Josie sat in a chair. She had her guitar in hand. She still had some rust but she could

still do the notes. She sung the words to Hate Me under her breath as she waited.

It was a song that matched her mood.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” whispered Bea from the bed. She leaned to the side

to vomit. Josie held a pot for her to spew into until she was done. She dropped back

on the bed and gasped for air.

“I have some water for you,” said Josie. “I am going to hold it so you can sip at it.

Ready?”

“Yes,” whispered Bea. She took a gulp and washed the taste around and then spit in

the pot. She took another sip before laying back in bed. “I feel weak.”

“You had fourteen, or fifteen, poisons in your system,” said Josie. “Jack used his

doctor on you. He said it might be a while before you are back up to snuff.”

“You did nothing wrong,” said Bea. “I don’t know what that song was. Don’t sing it.”

“The guy who wrote it had some addiction problems,” said Josie. “I can sing you

Jack’s favorite song even if it’s really for two people.”

“I would like that,” said Bea.

Josie picked up her guitar. She tried out a few chords. She smiled as she sang “Hit the

road, Jack,” a lot higher than Ray Charles. She thought she did okay with the other

singer even if she didn’t remember the woman’s name off the top of her head.

Bea smiled.

“This is Milord’s favorite song?,” said Bea.

“Not really,” said Josie. “It was more like his sisters’. He liked Stand by Me.”

She sung the song and hoped she did Ben King a small amount of justice. She sat

back in her chair when she was done.

“I liked that one,” said Bea. “Where are we?”

“Jack’s bedroom,” said Josie. “You needed some place private, and Jack is arguing

with himself about moving in with Elaine. This is kind of the push he needs to get

things the way Elaine wants it.”

“He is giving her one thing the way she wants it,” said Bea. She snickered quietly.

“Maybe,” said Josie. “It’s going to be a couple of days before you can move around

on your own. I think Jack will let you stay here in his room for good. It will prevent

him from turning it into some weird workshop that we’ll have to worry about

exploding cats coming out of at the worst time.”

“I’m sorry,” said Bea. “I thought Todd loved me. I didn’t think he was going to try

to kill me.”

“No one did,” said Josie. “You did nothing wrong, Bea. The next guy you hook

up with will probably treat you better. You can’t tell what the future will hold. If

someone had told me we would be here after all the things we had done, and placed

in charge of protecting this world from trouble, I would have laughed in your face.”

“Would you?,” said Bea.

“Yes, and twice as hard if I had been drinking,” said Josie.

“Do you drink a lot?,” said Bea.

“I used to get blackout drunk and not know how to get home,” said Josie. “I stopped

drinking more than a couple of beers at a time. I don’t really talk about it now. I was

a wreck, and barely taking care of myself.”

“Jack?,” said Bea.

“Doesn’t know,” said Josie. “I didn’t tell him. I thought he should have a life without

having to bail me out of my problems. He was in the Army and on the other side of

the planet. Flying home would have wrecked that for him. That was the one thing that

I didn’t want.”

“So you hid the problem?,” said Bea.

“Yes,” said Josie. “And then I fixed it when I had enough.”

“Thank you for rescuing me,” said Bea. “I was unkind when I could have been better

about things.”

“You are a Fox now,” said Josie. “Some things are expected.”

“I don’t think I would have,” said Bea. She looked away.

“I think that you would have if you could,” said Josie. “You did the right thing when

we met. I am sure you would still do the right thing because of that.”

“I didn’t do anything,” said Bea.

“When I showed up as the Vampire, you defended the other girls,” said Josie. “You

took them under your wing. You became their champion when you could have just

run off. You took a chance on me when you didn’t know anything about me. You

took a chance on Jack when I wouldn’t have in your place in the first place. You are

a good person. You are worthy of help. We all see it.”

“I don’t feel worthy,” said Bea.

“Really?,” said Josie. She smiled. She went to the door. She opened it and called

for Aviras. The dragon appeared in a second. He perched on Josie’s shoulder as she

walked back to her chair. “Aviras, tell Beatrice about Jack’s project.”

“The mischief maker and lover of the cursed Hank Pym is building you a magic

weapon to use for the betterment of all mankind and me,” said Aviras. “But mostly

me.”

“You can’t be serious,” said Beatrice.

“Look upon the greatest of dragons and know I do not lie,” said Aviras. “I would

expect more gratitude for the savior of your life.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“We were wiped when we got done with the poisons,” said Josie. “Aviras got Laura

to pull us home. The rest was the moving of you into a private room while you got

better.”

“Jack has not got my ice cream yet,” said Aviras. “The dullard.”

“You are asking a known welsher for a reward,” said Josie. “You should ask someone

else. We need to get you a com band if you are going to hang out with us now that I

think about it.”

She pressed the button to light up Angelica’s symbol.

“Angelica?,” she said.

“I’m here, Missus,” said the middle girl.

“Aviras is complaining that Jack hasn’t paid him his ice cream,” said Josie. “Do you

mind getting him a small bowl. Maybe two scoops.”

“Sure, I can do that,” said Angelica. “I was about to make a snack for me, so it

shouldn’t be that much of a burden to get something for him.”

“Thank you,” said Josie. She cut the connection. “She will get your ice cream. I

suppose you will want to go get it.”

“I cannot open the door,” said Aviras.

“I got you,” said Josie. She walked over to the door and opened it for him to fly down

to the kitchen. She closed the door behind him.

“Only Jack could bring something like that home and take it in,” said Bea. “There’s

more to what happened, isn’t there? Something happened to Todd.”

“Aviras stopped him from using you as a hostage, and I killed him,” said Josie. She

sat down in her chair. “The body was buried where we caught up with him.”

“I don’t regret that,” said Bea. “At least he didn’t get away with trying to kill me.”

“He was part of a cult,” said Josie. “They are trying to bring old fiends here to

Graecias by sacrificing maidens. I think one of his fellow members wanted your

type from the Montrose as that sacrifice and when you didn’t arrive, he came looking

for you.”

“My type?,” said Beatrice.

“I think the six of you were gathered to be shipped off together,” said Josie. “Then

you would have been used as fuel for whatever they think they are doing. When I was

taken, they just saw me as a seventh victim to send along for the money.”

“Nobody has seen magic outside of a children’s story,” said Beatrice. “Until you two

arrived, I can’t remember ever seeing anything unusual.”

“I think that was part of Warner’s job,” said Josie. “I am still waiting on his old case

records if he has any. I think he was brought over to cool any magic use down and

stop anything natural that was too disruptive.”

“For this Society?,” asked Beatrice.

“Yes,” said Josie. “I think they want to keep things stable. Dragons destroying the

elves and fish gods who can rip up part of the world because nothing is there to stop

them get put on the list, and they get dealt with by people like me.”

“And the world is a game board for them?,” said Beatrice. “We’re just pieces to be

moved around?”

“You aren’t,” said Josie. “That’s why we got the warning about Todd. You are the

reason they are doing things. We’re the pieces that are being moved around, but

they want us to move ourselves. Maybe that’s why Warner gave up. There was

always some other monster that needed to be chased down for faceless backers.”

“He put the world in danger by quitting,” said Bea.

“Depends on if there were others taking up his slack after he left,” said Josie. “We

know he worked with Harp and his wife. Maybe he had put together a crew, and

thought they would hold on since this was their place. Maybe they did for a while,

but he was the glue and without him, they didn’t have a way to leverage things.”

“Maybe some of them went bad,” said Bea.

“Maybe,” said Josie. “Maybe we’re cleaning up their failures. Maybe we’re doing

something that any comic book fan worth her salt would give eyeteeth to do. Maybe

we’re better than Warner.”

“What does that leave us, the Ducklings?,” asked Beatrice.

“It leaves you an adopted family with an adopted brother who is going to get bigger

as he learns not to eat everything in sight,” said Josie. “It leaves you the persons you

could be. And it leaves you with a lot of decisions that you have to make for what

you want to do. And you still have homework to do.”

“Homework?,” said Beatrice. “Really?”

“That book isn’t going to read itself,” said Josie. “And cheating only hurts you.”

“All right,” said Beatrice. She waved her hand weakly. “I will catch up on my letters.”

“Go back to sleep first,” said Josie. “You can do your other things when you can

get out of bed on your own.”

“When will that be?,” said Beatrice.

“Whenever it happens,” said Josie. “Take it easy. You will be out roaming around

with your sisters soon enough. You can show your tiny new brother how to use a fork

when you are better.”

“That will be grand,” said Beatrice. “Didn’t you say Fass was visiting before all this

happened? How did that go?”

“I have a target to strike when you are better,” said Josie. “Until then, someone

has to be with you to make sure we did everything right. If we missed some of

the poison, it could kill you if Jack and I aren’t close.”

“Why didn’t Jack put in a window?,” asked Beatrice.

“Because this room is actually facing the wall,” said Josie. “The other side of the

hall faces the city.”

Josie sat in her chair. She had thought she had lost Beatrice. One week and these

kids were her kids. How had that happened? She wondered if she would have been

a better mother than her own. She doubted that in the world where she didn’t have

a magic watch and quests to protect the world.

This world was a second chance for her. It was something she needed after the years

of darkness. There might be more darkness ahead, but she thought she could live with

it.

She picked up her guitar and sang the Ballad of Serenity to herself in a low voice.

Snores told her that Bea had gone back to sleep. She smiled.

Burn the land, and boil the sea, you can’t take the sky from me.

Josie closed her eyes. In a few hours, she would be back at it. The Society wanted a

monster hunting protector of mankind. She was willing to do that for her kids, and her

grumpy pet dragon.

Sooner or later, they would run into something that would stop them cold. Until

then, she would do what she always did in situations like this. She would misbehave.

A couple of hours later, Matilda and Aviras came in. She carried a book in her hands.

Josie regarded them with raised eyebrows.

“It’s our turn,” said Matilda. “Aviras likes to hear about Garion the Hammer. I

thought we could read while we are on watch.”

“She does a great Garion voice,” said Aviras. “Show her.”

“Garion smash,” said Matilda. She swung her arm like a giant swinging a hammer.

Josie wondered why these two wanted a turn in the room. Dark eyes regarded the

youngest of her adoptees. They turned on the blue lizard on her head, flame on his

mouth, wings folded back, claws clutching her hair.

“You can take a turn, but read quietly,” said Josie. “Bea is trying to sleep. If she has

problems, call one of us to help you.”

“We will watch,” said Aviras. “We will act well.”

“We can do it,” said Matilda.

“All right,” said Josie. She stood up. “I need some coffee and the bathroom. I will

check on you in an hour.”

Matilda settled in the chair. Aviras lit the candle in the lamp so she could read in her

spot. She opened the book. Josie stepped out in the hall as they quietly bickered about

which story they should read next.

She hoped she wasn’t making a mistake as she headed downstairs. The kids had

gathered in the dining room, around the table. Jack and Elaine were in the kitchen.

Silence prevailed.

“How is she?,” asked Melanie.

“Sleeping,” said Josie. “Matilda and Aviras are watching her while I recharge. I need

the bathroom and some coffee. Is there anything I should know?”

“Jack thinks he knows where the third quest is,” said Laura.

“All right,” said Josie. “As soon as Bea is better, I will take care of that.”

“She will get better?,” asked Angelica.

“Yes,” said Josie. “She is just weak right now, and needs to regain her strength. She

will be back on her feet in a bit. I don’t know how long it will be. We’ll talk about

this after I get done.”

She proceeded to the bathroom and took care of her business. She looked at the

mirror Jack had hung sometime while trying to improve things. She didn’t know

the thin face that looked back at her.

She took a deep breath to keep from crying. She took another to exert her will to pull

on her stoic mask. Then she walked out of the bathroom to get her coffee and plan for

the future that still needed to be protected.