She shouldn't have invited Az along, she knew as she scooped up Toto. But she was coming, and DG would be forced to watch her and Glitch act like giddy teenagers. She didn't understand him, at the moment, she wasn't sure she wanted to. But she knew he didn't want to be in the same room with her, let alone actually talk this thing between them out.
And she knew it made the others uncomfortable, but what was she supposed to do? She couldn't make him listen to reason even if she wanted to. So she didn't bother trying. As she held the small dog tight in her arms, her clothes in a makeshift back pack that she hoped would hold, and Cain's arm hooked around her waist, she braced for the storm hit them head on, while her parents watched on from higher land.
She fell out of the storm with a jolt, impact knocked the breath out of her. But she knew, the moment she smelled the fertilized earth and tasted what she knew was wheat, that she was back on the Other Side. Shakily she rose, pushing to her feet despite her swimming head. Something moved in her arms, and she looked down at the small dog she'd managed to hold onto.
"Welcome to the Other Side, Tutor." She adjusted him in her arms as he squirmed, there was no way she was giving in quite so easily. "We can play this one of two ways, you can try to control me and I will find numerous ways to hurt you every time you do, or you can accept that I'm going to do what I want while we're here and there's nothing you can do about it."
Toto just whimpered as she put him down, and she stared at him for what felt like minutes. "Why aren't you changing?" She looked over at Cain with slight panic in her eyes. He'd landed a few feet away and had been watching them. He had worry written all over his face. "Cain, why can't Tutor change?"
"We were afraid of that." Cain took off his hat to scratch his head for a brief second. "It's possible that, because we're no longer in the O.Z. and there fore, not connected to the magic, we are cut off from it."
"So he's stuck like this?" She didn't know whether or not it was a good thing. But Cain didn't look happy about it, so it was probably a bad thing.
"Worse, kid." Cain could see she hadn't put it together, he wouldn't have even considered it himself if he hadn't been called into the throne room to discuss the risks early this morning. "If Toto's without his ability, there's a large chance you and your sister are practically defenseless too."
"Right." She picked Tutor back up, just rolled her eyes when he began to squirm again. "I know it's uncomfortable, but it's a long walk and you have little legs." And for the first time, she looked at the house. It didn't surprise her that it was standing, just as it had in the days before the storm. Details like that would not have escaped her mother's attention.
Across the way, she saw Raw picking himself up, and she was proud of him for not freaking out. And she could see Glitch, but more, she could see Az. She was sprawled over Glitch, and she didn't seem inclined to move. More, they were laughing, bright and happy. She didn't want to admit they looked good together, or even that it hurt to think she'd lost her chance at that. She felt sick, her stomach knotted up as she turned away and started toward the house with Tutor in her arms. Silently, Cain followed but swore to take Glitch apart limb from limb for putting that look in DG's eye.
She set Tutor down inside the door, smiled at the familiar furniture and dim natural light that would always feel like a haven to her now. It even managed to smell exactly the same as it had the last time she'd walked in the door. She'd been so angry with her parents, she remembered, and hadn't stopped to enjoy all the things she'd taken for granted. Her excitement heightened even more as she ran up the narrow staircase to the attic, stepped into her room. There, lined along the wall were sketches and watercolors, and her paintings were still set up on a couple of easels, just waiting to be finished. Places once thought imagined, she recognized all of them easily. Maybe that was why she'd stopped drawing, the perfect world she'd envisioned in her head, the one she'd known even then could be twisted in the dark, had turned out to be a lot less than she'd hoped it'd be.
Testing, she sat on the bed, sighed when it didn't just disappear like it had in her dreams. She heard somebody come up the stairs, looked over to see Raw. With a smile, she patted the spot on the bed next to her. She knew that before he could go out in public, she'd have to buy him some clothes so that he wouldn't stick out and catch the attention of bored small town people. He'd have to give up his culture, his way of life, for a couple of weeks, but he was doing it for her. His loyalty and trust alone humbled her.
"DG is happy to be here... and sad." He frowned as he sat next to her. "Raw listen."
"I didn't do everything I did to become a princess." She knew whatever she said would stay between them. Because she spoke to him in confidence. And not for the first time. "I thought if I found my parents, figured out who I was, even help those who were familiar strangers, I'd find the place where I belong." She rested her head on Raw's shoulder, aware that as long as she touched cloth he wouldn't be bombarded with her emotions and thoughts. "I'm not a princess, Raw, it's suffocating me. I can't do it, I just can't. And I still don't know where I'm supposed to be."
"Be with us." Raw told her, for the first time giving her advice instead of just an ear. But she was missing obvious facts. "Raw still needs you, Cain and Glitch do too."
She nodded, knowing this was not the time to bring up how little Glitch wanted anything to do with her. "You guys are all I have that I can rely on,I wouldn't ever leave you behind." And they sat in that silence, both of them aware that life could never be the same when they got back. Whether or not that was a good thing, even Raw couldn't see.
Az watched the men, and knew exactly how uncomfortable Cain was making Glitch, intentionally. She also knew Cain wouldn't say anything if he thought she was paying attention. So instead of waiting for either of them to even blink, she picked up a random book and opened it to the first page.
Cain waited until he was certain she was absorbed in the book before letting himself growl at Glitch. "You stupid son of a ..."
"What have I done to you?" Glitch blinked, knowing that an angry Cain was never a good thing.
Cain stepped toward him, aware that it wasn't hard to intimidate someone in a room this small. And he wanted Glitch to be scared, to consider everything Cain could do to him. "DG's went to the wall for you more times than you could imagine, and you've done nothing but made her feel lower than dirt for the last few days."
"You don't understand, Cain." Glitch didn't want to fight with him, not over this. Actually, not over anything, he didn't want to fight with anybody. He felt bad enough as it was.
"I understand better than you think." Cain said through his clenched teeth. "What you don't seem to understand is that she's scared." His eyes soften just a bit. "She knows that some thing's got to give. If she stays the way she is now, being a princess is going to choke the life out of her."
"So she should stay here when it's time to return." Glitch didn't want to admit that the idea didn't sit well with him. He didn't want her to stay behind, to live a normal life, for him to become a mere memory, then worse, she'd forget him completely.
"Glitch." Cain forgot his anger to sit down and look at him. Glitch could see a man who was afraid of losing another child. But he couldn't tell what Cain knew that he didn't, just that there was something. "She needed to come back, and we gave her that." He sighed. "If she can't bring herself to go back, we have to give her that as well."
Glitch sat down in between Cain and Az on the small couch. "I'll stay too then. She shouldn't be left with no one."
"And your just going to wear a hat every time you walk out the door?" Cain rolled his eyes at his friend. He meant good, but he never really thought it through. "She wouldn't want you to stay, knowing you'd never be happy and you know it."
"True." Glitch frowned. Then he realized something. "But you wear a hat constantly."
Cain went to say something, but rather jolted when Az spoke. "You two are missing something so obvious." Slowly, she shut her book, looked them both in the eye before continuing. "DG wouldn't take a path that would lead her away from you. She needs you too much."
As if on cue, DG started down the stairs. " I'm going out for supplies, I can fit two in the truck, or I'm taking my bike."
"I'll go." Cain stood quickly, Az rose slower beside him.
"Yeah." She smiled at DG. "It's about time I see the town you've told me nothing about."
"I hope you can look fast, it won't take more than a minute to get on the highway." She looked at Az carefully, ready to offer her something to wear. She'd already slipped into something more casual, and she'd let her hair down. She'd stand out in a crowd, but not in a way to bring suspicion. And she figured Cain would fit in pretty much anywhere. "Alright." She nodded, "Let's go."