Chapter 10

This day was not as exciting for Paige as the previous one.

She did, however, have her sketchbook and while Collin and Serpin traipsed around town looking at things for their shop, she happily drew. She had missed having a sketch pad and decided that Collin may not have been as excessive as she had thought when he had purchased her a whole carton of drawing pads for her.

She loved the feel of the slightly rough page and her fingers sliding over it as her pencils and crayons captured the scenes of the city around her. She liked to sketch in colours and not just soft pencil. She felt as if a piece of her mind that had been closed off to her had once again awoken. The sheer joy of letting her eyes direct her hand to produce an image on the page was a balm to her soul.

At first, Collin and Serpin were worried she would be bored but once Paige fond a spot to sit and pulled out her pad they knew she was happy, so they got on with doing what they needed to do. In some instances, they had to wait for her to finish before they could move on, but they considered it a small price to pay.

They had both worked out that Paige had an interesting effect on people. If they went to interrupt her while she was drawing, somehow, it just didn’t happen. They would look at her hands, become mesmerised and end up standing or sitting near her so they could watch as some scene was created on her pad.

It often took her to stop and rip the page off the pad and hand it to one of her admirers before they even possibly remembered why they were near her in the first place. Collin dubbed the effect as Paige’s happy bubble. He and Serpin had noticed that they were not totally immune either. Paige’s happiness seemed to affect all who were near her.

It wasn’t until that night that they determined one of the reasons for why her happy bubble seemed even bigger than they had detected before. Collin offered to change to female form for the girls. While Serpin was happy to service him in this manner, Paige demurred. She then had to admit that she couldn’t change.

Both Serpin and Collin were stunned when she said, “I’m carrying your children, so I can’t.”

“Paige, why?” Serpin asked.

“Because, it’s what I wanted to do for you, both. Serpin, I’m not cut out to be a smith, but I will make a great mother. I know both of you wish to have children. I felt your desires when we talked about them the other day but neither of you felt that it was time for either of you to carry a child. You are both to tied-up with other things.”

“For me, however, I can pursue my art at my own pace. I can help you in many other ways, but I felt that this job, being the mother to your children was one I could excel at. I’ve always wanted children and lots of them.”

“I want your children. We are all gifted so our children will be too. I plan to do a lot of study to make sure I am prepared for what they could get-up-to. Mea has found me a lot of information about dealing with gifted children that can shapeshift. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Collin groaned, “Serpin, we will have to design the new building to be childproof. Knowing any kids that are mine, we will have put triple the protection spells on the smithy too.”

Serpin and Paige both giggled and kissed him. Both had noticed he had not said he was displeased with the fact that Paige had decided to have their children. To be honest, Serpin was relieved. She had noticed the odd wistful look Collin had directed at couples with babies and believed Paige had read him perfectly.

She found as she mulled it over, she wasn’t really unhappy either. Paige’s children would be a combination of all three of them. She knew she had decided if she had children then these two would make her children as gifted as Paige predicted. They would also be full sisters to Paige’s brood since they all carried each other’s sperm.

Mayhaps in a few more years she would add her contribution but for now, she found that she really did like the idea of having kids especially as long as she didn’t have to carry them and breastfeed them. She hugged Paige and said, “We will help you know.”

“Oh, I know. My biggest worry is that once I have the babies, I will have to use a pry-bar to get them back from you and Collin. That’s why I decided I had better have three.”

They looked at her in shock and once she started giggling, they had to join her. “Now, I think Serpin should change and you two should do that wonderful thing you did to me the other night.”

They both knew what she wanted and her climbing on Collin told Serpin that she got to be the director this time. Serpin found she was more than happy to give Paige the pleasure that Collin had taught her to enjoy.

She loved being a Shifter and in a triad with two people that she loved dearly.

They discovered that Minnie and Micky had put in a pool.

Since they had the ball to attend that night, they decided to be lazy. They did have mundane chores to do like washing clothes and the girls had made a booking to be pampered at a beauty parlour across the street after lunch. Collin had agreed that a haircut was not out of the question.

He knew all three of them could use a bit of magic to pretty themselves up, but he did know he wasn’t particularly good at styling his unruly hair and had used the services of a barber in the past. Once it was cut again, he could keep the style indefinably. He also knew for the girls that it was more about the pampering then the final product. They were just as likely to adjust the look they got if they decided, it need a little more or less.

Francine had been notorious for spending a fortune doing just that and he hadn’t really noticed a lot of difference because she tended to go back to the look she preferred within days. His appointment was earlier than the girls was and he told them they would probably find him near the pool or in the room when they got back. They had spent the first couple of hours of the day swimming and laying by the pool playing with the cool pad that was part of their vambraces.

Collin headed over the road to his appointment after kissing the girl’s goodbye. After a discussion with the barber, he decided to get his hair cut short. Long hair when working as a Smith was a pain and the barber showed him a style that he believed would suit Collin and he decided to try it.

It left him with some curls on top but was short down the sides and back. He knew the girls loved his curls, so it was a good compromise. He was pleasantly surprised by the look in the mirror. He actually looked a little closer to his age. He often felt that he looked sixteen going on seventeen rather than the twenty-seven that he now was.

His father had given him the medallion at sixteen and he had often felt he was stuck at that age. He determined that he looked like he had at least hit his twenties. He also decided it was a better look for a father to be and really liked it and thanked the barber. He hoped the girls did. He got some sandwiches and pastries for lunch and some extra snack foods and headed back to the Motel.

He froze when he went to open the door.

“Hello, Collin,” the voice behind him said.

A feeling of dread hit him, and he slowly turned.

“Hi Trae,” he returned as calmly as he could. “Come on in.” He pushed the door open and entered the room. He could see the girls had left and was silently relieved.

He put the jug on to boil the water for kaffe and put the lunch items in a plate on the table, he had bought enough for three people. Neither man said anything while Collin bustled around. Once he had the kaffe ready, he put milk and honey on the table and gave Trae a cup and spoon and poured for both but left the jug on the table so they could top up their cups.

Finally, he sat opposite Trae. “How’s Francine?” Collin had to ask.

Trae smiled, “Good first question. She and Edward are engaged.”

Collin smiled in delight. “Good for them. He is much better for her than I ever was. He has a backbone of steel that boy. My father underestimated him. It was only recently when I was thinking of Edward that I realise that my father’s control slipped when Edward was around.”

“He couldn’t stand Edward being anywhere near me. Oddly, in my lucid moments, I sought Edward out just so I could stay that way. I often wished that Edward would hit me, so I got some peace from my father. Did you know he used to check on Justine for me?”

Trae nodded, so Collin went on, “I tried to be at home if I knew that Carl was, but it wasn’t easy. Sometimes I was glad he was with me, in me, because then he wasn’t bothering her. Trae, I’ve been worried about Justine, is she staying with nice people?”

“Yes, Edward’s parents took her in,” Trae answered and observed the relief on Collin’s face. This wasn’t going exactly how he thought it would, but he decided to play it out the way Collin seemed to be directing it. Something very odd was going on here and he was curious.

“Thank you. I know they probably won’t want it, but can you thank Edward and his parents for me. I was thinking of writing to Justine and Francine but every time I read the letters I start, I don’t believe me either. I’m not sure if you will but this might help. With the power you have you should be able to read the truth.”

Collin got up and he went and pulled a small bag from a pack. He then handed it to Trae. He dropped to his knees in front of him to Trae’s surprise. “It was my medallion. My father gave it to me when I was sixteen. I don’t know where he got it from Trae. I can barely look at it without feeling ill and I can’t touch it.”

“Please touch me and read my memories. I wasn’t totally innocent, and I will accept whatever punishment you decide on,” Collin told him and closed his eyes and bowed his head.

Trae was nonplussed. Who was this man? What happened to the Collin he knew and despised? He knew this body belonged to Collin de Ullina. Mind you, it looked in a lot better condition than when he had last seen it.

His skin wasn’t sallow anymore and he was definitely carrying as much muscle as he did before, if not a bit more. While he was not a lot taller than Collin was, he had the slimmer built of them. He then noticed that Collin had some darker strips in his hair like a shifter. He had golden hair, but the darker highlights had appeared more recently.