28 - Goodbyes

Maia returned to Starlight Shores.  With her family back together once more, she’d hoped that things would go back to how they had been.  But of course, life moves ever forward, and things could never be the same.

Her sons were all grown up now, and it was time to celebrate that.  They all aged into fine young men.

Rahu

Ketu

Nikhil

Pal

Patches

Puzzle

And despite their absence from school when they had followed her to Al Simhara, they all graduated with highest honors, and Ketu was even named class valedictorian.

Patches and Puzzle still had feelings for one another, and decided to go steady.

Everyone else was so busy discussing their next plans, which was to go back to Al Simhara and try to find the source of the undead and destroy them, that none of them noticed that Maia was ill.  Quite frequently.

How could she tell them that she might be pregnant with the child of a mummy, a child whom they might also want to destroy?

So Maia said nothing, and soon, Aashif and her boys moved out and away to Al Simhara. She hugged them all goodbye and hoped they would be safe.

Soon after, Maia’s pregnancy test came back positive. 

She was emotionally conflicted about this pregnancy, but it was also physically difficult; she had a lot of pain and her morning sickness didn’t end with the first trimester like it had always done before.

Maia was also concerned that the fans and paparazzo would know she was pregnant again, and this was one pregnancy she thought it was better to keep hidden.

She decided it was time to leave Starlight Shores. But where would she go?  After some online research, Maia found a place that might work.  It was a secluded town called Moonlight Falls, and in addition to being a more private neighborhood, Maia thought she might be able to find an alchemist there to apprentice to, since it was known to be a place of magic and mysticism.

But since Maia was such a famous magician, how would she get there without the tabloids reporting on where she went?

It was while watching an up-and-coming magician performing for tips in Verde Park that Maia had an idea.

It took a bit of planning, but finally the night of her departure was at hand.

During his magic show, Marcel the Invisible invited Maia onstage as a volunteer from the audience.

And it was there she said goodbye to Starlight Shores.

“And now I shall make this woman... DISAPPEAR!”

Tada!

“And now I shall make her...REAPPEAR!”

Huh?

But Maia Lee had vanished from Starlight Shores without a trace.