Shadow Borne (14 page)

"The dome?"

"My home. At least, where I grew up. Most of
the nymphs choose never to leave the dome."

"Oh."

"The Mikhalu are excellent hunters and
fighters," I continued. "They've spent most of their lives living
outdoors and doing for themselves, so they also know the layout of
the land."

"Not all of the men are huge." Megan
commented, tossing a quizzical glance to me.

"No, they aren't. The more normal sized
people in the crowd are refugee villagers that have gathered here
from all over Terlain. About half of our world is made up of people
like your kind."

"What happened to their villages? The same
fate as the one we passed to get here?" She frowned, and continued
to stare down at the people on the lawn.

"That was the village of Lerna and yes, most
of their villages were ambushed and their homes destroyed. Some of
the, well, regular people, I guess you'd call them, are also native
Grandview citizens who volunteer their time and train with the
others."

"Hmm." Megan nodded and her eyes picked
through the crowd as though she were searching for someone in
particular.

My lips curved and I scanned the yard for a
second before I spotted what I was certain she was looking for.
"Carl's over there. He's leaning against the second tree from the
driveway."

"Oh." Megan blushed a deep crimson. "I
wasn't–"

"Sorry." I interrupted
with a shrugged.
Bingo
. "I thought you might have been looking for him."

"Nope." She ducked her head, but not before
sneaking a covert glance from beneath her lashes at the lean blond
man. And then she took a deep breath and turned away from the
window. "I think I'm ready to go downstairs now."

Chapter Seven

Foolish Heart

The day passed in a blur of activity, of
practice and planning that went largely unnoticed by Megan and
Claire and me. As promised, Megan took a shower and Claire was even
able to coax her into spending the remainder of the day downstairs.
The two sisters spent the bulk of the afternoon rotating between
the parlor and the kitchen–and the bathroom. Megan was constantly
in the bathroom. Most of my time was spent upstairs with Sienna and
Ashley.

The little girls took a couple of snack
breaks, but beyond that, they mostly kept to the extra large second
floor white on white bedroom the two shared; at least, I reflected
with a tired grin, the room used to be white. It was definitely
more...colorful, now.

The girls had done an elaborate forest scene
across the entire wall opposite the one that held their twin beds.
I had only just barely talked them out of attempting a ceiling
mural, praise the stars above. Claire and Mark openly encouraged
creativity in their children but I'm pretty sure that sentiment
didn't extend to paint drips covering an entire bedroom set.

So I'd breathed a sigh of relief when the
girls had decided to expand the wall mural they'd already started,
turning it into a huge forest scene rather than trying to pilfer
step stools and paint brush extenders. I had provided companionship
and moral support for their project–that and sparkles; lots and
lots of sparkles.

The glitter I spread over the wall was
static and durable and a very fetching shade of silver.
Interspersed throughout the trees of the painted forest were small
twinkling lights that glowed amber in the deepening twilight which
had begun to seep through the curtains within the past hour and a
half. Night would soon be coming.

"Well, ladies," I stretched my arms high
above my head and yawned. "It's been fun but the hour grows late.
You know what that means–time for me to hit the road." I began to
back out of the room, hoping the children would let this new
routine go without an argument and a battle. No such luck. Two
small faces fell in complete and utter dismay.

"But aunt Aries," Ashley protested, "you're
supposed to stay the night! You always stay the night."

"Yeah." Sienna added with a frown.

"I don't always stay the night." I pointed
out. "Sometimes I go home to my cabin."

"But not on the nights grandma Marta makes
pot roast." Sienna pointed out with infallible logic.

"Yeah, you always stay here on pot roast
night."

The girls were right, I did usually bunk
down in one of the mansion's spare rooms on pot roast night–and
again on casserole night. In fact, I was here so often I had my own
designated 'spare bedroom' at the end of the hall, in between
Ashley and Sienna's room and the one Megan now occupied.

But that was before; now, I didn't exactly
relish spending a night under the same roof as Mike Roberts. And
with the rest of Claire's family here, and all of them still
walking around looking varying degrees of shell shocked, the
thought of staying overnight felt a lot like intruding.

"I'm telling my mom on you." Ashley
announced, marching out the door and stomping down the stairs.

With a rueful shake of my head and a grin, I
watched her go. The child was relentless, a skill that someday
would serve her well, but right now was a pain in ass.

"Aunt Aries, are you scared of all the
people?" Sienna's small voice asked.

"Scared of the people who were outside
earlier?"

"Them too, I guess." The little girl lifted
one thin shoulder and developed a sudden fascination with the pale
beige carpet beneath our feet.

"No, not really. After all," I began,
watching her carefully, "I know all of those people. But–" I broke
off and waited until Sienna glanced up before I bit my lip and
shook my head. "Never mind. I shouldn't tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really." From beneath my
lashes, I peered at the girl. "You'll think I'm silly if I tell
you."

"I won't." she breathed, sidling up close.
"I promise."

"Well..." I pretended to consider this.
"Okay," I finally nodded. "I'll tell you, but you can't laugh at
me."

Liquid brown eyes regarded me soberly. "I
wouldn't ever laugh at you aunt Aries, I promise."

My heart clenched almost painfully at her
guileless, genuine response. Lately, it seemed like innocence was
in piteously short supply in my world. "Since you promised not to
make fun of me, I suppose I shall have to come out with it. I'm
afraid of your grandparents."

Sienna's brow furrowed. "Grandpa Bob and
grandma Marta?"

"No," I paused and frowned when I realized I
didn't even know the names of Claire's parents. "No, sweeting, your
new grandparents."

"Oh. Tish and Andrew."

Tish and Andrew? Huh. They didn't look like
a Tish and Andrew.

"I'm scared of them, too." Sienna confessed.
"What if they don't like me?" she asked in a very matter of fact
tone.

"You? You're great. Of course they'll like
you. It's me they might not like."

"Well, I like you."

"And I like you." I exhaled and began to
tick the points off on my fingers. "I'm your friend and you're my
friend. And your mom and dad like us, so do Bob and Marta and
Ashley."

"Don't forget Juliette and Tara." she
smiled, getting into the spirit of things now.

"Yes. So that makes, let's see...eight
friends. We each have eight friends who, without a doubt, no matter
what, like us. So, who cares what anyone else thinks, right?"

"Yeah!" Sienna's head bobbed. "Hell with
them." she said decisively.

"Oh! Ah," I coughed to cover the laugh that
threatened to burst forth like water through a dam. "No, don't say
that. Your father's going to be so mad at me if he hears you talk
that way."

"Sorry."

"And anyway, that's not the best outlook,
Sienna my girl. What if your new grandparents do like you? Then
you'll have ten friends and that would be pretty neat, right?"

"I guess so." She still didn't look totally
convinced.

"Then what are you waiting for? I think
they're in the kitchen with your mom and your new aunt Megan.”

"I can't tell if aunt Megan likes me."

"She does." I told the girl. "She's just
really sad right now."

"Oh." Then. "Are you sure they'll want to
talk to me?"

"Yep. Here." I grabbed her sketch pad from
the nightstand closest to the door and thrust it into her small
hands. "Take this with you. It'll give you something to talk to
them about. You know," I winked. "to get you started."

She nodded, tossed a quick "Thanks, aunt
Aries." Over her shoulder, and was gone.

With a sigh, I dropped down to Sienna's bed.
Despite the pep talk I had given the girl, it was probably best I
took my leave and headed back to the cabin. Sienna and Ashley's
newly arrived set of grandparents were unlikely to approve of a
half dressed, knife toting woman who taught children to swear, I
lamented. No, it was better that I left. If I hurried, it might
even be possible to make it home before it was full dark
outside.

Not that it would matter; walking in the
dark wasn't much different from camping in the open, which was what
I had to look forward to this evening. No way was I sleeping inside
the cabin until the window had been repaired and my new security
system was installed.

"You're very good with her." A voice from
the doorway observed.

"Mike." I climbed to my feet. "What a
surprise." I said dryly. "I was wondering how long it would take
you to track me down."

His lips curved into a smile. "It wasn't
hard. Ashley came downstairs and asked us to tie you up."

"She what?" I sputtered.

"Something about it being pot roast night
and story time."

"Yes but still, I think being tied up is a
little extreme." I shook my head.

"Could be." Mike lounged against the door
frame and, luckily for his own well-being, refrained from making
any snide comments involving me and a length of rope. "What's this
I hear about you leaving?"

I took a deep breath. "It's getting late and
I need to go home."

"I guess I don't need to ask why you won't
spend the night here." He straightened and I thought I heard a
faint note of regret in his voice.

"No, you don't have to ask, but I don't mind
telling you the truth. It's you."

"Ouch." Mike winced and advanced into the
room. "You're hell on a man's ego, you know that?"

I lifted one shoulder in a shrug before
turning away to fix my gaze out the window. So much for making it
home before dark. Shadows gathered in the driveway and played along
the edge of the forest. "I have to leave."

I turned around to find Mike standing in the
middle of the room. He was staring at the mural on the wall.

"It's beautiful, Aries." His smile held
genuine warmth when he caught my eye.

"I only helped a little. Your nieces are
very talented."

"Yes, my nieces are." He put faint emphasis
on the word. "I'm still getting used to having two nieces now,
instead of one."

"Sienna's a great girl." I bristled
instinctively, ready to do battle at the first hint of negativity
where the girl was concerned.

"Of course she is." Mike nodded and shoved
his hands into the pockets of his brown corduroy pants. "But I've
known her for all of twenty-four hours. It's going to take time to
get used to her, and she to me."

"Yes." I finally said, exhaling and folding
my arms across my chest. "You're right, it will take time." That
was true enough. It was hard saying whether I had a natural
inclination to be hard on Mike, or if having time to get used to a
situation was something of a foreign concept to me.

Probably a little of both, I figured with a
covert glance at the man who had been busy sucking the oxygen out
of the room from the moment he'd stepped over the threshold. He
stood there in the middle of the floor, so casual, damn him. It
didn't even bother him to be in the same room with me.

His eyes zeroed in on my own. The faint hum
of conversation buzzed from the floor below, but I couldn't make
out the words; it was white noise in the quiet semi-darkness of the
girls' bedroom. I felt the tension begin to seep from my body and
for the first time in weeks, the Coatyl and the war and the fear
were far away.

Surrounded by pale pink ruffled bed skirts,
painted bedroom walls and twinkling night lights, I felt a sense of
safety that was such a rare thing in my world, I wanted to embrace
it with both arms and fade into it all at once; I wanted to sit in
this room and feel still and invisible and, for a few minutes at
least, safe. It had been so long.

It didn't pay to think such thoughts or to
covet such things and yet, at that moment they were more real to me
than the fear, the grim acceptance of what life had become, of what
simply was. It reminded me of happier times, days long gone and for
a moment, I allowed myself to drift, to remember a very different
version of Mike and myself.

"I've never met
anyone like you."

His admission was
quietly made, sincere, and I felt my heart begin to kick painfully
in my chest. Suddenly, I was breathless.

"Will you do it for
me?"

My eyes lifted from
the spot at the ground I'd been smiling at, to his grinning face.
"Will I do what?" I asked, confused.

"That thing you do
with the lights. Can you make objects at will? Anything you
choose?"

"Yes," I shrugged, baffled at his fascination for my light
shifting, until I reminded myself that Mike wasn't from here–wasn't
that an understatement–and so of course the idea of someone being
able to create their own light was a novel idea. According to Mike,
I was the first person he'd ever seen accomplish such a feat. "What
would you like me to make?"

"It doesn't matter."
he answered, staring at me with a warmth that made me want to duck
my head again. "Whatever you want. I just want to see you create
something."