Cathy stood at the top of the short staircase, right above Kai, and looked straight at him.
I'm done for, he thought. Any moment now she'll scream, call the cops on the creep that intruded into her home and tried to sleep with her, and my life will be over... Maybe not entirely a bad thing, he considered. It's not like I have much to live for anyway.
"Kai?" Cathy took another step down the stairs, her gaze shifting to the lounge.
What?
"Where the hell did he go?" she muttered to herself as she took a few more steps down the stairs.
Kai crawled out of her way hurriedly, his mind racing. Did her brain short-circuit seeing someone so ugly in her apartment? Or…
Kai smiled at the realization. Vira's telepathic invisibility. He let out a nervous chuckle, relieved that—
Cathy's head darted instantly to look at him, and he froze. She crossed her arms, her confusion mounting.
"Kai, if you are hiding somewhere, that's really not funny."
Kai covered his mouth. She heard him—despite the invisibility, she heard him. But why? Vira's magic was supposed to mask sound and sight. Was she screwing with him again? Like when she canceled her spell right before he was about to finally get laid?
Leave, the little voice begged. Hurry!
He didn't need convincing this time.
Cathy went past him, entering the kitchen, and once her back was turned, he bolted for the door.
She heard the door to her apartment close and rushed to the foyer, but there was no one there. What game was this guy playing? she thought. Telling me how desperate he is, being so eager, then running away?
"What a weirdo," she sighed, then held her head, still somewhat nauseous. Maybe it was better this way; it wouldn't do either of them any good if she puked again in the middle of doing it.
She turned off the lights and headed back to her bedroom, then fell into her king-sized bed with a tired groan. It was too bad, really. She liked them desperate. The desperate ones usually tried harder.
She probably should have gotten up then, washed her mouth, brushed her teeth, and taken a shower. She promised herself she would do those things. She was just resting her eyes a bit, just for a few moments.
Yes… Just for a few moments, she told herself, right before she fell asleep.
***
Kai entered his apartment and shut the door behind him, breathing heavily, then collapsed to the floor.
"That was…" he said, in between breaths. "The scariest thing… that ever happened… in my entire life."
I warned you! The little voice complained.
"Vira? Is that you? Why can't I see you? What the hell just happened?"
I already… never listen… alcohol… Her voice didn't come through all the way, as if there were static disrupting her words.
"Alcohol?"
Sober up!
He groaned, got up, and grabbed some water, then sat down at his desk. It took some time for the buzz to calm down, but soon enough, the ball of light that was the fairy blinked into visibility.
"Vira…"
"I can't communicate with you when you are drunk," she said, her hands balled at her hips. "I can't believe you lied to me again, and I fell for it. I feel like such a fool!"
"Ah…" Kai leaned his elbow on the desk and his forehead on his hand. "What does me being drunk have to do with anything?"
"Foolish godchild, alcohol is poison to the mind; it dampens people's perception—among other things—and makes it harder for them to see or hear fairies. It also makes it harder for certain magic to influence them. When you are drunk and are surrounded by drunk people, you make it almost impossible for me to help you."
"But… Cathy, you managed to blind her to my presence… actually, you only partially managed it, because she could still hear me… is that why—"
"No. She had vomited, so she wasn't as drunk, which is why I was able to influence her. But the invisibility was partial for a different reason, a reason you'd have known about—if you actually listened to me!"
"Yeah, I get it, I get it. Now stop lecturing and just tell me."
Vira pouted, her eyes narrowing angrily.
Kai sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "Would you please tell me?"
She took in a breath to center herself, then explained. "Fairy magic becomes weaker at the start of the witching hour. That's why the invisibility was partial and why the Beautification spell failed."
"The witching hour? You mean midnight?" He took out his phone.
01:03
Of course, it was so obvious; he should have known.
"Fairy magic tends to work best from dawn to midnight, yes."
"And here I thought you canceled the spell to mess with me."
"I should have! What in the stars were you thinking?"
"I was thinking I was going to get laid."
"You said you'd find love in no time, that you had a plan."
"I never said anything about love. I said I'd find a girl, and I did—a gorgeous one too. Man, I can't believe it. I was so close." He leaned forward in his chair. "We must try it again. I'll be faster next time, get straight to the point, a simple in-and-out—"
"There will never be a next time! If you think I'll ever cast that spell on you again, you are sorely mistaken."
"What? Why not?"
"I am a fairy godmother, not a panderer!"
"Panderer?"
"You know…" She blushed. "Someone who helps gentlemen find… ladies of the night."
"Ah, you mean, like a pimp?"
"I don't care what you call it—I'm not doing it."
He grunted in frustration and leaned back in his chair, his fatigue setting in, melting him into it. He couldn't force her to do anything. The best he could do was tell her how things were. "I don't think you understand how much this means to me…"
She frowned.
"Look at me, Vira. I'm a failure. I'm a laughing stock in this society—worse than a laughing stock. Most women won't even acknowledge my existence, and those that do, only do so out of pity." He shook his head. "I'm ugly, out of shape, have no marketable talents, no social skills, have zero friends, and…" He smiled sadly. "At least with your magic, I could be attractive enough to get people's attention… I can be somebody." He looked at her—the tiny woman within the shining ball of red light. "Please, you have to let me use that spell again."
She pursed her lips, his pain resonating with her own. "I understand how you feel, Kai." Her hand went to her star pendant. "You want to be loved, and you think this is the only way to do it, but…" She shook her head. "You are wrong! Think about it, even if I cast the spell on you, even if you find someone and fall in love, what then? What will you do after midnight, Kai?"
"I… I honestly don't know, but that sounds much better than my situation right now."
"What if I told you there is another way? What if I told you that you could look that way all the time, even without the spell?"
"Impossible. My biology—my genes wouldn't allow that."
She smirked. "The Beautification spell doesn't just make you beautiful out of nowhere, silly." She pointed her tiny finger at him. "It works by drawing out your potential. The person you saw in the mirror—" she waved her hand in the direction of Kai's phone, causing it to vibrate and the screen to light up. "While you are under the influence of the spell—" Kai picked up the phone, and the selfie he took earlier that day jumped into view. "Is always a possible version of your future self!"
"No-no way…"
"Mhm," Vira nodded proudly. "Hard to believe, I know. Very few people ever manage to reach their full Beautification potential, but it is not impossible, and for you, even reaching halfway toward that goal would be a huge improvement."
"Are you saying it's actually possible? I could really look like that?"
"If you follow my lead and submit yourself entirely to my teachings, then yes, it is possible—even for someone like you."
His heart fluttered, and a lump of tears rose in his throat as he looked at the photo of himself. He was starting to believe… believe his life could change. "Then… once we're done, I could find Cathy again, and—"
"Oh, no. You should forget about that girl."
"What? Why?"
"She is a complete harlot. Don't tell me you thought you were the only guy she had brought into her apartment so quickly."
"Well… I didn't really think of that," he frowned.
"We shall have to find you a normal woman, someone graceful, and pure, and chaste."
Kai scoffed. "Yeah, right."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Maybe in the past, normal women were like that, but today? Women are as greedy and horny as men are… more even. They have casual sex whenever they feel like it."
"Casual sex?!" Vira couldn't believe it. The term was an oxymoron—it didn't make any sense. She recalled what Aqwyn had told her and shook her head. "You are lying."
"No, I'm not…" he scowled. "And I can prove it to you." He typed an address into his web browser and pressed Enter.
The fairy godmother's eyes went wide, and she channeled her magic, then shot it at the monitor, zapping it off.
"Hey, what did you do to my monitor?" Kai rose from his seat.
"This!" she yelled, floating up to meet him and pointing an accusatory finger. "This is what you use your magic mirror for?"
"Magic mirror?" he muttered, but gathered what she meant from context.
"You use it to peep on people?!"
"I'm not peeping on anyone. They upload this stuff themselves."
"Upload?" Her brows furrowed, but she gathered what he meant from context. "People willingly… show themselves… doing that?" she asked, her voice rising higher with disbelief.
"Pretty much," he sat back down and turned his monitor back on, hoping her magic didn't break it. The screen lit up, showing the adult website, and the fairy godmother zapped it shut again. He clicked his tongue. "Would you stop doing that?"
"I forbid you from seeing those things—from using your magic mirror this way."
"Why? What is it going to change? How will not watching it make anything better?"
"Because… because it's wrong!"
"Wrong how? No one is forcing them to upload those videos, and I'm not hurting anyone by watching them," he sighed, frustrated by the argument and by the fact that, despite all of his justification, he felt ashamed. Men were supposed to have sex—not watch other people do it. "Look, if I had someone, someone like Cathy, then maybe I wouldn't need it… But I don't. So, for now… it helps me feel less alone." He reached for the monitor's power button and hovered under it. "I need to turn it on before I can close the website, so just give me a couple of seconds before you freak out again." He said, and pressed it.
Vira floated away and averted her eyes. Clearly, the Oathless's words held some truth this time. This world was unlike any she had ever been to before; maybe the norms here really were different, maybe chastity wasn't that important… or, at the very least, maybe things were more complicated than they seemed.
***
"Catherine? Wake up." Gabriel sat down at the foot of the blonde woman's bed and shook her leg.
She jerked awake, shot Gabriel a look, then rested her head back on the pillow.
"You know you left your door unlocked," the red-headed woman said.
"So?"
"So?! Some strange man could have come in and had his way with you."
"Oh, no. My chastity," Catherine said, deadpan. "Whatever will I do without it?"
Gabriel shook her head in disapproval but couldn't stop a wry smile from creeping onto her lips. "Had fun yesterday?"
Catherine made a noncommittal grunt and shrugged.
The redhead sighed. "You really are hopeless." She bent down and lifted something from the floor. "What about this?"
"Hm…?" The blonde raised her head to take a glance, then shrugged again and lay back down.
"Your lover must have left in a hurry to forget his shoe…" She held the stinky shoe up with her finger. "Maybe we should go on a trip around town, look for eligible bachelors, see if the shoe fits, then marry you off to your prince charming?"
She looked for her friend's reaction, but there was no response.
"Or we could post a note at the club you went to, see if he comes back?" she offered. Still, no response. "Seriously, what should I do with it?"
Catherine lifted her head again. "Put it where it belongs," she turned to lie on her back and dragged the pillow over her face. "In the fucking trash."