Summoned Again?

“I can't believe you're really real.” Nat managed to say through her tears and hugged her long lost mother.

“I can't believe it, either.” Samantha whispered and held her daughter close.

Susan looked at the second family reunion happening in front of her for only a moment before she looked at me. “You need to start explaining this.”

“Hey, I'm just as surprised as you are.” I said and shook my head. “I never realized something like this could happen, even knowing the people I arrive with are supposed to be from here. At least, that's how it's been happening.” I turned my head to look at Samantha. “I've actually tried to leave contact information with other people that have been summoned and they almost never take me up on the offer.”

Samantha held her daughter and gave me a look that said I was an idiot. “They always erase people's memories. If they somehow woke up with your contact information within reach, most would ignore it as either fake or planted, since they wouldn't remember getting it in the first place.”

I had to nod at that. “I guess that's why Farrah never contacted me, even though I wrote it on her arm in permanent marker.”

That made Nat snort loudly and Susan huffed at me.

“No, we didn't do anything sexual. She distrusted me right from the start because I offered to help her as soon as we met. She didn't warm up to me until near the end.” I said with a shrug. “Also, she's Canadian and lied when she gave me her number and an American address.”

“Hold on. One of the overly nice people that keep apologizing and have weird accents actually lied to you?” Samantha asked, clearly surprised.

“Uh huh.” Samantha said and waved my comment away. “Next, you're going to tell me they don't all live in igloos and don't have moose in their backyards and wolves as sled dogs.”

I laughed and shook my head. “When were you Summoned Again? The thirties?”

“Yes! Nat was a miracle baby and was in my womb for decades!” Samantha gave me a huge grin, which told us she had been joking all along. “I should have charged her rent!”

That set off Nat and Susan and they laughed, which made Crystal laugh along with them.

I watched them laugh with someone that they should have been interrogating about what happened and why her skin was an odd shade of grey. I caught Samantha's eye and she winked at me. That gave me a clue and I used one of my diagnostic rings and I was surprised to see the glamour spell on her skin. As far as everyone but me was concerned, she had normal skin.

It also opened a few new possibilities, because it meant she either had an item on her to give her access to spells, just like I had my rings and pendants, or she had actually cast a spell on herself... and I could see right through it.

“As nice as this is, I think we need to get home.” I said and everyone agreed.

“You're right.” Samantha said. “I need to go and...”

“You are not leaving me again!” Nat spat, quite angrily.

Samantha looked shocked at the anger. “Nat-Nat, I...”

“NO!” Nat shouted and pointed an accusing finger at her. “Whatever reason you think you can give for an excuse to leave, you can stuff it right where it belongs!”

Crystal nervously giggled and Susan hugged her, because they had never seen Nat angry. She was a very nice person and was always happy, so seeing her face so changed made them uncomfortable.

I decided to step in and head off the argument before it could get nasty. “I completely agree with Nat. I brought you back here and that means I am responsible for you. We can't predict what could happen if you go to far away from me.”

Samantha looked like she was going to argue and her eyes locked onto Nat's still angry face. She barely glanced at Susan's welcoming one and my encouraging one. It took her several seconds to close her eyes and she sighed.

“That was the most important decision you have ever made in your life.” Nat said and waited for her mother to open her eyes before she pointed over to the parked car. “Now march!”

Samantha didn't bother trying to argue about being ordered like a child and walked over to the car.

I stepped close to Nat and whispered as I put an arm over her shoulders. “We'll work this out.”

Nat looked on the verge of tears again and nodded. Her mother showing up out of the blue and wanting to leave immediately, had hit her particularly hard and she was fighting against breaking down into a crying fit again.

I let her go and picked Crystal up, even though she was getting too big to do it. She didn't care about that and hugged my neck tightly. By the time we walked over to the car, I had given her several kisses on the cheek and she had an epic blush on her face.

“I missed you a whole lot more than that, sweetie.” I whispered to her and she looked very happy. “I have six months of hugs and kisses to make up for and it's going to take a while.”

Unlike what the others expected, I climbed into the backseat with Crystal on my lap and Susan sat next to me. Samantha had no choice but to take the passenger seat next to Nat and Nat drove us back across the city to the apartment building.

Samantha's head seemed to be on a swivel and she kept looking around at all of the things she could see. I supposed that her time away had kept her out of the loop more than my own first time had. I wasn't going to ask about that, though. Right now, what was important was working out how our lives were going to function with another person in it. Natalie's mother.

I closed my eyes and thought about that. I tried to somehow come up with the nonsensical numbers that would be needed to calculate the nearly insurmountable odds that I would be summoned to a particular world to handle a problem that a previous set of heroes had failed to save, only to meet someone that was a relative of a previous hero that had been summoned... and I gave myself a headache.

I knew it wasn't a part of some divine plan, because I agreed with Samantha. She wasn't supposed to be able to leave the Cleric's world and we had cheated. Since she was technically dead, even if she was animated by magic to be undead, her status as non-living let me add her to my inventory.

The odds that I would successfully learn the summon spell and reverse summon spell, remove a summoned hero during one of my trips to gain a free slot to add Samantha to it to bring her home without the interference of the local god or goddess, was also ridiculous. The sheer amount of coincidences and pure luck all of that needed made my headache worse when I thought about it.

“Wake up. We're here.” Susan said when the car came to a stop and she lightly touched my shoulder.

“I was thinking, not asleep.” I said and opened my eyes, then fake gasped when I saw Crystal. “Oh! I see a pretty girl on my lap! Kisses are needed!”

Crystal giggled and squirmed in my arms as I gave her several more kisses on her cheeks. She didn't fight me off or push me away, though. She blushed again and looked even happier when I was done.

“We should go up to the apartment before you make Susan even more jealous, you lush.” Nat said.

I laughed and nodded. “I'll be spoiling Susan with long deserved kisses soon enough.”

Susan looked quite pleased about that.

Nat turned her head and looked at her mother. “Whatever is going on with you has to wait for now. We have family time and we're going to catch up with Damon for the next few hours. You will not ruin it.”

Samantha looked angry for a moment, then her face went blank and she nodded.

We left the parking garage and went to the apartment building. Samantha was surprised with the size of the thing and all of the businesses and apartments inside. Her eyes went to me when she saw the name on the building and I winked at her. She didn't say anything and the elevator stopped at the top floor.

We entered the penthouse apartment and Crystal dove at the couch where Teddy sat. No one asked why he wore a policeman's uniform, probably because the hat looked adorable on him. Samantha ignored the rest of us and went right over to the windows to gaze out at the spectacular view.

“It's even better at night.” Susan said. “The lights sparkle off the water near the horizon.”

Samantha could only nod and stayed silent.

“Do you need a shower?” Nat asked me.

“I probably should get out of these armored clothes and put on something normal.” I said as I picked up the laptop to transfer the photos from my phone. “I might need a hand with...”

Susan was suddenly across the room, grabbed my hand, and dragged me into the master bedroom. We both ignored the laughs from Nat and Crystal and I switched out all my rings for silence spell rings before our clothes were abandoned on the floor.

I didn't have to take my time with her and Susan yelled out her pleasure as she finally rejoined with me. I felt extremely guilty about leaving her alone for so long and she knew I did. She also knew I hadn't been alone for that time and she said she understood. I had a problem and both she and her mother accepted it and accepted me.

Of course, I told her that I always thought of her, especially when I described Denise and her spectacular leather covered ass that I kept praising and comparing her to Susan when we had first met.

“You lived... my fantasy.” Susan said between breaths as I railed into her.

“I thought... it was the best... compliment.” I panted and didn't stop moving. “I was still... using you as... a surrogate.”

Susan looked immensely pleased by that and her next orgasm made her eyes roll into the back of her head and she passed out.

I slipped out of her and used the cleaning spell rings on her and myself and then used the detect ring to see where everyone was. They were still in the living room, since I hadn't been missing for that long, so I went to the bathroom and had a quick shower. I returned to the bedroom and equipped a set of clothes before I transferred the photos to the laptop and brought it out.

Crystal snatched it out of my hands and she cuddled Teddy on the couch as she started browsing the pictures.

Nat chuckled and sat next to her and pat the cushion next to her. I accepted the invitation and sat down as I put my arm over her shoulders. Samantha sat beside Teddy and I started telling them about the pictures and where they happened and what was going on at the time.

The first time a picture of the wolves appeared, it made Crystal squeal and she wished he had one, Nat's face paled and she stared at me, and Samantha cursed under her breath. The adults knew what the size of the wolves meant and how dangerous it had been for me on that world.

Fifteen minutes later, Susan came out wearing a bathrobe and looked freshly showered. She cuddled into my other side and everyone had fun picking out where Teddy was in each picture as I kept explaining what was going on and how I had eventually figured out what it was I was supposed to do there.

“Save the world.” Crystal, Susan, and Nat said at the same time.

I chuckled. “Yeah, except I had no clue how to do that or even where to start.”

We talked about it some more and both Nat and Susan were glad that the tour bus had come in handy. They had thought I was wasting space by bringing such a huge thing along. I didn't correct them about their misconception that a simple bus could be in any way taxing when compared to a mountain full of metal ores and a cavern full of stolen treasures.

“I can't believe you went through all of that.” Susan said when I finally finished explaining what had happened. “Is it like that all the time?”

“No, every time is different.” I said. “I've yet to go to a world that's been the same as another. This last one was pretty close to Earth, even if the layout was a bit different. The analogs to larger cities matched, including Washington DC and New York. The state outlines weren't even close, though.”

“Can you show us a map or something?” Nat asked. “I'm sure it could give us a hint about the turns in history such a thing might have come from.”

I took out a piece of paper from inventory and she gasped. It was one I had made from using the Topography, Search, and Map spells after travelling all across that world's version of the United States. It showed lines and dots where we had travelled and stopped.

“We had this for our own records.” I said and tapped a spot. “This is where I first showed up.”

“It's too bad you couldn't ask why that stupid goddess split you up.” Nat said and shook her head. “She handicapped you twice by not telling you what was going on and then denying you your teammates.”

“It's even worse than that.” I said and she raised her eyebrows at me. “She put them into specific spots to ensure things went her way. The taxidermist here, so he could whittle down the wolves for as long as possible, since he would be the last I would ever meet. The third was here and she had been dropped with like-minded bigots and she also culled a lot of the wolves before I found out about her.”

“That... that...”

“The worst one was Martha, since she was intentionally left with bigots that conflicted with her personal outlook and sympathy with animals. I had to rescue her before she was killed and I was only told about her when they had already finished after weeks of torture and abuse of her.”

“I'm really glad that you killed that goddess.” Crystal said. “She was bad and hurt the wolves.”

I exchanged looks with Nat and Susan before I spoke. “Crystal, sweetie.” I said and she looked up at me. “Taking a life, no matter how it happens, is a huge thing.”

“I know, Uncle Damon.” Crystal said and smiled. “The teacher told us all about it.”

I had to ask with an opening like that. “What did she say?”

“If you kill one person, it's a shame and you feel really guilty about it. If you kill a bunch of people, you're a mass murderer and you still feel bad, only not as much. If you kill a thousand people, it's just a statistic.”

Samantha made sputtering sounds, Nat looked shocked, and Susan looked sick.

“What are they teaching you at that school?” I asked. My own surprise was muted, because I actually agreed with that. Once you passed a certain threshold, one more death doesn't have much of an impact.

“It was about World War 2 and Hitler's reign of terror. What's neat is that everyone mentions the six million Jewish people that were sent to the camps and how horrible it was, and no one mentions the five million Gypsies, Poles, Slavics, blacks, gays, Asians, mentally disabled, and handicapped people that were sent, too.”

All of us stared at her and I had no idea what to say. The little girl that I loved like my own had just told us that it was 'neat' that the world ignored the deaths of five million people, because it was just a statistic and didn't affect them personally.

“There were even hundreds of thousands of people that were political prisoners sent to the camps and they were mostly communists, socialists, and Jehovah's Witnesses.” Crystal said and changed the screen to the next photo. “Oh! There's Teddy!” She giggled. “You're really sneaky, Teddy.”

I sat there quietly for the next ten minutes and tried to think of something to say. Nothing came to mind. What could I say? Everything she said was true. Could I admonish her for that without immediately being seen as a hypocrite? I almost laughed at that and decided it wasn't something that needed to be addressed right now.

“I think someone's ninth birthday is coming up.” I said to distract everyone from the previous conversation.

“OOO! What did you get me?” Crystal asked as her eyes almost lit up. “Is it a puppy? A wolf puppy? Tell me it's a WOLF PUPPY!”

I burst out laughing and had to shake my head. “I can't... store... living things.” I said between laughs and she pouted. Her lips were a little fuller than the last time I had seen her, so her sad puppy look and her jutted out bottom lip was almost devastating to see. I reached for her and she put the laptop down and climbed over Nat to sit on my lap.

Crystal tucked her face into my neck and put her arms around me and I held her for several minutes as we both calmed down. I could have stayed there forever with the unbiased love I felt from her, which gave me all the strength in the world.

“I did promise to bring you back a present that no one in this world would have.” I said, almost teasingly.

Surprisingly, Crystal didn't beg to see what it was. She just took in a huge breath through her nose and her arms tightened around me. I waved my hand at the coffee table and a wrapped box appeared. No one moved, because it was Crystal's present and the contents wouldn't be revealed until she wanted them to be.

Crystal eventually eased her hold and lifted her head from my shoulder. The look in her eyes told me that she didn't want to ever let me go and I felt the same way. I gave her a slight nod and she smiled and turned around on my lap. I kept my arms around her and Nat picked up the box and handed it to her. It was quickly opened and Susan, Crystal, Nat, and Samantha caught their breath at the contents.

“Proof I was on another world.” I said as Crystal lifted out a stone statue.

“Is that... the Statue of Liberty? Wearing medieval armor?” Susan asked, surprised.

“Keep going, sweetie.” I prompted.

Crystal handed it to Susan and reached back into the box to lift out what should have been the Sphinx of Egypt and it was styled like a wolf instead of a lion. Next was the Washington Monument and it was a giant spear instead of an obelisk. The Eiffel Tower was a full encompassing cage with a toy wolf plushie inside.

“You DID get me a wolf pup!” Crystal exclaimed and opened the cage. She hugged the toy wolf and cooed at it before she looked at Teddy. “Don't worry, Teddy. You're still my favorite.”

That made Nat and Susan laugh and they put the different objects onto the coffee table.

“I couldn't find a miniature copy of the Great Wall of China.” I said as Crystal took out the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Instead of the normal shape, it was a castle rook with armored slits for windows. “It was a sight to see while I was searching for the last member of my party so I could return home.”

In the bottom of the box were two things, a bundle of postcards with everything else that had been changed because of the other world's history with having to deal with wolves, and a history book.

Susan snatched that up and started flipping through it. “The Boston Tea Party was the Great Boston Tea Party Celebrating The Wolf Hunt?”

I nodded. “A lot of things were the same, only different. They seemed to still happen for the most part, only altered because of the looming threat of the wolves.”

Susan flipped backward several pages and softly laughed. “The United States broke from Britain initially because they were too soft-hearted and pacifist about dealing with the wolves?”

“Like I said, same events, only different.” I repeated and she kept reading.

“No one will ever believe any of this.” Nat said as she shuffled through the postcards. “They'll think it's all joke items.”

“All that matters to me is that Crystal knows that she is the only one that has these one of a kind items.” I said and hugged her as she hugged the wolf plushie.

“I love you, Uncle Damon.” Crystal said.

“I love you, too.” I said and kissed the top of her head.

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