Kylara left her grandfather’s house not all reassured about the whole situation. It all seemed like too much of a coincidence.

The first question was a matter of motive. Had Dhaligir decided to confront her before or after he had found the hair clip? Was it a crime of opportunity or premeditated? She doubted Dhaligir usually did much thinking or planning, but she still suspected the later.

The other questions were the more interesting ones.

What was the hair clip? Obviously it had magic. But where did Dhaligir find it? And what–exactly–did it do?

More importantly, did it have anything to do with the two other entads Kylara had seen today? The dead moth display by the creek was the obvious one, but there was the magsman too. Summoning butterflies like that had to be an entad. Was it an old one, like Kylara had first assumed. He had seemed so comfortable with the butterflies, like it was an old magic trick he had done hundreds of times. She had assumed he had been to Kookaburra Creek before. But if he had picked it up on the way into town? That would mean the timelines of all three lines up and they had appeared at the exact same time.

Kylara pondered these questions as she walked back to the house, but eventually abandoned her thoughts. Dhaligir had mentioned that Yalmay had gone this way hadn’t he? She needed to check if Billy had been found.

That horrible feeling, had that been an entad too? Or even the same one? It hadn’t felt the same, but Kylara knew it could influence the senses. Who knew how far it could go?

She shook her head. It seemed like a breach of the local magic, but it was impossible to know for sure. She would wait until there was more information.

Kylara walked back into the park. It was a beautiful day.

The sun had just dipped behind the hills, gilding the tops of the gum trees and casting long shadows between the lees of the fences. There wasn't much wind to speak of, and the air was filled with that warm, fatty smoke of evening campfires and dried game. She closed her eyes. She could hear the distant din of the wagtails and cockatoos, a woman singing, and…

Ah. There it was.

Yalmay’s voice.

She cocked her head in direction it was coming from. Yes, that was definitely Yalmay.

“Yalmay?” she called out. The voice was coming from across the square, behind Joontah’s house. She walked towards it, listening. Joontah was there too. It sounded like they were having some sort of fight. That wasn’t good.

“Yalmay?” Kylara called. “Joontah?” She rounded the corner and was immediately breathed in a sigh of relief.

Billy.

They had found him.

And more than that, they were giving him a wash.

Joontah was holding Billy down with his arms. He was kicking and screaming, trying to get away from his older brother’s grasp, but Joontah was holding steady. Yalmay, meanwhile, was trying to pour water on him. Which… didn’t look like it was going well. Other than a small part on his shoulder and most of his lower back, Billy was still completely caked in mud.

“Yal, little help here please?” Joontah shouted, holding Billy’s head next to a bucket of water. Billy squirmed in his arms, struggling against him.

“I am helping,” Yalmay said, just as Billy kicked her. The bucket she had been holding tipped over. Some of the water spilled on them both, catching the edge of Joontah’s arm and most of Yalmay’s legs.

She cursed loudly. “Careful, Joontah! Fuck.” She put the bucket down with some force and curled her hands into fists in frustration. Joontah gave her a look.

“You need to hold him, damn it!” Yalmay shouted. “Look.” She used her arm as leverage to hold Billy back by the shoulders. Billy, meanwhile, looked like he had given up escaping. Instead, it seemed like his goal was to cause as much damage as possible. He was flailing frantically.

“I am holding him!” Joontah said. “What do you think I’m doing?”

Yalmay gave her boyfriend a quick, hard look. “Not holding him, obviously. Ow!” She pulled her hand away. “He just bit me,” she said, looking at her hand in disbelief.

“I was trying to cover his eyes before you dumped water on his head,” Joontah said.

“Yeah!” Billy said defiantly. “You got soap in my eyes. It huuurts.”

“No it doesn’t.” Yalmay bent down to Billy’s eye level. “But you know what does hurt? My hand hurts,” she stuck her hand in front of Billy’s face, “because you just bit it. And your eyes are fine. We’re not even using soap.”

She picked the bucket back up and shoved it into Joontah’s arms, who fumbled it a bit before he caught it. Then she started walking away. “I need a break,” she said. “Give me a minute.”

Joontah went after her. “Yalmay–” he started, then caught Kylara’s eye. “Kya?”

“Kya?” Yalmay spun around. “Oh, hi Kya.”

“You found Billy,” Kylara stated. She pushed open the fence and stepped into Joontah’s backyard.

The garden at Joontah’s place was, in Kylara’s opinion, the best in Kookaburra Creek. There were flowers blooming in every colour imaginable—red, yellow, blue, white, purple. She carefully avoided stepping on any of the plants as she made her way to them.

She did, however, raise an eyebrow as she spotted an indent in the flower bed. All the stems had broken in a suspiciously Billy-sized area. He must be being especially difficult if he dared risk his mother’s flowerbeds. Julya Biraga would go off when she saw that.

She frequently reminded her sons of the effort she had invested in her flowers. Then she would describe–meticulously–how guilty they should feel if they ever got them damaged. Everyone was slightly afraid of her, even Kylara.

“Yup,” Yalmay said, gesturing at Billy, “I found him and dragged him back. Guess where he was?”

“You didn’t drag me!” Billy shouted, arms folded. He was still standing next to the half-empty bucket. Willingly, it seemed. That surprised Kylara. She had expected him to run off the second Joontah and Yalmay took their eyes off him.

“Quiet,” Yalmay called. At the same time Joontah said, “Ignore him.”

It was hard to ignore him. The kid was a mess.

His entire body was covered in mud. In fact, Kylara wasn’t sure she had ever seen anyone that dirty before. His hair was caked in enough of it to you could not see any of its original black shine. His clothes, mostly on the ground now, looked more mud than cloth. The only thing that wasn’t muddy were his eyes; bright and mischievous as ever.

Kylara looked for anything off–a little nervous gesture, an injury, a hesitation that hadn’t been there before–but didn’t find anything. He looked fine. Whatever the awful feeling had been about before, Billy didn’t seem to be affected.

“I’m guessing he was at the lake?” she said after a minute.

“In the lake, rather,” Yalmay replied. “Which is why we need to wash him.”

“My mum wants him clean by dinner,” Joontah added. “She put us in charge of it. She’s cooking with some of the others now, so we’re trying to get this done quickly. She’s not happy he was missing all day.”

“And that he presumably took your spear,” Kylara added.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Er...” Joontah said, “she doesn’t know about that yet. If you could maybe avoid mentioning that for now…” Joontah glanced at his brother, then did a double take. “Billy!” His eyes widened. “Billy, stop!” He ran over to the falling bucket and got there just before it fell over.

Billy, it looked like, had had the bright idea of knocking it down. Clever of him, Kylara supposed, switching strategies like that. Never mind kicking Joontah–kicking the bucket was much more efficient. You couldn’t exactly get washed if there was no water.

“Good catch,” Kylara said. “And don’t worry–I won’t bring the spear up to your mother. By the way, did you ever find it?”

“I didn’t,” Yalmay said. She pointed at Billy. “He claims he didn’t take it.”

“Because I didn’t!”

“Sure you didn’t,” Yalmay said, sarcasm dripping thick from her voice.

Kylara frowned. She believed him. If Billy said he didn’t take it, he probably didn’t. The kids wasn’t that good at lying.

She wasn’t sure how to feel about that. On one hand, the spear being missing was reassuring. It meant she hadn’t been mistaken; her warding was accurate. On the other hand, the question of exactly where it was was still up in the air, and with everything else, it didn’t seem like a good omen.

She glanced back at the town square again. It had been just over there that she had had that horrible feeling. Yet here Billy was, safe and unaware. It had been less than an hour, but it already seemed so far away.

She debated for a second, then glanced down at her arm. It couldn’t hurt to check again. The warding equations she had used before, trigger wards tuned to find the spear, were still there. The centres would be slightly off, as she had moved from where she had calibrated them, but the wards themselves would still be usable, just as a function of their size. She activated them again, one at a time. Then frowned.

Still nothing. Where was it?

“Where’s the magsman?” she asked suddenly.

“Still in the Nest, I should think.” Yalmay shrugged. “I haven’t seen any other kids running around, so they all must still be inside listening.”

“Hear that, Billy?” Joontah said. He crouched next to his little brother. “If we’re quick about this and you get clean, you can go over there and listen. The magsman’s really, really cool. He’s got these butterflies and–”

“And the creek?” Kylara interrupted. “Do you know if anyone’s been to the creek today?” She would deal with the mystery of the magsman later. He was currently her only candidate for knowing anything about what was going on, even if the timeline didn’t add up.

“The creek?” Joontah said. “Well, the fishing crew’s still out. There’s them.”

“No,” Yalmay corrected, “the fishing crew’s at the Parer. Not the creek.”

“Oh.” He shrugged. “I don’t know then. Probably not. Not many people go there without a reason.”

Yalmay gave her a lopsided grin. “Besides crazy people, of course.” Kylara ignored the teasing. She wasn’t in the mood. Instead, she looked towards Yalmay, who shrugged. “I dunno,” she said, sounding slightly annoyed. “Weren’t you there? Why are you asking us?”

“Right.” Of course Yalmay would be annoyed. Her and Joontah had a deadline. They had to get Billy presentable.

And Kylara was getting in their way.

Not to mention how she had made a whole event out of Billy’s disappearance and Billy had been–almost immediately–found. Kylara didn’t consider herself especially prone to embarrassment, but she wasn’t completely shameless. It was not a good look.

“Sorry,” she said. “It’s probably nothing.”

She had questions about the butterflies. She had questions about the magsman and the display at the creek. She had questions about the spear and how it had gone missing. But Billy was safe. Dhaligir was being dealt with. Her friends were here. Plus–well. Kylara glanced over to Billy again.

The feral child had still had made absolutely zero effort to wash himself. Instead, he had been creeping closer and closer to the conversation. Little eavesdropper, she thought.

She made a decision. For now, the other mysteries could wait. Her friends needed her help.

“Do you need help?” she asked, then glanced at Billy. No, bad idea, she thought. He can hear me and is in a rebellious sort of mood. She switched to to Dalmayic then continued, “Not going so well, is it?” she said.

As far as she knew, Billy didn’t speak Dalmayic. Living with Joontah, he might have picked up a few phrases here and there, but Kylara was fairly confident he wouldn’t be able to understand her. Hopefully, he wouldn’t even realise she was talking about him, although that seemed a bit unlikely.

“It’s going horribly.” Joontah said, catching on. He had also switched from Koulan to Dalmayic. “He doesn’t listen to me.”

“Me neither,” Yalmay said. “If you could tell him no mud at dinner, that would be great. He’ll listen to you more than us.”

Well, that was probably true.

“I’ll try,” she said.

“Oh, and Kylara?” Joontah said. She looked back. “Don’t mention the spear to him. We think he hid it. If we don’t let him know we’re looking for it, I think he’ll get bored soon and give it back. He just wants attention.”

“If he didn’t already forget where he put it,” Yalmay muttered under her breath.

“I think he’ll give it back,” Joontah said. He turned to Yalmay. “You don’t think so?”

“I hope so,” Yalmay said. “The spear was from Warrung, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, why?”

“No reason.”

Kylara detected a hint of bitterness there that she suspected Joontah did not. The spear had been picked out by him, but it had been Yalmay to pay for it, a present for one of their anniversaries. It had been fairly expensive, the kind of weapon you kept for the status of the thing more than its utility. It’s handle was beautifully carved and the wood was unique, cut from trees grown in a distant country.

Joontah had been incredibly proud of the spear when he had brought it. He had showed it off for weeks afterward. Now, he seemed almost nonchalant he was that it was missing. That was probably worrying Yalmay more than she let on. She was always a bit insecure.

“So,” Joontah said, switching the language back to Koulan. He clapped his hands. “We’ve decided. We’re having fish today?”

“I know you’re talking about me,” Billy said. “Not fish.” Kylara saw Yalmay physically cringe. “Don’t lie. Joontah only ever talks funny when he doesn’t want me to hear. Mum says he sounds silly and stupid.”

Yalmay gave Joontah a concerned look. “She doesn’t say that,” he quickly explained. “She just… doesn’t understand the appeal, is all.”

“Right,” Yalmay said, sounding doubtful.

“Mum says talking rubbish is stupid,” Billy continued. He made a rude gesture at Yalmay. “Like you.”

“Billy!” Joontah said. “You don’t say things like that to other people.”

“You shouldn’t say things like that at all,” Yalmay mumbled under her breath.

“He’s just trying to get under your skin, Yal. You need to learn to ignore him.”

“I need to learn to ignore him?”

“Yes!”

“I’m sorry?” Yalmay said. She pointed at Billy, outraged. “You’re acting like that’s a normal thing for him to say.”

“No, no, it isn’t. That’s not what I mean. I’ll talk to him later, but it’s not worth a fight over.”

Tell me about it, Kylara thought wearily.

Over the past few weeks, Yalmay and Joontah had been fighting. Billy had been acting up. Yalmay believe he needed more discipline. Joontah, on the other hand, thought it was simply a phase he would grow out of.

Kylara had been ignoring it, but she was quickly beginning to realise that the strategy was not working. It didn’t help that they were both stubborn as hell and that neither of them were particularly skilled (or willing) to get into a full blown debate. It just kept… simmering.

She sighed. I’ve got to step in before it gets worse, she thought. It wasn’t like anyone else would try. Even Janeyca, Joontah’s twin sister, seemed to be ignoring it.

“Here, let me try with Billy,” Kylara said. Both of them looked at her.

She stepped forward and Joontah and Yalmay moved out of the way. Billy however, froze, as if he were about to run.

“Hey, hey, hey, now, it’s okay,” Kylara coaxed. “You’re not in trouble.” She took another step forward. “It’s alright.”

Billy hesitated. “I’m not in trouble?” he asked.

“Not with me,” Kylara said. “But you do need to be nice. You know what happens if you’re mean to your brother and Yalmay, don’t you?” He shook his head. “Well,” Kylara said, “for a start, you hurt their feelings. You don’t want them to feel bad, do you?”

He stared at her blankly. Okay, maybe he does want them to feel bad, Kylara thought. New tactic: “Your mum wouldn’t be happy if you’re mean, will she? She taught you better than that. You want to make her proud, right?” Billy shook his head. “Right?” she asked again.

“Yes.”

“Good.” Kylara knelt down to Billy’s height and put her arms on his shoulders. She gently turned him towards her so that they were face-to-face. Switching back to Dalmayic, she said, “You need to be nice to your brother and–” What was Yalmay considered? A future in-law? She didn’t know the word for that in Dalmayic. It probably didn’t even exist. “New sister,” she settled with. “Don’t be mean to your new sister.”

“You sound silly,” Billy giggled.

“I know,” Kylara said, switching back to Koulan. “It is a bit silly. Your mum is right, Dalmayic is a silly language. That’s what makes it fun. But it’s not stupid.”

“Mum doesn’t like you. She says you shouldn’t lie but you do.”

Ah, this again. Kylara closed her eyes. Joontah’s parents had lost quite a lot because of her. She didn’t exactly blame them for their dislike. “I don’t lie,” she said. “I’m not allowed to. It’s against the rules. Do you know what warders do?”

“Magic.”

“Of a sort,” Kylara said. “What else?”

“I dunno. We’re meant to trust them?”

“Exactly,” Kylara said. “We keep our promises. They say wards are only as good as your word. So how about this? We make a deal. You get all washed up and I’ll show you something neat.”

“A magic trick?” He perked up.

“Nope,” Kylara said, smiling. “I’m not allowed to be tricky. It’s against the rules.”

“You made that up,” said Billy.

“Maybe, maybe not.”

“You’re making fun!”

“Hmm,” Kylara conceded, “perhaps. But do we have a deal? You’ll get washed up?”

Billy hesitated. “Promise?”

“Promise.” Kylara said. “Now go inside. Get the mud off of you.”

She shoved him a bit in the direction of his brother, who placed his hand on Billy’s shoulder and ushered him inside. Before closing the door, Joontah paused and looked back to them.

“Thank you,” he said.

He opened his mouth again and looked like he was about to say something, but stopped.

For a second Kylara wondered if she should follow, but Joontah closed the door quickly behind him.