Page 40 of Oh No! There's an Incubus in my Hot Spring
“That’s my girl.”
I take a deep breath. “Ready to get to work?” I ask Apollo.
“Very,” he says.
We wash up and don the protective glasses I bought. We have to move the furniture and the reception stand into the hall connecting to the apartment, summoning more dust bunnies. When they’ve cleared out and cleaned everything up, we’re ready to lay the first board.
The first few planks are a struggle of smearing the adhesive around because there’s too much, uneven lays, and more frustrations. But after pulling them up and trying again, we finally get in a groove. We cover the main entrance with the long boards, and then Apollo uses his magic to cut the spares down to size for the alcoves.
By dinnertime, we’ve completely covered the entrance hall with the new pine wood flooring. We stand in the open door, golden sunlight pouring over our accomplishment, and marvelat it. The lighter-colored wood adds a touch of warmth and brightness to the previously dingy space. With some updated furniture and lighting, this will be a modern wonder with a lovely natural feel.
“It’s beautiful, a perfect first impression,” Apollo says.
I inhale a deep breath of pine and adhesive, then turn to him with my hand up. “High five!”
He places his hand against mine gently, and I laugh.
“No, it’s a slap, like this.” I move my hand back and smack his with a satisfyingclap.
“There’s one more thing I’d like to do before we retire for the evening.” He grins. “Stay here for a moment.”
I scowl, crossing my arms, but stay put as he walks toward the room with the geode. I’m just going to call that the control room.
A moment later, the ground rumbles and aker-chunknoise comes from the apartment. I jump—I really need to get a handle on that—and look toward the control room. Apollo emerges with a broad grin that exposes his fangs.
We dodge the furniture cluttering the hall to the apartment and he stops at the door. “Close your eyes.”
He seems excited, so I indulge him. I grab his arm and let him lead me into the room. We walk to the center…and then keep walking. Why do my footsteps sound farther away than they should? I’m so tempted to peek, and right when I’m about to, Apollo covers my eyes.
“Hey,” I grumble, grabbing his wrist.
“I could feel your resolve wavering,” he says close to my ear. His low voice sends a thrill through my body and makes the hairs on my arms stand on end.
Finally, when we’ve walked what should be the length of the entire studio apartment, we stop. He stands behind me, his other arm wrapping over my chest as he pulls me back againsthim. My heart flutters with excitement as his hand slides away from my eyes and multicolored light bleeds through my eyelids.
“Open,” he whispers.
I suck in a gasp as I take in the room. The old cling film-covered window is now a massive set of French doors that has a mosaic of crystals as the panes of glass. Green, blue, purple, pink, and gold piece together to make a gorgeous whole. Beside the new doors is an expanded fireplace with a crystal mantle and frame.
Light pours down from above, and I look up to see the ceiling is at least fifteen feet farther up than it used to be. The roof is just four massive, clear crystal windows. Pink-hued clouds drift by lazily in the navy sky with the first signs of stars.
The air is punched from my lungs as Apollo turns me around. The kitchen takes up the space between the new door to the yard and a winding staircase leading up to a balcony of stone.
“What’s that?” I ask, pointing to the door beyond the balcony.
“Your bedroom.”
My heart is in my throat and my eyes are hazy with emotion before I can put the immense swell of gratitude back in its box. He turns me to face him with a soft smile.
“I’m glad you love it,” he says, thumbing away one of my tears.
“You could do all this but not stick a few boards to the ground?” I ask, sniffling.
He chuckles. “I was lacking the proper adhesive. This is all materials found within my territory, and the expansion wasn’t too serious of a spatial incantation. Moving the plumbing around was a little difficult, but laying the floorboards gave me ample time to work it out.”
My brow furrows. “You were doing this while we were working?”
He shrugs. “I was planning while we worked, creating the right spells and designing the space in my mind. The execution was the easy part.”
