The Mantis Synchronicity - Book Five - 24. Chapter 24 - Favors

Olona pulled open the front door of the Shifton Youth Outreach Center, and she entered. A hammer was hanging from her belt.

“Well hey there, doll!” Auntie Peg called out to her.

“Hi, Peggy. Is Sumi around?”

Auntie Peg nodded toward the back of the center. “She’s gardening with some of the kids. Head on out there with them.”

“Thanks,” Olona replied. She went through to the enclosed courtyard behind the center and called out, “Hey, everyone!” Nunyani ran up and gave her a hug. “Hi, hunny,” Olona said to the young teenager, but she was looking at Sumi.

“Did you hear?” Nunyani asked Olona with a glowing smile. “I’m going by she, and my name’s Nunyani now.”

Olona was distracted by the purpose of her being there, but she focused on Nunyani. “Nunyani?” she clarified emphasizing the girl’s new name.

“Perfect!” Nunyani declared, and she wrapped her dainty arms around Olona.

Olona laughed. “Nunyani, okay, got it! You’re Nunyani now! Thanks for letting me know. And Nunyani,” Olona added, “please allow me to apologize in advance for when I inevitably but accidentally call you he or by your old name. It might take me a few times screwing it up.” Olona made a silly face at Nunyani, and the girl squeezed Olona tight.

“Thanks for listening and accepting me.”

Olona gasped dramatically. “What are you talking about, girl?! Thank you for telling me!” She kissed Nunyani’s forehead, and the girl joined little Fennah at the garden bed again. Muunith and Jzuna with her brother Thech were also pulling weeds and adding fresh soil.

Sumi stood and stepped up to Olona. She had dirt on her nose. “Hi, Olona. What are you up to?”

Olona became serious again. “Can I talk to you out front?”

Sumi knew Olona meant away from the kids, and she nodded. “Let me wash my hands.”

“And your face,” Olona added with a little snort of a laugh.

They headed inside, and after Sumi was clean, the two young women made their way out onto the street. Olona began to walk down the road, and Sumi glanced back at the center before she followed.

“Can I ask a favor of you?” Olona requested.

“Of course,” Sumi replied, “anything.”

Olona turned down a narrow alleyway and kept walking.

“Where are we going?” Sumi asked.

The alley only gave them one option for direction, and after another turn, they came to a dead end.

“What are we doing here?” Sumi asked.

Olona faced her. “Will you please open a doorway for me? I need to nail a notice onto a shop, but I don’t want to be there; I just want to do it and be away. I thought maybe you could make that possible.” She looked around the shadowy alley. “And I wanted us to be somewhere nondescript, in no way connected to the outreach center, just in case someone happened to look through your gateway.”

Sumi smiled. “That’s no problem. I opened a doorway for Z’Matri, Gawa, and Tisa a while ago.” Sumi instantly remembered Olona’s connection to Tisa. “Oh, are you sad that she’s gone?”

Olona scrunched up her brow and whispered her companion’s name, “Tisa.” The past day had been a jumble of emotions for Olona, and even though the chaos of everything had temporarily distracted her, now she was missing Tisa again. “Yeah, I am sad, but it’s okay. I know she’s off helping other people.” She shook herself. “So Sumi, can you open one of your doorways into the Spritehood for me? There’s a shop called Abernathy’s Apothecary, and I need to nail this notice to the front door.” She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket.

“Abernathy’s Apothecary,” Sumi said to herself, and she reached out with her power. The location came to her, and an opening in reality appeared in front of Olona. The dark wood of a door was directly on the other side of the opening.

Olona quickly slapped the paper to the door, holding it in place with a large nail at the top of the page, and she slammed the nail’s head a few times with her hammer. She stepped back, stated, “Done,” and Sumi sealed her gateway. “Thank you, Sumi.”

“Easy,” Sumi replied.

The two women headed back to the center.

“Are you coming inside again?” Sumi asked.

Olona shook her head. “Sorry to just ask a favor of you and leave, but I’m… expecting someone at my shop. I want to be there when they arrive.”

The women embraced, and Sumi entered the center as Olona began to walk through Shifton. She did not go right to her shop, and instead, she turned onto a street that she had come to know well. Olona stepped up to the mystic’s house and knocked on the door.

The jolly little man answered. “Hello, darling! Come in!” The mystic stepped back and Olona joined him inside. “Is there something I can do for you, or are you here for Lahari?”

Theolan stuck his head out of the kitchen. “What?” he squawked, and he teased, “You don’t think there could be any reason why Olona might have shown up for me? Hi, hunny,” he said to her, kissing Olona’s cheek.

“Sorry, gents, I’m here for Lahari.”

The mystic chuckled. “Figured.” He playfully rolled his eyes at her, and he yelled out, “Lahari!”

“Be right down,” she called back from the second floor.

Theolan wrapped his arms around his husband. “You ladies up to anything fun?”

“Just trying to take care of some unpleasant business, and I know Lahari can help.”

The scaly blue-skinned woman came down and nodded to Olona. “Dads, we’re heading out.” She kissed both of them, and the women left✪