Page 84 of The Chosen One Universe: Volume One

Papa snorted. “No. Ben saw Zaire walking you over here and came to tell me. I notice that Zaire took off.”

“She doesn’t want to make Daddy mad.”

“Pfft. She doesn’t want to make me mad.”

“That too,” Henry said. “You’ll talk to her.”

Papa scowled at him, but Henry smiled. Papa couldn’t even pretend he was wrong. “She does hate it when I talk to her. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. You’re okay; that’s the important thing.”

Pop-pop came in next and looked him over. He didn’t need stitches, but he did get a special Band-Aid and some ointment for his head. As they walked back to the house, Papa kept Henry close. Henry finally managed to give a significant look to Ben and mouthed octopus.

Ben stumbled a bit but caught himself. He nodded and turned to Natasha, passing Henry’s coded message along to her. She nodded and turned to Ollie, who skipped along beside her. She whispered something in his ear, and he nodded before getting a very serious look on his face. He chewed his lower lip for a second before grinning.

“Papa!”

“Yes, Ollie?”

“I need to talk.”

Papa looked a little confused. “Okay.”

“It’s private stuff, Papa.”

Henry tried not to smile.

“That sounds important.”

“It is, Papa. Very important. Can we talk in your room? Cause you say you and Daddy do private stuff in there.”

Papa made a noise and turned bright red. “Sure. We can talk in there. Let me get Henry settled—”

“I’m fine, Papa. Grammy said I should lay down for a while, so I’ll go up to my room.”

“We’ll go with him,” Emily said. “We can color quietly so he doesn’t have to be alone.”

“You guys are amazing.”

Behind Papa’s back, Jack gave Ollie a high five. Henry wished he could too. It was good thinking. Papa loved to talk.

They made their way upstairs, with Ollie staying behind to do his duty as a Papa distraction. Henry explained everything Grammy had told him the moment the door closed behind them.

“Interesting,” Natasha said.

Ben wrote down more notes in their notebook and nodded. “Definitely trying to tell us something.”

“But holy. That’s the weird one. Where do we put the holes? It’s gotta be in the clue somewhere.”

“Or…” Natasha paused dramatically and went to the window. “It’s in who she told the clue.”

“What do you mean?” Henry asked.

“Well, Nana told all of us her clue, right? But Grammy waited until she had you alone. That must mean her clue is significant to you somehow.”

“Magic,” Ben said.

“Yep. And if your magic is air, what’s the best way to get air in the house? Through a hole.”

“Or a window?” Jack said helpfully.