45. Taken

Last chapter…

Selene found out Oly’s visions were probably true, and they had a super-secret fact-finding meeting with Artemis to discuss possible implications of said vision.

Turns out Oly could be a baby-napped fairy, or maybe just a witch exposed to too much fae juju; either way, Colt bombed on the whole patrol thing…wasn’t he supposed to distract infiltrators??

Onward!!

---

Rrrrring!!

“Goddess; always when I’m in the middle of some shit…”

“Hello?…Oh hey Cassie; we still on for bowling night?”

“…”

“Awesome! You guys are going down…”

“…?”

“Eh, not much, you know, just brewing up some extra strength Ghost-be-Gone for the Leprechaun Convention next month.”

“…?”

“Who knows, man; those Leprechaun’s are freaks…”

“…?”

“Oh yeah, no worries; I can talk for a bit while the ectoplasm alkalizes, what’s up?”

“…?”

“Um, no, Holly and I haven’t talked about that crap since…man, I think your triplets were still in diapers! Why?”

“Oly said what to Selene?!”

“…!”

“Seriously Cass! You know we all agreed not to talk about that mess in front of the kids, Holly and I would never be that careless…”

“…??”

“The hell if I know how Oly found out; but you’d better believe I’m going to get to the bottom of it!”

“…”

“Yeah, for real, look, I’ll call you back, okay? I’ve got a tiny monster to hunt down.”

“Crap.”

Said monster had taken off earlier that morning to ‘do some super-secret kids only stuff with Selene and Artemis!’

Generally it was nice to have Selene around to keep Oly from getting into real trouble; but once in a while, Oly managed to turn the tables and drag Cassie’s poor little girl through the muck.

“Well, the hell if I’m traipsing around looking for the beast…”

“MOOOOM?…WHERE’S YOUR SCRYING BUCKET?”

---

“Hey there Colt, have you seen Oly?”

“Um, okaaaay…”

“…and I thought my kid was an odd duck.”

“What the crap are they even doing at school on a Saturday…?”

“Hello…mother.”

“What the hell Oly? You’re phone’s turned off, and I find you lurking all alone at the school on a weekend…what’s gotten into you?!”

“You’d like to know, wouldn’t you…mother.”

“You’re damn right I wanna know why my kid is breaking and entering!”

“Your kid?” Oly snorted, “and just how long, exactly, have I been your kid?”

“Well, pretty much since your father squirted…wait, is this about your father? Are you still cheesed because I said you couldn’t go with him to the Cyclops Bowl over spring break? You know that’s not an event for kids!”

“But Valeria gets to gooooo!”

“Valeria is a teenager, and not my kid…”

“Yeah, well, I’m not your kid either, am I?!”

“What the crap are you talking about? Of course you’re my kid, why the hell would you think you weren’t my kid?”

“I know everything! I know about the triplets’ mom being sick and you and Aunty H having to help her even though it made Nana B mad because you missed the coven thingy, and I know about the fairy lady and her babies that you stole!”

“Where in Goddess name did you hear all that?!”

“In my vision, that’s where! That’s right, thiefing baby-fairy snatcher, I’m a Dreamwalker because I’m a fairy, and I have visions; you can’t lie to me anymore!”

“Visions? You have visions…”

“That’s right; visions all up in here.”

“My baby is a Dreamwalker??”

“Er, well, not actually your baby, I mean, since you stole me from that fairy and all…hey, is she around still? I mean, maybe she’d let me go to the Cyclops Bowl with dad…oh snap! Does this mean dad’s not my actual dad too?”

“Oh Oly!” Calliope couldn’t help busting a gut; the kid had come to some peculiar conclusions over the years, but this one took the cake, “wait until I tell your Nana about this!”

“Wow, that’s not really the reaction I was expecting, to be honest.”

---

“A Dreamwalker, you say? Hm.”

“Yes, mom; and we’re all very pleased for Oly, isn’t that right?”

“Well, I’m quite certain that Primrose will be very pleased; the fairy taint comes from her bloodline, you know.”

“Mom.”

“Hm? Oh, yes, of course; we are all absolutely elated for you, my dear.”

“Thanks Nana,” Oly sighed, “so I’m not a stolen baby fairy for sure then, huh…”

“Goddess, no,” Belladonna scoffed, “the very idea that I would allow my daughter to raise a fairy foundling in my home? Preposterous!”

“Omg mother!”

“It’s bad enough we have humans living in The Woulding…”

“Seriously, enough! It isn’t the dark ages anymore, okay? I think we’re above being speciesist at this point.”

“For real Nana; who hurt you?”

“That’s enough sass from both of you; Calliope, you’ve a batch of Ghost-be-Gone on the veranda that’s near to souring, I suggest you see to it…”

“…and have your sister send over her kept-man; the gutters need cleaning out.”

“You mean her husband, mom?”

“Don’t be crass, Calliope; witches don’t have husbands.”

A dismissal if ever she’d heard one; ‘I get it, mom, you want to question Oly alone.’

Probably about the fairy stuff; Belladonna had a weird hard-on for everything fae…she’d hex you if you suggested it though.

It was pretty useless to argue with her mother in general, the witch was stubborn to a fault, and deliberately obtuse; you’d have better luck trying to move a mountain with a station wagon. Oly seemed to get that, still, Calliope felt a slight pang of something as she left the kid to withstand Hurricane Belladonna…worry? Guilt?

“Crap.”

The ectoplasm had over-alkalized and was partially emulsified with the howler-venom. Well, there was one person who might know how to fix it…or at least, find the thing that would fix it…if such a thing even existed.

“Hey Holly, how’s it going?”

“…!”

“Wicked; so mom wants your kept-man to clean out the gutters when he’s got a sec…”

“…”

“I know right? Anyway, do you mind popping over? I need your help with something…I mean, if you’re not too tired…well, we could try doing it over the phone.”

“…!”

“You’re a peach Hol; see you soon.”

“Whoa nelly!” Holly eased her encumbered frame onto the bench with audible relief, “you’d think after popping out five of these little beans already that I’d get used to it!”

“You had your fill then, finally?”

Holly snorted, “not by half! I climb that hardwood mahogany on the daily my fren.”

“Ew, Hol; I meant done having kids, not defiling your husband.”

“Eh, six of one, half a dozen of the other.”

Calliope refrained from pointing out that birth control was a thing; apparently her sister was content to breed in rabbit like ways for the next half a century…or at least until her human mate wore out?

“Speaking your fruitful womb; I saw Coltsfoot lurking around the school earlier today…he ran off when he saw me coming though.”

“Just can’t get enough of school, that one! So like his daddy!”

“He was hanging out there with Oly and Cassie’s girls; I just thought you should know.”

“Such a ladies man already!”

“Yeah, maybe,” Calliope shrugged, “I have some fun news about Oly, but first; do you know where I can find something to fix my potion?”

Holly waddled on over to have a boo, “nopers; sorry big sis, I think it’s pretty effed up.”

Calliope sighed, “crap.”

---

* * *

“Hai well…”

“So I dunno if you know or not, but stuff isn’t going so swell up in this joint…”

“Errybody’s all sick, even my good fren Kal, and I have a super bad feeling that they’re not gonna be okay…”

“And if I’m being real honest, I’m not feeling too swell either, y’know?  I mean, even the creepy pale lady is looking a bit peaky…course that could just be cuz she’s all knocked up, and sometimes knocked up ladies get pukey, right?”

“Anyhow, Cassie asked me if there was even a thing we could do to save erryone, and, like, I just kinda Knew that maybe you could help us?  It kinda got stuck in my brain, like an idea that’s itchy, and I had to come say something to kinda scratch it…”

“Sounds pretty crazy, right?  But I just really super-duper wanna be able to get better, and save Kal, and Cassie, and Toni, and heck, even the creepy pale lady who’s preggers, and…”

“Whoa…dude…wait, hang on, I’m not done…”

“Whoa, not cool, well…”

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Footnotes:

The SimSelves have returned!  For those who don’t recall (or recognize) Calliope is the adult Antonia from Apep (played by the lovely SimSelf of LadyLobster), and Holly is the adult Octavia from Sima-Mighdall (played by the lovely SimSelf of Haids5987 aka EmeraldCityTaurus).

Yes, I made them have babies for my plotz…sorrynotsorry.

Wasn’t it fun to be back in Ancient Al Simhara again though?  Even if it was only for a vision sequence!  Which, by the way; Oly’s visions will be plentiful, but not exactly in chronological (or any other kind of) order.

The Woulding wishes you all HAPPY SIMMING!!