Annie LXXX: Deva in the Details

(Chronological index: New World Order #17)

Amelia came out of the private elevator onto Sam's desk. "Well, they're interested, but they want Foster's opinion first."

"Makes sense," Samantha said. She glanced over Butter's arrangements, nodded and sent it back to his account. She glanced over to find the sylph making herself comfortable on the desk sofa. "And you asked them?"

"Sam, the Fosters are together, unstressed, unbrainwashed, with access to a bed and a bathtub and whatever else they employ in such situations. For the first time since they took that Annie person to Florida.

"Aside from the fact it would take the 82nd airborne to divide them again, I'm not getting within arm's reach of that party until they're sated." She scooted down in the cushion. "I need a Snickers."

"Not going anywhere for a while?" Butters asked. She nodded. Sam turned to the other sylph. "Ooh, no, no," he said. "I've been told I have a girlish complexion. Better safe than sorry."

"I... Could go?" Pipkin offered hopefully.

"Annie would claw your eyes out," Butters said.

"PET would claw your eyes out," Sam said. "Annie'd carve out your heart with a potato chip." She glanced at the clock. "We'll give them..."

"Double it because of the jail time," Amelia said.

"Seven?"

"They might be getting hungry by then."

-----------

"I'm getting hungry," Pet said. She pushed on Ray's lips and hoisted herself to a perch on his chin.

"Hunwe fo watt?" he asked around her legs. She giggled as his tongue tickled her feet.

"I dunno. Food?" she replied, looking around at the rest of the family. Denise was curled up next to Ray's windpipe, timing her breathing to his. She stretched and nodded sleepily.

Annie shouted, "CLEAR!" Pet pulled her legs out of the reach of Ray's teeth. He grunted and twitched a bit. Then he plucked her up and cuddled all the girls to his chest.

"So, shower, clothes, dinner?" he asked. He glanced at the clock. "Six thirty. We can call Deliah for... Seven?"

"Seven thirty," Annie said, holding her hair back from her face. He made the reservations, then rolled to his feet and limped to the bathroom.

----------

Sam was waiting for them as they approached Portion Control. "Hey, can we push your reservations back a bit?" she asked.

"You already have," Pet said. Sam nodded.

"It's a bit of an emergency." She nodded and stepped down the hall. Ray followed. "We used Annie and Pet's trick, asking the salamanders to say what they really felt about going to Africa to get cured.

"They're unanimous," she said. "Everyone wants to go."

"And the problem?" Annie asked.

"The Sanc Dembukan refugees." Sam skipped up the stairs to the interscale conference room and paused at the door. "Kisu's invited them all to come home, but none will answer until they get a chance 'to ask Foster for advice,'" she quoted in a passable Swahili accent.

"Ah," Ray said. "Well, I'll be glad to talk-"

"Actually," Sam interrupted, "you're not the Foster." She opened the door.

The interscale conference table was covered with sylphs. Families clustered together, huddled and talking in low tones. A few were standing by Amelia in the center. She was turning in a circle trying to answer the same question once every three seconds.

Everyone turned to the opening door. Ray saw anxious looks blossom into hope and cheer when he walked in the room.

"PET!" Kiku shouted. "What should we do?"

"Me?" Pet said in a quiet voice. Ray took all three sylphs from his pockets and lowered them to the table. "Me?" she repeated.

"Damn straight, you," Denise said. "They trust you more than Kirk trusts Spock."

"Be honest, straight forward and true," Annie said. "Like always."

The group quieted as they circled around Pet. Amelia, Annie and Denise started to form a cordon. Ray glanced around the room and found a speaker for phone conferences. He disconnected it and brought it to where Pet stood.

The refugees backed away at his wave and he put Pet atop it as on a small stage. She turned in slow circles. Expectant faces looked up at her. Annie and Denny just nodded. Amelia offered her a thumb up.

"Me?" Pet asked again. A hand rose above the crowd. Sam reached down and gently lifted Usiku up. There was a murmur of approval as Sam placed her down beside Pet.

Usiku took Pet by the hand and spoke softly. The humans strained to hear but didn't interrupt. The sylphs heard it clearly, of course.

"Pet, we need to know what to do."

"But these guys-"

"Denise wants to go and put everything back to normal. Ray hopes Denise will be back to normal. Normal for a sylph, anyway. They hope this is a good thing. We're not sure if we can trust their advice. Not for our sakes.

"Annie will say that we should go because Annie is an optimist."

"I am?" Denise shushed her friend.

Usiku looked down fondly at the brunette. "You pretend to be a pessimist, because when it is a surprise to a pessimist, it is a pleasant surprise. You think we should go because you think it is a chance for us to be happy and home and such things are worth great risk."

"Huh. I do," she admitted.

The sylph turned back to Pet. "Amelia and Samantha hope this will help all sylphs in the world, eventually. And help fight the evil rotten bastards.

"You, Pet, we trust you. We trust them all, but we trust your motives, your love of the Sanc Dembuka sylphs, the best."

Pet took a deep breath. "I want Denny to be happy, too. Normal and not afraid of an alchemist taking control and putting her back to being a robot or anything," she said.

"Yes," Usiku nodded. "But we have come to know you. We trust you. Tell us. Do not order us. But tell us what you think."

"Oh. Okay." She thought. "I know Kisu got Ray out of jail. Twice. So I want to like him. I know he thinks he owes Amelia for his father's life. I don't think he'd use something like that... He doesn't feel, to me, like a person who'd use something like that to take advantage of you guys in some dastardly plan."

"Dastardly," Annie said. "I taught her that."

"He says he had a sylph wife just like..." She paused and looked up at Ray.

He shrugged. Annie nodded and Denise just smiled. "Just like us," Pet said. "And I believe him. He has... Oh, you should see Adilah. She is so beautiful. If there was any way to turn into a Deva, I think I'd love to try to do it.

"And she's so... She's like Amelia, a lot, and not just because they're the same color, she has that poise, that confident stance you almost never see in anyone small enough to fit in Ray's pocket.

"She let me touch her wings. They're so smooth. But strong. She can fly across a conference room."

Ray looked over the faces as his wife talked. They were rapt, concentrated and focused. Even the children stared up at Pet. She'd stopped talking directly to Usiku and turned around and around.

She spoke of Kisu's smell and Adilah's presence and how their voices sounded and how it made her heart feel to hear them talk about the ritual, about the Earth Mother and about their hopes to save Earth and undines and pollution and stop the platinum strip mining without ruining an economy and how Dorre danced on the table for a while.

She promised, in Ray's name, that if anyone went and didn't like it there Ray and Amelia and Samantha would do everything in their power to get them home again and if it was a problem they'd call Deliah and the Night Watch to come break them out of jail or prison or any salt mines or whatever might come to be the worst but she didn't think so, she really thought this was all real.

"Okay," Usiku said when she finally stopped. "We'll go."

"Well," Amelia said, "it's up to each family to-"

"Who wants to go home?" Jioni shouted.

"WE DO!" the crowd replied. The Americans all blinked, stunned by the instant unanimity.

"Hang on!" Annie shouted in the sudden silence. "Hold on!" She knelt and picked up a little boy that had been holding her leg for a while. "I didn't hear this guy's vote." She held him high on her hip. "What's your name?"

"Ninakula," he said softly.

"Is that Swahili for naturally shy?" she asked, tickling his chin.

"It means 'I am always eating,'" Usiku translated.

"A man after my own heart!" Annie said. "So, Bottomless Pit, what do you want to do?"

"I wan go home!" he cheered. The crowd burst into laughter.

"Then that's settled!" Sam said happily. "I'll go make arrangements for everyone."

There was another hugging riot for a while. The sylphs didn't make it out until Ray's stomach started to rumble in earnest.

"RUN!" Denise shouted. "Everyone that looks well-done! RUN!"

They laughed and released his wives. Amelia fought her way free and Sam picked her up. Ray gathered his wives and they went to dinner.

---------

The plane wasn't the most comfortable one Ray or Sam had ever flown in. But the sylphs were in customized crates that isolated sound, shock and vibration. Layers and layers of cozy rooms were well lit, generously ventilated, carpeted and cushioned liberally for those heart-wrenching moments when the plane dropped six human body lengths in an instant and sylphs who weren't strapped down were plastered across the ceiling.

The alternate jump, the six-length altitude climb, pushed them down into benches that swelled around them.

"Now THIS is the way to travel," Annie said at floor level. There were a few drops from the water tube dotting her shirt but nothing like a spilled drink.

She was next to a window and every so often remembered to wave to her husband in the canvas seat of the cargo bay.

He smiled back and tried not to look too miserable. Annie wouldn't express sympathy but Pet would feel bad.

Sam came out of the pilot's cabin and sat down by Ray. "Is it that bad?" she asked, shouting over the engines.

"Just miss my wives, mostly. I'm not used to traveling alone," he shouted back.

She nodded. "Well, if it's any consolation, I think the only reason Denise is inside is that it was the only way to get the others inside."

"Oh, I know," he said. "I wouldn't have it any other way. But I still miss them."

He waved at the window. Pet blew him several tiny kisses, rapid fire. He did his best to catch them all.

--------

Sanc Dembuka reminded the Anthonys of Mardi Gras. People were everywhere, celebrating, drinking, singing and just screaming.

Kisu had gone ahead in his jet. Dorre's advisors and his had hashed out a few rough agreements, dependent on how the ritual worked out.

Kikali had gone ahead and told his people there had been a small revolution, a change of the balance of power in the Sanc Dembuka government. The conservatives who had ties to foreign mining barons were out, the liberals and their ties to foreign environmentalists were in. As a result, sylphs were freed and coming back; the platinum mine was being cut to a more sustainable production rate; ] they had a new industry and he introduced his people to his wife.

By the time the cargo plane landed it was almost an afterthought.

Families that had owned sylphs rushed the plane to be joyously reunited with their lost, loved friends. Salamanders were welcomed as foster children. Samantha was remembered and Amelia was honored.

Some people that passed Ray kinda recognized him. The guy with the weird Ark fetish. He shrugged and wandered through the city, wives watching the happy chaos from his pockets.

At one point, Denise felt the urge to look around. She crawled upshirt to a shoulder and sat carefully.

No one jostled Ray so he just listened to a minor official give a speech in French. Ray didn't speak the language, but the happy faces in the crowd were compelling.

Denise found one man in the mass of people fascinating. A tall individual in rather severe business suit, he wove through the horde in a sort of walking slither.

She stared, watching him approach. The very sight of him made her scared, too scared to tell Ray about it.

As he drew closer, he opened his shirt, just a bit, to show her a flash of the knife stuck in his belt. The jeweled knife.

The athame.

She knew if the alchemist touched her with that, he'd be her new Master. The old one was dead, nothing would stop him claiming her as his own.

It felt...good, really. The wait was over. No more worries about whether or not they'd continue to 'get away' with her escape.

She'd go back to what she was meant to do, fall through the fire and find that special place.

Closer and closer, her destiny approached. Some part of her was screaming, silently, but it was distant.

The man flashed his athame once more, then lifted a more mundane dagger into view. He raised it up over Ray's back.

Then his head spun around like it wasn't quite attached to his body. He crumpled, falling in slow motion. It even seemed his fall was 'in time' to the speech, as if the speaker was rapping to silent music.

Then he was down, sprawled at the feet of a tiny, wizened little man. He looked like an African Yoda. If Yoda had championed baseball bats instead of light sabers.

He took two puffs off of his hand-rolled cigarette, smiled at Denise with brown teeth, and pointed down at his victim. "Sockfucker," he said, then giggled.

After that he tossed the bat onto the body, grabbed the ankles and dragged it off through the crowd.

No one seemed to notice. They moved out of his way, but never glanced down at the corpse. Feet shuffled the dirt to cover the blood trail...

Suddenly, she could move again. She screamed. Ray jumped. People around Ray assured them all that there was nothing to be scared of. They were fine. Everything was fine.

-----------

The ritual started at sunset. A very few of the returned refugees felt quite happy to be home and didn't want to risk participating.

Adilah said it was all the same to her and wished them well. Everyone else moved to stand on a great, flat rock. Human friends and family carried their sylphs and one or two salamanders as they moved into a large circle around Kisu and Adilah.

Ray carried his family, and each guided a salamander. Samantha carried Amelia and three other.

The sun touched the horizon and Adilah started to sing. The earth started to tremble a tiny bit.

The salamanders took up the song. It was lilting and cheerful. Ray thought of fireflies given voice. Denise was reminded of the chirping of crickets. Pet heard hundreds of tiny birds tweeting as a chorus.

Annie thought of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on significant amounts of helium.

Then all the sylphs joined in. The humans wanted to but none knew the words. The tiny throats didn't know them either, but never stopped.

The earth started to quake in earnest, great shakes that tossed people back and forth on the rock. They held each other up and protected their charges. Groups formed or families supported one another.

The music seemed to help, giving them a rhythm to help anticipate the rocking. Sam put her passengers on the wooden slat Ray was using as a shelf to hold the sylphs, then grabbed his elbows to keep everyone steady.

The sun went down but the light never faded. Adilah rose over everyone's head, shining like a phoenix. She started to circle, sparks glittering out of the sky to fall and touch the sylphs, the salamanders and their humans.

People on the sidelines saw a fireworks show as they rested on the perfectly still ground.

One touched Denise. In an instant she saw the grand periodic table of the universe floating over her head. She felt that she could choose to embrace it, become one with it, perhaps even take a different element within herself.

"Thank you," she said, but was never sure to whom. "But I'd rather just be what I was before." She kinda hoped the wording lent itself to a full restoration, but she just felt a rush of fire, then nothing. She was still on the shelf, still holding hands with the others.

One of the salamanders beside her was touched by the spark. In an instant, his blue hair fell off his head and a metallic, coppery coating grew in.

His face became animated and his eyes shown. Then he burst into tears. Pet took him into a hug. "It's alright, it's alright." She looked over at Denise, eyes on the hair. "It's alright!" she shouted.

Then there was a bright flash to the other side. Everyone stared as Amelia glowed and grew. Pure white wings spread from behind her back. Her face glowed with a pale light. Then she flexed her knees and jumped.

They looked up to see four more devas flying Adilah's pattern. They had wings of various colors, and dropped sparks like Adilah's.

"So beautiful," Sam said. Everyone agreed.

The ground settled down and everyone watched the devas come to rest at Kisu's feet.

-----------

About ninety percent of the salamanders had chosen to be efreets. And about ninety percent of them wanted to go back home to America. The rest felt touched by the Earth Goddess in her access at the Rock. They announced an intention to stay to help establish Sanc Dembuka's new recycling industry.

Two of the new devas chose to travel to the US with Amelia and help establish recycling there.

About ninety percent of the refugees chose to stay in Africa, the rest attached themselves to one or another deva. They looked, to Annie, as stylized birds and their chicks.

Pet just smiled at the little families forming much the way hers had.

Samantha was hesitant around Amelia. She didn't know how to process the change, or how it would change their relationship. Amelia felt the confusion, saw the look and was saddened.

Ray obeyed Denise and handed her to Sam. Samantha raised an eyebrow. "Look, it's Amelia," Denise said. "You like Amelia, right?"

Sam nodded. Denise turned to Amelia. "You like Sam, right?"

"I love Samantha," Amelia corrected.

"Yeah," Sam said. "Love, not like. I mean. I do like you, but I also-"

"Shut up," Ray said kindly. Sam closed her mouth and nodded.

"Are you allergic to feathers?" Denise asked.

"No!" Sam barked.

"Then pick up your friend, who you love, and show her you love her, despite having to buy her a whole new wardrobe, and she'll hug you back and show you-"

Denise stopped talking as Ray plucked her out of Sam's hand. The woman was already holding one arm out. Amelia hopped and flapped and flew into the hug.

"Yeah, you got it," Denise said.

"And we got you," Ray said softly. He put wives in pockets and carefully negotiated a way off the Rock.

Sylphs and efreets were everywhere, people were starting to sing and the party looked to be getting even more raucous than the afternoon had been.

Ray just wanted a quiet moment alone with his family, to appreciate Denise in privacy. They were snuggling tight in one pocket and he suspected they were okay with his plans.

He walked around the edge of the building nearest the rock. To his surprise he recognized the truck parked there.

"Hey! That's the one I rode to the embassy in!" There was a noise at the back. He walked along to get there and found Claude. A wrinkled, old black man, he had a baseball bat and a lantern. And he was stretching a canvas tarp over a large pile in the back of the truck.

Ray thought it was big enough to hide bodies in, then thrust that thought out of his head. It wasn't appropriate for the celebration.

He held out a hand and helped Claude down to the ground. There was an enthusiastic slapping of hands as the two reunited. Ray introduced his driver to his wives.

Claude moved his cigarette around in his mouth and smiled.

"Whatcha' got in the truck?" Ray asked.

Claude waved the bat and smiled. "Sockfuckers," he said.

"Okay, don't tell me," Ray smiled.

Denise hummed, trying to remember something. Something Claude reminded her of. But her mind was blank.

-----------

The devas and efreets spent two days figuring out how to recycle. The efreet had to be within a mile of at least one deva for their power to work. It allowed them to convert large masses of matter into rather unimpressive looking skewers of metal or cc's of pure water.

The specific element they produced was keyed to their DNA somehow (although some of Dorre's experts tried to correlate output to star signs, dates they sylphed, favorite colors and ethnic heritage). They had the choice of water or metal, though.

Adilah somehow knew that the devas could change salamanders into efreets when they were on their own. She taught them a smaller ritual to accomplish that.

She was, she said, the only deva that could turn sylphs into efreets, and that had to be on the Rock. No one had any reason to doubt her on that.

Engineers consulted with Kisu to plan the new recycling plant, the larger airport, the water tower.

Ray just hung out and passed the time looking for faces that weren't smiling.

Pet sat on a fence post on the third day, watching Amelia and the other devas practice flying overhead.

She was surprised when Adilah handed on the fence rail beside her.

"Hi," she said. "I love the way your wings sparkle in the sun."

"Thank you," the deva said, twisting to show off her feathers. "And how are you doing, miss Foster?"

"I'm okay."

"I hear you helped my countrymen, and women, make the decision to come back home to Sanc Dembuka."

"I just... was honest," Pet said softly.

"No one can ask anything greater," Adilah said. She bent down to kiss Pet lightly on her head. "I am in your debt, little sylph. What can I do for you?"

"Oh, no, nothing, this was all great! I'm glad we came!" Pet assured her hostess.

"Are you sure?"

"Oh, yeah. It's great, you know? I was there. I mean here. Here I was. When it happened."

Adilah raised an eyebrow and sat down on the rail. "What do you mean?"

"Well. Um." She glanced away. She understood Annie's comments about being under the scrutiny of giants. When Adilah paid attention to you, it was like your soul was projected onto the big screen.

"I, well, I was born a sylph. I never saw the first person to shrink. But I was there when Denise shrank. And I was there when Mia became the first undine." Adilah's eyes widened with surprise. They grew further when Pet mentioned seeing Angel become the first gnome.

"And I was there when Denise became a salamander." She shook her head. "That wasn't special. We should have saved her. But now! Now I saw her become a sylph again, and I saw Terry become an efreet and, wow, we saw Amelia become a deva.

"Not the first deva, but I was still there when it happened. You know?"

"You are very lucky, Pet," Adilah nodded.

"I feel..blessed," Pet said quietly. She wouldn't admit it to Annie, she'd snark. And she wasn't ready to admit it to Denise, she might think Pet was being arrogant. But something about Adilah...

"You are, Pet," the deva said. She chewed her lip for a second. "Pet, would you like to see something very special?"

"Like, secret special?"

"Exactly. Very few people know this secret."

"Yeah!" Pet said, jumping to her feet. Adilah swept her up to her bosom and jumped into the air.

They landed in the courtyard of Kisu and Adilah's home. It was a big fort-looking thing that reminded Pet of some of the houses in Saint Augustine.

The open interior square had lush plants, plashing fountains and a pond. Colorful birds flit between the branches, all scampering as Adilah swept down to the floor.

She put Pet to the ground and lifted the lid of a steel box. Inside were cut slices of some vegetable Pet didn't recognize.

They moved to the side of the pond. "Be very quiet," Adilah whispered. "We will see if she is in the mood to cooperate."

Pet covered her mouth to keep from giggling. This was like a conspiracy adventure. Adilah threw the piece of food to the far side of the pond then knelt down beside the sylph. It splashed in the shallows and rested against the shore.

They waited and waited. After a few minutes their patience was rewarded. A brown form slipped out from under a bush.

It snorted and slowly walked to the water and took the food in its great, wide mouth. Then waddled back under the bush. The tiny hippo disappeared behind the leaves.

"Is it not wonderful?" Adilah asked. "We have named her Furahifu. She doesn't trust us, but at least she doesn't charge and gnash anymore."

"She's beautiful," Pet whispered.

"No one knows how a hippo is at the scale of a sylph," the deva said. "I think she is a fairy, trapped in this form somehow."

"I used to think," Pet said, "that the sylph magic was sneaking up on a zookeeper. Then at just the right moment, they ducked! And BAM! The hippo got sylphed instead."

Adilah laughed. "Yeah," Pet said. "It's a silly idea."

"No, no," Adilah said. "You said 'I used to think' but you only just saw Furahifu! It is a wonderful idea, but you act as if it was years ago."

"It was years ago," Pet said, standing up and crossing her arms. Sheesh! She knew why Denny didn't believe her, she'd never seen Happy.

But Adilah... "I wasn't talking about Furahifu! I was talking about Happy, the first house hippo I ever saw! And if you don't believe me, Tituba does, so I don't care if no one ever believes that I saw Happy!"

Adilah raised her hands, palms out. "I meant nothing, Pet! I just... Well. Tell me about this...house hippo?"

-----------

The goodbye waves and hugs and kisses and tears and cheers and laughter and ad hoc dancing and group singing took two hours and threatened to break out into another riotous party.

Annie finally whispered in Ray's ear. He twisted someone's hat into a bullhorn and shouted, "Let's GO! We'll lose the tide!"

Sylphs and efreets loaded the containers, humans and devas climbed into the hold and the police cleared the area around the props so the pilots could start the plane.

Ninakula's mom had become a deva, and further decided to return to America. She couldn't fit into the sylph's areas, so Annie volunteered to watch over him during the flight.

She ignored the knowing smiles of her two wives and led her charge towards level six and their place by the window. "Tell me, Ninakula. Have you ever heard the name Lindt before?"

"She is good with kids," Pet said.

"She raised Ray pretty well," Denise agreed. They made sure there were no stragglers and boarded last. Ray lifted the ramp, brushing their hair before he closed it. "Think he heard us?"

"I dunno," Pet said. "You were only shouting..." She smiled and they went on up.

"What is it you keep giggling about?" Denise asked.

"I have another secret."

"ANOTHER? What was the first?"

Pet shook her head. "I tried to tell you when I had it. You didn't believe me. So we don't have to go through that again."

They reached the level where Annie was opening her case of secret return home and by the way don't cry mommy's right over there stash of chocolate truffles.

Ninakula's eyes were wide. "Nin! Drag one of these over to the ladder and drop it down to level five! Quickly! Time is chocolate!"

The two women scampered to help distribute the treasures.

----

"We have received the clues," Dorre said. "It is time to translate the message. And it is one of hope."

Ray had stopped trying to get his wives to move back from the big TV. Annie and Pet were trying to find Samantha and Amelia in the crowd.

Denise was on his leg, laying flat with her head in her hands.

"He's explaining the devas first," she said.

"That's the good news," Ray said. "Undine youth ceremonies work again, pollution problems answered, world saved. Then we discuss the piper's bill."

"We discuss hamstringing," Annie snarled, "if people don't SHUT UP!"

"I'm not afraid of-" Ray started. Pet glared and he swallowed. "Yes, ma'am."

The president played up the evil of the alchemists. If nothing else, it gave the public some shadowy figures more hateful than the sylphs who'd been blood-sports lords. Hopefully that would make the rest of the speech more palatable.

His own tailor had helped dress the devas. They were amazing when the cameras turned to them. "Mama!" Ninakula shouted.

"Yep," Annie said, giving him a hug. "Isn't she pretty!"

By the end of the speech, the Sylph Act was as good as dead. Sylphs, and all Offsized Humans in America were to become people. He waved the legislation he was formally introducing to Congress, a repeal of the Act, and the creation of the Provisions of Rationality.

"Thirty years of injustice cannot be overturned overnight," Dorre said. "Sadly, we cannot restore everything lost on The Day, or the days since. New legal identities will have to be created, returning the offsized to the national identity.

"Anyone that's been owned by a citizen can basically be adopted. We'll use the processes for newly born citizens to create their legal identity.

"Anyone that's been living without a recognized owner can use the Immigration service for their new citizenship.

"And because I know, a new initiative, in old agencies, usually goes perfectly well, there will be no need to include provisions for strange or unusual circumstances. Still, the Witness Protection likes to feel needed, and they are experts at strange and unusual, so they're included."

"We're gonna be people!" Pet shouted.

"I have to adopt you guys?" Ray muttered. His hand rose to stroke Denise along her spine. "Well, I guess I get to set bedtimes..."

Dorre went on about the challenges, the legal battles and the bright future rushing towards everyone.

Annie stood and carried a limp boy to the door. "I'm going to tuck him in and wait for Kadhaa to come home." She smiled up at Denise as she passed. "If bedtime comes before I get back, I promise to tiptoe."

Denise stuck her tongue out as Pet climbed Ray's pant leg. "Doesn't daylight savings times mean bedtime's about, um, now?" she asked. Ray considered his watch thoughtfully.



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