Planet B

Ch.24

"Mom?" William asked, trying to match the woman in front of him with memories from his childhood. She was older, new lines by the corners of her eyes and mouth, but he could tell it was her.

"Yes," she said. "I finally found you." She gave William another bone cracking hug and when she released him he saw tears in her eyes. His eyes were moist as well and he wasn't ashamed as his own rolled down his cheeks.

"Katherine said they'd found you, but how did you get all the way here?" William asked. "She said you were in Atlanta."

By now most of their group had gathered round, some pretending not to listen in and others doing so with no shame.

"I was. But when I heard you were here and part of a resistance group, I had to come. I had to see you." She held the side of his face with one hand and took a deep breath. Her eyes, joyous just a minute before, turned sad. "I think I already know," she said, voice soft, "but what happened to your father? And..." she trailed off, emotion choking her up.

You let them die, that's what happened.

William shook his head, as if it would shake the voice out.

"He died," William said. "They killed him. They killed both of them."

His mother's face tightened briefly but she forced a smile.

"I told myself you'd all died," she said, voice soft. "It was easier that way. Holding on to the idea that my husband and little boy and girl would have survived all of this for ten years... it would have been too much. But you're still here," she said, smiling again, "you have no idea how happy I am."

She held his gaze for a few moments and then, as if simply putting everything that'd just happened aside, looked around to William's companions. She tilted his head in the wizard's direction, the two talking with one another about the spells each other had used. "So who are your friends and how did they, well, you know, go all Dungeons and Dragons out there."

William leaned in as if to tell a big secret.

"They're wizards."

His mother looked at him and raised his eyebrow. She opened her mouth to respond but William held up his hand. He turned to the wizards.

"Havlik, could I ask a quick favor?"

The older man walked over.

"What can I do for you?"

"Remember that fire trick you did when I first met you," William asked. Havlik nodded. "Would you mind showing my mom real quick?"

"Your mother?" Havlik asked, confusion rampant across his face.

"Yeah, I'll give you the details later. The fire?" Havlik smiled and nodded. He'd probably done this over a dozen times already to various people, and it seemed he was enjoying it more and more instead of getting tired of doing it.

Havlik stood directly in front of William's mother, held out his hands, and with a few muttered words and gestures the ball of flame appeared between them. He expanded and contracted it, moved it around. Abruptly the fire disappeared.

"Abracadabra," Havlik said.

William's brow furrowed and Havlik frowned.

"Did I say it wrong? Joel said I was supposed to say that word, that or 'alakazam' when I do this for people."

William laughed and shook his head.

"Of course she did. You said it correctly, you're just supposed to say it right as the fire appears."

Havlik nodded as if that made perfect sense to him, though William could see it'd probably take a few more times before he got the words right. Apparently showmanship wasn't a big part of being a wizard in their world. He noticed his mother's wide-eyed expression.

"Wizards," William said, shrugging. "Who knew?"

His mother nodded absently for a few moments before focusing her eyes and turning to William.

"Your father did."

Havlik and William glanced at each other at the same time, then back to his mother.

"What do you mean?" William asked slowly.

"Your father was acting, well, erratic, just before the invasion. He was working on theories of quantum mechanics and was going on and on about some extremely theoretical stuff. I helped with what I could, but my field of study was virology so I only could aid so much. The implications were farfetched, but a distinct possibility. The implications also allowed for the existence of your friends here."

William looked about for his bag, one of the others had been holding it so William could attack unhindered, and jogged over to it when he spotted it near where Joel and Luke were standing. He crouched down and dug through his bag.

"What's going on over there?" Joel asked.

William pulled out his father's book and looked up to them from his crouched position.

"Craziness I think. Potentially very crazy." He stood up and looked at the book, worn cover evidencing just how much he'd analyzed it. "Follow me."

William strode back to Havlik and his mother and handed the book to her.

"Does any of this make sense to you?" William asked.

His mother took it, apprehensive yet curious, and began paging through it. Her face alternated from thoughtful to raised eyebrows and back to thoughtful. She began leafing through faster and faster, stopping on a page with a massive equation that had always stumped William. He'd been unable to find any science books with similar formulas in any derivation. His mother turned the book toward the others, pointing at the equation.

"This," she said. "This was written at his office," she paused, looking further at it. "More than this actually. This one's incomplete. I bet it's still there. No one's probably been in that place for years. Whatever is missing from this book would be in his office. We'd just need to-" she trailed off, looking at the group. "I don't suppose you'd be up for a trip into the city?" She asked.

"Funny you should ask," William said, "that's exactly where we were heading. We had the same idea already. Having you along will probably help us identify answers." He looked to Havlik. "Sound good?"

Havlik simply nodded, still looking at the opened book. He seemed to be deep in thought about something, but William supposed wizards were prone to look so.

William turned back to his mom.

"So you met Havlik and Kar," pointing to each as he remembered he had not actually introduced them. "And this is my friend Luke and girlfriend Joel," he said. "Guys, this is my mom."

Luke and Joel's jaws dropped simultaneously and Luke stuck out his hand with a mumbled "pleased to meet you". His mother took and his and shook it but her eyes were on Joel.

"Girlfriend, eh? My name is Amelia. I think we've got a lot to talk about."