Chapter 3.17 - Lives and Lies

“Look, I just think it’s a bad idea.”

“And why do you say that?”

“I don’t know, common sense?”

“You think I don’t have common sense?”

“No, but I think that you’re more trusting than most people.”

“You mean I’m naive.”

“Not really…”

“I’m not stupid, Alphonse.”

“I never said you were!”

“Yeah, but you think it, don’t you? You think I’m stupid all the time. Maybe I want to be able to play hopscotch sometimes without having to deal with your judgement!”

“What does that have to do with anything? I’m just saying that it seems like a bad idea to go and meet this really shady woman claiming to be your mother, alone, at night. Doesn’t it sound like a recipe for disaster?”

“Maybe, but I think I’m curious enough to risk it.”

“Please, Serena. I’m begging you here. Please don’t go see this woman without at least talking it through with your parents first.”

Serena’s jaw tightened. “Fine.”

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“Welcome, everyone, to the first official practice of… actually, what are we calling ourselves? Well, we can figure that out later. We’re an actual band, can you believe it?”

Jasmin raised one eyebrow. “What I can’t believe is how excited you are about this. We haven’t even practiced yet.”

“Hey, don’t disrupt his energy flow like that. If he wants to be excited, let him be excited.”

“Thank you, Conor. I think I have every reason to be excited about this. So, let’s get jamming!”

The final member of their band frowned. “What are we actually going to play? Because I never really got the impression that any of us have the same style of music.”

Felix thought about it for a second. “How about we start with Into the Night, move on to Outdoors Boy, then Never Again, and finish up with Keep on Raining.”

“That’s an eclectic mix.”

“But that way everyone’s happy, right?”

So they played, and to everyone’s shock, they sounded really good. Like… really good.

After they’d finished, Jasmin shook her head. “How do you do it, Felix? How do you make things work that should have failed before they even started?”

Conor nodded. “You must have been an actual saint in a past life to be working on that kind of good karma, man.”

He shrugged. “I guess I’m just lucky like that.” He was clearly uncomfortable with this line of questioning, so he moved on. “What are we going to name our band, though?”

“Nine Lives.”

“I like it… but why?”

Jasmin grinned. “Because cats always land on their feet.”

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“Um… Mom?”

Madeline turned around, surprised. “Willow? What is it? Is something wrong?”

“Not really, I just wanted to talk to you.”

“Okay… what about?”

“Family.”

“That’s a broad topic.”

“It’s just… I feel like we’re not really a family. Like, we’re all connected by blood, sure, but we don’t come to each other when we have problems. We don’t support each other. We don’t even talk to each other most of the time!”

“... And what, exactly, do you want me to do about that?”

“We could at least spend more time together as a family. You could make that happen.”

“Do you really want that cutting into your training time? Or Jonah’s chess time, or Amanda’s writing time, or Felix’s music time?”

“I wouldn’t mind if it meant we were more of a family.”

“We might not be your kind of family, but we are a family nonetheless. If you can get one of your siblings to agree with you, maybe I’ll change my mind. But until then…”

“You don’t think there’s anything wrong.”

“I think if there’s a problem, it’s with you.”

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“Forgive my skepticism.”

“I get it, but Jonah, you have to believe me.”

“I really don’t, though.”

“Look, I know you think I’m crazy, but I’m your sister. You have to at least give this one shot, right?”

“Fine. One try.”

“Thank you.”

Amanda then turned to Maxwell. “Are you sure this will work?”

“It’s our best shot.”

“You should know that I only believe you because I know you can’t lie.”

“You’re really not helping your credibility, sis.”

“You knew what you were getting into.”

“Look, can you just be quiet?”

After a while, Jonah finally turned around. “Not knowing anything about how to make imaginary people tangible, this is the best I got.”

Amanda looked at Maxwell, who looked shocked. “It’s actually the right one. I wasn’t expecting him to be able to make it, but that’s it!”

Amanda took the potion and handed it to Maxwell.

Jonah’s eyes widened seeing his potion float in midair. “Holy Plumbob, there’s actually something there!”

Maxwell rolled his eyes and downed the potion. Sparkles shot out from everywhere, and when they were finished, Amanda looked excitedly at Jonah. “Did it work?”

He frowned and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I still don’t see anything.”

Maxwell rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, Amanda, there’s something I should probably tell you…”

Author's Note: One more chapter down! I'm going to try to churn them out as fast as possible, because I'd love to get the heir poll out today. So with any luck I'll have another one (or two) within a few hours. No pressure, though, because once the heir poll is out you'll have a whole week to get caught up with everything. 

Felix is now a hopeless romantic. Next chapter: a lot of exposition and a little bit of foreshadowing!