Chapter 470: Chapter 470

Chapter 470

Mason When Lanie needed to sneak into the hybrid facility to rescue the twins, she’d used a potion from the witch Rhiannon to change her appearance.

When I described that quickly to Stella, she tipped her head back in laughter that rang throughout the walled garden. When she looked back at me, her eyes twinkled. She patted my hand.

“I don’t need a potion, Abba! I can access the powers of a shapeshifter, remember?”

I shook my head with a chuckle. “Sweetheart, there’s so much you can do that I can’t even begin to comprehend.”

As I watched, Stella’s features rippled. Her eyes turned a dark amber, while her hair faded into pale gold. Faint freckles scattered suddenly across her nose and cheeks, which were pudgier than they’d been a moment ago. Her smiling mouth changed, too. The effect lasted only a few seconds before she returned to her familiar face.

“That’s beyond amazing,” I told her, the hairs rising on the back of my neck. “It’s incredible.”

“It’s weird,” she said matter-of-factly.

I laughed again. “It’s not something I think you’d want to trot out in front of people who don’t know you, that’s for sure. But it’s still an amazing gift.”

“How’s it going to help me, though?” She bit her lower lip with straight, white teeth, then let her head hang so her hair covered her face for a moment. Her fingers knotted in her lap as she shook her head. “Looking like a different person isn’t going to make me into a different person.”

I thought of Lanie when she’d been Katie. She had looked the same as she did now, but she had been different. And why? Because those of us in Stillwood hadn’t known her already. We hadn’t had any preconceived notions of how she ought to behave, or anything about her personality at all.

“Looking like a different person is going to give you the chance to figure out who you want to be. Not who the Goddess expects you to be,” I cautioned her. “You’re still discovering yourself, little star.

You might have every gift a supernatural can have, and you might have all the weight of the universe on your shoulders, but so far in your life, have you ever had the chance to truly understand yourself?”

I could tell she had not. Her eyes welled with tears she dashed away with quick swipes of her fingertips. She gave me a watery, brave, and genuine smile.

“I think I’m starting to. I definitely want to,” she added quickly.

“If you look like someone else for a while, you might be able to put down some of your burden. Just for a short time, here and there,” I said hastily when it looked like she meant to protest. “But you are not only a Celestial, Stella. You’re more than that.”

“I don’t know if it’s possible to be more than a Celestial, Abba.” She shook her head. “I’m not trying to brag, but Celestials are a pretty big deal.”

I laughed and leaned forward to hug her with one arm. She leaned against me. “So let yourself be ordinary sometimes.”

She was quiet for a moment or so before she pulled away with a nod. “I think I understand what you’re getting at.”

Excitement edged her voice, and the gleam of tears became a shine of interest.

“As long as everyone here recognizes me, I won’t be able to do much. I won’t be able to hang out with anyone other than people who already know me…which is a very small group,” she said.

I nodded, letting her put the pieces together, as I knew she’d be able to. “Yep.”

“But if I change my appearance, I could go out. In public. Anywhere I wanted to go!” She sounded even more excited and even clapped her hands together a couple of times. “People I meet won’t be stuck on the fact that I’m a Celestial. Heck, they won’t even know!”

“That’s exactly right. It will give you some freedom. You’ll be able to have some privacy, too,” I told her.

Stella’s excitement faded. She frowned. “But…Abba, won’t people be upset with me once they find out? It will feel like I’ve tricked them.”

“That’s possible. But if you make the right sorts of friends, they’ll care more about what’s inside of you, the real you, than how you look.”

“But when they find out I’m Stella the Celestial, they’ll be upset I didn’t tell them already.”

“Why would they?” I point out. “Unless you straight up lie and say ‘Hi there, I’m absolutely not a Celestial, happy to meet you,’ what could they really say?’”

“Abba,” Stella said with a frown.

I grinned. “I know it’s splitting hairs. A technicality. As your father, I certainly wouldn’t suggest you practice dishonesty as a general rule. But…”

“But,” Stella agreed after a second’s hesitation. Her grin returned. “Maybe it’s better to ask for forgiveness than for permission?”

I held up my hand so she could fist bump it. “Let’s start with that.”