A Human’s Guide to Surviving Magical Mishaps

"Uh... You're asking... What exactly?" I ask for clarification. I might not be as shy as I thought I was, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to let him jump in the bath with me or anything like that. Baby steps and all that. Although if he REALLY is asking that... Maybe I- No, I don't think so. That's not a decision I should make while tired and emotional.

"You sound alarmed. I am asking if you mind if I use the shower. As long as I face away from you I will not be able to see anything and it is kind of cold down here. I want to go to sleep soon and it would save time. I can wait if you would prefer." He offers. I think it over. He's right that he probably couldn't see anything, and I'm practically blind in here. I don't want to be a hypocrite or anything and I don't think I'm actually all that worried about it.noveldrama

"Alright. But if Fin laughs at me again I am definitely going to throw something at him. Or just tell Lucy that he's picking on me." I grumble. Ashton laughs.

"Now that would be cruel. You are sure you do not mind? I do not want to make you uncomfortable." He hesitates. I wave a hand in the air, then realise he can't actually see me.

"I don't mind. I know I'm safe with you. There's no need for you to freeze on the floor there. Get cleaned up and then we can go to bed." I think over my words and quickly add. "Separately. We can go to our BEDS separately." I really need to think before I speak. Ashton just sniggers then gets to his feet.

"As you wish sweetheart."

Half an hour later I'm back in my room. ALONE. And being alone is totally on purpose. Although I can't deny there is a slight undercurrent of anxiety the more time I spend by myself. Admittedly I've been feeling this way a lot lately. I want to keep Ashton around all the time, but that's just completely unrealistic. I felt this way back in the fae realm, but I nearly died and I was in a strange place. Of course I wanted him around, but now... It's just strange. Not that I want to be around him, I'm more than a little bit in love with him, of course I want to be near him. But this anxiety when he's out of my sight is a new feeling and I don't quite know what to do with it. I know that Ashton is back in the spare room and- Wait, how DO I know that's where he is? I left the bathroom first. Oh nevermind, I probably heard him in the hall or something, although I don't actually remember hearing anything... Well, whatever. It doesn't matter. I pull on some comfortable pyjamas and towel dry my hair before I check my phone again. It won't be totally charged but it should be enough for me to make a few calls and check my messages. The moment I turn my phone on, notifications start coming through. Not just a couple but dozens, possibly even hundreds. I've never had so many notifications in my life. I'm fairly sure they'll all be from my dad, Lucy and Marcus. I was only gone a few days after all. I doubt anyone else noticed that I was gone. I open my messages first and yep, I was right, except... One of these is from an unknown number. I open the chat and groan. Of course the first message I open after nearly dying is a spam message. I delete it and block the number before going back to my other messages. My dad only sent a few, obviously Fin then managed to get ahold of him and he knew there was no point messaging me. Lucy however, was a little more persistent.

Lucy- Hey Kat, are we on for dinner tonight?

Lucy- You're not answering. Are you sleeping?

Lucy- I'm gonna come by anyway to check on you.

Lucy- KAT! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE? WHERE ARE YOU?

Lucy- I'm calling your dad!

Dad- Kat, answer your phone.

Marcus- Lucy says your place is trashed and you're nowhere to be found. Please answer the phone Kat!

After that, someone must have found my phone and let everyone know that I wouldn't be answering because the messages change. The next one is timed about eight hours after the last one, so probably first thing in the morning. Lucy- I know you don't actually have your phone, but I'm freaking out, and you're the person I talk to when I freak out so I'm just going to message you now so you can read this later. You WILL read this later, because you're going to be fine. You are not allowed to be dead Katerina Fall and if you are dead so help me I am going to dedicate my life to learning how to raise the dead so that I can bring you back and kill you myself for ditching me like this!

There are a few more similar messages from Lucy and more missed calls as she continued trying to get ahold of me, hoping that I would answer. I assume that dad updated her at some point after talking to Fin but I doubt Lucy would have listened. The most recent text from her was actually only a few hours ago. It looks like she's been messaging several times a day. Since she is clearly freaking out, I decide to call her back first. As the phone rings, I wander towards the kitchen to grab a drink. It doesn't take her long to answer.

"Kat! Oh my gosh are you okay? Are you home? Should I come over? What happened? Tell me everything!" She says all in one go.

"Relax Luce, I'm fine. I promise. A lot happened and it was nearly really bad but Ashton saved me and I am totally fine now. As a bonus, I got to visit the fae realm. Ashton lives in a literal castle. It was so cool!" I try to change the topic away from me nearly dying. I'm kind of hoping she won't focus on that too much right now. I'm super tired and don't really want to get into all that.

"What?! Seriously? I thought that wasn't possible. I need to hear EVERYTHING. Immediately!" She demands. Distraction successful I suppose?

"Can immediately mean tomorrow morning? Like... Late morning. I just got home and I am exhausted. I just wanted to let you know that I'm okay. Also I should probably mention that Ashton and Fin are back too. At least for a while." I say it casually, but the warning is clear. If you don't want to see Fin then now is the time to say something. Lucy is quiet for half a second before she scoffs dismissively.

"Screw him. I don't care about that asshole. All I care about is you. Let me know the moment you wake up and I'll be right over, okay?" She insists. Lucy makes me promise to contact her first thing, then agrees to let me get some rest. She is oddly thrilled when she realises I called her before my dad which makes me roll my eyes. The motion makes my headache worse though and I instantly regret it. I hang up and turn around with my glass of water to see a huge figure in the doorway. For about half a second I panic, I'm about to scream for Ashton, but then I realise it's just Fin and the figure only looked so big because of his wings. I breathe a sigh of relief as he steps further into the kitchen. The window lets in a little moonlight so I can kind of see his face. Fin looks miserable. I'm not sure he's even bothering with his professional poker face anymore.

"Were you listening to my call?" I ask. I try not to sound too sympathetic. I'm still team Lucy after all, but I DO feel bad for him. He's clearly regretting whatever it was that he said.

"Yes. She is... Very angry with me." Fin sighs as he confesses. I nod and kind of shrug at the same time.

"I think she is mostly just hurt. She's coming over in the morning. Maybe you could talk to her then?" I suggest. Fin takes a long time to answer.

"Perhaps." Is all he says.

I return to my room and I am vaguely aware of Ashton heading to the living room to talk to Fin. I'm about to call dad but already I have a new message from Marcus.

Marcus- Lucy called saying you're home but not up for company. I hope you're okay and I'll also be waiting to hear from you first thing. Screw work, I need to see you're okay with my own eyes.

Kat- Of course. I can't wait to see you and tell you everything that happened. But first I need to face my dad. Then sleep. Blessed sleep.

Marcus- Good luck!

After a deep breath to prepare myself, I call my dad.