Lying Liars Who Don't Tell The Truth

Chapter Three

One of those unfamiliar people, a middle-aged man with a tight, angered face jumped out of his seat at the dining room table they were all sitting around and demanded, "Who are you?" And then asked, in the same shrill tone, the woman at the head of the table, "Who is she?"

The woman, a peculiarly dressed mother-like figure with dark hair and a round face, said, not matching the man's tone at all, "Lucicoria, I presume. I wasn't expecting you so soon." She smiled warmly before rising from the table and crossing the room to where I was standing in an adjacent living room.

Seven other faces, including the one of the man who had demanded to know why I was in his home, stared dumbfounded at the woman as she placed her hands on either side of my body and took me in.

From the table, an angular boy with glasses and an ill-fitting green tee-shirt prompted, concern laced in his voice, "Mom?"

The woman ignored him, though she did drop her hands from my body and gesture to the table. "Well, come on darling, don't just stand there, have a seat."

Adjustments were quickly made to fit in an additional chair around the square, wooden table. "I prefer Cora," I said over the shuffling, not really expecting anyone to hear me.

The round-faced woman glanced briefly at me and said, "Alright then, Cora."

I stepped slowly into the dining area and came face to face with a giant man, nearly as tall as Lucifus, beaming down at me with a wide smile that showed each and every one of his crooked, yellowed teeth. "Hello," said the man loudly, his fingers fiddling down at his sides.

"Hello," I responded.

"I'm Ignius," he said, shoving his hand out at me, "a friend of Lucifus."

I found his eagerness rather charming. "Hello Ignius, friend of Lucifus," I said, bringing a rosy tint to his hollowed cheeks. He certainly looked more like a Demon than anyone else around the table. Perhaps that's why I felt at such ease with him so soon.

"It's wonderful to see you," he said, his eyes becoming glassy, as if he was standing face to face with a very dear, very old friend of his. I also noted to myself his use of the words, "Nice to see you," versus "Nice to meet you." I opened my mouth to respond to him, but before I had the chance, the family matriarch had her fingers wrapped around my arm, pulling me toward the chair she had set up next to her own seat at the far end of the room.

"There now," she said as I sat down, "Cora. How were your travels?"

"A little bumpy," I said, keenly aware that seven sets of eyes were glued to me in not-so-pleased awe. The woman next to me began rapidly filling my plate with a hearty scoop of everything from the array of dishes on the table.

"As they often are," she continued, spooning such a hefty scoop of some mashed substance onto my plate that it wobbled under the weight. "I have to imagine you aren't accustomed to going by way of Magick, is that right?"

I couldn't tell if I was making up the condescension I sensed in her voice. "Right," I agreed plainly.

"Well, you'll get used to it," she said, only now half-way through filling my plate.

"No you won't," came a muddled disagreement from the boy in the glasses.

Ignius, sat at the other far end of the table, chimed confidently, "She surely will! I'll teach you," he added, his voice giddy.

"That'd be great," I said enthusiastically, actually quite fond of the idea of learning Magick with Ignius.

The man of the house, sitting opposite me, hadn't taken his curious eyes off of me since I flashed inside his home. He asked, sounding a little too bothered, "She'll be staying with us tonight, then?"