Crumpet and Varian

Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

 

I liked the way Crumpet had already started dinner when I got home. “There’s chicken and potatoes in the oven and I’m just about to make a salad. Want some iced tea?” She asked when I walked into the kitchen.

“That sounds great.” I said, sitting down at the table.

She brought me a glass and gave me a quick hug. “How was work?” She asked.

“Work was work. A couple things happened that were not work related but we can go into that later. I need to hear about your day.” I said not wanting to dive into ‘I spoke to your mother and your father’s sorcerer today’ right off the bat.

“It was really good. I think I might have made some friends, I certainly met a lot of nice people.” Crumpet told me with the biggest smile I’d seen since she came to live with me.

“Did you meet anyone cute?” I asked.

“So many cute people, I might have been on a Teen Disney set. And so many gay, bi, or trans kids I might as well been on a Teen Disney set.” She said excited.

“Anyone you liked?” I asked.

“Way too early to say. But there were a few people who I’d say have likeable potential.” Crumpet smiled. “The librarian thinks you’re something special.”

“Yeah Beth is great, I’ve known her at least on the periphery since she was at most twelve, maybe as young as ten. She met her fiance at a party here. She’s the other girl’s PE coach. The one you don’t have. But she wasn’t at the school yet when they met. Beth not Claire. Claire is a few years older and has been at that school for years.”

“I want to tell you everything V,” Crumpet said, getting up to put the completed salad in the fridge. “But I can’t think of anything else, until you tell me if the interesting things from today was Bravatten’s lawyers,”

“Not today. Autumn came by the office looking for her son and obviously still in love with me. She’s creepy as hell but I made it clear if she is ever going to be forgiven it is because she accepts that the child she had is her own person, with everything that means. She didn’t get it, but she showed signs that it might hit her in a revelation sometime later.”

“I’m sorry you had to deal with her at all.” Crumpet said.

“Don’t be, honey. I walked into this with my eyes open. Protecting you from them is not only both fun and funny. It feels like the most significant thing I’ve ever done. Oh and Bravatten has employed a barely competent sorcerer/grifter as the power behind his attack on us.” I told her.

She looked shocked and maybe a little scared. “What? Where would he have even met such a person?”

“I don’t have all the information, but I believe the hack approached Bravatten0- and said he could find his son. After a number of botched sacrifices he had a computer savy minion hack your laptop and found reference to me which unearthed a small mention of my new ward. Some shady private eye has gotten some pictures. I blocked his magic when he called me to offer some sort of team-up to fleece your parents.” I told her.

She gave me a weak smile and replied, “That’s awesome. However it doesn’t seem like his power is the most dangerous thing about him.”

“Lilylove, we have nothing to hide. The only reason I don’t throw our doors open and invite investigation is because we owe them no such disclosure, but if we did it in one area they would decide it was their right. But whether our story is factual or not, it is so strong that we have nothing to worry about. And the fraudulent aspects are so beyond the ken of anything our enemies could think of they will be completely unable to combat it.

Crumpet served us dinner and I poured the wine watered, more because I liked cold watered wine with baked chicken than anything having to do with her age. “I know you don’t care, but shouldn’t we be concerned that even something as small as this might be counted against us?” Crumpet said, gesturing with her glass.

“Not at all.” I replied, “They do have loopholes in the law where guardians can give alcohol to minors in small amounts. They just have huge offensive penalties for letting minors in your care get drunk. The emancipation v. guardian question muddies the waters still further. But really none of those matter. Or really I can’t say that. Let me rephrase it, even if none of those things existed the strongest weapon America has is poor self esteem. Overall we are one of the more chauvinistic countries. But it’s crazy the number of times other countries do it is expected in a court of law. Since it is a well known habit in France to give diluted wine even to very small children any court where they would challenge us can be made to feel provincial enough that they let it slide.”

“Okay,” She said and we ate in silence for a few minutes as we focused on our food and our thoughts.

“So I answered the question about Bravatten’s lawyers, now tell me everything.” I said.

“I talked to Ms. Kovak. I talked to her fourth period assistant a nice Mod girl from Canada named Lissette. And helped her shelve books. I had drama last period. I met a few more cool kids. Max put me in a group with Lissette and a girl named Becca for our Shakespeare unit. We are doing the witches scene from Macbeth. I met two girls at lunch who are openly dating. Which is only a mild surprise. What ramps it up a bit is one of them is the JV cheerleading captain.” She said.

“That is a surprise, but not a big one. Saint Mark has had all sorts of strange reputations over the years. Highest pregnancy, highest gay, highest sexually active. Every time it just turns out they were the only school who released their findings. So all it really has is a tradition for being open about things other schools have just as much but don’t talk about. They don’t encourage Beth and her fiancee say that they are engaged officially, but everyone knows. And the kids can’t be silenced even that much. The school has always been outspoken on sexual topics, but I’m sure an out lesbian in the popular crowd can do nothing but help that. Have you decided how open you want to be?” I asked her, I wasn’t worried about her, she could take care of herself. But I was very interested in her life and wanted her to know it.

“I had a plan to just be open if it came up in conversation. But I was very open with Ms. Kovak and Lissette. I think I will not be so ready to come forward. But I absolutely won’t ever lie about it. That would not only be morally shady, but would break my heart to do it.”