Fort Morgan (49 page)

By slowing down, she attracted the man’s
attention. He said something in the foreign language and pointed at
Sissy. Hedone gasped and stepped between them. Whatever the man had
done bounced off her babysitter. The man howled with rage. He took
a step toward Hedone. Sissy screamed because she was afraid that
the horrible man would hurt her babysitter.

Another man appeared. Sissy recognized him
from the Castle. He’d been there when Jill was having her perfect
twins. While Sissy couldn’t remember his name or who he was, she
thought he looked an awful lot like Mike. Sissy liked Mike a
lot.

The man winked at her, and Sissy started
swinging again. It wasn’t that she thought about swinging. All of a
sudden, she really, really, really wanted to swing. She wanted to
swing more than finding out what was going on.

She pumped her arms and
used her legs. This time, she even arched her back until she was
high above the arguing adults.
Swoosh!
She was up in the
clouds.
Swoosh!
She could hear the adults argue as she swung by.
Swoosh!
She was touching
the baby-blue sky.
Swoosh!
She rushed past the sand.

“
This is none of your
business,” she heard the horrible man say.

“
You made it my business
by telling me you were taking a break,” the man who looked like
Mike said. “You’ve been begging for a break for centuries. You
found Psyche and left to spend a hundred years in love, together,
on my island! You
gave
your powers to Hedone. Let her get on with it.”

“
Haven’t you heard?” the
horrible man asked. “Hedone has my powers and has made a complete
cock up of things.”

“
Maybe she just needs
help,” the man who looked like Mike said.

Swoosh!
Sissy was heading toward the sky again. Sissy
thought about her father. He was so handsome and funny. He’d loved
her very much. She reached the top of the swing and thought about
her mother. She scowled. She was swooshing past the sand when she
thought of Sandy. Sissy smiled. Glancing at the adults, she saw her
babysitter point her hand to the ground and stand up very tall.
Even the baby tucked to Hedone’s breast gave the horrible man a
dark look. Sissy smiled.

Sandy and Hedone were her heroes.

As she flew past the adults, she saw the man
who looked like Mike wink at her again. Sissy did her best to wink
back. As if on the wings of his wink, she zoomed higher and higher,
until she was surrounded by the white, puffy clouds. Fully
expecting to hit the end, she braced herself for her descent to the
sand, but the end never came. Instead. . .

Sissy awoke with a gasp. She tried to sit up
but was too weak to make it happen. She fell back to the bed. The
room was dark and quiet except for the even beat of a few
heart-rate monitors. She felt air push through her nose. Sissy lay
still for only a moment before a nurse appeared. The nurse smiled
at Sissy and checked everything. Sissy’s eyes followed the nurse in
a drugged blur. After a moment, Nadia’s face appeared. She gave
Sissy a kind smile and grabbed Sissy’s hand.

“
Sandy,” Sissy
whispered.

“
I sent her home,” Nadia
said with a smile. “Doctor’s orders. She’s been with you every
moment since. . .”

Nadia nodded and swallowed hard. Sissy got
the impression that whatever had happened was fairly awful. Sissy
tried to figure out what the doctor could be talking about.

“
Do you remember what
happened?”

“
Ivan?” Sissy
asked.

“
He’s here,” Nadia said
with a nod. “He. . .”

“
He’s dead?” Sissy
asked.

“
Not a chance.” Nadia
smiled at Sissy. “It takes more than a little steak knife to kill
off our Ivan.”

Sissy felt a flood of relief. A large smile
spread across Sissy’s face as tears streamed down her face. Nadia
leaned over and kissed her cheek.

“
It’s been quite a day,”
Nadia said. “Night, actually.”

Nadia smiled.

“
Suffice it to say, young
lady, you are a very lucky girl,” Nadia said. “And
Ivan. . . He’s not going to be dancing anytime soon,
which will make him and everyone around him crazy. But he is alive,
which is a miracle. With luck and hard work, you will dance
The Nutcracker
together
this Christmas.”

Sissy smiled — or tried to smile.

“
Hedone?” Sissy
whispered.

“
Eros and Psyche’s
daughter?” Nadia shook her head. “From the myth?”

Sissy looked confused, and Nadia gave her a
practiced assuring smile.

“
I will tell you that your
sister’s friend Heather made quite a stir,” Nadia said. “She
appeared out of thin air with her baby. Everyone was
relieved.”

“
She’s my babysitter,”
Sissy said.

“
Yes, she said something
like that,” Nadia said. She leaned close. “She said to tell you
that she would take you to the park when you were feeling
better.”

Sissy grinned.

“
Oh, good,” Nadia said. “I
wasn’t sure how you would take it.”

“
I love the swings,” Sissy
said.

“
That’s what Heather
said,” Nadia said. “Personally, I think you were pretty lucky in
your choice of babysitters. I had these horrible Russian
grandmothers who smelled like cooked fish and lectured me on the
importance of virginity.”

Sissy tried to laugh, but her lungs
rebelled. She coughed.

“
Watch it, or you’ll get
me kicked out!” Nadia said with a smile.

Nadia checked Sissy’s wounds to make sure
nothing had opened.

“
You rest,” Nadia said as
she worked. “You’re not out of the woods yet. You need to rest.
Don’t worry. Someone will be here with you the entire time. You and
Ivan are our miracles. We’re not leaving you alone now.”

Sissy fell into a sound sleep long before
Nadia was done sleeping.

Denver Cereal continues….

Glossary of
Characters

Aaron Alvin:

Father of Ava; also called
“The spider” by Yvonne Smith.

Abi the Fairy:

General in Fairy Corps;
great-grandmother of Tanesha; Fin’s partner

Aden Norsen:

CEO at Lipson
construction; single father of Nash and Noelle; husband of
Sandy.

Alma Fontaine:

Mother of Heather Lipson;
Psyche.

Alexandra
Hargreaves:

Identical twin to Max
Hargreaves; ‘The Fey;’ the leader of the Fey Team; wife of Dr. John
Drayson; sister to Colin and Samantha Hargreaves.

Anjelika:

Megan, Mike, Steve, Candy
and Jill’s mother; grandmother to Katy; wife of Perses.

Andrea Menendez or Andy
Mendy:

Mother of Sandy; Seth’s
love & lover from the time he was 14 until he lost her when he
was 30.

Annette:

Reality television star;
mother to Jabari; Jeraine Wilson’s ex.

Arthur “Raz”
Rasmussen:

Member of the Fey team;
boyfriend of Samantha Hargreaves.

Ava — Amelie Vivian
Alvin:

Denver Police Crime Lab
Technician; fiancé of Seth O’Malley; daughter of Aaron
Alvin.

Ben Red Bear,
Detective:

Denver Police Detective in
charge of investigation of rapes; possibly involved in the
distribution chain.

Bestat Behur:

Partner to Zack Jakkman;
stepmother to Teddy; dragon.

Beth Baker:

Ava’s best friend; Child
Psychologist; murdered by Saint Jude.

Blane Lipson:

Jacob’s ‘cousin;’
assistant to Jacob Marlowe at Lipson Construction; Chinese Medicine
doctor; husband of Heather; father of Mack; getting bone marrow
transplant for HIV infection.

Bob aka ‘Blood spatter
Bob’:
Former expert forensics instructor
with the FBI; currently a laboratory technician in Ava’s Denver
Police Department lab.

Bumpy Wilson:

Good friend of Seth’s;
medical doctor; father of Jeraine Wilson, husband of Dionne, born
Leroy Wilson.

Candace or Candy
Roper:

Daughter of Anjelika;
sister to Jill.

Charlie
Delgado:

Stepbrother of Sandy;
street kid; drug addict; moved in with Sandy in
Cimarron
.

Chesterfield or Mr.
Chesterfield:

Rodney Smith’s large black
dog, which he was given in prison from the Puppies for Prisoners
program; best friend of Jabari.

Celia Marlowe:

Wife of Sam Lipson; mother
of Valerie Lipson and Jacob Marlowe; Delphie’s best friend; died of
cancer nine years before Denver Cereal begins.

Cleo:

Black and white cat
belonging to Sandy.

Colin
Hargreaves:

Brother of Alex, Max and
Samantha Hargreaves; Homeland Security Agent; Fey Team member;
father of Paddie Hargreaves.

Dale:

Boyfriend of Beth Baker,
Amelie’s best friend; housemate of Amelie; Handyman who lives with
Seth O’Malley.

Delphinium or
Delphie:

Psychic; beekeeper; master
gardener; best friend of Celia Marlowe; girlfriend to Sam
Lipson.

DeShawn Jones:

Ex-drug dealer; current
site manager at Lipson Construction

Dionne Wilson:

Wife of Bumpy Wilson;
mother of Jeraine and LaTonya; medical nurse; singer.

Erik Le
Monde:
Father of Wanda; plumber;
works for Lipson Construction.

Edie the Fairy:

Second daughter of Queen
Fand & Manannán; younger sister to the Blue Fairy and elder
sister to Mari; nanny to Jill and Jacob’s twins.

Edith Stiefel:

Mother of Wanda. Ex-wife
of Erik Le Monde.

Evette:

Secretary of Jacob’s for
one week; claims romantic relationship between them.

Fand, usually Queen
Fand:

Queen of the Fairies; wife
of Manannán; ancestor of Jacob Lipson.

Fin, Finegal, sometimes
Prince Finegal:

Eldest son of Queen Fand
and Manannán; heir to throne; great-grandfather to Tanesha; partner
to Abi; medical student.

Fran:
A laboratory tech in Ava’s Denver Police Department
lab.

Frankie Aziz:

Boyfriend of Wanda Le
Monde; videographer of group of rapists; brother of DPD Sergeant
Aziz.

Gilfand:
Loyal male servant of
Queen Fand; one of the oldest fairies; appears as a
gargoyle.

Heather Lipson:

One of Jillian Roper’s
group of best friends; mother to Mack; wife to Blane Lipson; mother
of Tink; Hedone, child of Psyche and Eros.

Honey Lipson:

Paralyzed; stepdaughter of
Sam Lipson; wife of Sergeant MJ Scully; Lives at the Castle and
works at Lipson Construction.

Jabari Wilson:
Young son of Jeraine Smith and
Annette.

Jacob Marlowe:

Son of Sam Lipson and
Celia Marlowe; husband of Jillian Roper; brother of Valerie Lipson;
president of Lipson Construction; owns his own rehabilitation
business; carpenter; hockey player, teller of Denver
Cereal.

Jeraine Wilson:

R&B sensation; husband
of Tanesha Smith; son of Bumpy; drug and sex addict.

Jeraine Wilson,
Junior:
Young son of Jeraine
Wilson.

Jillian or Jill
Roper:

Daughter of Anjelika and
Perses; mother of Katy Roper; wife of Jacob Marlowe; ex-wife of
Trevor Mc Guinsey; pregnant with twin boys.

John Drayson,
MD:

Vascular surgeons; husband
of Alex Hargreaves.

Julie
Hargreaves:

Mother of Paddie
Hargreaves; wife of Colin Hargreaves.

Katy or Katherine Anjelika
Roper Marlowe:

Daughter of Jillian Roper
and Jacob Marlowe.

Leslie:
A laboratory tech in Ava’s Denver Police
Department lab.

Leslie Roper:

Wife of Steve Roper;
mother of infant Elisa Roper.

Levi Johansen:

Won Delphie in a card game
when she was 5-6; held her as a slave/The Oracle Tabor; attempted
to kill Delphie; deceased.