Alexa pulled out in her little car. Pitch had scrunched his long legs into the backseat of her little two-door car and Kaleth took the front. Pitch didn't mind. It was quieter in the back of the car and it meant he could avoid the conversation. He'd rather let Alexa talk to Kaleth and see what was on her mind. He leaned into the seat as they pulled out of the driveway. Kaleth didn't say anything. The dragon was obviously thinking about what they would do now too. Pitch had seen a big change in the dragon since Alistair's death. He was quieter and contemplated before doing everything. He was extra careful of Alexa like he feared she might break. It was almost like he doubted he should still be here. That he thought it would have been fair if he had left this world with Alistair. Pitch looked at the back of the dragon's head. His ears were normal and wings and tail hidden. That was more often the case lately. Even his eyes, Pitch couldn't remember the last time they had been golden. Even the eye rolling and snarling was gone. Pitch looked at Alexa but he didn't think she'd realized this. The dragon had grown tame. Pitch wondered if that was a good thing or not. The dragon's ferocity had always been their strongest defense. Alexa was surprisingly quiet too. She was probably worried about the same things too. Pitch was surprised when Kaleth broke the silence.
"So are we officially joining the guild? They do some kind of work Logan said at the meeting. We should look into that." He said. Pitch smirked to himself. Kaleth was impatient and bored too. Alexa grinned.
"We definitely could," she said, thinking about it a moment "Where they think you are a human you could even take on jobs on your own if you wanted to." Alexa was watching the road and didn't see the sad confused face Kaleth made.
They arrived at the movie theater and Alexa hopped out of the car. Kaleth and Pitch followed her silently. Alexa produced a debit card to pay for their food drinks and tickets. Kaleth raised an eyebrow at Pitch. Neither of them knew where she was getting the money. Kaleth frowned seriously, considering doing a few of the guild jobs if they would pay him. Once everything was paid for they headed into the movie. Alexa had chosen an action movie because that was the genre Pitch liked best. Kaleth had to admit even without magic humans had grown a lot smarter since he was one. Alexa had explained already that they never showed real deaths or injuries in movies and that it was all special effects. They looked real and it added to the story. It was still daylight when the movie ended so Alexa took them out for supper before they headed back. Patrick was nowhere to be seen when they arrived back at the house. Alexa headed inside and as usual, they trailed behind her.
Patrick was up in his room, Alexa was surprised to find he was playing video games.
"I thought she chewed up your cords," Alexa said, looking for at least tape to show where the cords were repaired. Patrick paused his game and grinned widely.
"I fixed them," he said, when he caught Alexa's frown of confusion he held up his phone "Magic, I swear. I found a repair spell. It was simple. Made more for broken tools and weapons but it worked on the cords and my phone." He happily waved his phone in front of Alexa and she couldn't help but grin. His cheer was contagious.
"Good job," she said quietly. Pattrick sat the controller down and stood up.
"Kit has some magic too. She makes freaky weird purple and blue flames. They don't burn. I'm not sure what they do but they are cool and have to do something."
"Kitsunebi or ghost light." Kaleth cut in. Patrick stared at him curiously. Kaleth merely shrugged.
"It's all through Japanese folklore. There is a ton of different myths but it is stronger than it looks and I'm sure we'll figure it out soon enough." he continued. Kit bounded up onto the bed and onto the desk. She sat looking at the computer screen for a few minutes. Patrick had google pulled up and it only took Alexa a moment to figure out she was reading what was written on the screen. Her eyes widened and she gestured to the screen.
"She's reading that," she said in amazement. Patrick glanced over and shrugged.
"She has been all morning. She was human in her last life. I'm sure she knew how to read. I keep switching the page for her and she's pretty happy with it." he said. Kit turned to look at Alexa and tilted her head to the side curiously. As if to ask if Alexa thought she was stupid. Patrick walked over to pick her up.
"I figure if I were dead and a ghost and resummoned as an animal I think I'd want to read anything I could to find out what was going on too. I just pulled up recent newspaper articles for her." He said defensively. Alexa grinned a little.
"It's just different from what I did with Pitch because I didn't know any better," she said, reaching out to pet the fox on the head. Kit allowed the petting before turning to lick Patrick's face. He laughed and scratched behind her ears. She laid her head against his shoulder in the closest thing Alexa could imagine was a hug. Her heart softened a little to the strange new creature that Patrick had adopted into their family. She might not know anything about the fox but her brother had obviously made a strong bond with her already. Alexa had to at least hope this familiar would work out to be better for him than the Ramona and Alistair situation had been. She wondered what he would want to do now that he could actually do something.
"So what are your plans. We're debating on looking into some of the jobs the guild has." She said. Patrick thought for a minute.
"Some of the kids at the guild meetings were my age. I might be able to start back to school now and not be stuck behind for a year." He said. Alexa nodded seriously.
"I can let mom and dad know. I think they will be thrilled." She said. She was secretly proud too. After all the weirdness they'd been through the last few months she imagined it would be hard to focus your effort on school. Patrick did need a social life and school would be a good start too. She planned on joining the guild so that was somewhere else to help him socialize. Pitch moved curiously over to where the fox had resettled by the computer. He took a look at the screen. Pitch was always curious about everything. Alexa guessed it was a cat thing.
"So.... I'll let mom and dad know now and call the school Monday for you. If I'm not "staying close and supportive to help you through a difficult time" anymore they'll likely want me to get a job anyway. This will be a good change." She said with a grin.
