I went home swaying slightly. I had indulged again, and wasn't proud of myself. As I opened the door I remembered I had left Jo and August back home earlier. Damnit, how could I have forgotten?
Jo was gone, of course. And August was waiting for me, rubbing her eyes and looking at her phone. I wasn't ready for another conversation. Too much talking already today. I kept it simple. "Want the couch, or the bed?"
She wanted the couch, which was fine by me. I grabbed her a pillow and a blanket from the drawers under my bed and set her up.
She didn't complain about my tardiness or the state I was in, just looked at me wearily and asked if I was okay. "I'm good, all good. Don't worry about me. You go have a nice sleep okay?" I fluffed her pillow and let her be. Lots of time for talking in the morning.
I went to the bedroom and, for once, closed the door. I wanted to give the girl as much privacy as I could. I changed into my black pajamas, and climbed into bed. In two minutes I was out.
The next morning I woke up, as usual, hungover. But at least it wasn't too late this time. I yawned and stretched and made my way to the kitchen. August was already awake, visibly lost as to how to make breakfast. "Good morning sunshine!" I tried not to sound sarcastic. "Did you sleep well? What's your morning poison?"
"Morning. Yeah, it was okay. Nightmares again. I take a bowl of cereal with milk if you have that." I nodded. I didn't have any, but I had a wand. "What kind of cereal?" "The chocolate kind, please."
I took my wand from my purse on the counter and twisted it. A bowl, a pack of chocolate cereal, and a bottle of milk appeared in front of the wide eyed girl. "Damn, that's so cool! Can I try?" I laughed. I liked her, she bounced back fast. "No love, this wand was made especially for me and wouldn't work for you. Sorry. Go help yourself."
I put the wand back where it came from and made coffee the old fashioned way. I never got the trick of making it magic style. It just didn't taste the same.
I took a chair across from her and was about to light a cigarette when I caught her look. "No smoking with breakfast, I suppose?" She shook her head. Nope, I'd have to do without for now. Oh well, small price to pay for her safety.
I sipped my way too sugary coffee while August ate her cereal as if it was a fight she had to win. "Easy there, they're not gonna fly away and you don't have school today. You can take your time."
"Whaddye mean no school?" She looked at me, spoon halfway to her mouth. "I told you yesterday, today we're going shopping! Jo contacted your school already, you're getting the day off. We also don't want either your boyfriend or your father figuring out where to find you so we have to think of a plan, you and I."
She resumed eating, a frown on her face. When the bowl was empty, she sat back and looked at me. "You can smoke now, if you want. If the window's open." I opened the window and smoked. I needed it.
"You really weren't kidding about the fairy godmother stuff, then?" Her voice sounded so small and scared, I wondered if it was really her who'd spoken. "No love, I wasn't kidding. I'm your real life fairy godmother and I'll take you out of this mess. I have magic and the whole Agency on my side. We'll figure it out."
To my dismay she started crying. I was not good with crying. Shit. I made some tissues appear and handed them to her, then waited, puffing on my smoke. There was nothing more for me to do, really.
"Sorry," she said in between sobs. "It's just it's been so horrible for so long, I don't really dare believe you guys are true."
I patted her hand. "It's okay. You're allowed to cry. You're allowed to feel overwhelmed. Shit girl, if I was you I wouldn't believe it either! But we're real, and we're here for you. I'm sorry we didn't intervene sooner, we should have. Now how about you tell me more about you? What do you want to do when you're all grown up?"
She was still sobbing but I saw a small smile appear on her face. I took that as a win. "I wanna be a mechanic. Repair cars and stuff. I like the smell of grease and the nice feeling when you get an engine running."
Not at all what I expected, but I guess it did fit with her personality. "Well I suppose that's what you'll be then, do you know how to become one?"
She did. She explained the whole process to me and how her father had forbidden it. Of course. That's how she ended up in general studies, hanging out with a bunch of car geeks. That's how she met her boyfriend. He was part of the gang, and at 16 owned his own car. Apparently a very nice one.
She was so enthusiastic about cars that she forgot to cry for a moment, and a bright smile lit up her face. "We'll get you there, love. From now on you won't have to follow your father's orders anymore." I had a plan.
"Okay love, here's what we're gonna do. You're gonna call your boyfriend and tell him it's over. Then Jo and me are gonna find a school for you to study mechanics as soon as possible. And you and I are going to have a little chat with your father today and explain that you won't be under his control anymore. How's that?"
Slowly, very slowly, she nodded. "Sounds good, but both of them are pretty intimidating, Tina. And they're gonna be mad at me for all of that. So I hope you have a plan to hide me for the rest of my life."
I laughed at that. "You won't need to hide, not when I'm done with them." There was only one issue with my plan. Money. Then again, an idea started forming in my mind…
"Hey August, ever met a real life princess?"