Jack came out of the stargate. He walked through the apartment. He nodded at how

everything was back in shape. He needed to learn the cleaning spell for himself. It

would save him so much trouble in the future.

He walked through the dining area. He took a moment to look in the girls’ room. He

frowned that they weren’t in bed. He looked in the kitchen. No one there either.

He found the four youngest girls loitering around the office door as he checked

upstairs. He fell in behind them silently. Everyone had their heads to the door as they

tried to listen to what was going on in the office.

“What’s going on?,” Jack whispered. No one turned to look at him.

“Beatrice might be courting,” said Angelica. “I can’t hear what they are saying.”

“I put a good door on this,” whispered Jack. “It muffles sound really good.”

The four girls turned to look at Jack. He grinned at them. They made faces at his

mirth.

“So Beatrice has a boyfriend,” said Jack. He waved at them to go downstairs. “Why

don’t you tell me about it while I figure out how to make an apple pie out of

nothing?”

“We don’t know anything,” said Melanie. “Mistress Josie has Beatrice and Laura in

the office. She might be skinning them alive.”

“She might be skinning you next,” said Jack. He made the hand gesture for them to

get moving. “How did the thing with the tax people go?”

“She put a curse on them and let them go,” said Angelica. “She told them that if they

weren’t good guards, they would waste away to nothing.”

“Sounds like Thinner,” said Jack. “I approve. I’m hungry.”

“What is Thinner?,” said Matilda.

“Are you sure you want to hear this story?,” said Jack. “I wish they hadn’t wrecked

the food in the icebox. At least they left me some bread.”

“They left us some spices and fruits,” said Angelica. “We can do something about it.”

“All right,” said Jack. “Let’s have something to eat. Then you girls need to get some

sleep.”

“I’ll get us some water,” said Matilda. She squinted at Jack. “What is the Horizontal

Mambo?”

“I think you should ask Jo what that is,” said Jack.

“I did,” said Matilda. “She said come back in twenty five years.”

“I guess you have something to look forward to then,” said Jack. He set about making

a plate of fruit sandwiches. The girls got water to drink with their snacks. He saved

cucumbers to cut into disks for his sandwiches.

“Nothing like sandwiches made from leftovers,” said Jack. “Reminds me of when I

was a kid.”

“Thinner, Jack,” demanded Matilda.

“All right,” said Jack. He got himself a cup of water and talked while he ate. “Thinner

is a book by the great Stephen King. He’s fairly decent storyteller. Now this story is

about a lawyer who gets cursed by an old woman and starts losing weight. He was a

big guy at first, but then losing as much as he was, he was going to die. The body is

not made to lose that much in a couple of days like he was. He asks one of his clients,

a notorious gang leader, to help him find the old woman and her family. When they

do, he threatens the old woman for a cure and she gives it to him. The cure is to give

the curse to someone else, and he planned to give it to his wife, but he realized that

he had given it to his daughter instead. He took the curse back on to save her life.”

“So he sacrificed himself for his daughter?,” asked Matilda.

“Yep,” said Jack. He finished his sandwiches. “It’s a good thing Elaine is shopping

tomorrow, or we wouldn’t have any food for our guests tomorrow night.”

The office door opened. Stomps came down the stairs. They paused when they saw

the younger girls and Jack in the kitchen.

“How’s it going, Bea?,” said Jack. He waved his cup of water at her. “I think we have

enough for a couple more sandwiches.”

“I’m going out,” said Beatrice. “If that is okay, Milord.”

“Do you want company?,” asked Jack. “I was about to put the babies to bed.”

“No,” said Beatrice. “I think I can walk around on my own.”

“Have a good time with that, and be careful,” said Jack.

The five of them watched her march out.

“I hope she doesn’t catch a cold,” said Jack.

“She seems mad,” said Angelica.

“Probably because she was courting and she didn’t tell anyone,” said Melanie.

“She’s old enough for that, right?,” said Jack. “I mean she’s not a kid like you four.”

“Not a kid,” said Alicia.

“How old are you?,” asked Jack.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Alicia did some calculations. She held up two hands to keep track.

“I’m eleven,” said Alicia. “I think.”

“You’re a kid,” said Jack. “And as such you are subject to bedtime rules.”

“I don’t feel like a kid,” said Alicia.

“You might be mature for your age,” said Jack. “Now I think you guys should go to

bed. I’ll clean up this mess in the morning. Then we’ll get ready for dinner. How’s the

lessons going?”

“I think we have a grasp on the reading, except for Matilda who is ahead of us, okay

on the mathematics, and poor on the swordsmanship except for Alicia,” said

Angelica. “She is dangerous.”

“All right,” said Jack. “Maybe after these new quests are done, you can show me what

you guys got. If I were you, I would practice the writing in some kind of journal so

you will be ready for your graduation exam.”

“Will you get rid of us, Jack?,” asked Matilda.

“You’re not my kids,” said Jack. “Why would I get rid of you?”

“She means what happens when we get old enough to start our own families,” said

Angelica. “What happens then?”

“What do you want to happen?,” said Jack. He held up a hand. “I’m not trying to be

evasive. I want to know what you want to do. I figure Laura is going to want to go out

on her own when she thinks she’s ready. Maybe that’s what Beatrice wants to do

now. In the end, it will be your call. I have seen families living in expanding houses

until they were like small towns themselves, and I have seen kids younger than you

living on the streets because their parents didn’t care about them. So I kind of know

both ends of the spectrum. Whatever you pick, I will be glad to help you do.”

“If we want to do what you do?,” asked Alicia.

“What I do is extremely dangerous and could get you killed,” said Jack. “But if you

want to sit in the co-pilot seat when you’re older, I don’t have a problem with that as

long as you listen to what I am saying, and watching out for yourself.”

“Can do that,” said Alicia.

“We’ll see, Number Two,” said Jack. “Now hit the sack. We have a big day

tomorrow.”

He ushered them to their rooms and blew out the lamps in the main room so they

could have space to themselves after he shut their door. He couldn’t decide what he

should do next. Should he talk to Josie and Elaine, or should he follow Beatrice, or

should he go to his own room and crash out?

Following Beatrice around appealed to him the most, but the oldest Duckling would

not like that at all. She was the adult by the standards of the world they lived in.

Pressing down on her would not be great as far as he was concerned.

Laura came down the stairs next. She looked at the darkness and paused. She saw

Jack sitting at the table by the glow of his watch.

“What are you doing?,” she asked.

“Thinking,” said Jack. “How’s your day been?”

“It was fine until I had to talk about boy things,” said Laura.

“Is that why Beatrice left on a walk?,” said Jack.

“Someone at the Adventurers’ Hall has been courting her, and she never told

anyone,” said Laura. “And she’s mad that Josie wants to meet him.”

“And she doesn’t like that,” said Jack. “I don’t know if I would like it either.”

“Elaine?,” asked Laura.

“Elaine is someone I ran into and impulsively hired as my assistant,” said Jack.

“Since Josie and I are partners, there was zero chance she was not going to meet

Elaine. The fact that Elaine has all these good qualities on top of everything else is

great. When we have Jack, Jr., she will be a great mother for him, just like she’s a

great nanny for the younger girls and friends with you and Beatrice. Essentially

Elaine is probably the only reason we haven’t burned the city down yet.”

“I have never thought of things like that,” said Laura.

“Josie and I are from a different place with different rules,” said Jack. “The fact that

we are operating like this when our predecessor just left anyone he saved to fend for

themselves is a change in the status quo. I don’t know if our bosses like that, but

that’s how I like to roll.”

“Would you burn the city down?,” said Laura.

“For you and the kids, Elaine, Josie?,” said Jack. He didn’t grin at her in the dark. She

could almost see his expression in the ambient light. “There would be nothing

standing. I have murdered plenty of people I didn’t know for lesser reasons.”

“I don’t know if I should be happy, or scared,” said Laura.

“Reassured is okay when you get your own boyfriend,” said Jack. “I think you should

turn in. I’ll wait up for Beatrice. I would like to meet this adventurer myself. I never

thought of myself giving some guy the dad talk.”

“The dad talk?,” said Laura.

“If you hurt my little girl, I’ll rip your arms off and use them for lawn ornaments,”

said Jack in the gruffest voice he could manage.

“I think you should work on that,” said Laura.

She walked into the dorm she shared with the other girls. She shushed their questions

as she closed the door.

“I don’t think my father ever used that expression,” said Elaine. She stood by the

stairs.

“We’re invited to Lord Cilt’s wedding when he pulls it together,” said Jack.

“How did that happen?,” asked Elaine. She walked over and sat down in a chair at the

table. Jack scooted his chair closer.

“I fixed up his estate for him, and he said he would leave a spot open for us to attend

his wedding,” said Jack. “Not as the best man, or anything, but as a guest. And I said

I would bring my beloved with me. And he said that would be great.”

“So I’m your beloved,” said Elaine. “I don’t know if I am anyone’s beloved.”

“I would like to make things work,” said Jack. “I know you could land anyone you

wanted. You have the looks, the brains, the style. You’re the total package. I’m just

a guy who’s turning his vacation into a job.”

“Do you really feel that way about me?,” said Elaine.

“Yes,” said Jack. “I’m going to sit up for a bit and wait for Beatrice to come home.

You’re welcome to sit with me but I know you’re going to have a long day tomorrow.

Sleep is more important if you can get it.”

“What do you plan to do tomorrow?,” said Elaine.

“I’m going to help you where I can, think about these new quests, maybe figure out

a way to fish in the lake up north when I don’t have a boat yet,” said Jack.

“You don’t talk much about yourself,” said Elaine. “I’ve learned more about you from

Josie than I have from your own lips.”

“Nothing to talk about,” said Jack. “I am the son of an Army dad and an immigrant

mother. I have four sisters who are around my age. Josie has been my friend for a

long time. I served in the Army, but never acquired a rank. Mainly I shipped

somewhere, did some things, shipped somewhere else, did some things there. When

the Society set up their trap to get champions here, I accidentally fell into it. We don’t

know if the watches were meant for us, or for Old Man Warner. Either way, they are

helping us get things done even if it isn’t what the Society wants.”

“What do you want to know about me?,” asked Elaine. “You never ask anything.”

“I don’t know,” said Jack. “It seems enough that you are willing to put up with me.

There’s not many who will do that.”

“Are you in love with me?,” asked Elaine.

“Yes, but not in an expressive way,” said Jack. “More in a stealth hug sort of way.”

“Stealth hug?,” asked Elaine.

“Do you want me to show you?,” said Jack.

“I would love to know how those work,” said Elaine.

“Say you were sitting there reading,” said Jack. He got up. “And I needed to go to the

kitchen for a lemon. I would just come by and wrap my arms around you like an

octopus for a second. And then keep going.”

He demonstrated without moving on.

“I kind of like this,” said Elaine. “We should do more of this.”

“I will be glad to for you,” said Jack. He kissed her cheek. He looked up as the key

rattled in the lock. He sat down in his chair. “Do you think she has her boyfriend with

her?”

“No,” said Elaine. She smiled in the dark. “I don’t know if she will like us sitting in

the dark like this.”

“My dad did it,” said Jack. “So can I.”