Life After Death

Quinn/Corryn: who is this kid?

{Quinn}

Mikaela had vanished abruptly, leaving me in charge of our household. Nick patted me on the back.

"Don't worry," he said. "They're your sons. What's the worst they could do?"

Something that sounded like an explosion shook upstairs.

Nick winced. "They're playing together at least," he attempted. "Trying to systematically destroy me."

"All right, I am going," I grumbled.

Reluctantly, I left my coffee and headed upstairs, following the sound of stomping and shouting. My brother was already married with kids when my parents had me. I supposed it was a lonely childhood, being the only child in the whole estate, but that was normal for faeries. Two children in a household was unusual, seven was unheard of. I knew faeries blamed her human upbringing, and I think, in part, she forgot that all of her boys were going to live forever. We were not so sure about Dinadan, but no one was ever sure about him. He was not supposed to exist.

I liked having a full house. It meant having a lot of fights and magic and homework and laundry, but this place was supposed to have multiple families, servants, and other staff. All we had were Nick and Ryon.

The stomping was louder and I could hear things crashing into the walls. I stopped at a door and opened it carefully. It was a greenhouse, or had been, before my sons had taken it over. Lionel was swinging off a vine and landed on top of Parsifal, who flung out his arm, sending Lionel tumbling. The twins were climbing a tree, turning each leaf into a butterfly, which turned the room into a butterfly swarm. Dinadan was under a bush, shooting berries at his brothers. They were all stained with the juice. I supposed Gawain was still in his room sulking, and Dagonet was still with Eldreial. And that accounted for all of them.

"Hey Dad, look! I can almost fly!" Lionel used his wings to glide to the ground, but they were too small to flap productively.

The butterflies turned back into leaves, showering the area in greenery. The twins tumbled off the tree as squirrels, and raced up another one.

They were just boys after all.

"Dinadan, if you aim a little higher, you'll have better luck," I called. "And Parsifal, bend your knees, so you can dodge better."

They adjusted accordingly, though Mikaela would disapprove of me imparting my assassin training. I wasn't teaching them how to kill.

"Lionel, if you pull a wind with you, you'll probably fly farther," I said, leaning against the wall.

Lionel whooped as he glided down at Dinadan, who hit him square in the face. The squirrel twins were chucking acorns at Parsifal who was better at dodging than even a minute ago.

The door opened, and instead of Mikaela, it was Dagonet, racing in. I closed the door for him, unwilling to let the mayhem continue to the rest of the house.

"You guys started without me," he shouted.

"You were gone forever," Dinadan called back, and then hit him with a berry. "You shouldn't take so long."

Dagonet tackled Dinadan head on despite Dinadan's neutrality.

"Admit it, you're enjoying yourself," the wall said to me.

"Nick, Mikaela would not be pleased," I told him quietly. "Do you know when she is getting back?"

"In about three minutes," Nick answered.

I left my sons to dismantle the room and I headed back down stairs. I had heard the conversation between Mikaela and Juliet, but I didn't know what had happened. It seemed odd that Juliet needed help with anything.