Twelve hours later, Mark summoned her former students, dressed them in bikinis, and plopped them in a hot tub that was large enough to accommodate John’s equine body with plenty of room for everyone else. They were on the porch of the alpine lodge, and the cold air hitting the warm water of the tub resulted in a mist rising from the surface. Though it was almost midnight, the lights of the ski resorts on surrounding slopes made for an enchanting view.
Despite the serious questions they had been pondering, the mood was festive, and everyone enjoyed the drinks Mark provided.
“So, you have to settle a question that Mel and I have been debating,” John said. She had been delighted to discover that having a horse’s body meant that her alcohol tolerance had gone up by a factor of ten. “Did you send us to some remote place in the Canadian Rockies, or did you create a pocket dimension for us to have some alone time.”
“Pocket dimension,” Mark said. She was getting tipsy on her second bottle of valpolicello. Getting just the right amount of drunk was one of the benefits of omnipotence. “I was testing to see whether I could pull it off.”
“Told you! Now who’s the smart one!” John taunted Melissa. She splashed him in reply.
“I was in the real Times Square, though, right?” Hannah asked. Though the others found the water pleasantly warm, it felt tepid to Hannah’s demonic body. And unlike Mark, she had no resistance to alcohol, so she was already three sheets to the wind.
“Of course. And might I say you did a bang-up job. What was your total?” Of course Mark knew, but she also knew that Hannah wanted to show off her achievements.
“Thirty-one converts! And they resulted in four fairies, five fauns, two centaurs, a lamia, five harpies, seven elves, four catgirls, two dragon-girls, and a slime girl. Plus, I earned two hundred sixty bucks by posing for pictures. But then I found an all night dim sum place so I spent forty.”
“Good job,” Mark remarked. “Put the money in the kitty.” That caused Kevin to stick her tongue out.
“Did I earn my wings?”
“You know you can already fly, right?”
“But wings…” Hannah whined. Mark realized some things even a goddess was powerless to change. Hannah would always crave a tangible sign of her achievement.
“Fine. Wings.” Mark didn’t have to blink before large batlike wings sprouted fram Hannah’s shoulder. She gave a shout of joy then used her superhuman strength to flex them in the tub, causing a mini-tsunami to drench Kevin. The catgirl hissed as she became thoroughly drenched.
“Any other items on the agenda before I order the wild rumpus to start?” Mark asked.
Melissa grew serious. “Yes, the most important item. The one you sent us away to discuss. Where do we go from here?”
“I assume you already know what we decided,” John added.
“Of course. But say it out loud anyway for the benefit of the others.”
Melissa drew her breath, then spoke quickly. “We know that you have the power to change anything and everything with a casual thought. Theoretically, the game is already over in your favor. But we think you should take it slow, because how you do it is as important as what you do. Give people a chance to make up their own minds. We both think that the world you plan to make will be better than this one, but it can only be a world worth having if we work for it.”
Mark listened silently. “Kevin, Hannah, do you agree?”
“I’ll support whatever you decide,” the catgirl said. Mark knew that she meant it. Kevin had always wanted to submit his will to a higher power. He finally achieved that goal, and he seemed happier for it.
“It could get ugly,” Hannah observed. “Some of the people I saw today, they were convinced I was the Devil from the moment they saw me. Others couldn’t process the magic they were seeing with their own eyes. And then the cops saw me as a disturbance and tried to shut me down just because.”
“How did you deal with them?” Melissa asked.
“Flew them to the tops of the city’s tallest skyscrapers,” Hannah grinned. “They’ll be OK. I think.”
“But would you be willing to do the hard work of bringing people into the fold, the old fashioned way?” Mark asked.
“Of course!” Hannah said with a smile. “Despite the jerks, it felt so good to help people. Some of the converts were crying with happiness. Said I gave them a new life. One girl said she was contemplating suicide, but now that she’s a harpy, she wants to start over. She couldn’t stop thanking me. I was crying, too.”
“So that’s settled.”