Moontouched 27

“I've got to get dinner on,” said Sidney.  She gave Donna and Gwen a piercing look.  “No sneaky transforming my daughter while I'm not looking.”

“Fine,” promised Donna with a sigh.  “She'll stay human.”

“And female.  And her usual size.”  There was a hint of a grin on Sidney's face.  “Did I forget anything?”

“Yep.  Colour.  Weight.”

“Tattoos,” added Gwen helpfully.  “And piercings.”

Sidney's frown returned.  “Definitely not either of those.”

“Way to ruin it, Gwen,” giggled Donna.

“Sorry.  Um... feathers?”

“Covered under ‘human’” noted Donna dryly as Sidney sighed and left the room.

“Oooh, we could give her a fursuit.”

“What’s a fursuit, Auntie Daddy?”

“A bit like a Hallowe’en costume, except nicer.  Nice enough that it makes you look like you’re a real catgirl, not just a person in a costume.”

“I can be a kitty?  Please?”

And before Donna knew it, the fursuit she’d been thinking about had appeared on her daughter, spun out of magic.  Courtney bounced on the couch excitedly, then gave Donna and Gwen a fuzzy hug.  “Yay!  I’m a kitty!”  Her ears twitched and her tail swished as she danced.

“Well,” mused Donna softly.  “That was easier than expected.”

“How so?” asked Gwen.

“I expected that changing myself wouldn’t use much power.  But things like that, made from magic?  They should use a little, right?”

“I would have thought so, until I felt what you did.  You’re still fully charged?”

Donna nodded.  “Bet I could still do half the fantasies we usually get...  And with that box of marbles, I could do a lot of the others, too.”

“I don’t think Sidney would be keen on that.  Especially now that the financial argument is gone,” said Gwen sagely.

Donna sighed, and slumped back on the couch making Gwen jiggle.  “Bother.”

“Duncan!” shouted Sidney.  “I said no changing Courtney!”

Donna grinned, and bounced off the couch to head into the kitchen.  She closed her robe, hiding Gwen from public sight.  “I didn’t change her dear. It’s just a really nice costume.”  With a wave of her hand, the costume’s head vanished, revealing Courtney’s smiling face under the fur.

“Awww,” pouted Courtney.  Another wave of Donna’s hand returned the fur and ears.

“See?  Nothing to fret about.  Even if it wasn’t going to evaporate whenever I get distracted, she’d be able to get out of it.  There’s a zipper down the back.”

“That’s splitting hairs awfully fine.”

“Not at all.  Our daughter is unchanged, and yet having fun.  Both constraints are satisfied.”

Sidney’s lips quirked into a partial grin.  “That sounds almost like Duncan.”

“He’s coming around.  Last night was rough on him.”

Courtney kept her fursuit on through dinner, even though slurping up spaghetti with a short muzzle proved tricky.  By the time she was done, the suit had more than a little spaghetti sauce on it.  She reluctantly took it off, and Donna tossed it in the shower.  The suit vanished, leaving a little splatter of sauce that was easily cleaned up.

Courtney cried when she saw it disappear, so Donna hugged her tight.  “I’ll make another one tomorrow night, okay?  Think about what you want to be tomorrow.”

Courtney grinned, and went running off to announce to her mother that she was going to be a purple unicorn tomorrow.  Sidney ignored her, as she was on the phone with her Mum, and looking worried.

“Duncan?”

“What now?”

“Turn on the news.”

Last night’s disaster was the headline, of course.  While the damage done was confined to a handful of city blocks, the entire city was in a panic.  The two highways out of town were jammed, and the ferries backlogged so badly they were already turning people away despite having pressed an extra ferry into service.

“Everyone thinks it’s going to get worse,” said Sidney.  “But you know it’s not, right?”

“They’ll calm down when nothing happens tonight.”

A shaken looking fire chief was being interviewed on the television, and his comments weren’t exactly comforting.  It was pretty clear they had no idea what had happened, or why.  His answers when asked what would happen tonight were vague promises to be more vigilant, and that the whole force would be on alert.  It was not comforting to hear.

“That’s just going to make things worse,” fumed Sidney.  “Mum’s in a full blown panic over it.  You have to do something.”

“What can I do?  I can’t just show up at the TV station and say ‘oh, by the way, I captured the thing doing this, she’s this crystal in this little box here’.  Even if they didn’t just laugh me out of the studio, nothing would get past magic censorship.”

Gwen mumbled something from within Donna’s robe, and was swiftly freed.  “Call Rowan, she’s got contacts all over.”

Donna did so, and her request for a contact within the fire department was met with a short bark of laughter from Rowan.  “Your timing is excellent.  There’s someone from the fire department here right now, asking for our ‘expertise on the subject’.”

Sidney protested when Donna said she had to go to the Blue Vixen, but acquiesced when Donna pointed out that it was neutral ground, and would keep the connection between Donna and Duncan secret.  Donna promised not to be away for too long.

Traffic was unusually light on the way into town, and finding parking near the Blue Vixen was easier than Donna had ever seen it.  When she got to the club, it was nearly deserted.

“Where is everyone?” asked Donna when she found Rowan.

The older woman sighed.  “You’ve seen the news.  I’m surprised any girls showed up at all.  Then again, the club’s nearly deserted.  If I didn’t know we were safe, I’d have closed up shop and headed home myself.”

Rowan escorted Donna to Private Room 3, where an older man with a familiar face was sitting.  “Chief O’Malley, meet our... consultant in the matters you were asking about.”

Donna shook his hand.  “I saw you on the news just now.  Hi, I’m Donna.”

The fire chief shook Donna’s hand with a puzzled expression.  “I don’t understand.  What do you have to do with the fires?”

“You’re the one that came here.  Why?”

“One of my guys was convinced that I would get something out of this. He said something about a toy soldier, then clammed up and said I’d have to see for myself.”

“Then let us begin.”  Donna took a seat in one of the room’s chairs.  After a moment, a bright spark appeared in front of the chief, and started to grow.  When it was done, a foot tall toy soldier settled slowly to the floor.

“How did you do that?”

“Pick it up.  Convince yourself that it’s real.”

The fire chief did so, studying the toy.  “It looks real.  How’d you make it appear?”

“Magic.”  At the cynical look she received, Donna frowned.  “Fine.  Name another toy, and watch closely.”

“How about a rocket?”  Chief O’Malley’s eyes widened slightly in surprise as the toy in his hands started to change shape, becoming a sleek red rocket over the course of a handful of seconds.

“Convinced now?  Magic is real.  The midnight arsonist was a creature of magic, and in the moments before its defeat, it lashed out and did the damage you saw.”

The chief slumped back in his chair, heavily.  “It’s gone?  How can you be sure?”

“Imprisoned, not gone.  In her current state, she will not be a threat.”

“Why should I believe you?”

Donna closed her eyes, let out a small huff of frustration, and massaged her forehead while she considered the problem.  “The first building to be extinguished, presumably the least damaged.  One room in it was different.  Did you see the report?”

He shook his head slowly.  “There was something odd, but it didn’t come out and say what.”

“Go there, then.  See for yourself.  Everything in the apartment in question has been turned to stone.”

“Stone?  Why stone?”

“It doesn’t burn.”

“Why just the one apartment, then?”

“It was too slow.  The rest were hit by something like firefighting foam, though I doubt you found any residue.”

The chief nodded slowly.  “That’s the most puzzling thing about last night.  The fires just... went out.  With nothing to show why.”

“The five survivors from the building that fell don’t rate most puzzling?  Talk to one of them again, in private – just you and them.  No recording devices or the like.  See what they have to say about how they survived.”  Donna got up, and turned toward the door.  “Then ask yourself again.  Do you believe me?”

“I don’t know...”

“Ask the survivors if they were wearing silver.  You’ll find that all of them were.”

“That’s not much help.”

“It’s what I can give you.  If my story checks out, then you have cause to believe me.  If it doesn’t, well... the attacks won’t continue, other than copycats.  By morning, you’ll know.”

Donna leaned against the doorframe, waiting for a response.

“This is a lot to take in,” said Chief O’Malley with the slightest hint of an apologetic tone.  “Yesterday, I’d never even heard of magic.  Those fires, all at once...”  He shuddered.  “Do you know how they started?”

“The news hasn’t mentioned it yet, that I’ve seen.  The people were the ignition points,” said Donna softly.  “Killed for the power their death would bring.  The excess power lit everything around them on fire.”

The chief swore.  “That makes it even worse.  Are you really sure it won’t happen again?”

“The entity that did it has been imprisoned.”

“Well,” he said at last.  “That’s something to give the press.  Not sure how I can sell it without a demo like you gave me, though.”

“You won’t be able to, at all.”  Donna went on to describe how magic censored those who knew about it when speaking to those who don’t.

“Ah.  Well, I can go with the old standby of ‘we have reliable reports that...’  You’re sure this won’t blow up again tonight?”

“As sure as anyone can be.”

He nodded, then approached Donna and shook her hand.  “Thank you.  With luck, we can put all this behind us and rebuild.  I just wish...”

“What?” asked Donna, tensing up.

“A couple of the guys got messed up really bad when the other building fell.  They’re probably going to live, but both will be crippled for life.  Is there anything...”

“Yes, of course.  But... not until the next full Moon.  Can they wait that long?”

The chief looked pained.  “I don’t know.  Jim’s touch and go.  Carl should be able to hold out.”

“Fine.  Tell me where they are, and meet me there in... say, an hour?  I need to go fetch something, then I’ll see what can be done.”

Sidney wasn’t too happy when Donna said she was only home for a minute.  As she picked up the box full of magically-crafted marbles, Donna explained what she was going to go do.  

“Are you sure?  The last time you healed someone it caused you a lot of pain.”

“These guys got hurt because I screwed up, and didn’t realize one of the other buildings was ready to collapse.  I owe them this much, they charged in without the kind of invulnerability I had.  Besides, it’s just pain.  After last night... somehow, it’s not as big a deal any more.”

The trip to the hospital was just as quiet as the one to the Blue Vixen.  The hospital itself was abuzz with activity, however.  When she asked Chief O’Malley about it, he said that they were standing down from evacuation preparation, on the strength of his conviction that the problem was over.  He had talked with some of the survivors from the first collapse, and their confirmation of how they’d been saved had convinced him of Donna’s story.

He led the way to a room where the two firefighters were recuperating.  At his insistence an old friend of his came along, one Doctor O’Brien.  Donna consulted briefly with the doctor as to the nature of the injuries on the more urgently wounded firefighter.  The collapse had nearly caved in his chest, and almost every organ except his heart had sustained damage.  Half a day’s worth of surgery had stabilized the worst of the bleeding, but the prognosis was grim as many of the damaged organs were failing.  The shredded mess where his legs once were barely rated a mention.

A few minutes and several handfuls of marbles later, Jim was sitting up and chatting affably with the stunned doctor.  Repairing Carl’s lesser injuries was almost an afterthought.  Both firefighters were urgently cautioned to wear silver at all times for the next month, and arrangements were made to meet Donna once more on the next full moon.

Chief O’Malley was so happy to see his men healthy that he barely had time to be amazed.  Doctor O'Brien's enthusiasm and frank curiosity more than made up for it.  He had noticed the marbles and asked Donna about them.  Vague answers there led to him asking about the limits of what she could do.  Donna explained some of her earlier efforts such as healing Gwen's damaged spine, and how other attempts had gone awry.  She expressed her doubts about whether or not she could make a long term difference for someone with cancer or the like.  Doctor O'Brien pointed out that they were in a ward full of trauma patients much like the ones she'd just helped.

“Oh sure.  How are you going to explain the sudden and miraculous (hush, Gwen) recovery of a half dozen or more patients?  I'd rather not be hounded, or get squirreled away in the name of science.”

“I suppose I shall have to come up with something.  Jim in particular will be hard to hide, we had over a dozen people involved in the surgery.”  The doctor laughed ruefully.  “I'd complain about you putting me out of work, but results like this...”

“There's only the one of me, though.”

“What's this about hiding Jim?” asked Chief O'M with a frown.  “I won't lie to his family.”

“Could you at least keep it quiet?  We'll release him in the morning, just try to keep him out of the media.  I'll have a hard enough time with the paper trail as it is, I don't need questions about missing legs regrowing.”

Jim nodded eagerly.  “I'm just glad to be alive.”  He looked over at Donna, who'd taken on an unassuming build for the trip to the hospital.  “I owe you more than I can ever repay.”

Donna shook her head, and tried to hide her tears.  “No you don't.  I shouldn't have left before everyone was out.  I thought when the fires were out, it was over.”

Jim's expression grew even more awestruck.  “You're the one that stopped the fires?  Hell, you probably saved at least half a dozen of us just by doing that, never mind all the other people you saved.”

“I...  I...”  Donna turned and fled the room.

“You could have just said thank you,” murmured Gwen from her breast.  “He was right.”

“Listen to that voice,” said the doctor from behind Donna.  “I don't know what you're beating yourself up over, but you did a lot of good last night.  Tonight, too.  You left your box of marbles behind.”  He hefted it to show Donna.  “Want to do some more good right here?  If I'm going to be covering stuff up, let's make it big.”

Donna sniffed back the last of her tears, and nodded.  “I'd like that.  Until I'm out of marbles, let's go heal some people.  Do you know which ones stand to gain the most, Doctor... uh, O'Brien, was it?”

“Just call me Colin.  And yes, I have my own list of those I'd save first.  A bunch are right here, actually.  We have a half dozen smoke inhalation victims from last night's fires, and at least as many from traffic accidents tonight.  It's mad out there, though Sparky's latest announcement seems to have helped.”

“Sparky?”

“The chief.  We go way back, that's why he got me called in on his guys.  I'm glad it meant I got to meet you, too.  I hope we can work together again next time you've got more marbles.”

Donna chuckled.  “There are those who say I've already lost my marbles.  Let's go make them right.”

By the time the box was empty, Donna had treated everyone on Colin's priority list, and several more besides.  The doctor sent her on her way after that, with a cheerful wave.  “And now I go to do some very creative writing.  If I get caught, I'll probably end up before the board.”

“Is it that bad?”

He grinned again.  “Did you see what we did tonight?  Who cares?”

Donna couldn't help but smile back.  “Yeah.  Thank you.  I really needed this.”

Colin nodded sagely.  “It's the best therapy I've found after I lose a patient.  I got the feeling you were in the same kind of place.”

“I'll be back, next month.  I've... got more to atone for, but I think I can balance the books if we can keep doing this.”

“That would be wonderful.  I look forward to covering up many more saved lives.”

Donna practically skipped all the way back to her car, and her cheerful mood lasted the entire trip home.  Even arguing with Sidney over sleeping arrangements couldn't put a damper on her spirits.

Donna and Gwen slept in the guest room, while robo-Duncan stayed in the master bedroom with Sidney.  Donna managed to split her attention between the two bodies enough to carry on a lights-out conversation with Sidney while keeping Gwen company in her body.  By the time Sidney finally went to sleep, Donna had already designed the radio transceiver she’d add to robo-Duncan next month.

When she explained the plan to Gwen, her breast giggled.  “Hey Duncan.  Good to have you back.”