Chapter 19: Recall

Harmony watched with amusement as Michael was teleported into the chasm with them. He stared around in confusion until he saw Rhapsody’s grinning face.

“Uh, hello, Rhapsody,” Michael greeted the mischievous fairy uncertainly. “I don’t suppose you could ring a bell before teleporting me around?”

“Hello, Michael,” Rhapsody’s smile grew wider as she stared at him with barely restrained laughter. “I wanted to introduce you to one of your distant cousins that we found. This is Lexi.”

Michael turned to observe the seemingly young woman standing next to Taxti. “I didn’t realize I had a cousin named Lexi. Hi Lexi—sorry for not knowing who you are. We haven’t really stayed connected with extended family.

“No problem, Michael,” Lexi assured him, waving the apology away. “I’m not really your cousin—that’s just the cover story.”

“Lexi!” Rhapsody and Taxti exclaimed in chagrin.

“I wanted to see how long he would go before he started questioning it,” Rhapsody complained with a defeated sigh.

“Yeah, Lexi,” Taxti agreed with a disapproving frown. “Way to ruin the fun.”

Lexi laughed at the two of them, her eyes full of affection. “You’re just the same as always, Clarice—I mean Rhapsody.”

Michael narrowed his eyes as he stared at Lexi speculatively. “You’re not from this world, are you?”

“Nope,” Lexi confirmed with a shake of her head. “I’m here to keep Serenity out of trouble. She’s always been too clever by far, so I’m here to derail her any time she starts digging too deeply into things she needs to leave alone until she is older.”

“She’s your distant cousin, as far as Serenity and Aurora are concerned,” Taxti informed him, glancing at Rhapsody for a moment before continuing. “We brought her here because the CIA has been sending hit squads out to hunt people close to us and we want to make sure she stays safe. Her parents were worthless pieces of shit, so we brought her here to get away from them as well.”

Harmony stared at Taxti in surprise as she heard the venom in her tone. The others were staring at her with similar expressions of astonishment.

“Oh, we’re going with that mortality backstory, huh?” Lexi asked with a wry shake of her head. “

“It’s easier to go with something we know than to fabricate something and start mixing it up,” Taxti replied with a shrug. “Let’s go say hi.”

Lexi grinned eagerly a moment before they all teleported to the hallway outside of the room Serenity was staying in with Melody and Aurora.

Melody stepped up and opened the door, inviting the others inside. Serenity and Aurora were once again talking to a mermaid who had appeared in the pool inside the room. They had quickly made friends with several of the social creatures. Harmony was thrilled to see them making friends outside of school as well. She had been worried that her nieces would be surrounded by boring grownups the whole time and miss out on their childhoods. The Mermaids were frivolous enough to resemble teenagers more than immortal adults.

“Hey, Serenity and Aurora,” Melody called over to them brightly. “There’s someone we wanted to introduce you to.”

The two girls looked up from their conversation with the mermaid to stare at them curiously. As soon as Serenity’s eyes fell on Lexi, her breath caught for a moment, and her eyes widened. Aurora just watched her curiously.

“This is… Alexis,” Harmony quickly took over before her sister gave her real name. She didn’t want to trigger any more soul memory recall, and names seemed to be a trigger.

“Hi, Serenity and Aurora,” Lexi smiled brilliantly, her eyes full of warmth. “It’s nice to meet you. Who’s your friend?”

Aurora grinned as she turned to face the mermaid. “This is Vivian,” Aurora introduced her. “She’s over three thousand years old, but she’s not boring like the other adults at all. You should hear about some of the cool things she seen throughout the world.”

Harmony suddenly remembered there was a conduit that connected the mermaid den to the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. She wondered how often the mermaids left the circle and went out into the wider world.

“Hello, Vivian,” Lexi nodded at the mermaid, the brilliant smile never leaving her face. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Vivian was staring between Lexi and Serenity with a shrewd look on her face. Harmony realized that there was more to the mermaids than met the eye. Maybe they were just matching their audience when they spoke with Aurora and Serenity. It was probably a novelty for them to speak to actual children since the immortal creatures in the circle didn’t have any offspring.

“Hello, Alexis,” Vivian nodded back at Lexi with a faint smile on her freckled face. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other a lot. I was just telling Aurora and Serenity that they should get Taxti to teach them some underwater propulsion spells so that they can come play in the lake.”

“That’s a great idea,” Taxti agreed immediately, turning to Serenity and Aurora. “Let’s do that right now. You two, Alexis. Let’s go to the lake.”

Serenity had been reluctantly following Taxti, her eyes never leaving Lexi. When Taxti included Lexi, Serenity’s eyes lit up with excitement.

“Is she going to learn magic too?” Serenity asked hopefully.

“She’s already learned a little,” Taxti replied, watching the two of them with amusement. “She should be able to pick this up quickly.”

Harmony chuckled after they vanished, leaving the rest of them with Vivian. It looked like Taxti had found something to keep Serenity distracted for a while.

“Hello, Harmony,” Vivian smiled up at her from the pool. “Would you mind joining us underwater sometime? We’ve all heard a lot about you, but we haven’t had a chance to visit with you yet.”

“Of course,” Harmony agreed quickly, feeling her introverted nature throw a fit at the prospect of meeting more new people.

“Will you three come too?” Vivian asked hopefully, gazing at Mystery, Harmony’s mother and Melody.

“Sure,” Mystery agreed easily, smiling warmly at the mermaid. “I would love to learn more about all of you.”

“Absolutely,” Joline exclaimed excitedly, her face full of anticipation. “I can’t wait to learn more about you.”

“I’m game,” Melody agreed with a nod, a distracted smile on her face.

Harmony watched her mother fondly, wishing she had inherited more of her adventurous spirit. Her mother loved new experiences and meeting new people. It had always been awkward and difficult for Harmony to mingle with strangers and try to make enough small talk that they were no longer strangers. She was perfectly happy maintaining her existing social relationships without the required labor it took to make new friends and acquaintances.

Working at the women’s shelter was one of the most difficult things she had ever done. It was far outside of her comfort zone, which was one of the reasons she did it. She knew her imagination would stagnate if she stayed in her comfort zones, and there was nothing worse for an author than a stagnant imagination. She had even enjoyed a lot of her time at the women’s shelter—especially playing with the children. There was something beautiful and powerful about children’s laughter that filled her soul with joy.

“You’re adorable,” Rhapsody whispered into her ear, making her jump in surprise. The fairy had snuck up behind her while she was lost in thought.

Before she could turn around, slender arms snaked around her waist and pulled her back against Rhapsody. Harmony blinked when she realized her favorite shapeshifter was once again the same height as Mystery, with her head resting on Harmony’s shoulder.

“You never cease to amaze me, Harmony,” Rhapsody whispered warmly. “Your spirit is so blindingly beautiful. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have you back finally. I missed you more than words can describe.”

Harmony once again felt the strange sensation of seeing another person’s face superimposed on top of Rhapsody’s as she turned her head to look back at her. This time though, it wasn’t superimposed—it had entirely replaced Rhapsody’s features. It was the kind of beauty that was almost painful to behold, as if gazing at something so sacred would burn her eyes out if she stared too long.

“Clarice,” Harmony whispered adoringly, feeling a supernova of love ignite in her soul. “I’ve missed you so much, Clarice.”

She felt Rhapsody stiffen briefly before pulling her back tightly as a reciprocating love of equal intensity flared through the bond. “I don’t know if I can do this anymore without you, Aria,” Rhapsody whispered in a voice of such longing and desolation that tears sprang to Harmony’s eyes. “I know you’re here with me, but it’s so hard to pretend you’re someone else. I knew this would be hard, but the separation is even worse than I expected.”

“We’re almost done,” Harmony assured her gently. “We’re changing so much faster than we projected. Just a few more weeks at this rate, Clarice.”

“How much do you remember?” Rhapsody asked with a mixture of hope and worry.

“I remember everything, Clarice,” Harmony replied, leaning her head back and twisting her neck so that she could kiss Clarice softly, a kiss of longing and promise. “But I’m shielding it for now. We’re still following the rules, as far as this universe is concerned.”

As she finished speaking, she felt relief and exultation flood through the bond so powerfully that her knees buckled. Clarice held her up, resting her head against Aria’s head as tears of happiness ran down her cheeks.

“What’s up with you being the redhead this time,” Aria asked with a teasing note in her voice. “You just had to go steal my look, didn’t you?”

Clarice shook with a mixture of laughter and tears as she held Aria tightly.

“You two okay?” Mystery asked quietly as she stepped up close to them.

“We’re wonderful, Mystery,” Aria assured her with a dazzling smile. “More than okay.”

Mystery gasped when she stared into Aria’s eyes, her own eyes growing wide. “Is that still you, Harmony?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes,” Aria replied with a warm smile as the supernova of love in her soul flared out to include Mystery.

Mystery staggered as she felt the force of Aria’s love slam into her like a freight train of clouds. Her lips parted as she stared back at Aria in amazement. Her current mind couldn’t comprehend a love of such intensity. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the two of them with a wondering look in her eyes.

“Have you been digging into your soul memory, Harmony?” Mystery asked uncertainly.

“No,” Aria replied with an amused smile. “It just cracked open like an egg. I’m shielding it from this universe so that we keep the letter of the law.”

“Should I also—” Mystery began but cut off when Aria kissed her gently.

“No, Mystery,” Aria told her softly. “I didn’t do it on purpose, so I can still claim to have followed their rules. If you end up in the same situation, so be it, but let’s not force it.”

“We need to be charging admission,” Clarice told them with a leer at Michael.

Michael cringed when he saw the look on Rhapsody’s face, so incongruous and unexpected from the innocent looking fairy.

Aria glanced over and saw Joline, Michael, and Vivian watching them curiously. She could see them with the same memories she had as Harmony, but now she also saw them with the bottomless ocean of memories that mortality had locked away. She saw them as Aria. What had once seemed like an endlessly complex universe of incomprehensible forces and entities now looked like a footnote in the book of her life. A mere twenty-three years of life that was barely a blip on her soul’s timeline.

Melody walked up and stared into Aria’s eyes intently.

“Are you back?” Melody whispered, her troubled eyes full of hope.

“Yep,” Aria grinned and stepped away from Mystery and Clarice, then pulled Melody into a warm embrace. “What’s the matter, Arturiel? I can tell something is bothering you.”

Melody stiffened in her arms, then sighed as she relaxed again. “Can we go somewhere private to talk?”

“Clarice?” Aria asked with a raised eyebrow.

“We’ll be back in a little bit,” Clarice told the others with a cheerful wave.

The room vanished and she and Clarice reappeared with Arturiel in a room with no windows or doors. Aria recognized the walls of Yggdrasil around them. Clarice must have teleported them somewhere else inside of the world tree.

“Is it about Harnketi?” Clarice asked shrewdly.

“Yeah,” Arturiel nodded with another sigh. “What am I supposed to do now that I have my memories back? I’m in love with Lunamay, and she couldn’t come into this place with us. I can see how much this relationship matters to Harnketi though, and if I just break it off, it’s going to devastate her.”

“Do you still have feelings for her?” Clarice asked gently.

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Melody blushed with a guilty expression. “Yeah, I do.”

“You’re talking to two women who are in a three-way relationship,” Clarice pointed out with an expectant smile. “Doesn’t that suggest a way forward to you?”

Melody blinked, her brows creasing as she stared at Clarice in consternation. “How could that even work?” Arturiel asked in confusion. “Harnketi is stuck in this universe and Lunamay can’t come this far down. I can’t even talk to Lunamay to discuss it, and time is flowing so much slower in the origin realm that a century will have passed by the time I could even return with an answer.”

“If your soul memory had remained unavailable, would you be with Harnketi?” Aria asked patiently.

“Of course,” Arturiel replied with a roll of her large eyes. “That’s the reason we’re having this conversation—because I do have my soul memory now.”

“You’re here as Melody, and Melody is still a part of you,” Aria told her firmly. “It would be cheating both Melody and Harnketi to break off your relationship now. When everything is fixed and this world is stable, then we can discuss bringing Harnketi with us to the origin realm and introducing her to Lunamay. You’ve already started a relationship with her. When we meet with Lunamay again, we’ll introduce Harnketi as someone we met here that we want to keep as one of our companions. After you get her alone, ask her if she’s open to having an additional partner in your relationship, but only after she has met with Harnketi. That woman has charisma coming out of her ears. Lunamay is going to be far more likely to accept Harnketi if she meets her first—before she knows you were in a relationship with her. I’m a good judge of character most of the time, and I’m fairly certain Lunamay will not have a problem with this kind of an arrangement. She already knows that Clarice, Calypso, and I are together, so the idea of a polyamorous relationship is already in her head.”

“You really think she would be okay with it?” Arturiel asked nervously, wringing her hands anxiously. “I don’t want to do anything to hurt either of them.”

“Yes,” Clarice and Aria said simultaneously.

“I’ll talk with Harnketi about it,” Clarice told Arturiel firmly. “I’ve known her for a long time. She knows we are from another realm. I’ll make sure that she is also okay with this kind of an arrangement.”

Arturiel pulled Clarice into a desperate embrace as she let out a long breath.

“Thank you, Clarice,” Arturiel breathed gratefully. “I’m so out of my depth on this.”

Clarice patted Arturiel’s back reassuringly. “No problem, Arturiel. I have a feeling that you’re going to be a lot happier with this arrangement when all is said and done. I love Aria to pieces, but I wouldn’t feel complete without Calypso. Not to mention, things are a lot spicier in the bedroom with a third person.”

Arturiel giggled with a mixture of nerves and embarrassment. “Still the same Clarice.”

“Let’s go back to the others now before they think we’re trying to lure you into our fairy harem,” Clarice suggested dryly.

Clarice teleported them back to the room with a laughing Arturiel still hugging her.

Michael stared at them peculiarly from where he sat in one of the chairs. Mystery was sitting across from him with Joline. There was no sign of Vivian. Aria was pretty sure she had gone back to the lake to find Serenity and Aurora.

Clarice leered at Michael when she saw him watching her and Arturiel strangely.

“We’re just growing our harem, Michael,” Clarice told him in a seductive voice. “We charge admission fees for watching.”

Joline stared at Clarice askance, unable to reconcile the Rhapsody she knew with the seductive temptress now on display. Michael frowned as he stared at her in thought.

“Do that leer again,” he told her speculatively. “It’s waking something up.”

“That’s disgusting,” Clarice declared with a horrified expression.

Michael’s face turned bright red as he realized what he had said. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it!”

“You asked me to leer at you because it’s waking something up,” Clarice pointed out archly. “How, exactly, am I supposed to take that comment?”

Aria held her sides as she was overcome by a fit of giggles. It was so good to see Clarice back in her element. Mystery wasn’t much better, leaning on the arm of the couch as she laughed loudly. Joline was shaking her head with a disapproving stare at Michael while Arturiel held a hand to her mouth to try to contain her own mirth.

“Damnit, Clarice, you never change, do you?” Michael demanded in exasperation.

The laughter cut off from Aria and Clarice at his words. Melody gasped and glanced at Clarice and Aria worriedly.

“What?” Mystery asked in concern when she felt their shock through the bond.

“What did you mean by that statement, Michael?” Aria asked carefully.

Michael blinked and shook his head in confusion. “Damned if I know. It just popped out.”

“That’s what she said,” Clarice smirked at Michael.

“Clarice!” Aria growled warningly. “Do you mind?”

“Okay, what have you done with Rhapsody?” Joline demanded suspiciously.

“Sorry, I’ll get back into character,” Clarice sighed in resignation. “I was just excited to have—I mean I was just excited.”

“I suggest we all get back into character,” Aria suggested firmly. “We don’t want to be making mistakes around Aurora and Serenity. No more soul names, okay? We just have a couple of weeks left, Rhapsody. We can make this work.”

“Knock knock,” Jessica’s voice called from outside the door.

“Come in,” Harmony called out, ignoring the odd stares she was getting from the others.

Jessica and Shelley entered the room, staring at them curiously when they felt the undercurrent of tension in the room.

Harmony smiled as she realized who Jessica was now that her memories were back. This could still be entertaining after all…

Rhapsody glanced over at her with a mischievous grin as she heard Harmony’s thoughts. Harmony felt strange trying to think of herself as Harmony again, now that she had all her memories back. She felt a moment of respect for Rhapsody at how well she had stayed in character over the last few weeks.

Jessica wasn’t in her normal agent outfit that consisted of a business suit and a pair of less than inspiring shoes. She was in a knee-length red dress that molded itself to her form and accentuated her curves. The dress left her arms bare but wrapped around her neck, accentuating just how long her graceful neck was. Her shoulder-length dark-brown hair was arranged in a half-up crown that gave her an elegant and polished look. The difference from her normal appearance was stark. She had gone from a number four to a number nine in Harmony’s internal attraction meter.

Shelley was much more casual, with a pair of denim jeans and a t-shirt. Her black hair was hanging loosely around her face, falling down to her shoulders. Harmony rated her at a number seven without her stuffy business suit.

“Hey, Jessica and Shelley,” Harmony waved at them with a welcoming smile. “How’s it going? I don’t suppose you want to join our fairy harem?”

Rhapsody dissolved into a fit of giggles at Harmony’s words, staring at Harmony affectionately. Harmony could sense the blazing love and joy in the bond—joy that her oldest friend was finally back.

Jessica stared at Harmony oddly for a moment before answering. Harmony realized her mannerisms had changed from what she had been like as Harmony—enough that even the two agents had noticed.

“We just wanted to see what everyone was up to,” Jessica answered with a shrug as she walked over and sat down next to Michael, crossing her legs as she sank back into the couch.

Harmony watched Michael closely as Jessica settled in, noting the micro expressions flickering across his face as he glanced at her and nodded politely, obviously trying not to stare. She could practically feel the heat radiating away from Michael as his sudden attraction heated up.

Harmony avoided Rhapsody’s eyes, knowing she would start laughing uncontrollably if she saw one of those suggestive leers.

“How dare you avoid looking at me,” Rhapsody’s voice protested plaintively in her head.

Harmony quickly covered her mouth and turned away from the others as a fit of uncontrollable giggles assailed her. She was just getting her giggles under control when Rhapsody spoke.

“Don’t mind her,” Rhapsody told the others cheerfully. “She fell out of the silly tree earlier and hit every branch on her way down. It might take a while for her to get over it.”

Harmony wiped tears from her eyes as she tried to get her laughter under control. She could feel waves of amusement washing through the bond from Mystery. There was some amusement from Rhapsody, but it was mostly pure love flooding through the bond.

“She has these laughing fits occasionally,” her mother told the others dryly. “You just have to ride them out. I think it’s worse now since Rhapsody is here to cheer it on.”

“Yep,” Rhapsody admitted with a smirk. “I’m her number one fan.”

Shelley was slowly making her way past Harmony toward one of the chairs, watching her carefully. The agent’s expression sent her into another fit of giggles.

“Wow, I feel like I’m at a laugh therapy conference,” Michael commented dryly, an amused smile on his face.

“What the hell are you two doing?” Taxti’s thought was exasperated. “Lexi is having a fit of the giggles that has now spread to the others.”

Harmony had thought she was getting a handle on it, but at Taxti’s words, she collapsed to the floor with renewed laughter.

“Are you sure she’s okay?” Shelley asked quietly, a note of concern in her voice.

“She’s fine,” Rhapsody assured her with a rueful shake of her head. “If she was in a mortal body she would have burned out by now from sore muscles, but with this immortal body it can go on for a while.”

“Okay…okay,” Harmony gasped, trying to think of something to shut down the floodgates of mirth. “I’m almost there.”

“I’ll bet you are,” Rhapsody declared suggestively.

It took a few more minutes for Harmony to slow down again. She finally resorted to visualizing the things she planned to do to Rhapsody and Mystery the next time she got them alone. It was an effective solution, dialing her laughter back and replacing it with unadulterated lust. The bond was suddenly flooded with desire as Rhapsody responded to Harmony’s thoughts. Both of them feeling intense arousal was enough to create a feedback loop in their bond, producing a gasp from Mystery as she felt the powerful intentions flooding her system.

“What the hell are you two doing now? Taxti’s thought shouted into her mind. “Lexi has turned into a puddle of desire. Can’t you three wait until Lexi has some privacy?”

Harmony cleared her throat as she tried to reign in her desire. “So, what have you and Jessica been up to? Any more fun meetings with the bigshots?”

They all watched her expectantly as she finally walked over to join them, obviously waiting for her to have another meltdown of some kind.

“I’m good,” Harmony assured them, flashing Mystery a grin. “For realsy this time.”

Her mother was watching her curiously as Harmony sat down on the arm of the couch. Harmony could almost feel her desire to question Harmony about the personality change. She glanced at Rhapsody questioningly. Her mother was certainly past the age threshold required for access to soul memory. Rhapsody nodded with a warm smile and Harmony turned back to her mother.

“We’ll talk about it a little later, okay?” Harmony told her affectionately.

“Talk about what?” Michael asked in confusion.

“It,” Harmony repeated with an amused twinkle in her eyes.

Michael rolled his eyes and looked over at Jessica. “You two have any plans today?”

“Declan said they’re having more entertainment tonight,” Jessica answered with an excited smile. “I had so much fun last time. I’m excited to go again, now that I feel more comfortable here.”

“Where is Declan, anyway?” Harmony asked curiously. “I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“He’s organizing tonight’s festivities,” Rhapsody answered with a fond smile. “I think he has something special in store for us tonight.”

“What?” Michael asked, his eyes intrigued.

“You’ll find out,” Rhapsody replied with a mysterious smile.

Mystery gazed at Harmony longingly, clearly wishing the seating arrangements were different. After a moment, she seemed to have an epiphany. She ran her fingers through her hair, eliciting a shiver of pleasure from Harmony. Mystery smiled with satisfaction at Harmony’s reaction and began doodling on her knee.

Michael stared at his sister shrewdly but didn’t say anything.

“I feel like there’s half a conversation going on without words in this room,” Shelley observed wryly. “Which is totally possible with a telepath in our midst.”

“There’s more than telepathy going on in here,” Michael replied in amusement, glancing at Harmony with a smirk.

“Michael!” Mystery hissed with a frown. “She’s sensitive about that.”

“Oh yeah,” Michael hung his head and glanced sideways at Harmony. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Harmony assured both of them. “I’m over feeling embarrassed about that.”

Jessica and Shelley’s eyes were on fire with curiosity as they stared between Michael and Harmony. They clearly wanted to ask, but after Mystery’s comment, they remained silent.

“Melody?” Harmony asked softly. “Are you okay with other people knowing?”

“Now that I can shut it off, yes,” Melody replied with a shrug.

“Shut what off?” Jessica asked, unable to hold the question back any longer.

“Melody and I have a severe case of mirror-touch synesthesia,” Harmony answered, feeling no fear of others finding out now that she had her memories back. Having her memories made shutting it down a simple matter now. She suddenly frowned and looked over at Rhapsody.

“You could have turned this off easily, Clar—I mean Rhapsody,” Harmony accused the suddenly innocent-faced fairy. “Why didn’t you tell me you could turn it off?”

“Because it was so freaking adorable,” Rhapsody declared with a sensual wink. “Just think of all of the things you would have missed out on if I had shut it off.”

Harmony and Mystery blushed furiously at Rhapsody’s words as the memory of some of the things Rhapsody and Mystery had done to trigger her synesthesia floated up from her memory.

“I mean, you could have turned it off when I didn’t want it on,” Harmony amended with a glare.

“I stand by what I said,” Rhapsody smirked at her. “The whole thing is adorable and a ridiculous turn on.”

Harmony’s face flushed red again and she buried her face in her arms to hide her blushing face. “How can you still make me blush so much after all this time?”

“Practice,” Rhapsody responded with a sultry chuckle.

“What’s mirror-touch synesthesia?” Jessica asked in confusion.

“It can’t be explained,” Rhapsody told her in a mysterious voice. “It can only be experienced. Come here for a second.”

“Rhapsody,” Harmony said warningly.

“What?” Rhapsody asked innocently as Jessica stood up and walked over to where Rhapsody was standing between two of the chairs.

“What are you going to do?” Harmony demanded as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

“Watch Harmony closely,” Rhapsody told Jessica with an evil smile.

“Rhapsody!” Harmony barked threateningly.

Rhapsody suddenly slapped Jessica on the ass, producing a startled squawk out of the dolled-up agent at the same time that Harmony yelped and jumped up from the couch.

She tried to show anger, but the helplessly giggling fairy was impossible to be angry with. She had to bite her own lip as she watched a furiously blushing Jessica staring at Rhapsody in shock.

“Why did you slap my ass?” Jessica demanded of the mirthful Rhapsody.

“Weren’t you paying attention to Harmony?” Rhapsody gasped as she wiped a tear from her eye.

“No, because someone slapped my ass,” Jessica growled irritably.

“Did Harmony feel that?” Shelley asked in amazement.

“Hence the name, mirror-touch,” Michael commented, his own lips twitching as he watched a disgruntled Jessica with a mixture of amusement and appreciation.

“So, she feels everything that happens to everyone else?” Shelley asked in disbelief.

“Everything,” Rhapsody nodded with a slow smile. “Both good and bad.”

“How’s that even possible?” Shelley asked with a puzzled crease to her brow. “Is it some kind of magic phenomenon?”

“It’s a psychic phenomenon,” Rhapsody explained with a wink at Jessica as she flounced back down on the couch. “More than that, if you visualize her watching you when you do something, she doesn’t even have to see it to feel it.”

“That sounds like it could be… abused pretty badly,” Shelley observed with a frown as she stared at Melody and Harmony.

“It certainly can be,” Melody agreed with a grimace. “My ex-husband did some pretty terrible things. He threatened to do worse if I ever tried to leave him.”

“He did what?” Harmony’s mother demanded angrily. “Melody, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because nothing short of him dying would have done anything to free me of his abuse,” Melody answered with a sigh. “What could you have done?”

“I could have killed him,” her mother growled furiously. “I would have killed him if I ever found out he was holding that over you. That’s the reason you never left him?”

“Yeah,” Melody nodded, her lips twisted in disgust. “I thought about killing him more times than you could imagine. I had my little angels to try and care for though. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have survived if Harmony hadn’t been there with me through most of it. I suppose I didn’t survive, in the end.”

“What happened that night?” Harmony asked tentatively. “If you’re comfortable talking about it.”

Melody nodded, her face wistful. “Those memories no longer affect me, thanks to Rhapsody,” Melody said with a grateful smile at Rhapsody.

“David was ranting about how you stole Grandma Dotti’s inheritance. He was planning to go confront you about it, and he planned to use his fists to convince you to give up the inheritance. I told him I would slit his throat in the night if he ever went near you. That triggered his psycho phase and he went and got a knife and started slashing it at me. I knew he had crossed the point of no return, so I texted you to come and get the kids. I wasn’t thinking clearly and almost got you killed. I was just so worried for Serenity and Aurora that I panicked.”

“You did the right thing,” Harmony told her firmly. “If you hadn’t texted me, he wouldn’t have stopped at killing you.”

“Yeah, I just wish I’d handled things better,” Melody sighed sadly. “I must have put those little angels through so much hell when I died.”

“David put us through so much hell,” Harmony corrected her firmly. “Not you.”

“Thanks to Rhapsody, that’s all behind us now,” Melody said warmly.

Harmony’s mother sniffed quietly as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “I should have killed that bastard.”

“Then you’d be in prison instead of here with us now,” Melody told her gently. “Let’s just appreciate the fact that we are all together now. And… we have another fun festival tonight. I fully intend to take Leesha’s spot in the dance-off this time.”

Harmony laughed, remembering how the last one went. She was curious to see how much better her sister did in her new body. She remembered how that night had ended too. She fully planned on a similar finale to the night’s festivities.

Mystery looked up at her when she felt the desire flood the bond.

“Remember how I used to wish I could reverse the flow of synesthesia?” Harmony asked Mystery with a slow smile.

Mystery’s breathing quickened at her words. “We have a few hours before the festival, don’t we?”

“So damn insatiable,” Rhapsody murmured fondly.