Page 117 of Oh No! There's an Incubus in my Hot Spring
“Nor I you,” he says, combing his claws through my hair.
“Oh, and another thing. After this, you can apply for citizenship so you can get that state-issued ID card,” I say with a grin.
He chuckles. “Officer Rosa will be very happy about that.”
The chatter of the growing crowd makes the jittering in my stomach worse, but out of all the gathered masses tonight, there’s really only one person making me nervous. My mother is down there, and she has no idea what we’re about to do. I’m sure I’ll get hell for it later, but a public announcement will prevent her from screaming at me…
I hope.
Most of all, I’m excited. We won’t have to hide anything anymore, and we’ll be safe from the creepazoids in black SUVs that have been following me to the grocery store.
The sun finally gives up at just before six, making it dark enough for the show to begin.
“Are you ready?” I ask.
He kisses me again. “Very.”
I grab the cordless microphone from the table and secure it to Apollo’s pointed ear.
He grabs my pointy witch hat and tugs it over my wavy hair. “Let’s go give them a show.”
I follow him across the bridge between the steaming pools to the edge of the balcony. The crowd below cheers when they see him, and while some probably suspect this is Apollo’s true form, most of them think it’s a costume until the magic on his arms and chest flares to life. The crowd collectively gasps as his snaky blue light dances into the air over the parking lot. I thread my fingers into his and allow my peachy-colored magic to join his out in the sky.
“Long ago, a great entity created many powerful children,” Apollo begins, and our magic takes shape into winged and horned silhouettes. “They were sent to the human realm to explore and learn, bringing back tales of peace and war and all that lies between.”
Apollo wields our colors in the sky like a painter, making each image take shape with ease.
“But what interested the great entity most of all was love. When they were certain their children were prepared for this new world, they sent them out into it with a promise. Each child would be able to find love, but only in one human who was made to be perfect for them. Their mate, a forever companion.
“And so I roamed,” he whispers as our magic takes his shape. Trees appear in peach, and Apollo’s visage walks between themuntil he encounters a nomadic encampment. “They feared me at first, some even tried to harm me, but I remained patient, and eventually they learned of my gifts.”
A child appears in blue, coughing, their forehead and cheeks a blazing orange. Apollo’s silhouette lays his hands on the child and the fever disappears from their face.
“But none of these humans were my mate, and I had to keep searching.”
The landscape changes and buildings grow around his figure. He walks until a depiction of the hot springs appears.
“Then I came to this place, and to a witch who showed me more kindness than any other human.” Their silhouettes dance and embrace, then kiss. “I thought maybe she could be the one, but I was wrong. No matter how much I wanted it to be her, she wasn’t my mate.”
They break apart and my throat constricts.
“I wasn’t able to return all the love she felt for me, despite caring for her very much. I knew I had to move on and keep searching. The witch begged me to stay until the end of her life—what would thirty more years be to an ageless creature like me?”
He trails off and looks at me, his eyes glistening. “It would’ve been nothing, but I denied her.”
I squeeze his hand. “It’s okay.”
He looks back at the crowd. “In her despair, she tried to bind me to this place. I fought her incantation, but her grief was stronger.”
The silhouette of Elizabeth screams and tendrils of peach wrap around the figure of Apollo, tying his wings back and bringing him to his knees.
“The spell destroyed my body, and in my desperation to survive, I accepted her binding magic, becoming the very mountain we’re standing on now.”
The colorful magic winds through the air and Apollo reaches out for it. The strings dance along his fingers and up his arms until they settle on him, and mine return to me. I allow the peach to remain visible, branding my wrist in a wave-like pattern.
The crowd murmurs restlessly as I suspect many of them are starting to believe the story.
“Here I’ve remained for generations, waiting either for the great entity to call me home or for my mate to rescue me. And five months ago, she did,” Apollo says, looking down at me again.
