House

Mullins' return ended the lecture and distracted Rowen from her discussion with Gabriel. Mullins had left the laptop in her vehicle but brought up the clothes she had bought.

"I only got a day's worth of clothes, I figured you'd rather pick the rest out yourself."

"Thanks."

Rowen took the shopping bag from her and went to the bathroom to change. Mullins looked over at Detective Austin, eyebrows raised, but only got a shrug in response. A few minutes later Rowen came out wearing jeans and a dark blue t-shirt that had a cartoon dragon eating a bucket of fried meat. On the bucket it said 'fried knights' and there was a pile of armor beside the dragon.

"I love the shirt!"

Rowen was grinning when she came out.

"I thought of you when I saw it. You'll like the shop I got it from, I used to shop there a lot when I was younger."

"I'm not sure that's an appropriate shirt."

Rowen pushed out her lower lip in a pout, "You just don't get fun. Officer Mullins understands me."

Rowen walked up to Mullins and threw her arm across the woman's shoulders. Standing next to each other it was clear that Rowen was taller, by a good five inches, even though she was younger.

"I feel very uncomfortable all of a sudden…"

Rowen laughed and stepped away from Mullins. She took the shoes and socks from the bag and placed them on the bed, then sat down to put them on. She could tell that Mullins had looked through her clothes to get the right sizes.

"I'm going to follow you guys out. I want to show you where you'll be moving to."

"Moving?"

Mullins turned her full attention to Austin.

"Ah, I forgot to mention that earlier. I know that you live in a one-bedroom apartment and wanted both of you to have more space than that. I lined up a two-bedroom house for the two of you to stay in. It's yours, rent free, for the duration of her time at Guiluri. If you want to stay longer than that it'll be up to you to set that up."

"Who's house is it?"

"The headmasters. It's used for special cases, which Rowen qualifies for."

Mullins shook her head, "I guess this is another one of those things that I don't get a say in the matter?"

"Not sure why you'd want to say no, sounds like an upgrade to me."

Rowen stood and chuckled when Mullins frowned. Detective Austin waved her away and Rowen stuck her tongue out at him. Instead of saying anything about it he ignored her and addressed Mullins.

"Anyway, I'll follow you to the apartment and you can leave your car there and I'll take the both of you to see the house. If you absolutely hate it then I can try and find something else, otherwise, I'll have movers come by in a few days to help pack and move your things."

Mullins sighed in resignation, "Fine."

They had another ten minutes to wait before a nurse came in with the paperwork that needed to be signed for Rowen to leave. Rowen was excited to leave and practically skipped on the way out.

"Which one is yours? Should I keep calling you Detective Austin, or is there another name to use? Officer Mullins?"

Rowen turned around and walked backward as she spoke. Her face was lit up, eyes wide and lips raised in a smile.

"I'm fine with you continuing to use Austin. Only my family calls me by my first name."

"You can use Brooke if you want."

"That's a nice name. You know, if I stand between the two of you it's like a rising slope."

To prove her point she slowed and matched her speed with both of theirs, placing herself between them. Brooke was the shortest, Austin was almost a foot taller than her. Rowen was in between them in height with about five inches taller than Brooke and about five inches shorter than Austin.

"My car is over here. I'll see you at my place."

Brooke immediately broke away and disappeared into the parking lot. Rowen watched her leave with a smile.

"I don't think her car is there."

"Pretty sure she didn't like you calling her short. You don't want to ride with her?"

Rowen shook her head, "Nah, what's the point? I'll just be switching vehicles after a bit. It's just easier to start out in your vehicle."

While they walked down the parking lot Rowen made a point of looking everywhere. It allowed Gabriel to see everything and she was awed by her enhanced vision.

~So much has changed since I was last here. What are these things?~

Rowen discreetly pointed to a car as they walked by and Gabriel confirmed that he was asking about the vehicles.

~They're used for transportation and are usually called cars or trucks. There are larger capacity vehicles called vans.~

~How are they powered?~

~Electricity. There was a mage early third cycle that discovered that lightning spells could be used to power batteries. There was a ton of experimenting and researching and, voila, we have metal boxes powered by electricity.~

Gabriel laughed. ~Very informative. I take it you were paying full attention during that lesson.~

~Sort of. I got an 'A' on my report, but that was a few years ago. You'll be able to pull it up on my laptop. I'll show you how to use it later.~

Detective Austin's car was dark blue and just big enough to fit five people. Seven if two stood in the cargo space in the back, though Rowen noted that it was full of stuff.

Boxy had been the style since the first car was created. In the last couple of years vehicles with a rounder, the more aerodynamic shape had begun appearing on the market. Generally, they were priced for people with money to spare. You would not find the average citizen driving anything but a traditional boxy vehicle.

Rowen had been about ten when her parents had taken theirs into a shop to be fixed. She had been surprised to find out that most mechanics were mages. It only made sense, once she had thought about it since most of what a vehicle was made of were magic.

The batteries were powered by the electricity generated by lightning spells. Cars are assembled in factories by mages. The wheels were created with a mix of alchemy and magic.

Some higher-end cars can be tuned to only one person making it nearly impossible to steal. It also enables the driver to auto-start and open doors and windows without touching.

When they met Brooke at her apartment Austin sent Rowen to the back seat and they headed out to look at the house. The closer they got, the more Guilari Academy came into view.

Rowen became excited when she realized the house was a short walking distance from the school.

"Oh, that's cute."

The house was small. It had no porch, front or back, though it did have a flower bed on either side of the front door that was in full bloom. The house itself had been painted a blue-grey color.

Inside you immediately stepped into the living room. The kitchen was to the right with a small space that held a table and four chairs. There was a hallway with four doors. To the right were the bathroom and a second room for the laundry room. To the left were two bedrooms.

The walls were all painted in a shade of white that held a hint of blue. Rowen was pretty sure the carpet was a shade of blue, though it was faded.

"It's not much, but the rent's free for the next three years."

"Can we paint? It's a lot of blue."

Rowen tapped the wall to emphasize her point.

"I'll ask. Better yet, I'll let you ask. I got in touch with the headmaster before coming to the hospital and arranged a meeting with you. I'll come about half-past nine in the morning to pick you up."

"Oh, Joy."

Austin frowned and crossed his arms, "You'll be on your best behavior, too. He will be the one allowing you into Guilari with a full ride. Not to mention a bigger place than Officer Mullins so that you'll have your own place."

"Don't worry, I'll behave. Trust me, now that I have the chance to go I want to attend Guilari Academy.

"Gabriel and I are starting to make plans."

Brooke glanced between the two of them, "Gabriel?"

"That's the name she gave the demon."

"Does it usually work like that? I thought they already had names."

Rowen shrugged, "They don't want to use any of their other names and said I could pick one. I felt that Gabriel was appropriate."

"Ah. Why do I feel like I'm missing something?"

"You sent a teenager with a demon to live with a cop who's not religious."

Rowen laughed and walked away to look at the bedrooms. Austin raised a hand to massage his forehead.

"Basic religion, officer, basic religion. Zorinity believes in angels, Gabriel is the name of an angel. This is stuff you should know as a cop, even if you never want to get promoted to a detective."