Goddess Unravelled

All That She Wanted

It was only later, when the remaining members of the order began to stagger in one by one, that Alice felt she could relax. Once they were sure that everyone was there, bedraggled and bloody though they were, she threw open the cupboard and requested that the threads take her back home. Back to Victoria where all of this had started. It was crazy, but she wanted to go see her old town, her old friends, if Lacy and Trisha were still around, and maybe even go over to her parent's house for dinner at some point.

                She was an adult, and a powerful witch no less, but a girl still needed her parents once in a while.

                And more than anything else, what she craved was a sense of normality.

                Granted, it was hard to feel normal when the remaining order members were sitting around in her shop. They were bedraggled, covered in dirt and soot, some of them nursing injuries. After they had recovered from the head-spinning sensations that were caused by moving the shop, Azura and Shakra went from person to person, weaving healing spells. For a moment Alice stayed where she was, watching the activity through the crack in the door.  Then the door opened wider, and she blinked at Altair, who shouldered his way through and came to stand beside her, leaning himself against the desk with a groan.

                For a second they locked eyes, and then Alice quickly glanced away, down at the desktop. She had to force herself not to fidget. She had promised herself she wouldn't get mad at him. At least, not yet. It was too soon. He had been too close to dying. No, to staying dead. They had all been.

                Now wasn't the time...

                "Look, I wanted to tell you how sorry I am."

                Alice glanced up in surprise. Altair's voice was uncharistically soft. His brows were drawn down, concern plain on his face. "I know you're angry with me. It doesn't take a wizard to see that."

                "That's not important," Alice said. "This isn't the time or place for it. We just barely survived all this."

                "But it is." Altair reached out and caught her hand. When she didn't pull away he looked relieved. "I got us into this mess by bringing something of her's into the apartment. I should have realized it would be something like that. I'm an idiot."

                "How would you know it was going to belong to her?" Alice pressed her lips together to keep herself from saying that he should have stopped dealing with his so-called artifacts. It wasn't the time or the place, she had to keep repeating that in her head. "Out of curiosity, where is the hairbrush now?"

                "The...what?" Altair looked puzzled.

                "The hairbrush, Aphrodite said that's what it was."

                Slowly a smile spread across his face. "I think...I don't think she wanted you to know what it really was."

                She blinked at him, not understanding. "I don't..."

                "It wasn't a hairbrush." He shrugged. "I guess there's no harm in telling you now, since I don't have it anymore. Can't really go forward with it yet."

                "With what?" Alice was starting to get impatient.

                "It was a ring, Alice. I snuck a ring into the apartment." He rolled his eyes. "Of course,  I had no idea it belonged to the queen of—"