"So, Ibis, from where do you hail?" She asked, sipping her cinnamon and ginger tea.

"Florida."

"Ah." She said.

"If you don’t mind me asking, where are you from?" I said.

"It’s the accent, right? My American English still isn’t perfect... Egypt." She said, "Though I’m only half myself, on my father’s side."

She cocked her head to the side, her eyes narrowing. "You look like you could be from there."

"We have very beautiful people, there. The true natives, not the Arabs, look a lot like you. Darker, but similar features."

Now, that I was closer, I could see that many of her tattoos were Egyptian in nature. The small ankh on the back of her neck, in particular, intrigued me.

"That’s the symbol for eternal life, right?"

"Yes." She said, smiling.

I could also detect a difference, though it was slight, between her smell and other humans I had encountered....She wasn’t one of us, but she definitely wasn’t completely human.

*****

Doug appeared through the double-doors, holding a steaming spread of brown rice and that tofu stir-fry he’d been working on.

"Okay, everyone. Prepare to dig in."

He set the platter on the table and sat down next to his wife. He leaned over and kissed her. He lingered a bit, smooching a few extra times and looked lovingly into her eyes.

Clara rolled her eyes and shook her head. She spoke barely above a whisper, "You should see them when you’re not here."

"I heard that." Doug, said. "It’s natural. Just be glad your parents aren’t showing signs of divorce."

"Ibis, why don’t you fill your plate first?" Alice was teasing me. Well, wasn’t that something.

I could eat. I just had to throw it up afterwards. And I hate that.

I spooned the food out in such way that it looked like I’d gotten more than I had, spreading the food all over my plate.

Alice chuckled under her breath.

She had a good sense of humor and had everyone in stitches throughout dinner, with her stories.

It turned out she was a botanist, studying population ecology among indigenous peoples.

The tribes, she said, had knowledge about plants that was being lost to industrialization. After one of her colleagues disrespected a mated member of an Amazon tribe she’d been studying with, they put a kind of poison in his food. It made itchy welts raise up on his skin. It wasn’t fatal, but it was damned uncomfortable, until it completely left his system...Two weeks later.

She clapped Doug on his back, when he accidentally sucked some food down the wrong pipe, laughing over that one. Sending him into a coughing-laughing fit.

"You’re really not supposed to do that." She said, wrinkling her nose, referring to the back clap.

I really liked his parents. They were so very down-to-earth, especially Alice. She watched me and Will closely through-out dinner.

I had to find a way to talk to her, alone.

*****

After dinner was over, which had lingered well over two hours, Alice beckoned me into the kitchen...

"I have something for you." She said.

She reached up into an uppermost cabinet and pulled down a strange vial of what appeared to be honey...But it smelled much sweeter.

From her window sill she picked up a small potted plant, one unlike any I had never seen before.

She broke off a small stem and pushed it down into the vial. She closed it off and shook it. Then she brought a thin leather strap from her pocket and threaded it through a small loop on the top.

"Here." She said, tying it on my wrist.

"But what is it?" I asked.

"...Something I learned about, when I was much younger than I am now. Something you want." She walked forward, her eyes, level. "Trust me."

She clasped her hands around mine. They were stronger then I would’ve thought, almost a match for my own.

"Drink it on Friday. The change will only last for about a day or so."

She said, winking.

"What, are you?" I asked, bluntly.

"Hetu." She said, "But only half."

She put a hand up before I could speak. "Ask your mother." She said.

And she turned to leave the kitchen...With the vial closed, it looked like an intricately carved chunk of colored glass...The liquid had turned a deep ruby red. Now, it just looked like an interesting pendant.

"Ooh, that’s pretty, mom." Clara said, lifting my wrist.

"My mom’s good at making jewelry. She makes a lot of it for the locals."

So, she didn’t know. And Will didn’t either.

At that moment, I couldn’t wait to get home and find out what a Hetu was.

"That is really nice, Mom." Will said.

"I can see how much you care for her..." She said, looking at her son. "And I can see she’s a good girl...Not like those others, I heard about."

"Mom."

"You come on back, okay? Don’t be a stranger."

She said, rubbing my arm.

*****

Will lingered on my porch, holding me while I leaned against his chest.

"See? They like you."

"Yeah. Your parents are really cool."

"Told you."

"You don’t have to gloat." I said nudging him a little bit too roughly.

It would probably leave a bruise.

"I’ll see you, tomorrow, Will." I said, backing against my door.

He walked down our sandy walkway, the unusually heavy mist swirling around his feet.

He turned one last time to look at me and smile. I watched him drive away and then stepped up into my house.

Tess started... "So, how did it g-...?"

"My God...Who did you meet, over there?" She said, clearly catching the odd scent.

"Hetu." I said. His mother’s is half...Or so she said. What’s a Hetu??"

"But that can’t be...They only stay with their own. If her son smells human, then that means, she's with one. That’s forbidden. And she's half?! How did that even happen?? Was she even imprinted?..." She said, thinking out loud, as if I wasn’t even there.

"Well, that explains both Clara and Will’s resistance to our venom...It wasn’t you."

She got more and more anxious with each word.

"Dammit, Tess will you please, just tell me what’s going on?"

"Hetu are changelings and mystics...They are quite unique creatures. She was from Northern Africa, wasn’t she?"

I nodded. "She's half-Egyptian."

"Wow, I never would’ve guessed...Their father has strong genes." She said, chuckling.

I watched Tess, impatiently.

"Hetu, have a long history...We believe they are the ones responsible for the werewolf myths. They can, in fact change into many different creatures, not just wolves....They also have an extensive knowledge of our world’s natural magick. Plants, herbs, even types of rock that when mixed can do wonders, the likes of which...are truly incredible."

She paused.

"I just don’t understand how she can even be here! There are other kinds of shape shifters here as well, but as the oldest group, in the world, the ones in Africa are the most powerful.

When Hetu are born, they are imprinted, marked by their mate to be. Always, another immortal."

"They don’t get a choice in who they end up with? That’s not right." I said.

"Well, I agree." Tess said. "But that’s their way. Apparently, Will’s mother didn’t agree with it, either."

Tess shook her head. "Wow. They are very secretive people. I’ve only met one in all my years of existence...And here you’ve already met one."

"Half." I said.

"I don’t even know how that’s even possible.

"...What’s this?" She said, lifting the dangling vial-charm on my wrist.

"Something Alice, that’s her name, gave me. She said to drink it on Friday."

Tess frowned a little at that. "Well, it can’t be harmful. Hetu can’t do that. Even if she could, there are laws forbidding them from harming another immortal without cause. We’ve held to a truce for many eons."

"I wonder what it could be."

"Well, she told me to tell you what she was. I’d imagine you could probably...Call her and ask?"

"I certainly will."

*****

I watched her talk on the phone but I strangely, couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation.

"OH." she said, and smiled back at me.

"What is it?" I asked.

She ignored me and continued the conversation. "Sure. I’ll tell her. It was good talking to you...Sure. Definitely."

She hung up.

This ignorance was really killing me.

"What?-"

"-Just... do as she says."

****

Friday couldn’t come fast enough. Yes, I was afraid, despite Tess’ clear calmness about it. It was the unknown. But curiosity easily won out.

I stared at the vial as I rode along in Will’s car...

He still thought it was a simple trinket his mother had given me.

"Are you sure it’s okay, if go home with you?" I said, absently.

"Yeah. Mom and dad took Clara to Bear Lake...It’s a weird parenting thing, they do. They figure it’s healthier if we each get time with them, alone, so one won’t feel favored over the other."

"Dad and his psychology." Will said, shaking his head. "It’s not like we care anymore."

"-But, this is the one time, I appreciate it." He said.

"It means we’ll have some time alone together."

****

Will stopped at a gas station. He winced at the numbers on the digital read-out screen. After it stopped...He walked into the gas station...

I looked down at the vial, trying to decide if I should do it now. I realized this may be one of the few times Will would be out of sight... So, I unscrewed to tiny cap, took a deep breath and drank it all down, in one gulp.

It was the sweetest tasting liquid I’d ever had, besides the one I had to have. It was warm, but not like a liquid, like Will’s skin...His heartbeat, his breath on my skin....

Oh, my God.

I touched my face and it too felt warm. It had give. It wasn’t the same smooth, cold stony feel, I was used to.

I wrenched down the visor and stared into the tiny mirror. I gasped. My cheeks flushed pink. I nudged the edge of the mirror with my finger, expecting it to crack, but knowing it would not... I flipped up the visor and sat there, dumbfounded.

I could’ve cried. But I laughed, instead.

*****

I tried to wrap my brain around the fact that she wanted me to be with her son, in that way. As clearly...open-minded as she was. It was still weird.

"I guess she’s a romantic. She would understand a love against all odds. She, who deserted her people so she could marry a human, would want it to work." I thought.

Who cared why, really? I could be with Will, now...

He got back into the truck, shutting the door, a bit harder than usual.

"I can’t believe how expensive gas is these days...I can’t wait until Bush gets out of-"

I shut him up with a kiss.

He broke it. And looked at me, incredulous.

"Ibis, you’re...warm and soft."

"How?"

I kissed him again and this time he took over, kissing me deeply, taking the time to really taste me.

"Is this...Permanent?" He said breathless.

"No..." I said shaking my head, in-between kisses.

"Twenty-four hours."

"Testing the waters, Ibis?"

"I didn’t plan this, if that’s what you’re asking..." It did hit me that this would be exactly what Tess would want. Something to bind us even closer. She did want me to turn him, after all. So, I wouldn't be lonely anymore.

And Will’s mother...It just boggled my mind. What did she have to gain from this, besides her son’s...?

-Happiness.

*****

As soon as we got through the door, Will practically dragged me to his room.

He held me flush against him and kissed me, his hands wandering all over me like a blind man trying to see me with his hands.

"Are you sure?"

I looked at him like he was crazy and pushed him down to his bed, so he sat on the edge of it.

I nodded vigorously....He slipped his hands under my t-shirt, his hands resting on my hips for a moment... He took a deep breath, then gripped the edges of my shirt, slipping it up over my head...

*****

I lay on my back staring up at his ceiling my mind still abuzz with what just had happened. I’d never felt so clumsy in my life, that first time.

And really, I didn’t think Will had either...It was over far too quickly. But we tried again, later...

That had been, amazing. Not even tasting him, that night had been like this. It was wonderful. A miracle. He turned over in his sleep and draped a hand on my belly, interrupting my thoughts.

His fingers curled...causing that deep twist of pleasure inside me.

I covered his hand with my own and squeezed it. His eyes opened, heavy with sleep. He brought to me to him, his body spooning my own, and we made love again.

*****

The next day we couldn’t stop grinning at each other.

*****

That day went by all too quickly. But we did enjoy each other as much as we could, in that short span of time.

There was one thing, all the way to very back of mind...Why did I know about his mother, while he did not? She had broken their laws. Were her children in danger because of this?

Is this why she didn’t tell them? ...Would my being with him, possibly making him like me...Would that protect him?

The questions had been the most logical answers I’d settled on in my mind and it worried me.