Delia and Lucas arrived in Riverview in the late fall just before the snow came. This was a big change from the sunny coastal city where Lucas had lived his entire life. He couldn’t wait for the snow.
The home Delia found was a two story
home with a huge attic and detached garage.
At first she thought she could hide her alchemy room in the attic, but
as it turned out the space was too cramped and she was forced to build a
basement.
She decided to create a wine
cellar with an entrance in the garage and hide the entrance to the alchemy room
off of it. No one would have any idea it was there. It was perfect. As long as she didn’t do
anything stupid like leave the door open!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lucas settled into school and Delia
began her quest to find the ingredients needed to create the cure elixir for
Lucas. She started at the local elixir store and was told she could find the
plant she wanted in the Fairy Arboretum and the gems needed would be found in
the Vault of Antiquity located across the river by the cemetery. She didn’t tell the clerk why she needed these
particular items. But once she found them,
she would be able to create the cure. 
Next she stopped by the consignment shop
to give them some items to sell and start meeting people. The clerk was quite odd and kept talking to
himself. But she managed to get her items consigned. They did have an interesting item for
sale though. It was an old lamp. Delia bought
in on impulse and figured it would be a good addition to her collection in the
basement.
As she was leaving the store, Delia ran
into another one of the locals, Daniel Green. He started chatting her up and
began asking her a thousand questions about herself. The folks here in Riverview are quite quirky
for sure! She did tell him she was new
in town and had bought the big house out in the country. Then he started telling her all about her house. Finally as she tried to
gracefully extract herself he told her he was having a party next week and it
would be a great way for her to get to know more people. She said she would give it some thought and
left grateful to get away from the chatter box.
When Delia got home, she took the lamp
to the alchemy room to store it. Before
she put it up, she decided to clean it a bit.
When she rubbed the lamp, it began to smoke and shake in her hands. She dropped it on the floor and backed away frightened.
A very irate genie popped out much to
her surprise. “Why did you have to drop
my house on the floor!” he demanded.
“Uh, I didn’t know it was your house - are
you a - uh genie?” she asked still unable to believe her eyes.
“Yeah!
You know the drill – three wishes. Whadda you want? You interrupted my beauty sleep! Make it
snappy.”
“To meet my one true love!” blurted out Delia sarcastically since she thought he was rude and yes, that was the one thing she as always wished for and knew would never happen.
“NO!” gasped Delia.
“It is done.”
“Wait – you can’t grant true love!” she
admonished the blue man.
At that his eyes began to glow and it
felt like he was looking into her soul. Then a light enveloped her and she actually
levitated for a minute or two.
After she came back down to the ground and
was attempting to catch her breath, he asked her if he could be of further
service.
“No!” exclaimed Delia, “Get back into
your – that - THING!
And he did just that.
Delia was no longer a stranger to the occult. But
Genies! Really?!
Delia put the lamp on the top
shelf. She never wanted to see that blue
man again! He was unnerving and she had
more pressing issues other than an irate genie to deal with right now. She needed to find the items for the Lucas’
cure.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After Lucas headed off to school, Delia went
her own way in her old faithful roadster.
It’s been awhile since she had to drive through the snowy streets. Not since they lived in Bridgeport. At least
it had stopped snowing for now.
When she pulled up outside the Arboretum, Delia had a flashback to the time she and her second husband went inside the Arboretum in Hidden Springs. She remembers how she felt when she went in, not what transpired in there, but more the way she felt the minute she walked in the doors. It was as if she belonged there somehow. She stopped at the entrance with her hand on the door. She was a little afraid of going inside. But she had to. For Lucas.
Delia took a deep breath and stepped
in. It was exactly like before. The feeling of calm and of belonging was
overpowering. She breathed in the warm
atmosphere and immediately became peaceful and relaxed. She couldn’t stay, so she gathered her
thoughts and went about searching for the perfect mushroom that will cure Lucas. She found it easily.
By now it had started snowing
again. Delia walked up the pathway and
went inside. It took her awhile to
locate the gem, but she found it and left. She had to hurry. Tonight was prom night and she promised Lucas
he could go since it wasn’t a full moon.
While he was gone she could
make the potion.
She really enjoyed making the
elixirs. Maybe she would start making
them again after Lucas was cured. She
was at home doing this, but not as ‘at home’ as she was in the Fairy Arboretum.
Eventually the cure was ready. She would give it to Lucas tomorrow.
“Did you get to dance with anyone?” she
asked with a smile.
Lucas just shrugged his shoulders and
said, “Well I sort of got named King of the Prom so I had to dance with Ari
Moore since she was Queen.”
“Oh, well, congratulations. You haven’t
been in Riverview very long and everyone already likes you! That is great
Lucas.”
“Whatever. Uh, can Ari come over next week to study? We have our science class together and she said she needed some help.”
“Of course,” laughed Delia, “but I have
good news for you. I have the medicine
that will cure your uh, illness.”
“You don’t have to call it that. I know it is really a curse. Can we do it
now?”
“No, you need to rest and so do I. We will get you rested and fed and then
tomorrow afternoon, you can drink the medicine.”
“You mean potion don’t you?”
“Why do you say that?”
“I
know how to look stuff up mom. I am not a moron.”
“Hon, you can’t believe everything you
read. Get to bed and tomorrow when we
are both rested and have breakfast, we will do this.”
“G’night
Mom, and uh, thanks.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“It’s time Lucas. Are you ready?” asked Delia. “As ready as I ever will be,” he
replied.
“We will know for sure at the full
moon. But your eyes. They DO look different. They no longer glow.”
“It MUST have worked then. Thank you, thank you, thank you…Now I can ask
out Ari…I mean…”
“Aww,
you DO like her!”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few weeks later, Delia received a phone
call from Daniel, the guy she met at the consignment store. She missed his last party because she was
just too preoccupied with Lucas. He said
he was having another get together and would love for her to come. This one was a cocktail party so a bit
formal. She hadn’t dressed up in a long
time and thought, why not, Lucas is doing well. I might as well meet some
people.
When she walked into the party she was
greeted by an attractive gentleman she had not previously met. He said is name was Troy Reynolds and wanted
to know if she was the Delia Schlick
he had heard so much about.
What had he heard she thought in a panic?
“What do you mean Troy?” asked Delia
trying to gracefully find out what he meant by that.
“My friend Daniel said you were beautiful,
sweet and charming. I would say check,
check and check. He was right, as far as
I can tell - so far anyway.”
Delia blushed and thought – no YOU are all of those things – check,
check and triple check! Before she
could reply the music started and he asked her to dance. She caught her breath at the thought of being
that close to him. She just nodded yes
and smiled. She didn’t know what to say.
Troy was a good dancer and they danced
for two dances before the music stopped. Delia was having a wonderful time.
Delia got lost in his eyes and felt like
her knees were going to give out. “I am
not sure about love at first sight, but I definitely would like to see you again
too.”
When she said she would see him again,
he smiled and twirled her around. Yes, thought Delia as he spun her, I could see a whole lot more of that smile
and those eyes.
