He turned a little away from her, then picked up the blouse and handed it to her. “Yes,” he cleared his throat, “yes, that should definitely be possible. If you wouldn’t mind, I would appreciate it if you would put this back on.”
“Oh,” Maya sat up and took the blouse. “Hold on,” she looked down at her naked torso and tried to make a shirt form over her skin. Frowning, she said, “I don’t understand why it isn’t working.”
Apollo turned a little, saw that she was still half naked, and quickly faced away from her. “What isn’t working?”
“My magic. I can’t get clothing to form over me, and it’s upsetting.”
“So you usually walk around without material on you?”
“Yes. I don’t like the feel of clothing. And generating my own saves me a lot of time. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have noticed that my clothing wasn’t working if Cosmo hadn’t pointed it out to me.”
Apollo quickly turned and looked at her. “Cosmo saw you naked?”
“Yeah,” Maya held up the blouse and glared at it for a second, upset that she would have to put it back on. “The old couple was hounding him to come after me. I think they made him so uncomfortable he preferred to face me rather than them.” Maya laughed and shook her head as she slipped her arms into the sleeves. “After he woke me and entered my room uninvited, it was seeing that I wasn’t wearing anything that made him finally feel any shame.”
“You weren’t … wearing anything as you slept?”
As she rebuttoned her shirt, she said, “I went to sleep with a slip on. It started glitching after I woke up. I think it had something to do with the old couple somehow messing with my magic, no doubt hoping to inspire something physical to happen. A stupid idea, really.”
“Yeah, what were they thinking?” Apollo said. Maya looked up and saw him shaking his head. “When you are dressed, just come out to the living room and we can talk some more.”
“Sure.” She was nearly done, then she asked his retreating back, “About what?”
“Leaving,” he said over his shoulder.
It didn’t take her long to finish dressing. Without thinking, she stopped in front of a mirror and straightened up her blouse, then touched up her hair.That’s weird. Why did I do that?
Hurrying down the hall, Maya stopped in the kitchen. Apollo was cleaning the dishes at the sink. “I’m not sure how to leave just yet. I mean, flying is the most obvious and easiest way to escape. Unfortunately, it sounds like they have realized that is a problem.”
Apollo placed a dish in the drying rack, then reached for a towel to dry his hands. “Well, I can understand it on some levels. Sasha literally burst through a window to escape, and Noel wasn’t too far behind her. I’ve also heard that Everet started making trips to human areas for skiing gear.”
“Really?” Maya had a lot of questions around that last statement. “You know the king well enough to call him by his first name?”
Apollo chuckled a little as he sat at the table. Maya moved over and took her own seat as he responded. “He consults with the healers a lot, so he’s in our facility often enough. I wouldn’t say that we are more than acquaintances, though.”
“Oh. Why?”
Apollo’s smile didn’t fade, but he shook his head. “It’s not something I can talk about.”
Maya’s shoulders sagged a little. “Oh. Okay. Do you think he’ll be a good king?”
Apollo considered the question, then replied diplomatically, “It’s too early to say. I know he will be a much better king than the last one, but that bar is far too low to make the situation look particularly optimistic.”
Maya scrunched up her face. “No matter how the media and his people tried to portray the old king, there was something off about him. I mean, his words did not match reality.”
Apollo held up his hands. “We can only hope that his son is a better ruler.” He then put his hands down on the table. “So flying is not an option for us. And I know that portals off of the island are too dangerous. Can you think of other, less common ways to travel?”
Placing her elbows on the table and clasping her hands, Maya placed them against her mouth. “I know that an actual portal was used to get me here, which seems like a huge violation. It also suggests that there could be a way to access one to get away too.”
Her companion’s brow creased a little. “I think there is something controlled about the magic they use. Several of the shifters from the Christmas group were brought here that way.”
“There must be some way to reverse the portals to get back. But that may not be the safest way to return home.”
“What about an object?” Apollo was looking around the kitchen. “Would you be able to make an object that can get us back?”
“Just one of us. Then I would not be able to get the other person back without being there to make sure that things work properly.” She drummed her fingers against her face. “I should have thought of that much earlier.”
“Considering how little sleep you’ve gotten, I’m surprised you were still functional.”
