Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 139178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
* * *
* * *
It was a year later, with both Phoenix and Aanisa able to hold themselves aloft well enough to fly around the Refuge—even if they did resemble drunk bumblebees—that the time came for the next step in both children’s journeys.
Raphael squeezed his son’s hand on one side, while Elena, on his other side, reached over to straighten Nix’s hair. Raphael wanted to reassure their son that this would be all right, that he’d enjoy his time at the Refuge school, except—I think we are the only ones nervous.
Elena’s laughter was a silver dance in her eyes. Oh, we are absolutely the only ones nervous. He already told me he’s planning to sit with Anise, and that they’re going to play a game at break with their “big kid” friends.
Given the scarcity of births in the decades prior to Aanisa’s and Phoenix’s births, those “big kids” were either newly adult angels or youths on the verge of their hundredth birthdays; the time they spent at the school would be out of affection for the little ones now in their midst—and out of respect for the teacher who’d asked them to stand in as playmates until the five younger children in the Refuge were of an age to join Nixie and Anise at school.
Phoenix tugged at their hands. “Faster, Mama! Papa!”
“You’re eager to learn,” Raphael said. “Perhaps we will have a scholar in the family.”
Halting, Nix looked up at him. “Will I have to study a lot?” A plaintive question, the first sign of worry that perhaps school wasn’t all his mortal friends back home—the children of the descendants—had talked it up to be.
“Not so very much,” Raphael reassured him. “You’re a small angel, so mostly you get to play. But do us proud and listen when your teacher speaks. She’s very clever and kind.”
Nix went to reply, but that was when he spotted Aanisa standing in front of the school with her own parents. “Anise!” Despite his excitement, however, he didn’t let go of their hands, which told Raphael that no matter if he was looking forward to school, this was still a big and scary step for their boy.
Aanisa looked over with a huge smile, her own hands linked to Elijah’s and Hannah’s—who had chosen to wait the month until Phoenix was of age for school before starting their little girl.
It was the done thing in angelic circles among year-mates, as it meant no child started alone if at all possible. A month, even a year, so long as the child was happy, wouldn’t matter in an immortal life.
“Raphael, Elena.” Hannah’s face was wreathed in joy. “What a momentous day it is.”
Then Jessamy was there to lead her new students inside.
“Now, you four,” she said, her hands on the children’s shoulders, “need to go amuse yourselves for the next two hours.”
That was the entire length of the school “day” for the smallest in angelkind, but it seemed to stretch out like an eternity in front of Elena as she forced herself to wave bye at their son, who waved back without a care in the world.
The only thing that would’ve made the day better for him was if Bengal and Tigress had been permitted to attend. He had, however, perked up when Naasir told him that the two not-housecats were going visiting in the mountains for a couple of weeks.
“To see family,” Naasir had said. “Catch up on the news.”
“Adventures?” Nix had asked wistfully.
A wild Naasir grin. “Of course. You can share stories after they return—they’re very curious about school, too.”
The idea of them all having adventures had been the final happy bow on Nix’s enthusiasm for school. He’d spend one term in the Refuge school the next in New York doing schoolwork that Jessamy set him. He’d be supervised by a tutor then, but would also have sessions with Aanisa and Jessamy using an obsitru room, with flexibility for special events at either location. Aanisa would be on the same schedule, spending half the year in South America.
The two sets of parents had already agreed that the children would visit each other often.
“Shall we all go sit nervously together and share a drink?” Elijah’s droll comment had the four of them cracking grins.
In the end, they did decide to go ahead and get that drink—however, it was a celebratory one for this new milestone in their children’s lives.
Hannah lifted her tankard. “A toast to a time of peace, of no one acting the idiot, so that we can all be here to walk our little ones to school on their first day.”
“I’ll toast to that.” Elena touched her tankard to Hannah’s where they sat in a small bar situated on the street of eateries that had emerged in the Refuge over the past half-millennium.
Prior to that, angelkind had flown to nearby villages, and they still did so for items produced by the villagers, but they’d come to enjoy having small restaurants and bars inside the Refuge. It meant that they, and the powerful vampires who were trusted here, could all be themselves without worrying about mortal sensibilities.