Aka Amy

Everybody was silent, it almost felt like they were afraid to even breath.

Tess, Hailey, Alex, my mom and dad, everyone was staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the angel of doom who'd prostrated herself before me and addressed me as a goddess.

And I knew it was rash of me to ask Ravenna here, and to ask her to make an show of it. But I couldn't deny the result was exactly what I needed. It was quite the entrance and it was perfect.

I was still riding the anger and frustration about how my mom was acting. My whole family in fact, dad and Hailey both dove into the arguing and shouting as soon as mom kicked it off. And I'd had enough of it.

Now that I had their attention, I decided to drive the point home. I wasn't upset, I wasn't nervous or stressed. Not anymore. I was calm. I had the kind of calm confidence you got when you had godlike power at your fingertips and a warrior angel at your beck and call.

I looked down at my angel and told her, "Rise."

Ravenna must have understood my intentions, or maybe she could read the minds of all the mortals and knew what was going on. She kept up the spectacle, rather than just standing up like normal she actually floated upwards and straightened herself out. With a flare of darkness her sword was ablaze again as soon as she lifted it up from the floor. Her wings opened again as much as they could in the den, then she floated backwards till she was in the middle of the available space. That also meant she could see everyone without having to turn her head this way and that.

Everybody was still staring at her in silent shock, watching as she just floated there.

My voice was soft and level as I ordered Ravenna, "Tell them who and what you are."

Her voice boomed slightly, it had to be some kind of magic trick or something. She announced, "I am a heavenly messenger, known to mortals as an angel."

Tess and Hailey both stole quick glances at me, while everyone else continued to gawk at Ravenna.

"Now tell them who and what I am," I ordered her.

Ravenna gestured towards me with her left hand, the right one still held her sword, and in that same booming voice she proclaimed "This is my Goddess, my Divine Mistress. Her Word is my law and I exist to serve Her."

I quietly looked around at everyone. Tess and Alex were seated to my right, dad was in his chair to my left, mom and Hailey stood further to the left by the doorway. All five of them still looked shocked as they stared at my angel.

"So," I asked in a calm quiet voice. "Any questions?"

They all gradually shifted their attention from Ravenna to me, but there was nothing but stunned silence from any of them.

I could guess what they were thinking. Hailey and Alex knew I had divine power, but they also knew I didn't like to flaunt it. And I told them not to tell mom and dad any of this stuff. They didn't know about Ravenna though, and she obviously made quite an impression on them.

Last summer me and Tess told mom and dad a goddess was helping me, but I had no idea if they ever believed that. They saw the magic demonstration with the pool, and I removed my old image from pictures and things. I also inadvertently forbade them from speaking my deadname which I never actually admitted, even to Tess. At any rate, mom and dad never would have guessed their youngest daughter was an actual goddess. Now they'd just found out, in about the most unsubtle way possible.

And I had no idea what my girlfriend was thinking. She knew I didn't like to flaunt the goddess stuff, and she knew I wanted to keep it secret from my folks. I also knew she didn't like Ravenna, I was pretty sure she was jealous of the angel for some reason.

I glanced around the room again, about half the eyes were still on me, the other half had gone back to staring at Ravenna again. I waited a minute or so, but nobody spoke up with questions or comments.

"Thank you Ravenna," I addressed my angel again in that same calm level voice. "That was extremely satisfying. You may go now."

She bowed deeply and responded, "As you wish my Goddess."

There was another flare of that cold black flame, and the angel was gone without a trace.

After another half minute of silence Hailey was the first to finally speak up.

"Holy shit sis!" she said with a nervous laugh. "That was fucking incredible! Was that real? Like, was that a real angel?"

I rolled my eyes, "Of course she's real. I'm not going to summon her back here so you can poke and prod and analyze her though."

Alex shook their head. They actually sounded nervous as they told their girlfriend, "We're definitely not going to be poking and prodding an angel with a flaming halo and carrying a burning sword."

While I was still looking at my sister I added, "Hailey I wasn't joking when I said I could help you out, and I was serious about the thing with the cookies. If you want to take me up on that, we can talk more in private later."

With that I turned slightly to address my parents, though mostly I was looking at my mom. I kept my voice soft and level when I talked, I wanted to make sure mom and dad both understood I wasn't upset or stressed or anxious or anything like that. I wanted them to know I was calm and confident.

"Mom, dad, my name is Amethyst but I prefer to be called Amy. My girlfriend's name is Theresa, friends call her Tess. You invited us here as your guests, but if you can't or won't treat us with respect then we'll leave. I'm not going to participate in any more family arguments, and I won't stand quietly by while my girlfriend is ignored and treated as though she isn't here."

There was another few seconds of awkward silence, then dad got up out of his chair. He quietly excused himself as he moved to mom. I watched him put his arm around her shoulders then he guided mom out of the den. The two of them headed into the kitchen together, where I figured they were going to have a quiet discussion. Or at least I hoped it would be quiet. I really hoped they weren't going to start shouting at each other in there.

Now that it was over and done with, I realized my demonstration with Ravenna probably left some significant cracks in my agnostic parents' worldview. They were both skeptical, neither of them was religious. And I kind of just proved to them angels were real, gods were real, and I was one of them.

I was still looking in the direction of the kitchen when my sister moved closer to the sofa.

She came to stand next to Alex, then looked at me and demanded "What the fuck Amy? You didn't want mom and dad to know about you, then you turn around and summon an angel of death into our folks' den? She looked like she was going to rain holy hellfire down on all of us with that flaming sword!"

"Holy hellfire sounds like a contradiction in terms Hailey," I sighed as I turned to face her. "It's either holy fire or it's hellfire. Anyways, the point is I've had enough of mom's bullshit. And I've had enough of the arguing. I don't want to be part of a family that's always fighting every chance they get, every time they're together. If that's what mom wants then she can have it, but I'm not going to hang around and be a part of it."

"Ok Amy," my sister accepted my explanation with a sigh of her own. "You're right. We joke about the arguing but it's bullshit. It's not fun, and we shouldn't have to put up with it. Were you really serious about supporting me if mom cuts me off? And what were you saying about cookies?"

I nodded, "I was serious. Every full moon, and my two holy days, open a box of my favourite cookies. Put them on a plate and leave them out before you go to bed, along with a glass of chilled ice wine. That's what I want in terms of sacrifice. Do that every full moon and my two holidays, and I'll provide whatever money mom's been sending you."

Hailey frowned, "Why can't you just conjure up your own cookies? Or send that angel out to get you some cookies? Why do you need me to leave a box out at night? And does that mean you're going to sneak into my apartment every month to get them?"

"Of course I could conjure up my own cookies," I stated. "I could also just pick up a box when we do our grocery shopping. But if you want me to financially support you, then that's my price. You don't have to understand why."

Alex gave their girlfriend a pointed look and suggested, "Amethyst works in mysterious ways? Maybe it's best to just accept it, have a little faith in your sister."

It was a surprise to hear the physics major say that, but maybe Ravenna made a bigger impression on Alex than I thought.

Finally I focused on my girlfriend. I slipped an arm around her waist and hugged her as I apologized quietly, "Tess I'm so sorry for this whole visit. I'm sorry for my mom's behaviour, I'm sorry for the arguments. And I'm sorry if I alarmed you or upset you with my angel's demonstration. I know you're not fond of her..."

Tess wrapped her arm around my shoulders and hugged me back. "It's ok Amy. I'm just glad you've managed to stay calm and cool through it all. I was worried you might be overwhelmed with stress or anxiety, or that you'd break down like last summer."

I grimaced but shook my head, "Not this time. I might not like to flaunt it, but I have divine power and I don't need to put up with my parents' petty bullshit anymore."

My girlfriend gave me a gentle squeeze followed by a kiss, then she commented "I'm glad you didn't freak out, but I'm not sure it was a good idea to reveal yourself like that."

"I know," I sighed. "It's done though, now all that's left is to see how it plays out. And I should have said this before, but if you're uncomfortable here just say so and we'll leave, ok? Don't try and tough it out on my account."

Tess gave me another kiss and whispered, "Thanks."

Before either of us could say anything else, my dad came back into the den. He was alone, mom was probably still hanging out in the kitchen.

Dad looked awkward as he stood just inside the doorway and said, "Uh, Amy? I'm sorry for your mother's behaviour. She's... Neither of us are comfortable with the idea of magic. The things you did at Hailey's birthday..." His voice trailed off and he shook his head slightly.

It took him a couple seconds before he was ready to continue. "Your mother and I were shocked, after what you showed us last summer. And after that visit, after we had time to think about what happened, what you showed us, and what your sister told us... Well, the truth is we were scared. What Alex said, about freezing and thawing the pool? And changing Hailey's hair, then you made her taller a week later. I'm sorry Amy. The things you can do, it's terrifying to us. And I know this isn't an excuse, but your mother's way of reacting to that fear isn't helpful or productive."

That actually hit me harder than just about anything else he could have said. I hadn't forgotten how scared I was of using magic at first. Even when Tess and Hailey and Alex were excited about the magic demonstrations, I was terrified. Every time I did that stuff I was afraid something bad would happen, and I was worried about scaring people away.

Finding out that's exactly what happened with my parents left a cold weight in my gut.

I took a deep breath, then sighed just as deeply. I mentally kicked myself, then gave dad an apologetic look as I said, "I guess having an 'angel of doom' show up and proclaim me a goddess probably didn't help."

Dad didn't answer, but he didn't have to. I could see it in his expression. My stunt with Ravenna probably put a literal 'fear of god' into both my parents, maybe even more than the magical demonstrations last summer.

After another few seconds I frowned, as some of my guilt faded. "I get what you're saying dad, and that might explain how mom's been acting towards me and Theresa since last summer. But it doesn't explain the twenty years before that. Hailey and me grew up thinking it was normal to have arguments and shouting matches at xmas, easter, thanksgiving. It's not. It might be common, but it's not normal. And I'm done with it."

I could tell by dad's expression he knew I was right, but he didn't respond. He just stood there quietly, looking awkward and embarrassed.

"I'm sorry I frightened you and mom last summer," I finally said with a sigh. "I was afraid too. Before I knew it was really me controlling the power, before I learned how to do it, I was scared of it myself. I was just as scared that you and mom wouldn't believe me, wouldn't accept me. And I'm sorry I scared you both with the demonstration today. It's probably best if I just leave, since I make you and mom that uncomfortable."

Dad asked nervously, "Are you really a goddess? And...how? How does that happen?"

I shrugged, "The short answer is yes. As for how, it's complicated and I don't really want to get into that with you right now dad. The important thing is I'm still your daughter. I'm a twenty-two year old trans girl and a college student. The goddess stuff is... That doesn't change who I really am."

Hailey joked, "She just goddesses part-time, to help pay her way through college. It was that or waitressing, but goddessing pays better."

"Flexible hours too," Alex deadpanned.

The attempt at humour sort of fell flat, but I was glad at least my sister and her partner didn't seem to be scared off. I was sure they were both more than a little awed, but they were still my and Tess's friends.