Peanut Goes to School

by Thea Harrison

  “So I can see,” said Dad, with one black eyebrow raised.

  Mom went to the kitchen for more coffee, which was when Dad turned to look him in the eye. All the humor was gone from his face, and it made Liam sober too.

  “You’re going to be stronger than anyone else today, including the teachers,” said Dad in a quiet way that said he meant business. “Hugh and a few other guards will be nearby to keep an eye on things, but they won’t be on school grounds. I want you to promise me you’ll watch your temper, and you’ll do as your teacher says.”

  “Yessir,” said Liam. He sat up straight.

  Dad gave him a smile. “Good boy.”

  But what if he wasn’t? What if he wasn’t a good boy?

  The hot, tight feeling returned, and he had to put down his fork. He asked, “May I be excused?”

  Dad’s gaze went to the food that Liam had left on his plate, but he didn’t say anything about it. Instead, he said, “Sure. Go brush your teeth and get your backpack.”

  Liam’s new backpack was full of everything on his school list, like glue, scissors, and crayons. He dashed off to do as he was told, and all too soon, Mom, Eva and he piled into one of the SUVs and headed for school.

  The trip seemed to take forever, but all of a sudden, Eva made a right turn, and he realized they were pulling into the school parking lot.

  He stared curiously at the large school playground, which was located behind a tall, chain link fence. Big trees offered lots of shade, and there were two jungle gyms, along with a swing set.

  He watched as Mom slipped on a baseball cap and dark sunglasses. She wore the cap and glasses a lot when they went out. She called it her incognito look. Turning to him, she gave him a bright smile. “Are you ready?”

  No. “Yes!”

  “Okay, let’s go.”

  As they climbed out of the vehicle, he realized that other parents and kids were going into the school too. Most were either human or Wyr, but he also noticed one girl who looked Dark Fae. Her black hair had been cut into a bob at her chin, and her pointed ears peeked through the shining cap. Like Liam, she was taller than a lot of the other kids, and her large gray eyes darted everywhere.

  Mom offered her hand, and he took it. She switched to telepathy. Don’t forget, you’re registered as Liam Giovanni, not Liam Cuelebre. The principal knows who you are, but nobody else does.

  I didn’t forget, he told her. He liked using Mom’s maiden name. It made him feel like he was undercover.

  She pulled her sunglasses down her nose to look at him over the top of the rim. You have so much Power, sweetie. . . . Make sure to keep your cloaking tight around your body, okay? Otherwise you might make someone nervous.

  Okay, he said.

  What about your cell phone? Do you have it with you?

  Yeah. He patted the pocket of his shorts where the phone rested.

  Who do you get if you rapid-dial number one?

  He looked up at her. You.

  That’s right. Who is number two?

  Dad. He kept staring at the Dark Fae girl when she wasn’t looking in their direction. He liked how she looked. She looked sassy.

  And number three?

  Hugh.

  Her fingers tightened on his. Remember to dial Hugh first, if you need somebody right away, because he’ll be just outside the school grounds.

  I won’t forget, he told her.

  “You’re going to have a great day, I just know it,” Mom said out loud. Her voice sounded kind of clogged up, like she might be getting a cold. “It’s hard to believe that only last year you really were the size of a peanut.”

  He said, out of the corner of his mouth, “Mom, you promised you weren’t going to call me that in public anymore.”

  “Right! Sorry, sweetheart.”

  As they reached the doors, he turned to her. “I remember how to get to my classroom. It’s okay, you can go home now.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll meet you right here after school.” She gave him a smile that looked a bit strange, but he was too busy to question it for long.

  “Okay.” Pulling his hand free, he hopped to reach up for her kiss.

  Usually he was an optimistic guy, and as he darted inside, last night’s nervousness became a thing of the past, because Mom was right.

  He was going to have a pretty great day.

  * * *

  Pia stared after Liam as he disappeared into the school building.

  Over the last couple of months, his hair had darkened to a honeyed gold, and it wouldn’t be long before he stood as tall as her shoulder. Whenever she looked into his eyes, which were the same midnight violet as her own, she caught a glimpse of the Power contained in his tall, young body.

  It wasn’t the same as Dragos’s Power. It didn’t boil with quite the same fiery heat. But it was every bit as strong, every bit as vast.

  She was so proud of him, and more than a little scared for his future, and she loved him so much, sometimes it squeezed the air right out of her lungs.

  And look at how strong and brave he was. He ran into the building without giving her a single backward glance.

  Well, that was good. Good for him.

  As she turned to walk back to the SUV where Eva waited, tears spilled out of her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

  Climbing into the passenger seat, she slammed the door and looked straight ahead. “Don’t try to talk me out of this. I need to cry it out.”

  Eva put one dark brown hand on her knee in a gentle pat. “Your baby just went off to school. You go right ahead, and cry all you want to, sugar. Today you get a free pass on anything you want.”

  Pia nodded, wiped her eyes and stared out the passenger window as Eva drove them back home. The majority of work was finally done on the house, and the focus of construction now centered on the office complex by the lake.

  The site where Dragos had been so badly injured last month.

  Pia didn’t intentionally set out to avoid the area, but for one reason or another, she never went down there after Dragos’s accident. She kept telling herself that things would be different once the complex was completed. For now, whenever she stepped through the trees and looked at the scene, all she could remember was the horror and terror she felt when she thought Dragos might have died.

  After they parked, Eva gave her a tight hug. “Let me know if you want to talk anything over.”

  “I will. Thanks.” Returning the hug, she went inside to find Dragos.

  He was in his office, sitting at his desk and conducting a meeting via the secure telecom system he’d had installed. After days of fierce concentration as he had tried to think of what the other Dragos—the Dragos before his accident—would have done, he had finally managed to recreate the password on his computer. As she heard the voices, she recognized two of his sentinels, Graydon and Constantine.

  That was how he approached anything to do with his injury and subsequent memory loss. He treated it like a battle and brought all of his formidable attention and tactical skills to the field with the intent to win. Pia found it both exhilarating and exhausting to watch.

  Reluctant to interrupt, she hovered in the doorway, but as soon as he caught sight of her, Dragos said to his screen, “We’ll have to talk more later. I’ve got to go now.”

  “Sure thing.” Constantine’s voice sounded clearly over the speakers.

  Graydon said, “Text me when you’re ready to pick this up again.”

  Then Dragos strode around the corner of his desk, wearing a look of concern on his hard features. He frowned. “You’ve been crying.”

  She gave him a twisted smile. “Yeah, I got emotional after I watched Liam go into the building. He didn’t want me to come with him, and he ran in without a backward glance, and I was so glad that he was strong and secure enough to do that. . . . Then I cried like a baby all the way home.”

  He pulled her into his arms, and she went gladly, soaking in the feeling of his fierce energy as it wrapped around her protec
tively.

  She found her favorite spot, the slight hollow of breastbone in the middle of his chest where she could rest her cheek. They stood like that for moment and then she said, “I don’t want to be a helicopter parent, but you know, if he keeps growing like this, he’s going to be . . . What, like a twenty-eight-year-old when he’s actually two? That bends my head, and it makes me worry.”

  She felt Dragos shaking his head. “Tough as it is to adjust your thinking, we’re never going to be able to judge him by normal standards. He’s too much of a prodigy.”

  “I know, but my own past was so human, I don’t understand how he knows the things he knows.”

  His fingers threaded through her hair. “The first-generation of the Elder Races were all fully formed when they came into being at the birth of the world. Magic has long since settled into balance, but in the beginning, it was nowhere near as defined. It ran hot and wild, and crazy things happened. It’s possible the only reason Liam is having any kind of childhood experience at all is because he was conceived, and he didn’t form spontaneously as the first generation did.”

  She thought back to her shock when she first found out she was pregnant. She muttered, “His conception seemed kind of spontaneous to me.”

  She could hear the smile in Dragos’s voice as he continued, “He’s also the product of two very rare and magical parents, and the combined Power he has inherited from each of us is quite unique. If he had been conceived at the beginning of the world, he might have sprung into existence fully formed too. As it is, he has to contend with the laws of nature as they are now.”

  As she listened to him, she calmed. He was always so much warmer than her. She reveled in his body warmth, in the hard strength of his arms resting around her, in all the sensual evidence of his presence. “I love listening to stories about how things were in the beginning. It sounds fascinating.”

  “It was a dangerous and unpredictable time,” he told her. “And, yes, it was fascinating too.” He rested his cheek on top of her head. “At any rate, all this talk about Liam is pure speculation, as we have virtually nothing else to compare him to.”

  “We’ll just have to accept whatever the future brings us, and it’s okay,” she murmured. “I’ll adjust. The main thing is that he’s healthy and happy.” Tilting back her head, she gave him a wry smile. “One thing’s for sure—it’s never dull around here, is it?”

  His sexy mouth widened. “No, it never is.”

  “Anyway, I’m sorry I interrupted your meeting.”

  He cupped the back of her head in one big hand. “You should always interrupt me. If I’m in the middle of something urgent that can’t be put on hold, I’ll let you know.”

  Her gaze slid over to one corner of his office. Crates and stacks of books dominated that area of the room. The large round conference table was piled high with even more books, and there were more crates waiting his attention in the library.

  Since July, Dragos had spent a virtual fortune on a variety of books on history and politics, both human and Elder Races, and the subject of each cluster of books focused on the gaps he had discovered in his memory.

  Along with reading obsessively late into the night, he spent long hours talking to each of the sentinels, while major corporate decisions had been put on hold. His businesses, along with the Wyr demesne itself, were treading water but not making any forward strides.

  Thankfully, they had the most active time of the political season behind them for the year. Dragos’s assistants, especially Kris, were dedicated to the point of obsession, and with the sentinels’ help, Dragos could afford to take time to concentrate on his own healing.

  She asked, “How is it going?”

  “Nothing new.” He growled, “I’m learning a lot.”

  The frustration was evident in his voice. During the first few weeks of his recovery, he’d had several strong episodes of spontaneous memory retrieval. Now he recalled almost everything from the last few years, but since then, he had discovered that he’d lost entire centuries, and it had been at least ten days since he’d had his last breakthrough.

  And, as he was quick to point out, so much of what had really happened in history had never made it into any book. Most of Dragos’s life, in fact, including any number of private wars, feuds, pacts, and betrayals.

  Closing her eyes, she rubbed his wide, muscled back. “I’m so sorry.”

  And she was. She was terribly sorry about his frustration, and she understood how the whole experience contributed to him looking at the world through even more distrustful eyes. He believed that they were more vulnerable now, and what he didn’t know could possibly hurt them one day.

  But in a way, she couldn’t relate. She didn’t care about what had happened that far in the past. All that really mattered to her was that he was hers again, that he remembered her, that he had regained his physical health and he loved and needed her as much as he ever had.

  The Wyr demesne was strong. They had all kinds of help and protection, and they could rebuild anything else.

  She asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  He buried his nose in her hair, took a deep breath and sighed. “You help just by being here.”

  “Well, that bit is easy,” she told him with a smile. “Because I wouldn’t be anywhere else.” After a pause, she added more gently, “I do get concerned sometimes at how hard you’re working. It’s only been a month since you got hurt, so you might very well have more memories return. But I hope you can come to terms with the fact that you might not, either.”

  “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” he said. The tone of his voice had turned dark and edged. “But I’m not there yet, and in the meantime, I won’t let go of a single moment of my life without a fight.”

  That ferocity of his was one of the very things that had drawn her to him in the first place. He wouldn’t let go of anything of his without a fight. And he was the meanest, nastiest fighter she knew.

  Drawing comfort from that now, she lifted her head, and he responded readily, cupping her chin and covering her mouth with his, until everything else fell away in the brightness of the fire they created together.

  Chapter Three

  * * *

  School was every bit as interesting as Liam thought it would be.

  Well, actually the schooling bit wasn’t very interesting, but Mom and Dad had already warned him that he would know a lot more than other first graders. Be patient, they had said. Your school experience is going to be different from everyone else’s.

  Everything else was awesome.

  His teacher’s name was Mrs. Teaberry, and she was pretty old. He couldn’t tell what exactly Mrs. Teaberry was—he wasn’t very good yet at identifying other peoples’ natures—but she might be part Fae. Her hair was gray, and she had interesting lines on her face that moved around as her expression changed.

  There were twenty kids in his class, and he watched them with fascination. Some were boisterous and excited, and others seemed timid and shy. One of them cried quietly for a few minutes, hiding it behind one hand. He felt bad for her, but as he sat across the classroom from her, there was nothing he could do to help.

  There was no sign of the Dark Fae girl, so she must be in another class. He was sorry about that, as he liked how her eyes sparkled.

  The teacher talked a lot, and he got bored and stopped paying attention. His gaze wandered over to a collection of books she had on a bookcase in one corner, behind her desk. Those weren’t kids’ books. Those were adult books, with titles that contained words like learning methodology, and first-grade literacy.

  He had never read anything like those books before, and they piqued his interest.

  When morning recess came, he slipped out of line, doubled back into the classroom and went to explore the teacher’s books. He had flipped through almost all of them when Mrs. Teaberry walked back into the empty classroom.

  The wrinkles on her face shifted into an expression of
surprise. “Liam,” she said. “What on earth are you doing? You’re supposed to be outside with everybody else.”

  He closed the last book and slid it back on the shelf. “I wanted to read your books first.”

  She laughed. “You mean you’re done looking at them. They’re a bit too old for you.”

  Turning, he cocked his head at her. “No, I read them. I’m done now.”

  Her eyes narrowed, and her smile faded into something much more stern. “I don’t appreciate someone who tells tall tales. You didn’t read all of those books in just a few minutes. You should have said that you were just looking at them.”

  Confused, he blinked. He wasn’t telling any tall tales.

  Was she . . . calling him a liar? He wasn’t sure. Nobody had ever called him a liar before.

  “No,” he said again, patiently. “I read them.”

  He waited for her to ask him questions about the books, which was what Mom and Dad would have done.

  Instead, her expression turned cold, and her voice sharpened. “Go outside, young man. We’ll talk about this later.”

  Talk about what later?

  More confused than ever, and growing a little angry, he did as he was told and went outside.

  There were so many kids, many more than just from his classroom. All the classes were out, including the older ones. He stood still, absorbing the scene.

  The morning had turned sunny and hot, and puffy white clouds floated around in the sky. Tilting his face up to the sunlight, he wanted very badly to join the clouds in flight, but that wasn’t what he was supposed to be doing.

  Somewhere, just off the school grounds, Hugh and other guards kept watch, but they were well hidden from sight. He thought about calling Hugh to say hi, but his phone was supposed to be for emergencies only, and he didn’t think feeling lonely was an emergency.

  In the playground, some kids were running and shouting, and others climbed on the jungle gyms. Still others were swinging on the swing set, and he noticed a few squatting and digging at the base of one of the trees.

  Late as he was in joining recess, he wasn’t exactly sure how to participate. Was he supposed to run around and shout, or climb on the jungle gyms? He didn’t feel like doing any of that, so he went in search of the Dark Fae girl instead.