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Time to refocus, I told myself as I headed for my son's home. A perfect house. On a perfect street. It was everything that any child taken from his real mother could want, except their true family.
The guard at the gate sniffed and made a face at me. “Don’t they have showers Outside?” he asked as he scanned my palmprint to confirm my identity.
“Nope,” I said cheerfully, walking past him. The Dumont house was huge: three stories, two wings, and a garden enclosed by the house and hedge. The building rose, all graceful arches and light wood, with security holes any competent thief could get through with a little preparation and effort.
The hedge, a pretty but ineffective barrier, grew from a sea of trimmed grass dotted with clumps of fall flowers, a riot of color.
When first I tried to fix the security problem, Silver hadn’t let me requisition the explosives I’d wanted. I’d gotten some by trading in cities Outside, and had emplaced them to cover the obvious routes for assassins. I couldn’t manage more; explosives were hard to get.
The house’s army of small cleaner robots didn’t venture down the paths that I’d made more secure. I’d checked that people didn’t wander the grounds before I set the traps, and in an excess of caution, I’d set them to react more to the presence of armor and weapons than something simple like weight.
I hurried down the gravel path that led to the garden. I preferred entering through the side door. Dmitri’s room was adjacent to the garden on the ground floor; mine was across the hall from his. When I was here, I wanted to be as close to him as possible, since my missions already made me feel like I’d missed too much of his life.
He was two years old. Two incredible years old. Behind in some ways, but with a magical potential that could change this world. Every minute I was away from him felt like a lifetime.
From the hedge door, I crossed the garden and ran down the hall to the room I used. A quick shower to spare Dmitri’s sensitive nose. Warm water chased the remaining chill away, too. I left my gloves on the bed. Not here. I didn’t need to keep my distance from my boy.
I wanted him to choose me.Thisworld. Since we’re both part elf, we both feel the call of the wild magic. I’ve fought to stay in this world for years, and I want my son to do the same.
Shaking off maudlin thoughts, I checked the housecomp. The device was useful, it showed the loactions and schedules of everyone in this household. Not that I was concerned with anyone other than my son, so I checked to see where he was and what he was doing. Luckily for me, Dmitri was getting his lunch, so I finished drying after my shower, dressed, and headed for him.
I cut through the kitchen and checked the chiller before going into the dining room. I’d tasted chocolate for the first time when Elise left a small box of candies cooling. It was delicious. I’d found it one other time, and now I checked each time I came to the house.
The spirits that guard cacao bushes were jealous and charged dearly for the beans. I’d never seen it in Kalderon.
The chiller held no small golden boxes. I sighed and continued into the dining area. At the door, I saw that the table and walls had also had their lunch. Kara Dumont-Rossi, the Dumonts’ youngest child, sat by him. Dmitri was also covered in peas. My son, apparently, hadn’t yet learned not to throw his food, but, at that moment, I couldn’t care less.
“I thought you were still at school?” Her parents had sent her to finishing school when she turned sixteen, last summer.
Kara made a face and delicately wiped half-chewed peas off her face. The color of the jade on her forehead matched the peas. Dmitri bounced in his chair.
“Mama! Mama’s back!”
“Who’s my baby boy?” I pulled him out of the chair, never mind the peas, and sat at the table, settling him in my lap. He gave me a smacking kiss and giggled.
Kara indicated the wipes, and I set to work turning Dmitri flesh-colored rather than green, interspersed with tickles.
“Why are you feeding him peas?”
“Mother wants him to try more vegetables. It’s Becky’s day off, Mother had some emergency errands. I thought he liked peas.”
“At least you didn’t try squash,” I said, pulling pea-goo out of his hair.
“Sea! Sea!” He bounced in my lap, then stilled and stared into my eyes. A flicker of a working, trying to make me want to play, rippled across my mind. Nowhere near the strength he’d shown before I left.
I glanced at Kara.
“Father had dampeners installed through most of the house.” She rose, still wiping peas off her shirt. “To keep this little guy,” she ruffled his hair, “from trying to make Becky play Defend instead of hide and seek. Father wants to talk to you about that.”
My heart swelled with pride. I’d never been able to push people to do what I wanted, but he’d figured it out before he was two.
Though Robert might have a point about trying to prevent Dmitri from pushing people…not that I’d let him think I agreed with him. “He can talk all he wants.”
Kara rolled her eyes. “I’m going to shower now. I have no idea what you’re going to do, and will say so when questioned.” She examined a lock of her brown hair. It bore a trail of peas as well. Dmitri had good aim.
The school had given her more self-confidence, at least. She would’ve been too shy and self-conscious to roll her eyes where anyone could see her before she left.
Playing Sea involved removing cushions and throw pillows from the furniture and putting them all on the floor. Dmitri had to jump on them to move across the room, while the carpet was the sea, with me as a dangerous fish.
