Monday State of Mind

The heat that surrounded John was comfortable and he wished he could remain blissfully entwined with his girlfriends in sleep. At some point, he had shifted onto his side, fully spooning Beth while Vivian made him her little spoon. Awareness came back to him slowly, warmth giving way to the particulars of the flesh touching his.

His arm coiled around Beth’s midriff, fingers just touching her slightly defined abs and her hair tickled his chin and chest. Vivian’s breasts pleasantly pressed against his back as her arms draped over him like an extra blanket. Aeolia and Senka likewise had their arms stretched over them, nicely bracketing the whole group.

'What time is it?' John wondered as he peacefully lay at the center of the pile of affection. 'It's way too dark for it to be anywhere close to the normal time I get up.'

He was slightly impressed that he'd woken up without an alarm. A part of him had assumed they'd sleep well into the day, but now he was met with a decision: what to do about school?

As if she could sense his thoughts, Beth shifted in her sleep and John had to hold back an amused chuckle.

'I know what Beth's vote would be, and it would be useful to be completely free if her sister calls back.'

In truth, there wasn't much keeping John in school. There was of course the expectation from his mother and his own intellectual leanings, but even before gaining his powers, he hadn't really had a direction. No real goals or aspirations, either.

'And now I'm in a life and **** struggle with magic and gods. Don't think there are any degrees that'll help with that.'

Deciding that thinking of his education was not something he wanted to do in the early hours of a Monday, John closed his eyes and tried to fall back to sleep. Before he could, a light shone onto his face.

Looks like now's a good time to let you know two things. One: I’ve made it so party members have to be awake to see these pop ups. No more waking up your girls. And two: You can now minimize displays so you can ignore them. I’ve taken the liberty to do so with the Achievements you earned last night. Same reason as point one. Ta~

John could see a translucent exclamation point at the bottom of his field of view, emitting just enough light so he could see it. He wondered if the ignoring part extended to the illumination and, on cue, the light dimmed into nothingness.

‘Well, that’s nice. I’ll check those once we’re all up. No need to do it now.’

John began to drift back to sleep. Before he could slip back into dreamland, Vivian jolted awake, sitting up with a gasp.

The sudden disturbance **** everyone awake, eliciting a flurry of drowsy complaints.

"She moved!" the redhead exclaimed in a breathless voice as she scrambled out of bed and to her clothes. "My array triggered!"

That silenced any further complaints and Aeolia and Beth followed the redhead’s example. John quickly re-equipped his clothes as Senka rematerialised hers and he said, "Senka and I are heading down."

"Try to keep her calm," Vivian said as she pulled her shirt over her head. "Teri said her emotions might be out of control given what happened."

John nodded and he and Senka hurried from the room.

'Think it'd be a good idea to hit her with Charm?' John asked Senka as they made their way downstairs.

'It couldn't hurt to be ready,' the spirit replied. 'But snaring her may be a better idea. Her mind is what was damaged, so mental manipulations may cause unforeseen consequences.'

Not feeling all that great at having to tie the girl up, John steeled his resolve as he and Senka reached the bottom of the stairs. The living room was still dark, with only the light from his room and the faint glow from the cable box’s time display providing weak illumination. Enough to see that Kiera was no longer resting on the couch.

‘Okay, so she is gone, but where?’ John thought, pulling out his phone and engaging its flashlight. The small light didn’t reveal any clue and John asked Senka to turn on the lamp she had moved close to.

The light clicked on as John spun around, his breath catching in his throat as Kiera appeared in his vision. He flinched back, just barely restraining himself from summoning his knife or lashing out with his wind spirit. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Senka had her hand raised, wisps of shadow coiling around it.

John brought his focus back to his houseguest and noticed the dead look in her eyes. Before he could ask any questions, Vivian, Aeolia and Beth hurried down the stairs.

"She's… oh," Vivian said, her somewhat excited tone fading to one of concern when she noticed the bluenette's blank expression. "Is she sleepwalking?"

"I think she might be," John said, waving a hand in front of Kiera. She gave no reaction. "Do you think that's a good sign or a bad one?"

The redhead shook her head as she stepped closer to Kiera. "Couldn't say. That she's up and moving is good, but for all we know, she's trapped in some nightmare."

"Think she'd be a little less passive if she was in a nightmare," Aeolia remarked as she stalked around them.

"I think she came from the restroom," Senka noted, nodding her head to the nearby facility, its door ajar.

"And she kept the light off?" Beth asked incredulously. “Wait, how did she know where it was anyway?”

The sound of a door opening on the second floor drew everyone’s attention upward and Brenda’s voice floated down.

“Is everything alright down there?” she asked as she hurried down into view, still tying her robe.

“Kiera woke…” John began to explain, only to find the blue haired girl no longer in front of him. "Where did she go?"

Everyone shared John's sentiment but the mystery was short lived as the sound of an opening cabinet drew their attention to the kitchen. They all hurried in, finding Kiera effortlessly collecting cooking implements.

"Guess she's hungry," Beth said in a light tone.

"Indeed, but how does she know where everything is?" Senka asked as they watched Kiera continue to gather bowls and ingredients.

"Or how she got in here without any of us noticing when she was right in front of me," John added.

Vivian narrowed her eyes then her brows shot up in surprise.

"Her mana is hard to sense," the redhead reported. "Like, if you don't focus on it completely, it's just not there."

John activated Arcane Sense to confirm Vivian's assessment. Kiera's mana flowed around her like smoke, fading before it could reach more than a few centimeters beyond her. While focused on her mana, he could feel the presence of everyone around him, as well as the warm and comfortable energy that flowed around the kitchen itself.

John shifted his attention to the ambient mana around him, and in that instant, any trace of Kiera vanished from his perception. When he sought her out a moment later, she had moved from the counter to the refrigerator, a shift he had not been aware of.

“That is weird,” John said.

“Think that’s her magic?” Aeolia asked. “Just being able to hide in plain sight?”

“No. I think she has some kind of illusion magic, or shapeshifting,” he remarked, shaking his head. “When she was having her memories pulled from her, there was one of her looking into a mirror but it wasn’t her looking back. In fact, it was someone I saw at school.”

“There has to be more to it than something so simple,” Vivian noted. “Just being able to present as someone else doesn’t explain this perception negation effect.”

“Might have to sit on that question for a while, Vi,” Aeolia said, patting the redhead on the shoulder.

“Are we just going to let her keep cooking?” Beth asked, a hand resting on her stomach.

Everyone’s attention turned to Brenda, recognising her authority over matters of the household. With sad eyes locked on Kiera, she said, “I think we should let her carry on. Stopping her might cause her to lash out. And it doesn’t look like she’s making some sort of poisoned meal.”

By now, Kiera had gathered all the materials needed to make pancakes and had begun to make the batter with mechanical precision. While she worked, John decided to use Observe on her, hoping with her back to some level of consciousness, it would shed some light on everything while he and everyone else took a seat at the table.

“Nothing really new, just her level, a degree of brain activity, and that she considers me safe and has emotions again,” John reported as they watched Kiera effortlessly go through the steps to prepare breakfast.

“Think if she didn’t have us watching, she’d only make enough for herself?” Beth wondered as Kiera moved on to the cooking phase.

“It does seem like she’s aware of us,” Vivian said, pointing to the still present Observe sheet. “And finds us not a threat.”

“Still leaves us with the question of how she’s so at home,” Senka remarked. “Only explanation I can think of is that this ‘suppression of presence’ thing she has is part of a larger ability related to minds and she plucked the info out of our heads. Of course, assuming her powers are mind based. She could have something more esoteric.”

“Could such a thing feel like a jolt of static electricity?” Brenda asked softly. “Because last night I checked up on her and got zapped when I put a blanket over her.”

“A subconscious flash of magic could manifest that way,” Vivian said. “Did you feel anything off afterwards?”

Brenda’s cheeks took on a pink hue as shook her head and the redhead continued, “I doubt it was anything more than a surface skim, gaining insight to the layout of the house.”

“Do we have to worry about her getting into our heads?” Aeolia asked, eyes narrowed as she watched Kiera.

“At the moment, I don’t think so,” Vivian answered. “Given what we were able to learn about her, I don’t think she’ll be malicious should her mind fully come back, so I think we’ll be safe regardless.”

The conversation died down as Kiera began to cart over the finished pancakes, along with the syrup and butter.

“What, no drinks?” Beth asked in a joking manner, arms braced against the table to get her own beverage.

“I’ve got that, dear,” Brenda said, placing a hand on Beth’s shoulder to stop her ascent. Before Brenda could get it herself, however, Kiera had returned to the table, a stack of cups and the carton of orange juice in hand.

“Oh, you didn’t need to,” Brenda remarked. “Not after cooking breakfast.”

Kiera remained silent as she doled out the glasses, then mechanically marched back to the counter where a lone plate of pancakes sat. Before the automaton-like girl could begin to eat, John pushed his chair back from the table and got up, taking his plate with him. He strode over to the bluenette, his steps causing her to stop cutting her fluffy pancake.

With a smile, John said, “You can take my seat. Least I can do since you cooked breakfast.”

Kiera looked at John and blinked slowly at him. Then, as silent as ever, she got up, grabbed her plate and walked over to the table, where she sat and began to eat.

John felt his face warm when he saw everyone staring at him, Brenda the most proud looking.

“Felt like it was the right thing to do,” John muttered sheepishly, finding his syrup laden plate suddenly the most interesting thing in the world.

After a moment where the only sound was the clack of cutlery on plates, Vivian spoke up, “So, how are we to deal with everything we have to do today?”

“Don’t think going to school’s a good idea,” Beth said through a mouth full of pancake. “No clue when Lynn might call and being halfway through Algebra when she does isn’t my idea of a good time.”

“That’s a good point,” John added. “It’d be best if we don’t waste any time.”

“I suppose this is where I’m supposed to say you have to go to school,” Brenda remarked in a light tone. “But given the circumstances, I don’t think it would be appropriate for you to go. Don’t think I’ll be going to work either.”

A part of John wanted to argue against her decision, but he withheld his judgment, overall feeling that she wanted time to further process everything. Toying with a piece of his meal, John also thought about how they could proceed if Kiera’s mind was lost to them.

‘If we knew where she lived as far as the academy was concerned, that could give us something to work with,’ he mused. The thought stuck in his head, and the more he let it rattle in his brain, the more it sounded like an appealing notion. ‘If only there was a way for us to get her address.’

“Got something clogging up your brain?” Aeolia asked, her eyes locked on him.

“Thinking how we might have been able to get something if we knew where Kiera lived,” John answered. “Or where the academy thinks ‘Azalea Grau’ lives. Might just be an abandoned building with a mailbox for all we know.”

“Any idea where that info would be kept?” Aeolia asked.

“Probably on the computers in the offices,” Beth answered. “Wait, you’re not thinking of breaking in and stealing the info? Cus that’s awesome if you are.”

“Maybe,” Aeolia grinned.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Brenda spoke up, motherly disapproval in her voice.

“If anyone has any other option for finding clues, I’m open to hearing them,” Aeolia remarked. “We’re running around in the dark and there’s no guarantee we can get her mind back. And if something there can be useful, even just a trace of magic, we can leave another tip for the Order if we can’t do anything about it.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Vivian said hesitantly. “Beyond finding something that might lead us to Phantom Reach, there might be something that can jog Kiera’s memory. But I’m not going to let you go alone.”

“Bit harder for you to sneak in,” Aeolia commented with a grin. “Unless I fly you in.”

“I think I can manage a short flight,” the redhead said, though her face was less confident.

“If you’re going to do this, you’re going to need the best route,” Beth said, a conspiratorial grin on her face. “And I think I’ve been to the office enough times to give you a good run down on where everything is.”

The rest of their meal was consumed as they planned for the heist.

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.