Life After Death

Juliet: fixing what I can

{Juliet}

Quinn wasn't in as much trouble as I thought he would be, but I supposed Mikaela understood his bewilderment. If wind magic and wings ran in his family, it was odd that it skipped him.

Mikaela would bring Lionel by Vercyne or my home, just for checkups. It wasn't just his wings that were growing, but also his muscle tone and he was still growing taller. Mikaela told me all he did was eat, and I could believe it. His poor body was trying to handle the demand of growing extra appendages, but Lionel was not even twelve. He didn't have the frame to support such things.

Quinn gave me as much information has he knew, and had already sent a letter to his brother for more details. I was grateful for the information, and I found Lionel interesting. I knew his twin better; Parsifal came over quite often, but I had not had the chance to talk to Lionel.

"Is it nice to get out of the house?" I asked. Mikaela had dropped him by my office in Vercyne before a meeting; he had a transport spell to go home.

"It's all right," he answered. "Faeries stare at me a bit, especially at school."

The white wings were nearly three feet, wingtip to wingtip. He could already move them but they would tire easily. Mikaela had added shaping spells to all of his shirts, which was very insightful of her; otherwise he would be ripping through all of his clothes.

His wings fluttered when I inspected the feathers, but then I could feel Lionel tense; the wings stilled.

"It is weird though," he confided. "I suppose it is like having an extra set of arms. I have to move them independently of the rest of me."

"You should probably be eating more protein," I replied. "You're losing weight, not gaining it. That's not a good thing, Lionel."

He scowled. "Juliet, I am always eating," he said. "Ryon made me my own lasagna last night. I ate the whole thing."

"Go down to the kitchen and grab something then," I told him. "Or eat when you get home. How are you not hungry all the time?"

"I am, but I'm used to that," he responded. "I just figured it was Parsifal pranking me or something."

I sighed. This was the problem with having Parsifal try his magic out on his brothers. Lionel should have been twenty or thirty pounds heavier than he was. If he had started eating sooner, his body might have had a chance to catch up.

"Your wings are not going to grow properly unless you eat," I explained to the boy. "So talk to Ryon, see if he'll keep leftovers around, or whole steaks, or almost anything so you can get that weight back on. Quinn told me that your wingspan is supposed to be twenty feet long. You are not big enough for that."

"Twenty feet?" Lionel repeated. He brushed his black hair out of his face. His hair was growing too; his body was in overdrive, trying to grow to keep up with his new appendages.

"Unless you stunt them by starving yourself."

He let out an exasperated sigh. "Juliet, I'm eating. I'm eating all the time. I'm tired of eating."

"Well, you're not eating now," I remarked. "So off you go, find some food."

He pulled his shirt back over his head and the wings popped through the back. He looked like a tiny fallen angel, with his black hair and white wings and his red dress shirt. I smiled. "And tell your brother that he needs to get over here soon."

"Will do," Lionel promised, tossing the transport spell down and vanishing from my office.

Peace and quiet again. Who knew how long it would last?