Olympus Drive Book 2: Nothing to See Here

Chapter 52

Basil

When I wake up on the sofa, all four kids have migrated back on top of my chest because apparently they like it there. Whatever. It does mean I have to wake them up though, and rouse them for school if I want to get up. Elena is no longer suspended which is great so she and Juno and Isa can go to school while I go get Isa a new brace and track down Jasmine. Completely fine. I can handle this without alcohol. The kids are happy. Everything is fine.

Nothing is fine.

"What do you mean, no?" Stamos and I are standing on Lisa's front porch, confronting Luna. Sol is off playing in the yard with his puppy and Dara ran to join him.

"I mean no. I am not going to rat on my sister," Luna says, folding her arms.

"It's not like that though. We want to make sure your sister is safe," Stamos says, helpfully.

"She is safe."

"How do you know where she is? She told you?" she probably told fucking Thyme too. The weasel sneaked off early to go stab people, probably.

"No. But I regularly make a habit of tracking family members to keep up with their whereabouts," Luna says.

"Really? So do I---why are we doing this separately?" Stamos asks, wearily.

"I work alone."

"I call bull---you work with a group of middle school girls all the time."

"Yes, my huntswomen," this may be the weirdest child I have. That's really saying something. No, she kind of is.

"Luna, I just want to talk with your sister," I sigh, "That's it. She isn't trouble."

"Sisters don't tell. Are you taking me to school?"

"I don't know---Lisa you want me to drive the kids to school?" I call in the door.

"No, because not only did I not know you were here, but also because I have to go talk to Luna's teachers about her bringing weapons to school, again," Lisa says, kissing my cheek.

"Cool, I'll call you later," I say, squeezing her shoulder.

"Come on---Sol make sure the puppy has toys he's going to sit in my office today---do you want me to take Dara?"

"No, we're getting her dolls from the house. I'll keep her with me," I say, though  I'm tempted to agree because Dara does love sitting on Lisa's lectures and Lisa's smart enough to understand half of what the kid is saying so that's good. But no. I'm gonna be less likely to drink if I'm carrying the kid around.

"Okay, bye—come on kids," Lisa says, actively just catching Luna who was gonna bolt.

"We're going where?" Stamos asks me, as Dara skips back to join us.

"The house, the kids don't have some toys and I do have to talk to Helen eventually," I mutter.

"Do you? Because last I checked she was the one who started it," he says, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, well, history has proven that I typically have to be the bigger person," I point out, as we get in the car. He's still driving because we're more comfortable that way. I turn around to help Dara buckle herself in. The car seat is rather big and she's rather little.

"Do you know what you're going to say?"

"What part of my life makes you assume I'm capable of planning this in advance?" I sigh.

"Daddy we don't need my dolls," Dara says, looking up from her current book. Who gave her The Prince ? Okay, definitely me. Maybe it is a good thing I'm not drinking so much.