“I can’t explain that,” she said, “but it definitely wasn’t through the power of reflexology and crystal healing.”
“Try the archway again,” Jason said. “You’ll get used to the queasiness and disorientation, I’m told. Not entirely, but it gets easier.”
“You’re told?” Erika asked.
“I don’t suffer from it,” Jason said. “A quirk of constitution. Seriously, give it another few goes.”
“I will!” Emi said, rushing off to the portal. She started dashing rapidly in and out until she staggered away with a goofy grin, dizzy from the disorientation. Jason and Erika looked on, standing side by side.
“You know I’m the coolest uncle ever, right?” Jason asked Erika as he slipped an arm around his sister’s shoulders. “Eri, magic is real. I know that’s crazy, but crazy is where I’ve been living for a while now.”
“It’s beyond crazy,” she said.
“Oh, this is only the beginning,” he said.
Emi fell over in the grass, dizzy, while her father went to make sure she didn’t roll over into someone’s vomit. The rest of the family had recovered and approached, still looking around in disbelief.
“Vermillion,” Anna greeted over the phone. “I was sorry to hear you were demoted.”
“It’s not without its benefits,” Vermillion said. “Getting out of Sydney for a while might not be a bad thing. You should see the house they’ve put me up in.”
“I’d like that,” Anna said. “Would you be willing to play host for when we talk with him?”
“He insists on hosting you himself, on his houseboat.”
“He’s not willing to accept neutral ground? That doesn’t speak well to his willingness to come to an accommodation.”
“His position,” Vermillion said, “is that he has one houseboat and you have the rest of the planet, being an international network of secret magicians. Who have already tried to kidnap him once, you might recall. I think you should just concede the point, Anna.”
“I’ll talk to my boss and get back to you. Did he agree to a day?”
“Tuesday. From what I can see, he’s eager to get this done.”
“The day after tomorrow,” Anna said. “We can work with that.”
Jason needed the family to get it in their heads that magic was genuinely a thing. They were a sceptical bunch. Erika especially reached for mundane explanations much as her daughter had. Back at the marina, in preparation for some dramatic show-and-tell, he had Shade scout the area around the houseboat for potential eavesdroppers. Even on a late Sunday morning, the marina was winter quiet.
In the parking lot, Jason began by demonstrating his inventory. He took things in and out, including Hiro’s car. He showed them Shade turning into a car and returned the houseboat to the cloud flask and brought it out again, now with magical cloud interior.
Back on the houseboat, he moved around the interior, transforming rooms as they watched. He ran a power drill through his hand, which had trouble fighting through his damage reduction, then chugged a bottle of detergent. His powers turned the poison into healing that restored the injury on his hand.
They returned to the bar lounge, now made up of overtly magical cloud stuff in gorgeous sunset colours. After everything they had seen, Jason gave them time to let it all sink in.
Taika was freshly back from his second run of mixers and was putting away all the fruit, sugar syrup, soda water and other drink ingredients. Ken was looking shell-shocked, Hiro sitting with him and talking quietly. Ian sat with his daughter while Erika and Jason made cocktails at the bar, side by side as she continued to grill him.
“I swear, Jason,” Erika told him. “You better not have met some ridiculous illusionist and conceived all this as a mad, elaborate prank. I will go to the hardware store and buy one of those big PVC barrels, knock you out, throw you into the barrel, fill it with concrete, borrow Wally’s boat, take the barrel out into the ocean, and drop you to the bottom of the Pacific. You’ve disappeared once; it won’t seem that strange.”
“That’s suspiciously well-thought-through,” Jason said. “Ian, has your wife been killing people and dumping them in the ocean?”
“Absolutely not,” Ian said. “They changed all the judges on Kitchen Conquest because the network refused to bump their pay and definitely not for any other reason. I didn’t tell him anything, honey.”
“Is this really the time for jokes, husband? Jason, pass the sliced limes.”
“Sweetie,” Ian said, “Jason came back from the dead and is apparently an indestructible wizard now. Once your brother turns into Gandalf the White, I think we’re in uncharted territory, decorum-wise.”
“It wouldn’t kill me anyway,” Jason said. “Hand me the rum. No, the white rum. Never mind.”
His arm extended to grab the bottle from the end of the bar.
“Apparently, he’s also Mr Fantastic,” Ian said.
“How could being dropped into the ocean inside a solid block of concrete not kill you?” Erika asked.
“Well, the pressure might get me, if you dumped me in the Marianas Trench. Is Wally’s boat big enough to get out there? Anyway, my mate Gordon would get me out before I sank too deep. He’d make pretty short work of concrete. And I don’t breathe anymore, so that’s not an issue.”
“You don’t breathe?” Erika asked.
“Who’s Gordon?” Ian asked at the same time.
“Okay,” Jason said. “I think we’ve reached the portion of the proceedings where we need to sit down and have it explained from the start, if only to organise what is a lot of crazy. Let’s all go to the media room, since I’m going to start things off with a video presentation.”
“Seriously?” Erika asked. “Like one of those employee induction videos, but for magic?”
“It’s more of a magical hologram than an actual video,” Jason said.
The group settled into the couches and recliners of the media room and Jason took out a carousel of recording crystals, plucking a crystal from the very first row. A projector emerged from the floor, and he slotted it in before taking a seat between his sister and niece on one of the couches.
An image appeared in front of them, an opulent living space in cool ocean greens and blues. Jason was in front of it, but Jason as they remembered: clean-shaven, prominent chin.
“Hello,” image Jason said, waving out from the projection. “I’m not sure if, or when you’ll be seeing this, but I didn’t die, or whatever you think happened to me. You probably know that, since the only way you’re likely to see this is if I give it to you.”
He let out a dissatisfied groan. His voice was also the way they remembered, less deep and resonant. The group all looked at Jason’s current self for comparison.
“Maybe I should have scripted this,” image Jason continued. “Oh, well. Where should I start? It’s been about two months since I arrived here. Where is here? That’s complicated. I’ve made some friends. I just got a new job, although I haven’t started yet. They’re meant to be sending my ID over today. The application process involved sort of a week-long retreat, which I got back from a couple of days ago.”