Chapter Seven #3
“What? He’s mentioned moving in. Their house has room for at least two more. You are an amazing babysitter.” Emily grinned.
Amy stuck her tongue out at Emily. “The kids are always wary. I don’t feel right, but I am willing to play.”
Emmers’ head swivelled toward her, and his brows went up.
“Not like that, pervert. I make snow slides, and we have snowball fights in the middle of summer,” she muttered.
He grinned.
She sighed. “Why are you here?”
He opened his phone and showed her the image of Nylora and the baby. He opened a chat and handed it to her.
Amy, thanks for seeing what I needed and getting things to move right. Jennel has told me about your skillset for organization and intuition, and I thank you for it. My aunt looks delightful, and when I meet her for tea in a few weeks, do you think you will have some time to join us?
Amy wrinkled her nose. “She’s very smart.”
“Solor is very proud, both of his son and his wife.” He whispered it. “We all hope that he gets her brains and her looks.”
She smiled. “Dark fae skin at birth is rare. Nylora is powerful as well.”
He nodded and said softly, “Matthias must be putting something in the water here.”
“Or luring in the wave. Either one.”
There was a sound, and Jerrik came out in his PJs. “Agent Emmers, is my dad here?”
Amy winced. “No buddy. He and your mom are out talking about how they want things to look from now on.”
Jerrik rubbed his eyes. “Like what?”
Emmers said softly, “Like if your dad is going to come live with you. If your mom can deal with his schedule. That kind of thing.”
Jerrik nodded. “Oh, Dad told me he was going to convince Mom I need a brother or sister.”
Amy snorted and sipped at her tea. “Well, that does require a lot of time discussing.”
“That’s what Dad said. He said it had to be done in private because it was serious.”
Emmers nodded. “It is very serious.”
Jerrik smiled. “Do you have kids, Agent Emmers?”
“No.”
“Oh. I thought I could play with your kids if you did.” Jerrik looked at the table. “Did Aunt Amy make cookies?”
“Yes, and we rescued these from Emmers.” Emily grinned and handed the small stack over to the boy. Emily got up to go and get some milk for him.
Jerrik took up a chair at the table and looked at Emmers and Amy. “Are you two dating like Mom and Dad?”
Amy shook her head before Emmers nodded. “No. He can’t date me. He would never hear from his family if he dated me. They have rules about that.”
“Why? You’re great, and you make good cookies.”
“Well, some cities have rules that are different from the rules in Redbird. Where I grew up, it was a rule that people who grew up and were twenty years old and were still human with no extranatural signs, those people had to leave and never come back. They also can’t have children with anyone from the local families.
They don’t want to chance more humans being born to them. ”
He frowned. “But, you are a giant. You are two giants and a fox.”
“That is new. When I was little, I was just me. The changes came later, and that doesn’t change the rules that I grew up with.
My city doesn’t have a back button. They said I had to go, so I have to stay gone.
But, hey, if I hadn’t left them, I wouldn’t be here right now, so sometimes things work out. ”
Jerrik smiled. “I am glad you are here. And Agent Emmers is glad you are here.”
“Yes, but Agent Emmers and I can’t be more than friends because his people hate people like me, too.”
Emmers said, “Not all of them.”
Amy sighed and looked at him. “I am not going to cut anyone else off from family. I know how much it hurts.”
He frowned and reached out to touch her. She flinched back. “I can deal with friends. Nothing more.”
He sighed. “I am going to solve this.”
“Do what you like. No one has ever broken a shunning from my city. They pride themselves on keeping out the unfortunate .”
He blinked. “You are from Starell.”
“Yup.”
“Thank you. It gives me a place to start looking.” He took out his phone and started punching in information with surprisingly dexterous thumbs.
Amy sighed.
Jerrik said, “What’s he doing?”
“He’s looking me up. Watch. He’s going to change colour.”
He was reading the article that her grandmother had written when they threw her out, the smugness about expunging the unfortunate genetics from their city, and that even her own family wasn’t immune to the law of their land.
He turned red, then white, then his phone creaked. “Do they know what the wave gave you?”
“Nope. I have no means of contacting them, and if I return to the city, there is an automatic warrant out for my arrest.”
“Would you want to go back if you could?”
“I have a life here, but I would like to go back for funerals.”
“Is someone ill?”
“My grandmother. She’s a bitch, but she’s still my grandmother.”
He nodded. “Can I take pictures of the other shapes?”
“Fine, but I don’t want to overtax Emily’s HVAC system, so we are doing it in the back yard.”
Emily grinned. “We can also give him Dia’s images.”
“Naw. They are only if we have to get fancy.”
“Wait. What?”
Amy started walking to the back of the house. “Dia wanted to do some elemental photos. So, since I am conveniently located, we did.”
“Can I see them?”
“No. Not unless you go to the gallery.”
She walked out the back door and went into the green space. She looked at him. “Where do you want to do this?”
“Over there with the backdrop of the fence.”
“Okay. Hot or cold or foxy?”
“You are all things.”
“Well, I can be, but it looks a little weird, so I save it for last.” She stood with the fence at her back and put on her frost giant. She looked at him, and he lifted the camera to her. She turned her head to the side, and he said, “That’s perfect. Now, the fire giant?”
She nodded and kept her face turned aside as she warmed up and kept going until she was on fire. More photos, and then he said, “Now the fox?”
She moved away from the scorched grass as she cooled and then put out the embers before she turned into a snow fox.
She looked at him and yipped. He grinned.
He took a few more images, and then she showed him her composite form.
One arm ice, one arm fire, eyes frosty, and her foxy ears up and flicking.
“Oh. That looks like all kinds of interesting.”
She flipped him off after he snapped a few more images. Her human self felt snug after being in her giant form, but her car didn’t fit her other self.
Jerrik said, “Snowball fight!”
Amy conjured a snowball and threw it at the ten-year-old. He giggled and dodged. She threw snowball after snowball and struck him half the time. She could have done it more often but didn’t want him to get too cold.
“My turn, please.”
She grinned, made him a stack of snowballs, and as he threw the first one, she turned into a fox and ran straight for Emmers.
Jerrik suffered from target fixation, and Emmers’ legs felt it.
Something about being a fox gave her a sense of whimsy.
She was laughing as only her vixen could laugh, and she saw Jerrik lining up for another shot.
She jumped into his arms, and that is when the final snowball was launched.
Jerrik always aimed high. The soft sound of impact made her giggle, and she tried to wiggle free of his grip.
That was difficult. His hands were claws.
She looked up, and the polar bear on its hind legs was looking down at her.
To her shock, he pulled her up to his cheek and rubbed against her fur. His deep voice rumbled, “Soft.”
She bit his nose. He yelped and let go. She waited, dangling by her teeth, and then she dropped to the ground and scampered to a safe distance before being human-shaped again. He was back to human and rubbing his nose. “So, ask permission to cuddle.”
She crossed her arms. “Yah think?”
Jerrik was laughing, and Emily held up her phone. “I managed to get that on video.”
Amy cocked her head. “Jerrik, your mom and dad are home.”
He ran around the side of the house and made a beeline for his adults.
Amy looked at Emmers as he drew up next to her. “Friends only.”
“Fine. Are there benefits available?” He asked slyly.
“Not currently. You haven’t been in the position long enough to qualify.” She gave him a sober look.
Emily was laughing. “This has been a very entertaining day.”
Amy smiled.
Emmers said, “Big few days for Redbird City. A wedding, a few engagements, a baby, and a snowball fight in summer. A very big day.”
Amy nodded. “Yup.”
Kairek came over and looked at them. “Emmers, what happened to your nose?”
Amy looked innocent, but Emily lost her shit with riotous laughter. Jerrik informed his dad about the fox and the bear, and Kairek joined the laughter. A very big day, indeed.