Beware the Magic Fan (Episode 11)

“You look fine, Marcus.”
“I feel ridiculous.” Marcus snapped back. Maoko and Marcus were walking down the sidewalk towards the café where they were to meet Molly. Marcus was dressed in the clothes Maoko had picked out for him yesterday, and to Marcus’s relief, his hair had remained cut and short, though Maoko had not taken it as well.
“I swear, what you did to your hair should be a crime. It was so lovely!”
“Who would want all that hair!?” Marcus argued. He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to focus on the path in front of him, not looking back at Maoko who was tsking and shaking her head in disapproval.
“Now listen, Marcus…Molly probably won’t recognize you when we go in, so we’ve got to ease her into the reality that you’re the Fiery Gale.”
“Ease her into it?”
“You know…take the process slow. We need to explain to her exactly what’s going on and how it happened.” Maoko explained. Marcus sighed and pulled his had a little lower over his face, as if he could somehow hide it.
“Is it too late to go back?”
“Yes.”
“Crap…” The café was in sight and Marcus inhaled deeply through his nose and out through his mouth taking a step towards the glass door and pausing a moment. His hand was outstretched to push the door open, but it was as if his mind was trying to fight him.
“What’s wrong now?” Maoko asked.
“Maybe this isn’t a good idea…” Marcus grumbled. “I mean, do we really need Molly’s help with this?”
“Need it? No. But I think she has the right to know.”
“I just…don’t know. I…”
“Marcus, do you really hate Molly that much?” Marcus glanced at his sister and his eyes fell downcast.
“Hate her? No I don’t think I hate her…at least not that much. It’s just…I don’t know how to feel about this Maoko. After last night I though I was prepared for this but…”
“But what?”
“Molly just sort of cut us off after Dad vanished. She didn’t talk to us…she barely wrote…she was always away from home. And now we’re just suddenly going to trust her with something this big? What if she…doesn’t care or-”
“Marcus…honestly I think you’re a bit scared.”
“I’m not scared!” Marcus snapped, causing a few people to turn and look, to which Marcus blushed and turned his face away.
“You haven’t seen Molly in months, and now you’re going to her to tell her a secret that could change our lives. You’re scared of what she’ll say or do because you don’t know what to expect. It’s perfectly natural for you to feel that way.”
“When did you turn into a psychologist all of a sudden?” Marcus snapped.
“When I decided to pay attention in psychology and social sciences class instead of sleeping through it like a certain brother of mine did.” Maoko huffed. Marcus sighed and shook his head, as he finally leaned forward and pushed open the door.

The café wasn’t filled, but it had enough people in it to make Marcus feel nervous. The prying eyes and curious people who could make out the pink strands of hair under his hat made Marcus freeze like a deer caught in the headlights. Maoko put her hand on his back and gave a gentle push to encourage him further in.
“Just relax, Marcus.”
“That’s easy for you to say…” Marcus grumbled back, feeling his heart pounding. As his eyes scanned the room, they finally came to rest on a booth near the corner window of the café. Molly sat with a coffee cup in front of her and a stack of papers beside her, as her eyes skimmed over them slowly. Her hair was shoulder length, but blonde in color, which wasn’t her natural color. Had she dyed it perhaps? When Marcus looked at her, wearing casual clothes and seeming so natural place, was off putting. Molly was usually the sore thumb of a crowd, in her lab coat and thick glasses.
“She looks different, doesn’t she?” Maoko asked.
“Didn’t really notice.” Marcus lied, trying to brush this off as best he could.
“Give her the benefit of the doubt, Marcus…” Maoko scolded. She walked past Marcus and to the booth and stopped short of the table.
“Hello, Molly.” Maoko spoke up. Molly looked up from her paper and stood up fast. So fast in fact, she nearly knocked over her coffee and quickly squeaked trying to save the cup from falling.
“Oh! Oh, Maoko, hello!” She cried, readjusting herself. “I…oh I’m so sorry I…I didn’t hear you and…”
“It’s fine. No problem.” Maoko giggled.
“Did Marcus come?” Molly asked. Maoko turned to Marcus behind her who took a few steps forward hesitantly.
“Hey Molly…” He whispered. Molly looked at him for a long moment, up and down.
“Marcus? Um…you look…different.”
“You recognize me?” Marcus asked, surprised.
“Well, sure you look a lot thinner and you apparently dyed your hair pink, which I’m not judging by the way, but…I mean…a mother can always tell who her son is, right?” Marcus stiffened when she referred to herself as a mother.
“Molly, we wanted to talk to you about that actually.” Maoko spoke up quickly.
“Oh certainly! There are things I want to talk to you about too.” Molly smiled, sitting down. Marcus and Maoko took a seat across from her and Maoko leaned forward, towards Molly, gripping her hands together firmly. This was Maoko’s “brace yourself” position. She always looked this way when she was anxious about what she was going to say.

“Molly,” Maoko began, “this is going to be…a little hard to take in at first, so just bare with us and try not to shout or freak out, okay?”
“Honey, whatever it is you have to say, I promise that I can handle it.” Molly replied, assuredly. Marcus smirked in disbelief and pulled out the fan, which he’d been keeping inside the pocket of his coat. He set it on the table and leaned back in his booth. Molly glanced at it and then at the two of them expectantly.
“About a week ago, we found that fan…and ever since…”
“It’s turned me into a magical superhero girl.” Marcus answered abruptly, cutting Maoko off. Molly blinked a few times, as if she were buffering or processessing this information.
“I’m sorry…what?”
“You’ve seen the news lately right? The Fiery Gale?” Marcus asked. “Well it’s me.” Molly’s gaze turned from confused to concerned as she leaned close to Marcus and put her hand on his forehead.
“Sweetie are…are you sick or…delirious or something?”
“No!” Marcus snapped.
“Molly, I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the truth. Just look at him! Doesn’t Marcus LOOK different?! Maybe the breasts and the feminine face?” Maoko offered. Molly stared at Marcus for a long moment and her eyes slowly began to widen.
“You’re…a girl!?”
“Took you that long to realize it?” Marcus grumbled.
“I mean, you…I didn’t want to assume…I just…” Molly fell back in her booth stunned. “This has to be a dream...”
“I know, I felt the same way.” Maoko added. “I mean the whole idea of magic fans is utterly ridiculous and-”
“Oh of course not! It’s totally possible. In fact, this is an enormous break through!” Molly beamed. Now it was Marcus and Maoko who looked stunned.
“I’m sorry…what!?”
“Scientific research can never explain everything. There are elements to our reality that science can’t answer for or give a clear definition on. In the future, we might be able to, but as a scientist, I must acknowledge there are forces beyond my understanding that I have yet to uncover.”
“Molly I…I didn’t think you’d buy into this so easily.” Maoko muttered. “I know I didn’t.”
“Well look at the facts as we see them, dear.” Molly explained. “I know that a Fiery Gale has been appearing out of no where since about a week ago. I also know that my son is now a female with pink hair and a face matching the description of the Fiery Gale. I can also see clear similarities to the fan here and the larger fan that the Gale carries. I can deduce through these clues that my Marcus is now the Fiery Gale. The HOW is certainly a big mystery, but I cannot deny the facts presented in front of me.”
“By Jove, Holmes. I do believe you’ve cracked the case.” Marcus snorted. “Care to make any other deductions about me while I’m here?”
“Marcus, calm down!” Maoko snapped. Molly’s smile faded and she looked apologetically at Marcus.
“I’m sorry, Marcus…you’re right I lost myself in the moment there. Of course this is a serious situation, and I imagine you want answers.” Molly replied sadly.
“I want to be normal.” Marcus snarled. “I didn’t ask for any of this, you know. If I’d known picking up that fan would’ve turned me into this, I wouldn’t have touched it. But now that I have…well here we are, right?” As Marcus ranted, he felt pain he’d been holding back for a long time welling up. Things he’d wanted to say from the beginning and things he’d wanted to question Molly about for a long time resurfacing in his head. “You’re right, the facts are clear about what’s happened to me…so what’re you going to do about it? What are any of us going to do!?”
“I understand how you must feel,” Molly explained patiently, “but until I find some more information and answers to-”
“No offense, Molly…but you have NO idea how I feel, Molly, or how I’ve felt for months about you! I do want answers…about this and many other things.” Marcus finally growled. “Like what made you want to bring us out here after cutting us off for nearly two months? What have you been cooking up in your government funded and ‘classified’ lab? What really happened to Dad!?”
“Marcus stop!” Maoko insisted.
“I’m not done yet!” Marcus hissed. “When Dad vanished, you never gave us a reason or an explination…you just went right back to work. We needed you! We needed answers! We needed some sort of closure. Where were you? What did you have to say? NOTHING! So why would you suddenly want to see us now!?”
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Maoko shouted, shoving Marcus down again and glaring daggers at him until he turned away. “I’m so sorry Molly! He didn’t mean any of that! He’s just-”
“No Marcus…you’re right.” Molly whispered. “I’m sure you hate me…after all you haven’t called me your mother in so long…you probably don’t even see me as a mother I guess. Not like I actually deserve that title.” She held her hands together and fiddled with her fingers nervously, not looking either of her children in the eyes. “When your father vanished…I blamed myself for it. I thought that if I was around you, you’d blame me too and…and that scared me more than anything. So I thought I’d go back to work…tried to hide I suppose. I realized only too late that my absence wasn’t what you needed…and for that, I’m so sorry.” She confessed. At last Marcus glanced at her and his eyes were glittering with unshed tears.
“It might be too little too late, Molly.” He stuttered.
“I realize that…and frankly, I can’t expect you to totally forgive me. I’m not sure I fully forgive myself. But…but I still want to be a mother to you two. I brought you here to try and…make amends. And here you both are. Honestly I..I wasn’t sure you’d come at all. But you came, and you have a problem…so I have to do everything in my power to help, right? That’s what a good mother would do!”
“Yes, it would, Molly.” Maoko answered encouragingly. “But we don’t hate you, Molly. Not even Marcus hates you…we’re just not sure what the first step is to fixing these…problems.”
“Well, perhaps we could…um…sweetie what’s with your fan?” Marcus looked puzzled and then glanced at his fan which was now glowing brightly like it did every time there was danger.
“Something’s wrong…I don’t-OH MY GOD!”

The hat covering Marcus’s head suddenly flew off as his hair exploded in all directions, magically reforming into the long twin tailed mane that the Fiery Gale was so famous for sporting. Maoko was forced to jump back in shock as the rest of Marcus’s clothes changed into the Fiery Gales. When all was complete, the disguise Marcus had been wearing was no more, leaving him just the Fiery Gale again. The entire café went up into a cry of shock and awe as Marcus glanced around in fear and embarrassment.
“Looks like we have to cut this short! Molly, Maoko, come here. We have to fly!”