms. "You wouldn't mean too but what's your favourite TV show, one with superhero fights in it?"

"I don't know probably Dragon Ball?" Shelly suggested.

"And other Anime and cartoons right?" Solomon prompted to Shelly's shrug.

*Why is this dangerous? They are children's shows.*

"Because Shelly's gift allows her to think anime but get reality. For example think really big explosion and get an atom bomb."

*What? How? It took years of work by the worlds top scientists to make an atom bomb! You mean she can make complex machines like that just by thinking vaguely about them?*

"The complexity of an atom bomb is about making it not explode until you want it too. If you want the explosion Uranium 235 occurs naturally and if you get enough pure U235 together as a blob it'll create a nuclear explosion itself no outside action required, that's the 'nuclear meltdown' scenario all the original first generation reactors had people scared of. Her skill is more then capable of putting enough Uranium 235 together to do that. More importantly we are worried about something on the lines of her desperately thinking 'I want them sucked over there and crushed' and imagining it in an anime or cartoon way and her skill interpreting 'black hole' as the most compatible real world event that could do it."

*Wouldn't a vacuum do the same?*

"Yes and you see what Shelly's 'training' mostly is. Teaching her real life knowledge about various things so that she uses that when using her skill and not anime and cartoons and Hollywood movies and all their fake physics. She'll grow out of being a danger to the world fairly fast with proper training but the problem is people and organisations like the MCO are manoeuvring to physically threaten her now, any confrontation that escalates too far will get her panicking and desperately trying things that will have these unintended consequences. She'll think fake physics but her skill will give her real physics and its consequences. She's only dangerous if she gets desperate and even then only because she's untrained, powerful and scared. Change any of that and there is no problem."

*So what is it you want of me?*

"Well basically you. I want you to help me train Shelly."

*Me? Why me? What's so special about me? I don't know anything about reality warpers!*

"Shelly responds to me and likes me as me and she is not threatened by me but I have enough power of my own I can guide her. Similarly with you she is enchanted by you and open to you but you have the power to control her if needed and she'll trust you and let you. If things get out of hand and you need to sleep her to defuse a situation she'll be trusting of you enough to not panic and let you. You're the safety valve if things get bad."

*Surely there are others?*

Solomon raised an eyebrow. "Pixie sorcerers with your power and experience?"

*There are others more powerful then me.*

"Pixies?"

*No, but..*

"You enchant her, not sorcery or magic. You. I want you Selanothis and we travelled a continent not to hide but to meet you."

Selanothis stared at him with her mouth slowly opening and closing until Solomon turned slight red and mumbled. "Um, maybe you want to put some clothes on now?" he pointed vaguely.

Selanothis looked down and screeched *Turn around!*

A future

Standing on the table with her glove-dress on and a thumb-tip beanie pulled down over her ears Selanothis struck a pose. *How do I look?* she asked.

"Warm?" Solomon suggested.

*Oh yes!* she replied *and it's so soft* she continued hugging herself.

"It looks a little strange and lopsided," Shelly said truthfully.

"Sorry," Solomon apologised. "I'm not the best seamstress."

*But you are the first to make something just for me in decades,* Selanothis enthused siting down and pulling the two cut off fingers on as 'boots' before standing up and smiling as she jumped around a bit.

"Don't the other fairies make things for each other?" Shelly asked.

*Possibly but I'm kind of an outsider, some things in my past make them really uncomfortable so I make my own clothes.* Selanothis stood up and looked around then to Shelly. *Do you have a mirror?*

"Sorry my things were lost in the crash."

*Crash?*

"The p plane crash." Shelly hiccuped a little.

Selanothis looked sad and sent a comforting burst of pure emotion towards Shelly. *I'm sorry about your parents,* she commiserated. Jumping from the table to the bed Selanothis walked to Shelly and laid a comforting hand on top of hers sending Shelly all the comfort she could.

Wiping a tear away Shelly gave Selanothis a tiny smile, "Thank you."

Jumping onto Shelly's knee Selanothis turned to Solomon and crossing her legs sat down. *So, what is the proposal? How can I help you?*

"You are a powerful Mage but you are stuck the size of a pixie even though you are a mutant, we can fix that."

Selanothis went still. Very very still. *How?* she demanded dangerously.

"Shelly is a reality warper I am a Clairvoyant you are a powerful Mage. I need to disappear, become believed dead Shelly as well. You want to regain normal size, interact again with humans, have relationships. I was thinking a spell that changes all our appearances, actually more a spell guiding Shelly's power and complimenting it as she does the necessary reality warping to make it work."

*And after that?*

"We become a 'family' and go somewhere that Shelly can learn control."

*And?*

"Pardon?"

*What are the downsides?*

Solomon sighed. "The biggest downside isn't going to affect you directly, emotionally yes but not otherwise. The biggest downside is we have less then a weeks to succeed otherwise Shelly and I run out of time. If we can't get it finished on time we all lose our chance."

*What else?*

"Are you willing to share?"

*You know what you are asking?*

"I know," Solomon assured her.

"What is he asking?" Shelly asked.

*To let me relive his memories with him, I will have the memories as if they were my own.*

"Not just you, Shelly too. I will share my full plan and the readings I did to formulate it."

*Shelly do you agree to this?*

"What am I agreeing to?" Shelly asked confused.

*Solomon will remember and then I will interface with him and he'll start reliving and I will too then I'll interface with you and you'll relive it too. At the end it will be like the memories are yours. It can be … confusing, overwhelming not something that should be done lightly or often.*

"I will live his memories? It sounds wonderful! Imagine living the memories of another!"

*It is wonderful and in its wonder lies its danger* Selanothis cautioned. *We, us, our identity is our memories. I have seen what happens to those who loose themselves in the memories of another and become nothing but a copy of the first.*

"OH!" Shelly exclaimed. "Will that happen to us?"

"This is not quite the same," Solomon assured her. "These memories are made of my visions of the future which contain a lot about you anyway. It will just be disorientating as you are not a Clairvoyant. You will remember my skill at sorting the futures and that it all made sense but not have my skill you will have the memory of seeing it clearly but not skills to do it again within your own 'memories'."

"Why do it then?" Shelly asked puzzled.

"We three have a choice, this is the information that can be used to make the choice. By reliving it with me you will believe the choice even if later you cannot remember why it is exactly we made it. You will also learn the plan at that point your choice can be made with clear knowledge."

Shelly sat thinking then nodded firmly. "I understand, I want to know too. I agree to the sharing."

*Very well lie down. Get comfortable and make sure you are warm this will take a while.*

"Wow," Shelly said with a smile on her face that quickly drained. "Urg."

"Careful Shelly lie there don't try and think about it. Relax," Solomon said laying her back down and closing her eyes. "Do your eight times tables."

"Why?" Shelly whispered.

"Because with this headache the eight times tables will require a lot of concentration. Let your brain sort the memories out subconsciously for a while, concentrate instead on something else."

"OK, has Selanothis decided to help us?"

"Eight times tables Shelly," Solomon repeated sternly waiting till he heard her start saying them under her breath before he looked to Selanothis who was glaring at him.

*I am a Telepath I can read minds, you are holding things back show me the rest!*

"There is only heartbreak down there," Solomon warned.

*I will decide my future show me all of it*

"Some have closed already, they were options only before my skill became known."

*But you have studied them? They have coloured your choices? Decided your actions?*

"Yes but please believe me I hold them back not to manipulate you, but out of love. Only sadness comes for knowing what is lost and can now never be."

Selanothis pushed on a knot in his mind *What is here?*

"Happiness we would have had if anonymity had been maintained." Selanothis pushed a second knot. "Unhappiness. These are all the options that end with one or more of us dying because the plan fails."

*Those I will not ask you to see again* finally she pushed on a last knot. *Here?*

"If you look not at the first knot these cannot come to pass, if you do look they are what happens if I don't take another decision. Those are not your choice they are mine and mine alone."

*If I look in the first knot I force a choice on you?*

"You do."

*It is a choice you do not want?*

"It is a choice I am willing to make for all of our happiness."

Selanothis considered him unhappily for a moment. *I am sorry I cannot make a choice with what I know, I need to know what else you have seen that allows you to so confidently hold this choice* she finally replied.

Solomon sighed and turned to Shelly. "Do you trust me Shelly?" he asked softly. "Will you believe me that looking at options for happiness that are denied you by the choices made already will only upset you badly for no purpose? That on top of your grief for your parents it is too much for you? That I only want you to be happy?"

"If I change my mind later once I'm better would you show me then?" Shelly asked still with her eyes closed.

"Anytime. If Selanothis is not there and you can't relive my memories then I'll tell you them instead."

"Then I don't want to know” Shelly replied firmly.

"Selanothis I ofter you the same?" Solomon tried one more time.

*Unlike you and Shelly I don't need to take your offer it is just an option for me. I won't take that choice without first learning all I need.*

"OK but first land on my palm, I don't want you to hurt yourself in grief."

*Its that bad?*

"No I lock them away because I find them that good, dwelling on them makes me very very sad."

*Show me,* she said landing on the palm of his hand.

Solomon nodded. Turning to Shelly he advised "I know you are tired Shelly and you want your answer, but Selanothis and I will have a lot to talk about after this and she'll not make a decision till morning. Lie down and get some rest, I'll turn off the light and do the same Selanothis and I will talk via her telepathy."

Yawning Shelly nodded and crawled deeper into her sleeping bag before sitting back up and taking her sweater off so that she was only in her shirt. Shelly folded the sweater neatly and place it over the packages next to her bed then snuggled back up in her sleeping bag again, turned over and fell asleep almost instantly.

"You did that didn't you?" Solomon asked Selanothis who smirked. Solomon chuckled a bit. "She'll be disappointed her first experience of magic and she missed it." Reaching out to turn the light off Solomon started winding the generator on the bottom to recharge the battery a bit while Selanothis took the chance to fly freely around the tent and explore a little. Finishing winding the lamp Solomon lay down and zipped himself up in his sleeping bag, seeing this Selanothis flew down and landed on his pillow.

"You may want a different position as I sleep," Solomon warned as he turned to lie facing her. "I am a most restless sleeper I'm afraid I'd accidentally hurt you in my sleep."

*But now is for talk not sleep,* Selanothis said smiling at him as she sat crossed legged on his pillow. *Come procrastinate no more, show me!*

"On your head be it." Starting to tear up already Solomon closed his eyes and opened the memories playing them in his head and allowing her to experience them with him, three lifetimes of memories that would now not be made.

"I am sorry Selanothis I tried to warn you." Impotently Solomon tried to reach out and comfort her but with a hand as big as her entire body there was little he could do.

Crying Selanothis took off and flew to Shelly, landing featherlight on her check before kneeling down and then collapsing facedown spread-eagled on Shelly's cheek crying as she tried to hug the girl. Eventually as Shelly stirred Selanothis stopped and jumped up hovering concerned over her face as Shelly turned over. When Shelly had settled again Selanothis landed and kneeling carefully dried the tears she'd left on Shelly's cheek before sitting back on her haunches to stroke Shelly's cheek softly, smiling as Shelly too seemed to smile. *I would have loved her,* Selanothis sniffed. *All that I wanted, hopes and dreams I'd hidden from myself. A life, a family, children.* Turning to Solomon she looked him in the eye. *You.* Crying steadily now Selanothis sat stroking the cheek of the sleeping girl. *Gone now and I never even got to fight for them. Oh how I want to fight for them!* she cried.

Heartbroken Solomon sat watching unable to comfort the small woman in any way until sighing he turned over. Closing his eyes he lay listened to her weep softly as he waited for sleep to claim him.

Selanothis sat on Shelly's shoulder in her warm remade glove, legs pulled up under her dress and hugged close to her body as with chin on her knees she stared at the sleeping Shelly. Finally she sighed and muttered, "Just more happy futures taken away from me by forces I cannot control nor even understood until too late. Buck up this time you have a choice."

Standing Selanothis flew to the top of the tent and even though it was dark she looked down and watched the two sleep. Shelly was obviously upset, curled up in an unhappy ball with her body all the way towards the edge of her air mattress almost straining to go further. Next to her Solomon too slept in an unnatural position, body straining just as much to get to Shelly and comfort her.

Selanothis smiled and flew down and checked their sleeping bags and grinned. Fate it seemed was with her. Both sleeping bags somehow had their zippers on the sides closest to the other, someone must have turned their bag completely around, she bet Solomon who was just as restless a sleeper as he had warned her. Smiling Selanothis crawled into Shelly's sleeping bag found the zipper and pushed it down all the way to the bottom of the bag. Selanothis then she went across and did the same for Solomon's bag humming softly to herself she crawled back into Shelly's bag and with a wicked smile proceeded to put a stingingly cold hand down the neck of Shelly's shirt, followed by up the shirt into the small of her back and even up her pants leg onto her ankle. Slowly, flinching slightly all the time at Selanothis' touch, Shelly moved just a little bit across her mattress as Selanothis repeated this time and again till Shelly's flinching touched Solomon where, as expected, all asleep Shelly rolled over to cuddle up to him and Solomon reached out to hug and comfort her automatically in his sleep as well.

Smiling greatly at her joke Selanothis landed on Shelly's sleeping bag and grabbing an edge, slowly walking up and down pulling it over little bit by little bit until she managed to drag Shelly's sleeping bag slightly over Solomon's so that it covered both of them. Smiling smugly she dragged her own large glove in between the two and jumping back into the outer glove 'sleeping bag' she snuggled up to sleep, warm content and happy between them. For the first time in what seemed forever Selanothis fell asleep with a smile on her face dreaming about her future, a happy future, a future with a family in it once again.

Secure Syndicate Tele-conferencing channel

"Well?" the distorted voice demanded.

"Sources confirm a man and a girl have arrived at Whateley and would fit the vague descriptions we have." Not even the distortion could disguise the lack of enthusiasm in the reply.

"You doubt?" the first voice pressed.

"I find it hard to understand how one who has the skills purported, one with the demonstrated skills to disappear completely like they did would be so easily found again. With the advantages attributed to them and the head start from their disappearance it doesn't make sense that they go exactly where they were predicted to go and are so easily identified again when they arrive!"

A long pause greeted the outburst. "I'm inclined to agree," finally the original voice responded. "This could be a trap, someone playing us to again blacken our name at Whateley and reduce our influence."

"You want me to abort?" was asked hopefully.

"No," the voice replied with finality. "The potential risks are too great the damages incalculable. The existence or fakery must be confirmed. You are to continue assembling your team but are not to make use of our assets on campus. Confine your contacts to the corrupt security officers and make sure your team has no identifiable links to us. From now on you are on your own until such time as you have proof positive of the existence of Solomon at Whateley you are to operate separately from our organisation but it is a priority that the situation is clarified as soon as possible."

"And if it is confirmed?"

"The full resources of the organisation will be at your call," the voice confirmed solemnly. "While we would prefer there to be no further incidents between us and Whateley paramount is the protection of the organisation and the neutralisation of a threat to its existence."

"Understood, I will contact you again if I obtain the proof."

"Very well."

A wanted trap

Shelly was slowly feeding her manifested magpie some mince, smiling happily as it begged and sang for her between tidbits. Selanothis sat watching her smiling then her body language changed, she looked consideringly at the magpie and smirked. Just as Shelly dropped some mince she made a high pitched whistle, more felt them heard and then jumped up landing on the magpie's back as it swooped underneath her. Laughing she rode it around the tent, just a couple of times back and forth because a bird with a more then half meter wingspan is a little inconvenient in a three man tent.

"How did you do that? Can you teach me to call her?" Shelly asked entranced watching the performance.

*You made her as a pet for me wanting me to ride her. I assumed if that was the case your talent would have 'taught' her to come to me as for you.* Selanothis jumped up floating above the bird's back *Whistle her yourself, let us see?*

Shelly whistled and with a 'caw' the magpie flew to her and perched on her shoulder, gently pecking her ear and singing making her giggle. Shelly removed the magpie from her shoulder to place it again on her crossed legs. With the rest of the mince on a plate on the floor in front of her Shelly sat stroking the bird's feathers as it ate.

"What now, have you decided?" Shelly asked looking to Selanothis with trepidation and barely concealed wistfulness.

*Yes I have,* Selanothis stated. *I will of course help you, how could I not?* she said with a laugh.

Yelling her joy Shelly startled the magpie who fled and then landed behind Selanothis, attempting to 'hide' behind the tiny pixie. Laughing Shelly tried to whistle her back, waving a bribe of the mince until the bird flew back to her and settled in her lap again attacking the leftover mince in the plate and accepting the girl's caresses. Shelly looked up at Selanothis with adoration in her eyes, absolutely enchanted when Selanothis rose up and flew to settle on her shoulder.

Solomon carefully observed Selanothis who once again sat watching Shelly's face with a wistful expression. Sighing he concentrated hard *You know I tricked you right?* he thought hard hoping Selanothis would 'hear'.

Startled Selanothis turned to him frowning, *How?*

*You cannot unlove a child. Once you'd experienced that future you are Shelly's adopted mother, those memories are yours now even though that future cannot now happen. There is no way you were not going to help Shelly once those memories entered your head, she is your daughter.*

*Pretend all you like I'm the mind reader not you,* Selanothis replied turning back to silently watching Shelly. *You may not have known the consequences but I know your attempts to stop me were heartfelt and sincere. There was no trick, I trapped myself and I can't in all honesty say I am sorry. I want this. I want to hold her and comfort her just as you do. Until you showed me I didn't realise how much I've always wanted a family, how much I hurt that it has been denied me all these years.*

*We can't now get that future,* Solomon reminded her regretfully.

*We can get a future,* Selanothis snarled. *I've had enough of simply surviving I want to live, have dreams, plan a life.* Selanothis turned to him with tears in her eyes. *Family.* That word alone came with so many feelings of loss, of solitude, of regret and anguish Solomon briefly looked away.

Turning back to Shelly Selanothis finished, *Tell me in all the futures you mapped out deciding our fate, is there actually a one were I say no to helping Shelly?*

Solomon sighed. *Only the ones where I didn't ask and yes I looked at them too. Even I can see no matter what you were always happier in the futures where I asked you.* Sighing guiltily he looked towards Selanothis unhappily. *You are sure about giving up your existence to stay with her and help her?*

*I told you it's not like that, I'm choosing to stop just surviving and moving on to living again." Selanothis turned back to watching Shelly. *This is as good for me as it is for her and if you'd stop feeling responsible and tragic you'd know that I am right.* She turned to Solomon and smiled. *After all is it not exactly what you have chosen? You no more could stop loving our adopted daughter then I can.* Wryly, Solomon nodded at the statement's truth.

"So what do we do now?" Shelly asked happily unaware of the conversation occurring in Solomon's head.

"You and I pack up the tent while Selanothis and her magpie scout the area for our ride back to civilisation," Solomon replied allowing Selanothis time to get her emotions under control again.

*Scout?* Selanothis questioned.

"Just so we know they are on the way, there is no reason to let anymore then one other person know about you."

*One?*

"Mrs. Carson. She is highly unlikely to agree to anything without meeting you and for the plan to work we need her help."

*Mmmmhm,* Selanothis equivocated.

"We'll make sure though that she is the only one. This is a gamble, we have two weeks to pull it off if we fail the fewer who are aware of your existence the better for you."

*I'm not sure I want to run and just return to 'surviving' again,* Selanothis mused.

Solomon looked towards Selanothis and noted her determined expression, dropping the subject as an issue for a later time. "Anyway time for us all to get dressed. Shelly put your winter snow gear on again it's still pretty cold out there even though the wind's died down. Selanothis your leather pants and vest should be dry by now, you can wear them under your glovedress and save some magic that way by getting some layers of warmth also don't forget to keep the Magpie warm, she's not a cold weather bird she's not used to sub zero temperatures like this..."

*It's not that cold!*

"Zero as in Celsius as in 'water freezes' zero. There is ice on the ground, water is freezing. Us Australians, including our magpie, aren't used to that. She'll probably need to nest with you at night there is no way she'll survive outside in temperatures like these, they don't make 'magpie snow gear'."

Shelly giggled. When Solomon turned to her she laughed, "Collingwood supporter scarfs."

Solomon sighed. "Not even in Melbourne does it snow and football club supporter gear isn't snow rated in Australia," he said with a smile of his own happy to see her laughing.

With their snow clothes back on they exited the tent and Solomon knelt down to start removing the tent pegs when he saw Selanothis dart away and hide in the surrounding trees followed by a confused magpie who circled her branch calling. Concentrating he attempted to 'shout' in his head.

*Haven't you worked out what a large bird that will happily let you sit on its back means?* Selanothis darted back to the tent again followed by the magpie to sit there blinking at him in confusion. "Your 'it's not me' glamour has something to deflect to, something that flies," Solomon murmured.

Selanothis’ eyes widened in surprise. *I can fly in the day!* she cried joyously whistling and jumping on her magpie as Solomon laughed.

Circling high and dipping low the magpie sung its song as Shelly and Solomon participated in Selanothis' laughter of joy.

"Still think a bird thrice your size is a strange pet?" Shelly called.

*Never! And you're not getting her back either! Weeeeeeeee!*

Shelly laughed. "Is it really that different? You could fly anyway!"

*But I have to not be seen! Ever since I manifested I've been able to fly but always not able to do it freely where it would be possible for people to see me. Always I’ve had to be on the lookout for people or lately cameras, always flying carefully, darting from hide to hide, waiting to see if anyone saw and is tracking me. Now I'm free! This. Is. Flying!!* Screaming in joy Selanothis dove on Shelly who ducked to Selanothis' joyous laughter.

"How are you controlling her?" Shelly asked amazed.

*Who cares I just am. Weeeeeee!* Selanothis screamed as she rode the magpie past again, zigzagging side to side, getting almost perpendicular to the ground as the pair slalomed through the air in and around Shelly, Solomon and the tent before climbing into the sky and turning around and diving down to do it all again the other way. Finally climbing into the sky the magpie levelled out and shooting off.

"Come on Shelly you get the bags out of the tent while I pull up the pegs," Solomon instructed laughing as Selanothis disappeared off into the distance. "Lay out the tent bag on the gym bag and we can then get started packing it, Selanothis will get bored soon and fly around higher and wider as we need."

"Are we sure Selanothis is a grandmother?" Shelly asked smiling as she watch the magpie wheeling about overhead with Selanothis aboard.

"As old as your grandmother not is a grandmother," Solomon repeated. "Is some ways she's still the teenager she was when she manifested, she's had to hide from people ever since. She can look after herself and do magic but she's not really had much of any imperatives to grow up."

"What? She's like Peter Pan?”

Solomon laughed. "I dare you to call her Tinkerbell, wait till tonight when we're alone again," he smiled wickedly at her and Shelly gave him a guarded look before ducking into the tent to start getting the bags out. With a laugh Solomone knelt down and started unburying a tent peg and levering it out of the ground.

*Some Security on snow mobiles coming your way, looks like two for you and another two setting off on a patrol,* Selanothis finally called as Solomon finished removing the pegs and started on the tent poles.

*Please come back Selanothis,* Solomon thought real hard.

*Oh all right* Selanothis 'pathed with heavy reluctance causing Shelly to giggle.

"How is Selanothis going to hide with us?" Shelly asked as she put down the last of the luggage and sat down on a suitcase.

"Oh you'll love that," Solomon smiled smugly at her. "Here bring over the tent's bag and help me roll it up."

Solomon and Shelly had just finished rolling up the tent and groundsheet, Solomon struggling to get the ground sheet in its bag while a giggling Shelly watched sitting on her suitcase when Selanothis and the magpie swooped up in front of her causing Shelly to fall off the suitcase backwards and into the fresh snow followed by Selanothis' infectious laughter. Standing up and brushing herself off Shelly was startled as first Selanothis and then the magpie darted at her, Selanothis to enter the hood of her jacket the magpie to land on her shoulder.

"Hey!" Shelly cried putting her hands to her head.

*Worry not,* Selanothis comforted *I had a friend I did this with for years. I will hide in the shadows of your hood and when you remove your hood I shall hide at the nape of your neck under your hair. I will not be seen.*

Shelly stood still wide eyed in shock at that announcement before a smile like the sun raising lit up her face. "I get my own guardian fairy?" she asked in amazement.

Aware of the stillness of Selanothis at this statement Solomon carefully replied. "More like Selanothis needs a friend to hide her so that she can be around us without revealing herself. You don't mind helping a friend?"

"Of course not!"

*It was innocent Selanothis,* Solomon thought hard.

*I know as I know it was long ago but still,* Selanothis thought back just for him. *The memories hurt as they have always hurt no matter the time since, recent events just bring back the memories more.*

*Shelly is innocent in this, her excitement is the innocence of one who has been given a special gift.*

*So was hers,* Selanothis pointed out with great sadness in her thoughts.

*She knew not what she did Selanothis and you never did tell her.*

*It was done and could not be changed,* Selanothis cried sadly in her thoughts. *Her unhappiness would not have benefited us in anyway.*

*She loved you Selanothis,* Solomon gently reminded her. *She knew you were sad and you never gave her a chance to atone for it.*

*She had no need for atonement she was as tricked as I was.* Selanothis sighed. *Enough Solomon, it was long ago and I was a different person I will not hold innocent excitement against Shelly besides it is distasteful to carry out conversations while excluding Shelly from them.* Including Shelly in the 'path she commented *Our lift arrives!*

As she said it Solomon became aware of the sound of snowmobiles making their way to them, sighing he looked to Selanothis only to find that she had faded into Shelly's hood even knowing she was there he couldn't make his eyes see her, all he achieved was a vague shimmer and watering eyes. Satisfied that Selanothis glamour was as effective as advertised Solomon turned to greet Whateley's security team unsurprised to see the same officer as before with a member of the ground staff following him on a snowmobile pulling a sled.

"Well I thought for sure you'd have frozen solid by now the way the two of you were complaining of the cold before the blizzard dropped so much snow on us," the same security guard from the day before greeted them.

"Delightful autumn weather you have," Solomon commented dryly.

"Autumn? You mean fall?" The officer asked confused. "There's two more months of this before we get the real stuff this is nothing more then an excuse to play!"

Solomon sighed. "I assume there's somewhere warmer we can banter?"

The security officer kept his smile as he indicated the sled and bent to pick up a bag. "Chief said to take you to the delights of our summer retreat cottage. Outdoor pool, patio for grills and sun bathing, tall sheltering trees to keep the hot summer sun off you, secluded location, long scenic walks in privacy around the woodland grounds..."

"In other words, cold and uncomfortable but a long way from anywhere else in the school grounds and usually locked up for the winter?"

The security man smiled beatifically. "Exactly, also it's on the other side of the staff cottages from the teaching halls and the student cottages."

"Perfect," Solomon agreed also grabbing some bags and carrying them to the sled, signalling Shelly to do the same and nodding greeting to the taciturn groundsman who was sitting on his snowmobile still, hopping off only when the bags started arriving so as to move them around on the sled and balance it properly.

To Be Continued