Chapter Twenty-Two.

"Ambrosius," Michael greeted his brother as the teen entered his house. "Are you alright?"

Cam had bags under his eyes, and his only response was a yawn, which he covered with a hand. He had not gotten much sleep the night before. After interrogating Elaine, they left her for DoSS to collect, along with all of the information he'd managed to get out of her.

Despite how exhausting using the Song of Truth was when combined with reading minds, Cam had found himself unable to sleep well. They even tried making an extra-potent sleep potion. Unfortunately, not only was he a demigod, but a son of the High God of life. His recovery rate, once his divinity was unbound, had gone beyond astronomical.

It didn't let him sleep right through the nightmares, so he suffered through them all night. He didn't even have the relief of his father kidnapping him for another party because they had spent too long reviewing Elaine's given information and Ulrima was 'busy'.

Elaine didn't know directly where Greyson and Jenna were, but she did know who transported them. Four of them were traffickers from her own organization, while the other was from Derrick's. As it turned out, it was the same organization that Cam's family ran, and Derrick had mysteriously died several days prior and the Thorntons took a more obvious role, with one of them moving into the leadership position Derrick had.

After sorting through that information and giving it to his friends, Cam attempted to catch some sleep, and when morning came, went for a walk, later meeting up with Adam for another magic training session.

To end the day, he found himself at his half-brother's. Partly because Kris invited him over, partly because Michael had wanted to talk with him again.

"Kris is up in the game room," Michael informed Cam as he closed the door. "Before you head up to talk with him, I wanted to say something and ask you something."

"Okay," Cam shifted, unsure. "What?"

"First," Michael said. "I found out who your case worker was – someone down here had it transferred to them a month or so ago. Her name is-"

"Abigail," Cam nodded. "I've seen her a few times."

"Alright," Michael said. "I talked to her about reopening the proceedings to adopt you, and she mentioned that she had only just been notified about me having attempted previously. There may be a slight problem."

"What?" Cam felt scared.

"Your mother and your grandfather are both petitioning for custody," Michael answered.

"No!" Cam exclaimed. "I don't want to live with them! They're evil!"

"Hold on, Ambrosius," Michael said. "Abigail said that since I already attempted to gain custody of you through adoption in the past, which was put on pause due to you running away, and that your mother had given up all legal rights to you when you were born – which she couldn't have done without her father knowing, despite him claiming he wasn't aware of it – there's still a chance. The judge might favor the blood family rather than someone who you knew and trusted and had already started proceedings."

"But-"

"We're blood-related," Michael nodded, noting Cam reaching behind himself and scratching his back. "Abigail has declared that all interested parties must have a DNA test done. She'll have the comparisons made to you to show whether or not someone is related by blood for each of the three of us. Since you're thirteen, there's a chance that, depending on the judge, they'll ask for your input on who you want to live with."

"You!" Cam exclaimed. "If I had to pick, I'd want you! Not those evil people!"

"Alright," Michael said. "Are you okay, Ambrosius? You're scratching your back. I have some lotion that can help if you have a rash."

"Huh?" Cam asked, then blushed as he pulled his hand away. "Callum said I'm getting my wings in three or four months."

"Already?" Michael asked. "I was fifteen when mine came in. Most of Ulrima's children don't until they're around fourteen or fifteen. You're an early bloomer."

"That's why I need to eat lots," Cam nodded. "So I can get those last growth spurts in."

"Would you like to go on a trip this weekend?" Michael asked.

"A trip?" Cam asked.

"Yeah," Michael placed a hand on his brother's head, then pulled off his shirt, revealing a black leather vest beneath it, the two flaps of the front held together with leather cord laced through it. "A trip. I know a tailor who makes vests for demigods and nephilim."

Michael turned around so that his brother could see that on his shoulder blade and a little below, there was no material there, the back of the vest only reaching halfway up all the way around, then narrowing as it stretched up to his shoulders, where it spread back out to meet up with the flaps that made up the front.

"It allows us to manifest our wings while still having a top on," Michael manifested his wings, allowing Cam to see that they connected to his back where it was bare. "They're enchanted, too, so they clean themselves. You never need to take it off, if you don't want to."

"But when I hit my growth spurts," Cam said as his brother turned back around. "Then I'll outgrow the vests."

"Maybe," Michael said. "But this tailor can make accurate predictions about your full-grown height based on your current body. I'm not sure how he does it, but I do know it involves a little blood magic. It's completely safe. Once he finishes the vest or vests, we can have them brought to you."

Cam wasn't sure if he liked the idea of someone knowing how short he was going to be before he knew. He also wasn't sure how that person could know something that was affected by so many factors, and guessed that the tailor had some sort of time magic ability as well.

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"Alright!" Cam said. "I'll have to ask Callum about the trip, but we should probably be fine. He'll want to come along to make sure I'm okay. Dad kind of yells at him every time he leaves me alone."

"Where is he?"

"Peeing on the tree in your backyard."

Michael snorted as he unmanifested his wings.

"If we leave in the next hour," Michael said. "We can likely reach a hotel around nine or ten tonight, then visit him tomorrow."

"It takes five hours to get there?" Cam asked.

"It does," Michael nodded. "We're driving, not teleporting."

"Why not?" Cam asked.

"Because then it wouldn't be a road trip," Michael told him.

"Oooh!"

"Also," Michael said. "We can buy some lotion to deal with the itchiness from your wings coming in, though you probably won't be able to rub it in yourself."

"I'll ask Jenna to do it," Cam promptly told him.

"Jenna?"

"Yeah," Cam blushed. "She's a, uh, friend. We met a couple of years ago. She's helping find my friend Greyson."

"What happened to him?" Michael asked.

"He got kidnapped by some mage traffickers," Cam answered. "His father, Refari, is looking into it, and we are, too. But I'm staying out for a few days anyway, 'cause they're gonna be hurting a lot of people. Callum said he's going to contact Eden and tell him to pack some clothes for me. Does the lotion really help?"

"A lot," Michael nodded. "It was invented around six hundred years ago, and it's only improved since then. Why don't you let Kris know to pack some clothes for a couple of nights?"

"Alright!" Cam said, then took off up the stairs. "Kris!"

"What?" Kris jumped as Cam nearly flew into the gaming room, he was running so fast. "How much sugar have you had today?"

"That's not important!" Cam exclaimed, mostly because he'd eaten a gallon of ice cream and three pounds of gummy bears after lunch. "Pack some clothes! Your dad's taking us on a road trip for the weekend! We're leaving in probably an hour. Maybe less!"

"Where are we going?" Kris paused his game.

"I dunno," Cam shrugged. "Mr. Kendall just said that it'll take about five hours or so to get there, and we're leaving soon. It's so we can get me some vests to wear under my clothes for when my wings come in. I'm gonna be so happy to not have to go shirtless just to manifest my wings. The only time I wanna be shirtless is if I'm changing, showering, or swimming. And once I get some muscle on me, I wouldn't mind around Jenna. But only if she does agree to date me! She's still undecided."

Cam was confident she would come around, though. He could tell that she liked him just as much as Eden and Tyler liked each other.

Those two were so obvious to the teen, he wasn't sure how others didn't know. Callum said it was only obvious to a child of Ulrima, but Cam was doubtful on that. Tyler even spent the night! Callum said that was because he and Jenna were too tired to return to Jenna's apartment, but Cam didn't believe that for one moment.

He ignored his cousin when the ancient demigod pointed out that Tyler slept on the couch in the living room. That was only so that no one would suspect.

"What are you thinking about?" Kris snapped in front of Cam's face, and his uncle jumped.

"Huh? What?" Cam asked.

"Ambro," Kris chuckled. "You spaced out on me."

"I am attempting to figure out how to convince a girl that likes me to go out with me and how to get two guys who like each other and are very obviously secretly meeting up to stop doing it secretly."

"Ambro?" Kris said as his friend's words reminded him of something.

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind hanging out with me in front of my school Monday morning?"

"Why?" Cam asked.

"Erm," Kris hesitated for a moment as he debated on answering, then remembered that his friend could probably just read his mind anyway if he was curious enough. "I wanna know if this girl likes me?"

"Why do you want me to be there?" Cam asked.

"Because," Kris said. "Wait, you didn't know?"

"Know what?" Cam asked.

"Uh," Kris snorted. "Ambro, children of Ulrima can tell if people like each other when the people are near. Or if they've ever seen them. Dad refuses to tell me if she does, saying I should just go up and ask her and get accepted or rejected for myself."

"I think your dad was bulling you," Cam said. "I can't just tell if someone's attracted to someone else."

"I think you can," Kris said. "Test it on Monday, before school."

Cam rolled his eyes, then reminded Kris they needed to get ready to go. They went into Kris's room, and Cam made a sound of disgust.

"You still leave it like this?" He asked as he started cleaning it up.

"Hey!" Kris protested. "What's the point in putting something away if I'm just going to grab it again later?"

"Uh-huh," Cam held up a shirt. "And how long has this been sitting here? It reeks!"

"Oh," Kris said. "I probably need to do laundry, huh?"

"You think?" Cam tossed the shirt into Kris's hamper. "You know, it'd be way easier to get your laundry done if it's all together rather than scattered around the room."

"Yeah, yeah," Kris rolled his eyes as he opened his closet. "You said two days?"

"I think?" Cam answered. "Your dad said for a couple of nights."

"Alright," Kris pulled out a couple of anime tees. "What about these?"

"Do you have any shirts that aren't anime tees?" Cam asked. "Seriously? I thought I talked you into buying, like, a dozen shirts that weren't."

"Four years ago," Kris reminded Cam. "I outgrew those, dummy."

"Oh, right," Cam opened up a ball of paper. "This is homework."

"What?" Kris looked at it. "Oh, I already turned that in. She thought I didn't do it, so she made me do it again. When I went to give it to her, she told me she found it. I think she hates me."

"Probably," Cam shrugged. "I don't understand any of this."

"You haven't been in school in three years," Kris bopped him on the top of his head. "Of course you don't. You always hated it, so I doubt you did any extra studying outside of it."

"I have so!" Cam exclaimed.

"Let me guess," Kris grinned. "Ever since you started living with Eden?"

"Yeah," Cam grumbled as he picked up more trash. "He makes me sit down and do my homework, or he hides the chocolate. And he teleports. I need a trash bag. You finish packing. Make sure to get a toothbrush and your toothpaste, too. And mouthwash and floss."

Cam hurried downstairs to grab a trash bag, then returned to Kris's room to continue his cleaning spree. He didn't understand why Kris left his room a mess if he wanted to impress a girl. Did he want to date a slob?

After half an hour, Michael called the boys downstairs, then told them to use the bathroom before they left.

When the boys climbed into the car, Kris in the front, Cam in the back, they found Callum lying on his dog bed on the back seat.

"We'll be stopping at a drive-thru," Michael pulled out of the driveway as Cam checked to make sure his hygiene things were packed in the bag Callum brought. "For dinner in a couple of hours. If you're hungry before then, there are some snacks in the bag-"

Michael cut off as he heard the plastic grocery bag rustling behind him. Cam was already getting into it. He started to tell the teen to stop, but decided against it. The boy was eating a lot according to the texts he'd been sending Kris, and the older demigod suspected that it was partly because he was hungry, and partly because the teen wasn't sure if he'd still have food at the next meal.

After living on the streets for three years, he was probably prepared to leave at any time.

Hopefully, the court proceedings would go in their favor, and his younger brother would never need to worry about such things again.