Piper (Queen's Birds of Prey 4)

Dad only looked at him for a few seconds before he nodded. Abe was glad he didn’t ask more. He didn’t want to have to explain to him how terribly bad they’d cut her up. She was a really nice person.

Uncle Joel had gotten his map for him as well as the paints he’d wanted. He told him that Mrs. Clarity had seen him eyeing them, and she wanted him to have them. He felt bad that she’d given them to him, but Dad told him to take them, as she was grateful to be alive, and that made her feel better. So he went home with his dad and family to start on his project.

He had talked to them last night about the college. Abe had really thought they’d be mad at him for doing things behind their backs, but all they said was, it was good. That doing research on the college had been the right move. Knowing about the place made them think he was serious about attending as well. Abe told them that Aunt Piper was going to show him a few things about clay usage.

Now, here he was working on his project on the dining room table. Abe was having fun with it and was excited to see it come together. Mostly, he thought, he wanted to show his parents that he was very serious about this school and hoped he’d be able to get in on his own without having his mom telling them to take him. She said she could do that for him and would be glad to do it.

“I’d rather do it on my own. So I can feel good about it.” She told him she understood that. “I’ve got to make sure I can stand up on my own two feet rather than have to fall back because I let you get me in. Does that make sense?”

“It does. You want to feel good about your education rather than worry about you only succeeding because I pulled a few strings for you.” He nodded. “Good for you. But know this—if you need me to step in for you, for anything, then you only need to let me know. I’m your mom, and no one is going to hurt you so long as I live.”

“Thanks, Mom. I love you too.”

Abe did love them, every one of the birds and their mates. He figured that soon they’d all have mates and babies on the way, and there would be that many more people he could call his own. So long as his bio parents, what Tracy called them, were not in the picture.

Last night before he’d gone to bed, he did that reaching thing. He could contact anyone in his family and figured he might be able to tell where the bios were. The only time he’d felt them was a few weeks ago. Something about them had called out to him. Abe had figured out later that it was them saying his name. Nothing more, just them talking about him. Trying it again now, he could actually see what they were doing.

His bio mom was Retha. But she spelled it wrong so people would remember her. Like anyone could forget her blue hair and tatted up face. “Did you think about what happens if they don’t want him anymore? I mean, we’re planning on taking him then selling him back. But what if they just say we can have him? I don’t want him around, Tag. Just the money.”

Tag. He supposed his bio father’s name would have been shortened to Tag from Taggert. “Have you figured out how much he’s going to be worth yet?”

“No. I’m still working on where he’s at. The newspaper talking about some king getting married and adopting two kids only said that they were in upper Ohio. That don’t tell me much.” Bio mom looked around. “Do you ever feel like someone is watching us? I mean, like right here in the room with us?”

“I don’t feel that. Maybe it’s you not being high yet that has you feeling that way. Come on, share what you have.” Drugs. That was when Abe noticed they were tying off a rubber thing around their arms. He moved back away from them but returned when Tag spoke again. “We could just take him and sell him on the black market again. It worked out okay for us then. I don’t like how that ended, though. Those people that bought him off us, they turned him over to the cops. That was shitty of them if you ask me.”

Now he knew how he’d ended up in the home. They’d sold him. Thinking about that made him realize they were no better than the woman at the home. Worse, he thought, because he had been their son. As he made his way to bed that night, he thought about what he’d said to Aunt Piper. He did wonder if this would make a difference to them if he told them. Abe was going to tell his mom first. She might have a better plan for them. He didn’t care, just so long as they never came around him.

Falling asleep was easier since living here. He didn’t wake in the middle of the night, terrified that he was going to be murdered in his bed. Abe had witnessed it once. The man that had taken one of the older kids had snapped his neck while his sister stood there, telling him to hurry before anyone woke up. Abe hadn’t eaten the cookies that came with dinner that night and figured it was the reason he wasn’t sleeping. The cookies had something in them. Abe never ate another cookie while there. He couldn’t even stand them now that he knew no one was going to kill anyone in the night. They were off the list of foods he enjoyed.

Chapter 2

Grant remembered the birds from when he’d been in the castle keep. They were something to behold, he remembered. He also remembered the old king. The fucking bastard had nearly killed his mother when she’d been in labor with him. It was small wonder either of them had survived working there.

Today he was digging a trough from the waterway to the back of his home. Grant had his mom move in with him some years ago. It was still the same now. They worked well together and didn’t have the problems with being together, as did some of the humans he knew living with their parents. He supposed it was because they were both magical and could make walls between them if they wanted some quiet time. Not that he wanted much of that anymore. He seemed to love being around groups more than he did when he’d been younger. Grant supposed it was because of his job as a doctor. That was his latest job anyway.

“Are you going to go with me to the castle in the morning?” Grant ask his mom why she was going there. “The lady of the house wants me to come by there and see if I can do anything with the material that was left in the castle for them. There are a few tapestries as well that she thinks could use a steady hand. To think the birds are all back now. It’s nice, don’t you think?”

“Yes.” He didn’t really care if they were back or not. He’d not had a great deal to do with them when he’d been here long ago and didn’t figure that was going to change all that much now that they lived around him. “I’ll have this dug out for you in an hour. Will you be ready to set up the water system for your herbs by then?”

His mom was the healer. Grant knew she also used magic when she made herbs or the like to help people. Being a fae, she was in tune with the earth more than most. Mostly she only made wraps or helped birth a baby or two. But she knew everyone in town, and they’d been using her forever, it seemed.

As soon as he had the water running the way she wanted it, it was easy for her to hook up the sprinkler system to turn on the herbs when she wanted. Grant laughed when she stood under the spray of water and cooled off.

“I think this summer is going to be a hot one.” He didn’t tell her the very definition of summer meant it would be hot, but he kept his mouth closed. “Do you suppose there is a chance we can get a few trees back here trimmed back? I’m tired of picking up sticks when the wind blows a little harder than usual.”

“I can do that. How far do you want them trimmed? I’m assuming you mean higher and not just trimmed off the fence.” She told him what she wanted. “All right, Mom. I can do that for you. But you’re about to have company. The ground is telling me it’s a child because of the light foot. Male too.”

“Oh, I forgot. It’s Abe from the castle. He was coming by for some information on some herbs. I have them ready.” She started for the house and stopped. “Grant, they’re on the table laid out for him. Could you go in and hand them to him? I’m soaked through right now.”

He didn’t mind. Grant had seen the kids around town a few times. He’d also heard that Abe had saved one of the merchants the other day. He wanted to thank him for that, as well as invite him to his classes about surviving in the wild. Grant thought everyone should be able to tell a weed from something they could eat to stay alive.

“You must be Mr. Grant.” He said he was just Grant. “All right, Grant. I’m Abe. Your mom, she said she had some starters she could give me for a project.” He told him to come into the house, and he’d get them. “This is so cool. It’s so big here.”

The house, like a great many of the houses here, was smallish. The difference was, with their home, it only looked like it was small from the outside. The inside of his home was much larger and spacious than the biggest home here because of their magic.

“When I first was moved into this home with my mom, we both knew it was never going to hold us both and all our projects. So we worked out what we wanted and made our own space. Usually, the magic doesn’t show itself to others. You must be very trustworthy.” Abe told him he hoped so. “I was going to ask you if you’d like to come to the survival classes I’m working on. I think your sister and cousin might enjoy them as well. I teach you how to know what you can do if you’re lost.”

“I’d have to ask my mom and dad.” Grant handed him permission slips to give them. “I’ll drop one of them off with Miley when I see her. She’s supposed to co