CHAPTER#158

"Those two seem to be getting along." Mike stood at the kitchen table, looking through the back window at Yuki and Naia.

"I guess." Beth swallowed a couple more tylenol with a glass of water. Ever since her unfreezing, she had felt like she had come down with a case of the flu. "It'll be a road to recovery for all of us, I'm afraid."

"How have you been feeling? Any stray thoughts?"

Beth shook her head. "Not that I can tell. I haven't been sleeping very well, but I think it's because I hurt so bad." She turned to Jenny, her constant companion. The doll stuck with her now, ready to alert anyone in the house if Oliver took back over. However, she was no longer missing any time, and she hadn't seen a trace of Oliver anywhere. "Naia checked and said that the piece of him is still attached to my soul, but it's just sitting there, like it's sleeping."

"Well, hopefully, you won't have to worry about it for long." He sat across from her. "I was wondering if you could help me with something."

"Anything." She couldn't help but notice how much he had changed recently. In some ways, he still seemed like the man she had met almost a month ago, but the way he stood and spoke elicited those odd feelings once more. She was attracted to him, that was for certain, but she also worried that she was being manipulated by Oliver somehow in an attempt to get closer to him. She hadn't mentioned this to Mike, but had made sure to keep her distance just in case.

"They're going to start waking up the centaurs soon. I was wondering, as my attorney, if you could help me broker a deal with the ones moving here and the ones staying behind."

"Like a treaty?" Her heart leaped at the idea of putting together a treaty for an entire centaur herd. She wondered what the men looked like. "Anything specific you want?"

"Not to fight with Zel's tribe would be a good starting point. Orion needs to relinquish his claim on Zel. I probably need to apologize for antagonizing them." His forehead scrunched up as he thought on it some more. "At worst, peaceful co-existence. At best... having a centaur army on hand might not be a bad idea."

"I'll see what I can do. What about the exiles? The ones coming here?"

"They're gonna live in the greenhouse. Gonna need something that says they'll take care of the land and become part of the house, in a way. Zel has assured me that the greenhouse will be able to provide for them, so we won't have dozens of mouths to feed, but I want something in writing to prevent them from creating any unsafe situation."

"Like what?"

He smiled. "You're my attorney. You tell me."

Beth smirked. "Okay, I think I can write something up. Do you want a fancy title, too? I mean, it's almost like you're creating your own fiefdom here. Master of Monsters? Lord of the Land? We could poll the others, see what they like."

Mike made a face. "They can call me the Caretaker. I'm not their boss of anything. I just want them to have somewhere safe to stay."

A smile crossed her lips. "I think that can be arranged. Anything else?"

Mike shook his head. "No. Nothing that I can think of. You'll probably need an escort. The centaurs are super grumpy with me right now and likely to crucify you on sight, but I imagine returning their missing warriors will soften them up a bit. I'm sure you'll be far more diplomatic than I was." He let out a sigh. "While you're working on that, I'll just be here trying to figure out how to clean up the front yard."

"Sounds good." She turned her attention to the women outside, then back to Mike. "Do you need anything else from me?"

"Negotiating peace between a magic house and a centaur herd not enough for you?" He lifted an eyebrow and grinned. "I can't think of anything, but—"

He was interrupted by the slamming of a door and a litany of shrieks in goblin.

"I should probably go see what that's about." He stood up and walked out of the kitchen, leaving her behind.

She sat alone for several minutes, her thoughts suddenly slippery. At first, she worried that there was a more sinister explanation, but she realized that she was most likely under caffeinated. She put on a fresh pot of coffee and waited for it to brew, the warm, earthy scent flooding through the kitchen. Taking a quick trip to the office, she returned to the kitchen with her laptop to discover Daisy gazing at the coffee pot with interest.

"Hey there. Would you like some?"

Daisy spun around, clearly startled, then made a couple of signs with her hand.

Yes, please.

"If you help me find something you can drink from, I'll pour." Beth started to sign back, but then remembered that Daisy could hear through the vibrations in her wings. Her ASL was super rusty, a leftover from her college education, but she could understand the fairy just fine. "So you got trapped on the other side with Yuki, right?"

Yes. Daisy lifted off the ground, fluttering near one of the cabinets. Open this, please.

Beth opened it up and saw that it was full of food. The fairy darted in, rummaging around in the back. Eventually she emerged with what looked to be a child's teacup, which looked more like a bowl in her hands.

"This is yours?" It must have gone unnoticed when the cabinet had been filled. She poured out some coffee for the fairy. "Room for cream?"

The fairy nodded, then sat down on the table to wait. Beth poured herself a cup first, and then Daisy, then sat down with the half and half. She topped off Daisy's cup and held back a laugh when Daisy wrapped her arms around the cup, clearly enjoying the warmth.