Zander grinned. "You're never giving that baby up, are you?"
I snorted. "Doesn't seem that way. Only if his mother comes forward. Riley is working on that."
"Good." He leaned back and patted his stomach. "I'm stuffed. Are you ready to get back to work?"
With a sigh, I nodded. "Yep. I'll go check on the baby."
11
It took longerthan any of us had hoped to get the house ready for Dumadi. And in order for him to be able to communicate with the Leyak who could help us, he had to build a communication device. Not a portal, exactly, but certainly more technologically advanced than anything I could dream up.
Zander had to figure out how to let him build a communication device without electricity in the house while making sure he wasn't building a way out of the house.
In the end, Dumadi was magicked into a room in the Junta headquarters, where he instructed a team of tech whizzes on how to proceed. They’d been at it for a week.
Technology was, arguably, an offshoot of science. Still, the Junta had been studying the field by completely separating it from the field of science in their minds and laws, since they weren’t allowed to study the sciences. A total loophole. One that was about to be exploited as the best of the Junta minds built a communication device for Dumadi.
In the meantime, Mrs. Grunst, Alex, and I had taken to going to the school during the day. While Mrs. Grunst got the best job of holding the baby, I, along with random other volunteers, had been working diligently.
We were nearly ready. In fact, we'd begun holding a few classes, just a volunteer teaching the Sárkány about the world and how it worked. Nobody had moved in, yet, but it was so close I could taste it.
The day after we started classes, I was sitting in my office at the school, going over a few things with Mrs. Grunst, when Roan came in. "Hey, I need to talk to you."
I cocked my head at him. "What's up?"
"Zander told me about what you said, about teaching music."
My heart quickened as I suspected what he was saying. "And?"
"I think it's a great idea." He grinned at me. "So, I talked to the Junta and... come with me."
I smiled at Mrs. Grunst and hurried from the room after him. He led me to the new music room where I found a baby grand, a harp, and a violin. "Oh, Roan. You did this?"
He grinned. "I did. I got a few of the Junta to help, but yeah."
I swallowed hard as tears threatened. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me, just play something." He winked. "Often."
I sat at the piano in time to hear a scream from down the hall, toward my office.
"Alex," I said softly.
Roan ran ahead of me, using his preternatural speed, and by the time I got into the office, he was already running out the other door. There was no way I could catch him, so I stopped to make sure Mrs. Grunst was okay.
Alex was gone. "What happened?" I cried.
"A man." Mrs. Grunst got to her feet with barely any help from me. "I didn't recognize him. He came in, looked around, asked where you were, then backhanded me. He grabbed Alex as I fell and ran."
"Are you okay?" I asked, helping her to a chair. She was a Dannan, so hopefully hardier than humans and wasn’t really hurt.
"I'll be fine." She held a hand to her cheek where it was already swelling. "But, my dear, your son is gone."
I gasped as the reality of the situation sunk in. My son. She'd called him my son.
"Did you see what he looked like?"
She nodded. "I got a good look at him. He was tall, with dark hair. And," she said, her voice shaking, "he had a tattoo of a snake on his neck."
