Page 54 of Backpacking through Bedlam

“And he’s truly Thomas,” I said. “I’m not a telepath, but the level of closeness we experienced during that working—he’s the real thing, Very. I found him. I told you your grandfather was still alive out there for me to find, and I found him, and I brought him home. Would you like to meet him?”

“Yes,” she said, in a very small voice. “And after that, I’ve got someone I’d like to introduce you to.”

“All right.” I beckoned her closer, waiting until she had stepped up next to me before I put a hand on her shoulder and turned to Thomas as if making a formal presentation. “Thomas Price, may I introduce you to your granddaughter, Verity De Luca-Price.” I glanced at her. “That’s right, isn’t it?”

“It’s Price-De Luca, actually,” she said, voice still small, eyes locked on Thomas. “Are you really my grandfather?”

“You look so much like your grandmother,” he said, and took a half-step closer before he apparently thought better of it and kept his distance, hands still fixed at his sides. “I am . . . I am truly overjoyed to have the opportunity to meet you. I’m sorry I’ve been gone for so long.”

“So were we,” she said, and smiled at him for the first time, wide and open and entirely earnest. “What do I call you?”

“I . . .” Thomas glanced to me, eyes wide. “I don’t know. Kevin had barely mastered ‘Pa’ when I disappeared, and I’ve never had the chance to figure out what you’d all be calling me.”

“Well, she’s Grandma.” Verity nodded toward me. “Weird as that sometimes is, when she looks younger than me. Which she still does, by the way, and it’s annoying.”

“Not by as much as I have sometimes,” I said.

“And she will not be doing that anymore,” said Thomas. “The person who had been assisting her in staying static is no longer with us.”

“Cool,” said Verity. “If she’s Grandma, I guess that makes you Grandpa.”

That was when the mice couldn’t hold it in any longer. “HAIL!” they shouted. “HAIL THE TITLING OF THE GRANDPARENTS!”

“My colony’s in the walls, if you want to let yours go and start the liturgical exchange,” said Verity. “Mary, can you let Dom know that it’s safe for him to come out now?”

Mary nodded and disappeared. I raised an eyebrow.

“Safe?”

“I wanted to wait until I was sure I believed you’d actually found Grandpa and not just shown up with a strange man claiming to be your husband,” said Verity. She finally turned her attention to Sally. “Instead, you have a strange woman. Kumiho?”

“Human,” I said. “Verity, meet Sally. Your new . . . aunt? Jane’s your aunt, so I guess ‘aunt’ is the right word. Meet your new aunt.”

“Hi,” said Sally, giving a little wave.

Verity stared at her, and then at me. “Explain.”

“Made a deal with the crossroads, got chucked into the same place as the boss over here”—Sally hooked a thumb at Thomas—“don’t really feel like I can go back to where I was, so your grandparents have sort of forcibly adopted me.”

“She already has a branch of clergy forming,” I said, setting my bag on the floor so the mice could emerge and run for the nearest wall. Several people watched them go. No one interfered. I guess the continued existence of Aeslin mice was no longer a surprise to the folks who were actually living with a colony. “They call her the Conscripted Priestess.”

“So we have the Conscripted Priestess and the Stolen God,” said Verity, with some amusement. At my sidelong look, she explained, “Antimony went out and acquired a new brother when we left her unsupervised. She’s set enough on keeping him that she got backdated adoption papers shoved through by Uncle Al.”

“Family just keeps growing,” I said.

“That’s true,” she agreed, and turned as a door on the far wall opened, smiling at the man who stepped through. He was short by most people’s standards, even mine, which left him well matched to Verity, standing only a few inches taller than she was, and had the sturdy build of someone who’d been physically active every day of his life. His hair was dark, his eyes were brown, and his arms were full of squirming, brown-haired toddler wearing a corduroy jumper. Mary was close behind them, and shut the door once she was through.

“You remember Dominic, right, Grandma?” she asked, as the man approached. He wasn’t paying any attention to me at all. His eyes were locked on Thomas, like he expected to be attacked at any moment.

Thomas, for his part, blinked at him, looking faintly nonplussed. I nudged him with my elbow. “I told you Verity was the granddaughter who’d married a defector from the Covenant,” I said.

“You did,” he agreed. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting . . . I’m sorry. De Luca, yes?”

Dominic nodded. “Yes, sir, it was,” he said. “It’s Price now. The only person who still carries the name of an extinct family line is my lovely wife, who insists it should not be forgotten. I’m a bit exhausted by trying to argue with her on the matter.”

“Carew women have that effect,” Thomas agreed, and Dominic laughed, still visibly nervous even as some of the tension dissipated.

The toddler in his arms squirmed harder, kicking at his midriff. “Down, Daddy,” they said. “Down.”