Gender Bender in a Blue Blender - 8. Chapter 8- Affinities

During the drive back to their apartment, the two young men focused on other subjects for a much-needed distraction. Talon led the conversation by teasing Adain about his impeccable timing. "I hadn't fully planned it out yet," the blond admitted. "But, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have done it in my grandma's ancient room…."

"Oh, shut up!" Adain argued though he couldn't help but laugh. "I can't believe it took you this long to tell me you had a crush on me. If we had waited until your supposedly-perfect confession plan was in place, we'd be senile."

"You have a point."

Their banter died down halfway into the drive. But it wasn't a tense silence like before when it felt like the whole world was on their shoulders. When they arrived, Talon again opened Adain's car door for him.

"You know what, I'm getting used to this," Aid commented as he stepped out. "At least you're consistent."

Talon grinned as he held out a hand for Adain to take. "I don't think it's totally out of line to do these things for my future boyfriend."

Adain frowned, his hand tensing in Talon's gentle grasp. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Is it too soon to talk that way?" The blond teased. "While that confession-under-duress of yours wasn't what I expected, I'm just glad we're finally on the same page."

Aid glanced at Talon as if he had grown another head. "What the hell are you going on about?" He asked, perplexed. "What confession? What duress?"

Talon dropped Adain's hand faster than a cheating man who got caught with his second lover. The imp wasn't the type to play jokes or tease with words. The blue-eyed man sounded genuinely confused. The blond felt his heart drop to his stomach when he saw Adain rubbing his face with a hand and, with a yawn, said: "Fuck, do we have any coffee in the pantry? Any would do…." Adain asked.

The taller man stumbled back a few steps as he held onto his forehead. What in the seven hells? Adain had been the only male Warlock that hadn't been under the effect of the 'forgetful' curse. They thought it was because he already had a gender-swapping curse cast upon him. But was something like that enough to make him immune? His mind raced as he thought. What had changed? They entered the warded room, but there had been no side effects that he could remember.

Talon's eyes rose to the color of the sky in the distance. Purple. When had the sun set again?

Hadn't Adain shifted from one gender to another while they were in that room? How long ago had that been? The blond's gaze finally fell toward the large chunk of bismuth that was still in Aid's hands. He instinctively snatched it from him and threw it at least a few meters away.

"Aid!" He called out to the dazed Warlock. "Adain!"

Adain's gaze began to focus, and he groaned as mental images he'd been missing rushed back to the front of his mind. "Stop yelling," He griped. "We're not even officially boyfriends yet, and you're already trying to burst my eardrums? Hey!"

The blond ignored the imp's protest as he hugged him tightly and let out a breath of relief. "I don't care what you say; you're not going into those caves," he insisted, having fully understood what was going on.

"Wait, why? What happened?"

"Rosie had been going on and on all the time about a conductor for the forgetfulness curse," Talon hissed. "It's the bismuth; it has to be. We talked about our relationship one moment, and the next, you blanked out."

Blue eyes went wide. Come to think of it, Adain didn't even remember when they'd arrived or gotten out of the car. The sensation was strange, as if he weren't controlling his body. "What the fuck? You think it was the bismuth?"

Talon nodded. "You only came to your senses when I chucked it away from you."

"One of Mom's notes said the Laeramen all had a piece of bismuth in their offices like trophies…."

"More like amulets of death," Talon murmured. "If a piece that size has been steadily whittling away the Calistros' memories, imagine what an entire cave of it would do."

"We're here!"

"Is it true that you found a map?"

"What was that about Grandma Oleah?"

Talon and Adain turned to find Adain's cousins rushing over to them from an SUV that had just parked. Della Calistro stepped out of the driver's seat with a grim expression on her brown face. Adain hadn't seen his older cousin in a while. Her hair was braided in a chin-length bob, corn-rows style, and she still had her scrubs.

"Oh, and we brought Mom with us, too." Avery clarified. "She flipped when she saw the e-mail 'bout Shay chasing Grandma Oleah and decided to come with."

Several moments later, the cousins were seated on the living room rug around a low-seated coffee table full of snacks. The two young men had two chairs at a small table and a two-seater couch, but the girls ignored it all as they began to peruse the papers Talon and Adain had retrieved from Oleah's room. The young men explained what they'd heard and seen and what was already written.

"You said Shay stormed into the lyceum ranting, but only one of the Laeramen took the time to listen to her?" Della reaffirmed. When the men nodded, she tutted. "I'm going to have to have a word with that council member."

"That's not possible at the moment," Talon warned. "Nikoal said her dad was in a coma in the hospital."

"There are other ways we can get someone to talk," Della dismissed as she lifted her hand and manifested her power. A black fire flickered between her fingers.

"My fire's not for heating things up but for projecting mental images. When I noticed the memory gaps, I tried it on my husband, but the images returned empty."

"Mom, you knew?" Avery questioned.

"I didn't want to worry you until I discovered more," Della admitted. "But you two clearly take after me if you managed to get this far alone."

"If he has bismuth on him, we'll have to take it as far out of the building as we can," Talon mused aloud.

"I don't think it's on him anymore," Adain mentioned. "His bismuth was in his office, too. Just not in raw form. Though I didn't recognize it for what it was until now, he had a set of rainbow metal bookends just like my dad's."

"Then we might get some information from him after all," Talon concluded.

"How does it work, Aunt Della?" Rose asked. "Your fire?"

"I'll show you right now," Della responded. "Care to volunteer, Day-Day?"

"Uh, I guess?" Adain said as he crawled over to sit next to her. He'd never gotten the full version of why his cousin had chosen that particular nickname for him, but that wasn't important at the moment. "Is there anything I have to do?"

"No, just close your eyes and try to think of nothing at first…" Della said as she held one hand to Adain's forehead and formed a larger flame on her free hand for the others to see. "Okay, Adain, what's the first thing that comes to mind when I say 'dance'?"

The others closed in on the image in the flame. It was Adain dancing in her female form with black boots and short shorts in front of a mirror on his closet door. He then began to rap.

No love letters, no X and O's. No love, never, my exes know~

"Pfft!" Rosie scoffed while Avery giggled.

"Aid, I didn't know you were into PinkBlack!" Avery taunted while wiggling her eyebrows. "Is Lisa your favorite?"

"So, that's what you were doing that day," Talon said, his lips curling up into a smirk. "Now I know why it took you so long to open the door when I had my hands full."

"It's a talented group!" Adain exclaimed with a blush.

"So, in other words, as long as the person can think of a memory, we'll be able to see it?" Rosie asked.

"If it goes well, yes," Della replied.

"Can my black lightning do that?" Avery asked.

"Affinities are different for every Warlock or Witch." Their mom explained. "But, it's up to you to realize the full potential of it. Your black lighting seems more of a physical than a visual affinity."

"Mine's useless," Rosie huffed.

"No, it's not! It's awesome!" Avery refuted.

"What's your affinity, Rosie?" Talon wondered.

"Shit, basically," the redhead replied.

"Don't listen to her; Rosie can make the most amaaaazing mud masks with her affinity," Avery insisted. "So nourishing!"

"Wait, mud?" Adain prompted.

"Yeah." Rosie griped. "Of all things. Water mom, earth dad…mud child. It's embarrassing, really."

"Hey, with a water dad and mist mom, all I can do is make a baby rain cloud," Adain admitted.

"Have you tried using that raincloud on any specific objects, Day-Day?" Della questioned.

"No, he's only been drenching people in revenge." Talon provided, drawing another blush from the shorter man.

"So petty!" Avery giggle. "I love it."

Adain rolled his eyes. "Okay, so I imagine visiting hours are over at the hospital. Are we visiting Laeraman Lewis tomorrow?"

"Early afternoon," Della agreed. "I have a night shift tomorrow, too."

"Looks like we're skipping our afternoon classes again." Talon realized.

"Like you said, we're finished with exams," Adain repeated. "We'll be fine."

"Tomorrow, then," Rosie affirmed.

Talon and Adain saw his cousins out the front door. They bid each other a good night. But, before Avery stepped out of the door, she pinched Adain's cheeks between her fingers.

"E-mail me who your favorite PinkBlack girl is!" she insisted with a wave. "Don't forget! I'm a PINCK, too."

Adain's face was still red with embarrassment long after Talon locked the door.