Chapter 60: Four Years Later
Wil couldn’t remember ever being a problem as a child. He was quiet, read a lot, and only lost his temper every so often. Wilhelmina Ryland McKenzie, on the other hand, was his greatest treasure and worst nightmare. The four year old ran through their house like she did every day. Her mad giggles echoed down the hallway as he gave chase.
It wasn’t that she was faster than him so much as more maneuverable. She turned corners better and she knew it. Isom had been teaching her how to chase and be chased. Wil vowed to cut off his supply of beef for a month if Mina broke anything.
She turned the corner to the stairs as Wil slid to a stop against one of the bedroom walls. Mina giggled again, but by the time Wil got to the stairs, she was gone, and it was suspiciously silent. He crept down, keeping his senses open, but the only ones there were Darlene and their two year old son Oliver in the bathroom.
“Did you see her go down?” Wil asked.
“Did you lose her? Again?” Darlene didn’t sound angry so much as amused. She continued changing Oliver’s diaper as he fought her. He had her dark hair, but Wil’s green eyes.
“She’s slippery! C’mon, you gotta help me. We’ve got places to go, things to do, -- “
“Awards to receive?” Darlene interjected. “Another one.”
“Another one,” Wil sighed. “I never thought I’d be annoyed by them, but here we are. It doesn’t matter, I need to find her before she gets into something and destroys half the house!”
Tired of playing nice, Wil cast a spell to detect life. He looked around, and froze when he felt a sign of her. She was either in the kitchen, or back upstairs. But there was no way she could’ve gotten by him to go back upstairs, and he saw her go down. Didn’t he? Wil tiptoed into the kitchen.
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There was no sign of Mina, but there was a stray kitten on top of the fridge. It was black and white, like it was wearing a little suit. It nuzzled up against the cookie jar. Wil relaxed. “How’d you get in here? What are you doing?”
The kitten wasn’t much more than the length of Wil’s hands, but it threw itself at the cookies. Again and again. Wil sighed and caught the jar as it fell. He wasn’t prepared for the kitten to run down his arms and back, clawing him all the way down.
“Ay, dammit, I thought Isom kept other animals away!” Wil set the jar down on the table and turned to the cat. Mina sat on the ground, looking at him with the pure, innocent joy of a child who didn’t understand it wasn’t time to play. Wil looked around, but there was no ignoring what his gut told him.
“Mina? Are you a kitty?”
“Uh-huh,” said Mina, nodding her head. “Wanna see?” She jumped into the air, and as she did her frame twisted and a little kitten landed in his arms. Mina nuzzled his cheek sweetly before jumping and landing hard on the dinner table as a human again. Rather than be hurt, she laughed with delight.
“Did you have to show so young?” Wil groaned. Being able to shapeshift at all was rare, let alone at that age. “Anything else you can turn into?”
“Uh-huh! I can be a bird!” Mina flapped her arms, which quickly became black wings as she shrunk to the ground. Her new crow form cawed enthusiastically and flapped wildly, but it wasn’t flight. Not yet.
“Oh gods,” Wil buried his face in his hand. “Darlene?”
“Yeah?” his wife called back.
“Cancel the next two weeks of events. We’re staying home and spending time with the kids.”
“Why?”
A wicked idea crossed him. “Hey, Mina. Can you turn into a mouse?”
His daughter nodded her bird head and went straight from a crow to a mouse. Wil scooped her up, and headed for the bathroom. He’d get in trouble, and teaching his daughter to prank people might have been a poor decision, but he couldn’t resist. A few seconds later, Darlene screamed while Wil howled with laughter.
They had a lot of training to go, but his daughter was going to have the best education, the best advantages she could. By the time she was old enough to go to Saint Balthazar’s, she’d be at least as strong as he was. He just had to make sure she was wiser, and, of course, had a good heart. At the end of the day, it was the best thing he could try to give her.
The End