The Mantis Variant - Book One - 21. Chapter 21 - Auntie Peg

Agrell, Dozi, and Ilya made the short trek across the Spritehood to the mystic's shop the following four mornings. On each visit, Ilya received treatment, and Agrell looked for Lahari. She walked to the waterfront, entered the pipe, and descended the underground stairs to the cave-in where the two young women first met. There was never any sign of Lahari, but Agrell kept insisting to search for her.

Dozi did not readdress her desire to become a Demifae, and neither the mystic nor his husband brought up their discussion from a few days prior. In her mind, Dozi told herself that the two men were right.

Despite having known Ilya only a matter of days, Dozi already felt that a new little family unit was growing with her and the two other young women. She could never kill Ilya; in fact, Dozi knew that she would defend her if she was ever in danger.

She still wished to be more than a mere human, but she knew the mystic was right that the cost to achieve it outweighed the benefits. Ilya's mantis gland was not worth more than the rest of Ilya.

On the fourth day, when Agrell again found no trace of Lahari, she decided to ask the mystic about Auntie Peg. Even though he told her that she did not need to refer to him by his full first name, it stuck.

"Tophilogin, your daughter mentioned someone else who escaped the cult." The word was getting more comfortable in Agrell's mind, and she no longer considered community to be an appropriate term. Agrell was building a real community around her with Dozi and Ilya, but she also felt close to the mystic and Theolan, and maybe even Lahari.

"Oh, you mean Auntie Peg?" the little round man asked with a beaming grin. "She's a peach of a lady!" he declared. "Brews some of the strongest coffee I've ever enjoyed. And yes, she's one of them," he confirmed, "an ex-cultist. Helped a few others escape as well, if I'm not mistaken."

Agrell's jaw dropped at the information. "There's more of us?"

"My dear," he replied gently, "you didn't think everyone simply bought into the Lovegood ideals, did you? No, no, no, that's the kind of deception that a cult spreads about itself." The man put on an eerie voice, and dramatically recited, "No one has ever left our midst, because we hold the truth and all who hear it cannot help but believe! Or something like that, right?" he asked Agrell with a chuckle.

She was dumbfounded. "Is Auntie Peg a Shift?"

The mystic furrowed his brow. "No," he replied, "I know she's told me her story before, but I can't remember the details. She's been away from them for quite a long time. I've heard her say 'more than a decade' on several occasions. She's a wonderful, sweet, and compassionate woman. I think at some point, like you, she realized that they were doing some pretty awful things, and she left. That's my vague memory of her story, anyway."

"Charming lady," Theolan added, "she's so elegant."

The mystic smiled wide. "And what a chef!" He said, smacking his lips and rubbing his round belly. "Auntie Peg has a shop right 'round the corner. I'd be delighted to bring you to see her."

"That would be very kind," Agrell responded, "but would you mind if I ask her some questions in private?"

The mystic took her meaning. "Of course, my dear," he said with a knowing nod. "I can't even begin to imagine what you've gone through, even though you've shared some of it with us. I will certainly leave you two to talk. It will be so good for you to have another person who can relate to some of what you've experienced."

While the mystic patched up Ilya with fresh salves and bandages, Agrell went to the pipe to look for Lahari before visiting Auntie Peg. When she returned, Ilya and Dozi were already prepared to head back to the basement that the three of them now called home.

"Why don't you go visit this other person," Dozi recommended to Agrell. "You can meet up with us later, now that you know your way around the Spritehood."

"Thank you," Agrell replied.

Theolan remained behind at the shop, as Dozi and Ilya headed one direction, and Agrell and the mystic turned in the other.

The little round man hooked his hand into the hinge of Agrell's elbow, and she liked feeling the physical connection to him. The two of them were close to the same height, but his stocky thick body was wide, and his whole side was against her. He was jolly and soft and sweet; Agrell thought the man was like a living embodiment of that gorgeous piece of cake he shared with her when they first brought Ilya to his shop.

"It's just this way," he said in a singsong voice, and a moment later, he was pulling open a door and stepping back to allow Agrell to enter.

There was a hand-painted sign in the window.

PEGGY'S POTIONS

"Werk! Hey, gurl!" called out a flowery voice.

"Peggy!" the mystic replied in delight. He walked right up, and the two gave each other air kisses on either cheek. Then he stepped back with a dramatic gasp and gave Auntie Peg a once over with his eyes. "Who gave you permission to be so breathtaking?" he asked. She curtsied as the mystic added, "Oh, duchess, and your tuck is cunt!"

"A lady's gotta take good care of her coochie!" Auntie Peg replied with a wink, and she wiggled her fingers at the front of her skirt.

Within Agrell's mind, she said to herself, That's a man.

The mystic stepped back and declared, "Allow me to introduce you to my new young friend, Agrell," and he extended an arm in her direction. "This fine woman is Auntie Peg."

"Charmed!" Auntie Peg proclaimed. Her voice was deep, and even though she was indeed womanly, she was not trying to hide or disguise her voice. She towered over both Agrell and the mystic, never mind that Auntie Peg was also wearing heels on her feet and a tall wig. Her hair was not only a huge beehive with curls positioned down the sides, but it was also bright pink.

She ran her fingertip along her jawline and fluttered her eyes, showing off her dramatic lilac eye shadow with black cat-eye lines and violet contouring on her cheeks that sparkled with glitter. There was also a shimmering line straight down the length of her nose.

Auntie Peg said, "She's glad she decided to doll herself up and do her makeup this morning. Got her fish face on!" She puckered and blew them a kiss. "A lady's gotta look good when meeting new folks. I can tell that you two are just gagging over how stunning I am!" She winked, turned her head to the side, and brought her fingertip to the end of her nose. "I mean, look at this profile."

"You've never looked more beautiful," the mystic replied to her.

Auntie Peg's skin was coated in a pristine layer of makeup that smoothed her face and made her age difficult to guess. Her lips were vibrant red and she exaggerated their natural shape by applying lipstick slightly beyond their borders. She reached out a large hand to Agrell but then took hers with a dainty grip. Auntie Peg smiled.

She was dressed in a voluminous skirt made from purple fabric with large pink polka dots. Beneath it was layer upon layer of tulle in many shades of lavender and periwinkle, and they kept the garment fluffed out from her hips. It was cinched around her waist and a corset squeezed her massive breasts that bulged with excessive cleavage. Agrell could not understand how the person who was clearly a man, was also made up of woman parts.

The pair of spiked high heels, which were a shade of soft pink, further accentuated Auntie Peg's impressive height. The lower portion of her legs that were visible beneath the fabric were smooth and muscular, and she was graceful on her feet. Agrell was confused, and even though her mind told her that Auntie Peg was a man, she thought the woman was beautiful.

"I think you two have quite a bit in common," the mystic commented.

"Oooh," Auntie Peg cooed, "do tell!"

She reached out and Agrell admired the long nails that decorated the ends of her fingers. Each was painted pink and purple to match her dress, with tiny stars or crescent moons or sunbursts, but her thumbnails were both painted with rainbow-swirls.

"I'll let you get to know each other a little," the mystic stated.

Auntie Peg looked aghast. "You're leaving?!" she squawked. "I won't hear of it! I've made a lovely pot of stew, and I insist you stay and have some with Agrell and me."

The mystic sucked air through his teeth. "Your cooking is so fierce!" he proclaimed. "And as much as it pains me not to eat it with you, I really think you'll have a better conversation without me."

"Bitch, please!" Auntie Peg said to him with a laugh. "This stew ain't gonna eat itself!"

"Agrell," the mystic said, turning to her, "why don't you tell Auntie Peg your last name."

The two made eye contact and the woman looked curious about her.

"Lovegood," Agrell said.

Auntie Peg's expression became less dramatic. "Oh, my dear," she said in a delicate voice, "did you run away?"

The mystic smiled at them and showed himself out of the shop, as the women began to talk.

"Come tell me all about it," Auntie Peg requested, "over a bowl of stew."

Agrell's stomach was grumbling, and lunch sounded too tempting to pass. "Thank you," she replied.

"Alright," Auntie P`eg said, as she placed two bowls of steaming stew onto a table in the back of her shop, "tell me more."

Instead, Agrell asked her own question. "Are you a man?"

"Oh, honey," Auntie Peg responded with a chuckle, "this man is a queen." She smirked, raised her eyebrows, and batted her extended lashes. "Like the boys," she said, waving towards the door that the mystic just exited through, "I'm attracted to men, but as far as my persona is concerned, I'm more in the middle. My feminine side is an important aspect of who I am, and I love showing it off to the world." She flashed a glamorous smile.

"When I get undressed at night," Auntie Peg elucidated, "mama releases her tuck, and she hangs up her fake titties." She gave her very realistic and very large breasts an exaggerated squeeze, and she stuck out her tongue at Agrell. "Then I wash off this sickeningly gorgeous makeup, so in the morning I can beat on a fresh face and look dusted for any customers who pop in to see me." Auntie Peg smiled as if an adoring crowd were admiring her.

"I'm a queen," she repeated with a wide smile, "but this queen didn't come out of me until much later in life." She held the back of her hand up to the side of her mouth in a dainty expression. "Can you possibly believe," Auntie Peg whispered, "that I'm 40!" She laughed aloud and took a bite of stew. "But tell me about you," she said.

Agrell did not know where to start and opted for another question. "When did you leave the cult?"

"A full 12 years ago," Auntie Peg replied. She was happy to answer Agrell's questions.

"You were there for ten years longer than I was," Agrell commented. "I don't," she hesitated and looked Auntie Peg up and down, "remember someone like you from when I was a kid," she concluded.

Auntie Peg smirked. "I was living my life fully as a man at that time. I wore the cult clothes and grew my hair long, just like you, but it was never this fabulous!" and she ran one hand up the side of her massive beehive wig.

She continued. "It was my responsibility to care for the tweens, but I also don't remember you, must not have gotten you in my group before I was planning to leave. I was raised there, I suppose, just like you?" she questioned and eyed Agrell, who nodded with her mouth full of the delicious rich stew.

"In my own tween years," Auntie Peg went on, "I and another boy in the cult began experimenting together. We were caught kissing, and the leadership paraded us around as the rest of the cult members ostracized and insulted us. They tried to ridicule our desires out of us." Auntie Peg then added in a deflated tone, "He fled, was caught, and killed."

"I'm sorry," Agrell managed thickly through a bite of food.

Auntie Peg took a deep breath before continuing. "I was terrified, and for years I managed to repress my true feelings and my true self, by putting all my focus into the cult. I allowed my own individuality to diminish. I thought that was what was right and good, to deny those urges that the cult deemed against their ways. For longer than I wish, I was a zealous member."

"Are you a Messiah?" Agrell asked.

"Of course," Auntie Peg replied without hesitation. "Are you?"

Agrell did not respond.

"Look, girlie," Auntie Peg said in a kind voice, "I know how the Lovegoods work. I was a key member for a long time. You don't need to hide from me." She reached out across the table and took Agrell's hand.

Agrell dropped her head and replied, "Yes," she said, "they made me one too."

"I'm so sorry, child. They are horrible people, and you are an inspiration to others for having left!" She looked right into Agrell's eyes. "Do not blame yourself for anything you experienced at their hands. It took me a long time to deal with what the cult put me through. Some days I still struggle with forgiving myself for repressing my true nature for so long. That's part of why I dress like a fabulous queen, to make up for lost time."

"I didn't think anyone ever left before me," Agrell said in a befuddled voice. "I thought I was the only one."

"The only way cults and religions and other isms keep members," Auntie Peg replied, "is by lying to them. They all lie outright to their people, but the people don't know any better than to believe the lies." She shook her head. "They literally don't possess the capacity not to believe. I'm proud of you for getting away from them!" she declared.

The two of them talked through the afternoon and into the evening. Agrell shared her tragic story, and they both shed tears together. Auntie Peg made them each dinner, and it was already dark outside when Agrell finally said goodbye to the glamorous woman. She looked forward to spending more time with her in the near future.

Agrell walked through the quiet streets. Several lamps burned overhead that cast flickering shadows around the alleyways, but the light did little to illuminate her path. However, it was not long before Agrell made it to the entrance of Dozi's basement home, and she slipped inside.

That night, while the three women were asleep in the cold darkness, Lahari appeared★