But this wasn't a battle. This was her trying to diagnose her son and make sure that he was okay.
Together, the two of them poured over some of Alma's books. They located a spell or two that might give them the information they required. She followed the directions. There were even a few directions that had been handwritten in the margins in Alma's handwriting as though she were speaking directly to Paige. She could almost hear the cantankerous voice of her grandmother chiding her about her practices and how she needed to wield magic less like a monkey and more like someone who gave a damn.
"Are you not a good witch?" Bobby asked, looking up at her as if she was the entire world to him.
Paige was going to treasure this moment. She had raised Leah through some pretty tough times and knew from experience that these moments were rare. All too soon, he would be looking at her like she was the bane of his entire existence. And who knew? Perhaps she would be. On purpose. "I'm not evil. But when it comes to this kind of stuff, I'm not really good at it."
He shook his head and looked at the book again. "I miss grandma."
Paige frowned at him. She had never really thought about what he would remember of Alma. Hewas so young when she'd been alive. Crap. He had been so young just yesterday or the day before.
He lifted a slender shoulder and lowered his blue eyes. "She spent a lot of time with me. You were always busy. So was Aunt Leslie. And that's okay." He held up both hands as if to keep her reaction at bay.
Paige was taken aback. To say the least. Here was her toddler-of-yesterday being a pretty decent half-adult. And it was a little odd because she was fairly certain she had done absolutely nothing to craft this small human. This was pure Bobby.
"I know the sacrifices everyone has made for me."
How much exactly did he remember? "Your mom?"
He frowned and ran his fingers along the page in front of him, running a fingertip over Alma’s scribbled words in the margins. "I remember she loved me." He looked up at her hopeful. "But I don't remember what she looked like. I don't remember what her smile was like. I don't remember what she was like."
Paige made a tsking sound with her tongue, her heart twisting. "You have her hair and eyes.”
Bobby bit his bottom lip, his eyes pinched with worried happiness.
What did it feel like to be him? She would never know. “That woman was so optimistic. She could take the worst day ever and make it feel as though it was supposed to happen for all the best reasons." Which was one of the reasons why the way she had died was so completely horrific.
Bobby nodded once, looking away. "I want to be like that. I want to be that happy, to maybe make it feel like she hasn't left us."
Paige ruffled his darkening blonde hair. It was also considerably longer than it had been. They were going to have to get it cut. "I’m pretty sure she would just want you to be you. That would be the thing that would make her the happiest ever."
He beamed a smile up at her, and for the next thirty or so minutes, the two of them blundered through a small array of rather simple spells to see if he was in any danger.
Either she was really bad at casting — which was a real concern — or he was truly okay.
However, she didn't want him to continue to age. So, she found a spell to create an amulet he could wear that would slow whatever magic thing was going on with him.
He clasped it in one hand and smiled up at her. "I will never take it off."
"Well, until you’re really ten, and then, you can and grow like a normal boy."
He laughed and ran out of the room. "Aunt Leslie," he yelled as he ran. "Look what Mom made me."
Paige treasured that word said out loud. It wasn’t something she even mentioned often, or talked about to anyone besides Dexx, but her kids never called her Mom. Leah didn’t. Or, if she did, it was rare. Bobby hadn’t really been talking and his words hadn’t included the word Mom as if he’d always known she couldn’t replace Heather, his birth mother.
She guessed he had.
She followed Bobby out of the workroom, but slower. She chewed on a finger, deep in thought.
As a failed mother with a second chance, she had never really given the world a lot of credence. It was just a word.
But it meant the world to her.
Paige knew that she wouldn't be able to keep him ten forever. She wasn't even certain that was his physical age. What kind of dangers had his body just been put through in order to get him here? And did he have all of his teeth? Was he still going to lose his baby teeth still? Had they completely missed that step? And how would the Tooth Fairy feel about that? Was she going to find death threats on her doorstep or on her pillow when the Tooth Fairy realized she had somehow managed to short-circuit this step in his developmental path?
Honestly, she had no idea if the Tooth Fairy was really real. She didn't believe in it, and she was only going down this silly path to make herself feel a little less anxious. The truth was, she was worried. Her son had grown several years in the span of days. And she had no idea what effects that would have.
Her feet shuffled through the kitchen on the way to the massive living room and table, where she heard Bobby showing off his new gift.
Also, she had no idea how her twins were doing, and she couldn’t just pop in and visit them. She’d tried connecting to Cawli, but he wasn’t there. He was with her children.
Probably being run ragged by them. She chuckled thinking of that. Served him right.
Paige made the front door just as Roxxie stepped through, nearly colliding with her. She stepped back and smiled at Paige. "I bring good news."
Really? "I'm all ears."
Roxxie led the way to the back. "I smell bread."
Leslie shouted from the kitchen. "Well, then, get in here and get it out of the oven. My hands are a little full."
Roxxie jogged to the back of the house, nearly dove to the drawer that had the oven mitts, and went to save the bread. She oohed and ahhed over the spectacle of the amazing looking loaves and then beamed a grin at Paige. "Bobby is going to be okay. Apparently, this is perfectly normal."
"What you mean?" Because in Paige's book, none of this was normal.
Leslie set down her stirring spoon, put the lid back on the pot, and turned toward the angel with one hand on her hip. "Yes. Explain normal."
Usually, Leslie’s tone would put a dent in Roxxie's grin, but this time it didn't. "When prophets are born, they grow naturally until something big happens. And then, they grow at a rate that will accelerate them to the point where they are needed in order to assist with the situation at hand."
Paige shook her head. "I don't understand."
Roxxie gave her a look as though she were a little slow. "You have a war brewing. You could really use someone with his ability to see into the future, but he should be old enough to, you know, speak a full sentence."
Paige hadn't even thought of that. In her mind, Bobby was some kind of prophet of the Lord, which meant he belonged to the houses of God. Whatever that meant. He wasn't a tool she could use in this war. It just meant that she had to protect him from the angels and the demons who wanted to get a hold of him. But she hadn't really thought about the reason why the demons and angels would even want to get their hands on him. His superpower seemed to be glowing gold.
Roxxie clapped her hands together and then classed them in front of her. "Now that he is this size —" she gestured behind her to where he sat. "— he should probably stop growing. However, he might continue.” She bit her lip. “I just don't know. Mostly because he hasn't given us any visions yet." She frowned and then turned toward him. "Maybe he isn't matured enough to have those. I haven’t met a prophet before. He’s the first."
Paige wasn't really interested in watching him grow any more than he had. When she looked at him, she saw all the missing years of development that he was gathering in his belt. However, she wasn't going to lie. It would be a little nice to hav
e a seer on board. "I made him an amulet that should slow his growth a little."
Roxxie turned back to her and frowned. "This is one of the gifts from God. Who do you think you are to intervene in that?"
Paige gave Roxxie a very hard look and leaned in. "His mother." She turned and started gathering dishes to set the table. "So, it wasn't the twins accelerating everyone's growth?"
Roxxie pinched her lips and then set to helping her with the table. "Actually, that was something totally different. The twins really are growing at a different rate. And we have no idea what that is about. We also have no idea why Kammy has accelerated growth. That is not something that typically happens with prophets."
Paige turned to Leslie as she gathered glasses and filled them with water. "Has Kammy grown since I took the twins?
Leslie glanced over at Paige out of the corner of her eye as she focused on ensuring dinner wasn't burned. "He's fine. He hasn't grown more. I think he is about the size of a five-year-old? But…" She shook her head. "I think we caught it in time."
"What you mean in time?"
Leslie took in a long breath and released it. "I took him in to see Barn and we ran some tests. There are some complications. His bones are weak. We don't know what other complications there might be. But he wasn't supposed to grow fast like that." Her last few words were a little choked as if she was fighting back the tears.
Paige didn't know how to react. She didn't know what to say. "I'm really sorry. I didn’t know."
Leslie just smiled at her, her dark eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "Of course not. Why would you have? You gave birth to two beautiful babies. And none of us knew that anything bad could come from that."
Kammy chose that moment to walk through the back door. He had a severe limp, but he was making it look as though it wasn't going to slow him down in the slightest.
Bobby came up to him and the two of them laughed together as if they were having a conversation that included no one else. That was entirely possible given the fact that the two of them had spent a great deal of time together and Kammy was a telepath.
Bobby put his hands on Kammy and a golden glow surrounded the both of them.
Roxxie just looked at Paige and smiled, her dark brows rising as far as they could. She gestured to the two boys. "He's also a healer."
What? "Is that normal?"
"Only in dire need. God provides what is needed. Or, at least, He tries."
Paige looked to Kammy.
Leslie took a few steps forward, wanting to get a better view of her son.
The two boys took off as soon as the cloud of golden light disappeared.
Kammy no longer had a limp.
Paige just looked to Leslie.
Leslie looked at Paige. Her smile was pleasant, but her eyes glowed orange for moment.
Neither one of them knew what was going on with their kids, but it looked like maybe things just might work out okay.
30
Paige and Leslie spent the rest of the night with the kids, but there was a note of worry that ate at Paige and didn’t let her sleep. She wanted to know how the twins were doing, and she knew that the newly freed parents were probably crazy with worry over their own kids’ location and safety as well. She felt guilty being with Bobby while they still had no idea where their own kids were and if they were okay.
The next morning, Leah was full of ideas and Paige couldn’t get that girl to settle down or complete a thought, so she took Leah and Bobby down into town with her.
She shifted into a bear because Bobby said he wanted to ride a bear. Horses were faster, but she preferred the bear to the horse anyway. The eyes were in the right place.
Everyone was pretty used to seeing bears by now, so there weren’t any freak outs. She was called by Emma’s name once, which was strange because she hadn’t realized Emma walked around with kids all the time.
They might have been confused since Bobby was much bigger now and no one knew that besides the family, but they must have recognized Leah.
She made it to the mayor’s building and shifted, letting both kids slide down her back. She was probably going to be a horse next time to see if that worked better. She almost wished she could shift into a dragon. That would be neat, but try as she might, she couldn’t quite make that one work. She could turn into dinosaurs, but not into a unicorn, Pegasus, or a dragon.
Oh! She could turn into a dinosaur next time. That would be cool.
There were only three parents inside the mayor’s building when she arrived and they seemed to keeping their shit together pretty well.
Suzanne looked at her and smiled, standing up from her chair to greet her. “We have a lead on the missing children.”
Oh, thank the Mother. “That’s excellent news. Okay. Where? What do we need to do to get them back?”
Suzanne’s smile widened and her shoulders sagged with relief. “I was just going to—who’s this young man?”
Paige’s eyebrows rose as she turned to Bobby. She wasn’t used to people coming to a full stop in their important information, and with as many new people as they had in their town, she hadn’t thought a new kid would rate an interruption. “Bobby. He had a growth spurt.”
“I’d—” Suzanne blinked in surprise. “—say. I thought he was normal.”
Normal? How did people view their family? “Not… quite.”
“Is his growth spurt done?”
“Uh, I, um, wish I knew.”
“Oh.” Suzanne’s wide eyes met Paige’s with a measured look, like she was trying to gauge Paige’s level of freak-out.
“We’re pretty sure he’s okay.” She didn’t have time for condolences.
Suzanne looked relieved, as if she would have given it if she’d needed to, but she had her hands pretty full. “Great.”
“Yes.”
“Good.” All concern fled Suzanne’s expression and she turned back to the parents. “As I was saying…”
It turned out that the gathered paranormals were pretty good at working together to find the information they needed without Paige to guide them, do the work for them, or hold their hands.
What a relief.
The news they had, though, wasn't good. The kids were being held at yet another detention facility. And it seemed as though things were probably not good. It was hard to say for sure, but kids alone in a jail wasn't typically a good sign.
Paige invested the next several hours into discussing options to get them out. The sources they had mentioned a secret weapon, but they had no idea on what that secret weapon might actually be. Paige certainly wasn't looking forward to finding out.
They nearly had a plan of attack when Tuck showed up a bit ruffled more than normal and looking concerned. That was a bad sign. That man had more experience in one finger than a lot of people had in their entire body. Her inclu—wait. Not her included. She was maturing. "What's wrong now?"
She couldn't see his lips as they hid behind his salt and pepper mustache and growing beard. But the rest of his face was pinched and nervous. "I just received word that the President is coming here."
Paige wasn't certain what the protocol was for the President's arrival. But she was fairly certain that the sheriff wasn't supposed to be the first one to get the phone call. She thought maybe the mayor would? But frankly she had no idea. This, too, fell outside her realm of expertise. "Any word as to why?"
She guessed this was because the prison brake might have a bit to do with the visit. It wasn't as though she thought they would have without gaining the President’s attention. She just never thought that the President of the United States would show up in person.
Tuck just shrugged looking outside of his element.
Paige turned to the mayor. "You're our leader."
Suzanne just shook her head wildly, her eyes wide. "Not on this I'm not. This is you. I will continue finding homes for everyone. But this mess is all yours.” She clapped her hands
as if that settled it.
Well, it kind of did.
“Come on kid. Let’s get some things hammered out.”
Paige followed Tuck to his old beat up Ford truck and got in.
"Heard about Dexx."
Since Dexx worked for him, she certainly hoped he’d heard.
"I'm sure he'll be okay." He had to be okay.
"I hope so." But, frankly, no one was going to know that until he actually made it home. "After all, it is Dexx."
Tuck grunted as he turned right, heading toward the highway. "That won't necessarily make things any better for him."
Paige fully understood that Dexx was a stubborn man and that sometimes his stubborn personality could seriously get the better of him. But she was still hopeful that his good sense would prevail and also his stubbornness would remain. She didn't understand how DoDO had managed to get him. One day, she was going to get her answers. She wasn't certain the world would remain standing when she did. "Where are we meeting them?"
"At the roadblock."
That seemed weird.
He gave her a sideways glance and then shook his head. "We're in a whole new world here, kid. She's treating us as if we’re invaders." He gave her a helpless shrug. “I got no idea what to do here.”
What did that even mean for them? Were there now rules that she needed to know? Things that would bite her in the butt later?
She was certain there was. The President wasn't doing things this way without a reason.
They spent the rest of their time discussing small things like the weather while they waited. Tuck wasn't much of a feelings guy and Paige wasn't much of a small talker. So their conversation was a little stilted. However, Tuck was still one of those people she enjoyed being around. His wealth of experience in most things law enforcement was a reassurance to her. In these areas, she didn't have to be the expert. And she was beginning to get the feeling the people realized she was just doing her best at making things up as she went along.
"The trick is,” he said leaning against his truck with his arms folded in front of him staring daggers at the DoDO agents on the other side of the exit sign, "most of us are doing the exact same thing and hoping no one catches on."
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