The Half Blood Magician, Part 2, ch. 4: I Get a Promotion

"Some Nights?"

I stopped singing, looked up, and saw Ridley leaning in my doorway.

"Yeah?" I huffed, pressing pause.

"Escapism and nostalgia?" Ridley says.

I sat up with a start. "What?"

"We know if you've got a mood going by which early-2010s pop music you start singing at full volume," she says, "Something on your mind?"

"You-!" I stood up. "First of all, your whole entire thing is escapism, so don't even talk."

She rolled her eyes.

"Second of all... I guess I've just sort of... realized my mortality?"

She blinked. "You... live here. You're not gonna die, I promise."

"Look at me!" I gestured down at myself. "Do I look older than when we first met?"

She looked me up and down and frowned, confirming the worst.

"Like... I don't wanna die! But!" I was yelling a little, maybe. "I don't want to shut out the world completely? Like, I have friends! Really good ones! And I want to know them their whole lives, not just the few snippets I can get with my mortal life sapping away in the outside world! I know they won't want to stay here with me forever and I definitely want to keep living here, I love you guys, I love this place, you need me, but if I have to lose them one day I at least don't want to be just blips in their memory when- but I-"

"Stella!"

Rid walked over and put her hands on my shoulders. She shook her head. "We love you, too. Come with me. I think there's something we should have done a long time ago."

I blinked up at her, and when I did I realized I was crying. I wiped my make-up-less face with my neon-orange opera glove and followed her.

We ascended the stairs up to the Lotus Lounge, where the enormous Lotus Tree grows through three whole floors. The Lotus Eaters were eating the lotus fruit from it (as they do) but when Ridley loudly cleared her throat, most of them looked up.

"Brothers, sisters, siblings," she said. "Our Stella's been having some thoughts."

I blushed a little, being called 'Our Stella'.

James walked over to the two of us. "What's going on?"

"She's made some bonds in the outside world," Ridley started.

"You aren't leaving us?" James asked, concerned. I shook my head fiercely.

"No, no, she's simply worried about aging away from us the more time she spends in the outside world," Rid said. "So I think it's well past time that, since her power fuels our livelihood, our livelihood should fuel her power."

"Ah"s rippled through the lounge, Lotus Eaters smiling and nodding at each other.

"Ridley?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

"Stella." Ridley exchanged a look with James. "Would you like to be a Lotus Eater?"

My mouth flew open. "You can do that?!"

"You can eat of the fruit, and immortality will follow you everywhere," Ridley said.

"It's not a one-and-done situation, of course, but as long as the fruit's in your system you'll never age no matter where you are," James said.

"You've been one of us for a long time. It's past time we made it official," Ridley said.

My eyes filled with tears for an entirely different reason. I hugged them both.

They lead me over to the tree, and the other Lotus Eaters parted the way for me. I took a breath and reached out to the tree, then gently picked a lotus fruit. I looked at the Lotus Eaters around me- my family- then took a bite.

"Man," I said. Magic and flavor exploded through me. "This is amazing!"

They smiled and laughed with me, and we all had a celebration all through the night.

I was surprised when my Lotus Pad lit up with a message from a familiar signal.