Solomon Ch. 9

Solomon: Chapter 9

Meanwhile, Silver was dealing with the aftermath of passing a different sort of test.
"Where did my pants end up, Viv?" he asked, picking up his shirt as he came out of the bathroom, towel around his waist.
The nineteen- year- old finished refastening her bra and tossed Silver the boxer shorts by her feet. "Those come first, love," she said informatively.
"Thanks," said Silver as he tossed away the towel and slid into the shorts. He commenced rooting about the room, searching for his absent trousers. Vivian watched, bemused, as she began pinning up her long red hair. Vivian was the sort of person who managed to stand out in a crowd, but not too much, without resorting to a subculture stereotype. She frequently experimented with new stylings of her vibrantly red hair. Her green eyes sparkled from behind cat- eye glasses with bright red frames. She was fond of the color green in her clothing. This was probably due in no small part to the affinity for life magics she exhibited. Plants delighted Vivian and her ability to influence them with magic simply solidified this love. She wiggled into a tight floral print miniskirt, a white blouse, and a vivid green jacket.
Vivian was the sort of girl who didn't trust makeup, so she didn't wear any.
By this time, Silver too was dressed. He and Vivian had met when about a year ago, not long after he'd met Jacob. They'd danced around a relationship with each other for most of that year and had finally found said relationship to be unavoidable for any longer about a month ago. Saturdays were the days they always made time to see each other. Regardless of their relationship, or perhaps because of it, Silver was reluctant to bring up the idea of the cabal. He didn't want to think he had just been using her.
Vivian could see that something was bothering Silver. He was distant and distracted. This was even more unusual for Silver than other people. The Reflector was rarely the brooding type, especially not after sex. She sat down on the bed beside him as he pulled on his socks and shoes, running a finger through his silvery hair, still damp and darkened from his shower. "What's wrong, Silver?"
Silver shifted uncomfortably on the bed. "It's just that I have something I need to talk to you about, but I'm afraid you'll get the wrong impression when I do."
Vivian laughed and wrapped her arms around the boy.
"What?" Silver was genuinely confused.
"You're so adorably dumb sometimes, Sil." She gave him a peck on the cheek. "When have you ever known me to get caught up in some kind of misunderstanding with you? I'm not the type to leap to conclusions. I'll let you explain whatever this thing is before I make a judgement. Even if it seems fishy at first. Especially if it seems fishy at first. Okay?"
Silver smiled and leaned back, resting his head on the portion of her chest exposed by her blouse. "Okay, you've caught me. I guess I forgot it was you I was dealing with. But this is going to sound fishy on the surface." He sighed as the both fell back onto the bed and rolled to face each other. It was a natural position, one they were used to talking in. "Solomon and I are forming a cabal. We want you to be part of it."
Confusion saturated Vivian's voice. "Why would that give me some sort of terrible hatred towards you?"
Silver shrugged. "I dunno. I just didn't want you to feel like I used you. Like, got close to you just to get you to join our little pact. I didn't, I mean, we just decided to do it yesterday. What?"
Vivian was laughing so hard that tears were streaming from her eyes. She took off her glasses and placed them on the bedside table while she sat up and wiped her eyes. Silver sat up too, looking indignant. "Seriously, what?"
Vivian shook her head. "Just you. Acting like you're a smooth enough operator to seduce me just to pull me into some crazy scheme you and Solomon cooked up. You're very dear to me, Silver. But you are just not that kind of guy. Magician or not, honesty is what comes naturally to you, at least emotionally. You may be able to obfuscate, lie, and conceal with the best of them, but not when it comes to your feelings. You feel what you feel and you let that show. So no. You don't need to worry at all about me thinking you had some ulterior motive for getting involved with me."
Silver tried to stay indignant, but ended up laughing after a few seconds. "You're right," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'm just not that good at hiding my feelings. I shouldn't have worried. But you didn't quite tell me everything I needed to know yet."
Vivian raised an eyebrow. "I didn't?"
Silver shook his head. "No. You didn't say whether you wanted in or not."
Vivian chuckled. "I guess I didn't. Well I might as well make an informed decision. Who all do you have so far and how many are you shooting for?"
"We're trying for seven," Silver explained. "So far we have Aidan and Felicity, Lucinda, Solomon, and me. Solomon went to go talk to Mort. He seems pretty sure of winning him over."
Vivian nodded. "There's something that happened between those two, I think. Something neither of them likes to discuss. But I don't doubt that Solomon will bring Mort around. So I guess that would make me the seventh. How did you get Sol to agree to Aidan and Felicity? I would have thought that the age thing would have really turned him off of them."
Silver sighed. "Well it did, actually. But I got him to go see them. After some demonstrations of Felicity's talents, he came around. He really seems to like her, actually. The two of them get along much better than I could have imagined."
Vivian cocked her head to the side. "Yeah, I can see that being the case though. She thinks a lot like he does. All business when it's time for business."
Silver was suddenly reminded of Jacob's news this morning. "Solomon astounds me. Nothing phases him at all. Adam was killed last night. Apparently a demon got loose and Sol had to take care of it. He actually bound it to his body. Got some shiny new powers out of it, too. But I don't understand how he keeps going, cold and collected. As if he hadn't cremated his mentor last night before bed. I just don't know how he does it."
Vivian frowned slightly. "He's been at this for about six years now and his specialty has a high mortality rate on top of that. You don't do any of the darker magics for over half a decade without getting quite a bit of desensitization to death."
Silver shrugged. "I guess. It just worries me sometimes."
"He'll be fine," Vivian assured him.
Silver looked at his girlfriend with a start. "You still haven't given me an answer. Are you in or out?"
Vivian laughed. "Fine, fine. You caught me. Sure. I'm in. You guys are going to need someone to patch you up when things get rough. I'll be good for that if nothing else."
Silver grinned. "I'm sure I can think of a few other things you're good for."
Vivian looked at him sharply. "We just got cleaned up and dressed. At least wait until after lunch before we start fooling around again."
Silver sighed. "Okay, okay. You're the boss. What do you want to do about lunch, then?"
Vivian hit him with a pillow. "Perv."
Silver grinned and shook his head. "Not what I meant at all! Why don't we go out somewhere?"
"You mean like an actual date?" Vivian said, cocking an eyebrow. "That would be a change of pace."
Silver nodded. "I think it would be nice. What do you think?"
Vivian thought about it for a moment, then smiled and nodded. "Sure, that sounds wonderful. How about that Italian place downtown?"
"Sure," said Silver. "Let's head out."
They caught the bus and held hands all the way to their stop. Silver told the enthusiastic young woman who greeted them that, yes, it was just the two of them today. They were seated immediately.
"I'm really glad you decided to say yes to the pact, Viv," said Silver after they had received their food.
"Was there really any doubt?" asked Vivian, genuinely curious.
"Well, yeah," said Silver, twirling pasta on his fork. "I mean, it's not exactly the safest proposition in the world. There are enough downsides that I thought it was a realistic possibility."
Vivian looked at Silver with that bemused look she got sometimes. "Silver, honey," she said with practiced patience that stems from dealing with the perpetually naive. "We're fucking. Neither of us is the sort of person who can do that without forming significant emotion attachment to the other person. On top of that, we only see each other one day a week. How would I be able to turn down a guaranteed way to deepen our emotional bond and cause us to spend more time together?"
Silver finished chewing his pasta, then answered. "Well when you put it that way, I guess not."
They made smalltalk for the rest of the meal. It was nice, for both of them. They hadn't actually been out on a real, honest- to- goodness date until today. They resolved to do it again soon.
The bus dropped them off again in the vicinity of Vivian's apartment complex. Silver sighed when they reached her door. "We should probably let Solomon know you said yes instead of. . .y'know. . .going back inside."
"Yeah," Vivian reluctantly agreed. "You're probably right."
They looked at each other for a few minutes. Silver spoke first, slowly. "Although, I'll want to set up the spell circle for the mirror inside, of course."
Vivian's reply was quiet, almost a whisper. "Of course. So we'll have to go inside for that."
The two of them entered the apartment, hands still clasped tightly. An hour later, Jacob's mirror shook violently in his pocket.

Word Counts
-This chapter: 1732
-Total so far: 18872

Gah! So far behind! On top of that, this is probably some of the worst trite and stupid bullcrap I've ever written in my life. Enjoy life while you can, Chapter 9. Come December your rewrite will be swift and merciless.