Mother of Magic

Green

Stephanie collapsed onto Le's chest. "It's so weird. Looking out the picture window at an early snow, and being covered in sweat. The clearing out there dusted in white, lit by the moon, and looking like a winter wonderland, and I'm sweating like I just ran the bases."

"You did. As I understand the bases according to Vanessa." Le said.

"Really? You are going to bring up a gorgeous Sportscaster you had carnal knowledge of right after we made love?" Stephanie was not annoyed but took the opportunity to tease her husband. She knew she was prompted into being able to have this moment because Vanessa kicked her ass about it. Stephanie also understood her husband was a bit of a social nerd. Between the isolation of his illnesses and his bookish ways, he only really started to come out into and join the wider world after he recovered from the bone marrow transplant. He had taken advantage of his newfound health to fill the recent years, but that did not mean he understood all nuance. That he knew there were some things one normally did not talk to a lover about: that being a previous lover.

"Sorry. You are the one that teased Vanessa about a threesome though." Le pointed out.

"Yeah. That was kinda fun. I will admit." Stephanie paused. Tilted her head and looked out the big wind in some sort of puzzlement. "Huh. Weird."

"What?" Le craned his head around from his supine position to try to see what Stephanie was.

"Well. There is a strange green glow out there. It's moving around out there. Reflecting up off our snow."

"Our snow till it melts and moves along." Le craned his head further back around and could see the green reflected up on the snow-laden tree branches. "That is weird. What causes that?"

"How should I know... oh. Wait. There is a figure out there. Someone in our yard. What the hell? Dark but glowing green at the same time. Looks like she has on a long dress. Looks like a she, anyway. And... she's floating?" Stephanie sounded absolutely bewildered at the end of that sentence.

"What? I can't see that... See her." Le complained

"I'm going to be very unhappy with Vanessa if she is playing some prank on us. Trying to sneak in and talk her way into our bed or something. Hell, Le: Vanessa shouldn't even know we decided to honeymoon here! At our lodge. I told her we were headed to the Caribbean like most people do in the winter."

"I seriously doubt that fooled Vanesa Stephanie. Vanessa is smart, and she knows you are a Colorado girl through and through. That you love snow and winter. That getting snowed in is your idea of paradise,. You went on and on about why you wanted to build this lodge, here. Up and away from the city and world. Commune with nature from the comfort of your living room. Complete with backup power. You sounded like a commercial for our house!" Le said

"Yeah. Good point." Stephanie sounded distracted as she continued to look out the window at the odd scene beyond. "That is so weird. It looks like she is floating along over the ground. Coming up the slope of the clearing toward the house now. Skirting the rock circle."

One of the natural features of their mountain lodge was a roughly circular ring of outcroppings and boulders. On one side it defined the driveway to the detached garage. Downslope it lead to the open area they thought of as their front yard. On another, it led toward the stairs to the lodge. When the dwelling was built the builders were not allowed to do anything to remove the large circle. It was going to be a feature, so the workers ended up using the area as sawhorses, table tops, and perches for lunch breaks. On a cold day, they would even start a campfire inside the larger circle of boulders by creating a smaller circle of rocks to keep the fire contained. Wood was not a problem, as there were plenty of fallen branches from the surrounding stands of old trees.

Le craned his head around trying to see. Stephanie was not moving from atop him and he was not going to try to dislodge her to see better. Le could not see much, but he could see that the green illumination was intensifying. A highlight of green shown on the triple pane glass oddly.

"It is a woman ... and she is floating up the steps to the porch now." Stephanie narrated. "I can't see how she is doing that. That is so weird."

Le sat up, but Stephanie remained in place. He looked over at the front door. "We lock that? I don't remember. I was focused on something else."

"I know what you were focused on. So was I. But: yes. I always do." Stephanie said, "It's not about trusting the neighbors, but making sure we don't get a baseball fan in, uninvited. I love our fans and all, but sometimes they can be a little pushy."

"Yeah. The downside to fame." Le agreed.

The front door did not rattle. The locks threw themselves in a set of simultaneous clicks and the door swung open. Green light poured through the open door along with the rush of frigid air.

"What the ..." Stephanie started, then stopped as the woman floated in. She was illuminated not only by green light but by the romantic fire Stephanie and Le had built in the fireplace earlier.

In the light, the couple could see that the woman. Long matching braids. The pleats of hair were oddly perfect: Not a strand escaping the weave. Her dress was odd. A century or more out of fashion, with billowing skirts. A garment more in place in the Victorian era than now.

Over the bodice and top portion of the skirts, she wore an odd garment. Densely packed with a regularly spaced myriad of small green glowing stones. The tiny stones were not cut, like gems. More like a uniform but rough pebble. Each stone contained black spots spread throughout the green matrix. It appeared to be green emerald gemstones shot through with black impurities. Tiny lime jellybeans shot through with licorice. Raw surfaces were shaped into a consistently small size so that they would attach inside the fine mesh of silver wires that made up the strange vestment. The overgarment had thousands of stones. In the dark, it was impossible to see how they attached. What kept them from escaping the weave of silver wires?

The woman looked down at the entwined couple near the window. She looked confused. "This is the feeling she gave me. This is right." She stated, then shook her head. "There are two of you?"

Her voice was deep, but not old.

"No matter. The mother will want you both. All she gave me was the aura." She shrugged. "Two are better than one."

"Who the hell are you?" Neither Le nor Stephanie had made a move to get up yet, It was moving too rapidly, and they were naked and still in a loving embrace. Le could feel Stephanie bracing to leap off him. Her legs came to his sides and her feet found purchase on the wood floor. Le did not think the woman would be a threat to them. She had no gun or knife he could see. Still, he thought about where the bat he hit his first home run was. Le and Stephanie agreed not to display a lot of memorabilia in their home. Home was for them, and a refuge from fame and fortune. They earned their downtime.

The bat was in a cabinet not too far from the TV. Le looked over at it and gauged the time it would take to reach it once Stephanie was not atop him.

That scenario before her had given the women pause, but it did not last long. She held out her hands, fingers splayed, and closed her eyes. There came a tremendous and blinding flash of green from the green stone-encrusted rings and bracelets on her hands and wrists. She said nothing, and then there was nothing that could be said.