Alien Architect Needs a Nanny (Alien Nanny Agency 1)

Tenet 40

Remain positive.

- Dr. H. VynFleet, 132 Tenets of Childcare & Maintenance

Emilia

Emilia brushed the soil from her hands and turned to take a look at the back elevation of Drayven House. From the perspective of the garden, she wondered if she could see the whole thing at once.

Sure enough, though the building was big enough to blot out the sky behind it, she could see every roof and balcony, all the way up to the weathervane at the top.

Now that weather information was easily predicted and disseminated, it seemed odd to have a weathervane at all. But the copper constellation of planets did seem right at home atop the massive structure.

She searched the third floor for her rooms and was rewarded with the sight of a large bank of glass that must be her window seat.

Her eyes went to the next largest glassy surface, which happened to be on the second floor, on the opposite side of the house.

Maybe it was a trick of the light, but for a moment she swore she saw someone gazing back at her.

When she blinked, the dark figure was gone.

She shook her head to clear it and turned back toward the garden.

It was truly magnificent. She felt a little shiver of joy all over again just looking at it.

The specimens themselves weren’t terribly impressive, and the garden had none of the deliberate character of the house. But the soil was so rich that the plants were thriving anyway. The scent of it was like blueberries in a Terran summer.

The irrigation system was intricately rigged, though poorly maintained. She had just unclogged a release head, a very simple but necessary task that no one had paid attention to in a long enough time that one row of syfwa plants was noticeably smaller than the others.

She desperately wanted to explore the rest of the garden and learn all of its secrets, but she knew she had better find the children first, so she headed down toward the boxwood labyrinth that separated the garden from the gently sloped hillside that led down to the woods. It seemed like the natural direction.

A few moments later, her instincts proved correct as the sound of voices carried up from the hillside. And thank goodness, because she really didn’t want to have to track down Mr. Drayven and ask for his help.

Don’t think about him, she advised herself wisely.

A massive copper statue of a mother wolf guarded the entrance to the labyrinth. The statue was beautiful, and extremely realistic, down to the individually carved hairs, except that it was double the size of a true wolf. The mother stood over two pups, hackles raised, and razor-sharp teeth bared, as if to warn off anyone stupid enough to enter her labyrinth.

“Sorry,” Emilia murmured. “I’ve got pups of my own to find.”

The statue remained watchfully silent as she headed into the maze of foliage.

Emilia had never been good at labyrinths. She had a distinctly embarrassing memory of being stuck in one during a class trip to a farm back on Terra-17.

She got turned around a few times, but following the sounds of the voices coming from the hillside made it easier, to keep her sense of direction.

They were louder now, and sounded angry, which was not exactly what she would have expected from an archery lesson for children.

She hurried her pace, not sure whether to hope that was her angry charges on the hillside, or whether to wish it was someone else and she still didn’t know where the children were.

At last, she reached the other side of the maze, where yet another wolf statue awaited, this one lifting his mouth to howl at the darkening sky.

On the hillside below, a tall, thin man in a billowing sun cloak shouted and gestured to the children on the ridge below.

Dyrk and Mimi.

Two targets were set up. In front of one, a tiny girl with perky orange ears and a brightly colored tail to match, held her bow and arrow with shockingly perfect form.

The boy in front of the other target was tall and lanky, and looked like he needed a haircut. His dark mane half-covered his brown ears and his posture was much more casual than his little sister’s.