Curiouser Still...
Part 4

See Part 1 for notes and disclaimers and all that other stuff.  Lost
parts can be found at http://www.loftworks.com/wftk/fiction.html

Note:  I understand our server (here at work) had about 3500 failures last 
night, so if you wrote me and I didn't respond, it was because I didn't get 
the message.  So, please write again to delggren@es.com or
delggren@loftworks.com. -- Thanks.


     Nick looked at her.  "Angels?" he guessed.
     Fleur rolled her eyeballs.  "No, they're too busy doing field
work.  Bean counters is what I think they're called.  The ones that
record all your deeds, keep track of what you're up to."
     Nick closed his eyes.  Bean counters in the afterlife.  Great.
"They're writing it all down?"
     "Yes," Fleur said.  "But when you repent, they erase it.  They've
gone through a ton of erasers on your ledger."
     Nick looked up at her startled.  He suddenly envisioned a room
filled with books of his misspent centuries that was knee deep in
eraser debris and some little guy trying to wade through it.  The
image was one he was sure Fleur had not intended.  He started to
laugh.  "I don't believe it..."  He couldn't help it, it was too funny
for some reason and he laughed until tears came to his eyes.  Wiping
them away, he said, "Next you'll be telling me you've still got
lawyers."
     Fleur opened her mouth, but then shut it when she saw her mother
shake her head.  Nick, still wiping his eyes, missed it.
     "Somehow," Nick said, "I just didn't think the afterlife, or
heaven, or whatever it is, would be like that..."
     Fleur leaned against him.  "Nothing is ever like you expect,
Nicolas.  You know that."
     "Yeah," Nick said after a moment, thinking how life just hadn't
quite turned out how he had expected it to.  "I know."
     The phone rang, breaking the odd air of contentment in the loft.
     "Is that...a phone?" Fleur asked sitting up straight and turning
to find it.
     Nick nodded, "Yeah, but I don't need to answer it.  I...don't
really want to answer it," he said after a moment.  "It'll break the
spell."
     His mother reached over and stroked his hair, looking at him with
love.  "Then don't."
     The answering machine picked up.  "Nick?" Natalie's voice echoed
through the loft.  Nick looked up, startled, but didn't move.  "I'm
just off to work, Nick.  I know it's still daylight, so I expect you
are asleep, but I just wanted you to know I heard about the shooting.
If it's all right with you, I thought I'd drop by after work and see
how you are doing.  I should be off by two a.m.--unless something
happens--so I'll see you then."  There was silence for a moment.  Nick
knew that Natalie was debating whether to say anything more or not.
Whether to tell him it was not his fault or not.  He was surprised to
realize how well he knew her and her thought processes.  "Nick,"
Natalie continued, "this is not your fault."
     Nick nearly laughed as she echoed his very thoughts.
     "People make their own choices and sometimes things like this
just happen.  I'll see you later."
     Fleur nudged Nick in the ribs and his mother smiled at him.
"Well, well, well," Elisabeth said.  "So Natalie is coming over after
all."
     "I'll call her back," Nick said slowly.  "She can come by some
other time.  You've only got..."  Nick stopped and looked at them.  He
realized he really didn't know how long they had, exactly.  "How long
have you got?"
     Elisabeth looked up at the clock.  "Until about nine a.m.  That
was when the coffee woke you up."
     "Then I'll tell her to come by later."
     Elisabeth put a hand on her son's arm and stayed him from getting
up.  "No," she said softly.  "Let her come."
     "Maman..." Nick protested.  "Please."
     "This is right.  This is better.  We will go before she comes."
     Fleur looked at her mother and then after a long moment, a look
of wonder filled her face.  She smiled and added, "Yes.  This is
better.  We have had a wonderful time, Nicolas."
     "And it is better to not outstay our welcome," Elisabeth added.
     Nick took her hands in his.  "You are not outstaying your
welcome.  Please, stay.  Please, don't go.  Stay as long as possible."
     Elisabeth looked lovingly up into her son's beautiful blue eyes,
in which she could see the burden of centuries had been lifted during
her stay.  She reached up and pushed his unruly hair out of his face.
     "I am content," she said slowly "to have seen you, to have talked
with you, my Nicolas.  I have seen the burdens you bear fall away this
day, and that is all I wanted.  To see you smile, to see joy in your
heart."
     Nick felt tears forming yet again.  "Please, Maman," he whispered
pulling her close, his forehead against her.  "Stay.  I have missed
you so much."
     "For a little longer, we will stay, and talk.  And then you need
to sleep, Nicolas."
     Nick closed his eyes and held her close.  Her perfume filled his
senses and he felt peace sweep over him.  He felt dizzy.  Tired.
     "Lay down, Nicolas," Elisabeth said, "lay your head in my lap, my
son and let me tell you a story..."
     Nick opened his eyes and met hers and smiled.  How often had he
lain as a boy, with his head in her lap, and listened to her spin
stories.  To be that small innocent boy again--just for a moment...
He lay down and took her hand in his.  "Tell me a story," he
whispered.
     Fleur laughed, grabbed a pillow and lay beside him.  And Nick
felt a deep lassitude fill him.  Peace washed over him like a tide,
love swept away his pain and agony, and just for a moment, he was a
young boy, innocent, with life before him.
     "Once upon a time, long ago and far away, there was a kingdom
where a wise king and beautiful queen lived, and when their first baby
was born, she was as beautiful as the day, bright as the sun, and they
named her Daylight.  Of course, they had a christening party..."
     "Of course" Nick murmured with a smile.
     "...And invited all the good fairies that lived in the woods,"
Elisabeth said severely, but stroking Nick's brow at the same time.
"Unfortunately they didn't realize that the ugly old witch, that lived
in the same dark woods, was actually a fairy, a bad fairy..."
     "There's always one of those," Fleur piped in.  "Always trying to
make life as hard as possible for everybody."
     Nick turned and looked at her.  Like LaCroix, he nearly said, but
decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea.
     "The good fairies all came to the Christening, but the bad fairy
showed up, too.  Being very wise, two of the fairies hid in the crowd,
waiting to see what she would do.  One by one the other fairies came
forward and blessed little Daylight with wonderful gifts."
     "Is this the story of Sleeping Beauty?" Nick asked looking up
into Elisabeth's face, realizing there was something important about
this story.
     "No, my son, not exactly.  This story was written much later.
About 1890 or so, I think.  No, just listen."
     Nick nodded.  "Yes, Maman,"
     "Since the bad fairy was not invited, she was very upset, and
when she thought there were no more gifts to be given, she stepped
forward and cursed the baby.  She decreed with wicked laughter that
little Daylight would sleep all day long.  And then she began
laughing.  One of the good fairies stepped forward and declared that
though Daylight might sleep throughout the day, she would wake and
live her life at night.  The bad fairy, enraged, declared she wasn't
finished laughing, and nobody could deny that she had been laughing,
so they couldn't stop her from adding another curse.  That wicked old
fairy declared even though Daylight would be awake all night, she
would wax and wane with the moon that would serve as the only light
she would know.  Then she laughed and laughed, and everybody stared at
her, horrified.  But finally she was through.  The curse had been
cast, and everything looked very bleak, and very bad for poor little
Daylight."
     Nick looked up, searching his mother's face, uncertain of the
message she was trying to tell him.
     "And then, like hope breaking through, the last fairy stepped
forward, and the bad fairy was very unhappy to see that she had been
outwitted, but there was nothing she could do.  The last fairy blessed
the little princess and gave hope to all.  Daylight, she decreed would
only live by night and wax and wane until a prince should kiss her
without knowing who she was.  It was not immediate, and it was not a
certain thing, but it gave hope to all that she might escape the curse
she was under.
     "And so it was, little Daylight grew up, laughing and giggling
all night, merry and bright until the sun came up.  Then she slept and
slept until night came again.  And even though she was beautiful and
rosy when the moon was full, she became but a pale shadow of herself,
sick and silent, withered and sere when the moon waned.  And so she
lived her life.  Not the one she was meant to have, but the one she'd
been cursed to live.  And so Daylight grew up, happy when the moon was
full and miserable when it was but a sliver; silent and like the dead
when there was no moon at all.  She grew up, a beautiful maiden, sweet
and merry and at times mischievous.  But when the moon began to
disappear, she hated what happened to her and hid away, often hiding
from her guardians.  She wanted no pity.  She wanted to be alone as
she began to feel so bad and waned and became pale and shrunken and
bent like an old woman.  But when the moon grew, she would laugh and
make the world come alive.  She would slip away and dance in the dell
in the moonlight and enjoy herself--making up for the bad times.
     "One night as she did so, a prince, wandering in rags, hiding in
fear of his life, saw her.  His country had been overthrown by
rebellion, and only by dressing as a peasant had he escaped from
certain death.
     "Life had been difficult for the prince.  He had been wandering,
struggling, looking for a place to start over, and then he saw this
vision in his despair.  She was so very beautiful and he was entranced
by her dancing, her love of life, her joie de vivre.  He knew nothing
of her, but when he saw her in the light of the nearly full moon, he
loved her.  He could not help himself.  She was beautiful and pure
like the stars themselves.  He could hardly breathe for joy.  For
three nights he came back to the dell hoping to see her, and watched
her dance, not daring to get near, but hoping to find out who she
was."
     "Are you sure this is a real story?" Nick asked suspiciously.
     "Shhh.  It's a real story.  I am not making this up.  Someone
else did--a man by the name of George McDonald--truly.* Now listen.
The prince found out her name from a peasant woman who was actually
the fairy that had blessed little Daylight that she would only be
cursed until a prince kissed her without knowing.  On the night of the
full moon, he dared approach her and talk with her.  Daylight asked
him, oddly enough, if he was good, and he said, 'not as good as I
should be'.  Daylight told him to go away and become better.  Sadly he
began to walk away when Daylight called him back and asked him another
unusual question, 'What does the sun look like?'  The prince in
astonishment said, 'Everybody knows that'.  But Daylight shook her
head and said no, she was different, she didn't know.  And that she
wouldn't know until...  But then she stopped for she knew she was
talking to a prince and she knew if she told him how her curse could
be broken--there would be no hope.  And she ran away, leaving him
wondering and aching to see her again.
     "The wicked old fairy, who was also nearby, found out what was
happening, of course, and fearing that Daylight would be delivered,
cast a spell on the prince.  Night after night, he wandered, in the
forest, but never again could he find her--not for days and days.  The
fairy only stopped casting her spells when the moon had waned and
there was no chance he would recognize the princess in her shrunken
and withered state.  Well, that night, the night of the new moon, the
prince found the dell where the princess liked to dance, but there was
no princess.  None at all.  But in his wanderings, he came upon a
black heap by a tree.  A pinched, withered, old woman lay there.  He
felt sorry for her and he gave her something to drink.  Then he
decided to carry her to shelter, and as he did so he pityingly kissed
her on the lips."
     "Ah, the happy ending," Fleur said in delight.
     Nick tapped her lightly on the cheek.  "Shhh.  Let her finish."
     Elisabeth smiled down at her children.  "Yes, it is the happy
ending, for as he carried her, she got heavier and heavier, and at
last he could carry her no farther.  He set her down, but when he did,
her hood fell back and it was Princess Daylight.  Beautiful, with
golden hair and blue, blue eyes.  And at that moment, the sun rose.
Daylight turned to it and looked upon its golden rays and asked the
prince if it was the sun.  He took her hand and told her it was so."
     Elisabeth stopped and Nick waited.  She smiled down through tears
at her son.  "Nicolas, there is a happy ending.  There will be a time
when you step again into the sunlight.  Just like Daylight struggled
and waxed and waned with the moon, you have waxed and waned in your
struggles to change, to undo your curse.  But you mustn't give up.  No
matter how LaCroix bends your path and attempts to turn you from your
purpose, you mustn't give up.  At a moment when you least expect, when
you have no hope and all is dark, you will be released."
     Nick sat up suddenly and took her face in his hands.  "How,
Maman?  How can this happen?"
     "When you are ready, when you have turned the tides, and become
more human than vampire.  Not yet, not for some time to come.  But
eventually.  You, too, will be freed from your curse."
     Nick looked away, hope making his heart beat unbearably loud.
Beat.  And beat again.  For the first time he realized, his heart was
beating.  He was alive.  He put his hand on his chest, and startled,
looked at his mother.
     "No, Nicolas.  This will not last.  Only for the day.
Twenty-four hours, remember?  But yes, for now, you are human--and we
are alive--just for now.  Death has taken a holiday for all of us.
But only here inside the loft."
     "How?" Nick asked.
     "It just is," his mother answered unanswerably.
     He pulled Fleur and Elisabeth into his arms and held them
tightly.  Joy filling him to the bursting point.  Joy wrapped in pain.
     "Maman, I don't know if I can...I can't go on like this forever.
Please..."
     "Shhh, mon petite.  You have the strength for the journey.  I
promise.  And I'll be waiting.  Now rest, my son.  Rest my beautiful,
beautiful son."
     She pulled Nicolas down into her lap again.  And Fleur smiled at
him and lay down again beside him as she began to hum a tune.  One
they had sung often as children.
     Elisabeth joined in, and then at last Nick did.  And somehow, in
the middle of it all, he drifted to sleep.

End Part 4
-------
Send comments to delggren@es.com or delggren@loftworks.com