Magic Children

Chapter 24 Alvarado, Texas - Brigit

Despite his rough introduction Mr.-how-the-fuck-many-of-them-are-they-I'm-not-their-dad takes about an hour to adjust to our presence and after that becomes emotionally attached to us.

"What are we supposed to do if we're not robbing banks?" Luna actually likes him, but we're giving him a hard time on principal to see if he'll get mad at us.

"It's called 'school work'; math and reading in the mornings while I'm still trying to wake up, and science and history in the afternoons when I feel like talking to you. Your chores will be written on a board on the wall once those are done and school work is done you can play or watch TV or listen to the radio," Vali says, as he picks up our things from dinner. He rarely uses telekinesis, though I feel like he's quite good at it. Dodger already told me not to warp around him. I don't know why. He said because it would annoy him though I don't like being lied to and I suspect I am. All in good time though. They are hardly dangerous and don't seem to have ill intent.

"Why can't we keep robbing banks?" Luna asks.

"Because against my better judgement I'd rather you three NOT be caught and spend your lives in cages or just die on the chair---oh, yeah, you know what the chair is okay," he says, flatly.

"They put me on that when I tried to break out," I say, quietly, as I sit on the edge of the table.

"Yeah, me too, not fun huh? You girls can go on and watch TV or whatever little girls do before bed. I'll clean this up," he says, since we usually do our own washing up, Dodger makes us but Vali doesn't need to know that. Dodger and he had some sort of quiet conversation now Dodger went outside presumably to check the garden, leaving Luna and I get used to Vali and interrogate him at will.

"More ice cream!!" Baby says, toddling back in the kitchen holding a bowl, her face already sticky with ice cream.

"No, I told you that third bowl was your last---does your other dad just let her eat whatever she wants whenever she wants?" Vali asks, as Baby squeals and kicks him.

"Uhuh," I say, a little amused, "It's easier."

"Then she spends half the night running around giggling 'cause of all the sugar," Luna says, hiding her amusement as well.

"Why am not surprised? No, I told you that two refills is all. It's not good for you and your tummy is more than full. If you want something else you can have fruit or crackers," Vali says, wresting the bowl from her grip. She glares at him very hard then cries out in rage.

"She typically knocks Dodger over," I say.

"I'm sure she does, yeah, not gonna work," Vali says, not at all perturbed even as his shirt and pants rumple as she tries to push him over.

"I'm surprised she's not trying to open the freezer," I say.

"Oh she is, I'm holding it closed, she's trying to slam the cabinets too," Vali says.

"Good luck there," I say, shrugging.

"It is easier to just give her the candy and let her run it off," Luna advises.

"I don't do things the easy way----seriously though, we're fine, you two can go to bed or whatever you do at this time," Vali says, "I'm going to be up getting your school work ready and yelling at your dad in hushed tones."

"No, I want to watch and see who's more stubborn 'cause she's pretty damn stubborn," Luna says. She also wants to make sure Baby doesn't hurt him, she's pretty darn strong and Dodger has sustained numerous injuries from her, all accidental, but still. Okay, I knocked him into that cactus that time. And through a door. And I tripped him. Three times. I have a bad temper I guess. It wasn't over ice cream though.

"I'm gonna go find Dodger and tell him you're making us do school work," I say.

"Good, saves me telling him," Vali says, still seemingly completely un-affected by Baby's screaming red faced tantrum.

I walk out the screen door to the wrap around porch. It was once painted green but now the paint is peeling. I saw Vali writing 'house paint' on list somewhere so I'm sure he plans on having us change that. That's fine, I don't honestly mind the chores. We get to talk and play while we do them and nobody shouts at us about how long it takes. Vali admittedly hasn't supervised us that much, but in the past afternoon we as mutants have broken 3 ceiling fans (Baby), knocked one person through a door (Luna and I, playing 'knock over'), caused two power outages (one was me, one was Baby), and knocked Dodger over twice (Luna because he bet her she couldn't while holding me upside down). And Vali didn't shout at us for any of them. The only person he seems inclined to shout at or be annoyed at Dodger which is fine, Dodger will shout back. He's not gotten cross with us once and Luna and I figure we can probably take him together if need be.

Dodger isn't out in the garden. He's at the very end of the porch, staring off at the never-ending West-Texas dust. As I step closer I realize his eyes, mouth, and nose are all bleeding, profusely, down his face onto his usual floral print shirt. His hair is stuck in the blood, and some of it's dried like he's been like this since he walked out here after dinner. He doesn't move his head or even blink to acknowledge my approach.

"You lied," I say, quietly.

"Yes," he says, raising a shaking hand to wipe his face.

"You're a mutant, you were locked up with Vali weren't you?" I ask, feeling anger rise in my chest. So he has been lying to us. Of course he has.

"Yes," he says, trying to blink blood out of his eyes, "I'm sorry, Brigit."

"You're not sorry---you're a liar—" just like everyone else. It'll be better. We'll let you play outside. You can see the sunshine at the new place. If you're good you can have a room with a window.

"I---truly wish it wasn't the way it is. I thought about telling you the truth. But it isn't fair to you. You deserve to hear the truth from someone who isn't me," he says, shaking his head.

"That's stupid---you're just a liar just like everyone else----why didn't Baby know?" I ask, frowning.

"I asked her not to tell you---she's very easily bribed by candy. We might need to work on that," he says, not overly apologetically.

"You're a telepath," I guess.

"Yes. I'm not particularly telekinetic. Luna figured it out a bit sooner than you, she saw me bleeding as well. I asked her not to tell you."

"Why?" I shove him up against the wall. As before he doesn't retaliate. But I can see he's telling the truth. The haze is gone. Luna knows. "Why did you lie to me?"

"If I told you, I'd also be telling you the reason and that is what I don't want to do. It isn't fair to you. Go home to your mother. I'm sure you wouldn't believe me if I told you where she is. But go to her. She can tell you who I am, and why I lied to you. You can continue hating me, but this is what's right," he says, almost tiredly.

"You know where my mom is?" I ask.

"I have for some time. It puzzled me for a while why you didn't care to go home. Took me a bit too long, but I've been busy."

"I just—" think she's fine without me? That's dumb, why would I think that? Of course she wants me home. My last, miserable memory is of her screaming and trying to clutch me, so hard she tore the skin of my little arms, as I sobbed and the lights flashed and the people trying to take me from her went flying across the room. Then they shot me with the electric gun. For the first time. "Why do you know my mom?"

"That's also something you ought to learn from someone other than me, but you can go home now. She'll be in Lyons Colorado, where you were born. Go there you'll find her."

"I hate you," I say, and then I warp away. It'll take me a couple of days worth of warps to get to Colorado but that's okay. It's better than being here.