"Well," Mrs. Brennan sounded a little contrite as she commented, "That didn't turn out at all as I'd anticipated."
I just nodded slowly as practically clung to Nia's side and stared wide-eyed at my newly monstrous father. And considering how he'd changed, I couldn't help wondering if ogres were a thing in the magical realm. Or if not then maybe trolls were instead, because my dad definitely looked like he fit in somewhere on that spectrum.
"Mom what the hell -" Nia started to ask before she was cut off by another angry roar.
That was accompanied by the sound of glass breaking, as dad's beer bottle finally shattered in his clenched fist. It didn't seem to hurt him though, he just shook the glass splinters and beer from his big rugged hand as his face twisted with rage.
Then he pointed at Mrs. Brennan and shouted, "You evil bitch! The fuck d'you do to me?!"
"More forbidden witchcraft," Mr. Allaway stated as he gave the fae witch a cold look. "That was a spell to manifest any supernatural heritage hidden in your blood."
He sounded almost smug as he added, "And she cast it without even bothering to check first what sort of heritage she might uncover. Nor did she think to warn you, let alone ask your consent."
Eabha responded in a slightly mocking tone. "I never took you as someone who cared much for consent before, Seumas. Then again, perhaps it only matters to you when it's about yourself or one of your friends?"
"Tell me," she continued, "Do you suppose Mr. Moodie thought to ask Kiki's consent, whenever he raised his hands against his own child and left her bruised and bloodied?"
Mr. Allaway opened his mouth to respond but my dad cut him off with an almighty bellow.
"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!" dad shouted loud enough to hurt my ears. Then he turned and punched his huge fist right through the wall next to him, before focusing on Mrs. Brennan again.
With both hands clenched into fists he roared at her, "Change me back! NOW!"
All that left my heart racing as I cringed even closer against Nia's side. Her mother didn't seem the least bit bothered though.
In fact she almost sounded condescending as she responded to my father's demand, "No, I don't believe I shall. Seumas fancies himself quite the mage, perhaps you can convince him to try and restore your earlier form? Nia and I will be with your daughter Kiki, helping her gather up her belongings."
Dad took that about as well as you'd expect. He let out another roar, then charged at all three of us. Both Nia and I cringed, but Mrs. Brennan didn't even flinch. Then there was a sudden yowl and hiss and a flash of cream coloured fur down around ankle-level. It was Sara in her cat form, and her sudden appearance and dash across the hall was enough to distract both dad and Jim.
Nia and I were startled too, so none of us saw what her mother did next. It had to be another spell though, because instead of lunging directly at us my dad was suddenly turned ninety degrees to the left and ended up crashing full-speed into the side of the hallway. He hit face-first hard enough to shake the house, then stumbled backwards a few steps until his back hit the opposite wall behind him. He'd left a big head-shaped dent in the drywall where he hit, but dad was still on his feet. He seemed momentarily stunned though.
"Kiki," Mrs. Brennan stated firmly, "Take Nia to your room and gather up everything you need. I'll stay here and keep your father and his friend company."
That meant going right by my dad, and the thought left me firmly rooted to the spot where I stood. Then Nia took my hand in hers and guided me quickly past my dad as he shook some drywall dust from his face. We practically hugged the wall opposite him, and we left another wide gap as my mistress pulled me past Mr. Allaway as well. Then we hurried up the half-staircase and finally dashed down the short hallway and into my bedroom.
There was another angry roar downstairs from dad just after we reached my room, that left me cringing again. I was half expecting him to come chasing up there after us, but it didn't sound like he was heading our way. On the other hand I could hear both Mr. Allaway and Mrs. Brennan talking again, but they kept their voices down enough that I couldn't make out what either of them were saying.
"I can't believe she turned my dad into some kind of ogre," I mumbled nervously.
Nia glanced warily back towards the stairs as she nodded, "Same. I have no idea what the hell she she was thinking, but mother and I are going to have a serious conversation after all this is over."
"For now let's try and make it quick, ok?" she added as she looked around my small messy room. "What do you need, and do you have anything we can carry it in?"
I gulped but nodded as I focused on the task at hand. I grabbed my backpack off the floor and checked what was in it, then started filling it with all my college stuff. As I did that I told her, "Can you get my laptop and charger off the desk? Phone charger too. Actually anything on the desk with a cable."
"On it," my mistress replied as she moved to start unplugging things and gathering up all the wires and stuff. While she was doing that she nodded towards my bookcase and asked, "What about your books?"
I grimaced, "I'd love to bring all of that, but I don't have anything to put it in. And even if I had some boxes or something, there's too much for us to carry it all."
Nia smiled as I felt her dip into that reservoir of raw magic deep inside me, "Not a problem cutie."
A moment later a couple big duffel bags appeared on my bed, and she started packing one of them with books and other keepsakes I had on the bookcase. While she did that I took the laptop and everything else she'd rounded up on my desk and stuffed that into my backpack as well.
Meanwhile my ears twitched to the sound of more shouting from the front hall. Dad was calling Mrs. Brennan a bunch of nasty names, but I doubted that bothered the fae witch any. In between the shouting I could hear both her and Mr. Allaway talking again too, but they were still keeping their voices down. And by that point my backpack was almost full, which left me worrying I might have trouble lifting it. There was still one more super important thing I needed though.
I dropped down to hands and knees and reached under my bed, then pulled out a faded scuffed-up cardboard 'treasure' box. That's where I kept my most important belongings from when I was a kid, before my mom died. I opened it up to check all the pictures and the other stuff my mom gave me was still in there, then closed it again and carefully fit it into the backpack on top of my laptop. After that I zipped it closed, then struggled a bit to get it up onto my back with both arms through the straps.
"What else are we taking?" Nia asked as she continued carefully transferring the contents of my bookcase into those two duffel bags. "Unless mother says differently, I'd assume whatever you leave behind tonight is gone forever."
Before I could respond she added, "Anything in your desk drawers?"
I grimaced as I moved to grab some USB drives and other random odds and ends out of the drawers, "Yeah I figured this is probably my only chance. I was kind of thinking we'd be able to take my desk and chair? And bookcase too. Otherwise where am I going to put all this stuff?"
"We'll get you new furniture after class on Tuesday," my mistress decided. "I'm sure mom and dad were both hoping we'd be able to move all your belongings in peace. I'm sorry it didn't work out that way."
That made me frown, "If we'd come over earlier we probably could have. I'm pretty sure dad was working up until maybe an hour ago? We could have had the place to ourselves all afternoon."
"Maybe we should have tried to figure out when his shift was before deciding when we'd come over," I sighed as I finished checking the last desk drawer. Then I jumped slightly as a voice spoke up right behind me.
"I did check when your father was working," Sara announced. She was back in her mundane disguise form again, including the same outfit she'd been wearing earlier. "Eabha had me look into that last night. She wanted to ensure that he'd be here when we arrived."
Nia made a face as she demanded, "So mother knew in advance what Mr. Moodie's schedule was? Then she went out of her way to cause a confrontation?!"
The catgirl shrugged, "She's already explained her reasoning, you don't need to hear it again from me. Also, what do you think might have happened if neighbours had seen three or four strangers turn up outside a cop's house, then let themselves in and start hauling things out and into their rental van while he wasn't home? Because I think that would have resulted in more than one police officer showing up here in a hurry. And they'd all be eager to have some words with us."
"Sara's right," I sighed. "People wouldn't recognize me, they'd think we were robbing the place or something."
My mistress sighed as well. Then she asked the other familiar, "How are things going downstairs? I assume my mother's come up with something to keep Kiki's dad and his buddy in check?"
"You'll have to ask her that yourself," Sara replied. "All I know is she sent me up here to see if I could help pack or carry things."
Nia frowned at the catgirl before turning towards me again. "Is there anything else Kiki? Or are we good to go?"
I took another quick look around, but it seemed like we'd got everything important. I definitely didn't want or need any of my old clothes, and we couldn't take the furniture. There were some posters on the walls I could have pulled down, but none of them mattered that much to me.
"I think that's everything?" I finally replied, then hesitated as I took another look at my bed. "Unless there's room in one of those duffel bags for my pillows?"
Most folks would look at them and think they needed to be tossed out and replaced, since the foam or whatever was inside was pretty well flattened and lifeless. I'd had them for ages though, and if there was room then I wanted to keep them. Not that I had any trouble sleeping with my mistress the past two nights, but I always preferred sleeping with my own pillows rather than someone else's.
Sara stepped forward and without a word she grabbed the two shapeless blobs off my bed, then stuffed them into the nearest duffel. Once she had them both inside she zipped the bag closed, before lifting it up to check the weight. Then she addressed Nia, "I can carry this one if you've got the other?"
My mistress made an affirmative sound as she closed the other one then hefted it up off the floor. And I already had my backpack on, although I could feel my phantom tail working extra hard to try and keep me balanced against the extra weight on my back.
"If that's everything then let's go," Nia stated. "I'll lead the way to make sure it's safe. Kiki you stay behind me, and Sara you're at the back."
Sara and I both nodded, then the three of us headed for the stairs. I was anxious again as we started down towards the main hall, but to my surprise I saw Mrs. Brennan waiting for us alone by the front door. As the three of us moved towards her she opened the door and motioned for us to continue on straight outside.
I was tempted to ask what happened to my dad or where he went, but as we made our way down the short hallway towards her we passed the living-room and I saw dad was back in there. He had a fresh bottle of beer in his hand as he sat slumped on the sofa, which looked like it was sagging under his new monstrous bulk. He didn't even look at us as Nia and Sara and I filed past, he just scowled angrily at the TV.
"Mom what -" Nia started to ask, but her mother cut her off.
"Not here," Mrs. Brennan stated in a firm but quiet voice. "Into the van, all three of you."
My mistress frowned but didn't try and argue. And neither Sara or I spoke up either. We all just filed out through the door then headed for the mini-van where Mr. Brennan was still waiting. That's when I noticed Jim Allaway's car was already gone. Mrs. Brennan followed us out and closed the front door behind her. Then she got into the passenger seat, while Nia and Sara loaded the two big duffel bags into the very back of the van. Nia helped me get my backpack off, then added that into the back as well before closing the door.
Finally the three of us climbed in through the sliding side door, and as soon as we were all seated Mr. Brennan pulled away from the curb. At that point I let out a long quiet sigh, as we left my dad behind, along with the house where I grew up.
Nia spoke up a second or two later, and she sounded very impatient when she asked her mother, "So is it ok to talk here in the car? Or do you want to save that until we're back at my apartment? Or maybe you're going to try and make us wait until next time Kiki and I visit you on the other side?"
Mrs. Brennan replied calmly, "I suggest we should wait until we're back at your apartment. I suspect this subject will require a proper conversation, and I imagine you're going to want to drag it out into a lengthy discussion."
My mistress almost snapped, "You're the one who usually drags things out and makes every conversation an ordeal, mother. So what the hell happened back there?! What were you thinking?! That was a complete mess!"
"You're right," the older witch sighed. "I badly misjudged the situation with Mr. Moodie, and made some ill-informed decisions. Kiki, Nia, I'm sorry."
Then she added, "The important thing is none of us were hurt. And I trust you were able to pack up everything Kiki needed?"
Nia sighed, "Yes, we got everything she needed. But not everything she wanted. We're going to have to buy more furniture, since we didn't have time to properly move her bookcase, desk, or chair. So we'll be keeping the mini-van a few more days, and running up some additional expenses on your credit card to replace the stuff she had to leave behind."
"Understood," Mrs. Brennan replied.
That actually left me wondering where all their money came from, since Nia's folks obviously weren't working here if they lived in the magical realm. Unless they used the same money on both sides of the veil, but I had no idea how that'd work. They obviously weren't using bank machines and credit cards over there.
I filed that thought away for later though, since we already had a bunch of other stuff to discuss as soon as we got back to Nia's place. Except it only took me another second or two to realize we weren't even heading in the right direction. Mr. Brennan was taking us south, instead of west.
Then I remembered we still had one more task to complete tonight. We needed to break into the college admin office, so Mrs. Brennan could mess with the computers so they'd have all my new updated information. And as much as I wanted that done, after things went so badly with my dad I couldn't help worrying we were going to have even more trouble ahead.
Either way, it felt like we were in for a long night.