Beauty Pageant

She scrunched up her face and gave him a caustic look.

"Magic?"

What the heck did that mean? Did he want her to do a magic show?

"I can do a few magic card tricks." She waved her hand in a vague helpless manner.

Slate shook his head and rubbed his eyes with a wearied hand.

"You will be going up against six other females, some of whom will have very strong magic."

She snarled in disgust.

"You know that I am human!" She swung her arms wildly.

"Yes."

"We don't do magic! That's not our thing! Why would you even set up a competition that will guarantee that I lose?"

"I didn't set this up, Candace. This has been going on for a very long time."

He gave a furtive smile.

"The seven Avgo stones show up where they want. All we do is follow their magik signature and bring the Avgo female back to our home world when we locate her."

He tapped her forehead.

"The day of the event was when the Avgo was supposed to have been presented to the Avgo female except you had stolen it the night before."

Candi gasped.

"But you caught me. You could have just taken it back and given it to the real Avgo female!"

"Don't kid yourself Candace. You are the real Avgo female."

"How do you know?"

"We had been trying to locate the last Avgo female for awhile and finally tracked it to Earth. That stone hid itself until you came along and that was when it showed itself to you."

"If we had taken it from you and given it to someone else, that stone would have simply vanished and be back within your possession almost immediately."

She cursed under her breath.

"So that's why you told me to just keep it."

"Yes. The stone chose you. If it didn't want you, you would have never been able to hold onto it for more than a few minutes before it disappeared."

Candi mulled over his answer for a bit before other questions began bubbling upward.

"You say this has been going on for a long time. Has a human ever won before?"

Slate stared at her for a moment and then gave a reluctant shake of the head.

She bit her bottom lip. "So that means I'll automatically lose."

Slate regarded her with those startling blue eyes. "Don't throw in the towel just yet. Magic is only one of seven criteria and it's the least of those."

"Least?" She mumbled.

"Easiest. It's the easiest of the seven to pass."

Shit.

If magic was the easiest to pass and she had no magic at all, there was no chance for her.

Her face must have shown pitiful dejection because his eyes softened.

"It's okay. I could show you a few things you can use to at least pass the initial magical examination."

"Really???" Her hazel eyes recovered their animated excitement.

"Yes, but you have to get some rest before we get there or you will most certainly fail the first test."

"What's the first test?"

"It's a physical."

"Physical?" Candi's eyes regained their sparkle. "I'm a dancer, a martial artist, and a trained athlete! I am physically at the top of my game!"

Candi leaped up into the center of the empty room. Her arms and legs pivoted and spun gracefully through several difficult ballet twirls and jumps ending with a leap directly into his arms.

He caught her with deft hands and gently deposited her back on the console chair; his brilliant blue eyes crinkling with appreciation.

"I can pass physical. I'm quite strong. I can lift a decent amount of weights, and I can run and jump!" She crowed with a laugh.

Of course, she did not add that a cat burglar needed to be in great physical condition.

"Tch. Tch. That's not the physical I mean." Slate held up a finger and waggled it at Candi.

"Then what is your definition of physical?"

"First criteria for Physical is beauty."

Candi reached up and touched her face.

"Oh. So the first talent criteria is a beauty competition."

"That's right. Why do you think I was healing your body of bruises and cuts and giving you massages? Your body must be in perfect condition."

"That was more than just a massage." She looked away, embarrassed.

"You were so tense, I simply helped your body to—relax a bit." He grinned wolfishly.

Yeah right.

She sniffed, turning back to face him.

"Are the other candidates—human like me?"

"No. You are the only human."

She grimaced. How was she supposed to compete with non-human beauty? That was like having a dog show and bringing in cats and rats and bats to compare tail lengths and fur color.

"If you trust me, I can help you pass the criteria to have a chance at winning the competition."

Candi pondered over his words.

She was already speeding away from Earth, to an unknown destination. She had no idea what she was getting into, so having him as a guide was super helpful.

"Okay Slate. I'm going to trust you, but no funny business! You have to be upfront with me." She lifted her head and stared up at him with as much intensity as she could muster.

He nodded and stood there regarding her with narrowed eyes, one arm crossed over his chest, the other hand rubbing at his jaw.

"First things first. Although your breasts are nice handfuls," he opened up his hands in demonstration, "you're a bit on the skinny side everywhere else."

Candi scowled with embarrassment.

"It's called a dancer's body, okay?" She quipped.

"You need to eat more." He snapped a finger and a round table and two chairs rose up from the floor.

A few more waves in the air and a circular platter filled with covered dishes lowered from the ceiling onto the table.

For the first time, Candi looked up.

The ceiling wasn't just a ceiling. It was an actual command console!

It was covered with discrete patterns of dots and dashes and when Slate was waving his hands in the air, he was manipulating the console and controlling it!

"Eat. I had Jezebel make food that I know you humans love to eat."

He approached the table and pulled the lids off the platters.

Candi's eyes widened.

There were mounds of steamed rice, layers of ribs, and plates of colorful vegetables. There was curry and vegetable stir fry and steamed fish and a large bowl of soup in the center.

There was a stack of hot crusted bread with a pot of butter, and slices of fruit tarts and strawberry shortcakes. There was tea and coffee and fizzy soft drinks.

"Slate. There's enough food here to feed ten people!"

Slate gave her a desultory gaze.

"That's my normal breakfast."

She blinked and wisely kept her mouth shut. Men did eat quite a bit after all. He was also rather large…

"Sit." He led her to one of the seats and made sure she was settled before taking his own seat across from her.

Despite the fact that Candi didn't feel all that hungry, by the time they had finished eating, she had eaten her fill of many dishes on the table. As promised, Slate polished off most of the food.

Once they had finished eating, he waved a hand and the table disappeared into the floor.

He gave another gesture and a large round bath tub rose up.

"It's time for our bath." He smiled with greed.