Never Say Die- Chapter 19

 

Chapter 19

 

 

            “Saydie, don’t forget we have to pick out your costume for the fundraiser!” Flan called to me from down the hall. I’d completely forgotten that I’d offered to be in the auction, as promised Flan was in it as well since I’d gotten Hadley and her friends in on it but she didn’t seem very enthused about it.

            “I don’t even know what kind of costume to get, human ideas of demons are so tacky.” I replied sadly.

            “We’ll get some ideas and then I will throw together the best demon costume you’ve ever seen.” She promised looking more than genuinely excited to go shopping. “We’re going to put you in leather though, I’m thinking.” She said looking me over for a moment.

            “Just don’t leave me dressed like a biker, that’s all I’m asking.” I pleaded and she laughed.

            “Come on, do I ever steer you wrong with clothes?” she raised an eyebrow at me.

            “No and I still don’t understand how you do it for me but can’t do it for yourself.” I threw back at her.

            “Talent my friend.” Was all she said.

            We spent an entire day browsing costumes at every costume shop and Halloween store in town; every time I liked something she’d take a picture with her phone to be looked at later. After hours upon hours of shopping we finally went home but we were empty handed. Flan had specifically told me that we weren’t buying anything and to trust her but that just confused me. Had it been anyone else I would have questioned their motive but Flan had never steered me wrong before and I wasn’t about to suggest that she was now.

            When we got home she sat down at her computer and uploaded the pictures of costumes and accessories that I’d liked. One costume in particular had been a jumpsuit that showed off plenty of skin in the stomach and back areas and I was definitely going for something sexy. We mixed and matched tons of ideas before we finally came up with something we both loved.

            The costume that she roughly sketched out was going to be made of a shiny red material, the top was a bra-like halter with a piece of fabric that came down to just above the navel connecting to an “O” shaped ring with horns added, making it look like a devils head. Then more fabric attached to the bottom of the ring, covered the skin below my navel, bringing everything together to form a complete shirt. To the bottom of the shirt she had added garters made from thin black chains which hooked to leggings made of the same shiny red material, she had also included matching panties. I was beyond grateful that nothing had actually ended up being leather and I wasn’t about to remind her, especially after getting a look at the panties.

            Finally, there was a short skirt that just barely covered up the garters, making it look like the skirt and the top blended into one piece. When she was pleased with her work she had me stand across the room, in front of the door.

            “Just be still and give me a minute, I haven’t done anything like this before.” She said trying to sound assuring but failing big time.

            “You’re making me your guinea pig Flan?” I screeched, a little worried now because I realized that she had pulled out a wand and intended to use magic on me instead of just conjuring up the costume.

            “I’m your fairy godmother just relax, it will all be fine.” She said testily and I tried to relax, thankful that at least she couldn’t kill me.

“This isn’t a Disney movie Flan and I’m hardly Cinderella.” I grumbled and she smiled.

            She had me strip down to my underclothes and I stood in front of the door with my eyes closed.

            “Very funny.” She muttered before I heard her whispering foreign words that I didn’t understand. I could feel the material as it fitted itself on my body but I was still too scared to open my eyes before she was done. When she finally told me I could open my eyes, I noticed that the clothes fit comfortably at least.

            I opened my eyes and looked down at myself; I wasn’t missing any limbs and sighed gratefully. I went to stand in front of the mirror and my breath caught in my throat as I took myself in. She’d done an amazing job, I could hardly believe it was even me. She’d added a headband with horns on it and a jeweled tail that I couldn’t help loving, along with shiny red heels that slightly resembled Mary Jane’s but were made of the same shiny material as the rest of the outfit.

            To top the entire look off she’d changed my hair so that it was up in 2 pigtails, she’d turned it fire engine red with chunks of black just below the bands that held my hair up, kind of giving the illusion of wings coming off my head. The bangs were cut in a pixie style, coming to a point between my eyebrows and the hair on the sides was styled so that it angled down, coming to a gentle curl at the ends to frame my face. The headband sat carefully with the horns right in front of each pig tail hiding the rubber bands.

            “The skirt comes off so just when the bidding starts to slow down you can give them a little more for their money.” She winked at me and I laughed.

            “Wow Flan, this is really something, thank you.” I said, truly blown away by the costume she’d come up with.

            “That will be five grand please.” She said holding out her hand and I slapped mine into it.

            “How about I let you keep living here and call it even?” I teased.

            “I guess I can deal with that.” She grinned, very proud of herself. “I’ll cover the rubber bands up with your hair for the fundraiser, just so you know. We can worry about the fine points later.”

            I nodded, “I wasn’t really worried about it Flan it looks fantastic. Are we going to work on your costume tomorrow then?” She turned to me in surprise.

            “My costume?”

            “Um yeah, you’re going to be auctioned off, you have to wear a costume, it’s Halloween.” I said pointedly, not understanding why she seemed so surprised.

            “Sure we’ll work on mine tomorrow.” She replied with a hint of defeat in her voice.

            I gasped, “You thought you were getting out of this after everything I went through to get Hadley and her friends into this? Oh no lady you’re in whether you like it or not.” I laughed and she grimaced. Flan didn’t like being the center of attention any more than I did.

            “It will be fun and it’s for a good cause, you and Hadley can go out on a super romantic date on me okay?” This seemed to make her feel a little better and she gave me a small smile.

            “Fine, we’ll figure it out tomorrow. No showing Rhys your costume though, I want him to get the full effect when the time comes.”

            “Fine, I won’t tell him, I’ll pick you up after school then? We can go back and get your car later.” She nodded, looking resigned as I threw my arms around her, “I love you Flan, don’t ever forget that.” I said before planting a kiss on her cheek.

            I was halfway down the hall to my room when I realized that I’d forgotten my clothes. I waltzed back into her room and she looked as if she had been expecting me to come back with a half grin on her face.

            “Okay, undo your magic so I can get out of this monkey suit.” I told her and she chuckled as she motioned for me to stand by the door again. As she held her wand up, I vaguely wondered why I had never realized that she even had one. I’d never thought of her as that kind of witch I guess, needing some kind of prop to channel her magic; she was more than capable of performing magic without it. The wand made me think of Harry Potter, I’d have to ask her about how she’d gotten it later.

            I closed my eyes again, still not trusting enough to keep them open while she had the wand pointed at me, something about it was slightly threatening. Maybe because she’d never used it in front of me before now and it felt strange to have what could be considered a weapon pointing at me, particularly if something went wrong.

            I felt the fabric disappear from my body and then felt new fabric wrapping itself around me. I’d planned to dress myself but this worked too. When I finally opened my eyes I was back to myself except that I still had on the headband with the horns. I pulled that off and set it on her bed.

            “Thanks Flan, you did a great job.” I said before heading back to my room and leaving her to freak out over a costume for herself.

 

            The next day I found myself, again, with the predicament of keeping myself occupied before I had to meet Flan, I could only be thankful that she didn’t have a full day so I could leave earlier than before. I wasn’t in the mood for ciders so I stopped at a little coffee stand and bought us strawberry Italian Soda’s instead. I figured it might help her feel a bit better about what I was about to put her through.

            I pulled into the Wharton parking lot and again, sensed Armistead immediately although he was out of sight. I stepped out of the car and leaned against the front while I waited out the last 5 minutes of Flan’s class. It surprised me when Armistead showed up out of nowhere to stand by my side, only seconds after I’d gotten out of the car and had settled myself against it.

            “You really shouldn’t sneak up on people like that, if I didn’t know you were here already you might have startled me.” I said teasingly and he smiled back.

            “My apologies princess, I’ll be more careful of my approach next time.” He replied formally.

            “You don’t need to call me princess you know, people might start to wonder.” I turned to him with a half smile on my face.

            “But it’s so amusing to see your response, it’s like our own inside joke.” He defended himself and I rolled my eyes. “Nice license plate by the way, conspicuous much?” he raised a curious but amused eyebrow at me.

            “What are you talking about? It’s just my name.” I tried to play it off, knowing exactly what he meant and trying not to smile.

            “Your name is spelled like ‘Say Die’?” He asked in disbelief and I blushed slightly.

            “Yes, my father kind of thought it was funny when they named me.” I replied defiantly.

            “You might want to reconsider your vanity plates princess.”

            “They’re exactly the way I want them.” I replied with an evil grin.

            “You’re a little twisted for a demon who loathes all things evil.”

            “I can still have a sense of humor about it, if you can’t laugh at yourself, what else can you laugh at?”

            “I suppose you’re right.” He conceded and I finally smiled. “I’d better get going, Veronica is waiting on the other side of the campus, I just wanted to say hi.”

            “Do you need a ride over there?” I asked and he shook his head.

            “I’m right over here.” He nodded to a beautiful silver motorcycle with gold accents and my mouth fell open.

            “You have a Suzuki Hayabusa?” I asked in awe and he nodded again.

            “I’m sure you understand the need for speed, some of us just prefer more wind in our hair.” He winked and walked off toward the bike. I stood watching with my mouth slightly open as he got on and started it up, not bothering to use a helmet. With a wave he took off and was out of sight within seconds.

            He had just turned the corner when I saw Flan coming toward me from the corner of my eye. She looked slightly crestfallen when she realized that I’d showed up like I promised. I pushed the Italian Soda toward her with a smile.

            “Come on, it won’t be any worse than yesterday, we’ll take pictures and go home to figure it out okay?”

            She looked at me confused, “How is that supposed to work out if I’m not trying on clothes?”

 I smiled slyly, “You’re not the only one who can make things happen.” I winked at her and opened my door to get into the car as she followed suit.

            “You can do a costume like I did?” she asked in disbelief.

            “I can figure something out.” I promised, hoping that my power of willing things to happen worked with clothes.

            The trip didn’t take nearly as long as the one for mine since we’d already seen most of the costumes already. Flan seemed to already know which stores had things that she’d liked, so we didn’t have to take a lot of pictures. She seemed to be going for something a little more formal compared to my costume that was so sexy it was almost shamefully s****y.

            I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to put her in by the time we had finished. She looked truly relieved to finally get back in the car.

            “Come on it wasn’t that bad.” I chided her with a smile.

            She sighed, “No it wasn’t that bad.”

            ‘Then what’s wrong? You’re acting like this trip is the end of the world.” I replied, confused.

            She sighed again and turned to me, “It’s just that I’m a little nervous about this auction, having to be dressed up like a peacock and…” she trailed off and I waited expectantly as she took a deep breath, “I’m afraid of you using your power on me when I’ve never seen it done before.” Her words came out so fast that they sounded like one and I had to take a moment to process exactly what she’d said.

            I raised an eyebrow, “First off, you will never look like a peacock on my watch and second, you subjected me to the mercy of your magic so now it’s my turn.” I replied firmly as I stepped on the gas and sped home. She looked like she couldn’t have wished more that I’d drive at a normal speed.

            As I drove the ideas twisted around in my head, I didn’t need to sketch her costume out; I could see all the changes in my mind as I made them. By the time we pulled into the driveway I knew exactly what I was going to do with her.

            She hesitantly got out of the car and with a deep sigh she headed into the house. I closed the garage door and followed her inside with a small smile, this was going to be great, and she’d never know what hit her.

            She went to the fridge to grab a bottle of water and then headed for the stairs with a resigned look on her face.

            “I’ll be up in a minute!” I told her as I watched her head to her room. She seemed to be wrapped in her own thoughts and just gave me a lame wave in response. 

            I focused on the image in my head as she climbed each stair and slowly her jeans and t-shirt turned into a beautiful, long, black satin skirt that looked like someone had bleached out the lower half and re-dyed it a fiery orange-red. Her top was made of matching fabric that looked rough and torn as it barely capped her shoulders before falling gracefully over her chest.

            A large, diamond-shaped cutout in the middle of her torso showed off a patch of skin while not being too revealing, the upper point started just under her breasts, smack dab in the middle of her chest. The bottom of the diamond came to a stop just above her navel, making the outfit sexy but very tasteful; the only other revealing part of the dress was the slit in the side that went from the floor to her hip.

            The bottom of the shirt had two inches of trim that matched the red-orange on the bottom of the skirt, it started under the diamond and came around her back to meet itself in a teardrop shape that gave the appearance of hugging her behind. I found that I was very pleased with my work as she reached the top step and I followed her up the stairs.

            She seemed to be very wrapped up in her nervousness because she never even noticed that her outfit was different and her hair hung down around her face in romantic waves of red-brown hair. I followed behind her quietly until she’d reached her room and I heard the sigh of springs as she sat on the bed. The resulting gasp when she sat down let me know that she’d finally taken a look at herself and the swish of the satin let me know that she had stood up to cross the room and look into the full length mirror.

            I stood in the doorway as she twirled around in front of the mirror.

            “Do you like it?” I asked cautiously and she turned around with a look of amazement.

            “I don’t like it Saydie I love it! I’ve never had anything so beautiful in my life!” She crossed the room to throw her arms around me and squeeze me tightly as I smiled delightedly.

            “I’m glad you love it, I hope it’s not too revealing. There’s a few more things I’d like to add if you’re ok with it.”

            “Add whatever you want, not that it needs anything though.” She smiled and stepped back, all signs of nervousness gone.

            I focused on the images in my head again and a long, transparent, black cape appeared at her shoulders and flowed down to the bottom of the skirt. Black leather boots with stiletto heels rose from the floor to mid thigh; I was hoping that she’d feel less self conscious about showing so much leg on the one side if the boots covered it up some.

            I watched as she rose slightly off the floor with the boots as they formed themselves to her legs. I had a few buckles placed strategically on the outer sides of the boots, which I thought was really sexy. I nodded at her to look at herself again and she spun in front of the mirror, I studied her appearance and thought there was just one thing missing.

            “Let me know if you like this or not.” I said and focused one last time, she watched expectantly as a pointed witch’s hat formed on her head, black on the outside and the same red-orange under the brim. A matching ribbon circled the hat just above the brim and tied into a squared bow that hugged the side of the hat.

            Flan looked like she was trying not to squeal with delight by the time I was done and I realized that I’d exhausted myself with the effort, lowering myself to sit on the bed as she continued to spin around in front of the mirror like a 5 year old princess. The ecstatic look on her face told me that I’d definitely done a great job.

            Eventually she looked back at me and noticed that I was tired, she came over and sat next to me.

            “Thank you Saydie, you’ve done more for me than anyone has in my whole life.” She said and I noticed that she had tears in her eyes.

            “Don’t mention it, you did one just as good for me you know.” I pointed out.

            “Yes but you’re used to having nice things and wearing fancy clothes.” She said somewhat sadly.

            “Is that what this business with the outfits is about?”I asked curiously.

            “I can’t afford to dress the way you do Saydie, I know you try to help me branch out but I have a budget, unlike you with your unlimited demon money.” She elbowed me playfully in the ribs.

            “Flan we could have gotten you a complete wardrobe of your choosing if you wanted to.” I said incredulously.

            “No, you could have gotten me a complete wardrobe; I can’t afford to do that.”

            “But you’re my friend, it’s not a big deal.” I didn’t understand why she was arguing about it.

            “It is a big deal Saydie, I can’t let you buy stuff like that for me, it wouldn’t sit well with my conscience.”

            “What if I didn’t pay for it?” I suggested hopefully.

            “How about I promise to work on it when I get the chance? You can’t create an entire wardrobe anyway, look what it’s done to you to create one dress.” She pointed out and I nodded.

            “Fine, you’re right. But you’d better believe that I’m going to pop up with outfits for you here and there, and you can raid my closet any time you want alright?” she smiled and nodded, putting her arms around me.

            “You’re the best friend I could have ever asked for.” She said and I felt tears burning my eyes.

            “So are you Flan.” I told her.

            When we finally pulled away she crossed the room to pull her wand out of the wooden case she kept it in. It was covered in moons and stars, giving it a very astrological look. With a small but sad smile she tapped the side of her hat and the dress melted away to reveal her jeans, t-shirt and sandals once again.

            It materialized again on the bed next to me and I looked down and smiled, “You’re going to be the most beautiful witch ever.” I said as she picked the dress up to put it on a hanger that she’d conjured.

            “And you’ll be the most beautiful demon ever, we both win.” She smiled and crossed the room to hang it on the inside of her closet door.

            I laid back on the bed, really feeling the result of my efforts and she came to lay next to me.

            “I love you Saydie.” She smiled at me and reached out to squeeze my hand.

            “I love you too Flan.” I replied and closed my eyes, giving over to the weariness that was taking over my body and my mind.