“Nice.Do you get free mango pudding?”
“I do.”
“Nice.How about Wednesday?”
Win laughed, and they exchanged numbers.Win explained how the images worked, and Vine explained how the mage-sight worked.It was the same as the camera.
Vine coughed lightly.“Funny how you could find a lens to do the job.”
Win’s eyes got wide, and she started laughing.“You made it?”
“I am an enchanter.I enchanted it.When Alexi went looking for a camera, the lens was there, primed and ready.You added some of yourself, and off it went.”
Win blinked.“I thought I did it myself.”
“True-sight?I produced a primer, and you shaped it.Most of the mages see that way all the time, so it was just a practical exercise.”
Win held up a thumb drive.“Have you seen this?”
“Ah, the shadow mage grimoire.No.I read them on my own when I was there.”Vine chuckled.
Jennika asked softly, “Vine, when were you there?”
“After the truck and before I learned how to ask the plants for help.”She looked at Jennika.
“You...never said.”
“It wasn’t necessary for you to know.I used the shadow lands as an escape hatch, used them to learn, and got stronger, and that is where I got the vines I wore out and back to the moment I left.The medical records are spotty, but the healing of my broken limbs was recorded and with them unable to explain it.”
Win blinked.“What?”
Vine sent her the article that covered the local side of her kidnapping.“It was done to me by my own family.”
Win read rapidly, and her pearly skin got chalky and grey.“Oh, damn.You were just a teen.”
“Yeah.Nothing gets you through puberty like betrayal by your own parents.”
Win looked at her and hugged her.Vine blinked in surprise.“You don’t strike me as huggy.”
“I am trying it out with those who are worthy.”Win chuckled.“Now that I have learned my parents are happy and healthy, and very much in love...I am feeling all kinds of warm and fuzzy toward others.”
Jennika said, “Vine, I want to talk when we get home.”
“Yes, mom.”Vine smiled and looked at her.Jennika was rumpled and sleepy, but she looked happy.
Win chuckled.“So you are friends?”
“Second cousins.We reunited after she came to her skill set.”
“Skill set?”
“The mages all have one strong focus and a bunch of little ones that we have the choice to learn.I have always been good at remembering symbolism, so I have been trying spell work and figuring out what the glyphs and symbols do.”Vine laughed hoarsely.“Sometimes they explode.”
Jennika said, “Which is why you insist on the carriage house.”
“Correct.Lady Win, this is my good friend and cousin and her occupant, Jennika.”Vine smiled.“If your guys ask about her fella, mention that he’s a pixie.That seems to make them blink.”
Win blinked.“Pixie?”
