I stared at the box of chicken nuggets for ten or twelve seconds, but I still wasn't hungry. I finally shut the freezer door and just grabbed myself a bottle of water instead. Then I wandered back into the living-room and slumped onto the sofa for another round of staring at options on the streaming site without ever picking anything.

It was Saturday night, about ten days had passed since my suggestion that everyone try and coordinate their supernatural feeding schedule, and so far there'd been exactly zero progress on that front.

Lily fed the other night so I wasn't interested in meals all day yesterday or today. Melissa was out on a date tonight, so she wouldn't want to eat tomorrow or Monday. Sue went out last Tuesday so she didn't eat on Wednesday or Thursday, and she'd probably go out again this coming Monday or Tuesday too.

And the reason I was all alone on a Saturday night was Susan was out again tonight, but she wasn't working. She got invited over to Amber's place for dinner with the family again. And that was why I couldn't hang out with Amber either, since she was busy with Sue.

I really wanted to talk to her too, I was dying to know how her 'totally not a date' went last night with Matt. Plus I was curious to find out how it was going with her new job. She worked a couple nights this past week, and she had a full shift during the day today, and I was full of questions about the whole enchanted sex toy thing.

I might have been able to swing an invitation to dinner at Amber's place, I could have asked. But I figured it would be rude to get myself invited over for dinner when I wasn't actually going to eat anything. Plus I didn't want to intrude, I knew Sue was sort of rebuilding old family friendships.

Me not being there also meant both Amber and Sue could avoid a complicated conversation with Amber's family about relationships, since it'd probably be awkward trying to tell her mom and dad how Amber and I started going on dates and stuff last month while Susan and I were already girlfriends. I was sure that conversation would happen eventually though, once the three of us moved in around the corner and became their neighbours.

So for tonight I resigned myself to being bored and lonely, and decided I'd probably just go to bed early.

At least the rest of the day wasn't so boring.

In the afternoon me and my girlfriends were over at Sue's place to meet Mr. Goranov again, to get an update on how things were going with the house.

Troy's dad showed us around so we could see all the progress. Him and his older son had been working on the upstairs, which was coming along great. The walls had been redone so the bedrooms were all the right size now, and the upstairs bathroom was almost finished. The new fittings were all in place, including a big Jacuzzi tub and a separate shower stall. There were just a few finishing touches to be done and that would be complete.

Two of the upstairs bedrooms had also been painted, and the master bedroom would be painted in a couple days. Then the new carpeting would be installed and the upstairs would be finished. After that they'd start working on the main floor.

All in all, the place looked like it was really coming along and Mr. Goranov was confident it would be ready by the end of spring break. So basically only about one month away. Me and Melissa and Susan were all really excited about that.

After all the excitement though, came the boredom. We came back to the apartment and both Melissa and Susan got changed and ready for their nights out. Melissa dressed sexy, Susan dressed respectable. And I just got into a nightshirt.

After another half hour or so failing to find anything I wanted to watch, I finally just gave up. I turned off the TV and finished my bottle of water, then got ready for bed.

"Mara?" Lily spoke up as I was climbing into bed. "Would you mind coming inside for few moments? There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

I was a little surprised, she almost never asked me to come in for a meeting. I almost worried I was in trouble or something, except I didn't get that impression from her tone.

"Sure Lily," I replied as I got myself comfortable, then I closed my eyes and slipped backwards into her place.

She was sitting on her big leather sofa as usual, so I sat down next to her and asked "What's up?"

Lily seemed to be in a good mood, she had a slight smile on her face as she replied "I know you and your girlfriends are excited about moving into Susan's house next month, but I was wondering if you might be interested in a little vacation first? I know you all have some time off from your studies coming up for the spring break."

I grimaced, "I'm honestly not sure I'm ready to put on a bikini and hit the beaches, Lily. Especially not with thousands of people around? And I've seen spring break stuff on TV and movies, it all looks way too intense for me. And I know Melissa would rock a bikini, but I have no idea how Susan would feel about one. And we both know Amber wouldn't go out in a bikini, unless it was hidden beneath a big hoodie and some leggings or something."

She stared at me for a few seconds like she had no idea what I was talking about.

"I wasn't talking about going to a beach Mara," she finally said in an amused tone. "I would like to go and visit the properties we've inherited from Verothilas. That means a trip to the British Isles. Melissa, Susan, and Amber are all welcome to accompany us of course."

"Oh," I blushed. "So not the beach. Though I'm sure there's beaches over there too, but maybe not warm and sunny if we're visiting in the middle of March."

Lily smiled, "Possibly not."

I thought it over but I felt my cheeks colouring, and some anxiety settle deep in my stomach.

"Mara?" Lily asked after a few moments of silence. "Is something wrong?"

I frowned, then grimaced, but finally I asked "Lily? Is it really important to go and do that stuff right away? Like I mean, do you need to go over there next month because there's something critical to take care of? Or can it wait a while more? Like maybe till summer or whenever?"

She gave me a quizzical look and I sighed.

"I'm sorry Lily," I sighed. "It sounds kind of exciting and stuff, I've never been in a plane or gone on a trip like that before? But... I don't really want to go. Not just yet. I was honestly hoping for a quiet spring break, where me and Melissa and Susan could take our time moving and getting settled into Sue's place and stuff?"

When Lily didn't respond after a few seconds I spoke up once more.

"I know if it's official demonic business or whatever I can't say no. And I appreciate you asking me? And like, if it's something critical that can't be put off for a while then of course I'd say yes. But if it can wait... I think I'd like to put it off for some other time."

I was still nervous, it was probably the first time I'd actually said no to something she wanted. And I hadn't even really said no this time, I just wanted to delay it for now. But I worried what she might say or how she'd respond.

After a few more quiet seconds, her expression shifted into a warm smile. She wrapped an arm around me and gave me a gentle hug and replied "Of course we can put it off for another time Mara. It's nothing critical."

I let out a quiet sigh of relief as I felt the anxiety drain away.

Lily added a few moments later, "And Mara? I know that was difficult for you, but I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself to me. It's always ok to tell me how you feel, you know? I can't promise you'll always get your way, but I can promise it's a lot more likely to happen if you actually speak up and tell people what you want."

"Thanks Lily," I replied as I felt my cheeks colouring slightly.

We hugged for a few more moments then she let go and said, "Why don't you get some rest now Mara? That was all I wanted to talk with you about."

Instead of going back out to the body right away, I looked at Lily and said "Since I'm here, there's something I wanted to ask you about. Two somethings actually."

"Yes Mara?"

I started, "Back on new years day when we were talking about Verothilas, and I asked you if killing her was better or worse than imprisoning her, you said killing her would have been a hundred times worse right? Like the amount of energy that came out?"

Lily nodded, "That's right. At least a hundred times worse, probably even more. Why?"

I took a deep breath then told her my idea.

"So I know math's not my thing, and I don't know anything about magic and stuff like that either, but here's what I've been wondering. When we imprisoned her, we got hit in the face with one demonic energy blast. If we'd killed her, we'd have got hit in the face with a hundred demonic energy blasts. Doesn't that mean there's like, ninety-nine more face-fulls worth of energy still in her, or locked in the brooch or something? And since she's safely trapped now, I was wondering if maybe there's some way we could tap into that missing energy and get it out? I mean, without killing everyone and blowing up the city and all that."

She stared at me in silence for several seconds, and her eyebrows slowly crept upwards as if they were trying to sneak away and hide behind her cute little horns.

"You know Mara," Lily finally replied, "For someone who refers to herself as a 'solid D student' and 'not the smartest girl in class' you can be remarkably clever at times. You're correct. We've only experienced a fraction of the power that Verothilas once held. The rest has to be somewhere."

She hesitated again and a frown settled on her face. Finally she stated, "I'm not sure yet if it's practical or safe to access that energy but it's a problem I will be spending some time trying to solve, now that you've brought it to my attention."

"Cool," I smiled. She didn't seem as enthusiastic as I'd hoped, but I had no idea if it was something she could actually do. Maybe I was being too naive and optimistic about how plausible it was when I suggested it.

Lily smiled as well, then asked "You said there were two things?"

"Yeah," I nodded, then hesitated. "I'm sorry if this brings you down Lily, but it's another thing I've been thinking about since that conversation on new years day."

I took a deep breath then asked, "You named me after your daughter, didn't you?"

She looked surprised, uncertain, and maybe a little sad, but she didn't respond.

After a few moments of silence I decided to tell her why I was asking. "Even though we know Verothilas's true name you never use it, you just call her Verothilas. So when you told me your daughter's name I was really surprised you used her true name, instead of whatever you normally called her? That made me think, why use her true name? Unless you didn't want to say her regular name."

"And I mean, it's kind of obvious right?" I added. "The first four letters of Amaritalizoth spell Mara."

Lily remained quiet for now, she was just staring down at the floor. She looked a little bit sad, and maybe a little bit guilty.

I moved closer to her on the sofa then wrapped my arms around her and hugged her as best I could. "I'm sorry Lily. I didn't want to upset you, but I was curious."

She shifted one of her large arms and gently wrapped it around me as she hugged me back. "It's ok Mara. And you are correct. I did name you after my daughter."

There was a pause, then she added "There's something else, and I'm actually surprised you haven't caught on to it yet."

The large dark window in front of us shimmered and became a perfect mirror.

"Look at us together Mara, and tell me what you see."

I shrugged, "I see you and me? A big sexy naked blue demon and a small cute naked half-demon."

Lily smiled one of those patient smiles that my mom and teachers use whenever I'm missing something painfully obvious.

"Look at our faces, and imagine what you'd look like with blue skin."

I stared at her face in the mirror then my own, and my eyes widened. I suddenly remembered two random things from last summer.

The first time I saw myself in the mirror after I woke up in this body, I realized I didn't look anything like I used to. And I didn't look like my mom either. I thought I looked like a complete stranger.

And a few weeks after that when I got to see Lily in her natural demonic form for the first time, I thought her face looked familiar even though I'd never seen anyone with shimmering blue skin before.

I looked at her again and asked in a half-whisper, "You made me look like you? But all this felt really perfect for me. Like, my ideal body and stuff? You even said you made me look this way because of what you saw in my soul."

"Not like me Mara," Lily shook her head slowly. "I made you look like her, and she looked like me. And you're right, I did it because of what I saw in your soul. From the moment I first laid eyes on you at the scene of your death, you reminded me of her. And in the eight months we've been together since then, that impression has only grown stronger."

I suddenly remembered what she told my mom back at xmas, about seeing herself as a parent to me and wanting to protect me and keep me safe and happy and stuff. I didn't want to stop hugging her, but I had to move one arm so I could wipe my eyes.

"Lily I don't know what to say," I whispered to her.

She shook her head slightly and gave me a gentle squeeze. "You don't have to say anything."

 

~ End of Book 3 ~