annotated floorplan - simple floorplan

“Yes, of course,” Dora said to Amerie, and offered a slim hand, palm up.

Amerie laid hers briefly over it.

“Do you see anything new?” Amerie asked, inspecting her own skin, which was still largely exposed by her black halter and short skirt and boots. She could see the colourful tattoo of Ophelia with her bright snakes on her upper right arm, a sinuous blue blob around her left thigh that nonetheless looked like Sally, green Thalia on her lower left arm with her flowery hair spread wide around her. She could see the steel armour prominent on her right forearm, the glass-like flower, the music room’s harp, a chair, a couple of plants from Thalia’s loggia, a goblet of cranberry glass, all in clear lines and vivid colour on her skin... anything she had touched since she had eaten the small round fresh cake Thalia had offered her thickly spread with a yellowish-orange jelly. It had tasted sweet and fresh as spring, and she’d finished it with enthusiasm, even knowing it was certain to do something unexpected to her.

It was both unexpected and delightful, and she’d gone looking for other residents so she could request contact and add them to her growing, if ephemeral, collection. It wasn’t her armour but it was still fun.

“Um... Oh, there I am, on your right shoulderblade. It’s quite pretty. There’s a mirror over here, it isn’t large but it’s enough that you’ll be able to see it, I think.”

Amerie went with her and pulled the strap of her top down so it wasn’t in the way, allowing a less-obstructed view. It was still a bit slanted but enough for her to see that the tattoo was of Dora in mid-dance, skirt flaring out around her and arms raised.

“Neat. I love it. Who haven’t I tracked down yet?” Amerie considered.

“Let me see... Thalia, Ophelia, Sally, Cosmo... the one of Wanda is really adorable. I don’t see Jake.”

“I’ve heard the name several times but have yet to actually meet him. I just keep hearing that he’s shy.”

“Oh, seriously? This late in the night? That’s a terrible shame—he’s so sweet. Would you like help looking for him?”

“I don’t want to do anything that will make him feel uncomfortable.”

“He really does like meeting friendly guests, he just never knows what to say. If I’m there I can help. You spent a while playing with his paintings, didn’t you? Just tell him which one you liked best, or thought was the most interesting. Or the same with the statues.” Dora beckoned her towards the door, and Amerie fell into step beside her.

“The Greek guy who suddenly started proclaiming ‘Sing, muse, of the wrath of Achilles’ certainly gave me a start, but I ended up standing there fascinated until he finished.”

Dora laughed. “It’s not even the entire first book. Jake was annoyed that it stopped there. Maggie and Mistress are helping him experiment with ways to get the statues to have a longer loop, but so far they haven’t gotten as far as he’d like. Between us, I think he’d like to create one that recites the entire Iliad and starts anywhere on request. I know he’s working on a mermaid one and he wants it to sing but not just the same song each time.”

“That’s going to be amazing, I’m...” Amerie stopped. The great hall wasn’t empty. Most of the people she’d met in the house were there—and one huge minotaur she hadn’t met. She should probably find him alarming, but he had his head dipped low and was near one corner, with Sally between him and most of the room.

“Is the sun coming up already?” Dora asked.

Wanda nodded. “Not much longer. Thalia went to get Fifi, then we were going to call you.”

“Which means it’s time for me to go,” Amerie said quietly.

Ségolène, the only one standing aside from Dora and Amerie herself, tilted her head to one side. “Now that is indeed the question, is it not?” There was a cat at her feet, white with irregular black splotches; it was sitting up, black-tipped tail coiled neatly around its feet, black-tipped ears swivelling to track all motion.

“How is it a question?”

Thalia and Ophelia joined them, darting down the stairs, both a little out of breath. They found spots to sit, Ophelia on the other half of a loveseat with Wanda, Thalia claiming an empty chair. Dora caught Amerie’s hand to give it a brief squeeze, and went to join Richard.

“I’d like your thoughts, please, loves,” Ségolène said to the room at large.

“She’s brave,” Wanda said immediately. “And friendly, and thoughtful. And smarter than she wants anyone to know, I’m pretty sure. I dragged her off to see our mysterious armour after a bet, and she didn’t hesitate at all even though even I didn’t know what it might do.”

Sally nodded vigorously. “And you know how calmly she handled all that, Mistress.”

“Agreed on all points,” Thalia said. “She’s been to the loggia three times over the night. The first was a flower to drive back some bad memories, but the second removed all colour vision for a while and the third gave her the tattoos. She never faltered and has been increasingly showing an excellent sense of humour over them.”

“Also,” Wanda added, “she encountered the mirror from Sally’s room and was curious but not upset.”

“There’s a tiger soul in there,” Ophelia said. “That potion didn’t create it out of thin air, it just brought inside to the surface.”

“Oh, certainly,” Cosmo said. “Sometimes results are a mismatch, but I can speak for that one.”

“And despite that, which was a middle choice very early in the night, she chose the challenging one the next two trips to see me. I second what Thalia said about the sense of humour, too. It’s been really fab to see that blossom.”

“In the middle of all the often-frightening strangeness here,” Dora said, “she was still able to focus just on me enough to dance with me for some time.”

“All very good signs of courage,” Ségolène said. “And suggestive of an open mind and good nature.”

“Definitely that,” Sally said. “I don’t think she’s so much as winced at how any of us look.” A lot of heads shook in the negative, seconding that.

“Tarragon? Jake? Richard? You’ve said nothing.”

Jake shrugged. “Didn’t meet her,” he said, his voice deep but unexpectedly soft. “I’ve just heard she spent time with multiple paintings. So must’ve not been scared of them.”

“I think,” Tarragon said, “that she’s a resilient young woman who has unfortunately been forced to prove that resilience too much for too long, and deserves better, although the form that takes is in your hands.”

“Considering what we’ve all seen,” Richard said, “and how I know you feel about it, I believe you should.”

Ségolène nodded. “Amerie,” she said, and Amerie remembered how incredibly sexy she’d found that faintly-accented voice when she first woke. That impression was still there, especially when Ségolène spoke her name. “If you wish, you can leave. Because you have proven yourself brave and friendly, you may if you wish keep your memories of the night, though I must ask your pledge not to tell others. I... may be able to arrange a gift, though it is difficult to make anything last.”

“If I wish?” Amerie echoed, puzzled.

“If you wish, you can stay for as long as you choose to. However, there is always a price on that—of sorts. Not all find it a price as such. The house exists now between two worlds. That is not a sustainable environment for humans. Richard and I did not visibly alter because we were in the house when it moved, but everyone else does. There are conditions under which it is possible to switch back to an original form, and times at which it is impossible. Hallowe’en night, for example, is the latter. I cannot tell you what that form will be, but it has never yet imposed one that did not feel like a manifestation of some aspect of the inner self.”

Amerie turned that over in her mind, looking at it from every possible direction.

Leave. Try to find a way to reclaim her life and make it better. It would be a difficult struggle. Resources for battered women were thin. She wasn’t sure she’d even survive her next meeting with Pete and saw no way to avoid that. Simply returning to him or finding another was not a bearable option, not after tonight.

Stay. Change into... something. Spend her life with the people currently around her. It was probably not as absolutely safe as it looked on Hallowe’en, but she was quite sure no one she lived with would make a habit of hitting her or putting her down.

There was risk either way. She knew what they were on one side, not so much on the other.

“Amerie,” Ségolène said softly. “This I can promise you. Richard and I protect this household, and everyone in it is here by our choice and theirs, because we care deeply for them. This is a family. The proper kind that want each other happy and fulfilled rather than delighting in tears and domination.” She smiled. “Disagreements happen. We work it out. We have occasional guests who are not friendly, and occasional conflicts on the other side, but nothing worse.”

“If you protect everyone else, who watches your back?” Amerie asked. Her mind kept bringing up memories of the armour she’d worn until Ségolène had nudged her into wishing it to come off. It had been clear that the reasoning was concern for her safety, but losing it hurt.

“My family,” Ségolène said. “Although I rarely need it in any direct form.” She met Richard’s eyes and smiled. “My husband and I watch each other’s, for a very long time now, against even indirect threats.”

Amerie took a deep breath, and released it slowly. “I’d like to stay, please.”

Ségolène smiled. “I’m glad,” she said, amidst a variety of happy sounds from the edges of the room, some louder than others. “Maggie?”

The cat stood up, planted both front paws and dropped its chest in a long thorough stretch, and sauntered over to Amerie. Around her, in fact, in precise circles, once and twice and a third time.

Amerie closed her eyes, arms wrapped around herself. She’d chosen. The rewards would be worth it and the price not so high, not really.

Metal clanked, and she heard Wanda cheer, an exuberant, “Oh yes!”

Before she could open her eyes, she felt metal wrap around her, sliding around her limbs, clasping itself around torso and head and extremities.

Richard chuckled. “And perhaps we have a new defender for those moments we need one. Welcome to the Mallory family, Amerie.”