Team Changes by Erin R Flynn

13

I moved away from Hope and walked towards the first pile of glass energy beads. It was mostly of one color, but there were lots mixed in. It made sense given separating the glass would be a waste of time since I could just pull what I needed to me. I kept going and made sure I had a good sense of everything in the massive warehouse. When I was done, I stopped in front of Vitor and had lots of questions.

But finally, I landed on one.

“Why?”

“Because I care for you,” he answered quietly.

That hadn’t really been the question I’d meant, more “why did you do so much of this and put so much time into a project you didn’t know would work?” But then I realized his words sort of did answer it too.

Wow.

I felt my cheeks flush but turned away, not wanting to make this about him or us when I was there to work on separating things. I did let my hand brush against his as I went over to the nearest workbench.

Then I focused on my task. I closed my eyes and thought back to that moment I first saw the blown glass chandelier that was fused together and hung so impressively in the museum. I loved how it caught the light and sparkled, but the lighting in my foyer was different. Did I want different colors then?

Did I want different colors so it simply wasn’t the same one as what Darius had brought me?

Maybe. It was all wrapped together, but I did want different colors. I wanted something a bit darker to accent the space and make it mine. It might give light, but there needed to be darkness to it as well.

Or at least that was how I felt.

I focused on making the core of it and then building the spirals from what I remembered, knowing I wasn’t getting it exactly… And liking that better even. I wasn’t duplicating it, but I was trying my hand at creating something like it. Artists did it all the time to put their own twists on things or do it their way.

This was going to be my way.

It was honestly harder than making an electric semi, which shocked me to learn, but it was a lot of concentration and precision. I hadn’t broken down the first one and just matched what it was. I was building it from scratch off what I’d seen.

And I loved it. I loved doing that. It was… I didn’t think I could put it into words.

My mind cleared from all the swirling everything and too much to remember while I worked. It was like I was in my little room that had the special lining and nothing could come in with me. Everything else was left outside, and it was only me working with my magic and power.

It was freeing. I had figured out the electricity thing and charged things up originally. From there—once I’d met Darius—everyone had told me what to do or how to use it. Yes, that was what Hope, Maggie, Trisha, and Lara were doing now, but this was different. It was a suggestion with limitless possibilities and opportunities.

And it was mine. It was only for me.

When was the last time I had done something like that?

I opened my eyes when I felt like I was finished and did a double take at what was lying before me.

“Shit, Inez, this was the right move,” Trisha whispered as she moved up next to me. “I honestly love that more than the original. The coloring and placement of each swirl is perfect. It’s gonna look sick in your foyer.”

“Really?” I glanced between her and the chandelier.

“When have I ever lied to you?” she grumbled, giving me a wink to take the sting out of her words. “Yeah, really. You’ve got a great eye.”

“You do,” Maggie agreed, Lara and Hope simply nodding, seeming as shocked as I was. “How do you feel?”

“Good. Really good,” I admitted as I assessed myself. I told them the truth and it was more tiring. After glancing at Hope and knowing how much she wanted to help me emotionally, I confessed the rest. The relieved and excited smile she gave me was worth having to say out loud how bad things had been getting.

“What next?” Lara asked Hope quietly. “We only talked about redoing this. I missed what’s next.”

Hope chuckled, glancing over at me when she saw I was listening. “Whatever you want. What do you want to do next? Do you even want to keep doing this? You don’t have to or need to make this a thing.”

I opened my mouth to answer but then didn’t, wanting to truly sit with that.

Moon cleared his throat, shooting me an understanding look when I glanced at him. “I ran and got some refreshments for you ladies. I always need a bit of a break to reflect after I accomplish each part of my projects.”

“Smart, very smart,” Hope quickly agreed, clearly picking up some cue from him. “What did you get?”

“A few bottles of flavored vodka and the carbonated juices Nick was playing with,” he answered.

I bit back a smile as people pulled over crates that must have been used to bring most of the glass over. That had been what I kept saying I wanted to try but hadn’t gotten around to. All the pop manufactured was long dead, but apparently, it wasn’t all that difficult to carbonate drinks if you could get what you needed and not worry about corrupted all the time.

So Nick was exploring some fun at the castle.

We needed more fun, and I had a feeling the wolf had seen a lot of bad over his years. He seemed haunted if he ever stopped moving and like he could only focus on happy smiles as we all enjoyed life more.

I understood it. I felt the same most days.

“I don’t want people to know about this,” I muttered after we all had drinks.

“Yeah, this juice is only for the castle,” Trisha agreed. “It’s not like it’s easy to make or—”

“No, this,” I corrected as I gestured to the chandelier and then around me. “I want to keep this mine and to, like, you guys. I don’t want people to know or make it a thing. Everything always turns into a thing and it gets…”

“Yeah, it does,” Maggie comforted. “That’s cool. I like being part of a secret.”

“We also figured you might feel that way,” Lara added. “It’s why we picked the Air Force base that was completely cleared out a while ago. No one really even comes over this way unless hunting and using that facility in Grand Forks. It shouldn’t be an issue.”

Kristof cleared his throat but didn’t say anything until I looked at him. “Would you have told me if I hadn’t snuck in this outing?”

I frowned at him. “Of course. I’m not trying to keep it from you. I just… Everyone doesn’t need to know everything. I want to really start using ‘it’s not your fucking business’ as our official answer on more.” I shook my head when he argued. “No! I’m tired of it. Even Nora trying to bond with me about hating to drive. It’s all over the top and I hate it. I hate being on display always like I’m in a zoo!”

The huge warehouse was dead silent. All of them frozen and staring at me in shock.

I didn’t even realize what I’d admitted at first, but then I focused on my drink. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled.”

He moved over to me and squatted down so I saw him. “You absolutely should have. I hope you do more when I’m an idiot. I’m sorry.”

“For?” I didn’t think he had reason to be, so I was once again confused.

“You are an introvert, my love. You like your friends, and things like this are fine, but you would cut the amount of people if you could because this many makes you nervous. I know this. I pay attention.” He waited until I nodded to continue. “It conflicts with what I know of princesses. They love attention and crave it. It’s hard to remember you don’t most times.”

I snorted, shocking more than him. “Kristof, I can’t see all of the princesses being the same on anything. Leonor doesn’t strike me as an extrovert, but if we don’t act a certain way, we get walked all over or treated like dirt. By nobles, a lot of times.”

“You’re absolutely right.”

“And I’m impressed you know the reference,” Lara blurted. She gave me a sheepish look when I glanced at her, and I realized she’d awkwardly tried to change the topic for me.

And clearly missed the mark by bringing up how I didn’t remember anything before I was eighteen, but A for effort. I shrugged. “I snuck in a holdout pretty early that was at a zoo. They still had the animals. The fences to keep them in all around the property, not just the exhibits, worked pretty well against corrupted to start. But like I snuck in, others did, and they were infected, so it went to shit.”

“Not the worst location I’ve heard of people running to,” Sisay commented, clearly trying to help me as well.

Kristof took the cue and sat on the crate next to me. “For sure. The shopping centers were a terrible idea. All those windows were stupid and too many hiding places meant for workers.”

I leaned into him so he knew I appreciated him letting it go. He moved his arm around me as we enjoyed our drinks and they kept talking about what they saw that was smart and the dumbest ideas. I got lost in my memories, thinking about that zoo and how much I had actually liked the place. I’d hated that the poor animals had been caged, but I’d loved being around them.

It made sense to me now knowing how many shifters I cared for and I had the spirit animals of all cats.

I finished my drink and set down the cup before heading back over to the worktables. The one I stood at wasn’t large enough for what I wanted, so I actually went to the side wall and closed my eyes. I focused and pictured what I wanted, seeing each piece of it from one corner to the other and filling it in.

It was like how I had helped Kristof wash down the inside of the pool at my vacation home after he’d fixed the cracks. I mentally moved along with a wiping flow as I focused my power on the energy beads and colors. It was amazing and exhausting to do for as long as I did. I was panting when I finished, opening my eyes to see how it had turned out.

Someone turned around one of the lights behind me so it focused on where I’d been working, and I was struck stupid by what I’d made. It was better than what I’d pictured. Something about how the light refracted and reflected with the glass was glorious in a way I couldn’t even think of.

“This is breathtaking, my love,” Kristof breathed as he moved his arms around me. “I see you in every detail of it.”

I smiled, hugging his arms. “Talking about that zoo made me think of it. I saw a panel of fused glass in the herbivore exhibit. It was empty because someone ate the animals, but the picture was still there and I loved it. I used to sleep there because no one else did.”

“What was it?” Hope asked quietly.

“Just some sort of deer or elk playing in a forest by a huge, pretty tree. It probably wasn’t profound before, but it felt like it with the animals gone, humans eating them to survive and trapped in the zoo where the animals had been. I found it comforting and calming in the middle of so much chaos.”

“I feel the same looking at this, Inez,” Trisha rasped. “Like you not only fully accept us but will always be on our side and are hugging us.”

“I will,” I promised, glad it made sense and didn’t seem as dark as the actual colors. I couldn’t believe it but I’d put together a massive twelve-by-eight foot panel of a jungle scene. There were a few trees in the background, but the focus was of all my feline knights. I could see even Maggie and Simon’s little cats even if others might not be able to discern them.

And my deep green eyes were hidden in the branches of the trees in a few spots. Not in a creepy way, but… Yeah, like I was watching over them to be there when they needed me. That I was always there with them.

It made sense in my head, and from the reaction they seemed to have, they understood it too.

Nice.

“Okay, I know you don’t want to tell people but… What do we tell people?” Lara worried. “We can’t just change out the chandelier and no one notices.” She moved into view and gestured to the panel. “And this is gorgeous. We need to put this in the sunroom at the castle. I mean, it’s perfect for that wall by the door. Your whole castle needs decorating, and it should be with stuff you like. Your art.”

“If you want to,” Hope cut in quickly. “Nothing you have to do. No pressure with this, or that defeats the purpose.”

“No, I want to,” I admitted with a grin as I hugged Kristof tighter. “I really, really like this.” I beamed at my friends. “Thanks for this. This was perfect. I want to do more.”

“Not today,” Kristof said gently. “That was tiring for you, and you’ve been too stressed. You need to feed and relax.” He kissed my hair when I nodded. “And the answer is obviously someone talented. Things happen in the castle all the time that everyone doesn’t keep up with.” He sighed when I flinched. “And yes, that needs to change. We’re working on better security plans.”

“I know. I agree though. If we tell people it’s not their business, they’ll get even more curious. No one knowing is fine. Shrugging. Whatever. We all know how to brush people off, and even if they know you’re fibbing, there are lots of reasons you might not want to tell them. It’s a valid one to keep to yourself, and they’ll assume it’s just someone who doesn’t want to admit to it. It doesn’t have to be me.”

“Or someone was bringing in art, and people would look down on that as frivolous when we’ve got so much going on,” Trisha agreed. She snorted when I gave her a hurt look. “I’m not saying it’s valid. It’s not. People say shit all the time. Fuck them.”

Fair enough.

“Yeah, I think that’s the answer,” I said with a smirk. “Fuck them for being nosy too.” I glanced at my guards. “You guys good with that?” I snorted when several gave me amused looks. They were so programmed to do anything a princess wanted from a young age and by their own mothers that it had been a lot of our problems so far.

Even my nobles. They had answered for me to other princesses as they had had to be honest to them for decades or hundreds of years. It seemed to me that the super old ones had broken out of that mindset though. They hadn’t joined a court for valid—and varying—reasons, so it made sense.

Vitor and the others promised they would light up my new chandelier and get it hung in replacement of the old one, carefully putting the one from Darius into storage. Good. I didn’t want it to be destroyed because he was an asshole.

Maybe punch him super hard, but he was so much younger than them, I couldn’t suggest that.

They also swore they could get my panel to the sunroom and knew how to rig it up so it was completely stable on the intended wall. Glad to hear it because I had no idea. I was a bit uncomfortable with putting my first real piece that wasn’t meant to only be a redesign on such a prime space. I had designed the place for my lazy cats after all, so it seemed like I was taking it over.

Or most women consulted their spouses before changing the décor or adding things to the house. Only Kristof was there, and given there were three others… Yeah, everything was super fucked.

I didn’t have much hope that there was ever going to be a time that it wasn’t. Hey, I might have found a needed outlet to maybe help my emotional state, but that didn’t mean everything was just going to be better and okay going forward. Life didn’t work out that way.

Certainly not my life. If only I was so lucky.

What was a nice turn of events was movie night. It turned out I loved FindingNemo and the sequel. What shocked me was that Petre enjoyed it—adored it even. That was what he said. He adored the movies. I couldn’t even get my mouth to work as I tried to figure out what to say to that.

He simply chuckled. “I adore anything that brings millions of children happiness. It was one of the only times the coven pushed back against Safie. She didn’t want movies and such ‘uncouth nonsense’ as cartoons in her coven. Over half of us said that was ridiculous and demanded she reconsider when it was for the children. I’ve never seen her more surprised. It was fun.”

He had a weird definition of fun, but after all he suffered for so long at the Darbandi coven, I couldn’t really judge him for taking the small victories even if most would think them petty. Sometimes the small stuff was all we had and could hold onto as we survived.

I was double shocked when he simply walked me to my tower and made it clear he was sending me up the elevator with my overnight security. Again, I couldn’t get my mouth to work, my brain just fried after everything lately.

Petre chuckled and leaned in to kiss my cheek. “Your men jump you too fast. Yes, I want you and desperately, but not every date ends in sex. Everything isn’t about sex.”

I wasn’t sure what I was going to answer, but I was distracted when I saw Kristof’s mouth move and couldn’t hear what he said. I hated when they talked at a level I couldn’t understand. Darius’s mouth moved next, the two of them having sat several rows back in the castle’s huge theater. That was weird, but also oddly comforting.

I never knew what I was doing, so backup was nice. Even if weird.

But then Sisay added something I couldn’t catch, and they all burst out laughing or at least chuckled.

I pushed the button for the elevator harder than needed. Stepping on when the doors opened, I turned around and stuck my tongue out at Petre. “Now I don’t want to have sex with you anyways. Not even a goodnight kiss. Don’t have conversations your date can’t hear. Even I know that, and I’ve not had like proper dates.”

I held back my own laugh until the doors closed. Their shocked faces were amusing. I was tired when I crawled in bed but for once, anxiety wasn’t riding me or upset eating me.

Which of course meant it couldn’t last.