Chapter 41

The party was at one on Saturday. They decided that Kristen riding with him could be easily explained by her father's busy schedule and Mark living conveniently close by. It'd be natural for him to offer her a ride. They even stopped briefly by Steven's house, so that his car, if anyone saw it, would be seen leaving from there.

When they got to Kayla's house, the door was answered by a small child. Blond, male, about 7 years old. He looked up at them suspiciously. " 'lo," he mumbled. "You here for the party?"

Mark smiled. "Yes, we are."

The boy gave a long suffering sigh. "C'mon in then. They're all in the basement."

"Okay," Mark said, and followed Kristen in. The house was a mess. Not dirty, exactly, just chaotic. A cage of small, multicolored lizards occupied the couch in the front room. None of the furniture matched, and much of it was slightly burnt, torn, or chewed looking. What was probably meant to be a den was completely empty, except for boxes stacked against one wall. There were random pieces of lab equipment here and there. And books were everywhere, of course.

The boy led them through the house and to a door in the kitchen. A flight of stairs led down, decorated with purple and green paper streamers. The basement was huge. In fact, it looked quite a bit bigger than the house above it.

The stairs were sturdy, with a good handrail. A table full of alchemical glassware was pushed against one wall and tied with balloons. There were chairs and a table in the center of the large space, as well as what looked like it might be the furniture from the empty den upstairs. One corner of the basement was walled off, with a sturdy looking door leading into the large room.

Something strange and Middle Eastern sounding was playing, and the sound seemed to come from everywhere, as if the musicians were surrounding them. It took Mark a little bit to spot the tiny speakers nestled amongst the rafters. Half a dozen or so people were already in the room. He managed to spot Kayla in the center, sitting with a resigned expression on her face while being fussed over by a woman who looked a lot like an older version of herself.

He took a step towards her, then stopped, startled, as a fireball suddenly blossomed with a "WHOOSH!" in one corner. "Nearly had it that time!" The man in the corner was about 40, had black hair, singed eyebrows, and Kayla's grey eyes.

"Dad!" Kayla shouted. "It's okay. Self-lighting candles are not necessary!" A pretty blonde girl, about sixteen, snickered from the couch.

"Kayla, are you sure I shouldn't have brought my bag of tricks?" Mark asked, smiling.

"Definitely not," she said, standing up. "Hey, gang, this is my science teacher, Mark Hasseran, and Kristen. Guys, the one on fire is my Dad, Jacob. The one with the hairbrush and the maternal gleam is my mother, Anna. The demon who led you here is Josh, my baby brother. This--" She nodded towards a well-preserved older woman, who appeared to be in her mid to late forties, "Is the only sane person in my family, my grandma Sheila. Grandpa Joshua is somewhere with his demonic namesake. Aunt Ellen has control of the ... music ... over there. Her husband's in Germany." She pointed to a pair of twin boys, about three years old. "These two littler blond demon are hers. And Amber here," she said, pointing to the girl on the couch, "is technically my aunt. And you know Aaron, of course."

Mark blinked, taking it all in, then looked at Amber. "Your aunt? I see your family must age very slowly, then."

Amber looked him up and down with appreciative blue eyes, then smiled seductively. "Oh, we can age quite fast, I assure you."

Kayla snorted, her eyes narrowed with irritation. "Amber is Grandma's last child. The baby of the family."

"Older than you, Kayla dear!" the girl snapped defensively.

"Ah, I see," Mark said, hastily, then looked around for someplace to put his gift.

Grandma Sheila smiled, and he got the impression that she was quite aware of the tension between her youngest daughter and her granddaughter and found it interesting. "Table. Over there away from the open flame," she said helpfully. He smiled his thanks and headed that way.

After he deposited the packages, Kayla's father came up to shake hands. "Nice to meet you," Jacob said, "Kayla talks about you a lot."

Mark smiled, taking his hand. "Complaining I give her too much homework?"

"I think she enjoys it, actually," Jacob said. "Thank you for letting her use your telescope. I think it's wonderful of you to give the kids a safe place for extended learning after school."

"I'm just glad to see some kids who actually want to learn," Mark said, then lowered his voice, "Actually, could I talk to you a moment about Kayla's present? I want to make sure it's okay with you."

"Sure, no problem," Jacob said, then turned to where Kristen was lingering nervously near Mark. "Kristen, honey, why don't you and Aaron and the other girls see if you can find something that's not as awful as Ellen's favorite. I'm sure Kayla has some CDs. All teenagers have CDs." Once she'd moved out of earshot, he cocked his head curiously. "What's on your mind, Mark?"

"Well, I wanted to get her something she'd really like, so I settled on coupons good for me to take her on field trips. Museums in Fort Worth, that sort of thing. But I thought I should clear it with you first; if you aren't comfortable, I can swap it out with an identical package with money in it."

"No, no!" Jacob protested hurriedly. "That's a wonderful idea! It's so much trouble to get the whole family together to go out ... and Josh is quite a handful, to be honest, so we don't take trips as often as we should. She'd love it. But are you sure you want to saddle yourself with a teenage girl on your weekends like that? I mean, you're not a parent yourself."

Mark grinned. "Honestly, I don't mind. And it's an excuse for me to go to those places as well. I'd probably never get around to it on my own.

"Well, if you really don't mind. I know she's bored here in Prudence. She'd be simply thrilled."

The party was ... odd. The whole family seemed to have a habit of carrying on at least two conversations at a time, and changing their focus of attention rapidly. It was a very loving group, actually, and Kayla was obviously very fond of them, and even showed marked affection for her little brother. The only outsider was Amber, who was about as far from Kayla in personality as was possible to get and still be the same species. She was quite aware of her looks, and was obviously used to using them to get her way.

She was quite good at making catty little comments in a perfectly 'innocent' way, too. For example, after Kayla opened Mark's present, "What a wonderful present for a little bookworm like Kayla! And of course no one would think anything about you being alone with her!"

She also seemed determined to get close to Mark, and was particularly, and blatantly 'friendly' towards him, until he'd maintained an attitude of 'polite but not interested' for long enough to make it clear that his mind wasn't going to change. Then, after a brief pout, she shifted her primary focus from him to Aaron.

Aaron certainly didn't welcome the attention, but seemed to be at a loss as to how to deal with it. His eyes flicked pleadingly towards Mark, who in turn had a quiet word with Kristen the first chance he got, suggesting she might want to help the boy out.

Kristen, who up to then hadn't been sure Amber was being deliberately nasty, narrowed her eyes dangerously. Amber had simply avoided her, rather than saying anything directly, since Kristen didn't seem to be interested in either of the 'available' males present. The fact that Kristen, in the clinging black silk, with her red-gold curls loose down her back, was much, much prettier than Amber probably had something to do with it, too. The girl wasn't used to having competition without some flaw for her to jump on, and she didn't know how to handle it.

Kristen knew how to handle her, though. "Amber dear, I've just got to ask ... what brand hair-dye do you use?" she asked sweetly. "I can barely see your roots at all, and it's so hard to get a blonde that will cover them."

Amber stiffened, then smiled. It wasn't a particularly friendly smile. Mark got the impression that war had been officially declared. He decided a diversion was in order ... but one that would firmly place Kristen even further above the little viper's class. "By the way, Kayla," he said, as if trying to change the subject, "did you know you've actually got a challenger for first place in Chemistry now?"

"Oh?" Kayla asked, then glanced at Aaron speculatively.

Mark nodded. "Yep. Kristen, here, is giving you a run for your money."