“I’m trying!”
“Mama, you’re doing it wrong,” Killian said helpfully, not looking up from his flower-petal game.
“Thank you, baby. Very helpful.”
“You gotta FEEL it. Like this!” He concentrated for maybe half a second and opened a portal directly to the kitchen. I could see the cook kneading dough. “See? Easy!”
“That’s so impressive, sweetheart,” I said, meaning it.
“Yeah!” He beamed at me, then made the portal sparkle.Actuallysparkle. With glitter.
“How did you make it sparkle?” I asked.
“I just thought about glitter!”
Casimya was watching him with something like pride. “He has instinctive control. Very rare.”
“Of course he does,” I muttered.
I tried again, really focusing this time. Visualizing the garden. The roses. The fountain. The stone bench.
The portal opened…To underwater.
Water immediately started pouring through, rushing into the training room in a cold, salty torrent.
“Oh no - CLOSE CLOSE CLOSE-”
I slammed it shut, but not before I was completely soaked. My hair was plastered to my face, my clothes were dripping, and there was now a puddle the size of a small pond on the floor.
Casimya and Killian, I noticed, had both calmly stepped aside and were bone dry.
“Better reaction time,” Casimya observed.
“I hate this,” I said, wringing out my hair.
“Mama, you’re all wet,” Killian said.
“Yes. Thank you, baby. I noticed.”
“Most children are better than their parents at something,” Casimya said.
“Usually it’s technology,” I replied.
“Yes. But for you, it’s dimensional travel.”
“That’s worse somehow.”
Killian had gone back to his portal, which he’d now made sparkle in rainbow colors. “Look! I made it PRETTY!”
“Very pretty, sweetheart.”
“Your grandparents were the same,” Casimya said. “Dramatic. Loved showing off.”
I looked at her, still dripping. “Tell me about them?”
“They once portaled someone’s horse into a council meeting.”
I burst out laughing despite my wet misery. “What? Why?”
