Thanksgiving (Pt. 6): Family Gatherings

--- Jon Whitaker ---

Stepping out of the heat from Felicia’s portal he found himself in his room rather than the hall they’d started their fight in, (which is probably a good thing…)

He glanced at his burnt hands before whistling, “Pix!” because even with whatever his cousin had done with her blood there was still a faint stinging in them, as well as more than enough damage for his Ma to spot the moment she saw him.

From within the borderline forest of plants sitting by his windowsill, Pix cautiously stuck her head out, her eyes darting to the portal behind him as Felicia stepped through.

“It’s fine, this is my cousin Felicia. She doesn’t mean any harm.” He assured the little fairy as she cautiously flew forward. “That said, I did end up hurting myself when I grabbed her enchanted sword.”

Pix gave him a dry look and a light zap between his eyes before promptly flying around his hands and filling them with her own healing magic, mending them until they were as good as new.

“Huh, you really do have a pet fairy.” Fe noted with only a touch of surprise.

Said fairy let out an offended chirp followed by a ranting series of tweets as she quickly got over her caution of his cousin.

“Pretty sure she’s telling you I’m her pet.” He huffed, more amused than anything.

Felicia gave him a worried look. “Uh, that’s figurative right? Because with what little I know about the Fae…”

He grimaced. “Yeah, she’s uh… we’ve got a contract, but… I’m not worried about it since she’s not that kind of Fae.” Admittedly that might change depending on how her whole ‘magical evolution’ thing worked, but he doubted it could change their relationship that much. “Honestly, she’s more like a sapient cat in personality than anything.”

“If you’re sure…” Felicia told him before glancing at his hands. “She at least fix your hands up like you wanted?”

“Good as new.” He nodded, showing them off.

“Huh, can’t even make out a scar.” His cousin blinked in surprise. “And trust me when I say, Infernus leaves scars.”

“Eh, Pix is just that good.” He shrugged, petting the preening fairy between her antenna.

Fe gave him an odd look before shaking her head. “Still we should probably head out, everyone is probably wondering where we disappeared to.”

He snapped his fingers. “Oh, yeah! I promised to sneak Jake some treats!”

“Of course you did.” Fe scoffed. “You have to bribe the kid to be his favorite for the day.”

“I’ve got to make up for lost time.” He pointed out before pausing as he realized Pix was blocking his path with her arms crossed. It took him a moment to realize what she wanted before rolling his eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll sneak you some treats too.”

Pix let out an excited chirp before doing a loop-de-loop and flying back into her little garden.

Fe watched the fairy go before asking, “Does Aunty M realize you have?”

“No.” There’d been a couple of close calls but, “I’ve made sure she hasn’t realized I’ve got Pix with me.”

“So you snuck a pet girl to live with you in your house?” His cousin clarified with a raised brow.

He took a deep breath before letting it out. “I get enough of that from Ma and Miss Edna.”

“If you’re still doing it, you really aren’t.” Fe argued as he chose to just ignore her and open the door to the hall.

Slipping into the kitchen he found his younger cousin having already swiped a couple of cookies on his own.

“You know you stealing the cookies kind of defeats the purpose of me sneaking you them.” He dryly noted, causing the kid to jump a literal foot into the air. (Hmm, I wonder if he’s a Deviant too?)

He glanced at Felicia curiously, causing the girl to wince before giving him a nod as she quietly told him, “We, uh, we get it from our mom…”

“Ah…” He didn’t really remember his aunt, given how her passing was the whole reason he and his ma had spent several years living with his uncle and cousins. (But she was important to them so… that makes her important.)

Jake finally swallowed down the cookies he’d stuffed into his mouth before telling him that, “You were taking too long.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Fe and I had something to talk about. Blame her.” He shrugged, having zero problem throwing his cousin under the bus.

“Not my fault you’ve got this going on.” Felicia argued with a gesture towards… all of him.

“And it’s not my fault you’ve got this going on.” He nodded, mimicking her gesture before turning his attention back to his younger cousin. “That said, it is my fault that you’re getting cut off before you can really spoil your appetite.”

Jake pouted up at him as he stood in front of the cookies.

“Yeah, that’s uh, that’s not really a problem with us.” Fe warned him as she swiped another cookie and tossed it Jake’s way. “It’s not as bad for him since he’s a kid, but our metabolism gets… weird.”

“Weird how?” He frowned as he nudged his younger cousin out of the kitchen.

“Weird.” His Deviant cousin reiterated, before deciding to leave it at that as she moved to swipe another cookie. First with her hand, and then with her tail when he moved to stop her.

(Right, going to have to get used to that…) He realized as she tossed Jake a second cookie as he passed her by.

“Thanks Fe, you’re the best!” His younger cousin called, earning a smug look on the elder.

“Anyway, noticed you made… a lot of food here.” Felicia admitted as she looked around the kitchen. “Even counting how many of us there are, I mean… is that a second turkey?”

“I’m taking the leftovers out to some of the homeless in the area later.” He explained, as he slid the cookies back into the oven below said turkey so she couldn’t swipe anymore to buy off Jake’s affection. (Only one of us is allowed to do that.) “Figure we’ve got enough, that there’s no reason not to share it with those who don’t.”

“Sounds nice.” His cousin smiled before using a finger to open a small portal, reaching inside and pulling out another cookie.

He narrowed his eyes as she plopped the cookie in her mouth. (Note to self, figure out how to kill portals…)

“Oh, there you two are.” His ma’s voice cut in. “Didn’t notice you guys coming inside.”

“Yeah, we uh…” He ran a hand across the back of his neck trying to come up with a half-truth as his ma passed him by for the fridge.

“That was me.” Fe cut in, earning a curiously confused look from the two other Whitakers in the room.

“Okay?” His Ma frowned at the odd note.

“Right, no. Fumbled that.” Felicia grimaced, before raising a hand. “There’s a thing I’m trying to say.”

His ma glanced his way before nodding slowly. “And that is…?”

“I’m a Deviant.” Fe answered, bring both him and his Ma up short. (She’s… she’s admitting it that easily?)

“R-really?” His Ma blinked. “Uh… is this something you’ve told John- Er, big John?”

“Yeah, yeah. He knows… we, I get it from my mom.” Felicia tried to explain, as she stressed herself out with this. “Um, it’s… it’s part of why we ended up moving to their town, to help me figure… things out.”

“Oh…” His Ma nodded, clearly not sure what to do here. A state he’d rarely seen her in. “That’s, um, I’m uh, I’m glad you feel comfortable telling me?”

“Yeah, I… when mom passed you… you and Jon were there and…” His Ma drew her niece into a hug, seeing how difficult this was and he patted Fe’s shoulder not entirely sure if he should interrupt or not.

After a moment, Felicia stepped away from his Ma while wiping at her eyes. “Any-anyway, I know Mags is an M.A.D. and Theo is a practitioner, so now that I… sort of know what I’ve got going on there’s uh, there’s no reason not to tell you guys that I’m a… Deviant.”

“Hey, hey, this doesn’t change anything kiddo.” His ma promised, leaving an arm around Fe’s shoulder as she gave the younger woman a soft smile. “You’re still my little Fe-Fe, and I’m still your Aunty M? Okay?”

“I know.” Felicia nodded. “But part of why I was telling you this is… I kind of want to come around more often?”

“Of course! I mean… Me and John will have to work something out to get you here, but you’re always welcome in our home Fe.” His Ma smiled, before something in her expression cracked. “But… I’ve got to ask… Is everything alright, back home? With your mom’s family?”

“Yeah, no, no they’re… great, it’s just… they’re not you guys.” Fe told her, glancing his way. “And um, one of my Deviant things is that I can sort of… teleport places I’ve been and so… it’s not as hard for me to just… pop up here. And I know Jake would love to spend more time with both of you guys too.”

His Ma blinked. “That… that would be great!”

“Uh, everything alright in here?” A cautious voice called.

The three of them turned towards Big John standing in the doorway to the kitchen, I couldn’t really hear but… things were looking emotional in here and… is everything alright?” His uncle fretted.

“Uh, yeah.” Fe wiped at her eyes. “Yeah, I was… I was just telling Aunty M that I uh, that I’m a Deviant.”

Big John’s eyes went wide. “Oh! R-really?!”

“Uh, yeah, just… come with me.” Felicia told her adoptive father as she dragged him out of the kitchen leaving him and his ma alone in the kitchen, each of them processing what just happened.

Eventually, he found himself saying, “You know she’s doing this because of you getting hospitalized, right?” It was the only thing that really made sense to him.

“I know…” His Ma sighed, running a hand down her face. “Theo and Mags are acting pretty much the same way. Both of them want to start physically checking instead of just phone calls all the time… It’s annoying, but I get it. The only part that gets me is Felicia’s portal thing…”

“What do you mean?” He frowned.

“Going off experience, portals are tricky and Fe ‘s had her Deviancy for maybe two years now, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with her using them to visit us all the time.” His Ma admitted with a concerned look towards the hall. “I might have to talk with John about driving her out for weekends or something.”

“Well… it can’t hurt to see everyone more often?” He shrugged, knowing how much he’d missed everyone when he and his Ma first went their own way.

“Yeah, it can’t.” His Ma agreed with a soft grin, before blinking. “Are those burn marks on your shirt?”

“Uh…”