Chapter 18

“Out with it, little sister,” Jax asked.

“The twins and I have been able to do it for over a year. Hana said not to tell and not to do it when others were around. She seemed very frightened that we could.”

Marx buried his head in his hands and sobbed. “I’ll become an outcast and unable to work, then what will become of us? We don’t have any coin as it is. Things have been tight for months.”

“Iota Island,” Blair said. “We will take them to Tammy and the boys. There were several spare houses they could have their pick of in Traz’s town, or we could build them a new one.”

“What will I do there, and why would they accept us?” Marx asked hopefully.

Jax replied, “Our friends are Shifters and mages like us. Most of the people in Traz’s town are of mixed race, being Prol and Pix, so they wouldn’t have any problems with you being Prol-Shifters.”

“As for work, what do you want to do? We can get you set up, and you can decide. Our friends are starting a Tea Plantation. If you want to mine, there is a copper mine near the other town.”

“Or you can just prospect and start your own mine near Traz’s town. I’m sure some of them would love to get jobs. We know there is more copper and other minerals in those hills if you want to go that way.”

“What about our other siblings?” Marx asked as he thought about what Jax said.

“We can shift them too if they wish to go,” Jax shrugged.

“Um, how are you going to shift them?” Gemma asked.

“We have access to a transportation portal and a spaceship. Depending on how long this takes to organise, the portal will probably be ready to be used in a week or so.”

Marx looked at Jax in shock, “So it’s true. You found the crystals in a cavern. Dad said you must have but didn’t wish to pressure you into telling him where they were.”

Jax nodded, “I was going to get you some, but the silly thing sent me to a different planet. That was where I found my friends. As far as I’m concerned, I was only gone for about a year, but you said it was twice as long as that.”

“Even so, Della reckons that we can easily shift between here and Iota Island as she now has the correct coordinates for the portals. Plus, last time, I didn’t tell the portal where I wanted to go.”

Jax could see that Marx was flagging with too many shocks to his system. His body still had some healing to do. With his system refuelled, he probably needed some sleep.

Jax got up and went to put her hand on her brother’s shoulder, “Marx, I’m going to go deal with Hana and then fix the room up for you. You need more sleep. I think all you kids should have a nap as well.”

They all looked at each other, and then Bob yawned, and that set the rest of them off, yawning and then giggling. They quickly piled their dishes onto the side of the sink.

Jax left to take care of Hana, and the family followed her.

Jax entered the room of her deceased stepmother.

She looked around the room and spied a tall vase up on a shelf that her father had put in place to hold it. The vase had belonged to Hana’s grandmother and had been one of her prize possessions.

Jax turned to Marx, “Do you think she would like that as the final resting place of her ashes?”

Marx looked at the vase and smiled at Jax, “Yes, I think she would.”

Jax nodded and got the vase down. She placed it beside the bed and then looked at her solemn family before she waved her hands over the body and muttered her first spell.

As the view of the body blurred, a cloud of gaseous elements rose from the body and wafted out through the open window. What was left formed a stream of particles that flowed into the vase.

As the body transformed into its base elements, Gemma said, “The cycle of life is complete once more. From birth through life to death. May the Goddesses and Gods that watch over us mortals welcome Hana, our mother, lover and friend into the Void.”

“May they deem her life well lived and grant her a new cycle. We will see you again, Hana, if not in this life, then in the next. Goodbye for now, Mother.”

Jax looked around and spied a handkerchief. She levitated it over to the vase and folded it over the narrow opening. Her next spell transformed the cloth so that it sealed the opening but left the embroidered flower across the top.

She then picked the vase up and placed it back on the shelf, and stepped back. She looked at her family. The grief was more real now that they had some time to recover from their own close encounter with death.

“Go have a cry for your loss and let sleep finish healing you,” Jax said to the kids.

They all nodded and filed out to go to their own bedrooms. Jax spelled the bed to clean the sheets and removed the last odour of sickness from the room. She had the bed made freshly and then smiled softly at her brother.