Party Prep
After sending mail to Jim, Rachael dialled the number of her other friend Robin to invite his family and his parents for the party along with 2 more friends of her parents.
She then made a list of the Christmas decorations and gifts for both events along with the shops they must be visiting to buy these gifts. She browsed for some more time to see if there were any new shops which may have opened in the last few years she was not on earth.
When it came to planning or shopping Rachael was considered top notch in her friends circle. All of her friends called her to check with her before they brought anything.
Once she finished completing her list, she carefully put the list in the drawer of her study table, shut down the laptop and moved towards the kitchen to help her mother.
Meanwhile in the tiny forest behind their home Ethan and Ray were looking out for a steady pine tree. They had already taken the required permission from the forest department and paid the price of one tree to them.
Autumn had gotten over and winter had just set in. Just a month ago nature seemed to have painted the forest in bright shades of red, yellow and orange and the entire forest looked breathtaking.
And now the nature seemed to take a break and go back into sober mode by dressing up in pure white with snow laden trees.
Most pine trees in the forest which were around 2 or 3 years old had shed their coloured needles this year. Only the current seasons needles which was sparse could be seen.
During the fall this forest was always crowded with people. One could see people capturing pictures for the post cards to be sent for their family and friends. People having picnics with their family enjoying water sports and tons of other activities which is arranged by the tourism department. Except for winters the inflow of tourists are heavy during most part of the year.
As this is the only forest in this area it is quite popular in this region and more of a tourist attraction spot.
The forest housed only seasonal birds and a few tiny animals which posed no risk to the general public. A little deeper inside the forest was a beautiful waterfall and a river flowing, which only had added to the popularity of the forest.
The local forest department which took care of this forest had a tie up with tourism department of New York City. This department conducted various seasonal sporting events for the locals and the tourists along with advertising this forest in various local and national channels.
Ethan and Ray were looking for a strong old tree with more of greens. They did not want to chop down a young tree. And with the trees covered with snow it was not an easy job to look for.
After looking for close to an hour and when they were almost in a verge of giving up they found a tree which almost met their requirements.
Ethan used a minute scale of soul energy to create a light breeze to shake the tree of its snow. Indeed the tree was good enough to be used as Christmas tree. But the tree had scanty pines and looked mostly barren.
Now Ray stepped in, as he was itching to use his powers. Although he knew he was powerful he still was treated like a little child in the family. And he would listen to what his parents and sister said, as he knew they only wished his good.
His parents were ok for him to use his power to full extent on Zeus but he was allowed to use only 5% of his power on earth in a concealed way, until there was a life threatening event. This was applicable to all people who had migrated to earth from Zeus.
And very rarely would Ray get such an opportunity to use even this 5% of his power. Ray would jump in and never miss a chance make use of all such opportunities even if it meant insignificant like the one presented in front of today.
Due to this restriction he was unable to try out most of his powers and this in turn had increased his longing to go back to Zeus where he could unleash all his powers.
"Ethan we still have five more days for Christmas. Let's not cut this tree today and give it some more time to grow more pines. I'll use the spring energy on this tree to speed up the growth of needles on this tree"
Ethan stopped Ray as soon as he lifted his hand to create the energy sphere.
"Ray wait. This forest belongs to everyone and once after this tree is filled with pines do you think it will be safe with even few tourists visiting this place in this season? And would it not look strange if someone happens to see it ?"
"Oops! you are right Ethan. This thought never crossed me. Let me conceal the tree first and then use the energy"
Ray chanted a spell to conceal the tree they had identified. He then lifted both his hands to create a crystal sphere which looked like a bubble and chanted the spring invoke spell to invoke the spirit of the spring and draw in the life force energy into the sphere.
While Ray continued to chant, Ethan was vigilant and kept looking to make sure no one was around.
When the crystal clear sphere slowly turned a light shade of green, Ray stopped chanting the spell and gave a light push with his hands for the sphere to float up in the air and settle on top of the tree.
The sphere would gradually induce the tree with the spring energy to help it grow more needles at a faster rate. The sphere would reduce in size during the process and would finally disappear. As the tree was completely concealed no one could see the tree nor the sphere sitting on top of it.
After finishing this task, Ethan called up Rachael to check on the final guest list. Once he got the count of people both of them now headed to the closest lodging facility to book rooms for the guests.
On the way to the lodge they were worried if the rooms would be full in this holiday season. They were pretty late in coming up with the party plan. Fortunately enough as this lodging was in the suburb area there were still rooms available. Ethan and Ray booked the rooms for 2 days for the guests to stay in.
Adjacent to the lodging was a restaurant which was quite popular with the locals for their delicacies. They both headed to the restaurant to place an order for the food for the guests, while they are staying at the lodge as well as to deliver food to their home on new year eve.
Overall the three of them did not want to leave any stone unturned to make the party for their parents a success.
Once after the main tasks were completed it was now time for both of them to head back home to have a lunch and for a quick nap, as the evening was quite packed with shopping schedule. The next few days until the Christmas Eve , their schedule was filled with shopping for both the events.
With the pretext of Christmas shopping, they had planned to buy gifts for guests along with gifts for family members.
Christmas celebration was a family affair but as the new year party was hidden from their parents Rachael, Ethan and Ray had to decide on a hiding place for these gifts and decided on using the attic in the garage as the best hiding place.
Rachael's mom was a brilliant cook. Every dish she cooked was worth drooling over. She made sure to infuse a tiny bit of energy vitalising essence in all the food she prepared using the powers she had inherited from her mom. This not only enhanced the nourishing energy in the food but also added additional flavours to the food.
When both of them reached home, a sumptuous and delicious spread of lunch was waiting for them. And both Ethan and Ray could not wait.
Everyday stuff and the events on earth awed Ethan as he had not experienced any of these on Zon.
The family had a good meal together with lot of laughter and joy at the lunch table. After the meal all of them went back to their room for have a quick nap. They had planned to shop only for gifts today and the shopping for clothes were to be done the next day.
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Authors note:
NY does have forests and waterfalls but the description above is purely out of imagination
Pine tree leaves are called as needles
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