Before Margie's fingers could touch it, Lu's face disappeared. No, it wasn't just his face. The entire Lu transformed into a streak of white light that flashed to the other side of the clearing.
Margie looked at her hand as she clenched and unclenched her fist. Empty. There was nothing where Lu's face was supposed to be. She looked at Lu on the other side of the clearing with the moonlight illuminating his white hair.
"What the fuck was that, you little cheater?"
"I have no idea!"
Lu answered with a wide grin of excitement.
"Well, can you do it again? If that's your Blessing on day one, I can't even begin to imagine what it will be in the future. Fucking tele—no, it's not quite teleportation. Whatever. Do it again."
Margie urged Lu to do it again while clenching her fist.
Since he also wanted to, Lu exerted himself until his face reddened.
"I said do it again, not shit your pants."
Lu glared at Margie.
"How long did it take until you could control your Blessing?"
"..."
"Exactly. Now, let me focus. I just need to replicate the feeling I got when I did that just now. Shouldn't be too hard."
"I can help you."
Margie was already stalking toward Lu while massaging the palm of her hand with her fist again. She had to establish dominance before it was too late.
"No need."
The next moment, Lu turned into a beam of white light again and traveled to the other side of the clearing in a matter of seconds. So, he wasn't the speed of light, but he was pretty darn fast.
"Haha! I'm a genius!"
Lu pointed at the moon with his nose with his hands on his hips as he boasted. He then turned to Margie. Margie felt a chill run down her spine at Lu's ominous gaze.
Without saying anything further, Lu transformed into a streak of light and targeted Margie. Before Margie could react, he was already in front of her with his fingers against her waist.
"Noo—IYAH!"
Lu's nimble fingers tickling her sides were Margie's greatest weakness! But through sheer willpower, she gathered her composure and reached toward Lu, who just huffed condescendingly before transforming into a streak of light again. He ran away!
"Huh?"
"What are you doing?"
However, Lu didn't get far before his Blessing gave up on him and transformed him back into a human. He didn't even get a single step before falling to the ground in an exhausted, panting pile of tardy regret.
"Uh…Nothing."
Lu hurried to get back on his feet, but he wasn't as fast as Margie. She had him in a chokehold before he knew it. It was a loss.
Lu played around with Margie and his Blessing a little while more before starting to feel drowsy. Margie could tell Lu was exhausted, which wasn't strange considering how much he used his Blessing the moment he got it. He was untrained and probably didn't have any world essence.
"Motherfu—"
Lu collapsed as soon as he left the moonlight and crashed right into Margie, who could only sigh, curse, and pick him up. Left without a choice due to Lu playing until he fell asleep standing like a kid, Margie hauled him back to the house and tossed him in bed.
All the while, Margie also carried a smile. She was happy for Lu.
Afternoon the next day, Lu woke up and ate like a beast before heading out.
"Don't wait up!"
Margie and her parents could only sigh. Lu was heading to the city. That could only mean he was going to cause trouble. And with his Blessing, none of them were looking forward to what kind of trouble.
"Margie?"
"Yeah, Dad?"
The broad-shouldered man with big hands and a fuzzy head at the kitchen table looked up at Margie, who was at the counter doing the dishes.
"..."
Margie sighed.
"Fine. I'll head to the city first thing in the morning if he doesn't come home."
"Thank you. Old John is probably going tomorrow. I'm sure he'll let you hitch a ride."
Margie just nodded before finishing up and heading to bed. She needed a long night's rest if she was going to look for Lu.
And, as expected, when morning dawned, there was no sign of Lu, so Margie headed out. Unfortunately, Old John had taken a rest day and wasn't going to the city. Margie could only use her trusty feet.
Back at the Mittens house a little while later…
"I'm home!"
Lu shouted with a smile. Having a Blessing was so much fun! He was dead-tired from playing around with it all night, but he was also overjoyed.
"Margie, I think I'm already at First Insight!"
"Uhh…Margie didn't come home with you?"
Klum looked up from the table, where he was enjoying a peaceful breakfast with neither of the children at home to bother him.
"No. Why would she?"
"Because she went to look for you. Did you take a different route or something?"
Lu shook his head.
"No. I got tired, so I took the road."
Klum's brow deepened in a worried frown.
"That's strange. Margie didn't leave that long ago. You should have run into her."
Lu could sense Klum's worry since he felt the same.
"I'll go look for her."
Lu turned around. He was tired, but since Margie decided to disappear, now was no time to rest.
"Check if Old John's home. She might have taken a nap on his cart. Wait, did you pass Old John?"
Lu shook his head.
"Nope. I'll check his place."
Lu darted out of the house again, the wooden door slamming shut behind him.
Logically speaking, nothing bad should have happened to Margie this close to the town, at least not during this season, since beasts very rarely came close to town. But Klum couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Klum put down his spoon and also left the house. Two people looking were better than one.